Archive for the ‘In the Shadow of Monte Bianco’ Category

On Epic World-Building…

Vox had an interesting post about the number of characters in epic fantasy novels and why this is the fundamental reason that the fat, boomer, George Rape Rape Martin will not finish his excretable fantasy saga before his heart pops and he dies.

I am not a fan, I found his books unreadable, and the very basis of his writing to be foul beyond words. it is the antithesis of why I read any fiction. Fiction should have something of the heroic in it. it can be a noir, it can be gritty, harsh, all of the above, but without some sense of the good, some numinous influence towards higher things, what is the point. the nihilist emo-goths that only want to write about rotting flesh and despair can all die in nuclear fire for my money.

Anyway, this is not about G Rape-Rape Martin and his crappy writing and even worse philosophy, but about the hard-core fact that go towards building an epic sized story.

Now I don’t write epic fantasy novels. I have done a couple of divertimentos in the Inferos Vortex books, and maybe one day they may add up to a decent sized book, but I am not sure if they qualify as fantasy. They tend to be a mix of quasi-horror, gritty gun stuff, some dark humour and a splash of science fiction “technology”.

What I have written, and God willing will also continue eventually, is epic Science Fiction. Nazi Moon clocks in at 827 pages, and since Vox made me thing about how many main characters I have, and I keep notes (so many notes, you have no idea how autistic I get about my SF world-building) I went to check, and over that length, I have some 63 characters, but several are just one-time appearances and others temporary ones, because I like to give some credence and personality even to the “extras” on my mental film set.

When it comes to primary characters I have about 15, which sounds like a lot, and there are about an equal number of secondary or lesser characters that have repeat appearances, but then, in truth, I am only half-way. I do plan to write three more books in that series. When I will get to them I do not know, but if I don’t die in the apocalypse first, I will finish them.

    You might be interested in the following posts:

    1. Life Imitates Art
    2. 12.12.23 – NAZI MOON is Out
    3. NAZI MOON OUT ON…
    4. It’s All About the Science, Honest
    5. Increasing pressure and the space of variations

    By G | 6 September 2024 | Posted in Books, In the Shadow of Monte Bianco, In the Shadow of Monte Castello, NAZI MOON, Overlords of Mars - 1, Overlords of Mars - 2

    Inferos Vortex Book II

    In the Shadow of Monte Bianco, is now available from the E-store in various digital formats.

    Screenshot

    And should be available soon on Amazon, if you prefer the paper version. The link they sent me should be working already but may take a couple of days to propagate fully.

    This series is very easy to write, and apparently it translates well for readers because I have yet to receive any negative comments on it.

    The blend of adventure, fantasy, handwavium SF, dark humour, sometimes gritty realism, and guns apparently resonates with the people who read the first book in the series.

    Two of the readers for the first book, In the Shadow of Monte Castello, (Amazon paperback or Digital E-book) sent me the following reviews:

    Addictive. The characters and plot are both entertaining yet believable. There is a very interesting mixture of gritty realism, humor, and stark horror here. I have never before encountered such a perfectly tuned blend of these elements.


    Some of the dialogue and situations are laugh out loud funny, and other scenes would make it an instant classic as a film due to the humanity of the characters in it. Any GenXer who used pen and paper RPGs will also find some delightful references. I suspect Mr. Filotto had a lot of fun writing this. I can’t wait for the sequels.

    One Dread Ilk reader told me that they thought this was a more immediate, brutal and realistic version of the Larry Correia Monster Hunter International type of books, which is very high praise for me, because I know Larry sells a lot of books, although I can’t comment on the accuracy of the compliment as I have not actually read any of his MHI books, just his fishing’s of various people that irritate him at his blog.

    Besides, before I was banned from twitter the interactions I had with Larry were always good. I think he is a genuinely decent person.

    Anyway, I hope you enjoy these two novels and if you do I am toying with the idea of creating a module for an adventure in it using the QORG RPG I created. This would be a pre-set adventure (you would still need to have the RPG game to play it) with a few pre-generated characters but also the chance to create your own characters for the module, with a referee controlling the game. I doubt there is enough appeal for it, so it’s a doubtful proposition, nevertheless, I’d be happy to be surprised.

    So please vote in this Poll.

    What do you prefer happens next on the Inferos Vortex Series

    View Results

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      By G | 16 August 2024 | Posted in In the Shadow of Monte Bianco

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