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So, several people have asked me about audio books for the Widdershins and Mick Oberon series. I kept telling them I might "have an announcement soon."

Well, it’s taken long enough, but it’s "soon."  😉

The Cutting Corporation, aka GraphicAudio, releases Hot Lead, Cold Iron next week! Find more about it here. Hallow Point and the Widdershins series to follow starting mid-next year.

For those who don’t know them, GraphicAudio products are almost of a radio play than a standard audio book. They include music, sound effects, all that good stuff.

I hope you guys find them worth the wait. Happy Thanksgiving to them what celebrates it. 🙂

(Edit: Yeah, it’s only the 26th. Oops. Pretend it’s a glimpse into the future until tomorrow.  )

Covenant’s End is releasing in February 2015, in hardcover and e-book.

If you didn’t want to buy the trade paperback or e-book version of Hot Lead, Cold Iron (WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME?!?! *sniff*), the mass-market paperback edition is due out in May of 2015. Just in time for…

Hallow Point, the second book in the series, which is also out in May, in both trade paperback and e-book.

Now you know; budget accordingly.  😉

So, a lot of you have seen my 5e Spell Sorter, and I’m really glad so many people are finding it useful. Thanks once again to the generosity of a friend–one who attended GenCon–I’ve had access to the 5e Monster Manual. And so, here we are again.

Ari’s 5e Monster Sorter!

Sort or filter monsters by name, CR, type, subtype (if any), size, alignment (if any), and whether or not the critter’s got Legendary and/or Lair abilities.

You’ll note some monsters appear multiple times. That was because they have more than one subtype or alignment, and I wanted them to appear in both categories should you choose to sort them that way.

As before, please feel free to download, to spread the word, whatever. And by all means, if you catch any errors, do let me know.

Enjoy, folks. 🙂

Hey, folks. Welcome to "Crossing the Streams 2014," a flippin’ huge, multi-author book giveaway! Some of you are familiar with this concept, as we’ve run this once before; for others, this’ll be the first time. Either way, here’s what’s what:

I, and roughly twenty other speculative fiction writers (give or take)–mostly novelists, but some short story and comic writers as well–have thrown in together to create something huge for you guys.

Here’s how it works:

Each individual author involved is running a contest on his/her own site. The specific details vary from author to author; the contest I run on my site might be very different than the one on James’s site, or Marcy’s site.

However, each contest has a few details in common. Specifically, each of us will select two winners from the contest on our own site. Each of those winners will receive one signed book, free, from the author whose contest they won. So, for instance, if you win here, you’ll win one of my books. If you win on Paul’s site, you’ll win one of his, etc.

But… that’s not the big prize. Once the contests have ended, all the authors involved will get together and choose one single "super-winner" from all the entries on all our sites combined. This one lucky individual will receive a signed book, free, from each and every one of the authors involved.

Yep. Somebody out there’s going to win around twenty free books.

You can only enter each author’s contest once, but you may enter multiple contests. So you could enter here, on Matt’s site, on Jason’s site, etc. Heck, you can enter on everyone’s site, if you want. (And even if you aren’t selected as the "super winner," you might win more than one of the individual contests. You never know.)

You can find a complete list of the authors involved, as well as links to their sites, below. But first…

How to Enter Ari’s Contest

Again, these are just the rules for my contest. The rules for entry on other authors’ sites might be very different.

But for me, it’s really simple. All you have to do is go to my contact page, and send me an e-mail using the contact form on that page. Your entry must come via this form, not by any other method or e-mail. You must change the subject line to read "Crossing the Streams."

In the body of the e-mail, all you have to do is name a villain from sci-fi or fantasy fiction, and tell me why you’d like to read a story told from that villain’s, rather than the hero’s, point of view. (Notice I didn’t say one of my fantasies; any character from any sci-fi or fantasy is acceptable.) You need not go into much detail when you explain why this is the villain whose story you want to see; it can be a single sentence, if that’s all you want to write. Or, you can write a few paragraphs. Whichever you prefer.

I will select two winners. One will be chosen completely at random, so even if you don’t think your explanation is very interesting, don’t worry; you’re still in the running. The other winner will be chosen based on what I think is the most interesting explanation given for a chosen villain.

And of course, everyone who enters is also in the running for the random "super-winner" selection.

Entries must be received between February 19th and March 19th, 2014.

And at least for me, that’s it. Really. 🙂 Easy, no?

Prizes: My two winners, and the super-winner, may choose any one of the following prizes.

The Goblin Corps (trade paperback)

Thief’s Covenant (hardcover)

False Covenant (hardcover)

Lost Covenant (hardcover)

Hot Lead, Cold Iron (trade paperback; this book will be released in May, so delivery of this prize, if chosen, will be delayed a bit, but you will get it)

If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to ask via my contact page.

The Rest of the Gang

As I said, there’s somewhere around twenty of us involved in this. You can find names, and links, below.

But guys? Do me a favor. If you click on over to one or more of these sites, don’t just look at the contest page, okay? Everyone involved in this contest is a great author or artist. If you like my stuff, you’re sure to like at least some of theirs. So take a few minutes. Poke around. See if any of their work intrigues you. Maybe even buy a couple of books. I know they’d all appreciate it, as I certainly would.

(You’ll note that several of the links are nonfunctional or not yet live. Please be patient and keep checking back; they’ll be updated or go live as more people’s contest pages go up.)

Thanks, and good luck. 🙂

• Betsy Dornbusch
• Darrin Drader
• Dave Gross
• Erik Scott de Bie
• Erin M. Evans
• Erin N. Hoffman
• Gabrielle Faust
• Howard Andrew Jones
• James L. Sutter
• Jeff Salyards
• Joshua Palmatier
• Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell and Jeffrey J. Mariotte
• Matt Forbeck
• Paul S. Kemp
• Richard Lee Byers
• Saranna DeWylde
• Scott Lynch
• Wendy N. Wagner

(Update, Aug 10: Sorter now revised to include subclasses and filtering!  😀 Also, concentration error for mage armor has been fixed.)

(Original post) I didn’t expect to have this done for some time yet, but thanks to the generosity of a local friend who got his Player’s Handbook early, and the fact that I got a massive head start using the free Basic PDF, it’s ready to go. Thus, I present to you:

Ari’s 5e Spell Sorter!

What is it? It’s a spreadsheet listing every spell in the 5th edition Player’s Handbook! It makes sense that the spells are presented alphabetically in the book, but sometimes that makes it hard to search by other details. This spreadsheet allows you to sort by name, level, class, school of magic (you’re welcome, wizards and eldritch knights), by whether or not the spell has a ritual option, and by whether or not the spell requires concentration (you’re welcome, front-line casters).

So have at. Download, spread the word to other gamers, and enjoy.  😀 (And if you discover any errors or omissions, please let me know and I’ll fix them ASAP.)

Note the first: This is just a sortable list. It does not include spell descriptions, mechanics, or summaries. This is meant to enhance the spell chapter of the Handbook, not to replace it.  😛

Note the second: Two spells are marked with one or more question marks. The paladin’s spell list includes "destructive smite," but there’s no such spell given. There is a spell called "destructive wave," which I believe is what the paladin list meant to refer to. The other is "trap the soul," which appears on the wizard’s spell list but does not seem to be presented in the chapter. (I believe, but am not certain, that it simply got folded into "Imprisonment.")

…some promises might be too big to keep forever.

February 2015.

(Art by the absolutely incomparable Jason Chan.)