Blógünder Schlock

As is usual when we ship books to a major event, some of the books which returned from GenCon were damaged in transit.  Forklifts are not kind to books.  We are now offering these scuffed, dented, or bent books for sale in the store at discounted prices.

As you can see from the photos, most of the damage is minor.  Your book could get as much damage from being carried around in in a backpack.  We guarantee that no pages will be torn and that all pages will be present and accounted for.

On a tangential note, we’ve put up a special item for auction this week.  A fan bought a book from us at WorldCon.  Then he paid Howard to draw a picture in it.  Then he gave the book back to us on the condition that we offer the book up for auction.  So we are now auctioning off a unique copy of XDM X-Treme Dungeon Mastery with a drawing of Howard rejoicing at being paid three times.  We’re starting the bidding low since we’ve already been paid twice.  Happy bidding!

Oh.

Wow.

So this is why there’s so much hype. An entire ballroom full of people at tables playing  RPGA-sanctioned games of D&D. And then two more ballrooms full of people playing boardgames. And yet another full of table-top wargamers with beautifully-painted miniatures… and that was at 9:00pm on Saturday.

I won’t trouble any of you with a blow-by-blow. Suffice it to say that our corner of the Margaret Weis Productions booth was busy, and we sold hundreds upon hundreds of books. I got to be on panels with some of the legends of game design, and managed not to eat much foot in the process. I got to catch up with old friends, and I finally got to meet Skippy of The Skippy List (he is a real person, yes.)

My first GenCon was any number of things, but I can say for certain what it was not. It was not my LAST GenCon. Indianapolis, I will be back.

I have received word that our two pallets of books have arrived.  Tracy, Curtis, and Howard have all arrived.  Everything is good to go.  This means that I will no longer be plagued with nightmares of plane delays and mis-shipped goods.  I don’t expect to hear much from Howard over the next few days.  He’s going to be too busy to tweet let alone call.  What I hear from him is rather like telegraph messages.

Call 1 “The cash register isn’t working, so we’re going to have to take money by hand.”

Call 2  “Which credit cards do we accept?”

Call 3  “We’re ready to go.  The doors are about to open.”

Call 4 (in a harried voice) “Did you send those orange shopping bags?”

Since I’ve helped run a booth before, I have a very clear picture in my mind of all the frantic preparation and scrambling to get everything into place.  I wish I could be there to help out, but it sounds like the space behind the booth is already pretty cramped.  I’ll know how things went at around 5 PM my time when the dealer room is closed and they’ve had time to count inventory.

Until then I’ll have to console myself with reading this lovely review.

Howard’s full GenCon schedule is here.

Howard and I are back from WorldCon, but we’re still travel-lagged and stumbling over suitcases.  It is going to take a few days before things are running smoothly around here.  As is so often true, my intentions to blog about WorldCon went unrealized.  Blogging is hard when the only places with wifi are public, and therefore full of distractions.  Either Howard or I will do an in-depth post about Worldcon and the Hugos once we’re done sleeping and unpacking.  For now I’ll just say the most important bit, which is how incredibly happy we both are that Girl Genius won the Hugo instead of us.  We can not think of a work or creators more deserving of the award.

Tomorrow Howard flies to Indianapolis for GenCon Indy.  He will spend most of his time at booth #1921 which is listed as the Margaret Weiss Games booth.  It is on a main aisle right next to the Wizards of the Coast booth.  But there will be a few times when Howard is not at his booth.  To find him at those times, you’ll need to reference the following schedule:

Thursday August 13

12:00 – 1:00 pm ICC: 212  Freelancing (or How to Get Your Second Freelance Project) with Matt Forbeck, Stan!

1:00 – 2:00 pm ICC: 212 The Science of Humor – Solo presentation

8:00 – 10:00 pm VIG reception Westin Grand Ballroom 1

Friday August 14
10:00 – 11:00 am  ICC: 212 The Free Content Business Model – Solo presentation

11:00 – 12:00 am  ICC: 212 The Life and Times of a (Web) Comic Illustrator  With Stan!

2:00 – 3:00 pm  The XDM panel with Tracy Hickman, Curtis Hickman

6:00 – 7:00 pm ICC: 212 Top 5 Best Gaming Products EVER! With Stan!, Richard Borg, Mike Gray, Ben Clark, James Wyatt

Saturday August 15

10:00 – 12:00 am Killer Breakfast with Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Curtis Hickman

2:00 – 3:00 pm  Dragonhearth Podcast with Tracy Hickman

Sunday August 16

At some point he’ll take a break for lunch, but should be at the booth most of the day. Note that Tracy and Curtis will be gone on Sunday, so if you want triply-autographed books, get ‘em before then!
4:00 pm Exhibit hall closes to public and Howard is busy closing up shop

Howard and I will be leaving for Worldcon tomorrow.  After that Howard spends a week at GenCon.  The result is that he will not have much time for blogging here.  Howard intends to micro-blog using twitter, so if you want the very latest info, please check his twitter feed or facebook page.  I will be attempting to post Schlock related convention highlights here on this blog.  My more personal thoughts will go on my blog.  If all of that is not enough convention coverage for you.  You should head over to conreporter.com.  They’ve got a good dozen excellent bloggers who will all be posting about Worldcon.  You will be able to get a non-Tayler-eye view of some of the events, including the announcements of Hugo winners almost as soon as they are announced.

Still need more cool stuff on the web?  Run on over to xtremedungeonmastery.com.  The first of three fun video commercials is up.  The other two will be posted at intervals between now and GenCon.  There is also a link to a really cool online card trick you can use to amaze your friends.

Howard will be at Worldcon for the full convention.  We provide this handy schedule reference if you wish to track him down while you’re there.

Thursday August 6

3:30-5:00 pm Webcomics You Should be Reading P-524B

Friday August 7

12:30-2:00 pm Create a Superhero  P-510B

2:00-3:30 pm Writing Excuses Podcast P-513C

5:00-6:30 pm SF Comics for Children  P-513A

6:45-Late: Schlocker Meet-up  Les Jardins Nelson 407 Place Jacques-Cartier in Old Montreal.  We will be departing the convention center at approximately 6:45 pm and walking over to the restaurant.  This event is separate from the convention.  We will stay at the restaurant to eat and visit as long as we can without causing a problem for the restaurant staff.  At which point we will either break up for the evening or find a nice open place to sit and visit longer.  Howard will tweet the ongoing location of the Schlocker Meet-up as things progress.  Watch his twitterfeed on that evening for up-to-date details.

Saturday August 8

6:00-6:30 pm Signing 3-283S Stop by and Howard will draw you a quick sketch either in your book or on a handy piece of paper if you don’t have a book.

7:00-8:00 pm The Pantheon: Essential Graphic Novels  P-513A

Sunday August 9

10:00-11:00 am Running a Web-based Business P-512DH

12:30-2:00 pm Writing for a Living P-522B

3:30-5:00 pm From Base to Noble – Why Self-publishing has no Stigma in Comics P-513A

8:00-10:00 pm Hugo Award Ceremony

Sandra will also be attending the convention, but other than attending the Schlocker Meet-up and the Hugo Ceremony, her schedule is not set.  She will be participating in The Great Worldcon Scavenger Hunt sponsored by Anthology Builder so tracking her down may be worth the effort.

In ten days Sandra and I fly to Montreal for Anticipation/WorldCon 67, the 67th Annual World Science Fiction Convention. We will not have merchandise with us at this event. We were unable to find a dealer interested in carrying it. Oh well, more time for me to meet people and talk about stuff. I do have a 30-minute signing, and I’m planning to bring a stack of paper to do as many sketches as time permits. There may also be an extra-conventional (read: outside-of-the-convention) Schlocker get-together. See the comments thread for more information.

Obviously if you’re hoping to get me to sign your book, you need to bring it with you. You can get one here, or maybe in Toronto at The Beguiling. Toronto’s in Canada, right? How far can that possibly be from Montreal?

Immediately after returning from WorldCon I’m turning around and going to GenCon Indy. We’ll have a full pallet of XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery and I’m also bringing around 20 copies of each of my books, along with twenty shrink-wrapped boxed sets. If you’ve never shopped with us online and would prefer to pick up Schlock merchandise in person, please stop by! I won’t have that much inventory on-hand, though, so please come by early.

Between now and the events I need to knock down three weeks of comics. No problem. I know just the guy for that job.

XDM Pre-orders are closed. Tracy, Curtis, and I signed two pallets of books on Monday, and I think we’ve got a few left over.

I’m going to be taking some of them to Dragon’s Keep. That’s right, on Wednesday (the day comics arrive) by 2:00pm you can get a Pre-order edition of XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery at Dragon’s Keep in Provo. As an added bonus, I may be able to draw a picture in the back for you.

In other news, watch this space for:

* My WorldCon Schedule! See me in Montreal!

* My GenCon Indy Schedule! See me in Indianapolis!

* Some auctions, maybe! Including one of only three upside-down-bound copies of XDM! Tracy got one, Curtis got one, I’m going to draw in mine and then sell it because I want to have an iPhone.

As you may have noticed I’m not going to be at Comic-Con this week. Go see my friends in the Webcomics Pavilion, including the Blank Label Comics crew in booth 1330, sandwiched between Penny Arcade and Keenspot.

Posted by Sandra Tayler
Howard will be attending two major conventions in the month of August.  We do not have all the schedule details yet, but we want to let you know that he’ll be attending so that you can make your travel plans accordingly.

Anticipation (Worldcon 67) in Montreal Canada August 6-9.  Howard will be attending the convention and appearing on many panels.  I will be attending too, but not on panels.  This will also be the site for the Hugo Award announcement.  Important:  We will not have a dealer table at this event and have not been able to arrange for another dealer to sell our books.  We can’t bring piles of books with us through customs.  If you want books signed and sketched by Howard, you will need to buy them in advance.  We are looking into arranging a Schlocker meet and greet that is separate from the convention.  It will probably be on Friday August 7 but exact time and location are yet to be determined.  Montreal locals are invited to speak up in the comment thread with ideas and suggestions.

GenCon Indy in Indianapolis August 12-16.  We will post Howard’s full schedule at a later date.  He will be on many panels and presentations.  When he is not presenting, he will be at booth 1921 signing books like crazy.  This booth is located on the main aisle right across from the big Wizards of the Coast booth.  This is the Margaret Weiss Games booth which will be selling both XDM X-Treme Dungeon Mastery and all of the Schlock Mercenary books.  We’d dearly love to sell out and not have to ship any books home, so stop by early.

Howard will NOT be at Comic Con San Diego this year.   With Worldcon and GenCon back-to-back, another event was one event too many.  Howard is sad to miss it, but happy to retain some shreds of sanity.

On Wednesday, July 1st at 8:00am Mountain Time we will open pre-orders for XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery by Tracy and Curtis Hickman. Howard illustrated this must-have reference for RPG referees, dungeon masters, and serious role-players, and has been showing off his advance copy for a couple of weeks now. The book is hard-bound, 160 pages long, black-and-white, and costs $29.95.

Why pre-order? Every pre-ordered book will be autographed by Tracy Hickman, Curtis Hickman, and Howard Tayler at no additional charge. The pre-order will end at 8 pm Mountain time on July 18th. In addition to copies of XDM, our online store will also feature the as-yet-unseen XDM t-shirts and franchise kits. Orders are expected to ship by July 30th.

After the pre-order period you can still order the book, but the only way to get it autographed will be to track down the authors and artist individually.

Now, if you’re attending GenCon Indy in August you can buy the book there. Tracy, Curtis, and Howard will all be in attendance and they will be happy to commit commerce and then sign your book.  They will even have a special “Gencon Indy” stamp to certify that your copy was signed at Gencon.

If you’re patient and don’t mind a non-autographed book, you can wait until sometime this fall and buy XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery from a hobby-gaming store near you.  We do not have a street-date yet, however. Negotiations proceed apace behind closed doors.

But wait, there’s more!
We are thrilled to now be on the the second printing of Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management. Books arrive here at Schlock Central in July.

This volume was the first book we put into print.  We only did 300 numbered sketch editions back then, and it now occurs to us that perhaps some of you feel left out. Thus it is that in celebration of our first ever second printing we offer you a second shot at getting a sketch edition.  We’ll do between 700-1000 sketched books.

Orders will open on July 1st at 8 AM Mountain time along with the XDM pre-orders, and will close when we run out.  Our past two sketch edition runs have sold out within about a week.