Musings

It has been a long week for me, filled with family events, looking for work and reading, lots of reading.

Throughout my life I have always had an emotional bond to certain books and certain games. For instance, I began reading Dragonlance books when I was in my late teens, early twenties and have found them to be a soothing balm to my soul, much like Asimov's Foundation series, Drizzt, the Deathgate Cycle and recently, the Wheel of Time series. In terms of games, I find myself playing over and over again Final Fantasy VII, Dragon Age and WOW (World of Warcraft).  Now, this time around, I feel that I am not on the brink of a momentous epiphany, no. I am on the cusp of a life-changing moment, yes, but it is not dread I feel but anticipation. I want things to change, and in my mind they can only change for the better. Don't get me wrong, I am nervous about my future, but not in a pessimistic way, because I am prepared to face whatever destiny throws my way.

So, instead of wallowing in self-pity, I have not reactivated my two WOW accounts. To be honest, WOW is a dangerous game to play if your self-esteem and self-worth are a bit low. Why? Because you could be a successful player inside the virtual world, a good healer tank or DPS, a good merchant, a good grinder. WOW gives you so many achievements and so many empty satisfactions that one could easily mistake them as an actual achievement. In so many ways, games like Warcraft mirror our deficiencies and our weaknesses into a terrible symbiosis of dependency. I have played WOW now too many times to fall into the trap, but I am not sure I want to begin a new chapter with the game, not now.

Final Fantasy on the other hand, is food for my soul, it has always been and will always be. It has everything a game needs, romance, action, tension, loss...the music is beautiful, the message is still relevant and the characters have been a part of my life since I bought the game back in 1998. But I have not started it yet.

No, I have turned my focus into my first true love: reading.

For the last two years, I have not read as much as I would have liked. Work got in the way most of the time, but also illness, games, movies, etc...There was never a good time to read, except maybe on vacations. But, alas, history tends to repeat itself once again and I find myself enjoying books as much as I ever had.

When I was 17 years old, I really had no clue as to what I wanted to do with my life, in terms of EVERYTHING! I will not say I was a lost soul, but I had wandered around the dark alleys of my mind and of life alone and with no life line. It was around that time that I began to read Interview with a Vampire, and the saga of the brat prince simply captured what I was feeling at the time; the despair of not knowing what to do, the awkwardness of leaving the carefree teen years and entering adulthood (although I am not certain I fully committed into the whole adulthood scenario, to be honest) and Lestat's uncanny knack of getting himself into trouble seemed to rub off on me as well. A few years later I came across the Legend of Huma, and consequently with the Dragonlance saga. And with two of my dearest friends: Tanis and Raistlin. Both of these characters tend to walk between the fine line of darkness and light, both are conflicted by their own weaknesses and strengths, by their ambitions and by their love. While Tanis fought between his Elven and Human side, Raistlin wrestled with the temptations of Takhisis and the true taste of power from Finstandantilus, the evil wizard. My struggles are more mundane of course, and I cant say that their decisions mirror my own but I have always felt a kinship to this characters that goes far beyond the story of the books. I feel that I will always have to struggle against those dark inhabitants of my soul and mind, but whereas Tanis had Laureana I have my wife and kids, Raistlin had his magic, I have my writing.

So it was with great joy that I began to read the original six, the holy grail of the Dragonlance series, the Chronicles series, comprised of Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning. And the Legends Series, Time of the Twins, War of the Twins and Test of the Twins.

Next came the new trilogy of the series, the Lost Chronicles trilogy and this is the one we are going to be reviewing in the upcoming weeks.

Next week I will review the first book of the trilogy, Dragons of Dwarven Depths.

I hope you all have a great week!!!

On to 2012

Happy New Year folks! I hope everyone had a good, relaxing and peaceful holiday. I spent most of my time with my family and friends, and although it was a bit tiring, it was a much needed break.

This year, I am going to get published, one way or another. I have two novels that I want to finish and a short story that I want to send to a contest. So I better get to work.

Novels:

The Druid's Grove is the one I have advanced the most. I am almost past the midway point, but the overview and overall plot is already done, it is just a matter of churning out some chapters and then doing a very good editing job. I feel that this project might be perfect for publishing it independently. Two months have passed since I stopped writing it and it is ripe for a strong and quick finish. I still need to pass a few things into Scrivener before continuing.

Children of the Sea is not so advanced, but I do have a very clear and definite idea of where I am going with this. It might take a bit longer, but I will get this novel written this year. Most of the research and Encyclopedia is already in Scrivener, only characters and settings need to be passed into the program. Excited about getting this one done!

I am also going to spend this week getting both novels into Scrivener. I love this program and I think it will really help me out in the long run. I am a plotter, and I need to have things under control before venturing out and writing about it.

I will let you know how I am doing in next week's post.

Books:

I read a quite a bit this past month.

I read Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy and just loved it. The characters are full of life and the way their lives intertwine will keep you on your toes.

I am reading Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, and so far I have really liked the first book.

Going to finish Sanderson's Mistborn Trilogy this month as well, and begin The Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

Games:

SW:TOR is finally here, as it has been for the past three weeks. After World of Warcraft, I had not found an MMO that could replace WOW, until now.

The graphics and setting are stunning, the classes seem to be well balanced and fun ( I am playing the Empire and so far have a 18 Bounty Hunter, 17 Imperial Agent and a 10 Warrior) but the details are what make this game special. The fact that every single one of the quest givers has a line of dialog only you can hear and see is pretty special to me, considering that in WOW I grabbed as many quests as I could without bothering of finding out what I needed to do. Class quests and story arches are, so far, epic. Flashpoints and group quests are challenging and rewarding.

I will write more about hits next week!

See you soon!

Guns of Avalon

Good Tuesday to all! This has been a fun week for me, and I hope it was a good for you too. On to this week’s post!

Books

I am still well into my romance with The 1^st Chronicles of Amber. I read book 2 and 3, Guns of Avalon and Sign of the Unicorn.

Guns of Avalon is a great sequel to Nine Princes in Amber, it has so much depth and the descriptions of the places the Princes call Shadows reach epic and oneiric proportions. Corwin’s quest of conquering Amber is derailed, but his determination to sit on the throne rivals only that of his brother Eric, who is the actual ruler of Amber. This is a book that allows us to get closer to Corwin, thus revealing some of the truth hidden inside his imperfect memories.

Sign of the Unicorn is a faster book; it has a relentless pace that will navigate us through the political turmoil and family conspiracies brewing in Amber. The Shadow Road might be explained, the curse Corwin launched might come back to haunt him, brothers lost might be found and allies might become traitors. The key word here is might :P

The books were written in the early seventies, and it shows. This is a brand of fantasy that has a message behind it, not hidden, but subtle in its presence. This is a series about family, about loss, power, politics, treason and Shadows, the latter are wondrous worlds created and inhabited by the Princes, or their own shadows. I had wanted to read a fantasy series that evoked the sort of epic world where I could visit and relax, and rest my mind, and Amber is such a place.

I am already reading book 4, The Hand of Oberon.

I still managed to squeak by a few more chapters of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn: The Final Empire, Volume 1 of the Mistborn trilogy (or quartet, since a new book of the series is due to be released a month from now). Like much of what I have read from him, the book is just massive, the people that inhabit his worlds are rich and colorful and interesting, customs and folklore and magic are well balanced and make for a great read. I will post more of this book next week, but again, what I have read is really good.

The Dresden Files are still on hold; I did not manage to read a single page of the first book, Storm Front, but will try to get a few chapters under my belt this week.

The Black Company is no longer on hiatus! I did manage to read quite a few chapters of the fourth book, Shadow Games, but wont comment on the book until I am done, hopefully next week. Croaker, I still love you!

Games

I am playing Dragon Age again; in between session of Final Fantasy VII of course (I am in Disc three, so I will take it easy and milk it as much as I can). Dragon Age: Origins is one of the greatest games I have ever played in my life. The scale of the world, the voice acting, the animations, the cut scenes, the story and the characters that will accompany you throughout makes this one the best RPG’s ever made. I have played this game twice already, both times (go figure) I played following the Human Noble origin story and because I bought the Digital Deluxe edition, I had a couple of quests that added a very good ally in Shale and gave me a place to keep my stuff (Storage space is a bitch in this game) in Warden’s Keep.

I usually like to play characters (in games where choices do have some sort of impact on the development of the story), tending to be more on the good side. With the two human characters I managed to fall in love with Morrigan, the sexy witch everybody hates to love or loves to hate.

For this go around though, I created a City Elf and will try to be more on the neutral side. I will let you now how I am doing.

Still waiting for SWOTOR to be launched!

Writing

Well, on Friday my two writing buddies and I discussed and dissected my short story, X’s Game, so that now I can edit and rewrite it at will, for the second and third drafts. The good news it that the story is a go, they liked it, the bad news, well, there are no real bad news. It still has a long way to go and I need to work on it still. But, we are getting there!

The Druid’s Grove is coming along fine, today I hope to finish Chapter 20 and will be a couple of chapters shy of finishing the Elven part of the story, which is the real meat and potatoes of the story. The Human and Dwarven part are going to be smaller. I love to write!

I have laid my goals for the final weeks of the year. I want to be writing 10,000 words per week, 2,000 words per day (I won’t write on Saturdays and Sundays, not yet anyway) and last week I fell short 3,000, but I am getting there.

The Druid’s Grove word count: 36,811

See you all next week.

Black Company Reloaded

Another week is in the books, and not too soon for me. It has been a pair of challenging weeks for me and my family, but thankfully, everything has been restored back to normal, and I hope that I can get back to updating the blog and posting more of my work on time.

This week I have been reading quite a lot actually, although not only books. For the last month I have experienced my first real attempt at reading comic books.

Comic Books

After talking about it with some of my well-versed friends on the matter, I decided that I was going to begin with Marvel’s Ultimate series, primarily the X-Men, Iron Man and Spider Man and the Avengers Series. I began with the Avengers series and just loved it. Then I began the X-Men series and have really enjoyed it so far. Both series are dark and brutal, there is no tiptoeing around the real issues that surround the characters. I was really surprised at how Xavier and Magneto are depicted, at the hard choices they have to make and the way they don’t flinch when taking said decisions. I hope this week I can read at least another 20 volumes of the series. Spider Man and Iron Man will have to wait.

Books

I just can’t seem to get around finishing Pattern Recognition. We just did not click. I seem to always wander off and I am forced to re-read the same page over, and over again. So, it is safe to say that I did not like it at all and to be honest, I have not enjoyed it one bit. The premise is interesting but I felt the world is too close to mine, if that makes any sense. I will finish it, I promise, I just don’t know when :P

I have a new literary romance: The Black Company. Yes, the Black Company is at it again, and I read books two and three of the series: Shadows Linger and The White Rose. I don’t why, but I have a soft spot in my heart for mercenary bands. The Captain, Elmo, the Lieutenant, Goblin, One-Eye, Raven, Otto and Croaker, who is the medic, and also official annalist of the Company. The second book is just a jewel of dark fantasy, as we follow two different stories: the Company’s passage to the north, filled with danger and doubts about the work they are doing for the Lady and her Taken, the latter also trying to get even with some of the Company’s members, and the one of an innkeeper and his strange guests in a cesspool called Juniper, and how his life will change once he manages to swallow his fears and restraint. The whole book is written under a somber cloak of grayness and despair and the magnificent story will not let you breath, let alone take a break.




The third book, The White Rose, is a bit less dark, and a bit more fantasy oriented. We still follow the Company as they make their way through the Desert of Fear and the Barrowlands. I don’t want to spoil the book if you are interested, so I will stop here with the review. However, I do encourage reading this fine series ASAP!




I also finished Hit List, the latest Anita Blake Novel. My wife, a complete Blake freak, er, I mean, fan, did not like it and now I can see why: It is not that good. I have felt that most of the elements that made this series as successful as it is, are missing. Anita is no longer Anita, not in the good way. I get that characters evolve, I did not know they devolved as well. She is careless doing her job, taking her care of her body and her needs. The story is convoluted and to be honest with you all, right at the end it makes no sense at all, and well, it is just not good. The book is filled with situations that are worn and tired, with moments that we have read before, over and over again. There is nothing new, and whatever novelty is offered it is bland, sexual and/or simply lacking. Let’s see if the next book is better and if not, well, I have enjoyed 19 books of the series, so it is not that much of a big deal.

I began two more books, The Legend of Huma, because frankly I need some epic fantasy and the first book of the Mistborn Trilogy. I hope I will have finished at least one of those books, because I am also reading book four of the Black Company series.


Games

It has been a while since I sat down and played a game. I am almost done with my play through of Final Fantasy VII, and because I know it by heart, it is not difficult to leave the game for a couple of months before continuing.

Guild Wars is on hiatus again, but I really like the subtle, and no so subtle differences between expansion packs. In fact, even though the setting is in the same world, the game playing changes and the distinct themes of each expansion makes you fell that you are playing a completely new game, and that is hard to do. The Prophecies campaign, the original, is great, but it requires a lot more of grinding to level up, while the Nightfall and Factions expansions do not. All in all, I think it is a beautiful game and I hope to have at least three toons level 20 before Guild Wars 2 hits the shelves. I am also intrigued at what I am going to do about GW 2, I don’t know if I want to buy it or not, because I know I want to play it! The problem is that with Star Wars coming out at the end of the year, and I have already pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition, I won't have much time to spare. I am excited about SW because most of my friends are going to play it as well, and that makes all the difference in the world, and because the game looks great. Still, GW 2 will not have a monthly fee, so that makes it also very attractive.

Fallout 3 is also on hiatus, the world is simply too big for me to really compromise and finish it off, although it is really good and lots of fun. Someday I will get this one done!

Final Fantasy XIII is also on hold, although I do expect to finish it before the year is done. It is too linear for my taste, but the graphics, music and story are very good and I am enjoying the game when I do sit and play it. Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be out around January of next year, so yeah, I want to play that one also :D

This week, I played Mass Effect again, for the first time in two years. I really liked the game a lot but for some reason, I just did not finish it. I spent most of the weekend with my daughter, both of us confined to our home because she had a cold, so I decided to give it another go, to at least finish it before any more Mass Effects games are produced. Mind you, I am talking about the first one, and it is really good, but also, it is HUGE! The problem that I have with these games, the problem I currently have with Fallout 3, is that I will play it and complete everything there is to complete, I will chase down any side quest available, and complete it before moving on with the main quest. If I don’t do that, then I can’t play it, which is why it takes me so long to finish these types of games.

Writing

It has completely stopped. Real life is sometimes too hard for me to have time to do anything at all, and the past few weeks have not been fun at all. However, I did manage to write a poem to my son and also, I think that my X story is almost done as well. Yes, really, it is almost done. I swear. Ok, this time it is, almost done. :D
The Druid’s Grove is the one suffering the most with my time problems, but I intend to get back on track this week.
I will post link to a Druid’s Chapter I had not posted before, and I think that one goes well as Chapter 2.

See you all on Thursday, I am sure I will have something for the update. Really.

I would like to thank each and every one of you that supported me and my wife during our boy’s illness. You know who you are so big hugs going all around!