Author: David Steffen

David Steffen is an editor, publisher, and writer. If you like what he does you can visit the Support page or buy him a coffee! He is probably best known for being co-founder and administrator of The Submission Grinder, a donation-supported tool to help writers track their submissions and find publishers for their work . David is also the editor-in-chief here at Diabolical Plots. He is also the editor and publisher of The Long List Anthology: More Stories From the Hugo Award Nomination List series. David also (sometimes) writes fiction, and you can follow on BlueSky for updates on cross-stitch projects and occasionally other things.

Review–Writers of the Future XXV

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

It is astounding that a contest set up for amateur writers in the very narrow genres of fantasy and science fiction still thrives after 25 years. I bought that first edition, and many others that followed. This contest has spawned the careers of many of the writers you will see gracing the shelves of your favorite bookstore today. I could spend the time listing them but this review isn’t about the writers of past, but of the future.

Garden of Tian Zi by Emery Huang. First place fourth quarter and grand prize winner.

Tian Zi harvests the skins of genetically altered frogs, a key ingredient needed for the processors in the computers of the time. He is a member of the ‘Movement’, an organization that seeks to undermine the megacorps that rule the world. He is set in an isolated village in the dissolved Peoples Republic of China to set up shop. He enlists the aid of a local beggar girl, Khulan. Tian Zi plays a dangerous game. Harvesting and selling his valuable peptides for the benefit of all of mankind does not fit the corporate goals in charge.

Garden of Tian Zi is an inventive sci-fi set in an intriguing world. A world without governments and technology that is fairly unique is the pull of this story. Tian Zi is revealed later to be far more then a bio-electronic technologists as the opening suggests. His character started out like Eddie Albert’s ‘Oliver’ in Green Acres and evolved into a James Bond/Steve Austin superhero by the end. Khulan is the teenager street rat that Tian Zi becomes attached to. I believe her character was created to bring out Tian Zi’s softer side and show that he is human and not an unemotional robot.

I found the story easy to get through but the premise hard to buy. I thought the Movement’s plan to have one person grow and sell the skins, in a public fruit stand in a busy market, to be needlessly risky. Why not sell the frogs to the competition if they’re after ending a monopoly instead? Many of the twists in the story are sprung on the reader as the story progresses. Coupled with the jumps in time, the twists have a jarring effect. The story is constantly changing and the plot becomes more fantastic with each scene. Khulan has little impact in the plot, IMO. She is there only to provide the MC depth but lacks it herself. To me her character wasn’t much more than wallpaper except for the ending when her safety becomes the real goal of Tian Zi.

Garden of Tian Zi is a head-scratcher to me. I found more to dislike about it than I did to like.

Grade C

The Shadow Man by Donald Mead. First place second quarter

Jito Ota is the shadow man. He collects atomic shadows, the silhouettes of the victims frozen on the walls of Hiroshima at the moment of the blast, for a museum in late 1950’s Japan. He is doing this for closure. Closure for Jito, who lost his mother that day, and for the victims locked in time. The horrible event of 1945 did more than destroy a city, effects that Jito has yet to discover.

The Shadow Man is a delightfully creepy tale. Jito’s has a gift of hearing the shadows on the walls, still reliving the final moments of their lives before the bomb detonated. Jito’s quest to bring this museum to life forced him to make a pact with a mobster, a pact he is hoping to sever for good. The idea for this story is first class, an original concept that is fitting a classic Twilight Zone episode.

I can see why this tale captured a first place award. I was thoroughly consumed with it as I read it. But like some movies that I sat on the edge of my seat in the threater, the luster of this piece dulled as I thought about it the next day. I wanted more of the shadows and less of Jito dealing with a gangster. Although the main antagonist in the climactic scene was well done, I did find Jito’s resolution to his problem predictable.

Another problem I had with it was the final scene. I really liked what Mr. Mead had in mind but the scene was too brief for it to work effectively (I won’t elaborate so not to spoil it for those who haven’t read it yet).

This story was on the way to a top grade, however the rushed ending felt too forced. Still a wonderful piece.

Grade B+

Life of Steam by Gra Linnaea. Third place second quarter

Mendel is an Inquisitor for the Dominican Order. His job is to determine if the Babbage machines of competing planets are just simple computation tools or abominations to god’s creation. The planet Wood has one that far exceeds the churches rules. Mendel is conflicted. Fulfilling the Dominicans directive means ending a miracle of life.

A universe where planets are flat islands of rock embedded in the firmament of the sphere of heaven? Spiderships powered by steam? An orthodox religion that holds sway over entire worlds? Life of Steam is as an original concept that I have ever read. I love this author’s imagination and the incorporation of a sci-fi element into such a fantastic fantasy.

I liked this MC and the dilemma that he is confronted with. A previous conflict in his past boosted this story up a notch for me. The ending and resolution came off as a predictable and a bit flat, however. I don’t know why but somehow it felt as if this story deserved more. High marks on originality.

Grade A-

The Assignment of Runner ETI by Fiona Lehn. Third place first quarter

Runner ETI runs for her charity, ‘End Terminal Illness’. She competes with other worthy causes for the yearly government gift. Because of an ongoing war, funds are limited, so only one charity is awarded the generous prize each year. With such high stakes the race has become one that is a matter of life or death.

If you take the blueprint from the movie Running Man, set it in a world where the environment is devastated from misuse, implant the contestants with some technological enhancements, and you have The Assignment of Runner ETI. The first half of the story had some edge of the seat moments. With assassins along a treacherous route, and a world where a dying nature is lashing out in anger, the race becomes a wild ride for the reader. However, like Running Man, the plot changed from a dangerous race with high stakes to a story about an oppressive government distracting the masses with the race. In other words, the fun went out of it for me.

Much like running in a real marathon, The Assignment of Runner ETI started off as an energetic and exciting endeavor only to become long and exhausting by its end.

Grade B

The Candy Store by Heather McDougal. Second place fourth quarter

John is the sheriff of a gold rush town that is slowly dying from dwindling strikes. Over night, a candy store opens in the abandon hardware store. Shaky Jay knows something ain’t right about it. Mrs. Limerick wants John to send the new owners away. The townspeople and miners can’t get enough of the candy, though. For it is filled with something far more sweeter than sugar. John’s wife, Maddy, has an idea what makes the candy special. Protecting the people is the role of a sheriff, but how can an honest working candy merchant be a threat to anyone?

The Candy Store is slow developing. It took me a good while to realize that it wasn’t an alternate history I was reading but a fantasy. The characters are rich and John makes a swell MC. The magic in the story I found intriguing. But, I thought the story got thinner and predictable as it went along. I wasn’t quite sure what happened at the end.

Many of the characters in The Candy Store were written like old western support characters, moseying along about their day. The story flowed the same way for me. Consistent, just not very exciting.

Grade C+

Risqueman by Mike Wood. Second place second quarter.

Jenkin Morgan’s love of his life, Leonie Fenech, has created an algorithm that is destined to benefit mankind. Risqueman is a self-learning mathematical formula that determines an individuals risk assessment, a boost for insurance companies. The government buys the company that employs Leonie and assumes control of Risqueman. Leonie warns that selling the algorithm, instead of providing it for free to everyone, will have dire consequences for the entire world.

Stories that involve a mathematician as a hero, and an equation as a premise, are rare but fun, for someone like me. I didn’t find Risqueman all that fun, I’m afraid. The MC was a delightful character but the story was more about Leonie. She came off as a high-minded liberal, brilliant yet narrow in focus. So sure of her own clarity that she believes everything she thinks is a universal truth. Not very likeable at all. (reviewer note: I find high-minded conservatives just as detestable). The two flashbacks in the first half I found particularly jarring. Trying to piece together what was going on with Leonie was a struggle as well. I found the entire premise to this story to be a real stretch. Much of it depended on flimsy economical system as well as a government that was blind of the events unfolding, and of the cause and effect relation, to do anything about it.

The first half of Risqueman was not enjoyable for me. Leonie and Jenkin’s past was just not that interesting. The second half did pick up, enough for me to think favorably of it.

Grade B-

Gray Queen Homecoming by Scohn M. Zackman. Third quarter third place.

Soliste Louzon and his AI mate, Alissa are all that makes up the crew of the starship ‘Wander of this Sea of Stars’. The travelers have returned to the Sol system, eager to see what has happened to Earth after all these years. The reception they receive is an icy one. They are instructed to an orbit around Saturn’s moon of Titan. The two people that board their ship have revealed much since they have been away. The Solar system has no place for Alissa’s kind, but needs Soliste for it to survive.

The real story of Gray Queen Homecoming is the delightful interaction between Soliste and Alissa. Their telepathic connection, and long life together, made for one very good ‘Odd Couple’ sci-fi angle. I found the relationship between the two believable and enticing. The author’s ability to provide information on what happened before in the middle of a conversation is first class. Although I really did like the relationship of the two main characters, the story itself wasn’t as grand. Without providing too much information, the betrayal I could see coming from a mile away.

Gray Queen Homecoming is a solid story. My only complaint about it is the ending didn’t live up to such a finely crafted piece.

Grade B+

The Dizzy Bridge by Krista Hoeppner Leahy. Fourth quarter third place.

Brindisi is a stone worker hired by a small town to construct a bridge. Although the community needs him, many see him as a demon. Little Lin does not. Brindisi enjoys the excited young boys company and discovers that Lin’s happiness is important to him. A new visitor arrives in the town, an illusionist with an extraordinary act as a bird. Lin is taken with the illusionist. Brindisi’s past makes him suspicious of the illusionist but puts it aside for the impressionable Lin. The little boy forces Brindisi to examine his own prejudice when things go badly for the bird lady.

The Dizzy Bridge‘s plot relies heavily on a world filled with magic. Brindisi’s own magical powers I found intriguing. His mismatched arms (one of metal, the other wood) and fingers of different consistency, I loved visualizing. His gift is finding stones that have different purposes, very complicated magic. The bird lady’s act seemed more than simple illusions to me. The story, I feel, didn’t develop like I would have liked. It all centered around the illusionist when a deeper one was there with Brindisi.

This story was based in a world where the parameters of magic were unclear. It appeared to me that anything was possible. I couldn’t get grounded in the setting and the story didn’t appeal to me. Too bad because I could see promise with its main character.

Grade C+

Gone Black by Matthew S Rotundo

Sergeant Manny Gutierres has the worst job on Hargas base. He has the classified duty of empting the latrine for the lone Walphin prisoner in human space. The Walphin are aquatic aliens that are just as comfortable on land as they are in the water. The Intell officer in charge of the prisoner is attempting to communicate with it. To Manny, the walphin isn’t looking so well. The base that has gone black for secrecy, information on what is going on in the rest of the galaxy is light, which makes the base ripe for wild rumors. Manny’s honor is leaving him conflicted and it was his honor that got him assigned to his duty in the first place. On a base sitting on a powder keg, will he know what is right thing to do when it counts?

Gone Black is the type of story that I would have gravitated to in my youth with its alien/human conflict as a backdrop and thick layers of tension among the military personal under the surface. I think the name of the alien species is clever. Learning how violent they were, with the artist depiction (Luke Eidenschink) of it, really helped this piece. Manny is as likeable as can be. His dilemma, along with his moral character, is the driving force of this story. His past lends much to it.

I think this story is first class. The ending isâ€unexpected. I contemplated lowering my grade a mark because of it, but upon reflection I have decided not to. It caught me off guard, which is usually a plus for me, and is consistent with what Mr Rotundo was building.

Grade A-

The Reflection of Memory by C L Holland

A nameless girl awakes in the cold snow with amnesia. Kestrin, in the shape of a jackdaw, finds her and brings her back to his family’s hold. It is strange that she has no name, for names mean everything. Kestrin’s family is concerned for her and seek the help of their uncle, Yaphen. The wise uncle, who seems to have answers before questions are asked, does not know what to make of the nameless girl. There is one place that may be able to help her. The nameless girl is scared to find the answer, and terrified of her reflection.

Who says a clichà ©d opening is doomed to fail? The majority of the story is about discovering the identity of the mysterious MC. Most of Kestrin’s family have a gift of magic and use it to help her. For such a noble-privileged family, it was odd they would expel so much effort into helping, what could be easily assumed to be, a peasant girl lost in a medieval society. There is a point in the story in which the MC has a challenge with her reflection. This part was done extremely well. However, the rest of the story dragged. It was long and read even longer. I couldn’t help to wonder if half of it was even needed.

Aside from the one dynamic scene, I thought this story crawled. The characters weren’t all that compelling and the interaction between them felt uncomfortable. I recommend picking a point in the middle to start. You won’t be missing much if you do and the story will be more enjoyable if you did.

Grade C

After the Final Sunset, Again by Jordan Lapp. First place third quarter.

With another sunrise, the Phoenix is reborn. The fabled bird assumes the form of a human, compelled to make the world a bit better. As it rises from its ashes, it draws upon the experiences of the people that live in its apartment building so it can form its own personality. At the moment of her rebirth, the man in an adjoining apartment dies. Feeling deaths touch has left the Phoenix in fear. Keenly aware that her time is short, she takes extraordinary steps to lengthen her life.

After the Final Sunset, Again takes an old idea and made it original. We get a clear view of a being that is meant to live a life that spans hours and is supposed to accomplish more than what mere humans can do in years. The Phoenix’s unfortunate experience of feeling another’s death has scarred her and gives her a perspective about life any person could sympathize with. For one who is supposed to die at sunset, it inhibits her destiny. Although the majority of the story centers around one character, the addition of Father Baytilus helped bring the message of the piece out. He is the “guardian angel for (mankinds) guardian angel”.

I could rave about this story all day. Mr Lapp has tapped into what makes the Sci-fi and fantasy genre great, delving into a deeper meaning of man through a character that isn’t human. I found this story unique, gripping, compelling, and moving. From the title to the ending I could find no fault with it.

Grade A+

The Farthest Born by Gary Kloster

Nathan will do anything for his family. On the colony of Far London, he takes them on picnics, plays baseball with them, and takes on a full grown Tavi to save his daughter, Lilly, life; all from the safe confines of a space station light years away. The parents of the children of the colony assume the bodies of androids while they raise Earth’s first interstellar settlers. The ability of the adoptive parents to reach across light years instantly allows them to protect their children from the harsh world. Lord help them if the link is ever severed.

The opening scene to The Farthest Born was one of the most dynamic beginnings that I have ever read. If Mr Kloster decided to end it there, this story would have been great as it was. But he took it to the next level and wrote something grand. The twin perspectives of Nathan and Lilly were done well. I can imagine a novel or a whole series of stories done on Far London.

I really liked this story. Job well done.

Grade A

The Art

I would like to acknowledge two artist’s interpretations of the stories they were assigned.

Luke Eidenschink’s rendition of Gone Black helped me visualize the alien. He took a moment within Mr. Rotundo’s story and brought it to life. It was done just as I imagined it and, I thought, was the point of the story that deserved to be drawn. Mr. Eidenschink may have raised the grade of Gone Black a notch or two for me.

Ryan Behrens account of Life in Steam was a masterpiece. The detail in the background, and look of pain on the main characters face, is something that I would have loved to see in full color. It was beautiful.

A Tale of Two Tales (and the authors that wrote them)

I happened to watch the awards last year live. Well, kinda. The stream over the poor quality, shared network I was stuck with gave me a jumpy screen with an audio that rarely matched the video. The ribbon dancers were still on my screen, while the voice of some guy from NASA talked about all the cool stuff that I couldn’t see. Fortunately, it got worked out in time for me to watch the authors as they were presented their heavy looking pyramid shaped prizes. Two authors stuck out above the rest in my memory of the event, mostly because how they embraced their moment in the light.

Emery Huang appeared to me as if bounty hunters had to drag him to LA. He looked every bit the part of an amateur writer that just won the biggest event of the year — nervous, humbled, and unsure if it all is just a dream, one he would be waking up from in any minute.

Jordan Lapp, on the other hand, I remembered as comfortable. Almost as if he knew this day was coming all along. He looked calm and confident. His speech sounded prepared and practiced. The event — a dress rehearsal for bigger and better things down the road.

The two authors put me in mind of rookie batters stepping up to the plate in the majors for the first time. Emery, the shaking kid that looks too nervous to be able to swing the bat. You watch him and wonder even if he manages to put the bat on the ball, will he trip over his own feet running to first? Jordan on the other hand†steps up to the batter box swinging three bats at once. Discards two of them over his shoulders as if they were cans of beer he just downed. Spits a cheek full of chaw at the ump’s feet. Gives the pitcher a knowing wink. And contemplates pointing to the outfield stands, just for the audacity of it. Even if he is playing for your team, you half want him to strike out, just to see the priceless look on his face.

As charming as Mr Huang — what am I doing here? — demeanor was, it didn’t change how I felt about his piece. Now I can’t remember my personal favorite ever winning the top prize. Last year’s winner for example, Ian McHugh’s Bitter Dreams (I misidentified the winner in my review), wasn’t my favorite, but all it took for me was to read the first two paragraphs of his story to see why it won. His elegant style was evident there, a rare display of natural talent that is so difficult to match. I did not see any such magic in the Garden of Tian Zi.

Now, I don’t think extraordinary prose should be the criteria for a winning story, nor am I saying Mr Huang’s writing is sub-par. In fact, I would be the first to admit that Emery’s ability to string two words together far exceeds mine, but as a reader, I just don’t get how this story beat out three solid tales.

If you were to take KD Wentworth’s advice, and follow a check list on how to write a winning story, then you could give Garden of Tian Zi a passing grade, but just barely.

Did the opening grab you? Hmmm. Sure.

Was the speculative element present in the first page? A future where corporations rule the world? Okay, I suppose there is.

Is the story an original and/or fresh concept? Let me think. Megacorp organizations? Bionic enhancements? Underground society undermining monopolies? Not so far. Package it all together and it just might be enough.

Is the protagonist likeable? Wow. Tough call. He ran away from his responsibilities. He abused a small street girl. But he is sacrificing all he could have had for the greater good, and he does care for the street girl. Guess he’s likeable enough.

Does the main character change by the end of the story? Can someone so flat change? By the strict definition of the question, the answer is yes. He does change.

Of course, my interpretation of Mr Huang’s tale may be too narrow. Others liked it. Mr Lapp said himself he felt it was the best story, in the best WOTF anthology ever. If this was only a matter of plot, characters, setting, and prose that I didn’t find inspiring, I wouldn’t be questioning the judges’ decision. What I can’t understand is how a group of professional writers — about half of which works I have religiously followed — would pick a piece whose storyline changed with every scene.

The shifting scenes in Garden of Tian Zi are jarring. Instead of bridges that connect the reader to each scene, there are wide chasms that the reader must leap. In every new scene, a new element to the main characters predicament is sprung on the reader and the MC is granted these sudden incredible abilities to help him deal with these fresh dangers. We have changes in politics, strategies, contacts, friends, and foesâ€the story goes from something fantastic to something fan-TAS-tic. I liken the reading experience to playing a new board game and the person teaching you the game introduces new rules as you play. Difficult to get grounded.

Jordan Lapp, and his story, is as different to Emery Huang’s, and his work, as you can get. Investigating the two writers, and what they have been up to, revealed that Mr Huang just about disappeared from the face of the Earth. No further interviews (none that I found), no announcements of follow up work. No advice, news, blogs; nothing. Jordan however, has not been sitting still.

On his one-on-one interview at the award ceremony, Jordan eluded that the WotF prize was a step to help further his career, and he must have meant career with a capital C. Not only has he done an interview for Diabolical Plots, he has done them for podcasts, Innsmouth free press, Sirius/XM’s book radio (sorry I missed that one), and likely other outlets that I have yet to discover. His twitter blog, Without Really Trying (interesting name for it) is growing in followers (well, I just joined so it has grown by at least one). His online magazine, Every Day Fiction, has been gaining in popularity, at least it has with the small circles of writers that I know. Reading and watching his opinions on writing, the industry, and his own success does leave an impression.

Mr Lapp may be surprised that more than a few do pay attention to winners of the Writers of the Future contest. If you can take his own estimates that as many as 1800 submissions make it to KDW’s desk every quarter, you can see why so many are eager to find the secret formula to writing a winning entry. Some of what he has said has raised an eyebrow or two. A close friend of mine remarked that he (let me put this kindly) is guilty of pride. I can see why another writer would think that when Jordan declared that the 25 year anthology, he won first in, was “the best ever” (I disagree, BTW. I thought issue 24 was better but the final two stories made it close).

I want everyone to know that I am not writing this to assassinate Jordan Lapp’s character, nor do I find anything wrong with his promotion of WotF vol XXV and his own works, but my first impression of him and his opinions did leave a strike in my not-so-sub-conscience. I never want to go into a story not wanting to like it, but I must admit a small part of me wouldn’t have been disappointed if Mr Lapp’s self-assured confidence went down swinging. Just like a cocky rookie stepping up to the plate for the first time, he hit it out of the park with his first swing.

Last year I gave one story my highest grade (Crown of Thorns by Sonia Helbig). Between the two, After the Final Sunset, Again beats it hands down. It is the type of story that I found inspiring, the type of inspiration that first time writers leave a mark on their readers, just as another new time writer did with a novella called Ender’s Game decades ago. Although After the Final Sunset, Again failed to win the top prize in the Writers of the Future contest, I do believe that it is good enough that it should be considered for others.

So in the unlikely event that anyone with the pull (and the patience to read through this entire post) to award a lesser-known writer the honor, I recommend that they give Jordan Lapp’s story a good look. After the Final Sunset, Again is deserving a Hugo nomination. It might kill me to see this rookie hit it out of the park, again, with his second swing, but when a kid’s got it, you have to acknowledge when you see it.

Frank has been lurking around publishers, writers, and bloggers long enough that a few have decided to give him stuff to do, just to get him out of their hair. Frank’s needling has earned him publications in Atomjack, Alienskin, Twisted Tongue, Space squid, Flash Me, and Goldenvision magazines, as well as a story in the Oz anthology Shadows of the Emerald City. He also has stories set to debut in Strange, Weird, and Wonderful and On The Premises this summer, unless the editors change their minds. Aside from writing, Frank’s other life goal is to become a World-class professional Tic-Tac-Toe champion. His current record is two wins, one loss, and 17,685 ties.

What Makes You Tick: new story available!

My newest published story is now available: What Makes You Tick, published by Brain Harvest. It’s a horror flash fiction piece, the shortest I’ve published. It’s also the same story that will be printed in Northern Frights Publishing’s War of the Worlds: Frontlines anthology some time soon, so you can look at it like a free preview.

This is also the first story I’ve published that is available in text for free. You can donate to Brain Harvest if you’d like, and a donation of $10 will get you a hand-knitted mustache.

I hope you enjoy the story, and feel free to leave a comment here or there to let me know what you think!

New Story Published: What Makes You Tick on Brain Harvest

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David Steffen

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show details 7:25 AM (1 hour ago)
Hello all,
My newest story publication is now available, the first to be published in free text format at Brain Harvest. It is a horror story, to forewarn those who don’t like that sort of thing. It’s a quick read, the shortest story I’ve sold to date:

http://www.brainharvestmag.com/2010/04/what-makes-you-tick/

This is the same story that will be available in the upcoming War of the Worlds: Frontlines anthology by Northern Frights Publishing. If you donate $10 to Brain Harvest they will send you a hand-knitted mustache.

I hope you enjoy, and feel free to let me know what you think!
best,
Dave

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Polly Frost
Congratulations, David!
7:47 AM (1 hour ago)
Gary Cuba
Nice. I remember reading this one some time ago. It still makes me flash on a…
8:24 AM (49 minutes ago)
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Anthony Sullivan

to me

show details 9:03 AM (10 minutes ago)
Woohoo!
Sent from my iPhone
– Show quoted text –
On Apr 11, 2010, at 8:25 AM, David Steffen <wolfbrother7@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello all,
My newest story publication is now available, the first to be published in free text format at Brain Harvest. It is a horror story, to forewarn those who don’t like that sort of thing. It’s a quick read, the shortest story I’ve sold to date:
http://www.brainharvestmag.com/2010/04/what-makes-you-tick/

This is the same story that will be available in the upcoming War of the Worlds: Frontlines anthology by Northern Frights Publishing. If you donate $10 to Brain Harvest they will send you a hand-knitted mustache.

I hope you enjoy, and feel free to let me know what you think!
best,
Dave

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Giveaway: Bull Spec #1!

We at Diabolical Plots have recently reached a landmark–our ten thousandth hit! Around the same time, Bull Spec, a new magazine of speculative fiction, released its inaugural issue.

So, to celebrate these momentous occasions Diabolical Plots and Bull Spec are teaming up for a giveaway! Editor Samuel Montgomery-Blinn has graciously provided an autographed and numbered issue from Bull Spec’s first print run. Also check back here very soon for an interview with Sam here on Diabolical Plots.

How do you enter, you ask? It’s simple. Just leave a comment to this post and suggest at least one person you’d like to see interviewed involved in speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, or horror). That can be editors, illustrators, authors, game designers, or a wide variety of others. No suggestion is too far-fetched. I’m not claiming I can get everyone that’s suggested, but suggesting is a good thing even if those guests are too busy or hard to reach. But you have to suggest someone that no one else has suggested before you.

And, you can get a second entry by posting a suggestion on the related contest thread at the Bull Spec Blog and leave a comment there. The same rules apply there–you have to suggest someone that no one else has suggested, and someone other than who you suggest here. If you do so, then you’ll have two entries.

You have until midnight Central time on April 15th to get your entries in. After that, we’ll put all the entries in a random drawing, and will pick one person to win a copy which we’ll mail to the address of your choice.

Have fun, and good luck!

Busy Fitches: David Thompson and Anna Schwind

Anna Schwind and David Thompson are the co-editors of Podcastle, a weekly podcast of fantasy fiction. It’s one of a trio of podcasts produced by Escape Artists, the others being Escape Pod (for science fiction) and Pseudopod (for horror). They’ve stepped up to fill the editorial position recently vacated by Rachel Swirsky. I’ve very much enjoyed the stories that Rachel has chosen, but I’m excited to see what new editorial directions these two will steer the publication toward.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with these podcasts, you should check them out. My Best of Podcastle list would be a good place to start. They’ve carried stories by many of my favorite writers, including Tim Pratt, Greg Van Eekhout, Cat Rambo, and Edgar Allen Poe. Each podcast provides an audio story every week, free to download. They depend on donations to pay their authors, so if you like the story enough, you might want to consider dropping them a few bucks. I know both editors from the Escape Artists forums, where Dave and Anna are known as DKT and anarkey, respectively. If you like to discuss the good and bad qualities of stories, stop by.

When David Thompson isn’t editing, he’s also a writer, who wrote Last Respects (among other things) which made it on my Best of Pseudopod list. You can find him on LiveJournal as well where he talks about many things, including the new season of LOST.

Anna is also a writer who’s been published in Escape Pod and Every Day Fiction. You can find out more about her on her website.

David Steffen: How were you chosen to co-edit Podcastle? Had either of you expected it or was it completely out of the blue?

David Thompson: In August 2009, Rachel emailed us and asked us to come aboard and help with some of the details-oriented tasks at PodCastle like finding narrators for stories, scheduling introductions, manage the schedule, record feedback, those kinds of things. It was kind of hinted at that she might want to hand over the editorial reigns at some point, but then we got another email a little over a month later saying that time was now. We all kind of sat on it for a while, and convinced Rachel to stay until the end of the year, but that’s when we started reading slush and selecting stories. So it wasn’t completely out of the blue, but it all happened very fast. At least, that’s how I remember it.

Schwind: I remember it exactly the same way! Except with talking trains and a rotting orange and the secret message in a bottle from that werewolf guy.

Thompson: Ben Phillips is a werewolf? That explains so much.

Steffen: Can you give any hints about the stories you’ve bought? How do you think the stories you two choose will be different than Rachel’s?

Thompson: For the most part, I’d rather keep what we bought and what Rachel bought slightly ambiguous. I can tell you that we’ve run stories that Anna and I have selected, and we’re still running stories that Rachel selected, as well. I’m not entirely sure how our selection will differ from Rachel’s. That might be a question better suited to our listeners a year or so from now.

Schwind: I can give you the following hint: we’ve bought some great stories. Stories which Dave and I are really excited, I mean hand-rubbing and cackling excited, to share with listeners. Some of them will be stories Rachel never would have bought, and some of them will be stories that are exactly what she would have bought.

Steffen: Is editorial work what you expected?

Thompson: I’m not really sure what I expected, to be honest. It’s certainly very satisfying work – we’re doing something we believe in, telling stories to thousands of people. And since we were both longtime fans of the Escape Artists podcasts, it feels like we’re really giving back. But it’s definitely more complicated than I thought it’d be – it’s more than just reading stories. There’s also looking for narrators, recording introductions, recording other stuff like announcements or feedback, scheduling. It’s a big job. But I love it!

Schwind: Pretty much, yeah, what I expected. I knew it was too much work for one person, actually, which makes the extensive work Rachel put into PodCastle all the more remarkable. I’m really glad to have someone to share the responsibility (and the joy) with. Oh, wait, did I write that? Now my co-editor is going to think I like him or something.

Steffen: What’s the hardest thing of the job? The most rewarding?

Thompson: Okay, I’ll cop to one story that was our pick: Samantha Henderson’s “The Mermaid’s Tea Party.” I loved it when I first read it a couple years ago, and blogged about it, and shared it with a few friends. But when we ran it at PodCastle, we got to share a story we loved with over 10,000 people. For me, that’s the best part – sharing stories we love. That it was well-received by our listeners was also nice. As I said before, the details of everything else is the hard part, at least for me. There’s so much more than just finding a story you love that goes into the podcast.

Schwind: Fishy bitches!

Thompson: OMG. “Fishy bitches” should be the logo on the next PodCastle t-shirt.

Schwind: Ok, on a more serious note: the toughest thing for me is knowing there’s stories out there which I adore, but because of rights situations or inappropriateness to audio or wrong genre or no ability to contact the author or whatever, we just can’t bring to listeners. And let me just insert a PSA right here: PodCastle solicits stories sometimes, and we can’t solicit your story if you, as an author, have not included a way to be contacted on your webpage. You’d think that’d be totally basic, but alas, no. You, author, go put a contact me button on your webpage RIGHT NOW.

Steffen: How do you split the duties? If one of you likes a story and the other doesn’t, how do you decide whether to buy it or not?

Thompson: We both read the stories that Ann Leckie, our incredible, tireless slush reader, forwards to us. If one of us likes a story and the other one doesn’t, we have a discussion on what’s working for us in the story and what isn’t and why. After that discussion, we’re usually on the same page. As for splitting the duties, I record intros once a month and record outros/feedback segments for every episode. I think that’s really the only thing that I do that Anna doesn’t.

Schwind: One thing I like about working with Dave is that we complement each other so well. Often he’s perfectly happy to do the aspects of running the podcast that I find tiresome. I believe he feels similarly, and he’ll ask me if I’d mind doing something that to him seems an onerous chore and I’m overjoyed to do it. Splitting duties has been relatively painless because of that. As to deciding on stories where we feel differently, it’s about – like Dave said – talking it through. We’ve not yet had a knockdown drag out fight over anything. I’m actually hopeful that we do, at some point, just to see what that’s like, but so far we’ve been able to make a case that sways the other or not about each individual story. That sounds civil and boring. I should probably have made something up, about a contest of wills or a platinum battle in the astral plane.

Thompson: I didn’t realize fights on the astral plane were an option. Now I’m going to have to go out of my way to pick a fight over a story.

Schwind: Eeeeexcellent, Thompson. We shall meet in the metaphysical arena of stars and infinite night, each wielding our ineffable auras as a finely honed weapon, and the first to fall shall give over the right to peddle one story.

Thompson: I’ve got dibs on the Possible Sword!!!

Steffen: What sort of stories have you seen too many, and what sort would you like to see more?

Thompson: We’ve seen a lot of stories featuring pirates. But I’m actually fine with that. I wouldn’t mind seeing more…weird stuff in general. New weird, I guess. I wouldn’t mind finding some Sword and Sorcery that really blew my mind, but I haven’t read it yet.

Schwind: Let’s see…we see a lot of stories where the implications of the worldbuilding aren’t acknowledged within the story and lots of stories where the author thought fantasy was an excuse to skip their research. We also see lots of run of the mill fantasy, with no distinguishing marks, whether it be urban or faux medieval or pre-columbian or whatever. On reflection, I’m considerably less interested in what I see too much of than in what I’d like to see more of. I’d generally agree with Dave that I have a strong attraction to stories that court the weird. Give me some Fortean phenomena, or some cockroach-shaped, lightning-emitting unicorn, or some vividly described but unusual setting and I’m there. I don’t think anyone’s sent us a story where the plot hinged on the outcome of a soccer game between centaurs, or one where their furniture is trying to murder them at the behest of an angel. We don’t get many stories set in Africa. It’d be nice to get a city story about Mumbai or SÃ £o Paulo, instead of New York. We don’t get any fantasy set in the 1950s or the 1970s; it’s either current or in the far past. Cold war fae? Quetzalcoatl and the Sandinistas? I could get into that. Very few stories from the point of view of a bug have come to our inbox. In fact, since I’m on point of view, I will also say we don’t get many stories in omniscient POV. I like tight third and first person narrations as much as the next reader, but fantasy has a well-established tradition of omniscient POV and I really enjoy it, when it’s deftly executed. So, you know, there’s plenty of leeway for surprise and delight. There are innumerable situations I haven’t seen or read about, and those are the ones I want to see and read about.

Thompson: Come to think of it, I could go for more whimsy. I love the dark and gritty stuff. The fishy bitches and the goblin sweatshops. But we’ve got a story coming out by Merrie Haskell that’s very adult but at the same time completely charming. It’s not a kid’s story – it has some pretty mature stuff happening in it. But it’s permeated with whimsy, and we don’t see a lot of that in our slush.

Steffen: Besides the editorial change, are there any other changes in the works for Podcastle?

Thompson: Nothing major. We’re doing some smaller things, like running reviews. We have our first, full-length PodCastle original coming out soon. The other EA podcasts run originals regularly, but PodCastle’s run almost only reprints. So that’s kind of a new thing. But for the most part, getting out a feature-length story every week and a piece of flash fiction every third week keeps us pretty busy.

Schwind: Busy Fitches!

Steffen: When you’re not editing, writing, or reading, what do you like to do?

Thompson: Ha! I don’t think I have time to do too much else. Spend time with my family. I need to make more time to write – I haven’t had as much time to do that in the last six months as I’d like to.

Schwind: I’m strongly tempted to make something up here. I’ll tell you two lies and one truth: I like to watch TV, I like to fold origami, I like to bake cakes.

Steffen: Who do you admire most?

Thompson: To be honest, I’d have to say I think I admire my children most right now. They’ve both had some difficult times this past year, and yet they’ve handled it all with far more grace than I would have. I appreciate their grounding me, and I admire how much joy and wonder they both radiate.

Schwind: Most? Seriously? I have no idea. I admire the way my cats can sleep in uncomfortable positions and the way the sun glints on the Atlantic and the way Obama speaks in public and the way Suzanne Vega sings and the way Darjeeling tea tastes in the morning.

Steffen: In exactly 6 words, what is the meaning of life?

Thompson: Love everyone. Do not be afraid.

Schwind: Inhale. This, too, shall pass. Exhale.

Steffen: What was the last book you read?

Thompson: I’m listening to Gene Wolfe’s Shadow of the Torturer right now. I’d read the entire Book of the New Sun series years ago, but I just found it online at Audible, and I’m having a great time listening to that on my commute and at work. It’s such a challenging, layered, weird book. I’m also reading Jim MacDonald’s The Apocalypse Door, which is fun. I’m crazy excited for Escape Artist authors who have books coming out: Greg van Eekhout, Tim Pratt (who is serializing Broken Mirrors online for free right now), M.K. Hobson, Samantha Henderson, N.K. Jemisin, and Mary Robinette Kowal – they all have novels coming out soon, and that makes me really happy, because I became a fan of all of them from listening to their stories at Escape Artists.

There’s always way too many things I want to read.

Schwind: The Book Thief by Mark Zusak.

Steffen: Your favorite book?

Thompson: Oh, there’s a few I love. I still remember just needing to take a few hours to think after reading Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 in high school. Alex Garland’s The Beach really channelled the GenXer in me. In college, I wanted to escape and live in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. I’m still kind of blown away by all the cool weirdness that China Mieville crammed into Perdido Street Station.

Schwind: I can’t fail but notice that all of these questions come in the singular. This makes me sad.

Steffen: Wait a minute… What do you mean “all of these questions”? It’s almost as if you know what questions are coming even before I ask them. But that’s impossible! What am I thinking of right now?

Thompson: Erm, who is your favorite author?

Steffen: I’m the one who asks the questions around here. Now, where was I? Ah yes, now I remember: who is your favorite author?

Steffen: Who is your favorite author?

Thompson: My favorite? That’s a difficult question for a short story editor to answer! Thinking more along novel-length stuff: Gaiman and Mieville, definitely – they’ve had the strongest influence on me.

Schwind: I am wallowing in sadness.

Steffen: What was the last movie you saw?

Thompson: Wow. The last one I saw in the theaters was the last Harry Potter, I think. The last DVD I watched was District 9. But it seems like lately, I’m watching a lot of TV on DVD like Veronica Mars, Pushing Daisies, and The Wire. And, of course, the final season of Lost.

Schwind: The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. I love Terry Gilliam.

Steffen: What is your favorite movie?

Thompson: Empire Strikes Back, easily. I would love to carve out nine hours one day and rewatch all the Lord of the Rings movies. I also tend to quote Get Shorty randomly.

Schwind: Now I weep.

Thompson: You don’t like Empire Strikes Back? Or Get Shorty? I’m…not sure I can work with you anymore.

Schwind: As long as we agree that Han shot first, I may be able to stop crying over the tyranny of the singular favorite.

Thompson: Hrm. Guess we can keep working together, then.

Steffen: Incidentally, Anna, could you stop using my invisibility cloak as a hanky? Human tears make it all shimmery, and it costs a fortune to get it dry-cleaned. Now, do you have any upcoming publications you’d like to tell us about?

Thompson: Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe? I’ll have to get back to you on this one.

Schwind: No. I’m trying to be better about submitting stories, but well.

Steffen: Do you have any writing works in progress you’d like to tell us about?

Thompson: Oh, some short stories, a couple novels. You know, the usual. But at this point, I’d feel more comfortable just saying enjoy PodCastle.

Schwind: All my writing consists of works in progress. Very little gets finished or revised. I feel badly for whomever has the task of going through my papers when I die. That said, I expect to be starting a new novel soon, perhaps before the year is out. If you want to read it you’ll need to join my crit group, though. 🙂

Steffen: Thanks to both of you for taking the time to answer a few questions. I know you’ll keep doing a great job in your new roles. I’ll be listening.

Schwind: Thanks for taking the time to interview us. I believe this may be the first time I’ve ever been interviewed.

Thompson: Yes, thank you! It’s a first for me too. Although I do feel kind of ripped off that there weren’t any cockroach-like unicorns to mark the occassion…

Steffen: You didn’t see them because they’re invisible. And pink. I know when they’re nearby because my nose hair tingles and I taste royal purple on my tongue at the same moment that I get a craving for garlic.

Thompson: Ah, yes. I see them now!

MiniCon Report (and my first editor pitch)

I’ve been meaning to make it to a science fiction convention for quite a while now. Even before I started writing they sounded like fun, lots of people with similar tastes all getting together and hanging out, swapping book recommendations, arguing about which authors write better books and why, and so on. But now that I’m writing, I figured I should check out the con scene from the fan side before people start knowing who I am.

For some reason all the cons in the Twin Cities seem to occur over holiday weekends, so for the last few years I’ve been out of town visiting family and unable to attend. But this year, I learned early that Brandon Sanderson was the writer guest of honor. So I registered early and decided that this time I would go.

I asked a few people if they’d want to go with me, but no one took me up on it, so I ended up going solo. Which was probably for the best, because if I’d been there with someone I probably would’ve just used them as an excuse to not meet anyone. So to avoid just sitting by myself the whole time I struck up conversations with a few strangers, met a few writers I’ll try swapping story critiques with, and just got a chance to talk to people about all kinds of things.

I missed the opening ceremonies, including the keynote speech by Brandon Sanderson because we’d bought hockey tickets for that night long before I registered for MiniCon. So I didn’t get to MiniCon until Saturday, with the meetup of the local speculative fiction writers group Minnspec. That was nice to meet a few of the members. I’ve been meaning to get involved with them for quite a while but I’ve just never gotten around to it. I mostly stuck to the panels during the day, not the bars after or the musical guests or anything like that. I’ve been so busy with schoolwork lately that I haven’t been able to spend as much time with Heather as I’d like, and since I was lucky enough to get a homework free weekend in the middle of the semester I wanted to make sure I didn’t neglect her the whole weekend.

For those of you who are used to the big mega-size cons, this is many orders of magnitude different, which is both good and bad. Bad because, of course, there are less guests, less people. But good because it’s so much more personal. At the big cons, if there’s a big guest, you could be one of thousands of people waiting around for a chance to get a glimpse, let alone any actual personal contact. But here, there just a few guests, and about four parallel programming tracks in four rooms. Even the guests of honor are extremely accessible. Most of the panels had a few dozen attendants, and a handful would hang around to talk to the folks presenting.

After the MinnSpec panel was an Editors’ panel with Moshe Feder (Brandon’s editor), Ben Bova (who should need no introduction), Eric Heidemen (editor of Tales of the Unanticipated), and Michael Merriam (slush reader for Fantasy Magazine). That was really cool, especially seeing Ben Bova was particularly cool. All four of them had a good sense of humor and had a lot of good interplay.

That afternoon I stopped at a Dan Dos Santos art exhibition. He showed a sped up video of him painting the cover art for Warbreaker, 70 hours compressed to 10 minutes or so. That was really cool to see it start at the vaguest shapes and down to finer and finer details, with layers of colors that look strange at first but blend into the vivid colors and textures of the final image. After that, he did a quick portrait of Brandon while everybody watched and while the fans could watch both of them. That took about a half hour and was really neat to watch.

Most of the rest of the programming I went to was Brandon Sanderson programming. He gave some interesting advice, told some funny stories, and was just generally good to listen to, including one panel dedicated just to telling the story of how he got the Wheel of Time gig.

But the highlight of the con, for me, was The Pitch. Anyone could volunteer to throw a three-minute novel pitch, for a novel that’s complete or incomplete, and give it front of Moshe Feder and Brandon Sanderson. I only heard about it a few hours ahead of time, but I decided that the opportunity was too good to pass out. So between the panels I wrote out a quick outline to help me when I was on the spot.

We volunteers raised our hands and Brandon picked one of us at random to go first. That random person happened to be me, so I got to go up and throw out my pitch before seeing what anyone else’s pitch sounded like or seeing how kind or cruel Moshe or Brandon were. So I gave my three minute pitch, terrifying, a bit awkward, but I made it through the whole thing with only a few ums and ahs. I didn’t have time to get out the whole plot, but I got about halfway through to a good stopping point. My characters, uh, need a little work, so I concentrated mostly on the plot.

Both Moshe and Brandon were simultaneously nice and honest. Both for my pitch and everyone else’s they gave constructive criticism and you got a pretty good idea of their level of interest in the story. Both of them had their points about my story, and they were mostly on target. I didn’t describe my characters much, which is an area that I’d had trouble with in the manuscript itself as well (it’s been quite a while since I worked on it, it could use some polish in that area). Brandon thought one part of the plot was too much of an idiot plot–that one I didn’t agree with, but I can see how he would’ve thought that from the short pitch. They also pointed something out which I hadn’t thought of at all–my beginning is very much a thriller beginning, an ordinary guy with his life thrown into sudden and immediate danger, and putting him on the run. But, despite the things they pointed out as needing improvement, Moshe said he’d be interested in seeing the manuscript. I’ve been concentrating on short stories for quite a while but it seems this would be a good time to reawaken the novel writer in me.

And after the feedback, Moshe gave me a Jelly Rat (like a Swedish Fish, but with a wormtail), which was a nice touch.

Some of the pitches were smoother than others, but Moshe and Brandon found something to compliment and something suggest an improvement for each one. I’ll list some of the more prevailing threads here, for anyone who might learn from it:

1. Don’t be too vague. Editors don’t care about spoilers when they’re hearing a pitch. One of the writers was afraid of giving away details that would be stolen, but it left the pitch so vague that it meant nothing. Sentences like “and they did something” means that you should probably either leave that out entirely or flesh it out to something more specific.

2. Tell something about the characters. Most everyone can come up with an SF idea, and there’s no doubt that SF ideas are important, but there need to be characters that have the problems, that drive the story, and it’s the interactions between the characters and the idea that make the story really unique.

3. Try to include as many of the relevant details as possible. Granted this is really difficult when you have such a limited time limit, especially when it was an impromptu pitch in the first place. For instance, if you explain the climax of the story, and it depends on some major plot point that happens earlier, you’ll want to make sure you mentioned that plot point.

So that was my first editor pitch. I thought it went well, and I’m looking forward to sending something to Moshe a manuscript as soon as I can.

Anyway, back to the con. Then, Sunday was mostly centered around doing the autograph fanboy thing. I bought a copy of Warbreaker, and got it autographed by Brandon(who wrote it), Dan (who did the fantastic cover art), and Moshe (who edited it). On top of that, I bought a print of a really great piece of art by Dan, a portrait of Moiraine Damodred (from the Wheel of Time series). I didn’t intend to buy any art, but it was just so beautiful I couldn’t possibly turn it down. I need to get a really nice frame for it and hang it in my office over my desk.

I’ll definitely be going again next year.

Free Game Demo: A Stitch in Time

I meant to post this a couple weeks ago, but life intervened. You remember last month we interviewed Matt Kempke, independent game developer? Well, the free demo of his next game, a puzzle adventure called A Stitch in Time, is now available for download! You can also download the entire first game for free at the same location. If you like the games enough, I hope you’ll consider paying for the full version of A Stitch in Time when it becomes available.

Game Review: InFamous (PS3)

written by Melissa Shaw

In 2002, Sucker Punch Productions came out with a cartoonish children’s game for the PS2 called Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus, the first of a trio of Sly Cooper games. The title character was a thief who snuck around cities, climbed up buildings, and ran across wires. Sly’s loyal companions gave him intel and assigned him capers over a radio connection. The various games in the series featured elements like a villain dumping tar into the water supply, our hero following specific NPCs through a city without being spotted, and a blimp filled with “spice” gas whose evil purpose was to drive a city’s denizens insane.

Fast-forward to 2009, and InFamous, Sucker Punch’s new action-adventure game whose main character, Cole, prowls around a city, climbs up buildings, and runs across wires. His companions — some friendly, some hostile — give him intel and assign him capers over a cell phone. Some game elements include a villain dumping tar into the water supply, our hero following specific NPCs through the city without being spotted, and several zeppelins filled with toxic gas whose evil purpose is drive the city’s denizens insane.

To be fair, both the Sly Cooper series and InFamous are highly entertaining, and both offer a great deal more than just those similarities. But the family resemblance is striking enough to make you wonder why Sucker Punch felt so comfortable blatantly ripping off its own games, and why they didn’t at least file off the serial numbers and change enough details to make those familiar elements seem fresher. Maybe they didn’t expect any overlap in the audiences of the two games; InFamous is certainly a far more grown-up and darker game. Where the Sly Cooper games felt like bubblegum comics, InFamous has the feel of a graphic novel. (The Sucker Punch games also share a stylized form of cut-scenes made up of largely still images, with a voiceover narrative.)

The premise of InFamous is that Cole survives a bomb explosion that imbues him with various electrical powers: shooting lightning bolts, throwing energy grenades, and a host of other abilities he gains as you progress through the game. The city Cole lives in comprises three islands, which are quarantined because of a suspected infection from the bomb. Cole’s purpose is to fight the evil gangs who were also transmogrified by the bomb, to help restore order to the shattered city, and to try to find out who set the bomb and why he was affected the way he was.

An interesting game element is that of karma and choice: Cole often has two distinct choices when faced with certain situations, one of which will enhance his good karma, while the other will enhance his evil karma. Heading down either karma path leads to consequences exclusive to that path, in terms of the abilities you gain and the missions available to you. While the overall story is the same either way, there are some interesting differences; the evil karma path leads to the city’s inhabitants shouting insults at you and pelting you with rocks, and to a deeper explanation of the backstory between Cole and an evil sub-boss character, his ex-girlfriend, Sasha. The pinnacle of evil karma is the game’s eponymous “InFamous” ranking.

One of the best things about InFamous is its gameplay, which is fun, varied, and exhilarating. You can climb to the top of the highest building and leap off without getting hurt; in fact, you can slam into the ground in a satisfying attack that sends out a shock wave proportional to the distance you drop. Combat is challenging and unusual, with great visuals of the lightning powers (blue if you’re good, red if you’re evil). A late power in the game even lets you glide through the air for a short distance on electrical currents generated by your hands. Added to the electrical abilities are the game’s climbing moves, which you use extensively. (As Sly’s friend Bentley says in the Sly Cooper games, “The view is always better from the rooftops.”) Almost every vertical surface is climbable, which leads to a great variety of ways to travel around the city. The only downside to the gameplay is that it’s hard to prevent Cole from grabbing a ledge or pipe when you want to just drop straight down, which can get a bit annoying.

Empire City, the game’s setting, is beautifully realized. Its undamaged buildings are varied and convincing, and the effects of the blast — a ground-zero crater area, shattered and toppled buildings, and lots of rubble — are appropriately sobering and affecting. You see the destruction and the fear of the city’s inhabitants, and you want to do something to restore order.

Cole’s relationships with the NPCs are interesting, and they help advance the story. The twist at the end is unexpected but reasonable; it shows that the game’s creators really put some thought into not just the events of the game itself but the history leading up to them.

Overall, InFamous has a strong story, exciting and varied gameplay, and a well-realized setting. Despite game elements clearly borrowed from earlier Sucker Punch games, InFamous stands on its own as a satisfying action-adventure game.

Melissa Shaw’s short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, Realms of Fantasy, Analog, and several anthologies. Melissa is a Clarion West graduate and a “Writers of the Future” contest winner. She is currently writing for an as-yet-unreleased video game.

Interview with a Game Developer: Matt Kempke

Matt Kempke is an indie game designer, the mastermind behind the freeware adventure game What Makes You Tick? released in 2007. Download the game for free here. For anyone who’s a fan of adventure puzzle games like those created by Lucasarts (the Monkey Island series) and Sierra (King’s Quest, Space Quest, etc…), you’ve got to check it out. This sort of game was hugely popular in mainstream commercial avenues in past years (especially the 90s), but in recent years the genre has taken a back shelf. Like Hollywood movies, most big companies spend their time on games that are certain to be blockbusters, and the end result is loads of games that are exactly like each other. There are exceptions to this rule of course, like Katamari Damacy, but they are just that–exceptions.

Enter the independent game developers. What Makes You Tick was created almost entirely by Matt alone, using the Lassie Adventure Studio, a free program that acts as a game framework so that the developer can concentrate on the art, animations, puzzles, and plot. The official summary of the game:

A young man named Nathan is sent by his University to find the mysterious Dr. Coppelius who disappeared about one year earlier. While searching around Coppelius’ last known residence, Nathan discovers that he’s not the only person seeking the old man â€

WMYT has been reviewed favorably by the BBC Collective and described in PC Gamer as a “gentle, humorous game with a smashing ambient-swish of a soundtrack”. When my only complaint about the game is that it is too short, that’s a good sign. It is a short game–I finished it in a couple hours–but the art is unique, the music fitting, the dialog humorous, and the puzzles are just the right difficulty, not so easy to be trivial, not so hard to be impossible.

And, if you like WMYT, then you’re in for a treat! Matt is nearing completion of the sequel, A Stitch in Time. He plans to charge a reasonable fee to download this one. I’m definitely going to do so. There aren’t enough adventure games in recent years, and a small fee is well worth the chance to play. Also, I’d love if Matt was encouraged enough by sales of this game that he went on to make a third game, and a fourth, and so on. There will be a demo available to download for free on March 18th (I’ll post a link when it’s available).

David Steffen: At the risk of sounding cheesy, what makes YOU tick? Why did you decide to make these games?

Matt Kempke: OK, so we start with the complicated questions, uh? Well, let me see … If I had never played “the Curse of Monkey Island” when it came out back in autumn of 1997, if Greg MacWilliam hadn’t become my pen pal about one year later and if he had not made his own game engine (LASSIE) in 2005 I would not have made WMYT. But the urge had been there ever since I played “the Curse of Monkey Island”, simply because it merged hand-drawn backgrounds, great characters and sound design into something that hadn’t been there before … an interactive cartoon? Or a painting to walk around in and where you can peek around corners to see what’s hidden there? I don’t know, but it consisted of places that I loved to walk around or simply to BE in. That was back in school when I still had to do horrible things like math homeworks … the horror … the horror … but it wasn’t that bad anymore when in the background on the family computer CMI was running; me and my brother could hear the sound of Puerto Pollo in the background (capital of Plunder Island) … the music, the water, the clock tower playing a LeChuck theme chime every 15 minutes. And suddenly then life was good – despite school and homework and whatever things troubled me back then.

As I got more into drawing and a bit of animating and sound editing after I finished school I made some short videos and other projects. Nothing special. But when Greg told me that he was working on a game engine I promised him to make a game for him … IF he finished the engine. Being a strange character just like me, he really DID finish it. When he did I started building what in the end became “What makes you Tick”. It wasn’t easy, but I had the basic skills … and if you combine elements like background, character, story, animation, sounds etc. you really create something that is bigger than the sum of its parts: a small world to explore. Just like “the Curse of Monkey Island” did for me ten years before. Of course – it is not as good … but I did the best I could.

David: What lessons did you learn while developing the first game that you were able to use while making the sequel?

Matt: The lesson I learned while making WMYT is that everything is a LOT more work in the end than it looks like in the beginning. So for the sequel after writing the story we went in and cut all locations from our room script that were unnecessary to tell the story, which was a hard thing to do for me. How nice for example would it be to have a small chapel there near the woods … what a nice place would that be to visit … but we had to keep things doable so it was cut. In the end “A Stitch in Time” became bigger than I had expected as well and I am still working on it – although I should have been done three months ago. The reason for that is that we really wanted the player to be able to visit the small town of Ravenhollow during day and night and to be able to actually switch between these two times of the day during the main act of the game. Of course that ended up to be more work than you could imagine it to be beforehand. Fortunately Greg had always a very realistic attitude and I learned to trust him on a lot of things. One of them is time planning.

David: What have you found to be the easiest part of game development? The hardest? the most rewarding?

Matt: The easiest and most fun part was the brain storming phase. When I talked to Greg or my brother about the story we came up with all these little details and connections that in the end make up a good story – which ours hopefully is. Also planning some character designs with my brother Sebastian (who did most character designs) on the phone and then him sending me a scanned sketch one evening later that looks just like I had imagined it – that is just great. It is really wonderful to work together with others on projects like this. When I made the first game I did it completely alone and for over a year I almost didn’t show anyone anything just because I was afraid that I started promising folks something that might never get finished in the end. So I really enjoy working together with others. The hardest parts during the development of “A Stitch in Time” were mostly those when I was overworked and exhausted and alone. The most rewarding is when all things come together in the end.

David: Since you don’t have a super-corporation with a marketing department to get the word out about your game, how are you going to spread the word? How will you convince potential buyers that your game is worth spending a bit of money?

Matt: Well, we decided to publish a relatively long demo, which consists of the first of four acts and makes up about 10 percent of the full game. This way gamers get a chance to play a bit and get into the game and the story – and if they are interested to see how the story continues and then at some point ends they will hopefully buy the full version. Greg does a great job building our website and also creating a streamable version of the demo, that people can play online in their browsers, while he is still programming for the game and doing his fulltime job. I am sure we will come up with some more ideas to spread the word, but from the experience of the release of WMYT back in 2007 I know that sometimes the news on the internet can travel much faster than one might expect. Back then we had published WMYT just on the Lassie website without much ado … and only a couple of days later it appeared in the “recommended free games” section of an online TV show here in germany, where I live. In one of the first months we had about 50,000 downloads… which was pretty surprising. Of course now we keep our expectations low since this larger second game is not free – but quite affordable, if I may add that.

David: Once A Stitch in Time is available for sale, at what point will you consider it a success? When you’ve broken even on the project? When you’ve made enough to live comfortably on the interest?

Matt: Well, we will be happy once the game is released no matter what – Greg and I both wanted to make this game and it is an amazing thing that we got to make it at all. Of course I really would be happy if Greg, who also produced the game, breaks even on the project. That is one of many reasons I am still able to keep on working after all these months. I really wish that does work out. And if then in the end we earn enough to keep on making games, that would be unbelievable … unthinkable even. I actively tried to ban thoughts like that from my mind when I started working on the game – simply because that might have a negative effect on the artist in me. I am making this game just because the story needs to be told and because we got the oppotunity to fulfill our dream of making an adventure game. You cannot pass on such an opportunity.

David: Will there be more games?

Matt: Yes, definitely. … but whether that will be something bigger and commercial like “A Stitch in Time” or just small games, that I do because I still feel the urge to make more and get better – I don’t know. We would love to do a third “What Makes You Tick” game, but that will depend on on how much of a “success” our game is once it is released.

David: If you had unlimited time and resources to create a game, what would that game be like?

Matt: It would be a collaboration of a lot of artists, creating a unique world with an exclusive soundtrack written directly for the game. That game should create a wide range of moods – like having a place that looks like a romantic Caspar David Friedrich painting connect to a Van Gogh like location … but gradually … merging styles and moods into something else that still feels like a whole. The process of planning and producing a game that combines many visions of actively involved artists must be a great thing. And if then you also add voice talents, animation and music – the sky is the limit. Well, but till then we will have to make do with what we can do.

David: When you’re not developing games, what do you like to do?

Matt: I like meeting friends, having a cup of coffee with them for three hours. Watching movies or Seinfeld. Listening to old Jack Benny radio programs. I also like hiking a lot … just walking and looking and hearing the sand under the soles of my shoes, no matter where. That might sound cheesy, but at one point I had always felt an urge to do something – to draw or write – when I was amazed by nature or life. It took me some time to JUST enjoy these things. That probably sounds like a quote from a 90-year old senior citizen – not that there is anything wrong with that.

David: If you could witness any event in history, what would it be?

Matt: I guess, I personally would just choose events in which I hadn’t been involved. As tempting as it would be to find out how it looked like from the outside when I was a kid or I did something good or something I regret now … I fear it would leave me scarred for life. Because it in the end might be too different from what I remembered myself … or too meaningless … or just too good to bare seeing again.

So – an event in history … (stares at the blinking cursor) … I really would have loved to see Nikola Tesla doing one of his presentations on electricity and other wonders. Or to sit in the audience during the recording of one of Jack Benny’s shows. (Obviously I want to be entertained.) Or to see the authors of my favourite books, comics and games during different stages of their work. I always wondered if they too have these days when they sit in between empty milk cartons … with shaggy hair … notes lying around everywhere … and they ask themselves: “What the heck am I doing here??” or “Darn … I need to go out there again to buy milk!”.

David: What is the sound of the end of the world?

Matt: Snake Plissken lighting a cigarette and saying “Welcome to the human race.”

David: What was the last video game you played?

Matt: You mean: “What is the last GOOD videogame you played”? Well, that is “Batman: Arkham Asylum”. Amazing. I was Batman. Finally. After suffering and playing all those Batman games since the NES days I was finally amazed, flabbergasted and speechless. Pure genious! And also I got what I always search for: a world to BE in. Even if it’s Arkham Asylum and full of screaming lunatics it was beautiful.

David: What is your favorite video game?

Matt: “The Curse of Monkey Island” is and will be my first and greatest love. But that aside it is hard to decide … “Uncharted” was fantastic – I hope I can play part 2 sometime!

David: What was the last movie you saw?

Matt: The last one was “O Brother Where Art Thou?” – I had seen it a couple of times already and enjoyed it as much as usual! The last movie I saw in the cinema was “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” and I enjoyed it for many many reasons. Just great.

David: What is your favorite movie?

Matt: The last movie that really astonished me was like a small enlightenment: “Werckmeister Harmonies” by Bela Tarr (Hungary). My top favourites that I usually show to people are “Harvey” with James Stewart and “Nobody’s Fool” with Paul Newman.

David: Matt, thanks for taking the time for the interview! I’m looking forward to playing the demo and then the final game (and hopefully many more).

David Sale #6–What Makes You Tick reprint

Sale #6 today! It will be a reprint of my story What Makes You Tick (which I sold for the first time to the upcoming War of the Worlds: Frontlines anthology). Brain Harvest is an online magazine which specializes in very short, strange stories (up to 750 words). It’ll be posted there for free some time after the anthology is printed, so if you’d like to read what sort of stories Schnarr bought for the antho, you can look at it as a free sample.

By the way, you might’ve noticed that I hadn’t sent out a notice about sale #5. That was no mistake–I have made a sale #5, but it’s to a magazine that hasn’t been announced yet. I’ll send out the notice for that magazine once the magazine has made itself known. ,David Steffen

Niche Game: Earthworm Jim 1 & 2

Niche games: Âwe’ve all played them. ÂThey’re the games that you remember for a long time because they’re so unique. ÂSometimes they’re the only ones ever made like them. ÂOther times they were trailblazers for their kind of gameplay. ÂBut what they have in common is the bravery to try something new, allowing them to rise above the imitators. ÂEven though there might be newer games with shinier graphics, these games are still worth playing mecause they’re something different, something special.

Earthworm Jim is a side-scroller action science fiction game with a ridiculous sense of humor. It was released in 1994 for the Super NES (and many other systems about the same time). The following excerpt from the story is typical of the style: “Psy-Crow is chasing a small renegade ship. The ship’s pilot has stolen an ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit. Psy-Crow overtakes the renegade ship and they face off head-to-head. Psy-Crow pulls his gun. The renegade pulls an even bigger gun. Wrought with gun envy, Psy-Crow pulls out a huge monster gun. The renegade, realizing he has been outmatched, pleads for mercy. But Psy-Crow, under direct orders from the evil Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-filled, Malformed, Slug-for-a-behind, blasts the renegade and his entire ship to smithereens. The suit falls gently to a strange planet below. The strange planet is our planet. PLANET EARTH.”

As it turns out, the suit is indestructible as advertised, but the person wearing it can still be blown to smithereens (oops, bad design). The suit happens to land over the top of a typical earthworm. The suit is so powerful it mutates the earthworm so that it grows much larger and (somewhat) more intelligent worm. Even though he’s wearing a human-shaped suit, Jim is still an earthworm, which becomes obvious when he uses his worm whip. The hand of the suit grabs Jims neck and pulls the worm out of the suit, cracking it like a whip to attack enemies, before replacing it back in the suit. He can also spin the worm like a helicopter to extend his jump a bit. His other usual weapon is his blaster gun which regenerates ammo up to a certain level, though if you drain it the recharge time can cost you. He can also pick up gun power-ups like mega shot and homing missiles.

The stages and villains of the game are weird and varied, Psy-Crow being the least interesting of the group. “What the Heck?” takes place on a Hell-like planet called Heck, which is ruled by Evil the Cat (we all knew a cat was behind it, admit it). The background music for that one involves elevator music and tortured screams. The level is patrolled by briefcase toting lawyers who use their briefcase to block your blaster fire, and also snowmen. In the end you face off against Evil himself. Then there’s Major Mucus, a being made entirely out of phlegm. You have a bungee jumping battle where each of you try to knock the other into rock walls to break the other’s cord.

My favorite character in the game is Peter the Puppy. Peter skips happily along, oblivious of the many dangerous enemies and obstacles along the way. If he gets hurt, then he loses his temper mutates into a bloated purple monster, grabs Jim and chomps away a huge chunk of his health. Then he reverts to his cute puppy form and continues on. To make it through the level alive, Jim not only has to avoid danger himself, but he has to keep Peter safe as well. Besides destroying enemies, he also needs to use the worm whip on Peter, which will make him jump in the air. If timed right he will clear gaps and the carnivorous plants along the way.

Between each level, Earthworm Jim jumps on his Pocket Rocket (an actual rocket, get your minds out of the gutters) and races Psy-Crow on the ways between planets. This offers some welcome variety to the gameplay.

Earthworm Jim 2 was released in 1995, and was a very worthwhile sequel. Jim is back with some changes in play control. Instead of using the worm to whip and to helicopter down, he has a new buddy he keeps in his backpack called Snott who performs similar functions.

Many of the villains from the original game return here in different forms. This time instead of bungee jumping against Major Mucus, you are flying your Pocket Rocket, transporting a balloon-lifted explosive to Mucus’s headquarters. You have to keep the explosive in one piece despite enemy attackers, and blow up Mucus with it.

Again, my absolute favorite level in this game is the one with Peter the Puppy. In the year that’s passed, Peter Puppy has had a litter (puppies having puppies!). Psy-Crow has broken into Peter’s house and kidnapped the baby’s.

Being the evil creature he is, he is tossing the little doggies out the window one by one as Peter watches from the other end of yard in dismay. Luckily Jim happens to be carrying a giant marshmallow that he can use the bounce the pups over to their father who will catch them and set them down gently.

If the pups hit the ground they go squish, and too many dropped pups makes Peter lose his temper and chomp on Jim. You have to keep this up until Psy-Crow tosses out a bomb. When you bounce the bomb to Peter he will chuck it back at Psy-Crow again (You’d think he’d be blowing up his own children that way, but whatever). The concept makes no sense, but that’s okay, Earthworm Jim doesn’t HAVE to make sense, and it’s extremely fun and a good challenge.

Shortly after the second game, a TV series was spawned that lasted about a year. I’m afraid I’ve never seen it, so I can’t comment on its quality. That sounds like a mission for Hulu!

1999 marked the most recent entry in the series with Earthworm Jim 3-D for Nintendo 64. It was.. okay. I liked the animation, which was a well-done 3-D rendition of Jim and his friends and enemies. The plot is silly as ever: a cow has landed on Jim’s head, fracturing his brain. The game takes place inside his damaged brain. Jim is tasked with collecting his marbles, and finding golden udders to allow him to give them to the Sacred Cow of Contemplation to unlock new areas. The levels were okay, definitely weird, though they got a little long. But the thing that really broke my enjoyment of the game was the boss battles. In the previous EWJ games, each boss battle is very different from one another. In this one they are all too similar and last WAY too long. In each you are driving around an arena, as is your opponent, collecting marbles. To complete the level, you must get every marble, including those held by your opponent. Attacking your opponent makes them drop some marbles, and vice versa. Each of these fights just lasted forever as you swap a few marbles back and froth. Way too much of a time sink, even when I was in high school and had nothing better to do with my time. I doubt I’d ever have the patience nowadays to complete one of the boss battles, let alone to battle through the rest of the game. Also, I reached a point in the game, where there didn’t seem to be enough marbles to pass on regardless of what I did. I don’t know if that was something I did wrong, or if there was a glitch in the game, but after spending days trying to move on with no success I gave up and had to return to the game to Blockbuster. So I wouldn’t go out of your way to find the 3rd game, but the first two in the series are rock solid.

Finding Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 is easy if you have a Wii, as both are now available for Nintendo’s Virtual Console. If you’re willing to pay a little money for it then you can download it onto your Wii hard drive and have it forever. An eBay search also came up with quite a few hits for various systems. So you shouldn’t have a problem tracking it down. Try it out. It’s hard, it’s fun, it’s totally worth it. Enjoy!