Brent and Kristi chat with Bioware writer and editor, respectively, Patrick and Karin Weekes. They discuss how one finds himself or herself in the land of video games and the differences in working in that medium versus working on prose. For those of you who haven’t heard Kristi fangirling on the show, the Weekes have worked on the AAA Bioware video game series Mass Effect and Dragon Age (interview begins at about 39:05).
GIVEAWAY: We’ll randomly select of a tweet telling us your favorite Bioware character and why. Winner receives a set of The Palace Job, The Prophecy Con, and Masked Empire (Dragon Age), by Patrick Weekes. The giveaway ends Friday, June 26. Huge thanks to 47North and the Weekes.
The Prophecy Con: Book Two in the Rogues of the Republic series:
Who would have thought a book of naughty poems by elves could mean the difference between war and peace? But if stealing the precious volume will keep the Republic and the Empire from tearing out each other’s throats, rogue soldier Isafesira de Lochenville—“Loch” to friends and foes alike—is willing to do the dishonest honors. With her motley crew of magic-makers, law-breakers, and a talking warhammer, she’ll match wits and weapons with dutiful dwarves, mercenary knights, golems, daemons, an arrogant elf, and a sorcerous princess.
But getting their hands on the prize—while keeping their heads attached to their necks—means Loch and company must battle their way from a booby-trapped museum to a monster-infested library, and from a temple full of furious monks to a speeding train besieged by assassins. And for what? Are a few pages of bawdy verse worth waging war over? Or does something far more sinister lurk between the lines?
This episode is brought to you by Scavenger: Evolution by Timothy C. Ward. A compilation of Scavenger 1-3 (Red Sands, Blue Dawn and Twin Suns). In the future, sand divers search the depths for the lost city of Danvar and the truth behind their bleak existence. Divemaster Rush hasn’t dove since he lost his infant. A job offer turns from an escape to a trap and the lure of a hardened heart to survive like anyone else would. One dive leads to another. Farther and farther from the surface, death and evolution change his world. He’ll have to change too or watch his wife rise without him.
Inspired by Hugh Howey’s world of Sand. Written and sold with his permission. Scavenger: Evolution takes the landscape of Dune and throws in the pacing and thrills of Alien.
Available at all major online retailers in ebook and print, including signed copies direct from the author at SpikePub.com.
In our Weekes interview
Before the interview, Brent and Kristi discuss the Irene Gallo and Tor situation and whether Irene should be viewed as a company spokesperson. They also chat about the outcomes of the Nebula and Campbell Conference Awards. Here are the links we promised in the show: Irene Gallo FB Post, Peter Watts Gallo’s Humor, Laura Anne Gilman via Black Gate, Chuck Wendig, Tom Doherty’s letter.
During the interview, Kristi and Brent chat with Patrick and Karin Weekes about:
- What’s involved in writing/editing for AAA games.
- The respective career paths that led them to the industry.
- The differences in writing/editing for novels and games.
- Writing fiction in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age universe.
- Pioneering the romance wheel heart option in RPGs and including diverse characters in games.
- How family beagles can interrupt a Skype interview.
Patrick and Karin are both rampant on Twitter, and you can find more about Patrick and his fiction on Goodreads and at Amazon.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:10:59 — 65.4MB)
Worldwide thing or america only? (Tweety-thingy)
^^
It’s North America, Lethe (apologies for not specifying) but don’t let that stop you from playing- if the random winning tweet is from outside NA I’ll come up with something ebook related!
Thank you for answering 🙂
Sending books to germany might surely be pretty expensive, so I understand that.
THIS OPINION IS MINE AND NOT THE OPINION OF THE PEOPLE RINNING THIS WEBSITE
Ah, tor, the house that ignored a sexual harassing editor for years,let it swept under the rug(hmn, how much unsafeness will alienate people..who knows..)and did NOT put out a statement apologizing the harm and violence their inaction brought unto THEIR OWN authors..
But when a -female-person answers a question snarkily on her private facebook that gets saved and only publicised for drama WEEKS after…
Well, then tor has to speak, hang her dry, was thr hands from anything.
What that does for me: it shows that the (weaponized) hurt feelings of a racist sexist white surpremacist(a person that says white ppl are unable to rape, for example, and that any woman indicting a white man is therefor lying.. pretty practical in reg to the fraenkel thing…)and his crew are more important thhan the personal safrty from sexual harassment and hatemobs if tors OWN female authors..
So if you work there, you can harass for years until sth happens and few will noticd bc they never issue an oficcial statement…But bd a woman with a leftist anti hatespeech opinion and issue that on your private channel and your employer who had cared less for your safety will hang you for the mob to rip to shreds.
Very nice publisher/s
Hey Lethe,
We’ve had a few listeners comment now about the Tor sexual harassment issues and how that relates to the Gallo case, so Brent and I will be discussing it in the next show. For this discussion, we were definitely aware of how many authors had commented on how they feel Fenkel and Gallo were treated differently (many of which have been collected over at Black Gate), however we really wanted to focus on the question of whether Gallo could reasonably be considered a spokesperson for Tor (which we felt she was), not whether we agreed/disagreed with how it was handled/ what was said, etc. Having said that, feedback like yours definitely puts that topic at the top of our list for next week so we’ll be revisiting the Gallo discussion from the point of view of whether Tor deals with female/male employees differently in media so stay tuned.
Huge thanks for tuning in all the way from Germany and jumping in on the discussion!
Good *lord*. For people who are interested in the actual interview, mentioning that it begins around the 40 minute mark would have been nice.
Hey Kaja,
Feedback noted and we’ve listed the interview start time for part 2!