The Mark Williamson Creative Universe

Superhero Classroom Fun.   As I'm shifting my Friday post topics, I'm leaning towards more comics. In the meantime, I'll be posting some old comics/memes I've made in the past.  Cheers.

Drawing out a card's effect? During high school, I worked on a combination board/card game.  I made clay figures that moved around the board and had attributes based on cards. Nestled in my stack of drawings, I found something interesting.  Not the cards themselves (found elsewhere).  Rather, they were action scenes with the effects of the cards shown. Page 1: Ascension arrow deals a set amount of damage from a variable difference.  The more paid for the card, the higher the range. Page 2:  An overzealous mage casts 21 Engaging Fireballs at an unnamed monstrosity. Page 3:  One  character, the Defender of Earth , fights against a Scuttling Errant that is casting a Decay Spell and a raging Demon Chimera .  He's aided with a Height Advantage and Lycanthrope Morph .  What's more, Gigafy Weapon has been cast on his gun and a Petrified Projectile has been summoned from the skies above. Page 4:  A cloaked necromancer casts Necro-Fire...

Caffeine and Confidence.   I've been doing some serious editing on my first novel to bring it up to publication quality.  Part of my work has involved reading and incorporating good writing practices based on the advice of the award-winning author James Scott Bell. All his advice is excellent, but one has stood mug and shoulders above the rest.  I've experienced such ceramic certitude more than once while reading his books.  Here are his own words from Plot and Structure . The next thing I did was buy a big black coffee mug with Writer written in gold across it.  I would look at the cup every day to remind me of my commitment.  In fact, on days when the writing drags, I'll like at it again.  It gives me a fresh jolt of enthusiasm. My own mug is in the mail today.

Will these quadrupeds show you the meaning of speed?     Here is a small collection of four-legged mammals.  Some are lightening-quick.  Others are ponderous. Implosion Unicorn: This recasting of a classic equine finds metallic parts, red eyes, and an elongated tail.  What madness spawned such a creature? Purple Stallion:  This horse is rather stocky and purple-colored.  Besides those traits, this horse has little going for it. Blue Stallion:  Crystalline mane and hooves increases the mystique.  Otherwise, not much different than the purple-colored version. Storm Goat:   Now we're getting somewhere.  This lightning-charged, cloven-hooved herbivore can outrun a raging raincloud. White Battle Elephant:  Built for battle and awash in white, this elephantine beast is a striking frontline sight.   Cerberus:  The three-headed hound of Hades.  In this version, it appears rather tame.  Still, it is the only car...

Untraced tracts of taxonomy...   Despite extensive scientific exploration and cataloguing that goes back centuries, new animals are still being discovered every year.  While most recent species are small, surprises still abound.  The megamouth shark--the third-largest shark in the world--was only discovered in 1976.   It is therefore a taxonomic treat to trace out another edition of the  Power and Thrill of Naming Things , an exercise in creativity.  I've selected a variety of environments and included representatives from six major groupings of animals: arthropods, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.  The ocean gets extra fish, because ocean. Forest/Jungle Giant ground bee Horned freshwater anglerfish Incognito dart frog Spiny banded snake Canopy fairy hummingbird Speckled tree vole Mountain Cyst tick High-lake cichlid Cyclical toad Cliff gecko Crag swift Saber-toothed ocelot Underground/Cave Shovel scorpion Greater cave skate Ma...

Happy Friday.   Normally, on Fridays I've been covering my weekly Williamson Variety Show video and my weekly writing project on my personal writing website. However, since I've been diving much more into editing my first novel, I haven't had as much time for other short writing projects and am not currently producing them on a weekly basis. Therefore, the weekly roundup doesn't really work with just one item, the weekly video. So, In the coming weeks, I'll be experimenting what to do with Fridays.  Pivoting, as it were. Stay tuned.

Lumber, swim, or walk.   I've only three pictures to present this session, but they are all expansive. In the first, a Kaiju-sized monstrosity of shell and spine crests a hill.  It leers over a town that, to its bulk, appears no more than a matchstick creation. In the second, denizens of the deep thrash near the shoreline.  A giant squid and shark are uncommon enough.  But what really stands out is whale-shark hybrid (nostrils and gills reveal its mixed lineage).  Grasses and even a tree stick out from the leviathan's back.  When not moving, this beast could be mistaken for a small island.  On shore, barely visible, a ghost ogre watches. In the barren wastelands a wild sorcerer protects a pillar with a mysterious orb on top.  The sorcerer summons all manner of ghostly figures to aid him.

It's what you can't do that makes the magic pop.   Brandon Sanderson's second Law of Magic is:  Weaknesses, limits and costs are more interesting than powers. So, to riff off that, I'll be conjuring up another edition of the Power and Thrill of Naming Things , an exercise in creativity. Magical Limitations: Telekinesis that takes 10x the effort and time of performing it normally Magic use is highly carcinogenic (even worse than chain smoking cigarettes) Spell can only be used at midnight on Tuesday User blacks out after every spell The only magical spell that can be used is a version of the one last used Variant: spells evolve each time (like biological evolution, only faster) Story Plot: finding out who cast the first, original spell Magic is powered by technology (generator) Variant: fueled by atomic bombs Story Plot: Nukes are used for magic; magicians are used to stop nukes Side effects of magic like alcoholism or drug abuse Any magical use causes a slight break ...

What lies under those cloaks?     Here is a small collection of mysterious cloaked figures.  Is there a face, or even a body, beneath the robes?  They're certainly not telling, these Shadecloakers. Shadecloak Scryer:  Want to discover your future?  Or understand your past?  It has the answers.  For a price. Shadecloak Annihilator: Twin blades of red fury.  Impervious to pain.  When it targets you, run. Shadecloak Plaguewalker: It wields a plague-blade infused with crippling power.  Immune to its own attacks, your best offense against it is a long-range attack. Shadecloak Mutant: Spines and claws jut from the mottled robes.  But the most terrifying aspects of this mutant hide beneath the surface. Shadecloak Beastrider: Riding a corrupted leonine steed, it covers great distances and tramples those who stand in its way.  Bonus: Burnt Orange Boys .  These over-baked fighters are rather jovial.

Dinosaur Facts Unite!   1.  Two of the most whimsically named pachycephalosaurs,  Stygimoloch spinifer (thorny Moloch of the Styx) and Dracorex hogwartsia (dragon king of Hogwarts) are most likely just juvenile specimens in the genus  Pachycephalosaurus. 2.  Oviraptor means 'egg thief', as it was believed to steal and eat eggs of other dinosaurs.  However, it now appears that they were highly invested nesters.  A better name might have been ' Ovimater '. 3.  Nine dinosaur genus names start with Q, most of them from China.  They are Qantassauru, Qianzhousauru, Qiaowanlong, Qijianlong, Qingxiusaurus, Qinlingosaurus, Qiupalong, Quaesitosaurus, and Quilmesaurus. 4.  While the end of the alphabet can be tricky when devising ABC's, there are over 50 dinosaur genus names that start with W, X, Y, or Z.  Why not try out Zuniceratops or Yixianosaurus during your next dinosaur board book? 5.  The dinosaur with the shortest name ...

Pascal greeting,  As you prepare for Easter, here an Easter homily from St. John Chrysostom. Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late; for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first: yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first; He rewards the one and praises the effort. Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, ce...

And now, for your starting lineup...   Here are lined paper pages with varieties of elementals and elemental wielders.   Water Elementals: Rain drop, Rain, Waterfall, Wave, Surf, Current, Swamp, and Water Elemental Mages 1:  Lava, Illusion, Water, Death, Light, Alchemy, Chaos, and Random  Elemental Mages 2: Lightning, Mind, Air, Fire, Metal, Nature, Arcane, and Ice Golems:  Stone, Nightshade, Tin, Iron, Earth, Straw, Glass, and Magma Bonus: Non-elemental pages Healers:  Medic, Battlefield Medic, Paramedic, Acolyte, Herb Master, Healer Mage, Potion Dealer, Salve Dealer  Werewolves: Zombie Werewolf, Skeletal Werewolf, Nightmare Werewolf, Werewolf, Dire Werewolf, Lesser Lycanthrope, Wolfman, Greater Lycanthrope  

You adjust your visitor's badge.   As the first Earthling to be allowed into the museum, you want to make a good first impression.  Ever since the portal opened up beside the Best Buy in the Cities, you've been waiting.  Now, the day is finally here.  The Multiverse Museum i s finally open to the public. Sure, the vicinity around the portal has been the target of strange things lately.  Liquid fire.  Gross monstrosities the size of buildings.  Glowing cubes with too many sides.  Maybe that's why you're the only one going in today. No matter, you're about to witness the historical magnificence of a multiverse worth of worlds and cultures.  That is, if you survive.  Good thing the visitor's badge came with a complementary laser gun. Get your camera ready, this is another edition of the  Power and Thrill of Naming Things , an exercise in creativity. Exhibit 1 : Rotunda of Aether Archeology Smoky ruins from Reverse-Atlant...

Here there be monsters...   Okay, not really monsters.  Just clay figures that are larger than average.  Giants, as they were.  Explosion Goblin:   Simple concept.  Take the biggest, dimmest goblin in your army.  Strap a large bomb on his back, point him in the direction of the enemy line, light the fuse, and run for cover. Goblin Mountaineer:  Need passage over yon craggy peaks?  Look no further.  This larger-than-life grimling will lead the way. Goblin Armorer:  Lose your weapon?  Get a plus-sized new one from this one-goblin supply depot. Lizardman Berserker:   Sporting as many axes as appendages, this lizardman channels the size and ferocity of a dragon. Crocodile Honor Guard:  Defending the Crocodile Dynasty royal family or escorting the herald of a Crocodilian god.  All in a day's work. Elf Canopy Archer:   Despite his large size, he manages to hide within the branches of his home forest.  Ar...

You crack open the exterior door.   The pressurized chamber is still intact.  You punch the sequence and the small chamber filles with air.  Then, you open the interior door and step inside a fowl-smelling chamber of darkness. Out on a routine survey mission, you've picked up the signal of a drifting spaceship.  A derelict, the crew is long-since dead.  Still, you went through all the trouble of getting here, might as well explore a bit.  The ship's log gave it name as the Bold Axios .   A series of chambers stretch down the blackened hallway.  What will you discover?   Strap on your spacesuit, this is another edition of the  Power and Thrill of Naming Things , an exercise in creativity. Chamber 1: Supplies Hypercube food rations, beef gravy flavored Bottled water, Europa brand Zero-G pillows, extra fluffy Chamber 2: Function Radar dish, long since peanut-buttered and jammed Hyper fuel, now with 41% more baryons Nintendo D...

Dare to delve another dungeon?   More bosses and their unique dungeons await eager adventurers.  Fantastic treasures await, but so too does the looming shadow of death.  Tread carefully.  Nydyn, Keeper of the Barrent Wastelands:  Is it a fungus or a plant?  Either way, Nydyn strikes hard at adventurers with high-speed pincers and an unnerving ability to regenerate from even the fiercest counterattack. Serth, Lord of the Infernal Plain: Shabor, Entity of the Caverns of Ice: Sir Mayen, Champion of the Frozen Keep: Shanoean, Steward of the Towering Citadel: Nim, Servant of the Hanging Castle: