Mark Joseph Young's Blog: The Ides of Mark, page 6

Turbulence Beneath the Surface

As we once again review my work over the past half month--the forty-fourth time we have done so in this series--it looks deceptively quiet.  There were once again posts on the Christian Gamers Guild's Chaplain's Bible Study, covering Mark 4:6 through 16 and supplemented by three Musings posts, Musings:  Place about the difficulty of returning to the right place unaided, Musings:  Ninety-Nine about the fact that God notices when a sheep is missing, and Musings:  Unforgivable , challenging whether we ever have the right to make that claim about anyone or anything.  Meanwhile, the Guild also published RPG-ology #64:  Signalling , about the use in the past of musical instruments to communicate in battle.

Of course, I also continued posting chapters 57 through 63 of the current, the ninth, Multiverser novel, Con Verse Lea , with stories of Tomiko Takano and Lauren Hastings leading a lost people in the wilderness, and of James Beam breaking his father-in-law out of prison.  Otherwise, things have been deceptively quiet.

I say deceptively, because I've been very busy writing and editing.  Still collaborating with Eric R. Ashley, I've continued work on the twelfth book A Dozen Verses, which is nearing completion, and got a start on Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story and the tentatively-entitled Verse a Tile.  I've continued preparing the eleventh, Con Version, for publication, and I realized that I had been neglecting the behind-the-writings posts for that, so I drafted half a dozen of them.  I've also continued prep work on the Romans analytical commentary.  Also, I came up with a topic for the October Faith in Play entry, and converted another lost Game Ideas Unlimited article to rerun as an RPG-ology piece.  I have not been idle.

I remind you that you can keep current on most of this through social media and particularly my web log at Patreon, and can support me there and through PayPal.me.

My thanks for your encouragement and support.

Theoretically

As I started to write this forth-third entry in The Ides of Mark (which falls on the ides of March this time), I was reviewing the previous entry, Book'em, Marco , and realized that I had typed the wrong title for the book that had just been released.  The new book last time was RPG-ology Volume I:  The First Five Years ; I got the title confused with its sister series.

The big news as March begins is that RPG Theory 101 and Other Essays in Role Playing Games has hit the retail e-shelves.  This collection of fourteen essays previously scattered around the web includes the three-part series Theory 101 and a few other pieces on game theory and design, the three-part Law and Enforcement in Imaginary Realms and another piece on incorporating legal systems in fiction and games, a couple pieces on horror, and a couple pieces on the relationship of Christianity to fiction and games.

A few other things went public, beginning with mark Joseph "young" web log post #466:  The Song "In a Mirror Dimly" .  I continued publishing the stories of James Beam, Lauren Hastings, and Tomiko Takano in Con Verse Lea chapters 52 through 56 and a behind-the-writings look at 35 through 51 in web log entry 468:  Characters Wander .

Also released, the Chaplain's Bible Study continued with Mark 3:30 through the chapter summary and on through 4:5, and Musings:  Coke about being saved from things we never knew threatened us, and Musings:  Opposition , about those against us being insignificant.

The Christian Gamers Guild also published Faith in Play #64:  A Kingdom Allegory , a potential adventure setting.  I've been working on the two series there and have articles set up through September.  Work also continues on the Romans analytical commentary, and with Eric Ashley on A Dozen Verses.

I did apply to be staff at AnimeNEXT and have not heard back; I'm not sure whether I will be well enough to do it, though.

I will again mention that you can keep up to date through my social media sites and particularly Patreon, and you can support me there and through PayPal.me.

Book'em, Marco

As we come to this forty-second entry in The Ides of Mark the big news is the release of Faith in Play Volume I:  The First Five Years , close on the heels of its sister series, Faith in Play:  A Christian look at leisure , which came out earlier in the month.  I have also just forwarded the final draft of the promised essays book, which is going to be released under the title RPG Theory 101 and Other Essays in Role Playing Games possibly as soon as this week.  It includes sixty episodes from the series, some of which are recovered from the Game Ideas Unlimited series that once ran at Gaming Outpost.

There was a new article in that series, RPG-ology #63:  Pain , another recovered article this one recounting the story about when I poured flaming oil on my hand.  And as promised, I posted mark Joseph "young" web log post #465:  Believing in Ghosts , briefly covering what little we can learn about them from the Bible.

On the subject of Bible, I've just passed the halfway point in setting up the Romans analytical commentary. The Chaplain's Bible Study continued with Mark 3:21 through 29, along with Musings:  Gratitude and Musings:  Quiz .

In the fiction realm, the past two weeks have seen the publication of chapters 46 through 51 of Con Verse Lea , continuing the stories of Tomiko Takano, James Beam, and Lauren Hastings, and I've been doing setup on Con Version and continuing to collaborate with Eric Ashley on A Dozen Verses.

I was contacted by AnimeNEXT about serving on staff, and I'm not certain I can manage it but I'm going to fill out the application and see how things are in June.  Maybe I'll see you there.

As always, you can keep up to date on my work through my Patreon web log and other social media, and support me there or through PayPal.me.

Irons in the Fire

This morning I e-mailed my final draft of RPG-ology Volume I to Dimensionfold Publishing, having received the final form of the foreword by Dave Mattingly last night.  I also have the next book, RPG Theory 101 and Other Essays in Role Playing Games, ready to go, complete with its foreword by Regis Pannier of the French edition of Places to Go, People to Be, but I did not want both books to hit the market too close together.  Watch for RPG-ology within the next week, and the theory essays book early next month.

Meanwhile, I've also finished prep on In Version including its character sheets for the support site, to be released on the Internet after we finish the current novel, and have begun prep on Con Version.   I am almost half way through setup on the Romans analytical commentary.  In other efforts, I wrote entries for the Christian Gamers Guild series Faith in Play and RPG-ology for July and August, staying ahead of the game there.  Additionally, I was asked a question about ghosts in the New Testament, and have begun outlining a response for the mark Joseph "young" web log.

Speaking of the blog, it opened the month as usually with a song, web log post #464:  The Song "The Secret" , which I suppose is a serious song inspired by a joke about two ways to get to heaven.

At the Christian Gamers Guild we had Faith in Play #63:  Inadequacy , about how to facilitate a game in which the characters are certain they cannot succeed against these impossible odds but they manage to do so anyway, and that without referee fiat. The Bible Study continued with Mark 3:10 through 3:20, and included Musings:  Joy , suggesting that joy is not a gift but something we are taught, and Musings:  Donkey Duty , observing that sometimes the seemingly menial unimportant and even demeaning jobs God gives us become very important within a larger plan.

I continued publishing Con Verse Lea with chapters 40 through 45 moving stories for James Beam, Lauren Hastings, and Tomiko Takano.  Eric R. Ashley and I continue to create the twelfth novel, A Dozen Verses, which has been an interesting challenge as he picked all the worlds and I've been trying to wrap my head around them to help write interesting stories in them.  I learned something about my writing process from this, but as I wrote about that on my Patreon web log, I'll only do so here if someone asks.

You can keep up with my work on an as-published basis by following Patreon and other social media, and you can support my efforts there or through PayPal.me.

Thank you.

Juggling

I have almost finished the character papers for In Version, and have managed to keep up with the work of my collaborator Eric R. Ashley that I have now written a few chapters for A Dozen Verses myself, in addition to editing and commenting on the near forty he has created.  O.K., so he's been doing most of the work this time; it's a good story, and I am contributing to it.  Before the weekend I'll start the final edit and HTML setup for Con Version.  That's a lot of books.

On the subject of a lot of books, I am still anticipating the releases of RPG-ology Volume I and what I think is now going to be called RPG Theory 101:  Essays in Role Playing Games.  I have seen a draft of the foreword for the latter, and I have seen cover art, so they are both nearing publication.  I'm also almost halfway through formatting the Romans analytical commentary for publication.

Meanwhile, I continue to publish Con Verse Lea , with chapters 34 through 39 hitting the Web along with a behind-the-writings peek in mark Joseph "young" web log post #463:  Characters Unsettled .

Turning to the Christian Gamers Guild work, RPG-ology #62:  File Cards appeared, and the Bible Study continued with Mark 2:26 through 3:9, and I included Musing:  Gender and Musings:  Unanswerable .

I think that's the whole story for the second half of January.  You can stay up-to-date by following me on Patreon or other social media, and support me there or through PayPal.me, and I'll be back in mid February.

Busyworking

As I look at the first half of the first month of the new year, I notice that a lot was accomplished but I didn't really create all that much.

The month started with an indexed review of last year, mark Joseph "young" web log post #461:  2022 In Review , followed by another published song, post #462:  The Song "John Three" , part of an unfinished rock opera Passion Play.  These were both delayed a couple days by web site technical problems, which recurred a week later but were resolved.

The Christian Gamers Guild then released Faith in Play #62:  Theocracy , and I drafted another for the months ahead.  The Bible study continued with Mark 2:15 through 25, and gave us Musings:  Leader and Musings:  Pipeline .

I also continued publishing Con Verse Lea with chapters 27 through 33, continuing the stories of Lauren Hastings and Tomiko Takano and of James Beam.  Meanwhile, while I've been trying to catch up the character sheets for Derek Brown and Robert Slade for tenth Multiverser novel In Version, my collaborator Eric R. Ashley has been pushing the twelfth book, A Dozen Verses, ahead almost faster than I can read and edit it.

I have been slowly reformatting the text of my Romans Analytical Commentary for publication, while Dimensionfold has put Faith in Play: A Christian Look at Leisure, Volume I in print, and are currently working toward releasing its companion RPG-ology collection and the role playing essays book.  I'm very much flattered by the preface "Geek Preacher" Derek White wrote for the Faith in Play book, but you'll have to read it there.  I have people lined up to write forewords of the next two books, so we'll see how those turn out.

So I have more work to do, and better attend to it.  You can keep up to date through my Patreon blog and other social media, and support me there or through PayPal.me.

Thank God That's Over

That's actually the punchline about what the Calvinist said after he fell down the stairs.  It's been a rough year in many ways, but we seem to have rounded the corner.

On the other hand, the year saw four books go into print and many more queued to do so.  RPG-ology Volume I went to the publisher, along with a bit of artwork, and the essays book to follow it is ready to follow as soon as the others (including Faith in Play, also with the publisher) are in print.  I've started reformatting and editing my Romans Analytical Commentary.

On the subject of RPG-ology, #61:  Procession appeared, a somewhat curmudgeonly look at warped societal values.  The year there was wrapped up with 2022 at the Christian Gamers Guild Reviewed , an indexing of all the articles published there over the past year.  I've got a web log entry covering everything else I wrote coming tomorrow, so watch for that.  Meanwhile, the Chaplain's Bible Study continued with Mark 2:5 through 2:14, and three Musings posts, Airports about how much we really don't know, Hands about God keeping us from falling, and Silence about how God was active in the world even when it wasn't recorded in Scripture.

I finished the major read-through edit of Con Version and set up documents to continue with A Dozen Verses and Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story, mostly so that my collaborator Eric R. Ashley would have a place for the ideas he's always developing.  Since I do he grunt work, I'm still working on character sheets from In Version and have to do all the setup for publishing Con Version.  I have a lot of irons in the fire.  Additional chapters of Con Verse Lea , numbered 21 through 26 and continuing the stories of James Beam, Lauren Hastings, and Tomiko Takano, were released.

I feel like I've missed something, but don't know what it might be, so I'll just remind you that you can keep up to date by following me on Patreon and other social media, and can support my efforts financially there or through PayPal.me.

Like Molasses

I feel like everything is moving slowly.  I suspect it's just an illusion--Eric R. Ashley and I have finished the draft of the forthcoming Con Version.  I think he's eager to move to the next book, but I need to do a complete read-through edit of this one, and I'm sure there will be tweaking in addition to typos.

That is the eleventh Multiverser novel, so it will be a while before it appears, since the first half of this month has seen the release of Con Verse Lea chapters 15 through 20, and a behind-the writings post of the first seventeen chapters, web log post #460:  Versers Reorganize .  That's early in the ninth novel, and we've got the tenth ready to post, so we are well ahead of our deadlines on this.

Meanwhile, the Christian Gamers Guild published my answer to the question of why I stated (in one of my books) that Dungeons & Dragons is one of the most Christian games out there, in Faith in Play #61:  Christian D&D .  The Chaplain's Bible Study continued with Mark 1:39 through 2:4, and two posts both of which stirred some discussion, Musings:  Geeks about the Jewish lepers accepting the Samaritan leper as one of their own because of a shared trouble, and Disobedience , suggesting that the Samaritan leper was praised because he disobeyed the law in order to do what is right.

The month opened with music, mark Joseph "young" web log post #458:  The Song "All I Need" , a song I honestly actually did write in my sleep.  I also took the time to compose web log post #459:  Publication Anticipation , recapping the books that went to print over the past year and looking forward to the roughly two dozen slated to be released in the coming days.  In related news, Geek Preacher Derek White has reportedly agreed to write a foreword for Faith in Play Volume I, which I find very encouraging.

That's probably not everything, but whatever I missed I'll think of later tonight.  Meanwhile, you can keep up to date through my Patreon blog and other social media outlets, and support me there or through PayPal.me.

Miss Me?

I don't have much evidence that anyone is reading this web log, but all the same I should apologize that I missed two consecutive posts, the end of October and the middle of November.  I was almost completely off line for a month, but am now restored.  I've also had some computer troubles and lost a few of the indices I maintain for reference, so I'm piecing this together as well as I can.

We'll start with the Bible study, which posted Mark 1:30 through 38, and also offered Musings:  Close Call .  It missed quite a few days, but is back on track.

On that, Dimensionfold is looking at publishing the compiled studies, beginning with Romans, probably next year sometime.  I have a couple projects in line before that, which I will mention in a moment.

I managed to post five chapters of Con Verse Lea , chapters 10 through 14, which is mostly James Beam with some Tomiko Takano and Lauren Hastings interspersed.  Also, because these are uploaded into a prescheduled queue, the Christian Gamers Guild articles were released on schedule, including RPG-ology #59:  David , a recovered Game Ideas Unlimited piece on keeping things simple, Faith in Play #60:  Afterlife , about what happens to game characters after they die and why it matters, and RPG-ology #60:  Spreadsheets , about using a simple computer application to help streamline role playing games.

Once again burying the lead, my book About the Fruit was republished in a second edition by Dimensionfold.  It was released the day after I was knocked off line, so it is still being announced.

Meanwhile, I finished doing all the setup for In Version to post except for some of the character sheets for the support site, and Eric Ashley and I have made massive advances on Con Version, making it the longest Multiverser novel to date with the major climax still ahead.

Keep up to date through my other social media sites and particularly Patreon whether or not you become a patron, and support me through that or PayPal.me.

Slow Recovery

Today seems to have been a microcosmic recap of the first half of this month--I've gotten stuff done, but feel like I'm behind on where I'm supposed to be.  In any case, this is the bi-monthly recap of that, so let's get to it.

We started the month with mark Joseph "young" web log post #457:  The Song "Greater Love" .  Also early in the month the Christian Gamers Guild released Faith in Play #59:  Ghosts , about evidence of life after death.

The guild Bible study also continued with Mark 1:20 through 29, and one Musings post, way off the church calendar but making a significant point about our expectations, Palm Sunday .

I continued publishing Con Verse Lea , with chapters 4 through 9 continuing the stories of James Beam, Lauren Hastings, and Tomiko Takano.  Behind the scenes I'm still setting up pages of In Version for future release, and working with Eric Ashley on the next one, Con Version.

Dimensionfold and I have, I think, come to an agreement concerning the cover and artwork for the release of the second edition of About the Fruit, although I have to do a bit of text editing to accommodate the changes.  Watch for that in the coming weeks.

As always, you can follow me more closely through Patreon whether or not you become a patron, and can support me there or through PayPal.me.

So let me see whether I can salvage the rest of today.