On Sharks, Gen Con, Matt Forbeck, Mark Mclaughlin, and Bacon.

Do you guys and gals know what time of the year it is? It's Gen Con Indy Eve, by God. It's the hap, happiest time of the year. At least in gaming America. Beginning August 15th, and lasting four days, gamers from all over the world will gather in Indianapolis for America's largest game convention. Half game tournament extravaganza, half costume ball, and half vendor exhibit, Gen Con is all geek, and one hell of a lot of fun. And yeah, I know the math doesn't add up.

Enough about games. On the writing side of things, Matt Forbeck ran a series of Kickstarter campaigns on his 12 for 12 initiative. Matt hopes to write 12 novels in 12 months, in a series of four trilogies. One of them Dangerous Games: How to Play recently released and coincidentally it's a mystery about the murder of a game designer shortly before the beginning of Gen Con. I'm deep

Should I recognize these folks?

into the fourth D.J. Molles novel on the zombie apocalypse, so I haven't had a chance to get into Dangerous Games, but by all accounts it's a great book. Fifty Shades of Gray, The Remaining, Dangerous Games, the publishing world is rapidly filling with excellent novels from skilled story tellers who don't need a dusty publisher's blessing to sell their books. Shsssh! Hear that creaking? It's the rickety traditional publishers pulling apart at the seams.

In other game novel related news, an acquaintance of mine, Mark McLaughlin, recently released Princess Ryan's Star Marines. Based of the beloved game of the same name, Princess Ryan's Star Marines follows the exploits of a squad of star marines as they attempt to rescue the beautiful (I assume) Princess Ryan. You can read a review here.

Movies. Sharknado, the best movie of the summer, made it to the big screen. Regal Entertainment Group (among others) ran a midnight showing of the movie in select theaters last week. It's great to see Hollywood coming to it's senses. Who the hell needs plot, acting, or even common sense, as long as you have chainsaws, pretty girls, and sharks busting through plate glass windows?

Finally. I'm a big fan of bacon. After you see this commercial you will be too.