Week of 19 November – 2 December

Greetings all. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Mine was wonderful in many ways. My sweetie and I cooked together and ate great food.

We also bought Zombie Munchkin and Mansions of Madness, which of course we played both. Munchkin is always fun, of course, so no surprise there.

Mansions of Madness, though, is a fantastic combination of technology and board gaming. The game is built around the app, which randomizes all sorts of things and exposes clues here and there as the players find them. It scales up and down to reflect the number of players in the game. Really neat design.

Also, it’s a collaborative game and perfect for a family to play together. In other words, it’s a game where all the players are on the same side trying to solve the mystery. I should say, it’s usually a collaborative game. It’s based around H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu stories, so characters can not only be killed by the monsters, they can also be driven mad. And when they’re driven mad, the players might end up having different victory conditions.

Yes, I won the game, all by myself, by knifing my proto-incipient step-daughter. Go Me! And my insanity

The only thing that would have made Thanksgiving better was if I hadn’t gotten a nasty cough and cold. When I wasn’t cooking or playing a game, I was mostly a slug. I didn’t do much, though I pushed through a little writing.

I did have a chance to record a couple of episodes of Write Pack Radio. You can find us at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/write-pack-radio/id870221780?mt=2 and http://www.blogtalkradio.com/writepackradio. On Sunday the 10th, we’ll discuss the differences between writing fiction and non-fiction. On the 17th, we’ll talk about making characters.

Quote of the Week

Today I am in Kansas City, where I am officiating the wedding of some friends this afternoon. I based the ceremony around one of Shakespeare’s most quoted sonnets, so it seems right to quote from that sonnet today. Congratulations, Nicholas and Margaret.

News and Works in Progress

• Brief Is My Flame. Making progress. Treachery, deceit, war, and an ancient horror are on the docket for today.

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

• Conna’s Pelican Ceremony: https://robhowell.org/blog/?p=880

Upcoming Events

• 9 December: Kris Kinder, Kansas City, MO
  https://sites.google.com/site/kriskindermarket/
• 12-15 January: Meridies 40th Year, Perry, GA
  http://40year.meridies.org/wp/
• 19-21 January: ChattaCon, Chattanooga, TN
  http://www.chattacon.org/
• 16-18 February, Planet Comicon, Kansas City, MO
  http://planetcomicon.com/
• 10-18 March, Gulf Wars, Lumberton, MO
  http://www.gulfwars.org/

Spotlight

One of the other Write Pack members is Brad R. Cook. He writes a lot of steampunk, and I enjoy hearing his takes during our discussions. You can find his work at: https://www.amazon.com/Brad-R.-Cook/e/B01EQZ7GEM/.

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.
Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Website: www.robhowell.org
Blog: www.robhowell.org/blog
Shijuren Wiki: http://www.shijuren.org/World+of+Shijuren+Home
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/robhowell.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rhodri2112

Currently Available Works

A Lake Most Deep (Edward, Book 1)
The Eyes of a Doll (Edward, Book 2)
Where Now the Rider (Edward, Book 3)
I Am a Wondrous Thing (The Kreisens, Book 1)
Brief Is My Flame (The Kreisens, Book 2) Forthcoming 2017
None Call Me Mother (The Kreisens, Book 3) Forthcoming 2018

Weekly Update Archive

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