Christopher B. Wright's Blog, page 45
February 17, 2013
Fun With TVTropes
I love TVTropes. I think it's one of the greatest websites in the history of ever, and I'm fascinated at the sheer volume of tropes that contributors have added to it.1
Anyway, last night I stumbled across the entry for Captain Ersatz and decided I had to add Liberty from Curveball as an example, because duh. And then I wondered what other tropes I could find that are represented in that work.
I have thirty so far:
Smoking is Cool (CB)
Gun Fu (CB again)
February 14, 2013
Why you should read Spots the Space Marine
An update from last Wednesday's post: Spots the Space Marine (Kindle Edition) is once again available for purchase on Amazon.
And now today's post: Why I think you should read Spots the Space Marine
Before I tell you why I think you should read it, and why, if you do, I believe you will enjoy it, I want to tell you what's going to discourage you from doing so.
When I settle down to read fiction I go into it mostly blind, but with a few expectations. One is that the narrative will be told as a na...
February 13, 2013
I just published a comic book! Sorta.
When I started Curveball the primary conceit was "it's a comic book without the pictures." Only, it wasn't a comic book, because creating physical objects is a lot more expensive than creating electronic ones. There's no specific market for them, so it falls into the "it would be neat if I could do this" category, which means Print On Demand, which means "more expensive than a traditional print run," which means "nope, can't justify it."
Except I figured out how to make it work.
Front:
Back:
That...
February 12, 2013
Connections: Part Five
Hidden LinksCB sighs and grinds out his cigarette on the table. “We never talked about that night again. My choice. Never talked about it at all until now, actually. I wasn’t ready to hear it when he told me, but eventually I understood. Fortunately your mom and I split for other reasons.”
“What happened?” Jenny is still trying to figure out how she feels about CB’s story. She doesn’t remember her great grandfather being sad about anything. He was always so happy around her, and around Andy… b...
Connections: Part Four
Flashback, New York City, 1988They’re both laughing, and they’re both a little drunk: Alex’s nose is red, CB weaves and staggers as he attempts, unsuccessfully, to prove how sober he is by walking a straight line. It rained at some point during the party. They hadn’t noticed, despite the men-sized holes in the skylight, but the asphalt is wet and water pools in puddles all over the uneven road. They’re taking a shortcut home in a neighborhood that, until very recently, would have been conside...
February 11, 2013
Connections: Part Three
Learning from the Past“Can I have my laptop back yet?” Jenny shifts restlessly on the couch, watching CB read.
“Still reading,” CB says.
“Why?” Jenny doesn’t bother keeping the annoyance out of her voice. “What’s the point? Weren’t you one of the ones who actually brought them down?”
“Sure,” CB says. “That was a fun plan. We played it perfectly, too. I mean, everyone expected Alex to be the good soldier and for me to go rogue. Nobody expected Robert to build a mechanical island floating in the m...
Connections: Part Two
PRODIGYPROJECT PRODIGY: CASE FILE 47793-A (OVERVIEW/SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION)
Peter Raphael Travers, Lead Investigator
- OVERVIEW -
Shortly after 9/11 a government initiative called PRODIGY attempted to create a Federal registry of metahumans who could be called in to respond to national emergencies. PRODIGY initially did this by co-opting the Federally-sanctioned metahuman groups operating under the Civilian Deputization Act, but eventually announced their intention to forcibly register all met...
Connections: Part One
Off the GridThe Farraday City bus station smells of desperation steeped in false hope and empty promises. CB steps off the bus, reaches for a cigarette, sees the NO SMOKING sign, and mutters something rude under his breath. Jenny is arguing with the bus driver, who doesn’t want to open up the cargo bin to let them get their stuff.
“Destination on your ticket is Jackson,” the driver says. He’s a short, fat man with a thick mustache that, in marked contrast with the rest of him, is waxed and met...
Issue Eight: Connections
Story: Christopher Wright
Cover: Garth Graham
Logo: Garth Graham
February 6, 2013
Trademark Enforcement Run Amok: Games Workshop, you're on my list
Games Workshop has published some really neat games.
They are most famous for their Warhammer 40K minature-based wargame, but the game I love the most was their Warhammer fantasy role-playing game. When they first published it the rulebook came in an absolutely gorgeous hardback, filled with color pictures of the world it took place in (an alternate-history earth filled with chaos and magic and elves and Other Nasty Things), pictures of the gods in their various pantheons, and some great mater...
