Ramblings from the Gryphon Rose

Swash that buckle! Come on, swash it!

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:46:00 +0000

My latest RPG book, The Free Musketeers is now out and available for sale:

This is the first of many books I’m doing for Talisman, and it was a lot of fun to write. I mean, come on! Musketeers? Sweet!

I am Transformed! Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:23:00 +0000

Hey, check it out! My My second Transformers Animated book is now out and available for sale:

It was fun to write, so I hope it’s fun to read. And it has pretty pictures!

Blink blink

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:07:00 +0000

This is so weird.

I got new glasses yesterday. Well, I got new lenses, anyway—I had them put in one of my spare frames, so yes, I still look like me. But new lenses. And they’re messing with me.

Jendaby had been after me for a while to get my eyes checked and my prescription updated—ever since she found out that I hadn’t gotten them checked since a few months before I went to Scotland.

In early 1991.

Yes, it’s been almost eighteen years since my last eye exam.

I know, I know. Things just kept getting in the way. For a while—from the time we moved to NY to when I started full-time at this job, in fact—I didn’t have insurance. And before that I just didn’t have time.

But a few weeks ago we had to go to the eye doctor anyway, to get our daughter’s eyes checked—yes, she needed glasses before starting kindergarten—and to get jendaby’s prescription updated so she could order new contacts. So I finally got mine checked as well.

The eye doctor was not amused when she heard how long it had been. Shocked would be closer.

And yet—my eyes had barely changed at all. My left prescription when up a quarter step. My right actually went down a notch, because they had apparently overpowered it slightly to compensate for my astigmatism there. So now we dropped it back down to where it should be but upped the astigmatism correction.

So ha ha. Jendaby was rather nonplussed to learn that her eyes had changed as much or more in one year as mine had in eighteen. And other than those minor corrections my eyes are in great shape.

But now I have new lenses. In a pair of frames I haven’t worn in at least six years. So the fit is just a little different on the nose and behind the ears. And the lenses! The eye doctor warned that the right would seem a little distorted at first, and it does. I keep feeling like I’m using a camera and tightening the focus—every time I switch eyes or depths of field it takes a fraction of a second for my eye to adjust. It’s very odd, and more than a little disorienting. It should pass in a few days, though.

Meanwhile, my daughter has her new glasses! At first she refused to even put them on, but once she did we could tell they made a difference (though she refused to admit it until we left the eye doctor’s). Buying her a snazzy SpongeBob case and cleaning kit helped as well. And she has a week to get used to them before school starts. Aahhhh!

Shore Leave report

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:45:00 +0000

Well, we made it back from Shore Leave in one piece. It was a good time, if a little frustrating because of the wee ones.

We headed out Friday shortly after noon, and made good time on the drive—both kids were asleep for at least part of the trip down, so jendaby and I were able to talk and laugh and sing songs.

Got to the hotel without any difficulty, checked in, went and registered and picked up our badges, and then just bummed around for a bit. Nobody else we knew was around and up for dinner at the time so we wound up just eating at the hotel restaurant, which was eh but convenient.

Took the kids back to the room after that and got them ready for bed, then I stayed with them so jendaby could go wander a bit. That didn’t work out too well. The kids were sharing a double bed for the first time, and were so excited they were bouncing off the walls—literally. jendaby returned in time for me to head out to the 10pm Pro Party (the con’s en masse author signing) and the kids were still wide awake.

I had a good time at the signing—I was stationed at the far end of the corridor with Dave Mack, Dayton Ward, and Kevin Dilmore, and spent the time in between autographs chatting with them and the charming berkanna (who alarmed me when I introduced myself by announcing that she’d heard all about me already). The signing ran until midnight, after which we all adjourned to the bar until it closed at 2. Then I headed back to bed.

Saturday the kids woke us up early, as is their wont, but it took a while to get everyone dressed and ready. We wandered around a bit, checked out the art show and the dealer’s room, etc. We tried going to see the Boogie Knights perform but the kids didn’t want to listen to music so we had to turn around and head right back out rather than disturb everyone else. We’re conscientious that way. We left the hotel for lunch, finding a nice quiet restaurant (Greystone Grill) a few blocks away and enjoying a nice meal—we had a great waitress, which helped, and the kids were both showing off for her the whole time. Then we came back and I went to do my first panel.

It was called Writing and Managing a Day Job, about how having a day job could both benefit and hinder your writing. But it was close enough. My buddies Glenn Hauman, Bob Greenberger, Dave Mack, and Michael Jan Friedman joined me, and we had a good time talking about our day jobs, how they added to and conflicted with our writing, and how to make it all work together.

After that I headed back up, reaching the room scant moments before my youngest sister arrived with her fiancée. We all repaired to the hotel pool and had a lot of fun—this was the first time either of my kids had been in a pool and they both had a blast. Afterward we dried off, changed, and met up with Glenn to have dinner at a really cool BBQ place not far away. We got back—with a slight detour because the Wegman’s nearby had mini-kegs of Virgil’s Root Beer and neither my soon-to-be-brother-in-law nor I could resist—only a little late for the Masquerade, but my daughter said she was tired. So I took her back up and got her in bed while jendaby kept my son and went to watch the show. He didn’t last long, though, and they joined us less than an hour later. My daughter was still wide awake, of course.

With both kids in bed if not asleep, I headed back down to the bar, where all the other writers had gathered. justcomeinalone and xlillybelle had just arrived, so we hung out with Hildy, berkanna, ineti, Dave, Glenn, and many many others. Yet again we shut the bar down at 2. I hung around for a little more conversation—including a very amusing discussion about klingonguy and his work with nuns (“Nope, can’t use this one—she’s got a . . .”)—before calling it quits.

Sunday we got up and went down to have breakfast with some of the other writers. Then we went back to the room, packed up, and got ready. I had my Time and Business Management for Writers panel, which Glenn joined me on (though he was, ironically, late), and that went well. After that we checked out of the room. Next I went to the SCE panel. We paused afterward to chat with Dayton, Drew, and Jim before saying good-bye, heading to the car, and getting back on the road.

The drive back home took considerably longer than the drive there, in large part because several accidents caused traffic jams along the way. But we finally made it home around 7, ordered pizza, ate, and got the kids ready for bed. Then around 10 jendaby and I both lay down, ostensibly just to rest for a bit—and didn’t wake up until our son started screaming a little after 3. He was having some issues—we think from spider or mosquito bites—and we were up with him until after six. Which meant I got to close my eyes again for less than an hour before getting up for work.

Whee.

It was a good trip, though. Chasing after the kids was a hassle, of course, and their refusal to sleep was difficult, but the panels were good, we saw a lot of good friends, made several new friends, and generally had fun. We’re definitely planning to attend again next year, though I intend to line up a few more panels and also make better arrangements for the kids next time around.

Shore Leave details

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:17:00 +0000

For anyone attending Shore Leave this weekend, here’s my current schedule:

Friday:
Meet the Pros
10pm-midnight
Hunt-Valley Corridor

Saturday:
Heroes: Claire and Present Danger
1-2 pm
Salon A

Writing and Managing a Day Job
3-4 pm
Salon E

Sunday:
Time and Business Management For Writers
10-11am
Derby Room

I’ll be wandering around the rest of the time, of course, and there are a few other panels (SCE, Morality in the Whoinverse) I might sit in on. Jendaby and the kids will be with me. Look for us if you're there!

New Release!

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:21:00 +0000

And, because I forgot in all the July Fourth madness:

Look, another one of my books came out!

My second World of WarCraft novel Beyond the Dark Portalis now officially available:

I got my author copies last month, and it looks great. Apparently it's currently ranked #3321 at Amazon—I have no idea what that means, but it sounds good to me!

Do they make baby gates out of salt?

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:20:00 +0000

Because that might be the only barrier the demonspawn masquerading as my children would actually respect.

Last night after we put them in bed I went into the office to do some work (reading back over a project I finished Friday and was sending in this morning). A few minutes later I heard all sorts of loud thumping—and giggling. Going into their room, I discovered that our daughter had pushed her child-sized wooden chair up against our son’s crib and set a toy bin lid across its arms to fashion steps for him so he could get out. Very sweet, yes, but not exactly safe and certainly not conducive to sleep. I took the chair away and put him back in.

Five minutes later, he was out again. I don’t know how. She claimed he managed it on his own “with his legs.” I have no idea what that means.

After two or three more returns to his crib, I stepped into their room and caught him mid-act—hanging on the side of his crib by his fingers and toes. It was like one of those action movie scenes where the guy has to duck out of an office window and is clinging to the ledge. Swell. Obviously our son can escape his crib at will now. So I got my tools and the necessary parts and converted his crib to a youth bed—took the front rail off and replaced it with two short guards on the sides to keep him from rolling out of bed in his sleep. Now at least he won’t break his neck escaping his bed.

Unfortunately, this also meant he and his sister now have unfettered access to both beds and to the entire room. They spent the next THREE HOURS racing around. Literally. They didn’t fall asleep until some time between eleven and midnight.

And this morning, shortly after six, they were both in our room. And the bathroom. And the office.

Ugh.

I don’t know how we’ll ever keep them contained again.

In other news, I had a really good weekend. Got off work early Thursday, which is always nice. Friday we went to a friend’s party out in NJ, all four of us, and had a great time—excellent company, good food, volleyball, wine, some other kids for our daughter to play with (and jendaby and I trade off chasing after our son the Destroyer of Worlds). Much fun. We had to leave earlier than we might have liked in order to get the kids home—we put them in PJs before we left and carried them up to bed sound asleep—but we still managed to stay and socialize for a while.

Saturday slothshaman and I went to another friend’s party—really three friends’ party, because one was hosting but another was grillmaster and a third was chief bottlewasher. This one was out in Long Beach and we had a blast—AMAZING food, excellent company, nice walk on the beach. Very cool. I got back around 1:30 but jendaby and I still stayed up to watch the Dr. Who season finale. I enjoyed some of it but large parts were just fanfic and I HATED much of the end.

Yesterday was just chilling at home, except for a short run to the grocery store.

And now it’s back to a regular work week. And hoping there’s still a house—and a wife!—left when I get back home this evening.

Okay, this is cool

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:50:00 +0000

I just got an email informing me that I was one of the featured profiles on NextCat. Neat!

I'm terrible at self-promotion

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:26:00 +0000

I always forget to post when I've got new books out! This one's been out for almost a month already:

It's my first children's book (nonfiction, at least) since the PowerPuff Girls book I did several years ago, so it's nice to step back into that arena again. More soon!

Last gasps of the whirlwind

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:25:00 +0000

Well, it was a long and stressful weekend-plus, but not without its good points.

Thursday night I had dinner with slothshaman, xochitl42, her husband (that’ll take some getting used to!), and our pals Raphy and Tom. Much fun! Then xochitl42 and her hubby and I went and saw Indy4. No spoilers—I enjoyed about 75% of it quite a bit, could have done without a major plot element, and hated the climax. I didn’t regret seeing it, though.

Amusing anecdote: We saw the 9pm show, which meant we got out at 11:30. Thursday night. At the E-Walk in Times Square. As we were exiting our theater we heard a wave of laughing and giggling and chatter coming up the escalators, and saw a massive throng of women lined up and waiting eagerly. You guessed it: they were all going to the midnight showing of Sex in the City. Ugh.

Friday I helped xochitl42 prepare for her move. That night we had a few friends over to hang out and relax and goof off a bit.

Saturday was the move. It went reasonably well, actually—not too much stuff, we only got mildly wet (avoided most of the downpour), and no one got seriously injured. Moving out of a fourth-floor walk-up with narrow, twisted, uneven steps, though? Not recommended. Afterward we drove the truck over to our place, unloaded xochitl42’s desk and desk chair, which we’re minding for her until her eventual return, boxed her computer up more carefully, and had pizza before waving the two of them good-bye. Our real farewell will be next Monday but it was still tough.

Saturday night . . . was bad. Our son broke out with in worst hives we’ve ever seen and was having trouble breathing. We called his doc and she said “ER. Now!” Fortunately by the time we saw the ER doctor (who was very nice and saw him right away, thanks to jendaby) his own adrenaline had calmed the reaction down a little bit, and they gave him medicine to take care of the rest. And we now have an epi-pen for him, which is a good thing given the severity of some of his allergies. We think he probably got hold of a pepper flake from the pizza we had for lunch—peppers are his most violent allergy these days. It was extremely scary, and we are very, very grateful that he is okay.

Sunday, not surprisingly, we were exhausted. But jendaby definitely deserved a break, so I stayed with the kids and sent her off to Raphy’s birthday party, where she had a good time. After the kids were in bed I spent my time cleaning the office, clearing off our desk, moving it out of the way, and then moving xochitl42’s desk in and reassembling the computer. It’ll take some getting used to the new setup but it’s nice. Haven’t figured out what to do with the old desk yet—it may take up residence downstairs as a secondary workspace.

I didn’t sleep well that night—I had trouble breathing, either from allergies, dust, a cold, or some combination thereof. Yesterday was work as usual, and I got through it though I probably wasn’t at my most alert. Last night our son was difficult about going to bed, so after we finally got him to settle down we watched Fool’s Gold because I needed some light fluff. It was perfect—funny, silly, playful, and not requiring an ounce of brainpower.

And now it’s on with the week—jendaby’s out tonight, I’m going to a movie screening tomorrow, we might have friends over Friday. I’m hoping to sleep sometime in between.

The whirlwind continues

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:39:00 +0000

. . . or “Now that’s what I call a weekend!”

Last week was fairly quiet—my dad and G came back up Tuesday and had dinner with us before heading back home Wednesday morning. Predictably, the kids were not happy Wednesday—they’d gotten used to having family around, and suddenly it was just jendaby and I. Oh well. I did go on a late-night shopping expedition to stock up and to prepare for Monday.

Thursday I minded the kids so jendaby could go out and see Iron Man and have dinner with friends. She definitely deserved a night out, and I was glad she had a good time.

Friday was the start of Summer Publishing Hours—Oh, how I love thee!—so I got done a little before 1pm and headed home. That night we had part of the usual crew over and played the best worst boardgame ever! We were up until 1am doing that, which was a blast.

Saturday was xochitl42’s wedding! It was awesome! The day was absolutely perfect, the setting—Cedar Hill in Central Park—was gorgeous, the bride and groom both looked great, the ceremony was really nice, and we were all very happy. The reception was also excellent—except for the wedding party families jendaby and I knew almost everyone there, so we had a great time table-hopping and hanging out. We headed back home in the late afternoon and took it easy that night.

Sunday jendaby was out again—popular lady!—so I stayed with the kids and did some cleaning and some picture-hanging. She came home in early evening; I had been planning to head out then but that got cancelled last-minute, so we had dinner and relaxed instead. We watched War, which wasn’t bad—good if brutal action sequences and a decent storyline, though with an obvious twist. I did like the fact that it wasn’t a Hollywood movie, so lacked the standard Hollywood ending.

Monday (yesterday) we had our annual Memorial Day All-Day Cookout and Game. It was great! We had a bunch of people over (eleven of us in all), tons of food ably grilled by the lovely jendaby, an entertaining game GMed by the redoubtable slothshaman, and a whole lot of snarky fun. The kids were a bit of a handful, particularly my son (whose allergies were driving him nuts), but other than a few understandable screaming fits they were mainly just vying for attention, and of course it was much quieter after they went to bed. We didn’t finish the game but we hung out until around 11:30 (we started around 1:30), then cleaned up a bit and went to bed.

And now it’s back to work, but a shortened week and a half-day Friday. I’ve hopefully got a movie-and-dinner outing with friends on Thursday, and Friday and Saturday I’m helping xochitl42 pack and move. And that’s the end of the month—and perhaps the end of the whirlwind as well. For now.

On with the whirlwind . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:57:00 +0000

It’s been a busy two weeks.

Last Friday (the 9th) jendaby and I got together with a few friends as usual. Low-key but nice.

The next day we (all four of us) headed into the city for our soon-to-be niece-in-law’s birthday party. That was fun—we got to see my youngest sister (YS) and her fiancée (YSF) and meet his parents and sister and her family. Everyone was very nice and the kids had a blast—the birthday girl was turning two and the party was at a kids’ gym with padded floors and all sorts of stuff to climb and crawl under. Afterward we and YS and YSF took the kids to Central Park, stopped off at a playground there, then went to the Natural History museum for a bit and finally out to dinner at Brother Jimmy’s. Good day.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, so as usual we went to a Mets game. It was fun but too windy and cold so we only stayed for the first half. We stopped off at a crafts store on the way home, then relaxed and watched Dr. Who that night.

Monday I went to a screening of Prince Caspian with a bunch of co-workers. It wasn’t bad—I didn’t particularly care for the first one (good effects, decent acting, weak story and very little use for several characters) and I thought this one was better in pretty much every way—but hardly brilliant. Going in a group was fun, though.

Wednesday I went to TekServe and they managed to fix my laptop! And it only cost $40, which was totally worth it—they warned that the keys might not work as perfectly as before but hey, I can type again, which is really all that matters. That night my dad and his girlfriend (G) flew in, so the kids and I picked them up at the airport and then we swung back to get jendaby so we could all go to our favorite diner for dinner.

Thursday was quiet for me—work as usual, etc. I did get a cool book in the mail, pursuant to a possible project—more on that if it pans out. And worked out details for another project as well.

Friday I had lunch with my dad and one of his friends at Second Ave. Deli. Still awesome, and since my dad had kindly brought me a muffuletta from N.O. and I’d had it (okay, half of it) for dinner Thursday night I got to have my two absolute favorite sandwiches in the world (a muffuletta and a Second Ave. Deli pastrami on rye) in the space of two days. Happy happy stomach! That night we had friends over, YS came back out to our house, and she and I went to pick my middle sister (MS) up at the airport. It was ugly out but we got her successfully, and everyone had a good time. Got to bed around two.

Saturday we got up and the girls and I took the kids out to the bakery to get bagels and pastries for breakfast. After eating we hung out for a while before taking the kids to the playground. My dad and G came out that night with my aunt and we all went to Sripraphai for dinner. Excellent Thai food! The kids were completely wiped out by the time we were done, so my aunt gave me a ride home so I could get the car and come back to pick the rest of them up. We all hung out for a bit at home before my dad and I made a late-night shopping run to get diapers and a few other necessities.

Today we all got up and had a nice relaxed breakfast—the kids actually didn’t wake us up until nine, which shows how tired they were. Jendaby and I headed out a little before noon to go into the city for a three-way birthday party (threedukes, jon, and xochitl42), which makes the fourth birthday party we’ve attended in three weeks. We were the first ones there by a wide margin but once everyone else showed we had a lot of fun, and it was nice to be adults-only for a bit—my sisters and my dad and G took the kids to the Queens Hall of Science and had a great time. We got back after MS had already gone to the airport, unfortunately, but got to see my dad and G and YS and my aunt before they all left—my aunt to go home and G and my dad to drive YS back to D.C. It was strangely quiet at dinner—it’s been several days since it was just four of us. The kids were exhausted and fell asleep quickly.

Right now, Dr. Who beckons. Then a little work—I’ve got an outline and two pitches to write—before bed. This week should be reasonably quiet, though my dad and G are back Tuesday evening and leave for N.O. Wednesday morning. And of course we have Memorial Day weekend coming up, and a wedding to attend! Busy busy busy, but it’s been a good busy.

I'd type "Oy!" but I seem to be missing the "y" . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:28:00 +0000

Yesterday my son got hold of the laptop.

Apparently he turned it on. That's fine--frighteningly precocious, but fine. But he also decided to streamline the input process . . .

. . . by removing keys from the keyboard.

He didn't eat them--he doesn't usually put non-food in his mouth, thankfully--and we were able to locate them all. But laptop keyboards aren't like regular keyboards. They have little fiddly plastic bits instead of springs. And some of those are now broken or missing. I was able to reinsert some of the keys but not all of them, amd I don't know if it'll ever function properly again, esp. for real writing.

Ugh.

The moral of this story, clearly, is "just because a child hasn't messed with a particular item before, don't assume they never will."

And so begins . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:29:00 +0000

. . . the Crazy Month of May.

This month is going to be a madhouse for us—far more so than usual for this time of year. My dad and my two younger sisters are visiting, we have several birthday parties and a wedding to attend, we’re going to a baseball game, we have friends coming over, I’ve got a story and some RPG projects to write—and of course that’s in between the regular day job and the kids.

Thursday morning I brought the car in to the mechanic to have it checked over—and to finally fix the door handle, which they broke over a year ago. Then it was off to work as usual.

Friday I picked the car up after work—all tuned up but with the door more of a mess than ever thanks to their discovering they needed a second part they had to order and so leaving the door half-assembled in the meantime. Most of the game group was busy but our friend Peter came over to have dinner, hang out, and watch Juno, which was very cute.

Saturday morning we got up, packed, gathered the kids, and headed out to NJ. We visited jendaby’s grandmother for a few hours, and then headed down to Cherry Hill to see my old buddy Rob. Rob and I have been friends since we met in summer camp back when I was twelve. We hung out together a lot as kids, esp. since our parents became friends as well, and kept in touch once I left New Orleans but haven’t seen each other for years. This despite living only a few hours away—for years we’ve both said we should get together but then would get busy. So we finally made it out to see him, his wife, and their two kids. His parents live nearby and came over as well, which was great—I’ve always liked them and haven’t seen them since we got together for dinner after my parents had moved back to N.O. It turned out to be Rob’s younger son’s birthday party, so we wound up being invited to that, which was very sweet, and we hung out until around 8 before heading out to find our hotel—which was way back in the other direction, since we’d chosen one that was near our cousins up in Skillman. We didn’t get in there until around 10, got the kids in their beds, relaxed and took a bath, and then went to sleep ourselves.

Sunday we got up, packed up, checked out, and headed over to Skillman for our newest cousin’s baptism. That was interesting—very pretty church, very involved service. The kids behaved reasonably well. Afterward we headed back to Steve and Jenny’s for lunch, which was great—hanging out with them and our other cousins and aunt and uncle plus Steve and Jenny’s friends. There were plenty of kids there, so ours got to run around and play quite a bit. We headed back out around five and, despite a little Sunday traffic, got home without any real problem. Had some dinner, gave the kids a bath, and then put them to bed—they sacked out almost immediately. We stayed up for a bit, though, to watch last week’s CSI (good ep) and this week’s Dr. Who (miles better than last year’s Dalek two-part debacle by the same author but still with massive plot holes). Then finally to bed.

I’m home today—some stomach issues, which will hopefully pass soon—but tomorrow night I’m off to see Iron Man. My youngest sister’s already in town, so I’ll hopefully see her some time this week, but if not before we’re getting together Friday and over the weekend. And so the craziness continues.

What I've been up to lately

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:09:00 +0000

It’s been a reasonably good week so far:

Last Thursday jendaby and I brought the kids in for Take Your Children to Work Day. They had a blast—our daughter pretty much took charge of everyone (and immediately claimed one of the two volunteers as her own personal attendant) and our son charmed every female in the area and accidentally bullied most of the other boys (including ones twice his size). I was working, of course, but went over to see them when I could and joined them for lunch. After the activities ended jendaby took them over to MOMA, where our son slept while our daughter pronounced criticisms on several famous artists (for more on that see Jendaby’s recap of the day). Then we all went out for dinner and dessert before heading home. Crazy busy, exhausting, but fun.

Friday was quiet at work, and then we hung out with xochitl42, slothshaman, and Mook—dinner and supposedly gaming but we just round up sitting around talking and laughing instead.

Saturday jendaby and xochitl42 went into Manhattan to do some shopping so I manned the parental battle stations solo for the day. The kids were fine, actually. Jendaby was back in time for dinner, and afterward she and I watched In the Name of the King, which was predictably awful but amused us, particularly the Ray Liotta-Matthew Lillard “No, I can chew more scenery!” competition.

Sunday was an “at-home” day—the kids were a bit more difficult so it took both of us to keep up with them. In between we did a whole lot of laundry, cleaned up here and there, read a bit, took a nice walk in the evening, etc. And that night jendaby and I watched the latest Dr. Who ep., which was a lot of fun.

Monday I had my annual job performance review, which went as expected: “You’re performing to your usual high standards, so thank you. For next year—more of the same, please!” Always nice to know your bosses recognize that you’re doing good work. That night feiran kindly watched the kids for us so jendaby could meet me after work—we had dinner (Dallas BBQ—okay, not great) and went to a movie (Forbidden Kingdom—much fun!) and had a very nice time.

Tuesday night I headed home right after work so jendaby could go out—we’re going to be alternating Tuesdays as a “go have fun!” night (and sometimes if feiran accedes we’ll—gasp!—go out together!)—and go dancing in the city. I got the kids dinner and put them to bed, then dorked around on the computer for a while, cleaned up a bit, etc.

This coming weekend we’re off to NJ for our new cousin’s christening and to see jendaby’s grandmother, as well as to catch up with an old buddy of mine. Should be fun!

I ache all over

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:10:00 +0000

It’s been an . . . interesting week.

On Wednesday I found out that my cousin Bob had died. Bob was a really, really great guy: smart and funny and charming and considerate, a great kidder and a huge flirt but also incredibly sharp and wonderfully supportive. He and my grandfather looked and acted a great deal alike, so it was always strange to remember that in fact it was Bob’s wife Sylvia who was my grandfather’s oldest sister’s daughter. Yes, if you’re doing the math, Bob was of the previous generation, or perhaps even the one before that—he served in World War II (on bomber planes) before returning, marrying Sylvia, and going back into the family fur business before eventually leaving that for public school teaching. He and Sylvia were the first family members jendaby got to meet, many many years ago, and they made her feel welcome right from the start. We last saw him a little over a year ago, when my dad was visiting and we all went out for dinner at our favorite diner. A few weeks later Bob and Sylvia headed down to their winter home in Florida, and a short while after that Bob had a massive stroke. He never regained consciousness. But I’ll always remember him laughing and smiling that impish little grin and clasping me on the shoulder even as he ribbed me and flirted with jendaby and charmed our children.

Friday I went to NYComicCon after work for my book signing. That went well—we gave away copies of Tides of Darkness (Beyond the Dark Portal isn’t out for another month or two) and ran out within twenty minutes so I signed a bunch of Creative Couplings for them (they were going to give those away on Saturday) and then headed home to catch up with jendaby, xochitl42 and Mook. We hung out until around midnight or so, then I worked until 4am to finish up something I had to get in that night—not a work project but something for a volunteer position, so it was my own damn fault.

Saturday I went back to the con to wander around a bit. It was jam-packed, of course, but I still managed to make it to most of the publishers and see a lot of the rest of the floor as well. I ran into a bunch of friends, including Glenn, Bob G., Dave, Keith, and Alan, spoke to several editors I knew, and made a few new contacts as well. Then I headed back home.

Sunday I was going over to two friends’ apartment—luckily for me only a few blocks away—to game with them and a few others. That was starting at 2:30. At 2 jendaby and I discovered the laundry room was full of water. We traced the problem back to the toilet but plunging didn’t help any so we simply bailed it out, sopped everything up, and left it alone for a while. I went to the game and hung out there until around 10, when I headed home. My youngest sister and her newly minted fiancé—who were coming up for the funeral and were staying the night with us—got in maybe twenty minutes after I did and we hung out a little bit before all going to sleep.

Monday was Bob’s funeral. The service was nice, though the kids decided to act up a bit and we had to take them out before the end. Then we all formed a funeral procession and drove out to the cemetery, somewhere in Suffolk. After the graveside service we headed back to Sylvia’s apartment and stayed there for a while before going home. That night I realized that my allergies were too severe and too constant to just be allergies—I had apparently caught a cold. jendaby convinced me to take some cold medicine and I went to sleep.

Yesterday my cold was worse instead of better, but I suffered through it and went to work anyway. On the way home I picked up an auger—also known as a drain snake—and last night after the kids were in bed and after I’d taken a nap I went down and used it to unstop the toilet. Yay! We also did the use trash/recycling/changing the cat litter, though jendaby kindly helped with them because the cold was kicking my butt. Then I went upstairs, took more cold medicine, and went back to sleep.

I’m feeling a little better today—still crappy, still plugged-up, but managing. Hopefully it’ll pass soon. Tomorrow is Take Your Children to Work Day here, and we’re bringing both of the kids in for it, which should be fun but could be utter chaos.

And that’s about all the news here for now.

I-Con report

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:21:00 +0000

Wow, it’s already Thursday and I haven’t posted my I-Con report yet! So, without further ado:

I-Con 27 Report

My buddy Dave and I headed up Friday afternoon—I took my daughter to preschool first, and then we drove out. Traffic wasn’t too bad and we got to I-Con around 4:30. Picked up our badges, met up with Glenn, and the three of us headed out for dinner with Glenn’s dad at Tara’s. If you’re ever out in Port Jefferson, I heartily recommend this place! It’s a bar-restaurant, very casual and no-frills, and the food is excellent! And cheap—I had homemade soup, salad, fries, onion rings, and an excellent T-bone for $15. And the hot wings, oh, the hot wings. . . . .

After dinner we stopped off at 7-Eleven for Slurpees—they have Iron Man helmet Slurpee cups! Awesome! Glenn and I had to get them, of course. Dave laughed at us—his loss. Then we headed back to I-Con for my first panel. Kradical and I were the only two of the four listed panelists to show up, so Glenn sat in to keep us company as we talked about writing tie-ins and particularly how to find something you could call your own even in a licensed property. It went reasonably well. Then we bummed around the dealers’ room and the green room for a little bit before heading off to the Destinies radio show for their special I-Con edition. Always fun. After that Glenn, Dave, their friend Audrey and I went to a diner for dessert. Then it was back to Glenn’s mom’s house—she was graciously putting us up for the weekend, though at least since she was out of town she didn’t have to put up with us—where we stayed up talking until 4 before finally calling it quits.

Saturday Dave and I decided to speak with Russian accents all day, both to annoy Glenn and for our own amusement. I think it worked. We got up at 8:30—was supposed to be 8 but oh well—and all got ready quickly before hitting the con and the green room for some breakfast. Another quick jaunt through the dealers’ room and then it was off to my second panel, on Gems from the Slushpile. That was fun—it was half entertainment (“Here are some of the things we’ve seen submitted over the years”) and half education (“Don’t ever submit something like this!”).

Back to the green room for food and then over to True Tales of the Comic Book Industry, which was cool (and the only panel I went to purely as a spectator). That was immediately followed by Bob’s Film Previews, which is always great—we got trailers for Iron Man, Get Smart, Forbidden Kingdom, and others. Dave and I went looking for some of his other friends after that, and finally found them over by the Art Show—we all hung out for a bit and then headed out for dinner. Tip: If a restaurant was closed due to a fire, check to see if it’s open again before going back. Tip Two: Corsets and laughing hysterically are not a good combination, not if you want to ever breathe normally again.

After dinner we hit the cabaret, which had some really great performances (like the Boogie Knights, who I had never actually seen perform before) and some really bad ones (horrible, horrible filk!). Glenn and Alan and Lisa hadn’t really eaten any dinner, so after the Boogie Knights performed we five fled and wound up back at Tara’s for food. Ah, more hot wings! We got to bed around 2, which was better than the night before.

Sunday we got up around 8 again, got ready, packed up, and Dave and I headed out to the LIRR station to pick up jendaby. Yay! The three of us traipsed over to the con, got her badge (thanks to a very good friend), went to the green room and had breakfast. I had a signing at 11 so I went there while jendaby and Dave perused the dealers’ room and the art show.

The signing was good—I was paired with Sarah Beth Durst, a very cool YA fantasy author I’d met briefly at LunaCon, and we had a great time chatting in between signing things. Then it was back to the green room for lunch—yes, my life revolves around food—before my 2pm panel on Lies and Myths About Publishing. This was by far the best of the three panels I did that weekend—we had a ton of people in the audience, everyone on the panel had a lot of interesting things to say, we all had a lot of fun and the audience seemed really pleased as well.

Jendaby had ditched me for the Boogie Knights concert so Dave and I caught up with her down there, and the three of us wandered the dealers’ room and the green room one more time, catching up with a few friends, before calling it a day. We headed out and got home around 5, where deltagrl and the kids were waiting moderately patiently for us. Ordered pizza, caught up, chilled out, and then I gave both Dave and deltagrl rides home before going home myself and collapsing.

All in all, it was a really good weekend. I got to hang out with some old friends, made a few new friends, improved a few industry contacts, was on several good panels, and had a lot of fun.

Signing at ComicCon

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:38:00 +0000

Expect an update on I-Con soon, but before I forget:

I will be signing at the New York Comic Con next Friday (April 18) at 6pm at the Pocket Books booth. If you're around, stop by and say hi!

I-Con schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:52:00 +0000

Before I forget, I have my schedule for I-Con now, in case any of you are attending and want to find me:

Friday, 7pm
Tie-Ins: Putting a Personal Spin on Shared Worlds
S311
DeCandido(M), Osborne, Rosenberg, Greenberger

Saturday, 11am
“Gems” From the Slushpile
S302
Rosenberg, Crawford(M), Gorinsky, Bilmes
Pros share their amusing (and scary) stories of memorable (for the wrong reasons) submissions

Sunday, 11am
Dealer’s Hall
Signing

Sunday, 2pm
Lies and Myths About Getting Published
S302
Rosenberg(M), Crawford, Bacigalupi, Gorinsky, Bilmes
A surprising take on “accepted” ideas about publishing

Apparently I may be on a comics panel as well, though why I’m not sure. If that is the case I’ll update this list and post to let people know.

LunaCon 2008 report

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:03:00 +0000

LunaCon was very nice and very friendly—it helps that we knew a lot of the other program participants already, so it was very comfortable. We drove up Saturday morning, checked in (nice room!), and had enough time to locate Glenn, get downstairs, register, get our badges, and still make it to David’s Life Jam. I only related one story, from the night of my bachelor party, before I had to head out to my first panel. Jendaby told a story while I was gone, apparently, and to good effect.

The World at Your Fingertips panel was fun and the audience seemed to enjoy it, which is always nice. Afterward I caught up with jendaby and the kids in the Green Room, then we all headed off to the Playing in Someone Else’s Sandbox panel, where my son decided he’d rather sit with me on the panel than with Mommy in the audience. He was being well-behaved and quiet, though—and cute, of course—so nobody minded. The panel itself was good, though it wandered off-topic more than a little. Afterward I wrangled the kids for a bit so jendaby could go to a panel she wanted to see—we found the crafts room and my daughter made a hand puppet while my son just had fun handing her things.

We went back to the Green Room for a bit—it makes such a difference having a place you can sit and relax for a bit and get some water or some chips, esp. with kids! Caught up with Bob and Glenn there and finalized plans for dinner, then took the kids back to our room before I headed out to my third panel, the Game Designers Roundtable. That one’s always fun, though this time it was a bit poignant because David moderated it last year—I’ll always remember him storming in a few minutes late, still dressed as Dumbledore/Gandalf from his Masquerade prep, strolling over to the table, leaning his staff against the wall, taking his chair, and then saying, “Right, let’s get started.”

After my panel I headed back to our room to have dinner with Glenn, Bob, jendaby, justcomeinalone, his friend Lisa, and Rick Marshall of ComicMix. Then they all vacated for the Masquerade, leaving me to mind the wee ones.

That was the only bad part of the con for me. Nor was it anyone’s fault, really, just a combination of factors:

1. We only had the one hotel room, so there wasn’t anywhere I could retreat to once the kids were “in bed.”
2. The crib the hotel provided for our son was too low for him, so he was able to straddle the bars and almost climb out. Which he did. Repeatedly.
3. The hotel was charging an outrageous amount for in-room Internet, too much for me to justify paying, so I had no web access.
4. I couldn’t turn off the lights enough for the kids to get to sleep without sitting completely in the dark.
5. I hadn’t brought a book because I figured I’d go online or write.
6. They were being too loud for me to write.

Finally I gave up on getting them to sleep and turned on the TV. The Incredibles was on Disney, so I helped my daughter shift her sleeping bag over so she could watch while lying down and I lay on the bed and watched. She fell asleep shortly after that. My son took longer but finally succumbed, and by the time jendaby returned both kids were asleep. I needed a little breather—fortunately the Swordsmith party was only a few doors away, so I stopped by there for a drink and to hang out with friends. jendaby traded off with me after a little while, so we both got to chat with xochitl42 and others for a bit

The only other bad moment was later that night—around three—when our son woke up because he hadn’t eaten his dinner and was now starving. We’d had to throw out the leftovers because we didn’t have a fridge, and at that hour nothing was open anywhere, nor did the hotel have snack machines. Fortunately a hotel-desk goddess miraculously located and sent up two small boxes of Cheerios, and thus sated our son consented to slumber once more.

Sunday we had no commitments so we didn’t get up until around 9. I took my daughter with me and we went down to the little snack shop and brought back some juice and things for breakfast, then we got everyone up and dressed and checked out. After dropping the bags in the car jendaby went to a panel and I wandered through the Dealers Room and then went to the Green Room to chill. We all went to a panel on geekdom at 1—and knew all the panelists—which was entertaining, and then it was time to bundle everyone back into the car and head on home.

All in all it was a nice show. I had a good time, both personally and professionally, and got to meet some new people and connect with some old friends. Some cons are big and frantic, some are strictly regimented, and some are cozy and friendly and comfortable. LunaCon is definitely in that last category, and I’ll happily attend again next year.

LunaCon this weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:03:00 +0000

I keep forgetting to post about this, but I’m a guest at LunaCon again this coming weekend. Jendaby and I are going up, and yes, we’re bringing the kids. Whee! We should be getting in some time Saturday morning and we’re staying the night there, which should make life easier—last year I drove up and drove back Saturday, which was a little tiring.
For those attending, or just curious, here is my schedule:

Saturday, March 15th
11 am-2 pm, Mianus River
David Honigsberg Life Jam
I am not listed as a participant and I have a panel right in the middle, but I will be there for the first hour and hopefully the last one.

noon-1 pm, Bartell Room
The World at Your Fingertips
Building your own world is a challenge for even the most experienced GM. Where do you start? What essential information do you need before you can start a game and how much can you invent off the cuff? What tools are available to assist you? Have internet wikis, name generators, and mapping software made it easier to create, or just easier to get bogged down in details?
Participants: Shaughn Bryant, Adam Nakama, Daniel Robichaud[M], Aaron Rosenberg

2-3 pm, Odelle Room
Playing in Someone Else's Sandbox
Learn about the differences in writing work-for-hire books (such as Star Trek or Star Wars) vs. writing creator-owned original novels. How do they differ creatively and financially? What are the pros and cons of each kind of project for a writer's career?
Participants: Ginjer Buchanan, Keith DeCandido, David Mack[M], Aaron Rosenberg, Susan Shwartz

6-7 pm, Poplar Room
Game Designers' Roundtable
Game designers of various RPGs talk about particular challenges of design and worldbuilding. What is the relative importance of setting versus game mechanics? How do you avoid coming across as derivative?
Participants: Leigh Grossman, Georgia Horesh, Aaron Rosenberg

I’m sure we’ll be attending the Masquerade—I know jendaby will, at least—and we’ll be around the rest of that day and night and at least part of the following morning as well.

Oh, come on!

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:11:00 +0000

Last night, as those in the area already know, was seriously f*cking cold.

So of course . . .

Jendaby and I decided to relax and watch some Black Books after the kids were finally asleep. On the way down to the basement she clicked on the heater. On the way back up she checked it, because the house felt a bit cool.

No heat.

So, being a wonder-worker, my lovely wife went down and fiddled with the furnace. I’m good at some mechanical things, she’s good at others—we make a good team. She understands the furnace. To me it’s all a mystery except that there’s flames and gas and stuff.

An hour or so later, she called me to come downstairs. No luck with the furnace. The pilot light wouldn’t stay on—it’d light but went out as soon as she let go the starter button.

Great. It’s past midnight. It’s freezing cold. And we have no heat.

Jendaby thought it was the thermocouple, which we had already had replaced once three years ago. She was pretty sure she could replace it herself if we got a new one. Home Depot carries them.

Home Depot closes at eleven. It doesn’t open again until five.

We then spent the next hour and a half or so digging out every blanket we have, piling them on the kids’ beds and our own, dragging the dehumidifier up from the basement and putting it in the kids’ room—it puts off a fair bit of heat—and then bundling up under the covers. We got to bed around two.

I get up a little after six. Dragged on clothes, got in the car, drove to Home Depot, bought a new thermocouple for ten bucks—it’s amazing how quiet that place is at 6:30 in the morning on a weekday!—and drove back home. My lovely wife then got up, went downstairs, and installed it (with a little help from me, just because the plumbers had screwed the old one in really tightly). And Voila! Heat! Yay!

Now I am at work. I was only as few minutes late, amazingly enough. And the short sleep has not yet hit me, though I know it will, probably after lunch. But at least my wife and kids are snug at home, and I will be able to return to a warm house tonight. My wife rocks.

When you put it that way, it looks like I've been busy!

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:47:00 +0000

Right, it’s been a bit since the last update. Here’s what’s been happening:

* jendaby and I went out for dinner and a movie for the first time since last October (we’ve been out to dinner since then but not with a movie). We saw Jumper, which was fun—not a brilliant film but entertaining and I liked the effects. Shame about the romantic lead’s apparent heroin habit, though—and about Hayden Christenson’s lack of acting ability. Oh well.

* Saw Cloverfield. I enjoyed it—not overwhelmingly so, but I thought it was fun, and a clever way to approach that particular genre.

* Talking to a few people about a few things, still. Some irons go cold, others get added to the fire, still others get reworked and put back in again. And around we go . . .

* Moved our son into our daughter’s room this weekend. Yes, she’s still in there as well. She’s been complaining about nightmares lately and wanted company, he’s been fussing at night and loves being in her room, we wanted to actually get some sleep—it’s a win all around. So far it’s working fairly well. And it’s actually the first time we’ve had a kid-free room in four years, since by the time our daughter moved into her own room jendaby was heavily pregnant with our son. It’s weird getting used to the quiet in there.

* My guest info went up on the ShoreLeave page, so now that’s official, too.

* Turned in an RPG project for Talisman Studios. Much fun, and just the first of many. Oh yes, and they put up a press release about my joining them—you can read it here.

* Found out that Thrilling Tales Quarterly #1 is now out. It includes my first Gunshade story, “Rapid Fire.” You can find out more about the magazine—and order it— here.

This weekend jendaby is taking a trip for fun, leaving me to take care of the whirling dervishes. I’m happy she gets to go but dreading minding both kids on my own for two-and-a-half days. Oh well. I’ll manage.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. If I forget anything important I’ll either edit the post or put up an addendum. You should now wait with bated breath. :)

Since I have a moment . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:48:00 +0000

It’s been two weeks since my last post, and I’m waiting for Design to locate one of their own files (a rush project, natch), so—time for an update.

Let’s see, what’s gone on in the past two weeks?

We had our annual Wassail! party, which was a lot of fun. We had ten guests this year, the largest group ever, and a ton of food (and of course Wassail—for those unfamiliar with it, that’s a spiced hot apple cider drink, usually alcoholic though we let people spike their own). I ran the game, which involved characters from all over (several different worlds/settings, some original and some pulled from movies, comics, books, or TV shows) being abducted by interdimensional slavers and eventually sold as prey in a Hunt which, if they survived, would grant them freedom and riches. It was a bit less focused than usual because of the sheer number of players but I think everyone had a good time.

Last weekend we went out to Mt. Holly, NJ—I had a work project there (more about that some other day, if things work out) and at the last minute discovered that jendaby and the kids could come with me. It’s less than two hours away so we drove down ourselves (instead of riding in a fifteen-passenger van with some of the others, which would have been fine for me but not so good for/with the kids) on Friday night. We were staying at a Best Western and thought we had a suite but discovered that wasn’t true—instead we had a queen bed and no couch. The hotel provided a cot for our daughter and a crib for our son, though, so that was fine. And we did have a Jacuzzi, which was cool. Oddly enough, when we got into the room it had no lights—every single bulb was burned out. Weird. And the TV had no cable. They fixed that, fortunately, since this was the weekend our son decided he actually liked television. Saturday was the Fire & Ice Festival—chili cook-off and ice carving—which was fun. I was working most of the day, but jendaby got to spend time with our cousin and one of our uncles, so that was cool. Sunday I worked in the morning, then we checked out, went out for lunch (if you ever get the chance to eat at the Vincentown Diner, do so!), and visited jendaby’s grandmother before heading home. It was a fun trip, very educational for me, and could lead to some really good things down the road.

In other news, work sucks. I am currently hating my job. There’s more work than I can handle and of course they won’t hire anyone to help but then they complain about the work not getting done on time. Gee, why would that be? Bleah.

On the plus side, I’ve been confirmed as a guest at I-Con again this year. We’re all going and should have a nice weekend. I’m also a guest at ShoreLeave in July, but no author guest page up yet, so expect a link at a later date.

Freelance work is picking up a bit—I’ve got six projects to do between now and the start of May. Yipes! None of them huge, fortunately, but I’m going to be fairly busy for a while.

Tonight jendaby and I are going out to a fancy restaurant because it’s Restaurant Week! Whee!

I think that’s it for the moment. More some other time.

First post of the new year . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Gryphon Rose) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:56:00 +0000

. . . and little to say.

It’s been quiet the past two weeks. Well, as quiet as it gets for us, anyway.

The kids are good—a handful, both of them, getting into everything and pushing boundaries and so forth, but still cute and often sweet and still pretty well-behaved, all things considered.

jendaby and I are good—jendaby’s been rocking on her etsy store (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5448586), doing all kinds of cool craftwork.

Work’s busy but not insane, which is fine. I need to write a project that’s due next month, and to finally sit down and put finishing touches on another one. I’m talking to people about various other possibilities for the year, some in familiar fields and some in new ones.

One thing that’s been a lot of fun this past week has been over at my buddy aaronace’s LJ. He’s been putting up a different original image each day, and inviting people to write flash fiction to accompany them. I’ve done four or five so far, and it’s been a blast—nice and short, very immediate, no quandaries, no licensing issues, no outlines, just short fun fiction.

We had a nice quiet New Year’s—dinner with qadgop and skoobwoman and then home to chill and watch the ball drop. Last weekend we had dinner with them again, and then the next day had lunch with my youngest sister and her boyfriend—I tried not to do too much of the “protective big brother” thing. This coming weekend we have Wassail!, our all-day gaming party. I’m running, and so far I have ten players. Whee! Should be a good time, though—drinks, food, gaming, and good friends.

I may be taking a weekend trip out to New Jersey later this month. More on that some other time, perhaps.

And tonight jendaby and I get to go out on a date! Yay!