J Alan Erwine's Blog

And so it begins...

2009-11-09T20:45:00.002-07:00

I've finally started on the much-delayed revisions of Red Moon Rising. As a refresher, this is my environmental disaster novella that I've been working on off and on for more than a decade.

A small press publisher read the most recent draft and was intrigued, but felt that the book need some extensive revisions...or at least the first third of the book needed revisions.

I hate revising, but I'm through chapter one now, and I'm heading into the parts of the book that really need work.

Wish me luck!!!

Marionettes on the Moon is an e-book now too

2009-11-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

My second short story collection, Marionettes on the Moon, and other stories, is now available as an e-book at DriveThru SF. You can find it at: http://scifi.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65619.

And the best part is that the collection will only cost you $1.00.

When Living is a Crime

2009-11-04T09:36:00.002-07:00

My rather dark SF short story When Living is a Crime has been published in the latest issue of Tales of the Talisman, which can be ordered from The Genre Mall at http://www.genremall.com/zinesr.htm#talisman.

Info about the issue: Karen Anne Mitchell introduces us to a Taiyiha--a woman who has been made into the ultimate lover by aliens--and a lonely man who faces his own inner demons. Join Lawrence R. Dagstine as he shows us the lengths a werewolf must go to adopt a child. Danielle Ackley-McPhail gives us a glimpse into the life of a lonely man and the solace he receives from a humble visitor. J Alan Erwine will show you a dark future where a soldier who has seen too much is treated as a criminal. This issue includes eleven stories and eleven poems guaranteed to sweep you away on wings of the imagination. Don’t miss the autumn 2009 issue of Tales of the Talisman!

The opening paragraph of my story: Moonlight through a smoky haze and a field strewn with contorted corpses. That was the sight Niklas found when his brain finally let him see again. He didn't know who the invaders had been, but he knew the corpses on the field. Bodies that had fallen on one another until rigor mortis finally set in, locking them in poses out of Satan's version of the Kama Sutra. Friends who had gone to the Great Beyond before him. Friends that would hopefully guide him in the days and weeks to come.

E-books

2009-11-03T20:10:00.001-07:00

Two of my titles are now available at DriveThru SciFi as e-books. You can find The Opium of the People at http://scifi.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65438, and Seedlings on the Solar Winds, and other stories at http://scifi.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65440.

They're both priced $10 off the normal trade paperback price, so what are you waiting for???

Why, yes, it is snowing

2009-10-28T15:44:00.002-06:00

I'm sitting here playing catch up (mostly Sam's Dot stuff), and watching the snow outside my window. It started snowing last night, and it's been pretty steady all day, although it seems to be picking up a bit now. I'm guessing we have about eight inches right now, and I'm pretty sure we'll end up with more than a foot by morning, but in reality, this storm is not all that impressive...as Colorado snow storms go.

MileHiCon day 3

2009-10-26T18:58:00.002-06:00

The last day started out as quickly as the previous. At 11 in the morning I ran a game of Ephemeris. It looked like we wouldn't get enough people, but I ended up having six players with me, which is exactly what I was looking for. I had Ian Brazee-Cannon, creator of Ephemeris: Critters & Pests, Howard Brazee, Flying Pen Press publisher David Rozansky, Stace Johnson (for an hour), and James Van Pelt's two sons...who I'm afraid to say I didn't get their names. We played for two hours, had a lot of fun, and by the time we were done, my voice was going.

But that didn't matter because immediately after the game, I had a panel called Stories, Art Direction, & Web Design for Online Magazines. Unfortunately, our moderator didn't show up. Lucky for us, Carol Hightshoe quickly volunteered me, and everyone else on the panel agreed...so I moderated a panel that I hadn't even given any thought to. Luckily, it was a panel I knew something about, so I was able to wing it, and I think it went pretty well.

After a quick lunch, we caught the 20 lb. Critter Crunch, which the kids always really seem to get into...and for that matter, so do the adults. After that, we had about an hour to kill, so rather than walk aimlessly around the con, we went to the room where they were going to hold the closing ceremonies and decided to hang out there. Before anyone else showed up, Marc Gunn (the musical guest of honor) showed up and put on an impromptu concert for us...which was VERY cool. Nothing like having a GOH perform for just your family.

Then it was the closing ceremonies, and everything came to an end. I didn't get to see anyone as much as I'd hoped to, but I did want to mention a few people that I did get to spend at least a little time with...Laura Given, Rose Beetem, David Lee Summers, Ian & Sarah Brazee-Cannon, Howard and Patricia Brazee, David Boop, Carol Hightshoe, David Rozansky, Stace Johnson...and a cast of hundreds.

Normally I use the old digital camera to get some pictures, but it's been giving us some problems, and we had some disposables that I picked up from the Office Depot by us before it closed...so we decided to use those. Very bad decision! Rebecca called a little while ago to say that almost none of the pictures came out...

MileHiCon day 2

2009-10-26T15:31:00.002-06:00

Hit the ground running for day 2. My panel was at 10 am, and this one was GM 101: A Thief, a Mage, and a Paladin Walk into the Tavern. It was about being a game master and running RPG's. It was a fun panel and had a much larger audience than I'd expected...with a lot of good feedback from the audience. I plugged Ephemeris as much as I could without being truly obnoxious.

Immediately following my panel was my signing. Luckily I was sitting with David Boop and Carol Hightshoe. Since we all knew each other, it gave us something to do since there were very few people coming by. I think the biggest problem, and this was echoed by a lot of the authors I talked to, was that the signing table was not in the Dealers' Room this year. I realize with Nancy Kress and Barbra Hambly, they need the room out in the atrium for all of the fans, but for the rest of us, being in the Dealers' Room where people are actually looking to spend money makes a lot more sense. Moving us back into the Dealers' Room would be my main recommendation for next year.

After that, it was mostly doing stuff with the kids. Superhero costuming, superhero gadgets, mask making, and face painting. Our oldest had bracers painted onto her arms, while the youngest had zebra stripes painted onto her face.

We then went to the Marc Gunn concert, which was very entertaining. That was followed up by the Masquerade, which I thought was a bit of a let down this year. Not many costumes, and a lot of them seemed thrown together...still can't believe the Predator didn't win.

As we were getting ready to go home, we ran into an old friend of mine who I hadn't seen in many many many years. I didn't even know he would attend something like MileHiCon, but there he was, and he seemed to be having a good time.

MileHiCon day 1

2009-10-26T13:26:00.002-06:00

I had planned on blogging over the weekend, but we got home late every night, and I was exhausted. Overall, the con was good, although it seemed a lot less energetic than usual. Attendance was down a bit, and I don't think people had as much money as usual...so for those of us hoping to make some money, it didn't go so well. Plus the kids kept acting up for some reason...haven't really figured out why yet.

The first day started with the 100 Years Since Darwin panel. Most of the discussion was about how SF gets Darwin right and wrong, although we did finally get into the whole Darwin/Creationism debate. Of course, it wasn't really a debate since most everyone in the room comes down firmly on the side of Darwinism. I think Courtney Willis had the best observation when he pointed out that this is really only a debate in America. Most of the rest of the Western world accepts Darwinism, and the whole "Intelligent" Design argument doesn't even exist.

Later in the night we went to the opening ceremonies, which are always entertaining. That was immediately followed by the Odd Austin concert. They seemed shocked that we were actually staying to watch them, but they're always entertaining. You can think of them as young Weird Al's. We had to pick up their first CD while we were there too.

During the opening ceremonies we'd let the oldest go off to a panel on her own. This was a kids game that they were going to be playing revolving around Rangers. It let her have more fun at the con, and gave hopefully gave her a sense of independence that she might not always feel. Unfortunately, there were some issues between the Rangers and the ConCom, so they had some problems playing their game over the weekend.

After the Odd Austin concert, we had planned on going home, but apparently the Rangers were getting together for a meeting during the Floatilla...so we went to that as well. This is where people build their own little boats and race them in the hotel pool.

Overall, day one was quick...but fun. More about days two and three later...

Getting set for MileHiCon

2009-10-23T10:31:00.003-06:00

The Con starts in just a few hours, and we're getting all of our final preparations done. My first panel will be at 4. If you're going to be at the Con, be sure to say hi. If you're not, you'll be able to follow my progress on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jalanerwine.

If I have time, I'll blog about the con over the weekend, but it might be early next week before I get to it, because we're going to have a very full weekend.

Species Sourcebooks

2009-10-16T17:03:00.001-06:00

I've now finished all six of the species sourcebooks for the Ephemeris RPG. This has been a pretty big undertaking, and I'm now glad that they're done. I'm currently working on finishing up a low level adventure that we'll play at MileHiCon. After the con, the adventure will be available to the general public.

I'm really enjoying all of this RPG work that I've been doing, but I have to admit that I'm starting to miss writing fiction. Hopefully I will be able to get back to that fairly soon.

Circus

2009-10-10T11:58:00.003-06:00

Last night we took the girls to the circus. I have some very mixed feelings about the circus. I remember having a great time going as a kid back in Ohio, but I also know that circuses have a long history of animal abuse, although I haven't heard any "direct" accusations made against Ringling Bros. in quite a while. Still, it always makes me wonder if going to these things is a good idea.

However, kids don't understand this stuff, and they had a blast. With all the financial issues we've had over the last couple of years, we haven't been able to do as much for them as we'd like...so this made it worthwhile.

Still, given the things I was hearing from people around me, I have to wonder if seeing animals perform gives the general public the idea that that's what wild animals are here for...to perform for us...

Of all the crazy things we saw last night, perhaps the craziest happened before the show even started. Now you get to go down onto the floor and meet the clowns and some of the other performers. While we were down there, I ran into one of my old college professors...to be more precise, one of my favorite professors. He and I got a chance to talk for a few minutes, and it was pretty cool. His Abnormal Psych class has had a huge influence on my writing...

My MileHiCon schedule

2009-10-07T17:06:00.002-06:00

No word yet on whether or not I'll be hosting a game of Ephemeris, but here's the schedule as I have it now...

Fri. 4pm 100 years since Darwin
Sat. 10 am GM 101: A Thief, a Mage, and a Paladin Walk into the Tavern
Sat. 11 am signing with David Boop and Carol Hightshoe (with the three of us, it should be entertaining)
Sun. 1pm Stories, Art Direction, & Web Design for Online Magazines

Hope you can all make it!!!

An Ephemeris Update for early October

2009-10-07T11:22:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, the Melanathee Sourcebook for the Ephemeris RPG was released. This is the fifth of the species sourcebooks I've written for the game. Each features information like character classes and skills that are specific to each species. They're small PDF books that are available at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/store.htm. Hopefully I will have the Tulmath Sourcebook done in the next few days, and then we will have all of the species rounded out.

I think these books will give a nice little twist to the game that we just couldn't include in the initial rulebook. Even though the book is just over 400 pages, the Ephemeris universe is just too damn big to fit in those pages.

In the future, we will be releasing sourcebooks for each of the classes, and Ian Brazee-Cannon (who wrote the Critters & Pests book) is working on a Smuggler's Handbook that we will hopefully have out by the end of November.

I'm hoping that I'll be hosting a game of Ephemeris at MileHiCon in a few weeks. If I do, please feel free to drop by...we will need players, and I'll have copies of the game with me for anyone that might be interested.

H1N1 and other news

2009-10-04T16:48:00.002-06:00

This last week has been a long and tiring one. Our oldest started running a fever and generally felt like crap. We finally got her into the doctor and they confirmed that she had influenza A, and 96% of the influenza A cases in Colorado are H1N1, so the odds are that she had the dreaded swine flu.

Now that she's feeling better, I have to admit that were I kid, I would much rather have swine flu than the more garden variety of flu, because other than a sore throat, some congestion, and a fever, she had no other symptoms. She had a little bit of nausea at times, but that's where it stopped. I remember being a kid and having the flu. I also remember having to keep a trashcan by the bed.

I realize that at some point H1N1 might mutate into a very deadly flu strain, but the reality of the situation right now is that this flu is not that bad. If you look at the stats, fewer people are dying from H1N1 than die from the regular flu. This is another case of the media blowing things out of proportion...and yes, I realize it could get bad, but people certainly don't need to be in the state of panic that they're in at the moment.

In other news, this has slowed my progress on creating Ephemeris supplements. I was hoping to have the last of the species sourcebooks done in the next couple of days, but instead, I still have two more to finish. Still, I would ask that if there are any gamers reading this blog, check out the game at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm. I really think we've created a very fun game.

I should be receiving my MileHiCon schedule any day now, and once I get that, I'll post it here as well. I'm hoping that I'll be hosting a game of Ephemeris at this year's con.

A condolence card

2009-09-25T18:19:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we received a condolences card from the vet who has helped us with all of our sick dogs. Everyone from the office signed it. This one was for Thunder, and I assume we'll be getting one for Coco in the very near future.

Enclosed with the card was a poem on a sheet of paper with her paw prints. I found the poem very touching, so I searched it out on the internet to share with anyone who has ever lost a pet...

http://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm

Anyone who is a regular to this blog knows that I'm an Atheist, so I don't believe in what the poem has to say, but it was touching, nevertheless...

Thunder and Coco

2009-09-21T14:20:00.007-06:00

I've been wanting to post about the dogs that we've lost in the last few weeks. For those of you new to my blog, our dog Spike contracted Parvo, and we spent a lot of money to pull him through that. Shortly after that, his sister, Thunder, also contracted Parvo. Unfortunately, it hit her a lot harder, and we couldn't save her.

Then last week, our oldest's 17 year old Cocker Spaniel, Coco, had to be put down because of old age. It might have been kidney failure, or it might have been liver failure, but at his age, there was really nothing we could do for him...

This is Thunder...

This was taken on our way back from Texas when she was about three months old. She was a very smart dog. We'd bring treats over and put them up on top of something, and after she ate her treats, she'd run over to wherever we had the treats hidden and start barking.
She would have made a really good guard dog. Whenever we'd come over, she'd get down on her belly and growl at us, until she realized who we were. Then she'd start jumping all over us.
She learned sit and stay pretty well for a young girl, and she was always full of kisses for us.
She will be missed.

This is Coco...

Even though he was partially blind and partially deaf...or maybe mostly blind and mostly deaf, he was still a very sweet boy. Whenever he'd realize we were around, he'd come up to us wagging his stub. When he first met Spike and Thunder, he wasn't really happy with them, but after a couple of weeks, he was jumping around with them, and even trying to jump on us...despite the fact that he was 17 years old.
My favorite story about him was that he used to jump on the bed of our oldest after he'd been drinking, and if you've ever had a Cocker Spaniel, you know that there ears get very wet. She never liked his wet ears, so she'd push him off the bed. He, of course, would jump back on the bed with his happy expression, and with his stub wagging, like he was saying, "I know you didn't mean to do that, so here I am again..."
He will also be missed.

This is Spike...

This was just taken last week. For a four and a half month old, he's pretty big. He thinks he's a 30 pound lap dog, always trying to sit on our laps and then trying to chew on our arms and ears.
He's a really good dog, and loves to play with us, but I think he's feeling kind of lonely because all of his friends keep disappearing. We're just trying to make sure that he knows just how much he is loved.

And because the cat gets jealous if I talk too much about the dogs, here is a picture of Mosi with her Homer...

We lost another dog

2009-09-19T11:37:00.002-06:00

On Thursday, we had to put our oldest's 17 year old Cocker Spaniel, Coco, down. He'd been in their family for four years, and he was a very sweet dog. Unfortunately, time just caught up with him. The vet thinks it was kidney or liver failure, but there really wasn't anything we could do for him at that age.

The oldest was sad, but she took it better than her mom and I did...and she definitely took it better than I did when my dog was hit by a car when I was in third grade. I missed something like three days of school because I was so upset...

I really have to wonder about people

2009-09-12T13:41:00.002-06:00

I wonder whatever happened to common courtesy in this country. Because Rebecca's dad needed her van to go to Texas, we've been using his Blazer...which is a piece of crap. It has starter problems, the gas gauge doesn't work right, and I don't even know what else is wrong with it.

Anyway, on Thursday morning, we were taking the oldest to school. The Blazer stalled out at an intersection. For those of you familiar with Aurora, it was the intersection of Colfax and Tower...for those of you not familiar, this is a road with a speed limit of 55 and some very nutso drivers. We stalled in what would be the passing lane if people in Colorado actually observed the idea of a passing lane.

So, we sat there. Dozens of people drove by us, honking, yelling, and gesticulating. Nobody stopped. We couldn't even get the stupid car in neutral to push it off the road. Meanwhile, we're sitting in a car with people barely swerving to miss us as they try to get through green lights. How we didn't get rear-ended by someone doing 55 or more, I have no idea.

We finally got the car into neutral, and I managed to push us off the road...of course, no one stopped to help me. So we sat at the side of the road for a while, and still no one stopped. Finally, we realized we were going to have to get gas. So I walked half a mile to the gas station, bought a gas can, and lugged back a gallon of gas. While I was gone, one person actually did stop to see if my family was ok...but only one.

Eventually we got the car started, but it then died in front of our apartment. So, we have been without a car, which means that I've been taking the oldest to and from school by bus (which is expensive no matter what RTD might try to tell you.)

So, I have to ask again, whatever happened to common courtesy in this country? A family stalls out in a car, and they're more of an annoyance than someone who needs help. We often stop to help other people, but one has to wonder what's the point if no one else is willing to do this...

Because of all of this, I find myself once again way behind on work, and struggling to get caught up. It's really been a couple of crappy weeks.

Ephemeris Update

2009-09-07T16:52:00.002-06:00

We've been hard at work on Ephemeris materials. A couple of weeks ago we released Critters & Pests by Ian Brazee-Cannon. This is a look at some of the creatures that make space travel a challenge...to say the least.

Yesterday we released the first of the Species Sourcebooks. These will be guides that give more info about each of the species. The first one released was the Althani Sourcebook (by me), which features info on two new sub-classes, two alternative species forms, some new equipment specially designed for the Althani, and a martial art that can only be used by the Althani.

All of these are available as PDF files at the Ephemeris website at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/store.htm.

And all of the Ephemeris products are available as PDF files from DriveThru RPG at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=2805

Puppy update

2009-09-04T11:05:00.002-06:00

It looks like Spike has made a full recovery. He's back to his usual puppy self, jumping on everyone and trying to love on everyone as much as he can. He's already put three pounds back on, and we were able to return him home yesterday. Before we did that, however, we spent five hours spraying everything in the back yard with a bleach solution...hoping to kill any of the Parvo virus that might still be there.

Unfortunately, it's not all good news...Spike's sister Thunder also contracted it, and it hit her a lot harder and faster. When we picked her up, I held her the entire way to the vet, and she just stared up at me, struggling to breathe. When we got her to the vet, she was running a fever and had a pulse of 200. The vet was also pretty sure that she was septic. We had no choice but to put her down. It was my first experience with this, and it has been a rough few days in our household.

We're certainly happy that Spike made it...but we really wish he still had Thunder to play with...........

A crappy day

2009-08-28T13:09:00.002-06:00

When we went to get our daughters back from Texas this summer we brought back a puppy for them. His name is Spike. He's a lab mix who's very smart and one of the sweetest dogs I've met.

Lately he hasn't been feeling good, so we took him to the vet today. Turns out he has Parvo. We checked him into the hospital to get the best treatment they can give him. They're saying he has a 50/50 chance, but we're going to do everything we can for him...even if we can't really afford it. He's part of the family, so we have to.

Crazy busy

2009-08-22T13:36:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I've posted because I've been crazy busy. The e-book versions of the Ephemeris RPG have really started to take off. We've got quite a demand for new material, so I've been trying to write stuff as fast as I can. In the next couple of days we'll even be releasing our first supplement from someone outside of the design team. For info about the e-titles, please visit DriveThru RPG at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=2805. We even have an introductory bundle posted which contains e-versions of the initial rulebook, a 1st level adventure, 54 1st level characters, and the Book of Tables. All for just $10. We wanted to price it low because anyone who games knows what it's like to drop $30 or $40 on a supplement, only to get it home and realize it's worthless, and if people decide they don't like our game, we don't want them to feel like they've been ripped off. And of course the best reason is that we really want people to try the game out, and at $10, you really can't go wrong.

In other news, I've been busy building furniture for the girls room (not from scratch), and my future Best Man was also in town, so I've been away from the computer quite a bit. In fact, yesterday was one of those rare days when I didn't even check my e-mail.

Both of the kids are under the weather, and crabby as hell...and I can now feel the creeping cruds creeping up on me...

Got Game?

2009-08-04T16:20:00.002-06:00

The Ephemeris RPG is now out and should be available wherever you buy books or games. If your local book, game, or comic store is not carrying the game, you can request it with the following ISBN: 978-0-9801703-1-3.

For more information about the game, or to order it (or Ephemeris merchandise) on-line, please use these links...

The Ephemeris webpage:
http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm

The Amazon page:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0980170311

The Nomadic Delirium Press page at DriveThru RPG, where you can buy e-book versions of the rulebook and the first adventure:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=2805

The Ephemeris merchandise page:
http://www.cafepress.com/ephemeris

Weekend Update

2009-07-26T16:32:00.004-06:00

Friday was the big Twitter release party for the Ephemeris RPG...12 hours of tweeting is enough to drive just about anyone batty...myself included. We had a decent crowd in the morning, and then things thinned out later in the day. Overall, I'm hoping it was a success.

Even though the game is now out, we still haven't seen any copies. The printer has had some problems with the cover, but hopefully we'll be seeing them this week. I'm also hopeful that we'll have the Amazon link at that time as well, and I'll post that here as soon as I have it.

In other news, we're now 10 days away from the oldest starting 3rd grade. I think it will be good to get her back in school because she and the youngest are spending way too much time together, and any of you who have kids know what that means.

For those of you who have followed this blog for a long time, you know I'm a HUGE cycling fan, and of course today was the end of the Tour de France, and although they predicted it was going to be a hugely competitive race, it wasn't anything like I think the fans were hoping for. Maybe next year with two of the Contador and Armstrong on different teams we'll see a little more competition.

Watching cycling is kind of bittersweet for me anymore. Every time I see something interesting, I immediately want to e-mail my friend Joe to talk to him about it...then I remember that Joe passed away due to cancer a couple of years ago...

Now, I must get back to creating more material for Ephemeris...yes, even though the game is done, it's only one rulebook. We still have a lot of stuff to create...and maybe I'll even find some time for some fiction now.

If any of you are interested in ordering a copy of the game, please go to http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm.

I'm back

2009-07-16T20:35:00.002-06:00

We got back from Texas a few days ago, and I'm just now getting caught up to a point where I can blog again. Texas was about what I expected...flat, desolate, and hot. We were about an hour west of Fort Worth, and there doesn't seem to be much there, and the day we got there the high hit 105. I was more than ready to leave at that point.

We brought two puppies back with us. One for our girls and one for their cousin. They're lab mixes, and they're both very cute. Our girls named theirs Spike Joe, and at 9 weeks he was already 15 pounds...so he's going to be a very big boy. Spike Joe is currently staying with the girls' grandpa and uncle because we simply don't have room in our apartment.

The Ephemeris release is going to be Friday July 24th, and we will be celebrating the release all day on Twitter (10-10 EDT). If you're interested in keeping track, you just need to follow @jalanerwine or #Ephemeris. We'll be talking about the game, answering questions about the game, and even giving away a couple of copies. If you want to take advantage of the pre-sale price, you're almost out of time. Go to http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm, and order your copy before the price goes up!!!

I'm looking forward to the release...after it's over with, I can start focusing on fiction again...unless the game's a huge hit...then I'll have to write more material for it, but I won't mind that one bit!