Love and Monsters

Howdy you Tenacious Apocalypse Survivors! 

How ya doing?  Seen any good movies lately?  Well, I saw one that I thought was pretty good, and I'm gonna tell ya about it.  Partly because it was pretty good, and partly to let you know that I watch some more modern stuff, too.

In case you missed the title of this particular post, I'll tell ya that the movie is "Love and Monsters".  

In case you don't know, "Love and Monsters" is a post-apocalyptic story about a guy who has been hiding in a bunker for seven years, finds out that his girlfriend is still alive in another survivor colony and decides to take the perilous journey to go to her.

How did the world end in this one?  Well, there was a massive asteroid headed for Earth, but that's not what got us.  Several governments fired nuclear missiles at it, to break it up and destroy it.  Kinda like in "Armageddon", except we didn't have to leave the planet.  Anyway, it worked!  The asteroid was demolished into smaller pieces and missed Earth!  

However, the chemicals in the rockets wafted back down to Earth and began to mutate all the lesser, vermin-type wildlife.  Little nuisance things like mice and insects grew to gargantuan size and went on a rampage.  About 95% of humanity died fighting them back while the rest hid in bunkers and shelters.

But our story is about Joel, played by some guy named Dylan O'Brien.  I'd never heard of this guy before, apparently he's in those "Maze Runner" movies.  

On a slight sidetrack:  I only know one actor in this whole movie, and that's Michael Rooker.  I know him because he's Yondu in "Guardians of the Galaxy" (the blue guy with the arrow that he controls by whistling).  In this, he's a wandering survivor.

Back to Joel.  His hometown was "ground zero" for the mutagenic chemicals, and his parents died while trying to evacuate the town.  He only survived because he was pulled into a pickup by some passing strangers.  

Anyway, apparently he managed to fix a ham radio and they were able to contact other survivors in other colonies.  He found out that his girlfriend, Aimee, is still alive.  After years of lonely brooding, he decides to go find her because being with her "was the last time he was truly happy".  

So, he packs some supplies and heads out on an 85 mile trek that should take him at least 7 days to travel.  Along the way he meets a dog mourning for his former master, a pair of survivors making their way to a new location high in the mountains where the monsters don't seem to go, and even a robot who was saving it's last hour of power for someone to find her.

And he does run into monsters!  Giant bugs!  Giant frogs!  Carnivorous worms!  Giant snails!  This movie felt like a cool combination of Gamma World and Fallout!  

I don't really want to tell you everything, after all, I don't want to ruin it for you if you decide to watch it.  But I DO recommend that you watch it!  It was pretty cool, and it was entertaining.

I streamed it on Amazon, and its got to be on DVD by now if you want to go that route.  

I also feel obligated to point out that if you like this movie, you might like my "Mutant World" stories, so check 'em out!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

a word about Dungeon Adventures

Howdy, all you Truly Adventurous Souls!

So we've finished up the last exciting episode of our Phantom Sleuth serial, which means we're going to have something new start up this week!  And aren't you anxious to find out what it is?  Of COURSE you are!  And you've come to right place, because that's what we're going to talk about today!

Well, in order to tell you about this, I have to recap the evolution of Mutant World, just in case ya missed it!

Anyway, Mutant World was a direct result of the art.  I discovered the characters created by Luigi Castellani over at Artikid Arts and was entranced by them. I wanted to write a story about these characters, and so I did.  Then I was inspired to write a few more, and have more bubbling on the back-burner even now.

While writing these stories, something occurred to me:

I also run Fantanomicon Press, which sells downloads of paper miniatures for D&D and other role-playing games.  I have several characters designed for different genres with no concept of who they are or what they're about.  So my epiphany was that I should be writing stories about them!


Seemed like a brilliant cross-promotional idea, so I set to work writing a story about some characters inspired by the figures.  The whole thing was a silly idea, and so I tried to write a silly story.  My thought was that the story was supposed to be the story being played out in a D&D-type RPG game.  Sorta like in "The Gamers" (a series of movies about a group playing D&D), except it's only the in-game stuff.

There are inherent differences between playing an RPG and writing a story, but I tried to get certain things across.  Like...having your character die-off mid-game and needing a replacement character.  There are a few other things, too; which I hope are humorous to folks that have played the game.  This is the start of...

This is...well, basically a catch-all series for miscellaneous stories inspired by D&D-type games.  This will allow me to try out different Tones And Styles, and you folks can tell me which ones you like.  

And it all starts THIS Saturday when we start our BRAND NEW serial:  Quest to the Kobold Caves!  It's the first serial to appear on the blog that has NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED BEFORE!  So don't forget to tune in this Saturday!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

Mutant World is Now!

AND NOW, A RATHER ANNOYING ANNOUNCEMENT:

Hail and well met fellow Travelers, Adventurers, and Survivors!  I am pleased to announce that I now have three volumes of pulse-pounding post-apocalyptic science fantasy adventure live and available for perusal!  So if you like good old-fashioned escapist adventure reminiscent of everything from Fallout and Gamma World to Mad Max and Thundarr then this is for you!

Where can you get it, I hear you ask!  Currently, these exciting ebooks are available exclusively at Amazon!  That's right, my fellow adventure-seekers!  For a heaping handful of paltry pennies you too can pass the time reading tantalizing tales of daring-do that's daringly done!  And even better, if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can enjoy these stories for FREE!  That's right, for FREE!

So What's it all about?  Well I'll tell ya!  This series of short stories and novellas share the exciting adventures of a trio of stalwart survivors who travel the wild wastes and radioactive ruins of a war-ravaged post-apocalyptic world!  Wow!  Brave barbarians, meek and monstrous mutants, sharp-shooter cyborgs and more adventure than you can shake a stick at!

Check it, check it, check it out!

Mutant World 1:  Mistress of the Mutant Maulers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0888DPSSY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Mutant World 2:  Scourge of the Sundered Sands
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08882C4JJ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

Mutant World 3:  The Might of Maligno
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088892LTJ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

I wish you all Good Adventuring!
Thank you and good night!  I'm here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress!

AND NOW BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED FEED...

Mutant Marauders

What ho and well met!

Welcome back Thaumaturgists, Adepts, and Swordmasters!

At long last you have returned, and so have I!  We're talking some more Mutant World here at the blog.  This time, we're gonna talk about the Marauders!

Who are the Marauders?  Well, they are a large mob of mutants, who rampage and terrorize various settlements throughout the wastelands.

So, first, I suppose I should talk a little about mutants in general.  Mutants in my afterworld are caused by the fallout of nuclear and chemical warfare.  As if that isn't bad enough, somewhere in the past there was a war with the Martians.  The Martians conducted weird genetic experiments on various Earth animals, which then got mutated by the fallout.

And so, by the time these stories take place, there are thousands of little sub-species.  Many of these are localized phenomena, because of what specific radiation is present in an area.

Some of the animals have human-like bodies.  They could look like minotaurs, or those animal-headed Egyptian Gods.  Some may have hair or fur or scales instead of skin.

Other animals look normal, at least at first glance.  Most likely they are a weird combination of two (or more) animals.  In the very least, they may have an extra limb, or wings, or crab claws, or something.

But the Marauders are NOT these kinds of mutants.

These guys are mutated humans.  Yes, some of them may have extra limbs, but these guys are covered with nasty, tumorous and cancerous growths.  They've lived in radioactive territory for so long that their skin has turned green.  


The Marauders are ugly and depraved in mind, body, and soul.  They hate unmutated humans and strive to exterminate them all from the face of the Earth.  

They believe that mutants are meant to be the new masters of the world.  They subjugate communities of mutant animals into submission, or kill them, too.

They are led by a self-styled warlord named Maligno.  He has two goals:  to destroy the scattered tribes of unmutated mankind, and to find more efficient weapons to accomplish it.  

To cross paths with the Marauders is certain death.  No one in their right mind would dare to challenge this small army of depraved mutants.  At least, not without an army.

But then, nobody ever said that Axel, Smogara, and Biter were in their right minds, now did they?  Why would they embark on such a suicidal adventure?  What prize could they hope to gain?  Will any of them come out alive?

YOU can find the answers to all these questions in:

Mutant World #3

The Might of Maligno

Available Now!
on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited!





Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

The Gecko Gang

Welcome back Travellers, Agents, and Survivors!

Here on the blog, we're still talking about Mutant World, and some of the creatures our heroes have to face during their adventures.  Today, we're talking about the Gecko Gang!

Who or what are the Gecko Gang?  Well, they are a rival group of post-apoc survivors, except these guys are mutant lizard men.  They wander the wasteland doing whatever odd jobs they can find:  bounty hunting, mercenary work, irreputable errands.  They aren't very picky.

There are five of them.  They stand about seven feet tall.  I started off thinking it would be kinda funny to have a rival band of lizard men all modelled after the Gecko from those insurance commercials, you know the guy!  But he didn't look mean enough, and I kept thinking of a head with a wide maw and bulging eyes, more like that purple guy from Monsters Inc.

But then I was drawn back to my D&D past, and I realized what I needed was something closer to this troglodyte drawn by Willingham in the B/X Basic Set.  Yeah, that's more like it!  Tall, and sleek, and mean, and strong.  Yeah...


So then I had to figure out how to differentiate between them  Should they have stripes?  Spots?  Combs?  Spikes?  Stegosaurus plates running down their spines?  Of course, then I realized I could just differentiate them by color.  It's an old fashioned cartoon trick, multiple characters that would look alike except for being different colors.  You know, like Donald Duck's nephews:  Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  


And their names, of course, which are all bastardized derivatives of giant movie monsters.  Gazillo, the yellow one, is the leader of the group.  The blue one, Gidoro, prefers hand-to-hand combat.  Gwanji, the red one, is the group's sniper.  The green one is Gorgi, and he ain't afraid to hunt down a beast, no matter how big it is.  Gam is the orange one, and he comes outta nowhere to help ya when ya need it the most!


Assuming, of course, that you're on his side!  If you're not...well, that's a different point of view!


But YOU can experience the adventure along with our heroes in

Mutant World #2

Scourge of the Sundered Sands

Available Now!
to Kindle and Kindle Unlimited!





Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

The Maulers

Greetings Treasure-hunters, Adventurers, and Survivors!

We're still talking about Mutant World, here at the blog.  Today we're going to talk about the mutant beasties that our adventurers face in the first story:  the Maulers!

Now, astute and learned readers will probably recognize that this adventure is basically a dungeon-crawl adventure in a stylized, fantasy post-apocalyptic world.  I've already explained the RPG influences, so that shouldn't be too surprising.

Anyway, this future-dungeon is a ruined shopping mall, so I reasoned that the people living there must be mall-ers.  But I had the good sense to change it to "Maulers", so it wouldn't be a straight-up joke.  ...Yet the pun is still there.

So, who and what were the Maulers?  Well, it was the first adventure, and thinking about role-playing games, your first adventure usually pits you against a relatively weak creature.

Kobolds immediately sprang to mind.  

I have a soft spot for D&D kobolds.  I first saw them pictured in the B/X Basic Set.  This pic by Erol Otus defined kobolds for me.  Back then, they were this weird little dog men.  Cunning and cowardly, but sadistic.  These brutal little dog men are now my default setting; these are what I think of when I think of kobolds.

In later editions of D&D somebody changed them.  Nowadays they are some sort of midget lizard man, with some sort of a connection to dragons.  This always annoyed me, because I thought they were fine the way they were.  But hey, what can ya do, right?

But suddenly it occurred to me:  they are a weird cross of dog and human.  That could just as easily be a type of mutant race in my story!  Hey, if Thundarr can have Moks, I can have kobolds!  Sure, I can't call them kobolds, but aside from that, they can basically be the same!

"Oh sure, they're cute now.  But they're gonna get mean, and nasty somehow, and there'll be a million more of ém!"

It really wasn't that big a change.  Mostly just in their costumes, props, and some weapons.  They can still be cunning.  They can still be cowardly.  They can still be sadistic.  They can still be subjugated and compelled to work for some stronger...

WHOOPS!
Sorry!  Almost gave away a vital plot point!   

But YOU can experience the adventure along with our heroes in

Mutant World #1

Mistress of the Mutant Maulers

Available Now!
on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited!





Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell