Here’s how it works:

Each author involved in Crossing The Streams is running a contest on his or her site. The rules of the contest vary by site; I don’t know what Ari or Marcy are going to do. Two lucky winners in each contest will receive a signed book from the author in question. But wait! There’s more! Once the individual contests have all ended, the authors will join forces to choose a single winner from the people who entered ever contest. That Super-Winner will receive a signed book from every author involved in the event.

You can only enter each author’s contest once, but you can enter as many of the different contests as you like… and each contest you enter gives you another shot at the big prize! You’ve got nothing to lose, unless you get a book full of explosive runes. So check out the links below and get moving!

How Do You Enter MY Contest?

Simple. Send an email to Onesmallkeith (at) gmail.com. The subject line must read “Crossing The Streams”. In the body of the email, I want you to answer either or both of the following questions:

What’s Going To Be The Biggest Surprise In The Next Edition Of Dungeons & Dragons?

or

What Spec-Fic Series Would You Like To See As A Movie Or TV Series… And Why?

You may only enter once, but you may answer both questions if you choose. I will choose my favorite answer to each question, and each lucky winner will receive a signed copy of any of the following:

* The City of Towers

* The Shattered Land

* The Gates of Night

* The Queen Of Stone

* The Son of Khyber

* The Fading Dream

* Eye of The Wolf

… OR, you can request a signed copy of my next book, whatever it turns out to be!

Who ARE you, anyway?

I imagine that some of you reading this are coming from other authors sites and may never have heard of me before. To keep things brief and fictionally focused, I’m best known for creating the Eberron Campaign Setting for Dungeons&Dragons, and all of my novels are set in Eberron. I’m on Twitter as HellcowKeith, if you care about such things. One of the key points of the Eberron setting is that it is a fantasy world where magic has been incorporated into life in the same way that science and technology are part of ours; it is a resource that has been harnessed in a logical manner for transportation, entertainment, communication, warfare, and the other basic elements of life. One of the continents is just emerging from a century-long civil war that ended in a terrible mystic cataclysm. Powerful trade guilds are challenging the weakened power of the monarchy. Conspiracies abound, and ancient powers are stirring.

If any of this sounds interesting and you’d like to check out some of my work, I recommend that you start with The Queen Of Stone. This is a spy story – equal parts Alias, James Bond, and The Bourne Identity set in a world of magic and a kingdom of monsters. While it is the first book in a trilogy, each book is a different mission and it stands alone fine. To give you a tiny excerpt…

We can’t release Harryn Stormblade from his bondage, Steel said, but Queen Sheshka can. And as one of the most powerful warlords in Droaam, she’ll undoubtedly be in attendance at this diplomatic gathering, as will you.

“So,” Thorn said, “I just need to find a statue, kidnap the queen of the medusas, force her to reverse a curse, and smuggle a legendary warrior out of Droaam, all without causing an international incident.”

Sheshka’s death is an acceptable loss, provided Breland can’t be blamed for it.

“Oh, that was the only thing I was worried about.”

What About The Other Authors?

Links are below. Check them out! And I mean that. These people do great work, and if you enjoy my work I’m sure you’ll like theirs! The gateway to a vast world of fiction lies below… start clicking!

Aaron Rosenberg

Ari Marmell

Elaine Cunningham

Eugie Foster

Jason Bradley Thompson

Howard Andrew Jones

Jon Sprunk

Joshua Palmatier/Benjamin Tate

Katherine Kerr

Kevin Hearne

Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell

Matt Forbeck

Nathan Long

Paul S. Kemp

Scott Oden

Steven Savile

Eye On Eberron: Vadallia and Cardaen

The lives of the Tairnadal elves are shaped by the heroic deeds of their ancestors. But just who were those heroes? This month’s Eye on Eberron examines the legend of two of these fallen champions, including the patron of High King Shaeras Vadallia!

Character Theme: The Sentinel Marshal

The Sentinel Marshals are the pride of House Deneith, deputized to enforce the law across the length of Eberron itself. Jeff LaSala (author of The Darkwood Mask) gives you everything you need to play a Sentinel Marshal in your campaign!

LA Weekly: Celebrity D&D at Meltdown Comics!

Want to know what I was up to this weekend? Here’s the report.

New Eberron Adventure PDF: Dolurrh’s Dawn

If you make a $5 donation to children’s literacy charity Reach Out And Read, you can get a copy of the adventure I wrote and ran at the Meltdown event. Set in Eberron, this uses pregenerated characters and a variant D&D system incorporating elements of third and fourth editions. Bear in mind that this is not intended to be a commercial product; it is the raw adventure as presented to the DMs at the Meltdown Event. I’ll be posting some designer’s notes based on my experience running it next week. However, the adventure is only available until Friday, February 3rd! If you want a copy, act now!

What’s Happening with Eberron and D&D Next?

As more news comes out about the next edition of D&D, I’ve had a lot of people ask me if there are any plans for Eberron. The answer is that I don’t know. I’m just a freelancer, and I don’t know what WotC’s long term plans are. I am slated to keep writing Eye on Eberron articles through the end of 2012, and I consider that a promising sign… especially since the lore-heavy nature of the articles means that they are valid regardless of what system you are using.

As for DDN itself, I have recently received my own playtest materials. I haven’t had a chance to play yet, but I like it so far and I’m definitely looking forward to getting a campaign going!

It’s been a busy few months. Since my last post I’ve gotten married, moved to Austin, and been working at a new job. Together, these have conspired to dramatically constrain my free time, which has meant that I haven’t been posting as much as I’d like. Hopefully that will change soon. For now, I wanted to make a quick announcement about an upcoming project I’m involved in. Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero is the product of a group of artists, musicians, and writers – a music CD paired with a shared-world anthology of cyberpunk fiction inspired by the music. Contributors include my fellow Eberron authors Jeff LaSala, Don Basingthwaite, and Ari Marmell, along with a few up and comers like young Ed Greenwood. The book doesn’t come out until February, but there’s a special promotion: Order by Friday, December 16 and you get an advance download of 3 stories and three music tracks, including a story by yours truly!

Check it out HERE!

First, I’m getting married! On September 9th, I’m marrying Jennifer Jean Ellis in Portland, Oregon. Here she is, trying to appeal to my well-known love of gnomes…

There’s an entire post to be made in how we met, the path that we’ve taken over the last few years, and where I hope we’ll go from here. For now, suffice to say that I’m a lucky man, and that we’ve got a lot to get done in preparation for the big day and our subsequent honeymoon in Iceland!

Of course, while getting married is a major event, we’re not content with just organizing one thing. “Why not move?” we said. So, I have accepted a job with Zynga, makers of Words With Friends, Farmville, Empires & Allies and other games. Expect Eberronville in 2012! (NOTE: Just kidding. DO NOT EXPECT EBERRONVILLE. That’s not a thing.) As a result, as soon as Jenn and I get back from Iceland, we’ll be heading south to Austin, Texas. We’re looking forward to starting our married life in a place that’s new to both of us, and we’re going to work to see as much of Austin as possible.

What does this mean for my personal work, such as Have Dice Will Travel? Well, I will have a full time job at Zynga, so it’s going to slow me down. However, it’s not going to stop it completely. Eye on Eberron will continue to appear in Dungeon on a monthly basis. Cthulhu Fluxx will be coming out sometime in 2012, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for The Doom That Came To Atlantic City. As for Have Dice Will Travel, the full time job will keep me from taking long trips, but I still hope to take some long weekends and vacations to keep it going – it’s not over yet!

Expect more post-PAX-posts later this week, but for now, a few links to consider:

Go here to vote on whether you’d like to see Oz Fluxx or Cthulhu Fluxx come out first!

Go here for my latest article on Dungeonmastering.com – how to get this party started!

This put me in mind of the following dalek, seen here pausing to exterminate someone on her way to a tea party with the Autons…

… Though I don’t think Doctor Statham would have a hard time making her cry.

* Joe Hill is the author of a number of the novels Horns and Heart-Shaped Box and the comic series Locke & Key. If you haven’t read Locke & Key, I’d like to know why. Six pages, essay format, on my desk by Monday. And no triple spacing, Mr. Dugbert.

At PAX I’ll be playtesting a secret project I’ve been developing with Looney Labs: Cthulhu Fluxx.

Not being a Lovecraft fan, Andrew Looney wasn’t inspired by the subject in the past. Given my recent work on Cthulhu Gloom, Kristin Looney suggested that I pitch an idea… and since then we’ve come up with a game that’s going to be a lot of fun. What’s important to me is to create a game that is worthy of the Mythos connection – something where the gameplay feels like a Lovecraftian story, and not simply classic Fluxx with Cthulhu as a Creeper. I also want it to have depth that Mythos fans will appreciate, while still being accessible – and ideally, educational – to people who aren’t familiar with Lovecraft’s work. I’m not going to go into too many details at this point, because we’re going to be playtesting for a while. Suffice to say that I’m happy with the design and looking forward to playing at PAX!

While Cthulhu Fluxx is on the schedule, Looney Labs is debating which to do first: Cthulhu Fluxx or Oz Fluxx. If you have an opinion, please take the two-question survey HERE!

I don’t know exactly when I’ll be playtesting at PAX. Your best bet is to keep an eye on HellcowKeith on Twitter – I’ll post if I’m setting up a session somewhere.

Join Dungeon & Dragons experts Keith Baker, Mike Mearls and Mike Selinker as they analyze and discuss the evolution of Dungeon & Dragons. The D&D game has changed over the years as it has grown from an underground phenomenon to one of the defining pillars of modern fantasy. Join us as we look at D&D through the lens of its rules. With each new edition, the game has changed and shifted to deliver the best fantasy gaming experience of its day. What changed, how has the game improved, and has it lost anything over the years? Moderated by Greg Tito, Games Editor of The Escapist.

Flying in the face of criticism against video games and their ruination of lives, this panel will address the topic of living a life made richer by playing games. From how to keep your job while supporting a game-playing habit, to making your game-playing habit your job. Graham Stark, Jeff Green, Ian Dorsch Keith Baker, and James Portnow will share secrets and personal stories, deflate hype and participate in a detailed Q&A. Moderated by Russ Pitts, Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist.

I hope to see you there!

Kosice, Slovakia

Boise, Idaho

Sofia, Bulgaria

If you’re interested taking part in HDWT in the future, check out my post here!

Be sure to check back – I have plans for the site in the months to come.

In the meantime – when I was at PAX, I ran into the folks from The Escapist, and to make a short story shorter, today the first installment in a new Have Dice, Will Travel series went online! Check it out here.

In the next few weeks, I hope to post some additional house rules, Eberron FAQs, and information about those five games you’ve never heard about. So check back in a few days!