First Update of 2023

As of this entry, I have begun the second draft of the Seigi origin novel, tentatively titled I AM JUSTICE.  Chronologically, the story takes place in May of 1999 and is centered around Jamie and Yoshi’s wedding.  Book Eight of THE ADVENTURE CHRONICLES will take place in October of 1999 and will center on an archaeological dig in Romania.  Then, Book Nine will take place the last week of 1999.

I finished the first draft of the Seigi novel in September of 2022, so three-and-a-half months ago, as of this writing.  I had intended to write the first draft of Book Eight in October, then do the second draft of I AM JUSTICE in November . . . or maybe even write the first draft of Book Nine that month.  Unfortunately, my mental state just couldn’t work that out.

And so I find myself in January of 2023, plugging away on the second draft of my superhero novel.  Frankly, I’m not sure what’s been wrong with me.  Once I’m in front of the computer each day, I’m fine.  It’s just the process of putting my butt in the chair and my fingers on the keys that gives me so much trouble.

I did come up with a marketing plan that I want to try.  I came up with the idea last year.  My plan is to donate a copy of at least INVASION OF THE NINJA to one library in every state in the country . . . eventually.  I’m hoping that this will prompt those libraries to buy the rest of the series.  Also, I’m hoping that having a copy of the book on library will make it searchable throughout the state.  The plan is to donate it to a small enough library that they won’t immediately disregard it, out of hand, given a small enough budget to happily take unsolicited donations.  Honestly, I don’t know how well this will work out.  But at least it is a plan.

I picked one small town in each state (with more than one in my home state of Missouri).  Many of them were just picked randomly due to weird names.  I chose the Arkansas library due to having lived in that particular town for six months in 1989.

I began the process with Palmer Library in Elsberry, MO, yesterday.  The librarian was delighted to have an author donate his book to them directly and even requested that I sign them.  She showed me the two sections where my books would be kept (LILY’S REDEMPTION in Christian Fiction and INVASION OF THE NINJA in YA).  I gave them fliers for the other books in hopes that it will lead them to order the rest of the series.  As I begin mailing the copies out of state, I intend to create a sell sheet to send with them—one that will give them the necessary info on the other books without needing to send multiple pages.

So I’m still working.  Keep me in your prayers and, if you’ve read my books, be sure to leave honest reviews on your favorites sites.

Until next time, God Bless.

Abortion and a Little Light Reading

Recently, I’ve discussed the topic of writing with a couple of my coworkers at my day job.  Both of them enjoy reading, but neither of them is Christian.  One of them does want to read my books and I hope that they have a positive impact on her . . . or, at the very least, give her an enjoyable adventure.

One of the things that we discussed is how our own worldviews affect our writing.  I don’t apologize for the fact that I write Christian Fiction.  And, this weekend, I’ve been really thinking about the subject of abortion.  With the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court has sent the subject of terminating a pregnancy back to the states and the people where—in my not so humble opinion—it belongs.  I detest abortion and see it as nothing more than a modern version of child sacrifice, albeit to the “god” of convenience.

As mentioned above, our worldview affects our stories.  Abortion has come up three times in The Adventure Chronicles.  Below is an excerpt from Book Six (Full Circle):

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The courthouse lawn was filled with demonstrators this morning.  There was an important discussion going on inside and the people were very interested in the vote that would result.

Jamie pulled his 1985 Chevy Cavalier into a parking space in front of the town library, across the street from the courthouse.  He climbed out of the driver’s seat as Yoshi did the same from the passenger’s seat.  He looked at the demonstrators and sighed.  Without exception, they were all in agreement with him.  But, would it make a difference?

“I think that this will be enjoyable,” commented Yoshi.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” returned her clan brother.  “But I definitely think it’s important.”  He opened the back driver’s side door and grabbed two signs.  “Which one do you want?”

“I want the one that says Abortion is Murder,” responded his clan sister, so he handed that sign to her.  He would keep the It’s a Child, Not a Choice sign.

As they moved into the crowd of demonstrators, Jamie spotted Dave Isaac standing near a picnic table, upon which his very pregnant wife sat with a sign that read This is a Life Inside of Me.  The two young ninja made their way to the table, Jamie’s eyes glued to the crew cut that was now on top of his larger cousin’s head.  Until he had gone into the Air Force, Dave had always worn his hair shoulder length.  Jamie did not feel that he would ever get used to it.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Isaac!” called Jamie with a wave as they approached.

Dave looked up and yelled, “DUDE!”  Then he scooped his smaller—but older—cousin into a massive bear hug.

“Let . . . UGH . . . me go, Dave!” grunted Jamie as Yoshi embraced Laura.

The kunoichi regarded the pregnant adolescent with concern.  “You are due in two weeks.  Are you sure that you should be out here, today?”

“Are you kidding?” returned Laura.  “I wouldn’t miss this for the world!”

“Jamie!” called a familiar girl’s voice from the crowd.  A captivating adolescent girl with brown hair and matching eyes seemed to step out of nowhere.

Jamie stepped forward and embraced Shawna Weston, the valedictorian of his graduating class and his former girlfriend.  “I’m glad you made it,” she whispered.

“I was kind of responsible for this town council meeting,” responded Jamie.

She pulled away from him.  “You didn’t strike the helicopter with lightning.  And you didn’t make it crash into the clinic.”  She shook her head.  “There’s something bigger going on here.”

Yoshi embraced Shawna.  Afterward, Shawna pulled back and looked deep into the kunoichi’s eyes, her own eyes narrowed as she tried to discern something.

“What?” demanded Yoshi.

“‘Heart’s desire,’” responded Shawna.  “You’ve been told that God is going to give you your heart’s desire.”

Yoshi’s eyes narrowed.  “Elvara told me that during our Spring Break trip to Jameston.  What does it mean?”

Shawna blinked a couple of times and gathered her emotions.  “I can’t tell you.  But it’s going to happen soon.  And you won’t know how to react to it.”

They were interrupted by another familiar voice . . . this one on a megaphone.  “Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,” echoed the voice of Buster Goodman, Jamie’s friend and nunchaku student who was studying to go into the ministry, “we are gathered here today to make sure that this town does not repeat the mistakes of the past.  As we know, an abortion clinic was snuck into a town resolution in 1990.  Despite a petition that was signed by over five hundred of the eight hundred registered voters of this town, they went ahead with the construction of this place where the lives of dozens of innocents were ended before a helicopter crashed into the clinic less than six months after its completion.  We would have considered this a victory, had today not happened.  Right now, the council is in the courthouse, discussing the motion to rebuild it.”

A deafening BOOOOOOO echoed through the crowd.

Buster, who stood atop a picnic table near the front entrance to the old building, raised his hands for silence.  “But we know about it before they’ve voted this time!  And we will make sure that they know that we won’t stand for this kind of thing again!”

Now the crowd cheered.

As Jamie’s voice rose to join the chorus of the pro-life crowd, he noticed the front door open and Tim Brown, the high school speech teacher, step out.  He walked toward them and stopped in front of Shawna.

“They’re ready for you,” the teacher told the prophetess.

She looked nervously at Jamie.  “I’m scared.”

He smiled at her.  “Just let the Holy Spirit speak.”

She returned his smile.  “Jesus sent them out in pairs when the Apostles started their ministry.  Will you come with me?”

He nodded and followed Mr. Brown and Shawna into the building.  As the front door closed, Mr. Brown turned to look at the two recent high school graduates.  “Just remember that the council knows the will of the people.  Madeline Sarrandon knows that she has an uphill battle here if she wants to get the clinic rebuilt.  She’s going to be vicious.  And she’ll find ways of attacking you both.  But you can do this.  I had you both for my speech classes and I know what you’re capable of.”  He gave them both a thumbs-up.  “Let’s go win one for the good guys.”

Jamie smiled and nodded nervously.  He did not know why his stomach was fluttering.  After all, he was not the one who would be speaking.  That honor fell onto the shoulders of his former girlfriend.

They made their way to the base of the stairs that led to the second floor, where the town council was waiting in the courtroom.  Shawna looked fearfully up the stairwell.  “Holy Spirit, please give me the strength to do Your will,” she whispered.  Then they began to ascend.

*  *  *

Yoshi looked up at the courthouse.  Why did it bother her so much to have Jamie go in there with Shawna?  She should be happy that the young prophetess would be speaking to the council.

She felt a hand on her shoulder.  “Penny for your thoughts.”  She turned to see Buster standing behind her.

She shrugged.  “I do not know.”

He cocked an eyebrow.  “You don’t know your own thoughts?”

She shook her head helplessly.  “I do not understand their meaning.”

He shook his head.  “God’ll reveal everything to you in His time.  You just have to trust that.”

She forced a smile at him and nodded.

*  *  *

The courtroom was cold.  Jamie guessed that the temperature was set low to battle the intense, August heat.  He took a seat next to Mr. and Mrs. Brown in the front pew.  He prayed silently for Shawna as she made her way to the podium where she would speak.

The town council consisted of a number of business owners, including the town’s only resident physician, Dr. Zimmerman.  Notably a pro-life doctor, Jamie knew that he was interested in what was going to be said.

Madeline Sarrandon, the only outspoken atheist on the council, owned a bar on the outskirts of town that lay on the opposite side as Jamie’s house.  She scowled as Shawna took her place at the podium.  “Why do we have to listen to an adolescent in this case?  Aren’t we capable of coming to a decision on this issue with the facts we have?”

Dr. Zimmerman looked at the councilwoman and replied, “The petition requested Ms. Weston specifically to argue this case.  As the valedictorian of her class, we feel that she’s educated enough to present the con side of rebuilding the clinic.”

Shawna set her papers before her.  After calmly adjusting her notes, she looked toward the council and met each member’s gaze.  Her eyes settled on Mrs. Sarrandon, who returned Shawna’s stare with an icy glare of her own.  Jamie was heartened to note that Shawna’s gaze did not waiver.

Finally, the valedictorian began.  “Ladies and gentlemen of the council, I stand before you today—as a registered voter—on the issue of morals.  I have been asked to refrain from mentioning my religious beliefs to you, so I will not discuss Jesus Christ, the Messiah Who gave His life so that all who believe in Him can have eternal life.”

Madeline tensed visibly, her eyes glaring flaming daggers at the teen.  Jamie could barely note a quiet snicker from Mr. and Mrs. Brown.

Shawna’s face remained passive as she continued.  “Of the 824 registered voters in this town, 743 have signed this petition,” she held up a stack of papers, “stating that they oppose the reconstruction of the abortion clinic.  Many of these same people signed the initial petition and were told that it was too late to back out of the project at that time.”  She set the papers back on the podium.  “We know about it in advance this time.”

She stepped out from behind the podium, her hands clasped behind her back, and continued.  “Those of us who signed this petition—over eighty percent of our town’s population—did not appreciate having the abortion clinic snuck into our town under our noses.  We feel, rightly so, that abortion is not health care.  It is sacrificing the most innocent of us to the deity of Convenience.  We expect you, dear members of the council, to take this opportunity to correct a mistake . . . a mistake that has cost the lives of too many innocents.”

Jamie was truly amazed by the reaction that Madeline Sarrandon was having to Shawna’s speech.  The councilwoman’s face was stern.  Her eyes flared.  The veins in her temples bulged and her right hand squeezed her ink pen dangerously.

Shawna cleared her throat.  “In short, ladies and gentlemen, anyone who votes to rebuild the abortion clinic will find a new person occupying his or her place on the council after the next elections.”

The deafening quiet that followed Shawna’s final proclamation was broken by the hard snap of a breaking pen.

*  *  *

“IT WAS VOTED DOWN!!!”

Jamie, Shawna, and Mr. Brown followed Dr. Zimmerman from the courthouse.  The physician had just shared news of the vote to thunderous applause.  The physician turned to the two adolescents and shook each of their hands.  “Good speech,” he called to Shawna over the cheering.

She pointed upward with a smile.  “Thank Him.”

The doctor nodded.  “Constantly.”

The doors opened, nearly hitting Mr. Brown, and Madeline Sarrandon stormed out.  Stopping in front of the two teens, she glared at Shawna.  “I hope you’re happy.  You’ve cost this town thousands of dollars in funds a year.”

Shawna met her gaze evenly.  “We’ll manage.”

“Is that all you can say?!” demanded Ms. Sarrandon.  “Just trust your blind faith that everything will be alright?”

Jamie looked at Shawna to notice her expression change.  Now, she looked at the councilwoman sadly.

“He’ll forgive you,” Shawna said.  She wasn’t yelling, but those standing on the front steps of the courthouse heard her clearly.

Sarrandon’s eyes widened.  “What?”

“All you have to do is ask.”

Madeline took a step back in shock.  “How did you . . .?”

Shawna stepped forward and put a gentle hand on the woman’s arm.  “Your baby is in the loving arms of the Father, now.”

Madeline jerked her arm back as if Shawna had burned her.  “I . . . I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Shawna shook her head.  “That you feel that way is the saddest part of all.”

“Abortion is legal!  I have a right!”

“Legal and Moral are often two different things, Ms. Sarrandon,” said Mr. Brown.

She looked at each of them, tears forming in her eyes, then turned and plunged down the steps, running for her car.

Jamie looked after her.  “She’s had an abortion?”

Shawna nodded with a sigh.  “When she was in college.  The father wanted nothing to do with it and she was scared of trying to raise a baby alone.”

“Will she ever repent?”

Shawna shrugged sadly.  “I don’t know.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have made no secret of my views of abortion.  I do admit that I am someone surprised by the people who claim Christianity and are angered by the recent Supreme Court ruling.  I can only hope that God will work through this ruling and our duly elected officials.

Until Next Time,

God Bless

Review of Van Richten’s Encyclopedia of Darklords and Domains by Mistfactor Press

I have loved Ravenloft since I first purchased I6 from that little bookstore in Kennett, MO, all the way back in 1989.  When the original Black Box was released, I ordered it from Wargames West and devoured it.  The setting took on a life of its own amongst my players and we had epic campaigns in the Domains of Dread, our characters doing their best to fight back the darkness of some of the greatest villains in the history of the game.

Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons was, in my humble opinion, the pinnacle of the game.  And Ravenloft, as released for that edition, surpassed what came before.

Why?

Because Wizards of the Coast sublicensed the setting to Arthaus, who hired a number of fans (the self-titled “Kargatane”) to do the actual writing.  They loved the setting, and it showed.  So much so, in fact, that the return of the license to WotC was kind of a dark time for me.  The 3E book for Ravenloft that they released after taking the license back from Arthaus—Expedition to Castle Ravenloft—was a step backwards in quality . . . again, in my opinion.

I was one of many people who jumped ship during the 4^th Edition era, as I felt the game was too much like a MMO played with paper.  I spent this time playing Pathfinder 1E.

And then 5^th Edition was released, and I enthusiastically returned to Dungeons & Dragons.  I own all of the game mechanics books that have been released, to date.  The only adventure module that I own is Curse of Strahd (the original print).  Because . . . Ravenloft.

I have been dismayed by the woke direction that my beloved game has taken.  People who don’t even play the game have taken to social medial and done all that they could to change D&D into a liberal social experiment where the things that would have existed in a medieval fantasy setting are set aside to make the game more “modern”.  Alignments are losing their appeal and the concept of “Good vs. Evil” will soon follow suit.  In this sea of madness, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft was released.

And it was a travesty.

The older editions instructed the DM on how to create fear in the game.  This new book actually cautions us to not make the game too scary.

Ugh.

On top of all of that, they made pointless changes.   Several darklords were gender-swapped.  Dr. Mordenheim is now a woman and the darklord of Lamordia and the “Adam” of the domain is Elise, who the doctor saved with an artificial heart.  Falkovnia is now ruled by Vladeska Drakov, and the theme of the realm has gone from a fascist ruler to a zombie apocalypse.

So, it was with great hope that I awaited the release of Van Richten’s Encyclopedia of Darklords and Domains, through the DM’s Guild by Mistfactor Press.  And boy, it was definitely worth the wait!

The massive undertaking is printed in two HUGE tomes and contains every domain that has ever been mentioned in any edition, including a couple that were only in novels and were never fleshed out in gaming material.  The result is around ONE HUNDRED fully-fleshed out realms.   Volume One is the Core, the primary continent of the setting, and some floating domains.  Volume Two is the Islands of Terror, Clusters, and the domains of the Masque of the Red Death Setting.

The first thing that I will note is that they have noted the wary of dark content in the entries.  Considering the material, this is understandable.  Torture, betrayal, murder,  and rape are all represented and the authors warn you of it ahead of time.  This isn’t the watered-down version that Wizards gave us. 

Each section gives a breakdown of the history of the realm, the political layout, and then the flora, fauna, and monsters.  Finally, we get the stats and bio of the darklord.  In some cases (Sithicus and Richemulot come to mind) we get stats for the current darklord and the previous one.

In most of the domains, we get an “analog” for the domain, which gives us a real-world inspiration or a literary inspiration for the realm.  This is missing from Valachan.  In most domains, we also get a paragraph or two giving examples of the themes of the adventures that should be played in that realm.  This is notably missing from Nidala in Volume Two.

Throughout the book, we get quotes from everything from the Holy Bible, to Alfred from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight.  We also get quotes—in the darklord’s bio—from either the darklord, Rudolph Van Richten, or a generic npc who has encountered the darklord.

***A NOTE ABOUT THE QUOTES MENTIONED ABOVE***They go to a variety of sources for their quotes. As a Christian, I would be remiss to not mention that two of those quotes come from Anton LaVey and The Satanic Verses, respectively. Neither quote was intended to push a religious viewpoint (nor was the Holy Bible verse that they quoted). They were merely trying to fit the theme of the section.***

The maps are detailed, which is saying a great deal for a POD book.  There is very little pixelization.

The artwork is a mixed bag.  They have some original artwork, most of which is very good.  They also used some public domain stuff that fit the genre.  There were even some manipulated photographs that were used for some darklords.  My daughter—a self-taught Tudor historian—got a kick out of the fact that they used Hans Holbein’s painting of Henry VIII for Bluebeard.

The only really noticeable issue that I had was with typos.  There were some run-on sentences and some run-on words.  But they really didn’t detract from the overall experience.

Mistfactor Press, like the Kargatane of 3E, is a group of true fans of the setting.  And their love of the setting shines in these books.  This is what 5^th Edition Ravenloft SHOULD have been.

Five Stars.

Legacy Blog #44: The Fall of 1995

My Beloved Daughter,

Linda’s first visit from foster care happened while our group was playing D&D on the screened front porch of our mobile home.  She rode from the mobile home that Mark and his wife lived in on Mark’s four-wheeler.  She was in good health and spirit and the cross that she wore around her neck was quite an attention-getter, let me tell you.  She had been placed with a Christian family and they had taken her to church regularly, where she had surrendered her life to God.

Michael took an immediate interest in her.  And she took an immediate liking to him.

That fall saw her returning home for visits a few times before she was finally released to return to Mark and Mary permanently.  It was good to have another familiar face in the group, although I was dismayed to find that her attraction for Michael was growing.

I admit to having a bit of jealousy, given that I had (often without even admitting it to myself) had a crush on her for a while.  But I was also puzzled by the fact that he seemed to be returning her interests, all the while keeping her at just enough arm’s length to frustrate her.  As my cousin did not go to church, she wasn’t going after leaving her foster family, either.  The “back-sliding” had begun.

To add to the chaos, Mark was killed in a car wreck on his way home from Poplar Bluff in November of 1995.  That funeral, for a man whose two sons were under five years old, was miserable.  It was the first of only two times that I ever remember seeing your Grandpa Chuck weep.

By this point, we had all joined Michael and Jeremy in their drinking parties and the night of the wreck, the group took Linda, who was inconsolable over Mark’s death, to Blue Hole—a creek on HH highway—to get drunk.

Though I had, by now, been intoxicated, I didn’t join them for this “party,” as I had a touch of the flu.

That night, I sat and thought greatly about all the changes that had happened to us that summer.  I had a close-knit group of friends that was falling apart and I was seeing people of my own generation leave this world.  I saw a friend who purported to be gay leading on a girl that I had known longer than him.  I felt guilty for feeling jealousy toward them but also felt guilty for introducing her to this man who almost seemed to take a perverse pleasure from watching her leave her faith and declare her love for him.

Two weeks later, Eric and I discussed the issue and both concluded that we had to remove Michael from the group.  We somberly told him that we were not happy about the things that had gone on in our circle of friends since his arrival and advised him that we wanted nothing further to do with him.

And then, we set about repairing the damages that had been done.

Legacy Blog #43: The Summer of 1995

My Beloved Daughter,

The summer of 1995 found things changing for our little group.  Despite the fact that it had been James who had brought Michael and Jeremy into our circle of friends, Michael made no secret of his disdain for our older friend (well, he made no secret to anyone but James).  He often did things to make James angry.  Knowing that James had a very strong hatred toward homosexuality, Michael declared his sexuality to him merely to try to get him to stop coming around the group.  When that wouldn’t work, he secretly told him that none of us really wanted him around, causing him to break off contact with us.  I didn’t find out the extent of the betrayal until much later, as we’ll get into down the road in a later entry.

Michael, as I’d mentioned in the last entry, was a devout atheist.  He discussed his views openly and even how he had purposely blasphemed God at a point when he was younger, so he had no reason to try to come to faith later on.  Truthfully, this is the essence of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, when you no longer care if you are saved.

Your Grandma Pat puzzled him.  Just like all of my friends, he couldn’t get in the house without an affectionate hug from her.  Just as Michael’s lack of affection from his mother puzzled me, my mother’s fierce love of hugging shocked him.  In fact, my whole family pretty much puzzled him.  Here was a family who barely had the money to feed ourselves, but was rich in love for one another.

Also, you grandmother’s pure faith shocked him.  He would actually try to argue with her over it, only to be kindly rebuffed with, “I just believe because I believe, hon.”

The biggest event of that summer came when the circle of friends drove to St. Louis to go to Six Flags.  Before Vickie’s stroke, you’ll remember that you, Bree, Jay, Vickie, and I had season passes to Six Flags.  However, going there was a rare occurrence when I lived in Van Buren.  We stayed in Edwardsville, Illinois, with Eric and Jack’s older cousin and her family.  She had a nice, two-story house with pool in the back yard.

The night that we stayed there, Eric and Jack’s youngest cousin, who was no more than eight or nine, was very antagonistic toward me.  To this day, I’m not sure what I did that really set him off to dislike me.  I do remember, the next day, Michael, Josh King, a friend named Travis Hanger, and I rode in Jason’s car to Six Flags, while Eric, Jack, and their family rode in Eric’s car. If I remember correctly, that younger cousin rode with them.  At some point, the younger cousin made some goofy faces at me from their car while we were all stopped at a gas station.  I wasn’t particularly bothered by it, but Michael had had his fill of the boy’s antics by this point.  He pointed at the boy, laughing disrespectfully.  Josh, Travis, and I followed suit.

Peer pressure.

The boy left me alone for the rest of the trip.

We had fun at Six Flags.  We rode the Screaming Eagle, the Ninja, and Tom’s Twister (which has since been decommissioned).  Josh King, a massive Robin Hood fan, bought one of the green hats.  Some of the group made two music videos, something that is much easier to do nowadays than it was then.  All in all, I think Michael, who was the one who wanted to do it, paid fifty dollars for two VHS tapes.  He lip-synched “Born to be Wild” and I can’t remember the song that Eric lip-synched.  The stand out was truly Josh.  With his back-length hair and full beard, he looked like he should be playing the metal guitar and he egged the performance for all it was worth.

Instead of going back to Eric and Jack’s cousin’s house, the four of us in Michael’s car got a room at a hotel in St. Louis.  At some point in the evening, we started watching the movie OUTBREAK (a movie that had just been released that year).  Travis and I stayed in the room and watched it, while Josh and Michael decided to take a walk, where they were tricked into buying dried cooking mushrooms from some guy who offered to sell them psychedelic shrooms.  Travis and I laughed about it, feeling that it served them right.

The next day, we stopped at a Cajun restaurant near the hotel before heading back home.  That place is no longer there.  I’ve looked for it since I have lived in St. Charles.

A few weeks later, I found out that, while we were on that trip, something happened that made Jack leave our group.  I won’t put it into print but you can always ask me in private.

With our circle friends dwindling, Evan left home to go into a work program called AmeriCorps, which was kind of like the Peace Corps, but concentrating on the U.S.  That left Eric, Josh, Jason, Jeremy, me, and (sometimes) Travis and Josh’s younger brother, Jesse.  Also, at this point, Eric and his wife had a falling out and divorced.

Then Linda Clardy began getting to come back to Mark and Mary’s for visits from her foster home.

Legacy Blog #42: A Defining Friendship

My Beloved Daughter,

In my last entry, I mentioned a couple of guys who joined my weekly D&D game at the Fantasy Shop in Poplar Bluff.  I’ll add to their story today.

While, at first, I was simply around them for that game, my buddy, James, was hanging out with them on a more regular basis.  I was a huge fan of the game Super Street Fighter 2 and would regularly beat my friends (including James) at the home version on my Super NES.  James began telling me that I should play against Michael at the game because he would definitely defeat me.

One day, while I was waiting in line at Three Rivers Community College to register for my following semesters’ classes, I ran into Michael.  We talked for a bit and I learned a little bit more about him.  Highly intelligent, he had grown bored with high school, dropped out, took his GED test, and started college at sixteen.  I was floored.  He was also a devout atheist, making him the first person to admit to that whom I’d ever met.

After we had finished registering, we headed down to the student center and played a friendly game of Super Street Fighter 2.  Finally, I was going to get a real challenge.

I trounced him.

To be fair, he was more used to playing the game on a home console and admitted to “playing atrociously” on the arcade game, which he had never touched before.  We resolved to continue the challenge at his house.

A couple of weeks later, your Uncle Evan, James, and I were driving to Poplar Bluff so that I could pick up a set of floor mats for my car, when we decided to make a detour at the turn to Highway 21 and go to see what Michael was doing.  He was just hanging out alone at his house, where he and I played Super Street Fighter 2.

I trounced him.

He rode with us to Poplar Bluff, where we all decided to eat.  I was the first time that I’d ever eaten at a Chinese Buffet.  The name of the place was Kowloon’s and I quickly grew to love Crab Rangoon.

I learned more about Michael and his relationship with his parents.  They owned a convenience store in Doniphan, as well as a few rental properties.  They had owned the liquor store that stood next to their convenience store, until they had gifted it to Michael’s older sister and her husband as a wedding gift.

I was around Michael’s mother more than I was around his father.  They kept different hours and had separate bedrooms.  They did have a date night every Friday night, which is where they were that first night that I’d gone to their house to play Street Fighter.

The two parents showed their love for him with gifts.  He constantly had money for anything that he wanted.  They had bought him a brand new car (an Oldsmobile Achieva) and, when we would hang out at their house, there would always be snacks from the store available to us.

The problem is something that only I could see at first.  There was never any affection shown to him.  While his mother told him that she loved him, I don’t recall ever seeing her hug him.  This was so foreign to me, given the massively affectionate mother that I had.  I truly think that this lack of physical touch made him crave experiences outside of the norm.  At seventeen years of age, he was already an admitted alcoholic.  He finally admitted that he was also gay.

Looking at Jeremy, Michael’s best friend, I saw an even more distinct opposite when I discovered Michael’s sexuality.  Jeremy was a ladies’ man, after all.  His mother was a business owner, as well.   But he had to work in her restaurant in order to earn his spending money, which he seemed to value more than Michael.

The two of them ingratiated themselves into our circle of friends easily.  Michael would stay the night at my house and me at his.  They would come to my house to play D&D when my campaign at the Fantasy Shop finally ended.  The rest of my friends and I would go to Michael’s house to play the RPG, as well.  Things were going smashingly.

Until the summer of 1995.

Legacy Blog #41: The Reading Corner

My Beloved Daughter,

As I had spent so much money through War Games West the summer after high school, they sent me a five percent discount coupon for my next purchase.

I never used it.

The Reading Corner opened in Poplar Bluff the year that I started college.  The proprietor, Kevin Arnold (yes, we often teased him about his connection to the main character in the old television series, The Wonder Years), was a fellow geek who enjoyed books, comics, and gaming in all their forms.  More than a bookstore, the Reading Corner was a gathering spot for those of us who were not “the IN crowd” . . . those who wanted to embrace their inner dragon slayer or super hero.

First of all, it was a bookstore.  He sold new and used novels of all genres, particularly in what we now call the area of “speculative fiction.”  For used novels, he had a policy of trading two-for-one.  So I often had friends who would bring bags-full of paperbacks in, taking half as many unread tomes home with them.

Secondly, it was a comic store.  I had a pull list here of new Spiderman comics.  Ironically, I had subscriptions to all of the major Spidey titles at that time.  But the books would arrive at the reading corner days before my copies would arrive in the mail.  Needless to say, this prompted me to not renew my subscriptions.

Thirdly, it was an RPG store.  The fact that Kevin initiated an immediate ten-percent discount on all RPG titles was the reason that I never used that discount that I got from War Games West.  I could get pretty much any volume of any game there and he could order anything that he didn’t have in stock.  This is something that you might be familiar with now, given that you live in the Greater St. Louis area and have Barnes and Nobles and Fantasy Shops abounding.  But being able to do this in the mid-nineties in Poplar Bluff, MO, was ahead of its time.

Finally, it was a gathering spot for us.  At one point, a group of geeks (me not included) planned to start a branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) from the store, but it never took off.  At this point, Kevin started selling fantasy-type weapons and I purchased my first ninja sword there.  I ended up selling it to another friend later.

Kevin also hosted weekly Dungeons and Dragons games there.  He would select a person and ask them to prepare an adventure as the Dungeon Master.  I played in several of these weekly games as a player before he asked me to lead one.  I selected my favorite setting at the time, Dragonlance.

I couldn’t, to this day, tell you the plot of that campaign.  What I do remember most were two boys who joined the game during the first week and kept coming.  I’ll call them Michael and Jeremy.

I was always perplexed by the friendship of these two adolescents, as they seemed so different.  At first, I didn’t know much about the two of them, other than the fact that Michael always had a wallet-full of spending money and spoke with such proper English, that my high school English teacher would have swooned.  He was the more “nerdy” of the two, if I could really use that term to describe him.  He was certainly intelligent enough to fit the mold, at least from what I could tell at first.

Jeremy was the more outgoing of the two.  He tended to have girls hanging onto his every word and most of the people at the store would often joke about “Jeremy’s harem.”

I will discuss these two friends in the upcoming weeks.  But I want to finish this entry as it began.

The Reading Corner eventually moved from that small location, in the heart of the Bluff, to a larger building on the outskirts of town.  Kevin added arcade games, as well as the product line that was to be the undoing of the store . . . bongs.  He did post a sign over the display case that insisted that they were intended to be used only with tobacco.  But this did little to dissuade some overzealous parents, who reported it to some overzealous police officers.  Eventually, after I had left Van Buren for Springfield, a police raid resulted in Kevin shutting down the store.  Some said that he was preparing to sue the city police department.  That never came to pass and I never saw him again.  While researching this article, I looked him up and found him on Facebook, living in another state.  My message to him went unanswered.  Perhaps he doesn’t want to be reminded of that time of his life.

To honor him, I named the bookstore in Lily’s Redemption “The Book Corner” and named the owner Kevin.  Maybe, someday, Kevin Arnold will pick up a copy.

Legacy Blog #40: College Professors

My Beloved Daughter,

Some of the professors at TRCC had more influence on my than any professors that I have had since.  My English Comp I professor, Carol Lewis, was a brilliant woman who spoke eloquently and always managed to make her lectures enjoyable as she would act things out while speaking and giggling in front of her classes.  She also made me re-learn the rules of writing, stating that what I had learned in high school English was often inaccurate.  I went on to take American Literature and Old Testament Literature with her.

Judy Scott was my World Literature and New Testament Literature professor.  A genteel southern belle, her manner of speaking was so different than Professor Lewis’s and, yet, anyone who knew her could never doubt the woman’s keen intellect.  Her humor was more subtle but definitely present.  I took a picture of her one time and, as soon as I had done so, she advised the class that she had once been told that she looked like Mrs. Doubtfire.

Larry Speight taught one class that I took, Expository Writing.  During that semester, I had to keep a running journal of my life that would lead to him assigning me a final paper that tied in to that journal.  I think that the theme of the final paper ended up being “dating.”

It’s important to note that the Old Testament and New Testament classes were set up to only discuss the Bible as literature and they were not to be considered religion classes.  Fortunately for me, being so impressionable in my spiritual views at that time, both professors were devout Christians who did not use the classes to try to discredit the Scriptures.  Indeed, I often gained a sense of wonder at what I read, understanding the Theme that ran through the sixty-six books of God’s Word.

After I changed my major to English, I still needed a Science lab.  I took Physical Science with Dr. Kwan Lee.  Hailing from South Korea, he and his beautiful wife had come to the U.S. as atheists.  By the time that I had met him, they were devout Christians.  He wasn’t even afraid to discuss his faith in class and to use his beliefs to tie Christianity and the Laws of Physics together.

I had other professors, obviously, but these four had the most influence on my growth at that time.  While going to this college, I discovered a new hangout spot for my fellow geeks and myself.  Next week, we’ll discuss The Reading Corner.

Legacy Blog #39: Filling in Some Blanks

My Beloved Daughter,

In this entry, I’ll cover some things that happened in the background that were important to the continuing story.

Firstly, I didn’t start college until January of 1994.  My intentions had, originally, been to go to College of the Ozarks, a Christian school near Branson that allowed you to work to pay your tuition.  Bobby Goodman was already going there and we had hoped to be roommates.  He had discovered girls and was sewing his wild oats there and, to be frank, I’m not sure the two of us would have even been in the same circle if I had attended.  The college had a limited number of students that it could accept at this time and they could not accept me until the January of 1994.

By this time, I had decided to go to the community college in Poplar Bluff, living with Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Pat to save money.  I finally got my driver’s license in early December of 1993, knowing that I would have to drive myself to school.  Originally, my major was Biology but, after my shaky hands butchered a worm that we were dissecting in Zoology, I decided to change my major to English (with an emphasis on Secondary Education).

Linda Clardy, my cousin’s younger sister-in-law, moved in with my cousin, Mark, and his wife.  They ended up with legal custody of her until the married couple had a falling out and Linda was taken from them and put into foster care.  This is an important seed that led to a major turning point in my life, something that we’ll discuss in a later entry.

My circle of friends began having changes.  Eric met Linda (not the one mentioned above), a girl whose family lived just up the road from me.  Both geniuses, they began dating and ended up getting married during Eric’s senior year of high school and Linda’s junior year.  Linda was with child and, while the marriage didn’t last, the two of them raised a beautiful daughter named Forrest.  I haven’t really interacted with her since she was much younger but, as of this writing, Forrest is now married.

In the next entry, we’ll discuss my college professors at TRCC.

Legacy Blog #38: The First Draft

My Beloved Daughter,

During the summer after my graduation, I spent any free time that I had writing.  It took just over a month to finish the very first draft of what would eventually become the first book of The Adventure Chronicles.

From that initial, handwritten short story from my junior year, I expanded to 171 typed pages.  I tweaked the plot a bit.  Gone was the cat-worshipping cult.  The villain clan became an ancient enemy of the heroic clan (the Funakoshi).  I created the background of the war, which is still in the opening of the published book.

The most important change that I made was the creation of Yoshi.

Through several fighting video games and novels that I had enjoyed over the past couple of years, I had gained an appreciation for tough females.  Yoshi was my entry into this field.  Initially a female clone of Jamie, they both had identical fighting styles.  While her parents had always been killed by the villain clan, she had not initially been the rebellious child that she became in the published novel.

The book poured out of me that summer, as I had no other real responsibilities to keep me from writing.  When I finally finished writing it, I printed the whole thing off on my dot-matrix printer and put it in a green binder that I kept on my bookshelf.  JD used a black marker and white-out to draw a serviceable ninja-to (the short sword that the ninja used in the 80s ninja movies and, thus, my books) on the cover of the binder.  Initially, the book was simply titled ADVENTURE.

I began writing the sequel immediately.  Unfortunately, not having readers really made me lose interest and, after the first couple of chapters, I stopped writing for the next three years.  By the time I picked up where I’d left off, I had walked through some very dark places.

It took me nearly the full three years to see Who had been walking with me.