Mutant Chronicles Cover

MCCover.jpgYesterday, an envelope showed up from Random House (which owns Del Rey) with a short stack of cover flats* for my novelization of the Mutant Chronicles film. The new cover looks great, much better than the original one Del Rey had mocked up. Tom Jane makes a great Mitch Hunter.

Better yet, Del Rey has posted an excerpt from the book on its website. Paradox gave me a tremendous amount of freedom with the book, allowing me to create many new scenes to fill in some of the blank spots in the film’s necessarily compressed story. I’m pleased with out it turned out.

The Mutant Chronicles novelization goes on sale September 30, I’m told. Be sure to look for it then.

*Covers are printed on a different kind of paper than the rest of the book, so they’re done separately from the pages. Most publishers are smart enough to have the printer make a couple hundred extra unfolded covers–known as “cover flats”–for promotional use. The cost of adding a relatively small number of covers to the regular print run isn’t much at all, so you wind up with a stack of inexpensive, full-color ad slicks for the book.

ACD Open House

My friends at ACD have asked me to come up to Madison, Wisconsin, for their open house for retailers later this week. I’ll be there this Thursday, September 11, starting at 2 PM. If you’re a games retailer anywhere nearby, you should stop by and say hi. I’ll be happy to scribble my name all over anything you like, within the limits of the law. It doesn’t even have to be mine.

Blood Bowl #3 Next Week

BBKC_03_A.jpgThe fine folks at Boom Studios tell me that we can expect to see Blood Bowl: Killer Contract #3 in finer comic book stores next week. That’ll put us at the halfway mark for the series, and I can’t wait for you to all see how it all comes together.

BBKC_03_B.jpgBoom has posted the final covers for the issue, which I’ve put up here for you to see. These feature concept artwork from the upcoming Blood Bowl computer game from Cyanide Studio. Be sure to look for it soon in a store near you.

CIG to Superheroes and Villains in Stores

cigsvjpg.jpgFrom what I’ve been told, my latest book–The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing Superheroes and Villains, Illustrated–is in stores as of yesterday. If you’re interested in drawing all sorts of different types of super-powered characters–or seeing a whole slew of new ones that I created for the book–be sure to pick it up.

While I’m plugging that, let me give a big thanks to Yair Herrera, the Argentine artist who took my concepts and breathed so much life into them. Without him, all I’d have would be words instead of all the wonderful pictures–which would make for a lousy book on drawing.

Alternate Reality Reviews

Early last year, before Wizards announced it would release a new “fourth” edition of Dungeons & Dragons this year, I completed work on The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating Dungeons & Dragons characters. Unfortunately, because the book was written for the game’s third edition (3.5, really), it was bound to be outdated pretty quickly. Delays in the process added up to the book never coming out.

Ironic, then, that I find a review of the book posted on the web. My favorite quote:

Overall it’s not a bad book and the author Matt Forbeck does a pretty good job and if you can’t find a gaming group then it’s worth a read.

I’m so glad to know that. And if there’s really a copy of the book somehow out there, I’d love to see it–no matter which reality it’s from.

40 is Good

My beautiful and amazing wife threw an excellent birthday party for me last Saturday night. I turned 40 earlier in the month, but we were out of town and so couldn’t have a proper blow-out. Ann corrected that in mighty fashion on Saturday night.

People from all around the neighborhood and southern Wisconsin came out to give me a hard time. The guests showed up with all sorts of gag gifts, including reading glasses, prune juice, hemorrhoidal cream, and more fun, like a sombrero labeled Señor Citizen and a voodoo doll, apparently for revenge on the young. Plus, fantastic choices in both wine and beer, about which I cannot complain.

Many thanks to everyone who showed up to help me celebrate the event. I’m truly blessed to have so many great friends, family, and neighbors, and I hope I have as many hardy souls join me every decade hence.

My Wife in the News

The Madison ABC affiliate came down to Janesville this morning to interview my wife and her fellow school social worker Mandy Harvey about their work with homeless students in the Janesville School District. (In case you don’t know Ann, she’s the second woman to appear during the segment.)

Ann’s only been back at work after the summer break for three days, but she’s already back in the trenches, fighting to help the kids around her who need it most. This makes me think two things:

1) I couldn’t be prouder.

2) I’m a lucky, lucky man.

Where Are They–Wait! Where?

People wander in and out of the gaming industry all the time. For instance, this year at Gen Con, I ran into Matt Grau (formerly of Steve Jackson Games) and Nic Jequier (formerly of XID Creative), neither of whom I’d seen in years, and I had a wonderful time catching up with them.

Here’s a blast from the past that comes from a direction I would never have guessed. Mark Rein-Hagen (formerly of White Wolf, and the creator of the World of Darkness) is now married, has a child, and lives in Georgia.

No, not the state of Georgia, where White Wolf is based. The nation of Georgia, which is currently enmeshed in a struggle with Russia. When the recent conflict broke out, Mark set up a new website (SOSGeorgia.org) to tell the world about what he could see happening in Georgia.

Stop by the site and take a look at a nation in crisis, funneled through the perspective of a writer and game designer who’s married into it. It’s well worth it.