Monthly Archives: October 2013

Gaming and Jungling

Late last week an essay I wrote about gaming and writing game novels went live over at the Paizo blog. I talk a little about my gaming philosophy and how it impacted my writing.

And Charles Rutledge of Singular Points sent me a link to a British site. In the past I’ve described the purple pulp glories of Tarzan clone Ki-Gor both at Black Gate and here on the site. Well, feast your eyes upon this. The aforementioned British site has scans of several Ki-Gor novellas, including two of the very best (also including a few dogs, for Ki-Gor quality varies wildly).

Here, then, if you dare, is a link to “The Beast Gods of Atlantis.” If you’ve never read pulp or don’t know about Ki-Gor, you might want to visit the essays that Charles and I wrote on the subject so that you have a better idea of just what you’re in for.

In other news, I spent yesterday afternoon and evening digging yet ANOTHER hole, for more waterpipe burst. Yay. I hope to actually do some more writing today after I spend a little more time on the hole.

 

Of Conan and Thieves

I don’t think I’ll ever get more than 48 pages in to Poul Anderson’s Conan the Rebel. Notwithstanding the fact I respect Anderson and have enjoyed a number of his other books, I have no intention of reading further. In those 48 pages of rather small type Conan has only appeared a handful of times, and he’s never actually done anything apart from listening to people talk. There’s been a lot of action, but always with characters to whom the reader has just been introduced. It’s pretty much been a reminder of things NOT to do while trying to tell a dramatic tale. Narratively I’m bored. Because I have a stack of other books, and less time and patience than I used to have, I am sad to say that this one’s being set aside.

Out of the Mud

Wow, what a busy week. I was working on my truck until 9:00 Wednesday night and spent part of Thursday morning tinkering some more until I finally gave up and had it towed to the service center. Turns out there was a single bad wire, so, apart from the tow fee things weren’t nearly as bad as I’d feared.

While I’m far behind, I have once again been reminded of how I ought to be thankful of all the things that I take for granted. Say, time to work, or a working truck, or my health.

Today I’m turning attention back to my Dabir and Asim story for Kaiju Rising. I’m delighted that the funding level not only reached the stretch goal that activated my story, but that ALL the stretch goals for the anthology have now been met. I find myself in the odd position of having a story I’m not through writing already planned for an antho.

I believe I’ve mentioned before that writing a character who’s a genius is tricky because I’m not a genius. And right now I’ve written poor Dabir and Asim into a corner and am scratching my head trying to get them out. Dabir, of course, will put it all together quickly over the course of the story, but Howard doesn’t have it yet.

Still, though, the day is good. Wonderful weather here. And I had a delightful accidental phone conversation this morning. Allow me to explain. My phone is a constant irritant. The way that the screen touch buttons are arranged means that if I put the phone to my face while talking I can accidentally mute my phone, activate the speaker, block the mic, or even dial random strings of digits. While finishing a chat with my wife while she drove into work I accidentally chin dialed Lou Anders.

No Joy in Mudville

I wish I could report that the likely continued silence this week is because I’m closing on a deadline, but, alas, the real world has things that need tending, and my deadlines are slipping. I had to get new tires for the truck, and now it looks like I’m having to replace the truck’s batteries — expensive, and just getting the darned things out is proving a challenge I never anticipated (especially given how many auto batteries I’ve removed over the years).

To top it all off my poor son woke up with a nasty toothache, so I’ve got to get him in for an emergency tooth appointment!

Hope your own week is going better than ours here.