CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

With the release of Mack ‘n’ Me: The Transporter’s Favou,r the fourth book of the Mack ‘n’ Me ‘n’ Odyssey series fast approaching I’m continuing the first chapter reads, I was doing a while back. You can find the first chapter of the first book, Mack ‘n’ Me: Origins , HERE, and the first 500 words of the short story that takes place between these volumes, HERE. Today’s first chapter is from the second book in the Mack ‘n’ Me ‘n’ Odyssey series, Mack ‘n’ Me: Blaedergil’s Host . What’s it About? I stayed off Mack's radar for a good three months, or so I'd thought. Maybe he was just letting me run. He found me, kicked my ass and hauled me right back on board. He'd been doing that on and off for the past twelve months. Problem was, Odyssey was also on my tail, and, when this job was done, Mack was supposed to hand me back. Not gonna happen. And, now I was back to Square One: Kick free of Odyssey & kick free of Mack... just as soon as the mission was done, beca...

My latest science fiction short story, The Years of Voyage , has just been released on all my usual platforms - yay! Someone had to go to the old ship—not because the colony was sick, but because the colony was dying, and the reason why was locked inside the transport’s hulk. Someone had to go out to where the ship had crashed, out into the dark, and past the plaguers. I just wished that someone didn’t have to be me.

Take a look at your scanner. Down the bottom, in the right-hand corner, is a button marked COMMS. Open it up. Now, see how the agent names are kind of in bold with a line under them? Press on one. Keep pressing until two options appear on your screen: View Player Profile, or Send Message. Touch View Player Profile. Now, you can see that player’s badges, their mission badges, and their stats. Wait! Can’t see their stats? They must have their profile locked down. Why would they do   that? Well, I keep mine locked down, too, and I have done since choosing the portal I was hoping to get to black guardian with, but there are a number of reasons. To Keep it Private. Some players like to work quietly towards their goals. They don’t like the stress of comparisons and competition, or they’re just very private people. Locking down their profiles means only the basics of their progress can be tracked, and not every little detail. I’ve kept mine locked down, because I like it quie...

Right, I was going to push these through until December 16, but I’m going to call it now. Yes, it is , technically, a challenge fail, but it is also an important point on the learning curve. Put simply: there are other things I want to do. I could push this challenge through, and maybe catch up what I was supposed to have written during the challenge, or I could stop pfaffing about and get on with what I’ve decided I really need to do. I don’t like failing, but I never was one for pfaffing. So, I’m calling it now. Here’s what I achieved in spite of myself. The Story-A-Week Catch-Up Challenge: In the Story-A-Week Challenge, I wanted to try and write a story a week (originally from December 13, 2015, through December 17, 2016), hence the title. I didn’t manage to keep writing once the university semester started, so, in July, I thought I would try to catch up by writing two stories a week, beginning with one brand new story, coupled with completing the stories I’d sta...