Tracy Hickman's Blog, page 10
March 12, 2011
Scribe's Forge Preview
As we are gearing up for the launch of our Scribe's Forge Online Writing Seminars and Workshops, we wanted to share a small piece of the first video seminar in our six-week series. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into our seminars, where you create the next great story … and we provide the tools to forge it's reality.
Join us at Scribesforge.com!
March 2, 2011
Fireborn: Embers of Atlantis
Tracy Hickman and Fantasy Flight Games are pleased to announce 'Fireborn: Embers of Atlantis' — a new novel by Tracy Hickman
"We are going to preserve life," Tsanya snapped. "Your lives and those of our own race. We have found a way to graft the souls of dragons and Seelie into the race of men."
"You are insane!" Abraxas asserted.
"Listen to me!" Tsanya pleaded. "We have debated long on this course and it is not lightly taken. Man is short-lived and disposed to selfishness, cruelty, and temper—but they are proven survivors. Of all the races across Erebea only man is assured to survive the coming night…a night without Karma or Taint that will last millennia on end. Your souls—the seeds of who you are—will pass from father to son, from mother to daughter—sleeping within the scions born of mortality and grafted within their lives. Your sleep with be troubled and not all of you will survive the journey down the centuries. But one day the foundations of the world will turn again, Karma will return and with it your souls will be awakened."
• • •
Powerful scions walk the streets of modern London, oblivious to their true nature. Unknowingly, they carry within them the spirits of reincarnated dragons from an age of high fantasy. As magic begins to emerge once more in the 21st century, long-dormant memories begin to flood the minds of these scions, reminding them of their mystical heritage.
Welcome to the world of Fireborn.
Ethan Gallows knows things about his world. He knows there is magic, and he knows he has nothing to do with it. Yet when he is sent on the seemingly menial job of filming a museum curator's antique art collection in London, Ethan discovers that he has much more to learn.
After witnessing a violent display of sorcery, ancient memories come rushing back to Ethan – memories seen through the eyes of a dragon. With minions of the Taint now seeking him for their own twisted purposes, Ethan must put his trust in Sojourner – a woman claiming to be a draconic scion. Could he really be a dragon of old, or is this some sort of fanatic conspiracy? There's only one way for Ethan to find out.
Embers of Atlantis is the first novel based on the acclaimed Fireborn roleplaying game setting. Written by New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance Chronicles), Embers of Atlantis introduces readers to a modern world faced with the sudden emergence of magic.
Tracy Hickman took the time to share some insights into his experience writing Embers of Atlantis:
"I've been working with dragons for nearly all of my professional life and was, I'll admit, getting a bit too comfortable with them. Fireborn shakes the dust off of those dragons of the ancient past and brings them roaring into our own times, driving magic into our familiar surroundings with explosive force and twisting everything familiar into new shapes that are both compelling and horrifying. Writing 'Embers of Atlantis' was like hanging onto the dragon's tail – a thrilling ride from first to last. I've personally walked the streets of London, the fields of Normandy and climbed the stairs of Mont Saint Michel. Now with this novel I've been able to return to those places and see them in a new and very strange light; where animated corpses run through the Trafalgar Square, dreadful demons lurk in the Chunnel and zombie Nazi's are refighting the Second World War. What a delight to come to my friends of traditional fantasy with something so exciting, fresh and unhinged."
February 26, 2011
Save or Die for Hickman
I just appeared on the 'Save or Die' podcast, talking about classic AD&D and the good old days at TSR, Inc. We discussed the origins of Dragonlance and the early days of Dungeons & Dragons — the evolution of adventure modules and the new projects at Dragonsbard and our upcoming writing seminars at Scribe's Forge.
We hope you enjoy the reminiscing as much as we enjoyed recording it!
February 17, 2011
Life, The Universe … and me
We all want to know the answer to the question that was posed by Douglas Adams in his wonderful Hitchhiker's Guide and perhaps we may get a glimpse into that this weekend when I attend 'Life, the Universe and Everything 29′ behind held at the BYU Conference Center at BYU in Provo, Utah starting today and running through Saturday (February 17th – 19th, 2011). I'll be joining again with friends including James Dashner, Dave Farland, Jessica Day George, Stacy Whitman and Lisa Mangum. Howard Tayler, our partner in crime for XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery will, of course, also be attending — we having first met at this conference some years ago.
The events in which I will be participation are as follows:
Friday, February 18th, 2011
10:00 AM: – Deconstructing Hobbits: An exploration of the four foundational through-lines of plot and their relationship to character archetypes, as revealed in the Lord of the Rings — and how those principles can be applied to your own writing. (Tracy Hickman)
Noon: -Charisma is not a dump stat: The real world importance of personal appearance and social skills in achieving your creative dreams. (Howard Tayler, Jake Black (M), Tracy Hickman)
2:00 PM: – Characters' morals/theology vs. authors' (Aleta Clegg (M), Hickman, Brad R. Torgersen, James Dashner)
3:00 PM: – Collaboration (Blake Casselman (M), Brian Hailes, Jake Black, Tracy Hickman)
Saturday, February 19th, 2011
9:00 AM: – Killer Breakfast (Tracy Hickman)
11:00 AM: Main Address: James Dashner
Noon: Signings in 1188: Jake Black, Larry Correia, David Farland, Paul Genesse, Tracy Hickman, Dan Wells
1:00 PM: – Writing Excuses Podcast (Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, Dave Wolverton, Tracy Hickman)
4:00 PM: Why write about worlds that don't exist? (Michael R. Collings, James Dashner (M), Tracy Hickman, Michael Young)
If '42′ just isn't enough of an answer for you … come join us!
February 7, 2011
Gencon 2011 Events
We have just submitted the events we will be offering at the Gencon Convention this year in Indianapolis:
EVENT DESCRIPTIONS:
HICKMAN'S WRITING SEMINAR AND WORKSHOP: Thursday / 5:00 pm (1700 hrs)
Tracy Hickman, NYT Best-selling novelist and Laura Hickman, co-author of 'The Bronze Canticles' series presents a unique opportunity to writers at Gencon. Participants in this workshop will be admitted into the Hickman's online writing seminars eight weeks in advance of the convention (discount tuition included in the event price) then gather personally with Tracy & Laura at Gencon to discuss their work. See the website for curriculum details.
HICKMAN'S KILLER SECOND BREAKFAST: Friday / 9:00 am (0900 hrs)
Ever wish you could go back and try that Killer Breakfast again? Take a time machine back with the rampaging gamemaster, 300 first-level characters facing certain death …. and show-stopping musical numbers! Tracy Hickman and the usual crew offer an encore presentation of a vintage 'Killer Breakfast Past' in their classic, wacky, no-holds-barred role playing game. Double your fun with their ALL NEW Killer Breakfast which follows on Saturday!
HICKMAN'S XDM: XTREME DUNGEON MASTERY: Friday / 2:00 pm (1400 hrs)
Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance author and game designer) presents radical player techniques which may threaten gaming itself! Learn both player and game master techniques designed to put both fun and adventure back into your game (and drive bad DMs and players wild) in this riotous seminar based on their secret book — available now with their all new adventure supplements!
HICKMAN'S KILLER BREAKFAST 2011: Saturday / 9:00 am (0900 hrs)
A rampaging gamemaster, 300 first-level characters facing certain death …. and show-stopping musical numbers! Tracy Hickman and the usual crew take on all comers in their classic, wacky, no-holds-barred role playing game for three hundred plus players. Play onstage or join in the audience participation. A hilarious Gen Con tradition! ALL NEW FOR 2011 — or consider our Hickman's Killer Second Breakfast encore game on Friday morning.
HICKMAN'S DRAGONHEARTH PODCAST LIVE!: Saturday / 6:00 pm (1800 hrs)
From the worlds between the pages of your favorite book … to adventures teetering on the edge of the dice … join Tracy & Laura Hickman and their special guests on a voyage beyond imagination. Here is your opportunity for questions and answers about novels, games and his new writing seminars … on a podcast that will be broadcast that same night.
We hope to see you there!
January 31, 2011
Hickman's Immortals on Kindle
Back in the 1990′s, Laura came to me with a scene she had imagined that would simply not leave her alone. She came to me with it, described it's dark image to me and asked me what it meant. I then told her that I knew the rest of the story around that scene — and told it to her on the spot. In that moment, that story become my own obsession.
The story was published as 'The Immortals' — and become for me one of the most important journeys which I would take personally into writing. It first saw print in 1996.
Now, I am pleased to announce our own Kindle version of this story available right now from Amazon.com. This new version was crafted by my own hand, includes the original artwork and the cover created by myself.
It represents the second of our titles to be put on Amazon.com — the first being our special edition of the first Dragon's Bard novel: Eventide. Eventide is crafted from the exact text as the exclusive, limited-edition printing that we did just a few months ago for collectors. We know you'll enjoy both these books.
January 5, 2011
Eventide ebooks Now for Kindles, Nook & iPads
Now for your Nook…For all our Nook and iPad friends … we are pleased to announce that Eventide is now also available on Barnes & Nobel in Nookbook epub format.
This means that the book is now available as an ebook both at Barnes & Nobel and at Amazon.com in both formats. We hope that you'll take time and visit both sites … leave a review of the book … and pick up your own ebook copy if you wish for $9.95 US.
We're doing our best to get this story to you in as beautiful a form as possible. Let us know if you have any problems with either rendition of Eventide.
December 27, 2010
Eventide … Now on Kindle!
Now you could be reading Eventide in less than a minute…
Laura and I are pleased to announce that our first novel in the Dragon's Bard series — Eventide — is now available at Amazon.com for their Kindle ebook device. This edition is taken from the original text files of the exclusive hardback first-edition printing. I formatted this edition personally and both Laura and I are very pleased not only with the resulting look of this ebook but that we can now make available this wonderful story to more people around the globe.
We are also looking into other formats and will let you know when they are available … but for now you can enjoy the original first edition either on your Kindle or on your PC using their free Kindle software.
And, of course, we will be starting our journey into the second book — Blackshore — this January. Subscribers to this second novel will experience the full range of the creation of this novel from early concept development through execution and publishing, many will even find their suggested characters appearing in the final book as they become part of the creative process — and, after reading the chapters as they are written — receive their own signed and numbered hardback copy of the finished book in the fall from our private printing.
Get instant access to the exclusive website and be in on the experience from the beginning … early subscription rates are still available for a limited time.
December 22, 2010
Books for Christmas???
Well, he's not helping my bottom line … but Merry Christmas to all!
November 23, 2010
Rosenstern and Gildencrantz
I've been working with Laura on the second novel in the Drakis series — tentatively titled 'Citadels of the Lost.' Occasionally, I've felt a little lost myself as there were three characters who had come along for the ride from the previous novel. They were members of Urulani's crew — sea raiders from the southern coast of Thetis Bay whom Drakis had convinced to take him north across the ocean in order to disprove his destiny.
Well, now we're journeying through this second book and it's absolutely fabulous — except for these three characters. Their names are Djono the Giant, Lucrasae and Kendai, the sailing master. Now don't get me wrong, they are perfectly nice characters — but I had begun to think of them collectively as Rosencrantz and Gildenstern or, worse, Rosenstern and Gildencrantz.
The reason behind my bizarre thoughts concerning these otherwise respectable characters is that while they had some nice things to do and say in the first novel and even though their presence in the second novel makes a certain kind of logic — they had become 'baggage' — characters who you drag through the book even though they serve no dramatic or story function, represent no particular necessary viewpoint and are, for the lack of a better phrase, dead weight.
The immediate impulse it so turn dead weight into dead meat: just kill them off and be done with them, but that hardly seems fair. I mean, it isn't their fault that the plot doesn't concern them all that much and that the author is trying to shoehorn dialogue into their mouths just to justify their existence.
So, this means a rewrite — going through ALL the chapters to date and figuring out how to expunge them from the tale. Interestingly, the moment I wrote their now exit rather than inclusion near the front of the book … EVERYTHING IMPROVED. The plot got tighter, the motivations got clearer, the dialogue was snappier and everything made more sense. So, now I only have to go through the remaining chapters and, using the same crowbar I used to place them INTO the story, forcibly remove them so that the story is solid throughout, moving and strong.
Goodbye Rosenstern and Gildencrantz — and that third guy — whoever you were. Take comfort that I didn't kill you outright but let you live an unheralded life off the stage of our story.
