The Phoenix Prince: A Review

Recently, a very dear friend of mine finally published a book.  I still have on my computer the first two original chapters of that book, and comparing them she came a long way.  The book is "The Phoenix Prince" by Kristen Gupton.  It is available for purchase here, and for only $3 I can't think of a better investment.

*EDIT*: Apparently after I posted this, Kristen has now made the book available for purchase also at Amazon and Barnes and Nobles.  Now you can download it straight to your Kindle or Nook, so you have no excuse not to get it!

The review after the jump!

Frog Legs

Did a short little entry for this weeks Flash Fiction Challenge.

Had to pick a word, so I went with Frog.  I'm in a weird mood this morning, so I went with what I went with.

Watch this space

It's a secret...shhhhhhh.

Kyria of the Streets

Greetings, faithful readers!  It is time for another female character introduction, Kyria.  This story is more of a introduction to her personality and also my attempt to write non-action and focus more on details and character introspection.  As always, let me know what you think and like or not like.  Enjoy!

The New Spell

So here we are folks, a little short story about a young apprentice witch trying to learn a new potion spell.  I'm thinking about changing Saerah out this new girl, Rachel.  Technically, Saerah was created by a friend of mine and I've been wondering if that's why I've been having a hard time with writing her...since she isn't really my creation.  Oh well, we shall see!  Any way, enjoy the new story!

DCNU: Thoughts on Women in Comics

So apparently a lot of people are complaining about the way women are portrayed in the "New 52" comics from DC.  Specifically, over at The Mary Sue, Think Progress, and two over at Comics Alliance.  Also, a rather nicely done comic concerning the specific change in Starfire's character over at Shortpacked!

Now, one could make the argument that women simply need to calm down and just enjoy these things for what they are, comic books.  I would not be in that camp.  Things like this kind of annoy me cause it sends out a lot of different messages.  Now, I'm a dude.  The guy who writes Shortpacked, David Willis, is also a dude.  I can't speak to his reasons for disliking these changes, but I can speak to mine.  I'll warn you that some of the pictures might be considered NSFW, so heads up.

That Poor, Poor Protagonist Flash Fiction

 Well, I seem to fail at the whole 1000 words a day thing...but I do have my submission to the newest flash fiction challenge over at Terrible Minds.  This time the challenge was to torture your protagonist and I decided to focus on one of my favorite characters, Mantarok.  He is the main character in quite a few of the short stories I've written and this is just a little peek into what happened when he was a boy.  I hope it is sufficiently torturous for the challenge.

Flea Market Flash Fiction

So in an effort to continue writing 1000 words a day, I have the pleasure of also entering in my submission for the next flash fiction that is being run over at Terrible Minds.  This week the theme is flea markets, so I decided to write up one.  Fitting as I just ended up going to one with my buddy Todd a week ago.  I find flea markets fascinating as it is, and I also love mythology.  So I decided to combine the two.  Now, I'll admit that one of my favorite books is Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and I was inspired by some of the themes in that novel for this short story.  So enjoy and as always, let me know what you think. 

Unicorn Flash Fiction

So thanks to the wonderful Amber Scott, I found a new literary blog (I'll warn you, he uses strong language, so the link is a little NSFW) Terrible Minds.  Definitely worth a read.  But luckily, I happened to stumble upon a little contest that he does, which ends tomorrow.  Well, it's about unicorns, and what kind of aspiring writer would I be to step away from a fantasy based challenge.  So below, we have my submission to this contest.

Cause Knowing is Half the Battle

I saw this today and couldn't stop laughing at the part about armor class.   I suppose there are times when I correct people on things and can be a little harsh about it.

Harry Potter, The End

So I saw the last Harry Potter movie last night and all I have to say is this:

Harry Potter

Destroyer of Ancient Magical Artifacts

Tips for Infusing More Roleplaying in Your Games

So, yesterday I talked about roll-playing versus role-playing and my discontent with how modern gaming has kind of lent itself towards players sliding into simply roll-playing without much creativity.  One of the points I mentioned is of course that with older games, you had to be creative and imaginative (no lie, it even says it in the old white box rule book as a requirement) and in the newer systems you can rely more on using your dice rolls to get out of a spot.

This does not have to be the way.  Now, granted, if you are the kind of person who enjoys roll-play, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that.  But if you are in a game that you feel lacks some sense of role-play, be you DM or player, I'm going to be offering up some tips to kind of help infuse your game with some more little bits of role-playing.  These can be put in to pretty much any game type, and can be used as much or as little as people feel comfortable using.

Tomb of Horrors, an Overview

Well, it is finished.  We killed the bad guy and got our treasure.  Though of course we know that it doesn't really end here, since there is "Return to the Tomb of Horrors".  Though apparently that one is only available to play in previous editions, though I heard rumor of a 4th edition version.  Which means I'll never play it since my current group hates 4th edition.  I'm a man who likes to hold out and actually play it before passing judgement.  Though I will say it's biggest detriment is of course in the fact that Wizards of the Coast has admitted that it is supposed to be a compromise between MMORPG's and table-top gaming.

More after the break!

Tomb of Horrors Part 10

Here we are, faithful readers.  We have come a long way and it is finally time to end our time in the Tomb of Horrors.  Tomorrow, I'll be talking a little bit about my thoughts on the Tomb, and also some of the interesting differences it has shown me in terms of the mindset of "how to play" so to speak.

Tomb of Horrors Part 9

You've all been patiently waiting, so here is part 9 of Tomb of Horrors.

Tomb of Horrors Part 8

Man, I really need to stay on the ball here as far as posting regularly.  Today will be part 8 and tomorrow morning I'll put up part 9.  Hopefully, the DM figures that this next session on Friday will be the last one, so we shall see whether it ends in death or victory!

Tomb of Horrors Part 7

Here we are folks for another installment of Tomb of Horrors.  On a personal note, I just got the news that I will be able to go back to the local community college and continue towards getting my degree.  Which ultimately may help get me a job that will give me more free time for writing!  So big yays for that!

Denith Charthagnion, a background

 Here is the background for the character I'm going to start playing in the Sunday campaign, The Curse of the Crimson Throne.  Tomorrow I'll be putting up the background for my girlfriends character.  I'm very curious to see where this character's personality will go, as for now he is really a bit of a jerk.

Tomb of Horrors Part 6

Alright folks, welcome back to the sixth part of Tomb of Horrors!  We had two new players join up, my old friends Jenna and her girlfriend Shannon.  Also, in other news, we have started a new game up on Sundays as well, a Pathfinder campaign path called Curse of the Crimson Throne.  My girlfriend is joining us, as well as a few other new people.  I'll be starting to include it in the weekly updates.

Tomb of Horrors Part 5

Wow...it has been a while since I updated.  We are going to get back on track though, got some good articles coming up, some about class roles in Dungeons and Dragons, as well as some more original short stories by me.  But for today, another edition of Tomb of Horrors.

Tomb of Horrors Part 4

Alright, this upcoming Friday there will be no game due to the DM having a friend from out of town visiting.  Yet, today, I will still give you something to read from last Friday.  Now I will warn you folks with more tender sensibilities that some of this may be considered NSFW, so if you don't like that sort of thing...well, too bad cause I thought this last session was absolutely hilarious.

Links to the awesomeness of the internet!

So occasionally I am going to dump out links to things that I find awesome on the internet.  Hopefully, you as well will enjoy it and if not, I'll usually try to accompany it with an original content post as well.

New Explosive Runes!

Hello all!

I tend to get my short stories published once a month in a fine publication called Explosive Runes.  It is put out by the website that I do a lot of play-by-post Dungeons and Dragons.  I have been active on it for quite some time now and it is fun for those of us who either can't find a table-top group or want to play more then our table-top group wants to.  Also nice for those of you (like me) who enjoy role-playing and having the ability to sit and think about what you want your character to do without having to rush yourself because of the other players at the table.

www.dndonlinegames.com

Feel free to come over and create an account (if you don't already have one) and join in on the fun!  My username is Evil/Insane_Genius, btw, if anyone wants to drop me a private message.

The newest issue of Explosive Runes can be found here.  Enjoy my newest story, A Rogues' Tale.

The Tomb of Horrors Part 3

Alright, here we are again folks with another exciting entry into my groups adventure in the Tomb of Horrors!

Moving Day

So the girlfriend and I are moving into our new apartment this weekend.  Unfortunately, we are going to be out of internet for a few days, so I'll have to hold out on posting the newest session of Tomb of Horrors until possibly around Wednesday or so.

To entertain yourselves, play at being a real hackzor with this fun toy!

See you all then!

That Which Does Not Sleep

Okay, saw this over at The Mary Sue and thought it was rather interesting.  If you are a fan of Lovecraft, this video is pretty amusing.  I thought it was written fairly spot on with the style that typified Lovecraft's stories, with plenty of references to dark rituals, darker gods and madness at every corner.

Top 5 Worst PC Prestige Classes

So one of the things that I always find amusing is looking through some of the fluff books that Wizards publishes and look at the different new prestige classes they put out.  And invariably, one of the things that always comes around is that some of them, while good for say...NPC's, are absolutely rubbish for player characters.  Seriously, these are horrible to use for your character as a player.  So, here we are 5 of the worst prestige classes from the Complete and DMG's.

Existential Star Wars

Found this on the The Nerdist blog.  I found it rather funny, plus I love a good Sartre/Star Wars mixer.

Tomb of Horrors Part 1 and 2

Yes, it is much later then I intended to post this, but what can you do?  Easter weekend is busy for wage slaves at retail apparently.  Anyway, there is no part one because the first session happened before I started this blog.  I'll give a quick little recap of it before we begin.

Of course, the first session was filled with the always exciting part where we all meet for the first time!  It is always interesting for me to see the new characters that my friends make and what different sources they pull from.  For example, our rogue is an elf named Ophelia.  My friend decided to pull from Hamlet and plays her like the character from the play, which leads to some very amusing moments in the game.  Even myself isn't above pulling from other sources, namely, my Aasimar cleric is Landring Carter.  And he talks like Foghorn Leghorn.

So...picture your cleric casting spells and praying for healing like this:


It gets some good laughs.  I also took the leadership feat, so I have a minion as well.  Dantil Carter, a human divine bard who is his nephew.  We have a human monk named Turngald Lightfoot in the party as well...he deals out some pretty decent damage, though he tries to tank a bit too often.  We have a Wood Elf barbarian named Torak Ironwood.  Yes, there have been many jokes about his name.  And of course you have to have a magic user, so we have a human sorcerer named Sainrith.  He also has a minion named Tindell, a human cleric.

Rest after the break

Tanlinn Blazebeard - Gentlemen Adventurer

 Here is another intro story about one of my characters that I'll be trying to incorporate into the book.  Also a brief cameo from another character of mine.

A Paladin's Trial

So I figured I would include some actual content for this monumental first day, so here is the intro to one of the characters I've been working on, Mantarok Kandrick.  Story after the break.

The Beginning

I hate first posts, I never know what to say in them.  I suppose some introduction is in order and maybe a little bit of information as to what you can expect to find here.

The name is Sean, and I'm an unpublished writer.  I have been writing for many years...really since high school.  I'll let you guys judge whether that's a good or bad thing.  As for why I'm doing this...well, I thought it would be a nice place to keep some of my stories, but also transcribe out my weekly Dungeons and Dragons session with my friends.  They are playing a home-brew campaign of mine, though that is on hiatus.  Right now, one of my players (who was the original DM of the group) is running us through the Tomb of Horrors.  More on that tomorrow, as that should be the first post with game content.  I'm hoping that we make it through so I can get myself one of these:

So generally, I'll be posting short stories, synopsis of the game and general opinions on things nerdy and otherwise.  The impetus for this to happen really came from two sources, my girlfriend and a reviewer for the NY Times.  Since this is raging through the internet right now, I'm guessing some (if not most) of you have heard about this.  Yay.  Or her defense of her review here.  Another yay.  I already posted my reaction to her on her website on also on the website I initially found it on Weregeek.  Oh yeah, I'm a big webcomic fan as well.


Here is the one I put on the defense site:

"I am absolutely stunned by the review. I worked for a short time at the local newspaper here in my town in the Sports department, and they showed better ability in a small town local newspaper to research a subject before writing a review of it.

I can understand the fact that maybe you don't understand the fantasy genre as a whole, or maybe you've never heard of the Song of Ice and Fire series. I can accept that. However, I cannot accept such an appalling lack of journalistic drive that you didn't bother to do simple research on the matter before writing a review about it.

It is one thing to be unfamiliar with a subject matter, and quite another to throw it out before actually looking past the initial layers at it. Especially when it is the job you are getting paid to do.

The reason I dispute your accusations is because of my girlfriend, actually. She read a lot of what you consider "proper" fair for women to read, romance novels. I initially had the same reaction you gave Game of Thrones, which was burn it with fire. However, she started telling me about the stories and plots, and I was a little hard pressed to find the difference sometimes between the stories she was reading and my fantasy novels. She has one that involves a time-traveling druid who uses magic for aforementioned time travel.

That being said, I will also clarify that my girlfriend has no interest in fantasy novels that I read. I play Dungeons and Dragons and have attempted to get her to join into my nerdy love of sword and sorcery to no avail. However, I did recommend "Song of Ice and Fire" to her once. It took her quite some time, but once she started it she couldn't put it down.

My problem with your review is many fold. I feel that you failed as a reviewer to properly research the topic before reviewing it. I feel that you had a definite bias going in and didn't feel like going out of your comfort zone to actually look at the show objectively. I could forgive and forget those issues though, if not for the fact you basically said that "normal girls" do not and, I stress, CAN not enjoy fantasy unless romance is thrown in.

This is akin to saying that men will only watch a movie if you throw in some explosions and bare breasts. You were insulting to the female nerds of the world and I cannot forgive or overlook that."

Here is the one for Were Geek:

"For me, the thing that I found the most offensive about it was her attitude. Twice (in defending herself) she uses the phrase “I’m sure there are girls who are into this thing…I just don’t know any.”

Reading between the lines there, it just sounds like she is saying, “Hey, there are Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monsters, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and girl nerds out there…I just don’t know any.” She makes it sound like they don’t exist…or they are a tall tale all us male nerds sit around and talk about.

“This one time…I swear this is true, I went to a DnD con and there was a chick there. I swear! She even played a character, wasn’t some guys girlfriend who got dragged there…she was totally into it.” Like you girl nerds are the Moby Dick to our Ahab or something… *eyeroll*"

So yeah, I was...well, still am really annoyed and angered by the whole thing.  So I complained to my girlfriend about it...a lot.  And in her infinite patience, she simply nodded her head and said, "Why don't you start a blog to complain about this sort of thing?  And share your ideas.  Which brings me back here.  A humble beginning, but hopefully it will expand and grow.

So come back tomorrow for Tomb of Horrors!