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thirty-six hours

Watson, our cat, is walking around the house, making his morning announcements. I pry my eyes open, and see that there is the faintest hint of soft, grey light pushing itself against the edges of our bedroom shades.

I don’t feel too tired, surprisingly, and I lie in bed while I decide if I’m going to just go ahead and get up. I have a commitment in the evening, and I’ll probably be really wiped out by the time it’s over, but on the other hand, I won’t be struggling to fall asleep before midnight … unless my brain pulls the same bullshit it’s been pulling for weeks.

The next thing I know, the sun is blazing through the windows and I can hear Anne. She doesn’t sound good. She’s breathing heavily and making sounds like she’s in pain. So I get out of bed, and I’m in the other room before I’m fully awake. She’s clutching her side and writhing in pain.

“Something’s wrong,” she says. “I need you to take me to the emergency room.”

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yes that’s real leather for some reason

I am working on many things these days, one of which is just getting through the goddamn day again.

But I broke a story today while I was walking Marlowe, and it took me in an entirely unexpected direction that I’m excited to explore. I’ll probably start sketching out the puke draft tomorrow.

Every day, I feel like I should be writing something here, telling a story, or recalling something that’s happened to me, but I have no motivation, and I feel like the part of me that’s creative is mostly empty right now. I’m doing my best to refill it, starting with breaking that story I just mentioned.

But since I presumably have your attention, I thought I’d direct you to RADIO FREE BURRITO dot COM where I am doing my best to make a new podcast episode every week, to train myself in anticipation of an actual radio show that I may have the opportunity to do before the end of the year.

I will also point you to the Kindle and audiobook versions of Dead Trees Give No Shelter, because I’m supposed to keep promoting my own work.

And finally, I will present this bit of unfortunate decision making from the long long ago:

How to keep THE LADIES away, in one simple step.
Yes, that’s real leather for some reason. And a mock turtleneck.
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in the not too distant future

Most of you know this, but for those of you who don’t…

I have a small part on the first episode of MST3K’s first revival episode. Erin Gray and I get to deliver all the exposition about Jonah’s backstory. It’s pretty great, and this was a freaking dream come true for me.

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Event Zero | FATE | Tabletop

Our most recent episode of Tabletop is a narrative RPG, powered by FATE, which is one of my very favorite systems for storytelling in gaming. In fact, if you’re a writer or storyteller, it has some tools and design philosophies in it that are extremely useful, whether you play RPGs or not.

Tabletop fans will likely be as excited as I am to have John Rogers (FIASCO, Season One) back, and some lady who I think was on Buffy once or whatever. We also have Ryan Macklin, who is not just one of the Fate designers, but is one of the most amazing GMs I’ve ever had the privilege to play with.

We had no idea what we were going to play when we came together, and that was be design. One of the strengths and joys of FATE is how easy it makes it for the players and the GM to build a satisfying and narratively complex experience by asking questions, collaborating to find the answers, and working together within a simple set of guidelines to define the world and their characters. Every time I’ve played FATE, I’ve had as much fun during the design phase of the adventure as I did when we were actually playing in it.

We ended up building a world that takes place after Event Zero, which is when all the rules of reality fell apart for reasons that were never completely explained or understood. Horrible monsters tore into our universe, psychic powers became real, and now there is unrest everywhere. We then designed characters who are in a Supernatural Containment Unit. They go where they are needed, to keep things under control, handle people who see things they shouldn’t see, and confront Things Man Was Not Meant To Know.

I am delighted by the way this episode came together. The art is wonderful and the storytelling is just delicious. I hope you like this as much as I do, and I hope it inspires you to play more games!