01/13/2006: "Welcome to the Site!"

If you're not here by design, then you must have accidentally stumbled upon this site somehow. Either way, welcome!

This is, for all intents and purposes, the professional writing site of author and game designer Gary Astleford. In other words: me!

Ever since I was in junior high school, I've been playing games of all kinds, though my interest in Dungeons and Dragons (as well as role-playing games in general) began in elementary school. It was a fourth or fifth grade book fair that led me to purchase my first "Endless Quest" book, Dungeon of Doom, by Rose Estes.

With a few of those Endless Quests under my belt, I learned that there was a game associated with the books that was quite unlike any I'd heard of. I learned about AD&D from older kids, and the tales they spun of fantasy worlds where anything was possible made my imagination reel. I eventually saved my pennies (or begged them from my mother, I don't recall), and bought the original AD&D Monster Manual and Monster Manual II.

I didn't actually pick up dice until the seventh grade, and I didn't start to formulate my own rules modifications and original content until I was well into high school. Getting published for the first time took quite a bit longer, though I dare say I had quite a web presence (thanks to my contributions to Mockery's Cyberpunk 2020 site) in the mid-nineties.

My first paid publishing credit came with Dungeon #106, with a Star Wars themed article entitled Ord Vaxal: Prison Planet of the Empire. Given that small taste of (paid) success, I continued to hound and pester editors everywhere for work by the word. It was only a matter of time before the work started to trickle in.

As I mentioned, this is my professional site: it's all about me. I'll try to keep it up-to-date, but things are always changing. For the most part, I have an easier time keeping my two web logs updated. If you're ever interested in what's going on in Garyland, I suggest that you check them out.

The blog that most closely ties into my writing endeavors is Neuro-Suction. In addition to being a news center and bragging point, I also talk/rant about gaming in general. Feel free to give it a read.

The second web log is Freelance Father. I put FF up shortly after my son, Stephen, was born. It's mostly about my life as a new dad (though "new" is somewhat deceptive -- as of this entry, Stephen is one year old, ever-more mobile, and very, very opinionated).

So that's about it. I'll see if I can't get the rest of this site updated in a timely fashion. In the meantime, enjoy what I've got to offer. Between this web site and the two web logs, you should be able to learn a good deal more about me!

Cheers!