Here are the best-selling titles for NUELOW Games this month. Our sales were not quite as strong as in October, and I don't think the Thanksgiving sale made a difference one way or the other; our prices are already so low that knocking a bit off the price won't entice anyone that wasn't going to buy anyway.
Next year, i think I'll just say, "Look! We've got stuff on sale for Black Friday!" (because we've got stuff on sale every day as it is....)
Still, it was a decent month... and I thank you all for your support. Please stick around.
Also, if you've got a short, rules-light RPG, get in touch. We'd love to add some gaming variety to our line-up.
Through the end of Monday, November 28, the fiction anthologies I've produced for NUELOW Games are on sale at a reduced price, what with it being "Cyber Monday" and all. This is also in celebration of the newly launched DriveThruFiction.com website, which is the exclusive outlet for NUELOW Games' pdf-format fiction anthologies.
Each of these ebooks (great for reading on the iPad or even an iPod Touch, and compatible with some models of the Amazon's Kindle) are currently priced at $1.50, no matter what the usual sales price is.
Click the titles below for more information on each book, and to purchase your copy for download. Help feed my hungry cats during this holday season, and get yourself some excellent reading material in the process!
Alice in Blunderland by John Kendrick Bangs (Humor/Political Satire): The Mad Hatter takes Alice for a visit in the perfect city he's founded... a place where everyone is perfect, because the laws are made to make politicians look good, to keep the rich prosperous, and the powerful powerful. (Sound like anywhere you know?)
Houseboat on the River Styx by John Kendrick Bangs and Steve Miller (Humor/Fantasy): A classic work of humor takes on new life as writer/editor Steve Miller "remasters" Bangs' "A Houseboat on the River Styx" and "In Pursuit of the Houseboat" into a single outrageous volume. Every owner of the book is garuenteed membership in the Associated Shades of Hades once they "cross over." Just don't tell William Shakespeare that "everything is better with Bacon" when you arrive.
Fists of Foolishness: The Tales of Sea-faring Boxing Champ Steve Costigan by Robert E. Howard (Humor/Adventure): Journey back to the 1920s and the seedy waterfront districts of the world's port towns for ten comedic misadventures from the typewriter and mind of the creator of Conan the Barbarian. Includes a complete roleplaying game, "The Violent Worlds of Robert E. Howard"!
Shanghaied Mitts: More Tales of Sea-Faring Boxing Champ Steve Costigan by Robert E. Howard (Humor/Adventure): Eleven more of Steve Costigans misadventures are chronicled, as he takes on all comers, including Mexican bandits, Chinese warlords, industrial spies, and con-artists. Includes an adventure for use with "The Violent Worlds of Robert E. Howard", or for stand-alone solo play.
The Deadly Sword of Cormac by Robert E. Howard (Historical Adventure/Fantasy): During the Third Crusades, there was a renegade Knight so fierce that he was feared by Moslems and Crusaders alike. His name was Cormac FiztGeoffrey. This book collects both novelletes that Howard wrote featuring Cormac.
White Fell and Other Stories by Clemence Housman and Robert E. Howard: Four off-beat horror stories that see lycanthropes clawing a bloody swath from the frozen wilds of Scandinavia, through the dark forests of central Europe, and to the sun-baked veldt of Africa.
As some of you may know, I run a small (VERY small) publishing operation. And it's time for the monthly best-seller report.
NUELOW Games had a very good month. I attribute this to the fact that the Occupy the Gaming Table Movement really DOES represent 99% of all Americans. And then there were the better-than-expected sales on the collection of humor stories from Robert E. Howard, "Fists of Foolishness", doing better than expected, and a number of you out there taking advantage of our "Play a New RPG Month" discount package to try out "ROLF!: The Roleplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters." Thank you for your support. I hope you felt that your money well spent!
Steve Costigan has quite a lot in common with the character in the song, I thought. They both travel to exotic cities, but they are usually so wrapped up in their sport--chess for the guy in the song, boxing for Costigan--to even notice the sites or other opportunities the places might offer.
And then there's the refrain, "One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble." At least one hard man is invariably humbled in the Costigan stories....
Having so reflected on the song, I decided to chase it down and see if it matched my memory. It did, sort of. Here are the top three versions and/or videos I came across.
First, here is the one that is best know. It's the official version of the song that was used to promote the musical and tie-in record from which it was drawn, "Chess". It features Murray Head, who was also the lead in the stage production. and it topped the charts all throughout Europe for months.
I also found that lots of the tone and imagery in the video is actually in line with that found in the Costigan stories, but that is because they both draw from the same well.
Another version of the song, which became a hit even before the "official" song had hit the airwaves was this one. It's an interesting arrangement, as its delivery and style of the video puts you in mind of a reporter while the song is being performed rather than a player like during the Head version.
And then there's this one. I'm including it mostly so you can test your stamina. But also because it's performed by disgraced boxing champ Mike Tyson. (By the way, Tyson is the sort of guy that Costigan would have gone out of his way to beat the crap out of. Not only did Tyson have a reputation, but he was an abuser of women and so would deserve to be laid out on the canvass.)
Please check out "Fists of Foolishness: The Tales of Sea-faring Boxing Champ Steve Costigan". I think it features some great writing and some funny stories, whether you like boxing or not. (I happen to think boxing is boring and a waste of time, blood, and brain cells on the part of the athletes taking part, but I still love these stories.)
This book is the first in a projected two-volume series, with the follow-up, "Shanghaied Mitts: More Tales of Sea-faring Boxing Champ Steve Costigan" presenting an additional ten stories.
Some of you may be aware that I've revived my little online publishing company. I did this, because I remain woefully under-employed and I might as well do SOMETHING with my time when not trying to line up work. (And, hey, if you have REAL work out there for a game designer/writer, I am available almost immediately!)
Here's a list of the best-selling NUELOW Games titles for the month of August. While we're not setting the world on fire, we're doing about what one can expect for an online publishing outfit with no star-power and no marketing budget. In other words, we're selling dozens of copies!
If you've purchased any of our offerings, I thank you for your support. The earnings from your purchase have, quite literally, gone to keep my cats fed and my car running.
If you haven't tried any of our offerings, I invite you to do so.
If you are a fan of quality fiction, and would like something that reads well on your iPad, I recommend checking out our fiction offerings. The Robert E. Howard books are full of action and/or horror, while the John Kendrick Bangs titles are full of wry humor.
If you play traditional roleplaying games--the kind that require dice and paper and actually spending time in the same room with your friends--and have a sense of humor about your play-style, the ROLF! game is something to check out. The Larry Elmore illos in the core game and most of the supplements might even fill you with nostalgia for the good old days!
For more information and regular updates on NUELOW Games, you can visit the "company blog" by clicking here.
... since the great H.G. Wells passed away. If you only know his work from "The Time Machine" and "War of the Worlds," I suggest you check out an eBook anthology I put together for NUELOW Games.
"From Dark Corners" contains a total of thirteen short stories, but the three by Wells are some of his best horror tales, with "Country of the Blind" probably being my favorite of everything by Wells that I've read. (The rest of the book is made up by stories from Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert E. Howard, Bram Stoker, and Clark Ashton Smith.)
In order to get the book at a discounted rate (or at all), you'll need an account with one of Onebookshelf's websites--be it DrivethruHorror, DrivethruFantasy, or RPGNow.
A desperate cry sends a brave fireman plunging into a raging inferno where he comes face to face with a firewitch and her flaming minions, as the World of ROLF invades ours following a spell gone awry!
ROLF: The Fireman vs. The Firewitch is the latest supplement for L.L. Hundal & Steve Miller's comedy game ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters. With the usual assortment of pre-generated characters and new game rules, it's just about the only fun you can have for 50 cents anymore.
Well, our so-called leaders here in the States kinda-sorta did something about addressing the economic issues facing the United States of American, and they FINALLY got around to doing their Constitutionally mandated duties and made sure that all of the financial obligations of the Federal government will be met.
At least for a little while longer, since no serious effort was undertaken to address the more serious long-term problems.
Although written over 100 years ago, the jokes in "Alice in Blunderland" are distressingly fresh. John Kendrick Bangs might as well have been poking fun at today's political leaders, right down to how they deal with debt and government spending in the perfect town created by the Mad Hatter.
This PDF-format book--ideal for reading on laptops and iPads--is going to be on sale for $0.99 for the rest of this week. Check it out... you'll get a great read, and you'll help the U.S. economy by giving my distributor and I a few pennies!
Who killed Oetzi the Iceman? Was it the religious fanatic? Perhaps the angry cook? Or maybe Bigfoet, the Tyrolean Yeti?
On a Wednesday afternoon some 5,300 years ago, a shepherd headed into the Alps to tend his flock of goats. He would never see his home again. His mummified corpse and violent death have been the subject of study and speculation since a retreating glacier released him from his makeshift grave in 1991, A.D. (or C.E.... whatever.)
In observance of the 20th anniverary of the discovery of the victim now known as "Oetzi the Iceman," and in support of NUELOW Games' goal of educating while entertaining, we proudly present Icing Oetzi: A ROLF! Historical Recreation.
The result of all the research that can be expected for a $0.50 product from a company named NUELOW Games, the three combat scenarios and four pre-generated characters presented gives insight into a mystery that's more than 5,000 years old. Who killed Oetzi? The religions fanatic? The angry cook? Or the Tyrolean Yeti? Play the Recreations with friends, and decide which one rings true.
To let you experience what they're talking about--and to celebrate such great responses!--I'm offering a limited-time special for readers of Cinema Steve. By using the links in this post, you can order your very own copies of "ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters" and "Rolf!: The Death of Osama bin Laden" at 50% off the normal price.
To get the discounts, just click on the links. You'll have to click each one individually, and if you don't already have an account set up with RPGNow, you may have to make one. You can get one or both of the releases as you choose, but "ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters" is required to gain full use of "The Death of Osama bin Laden.
These discounts expire on 7/21/2011, so get your copies today!
Not only have some of you out there purchased the game, but you're playing it. Not only are you playing it, but you're making your own original characters. Some of you have even noticed a "flaw" in the character generation system and taken the time to come to the blog and find my email address and write me. I just want to say thank you playing the game... it's why we make them!
Now, the designers of ROLF! do NOT consider what you've found a flaw; we thought it was funny and knew exactly what we were doing. That said, I acknowledge that our senses of humor aren't universal. Furthermore, I also didn't think the character generation system would be put to much use and that you players out there would be using the pre-generated characters rather than making them from scratch.
At the very least, your feedback is resulting in a couple of sentences worth of "optional character generation rules" in "Icing Otzi: A ROLF! Historical Recreation" (coming later this week) and if enough of you speak up in agreement over the "flaw," then a full-fledged Second Edition will have to be made. (Even if said "Second Edition" results from the addition of maybe ten more words at most... but they're very important words).
What is this "flaw," you ask? Ah, but that would be telling. See if you can suss it out!
Earlier this week, I published my first of several eBooks featuring classic fiction re-edited to a lesser or greater degree by yours truly. I'm leading this new venture of mine with a long-time favorite--John Kendrick Bangs' "Houseboat on the River Styx".
I've performed some editing and abridgments of Bangs' original book and combined it with an edited version of the sequel, "In Pursuit of the Houseboat". I hope my efforts have breathed new life into this neat fantasy classic that has the leading Shades of Hades creating a social club. Arguments about life, the afterlife, and why it's too bad that Noah didn't put dinosaurs on his ark ensue.
For a special sales price of just $1.25, you can get a 94-page pdf-format book with chapter illustrations by famed fantasy artist Larry Elmore and others that you can enjoy on a number of platforms, the iBook in particular.
All of my earnings on the book go to feed my hungry cats, so please buy a copy today! Archie and Edith will be ever so grateful.
(Also, be sure to keep a look-out for the tie-in with my recently released game "Rolf!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters". It'll present several of the characters from "Houseboat on the Styx" through the prism of "Rolf!", battle ready for your imaginary mayhem enjoyment.)
