Marcon 59!

Origins and Gencon will always have a special place in my heart, but it's been years since I've been to a proper fan con. Partly, that's due to the pandemic, and partly to the demands of juggling job, writing, parenthood, and various flavors of social obligation.

I'd long been chatting with writerly friends about dipping our toes back in the F/SF con circuit, so you can imagine my excitement when:

1) The oldest fan-run convention in Ohio was held literally a ten-minute drive from my house;

2) They reached out to ask if I wanted to be a guest of honor (yes, me, unbelievable), and;

3) My partner bravely offered to shoulder the childcare duties for the weekend.

Even without the various enticements Marcon had to offer, I would've been a fool to pass up the opportunity. And I must say, it was a true delight.

I forgot how much I enjoyed panels. There's a real thrill to sit down with a group of folks who share your passion and explore a topic of interest. I was lucky enough to sit on panels concerning taxonomies of fantasy novels and TTRPGs, but also some intro to writing/publishing panels where I got to share a bunch of things I wish I had known when I started out all those many years ago.

Although they kept me pretty busy, I was able to squeeze in a writing challenge, a fascinating talk on podcasting, and concerts by The Harp Twins and nerdcore virtuousos 2D6.

As always, my favorite part was the connections--not only with fans, but with my fellow authors. Writing can feel like such a singular pursuit at times, so it was truly wonderful to talk craft with folks whose work I admire (or picked up soon after leaving the convention).

Although none of them waved a book in my face (or perhaps because of it), I came away wanting to read work by: Geoffrey Landis, Marie Vibbert, and Jarod Anderson simply because of how thoughtful and fun they all were.

The con staff were incredible--communicative, friendly, and always ready to tackle the inevitable difficulties that come from trying to wrangle so many creatives. It was truly a labor of love, and I could feel that in every aspect of the convention.

I can't really convey how lucky I felt to be even a small part of the magic, and I certainly intend to attend Marcon 60 (if they'll have me). 

LORDS OF LIGHT!

Despite having only played perhaps six games of Warhammer: Fantasy Battles in my life, I really can't remember a time when the Games Workshop ouevre did not figure heavily into my fantastical accounting. My parents read me Tolkien, Feist, and LeGuin from basically the cradle on--so I never really had much of a chance to be anything other than a fantasy kid.

I think I was seven or so when I saw the ad for Heroquest.My father held out for a few months, but I could tell his heart wasn't in it. Soon, my barbarian was neck deep in orks, skeletons, and fimir, battling through a double-fistful of dungeons. Of course, dad played the Evil Wizard Zargon, and he NEVER went easy on us.

I remember once, my barbarian (Gholar the Impressive) charged ahead of the party and ended up mind controlled. I couldn't seem to roll high enough to break the spell. After dad had me slaughter my brother's elf, he forced me to watch, horrified, as my beloved Gholar chased the rest of the party from the dungeon. I learned a hard, yet important lesson that day. One, Scooby Doo reruns had very much NOT prepared me for.

Never split up the party.

After that came Battle Masters, sort of Warhammer light. Again, Dad mopped the floor with us; but I definitely remember the joy of firing that great cannon and watching the bouncing cannon ball obliterate his beloved Chaos Warriors.

This was roughly the time Games Workshop released these little green pamphlets, one for each army, that gave you a brief rundown of the faction and a sample army list (with points). They were free, so I grabbed an armload from my local hobby store (the dearly departed "Breastplate Hobbies"). I must have spent weeks poring over those little guys, drafting army lists and fighting pretend battles. The pamphlets didn't include actual rules, of course; but that didn't stop me.

My first unit was the old High Elf blue box (five spears, five archers), costing several weeks of allowance and paper route money. I couldn't afford Citadel paints, so I settled for some Testors enamels that I'd gotten for Christmas. 

Bad choice.

Suffice it to say, my poor High Elves turned into goopy messes. I did learn another lesson however--acrylics and inks are worth the price. After that, I was done for. Warhammer Fantasy (Elves), 40K (Eldar and Orks), Necromunda (Redemption, Orlocks), Mordheim (Ostlanders), even a brief foray into Gorkamorka. I didn't actually play the games very often, but I certainly spent quite a bit of time and money collecting (and painting) tiny warriors.

My true love was the lore, though. I wore the bindings of my High Elf and Empire army books, not to mention the dog-eared copies of WIlliam King's 'Slayer novels I managed to unearth in a used book store. Over the years my relationship with Warhammer has waxed and waned (mostly depending on real world pressures), but I've never fallen out of love with it. Even when I couldn't find the time to base and paint a warband, I still managed to carve out a few hours for a game of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or (rarely) Dark Heresy.

When Hasbro re-released Heroquest last year, I snatched up one of the initial run. Now, it's my 6-year old and friends who delve deep into dungeons. I, of course, am Zargon--a harsh, but fair villain in the style of my dear departed dad.

Oh dear, I've gone and buried the lead again...

I meant to write a post about my first Black Library novel Children of Teclis, and how honored and excited I am to be holding an ACTUAL BLACK LIBRARY BOOK WITH MY NAME ON IT. But I started talking about Warhammer and the thread sort of got away from me.

So...uh...thank you for wading through my fantastical recollections. Also, if you've got some spare time and a few bucks, why not give Children of Teclis a read? Or failing that, a listen. I'm going to write another post about it when the hardback comes out.

This time, I'll try to stay on topic, I promise:

A Busy Year

First off, I’ll begin this post in the style to which I have become accustomed: with an apology.

It’s been too long since I last updated the site. The big difference is, this time, I actually have an excuse.

I’ve been writing my ass off.

Since last we spoke, I’ve completed four IP novels—two for Age of Sigmar which I very much cannot talk about yet; and two for Legend of the Five Rings, which I very much can. So let’s focus on those.

Heart of Iuchiban is perhaps the most difficult work I’ve ever attempted. Part mystery, part dungeon crawl, part political drama with POV characters from all seven Great Clans; it really stretched me far beyond my literary comfort zone. Whether I actually pulled it off remains to be seen, but I’m genuinely proud of how the novel turned out.

Honestly, I was quite humbled that Fantasy Flight trusted me with one of the most iconic characters in the L5R setting. And while they had plenty of notes and updates regarding the new edition, I definitely felt free to explore my own take on the immortal necromancer who has been the bane of SO many bands of adventuring samurai. While I did take a slightly different direction than previous iterations, it wouldn’t really be an Iuchiban novel without a terrible tomb full of all manner of tricks and traps.

Soul of Iuchiban is the inevitable sequel, tying up all the loose threads from the first novel (which ends on something of a cliffhanger), and brings our unwilling heroes into a final confrontation with the fate of Rokugan and the Hantei dynasty hanging in the balance (of course).

Again, my lovely editor Lottie Llewellyn-Wells and the fine folks at Fantasy Flight were absolute aces during my pitch sessions. Not only did they provide truly excellent feedback on my more wild ideas, they helped sharpen my plot and characters in fun ways. I was particularly excited to delve into the intricacies of name magic, particularly the power of names (both mortal and spiritual); and how they underpinned Iuchiban’s dark schemes for Rokugan.

I’d be a poor author indeed if I didn’t acknowledge my intellectual debts—not only to the incredibly rich L5R setting, but also my academic studies in East Asian History (particularly Japan). One of the focuses of my research was the role of politics, economics, and culture in the naming of “frontier” spaces. This has pretty heavily informed my previous writing (To Chart the Clouds, in particular), but it can also be seen threaded through both Iuchiban novels.

I’ve always been fascinated by maps and mapping as societal constructs. How a place name can embody not only a history, but a present, and a future—embodying and shaping all manner of expectations. Names are how we understand the world, and how we understand each other. So it was a lot of fun to be able to play with them in the context of one of my favorite fantasy settings.

I could go on for pages about this lovely nonsense, but you didn’t come here to listen to me ramble about the role of liminal geography in framing geopolitical discourse. Wow, that sounded dry even as I wrote it—and I love this stuff.

In any case, I hope you have a chance to check out my novels—both current and forthcoming. I promise they’re more interesting than my thesis.

And, as always, thank you for reading. It really means a lot.

I Have a Book!!!!1!!!!!!11one!!

It’s been a while since I updated this dusty site, but not for lack of interest. Rather, I’ve been up to my neck in writing projects…which should (hopefully) be trickling out over the next months (and years, perhaps).

To wit, my first novel To Chart the Clouds is now available in eBook, Paperback, and Audiobook!

I’ve had the incredible opportunity to have a couple of interviews and chats about the novel, so I won’t repeat the same things here; except to say how incredibly grateful I am to have an editor and publisher willing to indulge my academic and fantastical literary predilections.

I’ve been fascinated with Japan since middle school, when my friend dragged me to an Akira Kurosawa film festival at the local college. Neither historical films nor anime were readily accessible in the mid-90s, so I had to scrabble for all the bootleg dubs and Toonami reruns I could find.

My interest led me to study Japanese in undergrad, then to grad school, where I studied the development of cartography in non-western societies (specifically Japan). A lot of that threaded To Chart the Clouds, although hopefully it’s a bit less dry than my thesis.

My first Legend of the Five Rings RPG book was the 2^nd edition players guide. I found it at a used books store in the bargain bin, and for good reason—someone had torn off the back cover and colored over many of the illustrations with permanent marker. Still, the text was (mostly) legible, and that was good enough for me.

The first time I actually went to Japan was in the early 2000’s. This was right about when the Clan War series came out. I remember having to leave a sweater and pair of pants at home because I wanted to make sure to bring EVERY BOOK IN THE SERIES. Reading L5R, in JAPAN?! I couldn’t imagine anything cooler.

Twenty years later, I’m still reading L5R. Although I haven’t had much opportunity to actually play the game, I have a pretty respectable collection of RPG books ranging from second edition (alas, my old Player’s Guide finally fell apart in the mid-aughts) to the most current FFG books. This isn’t meant to establish my bona fides—I consider myself more of an amateur historian where L5R lore is concerned; but rather to show how lucky I’ve been to have the opportunity to write in a world that has given me so much enjoyment over the years.

Even now, I still can’t quite believe it.

Periodically, I take a copy of To Chart the Clouds down from my bookshelf and just hold it. Mostly to assure myself it’s real, that I actually wrote it, and it actually got published. There really aren’t words to describe how simultaneously delightful and humbling it is; not to mention how grateful I am that both my editor and Aconyte took a chance on a quirky novel about Rokugani cartography.

My Semi-Charmed Life: 2020 Edition

Firstly, I wanted to apologize for not posting this sooner. The three or four of you who actually read my updates have probably been climbing the walls with anticipation. By way of some small explanation, my lateness does not have its roots in pure laziness (although I would be lying if I didn’t admit procrastination played some small part), but rather the opposite. I’ve been working my fingers off, typing up all manner of odd fictions to (mildly) enthrall and (somewhat) entertain my loyal pair of readers.

But my current output isn’t why I’ve blown the digital dust off this creaky old website. Rather I come unto you with hard, cold data, dollars and cents, the big payola, crinklebills, nightmare tickets, pure uncut cheques, the fortunate wind, trade slips, bartercoin, all that jazz.

I’m speaking, of course, of my writing income.

For those (few) of you who have been following my career. The intent of these posts is to provide a view from the middle of the literary pack. While I cannot claim to have reached the rarefied literary heights of such luminaries as Cameron Hurley, John Scalzi, and Jim C. Hines (all of whom also post about their income); I nonetheless have the supreme good fortune to have actually made money writing.

I consider myself firmly in the ranks of the semi-pro authors in that I: 1) Have a day job; 2) Have managed to monetize my writing hobby, and; 3) Could not afford to live on my fiction receipts. Even so, I’m hoping this “view from the middle” might be of use to folks planning on getting into genre fiction.
So, without further adieu:

 
 
2020 Breakdown

 
Overall, 2020 was a good year (literarily speaking). I had three commissions: one for a short story, one novella, and one novel. The novel carried over into 2021, but ate up most of the last few months of 2020. I also managed to eke out around 6 flash pieces (none of which sold), and four longer stories (two of which sold). From a financial standpoint, I’ve only received payments on the commissioned novella and two short stories, but that’s sort of the nature of the beast.
I did however receive the balance on a visual media option from a few years back, so that pushed my secondary rights income to untold heights (normally it hovers around $50-100 or so). I kept up my various memberships and subscriptions throughout the year, but my expenses were relatively low being that I attended approximately zero conventions (and for good reason).

2020 Writing Income and Expenses
Source	Income	Expenses
First Rights	$1,861.16
Secondary Rights (Audio, Reprint, Film)	$2,508.01
Royalties	$42.31
Membership SFWA		$100.00
Website Hosting and Maintenance		$180.00
Duotrope Publication Tracking		$50.00
Subscriptions and Professional Publications		$120.00
Total	$4,411.48	$450.00

Year-Over-Year Breakdown

Although 2020 wasn’t my best year, it was pretty close--well, actually equally close to best and worst being that it’s the median over the six years I’ve done this. If not for the visual media payment, it would’ve been much lower (about $2.4K lower, to be exact). But as I’ve said before, writing income tends to lag quite a bit. This total doesn’t quite reflect my 2020 output, but rather the output of previous years as I find homes for older pieces, or receive payments in arrears.     

Year	Income	Expenses	Total
2016	$1,507.87	$1,296.05	$211.82
2017	$4,744.03	$2,098.69	$2,645.34
2018	$5,295.70	$2,592.58	$2,703.12
2019	$2,633.27	$646.34	$1,986.93
2020	$4,411.48	$450.00	$3,961.48

So there you have it. My luck holds for another year. I know one of these days the payments will peter out, but I’ll probably keep writing long after that. In the meantime, I’m just grateful.

In conclusion, I’ll leave you with the same advice I do every year: If you want to write, great! Just make sure you have a day job to pay the bills.