Black Friday Sale and Audiobook Giveaway

The Christmas shopping frenzy is almost upon us!  Imagine a bunch of old ladies foaming at the mouth and tearing into each other over the last bin of one-dollar bedroom slippers.  It is in that spirit that I proudly present these deals:

I.  As I have recently blogged about, my sword and soldiery novella The Prince of Luster and Decay is now available as a 2 hour audiobook and, to my own surprise, Audible.com has sent me a list of free download codes to give away to fine folks such as yourselves.  But I have a limited supply of these, so here's my plan:

   1.  If you're interested, send an email to jdbrink888 (at) gmail (dot) com.  The subject line should say something about "The Prince Giveaway" or "Audiobook Drawing" or something to that effect, but...
   ***  If your subject line reads "The Prince Rules All!" I'll put your name into the fishbowl twice (so your chance of being drawn is doubled!).
   2.  I'll collect entry emails now through Christmas Day.  Within a few days of that conclusion, I'll randomly select the winners.
   3.  How many winners?  Well, depends on how many entries I get.  I'm starting at 10 free downloads, though if I get enough entries to make it worth while, I may just increase that to 15.  It all depends on all of you, Dear Readers.
   4.  So please spread the word!  I'd love to give away five more of these free download codes!

2.  I will also be reducing the ebook price on my heroic fantasy novel Tarnish from $4.99 to $2.99 from now through Christmas Day.  It may take some ebook retail sites a little longer to catch up with the price change, but I'm initiating it now.

Already read it?  Not into fantasy but know someone who is?  Ebooks make good gifts too!  

Okay, my two week vacation is over as of today, so it's back to work on my next book, Dreams of Flying! (And, of course, back to work at the day job too...  Less exciting.)

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The Santa photo at the top, by the way, comes from Miracle on 34th Street.  Classic.  Watch it this year.  In black and white.  (They don't make many good movies any more.)

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P.S. -- PRIVACY NOTICE:  Fear not, friends.  Your email address will be used solely for the purposes of this giveaway.  I will then promptly lose it. --JDB

"Sleeps with Wolves" -- 2100 pt Chaos 40K List

I recently got together with J's Space Wolves and played a 2100 point game -- well, the first half of a game.  We got started pretty late and it was almost 1:00 am by the time we got into turn three, so the game was cut tragically short.  I say tragically because the awesome tidal wave of Chaos was just cresting and poised to crash when we had to stop!  Damn!  But I had fun building a diverse list and wanted to share it.

I called this list "Sleeps with Wolves" (you know, like Dances with Wolves) because it featured my chaotic Space Wolves warband with Slaaneshi allies.

	Chaos Space Marine List
HQ	Thorbolg Wolfsbane (Huron Blackheart)
T	The Feral Pack (CSM)(10) - Mark of K, Champ w claw, mbomb, Gift; melta, plas
HQ	Selene (Lucius)
(T)	Selen's Choir (noise marines)(6) Champ CCW; Vets; 5 blasters, 1 BMaster
T	The Dirty Dozen (cultists)(12) Mark of S, flamer; all others with CCW + pistol
E	The Half-Dozen Sons (Thousand sons)(5 + sorcerer)
FA	Slobber Dawg's Hunger League (spawn)(5)
FA	Red Skull Biker Gang (5) Champ w. p-axe, mbombs, Gift; plasmagunner
HVY	Pipe Fitters' Union (obliteratorz)(2) Mark of S (to t-port onto daemonette icon)
HVY	Santa's Battlewagon (predator) autocannon, HBs, warpfire gargoyles
HVY	Bloody Fist (havoks)(6) ML (flakk), HvyBolter, plasmagun

	Chaos Daemons Allies
HQ	Baphemut & Cassandra (keeper of secrets) psyker 2, portal glyph, g-reward
T	Cassy's Handmaidens (daemonettes)(10) alluress w. lesser R, icon
FA	Morkai's Pups (flesh hounds)(7)

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This list worked pretty well for those first three turns.  You may notice there's a wide variety of units -- no spamming here.  I build fun lists and still manage to win as many games as I lose, maybe more.  Just sayin'...

By the way, fielded my big mutant ogres as my spawn.  They were cool (meaning big and ugly) while they lasted.

Chaos "Chapter Tactics"

HAPPY VETERANS DAY.  Thank you to all who have, do, or will serve our country.

In honor of honoring our vets, I thought I'd spend some time talking about our other veterans -- those of the Long War.   Thus, this poster is probably more appropriate, but just not quite as cool:

I have seen a lot of chatter online about how disappointing the 6th edition Chaos Space Marines codex is compared to others.  I'm generally not one to make a lot of comparisons.  (Partly because I only have three of the new codexes and since they cost so damn much, am not likely to get any more -- in the last paperback edition, btw, I owned just about all of them.  Of course, I was single and childless then too.)  And even though I don't get much into the comparative discussions, I can appreciate those discussions.  One point that really stands out is the new Space Marines having such cool alternate Chapter Tactics rules, while the old traitorous legions got bupkis.  So I thought I would play with that idea a bit.  I'm sure the forthcoming codex supplements will go into greater detail to cover these things, but I wanted to give it a shot myself.

*Disclaimer* I am not as versed as most big Black Library fans on the ins and outs of all the legions, nor am I up on all the new Space Marines chapter abilities.  I'm also not claiming these are all fantastic, balanced rules you should put to use in your games.  In other words: I'm just having fun here, people.  Please don't leave angry comments about you being offended that I would do something so stupid or unfair with this legion or that one, cuz brother, I'm just making $#@^ up.  So please read with fun in mind...  Though I do welcome feedback, comments, and other ideas, as always.

*Chosen* Also, I feel the Chosen got screwed in this edition.  In the 6.1 Brink's Edition, each unit of Chosen, being hardened veterans, may select one of the following special abilities: Infiltrators, Preferred Enemy, Tank Hunters, or Scouts.

The Legions most in need of these kinds of rules, I feel, are the Chaos Undivided forces.  While those dedicated to one power or another do get some special rules based on HQ characters and Marks of Chaos, the rest are all the same neutral grey.  I also figure that most of your chaos armies are made up of various warbands and rogue units, so these rules wouldn't necessarily apply to the whole force.  They would probably be more keyed on HQ and Troop choices who are the foundation of the force.  The warband likely has units collected from all over the sector who are tagging along to get their share of action, loot, and mischief.  Therefore, these Chaos Chapter Tactic ideas are acquired by dedicating at least one HQ (probably your Warlord) and some Troops to that Legion.  

ALPHA LEGION:  They are described as being "disciplined almost to a fault" and as insurrectionists who sow deceit and chaos by infiltrating societies.
   Disciplined to a Fault: The HQ and Alpha Troops are Stubborn.
   Insurrectionists: The Warlord/HQ has the Master of Deception trait, thus may nominate D3 units as Infiltrators.

BLACK LEGION: These are the once proud warriors of the Warmaster Horus himself.  Of course,the character Abbadon mostly has this covered if you field him.
   Black Crusader: Your HQ/Warlord has the Black Crusader trait, giving them a Preferred Enemy (Space marines) aura of 12".
   The Warmaster's Chosen: For every HQ model dedicated to this legion you may field one unit of Chosen as a Troop choice.

IRON WARRIORS:  Masters of the siege and builders of war machines.
   War Smiths:  For each Iron Warrior HQ model you field (such as a Lord, Sorcerer, or Daemon Prince), you may also field (at normal cost) a Warpsmith that takes up no Force Org slot.
   Let the Seige Begin: For each dedicated HQ choice (not including the free Warpsmiths) you may also select one unit from the Heavy Support section and include them as a Troops Choice instead.

NIGHT LORDS:  Masters of terror and terrorist actions, they stalk the darkness as predators in search of prey.
   Lord of Terror: Your HQ/Warlord has the Lord of Terror Trait, thus causes Fear.
   The Hunt:  Raptor units count as Troops if your Warlord is a Night Lords character. (Raptors also have Fear as a standard special rule, btw.)

WORD BEARERS:  The most fanatical of all Legions in their dedication to the worship of the Chaos Powers.
   Shepherds of the Faithful:  For each Word Bearer HQ model you field (such as a Lord, Sorcerer, or Daemon Prince), you may also field (at normal cost) a Dark Apostle that takes up no Force Org slot.
   Zealots: All Word Bearer Troops units have the Zealot special rule.

*Dedicated HQs* refers to models that can be said to be of this legion and no other.  Therefore, in your games you and your fellow players may decide that for the above Undivided Legions, a model with a chaos mark of a particular god cannot also be a Night Lord or Word Bearer character model.  On the other hand, one might also argue that an Undivided Chaos champion can still earn a certain god's favor.  Again, the words I type here aren't meant as actual rules, I'm just fielding some fun ideas.

As for the other original traitor Legions, those dedicated to a specific Patron Power...  The codex kind of already addresses them to a degree.  By having an HQ, Warlord, or specific Chaos Character, like Typhus for example, in your army, you are already gaining certain Warlord traits and/or unlocking certain units as Troops, in addition to havnig the ability to give marks to your other units to show solidarity.  So for the Death Guard, Emperor's Children, Thousand Sons, and World Eaters, maybe I don't need to add anything.

So there we go.  Hope you enjoyed this and it gave you some ideas for your own games/armies.  And I'd love to hear your own ideas for this kind of thing!

(BTW, images stolen shamelessly from various sources around the internet.)

Fugitive Fiction Revolution

The Revolution has begun!

Well, Renaissance may be a more appropriate term, but it just doesn't have the same urgency or energy as revolution.

What is the FF Rev?  This is a reworking, revision, and repackaging of my existing titles as I move into the Fugitive Fiction of 2014, and it's happening in two stages.  Coolest part about Stage One: the new cover art on The Thorne Legacy, as seen above.  I have recruited artist Julius Camenzind's unique talents to do this cover and have asked him to be available when the next two installments of the Endless Dark Trilogy are ready for publication (2014 and 2015, most likely).  Which reminds me, I'm announcing that Legacy is officially part of a trilogy...  That's also part of the Revolution, as well as putting out a new edition of the interior of the book and setting things in motion to produce an audio edition.

Also in Rev Stage One is the 3rd edition of A Long Walk Down a Dark Alley, coming out just in time for the Goodreads giveaway of this book.  (And it's not too late to get on the list for the giveaway -- just click on the icon on the left sidebar.)  This 3rd edition features a bonus story added to the "trio of dark tales" as well as a new excerpt from The Prince of Luster and Decay to entice you into reading that one as well.

Stage Two of the Revolution, due to hit around the first of the new year, will be revisions and repackaging of the fantasy works Tarnish and The Prince of Luster and Decay, both of which are now the first two books of the Thunderstrike Saga.  I have hired on artist Trevor Smith to paint new fantastic covers for those books as well.  (More on Stage Two when we get there...)

Following the completion of the Fugtive Fiction Revolution on my existing titles will be the release of my next book, the superheroic collection Dreams of Flying.  So stay tuned for that book too, flying to a bookshelf (both physical and virtual) near you spring of 2014.

So check out the new editions of The Thorne Legacy and A Long Walk, and join the giveaways on Goodreads!  And until next time, REVOLT!  (No, wait, don't do that.  Sorry I got caught up in the revolution thing...)

(And in case you didn't notice, clicking on the artists' names will take you to their blogs.  Check 'em out.)

Space Marines on Ebay

My hobby time this weekend went into getting some stuff posted on Ebay.  Not a great way to spend my Warhammer time slot but...  Necessary. I kind of hate to part with any of my toys but the reality is, I'm not going to play with all this stuff.  Like books, I tend to buy miniatures way faster than I use them and it's time to thin out my inventory.  The pics here show some of the items for sale.  The hardest one of these to part with will be the Crimson Fist tac squad above; in fact, I wont complain if they don't sell...  If you're interested in anything you see here, search Ebay for appropriate key words. You should have no trouble finding my stuff there.

  

Check 'em out!

Red Skull Chaos Bikers Progress

I didn't get quite as far as I'd hoped, despite spending more time than I'd expected.  I've found that I'm getting more lazy and impatient with every day that passes (therefore I must assume I age at ten times the normal rate).  It's hard to convince myself to invest the time and effort into painting.  Seems like anything I expect to take more than 5 minutes is stealing time from other half-ass projects I could be reluctantly working on.

Theses bikes will belong to my Red Skull Biker Gang, the models for which can be seen in an earlier post.  I figure I'll get all six bikes prepped and then do the models.  None of which should be too hard.  As I mentioned (lazy and impatient), I'm not planning to make them overly complex in the paint job.

And these pictures are very poor.  I tried three different areas of lighting, none of them show the bikes well.  Basically I got black, red, and gun metal on them, plus a little detail.  One bike was already mostly done from before and serves as my example for the others, though it's still evolving too.  The other two just have some basic color on them.  These are all second-hand models and must some have a couple layers of paint on them already -- the details are getting thick.  But that's alright, hopefully the riders will distract from the bikes themselves.

Also spent some of my hobby time today taking pictures of stuff to post on Ebay.  (I just don't need all this crap!)  Although I did take pics of my painted Crimson Fist basic marine squad and old school termies with the intention of selling them... Though seeing the pics, it's tough for me to part with painted models.  We'll see...

Superhero Progress Report

This update is taken today from the IN THE WORKS page of my writer's blog Fugitives of Purgatory, where interested parties can occasioanlly check to see what I'm working on and what my intended writing release schedule looks like. It's nice to have something to update from time to time, as that helps push me to keep working. I have several things in mind that I expect to be bouncing around on here and there, though I'll primarily be focusing on stories for my upcoming collection of superheroic exploits, Dreams of Flying.

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Presently Underway:

Dreams of Flying

I am writing four new novella-length superhero tales to combine with two previous short stories to make an all-new collection packed with spandex, superpowers, and perilous deathtraps! Actually, I think you'll find the superheroes here-in will not quite be the tights-wearing types that you're used to...

Progress Update: October 16th:
The first draft of the first story, "Hungry Gods," is coming along very nicely. It's actually much longer than I anticipated, currently hitting the 24,000 word mark and I still have a ways to go. I expect to be trimming that up in the revision process, but I'm glad there's so much story to tell here! At this rate, though, if the other stories exceed my expectations by so much, the complete collection will be pushing 400 or 500 pages. Not that that's such a bad thing but... Not quite what I intended.

Chaos Bikers: Red Skull Biker Gang WIP

I made some real headway on my Chaos Biker Gang today, pulling off some greenstuff conversion work that I'm *mostly* happy with.  We'll have to see how the experiments turn out in the end.  For now I'm not going to go into any detail or description.  This is an all-pics, "teaser" kind of progress report.

 

Reassignment Surgery: Chaos Counts-As

I have more ideas for models I'd like to use than I have money, painting time, gaming time, or actual good counts-as units to use them for!  But reassessing some of my options for Chaos Marines and Daemons today, I have rethought some of my monstrous models and what I might like to field them as.

I was thinking before that these centigor beasties would make good spawn or fiends of Slaanesh, and they would still be good for both.  Mostly because they are bestial cavalry.  But looking at options today, now I'm thinking that in a Daemon army or ally contingent, they might also make cool Bloodcrushers.  I love the new designs on juggers, but I'm unlikely to spend the money on them since I have lots of models I'm not using now.  I was planning to paint my centaur-beastmen reddish anyway, so they'd fit well.  Fast and furious cavalry that gets in close and tears you up .  The only limitation for me is that I have only three models, which works for the basic unit but not if I want to add models.  

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
5	5	5	4	3	4	3	7	6+

The Bloodcrusher role I did have reserved for my newly minted Ogre models now potentially going to the centaurs, I browsed the unit listings to see what else the Ogres might be good at.  And although I wasn't really planning on running any Mutilators before, they might make cool ones for a CSM force (as well as being big ugly spawn, though they look too fat and slow to be beasts).  As Mutilators they are slow and bulky, but powerful and durable.  Hell, nigh unkillable with their saves and two wounds!  The stat line fits pretty well, and add in the close combat weapon mutations and armor/invulns, and they are massive and ugly and deadly up close!  Again, the unit would be limited to three models due to Multilator limits, but who would need more than three of these??

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
4	4	4	4	2	4	2	8	2+

Neither of these are perfect fits, but I like to build my force around cool models as much as cool units.  And with the forces of Chaos, monsters come first!

Summer Blockbuster: Let's Make a Movie!

Let's plan a blockbuster movie for summer of 2015, shall we? This is a "fan cast," which is where people who day dream about a movie being made from their favorite book, TV show, comic book, etc, come up with who they'd like to see play the roles of the characters involved. I haven't gotten the call from Hollywood quite yet for Tarnish (hint-hint, Hollywood), but I thought it would be fun to do a casting call to fill the roles of the main characters of this fantasy novel.

My thinking is not restricted by time and space, and I'm not even limiting this casting by talent -- one of these guys isn't even an actor! But here's my thinking...

Billy Cole/Wil Thunderstrike - 1st choice: I don't know any teenage actors - in fact, I generally don't care for teenage actors. They fill teenaged roles and probably get to thinking they are hot shit even though they can barely shave or drive. So I'm thinking a good actor for Wil would be a 16 to 18 year old Henry Cavill from Man of Steel and Immortals (I didn't even realize he was in Immortals till I started doing this blog post). Tall, strong, dark hair, intense. I think a younger Cavill would fit the bill nicely for our hero. (Though I think he told Jay Leno that he was a chubby loser when he was young -- hey, weren't we all?) In this pictures he's even wielding a spear -- perfect!

Billy Cole/Wil Thunderstrike - 2nd choice: Well, I suppose I should try to pick a teen actor too, barring time travel and fountains of youth. Browsing the internet for candidates... I kinda like Shia LeBeouf as an actor but i don't think he's got the physique to be Wil Thunderstrike, son of Ian the Black. So I picked this dude named Robbie Amell based solely on this picture from some fan-chick's website. But to be honest... I don't like his attitude.

Leon Shimmerskin - 1st choice: We need a guy who can pull off powerful and arrogant and nigh unstoppable. I think Mickey Rourke's big comeback in recent years with The Wrestler, Ironman 2, and Immortals shows he can be that big, muscular badass. He might be a shy bit older for the part now, but since we're not limited by the barriers of time, let's shade him back a few years but keep all the power and intimidating glare.

Leon Shimmerskin - 2nd choice: I suppose Chris Hemsworth does have some experience as a charming yet powerful, blond-haired fantasy superhero...

Ian Cole - 1st choice:  I have rewritten this a year after its original post.  In a flash of wisdom, I realized that Liam Neeson would make an awesome Ian Cole.  Though his talents might largely go to waste, since Ian isn't very talkative.

Ian Cole - 2nd choice:  This close up of writer Alan Moore, who penned the graphic novels  Watchmen and V For Vendetta, looks pretty dead on for Ian Cole.  And while in real life I think he is very tall, he's also very thin, so he might need a body double.

Trevor LeRouge: The aging and balding bard whose whit was as fast as his blade -- Paul Giamatti seems a perfect fit! A real actor who looks like a real person. (That's a compliment.)

Jade: Cunning yet cute, Jade is a thief and Wil's love interest. Again, I don't know any raven-haired teenaged actresses I would trust with playing my characters. Fortunately the internet is full of folks who do, so... Let's see here... Okay, one young lady who is now twenty and I have actually heard of is Nickelodeon actress Victoria Justice. She's got the look for sure, so let's give her a shot. Get her agent on the phone...

Mum Picklebriar: Mysterious stranger in the black hat, a storyteller with a gravelly voice and grit. I can see Russell Crowe in this role. In this pic he even comes with his own black hat.

Morlock: Even though Morlock the archer is about the closest of Shimmerskin's trio to Wil, I had a terrible time trying to envision an actor to play his part. Then someone struck me as perfect: David Wenham, who's cool scratchy voice was Dilios (the narator) in 300 and played the ranger Faramir in the Lord of the Rings movies (so he's got some bow experience too).

Crow: As I was writing I envisioned a thinner version of Danny Trejo with a long ponytail, covered in tattoos, and swinging a huge mallet around. Machete is more than qualified to be Crow!

Lockheed: General scumbag and scruffy waste of space: Lockheed. Let me take you back to Heat with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Val Kilmer. There was one lesser character who made an impact as a villainous creep that the audience really wanted to see dead. I'm talking about Waingro, played by Kevin Gage. "The grim reaper is visiting with you."

Brother Fabien: The "Boy Preacher," a young man who is both doubtful and a leader of the community. He's actually a more complex character than may be let on in this first novel. To fill his holy shoes I'm picking Jay Baruchel, who voiced the hero of How To Train Your Dragon. Young Mr. Baruchel would bring Fabien a great awkward dorkiness (no offense), a young guy who would like to break certain social barriers and "get the girl" but can't. Actually, thinking of him in this role gives greater depth to Fabien for me, which is amazing!

Jenna Knox: The musical heart of Redfield, and a lovely brunette, I can't think of anyone better suited to play the part and draw a crowd than Katy Perry herself.

Mad Dog McCray: This one image struck me as great for the weathered and wild face under the dog cowl of Mad Dog McCray: William Fichtner as bad guy Butch Cavendish in this summer's Lone Ranger. Fichtner is a fantastic actor, almost always playing smaller strong character parts, and it'd be awesome to have him as part of a Tarnish movie. Pull him right out of this picture, slap a dead dog on his head, and we're ready to shoot!

The Swamp Man: The mysterious cloaked master of Blood Marsh. The first thing that actually comes to mind is the Crypt Keeper, but we're not going for comedy here. And though it's not quite right either, I always liked the cloaked and cow-skulled creatures from Time Bandits too. So somewhere in between there...

Gromlins: Maybe we can borrow the Gremlins and spray paint them in appropriate colors for the film.

Redfield, Hobb's Turn, and Fellwater are all towns chocked full of characters, but the above castings cover all the biggest parts for sure. There's also a lot of actors I really like who don't appear here -- you can't just stuff all your favorites into one movie if they aren't right for the part, right?

Just another $100,000,000 and maybe we can convince some producer to go with this! I hope everyone will come out and see it -- and bring your 3D glasses!

If anyone else has any ideas on actors for these characters, I'd love to hear them!