Book Review: The Fiction Blueprint

You have a story in your head. Maybe it’s been there for months. Years. You’ve read craft books. Watched videos. Joined writing communities. But the story stays stuck—because you don’t have a clear path from idea to finished book.

Ian Stevens walked that path nine times. Along the way, he kept notes—what worked, what didn’t, what got him unstuck when everything felt broken. Those notes became a course: The Fiction Blueprint. It covers everything from first idea to published book. 13 modules, templates, and the exact process he used.

Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced — start where you are. Go deeper when ready.

Book Review: Dirty 20

Tommy Fugue never cared for the family business. But when his fathe Big Al, aka King of the Denver Streets, assigns him the “summer job” of laundering money online, Tommy figures he can list some fake projects on FunFunder, pledge them with zombie accounts, and clean a dirty $20,000 in time for college in the fall. Unfortunately for Tommy, he’s more creative than he thought. Just as he’s about to give his father’s capos a progress report, he sees that a roleplaying game he mocked up using his mom’s old artwork has been funded to the tune of $650,000 and counting.

The only thing scarier than an angry Big Al is a Big Al that smells cash and family bonding time. Voluntold by their mercurial boss to assist, various criminals and killers help playtest and produce Tommy’s 1,000 Blades of Tergivers RPG in the hopes they can truly turn a dirty twenty into legit millions. But when Tommy realizes that being game master might help him uncover what these criminals know about his mother’s disappearance, it’s Game On.

Book Review: Next Level

In video games creativity isn't just seen – it's played – from exploring endless landscapes, to diving into character details, to immersing ourselves in unpredictable narratives. Yet these elements are often the result of procedural generation – the creative use of algorithms to design game content. Procedural generation is the secret behind some of the biggest hits in video game history, from genre-defying titles in the 1980s, to the most famous blockbusters of today.

Next Level demystifies the collection of algorithms and procedural techniques that are often as mysterious as the things they create. Written by game designer and creative AI researcher Mike Cook, it takes us on a tour of generative systems past and present, exploring how they work, the artistic uses they have in some of our favourite games and how procedural generation didn't just change how we design games, but how we think about creativity.

Book Review: Mighty Real

From the underground dancefloors of the Seventies to the global charts of the Nineties, LGBTQ artists and audiences shaped music’s sound, style, and spirit. In Mighty Real, veteran journalist Barry Walters chronicles its LGBTQ history from the Velvet Underground to the 21st century’s dawn as he honors the artists who redefined gender, defied tradition, and dared to challenge sexual norms with the help of a record business that wasn’t as straight as commonly believed.

Drawing on his decades as a New York- and San Francisco-based music critic, Walters examines how LGBTQ musicians, music industry executives, and fans reshaped the mainstream. He connects the dots between David Bowie’s dazzling reinventions, Grace Jones’s androgynous glamor, Prince’s boundary-shattering sexuality, and the radical candor of the Indigo Girls to prove they’re all doing the same thing: fighting oppression.

Book Review: Romp

Welcome to the 80s, and to the raunchiest summer of your life.

When Lady Opal Fairfax discovers her scoundrel of a husband cheating, she decides to turn the tables on him. Instead of getting a divorce, she’s going to get even. Opal invites five daring (and gorgeous) artists to her manor, offering a life-changing cash prize to the best talent. Among them is Ruby, a talented poet struggling to make ends meet. So when Opal dangles the chance of an all-expenses-paid summer, Ruby can’t resist. But she wasn’t expecting the competition to be quite so fierce – or so sexy.

With all these brilliant and beautiful people around, life at Fairfax Manor promises to be anything but dull. Ruby and Opal aren't just seeking inspiration: they're going to find out a way to come out on top, in more ways than one.

Book Review: The Tribe and I Have Spoken

Rob Cesternino has probably talked more Survivor than any other person on the planet. After playing in Survivor: The Amazon and All-Stars, Rob built a community amongst Survivor’s online fans with Rob Has a Podcast. Now, this foremost scholar of the show takes readers from the beaches of Borneo on the first season all the way to the landmark fiftieth season. This cleverly illustrated ode to the show includes “The Heroes and Villains Hall of Fame,” the greatest “Watercooler Watershed Moments” in the show’s history, and Rob’s “Ultimate Survivor Playbook” (no refunds) to winning that million-dollar prize.

Whether you’re a superfan or a first timer, The Tribe and I Have Spoken is a must-read celebration for anyone who counts themselves as part of this passionate tribe of fans from around the world.

Book Review: The Anniversary

On May 1, 1992, Jules Delaney (high school queen bee) and Quinn Riley (boy from the wrong side of the tracks) hardly know each other. By morning, their lives are forever connected.

A year later, Jules is haunted by trauma and guilt, tormented by one question: Why was she spared? Quinn is newly released from juvenile detention and returns home to devastating news—the unsolved murder of his mother. Over the next decade, their lives are revisited on a single day each year: May 1st.

As the years pass, secrets surface, lies unravel, and the paths of Jules and Quinn draw closer together. Two mysteries edge toward the truth—what really happened the night Jules was attacked, and who murdered Quinn’s mother? All the while, the May Day Killer is still out there. And the clock is racing toward another anniversary.