Aaaand...We're Back!

Which is to say I'm back, hopefully with some semi-regular posts here and over at Seattle Under Siege!

Been a lot going on around here. I've recently gotten a promotion to lead world designer at Flying Lab Software, where my focus is on Pirates of the Burning Sea (on sale wherever fine MMOs are sold (and online, too, which is probably redundant). The second Lorwyn Cycle novel I wrote with the talented and steel-livered Scott McGough is on sale now--it's called Morningtide and you should buy several copies for yourself, our friends, and your family, once they all stop fighting each other for the copy of Lorwyn (Book 1) you bought. See how it pays to buy in bulk? And don't forget to keep your eye out for Eventide, the last book in the set (also written with McGough). And somewhere in there is an anthology I can't seem to find on Amazon that will contain a novella Scott and I wrote--it'll connects the two 'tides.

I also got married to my girlfriend of some 15 years. We figured it was time to end the "will they or won't they?" speculation when it was least expected--long after anyone was asking. We're very happy and so are the cats, who no longer have to deal with the psychological torture of being from a broken home. Good kitties.

All shilling and wedlock-boasting aside, I turned 36 today and will soon be sleeping the sleep of the just, so I think that's all I got for now--but if you are actually interested in what I'm doing, check back soon. I'm tanned, rested, and ready--I don't intend to let another six months lapse before posting again.

Lorwyn Book I On Sale Now, Fat Pack On Sale Soon

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that my first co-written novel (co-written with my supremely talented friend Scott McGough) is now on sale at finer book sellers everywhere. That probably includes your comic, card, and hobby shops, and wherever else Magic: the Gathering-related items are sold. Lorwyn should also soon be available (in October, if I don't miss my guess) as part of the Fat Pack if you reckon you'll want some delicious cards and strategy to go with your fiction.

Don't forget to place your pre-order for Morningtide (Lorwyn Book II) while you're at it--my cat told me you should, and it's best not to disagree with him. I once saw him cut a man's jugular just for snorin' too loud.

And the Winner is...McGough!

Crossed the finish line with a few minutes to spare. Mr. McGough finished a few hours ahead and actually got a good night's sleep, but that's just how I roll. If I'm not wrapping it up and mailing it off at 7 AM on a workday, during which I will then zombie my way through until I can return home and slip into sleep's warm embracing warming embrace, then I ain't writin'.

But I don't have to tell you that. And I certainly don't need to tell Bill. Since we ventured into the ancient past for our last Shatneriffic video, it only seems appropriate to venture into the slightly less ancient past for the big finish. Note the shiny new "computer graphics" in the opening titles and especially note that Hooker has moved from a pair of car hoods and an airplane wing to jumping from a helicopter and onto a speeding speedboat!

EDIT: This was originally entitled "And the Winner is...Me!" because, in the exhilaration of hitting the deadline, I felt as if I had "won" a "race" of some "kind." But then I actually looked at what I wrote and realized by any estimation, McGough "won" in terms of both word count--which I'll endeavor to make up for in the second draft, by gum--and in terms of crossing this so-called Finnish Line, which I assume is somewhere in the vicinity of Espoo. Not that it's a contest, except it is.

Big Crunch Weekend

This is it. Last possible weekend to work on this deadline. Got enough cigarettes to get through tomorrow, at least. Got a shiny new French press and a little bit of the birthday bourbon left for when the coffee doesn't keep them words a-flowin'. Got the D. Got a good chair, and a solid re-re-re-revised outline.

Just need a little something to kick things off right. Bill? Got anything for me?

Lorwyn Book I Cover

Amazon has a cover image up for book 1 in the Lorwyn cyle, the first entry in the new set Scott McGough and I are writing (currently we're hard at work on the book 2). Note that the image on Amazon is an early version. I expect it's not the final version, especially the byline.

Here's a home-made corrected version I made for kicks. My apologies to the cover artist, I could not find a name to credit.

Picked the Wrong Week to Stop...

So I went to the doctor the other day and learned:

A) My coat weighs about 12 pounds and my ego would appreciate if I did not wear it the next time I stepped onto a fancy doctor scale.

B) They have to shave your chest to get an EKG.

C) If it feels like a heart attack, it might just mean your stomach has decided to move on up, Jeffersons-like, into a deluxe apartment above the sternum, where your esophagus rightly claims precedence.

D) Said condition can lead to a disease that I had previously thought invented by a cabal of pharmaceutical companies, acid reflux.

E) After one last Willie Nelson's Peach Cobbler vs. Stephen Colbert's American Dream throwdown (already "in the can," as it were) I'm going to cut back on the iced cream reviews.

But the worst, the absolute worst, is that I have to cut back on my coffee intake. Coffee and the demon that walks like Camel (Light) are the two crutches that leave my hands free to type. I have a long-term plan to deal with the smoking (that is, I'll quit...in the long term. When I hit the next deadline, with any luck.) But the coffee is something I can theoretically get by without, not being quite as addictive, or so I'd always assumed. And even though caffeine is apparently also A Thing I Have To Do Without, screw that noise. There is caffeine in less acidic beverages--green tea, for example. And really, a pot and a half is just silly, and the fancy Cuban coffee joint down the street is a bit pricey.

But it just ain't the same. I reckon I'll cut back a bit, maybe get that pot and a half down to a cup and a half, with maybe another half or three as needed. Slow and steady wins the race. And thanks to the fact I live in the good ol' U.S. of A., I have roughly 73,000 different heartburn medications to choose from.

It Means "Helmet Lizard."

Welcome to Corythosaurus. I'm Cory Herndon, and when I was five years old I discovered I was named after a dinosaur.

I write things, and I intend to write more things here as time allows. During the day, I write about pirates for this game, and put words in their mouths. You'd think it would be all Yarrring and Yo-Hoing, but it turns out pirates say things between those words occasionally. Until a few months ago, I did much the same thing on this other game.

By nights and weekends, I write fiction, including the Magic: the Gathering Ravnica trilogy, and this, and this, and some other things. I've got a website where you can find links to all of those, as well as leftovers from when I was trying to do all of this with clumsy tools I didn't really understand. This is so much easier.

I'm not sure what this blog's going to focus on yet, but I'm thinking I might ramble on about comic books, what I'm working on, what I'm watching, what I'm playing, and if you're very unlucky, what I'm eating.

Speaking of which, today was a Dick's Deluxe and 2 cheese for lunch, and then S.P. cooked sole and green beans for dinner washed down with a Fat Tire. I don't usually eat breakfast.

Tonight's feature was The Ladykillers with Alec Guiness and the evening will soon conclude with some Enchanted Arms. Fine game, if you enjoy the classic, linear, Japanese RPG style, with all the weirdness and turn-based hijinks that come with it. But funny as it is, it can't beat the Ladykillers. Yet.