Posts Tagged With: fiction

2025 in Books (Part 2): Recommendations and Reviews

Posted on December 29, 2025 by B.C. Johnson

It’s December, so time to show off some of the novels I’ve read this year! For the second time.

My plan this year was simple: read 24 books (double what I read last year), and only pull books I already own but haven’t read yet. One, to actually get to some of the books I’ve been gifted over the past couple decades, and two, because money.

You can read how the first six months went here.

Overall, for the back half of the year, I didn’t remotely reach my goal. Neither in number nor in sticking to only books I already owned. But as they say, it is in how we strive that our soul is revealed or something don’t listen to me I failed.

Alright, here we go:

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Categories: Books, Review | Tags: anne rice, book recommendations, book reviews, book-review, books, brandon sanderson, cthulhu casebooks, fantasy, fiction, ian fleming, james bond, james lovegrove, live and let die, max barry, nick cutter, providence, queen of the damned, reading, sherlock holmes and the miskatonic monstrosities, stephen king, the near witch, the running man, the troop, the way of kings, ve schwab | 2 Comments

The Games That Inspire My Writing (Part 3)

Posted on August 6, 2025 by B.C. Johnson

Last time we talked about my abiding love for the Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver series, and how it taught me the courage to go nuts with stories (and how it partially inspired my Deadgirl Saga).

This week I’m casting the net a bit wider, with a trio of unconnected but stylistically related games that made me want to write my own epic fantasy series. Alongside a heaping helping of D&D and fantasy novels in my youth, of course.

Let’s get into the business with three beloved 90’s classics: THE SECRET OF MANA, ILLUSION OF GAIA, and the FINAL FANTASY series.

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Categories: Books, Deadgirl, Inspiration, Video Games, writing | Tags: arpgs, b.c. johnson, book-review, books, fantasy, fantasy novel, fiction, final fantasy, gamers, games, gaming, illusion of gaia, Inspiration, mana, secret of mana, writer, writing, writing inspiration | 2 Comments

The Games That Inspire My Writing (Part 2)

Posted on July 16, 2025 by B.C. Johnson

As an author myself, books will always be my first and truest love. However, video games have been a constant companion, a wonderful form of social interaction, and a port of harbor in this our blighted world. Games have provided a place to rest, certainly, but it ain’t all escapism. Games have always been a key part of my curriculum for story, character, and narrative, and deserve every bit of thanks I can spare.

Last week, I poured a couple pints of e-ink out for my boys, the DARK SOULS games, sharing how they taught me the value of perseverance and the joys of sad dignity. They also directly inspired the newest manuscript I’m working on, gently titled “The Stone Marches.”

This week, we’re dropping DARK SOULS and going a bit lighter: the soul-crushing gothic vampire existentialist masterpiece that is the LEGACY OF KAIN series.

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Categories: Deadgirl, Inspiration, Riven, Video Games, writing | Tags: b.c. johnson, books, fantasy, fiction, gamers, games, gaming, Inspiration, kain, legacy of kain, raziel, soul reaver, writer, writing, writing inspiration | 2 Comments

The Games That Inspire My Writing (Part 1)

Posted on July 9, 2025 by B.C. Johnson

Good writers read, the same way good directors watch movies and good chefs eat. Also chefs would kick it if they don’t eat, so it’s doubly important for them. Obscure indie author Stephen King said: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” He called it “the great commandment.” And he was right.

But storytellers of all mediums can be inspired by any story. I’ve always been a voracious reader, true. But I’m as much a gamer of games, and there’s no shortage of wonderful stories that come out of a cartridge, a spinning disc, or through the cosmic strings of the interwebular infonet.

I suspect a lot of writers my age have found inspiration on the other end of a DualShock, a mouse, or a Duke.

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