Friends Friday

One of the benefits of loitering around this business for as long as I have is that you collect lots of interesting friends, many of whom pursue all sorts of game-related activities that you'd like to promote. Without further ado, here's what some of my friends are up to that my readers might like to know about.

From Lester Smith: Popcorn Press is gearing up in two ways to publish its annual Halloween collection of horror-themed poetry. First, PP is raising money through Indiegogo so that, unlike previous years, it can actually pay contributors in something more legal-tenderish than copies of the collection. Second, PP is accepting submissions from poets who'd like to have their work included in the collection in exchange for plaudits, exposure, and some of that legal tender. If you compose horrifying (as opposed to horrible) poetry, get in touch. And back the project on Indiegogo.

From Jamie Chambers: Ben Mund's The Very Hungry Cthulupillar is now available in PDF at DriveThruFiction. Just $3.99 gets you "16 pages of full-color illustration by Ben Mund, and will call back fond memories of childhood along with the maddening knowledge of our cosmic insignificance and forthcoming doom." This book is an amusing parody of a children's book intended for children of all ages -- except young ones.

From Monte Cook: It's too late to actually get in now, since the funding window has closed, but you ought to at least be aware that Monte's Numenera project on Kickstarter broke the half-million dollar mark. That's from an initial goal of $20,000. Of course, it has Monte's creativity and productivity behind it, but still ... It's pretty amazing what this community can do with a bit of motivation.

From Steve Sullivan: Steve's new steampunk novella Heart of Steam and Rust is available in all ereader formats. This is another tale set in the Steam Nations universe and featuring Lina Ivanova, the heroine from his previous book in this setting, The Last Ranodon. I hope to have more to say about HSR in the future, once it's percolated to the top of my reading list.

From Doug Niles: Doug has wrapped up work on Eyeball to Eyeball, the first book of an alternate history series about the Cuban Missile Crisis. This series is also coming from Popcorn Press in October. According to Doug, "The 'alternate' part means that I make it worse, lots worse, than it actually was." October 22nd is the 50th anniversary of JFK's monumental speech announcing the discovery of nuclear missiles in Cuba, so you can expect the historical event to get lots of retrospective coverage. Once you know the real story, get the book and find out why we're so grateful to JFK.

From Matt Forbeck: Next week, Matt is releasing Hard Times in Dragon City, the first installment of the "Shotguns & Sorcery" trilogy in his weird and wonderful "12 for '12" project. Shotguns & Sorcery is the second of four trilogies that make up 12 for '12. Words pour out of Matt the way smoke and cinders billow out of the funnel of a steam train.

Finally, there was a terrific post at Wampus Country a few days ago about "making things worse" during an RPG session, plus a followup. Well worth reading.