My Gen Con Schedule

Gen Con is coming at us light a freight train charging through a hot summer night. It’s my favorite show of the year, and I’ve once again been named an Industry Insider Guest of Honor. I’m also taking part in the Writer’s Symposium, helping present the latest news on the InSpectres film on Friday evening, and sitting down for a signing on Saturday.

This will be my 30th Gen Con in a row, and my birthday falls on the show’s first day. My wife and kids will join me for at least part of the show. That gives me lots of reasons to celebrate, and I hope you’ll join me for as much of that as you can.

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Outcast Interview on YouTube

On Tuesday, I took part in the Ask Outcast podcast, hosted by James Jones. We chatted about all sorts of things, ranging from games to novels to Star Wars vs. Star Trek and back. The whole thing lasted nearly an hour.

If you missed the live version of it, you can now sit down and watch me babble on with James on YouTube below.

Join Me at the ENnies Cocktail Hour

To help support the ENnies – the premiere tabletop roleplaying game awards – I’ve agreed to let them auction off the chance to have a drink or three with me before the ENnies Awards ceremony at Gen Con this year. This is Friday, August 5th, at 5:30pm in the 500 Ballroom. I have an event later in the evening, so I can’t stick around for the entire ceremony, but I’d be happy to chat with you right up until the moment I have to leave.

To help sweeten the pot, I’ll bring the winner copies of Amortals, Vegas Knights, and Star Wars vs. Star Trek, and I’ll sign/personalize them as requested. All proceeds go toward supporting the ENnies and their ongoing mission to recognize the best efforts and achievements in RPGs. The auction lists my condition as “new,” which is more generous than I’d be, but at least the books will be pristine.

So, place a bid, and hopefully I’ll see you at Gen Con!

Carnage & Consequences Open for Orders

For the second year in a row, the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium authors have assembled an anthology of short stories in time for release at Gen Con Indy. Marc Tassin did all the heavy lifting (and an excellent job) as the editor this year, and Steve Sullivan published the book through his Walkabout Publishing. This year’s volume is called Carnage & Consequences, and it features stories from Anton Strout, Michael A. Stackpole, Jean Rabe, Donald J. Bingle, Linda P. Baker, Kelly Swails, Wes Nicholson, Maurice Broaddus, Jennifer Brozek, Dylan Birtolo, and Mary Louise Eklund, plus Marc, Steve, and even me.

My story, “Goblintown Justice,” is the second set in my Shotguns & Sorcery world. It’ll come out before the first one I wrote, “Friends Like These,” which is slated to appear in The New Hero II, edited by Robin Laws for the new Stone Skin Press. Knowing that, though, I set them up so you can read them in any order.

Marc liked “Goblintown Justice” so much that he grabbed a slice of it for the teaser page for the anthology. Orders for the book are now open and should arrive in time for Gen Con. Savvy readers heading for the show might see this as an excellent opportunity to get a copy signed by loads of the book’s authors. And they’d be right.

To whet your appetite, here’s that excerpt Marc picked for the book:

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Origins Awards 2011

On a happier note, the winners of the 2011 Origins Awards were announced at the Origins Game Fair last night. Congratulations to all the winners, especially the folks behind the Dresden Files RPG, which swept the roleplaying game section!

I had bits in two nominated items this year: Family Games: The 100 Best, edited by Jim Lowder, and Shadowrun: Spells and Chrome, edited by John Helfer. Both were up for Best Gaming Publication and against some stiff competition. Despite that, Shadowrun: Spells and Chrome took home the trophy! Big congratulations to all my fellow authors involved in that book, but especially to John, who put together a fantastic collection.

Good-Bye, Martin Greenberg

Yesterday I learned that Martin H. Greenberg passed away. He was one of the great anthologists of SF and fantasy, and I cannot tell you how many of his collections I’ve read over the years. As a boy, I discovered him from his work with Isaac Asimov, and I always marveled at how often his name cropped up since then and how many fantastic authors he worked with.

While I was in college, I heard about him as a teacher from my pal Blaze Miskulin, who took classes from Dr. Greenberg at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. I had some great profs in school, but that one made me jealous.

Recently, I had a short story published in Hot & Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance, which Dr. Greenberg edited, along with Jean Rabe. I worked directly with Jean on the project and had no real contact with him, but it still gave me a thrill to see his name on the cover of an anthology in which some of my work appeared.

Dr. Greenberg brought a lot of happiness, knowledge, and fun to his authors, students, and readers. My deepest condolences, though, to his friends and family, who will miss him far more than the rest of us. We’re all poorer without him.

Another Fine Vegas Knights Review

Over at The Fringe, Scott Wilson read Vegas Knights and enjoyed it. In his review, he writes:

Vegas Knights is populated by a varied, realistic cast, all of whom are fun to read about… The dialogue is crisp and realistic… and Forbeck has created a rather winning ’system’ of magic and how it affects the real world.

Star Wars vs. Star Trek Review, Giveaway, and Podcast

Adam at Jedi News just gave Star Wars vs. Star Trek a solid review. Among other things, he writes:

Whether or not you agree with the results of each comparison (and in all honesty, the author appears to have had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek in conjuring up many of the scenarios), the book provides a lighthearted view of how the galaxy might look if the Trek and the Wars were to share the same space and time.

Meanwhile, over at Hollywood Jesus, they’re giving away three free copies of the book. Click on over to get your chance to pick one up.

Also, I’ll be chatting with the folks at AskOutcast.com about the book next Tuesday at 8PM Eastern Time. You can send in questions ahead of time to questions@askoutcast.com, or you can try me or them during the show too.

Deadlands Fiction Is Back

Over at Pinnacle, they’re reissuing the Deadlands Dime Novels, a combination of a short story and an adventure for the Deadlands roleplaying game, in PDF format. I wrote a bunch of these back in the day, including Independence Day, Strange Bedfellows, Savage Passage, and Ground Zero.

If you’re not a gamer and would just like to read the fiction, Pinnacle’s set the Wayback Machine for 1997 so they can separate out the two halves of the dime novels and offer readers just that. You can now download a PDF of the fiction-only version of Independence Day too.

Danforth on eBay

My son Marty is still posting more things on eBay. This week, he has a couple of gems from the collection of Liz Danforth. These include the rulebook from the Champions 2nd Edition boxed set and the extremely rare City of Carse from Midkemia Press, a generic fantasy sourcebook published in 1980. The current bid is 99¢, but these often go for more than $60 through online stores.

He has a number of other things from my collection up there too, including some stuff from Shatterzone and the Star Trek RPG. Check in for more later today too.

The kid’s working on saving up enough money for an iPad. Give him a hand. He’s almost there.