What is in a name?

So, I bet some of you are wondering just what's up with the name of the blog. Void Missives? I mean, seriously, how pretentious can I sound, right?

Well, I chose the name for a couple of reasons. First up, I didn't really make the blog for any particular reason other than to try and shake out the mental cobwebs and get me writing for at least a little bit every day. May not be the fiction I'd like, may not be the length I'd like or even the quality, but I just need to actually put some words to the page every day. So Void Missives stands for the fact that I really didn't have any need for someone else to read these: letters (missives) sent out to the void, rather than a person.

Then I also knew that there would be some days when I really didn't have much to say, but I'm trying to say something anyway. Like today, I would guess. So Void Missives covers that another way: letters with no point, and so are void.

And then, because there's always a geeky angle, we come back to Warhammer. Messages sent back and forth between the planets of the Imperium are sent via astropaths, people who connect with each other psychically across the Warp. While it's not canon anywhere I've seen, I thought that Void Missives would be a nice, poetic way to describe the letters sent back and forth between the planets.

And so there you have it. Never just one meaning when three will do, right?

Fiction Fridays: Scene Study

Today I'm gonna give a shot to writing something original. Just a quick scene, nothing too in depth. Hopefully I can get something going with it, but feel free to tell me if I'm failing.

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He stood at the window, watching the sun rose across the horizon, the waves crashing against the stone below. Is this what they were watching last? he wondered as he just took in the beauty of it for a moment, trying to dispell the darkness that he knew was behind him.

"Detective?" one of the technicians asked from behind him, breaking the spell. "Is everything alright?"

Jon turned around to look at the young woman. "No, it's not. If everything were alright, after all, I wouldn't be needed here." At the woman's confused look, he forced a smile on his face and set a hand on her shoulder. "But to answer your question: yes, I'm fine. Just woolgathering, is all. Shall we begin, then?"

She nodded, a spark returning to her blue eyes as she led the older man back towards the scene. Her fellow technicians were already photographing and documenting everything, though they had been careful not to move anything as yet. Jon still needed to do his sweep and see what could be found. So he started like he always did: with the bodies. "So what do we know so far?" he asked the girl as he knelt down beside them.

"Two victims, obviously," she said. "Male is one Timothy Dallop, age 23 and owns the apartment. Female is Jennifer Tews, age 21. Doorman remembers seeing them both come in last night, ID'd the woman as the girlfriend, as if their, ah, situation didn't fill that in already."

Jon looked at her from where he stood beside the bed, the naked bodies lying on it partially covered by the sheets. "Yes," he said simply. "Fairly obvious. Please continue," he asked as he resumed his examinations.

"No obvious cause of death," she resumed, "no weapons found in the apartment." She fidgeted nervously for a moment before adding in a rush, "This is another one of those, isn't it? The murders you've been investigating?"

Jon looked at her and shook his head. "Too early to tell. Could just be a double suicide, maybe a murder-suicide. Still need to run down a lot of information before we can make that conclusion." He stood up and circled the bed. "Though to be honest, who would swallow a poison and then immediately hop into bed with someone? Who called it in?"

"The doorman," the technician supplied. "It being a Tuesday and all, he noticed when Mr. Dallop didn't come down in time for work as he does every day, and so got curious. He tried to ring up here, but got no answer. He eventually came up and tried the door, which was locked. That's when he called us."

Jon rubbed his chin as he began to walk out of the bedroom into the rest of the meager apartment. "So a locked door, two dead bodies, and yet another mystery," he said as much to himself as to the girl. "Julie, I think this is just the start of another long week."

Thankful Thursdays: Here comes the Sun



As a preface: I'm normally a night person. When I wasn't working a job that required me to be at work and ready to go at 4 AM, I would routinely stay up until midnight or 1 AM, though 11 PM to midnight was more usual. I enjoy the night quite a bit. However, I am still extremely thankful for the Sun and the fact that it has finally started to come out more now that we're into Spring.



(c) Royalty-free/CORBIS



Now, quite obviously the Sun is awesome. I mean, it just sits up there giving out free energy to anyone who wants some. I mean, how nice is that? Of course, this mostly comes to us in the form of light and heat, so take of that what you will. But still, nice!

Okay, sorry, gotta a little facetious there. Apologies.

I am really grateful for it, though. After the long and dreary winter, getting back in the sun is a pleasure. There really is something to the notion that the change from winter to spring is revitalizing to the human body. Not only do I feel better after a bit in the sun, but I'm generally happier afterwards as well.

Even just getting the sunlight in the apartment is nice. Makes it feel more open and just generally better. I know, I'm being really descriptive, but I think you all know what I mean. It's such an emotional lift, to feel the natural warmth on you after a long winter that just seems like it'll hold on forever.

Warhammer - Other Armies

So, I've talked about Warhammer in general, but I haven't really talked about my favorite part yet: the stories you can tell. Now, it's fully possible to buy, build, paint, and play an army and not really look at it as anything more than a tool to play the game with. For lack of another term, I'm gonna call it New Deck Syndrome, as it's really more akin to a card gaming mindset.

In a card game, you build and tear apart decks with impunity, restructuring it to deal with perceived meta and your own whims at any time. Warhammer armies are much harder to do that with, at least unless you have a sizable collection. And besides, with as much time as you have to invest in each figure, it can be a lot of fun to build up stories around them, and the army as a whole. So with that in mind, I'll give you a brief overview of each of my armies and their role in the world as a whole.

First up is my very first army, my Tau. They represent the 343rd Rapid Interdiction Cadre, filling a niche in the Tau forces akin to mobile reserves. An armored force consisting of infantry, tanks, and battlesuits in a mixed force, they are designed to be rapidly deployed to trouble spots and tip the balance in the Tau's favor. Every unit is designed to be completely mobile, and each element complement the others, creating overlapping fire heavy enough to bring down any target. Several units have distinguished themselves, with two Fire Warrior Shas'ui (sergeants) carrying trophies for bringing down particularly troublesome targets that honestly they had no business being able to deal with. As well, one of my Crisis Suit units carries a trophy for winning a hand-to-hand engagement against an opponent that should have destroyed him easily. Seasoned but having been on the back lines for quite some time, they're looking forward to some reinforcements and getting back into the thick of things with the new codex release.

Next up we come to my Imperial Guard army. Designated the 1st T'ros Gue'vesa Armored Regiment, they are somewhat different from most Guard armies in that they are not actually Imperial. They work alongside the Tau Empire, having been born and raised under their auspices on previously conquered worlds and believing in their concept of the Greater Good. Outfitted mostly with surplus stock captured when the Empire took their worlds (the primary of which is T'ros, a world detailed in one of Forge World's Imperial Armour book 3, and gives the unit its name) augmented with a few Tau elements and joined by a few Fire Warriors to assist. They have successfully defended the Empire for a couple years for me now, starting not long after the new IG codex, though they languished for a while as I tried to piece them together (and also got distracted by a Blood Angel army that never really took off and is now supplying parts for my next army).

As for my most recent army, I'm fielding a task force of the Alpha Legion. One of the original Legiones Astartes, the Alpha Legion were essentially spymasters and saboteurs without peer. Rather than engage in a head-to-head battle, even though they were quite skilled at them and more than capable (they are still Space Marines, after all), they preferred to fight their battles behind the scenes. Late in the Heresy, they were recruited by an alien force called the Cabal to defeat Chaos once and for all by ensuring Horus defeated the Emperor. Obviously, that didn't happen. However, I believe that the Alpha Legion, though labelled Excommunicate Tratoris, still fight the good fight against Chaos, trying to manipulate both sides to a final conflict and ensure that even if the Imperium doesn't survive (after ten thousand years, I doubt they have much love or need for what the Emperor's vision has become), humanity will emerge victorious and endure. As such, I employ every trick in the Chaos Codex's arsenal to help me adapt and overcome any obstacle my opponent can throw at me.

So there you have it. There are the armies I currently play in Warhammer 40k. I do have a few other forces for other systems, but for the most part I don't really use them much, and haven't gone much beyond a basic force. As such, they really don't have stories to tell yet, though one day they just might.

Stay tuned tomorrow: Thankful Thursday will be back for round 2!

Emotional Responses

I am such a nerd. I freely admit this to any and all who might think to question the fact, not that I think my readers would question it. I am not only a fan of Star Trek and Star Wars, but I also count myself as a Whovian, a fan of BBC's Doctor Who. It's an amazing show that defines a completely different spectrum of science fiction than the other franchises I mentioned, using or ignoring the actual "science" parts in favor of a storyline that is one part children's fantasy, one part complex characters and characterizations, and one part running. Well, maybe two parts running. Well, maybe more. There's a lot of running.

But more to the point, I've recently gotten my wife hooked on it as well, and as we're rewatching the show, I'm realizing just how sad some of the best episodes are. When the Ninth Doctor left, she cried even though she didn't really like him. Just last night, we watched the last episode with Rose Tyler, and she cried. We had started with the Eleventh Doctor, and when we finally watched the midseason closer of series 7 and saw the Ponds leave the show, we both cried. (Yes, I'll admit it. If you didn't cry, you very well could be a dalek.)

So I'm just trying to figure out now, is this a part of how humanity works? Why do we consider stories that can make us weep like that to be superior? I mean, I may be making my wife cry with Doctor Who, but she has openly admitted that she enjoys the show.

It could be that we simply enjoy finding works that can make us feel emotions that deeply. After all, we don't cry for poorly-written characters or badly-executed stories; only detailed stories will do. But by that logic, we should be happy for characters that do well, and shouldn't that be a more desirable outcome, a better way to do stories? You don't want your audience to walk away from your work in tears, do you?

But that would make for a boring story. Who would like a story where the main character is happy all the way throughout? After all, it is in the darkest times that we find out who we are. Conflict and yes, tragedy, define us in ways we can't even name. In the end, I guess the question kind of answers itself: we enjoy these types of stories, the ones that don't always end well, because they are unquestionably human stories. Every life has its ups and downs. And while we may not see the ups very often in our stories (though Doctor Who does have many of them, thank goodness), we come together over the downs because each and every one of us has been there.

I'll just have to remember to keep a box of tissues at hand next time we watch the good Doctor. For my wife, I mean. Yeah...

Spring

Ah, Spring. That wonderful time when everything blooms, new life springs forth from the earth and relieves the barren wastes of winter, banishing all thought of snow and ice in exchange for the sunshine and beauty that will be summer.

Well, in theory, anyway. This spring has so far been colder than the end of winter was, and with all the pollen in the air I could never really enjoy spring anyway. But that's neither here nor there (I promise, I haven't resorted to the weather already in this blog!)

This past weekend, my wife and I spent most of our time doing that dreaded thing that happens every spring in every house: spring cleaning. Just as the earth banishes the clutter of winter, so must we in our own homes. We put up new curtains, a new bookcase, got out new bedding, rearranged a room, and took out quite a bit of trash, and it made me realize just how much junk we accumulate in today's society.

I swear, every time I turn around there are new things to buy, new gadgets and accessories to look at and purchase. We just seem to be a space-filling culture: if there are more nooks and crannies that we can fill, we will. Makes me glad that we had the foresight to protect certain areas of wilderness, lest we build them over completely.

Of course, I'm a prime culprit - I collect little plastic army men for crying out loud. But maybe I should try more to moderate it, and keep it under control. Still more cleaning to do, so we'll see what happens next.

Luck be a Lady Tonight

So, I'm playing in my friend Raymond's Warhammer campaign at the moment, bringing my Alpha Legion into the region of space we're fighting over to conquer and manipulate in the name of Alpharius, my Primarch and lord. Been getting a lot of games in recently, and there's really been one common thread to all of them.

I've gotten really, really lucky.

Now, before you say it: yes, Warhammer is a dice game. All wins really come down to luck, don't they? Well, not usually. Quite a bit of strategy can be employed, and there are plenty of ways to mitigate the dice and make them not a factor. Whether it be sheer weight of fire you provide against your opponent, the strength of your guns, what have you. And most good lists will do their best to do this.

So I'm not entirely sure what it says about me, my army list, and my playstyle that the last three games I've played have been decided because of one die roll: Random Game Length. This roll happens at the end of Turn 5, and has a 2/3 chance to take the game to Turn 6, and then one on that turn has a 1/3 chance to bring the game to Turn 7, which is definitely the last turn.

So my first game would have been a win for my opponent on 5, a tie on 6, and I finally won on 7. My second game was only won by me because the game ended on 5, I would have lost everyone I had on the table had it gone to 6. And my latest game again was only won because the game went to turn 7.

I'm not sure if I need to change my tactics or my list, though I'm thinking a higher concentration of firepower is required, as I ran much the same list in games one and three with much the same result. The second game had a one-off fun list, so I'm not sure if it really tells me much. I'll have to do some experimentation and see what I can come up with.

At some point this week I'll post some army lists and compare what we've got. Stay tuned, if ye be interested.

Fiction Fridays: The Dresden Files

May as well start a second series of posts to go along with the previous ones, and for the sake of alliteration we shall go with Fiction Fridays. Every Friday, I'll do my best to either bring you a book review or, if I'm feeling froggy, a short piece of fiction I've written myself.

This week, though, we'll go with a book review, or maybe overview is more appropriate a term, as I'm going to cover one of my favorite series thus far: The Dresden Files.

Written by Jim Butcher, the Dresden Files as of this writing consists of 14 novels and numerous short stories (which are for the most part helpfully contained in one book called Side Jobs) and can seem like a daunting storyline to jump into. But I believe it's more than worth it for anyone who's a fan of hardboiled detectives, supernatural weirdness, or even if you just need a good laugh mixed with a good story.

Harry Dresden is a wizard. He is also a private detective living and working in Chicago. In point of fact, he's listed in the yellow pages under "Wizard". The series revolves around his various cases (in fact, at several points the books are referred to as 'case files'), whether he got them from a mortal or from some of the other supernatural players in his world.

And boy, is it filled with supernatural players. There are werewolves, faeries big and small (though don't call them faeires to their faces; they prefer to be called the Fae if you need a generic term), angels and demons, creatures from Outside, and of course vampires. Three seperate types of vampire, in point of fact.

While the books all take place in Chicago, the books avoid feeling like these things are happening there arbitrarily, as would be so easy in these types of stories. Butcher does a fantastic job of making sure we know that things are happening worldwide - the Red Court of vampires controls and preys on most of Latin and South America, for example, and the White Council of wizards' security forces are stationed around the globe and always busy. More than that, though, he gives concrete reasons why things seem to come to a head around Chicago, as well, though I won't delve into those reasons here for fear of spoilers.

These books are definitely detective drama, each one narrated by Harry in first person just like a hardboiled detective should do, and considering some of the subject matter covered they should definitely be treated as such. After all, murder is a frequent occurance in any detective story, and the focus of one story is something that amounts to a mental rape. However, the darkness is constantly leavened by humor. Harry is a very snarky person and even uses it as a fear response, returning sarcasm for threats leveled against him by creatures that he has no business fighting, much less beating as he so often does.

For example, in one of the most recent books he's visited by the Archangel Uriel (yes, an archangel visits him, and on good terms no less). He nicknames him Mr. Sunshine. Of course, this is after he nicknames the Denarians - an order of people that have, more or less willingly, joined themselves to fallen angels bound within the thirty denarii coins that Judas received as payment - the Nickelheads. And let's not even go into the running gag of buildings setting on fire around him - to the point where one of the books starts with the line "The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault."

I swear, I had to put the book back down for several minutes after reading that line.

But in addition to all of this, one of my favorite things is that one of the secondary characters named Michael Carpenter. He is one of the Knights of the Cross, an order of warriors that fight against the Denarians in particular, and other supernatural evils in general, wielding three swords that have nails worked into the hilts. Specifically, the three nails from the Cross. Everyone who wields one is called by God, most often receiving a visit from the Archangel Michael who presents them with the sword. Michael is a rarity in fiction, a Christian who is not portrayed as a joke or as someone who is ignorant or what have you. He is a strong character who's faith in God and Christ is evident for all to see. He is a caring father, a loving husband, highly respected by all who meet him - even his enemies. This isn't to say he's perfect; in one story someone kidnaps his daughter, and his fury is very real and he's only stopped by a soft word from Harry. In all, he's an incredibly human character, a strong Christian man who is nonetheless flawed, just like we all are.

Now, be aware that these books read like popcorn. Butcher is very good at the art of leading, taking you so smoothly from one chapter to the next that you don't even realize that the "one more chapter" you were going for just became about five. I love these books, and would recommend them to anyone who might enjoy the genre. And if you're not sure if you would or wouldn't, pick up Storm Front and give it a try.

Thankful Thursdays: Family

So, I'm going to steal a page from my sister over at Quad Deuce Design and start a (hopefully) weekly series. Every Thursday, I'm going to tell you about something I'm thankful for, whether it be something big and grand such as family or being Christian, or something mundane like a book or even that cup of coffee I had that morning. But, beginnings are times to take the greatest of care, so we'll start of big.

I have the best family in the world. You're entitled to your own opinion, of course, but that doesn't change mine. They are all just incredibly awesome.

Since I metioned her already, I'll start with my sister, Marianne. A couple years older than me, she's a graphic designer with a publishing company up in Nashville, and is one of the most caring people you will ever meet. She is friendly despite several hardships she's been through recently, and is a strong Christian despite (or maybe in spite, or even because of) all that has happened. She's always busy, however, as she runs a stationery company on the side, Quad Deuce Design. She does awesome work, though; there's a reason we used her for my wedding not so long ago!

Next we'll come to my dad, Thomas. He is simply put the strongest man I know. Not in a physical sense, but in the ways that matter. He was always a pillar we could hold on to when troubles came when we were younger, strong in his faith. He did the best he could to help raise Marianne and me right, and I at least think he did a pretty good job. Enough so that when the worst happened, we were able to help support him as much as he supported us.

My mom, Theresa, died in 2009. I'll never forget how I felt when dad called me early that Sunday morning and told me. But that doesn't overshadow the memories I have of one of the kindest women you'll ever meet. My friends as we grew up all called her "Mama Callis", becuase she was a mom to them as much as to me, always being there for us and with us when she was able. She loved to give of herself, volunteering when she could, bringing food to the sick or even just as gifts from time to time because she loved it. I miss her dearly, but know that she's watching and caring for me still.

More recently, I've got someone else I can call family: my beautiful wife Alicia. We met at college, working in the same office on campus for a while. She is so kind and sweet, and a wonderful cook. She makes me feel better when I'm down, keeps me sane when I'm trying to fall apart, and keeps me honest when I don't do things I said I would. I love her so much, and sometimes still can't quite believe that she said yes.

So, anywho, there you have it: my family is amazing, and I can't believe how blessed I am to call them mine.

Conundrum

So I've kinda gone off on a Warhammer tangent, haven't I? Time to swing back around to all that other stuff I promised in that first post.

Ever since I was a kid, I've considered myself a writer. I'm pretty decent at it; not New York Times Bestseller level, maybe, but I'm not bad. I have a knack for storytelling that could only have been given by God. Even now, when I think of who and what I am, one of the first words to come to mind is 'writer'.

So I find myself bothered by the fact that I haven't written a word of fiction in weeks.

I know why it is. Working an early morning shift leaves me exhausted when I get home, and I struggle between work, trying to spend as much time as I can with my wonderful new wife, and still have something resembling a social life. I just don't get a chance to sit down and write like I want to. I even have a story half-finished that I need to complete for a submission deadline. I just can't motivate myself to get it done.

So why am I sitting here doing a blog when I should be doing that, you ask? Because I'm trying to set up habits. If I can make myself write for a little while every day, even about something so meta as writing, then maybe I can discipline myself to get my stories finished. To tell what it is I want to tell. Because if I wait on the mood, I'm going to be waiting a long, long time.

Or at least until I get a job not on the freakishly early shift.

Policy Changes: Stepping Backwards

So news broke yesterday that Games Worshop is changing their sales policies for their affiliated stores.

Now, a few days ago word filtered down that they were forbidding bits sales, where retailers would take boxes and break them open to sell just the individual pieces. This is usally a godsend for converters and gamers alike, as the kits rarely come with enough bits to make every single option that a unit has. For example, the Space Marine Devestator kit comes with five bodies and a selection of the heavy weapons they are allowed to take. But while they can take four heavy weapons in any combination, there are not four of any heavy weapon in the box. At most there are two of two different varities. So bits resellers were filling a need there.

Now, were GW to get into selling bits themselves, this change would merely be annoying rather than punishing, but no such word has filtered down from corporate. And then we find ourselves with the latest change: no online sales allowed.

Previously, they had prevented independent retailers from using a cart-based system to do online sales, which is bad enough. But to keep a good-sized chunk of your market share (especially here in the States) from selling online at all in this digital age? It's sheer lunacy.

Online sales continue to grow and grow, making up about 8% of total retail sales this year. While that may not seem like much, it's still over $250 billion, and for much of the country this would be the only way GW would get their products sold. Many places in the country aren't supported by a retail store that sells Warhammer, much less by an official GW store (the closest ones to me are the Battle Bunker in Memphis or the store in Atlanta). So if they were interested in GW's products, they would have to order online, and with GW's prices still rising even in this recession, most people are just going to turn away and not purchase anything rather than going to GW's site.

Sure, the addicted among us (me included) still would purchase if that was the only way we could, but the point is to generate new business, correct? They should be helping faciltate that, and online sales really help that.

All in all, GW seems to a tale of two companies: the games studio that is making an amazing product that more people should play, and the corporate people who seem determined to make sure that no one can.

Incoming! Tau Empire





So I mentioned in my last post the Tau, one of the races in Warhammer 40k. I am, to say the least, quite thrilled and excited to see these guys getting some new releases finally.

Some background on how GW works their releases: Typically, several times a year they will release a Codex for an army, containing all the rules for a specific army and usually with several model kits alongside them.

Now, since there are only a small number of armies (something like 15 at this point), and they usually produce 3-4 Codices per year (think that's the proper plural there...), obviously they have to be reprinting them every so often. And you'd be right: rereleases usually contain a number of tweaks to point costs and options, as well as new units necessitating new models.

And so here we are: the new Tau Empire codex releases April 6th, and I am really, really excited about it.

The Tau Empire got their last book in 2006, in the days of 4th Edition. While 7 years may not seem like that long, in that time both Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons have gotten two releases, two new editions of the core ruleset have come out, and my entire tenure with the game has been after that point. Only the Black Templars and the Eldar have codices older, and the Eldar only by a few months.

The Tau were my first army, and I loved them when I first started. They're really the closest thing that the setting has to "the good guys", a status they get because they'll give you the chance to join their empire before they kill you, and they only attack when they have a reason. Granted, that reason could be "we really want your planet", but at least they don't attack indiscriminately like some factions do. Any other setting and they would certainly be The Evil Empire, but in 40k they wind up the good guys.

Anyway, back to the release: we're finally seeing flyers for the Tau, something which was previously only covered by GW's specialty shop Forge World (which, while they make awesome products, are way too expensive even if the listed price wasn't in British Pounds instead of American Dollars). The pic above is the one that sold me on them: I am definitely excited about picking up a couple of them, along with a gigantic mechanized suit, the Riptide. The Tau were always known for their Crisis suits, mechs that gave them great weapons platforms. This one, however, dwarfs the Crisis teams and looks to be spectacular.

All in all, I gotta say that I'm really, really excited and can't wait for the next couple weeks to be here already.

Warhammer - My intro

My tank has more guns than yours...

As I mentioned in the first post, I play a lot of wargames, with Warhammer 40,000 being the primary one. There's a lot going on with it that I'd really like to talk about, but I guess I should be polite and kinda explain what it is I'm talking about here.

To put it bluntly and succinctly, I play games with plastic army men.

It's much more complicated than that, of course, but if I wanted to boil it down, that's the bottom line.

The game consists basically of two separate steps: building and painting your army, and then actually playing the game. The first is a lot of work and money (the tank pictured took several hours to paint as it stands, and I still have a lot of things I really need to do to it before I can really consider it complete), but can be a lot of fun. Games Workshop, the game's maker, produces a wide range of kits that have some truly exquisite detail for how small most models are (maybe an inch or two high for most of them, though obviously tanks are bigger), and a master painter can do some truly exceptional things with them. I am not a master painter. I can still do some really fun things with the models, but I'll never win any awards for mine.

Actually playing the game is where the most fun is, however. Two players would bring their armies, balanced against each other through a point-buy system (each model is worth a certain number of points against a limit agreed upon by the players), and proceed to throw dice at each other until one player wins.

Not actually at each other, mind. That would just be painful. Through a series of die rolls, everything from movement through dense terrain, shooting effectiveness, or even the morale of your soldiers can be determined. Once you get the rules, it's a lot of fun.

The setting is what makes the game work for me, however. It's set in the year 40,000 (convenient, huh?), where the Imperium of Mankind has spread to the four corners of the galaxy, and is locked in an unending war against the forces of Chaos, the primordial forces of destruction and decay that seek to bring the galaxy to a burning ruin. There are also many alien forces, such as the war-loving hooligan Orks, the holier-than-thou space elf Eldar and their evil kin Dark Eldar, and the "we're the not-quite-as-bad" blue space communist Tau Empire.

The background is really fleshed out and detailed, so much so that Games Workshop has an entire division called the Black Library that publishes novels based on it, which are some really good books to read if you enjoy military sci-fi, even if you've never played the games.

But there you have the basics of Warhammer 40k. Next time, I'll delve into some more of the game, though what exactly I'll talk about I'll leave a mystery for now. ;)

Time Travel of the Mundane Variety

I'm a sci-fi fan, so time travel is something I'm very familiar with (though tenses still give me trouble; English was not meant to handle causal loops!). Unfortunately, I don't get to have any of the fun variety in real life.

Nope, we've just go the mundane type: travelling to the future at a rate of one second per second.

This week has been one where I've just needed a few more hours here and there, to try and keep myself on track. Between things that need doing around the house, trying to get in time with friends, that little thing called work (which happens for me at stupid o'clock in the morning), and trying to make sure I'm rested enough for it all, I just haven't been able to get it all done. And of course, stealing an hour of my weekend from me didn't help, government mandated Daylight Savings.

Hopefully tonight will be better, though it's still a busy day. Training on a new system at church for the Sunday morning service broadcast will be fun and interesting, and I need to get a few things done at home since it's a nice day. Hopefully I'll be awake enough to get it all done.

And hopefully I can get myself on a schedule of doing the blog like I promised I would in that first post. Or even ahead.

Though let's not be crazy.

Beginnings

So I'm sure I'm only one of... well, probably tens of thousands that have done this these days, but that doesn't really matter. After all, I'm not them, and just because a thing has been done before doesn't mean it doesn't have merit. So here we are.

My name's Matthew, and this will be a blog for me. There's no set theme, other than the things I like. The only schedule I'm reaching for is that I'm going to try and post every day. And hopefully every day will see something interesting pop up here for people to read and enjoy.

So I guess that begs a question: If this blog will be about what I'm interested in, what am I interested in? Well, I'm a sci-fi/fantasy nerd, a bibliophile and movie-lover, and I enjoy gaming of many various kinds. I'm a writer and videographer, I've got a weird sense of humor, and perhaps most importantly I'm a Christian. So you may find everything on here from a movie review to a wargame army list, from a book review to a rant on politics or morality. If I get motivated, you may even find a short story or a video on here.

So there you have it, folks. It's gonna be a fun ride, I hope.

Hold on tight.