Writing

I’ve always enjoyed writing. The ability to express my thoughts seems less limited through the written word. I get tongue-tied when speaking about a topic (or to a person) that excites me. Although I’m not a bad speaker, my biggest problem is completing a thought before it passes my lips. Writing – unlike speaking – allows for an edit cycle not available in conversation. So, ultimately, it keeps me out of trouble in those instances where I want to avoid being controversial or provocative, or when I just want to sound more intelligent than a lead pipe.

Roleplaying games gained popularity (and notoriety) in the 80’s, and the most popular of the time was Dungeons & Dragons, written by my old friend Gary Gygax. I’d been playing for years before I met him in 1988, and it was quite an interesting turn of events that led to that meeting. My second wife Michele and I had moved back to Georgia, and I was looking for work. I had been working with databases, and had crafted a rough application to track characters, monsters and treasure using dBASE III+, and was shopping it around the different game companies to see if I could sell it. Several companies responded with form letters and writer’s guidelines, but only two sent anything that indicated they had read my letter. One of those was a personal letter from Gary. I responded, and was surprised one afternoon to find a message from him on my answering machine.

Dangerous Journeys/Mythus

I worked tirelessly with Gary to both co-create the Mythus fantasy roleplaying game system, and working on the overall design for the Dangerous Journeys multi-genre system. What was supposed to be a six-month work for hire project turned into three years of the most grueling writing and playtesting of my life. It was incredibly rewarding for me, though. I got to travel to conventions a bit, and I got to know Gary and his wife Gail personally. I have so much admiration for the man who did so much for gaming, and who actually cared for the players - not just as customers, but as people who enjoyed the fruits of his life's work. In the end, before TSR sued him for infringement (total bullshit, by the way), we delivered the first three books of the system, with a word count of over a million words.

Rapture

After Dangerous Journeys, I edited and co-authored another game with my former friend Liam Hale. We put together the corporation for Quintessential Mercy Studio, got the funding, and produced Rapture: the Second Coming™. It was the very first roleplaying game of “theological terror”. It was a great horror game, but due to some poor management and financial planning, QMS eventually went under. I guess Rapture was more of a game of financial terror.

Twisted Bedtime Stories

While Liam and I were running QMS, we had other products planned and in development besides Rapture. Since Rapture was his brainchild, the plan was to publish it first, and then follow up with the book I’d been wanting to publish for years: Twisted Bedtime Stories™, an anthology of erotic horror short stories. I had acquired a number of great stories and interior art pieces, completed all the contracts, and had the editing done, and all layout finished except for cover art. And then QMS ran out of money. So, the book was never published. That really ended my professional desire to write at the time. [Although I did later go on to write a number of my own short stories and self-publish my own version of Twisted Bedtime Stories™ - which is still available on Amazon, and sold through Anshadar]

Anshadar, LLC

By the end of 2018, Christi and I have republished our tabletop game called Quest! Roleplaying for Kids™, and I’ve since formed a company with a friend from NASA named Todd King. We've got half a dozen books published and plans for more. There is a link to Anshadar in the sidebar, and I urge you to check it out, if you are so inclined.

The EarthZero Evolution

Todd and I have been building a tasty little series of books based on the concept of Simulation Theory - the cosmos is a simulation, and everyone is based upon templates designed by the mysterious One Above. To assist in running the millions of simulations are the Shapers, each one overseeing a simulation. Now add to this aliens, armageddon, magic, and galactic war, with immortal and incredibly powerful characters, and you have story that took three books to tell. The third book is done and currently in the process of formatting and distribution.

The Bloody Kudzu Chronicles

Based in a fictional rural town in West Georgia, this novel revolves around a place known to the locals as the Road Kill Inn. Using equal parts horror and humor, it tells the story of a man caught up in a destiny he never wanted and another in search of a destiny of his own. Just like in any decent county music saga, there's blood and fightin' and death and sex and vampires... Wait, Vampires?