C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 57

Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition review

    VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE 5TH EDITION is a book I never expected to see. I was a huge fan of Vampire: The Masquerade in the nineties. I was about as big a Gothic Punk as a tabletop roleplaying gamer could be in the South with no Goths around him, no black clothing in his wardrobe, and a restrictive Catholic high school. I loved pretending to be 8th generation Elder Lord Sirrius of the Ventrue and Erasmus Von Prague the Tremere Knight. It was a game inspired by INTERVIEW WITH...

Kings of Paradise (Ash and Sand #1) review

    KINGS OF PARADISE by Richard Nell is one of the favorites to win the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (#SPFBO). It is a story which has been recommended to me over and over again. I was surprised by this because the fantasy fans I hang around with are a very cynical bunch. If one liked THE POPPY WARS, then the next disliked it. I was a huge fan of 1000 SCARS but others were iffy about it. Here? Just about everyone who read this novel had nothing but praise for it. They said...

Staked by J.F. Lewis (Void City #1) review

    Vampire novels are incredibly overdone but that's a bit like saying superheroes, Westerns, and police procedurals are incredibly overdone. Yes, there's a deluge of them but there's always some new diamonds to be found in the rough. The simple fact is they are a never-ending source of fascination and that's not just because I wrote STRAIGHT OUTTA FANGTON. No, sir. That's not an influence at all. Ahem.
    STAKED by J.F. Lewis is a vampire novel which I'll prob...

Lucifer's Star Book Bub sale: 99 cent ebook!

Hey, LUCIFER'S STAR which is a dark space opera with proton swords, rebelling robots, starfighter battles, treachery, lies, and politics. I hope people will check it out. It's been called an R-rated Star Wars and I certainly agree. For this week only, it's available for 99c. You won't find a better deal for a massive epic!

BookBub Sale Page

Cassius Mass was the greatest star pilot of the Crius Archduchy. He fought fiercely for his cause, only to watch his nation fall to the Interstellar Commonw...

Destiny 2 review

    I picked up DESTINY 2 as soon as I finished DESTINY. This was despite the fact DESTINY barely had a plot and narrative has always been my favorite part of video games. This was resolved toward the end of its lifespan with THE TAKEN KING expansion but even that was a bare bones "Dark Lord invades, we kick its butt" plot.

    So, what's the plot of DESTINY 2? Well, "Dark Lord invades, we kick its butt." However, it's not the plot which matters but the execution...

AGENT G: ASSASSIN is now available on Kindle

 
AGENT G is a series I've really enjoyed writing. At present, I have it set up for five books with the third book in the series, AGENT G: ASSASSIN having recently been released on Kindle (and for Kindle Unlimited).

From the best-selling author of THE RULES OF SUPERVILLAINY:

Agent G, now going by the name Case, thought he'd won. He'd exposed his former employers, shared Black Technology with the world, and killed the man who'd started it all. Unfortunately, history slows for no man. After...

Heaven's Devils (Starcraft II 1#) by William C. Dietz

    HEAVEN'S DEVILS is better than it has any right to be and that's despite the fact it makes use of a lot of military cliches before going in unexpected directions. It's a piece of tie-fiction, which means that it must be judged on two criteria: 1. Is it entertaining to fans? 2. Is it entertaining to people who would never normally pick up a Starcraft novel. Surprisingly, it fits the criteria of being enjoyable to both and even if you have no idea who Jim Raynor is then I sug...

Grimdark Confession: I'm no longer that into Westeros

GRIMDARK CONFESSION: I don't actually care about Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire anymore. Warning: This testament will contain spoilers for both the penultimate season of the show as well as up to A Dance with Dragons.
    My interest in A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones basically can be summarized as slowly but surely ending due to the realization it's a Deconstruction/Reconstruction switch. I loved the books for their savage take down of a lot of tropes like the No...

Starcraft Remastered review

    Starcraft is one of the greatest video games of all time. Okay, no it isn't. Well, maybe it is. I'm sure South Korea agrees it was/is. Starcraft is one of those games which has an amazingly good nostalgia filter since it was incredibly good for its time-period. It is one of the real-time strategy games which helped elevate the medium like Command and Conquer and certainly was a huge step up from Warcraft 2.

    It had story out of the wazoo that would help inf...

CT Phipps' 15 Tips for Indie Authors

1. Generally speaking, indie authors benefit most from networking. This is something that I've taken to heart and it's great to make friends with other authors and promote their books because they'll be inclined to promote yours. Authors who worry about their own success alone generally fail in this business. Authorship is not competing for readers because when someone finishes Anne Rice, they're more inclined to pick up another vampire novel in the same "vein."

2. Diversity is the key when at...