Welcome to the official blog for all things N’plork. Hopefully anyone interested in the affairs of Tragacanth and beyond will find something interesting to chew on in this space. Incidentally, Sir Tol-u-ol occasionally sends me his thoughts on certain matters and I figure I may as well pass them along for everyone to see. Caveat: I don’t really edit what he says; don’t be surprised if he goes off on this topic or the other at length. When he gets wound up about something there’s not a lot I can do but just let the Goblin flow.
I’m excited about the upcoming release of Gathering of the Titans. Tol takes on a new role there, and becomes in the process a world-traveler. No longer can he say that he has never left the cozy confines of his native Tragacanth.
I was invited to attend TexanCon on the campus of Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas as a guest author recently. This con has a special place in my heart because a portion of the proceeds goes to a student scholarship fund. The attendance was small, but the con staff was enthusiastic and accommodating. After attending several much larger cons in a similar capacity I found the friendly, personalized attitude and atmosphere refreshing.
The con’s focus was anime, but as a fantasy author I still felt welcome and fawned over, something few writers can resist. They took the guest artists, voice actors, and authors out for a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant called Montana on Friday night and we all had a delightful time.
I got to know one of the vendors there, in a booth near my author’s table. He sold toys, most of which were based on popular geek culture memes like Game of Thrones, Star Trek, and so on. I’m something of a miniature starship collector myself, so I bought one from him. In the course of that we got to talking and I found out some interesting facts about his life. To me, that’s one of the best aspects of cons: getting to know people.
Today’s quote from Tol (transcribed exactly as he said it):
“I love my brother goblins. I really do. Right down to their scaly metatarsals. But some of them, I swear to Gammag, were hiding the next room over guzzlin’ razzle when the brains was bein’ handed out. I once went in the market down at the far end of Berquin in Sebacea—the one right next to that crazy-lookin’ fortune teller’s shop and across from the old freight carriage terminal—and I seen these two gobs tryin’ to stuff an entire bunch o’ globe-roots down each leg of their trousers so’s they could get out without payin’ for them. I hung my EE badge on the outside of my overjack in full view of everybody and just stood there watchin’. They stared right at me, shrugged, and kept walkin’ toward the door, pants full o’ root. They looked like a couple o’ yample beasts with leg tumors. I didn’t feel like haulin’ ‘em in, so I just blocked the door and said, ‘Excuse me. I think you two might have accidentally dropped some produce down your pants.’ They tried to look all innocent so I told them they could remove it or I would do it for them, probably not quite so gentle. Goblins: what are ya gonna do?”