Role Playing Games: How I Began

I remember camping with a friend and his family in Findlay, Ohio. I was nine or ten years old, call it 1980. My friend had an older brother who asked us if we wanted to play something called Dungeons and Dragons. Right away, the name spoke to me. I was a voracious reader in elementary school, and my favorites were all fantasy authors like Lloyd Alexander, J.R.R Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis.

We never actually played the game that trip, but I heard enough about it to be hooked. A few weeks later, I convinced my grandfather to take me to a hobby shop in Berea to get this game that would allow me to journey to Middle-Earth or Prydain and go on epic quests like the heroes of the books I loved. I had no idea there was such a selection of material already: the Basic Rules, Expert Rules, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, and the many adventures that were in print at the time. I was not sure what I needed to play. I opted for the Red Box Basic Set. My grandfather splurged on a box of lead miniatures from Ral Partha as well.

I got back to my grandparents' house and tore open the box set, which included dice (complete with crayon because, hey, we colored our dice back then), the basic rulebook, and the Keep on the Borderlands adventure. I could not wait to get to school Monday and get my friends playing this game! I did. And 35 plus years later, still have never stopped.

Busy July, Productive August

I'm based in San Diego, California. July in San Diego is always a busy time of the year. Our Pride Festival and Parade is in July. I live in the Hillcrest neighborhood where all of the Pride events occur. For the last four or five years, I've volunteered with the parade staging. The week after Pride is San Diego Comic-Con, which I always make a point of attending. This was a little disappointing. My experience was that the convention was less well organized than in years past. Staff seemed poorly informed, they did a poorer job with crowd control than they have in the past few years. Other people I spoke to had similar experiences. Hopefully, it was just an aberration.

After my busy few weeks I actually got some work done. I finished the rough draft of a new YA Fantasy novel, currently titled, Home is Where the Art Is. I put the finishing touches on a Middle Grade novel, called The Sea Crows. I was on the fence with regard to shopping it around with publishers and/or agents, or publishing it under my own In A Bind Books. The plan is to submit to a few publishers, large and small, as an unrepresented work to test the water. In the meantime, I completed a piece of flash fiction, Urine Rainbows, that I submitted to a local anthology.

I'll end here; I have to write a synopsis and cover letter for one of my submission packets.

Till next time.