I’ve read through my initial book allocation for my role as a judge on Team Tar Vol On in this year’s Self-Published Science Fiction Competition(SPSFC)! In this initial phase of judging, each of us is asked to categorize a book as a “Strong Yes,” “Soft Yes,” “Soft No” or “Strong No.” We’re asked to read […]
Last year, I entered the first book of Apocalypse Parenting in the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition and made it to the semi-finals! I’m still writing that series, so this year I’m participating as a judge on team Tar Vol On. I’ve been allotted ten specific books from our group’s 30 for initial review, but I […]
What is LitRPG? Why do people read it? With Dungeon Crawler Carl slated for a television adaptation, a lot of people are curious about LitRPG. Whether it’s the first time you’re hearing about the genre or if you were aware of it but just a little unsure, I’m here to break it down for you. […]
If you aren’t aware, every year, the massive r/Fantasy Reddit publishes a reading bingo sheet. https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1bt4iqf/official_rfantasy_2024_book_bingo_challenge/ If you complete the entire card (and turn it in during a form they post the following March) you get a “Reading Champion” flair in the subreddit. If you do this for multiple years, they’ll increment your title to “Reading Champion II”, […]
A lot of authors find children hard to write well, but most people find the kids I write very believable. In this post, I’ve tried to sum up what I’ve learned as succinctly as possible: a bit over 3,000 words, broken down into sections. Kids are not that different than adults. They just lack an […]
After doing mini-reviews for all the SPSFC3 contestants’ books I read, I felt like I was remiss to not be doing any for my own genre! This list includes only series that I started reading in 2023. So yes, of course I read the next Dungeon Crawler Carl and the conclusion of the Cradle series, […]
I read a lot within the genre I write in – LitRPG – but I like to read a number of the entries in the SPSFC each year, partly as a chance to stretch my brain and partly to give indie authors a chance. I review any book I finish! Rather than give a star […]
Or “Why Mother Gothel lives alone in the swamp forever” Disney went hard with Dreamlight Valley. For the most part I respect the fact that they did not play it safe: an overall story that deals heavily with themes of self-hatred and depression, a questline that got (and deserved) a mental content warning, and the […]
“I’m going to do laundry tomorrow. Please make sure you give me all your socks!”
No matter how many times I’ve said that to my kids, results have been lackluster.
Lord of Cheesecakes Ingredients Directions
Click above to listen to a sample of the amazing performance by Laurie Catherine Winkel! She’s a talented narrator who’s recorded books for New York Times bestselling authors. If you regularly listen to LitRPG audiobooks, you may have heard her before as part of the Life Reset audiobook cast, alongside Jeff Hayes and Annie Ellicott. […]
It’s weird, these days. I’m generally grateful that my kids aren’t exposed to much advertising, but it becomes very noticeable around Christmastime. When I was a kid, I wanted lots of toys because advertisements had shown me what they did. Twenty years later, and I can still sing “Crossfire!” like the commercial. I […]
A bit after the 2022 Self-Published Science Fiction Competition kicked off I made a post about five books from the competition I’d found good enough to finish. I’m back now with eight more! These aren’t selected from all the entrants. I was looking exclusively at books available on Kindle Unlimited and I only gave a book a […]
The 2022 Self-Published Science Fiction Competition kicked off recently, and I’ve been reading my way through some of the entrants that both A) appealed to me on some level and B) were available on Kindle Unlimited. I have fairly eclectic tastes, and for your perusal today I present the first five books I liked enough […]
As a LitRPG author myself, I read a lot of work from the genre, and I think about it quite a bit too. One weakness of the genre is, sadly, women. It’s actually uncommon for women to be actively treated poorly by popular authors. Most authors – especially the successful ones – are nice people […]
If you’ve read my books, you can probably tell both that I’m a parent and a board gamer. Board games are great. Kids are great. Board games and kids… don’t always go great together, as anyone who has sat through Chutes and Ladders or Candy Land with a young child can tell you. Modern children’s […]