Matt Forbeck's Blog, page 62

The Thousand Year Game Design Challenge

Over at Tor.com, I posted about Daniel Solis's Thousand Year Game Design Challenge. In short, Daniel and his wife have put up $1,000 as a prize for the best game they think has the potential to become an all-time classic. Check out the post for more details.

Star Wars vs Star Trek Update

My next nonfiction book, Star Wars vs. Star Trek, has a page up on its publisher's website. I just noticed it's filed under "Humor." Man, I wish they'd told me that earlier. (See, there's a joke right there. That one's free. Tip your servers.)

Adams Media also put up a larger version of the cover, which you can see here. My guess is that this isn't the final cover, mostly because it doesn't feature the names of the two actors I've lined up to write forewords for the book. According to Amazon, the book ships on May 18, but Adams has it down as shipping April 30.

This should make for a wild April for me. Vegas Knights hits the US in early April, G.I. Joe: Tales from the Cobra Wars shows up in the middle of the month, and Star Wars vs. Star Trek arrives at the end. I have a slew of convention appearances planned in March and April. I hope to see you on the road.

As for those forewords I mentioned, I'm pleased to announce that Jeremy Bulloch is writing the one for the Star Wars side. Among his many accomplishments as an actor, Jeremy played Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, bringing the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter to the screen for the first time. Jeremy — ever an excellent and generous gentleman — wrote a great piece for the book, and I can't wait for you to read it.

I've lined up an actor for the Star Trek side of the book too. Hopefully I'll be able to announce that bit of news soon.

Boardgame Remixing at Tor.com

After the holiday break, I've finally gotten back to blogging a bit for Tor.com. My latest entry, "Bored of Board: Remixing the Classics," covers The Boardgame Remix Kit, a cool idea for getting some extra mileage out of those games moldering in your closet. Check it out.

Cybermage Gives Amortals 5 Stars

I know, it's looking like all Amortals all the time on my website, but what can I say? The book just hit the US, and I'm more than a bit thrilled about it. I'm truly grateful for the reception it's getting.

To those of you who enjoyed the book and take time to tell others about it — whether in person or online via Twitter, Amazon, Good Reads, or your own site — THANK YOU! That's the best kind of support any author could ask for.

Case in point: Over at Cybermage, Ove Jansson gives Amortals a fantastic review, which he cross-posted on Good Reads and Amazon, making sure the most possible people can read it. He gives the book five stars and calls it:

[A] fast paced and action packed story that touches on murder cults, old enemies, love, assassination attempts, cover-ups, hidden agendas and a bigger picture… [I] highly recommend it both to thrill seeking and cerebral readers of science fiction.

That's a great spread of reader appeal. Thanks, Ove!

SFRevu Loves Amortals

Over at SFRevu.com, Drew Bittner gives Amortals a rave review. He writes:

Forbeck constructs a near-future Washington DC that seems eerily plausible (to this local, anyway), creating a culture where amortality is widespread and the "life is cheap" ethos is taken to some unusual extremes… But Forbeck's real genius here is keeping the big and obvious aspect of this biotech miracle [of amortality] front and center, while building a sucker punch in the background.

Forbeck has created an exciting, brilliantly executed novel of action, intrigue and super-science colliding on the banks of the Potomac. It works on every level and is truly a fantastic addition to the realm of cyberpunk thrillers.

Highly recommended.

Those with long memories may recall that Drew co-designed the WildStorms collectible card game with me for Jim Lee (now co-publisher of DC Comics), way back in the early '90s when Drew worked as an editor for WildStorm. From that experience, I can tell you that Drew's never been shy of pointing out where my work could use improvements, which is exactly what made him so valuable as a co-designer. That's makes this review even sweeter. Thanks, Drew!

Amortals: SFBook.com's #3 Book of the Year

Back in November, SFBook.com gave Amortals a five-star review and named it the Book of the Month. That automatically put it into the competition for Book of the Year, pitting it against such stalwarts and bestsellers as Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Pat Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind, and Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.

At the end of a month or so of public voting, Amortals came in a respectable third, behind runner-up Leonid Korogodski's Pink Noise and Mike Shevdon's The Road to Bedlam. Being as how Mike's a fellow Angry Robot author, an excellent writer, and a stand-up guy, I can't feel bad about Amortals losing out to Bedlam at all. Congratulations to both him and Leonid!

A book from another Angry Robot author — The World House by Guy Adams — also placed well, coming in at #6. Marco and Lee have assembled a fantastic lineup of talent for Angry Robot, and I'm proud to be a part of that.

Thanks to everyone who's read Amortals so far and double that to those who voted for it!

Amortals at the Big Thrill

Last year, in anticipation of the publication of Amortals, I joined the International Thriller Writers. It's a spiffy organization headlined by some top-named talent, and one of the best parts about it is that it's free to those qualified to join. The people behind it do an excellent job of aggressively promoting their authors, and as part of that Christine Goff contacted me for an interview about Amortals.

As of this morning, you can now read that interview. I hope you enjoy it.

Great Amortals Review

Over at Figures.com, Jess Horsley gives Amortals a glowing review.

Amortals starts out with a thunder cracker and accelerates full speed ahead, forcing readers to delve headlong with Dooley on this exciting quest to not only find and capture his killer, but understand why he was killed.

He also compares the book to Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon, Warren Hammond's Kop or Ex-Kop, and Jeff Somer's Avery Cates novels, which puts it in fine company. (Actually, I've not read Kop yet, but it's now on my list.)

Amortals in America Today

Today, my first original novel, Amortals, hits shelves in bookstores all the way across America. That includes both big-box and indie stores in the USA and Canada as well as all your favorite internet shops. This is, I believe, my best work to date. If you've ever enjoyed anything I've written, do both of us a favor and hunt it down and read it.

Amortals is the story of Ronan Dooley, top Secret Service agent and—at nearly 200 years old—the world's oldest man. After giving his life for his country and being restored into a clone body several times, Ronan is brutally murdered and must now hunt down his killer. Of course, it all spirals out of control from there.

The book has garnered some excellent reviews. The Guardian called it "Chandler by way of Blade Runner, with the pace of an express train." SFBook.com gave it five stars and made it the book of the month upon its UK release in November. Fantasy Literature called it "one helluva sci-fi thriller."

In addition to all that, Amortals has been blurbed by a number of fantastic people, including Billy Campbell, John Rogers, Jim Lee, Jordan Weisman, Dan Abnett, Mike Stackpole, Ben Templesmith, Richard Dansky, Monte Cook, Richard Knaak, and Jack Emmert.

So, if you buy one more book before the end of this year, make it Amortals. (If you buy lots of books before then, be sure to check out Zoo City from Lauren Beukes, Walking the Tree from Kaaron Warren, and Pretty Little Dead Things by Gary McMahon, all from Angry Robot too, plus J. Robert King's Edge of Destiny, the second Guild Wars book. All of these released today too, which makes for a year-end bonanza of reading goodness.)

If you've already enjoyed Amortals, please do me just one more favor and tell people how much you enjoyed it, either in person or online. A kind review from good folks like you goes a long way. Thanks!

Hear Me Speak with Angry Robot

This month's episode of the Angry Robot Podcast, hosted by the sweet-voiced Mur Lafferty, features Colin Harvey (author of Winter Song and Damage Time) and me talking about our novels. The conversation covers a lot of ground, from our thoughts about the future to the three types of jobs that every freelancer must do. Be sure to listen in.

If you enjoy the Angry Robot theme song, it's by John Anealio, a great songwriter I met at the World Fantasy Convention in October. John also has a brilliant "Name Your Own Price" pack of holiday songs available right now, called Seasons Geekings. It includes "Batman Smells (A Rebuttal)," among other charmers.