StoryHackery: Island Rescue

Spencer E. Hart hits the fourth issue of StoryHack with a nice little adventure that delivers exactly what it offers. I have been following Spencer’s work for a while, in both this and the pages of Cirsova Magazine, and with this story of a kidnapping gone wrong, it’s safe...

Karl Barber: The Even More Completer Collection

My first professional works were modern day action tales of a long ranger roaming the world and righting the sorts of wrongs that don’t often get righted in our fallen world.  A couple of these stories wound up gracing the pages of StoryHack Magazine and Milhaven’s Tales of Suspense....

More Hackery of the Story Variety

The always reliable Misha Burnett tosses the reader into a two man fight to the death in an arena that makes modem day San Fransisco look like as clean as an operating theater.  StoryHack Four continues to stroke my ego by placing my work alongside greats like Misha. He’s...

Castalia Review: Secrets of the Nethercity

Now up over at the House of Castalia. Given that this is an adventure for mid-level characters, you’re looking at a minimum of six months of play or rolling up 4th level characters before first setting foot into the slop at the doorstep of this kilo-dungeon.  Not sure I’ll...

StoryHack Catch Up

This hot little number has been sitting in my to-read pile for far too long.  Having written The Bouncer’s Tale, the third chapter in a crime not-quite-serial, I skipped straight to Jason Restrick’s  Beyond the Temple of Bak-Taar.  The sequel to an impressive story presented in Issue 1 (iirc), this...

Taking a Bear to a Knife Fight

A death match that pits the bitter wisdom of the Big Bear’s X-Brigade against the energetic cunning of Nick the Knife’s Zoomies is just what the Boomers ordered for dessert. Those trying to force a direct confrontation between the two groups are fools and troublemaking drama queens who should...

Castalia Review: The City of Silver

Go buy this book. David V. Stewart dares to tread the line between the age of the blade and the age of black powder in this light fantasy novel. I’m glad that David has turned his pen to more traditional western fare.  I’ve been anticipating reading his works ever...

Jack Ryan: The Ben Affleck Years

Season One of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan barely held itself together long enough to cross the finish line.  They flirted with modern day espionage, but couldn’t put aside the fakeness of woke culture long enough to create a show that felt real.  The action pieces were impressive given thier...

Sanction: The Book

Nope. There’s a small cadre of writers plugging away in the dank belly of the indy scene that are well worth a look.  Schantz’ Hidden Truth series of conspiraciana led me to Neovictorian’s Sanity, an excellent spy thriller, which introduced me to the civilizational collapse tales of Abraham Lopez’ Going Gone. ...

Pulp Modern: Tech Noir

New review of a surprisingly hopeful collection of grim and dark tales of future tech.  I picked this title up on a lark – my own WIP is a retro-future adventure, and I wanted to immerse myself in a host of styles to help nail the mood.  Expecting the...