Hello everyone!

First up, a couple of bits that I've received. First is an RPG book from a Kickstarter that I backed. Its called Fixers from the Floorboards and is by Robert Turk and is published by Wicked Clever. This is a link to their website and the book should be available there in time if you are tempted.

Its a really sweet looking little RPG book, with the premise being that you are pixies looking after a building, whether it is a house or something bigger, like a hotel. It puts me in mind of The Borrowers, if you've ever read the book or watched the film or TV version.

Once I've looked through it properly, like with a few other books, I'll do a better review. But in short, it seemed to rekindle some of my childhood, remembering by being put in mind of The Borrowers.

Fixers from the Floorboards
by Robert Turk,
published by Wicked Clever

I also managed to receive my copy of The Averoigne Chronicles, which is the collected Averoigne works of Clark Ashton Smith. It's the whole lot of the original stories. I'm still working my way through a very solid collection of Averoigne pastiches by Pickman's Press that has some very cool stories in, with its mix of Lovecraftian and Gothic. Again, I'll try to review those once I've finished too.

The Averoigne Chronicles,
by Clark Ashton Smith,
published by Hippcampus Press

Outside of that, myself and a friend have talked about doing a podcast. We need a better talk about it as we've only really spit balled stuff at the moment, but we'll probably be talking about some history - Dark Age of the Saxon and Viking flavour mainly - and some other periods too. We'll also probably be talking about war games and the like as well, like RPG/TTRPG games and other sundry tabletop miniatures games that we like.

That's also spun off into us planning on starting a wargaming YouTube channel that I'll most likely primarily run. There are a few games I'd like to play, like The Woods, Bloodbowl and 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy. I think there are some historical games that my friend would like to play as well, but I'll keep folks updated on that as time goes by. But I can always film warband and army showcase stuff once I've finished, though I am only a 'tabletop ready' quality painter.

Onto what I've been up to with my writing.

To be honest, I've had a bit of a time of it this last couple of weeks. I've not managed to sit down and blast through quite as much as I would have liked. That's actually bothered me quite a bit to be honest.

I'm not too sure how to rectify things at the moment and if anyone has any ideas, they'd be welcome.

November is usually the month of NaNoWriMo and a lot of folks can be found, busting their way through many a manuscript, bumping out word counts that would make '70s Michael Moorcock jealous. There are a few things in the month that get in the way for me and I find them quite disruptive. they seem to be things that I can't move or change, so I'm stuck having to deal with them instead of joining in and getting the support and achievement of being a NaNoWriMo participant. Whether I feel like I've been left behind by it all because of those disruptive commitments, I can't quite tell. It seems to happen most years, which is a shame. I think I'm almost depressed because of it, and its hard to shake it off, that I've sort of let myself down by having my time disrupted in such a way, which is disruptive in itself.

Part of the problem could be that its now Winter and there is the build up to Christmas now, which is always very good at stealing away your attention. I'm not sure what to do about it really.

What hasn't helped is that I was most of the way through a fantasy novella, one that is perhaps going to be one of my longest pieces of work so far. I feel like I've ground to a halt with it and I need to revivify my motivation with it, with a number of other stories too. I'd done the Anglo-Saxon setting research to help with this, but it hasn't really worked.

I feel bogged down by it all and just want to return to blasting through stories and i'm finding it difficult to do so, which is just exasperating.

I think another factor in all this, the way I'm considering my writing as a whole is that, what I'd originally planned was to bust through about 170,000 words worth of novellas and short stories, to get all the first drafts done, then work on the re-writes, then all the edits, then getting them beta-read, and so on, all progressing.

The problem I'm finding with all that now is that it's going to be at least a year and a half's work before I have anything to show for my efforts. And that's if everything goes quickly. Perhaps I've hit on something with part of that and soon I'll explain why. 

I'm about half way through doing the first drafts and I'm already bogged down.

I think because I've decided to take the long way about getting a long of stories done is that I don't have the relief and accomplishment of fully completing a story and having it published, I've waylaid that by choice. Where I could have a short story fully edited in a couple of weeks, or a novella done in a month, and out there for the world to see, I'm not going to get that for nearly two years.

I'm a bit unsure how to proceed. Maybe I've already answered myself, that I should just concentrate on one story and get it edited up and sent out there. But is that wise? Is that the way to go?

I'm unsure. If you have read this far and have any advice, it'd be appreciated.

All the best, and stay warm.

Hello everyone!

Some book news to start off with. I managed to order a copy of the complete Averoigne series of stories by Clark Ashton Smith ordered, it 'should' arrive tomorrow. Hopefully, couriers won't wally around too much and it'll actually arrive. The Post Office are still in the midst of strike actions. All the best to them, it's just screwed up deliveries a bit. Hey ho.

I am still working my way through the big stack of books I showed pictures of in a previous post, and I do still intend to do review posts as I finish them. I still have to do review posts of the first issue of New Edge Sword and Sorcery, which I thoroughly enjoyed and will hopefully go on leaps and bounds.

I also want to try and do posts on the Tales from the Magician's Skull magazines, even if I will be operating an issue behind. I most recently received the 7th issue and the 8th is already becoming available in the USA - I live in the UK.

Volume 5 of Swords and Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy has recently come out. I intent to get a copy soon and add it to the pile of 'must reads'. You can get a copy for yourself here.

Swords and Sorceries:
Tales of Heroic Fantasy,
Volume 5

Also, as a surprise, I received My copy of The Beast of Borgenwold by Harry Menear this morning. It was a OSE RPG supplement that I backed on Kickstarter. I wasn't expecting it for a while yet, so that was a nice surprise. I've had little more than a flick through so far so can only say that the artwork in it is great. I'll try and do a review on it soon. But there is a PDF version already available if you link the OSR stuff and have the OSE rules. It should be a fun RPG, I wouldn't have backed it if there wasn't an appeal. But here is a link to DrivethruRPG if you would like a copy of the PDF.

The Beast of Borgenwold,
by Henry Menear
for OSE RPG

Now for some social media stuff. I can now be found on Mastadon at @dancoghlan@mstdn.party and you should be able to use that as a link.

I had also tried to sign up to Hive, because that seems popular for literary types too, but it only seems to have a mobile version and I'm mostly going to be using my laptop for social media uses until I can get a new phone.

I'm also on Facebook with a page you can visit. There is some stuff up there already and I'm intending to update it regularly, like with my twitter and on here. The Facebook page is here. And just as a reminder, here's a link to my Twitter.

Just keep an eye out for the Celtic Elf.

Gwaeloch Irisgarth,
fantasy elf barbarian

Anyway, my writing is probably why you are here. There have been a few ups and downs with settling in with a story. As you have possibly seen if you've followed these posts, I needed a break from writing a fantasy novella that just seemed to grow and grow in size. Now, it's basically looking like it'll become a short novel, weighing in at about fifty thousand words, or there abouts.

I then needed to have a break from it to freshen up the synapses a bit so had wanted to try out Lester Dent's Master Plot Formula. It worked for him and looked like a fun way to write a story. I wanted to see what I could produce using it, so wanted to do a story based on Anglo-Saxon history.

I thought I was very confident with the period after helping out with a YouTube channel homing in on that period, but there where some very specific things I knew little about, so had to go through a research period to iron things out so that I felt confident know what I was talking about.

I was planning to set things just after the Norman Conquest when the aristocracy changed over, but I hadn't quite realised how things had changed during the years building up to the Conquest, how many leaders swapped over, changed sides and lost their loyalties. Even in the village I was planning on basing the story in had three lords holding lands there, all of whom changed three times in the forty years leading up to the Conquest. So there was a lot to take in.

All in all, it felt a bit like a distraction from a distraction from a distraction. I managed to get a third of the way into the story and realised that the research itself was the distraction I needed from the original series of stories.

So, I'm back to that now. There is a short, short story that I'm starting that I've planned out before. I've mentioned it before. It'll act as a way of me getting back into the swing of writing this series after such a long break from it. So soon, I should have a story based on what would happen during a bar-room brawl, if the participants are all wizards. Chaos ensues, I think that will be for sure.

By the end of the week, I should be back to the novella, Gwaeloch the Barbarian Elf should be making his way by sea to a Fomorian village and sorting out a break in the material between universes that fuels magick.

After that, I still want to get in another novella and a short story or two before moving onto editing and that whole process. I realise that I'm sort of doing all this the long way around and having a story published will take a while - I already have a novella and three short stories completed in first draft form that I will be getting around to.

Regardless of this, I still have a good layout for a set of Anglo-Saxon sword and Sorcery stories, though I am still puzzling over whether I should add a Lovecraftian element to them. But I have the ground work laid for that to return to. 

Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say for this week, my Anglo-Saxon stuff is on hold while I return to the original stories I was writing, so hopefully, something will be finished soon.

All that remains to be said is to wish you all a fond farewell, good bye everyone.

 Hello everyone!

A few things first, some social media housekeeping stuff in essence, but I've been talking note of some of the things that have been happening on Twitter - some of those obvious things - and all the folks that seem to be jumping ship.

Because of that, I now have a Mastadon profile. So now, you can find me there on @dancoghlan@mstdn.party and you can press it. It should be a link to my account. I'm still using Twitter, which you should be able to do here if you search for Dan Coghlan. I'm not planning on leaving Twitter any time soon. I'm planning on riding it out and seeing what happens, depending on what the behind the scenes changes bring.

I also, now have a facebook page and plan to be quite active on there too. I realise I should really have had a Facebook page for quite a while now, but hay ho, I have one now. And that should be found here - if you search for Dan Coghlan - author.

Yes, I like Twitter, I like it a lot, but with all the folks leaving and with all the changes, it have become worrisome. So, regardless, please take a look and see what suits. You're all welcome to come and react with me on a platform that your comfortable with. Just look for the tartan elf with a broadsword.

Gwaeloch Irisgarth,
Celtic Elf barbarian

And writing this, I now realise that I will probably have to update the introductory title page and a couple of bits on some of the pages of this very blog. But I'll get to that in time.

But onto a few other things.

I've really got into a game called The Woods made by Oakbound Studio. I think I've talked about it before. I know I've shared some stuff by Oakbound Studio before, but I just wanted to mention it once again. I've been very impressed by it. Please take a look with the link above.

The Woods by Oakbound Studio,
Skirmish Game

I have also been sorely tempted by collecting an Aeldari/Eldar army for Warhammer 40k. I've a bit of a mixed opinion about the company, but the game generally is entertaining. I'm sort of trying to subdue that temptation until after Christmas when I can actually start planning that responsibly, instead of racing into it and getting too excited about it.

This is unfortunate, I'm still eyeing up The Barons' War game too. There are some really nice models there done by Footsore Miniatures, who also do Saga.

Baron's War
by Footsore Miniatures
A Medieval Skirmish Game

Now onto my writing, which is probably what you're all here for mainly.

Finally, and I mean, finally! I've finished research to a place where I feel comfortable AND I've managed to get all the character profiles and notes sorted and now I feel comfortably prepared enough to actually start writing.

There is a story I want to write that involves the aftermath of the Norman Conquest and the opening days of the Harrying of the North.

As you can imagine, there is a lot going on with all that. I'd already had a familiarity with the period and knew of several locations that were suitable for the story and thought - quite a while ago - that I was familiar enough with the history and the location enough to be able to start writing.

But that wasn't the case. It turns out that Anglo-Saxon history is a lot like Game of Thrones but with a lot more stabbing going on. I realised that I was only familiar with the little more than the tip of that iceberg and one of the problems is that the village I'd thought most suitable as a setting didn't have one lord... not even two lords. The village had three lords. And each of them had changed and been replaced intermittently. Trying to keep track of who was who, where their manor actually was and their motivations and opinions of each other was quite stressful. There was also the problem of fitting all that into a wider picture as well, which caused problems. But everything is ironed out now. I have a decent story plan to follow now and know what I'm doing with it all.

There are even the options for this to be the start of a series of partly interlinked stories too. I'm even thinking that there could be a supernatural/spooky prequel story as the area has barrows, a cursor and the remains of a stone circle. It feels a shame to utterly ignore those so it'd be rude not to involve them somehow.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Tonight, I'll be concentrating on starting the short story and seeing how far I get. I'm really relieved that I've finally finished all the research to a good level and can now actually start.

Finally, I bid you all a farewell and invite you to look at the above links. I hope to see you all soon.

 Hello everyone!

Well, to start off with, just to get things out of the way. As of writing this post, The Dreamstone TTRPG supplement by Oakbound Studio is into its last day on kickstarter, so I'd like to sort of encourage you to go and take a look. Which you can do so here.

I know that Oakbound Studios has worked really hard on it so please take a bit of a look.

The Dreamstone RPG by Oakbound Studio

But onto other stuff. I managed to get a little bit of money in the meantime, since my last post, so I've been on a bit of a spending spree and have ordered a stack of books. Hopefully they'll be delivered on Tuesday. Hopefully.

Once they're delivered, I hope to do an unboxing post. A number of the books have been recommended to me by folks that can spot a good book a mile off. So, there's that.

I've also seriously been eyeing up a game called Baron's War, which is, unsurprisingly based on the Barons' War, where King John had continued to muck around after the signing of the Magna Carta to the point that there was a war. Then a couple of decades later, similar things happened. I've just been eyeing up their Welsh models and they look particularly splendid. But yes, this skirmish game has plenty of knights and kings and men-at-arms and the like.

The Barons' War skirmish game,
by Footsore Miniatures

Foot knights for The Barons' War skirmish game,
by Footsore Miniatures

But life has got in the way a little bit over this last week. There have been some ups and downs and a few distractions so, unfortunately, I've not managed to get to much writing done.

But much research has happened. Though I was hoping that the story I'm researching would be a break from another piece of writing, this seems to have developed into a potential project all in itself.

As you may have noticed with an earlier post, I've been researching late Anglo-Saxon history. I had initially thought that it would take a day or so to buff up on a few facts, but I've gone down a huge rabbit hole, realising quite how action packed it is. And that's without any full on invasions or crusades, which seemed popular in that period.

I tried cutting down on some of the research by thinking of basing the story in the village I grew up in, but realised that I'd made things hard for myself in the sense that, instead of the village having one lord to keep tabs on... there are three. And that's without several of them being deposed by the ruler for allying with his enemies. But that does mean that the character's past has a lot of backstabbing in his history. Which can be a fun thing.

and this was all for a story based on a Lovecraftian horror and the beginning of the Harrying of the North. Oh well. But needless to say, I think that's why I think this could be a series of stories.

I think I'm almost ready to actually start writing. Maybe this evening.

I didn't even get a chance to look up the history of The Isle of Mann.

 Hello everyone!

This might be quite a short blog post for today.

I've been trucking on with my writing and the fantasy novella that I've been working on for the passed month is coming along. I'm making progress and working on it each day.

I try and keep a tabs on things with daily updates on a new-ish Twitter account that I set up at @DanCoghlan3 if anyone is interested in following that. I do daily word totals there too.

I had hoped to get the novella done by now, if I'm honest. I'd sort of hoped to have it done a week ago, but that was if I could bust through doing some days where I could work through it unimpeded all day. That's not happened, which is a shame. But I have managed to get a first draft for a fantasy short story done in the mean time.

I'm about three fifths of the way through it now. I may take another break from it when I've reached the end of this chapter and write another fantasy short story. There's one I've wanted to do about a barroom brawl including wizards. I like the idea of things escalating as the patrons get drunk and start trying to use their magick.

To be honest, I'm generally beginning to feel a bit bogged down by this novella. But then again, when I'm at this point in a longer story, I usually feel similar. At the beginning of the story, you always feel full of ideas and feel motivated to get as far as you can and when you get about three quarters of the way through, the end is in sight and you feel eager to see all the drama that unfolds during the climax of the story. I suppose I'm not there yet. I'm still in that middle zone were you haven't got the ending in sight and the vigor you started with has worn off. I suppose I'm just waiting for that 'second wind'. Lets see where I'm at by the end of this month and think again shall we.

Anyway, hopefully tomorrow, I'll have another blog post. I had some post through this morning and I'll soon do an 'unboxing post about what I received. all I'm going to say is that its wargame related, a skirmish game in fact, so it should be curious to any wargamers and roleplay gamers too. Plus, I'll leave this picture as a tease to end this post. I always feel excited when there is an Oakbound Games logo involved.

Mystery box from Oakbound Studios

 Hello everyone!

Yikes! It's been nearly a fortnight since I last did a post, and there was me thinking I had enough going on to do a handful of extra blog posts once in a while.

As you may have seen, I have retweeted a bit about the Kickstarter created by Gilead which is still going. And which you can still get involved with here.

Ned the Barbarian, Gilead

The Kickstarter of Gilead will also set him up to start producing his fantastic fantasy art in other formats and in different ways, so please take a look.

But with my last post, I think I'd waxed lyrically about a new magazine which had had its test issue out, called New Edge Sword and Sorcery, which seems to have been quite popular. Its available at cost and if things continue to go well, they'll do actual issues and the first two will be put up on Kickstarter. I'll let you know more about that as I learn more. Hopefully one day, I may have a story or two in there of my own.

New Edge Sword and Sorcery, with
Bass in Ye Olde Dolphin, Derby

New Edge Sword and Sorcery, with 
Bass, Ye Olde Dolphin, Derby

And those photo's were taken while I enjoyed my copy with a pint of tasty Bass in Derby's oldest pub, The Dolphin, which dates back to the 16th century.

In other news, I received my copy of Tales From The Magician's Skull number 7. I think in the last post, I'd recently ordered it, but it was coming all the way from America on its own little adventure. So, to my surprise, it plopped through my letterbox after a week.

Tales From the Magician's Skull, issue 7

Though I'm late in enjoying this issue - the Kickstarter backers received their issue in February and are now receiving issue 8 - but there are some really nice stories in it. I'm not disappointed. James Enge and John C Hocking are reliably excellent and very entertaining. I won't share a photo of me reading it while, shall we say, enthroned.

I have also managed to get a couple of Kickstarter rewards through that are good. Both are supplements to the Old School Essentials ttrpg game. One is Axian Library which adds a lot of extra bits and bobs, goodies and buyables, encounters and dangers to one's game of deadly peril.

Another is Toxic Woods by Lazy Lich, which provides a fantasy campaign setting suitable for, again, old School Essentials ttrpg. I could only find a link to Lazy Lich's twitter for updates on this. So I provide a link to Lazy Lich so you can follow them for yourself.

Axian Library,
for Old School Essentials TTRPG

Toxic Wood,
for Old School Essentials TTRPG

Anyway, onto writing and what I've done since the last post. I've completed a fair amount. I'm still working on a fantasy novella that includes pirates, Fomori, an elf barbarian, a wizard and mutant cultists, oh and an insane goddess protecting a holy space. But it's not been coming along as quickly as I'd sort of hoped. I think, originally, I'd hoped to have it finished around about now. But I'm now, as of writing this post, about half way through, which is a shame. But 17,000 words in that time isn't too shabby.

I'd felt a bit overwhelmed by it a couple of times over this last fortnight and needed to take a couple of days off from it to try and recuperate from it. Oddly, the sixth chapter was the shortest in terms of word count, but also it took the longest to actually write. It wound me up a little, but I think I've got passed that now.

While I was taking a couple of days off from my novella, I didn't spend it wasting time. I did managed to start and complete a fantasy short story that I'm quite pleased about. Its 5,200 words long and sees my elf barbarian character take down a long dead liche upon its return to un-life after many centuries. I'm quite pleased with how it panned out, but I think it will be cut down to be much shorter. I was trying to get into a very Sword and Sorcery style with it. In fact, when I come to running through all my fantasy stories again for edits and another draft, I think they'll become significantly shorter.

Anyway, I've returned to the fantasy novella and I've passed the troublesome chapter six, so things should start picking up again and I might have it completed by halfway through November, hopefully sooner. I may take some time off from it again to take a rest from it. But that is mainly so I can do another fantasy short story that involves a barroom brawl between wizards. Cue things getting way too out of hand and, despite the cleverness of wizards, a lot of stupid collateral damage is expected as they stupidly decide to bring spells to a fist fight.

And that's it for today. Hopefully I'll be able to get another writing blog post or two in during the week as I've a couple of other ttrpg things I'd like to show off - including some Gaia Complex and some WFRP 4th edition. If I don't, I'll just have to show them off next week.

Farewell everybody!

 Hello everyone!

I think this'll be a moderately long post.

First off, my writing seems to be going pretty well recently... pretty well. But it's always the same old thing, I would rather like to increase my daily average word count a fair amount, but how exactly I'll do that, I'm unsure.

But, I've been working on a novella, replete with pirates, wizards, knights, elf barbarians, evil cultists, Fomori and a strange god being. I've been at it about nine days and I'm a quarter of the way through it - just over ten thousand words. Which is fair, but i feel like I've struggled a little to get into the full swing of it.

So, what I did, was to start a short story to try and surpass this. And it seems to have worked. I started it yesterday, I'm two thousand words in, and I think I've almost finished it. I think I will today, but whether I pick up the novella today as well and carry on with that today as well, I'm not sure. I'll return to it nevertheless. Hopefully the break will have refreshed the old noggin.

I'm actually quite pleased with the short story so far, it's about the defeat of an ancient liche as it comes to life once again. I realise it could well rely on some well worn sword and sorcery tropes, but it's a story I've wanted to write in a few months so far, but haven't managed to get around to it for one reason or another.

And with that, that is what I've been doing with my writing over the last week. And on to other things. I am planning on a few stories over the coming weeks and months. i'll be working on completing a few first drafts then work through rewrites, then edits etc. It might not be the best way to go about doing this, but it's the way I think makes sense.

As I said in a post I wrote roughly a week ago, I intend to write a few posts about other sundry things that are adjacent to my fantasy writing. With that, a few things have happened.

I have ordered the seventh issue of Tales From The Magician's Skull and that is yet to come, because of sundry things relating to it being part of a kickstarter before being available to the public. Some are receiving the eighth issue as the seventh comes on sale to the public and mine is now on the way. Much to my jealousy - a jest of course. I'll be including that in a blog post when it arrives.

I have also signed up with Discord, and I'm quite enjoying it. there is one server I've joined that I'm particularly enjoying dedicated to all things related to fantasy writing and it's sundry peripherals, including magazines, TV and games. I've actually found it greatly reassuring and a wonderful asset. I know feel part of a community with my writing, which is something that I've not really ever felt.

It was through this discord server that I managed to find out about the New Edge Swords and Sorcery magazine, which has had it's issue zero, a test piece issue to iron out wrinkles and the like and see if organising regular issues would be viable. and I got my issue through the post yesterday.

New Edge Sword and Sorcery, issue 0

I've delved into it only briefly. It is a magazine of two halves really. The first has a collection of five stories, and the second half involves a handful of Sword and Sorcery articles. One from Howard Andrew Jones, and some exploring Sword and Sorcery in a modern age. There is even an in depth look at Dark Agnes, which I've found to be of particular interest so far.

I've read many of the articles so far, and I've found them very interesting, coming from a place of authority in the Sword and Sorcery genre. I'll try and put things in a better review anon.

You can visit their facebook page here and visit their website here and explore things yourself.

I also managed to get a canny t-shirt for myself as well.

I Write Sword and Sorcery Stories,
Gilead Artist, Redbubble.

It's from a talented and hard working artist that I like called Gilead. I got this off his Redbubble site.

But he can also be visited on his instagram, his twitter, his amazon and his patreon.

He also has a kickstarter live as he is trying to fund a book of his work. Please check it out and back if it tickles your fancy

Anyway, that's pretty much the bulk of what I want to say in this post, other than, I'm sorely tempted to start playing some RPGs. I've started a Discord server for friends to play and share relevant things. And of course, the usual thing is the case, organising the players around their schedules is being frustrating. But, that's to be expected to the point that cartoons are made about it.

Anyway, I hope to see you all soon, farewell!

 Hello everyone!

Yes, its been a bit of a slow writing week so far. I think I even missed one of these blog posts last week.

There are a couple of reasons for that, well... one big one. That has been to do with perhaps still having the bad stomach from a couple of weeks ago, and also, for quite a while, I've been trying to organise seeing a doctor for several ailments that have developed since I last saw a doctor in 2018.

Its been a long, convoluted journey that's taken two months so far and I've still not actually seen one. In fact, I've not even managed to speak to one yet.

On the other hand, I have been booked into have blood tests, which have taken more than a fortnight to organise from the appointment's request to actually having it. That has been a bit of an adventure in itself.  I'm due to have that on Wednesday.

Its taken so long because of restrictions due to the 'good old plague' that we've been going through. I can understand, but it just feels like it takes so very long to get stuff done.

So far, that whole thing just feels like its bogged me down quite a lot and I haven't managed to get much done in the way of writing at all.

On other news, after some more of a kerfuffle because Hermes was being Hermes and being particularly difficult, I managed to get my Blood Bowl box set through the post, or rather, I had to claim a refund and order a replacement copy. I wonder if the couriers are still withholding the old box from the seller? wretched couriers.

Blood Bowl Second Season Boxset

I'm enjoying reading the rules and there's a fairly big dose of nostalgia about it from my childhood and also, I've a couple of friends interested in the teams, while I play with the dwarves from previous posts. There are even talks about starting a wargaming YouTube channel eventually. I'm not sure when. There are other things to consider.

But onto writing, I have been still planning a few stories. There are two short stories and a novella that I've be concentrating on to get down in first draft form. They'll be the Gwaeloch Irisgarth fantasy stories, like the others and once they are done, I'll work my way through editing the short stories and novellas and get them out there.

I'd been asked about my intentions with them - by someone who seems particularly forgetful - but they do seem genuinely curious, if quite irritating. They were also asking about covers, which is something that shouldn't be though about just yet.

Anyway, I'm hoping that once the blood tests are done with, things with the doctor should feel like they're progressing and I can soon start fully concentrating on things again.

Al the best to each and every one of you. Farewell.

 Hello everyone!

Well, I've started planning a couple of first drafts to follow on from fantasy novella I finished. One is a short story based on what will happen were wizards to start a barroom brawl in the same fantasy series. I like the idea of an elaborate chaos spilling out into the street because of some petty semantic argument of some minor magickal technique.

The other story is a fantasy novella and will have the same sidekick as the first novella in it. A Fimir village guards a pocket dimension holding the shard of a god. A pirate fleet and an army of cultists want to gain the shard and try to conquer the village and the heroes are on the side of the Fimir.

I've got a fair way into planning both of these tales and I would have liked to have started one, preferably the short story, but I've come down with some sort of stomach bug which sees me having to go and sit on the toilet an embarrassing amount of times. Its getting a bit tedious now. I've had it most of a week now and I'm getting to feel a bit downtrodden by it now and it'd be nice to get back to normal. Hopefully that'll happen soon. It should do, It seems to be changing fairly quickly in regards to some of the symptoms.

Anyway, not much else has happened. There was a Pagan Moot in Derby that I had to miss, two in fact because of this, but I was able to catch up with some folks while at home. The newer group seems to be developing well and the older one is chugging on like normal. I think there was a glut of new faces at both, which is nice.

But other than that, nothing much has happened.

I did managed to stat reading a new games book recently, based on Lankhmar setting by Fritz Leiber for the Dungeon Crawl Classics game set for their TTRPG, very curious stuff. I look forward to playing some of it.

Lankhmar ruleset for DCC,
(Dungeon Crawl Classics)

 Hello everyone!

Well, well, well, I did manage to finish the novella during the week, which I'm pleased to announce. It was on Thursday that it happened and I think, with a word count on that day of over 4,700 words, I think its the most productive day I've had in a while. The novella now weighs in at a little over 25,000 words so far. 

I've yet to do an edit on it though and I think that it will be cut down a bit, but I'm expecting that. I'm sort of aiming to self publish this novella and as long as it totals more than 8,400 words in total, I'm happy as there are minimum restrictions to stuff being published in the way I'd like to.

Anyway, it has now been added to a 'to be edited' pile with a couple of short stories in the same series. I want to do another couple of novellas and about 4 short stories that I'd like to have down in first draft form and then I'll work through the stack, editing it.

Though with the next few stories, I'd like to make that post four thousand word daily total an average. Perhaps I am being hard on myself with that as I am sort of comparing my productivity to what I was able to do a handful of years ago, but those days saw me working so hard, I ended up in hospital. So that's something to work around. Anyway, the 1,400 words a day average I did during the novella, I'm happy enough with.

Anyway, what have I been doing since Thursday?

I've been planning the next couple of stories: that's what. There is a short story based on what happens when a wizard college pub has a bar room brawl and  there is a novella based on a three way battle over a trans dimensional portal to a pocket dimension at the centre of a Fimir village. Pirates are involved.

Friday saw me also attend a birthday party. The lady who inspired the sidekick in my novella had her 50th birthday, which was nice.

Also, yesterday was May Day, a day of celebration for me, and celebrate I did. I'm feeling much the worse the ware for it today though. But after seeing my dad, I went to The Dolphin and The Flowerpot in Derby and a few friends were bumped into there, which was nice. Though I had pencilled in meeting a friend in the suburbs for an afternoon trip, but things were left a bit late to organise things with that.

But anyway, if you like Vikings, history and folktales, take a look at his YouTube channel here.

The Flowerpot, Derby

The Dolphin, Derby

Hello everyone,

Phew, that's the Christmas period over, and sorry that it's been such a while since I last was in touch.

A few things have been in the pipeline over Christmas. I have a short story coming out soon that will be incorporated inside a heavy metal album. There will be more about that later on, nearer the album's release date, then I can give you lots more details.

I will be adding a few more pages and a bit more content on here. I would like to re-upload parts of Thomas of Newburgh's History of English Affairs from my old blog. These will be the juice parts that involve curious phenomena and the supernatural, which include zombie revenant sightings, twin suns in the sky and the Green Children of Woolpit. I hope you will enjoy those.

The other thing that will be seen on my blog will be a sporadic series of curious folkloric, supernatural and historical things that tickle my imagination. I would like to upload them when I can in the hope that they will put some fire in the imagination of others as well.

Also, I have been working with Northworthy Sagas and Stories. I was impressed by their ethos of wanting to record and archive tellings of Dark Age folklore. Alongside that, they aim to share as much as they can about Dark Age history, myth, legend and culture. So I will soon be on YouTube as either a Viking or an Anglo Saxon. I am also working on their blog, which I hope will be ready soon, so watch their space, I applaud their effort.

One thing that's related is that I am planning a fictionalised short story that will be part of a saga for a persona that I'm developing for Northworthy Sagas and Stories. It will be based at Repton, and old capital of Mercia and involve Vikings, Saxons and a Lovecraftian god. It is based on a short story that I wrote many a year ago that I was unhappy with and didn't do anything with.

One thing that I will be doing with this story is that I will be using tarot readings to help me better develop the story. After a bit of interest, I will be converting some of my methods and planning involving the tarot readings into blog articles that I shall put up on here! So watch out for those.

Well, that is all that I've been up to recently and I hope the New Year is treating you all well. I wish you all good health and a good bye.

Hello all,

This is being put up a little later than I thought it would be, but better late than never, as they say.

This last week or so has been very good to me. I've completed a short story and its to be published! Which I'm immensely pleased about. Hopefully, by the end of the month, it'll be in print, if not, it should be out before Christmas at least. I'll Keep everyone updated on what happens there. I'll also provide links to where you guys can get your hands on it. It'll be part of a multi-media package that I'm excited to be included in.

Something else that I've been working on is for the Northworthy Sagas and Stories YouTube channel. The blog is coming along and soon there will be some new banners made for the blog as well as the YouTube channel itself. After that, once I've built up some content, the blog will go live.

I am now an admin on their channel and you'll be able to come and chat with us when a video goes up via YouTube's canny premiere facility.

With Northworthy, I have been invited along to perform in some of their videos. So I have a Saxon persona that I am currently working on, replete with my own Saga that will hopefully will be performed as a milestone and also be published as a book that is accompanied by a series of short stories and some Skaldic poetry that I am learning the formula for. So watch out for that.

Alongside all of that, Northworthy Sagas and Stories may also be introducing a series of black-smithing videos and videos on how to tailor Dark Age period clothing. Hopefully, I'll have a hand in that. I await with baited breath.

As always, I'll keep you lovely people updated on my exploits and progress.

Farewell!