Tag Archives: speculate

Speculate Marathon + Fundraiser Nov 12th

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Speculate Marathon Schedule graphic

Hi folks! I haven’t been very active on this feed, mostly because I’ve just now started returning to in-person cons and I’ve been hard at work on writing without as much news to announce.

But now I have news!

If you’re a long-time viewer or fan, you know that I co-host an actual play show called Speculate with my friends Gregory A. Wilson and Brandon O’Brien. We’ve played games from D&D to Blades in the Dark, Girl by Moonlight, and more. We’ve been making actual play shows for several years, we love making these shows, and want to make more!

Which brings me to the news. We’re going to be streaming an all-day event on Saturday, November 12th, starting at 3pm EST at Twitch.tv/Arvaneleron

We’ll be bringing you several segments of gaming fun, with the hope that you’ll get excited about what we do and help us to be able to do even more. We’re very proud of the work we do, but it’s resource-intensive, not just in time, but in costs – games, tech, paying for audio editing (worth every penny), and more. Right now, our primary pain point is resources.

Our goal is to be able to release episodes more regularly, going weekly for at least a couple of months, with some other options if we reach higher levels, things like a website refresh, some new tech for regular cast members, and new shows/programming.

Here’s a rundown of our schedule! All times EST

3pm – Greg is running a D&D one-shot from Critical Crafting with Skiffy & Fanty show cast members Shaun Duke, Paul Weimer, and Trish Matson!

6:30 pm – Brandon, Greg, and Iwill dive into the world of Destiny 2, a game renowned for good shooting and interesting but largely underused lore. We’re excited to talk about the world and storytelling techniques Destiny is now utilizing to put the story more directly into the gameplay.

9pm – The Strange Friends Crew (as seen in The Case of the Cindered Seal and Fractal Spire) will be playing a one-shot of Blades in the Dark as we’ve done for Worldbuilders and other special events, but this time, with a major twist! We’ll be playing in Faerun’s famed city of Waterdeep in an adventure GMed by Iori Kusano!

Throughout the fundraiser, we’ll have special incentives for large donations, highlights/greatest hits reels from our shows to run during the breaks, and more!

So please mark your calendars and get excited about an entire day of storytelling awesomeness as we work to take Speculate to the next level!

Hexomancy returns!

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Hexomancy, the third and final book in the series, is back out today in a new edition (lightly revised) with a new cover. 

Cover for Hexomancy by Michael R. Underwood. Text reads "Hugo Award Finalist Michael R. Underwood - Hexomancy - Ree Reyes Book Three" A slim Latina holding magic-powered dice and a sword stands in front of a middle-aged white man with a salt-and-pepper beard wearing a brown trench coat and holding a science fiction-looking ray gun
Cover for Hexomancy by Michael R. Underwood.
Text reads “Hugo Award Finalist Michael R. Underwood – Hexomancy – Ree Reyes Book Three” A slim Latina holding magic-powered dice and a sword stands in front of a middle-aged white man with a salt-and-pepper beard wearing a brown trench coat and holding a science fiction-looking ray gun.

Ree Reyes has been fighting to protect her town for a couple years now, using her Geekomancy to draw on her love of superheroes, movies, comics, and more.

When Ree’s long-time nemesis Lucretia is finally brought to trial and found guilty for the deadly attack on Grognard’s, the Geekomancer community breathes a collective sigh of relief. But Ree and her crew soon discover that Lucretia has three very angry, very dangerous sisters who won’t rest until Eastwood—a fellow Geekomancer—is killed.

Ree agrees to serve as Eastwood’s bodyguard, despite their rocky relationship. Along the way, she’ll have to face a gauntlet of foes, hexes, curses. Plus the growing ache in her heart for a certain dimensionally-displaced gadgeteer.

You can get Hexomancy at – Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo
Paperback editions will follow soon!

This means that the entire Ree Reyes series (Geekomancy, Celebromancy, Attack the Geek, and Hexomancy) are all now available again. These books launched my career and they’ll always have a special place in my heart. It’s been great to give them a fresh coat of paint and send them back into the world, and I hope you’ll enjoy them – either for the first time, revisit them some years later, maybe in a new format. I’m excited to return to conventions when it’s safe and see people with paperback copies walking around. I’m especially excited to sign your copies and hear about your own geeky stories.

ALSO

Valloward, the Court of Blades series I’m GMing for Speculate, kicks off this Friday with our first actual play session in Court of Blades proper. This is a great time to jump in with the series if you’re interested to see how I GM or watch a group of professional fantasy authors create a setting together through play in this game of power politics, gunpowder diplomacy, and romantic skullduggery.

Friday Sep 23rd at 8pm ET / 5pm PT at twitch.tv/arvaneleron – if you can’t watch live, the video will archive at youtube.com/arvaneleron.

Fractal Spire series premiere tonight!

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Tonight Speculate! (the actual play show I co-host with Brandon O’Brien and Gregory A. Wilson) is kicking off a new series called “Fractal Spire”, playing Girl by Moonlight, a Forged in the Dark RPG forthcoming from Evil Hat Productions.

In Fractal Spire, a group of dream travelers in a dystopian world fight both the State and a sentient dream conspiracy. After losing their leader and the person that bound their group together, the remaining four must find a way to patch up their wounded hearts and fight on, together.

Watch the series premiere of “Fractal Spire” Sunday, Feb 6th at 7pm EST at Twitch.tv/ArvanEleron.

If you can’t make the live broadcast, the video will show up at Youtube.com/Arvaneleron 24 hours later. Each episode will be available in this YouTube playlist, and will come to the Speculate! podcast feed later on in smaller chunks.

BFGCon Schedule

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This weekend, I’m headed to BFGCon, a regional games conference in Frederick, MD. I’m presenting on a few panels, but will otherwise just be hanging out and taking in the gaming goodness.

Friday

1300 – 1400 Turning Games into Art – A panel discussion

Ben Walker
Jess Comstock
Michael R. Underwood
Sarah Zeiter

Saturday

1430 – 1530 Next Level Worldbuilding — A presentation by me with lots of time for Q&A

Michael R. Underwood

Sunday

1300 – 1400 Social Justice Gaming – A panel discussion

Dan Layman-Kennedy
Jess Comstock
Michael R. Underwood
Daniel Laughlin

Award Eligibility Post – 2015

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So – awards and award eligibility – some people hate eligibility posts, but this is my blog, so they can deal. 🙂

Here’s what I did in 2015, and how it would qualify in award categories – Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy Award, etc.

Best (Fantasy) Novel

Hexomancy cover

Hexomancy

The fourth story (third novel) in the Ree Reyes urban fantasy series, where fandom and love of SF/F is its own magic system. This is the novel I’m proudest of so far – I think it represents a leveling up across several craft elements, including capping off the first major story arc for the series.

 

Best Novella

The Shootout Solution cover

The Shootout Solution

Episode one of the Genrenauts series – about a group that travels to genre-informed dimensions to find and fix broken stories in order to protect their version of Earth. This kicks off the series which I hope to be writing for the next few years – it’s fun, its wacky, and it delivers both adventure and analysis of why and how we tell stories.

 

Fancast

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Skiffy & Fanty

 

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Speculate!

In 2015, I joined the cast of Speculate! while continuing to work with the Skiffy and Fanty Show, which was nominated for Best Fancast in 2014. Both are fantastic shows, and, in my opinion, fill different but important niches in the SF/F podcasting community.

 

Special Award – Best Professional (World Fantasy)

Michael R. Underwood – For work at Angry Robot

In my experience, Best Professional almost always goes to a Publisher or Editor, but there’s nothing that says that a Sales/Marketing Manager couldn’t be nominated and win. I worked closely on supporting every one of Angry Robot’s 2015 releases, including two Phillip K. Dick Award nominees, the Campbell Award winner, and more. A long shot, but worth mentioning, since this is my blog.

 

Fan Writer

Most of my non-fiction in 2015 was more professional than fannish, but I leave it to you, the voter, to decide what you like. Here are some of the best of the best from me in 2015:

Joy of Listening – Nov 2015

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I listen to a *lot* of podcasts. The first one I remember is I Should Be Writing, which was my lifeline to the world of SF/F writing during my MA work in Oregon. I picked the habit back up when I was working as a traveling book rep, since my working week often included 20+ hours of driving.

So now that I work from home, I find that I’ve got way more podcasts that I’m interested in than I can make time to listen to them, even listening over breakfast, lunch, dishes, and afternoon walks.

And since misery loves company, I’m going to recommend some podcasts and episodes, so you too can know the joy of having too many wonderful things to listen to:

Ditch Diggers – A Must-listen for working writers, especially in the SF/F prose world. Hosts Mur Lafferty (of I Should Be Writing Fame) and Matt Wallace give you the no-BS look at what it’s like to write for a living. Ditch Diggers is the Business of Writing Podcast I would have started if they hadn’t gotten to it first – I’m very grateful that they did, because they’re doing a great job.

PlayWell – Games for the Greater Chaotic Good with Adam Koebel – I absolutely love the way Adam talks about making game spaces inclusive and using them to help talk people through difficult topics.

Book Riot – The flagship podcast of the Bookish site Book Riot. Lots of news about the publishing world, with a focus on Literary Fiction.

The Roundtable Podcast – Hosted by Dave “Creageous” Robison, The Roundtable Podcast not only does creator interviews, but they also do regular brainstorming sessions, where a guest writer will bring in an idea or in-progress story, and the hosts (including a working professional Guest Host) help take the idea up to the next level. I’ve appeared on the show a few times, and it’s some of the most fun I’ve had on a podcast as a guest.

And of course, you can hear me on The Skiffy and Fanty Show, mostly talking about media, and also now on Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers, and Fans.

So, now I turn the mic. What are some of your favorite podcasts?