TG: Giant Freaking Robots

I just rewatched Pacific Rim last night, a movie which I found just as entertaining as when it first came out last year. If I haven't mentioned it before, I frigging love giant robots. I distinctly recall as a kid being hooked on Technoman/Tekkaman Blade and Battletech, and then later getting into other franchises like Gundam, Macross, Escaflowne, Mechwarrior, Armored Core, Front Mission, and, of course, Warhammer 40,000.


I guess it's not too surprising I've been thinking about giant robots in my own universe, and I've actually put together quite a few details over the years. You may recall reading about them a little bit in the novel excerpts I posted, and the All-Terrain Suit does feature in that book. I have plans to make at least one video game about them, too.

So here's the major categories of description. If I've missed anything, let me know, and I'll add it.

Prompt Story #2: Interview With a Shartu

             So I had a bad day yesterday. Without getting into too many details, a number of things went wrong for me, and I found myself alone and bored with no internet. On the plus side, said boredom got me to finally hammer out another prompt-based story, and here it is. Coincidentally, this one is also set in Kunskaborg, like the first story. I should make sure the next one is set somewhere else, I've got plenty of Terranis to explore.

“While writing an autobiography,

A 400-year old vampire,

Comes down with short term memory loss.”

Prompt story #1: The Awkward Vow

Well, finally found time to sit down for a couple hours and hammer out the first story inspired by a prompt from The Amazing Story Generator. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be something a bit silly, yet it still made sense, and I suppose I had some room for hilarity. Did hilarity ensue? Well, read on! The prompt was:

“After vowing to not bathe for a year

A Nobel-prize winning physicist

decides to get married on a whim.”

TG: The SAS Constitution

Been a bit quiet here lately, hasn't it? Oh, the life of a game developer. I do have a couple big blog entries planned, just need to sit down and write them. I'll be taking a look at the new Clan Raukaan supplement for Warhammer 40K, of course (gotta share my thoughts on all things Iron Hands related), as well as sharing a sort-of essay about characters in stories, based on a recent revelation I had.

But I'll get to those later. For now, I thought I'd share something I hammered out a little while ago, a bit of extra background for my universe.

NaNo: Writing Sample #10

Well, I think it's about time for another sample of my novel. I've done quite a bit since the last update (almost 10,000 more words!),  and the whole novel is up to around 35,000 words now. I'm frankly amazed the story has run out the way it has. I had intended The Fall to only be maybe the first 5-10k words, but I'm at 35k now and I could easily see this story going another 15-20k until it's played out. And that's just the opening events of the history of Terranis.

Big Announcement!

After a long, protracted battle and seemingly endless series of real-life delays, my first video game project is finally getting off the ground! For real this time!

NaNo: Writing Sample #9

The story continues! I have some good ideas for upcoming posts, including a couple of book reviews, updates on my Iron Hands army (yay pictures!), some detailed commentary on an aspect of my universe I've never really touched on before, and even a comic! More on those later, though.

Fast-forwarding a bit with the story. As it stands now, all attempts to destroy the Great Enemy capital ship have failed, and the situation grows increasingly grim. Captain Legun has argued to withdraw from the system, but the Admiral insists that's not an option, both for the people of Terranis and the secret it hides. It seems the pressure of the situation might be getting to him.

TG: "Departing" extract + random updates

Good morning! As I write this, I have barely a week to go until I finally graduate college (a five year journey) and return to the real world. My amount of spare time to do things like actually paint models (which I haven't done in over a month now) and work on things like my ACTA reference cards and Star Trek: Durandal will increase vastly, and the flow of content should hopefully become more regular.

In the mean time, I wanted to share an extract from the draft of "Departing", the next story in my "Walking" series! I was told I needed a new story to bring in for workshopping in my fiction class, so I wrote this draft over the last weekend. I thought I'd share part of the draft, and not the finalized story, so you can perhaps see a little bit into how much my stories may change in the revision process.

Finally, I did indeed submit my story "Cold Warriors" to Analog a week or two ago. No word yet.

TG: "Arriving" extract - and other news

Well, new month, new story! Here's an extract from my latest work, Arriving. It's part three in an on-going series I'm writing in my universe, which I hope will eventually lead into a game idea I have (though that's probably a few years off, still. Good to start early, at least!). It's set on a new world, separate from any others I've detailed, and follows the adventures of a thus-far-nameless narrator who apparently has the ability to perceive possible futures, and is using this ability to restore a world devastated by the Great Enemy.

The story will be appearing in the upcoming Winter 2013 edition of Running Out of Ink, the official publication of the Grand Valley Writers' Club. Hopefully I can get it, along with its prequels, published in something more professional in the future. Anyway, enjoy!

TG: Ghosts of the Galaxy

Hooray, I got to write creatively again! Well, ok, I've been working on the novel some more, but still not as much as I hoped. Ugh. Still, I got this short piece done for my fiction class, having to tell a ghost story of some kind. So I decided to take it in a slightly different direction, and write about ghosts in a more metaphorical sense, i.e. the ghosts left behind by our passing, the sense of presence one might feel in an empty house that isn't theirs. Only this is on a galactic scale.

And yes, this is set in my universe, which my novel is. But written as a historical article. I've done a bunch of them for my game, and I'm sure this'll go up on the website there in some capacity at some point. Anyway, enjoy!