2016 in Review

With 2016 coming to an end, I'm writing out goals for next year and looking back over what I've worked on this year. I had a number of stories appear in new formats -- Golden Chaos came out as audio fiction from Podcastle with a fantastic narration from Heath Miller. I'm over the moon to say that Podcastle has picked up a sequel to this story, entitled "The Chaos Village," which is from Rob's POV. It'll be out in 2017.

Poet-Scholars of the Necropolis saw print for the first time in the Myriad Lands anthology. And Genie from the Gym also got the audio treatment over at Far Fetched Fables, with Chris Lade narrating.

I also had four new short stories published. Of these, I'm most proud of Dragon Soap, out from
Fireside Magazine. Here's an excerpt:

Gran never did like it when I used the Winchester to deal with dragons -- so I went and did a damn fool thing and set out to hunt them in the dead of night. It wasn't hard to sneak by Gran. She snored twice as loud as she barked, which was saying something.

I clambered down the hill from out farm and into the swamp. A half-moon glowed above the trees, casting strange shadows over the curtains of moss and standing pools of water. It almost made the mud look like opals, but that didn't change the smell.

I had two stories out from Daily Science Fiction this year, Words of Creation and At the Museum of Holographic Art. Strange Horizons also released Dragon-Smoked Barbeque.

I had fun writing all of these. Some -- including the Rob stories -- started years ago. Others were sparked during soap-making experiments, barbeque excursions, time spent playing with my young children, Codex writing contests, Wikipedia rabbit holes, and other such noble pursuits. I hope you enjoy.

More Instructables

Back in May, I wrote up how to make a historical Aztec foaming chocolate drink, something I'd researched and experimented with and was very proud of. I put it up on Instructables, a DIY website with a vast pool of user-created knowledge. I wanted to throw my efforts as far into the internet as I could.

I like DIY, and I've since written a few more Instructables. Thankfully my picture-taking skills are improving. All three of these were featured Instructables, and the Churrasco Beef placed in the Meat Contest. Enjoy!

100% Whole Wheat Home-Ground Sandwich Bread, Rolls, and Focaccia

Brazilian BBQ Churrasco Beef

Whole Fire-Roasted Pineapple

Dragon Soap

My story "Dragon Soap" is live at Fireside Fiction! I'm over the moon about this great artwork from Galen Dara. To see the whole picture and read the story, click here.

Words of Creation

My short story "Words of Creation" is live at Daily Science Fiction!

Bookshelf Couch

So long as I was building a couch, I thought I ought to attach a bookshelf to it. It makes a very nice end table (to hold the book you're currently reading, of course). I figured I hadn't posted anything random in a while, and I might be ridiculously happy with my woodworking efforts. This project was inspired by two absolutely fantastic plans from Homemade Modern, here and here.

I love making things myself -- I love creating something custom that's "just right". I love making memories. I love drilling pocket holes and smelling the sawdust. But there's always this fear that at the end, it will all collapse into a pile of lumber. It's always a miraculous relief when that doesn't happen.

Dragon-Smoked Barbeque

My short story, "Dragon-Smoked Barbeque" is live at Strange Horizons! You can read it in print or listen to Anaea Lay read it.

But even if you're listening, do click on the print link. K.C. Garza did some amazing dragon artwork for this story, and it'd be a shame to miss it.

Myriad Lands Now Out

Myriad Lands is now out! Both Volume 1: Around the World and Volume 2: Beyond the Edge. I loved the premise for this anthology -- fantasy stories set outside the well-trod Western tropes. Fantasy has so much to offer. My story, "Poet-Scholars of the Necropolis" appears in Volume 2. It was originally published as audio fiction from Podcastle. This is its first time in print.

This has actually been out for several weeks now. My husband said to hide any packages that came in the mail, as he was expecting a birthday present for me. I dutifully hid my book-shaped package, only to find out later they were my author copies. Extra birthday presents for me? I'm just digging into these now, and I'm enjoying all the unique worldbuilding.

Salt Lake City Comic Con

I'll be at Salt Lake City Comic Con tonight, on "Worldbuilding and Magic Systems: A Character of their Own." 7:00pm, Room 253A. Comic Con is always great -- I'm looking forward to being there again.

Golden Chaos Podcast is Live!

"Golden Chaos" is live at Podcastle! Click here to listen! This was originally published in IGMS, and Heath Miller has done an absolutely fantastic job narrating it.

It's been very cool to see the Podcastle forums -- it's always amazing, gratifying, and humbling to see a story really resonate with someone.

"At the Museum of Holographic Art" Live at Daily Science Fiction!

My short story "At the Museum of Holographic Art" is up! Click here to read it for free.

And, for your convenience and because it's gorgeous, here's the art that inspired this little story -- Henry Ossawa Tanner's "The Annunciation", 1898.

"Dragon Soap" Accepted!

I'm very happy to say that my story "Dragon Soap" has been accepted by Fireside! This is a fun story involving dragons, saponification, and Winchesters. I'm looking forward to sharing it with you.

Historic Foam Aztec Chocolate Drink

Last spring, I found myself cursing at Google. I search and searched for a recipe for making authentic Aztec chocolate. I found stuff that foamed...with milk in it. I found stuff with only pre-Columbian ingredients...that didn't foam.

So I began experimenting. My chocoholic husband did not seem to mind. After a good bit of trial and error, we came up with something I'm very proud of -- a drink made from just cacao and water that actually produces a thick, delicious foam.

My husband pointed out that we'd done something cool, and I needed to actually write it up and share it. I thought about posting it on just my blog, but figured more people could find it more easily if I wrote this up as an Instructables. Behold, the chocolate recipe!

There are a couple modern shortcuts -- like using pre-ground cacao (or chocolate liquor, available in most supermarkets as unsweetened baking chocolate). But I'm very pleased with it.

Guest Post: Josh Vogt and Cutthroat Caverns

If you missed it, last year Josh was here talking about Scotland Yard. He's got a new book out, The Maid of Wrath, and he's back with a new boardgame to talk up. Here's Josh!

The Enemy of My Enemy is A Dirty Bastard

At different times, I enjoy competitive games and cooperative games. Quite different dynamic in either. So imagine my joy when I discovered a game that combined the two! Back at the 2015 Origins Game Fair, I was in the author alley, selling books and enjoying time talking with other authors. After hours, many of us got together to break out different games and have some fun. One night, a small group of us were introduced to a game called Cutthroat Caverns.

Now, Cutthroat Caverns, at first, looks like a boardgame version of a dungeon crawl. You have different classes, different abilities, and go through a series of monster encounters, trying to survive. The player with the most prestige at the end of 9 encounters wins. The twist is that only the player who lands the “killing blow” on an encounter actually gets the associated prestige. Yet without teamwork, encounters are basically impossible to overcome.

So, at the same time, you’re working together to defeat a big nasty...but also looking for the best way to ensure no one else gets that precious final blow, so you get all the prestige. Betrayal is inevitable, but oh-so-fun. You have cards that deal damage, block other people’s attacks, and can even heal one another (if you get the other player’s permission to do so, since it often gives the healer a nice little bonus). And there’s always the possibility that if there’s too much in-fighting, no one will survive and everyone loses.

Of course, on coming home, I had to immediately order the game, plus several expansion packs. It’s a fast-paced game that only takes an hour or two, isn’t too hard to learn, but can require some really twisted strategies to survive. Even if you aren’t into RPGs or fantasy-style games, I highly recommend this one for its unique mechanic and pure fun.

Just be ready to discover exactly how sly or underhanded your friends can be in the process.

About Josh:Author and editor Josh Vogt’s work covers fantasy, science fiction, horror, humor, pulp, and more. His debut fantasy novel is Pathfinder Tales: Forge of Ashes, published alongside his urban fantasy series, The Cleaners, with Enter the Janitor and The Maids of Wrath. He’s an editor at Paizo, a Scribe Award finalist, and a member of both SFWA and the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. Find him at JRVogt.com or on Twitter @JRVogt.

Salt Lake Comic Con FanX!

Panels!

On Friday, March 25, at 12:00-1:00, I'll be moderating on one of my favorite topics:

And on Saturday, March 26, at 11:00-12:00, you can find me here:

"Genie from the Gym" at Far Fetched Fables

My short story "Genie from the Gym" has been reprinted by the podcast Far Fetched Fables! So if you like to listen to your fiction, this link is for you.

I'm over at Bookshop Talk, talking about The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea, translated by JaHyun Kim Haboush. Go read about it! Or don't -- and just go read the book!