In http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG37-2608

I've always been fond of cliffhanging adventure in the era between the World Wars, so I had to submit something for this issue. It's not as episodic nor as deliberately cinematic as "The Terrifying Plot of Dr. Z!", but I think there are enough hooks to take it as far in those directions as one cares to go.

I'll also note that, despite being expressed in the purplest prose imaginable, every word of my bio for this issue is true. And I even neglected to add "lived among the native tribes of the desert Southwest" among the list of hair-raising cinematic exploits.

http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG37-0660

'nuff said.

http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG37-2607

I wouldn't want to go so far as to say that I wrote something for this month's Pyramid, but I'm in it as the interviewee for the Last Word. Ironically, I haven't resubscribed, so I don't actually have a copy, which means I can't guarantee that Steven hasn't flipped out and decided to spell everything I said backwards.

Which, come to think of it, would be pretty cool. Maybe I'll submit my next Pyramid article in mirror-image or upside-down or something.

When I arrived home after work today, I found waiting for me my hardbacked copy of Chad Underkoffler's Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, a joint production of Atomic Sock Monkey Press and Evil Hat. It is a thing of beauty.

...save that it is awesome, and this is the best talk show host in America.

I find this far more amusing than I probably should. Probably because it doesn't excede my limited attention span for electronic games.

When we moved into our house five and a half years ago, we had plans for the oddly-shaped, semi-finished attic. And, certainly, we've been able to do some of it: redecorating the half-bath, painting the lounge area, getting the storage window seat in the guest "room." But for years, I've been wanting to line the wide "hallway" with shelves so that it could be the library. It's been long periods of doing other things punctuated by brief episodes of staining, sanding, and finishing.

Until tonight. I've finally constructed and installed two of the three large bookcases which will constitute most of the storage, and I've got boards basically ready for the third. More importantly, I've been able to empty several of the boxes full of books which have been in the attic since we moved here from California, so there's that much less disorganized stuff up there. And I've only filled one of the bookcases, so I'll be getting a lot more books moved to a real home over the next few days. Perhaps I'll even be able to get the last bookcase up this weekend.

But if I don't, I still have, if only for the moment, that most rare and precious of things: empty bookshelves.

Chad Underkoffler's Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies is available for preorder. Since I was a playtester, I'm getting a free copy, but I've pre-ordered the hardcover anyway, because it's that good. You should, too. Chad gets swashbuckling, with a great and powerful getting.

On recommendations from elsewhere, I've started playing with Pandora, a streaming music service which asks you for musicians and songs you like and tries to play stuff like that. It's interesting, but there are some problems. Most notably, it suffers from my "nobody listens to what I listen to" problem. It's well-stocked in many genres, but it's very, very light on world music. Frex, it apparently hasn't heard of Ali Hassan Kuban, has next to no rai, and is limited to a few dance remixes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I'm still working with something which approximates my more international tastes.

Their surf guitar collection is better. I'm refining Radio Free Trinity, but it already plays things I want it to. Still trying to find more Ultralounge-flavored 50s/60s exotica to add to it, though.

The Dying Earth RPG is shortly to go off the market forever, so in these waning days,e23 is selling electronic DE material for half price. I'd bought some of it when it came out, but lost track somewhere. Now I'm shoring up the gaps while I still have time. Will miss it, though.