The Star Trek movie toy set I designed for Playmates Toys is going on sale in August. The Star Trek Interactive Utility Belt comes with a phaser and communicator that allow you to interact with the belt and communicate with Starfleet Command. I designed the game play and wrote the dialog with some help from a couple of excellent TV writers–who I’m not sure I’m allowed to name at the moment.

There’s a wild story about my involvement with this that involves last year’s Comic-Con. While I’m at Comic-Con this week, I’ll have to see if I can get clearance to write about it. Once again, those non-disclosure agreements make me bite my tongue–which is why it took be so long to be able to mention this in the first place.

Now that it’s public knowledge, though, woot! I can’t wait to play.

The esteemed editor Jim Lowder has given a hundred or so people permission to release the list of essayists they’re joining for Family Games: The 100 Best, the follow-up to the award-winning Hobby Games: The 100 Best. I happen to be one of those lucky souls, and here’s that amazing list.

We can’t say what we’re writing about yet. The only real rule was that we couldn’t cover a game we worked on. That, of course, left plenty great games to choose from.

The book should be out in late August. I can’t wait to read it.

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While writing a bio for my essay for Hobby Games: The 100 Best, I realized that I’ve been working full-time as an author and game designer since I graduated from college in 1989, twenty years ago. It really doesn’t seem like I’ve been at it that long, but that’s likely because I enjoy doing it so much. In lots of ways, I still feel like I’m learning new things and taking on new challenges all the time, and that keeps me engaged and fresh in a way that I suspect working a regular job would not.

I’ve not ever had a full-time job outside of games. When I was younger I drove pizza, bagged groceries, worked a phone bank for the University of Michigan, and even managed a pizza place once a week. I worked as a course assistant for Eric Rabkin’s Science Fiction and Fantasy courses at Michigan, which wound up teaching me even more than when I took the courses while I was in school.

I had a series of short-lived jobs too. I worked one long night as a security guard at the University of Michigan Medical School and had to go poking through the gross anatomy lab with a flashlight in the dark. I was a bellhop at the Ocean Key House in Key West for two weeks. I never even showed up for the first day of work selling steak knives.

I’ve been a freelancer for most of that 20 years. I spent four years as the president of Pinnacle Entertainment Group after co-founding it with Shane Hensley. I ran the adventure gaming division–and served as the sole employee in that part of the company–at Human Head Studios for just under two years. But I still freelanced for other companies while in both of those positions.

Today, I’m a confirmed freelancer. I make more money this way and have far more freedom. I get to work on new and different things all the time. And honestly, I have a ball.

So, thanks! Thanks to all of you who make this possible. From the editors and creative directors who hire me all the way through to the readers and players who buy my stuff, thanks for a fantastic 20 years. As much hard work and fun as I’ve put into this haphazard excuse of a career, I could not have done it without you. Meeting and becoming friends with many of you has been one of the best parts of it all.

Here’s hoping the next 20 years will be just as amazing–and that you’ll be along for the ride.

The Fandom Association of Central Texas (FACT) is holding an auction to help author and game designer (and longtime pal) Aaron Allston with his staggering medical bills. As you might remember, Aaron suffered a heart attack in March and underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgery. This saved his life, and he’s now on the road to recovery.

Unfortunately, like many freelancers (and a staggering portion of Americans in general), Aaron has no health insurance. He’s determined to stick it through and pay off the debt, but for that he needs help. That’s where the auction comes in.

If you can make it to the fundraiser, please do. Otherwise, please consider donating something to it or contributing directly to Aaron’s medical fund.