The guys from the Aethervox podcast (“mostly Malifaux”) interviewed me for their show last week.

Ian and Julian (whom I met in Glasgow a month or so ago for a game and a pint) wanted to chat about writing for Wyrd, so we talked for about an hour.  I hope that in that time I managed to say at least one interesting thing.  If not, then perhaps the guys will just put a silly filter on my voice so at least everyone can have a good laugh

If you have never heard the Aethervox before then it is highly recommended.  From the very first episode this one has stood out with great production values, attention to detail, interesting content (yours truly excepted) and one of the best theme tunes you could imagine for a Mostly Malifaux podcast.  Add it to your queue.

Deadline was Monday and I emailed the story off on Wednesday at 1am.  I count that as being ahead of schedule, since editors always lie about their deadlines (only kidding, Dan, Nathan ).

This last story was a real challenge, as I had to write it in the middle of the busiest period at work in ages, which has included working several evenings, as well as being very busy at home.  Mrs Sholto came up with the idea of getting up an hour early so I could get some words done, and that worked well.  It is something I will use in the future, as nothing takes the pressure off like knowing that come what may, you at least got a few hundred words done before breakfast.

In total I have done five stories for Wyrd’s next book, and at 8,000 words per (approx) that is 40,000 words of Malifaux goodness coming your way.  Read every single one of them, dammit!  That’s an order!  Actually, for one of the stories, you probably are going to want to read it twice.  Do I get paid double for stories like that?  No.  It’s totally unfair!

40,000 words is just under half a novel.  I don’t know what that means, or if it is relevant in any way, but there it is.

The fun news is that several of the characters I dreamt up in my stories have been turned into new models for the game.  Three in total will, I believe, make it into the next book.  It is going to be a special kind of wonderful to see a model of something I invented all painted up on a gaming table

Finally, as a special reward for reading this far, I will give you another ace movie recommendation.  Easy A.  Watch it.  It is not a chick-flick, it just happens to be about a girl.  It also happens to be witty, bright and full of great characters and actors.  If you liked John Hughes movies, you’ll love it.

Man cave.  As the name implies, gamers from before the dawn of civilization have wanted – nay, needed – a place to call their own.  A place to hold their dreams.  A place to store their junk.

The very first gamer probably used an actual cave to hold his collection of carved whalebone figurines and customised mammoth-tooth dice, but that is pure conjecture on my part, and I cannot back it up.   Suffice to say that today, few of us will use an actual cave to hold our proliferation of gaming goodness, and progress is a good thing as caves are damp, dark and lacking in the door department.  I suggest a garage or spare room, but whatever.  Here is my man cave:

Here you have your classic B&Q plastic shelving.  Clockwise from top right you got terrain and bitz, more terrain and rulebooks, more terrain, and terrain-making supplies in that white tub.  Under the tub is a box with a painted Macharius Vulcan tank, and more bitz.  Carrying on there are boxes of AT-42 armies, a landing pad beside a tub full of plasticard and a bazillion other modelling supplies and above that more and more terrain.  Out of shot above is, yes,  more terrain (and Heroscape).  Models?  Yes, I am getting to those.  In fact, there are some excellent Chaos models in that briefcase.

From top left down.  Two hefty tool boxes with two Deathwing Land Raiders apiece.  Next down, my shelf of bottles – everything from spray paint to liquid rust to varnish to glues to paint additives.  Below that, my modelling toolbox (worth a post in itself) sitting on a stack of paper terrain I have not yet got round to cutting out.  Next to that is some of my Malifaux terrain.  Below that is two tubs.  The left one has sprues – loads of spare sprues, most with plenty of bitz on them.  Also all my Robogear bits.  Next to that is a tub full of Hirst Arts pieces.  My airbrush is in there, too.  Bottom shelf holds – well, not sure what is in that tub on the left!  Hmm.   Unassembled cardboard boxes by the look of it, from my last Ebay selling spree.  The tub on the right has lots of terrain painting supplies, as well as a Bio Chemical Plant kit I use for bitz.

Bored yet?  I’ve only just got started!!!

A stack of boxes.  My office will never miss them…  From the top, Malifaux terrain. Then some Necron terrain that I will rip up for bitz one day.  Below that is a box full of my Chaos army vehicles and daemon princes.  The three boxes below that are all terrain, either home made or bought.  The orange box has small terrain elements in it (mostly resin), and the heavily spray-painted box below that has all my Chaos infantry models packed in foam.  I have about 2500 points of infantry in there – my original Chaos horde of Ebay

On the right is my foamboard, three MDF boards for a gaming table, grass mat and some 3″ thick pink foam for terrain.

Two sets of trays full of minis.  Deathwing, Witchhunters, Malifaux, Chaos Renegades, Orks, moulding supplies and some Tau that won’t fit anywhere else.

The pressure washer is for stripping minis.  It really works*

Painting station up the top.  I don’t paint in the Man Cave – I take that out so I can paint somewhere else.  Like Starbucks, or the local pub.  All the foam trays have Tau in them.  The  black laptop bag is packed with everything I need to play Malifaux, including a couple of small foam cases of models.  Under that are two foam hardcases, both empty for now.

Hey, there’s my Munchkin game!  I was looking for that!!!

Underneath is a load of terrain bitz and supplies, and 3/4 of a large cardboard box I use as a spray booth.

Two Figures In Comfort foam cases full of Tau.  Both of them still have my 3350 point army from my recent game against Jamie.  On the right are bags of cat litter and sand for, yes, terrain.  I also have cats, but this litter is not for them!

The workstation folds away, but it is handy for doing the odd small job.  As I said, I don’t usually work in the Man Cave itself.  I made the mistake of sawing some wood in here last year, and covered everything in sawdust

And lastly, a shot of the whole thing:

And there you have it.  I keep telling myself I have enough junk supplies here to keep me hobbying for a year or three, but I also keep buying new stuff.  Damn hobby!

(*this is a lie)

Okay, thanks to signing an NDA» with a games company I cannot tell you too much about this, but I’ve just submitted a short story to said games company and the initial feedback is excellent.  Fingers crossed, and (when I can) I will let you know how this all pans out.

Is there blood and guts and thrilling action and chilling horror?  Well, you’ll just have to wait to find out

Q: What will make your average hobbyist make the loudest, most despairing noise known to the ears of man?:

1. Drilling a hole for a pin only to find that the drill bit wasn’t exactly centred in the very narrow piece you were drilling, and has completely opened up the side you weren’t keeping an eye on?
2. Drilling a hole for a pin and accidentally going too far, the drill bit bursting out the detail side of the model and drilling on several millimetres into your thumb?
3. Drilling a hole for a pin only for the drill bit to snap off inside the model, leaving no way to get it out and no room to drill another hole for a pin?

A:  If you said, “All of the above, because they each happened to Sholto last night when he was trying to pin an expensive and heavy metal model,” then congratulations!  Your prize is the contents of my swear jar, although you will need a heavy lorry to collect it.

Also, thank f**k for lalochezia (look it up…)

I have just moved the blog from Nethosted to Justhost, which explains the up-and-down nature of the blog these last 24 hours.

Nethosted provide a fine service, but I was regularly seeing +10Gb in bandwidth per month towards the end of last year, which was starting to cost me.  Justhost offer unlimited space and bandwidth, so we’ll see how that works out for the money.

I think it is time to change the appearance of the blog. Any suggestions?

Also, I submitted a couple of stories to some magazines.  I hereby promise to share the rejection letters with you…

In the first of a non-going series, here are some random blurts from my thought engine:-

1. Reading Titanicus by Dan Abnett. It’s been a while since I read a BL book, and Dan Abnett is usually a safe bet. The last BL book I read was Mechanicus, and I keep needing to remind myself that this one is not set during the Heresy. Titanicus features an ensemble cast of (frankly) disposable characters, none of whom really stand out for me. The murderous moderati seemed to have promise, but then got dumped into a predictable B-plot about an inexperienced princeps. Inexperienced as in; “How many combat drops?” Yeah, you know the one I mean. I hope Mr Abnett gives a convincing explanation as to why this guy is put in charge of a Warlord Titan. I expect he will. As for the book itself, I haven’t finished it yet, but it feels too long. The book mid-story takes a noticeable dip until the plot returns later on, and the action doesn’t really cover for it. An interesting plot, certainly (for Mechanicus-lovers), but if Mr Abnett doesn’t explain what’s in that document I will throw a Maltese Falcon at him every day from now until Martinmas. At least.

   Despite my griping, I am actually enjoying the book. I’m just a flint-hearted, old misanthrope, is all

2. Conflict Scotland 2010 is coming up, as in April. The 2009 event was the first tournament I ever attended. Despite doing much better than we expected, I didn’t enjoy the tournament so much (45 mins to play a complete game? Seriously? There’s a lot of things I can do in 45 mins, including forcing a squad of Fire Warriors so far up a tourny organiser’s dark-and-painful that he’ll crap in rapid fire for a month, but playing a game of 40k isn’t one of them), but I hear it will be better organised this year. 1000 points doubles, with FOC limitations (eg. you cannot take a second Elite, FA or Heavy slot until you have one of each already). I would take Tau, and complement them with something fast and aggressive. I am thinking new Tyranids, as it gives me a reason to buy and paint the models! I haven’t seen the codex yet, but I like the sound of Deathleaper & Lictors for some backfield frights, a Tervigon and Gaunts for a very tough Troops choice and some rending/ scything Warriors for inconveniencing future biomass in close combat. No way I can fit all that in 500 points, but it gives me something to work from. Close combat monsters popping up all over the place – a theme close to my heart. An alternative, albeit boring, idea would be TH/SS Termies in a LR Crusader with a MM attack bike. Send that lot out to worry the enemy while 500 points of railguns and MPs pops their transports. Any thoughts?
3. Speaking of new Tyranids, I like what I hear. I had a Tyranid army but sold it a year ago (almost to the day). What I have read of the new codex, and seen of the models, makes me want some bugs, bad. Maybe I can model little drone antennae on their heads, and pretend that the Tau have supplanted the Hive Mind with smarty-pants tech
4. One of my short stories is up for a critical mauling tonight at the Glasgow SF Writers Circle. I’ll let you know what they make of it. Unless, you know, they just laugh and fall off their chairs. Again.
5. Finally saw District 9 on DVD (which reminds me – the repair shop has had my TV in for four weeks. I need to call them). 9 out of 10. Loved it. What’s that, imaginary person I just made up? You’ve already seen it? I need to get out more? Well, you try it with kids and a 2 hour commute. Nothing to say to that, eh? Well, no, obviously, since I’m just talking to myself, but then I am about to be laughed at by SF writers who haven’t even mastered the art of sitting in a chair properly.

   I’m kidding. They’re lovely people.

6. Best film review ever. And it’s done in character. If you get put off by his mispronunciation of “Pro-tu-gonist” all I can say is, “don’t be”. Persevere.

Had to upgrade my hosting package for the blog and the website. Shouldn’t be any more issues with exceeding my bandwidth now!