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madsmilfelsen · 5 months ago

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mads would you ever consider writing something about rust and sophia? that paragraph about the has made me emotional and its not even 10am here hehe also i love love love the way you add details to the characters/writing in general (another question lol what are your writing inspirations? like writers whose style inspire you )

the combination of these asks is about the out me as the biggest weirdo lmao

on more than one occasion I have daydreamed about Rust and Sophia, young bright eyed man with his whole world in his arms?? bringing her home from the hospital??? telling Claire to go back to sleep because he’ll take care of the baby???? crying over a vhs recording of her first steps when he was at work??? giving Sophia a first birthday party (no Travis does not believe in them) with Claire’s family (who I decided is from Georgia btw) and laughing when Sophia doesn’t know what to do with her cake and throws it immediately off her tray????? Taking her fishing and insisting she has to wear a life jacket just on the dock???? taking her hunting and letting her sleep slumped against his chest in the blind???????????? Not reprimanding Sophia when she learns how to climb out of her crib and just holding his girls through the night?????????????????????

Inspiration typically strikes me in really vivid pieces of dialogue (I have a primarily auditory memory but sometimes descriptions crop up or a picture of what I’ll never be able to get on paper in words), I have no control over when it happens, it’s not as dramatic as prophetic visions but it’s up there and has made me double over to catch my breath once or seventeen times.

Lately all I’ve been able to read are @barbie-nightmare-house recommendations— who should make a reading list— I just started Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh yesterday. I really love authors who can build a strong sense of place ie To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon (and everything Stephen Graham Jones has written, Mongrels being my all time favorite)— but I also read a lot of non ficiton too (usually broader themes in history but more recently biographies) or dig through university archives to read interviews of people who live in a specific time or place so I can eek out speech patterns/phrases/slang/city layouts etc. The book I’m writing right now is set in Washington, USA 1954 so I bought books published that year— The Teahouse of the August Moon by Sneider and The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner (I have not finished either lol)— and pick up old cloth bound books at antique stores, I opened Wolf Song published in 1927 i think and began with a group of men leading a troop of mules which felt super kismet because that’s how my book starts (sort of, with a lone woman and her mules). I love poetry, indy lit mags, and reading modern plays too, I’d love to try to write one myself because the constraint of a stage seems like such a fantastic challenge, but I’ll read really anything that can show me what language is capable of or new ways to play with it, because at the end of the day that’s all this is for me— playing.

I can’t read when I write and I can’t write when I read, it’s annoying so I shift gears when I hit a block, read for a bit until something smacks me over the head hard enough to open a word doc again. Probably the weirdest writing trick that helps me focus is listening to songs or sitcoms on repeat, something in the background with a good beat that i’m familiar enough with that I don’t have to focus on, that helps me break down my sense of time or attention surplus/deficiency so I don’t feel like I’m rushing or going super slow— but soundscapes with birdsong, especially evening choruses with frogs or peepers is really nice :)

here’s an ask requesting horror recs for someone new to writing the genre + another ask for my favorite books

#answered #thank you :’)#book recommendations #rust cohle #sorry for putting my own weird shit in that weird guy tag it’s for organization

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theliterarywolf · 4 years ago

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Since you're an author, what's your opinion on the Internet Archive getting sued by publishers for piracy?

Oof, time to raise some eyebrows on both sides of this argument.

Let me provide an Abstract of all the points I'm going to tackle here (going full-on APA here):

While I do not believe that the Internet Archive should have been brought to court regarding this case, there does need to be a conversation had in regards to literature and book piracy. When it comes to creative fiction, memoirs, and independently-funded/created works, I don't condone piracy since authors and writers from those fields are scarcely getting paid for their work as it is. However, with textbooks and the like, due to the incredibly unbalanced 'cost-to-utility' ratio of most academically backed textbooks is horrifically skewed in favor of high costs, piracy should not only be accepted but encouraged.

Now, let's delve in:

With Internet Archive jumping in to fill a niche that libraries weren't able to due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I commend them on that. However, I don't imagine that they did much on regards to preventing people from making copies of the books they got from the Archive and distributing or even selling them. That's the case where I feel that publishers have a case in feeling as though their businesses are being attacked.

... However, this sentiment is biased from the point of view that the people who I really care about being affected by this sort of piracy are the writers themselves. I have been seeing numerous cases of recent writers who are barely breaking into their works being published being told that the publishing deals have been cancelled because someone has been distributing their works on piracy sites.

That. Is. DEVASTATING. Both fiscally and spiritually.

And I know that some of you may be thinking 'oh, that's so fucked up; that can't be happening!', but here's the thing:

The Western Book Industry is FUCKED.

I've mentioned this several times before but the whole thing is a slit-throat collection of cliques and archaic, unsustainable practices that people refuse to examine in favor of just head-hunting for people who can churn out 8 volumes of the same lowest-common denominator YA book to bring in a good few years' worth of royalty checks. The average literary agent or publishing house will not care if you have a dedicated following or customer-base if they see that any version of your work is being offered for free in any shape or form.

There is no reason to pirate a fiction book. Especially, to bring a related tangent, in the case of indie books or comics -- People, come ON. In those cases ESPECIALLY there's no reason to pirate since, more often than not, funds from sales of those books are going directly back into an author's hands rather than just a cut of them.

... Now, textbooks on the other hand?! Pirate them. If you can find a safe means to do it, pirate the hell out of any textbooks you need for school. Whereas fiction is typically priced accordingly based on a writer's skill and genre, textbooks are ALWAYS overpriced for what they are.

And talk about examples of 'planned obsolescence', depending on what field a textbook is centered on, some textbooks only have lifespans of a year if not SIX MONTHS.

And it's not like how, with a fictional book or memoir, you can resell them and the person buying them gets the initial worth of the book. With textbooks it's a literal gamble on whether you'll be able to resell since, again, by the time your underclassmen are taking your class, the book may be outdated and, ten to an even, a professor won't be lenient on them using an older edition.

And then the topic of keeping a textbook for reference. Well the information is constantly being outdated so, again, you're FUCKED.

Not to mention how, with my recent semester of grad school, I've been made privy to the fact that even some DIGITAL EDITIONS of textbooks (you know, the options most professors point out as a means to SAVE money but still have convenience of easy reference) have started running on SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE PLANS.

'Thanks for giving us money so you can have a digital textbook for class! Get ready to lose access to it in three months!'

Not to mention that a lot of textbooks' content is just bloat for the sake of the textbook writers flexing their egos. It's like those recipe websites where you just want to learn how to make cinnamon rolls out of leftover mashed potatoes but you have to scroll past a three-page anti-porn diatribe because the writer's daughters stumbled upon some smut because they didn't have Child Safety Settings on their computer.

So, in the case of a predatory industry like textbooks? I am all for piracy. If this lawsuit was focused primarily on textbook publishers being upset that someone's offering easier, more affordable options then I would say that the publishers can go fuck themselves. But with fiction and creative work, there's more nuance where such piracy could be seen as wrong.

UPDATE (6/14/20)

I just read through a detailed post explaining how the Internet Archive works which does include them implementing DRM to prevent copying/reselling. So, while I still stand to my points regarding book piracy being reprehensible (aside from the glutton that is the college textbook industry), this case really is that of certain scummy Publishers trying to stranglehold any venues of reading that they can’t get their hands on directly.

#books

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daleisgreat · 5 years ago

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Not for Resale: A Videogame Store Documentary

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I have been following the work of gaming personality/author/collector/podcaster/YouTuber, Pat Contri for several years now. His line of ‘complete’ guide books that review every NES and SNES game have provided ample bedtime reading for me for well over a year. When I recall him first mentioning on his podcast that he teamed up with director Kevin J. James to executive produce a documentary on independent videogame stores, I instantly made a mental note to put their film, Not for Resale: A Videogame Store Documentary (trailer) on my radar. I pre-ordered it soon enough and wasted no time in devouring the BluRay and its extra features shortly after it arrived in the mail a little over a week ago. I have always had a soft spot for the independent/”ma and pa” game stores. I was fortunate to have one in my town in my childhood years where I first dabbled in trading in awful GameBoy games, but spent hours there perusing and trying out games on their multiple kiosks. Since then for about the last 15 years a small regional chain opened up here that specializes in retro games, but also has some new games and plenty of clothing/figures and other gaming related merchandise. There is just that intangible local comradery that is more welcoming there than the nationwide chain, GameStop.

Not for Resale captures that spirit of the indie game store by interviewing several independent game store owners that are featured throughout. Hearing their stories on what inspired them to start up their own game store and how long they have been in the business all had their own powerful DIY stories and a lot of them put a lot of stock into why they prefer physical games over digital. The production values for these interviews stands out with artistic B-roll, a pleasant ambient soundtrack dominated with smooth piano melodies and multiple camera angles making the interviews more dynamic. The theme of physical over digital came across to me as the thesis in Not for Resale with the interviews branching off on that topic in multiple directions. I was able to relate with them on many of those facets with some key argument points being addressed such as rural communities and military bases with limited to no Internet access, having actual ownership of a physical game compared to buying the ‘license’ of a digital game on a storefront that is not guaranteed to always be online among other factors touched on throughout. The not-so-desirable effects of collecting physical games are also touched on like when Greg Miller states being primarily a digital game supporter by justifying it of being not a fan of clutter. Other interviews state expected downsides of physical game collecting such as a gradually slimming retro game market and wear and tear taking a toll over the years on physical games and systems. One of my favorite scenes in the film is a collector trading in his complete American Saturn collection and him having a constructive back and forth with the clerk on how it was tough to let go, but he was moving onto marriage and the next step of his life.

Eventually Not for Resale pivots to game preservation and has some fascinating interviews with Videogame History Foundation members Frank Cifaldi and Kelsey Lewin. Both have a tremendous amount to offer, with Cifaldi especially being featured throughout on the importance of physical games and why they must be preserved. I liked how they tracked down the portion of the National Archives that has a videogame wing and showcased what they have in their vault and they touch on how they have a long way to go. Another informative scene is how the doc covers conventions and how Kelsey and Cifaldi state how imperative it is to reach out to collectors at retro game cons in order to chronicle and preserve as much material and rare prototypes as humanely possible. Another notable little highlight of this film for me was how an exhibit at a retro games convention has an early-to-mid80s model bedroom (complete with vintage woodgrain wallpaper) that I had to pause multiple times throughout and think to myself, “yeah, that was my childhood.” As much as I relate and am on board to the positives of physical games that Not for Resale hits on, I am relieved this is not a total dump on digital games and the filmmakers make sure to give digital games their proper due with them being huge for the rise of indie games and making game development for the latest systems accessible to nearly anyone. There is a well done scene interviewing the developers at Psyonix (pre-Epic acquisition) on their success story with their digital game Rocket League and how important it was for them to eventually have a physical copy on the shelves. They tracked down the founders of publisher, Limited Run Games who state why it is important for them to reach out to small indie game developers and get their games that launched first only as a digital game and get them out on a physical disc.

If I were to make any nitpicks with the documentary they had to deal with the subtitles. I love subtitles and am glad they are there, but whoever was in charge of them I feel is not familiar with some of the obscure platforms covered in Not for Resale. Certain instances being the ‘Ouya’ subtitled as ‘Uvio’ and Sega’s kid-friendly platform, the ‘Pico’ subtitled as ‘Peko.’ I love it when films go above and beyond for having the bonus features and commentaries subtitled, and sadly Not for Resale has neither. Again, I am splitting hairs and when my only qualms with this BluRay is with the subtitles then that is saying how well-rounded the rest of the package is. Speaking of the bonuses, Frank Cifaldi, Kelsey Lewin and Pat Contri do a roundtable session that a couple of quotes are pulled from in the documentary, but nearly their entire 41 minute discussion is available in the bonus features. The same treatment also happened to Greg Miller of Kinda Funny Games with a 14 minute extended interview with him touching on how the Master System’s Ghostbusters got him into games and why he prefers digital over physical games. There are two audio commentary tracks. One with director Kevin J. James and cinematographer Thomas Chalifour-Drahman and another with James and Pat Contri. I listened to the track with James and Contri and they unsurprisingly have a constant rapport of insightful factoids from the production such as highlighting favorite interviewees and how they surprised game store owners with their level of production equipment. I tend to be a fan of documentary commentaries by their sheer nature, and this one did not disappoint.

If you dear reader have been trending towards more and more digital gaming purchases only or are a younger game player who have not had the experience of going into a game store that is not a GameStop then be ready for some require learning. Not for Resale tremendously encapsulates a culture of gaming that should be celebrated and not forgotten. It does not overstay its welcome and you will have a whole new understanding of this slice in videogames in a brisk 86 minutes that will stick with you for years to come. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hercules: Reborn Hitman Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Major League Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Pulp Fiction The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

#not for resale #random movie #pat contri #kevin james #kelsey lewin #frank cifaldi #videogame history foundation #retrogaming #videogames

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theeroticbookreview · 5 years ago

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Kiss Me, Kill Me Anthology by Bestselling Authors

Title: Kiss Me, Kill Me. Anthology for American Forests Authors: Ashleigh Giannoccaro & Jason Hes ▪️ Yolanda Olson ▪️ J.M Walker ▪️Elizabeth Cash ▪️ Emery LeeAnn ▪️ Ellie Midwood ▪️ Peyton Banks ▪️ K. Larsen ▪️ C.M Radcliff ▪️ Donna Owens ▪️ Virginia Johnson ▪️ Petra J. Knox ▪️ A.A. Davies ▪️ Murphy Wallace ▪️ Ally Vance ▪️ Renee Dyer ▪️ Ed Bar ▪️ William Joseph ▪️ CF Rabbiosi ▪️ Avery Reigns ▪️ Muriel Garcia ▪️ HB Jasick Genre: Dark & Gothic Romance Release Date: August 13, 2019

USA Today and International Bestselling authors come together to deliver stories of dark decadence for a cause. Watch A Serenade of Fireflies follow Sweet Caroline as she attempts to hide her Silent Deception from the Alpha. Only in Stolen Dreams will you learn the secrets of Our Tormented Love, that are kept under Locke & Key. Can you survive The Syndicate or will you run from the White Widow and fall prey to her Beautiful Mercy? Be careful not to swallow the sweet poison of Bloodlust and become one of the vanished. With Stained Hearts, follow along with the Master Marionette as he captures his Twisted Little Bird whether she’s Ready or Not. Will the Writhe finally bid a long Goodbye to The Dark Knight as endures the sorrow of the night’s bitter song. Try not to do a Double Take when the Message Received is MINE: Press Start to Continue, because the monsters that lurk in these woods Watch Me Losing Faith in The Kiss. And when all is said and done, watch as Getting Her Back in her bloodstained Stiletto heels becomes a much easier task than originally assumed.

Elizabeth Cash is an avid lover of all things dark and sexy. She spends most of her time inside textbooks earning her degree, all while playing the mother role to her awesome kiddos and writing words when she can for all her horror loving fans! ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Author Avery Reigns is a multi-genre author who bleeds words onto paper from the heart. She loves writing from the darkest places inside her mind, creating stories woven for those with an open mind, stories based on truths or familiar stories stretched beyond belief. Avery is a kind and determined coffee addict who hides her demons well. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● A. A. Davies is the darker half of Abigail Davies' brain. A. A. Davies writes dark romance and wants her readers to automatically know when they're getting this. Abigail Davies grew up with a passion for words, storytelling, maths, and anything pink. Dreaming up characters—quite literally—and talking to them out loud is a daily occurrence for her. She finds it fascinating how a whole world can be built with words alone, and how everyone reads and interprets a story differently. Now following her dreams of writing, Abigail has found the passion that she always knew was there. When she’s not writing: she’s a mother to two daughters who she encourages to use their imagination as she believes that it’s a magical thing, or getting lost in a good book. If she’s doing neither of those things, you can be sure she’s surfing the web buying new makeup, clothes, or binge watching another show as she becomes one with her sofa. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Virginia Johnson is a multi-genre author that will dabble in anything. She hates walking on the beach and a hangover is her most regrettable moment. Writing gives her great pleasure and the ability to kill without consequence. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● A lover of cats and books, equally, Petra J. Knox is an author of Dark Romance, including the bestselling Reverse Harem series, Saving Setora. Editor, wife, and mom, she lives in the desert of Eastern Washington, dreaming of thunderstorms and rolling, green pastures. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● H.B. Jasick: I live in Springfield, Missouri with my husband, and our two daughters. I have a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics and History Education that I don't actually use. My Favorite things include: movies, music, books, dachshunds, the color brown, LISTS, The Denver Broncos, sushi, coffee, Moscato d'Asti, and terrorizing all of my friends. My Favorite Books: Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy & Public Enemies by Brian Burrough. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Murphy Wallace is an International Bestselling Author with works in several different genres, but most of her work has been in Dark Romantic Suspense. She currently resides in a small Eastern Florida town with her husband, who doubles as her best friend and their two boys. When she’s not getting in touch with her inner child at Disney World, or enjoying everything that Florida has to offer with her family, she enjoys writing and watching true crime documentaries. She has a cat named Maisy who is her constant writing partner. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● K. Larsen gives good words, born in Maine, she fled the state for a short period to experience, well, anything else, but now resides there again. She writes romantic suspense and psychological romance primarily but has dabbled in most romance sub-genres. She sometimes writes with Mara White, when something viral sparks a fire between them. They've been known to wrench hearts from chests and tears directly from readers eyes. And sometimes she writes with Yolanda Olson, they've been known to push the boundaries of readers moral compasses. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Emery LeeAnn is an International Best Selling Author who lives in Ohio with her family. Besides being addicted to coffee, she is a true believer that variety adds spice to your life. Writing in every genre gives her the variety she craves. Her characters like to invade her mind every hour of the day usually waking her up in the middle of the night. Loving the dark and gray side of things, she is exploring her passion with the written word. There are many wonders to come from her in her twisted Wonderland..... Stick around you may find you enjoy her special brand of torture. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Donna Owens: Who am I that's a good question? I'm a Dark poet and a lover of all things scary and gory A wife to Bill Owens whose the love of my life A mother to Joseph Scholl my only son A grandmother to three amazing grandsons I also have two adorable furbabies I've lived many places in my life and currently live in Savoy TX but Cleveland Ohio will forever be home to me My writing has been published in The Raven's series By R.L.Weeks Southern Fried Anthology and I was lucky enough to a guest author in Shivers with the amazing author Emery LeeAnn Writing dark poetry is something I truly love And I hope you as reader will enjoy. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Muriel Garcia is an indie author from Belgium. She started writing in 2005 but never published anything until 2015 when she decided to bite the bullet and just do it. She's grateful for all the amazing people she got to meet through her passion for writing. The 'Last Hangman MC Series' is the one that made people find out about her but since then she released a contemporary series - Love At Firsts - and a dark gory thriller trilogy - The Reaper Trilogy - which people have compared to Stephen King on crack — thing she's rather proud of. Some of her favourite things include snowy days, live music, horror movies, ghost stories, travelling and of course, a cosy day spent with a good book. Feel free to keep in touch with Muriel, she loves to hear from her readers. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Jason Hes: A visionary, a man, a reification of the most contradictory and illusive darkness in our collective unconscious … keeping the thug life alive. Jason Hes is a Johannesburg-based author who lives with his cat and loves to write horror stories. Our Immaculate (an occult horror story set in an all-girls school) is his debut novel. Sleight of Hand, a YA LGBT dark fantasy novel is his second, co-written with Ilse v Rensburg. Locke & Key, written with Ashleigh Giannoccaro, is his first dark romance. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Bestselling Author Ashleigh Giannoccaro writes edgy dark romance and erotic horror, self published by choice she writes the stories others don’t dare. Currently rising in Johannesburg South Africa with her husband and two daughters Ashleigh enjoys writing stories that make you fall in love with the unlovable and leave you asking questions. When not writing she can be found with her kindle in a sunny spot reading or traveling with her family. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, "The Girl from Berlin." Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents. In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and their Chihuahua named Shark Bait. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● William Joseph was born in Lakewood New Jersey. He grew up in nearby Pine Beach New Jersey and has lived there his entire life. An only child and highly imaginative, William Joseph spent a lot of time writing growing up, but it wasn’t until he finally felt that he had a story to tell with THIS IS WAR that he stuck with it from beginning to end. During this time, William Joseph attended Ocean County College and graduated with honors and two degrees. While in college, he also attended a creative writing class, where, for the first time, he shared his work with other people. Sharing a short story with them and seeing how he could emotionally connect with his readers got him hooked. His short story was published in his college’s literary magazine, and since then, the pursuit for publishing his work began, as well as the dedication and dream of writing more books and stories. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Ed Bar is the international best-selling author of In the Dark, The Slutty Bride and The Man in the Woods. He's a native-born Missourian but has spent years traveling the country. When he's not writing, he spends his time hiking, fishing and playing with his pit bull. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Renee Dyer is a New Hampshire girl through and through. She began writing because staring at trees got boring and her mom gave her a journal to make her stop talking all the time. She’s a tea-drinking, Supernatural-watching, Patriots-loving, fuzzy sock obsessed, craft hoarder, who fights with her characters, but typically gives in because their ideas are better. Most days (because it feels like a frozen tundra three quarters of the year) you can find her huddled on her couch, under a blanket with a hot drink in her hand and typing or reading. Stories are her passion. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Yolanda Olson is an award winning and international bestselling author. Born and raised in Bridgeport, CT where she currently resides, she usually spends her time watching her favorite channel, Investigation Discovery. Occasionally, she takes a break to write books and test the limits of her mind. Also an avid horror movie fan, she likes to incorporate dark elements into the majority of her books. You can keep in touch with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● J.M. Walker is an Amazon bestselling author who recently hit USA Today with Wanted: An Outlaw Anthology. She loves all things books, pigs and lip gloss. She is happily married to the man who inspires all of her Heroes and continues to make her weak in the knees every single day. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Peyton Banks is the alter ego of a city girl who is a romantic at heart. Her mornings consist of coffee and daydreaming up the next steamy romance book ideas. She loves spinning romantic tales of hot alpha males and the women they love. She currently resides with her husband and children in Cleveland, Ohio. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● C.M. Radcliff lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two demon children. Known as the Psycho Queen, she speaks fluent sarcasm, dark humor, and has the mouth of a sailor. If she isn't reading or writing, she's probably on an adventure with her little family. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Ally Vance has been writing since she was a teenager, and studied Professional Writing at college. It has been a long time dream of hers to finally become a published author. She finally achieved this in 2018 with her Bestselling debut book, Flower in the Dark. Ally writes Dark Romance genre, and also poetry, she is willing to expand into other genres if the inspiration takes her. Ally also co-writes with her close friend Michelle Brown under the pen name Ally Michelle. Ally lives in Kent, in the United Kingdom with her husband and stepson. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● C.F. Rabbiosi: Charity used to be a Registered Nurse in California, and though she doesn't use her two degrees in the field anymore, they have helped her with her real passion- writing. She happily writes the day away using her in depth Anatomy, Physiology and Psych background to make her death scenes more real and her killers more... colorful. But it's not all about the blood, because more than anything she loves hot romance. Her heroines are kick-ass and her men are all the dangerous and gorgeous beasts you love to hate. Her style is beautifully gruesome and inspired by the amazing dark romance/dark erotica writers: Trisha Wolfe, Natalie Bennett, and Jennifer Bene. She lives in the beautiful university city of Columbia, MO with her incredible husband and three girls, and loves yoga- almost as much as living and writing in her own fantasy world. ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

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#anthology #kissmekillme #newrelease

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starstuffandalotofcoffee · 8 years ago

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I Know Because I Was There

One of my not really resolutions is to write more. I miss it and I’ve been thinking a lot about my college days recently (tbh I’ll probably write about that! I am very very navel-gaze-y in my writing because my default is the essay, I’ve never been great with writing fiction nor have I liked it, but anyway), and I wrote much more in college. So expect to see more of these.

I know because I was there

I first watched Clue in college.

I first played Clue in oh, must have been elementary school, because I remember we were in the sunken living room (the house had been constructed in the 70s. There was still red shag carpet in the den). But maybe I’m making it up - I remember the friends we were playing with so maybe we were at their house as we were so many sunny Saturday afternoons. It was a long time ago. But I’m pretty sure it was the living room, with its goldenrod carpet. I once hid a slice of American cheese in the corner and forgot about it because it blended in and came back to find it all hard. That was probably before we played Clue but I couldn’t tell you for certain.

No one solved Clue because someone accidentally mixed up the cards and so there were two weapons and no culprit. People don’t kill Mr. Boddy. A wrench and a rope do.

In third grade there was a Clue-themed mystery book you could read, like Encyclopedia Brown but a little … my instinct is to say ‘sexier’ and I don’t mean that in the sense of there being anything remotely sexual about it, but Encyclopedia Brown was in small town idyllic America and dealt primarily with obnoxious preteens who wore weird crown-like hats to signify they were the bad kids and committed misdemeanors. Clue was at a dinner party in a mansion. There was murder involved. Come on.

(I looked up those hats just now and while Encyclopedia Brown was written in the early 60s, those hats hadn’t been popular for years. The author took a memory of his childhood and superimposed it on the current world.)

I first watched Clue in college. I was in a co-ed program house in college which meant there was a sense of camaraderie among students of different ages, but also this kind of institutional memory that led upperclassmen to forget that younger students didn’t know members who’d graduated a year or two ago. Sometimes around finals we’d have informal movie nights. There was one guy who’d graduated before my time who (allegedly) knew most of Clue by heart and would scream along with Madeline Kahn’s famous line at the end (flames….flames...on the sides of my face) which in retrospect is funny because her delivery is...flawless but not screaming, not at all. It’s as if she’s so furious but calm about it that her mind is shutting down as she tries to convey the enormity of her vast feelings of betrayal.

It may not sound like it from the last line but Clue is a cult comedy.

Clue is a cult comedy and a goofy one at that. Once this past summer as I was walking home along a busy Manhattan street I swear I heard someone blasting Sh Boom Sh Boom and I burst out laughing there, in front of a barber shop, across from the indie coffee shop I like but don’t love as much as the other indie coffee shop.

(I just looked up to confirm that yes, the street I walk on with some regularity does feature those two businesses in that configuration).

Clue is a lot of things - a murder mystery, a cult comedy, social satire, a film adaptation of a board game, and a Tim Curry vehicle.

When Clue was shown in the theaters - you probably know this if you’ve read this much about Clue - only one of the three endings was shown. So people would go and presumably say “Oh my god, and how it ended!” to their friends who’d seen it separately, and then they’d say “yeah, can you believe it was ______?” and the friends would say “What? No! That’s not how it ended at all!”

I first saw Clue on DVD where they give us all three endings, which is good because you get to experience and get all the jokes.

Clue is very quotable but I take my title from one of my favorites. It’s from the scene that leads up to this triple-denouement, with Tim Curry hamming it up as few can as he recounts the events of the evening before he reveals the murderer. He, as Wadsworth, pauses his motor-mouthed explanation for just a beat to say as an aside, “I know because I was there.”

It’s so absolutely perfect (Kahn’s line is probably the only one that’s as perfect in the same way) and yet it’s something that’s taken on a lot more meaning for me than the writers probably ever intended.

I’ve found myself recently explaining why I hold my political beliefs or have the fears I do. I’ve explained why I think the casting in movies matters, why certain news sites are not to be trusted, why people are dangerous. And usually I’m either preaching to the choir, or preaching to the opposite of that (the damned? The tone-deaf?).

When it comes to the opposite of the choir, I make arguments. I find people who fall between us in terms of beliefs in an attempt to nudge them along. I point out how these hypothetical policies may affect me, or try to illustrate how minorities or women may feel, and they fall on tone-deaf ears. At some point people are not interested in hearing your argument and they will write it off.

And I want to scream that line. Not flames on the sides of my face though I feel that too, a lot. But the other one. I KNOW. BECAUSE I WAS THERE. I sometimes think about adding the line YOU GASLIGHTING FUCK but unlike Kahn or Curry I’m not much of an improviser so I should probably stick to the script.

Wadsworth isn’t asked how he knows (though truthfully is there time for anyone else to draw breath to interrupt), he just offers it. I’m thinking about doing that. I’m not terribly optimistic that someone who ignores my concerns about the likely hypothetical will give a damn about my actual, real experience, but at least it gives me a phrase to lean back on, to remind me that yes, yes, yes, I fucking know. I was there.

I don’t have anything going on neurologically or psychologically that really plays with my memory, fortunately, and I’ve always had a pretty good one too - the cosmetic details may erode or even be incorrect (I still don’t know whether I played Clue at my house or my friend’s house or how it relates chronologically to that cheese incident) but it’s something I am usually confident in. I will place bets on my memory. I trust my experience. But it’s been a rough couple of months and this isn’t an argument with my friend over whether our college put on a particular play our junior or senior year, or whether or not I’ve met someone who graduated when I was a freshman, or the location of a barbershop I never go to. This is life or death.

I will take a fraction of a second. I will not scream nor will I shut down. I will look them in the eye before they even ask and tell them, “I know, because I was there.”

#i know because i was there #my writing #essay #clue

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ginnyzero · 5 years ago

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A Retrospective Look at My Self Publishing Journey

I was asked again lately about why I chose to be an indie author. And I’ve discussed my self-publishing journey before, mostly in the moment when I put out my first book. But the true answer to why I ended up self-publishing came a lot in hindsight and some examination of the very uncomfortable truths of the publishing industry. Especially the part that I am into, the speculative fiction section.

So, while I’m going to say that this is true in general that it will not hold true in all cases and that if an agent really loves your story and your voice, you will still get picked up. It is all very subjective. The fact I have to make this disclaimer feels ludicrous but here we are.

It’s been over three years since I first published the Lone Prospect. My sales have not been great and my dad is my biggest fan along with a girl in France. And I love both of them and am grateful to them. And as time has gone by, I have learned that there are bigger problems in the publishing sphere than “my book is too long.”

Now, that’s not to say that the Lone Prospect isn’t too long for a traditional publishing debut. It is! For traditional publishing, the Lone Prospect (and Rodeo’s Run) are twice as long as they should be. Supposedly.

There were also other factors at play. Factors that I wasn’t aware of as a hopeful baby novelist who wanted a traditional contract with some money to go into the bank. And most of them are simply outside of my control.

Big issue number one is that series are no longer highly sought after. Things have done a radical one eighty in the past decade, decade and a half, when it comes to series versus stand alones. Series are no longer being sought after by agents. Agents want stand alone novels that if they do well can be turned into series. Oh, they want the next big thing to make them big money. They just don’t want the next big thing to submit a first in a series novel.

This is a nice thought. A lot of times though, a lot of crucial long term arc building is started in the first book of a series. The first book of the series is like your foundation corner stone for your entire work. And if you don’t put that work in at the beginning of the series, the later books are going to fall flat on their face. Especially if your contract goes from three, to seven, to thirteen and so on.

And the reason that series are no longer being sought after is that several big name authors aren’t fulfilling their contractual obligations to finish their series. Publishers no longer want to take the risk of giving out an advance and a contract and not getting product in return. So, saying you’re writing a series is almost like a death nail in the coffin.

I write series. There is no sugar coating this fact. Yes. The Lone Prospect, Rodeo’s Run and Serpent’s Smile are all written as stand alone adventures. They are also part of a series. So, this was really factor number one and it’s a pretty big one. Most of my ideas are for series! Not stand alone novels. I’m a big arc, character interaction type of writer.

Publishers aren’t big on risks. They are a business. Risks must be managed to as little as possible.

There is a major risk factor especially with the Heathen’s series. (Dawn Warrior just might have been a bit too much of a retread idea.) Heathens is squarely in speculative fiction. It’s not straight out Science Fantasy like Star Wars. It’s not true blue science fiction like Star Trek. It’s not kitchen sink urban fantasy they solve crime like half a dozen series I could name. And it’s not textbook dystopian/post apocalyptic like Mad Max. It’s also not a Western or a Military or an Action Adventure.

It’s Speculative Fiction.

I hate that term. I really do. But to be fair, agents might not know how to sell the books. Now, I can understand this. I can! I have a hard time selling the books. I mean it takes more than three words and some people don’t like that. I want to say “it is biker werewolf adventures.” And be done with it, but that doesn’t really say if it’s urban fantasy or science fiction or what. I can say it’s Sons of Anarchy/Expendables for Urban Fantasy and possibly be closer. But that still doesn’t include the post WW3, advanced technology setting.

(And I have my reasons for that so assume another post is coming.)

Yeah. You could call it Speculative Fiction and put it in the science fiction/fantasy shelves, but in reality, it’s a mix of several genres and it’s just too risky. If no one knows what it is, why will they buy it?

I don’t know. Bikers and Werewolves and Explosions? A touch of romance. Family style humor? Put Savannah on the cover with her floating motorcycle in biker leathers and do you think anyone is really going to care what genre it is?

It’s reasonable that if I was a writer don’t know how to sell it outside of the very generic “speculative fiction” label, then why should an agent know how to sell it. Especially when I’m not rigidly following genre tropes and rules when it comes to urban fantasy, werewolves, dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction. (Though how they could tell that from the first five pages is beyond me.)

I call it science fantasy primarily because werewolves are fantasy lore, I have science fiction style technology and a scientific explanation for lycanthropy (like the first Universal movie before they went full out curse mode) and I use action/adventure tropes which are a huge deal in science fantasy aka Star Wars. I’m not using the Heroes Journey as my framework, because I’m writing adult and for adult audiences that has been done to death. (At least, I’m not doing it consciously, maybe subconsciously but I’m not planning it that way!)

But here is where the disclaimer comes in. If an agent loves your concept and your voice, even if you aren’t following genre tropes. They will pick you up anyways.

It’s a crapshoot. That’s why I recommend even if you don’t want a traditional publishing contract to try querying because, you never know and it’s good experience for summarizing, blurbs and other such things.

All right, so, the Lone Prospect was too long, it was the first in a series and it didn’t fit into a clear little non-risky box.

There are several other things going on in the industry right now. Own Voices is big. I’m not a minority and my sexual identity isn’t a huge facet in my life that I’m going to write a whole book around it. Another large issue is that speculative fiction aka science fiction/fantasy isn’t a huge seller. Not like romance, so they tend to pick up less new authors in that genre per year, if any.

So, let’s talk the elephant in the room. Gender.

I’m a woman. And in a post Pern, Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games world, I see absolutely no reason to hide this fact. In fact, I’m not 100% sure that one could hide this in today’s social media age. It’s not worth my time and energy to pretend to be a guy. Because as a reader, and most readers I know, the name on the cover doesn’t matter. It is what is between those covers that matters.

Now, if you go and look at science fiction and fantasy shelves, you’re going to find a rather huge dichotomy represented on those shelves. Science Fiction is almost exclusively written by men. Urban Fantasy leans strongly towards female authors. And fantasy I want to say is about fifty-fifty because women cornered the market on “romantic fantasy’ and “paranormal romance” ages ago back in the 80s.

And a lot of science fiction on the shelves is still stuff written back in the 1960s and 1970s during the end of the Cold War and Vietnam. They are science fiction “classics” and nothing I’d recommend to a newcomer to scifi. Entire shelves filled with Bova and Sanderson and Asimov and Heinlein and Herbert (and the licensed fanfiction of Dune) is not a great look for modern science fiction. I’m not even sure I’d recommend Weber at this point. Adams and Phillip K. Dick are great, but I’d steer a newcomer towards Robert Asprin’s satirical stuff before stuff written fifty years ago!

When reading the old Expanded Universe of Star Wars, I could count on one hand the amount of female writers that were allowed to play in the universe in comparison to the amount of male writers. Thus, why most of the books were exclusively about Luke, or Han Solo, or Boba Fett and Leia got shuffled off pretty early on to do her diplomatic thing and be “mom.” The book between Episodes V and VI where she courted Black Sun to get the contacts to actually get into Jabba’s palace was a pretty rare exception and that was written by a man.

And you’d think, being it was 2015/2016 and that I was submitting to female agents that me being a woman pushing into the realm of science fantasy wouldn’t matter. (There are strong Starship Trooper’s vibes to the opening chapter of the Lone Prospect on purpose!) But apparently it does, especially if you look at the shelves and turn the books around that are written by older white men.

With the first chapter giving off the Starship Troopers vibes, it is pretty clear that I was writing an action adventure type of story. Action adventure stories are once again considered the playground of men.

So, even if they could get past the length, past the fact it’s book one of a series, past the pushing the boundaries of genres (look, I can comp Dredd and Minority Report here, don’t tell me that Heathen’s is totally out of left field,) and I’m not a minority and not someone writing about the LGBTA+ journey, I’m still a woman in science fantasy action adventure.

Despite the fact women founded science fiction, that women made science fiction popular and that in the past some of the celebrated authors like McCaffery, Norton and Cherryh were women. Men have come to love the science fiction, science fantasy, fantasy genre and we now must all cater to them and their wants and needs ignoring the market that got us to this point originally and still exists.

Now, I didn’t know most of this when I queried. Or, I was hopeful and chose to ignore it. I had hopes that The Lone Prospect had enough Urban Fantasy trappings to slide under the radar of risk. And while I may have a growing pile of ideas to write now, I had to get the Lone Prospect out there in order for those ideas to appear. I’m indie. I’m happy with it because it means I have a few people reading my books and loving them.

And I can hope that someday the industry will change enough where risk isn’t as much of a factor, pushing boundaries is embraced and women are welcomed back to a genre they created and popularized.

#self publishing #self-publishing #personal #personal story

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thecosydragon · 6 years ago

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My latest blog post from the cosy dragon: Interview with Patrick Canning

An interview with Patrick Canning, author of The Colonel and the Bee

Patrick Canning was born in Wisconsin, grew up in Illinois, and now lives in California with his dog, Hank. He is primarily focused on turning coffee into words, words into money, money back into coffee.

I’m not going to be reviewing your newest novel, but from your other published novels, is there one that is your own personal favourite?

The only other novel I have is called Cryptofauna so I’d that takes the prize. It’s a dark comedy set in the 1980’s, so drastically different than the whimsical Victorian Age world of The Colonel and the Bee. The genres are so different, I can’t imagine there will be too many reads of both (other than my Mom of course).

Everyone has a ‘first novel’, even if many of them are a rough draft relegated to the bottom and back of your desk drawer (or your external harddrive!). Have you been able to reshape yours, or have you abandoned it for good?

Cryptofauna (mentioned above) was my first foray into novel writing. It was pretty ugly at first but the revision/publication process was so long that it was able to morph into something I’m proud of today. But even if a writer has to relegate that first book to the drawer/hard drive, the good news is you can always take another crack at it later, or, more likely, just harvest the best stuff out of it for your other works. Some projects do die and go nowhere, but, manuscripts keep on giving, even in the afterlife (in addition to all you learned by writing it).

Over the years, what would you say has improved significantly in your writing?

I’m trying to close the gap between the best ideation of a story and how it eventually ends up on paper. It’s very frustrating when something is amazing in your head, but you can’t communicate it well enough to match the initial vision. I think craft helps minimize that particular disparity, and while certain pockets of creativity are maddeningly impervious to time invested, craft is something that can be learned and improved with effort.

Some authors are able to pump out a novel a year and still be filled with inspiration. Is this the case for you, or do you like to let an idea percolate for a couple of years in order to get a beautiful novel?

I definitely let ideas percolate for a few years but there are always a few percolating at once, so hopefully my output ends up being closer to one of those novel a year people. I think the time required for each project is dropping as I become more comfortable with writing, but I think you can only push the delivery schedule so much before quality suffers. Time away from a project, after a first draft for instance, is massively valuable to retain some objectivity, so streamlining is only useful to a point.

I have heard of writers that could only write in one place – then that cafe closed down and they could no longer write! Where do you find yourself writing most often, and on what medium (pen/paper or digital)?

I rotate through a cycle of maybe 10 coffee shops. I always work in Word. I’ve messed with Scrivener for more complex stories with lots of characters and world building, but I think simplicity is best, so usually it’s just Word. I’ve heard great things about pen and paper, especially for first drafts, but haven’t tried it yet. I’ve been typing so long now my handwriting is basically doctor-prescription-pad bad but some people swear by the analog method. In any case, it seems like most of the pros can write whenever, wherever, however, so I try to keep the qualifications at a minimum. Semantic procrastination costumes pretty easily as “essential” routine.

Before going on to hire an editor, most authors use beta-readers. How do you recruit your beta-readers, and choose an editor? Are you lucky enough to have loving family members who can read and comment on your novel?

Right now my beta-readers are family and friends. The trick is to be polite and grateful (they’re eating undercooked dough after all). I make sure the document is readable (a simple spell check should be the minimum decorum) and I always try to keep in mind this is a great deal of time for someone to spend on a project that isn’t at its best. I sought out my first editor freelance and had one assigned by my indie-press for the second book. There are many fantastic editors out there, it’s mostly just finding someone that understands your style of writing/the style of that particular book. Then trust that they’re usually right and be professional.

I walk past bookshops and am drawn in by the smell of the books – ebooks simply don’t have the same attraction for me. Does this happen to you, and do you have a favourite bookshop? Or perhaps you are an e-reader fan… where do you source most of your material from?

I’m with you on the great smell of books (especially books from like the 70’s and 80’s, they all have a decade-specific musk). Aside from that, I don’t care too much about format. I love paper books, but I have a e-reader that always surprises me with its readability whenever I come back to it. They’re great for vacations when lugging an omnibus in your carry-on is spinally inadvisable. I’m fully on board with audiobooks too. I live in LA, meaning lots of time in traffic. Audiobooks make it bearable.

I used to find myself buying books in only one genre (fantasy) before I started writing this blog. What is your favourite genre, and have your tastes changed over time?

I actually wouldn’t say I have a favorite genre. If something sounds interesting or comes highly recommended, I’ll pretty much check it out no matter what. I love going into books (and movies) knowing as little as possible. So as soon as the minimum level of interest is reached, I jump in, because additional information might serve only to spoil plot or unfairly raise expectations.

Social media is a big thing, much to my disgust! I never have enough time myself to do what I feel is a good job. What do you do?

The only social media I have for my books is Instagram. It’s still mostly a personal account (meaning an abundance of pictures of my dog) but hopefully I’ll have more and more book-related content. I like the idea of theoretically connecting directly with (theoretical) fans someday, but it’s not a huge factor in my career these days. Promotion of my work so far has come through book review bloggers! Those mysteriously benevolent people willing to read unknown authors. Twitter is probably the most popular for authors, but it seems like one of the more toxic social media ecosystems to me (and that’s saying something), so I’ve avoided it thus far.

Answering interview questions can often take a long time! Tell me, are you ever tempted to recycle your answers from one to the next?

I’m always mortified when I tell someone a story and they say “You already told me this.” If you do 20 interviews about 1 book, you’re inevitably going to cover a lot of the same ground, but I always try to at the very least phrase it differently. I may eventually be forced into pig Latin, but I say death before repetition. Death before repetition.

from https://ift.tt/2N1dEEE

#book bookreviews authorinterviews lovereading bookworm

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swipestream · 6 years ago

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Gnome Stew Notables – Laura Simpson

Welcome to the next installment of our Gnome Spotlight: Notables series. The notables series is a look at game developers in the gaming industry doing good work. The series will focus on female game creators and game creators of color primarily, and each entry will be a short bio and interview. We’ve currently got a group of authors and guest authors interviewing game creators and hope to bring you many more entries in the series as it continues on. If you’ve got a suggestion for someone we should be doing a notables article on, send us a note at [email protected]. – Head Gnome John

Meet Laura

Laura Simpson is both a game and user experience designer, who designs compelling and creative games. In 2017 she concluded a successful Kickstarter supporting Companions’ Tale, a storytelling and mapmaking game that builds up the mythos of a hero from the perspectives of the people and world around them. She also authored the nanogame “Driving to Reunion” for the #Feminism anthology. Laura co-created and shares the Sweet Potato Press imprint with Dev Purkayastha. Sweet Potato Press, as described on its website, creates games that “tell surprising, memorable stories from a variety of perspectives.”

Her works include: Companions’ Tale, “Driving to Reunion”

@labmouse on twitter

Talking With Laura

Note: This is an abridged version of the full interview. Some questions were added after the fact to divide the interview up more and promote readability.

Question 1: Could you start off by telling me a little bit about yourself and how you got into game design?

I’m Laura Simpson. I’m a game designer, and also a user experience designer. That combination really informs how I approach game design and they just kind of inform each other. I’ve been a gamer most of my life. I would say that, I was that kid running around saying, let’s play pretend. I got an Atari when I was five, and every new generation up until—when my parents wouldn’t buy them for me anymore, then I’d buy them for myself. And I would make up games. I was really interested in games and technology, so I played a lot of various online based games, like stuff in Prodigy (an online service that predates the Internet in the 90s), like Mad Maze, a RPG on Prodigy. I was really excited about what type of emergent narrative you could get out of those sort of games. I played a lot of MUDs and MUSHs in the mid to late ’90s. Instead of hanging out and having fun in the outside world, it was like, I’m going to have some fun on the internet with these randos.

Question 2: So how do you think that influenced your game design now?

I think that the way that a lot of those MUDs and MUSHs were structured was a big influence for me. It made me really think about how to make it fun for everyone. Sometimes you’d just be sitting in a room by yourself, essentially, and then someone would join, and you had a lot of … A lot of the communities, you had control over your own narrative, and there was a lot of talk about, what does it mean when someone tries to force a narrative onto you?

I got really used to the idea of autonomy. I would put the effort into introducing myself. My first experience with Vampire Masquerade was through a MUSH and thinking really carefully about how I interacted in the world and the environment around me. Even though there wasn’t a ton to really reinforce the environment.

But I think that all of this really kind of informed me, and I had a really strong concept of wanting to play games, wanting to play with other people, wanting to have a good time.

Question 3: What other experiences have influenced you as a gamer and designer?

I went to Smith, a women’s college. I was a part of this science fiction and fantasy society, even though the organization wasn’t explicitly about gaming, I attended during a time when there were many members who wanted to game.

And that was a huge deal to me. One of my first GMs was a woman. I eventually GMed some games myself, and we were really encouraging, even when it went badly, we were really encouraging.

There was just a lot of room to be interested in gaming, to read game books, and just to be an ecstatic fan.

I think that the timing of being there really meant a lot for me in terms of growing into gaming, being able to have access to people who were interested in it, passionate about it. There was one particular [first year] woman in my senior year who was like, “I’ve ran games for all my friends throughout my high school years.” And we had this incredible game of Big Eyes, Small Mouth. She really introduced a lot of structure in the thematic arcs, and all the women in the game, we all got to be mighty, big heroes. It felt great.

In this close-knit community, there was an opportunity to explore. We were all between 18-22 and we were trying to figure ourselves out. It was a fruitful time to explore different social dynamics and expression. You’re growing so much during that time, and you’re also trying to figure out what it means to navigate a game, and a game table.

It was an opportunity to be really flexible about what kind of gaming that you do.

Question 4: So how did you move, then, from playing and all these games to designing and making your own?

After college, I had a gap when I wasn’t playing with other people in-person. I was mostly doing online gaming. World of Warcraft had come out, so I was playing that, as well as other RPGs, like various Final Fantasies. I moved to Florida to complete a second bachelors in fine art. In my senior year I discovered a passion for new media and electronic art. I took a game design class, but I did not do a game design for my thesis

Also around that time, I met some indie gamers in New York. It was totally different from what I was doing before. I was playing really small, intimate games where I was actually sitting at the table with the person who might have written the game.

With all those things on my periphery, I realized I wanted to stay in the know of what’s going on with tabletop roleplaying games. I started thinking: what else can I do? What do I feel comfortable doing? What kind of topics do I want to take on?

I started reading a lot more, and socializing with all these indie game designers. They had different ideas for games that astounded me. It felt similar to the design process involved in a strong community of practice.

The community also reminded me of art. There’s a lot of exploration and sharing concepts you want people to engage with. There’s an adage in both design school and art school: in design, you’re solving problems, whereas in art, you’re creating them. Then, in gaming, you’re doing both. You’re engaging people and creating the situation for them to think about and react to. The players have to come up with ways to comprehend what’s going on and contextualize it, because everyone has different experiences. I find that exciting.

Then I got into user experience design, which developed into a design practice where I can think about each aspect of the experience I want someone to have, such as the table atmosphere or the type of play I want to see or encourage.

The experience expands beyond the game’s genre or the type of play taking place. It includes safety concerns and the questions I want someone to think about at the table. For example, what does it mean to have an unreliable narrator, and accept their humanity? In Companions’ Tale—it’s all about questioning what exactly makes a hero a hero, and humanizing this person. It is also about understanding that there’s not a single ownership of the truth, and expanding the meanings of archetypes.

Question 5: Do you want to explain a little bit about what Companions’ Tale is?

I describe it as a map making story game that tells the hero’s journey through the perspective of the hero’s companions.

The hero is not a playable character, nor are they represented by any type of face card. The hero is not necessarily like the heroes in Hollywood blockbusters; they are a person who has done some acts others consider heroic.

In this game players are not only telling the story about this person who’s a hero, they’re telling these stories about the companions, the people who occupy all these different roles that are important to this hero’s life. In the course of play, each player has a lot of autonomy over who the companions are, how they see themselves, and how they see the hero. Each person has their individual spotlight and moment to share their truth and importance. No one says, “No, the hero really wouldn’t have done that.” It’s really important to allow someone to say, “I am the mentor of the hero,” and they tell a story about [their time] with the hero.

The only thing that the players do not have is power over their face. I commissioned a set of 20 cards that all have different faces, different ages, different backgrounds. They’re all different potential faces of the companions. Any of those faces can be any of those companions.

Question 6: Why is that?

At first, I had the cards face up, giving players a limited choice. Then, during an early playtest with an alpha of the game, a player drew the lover card and looked at the faces. They chose a young light-skinned woman who looked very feminine and said, “Oh, this looks like the lover.” So I asked them what they meant by that. I don’t want to reinforce these sort of ideas. I want people to actually challenge themselves.

I decided in this one moment, that the companion’s face is not something players are going to choose, because every single one of these face cards could be someone’s lover. There’s not a limit on who you can be in love with. And the same thing for any of these other roles.

Question 7: Do you enjoy playtesting?

Playtesting makes me super happy because you have an opportunity to put together something and see what happens. I love it when players point out something that’s not working, because it’s an opportunity. It lets me take that mechanic, that rule set, or the way I laid something out, and make it better. That’s really important.

Question 8: So what is your advice for play testing, then? So what advice would you give someone who wants to be better at play testing?

As a user experience designer, I design software. One part of being a user experience designer is writing scripts for when doing usability tests with software. The idea behind scripts is that they take away the pressure of having to remember what to say.

When you’re playtesting, think about the things you want to test, what makes sense to test within the timeframe you have, and how you want feedback. Some people want to give feedback as it goes. Other people want to get to a certain point, and then get feedback.

Experiences will vary. If you’re unsure the first time you playtest, tweak your process a little and try again. You don’t have to have one single way of testing.

Don’t be afraid to change your plan if it’s not working or stop people mid-game. If you’re doing a playtest, you want people to have fun, but you’re really there to gather information so that your full game is fun.

I tend to say, “Okay, so I’d like to do this type of scenario,” and I set it up. I’m not there to GM; I’m testing whether specific mechanics, the ordering, and game works. I think people get caught up this idea that they’re playing a game for recreational purposes, but during a playtest, the focus is really about testing. Players will understand.

Question 9: Where you think gaming in general is going, and where do you hope it goes?

I think that gaming is becoming more inclusive. At first, when I went to conventions, I would sometimes feel a little sad and lonely. Now I meet all of these wildly different people who are really excited and passionate. It’s way broader than I ever thought it’d be.

There’s also so much room for making different types of games. I love that there’s so many different types of games and creators. I think that that variety is going to continue growing and improve even more. The resources are out there.

Kickstarter is also, in many ways, creating more equal, even ground. It’s not perfect, but it allows people to take a concept and reach people that would otherwise never hear of it.

Gaming is also mainstream. It’s not weird to be gaming. It’s incredible. We’re not so niche anymore. I love that there’s so many different people, and I love meeting people who are interested in playing all kinds of games.

Question 10: All right, I have one last question, unrelated to gaming entirely. What are some books, TV shows, or songs that you think people should check out?

I know it requires a subscription, but you should watch Star Trek Discovery. It’s amazing. I think some people go in expecting Next Generation, but it’s not. The genre has moved on. A lot other space-oriented entertainment has has happened since then. I think it’s completely worth the subscription.

As for reading, look up N. K. Jemisin. You should read all of N. K. Jemisin without exception, no caveats. I adore all of her work. She is incredible. The Dreamblood duology has such lush and incredible writing, you could smell the air just reading it. So, yes, all of it. I recommend all of her work.

Thanks for joining us for this entry in the notables series. You can find more in the series here: and please feel free to drop us any suggestions for people we should interview at [email protected].

Gnome Stew Notables – Laura Simpson published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

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kayawagner · 6 years ago