Ten years

Well, holy shit. I can't believe that it's already been a decade since I created this blog, but it's true: August 24, 2011, I started Swords, Dragons, and Nerds because I fell down the fantasy rabbit hole and wanted a blog separate from my "main" one to write about what I was reading and all other things related to the fantasy genre.

And yes, I realize today is the 28th, four days after the anniversary. Ironically, I was aware last month of the date and wanted to get this out on the 24th, but alas, it was not to be. Things happened and I missed it. Oh well.

Here's to ten more years!

Just a head's up: Google's giving away an extra two gigabytes of storage if you do a security checkup on your Google account

Google did this last year and it's a ridiculously easy way of adding extra space if you use Drive, Picasa, or Photos. Basically, all you need to do is go to your account, scroll down to Security Checkup and click on Get Started. Once you finish the checkup (which takes all of a few seconds), the 2 gigs are added automatically.

https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/take-security-checkup-on-safer-internet.html

http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-get-2gb-free-on-google-drive/

On a related note, I just checked to see how much space I have now and I'm currently using all of 118 megabytes (or 0.61%) out of 19 gigabytes. Clearly, I needed the extra space.

Still alive, just not in a fantasy reading mood

It's one of those situations where I have books to read, but I just don't feel like reading them at the moment. Pretty annoying too because I have a lot of fantasy books that I want to read, like LOTR, ASoIaF, Promise of Blood, Dresden, Avempartha^[1], Lord Foul's Bane, the rest of Belgariad, and Wheel of Time. Oh yeah, I've got my work cut out for me. Given the size of Martin and Jordan's works, I should be finished at some point after the 2020 presidential elections. Maybe then I'll be able to read Mistborn, The First Law, and every other fantasy novel and series that I want to read.

I think immortality may be required here.




^[1] The second book in the Theft of Swords omnibus and part of Michael J. Sullivan's excellent Riyria Revelations.

I just realized that I read a lot more fantasy than science fiction

I don't have a solid ratio, but it feels like I read maybe two fantasy books for every one scifi book. The former might be a bit higher, though. On one hand, I'm happy because fantasy fiction is awesome as shit. On the other hand, however, it kind of sucks because I love science fiction just as much as fantasy. Of course, my love of scifi might be more grounded in TV, movies, and video games. It's funny because like I've mentioned before, I was not a fantasy reader until two years ago when I finally read a Discworld novel that I had owned for years. After that, a flood gate was opened and I read as much as my brain box could take.

Still can't read The Hobbit or LOTR, though.

Two years!

Yup, two years ago today I created this blog because I had spontaneously gotten into reading fantasy and was absolutely devouring the stuff. Since then, my pace has slowed a bit, but I'm still reading several fantasy books a year. My posting rate on here has collapsed, however, which I'm working to rectify.

Here's to another year!

So according to Google Reader, this blog has 42 subscribers and according to Feedburner, it has 51. Either way, holy cow!

I guess I should probably post more often then!

Prepare yourselves, summer is coming.

I have no idea how the people of Westeros handled nine years of it. It hits 80 or 90 and I'm melting like those Nazis from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Polls are closed and unlike certain countries, there was no rigging! (Mostly. It's still under investigation)

And your wiener - I mean winner - is The Knight at the Crossroads! I was leaning towards this one myself, so it works out. As for the other pictures, I'm going to use them too as future headers.

Thanks for voting!

Time for a change

The banner at the top of the old blog is getting a bit musty, so it's high time I replace it. Instead of just picking a new one myself, I'm going to let you pick which of the following will grace the top of my blog.

The Knight at the Crossroads by Viktor Vasnetsov.

Bogatyrs by Viktor Vasnetsov.

Guests from Overseas by Nicholas Roerich.

Funeral of an old Russian nobleman by Henryk Siemiradzki.

Vote in the poll in the sidebar and the winner goes up Monday. Let the best picture win!

I am alive, despite the best efforts of others

Lo! For I faced many dangers and hazards. I was on my merry way to the old blog when suddenly, I was accosted by the Warduke! Not having a weapon or the courage/stupidity to tangle with that sucker, I skedaddled out of there and ended up taking refuge in a cave. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack a torch and wouldn't you know, the cave was a nesting ground for grue. Having narrowly escaped, I ran into a quartet of Hobbits, an elf-dwarf couple, a ranger, wizened wizard, and for reasons unexplained, Sean Bean. They were off to some place called Mount Doom and though the name sounded foreboding, I saw the Warduke poking around nearby and took my chances with the Hobbits.

I left after Sean Bean was killed by Orcs (man, that guy dies a lot) and the party split up, and made my way back towards the blog. I was accosted by the Warduke again and as I prepared for death the only noble and proper way possible - by losing all bladder control - I discovered that he wasn't there to cleave me in two. No, he had an extra ticket to The Hobbit and wanted to know if I wanted to see the movie. We went, it wasn't a date, and the dude smacks his mouth when he eats popcorn. Also, he beheaded a dude who was messing around with his cell phone during the movie. Warduke doesn't tolerate that kind of crap.

Actually, I was just completely and utterly burned out and couldn't bring myself to post anything. Same thing happened with my scifi blog. I think a big reason for the burn out was binging on so much fantasy lit over the summer. Fortunately, I'm recharging myself, thanks to Summer Knight, the fourth book in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series. Urban fantasy was just the shot in the arm I needed!

I haven't finished it yet, but it is so goddamn good. I've had to restrain myself a bit when reading it, because I don't want to overdo it and burn out again. I highly recommend this series, though. A wizard detective in Chicago? Hell yes.

Picture via Barnes & Noble.

So many post ideas running roughshod through my brain!

The hits, they're over 9000!

Actually it's ten thousand, but I'm not passing up a chance to post this video.


More posts to come soon and thanks for the all the fish, I mean hits!

Holy crap, one year strong!

So, one year ago I decided to create a side blog for my new found (and quite flourishing) fandom in fantasy fiction. At the time, I was seemingly making nothing but fantasy related posts on my other blog and fearing an unintended take over/assimilation, Swords, Dragons, and Nerds was born. Honestly, I didn't think it would last. It was a spur of the moment thing and I had tried running multiple blogs before with little success, so I figured it would last two weeks (if I was lucky) and then I'd just roll it into Giant-Size Nerd-Thing!.

Welp, I was wrong. And while my posting has declined a bit, I still have a love for fantasy that rivals my love for science fiction and everything else. I'm going to try and give my posting rate an uptick and make those posts more substantial than just pictures and comics. I have a lot of ideas rolling around in my head that I want to get out.

Now for some stats:

Posts: 129 (130 counting this one)
Hits: 8,459 (second highest of my four blogs)
Followers: 21 (holy crap!)

Thanks to all of my readers, followers, and everyone who's put me on their blogroll.

Damn wizards and their wind spells

So, I managed to survive Stormageddon 2012, despite the best efforts of wizards and Phaulkon. Rather not repeat it, though. Those winds were pretty damn intense, apparently clocking up to 90 miles per hour! It's pretty damn impressive and a bit frightening when you see a tree that's been uprooted by wind. Anyway, my parents and I were among the two million who lost power Friday night and it wasn't restored for us until six this morning. That was a rough weekend for everybody because were also in the midst of a heatwave and trust me, you never want to have to deal with 100 degree (up to 105 in some areas) weather during a blackout.

I did do a good deed this weekend, however. We're neighbors with an old couple and Saturday afternoon the lady came over and asked my dad for help: her husband, who's been in declining health, had fallen on the floor and she needed help getting him up. I was dozing at the time, but woke up and as soon as he told me what had happened, I was fully awake, out the door, and hauling ass over there before he had even gotten to his shoes. Her husband was fine, the heat just got to him; poor guy was covered in sweat. My dad told them that if he had to, he would park his minivan in front of their house and use it to power a fan (via an adapter he just bought) to help them beat the heat. Fortunately, her husband's niece came by to check on them everyday and brought them bags of ice.

She thanked us both profusely, but I was just obeying my alignment. :)

In a Game of Blogs, you either make 100 posts or you die

Alternate title: POSTS FOR THE POST GOD, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!!!!

It's a terribly serious game. The burn ward is always full. Anywho, this marks the 100th post of Swords, Dragons, and Nerds, so see you suckers later, I'm out.

Okay, not really, but thanks for the patronage and support. I'm actually amazed that this thing has managed to accumulate over 5500 hits. It isn't much, but a lot more than I thought I'd get. At any rate, I do have a question, though: How many of you have me in your blogrolls? I know The Lair of the Breviks and Daddy Grognard both do, and I'm almost certain that there's a third blog, whose name escapes me at the moment. I'm curious because it'll help me gauge how well I'm doing with this blog.

Also, apologies for my lack of blogging

I blame it on a mix of housework, library runs, reading, and a general blogging fatigue. Another point of interest is that I've done some cleaning up of the blogrolls and removed largely inactive blogs. Some of them hadn't been updated for a month or more, but I'm still subscribed to them in Google Reader, so if they show signs of life, I'll re-add them. I may wait until they get a bit more active, however. Hate to re-add one, then have it go dead again.

Stay awhile and listen

Just an update that there will be posts coming down the pipe. Computer games (not of the Diablo 3 variety, despite the post's title) and reading have gotten in the way, along with household stuff. As for reading, I found an absolutely beat to hell paperback collection of Conan stories - a mix of Howard, de Camp, and Carter - at the library and fell into its thrall. Aside from that, I also snagged Kull of Atlantis and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pirates of Venus, along with Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom. I originally went for the latter, but couldn't resist the others. What can I? I'm a fool for fantasy.

The Tower of the Elephant is pretty good. The Thing in the Crypt had a very roleplaying/D&D feel to it, which I dug.

Now for the posts, I think you'll like them. One will discuss alternatives to swords and was inspired by a blog post I saw elsewhere. The other is going to be about a fantasy western subgenre, its viability and general musings. Now, I just have to write them. This ought to be fun.

New header

Lovely King Kull art by the late John Severin and his wife, Marie. Here's the original:

I might mess around with the text later and try and make it more visible while not distracting from the prettiness of the artwork. We lost a true artist last month.

Hat tip to The Glass Walking-Stick for the picture.

Swords, Dragons, and Nerds just got plugged by I'd Rather Be Killing Dragons!

Woohoo!

Oh look, I created another blog

And with that, welcome to Swords, Dragons, and Nerds, three things, as the subtitle alludes, should never be in mixed company. I created this blog as an overflow for my newly increased interest and love (platonic, of course, but it's burgeoning into something more) for fantasy. As you may or may not now, I also run Nerd Lyfe, which primarily focuses on nerdery and well, I'd rather keep it at that and not have it turn into a fantasy only blog. I have some posts in mind that would have done that very thing, so I created Swords, Dragons, and Nerds as a way to preserve Nerd Lyfe, yet post all my fantasy related things. Soo...yeah. Let's start, shall we?