Richard Lee Byers's Blog, page 16

WHISPERS FROM THE ABYSS VOLUME 2 is now available!

WHISPERS FROM THE ABYSS VOLUME 2 is available now as an eBook (paperback coming next year)! This is a new Lovecraftian anthology edited by Kat Rocha​ and full of stories by great Mythos writers like Laird Barron​ and Orrin Grey​, plus you get something new from me. If you're interested, you can check it out here:
http://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Abyss-horrors-that-shall-ebook/dp/B0165N1WRU/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1444060196&sr=1-2-fkmr1&keywords=whispers+from+the+abyss+volume+2

Video from Dragon Con

Here's a bit of video from this year's Dragon Con. It's three friends from Risen Phoenix Studio plus me, and it references a current project I'm really psyched about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV51_yyZwvU

Philip Athans says, "Don't be Hatin' on Prologues!"

Philip Athans​ discusses prologues. I contributed my thoughts to the conversation.
https://fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/dont-be-hatin-on-prologues/

I received a Thumbtack Best of 2015 award for tutoring writing

As a sideline, I tutor people seeking help with their writing. Thumbtack (a service where I'm listed) named me one of their Best of 2015 based on my good customer reviews.

I will be on the program at the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading 10/24/15

I will be a program participant at the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading on Oct. 25. Here's info on the event:
http://www.tampabay.com/expos/festival-of-reading/authors.page

Aeryn Rudel interviewed me

Aeryn Rudel​ interviewed me for his blog "Rejectomancy." You can read that here:
http://rejectomancy.com/2015/08/17/ranks-of-the-rejected-richard-lee-byers/

Schrodinger's D&D/Forgotten Realms movie

We won’t know how the forthcoming supposedly big-budget D&D/Forgotten Realms movie has turned out until we go to the multiplex to see it. But I can imagine a couple different scenarios.

In one aspect of the quantum superposition…

The Michael Bay of BLACK SAILS is hired to mastermind the project.

A brain trust of people with considerable knowledge not only of D&D but the Forgotten Realms, the sourcebooks and fiction both, headed up by Ed Greenwood and comparable to the circle of comic-book professionals who consult on the Disney Marvel movies, provides input as to what the story should be.

The creators try to come up with a plot appreciably different than the plots of other fantasy films of recent years, and one that exploits material unique to the Realms.

The creators don’t feel the need to stuff in all the basic character classes and races of D&D whether they help the story or not.

And (if everything comes together properly) the cat lives!

In the other aspect of the quantum superposition…

The Michael Bay of TRANSFORMERS is hired to mastermind the project.

No one who works on the project has any knowledge of the hundreds of sourcebooks and novels that have developed the Realms. Nobody sees that as a problem. The writer is given the three core D&D rulebooks and the most recent edition of the FORGOTTEN REALMS CAMPAIGN SETTING and told to have at it.

The moviemakers are mainly concerned with two things:

The first is making a D&D movie as opposed a Realms movie. They make sure to stuff in all the basic character classes (fighter, magic user, cleric, rogue) and player-character races (human, elf, dwarf, halfling) whether this helps to tell a good story or not. Meanwhile, the Realms mostly serve as a simple source of place names and such. (“We need a land where the good people live. I guess this Cormyr will do.”)

The second is making a movie that hits all the same beats as the Tolkien films, because they earned a kajillion dollars and besides, that’s what fantasy is, right? Thus, the new movie serves up the usual fellowship of heroes undertaking a quest to defeat a world-threatening dark lord, and not anything less clichéd or overblown.

And (unless we’re lucky) the cat dies!

That’s how I see the situation, anyway.

 

Steven Kelliher at TOPLESS ROBOT recommends BROTHERHOOD OF THE GRIFFON to Hollywood

Thanks for the kind words, Steven Kelliher! I think Brotherhood of the Griffon would adapt into some good movies, too! May Hollywood heed your wisdom!
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2015/08/dungeons_dragons_dd_movie_universe_forgotten_realm.php

CTHULHU FHTAGN! is now available!

CTHULHU FHTAGN is a new anthology of Lovecraftian stories by some of the best weird fiction writers around. Somehow, I snuck something in, too. You can check it out here:

http://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Fhtagn-Laird-Barron-ebook/dp/B0127TCT8C/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1439527758&sr=8-1

My tentative schedule for Dragon Con 2015

This is my tentative programming schedule for Dragon Con 2015:

Title: Writing A Horror Book Series
Description: Pros share tips on designing and maintaining multibook narratives
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Scott Sigler, Jake Bible, James R. Tuck, Michelle Belanger, Karen E. Taylor, Richard Lee Byers)

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Title: Cthulhu: New Spins on Old Mythos
Description: Authors discuss keeping the core roots of the Cthulhu Mythos relevant for contemporary audiences
Time: Fri 07:00 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Kenneth Hite, Richard Lee Byers, John Hornor Jacobs, Michael J. Martinez, James R. Tuck, Jonathan Maberry)

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Title: 21st Century Zombies
Description: The public's hunger for zombies is insatiable, and this hour explores how writers keep the topic fresh
Time: Sat 01:00 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Madeleine Roux, Jake Bible, Richard Lee Byers, Jonathan Maberry, John Hornor Jacobs)

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Title: Squeamish Folks Need Not Apply
Description: Panelists discuss writing horror, dark fantasy and just plain scary, horrible, gory, putrid stuff.Bring your own air-sick bag.
Time: Sat 10:00 pm Location: Embassy D-F - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Richard Lee Byers, L. Andrew Cooper, Cherie Priest, Steve Saffel, Scott Sigler)