Hello everyone!

It's the time of week when a new blog post appears. I'm writing this just after a kidney infection appears over the horizon, which is 'lovely'. So lets see how this next week goes.

But a few things have happened this past week that are good. I got a book I ordered before Christmas finally arrived. It's a collection of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique Cycle called Zothique: The Final Cycle and is released by Hippocampus Press. I've only had a quick flick through and read the introduction so far, but I always enjoy Clark Ashton Smith. His stories are reliably entertaining and poetic. It should go well with my Averoigne collection of his too. I'll try and get reviews up of those once I've read them. There is also a collection of Averoigne pastiches that I'm about half way through that I'd like to review too.

Zothique: The Final Cycle,
Clark Ashton Smith,
Hippocampus Press

A copy of Zothique: The final cycle can be purchased here, for anyone interested.

Now, a bit on wargaming. I think I mentioned that I was expecting a few things through the post because I'd finally made the plunge into buying some Aeldari - Eldar for the old school - for Warhammer 40K. Well, it arrived. I'm now the pleased owned of two of the Aeldari Combat Patrol boxsets, the codex and a Fire Prism.

Eldar/Aeldari force
for Warhammer 40k

Sorry for the bad photo, it was taken on a phone that in phone years, is possibly considered a penshioner.

If I keep referring to them as Eldar, its because I'm so old, that's what they were before I gave up for a while. I still think the game is fun, but I see that there have been numerous bits of drama in the community which has felt a bit daunting for someone wanting to casually start up in the game again.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to painting them up. I've been chatting with a few folks in an Eldar group and am in the process of reading the codex from cover to cover. The only problem now is, I want to buy a load more.

Also, I still do have a big hankering for investing in the Barons' War game by Footsore Miniatures, the makers of Saga. Their Welsh and Romano-British miniatures are lovely, and they're in the process of releasing a early Crusades supplement, possibly with Richard the Lionheart and all. It looks curious, but my eyes are still currently on the Welsh and Romano-British.

Barons' War Wargame Rulebook
Footsore Miniatures

Welsh force for Barons' War
by Footsore Miniatures

Arthurian/Romano-British Cavalry,
for Saga or Barons' War,
by Footsore Miniatures

Also, I see that the DnD subculture is in uproar about Hasbro's OGL. Having expressed an interest in TTRPGs and RPGs on here numerous times I thought I might just mention that, for the foreseeable future, I'm happy with the numerous other companies that provide us with many enjoyable evenings, rolling dice and slaying great beasts in catacombs. Of my favourites, Old School Essentials, Dungeon Crawl Classics and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition are three of my favorites, and well supported. There are others too out there.

Old School Essentials Player's Tome
RPG

Dungeon Crawl Classics Rulebook,
DCC RPG

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
4th Edition

But onto some writing. I've had a really productive week. I've been planning a new series of fantasy stories inspired by the Anglo-Scottish Borderlands, with the Border Reivers. I've completed all the background information for the series. I found George MacDonald Fraser's The Candlemass Road and The Steel Bonnets a great help and great for anyone wanting to look into that region during the years 1066 and 1600. It can also give greater context to the Sawney Legends which has influenced things like The Hills Have Eyes.

The Candlemass Road,
George MacDonald Fraser

The Steel Bonnets,
George MacDonald Fraser

But there have been a few other things that have been influential, like the galloglass mercenaries from Ireland and Scotland.

I also managed to finish a pile of notes planning a novella and a short story in this series, with loose plans and plot hooks done for numerous other stories depending on how these ones are received. These will be a sort of fantasy, swords and sorcery swashbuckler, with an exiled noble and a galloglass teaming up and heading out around a land similar to the Anglo-Scottish borders.

The plan is that on completion of these two stories, I then start editing the big stack of first drafts I have piled up. They'll join the heroic fantasy/swords and sorcery stories about Gwaeloch Irisgarth, the Elf Barbarian.

I really need to start getting some stuff ready for publication soon. I want to have two or three novellas as the first stories out there, and then work through editing a hand full of short stories for magazines and anthologies. There had been a time when I was getting bogged down by all of this. I was working on so many stories that I was feeling that I wouldn't see the end of it.

I feel things renewed now. I'm eager to get some stuff out there. It gets a bit tiring trying to also think ahead of what writing will make good 'business sense' but things are coming along. If I can get into the swing of things, increasing my daily word count three-fold, that could help, at least with getting the first drafts out in quick time.

Here we are near the end, and because I quite liked it last week, its the bit I might call the Refreshment Watch segment. While writing this post, I was drinking nothing very exciting, it was a lovely refreshing glass of water, gasp. For what I was watching or listening to in the background, it was a Gopher Live playthrough of The Outer Worlds: The Murder on Eridanos. Let me know what you were drinking and listening to while reading this.

Anyway, that's it for this week. Hopefully this infection won't be two disruptive and I'll have plenty to tell you about in next week's writing blog.

Bye bye everyone!

 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!

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!

Just a quick post.

I wanted to let everyone be aware of a really cool RPG from a small company called Oakbound Studio. They have a few really cool games out there, one involving a post apocalyptic setting and another, with super cool Oldhammer/old-school style figures called The Woods, based on Celtic Myths and Legends, with a bit of Terry Pratchett, Brian Froud and The Labyrinth thrown in for good measure.

But the company has released a Kickstarter for a RPG based on a cult British cartoon from the early '90s called The Dreamstone which was shown in on CITV - part of ITV. This is a supplement for the game. Which can be found here.

If you find that appealing, you can check out the Oakbound Studio website and take a look at the rules sets and already existing miniatures.

The Dreamstone cartoon

Hello everyone!

Oooo, I'm doing a blog post early this week!

Well, with my writing, I needed a bit of a rest from my novella and that time is almost over, Soon, I'll delve back into the world of Elf barbarians, wizards, pirates and Fomori, I just needed to refresh my brain a little from it. Thankfully, I did wait until I'd finished the third act of five.

But my my my, it's proving to almost be classed as a novel at this rate. Even now, with being three fifths of the way through, I think its as long as my previous novella. It's looking to be about 43,000 words long in total, compared to the last novella which was at 25,000 words. Both will perhaps be cut down quite a fair about in the editing process. I'm aiming at these being in the Sword and Sorcery markets.

But in the mean time on my rest from the novella, I've still been busy. I've sort of refrained from starting a new writing project as I would like to finish this novella at some point and I think like a few writers, I'm prone to start a new story at the drop of a hat. Though new projects have sorely tempted me.

I did look again at the Lester Dent Master Plot Formula, which I've loosely based my plotting techniques on, though I do add a fifth act and use a Shakespearean way of organising story. If you guys are interested, I can always reprint the Plot Formula on my blog, if you guys wished.

I've also been thinking of doing a couple of historical based stories that I'd plotted out a while ago, one of which I did about six years ago. One is an English Civil War Story that I'd always planned to do when I was in the Sealed Knot and was very keen on that period of history but never got around to completing. Though I'd started and re-started it about three or four times.

I'd also previously been wondering if there ever was any Lord Flashheart fan fiction out there - the character from Blackadder played by the unparalleled Rik Mayall. I think the character is wonderful, even if it is a sort of Harry Flashman style character, there is still the pulp hero ethos to him. Well, I found that there were some stories the other day on fan fiction sites. But I'm wondering about doing a pulp hero version of him, specifically from the second series of Blackadder. So t hat's a temptation to do now as well.

And another story I'd wanted to do was one based about Repton in the ninth century from when it was the Viking capital of Mercia. It was the furthest inland that the Vikings had managed to venture by river and had fortified Saint Wystan's church. I remember doing a horror story about the place years ago, but have gone off it. In the mean time, I was looking at the place's history, with it supposedly having the grave of Ivar the Boneless - of The Vikings fame. But one thing I though twas odd was that there was a battle there and the bodies were buried in a mass grave and from what I recall, there were very very few skeletons in it that had a Norse background. Strange, I wonder why. They couldn't have all been One Man Armies, surely. Anyway, I was thinking of a story that included some Lovecraftian, Cthulhu Mythos element to it to explain.

But now onto other stuff. I had thought about doing something for Halloween and was wondering what. I have an idea. I could do a post that incorporates the Revenant portions of William of Newburgh's History of English Affairs. They are something I've wondered basing stories on, having a medieval vampire hunter perhaps, but I figured that folks might love some medieval zombie/vampire action for the spooky season. What do you think?

Anyway, I also got some reading matter through the post during the week. It came two days early, which is nice. I've started reading them and intend on doing a review on them both, but I managed to get an anthology of Halloween based Sword and Sorcery stories called Samhain Sorceries come through. I doubt, unfortunately, that I'll be able to have a review done by Halloween, which is a shame.

I also managed to get a copy of War on Rome, by Adrian Cole come through. This looks good and is based in an alternate history, that has magic involved. This is based on the Roman invasion of Germany. I'm enjoying it so far, though haven't got very far. I'll also try and do a review of this as well, once I've finished it.

War on Rome book 1, by Adrian Cole,
DMR Books

Samhain Sorceries, DMR Books

Sorry for the quality of the photos.

I;m also hoping to get reviews done of New Edge Sword and Sorcery Issue 0, and Tales From the Magician's Skull Issue 7 as time comes. I've almost finished reading both of these excellent fantasy short story magazines, so I should start getting that sorted soon-ish. I've talked about both of these in earlier posts.

Now, please indulge me a little as I go onto a little bit of wargame related stuff. I managed to get a trio of wargaming models through today. Through the post I managed to receive these guys:

Mad Donna Ulanti, Necromunda

Corum of the Silver Hand by
Games Workshop for Stormbringer RPG

Jerry Cornelius by Games Workshop,
for Stormbringer RPG

They are an old Mad Donna Ulanti model from Necromunda, and I'm guessing that it's from when the '90s edition of the game got relaunched in the early 2000s. I can't wait to paint her up. It's a shame I can't find my copy of the Mad Donna Necromunda tie-in novel. I might have to get myself a new copy.

But there is also Corum of the Silver Hand and Jerry Cornelius as well. Both of these are from a line of miniatures that Games Workshop made in 1987. They were of a short run of models for the Stormbringer RPG that Games Workshop made models form. I know there had been some copyright kerfuffle with the games, but I'm unsure what. I think there were two games being made of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion stuff and that confused matters.

But anyway. I feel lucky to have them. Corum is one of my favourites of Michael Moorcock and Jerry Cornelius is a solid character too. I want to paint them all up. Sometimes I take inspiration from this stuff. Its nice to have a physical representation of something that exists in your head. I may use the Jerry Cornelius model as part of a warband for Inquisitor. I recently had a thing for that and got quite nostalgic for that game. I even found the rulebooks in PDF form online.

 Hello everyone!

Yesterday, in a post, I mentioned about doing an unboxing post. and here it is!

I got a bit excited by the package arriving, so took a load of photos - some of them aren't so professional but I hope you can still get the gist of it.

This is a Patreon reward for a game called The Woods by Oakbound Studios. I realise that it's not quite as well known as, say, Warhammer, but its a game that I love the aesthetic of.

It's a game that combines Celtic myths, specifically from wales and Cornwall and combines them with Arthurian Legend and some Tolkien as well. I'm really enamored by the setting. Its a diceless game and is mostly geared up for being a skirmish game, but there are RPG rules and options for turning it into a full on wargame as well. Many of the miniatures are influenced by either Arthurian legends, Welsh and Cornish and Celtic myths and by some Tolkien-esque things and some have an old-school Warhammer feel to them. Yeah, I love the setting.

They have the website, if you wish taking a look at Oakbound.co.uk

There is a youtube channel as well where aspects of the game and wargaming are looked at.

There are also a pair of Facebook pages. One is for the company in general and for other products and games that Oakbound Studios do including a Moonstone RPG and if you get into The Woods, there is a player group here.

Needless to say, I was very excited to receive the Patreon reward through the post yesterday and I'm very pleased with the warband. I'm surprised - very pleasantly so - that the warband came in a wood box with embossing and with foam inlays for the figures. I'm going to enjoy painting them.

A good day comes with an
Oakbound Studio sticker.

Ooo, a fancy box of druids.

First glimpse, with super fancy
concept art

Fancy Druid concept art.

Such a safe warband.

The Druids prepare to defend Anglesey

Master Druid in Berlin Calendar Helmet.

Fury like woman number 1.

Armed Warrior number 1.

Armed Warrior number 2

Apprentice Druid number 1

Hare Familiar

Fury like woman 2

Armed Warrior 3

Armed Warrior number 4

Apprentice Druid 2

Fury like woman 3

Fury like woman 4

Super cool Druid Last Stand concept art

Its not quite over yet folks. Last night, after taking the photos for the warband so I could make this post, I got excited and stuck them to their bases - which were kindly included. So, here are some more photos of the warband on their bases. Please pardon the background. I took the photos as is, as they were on my painting table, so you get to see how untidy it is, and also, you may be able to spot a few other bits in the background. Again, apologies for the photos not being the best quality, but you can at least see how they stand when they are first assembled.

Getting the Druid's band together

Druid warband close ups 1

Druid warband close ups 2