Back from La Pura Vida

My apologies for the radio silence. My wife and I just got back from a week’s vacation in Costa Rica. We stayed at Bahía de los Delfines. This beautiful resort sits just outside of Tambor, a tiny town on a sheltered bay on the end of the Nicoya Peninsula, out on the central Pacific coast. We had a wonderful, stunning time, and I’ll be babbling on about it for months, I’m sure.

We won the stay at the resort as part of a fund-raising raffle for Marty’s drama club (Kids Fun and Drama). We didn’t have the time to sell the tickets and instead bought our allotment ourselves. It paid off big in the form of an early celebration for our 15th wedding anniversary.

In Costa Rica, they have a saying: Pura vida. Literally, this means “pure life.” We spent the trip living that life and loving that country. We’re glad to be back, and hopefully we can continue with pura vida now that we’re home too.

In the meantime, a special thanks from us to my mother and the army of able assistants she lined up to help her take care of our children while Ann and I were gone. We couldn’t have left town without you, and our implicit trust in your goodness and kindness and love meant we could let ourselves enjoy the trip without worrying an instant about what might be happening back home. Pura vida to you all!

Comic-Con 2007

I just made my hotel reservations for Comic-Con 2007. My plan is to be there from Wednesday through Friday night, July 25—27. It’s a short trip, but I have to be back for the weekend, so I can’t stay the whole time.

I don’t have anything official scheduled yet, but if that changes, I’ll be sure to let you know. I’ll be wandering the floor, catching up with old friends, and looking for new gigs. With luck, I’ll have something related to the show’s original theme (comics!) that I can announce by then. If you’ll be there, I hope to see you too!

Happy Birthday

Five years ago today, a team of 25 doctors, nurses, and technicians at Rockford Memorial Hospital led by Dr. Susan Hendricks helped us bring four of the most amazing people into the world: Patrick, Nicholas, Kenny, and Helen Forbeck. Born 11 weeks premature (one week better than average for quads) they weighed, respectively 2# 12 oz., 2# 9 oz., 2# 8 oz., and 1# 8 oz. Their perinatologist, Dr. Dosi, gave each of them a 70% chance to live.

Five years on, Ann and I have four healthy, happy, and wonderful kids who are a lasting joy to her, their older brother Marty, and me. They and the people who helped us with them from their birth to this day have taught me much about what it means to be a parent, a citizen, and a better human being. Perhaps because their birth was such a harrowing experience, I know that every day with them and the rest of my family is a blessing for which my gratitude has no bounds.

Happy birthday, Pat, Nick, Ken, and Helen! Here’s to many, many more.

Quads07

YouDance

I don’t mean to make this into a blog all about my kids–amazing as they are–but the video below has two purposes. First, it’s hilarious. Sure, it’s of Nick and Helen’s first dance recital, which probably only I and my direct family care much about, but I laughed so hard through much of it I couldn’t keep the camera from shaking.

Second, it’s a chance for me to play with YouTube and see how well it works with WordPress.

So, forgive a father’s pride, and enjoy.

BNW Movie News

While I was at the GAMA Trade Show, I sat in on a meeting about the Brave New World movie, between Darren Orange of Reactor 88 Studios and John Zinser of AEG. John gave Darren the go-head for to create a pilot for a feature film (essentially a proof-of-concept). The schedule calls for shooting in Chicago the weekend before Origins. With luck, the fine people at Reactor 88 should have something to show off at Gen Con.

Natalie Victoria, the actress set to play Lisa Stanzski (the woman in the opening comic of the BNW RPG) recently stopped by here and left a comment. (Thanks, Natalie!) I’ve not yet had the honor of meeting her, but she certainly is a dead ringer for the part. With her joining Chuck “Patriot” Wagner and Zachary “Charge” Laoutides, the pilot’s developing a great cast. Combine that with the crackerjack crew, and we should have a lot of fun on our hands soon.

RC News

My alma mater, the Residential College at the University of Michigan, puts out a quarterly newsletter, RC News. In the Spring 2007 issue, which just showed up in my mailbox yesterday, they ran a small piece on me on page 10 as part of a larger article called “Unpacking Alumni: Success in Business.”

For some reason, they used the cover of the REVs comic rather than a photo of me, but that’s probably because the pictures of the other six alumni all look like they were taken on campus. I haven’t set foot in East Quad for over a decade, although I’m thinking about coming out for the school’s 40th anniversary party this fall. If any other alums out there might show up, let me know!

Aural Review

In the first episode of a brand-new podcast, “Nameless1,” Daniel Gaghan covers a number of female characters in his “Women in Fantasy Review.” The first book he tackles is none other than Marked for Death, my first Eberron novel. (The next one up is Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, and you can’t ask for better company than that.)

Daniel talks about the three main females in Marked for Death: Esprë, Sallah, and Te’oma. He’s particularly fond of Te’oma, a flawed but powerful woman. I wonder how he’ll feel about her when he gets to reading The Queen of Death? While I didn’t intend it at the outset, the Lost Mark Trilogy is, in many ways, Te’oma’s tale.

Origins Online Registration Starts Tomorrow

Registration for Origins – the second-largest gaming convention in North America, after Gen Con – goes live tomorrow, May 24, at noon Eastern Time. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m one of the gaming guests of honor at the show this year, and I hope to see you there.

At the moment, I don’t know what my schedule will be, and I’m not listed in the events right now. I suspect GAMA will get that all pulled together soon. I’ll let you know details as soon as I have them myself.

I’ll arrive sometime on Thursday, July 5, and stay through to Sunday, July 8. (Normally I’d come in on the Wednesday before the show so I could be there right when the convention starts, but I’m spending July 4 with my family instead.)

See the full press release after the break.
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RIP Angus McBride

Word is that Angus McBride has left us. Angus was a phenomenal artist, illustrating dozens of military history books for Osprey as well as many of the covers for Iron Crown‘s Middle-earth Roleplaying Game. I had the honor of having his artwork grace Cities of Middle-earth: Minas Tirith, to which I contributed some small bits.

Angus was always a professional, and his art made even the most fantastic things seem grounded and real. He created some of the best artwork ever seen for The Lord of the Rings, and he leaves behind a stunning body of work.

House Hunting

Ann and I are on the hunt for a new house. When we bought our three-bedroom/one-bath home, we only had us and Marty in the house, and we had plenty of room. Now we are seven, and the quads will be five years old in about three weeks. While we love our house, it’s bursting at the seams.

So, if any local readers know of a five-bedroom (or four plus a den) house with at least two bathrooms going up on the market in southern Wisconsin soon, be sure to let me know. On the flip side of that, if you know anyone interested in a wonderful 3 bed/1 bath, we should have one ready to sell in just a bit.

And, yes, handling all this cuts into my writing time, but that’s how life works. If I waited until I had the time to do something, I’d never do anything, right?