Kheled-Zaram, Kibil-nala, Embassy Suites...
...the peaks of JW Marriott, the fabled tunnels of Crowne Plaza, the halls of Union Station, land of my people forever. These places I see in my dreams, Gandalf, along with boxes of books and an endless succession of geek t-shirts that seem funny on the thursday, but by the saturday afternoon you crave a plain t-shirt like water in the desert...
August has been a staggeringly busy and yet utterly unproductive month in terms of writing.
First, of course, there was Gencon. Due to various complications, the usual Pelgrane management team couldn't make it to the con, so I was designated Person Vaguely In Charge of running the booth. Thanks to our booth crew and the 18 different spreadsheets and word docs Cat prepared in advance (Section 5: Pallets), it all went off with minimal chaos. (I even got to play a game, which hasn't happened at Gencon in years.)
News of note: I'm working on the Second Edition of Trail of Cthulhu for Pelgrane. The rules charges will be minimal - just bringing it up to date with GUMSHOE best practises - so I'm digging into new Campaign Frames and a new intro scenario.
Also announced at Gencon - the kickstarter for Moria, which should be launching around the time you read this. Have some lovely art that I just saw myself five minutes ago.
I did an interview with Will at World's End to about my One Ring work, and more interviews will be dropping in podcast feeds near you soon.
I'm a little over a third of the way through The Sword [SOMETHING], the final book in Lands of the Firstborn, so I've had my regularly scheduled bout of utter despair where I want to scrap the whole thing and hide in a cave. It's very similar to those anxiety nightmares where you go to school in your underwear, only you dream that you've gone to print with an unfinished early draft and everyone can see your XXXX MAKE THIS BIT GOOD OH GOD IT'S AWFUL RIGHT NOW XXXX notes to yourself.
Still, it goes, and I must start working on some pitches to line up the next novel.
Recent reading: A reread of M. John Harrison's fantastic anti-memoir WISH I WAS HERE, Le Guin's STEERING THE CRAFT, Wang's BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN, and Zevin's TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW. Oh, and PARIS NOIR, which wasn't quite as good as the description implied, but still fun. And THE WAR OF ART, which was just strange.
Speaking of which, the children are mostly back at school, so I should take advantage of these brief quiet hours to get some words down.
thanks,
Gar