Maps and Starships

Nice news to report here. Gaunt and Bone #2: The Silk Map (Pyr Books) is on sale as of today. This adventure sends the rogues on a quest along a trade route inspired by the real world's historical Silk Road. Their goal: a new source of ironsilk, a mysterious substance that Gaunt and Bone have been employing now and again since their first appearance. If they can find it, a demigod is prepared to reunite them with lost family. But there are many competitors, and the road is long ...

I'm also delighted to have a story included in the reprint anthology Space Opera (Prime Books), edited by Rich Horton. "The Mote-Dancer and the Firelife" first appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Online Magazine, and you can read it there. However, I've read many of the other stories in the anthology before, and if you enjoy a good space adventure I think this book will be a great read!

"The Cloak of Belonging"

Just resurfacing to report that my new Pathfinder Tales story "The Cloak of Belonging" is now complete and free to read at paizo.com . See:

http://paizo.com/pathfinder/tales/serial/theCloakOfBelonging

This story features Gideon Gull, a down-on-his-luck bard in the world of the Pathfinder Tales roleplaying game, an unlikely hero about to be swept into a career of fantastical intrigue. His story continues in my new book The Dagger of Trust, about which you can learn more here:

http://paizo.com/products/btpy93qy?Pathfinder-Tales-The-Dagger-of-Trust

I hope the new year is treating everyone well. More later!

Three Quick Things

First, the official on sale date for The Scroll of Years is September 24! (Amazon and B&N have been listing September 10, so I thought I'd better get the word out.)

Second, Paizo Publishing has added my Pathfinder novel The Dagger of Trust to their catalog. There's no hard date as yet. I had a lot of fun with this one.

Third, thanks to the hard work of Matthew Kressel, I have an author web site! I am still moving in, so to speak, but you can look at it here. Thanks to Matt, to my agent Joe Monti for recommending him, and to Kerem Beyit for kindly letting me incorporate his cover art for The Scroll of Years.

Now Far Ahead the Road Has Gone

Took this photo last month when we hiked beside the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Thought it made a good companion piece to the one below.

Over Rock and Under Tree

Picture from a family hike a while ago in the Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve.

"Book Bomb" to help Ben Wolverton

Buying a book by David Farland (aka Dave Wolverton) today will support a good cause. Details via Lou Anders here.

[Edited to make the link actually work, sorry.]

Writing Updates

I'm preoccupied with many things right now, including a family illness. But it's time I posted an update on my writing news.

First, I'm pleased to report that this week my science fiction story "Waiting for a Me Like You," (F&SF November/December 2012) is appearing in audio format at the award-winning StarShipSofa, as narrated by Jonathan Danz.

Second, in recent months I've been working on some fiction for Paizo Publishing, makers of the Pathfinder roleplaying game. As a longtime gamer myself, I have been having a lot of fun with this. More on that as things develop.

Last, but far, far from least, that cover above is by the amazing Kerem Beyit, for the upcoming Gaunt and Bone novel The Scroll of Years, to be published in September by Pyr. The book takes place after the story "A Wizard of the Old School," (F&SF August 2007) in which our semi-heroes finally looked to be settling down. Alas, life for sword and sorcery characters is rarely that simple, and Gaunt and Bone find themselves fleeing from assassins, all the way to the Far East of their continent.

I hope to be more talkative in the future, but this is probably the last post for a little while. A satisfying post to make, though!