A Good Brew is Hard to Find

In my last post, I dusted off the intro from the Tavern Wench Journal choose-your-own-adventure story, and I sort of got caught up in reading it. Turns out, despite being ten years old, it still holds up, and it's pretty damn funny (although, I admittedly have a warped sense of humor). I pitched the idea of self-releasing the story as an e-book to collaborator Ahimsa Kerp and artist Chris Turk, and they gave me the thumbs up, so—bam!—here it is.

I present to you A Good Brew is Hard to Find in its entirety, with active hyperlinks so you can lead the Wench, Captain, and Hunchback in the adventure of their lives. You'll find it to be very much in the vein of Douglas Adams, but a bit naughtier and sillier. Still, with pirates, ninja-vampires, big-headed aliens, a mad alchemist, and ensorcelled beer, what would you expect?

From Tavern Wench to Mettlefetchers and Beyond!

Alas, the Mettlefetchers Kickstarter campaign died last week with a pathetic little whimper. Collaborator Ahimsa Kerp and I really thought the project would elicit more attention and excitement, particularly with the great press it got from SF Signal and Wendy Wagner at Opera Buffo, but so it goes with crowdsourcing. We accept the judgment of the Internet masses and have shelved the project for now, but fret not—if you were excited about the prospect of an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure style spec-fiction book, rest assured I’ll be revisiting the concept again in the near future. With today’s e-reading technology, it just makes too much sense. Hell, Ahimsa and I explored the CYOA concept all the way back in 2003 with a little magazine called Tavern Wench Journal of Lore.

It all started back in the late 90’s. I was killing time during a summer internship and thought it’d be cool to launch my own fantasy e-zine. To set the tone I was shooting for—edgy, fun, and irreverent—I named the zine Tavern Wench.

L&L Dreamspell Closes Doors - Baldairn Motte out of print

I'm very sad to announce that Linda Houle, co-founder of L&L Dreamspell Publishing, has passed away. With her passing, the publisher of The Roads to Baldairn Motte, has closed its doors, and all of their 300 some odd titles are now out of print. My co-authors and I send our sympathies to Linda's family and friends, including her L&L Dreamspell partner Lisa Smith. Both Linda and Lisa were great to work with and we thank them for taking a chance on an oddball project like a mosaic fantasy novel with three unknown authors.

All rights to Baldairn Motte have reverted back to us, and my agent is currently reviewing the book to hopefully place it with another publisher. With any luck, the book will be available again in at least e-book format. Until such time, if you want a copy, we do have extra paperbacks that we use for book signings and whatnot--just shoot me an e-mail or message on FB.

Rest in peace, Linda.

-Garrett Calcaterra

Dreamwielder Art Showcase

I'm very excited to present the brand new collection of Dreamwielder artwork from artist Patrick Williams. Patrick is a talented, versatile artist, and it's inspiring to see his vision of the Dreamwielder characters. So much so, I have half a mind to put down my work in progress, Remember the Future, and start writing a sequel to Dreamwielder, but no, there's time enough for that. For now, I hope you will enjoy the artwork as much as I have. Cheers!

-Garrett Calcaterra

FREE BOOKS!!! - The Mettlefetchers Inverse Meme Campaign

FREE BOOKS!!! You've likely seen the series of Mettlefetchers pictures I've been posting the last week or so. Now I need your help with the inverse meme campaign. Repost some of the Mettlefetchers memes, or better yet, show off your Photoshop skills and make your own with the catch phrase "What is Mettlefetchers?" Post them wherever you hangout online--FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram--and then report back here where you've shared them and I'll pick my top 2 favorite helpers to receive the prize package in the picture: a DRM free version of Dreamwielder (Kindle not included) and paperbacks of Baldairn Motte, Umbral Visions, and Pirates & Swashbucklers 2. It's a win-win situation for everyone. Free books and you do me a giant favor in helping promote Mettlefetchers by simply having a little fun. Whadaya think?

-Garrett Calcaterra

What is Mettlefetchers?

For Your Consideration: Mettlefetchers

As I wrote a while back in an article at Waistcoat & Watch, one of the keys to having a successful career as a writer is creating a large body of work. If you want to make a living as a novelist, you need to have a bunch of books out there for fans to buy and read. I take the idea a step further and really try to diversify my writing, publishing everything from novels and short stories to magazine articles and essays, not to mention writing screenplays to submit to festivals on the long shot some producer will actually want to produce one and write me a fat check (yeah, I know, fat chance). In any case, this usually means I’m juggling multiple projects at any given time, and right now is no exception. In fact, my good friend and frequent collaborator, Ahimsa Kerp, and I have just a launched a new project we’d like to submit for your consideration: Mettlefetchers.