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 29:45).
GIVEAWAY: We’ll randomly select two tweets answering the question: What is the species and sub-genre of the unscheduled visitor that made an appearance on the show? Each winner receives a set of The Palace Job, The Prophecy Con, and Masked Empire (Dragon Age), by Patrick Weekes. The giveaway ends Friday, July 3. Huge thanks to 47North and the Weekes. US/CAN only.
Last weeks winner is @Katbeth86 with her favorite Bioware characters Scout Harding and Dagna!
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 changes Amazon recently made to Kindle Unlimited payment terms for many authors and what that means in the grand scheme of publishing. At listener’s request we revisit the Irene Gallo and Tor situation briefly in relation to the James Frenkel controversy in 2013. Here are the links we promised in the show:
- Kindle Unlimited New Terms
- Irene Gallo FB Post
- Chuck Wendig response
- Tom Doherty’s letter
- Mary Robinette Kowal’s Post 1 & 2.
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: 54:51 — 50.7MB)
To echo what Kristi says, “Woo hoo!” Fascinating interview.
Oh, on the subject of Amazon’s new rules, given it is a bookshop AND a distributor AND a publisher, they have all the power. Distributors, as we all know, take a huge chunk of change from publishers for getting their books into shops, so I suppose this course of action must just make good sense to Amazon, as a new variant of the distribution model.