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Arcane – TV Review

March 19, 2022 by hpholo Leave a Comment

OMG Y’ALL. THIS SHOW.

Jacob and I actually watched Arcane when it first aired back in November, as I’m an enormous fan of all things animation and most things League of Legends (except other players 🤣).

But I recently finished what is bound to be my first of many re-watches, and so am properly primed to fangirl all over it. 😄 (Grab some popcorn and maybe some other provisions, ‘cause I’m about to fangirl hard. 🍿)

Arcane Poster

Though Arcane is based around a cast of champions from League of Legends lore, it’s written in such a way as to be accessible to people who know nothing of the game. On its simplest level, it tells the story of two sets of characters, one from the privileged upper city of Piltover, one from the impoverished lower city, which hopes to separate into its own nation of Zaun. Separating both further, and yet bringing them into closer into conflict, is the emergence of hextech – magic harnessed through scientific processes – and a particular concentrated gem that could be disastrous in the wrong hands …

Admittedly, this description makes it sound rather bland, but the charm of Arcane is found not in its basic premise, but in the artful execution of that premise and the characters that do the executing.

AND Y’ALL. THE WRITING. While I fully admit I often speak in hyperbole, it is no exaggeration to say that Arcane is one of the single best-written TV shows I’ve ever watched, animated or otherwise. 😮 Every single beat of the story comes together like a perfectly-planned puzzle, and the cast of characters is so realistically defined that, even though most are derived from little more than cool artwork and some sound bites, all of them feel like living, breathing creations. Moreover, they’re all morally complex, to the point where Arcane fan groups frequently bubble with discussion of who the actual heroes and villains of the story are. For every moral point made in the story, there’s usually a parallel character making a contrarian point.

The story itself never takes a definite stand on those points, choosing to let the viewer decide, and in fact, given the intensely nuanced view the show provides of all its conflicts, that might be the ultimate point—that there is no right side or perfect solution, just the least destructive of a bunch of bad options.

Which is an unexpected and refreshingly mature theme for a show inspired by a bunch of heroes fighting over a glowing magic rock.

That maturity is another of the things that makes Arcane so surprising. Most adult-oriented animation aims to be as crass and edgy as possible, even when it’s smartly written, and while there is some definite adult content in the show (lots of blood and violence, barely censored nudity, and an artful but still conspicuous sex scene), Arcane’s maturity is found in its intelligence and themes.

I don’t think anyone—LoL fans included—went into Arcane expecting an emotionally exhausting exploration of the complex bonds of sisterhood, brotherhood, and the things that test them; the psychological effects of trauma; class struggle and the invisible things that contribute to it; the paradoxical decisions involved in being a parental figure; the socioeconomic implications of widespread drug use; and the challenges of mental illness and physical disability—but that’s exactly what we got.

All that, and an uproariously fun action fantasy with FOUR of the most kickass soundtracks to ever enter my earholes.

Honestly, I am slightly terrified for Season 2 because making something even on par with Season 1 is going to be a monumental task. 😬

And I haven’t even written about the art yet. Simply put, the show is gorgeous, and so immaculately detailed that, even months after its release, sharp-eyed fans are still finding subtle bits of foreshadowing, hidden character details, and potential hints of plot points to come. There’s not a single frame of this show that does not stand on its own as a legitimate piece of thoughtfully-composed art. The character designs are entrancing in their detail and distinction, and the depth to which both go. (If you look closely, you will see that the artists went as far as to give each character unique teeth. 😮)

Though to a lesser extent, this is true of even minor, background characters, and this is one of the things that makes the world itself feel dynamic and lived-in. Though we’re not privy to these minor characters’ stories, the careful, selective detail put into every aspect of the series’ design suggests that there are stories hidden, waiting to be found, and as a result, the world feels expansive even if we only see the overlapping stories that are relevant to the main characters.

Speaking of dynamic, complex worlds and populations, one of my absolute favorite things about Arcane is its diversity—not merely its presence, but how it presents it. Arcane’s is a world populated by a wide and intermingling variety of races, cultures, sexualities, and characters with varying degrees of disability (both physical and mental)—and all of those things just exist in the world without special comment.

Though some of the characters are faced with challenges because of their traits, they’re never wholly defined by them. Even the iconic Jinx—who by the end of the series struggles with what is probably some combination of schizophrenia and PTSD—is not presented as The Insane Archetype so much as an orphan struggling to find a family after she loses hers in the most traumatic of ways. She’s a character before she’s a theme (though, admittedly, her mental state does contribute hugely to her own challenges, and her volatility shapes much of the central plot). Likewise, hexcore inventor Viktor has a conspicuous crippled leg and a physical condition that deteriorates as the show progresses, but this is never shown as an impediment to his accomplishments. In fact, it doesn’t even become a significant factor in his ambitions until a late-series reveal suddenly makes it very relevant to him—but even then he approaches it from the perspective of “How do I solve this problem so I can get on with the rest of my life?” Again, he’s a living character with complex ambitions and motivations, not a simple archetype.

Honestly, I could go on for pages and pages about the subtle, complex brilliance of every character in this show—and I haven’t even touched on their relationships—but I’m already getting into TL;DR territory. 😆 I did want to comment on one other character, though, as she’s the embodiment of how unconventional, creative, and thoughtful the characterization decisions are in this series.

In most other series, Ambessa Medarda would have been some generic-but-imposing seasoned soldier dude, powerfully present but ultimately unmemorable because we’ve already seen so many characters of the type. She definitely has a powerful presence—beheading a conquered political foe in one’s first scene will have that effect—but she’s also old enough to have graying hair, built like a tank, sexually assertive enough that one of her first actions when she shows up is to hire a hot boy toy to attend her, and not only that, but secure enough in her own body that she wields nudity not as a tool of seduction, but a weapon to disarm others. Her character alone inverts so many viewer expectations that she’s a marvel. (Seriously, how many female characters can you name in popular western media that get to be both old and badass? Or sexual for themselves rather than for a male protagonist’s gratification, and beyond that, in a way that is well aware of how uncomfortable it makes people AND EXPLOITS IT FOR STRATEGIC GAIN?)

Y’all, in the course of writing this, I think I just realized I’m an Ambessa fangirl.

Which, in retrospect, is not all that surprising because Jacob’s heard me fangirling over everyone else in the show since November. 🤣 But I digress.

I literally have one complaint about the entire show, and it is that Sky Young could have been put to better use. (To say more is to enter spoiler territory, but those who know, know. 😐)

Anyway, one final point:

My personal method of defining Truly Great Art is to consider not only how much I enjoyed experiencing it, but how much it makes me want to create. The best entertainment, in my opinion, inspires the people who encounter it to put their own creativity to productive use—and Arcane did that for me in quite an unexpected way.

I’ve always known that I wanted to be a writer, but early in my creative explorations, I was also heavily into art. In fact, my future career of choice in high school was in animation, to the point where I specifically took French as my foreign language with the intent of joining the French animation industry. (French animation tends to be more experimental and mature, and appealed to me more than American animation. Perhaps notably, the studio that produced Arcane—Fortiche—is French.)

Various things went awry in my first semester of college, though—the best of which was that I discovered the depth of my aptitude for writing, the worst of which was that my first art class made me hate drawing so much that I put away all my art supplies and never touched them again in any significant way.

Until I watched Arcane.

Something about the maturity of its story and the absolute gorgeousness of its art—not to mention that it was the kind of animation high school me wanted to produce—shot straight into my brain and rekindled a passion I thought I’d lost forever. I’m now drawing again for the first time in fifteen years, just for fun—and in the process I’m re-discovering how much drawing actually contributed to my early development as a writer. I notice details differently when I’m trying to render them in graphite, or ink, or digitally—and that in turn affects how I describe things on the page.

Naturally, one of the first pieces I produced was fanart of my favorite Arcane character, so enjoy some Viktor:

Viktor Inks

(By the way, if you want to see more of my art, I post it over on Deviant Art and Instagram.)

All this to say, Arcane is one of those shows that left an indelible impression on me. It is a masterpiece in every way, and an inspiration in just as many, and I am glad to live in the same era as it.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Action, animation review, Arcane, Arcane League of Legends, Art, Fantasy, Fortiche, Fortiche Prod, Hexcore, Hextech, Inspiration, league of legends, Magic, Netflix, Review, Reviews, TV Review

Horizon Zero Dawn – Video Game Review

March 13, 2022 by hpholo Leave a Comment

This month in my gaming life was an achievement, as I finally – years behind everyone else – finished Horizon Zero Dawn. I’m not nearly as fast a gamer as Jacob is; if I like a game, I tend to draw out the experience as long as I can, which is easy to do with a game as exploration and side-quest heavy as Horizon Zero Dawn. Thus why I have been playing it for … *checks PS4* … 3 years. 😁

Horizon Zero Dawn Image

Long review short, Horizon Zero Dawn is one of my favorite games. I picked it up largely because of all its accolades and the non-traditional female main character it had in Aloy (at least as typical female designs in video games go), and I was not disappointed by any of it.

(Jacob, meanwhile, didn’t make it very far in. He found the game’s massive to-do lists unengaging and the combat uninteresting. It probably didn’t help matters that the very first side quest he worked on featured annoying repetitive dialogue. He also found the core design direction of primitive humans taking down robots to be too much of a stretch for someone who knows how powerful and dangerous even a modern six-axis industrial robot can be.)

For those who are unfamiliar with the game: In the far future, after some sort of technological apocalypse, the people of earth have descended into tribal existences, sharing the earth with biomechanical monsters that process organic material, including humans, for fuel. Among these humans is Aloy. She’s been cast out from her matriarchal tribe for being mysteriously motherless – but unbeknownst to all of them, she’s also the key to unlocking the secrets about their post-apocalyptic world … and what led to it.

The thing that stood out most to me, at first, was the grand, epic scale not only of the story, but of the world itself. The lands you explore as Aloy are so vivid and well-rendered that every nook and cranny looks meaningful, like they all hide something of value, and I wanted to explore them all. Thus, why it took me so long to finish. 😄

Well, that and hunting all the random biomechanical monsters just for the fun of it. 😁 A combat system can make or break a game for me – I don’t have the patience to wade through games with bad combat systems – and Horizon Zero Dawn hits that sweet spot of being simple to learn but complex enough that you can get really crazy with your strategies if you want to. There’s also more to hunting than just killing monsters; some will drop pieces of armor and other materials as you fight them, which can change the course of a hunt if knocked off at the right time. (I admit another of the reasons it took me so long to finish was because I spent a stupid amount of time figuring out how best to hunt the creatures, Monster Hunter-style.)

Finally, I don’t play most video games for story so much as I do gameplay and role-playing/character interactions, and admittedly, despite its epic, high-stakes premise, there’s no real sense of urgency in Horizon Zero Dawn’s story. (This isn’t because of the story itself, but rather because the player can opt to fill the space between main story beats with as many side quests as their little completionist heart desires. Which I did. 😁)

Viewed as a whole, though, the story is a spectacular one, and in my opinion, stands on its own as a piece of hard sci-fi, video game or not. Even once The Big Reveal about the setting’s mysterious history is made, the player finds that there are dramas within dramas that spiraled behind the scenes in the setting’s past, to contribute to what became the setting’s present, and though we only meet the contributing characters through audio logs and hologram recordings, they’re easily as interesting and well-realized as the more interesting NPCs. I could nitpick some aspects of the plot – namely that the most pivotal, destructive part of the history comes down to one guy being an idiot. But honestly, given the past few years, I’ve learned to never discount the incredible power of One Guy Being an Idiot, so now, in 2022, it doesn’t seem so unrealistic to me.

Overall, though, it still remains one of the best games I’ve played in years, and I look forward to playing it again, even after I’ve played the sequel, Horizon: Forbidden West.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Action RPG, Aloy, Favorite Video Games, Game Review, Horizon Zero Dawn, HZD, RPG, Sci-Fi, Sci-fi RPG, Video Game Review, Video Game Reviews, Video Games

Dungeon Crawler Carl – Book Review

February 20, 2022 by hpholo Leave a Comment

I just finished listening to Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl, and Y’ALL. If you have not experienced the audio version of this book specifically, you’re missing out on a treat. 

Dungeon Crawler Carl Audiobook Cover

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a LitRPG series-starter in which, in the blink of an eye, most of Earth’s population is obliterated and the planet is converted into a massive dungeon. Why? So the aliens about to claim its resources can watch, reality show style, as the last humans scramble for survival.

While it’s primarily an action-adventure novel, there’s a healthy dose of absurd comedy in it, too, and that balance of serious struggle and wacky humor is what makes it soar.

I knew this book was going to be a new favorite the moment I learned that Carl has a cat companion named Princess Donut. Who has better stats than him. And talks. With the accent of a pampered 19th Century British aristocrat. For that matter, the voice that narrator Matt Hays assigns to Carl’s inner monologue reminds me vaguely of Patrick Warburton – best known to me as Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove – and that alone was reason enough for me to start the book. 

What kept me listening, though, was how unexpectedly complex this book became. Sure, there’s plenty of crazy dungeon-crawling antics. But there’s also a fair amount of moral complexity to it, and an underlying question of how many terrible deeds a person can commit before they cease to be human (even if those deeds are necessary for survival).

And as the story goes on, you realize that there’s far more to the novel’s world than it first seems. Not all of the aliens helping to run the dungeon are there because they want to be. And Carl learns that his some of his actions in this dungeon might be influencing intergalactic politics whether he wants them to or not.

In every single one of my LitRPG Facebook groups, this book dominates recommendation discussions, and now that I’ve experienced it, I can say it deserves every single one of those recommendations. If you like LitRPG, or just a hilarious adventure with a surprising bit of depth, you should absolutely read Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Absurd Comedy, Action, Audiobook Review, Book Review, Comedy, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Kronk, LitRPG, LitRPG Audiobook, LitRPG Review, Matt Dinniman, Matt Hays, Princess Donut, The Emperor's New Groove

Tales of Arise – Video Game Review

February 13, 2022 by holojacob Leave a Comment

When I’m not writing, I’m usually playing video games, and my main game of the month has been Tales of Arise.

Tales of Arise Art

This is actually my second play-through (and my first experience with the Tales franchise in general). Initially, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Tales‘ combat system, but the good news is each character has a distinct playstyle, so by switching from the melee-focused protagonist (Alphen) to range-focused characters (Shionne and Rinwell), I was able to enjoy the game a whole lot more.

That said, the screen can become very chaotic at times, and one of Rinwell’s mechanics doesn’t help here. Since she can steal and then cast enemy spells, I often lost track of which spell animation was safe for my characters and which was a damage-dealing death zone. That and the charging enemies led to a lot of frustration. The window to utilize Kisara’s boost ability (to end charges and reduce future charge damage) is significantly smaller than those of other characters, leading to a lot of times where a charge would begin off screen and end with the enemy barreling through my characters for big damage.

In terms of story-telling and worldbuilding, I found the game a bit . . . hit or miss, but the main cast of characters is fun and likable, and some of the big reveals are very memorable. I guess the worldbuilding just didn’t click with me from the start for some reason. Maybe it’s because the locations and villains all felt very one-note to me. Also, the music is epic. So epic it began to wear on me. I think you could use the music in the tutorial area for “final dungeon” music in a different game. (From H.P. – This music is bomb and I will listen to it forever.) 

But these are all minor gripes for what is – at its core – an excellent and meaty gaming experience. In many ways, Tales of Arise felt similar to Final Fantasy 7 Remake, except I enjoyed Tales significantly more.

From H.P. – I haven’t played Tales of Arise yet, but I’m going to solely because there’s a series of subquests in which you collect a bunch of owls, and I’ve been hearing their distinctly-voiced hoots enough that I need to collect them for myself. Forget the rest of the story.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Review, Tales, Tales of Arise, Video Game, Video Game Review, Video Game Reviews, Video Games

Adventures in Co-Authoring with a Sci-Fi Legend: Origins – Act III: Collaborations

February 6, 2022 by holojacob Leave a Comment

The Gordian Protocol Book Cover
The Gordian Protocol, my first collaboration with David.

Catch up on Act II here!

Act III: Collaborations

Naturally, being an author (a nobody indie author, but an author nonetheless), the concept of writing a novel with David Weber had crossed my mind. David is, after all, not only a prolific author, but a prolific collaborator as well.

I had given David some of my books at that first lunch, more out of courtesy than anything else, fully expecting them not to ever be read.

But he did read them.

Between those reads and our general discussions about writing, sci-fi, and science in general, David must have been impressed by something—because one day he asked me if I’d like to write a short story in an upcoming anthology set in one of his universes.

Ultimately, that anthology never came to fruition, but I still wrote the story, and in the process worked closely with David on both the details of the setting and how to improve my own writing. It was a very short piece, but David is an author who gets into granular detail both in the content and the execution, and the lessons about craft that I learned from this short piece and short interaction alone were priceless.

But, in retrospect, the experience also showed David what I was like to work with on a writing project, which ended up being more relevant than I ever expected.

As mentioned before, the first thing you learn about David when you meet him is that he’s intensely personable—he loves to talk and interact with people, whether they’re fans or not, and he likes to pay his tremendous success forward when he can. One way he does this is to find promising new authors to take under his wing—to teach them the intricacies of the writing craft that one can only get from someone who’s been writing for over thirty years. Part of the reason for this is practical—it brings new blood into sci-fi publishing and gives those authors a valuable chance to refine their skills—but most of the reason is that David enjoys doing it. Moreover, he enjoys playing to his co-authors’ strengths, too; he chooses co-authors who bring something to the project that he can’t (or at the very least, is less qualified than the co-author to do).

I occasionally see it said that David’s just slapping his name on new authors’ work to help it sell, and while that’s definitely true for some authors, it couldn’t be further from the truth for David. For new authors, writing with David is akin to an apprenticeship, and David’s fingerprints are all over those books whether it’s obvious or not.

All this to say, when David worked with me on that one short story, whether either of us were conscious of it at the time or not, certain mental seeds had been planted.

These seeds would not come to fruition until 2016. Around that time, I’d submitted a manuscript to Baen Books (the same one I’d been working on back when H.P. was recovering from cancer). It had been well-received, but was rejected with a list of fixes that would make it more appealing upon re-submission.

One night, all four of us went out for H.P.’s birthday, and I asked David if he’d mind reading my manuscript and providing more detailed feedback than what I’d received from the publisher.

David considered the idea … but then his eyes gleamed with what I could only think of at the time as gleeful mischief.

That’s when he hit me with it: “Why don’t we write a book together?”

I skipped dessert that night, in part because I was so excited I thought I might throw up.

David also had a specific story in mind for our collaboration. You see, fairly early in his writing career, David had submitted ten series proposals to Baen Books. Among these was Honor Harrington—the one Jim Baen selected—but down the list was an alternate history time travel story with a heavy amount of moral complexity. As time went on, other books and series took precedent, but that concept still lurked in the back of his mind, waiting for just the right circumstances.

Never mind that I once promised myself I’d never—ever—write a time travel novel. Good time travel is hard to write, and there’s endless potential for messiness and inadvertent plot holes.

But when David Weber asked me to design multiple 30th century societies along with their time travel tech, I decided to … reevaluate my earlier “promise” to myself.

The concept that eventually became The Gordian Protocol appealed to David as a collaboration because he’d wanted the novel to be not only alternate history, but for the worldbuilding to have a distinct feel from his other series. David could—and did—handle the historical elements effortlessly. The engineering challenges of the setting, he left almost entirely in my court.

And speaking of history, the rest is history. The Gordian Protocol came out in 2019, and its sequel, The Valkyrie Protocol, followed in 2020. And we have an exciting future planned for the series, including another four books under contract (three collaborations and one solo novel from yours truly).

The Janus File (coming later this year from Baen Books) takes the Gordian multiverse in a less … universe-exploding direction. (David decided that I’d blown up too many universes over the first two books and recommended we tone it down a bit.) Instead, we start off with a good, old fashioned murder mystery.

It was supposed to be a routine trip for the Gordian Division. Fly out to Saturn, inspect the construction of their latest time machines, then fly back.

But when the division’s top scientist and chief engineer are killed in the same freak accident, suspicions of foul play run deep. Detective Isaac Cho is sent in to investigate, but he has more on his mind than just a new case. His superiors have saddled him with an exchange officer from the neighboring Admin—Special Agent Susan Cantrell—whose notion of proper “law enforcement” involves blowing up criminals first and skipping questions entirely.

Despite his objections, he’s stuck with an untested partner on a case that increasingly reeks of murder and conspiracy. The unlikely pair must work together to unravel this mystery, and soon they discover their unique combination of skills might just provide the edge they need.

But nothing is ever simple where the Gordian Division is involved.

Not even time itself.

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The exact release date is still TBA, but until then, you can enjoy the cover art, which has already been produced by the amazing Kurt Miller.

The Janus File Cover Art by Kurt Miller
The Janus File cover art by Kurt Miller.

All this to say, I never expected a chance encounter at a small convention book signing to have such wild and exciting results—and I’m looking forward to what the future holds.

I’m also enormously grateful to David himself for taking a chance on a little no-name indie author. And I’d also be remiss if I didn’t say: I’m truly thankful to my lovely wife, for brightening my life in so many ways.

Even if I still don’t understand the whole cabin fever thing.

Filed Under: Adventures Tagged With: baen books, David Weber, Jacob Holo, Kurt Miller, Science Fiction, The Gordian Protocol, The Janus File, The Valkyrie Protocol, time travel

Adventures in Co-Authoring with a Sci-Fi Legend: Origins – Act II: Monster Con

February 6, 2022 by holojacob Leave a Comment

Jacob's Well-Loved Copy of In Death Ground
My well-loved copy of In Death Ground.

Catch up on Act I here!

Act II: Monster Con

We arrived early to David’s signing, hoping to not only get my copy of In Death Ground signed, but also to whisk H.P. back home to safety and comfort.

This plan, as with many plans before it, did not survive contact with the enemy.

David had not yet arrived, but his signing was being hosted at a table run by The Royal Manticoran Navy—a fan club for his Honor Harrington series—and so, naturally, there were other David Weber fans hanging out, many in full military cosplay from the Honor Harrington universe. We began to chat about David’s books and the club itself, little knowing that many of the people we chatted with would become close friends to this day.

(Fun Fact from H.P.: It turns out that one of those impending friends was the person who suggested that Monster Con invite David in the first place, and he runs the shop that has since become the top supplier for my mild Funko Pop addiction. Which is to say, Jacob also owes this twist in his writing career to Richard at Richard’s Comics and Collectables, so be sure to swing by his shop and buy everything.)

The conversation soon swung over to books and my own aspirations as an indie author.

At which point, a member of the TRMN said, “Oh, you should talk to David’s wife.”

I was not keen on this at all. What business did we have disturbing David Weber’s wife?

That’s when they decided to drag us over to her table.

Surely enough, Sharon Rice-Weber had been hanging out there the whole time, chatting with the TRMN like they were close family.

I expected to say a quick hello and then leave, but one thing you quickly learn about the Webers is they love people, and they love talking with people.

We ended up chatting with Sharon for over an hour, well past the start of the signing, and nearly to its end. We chatted about writing, about the publishing industry, about the fan club, about recent surgeries—both Sharon and H.P. could sympathize on that one—and when it came time for us to finally break away to have my book signed …

Sharon invited us to lunch with David.

So … we set up a lunch.

Again, H.P. and I expected maybe an hour-long meal and chat in which David politely tolerated this weird, awkward fan’s questions.

We ended up talking for four hours.

Which proved not to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, because David and Sharon asked us out to lunch a second time. And a third. And a fourth. And so on.

At some point, we ended up popping over to the Webers’ house for David’s homemade spaghetti.

And now I can say that I have eaten spaghetti cooked by my favorite author, in that author’s house.

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect my wife’s short (but very frightening) bout with cancer to end there.

And, strangely enough, it didn’t.

Continue to Act III here!

My signed copy of In Death Ground.

Filed Under: Adventures Tagged With: Cancer, Collaboration, Collaborations, David Weber, Honor Harrington, In Death Ground, Jacob Holo, Monster Con, Science Fiction, Sharon Rice-Weber, The Royal Manticoran Navy, TRMN

Adventures in Co-Authoring with a Sci-Fi Legend: Origins – Act I: Cancer

February 6, 2022 by holojacob Leave a Comment

Signing preorders of The Gordian Protocol! Photo by Angi Clayton.

I’ve been writing with David Weber for six years—first on The Gordian Protocol, then The Valkyrie Protocol, and now on three more novels set within the same multiverse, the first of which will come out later this year.

Even after this long, the notion of writing with David Weber maintains a certain … surrealness in my mind.

David Weber is one of the authors who inspired me to write in the first place, and how many people get the privilege of writing with those who inspired them? There are still times when that aspect of my author journey doesn’t feel entirely real.

So here it is, the tale of how nobody indie author Jacob Holo went from that … to being “the other guy” on books with David Weber’s name on them.

Act I: Cancer

The story starts with cancer.

And, as my wife is fond of saying, “I do not recommend starting here.”

In the summer of 2014, we found a suspicious dark spot on H.P.’s leg. That spot ended up being a melanoma—the most aggressive form of skin cancer. Luckily for us, we caught it early enough that the dermatologist thought she might have caught all of it in the first visit. But with cancers this aggressive, it’s best to be sure, so H.P. went in to have the skin around the cancer excised and a lymph node biopsy performed to check for any signs of metastasis.

The good news is the operation was completely successful, and H.P. hasn’t had a recurrence since.

The week of waiting between the excision and biopsy results was miserable. For more than the obvious reasons. You see, of all the things H.P. likes to do, staying indoors in one place is not one of them.

For context, H.P. gets stir crazy on rainy days. I’ve been married to her for over a decade, and I still don’t understand this. She once went out to mow the grass during a tornado warning, with the reasoning, “The tornado’s not here yet, and I still have half an hour left on my audiobook.”

The excised patch on her leg wasn’t too bad, but the doctors had to cut through muscles to reach the lymph nodes, so she was basically recovering from a hernia that week. Walking was a chore at best, painful at worst, and required my help either way, which meant she was stuck on our couch with nothing but painkillers and me to keep her entertained.

Which, by the end of her prescribed recovery week, meant she was ready to go literally anywhere, as long as it wasn’t our house.

And by “go,” I mean hobble. Slowly. With lots of grunts. I wasn’t inclined to take her anywhere, but H.P. is stubborn, especially where cabin fever is concerned. And she isn’t opposed to playing dirty in order to convince me to go somewhere or do something (which is how we ended up with our beloved cat Nova, but that is a whole other story).

H.P. handles the scheduling for all our con appearances, which means she has a general working knowledge of all the conventions in our area. This meant she knew about a little event—the now-defunct Monster Con—that was happening close to our home that very weekend.

She casually mentioned this con the day before … while at that very moment holding onto me for support during a walk around the living room.

Naturally, I tried to convince her otherwise.

That’s when H.P. began to form her plan of attack.

She went to Monster Con’s website and brought up the list of guests, hoping she’d land on one that would change my mind.

She landed on David Weber.

I wavered—but again, considering her difficulty walking, I stressed her need to focus on recovering.

That was when H.P. put on a truly serious face and said:

“Jacob. You told me three weeks ago that David Weber was one of your favorite authors of all time. One of the authors who inspired the manuscript you’re writing right now. And your copy of In Death Ground is so well read we keep it in the cabinet to protect it from falling apart! WE ARE GOING TO GET THAT BOOK SIGNED!”

So … we went.

Continue to Act II here!

Filed Under: Adventures Tagged With: Book Signing, Cabin Fever, Cancer, Collaborations, Conventions, David Weber, In Death Ground, Jacob Holo, Melanoma, Monster Con, Stir Crazy

Adventures in One-Eared Cats

February 1, 2022 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Welp, it’s been a bit since Nova’s initial cancer diagnosis. That and her initial surgery fell in the midst of the Monster Punk Horizon series’ launch, so there wasn’t too much time for blogging. 😮‍💨

But now that there is, I’m delighted to let you know that Nova’s surgery went well! 😄 Her vet reports that the cancer didn’t spread beyond her ear, and Nova’s so chill about it all that, frankly, I don’t even think she realizes she’s missing an ear. 🤣

At the very least, when I brought her home the day of surgery, she was interested in only one thing and that thing was food:

If you missed the news back in November, you can read the original post here, but the short version is that we found a weird “scab” that ended up being squamous cell carcinoma, and when that shows up on a cat’s ear, the treatment is a pinnectomy – that is, to remove the external part of the ear entirely.

It sounds dramatic, but according to our vet, it doesn’t affect the cat’s quality of life, and the only real downside is that the cat looks a little more … characterful. (As if Nova needs any more character. 🤣)

The surgery itself was back in early December and went as smoothly as it possibly could. (The whole vet’s office loves Nova, and she loves them. Sometimes she comes home with cute little neck-scarves from the vet, just because. 🥰)

The only real challenge thereafter came from the Cone of Shame that Nova had to wear for 10 days – though, given the designs printed on it, it’s probably more accurate to call it a Cone of Encouragement. 😊

Her first night home was amusing, partly because painkiller-high Nova is always amusing. She loses her depth perception, tries to jump on Jacob’s lap … and frequently misses the couch entirely. 🤣

Jacob and I were also serenaded to sleep that night by the relaxing sounds of Nova bumping into literally every single surface inside our house. 😐 Which was hilarious, but also ensured that none of us got to sleep at a reasonable hour.

The cone was primarily there to keep Nova from scratching her ear and thus tearing the stitches.

We thought she’d get frustrated by it fast – but we also neglected to remember just how endearingly manipulative this little cat can be. 😂

Within twelve hours of coming home, she figured out that if she dipped her head a certain way in Jacob’s presence and made a pitiful “prrt” noise, Jacob would scratch inside her cone in the places she couldn’t reach. Which meant that, for the next 9.5 days, she had personal scratchers-of-itches, which she exploited to great effect.

Of course, doting cat parents that we are, we didn’t mind being exploited – Jacob in particular. He pampered the heck out of this cat.

When the cone made it difficult for her to eat from her regular bowl, he just filled up a whole huge bowl with kibble and let her eat whenever she wanted. (We normally only feed her a small amount once a day because her appetite is as limitless as her charm, and in normal circumstances, she will eat ’til she barfs, then eat the barf. 😐)

Normally Jacob also brings out a special bed for Nova when we play Digimon (so she won’t lay on our card gaming mats) but she got to lay on the Digimon table that week, too.

She spent much of the week in general lurking under our bed, which is where she goes when she’s not feeling so well. (Luckily the cone could fit under there with no trouble.)

Eventually, though, she started chilling out in my paper trash again, which is her usual hangout.

And she was back to lurking beside me on her designated #bosscat pillow in no time.

Now that the surgery adventure’s over, all we have to do is be vigilant about protecting her thin-furred parts from sun exposure whenever she follows me outside on writing days – but fortunately, that’s easy to do with a bit of cat-friendly baby sunscreen. 😊

So closes another adventure in the nine lives of Nova!

Filed Under: Adventures Tagged With: Author Cat, Author Pet, Cancer, Cat, Cats, Cone of Encouragement, Cone of Shame, Nova, Novabun, Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Surgery

Monster Punk Horizon is a #1 Best Seller! 😀

December 26, 2021 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Hey, Holo fans! 😀 I was doodling on Amazon at the ridiculous hours of last night when I came upon this delightful little screen:

Which is to say, as of Christmas night, Monster Punk Horizon is a #1 Best Seller on Amazon’s Steampunk Fiction booklist! 😮 It’s the dream of every author to see that bright orange tag next to their books – and this is the first time it’s ever happened to me – so I have to say, from the bottom of my weird, hyperactive author heart:

THANKS A BUNCH. 😊

Authors don’t become Best Sellers without the support of readers, and it’s because of you all that I was able to achieve one of my lifelong dreams.

And speaking of my new series … if you haven’t tried it out yet, this is the perfect week to do so! 😀

From now through Wednesday, December 29th, the Monster Punk Horizon eBook is just $.99 and Isekai Skies (#2) is just $1.99, so if you’ve been curious to check out this strange little product of an overactive imagination and too many video games, now’s your chance! 😀

Read Monster Punk Horizon Here for $.99
Read Isekai Skies Here for $1.99

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: action comedy, action fantasy, Fantasy, GameLit, GameLit Comedy, GameLit Fantasy, Giant Monsters, Monster Hunt, Monster Hunter games, Monster Hunter World, Monster Hunters, Monster Hunting, Monster Punk Horizon, Monster Rancher, Monsters, Steampunk

It’s Excess’ Launch Week!

December 19, 2021 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Another month, another book launch! 🥳 We’re sending 2021 off with a bang, which is to say: the third book in the Monster Punk Horizon series, Excess 😀 – and a collaboration between both Jacob and H.P. – so if you’re a fan of our new GameLit fantasy adventure comedy, read on!

(Or, if you’re totally new to it, peruse our videos for Book 1 and Book 2 to see what it’s all about! 😄)

As always, we’re packing this week with a series of videos that provide a deeper look into Excess and the general world of Monster Punk Horizon, leading up to an official launch party on Thursday, December 23rd, complete with live chatter and prizes galore! Check out the schedule below to see what we have in store this time around, and be sure to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch to receive notifications when our videos go live! 😀

And of course, don’t forget that you can preorder Excess now on Amazon – or read it starting Thursday on Kindle Unlimited!

Excess Launch Week Events

  • Monday, December 20th @ 8PM EST – H.P. and Jacob Talk Excess
  • Tuesday, December 21st @ 8PM EST – The Art of Monster Punk Horizon
  • Wednesday, December 22nd @ 8PM EST – H.P. and Jacob Read Excess: Chapter 1
  • Thursday, December 23rd @ 8PM EST – Excess Virtual Launch Party ✨ LIVE WITH PRIZES ✨

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Action, action adventure, action comedy, action fantasy, Crafting, Fantasy, Game Lit, GameLit, GamerLit, Monster Hunter, Monster Hunter games, Monster Hunters, Monster Punk Horizon

The Isekai Skies audiobook is out!

December 4, 2021 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Another month, another audiobook! 😀 Monster Punk Horizon #2: Isekai Skies is now out on Audible and ready for your enjoyment! 😄

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

Tess Irondale once again did a fabulous job bringing all of H.P.’s characters to auditory life, and we’re excited to continue sharing her work with you.

Especially since readers, thus far, seem to be enjoying Book 2 as much as – if not more than – the first one! 😄

Check out what some have had to say:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved the first book with all my heart and the second one has ear wormed right into my very being! Sometimes you worry that a sequel just won’t stand up to the first. Especially when the first book was as amazing as Monster Punk Horizon … but fear not. Isekai Skies has risen to the challenge and surpassed my hopes! New characters to love and new monsters to awaken our imaginations. Jaz, Pix and the Dragon Pig Pirates are kicking ass and taking names once again! Don’t miss an exciting moment! On to book 3!

Frances Cooper

Amazon Reviewer

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ WOW. This book is unlike any other I have ever read! Being the second book in a series, I was pretty nervous, because I feel like second books tend to be less spectacular than the first. But this sequel did not disappoint one bit! It was so enjoyable to read – there are few books that make me audibly laugh out loud, but I’m so glad that this is one of them!

The way the author ties in these classic nerdy elements is incredible and nostalgic. The character development is outstanding – the characters stay consistently themselves, so you still know and love them while reading, but they also have so much growth throughout the story as well.

I had no idea where the plot was going to go after the first book, and I definitely didn’t expect it to go the way it did, but I have zero qualms about it. And the magic systems and fantasy world building is so awesome – unlike anything I’ve ever read. Literally, just wow. Such a fun read – can’t wait to read the third book!

Melisa Longhurst

Amazon Reviewer

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ … Imaginative, inventive and light-hearted …

Isekai Skies follows in the same vein as Monster Punk Horizon, where the two main protagonists Jaz and Pix become embroiled in more shenanigans. This time with the aid of Kaito, who has mysteriously been sucked through a portal from a future Earth. Kaito thinks he is in some sort of fantasy adventure, and it is up to Jaz and Pix to keep him in one piece.

I love [this] pair, they are such a refreshing change from the normal, run of the mill heroines. They are so good as a double act, and yet they are as different as chalk and cheese. I find the banter between them clever and full of humour. They are backed up with an array of terrific characters, friends and foes alike. Kaito’s initial naivety does make for interesting reading as he gets to grip with his new surroundings … Isekai Skies is more character-driven than anything, and it is not surprising, considering the talent on show. That does not mean the storyline is lacking because it isn’t. It is packed with action and adventure, and there is never a dull moment.

Isekai Skies is a thoroughly entertaining and engaging read, and I enjoyed every little bit.

John Derek

Goodreads Reviewer

We hope you enjoy it as much as these did! 😄

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: action fantasy, adventure, Audible, audiobook, Comedy, Fantasy, fantasy comedy, GameLit, isekai skies, Monster Hunter games, Monster Hunter Rise, Monster Hunter World, Monster Punk Horizon

Adventures in Weird Cat Ears

November 24, 2021 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Here’s your occasional reminder to GET YA WEIRD SKIN SPOTS CHECKED, courtesy of Nova. (BTW, if you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see these reminders more often, in addition to other stuff like more pics of Nova, plants, book updates, and whatever I’m eating/drinking that day, so if that’s your jam, DO IT.)

Follow H.P. on Instagram

Anyway, earlier this year, I’d noticed a weird scab on Nova’s right ear that didn’t seem associated with any injury and, moreover, never actually healed, so I had her vet take a look at it. (After my run-in with melanoma, we don’t mess with weird skin stuff in House Holo, even when it comes to our cat. 😤)

It’s a good thing I did, too, because it turns out that it was a spot of squamous cell carcinoma. 😮

Which is to say, cancer. 😟

However, the important and encouraging part is that we caught it at a very early stage. 😮‍💨 There are still some steps to be taken – a check of her lymph nodes to make sure it hasn’t spread, and essentially, the removal of that one ear to make sure they got all the cancer cells – but given how quickly we caught it, it looks like the worst that’s going to happen is Nova’s going to look a little more badass. (All the better for cracking the #catboss whip.)

It’s also worth knowing, though, that this is apparently pretty common to cats that have light-colored or thin-furred ears like Nova does. 😮 This particular type of skin cancer is largely caused by sun damage, so her vet told me to put baby sunscreen on her ears, nose, and bridge of her nose whenever she’s going to spend a lot of time outside ☀️ (i.e. when she follows me to the writing porch).

All this to say, if you have a cat with pale ears, be sure to protect those ears during their sun time, and either way, be vigilant about odd things that are happening on their skin. The earlier you can catch these sorts of problems, the better, and in these cases, a little time often makes all the difference.

ALSO: Nova herself is doing well, with no apparent symptoms other than the one scab we had punched out. She’s in good spirits and doesn’t understand why she’s suddenly getting more treats, but SHE’S HERE FOR IT. 🤣

UPDATE 2/1/22: Read the follow-up here!

Filed Under: Adventures Tagged With: Cancer, Cat, Cats, Nova, Squamous Cell Carcinoma

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