Merry Christmas

Just want to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all got great gifts from Santa and get to eat lots of cake - just remember to sleep it off afterwards. And no late night baking, or you'll be too tired to eat it come meal time.

How sad it is to see the season come to an end, and all the great shows we've watched screen their finales. It has been a tremendous year for anime with some strong contenders like Fate/Zero, Guilty Crown, Chu-2 and Sword Art Online. My list could continue, and truly, I'd need a top 20, not just 10 to list all the quality shows we got to watch this year. I can only hope that 2013 will continue to provide us with the same calibre of entertainment.

In the Winter 2012/13 season, there are a few anime that I suspect will be the ones to watch for. The first of these being Da Capo III. The multi-series anime has made a big name for itself and has a large following. I'm sure there are many excited to see the show return in its third incarnation.

Another two are Amnesia and Vivid Red Operation. Vivid Red certainly is stealing a large chunk of the spotlight for the winter season, yet the story of Amnesia sounds very intriguing and will probably make for a serious and dark story - the total opposite of Vivid Red's light-hearted fun.

But most of all, Savannah Game sounds like it will take my interest the most. I've always been partial to anime based around virtual reality games, and we've certainly had a few come out this year, including the smash hit, Sword Art Online. Now we get a fourth game-themed anime for winter.

Of course, with the popularity of the first season of Chihayafuru, we are likely to see that continue in January with the screening of the show's second season. Maoyuu Maou Yuusha looks interesting, but I'm still a bit on the fence with it due to the poor sounding synopsis, but I've always been partial to anime with swords in them, and this one looks to be no different - I'll hold out until I've seen the first couple of episodes before passing judgement on it.


With that said, Merry Christmas fellow anime fans and keep on watching! Read More →

Nanowrimo Target Reached

A quick post to announce that today marked the halfway point for my second draft of The Maidenflower Dance, and as such I've reached the 50k words target set for Nanowrimo in November. Of course I'll continue to write, got another 50k words at least to go before the story is done.

As you can see, nine days ahead of target. I'm pleased with the result and hope I can keep the rate of progress going and complete the novel before Christmas. I expect it will not be too hard to meet the deadline I've set.




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Guild Wars 2: The Lost Shores - GRAND FINALE

Tension was thick in the morning hours leading up to the Lionguard's final strike against the karka threat. Only yesterday adventurers had fought alongside Inspector Ellen Kiel to wrestle the shoreline of Southsun Cove from the karka, securing a beach front and pushing through to establish roads further inland. While the Consortium investigated nearby ruins and collected karka egg specimens, the Lionsguard proceeded to establish a forward base on the edge of the Scoured Plains.

Adventurers woke to find a new design of catapult, along with asura cannons constructed along the front lines, their sights focused on the karka hive where the Ancient Karka that had been terrorising Lions Arch slumbered. Yesterday the hive had been blocked off to all adventures by an indestructible webbing, taunting us with the points of interest and rich orichalcum veins within. Now it appeared the Lionsguard were making plans to break through that impenetrable wall and take the fight directly to the karka's home.

Adventurers from all over Tyria gathered in those last moments leading up to the final battle, converging on Canach's Folly to witness the grand finale, summoned by a mass-delivered letter from Inspector Kiel. Upon arrival at the forward camp they found a group of demolitionists just itching to get into that hive and blow it into the mists. Kicking off the final push, the Lionguard fire the cannons, ripping a hole in the webbing. Adventurers and demolitionists alike swarmed through the gap, overwhelming the young karka. Enraged by our attack, veteran egg-layers rose up from the depths of the hive, led by their champions.

The fight was severe and bloody, and many lost their lives, but after much effort, the demolitionists placed their charges, ending at the top with a grand battle confronting another champion karka and several veteran egg-layers.

Our mission complete we escaped from the hive, racing across the Seashell Hills and back to the safety of Canach's Folly and the asura cannons. There we met with Inspector Ellen Keil, who was preparing to use the cannons against the karka still remaining in the hive, triggering the explosives in the process, except her plans are foiled at the last moment. The Ancient Karka was never in the hive. We were now required to force it back into sight of the cannons so that the Lionsguard could finish what we started.

We found the Ancient Karka in the Driftglass Plains, stubbornly refusing to budge an inch. The tree we felled changed its mind though, but not the way we had hoped. Instead of heading towards the hive, the creature retreated further away and proceeded to summon waves of veteran karka to fight back.

Wave after wave of karka attacked us, and for the next hour we fought tooth and nail to keep the upper hand. When victory seemed close, we were confronted with a wave of veteran egg-layers, followed by a champion karka. Suffering through the severe latency issues we were dealt at this point, the adventurers struggled to win the fight against the karka and drive the boss back towards the Scoured Plains.

At the end of the hour long battle, we made headway, chasing the Ancient Karka into a region full of geothermal fissures. Ripping the webbing off the fissures, we used their pressure to launch boulders at the Ancient Karka, driving down its will to fight on.

The creature at last gave up the fight, retreating into the Scoured Plains, but it was not over yet. Regaining courage, the beast summoned more veteran karka, along with egg-layers and their babies. The battle was fierce, and the adventurers were pushed back onto the bridge to Captain's Retreat, but after much toil and pain, we succeeded, only to be confronted by three champion karka. The battle raged on, and eventually we forced the Ancient Karka back into the Seashell Hills.

The battle was not over yet though, we still had to drive the Ancient Karka back into the hive where the trap we'd set waited for it. We achieved this by destroying gas nodes around the area that had been blocked by karka webbing. Each exploding node forced the creature further and further back, until it retreated within the confines of the hive.

Sensing her eminent victory, Inspector Kiel ordered the Lionsguard to charge the cannons, preparing to fire again. It was up to the adventurers to keep the Ancient Karka busy until the cannons were ready to fire once more.

The creature fled to the top of the hive, and we followed, free to run up the path previously cleared of young and veteran karka. At the top we found the Ancient Karka hiding amongst the webbing, which had covered the previously placed explosives, leaving us with no other option but to destroy the webbing in order to reset the trap for him. With the webbing destroyed, the karka fled back down to the bottom of the hive, using a rolling move to crush all opposition in its way, but little did the karka know, but that was where we wanted it.

Cornered, we at last launched an all out offensive on the Ancient Karka itself, paying it back for all the terror it had unleashed, for the citizens of Tyria it had murdered and the damage it had done to Lions Arch. The creature was helpless against our fury and it fell to our blades, weakening. The time had come, the cannons were charged, the explosives set, ready to blow. Inspector Ellen Kiel gave the final command, and the cannons fired, striking the Ancient Karka and explosives. The ground beneath it ruptured, revealing the lava below, and the creature was swallowed whole, consumed by the fires.

Making one last effort, the Ancient Karka rose up again, emerging from the lava to struggle onto the land, but its burns were severe, its wounds fatal. The karka took its last breath and died, the adventurers and Lionsguard standing triumphant before it. Victory was ours.

Having defeated the karka threat once and for all, the adventurers were rewarded with an enormous event chest containing unique and exotic treasures. Every adventurer was given a 20-slot karka themed bag, an exotic earring that gave +25 to all stats as well as +5% magic find, two random exotic items, and a handful of other, lesser rarity, random items.

Satisfied with the outcome of the three-hour long event, latency issues forgiven, the adventurers returned to Canach's Folly, which now stands as a Lionsguard outpost, to stay until the remaining karka are found and the island is freed of their terror for good. Players left happy, thankful that the final day of the event had not been a complete disaster like the second day had been. Now all that remains is to explore every inch of the island, complete the jumping puzzles, gather the karka shells used to create newly added items, and explore the very depths of the Fractals of the Mists. Already there are reports of players reaching difficulty level 4 or 5, and who knows what awaits them as the dungeon continues to get even more dangerous. Read More →

Guild Wars 2: The Lost Shores - Day One - UPDATED: 3:45PM PST

SEE END OF POST FOR UPDATES.

The first day of the weekend long event has started with the karka strike on Lions Arch. As we waited at the lighthouse, a giant sea monster, the Ancient Karka, launched out of the water, destroying a Black Lion Trading Co ship the process. After landing on the rocks above the shoreline, the creature summons a horde of lesser karka to attack the city.

Hundreds of adventurers gathered at the southern coast of Lions Arch to push the karka threat back. They were met with a handful of egg-laying mother karka, who proceeded to give birth to many baby karka who were so small, and numbered so many that adventurers were hard pushed to keep the swarm back. Karka attached themselves to limbs, biting and hindering the adventurers movements while they tried to defend against the veteran karka that were summoned to aid the egg-layers in their strike.

During the battle, the biology team collected samples of the karka flesh as they slowly dropped, one after another. The battle was hard pushed, the egg-layers nearly invincible behind their thick armour. Many adventurers turned their attention to the lesser Karka aiding the egg-layers, until the karka lost their resolve to fight, giving up the attack and retreating back into the waters for the time being.

Enraged by our resilience the Ancient Karka destroys the lighthouse in Lions Arch. Afterwards a tense peacefulness fulls upon Lions Arch, but not is all well. A call to arms is made to aid in the building of defences against the karka, and the research into the sea monsters, in the hopes that we might find a weakness to exploit. In the meantime, Tyrro of the Lionsguard investigates the Consortium and their strange asura gate that has torn an unstable rip in reality.

Even though the battle was epic, an exciting event, the zone was so overrun with players that it causes the server to suffer from a severe input lag, meaning most players were forced to auto-attack the mobs when their activated abilities continously failed to proc. Many were even unable to heal themselves when the karka dropped AoE poisons.

UPDATES: 3:15PM PST

Karka have started to send waves of attacks against Morgan's Spiral in Caledan Forest. Meanwhile, aid is sort from the races of Tyria in various locations. Including defending the Largos in Viathan Lake (Kessex Hills) from Krait in order to win his loyalty, helping the Hylek Gukumatz create potions to weaken the karka in Michoan March (Metrica Province) and information is being sought from the Quaggans in Stormwreak Deeps for clues on how to deal with the karka threat. The Quaggans ask that we search the depths of the lake for clues to help in the fight.

Unfortunately, many of these events appear to be a bit buggy at the moment, but hopefully in time the kinks will get sorted out and we will be able to proceed ahead with the events.

UPDATES: 3:45PM PST

The Karka have attacked Garrenhoof in Kessex Hills, but something suspicious is going on at the local wizards guild. Adventurers have been sent to confront Canach and discover what exactly he knows about the karka. Lag has also got so bad that enemy mobs to do show up at all now due to too many character models. Unfortunately the event is currently bugged on my server, along with several of the other events so I'm unable to provide details on the outcome of the event at this stage.

Keep an eye on this post and following threads for updates, videos and screenshots as the day progresses.

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The Maidenflower Dance

Seraphine Farmoure spends her days pretending to be a loyal countess in the royal courts of Westland, yet by night she is a sword for hire, skilled in the art of sword dancing and gifted, or cursed, with the Light of Aura, an uncontrollable power beyond imagination.

When she is hired to assassinate the commander of Westland's Royal Guard, she inadvertently saves the life of Kateryn Fallonside, a young child who is hunted by the King of Westland's loyal men. By choosing to protect her, Seraphine is caught up in a diabolical plan orchestrated by the king to harness Kateryn's dormant powers and use them to seek out and destroy the last vestige of the failing seraphim, Sanctuary.

With the help of her loyal friends and devoted lover she must race against time to stop the launch of a city-destroying airship while defending Kateryn from the spirit of a long dead demon lord, who would like nothing more than to possess her body and return to the world of men.

Based in the Kingdom of Westland, a land where angels are worshipped as gods, witches are burned at the stake and demons rule as emperors. The Maidenflower Dance is the story of a young girl's search for acceptance and love in a world that is determined to see her dead, or worse.


Stay tuned for an upcoming excerpt of The Maidenflower Dance. Read More →

A Song for the Future

Many thousand years ago seraphim ruled over the world as gods. They protected the lesser races against the demonic hordes of the Demon King Baelgoroth, ensuring peace and prosperity for all, but it was not to last. Betrayed by their own brother, two of the four Seraphim Gods are murdered, and the Demon King freed from his hell-born prison. Aura, the last of the seraphim enters the fray and faces Baelgoroth, once and for all putting an end to the demon's nefarious plans, but in his grief over the murder of his sisters, Aura shatters the world, causing what would come to be known as the Cataclysm of Light. Wishing for solitude to grieve for his loss, the angels and demons are separated from the lesser races by Aura's power, leaving them to fend for themselves without the guidance of their gods.

Years pass and plans are put in motion. New powers rise, and old ones fall, but one thing is for certain; there still remain traces of the demonic in the world. Only one girl holds the key to ensuring the safety of the world and restoring the seraphim to their proper place.

Emylynn Fallonside thought she was just an ordinary girl growing up on an ordinary farm, with an ordinary father, and an ordinary, annoying younger sister. But when Brandt Rowntree, an old friend of her father's turns up on her doorstep she is drawn into a war between two neighbouring nations, both fighting over a stolen artefact that only Brandt knows the secret to. She soon discovers her life is destined to be anything but ordinary.

Fighting to protect her sister from the clutches of a demonic emperor, she must learn to harness the hidden powers that lay dormant inside her and prevent the emperor from recovering the artefact and releasing his demon brethren upon the world.

A Song for the Future is the tale of one girl's battle against fate, and the sacrifices she must make to ensure the future of both mankind and seraphim.

Read on for an excerpt from the first book.


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