Of Dice and Pen Discount

29460489.jpgMy short story “Prometheus Unwound” first appeared in The Book of All Flesh, edited by Jim Lowder and published by Eden Studios, and it won the Origins Award for Best Game-Related Short Work of 2001. Flying Pen Press and editor Fred Poutre recently reprinted it in a new collection of game-designer written stories called Of Dice and Pen. This features the last of Gary Gygax’s Gord the Rogue stories, co-written with K.R. Bourgoine, plus stories from Chris Clack (of Inner City Games), Andrew Looney (of Looney Labs), Jim Cambias (of Zygote Games), Liz Danforth, Rick Loomis (of Flying Buffalo), and many others.

As a publication present, Fred gave all the authors a code for a Friends of Flying Pen direct-order discount of 20% off the book and then asked us to pass it on to whomever we like. I like the people who visit my website, so here it is: B7TV76.

If you want a taste of the contents of the book, you can download “Prometheus Unwound” for free right here, right now. Don’t say I never gave you nothing.

Blood Bowl: Killer Contract #3 Out Now!

BBKC_03_A_.jpgThe Boom Studios website informs me that Blood Bowl: Killer Contract #3 hit comic-book stores yesterday. It also shows the book with a snazzy, new cover I’ve never seen before (apparently that was Cover C I had up earlier), provided by the series’ stunning artist Lads Helloven. I haven’t seen the book yet myself, but I plan to go hunting for it while I’m in Madison today at the ACD Distribution open house. If you spot it in the wild, let me know what you think.

In the meantime, be sure to check out the free, nine-page preview of this issue, courtesy of Comic Book Resources.

Tweeting

I’ve joined Twitter, and I’m using it as a sort of sideblog on this site. See the box at the top of the first sidebar for a sample or follow me directly if you like.

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.