Many thanks to two people that I have likely inspired me more than any other.

Rewind 24 years, we had a 12 year old boy that wasn't overly fond of reading. Said boy got a nasty flu and had to be picked up from school and kept home for several days. On the way home from school Mom side tripped to K Mart and the boy saw a boxed set of novels that caught his eye. Mom noticed this bought it, said boy started reading book one soon as they were in the car had the first book finished in about 2 days and was well into the second book. inside a week the whole Trilogy was finished adn I... er said boy started reading it all over again. The authors of the trilogy were Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and that trilogy was not The Dragonlance Chronicles, or even the Legends (Twins) it wasn't Dragonlance at all it was the Darksword Trilogy - Which apparently as of a search I did last nigh now has a 4th book to it that I must acquire and devour.

I didn't even learn about Dragonlance for another 3 years. (I quickly devoured as many of those as I was able to get my hands on too.)


I have many Literary heroes but I've actually gotten to meet two of them up close and personal and have very brief conversations with them during GenCon - I haven't had a chance to go in years but of all the years of going my greatest thrill was speaking with them and getting my paperback copies of Chronicles signed - My wife gets mad at me because she'll reach up to grab one to read and I'll freak out (she's a cover bender and I try to keep my books decent - don't always succeed but I try)

Tracy and Margaret took a fat weak cowardly boy, and showed me that even I could be the hero of my own story through the characters in their novels (and the other authors that also had given their voices to Dragonlance especially Michael Williams with Weasel's Luck and Galen Beknighted). The characters spoke to me I could see pieces of myself in many of the heroes and some of the villains and they actually made me take a good hard look at myself and made me think of what I wanted to do with my life what path I wanted to tread to be the hero or the villain. That helped a lot with my life thank you.

Tracy his son Curtis and Howard Tayler (You might remember Howard's brief Pimpage in Those that Help - He's part of Writing Excuses which I apparently spelled his name wrong My apologies Howard)have recently released XDM Xtreme Dungeon Mastery - a very funny very astute look at gaming and bringing fun and excitement back to the table. In recent years the games I've attended I started falling asleep at the table (well we had 12 players and more than an agreeable amount of rules lawyers then again 1 isn't an agreeable amount because the freaking ARGUE all the time whoops this isn't my rant blog this is my pimpage blog need to reel it in here.) because of all the rules bickering and asking to be woken when it was two players before my turn so I can spend 20 minutes formulating my 6 second round and not delay anyone else (sometimes I still had an additional 20 minutes to goof off to boot)The games I've been playing in sorely needed this book. I sorely needed this book. Found out that a couple of DMs that I've gamed with and myself instinctively used parts of this book before it even sprang into existence. It's part satire, and part common sense with a little dash of uncommon sense with a sprig of HOLY CRAP THAT'S COOL with a little bit of [REDACTED]. I'll rate it further when I have a chance to finish the book and use some of it's secrets. (My brother-in-law managed to pick me up a copy at Gencon and had it autographed. It's been rainy so it stays safe at the house out of the possibility of a torrential downpour)

Sites for Tracy and Margaret can be found below.

All in all I just wanted to say Thank you to Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis for inspiring me to read, and to dream a little more while I'm at it.

http://trhickman.com/
http://xtremedungeonmastery.com/
http://killerbreakfast.com/
http://www.margaretweis.com/wp/

Zombie Noir... and I Like it

FETIDUS or Foundation for the Ethical Treatment of the Innocently Damned, Undead and Supernatural
http://www.fetidus.org/

Mixing Genres is something I like to do in my head I just find some of the combinations funny as all hell - One I never really thought of was Noir Detective stories and Zombie stories. Never in a million years, then again I usually don't go too well for the Detective stories. However some do cross my path that I just can't say no to. Recently I was turned - no pun intended - to notice FETIDUS by James Durham. I discovered it because of a promo for their evil laugh contest back in June that was coupled with a promo for the story - I downloaded it thinking I'd get to it eventually. (My Ipod was maxed out and had to clear some space) Then after my Ipod was stolen and I had to get a newer shinier larger capacity one, I immediately put it on and started listening on my next commute - And now I'm hooked.
Durham does an excellent job with the show - Which he not only wrote the prose for but does the music as well.

There can be a fair amount of time between episode drops but for a full voice cast with original music score no budget, or help I think he does a good job of delivering content. Plus the man has a family which he needs to spend time with and support, so I truly think he's doing a hell of a job getting us content.

I do admit that I get a little grumpy when I'm waiting for content but it's because I can't wait. My wife has to hide Christmas presents at other people's homes so I don't sneak a look at them, but I fully understand and that just makes the next episode that much cooler.

You can find more of James Durham's creative endeavors here at his personal site
http://www.jamesdurham.com/

The production quality of the FETIDUS podcast is very good, great voices, great acting, awesome music, and just the right amount of suspense.

normally I shy away from detective stories, I never really got into them, but even without the supernatural elements I'd dig FETIDUS though I guess it wouldn't be quite the same it's good story telling a fun ride and an awesome listen.

This will seem harsh to anyone that doesn't already follow FETIDUS and James but he'll get it and undersdtand.

Fuck You Durham ;D

and thank you for giving us Fetidus.