Posts Tagged ‘Fantasy’

Potpourri is your Poisson d’Avril

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Or, alternately, Father Time has played the Fox to my Chauntecleer. Hooray for Chaucerian April Fool’s references! Suffice to say, the first part of the year got away from me, and it seemed to me that the best place to pick up the slack is by dropping in on the first of a month. That it’s a day set aside for fools and liars only make it more appropriate.

So yes, there’s links below, some old, some new and some just things I felt like sharing. Come back Monday for a real post. In the meantime, things you might like to see:

Links:

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In Which I Remenisce about the Old Skool

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Recently, Wizards of the Coast released the newest incarnation of their Dark Sun campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons. I should preface this by saying – I am old. I was in college when Dark Sun first came out. I played a lot of other RPGs at the time, and D&D (then in its 2nd edition, for those keeping track) was ‘that other game’ that only a handful of die-hards played anymore.

When the first Dark Sun came out, the art (by Brom) drew me in almost immediately. This looked nothing like the Tolkein-esque generic fantasy realms to which I had become accustomed. Indeed, it looked like nothing else on the market. So I bought the box set, checked it out, and changed my world.

Dark Sun, more properly the world of Athas, was my first real exposure to the concept of post-apocalyptic fantasy. Magic has destroyed the land and rendered much of it to lifeless desert. A handful of city-states eke out an existence, ruled over by all-powerful sorcerer kings. The Gods themselves had turned their back on the world and no longer answered prayers. I had never thought of Fantasy in terms like these, and it shaped the way I would view fantasy and storytelling in the future – there are places in my stories to this day that I could point at and say “Without Dark Sun, I would never have thought of this”

Seeing Dark Sun on the shelves again brought back a great wave of nostalgia, and immediately set my mind churning for new ideas. I still love the setting, and am more excited than ever at the prospect of running a game set against its bleak, oppressive backdrop. I’ve talked to my group, and most of them are excited by the possibility. I only hope I can do it justice.

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Blood Crimes: The High Cost of Living

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

And just like that, it’s over! The fourth and final installment of my serial story Blood Crimes is up over at Paizo’s Pathfinder Tales Web fiction site. I’m pretty happy with the story and have had a lot of fun leaving my mark on the world of Golarion. It’s a great setting for a bit of two-fisted pulpy adventure, and Blood Crimes really let me play with some of the noir and pulp tropes in a high fantasy setting. They’ll have the story up in perpetuity, but for easy picking you’ll be able to find links to each chapter over in my Bibliography.

In other news – don’t forget that this weekend kicks off the big “Out of this World” Blog Tour. I’ll be hosting Pauline Baird Jones (Girl Gone Nova), and will be making the rounds as well. It promises to be a great round of essays, discussing the awesomeness of Science Fiction Romance, and all its permutations. Check it out.

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My Weekend (not) at GenCon

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

In the wake of a long month, for those who couldn’t tell when they didn’t see me there, I could not make it to GenCon. The Post RWA crud combined with a few other factors and knocked it out of the realm of the possible for me this year. This makes me sad, as I always look forward to reconnecting with my nerd roots and GenCon provides a great opportunity to do so. On the other hand, I was able to knuckle down and make serious progress on my WiP, so I suppose I can’t complain too much.

A reasonable assumption would be that, having missed the ‘Best Four Days in Gaming’, I would be unable to review the events there. Fortunately, thanks to the magic of the Internet and my willingness to pass judgment on things I haven’t seen (ask me about Jonah Hex) I can still sum up the events even though I was completely divorced from them in real life. Without further ado, my Gen Con wrap-up:

  • Wizards of the Coast revealed the new D&D setting for 2011. Sadly, it’s Ravenloft. Mind you, I don’t hate Ravenloft as a concept, but it is effectively impossible to convey a horror setting when one of your players can hurl lightning bolts. The standard D&D solution is to make the monsters tougher, which only has the effect of dragging out combat, and forcing a GM interested in Storytelling to manipulate an encounter (since in my experience, players effectively never run from an enemy).
  • Green Ronin unveiled DC Adventures – the newest incarnation of the DC Comics universe as a game setting. This time around it’s using an updated version of the award-winning Mutants and Masterminds rules, and frankly, I couldn’t be more excited. I’m a terrible whore for DC – I’ll take the JSA over the X-Men, any day of the week, and don’t get me started on the awesomeness of Hellblazer. I’ll happily dive back into a new game that lets me mine the years my brain has dedicated to keeping those stories straight. Disclaimer – I pre-ordered this, and am reading through the PDF currently. I expect a review will pop up here sometime.
  • Fantasy Flight unveiled the latest iteration of their Warhammer 40k rpg – at long last fulfilling the desire of players everywhere to run cybernetic killing machines for their characters with the Space Marine-centric “Deathwatch”. I played more than my fair share of 40k as a miniatures game, and I can see the appeal of this on one hand, on the other given how hard it is to shoot something in their ruleset, I expect they had to do some work to effectively replicate the Astartes’ ability to mow through opponents with bolter fire.

That’s my big three – I know that tons of other stuff happened in / around GenCon, but I figured I ‘d hit the ones I had genuine opinions about. In related news, this is the last week for my Pathfinder Web fiction out at Paizo’s website. The story will stay out there in perpetuity, and there are links in my bibliography, so feel free to check it out.

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Character Development with Taste

Monday, August 9th, 2010

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” – Brillat-Savarin

I will be the first to admit that I have odd hobbies, but chief among them is my love for culinary history. Fortunately, this also provides a near-limitless opportunity to get into the heads of my characters and really begin to understand how they think and (as Brillat-Savarin states) who they are. And why shouldn’t it? Taste and smell and some of the most powerful triggers of memory – who doesn’t sigh at the whiff of baking cookies or have a particular comfort food they turn to in times of stress.

Food features in almost every story I’ve ever written, whether it’s the lichen infused vodka of Hearts and Minds or the eponymous banquet in Feast of Fools. Knowing the flavors and tastes that are common to a character’s palate helps to understand them, and in terms of world-building, provides a great opportunity to express information about the world or the character without resorting to ‘telling’.

For example, if your character has only ever been accustomed to polished white rice, what would she think if presented with unpolished rice mixed with millet (a far more common meal than she would be used to)? Would she be offended? Would she be curious about the new taste? Would she pity the people who only have such rough fare to eat? Each choice tells us something different both about the character and the world around her.

Thanks to the internet, and the growing popularity of culinary history, it’s possible to find recipes from all through Earth’s timeline. If you write fantasy, consider picking up a copy of “The Medieval Kitchen.” For Edwardian writers, “Last Dinner on the Titanic” offers recipes from all three dining rooms on the night of the disaster. It’s worth looking through for the differences in meals between First and Third Class alone. Are you a Science Fiction writer? Well, there it gets a little trickier, but think about the influences on your future society and extrapolate from there. For me, Pan-pacific fusion is the cuisine of cyberpunk novels, but it could just as easily be based on Parisian haute cuisine or Taco Bell (I’m looking at you, Demolition Man).

Regardless of what you write, nearly all characters eat. Food, thus, becomes an important part of the research in world- and character-development for any story. More than ever before it’s possible to cook some of the food your characters have a particular fondness for, and even if you don’t include it in your story, it can help you get inside the skin of your characters. Even if it’s only a moment, the experience is worth it.

Besides, you might find a new favorite dish.

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The Con Game (Redux)

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Next week is GenCon, the “Best Four Days in Gaming” or so it’s called. I wouldn’t know. For me GenCon is a working con, just as much as World Fantasy or RWA. This year it comes hot on the heels of RWA, so that I barely have time to do laundry before I repack and head out again. It’s a rough turn-around but one that is sadly necessary.

As someone doing media tie-in work, GenCon is a chance for me to interact face-to-face with the people whom I see only as e-mail addresses and twitter feeds the rest of the year. Ideally, I try to arrange time with them before hand, since I know that they are as busy as I am. This is as much a courtesy to myself as it is to them – my order-craving side tends to come out in a convention situation, and I like to know exactly what I am supposed to be doing and when.

There’s plenty of interesting seminars on this year’s writing track as well – for those who were unaware, GenCon hosts a writing symposium in-house that gets bigger year after year.  There are even a few seminars for those who write genre romance, as well as for those doing (or interested in doing) tie-in work. I will end up having plenty to do to keep myself busy over the four days of the con, even if gaming isn’t likely to make an appearance.

For those interested, I’ll be holding down a corner of the Fantasist Enterprises table in the heart of Author’s Avenue. If you’re attending this year’s GenCon, stop by and say howdy!

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Potpourri, it’s the Sixth Taste!

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Technically, I think Umami is the sixth taste, but I’m pretty sure links have Savoriness.

I know, I promised a film review this week, but instead it’s going to be more links that caught my fancy. It’s been a busy week around mi casa, and suffice to say that my planned movie time didn’t work out. That’s all right, this weekend is a holiday, and I am all systems go for movies worth watching. After all it’s not like I’m going to go see Airbender….

  • Speaking of M. Night Shyamalan’s Opus, I’ve read some great reviews In my years, but they have all paled in comparison to the genius that is IO9’s review of The Last Airbender. And this is from a site that staunchly tried to defend the film during the run-up to release: http://io9.com/5576076/m-night-shyamalan-finally-made-a-comedy
  • I loved air shows as a kid, before I recognized all the hype about promoting the military-industrial complex. My dad flew in the Air Force, and for him and me it was all about keeping those beautiful old birds flying. Indeed, the only thing I liked more the air shows was science fiction – This photo series makes me feel 10 years old again, all I need is a sunburned nose, and my dad talking smack about the Blue Angels. http://www.scifiairshow.com/guided-tour.html
  • While we’re talking genre – I recently was directed to this youtube clip. There are a lot of reasons to read, write and love fantasy, but this passage by George R. R. Martin sums them up better than I ever could: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hJhmxc3Arw
  • Back to Science-Fiction, and this week’s entry in the “Holy Crap, Science!” category. Self-folding robots – while the demo simply folds itself into a boat and an airplane in the presence of different currents, there is hope that one day this will be able to create a single ‘universal tool’ that can fold itself into whatever is needed for the job. Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZf3lo-16wQ
  • From our department of inspirational cooking – I really need to have a zombie themed party, so I can serve food shaped like organs. These would be a centerpiece: http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/06/29/how-to-make-brain-cupcakes/
  • For film and Fantasy buffs on the other side of the pond – the London Film Museum just opened an exhibit on the works of Ray Harryhausen. Go see it, then find me and tell me how awesome it was, because seriously, I’m jealous. Here’s the scoop: http://www.londonfilmmuseum.com/ray-harryhausen.htm and some additional pictures: http://io9.com/5576116/witness-the-fantastical-legacy-of-ray-harryhausen/gallery/

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