My pal John Kovalic does many great things. He illustrates games like Apples to Apples and Munchkin. He draws the Dork Tower comic strip. He even plays a mean game of Fiasco. He dotes on his terribly dotable wife and daughter. And he does his best to help those in need.

Case in point, John’s riding his bike for 60 miles on Sunday to help get farm-fresh food to needy families around Madison. He did the same thing last year and raised $4,000. This time around, he set his goal at $5,000, and he blew straight past it. He’s now well over $11,000, and the drive doesn’t end until Sunday.

As an act of gratitude, John assembled a package of ebooks to give to those who back the drive. It features a stack of wonderful comics by him and his regular co-conspirators, and he’s giving away Munchkin artwork to some of the backers as well. On top of that, he asked some of his friends to help him show his appreciation to all those chipping in–and John has amazing friends.

I’m tossing in a free ebook of Dangerous Games: How to Play for everyone who donates, plus John asked me to write him a limerick. (Nothing like leaning on my Irish heritage for a good cause!) But he also lined up several other heavyweight authors to write limericks too, including:

• Neil Gaiman
• Pat Rothfuss
• Chuck Wendig
• Brian Keene
• Anton Strout
• C. Robert Cargill
• Andrew Hackard

Better yet, John (and possibly some of his artist friends) are going to illustrate each of the limericks. And to top it all off, the Doubleclicks have vowed to set Pat’s limerick to music!

So, head on over to John’s blog and check out the full roundup of glorious, fun things you can get. (He’s adding new things often, so the list may grow.) Then check out his Bike the Barns pledge page and give what you can. And make John bike like the wind!

Yesterday, Magic: The Gathering: The Complete Collection came out from IDW. This collects all of the Magic: The Gathering comics published by IDW over the past few years, including twelve I wrote and another five by Jason Ciaramella. Artist Martin Cóccolo did a fantastic job with the the bulk of the pencils and inks for the entire run, and J. Edwin Stevens breathed life into my issues with his amazing colors.

The book also features the original, stunning covers by some of the top artists in the industry, including Alex Horley, Dan Scott, Aleksi Briclot, Carl Kopinski, Christopher Moeler, Chris Rahn, and Ryan Pancoast. It also shows many of the variant covers by artists like Tyler Walpole and Menton3.

It’s a heavy book, weighing in at 3.5 pounds. It’s taller and wider than the original comics, and it’s printed on top-quality paper that shows off every bit of the excellent art. The cover features a gold-foil logo and embossed icons from the game. It’s a thing of true beauty that would grace any shelf.

I hear the writing’s not too bad either.

Go grab it from your local comic shop or your favorite bookseller, and enjoy the Magic.

At the moment, I’m tangentially involved in two different monster-themed Kickstarters: Cthulhu Claus Holiday Cards Wave 2 and Goblin Quest.

In the first, the talented Jody Lindke (who provided illustrations for Monster Academy: I Will Not Eat People) returns for a second round of holiday cards featuring the creepy yet merry Cthulhu Claus. These feature inscriptions from the master of all things Lovecraft, Ken Hite.

I backed the first set (of course), and the cards were just as excellent as you would expect. They’re almost too good to send out, but at the same time too much fun to keep to yourself.

I’ve been friends with Jody’s husband Christian for many years, which is how I wound up having Jody’s excellent artwork in my first Monster Academy book. For this drive, she’s offered to come up with illustrations for the second Monster Academy book as well–if the project funds.

That’s not “if we make it to a higher stretch goal.” It’s “if the project succeeds at all.”

That’s terribly generous of Jody, but the project does need some love. It’s just over 40% of the way funded at the moment, and there’s only three days left, so please check that one out fast.

Up second, game designer Grant Howitt has a hilarious tabletop roleplaying game called Goblin Quest up on Kickstarter right now too. This project has already raised more than five times as much as its initial funding goal of £2,000, and it still has nine days left.

Grant lined up a number of famous game designers to write sets of short adventure seeds for Goblin Quest. The pack I’m in already funded at the £10,000 level, so if you back the game, you’ll get some fun bits from me for sure. And there’s an excellent chance you’ll see more pieces from folks like Robin Laws, Rob Heinsoo, James Wallis, and even Ken Hite, who’s writing the Cthulhu Claus cards too.

While I have your attention, allow me to call out a few other drives I’ve backed with my own hard-earned cash.

• Girls on Games: A Look at the Fairer Side of the Industry: A book about women in tabletop games, edited by Elisa Teague and featuring friends like Nicole Lindroos, Peggy Brown, Tanis O’Connor, Gaby Weilding, Teeuwynn Woodruff, Jennifer Brozek, Carol Monahan, Jessica Blair, and Mike Selinker.
• Hero Happy Hour: On the Rocks: A graphic novel by Dan Taylor and Chris Fason. Funny stuff about superheroes and their favorite bar.
• Designers & Dragons: A history of the roleplaying game industry by Shannon Appelcline. I helped Shannon with a few facts for the excellent first edition, and this one promises to be even better.
• Mutiny of Dreamers: A book project about achieving your dreams, by Melissa Hawks, who used to live here in Beloit.
• Kaptain Brawe 2: A Space Travesty: An adventure video game written by Steven Ince.

Thanks to everyone who downloaded Dangerous Games: How to Play for free early last week and entered the drawing to win three free passes to Gen Con. It took me three tries to find a winner who could make it to the show and put the passes to use. Fortunately, the earlier winners (Wayne Humfleet and Scott Fields) were happy to pass them on to someone who would get to enjoy them. They went to Dino Liapis of Skokie, Illinois! 

Stay tuned for more Gen Con news!

My pal Mike Stackpole helps run Fiction for a Cure, a Relay for Life event that takes place in Second Life. (To give that a linkbait headline: BESTSELLING AUTHORS FIGHT CANCER IN ONLINE VIRTUAL WORLD.) This year, he asked a number of other authors to donate books and other items for the cause. This includes other all-star authors Diana Gabaldon, Tracy & Laura Hickman, R. A. Salvatore, Claudia Christian, Kevin J. Anderson, Stephen R. Donaldson, Alan Dean Foster, John Kovalic, and Patrick Rothfuss. And I’m pitching in too!

Fiction for a Cure started on July 11 and runs through the 18th, and it takes place on the American Cancer Society island in Second Life. Events include classes and readings, and the whole thing culminates in a live auction of books and other cool fictiony bits on the final day. Items for the auction include signed books, games, graphic novels, and rare collectibles. Plus, you can even be Tuckerized (which means you can have yourself or a friend written into a future story by one of the authors).

Fiction for a Cure also includes five raffle packages featuring gift cards donated by the best content creators in Second Life. Every ticket, which costs L250, includes L250 credit to Clutter for Builders.

I’ve donated a couple of things to the cause. For the silent auction, you can pick up an autographed hardcover copy of my Dangerous Games omnibus. This collects all three of my Dangerous Games books under a single cover, and it’s so far only been available to the fine folks who backed the Kickstarter drive that funded that series. [Actually, this is up in the live auction!]

For the live auction on July 18, I’ve put up a Tuckerization that can get your name into my upcoming novel Loot Drop, which should be published by Tor sometimes in 2015. [This isn’t up yet, but it may be in either the silent or the live auction, depending on where Mike needs it.]

Mike explains it pretty well on his site too. It’s a great event for a worthy cause, so be sure to visit and check out all the goodies up for bids.