Recent content by Brandon S. Pilcher

IMO, the only people who would miss 1958 all that much are affluent, able-bodied, White Anglo-American Boomer dudes. It wasn't exactly great for everyone else.

Something like the latter, I think.

Towards whom?

The usual practice for the Iremites is that kings marry their siblings, rather like Egyptian pharaohs. That's one reason the relationship between Sokkari and Rothwulf becomes a scandal.

FWIW, I originally pictured Rothwulf and Sokkari's climactic battle as taking place within the palace after they sneaked back in rather than on an open battlefield, but the latter works fine too. Since the Puntites are the people Tambal wants to attack, I feel they'd be the most logical allies...

That tends to be how my written outlines turn out. I have more detail in the first couple of acts than the last. I guess it's easier for me to picture how a story begins than how it ends since the ending builds on the beginning for me.

I haven't really thought too much about those angles, but I like the idea of them learning from each other and realizing they have more in common than they expect at first.

I don't know if outlines can be critiqued the way stories can, but I just typed up this outline of plot beats for a potential future project. The genre is fantasy with a setting inspired by Bronze Age Earth, and is a story of forbidden love between a barbarian warrior from northern Europe and an...

I draw more frequently than I write, and oftentimes the pictures I draw inspire the story. What tends to happen is that I draw something I like (e.g. a character design or a scene), and then I experience this hyperfixation that makes me want to write a story behind the artwork (I'm autistic and...

My current WIP is a historical adventure set in the kingdom of Kush (located in the Nubian region of northern Sudan) circa 700 BC. The story is about a Kushite expedition to a place called the Oasis of Death in order to capture one of the "dragons" that live there for the royal menagerie. I...

I did some sleep tests and found out I had "severe sleep apnea". They haven't prescribed a solution yet, but I am not looking forward to that CPAP machine. Moral of the story, don't become overweight like me if you can help it.

I tried reading the first LOTR book and got sick of it early on. I respect Tolkien as a worldbuilder and as a pioneer of the fantasy genre, but my favorite writer he is not. For that matter, I also never cared for any of Peter Jackson's adaptations of Tolkien's work. Honestly, the only Peter...

I'm about 30% of the way through Birth of a Dynasty by Chinaza Bado. The setting has potential, since it's an African-inspired fantasy world with giants, magic, and seers. However, I'm not a fan of how all these elements seem to have taken a backseat to a drama about squabbling noble families...

I actually have an easier time writing novellas than full-length novels. I don't know if that's because of the way I write, or if it's because my story premises don't require a whole novel. Maybe my attention span is just too short.

A game called Strategos came out on Tuesday. It's an ancient-era battle simulator that is supposed to be following the tradition of the Total War series, but I have to say it's been a bit of a disappointment so far. Not much ability to customize your army when setting up a battle other than...