I am hoping for initial beta testing at end of year. Full regular release at the end of Q1 probably.

I just haven't had the time to work on the book. The three month contract I started in mid-April is still going and will go at least until end of October. It could continue after that, and since it's very good money, I'll want to continue if I can.

So I'm reduced to weekends and evenings, and that of course gets split by normal life.

You do know that books were invented in the Abyss by demons to torture mortals.

We use a process called Fiction Addiction to torture people.

We get you hooked on a book, then make you wait and wait and wait for a sequel.

When you eventually get the sequel, you get it, you start reading it avidly to fix your addiction, and then a few days later (or less) you are done with it and desperately wanting the next book in the series...and so the torture begins again.

We were really successful with this torture strategy for books, and then Movies and TV Shows.

Unfortunately, things like Netflix that allow one to binge watch are putting a real hit out on us. Fortunately, once you are done binge-ing a series/season, we do get to torture you waiting for the next series/season.

Obviously GRRM has taken this torture to new heights. Perhaps he is the Concordenax?

Well, I suppose if Exador can travel to Astlan and pretend to be a Wizard, Cleric etc for a few thousand years, then I suppose some other demon lord could travel to a high tech world with spacecraft and become captain/owner. Maybe a space pirate even.

However, I'm not aware of any being brought to the Abyss. For one thing there wouldn't be any "space' for it. So unless it can land, (out of luck Enterprise) it would have to be flying around in circles in the air. It can't orbit the Abyss, so unless you want it to get really far away, you'd have to drive it in circles.

Sheesh, give us some time, we've got at least 99 more books...we'll get there...we'll do this...although he's going to need to crank up the writing speed so he doesn't go all "Robert Jordan" on people and die before the series is complete.



Now why would want to mess with a robot, when astlan has plenty of good golem factories (shops/boutiques)

Seems like golems are much more useful in Astlan since they don't need electricity (at least not most of the ones I've seen)

Yes, and that's actually also a problem for demons.

See discussions in this forum about spawning half demon children on low mana planes to help gather mana to summon (and return) their parent.

If you come from a mana rich place you can pretty easily get anywhere (if you know where it is); but once you are there...getting back is hard.

Now this is why...actually...old fashioned, mana draining Astral travel is often best. If you can summon up enough mana from your home plane (or the destination plane) you can create a corporal body on the remote plane (very expensive/difficult spell/discipline--you've gotta be burly) you can then have a body on two planes, and you can go back and forth between the planes simply via astral travel and follow your astral cords to the other bodies.

Now there are some definite dangers in doing this, there are whole treatises on doing this and how dangerous it can be but...it is one way to get somewhere that might otherwise be difficult to get back from.

However, for most Astlanian Wizards, the Earths are just too far away, the laws of magic/physics too different. Whatever it that makes them myopic to people from "Earth" for example, makes them very hesitant/makes it very difficult to asterally travel there, and body creation is prohibitive but...

All that being said, the Gods don't seem to have a problem on that front...but then, they tend to be hardwired to their God Pool and can draw on that anywhere.

I really wish I had a god pool. Actually, I really wish I could just use magic of any sort. Being a Fiend isn't easy.

yes, demons do.

Of course, realize there are worlds that have technology that aren't necessarily mana poor.

Mana levels vary from plane to plane. As does Technology.

There are tech worlds where Tech works and there is enough mana for lower level supernaturals, places where demonic possession is real, but not much else is.

Typically these worlds have few wizards simply because it's too hard and takes too long to learn and then pass on...and eventually technology is easier and so people forget about even trying to use magic, except for some throwbacks here and there.

The Denubian plane is one such plane, they have Interstellar travel, spaceships etc (see reference to it being a giant void with metal pods) but magic works well enough that demons can get there...and in fact the Physics/Magic junction or the Science Fiction/Fantasy barrier is so low that they can use technology to plane hop.

That is where most of the trade that the demons engage comes from...planes where the mana level is low enough that technology evolved, but not so low, the laws of physics not so different, that interdimensional travel is possible.

I'm greatly simplifying here, using basic Astlanian terminology, so don't take anything in my description too literally. All I'm saying is that there is a spectrum of Tech worlds to Magic worlds, and the ones in the middle allow Tech to travel the dimensions (and time).

For example, there is the universe where a two hearted alien has a blue box that he travels throughout space and time in. However, Tom's world (as I understand it) is further out in the spectrum to the point that the 'technology' used by this non-medical doctor, wouldn't work.

Finally, I wouldn't assume there aren't some wizards that don't roam other planes and get in trouble, bring stuff back.

They just haven't brought enough back that's odd enough to have aroused suspicion or particular note.

DK series was great...that's going back in time...

Robots again...golems are much better and easier....

That mechanic may not exist, remember you are talking to Tizzy...

And not to put words in Tizzy's mouth, heaven forbid, I would never want to do that...

But I don't think he was implying anything bad about older books. Remember he's more centuries old than anyone seems to know (or at least care).

I myself am pretty jaundiced on newer works. By the time Robert Jordan came on the scene, I'd been so exhausted by the old archetypes that I'd already started on DoA, just for something different.

Now, there's been a lot of great stuff since then, but the market has also expanded tremendously and so weeding the garden for the gems (mixed metaphors) is a big chore.

Jane Austen rocks, I think she's the best English language plot generator since Billy Shakes...and quite frankly neither of them originated their plot lines they just perfected them to the point that everyone thinks they're the core script for everything since. Sort of like Lucille Ball and the sitcom.

So random hits of old books/authors I really like:

The Faerie Queen (tedious)
Le Morte d'Arthur (tedious)
Canterbury Tales (decent)

Jane Austen, Dickens, Shelly, Stoker, Cervantes, Baroness Emma Orczy (Scarlet Pimpernel), Alexander Dumas, Poe: All Great

Thomas Hardy, anyone named Bronte: Bleck....ick ick ick

Jules Verne: extremely original and good adventure (technical writing ~)
ERB (Edgar Rice Burroughs): original and good adventure (technically worse than Verne)
CS Lewis: Decent/light, get over the allegory already.
JRR Tolkien: Why read this guy when you can read Terry Brooks?
Charles L Dodgson (Lewis Carrol): Lot's of fun!
Frank Baum (Wiz Oz): I enjoyed these books.

EE Doc Smith: Totally bogus SF, but what a blast!

Alice Mary Norton (Andre Norton): Probably second to Heinlein in terms of prodigious quantity/quality. Not quite there on overall strength, but pioneering.
Robert Heinlein: The Grokiest and most versatile SF writer ever.
James Blish: Cities in Flight--in my memory that says it all. But he did a lot of other great stuff.
Ursula K. Le Guin: Wow.
Gardner DoZois: Fascinating
Philip K Dick: yes, they do dream of electric sheep

And with these last masters we are drug into the 60's/70's and what I consider modern SF/Fantasy. Add Frank Herbert in there to put some icing on the cake.

I could then go into a huge post on my favorite 60s/70s/80s authors. I think SF (not Fantasy) pretty much peaked during those 3 decades, Dick and Gibson signally the top of the mountains. (see manned space flight and moon landings, birth of computers)

Once we get to the 'post modern era' things start to dry up in terms of the greats.

Brom, Stephensen, Gaiman, GRRM...and others I am sure...but the bodies of work just isn't there yet for me to perceive them at these stratospheric levels.

But I'll take suggestions!

(in the pre-post modern era: A.Rice, PZB, Storm Constantine, Jordan until he sold out, Modessit until he sold out)

And if we want to talk authors that don't know when to end a story...I just have to throw in Piers Anthony (late modern), a guy who comes up with (CAME up with) some of the best ideas and greatest first, second and maybe third book, and then drives the story into the ground with a steam pile driver...

PS: And what I mean by sold out is, milking a story/series to death rather than creating new original storylines after the $$ starts rolling in.

PPS: Advanced Warning: If I can get a 99 book deal from some publisher, I may change my definition of sold out, and I may end up being Tizzy's slave!

Little Princess...I'd completely forgotten that one. That was good.

jack London's book were/are a major inspiration for another partially finished novel I am working on (currently about 400 pages) it's Science Fiction/post minor apocalypse

Have to look into Stinky Cheese etc.

Actually, what you might find interesting in Piers Anthony's books is--in some series/a few books, I think the ones that started with On A Pale Horse, he had these extra "from the author" pre-blog things. Basically he'd talk about stuff in his life and and his writing process.

I found those very interesting back in the 80's. They were basically blog entries a decade or more before the web was invented, they were just tacked on to the end of the book(s) like an appendix.

Getting to the magic worlds is probably the bigger problem for the demon, it's the creating the body on that plane that's hard to do. That's why you spawn half demon babies to go around collecting mana to help you come into the world.

Getting back short of dying is also very hard. In a really low mana world you either need to use Astral Travel (and so need another plane), Die (lose the expensive body) and return to the Abyss, or have someone with a lot of mana create a gateway from outside for bodily travel.

Telepathy is a form of animagic every where you go...the mentalists do it in Astlan (and Mind Reavers) so what you find in other worlds is pretty similar to that...it doesn't generally have a high energy requirement so it's great when levels are lower.

"Mutants" with a gift for ESP/Seeing/Scrying/Telepathy/Empathy etc are pretty common. These are people with a real gift for animagic....

I am thinking T-A-G has too, can't scry any recent ones on his bookshelves.