#bradley w. schenck

[oldschoolfrp]

Alarums & Excursions #21, April 1977, cover by Morno (Bradley W Schenck) for Lee Gold's D&D zine

#Alarums & Excursions #Morno #Bradley W Schenck #D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #Dragon #Lee Gold #zine #dnd #1970s #Dungeons and Dragons

[pointclickadventure]

The Labyrinth of Time (1993)

The Labyrinth of Time is a graphic adventure video game created by Terra Nova Development, a two-man team composed of Bradley W. Schenck and Michal Todorovic.

The legendary King Minos has commissioned a labyrinth bridging time and space. Once completed, this labyrinth, with doorways into all eras of history, will allow Minos to rule the Earth.

The legendary King Minos has commissioned a labyrinth bridging time and space. Once completed, this labyrinth, with doorways into all eras of history, will allow Minos to rule the Earth.

You have been chosen as hero. Abruptly lifted from your routine existence, you have been dropped into a realm where time and space hang in check. Through exploration and puzzle solving, you must overcome the awesome powers of Minos and destroy the labyrinth by manipulating the very fabric of history.

Beware - the future may not unfold in quite the way you have planned...

#the labyrinth of time #labyrinth #point & click game #point & click adventure #point and click adventure #point & click #point and click #puzzle #puzzle game #puzzle games #adventure games #adventure game #adventure #pc games #pc game #old pc #old pc games #myst

[type40capsule]

Science: If YOU Don't Use Your Brain... Who Will? by BWS

#science #art #illustration #poster art #Bradley W. Schenck

[torpublishinggroup]

Happy New Release Day! Here's what went on sale today.

#Down Among the Sticks and Bones #wayward children #Seanan McGuire #soleri #Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom #Michael Johnston #Bradley W. Schenck #wild cards #nameless detective #tor books #torbooks #new releases #roar #cora carmack

[stacks-reviews]

Must Reads Part 5

Happy Friday! This week on Must Reads we have a gun-slinging Snow White, zombie babies, evil plans, a hangman, and more.

--The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee (8/8/17) All sixteen-year-old Genie thinks about it how to get into a top-tier college. That is until the day she finds out she is a celestial spirit; straight out of Chinese folklore, who is strong enough to break through the gates to Heaven with her fists. Helping her adjust is new transfer student Quentin Sun. Genie will have to dig deep to be able to control this new power. But the more she trains, the more she realizes the secret of her true nature is entwined with Quentin. I was drawn to this one because of the cover. It shows a girl doing a superhero landing (thank you Deadpool). Comparing that to the title I was expecting something more to due with her being a superhero. It sounds like it could be pretty good. I was mainly drawn in because the play on the title compared to the cover.

--The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente, illustrated by Ana Juan Twelve-year-old September used to have a ordinary life until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day a Green Wind stops by her home and says her help is needed in Fairyland. September is to enter the enchanted woods to retrieve a talisman for Fairylands new Marquess. And should September refuse or fail then the Marquess will make life miserable for the citizens of Fairyland. Along the way September will make new friends: a book-loving Wyvern and a boy named Saturday. This just sounds really good. I really want to get to know the book-loving Wyvern.

--The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch Magdalena is the daughter of Bavarian hangman Jakob Kuisl. In 1659 the Thirty Year’s War is finally over and there hasn’t been a witchcraft mania is decades. Until a boy washes ashore with a mark of a witch tattooed on his arm. The town suspects the local midwife, Martha Stechlin. Jakob’s job is to torture Martha until she confesses but Jakob believes she is innocent. With the help of his daughter and her would-be suitor, they race against the clock to find the true killer. Then other dead orphan is found with the same mark and the town becomes frenzied. And more than one person reports seeing a devil with a bone hand nearby.  At first I thought this series was going to have more of a focus on Magdalena but as I read the description of a few of the books, it sounds like the focus will be more on Jakob. Though Magdalena and her suitor do help it looked like Jakob is doing most of the work. The descriptions of the ones I looked at make the series sound pretty good. It feels like it should be a nice blend of sci-fi (at least I think it was labeled as sci-fi) and mystery. Even if the magic isn’t necessarily real.

--Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory The first zombie outbreak occurred in 1968. Wanda and her daughters find the body of a mother with her baby wrapped up in her arms. It is stone-cold, not breathing, and doesn’t have a pulse. But then his eyes open and he begins to move. Wanda hides the baby from the authorities that would kill the baby and decide to name him Stony. Against all scientific reasons, Stony begins to grow. For years his adoptive family keep him hidden away until the night that Stony is forced to flee. And Stony learns that he isn’t the only dead child in the world. I don’t read a lot of zombie stories and I definitely don’t watch a lot of zombie shows or movies. I loved The Forest of Hands and Teeth series by Carrie Ryan and I enjoyed both The Girl with all the Gifts and The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey and I own but still haven’t read Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. But there were times when I was afraid to read them once it got dark out because I was worried about having nightmares. At one point it time if you had said zombie (or the z word as I started to call it for a time) to me close enough to when I went to bed, I would have zombie nightmares. It’s not that bad anymore but I still didn’t read them very much when it gets dark out. But every now and then there’s one I want to try. Raising Stony Mayhall sounds like it will be really good and goes along the line of the smart zombie as we have been seeing lately in different media. It makes me think of M.R. Carey’s two books mentioned above so I thought I might enjoy this one.

--Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente A Nevada silver baron forced the Crow people to give him one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. They have a child together but Gun That Sings dies in childbirth. This world has no place for a half-native and a half-white child and is hidden away. A very wicked stepmother decides to name the girl Snow White for the pale skin she will never have. Another twist on a fairy tale. I love it every time I see a twist on a fairy tale but the hero is some kind of awesome fighter. And for whatever reason, lately I have been wanting to read more books with gun fights in them. Whether or not this Snow White will actually become a gunfighter remains to be seen. The descriptions I double checked on Barnes and Noble and Goodreads never said if she did. I really hope she does and I hope that it might also be the name she chooses for herself. Although, there would be something to be said about keeping the name if she defeats it and doesn’t see it as a mark of shame or humiliation as I’m sure her stepmother would want.

--Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom by Bradley W. Schenck “After a surprise efficiency review, the switchboard operators of Retropolis find themselves replaced by a mysterious system they don’t understand. Nola Gardner pools their severance pay to hire Dash Kent, a freelance adventurer and apartment manager, to find out what happened. Dash discovers that the replacement switchboard is only one element of a plan concocted by an insane civil engineer: a plan so vast that it reaches from Retropolis to the Moon.” The first part of the summary for this books describes it as, “A madcap, illustrated mashup of classic Buck Rogers and Futurama. Ray-guns! Robots! Rocket-cars! Retropolis! Alliteration! Exclamation points!....a gonzo, totally bonkers vision of the future imagined in the 1939 World Fair--a hilarious, illustrated retro-futuristic adventure.” It sounds like it could be pretty funny and that’s why I decided to add it to my list. If it will be that funny, we’ll just have to wait and see. 

#the epic crush of genie lo #f.c. yee #the girl who circumnavigated fairyland in a ship of her own making #catherynne m. valente #the hangman's daughter #oliver potzsch #raising stony mayhall #daryl gregory #six-gun snow white #slaves of the switchboard of doom #bradley w. schenck #books #sci fi books #book recommendations

[nelc]

Yes, This IS Rocket Science by Bradley W Schenck

#Rocket Science #Bradley W Schenck

[gifts-of-heimdall-runes]

Bradley W. Schenck Celtic Designs

A celebration of some celtic knotwork design images from BWS (Bradley W. Schenck) found by Pinterest from 2003 & 2007 sourced from:

https://www.deviantart.com/bws/gallery/?epik=dj0yJnU9Z0pyaWJUVlIxeDhlNGtyQVVmTFpZSG9CVmd3elp6cy0mbj05ZmRsOVhEMFU2eDRxOVVXRThiSEp3Jm09MyZ0PUFBQUFBRjByZGVZ

#bradley w schenck #celtic designs #digital graphic design #deviantart #celtic knotwork #illuminated celtic designs #gifts of heimdall runes #gifts of heimdall

[adelaideretrocomputing-blog]

The amazing Amiga Art of Bradley W. Schenck

Back in 1987, commercial artist Bradley W. Schenck acquired his first Amiga computer and began painting these spectacular images using nothing more than a copy of Deluxe Paint II, a mouse and his imagination.

Inspired by the legendary Amiga artist Jim Sachs, Schenck began developing his own special techniques including an ingenious dithering method that allowed him to squeeze more perceived colours out of the Amiga’s 16 colour hi-res mode.

The images seen here are taken from Schenck’s 1987 Amiga Dreams slideshow which was widely distributed back in the day through BBS systems and diskcopying.

What I really love is the tight pixel control coupled with the lovely textures and patterns conjured from 16 or 32 colour palettes. Its more of a painterly approach that was perfect for the Amiga, especially when viewed on the CRT display hardware of the day.

With the resurgence of pixel art in recent years there is a trend towards a super-refined art style where each pixel is painstakingly placed by hand and so-called ‘noisy’ painting styles are disparaged. The Amiga art scene however was all about experimentation with little regard to any set of ‘rules’. This resulted in a broad spectrum of styles that ranged from tight and refined to loose and impressionistic. It was an exciting time when the medium was constantly being pushed forward by talented artists with an eye to the future.

More of Schenck’s Amiga artwork can be found on his website.

Here is a fascinating article from 1994 about his computer art.

The Amiga Dreams slideshow can be downloaded here.

#amiga #art #pixel art #retrocomputing #bradley w schenck #amiga dreams #slideshow #1987

[delicatuscii-wasbella102]

Unknown By Lawrence Northey By Steve Talkowsk By Bradley W. Schenck

[scifiseries]

Bradley W. Schenck's Retropolis, worth a googling or even more

#scifiseries #vintage #future #retro #futurism #scifi

[manfrommars2049]

Bradley W. Schenck's Retropolis, worth a googling or even more via RetroFuturism

#RetroFuturism #somesz

[oldschoolfrp]

Alarums & Excursions #11, May 1976, an influential D&D fanzine from the early California gaming scene, with cover art by Morno / Bradley W Schenck

Brad writes that “The Wrong Spell” shows a Wizard who has flung a spell from the scroll at an approaching group of Kobolds (or some such Vermin) whilst the Minotaur emerges and the Hobbit-Thief freaks out.

#Alarums & Excursions #Morno #wizard #D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #Bradley W Schenck #Bradley Schenck #Brad Schenck #zine #Minotaur #dungeon #dnd #Dungeons and Dragons #1970s

[bookwraiths]

SLAVES OF THE SWITCHBOARD OF DOOM

SLAVES OF THE SWITCHBOARD OF DOOM

Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom by Bradley W. Schenck

Genre: Science Fiction — Pulp

Series: Possibility of One

Publisher: Tor Books (June 13, 2017)

Author Information: FB | Website |Twitter

Length: 352 pages

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Slaves of the Switchboard of Doomsurprised me, startled me even, because it was so damn much fun!  A word I seldom use when referring to modern science fiction; a genre…

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#Bradley W. Schenck #pulp sci fi #pulp scifi #Retropolis #robots #Science fiction #science fiction pulp #Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom #Tor Books #world of tomorrow

[amazingstories]

Review: Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom by Bradley W. Schenck

Review: Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom by Bradley W. Schenck

Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom cover Anytime a modern book comes out that is hailed as retro science-fiction, it’s going to get my attention. Throw in the tag, “Rockets. Robots. Death Rays. Mad Science. The future that never was is back,” and the expectations rise exponentially. I mean, come on! Rockets, robots, AND death rays? I’m all in! Just out today from Tor Books, the debut novel by…

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#Bradley W. Schenck #Retropolis #Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom #TOR books

[torpublishinggroup]

Author Bradley W. Schenck stopped by The Qwillery to talk about his new novel Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom.

#Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom #Bradley W. Schenck #science fiction #books #scifi #sci-fi #sf #reading #tbr #to be read #The Qwillery #tor books #torbooks

[obscuritory]

One of my all-time favorite game development stories comes from Bradley W. Schenck, designer and art director for The Labyrinth of Time. The game was already underway, but the publisher, Electronic Arts, wanted design documents. So the developers wrote some up and got extremely vague feedback: “It feels light. There’s not enough there.”

Mike [Todorovic, lead programmer], wasn’t sure what to do about that – especially since what he was writing about already existed, and, well, he’d documented it. So since this was a matter of presentation, he asked for my advice.

We looked over the document. We increased the font size. We increased the spacing between the lines. We added one paragraph. We printed it out on thicker paper. The new document spanned more pages and each of those pages weighed more than the old ones had.

When the technical director got the new version, he said "Yes, this looks much more complete."

I don’t think we acted dishonestly. The document had been rejected, unread, on the grounds that it "felt light". So to fix the problem we made the document heavier. Everyone wins!

#labyrinth of time #adventure #Electronic Arts #terra nova development #gaming