Flotsam and Jetsam. Not Eels.

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Been a while since I’ve blogged, and I’m very sorry about that. Have been neck-deep in a maelstrom of change, deadlines, and life upheavals. With the dust settling, let’s just say that I’m a touch behind… Our new place is great (everyone here treats us like gold) and we’ve managed to get the kitchen, master bath, and living room up-and-running. The rest of it, though? HAH, HAH, HAH! Still need to sort through my art supplies and get caught up with “Oh, I should have done that years ago.” For example, to decorate the broom I made I bought these gothic mini-book charms from Etsy. Gee, maybe I should have polished that camping axe in 2008? Yeah, that. Welcome to the Land of Mundania. All these things I conveniently forget–and now have to deal with. Otherwise? How can I be expected to make messes start anything new? Hee.

As you know, we’ve been working on the Firefly RPG launch. I have some news to share on that front. Here’s a picture of a pallet of corebooks being crated for safe shipping! Huzzah!

Firefly RPG Corebook

We’ll be making some announcements soon. I’m pretty sure you’re going to flip out and be supremely thrilled with what we’ve got going on–especially since the corebook will be available internationally! In the meantime, our friends at DriveThruRPG.com are having a big Christmas in July sale through Monday. The Firefly RPG line is 25% off in digital. Shiny! I was thrilled to find an actual play video courtesy of Matthew Tyler-Jones where a shiny Crew dives into my Episode, Friends in Low Places.

Speaking of DriveThruRPG.com, I have a new book out! Unframed: The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters is climbing up the charts. Twenty-three writers and game designers, including yours truly, contributed to this book of essays. Check it out!

In other news, I’ve put down the beads and music and artwork (Yes, this is me hanging my head in shame for…sadly…I have not unpacked those yet… But I DID win a design-a-onesie contest! Don’t ask, it was an alternate universe.) and picked up my controller. My anti-stress relief has been Age of Reckoning: Kingdoms of Amalur. I am min/maxing this game like nobody’s business. Haven’t gone to jail yet–this is a good thing, mind you. But, I like the side quests and all the surprises that are in store for me. Does it have a mini-map. YES. Does it have a world map. YES. Does it have a local map. YES. Can you improve your relationship with merchants over time. YES. Can you give the villains a serious beat down? YES. I think it’s a good prep for my winter play-through of the game with no end: Skyrim. Here, the gameplay is like a cross between Dragon Age and Skyrim, which is really good for somebody like myself who hasn’t played World of Warcraft.

I should probably get back to writing since (you guessed it) I’m behind. The GOOD news is that I finally reached the point where I’m having so much fun I’m writing in my sleep again. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT THING. I may pretend to be a planner, but really? I’m a pantser. When I’m having a blast, that’s when all the crazy comes together to be unraveled… And there’s a lot more coming. Hee.

BEFORE I GO… (Are you sick of me yet?) I kinda sorta had a moment of: “I want to do something awesome for my cat, Rimmon.” Black cats are the least adopted out of all the felines simply because they have black fur. This superstition is rooted in 19th century advertising for Halloween and may stretch back even further, based on the fact that black cats in particular have a very distinctive cry and were thought to be witch’s familiars because of it. Their cry evolved so sympathetic humans would bow to our feline overlords put out food for them at night. Because of the superstition surrounding their black fur, most shelters won’t allow them to be adopted during the month of October due to a long and sordid history of abuse. **NOT** COOL.

Anyway, in response to all this, friend and cartoonist Ursula Murray Husted made this for me, for the Black Cat Society. The link’ll take you to her Tumblr page. We’ve also got a BCS: Black Cat Society FB Group set up, and if you’re a proud owner or appreciator of black cats? You can join us! I’ll be adding the links to the sidebar on my blog, too.

BCS Black Cat Society

That’s all for now! Back to the grindstone…

    Mood: Guilt of a 1,000 Freelancers
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: There can never be only one.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Well? Um…
    In My Ears: There’s a fan. And Lady Crescent Moondragon’s tank.
    Game Last Played: Age of Reckoning: Kingdoms of Amalur–with realistic corpse-twitching!
    Book Last Read: A stack of gaming books for work.
    Movie Last Viewed: Huh… *scratches head*
    Latest Artistic Project: Cue dead silence.
    Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Last Man Zombie Standing
    Latest Game Release: Mortal Remains
    What I’m Working On: Primarily tie-in games work, original comics, short stories, and novels.




Monica Valentinelli is an author, artist, and narrative designer who writes about magic, mystery, and mayhem. Her portfolio includes stories, games, comics, essays, and pop culture books.

In addition to her own worlds, she has worked on a number of different properties including Vampire: the Masquerade, Shadowrun, Hunter: the Vigil, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, and Robert E. Howard’s Conan.

Looking for Monica’s books and games that are still in print? Visit Monica Valentinelli on Amazon’s Author Central or a bookstore near you.

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