Mouseferatu: Rodent of the Dark

Contest woes

Ari Marmell — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:28:24 +0000

I’d really like for my next contest to be “Use your favorite RPG system to stat up your favorite character from either The Conqueror’s Shadow or Agents of Artifice.” But my contests so far haven’t had huge numbers of entrants, so I’m not sure that there would be enough interest in something so esoteric–or (believe it or not) that there’s enough overlap between fans of my fiction and RPG gamers.

What do you folks think? Any interest?

Almost a book

Ari Marmell — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:25:16 +0000

Got my Advanced Reader Copies of The Warlord’s Legacy today. These are uncorrected proofs, meaning they haven’t undergone the last round of copyediting, but are otherwise final.

I am still early enough in my novel-writing career that this is somewhat exciting.

ToH Q&A

Ari Marmell — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 06:36:13 +0000

WotC’s just posted a Q&A session with me and Scott Fitzgerald Gray, in which we discuss our theories, ideas, goals, and inspirations regarding the new Tomb of Horrors 4E.

Interested in hearing what people think–and whether you feel we succeeded in what we set out to do.

Small joys

Ari Marmell — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:10:50 +0000

Despite the fact that I’d seen it months ago, and even posted it on this site some time back, I am oddly thrilled to see that Amazon now has the cover art for The Warlord’s Legacy.

It’s a writer thing. Either you get it, or you don’t.

Apex interview and review

Ari Marmell — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:53:14 +0000

Writer and editor par excellence Jennifer Brozek has posted both a review of The Conqueror’s Shadow, and a brief interview with me, at the Apex Book Company site. Take a look and see what you think.

I know that Jennifer’s a pretty discerning reader–she’d have to be, given the number of anthologies and periodicals she edits–so I’m absolutely thrilled that she reviewed the book as positively as she did. The interview itself goes into some of my thoughts/motivations when writing TCS, but also touches on some of my upcoming projects.

Music me!

Ari Marmell — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:37:44 +0000

I need some new soundtracks.

See, most of the music I listen to these days is movie soundtracks. (Orchestral only. No lyrics.) I find that they’re the best sort of music for when I’m writing, and I also like using them as gaming background.

But I’m starting to get tired of my current rotation. So give me some suggestions.

1) I tend to prefer horror/sci-fi/fantasy soundtracks to others, but other recommendations are okay.

2) I already own a lot, so odds are good that I’ll already have at least a few of your recommendations.

3) Let’s skip the obvious, okay? Assume that I’ve got already got Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, and other movies in the “So huge you’d have heard of them even if you lived in orbit” variety.

4) Some of my favorite composes include Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Randy Edelman, and (sometimes) Danny Elfman and James Horner, when they’re not just stealing from themselves. Not saying that I want you to limit yourself to those–in fact, I want the exact opposite, and I have plenty that I love from other people–I’m just giving you a general feel for the sort of stuff I like.

So, have at. What should I be listening to?

July 18, 2010

Ari Marmell — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:04:29 +0000

So, been a while without much news. Let’s see…

The Tomb of Horrors 4e is out, in at least some locations, and should be more or less everywhere next week. This mega-adventure can be played without any knowledge of the prior adventures, but for those who are familiar with them, it serves as something of a sequel to both the 1st edition original Tomb and 2nd edition’s Return to the Tomb of Horrors. It’s heavily inspired by both, involves some familiar locations, and is absolutely full of new encounters–some combat, yes, but also traps, challenges, and puzzles in the vein of Acererak’s old tricks. If you’re a 4E player, pick it up; I really don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I’m afraid that I will not be attending GenCon this year–for the first time since before it moved to Indy. I’m sorry I’ll be missing everyone. I still might be doing DragonCon; dunno yet. More on that soon.

And I think that’s about it right now, news-wise. Again, I’m hoping to have more shortly, but, well, not yet.

“The Coming Thing”

Ari Marmell — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:03:59 +0000

So I have just watched, on DVD, the entirety of the one and only season of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.

I was a fan of the show when it was first run, back in 93-94, but I hadn’t seen a single minute of it since. So I’d forgotten how really cool and just damn fun it was. (I also hadn’t realized I’d missed so many episodes the first time though.)

Perfect by any means? Of course not. I thought it went a little downhill after they wrapped up the Orb mythology, for instance. But overall? That was a damn fun show, and I’m more sorry now that it didn’t get a second season than I was at the time.

If you’ve never seen it, and if you enjoy shows with more than a touch of camp–but also some real story and character–and you aren’t offended by a touch of sci-fi sprinkled in your westerns, you owe it to yourself to take a look.

“Write Like”–just another scam

Ari Marmell — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:32:39 +0000

Turns out the whole “Who Do You Write Like” meme was put in place by a vanity press, as a means of driving Google traffic to their links.

Just so you’re aware who you’re accidentally helping when you click on it. (Yeah, I had no idea either. Thanks to Jim Hines for pointing me to that link.)

I write like Ari Marmell

Ari Marmell — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:17:58 +0000

So there’s a “Who do you write like?” meme making the rounds. You paste a chunk of text into the analyzer, and it tells you whose work your own most resembles. It’s supposedly based on word choice.

It is, in fact, based on something that comes out of the back end of a bull in all sorts of fascinating shades of brown.

I just ran the analysis several times, on different samples of my writing. Each was multiple pages in length. And I got a different author almost every time. Apparently I write like Margaret Atwood and Leo Tolstoy and Rudyard Kipling and Vladamir Nabokov. Five samples, four authors. (I got Atwood twice.)

These are all samples from the same novel.

So, yeah, I think I’m quite content saying that

A) I write like me, and

B) This “analysis,” even for a silly little Internet gizmo, is more than a tad flawed.