I Exist! And I Have Links!

[alanajoli]

So, the most difficult thing about Dungeons and Dragons has nothing to do with learning the rules. It doesn't deal with rolling dice, and it doesn't even take into account a variety of improvisational skill levels. No, it has *everything* to do with finding a time when six or seven people who all like hanging out with each other can manage to put aside their busy schedules and get together!

It's been a busy gaming weekend (Living Kingdoms of Kalamar), and plans are already in preparation for next week (Xen'drik Expeditions). Funny story of the weekend: I remembered to pack the gaming bag, but not the bag with the clothes, so we ended up at Target (where apparently they only sell shirts for anorexic women with very long arms--who knew?) getting sundry supplies to make it through to the next day. I found a sweatshirt that worked, but waited to buy a t-shirt until the next day, because we were gaming at Pandemonium, where they sell shirts to support the store. I now have a cool new goblin shaman shirt in bright yellow. So it all turned out for the best!

Now, for the fun links.

The first is courtesy tltrent in regards to the Cassie Edwards debacle. Paul Tolme, one of the plagiarized authors, wrote a great article for Newsweek about the whole experience, and also gave a plea for the Blackfooted Ferret. It's an extremely funny read, and I very much admire Tolme's spirit.

In WGA strike news, PW ran an article about how authors are now having to decide whether or not to cross picket lines to appear on shows that haven't negotiated fair deals with their writers (The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are both mentioned) in order to promote their books.

But for the win of the day, a book that I reviewed for School Library Journal, Good Masters, Sweet Ladies, won the Newbery! (My review is at the bottom of that page, so you can see what I thought.) It is so incredibly exciting to have a tangential connection to the winner (my coworkers at the library are convinced that my review had something to do with the book's success, which makes me giggle). Having read and loved it, it's still a surprise win to me: it's a brilliant book, and completely non-typical for a Newbery win: it's interrelated monologues rather than straight prose, and it begs to be performed. There's a great article about Schlitz from the Baltimore Sun.

That wraps it up for today! I'm trying to follow up with the people I invited to guest blog so I can start putting a schedule together, but since I didn't form an actual *list* when I started, actually documenting this whole guest posting thing is ending up being a bigger challenge than I initially thought. :) Curse my lack of foresight!

Comments

[eyezofwolf.livejournal.com]

Heh - I can understand your pain with the D&D group. I feel very lucky because I have five players who have committed to a game night every other Friday. Since we play even if someone doesn't show up - they have a lot of motivation to be there. Hee hee.

I hope you had a good writing weekend. Are you going to be at GenCon this year? Or am I just going to have to ask you to sign your last two books and mail them to me? :grins:

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I don't have *plans* to go to GenCon this year, but as soon as someone says, "Hey, can we feature you as a special guest?" I'm so there. :) I'm not counting on it for 2008, though.

That said, I do still have copies of Departure on my shelf--just two left. Since Pandemonium can't currently get them from the warehouse, I may well be the only place to buy them right now...

What about you? What will you be selling at GenCon this year?

[holmes-iv.livejournal.com]

I maintain that there are technological solutions to this problem. (And no, I don't just mean electric shocks, though I suppose they could help...) I don't know that I will actually have time to produce the one I have in mind before the next time this comes up, because there are too many D&D games and too few plane rides in my immediate future, but I'll try!