Personal Update

I’ve had a bit more going on lately than I usually do.  First, Liz and I decided a few months ago to move (just here in town) and are planning to be in a new place by the end of July.  Since she’s an avid planner, much to my appreciation, and I am always obsessed with getting things done early so that they are out of the way – we’ve started to pack. Part of packing had me putting that first proof of my novel in a box, with many other books – a bit surreal.

Speaking of books…

Just a couple of weeks ago I attended my second book signing and, just like the first time, it was an overwhelmingly amazing experience.  I got to meet a lot of really cool people and tell them about the Soul Star Galaxy and The White Wolf and The Darkness.  For anyone who attended and wanted to see their pics, you can find them here.

While working on my next Soul Star novel, I’ve also been branching out and working in a couple of other worlds that I am building.  One is called Riflen and is a traditional (or maybe not so traditional) fantasy world, with orcs, elves, goblins, dragons and even a few treants.  The goal of Riflen is to take traditional fantasy tropes, such as undead creatures being inherently evil or elves being timeless, wise and benevolent, and turn them on their heads.  In Riflen, Sun Elves are some of that world’s most vicious and tyrannical races, worshiping their wrathful deity, Solarin, while on the other hand, one of the most benevolent and selfless beings in Riflen is a four-thousand-year-old Lich.  So, it’s a bit different.

I’ve also been working in my superhero world I lovingly call Guber Comics.  I’ve already posted two stories from this world in earlier blogs about a crime fighter called Valkyrie from Baltimore, my home town,  and a sorcery-infused android named Soloman.  Check ’em out!

When  I’m not writing, I’m not writing…

While trying to keep myself focused on some kind of writing, I have found a myriad amazing ways to distract myself!  Not only have I purchased a slew of awesome retro games from GoG.com (including but not limited to Crusader:  No Regret), but I’ve also started playing World of Warcraft again.  Some of you may know that I played WoW for some time a few years ago and I’ve been on-and-off with it ever since.  The coolest thing is that it was my wife who originally got me into it. I was at first reluctant because the Horde and Alliance were at war, which I thought was kind of odd, based on the end of Warcraft 3.  And can’t they see that they’ve been manipulated into fighting each other from point go?  But it’s all part of the Red vs Blue mentality that is so part of American culture.  Can’t you SEE people?!?!  The Old Gods have us fighting each other so that we don’t see how badly they’re gonna fuck us!  AND I was right!?!?  And Khadgar!  And Thrall!  And…..!  Alright, the point is I may have at some point and may or may not now still have some opinions on the subject…

As a side benefit to relapsing into MMO craziness, I’ve started playing the new free game from Blizzard called Hearthstone and I’m here to tell you people…..RUN!  LOOK AWAY!  IT’S A HUNDRED TIMES MORE ADDICTIVE THAN WOW AND HAS A HIGHER LEVEL OF ANONYMITY!  RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!  But, yeah, it’s really fun and reminds me of a more simplified Magic: The Gathering.

I’ve also been doing my very best to not argue with people on the Internets.  It is a failing on my part, I know, but sometimes people are so horrible I cannot help but check them with a nuclear response.  My wife once asked me why I engaged in flame wars with trolls on the internet, when I know that their only goal is to upset me.  My response was quite simple:  “I engage in flame wars with trolls, because you can only kill a troll with fire or acid and I don’t have acid……BUT AH SPIT HOT FYAR!!!!!”  Ok, that last part was an embellishment, but you take my point?

Speaking of trolls, I’ve been playing in a really fun campaign with my D&D crew.  A good friend of mine is DMing and he’s built a really fun and accessible pocket dimension for us all to play around in.  I’m playing a generic warrior class with the Dragon Friend Feat.  I can’t wait to see where this goes, but it’s also making me want to start my own campaign.  I’ve only ever helped someone else DM and never really DM’d myself before, but I have a lot of ideas for scenarios and plot points.  Go figure, right?

That’s what’s happening here…

At any rate, that’s what I’ve been up to.  Looking forward to moving and getting a bit more space (we’re moving into a house) and also branching out to some other bookstores in KC to see if we can’t do some events down there.  Hope everyone is having a great start of summer.  Thanks so much for reading and as always, have a wonderful day!

P.S.  Mother’s day is Sunday.  If you have a cool mother, do something nice for her.  If you don’t, pick the mother in your life that has had the most positive effect on you and do something nice for them.  As part of my expression of this tradition that I am starting, I’m giving a huge shout out to Linda Benitz and Kate Hollander.  Have an amazing weekend! Love you!