“Work cures everything.” Henri Matisse

“The fact that people who create are good workers tends to be lost.” Abraham Maslow

“Luck is the by-product of busting your fanny.” Don Sutton

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; there is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.” Henry David Thoreau

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” Emile Zola

“Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.” Gustave Flaubert

An executive at gaming company Decipher has plead guilty to embezzling 1.5 million dollars. Financial losses, stemming in part from the crime, have caused the company to lay off dozens of employees. However, authorities have been unable to find the stolen funds. It appears the moolah was spent on high living.

Decipher sued Eddleman. As lawyers obtained information for the case, Eddleman admitted embezzling $326,000 through personal charges on a company credit card and $529,000 through check-writing schemes.

Decipher, which held the license for Star Trek and Lord of the Rings products, has suffered money and management problems for years. A 2006 article outlining Decipher’s financial woes, showed the company had sold its office and was leasing space next door. Decipher had also lost their company health insurance.

Game tournament winners who had not been paid their prizes had threatened to sue. Many Lord of the Rings fans were annoyed at the short-lived fan club which had offered premium membership prices, but did not last more than a couple of years (I was a member, too. Sob. You can see my name on those limited editions LOTR dvd’s.)

…16 players who are owed tournament money, (were preparing) to take legal action against Decipher. He said he has heard from friends and retailers who order Decipher’s products that the company has closed down two of its three Norfolk warehouses.

Alas for the Tidewater area, there must be something in the water. That region gave rise to the horror that was Starblaze, and a few other small press schmucks I was very happy to leave in my rear view mirror.

There was a large fan community in Tidewater, and a modest, pro community there. Frank Kelly Freas once lived in Chesapeake. I once lived in York County.

The cannibalistic behavior among the worst elements in that arena was something else; Amy Player, cut a bloody swathe that reached across America and right into Middle Earth, and the desperate grasp for SMOF status among some of the fen was positively nightmarish to behold. Sad, because there were so many good people there, too.

I tried to get a job at Decipher some years back, but found the staff so surly I never pursued beyond a short interview. It appears they had very good reason to be surly.

Hat Tip: The One Ring

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