MECH: AGE OF STEEL is coming...

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that i freaking <3 giant robots.

I've been a mecha-head since I was a little lad, and that love of cool hardware truly blossomed when I discovered anime in my teens. Thanks to shows like Robotech, Mobile Suit Gundam, Metal Armor Dragonar (and later Patlabor, Martian Successor Nadesico, Neon Genesis Evangelion and others) I've kept alive that heavy metal thrill, kindling the flame anew when Pacific Rim rolled out.

So, naturally, when I heard that the gang over at Ragnarok Publications were assembling a new anthology dedicated to such things, I could not sign up fast enough.

I worked with Ragnarok on their previous short story collection about gigantic destructive things, Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters, and now I'm stoked to be joining an all-star crew of authors for Mech: Age of Steel - an anthology dedicated to giant robots of all kinds. Check out the awesome cover art by Victor Adame below...

 

Edited by Tim Marqutiz and Nick Sharps, along with me M:AoS will feature stories by Kevin J. Anderson & David Boop, Jody Lynn Nye, Graham McNeill, Peter Clines, Jeremy Robinson, Martha Wells, Jeffrey J. Mariotte & Marsheila Rockwell, Ramez Naam & Jason M. Hough, J.C. Koch, Jeff Somers, Matt Forbeck, Anton Strout, Bill Fawcett, C.L. Werner, James Ray Tuck, Jr.,  M.L. Brennan, Timothy W. Long, Jennifer Brozek, J.M. Martin, Kane Gilmour, Paul Genesse, Patrick M. Tracy, Andrew Liptak, Steve Diamond, Shawn Speakman, Mark Teppo and Mallory Reaves.

Mech: Age of Steel powers up later this year as a Kickstarter project, and there will be a bunch of neat perks and stuff for backers to get their hands on.

Check out the official Ragnarok Publications page Here and watch the skies for more info in the weeks to come...

Mecha! Hasshin!

NINE WORLDS 2015

So the delightful folks over at the Nine Worlds Geekfest event have been kind enough to invite me along to their convention this year, which is being held over the weekend of the 7th-9th August, at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel across from London's Heathrow airport.

As they describe it, "It’s about gaming, film, cosplay, fandom, literature, science, geek culture, meeting people and having a really big party" and you can find out more about the event by visiting the website Here.

I'll be along to talk about stuff - currently I'm on the dedicated Star Trek track but there may be more of me depending on how things shake out - and joining me will be a whole bunch of other interesting people, including my fellow Trek novelist Una McCormack and top gaming chap James Wallis. The current guest line-up is listed Here.

DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED hits E3!

This week is the big E3 videogames trade show over in sunny Los Angeles, and as part of the hype extravaganza, m'colleagues at Eidos Montreal have been showing off new footage from Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, our new game and sequel to 2011's blockbuster hit Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Rather than waste time with words, I'll just let the game do the talking with a video dump...

You can also check out the amazing high def power of the Dawn Engine - the tech behind DXMD - in this brief demo showing the Golem City ghetto...

And lastly, here's producer Jean-Francois Dugas showing off a couple of live play-throughs of the Golem City environment from early in the DXMD story...

...A Great Adventure Begins...

Last month I announced with a (20th Century Fox) fanfare that I've been working with games studio Ninja Theory on the latest iteration of the Disney Infinity toys-to-life videogame - specifically the Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars playset Twilight of the Republic; you can see more about that by clicking Here.

But as well as writing the story and scripts for the TotR playset and Clone Wars era-characters (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Yoda and Darth Maul), I also worked on something else that we've been keeping under wraps until today...

 I got to write for Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren and Zeb Orrelios, four of the main cast from the Star Wars Rebels cartoon series, helping to bring them into the world of Disney Infinity! They'll join the Clone Wars characters in Twilight of the Republic and the characters from the original Star Wars trilogy in the Rise of the Empire playset.

For more pictures and information, check out the Infinity Inquirer site fansite.

You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Geek Apocalypse

A couple of weekends ago, I got to round out my merry month of May with three days of relaxing nerdery at the UK Games Expo convention in Birmingham, a massive board gaming event packed with interesting folks, cool games and lots of to indulge my cardboard and dice habit...

While I was there, Steven Hesse of the ace Geek Apocalypse podcast/YouTube/Twitch channel sat down with me at my signing table for a chat to talk about such things as my love of games, how I got my start as a writer and the challenges of writing in a shared universe. You can find me Here on Episode 80 (from the 26.17 mark), or also via iTunes if you'd like to subscribe to Steven's show.

This episode also features a whole bunch of other folks, including Librium Games, Dice Sports, The Next Great American Board Game, Andrew Harmen of Frankenstein's Bodies, Chris Birch of Modiphius, Dave Cousins of North And South Games and Rob Burnham, editor of the new Tabletop Magazine.