Not my favourite day of the year, to be honest, and the weather is miserable. I brightened it up with Nava and Suki. This is a UHD image; feel free to use it as wallpaper if you wish. I am.
Meanwhile… I update the ‘What I’m Working On’ page recently with what I was planning to be my next project. And then I started writing it and, well, it’s boring. I like the concept. I’d like to do something with it. I just need to come up with a way to un-boring it.
Death’s Handmaiden 5 now has a name, The Aquaria Incident. If nothing changes in the next week, it’s going to be followed by DH6 which doesn’t have a name yet. It also may not have enough plot to go forward with; I’m currently working that out.
Someone asked for Tatsu with a CM1328… and this isn’t exactly that, but it’s something like. The CM1328 should probably be a bit bulkier, but that front grip can be unbolted to let this thing be mounted to a vehicle or tripod. It works.
Also, I hadn’t had a chance to use this environment model yet. It’s from Stonemason, one of my favourite environmental modellers. ‘Streets of Japan,’ it’s called. I feel like I’ve been there since it’s based on a Tokyo neighbourhood. Of course, the only thing almost as ubiquitous as the vending machines is the 24-hour/7-11 shops. Sigh. I wanna go back!
The second Tatsu Yamada book, Mask of the Demon, is now out. And now the race is on to see if I can keep coming up with Something of the Something titles for this series!
So, according to the BBC, it’s already 2022 in Australia. Hopefully, they’re now having a better year than the rest of us. They had a pretty bad one last year. Of course, so did the western side of America. And pretty much everyone else. Hm.
Some girls in catsuits. Reminded me of that spy thing with the three teenage girls, whatever that was. Which is appropriate. You’ll find out why when the next DH book comes out.
Forward to 2022! May it be… not worse than 2019, 2020, 2021…
I’m busy writing the fifth Death’s Handmaiden novel, so here’s Nava wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Honest. She’s really happy for you all. Really.
I was planning to post this a bit earlier, but this has turned out to be a more interesting Christmas than expected, so this is late. Well, those in America will probably see it while it’s still Christmas…
Have a good one (whatever you celebrate) and there’s more of Nava and friends coming in February or March after more Tatsu and friends in January/February.
I guess this is a bit late, but… Arcane was really good!
If you have no idea what I’m talking about… Well, you obviously don’t have Netflix because they pushed it pretty hard. If you have seen the adverts and decided that an anime-style, nine-episode series about characters from a video game you don’t play was not for you, I encourage you to give it a go. If you like my stuff, then there’s possibly something for you here, and you do not need to know anything about League of Legends to appreciate it. Which is a bit weird for a video game adaptation, but that’s also pretty much my view of the entire LOL franchise. I have a weird relationship with LOL…
For those who don’t know, League of Legends, or LOL, is a multi-player, team-based, PvP video game, and it’s been around for a while. Every year they host a big esport tournament in Korea ‘LOL Worlds.’ People make money playing this game professionally. I wouldn’t touch it with a fifty-foot pole and a full suit of power armour. I grew up when PvP was about the dirtiest part of gaming, and I still have a general hatred for people who like it. Also, I suck at it, which doesn’t help. And yet, there is an aspect of LOL that I just can’t get over really enjoying: the marketing.
Every year for Worlds, Riot Games commissions a full-production opening show, generally with some form of really kick-ass song in some genre or another. Their cinematics when introducing new characters are pretty damn fantastic. I can watch the videos Riot produce to advertise their game for hours, they just aren’t going to get me to play their game no matter what they do, but they really try. This year, Worlds opened with several songs because, this year, Arcane is out on Netflix. Arcane has songs from Imagine Dragons and Sting! It’s an animated series, so the backdrop videos for the opening ceremony practically came pre-made. (And, actually, I think there have been better opening shows, but whatever.) Big opening. Great marketing. But Arcane is more than that…
Arcane tells the story of how several of the ‘champions’ from the game came to be what they are. It’s a prequel. Importantly, it tells the story of how Jinx got to be what she is (a sort of friendly psychopath with a gatling gun), but there are a bunch of other characters in the mix which I knew less about and now know more. I am happy to know more. I enjoyed finding out how these people grew from kids, basically, into heroes (or villains, or something in the middle), and I can’t wait for the second season to unfold (it’s in production). It still won’t get me to even download the game, however…
I thought my relationship with LOL was weird. I won’t play, but I love it when a new cinematic appears. Weird, right? Apparently not. The YouTuber Gigguk uploaded a video recently about Arcane. He actually plays the game, and hates it, but he thinks everything about the game, aside from the game, is great. He also does a better job than I ever could of selling Arcane, so I’m linking his video here.
It’s snowing here in the outer reaches of the galaxy (aka Manchester, England). Serious snow which is actually settling on some surfaces. I don’t expect to be able to walk on the stuff today; it’s not that cold. And it’s not even December.
Now, I’m not saying this is an indication of climate change. I’m sure things will see an upturn in coming months, and I won’t be forced to wear three layers of clothes inside. We aren’t doomed…
Once again: if you’ve read the ebook, buying a paper copy gets you a paper copy. The contents is not different. I’m doing this to see whether I can get some additional customers by putting out paperbacks. Frankly, they come out pretty expensive (if cheaper than from a traditional publishing house). I’d buy the ebook.
Witches and Ray-Guns 