The One Thing I Want Out Of an E-Reader (And Why)

There are a lot of e-readers out on the market, but I am still not satisfied with the reading experience. I feel like the goal of e-readers now, is to get as many into the hands of people as possible, to get readers used to skimming through page after page in that particular format. Then, we’ll eventually see the format wars. As a friend of mine aptly pointed out, it’s just like what happened back in the days of Beta versus VHS.

The problem for me is not the format of the book, but the device itself. I feel there’s a huge component missing — the cover. Now, word of mouth advertising relies on interfacing with other readers online, but not in person. It’s easy to show someone a physical copy of a book when someone says “Hey, what are you reading?” Doesn’t work like that when you’re out in the wild. In fact, I’m less inclined to strike up that conversation now that the answer requires the person to stop reading and tell me what the book is. Since I spot books by their cover, it’s hard for me to remember names all the time — unless I specifically go out looking for one.

What I want, is an eReader that has a screen on the opposite side to display the book cover you’re reading by default. I picture this as a flexible image where you can add your own “book paper” when you’re not reading something. Imagine what that one image could do. No, I don’t want it to be full of advertising (ew!) but a picture can really add something to help boost a book’s visibility and facilitate conversation, too.

I feel that covers are very important and will become increasingly moreso as time goes on. Yes, this is one cover that is (usually) judged. So why not highlight all the great ones that are out there? Certainly, it would make the digital experience all that sweeter for me.

    Mood: I’m a cliche.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Going to drink my way through a barrel of coffee and then pass out into sweet oblivion.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: None due to a stupid, clutzy move.
    In My Ears: Star Wars
    Game Last Played: Star Wars Battlefront
    Movie Last Viewed: Drive
    Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch
    Latest Release: “Don’t Ignore Your Dead” included in Don’t Read This Book for the Don’t Rest Your Head RPG
May 9, 2012
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Easter Eggs! Constructing Redwing’s Gambit Part 5 of 5

Finally! I was supposed to write about the easter eggs but I forgot that required me to break the space time continuum and go through the manuscript line by line. So what are Easter Eggs? The simple answer is: the step-by-step process I take to decide how a particular line or passage sounds. Also, certain nuggets I weave in or hide that are revealed either when you’re smart enough to figure it out OR when I tell you. Like today!

Bulldogs! is unique, yes, but this particular setting has lots and lots of aliens which is something I wanted to highlight. In order to avoid an info dump and help ground you, the reader, I thoroughly researched the original d20 Bulldogs! RPG, the FATE system, and other science fiction settings to figure out how I should handle this unique conundrum. Writing about many different aliens in an RPG, after all, is a lot different from handling them in a story.

The goal of this story was to help you get to know the characters and based on the reviews so far? That’s what you got out of it, too. Here are a few “easter eggs” to show you how some elements in Redwing’s Gambit evolved.

“Grrr… Dishonorable wretch…” Marrl forced himself to calm down. The word “dishonorable” was a descriptive nod to Worf from Star Trek in the very beginning. I knew readers familiar with Star Trek might think of Klingons and I felt, with eight alien races to juggle, they could get a picture right away that would then be clearly defined as the lion-headed Rjyllians as the story went on. Bulldogs! has *many* alien races within its universe; I offered you the chance to see six of them and hear about two more.

If the rumors were true, Splish navigated a cruiser through the heart of the Frontier Zone with a broken engine and hardly any fuel. The idea of a rogue pilot’s boasts was courtesy of a larger-than-life reputation. Han Solo. The original Starbuck.

“By the sons of…” Marrl swore in earnest. Alexander Dane’s character in Galaxy Quest always did get pissed off when he had to say this line: “By Grabthar’s hammer… by the Sons of Warvan… you shall be… avenged.” Here Maarl alludes to a mysterious insult. Initially, I thought about making him swear to the court of the High Saldralla, his religious affiliation, but I thought it sounded better if his voice trailed off since I would have had to explain that the Saldralla were lizard men and I was worried I was spending too much time on the setting already. The line would have read: “By the sons of the Saldralla, must I warm every egg?!?!” To Maarl, having to sit on an egg and warm it up would have been a huge insult and one reserved solely for child-bearers.

He would hate to put that in his daily report. The idea of writing daily reports was inspired by the bureaucracy from Babylon 5. I twisted it some and turned the reports into a bureaucratic nightmare. You’ll find out more about that in the short story I’m writing for HAVE BLASTER, WILL TRAVEL.

An antenna poked out of the metallic cat’s mouth, its red tip blinked urgently. I love robots with character! Futurama, Flash Gordon, Buck Rodgers and the 25th Century… And I love cats!

To annoy her boss, she recited the contents of every label she touched out loud. Doctor Dunn never complained; she was too busy work, work, working. I find great humor in an annoying character who’s in space for the first time. Then? DOM DOM DOM… The exaggerated touch was my subconscious acting on more comedic spacefarers. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The Jetsons. Etc.

Instead of talking about the former slave trade there or the problems with trade, she focused on the golden necropolis rumored to be buried far beneath the planet’s coarse sands. ‘Course, Talus didn’t know she was lying. The idea of a treasure hunt evolved all on its own, but I should point out I have a fondness for space pirates that flourished courtesy not only of Treasure Planet, but a lot of early pulp back in the day.

Xax couldn’t wait to find out if Talus fixed the hyperdrive. Broken ships? Busted engines? Bad hyperdrives? Farscape, Firefly, Star Wars, Apollo 13. When things go wrong in space — they really go wrong.

By the Flame, he would rather get into a fight with Talus than piss off that cyborg. Well… The word “Flame” was a nod to Lord of the Rings. Many sacred fires in that story and I can’t think of anything more serious than invoking that.

Well, by now you can tell my thought process as I worked through the plot for the novella and its revisions. I sincerely hope you enjoy the novella based on the Bulldogs! RPG and will consider writing a review. 😉

Thanks for reading this series!


Other Parts to this Series



About Redwing’s Gambit: Redwing’s Gambit, the first novella for the Bulldogs! RPG, debuted on Monday, March 26th in digital. This story was written by Monica Valentinelli and will be published by Galileo Games, creator of the Bulldogs! RPG. This RPG was originally published with a d20 system in 2005. It has since been updated and released in a new edition which employs the Fate mechanic in 2011.

May 7, 2012
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The Peeve That Burns

Today’s post is brought to you by our sponsor — angst. Or rather, the diminishing returns of said emotion.

On with the show…

Every once in a great while there are specific peeves that bug the living bejeezus out of me. And sadly — those tend to fester for months because I do try to be professional as I possibly can. I am rooted in the idea that you just never know what’s going to happen and you shouldn’t treat people like crap. WHICH IS WHY…

The number one thing that pisses me off? Publicly making fun of other authors.

Yeah, I know it’s hard to make a name for yourself out there. But building a “platform” based on your ability to bully other writers — whether they be named or unnamed — is not only cheap, it’s incredibly bad form. Besides being foul to your fellow scribe, let’s see… Oh, could it be that other authors are also readers who could buy your books? Not anymore! Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t be such a tough business if we could be a little sweeter and a little nicer to folks who may be going through some tough times. Instead, we have to be negative about what other folks are doing? Sheesh. We’re all in this together. Sink or swim. Do or die. So tell me again why we have to publicly author bash? Could it be, you’re setting a crappy example and you’re opening the door for readers to do it right back to you, too?

For the record: the reality is that NO ONE has the authority to demand where you write, when you write, what you write, or what you claim to write or how — because we ALL know that your career is on YOUR shoulders. No one can MAKE your career happen EXCEPT for YOU. There are folks I never, not even in a million years, would have thought: “Hey, this author can’t possibly make it…” Yet, they did and the reverse is also true!

Yes, there are some things that are a fact — like how talking about writing isn’t getting the words written. Guess what, though… only YOU can determine whether or not that’s true. If you need to boost yourself up by sitting in the middle of a coffee shop or talk yourself up a million times, then good on you! There are a million different paths in publishing and more on the way!

Am I saying that you shouldn’t speak your mind? Have opinions? No, absolutely not. What I’m saying, is that if you want your work to be treated with the respect it deserves, then maybe you should do the same to others, too. We were ALL new writers at some point or another. Forget that, and you turn a blind eye to your own past.

Or, in other words, don’t TEAR DOWN if you want to be BUILT UP.

    Mood: Arrrrggghh, it’d be Monday. A blasted day if I ever saw one.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Something black, as dark and deep as you ever saw, moreso than my twisted soul.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Scrubbing the decks, matey.
    In My Ears: Nothing remarkable, to be sure. When the sun sets, I’ll be belting out a good sea shanty with me fine man and a bottle o’ rum. This day can die a terrible death.
    Game Last Played: Star Wars Battlefront
    Movie Last Viewed: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
    Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch
    Latest Release: “Don’t Ignore Your Dead” included in Don’t Read This Book for the Don’t Rest Your Head RPG
May 7, 2012
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A Sale on a Bunny and an Excerpt

The Creepy Cottontail Cover Art

AHEM. Standing up on my self-promotion soap box today, because The Creepy Cottontail, which is a hybrid fiction/game aide FR Press has been experimenting with, is on sale for less than a gallon of gas. You can see what else you can get for a discount if you visit the DriveThruRPG Sale page.

Now, I’ve talked about this particularly scary rodent in a design essay titled: Inside the New Antagonist, Creepy Cottontail.

What is this antagonist about? Well, think failed ritual plus a pissed off god. Yep, it’s that dry and that sarcastic. I know I find it high-larious, but what can I say? I’ve heard from people directly that they enjoyed the concept and the easter egg located at the end — especially when it first came out!

(As an aside: reviews are always that hard, hard thing to ask for. . . You liked my stuff enough to buy it! Now sell your first-born child and leave a review!)

Anyhoo, thought I might give you a taste of Nyarlathotep. This aide includes a very strange story and I spent longer than usual establishing his character. It includes poetry-as-art text formed in a specific construction on the page. Well, and he’s not a happy god… To be sure…

The Curse of the Yellow Rabbit Excerpt

Iridescent trapezoids twisted high above the Tower of Nyarlathotep in a blistering pink cloud. The geometric shapes moved too quickly for his liking. Was it a sign? Were the Elder Gods angry with him?

Nyarlathotep’s watchful eye traced the fine stitching of the soft floor beneath his feet. Woven from the blackened tongues of traitors and con artists, the Tower reeked of guilt. The stench sickened him. It was time to start building a new temple, a sturdier one. Made of feet, perhaps? Or ribs?

By his calculations, it had been eighty years since the Dark Messenger’s last manifestation on Earth. During his absence, the dreams of mortals twisted away from the slithering darkness, toward soccer balls, annoying television shows and pictures of cats.

Amassing body parts on Earth in the modern age could be troublesome. Over the years, Nyarlathotep gleaned many things from his dream-walks. Wood, ox and stone had been replaced with metal, glass and plastic. Humanity thrived, its population tripled. That fact didn’t worry Nyarlathotep as much as it should have. His concern was simple: his followers were dwindling and he was not sure why.

Even though Nyarlathotep had bent many minds to his will during his last visit, only a handful still called his name. For whatever reason, Earth’s denizens were not as weak as they once were. They were bold and brave and resolute, as if they were gods themselves. By the Old Ones, they even fell in love with monsters — star vampires, mostly — instead of running for their lives.

The Dark Messenger couldn’t help but laugh. The frailty and punishment of mortals was the one thing all gods and creatures agreed upon. Ironic, since they could never figure out what form of torture would work best, just that it needed to be done.

Fortunately, there was one thing all mortals were vulnerable to, one power their minds could not ignore. The Word of Nyarlathotep held sway over their meat-filled minds, provided he took human form.

Find the rest of the story and more about this peculiar antagonist in The Creepy Cottontail.

May 4, 2012
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Understanding Star Wars Fandom

Star Wars the Complete Saga Wallpaper

Tomorrow is May the Fourth, a fan holiday to recognize Star Wars. In honor of the day, I’ve been thinking about something that I’d like to share with you on its eve.

You see, there’s a picture in my head that won’t let me go. It’s a very strange image and I’m going to do my best to describe it to you. So, let’s start small.

Imagine a room filled with ten hundred people. There are boundaries around each one of them on the floor; the older they are, the bigger the circle is. Now, add rings in that circle (like a tree). Each one dates that person’s very first experience with Star Wars, then their second, their third, and so on. The area between the circles are color-coded with the emotion that viewer/reader felt during that moment. For the sake of simplicity, use warmer colors for the happier moments and cooler colors for the others. Thin lines mark when they see a particular film again. Thick lines are for new experiences whether they be movies, books, comics, etc.

That’s the two-dimensional part. The last bit, is to assess a tonal value within each ring. Take that very first experience. Was it happy? Make that ring’s shade glow a bright yellow. Now do the same for that singular fan until you reach present day. As time passes, each ring gets either brighter and brighter — or dimmer depending upon the viewer’s tastes and subsequent experiences. That first memory is crucial because it establishes the foundation for what we think of Star Wars, but also what we feel about it.

Multiply this image by a million. Congratulations, you have just now entered my head! Pretty, isn’t it?

What I see, are groups of colors associated with age groups and the different trilogies as the larger, or most well-known body of works from the Star Wars franchise. But? There are lots of other elements to the property. Comic books, novels, graphic novels, video games — the list goes on and on and on. Each iteration of Star Wars triggers a different emotional reaction. We have now reached the point where Star Wars is so saturated in our social consciousness because of the creative works produced that it can parody itself.

Mind you, there are other variables to take into consideration, because what’s really interesting is when those experiences overlap with one another. Then you get mixtures of colors or brightened tones because the shared awe or disgust is that much more powerful. It’s gorgeous!

This, moreso than any critique, is why I feel Star Wars fandom is something for us to not only recognize, but study and understand. This isn’t just fandom, this is a phenomenon — regardless of how we feel about the quality or the particular moments. Of course we’re going to have opinions, and I feel that our memory and our emotion combined affects those thoughts. We don’t remember moments with precision and the more content that’s added to any property, the greater the chance that’ll influence our original opinion. Worse, we get defensive, too, about those original feelings. Angry. Hurt. Betrayed?

But for others that moment of happiness, like the picture in my head is trying to express, came not from the first time we experienced Star Wars — but from theirs.

Somewhere, in the middle of that beautiful picture, lies the beating heart of fandom. And that, to me, is more amazing than any comment a fan can make. No, I am not saying that we shouldn’t critique the films or the books. I’m not telling you that your thoughts don’t matter. They do, because they’re yours. This is just the ten thousand foot overview of something quite remarkable — a complex set of emotions and thoughts based on an shared visual, interactive, and literary experience crossing many ages, cultures, and backgrounds. If that doesn’t blow your mind, then I don’t know what will.

May the Fourth be With You.

    Mood: The dawn of summer and all its warmth and annoyances.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: I HAVE WINGS!
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Housework. Feh.
    In My Ears: Country? WTF?
    Game Last Played: Star Wars Battlefront
    Movie Last Viewed: Young Guns
    Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch
    Latest Release: “Don’t Ignore Your Dead” included in Don’t Read This Book for the Don’t Rest Your Head RPG
May 3, 2012
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