Operation Backlog Completion 2026
Nov 012021
 

Original image by brands amon from Pixabay

November is here, this year’s celebration of horror games is over, and the contest winners are being contacted!

We’ve got a lot of things to talk about, including a couple of games I finished in October that didn’t quite fit the spooky theme.

Before all that, however, NaNoWriMo has begun!

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is a yearly challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.

I got started at midnight, and so far I have 5,300 words written of a new supernatural horror novel. So even though our focused look on horror in video games is at an end for this year, I have another horror-themed month ahead for me in my writing. This year’s novel is partly inspired by Silent Hill 4, so I’m looking forward to getting into it!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? If so, what sort of project are you working on?

And this was the first year that the Celebrating All Things Spooky contest had slightly different rules, so if you have any thoughts on that, please share those in the comments as well.

Here’s to a fun and productive November!

Oct 012021
 

Happy October!

You know what that means, another month of spooky games in honor of Halloween, with 2021’s Celebrating All Things Spooky celebration! I’ve also got a few special promotions and announcements lined up this year.

Sales and Promotions

Once again, my horror novellas The Book at Dernier and It Came Back will be on sale for $0.99 for the entire month of October.

Not only that, but my comedy/horror novella The Zombie Mishap will be FREE this weekend to kick off the spooky season! You’ll have from October 2 at 3:00 AM ET to October 3 at 2:59 PM ET to pick up The Zombie Mishap for free.

Announcements

You might recall that I wrote the script for a short horror visual novel called Not It, which is available for free from itch.io.

Not It has been revamped with new backgrounds, CGs, voice acting, and more as Not It: Spookiest Edition! It will be available to purchase from Steam on October 12.

Contest

And now let’s discuss this year’s Celebrating All Things Spooky contest! The rules are slightly different than they were last year, so be sure to read them carefully.

This year, the available prizes are:

  • Not It: Spookiest Edition (gift sent through Steam)
  • Alien: Isolation (gift sent through Steam)
  • Silent Hill 4: The Room (gift sent through GOG)
  • Dead Age (Steam code)
  • Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (Steam code)
  • Lakeview Cabin Collection (Steam code)
  • eBook copy of The Book at Dernier
  • eBook copy of It Came Back
  • $15 sent through PayPal
  • You pick a game for me to review!

If you choose the review option, your chosen game must be something I either own or is easily obtainable, which you can discuss with me beforehand. It must be a single game, not a collection (although the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in November.

Rules:

  • No purchase is necessary.
  • Only comments made between October 1, 2021 at 12:01 AM ET and October 31, 2021 at 11:59 PM ET will be counted.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on a Celebrating All Things Spooky blog post = 1 point.
  • You must use an email address or website URL (or include another way of contacting you) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
  • The person with the most points will get their first pick of the prizes. The person with the second most points will pick second, and so on, until all prizes have been given out.
  • The winner will be contacted by November 2, 2021.

You have between now and Halloween to leave comments, earn points, and win a fantastic prize! The month will be filled with spooky game reviews and content as usual. I hope you’ll participate!

Meanwhile, I’ve been debating about changing the name of the event in the future to better indicate its focus on dark, spooky, creepy, and/or Halloween-themed video games… but to what?

Apr 282021
 

Following my first venture into pulp fiction with “The Domino Lady Takes the Case,” my second pulp story is available now in a new collection from Airship 27!

Pulp Mythology Volume Two contains three pulp stories all based around myths and legends. Mine is “The Lost Quest of Heracles,” a Greek mythology story that follows Heracles on a new journey as he seeks a way to reunite with his family in the underworld.

(Yeah, I started work on this story sometime after my marathon through the God of War series, which left me wanting more Greek mythology.)

The other two stories in this collection are a Baba Yaga story written by Michael Panush and a novella about Pecos Bill written by Mel Odom.

Currently, the print copy of Pulp Mythology Volume Two is available from Amazon, as well as the ebook!

It should also be available directly from Airship 27 soon, as well.

And if you’re a pulp fiction fan, don’t forget to check out Domino Lady Volume 3, which includes my short story “The Domino Lady Takes the Case.”

I’ve enjoyed getting into the world of new pulp fiction, and there will be more to come!