I’m pleased to say the re-write and reformatting of the Physical and Mental mutation books are complete! The next book for me to work on is the plant mutation book, and it’s tiny compared to the other two, being only 60 pages in length.

I did say it was going to be significantly smaller.

And I’m really considering making a forth, this book all material I ended up cutting from the first two books. I do believe I will do just that. It too will be tiny when compared to the first books, but I do believe my readers will be happy with the end results.

All three books are probably going to be expanded upon with new material as well once I’m finished with the plant book. I have tons of material to draw upon for inspiration and already have added several new mutations to both the physical and mental books.

Earlier this week I was a little disheartened to learn I completely forgot about a couple of short stories I had written before my trip to the Philippines earlier this year. I wrote and posted several stories about an Elf Ranger named Ronnath. He’s a young Elf who was raised by humans, and as such simply does not know his place in the world. Finally he took to adventuring and during this time ended up meeting and adopting a forlorn Tiefling girl. They instantly bonded and he adopted her.

Most of the stories I have written are essentially about the bond between father and daughter, one might say which has become stronger than blood, and what he wouldn’t do for her.

The first story I missed is called ‘Forsaken Soul’. It takes place in the city of Waterdeep and during a period of trouble for them and their companions. They have recently managed to escape from an evil wizard and are trying to stay two steps ahead of the man. This flight takes them to a run-down inn, where they end up staying for the night.

During their stay, Cheonsa, the Tiefling girl is visited by an apparition. This leads to a horrible discovery and a terrible secret.

The second story is called ‘Tutelage’. It takes place many months later after Ronnath and Cheonsa were finally able to settle down. By now he has constructed a cabin in the woods, miles from the city of splendors. As much as he wishes to, he simply does not possess the skills needed to give the girl a proper education, and he decides she needs a proper teacher. This leads to him returning to the city in order to find someone who would be willing to look past Cheonsa’s demonic blood and see the child.

There is more to the story than just this aspect however. Again it shows the lengths a man is willing to go for his child.

As usual two mutants were posted on Monday last week. One was based on Clint Staple’s Runequest critters. That’s two down and another three to go. I wrote and posted the Mouthed Hoarder, based on a dragon warped by chaos magic Clint wrote. The other was based on an image sent to me by a long-time fan and I called it the Lashing Mole Rat.

Thursday the boys played Acolytes of Lormick on D-Infinity live. It was an adventure written for 5^th edition and it looked like they had a lot of fun with it!  I have stated numerous times I wouldn’t mind joining their games, but… well my gaming style is significantly different from theirs, to say the least.

I really doubt I’d make a good fit.

This week I finished two novels. The first was a horror novel called ‘The Deep’ by Nick Cutter. The basic premise is a mysterious disease called ‘The Gets’ is becoming a global pandemic. It starts out simple as small things are forgotten but as time progresses people eventually forget everything, including how to breathe and other such important matters.

A strange substance is discovered in the deepest depths of the Mariana Trench and a brilliant but socially maladjusted scientist – no let’s be honest, a sociopath - named Clayton heads a small team to see if this substance might not be harvested and could be used as a cure.

Under mysterious circumstances, he begs for his brother to come and help him.

The novel is filled with dark and grotesque imagery, and the very prose is written in such a way to bring out feelings of dread, horror and disgust.

As such it was brilliantly written.

I hated it. I had a very hard time getting through the novel precisely because of this! Believe it or not, I’m no fan of horror, especially the type of horror which was prevalent through this novel. The fact it made me feel in such a way was proof it was very well written.

It certainly was not my style, and I really doubt I’ll read any more work by the author as a result.

Don’t let that stop you, if you like horror, by all means, pick it up and read it!

The second novel I finished was really a novella by Robert Walker called Gone Gorilla. I have followed Robert Walker’s works for several years now and I have always been amazed and pleased at the sheer ability the man possesses when it comes to writing different genres.

It is my personal view he tends to do his best work writing horror, with Serpentine Fire being my favorite of his. After all, I found it difficult to read which makes it a true masterpiece in my opinion.

He has also written innumerable mystery novels as well as some classic monster novels involving werewolves and vampires in his Bloodscreams Series such as Bayou Wulf and Vampire Dreams.

This is without a doubt the shortest novella I have read of his works, although he has several published short-story anthologies. It was quite the entertaining romp of that you can have no doubt.

What starts out as a mystery involving the theft of a stuffed low-land gorilla suddenly takes a horrible turn as bodies begin to turn up with ever increasing frequency inside the museum.

Aubrey Hamilton, a detective who has seen it all – up until now has to wonder if they are dealing with a sick serial killer, or something far more unexpected and sinister?

The mystery had me guessing almost constantly about what was really going on, and the murder scenes were gruesome enough to make me slightly ill while reading it.

I shall go no further, as I have no desire to spoil it for you!

Pick it up; this is a great and surprising read!

Finally I was able to catch ‘Central Intelligence’. This is a buddy movie Starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. A young man who was picked on in high school because of his size was badly humiliated by senior freshmen near the end of the year. The only one who stood up for him was the student voted most likely to go onto greatness.

Twenty years later things have changed. The former chubby and socially awkward boy has grown into a monster of a man who hates bullies and works for the CIA.

The other… his life certainly did not turn out the way everyone predicted, although at least he’s happily married.

Throw in the selling of satellite codes to the highest bidder, betrayal and backstabbing and you have a comedy of errors which often left you wondering if things were what they seemed.

The scene in the marriage councilors office damn near made me piss my pants it was so funny!

Go see it!

I probably won’t be posting about any television shows for a while since my wife finally wants to watch ‘The Walking Dead’. We’re a little more than halfway through season three right now, which I have already watched.

Finally the image I have used for this blog (well, one of several) is of the character Ronnath. Thank you Alfonso Maesa for doing such incredible work! Check out his gallery by clicking on his name and if you’re looking for serious talent, contact him about commissions! He has great rates!

Better do it now however, the more popular he becomes, the higher those rates will get!

And that’s it.

I hope you have been enjoying life despite the hellish events which have been taking place as of late in the States.

Stay safe and try to stay happy.