Matt Forbeck's Blog, page 55

Two—ah, Four!—Chances for an Autographed Book

Thanks to my friends at Tor.com, you now have even more chances to win an autographed copy of Star Wars vs. Star Trek. I wrote about the first contest earlier today, and I've loved watching the match-ups roll in. For the rest, all you have to do is head over to Tor.com and post a comment in their post about the contest. They have three copies to give away, so be sure to enter there too!

Free Star Wars vs. Star Trek Excerpt at Tor.com

To help celebrate Star Wars Day — which falls in the middle of their Star Trek movie marathon week — the fine people at Tor.com (for which I occasionally blog) just posted the first chapter of Star Wars vs. Star Trek on their site for free. Go on over and give it a read.

The better part of the book features match-ups just like the ones in the sample. It also includes a trivia quiz to lead off each chapter and introductions by both Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) and Tim Russ (Tuvok). I had a great time writing the book, and I hope you enjoy the sample.

If it intrigues you, don't forget that I'm giving away an autographed copy of the book today. Details are here.

Star Wars vs. Star Trek hits stores in May 18.

SFRevu Loves Vegas Knights

Over at SFRevu.com, my friend Drew Bittner raves about Vegas Knights. In part, he writes:

Matt Forbeck creates a fast-paced and deeply engaging story… Every hero is measured by his villains, and Forbeck has created some great villains here… [S]hows a flair for writing breathtaking action scenes… The story itself delivers rock solid entertainment with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing up to the last page.

Head over there to read the whole thing, and remember: Vegas Knights is on sale now!

The Star Wars vs. Star Trek Contest

Today, in honor of Star Wars Day, I'm going to give away an autographed copy of Star Wars vs. Star Trek to one lucky reader. The contest is simple. All you have to do is give me what you think would be a fantastic match-up between things from the two universes.

For instance, you could make it Han Solo vs. James T. Kirk. Or the Death Star vs. the Borg Cube. Or Jar Jar Binks vs. Wesley Crusher. Make it as silly or as awesome as you like. Just have fun with it and go.

At the end of the day, I'll select a winner at random. I'll chose that person from responses here, on my Facebook profile, and on Twitter. (On Twitter, use the #SWvsST hashtag so I can find it.) I'll also collect the best ones and post them here too.

The book, by the way, is slated to hit shelves on May 18. However, I have my author's copies already, and I'll be sharing one of those.

Good luck!

BNW Back in POD

This is old news, I think, but I forgot to mention it when it happened. My friends at DriveThruRPG.com recently started a print-on-demand (POD) program for certain books they've been selling as PDFs. They've had the whole of my Brave New World Roleplaying Game line up as PDFs for a good while now (except the screen, which is hard to get use out of as an electronic file), and it's really the only place you can get new copies of the books in any form.

Earlier this year, they also chose to make the Brave New World core rulebook available in a POD version. While they don't offer the color pages of the original edition (they're included, of course, but in black and white), you can get the book in either a softcover or hardcover version. Plus, if you order a hardcopy, you can add on the PDF for only $2 more.

It's been a long time since I worked on this game, but it's still great to see it literally back in print. If you've ever been interested in it, be sure to check it out.

Gen Con Registration Opens May 1

Registration for Gen Con opens this Sunday, May 1, at noon Eastern time. I'll be a guest of honor there again, helping out with a raft of Industry Insider panels, which have yet to be scheduled. However, I've also signed on with the Writers' Symposium, which has a full slate of events already set up.

I'm scheduled for four Writers' Symposium panels. They are:

August 4

2:00 pm: Roleplaying Games Make Better Writers

3:00 pm: Writing RPG Short Stories and Novels

August 5

3:00 pm: Swords and Sorcery

4:00 pm: Pick Our Brains: Matt Forbeck, Tobias Buckell, Wes Nicholson

If you'll be at the show, come on out and join us! Hope to see you there.

Secrets, Like Dragons

My fellow Alliterate and friend Steven Schend is launching a new publishing effort called Vistag Media. To help get the company's feet under it, he's posted a new Kickstarter project for Vistag's first book: Secrets, Like Dragons… It's an anthology of five novellas written by great lineup of authors — Steven, Ed Greenwood, Jaleigh Johnson, Rosemary Jones, and J.M. Martin — and set in the new fantasy world of Kharndam.

I kicked in as a supporter myself. If you're into excellent fantasy writing and would like to help support Steven's efforts at launching a new publishing house, check it out and consider chipping in too. Thanks!

Milwaukee Appearance this Saturday

My friend Brad Beaulieu is hosting a book launch event in Milwaukee this weekend for his first novel, The Winds of Khalakovo, which is garnering glowing reviews, and he asked Kelly Swails, Bill Shunn, John Helfers, and me to join in the fun. It starts off with a signing and a reading at the Boswell Book Company (map) from 2–3 PM this Saturday, April 23. It continues afterward with an informal party from 3–5 PM at Cafe Hollander (map).

For my short reading, I'm struggling to find a passage in one of my latest novels that's entirely PG, as I'm told we'll have kids in the audience. Both Amortals and Vegas Knights skew towards PG-13 at best, so I may have to resort to a bit from Star Wars vs. Star Trek in the end. Either way, both parts of the event are open to the public, so if you're anywhere in the area, come on out and join us!

My Next Original Novel: Carpathia

This morning Angry Robot announced my next original novel: Carpathia. They astutely describe it as Titanic meets 30 Days of Night.

Those familiar with lore about the Titanic know that the ship that hauled the survivors of that horrible disaster out of the icy waters of the North Atlantic was the Carpathia, another cruise ship crossing the Atlantic in the opposite direction. Vampire fanatics should also recognize that the Carpathia is named after the Carpathian Mountains, which border the edges of Transylvania, home of the most famous vampire of all, Count Dracula.

Seems like a natural fit for a historical horror novel, doesn't it?

As the press release states, Carpathia should be out in March 2012, just in time to be on shelves, e-readers, and MP3 players (yes, there'll be an audiobook version too!) as the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic arrives. It's going to be a wild, exciting ride, and I can't wait for you to read it!

Conduit 2 Out Today

Today marks the release of the latest video game I worked on: Conduit 2 for the Wii. I could say "my" computer game, but it's not the same as it is with books or even tabletop games. Teams of scores or even hundreds of professionals work on major video games at once, which means they're never the property of a single person. They're a true team effort.

In this case, that's especially true. I came in and wrote the story for Conduit 2 back before The Conduit had even shipped. The folks at High Voltage Software knew they had something good on their hands with the original, and they wanted to be prepared in case they had the opportunity to tackle a sequel. They have a fantastic staff down there in Hoffman Estates, just outside of Chicago, and they're always a true pleasure to work with.

When it game time to actually write the script for the game, the High Voltage team turned to my pal Jason L. Blair for those duties. I'm eager to finally play the finished game myself and see what Jason did to transform the story I wrote into a full-fledged game. I'm sure it's going to rock.