Pulp Gamer Interviews

Marcelo A. Figueroa is one of few individuals who have participated in every tier of the hobby games industry, first as a consumer, then in Retail (All Star Games), in Distribution (ACD Distribution), as Media (Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer Magazine, Shadis Magazine, Games Quarterly Magazine), and Publishing (Alderac Entertainment Group, Avalanche Press, Playroom Entertainment). And somewhere in there he found time to be a published writer & game designer. His years of experience have made him a respected industry expert in Customer Service, Marketing, Product Demonstration & Sales, including an Origins Award.

Commonly referred to as the "someone you need to know" in hobby games, Marcelo currently works with Sorvent, Inc. as a Talent Manager, helping undiscovered game inventors find publishers for their games, as well as being the Sales Manager for Dan Verssen Games, Warpath Games Distribution, and the Greater Games Industry Catalog.

Derek visits with Leah Osterhaus of Out of the Box Publishing, touching on a number of great titles and learning a little more about the founding and growth of the company.

Leah Osterhaus began working with Out of the Box Publishing 11 years ago test playing games and demoing at trade shows. Since then she earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin- Madison and worked for several years as an inventory specialist at Target Corporation. Several years ago, Out of the Box offered Leah an ownership position in the company as Vice President of Sales. She now works as the Vice President of Marketing and International Sales.

Derek visits with Loren Coleman at Gen Con 2009, hitting on a number of things from his writing to his company, Catalyst Game Labs. We get a look at some new and coming titles and get to know more about Loren.

Loren L. Coleman grew up in the Pacific Northwest. An avid reader, he became infatuated with stories and the art of storytelling at a young age. He wrote creative works as early as twelve years old and began to write actual fiction stories in high school for a Creative Writing class. But it was during his enlistment in the U.S. Navy that he began working seriously at the craft, spending off-time during his deployment in the Persian Gulf writing his first novel. Discharged in 1993, he went to work as a freelance fiction writer and eventually became a full-time novelist.

His first novel, Double-Blind, was published in 1998. He has since explored the universes of BattleTech, Magic: The Gathering, Crimson Skies, MechWarrior: Dark Age, Star Trek, and Conan. Around the time of this printing he has sold over twenty novels, a great deal of shorter fiction work, and been involved with several computer games. He is also an award-winning editor and an amateur poet.

When he isn’t writing, Loren coaches youth sports, collects far too many DVD’s, holds a black belt in traditional Taekwon Do, and runs Catalyst Game Labs. He has lived in many parts of the country. Currently he resides in Washington State with his wife, Heather Joy, two sons, Talon LaRon and Conner Rhys Monroe, and a young daughter, Alexia Joy. The family owns three obligatory writer’s cats, Rumor, Cleopatra, and Tigerlilly, and one neurotic border collie, Loki.