New Releases: Dungeon Age novel and novella!

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Joe

I’m very excited and proud to announce the release of not one but two new books in my new Dungeon Age series. The first title is Beneath the Dying Land, a sword-and-sorcery adventure novel inspired by all my favorite classics from Tolkien’s Middle-Earth to Vance’s Dying Earth to Cook’s Black Company and beyond, for fans of Conan, Fafhrd, Cugel, Elric, Raistlin, and Croaker. The second title is Exiled: Beyond the Metal River, a mythic fantasy novella written during my Twitch Writes Fantasy project.

Beneath the Dying Land

Check it out on Amazon

Ezra Dunes served his country. He slew the undead, hunted rogue wizards, and delved into ancient tombs to confront unspeakable horrors. He lost friends, and collected scars. Now at home, he just wants to take care of his family. But he carries a wound, a sleepy parasite that whispers murderous evils into his mind. And when yet another mad sorcerer starts opening portals to the underworld, Ezra’s parasite awakens, offering to help him save his family from the rampaging demons while leading him deeper into the darkness of his own fears and the forgotten world that lies beneath the dying land.

Explore a fantasy world where heaven and hell both lie buried under the known realms, where inhuman angels conscript lost orphans to become holy warriors, where elves and dwarves hide in distant jungles and frozen wastes, where the dune seas and red mesas are home to giant scorpions and cursed jackal-folk, and only a few last human cities still stand against the ever-growing desert. Yet below the surface, lost kingdoms and alien ecosystems glimmer in the darkness, full of forgotten magics and monsters, waiting to be rediscovered…

Exiled: Beyond the Metal River

Check it out on Amazon

For twenty years, Vikram survived in the shadows of Urva Songos, the City of Dreams, hiding from the clerics who want to imprison him in their temple for his celestial healing powers. But one wrong turn sends Vikram dashing from alleys to rooftops, hurled into a prison cell, and then banished to a strange land of ice and shadow.

Trapped in the frozen wastes of the underworld, Vikram befriends a rather gloomy talking goat, and together they explore the ruins of a dying realm, from the haunted black towers of the witch-lords to the corpse-strewn Field of Tears, and deep into the decaying palace of the Dawn Queen. Hunted by living shadows, burrowing monstrosities, and a vengeful wizard, Vikram races to find a way home…

Publisher’s Note: This fantasy novella was written during the 2019 “Twitch Writes Fantasy” project, in which the author invited his audience to vote on various character and plot decisions, and then he crafted the story to bring those choices to life.

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Tonight on Twitch: We need a title and cover

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Joe

Join us tonight on Twitch at 9pm EST to vote on our ongoing crowd-guided mythic fantasy adventure-writing project.

I love this cover… I like the title too!

Tonight, our story is nearly complete so we need to decide what to title it and what sort of art to use on the cover.

Also, check out the Twitch Writes page to read the PDF current draft of our Untitled Mythic Fantasy!

Please follow the channel to receive an alert when we go live (don’t worry, I only go live once a week).

LINK: https://www.twitch.tv/josephrobertlewis

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Dungeon Age: A list of magic tattoos

Posted on August 9, 2019 by Joe

The following D&D (5e) game content can be found in the adventure Dungeon Age: Acid Metal Howl.

If you seek wealth, power, or knowledge in the dead city of Yumar, you may discover the tattooing paraphernalia of the people who still live there. The needle seems simple enough, but the ink is clearly magical.

By all means, give yourself or a companion a tattoo, but don’t be too surprised when it doesn’t turn out the way you expected…

Magic tattoos

Each tattoo consumes one vial of ink. Regardless of how it is applied, the ink flows to a place and shape of its own choosing. Roll 1d10 for the outcome.

  1. A butterfly on the side of the neck. You are resistant to falling damage.
  2. A skull on the left palm. Your touch with that hand deals 1d4 necrotic damage. Always.
  3. Leafy vines around the scalp. You are resistant to psychic damage.
  4. A rose on the buttock. You are immune to disease and the poisoned condition.
  5. A snake coiled around the throat. You are resistant to poison damage.
  6. A phoenix over the heart. Once per day you can cast Burning Hands at first level.
  7. A newborn baby on the arm. When you roll hit dice to heal, double the value rolled for accelerated healing.
  8. Flames around the left eye. If you can see a creature, you can tell if it is undead.
  9. Bones around the right wrist. An illusion makes your right hand appear skeletal. Always.
  10. A scarab on the left cheek. You can consume any chewable material as nutritious food, such as earth and sticks. Tastes awful.
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Review: The God Engines by John Scalzi

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Joe

This 2009 short novel by science fiction writer John Scalzi does a fair job of blurring genre lines. It’s about space ships and a galactic empire! But it’s also about living gods, faith, magic, and monsters.

As a short book, the story gets in and out quickly, focusing on its Big Idea more than its characters and world-building. But it’s a pretty good Idea. 

What’s it about?

So. There’s a galactic empire, which serves a particular god (the best god! the strongest god!), and they are fighting an endless war against all the followers of all the other gods in the universe. (No word on whether these “gods” are really gods or just god-like aliens.) 

The starships are powered entirely by the captured “lesser” gods that each ship has chained up in its “engine” room. The crew is defined by their faith and spiritual talents, using holy powers from their imperial god as well as the captive god to navigate, communicate, and otherwise function in space. Our hero, the captain of such a ship, is given a secret mission to win the ongoing war. They’re going to convert some heathens and thus power up the empire (and their god) with some band new, totally fresh, first-tier Faith.

Except it goes wrong, of course. I won’t spoil it.

The big reveal is the true history of the universe: Why is the imperial god winning against all these other gods? What was humanity like before they encountered any of these gods? The answers may not shock or surprise you, but I think the setup feels pretty fresh.

What’s the big deal?

This is a small book that just serves up its Big Idea and then leaves you to think about it. It’s a quick read. If you don’t like gods and magic in your spaceships, or spaceships in your fantasy, you may not care for the setup here. But I found the idea of a galactic empire powered by captive (and non-captive) gods, faith, and possession to be interesting enough. If Scalzi were to write a more complex and fully realized novel in this universe, I would be interested to see what he does with it.

Recommended?

Hard maybe. Again, you have to be open to a blurry line between science fiction and fantasy, and between fiction and faith. But also, it’s a very short book, so maybe grab it at the library?

Let me know what you think!

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Tonight on Twitch: The Field of Tears

Posted on August 5, 2019 by Joe

Join us tonight on Twitch at 9pm EST to vote on our ongoing crowd-guided mythic fantasy adventure-writing project.

Tonight, our hero has left the towers of the witch-lords and crossed the deadlands to find the battlefield known as the Field of Tears. There, he uses ancient artifacts to contact the judge who banished him to the underworld. He tells the judge what has happened to the World Below, and asks to be returned to the World Above, but the judge only laughs… and then lashes out at him from afar. How will Vikram ever escape from this dying world?

Also, check out the Twitch Writes page to read the PDF current draft of our Untitled Mythic Fantasy!

Please follow the channel to receive an alert when we go live (don’t worry, I only go live once a week).

LINK: https://www.twitch.tv/josephrobertlewis

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Dungeon Age: A list of mutations

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Joe

The following D&D (5e) game content can be found in the adventure Dungeon Age: Acid Metal Howl.

If you find yourself in the dead city of Yumar, don’t wake the green lady. And if you do wake her, stay away. Do not approach her, or speak to her, or listen to her. And definitely, absolutely, never EVER touch her.

If you touch the green lady, you will be changed forever, and you may not care for her “gifts”…

Mutations (roll 1d8)

  1. You grow three additional eyes in a ring around your head. Gain advantage on sight-based Perception checks.
  2. Your right arm swells into a gorilla’s arm, muscular and hairy. Gain +2 STR.
  3. You grow a 3-foot-long green lizard tail. If cut off, it regrows in 1d6 days.
  4. Your leg joints reverse, like bird legs. Your walking speed increases by 10, and you can jump up to 20 feet, but you cannot sit on chairs, benches, or stools ever again.
  5. Your hair becomes a thick mass of feathers that change color randomly every morning.
  6. Your left hand becomes a golden viper’s head. Your unarmed strike now deals 1d6 poison damage. Also, your snake-hand hisses when you hear someone tell a lie.
  7. Your ears become enormous hairy bat-ears. You are vulnerable to thunder damage, but you gain blindsight.
  8. Large sunflowers blossom around your neck and on your scalp. It is painless to remove them, but they regrow within 1d6 days. The seeds are very nutritious
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Review: The Dying Earth series by Jack Vance

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Joe

This series of short stories and fix-up novels by Jack Vance spanning the 1950s to 1980s is one of my favorite works of fantasy. It’s about morally gray characters just trying to survive, it’s about a dying world where people still need to get paid, it’s about extra-dimensional demons and fallen angels and tentacle monsters and giant worms.

It’s also where we D&D nerds get a ton of our oldest touchstones like “Vancian” magic.

What’s it about?

The Dying Earth series has several main works, most of which are collections of short stories. The first book, The Dying Earth, introduces half a dozen heroes who wander the land, confront monsters, master arcane magics, and learn about the deep history of their ancient, dying world.

The second and third books, The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel’s Saga, tell the story of one character, Cugel. Cugel is hard to describe. He’s a thief and liar, he’s a rogue and adventurer. He’s mostly not a nice guy, but he’s a fast talker and also a little stupid, so his adventures are pretty interesting. In short, a wizard banishes Cugel to the north pole and he must make the dangerous journey home on foot to get his revenge. Twice. His travels take him to dead cities, strange villages, wizard mansions, holy temples, giants, cannibals, and magical science fairs. 

The fourth book, Rhialto the Marvellous, describes the infighting, backstabbing, and misadventures of a group of powerful wizards who are nominally friends but mostly spend their time gossiping about each other. And gender-shifting. And traveling to the end of the universe. 

What’s the big deal?

I love these stories for the sheer amount of imagination and creativity on display. The characters, the locations, the creatures, and the dilemmas are all so bizarre and feel fresh to me. These are story-driven tales, not character studies, and they rush along from weird situation to weird situation, sometimes funny and often surprising.

Recommended?

If you like “classic” scifi and fantasy from the mid-20th century, you’ll probably enjoy the style and substance of these stories. I personally like them quite a bit, even if they are a bit thin on character or plot in some places. As I said, the old-school creativity on display here makes me very happy.

If you play D&D, then I encourage you to read these stories. Many of the concepts and objects in our game come directly from these stories (seriously, Gygax lifted them straight out), including the idea of spell slots, named spells, memorized spells, Ioun stones, and probably tons more I can’t recall right now.

I will note that there is some old-school sexism in some of these stories. Similar perhaps to what you might expect from a Conan the Barbarian tale. The ladies are few, and they are often damsels in distress, etc. I don’t think it is anything terribly terrible, but you may find them underwhelming in that regard.

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Tonight on Twitch: The search for answers

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Joe

Join us tonight on Twitch at 9pm EST to vote on our ongoing crowd-guided mythic fantasy adventure-writing project.

Tonight, our hero and his companions have discovered that the judge who sent him into the underworld was once a feared witch-lord. A terrible battle ravaged the land, and the life-giving Lantern was destroyed. But what does this have to do with Vikram finding a way home? Who can tell him the truth?

Also, check out the Twitch Writes page to read the PDF current draft of our Untitled Mythic Fantasy!

Please follow the channel to receive an alert when we go live (don’t worry, I only go live once a week).

LINK: https://www.twitch.tv/josephrobertlewis

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Dungeon Age: A list of nightmares

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Joe

The following D&D (5e) game content can be found in the adventure Dungeon Age: Acid Metal Howl.

Don’t sleep too close to the strange metal sphere in the center of the dead city of Yumar, or you will have a nightmare. Maybe more than one.

Hopefully, they are just nightmares and not portents of things to come…

Nightmares (roll 1d10)

  1. You are bound to the ground. Green sprouts emerge from your skin and mouth, and blossom into red roses as you choke and scream.
  2. You are walking down a deserted street. Pain lances through your back and legs, and you fall prone. Your flesh shrivels, grays, and turns to dust.
  3. You are running through the desert. A dust storm roars up and engulfs you from behind, as the sand flays your skin from your bones.
  4. You are lying in your childhood bed. Countless arms and legs erupt from your torso, flailing wildly. You lie screaming, unable to control your limbs.
  5. You try to scratch an itch on your face, and you hand falls off, turns into a spider, and runs away. Your entire body crumbles into fleeing spiders.
  6. You are lying on a table in a kitchen. Small children break off clumps of your body and eat them, one by one. You scream. They giggle hysterically.
  7. A crowd of elderly people press close to you, pawing at you, moaning, crushing you. Your arms dangle lifelessly. You yell but have no voice. Frail hands smother your face.
  8. You curl up on the ground. Your arms harden into thin claws. Your eyes enlarge and tongue lolls on your chest. Huge flaps of skin unfold from your back and lift you into the air.
  9. You take two steps forward and collapse, falling flat on your face. Your entire body is boneless. In boiling pain, you crawl across the floor as a mass of sobbing, shapeless flesh.
  10. You stand in darkness. A woman’s broken voice begs you to save her, to save her from the dwarves, to kill the dwarves! All she wants is quiet and peace, and a green garden to dream in. She calls herself Zenobia.
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Review: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Joe

This novel (and animated film) by Peter S. Beagle was written in 1968, and remains one of my favorite fantasy works, in part for its lyrical fairy tale language and for its piercingly honest and often sad journey into loneliness, aging, and regret.

Are you excited to learn more?

What’s it about?

A unicorn living alone in a forest overhears a conversation between two hunters saying that she is the last unicorn in the world. She sets out on a journey to learn whether this is true. Along the way, she meets the wizard Schmendrick and the aging Molly Grue, who help her to find the castle of King Haggard and the Red Bull, who are rumored to have captured or destroyed all the unicorns. 

To escape the bull, Schmendrick turns the unicorn into a woman, the Lady Amalthea, and for a time the three of them live in Haggard’s castle, searching for clues about the unicorns. They learn the sad history of the king and his son, and finally discover the unicorns trapped in the sea below the castle, although living as Amalthea has begun to change the unicorn, making her forget who and what she was or is. Schmendrick then turns Amalthea back into a unicorn, who defeats the Red Bull and frees the other unicorns to return to the world. 

What’s the big deal?

Language. Style. Imagery. When someone talks about “lyrical writing” I immediately think about this book first, and then about all Irish writers second. This is a classic fairy tale that is more often sad or scary than funny or exciting. It’s beautifully written, extremely memorable, and quite short. 

Beyond the characters and plot described above, the story includes a traveling circus of illusions and frauds (with one deadly exception), a colorful band of bandits who see themselves as the unromantic reality of the Robin Hood mythos, a talking cat, a thirsty skeleton, a dragon, and whatever else I’m forgetting. I’m probably blurring the book with the movie a little bit, but that’s fine, they’re very similar and both lovely. 

Recommended?

Absolutely. Go read it. Right now. You can read the whole book in one evening, and then come back here to tell me how much you loved it. Seriously, go on, get! Get reading!

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