My friend Jeff Mariotte‘s latest novel, Ghost of the Wall, is just now showing up in bookstores. This is the first in a new young adult trilogy set in the Age of Conan. I edited the book (as I’ve done for most of the line), and Jeff made my job easy and fun. Give it a try!
CyberCon and Other Appearances
This Saturday, I’m taking part in an online chat at CyberCon from 2—4 PM Central Time (GMT —6). If you can make it, stop on by and say hi! It costs a few bucks ($6.95, I think) to register, but you get a pass to the online con for the whole weekend for that price.
I also just agreed to attend Concinnity 2006. (The con doesn’t have a website yet, but there is an official forum.) This convention is held on the campus of MSOE in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 1 and 2. [Edit: The website is up.]
Plus, the fine folks at Barnes & Noble in Rockford, Illinois, asked me to come down and sign books at their store on April 28, 2006. More details on that as the date gets closer.
Battle Dice Promotional Figures
According to a post on the Marvel Heroes Battle Dice forums, Playmates Toys has two promotional figures in the works.
One is going into Diamond’s system and will be sent to retailers who participate in a marketing program Diamond is running. This figure will be “Stealth Wolverine” and will have different stats than the Wolverine in the main set.
The second is a figure that is going to be distributed through an in-school promotional program targeting the educational market. It’s a Spider-Man figure, but it appears that the only difference between that figure and the figure in the starter set is an indicia change (“P”, instead of “S” on the figure).
There will be roughly 15,000 Stealth Wolverines, and roughly 250,000 Spider-Man promos.
New Battle Dice Review
The fine people at Action Figure Times just gave Marvel Heroes Battle Dice a solid review (4 out of 5 stars). They have lots of great photos of the game too.
Marvel Heroes Battle Dice Ad on the Web
If you want to see the Marvel Heroes Battle Dice commercial but don’t want to bother with all those cartoons on TV getting in the way, you can now watch it right on the web. Let me know what you think!
A Great Time at St. Gabriel’s
This morning, I drove the 90 minutes up to Hubertus, Wisconsin, to speak with the students of St. Gabriel School. It’s a Catholic school, much like the one I attended as a kid. St. Gabriel, it turns out, is the patron saint of communications workers, so I did my best to channel that into a good talk with the 4th- through 8th-grade classes.
The kids were great, and the principal–Dr. Judy Mortell, who grew up next to my mother back in Menasha, Wisconsin, and has even helped babysit my kids–made me feel right at home, even presenting me with a St. Gabriel sweatshirt. We all filed into the school’s old church, and they set me up in front of the dais. One of the teachers, the tech-savvy Mark Constancio, set up a projector for my Powerpoint presentation–along with a screen in front of the altar–and away we went.
I spoke for 20 minutes or so, then took questions from the kids and the teachers for a bit longer than that. I can only hope my answers were as solid as the questions. Everyone seemed to have a good time. (At least, I didn’t notice anyone nodding off.) I hadn’t been in a church for anything but a funeral or a wedding in years, but no bolts of lightning struck me down as I approached the altar. I figured the years I’d put in as an altar boy had bought me a moment’s grace.
At the end of the talk, we handed out a free copy of Secret of the Spiritkeeper to everyone. A few weeks back, I contacted Wizards of the Coast to see about purchasing copies at my author’s discount. Once they found out why I wanted the books, though, Wizards donated the entire lot to the school–enough for each kid to have one. Now, that’s a great publisher with real class.
Afterward, once the students had left for their classes, Judy escorted me around to each of the classrooms, and I autographed every book for each kid–and a few of the teachers. The students couldn’t have been more gracious and fun. I had a ball, and I hope they did too.
If you know a school who might like to invite me out for a similar appearance, please have their principal contact me. I could do this sort of thing every day.
Battle Dice Interview Up
Playmates interviewed me about the Marvel Heroes Battle Dice game the other day, and they’ve just posted the conversation at the new website.
They also have a new page up with shots of the game and its packaging. Scroll all the way down to see the Thing dice chucker. Man, that’s cool.
Battle Dice Commercial On the Air!
Playmates tells me that the Marvel Heroes Battle Dice commercial started airing yesterday. Staff Sergeant Brian Bird reported seeing the commercial on Cartoon Network yesterday, and it’s supposed to be running on Nickelodeon, Fox Kids, and maybe ABC Family too.
This is the first game I’ve worked on that’s had a national TV campaign behind it. The concept of how much money goes into mass-market products like this can boggle the mind. But it’s a good boggling.
Battle Dice Reviews?
The people at Playmates would love to see some reviews of Marvel Heroes Battle Dice. If you spy any (or write any), please let me know about it. Thanks!
Keith Parkinson Benefit
I just learned that Keith Parkinson (who passed away last year) and Tim Truman used to play in a band together. Several bands, actually. Tim–who is set to take over the reins as the writer of the monthly Conan comic for Dark Horse Comics later this year–met Keith back when they both worked as illustrators at TSR, creating fantastic artwork for Dungeons & Dragons. Years later, they ended up in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area together.
In honor of his old friend, Tim is getting the rest of the band back together for a benefit concert. Proceeds go toward funding the First Annual Keith Parkinson Scholastic Art Awards, to be given to a senior illustration student at college of art and design near or in Lancaster.
See the full press release after the break.
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