Author Archive: admin

North Carolina DoubleHeader

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Saturday, March 15 is going to be a busy day.

During the day, I’ll be down at the Lee County Local Authors Festival in lovely Sanford, NC. I’ll be there 10-4 with all sorts of books, including the re-released versions of my fantasy trilogy set in the Exalted RPG universe.

And once that’s done, I’m hopping the car and heading to Wilson, where there’s a Noir at the Bar at the lovely Larema Coffeehouse. Join me and some amazing authors like award-winner Mur Lafferty and rising star Jes Malitoris as we unleash verbiage beyond imagination!

 

 

This Week In Review/Preview

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Earlier in the week, the nice folks at the GenCon Writers’ Symposium posted a short interview they did with me about, well writing. You can check it out here.

Coming up this Sunday, I will be teaching a workshop on video game writing at the Orange County Library in Hillsborough, NC! All the details are here, and it’s not too late to grab one of the few remaining seats.  Did I mention it’s free?

 

Nevermore 2025

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Last week was the fun-filled Ret-Con, where I shared a table with my friend Holly Morris of Conjured Concepts art, hosted the rambunctious Thomas R. Clark, and got to hang out with folks like the delightful Michael Williams and Nicole Givens Kurtz. I also got to take an elevator ride with Lou Ferrigno, who was in town to do a signing at a local comics shop and who had unfortunately been booked into the one hotel in the area hosting a nerd-fest where he was recognized instantly.

For the record, I directed Mr. Ferrigno to the elevator, rode up to the fourth floor along with him, and wished him a pleasant evening. Absolutely no fanboying whatsoever.

But this weekend, Friday and Saturday, I will be holding down a table at the legendary Nevermore Film Festival at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it’s a 3 day long extravaganza of independent horror films from all over, including short films and feature length ones as well. Last year’s slate included the Zom-Rom-Com All You Need Is Blood, which is possibly the funniest movie I have seen in the last ten years. This year, I once again have no idea about any of these films, but it looks like a great lineup once again.

Hope to see you there!


 

 

The Trilogy of the Second Age Is Back In Print

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Way back in the day, I did a trilogy of fantasy novels as a tie-in to the wildly over the top fantasy TTRPG Exalted. Called the Trilogy of the Second Age, they featured swordplay, derring-do, magic, heroism, villainy, and a brief examination of the practical problems with being a walking corpse hitching a ride on the underside of a boat.

They went out of print ages ago.

But now, thanks to Crossroad Press, they’re back.

Ebooks and print books are here. Audiobooks are coming.

Check them out!

The End (of the Manuscript) Is Nigh!

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I am rapidly closing in on the finish line for my first full non-fiction book (unless you count uncredited work in various video game-related projects), The Video Game Writer’s Guide To Surviving An Industry That Hates You. It’s a book that I jokingly tell people that I have been writing for 25 years, but there’s a kernel of truth to that.

What the book is, is a guide to navigating the ins and outs and day to day of being a working video game writer. Very little of it is about how to write. Most of it is about how to survive as a writer, navigating team dynamics, deliverables, feedback loops, career building, and more. In other words, it’s about the stuff they don’t and largely can’t teach you in school.

I’ve been doing this a long time, and at times it feels like I’ve hit every pothole on the professional road. Now, though, I am at a place in my career where I can dispense some knowledge in good conscience with the hopes of hoping other people out. I don’t claim to know everything, and I know my circumstances have been weird even by the standards of the video game industry. But I have been there for some big games and some big moments and some big disasters, and I have some stories to tell that I think will simultaneously amuse and instruct.

In any case, I have completed the first draft of the manuscript and sent it to readers for feedback. This, I am already in the process of incorporating. With luck, what will emerge will be equal parts entertaining and educational, clear-eyed and encouraging.

We shall see…

Appearance Schedule 2025

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Looking ahead, it’s going to be a busy year. With that in mind, here’s my rough schedule of convention and other appearances going forward:

Ret-Con – February 21-23 – Durham, NC – Guest/Vendor

Game Writing Workshop – March 9 – Hillsborough, NC – Lecturer

Game Developers Conference/Game Narrative Summit – March 17-21 – San Francisco, CA – Advisor and speaker

Scares That Care AuthorCon V – March 28-30 – Williamsburg, VA – Vendor

RavenCon – April 25-27 – Richmond, VA – Guest

Mo*Con – Indianapolis, IN – Special Guest Game Designer

StokerCon – June 12-15 – Stamford, CT – Attendee

Necon – July 17-20 – Goffstown, NH – Toastmaster

 

There are a couple of other possibilities in the works, as well as my first-ever time doing the legendary Cruise to the Edge, but I think this is a pretty good start…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mo*Con News

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I am thrilled to announce that I will be a Special Guest at this year’s Mo*Con, the annual gathering of talented and mighty folks hosted by writer, Afrofuturist, and general man about town Maurice Broaddus. Details of the show can be found here, if you’re interested in attending!

 

 

New Year, New Job

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Incredibly happy to announce that I have started a new job at Romero Games as Narrative Director! As much fun as my time at Crytek was, sometimes a story just reaches its natural endpoint and it’s time to move on. I was lucky enough to be able to start a new story with some amazingly talented people, and I am really looking forward to be part of of a team that’s making some magic!

2024 Roundup

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This….was a very busy year. A lot of stuff happened that was very important and yet utterly not germane to this discussion, so I’m going to skip on over it. I do, however, want to do a rundown of all the writing-related stuff that happened, largely for my own sake so I can convince myself it really went down. To wit:

  • I pitched and sold a non-fiction book on being a video game writer titled The Video Game Writer’s Guide To Surviving an Industry That Hates You. That should be out in 2025.
  • I sold my horror novel Nightmare Logic to Falstaff Dread, and that will be out in 2026.
  • I energetically resurrected, playtested, and revised my card game Squatches and Scotches, and am engaged in getting that in front of publishers now.
  • I am engaged in pitching my novel Ghosts of Smoke and Flame to agents and publishers, and have high hopes for it.
  • I was engaged on several top-secret creative projects, one of which we are final contract negotiation stages for. I can’t say more about it yet, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and I am really excited that this is happening.
  • I sold five stories: “Against the Siren Song” to Sudden Fictions, “Kicking Santa’s Ass” to Interdimensions, “Paws” to Black Cat Weekly, “Used Sleep” to Space and Time, and “Last Supper” to the fine folks at PseudoPod.
  • I wrote or revised a double fistful of stories, and have them all out in submission as we speak.
  • I commissioned and released audiobooks for my novels Firefly Rain and Vaporware.
  • I did a twice-weekly series of posts on game narrative at LinkedIn, drawing thousands of readers.
  • I spoke at numerous schools and conferences, including GDC, SAGA Writing Workshop, the GenCon Writers Symposium, DigiPen, RIT, and many more.
  • I did readings and appearances across North Carolina, from Wilson to Raleigh to Morganton to Arden, and even did a reading as part of the legendary Noir at the Bar series at Yonder in Hillsborough.
  • I continued to serve on the advisory board of the Game Narrative Summit, and to judge the Student Game Narrative Analysis Competition at GDC.
  • I was announced as the Toastmaster for Necon 2025.
  • I pitched an anthology concept that is moving forward with me as co-editor.
  • I wrote scripts for and voice directed the musician Post Malone as part of my work on the video game Hunt: Showdown 1896. I also did extensive other narrative work on the game before wrapping up my time at Crytek at the end of the year.

And there’s probably some other stuff that I am forgetting, but still, that’s a pretty full year.

Now, onward to 2025!