Hank Quense's Blog: Hank Quense's Blog, page 104

Lucy In Love

This is one of the stories in my Tunnel Vision collection of short stories.

Synopsis:

Lucretia Borgia, in the form of a beautiful young woman, is sent to Manhattan by Satan to reverse the decline in Hell's market share of souls.  She is accompanied by her father Pope Alexander VI.  The plan is to lend money to people who can't repay the loan.  The contractual small print calls for the loss of the soul in case of default.

Check out the trailer for this story:

Sample scene:

Lucy stood in front of a

Tuck

by Stephen R. Lawhead

When  I started reading this, I didn't know it was the third book in a trilogy, but I soon realized it is a stand alone book that makes occasional references to events in the previous two books.  A knowledge of the first two isn't necessary to enjoy the third one.

Basically, this is a re-telling of the Robin Hood legends with a twist.  Instead of Sherwood Forest the setting is the Marches on the border of England and Wales.  The story takes place in the reign of King William

Death to Adverbs

This short essay is take from Get it it Gear, my collection of fiction writing articles and advice:

Many stories overuse adverbs to a point where it is almost impossible to read the story.  In these cases, the abundant -ly words give the writing a sing-song aspect.  Adverbs should be restricted to one or two words per story.  Even then, ponder whether the adverbs have to be used.  One reason to avoid their usage is because many applications of adverbs are violations of the "Show Don't Tell" rule

Interview with Drakin, a dwarfen hero

Moderator: I have with me today the legendary Drakin, perhaps the most famous hero in the history of Gundarland.  Drakin is a bit hard to describe physically because most of his face is hidden behind a dark brown beard that resembles a squirrel's nest.  He wears a leather patch over his right eye and vest.  His arms are covered with tattoos and battle scars.  So, let's begin.

Moderator: how long does a quest or an adventure take?

Drakin: I guess three months is a good figure.  Sometimes more if th

Act of Will by A.J. Hartley: Book Review

This is an interesting book about a young actor name Will Hawthorne.  It takes place in a mythical world that uses magical artifacts.  On Will's eighteen birthday,  the army tires to arrest him for unknown reasons and has to escape from the theater by climbing through the roof.  By accident, he falls in with a  gang of rogues and leaves the city with them.  To his chagrin, the rogues are off to meet their leader who has hired them out to a group of nobles who want them to stop a series of devast

Burga's Recipes-1

Moderator: Today's guest blogger is Burga, the renowned warrior-cook.  He is the star of Recipe for Revenge, a story in the Tunnel Vision collection.  It was originally published in the anthology Goremet Cuisine.  He also stars in Boggerts Blue which will be published by Arkham Tales later this year.

Burga specializes in what he calls impromptu cooking.  As he explains it, you never what you'll find on hand after a day full of battle or questing, so simplicity and easy-to-find ingredients are wha

Future Posts

Starting later this week, a lot of my posts will be about and by a few of my favorite characters.  These posts will include interviews with these characters while  other posts will be guest-written by them.  Since many of my characters are pretty weird, I expect their posts will display some degree of weirdness also.

Scheduled to appear are, in no particular order: Burga a warrior-cook, Drakin an old-fashioned dwarfen hero, Vatsik a knight-accountant.

Negotiations are ongoing with Ida, an undead l

Fool's Gold Sample

Background: Civilization on Earth, devastated by wars, diseases and pollution, has been thrown back into the Dark Ages.  Alberich, a scrawny alien exiled from his home in the Niebelung System, found the Rhinegold, a magical horde, and, being a computer genius, created the Chip and the Helm.  These artifacts have immense powers.  Fafner, a huge, squid-like alien from Zaftan 31B, stole the artifacts.  For years, Alberich has plotted revenge and the  recovery of the artifacts.  Now he is about to a

Home-made Italian Salad Dressing

Serves:  8 to 10 salad servings

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

½ teaspoon of dried basil, oregano, thyme

1 teaspoon of dried parsley and chives

Ground black pepper to taste

Red pepper flakes to taste

⅓ cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons water

⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients and shake

Notes:  This is much better than the bottled or packaged dressings