The Monster Academy Kickstarter Is On!

Today, at noon Eastern Time, I launched the fourth of my 12 for ’12 Kickstarters. This one’s for a trilogy of novels called Monster Academy,  a series of books set in the epic fantasy equivalent of a juvenile detention hall for young monsters. This drive runs to September 16, but get your pledges in early, if only for the sake of my nerves. Remember, no one gets charged until the drive is over, and only then if the drive succeeds.

You can find out all about the Monster Academy drive over at Kickstarter. For a quick preview, I try to sum it all up for you in the video below. Don’t be shy about telling your friends and neighbors in whatever medium you prefer: Twitter, Google+, Facebook, face-to-face, or even a kindly worded persuasive essay mailed to them in a scented envelope. Thanks for all your support in whatever way you give it!

Monster Academy Launches Tomorrow

I’ve been working like mad on the details for my final 12 for ’12 Kickstarter, which should be set to launch tomorrow morning if all goes well. It’s called Monster Academy, and it’s a trilogy of fantasy novels set in what amounts to a juvenile detention facility for monsters. I just posted a page explaining all about it.

If all goes well, I’m going to launch the Kickstarter tomorrow morning. In the meantime, you can check out a private preview of the Kickstarter page.

Don’t be shy about spreading the word, and wish me luck. Thanks!

Brave New World Books Out Now!

Playing a bit of catch-up, I released both Brave New World: Revelation and Brave New World: Resolution for sale to the public on my website last night, and they’re now available through DriveThruFiction, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble as well. I considered putting a bit of space between them to build up anticipation for the final book, but with Gen Con hurtling at me this week, I decided not to wait.

This completes the Matt Forbeck’s Brave New World trilogy and the first of my 12 for ’12 trilogies. I’m going to have them available as print-on-demand books soon, but they’re still wending their way through the printer’s approval system. In any case, you can grab the ebooks today!

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My Gen Con 2012 Schedule

Gen Con – the best four days in gaming – starts next week, and I can’t wait. I’m an Industry Insider Guest of Honor once again (for the tenth time running, I think). I’m going to be zipping around all over the place, and I’m always happy to chat with fans, gamers, and readers of all stripes. Here’s where you can find me if you’re looking for me.

Wednesday

I arrive on Wednesday, and I host the Diana Jones Award ceremony and party that evening, starting at 9 PM. If you’re a gaming industry professional, you’re more than welcome to join us. Drop me a line, and I’ll get you the details.

Thursday

11 AM. Games and Novels: Dennis Detwiller, Susan Morris, James Wyatt, and I chat about how novels and games work together and how they don’t. ICC Room 211.

12 PM. Well Said: Donald J. Bingle, Maurice Broaddus, George Strayton, and I discuss how to use sharp dialog in fiction. ICC Room 244. 

3 PM. Advanced Plotting Workshop: John Helfers, Robin Laws, and I work out how to break down your plots and make them sing. ICC Room 245. 

6 PM. Kickstarting Your Game: Dennis Detwiller, TS Luikart, Elizabeth Shoemaker, Gareth-Michael Skarka, and I talk about how to run a Kickstarter drive. ICC Room 210. 

Friday

11 AM. 12 for ’12: Writing a Dozen Novels in a Year: I fly solo on this one, for reasons you might suspect. ICC Room 210. 

2 PM. Freelancing in the Games Industry: Steve Kenson, Ryan Macklin, Gareth-Michael Skarka, Christina Stiles, and I explain how to work as a freelancer in the gaming industry. ICC Room 210. 

5 PM. InSpectres Test Screening: Join the Reactor 88 Studios crew for a test screening of their film based on the InSpectres RPG by Jared Sorensen. I co-wrote the screenplay for this and appear as a zombie too. Westin : Capitol I. 

6:30 PM. ENnies Cocktail Reception: I’ll be hanging out with my Dream Date winner Ben McFarland. Unfortunately, I won’t be at the ceremony itself because it runs straight through my next event. Union Station Grand Hall. 

9 PM. Reactor 88 Afterparty: This has become a great new tradition over the past few years. DJ M4C3L0 spins tunes until midnight, when Matt Raven takes over. It’s at a new location this year, Tiki Bob’s, across the street from the old place. It’s open to one and all (21 and up, dress code). Tiki Bob’s.

Saturday

12 PM. Going It Alone: Richard Lee Byers and I talk about how to self-publish your novels. ICC Room 244.

1 PM. Passing the Torch: Dave Gross, John Helfers, Brandon Sanderson, and I talk about taking over existing properties and writing in another author’s voice. ICC Room 244.

2 PM. Author’s Avenue Signing: If you want to find me expressly to sign things, here’s your chance. I’ll be hanging out with John Helfers, and we’ll likely be lonely, so come on by. Bring drinks!

4 PM. Reading: Erik Scott de Bie and I tag-team on readings in this slot. I’ll probably read from one of my 12 for ’12 books – out loud, even! Hell, maybe I’ll bring one of my Magic: The Gathering comics and read it with different voices for all the characters. Who knows? I’m sure to be punchy by then. ICC Room 244.

Sunday

Sunday’s just for me and my family. If you see me wandering around, though, don’t hesitate to say hi.

Update! The fine folks at Stone Skin Press have set up a signing of The New Hero 2 at the Pelgrane Press booth, at 11 AM on Sunday. I’m planning to be there for at least a bit at the start, providing my kids are up for it.

The First Shotguns & Sorcery Story

Back in 2010, my pal Robin Laws asked if I’d be interested in contributing a short story to an anthology he’d concocted called The New Hero. The theme of the book was based around Robin’s literary theory of the iconic hero. In many stories, the hero is supposed to go through some kind of change, a character arc, as it’s often called. We know, though, that many heroes – especially in series fiction – don’t change much if at all. Instead, as Robin theorized, they change the world about them by being true to themselves.

Think of heroes like Sherlock Holmes, Batman, James Bond, and so on. They aren’t affected by their environments nearly as much as they affect them. Robin charged me and the other authors to come up with heroes like this for our own stories and, hopefully, to use them in later stories too.

For mine, I turned to this Shotguns & Sorcery setting I’d had in mind for a long while, and I created a hero to fit it, a hardboiled ex-adventurer by the name of Max Gibson. I enjoyed writing about his adventure so much I wrote another one for the Carnage & Consequences anthology edited by Marc Tassin, and I later made it the subject of one of the trilogies for my 12 for ’12 challenge.

But it all started with that story, and it’s going to be published later this year through Stone Skin Press. They’re running a Kickstarter for their debut set of anthologies right now, including The New Hero 2, in which that first Shotguns & Sorcery story, “Friends Like These,” will appear. At the moment, it only has 36 hours to go, so head on over and check it out fast.

Stone Skin Press featured Max and his friend Moira on its website today, including a short snippet from that tale. Head over there for a quick taste of it. Check after the cut here for the actual start of the tale.

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The Turndog Interview

Over at Turndog Millionaire, Matthew Turner interviewed me via Skype about writing and using Kickstarter to fund self-publishing. We had a great conversation, so if those kinds of things interest you, head on over and give it a watch. Because the software Matthew used to record it meant I couldn’t see him during the conversation, I didn’t look straight at the camera too often, so if I seem a bit more distracted than usual, that would be why.

ENnies Dream Date Me at Gen Con

Once again, I’ve been asked to be a Dream Date for the ENnies Awards at Gen Con this year. They recently posted the auction for this on eBay, but they forgot to mention that I won’t be able to stick around for the entire ceremony, just the cocktail hour. If hanging out and having a drink or three with me before the awards sounds like fun, get on over there and put down your bid. Remember, the money all goes to support the ENnies, which is a fine thing to do.

The Gamers Play Dangerous Games

My friends at Zombie Orpheus and Dead Gentlemen just launched a spanking-new Kickstarter for The Gamers: Hands of Fate, the third installment in their series of The Gamers films, excellent comedies about – you guessed it – gamers. I’ve long been a huge fan of The Gamers and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, and I’ve known the people involved with them for many years, so I’ve been looking forward to news about this for a while.

Best of all, when I was running the Dangerous Games Kickstarter drive, Ben Dobyns and Matt Vancil contacted me with an idea for a way to crossover the two projects. Since Hands of Fate is also set at Gen Con, it seemed like a natural match, and I jumped up and down (more than) a few times as I agreed. (Okay, I practically pogoed around my office.)

As they say on their Kickstarter page:

DANGEROUS GAMES — Renowned novelist, comic book writer, and game designer Matt Forbeck recently completed a Kickstarter campaign for his “Dangerous Games” books, a murder mystery trilogy also set at Gen Con Indy. We spoke with Matt and discovered that with both stories set at the con we had the opportunity to do a really cool crossover: Matt Forbeck and Matt Vancil are sharing scripting notes with each other to allow the character of Leo (Scott C. Brown) to cross back and forth between the novel and the movie! We’re offering ebooks of the Dangerous Games novels as an EXTRA below that you can add to your pledge to get the full story of Leo’s encounter… with murder!

To top that off, they’re selling copies of the standard edition of the Dangerous Games ebooks as extras for their drive. As I explained to them, I always put my Kickstarter backers first, so these won’t be autographed and won’t the Kickstarter-exclusive editions that my backers get. However, if you didn’t get in on that drive, here’s a chance for you to preorder the standard editions and get them a bit before I put them up for sale to the public.

Either way, do yourself a favor and go check out The Gamers: Hands of Fate Kickstarter. It’s bound to be fun!

Writing Standing Up

After thinking about it on and off for a few years, I finally took the plunge last night and set myself up with a standing desk at which I can write. In fact, I’m typing these words at it right now, and so far it’s all right. My feet hurt, but I’m told that goes away in a few days. I’m willing to stick it out to see if that’s true.

I’ve suffered from upper back pain (in the neck and shoulders, really) for years. It reached its peak when the quads were younger and spent a lot of time hanging off of me. Now that they’re 10 years old, I’ve almost entirely cured them of that, but the realities of sitting at a desk and writing for eight or more hours a day means that the pains come back regularly anyhow.

Ken Hite called this “Writer’s Back,” which tells me I’m not the only one who suffers from it. I usually control it through ibuprofen, icing the sore spots, and trips to my favorite chiropractor, Andrea Gonstead. Still, on the bad days, it’s enough to slow me down, and I hate that.

Spurred on by that and the fact that standing burns more calories, helps you stay more alert, and – according to a recent bit of research – can add years to your life, I decided to give the standing desk a try. However, I didn’t want to spend several hundred dollars on a fancy setup for something I’m still not absolutely sold on. After poking around a bit on Lifehacker, I realized I could build a custom standing workstation for cheap.

I hit Walmart and grabbed an obscenely cheap end table for my monitor, then went to Menards to pick up a shelf and a set of brackets. Altogether, it cost me a grand total of $26.71, and it’s light enough that I can take it down and go back to sitting at my desk instead in under a minute. I also grabbed a chef’s mat to stand on, and that set me back another $14.73.

I’ve only been using it for a few hours, and it’s comfortable. My feet hurt a bit, but I hear that goes away in a few days. I plan to give it a try for a couple weeks and see how it goes. Lots of great writers used standing desks, including Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, and Ernest Hemingway, so it seems this has been a solid solution for writers for a long time.

Twenty Great Years

Today is the twentieth anniversary of the day my wife Ann and I got married. I can honestly say these have been the best two decades of my life, and she’s been the biggest part of that. Marrying her was the best thing that ever happened to me, bringing not only a beautiful, smart, kind, and loving partner permanently into my life but also five wonderful kids I can’t imagine being without.

We’re taking it easy today but will celebrate with dinner and play at the always excellent American Players Theatre this weekend.

Here’s to many multiples of twenty more.