... at Albacon (September 14-16) this year. The game is "On-Site for the Apocalypse", based on the story of the same name set in the universe of Princess Holy Aura. Timeslot is from 1 to 4 on Saturday. Up to 6 players!
2018-08-28 01:29:18 +0000 UTC View Post
There are a few classical works whose influence has become so pervasive that it is hard to tell where it leaves off; Beethoven's 5th and 9th symphonies, Dvorak's Symphony From the New World, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Of all of them, it's possible that the most influential of all is Holst's The Planets, a seven-movement suite designed to reflect the traditional symbolism of the planets in both astronomical and Greco-Roman mythological terms. The influence of "Mars, the Bringe...
2018-08-26 16:21:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Yes, I was there, at the beginning of the disco era, when this piece of music made the charts in 1973-74. I always loved it; it's one of the most purely romantic pieces of music I've ever heard (my wife, on the other hand, HATES it). But despite it being in my head for decades, it never clicked as one of the pieces of music that fit a story...
... until Polychrome.
Love's Theme is the piece of music to which I wrote the major section of the battle's aftermath, whe...
2018-08-24 01:06:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Tiffanys, a short film by my niece Caitlyn and her two friends and partners Sean and Zhara, was just released! It won the St. Louis Filmmaker's Showcase Best Animated Film! Give it a watch!
2018-08-23 12:12:13 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a truly wonderful piece of music, rich and complex, all the more surprising for coming from Kingdom Hearts -- which amounts to "What if Disney's animated universe collided with Final Fantasy?".
This piece is one of the primary themes for The Arena -- one I played often while writing Grand Central Arena, Spheres of Influence, and Challenges of The Deeps. It has multiple movements that cover the adventure, grandeur, peril, and awe of the Arena, ideal for me writin...
2018-08-19 21:01:07 +0000 UTC View Post
This is the first of a series of short, publicly-available posts about particular pieces of music and their relevance to particular parts of my writing. Music is one of the keys to my writing. I write with music, generally instrumental, playing, and often create a soundtrack for any book I work on.
This piece, "As One Tale Ends..." is one of the last pieces on the soundtrack of The Forbidden Kingdom, a martial arts extravaganza featuring both Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The overa...
2018-08-15 02:30:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Diorre Jearsen appears only for the first few chapters of Demons of the Past: Revelation, and has a single viewpoint chapter. Yet it is no exaggeration to say that she casts a longer shadow than any other character of Varan's past, aside from the mythical figure of Torline himself.
Sasham Varan, the main character, is perhaps most defined by his relationships to those around him. Left to himself, he is an exemplary officer and a loyal citizen of the Empire. Th...
2018-08-08 01:58:54 +0000 UTC View Post... so the rewards will start showing up this week.
As a reminder, do not hesitate to send me a message, either through here or directly to seawasp@sgeinc.com , if you have any questions, suggestions, or other comments!
2018-08-05 16:35:38 +0000 UTC View PostApparently Patreon's shift to a different bank has caused problems for some Patrons, due to the way international bank charges are handled. I hope this doesn't affect any of you, but if it does and you have trouble contacting Patreon about it, let me know and I'll forward it on.
2018-08-03 00:51:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Evolution of Demons of the Past #1: The Eönwyl
Those who've read Demons of the Past: Revelation have met the mysterious independent trader known only by the name of her ship: The Eönwyl. A very tall (~6'3"+) slender woman with brilliant blue eyes and a standing-up mane of hair colored like a starburst (a center of white over her forehead that radiates out into yellow, or...
2018-07-11 01:56:26 +0000 UTC View PostAnd how did I forget to put in my LATEST TWO WORKS??? Let's try this again, only with ALL the options in place!
Sorry about that, to the person who'd already voted in the first one!
To reiterate, I'm curious about the preferences of those who participate in or read my Patreon, and so I'm going to put up a series of polls -- and this is the first!
Which of my works is your FAVORITE -- as in, you enjoy or enjoyed reading this one more than any other?
2018-07-07 00:24:27 +0000 UTC View Post... rewards will start next week -- I'm on vacation this week!
2018-07-05 13:43:43 +0000 UTC View PostI mentioned _The Door Reopened_ as one of the things I have been thinking of writing. I did, in fact, write the first chapter of the first book (I think this will be a trilogy) as a sort of marker and reminder for me, so that if I moved forward I'd have a mood-setter to get me going.
It might change some if I go forward, but the general characters and setup, those would stay the same.
Here we go!
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The Door Reopened
... 2018-06-13 00:54:21 +0000 UTC View Post... and new posts coming! I expect to post most rewards this week, and the Read Me Something rewards the next!
2018-06-10 13:46:17 +0000 UTC View Post... I will be at Barnes and Noble in Paramus, NJ on Saturday, June 9th, from 7:30 to 10PM with the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County (SFABC). It's not limited to members of the SFABC so if you happen to be in that area, drop by!
2018-05-13 19:16:04 +0000 UTC View PostAs mentioned last month, when I worked with Wizards of the Coast I wrote the first draft of a Primal Order supplement called Unorthodox Strategies: Deities in Non-Fantasy Campaigns. Each section of the supplement covered a different non-epic-fantasy genre, and began with a little story vignette. The following one is from the section on gods in superheroic settings. When my own superhero novel (tentatively titled Legend) comes out, you'll see that a lot of the characters ...
2018-05-09 00:46:35 +0000 UTC View Post... currently it's my anniversary! After I get back the rewards will start going up!
Remember always: if you have comments, requests, suggestions, don't hesistate to let me know!
2018-05-05 20:02:40 +0000 UTC View Post
A section of this animation was used for the Princess Holy Aura trailer I posted earlier, but this is the whole animation as created by Morinekozion and her team!
2018-04-11 01:46:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a trailer I put together for French Roast Apocalypse; enjoy!
2018-04-11 01:42:03 +0000 UTC View Post... all the Patron rewards for this month have been posted! I hope you enjoy them!
As always, don't hesitate to write me with questions or suggestions!
2018-04-11 01:40:24 +0000 UTC View Post
The first collaboration (well, first COMMERCIAL collaboration) between Kathy and I is now up! As with Demons, if you like it buy it, review on Amazon, tell your friends! Success is in your hands!
Note that this won't stop the snippeting!
2018-04-11 01:00:29 +0000 UTC View Post
The first volume of Demons of the Past is now up on Amazon! If you enjoyed it snippeted here, buy it, review, pass the word on!
2018-04-11 00:57:38 +0000 UTC View PostIn the very early 1990s, I was a freelancer working for the gaming company Wizards of the Coast (before they became big news). Their original product wasn't Magic: The Gathering, but rather a roleplaying "capsystem", a universal-add-on for all or most existing RPGs titled The Primal Order, abbreviated TPO. TPO gave rules for running deities that allowed them to both be active in a campaign, and at the same time NOT be just like ordinary characters writ large.
I proposed...
2018-04-11 00:54:19 +0000 UTC View PostAnd thus rewards will start appearing soon, mostly this week!
2018-04-08 21:32:54 +0000 UTC View PostThe earliest drafts of Fall of Saints, which became Phoenix Rising, started much earlier in the timeline than the final version, with all the characters considerably younger than when we first met them. This is nowhere more obviously true than with the smallest of our three protagonists. The first segments featuring him in the final version showed him gaining his second name... but in the early drafts, we saw him gain his FIRST name...
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F...
2018-03-07 01:39:13 +0000 UTC View PostI've already said my thanks for all your support, and I'm not stopping now!
I'll start posting the March rewards -- first of the new Patreon year -- tonight. I've also decided to increase the top-level reward, partly because at the rate of one chapter a month it'll take FOREVER to finish a book. I'm going to go to two chapters per (whatever) per month, and if that's easy enough, I may go to three.
I may also add more material to one or two other levels, but that'll depend on time a...
2018-03-07 01:29:25 +0000 UTC View Post
As a perhaps silly little reward for all of you, I've made this video flashback through the first year of my Patreon, glancing at everything you've helped me do.
Thank you all so very much, and I've got another announcement to make (in another post)!
2018-03-07 01:25:31 +0000 UTC View Post
One year ago, I posted the first rewards in my Patreon. I find it hard to believe, sometimes, that it's been that long, or that so many people have found it worthwhile to support me and my work for an entire year and, for the most part, seem to be sticking around. I cannot fully express my gratitude to all of you. But it might be worth it to show everyone just what it was that the Patreon accomplished – what it let me accomplish – and that most, if not all, of it is m...
2018-03-07 01:07:58 +0000 UTC View Post
... and it couldn't have happened without your support. Oh, the simple intro I could do... but the main part, with a transformation sequence and custom music? Not even vaguely possible without the support of all of you patrons! So a big thank-you to you all!
Morinekozion obviously did the art, Hiroshi Hirano the video editing and effects, and Yuji Morita the transformation music!
2018-02-11 19:18:58 +0000 UTC View PostI first started writing Fall of Saints -- the story which ultimately became the Balanced Sword (Phoenix Rising, Phoenix in Shadow, Phoenix Ascendant) around 1992. As it didn't get published until 2014, there was a lot of intervening time.. and a lot of changes, both in my world and in how I viewed the story. Originally, the story would have involved at least FOUR people in Kyri's core party. I eventually, as readers see, slimmed it to three (and the background of those three, a...
2018-02-09 02:24:42 +0000 UTC View Post