Monstrous Mythology ebook now available

I've finally published Monstrous Mythology as an ebook, available to purchase from Amazon or read if you have Kindle Unlimited.

The software I usually use to create books, Vellum couldn't handle the amount of links inside my book and slowed to a crawl. I use an M1 Mac so I haven't got the slowest computer out there but every mouse click or key press took a couple of seconds to register. It's great for editing a book with no links but once they start to add up, everything slows to a halt.

So I decided to see if I could edit it in Sigil and was pleasantly surprised. Because I was just editing the underlying HTML files and the software wasn't trying to do any fancy formatting tricks, I was able to put a basic ebook together in a relatively short time. Granted it's as basic as they come with each section on a separate page and extremely basic formatting but the book is still playable.

If you are creating your own adventure gamebook, it is worth experimenting with the different software available to see what works best for you. For the time being this works for me.

Comments

Writing Attack of the Zombie Vampires

Uploaded a video about writing Attack of the Zombie Vampires The original inspiration for attack of the zombie vampires or zompires came years ago when I had an idea for a series of short films. They were a parody of a Van Helsing type character who would disguise himself as a typical victim and after defeating the monster loudly proclaim 'the menace has been defeated'. I can remember wanting to call one of them 'the phantom menace' and having a chuckle about the thought of someone clicking on the video and instead of enjoying a George Lucas epic they would see this strange little movie instead. Yes, I have a pretty weird sense of humour. I never made the films but the idea of the character stuck and after having various discussions about what a vampire / zombie hybrid might be like, I had the seed of what became 'Attack of the zombie vampires'. It was always going to be slightly comedic because it just sounds like some trashy straight to video flick from the 1

Writing How to write an Adventure Gamebook

Uploaded a video about writing 'How to write an adventure gamebook'. Buoyed with confidence after finishing Monstrous Manor, I decided to try to create a useful guide to writing an adventure gamebook. I was and still am clearly no expert in the field but I felt I could gather together lots of useful information into one place to give a useful overview of the process from initial gestation to published book. I had also developed a short lived but rabid interest in AI and wanted to explore its possibilities. To that end, I used Dreamstudio and other AI image generators to create characters and backgrounds for the cover and internal decoration. I experimented with ChatGPT to try to create a gamebook which I quickly discovered was way beyond its capabilities. Nonetheless I expanded some of the passages it produced to create a small gamebook adventure which I included both to illustrate potential AI capabilities and as a bit of fun for the reader. Overall I think I managed to give

Correx / Coroplast Kayak

While I am still having trouble getting back to my writing, I've been indulging in another interest of mine - small boats. I currently live within walking distance of the water so I've been experimenting. Having been intrigued by the designs of Paul Elkins and other trailblazers, I ordered a sheet of 4mm 4 x 8 Correx and after some careful measuring and scoring, folded it into a small kayak. It's held together with 6 cable ties and for the first successful test had a couple of strips of electrical tape at bow and stern. For the next outing, I covered the bottom with duct tape to give some protection when landing / launching and built a small internal frame to stiffen up the hull and give some back support. It is only suitable for sheltered waters but is fairly stable, sits nicely and can handle some larger waves and chop without giving cause for concern. Next experiments are to fit some kind of oarlock, try a drill powered propellor and fit a very small sail and rudder! In

Martyn Cruise, Author

Search This Blog