A to Z Challenge: A Review

First, I want to give a bit shout-out to all those who are involved in the running of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. It’s got to take a lot of time and dedication to keep track of so many participants, making sure that non-participants are removed from the list, and ensuring that participants get the attention they deserve. Kudos!

Second, a double-huge shout-out to all my fellow participants who made it (sometimes kicking and screaming) to the end of the challenge. Some of those letters were pretty difficult, but you did it! You rock! 😀

Third, a triple-huge shout-out to all those who stopped by my blog during April and commented on my posts. I had some great conversations this month, met some cool new friends, and gained a number of new followers. I hope you all stick close by, because it’s been a blast, and I’ve been truly happy to meet you all. 🙂

The challenge has been a great deal of fun, and I got a lot of great comments on my 26 posts, so as part of this review I present a list of links to each of my posts in case anyone missed anything or is just dropping by now and would like to check a couple of them out.

Day 1: Ariel (the Little Mermaid)Day 2: Buffy Summers (the Vampire Slayer)
Day 3: Castiel (the Monster-Fighting Angel)
Day 4: Deadpool (the Lunatic Assassin)
Day 5: Eric Northman (the Viking Vampire)
Day 6: Freddy Krueger (the Nightmare Demon)
Day 7: Gau (the Wild Orphan)
Day 8: Han Solo (the Cocky Starpilot)
Day 9: Iron Man (the Smarmiest Avenger)
Day 10: James T. Kirk (the Star Fleet Captain)
Day 11: Kefka Palazzo (the Magitek Monster)
Day 12: Lisse (the Child of the Dystopian Future)
Day 13: Magus (the Lost Wizard)
Day 14: Neville Longbottom (the Heart of Gryffindor)
Day 15: Other-Mother (the Other World Evil)
Day 16: Peter Parker (the Spider-Man)
Day 17: Qui-Gon Jinn (the Jedi Knight)
Day 18: Ryuk (the Shinigami)
Day 19: Sherlock Holmes (the High-Functioning Sociopath)
Day 20: Tyrion Lannister (the Exceptionally Clever Imp)
Day 21: Usagi Tsukino (the Sailor Senshi)
Day 22: Victoria MacKinnon (the Lost Princess)
Day 23: Winchester Brothers (the Monster Hunters)
Day 24: Xander Harris (the Lovable Sidekick)
Day 25: Yuki Miaka (the Girl from Other World)
Day 26: Zelda (the Hyrulian Princess)

In case you somehow missed it, my theme for the challenge was “Fictional Characters”. Each one of these characters, even the ones chosen out of duress of very difficult letters, holds a special place in my heart for one reason or another. The TV shows, movies, comics, cartoons, and video games mentioned were overwhelmingly a great part of my childhood, and in some cases an incredible part of my adulthood. If you’ve got the time, check some of them out. You totally won’t be disappointed.

And finally, before I sign off, I wanted to share with you a couple of the blogs that I’ve come across during this particular challenge. I came into contact with so many awesome fellow bloggers this past month that it’s impossible to mention them all, but these are a couple of the ones I fully plan to keep tabs on even now that the challenge is over.

A Scenic Route – Kirsten is a fellow writer who blogs about her “journey into noveldom”. This month she wrote a wonderful series of posts with the theme “Backstage at the Blog”, in which she gave some wonderful tips, hints, and ideas for fellow bloggers, in addition to sharing info about her own blogging journey.

Sophie’s Thoughts and Fumbles – Sophie is a writer of many genres who uses her blog as a place to talk about reading, writing, all the topics in between, and whatever else she so desires. She is also the brains behind the mini-challenge that a few of us participated in in addition to the A to Z challenge: the Supernatural A to Z Challenge. She wrote about ghosts and ghoulies this month, and while I didn’t often comment on her posts because my WordPress reader doesn’t make it easy for me to deal with other blogging websites, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading about all the creepy creatures that she posted.

Alex Hurst – Alex is one of my favorite new people because she is fun, bubbly, and friendly, and we apparently have a great deal in common. The fantasy writer spent the month talking about different aspects of writing and being a writer. Her post “J for Jargon” cracked me up because so many of the definitions she came up with were SO TRUE.

I would love to share some more blogs, and perhaps I will in the future, but this has been such a busy month that I simply do not have the time it would take to go through all the wonderful blogs I’ve found during this challenge. However, if you’re really, truly interested in finding some great new people to follow, check out the A to Z sign-up list and just start clicking. There are literally hundreds of wonderful blogs amongst that list.

And now, with all that aside, I must say adieu, and take a much-deserved nap. Cheers everyone! ❤

A to Z Challenge Day 7: Gau (the Wild Orphan)

Video games have been an important part of my life, off and on, for the past two and a half decades or so. I had an original Atari, which I was absolutely obsessed with, and I’ve owned every generation of Nintendo console and hand-held aside from the Virtual Boy (because I honestly never knew it existed until years later), the 3DS (because my regular DS works just fine, thanks) and the Wii-U (because screw it, I’m not that big of a sucker). I’ve also, in partnership with my husband, had all four Playstations (plus the Vita), and the first two X-Boxes (the third will probably come along at some point), and we’ve got a Dreamcast squirreled away upstairs somewhere.

There have definitely been times in my life where video games became less important, but I’ve always loved them since I was barely old enough to be able to figure out how to play them, and to this day turn-based RPGs are my favorites. And of that classification, Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan) definitely ranks at the very top of my all-time favorites list. I can not tell you the number of times I have played through this game. I love everything about it from the story, to the characters, to the battle system. To this day I get the random urge to pop in my Gameboy Advanced version and start a whole new game right from the beginning.

I love pretty much all of the characters in this game, but one character I always thought was under-appreciated was Gau. He’s the sweet little orphan boy who was raised by monsters and joins the party simply because they were nice enough to feed him. He’s never been a fan favorite amongst the FFIII characters, but I think that was mostly because of the effort required to make him a force to be reckoned with. You see, whereas the other characters learned their special attacks naturally, Gau had to be fighting in a particular area, and in order to get him to learn new attacks you had to let him leave the party and then keep fighting in random encounters until he showed up again. You might fight ten battles and have him come back and have learned one new attack, out of the 250 attacks that he could learn…and often the one he did learn would be total crap.

But, if you were willing to be a little patient, Gau could become a great addition to your party, one who could do an enormous number of special attacks. Plus, he was just fun to have around. Come on, FFIII fans…speak up! You know he was the cutest thing since kitty-shaped sliced bread!

Fiction Fragment Fridays: Returning Hope (Chapter 11 – Part 4)

Continuing on with Final Fantasy: Returning Hope!

Enjoy, and also check out FanFiction.net, where I’ll also be posting this story. 

Reminder: If you’re looking for the previously posted parts of the story, go to the “Categories” drop-down banner on the left banner of the site and choose “Final Fantasy: Returning Hope”.

*Spites via http://www.videogamesprites.net

As was his custom, Locke was the last one to wake the next morning. For a moment he lay under the covers, listening to the low, constant rumble of the motorized fortress passing through the earth. He’d expected the noise to keep him up all night, but it had actually been quite soothing. He’d had a decent night’s sleep for the first time in a long time and was rather loathe to end it.

It was the sound of hushed voices outside his door that finally drove him from the feather mattress. He thought he recognized the owners of the quiet words, so in the true spirit of an adventurer he crept to the door and laid his ear against it.

Fiction Fragment Fridays: Returning Hope (Chapter 11 – Part 3)

Continuing on with Final Fantasy: Returning Hope!

Enjoy, and also check out FanFiction.net, where I’ll also be posting this story. 

Reminder: If you’re looking for the previously posted parts of the story, go to the “Categories” drop-down banner on the left banner of the site and choose “Final Fantasy: Returning Hope”.

*Spites via http://www.videogamesprites.net

It was near midnight by the time the preparations had been made. Fully exhausted, Edgar dragged himself off toward his quarters to the soothing rumble of the castle beginning its decent under the sand. He was mercifully near to his waiting bed when he caught sight of the throne room door swinging shut; as an afterthought, he decided to peak in.

Sabin was standing in the center of the room, his arms hanging at his sides, looking for all the world like a little lost child. He seemed to consider the tapestries for a while before moving up to the thrones. He stared at these for a long time before gingerly sitting himself on the one that had remained empty for almost two decades; their mother’s throne.

Fiction Fragment Fridays: Returning Hope (Chapter 11 – Part 1)

Continuing on with Final Fantasy: Returning Hope!

Enjoy, and also check out FanFiction.net, where I’ll also be posting this story. 

Reminder: If you’re looking for the previously posted parts of the story, go to the “Categories” drop-down banner on the left banner of the site and choose “Final Fantasy: Returning Hope”.

*Spites via http://www.videogamesprites.net

Locke woke feeling as though his head had been split open, which as it turned out wasn’t too far from the truth. When he opened his eyes it was to find Celes gingerly removing a bloodied bandage from his forehead. She gazed down at him with such relief in her eyes that he felt his heart do a funny little flutter.

“You’re awake, finally,” she sighed, setting the bandage aside. “I was worried.” She seemed surprised at herself to have uttered such words.

Trying to ignore the pounding in his skull, Locke pushed himself to a sitting position. “What happened?” he groaned through the pain.

“You hit your head on a rock and got knocked out,” Celes explained. “The little wildling boy was knocked over the cliff, but luckily he’s an amazing climber. The others were all fine, except…” Her eyes dropped to the bed in which Locke lay.

Locke’s jaw clenched. “What happened to Terra?” he demanded.

Celes sighed and looked everywhere but his eyes. “She turned into a-” She shook her head. “She took off across the sky, and she looked like…” She closed her eyes for a moment before finally forcing herself to look Locke in the eye. “She looked like an esper.”

Locke’s jaw dropped. “Dear god,” he whispered.

A gentle rap at the door announced Edgar’s arrival. Sabin, Cyan, and Gau followed close behind, and for the first time Locke realized that they were in a room at the Narshe Inn.

Edgar rushed forward when he saw that his friend was awake. “Locke! Thank goodness! Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better,” Locke admitted. “But that’s not important. Celes was just telling me about Terra.”

The men all threw sidelong glances at each other while Gau jumped on the second bed and rolled around playfully.

“Yes,” Edgar admitted. “Something…strange happened to her. It was as though the esper had some kind of direct connection to her, and then she-” He shook his head as if to dispel some unpleasant thought. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. We need to find her.”

“How?” Celes questioned. “She flew off so fast. She could be anywhere in the world by now.”

In response, Edgar waved a piece of parchment he’d been holding. “We have reports of witnesses seeing her screaming across the sky to the West. It’s not much to go on, but it gives us somewhere to start. If we return to Figaro Castle we can shuttle to the Western province, and from there we can look for further tips in Kohlingen or Jidoor.”

Locke practically leaped out of the bed. “Then let’s go! I promised her that I’d-” He trailed off.

Cyan chose that moment to speak up in a gruff voice. “She’s an Imperial soldier,” he growled. Locke almost spat back at him, but to his surprise the swordsman gave a meaningful look to Celes and added, “But we’ve no choice. We must help her.”

“Gau!” shouted the green-haired boy, grinning happily.

“Don’t forget,” Sabin added. “Banon and the miners need our help protecting Narshe and the esper, should the Empire return.”

They all considered that for a moment before Cyan stepped forward with his chest puffed out and his head held high. “I volunteer,” he announced. “I commanded the great army of Doma for most of my life. I am certain that I can train the Narshean citizens to better defend themselves.”

Locke couldn’t help but be surprised. After the confrontation with Celes and Terra, Cyan had not seemed the most reasonable of men.

Sabin clapped a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Perhaps I should stay with you,” he suggested, but Cyan shook his head.

“No, Sir Sabin,” he said. “The people here have neither the time nor the discipline to learn your fighting arts. I can teach them forgery and weaponry. No, you should go along with your brother and help find the young woman as quickly as possible.”

Sabin nodded, but he seemed to have misgivings until Gau spoke up from where he was doing a handstand on top of the bed’s headboard. “Gau stay too! Protect Cyan!”

Locke couldn’t tell whether Cyan looked amused or exasperated. Possibly both.

“It’s settled then,” Edgar concluded. “We’ll spit up for now. When Locke is fully healed we’ll head for Figaro.”

“Fully healed, my ass,” growled Locke. He snatched his dagger from where Celes had placed it on the bedside table. “We’re leaving now. Buck up, team! Let’s find our Terra!”

Fiction Fragment Fridays: Returning Hope (Chapter 10 – Part 2)

Continuing on with Final Fantasy: Returning Hope!

Enjoy, and also check out FanFiction.net, where I’ll also be posting this story. 

Reminder: If you’re looking for the previously posted parts of the story, go to the “Categories” drop-down banner on the left banner of the site and choose “Final Fantasy: Returning Hope”.

*Spites via http://www.videogamesprites.net

The plans were made hurriedly, given that they were not blessed with time. Terra listened with interest as the men shouted ideas at each other, dismissed several, and eventually settled on the best they could come up with under such duress. A team of miners and other Narshean citizens were assigned to guard the town, with instructions that they stay hidden and only emerge should the Empire take fancy to harm the town itself. Otherwise, they were to allow the invaders to pass through the town unhindered. The battle would be fought as far away from any innocents as possible.

Those who remained – the rag-tag group of Returners and about one hundred miners – gathered what weapons the had and began a cold trek up into the mines. Terra felt very conspicuous amongst this group. These were people who were defending their homes, their morals, and their way of life. They were fighting for what they believed to be right. But what was Terra fighting for? She had no idea. She was contemplating this when Celes sidled up beside her on an icy bridge.

Fiction Fragment Fridays: Returning Hope (Chapter 10 – Part 1)

Continuing on with Final Fantasy: Returning Hope!

Enjoy, and also check out FanFiction.net, where I’ll also be posting this story. 

Reminder: If you’re looking for the previously posted parts of the story, go to the “Categories” drop-down banner on the left banner of the site and choose “Final Fantasy: Returning Hope”.

*Spites via http://www.videogamesprites.net

While Locke and Celes were making it on foot, and Sabin and his new companions were trekking halfway across the world, Terra, Edgar, and Banon had made their way to Narshe with very little incident. The Lete River had carried them the bulk of the way and they’d made the remainder of the journey in less than a day on foot. They arrived at night, but before they entered the town Terra had posed a request. She was concerned, she told the men, that the townspeople would remember her, and not kindly. She showed them the secret passage that Locke had used when they’d escaped the mountain town, and asked that they take this path instead.

Fiction Fragment Fridays: Returning Hope (Chapter 9 – Part 2)

Continuing on with Final Fantasy: Returning Hope!

This entry may be a little long, but the only way I could think to split it would have created a tiny entry and a barely-less-long entry, so I decided to just leave it as is. Enjoy, and also check out FanFiction.net, where I’ll also be posting this story. 

Reminder: If you’re looking for the previously posted parts of the story, go to the “Categories” drop-down banner on the left banner of the site and choose “Final Fantasy: Returning Hope”.

*Spites via http://www.videogamesprites.net

At the mouth of the cave that led through to Baren Falls, Shadow finally decided that the journey was over for him.

“I have served my purpose,” he announced suddenly. Without so much as a ‘so long’ he turned, motioned for Interceptor to follow, and began walking back in the opposite direction.

Sabin had known that the moment would come, but he had become used to having the quiet man around. “Shadow!” he called. When the other man failed to stop, he continued with: “Thanks for your help! Let’s join ranks again sometime!”

Shadow raised one hand in recognition of the request and continued to walk, his loyal hound at his side.