Shotguns & Sorcery: The Omnibus Is Here!

Hardcopy editions, clockwise from top left:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, DriveThru hardcover, and DriveThru softcover.

Today you can finally get the new ebook and hard copy editions of Shotguns & Sorcery: The Omnibus. This 610-page book contains all six Shotguns & Sorcery stories written to date, including:

– “Friends Like These” (short story)
– “Goblintown Justice” (short story)
– Hard Times in Dragon City (novel)
– Bad Times in Dragon City (novel)
– End Times in Dragon City (novel)

Plus, a brand-new story written for this book, which you can’t get elsewhere at the moment:

– “The Job Never Ends” (novelette)

Early sales can really help a book, so please grab a copy soon if you’d like. Either way, I’d appreciate you spreading the word to your friends and neighbors. Every little bit helps.

Formats

Left to right: Amazon, DriveThru softcover, DriveThru hardcover, Barnes & Noble

You can get Shotguns & Sorcery: The Omnibus as an ebook just about anywhere you want. If you prefer to buy it directly, I take payments for that via Gumroad, but please get it whatever way you like.

Most ebook vendors sell the ePub edition of the book. Amazon sells the Mobi/Kindle edition. Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble have the ePub version. If you buy through Gumroad or DriveThruFiction, you get a zip file with the ePub, Mobi, and PDF editions. I don’t use DRM on any of the versions.

You can also find paper versions in three different places. Amazon has a thick paperback edition with a matte finish. DriveThruFiction has it in a glossy paperback and a gaming-style hardback, and Barnes and Noble has it (currently on pre-order) in a traditional hardcover with a dust jacket.

The Barnes & Noble dust jacket edition.

Prices

It can be hard to parse all the costs and such out, so let me break down the prices for you.

  • Ebook: $9.99 (no matter where you buy it)
  • DriveThruFiction softcover: $19.99 (comes with ebooks)
  • DriveThruFiction hardcover: $24.99 (comes with ebooks)
  • Amazon softcover: $24.99
  • Barnes & Noble hardcover with dust jacket: $34.99

These vary as they do because of the printing prices the vendors charge. DriveThruFiction charges me less to print, and I pass that savings on to you. However, DriveThru charges for shipping, and you might be able to snag yourself free shipping at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. It roughly balances out.

Editions

Outland Entertainment released a paperback version of this book in 2019, but only in limited numbers, and it’s now out of print. You may find a few copies still in stores, but they won’t last long. You can tell it by the slightly different cover, which has a lot more words on it.

I personally polished this latest version, making a few minor corrections here and there and laying it out in a more open format, which bumped it from 448 pages to 610. If you’re one of the lucky ones who snagged that earlier release, there’s no need to replace that version with this latest, definitive version. If you liked it, though, don’t be shy of leaving a review at your favorite booky places. Thanks!

The Best Decision I Ever Made

There’s a long version of this story that I like to tell at conventions, maybe over beers, and that I’ll someday write down properly for my memoir. Here’s the short one.

Thirty-some years ago – fresh out of college and on a student work visa – I somehow miraculously landed a dream job as an editor and game developer at the Games Workshop Design Studio in Nottingham, England. That’s where they make legendary games like Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, which countless people around the globe play today.

While I was there, I worked on games lines like Space Hulk and Blood Bowl, among many others. I had the time of my life and made many amazing friends, including especially my roommate at the row house we found in the Meadows. You might know him as bestselling author William King now, but back then he was just my best pal Bill. As for the rest of them, well, I’d list them all and the effects they had on my life, but this is the short version.

After six months, my visa was about to expire, and Phil Gallagher – the head of the studio at the time – offered to make the job permanent. Despite that, I longed to return to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to be with my girlfriend, who’d already suffered through six months of a long-distance relationship with me. She still had years to go to get her Masters in Social Work, and if I was going to be in the UK during all that, she rightly informed me that we’d have to break it off.

This was back in the pre-internet days of 1990, when things like FaceTime were dreams of science fiction and the letters I wrote to her every evening took days to make it across the ocean. Phone calls were $3 per minute. It wouldn’t last.

Even then, though – young as I was – I knew that I could always hunt down another dream job, but I’d have a hard time finding someone I loved nearly as much. I gave Phil my notice and – after an epic farewell pub crawl that began at the oldest pub in England and staggered about under a full lunar eclipse’s blood-red moon – I headed home.

I arrived back in Ann Arbor thirty years ago today – just before Valentine’s Day – and that long-ago girlfriend is now Ann Forbeck, my wife of 27 years and the mother of our five fantastic kids. My hero, my rock, and my love.

Far and away the best decision I ever made.

This is the goodbye card the folks at the studio made for me. It’s a copy of the cover of the Space Hulk supplement Deathwing, my first major project I worked on there. It’s glued to one of the paste-up boards we used in the days before desktop publishing, and it’s signed by just about everyone I worked with. My father had it framed for me, and it hangs on the wall of my office to this day.

Join Me at M+DEV

This Friday – February 14, 2020 – I’m scheduled to be a speaker at M+DEV, a video game developers conference held at the Allianz Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. I spoke at the inaugural event two years ago, and I’m delighted that they invited me back.

I’ll be speaking at 3:15 PM on “Writing for Video Games.” The rest of the time, I’ll be wandering around, catching up with old friends, meeting new people, and enjoying the rest of the talks.

They have a tremendous lineup of guests, including Felix Kramer, Nika Nour, Allison Salmon, David Gagnon, Brian Pelletier, Stephen Dineheart, and many more. If you work in the field – or have any interest in doing so – join us! You’ll learn a ton and hopefully have loads of fun too.

Shotguns & Sorcery Omnibus Arrives Next Week!

Shotguns & Sorcery: The Omnibus is due out next week on Tuesday, February 18. This 610-page volume contains every Shotguns & Sorcery story written to date, including two short stories:

– “Friends Like These”
– “Goblintown Justice”

Three short novels:

– Hard Times in Dragon City (novel)
– Bad Times in Dragon City (novel)
– End Times in Dragon City (novel)

And a brand-new novelette I wrote especially for this book:

– “The Job Never Ends”

Pre-orders are open for the ebook editions now.

I’m happy to take your payment via Gumroad, if you want to buy it direct from me, but please snag it at any online retailer you like:

– Amazon Kindle
– Apple Books
– Nook
– Google Play
– Kobo

My pals at DriveThruFiction don’t have a pre-order function built yet, but I’ll flip the switch for the book there on the due date.

Note that if you buy the book through Gumroad or DriveThruFiction, you get a zip file with all major ebook varieties: ePub, Mobi, and PDF.

You can also find paper versions in three different places, and those should go on sale on the 18th too. Amazon will have a matte-finish paperback edition. DriveThruFiction will have it in glossy paperback and a gaming-style hardback, and Barnes and Noble will have it in a traditional hardcover with a dust jacket.

Unlike most of my books these days, I’m self-publishing this one. That means I don’t have a staff of sales and marketing people pushing this into stores and readers’ hands. I only have friends and fans like you. So, please let people know about the book and where they can get it.

If you happen to have a copy already, please do me the kindness of leaving a glowing review at your favorite site. You’d be surprised how much that helps sell books too.

Thanks for all your help!

S&S Omnibus Hard Copy Samples Are In

These beauties recently showed up on my doorstep.

As I announced yesterday, pre-orders for Shotguns & Sorcery: The Omnibus are now open. The way the various online retailers sell these, I can only set up pre-orders for ebooks, but I’m planning on making paper copies available as well. You’ll just have to wait until February 18 to purchase them.

The one on the top comes from Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service and has a matte finish, which looks pretty sharp. The other two come from DriveThruFiction, and they both have glossy covers. The hardcover (on the right) has the cover laminated straight to the boards, much like you’d see with a textbook or a gaming book.

The one from Amazon (on the left) is actually as thick as the hardcover from DriveThruFiction. That’s because it’s printed on slightly thicker paper. Over the course of 610 pages, that makes a noticeable difference.

I’m also waiting on a copy from Barnes & Noble that comes as a hardcover with a dust jacket. Once I get them all in and get a good look at them, I’ll figure out the exact prices. They’ll probably range from $20-$30 each, depending on the covers.

If you have Amazon Prime, you might wind up with free shipping on the book through them. If you order through DriveThruFiction, I believe you’ll pay shipping, but you’ll also get the ebook edition packaged in with the hard copy for free. And if you go with Barnes & Noble, you’ll get the classy (and most expensive) dust jacket version instead.

One fan recently asked about the availability of signed copies. I’ve never bothered much with selling those direct before, but if there’s a call for it, I’ll see what I can work out. They’ll be at least a little bit extra to cover the shipping and such. If you’re interested in such a thing, let me know.

Shotguns & Sorcery
Returns Home

Back in January of 2015, Outland Entertainment ran a successful Kickstarter to bring out Shotguns & Sorcery: The Roleplaying Game, based on the series of novels and stories by New York Times-bestselling author Matt Forbeck. Despite a series of delays, the last of the core rulebooks are being shipped to backers this month. 

The term for the initial license for the game has expired, and the rights to it have reverted to Matt. He and his company, Full Moon Enterprises, will be publishing the game from this point forward. As part of this amicable parting, Full Moon is helping Outland wrap up the last bits of its Kickstarter obligations, and Jeremy Mohler – CEO of Outland – plans to continue to provide his amazing artwork for the game. 

Look for a public release of Shotguns & Sorcery: The Roleplaying Game in PDF and POD formats this spring. Meanwhile, Full Moon Enterprises is releasing the ebook and POD editions of Shotguns & Sorcery: The Omnibus – a collection of all the existing Shotguns & Sorcery stories and novels, plus a brand new novelette – on February 18. Pre-orders are already available on your favorite ebook sites. 

If you need further information, please contact Matt at matt@forbeck.com. 

Thank you for your support!

Heading to Gamehole Con!

This weekend, I’m attending my last convention of the year – and one of my favorites – Gamehole Con. It’s a wonderful show held in Madison, Wisconsin, less than an hour from my house, and it’s grown larger and better every year. They focus on tabletop roleplaying games – Dungeons & Dragons in particular, but far from exclusively – and they’re family friendly and community oriented. For example, the show opens on Halloween this year, and they’ve set up an in-convention trick-or-treat that’s free to the public.

I’m running a couple games there and appearing on a panel. For a good chunk of it, though, I’m just going to be playing games with my kids and catching up with friends. Hope to see you there!

More Endless Quest Books!

Today is the US debut for two more books in my Dungeons & Dragons: Endless Quest series. These are pick-a-path books for readers ages 10 and up, and they take place in some of the most famous settings for the world’s most popular tabletop roleplaying game.

The new ones are Escape from Castle Ravenloft and The Mad Mage’s Academy. In Escape from Castle Ravenloft, you are a cleric who’s been captured by the immortal Baron Strahd von Zarovich, and you have to escape his castle before the vampire lord makes you one of his minions. This is much easier said than done.

In The Mad Mage’s Academy, you’re a rogue who’s been hired to steal a spell book from the Mad Mage Halaster himself. To do so, you pose as a young wizard who wants to study under Halaster at his academy, located deep in the heart of the massive dungeon known as Undermountain. Unfortunately, you don’t know any actual magic, so you have to act fast before you’re found out.

You can purchase both books in the US, starting today. I understand they’ll be available in the UK starting on September 19.

In other wild news, all six books will be available as audiobooks early next year. I’m not sure how they’re going to handle the branching paths in the books, but I’m eager to find out!

Hello, Halo Outpost!

This weekend, I’m heading off to Halo Outpost Discovery in Anaheim, California. HOD is a multi-media traveling celebration of all things related to Halo, and Anaheim is the last stop of this summer’s inaugural tour. They’ve called in a bunch of special guests to help them cap everything off, including loads of Halo writers and actors like Steve Downes and Jen Taylor, who give voice to Master Chief and Cortana, respectively.

I’ll be there for a signing on Saturday at 5 PM, along with Kelly Gay and my old pal Troy Denning. On Sunday, I’m on a panel about Halo novels with Troy, Kelly, and Jeff Easterling at 12:15 PM. After that, Kelly, Troy and I will be signing again from 2—3 PM.

Beyond all that, I’ll be wandering around, enjoying the exhibits and fun myself. I’m a Halo fan from back before the game was even announced, and I’m looking forward to being dazzled all weekend long. If you’re in the area, come out and join me!

See You at Gen Con!

This is my favorite show of the year. I never miss it. I started going when I was a kid, and this will be my 38th in a row. Better yet, it falls across my birthday once again, so there’s double reason to celebrate.

If you’re a tabletop gamer of any stripe and have the time and means to make it to Indianapolis this week, you should be at Gen Con. Here’s my schedule for this year’s show. I hope to see you there!

Wednesday, July 31

  • 9 PM: The Diana Jones Award party. I host this private event for industry professionals every year to help kick off the show on Gen Con Eve.

Thursday, August 1

  • 11 AM: Fireside with Peter Adkison. I’ll be one of the guests chatting with Peter Adkison, founder of Wizards of the Coast and co-owner of Gen Con, about the convention’s history.

Friday, August 2

Saturday, August 3

  • 10 AM:I Want to Be a Writer. Where Do I Start? What are the qualifications you need to be a writer? Or do you really just need a pen, a chair, and a prayer? Robyn Bennis, Aaron Rosenberg, Karen Bovenmyer, and I discuss it.
  • 11 AM: Passing Story Time Without Losing Readers. The pace of your story is as important as the plot and the characters. Tee Morris, Melissa Olson, and Elizabeth Vaughan, and I discuss the passage of time in fiction.
  • 12 PM: Can Playing Games Help You Write?Many authors in the science fiction and fantasy genre are also gamers, but does it make them better writers? Bruce Cordell, Gregory A. Wilson, Kirk Dougal, and I discuss our experiences.
  • 4 PM: Signing with Matt Forbeck. The one official signing slot I have at the show. Come say hi!