tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76203467549038250262024-03-14T01:18:27.739-07:00Ow My SanityAdam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-84031065875676660232018-04-02T02:00:00.002-07:002018-04-02T02:00:31.044-07:00Gallery PostI've got an art gallery show coming up that features some of my work. Mostly it's maps and stuff, but it'll be a good opportunity for sales and commissions. The theme is "Invasive Species," it will be shown in Orlando.<br />
<br />
Spider & Alligator first draft is 20/25 complete.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-44133539318590936972018-01-31T21:31:00.003-08:002018-01-31T21:31:52.044-08:00I Rememberi remember when i could accomplish goals<br />
<br />
also when i didn't suck at everythingAdam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-12764749117008207252017-07-04T17:52:00.001-07:002017-07-04T20:40:00.872-07:00It's Out!YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0983225028/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499215880&sr=1-1">https://www.amazon.com/dp/0983225028/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499215880&sr=1-1</a>Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-15663741961652642722017-07-03T19:11:00.000-07:002017-07-03T19:11:10.816-07:00Wonder WomanI know I'm late to the party, but Wonder Woman is great.<br />
<br />
Basically, there's now two ways to salvage the DCEU, and one of them is to reveal we've actually been watching the Justice Lords universe this whole time.<br />
<br />
The other is to let Patty Jenkins direct all the things from now on.<br />
<br />
Delicious highlights:<br />
<br />
Every time Steve gets about halfway through something boundary-pushing that dudes usually do in a movie, he stops and backs off.<br />
<br />
Diana starts the kissing, not Steve. Steve starts to start the kissing, but he stops and backs off and lets Diana take the initiative.<br />
<br />
Thigh jiggling. I know that doesn't sound important, but Diana's thighs jiggle when she kicks things and hits things and sticks the superhero landing, as if they <i>actually </i>had fat and muscle inside them, that is not something that normally happens to women in a superhero movie.<br />
<br />
The score is fantastic. Absolutely awesome. I'm adding parts of it to my workout music and to my OMS artwork music.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-1073768226652666432017-06-28T11:03:00.002-07:002017-06-28T11:03:34.239-07:00The ComicI've started sitting myself down and forcing myself to do sketches. It hurts, but no more than any other writing. Hopefully, I'll have something soonish.<br />
<br />
My plan is to just offer the chapters whole as a single download (obviously for free) rather than trying to keep up with a one-page-per-day schedule.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-39322519878345995152017-06-23T16:15:00.000-07:002017-06-23T16:15:00.564-07:00Coming Sooooon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TVfPf5hZDuA/WU2g5sBMlPI/AAAAAAAAA98/GlMVOrqas18xCp0wH073q2vjHna6SIGBgCLcBGAs/s1600/spidercoverfrontonly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TVfPf5hZDuA/WU2g5sBMlPI/AAAAAAAAA98/GlMVOrqas18xCp0wH073q2vjHna6SIGBgCLcBGAs/s320/spidercoverfrontonly.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-6766065373188976222017-06-05T20:51:00.001-07:002017-06-05T20:51:09.137-07:00I ExistI'm real.<br />
I exist.<br />
I want to continue comics things.<br />
I have a new book coming out.<br />
<br />
Nothing else clever.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-77100206703791338972016-08-27T21:49:00.001-07:002016-08-27T21:49:23.767-07:00The Five Nations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mWVKWctpLGM/V8JtPlyfojI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/PF3D_fNSpzMKidtNc7Y976VlTuDBqDPHwCLcB/s1600/mighty5nations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mWVKWctpLGM/V8JtPlyfojI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/PF3D_fNSpzMKidtNc7Y976VlTuDBqDPHwCLcB/s320/mighty5nations.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-64403307334858294512016-06-24T10:57:00.000-07:002016-06-24T10:57:25.886-07:00Spider Shark<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/A9s8H0f.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/A9s8H0f.gif" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
Spider-Shark is basically the manifestation of my ego. A giant rotting fish composed of slowly escaping, foul-smelling gas that is powering a clumsy robot.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-17296699972204338232016-02-18T10:28:00.003-08:002016-02-18T10:28:31.297-08:00Longer Lists!
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Lengthier list of projects with some
descriptions. This isn't even everything - I'm also working on two pilots and a film script:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Sky Crossing</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Fantasy series about a bunch of high
school students drawn into a fantasy world – it's just that it's
Ten-Ghost's world. Will be more traditional “fight bad guys, be
awesome, has lots of tropes” type stuff. And character growth,
obviously. One kid learns to un-learn his violent tendencies and to
be a magician and gets to pal around with a crazy old man who is
literally trying to outwit Death for a few more weeks (he wants to go
on his own terms). One kid is turned into a local girl and discovers
he's supposed to be joining a powerful family as the daughter of the
matriarch – princess story, except the princess has no idea what
the hell is going on. The girl who got picked up with him must come
to terms with the idea that her role in this isn't pink and fluffy,
and she needs to woman up and get an axe. One kid learns she is a
spirit in human form – the ehskoojee – god-in-flesh, and must
learn to reconcile that with her previously held beliefs, largely by
teaching the boy – a griffin otherkin coming to terms with a
challenge to his own beliefs – who got picked up with her how to
use the scientific method on things.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Will span several volumes. Volume 1
complete and can be read, but needs heavy work.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Spider</i> Series</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Takes place in Aesca/Ten-Ghost's world.
Coming of age literary shit.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Spider & Turtle: </i>“You are
not always in control, even of your own actions.” Ikasa Spider is
awkward, selfish, dealing with anxiety and depression issues, and a
teensy bit manic, but brilliant. Her family loses its magician store
due to the ongoing depression and moves in with their grandmother in
Fort Hammock. Ikasa inherits a turtle mummy that contains the Spider
family's “greatest shame” and must deal with the issues it
presents without losing herself in the process.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Spider & Alligator: </i>“Hard
work does not equal success.” Ikasa tries to work hard and be
responsible to purchase a high-cost music player at the general
store; fails.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Spider & Maize-Cutter:</i>
“Poverty doesn't teach people to be resourceful or thrifty – it
only teaches them how to be poor.” Ikasa hooks up with the
maize-cutters, another, alien sophont that lives in the jungles
nearby the human settlements. She comes up with a money-making scheme
selling them human cultural artifacts for gems and is eventually
caught due to her carelessness with both selling and buying goods.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Spider & Stone Man: </i>“You
are your own worst.” Ikasa's money problems get her in trouble with
a local gang, who chase her into the abandoned town shrouded in fog
next to Fort Hammock. There she encounters the Stone Man, who,
through violence and threats and emotional manipulation, keeps her
there, digging in the ground for his lost finger. Ikasa must face
herself to find the strength to escape.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Spider & Potter Wasp:</i>
“People change. You can find good people in the worst places.”
Ikasa hooks up with an old friend from her childhood – Potter Wasp
– doing work in a contested area outside the country. They do a bit
of Peace Corps style stuff until they're captured and put to work in
a camp, and Potter Wasp betrays her trust. Ikasa decides to help the
insurgents due to intelligence reports she illegally read.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Spider & Ikasa:</i> Ikasa goes
to the planet Ikasa to face her destiny. Sword and planet, with
literary stuff. Haven't decided yet.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Folk Devil:</i> Ten-Ghost part the
deuce, mandrake boogaloo. Ten-Ghost now has a sprog to watch after,
who asks too many questions and thinks she is a horrible person
(protip: she is). They become trapped in a town going down a spiral
into quarantine and infection, and Ten-Ghost must uncover the source
of the infection before the military steps in with flamethrowers and
napalm.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Ascalon:</i> Series of short stories
about a perfectly normal girl who discovers she is a dragon – and
that dragons must build people up and then horrifically break them in
order to feed, and how she finds loopholes in the system.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>BDO-Z (tentative name): </i><span style="font-style: normal;">M</span>iniatures
painter/model builder Claire is picked up by a massive space
station/structure and must escape the machinations of Granule 2, as
well as its winged minions. She travels through the station, meeting
up with a mechanical armature missing its core memory and processor,
a cyborg with horrible depression, and a member of a warrior culture
who despises conflict, all in the hopes of finding a coder that can
help her get home.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Thank You Notes to My Assassins:</i>
NEW AND EXPANDED</div>
Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-63093348071491253252016-02-12T12:10:00.000-08:002016-02-12T12:10:30.541-08:00Other ThingsA list of other things I'm working on right now.<br />
<br />
<i>Sky Crossing</i> (series of chapters to be released on Kindle; fantasy)<br />
<br />
<i>Spider and Turtle</i> (manuscript finished, shopping for agencies; fantasy)<br />
<i>Spider and Alligator</i> (manuscript begun)<br />
<i>Spider and Maize-Cutter</i> (ten-page done, summary done)<br />
<i>Spider and Stone Man</i> (ten-page begun, summary done)<br />
<i>Spider and Potter Wasp</i> (summary done)<br />
<i>Spider and Ikasa</i> (conceptualization begun) <br />
<br />
<i>Folk Devil</i> (<i>Ten-Ghost</i> sequel)<br />
<br />
Things are going slowly because I have the self-esteem of a rotten turd.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-23293589605337852812015-01-20T20:02:00.002-08:002015-01-20T20:02:46.078-08:00Which Can Eternal Blog...Do you ever feel, in your caves of steel, <br />The chill of an ancient fear? <br />Do you shudder and say, when you pass this way, <br />A human once walked here? <br /><br />They've cut off our heads, but we're not dead, <br />And we're bound by an ancient vow. <br />That does not sleep which dreams in the deep, <br />We're the Great Old Ones now! <br />— Ken Mac Leod, Newton's Wake Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-70470942475381501672013-08-30T21:26:00.001-07:002013-08-30T21:26:52.107-07:00THANK YOU 2Dear Sky-Touching Nightravens<br />
Thank you for the nice assassin; was
disappointed at first, moment where he appeared and had me tied to chair
after I slept with archaeologist to get information in France, he was
wearing nice suit. Thought he was going to torture me, but he struck up
pleasant intelligent conversation and told me exactly why I had to be
removed while slowly removing suit. Thought he might go for lowest
common denominator once the pants came off. Was wearing little dog
collar boxers and had a swastika tattoo on his left arm! Then said "and
for some of us, that savagery is damnably hard to deal with" then
shapeshifted into ten foot tall werewolf! Very classic, but also with
nice twist! Nearly killed him with silver letter opener, he escaped out
window with scar to his eye, hope to meet him again on zeppelin ride
toward Himalayas where we will banter. Thumbed you again on
RottenOmertas.<br />
<br />
To: Shadow Demon Mafia<br />
Did not like most recent
succubus. Thank you for attempt anyway; I may swing both ways but I
know a honeytrap when I see it. "Fiery death form" was still very sexy,
and fight would have looked very cheesy to onlookers. Thumbed you down,
but still looking forward to next time.<br />
<br />
To: Ancient Serpent Cult<br />
I
don't know the name of your organization, but I'm very impressed with
the way your cultists set a trap for me involving "friendly" village in
need of rescue. The bit with the glowing motionless statues that yet
followed me into the jungle was quite frightening and rather original.
Nearly lost an arm! VERY impressed!<br />
<br />
Dear Knife-Blackness Hand<br />
I
don't know who keeps putting you up to this, but your stealth assassins
are incredible! Thank you for the most recent attempt which livened up
an otherwise dull evening at the theater. I hate opera and it was very
fun to throw knives back and forth in the kitchen, we shared a turkey
and he tried to poison it a couple of times while I was watching. Very
bold! And he looked amazing coated in oil. Right before I locked him
into the steamer, anyway. As always, hug and kisses!<br />
<br />
Dear Sky-Touching Nightravens<br />
Brooklyn
assassin in a fedora with the callsign "Two-Bit" and the ability to
levitate a single 25-cent coin and fling it around rooms with the force
of a high caliber bullet? AMAZING! Thank you so much for the experience!
Also, I love the fruit basket. Checked it for bugs and poison, not a
thing! Much love and kisses. Maybe some day we'll be forced to work
together to prevent the world from being destroyed by a mistake from
someone in your hierarchy, I look forward to your inevitable yet
extremely classy betrayal (or your attempts to hire me! Kisses!).<br />
<br />
Dear Black Star Crew<br />
Please
stop attacking my house. Actually called Sky-Touching Nightravens
operative on the phone during the attack and we both complained about
you while your assassin tried to kill me with minigun on the front lawn.
Trying to kill me while in the bathtub, especially when I am not
working on a case involving your organization shows no class at all and
makes you seem desperate.<br />
<br />
To: Ancient Serpent Cult<br />
Normally I
am not pleased with attacks on my home, but your attempts to recover the
unearthly serpent totem from my home were very well orchestrated, that
you recovered it without harming any of the books or other pieces in my
conservatory impressed me heavily and I had trouble sleeping knowing
that you could enter my home at any time and leave very little trace of
your presence aside from telltale acidic stains which I recognized from
the abandoned village where I had originally recovered the item. Well
done, and I hope to uncover the mystery of your origin and purpose with
time. Hugs and kisses!<br />
<br />
Dear Black Star Crew<br />
Thanks to my
recovery of the Brisingamen and returning it to the Aesir, I have been
granted a boon by these ancient beings and am now immune to all poison
and venoms that would harm me in such a manner as to slay me. Please
bear this in mind for future plans and stop killing my maids. Thank you.
Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-7674661552707076742013-07-31T17:56:00.001-07:002013-07-31T17:56:11.848-07:00THANK YOUTo: Knife-Blackness Hand<br>
re: Assassin.<br>
Thank you for the lovely assassin. He was very surprising and managed to jump me in the produce section. Very spontaneous! I loved it. XXOXX
<p>Dear Silver Sun Syndicate<br>
I wanted to thank you for the most recent assassination attempt. She was very cute and good natured, I had a wonderful time. Very skilled with throwing daggers! Went to casino and left almost the entire room in shambles. Very good upper body strength, too!
<p>To Shadow Demon Mafia<br>
Most recent assassin was very nice. Very strong sniper rifle, possibly anti-tank? A good choice! Can't wait to see what's next! Keep up the good work!
<p>To: AI teh_CUBE3K<br>
re: Assassination<br>
I wanted to thank you for the terror-doll you sent to my private airplane island. It managed to destroy seven of my robot guardians before I was able to identify it as the culprit and burn it in the incinerator while I shrieked in pain due to broken limbs and damage to my face. Tore up one of my favorite shirts with its knife, and managed to kill supporting male friend who died in noble, masculine sacrifice. Two thumbs up!
<p>Dear Black Star Crew<br>
VERY dissapointed with last assassin. Poison in my wine was very old hat. Not like Silver Sun Syndicate old-school with class, but killing my maid and dressing in her clothes did not look right on your assassin, who was a fifty year old man. Please try better next time. Perhaps mind control gun? Looked at RottenOmertas, noticed you had 37% metarating. I am available for consultation.
<p>Dear Sky-Touching Nightravens<br>
Thank you very much for last assassination attempt! Assassin was very classy, attacked me on board an airship with henchmen, which I fought one-on-one, hand to hand. Struck up witty banter and had excellent clothing. Gold plated luger was exceptionally well-shined. I thumbed you on RottenOmertas, can't wait for next attempt!
<p>To Nightmare Syndicate<br>
Wanted to thank you for contract killer in plaid suit. Had a very 1970s vibe and hijacked my facility PA system to play disco while he hunted me through blackened corridors with straight razor. Managed to drive male support character right into my arms. A+, would be hunted again.
Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-22473041373647269762013-06-02T15:15:00.000-07:002013-06-02T15:15:05.484-07:00Getting Ready for Saturday Tabletops<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wHVMqI5ts2I/UavDi48OBHI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/5dsRs-j-_YI/s1600/atomiccitycover.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wHVMqI5ts2I/UavDi48OBHI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/5dsRs-j-_YI/s320/atomiccitycover.jpg" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zFOAB0F7NB8/UavDiWhJ0RI/AAAAAAAAA1I/MEr0woye35s/s1600/backcover+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zFOAB0F7NB8/UavDiWhJ0RI/AAAAAAAAA1I/MEr0woye35s/s320/backcover+copy.jpg" /></a>Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-37715986623528423842013-03-16T20:02:00.001-07:002013-03-16T20:02:31.554-07:00A MYSTERY<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9o3YT3Br6uE/UUUyEEi1cWI/AAAAAAAAA0A/C4ny5AljhfA/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9o3YT3Br6uE/UUUyEEi1cWI/AAAAAAAAA0A/C4ny5AljhfA/s320/photo.JPG" /></a>
<p>WHO IS THIS STRANGE BEING THAT THREATENS<p>WHAT POWERS DOES IT POSSESSAdam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-76677800136871884562013-03-11T11:19:00.001-07:002013-03-11T11:19:38.363-07:00What Keeps me Busy<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uF2DgJWUz0Y/UT4fSxPk6vI/AAAAAAAAAzw/6bIMs4377DM/s1600/Aescaworldmap.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uF2DgJWUz0Y/UT4fSxPk6vI/AAAAAAAAAzw/6bIMs4377DM/s320/Aescaworldmap.jpg" /></a>
<p>The world of Ten-Ghost, Sky Crossing, and Spider People! See those continents in the northwest section of the map? That's where those books all take place. This thing is huge, by the way. Warning.<p>I will also be signing copies of Ten-Ghost at Half Off books in Orange City, FL on March 16th from noon to three. I'm all excited. Also a little bit freaking out. Should be ok, though. It's a nice store, has that old-school library feel to it.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-175965791217299222012-10-27T21:03:00.002-07:002012-10-27T21:03:52.920-07:00We Learned Many Things That Night.We learned Narla was a compulsive gift-giver when drunk. We also learned not to take those gifts. And also to track down anyone who had them, steal them back, lock them in lead boxes, wrap them in chains, and throw them into the Miskatonic River.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-28432392216295458252012-06-11T13:51:00.001-07:002012-06-11T13:51:03.425-07:00SpelljammerI have this serious love/hate thing with Spelljammer.
Spelljammer's cover is all like "hey guess what all of Kepler's first ideas were correct and phlogiston theory is real fuck yes get ready for 15th Century voyages on the high seas only in space and prep your buckles for swashing only there are DWAAAVES"
And then you open it up and read it and what you get is an elf in a Guyver suit trying to buy a pair of bongos off a penguin riding a flying pig down at the beholder bar.
Which is okay, I guess. Had the cover said "get ready for wacky Baron Munchausen in space adventures," it'd be easier to swallow. Also hate tinker gnomes for whom every gadget fails. How the hell did they get into space in the first place?Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-81022334331927955902012-05-18T12:13:00.003-07:002012-05-18T12:14:04.739-07:00Magic vs SCIENCEDear Urban Fantasy:
Science is not a force. It is a process by which we test and decipher the laws of the universe. If magic existed, the process of science would have uncovered and named it by now. Magic and science cannot be opposed anymore than you can "oppose" the idea of the assembly line with a rock. I buy that magic might futz with technology the same way you can use that rock to smash a factory, but if that were the case, that if there were some universal force that fucked with everything that had more than three moving parts in it on a regular basis, we'd damn well know where the problems were coming from by now (this is conveniently ignoring the fact that we would have already been calling it something else entirely by now and have incorporated it into systems and, since any system or tool designed to solve problems is "technology," we'd be calling it "technology." Not "manatech" or "magitech" or anything like that. Just "technology." A spell is a type of technology just the same as a hammer or a battery is. Deal with it.). I know, you're trying to present us with a good old "man vs nature" conflict by having magic represent nature and science and technology represent man, but, seriously, there are better and more sensible metaphors you can choose. Like sticking a man in the woods. Actually, that might be fun. Stick a wizard in the woods without his magic and see what the fuck happens to him. I guarantee you it will be the same thing that happens if you put just about anyone else in the woods and take their pocketknife.
Thank you.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-83822979845764246482012-04-10T13:59:00.001-07:002012-04-10T13:59:54.175-07:00Dreams Last Night1. A girl tries to go further underground with her family. Unfortunately, the pus-arms that come from the walls are following them. Also, there are many squeezers and abandoned brownstones where time-eating worms reside.<br /><br />2. A movie about a girl with radiation based super powers comes out. She fights atomic mutants. Actually not that bad, and gave me some ideas for writing.<br /><br />3. Two goofy guys move into an apartment complex dangerously close to a river. The man who owns that part of the river tries to go fishing there and wonders if he can plant corn in the part he owns. Goofy shenanigans ensue as they try to help the man, but some of the fish are endangered and also have faces like baboons. Also the neighbors are murderers.<br /><br />4. This rocket has the tail of a crocodile and that's how it flies. I don't remember much else, other than what was happening on the rocket involved a lot of grinding noises and it woke me up. Went right back to sleep.<br /><br />5. Someone kept turning everything that wasn't related to me off when I left the room. Everything, like particle spin and neural activity and ugh. Eventually everything was gone, and it was just a black, cold universe where only I existed and there was blundering around in the dark until I froze to death. This is when I woke up and got the day started.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-87912233722593781932012-03-27T12:06:00.003-07:002012-03-27T12:10:42.536-07:00CATSLast night, I was having a dream where there were these cat-things that could turn inside out and were covered in bleached white bone, layered like kevlar and thick like teratomas on their bodies, and they were moving into towns and turning people into zombies (or something; they were more like a grotesque, bone-covered fey). This went on for some time. I was both watching and participating, as dreams are wont to do. There was a subplot involving a fire, about the size and shape of the fire from a welding torch, being passed around among the race of seven-eyed people. Anyway.<br /><br />I woke up and had some sleep paralysis, because like a fuckhead I went to sleep on my back, so I couldn't move or breathe and still having the dream, watching it play while aware that I was unable to escape from these bone-things that were just outside my door, and I could hear this horrible scraping noise just beyond my head, and I couldn't figure out what it was.<br /><br />Then the big cat jumped up back on the bed from going to the bathroom and tried to cuddle with my neck just as the sleep paralysis wore off, but I was still having the last vestiges of sensations from the dream.<br /><br />So I grabbed her by the neck and rolled forward. Got all the way out of the covers and wrapped in the sheet with my hand still around her neck before I realized what I was doing.<br /><br />She's safe, don't worry. Just that it was a little freaky.<br /><br />At any rate, I now know that I'm safe from facehuggers.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-78113564500114157202012-02-28T16:58:00.001-08:002012-02-28T16:58:49.121-08:00FATE and AspectsI've recently gotten into FATE and I think my favorite part about the whole system is Aspects and how easy they are to pretty much port over to any system that uses any kind of character resource. In D&D? They govern action points. New World of Darkness? Willpower or supernatural power sources. Mutants & Masterminds? This is a great use of Hero Points! It also struck me that scenes can have Aspects, and in Strands of Fate these can be either “always on,” such as a room that's always dark, or the slippery surface of an icy slope. There is, however, another use that slipped into my head while reading the books: settings having their own aspects. Allowing players to tag or compel setting aspects adds another layer of control and direction while still allowing the GM to retain some control over the direction of the plot. I think the next time I run a game in my novel setting, I'll use some measure of this. A player can compel the setting to react a certain way based upon presumptions given by the setting's aspects, or perhaps even tag them to get Fate points when participating in the genre.<br /><br />For example, the setting I will be running will have the following aspects to start:<br /><br />Raygun Gothic, Indigenous Mythology, Mythic West, Everything's Better With Dinosaurs, Lovecraft Country, Functional Magic, Suffering Equals Power, Powered by a Forsaken Child, Anthropomorphic Personification, Abracapocalypse<br /><br />That's ten aspects, each one taggable to some degree by characters and to perhaps even be compelled. There's still a lot more work to be done regarding how it might be done, but it's a start. I'll talk about invoking or compelling these aspects in a later post, since it's just musing for now.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-18309959532970449562012-02-25T23:06:00.001-08:002012-02-25T23:08:01.960-08:00Coming to TownEach teenager comes to the city of Agowatiha differently. Each sees it differently for the first time. Here is Matt's.<br /><br />__________________<br /><br />The road to the city was laid out like a carpet and the shuddering waves of maize were spectators desperate to take their photographs of the onrushing hulk of coiled rust and war stains splashed across its flanks like scattered hand prints. Escaping crows carrying along beside it like thundering soldiers of old, steel axes fresh in their hands, mounts like an avalanche beneath their hands, and the whorls of crawling time stood proudly resplendent on their bellies, to mark this day as the first charge of a long and trying conflict. The city was the enemy, a looming man with broad and thick shoulders that rubbed up against the sky. They had his back to the sea, though, and his defeat was certain to come, if not from the land, from the great storms Thunder would draw up from the waters Agowatiha could not watch.<br /><br /> The front line was already broken; the maize was winning, striking death blows through old and cracked concrete and marching through twisted metal skeletons, searching for holdout troops and covering them with leaves and stem until were stomped into dirt and ash, ground up to feed the new generation. The hungry generation. Matt spied a few of the more adventurous stalks already working their way into a nearby home, but the moment passed as quickly as they passed the front line. Among the trenches, soldiers had erected concrete barrier walls and paved the roads, removing dirt carefully so that the maize could find no purchase here, no matter how much it skulked right up to them. Farmers waited here in hovels constructed of scrap metal and old storefronts before the troops would send them out to mingle with and hopefully calm the attackers, to bring some diplomacy to those lawless killing fields.<br /><br /> Their car, unlike the car before them, went unmolested through the dilapidated district, past the shanty town and up further into the roads that could turn off onto the highways and bridges that rose into the core of the city, that tall and monolithic sentinel that gently touched the heavens and rested his elbows on clouds.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620346754903825026.post-57890757170275630622012-02-09T13:50:00.000-08:002012-02-09T13:51:31.337-08:00Signed & Sealed, pt 1<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QhXJ4xbaZy4/TzQ_0vkfBlI/AAAAAAAAAs8/jTx7g94rxaI/s1600/nuwepsymbols.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 302px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QhXJ4xbaZy4/TzQ_0vkfBlI/AAAAAAAAAs8/jTx7g94rxaI/s320/nuwepsymbols.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707256803140503122" /></a><br /><br />Some Nuwep symbols used in Sky Crossing. The traditional way to write these is with a shaved quill made from the tail feather from a bear/rootscraper (protip: I used pencil, like a fr00b). The interior of the feather uses a reservoir and the end is frayed, so the result is something resembling a stiff brush that you have to replace a lot. <br /><br />While it's not spoken anymore, the letters and icons still remain, part of an ever-expanding symbolic lexicon adopted by the first thirteen tribes of the Confederacy during unification as a method of sending messages that the conquering Tourmek were unable to interpret.<br /><br />Because of this, Nuwep encourages personal signs using a set of iconography stemming from the five virtues or five rivers. This is why Erika's seal, “the experimenting man,” bears a resemblance to the sign for inventiveness, “the crouched man at a cooking fire;” they both use the iconography for a working man. The sickle shape stands for a person's head. The sign for humor, for example, “the amused man,” is supposed to resemble a laughing person, while the stoic man is a person with broad shoulders touching their chin.Adam J. Thaxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548963910451537405noreply@blogger.com1