Memories of the Past...

When I was a kid, I was pretty heavily into computer games. I got my first computer – a 386SX PC – in about 1992; I missed the BBC Micro/Spectrum/Commodore era, just a few years too young for that time (though I would encounter the BBC Micro in secondary school; they didn't disappear until 1996 if memory serves!) and I still remember that old beast fondly. Naturally, this was long before the arrival of the internet as anything like a standard feature; I didn't get a modem until I was 16, when they began to get more mainstream. Which of course meant that I spent most of my time on it playing games! 

 Now I managed to hit a lot of the high points on that machine; in fact, I think most of my favourite games date back to that period. X-Com, Wing Commander I and II, Eye of the Beholder, Civilization, SimCity...I think you get the general idea. Sid Meier's Pirates, the very original version. I spent a while playing a game called Omnicron Conspiracy, largely because I bought it around the time I got the computer. (And my only game on 5.25 inch disks, as I recall...yes, that first computer had 3.5 and 5.25...) However, there was one game that still stands out above the rest, somehow. I am speaking of Elite. 

Not the original Elite, I must add – I missed out on that one well and truly, though I do have vague memories of playing Elite Plus in a PC World at one point. Frontier: Elite II was my 'Elite', the one that set the tone, and I spent weeks playing it, trying to build up my character, working trade runs and performing missions, trying to get into better and better ships. I still remember my main trade routes – Robots from Sol to Barnard's Star, Luxury Goods and Animal Skins back to Sol, with occasional detours to Ross 128 when I got bored. In a few hours I could build up from the starting ship to the Cobra, and then off to Imperial Space – not to Achernar, but to Facece...yes, I remember this game far too well. And there was the stuff that came with it. A book of short stories, and descriptions of known space...and at some point I got hold of a copy of 'Dark Wheel' as well. It made the universe come alive to me, and I suppose if there is one real foundational inspiration for Battlecruiser Alamo, it would be that game. The use of real star locations was impressive, and being able to fly around from planet to planet was just tremendous fun, even without missions, or anything really happening in the background. 

Frontier: First Encounters was essentially the same, but that I suppose was a problem – it was the same, and it felt as if I had already done it. (I ran into this problem with Civilization. I played Civ 2 to death, and since then, I've never been able to get into any of the subsequent ones. Feels too...samey.) I have a feeling that some of you will have guessed where I am going with this. I pre-ordered a copy of Elite: Dangerous this morning. 

I missed out on the Kickstarter for this one, but I've been looking at it a lot, and finally decided to jump in – and am now regretting that I missed pre-ordering in time to take part in the Gamma, but if the rumours of a save wipe before the launch are correct, not that much; it would be infuriating to have to start again! I know about the 'offline play' controversy, but for me, I must admit that it doesn't really register. I've never got into an MMO before, but I've played a few, and having a constantly online game doesn't bother me. Nor does the knowledge that there are still features to implement; I think, just for once, I'm happy to get in on the ground floor of something. 

 My little fears were wiped out when I finished playing through the first couple of tutorials this evening. While you can't yet play the game itself, the combat training is open, and I'm taking the opportunity to get used to playing the game, to controlling the ship, and I think that will be a valuable investment. Here's hoping that they do docking tutorials as well, maybe a few others along those lines – I'd like to get off to an early start. I'll be honest, this is one of the games I am really excited about. I practically lived in Frontier for most of one summer, and while I – hopefully – won't get quite that immersed, I am looking forward to hoping into a Cobra Mark III and seeing what has changed in the universe since I was last there!

The First Duty is Out!!!

The crew of the Battlecruiser Alamo has accomplished their mission, rescuing their lost crewmen from the clutches of the Cabal's slave markets, but at a terrible price. As they struggle to come to terms with the loss of Lieutenant-Captain Marshall and Lance-Corporal Cooper, the remainder of the expedition must unravel a mystery thousands of years old, while a hostile warship bears down on them, the last desperate bid of the Cabal to stop Alamo getting home.

Amazon US
Amazon UK

Status Report

It’s been a few days since I last blogged, so I thought I would let you all know what is going on at the moment. I’ve finished the draft of ‘The First Duty’, the latest Alamo novel, and it is scheduled for release before the end of the month. This one was both the hardest and the easiest book I’ve written yet - it was almost impossible to get started on it, but once I got going, it flowed really well. This one starts to tie off a lot of the loose ends, especially the ones left over from ‘Stars in the Sand’, and answers a few questions about the history of the setting - though opens a few things up as well. 

Next comes ‘Ghost Ship’, which was originally to be released first, but the original concept I came up with simply didn’t seem to work, so I had to go back to first principles. This I have now done, and you should be seeing it some time towards the end of December, hopefully a week or so before Christmas. This one opens up the start of a thematic trilogy that will continue in Alamo 11 and 12 - and among the characters is the President of the Triplanetary Confederation, who I’ve been rather looking forward to working on! 

Then...well, then comes Alamo 10, ‘The Shrouded Stars’, which will wrap up the six-book story arc of Alamo’s voyage through the Cabal - a chance for some old-fashioned exploration, though with the usual touches as well. This one is scheduled for a January release - which means I’m going to be rather busy, I think! When I started this arc, I originally had in mind four books, and it rather snowballed a little - at some point I’ll have to post my original conceptions of how the arc was going to run, but I don’t want to do it until it’s a bit freer of spoilers. Tucked in around there somewhere, probably again in the run up to Christmas, will be a re-release. 

Back in 2011, I wrote a non-fiction book called ‘One False Step’; I was rather proud of it, but I ended up taking it down last year because I’d released it through a distributor, and wanted to take control of it back for myself. Now, it’s coming back at last; this is a history of spaceflights that never happened, such as the Soviet Lunar Landing program. I think I’ll be releasing it around the same time as ‘Ghost Ship’, so look for it then - and of course, on the blog. 

I’m not going to go much further than this for the moment - I’ll be talking about next year’s projects in a series of posts in December, I think, but I will say that I’m going to increase my output next year, that there will be at least one new series of books, probably fantasy, and that there are some big shakeups planned to the crew of the Battlecruiser Alamo to take it into a new cycle of stories. More to follow!

Fighting Fantasy 3: Forest of Doom

The Forest of Doom is another of my old favorites, and the first of the Fighting Fantasy books to break out of the dungeons and into a wilderness that just happened to resemble a dungeon with sky, trails through the titular ‘Forest of Doom’, where the ‘Woodland Adventure Park’ has Orcs, Demons and Goblins instead of rope swings and a nice gift shop. (Well, actually there is a gift shop, but I’ll get to that in a minute.) It serves as a sort-of-sequel to Caverns of the Snow Witch, despite being written first. I remember this one as rather more forgiving than some of the other books...though sometimes the memory can cheat… 

We’ve got the usual starting set-up, no special rules again. This time, I’m lumbered with a Skill of 8, which means that I’m going to have to be careful fighting dangerous creatures such as squirrels, but I have better results with my other rolls, ending up with a Stamina of 20 and a Luck of 11. Last time, my biggest problem was health, and I am sorely tempted to take a Potion of Stamina instead of being reliant on Provisions, but that Luck can run out awfully quickly sometimes, so I stick with Potion of Fortune once again. (This also has the benefit of increasing my Initial Luck when I drink it, a very nice bonus.) 

It turns out I am an adventurer, who for the last two weeks has been randomly running around the wilderness without seeing another soul, when suddenly a dwarf runs up to me, yells something about a magical hammer, and dies. Naturally, I loot the body, getting a nice pouch of gold and the most useless map in history. Thus far, this has been my most successful adventure ever, but naturally, I’m not going to leave it there, and decide to seek out the Mad Wizard Yaztromo, who runs the aforementioned gift shop. He decides that I should go on this mission, then offers me a selection of magic items. I’m beginning to think that he is the Del Boy of sorcery… 

I’m going to need extra paper for all the crap I buy, but I end up with a stuffed backpack. Putting on my ‘Forest of Doom’ T-Shirt and making sure my ‘Laughing Yaztromo’ mug is well wrapped, I set off into the woods, moaning about all the rubbish I’ve been stuck with. (Really, you want to know? Potions of Healing, Plant Control, Insect Control and Anti-Poison, Boots of Leaping, Ring of Light, Nose Filters, Armband of Strength and a Rope of Climbing. Any D&D character would kill for these items at the start of an adventure...in fact, a lot of them have.) 

I’ve been helpfully informed that the damn hammer is broken into two pieces, but that the previous owner stamped ‘G’ on each of them, likely reducing the value considerably. Some magic hammer. Two Goblins can break it. What’s it made of, cardboard? The first creature I stumble across is a magical, talking crow, who if captured is probably worth a damn sight more than a busted hammer. The crow is a shrewd businessman, and offers to sell me the location of the goblins for a gold piece. What the hell is it going to do with it? Could it even pick it up? With no better ideas, I give it the gold. Turns out it needs money so that it can be turned into a human again by Yaztromo, and I resolve to give him an extremely wide berth in the future. 

Nevertheless, I go north as instructed, bracing myself for this to be a trap. Up ahead, I find two Hobgoblins. HOBgoblins. Not Goblins. Stupid crow. Killing them and stealing their stuff, I move on. Then, I find a hole in the path, and despite being warned about the slime and ooze, I progress on, to come against a nasty Sting Worm. Another battle, and the thing damn near kills me! The last round was the decider, I was on Stamina 2 at the end. Mental note as I eat provisions - stay away from ooze. (Yes, I sit down in the slimy battle scene and have dinner. Iron stomach, that’s me.) I find more gold, and a bottle of strange liquid. Well, bottoms up. What’s the worst that can happen. Turns out I get a bonus to fighting in my next two encounters...fantastic! Let’s go off and kill things! 

I’m back in the sunlight for five minutes when I find another cave, and missing the dungeons, I decide to investigate. Inside, an Ogre is tormenting a smaller creature, and being heroic, I start lobbing rocks at it, though as I don’t have the ‘Wristband of Rock Throwing’ or something like that, I miss. Instead, I charge! He dies, and I feast on the corpse. Using it as a table to eat Provisions off, of course, what did you think I meant? Inside the cage is a Goblin, and it looks like I’ve got the first bit of the hammer! My luck fails spectacularly when I walk out of the cave, and right into a trap, but fortunately I have my sword at the ready, and quickly cut myself loose. 

Up ahead, I spy a tree house, belonging to an Ape Man who seems to not be particularly happy about my presence; I opt to stay and fight rather than jump to my probable death, though it belatedly occurs to me that this is probably a time for my Boots of Leaping. Too late, though. The damn thing half kills me, and even eating all of my remaining Provisions doesn’t get me back up to full health, but at least I find he had a skill-enhancing bracelet on his wrist, rapidly claimed as my property. Just as well, as I immediately stumble into some Pygmies! Sigh. Fighting midgets, great. Unsurprisingly, I slaughter them in the following battle, and steal their cash. Then come the Killer Bees, no doubt escaped from a dodgy B-Movie, but I drink down my Potion of Insect Control, and become KING OF ALL BUGS! Bow down and worship me, puny insect minions! 

Astonishingly, this works. I guess Yaztromo didn’t just sell me novelty fruit juices after all. I walk uneventfully across a rickety bridge, and proceed to settle down for a good night’s sleep. Of course, this is when the Wolves attack. No Potion of Wolf Control, so I end up with a fight. I win by the skin of my teeth, and find a gold collar on one of them, worth 15 Gold! I hurried move off in case the owner had them microchipped, now badly wounded. This is getting serious, and I still only have half a hammer! 

I find a hut, the door invitingly open, and naturally, I step inside. After all, if the owner was serious about security, he would have locked the door, right! Though I would probably just have broken it down. Inside - a golden ring! More money! This is actually proving to be quite a lucrative quest so far, I am pleased to say, even if I am blazing a trail of destruction through the forest. Also, it looks like I’m almost through it, which hopefully means that I am about to find the second half of the hammer...is there actually a chance I might live through a book? Actually win? 

Another building, another door, and I manage to break it down, heading down some stairs into what seems rather like an end-of-level area. Reaching the bottom, I found a sarcophagus, and decide to light up a candle to see things better, not at all hoping that this is part of some sort of evil ceremony. Nothing happens, so I commence wandering in the bushes some more, until a random fire bolt hits me. It’s a Wyvern, but fortunately, I have a flute, and it apparently likes my music. Or wants to eat it, or something. It falls asleep, I kill it, and more gold is mine! I find a gauntlet that gives me yet more Skill, so success...and then a ring that knocks me back down to where I started. Fail. Up ahead, a mob demands ‘five objects’ from my backpack, and at first this is annoying...before it is made clear that this includes every individual Gold Piece, and I’m not exactly short. With that, I am out of the forest! 

Stonebridge awaits, and...wait a minute, I’m an item short. Crap. Turns out my only option is to go back to the start, and try again, though this time, I’m pretty loaded with items and gold. Or I could take my gold, and just quietly leave, loaded with loot. There must be a tavern around here somewhere. And so, putting the piece of the hammer I found by the ‘This Way to Stonebridge’ sign, I head off in the other direction with all my ill-gotten gains, vague ideas of opening a rival magic shop… 

This one, while still a good book, isn’t as strong as Snow Witch. It doesn’t really feel uniform, more a collection of vignettes, and while I certainly appreciated the freedom of choice...it was quite clear that there was only one successful way through. One of the most important elements of a good book - a good gamebook, in this case - is that there is a sense of story behind everything, and that wasn’t really as present here as it might have been. 

I'm not sure which I'll be doing next...any requests?

Updates and Future Plans

Well, it’s been far too long since I last wrote a blog post, and I won’t pretend that it hasn’t been a frustrating time from a writing point of view. Ultimately, my fourth attempt at ‘Ghost Ship’ hit another brick wall, and for the present, I’ve had to abandon it - but this is a very temporary measure, I assure you, and it does mean that ‘The First Duty’ will be finished a lot sooner than I had expected. The writing process for this one is the smoothest of any Alamo I’ve yet written, after I got a quick false start out of the way, and I expect to have the draft finished in about a week, which means a release well before the end of the month! 

 Once I’ve finished it, I intend to go back to Ghost Ship again; I’ve had some new ideas for taking a crack at it now, and with a little luck I should still have that completed by the end of the year...so while it is now early November, I still hope to have two more books released in 2014 - which will take the total to nine for the year, a little less than I had originally planned, but still not bad! I already know that next year I intend to try for twelve again (which boils down to NaNoWriMo every month, but I think it is quite possible - I lost two months in the middle of this year moving house, which didn’t help…) That means that I will be sticking to my schedule of an Alamo novel on every other month, starting at the end of January. I’ve just about managed that since I originally moved to that schedule in the middle of the year, and I’m quite comfortable writing them at that pace. 

Needless to say, there will be some changes - after Alamo gets back home, I’m planning to do a few more one-shots again, before settling down into a longer arc. Nothing can remain static in an ongoing series, I think, or else it can risk getting stale. I know that one of the complaints about shows such as Star Trek has already been that the same people are stuck doing the same jobs for years - which makes characters such as Riker, supposedly eager for command, appear as if serving on the Enterprise has suddenly brought his career to a screeching halt. (This isn’t a place to say how I would have handled it...oh, why not. After Best of Both Worlds, Picard should have been promoted to Rear Admiral, with Enterprise becoming his flagship, Riker serving as his Captain. Or perhaps after Redemption would have been better, but it would have served the characters, introduced new challenges, yet kept the dynamic.) 

The important thing is that characters must grow, change and adapt, especially in an ongoing series. Alamo set out on a three-year tour of duty, and that will expire just before Alamo finally makes it home. If this was a normal ship, at this point a lot of the people on board would be looking for changes - people would be getting promoted, transferred, and the like, and I will say now that Alamo is no exception. I think realism is very important, at least the feeling of reality, and that means...change. Naturally, there are certain characters that are ringfenced, at least to some degree. 

While Blake’s 7 might have managed to get away without its lead character for half of its run (and arguably, had a more interesting leading character when it was Avon in the diving seat, but that’s an argument for another time) I don’t think it would be the same without Marshall, and since Price of Admiralty, Orlova has been a key character, as well. I’m not going to give any spoilers here - especially as there are quite a few details that I have yet to nail down, but I will say that I am working on a planned ‘crew list’ for ‘Not In My Name’. No, I won’t tell you what number it will be, but I’ll probably be working on that book sometime in the middle of the year. I do know that Alamo 10 will be called ‘Shrouded Stars’, and I don’t think it’ll take much imagination to work out what that book will cover! 

Anyway, that is six books, and there are six more projected in the pipeline - which will be a new fantasy series, I have decided, though I have a lot of details still to work out before the projected February release of the first book. This will not be in the ‘Swords of the Damned’ setting, but something new - and I’ll be going through some of the process here on the blog over the next three months, in preparation to writing. Something you are going to see a lot more of, therefore, is gamebook reviews...as I feel it important to revisit my roots, and I’m hoping to post one tomorrow if I get half a chance. The ‘Sorcery’ playthroughs I did remain some of the most popular on my blog, even a year down the road, and that suggests rather that I should do some more of them...and I’ve been ordering Fighting Fantasy books for a while now. I also want to finish the ‘Golden Dragon’ reviews, have the ‘Lone Wolf’ and ‘Way of the Ninja’... 

Suffice to say, hopefully, lots more to follow!