Monday 3 December 2012

You were my sire, man! You were my...Yoda!

Today I'm going to be doing something a little bit different. Well, kind of mixing things up a little. Something from Column A and something from Column B. On this particular day, Column A is similar to a little something I did back in June. Anyone remember this little gem? I talked a lot here about being a writer, about the community of writers that exist in this wonderful world of ours. Or, as I called it, The Writerverse. It is in the name of The Writerverse that I commence babbling this particular eve.

The quotation in the title is a reference to one specific writer. Her callsign is Spike. As a fellow fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it was only fitting to name her after one of the most awesome characters from the series. Especially as she is, in some respects, my sire. If it weren't for Spike, I may never have discovered that I enjoyed dancing. Going out...having fun. Having that funny odd thing called...a Life.

So there it is. She is my sire, man.

Anyway, Spike is a fellow alumnus from university. In the intervening years between graduation and now, my sire's been up to a lot of very productive things. Take her blog, Review Diaries. I was about to say for example. I wouldn't say for example. I'd say this is pretty big really. While I'm here babbling every which-a-way about all the geeky sci-fi things I love and occasionally talking about awesome books in a vaguely review-like context, she's been solidly reviewing all of the things she loves. And has become something of a big deal in the blogging circles for Young Adult publishing. So much so, she's made it into the top ten for a competition to become the new in-house blogger for Mira Ink Publishing.

Now, this is where we get to the substance of this ramble. Round two of the competition involves making a video, posted to YouTube, wherein the finalist explains what makes them so perfect to be the new voice of Mira Ink Publishing. In this very, very energetic video, Spike very awesomely explains why she is the best choice. To further convince the judges of this...well, this is where we need the good will of you, the gracious people of the Internet. Watch this video. Like the video. Share the video. Rinse and repeat. Ensure that your friends do the same thing. That random kid who walks past Ebenezer Scrooge's house in A Christmas Carol, make sure he does it too.

So there you have it. My sire is awesome. Help her prove it to the Mira Ink judges. Like and share the video. Pretty please!

Lastly, there's the Column B ramble. It's slightly sire related. For this, my sires are Thief and Dragon. And the GRRM Reaper himself, George R.R. Martin. You see, reading the Song of Ice and Fire and a lot about all of the awesome dragons, I actually found myself listening to the whispers of dragons in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I found myself reading up more, investigating the game more and being very tempted to buy it.

Finally, last week, during Steam's autumn sale, I caved. I mean, Skyrim and both DLC add-ons for £26 when the non-sale price is £34.99. Pretty good deal. And now, as a result of this, I am incredibly addicted. Well, maybe not incredibly as instead of spending every waking moment playing Skyrim I'm babbling here, but hey-ho. I'm finding it to be a very compelling game. Don't know how far am I at the moment. So far, I'm a level eleven Dark Elf with a particularly speciality for burning things. What can I say. I like fire. It works for me.

That's the news from my end of the worlds so far. In summation, dear readers, I'm hooked on Skyrim and please, please help out my dear friend Spike.

Also, totally indulging in some old school music from the 90s. To whit...

(Song of the Mind: My Favourite Game - The Cardigans)