Robin D. Laws's Blog, page 74
August 14, 2012
Factors in Arranging The Lion and the Aardvark
Ordering the stories in a fiction anthology is always an exercise in multi-level thinking. The Lion and the Aardvark, the upcoming book of modern fables I am editing for Stone Skin Press, adds some new wrinkles to the task. In addition to the usual matters of mixing tones and voices, I have to equally space the stories we’ve chosen to have illustrated (by the perfectly cast Rachel Kahn.) Ideally I’ll find the right rhythm of the personal political, the funny and poignant, the affirming and the disturbing. That’s all par for the course, too. But for the first time I also have to avoid clusters of:
cats dogs, wolves, coyotes & foxes birds fish bugs dragons scientists zombies
August 13, 2012
Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: It’s a Wonderful Life, Batman
Just in time for your Gen Con travels, it’s episode 2 of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff podcast, where we ask if Risk: Legacy is a story game, answer a question on weaving roleplaying stories in the face of player unpredictability, assign Ken and his time machine to stop WWI, and discuss Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.
August 9, 2012
Finding Me at Gen Con
Is it just me, or does it feels like Gen Con ‘11 happened only a few months ago? Nonetheless, my calendar reliably tells me that the great tribal gathering happens next week.
My new releases for the show take on a distinctly fictional cast this year. Print gods willing, you’ll be able to grab:
Blood of the City, my Pathfinder Tales novel of urban mystery, political machination, and family intrigue. At the Paizo booth.
The limited edition hardcover of my short fiction collection New Tales of the Yellow Sign, serving up weird new takes on the weird mythos of Robert W. Chambers. Seek it in the Atomic Overmind section of the Green Ronin booth.
Advance print copies of The New Hero, The New Hero Volume 2, and Shotguns v. Cthulhu, the first three Stone Skin Press anthologies, which I edited, will be at the Pelgrane Press both. If you missed the Kickstarter campaign, allow them to entice you into the notoriously seductive Pelgrane 4 for 3 deal. There you may also avail yourself of the chance to pick up The Birds: There Goes My Day Job, which came out earlier this year but makes a perfect convention impulse buy.
Even more important than the consumer frenzy I hope to whip you into is the chance to say hi, whether to catch up or meet up for the first time. Catch me at any of the following scheduled events:
Thurs
3-4 pm
Writer’s Symposium Advanced Plotting Seminar
ICC-245
Fri
Noon – 1 pm
Pathfinder Tales Fiction Panel
Crowne Victoria C/D
Fri
1:30 – 2:30 pm
Pathfinder Tales signing
Paizo booth
Fri
6 – 7 pm
Tome Show Podcast
Crowne Victoria C/D
Sat
Noon – 1 pm
Don’t Read This Book signing
IPR booth
Sat
3 – 4 pm
GUMSHOE / Investigative Roleplaying panel
Crowne
Pennyslvania Stn
During exhibit hall hours, when I’m not off in a meeting or desperately scarfing down a slice of convention center pizza, I’ll be manning my post at the Pelgrane Press booth. Please don’t be shy about coming up to chat. It’s what I’m there for!
August 8, 2012
August 7, 2012
Announcing the Gen Con Buzzword for 2012
We’ve noted what is and isn’t in our collective wheelhouse. We’ve gone out to hoe the old idea farm. Last year we statused each other incessantly. But now another journey to Indianapolis beckons and it’s time to announce this year’s 2012 Gen Con buzzword competition.
Before the word is announced, a recap of the rules for those joining us already in progress. Players attempt to drop this hideous piece of business jargon into conversation in as many contexts as possible. Straightfaced usages score full points. Visible irony earns you a deduction. For extra points, slip it into podcasts, ENnies acceptance speeches, or like circumstances in which an innocent public is subjected to the buzzword’s full horror.
Super extra points are awarded for causing some other unfortunate soul to use the word as if it is a thing decent, sane people actually say.
To count, usages must occur at Gen Con.
With that out of the way, I can now formally announce that this year’s buzzword is incubate. This term of business jargon art takes the ordinary act of creating or developing ideas one hopes to make money from and confers on it a unearned halo of innovation. By likening your business plan to the protection of fragile new life, it conveys a sense of nurturing that couldn’t possibly be exploitative or douchey.
Examples of use: “We’re incubating the project a little longer before taking it out to crowdfunding.” “I’ll let that incubate a couple days and get back to you.” “Let’s really incubate a sense of community on that one.” “We don’t just hire talent. We incubate it.”
Report point-scoring activities to me for inclusion in the final tally, to be announced after the show. All judging decisions are final.
August 6, 2012
Big Thanks to Stone Skin Backers
Yesterday morning the Kickstarter clock ticked its final tick, leaving the Stone Skin Press fiction launch funded at 250% of its goal. Thanks to all of you who pledged. I’m very proud of the fiction anthologies we’ve assembled and look forward to seeing them reach this all-important first wave of readers. And I can stop compulsively refreshing the Kickstarter page to see if the total has ticked up.
Congratulations to Managing Director Simon Rogers and Managing Editor Beth K. Lewis for managing a fun campaign, full of personality and blatant cupcake solicitation. Now it’s time for us to buckle down to work on those stretch goals, from audio performances to the limited edition chapbook.
We’ve learned lessons along the way, which we’ll be applying to Pelgrane’s next crowdfunding campaign, for Hillfolk. That will kick off in late September, just as I’m recovering from my annual jaunt to the Toronto Film Festival. The hiatus also gives us the chance to gather more art to feature in the campaign. Visuals are now appearing in my inbox and I’m confident you’ll be as knocked out by them as I am.
While I have my thanking hat on, I’m also grateful for the immediate enthusiasm expressed for the inaugural edition of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff podcast. Many of you have asked if there will be an RSS feed and/or iTunes availability, and the answer is yes to both. Setting up the RSS feed so that it talks nicely to iTunes takes a bit of messing about, which is now underway.
If you missed the grand unveiling on Friday afternoon, you can in the meantime head over to the episode page to listen through your browser or download for manual transfer to your listening device of choice.
August 3, 2012
Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Has Gone Live!
After much preparation, a great leviathan lurches its head from the dark waters of podcasting. Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, my new podcast with boon compadre Kenneth Hite, is now live, with a popping site festooned by the finest cartoon stylings of John Kovalic, whose Dork Tower is a Ken and Robin sponsor in perpetuity.
Grab the inaugural episode to hear us discuss Night's Black Agents, English perambulations, the role of the GM in contemporary game design, and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
August 2, 2012
August 1, 2012
Extreme Zombies Lurch Toward a Bookstore Near You
Emerging with grave dirt on its face and mayhem on its mind, Extreme Zombies resurrects a passel of previously published stories of the shambling undead, including my own “Susan.” I’m pleased to share a table of contents with such gut-munching luminaries as Joe R. Lansdale, Nancy A. Collins, and George R. R. Martin. It is likewise salutary to rub rotting elbows with Jesse Bullington and Monica Valentinelli, whose work will be appearing in forthcoming books from Stone Skin Press. Paula Guran edited; Prime Books published. Grab it on Amazon or from the brain-devouring bookseller of your choice.
July 31, 2012
Treasure of Far Thallai Part 5
Harpies don’t normally take prisoners, but when pirate-Pathfinder Challys Argent and her unwilling adjutants find one in a bone-strewn nest, they begin to see the plan of the man they hunt, Captain Kered Firsk. Follow them to a confrontation with sea devils in “Becalmed”, the penultimate chapter of my serialized novella “The Treasure of Far Thallai.” Find it in The Price of Infamy, part five of the Skull and Shackles Pathfinder Adventure Path, available now from Paizo or your favorite purveyor of fine game products.
