Friday, June 14, 2013

Travelling Again

Actually, I've been here all along. But life has been frantic, to say the least. Lots of changes around the day job that had me more than a little concerned about being the breadwinner (I just discovered recently that I'm "safe" for now). Plus, I've been pouring work into my novel, Solistalgia, which has taken me away from both blogging and reviewing books.

In the little time I've spent lately wandering the interwebs, I've discovered a very cool website for you Traveller fans: The Zhodani Base. It's a blog full of Traveller miscellany, with some very cool articles for those who play the game and even for those who just plain like anything Science Fiction. One of the more geekworthy tools there is the LBB Front Cover Rendering Machine. For those who remember the iconic look of the many Traveller books and supplements and enjoyed the sleek, simple design of those books, this thing will make you absolutely giddy.

I tried my hand at it, making a cover for an imaginary Traveller adventure involving my favorite band of nasties, the Cthulhu mythos:






After that, I couldn't help but render a cover in homage to one of my favorite movies of all time, Mars Attacks:


So why are you still reading this blog? Go have fun with this thing. I'd love to see what you come up with!

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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8

The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 by Thomas Ott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of Ott's better books (though not his best). Another wordless foray into the realms of the horrific. This work explores . . . well, The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8. Who knows what mystic significance this number has to the author? It's probably some kind of inside joke. But it's no joke to the victims main characters. This is an exploration of luck, good and bad. This song kept flowing through my head as I read. Sometimes, I'm really glad I don't gamble. You don't always win with Ott's books, but this one is a sure bet.

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