The First Shotguns & Sorcery Story

Friends-Like-These-Cover-1There’s a long history behind the Shotguns & Sorcery setting. It started out as a setting for a tabletop roleplaying game that I never got around to writing (because quadruplets), and it eventually became the world I used for the second of my 12 for ’12 Kickstarters. Those stories filled a doorstop of an omnibus, and I’ve been giving away the story “Goblintown Justice” for free to go along with them ever since I launched that Kickstarter. (You can still grab it here.)

I originally resurrected the world, though, for Robin Laws’s The New Hero 2 anthology, and because of that Stone Skin Press had the exclusive rights to the story for a while. Despite that, with Robin’s permission, I included the story in the omnibus my Kickstarter backers received. To get your hands on it, though, you had to either grab The New Hero 2–which I recommend, as it’s full of great stories–or travel back in time to back the Shotguns & Sorcery Kickstarter.

Until now.

I’m going to release that first story–called “Friends Like These”–as an ebook next week. It’ll set you back all of 99¢. Until then, take a gander at the cover I whipped up for it, which features the dragonfire drinks that our hero Max Gibson likes tossing back so well.

If you enjoyed Hard Times in Dragon City, Bad Times in Dragon City, or End Times in Dragon City, this is your chance to finally see where it all began. 

Get My Eberron Audiobooks and Ebooks

51RcgPtO1XL._SL300_Over the past several months, Audible has not only been releasing books from Angry Robot–including my Amortals, which I wrote about yesterday–but also several novels from Wizards of the Coast. In that number, we can now count all three of the novels I wrote in the Lost Mark Trilogy. These were some of the first novels written for Eberron, the Dungeons & Dragons world designed by my pal Keith Baker, and they were also the first big, thick fantasy novels I ever had published. 

The three books, in order:

  1. Marked for Death
  2. The Road to Death
  3. The Queen of Death

You can also get Marked for Death, The Road to Death, and The Queen of Death on Amazon. The first two have been released as ebooks there too, and I suspect the third should be along in good time.

Claire Christie narrated each of the books. She’s done great work for other writers too, including Heather Graham and David Brin. Go listen in.

Grab the Amortals Audiobook

51mN70j3LCL._SL300_Last week, I stumbled over the fact that Amortals has been released as an audiobook. This is part of the deal that Audible has with Angry Robot to turn their novels into books people can hear being read by professionals. Carpathia was one of the first novels to be released under this deal, and the idea was that once Audible was able to catch up with Angry Robot’s current releases, they’d go back and start working on the older books too.

Amortals’ turn finally came up. You can now purchase it at the following places, for your listening pleasure.

Tony Award-winning actor Hayward Morse read the book aloud for us. He doesn’t have the voice I heard in my head as I wrote it, but that’s probably a relief for everyone. He’s narrated lots of other books for authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Joseph Conrad, Ed McBain, Harold Robbins, Jackie Collins, Arthur C. Clarke, and Mickey Spillane. He also appeared in Death Wish 3. 

Give it a listen.

Goodbye, Aaron Allston

Aaron_allston_2005I got the terrible news last night that Aaron Allston died earlier in the day. From what I can piece together, he’d arrived in Branson, Missouri, to be a guest of honor at VisionCon this weekend, where he collapsed and was taken to the hospital but did not recover.

Our mutual friend Allen Varney posted an excellent obituary for Aaron last night. Go give it a read.

Aaron was most famous these days for his many excellent Star Wars novels, but he started out in tabletop games. When I first met him at an Origins Game Fair some twenty plus years back, he was a compatriot, a fellow freelancer writing for Hero Games, working on books for Champions and Justice Inc. about the same time I was writing Western Hero. He was hellaciously talented, always ready with a wry joke or a bit of well-considered advice.

I watched Aaron move from games into novels, blazing a trail before me, much in the way of Mike Stackpole and Troy Denning, two mutual pals who mentored me along the same path. I cheered on every one of his successes. There’s something heartening about seeing good people achieve the kinds of goals you’ve set for yourself.

I’d seen him many times over the years, most recently at a Gen Con, I believe. The last time I spent any real time with him was at Comic-Con a few years back. He was recovering from heart problems, and like many freelancers didn’t have much in the way of health insurance to pay for something as costly as emergency bypass surgery. The SF and gaming communities had come together to help raise funds for him, though, and I know he appreciated that more than he could ever say.

Despite those troubles, he’d started taking better care of himself and had lost weight in an effort to improve his health. Even in the face of those challenges–both physical and financial–he put on a brave face and wore a ready smile. And he kept writing, telling fantastic stories to entertain hundreds of thousands of people for as long as he could.

He left us far too early. He was only 53.

I’ll miss him, and I know I’m not alone.

 

A Sojourn with Fear the Boot

126517Last week, the folks behind the Fear the Boot podcast–on which I’ve appeared a couple times–released their first ever anthology of fiction: Sojourn, edited by Laura K. Anderson and Ryan J. McDaniel, with a great deal of help from Fear the Boot’s Dan Repperger.

I’m proud to have a story in the book, along with

  • Laura K. Anderson
  • Thomas Childress
  • Wayne Cole
  • Hans Cummings
  • Shannon Dickson
  • Robert Freund
  • Chris Hussey
  • James Lowder
  • Johann Luebbering
  • Peter Martin
  • Ryan J. McDaniel
  • Tom McNeil
  • Dan Repperger
  • Elizabeth Roper

My story’s called “The Bookrunner.” It’s set in a dark, near future in which words have been weaponized and memes can kill.

From a writer’s point of view, creating this story makes for a great example of how fast publishing can move these days. Dan first contacted me about the book in the middle of November. I turned it over to Laura and Ryan on January 20, and the book was released on February 15. That’s three months from first contact to publication.

Of course, Dan, Laura, and Ryan had been working on the book for many months before that. I was a last-minute addition to fill in a hole that had appeared in the anthology. Even so, the experience on my end was lightning fast, and the entire team was a delight to work with.

I’m thrilled with how the story came out, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the tales too. If you’d like to join me, you can find the book on sale at:

Print copies should be available soon too. I’ve seen the proofs, and it looks fantastic.

Crossing the Streams, AGAIN!

Monster-Academy-3D-coverBack in 2012, Ari Marmell came up with this great idea for a bunch of authors to run simultaneous contests to help promote each other’s books. He called it Crossing the Streams, and it involved each author running their own contest, plus a united contest that gave a book from each writer to the grand-prize winner. It was both successful and fun.

Two years later, it’s time to do it again. For my part, I’m giving away three hardcover copies of Monster Academy: I Will Not Eat People. See my contest page for details on how you can join in the fun, both here and on the other authors’ pages. Folks like:

The best part about it? It doesn’t cost you a dime to enter. Just start clicking on those links, and have fun. Good luck!

Marvel Encyclopedia 2014

Marvel 2014 CoverI spent a good chunk of last year revising the Marvel Encyclopedia for DK Publishing. I handled the revisions for the 2009 edition, and I was honored to be asked back to take on the duties this time around as well.

Plus, it gave me a great excuse to read a lot of fantastic comics.

DK recently released the cover, and you can see it right here. It’s by the always excellent Mike Deodato, Jr., and it not only is it gorgeous, it also features a fantastic joke along the right-hand side.

Look for the hardcover book in stores and online on March 17, 2014. This is just in time to help celebrate Marvel’s 75th anniversary, and I’m proud to play a small part in it.

Gaming Pros: Apply to Be a Gen Con Guest of Honor

GenConLogoIf you’re involved in the gaming industry in a professional capacity and have a real passion for games, you should apply to be an Industry Insider Guest of Honor at Gen Con. It’s a great way to experience the Best Four Days in Gaming–or, hey, the whole year. 

The application period for this honor is now open, and it runs through March 4. (I don’t know at what time of that day they cut off the application process, so try to take care of this by March 3 if you can.) I’m happy to be on the selection committee once again, along with Nicole Lindroos, Eric Lang, KenHite, and Stan!

To sign up, you need to sign in at the Gen Con site and go to the application page. Since you need an account to access that page, I’ll put the pertinent information from that page after the break.

Best of luck with your application. And whether you’re a guest of honor or not, I hope you can join us at the show!

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Off to Disney to Get Frozen

FROZEN Box ArtLast week, Corrina Lawson–one of my fellow writers at GeekDad.com–had to bow out of a bloggers’ trip to visit Disney Studios and write about some of their upcoming releases, including Frozen. When she asked for volunteers to substitute for her, my hand shot up.

Corrina wrote about the trip over at GeekDad.com. As she says:

Next week, I’ll be traveling to California to Disney Studios to get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Frozen, including interviews with co-directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (who also co-wrote Wreck-It Ralph) and producer Peter Del Vecho.

I’ll also view a demonstration of the rigging process in the movie by character supervisor Gregory Smith and get a look at the recording of those incredible songs with Frozen‘s Audio Engineer, Gabe Guy. This should be a fascinating trip and I look forward to reporting back about what I’ve learned.

Disney’s also promised a preview screening of their next home video release, The Pirate Fairy. I suspect that, with the blockbuster success of Frozen, the release of this movie will receive more attention than most straight-to-video releases do.

Sooo, tomorrow I’m on my way to LA for a few days. The irony of fleeing the snow-swept landscape of Wisconsin to the land of sun and fun so I can learn all about a movie called Frozen hasn’t escaped me, but I plan to make the most of it.

Monster Thanks for a Monster Debut

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As you may know by now, Monster Academy: I Will Not Eat People had a fantastic debut on Tuesday! It spiked straight to the #1 spot on DriveThruFiction.com, and over at Amazon, it drove as high as #17 on the Bestselling Children’s Sword & Sorcery ebooks list, and it’s currently sitting at #3 in that category’s Hot New Releases list.

The sale price of $2.99 clearly helped bump it a bit, but I attribute more of that success to the help from readers like you. As I mentioned yesterday, many kind reviewers posted raves about it, and several more friends helped spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and more. Thank to every one of you for your help!

While the sale is over, there’s still more Monster Academy stuff happening.

So, thanks once again for all your help. I hope you grabbed a copy of the book too, and that you enjoy it when you get the chance to read it. I can’t wait to see more happy reviews!