Life update and media recs - July 2021 (Patreon)

Life! I've been living it as best I can. I've found a better rhythm the last few weeks and hope that it will prove to be fairly stable. Revisions on my political SF novel are still going slowly, but they *are going*. I've also been working on adapting a worldbuilding class I taught at the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers to a new form, which I hope to have done this year, maybe even by the fall.

I've also been working on the Genrenauts Forged in the Dark rpg, and shared the early pre-alpha draft with Patrons. I have more playtesting to do before I consider a public early access edition on Itch.io or the like. I've been chatting with my agent about publication options for that as well. More news on that if/when I have it. What I can say is that it's very cool to finally be diving head-first into design after nearly three decades of playing ttrpgs.

My parents came to visit late last month, and it was amazing to see them in person and get out into the city a bit. Meg and I had held off on eating at restaurants until the visit, and we still have mostly kept to delivery/take-away because of our schedules. Even though I've gotten practice this last year and change, it turns out that professional bartenders still do a way better job of mixing drinks than I do.

As has been the standard in pandemic times, I've still been leaning heavily on media for entertainment and solace. Here's some of what I've been into lately.

Books!

Chaos Vector by Megan E. O'Keefe. I got to work with Megan on her debut trilogy and was excited to see that she's been making waves with her new series. The book starts off very strong and quickly broadens, setting up an interesting political/social conflict and some interesting characters.

Assassin's Orbit by John Appel. I read this in ARC to give a blurb and was so delighted to get the chance. It combines strong characterization with grounded futuristic SF speculation and the book jogs along at a great clip. I gladly traded chunks of sleep in order to read one more chapter as I was making my way through this one.

Savage Bounty by Matt Wallace. Savage Legion was one of my favorite reads of last year and I am very hyped for the sequel, which also came out this week. Savage Legion was a jagged blade slashing through stale tropes and cutting a path toward an exciting future for epic fantasy.

And if you liked the Loki miniseries, check out the Exiles comics from 2018 by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Rodriguez for more variants and dimension-hopping coolness.

Other Media

Death's Door - This is a new game from Acid Nerve and published by Devolver. You play as a crow Reaper whose assigned soul was stolen and then lost, forcing you to go on an even-more elaborate quest to avoid a terrible fate. Visually it's between a Zelda game and a Studio Ghibli movie and mechanically it's between Zelda and a Souls-like. Great music, solid characters and dialogue. I'm only a couple of hours in but very happy so far.

Waypoint's Resident Evil streams - I loved Waypoint's streams in the earlier years and I'm very happy that their direct-to-consumer subscription approach is paying off. Meg and I have really enjoyed their streams revisiting the original Resident Evil through the remaster. It starts fun and gets progressively whackier each session.

Misfits & Magic on Dimension 20 (Dropout.tv) - This actual play series is less a Harry Potter Pastiche and more a "95 thesis nailed to the church door" kind of critique. It engages with the fun and exciting parts of the "Magic School" concept while absolutely eviscerating the creepy weird shit. Also, Fuck TERFs. GM Aabria Iyenger is phenomenal and I really hope to see more shows with her at the helm after this "Summer of Aabria" (she's also DMing the Exandria Unlimited miniseries for Critical Role).

Leverage/Leverage: Redemption - Leverage is one of my all-time favorite TV shows and I'm over the moon that it's returned as Leverage: Redemption. I like the new cast member so far, and I've delighted to experience second-hand delight as people discover or re-discover the original series. If you like the "Story heist" vibe of Genrenauts, treat yourself to a few episodes of Leverage.