Urelle was back home and everything was fine... ----- Chapter 4. Quester leapt, evading the streak of bladed energy that burned waist-high through the air. But even as he did, Urelle's hand reached, formed a claw, and the very air stretched, as though she had grasped its substance like a rippling sheet and pulled. A blast of air caught him in mid-jump, tore at his wings and body, tipped him over. He did not land with his usual grace, but tumbled like a human who had tripped over an unexpected branch; the impact caused [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Mask of Ares, Chapter 3
May 11, 2020 By Leave a Comment
For every set of heroes, we need a villain... ----- Chapter 3. "I will be meditating in my chambers," Ares said to Phobos. "Please, no interruptions unless it is a matter of life and death." Or it will surely become one, he thought as Phobos bowed deeply to him. Ares – or, now that he was in private, he who had taken Ares for himself – barred the door, both with physical bolts and a touch of godspower. Even the new Deimos and Phobos knew very little about what he did when he was "meditating." They were, of course, [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Mask of Ares, Chapter 2
May 9, 2020 By 7 Comments
Well, let's face it, Aunt Vicky knows her niece pretty well, so yeah, she's gonna try that thing... ----- Chapter 2. Urelle drifted down through the air, the airwing enchantment fading away. Still, that's brought me almost half a mile from the house. Should be enough. She was still furious, though a part of her – an increasingly annoying part of her – was starting to sound like Auntie Victoria and telling her that this was a really bad idea. Still… "They could have trusted me!" she muttered, as her toes touched down [ Continue reading... ]
GODSWAR: The Mask of Ares, Chapter 1
May 6, 2020 By 2 Comments
After that Prologue, we start the main story -- with some characters that readers of Phoenix Rising may remember! ------- Chapter 1. "Our mission ended some days ago, Ingram." Ingram Camp-Bel kept himself from jumping in startlement only because he was used to Quester managing to surprise him. The seven-foot-tall Iriistiik was incredibly quiet despite size and his insectoid, chitinous armor. "We agreed to stay and help." After almost two years together, Ingram could read Quester's expressions – which combined [ Continue reading... ]
Godswar: The Mask of Ares, Author’s Note and Prologue
May 4, 2020 By 2 Comments
And so today we begin snippeting Godswar: Mask of Ares, the first in a dualogy taking place on the same world as, and essentially in parallel with, the Balanced Sword trilogy! ------- GODSWAR: The Mask of Ares By Ryk E. Spoor AUTHOR'S NOTE: My world of Zarathan is something of a potpourri of all fantasy elements, and some SF ones as well, as readers of the Balanced Sword trilogy know. This is intentional. Few of the elements that look familiar are exactly what they appear to be, and even references to real-world [ Continue reading... ]
Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 5
August 30, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Well, he'd gone and done it now... time for the henshin (transformation) sequence! ----- Chapter 5. The silver burst from his body and he became the light, flying outward, making a universe of argent and white touched with rainbows, a whirling cyclone of light that chimed and rang and sang a song of triumph and rebirth. Steve felt a body reforming, electric warmth like a hot shower on a cold, cold day curling around and defining every line, every curve that was coalescing from pure light, tingling like a brush of [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: RUSH
June 13, 2017 By Leave a Comment
"In the constellation of Cygnus there lurks/A mysterious, invisible force:/The black hole of Cygnus X-1…" Many are the rock bands that emerged from the 1970s; few are those who survived the decades since. Even fewer are those that impressed me, not with one or two songs, but with entire ALBUMS that I would collect and listen to most of. My usual music-listening habits involve picking one or two songs out of an entire band's career that I like, which is why I rarely will say I like a given band. But there is one huge exception: the [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Holst’s _The Planets_
February 21, 2017 By 12 Comments
There are a few classical pieces known to almost everyone; Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance (from graduations everywhere), Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor. Many more are known, but not always immediately recognized by name, as they get played in part or in whole in many different settings. But in the world of SF geeks, there are some with special significance, and of these, few could compete with Gustav Holst's The Planets, a suite of seven pieces each representing one of the major planets (other than [ Continue reading... ]
Just For Fun: Tabletop RPGs – Game Balance OR World Trumps Rules
January 31, 2017 By Leave a Comment
I've been a roleplaying gamer since 1977, when I first encountered Dungeons and Dragons – unless you count the venerable game of "let's pretend", which I was playing from the time I was 4 or 5, and even had some rules for to minimize the arguments. I discussed my initial encounter with commercial RPGs, and the influence it had on my life, in this prior entry: http://grandcentralarena.com/under-the-influence-roleplaying-games-rpgs/ In this entry, though, I want to talk about running RPGs and how I view this extremely challenging hobbyist [ Continue reading... ]
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