It has been awhile since I last posted. I've been terribly distracted with some health issues that I'm still working through. Editing on Neo Ace continues and my editor is about a third of the way through. We also adopted a black kitten named Firefly from the humane society on New Years Eve and she has done wonderfully at our home.
I'm starting to plot out the next installment of Exocrisis Blue now and I have some big plans for the story that range from:
- Another love interest to create a love triangle.
- Preventing a major coup attempt.
- A few large set piece battles with massive combined arms including naval assets, drones launched from airborne drone carriers, conventional armour, and mechas of course.
- The Newts are going to get an alien warrior champion.
- The war faction of the Newts will progress with their use of the Shre'lor to destroy humanity.
- And a final showdown on a massive command ship.
So here are a few recaps of cool things that I saw in photos with captions below.
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| Combat walker robots similar to what I use in my stories like HARM. Interesting magazine cover I saw recently. |
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| I went and saw the Harry Potter Exhibit on at the Telus World of Science in Edmonton. It wasn't as good an exhibit as the amazing Star Wars Identity exhibit from last year, but all of the movie props and costumes were great to see up close. Really enjoyed it and it brought another dimension to the movies. I can only say that the kids that played the heroes in the movies were sure small for the first film once you saw their clothes and beds - something that being on the big screen doesn't seem to convey as well. It was an exhibit well worth seeing if you have seen the movies and are a fan, but not otherwise due to the price. |
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| One of the giant chess pieces from the first Harry Potter movie. You weren't allowed to take photos inside. |
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| Giant croc from the live action Peter Pan in the bringing monsters to life exhibit. Could swallow me whole! |
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| Also had a great bento lunch! Sashimi and Tempura! Yum. |
I also managed to finish the new Tomb Raider game and the big award winning game Last of Us in the last two months. I have to say that these first person shooters are just getting too bloody in general. I enjoyed playing both games and both of the games were really well done. Maybe too much killing going on, but I guess what do you expect with a first person shooter. The games had really high production quality and the stories were pretty good. However, I think I'm going to have to play something a little more tactical and fantasy-like to take a break - some stuff like Bravely Default or Tales of Xillia as I'm tired of the gore. I think it would be nice if they turned the gore back down to what it was like in 2000 with Unreal or Half-life. I wanted to like Last of Us more due to the great reviews, and it was good, but the story was way too manipulative by the end for me. Like many stories these days, clean endings are just too simple to write. Writers seem to want to kick the drama up a notch or two, and throw in extra angst for no real reason. You just can't win (which is why I like the Uncharted games), but people seem to like it. I'll just sit it out and avoid the prequel as it just wasn't for me.
Anyhow, that's all for now. I'm still plugging away at stuff. My apologies to anyone who was waiting for Neo Ace. It'll be ready when I can get it ready. I'll announce dates when I'm sure of a release date.
