New York

Last week my wife and I got back from an 8-day trip to New York City. We've both been in love with New  York since we were kids, and it was a no-brainer that it would be the place we'd go for our honeymoon when we got married. We've spent the last four years planning our next trip.

So long have I been entranced by New York that deciding to set my first novel there didn't even feel like a choice. I just knew it was the right place. As I did my research I quickly found out that New York, Manhattan in particular, contained everything I needed as a setting for Locked Within.

There are few melting pots of so many cultures crammed into such a dense and ultra-modern place. For a story about reincarnation and the merging of old and new, drawing strength from different sources, there was no better place.

The city is filled with imagery from classical myth. Statues and references to the Greek gods can be found all over the place. Ever since the city's first major constructions, city planners have embraced a strong connection to the Old World, blending past and present in the city's art and architecture. I like the idea of a powerful city, a focal point of modern civilisation, where the old ways inspired the new.

My wife once commented on how well New York fit, saying "When the Old World wanted to hide from itself, what better place for it to go?"

The New York Public Library, along with several other landmarks, appears in Locked Within. I knew that if I was going to set a book in New York, I had to make it feel authentic. If a supernatural world existed there, it needed to be blended into the important places of the city, a real part of the environment. My goal was to make the reader feel that this book couldn't have taken place anywhere else but New York.

Riverside Park is located along the Hudson River. Beneath it runs Freedom Tunnel, a rail tunnel popular with urban explorers and a place the homeless took shelter before it was closed off. The park serves as a place of sanctuary for my hero, Nathan Shepherd, and while Central Park may be the most famous of Manhattan's many parks, Riverside feels cosy and secure, away from the city's eyes.

If you want to see more photos, stop over to my Facebook page, friend me, and take a look.

Blog Break

Yesterday was pretty emotional. Still, we got through it better than I expected. We had a nice breakfast out, went to see the new Spider-Man movie (excellent, by the way!), and released a balloon for Conor down at the beach.

I think the day was about as good as it could have been. We're both very glad we took the day off from work.

So, on Tuesday we're flying to New York. We touch down in JFK at 13:15 EST to begin 8 days of re-living our honeymoon and discovering new parts of one of our favourite cities. We land back in Dublin at 09:25 GMT on Thursday the 26th. That means 2 week's worth of blog dates where I'll either be travelling or distracted by all the New Yorkness. Since I've been woefully unprepared for this eventualiy, I figured I'd just take the two weeks off from blogging rather than try to rush and schedule 4 posts between now and when we leave.

I'm signing off until the 31st. I'll still be around on Twitter, Facebook and of course Gmail. So have a nice couple of weeks everyone!

Conor's First Birthday

Tomorrow our son Conor would have been one year old. We still miss him, and I know we always will.

We haven't really thought much about what we want to do to mark the day. We both have the day booked off. There's no way we could handle being in work. I think we're going to try and take it easy. Maybe go see a movie, just spend time together. In the evening my parents are putting a plaque with his name on it on my grandfather's grave. Conor's ashes are still on our mantlepiece at home. One day we'll scatter them somewhere nice, but we're not ready yet.

I'll probably be a bit quiet as regards e-mails, Twitter and Facebook.

Still, while it's going to be a hard day, my wife and I are happy. We've still got so many good things going for us. I've got my first book coming out in a few months. We're heading back to New York next week. And we've been blessed with two new babies on the way. I like to think Conor's been with us through all of it, helping us along when we need it.

Happy birthday, son.

An Important Announcement

I'm sure everyone who regularly reads this blog is aware that, last year, my wife Jen and I had a baby boy. Unfortunately, we lost him after only three days. It remains the single hardest thing either of us have ever gone through. I like to think we're stronger for it.

We knew pretty much right away we would be trying again once Jen had recovered physically and we were both emotionally ready.

Today Jen had her 12-week scan. She's pregnant!

Not only that guys, but there is another Skywalker.

We're having twins.

We were a little unsure at first, because the second one was so much smaller than the first, coming in at half the size. However Jen was brought in for another scan two weeks later, and to our surprise, the smaller twin had caught up to the larger one in size. At the scan today it was confirmed that everything looks good. Both twins are actually 7cm, which is 2cm longer than you'd expect for this stage.

The due date is around January 15th, but we've been told that they'll likely take her in early for an elective c-section. There's even a chance we could have them in time for Christmas!

So please forgive me if I've been a bit quiet lately. It's been so hard to keep this quiet. We're absolutely thrilled and I'll be keeping everyone up to date on the progress of our two little dots.

PS: Oh my god, we're having twins!! How the hell did this happen? Argh!! :-p

Hellas, My New Campaign

Any long-term gamer will tell you there's something magical about starting a new campaign. That point before you've actually started to play, when there's just a barest idea of what the game will be about and who the different characters are. It's pure potential and anticipation. Like children on Christmas morning, we gather around the table and hold our breath.

There are a lot of pitfalls to starting a new game. Will the players like it? Will it live up to the expectations? Will everyone understand the rules? It's on the shoulders of the game master (GM) to keep it all together.

This week my group is starting a new game called Hellas. It's a space opera inspired by Greek mythology. It blends bronze age aesthetics and culture with fantastic technology, creating a setting filled with both magic and science. Different elements of Greek myth take their place as alien species or updated supernatural beings. There are gods that will favour your heroes for their great deeds, savage titans who threaten to destroy whole worlds, epic space conflicts, battles fought with spear and shield, and an underworld realm known as Slipspace, home to myriad monsters and the means by which interstellar travel is possible.

I've loved Greek mythology since I was a kid. I studied ancient Greek civilisation in school and in college. The game itself promotes heroism and high adventure. When I first read about Hellas, it seemed like a game written just for me, the perfect game for me to run.

Hellas is intended to be run as a generational game. That is, unlike most games, as your characters grow old and retire, or die (or even ascend to godhood!) you take over the roles of your descendents. By the end of the game's 100 year-long campaign, it's expected that everyone will be playing at least the grandchildren of their original characters and get to see how they have shaped the course of history and forever changed the known worlds. Now if that doesn't sound epic, I don't know what is!

I'm very excited for this game. More than I have been for any game in a long, long time. We've got the player characters written up and I have the first several sessions planned out. I have my music playlists ready. I'm cooking some pastitsio for dinner, a Greek dish with beef mince and macaroni, as well as making some fresh red pepper hummus and olive tapanade for table snacks.

This Thursday night is going to be good.

Endings Matter

Endings are often terribly underrated. This is a particular bugbear of mine, and I keep coming back to it. I cannot stress enough how vital it is to make sure the ending is something special. I've heard the argument that "it's the journey, not the destination, which matters." That's all well and good, and I agree that the journey is also far more important than people realise. However a great journey must have a worthy ending. If a writer has to fight every page of the way to keep the reader engaged, they have to work all the harder to reward the reader with a satisfying finish.

Whatculture! posted an article the other day about the new Extended Cut DLC for Mass Effect 3, and the importance of endings. I won't go into a discussion on Mass Effect 3, but I will say that this article perfectly captures the required elements of a good ending.

Too often, people think that the end of a story is just when the final challenge is overcome. Sauron is destroyed. Luke blows up the Death Star. Superman turns back time and saves the day. That's only part of it. Also important are how the hero's experiences have changed them and empowered them to overcome the threat. What is it about the hero's journey that has made them the one who can do what needs to be done, and what does it tell us about them that they achieved their goal in that specific way?

Frodo failed in his task. He gave in to the One Ring and it was only Gollum's intervention which sealed the Ring's destruction. Evil is destroyed by evil. Sauron undone by greed just as he attempted to fulfil his own greed.

Luke trusts in the power that lies within him, seeing past how "impossible" the shot is. He puts his faith in a power few people understand and is rewarded.

Superman's love for Lois drives him to an extreme act. In direct violation of his father's instructions, he pushed his powers beyond anything he previously thought possible because even though he has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, it's not enough if it means he has to live without her.

These are what make an ending memorable and worthwhile. It doesn't matter if the hero beats the villain in a swordfight. We know the hero is going to win. On some basic, unconscious level, we understand that most stories end with the villain defeated. What matters is the method, the motivation, the intention, the cost and the reward. If the reader doesn't get these, or they're not relevant to the story up to now, the story fails. There is no purpose to an ending that simply causes the story to stop.

Let's talk. What are some of your favourite endings? Do you think they fit the description I've given here?

What Attracts People to Tabletop RPGs

A little while ago I spoke about roleplaying games. Specifically, tabletop roleplaying games, as opposed to video games. I wanted to talk about what attracts people, and what attracted me, to tabletop roleplaying.

At its core, roleplaying is escapist fantasy. One of the hooks generally used in many rpg books is that you get to tell your own story and be the hero. If there was ever a moment when you wanted a character in a book or movie to do something differently, this was your chance to make that happen. That appealed to the budding writer in me, as well as the childish part that didn't want to grow up. This was like making up stories with action figures, only even adults were doing it. The promise of getting to make up these stories with my friends, all the way into adulthood and beyond, was very tempting to my 14 year-old self.

It's safe to say that there are a lot of very creative people dedicated to the hobby. Many gamers I know also have a range of artistic talents, from music to acting and writing. I think the nature of roleplaying as another outlet for that creative energy is a strong draw for a lot of people. I've seen people's creativity flourish as they spend time with their gaming group.

Depending on the specific set of rules for a given game, and the personal tastes of each group, there can be more encouraged than just creativity. Most roleplaying games, particularly older ones or those designed in a more traditional style, have some strategic and problem-solving element. Whether it's working out the math of a character's abilities or figuring out battle tactics, there's plenty to keep the analytic part of the brain busy.

Of course, like many fringe hobbies, roleplaying can be attractive to people who don't do so well socially. It's a place where they can be the hero they can't be in real life, saving the day while hanging out with people just like themselves. This is not a bad thing. Speaking as one of those kids who grew up with few friends, never good at sport, never quite good enough in school to be top of the class, this hobby gave me a place to belong. I mentioned in my previous post how roleplaying isn't competetive. Now, I'm not an advocate of all activities having an "everybody wins" attitude. I think competition is healthy and children need to learn a reward system for hard work. However, it can be nice, when you're introverted and have trouble standing up for yourself, to have something where you're not going to be judged, where you're welcomed for who you are and everyone's there just to have some fun.

The social nature of tabletop gaming played a large part in my own development. The more I ran games and the more I saw people enjoying them, the more confident I became. With the right group, it can be a nurturing, positive environment. I've watched people go from being shy and uncertain to bubbly and assertive, not from the game itself, but from using the game as a way of breaking the ice in a social group. Once you've used some silly voices, pretended to slay a dragon or traded witty banter with an elf, you tend to come out of yourself a bit, and that carries over into other social situations with your gaming group. It's good for people, teenagers especially, to feel comfortable enough to be themselves around their friends.

I've found that, as gamers grow older, the social aspect becomes even more important. When there are so many things that need our attention as adults, it's great to have something to get your friends around a table to share some food and forget that you're meant to be a grown-up for a few hours.

4 Year Anniversary

My wife and I were married on a grey, rainy afternoon this day four years ago. I hadn't slept properly. I was so nervous I couldn't eat. And I have no idea why. We'd been actively planning the day for over a year, and talking one way or another for almost the full seven years we'd been together.

That was the day I felt whole. My wife is my best friend in the world. We share every aspect of our lives and still will spend hours just talking about whatever crosses our mind.

We've had a crazy four years. We've been to New York and Italy. We've seen friends get married and start families of their own. We bought our first house. We had and lost a son, which was a trial by fire I wouldn't wish on anyone, but which I know has left us stronger.

Last year I got a book deal for my first novel, realising a dream I've had all my life. Earlier this year I completed the edits on my second to make it ready for submission. I'm now working on my third, planning to hold on to this dream now that it's in my hands. It's an exciting journey I'm on, the most important one in my life besides trying to start a family. As happy as I'm going to be when Locked Within launches later this year, I know it wouldn't mean nearly as much without Jen there by my side.

Happy anniversary, babe. In the wonderfully 80s words of Starship:

Denial of Sexism

Over the last few weeks certain circles of the internet have been blazing with talk about a Kickstarter for a project called Tropes vs Women in Video Games, by Anita Sarkeesian. Anita runs a blog called Feminist Frequency which talks about various issues related to sexual equality and often posts videos analysing movies for their treatment of women.

She wanted, simply, to research a topic, and share what she found. In return for this she has received, and continues to receive, a barrage of frankly disgusting comments ranging from childish insults to serious sexual harrassment and threats. I won't repeat any of what's been said here. Both the links above will take you to where you can read about what Anita has endured. Many of the comments are NSFW and even left me dumbstruck by their volume and level of abuse. I don't shock easily, so you have been warned.

I've since spent some time reading up on other cases of sexual harrassment within video game culture. One particularly well-written article on Shattersnipe discusses the idea of rape-culture in gaming and links to several shocking examples of easily the mistreatment of women is filed away, either as "not a real problem" or "just a necessary part of the game." There's also a follow up post here.

Firstly, I've been a gamer now, both a casual video game player and a very committed tabletop roleplayer, for close to twenty years. I'm a proud, card-carrying geek. Many of my closest and oldest friends are gamers. It's a culture I've felt to be safe and welcoming. For the most part. Like all subcultures it has its darker side, and it's not at all pretty. I've seen cliques, elitism and sexism. I've been guilty of it myself. I've made sexist jokes and made light of sexual harrassment plenty of times. I used to tell myself it was okay to do it around certain people, that I didn't mean anything by it.

But here's the thing. Even if I don't mean it, I'm still creating an environment where someone in my company could feel insecure, or where a passerby could here my comments and take them at face value. I'm creating an atmosphere of normalcy and mundanity for sexual abuse. I believe in freedom of speach, and the right to disagree, but I also believe that words have power. We have to be aware of the effect we can have on our environment, because it's not always obvious. Just because a group of guys say they respect women and would never harm one, that doesn't help much if some poor girl has to listen to them joke about her making sandwiches while they play video games with hypersexualised female characters and read comic books that have started to borderline on soft-core porn. It can still make people unformfortable. Denying that or criticising someone for pointing it out is nothing but willful ignorance. Can you enjoy playing video games where you have sex with hookers then kill them to get your money back? Or reading comics where Starfire gets bored if she talks to a man for too long without sleeping with him? Of course you can. Just don't be surprised if someone finds it offensive, and don't dare criticise or attack someone for expressing that discomfort.

Our society blames the victim. A guy gets mugged, it's his own fault for walking in that part of town. A kid gets bullied, it's his own fault for not telling an adult. A girl gets raped, it's her down fault for dressing like that. Now it seems like the people simply trying to point out the problem are targets as well. Everyone seems to be fair game except the people actually making abusive comments or threatening rape and murder. And no-one wants to admit that they're part of a culture which does objectify women in ways it never would do to a man.

I've talked several times about how men in film and television have become the acceptable targets for any number of things which, if done to women for laughs the same way they are for men, would incite public outcry. But that doesn't mean we can simply ignore how video games and comic books depict women, any more than the fact that adults sometimes get punched means we can ignore child abuse. People with this attitude of "I know another problem which you're not addressing, so your argument is invalid" need to grow up. They're just trying to avoid facing the issue, probably because they're scared of what they'll find if they look hard enough.

This is a really serious issue for me. As a writer, I want to portray strong characters who stand against forces of darkness and fight for what's right. I want to show men and women, side by side. I don't want to stumble into the pit of cultural influences encouraging me to show women a certain way. So I remain vigilant against myself, because I'm human and I'm flawed. I'll make mistakes along the way, but what's important is that I can own those mistakes and try to do better next time.

Defining Werewolves

The other day I talked about how I chose to define vampires in the setting of my novel, Locked Within. That post actually became something I wasn't expecting, and I thought it would be interesting to look at another classic monster and how you can make sure it fits in your own writing.

The werewolf is perhaps and older myth than the vampire. Many cultures have tales of animalistic shapeshifters, with a variety of different desires. Typically they are bestial, at least in their animal form, and prey on humans and other animals. In some stories the transformation is ruled by the phases of the moon. In others it is a voluntary act. Some werewolves retain their human intelligence, while others have their minds overridden by animal urges.

Whatever the details, the werewolf has long been a metaphor for the struggle between the civilised, ordered side of humanity, and the primal, passionate instincts we must so often resist. This is similar to how the vampire, in the 19th century, represented a dangerous sexuality and rejection of social rules.

In fact, there has long been a strong connection between vampires and werewolves. Vampires have frequently been depicted with the same shape-shifting powers as werewolves, and often share their vulnerability to silver. Some folklore even suggests that slain werewolves can rise as vampires, or that those who die in sin can rise as blood-drinking wolves.

It may be this folkloric connection which has led to the popular links between the two in mainstream fiction over the last several years. Movies such as Underworld and Van Helsing depict very strong links between them, as does the Twilight series. Unfortunately, many of these simply reduce the werewolf to nothing more than a badass monster for the vampires to fight, and don't really take the time to explore what purpose werewolves serve in having a place in the story.

As of yet, there are no werewolves in the setting of Locked Within. Neither the first book, nor any of the books I have planned, feature werewolves. That said, there are shapeshifters of a sort, and some do play important roles. If I were to apply my thinking on vampires to werewolves, this is how I would apply them in my setting.

The first and most important question to ask is whether they are immortal or not. In some cases, werewolves are functionally immortal. If werewolves are immortal, they would be potential members of the Council of Chains, who all want to live forever. So far I've kept the Council thematically focused on forms of undeath and deals with demons, very much a choice made by the individual. I like the idea of werewolves not choosing to be what they are, so I'll keep them mortal.

So being mortals with an element of the supernatural in them, should they be possible allies of the reborn, those who draw strength from their past lives? It's certainly possible that a reborn could have been a werewolf in a past life. Werewolves are pretty dangerous when they change, and would probably need places to go to be locked up on a full moon so they don't harm innocents. So reborn Conclaves would make good save havens for them.

Still, I need to decide what causes werewolves to exist. I've always liked the idea that lycanthropy is a curse, so I'll say that the first werewolves were men punished for some crime, ideally violent. Perhaps people who killed an innocent in the heat of rage, leaving family and friends distraught? Their victims' loved ones call upon the gods to enact revenge, which results in the killer becoming a werewolf and killing their own family and loved ones. Of course, the kinds of gods who would do this are capricious, and would delight in seeing such a curse spread, so the bite of a werewolf will infect any who survive it, and cause the violence in their heart to overcome them. The only cure for the condition is to treat the victim with wolfsbane before they make their first kill and hope that they can control their savage instincts long enough to make it through the next full moon without transforming.

To make things interesting, and keep from werewolves being "the good guys," I think that some werewolves come to relish their new form, and embrace the curse. They join up with rogue bands of magic-users and warriors, or pledge themselves to one of the many spirits, demons, or gods who seek to gain influence and power in our world.

Overall, werewolves are, forgive me, wild cards. They are simply individuals dealing with a particular curse in many different ways. They're not super-powered action heroes. In fact, most probably see little benefit in their condition, unless they are given a way to control their transformations, which nearly always requires loyalty to a powerful supernatural creature, whose goals might not be entirely noble.

There we have it. Werewolves as they would appear in The Memory Chronicles. As I said, they don't make an appearance so far, and I'm currently working on book 3 of the series. Still, I kind of like this write-up, so I may have a minor character or two show up as werewolves.