You can find the first video linked below. The current plan behind the channel is just a series of miscellaneous projects (hence the name) that I find interesting. The first up is putting together a Model Gundam, something that I have always wanted to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGqRtNQt_dk
Here is a quick list of five fantasy and litrpg books meant for a younger crowd of readers.
Ruins of Majesta: Vol. 1 - Blood and Cupcakes By Taj McCoy El (2 Books)
There’s no problem a cupcake can’t solve.
M.I.T. calls her a genius, her mother calls her Cupcake, her buddies call her Princess Cuddle Fluff and she’s here to kick butt and blow stuff up. At least until she realizes she’s stuck.
Fairy Knights: The Beginning By Dames Handsome (3 Books)
Ching Goo and Oma Bell are fairy kids. Rick is a hamster with rock-hard abs. Together they are the Fairy Knights - special kids (and a hamster!) with the power to do good!
Homerooms and Hall Passes By Tom O'Donnell
In the mystical realm of Bríandalör, every day the brave and the bold delve into hidden temples or forgotten dungeons, battling vile monsters and evil wizards to loot their treasure hoards for sweet, sweet magic items.
Sacred Cat Island: (A LitRPG Progression Fantasy Story) By Harmon Cooper
When Rowan and Toro are brought to Sacred Cat Island by their father, the two brothers expect to hate the place. They quickly discover that the island has untold mysteries and magical secrets just waiting to be explored. What starts as a small quest quickly turns into the adventure of a summer as the two brothers help their father open a general store, befriend the villagers, and find themselves in the middle of an epic mystery that has to be solved before they go back to the mainland.
The Last Oracle: The White Mage Saga #1 (The Chronicles of Lumineia) By Ben Hale (5 Books)
Forced into hiding, the mages of Lumineia have been forgotten. In their absence the world has become known by another name, Earth. The humans have flourished with time, unaware that The Last Oracle is destined to unite them. At her touch magic will be unbound, and known again as truth.
(This article can also be found on my website at - https://joshuakernbooks.com/2021/08/12/what-are-good-fantasy-books-for-12-year-olds/)
Here is the definition of the term provided by the subreddit forum PortalFantasy.
"Portal Fantasy is a fantasy subgenre term for the purpose of describing a category of fiction that focuses on characters who end up in another world. These characters can be transferred in a variety of fashions and are often forced to leave their old worlds behind permanently."
It is a genre that has been around for a long time in various forms. Think of 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll, or 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S. Lewis. Both are early examples of how the genre was formed.
Modern stories have taken the idea and run with it. Now we have Portal Fantasy stories that crossover with SciFi, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy and more.
Here are two recent examples of books/series that conform to the genre. One from me, and the other was something that I read recently and enjoyed.
The Dungeon Alaria By Joshua Kern (The MC and his House are transported to the world of Alaria during the onset of the apocalypse on Earth.)
Orphan Wars by J.N. Chaney & Scott Moon (The MC is transported through a device on the moon.)
Now, as I said before, this is clearly not the end all be all of a list. It barely counts as a list, actually. I just wanted to give a couple of examples so people understand what they are getting into when they read Albion in the future.
The Portals of Albion, is my current project and it mixes lite-Litrpg/Gamelit aspects with Portal Fantasy on a near-Earth world.
(This article can also be found on my website at - https://joshuakernbooks.com/2021/08/11/what-is-portal-fantasy/)
(I originally sent this out to people subscribed to my newsletter.)
Hi everyone,
It's officially now July, which means the
year is already more than half over!
Anyway, I thought I would send out a
quick news/update to everyone about what I have been up to.
First up, The Game of Gods 4: Pieces of
Divinity is up for preorder on Amazon. Please grab a copy if you haven't
already. As before, Podium will be doing the audio for this one and the
novella!
Secondly, I have already started writing
and putting up chapters for a new story called Portals of Albion. It's a portal
story (Duh!) with elements of Gamelit and LitRPG. When I first described the
story to a friend, they said it sounded like Narnia and the X-Men got together
and had a child. I don't quite agree with the X-Men bit, but it is a fun visual
and tagline.
I am also still working on chapters for
The Well Within: Part 2, and should have that ready for Amazon later this year.
The rewrites on Forgotten Spies are
coming along and I will be re-releasing that series (Refton & Thomas) under
my penname at some point as well. I think the stories they told were
interesting and fun, but they were some of my first completed works and it
shows. I'm trying to fix up all the little things, while also tightening up the
writing and not change the overall story. It's a process.
That's about it for now, and I hope
everyone is doing well.
Stay safe!
Joshua Kern
I recently got my hands on a slightly older model of the Microsoft Surface, and while I like it, I do have to wonder. Why would any company in this day and age even offer a model with 4GB’s of RAM?! Honestly, you can not do anything with so little RAM, after Windows takes a chunk of it you are left with only a little to run your browser or other programs. It is a problem, and frankly a stupid decision on their part.
It is also the largest issue I have with the laptop. Kind of.
The other main issue I have has less to do with design and more to do with components. The laptop no longer sees it’s Wifi and Bluetooth chip/card. Apparently, from what I was told is that it had been working fine up until a Microsoft Windows 10 update disabled it, or something. Regardless of how, the system no longer sees it, and I have to use a USB Wifi adapter taking up the only USB port on the laptop.
I have booted into Linux and even reset the OS, and still, it doesn’t see the Wifi or Bluetooth. It is actually dead at this point, and I am not going to take apart the laptop for an in-depth look.
What I do like though, is the screen and the keyboard.
The main issue I have always had with typing on laptops is that the keyboards always feel off. It was more annoying than anything, and something always tickles at the back of my mind. Not is not an issue I have with the Surface. I actually like this keyboard and typing on it even feels nice.
It’s a good machine, even if it is slightly old at this point. It does have issues, but overall I really like the Surface Pro 5 and will be looking to buy a new one with better specs at some point in the future.
My author website is now up and running. I'll be posting chapters on there for my current stories, it will be behind my Patreon but ahead of RR and Scribblehub in that regard. Check it out.
This is a simple short piece I wrote years ago and am just now posting on here.
There once was a girl so small and blue,
Whose parents died by the flames so true,
She cried and wailed, her tears falling free,
Her glistening eyes held feelings of fear,
She was now alone with no one to care,
Her falls went untended,
Her triumphs unknown,
Her skin grew sallow, while her hair became stringy,
An unwashed mass that was now hardly a girl,
The rage within growing hot and fierce,
Her eyes began to glow, scaring those who might help,
With a clap and a roar, she let it all go,
The world would now know how her parents had died,
Flames that burned all, with flickers of blue,
She stood tall, as a wicked grin grew,
She was alone, scared but not afraid,
The world was now hers, and hers all alone
