Wednesday, June 29, 2011

My first review!

Those amazing guys over at a Tale of Many Reviews published a review of Liberator's Ruin at the weekend.


The short of what they said? Jennifer says, "When I wasn't reading I found myself wondering about the characters and what was coming next."



It's so awesome to know someone loved your book so much they read it in a few days.

Head over to a Tale of Many Reviews for the full review.

Phill

Friday, June 24, 2011

RIP Spidey

Wow, I actually have tears in my eyes.

In the latest issue of Ultimate Spider-man, Peter Parker dies, sacrificing himself to save his Aunt from the Green Goblin.

It's stupid, I know - I mean, I've not even read an issue of Ultimate Spider-man, or even any spidey comic for years. And this isn't even main continuity spidey either.

But it's still Spider-man.

Thing is, although I stopped reading the comics about 10 years ago (I couldn't afford to buy the issues each month), Spider-man has been my favourite superhero for over 20 years. It was the first proper comic I can remember reading in the 80s. Sure, the Batman Animated Series in the 90s is one of my favourite animated series, but so was Spider-man. That cartoon was one of the few to have stories that ran for the entire series. It was absolutely brilliant, and following in its big footsteps was the 2008 Spectacular Spider-man. I just bought the second series from iTunes, and frankly it's brilliant.

Spider-man has always been, and will always be, one of my favourite heroes.

I'm rambling now, I know - okay, okay, I'm basically gushing! but hey, it means a lot to me.

Maybe I should look into picking up the first volume of Ultimate Spidey and check it out for myself. Though I may wait til I have a tablet for my comic buying needs. that's a whole different blog though.

Anyhoo, I'm getting Spider-man Shattered Dimensions on the DS today, so that should cheer me up!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Visualisation

I'm a visual writer. I see the events I write about in my head, and the words I put on paper are my translations of those images. It's an odd way of doing things, but it works for me, and means I can put a lot of detail in my stories.

That also means I get inspired by things I see, be it a news report, a cloud, a car or a game.

Recently, I've been playing a bit of Metro 2033. I think it's an absolutely brilliant game. Sure, it has its flaws, but the combat is fun, and I love the tense bits, as you creep through the dark tunnels, with nothing but your headlamp for illumination.

Visually, I also find the game really inspiring. By playing it, I start thinking about a story with a similar setting. I'm not talking about the story of the game, or its exact setting. the author of Metro 2033 (Dimitri Glukhovsky) has already done that with his book. Which, by the way, is well worth a read.

No, what I mean is a post apocalyptic environment, where the air is toxic, forcing the populace underground. I really like it as a premise, so the visual aesthetic of the game has spawned a whole new world for me. I may never use it, what with Serial Psyence now well into its development, and two more books in mind for the crew of the Stormbrother after that, followed by a sci fi trilogy ... yeah, I have a lot of stories in my head. Keeps me busy.

Music of the week: I'm listening to the Halo and Halo Reach soundtracks at the moment. the sweeping orchestral scores fitting in quite well with my planning. Best of all, it works as a barrier between me and my office.

duke Nukem disappointment

I got Duke Nukem Forever on Thursday (yeah, I know it was released on Friday, but that’s the beauty of Game’s first to play system). To be frankly honest, it was not worth the 14 year wait.

Maybe I’ve matured too much to enjoy the puerile humour. Maybe I’ve gained an appreciation for subtler story telling thanks to games like Half-life.

Or maybe, DNF is just shit. Now hold on, before you get on your high horse. I love Duke 3D. I have the trial game on XBL, and even after 15 years, the game is still fun to play. It’s a testament to the game that you can still enjoy it even now.

I’m finding it hard to pin point quite what it is about DNF that I don’t like. The graphics are pretty shoddy – muddy to the point you think it’s been dragged through bog land for thirty miles. The characters are annoying, the weapons are mediocre (you can’t even carry enough ammo like you used to), and worse, you’re restricted to carrying two! I’m loath to carry the rpg, one of the mainstays from Duke 3D, simply because you only have 5 rounds. Miss a shot at your peril.

Normally, I don’t mind the two weapon proscription. It’s a common enough feature in COD and Halo and Crysis 2, but Duke’s an arcade shooter. It just doesn’t belong. Someone mentioned on a forum that the reason the game only allows you to carry two weapons is because you can’t switch weapons easily on a console. Really? I can name a few games that allow you to carry multiple weapons: Bioshock 1 & 2, Red faction Guerilla and Armageddon, Gears Of War 1 & 2, and lest I forget, Gearbox’s own Borderlands.

The level design is frankly appalling, and the enemies … I miss the old pig cops. The ones that squeal when they die, and attempt to shotgun you to death (and were bloody good at it too if you weren’t careful). But these new ones that jump at you are a pain in the arse. It's great when you hit them with a shotgun blast as they fly through the air, but you're more than likely to miss than hit, and have to go through a button tapping exercise to kill them, all whilst being shot at.

Which brings me to the final point. The controls are shoddy, either too twitchy or too mushy, never just right, and make aiming at an octobrain an exercise in frustration.

Was DNF worth spending £30 on? Not a chance. Good job I got £30 trade in for it, which is going toward Ocarina of Time 3DS this Friday.

On a side note, I rented Red Faction Armageddon to tide me over till Friday, and that is fun.

Own worst enemy

You know, I started this blog because I wanted to talk about my writing. Except, it’s not quite turned out that way. I’ll admit, I’m quite reticent when it comes to actually giving voice to whatever project I’m working on. I suppose it’s because I don’t like discussing it until it’s finished. That and I’m worried I’ll give away the plot before the book’s even published!

They are valid reasons to be concerned (for me, anyway), but I suppose the real problem is that I take ages to actually do anything. Right now, I’m working on the flashback sequences that run throughout Serial Psyence. I’m not entirely happy with the first one, so I think I’ll be going back to the drawing board before I start the actual writing, plus I think the plotting is a little weak for the main character’s motivations, but that’ll be fixed before I come round to writing that bit.

I guess that’s why I like to plan my stories from beginning to end. It gives me time to flesh out the story until I have a cohesive whole. I didn’t do that at first for Liberator’s Ruin, and to me, that’s kind of obvious. I think the first few chapters are pretty weak, though it does get better later.

I am, of course, my own worst critic.