Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis on Geekerati Tonight

On January 6th of this year, Tor-Forge published the first novel in an exciting new series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The book, Bones of the Dragon, is the first in a saga inspired in part by Viking Sagas. It is a tale where the acts of men will determine the fate of gods. Weis and Hickman will be visiting the Geekerati BlogTalkRadio show tonight at 7pm Pacific to discuss this new series, the Dragonlance Saga, writing for gaming, writing for hire vs. writing for ownership, and the challenges of co-authoring works.

In 1984, Tracy Hickman was a game designer at TSR and Margaret Weis was a book editor at the same company. Both had been assigned to work on different aspects of a new product line for TSR entitled Dragonlance. Tracy was hard at work trying to, as he put it, "corale resources in the company to produce a little dream called Dragonlance." Margaret was to edit a book related to the product. It would be the first gaming related novel and TSR wanted success. So they set a couple criteria regarding the selection of who would author the book. According to Hickman, "it had to be a recognizable name author with an established audience and, second, he had to work for very little money on a project he could not own."

Though an initial author was selected to write the Dragonlance book, it was Hickman and Weis who eventually took the reins and ran with the project. What a project it became! Not only did the Dragonlance Saga create the genre of gaming related fiction, but it has spawned a library of over 190 novels, a couple of lines of comic books, and an animated film. All of this on top of the vast treasure trove of gaming material created in the Dragonlance Universe. 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the setting and Cinerati can't help but believe that Wizards of the Coast, TSR's successor company, have some gaming surprise planned for later this year.

Hickman and Weis have written about a score of novels in the Dragonlance setting, but they have also written another score of novels completely unrelated to the Dragonlance Saga. From the Arabian Nights inspired Rose of the Prophet series to the post-apocalyptic Death Gate Cycle fantasy series. In support of their Darksword quadrology, they wrote a paperback sized role playing game entitled Darksword Adventures. The book was released in 1988 and it signaled the end, by publishers, of attempts to create mass market paperback market for role playing games. Prior to Darksword Adventures, Corgi had published the excellent Dragon Warriors paperback role playing game (a wonderful new version of the game is being published by Magnum Opus Press) and a paperback edition of Tunnels and Trolls as well as several of that game's solo adventures, and Puffin had published the Advanced Fighting Fantasy Role Playing Game as a follow up to its own Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.

Space Vulture Now Available in Paperback

Last March, Gary K. Wolf (Who Censored Roger Rabbit) and Archbishop John J. Myers' wonderful pulp science fiction novel Space Vulture was released in hardback. The novel contains a gripping and action packed yarn that is reminiscent of the serial movies that once played in theaters. Reading the book one is transported into a world of rocketships (not spacecraft), rayguns (not lasers), and where Faster than Light travel exists regardless of any scientific explanation. In short, the novel contains pure fun and none of the baggage that can weigh down "hard" science fiction.



While it might be easy for some to dismiss Space Vulture as "juvenile" fiction, I would recommend against such shortsightedness. While the tale is certainly appropriate for youth, and also conforms to the old "Space Opera" stereotype of being a Western in Space, there is nothing wrong with that as long as the tale is well written and has some greater truth (or Truth) to offer the reader. Space Vulture does indeed have the layer beyond the yarn that transforms a story from a story read during ones youth that is merely looked back upon nostalgically, for fear that the reality doesn't live up to the nostalgia, into a story that is worth reading again as a treasure to share with one's children.

Space Vulture subtly addresses the philosophic underpinnings that lead us toward a moral, or immoral, life. Of the four adult characters (two "heroic" and two "villainous"), two begin the tale as apparent two dimensional characters. The other two contain the complexities necessary to draw the other two adult characters from the "four color" and into the "real." This is a story that speaks to the importance of family, of the proper relationship between siblings, and to what really makes on a hero. Good stuff this, even if it lacks a discussion of Unified Field Theory.

Last year, I was lucky enough to have both Gary and John visit my podcast Geekerati for a little conversation. Have a listen.

Then, after your appetite for adventure has been whet buy the book. It just came out in paperback.

Star Wars Explained by Someone Who's Never Seen It

This is why we shouldn't judge movies we have never seen. Even if we've "seen little bits."


Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Thanks to Dr. Horrible's own Felicia Day for the direction. Via Twitter.

KHAN!!! Ricardo Montalban has Passed Away.

Kevin Roderick at LAObserved reports, "City Council President Eric Garcetti announced this morning that actor Ricardo Montalbán died today at home in his district, surrounded by family. Montalban was 88, according to Garcetti, who made the announcement at the Los Angeles City Council meeting."

Dammit! That's all I can say.

Well...except for KHAAAAAN!!!!

Eric Nylund Discusses Mortal Coils on Geekerati Tonight

Tonight at 7pm Pacific, SF and media tie-in author Eric Nylund will be discussing his upcoming book Mortal Coils with me and my fellow hosts on Geekerati. Join Bill Cunningham, Shawna Benson, Eric Lytle, and me as we discuss video game writing and this exciting new novel with Eric Nylund.

Eric Nylund is a New York Times bestselling and World Fantasy Award nominated author of several novels (including HALO: GHOSTS OF ONYX and DRY WATER). MORTAL COILS will be his ninth novel.

Nylund is also a writer and story consultant for Microsoft Game Studios where he helps develop and maintain blockbuster billion-dollar game franchises such as GEARS OF WAR and HALO. He has helped shaped the intellectual property for some the world's best videogame developers including BIOWARE, ENSEMBLE STUDIOS, and EPIC GAMES.

In January 2009, Nylund will have his first comic mini-series published, BATTLESTAR GALACTIC: THE CYLON WAR—a prequel to the television show, which chronicles why the machines started a war against humanity...and how the humans survived!

Also out in the Spring of 2009 is Nylund’s graphic novel, HALO: Genesis, which will appear in the Limited Collector’s Edition of HALO WARS.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a Master’s degree in theoretical chemical physics. He graduated from the prestigious Clarion West Writer’s Workshop in 1994.

MORTAL COILS is a modern fantasy novel about two twins who find out that they have an unenviable heritage that just may tilt the balance in the war between the Immortals and the Infernals.

The people at Tor Books have been kind enough to share the first nine chapters for your reading pleasure.

ABOUT MORTAL COILS

Nestled in a small town between San Francisco and the heart of the California wine country, a set of twins—a brother and a sister—live a life of mundane obscurity. Fiona and Eliot Post dream of running away from the oppressive rule of their grandmother, who has raised them since infancy after their parents were killed in an accident at sea. They hate being part of such a strange family—with all of its restrictive rules. Audrey Post insists on home schooling her grandchildren and forces them to work at a local pizzeria where they are bullied by a tyrannical boss. She seems to truly love Fiona and Eliot, but refuses to allow them to explore the beauty of the world that surrounds them.

On the eve of their fifteenth birthday, however, everything changes. It begins with hauntingly familiar violin music played by a homeless man who reeks of sardines and sulfur; a victorious confrontation with their bully of a boss; and a visit from two mysterious strangers, one known only as "a Driver" and the other who claims to be their long-lost uncle.

It turns out that Fiona and Eliot are much more than ordinary teenagers. They are the result of a single mistake: Years ago, an immortal goddess…and the infernal Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness, fell in love. To protect them from their dangerous heritage, Audrey Post valiantly kept the twins hidden and camouflaged from the entities that have sought them over the years, transforming the divine into the dull.

But now they have been found—not only by their maternal relatives, but also by their paternal ancestors. For millennia, the Immortals and the Infernals have abided a strict law that they may not meddle in each others' affairs. The twins represent a new balance of power, however, and can potentially open a door into the unknown. If they tip one way, they can be a great boon for the Immortals. If they tip the other way, they will be a powerful asset to the Infernals.

Each family is determined to gain control of Fiona and Eliot. But in order to establish the twins' proper place and rightful allegiance, they each must devise tests to determine which side the twins favor. The Immortals create three heroic trials inspired by urban legends, taking them into deeper and more dangerous pockets of mythology incarnate in the modern world. The Infernals fashion three diabolical temptations for the twins, each one an attempt to forever isolate brother from sister.

The time has come for Fiona and Eliot to be judged, and it is a matter of life—and death—that they band together and learn to use their fledgling powers. For family allegiances are constantly shifting and the twins' actions could ultimately cause a war of apocalyptic proportions.

Readers will remember Fiona and Eliot long after they've finished the last page of MORTAL COILS, and will eagerly anticipate their next adventure


MORTAL COILS
By Eric Nylund

A Tor Trade Paperback Original
ISBN: 0-7653-1797-4
$14.95/608 pages
Publication date: February 3, 2009
www.tor-forge.com

ABOUT GEEKERATI RADIO – Geekerati Radio is an online radio show hosted by Christian Lindke, Shawna Benson, Bill Cunningham, and Eric Lytle which features discussion of popular culture by geeks for geeks and is a featured show in the BlogTalkRadio network. The Geekerati Radio show airs Wednesday nights at 7pm Pacific and the archives are available 24/7.

Dark Knight: The World's Finest Edit

I believe the most recent Batman film, THE DARK KNIGHT, is a masterpiece. It combines elements from classic comic book narratives with the themes of THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. If the movie had been written as an issue of WORLD'S FINEST, back in the day, it might have gone a little more like this.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Hat Tip: SFSignal

Once More I am Happy with Steve Jackson Games: Just in Time to Prepare for Munchkin Quest 2

Yesterday I wrote about my disappointment with Steve Jackson Games with regard to their handling of the transition of their Pyramid Online Magazine subscription service. They were shifting from an html format to a much improved pdf format.

You can read the old post to get the whole story. Needless to say, I was upset by two things.

First, that the transition -- which included making available a download featuring all the old Pyramid Online articles -- happened during a time that was crazily busy for me. This was not Steve Jackson Game's fault, just an inconvenience on my end. An inconvenience, that led to me not finding out about the change until well after it had happened. So I missed the archive.

Second, that almost two weeks after sending an email discussing my problem to Steve Jackson Games, I still had not received a response from them. I wasn't expecting them to send me the archive as an attachment or any other kind of special consideration. I just wanted to inform them of the problem, in the hopes that they would handle similar future transitions in a way that is less time sensitive and more customer friendly. I didn't exactly say that in the email, but that was my intention. All I expected was a reply from Steve Jackson Games in return for the email. Some small part of my soul hoped for access to the archive, but as I have written that wasn't really expected. I just wanted good customer service.

It did not appear that I was receiving that service in response to my email. Though it should be noted that I included a list of emails that I sent the email to and ones that I thought I maybe should have used. As it turns out, I should have used one of the emails I did not use.

Today, I received a very nice and professional email from Steven Marsh -- the editor of the online version of Pyramid Magazine. The email was everything I had wanted, if not everything I had hoped for, and it explained the situation perfectly. It even explained why/how they made the archive available.

Sadly, it also affirmed that they would not be making it available again.

Hopefully, they will change their mind on that and offer it at e23 for a fee. There were some excellent articles in the html version of the magazine and it would be a shame to see them disappear forever. After seeing a deceased friend's website completely disappear with the death of journalspace, I am particularly sensitive to the frailty of digital content. But I must admit that I have no idea what the editorial time or the logistics of such an offering would be.

I just know that I once more feel like a happy part of the Steve Jackson Games family. I don't feel like an anonymous consumer, but like a valued client.

That said, I am very much looking forward to the Munchkin Quest Expansion.

FNORD!