Me & Planet Mercenary at GenCon Indy

Tuesday August 15, 2017 • Howard Tayler

I’m at GenCon Indy this week!

You can find me at Booth #1549 with Sandra Tayler, Jim Zub, and Tracy Hickman.

Planet Mercenary at GenCon!

We’ve got stacks of Planet Mercenary materials*, including the core book, the Game Chief’s screen, the Mayhem Deck, sets of RiPP tokens and dice,  and Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries.

We’ll also have the Game Chief’s Handbrain game screen*, a high-quality ABS plastic product that you simply must come and see.

Panels Where You Can Find Me Talking

Sounds enticing, yes? Here’s my panel schedule:

THURSDAY

• 6pm, Congress 1 — Reading (Howard reads his writing to you)
• 7pm, Capital 1 — How to Find Your Voice (panel discussion)

FRIDAY

• 6pm, Chamber — Writing Excuses records live

SATURDAY

• 12pm – 2pm, ICC Ballroom Main Stage — THE GAMERS: LIVE – ATTACK OF THE MUTANTS FROM PLANET X (I don’t actually know what I’m doing on stage, but I’m going to be doing my best at it.)
• 3pm, Capital 1 — Writers Cage Fight

(*Note: If you’re a Planet Mercenary backer and/or a Handbrain backer, your merchandise is shipping now, so we can’t do convention pickups for you.) 

The Dark Tower

Monday August 14, 2017 • Howard Tayler

The Dark Tower took a little while deciding what kind of movie it wanted to be, but I enjoyed it. It’s not my favorite Idris Elba movie, and it’s not my favorite Stephen King movie, and it doesn’t clear my Threshold of Awesome, but I enjoyed it.

I don’t have much emotional attachment to the novels, so the film’s departures from the text didn’t bug me. I did have a burning desire to get out of my hotel room to see a movie, so that may have artificially inflated the film’s joy factor a bit.

The weakest aspect of the film surrounded the parts that were the coolest to watch: when the Gunslinger is doing supernaturally awesome things with his .45 revolvers it’s just eye candy. There’s no emotional connection between him and the viewer. The stakes are high, but it’s difficult to really care. Had I cared more, the film would have been more enjoyable. Probably not Threshold of Awesome enjoyable, but still better.

From WorldCon to GenCon

Saturday August 12, 2017 • Howard Tayler

I’m in Helsinki at WorldCon 75, and today is my last day here. The final leg of my 27-day tour begins on Sunday morning when I fly to Indianapolis in preparation for GenCon Indy.

This trip has been wonderful, and if it’s been difficult it’s also been an opportunity to remember that I can do difficult things. The familiar path rarely leads to new places, and the easy path isn’t the one with the XP containers on it.