Enter the Dragon of Terror!!

Finally, we have a dragon (the black-winged little demon you'll see to your left...nasty little bugger, isn't he?)

I asked my friends Laura and Israel if they could send me a dragon for the website.  Israel's a painter, and his paintings have some amazing energy - I hoped he might draw something that would devour my readers.  I added a bit of color, but the pencil drawing by itself is terrifying.  Click onward to see the original.

Poll Results: Less Vodoo, More Combat

Okay: the story will be in a parallel universe, "magic" is nothing more than a scientific result of natural laws or artificial technologies, and religious fundamentalists are somewhat more evil than corporate capitalist.  Both of which are more evil than gremlins.  I mean, I've suspected this for years, but I'm glad to now have some statistics to back this up.

Based on the comments, it looks like our lovely characters are not only traveling to a new dimension, but they're also walking into the middle of a war.  We don't know what the war's about just yet, but that's okay.  It's not like it really matters.  As long as there's enough violence for movie rights, it's all good.

Educational Video: The Dangers of NaNoWriMo

Have you ever wondered what it takes to write 50,000 words in a month?  Wonder no more.  Our educational video will provide a true-to-life example of the kind of determination and willpower necessary to succeed as a NaNo Writer.

Dragons: The Gay Party Animals of the Magical Kingdom

So I was talking with my girlfriend on the phone, and she really doesn't like the idea of dragons being shot with machine guns.  It's because dragons are very cute, and they're cuddly, and they happen to be gay...

Magic and Time Travel - Rules of the World

What kind of place is this?  Dragons infest the sky, vampires rule the night, and these creepy wizard dudes are walking around shooting crackles of lightning bolts from their hands...I mean, I know we're not in Kansas, but Iraq shouldn't be this bad!

This Blasted Kingdom Needs a Name!!

Terror and Political Oppression just don't work well in unnamed kingdoms far, far away.  So what should we call this place?  The Land of the Dragon's Left Femur?  The Kingdom of the Sky?  Or maybe the Empire of the Toad's Wart?

Dragons. Versus a Machine Gun. Are You Serious?

Dragons.  They're large, hungry, and covered in scales.  And - oh yes - they breathe fire.  Or poison gas.  Or sometimes even the lovely scent of artificial roses.  It all depends on which breed you run up against.  And did I mention that they're hungry?  As in all the time?  And that wouldn't be so bad, assuming dragons were the kind of small, winged reptiles from which they evolved millions of years ago.  But they aren't.  They're actually closer in size to a C-130 cargo plane.  You know, the kind of plane that's big enough to carry sixty-four paratroopers into combat.  Or a couple humvees.  And that's about how much they eat every couple days.  Assuming they've finished all their growth spurts and reached maximum size - which usually takes a couple hundred years.

Jill Nakamoto - Badass Assassin Chick from the Future

Jill Nakamoto is a hard-core killer.  Her flesh is a bullet-proof composite of carbon nanotubes and Kevlar.  Her muscles have been augmented with tita-thread drive wires.  Her bones have been individually drilled out and reinforced with high-density carbon fiber. 

Suha: Can the Iraqi Girl Get a Last Name?

This is Suha.  She's average height, average build, and - so far as we know - she only speaks Arabic.  She seems cute, but boy can she be stubborn.  Does she ever mention her last name?  Jonathan doesn't know - the army may have taught him Arabic, but that doesn't mean he was ever that good. 

Jonathan Mitchell - The Low Runt on the Totem Pole

He's the hero of our story.  He's tired, thirsty, and covered in dust from spending the past six hours of his life riding in a humvee across the dusty parts of Iraq.  Oh, yeah, and because he's the "new guy," he gets to carry an M-249 - the machine gun.  Twenty-four pounds, eight hundred rounds-per-minute, and it's a real beast to carry around when you've already got forty pounds of ammo, armor, and water to lug on your back.