UnCommonwealth

The Big Idea

Novelist, SFWA president, blogger, and rapscallion John Scalzi hosts me today at Whatever. Check it out!

Reader Reaction

Novelist David J. Schwartz read Sandstorm and here's what he has to say about it.

Later this week, after I get a couple of major school projects out of the way, I'll be back to talk about what's unaccountably piqued the most interest about how I wrote this book--the fact that I wrote it on a manual typewriter.

In which we learn it's all Holly Black's fault

There's an interview with me up today at my publisher's website (I promise that my internet life is not going to be all-Sandstorm all-the-time from here on out, it's just that kind of week). Therein, I talk about how I wound up getting the opportunity to write a Forgotten Realms book in the first place, quite a bit about the book itself, and, heh, a little bit about my teaching "philosophy" when it comes to writing. Also, a bit about Clarion West. West is Best! (Look, sweetie, I made it all the way to the end before I used an exclamation point, and held myself to one just like you said!)

Happy Sandstorm Release Day: D&D Salon

Today my partner-in-life-and-crime Christopher Rowe's first novel, Sandstorm (Amazon | Indiebound), releases into the wild, as they say. Said novel also happens to be part of the Forgotten Realms universe, a Dungeons & Dragons-related property of gaming publisher Wizards of the Coast. I'm sure a few years ago, I'd have thought I knew what that meant and I might even have been guilty (guilty is definitely the word) of dismissing many media tie-ins without a second thought. But that's because a) lots of people do so unfairly all the time and b) I didn't know anything about how such novels come into being. Suffice to say, it's pretty much like writing any other novel. Blood, sweat, tears. (In Mr. Rowe's case, also a typewriter.) With these, just about everything except the broader world is the creation of the author.

via gwendabond.typepad.com

My lovely wife does something very lovely for me. Make sure to read the comments, the story about Karen's kid made me tear up a little.

Launch Day!

At long last, Sandstorm is released today. If you have any inclination to pick it up, or just want to know more about it, you can check out this page. Meanwhile, Gwenda has put together a fascinating roundtable with some fabulous writers (and me) talking about how gaming and gaming fiction figured in their lives. What I wrote is this:

When I was in my early teens, I lived in rural Kentucky, which can be a pretty fantastic place. But I also lived in fantasy worlds, because I had a taste for the more literally fantastic. In particular, I played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons and read a lot of high fantasy novels. My favorite world to play in or read about was the Forgotten Realms, and a lot of what I know about wonder, action, and scope in fantastic fiction comes from reading those books and playing those games back then. I decided that one day, I would be a writer myself so that I could write a Forgotten Realms book of my own. And despite all the twists and turns my life and my career as a writer have taken since since then, I'm delighted that that day has actually come.

Check out what everyone else had to say.

And thanks, everybody. If you read the book, I hope you like it!