The year is 2050. The world is in a state of chaos. The Gray Death plague runs rampant, ripping through the populace. There is a vaccine, but it is in very short supply and is primarily used for the rich and famous. Riots occur everywhere, and anti-government groups are becoming more and more prominent. To combat this, the United Nations has formed a worldwide police force called UNATCO, the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition.
Like previous installments, CIT delivers lots of weapons (though the Quickselect menu is no longer customizable), enemies, worlds, spectacular visuals, and gadgets. The series’ humor is still firmly in place. Particular favorites include Mr. Zurkon, a homicidal “synthenoid” robot who loves to taunt your enemies (and sometimes your friends), and the battery bots, who complain bitterly every time their brief rebellions against being used as power sources are thwarted. The game also introduces mini-worlds with mini-games that feature various prizes, including treasure items and weapons mods.
Each type of animal has its own set of abilities which must be used to solve environmental puzzles in the game. The sheep is one of the first animals you encounter. It has no attack, but it can glide slowly down, floating like the little puffy cloud that it resembles, which lets it cross long gaps easily. Also in the early stages you can become a dog which can jump and bite. Hyenas have contagious laughter which causes area-of-effect damaging hysteria. Pigeons can grip dormant robots and carry them from place to place. You get the point.
I have a special offer in the works for discounted copies of Shadows of the Emerald City. The awesomeness of the discount depends somewhat on how many are interested. If you think you might potentially be interested, drop me a line at:
ONE of the best pieces of advice that I read is if you are going to write short stories, you need to read short stories. What better way to follow that advice than by checking up on the competition. My first love is the anthology. I love reading a collection of short stories with a theme. The theme to WotF is very loose but the writers all have one thing in common, amateurs hoping to become pros.
Nancy Kress, best known for her novel Beggars in Spain, recently released her latest novel, Stealing Across the Sky from Tor Books. Those are just two of her 26 novels and you can find her short fiction in seemingly dozens of anthologies and print publications. From the looks of her bibliography, she must have her own parking space as Azimov’s.
Katamari are balls of various sizes which are supernaturally sticky. They can pick up anything that is realatively small compared to them, and I do mean anything. When the game begins, the first katamari is very tiny, only about an inch across. Right away you can pick up tiny objects like push pins and buttons simply by running into them. They stick to the ball and increase the diameter by a little bit. But if you try to pick up slightly larger items, like mice or tape dispensers, then the katamari will just bounce harmlessly off of them.
K. D. Wentworth has reached an almost divine state in the eyes of many aspirants; especially those who participate in the quarterly Writers and Illustrators of the Future contest. K. D. is editor of the anthology, and first-reader for the writing portion of the contest. She reads, or at least starts to read, every entry that comes through the doors of Author Services, Inc; a colossal task that she completes not once but four times per year.
This year was … different. I should probably stop right there before I slam the poor con com. But now you’re curious, aren’t you? Well, when Dennis Gagaoin said that we were about to reap the benefits of the con com’s months of fighting, that was clearly not a good sign. I’m not sure if the program they had originally planned fell through because someone bailed or they never truly spent time organizing the opening ceremonies.
Fiction: TOASTED CAKE, forthcoming. Cake, and Its Implications DRABBLECAST, forthcoming. I Will Remain DIGITAL SCIENCE FICTION, forthcoming. Fruitful DRABBLECAST, forthcoming. We Do Not Speak of the Not Speaking ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENON, forthcoming. Hermit CAST OF WONDERS, July 2017. Always There TIME TRAVEL TALES, November 2016. A Switch in Time FAR FETCHED FABLES, September 2016. Reckoning ORSON … Continue reading Bibliography – David Steffen
