Mark Sable Newsletter December 2025
A Year of Ice and Fire
Hey Everyone,
Before I get to the heart of this newsletter – and an explanation of the above picture, I have two announcements:
WRITING CLASS
First, this Spring I’m teaching WRITING ADVENTURES FOR ROLEPLAYING GAMES, a continuing education class at the School of Visual Arts. It’s 6:30-8:30 PM on Zoom Thursdays from Feb 12 - Apr 16. In 8 classes, I’ll teach you how to write an adventure for roleplaying game, regardless of your level of experience (some of my students have never even played an RPG before).
Two years in, this has quickly become my favorite class to teach, because like the medium of games itself, it’s interactive. In addition to the work students do on their own (which has been really exceptional), in class we’ve created dungeons together, as well as adapted an Agatha Christie mystery into a playable game. As with any class I teach, you can expect lots of one-on-one feedback from me.
CIRCUS MAXIMUS ISSUE TWO
The second issue of CIRCUS MAXIMUS is in stores now! A heist set in Ancient Rome – specifically, the Great Fire of Rome during Nero’s reign – it’s illustrated by Giorgio Pontrelli, with colors by Emilio Lecce, Letters by Dave Sharpe and covers by Paul Azaceta. It’s a book I’m extremely proud of.
While I’d prefer if you bought it at your local comic book store, you can also order it directly from the publisher, Mad Cave studios, here.
It’s five issues, and Issue Three should be out January 14.
TRAVELS
November afforded me my first chance to travel internationally in 2025.
I started in Northern England, where I attended the great Thought Bubble Comics festival in Harrogate. Thanks to Nabil, the volunteers and fans for reminding me why it’s my favorite overseas con.
From there I took a train down to London, where I hadn’t been since I studied abroad there as an undergraduate. Besides hitting The British Museum (where I learned I could no longer touch the Rosetta Stone), I attended a wonderful performance of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons on the West End, starring Brian Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Mike Leigh’s Secrets and Lies). Nearly eighty years after it was written, it’s still a powerful statement on the American dream.
I also stopped by Forbidden Planet, London’s largest comics store, and my local shop back when I studied in London. I was delighted to see they were stocking my books, which they asked me to sign. Despite writing comics professionally for 20 years, it’s still a wonder to me to see them in the wild, let alone in another country. I think you can see the sheer joy in my face from this picture that the store manager kindly took.
But the real highlight of my travels was going to Iceland for the first time.
Starting in Reykjavik, I toured the south of Iceland in what’s known as The Golden Circle, which gets its name from the spectacular Gullfoss waterfall.
But that area also includes geysers, glaciers (which I hiked), ice caves (which I spelunked) and geothermal lagoons (which I soaked in after doing a cold plunge). I even ate Hákarl - fermented shark - which was so foul smelling I had to wash it down with Brennivín, 75 proof alcohol otherwise known as “The Black Death”.
While the trip I went on was ostensibly “Northern Lights” tour, I didn’t get to view the Aurora Borealis with the naked eye. But I was able to capture it on camera.
I can’t complain about not seeing the aurora. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced so much natural beauty in one place before. I just kept saying “wow” out loud over and over again.
I titled this newsletter a Year of Ice and Fire, in part as a nod to George R.R. Martin’s book series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” the basis for Game of Thrones. I did so because this year started with evacuating LA because of the wildfires and ended with a journey coldest expanse I’ve ever experienced. I often looked around astonished, feeling like I was in the Antarctic of H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness”.
But Iceland is also a place forged by fire. It’s a volcanic island, thrust up at the juncture of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Iceland’s volcanoes are still active, and ash from a recent eruption shut down transatlantic air travel.
The ice is also dangerous. The glacial lagoon in the photo below is comprised of icebergs that break off Iceland’s largest glacier before they are swiftly carried out to sea by strong currents. We were warned about those currents, and told humans could only survive mere minutes in the icy water.
Similarly, the volcanic black sand beaches of Reynisfjara are plagued by powerful, unpredictable "sneaker waves" that surge far up the shore. Visitors are told not to turn their back to the ocean to avoid being swept away.
Yet, those same forces also wash the icebergs back onto shore as beautiful, jewel-like shards on Breiðamerkursandur’s Black Diamond Beach.
A friend recently asked me what lessons 2025 brought me. There are too many to share in one newsletter, but respect for both the majesty and danger of nature was certainly one of them.
I hope you enjoyed my little travelogue and wish you all the happiest of holidays.
-Mark