It’s been a rather interesting year and a half, hasn’t it?
Amid transitioning to working from home amid the Great Slowdown that’s affected us all, I’ve been maintaining my creative output as best I can, while also taking a more active interest in gardening and renovating/restoring my 140-year-old house. Perhaps it’s out of a greater desire to have a tangible impact on the world, or to create something visible and lasting when so many things we seem to have taken for granted have been swept aside – at least for a time – but it was refreshing to involve myself in a different form of creativity.
That said, I have not been idle on the creative front. I’m delighted that two of my short stories have found homes. Look for “A Faithful Rendering” – in which we learn that not all yard sale finds are necessarily good – in an upcoming issue of Cosmic Horror Monthly (early 2022), a solid and up-and-coming publisher of cosmic horror and weird fiction! Another piece of mine will appear late this year or early next year, but I can’t say more until the contract is signed. Other works of short fiction are making their way through submission-land and a few are under consideration – hopefully I will be able to say more on that soon.
My freelance work in the roleplaying games industry is definitely heating up, and does more than its share to keep me busy. Sentinel Hill Press, a licensed publisher of materials for Call of Cthulhu, will soon be releasing Issue #4 of Arkham Gazette, which will contain a number of articles I wrote. In its pages you’ll discover new locations to use in-game; new (possibly magical, quite possibly dangerous, but definitely fun) curios for characters to find; as well as a couple of scenarios to test the mettle of your players. Other products are in the works, but those are at a preliminary stage.
I’ve also written two more books for Fat Goblin Games, with another collaborative project in the works as we speak!
August saw the release of Camp Hope, an homage to 1980s summer slasher flicks, complete with lake monsters, aliens, giant spiders, and maniacs running about in the woods with machetes – not all at the same time (unless you really want to). It presents complete, TinyD6-compatible rules for summer camps, a system for merit badges (hey, you have to learn something at camp, right?), and more than 10 adventures and adventure outlines to get a mini-campaign going. It was a blast to write and people seem to be digging it.
(I love the worn feel of the cover, as though it’s been sitting in a cabin in the woods for years.)
I’ve also written a series of short adventures for FGG’s Shadows Over Vathak D&D 5th Edition horror setting, as well as a setting book for another of FGG’s product lines, the playing card-based “vs. M” line. The latter focuses on 1930s and 40s pulp and detective action. This was a learning experience for me because I’d never worked with the system before, but challenging oneself, and learning a new genre, is always a good thing. I like what I wrote, and I think if you’re in the market for a fast-paced gaming system high on action and excitement, you will, too! More on that to come.
Appearances!
I’ll be at World Fantasy Convention in Montreal, Canada from November 5-7, 2021. I won’t be on any panels, but I look forward to recharging myself creatively and reconnecting with friends, and meeting new ones.
Geoff Gander - Author 