Tag: Fantasy
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Red River Part 12
The Balance The conference room was small but cozy, befitting the intimate and confidential nature of this meeting. Executive Assistant Director Robert Pearce, wearing a bespoke blue suit of fine silk, leaned back in his chair and smiled at his three guests. “I am pleased to report that the Public Security Bureau has smashed the…
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Red River Part 11
House of Shadows The operators stayed aboveground for fifteen minutes. Long enough to replace their expended magazines with spares from their vehicles. Long enough for the RPD to swoop down and form an outer perimeter. Long enough for the flying ambulances to recover the former hostages and send them to hospital. As the last ambulance…
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Fantasy Monsters, Realistic Fights
Almost every fantasy story I’ve read deal with fight scenes in one of two ways. The first is to make it a spectacular show, with special moves, acrobatics, magic, powers and other feats thrown around to dazzle and impress the reader. The second is to describe the battle in broad strokes, seeking to capture the…
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Red River Part 3
One Night in Three Rivers Overshadowed by sprawling Babylon to the northwest, Riveria was the city of the working class. Babylon was glitz and glamor and gold; Riveria was factories and smokestacks and processing plants. The manufacturing and commercial heart of the nation, Riveria was steeped in blue-collar honesty and mercantile hospitality. Yet, like Babylon,…
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The Art of Designing Nontraditional Monsters
When I began work on Dungeon Samurai, I challenged myself to employ only non-traditional monsters. They would not be orcs, goblins, or other such fantasy mooks seen in anime, manga and RPGs the world over; they would be monsters worthy of the name, dangerous and horrifying and bloodthirsty man-slayers that roam the dungeon seeking souls. Why…
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The Protector Part 4
That should have been the last I’d heard of Allondir. I was lining up more clients, putting out ads, doing whatever it took to get by. I could do without repeat business from a creature like him. Life isn’t that simple. The following week, at nine minutes after eight in the morning, as I emerged…