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C.T. Phipps

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About C.T. Phipps

  • Birthday 12/19/1980

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    https://ctphipps.wordpress.com/
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  • Snarky Book Author
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Ashland, Ky
  • Interests
    Being married to my beautiful wife. Writing. Fantasy. Urban Fantasy. Horror. You know, the usual.

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  1. CTHULHU ARMAGEDDON and THE TOWER OF ZHAAL are available for 99c.
  2. Space Academy Dropouts is free from the 17th to 21st
  3. I decided to do TEN TIPS FOR INDIE FANTASY AND SCI-FI WRITERS based on my own ten years of writing. https://beforewegoblog.com/ten-tips-for-indie-fantasy-and-sci-fi-writers/ I hope people will check it out and comment.
  4. Fascinating take! I'd argue that Gandalf's renewal of Gondor is actually purely to renew toward High Gondor rather than Numenor. Aragorn has many qualities of past kings like Isildur and Beren both but I'd argue that he doesn't have many qualities akin to Numenor. He actually rejects imperialism and generally makes peace versus conquest of the whole of humanity as a goal. The general suspicion of elves, idolatry, and imperialism that is the core of the Numenorean experience is absent and the "best" of Numenor happened after its collapse with the loyalist survivors. But this may well be semantics on my part. Which would be my only argument that the status quo is something that Tolkien gets argued as advocating but that is less than people think because the status quo is something Tolkien depicts as unsustainable. Also, what people are often advocating as the greatness of the past is often suicidal and self-destructive. * Gondorians are obsessed with ancient glories and actually build elaborate tombs versus anything new. * Gondorians are obsessed with Ancient Numenor when Tolkien depicts it as a place literally struck down by God for its perfidy. * The attempt to rebuild ancient Moira is an utter disaster. * The Hobbits get ignored as rural throwbacks but Tolkien actually has them as the future. The genteel English 19th century country life is actually depicted as far superior to ancient feudalism. Tolkien is suspicious of modernization for its own sake but he's also a man who has experienced the tail end of the Industrial Revolution and WW1 so he's going for a "Golden Mien" between casting aside the idealized memories of the past and the wholesale embrace of a destructive technocracy.
  5. Cthulhu Armageddon for $2.99 Tales of Al-Azif for $2.99 Tales of Yog-Sothoth for $2.99 Tales of Capes and Cowls for $2.99 Legends and Lattes for $2.99
  6. BookBub is doing a promotion for Moon Cops on the Moon
  7. The delusion of the ends justifying the means is something that certainly exists in the Lord of the Rings but it's something that is mostly reserved for mortal characters like Boromir. Sauron certainly doesn't have that as a problem by the Third Age because he's still convincing mortals to worship Morgoth as a god because he's afraid of his master returning and certainly making no entreaties to Eru. Saruman, I tend to interpret as having planned to eventually overthrow Sauron and never being a servant of him with their alliance being a highly unstable one. Sauron was already planning to send some people to punish Saruman and he was searching for the One Ring for himself. Tolkien's intro suggested that in a "realistic" LOTR, Saruman would have gotten the Ring knowledge he needed to bond his essence to a One Ring of his own and the world would have ended up divided between the two. But Saruman was also willing to surrender to Sauron before the One Ring became an option. “A new Power is rising. Against it the old allies and policies will not avail us at all. There is no hope left in Elves or dying Númenor. This then is one choice before you, before us. We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at hand; and there will be rich reward for those that aided it. As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means.”
  8. There's a certain level of "Good people turned bad" in Tolkien and "no one starts out as a monster" but I also feel like the fact that Tolkien's sympathy is actually somewhat limited. Redemption is something the good guys continuously offer but there's a very real sense that it's almost never taken by the people involved and after a certain point becomes more or less impossible. In the case of Sauron, he joins with Morgoth during the initial rebellion and is fascinated with all of the corrosive and terrible arts that his master practices. He's a mad doctor and scientist who wants to establish "order" but there's never any sense that Sauron's particular brand of order is anything other than horrifying. Good intentions are something that you must stretch your limits a good deal to actually apply to Sauron because his intentions aren't really that good. Sauron is better than Morgoth and falls less than his master because he still wants to rule the world and not destroy it but that's damning with faint praise. Even Sauron's attempt to redeem himself only goes so far as willing to ask for forgiveness from his friend but not someone who actually has authority over him. Which implies that any guilt or remorse he might have felt was limited to being sorry he lost the war. This is a contrast to Denethor and Feanor who are by far more sympathetic beings held down by their monumental personal flaws but actually do have GOOD intentions. Denethor isn't that good of a person, being what you'd call a racist colonialist who viewed Gondorians as a separate order of men from the rest of humanity (Tolkien gets some "fair for his day" criticisms here that the British IdealTM is no better than the people they look down on ala the Rohan). Feanor being the enemy of Morgoth is his redeeming quality despite being a kinslayer. What Saruman's motivations are is also something that remains somewhat mysterious. He's clearly working with Sauron but it seems very likely that he has plans of turning against him and possibly using the One Ring or his copy of it (which he's already made it seems by the events of LOTR) to overthrow Sauron. Alternatively, Saruman may have simply given up on the War of Good vs. Evil after believing defeating Sauron for good.
  9. A massive collection of superhero books are on sale for 99c today (October 23rd). Including RULES OF SUPERVILLAINY and TALES OF CAPES AND COWLS. https://superhero-fiction.com/salespage/
  10. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman for 99c
  11. Tales of Capes and Cowls is on sale for 99c
  12. I just got the preorder up for MOON COPS ON THE MOON, which I think fans of humorous sci-fi will really enjoy. It's also 99c because I want to hit the ground running with this series and share with as many people as possible. Nov 13th is the release date. The worst (best?) cops in the galaxy in the galaxy's worst precinct! https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Cops-C-T.../dp/B0CD7QKBQJ/
  13. I love my Dresden Files and Garrett PI paperbacks. My Vampire: The Masquerade collection as well.
  14. Replika: Sky's Mission by Hugo Bernard is on sale for 99c
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