Welcome, 2017. Let's Talk.

Well, 2016 is over. What now?

I've been sitting on two manuscripts, in various stages of editing over the last year. I moved, lost some vital data in the move, and finally found it again; I needed that to finish setting up a Kindle Direct Publishing account, so that's sorted. Been watching a lot of videos, reading a lot of stuff, and having to re-learn a lot of bullshit taught in university and the con scene about how publishing works. Info gotten, situation assessed, time for action.

(Related: If anyone of you writers out there knows anything about Nimble Writer, comment below with your take. It's on sale on Steam until noon my time tomorrow, and I've got enough left in my Steam Wallet to snatch it up.)

I can't help but feel that my gaming life is about to experience another tectonic shift. The last 10+ years it's been dominated by World of Warcraft, and I've been around enough to know the signs of a dominant influence slipping. Even if I got a new PC, mechanics in this build of the game have had negative effects that can't be fixed with the latest hardware; I've been laying preparations for such an event for a while, so if it comes that I decide to quit World of Warcraft, I'll be quite able to swap it out and be gaming without further spending for some time to come (as in years).

I've not been thrilled with the polymer-framed/striker-fired service pistols produced over the last few years. They do the job, and when priced between $400-$500 they're in that sweet spot for acceptability; good for institutional use, but for me I want a certain level of aesthetics if I'm rolling off the Benjamins, which is why I've stuck to other options. Well, CZ got one step closer to there with the new CZ P-10C.

Now, it's still not the hotness of the classic CZ-75B (which I still want; #1 on my handgun Wish List, right after the Browning Hi-Power), or the CZ 75 SP-01. (I loved the Shadow, and this successor improves on it.) Maybe when they figure out how to make polymer frames that look that good, I'll be excited; until then, still "meh", but I know I can rely on CZ for quality and the price is right.

I can't unsee that the business of tabletop RPGs, as I've known it all my life, is on its way to a final collapse- and I could not be happier. The new commerce space will actually support the desire for tabletop RPG makers to pay some or all of their bills because they'll be forced to sell things that have actual commercial value while remaining harmonious with the unique strengths of tabletop RPGs as a medium (and exploiting them) instead of lobotomizing it. (Hint: Rules-heavy games, and trust-unfriendly gaming culture, cannot endure because competing RPG medium outperforms that mixture reliably- and only moreso as time passes.) The restoration of the original TRPG culture, and games to go with it, is now inevitable.

My reading backlog remains an issue, but I am--slowly--picking through it. Another big tome arrives tomorrow--my copy of Playing at the World--and I'll begin dedicated posts to current and past reads here and at my writing blog (each post with a different emphasis) over this coming year. The same goes to games I play or played, and other cultural elements; part of beating the SocJus death cult means being the alternative you want to see, so it's time to do more of that myself.

Now that I've come out from the converged crap, it's time to do what I can to cut them out and build up alternatives; unless and until the time comes to reach for my revolver, that's the way I'm aiming to go this year.