Michael had started a post for you last week, but computer troubles are delaying his ability to complete it. The working title I saw was “The Cost of Everything,” and I took away from our discussion that it involves how to determine what anything might cost in your fantasy fictional setting, whether it be for literary or gaming purposes. Like […]
One of the things that used to drive me crazy was finding, or figuring out, believable prices for stuff. If you're a scifi/fantasy author, gamer, or game designer, you can probably sympathize. Historical price lists are hard to find, and when you do find one, its either based in the wrong historical period or culture, or it just doesn't have the item. […]
From the wiki: Raven Wing If you’ve read Dead Man’s Trigger, you already know how Raven got his name. If you were curious to know more about the device called the Raven Wing, including more about it’s war-time uses, please do click through to read up. It’s one of many wiki entries available to our readers, and we update them […]
It seems most writers go through periods where the words just won’t come, no matter what we do. Some writers call this dull, dark time “writer’s block,” but others writers — more than you might suspect — think writer’s block is little more than a myth, something writers invent to excuse everything from laziness to depression. Yet others see the […]
“The universe of magic is a large place. It contains phenomena ranging from simple good luck charms to complicated systems of belief and practice such as astrology and alchemy, and it comes to us from prehistory, and from every part of the world, and it still flourishes today.” — Philip Pullman I haven’t yet read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, but […]
For those of us who really like a bit of science fiction with our fantasy (and vice versa), all 17, 500+ entries in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 3rd ed, are now free, and searchable, online. The first edition of this tome was published in 1979 — in paper — and it won a Hugo award for best nonfiction work […]
Along Cascadia's long, fens and ponds are common, and they're always full of life—and unlife. From the fey to ghosts and the will o wisp, one never knows what one will find there, especially at night, or in the twilight hours.
Police Inspector Barbara Cole first appears in Raven's Tears and her story continues throughout the Raven & the Iris Series. In this series of shorts we go back in time to Barbara's preparations to become a police detective, and take a peek at what middle class life looks like in Cascadia. It was six in the morning, or "four bells" […]
If you were wondering what megacorporate titan was positioning itself to go head-to-head with Amazon’s Prime offerings, well, it looks like that will be Walmart, Inc. Earlier this year, Walmart and Rakuten Kobo announced a partnership to offer a variety of e-book content, reading services, and even devices through its Walmart stores as well as through development and launch of co-branded […]
This is not another post on how writers craft stories. I’d apologize, but my best estimate is that there are sixty-three hojillion posts about that on the internet right now, and a half-assed search engine is capable of turning every one of them up for you, listed however you please. What I wanted to write about this Monday morning is […]
