fantasy Archives · Joi Massat

A Catgirl System Ultimatum

I will finish this story in Summer 2025.

Thriftin’ for Gamebooks: 7 Good and Great Titles

A gamebook: you can read it and play it.

Whenever I go to a thrift store or find a Little Free Library, I am on the prowl for playful, gamey fiction. While I haven’t found much, I have uncovered some surprisingly nice titles.

5 Things I Regret About “The Demon Lord is Apathetic”

In honor of me finally troubleshooting all the problems out of this paperback edition of The Demon Lord is Apathetic, I have made this post…criticizing it?

Look, I did put a lot of work into this story and I do think it’s enjoyable enough to warrant a spot on the shelf. But I did make some poor decisions with it. So let’s take a look and move from small-scale stuff that possibly nobody but me noticed to the big picture.

You don’t need to have read the story to read this post. Extremely minor spoilers ahead!

New Ebook Live (and FREE, for a limited time): The Demon Lord is Apathetic

All members of my Patreon (INCLUDING the free members who are basically just using it like a monthly newsletter) can download the EPUB and PDF of this illustrated action-comedy from now until June 23rd. (Offer now expired, but here’s the page for history’s sake. The ebook, and soon the paperback, can be found for sale here.)

And/or read on. This is a quick little post about a not-so-quick, not-that-little story. Seriously, this PDF is 780 pages and everything had to be finely massaged to fit Amazon’s paperback printing regulations. (It’s still too long for hardback. Needs more massaging. Maybe someday.)

The 5 Secret Rules of Catgirl System

It’s an old rusty crusty maxim by this point that limitation breeds creativity. Well, with Catgirl System, I started out knowing many things I wanted to include, but many many more things I didn’t. I gave myself limitations—on what characters could say, where they could go, and even the thinks I allowed them to think.

Some of them will make immediate sense to you while others seem a little more arbitrary. There are reasons behind them all.

So these are the five heretofore-unwritten laws of the Catgirl universe…!

Intros in LitRPGs…and Beyond

There’s something unique and oddly compelling about the first several chapters of your typical LitRPG. Unique, compelling, and…isolated.

Catgirl System is Now Live…!! (Plus a Brief Writing Update)

That’s right. I’ve started posting it online and slathering additional secret chapters on Patreon. Now that the advertising is out of the way, I can move on to…reflection!

‘Tis the Season to Relax-y

I wiped out hard this holiday season.

The Polar Express (2004): Best Christmas Action Since Die Hard?

Part 5 of the Christmas Movie Watchstravaganza

Almost Christmas
Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
The Polar Express

Wikipedia states that the book this movie adapts “was praised for its…calm, relaxing storyline.”

I have no clue what happened to that.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985): The OTHER Santa Origin Story

Part 4 of the Christmas Movie Watchstravaganza

Almost Christmas
Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
The Polar Express

“There is no religion. Friars are bad. Buddha is bad. There are no gods, there is no cycle of rebirth. The only church is the Church of Santa Claus.” So sayeth the Rankin/Bass Santa origin myth we didn’t exactly need.