One of Gamasutra’s Top 20 Game Writers, RICHARD DANSKY is the Manager of Design at Red Storm Entertainment and the Central Clancy Writer for Ubisoft. Formerly a designer for White Wolf Game Studios, he is also the author of the critically praised novel Firefly Rain. He has contributed extensively to game series including Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, Might and Magic and Far Cry, as well as White Wolf’s World of Darkness and Trinity game lines. Richard lives in North Carolina with his wife and their inevitable cats, except when he doesn’t.

Richard’s contribution to DARK FAITH is titled “The Mad Eyes of the Heron King.”

Who are you?
Richard Dansky, primary writer on Splinter Cell: Conviction, among other things. Also formerly the world’s leading expert on Denebian Slime Devils (briefly).

What is your story about?
It’s about an office drone who finds a little something special and private for himself and the consequences of giving himself over to that. There’s also a frog in it, but the frog’s strictly a supporting role.

Where is your story set?
Mostly at a lake or what someone calls a lake. Every body of water larger than a bathtub that’s near any kind of real estate development is called “Lake Somethingorother” these days, so we’ll go with that. But it’s definitely not much, as far as bodies of water go.

When does your story take place?
Now, more or less. Could be tomorrow. Or possibly Thursday.

Why do you think Maurice Broaddus throws a convention in honor of himself(Mo*Con)?
Largely so he can find new people to play Magic: The Gathering with. The local circuit knows Maurice too well-–“Oh, I’ve never played before. I guess I could give it a shot. Say, do you want to make it interesting?”-–so he can’t get a match despite hanging out in alleyways outside seedy Magic bars and running Three-Atog-Monty games on street corners. Running the con is his way of finding fresh suckers, err, competitors. That’s it. Competitors.

How does your story tie into the concept of faith?
I think the protagonist is looking for something–anything–to believe in, a touch of the miracle in a world that’s aggressively grey. Whether that’s a good idea to go looking for, well, that’s a whole other question.

Excerpt from “The Mad Eyes of the Heron King”:

On the fourth visit of that week, however, or perhaps it was the fifth, the great blue heron abruptly changed its course when Leonard settled in, squelchily, for his customary period of observation and contemplation. Hardly had Leonard seated himself in his accustomed place in the grass, which, in truth, had become matted and pressed down under the repeated and weighty attentions of Leonard’s posterior, before the heron, with great lanky strides, crossed the water to stand directly before him.

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Tomorrow we make a devotion to a pair of outstanding poets appearing in DARK FAITH: Linda Addison & Rain Graves.

Missed our earlier devotions?
Lucy A. Snyder
Nick Mamatas
Jennifer Pelland
Wrath James White
Tom Piccirilli
D.T. Friedman
Mary Robinette Kowal
Alethea Kontis

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1. DARK FAITH Devotion: Richard Wright
2. DARK FAITH Devotion: Ekaterina Sedia
3. DARK FAITH Devotion: Lavie Tidhar