Comfort Metal

This is what brought me back to the fake album meme. Judith posted this picture to Facebook and noted that her son called it a "Death Snuggie."

Then Tom suggested adding umlauts, which lead to me responding with ...

Of course it can't stop there. A quick trip to Wikimedia Commons and a bit of photoshop work and I've got an album cover.

What about the back? This album cover has to have a back with a track listing!

This time I used the Heavy Metal Name Generator to come up with song titles.

I'd better stop here before I come up with the bios of all the band members.

Tréogat - 5

It was a full year after their previous release [and after my last try at the fake album thing]. What will Tréogat come up with this time?

It was at this point I realized I should make sure the images I use are in the public domain, so I switched to the New Files page at Wikimedia Commons for the photos and used the first copyright-free image I found.

Woah.

Obviously Sigrid is back with the group and they've gone back to their original style. What's really kind of neat is that their song Make it Lighter was also featured on their first album - I hadn't noticed that until writing this post.

Tréogat - 4

It turned into an addiction. Even thought the last album was a critical failure, I had to make another. I couldn't leave the band stuck like that, right?

[Actually, I did leave them stuck for just over 4 years. Then I came across the original post on Facebook and thought I'd try again]

Oh dear.

It's clear that Hannes and Rasmus had a parting of ways after Metaphorical Code-Switching was released. With Sigrid still off at school there was no one to rein Hannes in, and the album took on a rather dark and cynical aspect.

Tréogat - 3

The first two albums went so well that I simply couldn't stop. The third one however came out a bit different.

This cover doesn't seem as light or quirky as the others. It looks like one of those ambient, new-age sort of albums from the late 1980s.

The track titles are ok, but it just doesn't mesh as well as the others.

At the start of production for their third album, Sigrid went off to Paris for college. That left Hannes to write the music and put everything together, which he did with the help of his best friend (and new band member) Rasmus. Rasmus has always been a fan of musicians like Brian Eno, and that had a heavy influence on his work for the album.

Tréogat - 2

There is something about creating fictional albums that I find deeply fascinating. After doing the first one, I found myself wondering what the Tréogat's second album was like. So I tried it again, keeping the band name for this one of course.

I really liked the image and title. The real surprise came with the song titles.

The song "Black and White and Red All Over" meshes well with the typewriter. That made the group more real for me. For this album it looks like Sigrid was getting a bit literary. I wonder if Hannes was supportive of his older sister or if he resented the amount of control she had over the band.

Tréogat

There was a meme going around Facebook in 2011 for making fake album covers ...

1. Go to wikipedia and hit random. The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band. 

2. Go to quotationspage.com and hit random. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. 

3. Go to flickr and click on ...“explore the last seven days”. Third picture ...no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Here's what that got me:

Of course I couldn't leave it at that.

I decided it needed a back cover - with track titles snipped from the riddles at randomriddles.com (not quite random, but still fun). fortunecookiemessage.com would have worked too.

It seems kind of whimsical and wistful. I keep imagining the group is made up of four or five Swedes, all in their early twenties. Most of the songs were written by the lead guitarist, Hannes, and the lyrics are by his sister,  Sigrid.

Thoughts on Religion and Cherry-Picking

One of the odd side-effects of my religious beliefs is that I've been accused of cherry-picking by both atheists and fundamentalist Christians.

The atheists seem to feel that my keeping only a subset of Christian beliefs is intellectually dishonest, and that Christianity is a monolithic, indivisible unit which can only be accepted or rejected as a whole. In dissecting it and choosing which parts I like I am not a "real Christian."

Interestingly, conservative Christians make the same sort of accusation. If I don't believe and profess every aspect (of their particular version) of Christianity, I am the worst sort of blasphemer.

Both of these extremes see religion as all-or-nothing, and those who decide for themselves exactly what they believe are breaking the rules. You can't just make up your own faith! It's not like some kind of metaphysical cafeteria where you can choose an omniscient god with a side of benevolence, you have to take the prix fixe meal.

What both of these sides don't realize is that everyone chooses what they believe.

Sure, they might have been born into a family that practices a particular faith. As a child they may have been flooded with a particular viewpoint, and even threatened if they say or do anything that contradicts it. Still, at some point they have to decide.

It could be caused by doubt, and they start to question the beliefs they've been taught. It also could be caused by something completely secular, like moving and needing to adjust to a new environment. There are thousands of possible decision points - marriage, graduation, personal tragedy, arguments, experiences - and all humans encounter many of them throughout their adult lives.

That's when, on some level, they evaluate what they see and think ... and make a choice.

If they're the introspective sort they might examine every little aspect of their belief system. They might discard some parts and keep others. If they're not so inclined to minutiae they might throw out the entire system in favor of a different one that better meets their needs. Both of these are perfectly reasonable behaviors. Some people are loners and others need a degree of external validation. There are also some who really don't care and want to focus on whatever is in front of them, and philosophically speaking that's ok too.

The thing is that none of those options - or the beliefs they lead to - excuse behavior that is harmful to others.

An individual who cherry-picks from one or more religions has no one to deflect blame onto. If they say, "This seems mean, but my belief says that it must be so," they know full well that they chose that belief. They're also likely to go on and question that aspect of their belief system.

However when someone adheres to a belief system "whole cloth", this situation does not change. They can say, "This seems mean, but this doctrine or that person says this must be so," but at some point they still chose the beliefs, the doctrine, the person. Therefore they must find it to be morally acceptable.

"This seems mean, but this doctrine or that person says this must be so, and I agree."

If they didn't agree then they'd choose a new belief system ... or cherry-pick the parts of their current system that they can accept.

Gen Con 2017 Schedule

Gen Con Indy 2017,  August 17 - 20

It's just a few weeks until Gen Con and I realized I hadn't posted about it yet. My two regular seminars are part of the Writer’s Symposium this year, which means they'll be in bigger rooms and close to the convention center. It looks like the tickets for them (both free!) are going fast

SEM17121102 – Author Education: Medieval Cooking and Fantasy Foods
Have you designed a richly detailed fantasy setting for your game or story, only to have a gaping hole show up the first time a character needs to eat? What do you serve at a hero's feast? What does it take to cook that? Medieval food historian Daniel Myers compares the reality of cooking in medieval Europe to what is typically presented in fantasy books, movies, and games. Topics include common myths, medieval kitchen technology, realistic feasts, and rampant fruititarianism. 08/17/2017 (Thursday), 8:00 PM, Westin : Capitol I   (94 tickets sold so far) 

SEM17121113 – Author Education: Believable Fictional Languages
Fictional worlds often include their own languages, but creating an entire language can be a daunting task. Learn tips for word generation, common pitfalls, and how to steal from the real world.  08/18/2017 (Friday), 8:00 PM, Westin : Capitol I  (62 tickets sold so far)

I'm also on one of the Symposium panels. I love doing these - the exchange of ideas and viewpoints always charges up my creativity.

SEM17121187 – Worldbuilding: The Impact of Cataclysms, Disasters, and the Apocalypse What happens to a world and its people when cataclysm strikes? Learn how to use disasters to make a more interesting new world. Featuring Lucy A. Snyder, Maxwell Alexander Drake, Daniel "Doc" Myers.  08/17/2017 (Thursday), 5:00 PM, Westin : Caucus   (sold out) 

This year's convention looks like it's going to be really, really big.  I expect it to be really fun as well!

Origins 2017

Origins Game Fair is just over a week away and (as always) I'm really psyched about being part of the writer's track there - The Library . Partly because I just got the cover for this year's anthology ...

Isn't it pretty?

... and it looks fantastic.  Jean Rabe did an awesome job of putting this book together.

Another reason I'm looking forward to the con is the list of panels I'm on this year. It's an interesting assortment of subjects and I'm always up to a good mind-stretching.

Thursday, June 15

Realistic, But Better - 11:00 a.m.
Dialog is a great way to increase pace, divulge information, and provide key insights into character motivations. But when you’re pounding away on arguments, discussions, and sweet nothings muttered between characters, it needs to feel realistic, even when it edits out all of the pauses, false starts, and repetition of actual conversation. Effective and sparkling dialog can make the readers turn pages and reach for your next novel. But while your characters may be smarter, taller, faster, stronger, braver, and more skilled than you, the only way they can be better conversationalists is with a lot of work. How do you achieve it? Our pros talk about dialog techniques, attribution tags, what they do to keep the conversation real, and tips and resources that will help in your stories. Thomas Gondolfi, Daniel Myers, Sheryl Nantus, R.L. King

Setting as Character - 3:00 p.m.
Where and when you place a story might be as important as the characters who populate your pages. Whether a massive city, an overgrown jungle, an altered timeline, or a desolate base on the moon, the setting can be a living thing with its own peculiarities and agenda. Whether the setting merely provides context and obstacles, or acts as a hero, villain, or crucial sidekick, it deserves care and crafting. Donald J. Bingle, Tracy Chowdhury, Daniel Myers, Jaym Gates

Friday, June 16

The Basics of Worldbuilding - 11:00 a.m.
Craft a rich and believable backdrop for your fiction. Discover the necessary, basic ingredients for constructing your fantasy, science-fiction, or horror setting, and how to make that world an integral part of your story or adventure. Sprinkling fantastical elements across your continents is fun. But how do you do it without making your world look like a mirror-image of what’s already in print? Our panelists show you how to apply your own magical signature. Gregory Wilson, Tracy Chowdhury, Dylan Birtolo, Daniel Myers

A Dime a Dozen - 4:00 p.m.
There is an old saying that ideas are a dime a dozen. But sometimes you don’t have the 10-cents you need to get a plot. Learn how to brainstorm ideas for fiction writing and how to craft those ideas into exciting storylines.Tracy Chowdhury, Daniel Myers, Thomas Gondolfi

Saturday, June 17

It’s In the Details - 11:00 a.m.
Sprinkling details in fiction—the style of clothes, the vintage of wine, the feel of a red dwarf sun on your villain’s skin, the taste and texture of the casserole your heroes are eating—breathes life into a tale. Our veteran novelists discuss when to add the sprinkles, how much, and how to tell if you’ve gone too far. In addition, they’ll cover helpful resources for getting the details right. Daniel Myers, Addie King, Sheryl Nantus, Gregory Wilson

The Author’s Website - 12 noon
If you write books and games, you need a website. That’s a given. We’ll cover the elements you need to include in that website, software, hosting, and how to make it stand out.Daniel Myers, Aaron Rosenberg, Jaym Gates

Getting All Romantic - 5:00 p.m.
It doesn’t have to be a romance novel to have romance in it. A romance can tug readers through your science fiction or fantasy epic. Whether it’s a mere hint of love or a detailed description of what goes on between the sheets, you need to write in convincingly and know when and how much smooch to put in your prose. Origins’ Sheryl Nantus is a veteran romance writer. She’ll lead a lively discussion of passion in writing with Addie J. King, Daniel Myers, James Daniel Ross

Sunday, June 18

The Pros and Cons of Cons - 12 noon
Origins’ librarians have attended plenty of science fiction, fantasy, horror, writing, and gaming conventions. Well chosen, conventions can be an author’s great friend. Our panelist lead a discussion of how to use conventions to promote your writing, find work, and gain contacts. They’ll cover what cons to attend, how to use them to better your writing career, and how not to go overboard with expenses. Donald J. Bingle, Addie J. King, Daniel Myers, Aaron Rosenberg, Gregory Wilson

All that being said, the biggest reason I'm looking forward to Origins is that it's my favorite convention - all the best games, people, and stuff in one place. Hope to see you there!

June 14-18, 2017
Greater Columbus Convention Center
Columbus, Ohio, 43215, USA