Tag: Warpworld

Women of Character – My Han Solos

“I don’t want to be Princess Leia!” If you had been among the small group of neighbourhood boys with whom I played Star Wars, back in 1977, you would have heard this phrase a lot. We were, like most kids who were eight-years-old when Lucas’s opus came out, obsessed with Star Wars. For me, our re-creation of the world of Luke Skywalker was not just play, it was a portal to another dimension, a chance to become a swashbuckling space hero. The only setback to playing Star Wars was that, as the group’s only female, I was always cast as…

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Ho Hum, Just a Photo of Warpworld on Everest…

OK, so I happen to be friends with mountain gurus/legends Tim and Becky Rippel. This spring marks Tim’s cajillionth season guiding climbers to the top of the world and his and Becky’s adventures over the years definitely rival Seg and Ama’s. My apologies to the Sherpa who had to lug Warpworld all the way to base camp! You can follow Peak Freaks Expeditions up Everest (and beyond) on their blog: Here! Oh, and Tim, since you’ve now taken up scuba diving, I expect a photo of you reading Wasteland Renegades from the bottom of the world. ~Kristene

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Sex Equals Death – The Dangers of Breaking the Rules of Writing

In 1970,  The Five Man Electrical Band belted out the iconic “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind. Do this don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” Sorry to say, 70’s rockers, things have only gotten worse since then. Rules, they’re everywhere. Art isn’t something we usually associate with rules, but every medium comes with its own set. Anyone remember Scream‘s The Rules of Surviving a Horror Movie? “Sex equals death?” Oh man, I’m dead. Yep, even when being chased by a masked, knife-wielding psychopath, there are rules. My brother, stage name Verbs, is…

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Ama and the Perils of Mexican Mouthwash

I’ve just returned from a six week camping adventure to Baja, Mexico, and points beyond, with my husband, Fred, and a group of friends.  Like the Warpworld protagonists Josh and I created,  I am an explorer at heart, always eager to see what’s around the next corner and try new things.  Whether joyous or disastrous, my travel experiences inform my writing, my characters, and the worlds I build. Perhaps no more so than with the character of Ama Kalder… as I was reminded during a recent run-in with a bottle of Mexican mouthwash. We were in the small, quaint town…

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A Government by the People and for the People

So who’s in charge of the World, anyway? Short answer? Nobody. Longer answer: The World is essentially anarcho-capitalism run amok. As is often seen in dystopian Cyberpunk storylines, the World is governed by a confluence of powerful interests. Each of the seventeen major city-states, which house millions of Citizens, is technically an independent political state with its own regulations. In practice, the city-states are perhaps the weakest players on the field. It is the layers above that conduct the true business of the World, leaving the city-states to the untidy, messy bureaucratic chores of handling the Citizenry and such public…

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Why I Shunned Social Media (and why you should, too)

I wonder if any two words divide people into separate camps faster than “social media”? Do you embrace Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and their many spawn with zeal, or do you loudly proclaim their inanity whenever possible? These days, if you’re a writer who isn’t George R.R. Martin and you’re not on the social media bandwagon, you’re viewed as an unfortunate dinosaur by many of your peers. And even if you are on the bandwagon you’re going to be bombarded by blogs and articles telling you how to get on the bandwagon better! Stronger! Faster! I’m leery of professional advice from…

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The Huchack

Warpworld makes numerous references to the huchack, a rather loathsome creature that is the main pivot around which the economy and indeed the entire structure of the World turns. Huchacks were genetically modified at some point in the murky history of the World, after the arrival of the Storm. As material scarcity began to pinch down on the survivors of the initial confusion, new methods of production were necessary in order to maintain a level of technological survivability. The huchack is a pond-dwelling creature, roughly akin to a water-breathing porcupine. Huchacks feed by grazing on algae and minerals, which they…

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What if Nobody Loved Alexander?

I don’t consciously model characters on real people very much. I’ve never been particularly comfortable working with characterizations that I haven’t created myself, which is why I’d probably be lousy at licensed fiction for established universes. That said, there are traits that will tend to be attached to people who achieve certain types of success. So when you’re writing a character that’s following a particular path, you’ll find that those traits will tend to follow along with the traits you associate with personalities you’ve studied or envisioned. I’m no historian. I don’t have a library of primary source documents and…

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What in the (Warped) World Are You Reading? Joshua Simpson

I couldn’t end this fun author Q&A series without one more special guest – my writing partner, Joshua Simpson! One of the benefits of writing with a partner, (something I never imagined I would do), is that our production meetings often spin off into enthusiastic discussions about books, stories, and storytelling. Writers begin as readers, and we write on the backs of those that came before us. Many aspects of Warpworld, (and the books to follow), have been inspired by other authors. We owe a debt to books, to reading, to stories and to storytellers. And I owe a debt…

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What in the (Warped) World Are You Reading? Michael F Stewart

We’re at the end of our week-long author Q&A series for the National Reading Campaign. (Well, almost. Tune in tomorrow for one more special author!) All of our guest authors have talked about the joy of reading as a child. Whether it was the feeling of importance from seeing gold stars on a board, or receiving a monthly Dr. Seuss book, or from the delightful feeling of escaping into exotic and strange lands such as the World of Og, reading was a joyful experience. If you’re a parent, how do you encourage your kids to read? If you’re a teacher,…

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