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Book Review - Fate’s Fangs by Josh Vogt

Set in the universe of the tabletop RPG Hc Svnt Dracones, Fate’s Fangs explores the life of Nadia, a canine taur living on Venus. After years of living on the street, she was employed by a badger intent on profiting from her exotic body. However, Nadia would learn that others’ interest in her involved more than just her taurism.

To start, if you don’t know what Hc Svnt Dracones is and you like tabletop RPGs, I suggest you look it up. It is a pretty good game and is rather unique. I really like HSD because of the immersive lore and the story emphasis in gameplay.

Now, about the novel... I was cautiously optimistic when I first saw the novel. I love the lore of HSD, and I was not sure how a third party author would handle it. He performed excellently. No aspect of HSD lore was broken; the novel actually helped me get a better idea of how to apply the lore in a more literary manner. If you like HSD, I absolutely recommend reading Fate’s Fangs. 

In terms of the writing, the book was very well written. The characters were engaging and believable. Vogt made me eager to flip the page and see what happened next in the story. The plot was fresh, flowing, and had good continuity. The story was also the prefect length for a standalone novel, with the proper amount of pacing.

Vogt surprised me (in a good way) with the quality of his writing. When I went to do a bit more research on him, I came across his website. He has a plethora of great resources for writers, including book recommendations, articles, and an eye-opening writing method. Even if you are just a reader, sometimes knowing how writers write can help you see more in what you read.

Overall, I would highly recommend the book. It is outstanding science fiction, and is a great resource for HSD enthusiasts.

On a scale of 0 to 10 literature points, I would rate the novel at 9 points.

As per usual, I will post a more detailed review with additional interest.

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Puddle! 🌧️💧

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know the difference

It has come to my attention that many people mistake wyverns for dragons, so here’s a post to help you remember

Dragon: 4 legs, 2 wings

Wyvern: 2 legs, 2 wings

Drake: 4 legs, flightless

Wyrms: long snake like body with no appendages, can also appear as a traditional Chinese dragon with 4. Legs and no wings yet can fly

Amphithere: 0 legs 2 wings, can be feathered

Lindwurms: 2 legs, 0 wings, long body

Luck dragon: 4 legs, no wings, can fly, long body, furry with dog like face

Komodo dragon: 4 legs, no wings, real

Bearded dragon: 4 legs, 0 wings, often kept as pets

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Book Review - Joust by Mercedes Lackey

In a land very reminiscent of the divided ancient Egypt, a serf named Vetch is stuck serving a cruel master. His life seemed hopeless until they were visited by Ari, the dragon rider. Ari took Vetch away from his cruel master, but he was still a serf, forced to take care of Ari’s dragon, Kashet. Ari and Kashet are not like the others, though. Perhaps Vetch can use that to his advantage, freeing himself from his serf bonds.

One would not think that it is possible to successfully combine ancient Egypt and dragons, but Mercedes Lackey pulled it off very well. I have to say, I throughly enjoyed reading Joust. For me, being both a dragon lover and Egyptologist, seeing such a successful combination was a true treat. 

First off, some resources will say that the setting is based on predynastic Egypt. However, I do not feel that this is the case. Lackey’s representation is more representative of the early Old Kingdom. Regardless, Joust does a very good job at portraying this setting, between the geography, names, and culture. The likeness is accurate enough to keep my inner Egyptologist from cringing, which allowed me to fully absorb the outstanding literature.

That said, the book was written very well. Mercedes Lackey is a phenomenal author. Her characterization is on point, and her style fits perfectly with the story. With her writing, she managed to draw me into the world of the novel (I even dreamt that I was one of the characters one night). For me, that drawing ability is really the primary factor in any work of fiction. Lackey put me into the world, putting me in a position where I found it hard to NOT flip to the next page, or start the next chapter.

Overall, I would highly recommend the book. It was a great read, and had some good ol’ coming-of-age-ish aspects, without being too clique. 

On a scale of 0 to 10 literature points, I would rate the novel at 9 points.

As always, if I get enough interest in a more detailed review, I would be happy to post one.

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I had to chuckle at the brutality of it all, righteous anger could motivate even the most peaceful and tolerant people into feats of extreme violence.

Snekguy, in his story Uninvited 4: The Way Home

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Book Review - Writing Under Pressure: The Quick Writing Process by Sanford Kaye

“Good writing cannot exist in a vacuum, because it requires good readers. While readers are not likely to acknowledge this, writers know it and often feel hopeless about it.” (Kaye 117)

This book was really quite good. There were a few moments when I had to push myself through to the end of the chapter or section, but it all paid off in the end. Further, those sections of the book that required a little more effort to get through were not awful, just a bit dry.

The book is broken down into two major sections. The first essentially teaches the reader about the author’s own QWP (Quick Writing Process). The second section focusses mainly on different applications of the QWP, further breaking the section down into varying forms of writing.

First, to add a little spice to this review, I will shatter the established structure of ordinal numbers by addressing the second section first. The author only covers a few types of writing in this application section. Some of these include exam writing, research, and independent writing. His reason for selecting these are clear, and become quite apparent after studying the QWP.

The Quick Writing Process is all about one certain circumstance of writing. You guessed it! Writing under pressure. Hey, isn’t that part of the title? Who would’ve thought.... The topics of application are all forms of writing that are often done under strict timeframes, i.e. under pressure. The QWP teaches the reader how to make the most of the time that they have with those tight timeframes.

This leads me to the first section, which is all about the QWP. Kaye goes through the effort of making the QWP quite clear, explaining every step of the process. He outlines a timetable, discusses each step, generates writing procedures, then eventually assembles it all into the glorious final form of the Quick Writing Process. He even walks the reader through QWP with a complete example text, showing each step of the QWP with comments along the way.

Overall, the book is an excellent writing resource. The QWP was designed for writing under pressure, but with slight modifications, its scope can reach much farther. Kaye also throws in some insightful tips about writing in general, beyond the QWP.

“The thesis is not a magnet that inexorably draws material to it, but a compass to orient the writer in relation to it.” (Kaye 141)

I would recommend this book to everyone wishing to improve their general writing skills. However, the QWP would be especially relevant to those whose lives involve the frequent production of writings such as memos, research papers, essays, and other such time-sensitive documents.

On a scale of 0 to 10 literature points, I would rate the book at 8 points.

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Postlet: Pet Peeves

“Be sure to find a quite place to study.”

Yes, I know that this is an extremely easy mistake to make, but it really bothers me. 

A tip: this mistake is very distracting and easy to spot. Use this to your advantage. Give your writing a good read through before finishing; this mistake should easily pop out to you. Then it is a simple matter to fix.

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Time to get some serious writing done...

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undergrowth. aaa this took so long i can’t believe i managed to include all of the elements i wanted to since imagining the image *u* this is my forest derg/maraquan draik, emphia! i’ve been wanting to redraw a piece from 2014 (which i only just realised i’ve never posted on tumblr, might do that sometime?). i hope you guys like it, i’m actually quite proud of how it came out ^u^

my art tag | commission info | deviantart | furaffinity | instagram

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tiny coffee dragon mugs for sale!!! ~ tiny friend to keep your beans toasty and well hoarded, and a tiny tea dragon to warm your leaves!

This has been in my head a long time and I finally got the design I’m happy with.

You can buy these mug designs on my Gumroad page:

>    https://gumroad.com/firebirddragon

>    Tiny Bean Hoarder Dragon Mug

>    Tiny Tea Warmer Dragon Mug

Cheers <3

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tiny coffee dragon mugs for sale!!! ~ tiny friend to keep your beans toasty and well hoarded, and a tiny tea dragon to warm your leaves!

This has been in my head a long time and I finally got the design I’m happy with.

You can buy these mug designs on my Gumroad page:

>    https://gumroad.com/firebirddragon

>    Tiny Bean Hoarder Dragon Mug

>    Tiny Tea Warmer Dragon Mug

Cheers <3