Muskrat Ramblings

Has anyone ever been to Chelyabinsk, Russia? Can anyone tell me anything about it? I have my reasons. John

Just a friendly reminder, all! Come to Dorkstock! http://www.dorkstock.com http://www.rock-con.com Bring all your dorky friends! Play lotsa dorky games! Win lotsa dorky prizes! See the cool new Dorkstock limited edition T-shirts! Meet the Real Igor, and play Kobolds Ate My Baby with him! Witness the Great Lukeski in Dorkstock’s first-ever concert! Play in the Chicagoland […]

In London now. Fly home tomorrow. “Home.” What a concept… Been gone so long, looks like up to me… **** Lucca – big, brilliant, insane, utterly, utterly mad and completely wonderful. Judith and I have NEVER been treated so well, and I’ve never worked so hard. I had no idea what to expect from the […]

Popping up for air in Florence. Will be in Lucca tomorrow. At the convention. I could talk about a few things… The beauty of Venice. The grandeur of Il Duomo in Florence. Seeing an astonishing Richard II in London. Going behind the scenes at Bush House and the BBC World Service. Getting back stage at […]

According to the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise con chair for Dorkstock IV: A preliminary game schedule for Dorkstock IV is up here. Still missing are game descriptions and a couple more games, such as Dorkstock Cha Cha Cha. What the heck is Dorkstock Cha Cha Cha, you ask? (Well, OK, you didn’t. But I’m telling you […]

Essen. Spiel. In brief. Thursday – 6-hours of signing. German food for dinner. Friday – 4.5 hours of signings. Spanish food for dinner. Saturday – 6.5 hours of signings. Including after the hall closed. Yugoslavian food for dinner. Sunday – One hour of sleep before flight out. French food for lunch. In France. Spanish food […]

Suddenly it turned cold, and Autumn was upon Wisconsin. And the flies HAVE slowed,, dammit. **** Speaking of slow, I’ve been letting the Spam Haiku lapse. Sorry about that. SPAM HAIKU By John’s Spammers Higini spittle Not working like it used to? Give it to her good Shoot five times as much 2 days of […]

Huge thanks to everyone who sent kind words regarding Spider. I received hundreds of messages. Many are still coming in. I had messages from close friends, friends I haven’t heard from in a while, people I’ve never met. All were incredibly thoughtful, and I appreciated them deeply. I may not be able to reply to […]

I wrote some of the below to a friend. I’m posting it here, and expanding just a bit, because I’m not sure I want to try and say this a different way. …sorry I’ve been quiet for a while. My 18-year old cat, Spider, who has slowed down quite a bit over the years, became […]

The Sell Sheet is done. The second-to-last proofread is done. The art is done. This is starting to get VERY exciting, now…the guys at 9th level and I are having a bast with this… And…Dork Tower 32 is off to press! In no small thanks to Melissa Kaercher, who pulled a marathon coloring session when […]