Tag: Warpworld

The End – Keepers

We’ve all had phases in our lives that have had to come to an end. That’s how our lives work. We grow, we move on. Besides the lessons I’ve learned in those life phases, the most valuable thing to come out of those endings, are the people I’ve picked up along the way. Friendship is a bit like fishing. Some people we catch and we keep. Other times, it’s catch and release. When a phase in your life ends, it can mean saying good-bye to some friends and letting them go. This isn’t always easy, but usually in hindsight, we…

Continue reading

The End – Writer’s Grief

You’ve written those two lovely words: the end. For some writers, the time is one of celebration—look at what I’ve accomplished! I finished my book! You know only ten percent of writers who begin a book finish it, right? It’s time for the Snoopy happy dance! But … what if it’s not? What if, instead of feeling like celebrating, you feel sad? If you do, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. I want to state that up front. Unequivocally. For those of you who don’t, let’s take some time to exercise that vaunted writer’s empathy, and see if we can’t…

Continue reading

The End – Ending a Campaign

Hello, my name is Cameron, and I play Tabletop or “Pen and Paper” Roleplaying Games like Dungeons and Dragons or Vampire the Masquerade. For those of you who might not know, these sorts of games are played with a group of people who sit down to tell a collaborative story wherein one person generally sets the stage with the world, the conflicts, and the supporting cast and antagonists. The other people are generally playing major characters within that story, and attempt to resolve the various conflicts. Resolving the conflicts is done by way of various agreed upon rules, often involving…

Continue reading

The End – Ending and Beginning

A beginning is an ending, always. That quote is from the short story Satan’s Children, by Spider Robinson.  It is, in fact, the very first line, and possibly the best first line ever written.  I mention this because I got to tell Spider that, the very first time we met, and that was the beginning of a thirty-year (so far) friendship.  I love that line, not just for its elegance, but for the sheer truth of it. The thing is, there’s often a transition period between the two states when pain makes it hard to tell much of anything. Birth…

Continue reading

The End – The Unexpected Gift

I remember exactly where I was when I got the news my older brother Doug had died. It was the Monday of Labor Day weekend, 2011. I was at my home, a 28-acre forested property in Mulmur Township, southeast of Collingwood. The telephone rang, and I answered. It was my eldest brother Peter calling to tell me Doug had passed away earlier that morning. The news both did, and did not, come as a shock. After having a stroke-like memory loss one August day in 2010, Doug spent some time in the hospital before being diagnosed with an aggressive form…

Continue reading

The End – A Conversation With Joshua Simpson & Kristene Perron

***SPOILER ALERT AHEAD! (For Warpworld books 1 through 4)*** As we prepare to send the final chapter of the Warpworld saga out into the world and launch our final guest blog series on the Warpworld Comms, Josh and I thought it would be fun to share some behind-the scenes talk and photos of our experiences working together for almost ten years. Kris: First, Josh, holy crap, it’s been almost ten years! Josh: Yeah, and honestly it does really feel like it, too. But then I’ve been through: the job I had when we first met, going back to college to…

Continue reading

Kristene Goes to the Creative Ink Festival – Vol. 3

Holy karg! Is it March already? Josh and I have been so busy outlining and starting the first draft of the fifth and final book of the series (which is going to blow your mind, just FYI), that the months have been flying by. The good news is that March means the annual Creative Ink Festival is right around the corner! WOO HOO! Once again, I will be journeying across the ocean to attend, to volunteer, and to speak on some crazy-good panels. (It’s only an hour-and-a-half ferry ride but that sounds adventurous, doesn’t it?) This year’s CIF promises to…

Continue reading

Super Duper Quadruple Giveaway!

What’s better than a free book? How about four free books! Yes, it’s Goodreads giveaway time again. This time we are giving away a copy of each book in the series so far–that’s 4/5ths of the Warpworld Saga up for grabs! All you need to do to enter is warp on over to Goodreads. Here are the links for all four giveaways… Warpworld (#1) Wasteland Renegades (#2) Ghost World (#3) Final Storm (#4) Entry is free but we sure hope if you win you’ll rate or review your book for us on Goodreads and/or Amazon! We loooooooooove reviews!! Oh, and…

Continue reading

On Loss – Loss of Fear

Our final guest has probably heard that old chestnut “I wouldn’t want to meet you in a dark alley”, a lot more than I ever have (and I’ve heard it enough for one lifetime, thank you very much). I had the pleasure of learning about Lisa Gemino’s life and struggles as a female martial artist on the Real Life Superwomen panel at the 2016 Creative Ink Festival, and the even greater pleasure of being an online friend for the past few years. When I read her submission for this series, it knocked the wind out of me. I have been…

Continue reading

On Loss – You Can’t Go Home

There’s an old superstition that bad things come in threes. Superstitions hang around for a reason. It was 2003 and President George Bush Jr. had declared mission accomplished. I was stationed in a Republican guard base outside of Baghdad, wondering if anyone had told the Iraqis that the war was over. Granted, things had settled down from the initial invasion, there were no more intact Iraqi Army or Republican Guard units in the field opposing us and we went anywhere in Iraq we wanted (well to be fair, we went anywhere we wanted in Iraq even when Saddam’s army was…

Continue reading