Project complete, edits nearly complete, Unnatural Acts with the 100 and more…

Beginning of March and the weather is beautiful! It was a bit cold last week, but it gradually warmed up and we’re looking at double digits for the next nine days for certain. And for my American readers, that means mid-sixties and higher.

I have a bad feeling we’re going to pay for this later though.  March typically has a lot of snow for us Calgarians.

Anyhow – my Nanotech Undead article for Wisdom from the Wastelands is done and I will be firing it off to my editor later this evening. It contains 18 new (and familiar) horrors to challenge your players in Gamma World and Mutant Future. I might write up two more if the page count allows, but I will wait until after it’s in the hands of Greg.

This week I will tackle finishing the skills system for Mutant Future and get it fired off to Greg as well, although truth be told, that probably won’t happen for about two weeks.

I still have plenty of other issues to work on, and I’ll probably concentrate on getting the rules issue for Mutations out.

And I’m finished the questions Greg had in regards to four of my five ‘Harvesting issues.’ Originally it was going to be five books, but now it’s probably going to be two.

Three bits of news for ‘Buck Who?’ this week. First I posted Chapter 7 on Friday, as usual. Chapter 8 is almost complete, I just have a little bit to add to it and then I will be sure to post it next Friday.

Thanks to William Thrasher I have a banner that is now proudly displayed on the main page, and just for the hell of it, I created an index, which has a brief description of each chapter as well as links to the various issues of Wisdom from the Wasteland. I used material I created for the game presented in these issues for my novel.

And let’s face it; ‘Buck Who?’ is a novel. I should never have tried to fool myself into thinking it would be anything but a full novel! I have no clear end in sight, and as of chapter 7, the novel is sitting at 53,000 words. This will break 60,000 words when I finish chapter 9, which will be this week as well.

And that pretty much covers it for my writing this week.

I’m still surprised that I have been able to continue to write a blog almost every week now, and on top of that I’ve been posting a series of my top five lists. Two weeks in a row I’ve posted about my favorite top five post-apocalyptic movies, and this week I covered my favorite top five post-apocalyptic books.

For the next couple of weeks I will be continuing with this theme, so expect at least two more lists covering various top five post-apocalyptic themes.

RPG wise, I made two purchases this week. The first was a book called ‘The mother of all treasure tables’ by necromancer games. This is a thick book covering tables of 100 entries from 10 GP all the way to 100,000. These lists DO NOT include magic items, and the book is a desert wasteland when it comes to art, but with a tiny bit of tweaking, this book can be used in pretty much any setting.

And it is very easy for the GM to add magic or other such treasure to the list. Some people might find such a book to be a waste of money, but at the very least it can inspire! The lists are quite unique and each one has its own potential backstory.

Worth buying.

And on a whim, I picked up the Pathfinder player companion: Undead Slayers Handbook.  As I have grown accustom to when it comes to books published by this company, the art is amazing, and the book, although thin, covers many different types of undead and how to deal with them.

It also contains new spells, equipment and magic items a few new archetypes and finally one new class type.

Again, light reading but I found it to be quite engrossing. After all, I used undead in my free online novel ‘Buck Who?’.

Speaking of novels and undead, I also finished reading Kevin J. Anderson’s ‘Un-natural Acts’, book 2 of the Dan Shambles series.

This is his foray into the urban fantasy genre involving a Zombie PI who solves mysteries in the ‘un-natural’ quarter. It’s filled with all manner of undead (zombies, ghosts, vampires) and other creatures too.

It can be quite serious and there is clear and present danger involved, but the books are still a lot of fun.

Surprisingly enough, the whole idea of a Zombie PI works! And even better, the characters, from Dan himself to all the supporting cast are quite likeable - or loathing worthy in the case of the bad guys.

Pity I didn’t think to add this to my Top Five Urban Fantasy novel list.  

And finally I get to ‘The 100’. It is a post-apocalyptic series about 100 juvenile convicts, who are sent to a war-ravaged Earth to see if it is once more inhabitable.

I Finished watching the show tonight. My wife and I binged watched this show and we loved it! So damn glad that it has been renewed for a third season.

I have read online several people bitch and moan how it's too much like 'Lord of the Flies' and all the actors are too young and pretty.

My view - so bloody what? The series has really enraptured me especially because it's set in my favorite sub-genre, the post apocalypse.

If I had a complaint? There are two. First, not enough mutant critters. A giant water-snake, and a two headed deer, although the character Lincoln, a grounder, has eluded to something really nasty in his notebook.

My other complaint is it seemed too easy to find enough food to feed 100.

And on that note, I’m finished for another week.

As always please like my personal author Facebook page and follow me on Twitter!

Until next week, Peace!