Larry the Lunatic’s Amusement Park Supply Store

Nautilus from FFXIII

Welcome one and . . . Well, there’s only one of you.  First, I need to make sure you have the proper licenses and paperwork.  We can’t be selling our stock to people who don’t have the space.  It’s just bad for business and safety, which we take very seriously.  At least, we do ever since that mother of twelve bought a roller coaster for her house to keep the kids occupied during her crime shows.  So much vomit.  Now, what kind of park are you looking to build?

A theme is not necessary because it should only be about having fun.  We’ve got everything from log flumes to anti-gravity chambers.  That second one does require that you hire a resident engineer who specializes in futuristic technology.  Don’t worry because we have a list of candidates.  That’s right.  We can help staff your park once you pick the rides.  We don’t have packages though.  There are deals depending on how many things you get, but packages lead to copycat parks and that’s no fun.  Not unless they’re from the same company.  I mean, that makes sense . . . What are you looking at?

Oh, we call that the Psycho Hamster Special and it can really be the centerpiece of your whole park.  As you can see, there are tunnels going everywhere like a play area at a fast food joint.  People climb through and it leads them to various rides of your choice.  For example, you start here and go through the Haunted House tunnels until you hit this area.  Then, you choose between the Ferris Wheel or the bumper cars.  Both will lead you to these other tunnels that can be either walking, moving floor, or another ride.  Swing rides are difficult here because of space, but you can include various pendulums, drop towers, climbing walls, ball pits, and even a laser tag section.  The whole thing acts like a maze as well, which can end with a big ride that takes you back to the beginning.  While this does come close to the copycat issue, it’s not because you make your own system and we have enough to make sure there are thousands of combinations.

Looking at the space you have, we’re sure that we’ll need at least twenty bathrooms.  Here is a list of possible eateries and food carts.  There isn’t as much variety here as one would hope since guests tend to expect certain dishes at an amusement park.  Popcorn, corndogs, pretzels, soda, churros, cotton candy, and the usual fare are all at the top.  I recommend putting in a fun restaurant as your dining centerpiece.  We recently finished designing one where you dine in a bubble underwater with non-predatory fish swimming around.  The bubbles are a dense plastic that keeps you cool and it comes up to the surface for food, so it’s relatively safe.  No, huh?  The history restaurant is fun, but you need to hire someone who can make the proper foods and costumes for each theme.  People get angry if you get something wrong there.  Serve a diet coke in a Viking theme?  They just enraged.  Perhaps you should have a smaller dining establishment over here in case things don’t work out.  The Wild West Saloon comes with a street of vendors and horse rides.  Well, we probably could do something similar with Arabian Nights.  I’ll get the boys and girls in the back on that.  You can be our tester.

Let’s see what else.  Parking is done by you, but we’ll provide signage.  Merchandise requires that you have a sit down with Margaret, who is behind the door that looks like a balloon.  Ah, there is the issue of deadliness that we have to discuss.  Safety is a priority, but it also depends on what you want.  Is there an underlying purpose to your park that involves assassinations?  It would be safe for everyone, except your targets.  A push of a button can cause an accident to befall only them.  Don’t look so shocked.  There are more murder worlds out there than you realize.  Brings in some extra money as well.  Okay, think it over and we’ll pretend this part of the conversation was about the safari you want to put over there.  It’s swampland, but that just means you can use airboats, which have the big blades that . . . Right, not discussing that.  Got it.

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The 2018 Interview Series featuring Staci Troilo

This gallery contains 7 photos.

Don Massenzio This week, I am very pleased to feature an interview with author and blogger Staci Troilo. Staci is a very supportive blogger and an excellent author. I hope you enjoy learning more about her in this week’s interview. … Continue reading →

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Leave a Question for Clyde the Dawn Fang Progenitor

Cover Art by Alison Hunt

I wonder how much I have to say about Clyde.  There weren’t a lot of changes in War of Nytefall: Lost with him aside from the new home and trying to figure out the kind of leader he wants to be.  A key component of Clyde’s personal story is that he has a monstrous rage inside him that is always on the verge of escaping.  This doesn’t make him a full-on berserker with impulse control issues, but it makes him incredibly dangerous.  If he gets too into a battle then he can lose control.  If he is pushed too far then he can lose control.  The thing that he is scared of is that he can’t pull back and have to be destroyed before he decimates the world.  So, his progression is more of a seesaw that is trying to stay level instead of tilting to one side.

For those who don’t know about his past, Clyde was turned by Gregorio Roman and is the brood brother of Nadia Sylvan.  He became a talented and infamous thief who ran a vampire gang that was composed of Mab, the Vengeance Hounds, Chastity Sullivan, and a partial membership of Kenneth Decker.  One day, Clyde decided to test his luck by trying to steal from the temple of Durag the Sun God.  He was captured and nearly executed, but the Great Cataclysm struck before the end.  He was swallowed by the ground along with all of the mortals and the entire city.  It would be 50 years before Mab would dig him out and he’d emerge as the first Dawn Fang.

Since his return, Clyde has faced multiple challenges, but two biggest ones are keeping himself entertained and being a leader.  The first is a problem because he hasn’t found many people who can put up a real fight against him.  So, he has no easy way to release the rage that he tries to keep under control.  The other is more harrowing because Clyde has to face a sense of doubt that feels unnatural to his typically confident personality.  Even when he ran his old gang, he would do heists with Mab while Titus ran the small army that took group jobs.  He was in charge, but only made sure people shared the wealth (except Mab) and nobody betrayed the group.  This makes Clyde think more like a laid back enforcer instead of the ruler of an entire species.  He is trying not to act like a brutal warlord, but also show enough strength that none of his people would consider exposing the Dawn Fangs to danger.  This means a lot of the punishments revolve around pain and death, but Clyde isn’t sure he wants to do it this way.

The post can go on since Clyde is the main character, but I hope there’s enough for people to think of a few questions.  You’ve got his relationships, thoughts about being a Dawn Fang, thief life, leadership, his rage, and just about anything.  Not much is off the table with him, so ask away and see what he says in October.

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The Scarlet Ribbon, on #LisaBurtonRadio

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

Lisa Burton

Welcome, all you astral travellers and trauma survivors. You’ve landed on Lisa Burton Radio, and have I got a show for you today. I’m your host, Lisa the robot girl, and my special guest today is David Roberts, and he’s actually been to the otherworld. “Welcome to the show, David.”

“Happy to talk with you Lisa, although I am still not sure why I am here. Maggie is usually the one who does these interviews, she loves to talk about what happened to us over there.”

“Tell us how you wound up piercing the veil. How did you get to see what lies beyond?”

“I don’t remember much about that day. I was inside the supermarket, queuing up to pay for my TV dinners when this idiot drove his car through the plate glass window, mowing several people down before he reached me. I found out later that Maggie had…

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Conversations With Colleen: Meet Author, Andrew Joyce

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Talk Like a Pirate Day

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

I just realized today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. I love this, and wondered what I could do about it on my blog. Writing out an entire post in “Pirate” probably isn’t going to impress anyone, so I’ll spare you that.

Truth is, I have a pirate tie in. I’ve finished Voyage of the Lanternfish, but it won’t publish until this winter sometime. Could be 2018, could be 2019, but winter just the same.

I’ve been working on posts for a blog tour to introduce the story to people. I’ve been working on getting my artwork together too. There is a lot that happens to pull off a successful release.

Normally, I just hold stuff back and spring it on people when I’m ready, but this is Talk Like a Pirate day. How could I avoid that? Check out this cover and see if you might want to read…

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Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore – New book on the Shelves #Fantasy #Adventure – Lost (War of Nytefall Book 2) by Charles E. Yallowitz

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Dos and Don’ts of Being a Warlord (Mortal and Vampire)

Conan the Barbarian

It isn’t easy ruling a kingdom, especially if your people are hard to control like vampires or professional sports fans.  There might be times when you have to rule with violence, but going too far can bring its own problems.  Really makes you think about how thin the line is between brutal warlord and kind monarch.  So, what are some dos and don’ts?

  1. Do create a group of trusted friends that you can count on.  This takes some of the pressure off you.  They can give advice or handle some of the workload, which can prevent you from going full warlord.
  2. Do not use executions to solve every problem.  You may find yourself running out of citizens.  Not saying they shouldn’t be done at all because there are some heinous crimes that require the most brutal of punishments.  This is where those friends can help you figure out the proper decision.
  3. Do try to maintain a personal haven.  Ruling can be stressful and it pays to have a private area to retreat to.  You can share it with one or two people in case they need you for an emergency.  Just make sure it’s where you feel at peace.
  4. Do not rule by fear alone.  It might work at first, but you have to maintain that level for a while.  Eventually, your people may become numb and this is where a revolt can occur.  This requires that you get meaner and more sadistic, which reduces your own humanity to the lowest point possible.
  5. Do create some festivals for your people to enjoy.  This can forge unity throughout the kingdom.  More importantly, it’s an easy way to set up trade and friendly relationships with neighbors.  Have enough of these events and you can get a more power in the region than if you were hurting others.
  6. Do not attack your neighbors if you’re bored.  This goes for people in general, but it’s extra true when it comes to rulers.  There needs to be a reason for aggression or you end up being the bad guys.  Although, that might be what you want in the first place, but you don’t want to make everyone know you’re the bad guys.  That makes it harder to get new recruits.
  7. Do keep the kingdom looking nice and hospitable.  I don’t really understand why so many warlords let their places fall into ruin.  Old-world vampires are guilty of this more than mortals, but you still see a lot of darkness.  Never underestimate the power of gardens.
  8. Do not over tax your citizens and horde it all.  Aside from being mean, this is is what creates dissent.  That means enemies can turn citizens against you and weaken your kingdom’s foundation without you knowing it.  Not to mention, you won’t have a strong army because they’ll be hungry.  You could pay the soldiers more, but you will run out because those who aren’t in the military will be too weak to prove they can fight.

See which rules Clyde follows in
War of Nytefall: Lost

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This Week in Indie Publishing

Unknown's avatarDon Massenzio

Self Publication: Things That Every Aspirant Needs to Know

Self Publication: Things That Every Aspirant Needs to KnowAll writers harbor the desire to get published, but even the best one’s may be frustrated in their attempt to do so. Publishers are evaluating manuscripts from the viewpoint of their selling capacity and only a handful, in their opinion, make the grade. The fortunate part is that opinions differ. Hence, we have instances like J K Rowling’s, whose first book, Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone, was published after having been rejected twelve times. The amazing part is that Rowling is not alone in the list of prominent authors who ran up against repeated rejections before shooting to fame. This goes on to prove that publishers are also human beings, after all, and their judgement might be wrong. While a few authors do get a lucky break, there are several others whose work of merit never gets published because they…

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Teaser Tuesday: Danger of an Eye Twitch

Cover Art by Alison Hunt

This is a fairly short excerpt, but it has the introduction of Archillious.  I wanted to use him at least once here since he tends to hang around spoilers.  For more of him, check out War of Nytefall: Lost on Amazon.

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