Back from Gen Con!

I had a wonderful time at Gen Con this year, packing in as much fun, friends, and games as I could into the five days I spent at “the four best days in gaming.” It started out with the Diana Jones Award party on Wednesday night and wrapped up with a race through the exhibit hall with my son Marty as we tried to jam in as many demos as we could. The many, wonderful, and varied moments between those two posts are still pinging about in my brain.

I hope to have time to do a proper con report in the near future, but while I was gone the toilet in the bathroom over my den overflowed. We have workers in assessing the damage and drying everything out, a process that’s already involved removing about half the ceiling and carpet in the room and raising the blood pressure of our insurance adjuster. Nothing irreplaceable was damaged, and I had my laptop with me on the road, so all my work and data is safe (and I have both automatic onsite and offsite backups set anyhow). Now it’s just a matter of cleanup and repair and figuring out where I can set up shop until it’s all done.

Anyhow, thanks to everyone I met and hung out with at the show, either in seminars or games, meals or bars. You were all wonderful and made my year. I can’t wait to get back to Gen Con again.

Off to Gen Con!

I leave for Gen Con – a.k.a. Gamer Christmas in August – tomorrow morning, ready to take Indy by storm. If you’re going to be there too, be sure to hunt me down and say hi and share some dice or drinks.

I’ve added a couple new details to my schedule. I’m joining Cam Banks for Ryan Macklin’s podcast “This Just In… from Gen Con!” in the Caucus Room at the Westin at 11 on Thursday morning.

I should also be at the Catalyst Games booth from 4—5 on Saturday. I’m told they’ll have actual hard copies of Spells & Chrome for the rest of the authors and me to sign.

Plus I hope to be at the mass signing for Gameplaywright’s The Bones at the Indie Press Revolution booth. That’s from 1-2 on Sunday.

My full schedule is after the break. Hope you can join me there!

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Ghosts of Ascalon Out Now!

Actually, Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon hit stores yesterday, but I’ve been away from the computer for a few days and I’m just getting to write about it now. It’s available in numerous electronic formats as well as in the traditional flattened-tree-pulp version. If you put your mouse over the widget to the right, you should get a pop-up image that can steer you toward the right place to make your purchase. To whet your appetite, be sure to download a free PDF of the first chapter.

So far, the reviews for the book have been fantastic. My co-author, Jeff Grubb, has an excellent roundup of them on his site, and the four reviews on Amazon so far have all rated the book at five stars each. If sharp fantasy adventures set in a vividly built world are your thing, be sure to pick it up. I hope you get the chance to enjoy it!

Tied-In Released

The IAMTW has just released its first book, Tied In: The Business, History and Craft of Media Tie-In Writing. Edited by Lee Goldberg, the book features essays about all aspects of writing tie-in novels from Donald Bain, Max Allan Collins, Tod Goldberg, Elizabeth Massie, William C. Dietz, Aaron Rosenberg, Paul Kupperberg, Jeff Mariotte, Raymond Benson, Robert Greenberger, David Spencer, Greg Cox, Burl Barer, Jeff Ayers, Nancy Holder, Brandie Tarvin, Alina Adams and William Rabkin. There should be a hard-copy version available soon, but in the meantime you can pick up the Kindle version or other ebook versions for your e-reader for the low price of $2.99.

Keep your ear to the ground for the results of the IATMW’s Scribe Awards too. They’ll be given out Friday night at Comic-Con.

Beukes Takes London

Lauren Beukes – author of the excellent Moxyland and Zoo City, and fellow Angry Robot author – is due for a rare visit to London from her home in South Africa. During this, she has a signing at Forbidden Planet on July 29, from 6—7 PM. For this, you can order one of a limited edition of 100 hardcovers of Zoo City that are exclusive to Forbidden Planet. This is the first ever hardcover from Angry Robot, which makes it a fine collector’s item.

Lauren will also be a guest of the British Fantasy Association and the British Science Fiction Association during her trip. If you’re in the UK, be sure to hunt her down and grab a book fast. Look for all the details at the Angry Robot site.

I’m a Cheap/Dream Date

To help raise money for the ENnie Awards given out at Gen Con for the year’s best tabletop roleplaying games, the award committee asked me to serve as one of a slate of “dream dates” for the pre-ceremony VIP cocktail reception. This runs from 6:30 to 7:30 PM in the Westin Hotel Grand Ballroom IV. Because of the Reactor 88 events starting at 7:30 PM, I’m going to have to miss the ceremony, but I’ll be happy to hang around with the highest bidder for as much of the cocktail hour as you can tolerate me.

The winning bid includes a ticket to the reception, which normally goes for $35 alone. I’ll also toss in an autographed copy of my Mutant Chronicles novelization, pulled from my author’s stash.

The other dream dates include 12 to Midnight, Brennan Taylor, Cubicle 7, Gaming Paper, Jeff Tidball, Paizo Publishing, Pantheon Press, Posthuman Studios, Rite Publishing, Stan!, Triple Ace Games, White Wolf, and Wolfgang Baur. Bid for any one of us and help out the cause.

The minimum bid is $50, and at the moment I’m going stag. Don’t make me drink alone.