Additional Linkage

I was originally going to name this post "housekeeping", but that carries with it at least the tacit promise that I've thrown something out. Instead, I've expanded the listing to the right of this Journal, adding more friends that I check, as well as some sites that I'm aways looking at (and to be frank, you should be too).

I should go through the steely implement of editorial death and get rid of those links that update once per lunar rotation (Colin and Phil are both guilty), or who have gone mostly private (Dave). But I'm not at that stage yet, and so I'm keeping everyone. Your first warning that they're off the list is when they're off the list.

First off, I've updated the Alliterates section. The big news is the creation of Popcorn Press, a small e-book operation put together by Lester, Sully, and Rob. I've read Rob's "Humors" and think it is both scary and hilarious. I have also added the two most recent additions to the West Coast Alliterates - Lorelei Shannon and Scott Hungerford. Go check 'em out.

I've also put a few additional links to the Cool Journals list - James Wyatt is one of the WotC-era "young turk" D&D designers who has done incredible things with the game, including most recently the Eberron Game setting. Go check him out. In addition, my old comic book artist from the days of the Forgotten Realms book, Rags Morales, now has a blog. Rags has gone on to bigger and better, and shows off a lot of his work. Check it out.

I'm also adding Making Light. This is an exception in that, unlike everyone else on the list, I don't know these people personally ("These people" being Theresa and Patrick Hayden, aided by Jim Macdonald). However, I like what they say about writing, and I keep tuning in. You should, too.

I'm also adding a new area for comics I keep checking daily, so I can pull them from a particular page.PVP is a daily dose of geek humor focusing around the employees of a gaming magazine, but taking loops out into personal lives, MMORGs, and D&D. Penny Arcade is thrice-weekly, color, much edgier, and often incomprehensible without a native guide (the link I provided goes to a text page that in turn links up with the cartoon. Warning - these guys cannot get out of the strip without using the word "penis". No, I correct that - they often cannot get out of the FIRST PANEL without using the word "penis". PVP and PA are kinda-sorta rivals, kinda-sorta allies, two sides of the same gaming coin.

For the pure D&D Geek, go with Order of the Stick, which is a D&D strip in which a party of D&D characters (who look like Playmobil "Little People") know the D&D rules and act accordingly. Three times a week and color, they have deep archives to plunge through. If you're playing 3.5 (and even if you're not), you should check this out.

Finally there is Girl Genius, from Phil and Kaja Foglio, which has some of the most luscious, luxurious, downright animated art in an online comic book. Phil's been at his craft for nigh-on aeons, and it shows in his work. They've gotten the early stuff online too, so you can follow the adventure from the start.

OK, that's it. I'm doing this because things are going to get strange here fast, and I've been meaning to update the links for a while. No, I'm not saying what's going on. Yet.

More later,