CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

This is something I promised myself I'd do - and it got lost in the cracks, so I just want to wish a friend and fellow author: BELATED HAPPY LAUNCH DAY ANDREW SCHNEIDER He's gone ahead and launched two of his novels: Undercaffeinated and Overexposed: The Tale of a Coffee Shop Princess Undercaffeinated is the story of a fairytale princess caught up in the 'real' world, where fairytale creatures - and politics - can really complicate a girl's life. and Nothing Left to Wish For Nothing Left to Wish For is a tale of gritty high fantasy set in a world of genies, dragons, deserts and secrets, some of which are ancient, others merely old and others which are new in comparison. Unique spellcasting and high seas adventure in a desert sky.  Both books became available on February 1, 2014 (I told you I was late) at Smashwords .  

Death Comes in Bone has been incorporated into An Anthology of Blades . It is a dark fantasy short story about a skeletal assassin. Murdered by his closest friend, Tanag is not surprised to wake and find himself dead. He is surprised, however, that others have come to the caves hidden not so far from what used to be his home. As the adventurers plunder his bones and move on, Tanag remembers who killed him, and the vow he made as he died. In order to fulfil that vow, Tanag must rise and leave his impromptu tomb—but first he has to get his sword back from the adventurer that woke him and took it from his remains. Death Comes in Bone is available in electronic form from, among others: Smashwords , OmniLit , DriveThruFiction, Amazon-Kindle, Kobo, iTunes , and Nook . Here's the first page. First Page: Death Comes in Bone Tanag woke as light broke into his resting place. He didn’t know how long he’d been dead for, knew only that he’d been murdered and that he was still

So, for a very long time I've been saying I'm going to re-develop my drawing skills. I *did* make a start on it in January, but I still haven't managed to coordinate the time factor to really get into it. That's going to be a challenge this year, but we'll see how it goes. It only took a month to start pulling the writing schedule into a vague sense of shape. In the meantime, I started with still life and grey lead to get the feel of it again. Here is my first picture in far too many years.

The Reptiles’ Blade has been incorporated in to An Anthology of Blades . The Reptiles' Blade is a science fiction novella about a retired military member, a lizardine warrior-come-“diplomat” and some high-level negotiation that very nearly goes astray before it even gets started. When Felicity Shannara Jones is ordered by her command to infiltrate a criminal organization using humanitarian aid as a front, she isn’t sure she’s the right girl for the job, but then she finds Mika, second planetary adviser to humanity’s current foe, and she knows things just got serious. When Mika escapes custody, things go from serious to dire in one jet-propelled moment and Felicity, with her history in the lizardine war, finds herself in the firing line once more. The Reptiles’ Blade is available from Smashwords , Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Omnilit, DriveThruFiction and iTunes. First Page: The Reptiles' Blade Felicity Shannara Jones, Captain Jones to most who knew her, Felix to her

I went for a walk - and don't let the pine trees fool you, this is still Australia and still Canberra. I could hear the parrots, but not see them. Ad then I spotted a flash of colour. He was kind of hard to miss, really, sitting up there and preening in the morning sun: It took me a little while to notice the second bird sitting off to his right, but then he moved: And that was when I realized there were three of them. All together, and all watching the camera:

Stiletto’sLuck has been incorporated into An Anthology of Blades.   Stiletto’sLuck is about an assassin dealing with the consequences of taking part in a battle for reasons of his own, while trying to remain uncompromised by either side. They could have called him Scimitar, Blade or Dagger, but, no, his parents had to call him Stiletto. Stiletto did the only thing he could. He learned to be the best at what he did, and he learned to walk tall - without the heels. When he finds himself in the center of a plot to assassinate the most powerful men in the city, Stiletto has only one question: How on earth is he going to walk out of this one? Stiletto’s Luck has been incorporated into An Anthology of Blades , and is currently available as a stand-alone title from Smashwords , Amazon-Kindle and CreateSpace and will be distributed from Nook, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and iTunes. First Page   Stiletto's Luck Sheathed in a suit that shifted with the colors of a city nig

Yes, I know it’s technically only got one day of February in it, but the rule of thumb is that, if the Saturday is a day of that month, then that week belongs to that month—even if it’s only one day. So, now that’s clear, here’s the progress made this week: Overview New words produced: 5,859 Old words revised: 0 Works completed: 13 (12 for inclusion in longer work) Works revised: 0 Covers created: 1 (5 variations) Works published: 0 (2-3 release platforms) Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Tier 1 Tasks Anthology13: Added 547 words Anthology14: Added 2,396 words Tier 2 Tasks RomanceNovel14A— Country Rush : Added 424 words; Tier 3 Tasks Novella2B: Added 2,492 words.       Publishing Tasks Created 12 blog posts for this blog; Updated LinkedIn, Pinterest and Facebook; Activated An Anthology of Blades on OmniLit, Amazon Kindle and CreateSpace; Activated The Reptiles’ Blade on CreateSpace; Created Cover for Ell