User blogs

Inspired Unreality, now on a twice a month schedule, will be held at 11:00 AM Central, on Saturday, October 1. Since it's the first Saturday of the month our topic will be fantasy and science fiction.

It's a big topic and one we love to talk about. If you're into novels, short stories, movies, television series, or games, if it's fantasy and science fiction it's on topic. Let us know what you think about the new stuff or the old stuff. For more info and a link go here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

I write super shorts. The thing I like about super shorts is that you can finish a story in one sitting. Here's one of my favorites.

Hegel, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein
by Larry Heyl

It was my brother Jeff who was the doer. Always making things, working on this or that, good at math and physics in school.

I was the thinker. Always gazing off into the distance pondering the big questions. What is life? What is death? What is man? What is woman?

It’s that last one that really puzzled me. Jeff got married, started his own business, got rich. I got tongue tied around girls, took a philosophy degree, and had an income commensurate with my degree. I check the want ads daily. Never have I seen Philosopher Needed - Top Dollar.

So I never understood why the aliens abducted me. It was Jeff they wanted. They must have got their wires crossed.

Now I’m not gay but I didn’t mind the anal probe so much. Learning the alien language wasn’t too bad either. They put a silver disc on my forehead and I started talking to them. It was the interview that really got them.

They kept asking about stuff I didn’t know, technology, armaments, rocket ships, manufacturing. I wasn’t much help. But I gave them a good dose of Hegel, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. I don’t think they were ready for that. They started babbling. They sent me up the ladder. I kept expounding and their confusion deepened. Evidently philosophy wasn’t their strong suit. Like I said they got the wrong guy.

They could only deal with me for so long. Before I knew it they had beamed me back home and departed Earth post haste. And that’s how I saved the world with philosophy.

https://sffshortstories.com/?x=entry:entry190110-110731

Click the link to see the great public domain art I found to illustrate this story.

I had a composition recital last Monday. It was great to perform with Bebop Beatniks again. I livestreamed the show and made a movie.

https://youtu.be/1SbuCbEu1v8

We will be playing at Blues Fest at the Craighead Forest Bandshell on October 9. Here's the schedule.

2:00 PM Hairy Larry and The Flying Hungarians
3:00 PM Bebop Beatniks
4:00 PM In The Gray
5:00 PM Anna and the Tanks

Pics here too.

https://deltaboogie.com/bluesfest2022/

Please forward this email to your gaming friends. Or maybe they like jazz or science fiction.

Share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/991

Thanks
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Well ... we missed last week. Our water heater broke and our daughter and son in law were here helping us put in a new one and by the time we were done we missed.

So. This week on Inspired Unreality our topic will be fantasy and science fiction kicked back one week. Please join us to discuss this niche that now dominates popular entertainment.

Inspired Unreality is held every Saturday morning at 11:00 Central in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. For more info and a link go here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

While browsing tumblr I found some more great fantasy artwork. Here's a link to a link.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4885

Even though we missed last week we did discuss science fiction. My daughter read a column she had written about a generational shift away from personal contact where younger people prefer to order for themselves in an app rather than call in an order and talk to a person.

That reminded me of my super short.

AI Autocomplete
by Larry Heyl CC-BY

In the future everyone will have AI Autocomplete, first for writing, then for talking. The AI will be so good that it soon starts guessing right 100% of the time. People select the Just Say It For Me option since their AI Autocomplete always guesses right.

This is the future of humanity, packhorses for AI Autocompletes talking to each other.

Or is it already happening now?

https://sffshortstories.com/?x=entry:entry180208-201254

Click the link for some great artwork that really fits the story well.

Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/988

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Saturday morning. Inspired Unreality. 11:00 Central. It's the first Saturday so our topic is fantasy and science fiction. Games, movies, books, televison, art, poetry. If it's fantasy and science fiction it's on topic.

I finished "Gideon The Ninth" and while I'm waiting for "Harrow The Ninth" I'm reading "The House In The Cerulean Sea" by TJ Klune. Megan recommended it and she also recommended a beautifully written book, "This Is How You Lose The Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar. She's reading it with the Eclectic Geekery fantasy/sf book club.

https://gamerplus.org/user/EclecticGeekery

Join us tomorrow for more fantasy and science fiction.

Inspired Unreality is held in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. For more info and a link go here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Here Lies The Hatchet. Vivian said the words that inspired this meme. I found the public domain photo by Linnaea Mallette at publicdomainpictures.net. Megan created the engraved effect in GIMP. It was a family effort.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4875

It's a little early for Halloween but Megan disagreed. Please share.

Here's some great fantasy illustrations by Donn P. Crane published in "Journeys Through Bookland" in 1922. All illustrations are public domain.

https://gamerplus.org/photo/useralbum/hairylarry/130

Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/986

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Join us for open game chat on Inspired Unreality, Saturday morning at 11:00. This week it's bring your own topic, all gaming is on topic. Sometimes we write dice tables. Sometimes we just chat.

Next week we'll be adventuring in Tobbins Shire again at Eclectic Geekery in Walnut Ridge. This is a hybrid game played around the table and on the internet. Turns out the technical side of this may be easier than I thought. We shall see.

Inspired Unreality is held in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. For more information and a link go here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Last week we discussed fantasy and science fiction, mostly fantasy. This week I've been reading Science Fiction, "The Calculating Stars" by Mary Robinette Kowal, winner of the Hugo and Nebula best novel awards in 2019. It's an alternate history based on space exploration and it is also an experiment in writing old school science fiction assuming that the novel is contemporaneous with the story. It's been very interesting and like all great science fiction it deals with a lot of difficult social questions concerning America then and now.

I continue working on "The Story Of Mister MistMeister And His Many Transformations" proofreading for typos and doing minor rewrites for clarity. Here's the link to the pdf files.

https://hairylarryland.com/milyagon/

I timed it last night and it takes a half hour to read aloud. Great story with a lot of humor and you can clearly see the game behind the adventure.

Saturday NEA Gamers Guild is holding a library game day in Jonesboro and Sarah and Kier will be helping with that while Megan holds down the fort at Eclectic Geekery. I am looking forward to visiting with family both this Saturday and next when we'll take the drive to Walnut Ridge for more visiting and Just Quest.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1176261366287803

https://www.minizines.cc/flat/?x=entry:entry200105-065552

https://eclecticgeekery.com/

Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/982

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Saturday morning at 11:00 Central we will be chatting about Fantasy and Science Fiction on Inspired Unreality. And have I got stuff to talk about. I just finished a TOR Anthology of short stories. Now, for me, novels are too short. I need at least a trilogy to get excited. But I really liked this collection, Some Of The Best Of tor.com 2021.

And then they hit me with a free Brandon Sanderson Wayne and Wax novel, "The Alloy Of Law". And coming out in November, "The Lost Metal" will conclude the Wayne and Wax series.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4862

Inspired Unreality is held every Saturday morning at 11:00 Central in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. For more info and a link go here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

I also want to mention that "The Sandman" by Neil Gaiman is on Netflix.

Vivian and I started our Tobbins Shire campaign in February and it was so much fun it turned into a monthly feature on Inspired Unreality. In May we moved our table to Eclectic Geekery while still maintaining our presence in the gamerplus chat rooms. And last month we finished our first story arc.

So I took all of the session summaries and background info and turned it into a 16 page booklet, "The Story Of Mister Mistmeister And His Many Transformations". It's a hoot!

Just today I added Acorn People illustrations by Dubanci. Here's his website.

https://dubanci.cz/

And here's a link to the pdf files for the booklet and, if you can't print duplex or want to read online, to an 8 1/2 x 11 version.

https://hairylarryland.com/milyagon/

Please share "The Story Of Mister Mistmeister And His Many Transformations" by forwarding this email to your gaming friends and sharing this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/981

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Saturday morning at 11:00 AM Central we'll have Inspired Unreality open game chat. Everyone is welcome. Bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.

Inspired Unreality is held every Saturday in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. For more information and a link to Tenkar's Tavern go here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Last week was the first Saturday in July so our topic was Fantasy and Science Fiction. We discussed how difficult it is to write children's fantasy and how difficult High Fantasy RPGs are. And Duca posted some good links about the High Fantasy game Eberron.

Inspired Unreality Summary
https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4734

Order of the Emerald Claw
https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4735

Eberron Timeline
https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4736

The funny thing is that in "Malazan Book of the Fallen" the Empire's assassins are also called The Claw. Are there other Assassin's Guilds called The Claw?

Inquiring minds want to know.

On the 4th of July we had family game day at Eclectic Geekery. Here's the link to their new website.

https://eclecticgeekery.com/

Before that I Guerilla Livestreamed Beatles Park.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4737

Youtube link
https://youtu.be/q2n6n5y1y9M

They say that word of mouth advertising is the best. That's good because it's all we can afford. So ... please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/967

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Saturday, July 2, is the first Saturday of the month so our topic for Inspired Unreality is Fantasy and Science Fiction. Books, stories, movies, tv, games, if it's Fantasy and Science Fiction then it's on topic.

Here's a teaser. I watched the first two episodes of the new "Wheel Of Time" series and I have some issues. Everything goes so fast. The visuals are great but the story is only a sketch. There are 14 books in the "Wheel Of Time" and they are all long and they all have substantial stories to tell across multiple points of view. I don't think the source material fits the tv series format.

You may disagree. That would be great. I have opinions and you have opinions too. We are both free to opinionate at Inspired Unreality.

Inspired Unreality open game chat is held every Saturday at 11:00 AM Central in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. There's more information and an invite link here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Duca joined us last Saturday on Inspired Unreality. He's been playing a dragon in Eberron, a high fantasy RPG. We've been discussing "Malazan Book of the Fallen" by Steven Erikson a ten book high fantasy series and just how difficult it is to write high fantasy. I imagine that's true for RPGs too.

Duca also mentioned Keith Baker, a game designer and fantasy novel author who worked on Eberron. Here's a link to his blog.

https://keith-baker.com/

Have you done any high fantasy gaming? Turns out that discussing high fantasy games is on topic when we discuss Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Now, Vivian and I are readers. We talk about books. You may enjoy games, television, or movies. Let us know what you like and why you like it? What has your attention right now?

Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/965

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Saturday, June 4, is the first Saturday of the month so our Inspired Unreality topic is Fantasy and Science Fiction. This is a broad subject including books, movies, tv, and games. Whatever type you like we will be glad to talk about it.

Now Viv and I are old, so we came to Fantasy and Science Fiction reading books and magazines. Some of the authors we read were Isaac Aasimov, Robert Heinlein, Fritz Lieber, Arthur C. Clark, Clifford Simak, and Andre Norton. If none of these names are familiar to you perhaps you need to spend some time with us.

There's a whole new world of the future out there in the past and there's not much new under the sun that wasn't predicted by some author 50 years ago.

I still read a lot of these golden age authors and none of them age as well as Jack Vance. In my opinion. Maybe you have an opinion too. Bring it with you to Inspired Unreality, open game chat, where, this week, all Fantasy and Science Fiction is on topic.

Inspired Unreality is held every Saturday at 11:00 AM Central in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. There's more info and a link here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Sarah and Megan have got the ball rolling at Eclectic Geekery with multiple events every weekend. They say "Join us for Dungeons & Dragons Sundays at 1 p.m." Sounds like a plan to me.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4622

In two weeks we'll be adventuring in Tobbins Shire at Eclectic Geekery on Inspired Unreality. This will be a hybrid game with some players on Discord and some players sitting around a table. I'm always up for a challenge.

Everyone is welcome at Inspired Unreality. Come tomorrow, come to adventure in Tobbins Shire, come any Saturday at 11:00 AM Central. It's a blast.

And now, veering off topic, I've got a new project, Guerilla Livestreaming from scenic Northeast Arkansas. The idea is we take a short trip for a picnic and some chill jazz piano with plenty of nature in the background. Here's my Twitch link.

https://www.twitch.tv/hairylarryland

And my Youtube link.

https://www.youtube.com/hairylarryland

Do me a favor and click on the Youtube link and subscribe. I have a goal of reaching 1000 subscribers this year and I need your help.

Please forward this email to your gaming and livestreaming friends. Share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/937

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@gmail.com

May 7 is the first Saturday in May so our topic for Inspired Unreality is Fantasy and Science Fiction. Whatever your interest; books, movies, games; come chat with us.

Inspired Unreality is held every Saturday morning at 11:00 AM Central in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. For more info go here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Last Saturday we chatted from the RPG room at Eclectic Geekery and we enjoyed that so much we decided to add it as a monthly event. We will be playing Just Quest in Tobbin's Shire, on the other side of Wilken Woods from Milyagon. I've been using the Hearth & Hillside Home dice tables for some low combat, explore the shire gaming and it's been great fun.

Free Hearth & Hillside Home dice table pdf
https://weirdandblue.itch.io/hearth-and-hillside-home

Tales Of Milyagon
https://gamerplus.org/groups/4

Just Quest is a rules light OSR style game and Milyagon is our environs. We're going to try a hybrid game with some players sitting around the table and others on Discord. We'll see how that works. Sound exciting? Well that's in two weeks.

Sunday is Mother's day and the family is coming to visit. In case your forgot this is your reminder from Gamer+.

And next weekend is the Eclectic Geekery grand opening. Here's their facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/eclecticgeekerystore

If you're in Northeast Arkansas be sure to go. And then come the following Saturday to to play Just Quest in Tobbins Shire.

Please forward this email to your gaming friends. And share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/913

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Inspired Unreality open game chat. Saturday at 11:00 am central. We will be attempting to chat from Eclectic Geekery, Sarah's and Megan's bookstore. Yep! Going to visit our daughters. In their bookstore.

https://www.facebook.com/eclecticgeekerystore

Inspired Unreality is held every Saturday in the gamerplus chat rooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. Everyone is welcome. For more info and a link go here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Next week will be the first Saturday in June so our topic will be fantasy and science fiction. Books, TV, Movies, Games, all on topic. It's a broad topic but we'll hone in on your interests. I've been reading "Malazan Book of the Fallen" by Steven Erikson. And it looks like I'll be reading it for quite a while.

https://steven-erikson.org/malazan-book-of-the-fallen/

Last week we answered the important question, Do Hobbits Drink Hot Chocolate?

After several discouraging searches concluding that Middle Earth has no chocolate I finally found the result I was looking for.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4548

I mean after all how could the hobbit mommys get all their little hobbits home for elevenses without serving a nice mug of chocolate?

In case you've been noticing twitter in the news lately that mastodon link below is a twitter alternative.

I hope you've enjoyed the Gamer+ News. Please forward this email to your gaming friends and share this link.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/912

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
https://mastodon.social/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com