TheAstralBackstage

 Hello. C J here. I have a special surprise for everyone to round out the New Year. I've written a short story set in Ascala about our main characters there celebrating their traditional holiday, the Summer Solstice festival Summermoon. It's a take on the classic A Christmas Carol but told in the style of a CBC morning radio show and it features an all-anthro cast. Here's a direct link. You can also find it in the Downloads page with all my other ebooks. Enjoy!  Happy New Year! https://1drv.ms/b/s!AnaDkc795n_3hINc0epGUva7DLpGHQ?e=Xa3qsP C J Mcpherson

 Hello. C J here. I’ve spent the holiday season numbering all of my projects and planning which ones need to get done first. To repeat something I’ve said before, I’m a one person team. The job needs one person doing it and if anyone else whats a similar profession then they can sign up for the licensing deal and have their share of my setting and the characters I write about. I’m good at retraining so I can sing, dance and act as well as code and compose music. This took a while. The company’s launch on Facebook was done the day after I figured out the last of this list a few years ago. Also, if you’ve clicked through to this blog from Facebook expecting only recipes, well, hello. I have those recipes, but I also have fantasy novels and free print yourself fantasy card games. Sing, dance and act. That’s the job. Then, what am I working on this next year? First of all is Ascala. I’m taking a break from it. Ascala is the main city I write stories about but it’s one city in a list of...

 Hello. C J here. Welcome all to this year’s project. Welcome to Story Year Carthia – Five of the Heavens. For the next six months I’m going to detail every part and character in the Astral setting’s landmass known as Carthia – Five of the Heavens. Join me as I recreate traditional mainland Asian cultures through story and art. I mean China but also the Huns, Tibetans and the ancient nations that predate modern Thailand and Vietnam. I’m going to do my best to represent these nations and their complex histories and philosophies in story. Welcome to the first Story Year. By six months from now I hope to have a full set of Regency Lore Cards, Regency Region Cards, line art style backgrounds, landscapes and characters done for the setting region. I also want a novel and a new cookbook. The novel is the first in my new ongoing series Infinity Saga. Infinity Saga are the stories of the many nations of the Astral setting as seen through Travellers who visit them and meet the people there....

 Hello. C J here. I know Christmas is fast approaching and it’s probably stressing everyone out. Me, here, with my absurdly large Scottish family, we have Christmas down to a science. It’s a pattern we know how to do. But what if you don’t like turkey? Or cranberries? Or nutmeg? Well, here’s three non-traditional holiday meal ideas. Also, if you need a quick meal sometimes throughout the holiday season, consider baking a few chicken breasts and a pack of bacon in advance. Keep them in the fridge fully cooked and make sandwiches, breakfast potatoes, or soup as needed by you and your guests. Summer in Winter Christmas Celebrate the Christmas season with Caribbean and Jamaican style food. Jerk chicken replaces other poultry, festive tropical rice replaces stuffing and maybe a pina colada or two replaces the eggnog. For a virgin, zero-alcohol rum mix one half cup of strong black tea with a pinch of nutmeg as use as you would rum. Breakfast for Santa Skip the complex dishes and rely on ...

  Hello. C J here. Thai food. It’s a mysterious and often hard to grasp subject. I often phrase Thai food as Chinese food but with less fried meat and more vegetables. They share a number of flavours in common like their choice of meats and their ability to make a nice sauce. However, while Chinese food often does sweet sauces thickened with cornstarch, their neighbouring nation does curries and coconut milk with spices. More than the rest of them though, when it comes to Thai food, I’ve always had my sights set on a dish. One dish. Red curry chicken with peanuts. It’s hard to find even at a fine Thai food place. It’s often hidden on the menu behind labels like lime leaf or spicy. But it’s really good. Here, finally, I have figured out a homemade version. Unlike a lot of my recipes I add no extra salt. There’s enough salt in the salted peanuts to make it taste right. One Tablespoon Coriander One Teaspoon Ginger Powder One Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper One Cup Chopped Salted Peanuts One D...

   Hello. C J here. Say hello also to the Infinity Game Studios family of stuffed animals. They are very important to Infinity Game Studios and it’s ability to continue to provide you with high quality nonsense and parody content. Starting at the top left we have Ludvica the Stingray, Burger Friend and his food friends. These include Carrotcake, Miniburger and Bubble Tea Friend. Then behind the giant charmander we have Captain Kirby, who is generally good at things. To the right is Jolteon and Chikorita. Hidden somewhere in there is Mini Caterpie. Their friend Chef Kirby is busy contemplating lunch items. Going right from him we have Giant Charmander Friend and Blue Dragon Friend. Then we have Fish Friend and his partner Dumpling Friend. In the front are Squishy Dragonite and Squishy Pikachu. They are protecting my stack of board games. I’ve got a partial list here. Some of these are old or rare so don’t worry if you don’t know all of them. Horizon Zero Dawn the Boardgame Betr...

 Hello. C J here. I’ve got more work done on the Minecraft map version of my upcoming open world RPG Duskbringer. Here are some screenshots. We have the Southern edge of the Plains of Deceit, where you can see the entrance to the Green Chasm. Through the Green Chasm there aren’t campfires or lights, so monsters spawn when it’s night. Finally we have the view from the lookout on top of the mountain range, looking back over the Plains of Deceit to the distant town of Cruelty. I’ve got a lot more plans than this so check back soon. You can see the town of Cruelty in the previous posts in this series. C J Mcpherson

Hello. C J here. A while ago I thought I’d marathon the original Harry Potter movies. I’ve so far gotten through two of them. It’s been almost a year of me trying. They’re long and really action and story heavy. The Harry Potter franchise took the world by storm ages ago and proved that a series of novels with magic as a theme can make an impact on the world. That’s the model and the impact I’m trying to replicate here. I’m not going to lie, I am a very skilled fantasy author. I will eventually make my own animated movies of my work but the goal there is to ensure there are movies set in my setting. I want another phenomenon. I want to make something people can fall in love with. I had a thought. I’m looking into making Engineering Plus, an Add-On pack I want for Minecraft. It won’t be hard I’m sure since I already now a bit of Java. Engineering Plus will take some brainstorming however because I want to do it right the first time. Could I Minecraft Harry Potter? I’m going to have to l...

Hello. C J here. I’ve got another region done for my Minecraft map of Duskbringer. This entire map will be for sale but it will be a while before it’s done. The town of Cruelty is complete although I haven’t done the insides of all the buildings yet. You can see here the main town square with some jungle in the background. Here is the walkway out of the town towards the Plains of Deceit. This is a normal Cruelty dwelling on the side there. These tall cliffs can be climbed on and make for a great view of the plains. Expect monsters to spawn here at night. That back exit isn’t built up yet. That’s for next time. I should also point out that all of these blocks are placed by hand. There are copy and paste controls in the Creative mode commands list but I don’t use them. These maps are entirely handmade. C J Mcpherson