For twelve years, Alexis Kennedy has been writing some of the most original and intelligent narrative games of the last decade – Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Cultist Simulator and more, as well as guest-writing gigs for BioWare, Paradox and Telltale Games.
For most of that time, he's been writing about games as well. Here for the first time on one place are the best of his essays and columns – from hard-won lessons about game development to reviews of unreviewable games, from narrative design principles to writing masterclasses, from historical discursion on labyrinths to the notorious 'Against Worldbuilding'.
For twelve years, Alexis Kennedy has been writing some of the most original and intelligent narrative games of the last decade – Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Cultist Simulator and…
What makes us glad we've played some games, and regret we've played others? What are the game design equivalents of 'savoury' and 'sweet'? Why is a working title dangerous, what menaces lurk in the model railway dioramas, and what is the Snare of the Tree?
Alexis Kennedy is an award-winning game designer who has developed some of the most original and intelligent indie games of the last decade, including "Fallen London", "Sunless Sea" and "Cultist Simulator". He is also the author of the essay collection "Against Worldbuilding, and Other Provocations".
Lucidity. Attentiveness. Generosity. Vitality.
What makes us glad we've played some games, and regret we've played others? What are the game design equivalents of 'savoury' and…
You're Gonna Die is a mental framework for happiness. This book brings you through the thought process that planning when you will die can help you live a happier and more fulfilled life. Imagine taking a vacation to Paris and trying to plan it out without knowing how long you’ll be there.If your Paris vacation is only 2 days long, you might have to cram things in there. You’d schedule a packed trip to see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, eat a croissant at a cafe, then fly out.However if your Paris vacation is 2 months long, you might have a totally different type of vacation. You would of course see all the attractions, but then have plenty of time to explore the Louvre Museum in depth, maybe eat out at the top 5 recommended restaurants in the city, plan a weekend trip to the coast, and in general take your time. The only thing different about those trips is the length of time, and it dramatically changes the type of vacation you will have. Similarly, many people don’t think about their death, and somehow just think life will go on forever. If you look at life as having an expiration date, you will treat it differently. You might actually live more by knowing your life has a definitive end date. This book goes more in depth on why planning a "soft" end date for your life can help. The book also covers topics such as the purpose of life, the search for happiness (or lack of a search), and also gives real data to show the averages of when most human lives end.
You're Gonna Die is a mental framework for happiness. This book brings you through the thought process that planning when you will die can help you live a happier and more…
Lieutenant Wilson is found dead at Reardon House, Dartford Kent.
But was it a suicide or a murder?
When Inspector Hargreaves of the Kent Constabulary seeks Sherlock Holmes’ aid in uncovering the truth, Holmes and Watson become embroiled in an investigation leading to the heart of Westminster. Possibly to the Crown Herself. Who is Sir Henry Wilburton? What is his connection to the late Professor Moriarty? Holmes must weave a dangerous path if he is to reach a successful conclusion. But with war a possible outcome of failure, the stakes are as high as they can get.
Lieutenant Wilson is found dead at Reardon House, Dartford Kent.
But was it a suicide or a murder?
When Inspector Hargreaves of the Kent Constabulary seeks Sherlock Holmes’…
The terrifying sequel to the #1 bestseller The Magpies.
Five years ago Jamie Knight lost everything: his home, his wife and their unborn child. But at least the woman responsible, ‘Dark Angel’ Lucy Newton, was in prison, and slowly Jamie was able to rebuild his life.
But now Lucy has been freed on appeal, and before long Jamie receives a message from a desperate stranger. Lucy is up to her old tricks—ruining lives for fun.
Jamie agrees to help. But once again, he has no idea what he is getting himself into…
A short story.
The terrifying sequel to the #1 bestseller The Magpies.
Five years ago Jamie Knight lost everything: his home, his wife and their unborn child. But at least the woman…
A young boy named Daniel encounters creatures from another world. They take him night after night, into the black void of their reality till he begins asking questions. Why was he chosen? What do they want from him? Does he have to be a victim?Daniel decides to fight and as he wages war on all those who try to harm him, he finds his own adventure. Love, loss & chaos, this is the life of Daniel.
A young boy named Daniel encounters creatures from another world. They take him night after night, into the black void of their reality till he begins asking questions. Why was he…
Ever since he could remember Simon Santiago could see and talk to the dead. When his parents are killed in a train accident, he is sent to live with his estranged con man of an uncle. Soon Simon is put on as his uncle's assistant in a Ghost Expelling agency and carries out the hard work for his uncle: getting rid of the ghosts.
Now thirteen with his ability at full maximum Simon is ready to take on bigger tasks with his uncle's booming agency getting more and more calls day by day. When a phone call comes in from a desperate librarian at an infamously haunted library, Simon is all too eager to get to work. But when they arrive at the sprawling mansion of a library, Simon quickly discovers that there's something else haunting the library and its thirst for Simon's soul is dangerously clear from the moment he steps foot into the building.
With the help of one of the young library volunteers and a mute spirit of the library, Simon is determined to find out what is really going on before his soul as well as his uncle's are added to the ever-growing system of The Library of Souls. Will Simon and his new friend make it out alive?
Find out in the brand new Middle-Grade Horror novel from YouTube personality Richard Denney, featuring an array of spooky photographs that will chill you to the bone... if you're not already dead.
Be careful what you check out...
Ever since he could remember Simon Santiago could see and talk to the dead. When his parents are killed in a train accident, he is sent to live…
Исторический роман Вячеслава Войлокова "Русская осень" описывает первую гражданскую войну в России, в частности военные действия Русской армии, вышедшей из Крыма в 1920 году под командованием Врангеля.
В романе подробно отмечены не только сами военные действия, но и от лица русского генерала Щербачева человеческие характеристики вождей Белого движения, их явные ошибки, просчеты и отсутствие возможностей ведения полноценной войны, причем в сравнении с поступками командующих большевиками.
Автор тщательно описывает значимые события, включая в структуру своего романа уточняющие композиции, которые наводят читателя на основное направления произведения. Можно заметить как с каждой главой все меньше надежды на победу у генерала, как все больше Красная армия занимает Россию и большевикам только и остается, что разгромить Врангеля.
Исторический роман Вячеслава Войлокова "Русская осень" описывает первую гражданскую войну в России, в частности военные действия Русской армии, вышедшей из Крыма в 1920 году под…
The Gray House is an astounding tale of how what others understand as liabilities can be leveraged into strengths.
Bound to wheelchairs and dependent on prosthetic limbs, the physically disabled students living in the House are overlooked by the Outsides. Not that it matters to anyone living in the House, a hulking old structure that its residents know is alive. From the corridors and crawl spaces to the classrooms and dorms, the House is full of tribes, tinctures, scared teachers, and laws—all seen and understood through a prismatic array of teenagers’ eyes.
But student deaths and mounting pressure from the Outsides put the time-defying order of the House in danger. As the tribe leaders struggle to maintain power, they defer to the awesome power of the House, attempting to make it through days and nights that pass in ways that clocks and watches cannot record.
The Gray House is an astounding tale of how what others understand as liabilities can be leveraged into strengths.
Bound to wheelchairs and dependent on prosthetic limbs, the…
Here comes the Young's Modulus, with its buddy, the Ultimate Strength. If you load a drill pipe beyond its Ultimate Strength, sooner or later the pipe snaps and whacks you - in the head. So your bloody 'protective' hard-hat finds its way into your 'protective' steel-caps boots. You can mumble magic spells, or pray to the God of All Drill Pipes, or take a proper grip on your favorite semi-automatic. The law-respecting Wicked Flying Pipe does not care less. By law, it must whack. The Law of Physics, you know? As for my genre, it must be... Not-So-Alternative-History.
What am I about? Ah, so those Laws of Physics, damn it! The Law of Conservation of Energy, AKA The First Principle of Thermodynamics. Have you studied it at school long time ago? Forgotten? Never heard? Too bad. This very Law is playing a cruel practical joke with all the inhabitants of the planet Earth, including you, Dear Reader! A joke so practical and so cruel, the Wicked Flying Pipe from the previous paragraph looks a harmless schoolyard prank. Intrigued?
Here comes the Young's Modulus, with its buddy, the Ultimate Strength. If you load a drill pipe beyond its Ultimate Strength, sooner or later the pipe snaps and whacks you - in…
Ernest Hemingway, Zadie Smith, Joan Didion, Franz Kafka, David Foster Wallace, and more. In Process, acclaimed journalist Sarah Stodola examines the creative methods of literature’s most transformative figures. Each chapter contains a mini biography of one of the world’s most lauded authors, focused solely on his or her writing process. Unlike how-to books that preach writing techniques or rules, Process puts the true methods of writers on display in their most captivating incarnation: within the context of the lives from which they sprang. Drawn from both existing material and original research and interviews, Stodola brings to light the fascinating, unique, and illuminating techniques behind these literary behemoths.
Ernest Hemingway, Zadie Smith, Joan Didion, Franz Kafka, David Foster Wallace, and more. In Process, acclaimed journalist Sarah Stodola examines the creative methods of…
Within these pages wait violent fights, disease, death, controversy, sexuality, tragedy and crime.
This journal documents a hateful young man's path to darkness. Many events that occur are based on real events. You will find many moments from the authors own life sewn into the life of Arthur Gale.
You can only go so far before all hope of return is lost; this book reaches that point, and goes even farther.
James represented the light, Arthur is the dark. There is no hero. There is only Arthur.
Within these pages wait violent fights, disease, death, controversy, sexuality, tragedy and crime.
This journal documents a hateful young man's path to darkness. Many events…
I want to be direct, my name is Greg. I go by "Onision" online. This book is made up of events that occurred in my own life mixed with fiction from the made up life of James. James is essentially a better version of myself. His home, his school & his life all resemble my own at his age. The people James analyzes and is surrounded by are not so unlike those I've known as well. I have experienced much of the loss James has however his happier moments are more often than not also mine. I want to share my story without it being purely non-fiction. I simply felt this approach would make for a far better book. At points I cried while writing this, at others I laughed. Stones To Abbigale is not just a book I wrote, it is a piece of who I am.
I want to be direct, my name is Greg. I go by "Onision" online. This book is made up of events that occurred in my own life mixed with fiction from the made up life of James.…
Bestselling author Seth Godin's latest book is as thought-provoking as his other best selling titles but this book is different. Seth has published a beautiful full colour book to spread its message as far and wide as possible.It feels more like a high-end magazine than a book, and I think even people who hesitate to buy and read books will be engaged by this one. The format is new for me and as far as I know, no author has written a book quite this way. My hope, if we are able to reach a lot of people, is that I'll be able to do other books like this, and even better, so will you and other people with ideas to share. It explores, as directly as I can, the dance we all have to do with our fears, the tension we all must embrace in order to do work that we care about. It pushes us to dig deep inside so we can do better work and impact the things we care about. It is urgent, personal, in-your-face and as honest as I could make it.
Bestselling author Seth Godin's latest book is as thought-provoking as his other best selling titles but this book is different. Seth has published a beautiful full colour book to…
A pyramid predating all known cultures appears without warning. Its discovery throws into question everything we know about the origins of mankind.
Inside lies incredible technology, proof of a culture far more advanced than our own. Something dark lurks within, eager to resume a war as old as mankind. When it is unleashed it heralds the end of our species’ reign.
A plague of werewolves spreads across the world. A sunspot larger than anything in recorded history begins to grow. Yet both pale in comparison to the true threat, the evil the werewolves were created to fight.
"It's like Stargate meets The Walking Dead." - One of the author's totally biased friends.
WARNING: May Contain Werewolves.
A pyramid predating all known cultures appears without warning. Its discovery throws into question everything we know about the origins of…
The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight. She can take any job for the right price and shoot anyone who gets in her way.
As far as she knows, she’s the only person around with a superpower . . . but then Cas discovers someone with a power even more dangerous than her own. Someone who can reach directly into people’s minds and twist their brains into Moebius strips. Someone intent on becoming the world’s puppet master.
Someone who’s already warped Cas’s thoughts once before, with her none the wiser.
Cas should run. Going up against a psychic with a god complex isn’t exactly a rational move, and saving the world from a power-hungry telepath isn’t her responsibility. But she isn’t about to let anyone get away with violating her brain — and besides, she’s got a small arsenal and some deadly mathematics on her side. There’s only one problem . . .
She doesn’t know which of her thoughts are her own anymore.
Cas Russell is good at math. Scary good.
The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight. She…
