Wednesday May 23, 2012
Pre-orders for Schlock Mercenary: The Sharp End of the Stick will close on Thursday, May 31st. You have a week to lock in your numbered sketch edition.
I realize the pre-order window has been short this time around, but Sandra and I are both going to DeepSouthCon 50 in mid-June, and we want to be able to get all orders shipped by then. I'm off to the World Steam Expo this weekend, which further crunches my available time.
Speaking of World Steam, don't look for me in the Dealer's Room or Artists Alley. You'll find me in the Aegis area, hanging out with my friends. I'm bringing a few badge holders ($10 each) and will do quick commissions ($15-$75) but mostly I'm there to relax and have fun. This is one of the only shows where you'll actually get to see me in a costume.
I'll be bringing this.
Tuesday May 22, 2012
Pre-orders for Sharp End of the Stick are open! You knew this, right?
To help spread the word, I invited people to tweet, post, share, and blog, and we held some drawings. We also picked our favorite blog posts, so the event is an actual contest.
Our blog winners:
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Martin Olsen
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Charlie Sherpa
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Michael Winegar
It was difficult picking favorites, let me tell you. Effusive praise is just so hard to not automatically give a prize to. But those are the top three. It was much easier selecting our random winners:
All the winners are getting numbered customer-choice sketch editions of Schlock Mercenary: The Sharp End of the Stick. Sam, Michael, Charlie, and Martin have only just now been notified of their good fortune. I hope this blog post makes them happy. Also, I hope it doesn't make any of the rest of you sad.
Yes, this means that now would be a good time to place your order, assuming you haven't already. And if you've never ordered a book from us before, what are you waiting for? These are wonderful tomes! Just ask any of the seven people in the list above.
Friday May 18, 2012
I don’t want to spend the rest of the summer comparing movies to The Avengers, but it’s only fair to point out that if The Avengers is still in theaters and somebody in your party has not yet seen it, you should probably make “Yet Another Showing Of The Avengers” your #1 option for movie money.
This weekend, assuming everybody in the group is tired of
YASOTA,
Battleship is actually a surprisingly good option #2.
I liked it almost as much as John Carter of Mars, and more than
Lockout, which I liked more than I probably should have. Here’s the trick, though: you need to try not to engage in certain sorts of mental behavior. I’ll enumerate them for you:
1) Don’t ask “why are we getting to know these characters?” during the opening two or three scenes. Just roll with it. These scenes are fun in their own way, and even if you’re just here for the popcorn and explosions, the explosions will be more fun if you know who’s exploding.
2) Don’t ask “is that really how naval wargames work?” Because I don’t know, and I suspect I’m happier NOT knowing. Stuff will start exploding soon enough.
3) Don’t ask how the FTL comms or travel work. Don’t even ask “wait, is that FTL?” because the movie is going to give all that stuff a much wider miss than the approaching aliens should have given our space junk. Just nod to yourself, think “cheap FTL, got it,” and move on.
4) Whatever you do, don’t start asking about the motivations of the aliens, or the implications of their technology. Especially best left unasked: “if they can project an impenetrable force-bubble 300 miles in diameter, why do they use clunky ballistic munitions?” I opened that can of worms after the movie, and am convinced that it is worms all the way to the bottom. The bottom of the universe.
It’s possible I’ve said too much. Just looking at this list you’re possibly saying to yourself “this movie is too stupid to live,” in which case I suspect you’re up for YASOTA this weekend. Or maybe you’ll MST3K your way through Battleship and manage just fine.
(Note: the use of an actual battleship when they’ve all been decommissioned? Nicely handled. Also, the part of the movie that actually looks like it might be based on the game? Clever, and very silly. Oh so very silly.)
