Jody Call

A Light Motive

Old demons never die, they simply dim their flames And decompose through all the crime scene stages Righteous hatred stiffening in the rigor of history Prodded and examined, Questioned and challenged, The images of fire debated and heat’s meaning discussed. Then decomposition sets in and infernal foulness Mulches down in parody and meme’s rich loam […]

First Page

With a guard at every door

And a lovely parable for the kiddies

The House of Stories

I wrote this ten years ago (heavens!) as part of a Phantom of the Opera fan event. It’s a short piece of fiction set during the formative years of the eponymous character and is connected to the character of the novel as opposed to any of the movie or theatrical interpretations. It is also the […]

Ramblers… let’s get rambling

First things first, if you have any interest in roleplaying games at all then go at once and subscribe to the Grognard Files. Don’t wait, delay or hesitate just go subscribe. I’ll tell you just why in this post but you may as well be downloading your first episodes while you read. The Grognard Files […]

Joshua, Genocide and the General

Originally published on my defunct LiveJournal page, now with added thoughts I’ve always regarded Story as a powerful force, using that rather simplistic term as a catch-all for myth, metaphor, internal-dialogue and other aspects that I’ve rarely bothered to sit down and define. A while ago, when I first discovered this blogging business, I wrote an […]

A Step Beyond Context – Amazon Sale!

Yes folks, the debut novel is marking the first anniversary of its release with a special ONE WEEK ONLY sale at amazon.com and amazon.co.uk – from 8am on 26th March until April 2nd you can pick up this reality-shifting novel of intrigue, adventure, magic and manners for less than a dollar (or less than a […]

The Magus and the Munchkins

“What the hell is that annoying sound?” I asked. “Munchkins. Singing. Sorry about that.” “Munchkins as in…” Wizard of Oz, yes. Sorry again. Not what you were expecting I’m sure.” “Well quite. I was expecting some sort of profound revelation about the nature of the universe, not just an irritating ear-worm from a musical. So […]

Clocks of ancient splendour

A new bit of roleplaying technology that I’ve fallen in love with is the idea of “clocks” – simple visual representations that the GM can present to the players to show the passage of time or the acceleration towards a goal or consequence. Typically they’re simple Pie-Chart type things (sometimes prettied up) with a number […]