Japan would have been known up to and including Will Adams (fictionalised as Blackthorne by Clavell) though the Tokugawa shogun are did close the borders after that up until Commodore Perry of the US Naby forced entry in 1865. Otherwise I had no big agenda in writing this book other than homaging Hornblower and Aubrey type stories; Bolitho is obviously the biggest inspiration. It also drew inspiration from a couple of heavy metal songs, both involving supernatural forcessation, one involving a surreal journey where no one ever dies, but most especially one involving a quest for magnetic north. It was my disgust with the author of the latter due to his actions later revealed that inspired the sequel, soon to drop on Amazon. Otherwise thanks for your detailed review :) PS There was another heavy metal song called Polaris, magnetic north would gave given the plot away (and the guy that wrote that turned out to be a real dick)

bcyy
Mon Jul 3 17:01:59 2023
General Chat

@Gavin:

I've just went through Polaris. It was quite a read. To be honest, I was a bit surprised - I was expecting something more to do with Polaris missiles than age-of-sail fiction!

My understanding of it is that you are exalting the value of stoicism and discipline by contrasting it to wealth and power. This seems to be the common denominator between many of the conflicts throughout the story (Reeman vs Kent, Captain vs Warlock, steel family heirloom sword vs gold sword).

Why did you set it in the Napoleonic era, though? Electromagnetism had not been discovered at that point, so the admiralty was unlikely to have approved of an expedition to gather power from the Earth's magnetic fields, and Japan had never been contacted either, eliminating the possibility of a sea captain's knowledge of the character for "restraint" (忍).

All in all, a very solid novel!

Yaztromo
Sun Jul 2 20:48:27 2023
Escape The Asylum
Star - optimum ending reached

I enjoyed seeing the words becoming progressively more and more readable... :)

ZMFC
Thu Jun 22 01:22:15 2023
House Of Horror
Skull - non-optimum ending reached

So the chalice was poison. Oh well, it was fun!

Ulysses
Mon Jun 19 13:42:09 2023
General Chat

Personally, I think contraints are what makes writing a gamebook for a competition fun.

@Stuart, the Lindenbaum competition is great and I don't think you need to do anything extra/different.

In my opinion, 'open' gamebooks are better judged through a 'Gamebook of the Year' style award (not a suggestion).

fairy
Thu Jun 15 00:12:22 2023
Escape Neuburg Keep
Skull - non-optimum ending reached

i dead

rain
Tue Jun 13 20:38:43 2023
Escape The Asylum
Star - optimum ending reached

sweet

Stuart Lloyd
Tue Jun 13 07:09:17 2023
General Chat

So when I was running Lindenbaum, someone suggested that there could be an "open" gamebook competition with no limits on sections or word count. I'm not against running one, but only if it's a Nanowrimo type event where people just write something over a month or some other time frame just for the challenge because I don't want to spend any more money on prizes or spend any more time running another competition.

Any interest in a gamebook Nanowrimo?

Gavin
Sun Jun 11 07:31:47 2023
Outsider!

Thank you

ZMFC
Wed Jun 7 20:43:23 2023
A Flame In The North

Well I messed up real quick but this is very well made.

Josh
Wed Jun 7 16:22:47 2023
Outsider!

I think this is probably the best amateur gamebook I've ever read.

bcyy
Sun Jun 4 14:51:53 2023
General Chat

Yes, Gavin made contact successfully.
Thanks for removing my number!

Gavin
Mon May 29 18:50:07 2023
General Chat

Yes

bcyy
Mon May 29 14:29:36 2023
General Chat

Did you send me a text saying hello?

bcyy Sun May 28 18:10:18 2023 General Chat	Maybe my phone? But don't be too surprised if that is even more inefficient - I'm not much of a phone guy.
	Removed your number now that Gavin appears to have made contact successfully.

Gavin
Sat May 27 06:43:20 2023
General Chat

Yes. Would you have another communication method this one seems inefficient

bcyy
Fri May 26 23:55:33 2023
General Chat

So the 3rd of June?

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