OLD News

So since I still may (or may not) be in the mood to run something in the near future, I’ve been giving some idle thought to campaign ideas. And what keeps bubbling to the forefront of what’s left of my brain is to use the upcoming 4e Dark Sun setting as a baseline to build a campaign world that is actually Earth near the end of the universe’s life span, a la Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique Cycle. But, uh, more desert/Barsoom-ish, as befits Dark Sun. The assumption being that, as the universe enters its dotage, the laws of physics have begun to fray and unravel just a bit, allowing for the appearance (return?) of magic.

So we’d still have a few scattered major city-states–ruled by Sorcerer Kings, as per the DS setting–but that are made up of a combination of medieval-style stonework and the last lingering, broken ruins of the steel-and-glass metropolises of the age of science.

What I haven’t yet decided is

A) whether to go ahead and allow the divine power source, assuming that the old gods of Earth mythology returned with the return of magic, or to keep them away as with Dark Sun proper, and

B) what the hell the campaign itself will actually entail/be about. But I really like the basic idea…

An open letter to everyone, everywhere.

If you can’t be bothered to capitalize and punctuate, I can’t be bothered to try to read whatever it is you’re trying to say.

Sincerely, me.

So, I’m about to start reading a book.

This, as you may imagine, is not the potential milestone to which the subject header refers. I have, oddly enough, read a few books in my time.

No, it’s the fact that this is an advanced copy of a book, that I’ve been sent because I’ve been asked–for the very first time in my career–to provide one of those little blurbs/cover quotes that you see on the back covers, or first few pages, of various novels.  😮 😎

Obviously, I can’t say what the book is, or who it’s for–but I will say that being asked to do a blurb actually feels really damn good. The idea that enough people may like my work for my recommendation to be worth seeking out… Well, it’s a really nice feeling.

I don’t know if there are any official markers on the road to "making it" as an author, but if there are, this almost has to be one of them, doesn’t it? 😀

So, I’m about to start reading a book.

This, as you may imagine, is not the potential milestone to which the subject header refers. I have, oddly enough, read a few books in my time.

No, it’s the fact that this is an advanced copy of a book, that I’ve been sent because I’ve been asked–for the very first time in my career–to provide one of those little blurbs/cover quotes that you see on the back covers, or first few pages, of various novels.  😮 😎

Obviously, I can’t say what the book is, or who it’s for–but I will say that being asked to do a blurb actually feels really damn good. The idea that enough people may like my work for my recommendation to be worth seeking out… Well, it’s a really nice feeling.

I don’t know if there are any official markers on the road to "making it" as an author, but if there are, this almost has to be one of them, doesn’t it? 😀

My latest Suvudu column, in which I discuss (read: rant and lecture about) the majority of modern "Lovecraftian" fiction, and how/why it’s really anything but.

Even though I’ve been doing this for years, even though I’ve published (or signed to publish) seven novels so far, I still get nervous any time I turn in a novel manuscript to an editor/publisher/whoever for the first time.

Why do I mention this? Guess who just sent the first draft of the current project to his agent. 😮

(Not that I expect her to have any major problems with it. But then, expectation isn’t really the issue here, is it?)