Friday, October 28, 2011

For Halloween

...and to continue—if only briefly—paying homage to 20-year-old Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games.

Though I was never a big fan of the actual game play, I was rather impressed with the intros and cut scenes for the old Splatterhouse games, maybe because I like Halloween, or maybe because I like the idea of a talking mask...

Here is the intro to Splatterhouse 2:

Thursday, October 27, 2011

For Great Justice

This is perhaps past its prime, but the original is so much better than all the bastard children it's spawned that it bears revisiting. Plus, there are still some people who remain innocent of the whole phenomenon. In my view, though, the following is all one ever need see of it.

And now, without further ado...

All Your Base Are Belong To Us


Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Science Fiction Mixed with Martial Arts

Sci-Fi and Martial Arts

That sums up the Approaching Infinity genre quite handily. The assignation may seem obvious, but it eluded me for quite a while (embarrassing, I know). Even after both Amazon reviews described it as such, when someone asked me to boil it down, I was hard-pressed to answer, but here we are: Sci-Fi & Martial Arts.

Besides The Matrix or The One or The Chronicles of Riddick (which are all quite different from Approaching Infinity), does anyone have any titles to add or to recommend? There are a whole slew of them in Anime: Hokuto no Ken, Dragon Ball Z, Kakugo no Susume, etc., but any titles would be appreciated.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Icsain

General, 21st Generation
Category: NA
Discipline: NA

Height: 190 cm
Weight: 140 kg
Gravity Rank: 50
RPP: 7,000
RMP: 7,000
Birthdate: Unknown

Artifact: Relic Cords
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 140,000
Dark RMP: 140,000

Active Dates: 10,690-Current
Residence: Root Palace

Icsain does not undergo a physical change when he goes Dark. While not technically a psychic himself, his intellect and ability to simultaneously calculate multiple probabilities give him an exceptional defense against psychic assault. They also enable him to exploit the Relic Cords in a way that Karlan Farsal never could. With the Cords, Icsain can control up to 140,000 individuals and need not focus on any single one or group after a set of instructions has been given. With instructions, any being under the control of the Cords will complete assigned tasks, using limited critical thinking skills to accomplish the required goal or die in the attempt. Once the goal has been accomplished, the being under control will wait idle for further instructions.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

The Blood Solution Back Cover Copy

I've added the blurb for Approaching Infinity: Book Three to the AI site and reproduced it here.  Comments of any kind welcomed!

The Blood Solution
With the Gun Golems and their god defeated, the Empire proceeds on its quest for The Place with Many Doors. On Sarsa, Jav Holson enlists the aid of Raus Kapler, and together they set out to subdue what little resistance the rest of the planet has to offer. That proves to be more than anticipated when Jav finds himself abandoned by the Kaiser Bones and neither he nor Raus are able to raise their armies of the dead. On Zahl, another outsider, this time a cousin of sorts to the Emperor, joins the ranks of the Shades to help bolster their numbers along with Blue Squad, called out of retirement until new Grans—the Empire's giant mobile weapons—can be completed.

The Place with Many Doors still lies far ahead, but the Three Worlds await and will prove to be the Empire’s greatest challenge when Garlin Braams exercises the Blood Solution, a plan more than 600 years in the making to meet and turn back the Viscain invasion. In their still-weakened state, can the Empire survive an encounter with the concerted might of three planets long-prepared for their coming and armed with the Entitlement of God?

Raus Kapler

General, 21st Generation
Category:
Psychic

Discipline: Electrokinesis

Height: 246 cm
Weight: 230 kg
Gravity Rank: 10
RPP: 2,300
RMP: 2,900
Birthdate: 10,533.124

Artifact: Resurrection Bolts
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 46,000
Dark RMP: 58,000

Active Dates: 10,689-Current
Residence: Root Palace

On receipt of the Resurrection Bolts, Raus Kapler’s skin color underwent a permanent change. His skin is now pale and seemingly translucent, revealing a gray or even greenish hue beneath.  The Resurrection Bolts are visible as smooth metal circles on either side of his neck until he goes Dark, when the Bolts extend out beyond his skin. When Dark, his skin darkens further and more metal bolts rise up along the lengths of his arms and along his spine.

The Bolts enhance Raus physically, as is the case with all Artifacts, but they significantly increase his ability to produce electricity to both heal and destroy. His ability to stimulate regeneration of lost tissue makes him one of the most resilient Shades ever produced, though his power is not on par with that of Lor Kalkin. The Bolts also enable him to infuse the dead with a portion of his power, bringing up to 20,000 corpses back to a semblance of life, and which he alone can control.

While not as focused or well-developed as Jav Holson’s ability to sense bone, Kapler is able to “feel” the presence of likely raw materials for his power, if only vaguely.

Monday, October 3, 2011

An Unlikely Post 2: The Sequel

Fall is finally here and I know this for sure only because the kinmokusei is in bloom.

God I love fall.

Saturday, October 1, 2011