Tag Archive: fantasy

I may have fallen in love with the Hexplore It board game series

February 4, 2023 0 Comments

I Need a Solo RPG! I’ve been on a quest to find the perfect solo tabletop RPG for myself. I have a specific itch, but most games can’t scratch it. There are many out there, but with a few exceptions none have seemed quite right. I have no interest in the many journaling-style games out there, which are really just collections of writing prompts with a game built around them. (The conceit of Colostle, for example, looks amazing, but I just have no interest in making up a story as I go for the sake of a game. When I want to do that, I write.) Others are more purely skirmish games, focused on fighting. Not interested. I want exploring and stuff to do outside…
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Geek Stuff

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That time I wasted my life editing together a ‘new’ J.R.R. Tolkien book, then lost it

April 17, 2018 0 Comments

The recent announcement of a ‘new’ book by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin, which will compile previously published material about one of the great tragic epics of Middle Earth’s early days, brought to mind a few weeks of wasted life circa 2002 or so. It’s a waste that still frustrates me to this day. Years ago, I got this idiotic idea in my head to edit together a load of Tolkien stuff into a standalone book. There was a wealth of material about a character called Turin, a cursed man who goes through some truly awful stuff, up to and including accidental incest and the death of just about everyone and everything he comes in contact with. Yes, it’s a real joy! Turin’s story…
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Books & Authors, Geek Stuff, Random Musings

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Revisiting Ray Harryhausen’s 1958 classic, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

May 18, 2016 12 Comments

Ray Harryhausen was a mainstay of my childhood. His movies were regular features on the Saturday matinees — on television, not in theaters; I’m not THAT old! — and they sucked me in every time. How could they not? No sane young boy would be anything but engrossed by giant creatures slugging it out with heroes in sandals, and Harryhausen’s creatures were AWESOME. So not too long ago, I decided to revisit a handful of his movies, among them The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. As a kid I had no real affection for the Arabian myths, so Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films never quite connected with me despite my huge love for his work and Harryhausen liberally mixing in monsters and myths from others cultures. I…
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Films, Geek Stuff

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What should I write next?

April 24, 2015 1 Comment

After my Mad Men book is out, I plan to switch focus to fiction for a little while. Have two things in mind. Two novels that are DONE but that require my attention for the next few steps in the process. Help me decide which to focus on: 1) A children’s / middle grade fantasy novel that keeps with classic fantasy tropes/clichés (think Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books), i.e. young boy on an adventure, mouthy princess, dragons, etc. I think it’s fun and love the characters, but I don’t think I can sell it to a publisher – it’s too “standard,” and these days they want something unique – so I aim to start on the sequels and self-publish it as a series. 2) A dystopian science fiction novel about a cynical teenager who…
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Writing

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So what’s next?

December 1, 2012 0 Comments

Wait, what? One of my huge problems is attention span. Always has been. Always will be. Just ask the people who had the unfortunate job of being my teacher back in Lakehurst. What this means is that even when neck-deep in a major project or three, my mind is on what’s next rather than what is right in front of me. This is true even right now. It’s not like I’m not busy. I’m currently working on a follow-up to A Year of Hitchcock with Jim McDevitt, the third installment of the Pitched! anthology series with a number of fantastic artists, a series on living through Hurricane Sandy, and whatever odds and ends come my way. And yet still my mind is on what’s next….
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Random Musings, Writing

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