A retelling of a short story written by myself for an old Horror fanzine. That story focuses on a particularly eventful evening in the life of freelance photographer Pamela Grey in the world of the Dark Conspiracy RPG. In this story game you take the place of Pamela. 

The world you live in is much like today's, only a little worse.  The rich are richer, the poor are poorer, and the gap between is so much wider. So much is controlled by the mega-corporations and rich interests that large swatches of the ever expanding urban sprawl are marked as "Outlaw Territory, Enter At Own Risk" - where even the police don't go, either for fear or lack of resources.  The middle class has mostly disappeared except for the lowest echelon of corporate execs, and legislative changes have allowed many that would have previously been on the public dole to instead sell their vote to corporate interests in exchange for support. Crime is up, as are disappearances, theft, and violence. Even as bad as the world has become, there are persistent rumors that even worse things lurk in the shadows.  Many neighborhoods have abandoned houses that everyone knows better than to enter, and even in the outlaw where the police fear to tread there are rumors of entire blocks that no one but the mad or the most desperate are willing to risk going into after dark.

You and Susan, your significant other, are doing ok.  Her job with Aprico has afforded the two of you a small place in a small gated community owned by the company. A prized place in the vanishing middle class. Your home is close enough to the gates that you can still easily indulge in your favorite hobby, walking through Chicago with your trusty camera in hand, particularly at night.  The sale of these photos as art pieces to the ultrawealthy, facilitated by Susan's contacts, has helped with sporadic lump sums of money.  Susan pays the bills, but your money pays for luxuries and splurges.

In the twilight one often finds isolated moments of beauty and mystery that would never been seen in the daylight, and you work to capture these moments in the perfect clarity of your lens. You know the risks of being out alone at night outside the gates, but even Susan has had to admit that the last couple of pictures you sold would not have been possible if you hadn't been out there.  To help comfort her (and yourself to be completely honest), you recently bought a large knife to carry with you, just in case.

So, come explore the night and see what waits for you in the dark.

An entry for MHD's Fairytale contest, this is a retelling of the old Appalachian Fairy Tale "The Little Princess of the Forest".

Come listen to the telling of one of the wildest fairy tales I've ever heard.    This story was originally told by Marshall Ward for a fairy tale collection, and has stuck with me ever since I first heard it.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.  Grab a seat and listen up, as it starts like this...

"Experienced Sailors, Crew, and Casters Wanted!" was the blurb that caught the eye of you and your friends. It led to the four of you signing on with the Subtle Knife. Because of your specialties and skills, you are getting more shares than most of the crew, but that also means that they expect you to take more risk during battles or when strange things are found.

The trip so far has been boring, just the slow gradual transition from the darkness of space around the planets and into the strange, silvery non-space of the Astral Sea. The Astral Sea, according to the sages, was truly an infinite plane that connected not only the pockets of reality that housed the 'real world' of the Material world, but all other existences connected to the elements or the deities and afterlives of the various civilizations that have risen and fallen within the Material world.

As one would expect, this has led the great Silver Sea to be populated with the detritus and junk of untold other realities. This not only includes junk ships and chunks of pure elemental chaos but even the vast stony bodies of gods, long dead and forgotten.

Way hey and set sail on this journey of the Subtle Knife, and it's erstwhile crew. The bosun's whistle is calling hands on deck, so something interesting is might be finally happening. 

We had a couple power blinks but nothing lasting more than a couple minutes.  Lots of high winds and driving rains, but we were on the fourth floor with a screened in balcony, so nothing too terrifying.

I'm in Orlando (picked a bad week for vacation apparently).  The winds are pretty strong atm, although we are in a bit of calm for the rain.  So far we've only had a couple power flickers at the condo.

Has anyone else played the Desponia series?  I've only just started the first one, but it is very Monkey Island in feel.

I had heard about the original AI statement, but was unaware of the degree of fallout.  Wow, what a dumpster fire that has become.

That is awesome to know.  

I didn't realize that it had been so long since I ran something through dosbox to not know it was dead.  Sadness.  It was the only was I was able to play Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father.  

Oh man, I had almost forgotten about Loom.  What a great game.

Maniac Mansion was a favorite of mine, but I also played most of the King's Quest games.  I also like Myst and Riven, and there was a Star Wars themed point-and-click that I can't remember the name of that I really liked as well.

Story A was the better of the two.  C sounded interesting, it's too bad it just stopped.

Bird, Parrot, Jackdaw, werejackdaw

I was the first to find Godzilla vs. Kong: Surf Paradise.