The Cambias Digression

Notes and thoughts on everything from what I had for breakfast to the fate of the Universe.

  • How I Did It #5: Apocrypha

    I'm probably going to get into a lot of trouble for this one, but here goes. "Apocrypha" may be the weirdest story I've written. Rather than summarize it, I've posted it to a separate Web page here. Read and enjoy. Now that you've looked at it, you're probably thinking "What the hell was that?" That…

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  • Apocrypha

    APOCRYPHA by James L. Cambias A beautiful girl in trouble draws Joshua bar-Joseph into a deadly plot!    It is night in Alexandria, but the great metropolis never sleeps. Down by the waterfront, inns and taverns are filled with publicans and sinners. After dark the city vigiles only go there in groups. The worst dive of…

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  • Tales from the Archive: The Auction

    This is another of my old Space: 1889 adventures. I don't believe it has ever been published before, but I did use it as a convention game once or twice. It depends a lot more on player initiative than most adventures I write. The trouble with player initiative is that it's undependable — you expect…

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  • Moby Blogging

    Lately I've been reading Moby Dick to my nearly-eight-years-old son as a bedtime story. This statement will probably produce one of three reactions: 1.  How awful to force that on him!2.  Isn't he a little young for that?3.  Well, I'm sure it'll put him to sleep in a hurry! Let me tackle them in order.…

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  • Ozblogging: Ozma of Oz, Part 5

    Episode Five: Triumph of the Hen Billina marches into the Nome King's palace like an action-movie hero in the final act. She spots all ten purple (Evish) items and begins reversing the enchantments. When she's done with that she starts finding green objects which are people from Oz. With her inside information to help, Billina…

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  • Ozblogging: Ozma of Oz, Part 4

    Episode Four: Extreme Makeover Edition Ozma goes into the Nome King's palace to find the transformed royal family of Ev, and immediately makes a terrifying discovery. The Nome King apparently hired Liberace as his interior decorator. Read the description and tremble: "The ceilings were composed of great arches that rose far above her head, and…

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  • Ozblogging: Ozma of Oz, Part 3

    Episode Three: The Nome King! The Army of Oz marches north, toward the entrance to the Nome King's dominions. Along the way there's a bit of a delay as Billina has to stop to lay an egg, which the Scarecrow stashes in his pocket when nobody else has a use for it. Pay attention to…

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  • Ozblogging: Ozma of Oz, Part 2

    Episode Two: Operation Ev Freedom Dorothy, Tiktok, and Billina make their way to the royal palace of Ev, where they meet the current ruler, Princess Langwidere. Langwidere is extremely vain, and takes fashion obsession to a new level. Instead of changing outfits or hats, Langwidere has a collection of thirty heads and wears a different…

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  • A Modest Comment

    It's always a bad idea to complain about movies you haven't even watched. But in the case of the new film version of Gulliver's Travels, starring Jack Black, I'm going to do it anyway. The trailer looked horrid (short version: Jack Black doing his usual boorish stuff but with miniature sets and other actors composited…

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  • Zut Alors!

    I've been translated! My story "Balancing Accounts" is in the Autumn 2010 issue of Fiction, the French sister-publication of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The translation looks pretty good to my barely Francophone eyes, and I'm in some very august company. Merci beaucoup aux Moutons Electriques!

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