Taker of Skulls Released

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That’s the fifth book in the Kormak series, Taker of Skulls, released. It’s a rip-roaring adventure in which our bold monster hunter is dispatched on a potential suicide mission among the ruins of the once-great dwarven civilisation of the  Kingdoms of the Sun. The book features demented hordes of mutant goblins, survivalist dwarves and one of the most terrifying Old Ones Kormak has ever faced. Taker of Skulls is available amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. It may be available on Apple’s iBookstore by the time you read this but, as ever, Apple are a law unto themselves. As Read more…

Looking Forward In 2014

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I’ve been somewhat remiss in updating this blog over the past few months. That’s down to a number of factors — a deadline crunch on Fall of Macharius, the fact that I am looking after my toddler two days a week while my lovely wife returns to work and some complications brought on by changes to the type and dosage of my diabetes medication. All of this has meant time and energy have been in short supply and the blog has suffered accordingly. Things have settled down a bit now and I have been giving some thought as to what needs Read more…

Happy 40th Birthday Dungeons and Dragons

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I am coming a bit late to this party but better late than never. The end of last month saw the 40th anniversary of the release of the very first edition Dungeons & Dragons. D&D is a game that has had a huge effect on the world. Not only did it create a modern role-playing game industry, it has had a huge influence on the way computer games have developed. Look at any modern MMO or CRPG and you will see the DNA of D&D. Look at almost any shooter set in vast room and cavern worlds and you will Read more…

The Seinfeld Method

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Happy New Year to you all. I know it’s been some time since I blogged. Partly it has been the dreaded deadline doom as I finished The Fall of Macharius. Partly it has been the curse of Nurgle as yet more of his winter plagues have racked my aching body. And partly, of course, it has been pure laziness on my part. Like everybody else I made some resolutions for the New Year. I have even found a way of helping myself keep them. I am using what is commonly known as the Seinfeld method. It is associated with Jerry Read more…

Best Books For Writers 2013

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Just to be clear this is not my list of the best books for writers released in 2013. This is my list of the best books I read this year. Looking at the list I realise that I prefer technical books about methods and process, nuts and bolts, rather than motivational books and those that talk in terms of art. Please keep that in mind as you go through my choices.  Sitting down to write this made me think about the way publishing has changed in the past few years. Even in the first decade of the 21st Century, a Read more…

White Screen of Death

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My apologies to those of you who glanced at the blog yesterday and found only a blank white screen. You were encountering a fairly well known WordPress flaw colloquially known as the White Screen of Death. I was looking at it myself  in a lot more panicked way since my entire website seemed to have vaporised.  How did this happen? Why was I panicking? Let’s deal with the second one first. I was panicking because  two and a half years worth of blog posts and comments along with various widgets I had hand-written had vanished into the ether and I Read more…