War and Human Nature (read for fun)

What causes war? Why do humans commit acts of violence? Is world-wide peace possible and if so then how? War and Human Nature is a debate on questions like this.

This book is part of the Opposing Viewpoints series. It is divided into chapters headed by questions and composed of articles by different authors answering said question in their own way. They are structured to contrast each other and thereby provide a (hopefully) panoramic view of the debate on each question.
For instance, the first question is "Are Humans Aggressive by Nature" and the first answer is "Aggression is an Instinct" followed by "Aggression is Not an Instinct".

Overall, it is an interesting book. The opinions work together, challenging each other and answering each other's criticism even if not explicitly doing so. Some of them have stronger arguments than others in my opinion, and some feel incomplete. These are excerpts, after all. The full versions are elsewhere.

This makes it a quick read. Each chapter can be read and considered in less than one hour.

The problem with this book is that it is dated. Much of the war that is concerned with is either World War II or the Cold War. There are exceptions but the majority of the arguments and debate is centered around these two subjects which are closer in time to their authors than readers in 2019. Terrorism, domestic violence, and hates crimes are examples of aggression and violence which are either not mentioned or only sparingly in comparison to conventional war and nuclear weapons.


Trickster Eric Novels gives "War and Human Nature" a B+

Click here for my next book review: Log Horizon volume 11

Click here for my previous book review: The Handy History Answer Book


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback  

The Usefulness of Grey Morality (D&D Experience)

Using grey morality injects ambiguity into a story. This ambiguity can then be used to drive conflicts and forge characters.

This happens a lot in my current Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Right now, there's this hobgoblin warlord that's building an army. He uses slave labor, gathers lots of weapons, and absorbs independent goblinoid communities into his army. Sounds bad, right? When the party infiltrated his camp as caravan guards to gather intel they didn't find something like the pits of Mordor. It was an organized war camp but there was nothing exceptionally cruel going on (that we noticed at least).

When he offered a banquet for the caravan to celebration the completion of the deal, we totally thought there was going to be poison. My character downed an antidote. There wasn't any poison. We later learned that this warlord was a repeat customer of the human city states and had never cheated any of them. In fact, we discovered that his army was not meant to attack any of the city-states (at the time, at least; on-going campaign and all) but a kraken worshiping cult that had been abducting sailors and transforming them into sea-spawn.

We weren't sure who we should side with, if either of them. It led to a lot of interesting discussions within the party. Some of us wanted to attack the warlord for being a slave-owner and some wanted to side with him because they saw the kraken cult as the bigger threat and/or greater rewards lay in working for the more lawful of the two. The roleplay of these debates was a lot of fun.

My own character was mostly interested in hunting and eating so he didn't care which side ended up filling his belly.

There was even a mysterious monk following us. We weren't sure (until the most recent session) if he worked for the hobgoblin warlord, the kraken cult or a third faction. Thus, we didn't know if he was an enemy or a possible ally. This also led to fun roleplaying.

If things had been more straight-forward then we won't have had the opportunity to have these fun moments. Discussing a course of action, in-character, was made possible by the ambiguity of the grey/unknown morality of the characters we met.

What do you think? If you'd like, please share with me such moments of your own campaigns.


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback  

The Handy History Answer Book (read for fun)

I think this was a gift from several years back. It is a general history book that claims to provide answers to common questions.

The book is organized by subject: war, philosophy, discovery etc. These are the chapters. Within the chapters are sections that are a couple pages each in length. Each section is topped by a question such as "What is X" or "who was Y". As far as that goes, the book is fine.

Being a general history book, the answers are general. They are short and summarized, maybe to the point of being incomplete. This is not a problem. It was addressed in the introduction. Adding more specific answers to each question would make the book unwieldly in length. For introductory information, it is sufficient. The problems, as I seem them, are not with the answers themselves.

Rather, the problems are with the table of contents and the lack of recommended direction. The former is incomplete and the latter is stifling. These problems make the book less convenient to use and less useful overall.

The table of contents only lists the start of each chapter. So there is no easy means of paging within chapters, only between them. Next, the questions answered are not listed so the reader does know which are answered without going through the entire chapter. Making this worse, the table of contents only lists categories like "Ancient medicine" or "Trojan War" so one must make a guess in which section one's question is in. All this combines to make the book inconvenient at best as a reference book.

Each answer is limited in its information. This is excusable but there is no direction to find in-depth information. All that exists is a page of references at the end of the book. A couple titles as recommended reading for each answer would increase the book's value. Without such a feature, the book is far less "handy" than it could be.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Handy History Answer Book" a C-

Click here for my next book review: War and Human Nature

Click here for my previous book review: Mahou Sensei Negima - omnibus #7

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback  

Magister Negi Mage - Negima Omnibus #7 (Read for fun)

This is a transitional piece. The overall story is moving from the Mahorafest arc to the Magical World arc. In the meantime, lots of fun and interesting things happen.

　
First of all, there is more progress on Asuna's character arc. One of my favorite parts of this omnibus occurs early on, where she has this intriguing and mysterious dream. It's all serious until you turn the page and Asuna walks in on Konko and Setsuna starting a pactio. Mood whiplash for massive comedy.
Her intensive training under Evangeline to better manage Kanka furthers this arc in addition to the level of badass she takes. It has great emotional heft for both of them.

　
Second, there's the world building. Traveling naturally leads to world building. So far, the story has only spoken of the Magical World. Its society and its laws played a central role in the previous arc and now the story moves to its physical location. Just the connection between the two is interesting, let alone the geography, history, etc. that comes into play once the "Negima Club (temporary name)" arrives there.


Third, there's snippets of what everyone does around the main action such as Asuna's training or the beach vacation that Anya jumps into. These are amusing little diversions like Mana's attempts to get a student-discount for a movie ticket.


Most of all, what I like is the bridging of the gap. These events create a separation between the major arcs to keep them more distinct and provide a breather. It is filled it with meaningful events that develop characters and advance overall plot elements rather than immediate stories. Of course, there is also plenty of comedy. It's only recently that I've come to understand how important this is.

The way in which Ken Akamatsu creates the new story's arc levels is also impressive. It is not rushed but there is no narrative fat either. An immediate goal, a midterm goal and a long-term goal are established in concise terms and then acted upon.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Negima #7 omnibus" an A+

Click here for my previous book review Chronicles of the Crusades


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

Chronicles of the Crusade - Read for Fun

This is another book I got while in College. It is a combination of two accounts, Geoffrey of Villehardouin's record of the Fourth Crusade and John of Joinville's record of the Sixth Crusade. It is unusual among my books for being primary sources. I will go into each one individually.

Geoffrey of Villehardouin's record of the Fourth Crusade.

The presentation here is interesting. There is no introduction written by Geoffrey of Villehardouin so his purpose in doing so can be debated. Personally, I think it is a morality tale.
The crusaders are presented as heroes and others, such as the Venetians building their boats, are enthusiastic about helping them. The economic angle is glossed over. He lays much blame on those that "go to other ports" instead of joining this particular crusader army. To leave it is a sin and punishment is swift and karmic.

He loves his hyperbole. The fleets and fortresses are all described as the best ever and everyone greets everyone else with great honor. Those who leave the main crusade army are the worst ever because there was never a more noble enterprise than this one here.

When I first learned of the Fourth Crusade and how it ended up attacking Constantinople instead of its target in Egypt, I was shocked. I thought "aren't all these guys supposed to be allies? Why are they attacking each other?" It puzzled me for years. This book, both its introduction by Caroline Smith and the account itself provides the answers. They are, basically, "No" and "because they have long-standing trust issues". Just because they practiced the same religion (I know, the Great Schism had already taken place), could speak one or more shared languages and had a common enemy did not make them friends.


John of Joinville's record of the Sixth Crusade

First thing, it's not really about the Sixth Crusade. It's actually about King Louis IX a.k.a. Saint Louis and why he deserved this special distinction. It takes some time for him to get to the crusade itself. The first section is about the king's virtues, such as his frugality and means of administering justice.

It is indeed a contrast with Geoffrey of Villehardouin's record. There is no hyperbole. While he praises King Louis he also criticizes  some of his actions, mainly the tactical ones. It feels more like a personal account.


Being first person historical accounts, I'm not sure how to rate them.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Chronicles of the Crusade" a +

Click here for my next book review (also for fun): Negima Omnibus #7

Click here for my previous book review (a request): SHOT DOWN 

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

"SHOT DOWN" - answering review request

Steve Snyder asked me to read his historical book, "SHOT DOWN". It is about the author's father, Howard Snyder, and how he survived being shot down over Germany-occupied France during WWII.
The blurb states that this is about Howard Snyder's experience but it reads more like a biography of him with a focus on the WWII mission and its aftermath. It also includes a lot of information about other subjects, such as Howard's military training and other missions he went on before the one where he was shot down. There's also a section about members of the French Resistance and other individuals who sheltered downed pilots.

It's all interesting stuff. I had no idea the pilots had to wear so much gear during their missions. There's armor to protect against shrapnel, winter clothing for the altitude and air masks for oxygen. I thought all they had to worry about was enemy fire. It makes what they did a lot more impressive for its bravery. The process of take-off and landing and the formations they had to assume, and how dangerous these were, was also interesting. I can only imagine what it must have been like to see an allied airplane slip out of formation or, of course, to be on that plane.

Besides that, I enjoyed reading about the Comet Line. These guys are the heroes of this particular story. When they see a plane go down in their area, it is a race against the Nazi to get to the plane first, find survivors and hide them. Then of course to continue hiding them while feeding and then getting them out. In addition to courage, resourcefulness and organization, they also had to be clever because the Nazi would have their own pilots crash in a sting-like operation.

Primary sources are fantastic. Included in the book are many illustrations of planes, locations, wreckage and the people involved. The author even included letters and journal entries that his father wrote during his time as a soldier.

This book is factual information with a keenly human experience.


Trickster Eric Novels gives "SHOT DOWN" an A+


This was a free book review. The author requested an honest review so I provided one. 

Click here for my next book review (for fun): Chronicles of the Crusade

Click here for my previous book review (a request): Enaro

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

Death in D&D - It Completes a Character

Hello!

This post is about using death as a tool for character development. Not the actual death of a character that affects others but imagining how a character would respond to a hypothetical death.

I've spent the last several months playing a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. My character is a high elf fighter named "Hadari" who was literally raised by wolves (rolled for it on the Outlander background). It's taken this long to reach level 5 and I've planned out how I want his character development and mechanical advancement to progress. I hadn't thought about his potential death.

Unlike in video games, there is no guarantee of "game over - restart" in D&D. If your entire party is wiped out, that's it.  A Dungeon Master could allow it for a penalty as a house-rule, of course, or arrange a situation for the party's revival, but the typical response is to roll-up a new character. There are no second chances. This was a new experience for me.

Recently, my party botched a mission and had to leave town in a hurry. The DM decided to call the session as we fled. We didn't know if anyone was pursuing us. If so, we didn't know how many or if they were on horseback. We had to leave most of our own horses behind in our hurry, so if the city guards were on horseback then they would overtake us. I spent much of the next day worried about our uncertain doom.

Then I remembered a line from a fellow author. Thaddeus White said in a blog interview, "Nothing completes a character like their demise " (You can read the whole thing here).  (He's a fantastic novelist, by the way). That got me thinking how I would roleplay Hadari's death in such a situation.

Due to trauma in his backstory, he definitely wouldn't allow himself to be captured alive. He also misses his former wolf pack (the party being his replacement for them) and fears them to be dead. So I figured he would die fighting in a frenzy of panic and fear. His end would be that of a tragic hero.

This helped me to understand Hadari on a deeper level, which helped my role-playing for the next session. It also brought me peace of mind if the party got into such trouble.

A week later, we discovered that the city guards were more worried about putting out the fire our rogue started than chasing us so we got away clean.


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback 

The Highest Power beta reading status: complete

My third beta reader replied this past week and the fourth is busy so the beta read phase for the fifth book in the Journey to Chaos Series is complete. The fourth draft of The Highest Power has begun.

All of the beta readers agreed that the start needed to be re-established. It was originally a continuous scene from the end of the previous book, Transcending Limitations. It clumsily added recap exposition that was insufficient to the point of confusing. Then it quickly moved into action with several more characters. It made sense to me but no one else. This is why an author needs beta readers.

I have kept busy while waiting for the beta readers to finish. I worked on two other writing projects.

1.  The first book of the new series
This is to be the first in my next main series, with others being spin-offs from Journey to Chaos. I don't have a name for the book itself but the series title will be "Tariatla".  I've talked with others and gotten some good advice (Thanks again, Jean Gill!). Perhaps I'll list the ones I like best in an upcoming blog post and make a poll out of them.  
I finished two drafts. So after I publish The Highest Power I'll do a third and then go looking for beta readers again.

2. Before Eric Arrived (Tentative title)
This is a collection of five short stories. They focus on a major character from the Journey to Chaos series and what life was like for them in the time before the main narrative started. The characters with starring roles are Annala, Tiza, Nolien, Kallen and Basilard.
If it becomes popular enough then I may write more short story prequels. I might even take requests for your favorite character.

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback 

Enaro - Answering Review Request

Neda Aria asked me to read their novel "Enaro". I'm going to call it a science-fiction piece because that is how it starts out. It turns into horror eventually; starting with "Scale Of Scientific Sins" horror and moving into "Eldritch Abomination" horror.

PLOT

This is a weird one. It's blurb....well, it doesn't really have one. The only thing on Amazon is a quote from the book. It is a sound byte, I think. So even after reading it I'm not sure what the plot, conflict, story etc. are.
NOTE
Between receiving the review request and posting this review, the author has updated the amazon blurb. It no longer has the book quote but a premise describing conflict and characters. It is more useful to get a sense of things than the quote was but, in my opinion, more misleading.
END NOTE

Anyway, one would think that the blurb lead to a political science fiction story, perhaps dystopia or Crapsaccharine World. Except, the first section has monsters pounding away at a wall and a girl is using the power of dreams to repair the wall at the behest of a deity; I think that's what's going on.

Then the next scene is a guy despairing at the flaws in his society and then going out for a Enaro celebration. The second chapter (I think) goes back before Enaro existed, where Geras is lecturing to special students. It starts with time and gravity, and it all sounds scientific and what valid and what not. Then it goes into reality-is-a-simulation theories and the thoroughly debunked "humans only use 10% of their brain" idea. By the end of the lecture, Geras is talking about the coming of aliens. He sounds like a kook, but he's actually one of those aliens. I'm not sure if this is a Human Alien thing or he's using A Form You Are Comfortable With.

The story is not linear, which normally would not be an issue, except I'm not sure if this is just a matter of the order of events in literary fashion as it typically the case. The protagonist here (I think it is Geras) may or may not be experiencing/directing these events in the order described (i.e. linear from his perspective but In-Media-Res for the reader) or if he's aware of all of them simultaneously. I think this may be the case because there is a lot of talk about 4-dimensional thinking be limiting.

There is talk of "past lives" but I'm not sure what these mean. They could be body-surfing, reincarnation, a really long term simulation or a figure of speech along the lines of "I started a new life in place X after Y happened".

I don't know if "Khog" is a real entity, a metaphor, the proper name of a concept, or (maybe literally) personified phenomenon.

At the end, I get the sense that this whole story was a god-like creature's erotic dream.

Yes, if you don't like erotica, then this book is likely not for you.  I felt uncomfortable reading it because that sort of thing is not something that I like to read.

Geras is definitely a womanizer. One of the special students, I mentioned he admitted solely for an opportunity to seduce her, and on another occasion, he gave a woman vodka until she passed out. There is one character who is horrified at how he copied Geras' behavior; so horrified he thinks he deserves to go to literal hell (that, I'm pretty sure, is not a metaphor).

Yes, this starts as a science fiction pieces, and Geras scorns the idea of religion, but there are definitely god-like creatures here and a hell for sinners. Maybe. It seems clear at the time but it might have been an illusion, or a dream of an illusion of a show that is an abstraction of a conflict between two "higher intelligences". Of the two of them, only one might exist.

This story goes heavy into Mind-Screw territory. I read the ending but I can't really say what happened or what it resolved, if anything.

CHARACTERS

Geras - an alien atheist scientist and womanizer. Despite setting up Nero to be a place of equality and stuff, he's pretty selective on who goes there. The determining factors appear to be a certain mindset/capacity to learn his metaphysics and the right genetics to absorb his immortality drug.

Kes - a human (half alien?) who is driven by resentment of Geras and his own self-hatred.

Ze - an alien with a god-complex. Seriously, he re-enacts Judgment Day.

POLISH

It has funky grammar; I don't want to say that it is wrong but it is strange to read. I also saw a couple spell errors.

This book both intrigued and repulsed me. I want to understand it more but I also don't want to. Most of all, it just confused me.


Trickster Eric Novels gives "Enaro" a ?

This was a free book review. The author requested an honest review so I provided one. 

Click here for my next book review (a request): SHOT DOWN

Click here for my previous book review (for fun): The Last Days of Socrates

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

The Last Days of Socrates (read for fun)

This is yet another college book that I never got around to reading. Yes, I rarely sold them back because I'm that much of a nerd. This is a collection of four stories styled as "dialogues".

I found Euthyphro  both fun and instructive. The  elenchus or Socratic Method is on display here and it shows the difficulty in defining seemingly obvious words like "justice". I like to see it as Socrates trolling Euthyphro; truly a gadfly as Apology goes into detail regarding.

Apology is the meat of the matter. It's  interesting. From what I can tell, instead of out-right refuting the charges against him, he tries to wriggle out of them by saying they don't apply. For instance, he isn't a teacher because he doesn't charge a fee and it's not his fault if others like his company and ask him things to which he answers at length. One has to wonder if he's taking his trial seriously. Indeed, he indirectly tells the jury that they're stupider than he is because they're unaware of just how stupid they are.

Crito is a short one. Crito argues from a worldly perspective; sons, and physical pleasures of life and such. Even in the next dialogue he's still focused on practical matters such as Socrates's funeral. He's a great foil for Socrates, the one who pursues only wisdom.

The more I read of Phaedo, the more I thought Socrates was making stuff up to ease the sorrow of his friends. Really, that seems to me to be his entire purpose in leading the conversation to the subject of why a philosopher should look forward to death and thus the concept of the immortal soul. While the idea of bodily needs and desires distracting the philosopher from the pursuit of wisdom makes perfect sense, the Argument from Opposites sounds more like wordplay than logic. Indeed, the editor's intersections between the sections of the conversation as well as the notes at the back of the book point out hasty agreements or weak points in argument.


After reading the entire book, I prefer the first two dialogues. They feel more solidly based and philosophical to me than the other two. The latter pair seem to me like an apology, of sorts, for the friends of Socrates. They tried to save him but he refused to be saved, and he refused to be saved because he wanted to die.
Even so, it is difficult to judge them as equals given their differing contexts (and when Plato wrote them, of course). Euthyphro is an acquaintance of his and doing something that Socrates disagrees with so he basically gets made to look foolish. The Apology takes place in a court room during a trial, which is much different than a private chat with his friends.
Then there's the discussion of how much of these events took place and how much is Plato creating as a frame device for certain concepts (like his Theory of Ideas). I find it telling that the Apology is the only one that was publicly witnessed by many people and more so that it appears to be the only one of the four witnessed by Plato himself.

I enjoyed all four and found them interesting in different ways.

Trickster Eric Novels gives The Last Days of Socrates an A.

Click here for my next book review (a request): Enaro


Click here for my previous book review (for fun): Mahou Sensei Negima -omnibus #8


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).


His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback 

Five Questions in the Crown of Blood (author interview)

Thaddeus White has completed his excellent Bloody Crown trilogy. I've read the first two so far and I rated both of them highly.  So when he asked me to spread the word on the third one I gladly agreed. Here are Five Questions for "Crown of Blood" and its series.

___________

1. What was it like writing the third book of a trilogy?  Describe for us any challenges or joys that came with it.

 

Kind of odd. I’ve been working on this trilogy for a long time now, and it’s significantly more challenging than three stand-alone novels because there’s a need for additional planning in order to keep the plot lines consistent across three books. At the same time, story arcs have to be of varying length, some trilogy-long, others starting and ending within a single book, or two, so that each book, whilst part of a great whole, is also a complete entry.

 

On the plus side, the greater size of the trilogy means that characters can have more depth and the story itself can have more ebbing and flowing. I’ve enjoyed the development of characters like Stephen Penmere and Sophie Hurstwood (the unofficial subtitle of the trilogy is ‘In Which Terrible Things Happen To Sophie’).

 

 

2. Did you have all three books planned out ahead of time or did you improvise as the war progressed? Perhaps it was a mixture of the two.

 

I planned most things ahead of time, because I didn’t want to risk driving into a dead end and then scrabbling for a resolution. One thing I decided late on (and changed) was who ends up on the throne. That was deliberate, as I thought it’d help maintain the ambiguity as to the ultimate victor of the war. However, I did fiddle with things a little bit, mostly increasing or decreasing the amount of time spent with a given POV as felt natural and fit better with the story.

 

3. What about the trilogy's cast. Is there anyone you became particularly fond of or, conversely, anyone whose death scene you looked forward to writing?

 

Ha. You say ‘conversely’ but I actually quite like killing off my favourite characters. Nothing completes a character like their demise. As for favourites, I have a few. The female trio of Karena, Sophie, and Charlotte were fun to write, and I really enjoyed Sir James’ elegant sense of humour (in Traitor’s Prize he describes a nobleman he’s teaching swordplay as not requiring ‘further decoration’ after the pupil falls down some stairs and gets the day off training).

4. The Blood Crown Trilogy is just one of the stories that you've written in this setting, correct? What other stories take place in this world you've created?

 

Bane of Souls and Journey to Altmortis, which have a few recurring characters (including Fritigern, Anja, and their hound, who have small roles in The Bloody Crown Trilogy) but are mostly separate. Bane of Souls follows Horst, a Kuhrisch who visits Highford and is compelled to join the mage’s tower, much to his displeasure (which isn’t improved when he discovers the city’s being terrorized by a spate of murders).

 

Journey to Altmortis follows Thaddeus and Lynette Falchester, and a motley crew of companions, as they head deep into the snowy Kuhrisch wilderness to catch up with some old enemies and reclaim stolen family heirlooms. But they find rather more than they bargain for in the ruined, subterranean city of Altmortis…

 

5. What are your post Crown of Blood writing plans?

 

In shockingly productive news, the next Sir Edric story, Sir Edric and the Corpse Lord, is quite close to completion. I just need to finish the beta-reading phase, give it a final proof, and sort the cover, and it’s good to go. My intention is to have it released some time in the second half of 2019.

 

After that, I’ve outlined the next Sir Edric comedy. There are a few ideas bubbling away for more in Crown of Blood world, but after finishing the trilogy I’m going to give myself a little break.

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crown-Blood-Bloody-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B07PLFC2PB/ 

 

 

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PLFC2PB  

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/928094  

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

Mahou Sensei Negima omnibus 8: read for fun

This is a combat heavy omnibus. You can really see it that with the fight Kagetaro of Bosporus and, of course, the start of the tournament arc. Without Mahora Academy as the setting, the harem comedy elements that originally defined the series have been swept away. There are still romance jokes, naturally, such as Ako's crush on Negi's older alter ego and Asakura taking a picture of her pactio, but they are further back; jokes and side plots.

We also have the introduction of Jack Rakan. I've heard of him but this is my first time seeing him in the manga itself. I can see why he is so popular. He has endless comedic potential with his eccentrics and buffoonery ("ETERNAL NEGI FEVER!" hahahaa) but can shift to serious easily. He definitely has a battle-hardened war veteran vibe to him, which is displayed in both his badassery and also his contemplation about the last war and regret during it. Being of Nagi's comrades also plugs him into plot-and-background heavy stuff.

Magia Erebea. That is some creepy stuff. Its presentation and set up give it the gravitas deserving of something that could be called "dark magic". On that note, fantastic character development for Negi and Chisame. They've come far from their roots in earlier volumes but still the same.

The side plots with the other students, those still separated from the A-Party of Negi, are also fantastic. Yue joins a magic knight academy and without certain mental hangups to inhibit her, she is no longer a "baka ranger". That is so fun I think it could stand on its own. There's also Nodoka the treasure-hunter/adventurer. Now THAT is definitely something I want to read more about. The way Ken Akamatsu introduces it, her party running away from a collapsing dungeon, is irresistibly tantalizing.

 
Trickster Eric Novels gives Mahou Sensei Negima omnibus 8 an A+

Click here for my next book review (for fun): The Last Days of Socrates
Click here for my previous book review (for fun): Medieval Military Technology

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

Full Picture vs Moving Image - writing tip

Today I re-read my Bleach Fanfiction "Nature of Power." It is an A.U. where Orihime became Rukia's substitute instead of Ichigo. Switching the focus from Orihime to Ichigo reorients the focus and details of every scene. Even though I was adapting a story that someone else had written, a lot of original content was necessary. This is particularly true during Uryu's introduction because Orihime is a friendly and empathetic girl who wants to join forces with him and is already spending time with him in the schools' Craft Club. Not to sound immodest but I impressed myself.

I think I did a good job bringing Orihime's Cloudcuckoolander humor into the narration and her interactions with others, such as Rukia. I also liked how I wrote the combat scenes, but most of all when Orihime fights the Menos Grade that appeared during the hunting duel that Uryu starts in cannon. Again, I don't mean to brag, but I started smiling at the combat tension, foreshadowing, and interweaving the canon element of Uryu's grandfather wanting Shinigami and Quincy to work together with my AU's idea that Orihime was building a superhero team. It was then that I had a realization.

I wasn't focusing on scenery. I wasn't writing about the landscape or the weather, and there was only a little about character expressions and appearances. It was all about emotion, action and motivation. The scenes were quick. I wasn't "painting the full picture" as has been my focus . I wrote this fanfiction long before that. At the time my thinking was "anyone whose going to read an anime AU fanfiction will already know what everything looks like" so there was no need. That led to the second realization.

If one is going to "paint the full picture" then one has to paint a picture. That is, they will create a static image. That's the definition of a picture. Yes, there are ways to suggest movement and action etc. within a literal picture but when using a "picture" as a metaphor for writing.....the analogy gets away with you.

I realized that it could lead to describing something "as it is". That is a motionless scene. It is a static image.

As I wrote this, I thought about manga. Specifically, Mahou Sensei Negima, because I happened to be re-reading the eighth omnibus today as well. It has this splash page that shows Ostia from a high distance. It is a two page spread and separate from the story's narrative. This is what I am talking about. You have the static image of Ostia ("New Ostia" technically) and then action of the narrative. They are separate so they don't interfere with each other. More generally, there's the practice of "establishment panels" that show the reader (or viewer) the setting so future panels can focus on characters and actions.

This sets the stage. It is a necessary step but an info dump of the environment can bog things down just like an info dump of magical mechanics. Scenic detail and action description; it will be a balancing act.. Like a video is composed of quickly moving pictures, I need to include both. As I write in the future, I will keep this in mind.

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
 

Using Backstories to Enchance a Narrative

Just this week, my Dungeons and Dragons group shared our character's personal backstories. This was huge. For me at least; backstories add more to my enjoyment of the campaign than anything short of the Dungeon Master's narrative for the campaign. Now I feel like I can better connect to the  characters of the other players and we can better play as the characters themselves instead of like remotely operating them.

It is a more direct experience. It is a more immersive experience. Finally, it opens the possibility of those backstories influencing the events of the campaign, thus leading to a more unique experience.  All these things can be used to enhance a novel as well as a tabletop game.

For instance, I decided that my character didn't like high elves (despite being one himself) because of something in his backstory. This flavored the party's encounter with some high elves that were in trouble. It is something that got the group talking about the subject and led to a fun event that connected with something from a previous session.
As part of the same encounter, another player did something purely because that is how their character, with their backstory, would act. This turned out to be the key to something that could enable our party to move forward with a particular task. I am still thinking about how my character can make use of that event in the coming session.

All of this happened because our players put thought into their backstories. Without this, our characters would be stats on sheets. At best, amnesiac heroes who popped into existence one day and started marching. It would still be fun to play, don't get me wrong (I know some people are more interested in power gaming) but it would be less fun to read about.

If a hero has a history with a villain, be it anything from former friend to forgotten victim to arch enemy, then their conflict has more emotional heft. Likewise, if two party members have a history prior to the campaign (or the current campaign for that matter) then they can parlay that into discussion, battle tactics and story decisions.

I have another example from a different source. It is, in fact, what inspired me to write this blog article.

Every time I watch the beginning of a Black Clover episode, I smile. "All seemed lost until a lone mage stepped forward and took up the fight", this solemn narration accompanied by visual of the original Wizard King in his famous battle is nothing short of classical fantasy awesome. Say what you will about the manga's originality but it is amazing in how it uses its backstory.

This backstory sets the tone for each episode and the story as a whole. It is an epic that involves grand heroes fighting against overwhelming odds. It is encapsulates what Asta and Yuno, our principal characters, aspire to be. It says a lot by saying little. All these enhance the story that unfolds in each episode.

For without it, fewer things would make sense. Asta's drive to become the Wizard King would have less weight because the audience wouldn't know what it was, and without the demon, there would be no sense of how important such a role is. More broadly, it says this is going to be a heroic fantasy and promises battles of might and magic.


This is why creating a backstory is part of my process when I create new characters. I want to know who they were by learning where they come from. I want to know how they gained their skills and what events formed the personality they have at the start of the story.

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

Medieval Military Technology - read for fun

Medieval Military Technology is another one of the college books that I kept. I find it a useful resource for novel writing.

Interestingly, it is more than just Europe's medieval period. Each section, be it Armor, Weapons, Fortifications, or Warships, goes all the way back to pre-history. Then it goes through the classical periods in Egypt, Greece and Rome. Presumably, this is for contrast. How these things change and how they stay the same is one of the book's themes. I am grateful for this addition.

Because of it there is more useful information here for elements that appear in the Medieval Fantasy genre. Every kind of martial weapon from the period has a little section devoted to it; construction, use, artistic representation etc.. The evolution of fortifications is particularly interesting to me: motte and bailey style military forts to tower keeps to castle complexes and then to fortified residences. The book's scope goes all the way to defenses against gun powder cannons.

There are also many illustrations to go with the written descriptions of whatever piece of technology the author is writing about. It is helpful to visualize and understand.

In regards to historian debate, there is a mixture here. Some sections, such as the one about mounted shock combat and the stirrup are just DeVries consolidating all the theories and the criticism of those theories up to the time of the book's publication. There is little, that I can see, of the author's personal view on the subject. In other sections, like the effectiveness of the Roman fortifications during the 4th century barbarian invasions, Devries is quite insistent that the walls, ditches etc. did exactly what they were supposed to do and that the "barbarians" who settled within them afterward knew perfectly well how to build their own but only maintained the already excellently built and positioned Roman walls.

This will indeed be a useful resource going forwards.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Medieval Military Technology" an A+

Click here for my next book review (for fun): Mahou Sensei Negima omnibus #8

Click here for my previous book review (a request): The Counterfeit Count

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.