GenCon 2011 was a lot of work. Prior to the show, Matt and I were dodging bullets and putting in extra hours for the first DriveThruRPG partnership with White Wolf Publishing and select games from Malhavoc Press, Open Design, Nocturnal, Eden Studios and Abstract Nova.

Even with the booth location at the back of a very large and very huge hall… This venture was a runaway hit. The quality of the new books is really awesome. And the fans? The ones who practically wept with joy seeing Vampire: the Masquerade back in print? Or how about the guy that seriously demanded to know when his copy of the twentieth anniversary edition will be sitting in his mailbox because he loves that game so much.

Besides the already scheduled signings, Jim Zubkavich offered to sign the Exalted comic, Greg Stolze was happy to drop off signed excerpts of his Vampire: the Requiem novel, A Hunger Like Fire, and Jason Vey took time to sign All Flesh Must be Eaten books with me from Eden Studios.

Oh, and did I mention we sold out of Ptolus on Saturday morning?

The booth’s success was due to the efforts of the fine people working the booth. Chuck, Mike, Pauline, Sean, Matt, Steve, Corinne, Ken, Steve, Luke, Carol and myself. We came, we sweated, we had meetings, we ate, we sweated some more…

I had a ridiculously busy schedule, but had some help getting through it with my friend Jack Daniels. By the time Monday rolled around, I was “deep fried” and happy to be home.

However…

DOM DOM DOM…

All that squeezing and pushing and cracking heads prior to the show leaves me with? NO STRESS. NO DRAMA. I have forward momentum on many irons in the fire that I’ve been developing for some time.

And some new ones, too! Which are… awesome… In many ways… Of course, probably the best update I have is that we’re scheduling a vacation. Well, that and the awesome, awesome meetings I had. All of which went swimmingly well.

Hee.

More updates and news will be released as it happens. I’m happy to be focusing on the creative aspects of my work, my jewelry design and my art and thrilled I’m working with such excellent and admirable hobbits people.

Life, quite frankly, is made out of awesome. Although my fridge is a little… Well… empty…

I mentioned earlier that I’ll be helping out some at the DriveThruRPG/ White Wolf booth this year at GenCon: Indianapolis from August 4th through the 7th. This event is like Christmas in the hobby games industry, for you’ll no doubt hear about many new releases and games that debut at the show.

This year will be filled with a few *secret* surprises, good friends and lots of meetings. Even though I continue to write fiction, I feel I have a home in the hobby games industry and it’s because of companies like White Wolf, Eden Studios, Abstract Nova Press and others that I have had a renewed interest in writing genre fiction. Many novelists and short story authors have gotten work published in the hobby games industry including R.A. Salvatore, Elaine Cunningham (who will be the GOH at Geek*Kon in September), Jim C. Hines, Ari Marmell, Jess Hartley, myself and many others.

Since this year is an important year for DriveThruRPG and White Wolf, I thought I’d offer you a map to show you where the booth is. If you’ve been to the show in the past, you’ll notice just how different this layout is. Apex Publications will be located in Author’s Alley as well, so be sure to stop by. The other location I marked is the author signing booth. This year I’m sharing my hour with GenCon GOH Anton Strout.