Book Review of TARNISH on Forever Young Adult

Today one of the "hippest" (do kids still say that?) and more popular websites for all things young adult, ForeverYoungAdult.com, has posted a review of my fantasy novel Tarnish. Their very catchy slogan is what drew me to query them for a review in the first place: "A site for YA readers who are a little less Y and a bit more A," as illustrated by the picture below.

They are also part of the team of young artistic geniuses behind the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, which are by far the best places to watch movies (while enjoying dinner and drinks -- it's great!).

FYA team member Brian Katcher accepted my proposal and gave Tarnish read. And on FYA, they have a style all their own. And I like it! To give you an idea, here's the categorical breakdown on this particular book report (similar categories for all their book reports, I believe):

BOOK REPORT for Tarnish by J.D. Brink

Cover Story: Silverskinned Hunk
Drinking Buddy: Don't Take Your Guns to Town, Bill
Testosterone Level: I Ain't As Good as I Once Was
Talky Talk: Stoneass
Bonus Factors: Storytelling, War is Hell
Bromance Status: The Old Gang

Mr. Katcher stays pretty neutral too. He's giving a book report to prospective readers, giving them the skinny and letting them decide if it's something they want to read or not. He does say, "That's why I like this book," but that's the least neutral and most biased thing he writes, the only glimpse at his opinion.

His report does a great job of capturing the theme and issues of the primary characters. For Billy/Wil, these bits give you a good idea of what's what with our main hero:

"Now Billy is no stupid oaf, and he takes these life lessons to heart. And he's pretty charming, able to wrangle up a free meal with his storytelling, and an occasional kiss from a local girl. And he's the first one to step in if it looks like someone is being bullied. He's going to be a hero one day. It's just going to take a couple more black eyes and a night in the Fellwater drunk tank to get there."

And:

"Billy eventually falls in with a group of warriors who are willing to help Redfield, if he'll go on a quest with him. All fine and good. But suddenly, adventuring isn't at all like in Trevor's stories. It may be noble to break up a gang of thieves, but what if that means betraying the cute little pickpocket who gave him his first kiss? And maybe bringing down a corrupt nobleman is a good cause, but is Billy--excuse me, Wil--prepared to kill his guards? His sailors? His cook?

"Suddenly, being plain ol' Billy doesn't seem so bad anymore."

Read the FYA review by clicking here or the links above.

Bringing Order out of Chaos

A belated Happy Father's Day to all those Pops out there in Hobbyland.

I just spent a little time putting my Father's Day gift to use.  When my wife told me a couple weeks ago that she got me something from the Container Store, I was obviously all giddy and tingly.  (That's what we call sarcasm, by the way.)  But then yesterday she revealed it to me and I am now very appreciative of what such an unexciting store has to offer.

It will take me several sessions over several days to assimilate all my bits out of their myriad packages and scrap boxes into these nice, organized racks and drawers, but it's coming along. I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about!

Though some items and sprues will have to remain in one of the Big Boxes.

And here's the Tower of Cluttered Doom (mostly a book shelf, and it's dark knight guardian).

(Pathetic that THIS is what I have to blog about here, eh??)

Amazing Spider-Man 40K

I know this is about a month late for the movie buzz, but I jotted down these notes after seeing the movie and haven’t gotten back to them since.  (The movie, by the way, was better than I expected, but that ain’t saying much… I think they did well on the relationship aspects that are a big part of Spider-Man comics and history, the actors did very well, and the visuals were really cool, but there was also some dumb stuff in there.…  Overall: Meh.)   

As you may have seen from me before, I like to convert other nerd aspects to 40K, like superheroes, for example.  Here’s just some fun stats I came up with for Spidey, Electro, and Rhino. 

These are also under 6^th edition rules (FYI).

SPIDER-MAN

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	LD	SV
4	6	6	4	3	10*	3	8	- / *

Web-Slinger:  Counts as jump infantry, ignores all terrain, and can move 2D6” in the assault phase even if not assaulting.  He is also Fleet.

Spider Sense:  His danger sense and amazing reflexes give Spider-man Initiative 10 and invulnerable saves: 3+ vs ranged attacks, 4+ in combat.  His speed also gives him Counter-Attack and Rampage special rules in combat.

Web Shooters:   He may use one of two shooting attack profiles:

     -- Rng 18”  S6 AP- Assault D3, Webbing 

     -- Template  S6 AP- Webbing

     * Webbing:  The “to wound” roll against non-vehicle targets is S6 vs the Strength of the target (rather than their Toughness), and  ignores armor all together (cover and invuln saves may be taken).  Each wound gains a Web Marker on the unit.  The target unit cannot move, shoot, fire overwatch, or charge while webbed and when in combat they are reduced to WS1, I1, and make 1 less Attack.  To free themselves they must attack the webbing itself during their assault phase.  Each Web Marker has T4, no save, and 1 wound.  For each hit against vehicles, roll this instead: 1-2 (no effect) 3-4 (cannot move next turn) 5-6 (cannot move or fire next turn).  Vehicle effects last only during the target’s next turn, as they automatically burst free at the beginning of their following turn.  No hull point damage is caused by webbing.

ELECTRO

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	LD	SV
3	4	3	4	2	5	1	8	- / 5+

Arc Jump:  Counts as a Jet Bike in all respects as he rides arcs of electricity and may Turboboost.

Energy Deflection: Has a 5+ invuln save.

Dynamo: He is a Level 2 Psyker who rolls 3D6 for psychic tests, discarding a die of his choice.  (In 7^th edition, as I understand it, this 3D6 rule would be ignored and he would instead generate 1 extra die to the dice pool.)

     -- Lightning Bolt (1 warp charge): witchfire:  Rng 18” S7 AP2 Assault D6, Haywire

     -- Overdrive (1 warp charge): Malediction:  24” range, takes control of an enemy vehicle model for one turn.  If target is in a squadron and the target ends Electro’s turn out of coherency, the squadron must move to regain coherency on its turn.

      -- Chain Lightning (2 warp charges): witchfire:  Rng 12” S5 AP4 Assault D3, Haywire, Arc

     * Arc: After resolving the attack against a target roll a D6. On a 4+ it jumps to another random enemy unit within 6” for another D3 shots.  Resolve there (at Electro’s normal BS) and roll for another possible Arc.  The attack stops when it fails to Arc or runs out of targets in range (no unit can be hit more than once in the same turn).

     -- Shock Wave (2 warp charges): witchfire nova:  Rng 6” S5 AP- Haywire

RHINO

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	LD	SV
5	2	6	6	3	3	3	7	4+ / *

Brute:  Rhino is a thug through and through, albeit a super-powered one.  He has both Feel No Pain and Rampage.

Rhino Charge:  It’s on the charge that the Rhino is most dangerous.  On a turn in which he initiates an assault, he gains the following benefits:  Strength +2, Hammer of Wrath (at his new S8), Fleet, Smash, and Concussive, and his armor save becomes an invuln save (4+).

I think these would be fun to play!  Of course, lone superheroes and villains versus whole units of seasoned future-tech and alien soldiers…?  They may not last too long, but it’d be fun while they did!