And nuts to the Mayans (1).

I will shortly have a crack at another post on computer games, this time with the spotlight on role-playing (or lack of same), but currently research is, er, taking up all my time.

For now, just a quick update.

The various projects that I previously mentioned I was contributing to are now all up for grabs, being:

Vivisepulture, edited by Andy Remic and Wayne Simmons, from Anarchy, wherein lurks my story "Pipework".

What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been, edited by Storm Constantine, from Immanion, wherein is my article "Can I Keep Him?" and the story "The Indecipherables" which I've co-written with renowned author Justina Robson.

Horror for the Holidays, edited by Scott David Aniolowski, from Miskatonic River Press, wherein can be found my Lovecraftian opus, "Season of Sacrifice and Resurrection".

Furthermore I have a few dates for the 2012 diary even now:

- I will be at the SFX Weekender on 3–4 February doing I know not what, but I'll be there. The previous two have been fairly phenomenal multi-media events with extremely congenial company, so I'm looking forward to this one.

- I have been asked to guest at this year's Picocon (at, I think, Imperial College, London or thereabouts) on 18th February, at which I will also be doing Stuff.

- I've signed up for Alt Fiction 2012 on 14–15 April — this is not at Derby like the last few, but has migrated to Leicester for the convenience of the denizens thereof, or some such reason.

- I certainly intend to be at Fantasycon 2012, given the fun last time (3)

(1) Leaving aside the New Age types who have rather galloped ahead of the pack in declaring the end of the world, scholarly debate suggests there is no actual evidence that the Mayan calendar portends anything apocalyptic at all (from the wretchedly sparse material available). It seems just as likely that they were all marking their great great… grandchildrens' diaries for a particularly good party (2)

(2) Which in turn suggests that the Mayan culture was built on absurdly extended forward thinking and a careful attention to scheduling, and possibly the Spanish dealt them such a blow just because they failed to call ahead and book their invasion.

(3) Journey back through The Country that Public Transport Forgot notwithstanding.