The new anthology Forged in Blood is out now.

This was a fun one to work on. All of the stories are set in Mike Williamson’s Freehold universe. The neat part is that the stories are in chronological order, and follow the main character’s sword from early Japanese history through modern times, out into space, into the regular Freehold timeline, and then beyond.

I have the 2nd story in the anthology, because love writing samurai drama. And since it is Freehold, I wrote about a surly old ronin who just wants to be left alone, but who then has an altercation with tax collectors. It is pretty darned good.

The first story was written by my friend Zach Hill, about my character’s ancestor. Zach passed away shortly after writing this story, so he never got to see this come out. It is excellent. Zach was an extremely talented author, and I would love to see lots of people exposed to his work. Here is a great chance.

The story after mine was written by Mike Massa, and jumps ahead to the early 1900s, Imperial Japan. So on and so forth, with the sword being the one continual element that unites the stories. The stories range from dead serious to light hearted.

Check it out.

This first panel isn’t one of mine, but it is possibly the most important panel at any DragonCon, ever. It is the lovely Mrs. Correia’s first ever panel appearance.

Title: Proper Care and Feeding of Authors

Time: Friday 8:30 PM Location: Hyatt Embassy AB

Description: It takes a certain kind of person to be an author–and a very special kind of person to live with one. Partners & spouses of our writer guests reveal how they help their scribbling spouses keep body and soul together.

 

Here are the panels I am on for DragonCon. Plus I usually crash the Baen road show if possible.

 

Title: Prepping 101: Getting Started & Expanding Survival
Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: Chastain F-H – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: It’s important to create a survival plan & start increasing your survival duration & scope. But where do you start without going crazy or broke? Our experts answer your questions on how to go from a simple 3-day supply to long-term survival.

Title: Kaiju Lit
Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: Long a cinematic staple, world-smashing giant monsters are now wreaking havoc in the pages of literature.

Signing at Missing Volume (booth 1400)  Fri 4:00 PM

Title: First Contact Improv
Time: Fri 10:00 pm Location: Embassy AB – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: Our panelists create an alien first-contact scenario with help from prompts provided.

Book Signing at Bard’s Tower Friday 6-7 PM

Book Signing at Bard’s Tower Saturday 10-11 AM

Title: Culture Clash
Time: Sat 11:30 am Location: Embassy CD – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: The clash of cultures is a major cause of conflict. This panel discusses how to develop well-rounded cultures & conflicts to make your novel memorable.

Title: Grimdark Appreciation Hour
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: Embassy EF – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: Some of us like our Fantasy the way we like our news cycle: grim as hell. WHY? Is it simple emotional masochism, or does dark fantasy offer a uniquely cathartic experience?

Title: Monster Hunter Files
Time: Sat 04:00 pm Location: Regency VI-VII – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: Focus on the upcoming anthology of stories set in the world of Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International!

Signing at Missing Volume (Booth 1400) 6:00 PM  This is a group signing for the authors in the anthology Forged in Blood.

Title: The Pen & the Sword: Arming the Written Word
Time: Sun 10:00 am Location: Regency V – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: Writing the action scene for print & graphic novels. Arming your character–all of the pitfalls & advantages.

Title: Second Annual Dragon Awards Presentation
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Centennial I – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: The winners of the Second Annual Dragon Awards will be announced here.

Title: Magnificent Men of Fantasy/SF
Time: Sun 02:30 pm Location: Regency VI-VII – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: The top men of our genres discuss their careers & offer advice to new writers.

Signing at Missing Volume (Booth 1400) 4:00 PM This signing is for all the authors in the Straight Outta Tombstone anthology.

Book Signing at Bard’s Tower 6:00 PM

Title: Choose Your Weapon: Arms in Military Sci-Fi
Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: Chastain DE – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: Zat or P90? Raygun or railgun? We will examine what weapons work best for survival in the different worlds of Military Sci-Fi & what basis they have in reality.

I got back from GenCon yesterday. I had a good time. Saw a bunch of my fans, had two good signings, and a fun Q&A session.

But the main reason to go to GenCon is the LOOT. 🙂

I hit the dealer room hard this year, but I think I came in under my previous years record of having to call my wife to warn her I was busing out the credit card because I’d burned through all my cash THE FIRST DAY… BEFORE LUNCH. This time I bought a ton of MDF miniature terrain, a slew of minis, and some new game books.

GenCon is one of the ones I do for fun. I actually wouldn’t mind just going as a regular dude, and not being on any panels at all, so I could just play games the whole time.  But when you’re a writer they put you to work.

I do have to apologize to you guys because I missed one of my panels. I was a presenter for the Baen Fantasy short story contest, and afterwards we take the winners out to a nice dinner. I was inadvertently double booked and didn’t realize it until that morning, so had to get somebody to fill in for me on the Writing Fun panel.

Yesterday was my birthday, so thank you for the many happy birthday wishes. My Facebook feed is currently buried.

But the coolest thing this weekend was getting home and seeing this.

The approval from UDOT to begin construction on the provisional Yard Moose Mountain Road finally came through while I was out of town. They immediately went to work.

This is going to be an epic project. To put the scale into perspective, the green Ford Expedition way down at the bottom of the hill is at the entrance. From there to where I was standing to take this picture, that is only about 1/10th of the total distance we have to cover.

The goal for 2017 is all the infrastructure and permits, road, power, well drilling, etc. 2018 fortress compound–err… I mean house. Yeah. House. That’s the ticket.

 

I’m leaving for GenCon in Indianapolis tomorrow. Here is my schedule. When I am not at these events I will be spending large sums of money on miniatures.

Thursday

11:00 AM Character Craft: Real Monsters & Vicious Animals Capital I

Friday

10:00 AM Special Event: Q & A with Larry Correia Ballroom

11:00 AM Business of Writing: Business Plans for Writers Capital I

4:00 PM Signing Exhibit Hall

6:00 PM Writer’s Craft: Kick Ass Fight Scenes Capital I

Saturday

10:00 AM Signing Exhibit Hall

11:00 AM Story Craft: Structuring Your Story Right Capital I

3:00 PM Special Event: Baen Roadshow Chamber

6:00 PM Writer’s Craft: Writing Stories that are Fun to Read Capital I

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The Dragon Award is coming up soon. The finalists were announced while I was on book tour. Any of you can go vote, and I’d encourage you to do so. The more fans participating, the better.

http://awards.dragoncon.org/

The process is simple, and it costs nothing. All you have to do is register at the link and pick whatever you think is the best stuff on the list. DragonCon is coming up fast, so there isn’t much time. Registration cuts off on August 28^th.

Unlike certain other awards, the Dragon actively encourages authors to ask their fans to turn out. Much like the con that created it, the Dragon isn’t about snoot or pretension, it’s about fun. This is an award for fans and what they think is awesome.

I won the Dragon for best fantasy last year for Son of the Black Sword (the trophy is super bad ass by the way) so all during the nomination period I kept asking my fans not to nominate me, but to use their vote for somebody else, because having won once I figured it was best to share the love and make room for other authors to have a shot.

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge still wound up as a finalist (which shouldn’t come as a surprise, because nobody can tell fans what to love, that’s like herding cats).

HOWEVER Grunge is a collaboration. All the credit for this book goes to John Ringo. Grunge was John’s idea. He wrote the rough draft before I ever even knew the project existed. This one isn’t about me. If you guys vote for Grunge, John takes home the trophy. Which would be excellent, because he’s a great author who has been entertaining people for a long time. Nobody in the business does contagious enthusiasm better than John Ringo, meaning that when he is excited writing it, the reader feels that, and gets excited reading it.

Besides, who cares what I said before? This is about you guys. The Dragon is the ultimate fan award. It isn’t about stroking a writer’s ego. It’s about what YOU think is great.

Congratulations to all the other nominees, I’ve got a ton of friends on there, and I wish them all the best of luck.

See you at DragonCon!