The candle's little amber flame at last melted its wax just enough to let the bronze nail's heaviness pull itself free, to fall upon the copper candle-stand. The circular disc—bent upward along the rim, like a cymbal—chimed twice, as the nail bounced on the thin-beaten copper. As the stand trembled, the first clear sound fuzzed … Continue reading The Astrologer
Tag: Fiction
Humans, the Half-Made
Let us return this week to exploring Akhelas, the First Land, in the setting of the Endless Lands. My previous post began exploring the setting's creation and cosmology. For today, let's talk about humanity. The origin of humans in the Endless Lands begins with a folk story, "How Papa Thrun Earned His Wings." I largely … Continue reading Humans, the Half-Made
Calling on Ernalda
This week's post is a short story I wrote to explore what the process of summoning and binding an earth elemental in RuneQuest feels like to the characters. Originally I was planning to set this at the Clearwine Earth Temple, but my fingers put it in Sylthi instead. Hah, oh well! The story's RuneQuest mechanics … Continue reading Calling on Ernalda
REVIEW—Akborítha
For this week's book I've got a lovely small-press treasure by Tolkien scholar Richard W. Rohlin: Akborítha, to which is appended The Songs of the Seven Cities. I stumbled across this work courtesy of the God Learners podcast interviewing JM DeFoggi and Evan Franke, because JM mentioned a forthcoming roleplaying game which intrigued me, Amboria: … Continue reading REVIEW—Akborítha
A Bit of Cosmology
This site wasn't randomly named "Akhelas." Akhelas is the name of the First Land, the most significant continent in my fiction about the Endless Lands. The name goes back to around 2015, the major stories to around 2011, and its barest bones to games of Pathfinder 1E I played with friends in around 2009. Akhelas … Continue reading A Bit of Cosmology
REVIEW: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
This review is spoiler-free. Despite having a cinephile as a close friend, I don't see a lot of movies in an actual theater. Even discounting the last few years of shutdown, going to a theater was still fairly rare. It only happened when there was a film interesting enough to get one person riling everyone … Continue reading REVIEW: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
To Hunt a Manuscript
Well, an update on Part Two of To Hunt a God is long overdue. Upon release six months ago, I hoped to have it out early in the second quarter of 2022, or at worst, by now! The simple version is that stress in my non-writing life has made writing grow difficult, and it took … Continue reading To Hunt a Manuscript
REVIEW: The Spiral
Disclaimer: The author of this work, Nikki DeKeuster, is one of my colleagues and friends. I was a beta reader for her connected novelette Red String. I was not solicited to review her debut novel. The finest compliment I can give to a work of fiction is my time. I bull-rushed through the back half … Continue reading REVIEW: The Spiral
Asrelia Retires
My usual session of RuneQuest this week was cancelled, so I spent my time in Sylthi writing a myth instead. A collection of similar stories will be collected in one chapter, "Sylthelan Mythology," of the forthcoming City Guide. I'll probably post other tales as they get written. I really enjoyed writing this story. That's the … Continue reading Asrelia Retires
2020 Reading List
During the 2019 holidays, I had a conversation with my sister about our reading habits. At this time I didn't feel like I read all that much. More than the average American, surely, but probably right around the "one book per month" goal she was considering. Consequently, I decided to spend time this year (2020) … Continue reading 2020 Reading List
Akhelas 