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Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Weird Fiction and Sword & Sorcery GenCon Panels Moderated by SE

GenCon Writer's Symposium is back (Aug4-7, Indianapolis IN)
Check out the 119 Writer's Symp events: (75 panels, 42 workshops, the Meet-the-Pros and D&D-with-Authors events)

... this post highlights five panels...

Weird Fiction and Sword & Sorcery GenCon Panels

Moderated by SE (link):

Repulsive Appeal (SEM22214058)

Thursday, 11:00 AM EDT
Location: Marriott : Austin
How do we make horror appealing? Maurice Broaddus, Richard Dansky, Byron Leavitt, Jason Ray Carney, Steve Diamond, S.E. Lindberg (M)

BACK TO PULP (SEM22214087)

Friday, 10:00 AM EDT
Location: Marriott : Austin
Pulp is back! Why? And how do you do it right? Jaym Gates, Richard Lee Byers: Howard Andrew Jones; Jason Ray Carney, S.E. Lindberg (M)

Gamifying Stories and Storifying Games (SEM22214106)

Friday, 2:00 PM EDT
Location: Marriott : Blrm 1
Translating from one media to the other. Jennifer Brozek, Byron Leavitt, Matt John, Lucien Soulban, S.E. Lindberg (M)

Sword & Sorcery Renaissance in Writing (SEM22214118)

Friday, 4:00 PM EDT
Location: Marriott : Blrm 1
Is the genre coming back? Did it ever go away? Jaym Gates, Daniel Myers, Howard Andrew Jones, Matthew John; Jason Ray Carney, Paul Weimer, S.E. Lindberg (M)

SWORD & SORCERY PASTICHE (SEM22214157)

Saturday, 5:00 PM EDT
Location: Marriott : Blrm 4
How to adopt someone's writing style, and where to blur the line to original. Howard Andrew Jones, Matthew John, Jason Ray Carney, S.E. Lindberg (M)

Monday, August 12, 2019

GenCon 2019 - Bloodborne and Dawn-of-Madness

Dawn of Madness Preview - Byron Leavitt game writer

I got sucked into Diemension Game's cooperative dungeon crawler Deep Madness. Their follow up prequel promises to be as weird (hopefully less difficult), and a very different experience. Hints of this game 's art were shown on the Deep-Madness Kickstarter. Dawn of Madness will be Kickstarted in a few months (Fall 2019): check out the preview Kickstarter page.

Byron Leavitt, the lead writer for the game, demonstrated the prototype game via the storybook "Emily's Realm". I learned that this game plays more like a choose-your-own-adventure book on steroids than it does a dungeon crawler. It is a co-operative nightmare in which each player has their nightmares meshed with the others. The party is guaranteed a story ending based on decision and encounters, but the ending depends on which character is affected the most during gameplay.

Instead of using lots of tiles to make a gameboard(like in Deep Madness) a single spider-web board with blank identifiers is reused; areas are identified/assigned locations based on the story (i.e., Emily's house). Time and actions are tracked with a ladder-like system (see Roman numeral track in below image with character chits).

Most appealing, is the way characters "level up"/devolve as they experience their mental issues. These even have various miniatures, so as Emily explores her past she may transform into some demon-like thing. There are several currencies that each represent mental parameters--I forget the specifics but recall one color being akin to anxiety, for instance.

Image credits: Deep Madness Kickstarter update Aug 2019

Dawn of Madness Preview 1

Check out our preview Kickstarter page at http://bit.ly/DoMPreview! It may be a late Dawn of Madness Friday, but we're coming back with a doozy! Here is our first video in a new series diving deep into Dawn of Madness before the Kickstarter launches in mid- to late-September, describing why Dawn of Madness is not just another board game: it is, instead, a horror experience in a board game. (Sorry for the choppy editing and the questionable quality, guys: I really wanted to get this out today, so I put it together over the course of a few hours.) More to come! #Kickstarter #boardgames #horror #survivalhorror #crowdfunding #miniatures #dawnofmadness

Posted by Diemension Games on Friday, August 9, 2019

Bloodborne CMON – Michael Shinall

As fans of the Bloodborne video game (and huge fans CMON's Zombicide games), my son and I went all-in on the Bloodborne Board Game Kickstarter.

At GenCon we listened to co-designer Michael Shinall walk through the game.

Keen-eyed readers may spot my son,

Monday, January 25, 2021

God, Darkness, & Wonder: An Interview with Byron Leavitt

This post is synchronized with a simulcast on BlackGate.com (Jan 25, 2021 posting).

Art & Beauty in Weird/Fantasy Fiction

It is not intuitive to seek beauty in art deemed grotesque/weird, but most authors who produce horror/fantasy actually are usually (a) serious about their craft, and (b) driven by strange muses. These interviews engage contemporary authors & artists on the theme of “Art & Beauty in Weird/Fantasy Fiction.” Recent guests on Black Gate have included Darrell Schweitzer, Sebastian Jones, Charles Gramlich, Anna Smith Spark, & Carol Berg. This one features Byron Leavitt, novelist and game-author for Diemension Games.

Byron Leavitt is also the author of the bizarre children’s novel The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle (To Say Nothing of the Demon) and the non-fiction book Of Hope and Cancer: One Man’s Story of God, Darkness, and Wonder, as well as the story content for the board game Deep Madness and its accompanying book Shattered Seas (recently reviewed on BlackGate). Byron is currently working on the storybooks for the forthcoming Deep Madness prequel Dawn of Madness, a story-driven horror experience in a board game.

“Darkness. Light. Wonder. Beauty. God. Tentacles. Those who know me best would say that pretty well sums me up.” - Byron Leavitt

(1) WHAT’S THE SCOOP WITH YOUR ICONIC FEDORA? IS IT HIDING TENTACLES?

BL: Definitely. Actually, I never used to like hats. But then one of my characters, who I thought was a really cool guy, wore a fedora, so I decided maybe hats weren’t so bad. I bought a fedora on a trip and have been wearing them ever since. I suppose that’s an instance of life imitating art.

*Dawn of Madness - Emily Hawkins Mutations*

(2) BODY HORROR, MUTATIONS & CANCER

SE: You went into remission from recurring Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and a bone marrow transplant, which you discuss in your book Of Hope and Cancer. Considering that, and your penchant for mutating characters in Deep Madness (in which characters mutate into tentacled creatures) and Dawn of Madness (in which every character/wanderer has three alternate versions of his or herself; see inset images of Emily and Lynas’s malformations), we have to delve into how your condition affected your writing. Please tell us how your cancer experience shaped your art (nightmares)?

BL: That’s an excellent question! To be perfectly honest, though, I don’t think my experiences there influenced me that much. I know that’s a boring answer, but I was pretty weird before I got cancer. Plus, I really can’t take credit for a lot of the ideas in Deep and Dawn. Roger Ho, Cherry Li, and the Diemension Games team formed the basics for most of the characters before bringing them to me to flesh out.

I can think of one area that may have impacted me, though – or at least skewed me even further in a specific direction. I’ve always loved monsters and felt a strong connection to them, but I think my experience deepened those feelings. People tend to treat you differently when you have cancer (or likely any serious disease or condition). Or, rather, they don’t know how to treat you. You become diseased, unusual, and scary to them. You transform into an outsider, and others lose all sense of how to handle this “new you.” They don’t mean anything by it, and it’s not even necessarily a conscious action, but looking at you is just too close to staring at their own mortality. So, in a sense, you become a monster to them: a cautionary tale that is easiest to deal with if avoided, or a dark specter they know is real but which they want to put out of their minds. I think it’s very likely that this influenced me, drawing me even closer to empathizing with those on the fringes: the outsiders – and the monsters.

(3) FINDING BEAUTY IN DARK PLACES

SE: I post an excerpt from your book Of Hope and Cancer in which you describe finding beauty from places everyone else runs from. Given this, and your passion for horror, can you speak on the appeal of art that many may feel is repulsive? What joy do you get from playing in bloody rain?

“Beauty in the Rain: Oftentimes when it begins to rain, I will decide it is time to go for a walk. I will put on my coat and my hat, and as everyone else flees indoors I will step out into the downpour and tumult to begin the trek down our long gravel driveway. I smell the freshly cleaned air. I hear the rain colliding with the leaves, the branches, the road. And I feel the beauty of something greater than me. I find myself steeping in awe, being consumed by wonder. … Don’t get me wrong: I know that the rain is wet and cold and at times even oppressive. I understand why people would want to avoid it. I even do myself sometimes. But I also think that by not stepping out into the rain, by not taking that chance of getting wet, we sometimes miss out on the beauty that is as fresh as a glistering raindrop on a flower.” - Byron Leavitt

BL: I have a dirty secret: my main goal is not to scare people with my writing. (Except for Dawn of Madness – though even that one has layers.) I am much more interested in taking readers to places they’ve never been and filling them with a sense of wonder and awe. Then, any other emotions or feelings accompanying those two sensations are a bonus that comes with the territory. I have heard other authors and creators who I respect say something like this as well. Junji Ito comes immediately to mind (who everyone should read whether they like manga or not.) In the realm of film, Guillermo del Toro has expressed similar sentiments. I think Lovecraft himself must have felt similarly to some degree, which is one reason why I believe his stories still resonate with people despite all the hang-ups and roadblocks that now exist between him and new readers. He took you to places you had never seen before. He stole your breath away first with the setting, the adventure, and the dazzling, wondrous “what if.” Then he crushed your lungs with the massive, incomprehensible otherworldliness of it all when you finally realized what was going on. This is the kind of horror that really gets me: the stuff that causes its reader to say, “Whoa…” before it makes her yelp, “GAH!” And if the two can be intertwined along the way, all the better. (The movie Annihilation is one of my favorites for this very reason.)

I am implacably drawn to awe. I feel like my life’s mission is, in a sense, to cultivate wonder. And I think these emotions are almost always tied to discovery, which very often plumbs life’s uncharted dark fringes. Exploring the unknown can be a truly exhilarating, life-changing (or affirming) experience. But it’s also one of the things that scare us the most. A massive chunk of horror revolves around the fear of the unknown and what exists in that nebulous, uncharted place – whether that place is the woods, the ocean, another planet, a long-forgotten temple, or just in the darkness itself. What exists beyond our solid, everyday walls of concrete and steel? What happens when you peel back the skin of what we perceive as reality and peer underneath? It’s very easy when exploring to find something absolutely breathtaking. But, at the very next moment, that same beautiful discovery can reveal its wild unearthly underbelly and send a thrill of terror shivering down your spine.

Dawn of Madness - Lynas Gershwin Priest Character

(4) DO YOU THINK GOD ENJOYS HORROR?

SE: You have written that you see God as “co-authoring” your destiny/fate. So it seems you have a spiritual god/muse who likes to write. Many may laugh at that, and it is funny I suppose, but many horror writers are not promoting violence or wishing fear on others. So why would God want to write in the horror genre?

BL: Writing is a form of creation, and the Judeo-Christian Bible starts with God doing just that: creating. And I don’t personally think he was just forming what we would typically consider beautiful: He was fashioning the dark, squirmy things like the angler fish, the eel, and the spider. And I consider that a comforting thought. In fact, when I was growing up, the two things that made me think I wasn’t wholly deranged were deep-sea life and the book of Revelation from the Bible.

Some things are absolutely terrifying to us without being innately evil or devious in themselves: they’re just not a part of our framework or within our comfort zone. For example, the book of Revelation is chock full of uncanny, horrifying beings – and most of them are the good guys. Actually, the stuff in there (as well as in other places, like Isaiah and Ezekiel) is so extreme that some people think I’m borderline blasphemous when I discuss it with them. For instance, there are angelic beings (possibly the Seraphim or their relatives, though they aren’t explicitly named) who are entirely covered with eyes. As in, they have dozens (or hundreds) of eyes blinking all over their bodies and six wings. Plus, only one of them has a human face, and I’m not sure any of them has a human shape. Then there’s Jesus, who is depicted in several ways. One is as a lamb who has been cut open – who also happens to have seven eyes and seven horns. He takes and holds a scroll, too, making me think he must have hands. And it further seems likely to me that he must be standing on two legs as he opens and reads the sealed scroll. Then, in another place, he has white hair that glistens like snow, eyes that burn like flames, a face as bright as the sun, and a literal sword for a tongue. He holds seven burning stars in his hand and, when he speaks, his voice is as loud and layered as multiple rivers rushing at once. “Meek and mild” my butt.

To actually answer your question, though, I don’t know that God so much likes to write in horror as that he just specializes in the strange and unexpected. Having said that, I have often felt like watching horror has brought me closer to God, or at least made me consider the world in a different way. I know that sounds patently ridiculous, but hear me out. Horror is, in my opinion, the genre most likely to step beyond the bounds of normalcy – even more so than science fiction or fantasy (though both of those can and do.) And it’s outside of that space where I am most likely to experience something beyond myself. So, I am more likely to see or consider something that makes me look at things in a different way while watching horror. (This is not always the case, obviously, and it might not even be the truth most of the time. No one has ever had an epiphany while watching a Jason movie, for instance.) It also doesn’t hurt that many horror movies have what I would call a spiritual component. Some are more blatant – and more of a gut punch – than others. The Conjuring films come immediately to mind, and so does The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Or the indie movie Ink. Or the Japanese picture Re-Cycle. Even The Exorcist itself (and certainly The Excorcist TV show.) There’s also the Showtime show Penny Dreadful. Alternatively, in books, many of Stephen King’s works have a spiritual aspect, such as The Stand. I’m not saying these things are common in horror, but they may be more common than in any other genre right now.

Light is most discernable in darkness. So, in my mind, the darkest genre can be a wonderful place to find (or create) sparks of light. I guess I’ve always just seen “wondrous” and “terrifying” as siblings, or two sides of the same coin – much like light and dark. And I can easily draw one out of the other. Furthermore, if the Bible is to be believed, then so can God: “…Darkness was over the face of the deep… And God said, ‘Let there be light.’”

(5) RELIGION IN WEIRD ART

SE: Sticking with the religion theme. Your website has a tab for Weird Church that is awaiting content, and Shattered Seas features an Irish priest with Connor Durham...and Dawn of Madness will feature Lynas! Please discuss how/why you feature religion in your work?

BL: Religion is a huge part of me, and so is weirdness. I felt for a long time like I was living in two worlds: in one I had to fit in a square hole, and in the other I was pushed into a round one. The problem is, I’m more of an octopus shape. Octopuses are good at squeezing into a variety of spaces, but every once in a while they just want to be an octopus. So, Weird Church is going to be my attempt to unite those two worlds. A lot of my writing, too, is really me trying to merge those two realms, or at least play in both at once. I don’t think they have to be exclusive domains. In fact, I think in many ways they are surprisingly complimentary.

Lynas actually was a creation of the team, so I can’t take credit for him. Connor, however, is entirely mine. Whether I create them or not, though, I usually seem to find anchor characters in most projects I work on who can kind of ground me in whatever I’m doing. Connor was that character in Shattered Seas for me. Samuel was that investigator in the main Deep Madness game. And Lynas is probably that wanderer in Dawn of Madness. Beyond that, though, I often try to interweve themes into my stories like redemption and sacrifice, or things that will offer glimmers of light in the claustrophobic emptiness. Those foundational Judeo-Christian bedrocks are what often makes a character and a story compelling to me. That doesn’t mean things always go well: actually, it seems like they normally go pretty terribly. But having those flickers of hope in the darkness and seeing how the characters respond to adversity is, for me at least, what gives the work a depth it would otherwise lack.

There is a mystery, a sacredness, that I feel is missing from our world today. We have lost that weighty sense of Other in our largely empty materialistic lives. I find the wonder, the beauty, we have lost in religion and myth. That isn’t to say I discount science or anything of the like: I love studying science. But I do have a major problem with materialism. It is very hard for something to nourish the soul when it doesn’t believe or acknowledge that the soul exists. I believe religion and the sacred fill that cavernous void left by the yawning emptiness of our materialistic worldviews.

(6) YOUR CHARACTERS

SE: Which character do you identify most with? The writer in Dawn of Madness? Connor Durham or Lucas Kane from Shattered Seas? And I need to learn more about Dr. William West who emerges as the most interesting non-playable character and even antagonist in Shattered Seas, the core Deep Madness story and its Oracle’s Betrayal expansion. He obviously resonates with you. Tell us about him.

BL: There’s a little bit of me in most of my characters, and I love just about all of them for different reasons. My favorite for Shattered Seas is probably Connor Durham, though Charles Ryan (the closest I’ll likely ever come to combining Jason Momoa and a Bioshock Big Daddy) is definitely up there, too. After them, probably Min Wang and Mitsuko Takenaka, and then maybe Regan Waite and William West.

William was a creation of the team (as were all of the Deep Madness investigators,) and they had the basic structure for him in place before I came along. But he’s definitely a fun character to play with. Roger Ho (Diemension’s lead designer/creative director/CEO/fearless leader) was a little surprised by how evil William ended up being in Shattered Seas, but he’s always been that level of monster in my mind. It’s always a kick playing with a character who is simultaneously brilliant, deranged, and deluded like William. It’s also fun playing with characters who are in more of a grey area, like Regan Waite. I don’t think I’ve really done more than scrape the surface with her. I’m honestly still not entirely sure if she’s good or evil, and I think that’s probably a good thing.

(7) WORKING ON A TEAM/SHARED UNIVERSE

SE: With Shattered Seas Leavitt extends the world created by the Diemension Game team (with designers Roger Ho, Cherry Li, Chauncey, and Yichuan Wang, whom Byron dedicated the book to… in addition to the KS backers). How does the creative process work with the team (game designers, artists, writer/you, your backers)? Like, do you have any input on character design or creation, or just the story? Can we expect more novels associated with Diemension Games?

BL: Working with Roger, Cherry, and the gang is fantastic. It’s certainly the best experience I’ve had working on a team. Most of the time, the characters are created by Roger and Cherry and then sent to me to flesh out. I work closely with Roger to make sure the stories are in-line with their vision, and usually put a bit of my own spin on it. One barrier we have is that we live in different countries, so it can be difficult for us all to follow along with every step. But we manage.

As for if there will be more Diemension Games novels, I certainly hope so. We have a lot on our plate right now between Dawn of Madness and Celestial, but I would certainly love to dig deeper into our different worlds in the future if the chance presents itself.

(8) WHAT SCARES YOU? IS IT BEAUTIFUL?

BL: A number of things make me cringe or tense up, but I think the thing that actually scares me is probably the idea of oblivion: Specifically, the idea that, behind everything, there is ultimately nothing but true unending emptiness. I think it’s an easy thing to romanticize and treat as beautiful, and I’ve seen many people attempt to do it. But to me it’s not. By its very definition, it would be cold, empty, and void. It would be anti-being. The very idea of beauty is meaningless there, and so is everything else. I think this should scare every intellectually honest person, and if the nihility itself doesn’t then the lines of thought birthed from its implications certainly should.

(9) OTHER DARK ARTS: YOUR DRAWINGS

SE: Do you practice other arts other than writing (spellcasting counts)? If so, can we share them (i.e., images of fine or graphic art) or mp3s/videos (of music). Likewise, can you discuss how art can from one medium can inform/inspire another?

BL: Ha! I don’t know that I’d call anything I’ve done “fine art.” I create a lot of different things, but the only one I would consider myself even halfway passable at is writing. What makes it even worse, perhaps, is that most of my work outside of writing has been the product of necessity. I don’t know, maybe that makes it more forgivable, but regardless, I’m definitely all about that guerilla DIY and duct tape.

Having said that, I do many things (even if not very many of them well.) I love creating in whatever form presents itself at the time. I’ve dabbled with art, mixed media, book design, web design, graphic design, sculpture, miniature painting, and other stuff. I sing, but I don’t have any instrument that I can say I’m particularly good at. I would love to get significantly better at many of these things I’ve mentioned. I guess time will tell if I succeed or not. Having said that, you asked, so here are a couple of sketches I made for my upcoming book The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle (To Say Nothing of the Demon). Like I said, they’re pretty mediocre. But hopefully the subject matter will at least be interesting.

As far as how different mediums can influence one another, I find that I’m an awful lot like a sponge. When I’m writing, I absorb stuff from wherever I can and then squeeze it back out into the story. Sometimes it’s from a board game miniature, or an art book, or a movie, or a video game. I can’t tell you how many items I ”sponged” for Shattered Seas, but there were a ton, including the video game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings, a book of sketches used in Alien: Covenant, both the movie and the book Annihilation, the movies Silent Hill and Prometheus, bits and bobs from Guillermo del Toro, the news (part of it was written during the pandemic’s early days), and a bunch of miniatures (both Diemension Games stuff and others.) Furthermore, I’m constantly listening to music when I’m writing. Interestingly, when I don’t listen to music, my output is almost always significantly lower than when I am. It’s almost like I must have something going in to get something out. I know there are some writers who have to work in utter quiet. I am not one of those writers. In fact, I almost can’t do it.

(10) MOVIE INFLUENCES

SE: Reading Shattered Seas, there is a scene that evoked the 1980 Superman 2 movie with Christopher Reeve. The villains (General Zod, Ursa and Non) were banished from Krypton into a 2D plane called the Phantom Zone. Also, the exhuming of the mysterious, submerged Sphere in Deep Madness reminded me of the 1987 adaptation of Michael Crichton’s “Sphere.” How have movies affected your work?

BL: Oh, man. I almost can’t quantify to what degree movies have influenced my work. They’re huge for me – and for the rest of the Diemension Games team, too. I don’t know that anyone actually has an accurate count of the number of references and influences there are in the Deep Madness board game. I think we regretted some of them later on, specifically when we decided we wanted to go in a more serious direction and expand the game’s setting into its own universe. But it doesn’t change the fact that those influences are all over the place.

Personally, I’m influenced immensely by a variety of directors and films. My favorite director is Guillermo del Toro, not just for his films but also for his take on monsters and some of his views on life and art. I think of him as a kindred spirit in many ways. I’m also influenced by many other directors and films. I love Darren Aronofsky, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, David Lynch, and anyone or anything that is weird and awesome. The list of movies that have inspired me is too long to write down for this interview.

As for Sphere, that reference is certainly intentional, though I’ve tried to steer us away from straight-up mimicry of it. (Whether I’ve succeeded or not is up to others to decide.) Sadly, the Superman 2 similarity is purely coincidental, as I’ve never seen it.

(11) Future Works

Outside of Diemension Games, your website mentions a world of Alayaka, and has a tab for Weird Church. Do tell! Or perhaps stay in the Diemension Games scope and tell us about your part in Celestial or Twisted Fables.

BL: On the personal side, Weird Church is currently a little Facebook group I’m starting for those geeks, artists, nerds, and weirdos who also want to pursue God, wonder, weirdness, and something beyond ourselves. It’s not actually a church, but it is definitely weird. Apart from that, the next novel I’m going to release will be the previously mentioned The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle (To Say Nothing of the Demon), which is a very strange, quirky little book about a boy named Jonah and a talking salmon named Stuart who strike out across the dimensions to stop the demon responsible for eating Jonah’s parents. After that, I hope to release my epic novel Alayaka, which is kind of a cross between dark fantasy, steampunk, body horror, and The Chronicles of Narnia. (A lot of writers have that one book they’ve obsessed over for years, and Alayaka is that for me.) I also have a bunch of short stories I’d like to get out if I can, including one of my favorite stories called “The Dance of the Krakens.” We’ll see how all of that goes.

On the Diemension Games side, our big projects right now are Dawn of Madness and Celestial. Dawn of Madness is a story-driven horror game that we hope will actually scare people (which I’m writing a bunch of books for), and Celestial is an epic game for 1-2 players that I like to describe as a cross between Chinese mythology, cyberpunk, steampunk, Lovecraftian horror, and Game of Thrones. Twisted Fables is a smaller 2 or 4-player fighting game that features reimagined fairytale heroines such as Red Riding Hood the cybernetic assassin and Little Mermaid the harbinger of the Kraken. It’s currently being manufactured. We’re also hoping to expand on our first game, Deep Madness, in the near future.

If you’d like to learn more about Diemension Games’ projects, you can find us on our website at https://diemensiongames.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/diemensiongames. If you’d like to follow me specifically, then you can find me on my website at https://byronleavitt.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ByronCLeavitt. You can also email me at byron@diemensiongames.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Last of all, I just wanted to say thanks, Seth, for the chance to do this interview. It’s been a blast!

Thank go to you, Byron, for sharing!

Exalted Blasphemies - Fan Made Expansion for Deep Madness Boardgame

This is a portal page to a variety of other posts, all regarding my immersion into the Depp Madness universe. Phil Blake, an (the?) uber fan of Deep Madness (Diemension Games), painter of miniatures, and game addict had a vision: make playable scenarios for all the epic monsters" from the Kickstarter Campaign who did not get a proper one.

For those not familiar, Kickstarter enables Diemension Games to crowdfund a cosmic-horror dungeon crawler; extra monsters (i.e. bosses) were designed as miniatures as stretch goals (bonuses). However, so many Epic Monsters were funded, they were birthed without scenarios to play them. Of course, the bosses could be inserted into existing scenarios, but they did get specific scenarios designed for them!

Phil Blake championed the fan community to get a team together, and I played a small part: writing intro stories for two Epic Monsters scenarios to fill the gap. Many others helped Phil Blake, and he has been gracious in communicating thanks to all. This post reveals how to access the entire expansion. My stories can be read in the other two posts revealed today:

Exalted Blasphemies Fan-Made Expansion for Deep Madness <-- You are here
Hunger Pains (for Omega Ravenous Epic Monster) Story
Dimension Sickness (for Dimension Rift Epic Monster) Story

Deep Madness - Scenario Guide, Interview & Book Review

As it turns out, I have already worked with Phil Blake to create the Deep Madness scenario guide (Scenario Guides version 8, link): How many scenarios are there across all the official expansions? Where does one start? How does the story develop...and which ones feature your favorite epic monster? The guide has it all.

Alas, my OCD extended further in the past. I had already cornered Deep Madness writer Byron Leavitt for a Black Gate magazine interview. This goes into his creative process, his cancer challenges, and his work with the Diemension Games team. Also, I reviewed his Deep Madness inspired novel Shattered Seas.

Here's how to access and print the entire Exalted Blasphemies Expansion

I'm simply reposting the instructions Phil Blake came up with. Generally, if you are a fan of the game (or plan to become one) you are invited to join the Deep Madness Fans on Facebook ... and secondarily the Board Game Geek community. In both places, you'll find all the scenario guides and expansions.

Just want to print a PDF yourself at home? Grab the PDF here:

Facebook File Link to Expansion Info (link goes to Version 2.0 made Oct 16th, 2022)
BGG Link to Expansion Info

Want to print a hardcover via Lulu? Follow Phil's instructions (copy/pasted from his post):

This is the Interior content of Exalted Blasphemies, designed for use for professional printing in hardback. You will also require the separate cover file that can be found here:

link to cover on Facebook Files

Instructions on how to get it professionally printed are found further below:  

Exalted Blasphemies is a fan-made expansion for Deep Madness, focussed around granting specific scenarios for the Epic monsters that where available as paid add-ons during the KS campaigns. I hope people in turn get more life out of these epic monsters and enjoy the selection of diverse scenarios and stories contained within this free expansion, and the greatest reward would be seeing photos of people playing the scenarios or commenting on the stories. 

Hardcover Printing Instructions for Lulu

Since this is a free, fan-made book, I am not morally or legally allowed to set up a print on demand distribution. Which means you will need to set up an account with a print on demand company and upload files for printing (for personal use only). The directions I list below are for the company Lulu, but you are free to use any print on demand company you choose. 
Go to lulu.com and create an account.
Under the CREATE tab, click the PRINT BOOKS option.
Click the button START YOUR PRINT BOOK
Enter your login credentials
In the START YOUR PROJECT section, choose PRINT BOOK
In the SELECT YOUR GOAL section, choose PRINT YOUR BOOK. (Do NOT select Publish your book for sale on Amazon. You will get sued.  )
In the BOOK DETAILS section, enter a project title of your choice. I recommend Exalted Blasphemies. Enter a language and CATEGORY, which is required.
Click the DESIGN YOUR PROJECT button at the bottom of the page to proceed to the Design page
In the INTERIOR FILE UPLOAD section, upload the file named "Exalted Blasphemies Interior Final PDF" 
Wait for the file to upload and normalize. This can take a few minutes. Be patient and get yourself a cold beverage.
When the upload finishes, you will see some warnings. Like most warnings in life, feel free to ignore these.
In the BOOK SPECIFICATIONS section, the BOOK SIZE AND PAGE COUNT should already be pre-filled at US letter and 34 pages, respectively.
In the INTERIOR COLOR section, choose COLOR PREMIUM for the best quality color.
In the PAPER TYPE section, choose 80# COATED WHITE for the best paper quality.
In the BOOK BINDING section, choose HARDCOVER. Feel free to choose a different binding if that floats your boat.
In the COVER FINISH section, choose GLOSSY or MATTE, your choice. 
Wait a moment for the PRINT COST to load. For me it was almost £12. This is a printing fee for Lulu, and I do not receive a penny of this, nor does Diemension Games. 
In the DESIGN YOUR COVER section, make sure the UPLOAD COVER FILE option is selected.
Upload the file named "Cover Exalted Blasphemies PDF"
After a minute, the PREVIEW will load. This preview will give you a basic idea of what the book will be like, but it is just a preview and not super-high quality. (note the final picture of Forsaken does not show on the preview but will still print.)
When you are ready, click the REVIEW BOOK link at the bottom.
This brings you to a page where you can review the final specifications. Click the checkbox next to CONFIRM BOOK SPECIFICATIONS AND FILES
Click the ADD TO CART button when it becomes enabled
Click the CART icon at the top of the page and make the purchase. The shipping for me was around £3.50, but of course that will vary depending where you are located. (Also keep an eye out for discount codes on the home page.)
Feel free to print a copy for  yourself or your friends, but DO NOT PRINT COPIES FOR SALE.
Note: The hardback book you receive from Lulu will not be perfect. There might be alignment issues with the binding, scratches,  the interior margins might be tight, and the endsheets will be a boring white. That being said, it will still kick ass!

A massive thanks goes to Fabio Faletti for his many, many hours (and so many edits) to make this document as graphically pleasing as possible. Just don't mention the Forsaken. 
Seth Lindberg and Saamm Dean Dean for contributing their artistic talent to provide additional stories and share that burden as well as additional proof reading.
Oscar Bok and Mark Turner for their time in playtesting these horrific scenarios to make sure things played smoothly, made sense and asking all those great questions.
and also to Byron Leavitt and the rest of the DM team for generally providing support, sharing files and keeping the community engaged.

Lastly credit to Ken Meyri whom paved the way in organising fan made content to be professionally printed, and whose instructions to achieve this I shamelessly stole.

Sunday, May 21, 2023

BEAUTY AND NIGHTMARES ON ALIENS WORLDS: INTERVIEWING C. S.FRIEDMAN

Simulcast on Black Gate: BEAUTY AND NIGHTMARES ON ALIENS WORLDS: INTERVIEWING C. S.FRIEDMAN

We have an ongoing series at Black Gate on the topic of “Beauty in Weird Fiction” where we corner an author and query them about their muses and methods to make ‘repulsive’ things ‘attractive to readers.’ Previous subjects have included Darrell Schweitzer, Anna Smith Spark, Carol Berg, Stephen Leigh, Jason Ray Carney, and John C. Hocking (see the full list at the end of this post).

Inspired by the release of Nightborn: Coldfire Rising (July 2023, see Black Gate’s review for more information), we are delighted to interview C.S. Freidman! Since the late 1990’s she has established herself as a master of dark fantasy and science fiction, being a John W. Campbell award finalist and author of the highly acclaimed Coldfire trilogy and This Alien Shore (New York Times Notable Book of the Year 1998).

Let’s learn about C. S. Friedman’s muses & fears, her experience with art, and tease a future TV series!

SEL: Tell us about your fascination with Human vs Alien Colonization, and the struggle over shared souls/minds/psyches. That foundation resonates across This Alien Shore, The Madness Season (the Tyr’s gestalt-mind), the Coldfire series (via the ethereal fae), and the Magister Trilogy (consumable souls!).

CSF: Science fiction and fantasy offer an opportunity for us to step outside of our normal human perspective, questioning things we normally take for granted. What better vehicle could there be for this than to have humans confront a non-human being or force? Or to have two souls battle over a single identity? Such stories invite us to question what ‘identity’ really means, and whether the assumptions we make about the world are rooted in some kind of universal reality, or are simply a human construct.

One of my favorite creations is the first story I decided to publish, which wound up being chapter 11 in my first book, In Conquest Born. Stranded on an alien world, a human telepath is forced to seek mental communion with an alien race. In doing so, she must surrender her human identity, because the manner in which these aliens perceive the world is not something a human psyche can comprehend. One must see reality through their eyes to understand them. That is a repeated theme in my work.

One of my favorite stories that someone else wrote was published many years ago in Asimov’s SF magazine. It was Nancy Kress’s “A Delicate Shade of Kipley.” It takes place on a world where constant fog makes everything appear gray, so that the entire world is drained of color. The humans who landed there desperately hunger for color and treasure the few colorful pictures of Earth that they have managed to salvage. To their child who was born there, however, the grey world has its own kind of beauty, and she relishes fine gradations of gray as her parents once relished the brilliant colors of a rainbow. (“A Delicate Shade of Kipley” can be found in Isaac Asimov: Science Fiction Masterpieces)

Jeszika Le Vye’s cover for Nightborn prominently features the fae even more so than the striking trilogy covers by Whelan (more on those below); we learn in the novella Dominion (bundled with Nightborn) that the fae has colors (to those blessed to see them). The alien energy seems to be both muse and nightmare, and we’d love to learn your take on them. Do you envision your own nightmares and muses this way?

No, my nightmares are much more mundane. The most terrifying ones involve the American Health Care system 😊.

The fae is described: Earth-fae is a luminescent blue, dark fae the intense purplish glow of a UV lamp, solar fae gold. One of the opening scenes in Jaggonath takes place when an earthquake hits, and the wards on buildings pulse with visible blue power. The fae is beautiful and energizing and terrifying, all at once.

I was thrilled to find some pictures of bioluminescent ocean waves while I was working on Nightborn. No doubt my cry of “Oh my God, it’s the fae!” could be heard for miles. The eerie beauty of rippling blue light as it ebbed and flowed with the waves was mesmerizing, and that will be my image of it forever, now that I have found those videos (here’s a link to sample them).

The Coldfire Series, cover art by Michael Whelan

What scares you? Is it beautiful?

“I was afraid that if I became a happier person I would not be able to write dark fiction” — C.S. Friedman

What scares me most is the darkness in my own soul, the capacity for depression that can cause me to sabotage my own life and undermine my own spirit. The only thing positive I will say about it is that I drew upon my experience with depression in my early books when I depicted psychological darkness. In fact, I recall when I was first diagnosed and offered anti-depressants, I was afraid that if I became a happier person I would not be able to write dark fiction. And it is harder now, to be sure.

There is a song by the band Renaissance, Black Flame. It tells the story of someone struggling against inner darkness, in powerfully evocative poetry. For me it has always reflected that terrible inner seduction, the darkness that can drive a human soul to lose sight of its path, and ultimately destroy itself. Here is the song on Youtube, and here are the lyrics.

Here is another piece they did in which psychological darkness becomes hauntingly beautiful. (A radio contest declared it “the most depressing song ever.”). I believe the original music is by Bach.

There is a dark beauty in such songs, and I hope in my writing.

Do you detect beauty in art/fiction that appears to be repulsive (weird/ horror)? Any advice for writers on how to strike the right balance to keep readers engaged?

What is beauty? Is it something that is “pretty?” or a deeper, more visceral quality? Classically beautiful things transfix us, but we will also stop at the site of a road accident, mesmerized by its horror. Against our will, we want to see it.

Gerald Tarrant is the essence of human beauty, described as nearly angelic in appearance. When he walks through a room, everyone notices him, and women are magnetically drawn to him. But it is the horror of that appearance being wedded to pure evil that makes us want to read about him — that makes it impossible for us to look away. It is when the nature of something horrific fascinates us that we cannot turn our eyes away, no matter how much we want to.

“… it is the horror of that appearance being wedded to pure evil that makes us want to read about [Tarrant].” – C. S. Friedman

Fashion Muse: You were formerly trained in Costume Design [link]), creating for professional theater, PBS, and all sorts of productions; you even were a lecturer on the topic for years. Do you still dabble in fashion arts, and how does that influence your prose and/or character design?

Not really. I was in an abusive job situation for 13 years and I burned out pretty badly. Knowledge of aesthetic principles and fashion history inform my descriptions, of course, but I have left that field behind in favor of writing and teaching. Sometimes I miss it, but what I miss is the pleasure I originally took in it, not what it became. There are too many bad memories now. I sew when I have to, not for pleasure.

What other muses inspire you (i.e., for your bead jewelry [link]), and does that creativity spill over to writing?

I took up glasswork because it was different from my writing, using different parts of the brain, explorations of color and texture rather than language. It speaks to a different side of my creativity, which is why I enjoy it.

Do you identify with your protagonists?

No, and sometimes I feel like I am unique among writers in not having a personal connection to my characters. I have been on writing panels where writers talk about how they talk to their characters, or sense what their characters want to do…I just write them. They are my creations. I relate to them as I would relate to clay I was molding into a sculpture, or glass I was wrapping around a mandrel. I am deeply invested in them as creations, but not as people.

The Magister Series – cover art by John Jude Palencar

Let’s talk about covers & how artists depict your characters via illustrations. Gerald Tarrant was famously adapted in the Michael Whelan cover for the Coldfire trilogy) and Kamala from the Magister Series depicted by the renowned John Jude Palencar. Traditionally, authors have no say in the cover art design, but I’m curious about your experience. Did the costume designer in you have any influence or comment on those?

I have been permitted to offer input into my covers, to varying degrees. This is something that evolved over time. I studied graphic art in college, and of course I spent years as a theatrical designer, so I have enough understanding of graphic design to offer meaningful input, and I have always understood that the purpose of a cover is to help market the book. Over time, my editor learned that I could offer meaningful suggestions in that context, so I have been allowed to do so.

Any current or future endeavors we can pitch? More Coldfire? In August 2022, Deadline reported The Coldfire Trilogy may become a TV series; also according to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, you have plans for another Coldfire novella will be focused on Gerald Tarrant bringing faith to his world, even as darkness begins to take root within his own soul.

The most exciting news right now is my novel Nightborn, which is coming out in July. It tells the story of the founding of Erna and mankind’s discovery of the fae, and is one of the most intense things I have ever written. That volume will also include Dominion, a novella dealing with Tarrant’s transformation from a simple creature of the night into the Hunter. Both are compelling works that I know Coldfire fans will enjoy, but also accessible to new readers.

And yes, we are attempting to market a TV series based on Coldfire, so fingers are crossed on that. I want to see the fae in visual media! The next novel will probably be in my Outworlds series (This Alien Shore, etc.) but I am considering shorter works in the Coldfire series. There are so many interesting time periods and events in Ernan history! I am working on a timeline that will enable me to offer many different stories, all in the context of the greater setting. It’s all very exciting, and the enthusiasm my fans have shown for all my Coldfire stories has been downright inspiring.

“And yes, we are attempting to market a TV series based on Coldfire, so fingers are crossed on that. I want to see the fae in visual media! ” – C. S. Friedman

Lots of updates are forthcoming! How do we stay in touch with the latest?

Please join me on Facebook, and/or Patreon for news, essays, project excerpts, and of course conversations with my readers.

C.S. Friedman

An acknowledged master of dark fantasy and science fiction alike, C.S. Friedman is a John W. Campbell award finalist, and the author of the highly acclaimed Coldfire trilogy, This Alien Shore (New York Times Notable Book of the Year 1998), In Conquest Born, The Madness Season, The Wilding, The Magister Trilogy, and the Dreamwalker series. Friedman worked for twenty years as a professional costume designer, but retired from that career in 1996 to focus on her writing. She lives in Virginia, and can be contacted via her website, www.csfriedman.com, Facebook, or Patreon.

#Weird Beauty Interviews on Black Gate

Darrel Schweitzer THE BEAUTY IN HORROR AND SADNESS: AN INTERVIEW WITH DARRELL SCHWEITZER 2018
Sebastian Jones THE BEAUTY IN LIFE AND DEATH: AN INTERVIEW WITH SEBASTIAN JONES 2018
Charles Gramlich THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE REPELLENT: AN INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES A. GRAMLICH 2019
Anna Smith Spark DISGUST AND DESIRE: AN INTERVIEW WITH ANNA SMITH SPARK 2019
Carol Berg ACCESSIBLE DARK FANTASY: AN INTERVIEW WITH CAROL BERG 2019
Byron Leavitt GOD, DARKNESS, & WONDER: AN INTERVIEW WITH BYRON LEAVITT 2021
Philip Emery THE AESTHETICS OF SWORD & SORCERY: AN INTERVIEW WITH PHILIP EMERY 2021
C. Dean Andersson DEAN ANDERSSON TRIBUTE INTERVIEW AND TOUR GUIDE OF HEL: BLOODSONG AND FREEDOM! (2021 repost of 2014)
Jason Ray Carney SUBLIME, CRUEL BEAUTY: AN INTERVIEW WITH JASON RAY CARNEY (2021)
Stephen Leigh IMMORTAL MUSE BY STEPHEN LEIGH: REVIEW, INTERVIEW, AND PRELUDE TO A SECRET CHAPTER (2021)
John C. Hocking BEAUTIFUL PLAGUES: AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN C. HOCKING (2022)
Matt Stern BEAUTIFUL AND REPULSIVE BUTTERFLIES: AN INTERVIEW WITH M. STERN (2022)
Joe Bonadonna MAKING WEIRD FICTION FUN: GRILLING DORGO THE DOWSER! 2022
S. Friedman. Beauty and Nightmares on Aliens Worlds 2023
interviews prior 2018 (i.e., with John R. Fultz, Janet E. Morris, Richard Lee Byers, Aliya Whitely …and many more) are on S.E. Lindberg’s website

Sunday, May 26, 2024

Horror and Beauty in Edgar Rice Burrough's Work: An Interview with Robert Allen Lupton

Simulcast on BLACKGATE.com: HORROR AND BEAUTY IN EDGAR RICE BURROUGH’S WORK: AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT ALLEN LUPTON

We have an ongoing series at Black Gate on the topic of “Beauty in Weird Fiction” where we corner an author and query them about their muses and methods to make ‘repulsive things' become ‘attractive to readers.’ Previous subjects have included Darrell Schweitzer, Anna Smith Spark, Carol Berg, C.S. Friedman, John R. Fultz, and John C. Hocking (whose Conan and the Living Plague novel is finally due out this June 2024, so you should read that too to get psyched). Anyway, see the full list of interviews at the end of this post.

This interview focuses on the legendary Edgar Rice Burroughs and an aficionado of his work, Robert Allen Lupton. The latter has published an amazing 2000 articles on www.erbzine.com, the Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site. Robert Allen Lupton is also a writer of 200 short stories, four novels, and six collections of adventure fiction, so this forum serves as a great opportunity to learn about past and present storytelling with a touch of horror in it.