No Matter What
The best power pop song ever by the best (and first) power pop band, ever. Click HERE to hear a gem from melodic genius Pete Ham and Badfinger.
Jousting in Tennessee
No, I didn’t go jousting, but the family and I, along with family friend Bruce Wesley, drove down to Murfreesboro south of Nashville and wandered about the Renaissance Festival. It was a little more crowded than we’d seen in previous years, which made it more like the Line Fair than the Renaissance Fair, but hopefully that means it will just expand and host more merchants next year.
We toured Castle Gwynn (yes, a real castle, hand built since the 1970s by a hard working man with a dream), got to pick up a Crusader sword found on the field of Acre (for real, and it was astonishing how light it was). And I met an Ent!
Me and an Ent.
Fields of Glory
This last week I’ve remained hard at work on my secret project, and when not writing I’ve been hard at work playing a computer game titled Fields of Glory.
I used to have almost no willpower when it came to computer games. If it was on my computer, then I played it. That’s why until just this week I’ve stayed away from them for years. Instead, in my downtime, what I did was read reviews of great looking tactical board games, and buy them, and ask for them as presents, and then accumulate them in my closet… and never play them. It was sort of pitiful and ridiculous, really.
I was so far removed from the field of computer gaming I had no idea how excellent tactical ancient games had become. Now that I know, I think I’m giving all of that boardgame accumulation up, and selling most of it off.
Field Commander: Napoleon
I REALLY like this game. The last few evenings, rather than reading, I’ve been conquering various parts of Europe or North Africa in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
Field Commander: Napoleon is a solo war game from Dan Verssen Games. I traded an earlier copy of it away, thinking it wouldn’t be tactical enough for me to enjoy. But I ended up regretting the exchange and traded for another. I’m glad I did. The game simulates both strategy and tactics during the age of Napoleon… which, oddly enough, has never especially interested me. It’s ancient history that I truly enjoy. Yet this game is an awful lot of fun.
There are a lot of adventure novels out there with complex battle scenes that aren’t very well described,or thought out (or simply devolve to a siege — although I should say that there also are some great novels about sieges). I’ve spent a lot of time over the years reading about ancient campaigns, but reading is one thing. Actually testing out the strategies and moving armies and units around in a system that simulates a battle or a campaign is a pretty nifty way to get an even better grasp of what a story might require, or how a general might marshal troops.
I still mean to write some thoughts about the Dickens novels I read; and soon I’ll probably go into more detail about why, in particular, I enjoy this game. For the next few evenings, though, I”m likely to be busy playing the game rather than writing about it.
Some more details about Field Commander: Napoleon, as well as some reviews (including at least one video review) can be found over at its official Boardgamegeek page.
Finding Balance
If you’re a regular site visitor it might seem that I suddenly dropped off the Earth. I know I’m always curious when a site I like stops having regular updates. Has the person running it moved on to other things? Is the person alright?
In my case, I’m just trying to find a little more balance in my life. For the last few years I’ve spent a lot of time running from deadline to deadline. I’m trying, now, not to be writing morning, noon, and night, and the weird thing is that I’m still getting quite a lot of good work done.
Over the last few weeks I’ve written about 25 thousand words on a new secret project. I’ve finally gotten around to reading David Copperfield, which I liked well enough that I read a second Dickens novel, Bleak House. Now I’m reading Mary Robinette Kowal’s Glamour in Glass (up for a number of awards) and my old friend Joe McCullough’s Dragonslayers. And over the weekend I finally sat down to try my hand at the solo wargame Field Commander: Napoleon. It’s even more fun than I had hoped (although I haven’t figured out how to beat the Egyptian campaign yet!)
That’s not all, though. I’m also spending more time with my wife and children– playing music with them and playing games and watching movies as a family. I am enjoying life, and it is good.
That pic up at page top is the cover image for my upcoming Paizo Pathfinder novel, Stalking the Beast. I don’t yet have the information on the artist, or I’d post it, and will do so as soon as I am able. If you click on it, you can see a larger version.
Various and Sundry
A few weeks back I mentioned my inclusion in a nifty writing anthology, Writing Fantasy Heroes (where I share a table of contents with some pretty talented and famous writers) and an essay about the book went live this week over at the blog of the talented William King, probably best known in North America for the creation of Warhammer’s famed Gotrek and Felix.
Not only is the essay (by editor Jason Waltz) of interest, there’s an ongoing discussion in the comment section about the nature of heroes that might well be of interest.
In other news, I stumbled onto a new review of The Bones of the Old Ones, this from The King of the Nerds. The majority of reviewers seem to agree with me that the second book is better than the first (and the majority of them seemed to really dig the first as well, which makes that kind of statement even more pleasing to the ear).
Of Deserts and Plagues
Last week I received the newest version of The Desert of Souls from my UK publisher, Head of Zeus. It’s a little smaller in height than the American version which gives it a slightly greater heft. I think it’s a pretty snappy look, and it’s always a pleasure to receive a box of your own books.
Note below that Mighty Max, Norman, and Virgil showed up to admire the books as well.
In other news, Justin Landon of Staffer’s Book Review seemed to dig my first Paizo Pathfinder novel, Plague of Shadows. Amongst other compliments, the one that brought me the biggest smile was “by its conclusion I feel that Jones could write a sporting goods shopping list and I’d be riveted.” You can find the whole thing here.
I don’t often have a sporting goods shopping list, but I could send him a copy of my supply list the next time I head to the lumber yard prior to fence repair. I’m guessing he’d find it less riveting than he supposes. Although, given the kinds of stuff I’ll be picking up, I suppose he could say that I “nailed it.” Hah!
Horse Adventures
This is one of our family horses, Trigger, so named by his previous owner because he somewhat resembled the famed horse ridden by Roy Rogers.
Trigger is my personal favorite of our horses. He’s never moody or indifferent. Don’t get me wrong — like most of the horses I’ve interacted with, eating is his number one priority, so he’ll almost always be head down standing in the pasture. But if you wander into the pasture he’ll usually mosey on over to see what you’re doing. And he has a playful streak.
I was out fixing horse fencing a few years ago (more on that later) which requires a number of tools, including pry bar, saw, hammer, drill, clamp, and supplies like nails and screws, and, of course, lumber. I sat everything down and turned to pry the broken board off of the fence, and Trigger wandered up. I said hello, he looked innocently at me, then, calm as you please, bent down, picked up the bag of nails with his teeth, turned and trotted away.
Spring Near the Sea of Monsters
Spring! Click for a larger image.
So, this happened in my front yard yesterday. Some to the east and north may not remember the term, but it is known here in the midwest US as Spring. Feast your eyes upon the blossoms and weep.
It’s been so pleasant the last few days that we’ve slept with the windows open. I have the windows open now as I type this, listening to bird song… as well as the barking of one of my dogs, who just won’t ever shut up. (Three years old now, and she still barks at everything that moves, as though there’s a little yipey dog trapped in that Lab mix body.)
Bones in the UK
When I returned from my trip to New York City I had a wonderful surprise awaiting me in my e-mail. It was the cover for the UK edition of The Bones of the Old Ones, by the talented Charles Keegan, who created the original hard cover painting for The Desert of Souls.
I’ve heard from a lot of people that they preferred the original cover to the paperback, and I’m already starting to hear from people who prefer this version to the one for the American release. What do you think?