The Gilded Age: The Awakening... Released!

Yes, it's here, right on schedule. I'm still on track for my goal. And now, back to writing.

Oh, wait...teaser to get you interested in buying it. Almost forgot that part. Here's the book's prologue in its entirety.

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      The four people sat in the circle underneath the trees, their minds focused on the ritual they had been preparing for months. This was the moment they had all been waiting for; the time was right, and everything was set.

      As the sun peeked over the horizon, they began to chant. The words were ancient, the language long-forgotten. The sounds of the river meant nothing to them; the animals and the birds were only in the back of their minds, ignored as they focused their power. There was nothing left but to complete the sacred words and create the spell that would bind the land’s power to each of them.

      “Levkin,” came the undertoned voice. “We have to complete the final stanza together.” Levkin nodded as he continued the chant.

      “Luka.” The voice spoke simultaneously in the other man’s head. “Speak the final stanza with me.”

      “Katayeva,” said the voice again at the same time. “It is time to complete the final stanza, together.”

      The four voices somehow became six as the man in the northern quadrant of the circle spoke three stanzas at once. His colleagues completed their own stanzas, unaware of the differences; only their own voices could be heard.

      The light in the sky suddenly brightened as the blue streak crossed the sky far above, moving at impossible speeds. The four could not see it; their eyes were blinded by the force of the magic they were bringing into being. But one of them knew; he had made these calculations carefully, preparing for this day without the knowledge of his comrades. And now, his secret plans were coming to their true fruition.

      The chanting was unbroken despite the loud thunder, the sound of an artillery barrage. No one in this part of Russia had ever heard these sounds before, but as the noise intensified, the animals began to flee from the region. Only the four remained.

      Then, the sky exploded.

      The blue light became as bright as the noonday sun, and incredible energies spread out across the land as the meteor exploded across the sky. The four stiffened, and three of the screamed in sheer agony as their life forces were ripped away from them. “Grigori!” Katayeva shouted. “What have you done?”

      The fourth man screamed as well, but his screams were screams of triumph as he felt the incredible power coursing through his veins. He absorbed all the power of that explosion, and siphoned the power away from his erstwhile allies as well, draining their own life forces away and using them to increase his own power.

      “This is my moment of triumph!” he shouted even as the desiccated corpses of his friends withered and collapsed.

      He slumped to the ground, his own power throbbing inside him. The sky continued to flash a bright blue, and the thunder continued to pummel the ground. Trees were flattened as far as the eye could see, and the animals that had not escaped were lying spread out in death across the landscape.

      The sorcerer looked up in triumph at the sky. “I have wrought the greatest magic of human history!” he shouted. “The world will forever know the name of Rasputin!”

      Laughing hysterically, he stayed on the ground, slumped in exhaustion even as the power coursed through his veins, strengthening him and his spirit beyond mortal measure.

      Far away, on the other side of the world, the strange lights did not appear, but their effects would soon be felt across the world as everything changed…

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I honestly don't know if this idea's been done before, but as I mentioned in a previous post, it's something different that I wanted to do. So, it's available on Amazon right now, ready for your perusal and enjoyment.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 31

Okay, let’s see what’s next. We finish off the wounding and death section with a few notes on unconsciousness. Basically, you’re out for ten minutes, and every one of your characteristics is then at the midpoint between where you were when you got knocked out and your max. So, as the book says, if you’ve got a strength of 8 and get knocked out with your strength at 4, when you wake up, it’s at 6. Okay, that makes sense. It takes three days to get back to full strength. I’m sure some medical skill can reduce that.

Of course, the more hurt you are to begin with, the longer it takes to recover. If you had two stats at zero, then none of your stats recover, and you’re out for three hours. And you’ll only get better with the medical skill. Looks like the three days is as good as it will get.

Next, we’re on to how characteristics affect combat. Good; I was wondering if a 5 Dex was as good as an 11 when shooting a gun.

So the weapons tables, which I haven’t seen yet, will rely on the character’s strength for melee weapons. As in, if you’re not strong enough, you can’t even lift the thing, let alone hit someone with it. Sounds good; that dweeb sitting at the computer isn’t going to be jumping up and pulling out a two-handed sword like Conan. Even better, if your strength is higher than the ‘advantageous’ strength of the weapon, you get bonuses to hit with it. Nice! There’s a big difference between characteristics, then.

Hmm…that might affect Jamie Rollinson’s melee combat skill; sure, he’s trained to use a blade, but he can barely lift the thing now. I’ll have to see if he can even use his weapon once I get to the weapons tables. One page at a time, remember.

Dexterity, as every gamer knows, affects your accuracy. Well, that won’t be a problem for Jamie. His dexterity is average, sitting at a 7, so his Rifle skill will help with that. I assume he can still lift the rifle…

Endurance is still decent, at an 8, and this actually affects how many attacks you can make! Interesting. That’s a realistic way of handling combat; the idea that you can just keep swinging or shooting without eventually getting tired doesn’t sit well with me at all.

And we now learn that there are four classes of blows and swings: Surprise, combat, weakened, and special. Surprise blows mean that if you’ve got the jump on them, you can swing away without stopping (one per round, of course). Combat blows are the typical ones you get to take before your endurance runs out. And you can only take as many as your endurance total, so for Jamie, that’s eight swings with his blade in one fight before his body has had enough and wants a break. And it takes 30 minutes of break to get them back.

Now, sometimes you’re going to be fighting past your endurance. And that means you’re using ‘weakened’ blows, which have their own weapon-specific penalty on the tables You can do as many of these as you want, and you can even use them before you’ve run out of regular combat blows if you want, to conserve your strength for a tougher opponent behind the guy you’re currently dealing with. Cool concept; it’s elegant and functional at the same time.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 30

Okay, now that we’ve established the conditions for combat, we get to see how combat in Traveller actually works. After an introductory paragraph that tells us what we, as experienced gamers, already know, we get to the “Basic Required Throw,” which means that every single attack roll is 8+ on 2d6. That number does not change. However, it can be modified up the wazoo with a whole bunch of variables, including range, type of weapon, type of armor, whether you’re moving or not, whether the defender is moving or not, expertise, skill levels, and probably a few more on top of that. That should be fun to figure out. All modifiers are cumulative, of course.

The Range Matrix determines how dangerous the attack is; I guess if you’re closer, it hurts more. Yeah, I can see that. A close-up shot is more accurate than a long-range one, unless your name is Oliver Queen. I assume the Range Matrix shows up on the next page, but I’m not looking ahead.

Next, it’s Wounding and Death. Well, that sums it up pretty nicely. Strength and experience don’t matter, just the weapon being used. Damage is rolled based according to the ‘wound column’ on (I assume) the Weapon table. So, a 3D would mean roll three dice. This can be modified with a + or – to the roll, again depending on the weapon.

I just realized: I haven’t seen a hit-point mechanism yet. Ah, and the next paragraph explains it: wounds come of your physical characteristics (strength, dexterity and endurance) and are temporary. “Each die rolled is taken as a single wound or group of hits.” Oh, okay. So if I roll 2D and get 3 and 5, then one of the characteristics takes 3 points of damage, and the other one takes 5. Any modifiers can affect separate characteristics; a 1D+3 could have the die roll (say a 2) affect one characteristic, and the other three can be split among all three characteristics.

Oh, my…the first wound can stun or daze the target, and the entire wound received is applied to one characteristic. So that 2D from above would mean 8 points all hitting one characteristic. Ouch. That’s brutal. So, that first shot could outright kill you. I get the feeling combat in Traveller doesn’t take very long to resolve.

So, once a characteristic is down to zero, you’re unconscious, and any leftover points get put to a different characteristic; no characteristic gets reduced below zero. If all three are at zero, you’re pushing up alien daisies. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long to roll up a new character.

Geez, this is quite the shift from D&D or Champions; your little bundle of characteristics and skills is quite vulnerable to gunfire and the like. Even a well-placed spear could take out an average character under the right conditions. Methinks not getting into firefights is a good idea, even for Army and Marine vets.

Ladyhawke: A Review

I haven't done a movie review for a while, so I figured I'd go for one tonight. This one's from 1985, back in the days when movies were good and didn't rely on huge special effects budgets and CGI to tell their story. There are some effects in this one, but very little; the plot drives this movie, not the budget. It's a long-time favorite of mine, although some people don't think it's aged very well.

So, let's see. Ladyhawke is the story of a young thief in medieval France named Philippe the Mouse, who escapes from an inescapable dungeon in the city of Aquila. As he avoids the authorities, he encounters a knight, and his tame hawk, who defends him from the bishop's soldiers. The knight is on a quest to kill said bishop, which puts Philippe off a bit. However, since he's the only prisoner ever to escape from the dungeons, he is just the guy to help the knight, Sir Navarre, get into the city and kill the bishop.

By the way, this bishop is not a nice person; turns out that he forgot about that whole vow of chastity thing and lusted a whole lot after the woman Navarre loves, Isabeau. He went so far as to curse them so that if he couldn't have Isabeau himself, no man (especially Navarre) would. So, there's some fantasy in the adventure, which is always a good thing.

I won't go into any more plot details, since it's better if you watch the movie yourself. But it's got some great set-pieces, including an assault on a ruined monastery and a climactic battle in the nave of a cathedral. In the end, the question becomes, can Philippe and his companions find a way to break the curse, or will the bishop have his final revenge? Well, I'm sure you can figure it out; it's a fantasy adventure, not a modern, nihilistic depression quest.

So, casting. Matthew Broderick is Philippe, and does a fine job, bringing a little touch of Ferris Bueller to his performance (Ferris Bueller would make his movie debut the next year). He's a greedy, selfish person, and he knows it. His conversations with God are a highlight, giving him a way to impart some information to the audience, especially about his inner thoughts and feelings.

Rutger Hauer gets to be heroic and noble, and is a great Étienne Navarre. He's got that brooding fatalism down pat after his turn in Blade Runner a few years earlier, but now he gets to swing a mean sword and ride a truly awesome horse. Goliath is his name, and he gets to prance and strut around himself.

Michelle Pfeiffer plays Isabeau, the most beautiful woman in the world. Well, they certainly got the casting right there; she is absolutely stunning in this movie, especially since most of her scenes take place at night. They put some serious luminosity when lighting her scenes; there are times when she looks like an ethereal spirit, a ghost. No wonder the bishop went nuts over her.

So, we've got a solid cast, a great story, and lots of fun action. What else is there?

Oh, right...the soundtrack.

This is the part of the movie that has got a lot of people twisted up in their thoughts. It's not a classical, theatrical movie soundtrack; it's pulse-pounding, hard-rocking metal. It would have worked better with a Rocky movie than a medieval fantasy. It's not that it's bad, it just doesn't really fit very well. It's the one flaw in what is otherwise an excellent movie, and a movie that I recommend very highly.

If you're looking for fantasy adventure with some weirdness included, you could do a lot worse than The Devil's Playground, my second fantasy book. It's got curses, creepy creatures and horrid hallways, and it's available right now on Amazon, in either e-book or in paperback. Hard rock soundtrack is not included.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 29

Alright, next we continue on with range. The entire next page is all about range, starting with defining ‘open range’ and ‘stand.’ Stand is pretty simple; you don’t move. ‘Open range’ means getting away from the other person, with the same round requirements as closing the range. So, if you’re trying to get from medium range to long range away from the guy with the shotgun, it will take you three rounds to get there. If you run, it’s a round and a half. Would that round down or up? It would probably depend on the situation.

Everyone in the group gets to decide whether or not they’re moving in a round, and you don’t have to completely change range bands before doing something else. That’s good, and makes sense. If you’re already at very long range and you go further, you’re essentially out of combat.

An example of movement shows that simultaneous movement allows for closing or opening the range at effectively twice the normal speed if the two sides are doing the same thing (both sides closing the range means half the time spent doing so). There’s also a nice line grid (easy to replicate in a word processor or spreadsheet) that can be used to help visualize the distances between sides. You could also do math, but that’s a lot to keep track of. The grid looks like a great tool.

So, doing the math on the number of bands vs. the meters of range given earlier, the bands aren’t going to have exact measurements; the ‘very long’ bands are from 10 to 14 bands away from the opponent, while the range equivalent given earlier is 251 to 500 meters. So, the bands are approximations instead of hard distances. I can work with that. It’s more cinematic, and easier to handle at the gaming table. The OCD-math guy in me is weeping, but I gave him a cookie to calm him down. Characters can move one band per round, or two if running.

And there’s a note that this system isn’t for dealing with precise, tactical movement. If that’s what the players and referee want, they can go to grids with hexes to handle that sort of thing. This is for the ‘let’s just play’ crowd.

Driving Ambition

Well, it's finally official...I've got a new car. Or at least a newer car. It's a lot like my old car, but a lot more white. Well, my wife likes it, at least. The color doesn't really matter to me; I believe a car's primary function is to get me from point A to point B much faster than I can walk there. As long as it's got Bluetooth and air conditioning, the rest is optional. Including the steering wheel.

My wife talked to me about budgeting for my books, especially for the cover art. I want to get one cover purchased per month to put on my fantasy and sci-fi books. Two a month is a bit much, which means that I'll have to get some other types of stories written instead of the sci-fi or fantasy. That is, of course, if I can't come up with a way to make my own sci-fi cover. A fantasy cover just isn't going to happen without paying for it. So, the good news is that means I'll be able to get the Bard Conley anthology out next month. Behind schedule, I admit, but better late than not at all.

Now, one of the things she pointed out to me is that right now, I'm not selling many books. Well, there's a simple enough reason for that: No one knows about them. The word isn't getting out yet. I don't do Twitter or Facebook, so I can't advertise there. I don't have a lot of friends, so it's tough to ask people to spread the word. But I do know that people will eventually hear about my books. And the best way to advertise books is to keep writing new ones. Plenty of successful authors have made that exact point: When a new book does get noticed, people who like it will often look to see if the author has any backlist books they are selling as well. And so, I'm trying to build up that backlist with good-quality, entertaining stories that will draw people in for more over time.

Of course, marketing is the issue, and it's not my strong suit. But it's something I'm going to have to learn if I want to be successful in this business. And I do, very much. I love writing, and I love the feeling of seeing these books up on Amazon, selling the occasional copy, and holding a physical copy of the book in my hands. That's an amazing experience, one that every published author knows.

So, I'm going to keep writing, and I'm going to keep publishing, and I'm going to keep telling as many people as I can about them. I'm going to finish up The Gilded Age this weekend, and get it up on Amazon by the 30th. That will keep me on pace to reach my goal this year. It's ambitious, I know, but it's very, very doable.

In the meantime, check out the other books I've published, because there's already a backlist of seven books for you to consider. Four of them are mysteries, and two are fantasy. One's an anthology. If you're not sure where to begin, the best two options are Final Exam, the first book I published, and Arrival, the first book in the Meterra series. Check them out, and please, pass the word and support indie publishing.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 28

Ah, there we go. I was wondering if the ranges would actually be defined. So, ‘close’ means REALLY close, as in bumping into someone. Well, it makes sense that in a building or cave, you wouldn’t have much warning to someone coming around a corner. Short is melee range, medium is up to half a football field, long is pretty far, and very long ranges from a quarter to a half-kilometer. The chart also says that ‘medium’ is pistol range, and ‘long’ is rifle range, so that gives an idea of what those weapons can do, too.

Now that we’ve seen how to get the drop on people and how far away they are, now we learn how to get away from them. If you’ve got surprise, it’s easy; you just avoid them. There’s a straight 7+ roll for NPC parties with surprise to get away if they’re outnumbered.

When there’s no surprise, it’s a 9+ to evade, with modifiers depending on the encounter range. No hard-and-fast rule for NPCs in this case; it’s up to the referee. But these rules only apply prior to combat starting; once the fight starts, then the Movement rules come into play, which is what’s up next.

So, movement. First of all, this is related strictly to combat movement; moving between encounters will be covered later, I guess. There are four basic options to moving in combat: Evade, close range, open range, or stand. So, run away, move in, back off, or hold your ground. Yeah, that covers the obvious options.

Evading just means you’re dodging. Ah, so not running away. You’re not attacking, you’re just playing defense, with some modifiers based on your range. However, any modifiers from defensive expertise are lost, since you’re not using your weapon to defend yourself. So, there must be some kind of parrying rules coming up later.

Next, we have ‘close range,’ so moving up to get up close and personal. Depending on the weapons involved, this might be a really good idea. Oh, that’s interesting: there’s a table that describes how ‘big’ each range is, and how many rounds it takes to close each range gap. ‘Very long’ takes five rounds to close to ‘long,’ while ‘long’ is 4, ‘medium’ is 3, and both ‘short’ and ‘close’ are 1 round. I’m curious as to how much closer you can get than ‘close,’ which is described as ‘touching’ higher up on the page. Merging bodies? Committing to a relationship? It’s a funny bit.

Running means it takes about half as long, but it impacts your endurance. Another mention of the ‘Endurance rule,’ which I still haven’t seen. You can also ride an animal or a vehicle to close the gap faster, which doesn’t impact your Endurance.

Good stuff so far, pretty fast and loose. It will be interesting to see how it works in actual play.

Another New Book Coming Soon!

Well, I did promise two a month so I could get to twenty. I don't know if I'll be able to reach that goal now that I'm working full-time, but I can certainly give it my best effort. I've got some finished books that aren't yet published, so that will help.

So, what's this new one about? Well, it's called The Gilded Age: Beginnings. Sound fancy? Maybe. It's a world-idea I've had in mind for quite a while. It's a super-hero story, sort-of. It's a short-story anthology, set in late 1908, a few months after a certain really big explosion in Russia. And while it's going to have people with some unusual abilities, you won't see anyone running around in long underwear and a cape.

Of course, I'm doing the Let's Read series for the original Traveller game, but that's a game I never played. I have, however, played several different super-hero games, including Villains & Vigilantes, Champions (3rd, 4th and 5th editions), Marvel Super-Heroes (the yellow boxed set by TSR in the 1980s), and DC Heroes (the Mayfair boxed set, also from the 1980s). Invariably, the 'official' settings for these games always have the heroes starting out in the late 1930s, just before World War II breaks out. That makes sense, since the first superhero ever, Superman, made his debut in May of 1938. Yes, I know Action Comics #1 is dated June, 1938; it went on sale in May.

But I wanted something different, because while World War II is the defining era of the 20th century, it didn't exist in a vacuum. And, of course, I'm a history buff; I may have mentioned that a time or two before. So, when I decided to develop this superhero universe, I needed a different starting point. Some focal event that fundamentally changed everything to allow people with extraordinary abilities to exist. Some games, like Champions 5th edition, set the starting point for 'real superheroes' in Nazi Germany, where experimental science and forbidden magic mix to create the potential for superpowers (not to mention the impossible technology that supers are always building). Pretty much all of them, while they might include 'low-level' superheroes and creatures like Sherlock Holmes and Dracula, still don't have costumed heroes appearing until 1938 or so.

I wanted to go deeper, to the era that was foundational for the Golden Age of the 30s-40s. And the Tunguska explosion of 1908 was ideal for my purposes. Details on what actually happened are sketchy, but I grabbed what information I could and built an origin story around that event. I'll post an excerpt in a couple of days, my first blog-post excerpt since I started.

So, what can you expect from the Gilded Age? It's a world where people with these extraordinary abilities aren't going to be advertising them; movies are in their infancy, and commercial radio doesn't exist. Print is king; newspapers, dime novels...and the pulps. You'll meet characters like the Ghost-Girl, the Fireman, the Running Man, and the Bloodhound. And there's a taste of steampunk, as well, for future fun. Yes, there will be other books; I plan to run this as an anthology series with different characters introduced alongside the ones that start here.

I know, it's ambitious. But, it's something I have been working on for a while, on-and-off. I was planning the sci-fi anthology, but that will be delayed until next month. In the meantime, though, I hope you'll take a look at this new concept, and enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Of course, if you just can't wait to read that, you can always check out one of my other anthologies, such as A Universe of Possibilities, or my newest book, Cold Star. Both are available at an Amazon website near you.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 27

            Alright, let’s continue with the surprise section of combat. Oh, and encounter range is covered on this page, too.

            So, ‘a party with the element of surprise may attack using surprise blows, swings and shots until surprise is lost.’ Surprise blows is apparently defined under the ‘Endurance rule,’ but I don’t think I’ve seen that rule yet. Surprise doesn’t last for a defined period of time, either; it lasts until the surprised side figures out they’re under attack, and someone raises the alarm. Okay, then. Rather nebulous definition there. If no one raises the alarm, surprise continues forever, so I guess that would apply to infiltrating a compound and silencing one guard at a time without being noticed. That makes sense.

            The modifiers for surprise include Leadership and Tactical skill (expertise, rather), which are only available for Marines and Army vets (Jamie didn’t get either one). On the other hand, any military experience at all also gives a DM, so the Navy, Marines, and Army get this bonus automatically. Every member of the surprising party gets to attack once, unless no alarm is raised, in which case they can keep going. And the attacks are all simultaneous, which means nobody loses their surprise attack just because someone raises the alarm before they actually get to roll.

            Next, we see Range as our topic. As in, how far apart the parties are when they encounter each other. There are modifiers based on the terrain, but surprisingly, the table doesn’t just go in a linear way from Close to Very Long. The ranges are mixed up somewhat, although they are skewed toward low=short and high=long.

            The table average is medium-long, although almost every encounter range roll will be modified (jungle and rainforest are the only terrains that don’t get a DM for this roll). So, if you’re in the desert, plains, mountains or on the road, you’re going to see people quite a ways off; if you’re in the swamp, a city, or inside a building or cave, they’re likely to be right on top of you before you notice them.

Watching and Reading the Past

I've been pretty busy lately downloading a ton of public-domain material for my kids to have in the future. With the current climate of constant cancellation, it's only a matter of time before cherished childhood memories are wiped away from society. So, getting a bunch of free stuff now is a good idea.

The public domain rules are a bit hazy at times, depending on where you live, how old the material is, and whether or not the copyright holders bothered to maintain them. For example, Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, is locked down by Disney, and they won't let that copyright go even if they have to lobby Congress to change the copyright laws (which they've done before). That cartoon came out in 1928, and about twenty years ago, Disney lobbied to extend copyright from 75 years to 95 years to keep Mickey from falling into the public domain.

By contrast, Warner Bros. let several of their cartoons fall into the public domain by not renewing copyrights. Some of those cartoons include some early Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons. Go ahead, check it out here. Not to mention old movie serials, like Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy. Sure, they're old, but they're fun, too. And of course, even in the United States with its excessively-long copyright time frame, anything that was published, printed, or filmed prior to 1925 is now in the public domain. That includes early issues of Weird Tales magazine, tons of classic silent movies (including Nosferatu, The Mark of Zorro, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and a bunch of Charlie Chaplin shorts), and tons more. And best of all, it's entertainment that won't cost you a dime.

Now, I know what you're thinking: This guy's a writer who wants people to buy his books. Why is he telling us to get a bunch of free stuff instead of plugging his own books for us to buy? Well, what I write is inspired by the pulp stories. I want people to read those stories, to watch those movies, and to be entertained by them in a way that today's society doesn't match up with. Sure, we've got bigger special effects today, but special effects don't make a movie great if the story sucks. And even primitive special effects can fascinate and entertain if they're done right.

Here's an example, a short film I downloaded for my twelve-year-old to watch with me. He's the one who is most like me in that imaginative sense; his older brother is more practical, machine-oriented, and a worker, and his younger brother is autistic and spends most of his time in his own world. So, I grabbed some early stuff, such as this film from 1900, The Enchanted Drawing. It's less than two minutes long, so it won't take up much of your time. It's ridiculously simple by our modern standards, but when you look at it in the context of the time, it's magical. And my son grasped that right away.

Now, I've spoken about the decline of quality in pop culture before, and I'm sure people have waved that off as just being some old guy's rants about kids getting off his lawn. Well, I won't deny that's a possibility, but let's face it, there ain't nothing original anymore. I just read an article where Hollywood has announced thirty movies to be released by spring of 2021. All thirty of them are sequels. Not one of those thirty movies is an original story. I don't know if I've ever heard of such a thing. I don't think I ever imagined something like that could happen. Thirty movies, all of them sequels?

Avatar 2, Jurassic World: Dominion, Fast 9, Rush Hour 4, Black Panther II, Captain Marvel II, The Boss Baby 2, Coming 2 America, Sing 2, Fantastic Beasts 3, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Peter Rabbit 2, Escape Room 2, G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes, Halloween Kills, Godzilla vs. Kong, Matrix 4, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, Thor: Love and Thunder, Wonder Woman 1984, Hotel Transylvania 4, Baby Driver 2, Tomb Raider 2, Aquaman 2, Hobbs & Shaw II, Aladdin II, Star Trek 4, John Wick 4, The Croods 2, and Venom II.

A sequel to Eddie Murphy's Coming to America? Rush Hour 4? PETER RABBIT II?!?!?!?!

We've reached peak ridiculous, folks. And it's only going to get stranger.

And now comes the book-shilling part. My newest book, Cold Star, is available on Amazon right now; check it out, and support indie publishing, because the traditional media is doing that list I just gave you. We can do better; give it a try.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 26

Alright, it’s time for some COMBAT!!! Everyone’s favorite part of RPGs, right? More than half of Book 1 is devoted to character creation, so this should go by a bit quicker. Again, I’ve never read this stuff before, so this is all new to me. Here we go.

The first paragraph talks about cities and wilds, encountering both men and beasts. I guess that would include aliens, right? Not that there’s been any mention of them so far. And it’s interesting that the game talks about hand-to-hand combat before starship combat. I always imagined Traveller as a ‘big ships’ game. I guess that comes in the next book.

So, figuring out HOW the characters got into a fight will be dealt with in Book 3; this one just gets straight to the ‘kill each other’ phase of the conflict. The basic idea seems to be, roll an 8 or better to hit. There are modifiers, of course, but that’s the gist of it; 8 or better. Wounds vary depending on the kind of weapon, and combat rounds are 15 seconds long.

The procedure is straightforward; see if anyone’s surprised, figure the range, try to escape or avoid, then fight by indicating if and how you’re moving, and who you’re trying to hit with what. Well, that seems simple enough. Most RPGs have that sort of an outline. Nothing special there.

We start with surprise. Interestingly enough, only one side can be surprised. Both sides roll, and if one rolls 3 or more higher than the other one, they’ve got the drop on the low-rolling side. That’s a switch; in D&D, both sides can be surprised at the same time. Not in Traveller, though. as usual, there are DMs to the roll, which are on the next page. I’ll get to them tomorrow. The side that has surprise can, if they wish, avoid contact altogether, since the other side doesn’t know they’re there yet.

Amazing Stories #10, Jan 1927

Yes, it's back. Only four days late, so I'll take that. Making money has to take priority, but reading is important, too. So, let's see what this issue brings, shall we?

COVER

We start off with a man sitting in a chair alone in a red-walled room. He's freaked out at something, like the pair of glasses suspended in mid-air and all the buttons, pocket watch, and other metallic objects floating nearby. There are a pair of footprints on the carpet in front of him, so obviously there's someone invisible there. A much more subdued cover than most of the ones the magazine has had so far; no aliens, spaceships, or other worlds. It's a cool visual, but it's not quite as Amazing as most of them have been to this point.

Our cover trio is once again led off with H.G. Wells and Garrett P. Serviss, while Murray Leinster gets his first crack at cover immortality. I'm thinking that the cover names, for the most part, are going to be the long-form writers in the issue, unless it's someone like Wells or Verne, one of the Big Names in sci-fi at the time. Burroughs would qualify, as would Merritt, although he's not really a science fiction writer as we understand it.

EDITORIAL

Entitled 'Incredible Facts', Gernsback leads us off with a stirring discussion of some of the real-world scientific advancements that were drawing attention, including the discovery of the element 'Neutronium,' a super-dense material that would forevermore be linked to starship armor; an early mention of what be cosmic rays; a magic potion used by certain tribes that paralyzes poisonous snakes, and a rather sad tale of a young man who was 'raised' in a horrible way, whose senses were warped by his captivity. Not exactly a happy way to lead things off, but it just goes to show that while Amazing Stories was publishing fiction, there was always the tantalizing lure of facts to go along with it.

THE RED DUST, Murray Leinster

In the pole position is this sequel to "The Mad Planet," which appeared in the November 1926 issue. "The Red Dust" first appeared in Argosy All-Story Weekly back in April of 1921, and it runs for nearly 22 pages. It tells of the further adventures of Burl and his tribe in the post-apocalyptic nightmare insect-world the Earth has become tens of thousands of years in the future. Burl is the first man in millennia to actually fight against the insects that dominate the world, using primitive weapons and wearing moth-wings for clothes.

The story begins with Burl, now the tribal chief, leading his men in an assault on a giant spider's lair. Unfortunately, the rest of the men of the tribe haven't quite got the knack for not running like hell in the face of danger, so Burl has to take the spider down himself. Which he does, which makes him even more of a rock star among his people.

But their newfound freedom is threatened by a fungal spore that starts spreading over the land, killing every living thing it comes into contact with. Burl, no fool, leads his people in search of a safe place to stay away from the lethal red dust. After overconfidence nearly costs him his mate, Saya, Burl wises up and brings them safely to a valley where the dust does not appear. They even find a big stash of food (insect eggs; don't think about it too hard) and settle down for good.

It's a good story, lots of action and danger, as any good post-apocalyptic nightmare scenario should have. Burl's character arc is solid, as well; he started out as a terrified man alone in an impossible wilderness, and survived by sheer luck, then by his wits. Now he's a confident leader trying to get his tribe to emulate him instead of relying on him to do it all. His victories over the spiders, ants and other nasty man-eating bugs made him believe he was invincible, but every man has a weak spot...his love. By the end of the story, Burl is a much wiser, capable leader, and there's a sense that humanity has a chance of surviving as something more than food. Thumbs up for this one.

THE MAN WHO COULD VANISH, A. Hyatt Verrill

Dr. Verrill has been pushed away from the cover trio, but it's his story that got the cover art, so that's a win for him. This story is another original, making its first appearance here. It will be reprinted later on this year in the Amazing Stories Annual, too. It's 14 pages long, and tells the tale of Dr. Unsinn, who has devised an invention that can make a man invisible. We're introduced to this device by a wild newspaper headline describing a disappearing building, a scene that appears later in the story. Unsinn is obsessed with perfecting the device, as at the beginning it doesn't make metal invisible (hence the freaky cover art). Eventually, however, he does get it to work as desired, and starts testing it out. There is some humor, such as when the invisible Unsinn and the unnamed narrator are riding a trolley and carrying on a conversaton; the narrator, caught out by the curious onlookers, mumbles something about being a ventriloquist.

Unsinn's goal is simple: make this technology available to anyone and everyone on Earth, not realizing just how dangerous that technology would actually be in the wrong hands. Or any hands, for that matter. He is finally persuaded to hold off on giving the technology to anyone, although he doesn't destroy it, like many scientists do. It will be interesting to see if there's a sequel to this story at some point; Verrill wrote a lot of stories for the pulps. This story was a bit of a slog at first, but eventually it got better. I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty more of Dr. Verrill in these pages.

THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON, Part II, H.G. Wells

Our first continued serial of the issue, we pick up where we left off; Cavor (the brilliant scientist) and Bedford (the shrewd narrator) have begun their exploration of the moon. The first part was dry and slow; the second part is nothing of the sort. Before long, the two intrepid explorers have lost sight of their Cavorite sphere that brought them to the moon, desperately eaten some local flora to avoid starving to death, and been drugged (or gotten drunk) by the same food. They are then captured by the Selenites, the inhabitants of the moon, who think they are some sort of mutated moon cattle. The Selenites are insectoids, and have some pretty advanced technology underground, although it's unclear whether they actually understand the technology or just use it. Communication is never established between the humans and the Selenites, other than some impressive feats of violence from the much-stronger Earthmen in the moon's lower gravity.

Bedford, the businessman, is amazed to discover that the Selenites use gold for a lot of things, and proposes that once they return to Earth, they set up a military expedition to conquer and plunder the virgin territory. Cavor is creeped out by this, and insists they must never tell anyone about what they found because he doesn't want the Selenites destroyed by the greed of humanity. They eventually escape to the surface of the moon, with only a few days before the lunar sunset will kill off the vegetation (and them along with it) in the darkness and freezing temperatures of the 'dark side'. The installment ends with them spreading out to search for the sphere, their only hope of getting home safely.

A lot more action in this episode, and it was a good one, packed into 25 intense pages. The first installment dragged, as I mentioned; this one raced along, with Bedford demonstrating the strength of humans under the moon's low gravity and the cunning that comes with being a successful entrepreneur. Cavor is the naive one, wanting nothing more than to obtain more knowledge and explore this new civilization. The Selenites, on the other hand, are suitably inhuman. They are so alien that Cavor, despite his intelligence, is at a loss to figure out to even communicate that he and Bedford are intelligent, sentient beings and not merely animals. I'm looking forward to the third installment, which will conclude the story.

THE MAN WITH THE STRANGE HEAD, Dr. Miles J. Breuer

This is Dr. Breuer's pulp debut, and he would continue to write in the pulps until World War II. This story is a bit of a mystery, with a heavy dose of science fiction thrown in as well. It's only four pages long, and the mystery isn't revealed until the very last couple of paragraphs. The story is told by a doctor who has been summoned to care for a Josiah Anstruther, but who refuses to answer the doctor's persistent knocking. Another man, a reporter named Stoner, tells what he knows about the mysterious Anstruther, which isn't very much. Looking into Anstruther's apartment through a periscope, they see the man walking back and forth around the room, never stopping for an instant. Eventually, however, he falls over and stops.

Reluctantly, the building manager acquiesces to the doctor and Stoner, along with the police, to get into the room and find out what's wrong with Anstruther. The post-mortem done on his body reveals the truth, which I won't spoil for you. Of course, if you're a sci-fi fan, you'll probably figure it out before the end anyway, but in 1927, that solution wouldn't have been so obvious to people. It's a decent story, and it certainly didn't take long to read it. Gernsback obviously liked it, as Breuer would return in the future.

THE SECOND DELUGE, Part III, Garrett P. Serviss

Once again, Dr. Serviss closes out the issue, giving us another action-packed, 24-page installment of this post-apocalyptic story. We start off with a mutiny about the Ark, as a group of men attempt to take it over, not believing that the world has actually been flooded. Cosmo shows a particular ruthlessness in putting down the mutiny, and the ringleader ends up walking the plank into the endless ocean that covers the world. Rather harsh, but then Cosmo considers himself responsible for what's left of humanity, and something as nasty as mutiny can't be tolerated.

The Jules Verne submarine meets up with the Ark, with its crew of six and a very special passenger: Richard IV, the King of England, the only survivor of the Royal Family, who lost his wife and children in the torrential downpour that caused the flooding. There are a few Englishmen aboard the Ark, who are ecstatic that the King survived. Not that there's much left to be King over, of course, but they still love him.

Apparently, the deluge isn't actually over, although there's a lull. The French Alps and the Rocky Mountains in Colorado are still above the water, and there are more survivors. The Ark picks up the ones in the Alps, and heads toward Egypt, sailing over submerged Europe to save time. The Jules Verne joins them, and the two vessels work together when they encounter an erupting volcano and underground mountains that threaten to beach the Ark. Later, Cosmo joins the submarine's crew as they explore the Egyptian 'desert' and the pyramids, where they uncover a shocking truth: The Sphinx, long a mystery to humanity, holds the secret: A prophecy about the second deluge 'at the end of time.'

Meanwhile, the President of the United States and his family, along with Professor Pludder, reach Colorado and Pike's Peak, and find a small colony of survivors. Being intrepid wilderness types, they've managed to get by, although their refuge is illusory and temporary. Pludder, now wholly on Cosmo's side (even though they are half a world apart) helps organize them in case of a recurrence of the flood.

Well, there's a reason I really like Serviss. He writes a fascinating story and leaves us with a tantalizing mystery at the end regarding the Sphinx. It will be interesting to see how it turns out, as the last installment is next month. I'm looking forward to it.

At the end of the story, there's a little cut-out box where readers are invited to rank the stories and why, good and bad. It was a great way to encourage reader interaction...and also a great way to collect a mailing list for potential subscribers to other magazines, too. And, after the remnants of the stories at the end of the issue, we have...Letters from readers!

DISCUSSIONS

The first letter is actually a paraphrase, since the letter was rather nasty toward, of all stories, The Island of Dr. Moreau and its scientific impossibilities. Chill out, dude; the story was already thirty years old by then anyway. Gernsback responds by pointing out that there have been cases of feral people in the wild, and that the reader should lighten up. Good advice.

Next up, someone actually wrote a letter to Cosmo Versal of the Second Deluge, asking for Ark plans. Gernsback uses it as an opportunity to point out how awesome Serviss' writing is that someone would believe it was a documentary. Well, he was a famous scientist, and knew what he was writing about. Also, by the time the letter writer could have gotten the Ark plans, he would have already been drowned by the flood anyway.

Man, these letters are hilarious. I can only imagine at the ones that didn't get printed. The next one praises the Jules Verne story in the October issue, which was the second part of The Purchase of the North Pole, one of Verne's lesser stories (in my opinion). This reader, however, disagrees, calling Verne a 'very promising writer.' Well, he'd already been dead for twenty years, but you never know.

Next up, a complaint that Verne's writing isn't that amazing anymore, because the stuff he wrote about fifty years or more earlier is now commonplace technology. Well, you can't please everyone. The writer continues with a criticism of the Station X naval battle. Gernsback's response is clear enough: Lots of people enjoyed it, so phooey on you.

The next letter asks for a semi-monthly issue. Nice dream, but Gernsback was already talking about going bi-monthly instead; adding more issues isn't likely (and never happened).

Next we have another criticism of using Verne's stories, because this particular writer doesn't like them. Well, your opinion is noted, sir, but you're definitely in the minority. He doesn't just go after Verne, though, attacking the 'Fosdick' and 'Hackensaw' stories, which I admit I didn't particularly love, either, and Edgar Allan Poe. Now we're going to have words, Mister. You don't diss Poe. He also criticizes the Moon Hoax as not belonging in this magazine. Well, it certainly fit the 'science fiction' mold. At least he likes Serviss, Wells and England, so he's not a total loss. Still, if you're going to dislike the majority of the stories, why bother buying it in the first place?

Man, there are a lot of letters. The next one sends an excerpt from a German scientific journal, as a story suggestion. Well, why not? Gernsback likes the notion, and links the article to Blasphemer's Plateau from the October 1926 issue.

Next, Ralph Campbell wants original, or at least newer, stories instead of the 'Old Masters' like Verne, Wells, and Serviss. See? I knew he was a member of that Big Three, even if he wasn't as prolific as the other two. Anyway, Mr. Campbell wants newer stories because they are more likely to appear to sci-fi fans, who have already read the other three guys to death. Once again, though, the letter-writer is outvoted by the thousands of readers who do want to see those three authors represented in the magazine.

J.L. Brett is a lunatic, wanting three issues a month. It's a bit early in sci-fi canon history to be drawing that much material to cover a tri-monthly schedule, unless you want absolutely everything, including the crappy stories, included. Brett also gets that the point of these stories is more for entertainment than actual scientific accuracy, which is why Amazing sold so well.

A. Van Rooy doesn't like MacRae's fate in Station X or the 'macabre' type of story, such as Poe or "The Thing from Outside" (from the first issue, remember?) 

Lastly, a female reader! Meredith Gardner is unhappy that the magazine is printing sequels (like The Purchase of the North Pole) before the first stories in the series. She also wants the Burroughs books to be published in the magazine in the proper order. Well, that would depend on what rights the publisher is able to secure, wouldn't it?

And...that's it! No poem that I found in this issue, but the letters column more than made up for it, taking up several pages (in the middle column only, surrounded by ads).

CONCLUSION

Amazing Stories enters a new era as the readers now have a say. The stories in this issue were solid, although I had a bit of a time getting through the cover story, The Man Who Could Vanish. Other than that, though, this was an excellent issue. Next month, two serials conclude, and I assume another one will begin. Let's see what happens.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 25

            Okay, let’s finish off Mr. Rollinson’s character creation and background, and then we’re done with the character creation section.

            Finishing up Jamie Rollinson’s background and creation, we move on to term 5. Survival roll of 5 (+2=7) indicates that things are heating up. In fact, there’s now a war going on, and Captain Rollinson’s actions in this conflict earn him a promotion to Major (natural 12 on the roll). He serves on the front lines and gets some on-the-job training in hand-to-hand combat (Brawling-1), but also gets slotted into an artillery unit due to his prior experience, building on the skills he already learned there (Forward Observer-2). Unfortunately, the stress of active combat is taking its toll on Jamie’s health, as some injuries and battle fatigue slow him down (all three physical stats drop due to aging rolls). Not only that, but the needs of the service in a time of active conflict means that Jamie isn’t retiring on his twentieth anniversary of enlisting; he’s too valuable to let go (re-enlistment roll of 12). So, he’s automatically re-upped for one more term.

            The conflict winds down during his sixth term, and his new duties as a Major keep him away from the worst of the fighting (survival roll 10, +2=12). Determined not to let age slow him down, he works hard at maintaining his physical health, and while his wind isn’t what it used to be (loss of Endurance due to aging), he’s gotten back some of his physical strength (Strength +1). With the war ending, however, Jamie’s age and physical deterioration mean the Army is going to retire him, despite his wish to stay on, even as a trainer. Bitterly disappointed, Jamie looks to his future.

            Mustering out provides him with some surprises. Though he has no memory of them, Jamie underwent some secret medical procedures as part of an experiment, and his intelligence was greatly increased. The experiment was, however, largely a failure, as few of the other test subjects survived, and may have contributed to his physical deterioration. He leaves the service with a 6,000 CR annual pension, just enough to live on, and a large cash bonus. Unable to fit in when he returns home (PTSD and his family’s snubbing), he decides to leave his home planet for good, using a good chunk of his bonus to head for more interesting pastures. He still has one ticket left if he really needs it. That, and his rifle and blade, are all he’s got left of his time in the Army.

            And, there we have it. Jamie Rollinson, Army Major (Ret.), 42 years old and ready to get out there and be even more than he could be before. He’s got a nice background that an enterprising Referee can work with if need be. Looks good so far.

One of the things that's stuck out for me in this process is that normally, old-school games don't have a lot of character background; you roll the dice, you pick your race, class, skills, etc., and you go to it. Here, you start off with a fully-fleshed out character who's already had tons of experience. Today, of course, character creation is a game all to itself, where players can spend hours working out the optimum way to build an entire party. In a sense, that style of play gets its start here in Traveller. Of course, with Traveller you don't have to go through all the trouble of explaining all the rolls as I just did; you can just roll your stats and skills, and start playing. Still, it's an interesting way to go about it.

Father's Day

Well, I woke up this morning and forgot that it was supposed to be a special day for me. I mean, it was special; I got to attend mass for the first time in over three months. It was rough; taped off seats, anti-social distancing all over the place, no singing...but it's a start. I hope things get better soon, though.

Anyway, it is Father's Day, and my wife made some sweet breakfast after I got back from mass (and had a quick nap). She's awesome, and the boys even bought me a Kindle so I could get my own books from Amazon. Very thoughtful of them, I think. It's just a reader, not a full-on tablet, but that's fine. Reading is the primary function of the tablet anyway.

But enough about me; I want to talk about a different father: My father. I'm not quite sure where to begin, but I'll start with the beginning. Dad was in the Air Force when I was born, and while my earliest memories of him are from places where he flew big, bulky aircraft, the most vivid memories I have of him in uniform involve the CF-101 Voodoo fighter-interceptors. I love that plane; it's no longer used, but man, was it a sweet-looking plane.

As far as my math goes, Dad flew these (in the back seat; he was a navigator, not the pilot) for about six years, his last in the service before retiring and moving on to other things (and cities). He's got some pretty cool stories about those missions, too; he flew up into the Arctic Circle to intercept Russian planes coming over the pole, for example. And these weren't friendly meet-and-greets; they were carrying serious ordnance in case things got icky.

Not all the memories are great, though; I remember a time shortly before Dad retired when Mom got a phone call from the base saying that one of the Voodoos had crashed, but the crew weren't identified yet. I remember the look on Mom's face while we waited for news. It was like a weird case of Schrodinger's Dad, where I did but didn't have a father. Thankfully, he called home shortly thereafter to let us know that he was safe. Unfortunately, two of his close friends were in that plane, and some of my friends at school suddenly found themselves living off survivor's benefits. That was in fourth or fifth grade, but I've never forgotten that time.

My father's done a lot of things over the past forty years since then; he worked as a stock broker and as a real estate agent, but he never quit flying. He even served in the Civil Air Patrol after moving to the States, finally earning his elusive promotion to Major after 43 years as a Captain. Well-deserved, Dad.

My father wasn't perfect, of course; only my heavenly Father gets that descriptor. But he did what he felt was best for me and my younger sister. We always had a home and food on the table, and he coached me in hockey and soccer. I've tried to follow that example with my own boys, at least the ones who are athletic. He supported me in whatever I tried to do, even when I failed miserably. In short, he was as good a Dad as a boy could ask for.

So, on this Father's Day, when the old man is closing in on 80 years old, I'll just take this opportunity to say, 'Thanks, Dad.' I hope that my boys will be able to say the same thing to me someday; if they do, it'll be because I learned how to be a father from him.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I hope we celebrate a lot more together.

While I don't have any stories about the air force or fatherly wisdom, I did just release another Cameron Vail mystery, Cold Star. Check it out, and maybe get a copy for your own father.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 24

So, this page introduces us to ‘Jamison’, a merchant captain. The format of this character creation incorporates the character’s background as the dice are rolled, turning the set of numbers rolled into an actual fleshed-out character. Looks good so far. So, instead of just quoting what’s already in the book, I’m going to actually use the same procedure for JR. Yes, he’s already rolled up, but I have a record of the rolls from earlier in the thread, so I’ll just go back to that. I’ve already forgotten what they were, so this will be sort-of a fresh take.

Let’s review Jamie’s UPP: 59A769. So, to recap: He’s got great endurance and agility, but he’s not very strong; we’ll say he’s on the smallish-side. Average intelligence, and he just barely passed in school. He’s from a good family, so his parents probably made sure he got through. In fact, with a social status that high, they likely tried to push him into the Navy so as to get that noble title through him. That’s plausible; God knows there are still a gazillion parents trying to live their own dreams and fantasies through their kids. So, his family wanted him in the Navy, but Jamie has two things against that: First, he’s not, brains-wise, Navy material, and second, he is smart enough to know he isn’t. Besides, his parents pushed hard on a Navy career, but it just isn’t his thing. Too technical, too confined, and too dull. He prefers the Great Outdoors to being Preston of the Spaceways. So, as an act of teen rebellion, he walked right past the Navy recruitment station and headed straight for the Army instead. Naturally, his parents are pissed, and he’s now the Black Sheep of his family.

So far, so good. Now, his Army enlistment target roll was 2+, a.k.a. automatic. The Army took one look at him, and realized that while he wasn’t the biggest and strongest guy around, he can certainly handle a firearm, he has enough of an education to understand the basics, and he has the stamina to handle those ninety-mile hikes in the frozen tundra. As a bonus, they get to stick it to a pro-Navy family. Because there should be some cross-service rivalries, right? Anyway, they took him without hesitation, and he went straight into Basic, where he was trained in how to use a rifle (skill-1).

During his first term of service [survival roll requires is 5+, with a DM of +2 allowed for Education; he rolls 8 (+2=10)] and doesn’t encounter any serious risks. He writes the test for a commission (required roll of 5+, DM of +1 for Endurance, he rolls a 4 [+1=5]) and passes by the skin of his teeth (story of his life). However, despite excelling in both gun (SMG-1 for becoming a lieutenant and Rifle-2 as a rolled skill) and sword fighting (Blade-1), he stalls out at Lieutenant in his first term. He learns how to do some basic field repairs on army equipment (Mechanical-1). Jamie is definitely happy about where his is in his life; he’s out in the wild DOING things, not just sitting at a workstation reading printouts of ship systems; no way would he have gotten a commission in the Navy.

In his second term of service, Jamie doesn’t run into much trouble (survival roll 8+2=10). However, he also doesn’t attain a promotion (roll of 3). He ends up serving in an artillery unit as a forward observer (skill -1), which bothers him a bit since he’d still rather be on the front lines where the action is. Still, he definitely enjoys the Army life, and he’s sticking around for another term.

In his third term, he does run into some trouble, but gets through it basically unscathed (survival roll of 6+2=8). Once again, though, he fails to get a promotion. He’s been in the Army for twelve years, and a Lieutenant for ten of them, but no promotion. Instead, he spends most of this term in the Mobile Command, and learns how to handle an ATV (skill-1). Okay, at least it’s more on the front lines than being a Forward Observer, but something isn’t right. He’s the oldest lieutenant in his division. He’s had some friction with his superiors, but nothing that bad. The Army still wants him (reenlistment of 11) and he still likes being out in the field. Assessing his situation, he decides that he’s getting a broad base of skills, and he still loves the Army life. So, he’s sticking around and hoping to get that elusive promotion to Captain.

Now, onto term four. He finds himself moved away from the more dangerous theaters into a support position, where he gets more technical training (Electronics-1). Then, a bombshell: One of his superiors has been holding him and others back, using them to buff up his own resumé at the expense of these more talented subordinates. The court-martial is quick, and Jamie’s new superior recognizes his efforts almost immediately; he’s promoted to Captain, and goes back to the combat lines. But age is starting to take its toll, and he isn’t as accurate and agile as he was a few years earlier. Fortunately, his skill with weapons improves enough to compensate for that loss (Rifle-3); he’s one of the best snipers in the Army. Now feeling like he has truly found his place, he re-ups one more time (roll of 7) to complete his twenty-year career.

New Release: Cold Star

Cold Star, The newest Cameron Vail mystery is available on Amazon right now!

You would think that it was easy to find a good piece of cover art on the dozens of free image sites on the internet. And you would be wrong. But, here it is, the latest tale of the team of Vail and Potts, back in their college days. Here's the cover blurb to give you an idea of what's going on:

Hollywood: Where dreams are made of...and where they go to die.

Angelique Foster soared to the top of the box office, but her star plummeted when she tragically died of an overdose. Another cautionary tale in the land of show business.

But three years later, a young journalism student sees something no one else did, throwing a new light on the death of one of Hollywood's glamor girls. The police don't believe him, and neither does anyone else...except his roommate.


Now, the two of them chase after a tantalizing mystery, hunting for a killer amid the lights and mystique of Hollywood. Will Cameron Vail and Bill Potts discover the truth about Angelique's death, or are they vainly chasing a fallen star?


The newest Cameron Vail mystery, this tale of deception and intrigue continues the exploits of Cameron and Bill in college.


******************

So, check it out, and keep on supporting indie publishing, because that's where you'll find the stories you want to read. No messages, no 'relevant' social commentary...just plain ol' fun.

And yes, I'm still planning to release another one this month. That's the advantage of writing as much as I do; there's always more to be published. I'll have more details on that book in the next few days. In the meantime, though, please check out Cold Star, now available in e-book on all Amazon platforms.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 23

More information on the Free Trader, which is ‘Type A’, which I’m sure will make more sense when I get to book 2. Most people who get one need to start trading immediately just to keep up the payments. Of course, it’s possible to get a Free Trader without having to pay for it; it’s not easy, since it basically requires the character to reach the rank of Captain (5) in a service that promotes on a 10+ (9+ for high intelligence), roll at least five times on the mustering-out table and get a Yahtzee (5 sixes). I’d calculate the odds, but they’re just not good.

Alright, let’s do the math. Assuming the character has an Intelligence of 9 or more, the probability of rolling for a promotion is 27.78% per term. (A lower intelligence drops that to 16.67%, or 1-in-6). So, since you need four promotions, the chances of getting to captain by term four are 0.6%. It’s slightly better if you take more terms, but it’s still small. So, you’ve got a minimum of six rolls at this point (4 terms, plus 2 for reaching rank 3).

The chances of rolling 5 sixes in six tries is 0.000643, or 0.064%. Put those together, and the chances of a Merchant with a 9+ intelligence getting his own ship free and clear are 0.000383%. Has this ever legitimately happened in the game’s history? If so, I want to take that guy to Vegas.

Here’s an interesting question. It says that rolling up a ship twice means that you’ve not just paid for ten years’ worth of payments, but that you’ve actually owned the vessel for ten years. So, rolling it free and clear would mean that you’ve actually made payments for 40 years. Seven terms of service means you’re 46 years old; four terms (the bare minimum) means that you’ve only been alive for 34 years. So, it’s possible that you’ve been paying for the ship since you were a six-year old, or even for six years prior to being born. And thus, time travel makes its first appearance in Traveller. Either that, or your parents have been doing some proactive investing, and you really didn’t have a choice in careers. Good thing you didn’t end up in the Scouts…

Speaking of the Scouts, they can get their own ship, a type-S Scout ship. Unlike the merchants, rolling up a second ship does you no good whatsoever. Basically, the ship is being leased/loaned to the character, but it’s still part of the Scout service, and they’re hoping you’ll make good use of it until they need it. Potential plot point right there…they need the ship back, and you’re a long way away from the nearest base.

Mustering out can get characteristic benefits as well, which are straightforward just as they are in the skills tables.

Ooh, what’s this? Bonus skills for services and ranks. Promotion in the Navy gets you Social Standing, while Army and Marines get better at killing things. Merchants and Scouts can learn to Pilot (Merchants have to attain First Officer status first).

So, JR now has an additional skill in Rifle (now up to 3), as well as adding SMG-1 to his repertoire. Nice.

Okay, so the next step is a character creation example. Well, I’ve already done that, but I’ll see what the book has to say in case I missed something.

A Historical Weekend

It's Friday, and for the first time in months, there's actual meaning in that statement for my family and me. Because it's the weekend, and I'm not working. I've rejoined the working class, which is great. Ironically, it's an accounting position, which I hadn't planned on going back to after my change of direction at university. But, it's a paying position, which is better than sitting around waiting for the government to hand me money.

So, what does this mean? Well, it means that I have less time for the aforementioned university studying. It also means less writing time than I had hoped for, but that can't be helped. I'm still writing, and I'm still going to publish. Cold Star isn't available yet, but it will be soon enough.

I have less time for reading, which means, as I mentioned earlier in the week, that I didn't get Amazing Stories read in time for this review. Well, I'm almost done, so I might be able to get the review up this weekend. We shall see; it's going to be a busy weekend, too, thanks to church being reopened.

Speaking of studying, by the way, I've spent this week learning about Europe after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, particularly the Industrial Revolution and the early glimpses of socialist thought. Some of the ideas mentioned were actually reasonable, which is not a word I generally associate with socialism. But the idea of improved working conditions and ensuring that the workers' children were educated? That's a worthy goal right there, as long as it's not done by force. We've seen the effects of forced 'compliance' throughout history, and in recent times, as well.

Then, we got to Marx. God, has there been anyone in history who was responsible for more suffering and death than Karl Marx? I doubt you could count the number of people who have died as a direct result of the policies and political beliefs he espoused. And all because he was too busy embracing radical politics to bother holding down a job. No, everyone has to throw everything into the pot for everyone to share! Yeah, that's worked out well, hasn't it?

I know, I know...stay out of politics. But this is history, folks, and our history education is sadly and frighteningly lacking today. If we don't learn from history, we'll just keep making the same mistakes. And this isn't a math test where your mark doesn't affect your life; there's no take-backs, no make-up exams. Fail this one, and you're done.

I've made no secret of my love for studying history, but I recognize that even in places where history is actually taught, it's not taught in a manner that makes anyone want to learn it. Dry lists of names and dates? Boring textbooks that gloss over anything exciting and reduce it to mind-numbing prose? Please. We need to learn history the way it used to be taught, when it was actually interesting. How do we do that?

By reading books, of course. Not textbooks, but novels. Older novels, or even short stories, that are set in those interesting times. Everyone's heard of the Three Musketeers, but how many people know that most of the people in that book were real people, historical figures who left their mark on the world? Cardinal Richelieu is a fascinating figure; Louis XIII sired one of France's best kings, and the Musketeers were an actual force.

Or, go back to where history actually started. No, not the book of Genesis (that's a topic for another post when more people are buying my books). I'm talking about writing down history, stories of things that actually happened, or were widely believed to have happened. It goes back to the ancient Greeks, as pretty much everything worthwhile in our society does. Herodotus wrote the first history, collecting stories of the lands surrounding Greece, and telling them uncritically; he didn't claim he believed it all, but he didn't say they didn't, either. Stories like the Delphic Oracle and her prediction that Croesus' attack on the Persians would cause a great empire to fall. Turns out, it was his own empire she was referring to. Oops. He also describes the battles of Thermopylae and Marathon, where Greece withstood the massive Persian army. Great stuff, told in nine volumes. Read it; it's awesome. He's called 'the Father of History' for a reason.

Or, for a more accurate historical portrayal, you can't go wrong with Thucydides, who wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides was like a war-time reporter, getting the story as accurate as possible. Although he was an Athenian, he didn't take sides, reporting honestly and as fairly as possible. He's known as the 'Father of Scientific History,' which is the more scholarly version that we're familiar with. But he was a great writer, and should be on your reading list.

History matters; read it, or don't complain about what's going on. We can't predict exactly what's going to happen just from reading history, but we can certainly make some very educated guesses, most of which will turn out to be pretty accurate.

If reading the classics isn't really your thing, try reading something a little more modern, like my short story anthology, A Universe of Possibilities. There's plenty of variety in there, and I think it's well-written, too. Go ahead, check it out.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 22

Last night I realized I'd missed a day on this. Oops. Well, it was a busy day. Anyway, we move along to the next page.

Any passage can be sold for cash for 90% of its value, so it’s a good emergency fund-raiser. So, I’m going to assume that each passage is good for one use only; if you roll it multiple times, then you can use it more than once.

Now we get some more information on the Traveller’s Aid Society, which is a one-time benefit (multiple rolls on the mustering-out table means the roll is wasted, not re-rolled). Ooh, that’s got a nice benefit: every two months you get a high passage ticket. And assuming they don’t blackball you (roll a 2 or 3 for that), you can join even if you didn’t get it from mustering out, but it costs a full million credits, and you can only apply once. If you get in, you’re in for life.

Okay, now we move along to the material benefits of mustering out, guns and starships. Yes, you can muster out with an actual starship. But first, the weapons. Like the skill, you have to choose the specific weapon you muster out with, but if you roll the weapon skill more than once, you can choose instead to boost your skill level with the weapon instead. Nice.

Starships are either free traders (for merchants) or scouts (obvious). They are the only two careers that provide starships; I guess the Navy isn’t in the habit of handing them out to retirees. Rolling up a free trader means you’re stuck with the mortgage for forty years. But it you roll it more than once, you get to knock ten years off that period, since it’s assumed you’ve already been using it and paying for it for a decade.

Not the Thursday I Expected

Well, it's Thursday, but I don't have a review of the next Amazing Stories ready, since I haven't had the chance to finish it yet. I'm more than two-thirds of the way through it, but my reading time has been significantly cut back this week. So, I'm going to get that review done as soon as possible, probably early next week.

In the meantime, however, I'm excited to say that my new book will be published by tomorrow. I've got the manuscript taken care of; next up, the cover. That will be my seventh book, and my fourth mystery. The title is going to be Cold Star. I'll have an official book release announcement tomorrow, or possibly Saturday, depending on how long it takes Amazon to approve it.

In other news, I'm going to be forced to delay the publication of my sci-fi book due to not being able to get the cover art done in time. Not because the artist is slow, but because my budget is going to be affected by the forced purchase of a new car. My car has pretty much given up on life, and I don't live far enough north that I don't need air conditioning in my car at this time of the year. So, I'll be bringing it to the dealer Saturday, and returning with something new. Which means, no money for a cover this month. Which sucks.

However, I do have a contingency plan in place. I have another book that I've been working on that won't require me to buy a cover. I'll have more details on that soon enough. It's not a mystery, it's not fantasy, and it's not really sci-fi. It is, however, fun.

There isn't much else to say tonight, so I'll close it off by saying that if you would like to get some background on the new book, check out Final Exam, the first Cameron Vail mystery. Cold Star is the sequel to that book, taking place before The Missing Magnate. Enjoy!

Take Me to Church

Well, finally!

Yes, the Diocese of London has finally given grudging permission for Catholics to go back to mass, albeit with a boatload of restrictions, guidelines, and recommendations. We're dipping our toes back in the sacraments, but after three months of this nonsense, it's about damn time.

I don't make much of an issue on this blog about my faith, because I haven't felt it was the right place for it. I've shared my opinions on other blogs and websites, under anonymity; in today's cancel culture, not giving people the opportunity to doxx you is wise. My purpose for this blog, though, is to advertise my books and share my 'safe' thoughts with people on topics that I like, such as writing, gaming, music, etc. So, this is a bit of a stretch for me in terms of blogging. So be it; it's time.

I'm not happy with the way things have gone in the Church over the past few years. Or decades, for that matter. There's been too much bad and not enough good from the people who are supposed to be working toward the more good and less bad side of things. Couple that with the lack of teaching of the faith, and that's a recipe for a disaster of biblical proportions.

I'm doing my part to talk about my faith in my books; if you've read even the sample chapter on Amazon for Arrival, you'll know that it's a book about Christian Crusaders who are transported to a fantasy world, where they get to tame a wild land and spread the faith like missionaries. I did that for a couple of reasons. First, the original inspiration for the story comes from my study of old-school gaming, particularly Dungeons & Dragons and its predecessor, Chainmail. That's a medieval war game which happened to include a section of adding magic and monsters to your battles with pikemen and knights.

Second, I want to present the faith of the Church in a positive light, something which is sorely lacking in the world; the Church is treated negatively in all forms of pop culture, from the laughably inaccurate DaVinci Code to the depiction of priests as adulterous lechers on television shows. It's frustrating for me, as a practicing, believing Catholic. So, I decided to write something that showed the Church in a positive light instead.

Now, that might turn some people away, but that's the way it goes; you can't write something that everyone will like. Even God didn't manage that one. So, I'll just write and write and do my best to make it a good story, and hopefully other people will enjoy it, and see the Church in a different way. If I can accomplish that, then I've done something good.

I've linked Arrival above; its sequel book, The Devil's Playground, has a similar treatment of the Church and the Crusaders. Check them both out, and let me know what you think!

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 21

Alright, now we get into the mustering-out benefits and what they actually mean. First up is retirement pay. It’s an annual pension of CR 4,000 plus 2,000 CR for every term after the fifth. JR served six terms, so he’s getting CR 6,000 annually. Interesting, Scouts don’t get retirement pay (talk about a ramshackle service), and neither do people in the Other category.

Next up is Travel Allowances, including some money. The different kinds of passages are now explained, with High, Medium and Low defined. High Passage is typical first-class stuff, with a nice luggage allotment of one ton. It’s not clear if using these passages is a one-time deal or if they are a permanent fixture; maybe that will be explained later on. If you want to buy this passage, it’s CR 10,000, which is pretty hefty.

Middle Passage is basically flying coach. No maid service, do your own laundry... and you can get bumped off if there are too many High Passage travelers. But the food is decent, at least. Better than airline food, I hope. Baggage limit is 100 kg, which should be alright unless you’re travelling with your wife. It costs CR 8,000 to fly Middle Passage on your own, but you’re more-or-less guaranteed to arrive alive…

…which cannot be said for Low Passage. It was scary enough before, but now it’s just Russian Roulette; eventually you’re going to die. Even the best doctor in the world only gets you a +1 DM to the survival roll (I misunderstood on the Medical skill and thought it was +1 for every level after 2). And if your endurance is low, you’re definitely risking everything. It’s not worth it, dude! Just shoot yourself in the head and save the CR 1,000 it costs to do this. As I said before, I would NEVER do this.

One thing that isn’t clear at this point: the text may be suggesting that these are one-time tickets, but it’s not explicitly stated. Maybe it will be explained later. For now, I’m going to assume these are one-timers only.

Appreciating the Classics

Sometimes, kids just don't know how bad they have it. My sons are like most kids their ages; they like to hang out on social media and YouTube, watching all kinds of insanely worthless junk (such as watching other people play video games). Or, they'll watch modern cartoons on TV and think they are brilliance personified. They just don't know what they missed.

I know, this might sound like a 'get off my lawn' kind of rant. So what? I call 'em like I see 'em. Today's cartoons are unmitigated crap. The art is horrible; I failed 'stick people' in second grade, and even I could draw better than some of these artists. The humor, such as it is, relies almost exclusively on fart jokes and the humiliation of males. Watching this stuff is like gouging out your brain with a fork shoved in your ear.

So, I finally took steps. I made my twelve-year-old sit down and watch some old Disney and Warner Bros. cartoons. He watched Bugs Bunny torment Daffy Duck in the all-time classic Duck Amuck. He saw Elmer and Bugs re-enact Richard Wagner's epic operatic Ring Cycle in What's Opera, Doc? And he saw Goofy demonstrate how to ski and play baseball. And he was on the floor, laughing hysterically.

I don't know a single person who doesn't find Bugs, Daffy and Goofy to be hilarious. Let's face it, these are the all-time greats, cartoon characters that have been around since the 20s and 30s because they are timeless. They're also readily available, at least for the time being. There are plenty of options, including YouTube, collector's DVD sets, etc. But some of them are seen by a certain segment of society as being...problematic, for various reasons. Good luck finding a copy of Disney's Song of the South anywhere, for example. Or Warner Bros. 'Censored Eleven,' eleven cartoons that were banned decades ago because they were deemed 'racially insensitive.' Fortunately, even those ones can be found, if you're willing to look for them.

And we should be willing not only to look for them, but watch them with our kids and teach them the important lessons they offer. Yes, these cartoons have caricatures that would never fly in today's society. But they weren't made in today's society; they were made decades ago, when social views were different. And we have to understand that, because that's part of our cultural heritage, what got us where we are today. It wasn't a Utopia, but it wasn't Hell on Earth, either.

So, sit down and watch a classic cartoon; whether it's Tom & Jerry, Mickey Mouse, Wile E. Coyote, or dozens of other classic characters, they are worth watching. Not only are they hysterically funny, they're also brilliant in their design and plotting.

Of course, not everyone wants to watch a cartoon, classic or otherwise. Some people want to read; for those who fall in that category, I recommend A Universe of Possibilities, a collection of short stories, some of which are funny, all of which are fun. Take a look, and spread the word: Indie publishing is here to stay.