Tracy Hickman's Blog, page 7

American Fork Nativity

Wise-men and their sensible footwear.

Earlier this month, it was Laura’s Birthday. Traditionally, this has meant that she got her presents wrapped in Christmas paper (much to her dismay) and since her birthday is preceded by three other birthdays AND Thanksgiving, celebratory cake does not even make her list of desired activities. However, this year Laura received an email from a friend that included a hand drawn map showing the location of a ‘Walk to Bethlehem’ living nativity being conducted a few miles to the south of us in American Fork, Utah. Feeling desperately in need of a holiday lift, and noting that this was the last night of the performance, Laura and I got in our four-wheel drive ‘sleigh’ and made the excursion to the outskirts of this semi-rural farming local to experience the recreation of that night so long ago. Having gotten lost along the way, we eventually found the designated parking field just in time to join the last group entering David’s City that night.

We had a little difficulty following the path toward the stable as by the time we had arrived, the candles in the luminaria lining the path had long since gone out. I considered this more authentic, however, since luminaria are largely found in the traditions of New Mexico. Fortunately for us, Laura has brought a small flashlight (there was oil in her lamp, it seems) and we made our way down the farm road to the first camp fire blazing in the night. There we met a number of shepherds gathered around the fire who told us of some pretty amazing things that angels had told them about a baby coming that night. Then we all sang a verse of ‘Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains’ which, while the Biblical account in Luke only mentions the angels saying (not singing), I found to be most appropriate given that this particular Christmas hymn was composed in St. George, Utah in the 1800′s.

We then journeyed down the increasingly dark road between fenced farmland to the second blazing campfire. Here we met the Wise Men in cowboy boots and sneakers. We followed their directions to a local Inn — which looked remarkably like a 1970′s two-story brick farmhouse with a cement porch.

A woman in eastern dress answered the knock of our shepherd.

“We’re lookin’ fer a woman who is big with child,” the shepherd said loudly.

The woman was not impressed. “Well, I don’t know about BIG but I saw a woman GREAT with child who came to my door.”

“He’s been gettin’ that wrong all night,” we heard one of the Wise Men mutter behind us.

“I didn’t have any room for them,” the woman continued from the doorway despite the fact that the home looked pretty empty.  “But I told them they could stay in my stable.”

“Could you show us where she went?” the Wise men asked.

“Sure!” the woman said. “Let’s go do this thing!”

We journeyed further still into the farm country. The night overhead was clear of clouds and we were far enough from the lights of the town so that all the sky was ablaze with starlight. Suddenly as we came to a bend in the road, flood lights sprang to life, bathing rows of angels who appeared suddenly high above us on the top of a stack of hay-bales. They were cold up there that winter night but sang their hearts out with angelic fervor. Then the flood lights died and the angels vanished into the darkness.

As we came tot he stable, we could hear the horses, displaced for the performance, whinnying in the night. At last we came to the stable — a metal, prefabricated stable that on any other night might actually see use to the animals penned around us. Here was Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus … an actual baby held by her mother tight against the cold night and wearing a knit cap against the cold.

We sang ‘Silent Night as a group there in the stable — a hymn composed in Germany more than a millennium beyond the events portrayed before us but it didn’t make any difference. Perhaps this WAS how it was back then in a very real sense — inglorious surroundings and just common folk looking in wonder on this little baby in a shed and wondering what it would mean to them.

We walked back, Laura and I, beneath those stars blazing overhead. I saw a meteor cross the sky. Perhaps that was exactly the way it was in Bethlehem so long ago. ‘Sleep in heavenly peace,’ I thought. ‘Sleep in heavenly peace.’

 

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The Man Who Invented Christmas

For some time now I’ve been enjoy the book, ‘The Man Who Invented Christmas‘ by Les Standiford. The subtitle is ‘How Charles Dickens’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits.’ As I have felt compelled this holiday season to write my own Christmas tale — and in Dicken’s serial format nonetheless — I was fascinated by the tale of how, after an appearance in Manchester, England, a dejected and troubled Dickens came up with the story that not only would rescue him but an entire holiday at the same time.

I think about Charles Dickens strolling down the streets of Manchester that night in 1843, having his vision of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and how I wish I were there walking beside him. Not that he would have thought much about giving me the time of day. His words impacted nearly one out of four of the English language readers in his day – an astounding figure that not even the likes of J. K. Rowling nor Stephen King can come close to approaching in our one time.

But had I the opportunity, I would have told him of my deepest sympathies with his plight that night; that they mirrored my own. Perhaps in our commiserations we might have found common ground. He had achieved his greatest renown up to that that time in his late twenties as had I. Both of us had suffered from that peculiar myopia that early success inflicts upon its victims; the belief that nothing would ever change, that success was a right and that fortunes only ever rise.

“GUTENBURG MADE EVERYBODY A READER,

XEROX MAKES EVERYBODY A PUBLISHER.”

MARSHALL MCLUHAN (1911-1980) CANADIAN PHILOSOPHER

McLuhan was prophetic in this respect. The changes in the publishing world in our day have been apocalyptic over the last five years … explosive in an industry that only adapts well to changes at glacial speeds. The ebook tidal wave of change regarding how we read has not only made the book cheaper to purchase but has managed to cheapen the words themselves. Just as we cannot listen whilst we are talking, we cannot learn from the words of others when we make ourselves narcissus to our own instant publications.

I have, some years ago, walked the streets of Manchester and experienced the strange wonder of that city. There are, indeed, many ghosts there and one could easily imagine Jacob Marley wondering the cobblestones dragging his chains as Dickens felt he was doing that night and as I sometimes feel as well. But Dickens faced himself that night and in doing so realized that it was not ‘being a man of business’ that was the point of his writing but, as Marley put it:

MANKIND WAS MY BUSINESS. THE COMMON WELFARE WAS MY BUSINESS; CHARITY, MERCY, FORBEARANCE, AND BENEVOLENCE, WERE, ALL, MY BUSINESS. THE DEALINGS OF MY TRADE WERE BUT A DROP OF WATER IN THE COMPREHENSIVE OCEAN OF MY BUSINESS!

So I am grateful to Mr. Dickens giving me – and all of us – a few moments of his time on those wet, shining cobblestones in Manchester and bid him a goodnight. He had not yet written his best work that evening but now he looked forward to better things. So might we, too, all look up and know that we have better things ahead of us. In our ‘business’ of charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence then Christmas-time be praised – and God bless, Mr. Dickens, and all of us, every one.

Tracy and Laura HIckman’s holiday fantasy ‘St. Nicholas and the Dragon’ is available for purchase and instant ebook reading at DRAGONSBARD.COM.

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Holiday Fantasy Sale

Tis the season of giving … and we are offering unique gifts for the holidays. Everything from a new holiday story, to savings on signed, numbered and registered novels from our private printing and even gift discounts on our writing seminars.

If you are looking for something special, then please visit our Holiday Fantasy Sale! There is even support email and phone numbers to get you directly in contact with me about your order.

And whether you find that special something for that special someone from us or just enjoy the window shopping … Laura and I both wish you the very best of holidays!

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Black Friday to Cyber-Monday Holiday Sale!

We are in the middle of this year’s Black Friday through Cyber-Monday Holiday Sale! Come and take a look at the incredible offers we have for you!

FEATURED EXCLUSIVE!

NOT AVAILABLE ANYWHERE ELSE!

Tracy & Laura Hickman present their new, previously unpublished Dragon’s Bard Holiday story just in time for the holidays…

Duke Wenceslas is freezing in his castle, demanding that some brave knight will bring him the head of the dragon who is keeping his woodsmen from gathering firewood. At the same time, Emperor Dragon Quorlas is roasting in his lair under the mountain, demanding that some brave dragon from among his brood will bring him the head of the knight who is preventing them from gathering cows to eat. Meanwhile, in the village of Betwixt, young Nicholas wants only to deliver his gifts this Yuletide Eve but can’t until he can find a way to convince the knights and the dragons to make peace. Will young Nicholas find a way of keeping his head while all others seem intent on losing theirs?

By purchasing this item here you will not only receive an ebook copy of the novella upon its completion but will be allowed to read and comment on chapters of the book while it is being written over the next three weeks.

YOUR PRICE: $4.95

Come visit our Black Friday – Cyber Monday Holiday Sale Page and see the bargains for yourself and…

We even have gift options!

Imagine giving a complete set of our signed and numbered collectors editions from our private printing … at HALF the discount price!

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Beyond the Mirror

I was looking on Facebook today and noticed that a good friend of mine, Trampas Whiteman, has posted the following:

Have you ever thought about unfriending someone because something they like (that you don’t like) shows up in your news feed over and over?

As I read this, I notice that my facebook page on the right hand side shows ads for Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney and Mia Love (a Utah Republican candidate for Congress), in praise of Utah and for Mormons. Now, I favor Romney in the upcoming election but I’m troubled by the fact that Facebook KNOWS that bias and is now only showing me Romney/Republican ads. And as I am already a Mormon and live in Utah, those ads are hardly going to be life-changing for me. Facebook wants to give me things I like and in the process has reduced national discourse to a narcissistic mirror showing me back only what I want to see.

My point is that while cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable, we need not fear ideas different from our own.

That said we also live in an age of unweighted opinion. Facebook, too, teaches us that unfortunate fact. ABC’s slogan for this year’s election is ‘Your Voice; your Vote.’ The problem isn’t that everyone is supposed to speak out … the problem is when we’re all talking at once, who is listening? Talking is about ourselves. Listening involves other people.

While differences in opinion are the foundation of finding better and newer ideas, not all opinions are created equal. Turn on the television these days (if you dare) and you’ll see a constant parade of opinions from ‘experts’ whose job is to give you their opinion. In a classic ‘you can’t see the forest for the trees’ reality, I found it difficult to actually watch both the Republican and Democratic conventions this year because of all the ‘talking heads’ of commentators who insisted on placing themselves between me and the conventions taking place behind them. I have grown weary and leery of ‘commentators’ taking a candidate’s ten-minute speech, clipping a fifteen to twenty second ‘sound bite’ from that speech and then spending ten minutes telling me what that twenty seconds meant. I’d be so much happier if they would just get out of the way, let me hear the speech and be smart enough to judge for myself what it means.

So what do we most naturally want? We want to be told we are OK. We want to be told we are beautiful. We want to be told that we are good. We want to be told that we are right. We also, unfortunately, like it when we are told that those who disagree with us are wrong, bad or even just plain evil.

So we congregate into political parties or behind candidates who reflect — literally — who we believe ourselves to be. We look into the mirror altar of television and carefully select which news channel we worship based on which one is crafted most closely in our own image. Discourse is reduced to team jerseys, slogans and trash talk as though the fate of our nation were the Superbowl where our self worth is determined by whether our team wins.

I am not concerned with what happens on November 6th. My concern is what happens on November 7th, 8th, 9th…

Beyond the mirror, we can shrug of the chains of our own narcissism. On the other side of shallow reflection we can give up the idea of partisanship and divisiveness. We can realize that beyond the mirror there is a place where being ‘right’ is less important than ‘making better’.

Then perhaps the place to start for us all is by looking in the mirror.

And I hope no one ‘unfriends’ me for saying so.

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Oscilations, Politics & Story

On Facebook the other day, I clicked on ‘like’ Mitt Romney. One of my friends on Facebook responded to my like with “Are u frickin kidding me? Romney?? REALLY???”

Well, yes … really. Now I want to be clear. The fact that Lindsay Lohan has endorsed Mitt Romney for President in no way informed my decision on this subject. For that matter, Honey Boo Boo’s endorsement of Barack Obama has not influenced me either. And, perhaps, the fact that I ‘like’ Mitt Romney on Facebook should no more influence or inform your own opinion on the United States Presidential Election than the preferences of either of the above mentioned celebrities. I certainly will not be looking for any of the major networks to carry my endorsement. The truth is that I like President Barack Obama a great deal and, in a different time and circumstance, might well vote for him.

It was this video that clarified my mind regarding my choice this November as well as gave me some insight into my writing process … a bunch of metronomes.

Now, I originally saw this from a Facebook post (it’s sounding like I’m spending too much time on Facebook) that linked me to the video on io9. The article by Robert T. Gonzalez tells us:

If you place 32 metronomes on a static object and set them rocking out of phase with one another, they will remain that way indefinitely. Place them on a moveable surface, however, and something very interesting (and very mesmerizing) happens.

The metronomes in this video fall into the latter camp. Energy from the motion of one ticking metronome can affect the motion of every metronome around it, while the motion of every other metronome affects the motion of our original metronome right back. All this inter-metranome “communication” is facilitated by the board, which serves as an energetic intermediary between all the metronomes that rest upon its surface. The metronomes in this video (which are really just pendulums, or, if you want to get really technical, oscillators) are said to be “coupled.”

There is also another video on YouTube which talks in more detail about this effect. What interested me as I watched the video of these metronomes — all moving independent of each other on a fixed base — they looked like people to me all going their own way and ‘standing their ground’. They reminded me of politicians who refused to move because of party affiliations or entrenched dogmatic ideas, promises or commitments. As long as the foundation that linked them all — the board beneath them — was also immovable then there would never be synchronization between the metronomes as they all kept ticking along their own way and be unable to effect change in any of the other metronomes.

But, when the unifying foundation was allowed to shift freely albeit ever so slightly with the motion of the metronomes on top of it, that’s when the metronomes begin to change slightly as well until all of them are moving in unison. It takes a unifying foundation capable of connecting and bringing compromise (coupled oscillation) to all the independent motion that results in unified action.

I’ve said for some time now that what we need in the White House is a referee rather than a man with fixed ideas. The media and others have often complained that Romney ‘flip-flops’ on issues and is ‘wishy-washy’ on positions. That sounds pretty good to me. I want a President who can flip to a working compromise on the tough issues and not be stuck with a fixed position. I ‘wishy’ for a President who can be ‘washy’ enough to reach a consensus between divergent politicians and their interests.

I certainly believe that these goals are also the things which Barack Obama had hoped to achieve in his first term and, as I said before, I think he’s a fine President. But I also believe that right at this juncture in history we need a manager in the White House. We need a problem-solver who can get us all moving in the same direction again. We need to find a way to reach a consensus and act rather than just beat each other over the heads with dogmatic positions.

Many of my good friends believe that President Obama and the Democrats in congress could have fixed the problems of our nation if they were stopped by Republicans who stymied their efforts at every turn. Not surprisingly, I have many other good friends who believe that the Republicans could have fixed everything if they weren’t stopped by the Democrats. This ‘stand your ground’ partisanship is tearing us apart as a nation. What we need is some ‘give and take’.

This isn’t a football game. We have to stop wearing team jerseys, trash talking and cheering as though our self-worth were bound up in beating the ‘other side’. We’re one nation — or should be. ‘E Pluribus Unum’; out of many, one. I’m gonna vote for the guy I think can get us working together. You should, too … whoever you believe that to be.

Do I agree with everything Romney says? No. Do I agree with everything President Obama says? No. Do I agree with everything my wife says? Pretty much.

So what do metronomes, politics and coupled oscillators have to do with story structure and writing?

Different writers take different approaches to their writing. In my case, I like to start with structure and outline. I want to craft my story from the very beginning, know where I’m going and how I’m going to get there. My backgrounds can be pretty extensive and my outlines very, very detailed. However, I find that if I cling too tightly to the outline and think of my structure as completely rigid, then my story can get just as deadlocked as congress on a Line Item Veto vote. If I start getting dogmatic about my original outline then I start trying to push my characters around in the story, making them say and do things that just aren’t natural and suddenly the story is suffering and skids to a halt.

That’s when I have to remind myself as a writer to lighten up my grip on the outline, let it shift a little back and forth on its own and take my story places which I had not anticipated but which were growing naturally out of the characters, settings and events.

When I allow myself to be open to compromise, that’s when the story starts to breath, live and soar again.

That’s good advice for any writer … and, perhaps, good advice, too, for whoever sits in the Oval Office this time next year.

 

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Gencon Report

Five Days of the Living Gamers

Wednesday, August 8th: We got up VERY early in the morning (around 3:30 am local time) so that we could make our flight. By ‘we’ I mean my wife and coauthor Laura, our immensely talented daughter Tasha and my own author self. We had purposefully chosen an earlier flight so that we could make it to Indianapolis earlier in the day. This brought us to the Minneapolis Airport all in good time — except that walking from our arrival gate in Minneapolis to our departure gate seemed like a trek half way to Indiana. Making matters worse was the fact that in all the years I have been changing planes in Minneapolis, the airport seems to perpetually (1) be in a state of massive reconstruction and (2) NONE of the automated walkways were working. At least now they appear to be putting in a tram system which, no doubt, will also not be functional any time I am in the airport. However, we did discover we were traveling to Gencon on the same plane as the Fantasy Flight team, including my friend Christian Petersen. We promised to get together at the convention in our spare time — time which, of course, is only found with a crowbar and an iron will.

We arrived in Indianapolis and were, well, somewhat delayed in getting into our rooms. The man at the front desk was most courteous but his litany of ‘another five minutes’ was beginning to sound a bit hollow. At last we were admitted into our suite — just about long enough for me to change and get ready for my first podcast interview. This was with ‘The Established Facts’ podcast and you can listen to the interview we did here if you can find Episode 028. I really enjoyed doing this podcast and the interaction with the wonderful cast … so much so that when Laura and Tasha came to retrieve me forcibly from the recording session … I completely forgot my iPad and case and left it in the room.

Off I went with my wife and daughter to join our crew — the vaunted Kokomo Irregulars — for our crew dinner. It is a tradition that we all get together on the night before the show, touch based, reconnect and share a few stories before the REAL work of providing fun begins. It was in the middle of this repast that I realized I was without my iPad, panicked and fled the dinner in search of my precious. It turns out I managed to contact the podcast folks by cell phone before I had gone more than a block — who assured me they had dutifully turned over my treasure to the hotel front desk who promised to put it safely in my room.

What a way to start the roller coaster that was to come. Tasha finished the day asking me when we were going to finish the script for the ‘Hickman’s Pick-a-path Musical’ we were scheduled to perform on Saturday night. I told her I had ‘top men’ working on it… me.

Thursday, August 9th: First day of the convention and we had purposefully left this day devoid of any scheduled appearances. Good thing, too, since there was plenty for us to deal with in the booth! It was a whirlwind of meeting and greeting and showing off our new Batman novel, ‘Wayne of Gotham.’ Most of all it was connecting with old friends from down the years whom we only get to see each year at the convention. What a joy for us to come together again.

Friday, August 10th:We open the day with our ‘Second Killer Breakfast’ event. Gail Gygax began our show by making an appeal to support the Gygax memorial in Lake Geneva. It was wonderful to see her again and I hope we helped her cause. Then Tasha opened the show with a number from our ‘Pick-a-Path Musical’ that we were performing this coming Saturday. “When will the script be done?” she asks. “When it is finished,” I reply and we start our game.

We held a private luncheon that day for our Scribes Forge authors. We gathered at our secret lunch place and got to talk story just with those friends who were part of our online writing seminars.

That afternoon I run an XDM seminar and everyone wants to know when we are going to do another XDM book. “Next year,” I say and actually believe myself. We end the day in near exhaustion but managed dinner together in the hotel at Schula’s.

“About that script…” Tasha says. “It’s a mystery,” I reply.

Saturday, August 11th: It’s time for an all NEW Killer Breakfast — and again I am back stage wondering how I will possibly pull this off yet again.

Gail Gygax is again there to present and Tasha again opens the show for us. After the ‘Safety Presentation‘ I then come on stage and launch into my parody of Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ which I have entitled, ‘Roleplayin’ for Keeps.’ It’s a tragic torch song about someone coming to Killer Breakfast and rolling a fumble on his only roll.

There’s a gamer deep within my soul

Reaching for all my dice and making another roll

Finally I can go to this game con

Show the world who is the best; the player number one.”

Kill-er Breakfast was the best said all my crew

Don’t underestimate the things that guy will do.

Came way early so that we’d get a good spot.

Reached for my dice bag

And I’m waiting to take my shot.

The T-P-K churn turned into my turn

I stepped up thinking that this time I’d win it all.

No T-P-K burn, would send me packing,

I can’t help feeling…

I could have won it all!

Role Playing for Keeps!

I held my dice inside of my hand

And I fumbled… I’m dead meat.

Hickman looked at me and asked how I got here

I opened up my mouth

But nothing came out but air

Think that DM was about to make me dead.

When some Larper sang

And her life he took instead.

The T-P-K churn turned into my turn

I started thinking that this time I’d win it all.

No T-P-K burn, would send me packing,

I can’t help feeling…

I could have won it all!

Role Playing for Keeps!

He held my life inside of his hand

And I fumbled… I’m dead meat.

I could have won it all!

Role Playing for Keeps!

He held my life inside of his hand

And I fumbled… I’m dead meat.

Throw your dice at every DM call

Count your hit dice and check traps on every wall.

Turn adventures into treasured gold.

By big-ger weapons while your character grows old.

I could have won it all!

I could have won it all!

It all, it all, it all…

Then the mayhem begins in earnest. At one point, my old friends Frank Mentzer and Tim Kask. At one point, I even traded places with Frank, letting HIM be the DM while I sat at the table. I knew I could trust Frank with that one.

I also look forward every year to those who come prepared with their own routines for the game. One of my favorites is always Henry Henwy and his friends who gather from far and wide to challenge me every year. This year they all came onstage looking sickly and wearing surgical masks. I thought my job would be VERY easy since they looked half dead already. Little did I know that they all had…

…Bieber Fever!

Coming into the midpoint of our performance, Tasha performed another of my parody songs, this time to ‘If I Die Young’ by ‘The Band Perry.’ Our version was called, ‘If I Die Dumb’ about a newby at Killer Breakfast who dies too soon.

If I die dumb, leave me in the dungeon

Take my stuff and just, strip my carcass

Loot my magic items, my gold

Just walk away with a shrug as I grow cold.

Uh oh, uh oh

Never was a gamer, that always was my brother

He said I’m safe with him if I just stand behind the others,

oh well

Hit point weren’t exactly what they ought to be, no

They made their save, but the trap I did not see…

A high price for low hit dice, well

I’ve had not enough time

If I die dumb, leave me in the dungeon

Take my stuff and just, strip my carcass

Loot my magic items, my gold

Just walk away with a shrug as I grow cold.

A high price for low hit dice, well

I’ve had not enough time

And I was wearing plate, when we came into the castle

I was green when you said, ‘stand in front it’s no hassle!’

I’ve never seen a dragon quite so near

But it sure felt warm when he was blowin by ear,

There’s a cleric back there, says he’ll heal me forever,

Who would have thought forever would be never with‘

A high price for low hit dice, well

I’ve had not enough time

So keep rolling dice boys and I’ll just go home.

What I never did is done

My sword cost me a grand, oh no, I really should bother

It’s worth so much less now that I’m a goner

And maybe while my pockets you are pickin’

Funny you don’t hear your own death-knell ringin.’

If I die dumb, leave me in the dungeon

Take my stuff and just, strip my carcass

Loot my magic items, my gold

Walk away, shake your head as I grow cold.

Uh oh (uh, oh)

My character is done (oh, uh)

You said it would be fun

Gather up your dice, keep ‘em in your pocket

Save ‘em for a game when you’re really gonna need ‘em, oh

A  high price for low hit dice, well

I’ve had not enough time

So keep rolling dice boys and I’ll just go home.

One of my favorite memories from this convention was Tasha asking me to sing the backup duet with her on this song. I loved the sound … and I loved doing that with her.

It was an epic Killer Breakfast and, somehow, we managed to kill all the characters just before our time was up. We returned to the booth, Laura holding her amazing roses from the Bieber Fever episode and took delight in giving them away to people who came by our booth… including this brand new fan.

We barely had time to catch our breath before it was time for our Dragon’s Bard luncheon. Every year for the last two years, friends who have subscribed to our Dragon’s Bard series and their friends have gathered with us for a special private lunch so that we can talk about the series and what is coming next. We really enjoy his private groups as it gives us a break from the crush of convention work and lets us get to know each other so much better. We talked about the third book in the series and how excited we were to be starting it with them soon.

Back to the booth again but not for too long since I had a Batman seminar Q&A and reading. I rushed back to the booth in time to sell the last of the Batman books and, for that matter, the last of a number of our other titles as well. Wow!

The dealer room was closing and it was time to wrap it up … especially since our performance of the ‘Hickman’s Pick-a-Path Musical’ was only about an hour away…

Oh, and about that script for the musical… I had found time somewhere to have copies of it bound at a Kinko’s in the hotel. True, most of the pages were still blank but I had also spent my every spare moment in the hotel room and in the booth hand writing that script. I had a good idea where it was going, how we were going to make it work.

Tasha looked at her mostly blank script.

“Trust me,” I said. It was perhaps with a bit more conviction that I felt. I was exhausted and we had another ground-breaking performance in the works. Tasha had worked so hard on the sixteen songs — that’s right, SIXTEEN original songs — to make this work and we had even engineered a CD album for sale of the ‘musical score’ for sale at the convention. It is even available on itunes. With a stack of CDs on site — we very much needed the show to work.

The room assigned to us was completely inadequate for a performance. There was a screen but not the promised projector. Certainly no sound system. It was hot and without air circulation. Laura managed to cajole, guilt and otherwise manipulate a convention staffer into getting us a projector.

And, when the curtain rose on our production … something magical happened. Somewhere between Tasha’s amazing lyrics and music and the storytelling of Laura and myself a beautiful experience was shared by all of us.

And by the end of the evening — the CDs were absolutely gone.

Sunday, August 12th: Somehow, we managed to get to the airport and into our seats. Gratefully our flight was direct with no stops. It was a happy journey home. We had found new friend, found each other, too, in a way, and had given memories as well as taken our own away from the convention. We were tired … but smiling.

Dragon*Con Slayers!

Once Upon this week, Laura the Fair, Tracy the Just and their daughter Tasha the Bard are setting out on a noble quest to the towers of Atlanta in search of the dangerous and mystical creature known as Dragon*Con. As with all good adventurers, we are armed with a map to the treasure which we share with you here!



This map shows the location where we hope to meet with you at the convention. It is a humble little booth deep within the bowels of the Marriott Marquis hotel but fear not! Those hearty enough to brave the stifling depths and constantly-regenerating crowds will discover:

Our Dragon’s Bard Game on display and available for demonstration play where we will beseech you to join our band in support of our Kickstarter cause and where you may obtain an exclusive, signed art card for the upcoming game.
‘Wayne of Gotham’ books available for purchase. You can acquire your own ‘Dark Knight’ and have it signed by the author personally!
Tasha Joan Hickman’s new CD album “Before they Open the Door”: music about and for convention fans written exclusively for our ‘Pick-a-Path Musical!’ Hear samples of her album here on iTunes!
‘Eventide’ bookmarks signed by Tracy and Laura and granted as a free boon to every brave sole who presents themselves before them!
Other more illusive treasures of vast wealth which shall be given away randomly each day to one lucky participant just for filling out our contest entry card!
AND our new Hickman Campaign T-shirts!

Would that every quest should be this simple … but there are encounters also to be had along the way…

You may discover us at one of our schedule events (set encounters) if you can decipher the following cryptic clues:

Storytelling Through Roleplaying: The masters of game storytelling discuss how to weave your own stories through games. T. Hickman, L. Hickman, J. Morningstar; Fri 1:00 pm; Grand Salon C [Hil]


Autograph Session: J. Oliver, T. Hickman, L. Hickman; Fri 4:00 pm; M301—M304 [M]


Killer Breakfast with Tracy & Laura Hickman: Extra Fee event.A GenCon favorite! Participate in this fun, interactive, liveparticipation game! Get killed by Tracy Hickman! T. Hickman, L. Hickman; Sat 10:00 am; Crystal Ballroom [Hil]; 2.5 Hrs


Xtreme Dungeon Mastery: Our guest gives out his innovative dungeon mastery advice. Learn to take your game to the next level! T. Hickman; Sat 1:00 pm; Grand Salon C [Hil]


2012 Parsec Awards Ceremony: The Parsec Award is available for Sci-Fi & Fantasy Original Content, and Speculative Fiction. S. Sigler, Dr. S. Granade, L. Burns, V. Belmont; Sat 4:00 pm; Intl. N [HYT]; 2.5 Hrs


RPG Charity Event with Tracy Hickman and the Guild: The winners of our special auction gets to play a table top game with some of our special guests. Come see this one of a kind event! S. Parikh, J. Lewis, R. Thorsen, A. Okuda, T. Hickman, V. Caso; Sun 4:00 pm; Crystal Ballroom [Hil]

So, if you’re up for adventure, we hope you’ll join us this weekend at Dragon Khan … I mean, Dragon*Con … and come prepared to conquer the Con!

Comic Con Day #3

Finished up my journal entries here and then tried to get them posted to my website. It is very difficult to get the postings up because the internet access is so spotty right now. The cellular towers appear to be overloaded and getting the tether to go through my phone is often more miss than hit. Managed to get everything posted over breakfast before we left for the convention.

First stop this morning was the DC Comics booth for a 10am signing appearance. We are not allowed to sell the book at DC but much to my delight they had posters to sign and event cards to give away. It was a flood of people wanting the signed posters — most of whom had not heard of the book before. I did my best to move through the line as quickly as possible knowing that this was our chance to gain an audience that we normally would not see. I was a great huckster, telling each person to go to booth 1017 to buy the book while also getting as many email addresses as possible in the process. It was only an hour but it was a solid one. Michael Barr said I was a real pro at this when we finished and the DC representative was pleased as well.

We couldn’t stay long, however, since I had a panel at 11:30 am. This panel was called ‘Remixed Fairytales & Superhero Lore’ and it has a very large attendance. I was quite surprised to discover that the panel would be moderated by Caroline Spector — a woman I had known from back in the TSR days and the wife of Warren Spector who works for a game software company. The other panelists included:

Sarah Maas (Throne of Glass)
Marissa Meyer (Cinder)
Rae Carson (The Girl of Fire and Thorns)
Paul Tobin (Prepare to Die)
Tom King (A Once Crowded Sky)
Michael Scott (The Enchantress)

I sat between Marissa Meyer (who was dressed in a Red Ridinghood costume for her new book) and Tom King (who used to be an operative for the CIA but has just written a superhero novel). Michael Scott is an Irishman and struck me as being most distinguished and knowledgeable about story and craft. Marissa commented on how she was sorry to be missing the Joss Whedon panel. I had been thinking this, too, and said that if the theory of parallel universes is correct, there is a universe somewhere where Joss Whedon is sad because he’s missing Marissa Meyer’s panel. This got a big laugh and, I think, pleased her. In all it was a very thoughtful panel and I enjoyed being on it.

I did tell the story about Zorro and how for supposedly legal reasons I had to take him out of the book despite my best efforts. The story also got a big laugh — and I concluded by saying if they would give the their email address I would send them something after the convention. A number of people were throwing their email addresses at me after the seminar.

We had to clear out quickly because we had a signing and the next panel was late into the room. Tom King then told me that I was a great influence on his writing and that I got him started in fantasy. He’s a very interesting man. I asked him where he was posted while with the CIA and he said, ‘All I can tell you is in the middle east.’ He likes to travel but now has the wife and the children, as he put it. His first book was just published and he’s rightly proud of it.

We were preparing for the signing when Michael Scott stepped up to me. In the wonderful sound of the irish, he thanked me for opening his eyes to fantasy; that he had read me when he was younger. It brought tears to my eyes to think of this fine writer thanking me. I’m feeling rather humbled about that: as Laura says, the writer is never present when the performance of their work takes place and I’m realizing now how writers are unaware of who their art influences when it is send blindly into the world.

The signing went tremendously well and I was informed that they had, at one point, run out of my book. There would be a few more tomorrow they said.

After this amazing signing, Laura and I returned to the hotel and collapsed for an hour or two. It had been a full day. We decided to get the car out of storage and drive over to Coronado Island and one of our favorite old haunts, the Del Coronado Hotel. A most therapeutic barefoot walk through the surf, dinner at the Seabreeze Restaurant and we were set right again.

Getting back to the hotel was something of a challenge. Most of the streets in the Gaslamp district were closed off and many of those were one-way to begin with. It took several tries before we were able to figure out our way back to our hotel.

Our last day tomorrow … I only hope we can hold up.

Comic Con Day #2

I’m sitting in the Sirius XM production room — which turns out to be Hilton 307. I had to pass a security guard in order to enter this partition of a ball room. The two stars from Psych just walked in the room for their interview. James Roday and Dulle Hill. They are chatting at a table with Kim Alexander while I sit quietly waiting my turn. It is all a little surreal since I had been to a family reunion just last week where one of our group activities was to watch ‘Psych’ — particularly the ‘comic-con episode.’ What a day this has been.

My back was feeling still a little tentative this morning but it was time to start the day regardless. Breakfast downstairs at the hotel and a hearty one at that since we knew there would be no time for lunch today. It occurred to me I should email Felicia Day (“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog”, “Eureka” and her internet show “The Guild.”) Laura and I had met her at the Gencon Convention a few years back. Certainly she would be at the convention and while I knew her schedule would be packed, I just wanted to wish her a great convention. To my delight and surprise she emailed me back that she was having a party that evening and would put me on the list.

Wow. Invited to an actual private party at Comic-con. Thank you, Felicia!

Our initial interview time with Sirius XM was at 11:15 in the morning at the Harper Collins booth but somehow we missed each other. It was a theme that would continue through most of the day. Laura and I took a few minutes and saw a minuscule portion of the enormous trade hall. Both of us were amused by the ‘batman’ bathrobes for sale in the hall, speculating as to how they might apply to ‘Killer Breakfast.’

Without managing to make the interview happen, we went over to look at the Sails Pavillion area and where our signing would be next. I checked at the information booth to see who I needed to deliver my ‘Event Sales Form’ from the ‘California Board of Equalization’; the amazingly humorous title for the state’s sales tax board. Laura and I returned to the hotel with just enough time to cool off, pack our bag for the signing and head back to the convention. We were in slot AA21 which turned out to be right out front — the first slot in the hall as you walked in.

Signing was wonderful; there was a constant stream of people of new friends with books to be signed. We had our share of troubles: we could not get our credit card processing to work through our iPads. It turns out that being in the center of the Geek Universe means that EVERYONE here has a smart phone and EVERYONE is trying to access the internet at the same time. It can be hard to get a phone call through let alone data. Mysterious Galaxy was there to sell books in our line and we had brought a few ‘Eventide’ books of our own as well as a display of the first and second collectable ‘Dragon’s Bard’ novels. I may not have had a line as long as Richard Hatch (from the original ‘Battlestar Galactica’) just a few queue’s down but I think we were far more enthusiastic. When everything was finished, we signed a number of books for Mysterious Galaxy. Lori Tucker, who was helping them, wanted to purchase a few books from us herself and ended up buying the entire Dragon’s Bard collectable collection. Laura was so pleased that she sold her our only copy of ‘Blackshore’, one of the two that we had received in advance of the actual shipment. So, I suppose, she becomes the first of the public to see the book in print.

Just as we were packing up, to unexpected and most welcome faces approached our signing area. I could hardly believe it but our good friends Gabrielle and Tomasi from the Lucca, Italy convention we had attended a few years back were suddenly standing in front of us. I think it may have taken Laura a few moments to realize where she had seen them before; when she did she threw her arms around them, kissing them on both cheeks. They had two other people with them whom they quickly introduced to us, explaining that they had come to promote a new convention they were building for Florence, Italy. They are hoping to use the ancient Medicci Fortress in the center of Florence for their convention.   Would we consider being their convention guests? It only took a quick breath to say yes!

After a quick picture of a stunning reproduction of the Robot from ‘Lost in Space’ we dragged our sales roller-case back to our hotel room. Just moving through the crowds at Comic-con can be a challenge; doing so with a roller case was crazy. Damp from the humidity and exhausted from the journey, we returned to our room …  only to receive a cell phone call from Michael Barr asking if I could dash over to the Hilton for my rescheduled XM interview. The Hilton is on the south-east end of the San Diego Convention Center and therefore about as far from my hotel as one could go at the venue, but I knew the interview was important. Shoes back on and out the door, exchanging cell phones with Laura so that she could continue to try using the internet. I barely knew how to get hers to work but at least I could manage a phone call.

I maneuvered my way through the throngs to the area between the Hilton and the convention center. I knew that there was a display set up there called ‘the Batcave’ where all of the different batmobile cars were on display. I thought I might swing buy and try to get a look at a ‘Tumbler’ version. As it turned out, they were taking free promotional pictures of people in front of the tumbler. It was an excellent set up with one man taking the pictures and a second man using an iPad to get the people’s email addresses so that the picture location could be sent to them via internet. This then was a viral/promotional link for their ‘The Batmobile’ documentary this fall. Very cool. I could not resist and, since the line was only two people deep, I leaped in and had my picture taken next to the tumbler.

Which led me to be sitting a few minutes later in Hilton room 307 and listening to James Roday and Dulle Hill wrapping up their interview. I stood up as they left, managed to shake Dulle Hill’s hand (whom I had admired since his roll on ‘The West Wing’) and shook Kim’s hand once again. I asked where she wanted me to sit and the interview began.

Kim Alexandra was a wonderful interviewer; an amazing voice and well studied. In fact, her first question to me was ‘How is your back feeling today?’ She had researched me and, apparently, read my blog post on my website — which I had made just that morning. She also asked me about coming into the booth yesterday and seeing someone buying my book. I guess you have to be pretty much ‘up-to-speed’ in satellite radio.

We had a lovely interview which lasted about fifteen minutes, I believe. I hope I get to hear it someday soon — I’d like to remember what I said.

Interview concluded, we shook hands again. She said I have a great radio voice. Still, I could feel myself slowing down. I made my farewells and it was off to meet Laura for dinner…

…But first, one more time with the Tumbler.

I realized that I had given the man the wrong email address. I wouldn’t get the picture of me and the Tumbler batmobile until I got home and I wanted to post about it. So I stopped by again, stood in front of the car a second time, and got my picture taken. Now it’s posted on the ‘Wayne of Gotham’ facebook page and I’m content at last.

After some hilarious (in retrospect) giving of directions to Laura via our cell phones, we met at the Oceanaire restaurant at J street and 4th Ave. It reminded us of one of our favorite restaurants in Indianapolis and, as we found out, for good reason: they are both part of a select chain. The crabcakes were amazing, the shared filet mignon perfect and the Key Lime desert incredible.

Finally, it was time to hike the six blocks north and find Belos where Felicia’s party was being held. ID checked and, yes, we were on the list. It was a basement disco and it was delightful to get to see Felicia again. Laura remarked what a brilliant woman she is; she not only remembered Laura but where they had met. Laura and I like her very much. She was, of course, too busy to really chat with last night but it is always a broad smile moment when we get to see her. She is among our favorite people.

Exhausted, we had to leave the party early (no longer prepared to disco until 2am). Not before running into Jamie Chambers and his friend. It was an unexpected surprise at the end of a day that could barely be believed.  What will tomorrow possibly bring?