[As usual, two weeks lag here, if you aren’t reading this on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blazeward). If you’d like your news fresher, and the monthly Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter, all I ask is a buck to help keep the lights on around here.]
Okay, slightly bouncy. Rainy season is upon us.
WHAT? I moved to Seattle for the rain. Gonna be a slightly wetter and warmer winter, if El Nino is correct. That’s the kind of gray days I like.
Finished Heather #2 last week. And a short story about Wardog Charlie that you’ll see in a future issue of Boundary Shock Quarterly. I’m about a year ahead on those on purpose. And trying to push more out.
Last couple of days have been more Reilly. #15 of the Scattered Tribes. Just looked and I’m at about 75k words on that one. And MAYBE halfway for book one. Gonna be HUGE. Having fun.
Out of nowhere, the ancient roleplaying game Villains and Vigilantes came up on my radar over the weekend. Used to play with several groups in the late 80s, then early 90s. Not sure I’ve played in 30 years, looking back, but that’s me moving from LA to Wichita briefly to Seattle.
A 3rd Edition came out in 2017, after Jack and Jeff got the rights back following a major lawsuit in 2010-13. Ordered a paperback edition that will be here in a week. Then dug out my old rules from 1982 and my notebook of characters from those days.
On the one hand, looking for some players in the South Seattle area to get a game going, because my main group INSISTS on fantasy. (Yawn.) On the other, I reread some of Gunderson and realized that I have four more stories totally 46k, so Volume Two at some point soonish. And some superhero stories in a slightly spun-off world that starts in 1920 and will culminate in something huge, ugly, and a lot of fun around 2000CE. Need to write more stories in the middle. More craziness. More fun.
That’s where V&V comes in. I have the Modern Gods world, but it’s off on its own and won’t intersect this one except for some weird multiverse/Amalgam crossover at some point. And I have a lot of names and themes for heroes and villains, but never really built out anybody except Eclipse and Bellerophon. Obviously, Captain Sapphire needs some, as well as a bunch of other folks. Better, I have 80 years into which to set prep stories, knowing that Gunderson will anchor a set of them in 1955. Because Gunderson.
So there will be some more spandex at some point. Just gotta, and need to do various things as palate cleansers and mind refreshers. Heather is Dark. Holden is sarcastic and mean. Reilly is young. Uly and Dan have a ‘Greater Mission.’ Etc. I need to play from time to time, and superhero generally falls under a subheading of Contemporary Fantasy, regardless of the style.
Past that, I have a spin-off from Marrakesh to write at some point. Only a few folks have read #5/Crossroads to understand what’s up with Maddox Nevin. The rest of you have never met the man. It will be fun. It will be an adventure.
Sixth Marrakesh at some point. First Survey Corps. Fifth Corsac Fox. Etc.
The fun never ends, and I’m going to throw in some more four-color heroes with lantern jaws, strong rights, and a good catchphrase.
Hope your Monday is even remotely as fun as mine is.
shade and sweet water,
blaze
West of the Mountains, WA
—————————-
Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!
If you’re reading the free version (which is published two weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.