The Marvel Encyclopedia, Revised

TMEcover.jpgAlthough it’s not been officially announced, I can now tell you a little bit about the book that’s sucked up most of my time for the past few months: a revised edition of The Marvel Encyclopedia for Dorling Kindersley. This is an updated version of the original edition, released in 2006, and I’m told it should be available starting in October of 2009.

I had a wonderful time working on this book, and it gave me an excuse to read more comics than I have in a long time. I had to go through the book, identify the entries that needed updating–plus suggest new ones to include–and then make all of the changes. My editor, Alastair Dougal, did an excellent job keeping me on track and making sure I filled in all the holes I’d uncovered, and layout guru Robert Perry did a great job of gathering the best illustrations we could find and making the book look even better than ever.

I’ll let you know more about the book as it gets closer to its release. In the meantime, I think I need to make an assault on the editorial walls of Marvel Comics. Anyone out there have any leads? I doubt I’ll ever know more about the Marvel multiverse than I do right now.

Explanation Unplugged

I haven’t posted here much recently. There are many excellent reasons for this, but it’s mostly because I’m behind on my work and am spending as much time as I can on catching up. To see me repeat that theme, check out my succinct post for this month on StorytellersUnplugged.com. Thanks!

A Chronologically Circular OddCon Report

Last Saturday, I ran up to Madison for OddCon. It’s a great, little science-fiction and fantasy convention, and this was my second time as a guest. (I made it there in 2005 and had to skip out on account of a family illness in 2007. Seems like an every-other-year thing for me for some reason.) Sadly, I didn’t have a lot of time to spend at the show this year, but I made the most of it.

I had one panel, and I rolled in just before it started. The staff handed me my guest packet, including my badge, and I was ready to go. Just outside the door to the room in which the panel was about to begin, I ran into Cam Banks, Jamie and Renae Chambers (and their two cute kids), and Brad McWilliams.

The panel’s topic was “Game Fiction.” Monica Valentinelli moderated, expertly riding herd on Matt McElroy, Pat Rothfuss, and me. We had a good crowd, and they asked us some excellent questions. After the panel, I had a drink with Matt, Monica, Cam, Brad, and the Chambers clan, then headed back to Beloit.

Besides hanging out with my friends, there were two highlights for me, bookending the past and the future. First, I met Pat, whose book The Name of the Wind, supposedly rocks. I’m picking up a copy today and will read it in the near future.

Second, but before that, on the way into the room, Steve Benton, morning news anchor for local AM radio stations WCLO and WJVL, stopped me to say hi. Steve reminded me that we’d played together in my first-ever Dungeons & Dragons tournament at Beloit College, way back in the winter of 1982, when I was 13 years old. I’d shown up with my friends Mike and Pat Trudgeon, but we needed a couple more players to round out our team, and Steve, who’d come alone, joined us.

We came in first place in that tournament, each winning a year’s membership to the then-young RPGA, which was within the first year that it started publishing its newsletter, Polyhedron. Not coincidentally, Polyhedron #9 later featured my first published work, which was a runner-up entry in the Top Secret gadget design contest, way back in November of 1982.

To hammer that all home, we played the game in the same classroom in which I would later (as a high school student on the Porter Scholars program) take a literary theory class with Professor Bink Noll. Bink was also one of the professors of my fellow Alliterate and old friend Troy Denning, who once offered me a job at TSR, the original publishers of D&D.

To bring that all full circle and back to the future, just yesterday we invited Jamie Chambers into the Alliterates as our newest member. His first official meeting as an Alliterate will be this month.

Marty’s Play: The Return of the Glass Slipper

My son Marty is a member of a local acting troupe for kids: Kids Fun and Drama. Their latest musical, The Return of the Glass Slipper, opens tonight. It’s a funny update of the classic Cinderella story, and in it Marty plays King Rupert, the father of the prince. You can read more about it in the Beloit Daily News, which also has photos of the kids, including one of Marty on his throne.

The play opens tonight at the First Presbyterian Church (501 Prospect Avenue, Beloit, WI) at 7 PM. There’s also a performance tomorrow night at the same time, plus one on Sunday at 2 PM. If you’re in the area, be sure to come out to support the kids and join us for a night of fun.

(In other recent Forbeck-related news, Ann sat on a panel last night about Beloit’s gifted and talented school programs at our brand-new library, my mother spoke about tree-huggers at an Arbor Day celebration, and my father won his first election as judge, running unopposed.)

The Mutant Chronicles Premiere

It’s been over a week since I got back from LA, so it’s about time I wrote about this, if only to make sure I never forget it.

[Name dropping of all sorts ahead. You’ve been warned.]

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OddCon It Is

Just a reminder that I’ll be at OddCon for a short while this weekend. I’m scheduled for a seminar on Saturday at 2:30 PM. It’s called “Game Fiction,” and it features Monica Valentinelli, Matt McElroy, Pat Rothfuss, and me.

I’ll likely have to take off in the early evening to get back home, so it’ll be a short trip for me. If you’re going to be at the show, be sure to track me down and say hi!

Mutant Chronicles on Atomic Array (and in Theaters!)

Ed Healy and Rone Barton of the Atomic Array podcast interviewed both director Simon Hunter and myself this week for a special edition Mutant Chronicles edition of their regular show. I had the pleasure of meeting Simon and his son at the premiere on Tuesday night (about which I’ll write more soon), and it’s a thrill to hear him hold forth on the film for the podcast.

By the way, if you want to see the Mutant Chronicles film in a theater, you’ll have to move fast. I understand it’s showing only for a single dayopening for its wider run–tomorrow, April 24–in a limited number of cities.

By happy coincidence, the Blu-Ray/DVD release is scheduled for my birthday, August 4. I already have my pre-order in.

Family Games and Descent

A couple of things I contributed to have finally been announced, so now I can mention them here. Both of them are “celebrity jam” books to which many of the top names in the tabletop gaming industry are contributing.

First, there’s Family Games: The 100 Best. This is the sequel to Hobby Games: The 100 Best, and it focuses on games that are theoretically more accessible to the wider market. Once again, my friend Jim Lowder brings us all together for one of the best “best list” books around. The book features a foreword by the ever awesome Mike Gray, plus an afterword by the always incredible Wil Wheaton.

After that, look for Descent: Journeys in the Dark: Quest Compendium, Volume One. (Which is several mouthfuls for a title.) The inestimable Will Hindmarch gathers the designers for this one, which features an introduction by board game guru Alan Moon. If you play the game, don’t miss out on this.

With luck, both should be out this summer, and I cannot (but sadly must) wait to see them both.

Downing Back Up

Way back in 2006, I wrote about the many losses game designer and filmmaker Todd Downing had suffered in the previous year. I’m glad to say that things are looking up for Todd and his family, and you can read all about it in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I wouldn’t say the story has a happy ending, because it’s clearly far from over. However, it’s great to see that good people can survive horrible years and have better ones ahead.