If you speak German, be sure to look out for Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon — a.k.a Die Geister von Ascalon — in deutsch next week. It hits stores in Germany on August 24. If you can’t wait that long, head on over to GamesCom this weekend, at which my co-author Jeff Grubb will be reprising his Comic-Con role as official autographer of free copies of the book.

I leave for Gen Con — a.k.a. Gamer Christmas in August — tomorrow morning, ready to take Indy by storm. If you’re going to be there too, be sure to hunt me down and say hi and share some dice or drinks.

I’ve added a couple new details to my schedule. I’m joining Cam Banks for Ryan Macklin’s podcast “This Just In… from Gen Con!” in the Caucus Room at the Westin at 11 on Thursday morning.

I should also be at the Catalyst Games booth from 4–5 on Saturday. I’m told they’ll have actual hard copies of Spells & Chrome for the rest of the authors and me to sign.

Plus I hope to be at the mass signing for Gameplaywright’s The Bones at the Indie Press Revolution booth. That’s from 1-2 on Sunday.

My full schedule is after the break. Hope you can join me there!

Thursday, August 5

• 11am: This Just in from Gen Con
• 6pm: Adapting Games From Intellectual Properties

Friday, August 6

• 10am: Different Philosophies of Game Design
• 1pm: The Short and Long of Writing Fiction
• 3pm: The No-No’s of Game Design
• 5pm: Writing for the RPG Industry
• 6:30pm: ENnies VIP Cocktail Reception.
• 7:30pm: Reactor 88 Studios: Behind the Scenes
• 9:00pm: Reactor 88 Studios afterparty at the SubTerra Lounge.

Saturday, August 7

• 11am: The Intersection of Games and Stories
• 1pm: How to Make a Living as a Writer
• 3pm: This Pen’s For Hire
• 4pm: Signing Spells & Chrome at the Catalyst Games Lab booth.

Sunday, August 8

• 11am: The Art of Freelancing
• 1pm: Signing The Bones at the Indie Press Revolution booth.

Actually, Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon hit stores yesterday, but I’ve been away from the computer for a few days and I’m just getting to write about it now. It’s available in numerous electronic formats as well as in the traditional flattened-tree-pulp version. If you put your mouse over the widget to the right, you should get a pop-up image that can steer you toward the right place to make your purchase. To whet your appetite, be sure to download a free PDF of the first chapter.

So far, the reviews for the book have been fantastic. My co-author, Jeff Grubb, has an excellent roundup of them on his site, and the four reviews on Amazon so far have all rated the book at five stars each. If sharp fantasy adventures set in a vividly built world are your thing, be sure to pick it up. I hope you get the chance to enjoy it!

My latest column for the Escapist went up today: “How to Write a Tie-In Novel.” Check it out for a quick behind-the-scenes look at how some of your favorite books about your favorite worlds make it to your shelves.

The fine folks at Reactor 88 Studios have lined up an afterparty following their big event at Gen Con: Reactor 88 Studios: Behind the Scenes. With luck, we should have a rough-cut of the InSpectres proof-of-concept to show there. In that, you’ll see me in all my gory-zombie goodness.

Come to the event if you can and then join us at the afterparty. It’s at the SubTerra Lounge, the same place as last year, and it’ll be a blast. With three excellent DJs — you may know them by the names Matt Grau, Marcelo Figueroa, and Mike Eck — spinning tunes, it should be fantastic.

Sometime back in May, Catalyst Game Labs released its first new fiction anthology for Shadowrun, entitled Spells & Chrome. John Helfers edited the book, and it includes stories from Jason Hardy, Jason Schmetzer, Jean Rabe, Phaedra Weldon, Kevin Killiany, Steven Mohan Jr., Bradley P. Beaulieu, Steve Kenson, Dan C. Duval, Stephen Dedman, Marc Tassin, Jennifer J. Harding, William H. Keith, Ilsa Bick, and Mike Stackpole. Oh, and I wrote a sharp little tale called “No Such Luck.”

It’s only available in e-book format at the moment. You can pick up an epub version through Catalyst, or you can get the Kindle version through Amazon. I had a ball writing my story, and I think the other authors did too. If you have the chance to read it, let me know what you think.

Earlier this month, I decided I was going to skip Comic-Con this year. I love the show, and I’ll miss seeing all of my friends there. However, Gen Con was bumped up a week, so there’s only a week and a half between it and Comic-Con this summer. I’m going to be spending a good part of that time in a cabin in the woods with my family instead. As a bonus, Ann and the kids are coming down to Gen Con for a couple days too so they can play games and “see Daddy be famous.”

If you’re going to Comic-Con, though, be sure to stop by the NCSoft booth (#5345) to check out Guild Wars 2: Ghosts of Ascalon. They’re giving away a limited number of copies of the book, and my co-author Jeff Grubb will be on hand to sign them, along with cover artist Rich Anderson. This happens Friday, July 23, from 1 PM to 1:45 PM and Saturday, July 24, from 1 PM to 1:45 PM. The book isn’t due in stores until the following week, but the lucky few can get it at Comic-Con for free!

Reactor 88 Studios just released this teaser for its upcoming proof-of-concept short for a film based on the InSpectres roleplaying game by Jared Sorensen. Reactor 88 plans to show off the short at this summer’s Gen Con. If you’re there and care to join us, the big event is Friday, August 6, at 7:30 PM in the Westin, Capitol III. I hear there will be an afterparty at the SubTerra Lounge, the same place we used after the Brave New World: Revolutions debut last year. Hope to see you there!

If it seems like it’s been a bit quiet around here, that’s because I haven’t been around. I spent most of the last two weeks on one of those classic family road trips that American families insist on inflicting upon themselves every summer they can. (Cue up Lindsey Buckingham’s “Holiday Road” from National Lampoon’s Vacation.)

Ann and I packed the kids into the minivan for a two-day drive out to Colorado, where we spent a night at the house of my cousin Tim Kuhn, a professor at the University of Colorado. He was off at a conference in Singapore, but his wife Sophia and their two young kids — plus his mother, my Aunt Joan — took great care of us.

From there, we spent four nights camping out in Rocky Mountain National Park, our first time in a (very large) tent with the entire family. We wandered and hiked all around the place, including a drive to Grant Lake and back by way of the Trail Ridge Road, which winds up to a height of over 12,000 feet. On the way back up the Trail Ridge, which was under re-construction at the time, we ran into a thunderstorm during which we spotted lightning flashing below us. You might still be able to see the marks of my grip on the steering wheel.

While there, we saw deer, moose, mountain goats, lots of birds, and herds of elk. We cooked hot dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches, and burnt way too many marshmallows making s’mores. We spent one rainy day at the YMCA of the Rockies, which turns out to as big as a small town all by itself.

Every night, after everyone else was in bed, I sat at the picnic table and worked on my latest short story, which should be in an upcoming anthology this fall or winter. Working on a vacation is never fun, but it’s the freelancer’s lot. Still, tapping away at my keyboard under a full moon while elk cries echo off the surrounding mountainsides reminds me why I prefer to work for myself.

On the way back, we stopped to visit with Tim for a bit, who’d gotten back from his conference, and with his father, my Uncle Dick, who’d come out to help as well. Then we raced off to Kansas to stay with Ann’s Uncle Marty and Aunt Jan. While there, we got to visit with a couple of her cousins (Kristi and Julie) and see her 98-year-old grandmother too.

I think I’m still recovering from the trip, but we all had a fantastic time. We’re already making plans for where we might go next summer, but in the meantime we’re determined to make the most of what’s left of this one.

My pals at Reactor 88 Studios recently put together this Zooppa ad for the new King Kong 360/3D experience debuting at Universal Studios this summer. Peter Jackson produced the ride, based on his film.

I had nothing to do with this, so I can brag freely on what a fine job the R88 crew did. Check it out.