Been here a while

Because I wanted an image of a barbarian.
Probably my favorite shot from Conan the Barbarian.

So, another blogger I recently started following is celebrating her one-year anniversary this month. That got me to thinking about how long I have been blogging. This particular blog has been going on since October of 2008. But before that, I had a Xanga page for many years. That one was much more personal. In it I discussed all of the shit that was hitting the fan in my tumultuous love-life, my constant battles with my ex-wife, and the anguish I felt over not having my daughter around. Some of that stuff is still around, particularly the ex-wife (unfortunately…isn’t she due for a house to fall on her?), and my separation from my daughter. But, that’s my life. Prior to 2007, things were far from perfect. Now, things are much better.

Suffice it to say, I like this blog a lot better. Funny thing is, I went back and looked at my first posts. While my very first one here was a basic intro post, the very next one was all about gaming. And in it I mention my S&S RPG and my Orc RPG. Both of which I have continued to work on here and there for the better part of three years, and have recently ramped up my work on. Amazing how little some things change.

Speaking of my S&S game, Age of the Sword finally has the framework of a setting. I have a rough map, and at least some tertiary information about the various regions in the world, which, oddly enough, I refer to as The World. I’m enjoying coming up with societies and cultures. I find that I have my go-to tropes all represented. But a lot of the stuff is inspired by the imagery presented in Fire & Ice. I look at a mental snapshot and extrapolate how that came to be. It’s a cool exercise.

Other than that, not much to report. I’m toying with some ideas for the shared world my friends and I are building. I hit a wall with that, so I have set it aside for a bit. But the idea forming in my mind is still percolating. I also started working on a story for publication. The theme of the anthology is strong female S&S characters. I had an idea about a Greek Mythology-inspired story dealing with a daughter of Ares. My initial idea was built on the premise of “What if there was a female version of Hercules?” The idea has some merit, but after 1,100+ words, it kind of started meandering, and I lost interest quickly. Probably because the tale needs so much more than a short story can provide. So, I will most likely restart with something different, and just file that one away for future reference.

My wife is running in Crazy Legs tomorrow. I’m very proud and in awe of her. She amazes me with her dedication. And I thank her for motivating me to work out. Sometimes I absolutely DO NOT want to do it. But, she sets up the video, and we just do it. Afterwards, I’m beat, but I feel better for it later.

Anyways, what’s new with you guys?

A day off

With my wife out of town on business today, and my daughter having no after school care and having Tae Kwon Do tonight, I chose to take the day off of work, and stay home with the boy.  Originally I was going to send him to his day care provider, but the schedule was going to make that not really worth the drive (she lives on the other side of town).  So, I opted to keep him home with me.  We watched some TV this morning, including the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood (which I highly recommend).  Now he's napping, and I'm getting caught up on some chores.

Been reading my copy of Barbarians of Lemuria lately.  It's a fun, simple little Sword & Sorcery RPG.  Kind of along the lines of what I am trying to do with Age of the Sword.  In fact, it made me start to second-guess doing AotS, since this does the genre so well.  But, it's nearly done anyways, and I've put a lot of effort into it.  So, what the heck, right?

Also been thinking about stories, though I haven't written anything fiction-wise in a couple of days.  Which brings up something that has been on my mind, and was punctuated by today's post over at Man Cave Authors.   I really need to come up with a schedule for writing.  Right now I do most of my writing at work, in between, well, work.  And at home, it seems we are always on the go.  After the kids get to bed, we are jumping around the living room doing P90X.  When that's done, I am so exhausted, and it's so late, that writing is the furthest thing from my mind.  So, where does that leave me?  I have no idea.  I just know that if I don't buckle down and make time to write, I won't get anything written.  So, that's something I need to start working on.

Aside from that relatively minor problem, life is pretty good.  We're getting the house a bit more organized and clean.  My daughter comes home for the Summer in just a few weeks, and my family is totally awesome.  I have good friends, good health, and I even get to game every now and again.  Could things get better?  Sure.  But it could get a whole lot worse.  In fact, it has been.  And I am thankful for all of the blessings I have.

Tom the Wanderer

Sometimes I feel like a literary adventurer when it comes to my writing.  Some days I find myself up to my neck in a story.  I am battling a deluge of ideas and words, in an effort to subdue the beast that lurks in my mind.  On other days my creativity is like a vast desert that I have to cross.  But most days, I spend at least part of the time meandering from idea to idea.  New ideas for stories, or even just snippets that could grow into stories with the proper cultivation, spring up from odd places.

The other week a Sword & Sorcery parody came to mind from something my daughter said.  Sydney (8) has this habit of trying to "translate" Connor's (2) babble-speech for us.  Finally, while driving down the freeway, I said to her (tongue-in-cheek, of course) "Sydney, stop trying to translate for your brother.  We know you don't speak Toddlerian."  I have no idea where that came from, but I loved it.  Even used it in my first Thomas Magni entry.  But the image it conjured keeps coming back to me.  I imagine my son in a horned helmet with a battle-axe bigger than he is, a savage grimace on his face, as he battles monsters and demons.  Connor the Toddlerian!  I even tried to imagine what he would fight.  Connor and the Raging Broccodile, Connor and the Killer Kitten, Connor in the Land of Noisy Sisters; the possibilities are endlessly funny.  In my head.  It even inspired a D&D scenario where our gaming group would take on the roles of our children as D&D characters.  I would play Connor as a Gnome Barbarian.  Sydney would be a Wild Elf Sorceress who is also a Princess (and makes sure everyone knows it).  And Faith would be the Goth necromancer NPC, with her Emo-boy minions.  Hilarity would no doubt ensue.

Anyways, back to reality (sorta).  I posted my S&S game, and am eagerly awaiting feedback.  By the way, if you downloaded it and are reading it, pay no attention to the references in the "Enemies" section to the film, Fire & Ice.  Those are placeholder names, and I forgot to edit them out.  The setting I am working on is based on that world, but heavily modified and augmented by other ideas.  The names will be changed, but it will probably still be recognizable to those who know the movie.

Then there's the story I wrote yesterday.  I had invited a couple of friends to share one of my worlds with me.  It was an incomplete world, mainly just some notes and a few general descriptions.  Naturally, they both had a lot of questions.  Which is cool because their questions made me think, and I have added a lot of detail to the world, based on their suggestions and story ideas.  But I hadn't been writing any stories of my own in this world.  Well, yesterday I did.  It was only about 1,200 words, but I liked it (though it needed a LOT of editing, which I did today).  And it occurred to me that it could easily be continued into a much larger story.  So, that's what I am doing with it now.

Fortunately, my Sci-Fi mood seems to have been a flash in the pan, and I am back into a S&S mood again.

I also keep eying my ever-growing "to-read" pile, adding two more books this week, with an RPG on its way.  I am playing WoW again, and enjoying it.  And I discovered that Netflix has the entire Farscape series up for instant view.  I think I may be stretching myself too thin...

The game is afoot!

Lately a lot of my writing efforts have been directed towards the various Role-Playing Games I have on my plate.  None of them are being written for profit (well, maybe one of them will be), and all are just for fun.  Subsequently, they all kind of get nibbled on as time permits, and usually when I am not knee-deep into something else.

Well, today I put the first "playable" game of my own design up for criticism and comment.  Age of the Sword is a Sword & Sorcery RPG using a system I created years ago, and have been tweaking and playing with ever since.  The system itself has an interesting history (I think).  It started as an effort to put an entire RPG onto one side of one sheet of paper.  The fruit of that effort was called Wizards & Warriors, and it was a very rules-lite fantasy game.  No setting, no detailed descriptions.  Just the bare bones, geared towards those who were already in the FRPG Know.

W&W was lame.  I admit that.  But, it did spark an idea.  What if I took the core mechanic that I had come up with, and expanded it into a full-scale universal system?  Thus was born EGO: Endless Gaming Options.  I spent several months of unemployment in early 2000 (having just left my job to follow my then-wife to Salinas, CA from San Diego) working on EGO.  It turned out pretty good, and I even had a few people download it for use in their home-brew games (though no one ever got back to me on how it worked out).

Anyways, interest waned, as it always does, and EGO fell to the wayside.  I would look at it every once in a while; add some stuff to it; tweak the system.  But, meh.  Nothing major.  Then, a few years ago, I got another idea.  I wanted to create a Sword & Sorcery RPG.  So, I dusted off EGO, stripped it of all non-S&S detail, and started playing with it again.  Interest waxed and waned, along with my literary mood swings (see my last blog entry).

And today, after a few weeks on an S&S kick, I have finally made a (more or less) playable version, complete with some artwork (borrowed from Frazetta mostly) and some extra flavor text.  Still no specific setting attached to it, though.  The setting I was going to use got re-tasked somewhere else, and I lighted upon an idea for a new one last night.  So, while I chip away at working that up, I put the basic game on Google Docs and shared the link with my Facebook page. 

[Download/View it here]

A few people have already said they would take a look.  I hope they don't hate it.

Yeah, I'm a pretty "low self-esteem" person, especially with my writing.  So, I always start with assuming people will hate what I do, and then hope that I'm wrong.  It seems to work out fairly well for me.

Mood swings

Today I find myself slipping into a Science Fiction mood.  It happens a lot.  I will go long periods of being in a specific "genre mood" and I will write, read, watch, and sometimes play, in that genre.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere, another genre will intrude and insinuate itself in my mind like a virus.

Ok, it's not usually out of nowhere.  But it is commonly the result of something minor, even mundane; a casual remark, the cover of a book, a piece of news.  This time, I'm not 100% sure where it came from.  It could possibly be that my bi-weekly D&D game has been going on for so long, and I am not accustomed to that happening.  When I lived in San Diego, my gaming group had ADD.  A "long-term campaign" would last maybe ten sessions.  Then, invariably, we'd all silently agree that it was time for a change.  So, we'd switch gears.  Sometimes for a single night, sometimes for ten more sessions.  Occasionally we'd even switch back to what we had done before.

Anyways, whatever the cause, the SciFi bug has bitten me, and I am wondering what to do.  I am currently writing a serial about Thomas Magni, which is SciFi/Parody.  But interest is waning a bit there, and it's not enough.  Then again, it's only week three.

My wife suggested taking a "cheat day" and exploring it.  Not sure if that will be enough either, but it's worth a shot.  So, maybe I'll set the Sword & Sorcery stuff aside for a bit, and look at some hard SciFi writing.  Maybe watch a good movie.  Don't want to pick up a book just yet, as I am currently trying to read about four different books as it is.

You know, it just occured to me while writing this blog where the bug came from.  A few days back Black Gate Magazine ran an article about Star Frontiers.  That's what did it!  It was that damn Larry Elmore cover for Alpha Dawn.  Gets me every time.

Ok, fine.  Lemme put away this broadsword and pull out my laser rifle...

You know, sometimes it ain't easy being me.

Futile Efforts

Has anyone ever felt an overwhelming urge to write something that you know you will never be able to sell, or even publish, and did it anyways?

I have had an idea for a series of stories, possibly even a book, about a character that is proprietary, and would be a legal miasma if I were to try to get it published.  This idea has been rolling around in my brain since I was in high school, but I have never started it due to the impossibility of it seeing the light of day.

The property I am referring to is Conan (c), and more specifically, his firstborn son, Conan II (or Conn, as he is more commonly called).  Conn is not the invention of Robert E. Howard, but rather of L. Sprague DeCamp.

For those who don't know who that is (and you may want to skip this paragraph if you do), DeCamp was a science-fiction/fantasy writer of moderate ability, who managed (sometime in the late 50's or early 60's, I believe) to become the custodian of the late Howard's Conan stories.  For several years, DeCamp labored over these stories with the help of Lin Carter and Bjorn Nyberg, organized them chronologically, and filled in time gaps by either converting non-Conan stories into Conan stories, or by writing original works of the character.  The product of these efforts was a 12-volume set of books (that would later be added to by DeCamp as well) published by Lancer/Ace Books.  These books remained in print until the late 1980's.  It should be noted at this point that DeCamp considered himself somewhat of an armchair psychologist, and I later learned that much his analysis of Howard's person were born of misinterpreted information, and possibly a sense of jealousy.  DeCamp knew that Howard had been a more talented writer than he ever could be.  That much is plain.  And his character assassination of Howard, along with his self-serving custodianship of the Conan character, did little to ingratiate him to true Howard fans.

Be that as it may, these books were my first literary introduction to the character of Conan.  Suffice it to say, they developed in me a lust for Sword & Sorcery, and a love of the Conan character.  At the time, I recall not noticing the difference between the original stories by Howard, and the pastiches.  They were all Conan, and they told the story of the life of an amazing character.  I have since gone on to read the re-release of the original Howard works, as well as many of his non-Conan stories, and have come to appreciate his genius, and how DeCamp, though talented, never quite measured up to the Original.

The last three books in the original twelve, Conan the Avenger, Conan of Aquilonia and Conan of the Isles, were all book length works written wholly by DeCamp.  And the last two book featured Conn somewhat prominently.  First as a 10-year old would be warrior in Aquilonia, and later as the Prince turned King in Isles.  Near the beginning of the final book, Conan abdicates his throne to his 20-something son, in favor of running off on one last hurrah.  The rest of the book was fun, but it was Conn that always intrigued me.

What happened when he became king of the most powerful nation in the Hyborian Age?  Was he able to balance his savage heritage with his civil upbringing?  By this point, his mother had passed, and all he had were a few advisers, and three younger siblings.  Would he have stayed on the throne and remained a good king in his father's image?

I imagined not.  Conan had made many enemies in his lifetime, and it would not be far off to assume that one of them, or even the offspring of one of them, might make a play for the throne during this time of change.

And that's the story that is demanding to be written.  And I have decided to give in to that demand, and see where it takes me.  Perhaps if I like the results, I can do a find/replace for all of the proprietary names, and give it a legally original facade.

Yeah, that's what I'm doing.

World Building Logic

A few years back I had this idea of creating a world to set Sword & Sorcery stories in. The premise was that the “world” was nothing but desert. Naturally, I thought of Tatooine, from the Star Wars films. However, I immediately ran into a problem with that. A problem that is rooted in my own writer’s personality.

Scientifically speaking, a planet like Tatooine (or even Hoth…which is technically also a “desert” world) could not exist. At least not as it does in the films. Without a large portion of the planet covered with vegetation, there would be no breathable atmosphere. And in all of the films where Tatooine appeared, never once do you see any significant vegetation. Now, take all of that with a grain of salt, as it is based on my limited knowledge of science. I suppose there may be other methods by which such a world could create a suitably oxygen-rich atmosphere. I just don’t know of any.

So, with that thought in mind, I decided that the “world” was actually an isolated portion of the planet. Which lead me to deciding how it had become isolated. What I settled on was a great “bowl” of a valley, spanning a thousand miles in each direction. The defining feature was a great river running through the middle. But, where did the river originate? And where did it go?

Well, it originated in the mountains to the West, and flowed into the mountains in the East. The river became analogous to the Nile, and I decided that the culture that lived along the river was Pseudo-Egyptian. But, what about the areas surrounding the river, beyond the fertile shores?

To the North, still within the bowl, the climate became more temperate, and the hot sands slowly gave way to sparse grasslands and rolling hills, dotted with lakes. But in order to keep the inhabitants of the bowl inside, I decided that the farthest reaches in that direction were bordered not just by impassible mountains, but sheer cliffs that stood a mile or more in height. This region was dominated by a culture of city-states. Many of these existed on the shores of lakes, but a few existed up against the cliffs, with caves dug into the cliff-sides in some areas. Originally, these were going to be Pseudo-Arabic in nature, but I also thought that some, particularly on the grasslands, could be more Mongolian-based.

To the South, the desert becomes excessively inhospitable. This was also to keep my cultures within the bowl. And to ensure their placement, I peopled the south with a savage, bestial, cannibalistic race who bred by the thousands and made exploring this region impossible.

That left the mountains to the East and West. To the West, the foothills are dominated by thick forests. The river folk in this area harvest some of the wood. But they do not venture very far into the forests. Why? Because of the dark and ominous creatures who live there, of course! Little do they know that these “creatures” are actually tribes of barbarian hillmen who disguise themselves as monsters to keep the militarily superior river people out of their lands.

To the East, the river disappears into rough mountains, and eventually dumps into a vast region of swamps and jungles, populated with primitive life of all types (including dinosaurs).

And then, there are the mutants who inhabit the wastelands between the two major cultures. And of course, the geography, climate and cultures helped me create the religious and social beliefs of the various peoples, including the large, semi-nocturnal race of desert-dwellers.

So, what is the point of all of this? Well, it illustrates how I tend to build a fantasy world. I start with a germ of an idea (a desert world) and allow that to dictate the details, leading me down roads of logic at every turn, until finally, I have a workable world. It also illustrates how, even when creating a “fantasy” world, I like it to be logical and somewhat realistic.

The world I have described above is somewhat fleshed-out already, though it does need more fine-tuning. It is inspired by several settings and stories from various authors, as well as my own study of history.

And why is this pertinent to now? Because I am writing yet another RPG (or rather finishing one I started ages ago), and I need a setting. Age of the Sword will be set in this world. You know, once I buckle down and finish it…

Some things need to remain dead

I’ve always been a fan of resurrecting a dead character in D&D and other RPGs (though I have never actually had to do it). However, it occurs to me that sometimes what’s dead needs to just stay dead (especially the cat in that Stephen King movie). And sometimes this even applies to writing projects.

A few years ago I started a project about a human boy raised from infancy by Orcs. I really liked the characters, the background, and I enjoyed writing many memorable scenes. As usually happens, I got burned out on it, and put it aside. Mainly this was because I hadn’t really plotted anything out. I was just trying to let the story tell itself naturally, building a plot off of the events as they occurred. That didn’t really work so well, as I got lost and started meandering.

Today I decided to reopen that project and work on it. My original vision was a novel-length work, with the possibility of it being the first in a trilogy. But, after much reconsideration, I thought that maybe I would rewrite some of what I had, and turn it into a novella. With this thought in mind, I proceeded to reacquaint myself with the story.

And that’s when I realized that the writing sucked. It’s bereft of colorful descriptions, and filled with mundane terms like “asked” and “said.” In order to make it entertaining, I would need to go through and do a major rewrite that would almost match the amount of work required if I just scrapped it and started over.

In short, the project is dead. And I’ll probably just let it stay that way. For a while. Maybe someday I might pull a Dr. Frankenstein and steal the better scenes for a future project. But, as a whole, the story will just be a file on my computer, and not much more.

Has anyone else had this happen?

Let’s talk…

I readily admit to being rather naïve and somewhat clueless as to the details of the publishing industry. I have exactly one publishing credit (an article in Dragon Magazine #243, January 1998), and nothing else. But I talk a lot to published authors, and one thing I have noticed is that a lot of them often speak cryptically about their latest project. Unable to divulge details due to legal constraints (I assume).

As anyone who has been following this blog, or my Facebook, knows, I have been invited to write a short story for an anthology. Yes, a real, physically printed, anthology. But, because of my perceptions based on the above, I have yet to divulge details to any but a few close friends, and people who could be involved.

Well, word has it I have been secretive for nothing. I can speak openly about it all I want (I feel kinda dumb now). So, to that end, let us discuss the theme of this anthology …ORCS!

Wow. Quelle surprise. Right?

Yes, the anthology is the brainchild of my mentor and good friend, Scott Oden. He and I share a deep passion for these brutes, and it is his purpose to gather talented writers to produce a definitive collection of short fiction about Orcs. To that end, he has gathered quite an impressive roster of writers. I don’t think the list is complete or finalized yet, so I won’t mention any names at this point. But, suffice it to say, there are writers from all over the fantasy spectrum involved. From long published names, to newer authors who are starting to gain some real notoriety. And in the middle of all of that, there’s me. I am both honored and humbled to be counted among them. And I know I will be brought to tears to see my name in the table of contents next to some of these giants.

This has motivated me to write the best story I can. And I really like it so far. Interestingly, the publication date is tentatively sometime in the Spring of 2012, so there is plenty of time to get the story done. The word length is 5-10,000 words. I’m already at about 4,300, with my story almost 2/3 done.

One thing that has come up in the Facebook group discussions is that most of the writers are looking to put a new spin on Orcs. This was a suggestion by Scott, and many people are running with it. In fact, the idea was so infectious, I put my original idea on the back-burner in favor of a new idea. Oddly, this new idea was sparked by a single, tongue-in-cheek comment made in jest. Scott had laid down the rules, and told us, in no uncertain terms, what he didn’t want. Well, the internet being a breeding ground for desktop comedians, some of us had to chime in with snarky comments. One of those was something akin to “What? No Orc space pirates fighting psychic vampires?”

Orc space pirates…brilliant!

The idea took hold of me and I couldn’t let it go. So, I changed my course, and set sail for the ether.

As you may recall, Disney’s Treasure Planet is one of my favorite animated films. And having recently read Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the whole concept of galleons in space was something I would love to explore. And now here was the perfect opportunity. My story is a nod to Stevenson, as well as a nod to the now defunct SpellJammer setting for D&D.

So, there you have it. My “secret” project is not so secret. Stay tuned here and on Facebook for more details as they come. This is Scott’s first foray into editing, so I know he feels overwhelmed at times (not to mention everything else he has going on). So, being the guy I am, I’m going to try to help with any aspect of this that I can.

In the meantime, here is an opening snippet of my (as yet untitled) story…

I was but twelve years old, traveling with an estranged uncle in the wake of my parents’ deaths, when the Orcs swooped out of the ether to bring doom upon our ship. Like some leviathan from an ancient mariner’s tale, their vessel was a mass of spikes and solar sails, her rigging crawling with Orcs like flies on a corpse, each as eager as the next for blood and plunder. Their appearance sent the crew of the HMS Mandrake into a panic. For my part, having been caught exploring the deck of the ship, I was mesmerized in horrid fascination, and could scarcely move. I had read of Orc marauders plying the space lanes, waylaying unsuspecting vessels, and leaving few, if any, survivors. These tales had given the Orcs a bogey-man’s gloss in my imagination; never did I expect to meet one – much less a whole crew of the freebooters.

And yet, such a certain death was staring me in the eye.

I remember well the guttural voices above all. I had met many a man through my father, a scholar and a teacher, and none had had a voice as baritone and menacing as that of an Orc. So, to hear a myriad of them, bellowing and howling like a pack of beasts anticipating a kill, even as their grappling hooks crunched into our deck, was an assault on my senses I was not prepared for. As their ship came closer, and I got my first (and what I assumed would be my last) up-close look at Orcs, I was struck by how human they appeared, despite their gray skin and bestial facial features. Dressed more or less as one would expect such spacefarers to be, many were shirtless, their bodies decorated with ritual scarring and tattoos. In their brawny hands and toothy maws they bore barbaric forms of cutlasses and daggers. A few shouldered plasma muskets, and took shots at some of the similarly armed crewmembers of the Mandrake.

Reporting in!

Like many people who undertake the goal of improving physical fitness, I slacked off during the winter. This was mainly due to adjusting to getting a job at the end of September, and having my schedule make hitting the gym as often as before next to impossible. It’s also due to the depression of winter weather. As I’ve stated before, I love Wisconsin, but I did NOT move here for the weather. A foot of snow on the ground and bone-aching cold make me want to just sit and hibernate. But, my biggest obstacle was that I just burned myself out on the gym. I looked for other physical outlets, but again Time reared its head and struck down any ideas (with a little help from his sidekick, Finances).

Well, this week my beautiful wife got us started on P90X. After three days of intense workouts each evening, combined with sensible eating and taking a pile of vitamins and supplements, I can already feel the difference. Yesterday, my energy was at a very low-point. I was tired and drained. But today, after some quality sleep, I feel much better. Still a little sore in places, but it’s easily manageable.

On the writing front, I am still chugging away at the story for the Anthology. It’s coming along nicely, and I’m enjoying it a lot. Also enjoying the light-hearted stories of Thomas Magni. After a false start that was much more “literate”, I think I have found a good format for that. Now, to work on some artwork for him. I did a sketch yesterday that I really like. I’ll see if I can get it up soon. Then there’s the Everlasting WIP, Life of Rage, my Orc RPG written in first person. I was considering starting an Orc-themed blog site, since much of my writing and imaginary life revolves around them. We’ll have to see about that. I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew…

On the work front, things are getting better. I got my letter last week informing that I am now a “Permanent” employee. Which means that firing me is much more difficult and drawn out than during my 6-month probation. And that stays, even if my douche bag Governor gets his way, and my union is emasculated. I also got a new computer for my cubicle. It’s a laptop with a docking station. And I have another docking station at the other office I work at part-time. So, I can use the same computer from two locations now. I love new tech stuff!

Other than that, not much to report or complain about. Sydney is improving her attitude at an amazing rate. She’s less sensitive and more able to cope with small pains (like the kind you get when you rough-play with Daddy). Connor is full-on into the Terrible Two’s. Some days he’s the coolest, sweetest kid; other days he’s like Jack-Jack’s demon form. Faith is having a rough time in Guam. She hates it there, has no real friends, and misses Wisconsin. I try to keep her spirits up, but she makes it difficult sometimes, with her teenager drama. Still, she’s a great kid, and I am very proud of her. We’re all looking forward to seeing her this Summer.

And of course, my wife is amazing. She’s the most caring, beautiful and loving woman I have ever known. I am blessed everyday to have her in my life.

Thomas Magni, Galactic Man of Adventure!

Ok, so my pulp-ish serial of Thomas Magni is now live for your viewing pleasure at Thomas Magni.

I waffled back and forth on the format and voice of this little side endeavor. I'm not 100% sure how long it will last. I'm also not sure I like how it looks. The graphic at the top is kind of a placeholder until I can sit down at PhotoShop and do something better. The font and color are iffy, as is the background. So, basically what I am saying is that everything is probably only temporary. I'll try to settle on something that I like before I post the next installment.

Anyways, take a look, and let me know what you think!

(And, yes, some of you may recognize the story...)

Thanks Scott...

So, what do you think of this new layout?