JD Kloosterman

(via My totally not-at-all-presumptive theory about the difference between male and female murder writers. (Also, free book!))

Dorworth the Wise (or Learned) sighed heavily, a long, hissing sigh that sent his forked tongue licking out of his mouth. "Do you know of the origins of the Lizard People, Tigon son of Robert?" he asked. "We are not a natural part of this world. Listen, and I shall tell you."

--I had so informed the servants, but was able to make better time than expected thanks to the spirited flying of my wyvern here.

Return of the Dragons

Things started off around Colchester's Harvest Festival.  It'd been a good year and The Table Round was in rare form.  Mayor Art had surely arranged one of the greatest shindigs this side of the Mississippi, and the town square was full of homesteaders preparing to celebrate a good year with a generous amount of corn beef and rye whiskey.   The homesteaders were getting restless, and were maybe a few minutes from starting a riot just to see if that'd be entertaining, when a sudden hush fell over everyone, as a redskin on a chestnut horse came riding right down the city street. Now redskins weren't unwelcome in the town, as Mayor Art always held that Colchester was open to all men. But they weren't common neither, and this redskin wouldn't have been common even among his folk.  He was a big injun, nearly a head taller than the tallest man there, and had a powerful set of arms on him. He was dressed in a long leather coat, covered in red dust, and had a great red hat with one green feather and one red feather.  He weren't wearing no war paint, and he held out his hand as he came up the road to show he meant no harm, but there was on his hip the most massive revolver as ever man did see.  It weren't quite the equal of Art's Hole-Puncher, mind you, but it was close, and it made folks draw aside a bit as he came riding, straight into the town square.  Not a word did the injun speak, till his horse came right up before Mayor Art''s pavilion.  Then the redskin pulled up his horse, and looked squarely up.  "Greetings, Mayor of Colchester," he said, and injun or no, ain't no denyin' the man could speak fair.  "I come with a challenge."

I know I'm not the only person to have this thought.  The success of The Mandalorian means Disney is pulling all of their various Mandalorian characters out of obscurity and giving them their own tv shows. Which is cool, because Mandalorians are badass, but as various mentions are reminding us, the Mandalorians have a very... complicated history with the Jedi order. And not just that, but the Mandalorian tv show seems on track to induct Grogu (baby Yoda) into the Mandalorians as well.  As in, an extremely powerful Jedi from one of the most force-sensitive species in the universe is about to join the order of Jedi-hating warriors who wear lightsaber-proof armor. Yeah, that's a pretty incredible force. That's a tough opponent.  And it switches up the Sith/Jedi dualism and takes the franchise in a new direction. Grogu takes a long time to grow up, of course, but by the time of Force Awakens he could believably be an adolescent, or at least mature enough to take the title of Mandalore and the ownership of the Dark Saber.  And maybe now that the First Order is crushed, Mandalore thinks it's time for someone else to take charge.  Or maybe they just don't want to be a part of this NEW New Republic that Rey and co are trying to throw together, and they are willing to fight tooth and nail.  Maybe they're even already the big new players--I could see other systems pleading for Mandalorians to help defend them from the First Order.  Maybe Mandalore has a big sector of space under its control, and Rey thinks they should free those planets, and Grogu disagrees.  That'd lend for some fascinating moral ambiguity, though maybe people don't really want that in Star Wars. Anyway.  *I* think it'd be badass and Disney, if you're listening, this is my story pitch.  Alternate Title: "Rise of the Grey King."  You're welcome.

"The Federal Automated Postal Department! One of the great machines that powers America, its influence stretches far and wide, sending letters across cities and even states in a matter of minutes. Maintained exclusively by specially trained and certified federal engineers, the Automated Postal Department is one of a thousand marvelous federal innovations that make America the efficient and complex hub of the modern world of the 1920s. "But now, someone is tampering with the mail—something that should be impossible—and it’s down to the Postal Enforcement Division and its new machinist, asthmatic sixteen-year-old Iosif Rudkus, to find out who and why. As they follow the trail through the highest seats of power and the most secret military bases in the country, the case begins to take ever-stranger twists that will lead the team to murky mysteries of America’s past and the origins of the Automated Postal Department itself."  

I am late to this, but the ending to the Mad Max video game was trash and I’m going to write a fanfic to fix that.

An impossible task.

We Don’t Talk About the Dragon

A whole newww... DRAGON!

Amidst the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, a new order took shape. With the rise of the Sith, Force users of other ideologies were driven together to form the secretive Force Academy, a hidden organization formed by Jedi Knight Cal Kestis with the aid of a secret registry of potential Jedi. the Force Academy bided its time to rise against the Sith and restore freedom to the galaxy, in the meantime raising a new generation of warriors with the aid of Masters of many different traditions. The Old Masters: Master Obi-Wan and Master Yoda were the most reluctant to join the unorthodox alliance.  Partially, this was because they felt the younger generation did not appreciate their ingenious plan of running away to hide and doing nothing. In truth, it might also be true that the other masters of the Force Academy harbored a secret resentment toward the former Jedi Council members for having failed to stop the rise of the Sith.  Regardless, their mastery of the Force was unparalleled, and their wisdom invaluable in mentoring the younglings. The Combat Master: Master Kanan had initially refused to join the organization when contacted by Cal Kestis. Kestis had envisioned the Academy as an utterly secretive facility totally disconnected from any conflict or ties to Imperial worlds, in hopes of maintaining the secret. Kanan disapproved of this plan--and indeed, circumstances proved that Kestis' intended path for the Academy was not tenable. After he did, eventually, join the Academy, thanks to the discovery of youngling Ezra Bridger, Kanan's contacts in the Rebillion proved invaluable in gaining the Academy much-needed support and defense. In time, Kanan and Cal proved to be great friends and close allies--though Kanan was restless as a teacher and more prone to joining operations with the Rebellion. Kanan received his name from his focus on physical training and combat skills such as marksmanship. The Founding Master: Cal Kestis was the original architect of the school, and responsible for finding many of the students and instructors that made it up.  Thanks to the discovery of a map of Force Potentials, Kestis and his allies, including former Seeker Cere Junda set about finding and recovering younglings before the Empire could find and eliminate or indoctrinate them. Kestis always insisted that they not recruit any child without the permission of their guardians, and only when the child was in clear danger of having their abilities discovered by the Empire.  The exception to this rule, of course, was Leia Organa, who was taken in once the newly discovered Obi-Wan (who revealed himself when Kestis arrived on Tatooine to recruit Luke Skywalker) admitted that she was likely to possess abilities as powerful as her brother. The Magicks Master: Nightmother Merrin disliked the title "Master", but was commonly referred to as such by the other members of the Academy. Dedicated to rebuilding the Nightsister Order, Merrin found herself abandoning many of her people's ideas in the name of pragmatism. Once she grew comfortable with the notion of teaching "aliens" the Magicks arts (which had previously been limited to natives of Dathomir), Merrin quickly also accustomed herself to teaching Magicks to men as well as women, though her star pupil was always Leia Organa. It was also heavily suspected that the Magicks Master and the Founding Master had a more than professional relationship--another aspect in which the Force Academy differed from its Jedi origins. It was in large part thanks to Nightmother Merrin's magicks that the Force Academy was able to remain cloaked, hidden from any prying Imperial probes. The Tormented Master: Master Junda insisted on her students referring to her as "The Fallen Master," though no other teacher at the Force Academy used this title. Yoda and Obi-Wan preferred to refer to her as Darth Vectivus, in reference to the ancient Sith Lord who had adopted the Dark Side as a philosophical exercise. Cere Junda, however, was no Siith.  She taught students to recognize and resist the pull of the Dark Side, and also mentored those younglings like Garen Marek who especially struggled with its temptation. Master Junda was one of the most unorthodox elements of the Force Academy, and had accepted her position only at the insistence of Cal Kestis. She carried no lightsaber, though she did carry a blaster and would give lessons in how the Force could be used in marksmanship as well. The Wandering Master: Grey Jedi Ahsoka Tano dropped in and out of the Academy as she pleased while on her own quests.  She took no apprentices, but nonetheless taught the pupils of others when she came by, speaking of The Middle Way between the Jedi and the Sith. Though trusted by Kanan, Ahsoka was viewed with suspicion by the other Jedi, particularly Cal Kestis, who felt her constant trips in and out of the Academy endangered the group's secrecy.  Nonetheless, Ahsoka's "Middle Way" was perhaps the closest to the heart of the Force Academy.

I’ve actually never played Pokemon, or Monster Hunter.  But I’m really proud of my concept for Misty and how it turned out.  Ride that Gyrados, Misty.

 Book is out now, along with the sequel, The Hospitaller Oath! View it on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HJ36Q8L

Book is out now, along with the sequel, The Hospitaller Oath! View it on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HJ36Q8L

In the aftermath of the USJ attack, Ochaco gains a new bond with her classmates and makes a confession to her friends.