Catching Up

The last 4 or 5 months have been a hectic round of writing and editing on two major freelance projects, consuming so much of my time and energy that I’ve been very unmotivated to blog, write personal projects, or even be vocal on social media. Thankfully, that’s in the past now. I’ve been spending my weekends working hard on the Regency Romance book (currently jokingly titled The Savage World of Jane Austen) but I’m still having a hard time getting back into blogging or social media.

Part of this is also a change in my duties at my day job, where I’ve reverted to being on the phones all the time instead of writing and editing for my employer. This, frankly, made me really, deeply depressed for several months—and since my doctors haven’t prescribed any brain meds, I had to work through this slowly and fitfully.

Anyway…

In lieu of proper blogging, let’s do a bullet list:

• The Savage World of Jane Austen is now chugging along with purpose. Weirdly, The Savage World of Flash Gordon proved really helpful. I’m also adapting some mechanics from Rippers, which shouldn’t surprise anybody. The character creation chapter is taking longer than I thought it would, but that’s because I’m adding more detail and guidance than usual for those unfamiliar with the genre.
• Savage Worlds Explorer #5 contains “Foxed!,” a Rippers Resurrected adventure by yours truly. I should write a proper blog post about it with supplementary material and links to buy it from and everything. Maybe I’ll get to that this weekend. Maybe.
• Friend of the blog Jack Shear has published a guidebook to Krevborna, his answer to Ravenloft. I’ve read a lot of his Krevborna blog posts but haven’t finished the book yet (which I bought the day it came out). I should write a proper blog post (and maybe some Savage Worlds adaptation guidelines) about it.
• The King is Dead is not dead, despite other Savage Worlds licensees poaching our turf. The goal after …Jane Austen is to produce a book that covers about half the secret societies and urban adventures in Hammerstadt, a kind of setting primer that emphasizes the intrigue central to the premise rather than the monster hunting certain other people are emphasizing. Let’s call it a “Hey! We were already doing this!” book.
  (This will probably be illustrated with public domain art and released straight to OBS. I don’t have the time or energy to expend on a Kickstarter, and all our extra income from freelancing is going to replacing income we’ve lost due to dickery at one of Robin’s employers. Besides, I want to get it out before certain other people’s game gets published.)
• Speaking of extra income, Wine and Savages is now in the editing business! Two editors for the price of one!! Email us for rates, etc!!! (I should do a real blog post about this, or add a page to the site.)
• The record shows that I am a huge fan of the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but I only started reading the original books, like, three days ago. They’re very similar but very different; I find myself appreciating them in a different way, while not considering them better or worse than the movie. Also, I should stop reading them before bed, because I can’t put them down.
• There’s a book out recently called Pride and Prometheus, which is about Mary Bennet from Pride and Prejudice falling in love with Victor Frankenstein from Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. I will buy it and read it soon.
• I’m bummed out that other people are on the verge of publishing ideas for Savage Worlds settings that I’ve wanted to do for years—but I can’t blame them. Their ideas will be different from my spin on the same concepts, and it’s not their fault my anxiety and other commitments make me so slow at producing original material. It would be in my best interest to find some like-minded people and split up the workload, but I don’t want to. It sucks…
• I’ve also just been feeling down—burned out by the fires of hate and hatefulness consuming my hobbies and country—for a while now. Did you know the creator of Rurouni Kenshin was arrested for child pornography? Yes, he was. That sucks.
• Despite the general awfulness out there, Star Wars: Rebels might be the best Star Wars thing ever. It builds off of the live-action films and Clone Wars in a way where Rebels just wouldn’t have the same power or joy without those earlier works, but it also refines the established themes in the way you’d expect a third or fourth draft would. I’m sorry it’s ending, but at least it isn’t getting cut off abruptly the way Clone Wars was.
• Also, The Last Jedi is my favorite Star Wars movie now, and I was born in 1973. Disney Star Wars is one of the few long-beloved franchises/genres/whatevers that I can feel real enthusiasm for at this time.
• Waiting is hard, but I’m learning to tamp down the anxiety that nags at me while I wait for word about a project. Diving into new work helps.

Ok, this is getting maudlin and weird. I’m going to cut this off now. Can you tell I've been reading Warren Ellis again?