She wrote an untold number of published stories in her lifetime, continuing to work, I believe, until her death.  In 2002 she was given the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Award.

I never met her, but like millions of other people, I felt a special connection to Le Guin’s work. On some occasions I’ve likened her in a light-hearted fashion to a kung-fu master; somebody who could stagger you with a single, perfect, finger-poke strike. Her prose is, I believe, as powerful and effective as any other writer’s. She was not just a Grand Master of science-fiction and fantasy, she was a literary icon, period.

I’ve read a lot of her work, my favorite of which were A Wizard of Earthsea, its sequel The Tombs of Atuan, and her iconic science-fiction novel The Left Hand of Darkness. She was undoubtedly one of the main inspirations for my Mystic novels.

Last night, the same evening she reportedly passed away, and completely unaware of this situation, I found a short story of hers I’d never read and enjoyed it immensely. It was “The Word of Unbinding”, one of her first tales, published in 1964, set in the world of Earthsea. It contained everything I’d come t
o love about her work: poetic prose, haunting atmosphere, insightful thinking, and a great story.

I wish her family and loved ones peace, and I tearfully join the millions of people who enjoyed her work and her wit.

Rest in peace, dear writer.

It’s a privilege to announce that I’ll be the Guest of Honor at next’s year’s 10th annual JordanCon, held in Atlanta, Georgia.

I’ve been involved with this convention from the very beginning, including being Toastmaster its first year, as well as a member of its board of directors. I admit to being a little surprised when I was to be the Guest of Honor, as I thought, surely, there’s somebody else more deserving? But it was explained to me that I had been on the list of potential GoH’s for a while, and that 2018 made sense for a number of reasons. Consider:

• 2018 marks Dragonmount.com‘s 20th anniversary.
• My second novel, Mystic Dragon, will be released shortly before the convention.
• 2018 marks JordanCon’s 10th year, and they liked the idea of inviting a long-time member as their Guest of Honor.
• The timing allows me to promote and/or announce not only my third novel, Mystic Skies, but at least one other currently unannounced project.

2018 is going to be a big year for me and my creative work. I’m excited for you to join me in all the fun, and JordanCon represents a great way for us to do that together in person.

The convention will be held April 20-22, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit JordanCon.org or the Facebook event page.

I’ve got a new post up on Tor.com regarding my recent trip to Massachusetts and Mount Greylock. According to J.K. Rowling, Greylock’s summit is the home to Ilvermorny, the American magical school for witches and wizards. If you’re interested, check out the report , as well as these few bonus photos from the trip.

If you enjoyed MYSTIC, and you are a Hugo nominator, I’d appreciate your consideration for this award.

To become a Hugo Voter, you can sign up for a WorldCon Membership, including the option to be a Supporting Member who votes online. The cost of a Supporting membership is $50.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

In addition to myself, I help you will consider nominating some of my peers for the following awards:

• Michael Livingston, author of The Shards of Heaven, for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer
• Ilana C. Myer, author of Last Song Before Night, for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer
• Wake of Vultures, by Delilah S. Dawson for Best Novel
• The Wheel of Time Companion, by Harriet Mcdougall, Maria Simons, and Alan Romanczuk for Best Related Work
• Harriet McDougal, editor of The Wheel of Time Companion, for Best Editor, long form
• Linda Taglieri, blogger for The 13th Depository, for Best Fan Writer
• Larry Rosant, for Best Professional Artist

Thank you to everyone who came out to our events, purchased a book, or shared their support in any way.

Here’s a brief, 2-minute video showing some of the highlights of the trip:

Photo Album

(click to embiggen)

Reminder: If you enjoyed reading Mystic, send me an email and I’ll send you some special Bonus Content containing the deleted prologue from the book, as well as a sample chapter from the forthcoming sequel.

Speaking of book 2, I’m currently hard at work on Mystic Dragon. Tor sent me a sneak peak at the book cover, but I cannot share it yet. As always, I’m delighted by their work. I can’t wait show it to all of you.

Interviews

• Reddit AMA (“Ask Me Anything”)
• AMA summary on Tor.com
• Bibliosanctum Interview
• John Scalzi’s BIG IDEA
• Elk Grove Citizen
• Interview with Justin Sloan, Creative Writing Career
• Creative Writing Career Podcast
• Tor/Forge blog

Notable Reviews

• Dragonmount.com
• Evan Morgan’s blog
• Bibliosanctum
• Always Dreaming
• Chez Lannis
• Sci-Fi Fan Letter

Other Links

• Where to buy the book
• Free Sample Chapters
• Mystic on Goodreads.com
• Mystic on Amazon.com

There’s only 18 chapters in the book, so essentially you’re getting 1/9 1/6 of the novel for free. Not a bad deal!

Get them here: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Also, coming soon: a full chapter that was cut from the novel. I’ll elaborate on that when it’s released, but that’s a special thing because the chapter is a fun, stand-alone story that tells part of the backstory. It will only be available online and represents the heart of this book’s online bonus content.

Don’t forget that I’ll be going on book tour this November. Get the details here, or find out how you can get signed copies online.

Here are the dates and locations:

Nov 3 – Mount Pleasant, South Carolina / Barnes and Noble (Also joined by my friend and fellow debut author Michael Livingston, promoting his book, The Shards of Heaven) , 7:00pm

Nov 4 – Seattle, Washington /University Bookstore (Held at University Temple), 7:00pm (Ticketed event. See website for details)

Nov 5 – San Francisco, California / Borderlands, 6:00pm

Nov 6 – Petaluma, California / Copperfield’s, 7:00pm (Ticketed event. See website for details)

Nov 7 – Los Angeles, California / Vroman’s, 6:00pm

Nov 8 – San Diego, California / Mysterious Galaxy, 2:00pm (Ticketed event. See website for details)

Nov 9 – Las Vegas, Nevada / Las Vegas County Library, 7:00pm

Nov 10 – Santa Fe, New Mexico / Jean Cocteau Cinema (Hosted by George R.R. Martin)

Nov 11 – Houston, Texas /Murder by the Book, 7:00pm

Nov 12 – Chicago, Illinois / Anderson’s Bookshop Naperville, 7:00pm

Nov 14 – Sacramento, California / Barnes and Noble (Natomas), 2:00pm

Nov 15 – Elk Grove, California / Trent’s Bookshelf, 2:00pm

Nov 28 – Davis, California / Avid Reader Bookshop, 7:30pm

Here are some photos of the box I received, which, yes, was pretty much one of the most awesome things ever:

As a reminder, the book will be released November 3rd in hardcover, ebook, and audio formats.

In addition, I’m pretty sure that I’ll be doing a book tour. During the tour I’ll be helping to not only promote Mystic, but the forthcoming Wheel of Time Companion, which releases the same day as my book. O don’t have the dates or locations for the tour, but once I do, I’ll post it on this website, along with my social media.

If you would like an autographed copy of Mystic, but won’t be able to come to a book tour location, you can order autographed copies through my local bookseller. Once the books arrive, I’ll sign them for the store, and they will ship them out to anybody who ordered them.

Click here for full information on where you can pre-order Mystic.

Who’s narrating the teaser trailer? The voice is clearly intended tone ominous, and my first thought was that it was a Sith or other bad guy, possibly voiced by Andy Serkis, or Benedict Cumberbatch–who has been rumored to be a part of the movie. That may still be the case, but I also wonder whether that’s the voice of Luke Skywalker. Remember, actor Mark Hamill is a talented voice actor, and he’s done some iconic bad guy  voice before. (Most notably, IMO, the voice of Fire Lord Ozai from Avatar: The Last Airbender). So I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the voice of Luke, who’s living as a hermit somewhere remote. (Like a desert planet?)

I love that the first character we see for this next generation of Star Wars films is a person of color. I wonder if John Boyega (who is listed first amongst all the actors on the cast list) is actually a Storm Trooper, or just pretending to be one, much like Han and Luke did in the original 1977 film.  He looks pretty out of sorts here. Maybe he crash landed here?

Also, just a thought: the name of the movie is “The Force Awakens,” right? And the first shot we see is of one of the main characters appearing to wake up suddenly.

This shot makes me all sorts of happy. Not only is it fun and quirky, promising us that this new Star Wars film won’t lose that spirit, but we can see what appears to be some old Pod Racing engines in the background. I know the prequel series isn’t well-loved by everyone, but I think it’s important that these new films pay them tribute and treat them as important cannon. Besides, the pod racing scene was one of the cool things about The Phantom Menace.

Also, somebody on Twitter said this, which was awesome:

In the #ForceAwakens trailer you may have missed FIFA unveiling the 2022 World Cup ball #StarWars pic.twitter.com/b9cukUPvVW

— Toby Earle (@TobyonTV) November 28, 2014

These next few shots of Storm Troopers remind me of the opening shots of Saving Private Ryan. Even though we can’t see their emotions on their faces, they seem ready and determined.

Blaster upgrades! Maybe these new Storm Troopers won’t miss as often?

I wonder where they’re landing? We have no idea, of course, but it would be cool to see something like Coruscant again.

Daisy Ridley, everyone! I’m amazed at how much this young woman looks like Natalie Portman. And she has a strong Skywalker vibe about her in this shot and the next one.  If she doesn’t turn out to be Han and Leia’s daughter, I’ll feel cheated.  Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing her character.

More evidence that Daisy’s character takes after her maternal grandfather, a certain Anakin Skywalker.

This guy isn’t Wedge, but man, he sure has that look.  This pilot is wearing the old Rebel Alliance logo, but I like how it’s especially beat up and painted. I wonder what the red signifies?

X-Wings! Still the coolest ships in the Star Wars Universe. (Other than the Millennium Falcon, of course).  Not sure which planet they’re on here.

A new Sith! (Or possibly Luke, gone to the Dark Side, but I doubt that).  What I especially love is that this triple-lightsaber’s blades aren’t as clean as other lightsabers we’ve seen before. Look at the edge of the blade. Notice how it’s rough and torn up? Very nice touch.

Also of note: this Sith is stumbling through the woods. Could he also have been recently awoken? The final part of the voice-over says that both the Dark and Light side will awaken.

I’ll admit it: this energetic shot of the Millennium Falcon flying brought a tear to my eye. How can you not grin like crazy seeing it back like this?  I wonder who’s flying it though? My personal guess is that if Han has a daughter, she’s likely to want to take it for a joy ride.

Some people have pointed out that the Falcon has some modifications. I think this is great. It’s been 30 years, so of course they’re going to keep fixing that ol’ hunk o’ junk.

I’ve got a good feeling about this film. I cannot wait.

This advice is going to be most applicable for small-to-moderately-sized campaigns. Although much of the advice below is relevant to any size campaign, some of it won’t apply if you’re trying to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Six-figure campaigns are an entirely different beast, of which I have no experience running.

Also, while I’m being very specific to Kickstarter, the same ideas will usually apply to indiegogo, gofundme, or even patreon. I only have experience raising money on Kickstarter, so that’s what I’m going to talk about.

So without further ado, here you go, aspiring entrepreneurs! Here are …

15 Tips for a Better Kickstarter Campaign

Dream big, but think real. Promote like crazy, but stay genuine. Good luck!

Have some of your own tips? Leave them in the comments below. I’m also happy to answer questions if you have them.

In the years since, I tried some of the sequels that were produced, but most of them fell short of the original, or tried to do too much. The longer the series stuck around, the zanier the plots became, and the bigger Lara Crafts’s bosom grew. Tomb Raider’s marketing, at least, seemed focused on the wrong areas.

Then came last year’s franchise reboot. What a difference! The new game provided an origin story for the series heroine, Lara Croft. When you begin the game she’s just a 20-something grad student traveling to a remote location in order to hopefully discover a lost civilization. Of course she gets more than she bargains for and is forced to deal with all sorts of terrible events. What I especially love is how human the writers and developers made Lara. The first time she kills a bad guy, she’s downright traumatized. As the player, I really believed her journey from a brave young woman to a hardened adventurer.

The game’s plot was well-contained and enjoyable. I loved discovering the secrets of the lost civilization. My favorite part was discovering the optional tombs and raiding their treasures. Easily the most enjoyable weapon in the game was the bow and arrow (and all its upgrades). At time I felt like I was playing Thief, because of all the sneaking around and silent assassinations.

Here are some screen captures from the game I played. The majority of them are from actual gameplay, and not from cut scenes. (Click to enlarge any of them)

Here’s the announcement trailer for the sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider. As expected, I’m pretty excited for this. The developers are once again trying to keep Laura real, by having her deal with the horrible events she had to go through.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhGEFLcPHsY

My older son (code name Red) is 8 years old and my younger son (Dewy) is 5.  Both have a strong interest in Star Wars.  About a years ago, I showed Red the original trilogy (the latest version of the Extended / Special editions to be exact). He enjoyed them as any 6 or 7 year old kid would.

Then, earlier this month, I showed the newer prequel trilogy to both kids.  By doing it this way, Red got to see the films in the order I watched them (4,5,6,1,2,3).  Dewy, on the other hand, experienced Star Wars for the first time by watching Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.

Now before any of you call Child Protective Services on me, let me emphasize that Dewy is 5 years old and he loved Episode 1. And guess what? His favorite character?  Yup, you guessed it: Jar Jar Binks.

I plan to show them the original trilogy again soon. This will be Red’s second pass at it, and Dewy’s first.  I won’t know for a while what sort of impact this has on each one of them, but I figured this was the easiest way to answer the question of “what order should you watch the movies in?”

And for those of you hating on the prequel trilogy… Look, they were’t great films. We can agree on that. But I’m not going to deny them the fun they can offer. At this young age my boys are just enjoying seeing aliens and Jedi and Sith running around the galaxy. At least Dewy will grow up without a hatred in his heart for Jar Jar like some fans seem to have. And hate, as we know, is a tool of the Dark Side.

Speaking of the Dark Side: here’s a photo of the boys dressed in their Sith Halloween costumes. Dewy as Vader, and Red as Darth Maul. (We’ve since acquired the double-bladed lightsaber)

Sith Boys

I’ve been spending my available free-time writing a new book. The likely title (subject to change) is Awake the Mystic Song. It’s a YA fantasy novel and the first in a trilogy. You can read a more about it here.

In honor of Dragonmount.com’s 15th anniversary, somebody on our staff interviewed Jennifer Liang and I.  Head over to the site to check it out.

Click to embiggen

The Island of Moth is an original fantasy location in the story I’m currently writing. Having this map has proven to be very handy in terms of inspiring new ideas and describing the environment. It’s also helped me figure out logistics in terms of distances and time spent travelling.

I used Fractal Mapper to make this map, along with Photoshop to add the text and do some minor clean-up.

Earlier this month I told you about the original Michael Whelan painting I purchased. Along with that purchase, I also acquired a print of his stunning painting entitled, The Long Road. It’s from his series of Dark Tower images, which I love. This one in particular is one of my favorites.

I’m very fortunate in that this particular printing is only one of 9 Artist Proofs that were made. Mine is numbered 7 of 9.

Naturally, I had the print framed. I chose museum-quality glass (as I usually do these days for my collector artwork), and chose to feature a triple matte inside a dark gold border. I wanted a frame with an old feeling to it, and I wanted colors that would really pick out the sunset. The fine folks at my local Aaron Brothers were a huge help in helping me design the frame. In addition to the sunet really standing out, I like how the gray matte nicely compliments the gray clouds and surface of the Dark Tower. I worried for a bit that the matting would be too “loud” and distract from the image. I think it turned out nicely, however. I’m very pleased with the final product.

Here’s a look at the image details, along with the certificate of authenticity and signature and numbering.

Last month I attended JordanCon V, an annual convention in Atlanta where we celebrate Robert Jordan’s work, as well as books and other media by artists and writers with similar influences. The Artist Guest of Honor was the esteemed Michael Whelan, who not only is the most celebrated fantasy artist in the field today, but also, I’m happy to report, a nice guy.  In fact, I was incredibly surprised that he recognized me before we even shook hands. He’d seen me in the promotional videos Tor produced for A Memory of Light, and was immediately gracious and kind in saying he enjoyed what I had to say in those.

Naturally, I bought something from him.

I love quality artwork, and I’m proud to support artists. (And in this case, I knew a portion of the sale would go to support the Wolverton family in their time of need.)  When I saw one of his concept “sketches” for the AMOL book cover, I immediately snatched it up. I purchased the original painting, and as far as I know, there are no reproductions or prints out there.

Here are some images. Click to enlarge.

The full image.

The painting depicts Rand outside the cave at Shayol Ghul, right before he descends to face the Dark One. He’s holding Callandor, the “Sword that is Not A Sword.”

The story behind is this image is that it’s one of several concepts that Michael provided to Tor Books. From what I understand, this particular painting was one of the top choices to become the actual book cover, but the publisher wanted an image which included the lunar eclipse.  If this image had been selected, Michael would have re-painted it, and added a significant amount of more detail.

Despite being only a “sketch”, the image is powerful and ensnared me. The framing is such that it leads the eyes down toward the lower right, as if we are descending with Rand into the Dark One’s lair. Michael described how the cracks in the wall are supposed to imply how the world itself is unravelling.

Some close-ups:

The painting came with a frame, seen below. It was painted on canvas with acrylic.  Here’s Michael’s signature, as well as the label on the back.

I’m proud to be the owner of an original Michael Whelan painting. Although I recognize this was “just a sketch”, it still captures an iconic character in a fascinating way. I’ve got the painting hanging in my home office and will cherish it for a long time.

Adventures in SciFi Publishing (AISFP) has been one of my favorite podcasts for years. Shaun Farrel and his team conduct some of the best, most well-researched interviews in the sci-fi and fantasy publishing industry.

It was a real pleasure to be part of their show.