Hello dear readers!
Well, the heatwave has passed, but this past couple of weeks still had its share of highs and lows.
Technical issues, a quick getaway to the mountains, more technical issues, publishing A Fruit-Moon For Bugworld… a bit of a roller-coaster. A small one, anyway.
Technical Issues at Penflower Ink HQ!
Firstly, there was another issue with my website’s domain getting disconnected.
This meant, as you may have noticed, that my website was inaccessible for almost a week. Again.
Hostinger – like so many other server providers – have got rid of customer support and replaced it with a useless “AI” chatbot. Consequently, it took my poor brilliant wife / IT specialist several days just to figure out the issue and correct it herself.
Before that however, our wi-fi also went down! Getting this fixed also took longer than expected, and also involved having to “talk” with one of these accursed lake-guzzling infernal contraptions. Sigh.
Anyway all is resolved now. The website is back up and while a few things were lost in the back-up, I’ve been able to update everything.
I’ve also switched from MailPoet to Noptin as my newsletter plug-in. Hopefully I have set up everything correctly and – if you’re a subscriber – you should have received this post in your inbox.
A Fruit-Moon For Bugworld – Digital Version Published!
The digital version of my first Alboverse adventure setting is completed and published.
I haven’t added it to my website shop yet. I want to make it available for both download and print, and I’m waiting for my proof print copy to arrive so I can do a quality check.
In the meantime, you can find A Fruit-Moon For Bugworld on itch.io and the recently fully launched RPG Trader!
A Trip to the Alps: Visiting Aosta
After a surprisingly pleasant hour-long bus ride, we arrived in Aosta on Wednesday the 3rd at around lunch-time.
Aosta is a fairly small, quiet town, surrounded by a truly breathtaking mountain landscape. We were very lucky with the weather and were even able to find some places to eat that had vegan options!
The highlight for me was on Thursday when we visited the Criptoportico Forense and the Megalithic Area “Mega Museum”. We discovered that Aosta has a fascinating and vibrant archaeological history, with its ancient Roman foundations as “Augusta Praetoria”, and a nearby megalithic site.
The ruins of the ancient Roman town were undergoing restoration, but we were able to visit the buried porticos that made up one corner of the town’s forum. Here are some photos I took at the Criptoportico:
After that we went to the absolutely fantastic Mega Museum. Basically built on top and around a megalithic archaeological site – the largest in Europe – it boasts an amazing collection of steles, ruins and other artifacts.
The museum is also just excellently designed. You start off underground and work your way up through history, from the early neolithic to the middle ages. Below are some photos I took, but I honestly don’t think they do the place justice! If you’re ever in the area, do check it out for yourself.
New Art: Fan-Art and Concept Art
I’ve been a big fan of SungWon Cho’s let’s play channel ProZD Plays Games for a few years now.
Last year I sent them a piece of fan-art, which you can see ProZD and his friends share in this PO Box Video.
They recently completed the formerly Telltale Games Walking Dead series with their friend Marie, finishing the final season. I must have re-watched all their Walking Dead play-throughs with Marie at least a dozen times by now. So, to commemorate their last adventure with Clementine, I drew them another piece of fan-art and posted them a physical copy.
Pictured above: My artistic interpretation of the answer to that age-old question: what does Clementine have under her hat?
I’ve also been tentatively making sketches and notes for a second Alboverse setting.
I’m not 100% decided on a style, but the general premise is this. A powerful witch / vessel for a old god of nature is put on trial and executed by humans. Before she perishes, the witch curses humanity, vowing that their world would soon come to an end. Only the descendants of the witch’s beloved familiars would survive and flourish. So, over the millennia, new species would inherit the Earth. Evolved from cats, toads, rats and the like, they build a new world and protect it from the restless revenants of humanity.
Media Spotlight!
- My friend Corey has published two zines over on itchio!
– “One Cube of Flesh” is a mixed media collection of poems and short fiction, and includes a printable, beautifully hand-painted zine about bugs.
– “Three Stages of Growing Up” is a hand-illustrated one page zine about Corey’s growing up as a trans boy and his relationship with imagination and the future. - Weird Place’s latest video covering the game console themed collection of TTRPGs, Memory Core.
- Always Board Never Boring recently did an overview of the anniversary edition of Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The Fighting Fantasy gamebooks were my gateway into TTRPGS.
- Check out this kickstarter funding an animated pilot episode for “The Means of Destruction“: a cartoon about what happens when a dark overlord’s minions decide to unionise!
- Speaking of animation, here are some gorgeous examples:
– An exclusive clip from Cartoon Saloon’s animated adaptation of “Julián Is a Mermaid”.
– Bluworm’s stop-motion short based on August Derleth’s poem, “Incubus”.
– Animated trailer / proof-of-concept for the solarpunk boardgame “Earthborne: Trailblazer”. - The usual monthly roundup of Positive Leftists News from May!
- I know I shared their music here last time, but I’ve really been enjoying their work. Here’s “Air Guitar“, the latest album from Singaporean dream-pop band, Sobs.
That’s all for this issue!
As always, thank you so much for reading.
One last reminder that if you feel like supporting my work, you can buy something from my website or itchio, join my Patreon as a paying member, or commission me.
If none of the above are doable for you, please consider spreading the word about my work to your friends!
Until next time,
– Penflower