Angry Robot, the new imprint from HarperCollins that happens to be publishing two of my novels next year, is having its official UK launch party on October 10th, 2009, at the London Megastore location of Forbidden Planet. Come on out and meet authors Dan Abnett, Andy Remic, and Colin Harvey, plus the triumvirate of Angry Robots themselves: Marc Gascoigne, Lee Harris, and Chris Michaels. The event starts at 12:30 and ends at 2 PM. If you’re anywhere near the area and love great science-fiction and fantasy, be sure to stop by and say hi!
Interview in Game Writers Quarterly
The latest issue of Game Writers Quarterly–published by the Writers SIG of the IGDA–features a joint interview of several professionals about writing for excellent characters in video games. For this, they lumped me and my sometimes flip answers in with those of an all-star lineup of game writers including Armand Constantine, Rich Dansky, Christy Marx, and Rhianna Pratchett.
The newsletter is a free PDF, so be sure to check it out.
OgreCave Podcast Interview
While I was at PAX, Allan Sugarbaker of OgreCave.com asked me to sit and chat with him for a bit. He just posted the recording of our conversation in their Gaming News Update section. Stop by and listen to me ramble on about all sorts of things I either worked on or have in the works!
My Descent Adventure
While I was at Gen Con, I saw a preview copy of a book for which I wrote a small bit: Descent: Quest Compendium. This is an all-star jam book of 16 brand-new quests for Descent: Journeys Into the Dark from Fantasy Flight Games. Descent, for those who don’t know it, is a monstrous board game that comes in a massive box and plays like Dungeons & Dragons with all pretensions of roleplaying stripped clean out.
For this book, developer Will Hindmarch gathered together a host of top game designers, including Keith Baker, Monte Cook, Ken Hite, John Kovalic, Chris Pramas, Phil Reed, Mike Selinker, Jeff Tidball, J. D. Wiker, Kevin Wilson, Ray Winninger, Teeuwynn Woodruff, and–ah–me.
My quest is called “Pinball Wizard,” which allowed me to combine my love of the Who and Indiana Jones and blend it into a high-octane cocktail with old-style, “kick down the door, kill the monster, and take its stuff” gaming, garnished with a heaping helping of rolling boulders. I’m looking forward to checking out what everyone else chipped into the book and how they each gave the game their own unique spin too.
Guild Wars Novel Panel at PAX on YouTube
The savvy souls at ArenaNet managed to capture many of the panels the held at PAX on video. Better yet, they posted them on YouTube!
They recorded one panel I was on with Will McDermott and Eric Flannum, speaking about my upcoming novel based on Guild Wars 2. It’s in two parts, and you can see each below. This took place at 1:30 PM Pacific Time on September 5, 2009. Considering the long night before and the fact I was starting to fall ill that morning, I think I managed to be mostly articulate.
Check them out here, or go to YouTube to see Part 1 and Part 2 larger and in HD.
Geek.Kon Guest
After that last post, it might have seemed that I was all conned out for the year. Just when I think I’m free, though, they pull me back in!
The fine folks at Geek.Kon, a new geek culture convention in Madison, Wisconsin, have asked me to be one of their guests this year. I’m slated for a couple panels and will join in at the mass autographing sessions too. I hope to see you there!
PAX, the Flu, and Delays
I had a fantastic time at PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo) last weekend. Unfortunately, since then I’ve been laid up with some evil con crud, and that’s substantially changed a few things in my schedule.
Allow me to explain.
Guild Wars at PAX
The friendly folks at ArenaNet have posted their booth schedule for PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo), which takes place this weekend in Seattle. I’ll be there at the booth all three days, for a half-hour at a time, answering questions about my upcoming Guild Wars novel. If you’re there, please come by and say hi!
Specifically, I’ll be there Friday at 11:30 and 2:30, Saturday at 1:30, and Sunday at 10:30. Other times, I’ll either be wandering the floor, plotting for some future project, or holed up in my hotel room and trying to catch up with my deadlines.
Note that there are a lot of other events at the booth, including Q&As, giveaways of The Art of Guild Wars 2 book, and signings by the people who made that book possible. You’ll also be able to see the fantastic new trailer for Guild Wars 2 running there all weekend.
Meanwhile, feast your eyes on the cover of the novel. It showed up on the same page as the booth schedule. Sharp-eyed people might have seen it at the Simon & Schuster booth at Comic-Con, but as far as I know it’s the first time it’s been shown on the internet.
Hope to see you in Seattle!
Brave New World RPG by PDF
During Gen Con or thereabouts, to help celebrate the debut of the Brave New World: Revolutions film proof of concept, AEG and DriveThruRPG released the entire catalog of books from my Brave New World Roleplaying Game as PDFs. Though the game has been long out of print, you can now download all nine books (everything but the GM’s screen) instantly, all at substantial discounts off their original printed price. The core rulebook, for instance, is only $18.
If you’ve ever been interested in the game or the background behind the film, here’s your chance to get it without having to scour eBay for printed books. It’s been 10 years since the game first saw print. It’s great to have it back in circulation again.
Next Con Up: PAX
My calendar reminds me that I don’t have that long here at home before I’m off again. I’ll be at PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo) this year, helping ArenaNet stalwarts Jeff Grubb and Will McDermott push my upcoming Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 novel, Fall of Ascalon. Other than my schedule below, I’m free, so expect to see me running around, catching up with friends, and enjoying the show.
It’s been 20 years since I’ve been to Seattle. In 1989, my brother and two other guys from Ann Arbor drove straight through the night to make it to the NCAA Final Four and watch Michigan take it’s one and only basketball championship ever–in double overtime.
Now I can’t wait to get back. If you’re there too, be sure to grab me and say hi.
[Note: Schedule updated, 8/26]