Tag Archives: GenCon

August Recap

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So here’s what went down last month. I:

  • Attended GenCon as part of the Writers Symposium, where I moderated 8 panels, met and hung out with lots of great folks, and had a wonderful time. Also, I got to go on a small private tour of the Ray Bradbury Archives and was able to both touch his writing desk and hold his (replacement) Emmy for The Halloween Tree.
  • Started a Patreon. There’s free content, there’s paid content, there’s all sorts of content!
  • Went down to local festival Pop!-Con and had a great time. Sold books, talked to folks, and met a tiny owl named Galadriel who had apparently ridden against her will from Nebraska to North Carolina trapped in the front grill of a semi. That’s one tough bird.
  • Got published in issue 1o of legendary noir magazine Dark Yonder with my first true non-supernatural noir story, “Competitive Advantage”. I’m pretty sure that’s also the only piece of fantasy baseball-themed noir ever written, much less published.
  • Set up a couple of talks in New York State for September, one at RPI and one in Utica.
  • Agreed to speak at IGDC in Chennai, India in November.
  • Did the launch party for The Video Game Writer’s Guide to Surviving an Industry That Hates You at Yonder Cocktail Bar in beautiful Hillsborough, NC, Had a full house of wonderfully supportive friends and readers, and I am thrilled with how it went.
  • Launched The Video Game Writer’s Guide to Surviving an Industry That Hates You to what is apparently a really strong audience response. Last I checked, it was the #1 New Release in Game Design at Amazon, and was top 10 (as high as #2) in one specific category and top 50 in two others.
  • Finally got the ongoing piddling refrigerator saga dealt with.
  • Attended and sold books at legendary local music festival ProgDay, where I got to hang out with, among other people, the guy who’s played keyboards for Renaissance for the last 8 years.

Pretty sure there was other stuff in there, but I think that’s a good start.

Now, deep breath, and then September.

A Slight Change of Plans

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As part of the recent Microsoft Massacre, I find myself with a lot more free time on my hands. The project I was working on at Romero Games was canceled, and as a consequence of that, I’m out of work at the moment.

I feel terrible for my team, who are a fabulous bunch of people, and I am sad that the project we were working on might not ever see the light of day. Because, well, it was going to be awesome.

But, time to go forward. The leadership of Romero Games is reaching out to publishers to see if there is interest in bringing the game to market, so with luck, that will be a thing. If not, well, I am lucky enough to have a bit of a cushion – you don’t work in games for a couple of decades without planning for the unexpected – and I am going to take some time to decompress, recharge, and work on personal projects. I’ve got Necon coming up in a week, I’ve got GenCon and Pop!Con and ProgDay after that, I’ve got a brilliant and lovely girlfriend who lives far away whom I’d like to spend more time with, and there’s a whole mess of stuff around here, both in terms of my house and just things to do in North Carolina that I have never done, all of which will keep me busy for the foreseeable future.

So, that’s the plan for now. I’ve got all that to do, and some personal projects happening, and then there’s the launch of The Video Game Writer’s Guide to Surviving an Industry That Hates You, and the graphic novel is ongoing, and I should be getting edits on my novel Nightmare Logic from the publisher soon, and….as the marvelous Ellen says, “How did you have time to hold down a day job anyway?”

But stay tuned, there’s more news coming.

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?

 

Talking GenCon

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I’ve got a ton of writing news to share, but in the meantime, here’s an interview I did with Gerald Ford of The Corner of Story and Game. (and I make him laugh so hard he cries at the end.)

Check it out!

Upcoming Appearances

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The calendar has gotten quite full for the next few weeks. This past weekend was spent at the SAGA Writers Conference/ConGregate in Winston-Salem, which was a wonderful experience, but that’s just kicking things off.

This Thursday I head to New Hampshire to make my annual pilgrimage to Necon. This year, I’ll be on a panel with S.A. Cosby, Clay McLeod Chapman, Trish Wilson and Shannon Grant, moderated by the effervescent Michael Arruda, on how horror has changed since COVID. I’ll also be running a horror-themed variant on the ever-awesome Write Club – we will see if horror authors have what it takes to come up with the write stuff on the fly!

Two weeks later, I fly to Indianapolis for the magnificent chaos that is GenCon, where I will be participating in the Writers’ Symposium. As an added treat this year, I have a story in the Symposium’s anthology, Interdimensions, published by Atthis Arts!

Then the 13th of August, I join a lineup of local horror authors for Monsters In the Mead Hall, 7 PM at Moon Dog Meadery in Durham. It’s a showcase event for members of the North Carolina chapter of the HWA, and we will be bringing unseasonable chills and thrills to the heat of summer.

That Saturday is Pop!-Con down in Sanford. August 17th. I’ve never been to Sanford, but I’m looking forward to sharing my spooky stories with a new audience!

So it’s going to be a busy few weeks, but I’m looking forward to it. See you here, there and everywhere!

 

Upcoming Goodness

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So a lot has happened recently, and there’s a lot coming up that I can’t give you all the details of. But here’s the basics:

1-I’m going to be doing 2 readings in March in North Carolina. The first one will be on March 7th in Rocky Mount. The second will be March 26th at Quail Ridge Bookstore at North Hills in Raleigh. More details on both as soon as I have them.
2-I will be in the dealer room at Ret-Con in Cary March 1-3, selling books and telling the hidden stories behind the stories to anyone who will stand still long enough to listen. Come on by – it’s a great small con!
3-Once again in March I will sojourn west to San Francisco for Game Developers Conference and the Game Narrative Summit. During the main conference I will be running 2 days of Narrative Round Tables for all and sundry at the conference to attend.
4-April 12-14, I will be heading back to Williamsburg. VA for AuthorCon III, where I will be sharing a table in the dealers’ room with the award-winning horror author PD Cacek. Check out her stuff – Leavings is my favorite of hers, with Sebastian close behind – and swing by!
5-The speakers at GenCon’s Writers Symposium have been announced, and I’m one of them. More details as we get closer to August.
6-I will also be attending Necon and StokerCon this year. Everything else is up in the air.
7-An astonishing writing opportunity has come my way, and I am energetically exploring it. It’s something completely new that I’ve always wanted to try, though my past attempts haven’t really gone anywhere. When the time is right, I will reveal all.

And that’s all for now.

Going to GenCon

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Later this week I’ll be headed northwest to attend GenCon in Indianapolis. I’ll be taking part in the GenCon Writers’ Symposium, where I’ll be sitting on panels on Shaping GM Experience Into A Career In Narrative Design, Getting Into Game Writing, Leading TTRPG Development, and Video Game Writer As Freelancer Vs. Employee. I’m also doing Write Club with the inimitable Alexander Bevier, doing a signing with the talented Sarah Hans, and taking part in the “meet the pros” session of the Symposium.  I haven’t been to GenCon since 2016, and I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be great to see old friends and meet talented writers, and just generally soak in the game-y good times!