We Need to Talk About KublaCon Prime 2025

This past Memorial Day weekend (May 23rd-26th) I once again returned to the Bay Area for KublaCon Prime 2025, my absolute favorite west coast gaming convention!

Like the last couple years, my friend Michael and I opted to drive versus fly as we've found it to be so much easier than dealing with airport delays, potential cancelations, and limited space to bring game accessories and auction items. We hit the road at 7:15am on Thursday the 22nd and rolled into the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport hotel at around 1:15pm (after breakfast and a quick stop for gas in Kettleman City).

One lunch in the hotel restaurant later and we were in our third floor room and ready to start the con!

That evening, a few of us gathered in one of the hotel boardrooms and I ran the short 2nd-level Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure, the Tower Out of Time by Michael Curtis. This was a casual, pizza-fueled affair, and a nice way to get into the Kubla mindset.

Friday marked the official start of the convention and I started things off running Happiness & Contentment, an original adventure for the Sixth Gun Roleplaying Game. I originally wrote and ran this adventure for GenghisCon some years back and decided to blow the trail dust off it and bring it back to the table. The group was great, and while I had to wrap things up quickly in the end, everyone had a terrific time.

Friday night, I made my way over to the poolside pavilion to help with the Friday Frenzy Flea Market and this was a big 'un! Almost all of the 61 tables were sold and occupied and when the crowd was allowed in, the place was a-buzzin'! Shockingly, I did not buy anything here!

The next morning, I started the day off playing in a session of Star Trek Adventures 2E which was a lot of fun. I then devoted a few hours to prepping for this year's Savage Saturday Night!

Despite it being a bit chilly out in the poolside pavilion, Savage Saturday Night went off without a hitch with five occupied tables and many gamers discovering Savage Worlds for their very first time. We had a raffle for some items donated by Pinnacle Entertainment Group, one of our GMs (Dan) celebrated a birthday (cookies were provided), and a "fast, furious, and fun" time was had by all. My thanks to GM Todd Evans for pics of the event!

Sunday was devoted almost entirely to the KublaCon Auction and this was easily one of the best auctions we've had in a very long time! A LOT of fantastic lots, very few unsold items, some new ideas implemented, and no significant technical issues to speak of.

Monday morning, Mike and I opted to hit the road early, returning to the L.A. area at 1:30pm. A smooth journey and a pleasant, stress-free end to KublaCon Prime 2025.

Unless plans change, my next gaming event will be GameholeCon in October!

Time for June on the Range 2025

Howdy, pardners! 🤠

As we ride into the sixth month of 2025, it's time to post my personal picks for this year's June on the Range BookTube reading event!

June on the Range was created by YouTuber, Michael K. Vaughan and is described as "a whole month devoted to Westerns and Western fiction." The idea is that you read some Western novels and then discuss them with the rest of the community via video, blog, or whatever works for you!

This year, Michael has suggested reading one novel by Louis L'Amour, one by Zane Grey, and then a third by whomever you wish.

As we're just a couple of days from the start of June, I thought I'd post about the three books I have in my stack and as time goes on I'll post more and hopefully wrap things up with an epic video!

1) Silver Canyon by Louis L'Amour (1951) - "Fueled by youth, courage, and quickness with a gun, Matt Brennan rode into Hattan's Point ready to live or die at a single challenge. But in one day he was a changed man. A beautiful woman had dared him to stay alive. A powerful landowner had set him up for a beating. And a good friend had died in his arms. Suddenly Matt found himself owner of the Two-Bar Ranch--and the odd man out in a vicious range war. With enemies everywhere, Matt knew that the next time he drew his gun, there would be much more than his life at stake--."

2) Horse Heaven Hill by Zane Grey (1959) - "Hurd Blanding and his men stampeded 3,000 wild horses into a savage trap--to slaughter and sell them for chicken feed. But one young girl loved the strength and beauty of these wild animals. With the help of a wealthy rancher, she fought to free them. And only a bullet could stop her!"

3) West of the Law by Al Cody (1947) - "Law in the Red Rock Country was argued with Colt .45s. No man knew that better than lawyer Tom Chisholm. He had refused to play ball with Symes Gallister and found himself the victim of the sweetest frame-up west of the Rockies. Tom was fighting for his life, and in a way, for his country. If one crook could run a town to suit himself, then America's young democracy was lost!"

I'm really looking forward to diving into these three books and who knows, depending on how quickly I get through them, I may well add an additional novel or two to my June on the Range reading list!

Watch this space, amigo!

Gearing Up for KublaCon 2025

As I write this (Sunday, May 18th), KublaCon 2025 is just a few days away and I could not be more excited! 😲

Over the weekend, I finished sorting and packing everything I'm going to need to run my two games (The Sixth Gun on Friday afternoon and Pathfinder® for Savage Worlds for Savage Saturday Night) as well as additional items for a private, friends-only Dungeon Crawl Classics game I'll be running Thursday evening before the con officially begins!

This year, due to my work situation (or lack thereof) as well as my commitment to a few other planned trips, I've had to cancel plans for Gen Con. While that decision has stung a bit, KublaCon is my must-attend annual west coast convention and I cannot wait.

The journey begins at 7am Thursday morning when my friend Mike and I meet up to hit the road for Burlingame, California. The hotel itself (the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport) is about 360 miles north, so the road trip can take us upwards of six hours total to get there. We do break things up with a stop for breakfast (typically IHOP or Denny's) and gas, often rolling into the parking garage around lunchtime.

Once there, we're normally able to check in early, then we unload the car, and then decide on lunch, either heading into Burlingame or walking to Max's just down the road.

After that, we start meeting up with friends back at the hotel, and if we have a game arranged (and a space in which to play it), we dive into that around 5ish, breaking to pick up our badges as registration is open between 6pm and 8pm.

The next morning, the con officially begins with a few scheduled events starting at 11am and registration officially opening at Noon.

KublaCon is an incredibly fun and very friendly event that is well worth your time. It has been going on for a while now and each year, it seems to get better and better. More events, better exhibitors, and more enthusiastic attendees.

If you've never made the trip out, I urge you to consider it some year.

For those attending KublaCon 2025 THIS YEAR, I'll see you all later this week!

"Kublaaaaaa!!!"

Books on the Boulevard

Today, I visited a local bookshop I've never been to before and that is Books on the Boulevard located at 13551 Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks, California.

Very quickly, it's a relatively small shop, but a well-curated one with tidy, well-labeled shelves stocked with, for the most part, hardcovers and firsts.

If you're looking for mass market (aka "A format") paperback fiction, you won't really find anything on these shelves. Additionally, while there are several categories represented, there are no genre fiction sections. Science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels are simply lumped in with "Literature."

That said, outside, there was a rolling cart full of books, all priced at $2 each. Glancing at the cart on the way out, I actually did find a few mass market books of interest including one Ace Double (Our Man in Space/Ultimatum in 2050 A.D.) and a very high number reprint of More Stories from the Twilight Zone. Both are in fantastic shape and I was happy to add those to my collection.

Hoping to make another trip back to Long Beach soon to revisit Planet Books and check out Once Read Books for my first time!

To BookTube, or Not to BookTube

I love books. 

I've certainly made no secret of my passion for reading AND, in certain cases, collecting books. When I was growing up, my parents had a decent library in our home and thanks to that, I was introduced to classic science fiction, contemporary horror, a smattering of fantasy, and some decent non-fiction from a very young age. I was maybe 11 when I first reached down and read my father’s Science Fiction Book Club edition of Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land.

In recent years, I have started watching various so-called “BookTubers” like Stephen Andrews (@outlawbookselleroriginal), Jules Burt (@JulesBurt), Jon Jones (@SciFiScavenger), and Gary Lovisi (@garylovisi357) among many others. These individuals all offer unique takes on publishing, extensive author biographies, relatable bookselling stories (something I have also done over the years), and book collecting with inciteful videos, book reviews, step-by-step instructions on how to care for (and repair) your collection, and so much more.

Alas, there are others out there who shall go unnamed that are also creating book-related content, and often quite a LOT of it, that is usually nothing more than showing off recent book hauls with little more than ill-informed, off-the-cuff commentary. I'm not entirely convinced these contributors are actually reading their books or even spending time off-camera researching the authors, the publishers, the cover artists, or the printing histories, all things we as viewers really wish to know.

So what exactly is the point of these types of channels other than to generate clicks and revenue?

When I sit down and watch a video by Stephen Andrews, I know I'm going to get 30+ minutes of insightful commentary about the promoted topic and I will walk away from my computer more educated and often inspired to invest in books he's discussed.

When I look at some of those other videos where the presenter is merely unbagging his latest estate sale haul and mugging for the camera as he cracks wise about some lurid piece of cover art, I often find myself clicking away from the video and moving on to other things. My time is valuable.

What are your feelings? Are you fine with creators just showing off book haul after book haul with nothing else of value or do you prefer to settle in for videos that enlighten as well as entertain?

That said, I've contemplated producing the occasional Booktube video myself. I would love to share with you my love for authors like John Wyndham, John Christopher, David Gerrold, Robert Silverberg, and others and tell you stories about how I first discovered certain authors alongside updates on some of my latest acquisitions including where I found them, their condition, and what inspired me to track them down in the first place.

If/when that happens, you all will be the first to know!

Cross-Time Inspiration

A few weeks ago, I was reviewing some of my many unfinished manuscripts. Truth be told, I have a LOT of stuff haunting my archives (and that includes countless files on my hard drives and hardcopies in my file cabinet) ranging from screenplays to short stories to one pretty good urban fantasy novel. While a lot of it is worthy of deletion, there are a few odds and ends in there I really should bring to completion someday.

One of those is a pretty solid start of a contemporary zombie story tentatively titled Bumper Crop. I could definitely see revisiting that one and even finding a potential buyer by the end of this year.

At the beginning of April, I was approached to write a new tabletop roleplaying game adventure by one of my publishers. The offer was fine, the timeline was doable, and I felt confident that I could deliver something fun for them. I signed the contract and cleared my schedule.

As I usually do when starting a new project, I began filling a blank page with ideas. Typically this borders on stream of consciousness with random words and phrases, doodles, bulleted lists, etc. Just word vomit to get all the cylinders firing.

In this particular case, one of the first things I wrote was a reference to the aforementioned zombie story followed by a few "what if" variations. Within an hour, the skeleton of an idea was staring up at me from the cluttered page, and that afternoon, I had a new document open and the project began in earnest.

A complete first draft was down and ready for playtest within a couple weeks, the result of which (including a character’s unfortunate demise) inspired a few essential adjustments and then "v1" of the manuscript was in my publisher's hands.

A few days later, we exchanged a couple emails, a handful of much-needed edits were made, and "v2" was off!

I am now waiting to hear back regarding this updating version, but I'm feeling quite good about it and delighted that a fragment of a short story I started two decades ago inspired me here in 2025! I’ll update you all about this project anon, hopefully with something wonderful like cover art!