Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Worlds & Adventures, page 37

Okay, let's finish off with the Telepathic abilities and check out Clairvoyance. The only other power in the Telepathy category is Shield, which all telepaths can do automatically. It's always on, and costs nothing to maintain. It just keeps other Telepaths out of your mind, as long as you're strong enough to resist them. Shields can also be artificially created through psi-helmets that weigh a kilogram (that'll put some stress on your neck and shoulders), costs 4000 Cr, and doesn't stop anything physical from hurting you. But it is a mental shield, although everyone is going to know you have it. Still, better than nothing.

Now, let's talk about experience. Beginning telepaths (remember, starting characters can't be psionic; they have to find a Psi-Institute somewhere and get trained before they have any powers) have life detection and shield, and that's it. However, unlike the normal physical skills from Book One, you can actually gain experience regularly with psionics, advancing to the higher-level powers. Each month, the characters gets a 2D roll; an 8+ means he's got another level of Telepathy. So, after training, it would take 10 8+ rolls at one per month to get to the Assault level, and that's if you've got at least a 10 PSR. You can't advance beyond your Psionic Strength Rating no matter how many times you roll.

So much for mind reading; let's look at Clairvoyance. Basically, this just means you can see things at a distance, even if it would normally be impossible to see. The first ability is Sense, which gives you a basic concept of what can be found in another location. You might get a rudimentary description like 'a room with a table and a man sitting on a chair,' but nothing more than that. You state the distance to whatever it is you're trying to see, and you'll get the main feature at that location. Interestingly enough, this is a level 2 ability (which means you can't use it as a level-1 Clairvoyant), costing 1 PSP to use plus the range cost. I imagine range costs are going to be the primary point sink for Clairvoyance, since the idea is to use it at range in the first place.

The second ability is Clairvoyance, which gives a better view and more detail than Sense does. This one is level 5, requiring 2 PSP plus range costs to use.

And that's it for this page; we're running out of pages, but there are still a bunch of psionic abilities to go through.

Movie Review: Willow (1988)

Time to go back to my fantasy roots with another movie review. This movie is etched into my memory like few others ever have been. I remember when this movie came out in theaters, and I was absolutely determined to watch it. The trailers had me stoked, with stirring music (still one of my favorite movie themes of all time), Val Kilmer swashbuckling, cool monsters, and the trailer's opening narration: "From the creator of Star Wars..." I was hooked. So, was this movie going to live up to my expectations?

Hell, yes.

I was on a trip to Québec City after I'd won a high school French competition, and I was there with kids from across Ontario and a class from Cleveland, Ohio. I'm not sure what a bunch of Americans were doing in Québec City, but they were having fun, too. The movie had just opened, and I had saved up money for the trip. We got off the bus and went to the hotel, and I was at the theater that night, mesmerized.

I went again the next night, and the next...and the next. Four straight nights at the theater, something I'd never done before, or since. Not even Batman (which I saw nine times in the theater in 1989) had me going back four nights in a row. This was something special.

Now, there are a lot of people who are scoffing at what I'm saying. "It wasn't that great of a movie," I hear. "The effects were cheesy, the plot was thin, and the villains were cardboard cutouts."

I reply: So what? The effects were very good for the time (1988), nobody was expecting an M. Night Shamalayan movie out of this, and the villains were no more nuanced and layered than Darth Vader was in 1977. They were evil, they knew they were evil, and they made it clear to everyone that they were evil. That's what villains do in fantasy stories. It's like complaining that the witch in Snow White isn't a fully-developed character. She's the villain! And so was Queen Bavmorda! And both of them got what they deserved in the end.

So, let's run through the thin plot, shall we? Warning: SPOILERS in case you haven't watched this 33-year-old movie yet.

Still here? Good. So, the evil queen Bavmorda is trying to stop a prophecy that claims a child will be born with a mark that identifies her as the person who will cause Bavmorda's downfall. She doesn't go all King Herod, slaughtering all the kids around, but she does capture and kidnap every pregnant woman in the kingdom, forcing them to give birth in her dungeons until the right baby is found. Naturally, the baby escapes with the help of a sympathetic midwife, and the opening credits roll.

The midwife puts the baby onto a raft (Moses story!) and pushes her out into the river just as Bavmorda's hounds track her down and kill her. The raft floats downstream until it reaches a bank by a village of Nelwyns (short people; Peter Dinklage would fit right in), and the farm of a Nelwyn named Willow Ufgood, played by Warwick Davis of Ewok fame. Willow dreams of being a great sorcerer, but is stuck on his farm, plowing with a pig. When one of the dogs tracks the baby to the village, Willow reluctantly agrees to take the human (Daikini) baby to its own people.

With some help from village warriors, Willow finds a Daikini prisoner in a crow's cage at a crossroads. The prisoner, Madmartigan (Val Kilmer, in the role that made me a fan for life), offers to take the baby in exchange for his freedom. Willow eventually gives in, but not until a defeated army marches by and warns that Bavmorda's troops have destroyed an important fortress. Madmartigan leaves with the baby, but Willow is abducted by brownies (really tiny people) on his way home, and finds the baby has been taken from Madmartigan by said brownies at the request of Cherlindrea, a forest spirit/goddess who names the baby "Elora Dannan." That's a suitably Celtic name.

Elora has told Cherlindrea (who is fluent in Babytalk) that she wants Willow to protect her and take her to the castle of Tir Asleen, where she will be placed under the protection of a great army. Willow takes her into the Daikini lands, where he once again finds Madmartigan just as Bavmorda's troops, under the command of her daughter, Sorsha (Joanna Whalley, who would shortly become Joanna Whalley-Kilmer), find them. Together, Willow and Madmartigan escape after a thrilling wagon chase (it looks better than it sounds), and Madmartigan agrees to take them to the island of Fin Raziel, a sorceress who will help them.

They find Raziel, who was transformed by Bavmorda into a possum. She accompanies them, but they are captured by Sorsha and shackled as slaves while she takes the baby. In a snowy camp, they escape from their cage, but Madmartigan falls under a love spell and temporarily loves Sorsha, spouting poetry while Willow tries to take the baby and escape. They are caught again, but Madmartigan finally gets hold of a sword and shows what he can do. They escape by using a shield as a sled and slide down a mountain, ending up in a village where they meet the remnants of the army they saw earlier at the crossroads.

They escape the village using Sorsha as a hostage, and eventually make their way to Tir Asleen, which has fallen under a curse. Bavmorda's troops arrive, but Madmartigan goes extra-heroic and fends off the army by himself...with the help of an awakened two-headed dragon (called an Eborsisk in the novelization). In the chaos, Bavmorda's General Kail takes Elora, but Sorsha is impressed with Madmartigan's heroic stand and defects, joining Madmartigan in fighting off the evil army.

Meanwhile, Willow, who has been unsuccessfully trying to restore Fin Raziel to her human form using Cherlindrea's wand (she became a raven and a goat before he finally succeeds), goes with the army to Bavmorda's castle to attempt to rescue Elora Dannan before Bavmorda can destroy her soul and end the threat to her reign. After Fin is restored, the army uses deception to get into the castle, where the big final battle is fought. Madmartigan fights General Kail in hand-to-hand combat, Sorsha and Fin Raziel take on Bavmorda, while Willow watches from the sidelines until he's the only one left to rescue Elora from Bavmorda after the two women fail to stop her.

Willow tricks Bavmorda using some sleight of hand, and Bavmorda's ritual backfires and turns against her, destroying her instead of Elora, thus fulfilling the prophecy. The curse of Tir Asleen is lifted, and Madmartigan and Sorsha take Elora to raise her there together, while Willow returns home, triumphant and confident in his newfound magical abilities. Which I glossed over in the synopsis, but it does happen. Honest.

So, there's humor, action, romance, adventure, and an epic feel. Plus a dragon. What more can you want in a movie?

Now, let's look at the performances, in particular the two (three?) leads. First, Val Kilmer was born to play Madmartigan. He is fantastic in this role, bringing all kinds of awesome with him. He's funny, sarcastic, conniving but charming, heroic and deadly with a sword. He's also smart, outwitting General Kail in their showdown at the climax of the movie. Five chef's kisses for Kilmer in this movie.

Warwick Davis does his best to keep up with Kilmer's scene-chewing performance, and acquits himself well enough. His Willow is courageous but lacking in self-confidence at the beginning of the movie, but he's as determined as Frodo Baggins when the chips are down, and his focus throughout the movie is protecting Elora and returning home to his family. He's vulnerable when he has to be, and while he doesn't get a lot of screen time to be a hero, leaving the fighting stuff to Madmartigan, when he faces down the powerful Queen, he shows he's got the guts and the smarts to make up for his stature. Well done, Mr. Davis.

Then there is Joanna Whalley, in her debut role. Sorsha is young, as is Whalley (she was 19 during filming). She's got the fiery red hair thing going on, which definitely got my attention as a teenager, and she's certainly a beauty. But Sorsha starts out as the Queen's henchdaughter, as cold and cruel as her mother when it comes to hunting down that helpless baby girl. She even gets to kick the chained Madmartigan in the face, which sets the stage for their magically-induced love scene shortly afterward. She does well, and while her sword technique leaves something to be desired, she does well enough to be believable as a swordswoman. And she doesn't wear chain mail bikini armor, which is totally fine; she's got the presence and figure to look damn good even in the black armor of her mother's army.

Okay, so what about the effects? Well, as I said, for 1988 they were excellent. The scene that, to this day, sticks out in my mind the most is when Cherlindrea tasks Willow with protecting Elora. In the theaters, I got chills each time her glowing white face filled the screen and she pronounced her dire warnings. Even on the fourth viewing, it got me. It was powerful. The effects are almost all practical; the Eborsisk looks like a Harryhausen monster (which is not at all a criticism), and while the green-screening for the big fight in the castle with the dragon is pretty obvious, the same techniques with the tiny brownies isn't nearly as blatant. The state-of-the-art was improving by 1988.

The production was light on the magical effects (mostly with Cherlindrea and the climactic fight in Bavmorda's tower), but the makeup was well done for the transformation scene near the end, and the production made excellent use of the landscape, in both Wales and New Zealand. I guess we know where Peter Jackson got the idea to do his own fantasy movie there, don't we? That's how influential and important this movie is.

Okay, so the critics disagree with me; Rotten Tomatoes has it at 51%, Siskel & Ebert both said 'thumbs down,' and it wasn't the blockbuster it was projected to be at first. Hey, I did my part.

But the thing is, in the end, the critics are just people, and their opinions aren't any more important or special. What matters is what we, personally, think of the movie. And to me, the best and finest review of the movie came not from me, but from my son, Tanner. I convinced him to sit and watch this with me, and he was reluctant. At one point, he was adamant that he wasn't going to watch it any more. But he did, and after it was over, he said, "I don't know exactly what you see in this movie, Dad. But can we watch it again tomorrow so I can figure it out?"

He got it.

I give this movie a 9 out of 10 for its epic sense of fun and great lead performances. Siskel & Ebert can go sit on their thumbs; this movie rocks.

For my own take on fun fantasy, I would like to suggest that you take a look at Arrival, the first book in my Chronicles of Meterra. It's based on the ideas of fantasy that I grew up with, with a strong helping of pulp fantasy to season it. It's available in both paperback and e-book at Amazon. Supporting indie publishing is the key to bringing back the fun-tasy we all love!

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Worlds & Adventures, page 36

I really need to post more than twice a week. As I mentioned in the last (non-Traveller) post, I've seen a couple of other Traveller bloggers who have linked to my site. It's only right that I return the favor, so I've added them to my links sidebar.

Alright, on to the next page of psionics, specifically Telepathy powers. A final note on the Life Detection ability is mentioned: If the telepath finds a person he knows with this power, he will automatically recognize them. I assume that means that a person's mental pattern is unique, like a finger print or a retinal scan. If this power could be used in a technological device like a brain scanner, it would be an effective tool for identifying people who have disguised their fingerprints.

Moving on, we have Telempathy, which is sensing people's emotions and basic feelings. It's good for dealing with animals, since they don't operate much above this mental level anyway. But it's also good for using on humans as a psychological weapon. Because it's not just sensing their emotions, it's also projecting them. So, if you're telempathically sending fear to someone, they're going to react to it. Of course, everyone reacts differently to emotional stimuli, so you won't always be sure what they're going to do. Still, it's a useful ability. It's a level 2 ability, and requires 1 PSP to use, for up to 60 seconds.

Next is Read Surface Thoughts, which I think is what most people consider 'telepathy' to be. Basically, you're just able to know what someone nearby is thinking. It's only surface, current thoughts that are readable; this power doesn't go into memories and the like. Still, if the person you're reading isn't a telepath, they won't know what you're doing. Unless you're staring creepily at them with your hands pressing on your forehead, of course. Then they'll think you're weird. This is a level 4 power, requiring 2 PSPs plus range costs. Again, it's got a 60-second time limit.

The other 'standard' telepathic ability is to send thoughts. This is Professor X instructing the X-Men from miles away. And the recipient doesn't need to be a telepath to hear them, which is handy. Telepaths can close their minds to this sort of intrusion, though. This transmission power can last up to 2 minutes. It's a level-5 ability, costing 2 PSPs plus range costs.

Next is Probe, which is the memory-fisher power. It's level 9, and costs 8 PSPs to use. It lasts for up to 10 minutes, which should be enough time to dredge the bottom of their brains. Leading questions can make it easier to find out what you want to know, steering the target's thoughts in the desired direction. It's also a great lie-detecting power. Shielded minds can't be probed.

The final one on this page is Assault, which is basically mind-rape. Unshielded minds are either unconscious or dead, taking 2D+6 in damage as their minds shut down. Shielded minds, however, turn this into a brain-fight. The attacker's PSR is compared to the defender's PSR, and the difference is the DM for the attack. It's a 7+ roll to successfully assault a shielded mind, modified as above. So, someone with a 12 PSR attacking someone with a 5 gets a +7 to their roll, which is an instant success; the attacker shatters the defender's mind shield and wrecks their brain in the process. This is the most powerful telepathic ability at level 10, requiring 13 PSP to perform. It's pretty much instantaneous, but only the most powerful telepaths can do it. What's scary is that only the most powerful telepaths can defend against it.

More on this next time as we finish up the telepathy and move on to Clairvoyance. Look, a preview of what's coming next!

It's Turning into a Real Farm...

 Well, this weekend was crazy-busy on the farm, but we've gotten quite a bit done now. First of all, the weather has gotten to the point where the chickens can be outside. And so they are:

It's tough to see them, but they are in there, all five of our Rhode Island Reds. It looks like we've got two roosters and three hens, so we'll have to see what transpires between them. Hopefully, it doesn't turn into a Chicken Thunderdome.

The chicken tractor is crude, but it works, for now. Over the summer, we're going to build a coop in the barn for the winter; we'll reevaluate the chicken tractor at that time to decide if we'll keep it for next year or build a better version.

The other part of the farm that is turning out nicely is the gardens. Here's Ashton with his favorite toy, doing some work:

Now, I'd asked for three gardens to be dug up and tilled, 4 feet by 32 feet long. As you can see, he went the extra mile and did five. The garlic that we planted is at the left side of the foremost row, just off camera. It's growing like crazy, and the leaves already smell amazing.

I have to admit, while it did feel good to dig the gardens myself, watching him use his new tiller to tear up the sod and mulch it under while making nice rows to plant seeds in was much easier on my back. And we're using the side-by-side to cart the dirt over to where he will be doing some soil screening next weekend.

Man, I'm starting to feel like a farmer. Hopefully this fifty-year-old body will be able to handle it.

In other news related to the part of the blog that people actually read, I just found out that this blog was linked on a couple of Traveller blogs. Well, that's pretty kind of them, so I'm going to return the favor and include links to them on the site as well. The two that I found are:

Traveller, Craig Oliver's site where he discusses Traveller and other RPGs, including the software he designs for it. Check it out; you might find something you like!

Shawn Driscoll's RPG Vlog, in which he discusses the game through video blogging. I've seen videos ranging from under three minutes to twenty-five minutes long, so there's plenty to look at.

And that's it for today; it's been a long day, and it's not done yet.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Worlds & Adventures, page 35

Now we get to see what psionic powers are available to learn. There are six of them: Telepathy, Clairvoyance, Telekinesis, Awareness, Teleportation, and...Special. Aren't these special by definition to begin with? Anyway, Telepathy is the easiest to qualify for, at 5+. Teleportation and Special are 9+, making them the least common abilities. And with the automatic DM for trying them, at best you've got a 1 in 6 chance (10+) to get either on, and that's on the first roll. By the fourth roll, there's no chance of getting either one.

It's possible to get a high PSR but have few or no special abilities. Well, that would suck. Maybe you'd be good at keeping other psis out of your own mind, though. We'll have to see in future pages. Or, what would really suck is having a power, and not being able to use it because your brain isn't strong enough. The example, again, is Teleportation, which requires a PSR of 7 to learn. If your PSR is only 5, you can't use it even if you rolled well to get it. And psi-drugs improve your strength, but not your rating, so you're screwed out of it regardless.

Oh, there's a quick note that you can't get psi training in the services (the six careers from book One); it's only through the Psi-Institute, which means that no character is going to start out with them. I guess that means that you can leave psionics out of the game entirely if you want, since you can easily keep PCs from ever finding them and getting trained.

Next up is psionic range, which includes a table. Close means touching, Planetary is up to 50,000 km. There's some granularity in between, of course. The 'close' to 'very long' ranges match those of tactical rangers from personal combat, which will make it easier to coordinate their use in combat. And there's another note that no psionic is strong enough to go interplanetary. So, if there's a psionic problem nearby, at least you know it's on the same planet. That may not be very useful information, admittedly, but it does narrow down your search grid a little bit.

The ranges are straight-line, and there's nothing that's going to block psionic energy, which moves at, presumably, light-speed. There are toys like electromechanical psionic shields available, but minor things like mountains aren't going to get in the way of mentally zapping someone on the other side.

Okay, now we get some detail on the first of these psionic abilities: Telepathy. There are going to be a few sub-abilities in this category, and we learn about the first one, Life Detection. This is basically being able to sense the presence of other minds in close proximity. The telepath can detect minds, how many there are, whether they are sentient or not, and roughly where they are. So, this would be a good counter to invisible opponents, since you can track them by their brainwaves even if you can't see them. Of course, that wouldn't work on robots and the like, but you can't have everything.

This is a level 1 ability, costing 1 PSP to use. Oh, I missed the part where longer ranges require more PSP to use a power. That was in the Range category, but I'll add it here since it's mentioned in the power's description. That one-point investment gives you a whole minute to sense anyone nearby. Use it well.

Next time, more psionic powers!

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Worlds & Adventures, page 34

Psionics are still on the table. The next significant effect of Psionic Strength Rating is the Maximum Activity Level. Basically, unless you've got the minimum amount of psi-strength for that activity, you can't do it. And this applies even if you boost your score with psi-drugs and such; it's your base score that determines whether or not you can do it.

The third aspect of PSR is Available Strength Points, which is just how much strength you expend actually using a specific power. Unlike Maximum Activity Level, this can be boosted artificially, and these points do regenerate over time through resting.

Next is Aging and Deterioration. Remember how the initial roll for your score is affected by your age? Well, that continues to apply as you get older. Every four years, your score drops by one. Also, you total up your strength, endurance, dexterity, and intelligence; if the total is lower than your PSR, your PSR is lowered to match that total. Yikes. Aging will suck, then.

Oh, but if you're trained by the Psionics Institute, you don't have to worry about age reductions. So this would apply to 'wild' psis who never train; they slowly burn themselves out over time. So there aren't going to be many (or any) senior citizens with psionic ability, unless they were actually trained by the Psionics Institute. And if you take too many psi-drugs, you'll hurt your scores, too.

That's an interesting plot point that could make for a fun campaign. Sure, the Psi-Institute ensures that people don't lose their powers as they age...or is it a more nefarious idea? Maybe the Psi-Institute secretly hunts down wild psionicists, and if they don't join the Psi-Institute, they are mentally poisoned or weakened so as to gradually lose their psionic ability. After all, it wouldn't do to have just anyone using these abilities, would it? History is full of examples of 'elites' deciding that they are the best-suited for running everything, and they don't like competition. Imagine what a collection of people who can literally read minds would think of non-psis.

Alright, speaking of training, that's the next section. It's expensive, costing 100,000 Cr. It takes four months train, but really strong psis (PSR 9+) can apply for a scholarship. And of course, they're mind-readers, so don't try to fool them. This scholarship entails giving the Psi-Institute 95% of your everything you own, and then they'll waive the remainder. Wow. This is looking more like a psionic scam every paragraph.

There are six categories of psionic talents, but it's highly unlikely that any character will be able to use them all. Training will allow for finding out which ones the character is good at. Each of the six talents gets a 2D roll, in whatever order the player wants. The first roll gets a -1, the second a -2, the third a -3, and the rest get -5. Each talent has its own target number to see if the character can use it, modified appropriately according to the order of rolls. So, if you want to acquire a specific one (teleportation is the example used here), then roll that one first to maximize your odds.

So, the training allows you to use your talent(s) at level 1; experience and hard work will allow you to improve and use greater power levels. Training also helps you hide what you can do, so the common plebes don't know about your powers. Once you're done with training, though, that's it; you're on your own, and the Institute can't help you.

I just know there's going to have to be one planet in the Hub that is run by psions; the nobility is going to be exclusively psi, and the law levels for the commoners are going to be really, really strict. After all, if nobody is allowed to use a hand-weapon, mind-weapons become all the more effective at controlling the populace and keeping the peace.

Will this be a benevolent psionic dictatorship? Well, it will certainly look that way, but there just might be a seedy underbelly that needs to be exposed and destroyed...except that the people being exposed can literally read minds, making it difficult to fool or expose them.

Yeah, that should be a fun planet.

More Farm News

I know, I'm almost done the Traveller read-through, but we had a very busy day on the farm, and a lot got done. I just wanted to share it. There are a few pictures, so let's get to it.

This is a piece of our first-ever crop: garlic. The wide shot I took didn't turn out, but there's this one, at least. There are about twenty bulbs growing, which is very exciting. This was the first garden I dug up after we moved last year, and the first stuff we planted. So, it's a great feeling to see this growing so well. It gives me hope that we'll get this farming stuff figured out.

And this is a Granny Smith tree that we picked up today. It's not my favorite apple variety, but it was the only one available that goes well with the Yellow Transparent (not Delicious) we already planted. We learned that fruit trees don't all self-pollinate, so they might need a different kind of tree to make sure we get both trees fruiting. The two apple trees are about twelve feet apart, and I'm thinking we'll get another tree next year with red apples. Empires and MacIntosh are my favorites, but we'll see what we can get.

And this is our second pear tree, a Harrow Sweet. They go well with Boscs (which are self-pollinating), but variety is good. I'm not much of a pear-eater, but I can learn. The greenhouse we bought these from also had cherry trees, which I'm considering buying this year after all, just to get them growing a year sooner.

I don't have pictures of them, since they aren't in the ground yet, but we also bought a six-pack of strawberry plants and a couple of blueberry bushes as well. We're going to plant them in a couple of weeks, after I bring my Honey Bunny out there to figure out exactly where we're going to plant them.

This is our new chicken tractor that we finally finished building. It's a bit rough, and we didn't finish meshing the bottom, but it's fine to use indoors for now until the weather is warm enough to keep it outside. At that point, we'll mesh the rest of the bottom to make sure no predators get in. For now, it's in the garage, with its new inhabitants.

These are the Rhode Island Reds we have, five of them. We're not sure how many are hens and how many are roosters; ideally, it's four-to-one, but we might have two roosters, in which case we're going to have to get rid of one before they kill each other. But they're finally in their new home, which is a very, very good feeling.

If you look through the coop, you'll see a second coop where the Cemanis live; it's a pre-fabricated one that Ashton put together. It's not going to hold a lot of chickens; three is probably its limit. To the let of the coop, you'll see the box (and lid) where the Reds were living while we built the chicken tractor. It was fine when we first got them, but it's less than 3 feet by 4 feet, which isn't enough room for five full-grown chickens. The tractor is almost five-by-twelve feet, which is plenty of space for them. In a few days, we'll bring it outside and let them go at the grass. Right now, they're getting used to all this extra space.

So, plenty of stuff happening on the farm. It's an exciting time for us, and we're looking forward to what comes next.

Orchard Farm

Okay, so it's only two trees right now. But it's another step in our journey toward growing our own food and self-sustainability. The one on the left is an apple tree; the other one is a pear tree (minus the partridge). We're getting another one of each, since they're supposed to be paired up to cross-pollinate. Single trees don't do very well.

That's the apple tree; it's a Yellow Delicious. Not my first choice for apples; I prefer MacIntosh or Empire, myself. But it'll make some great pies.

And this is a Bosc pear tree. It'll have a friend nearby tomorrow. We've got the holes for the other two trees dug, and we'll pick them up either tomorrow or Monday, depending on whether or not the garden centre is open.

We're almost finished with our mobile chicken coop as well. We ran out of staples for the wire mesh to keep the foxes and other predators out, or it would have been done today. I'll get some pictures of that tomorrow. It's a bit crude, and it's definitely not elegant, but it should do the job well enough to keep the birds safe and happy. I hope so; they've been cooped up (no pun intended, really) since they were babies in the box in the garage, and they're not babies anymore.

It looks like we lucked out with our Cemanis; they were too young to tell whether they were hens or roosters, so we found an online trick we could use to give us a fighting chance to guess right. And it looks like we did; judging by the combs, we've got two hens and a rooster. Let's hope we had a single rooster in the other chickens, too, although the odds aren't very good.

So, we're on track for this year's modest goals: we've got a total of eight chickens (three Ayam Cemanis and five Rhode Island Reds), four fruit trees, and three 4'x32' gardens. If all goes well this year, then we'll be expanding next year with a couple of cherry trees, some berry bushes (blue, rasp, and straw), and maybe a cow that we can raise for some beef. It's weird even typing that out, because if you'd told me a year ago that I'd be living on a farm raising chickens, I would have said you've been in lockdown too long. And yet, here I am.

Oh, and baseball season is starting soon. Not the majors; I'm barely paying attention to pro sports anymore, since we can't go to the games anyway. No, Tanner is signed up for baseball, which is his favorite sport to play (although hockey is moving up for him). We'll see how he does this summer, since PEI does allow sports to happen. Did I mention that I love living here? Because I do.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Worlds & Adventures, page 33

Psionics! Well, I knew they were going to show up eventually, given that there have been several mentions of it in this book. Psionics, for those who are allergic to science fiction (what are you doing here, anyway?), is the 'powers of the mind' that are so common in the genre. Traveller's stance on psionics starts out with the optimistic view that someday, everyone will have psionic powers as part of their everyday life. But that is not this day. Psionics are known to exist, but it's still rare, and those who have these powers fall under the jurisdiction of the Psionics Institute. But there is still a lot of prejudice in the Traveller setting toward psionicists, so the Institute is quiet. Sort of like Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, to borrow from another genre.

After that mood-setting intro, we get straight to the Psionics Institute (PI for the purposes of this blog). The PI is underground, so to speak, so it's not easy to find them even if you're looking. They're only going to be found on high-population worlds (9 or greater), and even then it's an 11+ on the roll to find it, with a +1 DM per population point over 9 (so a B-pop world will have one on an 8+).

Of course, just because the PI has a presence on the planet, it doesn't mean that you're going to find them. It's a 9+ to find it; Streetwise and Admin skills are positive DMs to finding them. It's going to take a week to find them, though, no matter how good your roll is. There's a note that if the PI isn't found within a week, the character gives up and is convinced that there's no branch on the planet. I can see that for NPCs, but players are notoriously stubborn; they might look for six months because they just KNOW that there's a PI branch on this world. It's like the old 'dead-end corridor in the dungeon' scenario, where the players are convinced that there's treasure on the other side of that caved-in corridor, or that there absolutely is a secret door in that dead-end wall, and they'll bring down an entire excavating expedition to dig it out.

If you do find them, congratulations! You even get to tell your friends about it. Of course, it might still be far away (7+ that it isn't) and you'll still have to travel halfway around the planet to get to them. Because why make things easy? The PI trains budding psis, and even does a test to see how much psi potential you have. I'm really getting X-Men vibes from this. It costs 5,000 Cr to be tested for psi strength, although in extreme circumstances they might waive it (10+ roll to avoid having to pay).

So, let's see how these psionics work. First of all, the older you are, the less likely you are to have them. Roll 2D, modified by -1 for every 4 years that you're older than 18. That's your Psionic Strength Rating.

Okay, wait a second. Everyone can have these powers, then? It's not a question of 'if', but 'how much'? Interesting. Of course, if your modifiers bring you below 1, then you're not going to have it after all. But any one-term character is guaranteed to have them, even at a minimum of 1. You only get to roll once in your character's lifetime, though, so you take what you get.

Ratings can go from zero to 11. The only way to get higher than an 11 is through psi-drugs. The maximum possible Psionic Strength Rating is 15. This number indicates both how much activity you can perform, as well as how much strength you have available to do specific things. That seems to be a redundant statement; let's see if it's clarified on the next page.

So, here's the question. If psionics are so common, why are they underground? Or, if they're underground, how is it that virtually anyone who gets tested is going to show up as psi-positive? Is it only people who have a psionic sense that go looking for them in the first place? Is it like a Harry Potter situation where only the people who are part of the club even know of its existence? It's a tricky question, one that will require some further thought.

If science fiction is your thing (and if it's not, why are you reading this in the first place?), take a look at my first science fiction publication, Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System, which is a collection of ten linked short stories. It's available in paperback and e-book formats on Amazon right now!

Heinlein's Rules

Robert Heinlein is recognized as one of the Holy Trinity of science fiction writers, alongside Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. Myself, I've only read one of Heinlein's books, Starship Troopers. It's one of my favorites, but I've just never gotten around to reading anything else of his. I'm not sure why. I like science fiction, and Starship Troopers is a seminal work, but Heinlein's work has never been on my radar.

But he is known for giving the best and most valuable advice for aspiring professional writers, advice that was condensed into five rules that were first published in an obscure volume, 1947's Of Worlds Beyond. This was a book about how to write science fiction, with contributions from several big names of the day: E.E. "Doc" Smith, A.E. van Vogt, Jack Williamson, and John W. Campbell Jr. himself, the godfather of the 'men with screwdrivers' style of science fiction that came to dominate the pulps in the late 1930s through to the 1960s.

But the most important part of the entire book was contained in an essay Heinlein contributed to the collection, "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction." Some people consider these rules out of date, or just flat-out wrong. But for decades, writers who have followed those rules have had more success than those who did not.

So, the rules are simple enough:

1. You must write. Insanely obvious, and yet it shuts a lot of aspiring writers down; it's very easy to think about writing a book, but actually sitting down at the computer and doing it is something else. And a lot of people simply stop right there and just keep dreaming.

2. You must finish what you write. Again, obvious, but even more difficult to follow than the first rule. I myself have about seven unfinished things sitting on my hard drive, whether it's because I lost interest, or because the idea didn't work as well as I thought, or I just plain forgot about it. I'm going to get these finished at some point, the sooner the better. But finishing a book is a terrifying thing for a lot of people; it's easy to keep writing and adding to the book, but at some point you have to actually type 'The End' at the end. Not necessarily literally, but the book does have to finally be finished if you want to publish it.

3. You must not rewrite except to editorial demand. Harlan Ellison, the great science fiction writer, added a line to this rule: And then, only if  you agree. This is the most controversial of the rules, without question. There are those who swear that editors are absolutely crucial to the writing process. There are others, such as Dean Wesley Smith, who flat-out ignores editorial advice outside of typos and grammar corrections. To him, an editor's job is to proof-read, not mess with the writer's vision.

I've had some experience with that, in a non-professional capacity. Years ago when I was an 'aspiring' writer, I was part of a local writer's group. Basically, it was anywhere from eight to twenty people sitting around and reading bits of what they'd written, then accepting criticism and editorial advice before going home, redoing the piece, and never finishing it. I was working on a series of books, a fantasy series that may yet see the light of day. And it was a fantastic series. Not 'fantastic' as in Lord of the Rings-quality work, but fantastic in the literal sense, where incredible, imaginative things were happening. At the time, I planned to write these long epic stories in three stages: a one-page outline of the book, then a one-chapter-on-a-page skeleton, then fleshing it out to full chapters. I was on the second stage of this particular book, and I had a scene which took place underwater with a lot of crazy action. A few people in the group protested that it was unrealistic, and urged me to tone down the ridiculously outlandish elements. To my shame, I listened, and the story was diminished. I lost interest in it, and while I still remember the basic outline, I haven't even thought about writing it in years.

I'm not saying that an editor would do that kind of a hatchet job on a book, but the most important part of a book is the author's vision; if it doesn't feel like you wrote it, the audience will sense that, and something important will be lost.

4. You must send your work to publishers. Once the book is written, trust it and get it to the markets. Today, there's indie publishing through Amazon and others to make this step very easy, but not everyone wants to go that way; some people are chasing that big publishing contract. Well, you can have written the most magnificent sequel to Gone With the Wind or War and Peace, but if it just sits on your hard drive, you're not going to make any money for your hard work. But this is a terrifying step for a lot of people, one that can shatter them. But without it, there's no money to be made, and no audience to read it.

5. You must keep it on the market until it sells. If you get rejected by the first publisher, don't throw your work away in despair; send it to someone else. In indie terms, just keep it available for sale. I'll admit that my books aren't tearing up the sales charts, but I'm not taking them down unless it's to make a change of some sort (usually fixing typos that I or someone else finds). Eventually, the market will be there for them. For those who prefer the traditional model, keep sending it out. There are plenty of authors who were rejected by dozens or scores of publishers before someone finally bought the book and made insane money on it. Ever hear of The Hunt for Red October?

So, those are Heinlein's Rules in a nutshell. And, according to Heinlein (and Smith), every successful writer follows them. Why not join them?

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Worlds & Adventures, page 32

More information on animals; we've had almost as much information on alien animals as we have on alien worlds so far. 12 pages on world/sector design, and 9 on animals. This page gives us a table on animal sizes and weaponry, as well as an additional one for the extreme critters. Let's take a look.

Basically, you roll 2D and consult the table to find out how big the animal is, how hard it hits, what its weapons are, and whether it has any natural armor or not. The second table just expands those categories for rare circumstances.

There are modifiers to this table from previous sections, like terrain and planetary size, as well as major modifiers for herbivores (-6) and carnivores (+6). Those mods only apply to the weaponry and armor, though.

Each category is rolled separately, so you could end up with a 100 kg animal that hits for 2D, has claws and teeth, and thick skin like jack armor. There is a lot of variety to be found with all those rolls.

The thing I like about this system is that it reminds me of the Hero System method, where powers and such are split into two parts: the mechanics, and the effect. It allows for a lot of creativity, while keeping the animals reasonable and logical, as befits a science fiction game. In fact, I think I'll come up with three different alien animals using these tables, all from the same ecosystem. Let's see what we get.

First, the world. I'm going to pick Tycho from my Hub subsector, since it's literally a hunting reserve. To refresh, its world profile is A569453F. Very high-tech, not too big, and lots and lots of water. Since its a hunting reserve, I'm going to say that it's generally a tropical world, with the equator being the hottest part but also being a straight water-band around the planet. The few land masses are closer to the poles, where they are still warm, but not boiling hot.

Good. Now, the main hunting preserve is going to be similar to sub-Saharan Africa, with lots of tropical forest and jungle to tromp around in hunting for trophies. That's going to limit the creature sizes, since jungles get a -3 to the size roll. That's okay, though; creatures don't have to be big to be dangerous.

So, let's roll up critter number one. I'm going to create one herbivore, one carnivore, and one omnivore. We'll start with the prey. A roll of 7 with a -4 DM for jungle gives us a 3, which is an intermittent herbivore. It has no special attributes (a roll of 3 on the 'other' table), so let's get to the size and weaponry table and see what we get. Again, there's a -3 to the size roll. A roll of '4' is modded to a 1, which means on a scale of chipmunk to elephant, we're looking at a chipmunk. It weighs about 1 kg. It can only take 1D of damage before going down, and it does -2D when it attacks. So it's probably not going to be doing that very often. It's a herbivore, so its weapons take a -6 DM. And I rolled a 4. Which takes us down to -2, except the table only goes down to 1, which means...a roll on the special table below. That's a 1D roll, giving me a 3, which equates to...blade. This helpless, tiny chipmunk has claws like a blade. Sure, it's not going to do much damage with its -2DM size modifier, but still. For armor, I rolled an 8, which reduces to a 2 (herbivore), which means no armor.

So, while I had 'chipmunk' in mind, the razor-sharp claws have me thinking of the Vorpal Bunny from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But that would be silly. Let's see...

Okay, so this little creature is arboreal, which explains the claws. It actually eats the bark off the trees that it lives in, which means that the trunks will tend to be smoother. So, it developed these wicked talons to assist in climbing, which happen to help it fend off predators as well. Of course, it's still got the brains of a chipmunk, so it tends to run from trouble. Just don't corner it. It's called...a rastinet. It's got four legs and two 'arms' to help it with the climbing, and it collects fruit and nuts. It's got a thin, whip-like tail that helps with climbing and balancing, but is useless in a fight. It's got a thin layer of gray fur over its body, but the tail is bare. And it moves like a squirrel on a coffee bender.

Not too bad. Next up, the carnivore. It's a killer (roll of 8, modified by -4 for terrain). And it's a mini-pack animal, with 1D for number encountered. A '4' for special abilities gives it nothing. The size roll is a 10, modified to 7, which means a 100-kg critter that can take a few hits: 5D/2D. No wound modifier for its size, so we move on to natural weaponry and armor. This roll is a 4, which is bumped to 10 because it's a carnivore, and that means claws and teeth. Armor is a 3, modified to 9, which is no special armor.

This is basically a land-shark the size of a panther. It's a mindless eating machine that will attack anything that comes near it. And it's fast, moving at double the normal speed. Like the rastinet, it's going to be arboreal, although that will be more for moving quickly around the jungle. It can also move rapidly along the ground on its six legs, four of which it uses when attacking, leaving the back two for balance. It's a hairless beast, allowing it to stay cooler in the tropical heat. Rastinets are a light snack for this beast; it prefers bigger prey. No wonder the rastinets are so fast and small; they can scamper up to the high tree branches where this thing can't get to.

I should name this, shouldn't I? Let's call it... an agreeta. That sounds carnivorish, doesn't it? Sure. So, the agreeta is probably the big prize for the hunters. It's tough, it's fast, and it's always eager and ready to rip your intestines out and munch on them in front of you.

Finally, the omnivore. I'm going to move this one to the ocean instead of the jungle, since the planet is 90% water. There are no terrain modifiers for the ocean, so we get clean rolls. The first roll for type is a '4', which is an eater (2D). So, it's a small herd. For special abilities, we get an 11, which is a flyer, with a size mod of -6. It moves at ordinary speeds. A flying herd creature that doesn't go too fast, and eats anything in its path. For size, I rolled an 8, which modifies to a 2. It's not a lot bigger than a rastinet, and it can take 1D/1D of damage, doing -2D on its own. Its weapon roll is a 6, meaning 'teeth,' and flyers don't get armor rolls.

So...we've got some sort of bird. Let's call this a beriteen; it's got a beak, but it also filters its food when it dips into the ocean, straining out the plant and animal life. It's like a duck, in that it can land on the water and swim around, or it can float above it all gracefully while swooping down to grab a mouthful of seawater. It might have some natural enemies in the ocean, like Tycho's version of a shark. They don't fly in huge flocks, sticking to smaller family groups. Their plumage is mottled white and blue to camouflage them against the bright sky. They are named after the funny sound they make.

So, that's a good starting point for some native Tycho creatures. Let me know what you think in the comments.

If science fiction is your thing, take a look at my first science fiction publication, Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System, which is a collection of ten linked short stories. It's available in paperback and e-book formats on Amazon right now!

Another Teenager in the House...

Yesterday was Tanner's thirteenth birthday. We now have two teenagers and one autistic child in the house. Pray for us.

It's a challenge, no question, but we've been through it once already. Of course, the first teenager was definitely less challenging than the new one. I'm told that girls are far more challenging than boys, and that we've gotten off light compared to others.

Yeah, right.

It was a fun birthday for him; he actually woke up with his alarm at 6:30 in the morning, a miraculous feat on its own. He then demanded to be identified as 'Teenager'. He even got ready for school without fighting with me, and was quiet enough to let Mom sleep. At school, his French class threw an impromptu party, and he had his regular horseback lessons after school. He then had a friend over for a mini-party at home.

His friend gave him quite the birthday present: A wood-carved Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian. I wish I had a picture of it handy; it was very well done. He also got a basketball net and NHL21, which he's been asking for for quite a while. At least it's better than Call of Duty...

His cake was themed; it was that 'Among Us' game that is super-popular that I've never heard of in my life. Honestly, the cake reminded me more of the old Simon Says electronic game than anything else. I guess I'm just old and out of touch with the hip stuff today.

So, Happy Birthday to my favorite middle child, and congratulations on surviving this long. It was touch-and-go there a few times, but you made it. next, let's see if you get to sixteen.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Worlds & Adventures, page 31

Another page? Sure; we're coming to the end, and I'd like to get it done at some point. We continue with animal definitions, and the carnivores. There are two left to learn about: The sirens, and the killers. Here we go.

The sirens are, as I surmised earlier, the Venus fly-trap creatures. Instead of just trapping their prey, they lure them in before trapping them. Whether it's by smell or some other sense, they attract their prey and capture them before making a light snack of them. We also get a tease about a 'psionic' lure, although we haven't seen psionics yet. Methinks that subject will appear later in the book.

Finally, the killers. These are, as you might guess, straight-up killers that don't care what they're trying to eat, as long as they can chew it. Sharks are the example, to my complete lack of surprise. I suppose man-eating lions might fall under this category as well, different from regular lions. Ever see that movie Ghost and the Darkness with Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer? Maybe not. But those lions were definitely killers. Blood lust, mindless ferocity...yeah.

Our fourth animal category is the scavengers. There are intimidators, hijackers, carrion-eaters, and reducers. They either steal other animals' prey, or wait for the leftovers.

The intimidators are sneaky buggers who wait until someone else does all the work of catching food, then try to frighten them off and steal the kill. They're practically parasites. Coyotes are the example given, although one might be tempted to add 'politicians' to the list.

Next are hijackers. These are also kill-stealers, but instead of sneaking in and scaring the hunters by surprising them, they just bully them into leaving the food for them. The only terrestrial example they give is 'lion in a bad mood.' You would think that these would be intimidators, since they literally intimidate through size and strength. But I didn't write the book, so we'll just go with it.

Carrion-eaters. Vultures, obviously; they wait for something to die on its own, or they feast on the remains of another animal's meal. I wonder if hyenas would fit in this one, or in one of the other two categories.

Not the fourth one, though, which is the reducers. These are like bacteria and some vermin, critters that wait until even the carrion-eaters are finished before moving in. They'll even reduce the bones of a carcass.

And that's the animals. But, that's only half of this page. The second half of the page is devoted to 'events,' which also appear on the encounter tables. These could be animals, or they could be natural events, geographic or geologic in nature. The ones listed are just examples, though. Let's see what we have.

Ravines and precipices start us off. This is an obstacle to overland travel, which slow you down by a full day. If it's a close encounter (no pun intended), the lead character has a chance to go over said ravine or precipice on a 6+ roll, taking 1-6 dice of damage in the process. Ouch. If the characters are in a vehicle, there's an 8+ chance to go over. The driver's skill level is a DM, but if you're speeding, you take a -5 to the roll as well, which means you're screwed unless your driver is NASCAR-trained. Everyone in the vehicle takes 0-5 dice of damage on the way down. Also ouch.

Next up is a seismic quake, which is going to knock you off your feet unless you roll your strength or lower on two dice. If you can't stay upright, then you roll again; a 12 means you take 2D of damage. So, the odds of actually getting hurt during one of these isn't very high.

Meteor shower! Well, that's an interesting one. It's best used on airless worlds, since the odds of a meteor coming through a thicker atmosphere and hitting someone is very small; either it's going to be a tiny one that gets burned up in the air, or it's going to be a Deep Impact event. These showers have a chance of penetrating vacc suits, which would seriously wreck your day.

Chameleons are next; these are actually animals, camouflaging animals that are basically just rolled as normal, except you can't see them very well. It's a straightforward deal, but it can apply to any animal type. A camouflaged shark... there's a frightening thought.

Psionic assaulters? Man, they're really dropping the hints on psi-stuff, aren't they? Like the chameleon, these are otherwise rolled up normally, but you skip straight to the 'carnivores' section for these guys. Can you imagine a pack of telepathic wolves? That's worse than the sharkameleon. If your characters aren't ready for psionic attacks, they're automatically knocked out and take 2D+6 damage, which is going to scramble your brains. And these guys always attack with surprise, so you're screwed unless you've got some way to fight back against psionics.

Lastly, we have 'storms,' which are your typical thunder-and-lightning rain storms. Nothing special here, although it might be interesting to make these storms a bit more flavorful. Maybe it's acid rain as well as thunder and lightning.

And that's it for this page. But we're not done with the animals just yet.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Worlds & Adventures, page 30

Ah, finally! Definitions for the different categories of animals. This is going to be a useful section; hopefully, it includes examples from real-life animals to make it easier to visualize them.

First up, as always, the prey...I mean, herbivores. Now, we all know that an herbivore is an animal that eats plants. Well, Traveller extends that definition to include anything that eats 'unresisting food.' Including unresisting animals. As examples, anteaters and humpback whales (which eat ants and krill, respectively, and I'm having Finding Nemo flashbacks already) are included as herbivores because they eat 'unresisting animals'. Well, I'm sure the krill would resist if they could, but they are at a slight size disadvantage in that fight.

Subtypes come next, and we've got the grazers. These spend most of their time eating, and they're best defense is fleet feet. Some travel in herds, some are solitary. They can stampede, which can really wreck your day, and when they are forced to fight they get medieval on your butt. Examples are the antelope and the moose, although the aforementioned whale gets a nod as well, since it just swims around slurping up those helpless krill as it goes.

Intermittent. This is the one I wasn't sure about before. All it means, though, is that eating is not their full-time job. They're usually solitary, but not always. They'll run from bigger threats, or freeze if they're surprised. They might get violent to protect their territory or their babies. Examples are the chipmunk and the elephant. Well, that's a broad category. Although the elephant will run from smaller things, since nothing is bigger. On land. On Earth. Maybe elsewhere the rules are different.

Finally, there are the 'filters.' These guys don't move; the food comes to them. This is a long description, but it basically boils down to 'this eats whatever comes into its range.' The example they give is a barnacle, and note that most filtering herbivores that we know of are aquatic; they strain the water as it passes through them, sucking out the nutrition they require. They aren't going to be moving very often, if at all. The sucky part (sorry) for adventurers is that if they catch you, you're taking automatic 1D damage per 50 kg of the critter. They latch on to their adventurous prey on a 6+, requiring a 7+ to pull free. These are actually pretty deadly; imagine an elephant-sized barnacle. That would be horrifying. And awesome.

Next, we look at the omnivores. These are animals that don't care if the food resists them or not; they're like Mikey in those old Life Cereal commercials: They'll eat anything. The most obvious example is the bear, which will eat fruit and berries while hunting for fish and other small animals.

Gatherers are like the herbivores of the omnivore kingdom; they're a lot like intermittents, but they eat more meat. Raccoons and chimpanzees are given as examples. So, garbage counts as omnivore food. Yuck.

Hunters are the opposite of gatherers, being closer to the carnivore side of the animal equation. Baboons and humans are the examples given. I thought we were hunter-gatherers. We're just that versatile. I lean toward the 'carnivore' side of the argument, myself.

Then there are 'eaters.' These are the true omnivores, who will eat anything that has the misfortune of crossing their path, and they don't care what it is. They are Tom Petty fans who won't back down from anything. The example given? Army ants. Yeah, that's a scary thought right there. A swarm of insects that will turn a jungle into a desert. Now, make them bigger, and you've got a truly terrifying threat for your players to wet themselves over.

Let's move on to something less frightening: Carnivores. These are, simply enough, animals that eat other animals, almost exclusively. There are five types, three of which we'll cover on this page.

First up, the pouncers. Hiding, stalking and springing are the key components of this animal's style.  Obviously, cats are the example given. They're solitary, since it's tough to coordinate that sort of action. If they surprise their prey, it's an automatic attack; if the prey knows they're coming, they'll still go on a 9+. They're jumpy, though, and if they're surprised will take off like a cat out of hell.

Chasers tend to be pack animals, and will run down their prey in order to catch it. Wolves are the example here. Much safer than army ants.

Third is the trapper. They just sit back and wait for their prey to walk into their trap, then start dining. Most of them prefer their food dead first, which is a small consolation to the person who gets stuck. They're not fast, and they work alone, but they will go after anything that gets trapped, no matter its size. If the prey is surprised, they are trapped on a 5+ roll; it's a 9+ to escape, costing an endurance point each time you try. There's a DM of +1 for anyone helping the escape, but they can be trapped, too. Traps generally don't hurt; they just keep you in one place. The example given should be obvious enough: Spiders. Oh, and ant lions, but we don't see them nearly as often.

Next up: more animal definitions.

Life as an Island Writer

Living on Prince Edward Island is very different from life back in Ontario. For the better, in almost every respect. It's peaceful, friendly, relaxed...and there are some things you just don't see here that are, sadly, far more common on the mainland.

When helping a friend unpack at her new place, she mentioned that her boss had told her not to come in the next morning since he was taking some personal time. The reason? Because his cousin had been murdered in Charlottetown.

Now, obviously, murder isn't a good thing. I write about them in my mysteries, because it's always satisfying to find and arrest someone who is so black-hearted that they would commit murder. But it's not something anyone wants to encounter in real life. In entertainment, sure. But the real thing is not at all pleasant.

So unpleasant, in fact, that it's almost unheard of here. Thus far in 2021, this is the only murder on the Island. Last year, there was one in all of 2020. In comparison, 2019 was a crime wave of epic proportions, with two murders all year. I'm just saying, it doesn't happen often, you know?

In fact, PEI has the lowest crime rate of any province in the country. I looked up some stats on violent crime on PEI, and it's quite eye-opening. There were 1,071 victims of violent crime and criminal traffic offences causing death or bodily harm reported by police in Prince Edward Island in 2016. That's all year. Toronto can do that in a week. Hell, that's a Saturday in Chicago. But here? Peace, quiet, and relaxation. It's a great environment for writing.

Anyone who's read my Cameron Vail mysteries knows that they aren't set in a specific city. The first one was, originally, set in a major North American city, but I took those references out to make it more generic. Why? I don't know; it seemed like a good idea at the time. Cameron and Bill could be anywhere; the city isn't the main character to me.

But one thing is for sure: If I ever do identify the city they live in, it won't be Charlottetown. Otherwise, Cameron would be out of a job.

The Merry Month of May

One-third of the way through 2021, and it's been an interesting four months. No books published unfortunately; school was an absolute grind this term. Couple that with working in a bookkeeping/tax office at the same time, coming up to the April 30th deadline, and it's understandable but frustrating.

So, I haven't even come close to my writing goals this year. But tax season is done, I've got two courses left to finish my degree, and I'm over losing the last book that I was working on to a missing flash drive. I forgot about the back-up rule, so I'm paying for it. Oh, well. Life goes on.

Now, it's time to buckle down and get back to what I really love to do. There's just something about writing that feels totally amazing. It's that creativity, the knowledge that you're coming as close as we can to what God did in six days. Sure, it takes longer to write a book (although if I really pushed it, I could match that time frame), but the idea is the same. The writer is creating a whole new world, maybe not a gigantic, universe-spanning world, but a world nonetheless. And when it comes together, it's a great feeling.

I read a blog post from a site that I respect that talked about outlining a book. He stated that even writers who just fly by the seat of their pants need to outline at some point. I can see the argument, but I have to disagree with the idea that if you don't outline, your book won't be very good. The closest I would want to get to 'outlining' a book is to use a formula, the kind that has been successful for hundreds of writers from the pulps. The basic beats are the same in many of these writers' books, but it's how they present them that makes the books special. Lester Dent even wrote an article on how to write a 6000-word story using a consistent formula. It can be found here; it's a very useful and interesting article. Mind you, for me, 6,000 words is a really short story; I prefer longer types. Even my short stories tend to be closer to 10,000 words. But that's just my style.

But as for outlining, I've tried it before. And the thing I learned about doing outlines is that it takes away the creativity of actually writing the book. Now, for my books, Final Exam and The Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival, those did have a rough outline, the first because I started writing it back when I was about twenty, and the second because it was based on a gaming project I was working on, and I had specific points I wanted to get in there. But even then, the outline was only in my head, and it wasn't fixed in stone.

In the Beginning has an outline, too; it's the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis, from the Bible. There wasn't a lot of room to modify the plot there.

The rest of my books, though, were written on the fly, or 'into the dark,' as Dean Wesley Smith puts it. The best example of that was The Missing Magnate. I was inspired to write that the day I sold my first copy of Final Exam; one of the girls I worked with found out I had published it, and immediately grabbed her phone and ordered it in front of me. That was an indescribably awesome feeling, and I sat back down at my desk, and in between calls I started another book starring Bill and Cameron. I had no idea what was going to happen; I had no plot in mind, I had no concept of any kind. I literally just wrote the first thing that came to me: "So, you have an office now", and just went from there. I finished it in eleven days, no rewriting. The only change I made was to add another chapter in the middle to give more screen time to one of the suspects; otherwise, it was one draft, clean and ready to go. I just sent it off to my first reader (Hi, Mom!) and cleaned up a few typos and mistakes, and put it up on Amazon.

That's how the great masters did it back in the day (minus the Amazon part), and that's how others are doing it today. It's a fun way to write, and it's incredible to just let your subconscious, creative mind loose and see what it comes up with. Is it always perfect? No; I've scrapped a couple of books because they ended up being way over the top or just didn't work. But I've got seven books that were written on the fly, which is a pretty good ratio.

Anyway, that's enough of this rambling; this doesn't count as writing. It's time to get to work, so I'll sign off and see what my brain has in mind.