I haven’t run any Kickstarter drives of my own since last September. Expect that to change soon, but in the meantime, I’ve been asked to help out with a number of other Kickstarters in which my work is either featured or set as a stretch goal. In the past, that’s included:

• Robin Laws’s Hillfolk
• James Wallis’s Alas Vegas
• John Wick’s Wicked Fantasy
• Savage Mojo’s Dungeonlands
• Christian and Jody Lindke’s Cthulhu Claus Greeting Cards
• Gareth Michael-Skarka’s Far West
• Stone Skin Press’s Fiction Anthologies
• Zombie Orpheus’s The Gamers: Hands of Fate
• Reaper’s Bones

At the moment, a couple of current Kickstarters have my work as stretch goals for them too. First up is Rite Publishing’s Lords of Gossamer and Shadow, a diceless roleplaying game based on Eric Wujick’s Amber Diceless Roleplaying. This is written by my friend Jason Durall.

The drive already hit its initial goal and smashed through the first couple stretch goals. If it cracks $20,000, I’ll write an original world for the game. Since it’s currently over $17k with 23 days to go, there’s an excellent chance that’ll happen.

The second drive is TimeOut Diversion’s relaunch of Larry Elmore’s Sovereign Stone RPG as a Pathfinder setting. It smashed through its initial goal in under 8 hours, and it’s heading for the stretch goals now. It’s already up over $15k, and if it cracks $20k, I’ll be writing a new short story for the setting. Since it’s only been running for a day and has 34 days left, I’m confident this will happen, and I’ll get to work with the incredible Larry Elmore.

In any case, if you like excellent games, be sure to check those two projects out. I’m looking forward to working on them soon.

Whoops! And there’s one more!

(Yes, I’m that busy.)

I forgot to mention Trigger Happy, a new roleplaying game about violent vengeance from my friend Caias Ward, featuring artwork from my pal Aaron Acevedo. (Aaron created the Crescent City map for Matt Forbeck’s Brave New World, among many other things.) The drive is already more than 75% of its way to its $4,000 goal. If it hits $5,000, I’ll contribute a short story to the book too.

Trigger Happy has 28 days to go, so that looks like it’ll be a go too. Be sure to check it out too!

Um, one more? 

(Really, really crazy busy.)

My involvement with this game hasn’t been officially announced yet, but be sure to check out Witch Hunter: The Invisible World 2nd Edition. If you enjoy things like Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane stories, you’ll love this. Henry Lopez and his team at Paradigm Concepts did a wonderful job with the first edition, and I’m looking forward to this one too.

It’s already 38% funded and has 26 days to go. My stretch goal hasn’t been announced yet, but I’m hoping it will soon. Be sure to give it your due consideration.

The last issue of the full dozen Magic: The Gathering comics I wrote for IDW hits stores and Comixology today. Along with marvelous artist Martín Cóccolo (with help from Christian Duce and Atilio Rojo), colorist J. Edwin Stevens, and letterer Shawn Lee – plus a fantastic array of stunning cover artists – I’ve helped chronicle the adventures of mage-thief Dack Fayden as he stalks the planes in search of justice. In this final installment, he finally finds it.

Thanks to all my fellow creators for making this vision of mine real. I especially want to thank my editors on the series. Denton Tipton guided the creation of the series, and then Carlos Guzman took over with help from John Barber and brought the entire thing to life. (I just come up with the words. The editors are the people who bring everyone together to make the story into an actual comic.)

Here’s a free preview of the final issue. Check it out and then grab the whole thing when you can. I had a great time following Dack through his grand adventures, and I hope you did (or will!) too.

Once you’ve done that, though, let me recommend a couple of great comics for you to read. Last year, Mark Waid and John Rogers launched a new webcomics site called Thrillbent.com. It’s showcased all sorts of talent, but the two highlights are Mark’s Insufferable (now starting its second story arc) and John’s Arcanum.

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Last year, Jason Pitre of Genesis of Legend contacted me about editing a fiction anthology based on his upcoming Spark Roleplaying Game. I liked the game and Jason’s ideas for the book, so I signed on. He launched a Kickstarter for the game back on March 12, and today he announced the anthology as a stretch goal for the drive.

We’ve already lined up a number of fantastic authors for the book. They include:

• Mur Lafferty (Parsec Award winning Host of the “I Should be Writing” Podcast)
• Mike Resnick (five-time Hugo Award winner)
• J. Daniel Sawyer (Author of The Antithesis Progression)
• Greg Stolze (Game designer of the Unknown Armies RPG and prolific author)
• Alasdair Stuart (Host of the “Pseudopod” and co-host of the “Escape Pod” podcasts )

If the drive hits its stretch goal, everyone who backs the drive at the $10 level or greater gets a copy of the ebook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats. Otherwise, it won’t happen, at least for now.

The drive ends on April 12, just four days from now. Jason has set the anthology as the drive’s final goal at $16,000. The drive’s already up to almost $8,500 as I write this, but that’s a long way to go within so little time. If it sounds like fun to you – especially if you like games like Spark – consider backing the drive. Either way, if you could help spread the word, I’d appreciate it.

Here’s hoping the drive makes that last goal, as I’d love to read those stories, and I think you’d enjoy them too.

The last anthology in my trilogy of recent write-ups is GI Joe: Tales from the Cobra Wars. This is a re-release of the book that came out from IDW a couple years ago as a trade paperback, but this time it’s being brought out as both a mass-market paperback and an ebook in partnership with Open Road Media.

The book was edited by Max Brooks of World War Z fame, who’s about as big a GI Joe fan as you’ll ever come across. My old pal Jeff Conner did a great (uncredited) job setting it all up as well. The book features stories from Jonathan Maberry, Duane Swierczynski, Dennis Tafoya, John McGoran, and John Skipp & Cody Goodfellow, and it features interior illustrations by Michael Montenat. The stunning cover comes from Gabriele Dell’Otto.

My story, “Just a Game,” posits that Destro has been laundering money through the unregulated economies of MMORPGs, and it’s up to a team of Joes to put a stop to it. This brings Duke and Scarlett to Siberia along with Barrel Roll and the geeky Braintrust, who’s perhaps better suited to driving a desk than a special op. I had a ball playing in this universe, and if you’re a fan of GI Joe, or even just sharp stories of international intrigue, you’ll enjoy the book.