Ultimate Guide to Alchemy, Crafting & Enchanting by Nord Games is one of the many Role Playing Game resources that I have in my library.
I love world building. One of the keys to making a world functional for stories is to have the actions and reactions of the world follow rules. They may not be rules you tell your readers about. But if pulling the level makes the door open, then the doors should open when you pull the lever... or a surprise should occur.
Books like this one, I use as inspiration for how to do world building. What do you think about? how do you quantify it? You don't need to go to the level that games do to make things work, of course. But having thought about it, it at least makes things consistent, which reduces reader's confusion, which increases reader's satisfaction.
This particular book, is an interesting look into the creating of potions and magical artifacts. Very handy if you have a magic filled world. Or if you want to create that extra special McGuffin.
Fun book, nice art.
The Urban Setting Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Publisi is another book in their excellent series of Thesaurus books. This one, obviously, focuses on locations you'd find in an urban setting. Like the Rural version we covered yesterday, this one may not be used as often as some of the other books in the series. It is, however, an excellent resource to have in your library.
Like the Rural book, this gives you ways to engage all the senses in different places. They also include some common conflicts you might encounter in these settings.
Check it out!
This is on free streaming from various Amazon sources, such as IMDB TV in the USA. They did a really good job with the show. This is based on the Alex Rider series of novels, which are over the top teen spy thriller type books. The show (as the trailer shows) is likewise over the top. They did a nice job here on season 1 in basically merging the first two books and giving you enough to show respect, but mixing it up enough to still throw surprises at you.
Season 2 is also out, but I haven't had the time yet to dive on it. I'll post something more when I do.
The Rural Setting Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglist is another book writer's should have in their reference library. This one, as the name suggests, covers common rural areas. This one is especially handy for people that mostly spend time in cities and need to describe a country location with more details than you'd get from looking at a picture of barn.
Like the other books in the series, this book gives you something for all the senses to add that little extra depth to your writing.
Definitely a must have!
Gotham Knights has launched. I'm still forming my thoughts on this one. Once again, another company has taken a game genre that is action/adventure and turned it into a "Games as a service" grind fest that is more about keeping you locked in the game and not doing other things. Assassin's Creed went this route, killing off the franchise back when they released the last Assassin's Creed game, Syndicate. They created a new franchise of grindy RPG's and slapped "Assassin's Creed" on the cover, despite only a superficial resembles to the fun games they made previously. (Hence AC: Origins, AC: Odyssey and AC: Valhalla longer longer grindfest with no Assassins or 'power fantasy because you're a bad ass' in sight. Or so many hours into a grind that I never got to it)
Playing the Batman Arkham games and then playing Gotham Knights will give you that exact feeling of doom, if you liked the older play style.
So Gotham Knights... I have played as Robin and Red Hood so far. I'm queued up to play Nightwing next time I leave the belfry. Despite the trailers, the game lacks a glide mechanism even hours into the game. Apparently there is a way to get it, but it is grindy and not obvious at all without watching how to videos.
The story is engaging enough. But the enemies are repetitive and damage sponges so that have to grind to power up.
I am playing on an Xbox Series X. I'm not noticing any issues with it beyond some frustrating controls and too much RPG in a game that should be more actiony.
I do like the investigation stuff, at least on a surface level.
I have been doing some deep diving on different aspects of writing for awhile now. There are a number of books in the series from Angele Ackerman & Becca Puglisi. I have posted a couple so far, but here is "The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression". I have the entire series and there is a ton of great content in here. Unless you are a bit obsessed with deep diving, this is not a book you'll read from cover to cover. It is, however, a great reference book for engaging all of your senses and expanding the "Show, don't tell" methods of story telling.
Trying to write a character reaction? Look up the emotion you want and read through the entry. It gives you common behaviors, body actions that show that emotion without the writing "He felt X"
Definitely very handy to have your personal library if you want to grow your writing skills.
This was an interesting spin on sci-fi. The special effects and visuals were really good. I have added the 4k Blu-Ray to my library.
If you haven't seen it and you like sci-fi and some action, check it out. It's been out long enough that you should be able to find it on one of those streaming services.
Please no one tell @Cia, but I still have not read Frank Herbert's Dune. Though I have seen 2021 Dune movie starring Timothée Chalamet.
I enjoyed the visuals a lot in this movie. It can been a bit slow at times, but it was nice to disconnect and just enjoy it. They made one hell of a big set up... I hope all the changes at going on a Discovery/Warner Bros doesn't ruin a sequel for this.
Well, the last one was Vol 1, so Vol 2 should not be a surprise. I've taken the picture myself of the book on my desk.
The X Thesaurus series of books continues with Conflicts Volume 2. This is a continuation of various conflicts you come across and all the ins and outs of that conflict. Like volume 1, this book helps you make sure your conflicts are well-rounded and engage the senses and emotions.
Like all the other books in this series, it adds to your writer's toolkit. It's worth having in your library if you want to grow your skills and improve your writing. Or if you want some prompting on where to go when you are stuck.
The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Volume 1) (Writers Helping Writers Series) by Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman.
I have been doing a fair bit of reading on various aspects of writing. This entire series of books is worth a read and having on your shelf if you are trying to enhance your writing skills. Each one of the books focuses on as aspect of writing. This one is on Conflicts. The book gives a high level conflict type and then lists a number of positive and negative results of the conflict, emotions common in the conflict, impacts, possible internal struggles and several other things.
This can help stimulate ideas or give you a reference to make sure your writing is well-rounded. Or perhaps give you a nudge when your stuck on something.
I definitely recommend this book.
One of the ways I try to maintain my sanity is to unplug from the craziness of the real world and just do mindless fun activities. Forza Horizon 5 is one of the nicest looking games I've seen. It is hands down the best arcade racer style game out there. It's huge and it's free as part of Xbox Game Pass. (PC, Xbox, Cloud - $15 a month... if you aren't doing bing searches with microsoft rewards and getting it all for free...)
This is my go to game for a few minutes of relaxing each night. I'll do a race or two. maybe a few of the weekly challenges.
The Hotwheels DLC is one of the best fantasy racing things you can do it. It takes the fun of the normal game and puts you on giant looping tracks, high above Mexico. They understand fun.
I can't wait to see what this studio does with Fable...
This week we are promoting our Winter 2007 Anthology: Worth Fighting For.
In no particular order:
Be sure to read and review!
For Authors!
We'd also like to remind all authors that we have 4 Anthology themes for 2018 and a Novella Contest:
Contests
2018 Summer Novella Anthology - Due April 15th, 2018
Anthologies
2018 Spring Anthology: Now or Never - Due May 15th
2018 Spring Anthology: Encounters - Due May 15th
2018 Fall Anthology: Fight Back - Due Nov 15th
2018 Fall Anthology: Good Intentions - Due Nov 15th
