The Lilith Bloodstone Series

The Lilith Bloodstone Series is a series of fantasy short stories set in the fictional kingdom of Korovia and written by Canadian author Charles Moffat. The stories feature a young heroine known as Lilith Bloodstone who is as unusual as the land she lives in.

Korovia is a cold and brutal place, trapped in an ancient curse that has placed the kingdom in a perpetual ice age and it has been that way since the Last Demon War. As such the people of Korovia make their livings by hunting, fishing and trapping, mining and trading their goods with other kingdoms. Korovia still has a summer, but its comparatively short.

The curse that plagues Korovia has also made it possible for monsters and undead to flourish. Most people live in small towns or cities and very few farmers exist except in the southern reaches of Korovia, both because its not ideal farming conditions and also because of the monsters that attack people.

Amidst all of this is the Holy City of Kost, the site of a famous battle during the Second Demon War. The city was founded by an order of paladins (holy knights) and amongst their descendants was a knight known as Phoebus Bloodstone. Phoebus' wife died and he was called away on duty to protect a village of elves, and so he entrusted his only daughter Lilith to the knights for safekeeping. Unfortunately for both Phoebus and his daughter he died defending the elven village from an onslaught of horned trolls.

But you don't really find out all those extra details until later. The stories start with Lilith Bloodstone. How and why she got there and what happened to her parents are revealed as the stories continue.

At an early age Lilith Bloodstone began to exhibit signs of magical talent. At first the knights were uncertain what to do so they hired a tutor to train her in the arte of magic and she quickly mastered the simple spells provided to her. The tutor eventually came to the knights and said there was no more she could teach the young girl who was devouring spellbooks and was proving more adept than the tutor. The child prodigy was therefore sent to the Academy of Arcane (sometimes called the Academy of Magic by non-magic users). Amongst the dabblers, sorcerers and wizards Lilith Bloodstone found her calling, but each wizard typically makes a choice to specialize in one branch of magic...

She certainly had her options. She could learn divination and become a seer, or perhaps summoning and become a conjuror... Or maybe she had the explosive talent of an evoker or the mesmerizing talents of an enchantress. But none of these held interest to young Lilith. Instead she decided to follow a more complex and forlorn path...

NECROMANCY.

Considered to be a "dark arte" by many Lilith Bloodstone had chosen a path few wizards dared to tread and most wizards who went that way fell prey to the dark side of the arte, a dark side known as The Black Rose. And it is the story of the Black Rose wherein Lilith has her first adventure. But Lilith doesn't stop there.

Far from it, Lilith has many more adventures as she becomes a hunter of undead creatures, a vanquisher of evil, and she furthers her goals of expanding the boundaries of White Necromancy (using necromancy to destroy undead and save lives).

The series is written by Canadian fantasy author Charles Moffat and to learn more you're going to have to read the books which are available on Amazon Kindle.

The Black Rose

On Death's Door

The Astral Plane

Brutus and Avianna is another story set in the Korovia world, and also written by Charles Moffat.

Unlike the Lilith Bloodstone Series, Brutus and Avianna is a very different story. For starters its erotic. But its still set in the same fantasy world, Korovia, which is listed on korovia.com as a "free license fantasy world" where any author can self-publish their books using the setting.

Which is an interesting concept in comparison to other shared fantasy worlds like Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance, wherein authors can only publish their books via the company which owns the copyright, self-publishing isn't allowed, and they vigorously defend their copyright.

It does make you realize that if e-readers like Kindle and Kobo are the way of the future (which unlike tablets don't have glare), then self-publishing will become the chosen medium of authors, and free license shared worlds like Korovia are a sign that the publishing industry needs to adapt.

Review: One Simple Trick to get Women to Sleep With You

Okay, you've probably seen the ads for them online. The titles of the ads may vary, but they're all basically selling the same thing: Sex with Women via somekind of mental trick.

When you click the ad it takes you to a long-winded video which is basically just a huge waste of time and the primary goal is to get you to buy his book on how to trick women subconsciously into sleeping with you.

I am now going to save you some time.

Here are the tricks outlined in his video:

#1. Look at her mouth. Don't look at her breasts.

#2. Stand sideways. It makes you look more attractive and indifferent.

#3. Mention that you feel at ease talking to her.

#4. DON'T TALK ABOUT MONEY.

#5. DON'T TALK ABOUT SPORTS OR EXERCISE UNLESS SHE BRINGS IT UP.

#6. Give the impression you're already desirable. eg. Talk about your female friends, women trying to get into your pants. (Pre-Selection based on other women finding you desirable.)

The number six step is the one he stresses the most in the video.

Beyond that he will also try to convince you of all the other great stuff in his book, essentially things you can do that supposedly will make women want you sexually.

Indeed this video-promoting some guy's book isn't alone. There is a lot of books out there all claiming to sell the same thing. Here is some of the one's I found on Amazon.com




All the books are basically preaching the same thing: Be desirable, be confident, play hard to get, make them chase you, etc.

So in theory, yes, the advice in these books can help you get laid. In theory. But I would still argue that exercising and joining Toastmasters International (so you can learn to speak confidently) wouldn't hurt you either.

Zombie Archery Target

It cost me $27.67 to have this Zombie Archery Target made at Staples Business Depot. Took about 40 minutes for them to print it off, but it was worth every penny and every minute of the wait.

For archery lessons visit cardiotrek.blogspot.ca.

Christmas Wish List: A Throwing Axe!

Note to Self:

Here is something I would like for Xmas.

"Condor Tool & Knife CTK4011BT - Double Bit Throwing Axe, Black Blade Double bit throwing axe with overall length of 13 3/8in. And 7in. Blade composed of 1075 high carbon steel with epoxy black powder coating. FEATURES Handle Material: 1075 Carbon Steel, Black Overall Length (inches): 14.50 Special Features: Double Bit Condor Tool & Knife CTK4011BT - Double Bit Throwing Axe, Black Blade."

Price? $27 on Google Shopping.

Why? Because axe throwing is one of those sports I would like to try and what the heck, why not buy an axe!

Aroma - Indian restaurant in Toronto's theatre district

Aroma is an Indian restaurant, one of many in Toronto's downtown theatre and entertainment district.

I've been there twice so far and the food and service is always impeccable.

Location: 287 King St. West, Toronto, ON M5V 1J5

For dinner reservations call (416) 971-7242.

Otherwise they have a buffet between 11:30 and 3 PM seven days per week, which is always nice.

They also offer catering and free delivery. While I have not tried their catering or delivery service, my mouth is watering at the very thought of it...

Five Stars!

Twitter: Not as good as you think it is.

When it comes to promoting your website and your company's business there are a number of websites out there that are considered to be good investments in terms of advertising and promoting your company.

Twitter is one of those companies.

And it isn't as good as you think it might be. I shall explain why.

#1. According to Alexa.com (a website which tracks the popularity of other websites) Twitter is only used by approx. 8.5% of internet users. In other words it is really only used by the tech-savvy people who like tweeting to each other. The other 91.5% of the internet population apparently has no interest in Twitter.

What this tells you is that Twitter has reached its limit in terms of "market share" and would really only be good if you are trying to advertise directly to people who are tech-savvy.

Lets take for example the following company Twitter page for US Money Reserve, a company which encourages people to invest in gold and silver as the global economy grows and shrinks periodically. Whenever the economy turns sour the prices of gold and silver soar.

Now think of the type of people who would invest in gold or silver. Hmm. Business people. People with lots of money. Often well educated. Probably own stocks and a 401 K account. Chances are more likely that they're tech-savvy, own a BlackBerry or smart phone, and possibly on Twitter.

Thus a company wishing to sell gold and silver to investors would be wise to marketing via Twitter.

But someone who is marketing a small niche business, like 'Gary's Civil War Antiques Emporium', probably won't do so well on Twitter because it isn't the type of website that caters to American Civil War buffs. That doesn't mean that such a company can't try to promote their business via Twitter, I am just saying it is significantly less likely that Twitter will give them any edge advertising wise.

What does well on Twitter is celebrities like:
twitter.com/ParisHilton

Or renowned writers like:
twitter.com/MargaretAtwood

Or politicians like:
twitter.com/BarackObama

Or brand name companies like:
twitter.com/Microsoft

The point I am trying to make here is that for people or companies who are already famous or brand names, Twitter is added bonus. But it won't make your company famous on its own.

US Money Reserve Inc's twitter page does have lots of useful tips on it and news about the gold and silver exchange, prices, market valuations / predictions, etc... but by itself the company isn't going to see a huge benefit from its Twitter page. It will help it a little because its marketing towards the more tech-savvy people who are more likely to invest in gold or silver, but you first have to get people on to their website and/or Twitter page and that is the really difficult prospect which comes down to traditional marketing techniques and online marketing like Search Engine Optimization.

Twitter pundits like to claim that Twitter can help a website go viral. However the type of topics that do go viral are often not business related. They're always something funny and interesting, and therefore worth sharing on Facebook, Tweeting about, etc... But the problem is that most people on Twitter don't retweet things and even those that do retweet a particular topic aren't going to retweet something that is obviously an advertisement for a business.

"Oh but doesn't Twitter boost Search Engine Optimization"?

Actually no, it doesn't. Two reasons: Twitter links always have "rel=nofollow" in the link coding which means search bots don't follow them and it gives no benefit SEO wise. The 2nd reason is because most links are shortened using Bitly, which means the search engine doesn't even see any useful keywords because it is ultimately just a code like "http://bit.ly/QFytRk". So Twitter does zilch in terms of boosting SEO.

The only benefit of Twitter is to give a company or person the appearance of being tech savvy. Which ultimately can be an utter failure if the person isn't tech-savvy at all and just doesn't care.

Take for example twitter.com/sirseanconnery which shows what happens when an aging actor tries to use Twitter and gets bored with it quickly.

My review of Twitter?

0.5 of a Star out of Five. It doesn't even a full star because as a tool it is shamefully outmatched by Facebook which is a more effective social media tool and currently has a reach of 46% of global internet users and a growing base of active users. Twitter is a complete waste of time compared to the juggernaut that is Facebook.

Roses and delivery services

When it comes to flowers there is only one flower worth buying for that special girl (or guy) in your life:

ROSES.

This isn't so much a product review as it is an endorsement of the plant. Let face it, yes, you could buy carnations, daffodils, narcissi, etc... but then you just look like a cheapskate because you didn't buy roses. (The only exception to this rule is when you go to a funeral in which case you should always get white lilies or whatever colour of lilies the deceased person liked best if you know what their favourite colour is.)

Carnations is what you buy a FRIEND on their birthday.

Or you might get a different flower (eg. daffodils or narcissi) if you knew that the person had a particular favourite, but if you don't know then frankly you're better off sticking with roses because nothing else comes close.

I think its because roses are basically a brand name. Its like buying Coca-Cola or Nike or IBM. You know you are buying the BEST.

However within roses I find there is still room for variety. Depending on the flower shop you can still get something other than red roses... You can also get:

White Roses (Purity / Faithfulness)
Yellow Roses (Friendship)
Orange Roses (Love)
Red Roses (Lust / Passion, Courage)
Peach Roses (Gratefulness / Sincerity)
Pink Roses (Playfulness / Joyfulness)
Lavender Roses (Adoration / Majesty)
Black Roses (Death / Rebirth)

And my personal favourite:

Blue Roses (Attaining the Impossible)

Blue roses don't exist in nature, they're actually white roses that are dyed blue.

As a gift what I like to do is get 1 orange rose and 1 blue rose. Together the blue and orange compliment each other and makes for a truly unique gift on that special day. I would probably still go for red roses on Valentines, but any other time of the year I recommend 1 blue and 1 orange.

Of course not all flower shops (and by extension delivery services) offer blue and orange roses, so it can be difficult to find. I recommend phoning various places to find out what kind of roses they actually have.

eg. Etobicoke flower delivery doesn't have blue roses listed on their website, but they might be able to arrange them if you made a special order. Their website really only offers different flower arrangements. But in theory if you phoned them (416-244-9355 or 800-622-6419) then you might be able to make a special. I have no idea what their delivery rate is.

When it comes to flower delivery its all pretty expensive anyway. You're paying for the frivolity of it. Its a bit like eating out in a super fancy restaurant. You're not eating there because the food is good (in my experience its the dives which have the best tasting food), you're eating there because its a special occasion and you want to be surrounded by beautiful decor (and impress whomever you are with).

Speaking for myself I have NEVER ordered flowers for delivery. Seems like a complete waste to me. I have always gone to the flower shop in person, picked out exactly what I wanted, had it specially prepared for the occasion and then delivered it myself.

If I go back far enough (when I was living with my parents and still a teenager) my mother is a landscape architect / horticulturalist and I would be growing my own roses. I still have a flower bed at my parents' farm and there are orange and red roses growing there, along with narcissi, purple lilies and Sweet Williams of varying colours.

If I had my own house and a back yard I would probably be growing nothing but roses, ivy and wisteria now because my taste in plants has matured. (Wisteria is a vine that produces purple flowers.)

Regardless of where you choose to buy roses (or other flowers) my recommendation is that you put some thought into it.

That and don't buy something they are allergic to. Potential allergy disasters should be avoided.

Cherokee Archery Set

When I first decided to stop procrastinating and get into archery I was at the Central Surplus store on Yonge Street in Toronto.

They had a Cherokee Archery Set on sale and it was, according to the clerk behind the counter, "ideal for beginners".

And he was absolutely-freaking-right!

I used that bow for 2 years before finally switching to a more powerful wooden bow because I loved it so much. It was wonderfully easy to use, surprisingly accurate and I had a very quick learning curve when using it. Some heavier bows are more difficult to learn with because you're not used to the pull and need to work your way up to it.

I still have my Cherokee bow (which is best described as a recurve / reflex long bow) and I now use it for teaching archery here in Toronto.

My only piece of advice is that you buy more arrows and a nice quiver to go with it.

I also have a handmade arm guard that I use made out of rawhide and a shoelace that is wonderful to use. Sometimes its the things you make yourself which do the best job.

No word yet on when I will be done carving my first bow.

Kindle Book Review: Anonymous Sex

Okay so I was browsing Amazon Kindle and I came across this book: "How to Find Anonymous Sex Partners on the Internet"






And I thought, hey, $2.99, cheaper than a cup of coffee. True you do have to own a Kindle first, but that is easily done. If you are big on reading then going digital is easier than you think. You can even have it delivered. (Note: I checked the prices in stores and its actually cheaper to order a Kindle online.)




Basically its a guide to meeting people on the internet (and more specifically, having anonymous sex with people you met on the internet).

And its advice is very easily broken down into a long detailed list of tips. What to do, what not to do, safety advice, where to go, what to post, how to be funny and witty, etc.
Some of the advice was common sense, but a lot of it was things you wouldn't normally think of but was ultimately quite logical.

Furthermore it didn't just apply to finding sex partners (although that is certainly the angle the anonymous writer went for). A lot of the advice pertained to online dating in general and could be used when making a Plenty of Fish account, posting personals on Craigslist and so forth.

So happy reading and doing-the-nasty or whatever it is you are looking for.

Snorkeling Equipment

I recently took up snorkeling and I thought I would share which pieces of equipment I purchased.

#1. BODY GLOVE silicone swim mask - Basically a pair of goggles these bad boys offer shatter resistant lenses, UV protection for your eyes, fog free and a strap for binding it around your head.

I picked this particular one in the store because it was: The most manly one there. That is really just enough reason to me. I could have got the really tiny swim goggles (for pansies) or some big huge honking goggles (for dorks), but I chose this one because it was normal looking and I didn't feel I would be embarrassed wearing them in public.

And not being embarrassed to wear something in public (ie. a god-awful ugly bicycle helmet) is reason enough for me. I don't think it matters so much what company it is so long as its quality, doesn't leak and you look good in it.

I chose the black goggles because I figured black matches everything.

#2. DIVE N' SURF professional dive snorkel - 100% submersible (meaning I can dive farther under and then come back up to breathe later as opposed to just floating near the surface), an attachment for my goggles, a purge valve and it is blue so I even liked the colour.

You can get a set for this which also comes with matching ugly goggles and fins, but I opted for JUST the snorkel because the goggles were so ugly and I don't want to wear fins. (Pourquoi? Les fins es tres embarrassing.)

Sadly I couldn't find a photo online of the snorkel without the set so instead I opted for a photo of a hot chick snorkeling. Huzzah!

I like the fact that it is 100% submersible. It has a piece which floats upwards and blocks off the tube to prevent water from getting in when going completely under, snorkel et al. However in actual practice I seem to have difficulty getting myself to go really far underwater. I guess I either float naturally or I am not that good at diving under.

Maybe I just need more practice.

#3. SPEEDO nose plugs - This is arguably the most important part of my snorkeling equipment. Without the nose plugs I simply can't control my breathing through my nose and end up having to pinch my nose when under water to prevent myself from inhaling. The nose plugs work wonderfully and make everything much easier.

HOT TIP: If you have to sneeze go back up first.

Happy snorkeling this summer and whenever else you get a chance!