Mutants Loose in Hollywood

Mc PosterI got back from Hollywood last night after one of the smoothest trips I’ve ever had. The good people at Paradox Entertainment (particularly Fred Malmberg and Jay Zetterberg) flew me out for a preview screening of the upcoming Mutant Chronicles movie and supplemented that with a couple of excellent nights out.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m writing the novelization for the film, and I turned in the manuscript nearly a year ago. That was, of course, long before the film had been completed, and I worked entirely from the script, using my imagination and my long experience with the Mutant Chronicles games to bring it to life.

It’s no surprise that director Simon Hunter‘s film differed from the images in my head. As with most films, the story changed a bit during shooting and editing too, so there are some inevitable discrepancies between the movie and the script-based book.

To fix that, I watched the film twice. Paradox set up showings (for other business reasons than just helping out me) in a private screening room on the Sunset Strip, and I sat and took notes, tapping them out on my laptop as the film rolled on. Now I get to go back and polish the book until it more closely resembles the film. There aren’t all that many large differences to resolve, but being able to see the film means I can pay a lot more attention to descriptions of the people and places than I could before, and make them more accurate.

As for the movie, I loved it. I’m bound to be biased, of course, having worked on both this novel and for years on the games on which the film is based. But it looks great, the actors do a wonderful job, and there are some truly fantastic moments in it. I can’t wait until you all get to see it too.

Key Largo and Paul Randles

Pzotgl3000 500My pal Mike Selinker just had his latest game published: Key Largo. Mike’s a wonderful and imaginative designer and has created a number of excellent games, but this one is something special because of his co-designers: Bruno Faidutti and Paul Randles. Bruno is one of the great European board game designers, but Paul’s the one that makes this project something Mike cares about so much.

Mike and Paul were the best of friends, but Paul died of pancreatic cancer just over five years ago. At the time, they were working on Paul’s final game design, which eventually became Key Largo, a game we can now all enjoy. Anyhow, Mike can explain it all far better than I. It’s a poignant story, of course, but rather than being a tale of woe, it ends up being a tribute to a great friend.

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Bye Snow

I’m off to Hollywood for a couple of days on a very-short-notice trip. I’m looking forward to trading my parka for a polo for a while. You all behave yourselves while I’m–

Ah, who’m I kidding?

A Practical Guide to Monsters

A copy of A Practical Guide to Monsters showed up on my doorstep the other day. It’s a fun book for kids, essentially a Monster Manual without any D&D stats, with witty writing and wonderful artwork. It’s a handsome and durable hardcover book that kids should love.

Nina Hess, my kind and insightful editor for my Knights of the Silver Dragon series, wrote the book. She chose an interesting voice: that of Zendric, the wizard mentor I created for that same series.

I get a small sense of cognitive dissonance reading a book written by a character I created. It’s as if we’re narrowing in on a narrative paradox. To cross that Rubicon, all that has to happen is for Zendric to start writing about me.

Michigan Bluegrass

One of my former college roommates, Dr. Mike Harmeling, plays banjo in a bluegrass band called Horton Creek. One of our mutual friends sent me the band’s latest CD a few months back, and it’s great stuff. I’m not huge into bluegrass, but it sounds fun all the way through. It also brings me right back to the days of hanging out with Mike in the house on State Street in Ann Arbor, while he picked his banjo and talked about his other hobby, refurbishing classic tractors.

Snow Day Redux

We’re snowed in here again at Casa Forbeck today. The snow stopped last night, but the road teams didn’t seem to think they could get the roads clear in time for school, so Ann and the kids got a second impromptu day off in a row.
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Gen Con Again for Sure

I’ve just confirmed that once again I’ll be an Industry Insider Guest of Honor at this year’s Gen Con. At the moment, this is the only convention on my schedule for the year. Unfortunately, Wizard World Chicago is the exact same weekend as Origins this year, forcing a choice between the two. Also, I’m still up in the air about GTS, Comic-Con, and the Austin GDC–but I’m always open for invitations to other exotic locales.

Thundersnow!

I’m home today (like always, since I work here) with the wife and kids, enjoying another snow day. We’re supposed to have at least a foot of snow over the course of these 24 hours, including possible thundersnow.

Does that sound like a northern hero’s name or what? I saw lightning here during a snowstorm earlier in the year, flashing in the sky out back of my house. It seems so unnatural–this collision of distinct forms of weather–but there it is, happening anyhow.

What a wild world.