Weekend Update

Friday was the big Twitter release party for the Ephemeris RPG...12 hours of tweeting is enough to drive just about anyone batty...myself included. We had a decent crowd in the morning, and then things thinned out later in the day. Overall, I'm hoping it was a success.

Even though the game is now out, we still haven't seen any copies. The printer has had some problems with the cover, but hopefully we'll be seeing them this week. I'm also hopeful that we'll have the Amazon link at that time as well, and I'll post that here as soon as I have it.

In other news, we're now 10 days away from the oldest starting 3rd grade. I think it will be good to get her back in school because she and the youngest are spending way too much time together, and any of you who have kids know what that means.

For those of you who have followed this blog for a long time, you know I'm a HUGE cycling fan, and of course today was the end of the Tour de France, and although they predicted it was going to be a hugely competitive race, it wasn't anything like I think the fans were hoping for. Maybe next year with two of the Contador and Armstrong on different teams we'll see a little more competition.

Watching cycling is kind of bittersweet for me anymore. Every time I see something interesting, I immediately want to e-mail my friend Joe to talk to him about it...then I remember that Joe passed away due to cancer a couple of years ago...

Now, I must get back to creating more material for Ephemeris...yes, even though the game is done, it's only one rulebook. We still have a lot of stuff to create...and maybe I'll even find some time for some fiction now.

If any of you are interested in ordering a copy of the game, please go to http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm.

I'm back

We got back from Texas a few days ago, and I'm just now getting caught up to a point where I can blog again. Texas was about what I expected...flat, desolate, and hot. We were about an hour west of Fort Worth, and there doesn't seem to be much there, and the day we got there the high hit 105. I was more than ready to leave at that point.

We brought two puppies back with us. One for our girls and one for their cousin. They're lab mixes, and they're both very cute. Our girls named theirs Spike Joe, and at 9 weeks he was already 15 pounds...so he's going to be a very big boy. Spike Joe is currently staying with the girls' grandpa and uncle because we simply don't have room in our apartment.

The Ephemeris release is going to be Friday July 24th, and we will be celebrating the release all day on Twitter (10-10 EDT). If you're interested in keeping track, you just need to follow @jalanerwine or #Ephemeris. We'll be talking about the game, answering questions about the game, and even giving away a couple of copies. If you want to take advantage of the pre-sale price, you're almost out of time. Go to http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm, and order your copy before the price goes up!!!

I'm looking forward to the release...after it's over with, I can start focusing on fiction again...unless the game's a huge hit...then I'll have to write more material for it, but I won't mind that one bit!

The Ephemeris Cover

I just got the final version of the cover for the Ephemeris RPG, and here it is...



Hopefully that will catch some eyes!

We're leaving in Texas in a few hours to pick up the kids. Hopefully I will be back by the end of the weekend. I doubt that there's Internet access there, but I will try to Twitter by phone when I can. Just follow @jalanerwine if you want to keep track of how miserable I am in the Texas heat...

Happy 4th

Raining like crazy here right now, so I'm sure a lot of plans have been washed out. I didn't really have any plans, so no big deal for me personally. Rebecca is working tonight and the girls are still in Texas, so I was just going to sit on the balcony and watch fireworks if there were any I could see...but that was just an excuse to not work, so I'll probably work instead.

On Wednesday, we head to Texas to pick the young 'uns up, and then we should be back on Saturday.

On the marriage front, it looks like we probably have a restaurant to have our reception at. They've never done anything like this before, but the manager seemed receptive, and said they'd do it...but I still have some nagging doubts about whether or not it will really come to fruition.

On the professional front, I'll be hanging out on Twitter on Monday July 6th from 7 pm EDT - 8 pm EDT to talk about Ephemeris. I hope some of you will be able to join me for the conversation.

Other than that, things are status quo on the homefront. I may try to post again before we leave for Texas, but if not, you'll hear from me in a little over a week.

Wondrous Web Worlds. Vol. 8

The latest edition of Wondrous Web Worlds has been released by Sam's Dot publishing. For those of you unfamiliar with this anthology, it features the best poems and short stories from several of Sam's Dot's on-line zines. Each issue is voted on by the fans, and the winners are placed in the anthology.

This anthology started out way back in the days of ProMart Publishing, and has been continued by Sam's Dot...with me as the editor every year.

So you can pick up a copy at The Genre Mall.

Not posting as much as I should

There hasn't been much to report, so I haven't been posting much. We're almost ready to release the Ephemeris RPG. The goal is still July 24th, and once we get the final artwork for the aliens, I'll be able to confirm that.

The hush hush project at Flying Pen Press is still rolling along. Hopefully we'll be able to make some more definite announcements about that in the next month or two.

Next week Sam's Dot Publishing will be releasing Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 8...once again edited by me. The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait to see the book.

That's about it for now...

Iran

As most of you probably know there was an election in Iran recently. All indicators were that it was going to be a close election, and yet the incumbent won in a landslide. Not only that, but hand written ballots were counted about as fast as the US can count their electronic ballots. I think anyone that looks at these facts can clearly see that the election was a fraud...and certainly some of the people that have seen that have been the Iranian people.

The Iranian regime claims that there are no protests in Tehran, and yet pictures that are coming out of the Iranian capital clearly shows tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people protesting. Meanwhile, the government cracks down on the protesters and people are killed.

Meanwhile, here in the US, the revolution is not being covered by the media like I'd expected it would. It seems to get a mention on the news, but the true story is not being told...and I have to wonder why.

It would seem that if you really want the truth about what's going on, you have to go to YouTube and Twitter. People caught up in the revolution are posting regularly, knowing that they will face sever repercussions if they're caught.

Here's a sample...



Let's hope that the Obama administration, and other governments throughout the world refuse to recognize the Iranian regime. For years, those of us in the United States have been wanting a regime change, but anyone with any intelligence knew that the change would have to come from within...and here it is!

And as for all the ignorant Americans who thought we should just nuke Iran because of the government's views, try to remember in the future that a government does not necessarily represent the views of the actual citizens. The people of Iran want change, and we should let them have it...

A Tuesday Update

We had our big meeting at Flying Pen Press to discuss the project we're working on. Everything is hush hush at the moment, but hopefully we'll be able to divulge the details in the next month or two.

Speaking of Flying Pen, tomorrow marks the release of Riders of the Mapinguari. David Rozansky, the publisher, will be hosting a release party on Twitter...so if you're on Twitter, simply follow #FeralWorld tomorrow. There will even be chances to win some copies.

I'm continuing to work on the finishing touches of Ephemeris. Hopefully we'll have some artwork soon, and then it will be time to send it off to the publisher.

I'm not really sure why I'm feeling so tired, but I feel like I haven't slept in days...

Keeping busy

Seems like this last week just flew by...

We had Rebecca's birthday, and the two of us have been doing a lot of wedding planning. Yes, it's still 11 months away, but we want to get as much planned as we possibly can. My dad and brother were also in town over the weekend, so we met them for lunch one day. It was her first chance to meet anyone from my family, and she still wants to marry me...so I guess things went well.

I'm still working on the finishing touches for the Ephemeris RPG, and we're still running the pre-sale. What? You haven't picked up your copy yet? Well, you still have time, so go to http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm.

Over at Flying Pen Press, we're having a meeting this week to work out more of the details on the hush hush project we have going...and it should be a lot of fun once we get it going. This week we'll also be releasing Riders of the Mapinguari by Gaddy Bergmann. We're having a sale for 20% off up until the release date, which is June 17th...so if you'd like to pick up a copy of that, head over to http://flyingpenpress.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=34.

That should pretty much get you caught up on what's going on in my life. I'll try to post more as things start to come together...

On Twitter the next couple of nights

Tonight and tomorrow night (June 6th and 7th), I will be hanging out on Twitter from 7:00 EDT until 8:00 EDT to answer questions about the Ephemeris RPG...or whatever else you might want to ask.

If you want to be part of the conversation, just be sure to follow @jalanerwine.

While you're waiting, pre-order your copy of the rules at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm. It will normally list for $19.95, but you can pre-order your copy for just $14.95.

The pre-sale has begun

The pre-sale for the Ephemeris RPG has now officially begun. The first rulebook will be released in late July. When it is released, it will be a 6X9 trade paperback with more than 400 pages of information! Upon release, the list price for the book will be $19.95 + S&H...but during the pre-sale, you can order the book before it's released for only $14.95 + S&H.

So what are you waiting for? Go to http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm and order your copy today.

The cover shown here is just a mock-up of what the final cover could look like...but we needed something...

Catching up

I took a couple of days off so Rebecca and I could spend some time together, and now I'm playing a desperate game of catch-up.

During those days, we took a lot of walks, and while passing a stream, I caught a picture of this guy...



Since he's in shadow, it's kind of hard to see, but this little guy had more red in his fur than I've ever seen in a raccoon.

Now that I've been back to work over the last couple of days, I've updated The Genre Mall and the Sam's Dot website.

I'm not expecting things to ease up any time soon as tomorrow marks the official start of the Ephemeris pre-release sale...so there will be a lot of promoting to do throughout the day. Tomorrow I'll have the actual link to the pre-sale site, and I'll post it here so those of you interested in ordering a copy at a discount can do so.

A day of nothing

In all the time Rebecca and I have been together, we've never had a day where we didn't have something (or several somethings) to do. Tomorrow will be the first time that we are completely free...so we are going to relax.

If we get up early enough in the morning, we'll probably take a walk...probably to the little river that runs through the field behind us. After that, we're going to come home and watch all three Lord of the Rings movies (the Director's Cuts)...only taking breaks to call the kids and order take out.

I don't know if either of us will be able to handle not having anything to do...but we are certainly going to try!

Featured Anthology at Anthology Builder

The featured anthology at Anthology Builder contains one of my stories, "The Twin Sorceresses." This is my one, and so far only, story that would be categorized as a children's story. Yes, I know it's kind of scary that I might actually be writing stuff that could influence children, but there it is...

If you're interested in the anthology, which looks like it has some other great stuff in it, you can find it at http://www.anthologybuilder.com/view_template.php?template_id=381.

Tranquility in Tales of the Talisman

My short story "Tranquility" is in the current issue of Tales of the Talisman. A much older version of this story was the first story I wrote after making the "decision" to become a science fiction writer. This story has some of the same elements as that original, but I made a lot of changes to it...which it desperately needed. Gone are the three pages of exposition at the very beginning of the story that explain the war...like I implied, I was a rookie.

The basic premise of the story is that there's a disgruntled main character who is in the military, serving on the moon. When war breaks out on Earth, he helps to put an end to it...but at what cost to his psyche?

If you're interested in reading the story, you can order a copy from The Genre Mall at http://www.genremall.com/zinesr.htm#talisman.

A very productive couple of days

I've been keeping myself very busy over the last couple of days, and as a result, I've gotten a lot done, including finishing up two major projects.

I finished re-working the main Flying Pen Press page. You can check that out at http://www.flyingpenpress.com.

Even more impressive, I finished the final revisions on the Ephemeris RPG. There's still formatting to do, and a lot of other work to be done, but it looks like we should be able to start the pre-sale during the first week of June.

On a more personal note, I found out yesterday that my dad will be coming out for a KMGH reunion, so this will be Rebecca's first chance to meet someone in my family. For the most part, I think she's excited, but since I told her that I get a lot of my weirdness from him...I think she's a little worried.

We also think we may have found the site for our wedding next year...but it's in a public park, so we'll have to look into the rules for that. It's kind of interesting because I had mentioned the place a few times, and she never seemed to enthused. But on Friday we were over by there, and I told her how I envisioned the wedding happening...now she loves the idea.

Memorial Day Weekend update

Things have been crazy around the homestead. Yesterday was the last day of second grade for our oldest, and now both kids have gone to Texas to visit Grandma...and they won't be back until July. Things are sadly quiet around here.

The revisions on Ephemeris are coming along. With a little luck, I will actually have the final revisions done over this long weekend.

Over at Flying Pen we're talking about something that I think will be a great idea...but I can't really say anything about it right now...but we're putting together a team that might be creating some very fun stuff.

Feeling extremely sleep deprived at the moment, but hopefully I'll catch up on sleep soon.

In the meantime, enjoy a picture of one of our newest neighbors...

Nobody's Home to Aoife's Kiss

My short short "Nobody's Home" has been picked up for the March 2010 issue of Aoife's Kiss. It's kind of hard to believe, but this is the last science fiction short story that I have circulating. Most of the last few years have been taken up with novel writing and game creation, so I've run out of short stories.

There are still a few in my collection, but they're so bad, they never deserve to see the light of day again...

I said I wasn't going to do it...

...but I did it anyway. I've now joined the masses at Twitter. If you're interested in following me there, feel free to drop by https://twitter.com/jalanerwine.

Keeping the family on their toes

For those of you who actually know me, you're probably well aware that I'm basically a disaster in the kitchen, but this is more because I just don't really care about cooking...as opposed to actually being incompetent.

Apparently my family seems to think that I don't know my way around the kitchen. I told the kids that we were going to make breakfast in bed for Rebecca, so when I got up, the oldest had a bowl and a box of cereal out. Both of them were quite surprised that I planned on actually cooking breakfast...and Rebecca was equally surprised when we brought it in for her.

Later in the day I made a traditional Chickasaw fry bread. It was the first time I'd ever made anything like this, and I'm pretty sure it was the first time that I've every actually made something from scratch. Even to my surprise, it turned out really good. The girls seemed to like it at first, but I think they changed their minds the more they ate it...but I liked it, and that's what matters.

I do so like to keep people on their toes.