First, We Gotta Do a War Dance!

 The week inches forward one more day. Another productive day, actually. I got 4 out of 7 items done on my "to do list," which is actually better than normal. Still 3 items remain, but I am pooped. I'll finish one of them, slay some zombies, write some, and then call it a night.

I actually began a new book last night, called The Lion of Sennet, by authoress Jennifer Fallon. I was immediately struck by the excessive use of genre cliches that make me chuckle. The crazy names, the bleak landscape, the cardboard characters, the dark lord, the seeds of rebellion - and as a bonus, this land has 2 suns! Cool! or rather, Warm! The first chapter and already my eyes roll. Which caused me to think... is something wrong with me, that I can't appreciate the genre anymore? These are staples of Fantasy, no? What else should I expect? Even the Mistborn series had these elements, and I dug that series immensely!

Perhaps I'm simply spoiled by the story I'm writing... you know, the way an author will usually (consciously? subconsciously?) look down his/her nose a bit at stories in the same genre, as though it's easier to tear down other authors than put forth the mammoth effort needed to elevate one's own work. Gads, I hope not. Maybe it's just bad writing. But the examples I point to of books I've read this year that I thought were bad, others have raved about! And vice-versa... I had a brief exchange with someone on the Amazon forum who claimed emphatically that Mistborn was pedestrian, trite crap. I had to blast him a bit, but relented, citing the "different strokes/folks" defense.

Harsh segue! Ouch!

Logan, you gotta get a good gaming PC. Here's a mod coming out for the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare that even I think is awesome looking...


Galactic Warfare Mod Gameplay Video - Watch more Game Trailers

While I'm on the topic of gaming, here's one Vye might find interesting... HERE is an article about a Taiwanese dude that claims he has officially "beaten" World of Warcraft. Here's an excerpt:

"Little Gray", as his character is known, is the first to successfully complete all of the MMO's 986 achievements listed in the armory... to reach the milestone, the Taiwanese power-player killed 390,895 creatures, accumulated 7,255,538,878 points of damage, completed 5,906 quests, raided 405 dungeons and hugged 11 players.

lol, what a noob. Only 11 hugs.

I recommend he take up hopscotch next...

And now, Writing Tip #288: The importance of a single comma...

That comma saved Grandpa's life!

And on that note, I'm gonna pull the plug for tonight. I trust all of you are enjoying terrific Decembers... saving those that have recently lost dearly-loved immediate family members... hang in there, Havah and mom. We're thinking about you.

Until tomorrow, remember, Mr. Oxley's been complaining about my punctuation, so I'm careful to get here before nine.