Meterra: Land of Adventure

This is the map of the land of Meterra. I created it some time ago using Campaign Cartographer, a mapping program for gamers. It's the setting of my first two fantasy books, Arrival and The Devil's Playground. There's a lot of potential for adventure there, and I'm definitely going to explore it both in gaming and in my writing.

Some of the locations don't quite jive exactly with the book; I made the map first, and while I had the outline of the story in my head, I changed a few things along the way. Well, the book and the game are never identical, are they?

Anyway, I just wanted to share this map tonight. I like it quite a bit; it's the first real map I ever made, and it looks at least somewhat professional. CC is a great program, and I recommend it for people who want to create their own worlds of adventure.

If you want to know more about what Meterra is like, check out the two books I mentioned above, available now at an Amazon website near you.

Spreading the Good Word...

No, not that good word. I'm talking about the beauty of old-school RPGs. One of my son's friends was telling his mother how much he loved the game, and she sent me a message asking what gaming books I would recommend she buy for him. There were a bunch of links to the current 5th edition starter set and other such stuff, but I shook my head and showed her the good stuff: Moldvay Basic and Mentzer Basic rules on eBay. A bit cheaper than Amazon, and hopefully they'll arrive in time for his birthday next weekend.

I have to remember to tell her to get some dice, too. There's a few places in town where she can get them, so that shouldn't be an issue.

The reason I suggested the old books is simple: They are simple enough for kids to understand, even kids who struggle a bit with reading as he does. That's one of the things I want to encourage him to do, read more books. And the Moldvay Basic book, in particular, has a great reading list, sort of an Appendix N variant with books aimed at younger kids. Teenagers are pretty cool with reading Conan and Tolkien, but they'll balk at Wizard of Oz or even Narnia. But those are great books for kids to read, especially to give them a great grounding in fantasy literature. And any reading is great to boost his education and his confidence.

Plus, the rules are straightforward. The Mentzer Basic set includes some solitaire, choose-your-own-adventure type pages to teach the basics. Both Moldvay and Mentzer cover a lot of information in only a few pages; Moldvay is 64 pages, but it's enough information to get a game started with lots of variety in monsters and treasure. Add the Cook or Mentzer Expert sets, and you're golden.

I know, I'm using AD&D 1e rules for my game, but I still have a fondness for the Moldvay rules, which are the ones I first owned. And I do have a nearly-complete BECMI collection, which I might consider completing now that D&D isn't verboten in the house. I'm only missing a few things, which I should be able to find. I regret that I'll never get the Trail Maps again, but there's no way I'm paying those prices on eBay. Not until I'm richer than this, anyway.

She also told me he was enthusiastic about reading my books, so she bought four of them. Hey, I'm not complaining in the slightest. And it spurred Tanner, who's not happy that his friend is going to read my books before he does. So, now I have to get author copies of these books for him. And, of course, he wants them signed.

Here's one of the books she bought for him, available on an Amazon website near you.

The Dream Library

I've been thinking about my library lately. I like it, of course; I've got some fantastic reading material. But, like every other bibliophile out there, I always want more. And I've been thinking about what my dream library would include, if I had unlimited budget and all the time in the world to read it. Not to mention, space to actually put it in.

So, here's a list that I've come up with, some of which I already have, some of which I will probably never have. And while this might not be a complete list, it's certainly enough to make dreams come true. The first part of this list will be stuff that I have, either complete or in part.

We start, of course, with the Bible. I've got several of those, including the complete Navarre Bible set with commentary, as well as the Ignatius New Testament (also with commentary) and a family copy of the New American Bible. That's a full shelf right there.

Next, the Early Church Fathers, the complete 34-volume set edited by Peter Schaff way back in the 19th century. I've got the first five volumes so far. The set covers pretty much everything that was known to have been written in the first eight or so centuries of Church writings. There's actually more than even that set contains, but it's a pretty comprehensive set.

The Great Books of the Western World, complete 1952 edition. I lost about half of my set in the flood back in Wallaceburg, unfortunately. I'm looking for replacements, and there are some reasonably priced ones on eBay, so I'll have to get those at some point. There is a 1990 60-volume set, but I'm fond of the set I have. Besides, I'll get most of the additions from that set in the Great Ideas Today series.

The Gateway to the Great Books, the 'beginners version' of the Great Books set. It's a 10-volume set, which I have.

The Great Ideas Today, the annual yearbook published by the Great Books people. This series ran from 1961 to 1998; I've got quite a few of those already. I'm missing 1962, 1965, 1966, 1976, 1979, and 1988-1998. These are available through various online stores, so I'm confident I can complete this set.

The Junior Classics, ten-volume set, published by Castalia House. I've got the first three of these in hardback, but I want the whole set. Even if my kids aren't going to read them, my grandkids hopefully will. This set is a reprint of the 1918 set with a few changes to include some newer writings. The first three volumes are great; I can't wait to get the rest of them.

The Thousand and One Nights by Sir Richard Burton. I've mentioned this one before; I have a gorgeous, original set of these sitting on my shelf. Fascinating stuff.

The Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, 1979 edition. We got this for free a few months ago from a family here on the Island. Sure, the internet has a lot more information, but I believe in being prepared. Besides, physical copies are better. The set also came with a two-volume dictionary, as well as four Science Yearbooks from 1980-1983. There's also a four-volume Medical & Health set that came with it, also free.

Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cooking. Don't laugh. It was a gift from my mother. It's a twelve-volume set from 1966, and there's a lot of information in there. My best friend, a trained chef, said it's an excellent resource for anyone training to be a chef (like Tanner). Besides, I've got a bunch of recipes from that set that are fantastic.

Complete or essential works of various authors, including H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Lord Dunsany, Edgar Allan Poe, Clark Ashton Smith, J.R.R. Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis. The latter is one I only have a few books for; I've got the Narnia series, as well as the Screwtape Letters, but that's about it. There's more of him that I would want. There are a lot of other sci-fi and fantasy authors as well that I have gathered, but the above listed are the big ones.

Dictionary; I've got three so far, all excellent and big.

A World Atlas. I've got one of those, but it's from the 1960s, so it's a wee bit out of date. Still, the maps are gorgeous, and it's historical, which I like even more.

Latin and Greek learning materials. Again, even if it's not for my kids, my grandkids will hopefully learn these languages. And I've got just about everything for Wheelock's Latin, as well as the Reading Course in Homeric Greek and a printed New Testament Greek textbook.

So, what do I want to add to this magnificent pile? Not too much more, to be honest; the biggest addition would definitely be the complete Loeb's Classical Library, the little hardcovers that include the Latin (red) or Greek (green) text on one page, and the English translation on the opposite. There are over five hundred of those, so I'm not expecting to complete that set. But man, it would be a hell of a thing to have on the library shelves, wouldn't it?

A Gardening Encyclopedia. We learn by doing, but we also learn by reading. And I've got a lot to learn about gardening and small hobby farming. So, that would be a great resource to have, even if it was mostly general information.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, preferably an older version. What can I say? I love encyclopedias and have since I was a kid, and I love being Catholic and learning more about it. Obviously, it's not a book to read cover-to-cover. But it would definitely be a great resource to have around.

Authors that I would like to have either complete or essential collections: Sir A.C. Doyle, G.A. Henty, H.R. Haggard, Abraham Merritt, Leigh Brackett, L. Frank Baum, Poul Anderson, and Jack Vance. Maybe some more of Tolkien's stuff; I have his 'Big Five', but nothing else.

I think that's pretty thorough. If nothing else, it would be a great storehouse of knowledge of Western Civilization for future generations. I may never get all of it, but that won't stop me from trying.

Oh, I'll also have copies of my own books as well, because while they might not be on the level of the books I've listed above, I'm still quite proud of them. Here's the latest one, Crystal Lilac, available now in paperback and e-book formats at an Amazon website near you.

The Simple Things

For Lent, we are supposed to either give something up, or make some sort of change from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday. For most years, I've given up chocolate. It's simple, and yet it's hard. You don't realize how much something like chocolate is a part of your life until you give it up for nearly seven weeks.

But this year, Dannielle asked me to do something different. I tend to be less than attentive to the family, especially the kids, when I've had a long day at work or I'm just tired, and my go-to for winding down is the computer. Writing, watching videos, reading, whatever. It gets my mind back on track. But it comes with the cost of not spending enough time with my kids.

So, this year, that's what I'm doing. I'm doing more with the family, and less on my own. At least, until they go to bed. Then, it's my time to do whatever I want.

Of course, there are other things that need to be done; tax season is upon us, and I'm the person who does our family's taxes. So, that's got to be taken care of, the sooner the better. And there's a farm to deal with; spring is approaching, so we need to have things figured out by then. That's coming along, albeit slowly. There's a lot of stuff to sort through when planning a big garden like this one. But I will get it done.

But tonight, Dannielle brought home a puzzle from her shopping trip to town. It's a 400-piece Cars puzzle starring Lightning McQueen and his friends. Mommy was going to do the puzzle with him after supper, but he started on it before we sat down to eat, and once I was done eating he insisted that Daddy was going to help him.

I would have been fine if the puzzle was on a table. But no, it was on the living room floor. So, my creaky old bones got down on the floor beside him, and we worked on that puzzle for nearly two hours. My knees are still pissed off at me. Still, it was a nice evening with my son, and he was happy. That's what matters in the end.

And now, I'm going to book a knee replacement surgery. If you'll excuse me...

While I'm doing that, you might want to check out my newest book, Crystal Lilac, now available in e-book and paperback formats at an Amazon website near you. Check it out, and enjoy!

Paperback Writer

That didn't take too long. Crystal Lilac is now available in paperback format.

Knights in Shining Armor

There is no world in which that isn't awesome to see.

And that would be a terrifying sight to see charging at you.

What can I say? I've always loved knights on horseback. Even when I was a kid, there was something about them that stirred my heart. Maybe it was because I wasn't big enough to be one. Maybe it was their code, the code of honor that was meant to guide them to be better men than just big brutes swinging weapons at each other.

Whatever it was, I still do love them. It's the idea, I think. The idea that we can be something more, something noble. Sure, it's cheesy by today's standards, but really, when you think about what the knights stood for, we could use a lot more of that today. I recently read a series about the code of chivalry and its origins, and about its relevance today for Catholic men. It was a great, inspiring series. I've read some of it to my son; I'm going to read the rest of it to him as well.

When you think about it, knights (or at least the ideal of knights) were the superheroes of the Middle Ages. Big, strong guys in armor strong enough to turn away the best weapons of the day, riding huge horses that could trample just about anything in their path, wielding a tree trunk as a weapon...yeah, they were superheroes.

Paladins were always my favorite class when I played D&D. Even in other games, I would play characters who followed some kind of code of chivalry, even when it wasn't really genre-appropriate. I can't help it; it's something that really speaks to me. Sometimes I wish it spoke to more people.

And when the cavalier class came along in Unearthed Arcana in 1985, oh, boy. I had found the perfect character to play: the new, improved cavalier-paladin. Sure, they were overpowered as hell, easily outstripping their companions right off the bat with their superior equipment, improving ability scores, and loads of special abilities. Reams of paper and magazine articles were filled with ways to nerf the class, but I loved it as it was. My second-favorite class was the illusionist, but the paladin always got my attention.

And no, it wasn't because it was a power-gamer's dream, but because it was exactly the kind of character I always wanted to play. The barbarian class was just as overpowered, and high-level wizards were insanely powerful, but the entire notion of the paladin or knight in shining armor just worked for me. I can't imagine gaming without them.

And of course, I brought that forward into my writing, with my first fantasy book, Arrival, the first book of the Chronicles of Meterra. The Crusades might not be popular in polite society today, but they definitely inspired my writing. I even got to write about knights fighting a dragon. How awesome is that?

Now that Crystal Lilac is available (e-book only, for the moment), I'm going to finish a Cameron Vail book that's been percolating for quite a while. But after that, it's time to go back to Meterra and write about another knight in shining armor. Why? Because knights are awesome, that's why.

Here's my first book about knights in shining armor; there will be more, I promise.

Crystal Lilac is Live!

That's right, we have a live one! Only in e-book for the moment; I'm not quite done the paperback version just yet. But still, it's there, ready to be read.

I'm going to let this one simmer for a bit while I get the paperback ready. And then, I'm going to see how Amazon's new hardcover publishing works when I put the two books of Kane together into an omnibus. I'm looking forward to it.

As I said before, I'm really proud of this one; I think it's my best work so far. And if you like action, you will definitely enjoy this book. And it's got some humor in it, too. Because even epic heroes have to laugh once in a while.

Crystal Lilac...Ready to Publish!

Alright, the name issue is resolved; I'm keeping it as it was. It just feels right to me. And with that, the book is ready. I'm getting the cover ready now, and I'll be spending most of the night working on the ebook prep as well as getting as much of the paperback done as I can. Ideally, I want them to come out simultaneously, or as close as possible.

So, Crystal Lilac is the sequel to Crimson Moon, last month's book. It continues the adventures of Kane after he accomplishes his mission in the first book, and leads him into something much bigger than ever before. No, I'm not going to give any details; read the book!

I'll keep this entry short tonight, since I'd rather get to work on the publication. In the meantime, don't forget to read the first book, available at an Amazon website near you.

A Question of Names

Well, I've got my book back from my reader (thanks, Mom!) She's a trooper; she's not into fantasy, but she reads my stuff regardless of the genre. So, now I have a cover, a corrected manuscript, and a problem.

See, apparently one of the character names didn't work for her, or for my uncle (who is also reading the book). They said the rest of the book is great; a page-turner, great action, strong characterization... it's just that one character name. So, I've been thinking it over for most of the day, trying to think of something different that would fit. I even went to some online name generators looking for something that would feel right for the character.

And I got nothing. I looked at names for various fairy creatures throughout folklore and literature, all kinds of different critters that come close to what this creature is. Basically, he's something like a brownie or a fairy creature like Oberon from Shakespeare, who can turn invisible by twisting out of our reality into another dimension (more or less, but that works for a quick description).

I don't remember where the name I gave him came from; I think it was just something random out of my head. That's how it works sometimes; the name just fits the character. And sometimes I just go to a random name generator and see what comes up. That can be helpful as well; the names that come up sometimes get mixed and matched, or inspire something completely different.

But in this case, I can't picture the character with a different name. It just...feels right to me. I don't know why; maybe it's because the name helped me get the character's personality figured out as I wrote him. I'm going to give it another day or so, and look for some other ideas. Hopefully, something will come up that feels just as good as the current name. If not, I'll be sticking with it. In the end, it's a minor character with a weird name.

In the meantime, this newest book is the direct sequel to my previous one, Crimson Moon. Check it out, so you'll be up to speed for the new one, Crystal Lilac.

A Fantastic Adventure

Well, it finally happened. Dungeons and Dragons, live, in my home. It was a short game, only three hours, and most of the first hour was taken up with creating characters. Thank God it was old-school rules, because we'd probably still be creating the characters under modern-day rules. But these were basically complete neophytes, learning how to create characters and learning the rules as we went.

There were four players, all roughly Tanner's age, and all friends of his. I added a character of my own just to give them a bit more strength to get through the first adventure. Tanner played an elf fighter/magic-user; his friends played a cleric, a magic-user, and a dwarf fighter. I rolled up a human fighter to give them some backup.

After we got through the basics and they had characters, we were off. I pulled out an old Basic adventure, King's Festival, and gave them a quick overview of Meterra. For some reason, I couldn't find my printed map, but I didn't let it slow me down. We just ran through the first half of the module; it was a rescue mission, going through an orc cave to find a kidnapped priest. I modified the adventure's setting just enough to put it into Meterra; it's generic enough and the adventure takes place entirely underground, so it was easy enough to do.

So, after the setup was explained, the four of them went into the cave. The dwarf took the lead and snuck into the cave enough to see the guards in the first chamber. Two of them were sleeping orcs, and the third one was gulping down orc beer, so they weren't exactly on their game. The fight was short and brutal, with the orcs quickly falling to the superior numbers of the party. The magic-user was a bit disappointed, since he only has the one spell (everyone's favorite, sleep), and he didn't want to waste it on a few guards in the first room. So, he contented himself with throwing daggers for a while.

After dispatching the guards, the five adventurers came to a four-way passage. Taking the straight path, they encountered a pair of doors on the wall to their right. Inside the first door were more orcs, who were shortly joined by the occupants of the second door, another orc who had a pet weasel that he had been training. That fight went well enough, and soon they were happily looting the bodies.

Another encounter with an orc and a hobgoblin from a nearby tribe went well, but they still hadn't found the priest they were hunting for. As they started to go back to check the other passages, the elf noticed a secret door in the wall. Going through, they soon found themselves facing several tough orcs, including the chieftain and a spellcaster.

The magic-user got his chance to shine, and dropped his sleep spell on the orcs. All of them except the chieftain and the shaman fell victim to the spell. That is such a great spell. Meanwhile, the elf interrupted the shaman's casting with a light spell, blinding him and taking him out of the fight. Unfortunately, my fighter didn't survive the encounter with the chieftain, who took him down with two mighty blows of his magical sword. As tough as the chieftain was, though, the rest of the party took him down, with the elf getting in the killing blow.

After that, it was time to loot the bodies, as well as the chieftain's treasure room. They then found the priest and brought him back to town.

It wasn't an overly long adventure, and I admit that I fudged a few things. Not the dice rolling; I was fair with that. But I decided that since we didn't have a whole lot of time to play, that regardless of what passage they took at the beginning, it would end up leading to the final encounter. They skipped over a few encounters, but they accomplished the mission.

When they were done, the dwarf and the cleric had leveled up; the magic-user is close, and the elf...well, multi-class characters have their advantages, but they pay for it with very slow advancement. Still, everyone got a magic item out of the deal, so they were happy with that. The division was based on who would actually be able to use the item; the elf got the orc chief's magic sword, the magic-user got the magic dagger. The dwarf got a ring of protection, and the cleric took the potion of healing. The elf and magic-user also split the orc shaman's spellbook between them, adding more spells to their own books.

One of the things they said that got my attention was when the magic-user admitted that he had forgotten that they were there to rescue the priest; he was mostly interested in the looting. The other players agreed, so I went with it.

All four of them had a great time, and after we had finished the adventure I added a few more things to their character sheets. There's still more to do, but we will get there. And next time, they will give their characters names. Yes, they are nameless for the moment. But that will change.

And so will their adventure locale next time; since they just want to go in and do what all old-school gamers did (kill monsters and take their stuff), that's exactly what they will be doing next time. We'll get together in a couple of weeks, and they will be entering...the Devil's Playground. Tanner is already terrified.

Yeah, this was a lot of fun, and even though they are kids and keeping them on track was like herding cats, it went well. They all loved it and can't wait to play again. I'm going to call this a great success.

To get a taste of what they will be experiencing in their second adventure, check out the book based on the adventure, available at an Amazon website near you.

Gaming Excitement

Well, it's going to happen tomorrow. My first live D&D game in over fifteen years. Thanks, Honeybunny. Of course, it's not for me; it's for my son and his friends, but I'm the DM. And they will be, of course, in Meterra. Not the Devil's Playground, though. Not for their first adventure. I'm going to be taking a slightly-modified version of B11 King's Harvest, the first dungeon level. It's a simple rescue mission with some pretty straightforward monsters, and it's specifically designed for beginners. So, it should be a good time.

I'll do a writeup of the game session tomorrow night; depending on how long it is, I'll post it either in one piece or in chunks. It's not going to be a regular weekly game, but even if we play every two weeks we'll see some good progress.

Man, I'm excited. This is going to be great.

More Fun With History

Yeah, I missed a night. That's what happens when you burn the candle at both ends the way I have been. Eventually, it catches up with you. Sleep was the priority last night. Tonight, it's back to work.

So, my wife and I finished watching the Ascent of Civilization season two series. The three episodes were the Carthaginians, the Germanians, and the Arabs. Not as immediately relevant to Western civilization as the Greeks, Romans and Vikings from season one, but certainly all three of those civilizations made very significant contributions to the West.

The first episode was the Carthaginians, who emigrated to the other end of the Mediterranean from what we know as Phoenicia in about 900 BC. Their big contributions to our cultural heritage were that they were the first true seafaring power in the world, having settlements from Palestine to modern-day Spain. And they were merchants, trading goods all over the world. They also had a pretty tough military; after all, they had war elephants. Those were the tanks of the ancient world.

The Carthaginians have a bad reputation in history as being involved in nasty cultic practices, particularly child sacrifice. While there is debate about whether that was just Greek and Roman propaganda (since almost everything we know about Carthage comes from those cultures since Carthage was razed by the Romans and most of their writings burned), the Carthaginians were Baal worshipers, which has a special significance to Bible readers. Baal's big moment in the Bible is when Elijah challenges his priests to summon their god through a sacrifice. I won't spoil it here; it's in the First Book of Kings, chapter 18. It's a cool story; there are explosions.

Anyway, the Carthaginians may or may not have been involved in unsavory practices, but what can't be argued is their longevity and success as an imperial power. They reached their peak at roughly the same time as the Athenians did in Greece, and their mercantile network stretched all the way across the Mediterranean, and even around the northern part of Europe all the way to modern-day Britain. There's not much left of them today except stories, but they were vital in shaping the pre-Christian history of the Mediterranean basin.

Moving on, we have the Germanians, or Germanics. Never a united people, the Germanics were basically a whole bunch of tribes in northern Europe who resisted Roman rule to the point that the Romans gave up trying to conquer them. Some of the tribes included the Gauls, the Goths, the Visigoths, the Anglos, the Saxons, and the Suebi. Considered barbarians by the sophisticated Romans and Greeks, the Germanics nevertheless had their own cultural identity, divided as they were. And we get a lot of our modern culture from things they started. They were the first men to popularize the wearing of pants instead of togas and skirts. That's helpful in those German winters.

They also gave us several of the days of the week; their gods are more familiar to us today in their Norse versions, but Odin was originally the Germanic Wodan. There were also the war god Tyr, Odin's wife Frigga, and of course, everyone's favorite hammer-wielding giant-killer, Thor. Tyr gaves us Tuesday, Odin Wednesday, Thor Thursday, and Frigga Friday. And they also popularized beer, which was their preferred weekend (or weekday) entertainment. The civilized folk thought it to be disgusting, but then, they lived where grapes were easy to grow, so wine was their thing. Grapes weren't a thing in northern Europe at that time, but barley was. So, beer.

As for other noteworthy things we got from them, how about art and architecture? Gothic architecture is derived from Germanic styles. Oh, and let's not forget fairy tales; most of the ones we know are old Germanic folk stories, including all of Grimm's Fairy Tales. We also got bigger stories from them, such as the Eddas and other sagas. Some of the names in those stories include Bombur, Thorin, and Gandalf. Sound familiar? Yep; Tolkien cribbed the hell out of the Germanic sagas. I'm not complaining.

Finally, the Arabs. Today, a lot of people have a particular view of the Arab people, one that involves religious fanaticism and intolerance, and a lack of cultural sophistication compared to us in the West. And in some ways, they are right; Islam is not a forgiving or ecumenical religion. But the Arab civilization that is being discussed in this series is much, much different than what we are familiar with.

First of all, Muhammad is quoted as saying that the pen of the scholar was more important than the zeal of the prophet, or something to that effect. And some of the Arab caliphs of the latter part of the first millenium took that seriously. They were collectors of knowledge and scholarship from all over the world, and not just from the west; they had an advantage that the Romans largely lacked: they had India and Persia to draw from as well. So, in the major cities such as Baghdad, the whole world came together for the purpose of expanding human knowledge. Greek texts were translated into Arabic, as were Indian and Persian texts of antiquity. They had libraries that made the Library of Congress look like a small town public library.

They also had an empire, one that stretched even further than the empires of Alexander or Rome. They ruled territory from northwestern India through North Africa and even into what is now Spain. That's one of the reasons Spanish architecture and music is so different and unique compared to the rest of Europe; they had Arabic as well as Christian influence to draw from.

Back to the scholars, they had some incredibly brilliant men (and yes, even some women) working in multiple fields; they made advancements in medicine, music, architecture, astronomy, physics, philosophy, mathematics...you name it, they studied it. A lot of people today like to criticize the West and point out that the Arabs did have a multicultural Empire that stretched so far and avoided the Dark Ages because they were so enlightened. Actually, their cultural dominance of the time was primarily due to two factors: they lived in subtropical regions, while the majority of Europe was temperate and dealing with a lot more cold. It's not easy to focus on studying Aristotle when you're tempted to throw the manuscript on the dying embers to keep from freezing to death. Second, the Arabs were RICH. The caliphs could afford to buy rare manuscripts from all over the world at any price demanded. Northern Europe wasn't swimming in that kind of wealth.

So, what happened to the Arabs that turned them from the wise, enlightened multicultural empire of scholarly learning into the religious fanatics that burn libraries and historical monuments to the ground? Two words: The Mongols.

Yep. Genghis Khan did to the Arabs what he did to the Russians. He burned Baghdad to the ground, destroying their great library, a crime against humanity on par with the burning of the library at Alexandria. Who knows how much was lost forever? Greek plays, scientific texts, all kinds of stuff that we'll never see again. Damn the Mongols.

So, what did we learn? We learned that while our civilization comes from the two main streams of Greco-Roman culture and Christianity, it wasn't all from them. The rest of the ancient and medieval world had a lot of input as well, and we're all the better for it and what they did.

Except the Mongols.

Planting Calendar

Well, it's that time of year when gardens need to be planned out, especially when they are going to be big gardens. Being on Prince Edward Island, we're in climate zone 5B, which means there's a lot of stuff that isn't going to grow here because our season isn't long enough and the average temperatures are too low. But there is quite a bit that will grow here, and that's what I'm looking at.

The thing is, our last frost day is in May. Which means we don't plant anything directly into the ground until then, for fear of killing the seeds as they germinate. So, we're going to have to start stuff inside. The problem is that we don't have a greenhouse yet, and there's simply no way we can get fifty tomato plants and a couple of dozen pepper plants growing in the house. So, those crops won't be quite as big as we might have hoped. But there will still be lots of stuff.

Getting a greenhouse is high on my list of 'I really need to buy this.' It doesn't have to be a huge greenhouse, but it needs to be big enough to let us plant a lot of stuff early on so we can get a head start on the garden. It will also let us start things later in the season to replace things we pull up, like radishes and carrots.

There's still a lot to learn about this; we're still relative beginners, and we don't have a lot of people in our little social circle who can help us get through the toddler years. But we'll figure it out. After all, watching her cook food that I grow in the garden? That's awesome.

So, I'm going to get digging into the gardening calendars for this area and see just what I can start with to get the garden off to a strong start in May. Here's hoping...

Valentine's Day

This used to be a much bigger deal; I remember in grade school getting a whole bunch of Valentine's cards from everyone in the class, boys and girls alike. Chocolate of some sort, of course, and maybe a little party before the end of the day.

High school, not as many given out (definitely not from the other guys), and few received. One was all you really needed at that point, if you were lucky enough to be with someone (or have a shot at being with someone).

College, you either had someone or you didn't.

Between college and getting married, Valentine's Day was mostly a reminder that my son's birthday was coming up in a few days. I didn't think about it much otherwise.

Nowadays, after nearly sixteen years together, Valentine's Day is nice, but it's not high on the priority list. She got a card, I got chocolate. No flowers, not at these prices. She'd beat me with my garden tools if I paid that much for flowers. I'll grow her some in the garden this year instead. I already have the seeds.

I wonder how many people know that it's actually SAINT Valentine's Day; that first part has pretty much disappeared from society. It's not like St. Patrick's Day, since the Irish won't let you drop the 'saint' part. Too bad; St. Valentine was a pretty impressive fellow. A priest or even a bishop in Imperial Rome during the later persecution of Christians prior to Constantine's arrival, he ministered to the persecuted Christians before being martyred himself. There aren't many records of him, and some 'scholars' have attempted to mythologize him out of existence, but the Church agrees that he was a real person. Why he is the guy associated with courtly love and romance isn't exactly clear; that wasn't a priestly thing even back then.

Ah, well. Today we remember this brave, unflinching priest with chocolate, hearts, and flowers. There are worse things to be remembered by.

Fun with History

I found a great TV show on Amazon Prime: The Ascent of Civilization. It's a British(?) show, so it doesn't have a lot of episodes. Six of them over two seasons, actually. Like Sherlock, with less murders. But all six are really interesting and fun. Even my wife was watching them with me, and that is not a statement I ever expected to make about history documentaries.

The first season has three episodes, as does the second. The first three episodes are about the Greeks, the Romans, and the Vikings. The second set are the Carthaginians, the Germanics, and the Arabs. We started the last episode tonight but haven't finished it. I've watched the other five, though.

We start with the Greeks, who gave us democracy, philosophy, theater, literature, and early science. All noteworthy things to have, definitely. Greek culture is the foundation of Western civilization, there's no question about that. But the Greeks weren't perfect, either. The city-states squabbled amongst each other constantly, coming together only when the Persians invaded; that, and their shared language and religious beliefs, were all that they had in common. They thought of themselves as Athenians, Sparthans, Thebans, Corinthians, etc. before they thought of each other as Greeks.

The Romans, on the other hand, gave us engineering, republican government, the legal system, and a shared culture and language that still resonates to this day. The Greeks were the foundation, but the Roman Empire was the skyscraper. It still looms over Western civilization like nothing else before or since, with the exception of Christianity, with which the later Empire is closely connected. They stole liberally from the Greeks, even their gods, and synthesized the whole into a phenomenal culture. And the Roman legions were the greatest fighting force ever assembled; pound for pound, they had no equal.

The Vikings, on the other hand, didn't have a lengthy part in the historical record; they showed up out of the blue in the late eighth century and started rampaging and pillaging. But they gave us more than just cool stories and operas; they also established trading centers and traveled extensively, exploring more territory than even the Romans did. And, they were the first Europeans to find North America. I still want to go to L'Anse aux Meadows at some point to see the Viking settlement there.

So, that was the first season. It was fascinating, and the wide scenery shots were incredible. That's what first got my wife's attention; she loves mountains and islands and such, and Greece has plenty of both.

I'll finish watching the last episode before I talk about the second season; there's lots of good stuff there as well.

Getting Ready to Game

I must admit, there's a bit of nerves on this one. The gaming group is set; my son has four of his friends invited, and my wife, of all people, invited another homeschooling parent and his daughter to come along. The game is set for next Sunday, and it's going to be exciting. At least, I hope it will.

The thing I need to remember is that these kids are just that: Kids. And their experience with fantasy isn't the same as mine. My formative fantasy was Lord of the Rings and its eighteen bazillion pastiche/ripoffs from the 1980s and 1990s. Their is Harry Potter and its eighteen bazillion pastiche/ripoffs. Sure, they might have seen the LotR movies, and even read some of those types of books, but when it comes to fantasy, they're thinking about Muggles and Quidditch before hobbits and orcs. So, it's going to be an interesting experience for both them and myself.

One of the advantages of the old school system that I'm using (basically 1st edition AD&D, modified to a simpler base form to start out) is that character creation doesn't take long at all. In fact, if you give the players a basic equipment setup (backpack, food, waterskin, spikes, torches, etc.) that pretty much every adventurer is going to need, the rest of the creation time can be done in about five or ten minutes. With a group of six or seven players, it will take a bit longer, but still, it's a very simple process.

Roll ability scores. Choose class and race. Pick weapons and armor and/or spells. Write down modifiers. And...that's about it. Pick a name and alignment, sure. But otherwise, it's basically done.

With modern games, character creation ends up being a game all on its own. The phenomenon of 'Session Zero' is a relatively new concept that originated with 3e D&D. That system involved a lot of choices right at character creation, and some groups would basically spend their first session planning out their character's entire twenty-level career, setting themselves up for particular prestige classes, feats, class abilities, etc. And when a group was being put together, with the idea of parties being only four characters, the players had to work together to ensure that they would have all the important basics covered. Cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard...you had to have at least one of each type in the party, so what you played often ended up being a group decision.

Contrast that with old-school games, where you can have four fighters in the party if you want...or four magic-users, if you're really brave. But there were enough players in a group that you didn't have to guide a player into picking a particular class to 'fill out the group'. As long as everyone is playing something they like, that's all that matters.

So, how will this go? I was debating giving them pre-made characters to choose from, ensuring there were multiple options for everyone. But my son thinks it would be better to just let them create their own, and he's right. After all, it doesn't take long to get started with old-school games, because the point is to get to the fun stuff as soon as possible.

The next question, then, is what sort of adventure will they get to play? Well, I did create the Meterra setting specifically for this sort of gaming situation, although I admit I was pleasantly surprised to find out I'd actually get to use it. And it comes with a ready-made place to explore: The Devil's Playground. My son has read the book, and he actually blanched when I told him that was what I'd be running. That's a nice reaction to get, as a writer and as a DM. Still, I'm going to go easy on them at first; they are beginners, after all.

To get a taste of what these intrepid explorers are going to be in for next week, check out the book that I wrote about the place. It's deep, dark, and dangerous...but it's a lot of fun, too. And yes, the critter on the cover is somewhere in there...

Bible Study

I know, it's not exactly a writing topic. But it is a topic of interest to a lot of people. Since I'm Catholic, I look for Catholic Bible studies. Yes, they exist, and yes, they are awesome. The most well-known one among Catholic circles these days is the Great Adventure Bible Timeline series, which breaks the Bible into two sets of books: Narrative and supplemental. The narrative books tell the main story from Genesis to Acts; the supplemental books enhance the story, but aren't necessarily the plotline of the story. That's not to say they aren't important books; they are. But how may people have tried to read the Bible from start to finish and gotten stuck halfway through Exodus or the first few pages of Leviticus? that's what the GABT seeks to avoid. And it does a good job.

However, that series costs money. Lots of it, in fact; it's a set of videos and printing materials, so there's quite the start-up cost to get going. A similar study program that is available for free is the Agape Bible Study webpage, with dozens of Bible studies covering more than half the Old Testament and all of the New Testament. Lots and lots of stuff there, so it's worth checking out.

Another thing I found on their website just the other day is the Sunday Readings list. Now, those are easy enough to find; there are hundreds of sites that list the Sunday readings, including official church sites. But the Agape list isn't just the readings; it's also a study guide to the week's readings and how they connect and fit into the Church's teachings. That is a great resource, and one I'm definitely going to make use of here at home.

Check them out, and see the amazing stuff that's available for Bible study. You won't regret it.

Mood Music

Ah, music. Whether it's classical, hard rock, 80s synth pop, ragtime...music is fun. But it does a lot more than entertain us. It uplifts, it enlightens, it inspires. And yes, I do listen to music when I'm writing. Sometimes I'll throw on a generic 'music for writing' video on YouTube, but more often than not I'll have something specific in mind, depending on the genre I'm working in.

For fantasy, it's either classical (19th century Romantics) or epic movie soundtracks. I've also used medieval Gregorian chants for some of my Meterran work, especially stuff about the Crusades. And I recall listening to some Japanese music way back in the day when I wrote what is now Crimson Moon. Because music almost always has a cultural association with it. For example, if you hear a koto, your mind will almost instantly associate what you're listening to with Japan. You hear a honkytonk piano, and you're in a Western saloon. Our cultural link with music is that strong.

Science fiction gets classical music; sometimes it's Mozart or even Bach for their technical artistry, sometimes it's early 20th century stuff (everyone knows about Also Spracht Zarathustra, aka the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Technopop doesn't do it for me; it's too...sterile, that's the word. It feels empty to listen to, and it's tough to get inspired by that. Now, 80s music in general, that is fun and inspiring, no question. But technopop from the last twenty years? Hard pass when writing.

Another sci-fi option is music from science fiction shows and (sometimes) movies. Not Star Wars or any of the Star Trek themes, though. That music is all iconic, but it's so closely identified with their particular franchises that it's virtually impossible to separate the music from the scenes. And I do not want to be writing a scene where a Jedi is swinging a lightsaber on the bridge of the Enterprise. That would be wrong. In fact, anything by John Williams is out. Raiders, Superman, Star Wars, you name it...he's just too iconic.

Mysteries...when I'm writing Cameron Vail, it's 80s all the way. Why? Because Cameron Vail is the age I was back in the 1980s and early 1990s. That music gets me in the mindset of a younger man, full of life and hope, and much less cynical than I am now. And sure, Cameron's stories are set in modern day, but I'm not a twenty-year old today; I'm fifty-two and climbing. So, I'll go back to when I was that age for inspiration.

For my Gilded Age stories, that's obviously ragtime and early jazz. I mean, it's obvious. And I love ragtime, so that makes it easier to get in the spirit and mood of the time.

Sometimes I don't use music at all. But when the mood strikes, music makes the writing go that much easier.

To see how the music inspired my latest publication, check out Crimson Moon, available now at Amazon in ebook or paperback. Soundtrack not included, unfortunately.

Cover Art Found!

And it was approved by my art critic, my son Tanner. Although, as he pointed out, this might have worked just as well as the cover to the first book...

He has a point. And I'm just going to take the central part of the picture, obviously. But I think it will work well, at least until I can commission a proper cover. It gets the point across of who and what Kane is, doesn't it?

So, that's the next step completed. Now, I just need my reader to get through it so I can get it ready for publishing.

Fantasy vs. Science Fiction, part II

Fantasy and science fiction went their separate ways in the middle of the 20th century, but it wasn't until the fantasy boom of the late 70s and 80s that the two genres finalized their divorce. And fantasy, which up until that point was still a very wide-ranging, diverse genre, became fixated on Tolkien pastiche and, later on, subversion and deconstruction of all the tropes of the 'epic fantasy' story. Conan, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Lovecraft, and Burroughs were tossed to the side in favor of sweeping epics and door-stopper book series. The genre of fantasy ossified until the accepted wisdom was that Tolkien had invented fantasy; his predecessors were ignored or altogether forgotten.

Meanwhile, science fiction had gained widespread boosting by two particular franchises: Star Trek in the 60s, and Star Wars in the 70s. Like fantasy, science fiction largely fell into the category of 'epic space stuff', although it never became as ghettoized as fantasy did; other types of science fiction still held sway, such as near-future cyberpunk, alternate history, and post-apocalyptic (especially those damn zombies). But for the average person on the street, sci-fi meant warp drive and lightsabers.

And while the two genres had once been linked with a common fandom of 'weird adventure stories', now there was actual disdain and even rivalry between the two; fantasy was its own separate thing, and you couldn't mix the two. This, despite Star Wars being an obvious mixing of the two genres; the Jedi were basically wizards, after all, complete with a dark overlord (first Vader, then the Emperor). But too many people of my generation saw the two genres as bein utterly and inevitably distinct from each other.

Frankly, it's time that stopped. Science fiction needs to be fantastic to be entertaining, and fantasy needs at least a grounding in a believable setting to be relatable. And there is plenty of middle ground to be covered where the two can mix. Fortunately, that re-merging of the genres has already begun; there are countless writers in Indie publishing who are mixing the two again, with space crews meeting alien wizards, and wizards and paladins running into high technology in their travels. And that is a good thing.

Fantastic adventure fiction is, and should be, about the stories, not the settings. The settings can be really cool, and lots of fun, but the most important thing is the story has to be entertaining. If the story is boring, the setting really doesn't matter, because people won't want to read it.

For an example of how science fiction and fantasy can be merged, you can take a look at Awakening, the first book of the Gilded Age series, in which magic and science combine to create a brave new world where people can suddenly do things beyond mortal capabilities. It's available at an Amazon location near you.

Fantasy vs. Science Fiction

In the beginning, that being the early 20th century, there was no distinction between fantasy and science fiction writing. It was all 'fantastic fiction'. Back then, the word 'fantastic' didn't mean 'awesome' as it does today; it meant 'weird', 'strange,' and 'otherworldly'. It had a more negative connotation than it does today. The reason for that would be the Fantastic Four comic, which changed the meaning of the word for millions of readers. But we're looking back half a century earlier than that.

In the early days of the pulps, publishers didn't worry much about what 'genre' a story was. If it was an entertaining story, they published it. The main exception to this was the Romance genre, which was always the most popular and thus was the first genre to get its own specialty magazines. 'Adventure' was its own category, encompassing everything that had to do with action and adventure. That included westerns, fantasy, weird tales, science fiction, some subtypes of mystery, war...it was all 'adventure' fiction.

That began to change in the 1920s. Prior to that, there were specialty magazines that covered a...not a genre, but a theme. Railroad magazines, for example, were pulp fiction collections where the stories all had to do with the railroads. They might be romantic, they might be thrillers, they might be weird...but they were all linked by the theme of the railroads. Other examples would be the Western, with different types of stories but all with that primary theme of being set in the old West.

But it wasn't until Hugo Gernsback got into pulp publishing that the 'weird' category started to splinter. Gernsback had a passion for science. He published a magazine about the new technology of radio, and was a firm believer that science would be the key to a utopian future. He went so far as to found the first magazine dedicated to what he called 'scientificion', Amazing Stories.

I've reviewed some of the earliest issues of Amazing a long time ago in this blog. One of the things that Gernsback was determined to see was stories that were based in realistic, or at least plausible, science of the time. Back then, scientists still didn't know about the vacuum of space; the ether was the scientifically-accepted explanation for what lay between the planets and the stars. Gernsback wasn't interested in magic or supernatural horror; he was a realist from top to bottom, and so he began the split between the genres we now know as fantasy and science fiction.

However, Gernsback's idea didn't take off right away. There was a lot of overlap between fantasy, horror and sci-fi in the 1920s; Weird Tales was the magazine that collected all kinds of stuff. For example, Robert E. Howard's Conan stories often included elements that wouldn't have been out of place in a Lovecraft story. One of Lovecraft's stories actually includes a mention of a character from the Hyborian (Conan) Age, albeit not one that was written by Howard. Yes, the shared literary universe existed even then.

Gernsback didn't last very long at Amazing; his tenure was noteworthy mostly for his reluctance to pay his writers, and eventually he was forced out and ended up starting another magazine, Wonder Stories. Amazing would continue on, its direction slightly shifting from scientific realism to scientific adventure.

See, readers back then wanted what today's readers want: Adventure and romance. And the new Amazing Stories gave them both, in spades. It was during this period that Amazing published some of the most popular and well-written stories in science fiction history: Buck Rogers, The Skylark of Space, Triplanetary; authors such as Burroughs and Merritt introduced new works in the magazine, and new authors made their debuts here such as Lovecraft, Jack Williamson, and John Wyndham.

During the 1930s, science fiction was one of the most popular genres, far outstripped fantasy, which had been left behind to lurk in the corners of Weird Tales. Rockets and alien worlds were the attraction, not swords and supernatural or mythological creatures. And so, the splitting of the weird and fantastic into the sterilized genres was complete.

Growing up, the genre split was all I knew; sci-fi was sci-fi, and fantasy was fantasy, and while they shared space on the library shelves and in the bookstore, everyone knew they were not to be mixed. The old days of 'weird and fantastic' were long gone, and largely forgotten by the younger generations. But that was a temporary situation, and the winds were slowly shifting...

New Paperbacks!

Well, one new paperback, and one slightly revised one.

Apprentice, the first book of the Shadowmage Saga, will be out in paperback very soon, within a couple of days. This doesn't count as a new book, of course, since I released it as an e-book on New Year's Eve. Also, I did a bit of revision (very little, mostly formatting) to Arrival, the first book of the Chronicles of Meterra.

Why did I do this? Because I'm going to be selling these at the local bookstore shortly, that's why. I'll need a bunch of author copies, but the local bookstore, Coles, has provided me with a consignment contract, and they like the idea of fantasy books by local authors. Mysteries as well, although sci-fi isn't that popular here, apparently.

I'm looking forward to this; the store does book signings for authors, so I'll be able to market the book myself to potential readers who haven't seen my blog or heard of me in any way whatsoever. I've been living here for two and a half years now; it's time people noticed me.

Once I get settled in with the Summerside store and get some sales, I'll be heading to Charlottetown, where there's a much bigger store, Indigo. This isn't a really big island, but once people start reading my stuff, if they like it, they'll spread the word...and they'll buy more books.

Yes, it's all about the money. No, it's about the stories; I love telling them. I love coming up with these new ideas, and I love putting them down on paper. Or pixels; either way.

So, here's hoping it goes well. I think it will, but then I'm an optimist at heart.

Winter is Still Here

But the brutally cold temperatures are gone, at least for now. We bottomed out at about -26° C early on Saturday morning, with wind chills reaching -45°. We had heat lamps set up in the chicken coop for a couple of days, and everyone came through fine. We even got some eggs out of the deal. Bonus points!

So, we're back to normal cold temperatures, around -8° or so. With snow, of course, because why not? But it's a lot better than getting frostbite from letting the dogs out to go pee. As long as we continue with this sort of weather, we'll be fine. I'm hoping we don't get another cold snap like that, though. It was really rough for the weekend.

I must say, though, feathers are a great insulator for those chickens. Even with the heat lamps, it was really, really cold in there, but the birds were doing just fine. Walking around, cuddling up under their wings at night, they did great. Feeding them oatmeal laced with cumin, paprika and chili pepper flakes might have helped with the warmth, of course. Sure as hell would have woken me up.

The bunnies did well, too. And they didn't have a heat lamp. Or at least the bunny girls didn't; they are still separated from Bugs, because three bunnies is enough for now. He was in the coop with the chickens, since rabbits don't like to be alone, and he was chilling under the heat lamp to sleep. Hey, why not? But the bunnies have enough fur that the cold didn't do them in, so that was a good feeling.

As for our house, we came through just fine. No burst pipes, no horrible mess to clean up. But we did run out the electric bill from running a heater in the front entrance for two days, and we kept the pipes from freezing by trickling water in the bathroom sink for the whole cold snap. It worked; all else is secondary.

That last point is especially relevant considering we know of three separate locations that did have burst pipes. Friends of ours, my job, and the place where my wife does her workshops all had major problems with frozen and burst pipes over the last twenty-four hours. Not good at all. We'll see how long it takes for me to get back to work, especially since my desk was right under the worst of the flooding. Yikes.

So, for now we will remain grateful that we came through so well. That's twice Mother Nature has kicked us hard in the past few months. We got through Fiona, and we got through this. Here's hoping we don't run into another test in the next couple of months.

Hunting for Cover Art

Yeah, this one won't be as easy. I'm still not 100% sure what I'm looking for, so it's not like the cover picture will just fall into my lap the way the one for Crimson Moon did. But I have time; the book will be published before the end of the month, and it's only the 4th.

And...yeah, not much else to talk about today. We're bundling up in the house and waiting for the cold snap to go away. Mass was canceled for tomorrow at our church because the heaters in the old church can't keep up with the cold. So, we're probably staying home all day tomorrow, too. Well, chores will get done, so that's something.

Another Book Completed!

Or at least, it's in the hands of my first-reader. Or in her tablet, as the case may be. But this is the second book of Kane, completing the story that I wrote years ago and finally brought back to a publishable form. I'm proud of this one; it's got some of my best stuff, I think. Don't get me wrong; I love all of my books, of course. But this one gives me a special feeling. Kane has been a favorite character of mine for about thirty years; getting his story done means a lot.

So, what can be expected in this book? Well, more of what was in the first book, of course. Action, drama, and some humor here and there. The stakes are a bit higher in this one, though; Kane's dealt with the personal quests he had; now it's time for the world-affecting ones. Or at least, Empire-affecting ones. I don't want to spoil it, obviously, since I'm hoping people will read the first book as well. It only makes sense; I don't do a recap of the first book in this one, although maybe I should. But since they're being published so close together, I don't see the point in doing it. Someone who buys them both isn't going to need a recap to get into the second book.

Now, it's time to find a suitable cover. Once I can think of what that cover should look like. I'm not just going to repeat the first one, obviously. So, it's time for some hunting and foraging in the internet jungle. Wish me luck.

While you're waiting, you can always read the first book, Crimson Moon, available now at an Amazon website near you.

Here Comes Winter...

I was going to title it, 'Winter is Coming', but I really, really hate that show. And I've never even watched it; I just read some of the books. They were...awful? No, not strong enough. Disturbingly vile? Yeah, that's closer.

Anyway, it's time to batten down the hatches, because we're about to get a hell of a cold snap. 36 hours of -20° C. Translated into American, that would be 'And I thought Minnesota was bad!'. It's going to be nasty. For myself, I'm not too worried; we've done some work improving the insulation and keeping the house warmer, so the family will be fine. It's the barn that worries me. The bunnies and chickens are going to be really, really cold.

So, we're putting some heating lamps in there for them tomorrow; there's one in there already. We're going to need some more straw for them, too. I'm worried that it'll be too cold to go out and feed them, but I'll have to suck it up.

In other news, I've decided that we are going to have to get a cow of our own. I'm really not looking forward to having to get up and milk it early in the morning and again in the afternoon, but the price of dairy is getting ridiculous. Butter is as expensive as eggs. And I was really not impressed to find out that the government deliberately shortens the supply of dairy by forcing farmers to dump and drain any surplus they draw from their cattle. In a time when inflation is rampant, making them throw away enough milk to fill a swimming pool or two? Yeah, I'm not impressed.

At the rate prices are going up, people will be ready to trade their magic beans for a single cow and a pair of chickens. Best to get ahead of the game.

I guess I'm going to have to build a stall in the barn for next fall...

Enterprise Retrospective: Civilization

 The eighth aired episode of the season,"Civilization" was a big moment for the Enterprise crew. While they had landed on other planets before and met other starfaring alien species, this was their first encounter with a technologically-backward species. Of course, since this is Star Trek, the aliens are humanoids. And their technology is around 15th-century Earth. To save time, I'm going to copy the Wikipedia entry on this episode's plot.

Enterprise locates a planet inhabited by pre-industrial humanoids called Akaali. Scanners also detect technology which does not correspond with the planet's technological level. Against Sub-Commander T'Pol's recommendation, Captain Archer decides to visit. Going in disguise, T'Pol suggests a distant rural landing site. Once in the Akaali city, Ensign Sato notices inhabitants that appear sick. Scans lead them to an old curio shop, but they encounter a force-field blocking the way. They are then confronted by a local apothecary, Riann. T'Pol stuns her, and when she awakens, Archer convinces her that he is an investigator from another city.

Archer and Tucker revisit the shop during the day posing as antique collectors. They confront Garos, asking him why his DNA is not Akaali. After confirming Tucker and Archer are not natives either, he freely admits his origins: he is part of a survey mission from Malur, and the power source is merely a fabrication unit to provide food and clothes. Archer tells him about the illness, but he claims it is an incurable indigenous virus. Doctor Phlox discovers that the water near the shop has been contaminated with a highly toxic chemical, tetracyanate 622.

Archer and Riann observe the shop at night to try to see what is being delivered to Garos. They follow a man leaving the shop with a delivery. He leaves the crates in a forest clearing, and Archer is then attacked by a Malurian. Under the shop, Archer and Riann then discover that Garos is mining a veridium isotope, and the poisoned water is a by-product. Archer orders the reactor beamed up by Enterprise but the Malurians now have a warship in orbit. T'Pol beams the power plant into the alien ship's path, using torpedoes to detonate it and crippling their shields. On the planet, Archer provides Riann with the antidote, and assures her that the Vulcans will monitor the planet to ensure the Malurians do not return.

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So, what was good about this episode? Well, as I said, this is their first pre-warp civilization encounter. And the important thing for long-term Trekkers to remember is this: There is no Prime Directive. So, anything can happen; the crew aren't constrained by the rules of the non-existent Federation, although the Vulcans do have a non-interference policy of their own. But Archer isn't bound to it, and of course the crew are eager to explore this world. I mean, who wouldn't be? And the action climax of the episode is a phaser shootout in the middle of the town street in front of all those natives. No way would Kirk or Picard have ever done that, but Archer does what he has to do.

In addition to the unusual amount of freedom available to the crew, this episode also highlights how 'primitive' the Enterprise's technology is compared to the other series. For example, Archer's universal translator breaks down momentarily while he is talking with Riann. As he realizes it, he covers his inability to understand a word she's saying by laying the smack down on her lips (how convenient that the Akaali are so nearly indistinguishable from humans) while fumbling with the translator to get it to work again. It's a cute scene, but it makes an important point, as well. The Enterprise really is blazing the trails that Kirk, Picard and others would follow. And they are flying around in a ship that is to Kirk's Enterprise as a Mercury capsule is to the space shuttle. It's state of the art for 2151, but man, it's a fragile little tin can.

But it's things like this that also make this my favorite Star Trek series. I absolutely love the 'first to the stars' premise. I love that we're going to slowly see the development of what would become the Federation. And I love that we're seeing everything in such a raw state. Sure, compared to the Akaali, the Enterprise crew are practically gods, being able to teleport to space, shoot lasers, and talk to people thousands of miles away. And yet, we know that they still have a long, long way to go. And the journey to what would become the Federation is going to be fun.

Sure, I know, it doesn't work out that way; the series got cancelled after season 4 just when it was getting really good. But the kernels are there, and I'm going to savor them.

So, how to rate the episode? I'll give it a 7 out of 10; it's not the best, but it's entertaining and has some good historical development for the future Federation. And Archer gets to make out with another cute alien girl (he's ahead of Tucker, 2 to 1 now). And really, isn't that what Star Trek is all about?

For my own take on space travel in the far future, check out my first sci-fi book, Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System, available on Amazon.