Pirate series.
Anne was always generous, but strict about wanting a good story well told. As an apprenticeship I could not have wished for better. It boosted me years beyond where I would have been at that time. She made me better than I knew I could be.
Bill arranged many apprenticeship-style book projects with junior authors. Many of whom have gone on to notable solo careers: among them Mercedes Lackey, Nancy Asire, Leslie Fish, and Elizabeth Moon. It also made me some close friends of Anne’s collaborators even though we never actually collaborated with each other.
SEC: Your collaboration with Piers Anthony, was it different too?
JLN: Yes, though the first things I worked on for him were also a pair of Crossroads Adventures . Bill, my husband, came up with the idea of creating a gazetteer set within the imaginary universes of popular novels. He started with Roger Zelazney’s Visual Guide to Castle Amber which was copiously illustrated by the wonderful Todd Cameron Hamilton. I didn’t write that first gazetteer, I wrote the next: The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern. For that Todd Cameron Hamilton and I spent ten days with Anne in Ireland, interviewing her and getting the ideas of what she wanted. Anne was already familiar with me. And Todd had a background in pre-med and so was able to sketch skeletons and muscle groups so that Anne was able to get on paper the dragons she always wanted.
Then Todd and I did a Visual Guide to Xanth for Piers Anthony. Piers wrote some of the internal material, but it was mostly me working from my research of the existing Xanth books—of which there were many.
SEC: Your husband, Bill Fawcett, has been a college professor and dean, teacher, corporate executive, writer, editor, anthologist, and game designer. How did you two first get together?
JLN: We met at a science fiction convention in the middle of the night, introduced by my friend Barbara. She told him, “Oh, there’s Jody. I need to get something for her. Tell her to stay where she is.”
Bill, who is a very eager person and loves to do things for people, came running over to me and said, “Barbara says you have to stay right here.” So while we waited for Barbara we attempted to make small talk. It was an awkward situation for both of us, but one of the things he came up with was asking me out. He is an incredibly wonderful, warm, considerate person so we got along very well. And still do.
* * *
Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist and award-winning producer of the podcast The Future And You . A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he’s also been a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen’s Universe Magazine. His nonfiction books include A Brief History of Predicting the Future and Indistinguishable From Magic: Predictions of Revolutionary Future Science. His SF novels include Bones Burnt Black and Skinbrain (Cerebrodermus Fantastica). He is also an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation.
THE HAUNTED GOLDMINE
by Derek Muk
artwork by Alan Beck
Dan looked at his watch: 10:00PM. He sighed in relief. He did one final sweep of the park, making sure all the buildings, entrances, and rides were locked. It was a muggy summer night and he mopped his sweaty face with his handkerchief. When he reached the Funhouse he noticed the dungeon-style doors the cars went through was ajar. He pointed his flashlight to the ground and saw the padlock had been cut. Damn kids! They probably went on a joyride inside. Got stoned and Lord knows what else. It happened before.
Next to the Funhouse was a ride called the Haunted Goldmine. Kids had broken in there before, too. Dan checked it out. He wasn’t surprised when he saw this padlock had been snapped off as well. Dan returned to the Funhouse and
Anne was always generous, but strict about wanting a good story well told. As an apprenticeship I could not have wished for better. It boosted me years beyond where I would have been at that time. She made me better than I knew I could be.
Bill arranged many apprenticeship-style book projects with junior authors. Many of whom have gone on to notable solo careers: among them Mercedes Lackey, Nancy Asire, Leslie Fish, and Elizabeth Moon. It also made me some close friends of Anne’s collaborators even though we never actually collaborated with each other.
SEC: Your collaboration with Piers Anthony, was it different too?
JLN: Yes, though the first things I worked on for him were also a pair of Crossroads Adventures . Bill, my husband, came up with the idea of creating a gazetteer set within the imaginary universes of popular novels. He started with Roger Zelazney’s Visual Guide to Castle Amber which was copiously illustrated by the wonderful Todd Cameron Hamilton. I didn’t write that first gazetteer, I wrote the next: The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern. For that Todd Cameron Hamilton and I spent ten days with Anne in Ireland, interviewing her and getting the ideas of what she wanted. Anne was already familiar with me. And Todd had a background in pre-med and so was able to sketch skeletons and muscle groups so that Anne was able to get on paper the dragons she always wanted.
Then Todd and I did a Visual Guide to Xanth for Piers Anthony. Piers wrote some of the internal material, but it was mostly me working from my research of the existing Xanth books—of which there were many.
SEC: Your husband, Bill Fawcett, has been a college professor and dean, teacher, corporate executive, writer, editor, anthologist, and game designer. How did you two first get together?
JLN: We met at a science fiction convention in the middle of the night, introduced by my friend Barbara. She told him, “Oh, there’s Jody. I need to get something for her. Tell her to stay where she is.”
Bill, who is a very eager person and loves to do things for people, came running over to me and said, “Barbara says you have to stay right here.” So while we waited for Barbara we attempted to make small talk. It was an awkward situation for both of us, but one of the things he came up with was asking me out. He is an incredibly wonderful, warm, considerate person so we got along very well. And still do.
* * *
Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist and award-winning producer of the podcast The Future And You . A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he’s also been a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen’s Universe Magazine. His nonfiction books include A Brief History of Predicting the Future and Indistinguishable From Magic: Predictions of Revolutionary Future Science. His SF novels include Bones Burnt Black and Skinbrain (Cerebrodermus Fantastica). He is also an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation.
THE HAUNTED GOLDMINE
by Derek Muk
artwork by Alan Beck
Dan looked at his watch: 10:00PM. He sighed in relief. He did one final sweep of the park, making sure all the buildings, entrances, and rides were locked. It was a muggy summer night and he mopped his sweaty face with his handkerchief. When he reached the Funhouse he noticed the dungeon-style doors the cars went through was ajar. He pointed his flashlight to the ground and saw the padlock had been cut. Damn kids! They probably went on a joyride inside. Got stoned and Lord knows what else. It happened before.
Next to the Funhouse was a ride called the Haunted Goldmine. Kids had broken in there before, too. Dan checked it out. He wasn’t surprised when he saw this padlock had been snapped off as well. Dan returned to the Funhouse and
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