K.N. Salustro's Blog, page 23

December 6, 2016

Singular Moments in Video Games

game-consoleThere doesn’t seem to be a lineup with the current consoles at this time, so have this somewhat out-of-date image header instead.

The primary reason most people play video games is because they get some sense of enjoyment out of them. Video games are meant to be fun, and while not always happy and carefree, they give us escapes from the real world, and engage us in ways that other forms of media cannot. It’s okay to be picky about which games you play and which ones you don’t. It’s okay to p...

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Published on December 06, 2016 13:30

December 1, 2016

Review of “Buan: The Perfect Mortals”

29737671It’sreally greatthat self-publishing lets people cut through the wall set up in the publishing industry by the need for connections and inner circles, but sometimes, it creates problems. This is one of those instances. This book was published too early. The Perfect Mortals comes from a youngauthorwith clear natural talent and a good story in mind, even if we’ve seen it many times before, but this book really needed to be edited and workshopped, or at least given some space to mature before be...

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Published on December 01, 2016 13:48

November 28, 2016

Review – “The Dark Forest”

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This is the second book in theRemembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, by scifi author Liu Cixin. I wrote about the first book, which I greatly enjoyed. Now, let’s talk about this second one.

Starting with the main character: Lou Ji. He is a difficult character to serve as the focal point. If you can’t tolerate him, you’ll hate him. He’s selfish, self-absorbed, and not really a great person. That, of course, makes him the perfect Wallfacer. So he makes sense in context, but some readers may easi...

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Published on November 28, 2016 13:32

November 24, 2016

Art Sites

I mention in my various bios that, in addition to writing and plush making, I also draw and (on the rare occasion) paint. These pieces I like to upload to Redbubble and Society6, which makes them available on a variety of merchandise. You want a dragon t-shirt? I have those. You want a mug featuring a true fantasy football team? I got you covered. You want a shower curtain with an alien landscape? I have that, too.

UL Planet Posters

I do this mostly for the enjoyment of it. It’s just too much fun to not do an...

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Published on November 24, 2016 14:03

November 21, 2016

BookCon 2017 Tickets!!

Tickets for BookCon 2017 are on sale now!!

BookCon will be in New York City in 2017. Looks like there are going to be some seriously cool panels, enough so that I’m probably going to regret needing to monitor my booth the entire time I’m there. BUT, for those interested in attending, tickets are on sale for both Saturday and Sunday, and the weekend promises to have tons of cool stuff for you to check out.

And, hey, I’ll be there, too!

I’ll post more details about what I’ll be selling and wher...

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Published on November 21, 2016 14:34

November 17, 2016

Review of “The Great Symmetry”

glome8This book won the Grand Prize of the 2015 Cygnus Awards. It’s pretty easy to see why.

While I didn’t quite get what I expected from the summary (less angry capitalism, more espionage, was what I thought I would get), that means that the book playedout in an unexpected way. From start to finish, the storyline was interesting to follow, with plenty of intriguing characters that present vastly different perspectives on the same events.

Speaking of the characters, there’s a very solid cast overal...

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Published on November 17, 2016 13:47

November 14, 2016

So, America. Here we are.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must know about the state of this countryright now.

We’re not at the threshold of the apocalypse. But for many people, it feels that way. Did you make any effort to understand why?

For many Americans, their basic human rights are suddenly under threat. Not because the government has immediately jumped into action to take them away, but because a part of the population fueled by hatred has become a lot more vocal. And a lot more active. The protests...

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Published on November 14, 2016 18:55

November 7, 2016

Why I Love Science Fiction

star-wars-a-new-hope-posterMy father likes to tell the story of the first time I ever saw a Star Wars movie. I was young enough that I myself don’t really remember the experience of being in the theater, but according to my parents, I needed to be helped into the seat. So I guess I was pretty small.

This wasn’t the original premier of Star Wars as that predated me by several years, but there happened to be a limited rerelease of A New Hope in theaters, or maybe there was just a special screening. I confess to not knowi...

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Published on November 07, 2016 13:39

November 5, 2016

So, we are all voting on the 8th, right?

It’s that time. Election Day is coming this Tuesday, November 8th, and we Americans are going to set the tone of our future.

I, like many others, are… well, a stronger synonym for “concerned” would be best here, but we’ll leave it at that for now. At the end of the day, we do live in a country where you have the right to vote for who you see fit. So, to that end, please go out and vote.

Younger people: you DEFINITELY need to go out and vote. You are the ones who will live the longest with the...

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Published on November 05, 2016 09:39

October 31, 2016

Have You Reviewed a Book Lately?

I’ve mentioned before that reviews are the lifeblood of authors, especially indie and self-published ones. Sales are always nice, but unless you have a large audience constantly purchasing your work, they can be little more than numeric blips on the radar. Don’t get me wrong, sales are great, and it’s a wonderful feeling whenever someone buys an author’s book. It’s just that they are very much a background element that only the author (and their publisher, if they have one) can see. They don’...

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Published on October 31, 2016 14:32