GenCon 2017

As I mentioned earlier this week, this past weekend was GenCon here in Indianapolis, Indiana. In case you are unfamiliar with it (and I am always amazed at the people who live in the Indy area and yet have no idea what it is), GenCon is the largest gaming convention in the world. Their motto is, "The Best Four Days in Gaming," and as far as I'm concerned, they live up to that claim 100%. This year was their biggest attendance yet, with well over 200,000 people in attendance over the four days. In fact, for the first time in their history, they sold out of admission badges the week before the event began. This convention is so large that it not only encompasses the entire Indianapolis Convention Center, but spills over into event areas of seven other nearby hotels as well as Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.

I got the chance to play several great games, including:

• Scythe, a 7 player asymmetrical civilization and warfare strategy game
• Clank, a deck-building adventure game (by the same company that makes the CCG Eternal)
• Ex Libris, a card drafting and set collection game that feels like something from the Harry Potter universe
• 7-Wonders Duel, a 2 player variant on the popular 7 Wonders civilization strategy game
• Yamatai, an Asian mythology themed route/network building strategy game that is highly reminiscent of 5 Tribes
• Imperial Settlers, a asymmetrical civilization card strategy game 

I also have to mention attending the fantastic Writer's Symposium, which is an entire mini-seminar within the conference itself that brings in the top authors in the science fiction and fantasy genre to host topical panels for aspiring and beginning authors. Just like in previous years, my wife and I got sit in on the live recorded sessions of Writing Excuses, which is highly recommended. And for once, they had the whole cast there, which has not happened in previous years.

But the highlight of the weekend was the special panels I got to attend with Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, and the cast of Critical Role. Rothfuss is absolutely hilarious in person; listening to him reading his Princess book is not to be missed. I also managed to get a special promo card from Sanderson for the Mistborn: House Wars board game that just arrived on my doorstep straight from its Kickstarter fulfillment. And last but not least, seeing the amazing cast of Critical Role is an experience that should not be missed.

If you're a gamer of any sort, you should come to GenCon. It's well worth whatever it takes to get you there.

Writer's Symposium at Gencon

The official sign up for events at GenCon 2017 finally went live this past Sunday. Although the con itself isn't until the middle of August, the sign-up for events is always a bit crazy, as thousands of registrants compete for seminars and events that can only hold dozens of people at most.

Like in the past few years, GenCon is also hosting its annual Writer's Symposium, where successful authors in the science fiction and fantasy genres give panel discussions on a variety of topics. Some of the major authors featured this year include Brandon Sanderson, Mercedes Lackey, Patrick Rothfuss, and Larry Correia, each of whom are doing special Q&A and book signings in addition to their panel discussions. If you're curious, you can see all of the Writer's Symposium events here.

Here are a few panels that I am particularly looking forward to:

• Medieval Cooking and Fantasy Foods
• Believable Fictional Languages
• Real Animals in a Fantasy World
• War Magic — When Magic Goes to War
• Can a Hero be Too Powerful?

It's going to be another great year at GenCon. If any of my readers are planning on attending, let me know. I'd love to come say hello and meet you in person.

A Sanderson Christmas Gift

So last week was pretty miserable. I was sick, the weather was awful, and I neglected just about everything in my life, including this blog. Sorry about that. So to make up for it, I'll have three blog posts this week - today, Wednesday, and Friday. Enjoy!

As most you are probably aware by now, I am a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson. In fact, I'm one of those uncommon people who loved his work before he ever got chosen to finish off Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. If you've never heard of him before, that's fine. What you need to know is he is a very successful fantasy author and a huge fan of Magic the Gathering.

In his recent blog post about what happened this year and what projects are upcoming, he mentioned at the end that many of his readers ask for some tangible way to show their appreciation. Brandon had a really cool suggestion (and of course it's Magic related), so I thought I would share it with all of you:

So, I’ve given it some thought. I maintain that I really do not need you to send me anything. But if you must, I figure you could do this. Dig out or buy a foil Magic card from the Kaladesh set or its sequel coming out in January. Try to pick one that strikes you, or matches you in some way.

I’m building a foil cube of that set—and though even the common foils look great, they only cost around $.25. (Don’t feel you have to give me rares or mythics—I’ll actually need five of each common, three of each uncommon, and fifty of each basic land—so commons and lands are totally needed.) Like I said, try to pick one that matches you somehow, not one that is famous, as this is better if they’re randomized so I get some of each.

Take the card, and sign or write your name on the back side (the side that says “Magic: the Gathering”) with a felt-tip pen or Sharpie, so you don’t dent the front. Tell me where you’re from, write me a message, or tell me something about yourself. Whatever you feel like saying.

Then, stick the card between two pieces of cardboard (or slip it in a card case) and send it to me to me at:

Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
PO Box 698
American Fork, UT 84003

I’ll put them all together, protect them in protective sleeves, and then take them to conventions so we can play games with them—and everyone can glance at the backs of the cards and see what you wrote. That will make a pretty cool keepsake for the year for me, but won’t (hopefully) cost you more than a buck or two for the card and the postage.

What a cool opportunity to not only show your appreciation for his work, but also be immortalized as part of his own personal Magic cube. I'll definitely be looking through Kaladesh and Aether Revolt to find the perfect card (a Common, of course!) to send to him as thanks for the hundreds of hours I've spent engrossed in his books. And if you've never read of his stuff, I strongly encourage you to check it out!

See you next time.

Back at Writing

After a year of mostly not doing any fiction writing, I decided it's time to get serious about this once again. I distinctly remember sitting in one of the Writing Symposium seminars at GenCon and begrudging the time I have wasted in not pursuing this dream. In fact, the pursuit of being a fantasy writer was one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place. It says so right in the upper right-hand corner - "I am a fantasy writer." What do writers do? They write. What do I need to do to become a fantasy writer? I need to write. So that's what I'm doing.

Here's my plan:

1. I reconnected with my high school buddy Phil, and we are working our way through the Season 10 Writing Excuses Master Classes. This season of this popular writing podcast is designed to equip new authors with the tools they need to write successfully. It comes complete with homework, which is a great way to motivate myself to write.
   
2. Every year Brandon Sanderson teaches an undergraduate Creative Writing class at Brigham Young University, and this year a professional videographer is recording his lectures. You can find the playlist here. If there is a better free resource for learning to write genre fiction, I want to know about it.
   
3. From one of these lectures, I learned that to be a professional writer, you need to write approximately 10,000 words a month. So that's the goal I am working to achieve. I am using the WriteTrack tool I blogged about several years ago, slowly ramping up each month in my goal until I am consistently writing 10,000 words a month (counting only my fiction, not any other writing here).
   
4. As I start producing quality pieces, I need to start submitting them to writing contests (like Writer of the Future) and online fantasy fiction magazines. This gives me the opportunity to hone my craft on smaller works before trying to tackle a whole novel.

I don't expect that any of this will interfere with my content for Standard Pauper, so don't worry about that. But it does mean that you can expect to see a few more writing posts from time to time. 

Mistborn: House War

Like I mentioned in my GenCon posts, one of the games I got to playtest this year at the convention was this awesome new game called Mistborn: House War. Based on the characters and events of the series by Brandon Sanderson of the same name, in this semi-cooperative game you take the role of one of the nobles houses of the Final Empire, seeking to work together to solve the myriad social and political problems facing the empire while competing to become the most powerful and most loyal of the nobles houses.

At its heart is a fairly simple mechanic. Each turn you collect resources based on your house and other resources. These resources can then be used to solve one of the problems that besets the empire, each of which requires a certain combination of resources. If you solve the problem, you receive favor with the Lord Ruler. If you and your fellow players fail to solve the problem, someone will have to suffer the consequences - though that may not necessarily be you!

If you lack the necessary resources to solve any of the problems, you can also ask your fellow players for help. And that's where the game gets most interesting, as almost anything goes when it comes to negotiation. One player might ask for part of the rewards you'll receive, or a promise not to target them with an upcoming negative event, or even just make you go get them something out of the fridge! The only catch is that whatever terms you agree to, you must keep up your side of the bargain.

In addition to the normal resources, you also receive Personality Cards that can provide additional resources, redirect a negative effect, cancel another player's card, or secretly award you favor at the end of the game. These cards provide one of the best ways to interfere with your fellow players, keeping them from getting too far ahead.

So what happens if everyone decided to gang up on you, or you simply are too far behind to have any hope of winning? Simple - you join the rebellion! Rather than trying to solve the problems, you instead try to push as many of them through as possible, allowing the unrest to grow to the point where it ends the game prematurely. And should that happen, the player with the least favor, rather than the most, wins the game.

The game successful Kickstarted about a month ago, but you can still get in as a late backer.

Intrigued? Watch the video below, then go support this great game! I can't wait until next April to start playing this with my game group...

Words of Radiance

And now, my long-promised Words of Radiance review.

But first, two obvious prescripts: if you haven't read The Way of Kings, which is the first book in this series, you probably shouldn't read this review; also, while my review will be mostly spoiler free, if you don't want to know absolutely anything about what happens in this book, you probably shouldn't read it either. So with that out of the way, here's what I thought.

Let's start with a quick recap. Way of Kings tells the story of four characters: a slave named Kaladin, a king named Dalinar, a thief named Shallan posing as a scholar, and an assassin named Szeth. These four are caught up in a series of events that spell doom for the world of Roshar. By the end of the first book, Kaladin and his fellow band of bridgemen has been freed from their slavery for saving Dalinar's life, and promoted to the royal guardsmen. Shallan has been exposed, but has nonetheless been accepted as the ward of the great scholar Jasnah. And Szeth has been ordered to hunt down and assassinate Dalinar.

While Way of Kings focused primarily on Kaladin's heroic journey from surgeon to soldier to slave to member of the emerging Knights Radiant, Words of Radiance turns the focus on Shallan coming to understand her own magical gifts. If Kaladin is to become the first of the new Knights Radiant, Shallan appears poised to be the second as her quest to understand the fate of the world draws her into the Shattered Plains, where Kaladin and Dalinar currently reside. In this second book, the scope is much larger, expanding on threads first revealed in the previous book. Kaladin must overcome his own flaws, Shallan must deal with the dark secrets from her past, and Dalinar struggles to bring order and unity among the quarreling members of his own kingdom. Long awaited events finally occur, such as the memorable first meeting of Kaladin and Shallan, the revelation of the fate of Shallan's father, the identity of the enigmatic Parshendi, the truth of the Shardblades, and not one but two epic battles between Kaladin and the powerful assassin Szeth. And as the end of the book nears, the four are drawn into an epic battle full of dazzling reveals, nail-biting suspense, and plenty of action. 

Like Way of Kings, the production values in Words of Radiance are well above your typical fantasy novel. The inner and outer cover (not the dust-jacket, but the actual cover of the book) has stunning full color artwork, and the interior dotted with full-page illustrations of the seemingly alien world of Rashar. Words of Radiance is even longer than its predecessor, but the pacing is such that it reads like a good half its size. Even the quotes that populate the beginning of each and every chapter make their own unique addition to the story, hinting at some things and helping to explain others.

If you'd like, you can check out both the dust-jacket art and the cover art here; you can also check out all the interior illustrations here.

Words of Radiance is Brandon Sanderson at his finest. The character are brilliant and believable, the worldbuilding detailed but not forced, and the interweaving of the cast of characters masterfully accomplished. Perhaps its one flaw is what I would term "middle-book" syndrome, in that more threads of the story are left unfinished than was the case in the previous novel. Nonetheless, the ending is certainly still satisfying.

Simply put: this is an excellent book, and one you should definitely read. This series may well set the bar for epic fantasy for a generation. And that's high praise indeed.

If you'd like to read more, I have included links below to several more solid reviews online:

1. Tor's official "spoiler-free" review and the accompanying "spoiler" review.
2. A short and mostly positive review from GroundZero.
3. A featured review from Elitist Book Reviews, which is a Hugo-nominated fanzine.
4. Another glowingly positive review from io9.

What about you? Have you read this book? If so, I'd love to hear what you thought of it in the comments. Thanks for reading.

Steelheart Review

I'm a little late to the party (as in, this book was released way back in September of last year), but I recently finished Brandon Sanderson's book Steelheart, and thought I would take the chance to review the book today.

But first, a disclaimer - I have never read Sanderson's Alcatraz series, so for me this is my first foray into any of this author's non-fantasy, young adult genre writings.

If you had any doubts of Sanderson's ability to craft amazing and compelling stories outside of the epic fantasy genre, this book firmly puts those to rest. It is set in a post-apocalyptic future Earth, where the world has been taken over by the rise of Epics, which for all-intents and purposes are comic-book-style superheroes - but with one decidedly important twist: these humans with extraordinary gifts are all, technically, super-villains.

This one fact goes a long way from this feeling like some sort of Marvel ripoff. Not only are all of the Epics evil to one degree or another, but their powers don't seem to have direct Marvel or DC Comics counterparts. And even more interesting, each and every Epic has some sort of fatal weakness that, if exploited, allows him or her to be defeated.

Opposing these super-villains are a group called the Reckoners. This is a ragtag group of skilled individuals, who despite the lack of any super-powers, travel the world assassinating the Epics. And when the Reckoners travel to Chicago, which is ruled by an Epic named Steelheart, they stumble across a young man who has witnessed something extraordinary - the seemingly invulnerable Steelheart bleed.

The ensuing tale is very well done. The characters are memorable, the world-building is woven in expertly, and the plot is fast-paced. In typical Sanderson fashion, it ends with an epic (no pun intended) battle, topped off with a series of surprising-yet-inevitable reveals, and brings perfect closure to the central tale, even though the book is clearly the first of several more to come.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I highly recommend this book. Even as someone who is not a major fan of the superhero genre (with several notable exceptions!), I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you are a fan of any of Sanderson's work, of the superhero genre, or even just the science fiction and fantasy genre, you'll love this book. Pick up a copy at Amazon today. You won't regret it.

Write What You Know

While there is a great deal of writing advice that is dispensed from experts, one of the most common pieces of advice offered is this: write what you know. This quote seems to have originated with Mark Twain, although Ernest Hemingway is often cited as well. Interestingly enough, the very opposite advice has also been offered to many aspiring writers as well.

For those, like myself, who write in the science fiction / fantasy genre, this advice seems pretty counter-intuitive. After all, if you're writing about technology that doesn't actually exist, or a planet millions of light years away, or a magic system that is fueled by self-sacrifice, it's hard to use anything even approaching personal experience to write about such things.

However, I believe this advice is generally helpful. In particular, I think it is a helpful exercise to ask yourself what you know or have experienced that is unique or special, and to use your understanding of that particular subject matter as a means to differentiate yourself from other writers in the genre.

In the online lectures of his creative writing class at Brigham Young University, Brandon Sanderson makes the comment in one of his lectures that writers generally come in two varieties when it comes to this topic. First, you have those who know a great deal about a particular topic and focus on that in their writing. Second, you have those who have a surprisingly broad but shallow understanding of a great number of different areas, and thus touch on a lot of different things in their writing.

Next Thursday, I intend to focus on an area that I believe has not been treated adequately in the science fiction / fantasy genre and in which I am somewhat of an expert. But for now, I want you, my readers, to puzzle over two questions:

1. What knowledge or experiences do I possess that are (at least somewhat) unique from other people around me?
   
2. How might I use that unique subject matter in my creative expressions, including writing?

Increasingly, I believe that everyone is creative, and everyone has the ability to make a unique contribution in some creative endeavor. What impact might you make? Thanks for reading.

Class Is In Session

While I know from my post last Thursday that much of my audience is more interested in Magic the Gathering and other video games than they are in the fantasy genre, one of my founding purposes for this blog was to post about my own journey as a fledgling fantasy author. To that end, beginning on June 3rd, I will be participating in a creative writing class taught by none other than the illustrious Brandon Sanderson.

As I have mentioned before, Sanderson teaches just such a course at Brigham Young University in Utah. Last year, one of his students recorded an entire semester worth of lectures on video and posted them to YouTube for the world to partake of. Now, this summer, he's back with a new semester worth of lectures, as well as some additional content designed to complement the lectures. You can read all about it here.

This online content is hosted on the blog of one Scott Ashton, who is working on his Masters degree and utilizing this for his master's project. He is also providing all of this for free. Yes, that's right, absolutely free.

So if you ever wanted to take just such a class, I encourage you to browse over to the site, read all the details, and sign up to participate. It's going to be quite the experience, and one that I guarantee will make you a better writer. And if that's not enough, you can even listen to Sanderson introduce the class below:

Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment below. See you next time!

Fantasy Worth Reading, Part One

As any prolific reader knows, one of the biggest challenges of reading is finding the next good book among the thousands of mediocre to bad ones out there. Sadly, in the science fiction and fantasy market, things are no different. Walk into your local library or bookstore and venture into the science fiction/fantasy section, and without something to guide you, you are likely to be disappointed with whatever you walk out with.

So today, I want to offer you a glimpse of some of my favorite authors. Naturally, this is no guarantee that what you like in fantasy will be what I like. But I will say that the ones that I am highlighting today are ones that are beloved by many other fans, and most of them make multiple appearances on those numerous "Best Fantasy Authors" lists that can be found everywhere online. So here are ten of my favorite, in no particular order.

1. Brandon Sanderson

For those who regularly read my blog, the fact that Brandon Sanderson is at the top of my list should come as no surprise. Sanderson is probably one of the more successful and prolific fantasy authors in the market right now. The fact that he gives back to the writing community through teaching creative writing classes and through his Hugo-nominated podcast Writing Excuses is just icing on the cake. Seriously, if you haven't read any of his work, stop reading this right now and go pick one up. You won't regret it.

My Favorite Sanderson Book: The Way of Kings

2. Guy Gavriel Kay

I only recently discovered Kay's work, but I was delighted when I did. Kay is perhaps best known for his historical fantasy, wherein he takes a real-world time and place, coverts it to a fantasy world, and then sets a compelling story there. Also of note is that Kay usually writes stand-alone works, rather than the multi-volume series that are so typical now in fantasy. If you're a fan of rich, detailed settings with a strong basis in reality, you'll love much of Kay's work.

My Favorite Kay Book: A Song for Arbonne

3. Robin Hobb

Another great author in the genre is Robin Hobb. While this author has also published under a different pseudonym, I am only familiar with those written under this particular pen name. What I love best about her work is the larger world-story that is going on through the progression of each series. While it certainly isn't blatant, by the time you've finished all the works of her The Realm of the Elderlings series, you realize the story is so much bigger than simply the character you are reading about. This is another author who you simply must read if you want to understand the fantasy genre.

My Favorite Hobb Book: Fool's Fate

4. Jim Butcher

I only recently discovered Jim Butcher, and have been pleasantly surprised by his work, much of which is urban fantasy, of which I am not typically a fan. But this work, known as The Dresden Files, is quite good, and even spawned a short-lived TV series on Sci-Fi of the same name. He also has a more traditional fantasy series known as Codex Alera, a series he wrote after being challenged to write a story combining the Lost Roman Legion with Pokemon. I'll let you be the judge, but I find his work quite enjoyable.

My Favorite Butcher Book: Ghost Story

5. Stephen Lawhead

Stephen Lawhead is probably the least well known on my list, but one whose work has probably had the biggest mark on me as a fantasy writer. It was through his book In the Hall of the Dragon King that I was first introduced to fantasy. In fact, my mom actually picked this book up at the grocery store and gave it to me! Lawhead is an expert in Celtic history, and this expertise is displayed throughout many of his works. Lawhead is also remarkable to me in that he writes from a noticeably Christian perspective yet still presents his ideas in a way that is consistent with the fantasy genre. Definitely check him out!

My Favorite Lawhead Book: Byzantium

...

So that's it for today. Next Thursday, I'll finish up my list of ten of my favorite fantasy authors. Thanks for reading. Now get off the Internet and go read a good book! See you next time.

You can find Part Two here.

Going Back to School

I was talking today with a family member about what we remembered from our college days. Amidst our reflections, I mentioned that one of the things I missed about college was actually being required to learn things and demonstrate these acquired skills and knowledge by means of homework, grades, and tests. It seems strange, but for whatever reason, it is much harder to learn and improve your craft when there isn't some accountability that provides the necessary incentives to get it done.

For much the same reason, I know of writers who have decided to return to school to get a degree in creative writing. While they realize that they will improve their craft along the way, the biggest motivator for them is that they know it will force them to actually write in a consistent fashion. The psychology of that need is a post for another day. Instead, today I want to reference a great resource that is the closest thing you can get to pursuing a creative writing degree without paying a single dime or leaving the relative peace and quiet of your Internet browser.

For my long-time readers, it should come as no surprise that I am a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson. One of the things that I admire about him is his dedication to inspire and give back to the next generation of aspiring writers. To that end, once a year he teaches a class at Brigham Young University on Creative Writing, with a particular emphasis on Science Fiction and Fantasy. Last fall, he graciously allowed one of his students to record the entirety of his lectures for the class, and full video of these lectures are now available online through this student's blog, entitled Write About Dragons.

There are 13 lectures in all, broken down into 5-10 minute pieces for easy viewing. Most of these lectures also include written summaries of each section for review and reference. There is also a complete set of detailed notes available here. The class covers both the craft and business of writing, covering such diverse topics as Ideas Are Cheap, Giving Characters A Life Beyond the Plot, Three Goals When Meeting Agents, and Business Models for Self-Publishing. All in all this is excellent information available for free at your virtual fingertips. Definitely worth checking out!

Finally, the blog author is currently planning a special Summer 2013 class that, in addition to new videos of the most recent class, will include writing requirements that will be subjected to an interactive feedback system. This will be starting up in June, and if you want in on this opportunity, all you have to do is browse over to this link and sign up on his blog. Again, this is a great resource, and one that I certainly intend to make use of!

Hope you find these resources helpful. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. See you next time.