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Thursday, June 30

RetroMUD Comic Update

RetroMUD has contracted with Keenspot to highlight RetroMUD. Check out the latest issue of Dan Shive's comic!


[MORE]

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Tuesday, June 28

RetroMUD Comic Update

RetroMUD has contracted with Keenspot to highlight RetroMUD. Check out the latest issue of Dan Shive's comic!


[MORE]

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Monday, June 27

The Children of Leviathan - Part 8c: The Caves

Vlad ran over to Kham, shield over his head. "Can you fire that thing again?" He pointed at the cultists above them.

"Sure. If you could find someone strong enough to lift a 2,500 pound cannon and aim it."

Cal picked up a crate and hurled it at the ledge with a roar. The gibbering and spears stopped for a moment.

Kham and Vlad exchanged glances.

"He'll do," said Kham. [MORE]

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Sunday, June 26

RetroMUD Comic Update

RetroMUD has contracted with Keenspot to highlight RetroMUD. Check out the latest issue of Dan Shive's comic!


[MORE]

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Saturday, June 25

The Children of Leviathan - Part 8b: The Caves

Vlad spun around to see a giant octopus, its rubbery skin covered in seaweed and slime, crawling itself along the cliff where he stood.

"We can take it Cal," said Vlad, hunching down behind his shield. Quintus’ words echoed in his head. "Stand your ground!"

Five tentacles snaked up over the cliff, each wielding a longsword. They snapped and darted like snakes, gifted with inhuman speed no human swordsman could ever match.

"You’ve got to be kidding me," said Ilmarė, knocking another arrow. [MORE]

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RetroMUD Comic Update

RetroMUD has contracted with Keenspot to highlight RetroMUD. Check out the latest issue of Dan Shive's comic!


[MORE]

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posted by talien at 8:56 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Friday, June 24

RetroMUD Comic Update

RetroMUD has contracted with Keenspot to highlight RetroMUD. Check out the latest issue of Dan Shive's comic!


[MORE]

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Thursday, June 23

RetroMUD Comic Update

RetroMUD has contracted with Keenspot to highlight RetroMUD. Check out the latest issue of Dan Shive's comic!


[MORE]

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posted by talien at 7:06 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Wednesday, June 22

El Goonish Shive Newspaper

RetroMUD has contracted with Keenspot to highlight RetroMUD. Check out the latest issue of Dan Shive's comic!


[MORE]

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posted by talien at 10:43 PM | 0 comments links to this post


El Goonish Shive Newspaper

RetroMUD has contracted with Keenspot to highlight RetroMUD. Check out Dan Shive's comic!


[MORE]

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posted by talien at 8:13 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Tuesday, June 21

The Children of Leviathan - Part 8a: The Caves

Moments later Cal resurfaced. He reared back and vomited a huge amount of seawater.

“It lets you breathe water,” said the Ss’ressen. Then he roughly picked up Kham.

His eyes fluttered open. “Wha…?”

“Drink,” said Cal, shoving the gourd into his mouth and upending its contents. Kham sputtered in surprise as the liquid poured down his throat.

“Wait a minute,” said Kham, “if you think I’m going to go down there strapped to your back you are out of scaly mind! What if the potion only works on lizards?”

“Then you will drown,” said Cal. He tightened the straps and this time tied Kham so that they were back to back. Cal threw the gourd to the others.

“I want to be strapped to somebody else!” said Kham, looking around desperately for sympathy. “Why am I attached to the suicidal alligator?”

“Drink. Then follow,” said Cal. Before Kham could say any more, he dove into the water. [MORE]

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Interview at Flames Rising

Check out my first interview over at Flames Rising!
I view my contributions to the “Blood &…” series as WWAD or “What Would Ash Do?” If you had someone fearless (and more than little crazy) who was faced with a horrible evil, what would he do?

He’d shoot it in the face with a shotgun, that’s what. That pretty much sums up all of my contributions to the series. The books provide more information than just killing the bad guys; they’re horror genre books, giving game master and player alike enough material to play an “us vs. them” monster-themed game. [MORE]

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Sunday, June 19

Review: Galatea in 2-D

All in all, Galatea in 2-D is less about Galatea and more about the artist. For anyone who has ever been a freelancer, his frustration and aspirations make for entertaining (and sometimes painfully accurate) reading. If only we could all blame a Kevin Matthews for whenever a contract goes bad. [MORE]

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The Children of Leviathan - Part 7: The Island

Baldric looked the blade over thoughtfully. “This be th' Captain’s knife. It nere failed th' lad, e'en in th' worst o' odds. I didna like th' lad much, but he be a jack an' our comrade. His death requires...vindication.”

Baldric put his hand on Ilmarė’s shoulder. His expression changed from a kindly old salt to that of a bloodthirsty pirate. “Allow Captain Bezyli his final retort.”

“I’m only borrowing it,” said Ilmarė softly. She plucked the knife out of Baldric’s weathered hands and tucked it into her belt. “It belongs in your hands.” Ilmarė closed Baldric’s hands. “A captain’s hands.” [MORE]

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Friday, June 17

Happy Anniversary Carmella and Mike Tresca!

A big Happy Anniversary to my parents, who just celebrated 35 years together on Flag Day (Tuesday, June 14)! On that same day, three baby bunnies were spotted in a burrow outside my parents' house. They're so durned cute that we just had to share!


Picture by Melissa Gendron.

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Photoshop Eyepopping Effects

Another new tutorial from my brother, Joe Tresca: "Photoshop Eyepopping Effects":

Photoshop Eyepopping Effects

If you've ever looked at a magazine advertisement and wondered just, "how did they do that?", than this video training is for you. Photoshop Eye Popping Effects lets you in on the insider tips and tricks that the pros use to create amazing graphical images that are jaw-dropping and eye-popping! Photoshop expert, Joe Tresca takes you through over 3 hours of intense video training which is like having a class room in your home or office. Learn a few short steps to creating fire type. Learn how to create brushed metal, futuristic interfaces and reflective web buttons. Learn how to make an image pop from the boundry and much more. If you know the basics then your ready for this video training CD-ROM which will allow you to pause, fast forward and rewind lessons. The training offered on this CD is easily worth hundreds of dollars in class time that you'd normally have to spend to get the same level of training.

Buy it now at Amazon.com!

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Wednesday, June 15

The Children of Leviathan - Part 6: Tentacles

“Great,” said Vlad. “Well, now we know our mission. As soon as you’re rested—“

“No,” said Kham, clutching Vlad’s wrist. “Now.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Kham,” said Ilmarė. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere.”

One eye cracked open. “You’re right.” Kham pointed at Calactyte, who stood outside of the Captain’s cabin, watching the exchange with curiosity. “But I can…hitch a ride.”

Everyone turned to look at Cal. “What?” [MORE]

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Tuesday, June 14

Two New Tutorials!

My brother, Joe Tresca, has just released two new tutorials, "So You Wanna Learn Photoshop" and "What's New in Photoshop CS2".

So You Wanna Learn Photoshop

Get ready to learn how to create mind-blowing graphic effects and techniques that the pros use. You'll learn extremely fast as Joe Tresca leads you through over 2 hours of intense video training which is like having a classroom right in your home or office. Joe Tresca is a Photoshop expert and the Creative Director of his own New York based interactive design studio with Fortune 1000 clients. His easy-to-understand tutorials have helped industry professionals tighten their skills and beginners reach a professional level. You'll learn Photoshop fast because each lesson is divided into logical chapters which can be paused, fast forwarded, and rewound. This series of training is so jam packed with essential Graphic Design knowledge, that it would cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to get the same result by taking classes!

Buy it now at Amazon.com!

What's New in Photoshop CS2

Get ready to learn about the latest new features of Adobe's ground breaking software, Photoshop CS2. These lessons are designed to help existing Photoshop users get up to speed quickly with the new tools, workflow options and enhancements. Photoshop CS2 is Adobe's most powerful and full featured version to date! You'll learn extremely fast as Joe Tresca, a Photoshop expert who runs his own New York based design studio, leads you through over an hour of intense video training which is like having a class room right in your home or office. His easy-to-understand tutorials have helped industry professionals tighten their skills and beginners reach a professional level. You'll be able to pause, fast forward and rewind lessons so that you can learn at your own speed. The training offered on this CD is easily worth hundreds of dollars in class time that you'd normally have to spend to get the same results!
Buy it now at Amazon.com!

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Monday, June 13

The Children of Leviathan - Part 5: Mutiny

“I don’t have time for this.” Ilmarė stepped forward and drew her slim longsword. “If you want to mutiny, you’ll have to deal with me.”

Her threat drew snickers from the mob.

“And me,” said Vlad. He drew his sword and stood next to her.

The mob stopped snickering.

“And me,” said Cal. The big lizard didn’t even bother to pull out his axe. He just flexed his claws.

The mob took a step back. [MORE]

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Saturday, June 11

Winter in June Sale!

Summer got you down? Chill out with these special discounts for June!

Frost and Fur: The Explorer's Guide to the Frozen Lands provides Slavic, Inuit, Ice Age and Nordic historical fantasy settings along with new monsters, feats, equipment, spells, and more. For a limited time only, you can get Frost and Fur in .PDF format for just $12.50. That's four bucks off the cover price!

Need an adventure for Frost and Fur? Look no further than The Dancing Hut, a Russian-themed fantasy adventure for levels 9-10. For a limited time only, you can get The Dancing Hut in .PDF format for just $4.00. That's a buck off the cover price!

So what are you waiting for? Visit http://www.philipjreed.com/images/junecoupons.pdf to buy these cool books before they melt away!

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Friday, June 10

The Children of Leviathan - Part 4b: Natives Are Restless

Calactyte swung at a cannibal and missed, connecting with the ropes hung along the mast instead. Released from its moorings, a pole snapped out of the fog and whipped three of the cannibals back into the ocean.

Vlad blocked the spiked club of one of the cultists with his shield and stabbed his assailant in the throat. Another cannibal snuck up behind Vlad but was smothered by a falling sail, released from the pole Cal had struck. Vlad looked over his shoulder in surprise. “Wow. Nice shot.”

Cal shrugged back at Vlad. [MORE]

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Tuesday, June 7

Stamford Downtown Annual Report

I was mentioned in the Stamford Downtown Annual Report for my volunteerism in working with Marion Glowka in designing, planting and maintaining Stamford's beautiful downtown gardens. [MORE]

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ASPC Award

The American Society of Professional Communicators (ASPC), sponsors two annual competitions, the ASPC Masters Communication Awards competition and the ASPC Annual Report Awards competition. Since the ASPC was founded in 2000, communicators from across the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia have participated in these awards programs, which recognize innovation and excellence in communications. Past winners have included some of the world's largest corporations; small, innovative, specialized firms; nonprofits and freelancers.

A project I worked on, the "ImagineThat!" poster series, received an Honorable Mention in the Marketing Materials - Print category. [MORE]

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The Children of Leviathan - Part 4a: Natives Are Restless

As darkness descended, the mist became a chilling blanket of fog. The cliffs off the starboard side became visible. Minutes seemed to stretch into hours…when Cal blinked and cocked his head.

“What’s that?” the big lizard asked.

“What’s what?” responded Bijoux.

“The thumping,” Cal said, sniffing the air. “Something’s wrong.”

Then they all heard it. What sounded at first like a hollow log trapped in the surf became a steady, droning beat. Drums. Dozens of them. [MORE]

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Sunday, June 5

The Children of Leviathan - Part 3b: Fort M’kimbe


“You see this?” Ilmarė growled, pointing at the wide bite marks on her wrist. “NOT DEAD.”

She began to pace. “When you drink Blue Sleep, it lowers your breathing and heart rate. The subject falls into a catatonic slumber so deep that he appears dead. And don’t even get me started on the dreams. If you had anyone even slightly competent at this fort, maybe someone would have noticed that Caskill wasn’t dead. Or that he held a vial of this poison in one of his hands. Or that he was a six-foot tall freak with fangs who has no business being around civilized people.”

“Hey!” said Calactyte from behind. Vlad put one hand out to silence him. [MORE]

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posted by talien at 2:28 PM | 0 comments links to this post


The Children of Leviathan - Part 3a: Fort M’kimbe


“I should like to have a few words with the traitor,” said Ilmarė.

“Wouldn’t we all,” said Chaga. “His name was Caskill.” He paused, shaking his head and chuckling to himself. “I’m sorry, you must understand that Caskill was one of us. He was a brother-in-arms, and although the man was strange looking, it was overlooked.”

Vlad was careful not to look at his three companions. “I know what you mean,” he said with a straight face. [MORE]

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Saturday, June 4

Update on Blood and Blades: The Profiler's Guide to Slashers

I just handed in the first draft of Blood and Blades: The Profiler's Guide to Slashers. Blood and Blades includes:

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