Jonny Nexus – he of Game Night fame – recently picked up Tied-In, the first book about tie-in novels from the IAMTW. He likes it a lot so far, but then he segues into naming his favorite tie-in novel of all time: Grease by Ron De Cristoforo.
I haven’t thought about it for years, but I read lots of these when I was a kid. My favorite at the time was a Welcome Back, Kotter novel by William Johnston. How about you? What’s your favorite?
If you speak German, be sure to look out for Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon – a.k.a Die Geister von Ascalon – in deutsch next week. It hits stores in Germany on August 24. If you can’t wait that long, head on over to GamesCom this weekend, at which my co-author Jeff Grubb will be reprising his Comic-Con role as official autographer of free copies of the book.
Gill Polack recently read my upcoming novel Amortals. In her review, she writes:
I keep wanting to use that old slogan “Tight, taut and terrific” about Amortals, which is accurate, but oh, so wrong. There’s not a wasted word. There’s not an idea that doesn’t make sense. I meant to start it tonight and finish other work, then finish it tomorrow, but it’s a read-at-one-sitting book so I’ve rescheduled some other things.
Thanks, Gill!
The fine folks at Angry Robot just posted their second podcast. This one – hosted again by the mellifluous Mur Lafferty – features Lauren Beukes and Kaaron Warren. I’ve read both of their first books, and I’m in the middle of Lauren’s Zoo City right now. They’re both excellent writers, so be sure to check them out, right after you listen to the podcast.
My friend John McLintock is running a series of contests to celebrate the 5th anniversary of his gaming blog “Roll Dice and Kick Ass!” As part of this, I’m donating a signed copy of Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon. You can also win games and books from other authors and designers like Bill King, Academy Games, Q-Workshop, Jim Swallow, and many more. Check John’s blog for all the details.
During all my running around at Gen Con, I wound up being recorded for three different podcasts. In the first, Cam Banks and I chatted with Ryan Macklin and Kevin Weiser for This Just In … From Gen Con! We ranged over a lot of topics, including the Smallville RPG and the Diana Jones Award. It was 11 AM on Gen Con Thursday, so we were all still relatively fresh.
Next, Jason Pintre recorded “The Intersection of Games and Stories,” a seminar that Jeff Tidball, Stan!, and I ran at 11 AM on Gen Con Saturday. Jason posted it on his Genesis of Legend Publishing site, along with a handful of others he enjoyed.
Finally, while Marty and I wandered around the exhibit hall on Gen Con Sunday, Don Dehm of Pulp Gamer dragged us into an all-star podcast he was recording with Mike Selinker, James Ernest, and Marcelo Figueroa. Guido Teuber, Lisa Stevens, Pete Fenlon, and Jean Vanaise popped through too, and Marty even commented on how much fun he was having.
For extra points, listen to all three in a row and hear how my voice deteriorates as the convention rolls along.
I mentioned before that the IAMTW put out an excellent e-book entitled Tied In: The Business, History and Craft of Media Tie-In Writing. Besides being out for the Kindle and other e-book formats, it’s also now available as a trade paperback. If you’re a fan of tie-ins and would like to know about how they make their way to you, be sure to pick it up.
My friend Jim Lowder recently appeared on WUWM – Milwaukee’s NPR station – to chat about Family Games: The 100 Best. Listen in to hear him wax philosophic about games for all people and how great they are.
Last Wednesday at Gen Con, I hosted the annual Diana Jones Award party, during which I was proud to announce that BoardGameGeek.com had won this year’s award. I’d tell you all about it, but fortunately Jeff Tidball recorded the whole thing. Watch the video for all the details.
Congratulations to Derk Solko, Scott Alden, and all the other people who make BoardGameGeek.com such a fantastic oasis on the Internet!
Freelancer extraordinaire Matt James went around Gen Con and asked people to bless his dice. Wil Wheaton does the hammiest best job of it, but there are lots of great bits here. I was happy to be included too (at about 1:55), if only so I could make some use of all those years of Catholic School.