New Release! Bloodbane: Quest of Lance

 

The long-awaited release of my first (simultaneously) gamelit and horror novel.

I had the idea brewing for quite some time of doing an homage to Castlevania, one of my most beloved game series. Eventually that morphed into a desire to include some litRPG elements, however light.

Immediately a blast to write, it wasn’t long before the story took on its own identity and grew into less a pastiche of CV and more my own thing, merely influenced by that game world. One of the primary drivers of this was the hero’s motivation - a simple need to get back to his family. It begged the equally simple but intriguing question: what can stand between a father and his wife and children? What can anchor him to his own world when a realm of darkness threatens not just him and his loves, but everything?

During the writing process, feeding the old brain with Castlevania OSTs for tone-setting, I developed the irresistible urge to write a soundtrack for the story as well. Now I didn’t want to ape CV’s amazing music too hard (as if I were that talented), and I was also beginning to listen to the obscure dungeonsynth genre. Thus was formed Bloodbane’s official OST.

I feel I’ve built about as complete a world as I can with this release, using the skills I have at hand, and I do hope people of various reading and listening habits can enjoy it!

The blurb:

What a horrible night to be invaded by psychos from the 65th Dimension.

Lance Cutfield just wants to get home to his wife and daughter.
But in his way stands a legion of Once-men, blood sorcerers, and countless foul creatures infesting the wilderness.

Lance must use his working man's strength, and every tool at his disposal, to bring the fight to his foes.
Little do these 'Baneborn' know, they've chosen a predator for their prey...

Quest of Lance is a pulpy gamelit adventure with very lite RPG elements.

Elements in this book:

Classic NES game story start with a fast pace.
Not-so-subtle nods to the Castlevania series, but with lots of variation.
Surprising alliances...
A simple, gear-based progression system.
Lots of combat.
Light crafting.
Subtle notes of Resident Evil and Metroid.
Light sequence-breaking.
A masculine hero.
Orbs.

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