A lot has been happening in the BOTP creative centre lately. First up, I've gotten engaged :D Yup, put a ring on the ocean goddess and am settling into a new house for a life of cats, mad cook-ups and fun times. A pretty major milestone! 
   Tomb of the forgotten king is shaping up nicely. Its rhythm and flow differs greatly in comparison to its older siblings. I'm digging the style and perspective. Creating new characters is a hoot. Melindra will definitely feature in more upcoming projects. Speaking of upcoming projects, there are a few on their way. 2019 will be a big year for BOTP. Inspired by Red Sonja I'm planning to focus on a single character and write a running series of wicked sweet adventures, but which character will it be? Akella, Crystal, Matearla? Perhaps Melody... and yes, The Sapphire Crown is also on its way!! 

The wind that blows

   Motivation is a guest you must embrace when it stops by to visit. Snatch it before it passes. With motivation comes productivity and with their powers combined.... Captain Planet? No, success! It doesn't have to be major, even small steps accumulate. 

   Misanthropy is published! A month or two ago, I think? Kudos to me. Already, I've begun the next book. It will not follow misanthropy, instead, i'm taking Melindra, Kasbin's daughter (the the Larrosan clairvoyant) and sending her on an adventure with a bunch of new characters to find an ancient city which Rowan (an antiquarian) believes is the resting place of a forgotten king. 

   My goal with this book is to a) create a new series of standalone novels called 'Born of the Phoenix Legends' whose purpose is to explore the secrets and lore of Sapphiron and b) write faster. Misanthropy took longer than it should have to finish. So I'm gonna knock it up a notch with the ol' spice weasel. And c) really have fun exploring more regions in Sapphiron and to create a bunch of new monsters, towns and to generally expand the mythology within the world. Adam's drawn a cool concept sketch for the cover which I've approved and he's started colouring it, so that's in the works. Supanova 2018 is all booked and ready, that'll be a fun June weekend again.

   So, it's all systems go... 

Misanthropy's almost complete!

     Misanthropy's ending, I'll tell you what, it's going to be a cracker! The final chapters are really coming together nicely and rounding the book off. Gonna drop some BIG character bombshells too! The epilogue leads straight into the third book. I'm looking forward to the title reveal for book 3 and getting Adam to smash out some awesome new artwork too! The release date for Misanthropy is January 2018.

     Moving forwards, plans are in the works for a spin-off novel which will follow the exploits of a new character who you'll be introduced to in Misanthropy. I won't say who they are, but they have ties to Lorewell! Currently, I'm developing the plot. It's quite different from the current BOTP themes regarding good versus evil, focusing more on ancient ruins and Sapphiron's history and lore.

     We've also begun working on a character info section for the website. You'll be able to learn a little more about your favourite characters and there'll be some neat artwork too. That will start appearing on the website around the end of this month.

Happy December friends!

Gwent beta

Hi, my name's Dave and I'm a gwentaholic lol 

When I saw the beta for Gwent I got super excited (having loved it in the withcher 3) and downloaded the game asap! I've been playing an awful lot lately! I'm really enjoying the challenge of playing against other people, some of the decks they build are outstanding! 

Scoia'tael is my favourite deck to use. Still mastering the best card combo to suit my play style, I'm diggin the monster deck aswell.

What I think is truly great, is the artwork and animation for the cards! They look fantastic! Leveling up and rank matches are pretty well set, can't say I have any gripes with play, except people who forfeit on the last or second last card... just play to the end, gah! 

Destiny Reforged

       Destiny Reforged is the remastered version of the original, first edition Born of the Phoenix novel. The biggest change is the trim size of the paperback. Born of the Phoenix trim size is 6" x 9", it's createspace's recommended size, so being my first novel, I decided to run with it, though, when I received the books in the mail, i did consider them to be abit large for a paperback, and thus the seeds for the re-vamp were planted. Destiny Reforged trim size is 5" x 8" which feels much more agreeable in-hand!

      The cover is the next big change, as well as the new title. Being the first book in the series, I felt that having its own title would be a lot better. Destiny Reforged reflects the new path of fate Ravage and Patsy travel after their encounter with Akella, Melody and Crystal. The book has a new illustrator, Adam Isailovic. He does some awesome work! You'll find quite a few illustrations inside the book. Ever since reading the old 'choose your own adventure' books when i was young, I've always loved pictures in books! So I'm thrilled to be able to have illustrations in my novels!

      And that sums up the changes in Destiny Reforged. To get your hands on a copy of the paperback, follow the link below.

https://www.createspace.com/7103032

         

Misanthropy cover!

      Misanthropy is really coming along nicely! I'm thrilled with how the book cover turned out! Adam did an awesome job! Can't give the guy enough praise! We'll be working on the next project soon as well! I have the next three books in the works, Born of the Phoenix is going to be a very long series! Writing has been great lately, words are flowing so easily! Now that most of the main characters have been introduced i going to narrow the book vision, in that they'll be more focused on specific people, like Ravage & Patsy and Akella. I'm itching to get started on Akella's origin story!!!! Crystal will have her own book in the future as well. Zoe, I really wanna do her origins, but I think I'll write it as a novelette. I want Tairrie to be a more prominent character as well, I really like her origin so i'll also write that as a novelette. Nancy Nadonya, the legendary Josai fairy, you can expect to see more of her in the future!
      Sydney Supanova will be upon me before I know it, a lot to plan for that! I learnt so much from my first year, this year it's going to be exciting!  

Custom Magic the Gathering decks (^_^!)

      I've only just started playing magic the gathering. The only thing I don't like about it is that I don't have many people to play it with, or time to play. There's a shop in Penrith where they play every saturday but I haven't gone there yet. Mostly because I'm busy on saturday's with getting Misanthropy finished and spending time with my girlfriend and or sleeping in and playing the playstation. 

      A few times I've tried to get my gf to play magic with me but she hasn't been too interested. So, to make the game more fun for her, I jumped on http://mtgcardsmith.com/ and made her a custom magic deck, mostly with cats, because she loves kitties!

      Cardsmith is a good site. I made a lot of my 'token' cards for my other decks on there, much easier then trying to track the cards down or buying them on ebay.

 

Mortality of characters

      Should a protagonist die?
It's a question many authors struggle with. Personally, I think it's an important part of activating the reality wheel in a narrative. It can honestly be annoying when a hero overcomes every outrageous obstacle or battle unscathed, eliminating fear that the character might actually not survive a horrendous encounter. Killing heroes creates an atmosphere of uncertainty. Can they defeat that monster? Is this quest too much for them? Will the dragon eat their face off?!? It's one of the reasons I've stayed away from the traditional 'stop the apocalypse' or 'save the princess' story arc. I find the domino effect style a lot of fun when writing. Events triggered by the protagonists actions give the narrative a much better flow than a story trying to wrap everything up nicely with a bow to accomplish its preconceived end goal. Sometimes there's nothing worse than predicting a story's ending! 

      This is concept art for Crystal's appearance in Misanthropy. Adam's been doing some great work drawing the characters! He's working on colouring the cover at the moment, though I won't be revealing it until just before the book release.

Onechanbara Chaos PS4 review

(!^_^)/~Onechanbara! It was a whole lotta fun!

      Most of the games I've been playing lately have been rpg's. Games like the witcher, fallout and darkest dungeon. While these games are great and immersive, they require a lot of hours, especially the way I play. With all the writing I've been doing lately (and stupid day job) I just don't have the time for my favourite rpg's, enter Onechanbara! It was abit of a impulse buy. The cover reminded me of Lollipop chainsaw, which I really enjoyed playing. I realise there's a stereotype surrounding it which is unfortunate. It was a fun zombie slaying sparkle colour comedy dialogue adventure, and Onechanbara was much the same!

      The enemy designs were pretty cool and the boss battles enjoyable. It didn't take long to finish, only a few hours, which I liked because I didn't have to grind or search for hidden items or anything. I just turned it on and jumped straight into monster slashing action! The characters were easy to use and the moves rather satisfying, especially the finishing moves where you absolutely rip the monsters apart! The quick time events were very smooth and it was the first time i've used the touch pad  for a QTE. Combat was very fluid, graphics were solid, I didn't notice a single glitch which was fantastic! Ultra smooth gameplay. I thought the switching character mechanic to be very useful and fun, weapons were cool and so were the transformations and combos.

      Overall, it was a simple, fun game that was a pleasure to play! It get's a Dave score of 8/10 for its enjoyment factor. 

Jobee & the swirling waves

      Misanthropy has a new artist! http://skavenzverov.deviantart.com/ His artwork is fantastic! This is his drawing of 'Jobee the sea goddess' You might remember her from the first book, she'll be returning for Misanthropy! There are several other illustrations which will be inside the book and I'm pretty excited to see the cover, he's working on it at the moment!

Wading through the bog

      One hurdle every introvert faces is the difficulty of accomplishing feats alone. There are times solitude is a blessing, no-one around to complicate a situation. No other voices or opinions to lead you astray. Though, when you have no allies to turn to for aid, paths and threshold guardians can be difficult to defeat.

      I've come to realise the struggles of self published authors. Marketing, publicity, promotion - I know not of these things. I'm a world builder, a story teller, my strengths are in imagination, not business. These topics need some research!!! It would be nice to have someone to talk to about these things of which I know nothing, but, as an introvert who doesn't much converse with the other humans, I will press on alone. (Though, I do muchly feel like I'm trying to lead Artax safely through the swamp of sadness.)

      Well, I'm off now to send Akella into a haunted forest (^_^!) So far, Misanthropy is on schedule for its Jan/Feb release.

Misanthropy update

 

      Misanthropy continues!!!! Though, progress has slowed some lately. Work has been hectic, but, I have no wish to bore you with such humdrum details of the daily grind. I've been thinking about quitting work again so I can purely concentrate on writing buuuuut it's unlikely that'll happen anytime soon, (dang it!)

  

     The illustrations are continuing to roll in, which is great! Here we have some progress shots of Patsy & Hobson. Not 100% sure how many pics will be in the novel, maybe between 6-8.

      Well, back to writing now, Ravage & Patsy are currently travelling through a ravine in the southern outskirts of the Fornen swamp, what will they find?!?

Resident evil Revelations 2 review

There were a lot of things i liked about RE-R2, the enemies, the graphics, the weapons, the gameplay mechanics - all very splendid! What I didn't enjoy, at all, was constantly switching between characters (stunning enemies with the flashlight then taking them down with Claire - for example)
After a few hours I felt like I was playing 'the babysitters club'. Innovation is good, right, moving forward and evolving, changing things up.... but my heart lies with the early res evil games, RE2 and RE4 the BIG favourites of the franchise. That, was survival horror. If you walk down a dark hall, all alone, it can be creepy, if you have someone with you - less creepy. If you're in the middle of a boss battle and your stupid AI partner keeps getting in the way - that's really fucking annoying! Ever since RE5, I've found having a 'sidekick', REALLY ANNOYING!!!
Why do I need a buddy? Can't they let me play the game alone?!? This is why I now prefer Dead space over res evil, because they give you the real deal. Sadly, I'm not sure if they're going to make any more DS games, sad times. I hope they do!
I didn't finish RE-R2, I got bored/annoyed with the AI sidekick.
Raid mode was the game's saviour! Wow, I really, really enjoyed raid mode! It was fun,
Excellent gameplay, annoying sidekicks, final verdict 6/10.

Audiobook release

      One of the many plans in the pipeline was an audiobook, and here it is! I'm really stoked with how it turned out! I used VoiceRealm to find a voice actor and after receiving several audition submissions I chose Victoria, though, after the first time I heard her voice I knew she was the one (^_^!) VoiceRealm was surprisingly easy to use. I researched quite a few different voice talent websites and after much internal deliberation, went for it!

Here's the audiobook - Born of the Phoenix

      If you're after a voice actor, I highly recommend Victoria! 
Here's the link to her site: Victoria Scott  Her twitter & instagram is @VixVoices

                                               

How to get rid of Black Beard Algae (BBA)

      When Black Beard Algae first appeared in my tank, I had no idea of the destruction it would cause. It's brutal algae!

      For many years my tank was under a window, so I never had need of a light as the plants got everything they needed from the sun. With lots of plants, the aquarium had a nice little eco system going, I never had any problems with algae as the bristle nose catfish constantly cleaned the tank for me.

Origins #1 - Delenair

      As the goddess of mankind, Delenair resides in Bascilla, the realm of heaven, keeping a vigilant eye on her children below.
      Even under the watchful eye of the goddess, the denizens of Sapphiron do not live a blessed life. Delenair, choosing not to interfere with the affairs of the humans, allows them to endure hard lives under the rule of kings in a land plagued with monsters and sorcery. She feels it is not a gods duty to control the people, but for them to develop a moral conscious and thrive, or, to fall into ruin by the means of their own hands. The goddess descends to intervene only when Manishka and the malevolent entities of his sadistic dominion arise to unleash chaos and death.
      Delenair is not the original god of mankind. It was Pessial, who eons ago, created the men of Sapphiron. Pessial brought Delenair and her two brothers into existence to be mankind's saviours and guardians. Naming his champions 'The Delphi', he blessed them with the gift of humanity, to better understand the struggles of the lesser mortals. Although he hoped empathy and benevolence would blossom within the hearts of The Delphi, Delenair's brothers became lost within the void of one's soul, taking heed of the nagging emptiness that can never be filled. They began following a path of greed, lust and pride, which consumed them as they reveled in their superiority over man. 
      Treachery and murder ensued, changing the destiny of the gods. 

      The fall of Pessial, the war of the Gorigarni and Delenair's full origin story can be found in 'Born of the Phoenix - The Book of Lore' which is currently under construction.
      
   

Horizon Zero Dawn and HellBlade

       These are two games I can't wait to get my hands on! Horizon looks stunning and the artwork for HellBlade is awesome! 

      Female protagonists- yup yup, just the type of games i like! The bow in Horizon looks cool, I find bows to be really fun weapons in games, like in resident evil 5 when you unlock the bow, it's a great zombie killer! Skyrim's bows were alright, the latest tombraider games make great use of the bow! The stealth/hunting element looks interesting too! Harvesting parts from the robot dinosaurs.
     

Writer's Challenge

      My first youtube videos were 'writer's journey', well now it's time for writer's challenge! With the final ultra mega-mega completion of Crimson Sapphires done & dusted, it's time for Misanthropy! But I don't want to dilly-dally with it. I want it finished, yesterday! Crystal's story must be told! Yes, Crystal will be the main protagonist in this one. I've completed the plot, written up the chapter play by play, constructed some new creatures, monsters, landscapes yadda yadda yadda, so it's all ready to rock & roll. 

      However, a man must go to work, isn't it. Spend time with his girlfriend, play the video games, do the things at home, free hours are few and fleeting, not to mention that time passes VERY quickly! I have devised for myself, one of those things, of productivity, with the words and the numbers, a schedule of sorts, to keep me on track. So let's hope it helps! I'm giving myself six months to complete the book and as long as I don't procrastinate, I should reach my goal and you should get the next book to read! It's going to be longer than the first book, probably more violent too, though I did read somewhere, a man complaining about violence in books, and that it shouldn't be necessary to create conflict. HA! Try telling Akella not to kill someone she abhors, that girl does what she wants and with a blade the size of Sunderfall, well, ain't no-one gonna survive that! In Misanthropy, Crystal's mad, really-really pissed the fuck off and she's going to be dealing with that anger by spilling a lot of blood. Well, time to get started! But before I go, here's a bunch of cats on computers & stuff^^

Release of Crimson Sapphires

      So, today I published The Crimson Sapphires through Createspace. I released the novelette a few days ago on Kindle but had to wait a bit longer for the paperback, you see I was waiting for MatoelGrande to finish up the illustrations. There's no illustrations in the kindle version, it's a bonus for anyone who wants to buy the paperback, a reward for those who still roll the old way. Same will go for every book henceforth, and I plan on all the books to have illustrations from now on. I always loved pictures in books and now that I know how to get it all done and sorted and have found a great artist, the future will be pics pics pics! The book is in review atm, they usually take about 24hrs to approve it them boom! It'll be available to the world! Really happy with how Crimson turned out, I mean, it was only suppose to be a short story for wattpad, then it grew into a novelette. Oh yeah, that girl smoking, it's Patsy (^_^!) I hope you enjoy reading the story!

Akella & a new direction for Crimson Sapphires

      The Etsy store is up and running now, t-shirts should be available mid-June. I've received the shirts but am yet to have them printed. I was pleased by the quality of the shirts, they're cotton and feel pretty good! Looking forward to peoples reactions to them at supanova (^_^!)

      Crimson Sapphires.... I took it off Wattpad because I'm going to release it as an illustrated novelette. Pretty happy about that! Only the paperbacks will have the illustrations, mostly because I want to reward the people who stick to the good ol' physical copy. The pictures look really awesome too, very happy with them! The story's a good eye opener into Ravage & Patsy's past, plus it reveals more of Sapphiron and it's unique denizens and history.

      On another note, I've decided to end the writer's journey youtube series and replace it with a new series! Episode one was pretty fun to film! Was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be!

Here's the link if you wana check it out: BotP episode one