E. A. Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher

And thus, as a closer and still close intimacy admitted me more unreservedly into the recesses of his spirit, the more bitterly did I perceive the futility of all attempts at cheering a mind from which darkness, as if an inherent positive quality, poured forth upon all objects of the moral and physical universe in one unceasing radiation of gloom.

The Sun and the Moon

Look at this. Just sit a while and look at it. It’s so good, it’s hypnotic! I cannot give it enough praise. Look at that phenomenal shade of blue on Strife, and the details on War’s decorations, his magnificent fur cloak and Strife’s smooth, gunslinger’s outfit. Look at how big and fuzzy and warm War is, and how sharp, detailed and cool Strife is. I love War’s fingerless glove and his sturdy hand with well-shaped nails. I love it that Strife has a third eye, a trait of his Riot form. Note the Horsemen symbol on War’s medallion and Strife’s belt, the frickin’ runes on the barrels of Strife’s pistols, and the sting-shaped ends of his scarf. Take a bit to appreciate how all War’s jewelry is round, and all Strife’s, angular. And the subtle inversion in the golden glow of Strife’s eyes and the chilly blue of War’s.

It’s a masterpiece. A thousand words would not suffice.

From “What the Wind Knows”

By A. Harmon

The actual quote in the original form, with more text captured for context, can be found under the break. What follows here is a version I altered to make it more general and gender-neutral, because I was especially impressed and affected by the sentiments as they apply to my current obsession with War and Strife from Darksiders. I also cast one part as verse, because that’s how it sounded. Beautiful!

If all people loved their spouses as I love mine,
we would be a useless lot.
Or maybe… the world would know peace.
Maybe the wars would end and the strife would cease
as we centered our lives on loving,
and being loved.
…
I know the novelty will wear off, and life will intrude before long. But it is not the newness of love, the newness of us, that has captured me. It is the opposite! It is as if we always were and always will be, as though our love and our lives sprang from the same source and will return to that source in the end, intertwined and indistinguishable. We are ancient. Prehistoric! And predestined.

Image: Fractal flower by Luis-Bello

Sentence Length Colorizer for Microsoft Word

In the image above is a famous quote from Gary Provost’s “100 Ways to Improve Your Writing”. One of them is to avoid stacking sentences of the same length one after another, since that makes for boring reading. Coloring the text based on sentence length is a useful visual tool to help an author or an editor identify such potentially boring passages and revise them. I found several web-based tools that do this (here’s an example) but I don’t much like the mechanics of pasting my text into a browser, possibly many times, as I revise. There might also be some commercial products that offer this service, but I didn’t research that.

Instead, I made my own sentence length colorizer for Microsoft Word, and if you’d like, you can use it too!

Fanart (!) for TTSS: Sniper Nihlus

My friend Sixtus drew this amazing, badass Nihlus sniping in the jungles of Invictus as an illustration for my Mass Effect novel Thinker Traitor Soldier Spectre. (Please view the picture in full size here!) This is incredibly inspiring and uplifting. I could not be happier and more grateful for all the support this story has lately got from my friends and other readers alike. ♥

Fanart (!) for TTSS, and Pre-Nano Ramblings

My friend, HeavenlyEros, made this fabulous poster for TTSS! Eros also helped me create the cover for it, and performed many other feats of great art and friendship, some of which I mentioned before. The Mass Effect fandom is truly blessed to inspire such talented, devoted and kind creators — and so am I, to have such friends. ♥