Boldy Going to a New Frontier

A week ago I wrote about reading Pulling Up Stakes by Peter David, aka PAD, mainly because I wanted to show support after his stroke, but then having the wonderful surprise of it being really bloody good. In that I mentioned I was also tempted by Star Trek: New Frontier.

My first geek love was Star Trek. Star Wars later stole it away, but it was the crews of Enterprise D and Deep Space Nine that I thoroughly adored. When I went to university, Voyager was midway through and I quickly lost interest, barely touched Enterprise, and was pretty appalled by Nemesis. But things weren't much better in the other franchise either.

Then there was a saviour. J J Abrams helmed a triumphic reboot of Star Trek and I was reminded how great a series it was. I still didn't do that much other than re-watch my favourite of the older movies and the Borg saga from The Next Generation. As I mentioned in the other Peter David post, I kept glancing toward New Frontier, but never got round to it. Until now. And it was brilliant.

BeefJack: The Cave Review

I've been looking forward to The Cave since it was announced. My love of games really started with The Secret of Monkey Island, so Ron Gilbert - and by extension Tim Schafer, then Double Fine - gets me excited about anything they works on. When Gilbert went to work at Double Fine everything came together into a glorious whole. The Cave was the physical manifestation of that... well if games can be called physical manifestations.

So it is with a sad heart I present my thoughts of said game:

The Cave Review

Pulling Up Stakes aka Helping Peter David

I've been a Peter David fan for years. But for some reason, exclusively his Marvel Comics work. I keep glancing at his other stuff - Young Justice at DC, New Frontier for Star Trek - and thinking I should give some of them a go, but I just never seemed to get round to it.

Then the terrible news over the holidays hit. PAD had a stroke, and what with him being an American, Peter's recovery was about to swallow a whole lot of funds. His wife, who has been a trooper keeping fans up to date when it would be so easy to concentrate on the more important things, explained pretty early on that one of the easiest ways to help was to buy his work. My first thought was I was finally going to start New Frontier, but Mrs David laid out several books of PADs that would be more help. The one that seemed most appealing to me was Pulling Up Stakes, a vampire novel dealing with a organised group of Vampire Hunters. The twist being that the main character was also secretly a vampire.

Fallowed Ground

My third short story is now available from Smashwords for all eReaders.

Unlike the previous two that took place in the same universe this is a totally a different setting. A proper sci-fi one. It's also the last of the stories I sat on. Now I need to get writing again.

Fallowed Ground

It is a golden age for Human expansion as they spread across the galaxy, colonising any world they find that is suitable. There is no end to what humanity can accomplish, but arrogance has always been their downfall, and nobody stops to consider what might happen if they choose the wrong world.

Bonus blog description:
Not every planet is barren, and not every territory is relinquished without blood first marking its Fallowed Ground.

That was suggested by Jamie Donnelly to be super cheesy. I love it, but it's not suitable for the story I think.

The Pitch

My second short story, The Pitch, is out. No, I'm not that quick. I may have had a few insecurities about releasing them, and other little things that just stopped me. Once I got The Sound of Money out the door most of those insecurities went with it. Another one will be appearing next week too.

This is a different character to the previous story, Gavin Talbot, who resides on the other side of the law to Nate Taylor.

 Once again it's free for all eReaders. Enjoy and tell your friends.

The Pitch