Okay there are 2 cover ideas that scored well, and one I personally liked, I will list all of them and we'll find out which one you guys wanna see. when the vote's done, I'll make a collage and send it to the artist.
#1 the gang in 1970's Chicago, with everyone staring at them all confused.
#2 The gang fighting Replicators while Matador oversees everything, looking ominous AF.
#3 An underground army of replicators facing the POV, backlit by a red flare above them, reveali...
“The first part of this procedure will be washing away bits of Paradox and then resetting the System,” Tyrannus’s tech explained as he worked through the issues they faced.
“We’ll apply a gentle corrosive agent to the combined symbiotic spirit which will dissolve the remains of Paradox’s soul.” He said, pointing at the first machine. “This willinflict damage on Abun’zaul and the System, but they’re both capable of self-repair, while Paradox’s soul is not, ...
2023-12-25 19:08:37 +0000 UTC View Post“Care to explain what you’re doing in my domain, human?” A man asked, clad in what appeared to be a roman at-ease uniform, holding a pilum, a helmet resting on the stone throne beside him.
Not to imply romans were the inventers of war. The Demon Lord of War probably just felt like looking that way at the moment, or his appearance was based on the viewer’s mind.
Whichever the case, Perry didn’t have time to admire the view. He should probably start talking, and fast.
<... 2023-12-20 20:45:37 +0000 UTC View PostWhen does an enemy stop fighting you? When they think you think they’ve already won.
- Some guy who thought he was clever
Getting the majority of your soul ripped wholesale of your body is a lot like a car crash: You’re slightly more likely to survive if you don’t tense up.
Perry would’ve liked to have said that he saw it coming a mile away and was fully aware of the problem and crafted a perfect plan to survive years in advance…but it was dumb lu...
2023-12-18 17:24:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Perry knew the final confrontation was just around the corner, and he needed every ounce of power he could scrape together to survive it.
So he killed demons. Lots of 'em.
The Pernicious Prison swept across the battlefield, tearing apart war demons and draining their vital essences to keep Perry going without food, sleep, or comfort. Every moment of the slaughter felt like the first ten minutes, but for his gradually disintegrating clothes.
They were replaced with leathe...
2023-12-14 20:56:37 +0000 UTC View PostTyrannus was working on an essence accelerator, his aim to discover what kind of reactions took place when a thin, focused stream of essence smashed into another kind at nearly the speed of light, when he got the news.
He was right in the middle of tweaking the math that would allow the donut-shaped model to keep pace with the essence, which didn’t always like to behave as it should, when a blinking light stole his attention away.
The silent blinking light was directly above the...
2023-12-12 22:08:45 +0000 UTC View PostParadox Zauberer (Perry Z.)
Class: Potent Thaumaturge
Level 16
HP: 11
Body: 73
Stability: 73
Nerve: 73
Attunement: 72
Free Points: 0
XP to next level: 35527
Perry checked his mu...
2023-12-08 19:07:07 +0000 UTC View Post“As funny as it would be to sell Gramma’s soul, I think not,” Perry said.
“Then there is nothing you could offer me.” Alkush said, waving a hand, causing the magical projection to go blank.
“I could offer you a chance to survive,” Perry said to the empty room, his half-baked plan continuing to firm up.
Perry took out his phone and texted gramma.
Are demons of Norgosh edible in their native habitat?
A moment later, gramma re...
2023-12-06 18:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostPerry was reading through the Compendium of Demonic entities, organized by Portfolio and hierarchy, absolutely delighted at the number of true names he was collecting. It was Christmas in Hell up in here. Not only that, the Compendium when married with Laws of the Beyond, provided actionable information. Specific trades that various demons would or would not honor.
Even ways to bend the rules.
Perry had already identified a few trades he might be interested in ma...
2023-12-04 19:39:01 +0000 UTC View PostSo the end of ISM book 3 kinda snuck up on me, and I realized i need to finish preparations for their ultimate release on Amazon, and I'm woefully behind. I need a cover for book 2 and 3, and my ideas for covers are kind of nebulous and lame.
I am officially in panic mode.
So, this is where you guys can help me out by giving suggestions for covers. If you have an idea for a setup, post it below in the comments, and don't forget to check through other people's comments to se...
Believing everything was cool until ‘Next week’ was naïve.
All of Tyrannus being above-board with Perry was so that the ONE time he lied, it would catch Perry off guard, and it would be the end.
At least, that’s what Perry believed. Maybe that’s what they both believed.
Perry didn’t get treated for radiation poisoning. Magic clears that shit out fast enough, and his body’s resistance was comparable to lead, anyway.
No, he needed to get back to his ‘offic...
2023-11-30 18:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostSeems clear. Perry thought, inspecting the empty grassland with every magical sense at his disposal.
He emerged from cover and began stomping on the ground, pacing back and forth across the ancient cornfield until he picked up the slightest change in sound.
Dragor’sKinesis.EXE
A thick layer of dirt held together by a weave of grass roots peeled away, revealing a heavy iron door rusted to near uselessness
Crack!<...
2023-11-28 21:10:25 +0000 UTC View Post****Abrams****
“Have a drink, Professor Kline,” Abrams said, motioning to a glass with two fingers of scotch.
“I’d rather not.” The woman said, turning her hawknose up at the offer. Academics. Abrams was half pissed, half enjoying the thrill of conflict. He didn’t get much of that these days. It was a challenge he could only get outside the military, after all.
“I’ll drink it then,” Abrams said, taking the shot and relishing the burn as it descende...
2023-11-24 19:04:19 +0000 UTC View PostPerry’s toes tapped against the concrete floor of his workshop, humming along with the hits of the last decade, playing the mixtape he’d made for Ex’bergazzat.
He was stitching together a high-concept battery that stored dreams. For some reason, the more he worked on it, the more it was taking the shape of a pillow.
Every stitch had to be perfect, because he was working with the idea of a pillow. The very concept, and such things had to match the idealized concept a...
2023-11-21 16:43:56 +0000 UTC View PostPerry was babysitting the kids, who were playing with Eugene while he finished up the last of his work for the day. The biomechanical death-machine ran circles around the kids, his arm-blades providing a good grip on the carpeted floor.
Every once in a while they’d catch him, and he’d go down in a tangle of razor-sharp limbs as the two toddlers jumped on him.
Or is Eugene a ‘her’?Perry thought idly over the shrieking. In theory, Eugene reproduced asexually, the cy...
2023-11-17 19:47:57 +0000 UTC View Post“Chris! Didn’t you just…” The kid said, pointing over his shoulder with a frown.
A moment later his eyes widened.
“You’re not Chris.”
“No!” Perry shouted. “That stupid kid from earlier switched places with me!”
“Oh? What’s my name?” The lean teen asked, raising his chin inquisitively
Perry heaved a breath.
“You’re actually the first person with two brain cells to rub together. Congratulations.” Perry said, adopting a fighti...
2023-11-15 18:31:51 +0000 UTC View PostCargo Manifest
-Objects obtained from Site 14, confiscated from survivors of SEAL team 5
Destination: Furlow Containment Center.
Purpose: Study and research for the purpose of understanding Exo-humans, possible safeguard against Subject 84.
Note: Contents are to be considered fragile. Keep away from water.
Perry glanced back at the top-secret document detailing the frightening growth of ‘subject 84’
“Well, that was obviously Tyrannus,...
2023-11-13 17:26:25 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s beautiful…” Dave said, his nose pressed up against the glass of the tank holding the replacement horn.
The horn was floating in the center of a vat, connected to a hunk of artificial bone marrow by a delicate weave of pulsing veins providing their own pumping action.
It was (Perry assumed) going to be the envy of all other unicorns. It was several inches longer than the prior one had been, smoother, with a graceful upward curve. Dave wanted to go even bigger, but Per...
2023-11-08 16:13:16 +0000 UTC View PostShowing inhuman reflexes, Dad switched tracks, turning to grab Sera under the arms and tossing her into the air.
“Hello sweetie!” he shouted as Sera squealed in delight. A tornado caught her in midair and brought her into Hexen’s arms where she nuzzled the little girl while they made their way down to the ground.
“Perry, why didn’t you tell us you were in town?” Dad asked, approaching with Sera riding his shoulders, while Mom gave Gareth a big, suffocating hug.
...
2023-11-06 16:00:53 +0000 UTC View PostHey, guys! An Industrial Strength Magic audio-series has been in production for quite a while now on Soundbooth Theater. Well, I'm happy to report that the first episodes just launched!
It's gonna be somewhere between an audio-play and an audio-book. It's got multiple actors, doing multiple characters. Hopefully a very cool experience for the audiobook-listening crowd
We're experimenting with bite...
“He’s got fins on his head!” Sera shouted, pointing at one of Dave’s thugs reclining against the red-brick wall of Funkytown. The fin-headed hired muscle stuck out a forked tongue at Sera.
“Yes he does, sweetie, but you don’t have to shout and point. That’s rude,” Perry said for the umpteenth time as he glanced up at the sign.
DAVE’S MAGICAL EMPORIUM
“I just hope he hasn’t gone into High-Tide mode yet,” Perry muttered, guiding his pro...
2023-11-01 18:23:58 +0000 UTC View Post***3 years later***
“And so, having vanquished his enemies most thoroughly, Clifford the big red dog set about stabilizing the monarchy by fragmenting the power wielded by his vassals, such that no one else could threaten his rule ever again! The end!”
“What’s ‘Vankish’ mean?” Seraphine asked just as Perry arrived, carefully stacking wooden blocks. Gareth was in Gramma’s lap, peering intently at the images of brutal conquest, if the cover with Clifford in Manitian ...
2023-10-30 19:58:20 +0000 UTC View Post“Run!” Perry shouted, flicking a hand towards Nocturne and modifying the air to dull sound.
“Whoo!” Heather whooped as she dove into the floor.
“Why are they attacking you!?” Nat asked as Perry shoved the stunned Freddy Steel away from himself and gently seized her wrist.
“Presume it’s some kind of stress-test to make sure I don’t lose it under pressure.” Perry said. “Also speak only in questions and commands from now on out.”
“Why?”
...
2023-10-27 16:16:15 +0000 UTC View PostCharles took a step back as Perry stood.
The surrounding crowd parted as Paradox walked forward, every stride of his matched by a tiny flinching shuffle backwards from his uncle.
Perry lightly pushed off the ground with his toe and floated upward the exact four and a half feet he needed to land his next foot on the edge of the stage without missing a beat.
A moment later, Perry stopped right in front of Charles, who had gone a little green in the gills.
XP to Next Level: 814
Perry was so close he could taste it. Gorm had netted him slightly more than twenty-thousand XP, and ONE completed quest could finish his ascension.
Or a couple dead folk.
Perry didn’t really care one way or another, but his ethics model didn’t allow for it.
Instead of paying his uncle a ‘visit’, he was forced to sit through every soul-healing activity Natalie could think of, even consulting with gramma for advice...
2023-10-23 17:15:53 +0000 UTC View PostThe sound of baby screams cut through the night, as Seraphine woke up angry and startled Gareth awake with her flailing.
They tried separating them, but then Gareth would cry inconsolably, and that would make Seraphine cry.
Heather tucked Nat back in and snatched the two up, bouncing them in her arm stretched out into a cradle made of Mom while she headed towards the kitchen.
“Shhhh, it’s okay to have big feelings,” Heather said, rubbing the sand out of her eyes as she...
2023-10-18 18:23:48 +0000 UTC View PostPerry stared at the photos. He had them all printed out and plastered them across the underground lair, making the inhabitants somewhat nervous, seeing the engine of their downfall so elegantly captured.
“What is different about these!?” Perry demanded to no one in particular, pointing to the area that about 3% of the birds had.
The computer had detected an unnoticeable difference between a small fraction of the gorm and Perry had instructed the computer to highlight the diffe...
2023-10-16 19:23:43 +0000 UTC View PostIt didn’t have a name.
It didn’t really have a strong grasp of self, only Mate, Food, and Invader.
Those last two were interchangeable.
Not that it would understand the concept of ‘interchangeable’.
The capera stalked along the edge of its territory, on a constant watch for all three. The mating season was vibrating through his spine, and he was sure his massive range would prove irresistible.
But in order to maintain it’s girth, the capera nee...
2023-10-12 17:21:47 +0000 UTC View Post***Charles***
“No I couldn’t possibly eat any more, Mirika,” Charles said, waving off the attentions of the Castoff woman who seemed determined to stuff him to the gills with savory meat and mushroom stew.
Their entire underground tribe of Castoffs spoke broken Manitian, a dialect that must’ve developed in the two generations since the world collapsed. Just barely understandable through slow speaking and context.
Strangely enough they didn’t seem to hold a grudge a...
2023-10-10 16:18:31 +0000 UTC View PostLevel fifteen is right around the corner. We're probably talkin'...2 weeks, maybe sometime around halloween?
Level fifteen is a HUGE spike in power, and there lies a serious chance that it'll be so huge that it destroys the power curve.
To mitigate that, I need Perks! Perry's gonna have like...200+ points to spend, and he's probably gonna wind up taking both perks from at least three different classes.
This is your opportunity to suggest some of your own so I can scan thr...