Fantasist's Scroll

How to Be a Villain: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans, and More!!!
Yes, this is a real book. No, it is not serious. However, if you’re designing a villain, it’s not a bad place to start. No, seriously! Here in one book are the collected cliches of bad guys. Everything from talking when you should be shooting to the “Rube Goldberg” killing machine. You name the tragic mistake that any and all James Bond villains have made and it’s in this book somewhere. So, in a humorous way, it’s a guidebook for what NOT to do when creating your literary villain. In fact, part of the book is a warning to up-and-coming super villains on what to watch out for in heroes and the big mistakes that the “average” villain makes that costs them their victory.

TSR, er, sorry Wizards of the Coast has a new “educational” campaign.
Now, they’ve recruited librarians to the cause. No, really, they have a new program called “Afternoon Adventures with Dungeons and Dragons“. It’s a program designed to give librarians free materials to learn and teach kids D&D after school and then to use that as a jumping off point to more literary adventures.
Actually, it’s not a bad deal. As far as I’m concerned, anything that gets more kids interested in reading or even just going to the library after school is not half bad. I know my own reading and love of the written word was very much fueled by the same things that drove my attraction to D&D. Even today, though I haven’t played in years, I have the new, “Third Edition” rules on my shelf. Of course, I have other, much more obscure games, too, but D&D was pretty much the start of it all for me. (DragonQuest almost was, but that’s another story…)

Anyway, it was a great story to read and brought back all kinds of fond memories. So, in a sad, middle-aged, nostalgic sort of way, it’s the perfect fun link for a Friday.
(And, yes, this is also appearing on my other blog.)

Today is Edgar Rice Burroughs’ birthday!
ERB, as he is often known by fans, was born in Chicago in 1875. He is probably most famous as the creator of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, which is a series of stories about an English nobleman who was abandoned in the African jungle during infancy and brought up by apes. His first Tarzan story appeared in 1912, and Burroughs followed it with the novel Tarzan of the Apes in1914. He is also the author of A Princess of Mars, which is the first book in a series about a US Cavalry officer transported “mystically” to Mars, as well as, Pellucidar, about a savage world hidden beneath our own, The Pirates of Venus, about space pirates on Venus. Not to mention his lesser known works, including The Mad King and many others.
For many of us, ERB was our first introduction to science-fiction and fantasy. He was a real writer, by which I mean he churned out novels and stories at a furious rate for one reason onlyL to support his family. He is, in many ways, one of my heroes.
So, Happy Birthday, Mr. Burroughs, wherever you are.

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.

Ah, if only Lovecraft could live on in that eternal life beyond death. But, alas, he cannot and we have only his tremendous body of work to keep us company. Never the less, knowing that it is his birthday, I feel compeled to mention it.

Also, the Vancouver Gaming Guild is celebrating H. P. Lovecraft’s birthday with a convention! So, if you’re in the area, why not check it out?

Freaky.
While I don’t reccomend fishing for giant catfish with a basketball lure, it does seem to work. At least, if the pictures posted at this link are any indication. I know people have a hard time believeing me, but I met a guy who was a diver in Illinois who talked about these giant, mean catfish in the Mississippi. Apparently, all the nice, warm, waste water from power plants and what not pouring into various dammed parts of the river can produce catfish up to six feet in length. That is a GIANT catfish! And, as a rule, these suckers hide in the muddy, murky bottom just waiting for a tasty morsel to swim by. According to this guy, they seem to like the taste of diver. He described to me how he had to beat one off his arm with a small log because it was trying to pull him under a submerged tree where it lived.
Holy shades of the X-Files!

Now this is really cool!
Once again, science-fiction becomes reality with a GPS-enabled, real “Hitchhiker’s Guide”. A prototype traveler’s guide that is more than just GPS-synced maps, this little baby gives you historical information and other tidbits that might interest a tourist based on where it reads you via participating networks. The author tested this on the 850-acre parkland surrounding Ashton Court, which is somewhere in the UK, from what I gather. I’m not familiar with it myself, but it must be a popular tourist destination. In any case, this little bad boy, called an “Explorer”, sees where you are on the GPS grid and serves you multimedia content based on that location. As well as showing you those cool maps that we’ve all come to depend on so much. (You know, I think Gibson wrote about something like this, but more personable, in some of his work, too.)

Anyway, the future is now. At least in prototype-land. Hey, it’s the best I can do for a Friday Fun Link on the same day I’m getting divorced. Get over it!

Oh, this takes that talking fish to a “whole new level”!
Yes, sir, it’s “Buck, the animatronic deer” over at BoyStuff.co.uk. Honestly, I would have expected this to be for sale in Arkansas somewhere and to be endorsed by our 42nd President, but, no, apparently talking hunting trophies are big in the UK. Well, whatever, it is funny. And, it comes with a microphone, so you can make him talk from the other room, too! Or, invite your animatronic deer-head to indulge in a little karaoke!

Oh, the insanity!

Today!
If you don’t know who J. K. Rowling is, well, you certainly haven’t been paying attention. She is, in short, the creator of Harry Potter and crew. As a divorced, single mother struggling to scrape by on public assistance, aka “the Dole”, in the UK, she wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which she sold astonishingly quickly for a first time author. The book went on to become a wonderfully popular hit with adults and kids alike. At the same time she wrote the first book, she plotted out the rest of the series and started drafts of those books as well. Each year after that first release a new book in the series has come out, for a total of six, so far, with the seventh on it’s way.
I know many people who dislike the books for their simplicity or how they handle magic or any of a number of reasons, but, as far as I’m concerned, anything that can get so many kids reading books again, instead of suckling at the glass teat, is okay with me.
And, yes, I just recently finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but you can find a review at my other site, and I eagerly await the seventh, and last, installation of this series.
I was resistant at first, but once I started reading these books, I was hooked. I hope Ms. Rowling will keep writing after the series is done. She’s a good one, even if she does write kids books!
Happy Birthday, Ms. Rowling!