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Announcing my NaNoWriMo 2018 Book: The Magician on Main Street
I am happy to announce my 2018 NaNoWriMo novel, the sequel to The Wizards on Walnut Street: The Magician on Main Street.
Follow Andy, Apollo, Killian, gangster gnomes, a talking alcoholic snake, and a recently-resurrected mummy as they discover a new force threatening every magical creature in Cincinnati.
Please add me as a buddy on NaNo!
What You Make
- I made about 100 new friends.
- I made tons of corny jokes.
- I made a player really happy by using their character’s preferred pronouns consistently without making a mistake. “That almost never happens,” they told me.
- I made a shy, nonconfrontational player feel empowered through the use of a highly social character who could end fights without throwing a punch.
- I made people laugh with my corny jokes.
- I made a character at the next table jealous: he told me he wished he could join my game, only to have him show up at the next session with generic tickets.
- I made 4 separate adventures that touched on societal problems and started interesting discussions about philosophical concepts like self-identity and the source of law.
In short: I made a little bit more happiness. Just a little.
Where are the Non-binary Characters in Fiction?
Over a year ago, I started to plan my novel, The Wizards on Walnut Street. What started as an exercise in fantasy world-building and humor quickly became a major project involving diverse and interesting characters…but along the way I learned something terrible about the fiction industry.
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Now on Patreon!
That’s right! I have delved into the wide world of Patreon, with the dream of finally being able to write for a living and share my words with the world.
Over 50,000 creatives use Patreon to support their work, and with the help of over a million users, I hope I can do the same. Every little bit helps–so please, consider sharing this with your friends! Great perks are on their way.
Wizards on Walnut is available for Pre-Order on Amazon and B&N
Dragon Street Press announced the release date of its upcoming New Adult Fantasy novel, The Wizards on Walnut Street, by Cincinnati local author Sam Swicegood.
When well-respected corporate sorcerer Tom LaFayette is murdered, his eldest child Andy moves to Cincinnati to investigate, discovering a magical society bubbling just under the surface of the mundane world. Encountering odd characters such as an Incubus barista, a knife-happy security guard, and an enchanted espresso machine, Andy uncovers a plot to overthrow the magical society’s hierarchy.
The Wizards on Walnut Street plays with fantasy tropes and juxtaposes goblins, unicorns and dragons into our modern world in a way that is both satisfying and hilarious, thanks to an expansive world and the addition of Employee Handbook footnotes throughout the book.
A portion of the proceeds of the sale of this book will be donated to the Children’s Dyslexia Centers of Cincinnati. A future edition of the book will be printed in dyslexic-friendly format, with different spacing and font size to be easier to read.
This book features LGBT themes and characters, including a nonbinary main character. The book has been praised by Advance readers as “thoughtful and inclusive” of the LGBT community while not focusing on those subject specifically–instead “portraying sexuality minorities as perfectly normal, the way it should be.”
Inquiries may be directed to press@dragonstreet.press.
The book will be available in bookstores, and online on August 8, 2018. Pre-orders are open NOW on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
The Wizards on Walnut St.
Recently I have been on a world-building kick. This started mostly with Cold Start and now I’ve got the LeGuinn-esque bug to build another world. But this time, unlike Cold Start, I have a desire to flesh it out character-wise, rather than focus on a sandbox for play.
One of the problems I had back when Cold Start was originally a novel was that I didn’t have a great attachment to the characters. They were just a tool to tell the details of the world, but it didn’t give any dept to the over-arching plotline I wanted to represent. That’s why I made the decision to move away from that and push into one of my particularly favorite past-times: RPGs.
But I’m a writer. I love characters, and character building. And in that I am getting back into novel-writing.
The idea of The Wizards on Walnut St. started as a short story that dealt with fantasy elements in a mundane world. Much like an antithesis of The Dresden Files, the story (at the time unofficially called Andyverse) focuses on modern, busy life in a corporate, fast-paced world and how even the most fantastic can succumb to the banal and bureaucracies of society. “What kind of paperwork would you have to file for a spell?” I wrote in my notebook one day. “How would you consult legal? What are the ramifications of mind control?”
More than that, though, I wanted to juxtapose the boring, everyday world with goblins and dragons in a way that gives everything a sense of normalcy in everyone’s eyes but the main character. Andy, the protagonist, learns of all of this bit by bit, and is constantly surprised by new things that are unexpectedly encountered: from a conference table that talks, to a weather-controlling fax machine. How does a 10,000 year old dragon fit into the modern world? What if vampires actually care about people and protect them? It’s lighthearted and ridiculous while also exploring social fabric and challenging mythologies.
Research for this project is very fun. I’m pulling stories from the British Isles, Norse mythology, Celtic mythos, and–one of my favorites–Mesopotamian deities. Remaining true to the culture is important to me, and I have been talking with several great mythology and culture experts at the University of Cincinnati for inspiration and guidance. The mood right now feels like a mix of The Office and Gunnerkrigg Court, as strange as that mixture may sound.
Keep an eye here for more info on the story, as I post excerpts, short stories, idea trees, and other material for your enjoyment.
Cheers,
Cold Start public alpha released!
Writing for RPGs is a longtime dream of mine, and in that vein I have spent several years developing this a project called Cold Start. It is a Sci-fi RPG centering around societal norms, technology, and personal horror.
The public alpha is now available over at DriveThruRPG.com. I highly recommend you check it out.
The “Method Acting” Farce
Recently I have been reading lots of articles on Jared Leto and his so-called “Method Acting” he did while being the Joker. While some praise method acting as great way to understand and realistically portray a character, the fact is that it is misunderstood and today, it is used incorrectly. Or worse, in Jared Leto’s case, it is an excuse for deplorable behavior.
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