Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 263

Office 2016 & Preview

I upgraded to Word 2016 today.

It’s very blue, as the image shows.

Eagle-eyed readers might notice a preview in the screenshot for something that I intend to release next month.

-JM

The $50 Kindle Fire

I got one of the new $50 Kindle Fire tablets.

First, a pet peeve. I dislike it when reviewers say it costs “only” $50. Fifty dollars is a lot of money!

However, it is a lot less than the $400 to buy a new iPad Mini. The new Kindle Fire is only an average tablet, but for $50, it is an amazing tablet. By way of comparison, the original iPad Mini from 2012 had roughly the same specifications as the new Kindle Fire, and that cost $329.

Because of that, I’m comfortable using the $50 Kindle Fire in public the way I wouldn’t with, say, an iPad. If your $399 iPad is stolen or broken, it’s a catastrophe. If your $50 Kindle Fire is stolen or broken, it’s bad, but not $399 bad.

Anyway, it’s a good little tablet, and provides good value for the money. Especially for $50! (It also seems to have excellent battery life.)

-JM

the gigabytes of SKYRIM

Today I’m replacing my desktop hard drive with a solid state drive, so I’m backing up all my personal data first.

I have something like 12 gigabytes of Skyrim save files. Might be time to trim that down a bit.

-JM

GHOST IN THE THRONE now available!

Available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, Amazon Australia, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, iTunes, and Smashwords.

Click here to read the first chapter.

Caina Amalas cheated death and escaped certain doom.

So did her mortal enemy, the sorcerer Cassander Nilas.

Now the city of Istarinmul teeters on the brink of civil war and sorcerous annihilation. Unless Caina summons all her bravery and cunning, Cassander’s dark spell will kill millions of people.

Starting with the people she loves…

-JM

Caina Amalas vs. Nadia Moran – who would win?

A reader asks who would win in a fight – Caina Amalas from THE GHOSTS or Nadia Moran from CLOAK GAMES?

Probably Caina, for two reasons. First, Nadia knows that in an emergency she can always rely on a gun to get out of trouble. Caina doesn’t, as firearms have not been invented in the world of THE GHOSTS, so she’s better with knives and unarmed fighting.

Second, Nadia relies heavily upon her magic, which is exactly the wrong tactic to employ with someone like Caina. Nadia’s preferred strategy for dealing with Caina would be to Cloak herself, wait until Caina walked past, and then shoot her in the back of the head.  As you might expect, this would ordinarily work quite well. That, however, would be exactly the wrong strategy for dealing with Caina. Caina would sense the Cloak spell and realize that someone invisible was in the room. Alternatively, if Nadia disguised herself with a Mask spell, Caina would sense it, and then would play along with Nadia’s ruse until the moment of maximum advantage arrived.

After the events of GHOST IN THE SEAL, Nadia would be at an even greater disadvantage. If Nadia Cloaked herself, since Caina would be able to see exactly where she is. All of the spells Nadia uses to hide herself would only serve to draw Caina’s attention, putting Nadia at a likely fatal disadvantage.

So, Caina would probably win any fight…at least at Nadia’s current level of skill and ability.

-JM

the tactical improvisations of Nadia Moran

Did a little work on CLOAK GAMES: REBEL FIST this morning.

If Caina’s favorite tactic is to burn down buildings, I think Nadia Moran’s favorite tactic will be running people over with a car at high speeds.

-JM

GHOST IN THE THRONE book description

Here’s the official book description for GHOST IN THE THRONE!

Caina Amalas cheated death and escaped certain doom.

So did her mortal enemy, the sorcerer Cassander Nilas.

Now the city of Istarinmul teeters on the brink of civil war and sorcerous annihilation. Unless Caina summons all her bravery and cunning, Cassander’s dark spell will kill millions of people.

Starting with the people she loves…

-JM

a short excerpt from GHOST IN THE THRONE

Spent most of the day editing GHOST IN THE THRONE. Let’s have an excerpt!

Caina headed towards the edge of the caravanserai, Kylon walking at her side in silence.

 “You should probably let me do the talking,” said Caina.

“That was the plan,” said Kylon. “You’re better at it. The Istarish language has too many consonants. What are we doing, anyway?”

“Rolling the dice,” said Caina, digging in a pouch at her sword belt.

“If we’re going to take a risk,” said Kylon, “then maybe…”

Caina blinked, and then held up the wooden dice she had taken from the pouch. “I meant that literally.”

-JM

cover image for GHOST IN THE THRONE

Editing is underway for GHOST IN THE THRONE, so let’s have a look at the cover image!

-JM

Thanks!

I’m going to start editing GHOST IN THE THRONE today, but before I do I would like say thanks for all the encouraging notes and emails people left whenever I posted a progress update or an short excerpt.

Back in the pre-ebook era, I wrote GHOST IN THE FLAMES, GHOST IN THE BLOOD, and CHILD OF THE GHOSTS entirely in a vacuum, without any feedback. Now, thirteen books later, it is still amazing to know that there are people actively awaiting GHOST IN THE THRONE.

So, thanks for all the comments! Hopefully I shall not keep you waiting too much longer.

-JM