City of Games
Page 18
The City of Games itself owes a great debt to Siena, Italy, from the architecture (the Duomo, the Piazza del Campo, and the Torre del Mangia) to the various creatures that give the neighborhoods (contrade) their names, and the twice-yearly races in the heart of the city, the Palio di Siena. Having never traveled to Europe, Allard could be forgiven for missing the obvious similarities. The historical card game “Maw” is real, though I made some modifications to the Avariccians’ version. The ancient Romans used to roll astragali (ankle bones) in a game similar to the one depicted here, but the best combination is called the “Venus roll” and the worst is a “dog’s roll.” (Burleigh takes offense.)
There is a house on Round Island, and it most likely sits on the site of a former brothel, but the similarities to the book version end there. It’s private property—don’t go kayaking out there looking for a Port. Thank you to the Portsmouth Athenaeum for tolerating my inquiries into the history of the island.
Thank you to my wife, Jane, for believing in this series. Thank you to Tom, Ginny, Mom, Mary, and the rest of the family for supporting these books and spreading the word. And thanks once again to Portsmouth itself for being a place to dream.
Jeff Deck
South Berwick, Maine, January 23, 2019
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The Pseudo-Chronicles of Mark Huntley
“Deck’s writing is seamless and so natural that, as you become immersed in Huntley’s increasingly bizarre world, you forget that the story is fiction. This is the mark of a truly gifted writer.” — Linda Watkins, author of the award-winning Mateguas Island series
My name is Mark Huntley. All I really wanted to do was drink cheap beer and blog about my dead-end life. Then I stumbled across a secret war between two sinister alien forces. If I try to stop the war, I may get my friends and loved ones killed. If I don't try, the human race is toast. Oh yeah, and a demonic weapon inside me is probably driving me insane.
If I'm already dead when you find this, you need to carry on the fight.
The Pseudo-Chronicles of Mark Huntley is a blog mutated into a supernatural thriller. If you like the pulse-pounding terror of Stephen King and the smart, funny first-person storytelling of The Martian, you'll love meeting Mark Huntley. Find The Pseudo-Chronicles of Mark Huntley online, or request it at your favorite bookstore.
Player Choice: Aether Games, Book 1
"Master game designer Glen Cullather is having the worst day of his life. Tough luck for him but great news for readers of PLAYER CHOICE. Its twisty plot and high-stakes action will thrill adventure fans, while its reality bending and speculation about the future of privacy will please admirers of the great Philip K. Dick. Check it out: Jeff Deck has got his game on." — James Patrick Kelly, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards
Player Choice is a fast-paced gaming sci-fi adventure that asks: What happens when unreality becomes our reality?
It's 2040. With neural implants, people can play games in an immersive virtual reality known as the aether space. Game designer Glen Cullather has a plan for the most ambitious aether game ever imagined: a fantasy epic that gives players the freedom to do anything.
But Glen's own life is fragmenting into alternate realities. He can't tell whether his aether game idea has succeeded, or failed miserably. And Freya Janoske is either his biggest rival, or his most intimate partner. Glen must figure out what's real and what's, well, fantasy -- for his own survival! Find the e-book of Player Choice online. Print version coming soon.
About the Author
Jeff Deck is an indie author who lives in Maine with his wife, Jane, and their silly dog, Burleigh. Deck writes science fiction, fantasy, horror, dark fantasy, and other speculative fiction.
Deck is the author of the supernatural thriller novel in blog format, The Pseudo-Chronicles of Mark Huntley, and the sci-fi gaming adventure novel Player Choice. He is also the author, with Benjamin D. Herson, of the nonfiction book The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time (Crown/Random House). Deck is also a fiction ghostwriter and editor. He has worked with many authors to help them tell their own stories, and he has contributed content to a couple of video games.
In 2008, Deck took a road trip across the U.S. with friends to fix typos in signage and nearly wound up in federal prison. He enjoys reading speculative fiction, exploring New England with his family, playing video games, and plundering from the past and future.