November 22

Next update delayed until December 20

I’m back from Italy!

In case you didn’t know (or forgot) I recently attended the Lucca Comics and Games festival. Talk about incredible – 100,000 fans crammed into a medieval walled city to celebrate comics, games and geek culture! There’s something really cool about seeing cos-players wandering around inside the medieval city walls. If you’re ever in Italy for the start of November, I highly recommend checking Lucca out – it’ll blow your mind!

While I was there, I did a number of panels and interviews, and I got to meet some really cool people. I hung out a bit with author Joe Abercrombie; I wish I had brought my copy of The Blade Itself for him to sign! I did a panel with D&D legends Frank Metzer, Monte Cook and the designer of the new 5th edition D&D rules, Jeremey Crawford. I did book signings for hundreds of Italian fans. And I ate amazing pasta until it was coming out of my ears.

Here are a couple interviews I did while I was in Lucca:

Isolya Illyon (mix of English and Italian, but with subtitles).
Mutiplayer.it Edizioni (mostly Italian, but my answers are in English)

After the con, my wife and I spent some extra time in Italy. We checked out Venice and Florence, made our way over to Pisa and eventually ended up in Rome. A great trip, but I have one complaint – diet Coke is SUPER expensive over there. For a guy who doesn’t drink wine, I was racking up some hefty beverage tabs.

Now that I’m back, it’s time to reflect and regroup. Chaos Unleashed, the final book in my Chaos Born trilogy, is written – I sent it off to my editors just before I went to Italy. We still have a long way to go before it hits the shelves – the publishing industry moves rather slowly – so don’t expect it to be out until July 2015. On the plus side, book 3 is finally going to have a map!

Now that The Chaos Born trilogy is finished, some of you may be wondering what’s next for me. Good question. I’m wondering the same thing myself. A lot of fans want me to go back to Star Wars, and maybe even continue the Bane/Zannah novels. That’s one possibility. Or maybe I’ll return to Mass Effect. I could even get back into video games. And I’ve got a couple of my own ideas kicking around that I want to explore, too.

I think the key for me is not to rush into anything. I’ve spent the past 3 years focusing on a single project, and now that it’s done I have to step back and explore my options carefully. Hopefully whatever I tackle next is something the fans will love, but more importantly it has to be something I want to spend my time and creative energy on.

I’m lucky to have been a part of many great projects in the past; it means I’ve got lots of options going forward. But sometimes the options can be overwhelming. I’m not complaining – I just want folks to understand why I don’t want to rush into anything.

So maybe I’ll have more news about my future on the next update. But it’s possible I won’t make any decisions until 2015. But rest assured, when I do figure out where I’m going next, I’ll announce here and on my Twitter feed.

Okay, that’s it. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!