The story will eventually be available on the Comets and Criminals site for free, but you can buy the whole issue in Kindle, epub, or PDF format for a mere $2.99 right now and get a bunch of cool stories. Tell ’em I sent you.
Click here to read the full post with comments.I’m very pleased to announce that a new Devil’s Cape short story will be published in the second issue of the new genre magazine Comets and Criminals. The story, “The Star of St. Diable,” features Doctor Camelot.
Last I heard, the issue should go live on Jan. 1. I’ll plan to send out another update once the story goes live.
Click here to read the full post with comments.
I’ve posted my schedule below. For the reading, I’m planning to read a new Devil’s Cape short story starring Doctor Camelot. I’ll be interested to hear what people think.
Also, I’m moderating a panel Sunday afternoon about superhero movies. If you’ve got any questions you’d like me to ask the panel, or an particular movies you’d like us to address, please let me know.
ROB’S ARMADILLOCON SCHEDULE
At any rate, Richard agreed to an interview on this blog. So here goes. Read this and then go pick up Firefly Rain. It's a good read.
The image that really sparked the book came from visiting my wife's family farm for the first time. It's out in the middle of nowhere in Missouri, and the closest I'd seen to something like that growing up was the golf course across the street from my parents' house. So that first night out there, when we went for a walk, there was a full moon and the light in the fields was so bright you could read by it. Off in the distance, you could see the treeline, and that was absolutely pitch black. And it was that image, that stark juxtaposition of light and dark, that turned into the core image at the heart of the book. I ended up reversing it – in the novel, it's Jacob Logan's land that's dark, and everything around him is lit up – but the sense of that clean cutoff is still there.
In the acknowledgments for Firefly Rain, you mention one person "for much-appreciated assistance with shotguns." I ended up getting assistance from a friend for a scene in Devil's Cape involving a shotgun, so this one caught my curiosity. What kind of shotgun wisdom did you receive?
The shotgun in Firefly Rain (not to give away a plot point or anything) is a far cry from the sorts of guns I usually end up referencing in the Tom Clancy video games I worked on. Those guns, I can write about with a fair degree of confidence, but the sort of shotgun you'd find out on a farm, well, not so much. The gun in the book is actually based on a shotgun that my father-in-law had owned, and Geoff Grabowski was kind enough to double-check what I'd written about it to make sure that it actually behaved and was built the way I thought it was.
What's your favorite moment from a video game? This can be either a favorite moment from a game you played or a game you worked on.
I think the video game moment that resonated most with me actually came during the development process for Ghost Recon: Desert Siege. I was playing the Ghost Town map, which had a deserted shantytown of corrugated tin and whatnot in it, and we'd just put the full sound treatment in the level. So there I was, creeping through the abandoned shacks, pretty sure that I'd cleared the area out, when suddenly a sniper took a shot at me. The shot missed and hit the sheet of tin next to my guy, and it made this tremendous, shocking SPANGGGG sound that spooked the hell out of me. I think I went about a foot straight up in the air. Mind you, I kept my hands on the keyboard & mouse and managed to take out the sniper, but even so, that was just an amazing moment, one that really brought home how immersive video games can be.
With a background that touches on role-playing games, computer games, book publishing, horror, and beyond, you must end up at a variety of conventions. What's your favorite convention story?
The best thing that ever happened to me at a convention is that I met my wife at one. If the folks who organized Gateway, in St. Louis, back in 1999 are reading this, thank you. I owe you one.
On a lighter note, I have a ton of great memories (and wacky hijinks) from various conventions and conferences over the years, some of which are barely printable, illegal in fourteen states, or the sort of thing that involves jumping naked into a large body of water in Scandinavia. If I had to pick just one, it would probably be driving Gahan Wilson to a miniature golf course at NECON a few years back, and then playing 18 tiny, astro-turfed holes with him. We had a wonderful conversation about synagogue architecture and how the air conditioner may be responsible for the decline of the American neighborhood, and all the while a little piece of my brain was screaming "Oh my God! I'm talking to Gahan Wilson!"
And for what it's worth, he's not half-bad on the putting green, either.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Just that I'm very much looking forward to reading Devil's Cape - it looks fantastic.
I went to ConDFW on Saturday (just a short drive from my house) to celebrate the publication of Last Dragon by fellow Discoveries imprint writer J.M. McDermott. It was really one of my first opportunities to go "behind the scenes" as a professional writer and meet other authors and sci-fi pros, including Rachel Caine, Chris Roberson and several others. It was also my first opportunity to meet Joe McDermott in person, which was a blast--he's a heck of a nice guy and a savvy marketer. Just about everyone I met seemed nice, really.
I received a casual invite to be a panelist at FenCon; I hope that that turns into a firm appearance. It's eye-opening to watch other writers at work promoting their books in different ways, networking, supporting each other. I was able to spread the word about Devil's Cape and pass out a few copies. Promoting myself isn't exactly second nature to me. It makes me a little uncomfortable, like I need to step past some shyness. More than once on Saturday, Joe reached out to tug a copy of Devil's Cape from under my arm to get me to show it to someone--this at his own party. But I'll learn.
Nothing too profound to say here, but it was a good experience. I hope to see some of the same faces again and look forward to similar experiences.
Okay, here's something I'd definitely drop down $49.99 for. Now I just need someone to make it.
The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney MGM Studios) is one of my all-time favorites, a "can't miss" anytime I make it to the parks. It's a large building with "cars" inside (the picture at left shows it nicely) and you sit in your table-equipped cars and order your meal while watching a drive-in movie reel populated with 50s-era shorts, cartoons, ads, and movie trailers. The food is good (my mother recently said that the hamburger was the best she'd ever had)--a combination of things like burgers and shakes with pasta and salad offerings. But the real seller here is the atmosphere--the darkened area, the drive-in screen, the campy footage.
The restaurant shows the same movie reel over and over again. It lasts somewhere in the 40 to 50 minute range, so you generally don't notice any repetition unless you tarry too long (and with a huge waiting list filled with other park guests waiting to get in, you shouldn't do that).
I love the reel. It's fun and silly and retro and engrossing--the kind of thing that equally captivates a wide range of people (like my mother, Dina and me, and Alex and Zack--three generations of riveted watchers--that's us in the picture, in case you didn't guess. Yes, I'm wearing a Flash T-shirt. Yes, it's Barry Allen. No, I'm not the hippest cat on the block. Or maybe I am...). And every time I see it, I get a strong urge to watch some old sci-fi movies. Particularly, of course, the ones featured in the restaurant.
Some enterprising soul recorded the list of features and trailer here. I won't list them all in this space since some of them are his shorthand references to the various shorts (like the self-driving electric car or the frying saucer) and some of the references he made I don't understand enough to translate (what's "Garco and WED"?). But I will list the movies below.
Anyway, here's my proposal: Disney should create a DVD package that includes the entire reel, plus copies of all the classic movies on the trailers. They could sell it through regular venues, although of course it would be a perfect souvenir of the restaurant itself. I would totally, totally buy this. A lot of the movies are available individually on DVD or in various compilations, but what I'd like is a nice, slick, remastered DVD set containing all of them. What fun!
Here's the list of movies:
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