Category Archives: Flavor Articles

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Your Argument… (also on Xeawn’s Gaming Corner)

It's Invalid.

It’s Invalid.

HI EVERYONE!!! Guess what? I’ll be back from Vegas soon. I brought you all something. What did I bring you?

Interviews with Sega, Capcom, Zombie Studios, Nintendo, WB, Mercury Steam, the creative geniuses behind the Ouya and more!

I also brought you gameplay videos of Killer Instinct, Batman: Arkham City Origins Blackgate (as well as info on that one that I don’t believe has been covered by anyone else yet), Sonic: Lost Worlds and more!

I also brought you previews of the PS4 (hands on!), Warframe on the PS4 (hands on!), Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z (hands o–okay I think you get the point), Dark Souls 2 and more!

Aaaaand if you come to my two panels at Senshi Con next month I’ll have everything from posters of games to soundtracks to postcards to collectible bags to hats to a sword (inflatable, but its from Assassin’s Creed 4, so that’s cool, right?) to GAMES GAMES GAMES!!!

So, it’ll take me about a day to recover, but expect updates, including but not limited to previews, reviews, interviews, videos and pictures, as early as Monday! And, if you can’t wait, follow me on Instagram, xeawn, to catch a ton of my cool expo happenings!!!!

Yeah…I probably should’ve mentioned the Instagram feed before I left for Vegas…

My bad.

Xeawn, out!

P.S.!!!

That Killer Is Dead meme pic? I made it myself! I’m so proud of me 😀

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The “Where is Your God Now” Trope Needs to Die…

jason

It’s sad that this is supposed to look scary, but all I can think of is “JAZZ HANDS EVERYONE, JAZZ HANDS!!!”

You all know the scene; it’s as old as cinema itself. The big bad is coming, whether it’s an alien, a monster, a demon, or a serial killer. The writers make a point generally of having a very religious person, sometimes a heretic, sometimes a “Bible Thumper”, sometimes a genuinely nice person. Everyone is always dying around that person, and they try to run until they have no options left. Faced with impending doom, then generally kneel and hold up something religious; a cross, a Bible, a crucifix, that sort of thing. They might even kneel in fearful prayer and hopeful reverence.

Inevitably the big bad always kills them, sometimes being as corny as to blatantly state “Where is your God now?” as though the action on the screen didn’t drive that point home well enough. You know, just in case you missed it.

Sometimes the writer likes to do the fake out; have the antagonist walk away and leave that person alone, only to suddenly pop back on the screen and kill them terribly. Because bad guys are jerks. And because it’s supposed to make you go “OOOOH YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE BUT GUESS WHAT YOU’RE NOT REALLYYYYYY!!!!”

I suppose its supposed to be more scary, and perhaps it was. The first time. Not the first ten hundred.

This scene is as synonymous with horror as the “Only virgins go to Heaven” trope, that has the subtext to the plot being that if you participate in illicit acts then someone with a hockey mask will likely come give you the business end of a skewer.

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I have a problem with the “Where is your God now?” trope. It’s annoying, and can sour an otherwise enjoyable movie immediately for me. Take Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters for example. Now, I have a famous saying in my circle; never expect more from someone than you know that they’ll give you. Never expect more out of someone than you know they’ll do. I don’t mean you ought to go around looking to see what you can get out of people, quite the opposite.

What I mean is, if you know an apple tree only produces apples, don’t get pissy with it when you wanted an orange instead. Similarly, some seeds will never become trees, some trees will never bear fruit. Some seeds may only ever become flowers, and flowers are nice so long as you don’t expect them to suddenly become a fruit bearing tree. Some trees will only ever offer you shade rather than sustain you. That’s okay; shade is nice too.

So, what does this have to do with Hollywood? None of these actors or writers to my knowledge have ever publicly acknowledged a relationship with Christ to my knowledge. So–

“BUT THAT’S PRIVATE AND NO ONE’S BUSINESS THEY DON’T HAVE TO SAY THEY’RE A CHRISTIAN IF THEY DON’T WANT TO!!!”

Luke 9:26, “Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

So…no, if you’re a Christian you do actually have a doctrinal obligation to say it loud and say it proud.

But, I digress.

I don’t expect a Biblical story from a group that I have no reason to expect that from. I don’t expect them to tell a Christian version of that movie, although with changing one simple line they could’ve.

Not a Nephilim. Heck, that's not even a Nephilim born!

Not a Nephilim. Heck, that’s not even a Nephilim born!

See, that’s the thing that makes me laugh. I look at crap like when Devil May Cry and Darksiders get something as simple as what a freaking Nephilim is wrong, which is explained literally in the first like, five to eight pages of the Bible (it’s the class of angel that mated with the daughters of man, not their offspring, and not a half angel half demon hybrid!!!) and I think to myself

A) Does anyone actually do their homework or do they go “Nephilim, I think I heard that word before…doesn’t that mean pancakes?”

and

B) Does anyone even read the Bible?

Also not a Nephilim.

Also not a Nephilim.

Because there’s an entire class of spiritual warriors in the Bible who do everything that Hansel and Gretel explained as “Good witches” and “Good magic”. They’re called the Magi, or Magus in the singular. They called down flaming meteors from the sky, caused the Earth to swallow people, manifested lightning at will, made creatures of warfare appear from will and Faith alone, they were, in a word, pretty badass.

Which is why they’re the subjects of pretty much every Dragon House Studios speculative fiction or fantasy novel in some capacity or another.

So yes, if they wanted to do Hansel and Gretel from a Christian perspective, they could’ve replaced “Good witch” with “Magus” and literally not changed a single thing about the plot, but I digress. While the “there are good witches and good magic” plot bothered me, what made me stop caring about the movie entirely and regret not watching Die Hard instead was one simple, annoying, offensive and over used trope.

“Where is your God now?”

The scene was simple enough. Some witches were abducting children for some obscure and poorly explained ill conceived plot point that involved sacrificing a certain number of kids with forgettable properties to gain the power of a white witch, see “pagan girl Gandalf”, to do…something. I honestly don’t remember what. Or why.

"BLARRRRR!!! GONNA GETCHA!!!"

“BLARRRRR!!! GONNA GETCHA!!!”

So anyways the witches were jackin’ the town up, and then one of the God fearing women in the village holds her cross and begins to pray. The witch of course brutally kills her, because tropes.

Similarly, Jack the Giant Slayer, which was a hot mess for a number of reasons, used the same overdone ham handed plot point of “GOD CAN’T SAVE YOU NOOOOOOOW!!!!” when a giant fell from what I guess is Babel or something and squished them all. Because tropes.

At this point, it’s not even done to drive home a point of fear; it’s just done to be flippant and “edgy.” As my brother would say, it’s just “pandering.”

And unfortunately it sells.

One of my friends brought up the movie last night, Hansel and Gretel. We agreed that it wasn’t great and it wasn’t bad, it just kinda was. Then I, being the only vocal Christian in the group, voiced that the “Where is your God now” scene as well as the “Evil can be good” tropes kind of ruined what little really stood out for me as great in the film, leaving an overall bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t expect much more than what happened, some uncomfortable murmuring, some uncomfortable muttering, a few of them saying they saw nothing wrong with the scenes and a few saying they liked them.

I simply bluntly stated “It’s off putting, and it’s offensive. The scene was done just to do it. I don’t expect a Christian movie from a group that doesn’t profess Christ, but I’d also appreciate it if at the very least they’d stop flipping off my Faith every chance that they get.”

That brought about a stunned silence.

"Hey, ya mind handing me Leviticus when you're done reading it? Don't wanna leave any skid marks in my armor!"

“Hey, ya mind handing me Leviticus when you’re done reading it? Don’t wanna leave any skid marks in my armor!”

“We don’t go out of our way, in our music or our cinema, to do that to others. Yet how many games are about killing God or just flat out lying about what’s in the Bible? How many movies do the same? They’re flipping off my Faith, and I’m frankly tired of it.”

I’m not going to be naive and say Christians never say anything overt or exclusive. However, I have just as much right to stand on my doctrine as anyone else does theirs, and as a Christian I’m honestly tired of it. There’s a myriad of games and movies I might otherwise enjoy were it not for their obsession with flipping off God. Madworld, for example, odd as it might be to hear this from me, is a game I thoroughly enjoyed. The dark, edgy plot, the moody atmosphere, the hopeless struggle of the protagonist trying to make peace with the loss of his loved ones, it was very well written. I was excited for Anarchy Reigns, or whatever they call it in America, and I loved Vanquish as it was based on one of my favorite anime ever (Casshern). However, the same developer makes Bayonetta, a series founded solely on using the Bible like so much cheap toilet paper.

I won’t support Hideki Kamiya or Platinum Studios, and threw out my Madworld and Vanquish as a result. You can easily have a hardcore action heroine that flies in the face of normal conventions without vomiting all over the Bible. Heck, I did it with Rosalia Valentine in The Blackest Rain. And Tea in Ego Clausus: Malevolence. And Aori June in Chosen of the Lord: Soul’s Reckoning.

You can have a supernatural and powerful male without resorting to “Demons and junk”. I did it with Terryn Heart in Academia. I did it was Kaze Sio in Malevolence. I did it with Alexander Rogue in The Witch and The Magi. It’s more than easy enough to do.

You don’t have to do it. It’d be nice, but, the lack thereof is what spurred me on to become a writer. However, at the very least, at the very least…

Can you at least stop flipping off my Faith at every opportunity?

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Writing a Good Angsty Protagonist (Also featured on Xeawn’s Gaming Corner)

Order_Sol_from_Guilty_Gear_by_Chupon

What makes a good protagonist? Quite a lot of things, countless things really, but one central core needs to be development and growth. If your characters are static the entire story, they become dreadfully boring and quite a chore to continue to desire to spend time with. While there is obviously a fan base for characters that are nothing more than their archetypes, or else are nothing more than their trope or power, I don’t feel as though that makes for very deep writing.

I’m not going to jump on the twenty something bandwagon that thinks its trendy to hate on Dragon Ball Z, but I will say that there’s a reason why the thrill I get out of seeing Goku is pure nostalgia, while I’ll take an adventure with Luffy over the Z-Team most any day.

I joke often that my friend introducing me to One Piece pretty much ruined most other anime for me. The reason is that everyone in One Piece continually grows. They have certain things you can expect out of them, Zorro is almost always moody, Luffy is always a lovable idiot, Nami will always be a gold digger, and so on, but there’s depth. Sometimes its in large ways, such as Usopp allowing himself to get beat near to death for the sake of his friends, and other times its in the quiet moments. Nothing grabbed me more than one particular scene in Nami’s backstory arc, an arc I didn’t particularly enjoy to be honest, save for that one moment, that one painful moment. You know the one.

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Luffy looks around at the bloodstains in Nami’s old room and he understands what child Nami had to endure. As the villain brings his mighty blade towards Luffy, he reaches out and stops it with two fingers. Similar to earlier in the arc when a sobbing Nami drops to her hands and knees and begs Luffy to help her, one thing I love about his character is that he doesn’t necessarily need to know the details, all he cares about is whether or not someone hurt his family.

I tried getting into Fairy Tail, and before I was ultimately pushed away by their “SATAN SOUL!!!” obsession, I found it to be a less deeply written One Piece. Every battle was resolved by Natsu magically having a new move, story arcs were rushed through, and the stakes never felt real because Natsu was never really using his full strength most of the time. There were brief moments, like when a crying Happy had to leave Natsu alone against an enemy he couldn’t quite figure out how to beat, but for the most part you always know the overpowered protagonists will never struggle.

Similarly, even though Toriko is a joy to watch, both the series and the character, somewhere between fifteen and twenty episodes in I stopped caring and never picked up the show again. Every fight is resolved by Toriko being all like “Oh by the way I’m one of the heavenly saints AND HERE’S ANOTHER NEW MOVE HA HA YOU DIDN’T REALLY LAY A SCRATCH ON ME TO BEGIN WITH!!!”

Yeah, though the characters are fun, I lost interest shortly after Terry Cloth joined up.

Cloud-cloud-strife-18400381-1366-760

Dear Lord…when did Cloud become prettier than Tifa…

Which brings me to Cloud Strife versus Sol-Badguy. When I was a kid, I was such a Cloud Strife fan. He was just so freaking cool, with his spiky blonde hair that as a somewhat self loathing black kid I knew I’d never have, his amazing buster sword that he could flourish effortlessly, and his dark, brooding presence. He was so dang cool.

Cloud never let anything shake him, and he met every challenge head on. I thought he was just the coolest thing on the planet. Later, when I got into FF8 I found Squall was such a great character, I thought he was so cool! He never let anyone get too close, he had a freaking sword with a gun inside of it, his scar looked B.A., and I found his thoughts synced up with a lot of mine at the time.

When I got older I picked up Skies of Arcadia and was so freaking refreshed. I had just finished beating Grandia 2 from cover to cover, which I absolutely loved right up until the moment when they were suddenly like “Oh, by the by God is a pansy, Satan killed him, he kinda came back but we don’t need God anyways. Also Ryudo is shacking up with both Millenia and Elena, switching off whenever he gets the urge to wander. Everyone is okay with this.”

I was like “…….Wha?!”

Skies of Arcadia was so refreshing. Vyse was comical, he was fun, he was exuberant and upbeat. I realized that being around those angsty bags of hormones was just no fun anymore. I’d stopped being an angst ridden teenager by the age of sixteen or so. I didn’t care about characters like Cloud anymore; they were such massive downers. Even when everything was okay, for them it wasn’t okay.

skies of arcadia fegan vyse aika fina art

So, who is my favorite Guilty Gear character? Sol-Badguy, hands down! What makes him different from Cloud?

I was thinking about that this morning. Sol is pretty angry a lot of the time. He’s kinda moody, but he’s not what I’d call dour. Sol to me has pretty good reasons to be pissy. He was a part of a holy order that he realized was just a farce to let the rich get richer, he was subjected to terribly painful experiments, he had to kill his own daughter, he lost his beloved to darkness, his memory is spotty, and he might someday have to kill his grand daughter, or vice versa.

The difference? Sol changed, evolved, grew, and is more than his archetype.

Cloud lost a loved one, which he blames himself for, and he kinda sucked as a soldier. Also he got experimented on. That’s his excuse for being a whiny brat, trying to steal his best friend’s girlfriend, being even more of a whiny brat, and being a horribly derelict father and borderline abusive boyfriend.

In the original Guilty Gear, a game I think most series fans didn’t really get to play, Sol seemed to have absolutely no remorse about killing his daughter at the end of his story. Part of that, we learned later on, is because when he removes his headband (which is something he had to do to access his full power in order to beat Justice) he goes frigging berserk. The headband functions as a limiter that keeps his psychotic personality, a side effect of the experiments, in check.

I couldn't find a picture of Sol with his hair down, so here's Alucard. Picture this, but with crazy eyes and more screaming.

I couldn’t find a picture of Sol with his hair down, so here’s Alucard. Picture this, but with crazy eyes and more screaming.

Just real quick, Sol with his hair down was bloody amazing and I’m pretty sure Hellsing stole that design, or vice versa.

In later games Sol has expressed a modicum of regret about killing Justice, though he views it as his responsibility to destroy all gears. The reason why he carries this weight, is that they’re all spawned from his blueprint. The clearest way that we can see his regret however is that canonically, after he beat Dizzy in their duel, who was exceedingly reluctant to fight him anyways, he chose to spare her life. He let live the one gear that was directly “birthed” from his daughter, and seemed very thankful in his own special way that Dizzy was in control of herself.

Again in his own way, Sol tends to be protective of Dizzy. Speaking of Sol’s special brand of empathy, we know that he and I-No had some manner of relationship before she decided to go all Sith on his butt. She’s one of the few people he hesitates against, expressing a desire not to fight her. Similarly, Sol is one of the few people I-No will defy her orders for.

The biggest difference between Sol and Cloud, aside from the fact that Sol actually has depth, is that he experiences a wide range of emotions. Sol is nowhere near as laid back as Ragna the Bloodedge, but he’s a fun guy. He laughs, he jokes, he goes out of his way to be nice to certain people, and he’s managed to turn his anger into something that can portray everything from “I’m worried about you” to “I’m glad you’re doing okay.”

"It's not like I like you anything! Jeez!"

“It’s not like I like you anything! Jeez!”

Sol, by the by, has got to be the only person who can turn “Yeesh, what a pain in the ***” into “I ‘m glad you’re doing okay.”

So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? What angry heroes are you into? Do you need depth in your stories or do you prefer just nonstop action? You know what to do!

Xeawn, out!

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A gentleman always wears a tie.

When I was a child, coming up I always saw my father dressed impeccably. Now, we were not rich by any measure, not destitute either, but not rich at all. However, my father ever since my earliest memory was always a very well dressed man. Growing up I have memories of my father being up late to press his suits, something I never quite got the thrill of myself, yet something that always gave him a sense of pride and joy. He would never go to work with a wrinkled suit on, and he would always wear a tie.

When I was a kid, my father was into bow ties. When I got older, say fifteen or sixteen he consistently wore the regular kind. My father, a comic book geek that got me into most of my nerdery, got a particular joy not out of receiving as a gift the latest Dark Knight or Daredevil (though he enjoyed those too), rather became a collector of ties. He always got one on his birthday and on Christmas regardless of whatever else he may have wanted, though we of course made sure to express our appreciation with more than fancy fabric for your neck.

Now, for myself I gravitated towards scarves. I’m not entirely sure why scarves, though I think Blues, a.k.a. Proto Man, had quite a lot to do with it. I collected scarves, most of which I no longer have because I gave so many away to friends and strangers as a child and early teenager. However there was one thing I always knew for an unequivocal fact:

A gentleman always wears a tie.

My nephew watches my father and I like a hawk, his mind like a sponge as he absorbs everything that it means to be a man from our behavior. At times it frightens me how much he wants to be like me; I am well aware of my faults and shortcomings, as well as the painful road I had to walk to get to the me that I am today. I do not wish for him to endure any of what I have, nor do I want to be placed up on a pedestal of any kind. Yet and still, I do not shy away from my responsibilities like so many men of today; I endeavor to be the uncle and Man of God that will set the bar for him to meet and to exceed as he grows up.

My nephew has often asked my father why he wears a tie. My father always explains to him that a gentleman must wear a tie. He reminds my nephew that when we go out into the world, people are constantly judging us based upon our appearance. He explains to my nephew that we are intelligent black males who endeavor to carry ourselves in a professional, respectful, and through God a powerful way. He reminds my nephew that there are many in life who will find that threatening, yet we must endeavor not to fit inside of the box, the pre-disposed mold and ancient caricature that both society and our own race perpetuates as the norm rather than the exception.

And above all else, a gentleman always wears a tie.

Watching various older cinema classics with my nephew, he has asked me the same question. When watching Humphrey Bogart, Cab Calloway, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Buster Keaton on stage, my nephew asks me the question,

“Uncle, why do men wear ties? Why do they all look so fancy? They look nice, but why?”

Seven years old, full of wisdom and curiosity.

“Nephew,” I begin, “in that era, men were men, and women were women.”

He’ll usually give a quizzical look and exclaim

“What the what?!”

And so I endeavor to impart wisdom and explain.

“Nephew,” I continue, “men were men, and women were women. Back in that era, back in the day, men always dressed impeccably nicely. Regardless of their social status, men endeavored to do far more than shuffle about with their jeans around their ankles. A man’s shirt, his tie, his slacks, his fedora, they were his signature. When you looked at a sharply dressed man with his tie fixed just right, you knew that you were looking at someone who took pride in their appearance, and themselves. Men were gentlemen; they were polite, spoke with a modicum of intelligence, and treated women with respect.

“And women were women. Women always dressed nicely, with a nice dress or skirt, and respected their bodies, at least in public. Women spoke with an air of nobility, and carried themselves in a manner that said ‘I am to be pursued, not to pursue’. Women did not go out of their way to make life harder on the gentlemen, good women, and men, good men, did not go out of their way to demoralize the woman. Not everyone followed the gentlemen’s code and the lady’s code to a T, but the good ones, well, they did their best.”

Now by no means am I calling for a counter cultural revolution that will see urban clothing done away with or women occupying space only in the kitchen, by no means at all. However, I am saying that there is a reason why men wear ties, and women wear dresses and skirts.

I find that I can be quite attracted to a woman in jeans, flats and a t-shirt, but there’s just something about a girl who knows how to slip into something a bit more fancy that will always turn my head. I find that if the best you can do is flounce about in tops cut so low and skirts split so high that you may as well be nude, well, you’re not even close to being on my radar. There’s a time and a place for that, and every opportunity you get when you go out is neither. Just as, men, there is a time and a place for your favorite pair of Levi Blues or Enyce Cargoes, with your Bob Marley t-shirt or Adventure Time sleeveless (speaking about myself with that last one, Finn and Jake forever!), however there is always an unexpected opportunity to prove that “old world fashion” will get you much farther in life than your credibility with your homies will.

Do I sound like an old curmudgeon railing and caterwauling on about the misguided direction of the youth of today? How old do you think that I am? Thirty? Forty? Fifty even? I get that quite often.

Twenty five. I am twenty five years old. Just turned as of a month and some change ago.

I used to wear a tie every now and again, or for interviews and exceedingly special occasions. I’m older now, and ever since high school have held positions in pawn shops, law firms, child care, church organization, and IT. I’ve begun wearing a tie every day to work, even though I’m not required to. I am harkening back to the teachings of days long past, ideals that I have held since I was a child, and I am leading my young nephew by example.

Why? The answer is very simple.

Because, a gentleman always wears a tie.

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Would You Still Love Me If I…

Love is a wonderful thing. I find myself writing about it often, even though that’s never my intention. There’s generally almost always a romantic plot or subplot to my writing, and even if we aren’t talking the “Let’s get married!” sort of love, the big L is still a large part of what I write.

I’m a romantic. I got it from my smarmy parents I guess. What’s more, God is love, and Christ is the center of my life and my first true love, and so since Love is our great commission from Him it stands to reason I can’t help writing about it quite often.

I enjoy writing love stories, and I feel compelled to because of the ridiculous concept of “love” that worldly media paints. Drama and gossip is exciting, and we want to feel justified when we act how we shouldn’t. Wouldn’t it be a lovely thing if someone told you that everything you ever did in your life was the right thing to do?

We have so many books and movies that tell you it’s okay to be caught between two lovers, yoyo-ing back and forth between them as it tickles your fancy. They tell you its okay to leave someone at the drop of a hat for someone else, and they reinforce the idea that the moment someone you claim to love is injured, damaged, difficult or not quite the same as when you started that you’re justified in up and leaving.

Let me just be blunt and state that doesn’t make you driven, focused, flirtatious or any of the above. It makes you a coward, plain and simple.

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Still, there are some stories that use this plot device and do so in a fascinating manner. One of my favorite movies in all of its various re-imaginings is Appleseed (despite Briareos suddenly not being an ethnic other any longer…). Most recently, as of a few years back, they did a movie titled Appleseed: Ex Machina. I believe it was the first movie I rushed out to get on blu-ray. The rebooted story follows Deunan Knute and hubby Briareos on a mission to stop a rogue AI from wiping out the planet as we know it. Briareos was mortally wounded in the line of duty some years prior, and his body was all but destroyed. Much of it was replaced with cybernetic enhancements, leaving him with only his arms intact. Little did they know that the force they worked for had cloned Briareos for reasons implied to relate to his amazing prowess in battle.

The top brass decide that the clone, Tereus, will accompany Deunan and Briareos as they attempt to stop the Halcon virus, and despite her best efforts Deunan can’t help but feel herself pulled between the two of them. Being a clone of Briareos from before his World War III injuries, he has the face and voice of the man she loved for many years, and of course the vast majority of his mannerisms and traits as well. While his own man, his clone origins leave Tereus deeply attracted to Deunan and his orders make him almost eager to see Briareos fall to the virus and go berserk.

Watching Deunan’s struggles was a painful and intriguing experience; the story was realistic and well written. The resolution was exceedingly well done as well.

Love is a trigger word for my wallet; if you’re not writing a meritless story about some girl bouncing between all the guys she likes, rather a true love story you’ll likely get my money. I loved the “How Far Would You Go for the One You Love?” tag of Shadow of the Colossus, and likely would’ve given it a shot even without the amazing gameplay and concept that came with it. What I’ve played of Xenoblade and Pandora’s Tower was great as well.

lone-wolf

I also love stories that demonstrate the love and devotion of family, such as Nier Gestalt and Lone Wolf and Cub.

I feel like love is a great emotion to convey in a story; it resonates with everyone. We all either have love or want love, and can all either give love or take love in some capacity or another. We can be in love, we can be loved, we can reject love, we can desire love, and the big L has caused great nations to rise and fall across time immemorial. Love is one of the most powerful emotions in our arsenal, both in life and in the pen. Love and Fear are two of my favorite swords to cut my literary path with; they’re emotions that reach us on a very primal level and often times go hand in hand.

Love and Fear, Fear and Love, they go together like the sun and the moon. When you have love, perhaps you fear losing it. When you don’t, perhaps you fear gaining it, or never finding it again. Perhaps you were cut deeply by love, and so experience fear. Perhaps you reject fear, and desire love. Intertwined, they oft become two halves of the same whole.

My upcoming dual release of The Blackest Rain: Sorrow and The Blackest Rain Book 1: The Sovereign explore those halves in a very raw and real manner. On the outset we’ve got the story of the devil slayer Rosalia Valentine reeling from the death of her uncle who raised her setting off on a mission to save the children of a small protestant village from a demonic Count. Beneath that we have her fighting to recover from the betrayal of her boyfriend/fiance of four years, a night walker called Vincent, and the return of the first man to break her heart, a German devil slayer by the name of Graham Himmel.

Rose is caught between the pain of her uncle’s death, the betrayal of Vincent, the return of Graham, and the anniversary of the day her mother abandoned her at age six. Somehow she has to hold on to her faith in God while struggling against all of these conflicts thrown in her face one after the other. And now, Graham wrestles with being content to be by Rose’s side during this time of great conflict and turmoil, and his irresistible urge to try and rekindle the flames he’d smothered so many years ago.

“Would you still love me…if I broke your heart?”

In More Than a Fairytale Book 1: Xea’s Story, we see the destruction of the relationship of trust and confidence between protagonist Xea and older sister Leah, as well as the loss of faith between parent and child therein. As Xea is suddenly caught up in an otherworldly conflict, having to battle against the forces of the dark empress known only as The Mistress, the question between parent and child becomes

“Would you still love me…if this was all my fault?”

and between siblings becomes

“Would you still love me…if I failed to protect you?”

Love is a beautiful, wonderful, terrible, powerful weapon/tool/emotion/state of being. Please do wield responsibly.

More Than a Fairytale Book 1: Xea’s Story has been temporarily taken down as we move to a new publisher, and will be available once again mid May.

The Blackest Rain: Sorrow and The Blackest Rain Book 1: The Sovereign will both be available for purchase following the June 7th First Friday launch event at Dessert First in Anchorage, Alaska. We’ll be taking pre-orders the week prior.

-Eugene W.

“Xeawn”

@DragonHouseAK

http://www.dragonhousestudios.org

http://www.xeawnsgamingcorner.com

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Tomb Raider Review: Journey, Loss and Discovery (Also on Xeawn’s Gaming Corner)

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a.k.a. Fear and Loathing in the Jungle!

Good day (or afternoon or evening or night or twilight or Frabjous Day, Callooh Callay!) to you all. I hope you’re having a groovy…time.  Today we’re going to talk about Tomb Raider 2013, and then I’ll probably post some adorable cat videos to make up for how dark Xeawn’s Gaming Corner has been the past week. However, before we do that, we’re going to descend into madness just one more time!

For those of you reading this on http://www.dragonhousestudios.org, well, you’re used to my more literary side by now, so, no cat videos for you! Okay…maybe just a few…

Tomb Raider 2013, man, what’s there to lead up to that I haven’t already? There was controversy. Kind of a lot of it. The men that were in the interviews constantly kept, well, let me begin with my history with Tomb Raider and then my rollercoaster of emotions in regard to the remake. Then we’ll talk about the marketing missteps. Also the one commercial they got right.

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Are You a Hero or a Monster? (Originally featured on Xeawn’s Gaming Corner)

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I read an article the other day in which Hideo Kojima stated that Metal Gear Ground Zeroes might not ever be released, and if it is then it might be too controversial to sell well. He stated that gaming hasn’t done much to mature beyond “zombies and explosions”, and that he wants to push the limits and break every taboo that he can. He felt that it either would be too controversial for Konami to allow him to release it, or that gamers would be too put off by the controversy for it to sell.

I don’t know how I feel about that, as we’ve already had the capacity to see through a little girl’s clothing, take her out on a date, slap her around on said date and chase her while she runs crying in the last Metal Gear (Peacewalker), which cemented me not supporting the franchise any longer. Which is a shame, because up to that point even in spite of the whole “Every nation is evil except for Japan” thing Kojima had going on, Metal Gear was one of my favorite franchises.

Growing up, you were either a Metal Gear Solid fan or a Splinter Cell fan. The two camps didn’t mix. Oh, there were also those Hitman kids, but, they were weird and we didn’t hang out with them (*cough cough* Wilkie *cough cough*). I found Splinter Cell’s controls to be all clunky and junk and so I was a Metal Gear kid. Me and my friends would play for hours, discovering all of the easter eggs, the hidden cutscenes, deciphering the deep and intricate story, working out the best tactics, beating the game without being seen and without killing anyone, including bosses, it was great fun.

But, slowly and steadily the series started getting creepy. I never finished the second Metal Gear because…Raiden…but a friend that did clued me in on the creepiness that was Otacon. I’m going to give a disclaimer right here and say that this article and the next two in this series are going to contain some spoilers, and also are going to be dealing with some less than PG themes that might make some readers uncomfortable. Please exercise your own discretion going forward.
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So, Let’s Talk about Death!

So, let’s talk death huh? Yaaay! This is a topic that most people tend to shy away from, which is very interesting. If you are a saved and baptized believer, you know that as Vlad Dracul would say “Transient guests are we.”

We exist in a world that despises both us and our Lord and Savior, and we know that once we depart from this place we’re going to the most wonderful, peaceful and pain free place that we can’t possibly even begin to fathom. Yet people are afraid to talk about dying.

For those of us that are left behind, it can be an awful feeling where, we know our loved ones are in a much better place, but that doesn’t matter too much at the time because we want them here. We want them with us. We miss them, we love them, we need them, and nothing can really prepare you for the pain and loss that you’ll experience, even if you knew it was coming for some time.

I remember when my grandmother Wenona Irma Ward passed, I was completely and totally devastated. I’d been taking care of her for three years as she had gotten very ill in her late life, and every day she was such a large part of mine. I would get up in the morning and come to her room after checking on her all throughout the night. I would help her up, and once she was ready to face her day I’d make sure she had a good breakfast. I would call and check on her and talk to her throughout the day, and when I came home I would make her dinner.

We would eat together and talk about our days, and we would break bread together. I would sit and have tea with her and we would talk about everything under the sun. She would share with me her memories, her joys, her sorrows and her regrets. When she knew that it was her time, two days before we took her to the hospital, she told me

“Grandson, dearest, I want you to promise me something.”

And I said

“Yes ma’am?”

And she said

“Everyone else is going cry when I go home. I’d tell them not to, but, they won’t listen. But you, don’t you cry until I go home. I want you to smile to me, and talk to me, and sing to me, right up until I’m gone. I don’t want my death to cause anyone pain; it’s a happy occasion. When I go though, then you can cry. Promise?”

And I nodded and said

“Yes ma’am.”

And I honored her promise.

I knew that my grandmother was passing, and even then I wasn’t prepared. What really broke me was I wasn’t there when she died. I don’t regret it; she told me “Boy, you better go to work!” and so I did. I’d stayed at the hospital for like, three days and nights with her, and then I went into work that morning. I got the call right after a meeting I was at ended, that was slipping and it was time. I got to the hospital a handful of minutes after she was gone.

I honored my promise and didn’t cry until they had put her in the bag and taken her away. I thought I was ready. I clearly wasn’t. I completely fell apart and sobbed so hard I almost collapsed.

My family and my friends protected and supported me during this time, and I think on her now with nothing but the fondest of memories. Death is never something we’re prepared for, but it always means something. It is no respecter of person; whether you are rich or poor, young or old, brave or cowardly, death comes for us all. The only difference is, where will you go when you die?

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world he gave his only son that whosoever believeth in him shant perish but instead have everlasting life.”

John 4:16 “I am the way the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.”

Death is permanent, death is no respecter of person, and death should always mean something.

One convention that I’m never very fond of is killing a character and then bringing them back and then killing a character and then bringing them back and so on and so forth. I don’t necessarily mind that near death suspenseful moment where you’re holding your breath and hoping and praying the hero will open their eyes and make it, as long as it’s not dreadfully over used. Overall though, I feel like when you kill a character, especially a protagonist, and then you’re like “Oh wait, I’m totally okay!” that just sorta makes the whole experience feel cheapened.

Now, I think in the right place it can be a well done plot device, but I feel like in that instance it shouldn’t be one of those “I watched you get shot/stabbed right in the head/heart! How are you still here?”

“Oh, well, using the ancient technique of/using the power of/using time travel/using etc. I came back!” type of deals.

By and large I’m a firm believer that when you die, you’re dead. Unless you’ve got a darn good reason to suddenly not be dead, if you die in one of my novels you’re gone. In that regard, I try to be exceedingly cautious when I make the decision to end a character’s life, hero or villain. When someone dies, or when you’re afraid that someone is going to die, it means so much more when you know that there’s nothing that can change what’s coming.

When you understand the weight and importance of death in a Dragon House Studios novel, and you’re reading and being taken on this hard won hard fought journey where nothing is promised, you’re pulled in so much deeper than before. I think two of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received on my writing was when one person told me “I was so mad at you! I was so scared that ___ was going to die, and you just dragged that out and I kept waiting and hoping and then there were the blank pages of silence and then-“ and I’m just gonna stop right there before something gets spoiled for you.

The other compliment was when someone, a friend, came up and punched me in the arm shouting “YOU JERK! YOU KILLED ___! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU KILLED ____! I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!!!”

Yeah, it was pretty great.

This is gonna sound a little bit morbid, but, I feel like if I’m able to elicit that strong of a reaction out of character death then I’ve done my job well. You’re endeared to a character, you’re attached to them, you love them and you care for their well-being. When they hurt, you hurt. When they smile, you smile. When they experience loss, you experience that loss right along with them…and when they die…

It means something.

So, do you know where you’re going when you’re gone? How do you feel about character deaths? Have you experienced a loss that shook you as well? Take heart and faith in the love and goodness of God and His promises, and know that there’s a home in heaven for all of us. This has been a Dragon House Studios spotlight. Much love, God bless, and be safe out there.

-Eugene A.R. Ward
“Xeawn”

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What’s in a Name? Dragon House Studios Spotlight

Why is your studio called Dragon House Studios?

 

Literally, because I like dragons : ). To give a more direct answer though, I’ve always loved the concept of dragons and thought having one as a pet or a best friend would totally rock. I grew up learning about all kinds of different cultures, and of course Anne McAffrey is one of my favorite writers of all time. I was born in the year of the Golden Dragon, if we were to follow the zodiac and all that jazz, and I’ve just had a natural affinity for them pretty much all of my life.

 

Isn’t Dragon House a Christian Studio?

 

You bet your biscuits it is!

 

You’re talking an awful lot of mysticism though…also, aren’t dragons evil in the Bible?

 

I’m glad you asked! I generally get one of two reactions from Christians when my studio name is brought up in conversation. They tend to either fall in the “Dragons? AWESOME!” category (less conservative), or the “Dragons? …I see…” category (more conservative). Now, don’t misunderstand, I’m nowhere near trying to push the one world religion agenda; far as I’m concerned if the Bible says something is legit then it’s legit, and if not then tough bananas. Still, we’re all convicted of things differently.

An example, Sleeping Dogs is pretty much my Game of the Year right now, and it’s a hardcore Triad Syndicate title. Some folk might go “Whaaaaaat?!” while others might shrug and be like “Whatevs” just like some folk are cool with shows like Merlin (I’ve never watched it by the by, but I’ve heard it’s like Smallville but with magic?) and others not so much.

So, I’m really not convicted of my fondness of dragons. Going a step further, I’d like to direct your attention to the Book of Job in which the leviathan was loosed in the sea by God’s creation and command, and pretty much started wrecking fools. A second leviathan was sent with the same destructive purpose, and then after a certain point God decided the point had been made and severed the head of one of them (so as not to let such a destructive beast procreate).

By the way, I have always been deeply unnerved that to my knowledge there was never anything stating that the female leviathan was slain or died out, so…deep sea divers, ya might wanna look out for that…

So in that regard, analyzing this scripture one might come to the conclusion of the leviathan being God’s tool of destruction, a very uncanny way to resolve a conflict, one that was sent at His behest to change the world and attitudes of those involved. I view the leviathan as a tool. A gigantic really scary tool that can eat you and wipe out your armada, but a tool nonetheless.

Relating that line of thinking to the studio, we’re nothing more than a tool. A tool with a really, really awesome name, and one that intends to disrupt and annihilate a world ruled by Satan’s teachings and sin.

So, take from that what you will. Also Leviathan House Studios sounds nowhere near as cool, so, deal.

 

Some of your books have weird names…

 

Only some?

 

A lot of your books have weird names…

 

That’s better, I thought I was slipping for a moment there! The names of my novels aren’t necessarily immediately apparent in how they relate to the stories. Sometimes they are about as obvious as a slap in the face, other times as subtle as a spider bite in the night. There’s books like Loneliness and More Than a Fairytale where the theme is pretty darn clear. I think the Ballad of the Damned is vaguely more subtle, but it’s still fairly obvious what’s going on there, especially if you take the Grind House theme into account.

I’m working on a book right now, Apples Falling to Oranges, which is kind of a companion novel to the also unreleased and still early novel Chalice. For both of these novels, the point of the title is not especially clear, not until you get much further in.

My three flagship novels, none of which are released but all of which have a minimum of the first book in each series finished, are Academia, The Matriarch’s Daughter and The Blackest Rain. I consider these three novel series as well as More Than a Fairytale and its expanded universe to be the four pillars of the studio. For Academia, once you get a few chapters into the first book you know why it has that title. The Matriarch’s Daughter is pretty self-explanatory, and I already touched on More Than a Fairytale.

I think what’s more complicated is The Blackest Rain. What I think is interesting about all of the naming conventions here is that there is a certain elegantly complex simplicity that they convey. The Blackest Rain, if you take it at face value, is clearly a book about a torrent of painful and negative emotions that the protagonists have to deal with.

As you go through however, you begin witnessing and understanding the deeper layers to each title, and begin to understand the complex concepts that they convey. You begin to understand that there’s more to it when you reach beyond face value, so, that’s pretty cool.

I want all of my novels to have that feeling. I have a process to my writing where there’s the theme and the purpose. For example, More Than a Fairytale is a story with a lot of action, drama, pain and some horror elements. There’s the outset goal that Xea has to fight across an unknown land while protecting a baby and trying to find out why exactly the empress has murderous intentions for the family. On the outset, it’s a story with the goal of discovering “Who are you, why do you hate me, and where do I fit into this game of royal intrigue and murder.”

Beneath that there is the layer of a family drifting about and crumbling at the foundation. It asks the question of how far can you fall and how deep can you sink before you lose yourself and can’t find your way out.

Going deeper than that, it explores the unique bonds that siblings share, and how truly important said bond is if they are to survive.

Going deeper than that, it asks the question of how do you find the strength to get up every morning, look at yourself in the mirror, and find something worth pushing forward when you’re trying to recover from a horrible childhood trauma.

Going deeper than that, it drives home the understanding that no one is an island. The novel makes clear that your actions, no matter how much you tell yourself only have to do with you, affect your entire family, and your friends as well. The story examines the loose ends that parents don’t attend to, material, spiritual, emotional, that their children have to face and deal with. There’s also the journey of trying to climb back up that mountain after you’ve been thrown to the bottom and dashed upon the rocks.

Ultimately everything culminates in a series of choices. While the goal of the story is escape the Other Side, survive, and kill the Empress, the deeper feel and point to the story is the bond between the siblings Xea and Leah, and a journey of self-discovery.

 

What can we look forward to next?

 

Presently I’m pouring a lot of energy into Apples Falling to Oranges, though that’s a sci-fi/slice of life/action story that you won’t be seeing for some time. My studio is in the editing and proofing phase for Academia Book 1: Birth, The Matriarch’s Daughter Book 1: Silentium Nocturne, and The Blackest Rain: Sorrow. You can expect to see those rolling out towards the end of this month and carrying over into the next one.

In between that, I’m proofreading some new ashcans. There’s a hardcore sci-fi/fantasy/military fiction ashcan Restoring Order, the horror/drama/fantasy action ashcan A Necessary Sacrifice, and the action/spiritual warfare/fantasy adventure ashcan Malevolence. I’ll have more details on those later, as well as expected release dates.

 

Any last words?

 

YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE! Wait, what? Ah, but seriously, thanks for giving this a read, and please do tell your friends all about the studio. Also hop on over to www.lulu.com and pick up some books while you’re at it! And check us out on the twitter, @DragonHouseAK

Thank you all, be blessed, and keep rockin’ baby!

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15% Off Sale Coming to a Close!

Tomorrow at midnight the 15% off sale will officially end, so snag your Dragon House Studios novels while you can!

 

This evening we’ll be discussing two topics, What’s in a Name, and A Child’s Heart. I look forward to sharing with you all these thoughts and pontifications (which I’ve decided is now a word), and as always wish you all a blessed day in the Lord!

 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11