It seems no time has passed since Wizard World Austin, but it has been two weeks. I almost suspect someone has been pilfering minutes when my back is turned. Truth is, the available hours are so sliced up and distributed between all the active projects that every day seems to whip past. Updates on all these activities is forthcoming. For now, only two have reached a state deserving mention. First, volume 1 of The Scroll, the new magazine from Zarathustra Publishing, is hot off the press. Featured in its pages is part one of Rose Moon, my paranormal romance. This short novel, which will appear over the first four issues of The Scroll, is a story of Bigger MacGregor, a character familiar as a boy in Sleeper Awakes, the third book of The Hidden Lands of Nod, and as an old man in “Death on the Toilet,” my short story available for free download on Smashwords.com. To purchase copies of The Scroll, visit the Zarathustra Publishing site.

The notion of purchase is an expansive one, and I would like to point out that the left column of THIS site provides links to purchase paperback editions of all my currently available books—including newly minted and long awaited, The Way It Grows: An Introduction to Dvarsh, which I co-authored with the esteemed editor of the Blue Moose Press editions of my novels, Amanda Kimmerly. In fact, I herewith issue a seasonal appeal. Please buy copies of my books! They make wonderful gifts for every voyager of the imagination—and there is no better way to support art and literature than by purchasing it! These paperbacks may be available cheaper from your favorite retail bookseller, and they are certainly available cheaper as e-publications from Smashwords.com. If those are your chosen sources, go for them with blessings! Please note, however, that paperbacks ordered through this website are shipped with author signatures on the title pages. That’s not a deal one finds every day.

Follow the link to get all the scoop on Wizard World Austin Comic Con 2011, happening this very weekend at the Austin Convention Center. Doors open to the public Friday, November 11, at 4:00 p.m. Beyond all the celebrity guests, apart from the serious gamers, at a table in artists alley, Amanda Kimmerly and I shall hold forth on all manner of subjects Confabulous and Habdvarshan. Even better, we’ll be selling my novels and our jointly authored The Way It Grows: an Introduction to Dvarsh. Consider this a special appeal to reduce our inventory. Art, truth and beauty are near extinction, and only your support can pull them away from the brink. One of everything would be a dramatic launch into a richly imagined world.

Unless something unexpected pops up during the holiday season, this will be our last public presence for the year. This weekend will be your best bet to get unique oracle dice, signed books and original postcards for the gremlins large and small on your gift list. It would be lovely to see you there!

Questions about the state of Confabule are circulating into Stikmanz HQ, with good reason. Due to an error by the original design team, an unfinished, unarchitected version of the website was public for a time when it should never have been. After some back and forth, we were finally able to have the site in its unfinished state made private. Some few have wondered why the site was up, albeit in an embarrassing state, but then went away. The short answer is that the site remains under development and should never yet have seen public light. It is our hope—mine and Amanda Kimmerly’s—that we shall be able to launch the site soon with the assistance of a new developer. Our plan at this time is to keep the site private until we are satisfied that it does what we wish and represents our vision in an acceptable manner.

Questions about the website, however, are not the same as questions about Confabule, the company Amanda and I have begun. That entity, Confabule LLC, is operational. It is the venue through which the book Amanda and I co-authored, The Way It Grows: An Introduction to Dvarsh, has been released, and more projects are in the works. These go forward even as we continue shaping our eventual web presence.

If you’d like to find out more about Confabule and our plans for near, middle and far futures, come by Wizard World Austin Comic Con, November 11-13 at the Austin Convention Center. Look for Amanda and me at the Stikmanz table in artist alley. We’ll have books, postcards, dice and our own informative selves on hand to grabble with questions about reality.