My latest book, Dungeonology, is here! While it was originally slated to be released on November 8 in both the US and the UK, the American publisher (Candlewick Press) decided to bump up the release date to October 21. That was, um, ten days ago, and apparently I was too busy to notice.
Anyhow, it’s already sold out at Amazon (woot!). They should have more in stock “soon,” but you can still order it today through Barnes & Noble or directly from Candlewick.
Oddly Books-A-Million and IndieBound still list it as shipping on November 8. Guess they didn’t get the memo either.
If you can manage to get a copy of it to me at Gamehole Con, I’d be happy to sign yours this weekend. If not, I’ll have a stack of bookplates you can grab and slap into your book when it arrives.
For those who don’t know, this is the latest in the bestselling -Ologies series, which includes books like Dragonology, Alienology, and Spyology. This is the first book in the series based on a license for an existing setting: Dungeons & Dragons. The folks at Templar Publishing set it all up and hired me to write the book, which is set in the most popular D&D world of all, the Forgotten Realms.
The amazing pop-out map that comes in the middle of the book.
To get me started, Templar sent me a stack of –Ology books, and Wizards of the Coast sent me a stack of D&D books. My job was to mash both those stacks together into a fun and easy introduction to the original fantasy roleplaying game, which I’d grown up playing. I had a fantastic time with it, and I think it shows in the end.
I need to give a shout-out to several people who helped make this book a reality. At Templar, international sales director (and huge D&D fan) James Tavendale (for whom I wrote More Forbidden Knowledge ages ago) recommended me for the job and pushed the whole thing hard from inside. Creative director Helen Wicks oversaw the entire project and made it happen. Editor Kirsty Walters kept both me and the entire project on track. Every step of the way, they all showed the kind of constant enthusiasm writers dream of working with.
Check out that foil-embossed cover!
Over at Wizards of the Coast, licensing manager Hilary Ross made sure I had everything I needed from start to finish. D&D writer Adam Lee ensured the things I wrote accurately resonated with the Forgotten Realms. Both of them proved invaluable resources for all sorts of wild questions I had about the Forgotten Realms and were fantastic about not just pointing out my mistakes but providing solutions that made the book that much better every time.
I also have to give special thanks to Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms. Not only did Ed not mind me writing a book in the voice of one of the characters he created (Volothamp Geddarm, narrator of many D&D guides), but he also agreed to write a foreword to the book in the voice of his most famous creation, the wizard Elminster. This appears as a letter tucked into an envelope pasted into the inside of the book’s front cover, and it’s absolutely, spot-on hilarious.
Anyway, no matter how and when you manage it, I hope you grab a copy of the book soon. It’s been getting wonderful reviews, and I think you’ll discover it makes the perfect gift for the D&D-curious pal in your life.
An interior spread about some of the most dangerous monsters in the Forgotten Realms.
An interior spread about clerics and the various organizations in the Forgotten Realms.
