Mass Effect 3

This is not a review. In fact, I don’t know if I’ll ever have the stamina to write one; you know, with objective criticism and all that. That would be exceedingly difficult, because, see, this game pulled on all my strings so hard. Other than some minor annoyances, I’d say that everything was done exactly right. Or, to allow for some weaseling, everything was done exactly to my taste.

Continue reading Mass Effect 3

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W. B. Yeats
Image: tylercreatesworlds @ DeviantArt

Massive Retcons in Sight

Well, shit. It’s true: Valern is the name of the salarian councilor, and the turian councilor is named Sparatus. Never mind that abomination. Why, oh why didn’t Bioware tell us this before? Would it have been so damn difficult to just come out and say so on the forums or whatever? Bah. Massive retcons in sight. I think I mention the turian councilor in every goddamn story I have out there.

Ghost in the Machine Is Taking a Break

I know I said there would be weekly updates and breaking this promise is breaking my heart. But I’ve reached the point where I’m reduced to preparing chapters a day or two before posting, which puts my beloved beta readers and myself under too much pressure and is certainly doing no favors for the text. I chose to do this now because I’m hoping that most readers will be too absorbed in playing Mass Effect 3 to even notice. Yes, I will be playing it as well during the break. I will also try to finish and post at least two short stories that had been put on hold a long, long time ago in favor of this one.

The story continues on either the next Sunday (March 18), or the one after. To get a notification, subscribe to my rss, or my twitter, or add Ghost in the Machine to your story alerts at FFN.

Thank you for your time, interest and patience.

Second Round of Fics

This week I’ve dug out some short Elder Scrolls ficlets, and some Garrus/Shepard love stories:

Fruit from Palaven – this one has a special place in my heart, being the first Mass Effect fic that I managed to finish. It’s a good story, all things considered, especially the fact that I hadn’t written for years prior to taking this plunge into fanfiction. It’s an intro into the ingame romance with Garrus.

A Game of Cards – an indirect sequel for Fruit from Palaven, this story is one of the few where I tried to engage a larger group of characters in a meaningful interaction. It’s also a stage for my critique of certain tropes within the fandom that I find distasteful.

First Kiss – what it says on the label. Garrus and Shepard, and their first kiss.

And now for something completely different:

Rural Witchcraft – or, as the working title went, “Glaber Heights” (Glaber is the name of a character from Spartacus, and at the time of writing I was reading Wuthering Heights, go figure). This is a piece of… regional lore, I suppose, for High Rock, that I submitted, among many other short texts, to Temple Zero. It’s just drabble, but it happens to be one of my favorite snippets.

Inverse Riddles – or, in its original version, “The proper way to converse with a Breton sorcerer.” Same as above, only this one I never actually submitted because I thought it too lame. Now I think it’s kind of cute.

And, that’s about it. At this pace, I’ll put up everything I have in… a year?

Kidding.