Blame George RR Martin!

HeroPress - as a concept - came into being in 1987, just before the first volume of George RR Martin's shared-universe superhero anthology series, Wild Cards, appeared in the UK.

If nothing else this convinced Steve and I that superheroes could work as a written - as well as comic book - medium, cementing our plans to push ahead with HeroPress as a (global) play-by-snail mail game.

We were certainly won over, in part, by the Wild Cards series when we found out that "many of the original authors were also inspired by a long-running Albuquerque, New Mexico campaign of the role-playing game Superworld gamemastered by George R. R. Martin, and many modeled their characters on their in-game persona."

Now, almost 25 years later, HeroPress still exists and although the name at the top of this blog has changed to "I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters" - to emphasise the move away from spandex towards swords, sorcery and slaying - it is still very much "HeroPress Presents: I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters", as I've always seen HeroPress as a publisher rather than a single publication.

And, of course, who was there when I coming to this decision? George RR Martin again, with a little series of novels some of you may have heard of called A Song Of Ice And Fire (the latest 1,000-page entry to that growing saga, A Dance With Dragons, arrived the other week).

This series has been adapted to television, by HBO, as Game Of Thrones (after the name of the first novel in the sequence) and has proved to be one of the great television shows of the year - if not the decade.

I rather wished I'd picked up on these books when they first came out - as I did with the Wild Cards - as then I wouldn't be so far behind (currently about halfway through A Game Of Thrones), and constantly having to dodge spoilers.

They also present a perfect setting for a human-centric, low magic roleplaying game which is ultimately the style of Dungeons & Dragons I like to play and run (despite the hypnotic siren call of gonzo Arduin-style gaming) and present, I believe, the best opportunity for a long-running campaign.

I'm certainly not saying that my plans to revamp Tekralh for 2012 are a slavish aping of Martin's Westeros, but that's a very good place to start when it comes to atmospheric inspiration.

So, there you have it. As I've said before the old magazine format of HeroPress is dead, and replaced with a more focussed blog, which officially opens its doors for business tomorrow at 9am (GMT).

Be there early to beat the rush, and don't forget to pick up a goody bag on the way out (please note, there are no goody bags... and there is no way out).

Optimism...

DVD Of The Week: Hobo With A Shotgun (2011)

If Camp Blood set a new low in crapness that I will endure on DVD, then Hobo With A Shotgun has become the new benchmark by which all future OTT, Grand Guignol, splatterfests will be judged.

Inspired by a fake trailer from the Tarantino/Rodriguez Grindhouse double-bill of Death Proof and Planet Terror, Hobo With A Shotgun  is the charming tale of an ageing vagrant (Rutger Hauer), pushed over the edge by the violence and lawlessness run amok in Hope City, who turns vigilante - with aid of a pawn shop pump-action, 20-gauge shotgun - and delivers "justice one shell at a time".

In a Taxi Driver-esque development, he saves - then teams up - with a young prostitute, Abby (Molly Dunsworth), to take on the city's out-of-control crimelord The Drake (Brian Downey) and his two Tom Cruise-inspired sons Slick (Gregory Smith) and Rip (Nick Bateman).

This is Robocop meets Braindead (Dead Alive for Americans) with all the slick, sick, black humour and ridiculously over-the-top gore you would expect from such a pedigree.

Not for the feint-hearted, closed-minded or humourless, Hobo With A Shotgun is in a class of its own for tongue-in-cheek shocks and taboo-bending casual violence (Pedo Santa? Torching a packed school bus? A human piñata?) but it's also a straight-up revenge story with a mix of great, quotable, dialogue balanced with deliberately campy dialogue and a brilliant central performance from a grizzled Rutger Hauer.

Hobo is pretty much review-proof. It wears its grindhouse credentials with pride and the chances are you're going into this with a good idea of what kind of entertainment you can expect.

And if any sensitive, serious, cineastes should stray into a screening of a film called Hobo With A Shotgun they're going to get what they deserve.

So, how long now until we get to see a 'real' movie of Werewolf Women Of The SS?

Airlocked...

AIRLOCKED from Stuart Sinclair on Vimeo.

Airlocked is a short, eight-minute sci-fi film about a man trapped in space for 16 years, made by Stuart Sinclair for a budget of £800.

Ladies & Gentlemen, It Is The Dawn Of A New Age...

First off, a big thank you to you all for sticking around during this "difficult" period of transition.

The workmen are packing up their tools and everything looks ready for Monday's grand reopening.

I hope you're all going to continue to follow developments here and please, please, please share your thoughts, criticisms and contributions in the comments sections of the various posts.

This week has also seen two new henchmen sign on for the big adventure, namely:

* Brendan Falconer of Knights Of The Black Banner (a general RPG blog with plenty of well-written product reviews, game ideas and reports etc), Send The Dwarf In! (a HeroQuest blog) and E-Space Adventures (a Doctor Who RPG blog).

* The Game Master of A Gamer's Guide to Real Life (applying gaming ideas to real life situations), Mini Ted Talks and The Lazy Method (a fledgling blog that promises to be 'a guide to Life, Success and Everything').

Fleamarket Friday: Fight On! Issue 12...

Mutants! Androids! Robots! Pure Strain Humans!

Fight On! is back, with another 88 pages of gut-wrenching, laser-pulsing, fist-pounding action!

Rules variants, tables, adventures large and small, science fiction and fantasy, races, classes, monsters, spells, magic items, NPCs, history, opinion, and lore can be found herein!

Featuring art and articles by Mark Allen, Ian Baggley, Lee Barber, Erin "Taichara" Bisson, Daniel Boggs, David Bowman, Simon Bull, David Coleman, Fat Cotton, Michael Curtis, Liz Danforth, Ndege Diamond, Ron Edwards, Kelvin Green, Tim Kask, John Larrey, John Laviolette, Lester, Gabor Lux, Heron Prior, Jeff Rients, Chris Robert, Zak S., Alex Schroeder, Jason Sholtis, Tim "Sniderman" Snider, Jennifer Weigel, and this issue's dedicatee James M. Ward, alongside many others!

If want to take your FRP experience to the next level, don't delay - buy this issue and Fight On!

The print version is available here: http://www.lulu.com/product/16258333

and the PDF is available here: http://www.lulu.com/product/16258563

Table of Contents:

• Champions of ZED (Daniel Boggs) 3
• Fast Company II – Nonhumans (Schroeder & Shieh) 11
• It's All in the Cards (Michael Curtis) 12
• The Tomb of Kaman-Doh Rey'd (David Coleman) 17
• The Apen (Andrew "The Venomous Pao" Trent) 20
• Geologians (Tim "Sniderman" Snider) 22
• The Witch Doctor (Scott Moberly) 24
• Knights & Knaves (Barber, Green, Rients, & Cal) 25
• Grognard's Grimoire (Erin "Taichara" Bisson) 27
• The City State of Dusal Dagodli (Gabor Lux) 28
• The Darkness Beneath (Heron Prior & David Bowman) 32
• Education of a Magic User (Douglas Cox) 44
• Doxy, Urgent Care Cleric (J. Linneman & K. Green) 45
• Sir Tendeth (Tim "Sniderman" Snider) 46
• Creepies & Crawlies (T. Snider and Jeffrey P. Talanian) 60
• Monstrous Ecology (Ron Edwards) 63
• Random's Assortment (Peter Jensen & Random) 64
• Curses Gone Wild! (John Laviolette) 65
• Artifacts, Adjuncts, & Oddments (Jason Sholtis) 67
• Treasure Types (Simon Bull) 68
• Dungeon Modules: The Rondo Rooms (Jeff Rients) 69
• Pigdivot! (Chris Robert) 72
• Where the Action Is (Zak S.) 80
• Merlyn's Mystical Mirror (Gabor Lux & Jo Kreil) 84
• Notes from a Master (James M. Ward & Tim Kask) 86

Fleamarket Friday: Wear Your Geekness With Pride...

Look at the T-shirt: I'm afraid all the PhotoShopping in the world won't help
with my double chin and goofy grin!

The other day Trevor from NerdyShirts offered to send me a T-shirt, to see what I thought of their products... and who am I to turn down free stuff?

This awesome, licensed, retro-Star Trek: The Animated Series T-shirt arrived this week and I fell in love the moment I opened the airmail packet.

As well as being very comfortable (always an issue with me, especially with round-neck tees as some rub on my old tracheotomy scar on my throat), the subtle distressed/weathered look of the graphic adds to the cool, geeky appeal.

Los Angeles-based NerdyShirts has a broad range of T-shirts on offer, including a heap of pretty unique Star Wars and comic-related designs as well as '80s, cartoon, computer game and even Charlie Sheen-themed designs in a variety of sizes (for men, women and children).

They also offer hoodies, retro Casio watches, gift certificates and belt buckles, will ship to most countries in the world (shipping one to four T-shirts to the UK, for example, costs $14.99, which seems very reasonable for a bulk order) and the site accepts payment via PayPal - which is a big plus in my books.

I shall certainly be wearing my Star Trek T-shirt with pride and wouldn't be at all surprised if I didn't stock up on more of NerdyShirts beautifully designed T-shirts down the line.

For more information and to view their complete range, visit NerdyShirts.com

Knight Fall...

Unlike History's upcoming Full Metal Jousting, which gives wannabe knights 'off the street' the chance to experience full-on Medieval jousting, National Geographic's Knights Of Mayhem follows a troupe of professional jousters, led by Charlie Andrews (World Champion of Full Contact Heavy Armoured Jousting) as they face some of their toughest armoured opponents.

Hitting TV screens (in the States) this Autumn (Fall), National Geographic Channel's Fall Preview has this to say:

"Charlie Andrews leads the Knights of Mayhem, a group of modern-day Lancelots and Galahads dedicated to transforming this medieval sport from a staged act to a professional sports phenomenon that will sweep the globe. For these 'knights', jousting is no dinner show. Donning 130 pounds of steel armor, they mount 2,000-pound horses and charge at each other with solid hemlock lances at speeds up to 30mph to absorb devastating impacts with potential for concussions, broken bones and far worse."

Now that sounds like great television right there!

Great Poskitt! What A Find!

Fellow converts to the wonderful works of Philip Reeve will recognise the name Poskitt as that of one of the most venerated deities in his World Of Mortal Engines' books.

It also happens to be the surname of children's author Kjartan Poskitt, whose Murderous Maths and Urgum the Axeman books were illustrated by his good friend Philip Reeve.

This afternoon, as I ambled home, I decided to take a different route, which took me by the Bridge Trust charity shop, where I thought to see what second-hand books they had to offer.

Almost immediately my eye was drawn to Urgum And The Goo Goo Bah! (above). First, as it looked like a light-hearted fantasy book, then I saw the names of Kjartan Poskitt and Philip Reeve and knew it must be mine.

Fifty pence well spent!

Full of Philip's great comedic art, the book even includes a two-page map of 'The Lost Desert' (which probably would have sold me on the book anyway, even without knowing who the author and artist were already) - and we all know how much Philip HATES drawing maps.

 

All this also has me even more fired up for Philip's next book, a fantasy called Clovenstone, which he has previously described as follows:

"Clovenstone (or whatever it eventually gets called) is set in a huge ruined fortress of that name. It was the stronghold of some Tolkienesque Dark Lord until his defeat about a hundred years before the book begins. He’s long gone, but goblins and various other magical creatures still inhabit the overgrown ruins, and now and then treasure-seekers arrive from the outside world in search of loot and adventure…"

Sounds wonderfully Dungeons & Dragons like! More news as I hear it!

Supernatural: All Dogs Go To Heaven

Oh, Supernatural, you do like to play your little games with me, don't you?

The Winchester brothers finds themselves reluctantly sent on a job by blackmailing demon Crowley and, at first, it appears as though All Dogs Go To Heaven is shaping up to be a by-the-numbers werewolf murder mystery.

Only 20 minutes in, the twist identity of the killer is revealed and there's still three-quarters of the episode to go.

Of course, thanks to Adam Glass's script, things turn out to not be so straight forward and the brothers learn hints into the larger conspiracy at work, hints of an organised uprising of monsters against mankind.

There's a scene between the Winchesters and their captive shapechanger (Andrew Rothenberg) that really cuts to the core of this show, not only giving us insight into the mind of soulless Sam but also, subtly, hyping the fear element through a very matter-of-fact explanation of what is being planned.

Not to say that the episode was all talk, talk, talk. The Winchesters hit on a clever approach to taking out an enemy that smell your approach from a hundred yards - let's just say I don't recall seeing Dean armed with a sniper rifle before.

The plot escalated to a tense gunfight in a warehouse and was followed by a moving scene where I half expected the theme from the Littlest Hobo to start playing.

Next Week:

He Is The Champion!

Tim Knight took the Hardest Gary Gygax Quiz in the World and got 70%!

You are a Gary Gygax Champion. If knowledge of the minutiae of Gary Gygax's life translated to political power, you would be the satrap of a continent-sized province, owing allegiance to no one (except maybe that Grognardia guy).

Paladin Code: You completed this quiz without using Google.

I didn't use Google, but I was lucky in that one of the harder questions I'd discovered the answer to earlier today (and heretofore had been oblivious to the fact of Gary's previous profession). However, I still know nothing about Gord The Barbarian.

Find the quiz here at Blog Of Holding.

Happy Birthday, Gary - and thanks for all the fun and games!

Going Out In Style...

It's comforting to see that DC is allowing the current incarnation of the Teen Titans to bow out in style with a 100-page 100th issue from JT Krul (who I've rated highly on this book).

"It's all-out war as Titans old and new come together to face the greatest threat to their existence. Can anyone stop Superboy Prime from destroying everything the team stands for?"

Sadly, after this issue, and with the company wide reboot for its September debut of "the new 52", I'm having to say "goodbye" to the Teen Titans, who have been constant comic book companions since I first found a stack of Wolfman/Perez issues in a second-hand book exchange in Tunbridge Wells in the '80s.

Although part of my reason for dropping the title after so many years is the underwhelming look of the "redesigned" team, the decision is largely financial - which is why I've been seriously cutting back my pull-list in recent weeks (and seem to have almost halved my monthly comic bill, which ain't bad!).

Artwork from Comic Book Resources.

We're Getting There...

It looks like we're still on target for the August 1 "official relaunch" of the blog, under its new name of I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters...

A key element was delivered last night when the erudite Siskoid - of Siskoid's Blog Of Geekery (one of the finest comic book/gaming/Doctor Who/movie magazine-style blogs out there) - helped me, enormously, by putting the crucial finishing touches to my new header design (ie. the technical stuff to actually make it look presentable).

In other technical, behind-the-scenes, news, I've also discovered there was a very simple way to turn off Blogger's irritating new User Interface and revert to the simple old one - which should mean no more (well, fewer) posts appearing at random times or with 'dead' links.

Wonder Girl Wednesday...

Merlin Lives On...

You wouldn't know it from the BBC's hibernating Merlin website, but the increasingly popular re-imagining of the Arthurian legends has been  picked up for a fifth season - even though the fourth has yet to be shown either here or in the States.

Announced at Comic-Con (where else?), filming on 13-episodes of season five is scheduled to commence in Wales and Pierrefonds, France, in March 2012.

According to the official press release: Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy, executive producers for programme makers Shine TV, said: “We are both delighted to have a fifth season commissioned and thrilled with the worldwide success of Merlin. We have some fantastic ideas in mind for the next stage of the journey and relish the chance to take the program to the next level!”

The fourth season of the fantasy drama, which is currently being filmed in France and Wales, will begin airing in Autumn 2011 on BBC One in the UK, and in early 2012 on Syfy in the US.

The third season, which was broadcast in winter 2010, pulled in the highest UK ratings for the drama so far, with a weekly average of over 6 million viewers and a total of 24.3 per cent share of the audience.

Musical Monday: D&D (Redux)...

I originally featured this song, by SJ Tucker, but in March, but now it has a swanky video. Enjoy!

Doctor Who Rematerialises Next Month...

The second half of the current season of Doctor Who appears set to return to our screens on August 27.

Sooner than I was expecting!

Here's a trailer from Comic-Con:

LARPing Just Got Real... And Badass!

Knights Of Badassdom: In this comedic fantasy adventure, Joe (Ryan 'True Blood' Kwanten) is a heavy metal rocker who's just gone through a painful breakup with his girlfriend, Beth (Margarita Levieva).

His concerned roommates (Steve Zahn, Peter 'Game Of Thrones' Dinklage Margarita Levieva) kidnap him to their LARP (Live Action Role Playing) gathering, where he enters a realm of fantasy escapism in which pretend knights, elves, and barbarians clash with foam weaponry on a mock battlefield.

When Joe's "sorcerer" roommate (Zahn) inadvertently summons a deadly succubus that takes Beth's seductive form, bloody reality crashes down upon their fantasy world.

Once LARPers start to turn up dead, the make-believe wizards and warriors must join forces with other adventurers (Summer 'Firefly' Glau, Danny Pudi) to become the real life heroes they have been pretending to be and conquer the unleashed evil.

Twistin' Back The Time...

As the perfect adjunct to this week's War & Peace Show, the Pantiles Traders Association in Tunbridge Wells organised its first Vintage Fair this weekend - which Rachel wanted to attend to see the Lindy Hoppers (a dance troupe we'd missed at War & Peace).

As well as music, the fair featured a good number of traders spread out along the historic Georgian walk, with a lot of dresses for Rachel and her friend Mel to look over.

Both ladies had dressed up for the occasion and Rachel received a lot of compliments for her look:

I tried on a few hats (a couple of toppers and a bowler), but it turns out I have an inordinately large head (who knew?) and we admired the retro furntiture, old bits of luggage and travel cases - but soon realised we had nowhere to put any of it.

There was a fashion show on the bandstand and afterwards the hostess called up members of the audience,  who were dressed in vintage styles, to come up on stage and talk about their clothes. Mel and Rachel were reluctantly dragged into the spotlight!

Mel Takes Centre Stage as Rachel Tries To Hide Behind The Compere

Wow, What Are The Chances Of That???

Obsession...

A 3D-animation by Laura Krause of a short story by Knight City Chronicles follower (and fantasy/sci-fi author) Scott Niven.

Ladies & Gentlemen, As One Door Closes...

Thank you all, once again, for still sticking around during this period of transition - as HeroPress morphs slowly into I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters.

It would appear that this week's issues (with non-functioning links) has something to do with manually posted blogs as opposed to my usual scheduled ones.

I shall aim to stick to scheduled postings in the future!

I hope that's all it is - and that that's something that the background Blogger boffins can get sorted out.

In the meantime, we continue to draw new recruits to our team, which is incredible.

So, please raise your tankards for:

* Ernie - who describes himself as a "great devotee of b-movies, comics, gorgeous women with guns or swords and stuff like this" - which makes him a perfect fit for round these parts!

Caesar Crashes Comic-Con!

Well, not really - but here's an extended "sizzle reel" of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes footage to get you all pumped up!

Hatchet And Hack...

More great comic news coming out of Comic-Con - Hack/Slash annual number three, due out in November, sees Cassie Hack facing off against Victor Crowley from Hatchet (making his comic book début).

For more information visit Dread Central.

Once A King, Always A King...

... but once a knight is enough!

Star Trek + The Legion = FTW!

Reading this piece of news out of San Diego Comic-Con elicited a fanboy squee of enormous proportions from yours truly.

While I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters aims to be less sci-fi than HeroPress was, my love for the Legion is unwavering and pairing them with Kirk-era Star Trek is mind-blowingly awesome.

A six-issue mini-series, starting October, publishers IDW says: "Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes is a galaxy-spanning adventure that draws both teams together to face a menace that includes Khunds, Klingons, Borg, and other threats that aren’t quite as they should be. The egalitarian United Planets in one universe and a United Federation of Planets in another is now the Imperial Planets of Terra, a dark empire focused on war and conquest, and that’s just the beginning for this special series."

The story follows the "original crew of the Starship Enterprise, who beam down to a planet only to discover that the planet isn’t their intended destination, or even in the right universe. At the same time, a group of 'Great Darkness Saga' Legionnaires inside a time sphere find themselves cast into the 23rd century, but it’s not the 23rd century as they know it, either."

For more information visit IDW's website.

Warehouse 13 Does Not Exist!

Warehouse 13, season three, starts on Thursday, August 4, in the UK.

The Knights Go To War (And Peace)!

Some groups put an enormous amount of work into their living history displays

It's that time of year again when Rachel and I head out of town for the annual War & Peace Show at Beltring Hop Farm - the largest gathering of military vehicles in the world (as well as, possibly, the largest military-themed boot fair!).

The weather was good (the rain held off) and we spent a pleasant five hours trundling around the enormous site (me on my usual mobility scooter, poor Rachel on foot), although we spent a considerable amount of time in the music tent as Rachel's passion for the 40s/50s music and fashion continues to grow and her favourite band, The Jive Aces, were performing.



I took a short film of their performance yesterday, but not really to capture the music but to showcase the brilliance of the audience members who get up and dance.



Elsewhere we visited the mind-boggling array of army surplus, militaria, book and toy stalls that fan out across the fields of the Hop Farm and then took a stroll through the "Living History" portion of the event, where re-enactment groups had the chance to show off their uniforms and vehicles in vignettes of military life - mostly involving trench digging.

To see more of my pictures from the day (the event runs until Sunday) visit my Facebook album.

Supernatural: Family Matters

Following the beatdown Dean put on Sam at the end of the last episode, Castiel joins in the questioning and discovers that Sam has returned from Hell without a soul... which explains a lot!

Still clueless about how this happened the Winchester boys follow the only lead they have - Grandfather Samuel (Mitch Pileggi), who came back at the same time.

Samuel and his goons have tracked down the Alpha Vampire (Rick Worthy), but aren't keen on Dean tagging along for the hunt, so he is told to 'wait in the back'. Of course, he doesn't and sees them - rather than topping the Alpha - loading the master vampire into the back of a van.

It turns out - as I'd long suspected - that Samuel hasn't been exactly honest to Dean, however even Sam is shocked when he finds out who, in turn, has been pulling his grandfather's strings when the 'man behind the curtain' makes a surprise appearance at the end of the episode.

Another gripping story, where, again, the A-story (capturing the Alpha) played emotional second fiddle to the family dynamics of the Winchester brothers and their maternal grandfather.

Even though we discover what has happened to Sam's soul - and how he got out of Hell in this episode, the final revelation was a great leftfield twist that opens up a swathe of interesting possibilities for where the season can go next.

It was also good to see, at least some of, Dean's vamp-induced vision coming into play as he recognised the Alpha's mansion. But what about the spooky twins?

Rick Worthy deserves a mention as well, continuing Supernatural's staunch anti-Twilight stance and proving that while vampires can be cool, charming and charismatic they are ultimately cold-blooded killers and not something impressionable young girls should be fawning over.

Having now met the Alpha vampire I wonder if we will meet any other Alphas: a werewolf, zombie, ghost etc? And how will the introduction of Purgatory - the final resting place for dead 'creatures of the night' - into the Supernatural mythos change the show's landscape?

Next Week:

Conan Gets The Job Done...

A blood-splattered sequence from next month's Conan.

Wonder Girl Wednesday...

A Brief Spell Of Merlin...

A minuscule, smidgen of a tiny glimpse (seven seconds) of Season Four of Merlin - as carefully exorcised from a longer advert promoting "Original British Drama".

All we know otherwise is that the next season is due to begin this Autumn,  with a two-parter called Revival Of The Witch that takes place a year after the season three closer, The Coming Of Arthur.

If you don't mind spoilers you can always check out the confirmed (and unconfirmed) rumours about Season Four over on the Merlin Wiki.

Too Awesome For Words...

Sweet Halloween Dreams by begemott

Hail Caesar!

Andy Serkis introduces a scene, from Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, where the chimp Caesar comes to the aid of Alzheimer’s-stricken Charles Rodman (John Lithgow), father of scientist Will Rodman (James Franco).

And did you see that Caesar appears to be building a model of the Statue of Liberty? A nice touch, I thought!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work We Go...

Click to embiggen

The complete line-up of the dwarf contingent from Peter Jackson's forthcoming movies of The Hobbit.

And More Of This...

Crack The Surface - Episode I from SilentUK on Vimeo.

I love to see records of this kind of urban spelunking, so expect more to appear on I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters as I unearth them.

It is, kind of, real life "Dungeons & Dragons" and another fantastic source of inspiration to an anti-social, old bugger like me.

If nothing else, it gives motivations - beyond stealing treasure - for explorations underground, as well as insights into the thrills and dangers of these trips.

Part of it also reminded me of my own adventure hook suggestion, The Tourists, from last September.

Check these fantastic urban explorers out at SilentUK.

RSS Technical Assistance Sought...

I need some technical assistance! Sometime after posting my Doc Savage: Python Isle review on Sunday evening, my RSS feed seems to have "snapped".

In Google Reader, as shown in the picture above, my posts are still appearing but the headlines are no longer clickable links back to the full story on the blog - they are just plain, unclickable headlines.

My Facebook Networked Blogs' widget is no longer streaming my blog entries to my Facebook wall and the automatic tweets generated for me by the RPG Bloggers Alliance simply list my entries, rather embarrassingly, as "Error".

Any clues as to what is happening and (simple) suggestions on how I can fix this issue? I'm trying to get everything as perfect as I can for the "official" relaunch of the site at the beginning of August, but it appears that every time I get to grips with one issue, something else goes wrong...

Caesar! You Da Man... Er... Chimp!

Another fantastic TV spot for Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes!

Monsters All Around Us...

So what do you make of this real-world beast? And how quickly could he reduce your party of adventurers to paste? What are his statistics in your game system of choice?

In truth, it's a marine organism seen through an electron microscope and drawn to my attention by the ever-informative Things You Wouldn't Know If We Didn't Blog Intermittently blog. But it's not so threatening then...

Doc Savage: Python Isle

Doc Savage: Python Isle is an eight hour audio book, with dramatic narration by Michael McConnohie.

Written by Will Murray, the world's leading expert on The Man of Bronze, based on an outline by Doc's original writer, pulp legend Lester Dent, Python Isle is classic Doc Savage brought to life by the authentic tones of McConnohie, who does a superb job of individualising the voices of the characters without rendering them incomprehensible.

Directed by Roger Rittner, the sound quality, effects and music are perfectly blended to complement the story without being obtrusive and help conjure the pulp 1930s of Doc Savage as he journeys from his New York base to an isolated, storm-enshrouded island in the Indian Ocean.

A strange telegram, gangs of vicious diamond smugglers, a dangerous Zeppelin journey, a lost aviator, a beautiful princess from a hidden land and the lure of ancient treasure - Python Isle has it all, and Doc and his men are thrown into the action from the get-go. Every one of the 20 chapters in this tale ends with a cliffhanger and the two-fisted action never lets up.

The original pulp superman, and his flawed assistants, are forever facing certain death and it isn't always a question of "will they escape?" - because we are certain they will - but "how will Doc get them out of this latest bind?"

Like his literary descendant Clark Kent (aka Superman), Clark Savage Jnr always triumphs - because he was raised as the "ultimate human being" - but the story comes out of his unexpected solutions and genius foresight and preparation for all situations.

What makes this audio book, from Radio Archives, even more interesting is the pair of short documentaries at the end of the tale, explaining both the origins of the Doc Savage character and how Murray discovered the Python Isle outline in Lester Dent's archives.

Python Isle is available now from Radio Archives for $25.98 as an 8-CD collection or $17.98 as a digital download.

The next Doc Savage audio book, also written by Will Murray, due out soon from Radio Archives is White Eyes:

The place: New York City. During the depths of the Great Depression, in the shadow of streamlined skyscrapers, reporters scramble for clues about an insidious wave of bizarre deaths - everyday citizens struck dead, the eyes in their lifeless bodies turned a sightless and ghastly white. The Blind Death has the teeming city paralyzed with fear; in desperation, civic leaders turn to the one man who can discover who or what is behind this gruesome series of murders: Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze.


From his offices high above the city, Doc and his band of trusted colleagues soon uncover a terrifying scheme to gather together all of the city's criminal elements as a single and seemingly undefeatable force. Their intent: to seize the wealth of the Man of Bronze and destroy him once and for all!

Slave Leia PSA!

Once More Unto The Supergirl Sunday, Once More...

It's about time we reviewed the latest crop of models, actresses, Photoshop jobs and cosplayers who have graced our computer screens with their interpretation of Krypton's finest daughter - Supergirl.