Monday, August 13, 2018

The Death of Adventurers League

This is unlike the previous posts. I stopped writing fiction and won't be writing about it anymore.

My creative outlet has reverted to Dungeons & Dragons. I really like 5e, the system is good. I've also been extremely active in the local Adventurers League.

About 18 months ago, a friend of mine and I started running Adventurers League games at GateKeepers in Topeka, Kansas. Our group was small at first, but it has grown to nearly 40 active people playing on three separate dates. It is a fun group. We have a blast.

The Season 8 rule changes as they stand on August 13, will destroy the league. Unless there is a major change, only one of the dungeon masters in our group will continue running A.L. This makes me sad. I've been active on the Facebook threads for Adventurers League expressing my group's opinion about the rules and our suggestions for fixing the changes. 4 of the admins have basically told me to not let the door hit me on the backside on the way out.

I'll post more later.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

It is the end of December 2017, I realized that I haven't posted in over three years. It isn't like anyone is actually reading anymore. I'm not writing much fiction at this time. I have a few short story ideas that I've been developing. Nothing is really coming of them yet, but they are growing.

A few years ago, I started playing Dungeons & Dragons 5e. It had been a considerable amount of time since I last played, but I really like this version. As a consequence, I've felt the tickle to design adventures again. This is a return to my writing roots. I have a complex adventure that I'm writing with an eye to having published. There is also a considerably larger adventure consisting of four parts that I'm outlining.

I hope that I will complete a portion of these projects.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Bill Oberst Jr review of Lucky Streak

Bill Oberst Jr is well known to horror movie fans for the recent movie Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies. He is known as an actor's actor who works hard at his craft. Robin Coleman of The All Horror Podcast described him as one of her favorite actors. I'm a big fan as well. Imagine my excitement when he agreed to read my book. It was the highlight of my writing career when he posted the following 5 star review on Amazon.

I copied this with his express permission.

If a publisher is interested in re-issuing Lucky Streak, I would be most grateful.

Bill Oberst Jr review:
As an actor who frequently works in the horror genre, I have some rough familiarity with zombies. Last year I sliced off the heads of a good many of them with a farm implement as the titular character in the movie "Abraham Lincoln Vs. Zombies."

While zombies are without a doubt the most popular 'monster' for the current horror-loving generation, they are not intrinsically exciting creatures. In fact, in the wrong hands, zombies can be boring. Dane Grannon's hands, I am happy to say, are the right hands for any zombie to be in.

"Lucky Streak" avoids the pitfalls of bad zombie fiction by doing something so simple that it would seem ridiculous to point it out, were it not for the fact that much fiction about the undead fails to do it: Dane Grannon tells us a great story and he populates it with people we care about. The zombies are so seamlessly woven into the life of the young hero that it doesn't really feel like a 'zombie story.' It feels like a really good story which happens to have zombies in it. I suppose this is why it reads so easily.

"Lucky Streak" is smooth. It's funny and it's warm and it's creepy. By the end you are so invested in Lucky and his world that you hate to leave. You want him to be alright. You really care.

Would someone please turn this book into a movie? I really want to see some young star shouldering a Kalashnikov and pointing it at the intruding undead while politely tossing off the line "Mom, will you grab some more clips? They're on the shelf above the shotgun..."

This is wildly fun and seriously badass stuff. Bravo Dane Grannon!


Once again thanks to Bill. I am re-editing the book and hope to do something with it by the end of Feb.