Category: Inspiration
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Of Moon and Leaf
Tabletop Roleplaying has been a major portion of my life for years. As a father, I am often too tired or too busy to schedule time to play with friends as frequently as I would like. So I have turned to solo roleplaying. A few months ago, I mentioned Ironsworn, which is an excellent system…
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Inspiration: This Is How You Lose the Time War
Once again I am late to this party, but if you have not read this book, and you like sci-fi, experimental fiction, and/or enemies-to-lovers romance, you need to read This is How You Lose the Time War (2019). The beautifully written novella is told in the form of letters back and forth between the protagonists,…
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Inspiration: Guards! Guards!
Back in October, I shared that I had become a major fan of Terry Pratchett and his absurdist fantasy universe. I have continued to enjoy his books inbetween other reads, and a new favorite has emerged: Guards! Guards! Guards! Guards! cleverly approaches and hilariously twists tropes in the best ways. The premise: some wanna-be wizards…
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Inspiration: Ursula K Le Guin
Ursula K Le Guin was a rockstar of a writer. She lived from 1929-2018 and wrote 23 novels and change, covering sci-fi, fantasy, and more. I have heard some people praise her as the mother of science fiction, since she invented the idea of the Ansible, and I have heard others claim she was overrated.…
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Inspiration: Nghi Vo
Nghi Vo has a beautiful way with words. I cannot repeat that enough. It is a pleasure simply to hear her prose when read aloud, and I am sad when I finish each of her stories because I just want them to keep going. One day not so long ago, her Singing Hills Cycle series…
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Inspiration: Crafting
This has been a great year for my hobbies, and I cannot recall a time when I was happier, though I am sure the California weather helps too. For the last 20 years, my hobbies have been: writing and singleplayer videogames, with an occassional side of programming and D&D. Both of those primary timesinks are…
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Inspiration: Detective Noir
Ever since reading The Maltese Falcon in Undergrad, I loved the idea of detective noir. The 1930s novel and its film adaptation with Humphrey Bogart (1941) is often considered the beginning of or at least the solidification of the noir genre. Noir is a work of aesthetics as many genres are and often includes gangsters,…
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Inspiration: Fairy Tale
During November’s month-long rush to write a 50,000 novel, I often pick a book to read to inspire my writing. Last year it was Patrick Rothfuss. This year is Stephen King’s Fairy Tale. The book was recommended to me because of my interest in the merging of the supernatural and mundane, and since it touches…
Grant Pearson 