Seed of the New Flesh

Description

The only Feng Shui supplement where I’m the sole author, I worry that it has that same To Go problem of self-indulgence. Working with an editor who doesn’t get what you’re trying to do is an exquisitely painful experience, but working with no editor at all means you’re in a void and have no idea if anyone is going to pick up what you’re laying down. If I was writing it today, the ‘short’ story at the beginning (which I like and think has a good plot) would be shorter just because people don’t buy these books for the setting fiction. On the other hand, if I was writing it today, I might not have come up with the density of ideas per page that I had. Back then I had no children and more energy. By the same token, I had less focus and experience.

This book also holds a special place in my heart because I used it to threaten Jose Garcia into paying me what he owed for the first two books. He was getting desperate for more product, to earn more profit, to try and dig his way out of debt, and I had a complete manuscript. With this leverage, I was able to get him to take out his checkbook right there at GenCon 1996 (or was it 1997?).

Ironically, after paying he never got a chance to publish it, he went bankrupt and I got the rights back in time to sell them to Atlas. It’s quite possible that I’m the only writer who worked for Daedalus and ultimately got paid for everything the company published.