Tomorrow is National Mustard Day.   In my role as The Condiment King, this day is like Christmas to me and I heartily approve.

If you wish to read the tale of how I came by my lofty title, and otherwise hear of the adventures of The Condiment King, you may do so here, here, here, and here.

What new releases does August bring in the Forgotten Realms, the Galaxy Far, Far Away, and the bleak, metallic environs of the Angry Robot?  Some good stuff, I’d say.  Let’s take a look.

In the Realms, we have Bury Elminster Deep, from Ed Greenwood himself. From the description:

Elminster’s archenemy, the vampiric Lord Manshoon, thinks he has destroyed Elminster at last. But Elminster survives in the form of magical ash, and with the help … Read the rest

So, Star Wars: The Complete Saga (all six movies) will be released on Blu-Ray later this year. It’s been over thirty years since A New Hope was released, and Star Wars appears to be as popular as ever.

Even more than that — fiction in the Star Wars Expanded Universe continues routinely to hit bestseller lists, The Clone Wars television series is a huge hit, and Star Wars references appear so often throughout the culture … Read the rest

Cowboys and Aliens?  Pshaw.  I give you a (blurry iPhone) photo of Cowboy Jedi armed with Ultrasaber.   Note that the gloved hand signifies a bionic replacement.

For a long while I’ve contemplated posting the occasional commentary on various contractual provisions you might see in a publishing contract.  This is the first one.  Now, I’m a lawyer, true, and an author, but I’m not an expert, and this isn’t intended to be legal advice, as such.  More like legal musings based on my limited experience and that of close colleagues. Anyway, on to it.

Many book contracts today contain a “next book … Read the rest

Roarke and Riordan turn seven today. Among the gifts they’ll get are a pair of Ultrasaber lightsabers.  But we won’t just give them to the boys.  Oh no!  First, we will make them scurry around the house for our amusement, as follows:

A note taped to the TV will read:

Weapons await the brave and true, lighted blades of green and blue.  To find them, however, you must follow each clue.  Seek now the closet, … Read the rest

Every time someone proposes raising taxes on the top earners in the country, Fox News hurriedly trots out the “half the people in this county pay no taxes” statement. What they mean, of course, is that half the country, after deductions and credits, pays no federal income tax. Those folks do, however, pay payroll tax, state income tax, sales tax, tax on personal property (like car registration), etc., but that’s beside the point for purposes … Read the rest

So, I’ve been thinking about book openings lately (you know, since I’ve got books to write :-)).

You’ve all heard the book openings are important, have to hook the reader, you won’t get a second chance, etc. And that’s all true, though I think it’s sometimes overstated a bit, in that I think readers will stick with you for a while, even if a book’s opening doesn’t contain bang-zoom-wow.

In any event, I try to … Read the rest

I thought I’d post some thoughts on my quarterly WotC royalty statement, as I sometimes do.

First, I expected some significant fallout from the Borders bankruptcy, but that didn’t happen.  In fact, this was a very strong quarter for sales, the strongest in recent memory (of course, ‘strong’ here is a relative term; I’m just a midlist writer).  Next quarter might be different, however, with Borders now liquidating.

The Twilight War continues to lead in … Read the rest

How about another mini-excerpt from Riptide?

Not for the first time, he wondered how much of recent events the Master had foreseen, how far into the future the Master’s foresight extended. It was as though the Master had a recorder on the eye of fate, and through it saw and anticipated events like no one else.

Despite himself, Wyyrlok felt awed by the Master’s power.

Indeed that is Wyyrlok I contemplating Darth Krayt.

Earlier … Read the rest