The Black Campbell

I’ve been trying to upgrade my iPad2 since about 1100 my time. I purposefully downloaded the package rather than try a straight download and install on the off chance they would have issues with a product they’ve been hyping all year. A good call…

The Apple servers are slammed because every bloody iDevice out there is trying to upgrade, and worse — you have to go through the cowpat that is iTunes to do it. So after waiting through the glacial backup process for the iPad, I’m running into an “inner error” — that’s the verification server failing to recognize you. Worse for an iPad user: you have to wade through the backup process every damned time you make the effort to upgrade; you have to wait an hour just to get told “sorry, pal!” by the Wizards of Cupertino.

A magical device and a great customer experience, indeed.

We finished the Supernatural pilot tonight. Overall, the game went well — the first night was a blend of humor and creepy, the second night was more of a setup/investigation night, the last a wild, almost pulp-style series of action sequences in and around Central Park.

The characters were having some trouble, as by this time, they’d been up for almost 24 hours and fatigue was making them sloppy. The apprentice priest got slapped around by one of the werewolves and knocked cold (the player was out tonight), the former FBI man got knocked about and found out the hard way his 10mm S&W 1076 wasn’t doing much to the hairy buggers. They had a chase and showdown in Central Park in the pre-dawn hours, then tracked “Werewolf 0” — the one that started it all — to a pump house along the reservoir and captured him just as the sun came up and turned him human, then exorcised him.

The players responded that they had all enjoyed the game and were interested in doing more, so that’s a successful night, I think… Going to have to work on the creepy and the darker tones of the setting — we’re a humorous lot and that occasionally overwhelms the horror aspect.

To those who have been purchasing my books on Kindle and Amazon. I truly appreciate the support. Sales of Perseus have been best in the US, Cawnpore — as expected — is selling better in the UK. The big surprise has been the sales on The Reluctant Imperialist — all about the same time, late August; I’m wondering if someone is using it as an assigned text?

I would love it if those who have bought and read could give a review at the Amazon Kindle pages for the respective books. It’ll help sales, and give me an idea of what I did right/wrong in these works. With work on Cubicle 7’s Marvels of Science and Industry for their Victoriana RPG line out of the way, I’m hoping to publish a modern western/murder mystery set in New Mexico, and a post-apocalyptic novel sometime in the next year, if the dissertation permits.

Once again, thanks!