Ghost Stories

I’m told that White Wolf just got advance copies of Ghost Stories in their office. I’m looking forward to seeing the book myself. It should be in stores in November, hopefully earlier than later.

No Comments

I’ve been getting a ton of spam in the comments sections on this site, so I upgraded to the latest version of Movable Type. It works great at stopping the spam, but it also breaks some of the custom templates I generated for use with the last version of the program. As such, I’ve shut comments off for now. I hope to have them back up and running soon. In the meantime, you can just e-mail me with you comments directly, please. Thanks!

Xbox in the House

As a reward for finishing up the second draft of Marked for Death, the first in my Eberron trilogy, I went out and bought myself an Xbox. Since I left Human Head, I no longer have a PC on which to play games—one of the great benefits of that job. I’m a happy Mac user, but the fact is that the best games often either never make it to the Mac or are months late. I didn’t want to spring for a whole new computer just to play games, so the Xbox fit the bill nicely.

I’ve already gotten a number of games, most of which are rated E so I can play them with (or at least in front of) my kids. If anyone has any recommendations, though, or spare games lying around, don’t be shy about letting me know.

New Novel: Blood Bowl

I’m currently hard at work on my next novel, a book for Games Workshop‘s novels and comics division, The Black Library. It’s based on Blood Bowl, GW’s game of fantasy football, in which orcs, dwarves, elves, skaven (rat-people), undead, and even humans violently spar for supremacy on the blood-spattered pitch. It’s an explosive and hilarious mix of fantasy and sports.

I worked on a Blood Bowl supplement (the Blood Bowl Companion) back in 1990, as my first freelance gig after finishing up a six-month student work visa in the Games Workshop Design Studio in Nottingham, England. I’ve kept in touch with many of my friends from GW over the years, and I even did a bit of editing for the Black Library a couple years back, just to keep my hand in.

Blood Bowl is one of my favorite games. The background is just over-the-top great, and it blends two of my great passions (fantasy literature and football) with a flair that hits you like an ogre linebacker. The plan is for this book to be the first in a trilogy. Expect to see it on store shelves next summer.

Novels Rolling Along

I’m getting back into the freelance swing of things again. I polished off the final draft of Marked for Death, the first in my Eberron trilogy, due out in March of 2005. Then I realized I’d made a big goof, and I had to fix that. (“That one-handed character is hanging from the edge of an airship while holding up a paladin with his other hand. I don’t think that’s possible. How about he just loses a finger?”) It’s all done now, and hopefully sailing through the editorial process.

I also had to come up with a map for the book. This was a snap, since the book takes place almost entirely in the Mournland, this mysteriously mist-shrouded, half-dead land in the center of the main continent of Khorvaire. I just scanned in the map from the Eberron Campaign Setting, marked it up, and sent it off. Thank you, Photoshop!

I’m working on outlines for four or five different novels this week and brushing up a few chapters of a nonfiction book about the birth of my four youngest kids (which happened all at once, making it the kind of thing you should write a book on). I finished up one of the outlines today and sent it off to the publisher. I already have a contract for the book based on my pitch, so now it’s just a matter of writing it, which should be a blast. I’ll tell you more as soon as I can.

These projects have me booked up through most of next year. I’m always keeping my eye on the horizon, though, and trying to see what I can do to keep myself on the edge of sleep deprivation, so more things are sure to come up. Wish me luck.

Hungry Little Monsters Due in November

According to the website of the newly minted Sean K. Reynolds Games, Hungry Little Monsters is due as a PDF release in November. HLM is a charity jam book Sean developed, much in the vein of the Swords into Plowshares book he produced last year. Proceeds go to benefit FoodforAll.org, which is dedicated to feeding needy people. The book features monsters designed and illustrated by a range of people across the industry, including Sean K Reynolds, Dave Mattingly, Scott Bennie, Ed Greenwood, and me.

If you’re interested in the book, stop by SKRG’s preview page. There you’ll find an 8-page preview of the book, which features my own cannibal doppelganger. It takes “you are what you eat” to a whole new level. This sample is free, but be sure to pick up the whole book in November. It’s for a great cause.

National Games Week

Mark Simmons, the man behind the Games Quarterly Catalog and Games Quarterly Magazine, has launched a brilliant new idea: National Games Week. It’s to be held the week of November 21 through 27, right through Thanksgiving. It’s the perfect time to break out a game to play with those relatives you barely ever see. You can find out more at www.nationalgamesweek.net.

La Dolce Vita and Beyond

Those of you who follow this site regularly (both of you–hi, Mom!) might have noticed that I haven’t posted anything much here for a while. In fact, the last of my “weekly updates” was weeks ago. Let’s just say I’ve been busy.

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Authority RPG in Stores!

My fine friends at Guardians of Order tell me that The Authority Role-Playing Game is in stores now. Actually, it came out on October 5, so it’s been there nearly a week. Rush on out and get it!

This is one of the most beautiful game books I’ve had the privilege to work on. You can lay the blame for that squarely at Jeff Mackintosh’s feet. The fabulous artwork by Hitch and Neary doesn’t hurt any either. This has long been one of my favorite comics, and I’m pleased that the game lives up to every expectation I had.