Daniel Ausema's Blog, page 26
June 17, 2014
CLASH! Dawn of Steam returns!
This game returns for a new Kickstarter campaign with a scaled back launch of only a single 2-played box set instead of two (and some other tweaks and changes to bring down the goal). Still looks like a very fun game, and some of the tiers include the full 80-page world book, which includes all my stories for the game as well as concept art and other cool things. So give it a look. The art is great, and the gameplay looks like a good balance of easy to learn but with a lot of potential for more advanced strategizing.After just a single day, it's already closing in on $4k and 100 backers. So hopefully this time it can maintain that momentum and get full funding.
Speaking of my stories, the final one, which never came out during the last campaign, is online now: Braetak Xao is an Edenite, a sort of half-lion, half-human being who has recently inherited the throne of his island home. He leads an army against the dwarves who are stealing his people's trees and destroying their land in the process.
June 15, 2014
My favorite dad memory for Fathers Day
My dad is not a runner. He was always (and continues to be) active. He would go swimming every week and take long walks and the occasional bike ride, but running always seemed somehow too undignified for him. It wasn't that he imposed this view on others--two of my brothers and I all did some sort of running for high school sports (and college for two of us), and he never acted as if there was anything wrong with that, but it wasn't for him.
There were two times I can remember him running. One was to cross a busy Washington DC street when we were there on vacation (notably the only vacation I can recall when we went to a large city rather than a national park or other outdoorsy, scenic beauty sort of place). The other was when I was about 10 or 11 years old.
My grade school every year had a running club where we'd keep track of how many miles we ran in the spring and try to reach either 25 or 50 miles, depending on which club we joined. I decided one day to knock off three miles, the longest run I'd attempted at the time. We'd figured out the exact places on our county roads to turn around for different distances, and I was just doing the one-mile route three times in a run. That meant running down to the highway, jogging in place until I could cross, and running up the gradual hill to a particularly large clump of bushes next to a field. Then I'd run back, past our house and the neighboring cemetery, and turn around at the far side of the next neighbor's property, ending back at my driveway.
On the second time through, two boys were walking along the road where I turned around, and they asked me some questions. What was I doing? Was I tired? How many times was I going to be doing this? Where did I live? Why? Did I often run that far? One was about my age, maybe a bit younger. The other was older by a couple years.
My parents were out walking at the time, and as I passed the house to begin my third mile, they were just coming back. I must have said, "Hi," but I don't really remember.
When I came back up the hill for the third time, I passed the two kids, turned around at the bush, and saw them standing in the middle of the country road, cutting me off. The older one grabbed the hood of my sweatshirt when I tried to run past. "I'm going to let my little brother punch you."
Even growing up in a family of four boys, I was not a fighter. I'd certainly never been in a fistfight, so I had no idea what to do. They tried to egg me into throwing the first punch, but I wouldn't. No one was around. No cars were out to make us get off the road. No one was out in the yard sof any of the few houses on that stretch. When I told them (begged them, probably) to let me by, they said, "Yeah, who's going to make us?"
At that moment I looked up and saw someone else on the road. Running toward us. I didn't recognize him at first, in my fear, but I simply pointed and said, "Him." They took one look, and ran the other way. It was only when I got closer that I realized it was my dad. He made sure I was OK, and then as I continued home he chased the kids on up the road to figure out who they were. They ended up losing him when they went ran off into the property of an old abandoned house that we always said ought to be haunted.
When I tried to figure out what made him realize I was in trouble, all he'd say is that I'd seemed worried when I passed them earlier. I don't remember feeling worried yet then, but it was the only explanation I ever had. That image of looking up and seeing him running toward me to rescue me is one that I'll never forget.
There were two times I can remember him running. One was to cross a busy Washington DC street when we were there on vacation (notably the only vacation I can recall when we went to a large city rather than a national park or other outdoorsy, scenic beauty sort of place). The other was when I was about 10 or 11 years old.
My grade school every year had a running club where we'd keep track of how many miles we ran in the spring and try to reach either 25 or 50 miles, depending on which club we joined. I decided one day to knock off three miles, the longest run I'd attempted at the time. We'd figured out the exact places on our county roads to turn around for different distances, and I was just doing the one-mile route three times in a run. That meant running down to the highway, jogging in place until I could cross, and running up the gradual hill to a particularly large clump of bushes next to a field. Then I'd run back, past our house and the neighboring cemetery, and turn around at the far side of the next neighbor's property, ending back at my driveway.
On the second time through, two boys were walking along the road where I turned around, and they asked me some questions. What was I doing? Was I tired? How many times was I going to be doing this? Where did I live? Why? Did I often run that far? One was about my age, maybe a bit younger. The other was older by a couple years.
My parents were out walking at the time, and as I passed the house to begin my third mile, they were just coming back. I must have said, "Hi," but I don't really remember.
When I came back up the hill for the third time, I passed the two kids, turned around at the bush, and saw them standing in the middle of the country road, cutting me off. The older one grabbed the hood of my sweatshirt when I tried to run past. "I'm going to let my little brother punch you."
Even growing up in a family of four boys, I was not a fighter. I'd certainly never been in a fistfight, so I had no idea what to do. They tried to egg me into throwing the first punch, but I wouldn't. No one was around. No cars were out to make us get off the road. No one was out in the yard sof any of the few houses on that stretch. When I told them (begged them, probably) to let me by, they said, "Yeah, who's going to make us?"
At that moment I looked up and saw someone else on the road. Running toward us. I didn't recognize him at first, in my fear, but I simply pointed and said, "Him." They took one look, and ran the other way. It was only when I got closer that I realized it was my dad. He made sure I was OK, and then as I continued home he chased the kids on up the road to figure out who they were. They ended up losing him when they went ran off into the property of an old abandoned house that we always said ought to be haunted.
When I tried to figure out what made him realize I was in trouble, all he'd say is that I'd seemed worried when I passed them earlier. I don't remember feeling worried yet then, but it was the only explanation I ever had. That image of looking up and seeing him running toward me to rescue me is one that I'll never forget.
June 10, 2014
Spire City episode 10 released
A couple days late here (kids' summer vacation...is slowing down pretty much anything I might like to get done at the computer...), but episode 10 "Lady Janshi's Treasure" was released last Friday. In this one Chels and friends discover strange things, both beneath the city and in the church of their friend Priestess Chemille. One of those discovers could well solve many of the Weave's money difficulties, if they stoop to stealing from a friend. Available directly from Musa as well as from all the usual online bookstores.
May 31, 2014
"Planet Jumpers" published in Every Day Fiction
I received my subscriber email from EDF yesterday with my story, "Planet Jumpers," in it. It appears it went up on the website the day before.
This was one of the many stories I've written that began as a one-hour challenge. Two major inspirations are at play in it. One is Italo Calvino's story about how the moon used to be much closer to the earth and how the people (of some sort) in those days used to go back and forth from one to the other. It's one of the t-zero or Cosmicomics stories narrated by Qfwfq. Scientifically it makes no sense, but it's such a lovely and rich story that the science doesn't matter. The other source is a detail from Gene Wolfe's Book of the Short Sun. In that series, there are two planets, and the alien natives of one of them are able to jump between planets (or claim they are able to, or the narrator believes they are able to--one always has to be cautious about this kind of thing in Wolfe's books, and especially when it was a series I read only once and that was years ago). There are reasons to question this ability, not just the science of it, but within the story. But the image was a fun one. So those two ideas came together as I wrote this. Where the alien species came from and the idea of their intense breeding programs, well, I don't recall any specific inspiration for that, just the whimsy of my mind.
This was one of the many stories I've written that began as a one-hour challenge. Two major inspirations are at play in it. One is Italo Calvino's story about how the moon used to be much closer to the earth and how the people (of some sort) in those days used to go back and forth from one to the other. It's one of the t-zero or Cosmicomics stories narrated by Qfwfq. Scientifically it makes no sense, but it's such a lovely and rich story that the science doesn't matter. The other source is a detail from Gene Wolfe's Book of the Short Sun. In that series, there are two planets, and the alien natives of one of them are able to jump between planets (or claim they are able to, or the narrator believes they are able to--one always has to be cautious about this kind of thing in Wolfe's books, and especially when it was a series I read only once and that was years ago). There are reasons to question this ability, not just the science of it, but within the story. But the image was a fun one. So those two ideas came together as I wrote this. Where the alien species came from and the idea of their intense breeding programs, well, I don't recall any specific inspiration for that, just the whimsy of my mind.
May 16, 2014
Episode 9, Calling in the Press
Episode 9 is live today! In this one, Chels decides on a bold move to make the people of Spire City realize what Orgood's infection is doing and where it comes from. Will her plan make things better for those who are infected, or will it backfire?I've been thinking again recently about how I structured these episodes when I wrote them. There's a balance between moving the season-long and series-long arcs forward and a sort of return-to-status-quo, in the style of many sitcoms and other TV shows. Firefly was definitely forefront in my mind as I worked through this part of the series, so even if no one else sees the influence, I can see how certain aspects of the stories drew from that show.
Some episodes fall quite cleanly within one of those camps, and especially at this point of the first season, more of them are return-to-status-quo stories. Think of them as those fun episodes like "Jaynestown," full of adventure and conflict, but not adding much toward the big arc of the show, especially the mystery of River and the agents who are pursuing them.
Other episodes have a much more obvious connection to the series arc. We're working on the final tweaks of the last few episodes of season 1, and there's a definite ramping up of the confrontation with Orgood coming. My recollection is that season 2 has much more of a long-arc focus (though I haven't looked too closely at those stories in a while). And season 3 has its own twists on that balance.
I won't say here whether "Calling in the Press" is more status-quo or arc-focused. But I will say that this one has some major consequences for events in season 2 and beyond.
Available from all the usual suspects.
May 9, 2014
"Apprentice in the Steam Library" sold to Villainous Press
I've sold a steampunk short story to a new anthology coming out from Villainous Press. I'll give more details when I know more about the release and other information, but the idea behind the anthology is that these are all steampunk stories not directly tied to London or New York or other places in the real world. My story is actually set in Spire City, though the name is never used. Readers of Spire City: Infected will even find one little reference to the characters of the serial, which should be fun for them.
May 1, 2014
Alas for CLASH! Dawn of Steam...but not the end!
The Kickstarter campaign for CLASH! Dawn of Steam ended today. It earned 230 backers and over $12,600 toward its goal, which is a most respectable campaign in many ways...but not quite enough to meet its goal. All is not lost, though. Mad Ape Games is already working on a scaled-back campaign with only one 2-player boxed set and some other adjustments to lower the costs. So there will be more, and I'll be sure to post a link when that happens.
In the meantime, two more of my stories did appear (one as I was frantically getting ready for a road trip to Iowa, and one while we were there, which is my excuse for not posting the links at the time).
Kaira Haedes is a bat-riding, blood-magic-casting Herald of Fear. Rather than brute force, she uses magic and trickery to bring down a city.
Arandor Lantheiin is as much a staple of typical epic fantasy as anything I've likely written in years, an elven king with great knowledge of ancient magic. The story is pure epic fantasy, the heroes besieged in an impregnable fortress--or so they hope--and a powerful force camped outside their walls, trying to break through. But you should know by now that the story won't end up as predictable as that might sound.
So give them a read, and let them whet your appetite for the new, revised campaign for the game in a few weeks or so.
In the meantime, two more of my stories did appear (one as I was frantically getting ready for a road trip to Iowa, and one while we were there, which is my excuse for not posting the links at the time).
Kaira Haedes is a bat-riding, blood-magic-casting Herald of Fear. Rather than brute force, she uses magic and trickery to bring down a city.
Arandor Lantheiin is as much a staple of typical epic fantasy as anything I've likely written in years, an elven king with great knowledge of ancient magic. The story is pure epic fantasy, the heroes besieged in an impregnable fortress--or so they hope--and a powerful force camped outside their walls, trying to break through. But you should know by now that the story won't end up as predictable as that might sound.
So give them a read, and let them whet your appetite for the new, revised campaign for the game in a few weeks or so.
April 30, 2014
Flash fiction sale to Every Day Fiction
I got an email last night telling me I'd sold a flash fiction story to Every Day Fiction. This one had an earlier rewrite request, and their comments helped make the story considerably stronger. It will be classified as science fiction, though as far as that, the story owes more to Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics tales than to any real science. The story should be out in the next month or two.
April 12, 2014
Some more CLASH! Dawn of Steam stories up
The Kickstarter for the game is going very well, over halfway to full funding at the moment, with many of the limited slots already claimed and closing in on 200 backers.
Two more stories have been published on Scribd over the past few days. Raven Stormshroud is a gunslinging, steampunk sky pirate. She is stuck on a flying city, besieged and not liking it. Every attempt she makes to break free only leads to disaster. Saeria Ilythia is a young elf (perhaps the first elf I've written about since high school...) who is bringing new, high tech to her people. Something strange is happening to the trees, though. This time, defending the tree city may have to begin in the lab she's created beneath the roots of a massive tree.
Two more stories have been published on Scribd over the past few days. Raven Stormshroud is a gunslinging, steampunk sky pirate. She is stuck on a flying city, besieged and not liking it. Every attempt she makes to break free only leads to disaster. Saeria Ilythia is a young elf (perhaps the first elf I've written about since high school...) who is bringing new, high tech to her people. Something strange is happening to the trees, though. This time, defending the tree city may have to begin in the lab she's created beneath the roots of a massive tree.
April 4, 2014
Mint, the Sleepless One (Episode 7)
Episode 7 is out today! This marks a significant shift in the narrative and has always been one of those episodes I've pointed to as showing what makes serial fiction so interesting. Mint, as you may know from the last couple of episodes, is an associate of the mad scientist Orgood. Chels and company realize that there's something odd about him, but only here as we switch to his perspective do readers discover just how and why he seems that way. There's a noir-ish feel to his voice here, which I hope readers will enjoy.If this had been a traditional novel, I suspect some readers would react poorly to such a shift at this midpoint in the story, but as an episode in a serial fiction, it works to create a different view of events and will hopefully add an extra dimension of tension in the rest of the episodes, as they return to the more typical narration from the perspectives of the members of the Weave.
As always, the episode is available directly from the publisher. You can also purchase it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and most other online bookstores (though some are less prompt in uploading the new books than others).
