Jason Anspach's Blog, page 5

One of the most unique novels from 2015 is FREE today!

My friend Nick Cole is giving away his stellar book, The End of the World as We Knew it, for free today. It’s The Walking Dead meets The Notebook. People really liked it. A lot. Please SHARE this post so your friends can get it too!

An Exclusive Look at the Creative Process Behind Galactic Outlaws!

I wanted to touch base with my blog readers and shed more light on what Nick Cole and I are doing here in Galaxy’s Edge: Galactic Outlaws. We know that you’re fans of the original trilogy. And we know that you’re looking for something that recaptures the magic of those films. That’s our goal, too. We even registered StarWarsNotStarWars.com as a sort of exclamation point for the project!

It’s been said before, but we’re just playing with action figures out in the backyard. I remember playing with my Kenner Star Wars figures when I was a kid. Often that meant reenacting the films. I remember getting embarrassed when my Dad would play with me when the time came for the princess to kiss her beau as the imaginary Death Star exploded above the forest moon like fireworks.

I hated to include that sort of mushy stuff in my play but, hey, that’s what happened in the movie.

But sometimes repeating the lines grew a little stale, so I did what most kids do and created my own adventures. Who says that Lando didn’t lead a contingent of Stormtroopers against a den of Wampas? I made it so. But with this project, it’s not enough to take characters or even character types and have them live out in an expanded universe story. In fact, we think you’d be a bit disappointed if all you ended up with was a counterfeit version of something great that came before.

So…how do we recapture the fun, excitement, humor, and action inspired by The Maker? (I mean George Lucas, not THE MAKER) 

 The answer involves something Nick and I call being familiar, but unique. The ambiance of the story is easy enough: Blasters, Starships, hyperspace, exotic species, unrealized tech, rogues, royalty…all of that is laid out before us. But to make things click, we have to take you on a journey where you say, “Oh, I know what’s coming…” and then surprise you. 

 

In Chapter One, Nick purposefully introduced Hogus as a freighter Captain. And the natural expectation was, “Okay, here’s Juan Solo and his beastly co-pilot.” Hogus takes a blaster bolt to the chest in first chapter for a reason. Galactic Outlaws is familiar, but unique. Maybe Hogus was a brash rogue like you-know-who, but he’s dead now and the inexperienced youth is going to have to make her way without him.

Chapter two and three introduce Captain Keel and Ravi. Keel again has that roguish feel about him, but hopefully you’ve picked up the hints about his dark side. He’s familiar, but I promise you, what’s in store for him is unique. Ravi, who looks like an early fan favorite, is definitely the conscience of the two, but he’s limited by what he is and by who his Captain is and maybe…maybe they don’t turn around to save the hero during that final battle.

Legionnaires who can shoot and act more like Army Rangers than a third world militia. Brash smugglers wind up dead. A girl is out for vengeance instead of virtue. All of this is…familiar, but different. We hope you enjoy what’s coming because we’re full of enthusiasm. And we’re thankful for our subscribers because they’re making something special happen. –Jason

 

Not a subscriber? You can become one, getting access to the novel as it is written and support story-driven science fiction writers in the process.

The post Familiar, But Unique: Writing StarWarsNotStarWars appeared first on JasonAnspach.com.

Lots of people have contacted me to say how much they enjoy the DM work I’ve performed during season two of Sci-Fi Writers Playing Old School D&D. Some have asked for tips or advice…

My approach to serving as Dungeon Master comes from a (distant) background in acting. Fun fact: I was a theater major in college, but I switched to journalism and public relations for reasons of the heart. I loved acting and theater…still do! And think that some of the principles lend themselves perfectly to D&D. So what follows is the Actor’s Guide to Dungeon Mastering! You can read part one, but don’t need to in order to understand this post.

Dungeon Master Lesson Two: Character Acting

If there’s one mistake a lot of GMs make, it’s confusing who the star of the campaign is. Hint: It’s the player characters.

Yes, the DM is the one person who always gets a say, who has the final word, and who can ultimately control the narrative. But…a good campaign where everyone walks away happy usually involves the players feeling like the big names on the marquee. They’re Frodo, Aragorn, and Legolas.

The DM is Dead Orc # 4.

And nothing derails a good time faster than a Dungeon Master who is hellbent on making the story about their own characters. “Yes, the party is trying to destroy my chaotic evil Necromancer, but the real story is about how the Necromancer (played by me) experiences his ultimate fall into corruption and subsequent death.”

Wrong. The real story is about how the players banded together to vanquish the Necromancer. Or, depending on the party alignment, usurping the Necromancer to establish an even darker grip on the horrified townspeople sitting below his mountain keep. Dungeon Masters, if you want your characters to be the leads, write a book. But don’t take it out on your poor players.

The best advice I can give to avoid making the narrative about The DM or one of the DM’s NPCs is to emulate the character actor.

A character actor or actress plays a supporting role, and usually distinguishes themselves by some quirk or eccentricity. They’re memorable, and might even steal a scene, but the story isn’t about them.

Take Mose Harper from one of my favorite John Wayne movies, The Searchers. He’s a weirdo, for lack of a better word. But in spite of his eccentric desire just to sit in a rocking chair, old Mose picks up a rifle and later provides a key plot point to help the real star of the movie (The Duke) save the day.  A DM can fill this role in countless ways, whether it is as a town guard, a lone thief, a semi-retired adventurer…you name it. Maybe they’re helpful, maybe they’re useless, maybe they’re funny, maybe they’re evil. The point is, they’re a vehicle to support the leading actors and advance the narrative.

So that means they’re not better than the PCs at nearly everything. They don’t always see what all the characters miss.  They aren’t quick to put the player characters down because they’re so smart, and if they are. They’re not fearless. They back down quickly when the group’s Barbarian gets in their face.

My point is, a character actor is in the narrative to make the lead look good and convincing. DMs that miss this point end up using the player characters to make themselves look good.

It ends up being kind of a bummer.

Now I know that not every NPC can be completely subservient to the players. Dungeon Masters have to handle NPCs that range from lowly shopkeepers to random monsters to dark and sinister Baron pulling strings as part of a nefarious and far-reaching plot. But even powerful characters like Kings, Wizards, and Dragons are there to advance the player’s story. Smaug was so much more powerful than Bilbo, but no one confused him for the lead character in The Hobbit.

Evaluate your campaign as a whole. Are the NPCs advancing the story, building the world, helping the players look like leading men and ladies? If so, good.

Or, are they extensions of your personality? Does the otherwise cowering peasant make a crack about the elf with the missing fingers, because you, the DM,  want to rub in the self-damage caused by the natural one she rolled?

We had an episode recently where I played a tavern full of hopeless drunks and the party decided they’d flex their muscles and brandish their knives to extract a little information. One of the drunken NPCs found a dagger pricking his stubbly neck fat. A Dungeon Master who makes the NPCs the lead probably would have sputtered some kind of witty line, or acted inexplicably brave in the face of danger, or…Surprise!…the drunk is actually a 10th level monk, who disarms the player threatening him and throws them into a stack of wooden chairs.

But…I’m was a character actor in that situation, not the lead. You can listen to the episode to hear exactly how I handled it, but let’s just say there was a lot of crying, blubbering, and panicked yelps. How would you have handled it? As the lead actor, or as the character actor?

No one has a larger impact on the fun or misery in a game than the Dungeon Master. Making your NPCs character actors will usually result in players that feel like they really are the center of a vast fantasy world. That means they’ll have fun. And that’s the whole reason we play, right? Go have fun!

 

Interested in hearing me DM?
Sci-Fi Writers Playing Old School D&D.

A group of authors gather together and play vintage Dungeons and Dragons modules, plus collaborate on a homebrew campaign. Listen every week for hilarious high adventure!

Find Out More

 

 

The post The Actor’s Guide to Dungeon Mastering: Character Actors appeared first on JasonAnspach.com.

Preston Leigh interviewed Nick Cole and me about Galaxy’s Edge.

We get into some never-before-heard details about Galaxy’s Edge in what was a really fun interview to record. You can listen to it below, but…if you’re keen on winning a three month special access subscription, you’ll want to head over to THE LEIGHGENDARIUM to enter the contest!

 

 

Galaxy's Edge is an exciting new military space opera published in a new and exciting way!
A LONG, LONG TIME FROM NOW, AT THE EDGE OF THE GALAXY…

PRISMA MAYDOON HAS COME TO THE FRONTIER STAR PORT AT ACKABAR WITH HER FAITHFUL SERVANT KRS-88 TO EMPLOY A BOUNTY HUNTER AND OBTAIN JUSTICE FOR HER MURDERED FAMILY.

MEANWHILE, REPUBLICAN LEGIONNAIRES HAVE ARRIVED TO DESTROY A SECRET HIDEOUT OF THE GOMARII SLAVERS AND ESTABLISH THE IRON FIST OF RULE BY REPUBLIC LAW OVER THIS FRONTIER STAR PORT.

ARRIVING BY FREIGHTER, PRISMA FINDS A FULL SCALE EVACUATION IN PROGRESS…

 

Find Out More

The post Talkin’ Galaxy’s Edge on The Leighgendarium appeared first on JasonAnspach.com.

’til Death is part of a contest to win 55 humorous mysteries.

Hey, so there’s a contest going on where you can win some free books and maybe a new Kindle Fire as well. All the books are mysteries with humor in them. Judging the books by the cover, some look pretty funny. Others…well, I’ll be honest. Others look like trash.

But, you can read what you like and skip what you don’t. And a new kindle is nice no matter what….

Click to Enter!

The post Win Some Free Books! appeared first on JasonAnspach.com.

George Orwell’s 1949 release is suddenly a best seller.

1984, a dystopian masterpiece, sits at number one in all of amazon at the time of my writing. The print copy sold out on amazon as well.

The hullabaloo got started thanks to an answer Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to President Trump, gave on “Meet the Press.” In discussing comments given by White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, who said Trump had attracted  the “largest audience ever to witness an inauguration.” Conway referred to this as “alternative facts” and click! went the book orders.

The phrase must have struck too close to “newspeak” or “doublethink” and so readers far and wide poured over the classic in an effort to say, “Aha!”

Now, I find the phrase “alternative facts” reprehensible and utterly bogus. There are surely alternative ways of evaluating facts, but  I’m not one to go in for “personal truths,” “alternative facts,” or any other such post-modernist nonsense. I would like to provide a gentle public service reminder to all those diligently highlighting their copy of 1984, keen on thumping the page and interpreting the Nostradamus-like Orwell to the applause of their respective echo chambers.

Folks have been citing 1984 as a proof text against virtually every President since the book released in 1949.

Reagan? “This nut and his foreign policy. You know in 1984…”

Bush? “It’s crazy because in 1984…”

Clinton? “His entire administration is just ridiculous. Why, in 1984…”:

Bush the Younger? “Hasn’t anyone read 1984? Wake up sheeple!”

Obama? “Something something 1984… Thanks, Obama!”

Trump? You get the idea. 1984 sold out!

The problem is this. We as a people read books like this one not to protect our republic, but to confirm our preconceived beliefs. And so we look the other way when our guy is doing some of the chilling things in the novel but shout “1984!” like drunken revelers  on December 31, 1983 when the other team’s guy does the same.

The real value in a book like 1984 is in self-reflection.

How am I adding to this sort culture spelled out here. What do I complacently do that may someday allow the frightening culmination to come about?

It reminds me of one of Jesus’ teachings. Most recall his admonition to “Judge not…” it’s a sort of panacea cited to avoid any and all accountability. Of course, Jesus goes on to say quite a bit more. With context, he’s communicating that we’ll be held accountable for how we judge. He uses the example of someone with a beam in his eye trying to remove the speck in another’s eye.

For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Mt. 7:2-4)

And this is why 1984 will always be brought into any discussion of political power. It’s too easy to keep the log in our eye and shout, “Orwellian! Orwellian! 1984! Come and see the violence inherent in the system!”

All of this without the self-reflection that might make reading 1984 useful. Though, useful or not, reading it is always enjoyable.

So what’s the good of seeing the dangers of 1984 if our next step is to simply use it as a prop during the 2 minutes of hate known as social media? So by all means, read 1984 (again). But don’t look for all the ways the other side is like Big Brother. Look for how you can stop fostering an environment where the book can even become a reality. And if your first thought is to try to convince everyone to get on your political party’s side well…

Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.

 

Want to read something that'll just make you laugh and feel good for a while? Might I suggest...
A pennant is on the line and a life hangs in the balance!

When local baseball player Junior Jones receives death threats over the color of his skin, the team’s wealthy owner hires Sam Rockwell to solve the case and stop a murder before it happens. Sam goes undercover as a minor league pitcher to strike out the culprit. Follow the clues along with Sam’s curmudgeonly ghost of a father Frank Rockwell, and Sam’s wife Amelia, who holds a secret that will forever change the lives of the entire Rockwell family.

It’s another laugh-filled, madcap mystery in the warm, witty 1950’s Hollywood-style of author Jason Anspach.

 

Get Ebook Get Print Book Get SIGNED Book

 

The post 1984, Specks, and Beams – How We Do It Wrong appeared first on JasonAnspach.com.

I recorded a podcast with Nick Cole a couple of months ago. This was initially an exclusive for subscribers to Galaxy’s Edge, but it’s up and available to anyone who wants to hear about how the Sci-Fi project started.

 

Galaxy's Edge is an exciting new military space opera published in a new and exciting way!
A LONG, LONG TIME FROM NOW, AT THE EDGE OF THE GALAXY…

PRISMA MAYDOON HAS COME TO THE FRONTIER STAR PORT AT ACKABAR WITH HER FAITHFUL SERVANT KRS-88 TO EMPLOY A BOUNTY HUNTER AND OBTAIN JUSTICE FOR HER MURDERED FAMILY.

MEANWHILE, REPUBLICAN LEGIONNAIRES HAVE ARRIVED TO DESTROY A SECRET HIDEOUT OF THE GOMARII SLAVERS AND ESTABLISH THE IRON FIST OF RULE BY REPUBLIC LAW OVER THIS FRONTIER STAR PORT.

ARRIVING BY FREIGHTER, PRISMA FINDS A FULL SCALE EVACUATION IN PROGRESS…

 

Find Out More

 

 

The post I did a Podcast with Nick Cole appeared first on JasonAnspach.com.

Lots of people have contacted me to say how much they enjoy the DM work I’ve performed during season two of Sci-Fi Writers Playing Old School D&D. Some have asked for tips or advice…

My approach to serving as Dungeon Master comes from a (distant) background in acting. Fun fact: I was a theater major in college, but I switched to journalism and public relations for reasons of the heart. I loved acting and theater…still do! And think that some of the principles lend themselves perfectly to D&D. So what follows is the Actor’s Guide to Dungeon Mastering!

Dungeon Master Lesson One: “Yes, and…”

Are you familiar with Second City or the Groundlings? If the names don’t ring a bell, the alumni will.

Martin Short, Tina Fey, John Candy, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Farley, Stephen Colbert, Catherine O’hara, Bill Murray, Steve Carrell…

All of these performers worked with one of the two improv troupes, honing their craft. Now I’m not here to teach improvisational theater, there’ s a reason I’m an author and not an acting coach. But one of the first concepts you’ll learn is that of “Yes, and…” It’s a rule of thumb that teaches you to accept what someone has says and expand on that line of thinking.

That same concept is essential to creating an enjoyable dynamic when serving as Dungeon Master. A lot of DMs have a tendency to run their campaign like authors writing a story. The player characters are there only to advance a narrative within their own mind. And so a lot of time is spent bending players to the DM’s will, even if it goes completely against the character’s motivations. No fun for anyone.

Pro Tip: Writers who make their characters act out of character to meet a narrative goal are bad writers.

I play once a month with a group of authors. In our last session, the narrative called for a simple meeting in an old inn. Meet the NPC and reveal the necessary plot point so the party can move on to the monster-filled playground and have some real fun.

Only, the meeting didn’t happen.

The characters decided a better plan of action would be to rob the inn’s wealthy ( and powerful) owner of all they could stuff into their covetous little pockets. I wasn’t quite prepared for this. I prepared monsters for later the next section. I prepared an NPC who would show up and spin a story and get the party moving. I prepared for the story to keep story going. The party had other ideas.

As DM, I had the ability to force the players into the meeting room in order to get the show on the road. Doors with impossible locks, conveniently posted guards, the arrival of the party’s contact sooner than expected.

But…Yes, and!

So we went with it, and by the end of the session one of our wizards was bleeding on the floor and attempting to light the inn on fire, two more players had jumped through second story glass windows into a river below, and the rest were seeking to parlay with the man they had so recently robbed blind. It’s the most memorable session we’ve had so far, and I can’t wait for the episode to air.

The narrative will always come around. Don’t force it. Play with a “Yes, and…” mentality and you’ll create the sort of experiences your party will bring up as inside jokes for years to come. And that’s the whole reason we play, right? Go have fun!

 

Interested in hearing me DM?
Sci-Fi Writers Playing Old School D&D.

A group of authors gather together and play vintage Dungeons and Dragons modules, plus collaborate on a homebrew campaign. Listen every week for hilarious high adventure!

 

Find Out More

 

 

The post The Actor’s Guide to Dungeon Mastering: “Yes, and…” appeared first on JasonAnspach.com.

If there’s one thing that bugged me about Star Wars (and I love Star Wars) it’s the way Stormtroopers can’t shoot for sh…it’s that stormtroopers can’t shoot straight.

I get that the Emperor discontinued the clone program and filled the ranks with less optimized beings. But it always struck me as nonsensical. Luke, Han, Leia, & Chewie should have absolutely been killed while on the Death Star. Stormtroopers can’t shoot straight.

Now, there’s an argument that it was Vader’s decision to let them get away. He had to find that hidden rebel base on Yavin IV. So he ordered the stormtroopers avoid kill shots. Let’s fast forward to the Battle of Endor, when everything is on the line for the Empire and the best a stormtrooper can do when firing at medium range, from a concealed position, at a non-moving target, is a shoulder graze. By the time Episode VII rolls around, they haven’t improved much.

Stormtroopers can’t shoot straight, but Legionnaires can.

When Nick Cole and I decided to write our own Star Wars (but not Star Wars) adventure, we identified that as one of the things that needed fixing. We call our version of stormtroopers, ‘Legionnaires.’ And in the first chapter of Galaxy’s Edge: Galactic Outlaws, we make one thing abundantly clear: “Legionnaires were marksmen.”

See, these guys are the action-packed space opera version of Delta, SEALs, Marine Recon, and Army Ranger all rolled into one. They’re highly trained warriors. They don’t miss.

Recently, as a part of our Galaxy’s Edge universe (GalacticOutalws.com) I released the first chapter of a book that follows a squad of Legionnaires trapped on a hostile alien world just as a rebellion begins. Think Generation Kill meets Star Wars: The Clone Wars and it starts like this…

 

 

The galaxy is a dumpster fire.

That’s not the way the Senate and House of Reason want you to hear it. They want me—or one of my brothers—to remove my helmet and stand in front of a holocam, all smiles. They want you to see me without my N-4 rifle (I’m never without my N-4) holding a unit of water while a bunch of raggedy kids from Morobii or Grevulo, you can pick whatever ass-backward planet garners the most sympathy this week, dance around me smiling right back. They want me to give a thumbs up and to say, “At the edge of the galaxy, the Republic is making a difference!”

But the galaxy is a dumpster fire.

A hot, stinking, dumpster fire. And most days I don’t know if the Legionnaires are putting out the flames, or fanning them into an inferno.

 

Read Chapter One (it's free!)

The post Stormtroopers Can’t Shoot Straight. Legionnaires Can. appeared first on JasonAnspach.com.

Washington, D.C.
In a surprise move, Lando Calrissian is presented to the Senate to fill the role of Secretary of State. The only information the Senate is given is that he and the President go way back, and that he’s a scoundrel, so they should like him.

 

 

Lando enters the gallery and takes a seat, ready for his confirmation hearings. He clears his throat and leans toward the microphone.

LANDO: Hello, what have we here? (flicks microphone) Why are these comlinks so large?

SEN. WARREN: Mr. Calrissian…

LANDO: General Calrissian.

SEN. WARREN: General Calrissian…I’ll confess that until this morning the Senate was under the impression that you were a fictional character…

LANDO: Oh, I’m real all right.

Lando winks at Senator Warren.

SEN. WARREN: (flustered and somewhat perturbed) I…yes, I can see that. General, most of what is known about is gleaned from a series of science fiction movies and television shows. And, frankly, your character doesn’t exactly shine in those depictions.

Lando waves his hand in dismissal and leans back in his seat, placing his feet upon the table.

SEN. WARREN: However, I think the Senate, certainly I, can get a clearer picture of your qualifications by hearing your thoughts on banks. Are banks only greedy, or are they greedy and also evil?

LANDO: Greedy and evil. I’ve never met a bank that didn’t want their money back. The deal gets worse all the time. Why I had a mining operation on Lothal…

SEN. WARREN: (smiling) Thank you. That’s all I needed to hear.

Lando again winks at Senator Warren.

SEN. CRUZ: General, and thank you for your service, is it true that you were not born in the United States of America?

LANDO: I was born on the planet Socorro.

SEN. CRUZ: And this…Socorro…was not a territory of the United States, therefore you are not a citizen of the United States, and yet you’re sitting here seeking an appointment as Secretary of State.

LANDO: Yes and No. I wasn’t born a citizen, but the President just made me one. We shook on it.

SEN. CRUZ: That’s…that’s not how it works.

LANDO: (Shrugging) He said it was fine because he’s in charge.

SEN. CRUZ: …

Lando winks at Senator Warren, includes a wave.

SEN. CRUZ: General, I have no further questions personally, but I’d like to ask a question brought to my attention by my colleague, the Honorable Trey Gowdy, Representative of the 4th District of South Carolina. As you are aware, during the Benghazi attacks Secretary of State Hillary Clinton…

(Audible sighs from the panel)

SEN. CRUZ: …Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s State Department tolerated inadequate security and instead of responding swiftly, used the opportunity to feed the American public a false narrative blaming the attacks on a Youtube video. How would you, as Secretary of State, handled the situation differently?

LANDO: (Looking at his wrist comlink) I don’t know. Probably call Lobot.

SEN. CRUZ: I have no further questions and cede  my time for Senator Bernie Sanders.

SEN. SANDERS: You were the administrator of a Tibana Gas Operation on the planet Bespin. Would you please share with us your title at that time?

LANDO: I was Baron Administrator of Cloud City, before the Empire came in placed a garrison.

SEN. SANDERS: Baron Administrator. What a fitting title for a man whose wealth exceeds an entire planet of Jawas and who profited from the slave wages rendered on Cloud City!

LANDO: Why you no good, dirty, double-crossing…I have no idea what you’re talking about.

SEN. SANDERS: I’m referring to the unequal pay and dangerous working conditions imposed upon the Ugnaughts.

LANDO: Oh. Ugnaughts are filthy little garbage creatures. They love it.

SEN. SANDERS: What they’d love more is a living wage, free health care (a human right), and affordable housing in the gentrified skylines of Cloud City!

LANDO: They’d love a bucket of slop and a protocol droid to dismantle. 

Lando leans forward, inspecting Senator Sanders.

LANDO: Do you know Luke Skywalker?

SEN. SANDERS: I’m familiar with the name. I’m more of a Babylon 5 fan.

LANDO: Because you look like a guy he described to me after the Battle of Endor. Have you ever been to Dagobah?

 

 

Hey, I also write some pretty great Military Sci-Fi over at StarWarsNotStarWars.com
The galaxy is a dumpster fire.

That’s not the way the Senate and House of Reason want you to hear it. They want me—or one of my brothers—to remove my helmet and stand in front of a holocam, all smiles. They want you to see me without my N-4 rifle (I’m never without my N-4) holding a unit of water while a bunch of raggedy kids from Morobii or Grevulo, you can pick whatever ass-backward planet garners the most sympathy this week, dance around me smiling right back. They want me to give a thumbs up and to say, “At the edge of the galaxy, the Republic is making a difference!”

But the galaxy is a dumpster fire.

A hot, stinking, dumpster fire. And most days I don’t know if the Legionnaires are putting out the flames, or fanning them into an inferno.

 

Find Out More

 

 

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