Feeling a bit better

First of all, let me apologize for my despondent tone yesterday. I was merely venting a frustration, and as it turns out, an unfounded one. At least on the part about my grade. After speaking briefly with my professor about how much that .2% bothered me, he informed me that the grade book is only a reflection of the official tally, and that he has the option to round up if he wants. Which he will be doing for me. So, I got an A- after all! Oddly, I am very relieved about this, and I don't really know why. But, I'll take it happily and move on to the Byzantine Empire in a week and a half.

Today I find, as I often do, that I have some free time on my hands while awaiting responses to various inquiries. And I want to use it to write. But, unfortunately, as often happens, nothing is grabbing my interest. Not any of my game projects, fiction projects, or even new ideas. Ah well. Something will spark eventually, I think.

I'm taking some time to read for pleasure lately. I have not been doing this at all for the last few months, despite the absolute plethora of available material at my fingertips. I start to read and I either get distracted, or get restless. So, I picked up something lite and easy. Right now I am reading Kothar of the Magic Sword by Gardner F. Fox. It's one of those slender (156 pages) "Clonan" books that were popular in the 70's. I have to say, it's not high literature by any stretch, but it's fun.

Kothar is very much a Conan knock-off, but that knowledge makes the book and character more enjoyable, I think. I don't have to figure him out. I just accept him for who he is, and enjoy the action and intrigue. The other thing about reading this book is that it is making me think about a WIP I have about my own "Clonan" of sorts. Unfortunately, that story is on my flash drive at home (remember, my work now actively bans their use here), so I will have to wait until I get home to put it on MyDrive.

But, I think tomorrow could be a good fiction-writing day.

Whimsical Reading

Does anyone else have this problem? When I get a chance to just sit down and read a book, I often struggle to settle on a title, because my eclectic tastes in literature cause me a great amount of turmoil sometimes. Subsequently, I find that I can only really concentrate on a book, and stick it out to the end, if I am “in the mood” for it.

Due to this, I often start a book, and for whatever reason, have to set it aside for a good while. Then, when I come back to it, I find that, despite the fact that it’s well-written and in a genre I enjoy, if I am not feeling that particular mindset, I can’t dig in. Consequently, I always seem to have at least three books at any given time just sitting on the shelf with bookmarks in them.

I think I am going to resolve to complete those before I start in on a new one. I am currently reading Gauntlegrym by RA Salvatore. But, I really only read it at work, during breaks and such. So, I think that will stay here. At home, I am going to start working on the ones that I really want to finish. I think first up will be The Lion of Cairo by Scott Oden. I’m about half way through it, so I should be able to dig in. His writing and characters are very memorable, so I doubt I will have any trouble settling in if I put my mind to it.

That’s my one saving grace; I seem to have a knack for picking up a book that I started but put down months ago, and getting right back into it without having to move backwards to “refresh.” I just did that with a Mack Bolan book. I had gotten about ¾ of the way through it a couple of months back, but had to set it aside due to many factors. But, when I picked it back up the other day, I got right back in and finished it up within a couple of days.

On the writing front, the next Orc story is progressing nicely. I posted a tease about it on Facebook yesterday, and got some interesting responses. I think this one will surprise some people, even though the plot will probably be predictable and maybe just a pinch cliché. But, it’s more about the characters for me.

Vegas, baby!

We're off to Vegas this weekend!  But, it's not what you're thinking.  My daughter graduates High School on Monday, and due to financial constraints, we will be driving rather than flying (four of us on the way there, and five coming back).  It'll be a packed car, but the drive promises to be beautiful.

So, as you can imagine, I won't be around until next week.  I know, I know, how will you survive, right?  Easy, just read my older posts and imagine a different date.  I usually blather on about the same crap anyways.

As a little bit of an update, I started my new class yesterday.  History and Pop Culture; it's not what it sounds like.  At least not according to this professor.  Rather than studying actual pop culture, we are studying the idea of the "city" through the lens of pop culture.  I have some reading to do this weekend that promises to help me get some sleep.

Speaking of reading, been having a hard time finding fiction to read lately.  As you may recall, I set aside a shelf of books that I was determined to get through within the next year.  I finished my first one, and then grabbed the next on my list.  But, despite it being a great story with wonderful writing, my brain couldn't get into the genre (space opera).  So, I set it aside and grabbed a different one.  Again, still can't get into the genre (it's also well-written and promises to be a great book).

Maybe it's all the D&D stuff lately, but I find I want to read some old-school gaming fiction.  I recently picked up a trilogy of books based on the old Spelljammer setting for D&D, so I might start that.  I dunno.

Anyways, ta-ta for now!  See you all next week (though I may sneak in a quick post from Vegas).

Questions and Ponderings

Friday's game was decent.  Most of it was travel time, with a good RP encounter in a sacked village that involved a group of Were (think tall wolf-men) of questionable allegiance.  They had helped in one way, but hindered in another.  Created some tension, and put the party in an interesting predicament.  Ahnuld didn't get to do much besides help investigate a temple to his god that was spared destruction for some reason.  However, next session promises to start with a roll for Initiative.  Sweet!

I also recently started a Facebook page for my Orc RPG.  Invited a bunch of friends and posted a download link to the playtest version.  It's more or less a complete game.  I just need to fine-tune the rules, and make any changes that playtesting comes up with.  Then it will need illustrations and artwork, and it will be pretty much ready to go.  Not sure how I will sell it.  Probably offer it as a PDF, but I might also do Print On Demand through Lulu or someplace like that.  We'll see how that goes.  First things first, though.  I need people to play it and give me feedback.

Earlier this weekend, Charles Gramlich asked me on Facebook where he could review my latest story, Blood from Sand.  And I honestly didn't know how to respond.  It is currently not available in any format, so there is no Amazon or Smashwords page to review it on.  I suppose he could review it on his blog, but what about people who read the review and wonder where to get the story?  Right now the plan is to re-publish the story, along with revised versions of both Pekra and Severance in a collection showcasing some of my better female protagonists.  That will happen in just under two weeks, after Severance gets out from under Amazon's KDP Select program.

I'll have to ponder that for a bit more.  In the meantime, I am down to one more discussion topic and a Term paper for this class.  So, my next couple of weeks will be focusing on that.  Probably won't get a whole lot of writing done, but that's nothing new.

I did start something that I am hoping to keep up with, though.  I have a tall bookshelf in our room that has been relegated more for clothes than books.  However, I cleared a shelf off so I could put some books there a while back.  Yesterday I organized the shelf with books that I would like to read over the course of the next year.  There's some new stuff there, some relatively new stuff, and some classics.  It's all various genres and lengths, but the main portion is Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery.

The first in queue is Orcs: Bad Blood by Stan Nicholls.  The direct sequel to the first Orcs trilogy, Stryke and the Wolverines are pulled back into conflict.  I had started reading it a while back, but had to set it aside (no doubt for school reasons).  So, when I picked it back up yesterday, I started right where I left off.  After just a couple of pages it all started coming back to me, and I am once more right in the thick of the story.

Had a good Mother's Day yesterday.  Made breakfast, went to church, had lunch at Red Robin, chilled at the house and watched The Dark Knight Rises (finally), and then just lazed the rest of the day away.  Michele says it was a great Mother's Day.  And, as long as she's happy, I'm happy.

Spring Break...and whatnot

Loved this movie as a teen.

This week is Spring Break for everyone.  Well, not for me.  I still have discussions to post, a research paper to plan, and plenty of academic reading to do.  But my kids are all home.  And I mean ALL of them.  My daughter is here for the week from Vegas.  That provided some tension at first, since her now ex-boyfriend, Isaac is still living with us.  But, it seems to have sorted itself out, and all is right in the world.  They may not be dating anymore, but they are obviously good friends.  And at their ages, that's really how it should be right now.

The only downside of this week is that my wife has to bear the brunt of the stress involved with a crowded apartment by herself, for the the most part; I still have a 9to5-er to go to during the day.  But, she will get her break in the evenings, when she has to go to work, and I get to stay home.  Oddly, the biggest problem we run into, it seems, is figuring out how to feed this army of finicky eaters.  But, my wife generally has a good handle on that, so it's not too bad, all things considered.

I spent the day lazing around the house yesterday.  I didn't actually go outside for anything all day.  I should have spent the time reading.  Either for school or pleasure (or even... *GASP* ...writing!!).  But my brain just wasn't having it.  Besides there were bad guys to shoot in CoD: Black Ops II.  The funny thing is that both Isaac and I play that game the same way.  A lot of profanity, cries of cheating, and even more profanity and creative insults.  We had my wife and daughter in stitches yesterday.

I did manage some reading, though.  I finished the third story arch in the Punisher MAX series, entitled "Mother Russia."  Very brutal, tense, and foul-mouthed, and it included a guest appearance by Nick Fury (and not the Sam Jackson version).  I loved the relationship between Nick and Frank, and I hope that continues on occasion in the future.

Also watched a movie I had been eying for a while; Abduction with Taylor Lautner.  I should state that I actually like him.  I think he's a good actor, and has a pretty good screen presence (he plays one of three characters I like from the Twilight movies...Jacob, Charlie and Felix).  This movie was pretty good, and the only reason I can imagine it didn't do well was because of Twilight.  Lautner is going to have to work hard to get past that.  This was a decent start, though.  It had good action, pretty believable characters, and the acting was spot on.  The cast even surprised me a little, as I didn't expect such big names to be in supporting roles.  It was worth a rental for sure (though we saw it on NetFlix).

I don't think we have anything planned for this week.  Tomorrow my in-laws are coming down to have lunch with us and visit with Faith.  Other than that, it's just hanging out at home for the kids.  But, they're all Xbox-babies, so it shouldn't be too bad.  There will probably be some major cleaning and organizing this week, as well.  The Spring Cleaning bug has already hit my wife (despite the snow we were having yesterday), and frankly, our place needs it.  With that many people living in such a small space, it's hard to keep up with it all.  So, we will need to buckle down and get into it this week.

On a final note, I should be getting my copy of Writing Fantasy Heroes: Powerful Advice from the Pros today.  Very much looking forward to digging into this.  I will post a full review somewhere down the line, for sure.

New ventures and stuff

Note:  Yesterday's blog post was deleted shortly after publication due to some bad context on my part.  Basically, the message was partially misconstrued, and I felt like a dumbass for it.  So, I figured it was better to just make it all go away.  No worries, it wasn't really an Earth-shattering post anyways.

Moving on, I have officially started writing for The Action Elite.  Today sees my first piece, a review of Hunter Prey.  I love this site.  It's rife with reviews, commentary and news about all things action.  The focus is mainly on movies, but they do dip a bit into video games, cartoons and other stuff.  Basically, if it's Action, it's there.  I'm currently forming some ideas for future content.

I'm enjoying my time off from school this week.  During my evenings I can play XBox (Skyrim and HALO 4) without the niggling worry about homework that is due.  Yesterday, I went through my Academic Plan and figured out what classes I am going to take.  Three of them are electives, and I confirmed that those can be from any program area (the wording in my Plan was iffy on this point).  So, I have picked three History classes, and three Education classes.  Now I have to choose where to focus my energy.  Not sure if it will be worth it to take the Education classes without being in the Education program.  I might be better suited just taking the History ones, and maybe working for a Teaching Cert after I get the Master's degree, if I decide to take that path.

Decisions, decisions.

Work is slow (big surprise), so I have had some time to write.  Made some progress on my Sword & Planet story the other day, and will likely try to push it out before school starts on February 4th.  I'm already near the halfway point, so I think I can do this.

Interestingly enough, this story had several false-starts, and I was just not feeling it.  Then, on a whim I changed my perspective character, and started writing it in first person, and suddenly it started to flow!  I used to hate first person, but in recent months I have been finding it easier to write in than the regular third person I usually use.

I'm also reading for pleasure again.  Right now it's Joe Bonadonna's Space Opera Pulp adventure, Three Against the Stars.  Thoroughly enojoying it.  Next up will be Cyborg by Martin Caidin, the book that was the basis for the TV show The Six-Million Dollar Man.  Found a copy through my local library system.

Of HALOs and Hobbits

Ever since we got the xbox at the beginning of summer, I have pretty much just played HALO 3 on it.  The kids and the wife are into the Lego games (we started with Indiana Jones, but Michele bought Harry Potter the other day), and Faith was all about Arkham Asylum (which I will probably have to try soon).

Anyways, yeah, HALO.  I have really gotten into the game.  And not just the solo game, but the matchmaking as well.  I figured something out.  When your skill level is relatively low, but your service rank is really high, it means you play a lot, but still suck.  Yep.  That's me.

I also decided to scratch the military sci-fi itch that playing has created by reading a HALO novel.  I read 'The Fall of Reach' and really enjoyed it a lot.  It's the story of how the Spartans, and in particular the Master Chief came to be.  Very hard sci-fi, and very well-written.  I have another one, 'Ghosts of Onyx', but I think I might take a break.

I've kind of been hankering for some High Fantasy.  Been looking around for my own stuff, but all of that seems to be in storage right now.  I have a couple of options, but can't really settle on anything right now.  I might re-read The Hobbit again.  On a whim I was browsing YouTube last night, and listened to the soundtrack for the animated movie.  Then I noticed that someone had uploaded the entire film, so I sat down with the kids and watched it all the way through.  Still love it.

In the meantime, I am still working on my S&P story.  Had an interesting breakthrough there the other day.  The story I have plotted out is a bit long for the anthology.  So, in trying to come up with an alternate story, I thought "Why not go back to the basics?  Back to the original tropes that Burroughs and his followers used?"  So, I think I might try to work up a story about a man from today, or maybe our recent past, who gets sucked back to the time of our setting.  I'm waffling between a soldier or a scholar.  If I go with a soldier, I will probably do a Vietnam soldier.

We're in the last couple of weeks of my school term.  I'm behind on the discussion posts, so I will be working on getting caught up there this week.  I got my grade back on my research paper.  I got 270 out of 300 points.  Not too shabby, I think.  And mostly the points taken off were for technical stuff like citations and things like that.    The bane of my academic existence.  Once this term ends, I will be off for a week or two, then I start the next class on October 1st.

And finally, big news hit this week.  City of Heroes is closing its doors for good.  I will probably do a whole blog post about that, since that game has impacted my life in a huge way.  But, suffice to say for now, I am saddened, and even though I haven't played regularly in several months, I will miss it being there.

Anyways, off to work once Michele gets home from Sydney's orientation in about an hour.

Dragonlance

This is the edition I read,
and still own.

Lately I have been thinking about Dragonlance. Not sure if it's nostalgia (which it probably is) or just my literary love for the series. For those who don't know, Dragonlance was a setting created for D&D back in the early 80's. It was conceived based on the premise of wanting a setting that featured dragons very prominently, rather than just as powerful monsters that you could encounter.

The first modules were played by a group of employees at TSR. Among that group were Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. What came of those sessions and modules was a trilogy of novels by Weis and Hickman called The Drgonlance Chronicles, and it tells the story of a group of friends who become unwitting heroes in a massive war between good and evil.

I have read that trilogy four times in my life. And the sequel trilogy, Legends, twice. I have also read several other Dragonlance trilogies and stand-alone novels, adding up to about 25 book all together. Can you tell I really like the setting?

As I have gotten older, and expanded my circles of friends, I have realized that not everyone likes Dragonlance (GASP!). In fact some people deride the Chronicles as "juvenile" and poorly-written. Well, as these things go, it's all a matter of taste. But it makes me think sometimes about why I love the trilogy so much (and am currently contemplating reading it yet again).

Obviously, nostalgia does play a part. I first read them during my senior year in high school. Up to that point the extent of my fantasy reading was limited to the 12 Lancer/Ace Conan books, and a few odd books here and there. At that point I hadn't even read any of Tolkien's books (though I loved the animated movies). But when my friends Bill and Wes gave me their copy of the trilogy, I devoured them and wanted more.

The charm of the series, for me, was initially that it was like reading a D&D campaign being played. The authors did a very good job of translating some of the counter-intuitive rules of the game (mainly about magic) into something that made sense from a literary standpoint. I have to say that, after reading those books, I felt that I finally understood the Magic-User class enough to want to actually play one on occasion.

Sturm Brightblade

I also really like the characters. I obviously have my favorites, and there are some that I like less than others. But I don't actually hate any of the characters. Well, except the villains. But you're supposed to hate them, right? There are moments in the story that make me laugh, as well as some that still make me cry. But over all, I think it's the sense of adventure, the wide-spanning storytelling, and the accessible language that all combines to really do it for me.  I can even forgive the fact that the setting doesn't have Orcs!  Mainly because their place is taken by the Draconians, one of the coolest fantasy races ever.

If you enjoy Tolkien, and are willing to set aside your literary snobbery for a few moments, I think this little gem is a timeless read. And I think I really want to dig my copies out of storage again.

Been a bit...

I want this for my desk.

Just realized it's been a bit since I updated all of my loyal minions on my shenanigans.

Not really much to talk about.  Which, of course, begs the question "Why am I doing this?"  I don't know.  Maybe I just like the illusion of minor fame that being a regular blogger gives me.

I have had a plethora of doctors' visits lately.  My shoulder is sore from getting shots of cortisone yesterday.  And I get to get shots in the other shoulder in 2 weeks.  I have an unrelated procedure next week.  And I even had a mole removed.  I'm kind of a mess, but I'm feeling better.

Anyways, enough of that. 

Writing
I've been chipping away at my orc story for Scott Oden's anthology.  It's coming along nicely.  I really only have one more major scene, and some connecting details.  Then there will be some re-reads and edits before I show it to The Man.  Also been thinking about and working on a Sword & Planet story with a twist.  With John Carter in my near future, that genre has been on my mind.  And finally, with the help of my wife, I managed to polish up a good story and will begin shopping it around.

Some of you may recall that a while back I had an idea with a couple of friends to do an e-anthology of S&S stories set in a shared world of my creation.  Well, it's still in process, though probably still a ways off.  I have one story complete, and probably publishing-ready.  The other two friends have been busy with lots of other things.  But one is planning a surge in the project soon, setting himself a due date.  The other had started his stories, then fell out of love with the concept and characters, and decided to scrap it in favor of something else for the anthology.  Haven't heard from him in a long while on that.  We'll see how it all turns out.

Gaming
Finally getting back to our regular D&D game tomorrow night.  It's been a few weeks, and I really miss my Half-Orc Barbarian/Favored Soul/Fighter.  Tomorrow starts another short arc, and I am eager to see where we go from here.  Also, still looking forward to the AD&D game in April for my friend's birthday.

Been playing a lot of Star Wars online.  Really enjoying my Sith Marauder (dual lightsabers).  Started a new Trooper last night, just so I could play with my wife and her Smuggler.  We're only 4th, but it's still fun to game with her.  Last night I also realized that DCU Online is now free-to-play, so I updated it and logged in for a quick mission.  Still a very pretty game, and fun to play.

Reading
Recently finished Outworlder by Lin Carter.  Not a "bad" book, it just seemed too brief.  Like it was a rough draft that had potential for so much more story.  But, it was a product of the short fantasy books that were popular in the 70's, so I guess it works.

Got a Kindle Fire recently, and now that I have a really nice cover for it, I'm using it more.  Currently reading Hunters of the Red Moon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Paul Edwin Zimmer.  Really cool book.  It's apparently the first in a series (trilogy?), so I may have to track down the others if they are available as Kindles.

Also on my Kindle, I recently read Scott Oden's short story Amarante (also available at Smashwords and DriveThruFiction).  Holy cow, what a great story.  My only complaint after reading it was that it was over.  I am eagerly looking forward to his Orc novel.

Other stuff
Speaking of Kindle, despite my love of their services, Amazon is irritating me.  Rather I am irritated on behalf of authors like Scott Oden.  I'm sure a quick Google search will enlighten you to their latest BS better than I can.  Suffice it to say, they are screwing authors and publishers.  They really need to back off.  Or other e-tailers need to step up and take a bigger chunk of the market.

On a brighter note, I started my next class: "The Wars of Ancient Greece and Macedonia."  It's pretty interesting, and much more relaxed, as far as the format of the class.  It's straight up learning about and discussing history, rather than the mechanics of studying and reporting on it.

And finally, I have been oddly obsessed with Marvel's Hercules lately (hence the picture at the beginning of this post).  No explanation given here.  Just thought I would throw that out there.

Huh.  Well, I guess I had more to talk about than I initially thought.

Btw - If it seems like I talk about Scott a lot, it's because he's such a great guy, and really great writer who deserves much more attention than he is getting.

150th post!

Is that really a benchmark these days? I dunno. I took a few years to get here, but that’s not surprising, since I have only started blogging with regularity in the last year or so.

Anyways, so what can I talk about on this momentous occasion? Well, I finished my first two classes for my Masters in History yesterday. Not sure how I did. I got a strong B in one class, but the other is questionable. 30% of my grade is based on a research paper that, admittedly, was kind of weak. I had my reasons, but suffice it to say, I was unable to put forth the effort I should have. Guess I’ll find out soon enough how it all turned out.

With the end of this term, I have a month before school starts again. At that point, I plan to only take one class at a time, instead of two. Fortunately, from here until near the end, it will be straight up History. No Historiography, no Historical Research Methods. Just reading and writing about History. That’s the part I like.

In the meantime, I will endeavor to finish up a couple of small writing projects, make some headway on a couple of larger ones, and most importantly, READ FOR PLEASURE! I just got a Kindle Fire not long ago, and although I still hit up the book store for TreeBooks, EBooks are amassing quite nicely. I’m fairly certain I have enough reading material to last me to retirement at this point. With several more titles waiting in the wings.

Had a doctor’s appointment this morning. Found out some things that shed some light on possible causes of my recent ailments. I’ll know more next week when the test results come in. Regardless of what they say, I definitely need to exercise more, and eat healthier. Winter is terrible for that, especially here in the Great White North. And some of my ailments have prevented me from even doing indoor stuff. Not to mention time. But, with the easing up of school, I should be able to make time for that soon enough.

Been playing a LOT of Star Wars: The Old Republic. My Vanguard Trooper is 24 and my Sith Marauder is 23. Michele started playing as well, and has a Jedi Consular that she is really enjoying. I’m going to let my Trooper languish until she gets to her early 20’s, so we can team up. I should take screen caps of my characters. They both look cool as hell. Especially my Sith. He is absolutely badass.  He punched out a Hutt the other day.  Yeah.  Badass.

The game has also provided some inspiration for an Orc story I have been mulling over. I may have to work on that one this month as well. Though my focus will have to be on the story for Scott Oden’s anthology.

Speaking of Scott, he has opened a business for himself. He is now going to offer professional critiques and editing help for aspiring writers. He has a website at The Editorial Goblin. Check him out. If you need an experienced set of talented eyes on your work, look him up. As the recipient of casual advice in the past, I can say for certain he has already helped me.

That’s about all I got for now. Stay safe out there. It’s dangerous!

Writing and Communication as a skill

As most of you may know, I am in graduate school. I am attending an online college (Capella University) for a Masters in Counseling Studies (though that may soon change to a different program). The format for classes is Discussion Boards and critical thinking writing assignments. So, there is a lot of writing involved. This is fine with me, because I consider myself a writer.

However, I never cease to be amazed at the level of borderline illiteracy among my fellow students. These are adults, most in their 30’s and 40’s, with at least a Bachelor’s degree, and often years of experience working in professional settings. Yet the number of grammar, syntax and even spelling errors is staggering. With technology being what it is, simply composing your discussion post in MS Word before copying and pasting it to the board would cure half of these problems (I’m doing that for this very blog post). But it often makes me wonder if the problem runs deeper.

Education is under fire in this country from many sides. Here in Wisconsin, our Corporatist Governor (I consider him neither Conservative nor Republican) is slashing nearly a Billion dollars from education with his newest Biennial Budget. And with the Senate in his greedy little pockets, it will most likely pass. The idiot is a college dropout (it took me 14 years to finish my BS, but I DID IT!). Clearly he places less value on education than many people.

So, when education is underfunded, what do we end up with? Adults who can’t string together a coherent paragraph in a somewhat intelligent manner. And these people are in a Masters program in college! I makes me physically ill to read some of these posts.

I have long held the belief that reading is the single most important skill a person can have. All other skills are derived from the ability to read. And this includes writing. By reading more, one learns by example a greater vocabulary, proper sentence structure, proper use of syntax, grammar and punctuation, and how to communicate an idea in a clear manner. I wish people would read more.

Or at least read what they are writing before they hit the “submit” button.

On orcs and what they mean to me

I have long been a fan of orcs. First as the perfect bad guy for D&D games, and later as heroes and anti-heroes in fiction and games. I readily admit that my preference is for the "Warcraft" model of orcs. They are alien and powerful, and the lore in that world makes them very cool in my eyes. However, that's just a preference, and I really enjoy most of their incarnations (though the early "pig-face" orcs from old-school D&D is bothersome).

IN an effort to expand my enjoyment of orcness, I have read a lot of fiction concerning them. recently, I read the first book of Morgan Howell's Orc Queen trilogy, King's Property. I have to say, no book has so engaged me in a long time. I read the 350+ page book in a matter of about four days. That's quite a feat for me. It was an amazing read, with engaging characters, fantastic lore and easy on the eyes prose. It was even further amazing when you realize that even after completing the book, the world is very slim in description. Unlike the overly fleshed out worlds of gaming fiction, or even Tolkien's Middle-Earth, the world this story takes place in seems very limited. Which works well, considering that the main character's experience in the world is extremely limited, so it really helps keep the story in the proper place. I am eagerly awaiting book 2 from the library.

It also inspired some creativity in me. I brushed off an old orc book of mine that was floundering at around 14,000 words. I deleted the last two pages of prose so that I could take the story in a completely different direction from where it was headed. I think what I have come up with now is much more interesting.

Additionally, I recently read a snippet in Writer magazine where an author suggested reading with a writer's eye. So, as I was reading this book, I took mental notes of what worked and why. What made the story and characters interesting. It was very enlightening. And every tidbit of knowledge seems to help.