I’ve finished the prose part of my Windy City recap now and just have to transfer the photos in from various electronic devices. I’ve received the preliminary pass of Tales From the Magician’s Skull issue 2 and am reviewing that, and I’m addressing some final changes in my novel. I’m also getting ready to paint the ceiling of our basement.
In other words, it’s a busy week!
I wanted to point all my visitors over to some nifty things I think they’ll find of interest…
Here’s the cover of Guilds & Glaives, the upcoming anthology I’m sharing with James Enge and a bunch of other cool folks. It’s not out yet, but it will be soon. Last week I was sent page proofs.
You can still order it if you missed the Kickstarter, by going right here.
Shortly I’m leaving my tower for the long drive up to Chicago and the Windy City Pulp and Paper convention. Hope to see some of you there!
Whew! What a crazy few weeks it’s been. Suffice to say it’s been a little busy.
When we moved into this house more than ten years ago we had planned on a basement remodel. Up until now the walkout basement has been bare cinder blocks, but in the last little bit it’s finally getting a makeover. We’ve hired out almost all of the work, but that doesn’t leave me as free to be upstairs writing as you’d think, because I need to check in or be checked with frequently about various little decisions, and then errands have to be run into town to procure various supplies.
Then, with that just under way, we took a vacation to North Carolina, where we hiked around some lovely mountain tops and saw some waterfalls and even reached the height of the largest mountain east of the Mississippi. My daughter and my niece actually hiked all the way up that mountain (Mt. Mitchell).
The oldest drove back to college yesterday afternoon and the house is already much emptier. It’s strange how quickly that happens. It’s not just his physical presence, absent, it’s his energy. I’m very fortunate to have a good relationship with both of our children.
He sure gave us a wonderful gift this year, a mini-roleplaying campaign of about seven episodes that I’m most likely to turn into a Dabir and Asim novella.
When not gaming or writing I’ve been reading my way through The Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries. I may have to pick it up and permanently add it to my collection. Not just because it’s really too big to read when borrowed from the library, but because there’s some masterful stuff in here that I might want to read again. The most interesting, so far, are a Sherlock Holmes pastiche by none other than Stephen King which is one of the finest pastiches I’ve ever read (“The Doctor’s Case) and the best Manly Wade Wellman story I’ve ever read, a mystery set on an Indian reservation, “A Knife Between Brothers.” I’ve yet to read a real dud, and even the minor ones still have me nodding my head in approval.
It may be beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but after a week simply doing some house cleaning/fixing, reading, and some board gaming, it’s more important to me that I’m beginning to feel a little more human. I was driving at a lot of deadlines all at approximately the same time. I knew I was stressed, but I didn’t realize HOW stressed until the last week, when I started to feel normal.
Man, it’s just crazy busy here. I feel like someone wrote a terrible script and insisted I perform in it. Or maybe like I’m gasping for air because the same crazy women who stole my best friend’s brain put some kind of electronic overacting collar on me.
In any case, I’m likely to have posts few and far between. I have a lot of work to do.
I’m also ashamed to say that I’ve lost track of the address of some kind fellows who wanted me on their podcast for some time in December. The last time we exchanged a note I was in the middle of the deadline for book 1 and the Kickstarter for Tales From the Magician’s Skull. I just spent a half hour digging for their e-mail and couldn’t find it. If that sounds like you, I’m sorry, and I hope you’ll write me again.
Whew. Well, as of about 20 minutes ago, the revised version of For the Killing of Kings is with my editor, or at least his in-box. I would liked to have read it straight through a couple of more times, but as I strive to be a man of his word I delivered the manuscript on the first day of the first full week of November. This draft would not have been possible without the editorial aid of a wicked and beautiful enchantress whom I have surely mentioned before.
In celebration, I’m wearing one of my favorite t-shirts, which, alas, is beginning to show its wear.
Today I’m going to spend some time putting the house back together after about a week of neglect, and that will include some last minute pre-winter garden work. Maybe this evening we’ll start watching the second season of Stranger Things.
I need to get back to work on issue 2 of Tales From the Magician’s Skull. And, partly because I’m a madman, but mostly because it took longer than I expected to address all the changes to book 1, by the first week of December I need to turn over the first draft of book 2. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.
I ended up on even more panels than I’d originally signed on for at the GenCon Writer’s Symposium, and I had a great time on them all. Surely the feistiest of exchanges I was involved in was on the Mythology panel moderated by Steve Drew. My fellow panelists were Linda Robertson, Ilana C. Myer, and Anton Stout.
Anton has a cool podcast over at The Once and Future Podcast, and he was recording this panel for his program, so if you’d like, you can hear our passionate exchange about Star Trek. Yeah, I brought up Star Trek as an example of modern mythology and then Anton and I digressed a little into a discussion of what’s wrong with the new movies. Well, it was ME who talked about what was wrong with the new movies, and Anton who defended them. I held myself back, for I didn’t even get into the terrible interpretation of Captain Kirk (not the actor, whom I like, but the writers). Anyway, if you want to hear me with my dander up, you can find that discussion here, and you can likewise find all kinds of cool podcasts throughout the site, including other recorded GenCon panels, and an earlier interview Anton had with me.
The Kickstarter is just booming along. I’m not sure where the influx of new pledgers came from, but their numbers really leapt forward yesterday. I’m thrilled. That’s not to say I haven’t stopped hoping we will have more readers. I KNOW that there are more fans of sword-and-sorcery out there, so I hope you’re spreading the word about Tales From the Magician’s Skull.
As I’m still out slaying monsters and spinning plates, I thought I’d follow up on a suggestion from Mick and post some pics of the new family member.
So here’s a cool thing. This probably isn’t the Kickstarter you expected me to announce (that one’s still a couple of weeks out) but it’s good news nonetheless. Earlier in the year I was asked if I wanted to write a story for a new sword-and-sorcery anthology from Zombies Need Brains. I said yes, and now the Kickstarter is live, which means sooner or later my story will be in print along with those written by some other fine folks. You can find all the details in the official press release below. And here’s the link.
Begin hereafter the press release:
The latest Kickstarter from Zombies Need Brains is now live! We have three new anthologies–THE RAZOR’S EDGE, GUILDS & GLAIVES, and SECOND ROUND: A RETURN TO THE UR-BAR–with some stunning anchor authors, special reward level, stellar early backer and high backer incentives, and a bunch of stretch goals that we’d really like to reach ASAP. Keep in mind that as soon as the Kickstarter funds, we’ll do an open call for submissions to all three of the anthologies for all of you writers out there! Check it out, choose a reward level that works for you, and then BACK THE PROJECT! Featuring Troy Bucher, SC Butler, Patricia Bray, Gerald Brandt, William C. Dietz, Db Jackson, Chris Kennedy, Kay Kenyon, Sharon Lee, Steve Miller, Steve Perry, Seanan McGuire, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Jacey Bedford, Gini Koch, Juliet E McKenna, C.E. Murphy, Kristine Smith, Kari Sperring, David Farland, David B. Coe, James Enge, Esther Friesnerr, Howard Andrew Jones, and Violette Malan.