Bloodborne

I never played Demon Souls, or Dark Souls. People complained about how hard they were and how much time and effort they took to really understand the game. The difficulty didn’t bother me, I grew up playing 16bit games, but the time sink of 100s of hours was just not something I had time for.

I was never going to buy Bloodborne, primarily for the reasons above, but the combat looked quicker, the setting was stunning (I love old gothic Victorian era), and frankly it looked like the sort of game I usually enjoy. I’m glad I took the step.

Story wise, I have no idea what’s going on, I’ve read little bits of in game stuff (mostly notes about the town’s history), but the story is still unfolding. Normally I’m all about the story, but so far the setting and gameplay have held my interest.

The thing about Bloodborne is that it’s hard… really hard. But not unfairly so. If I died—and I have dozens and dozens of times—it’s my fault for not taking it slowly, for doing something stupid, or for being bad at the game. Those first few hours of death after death, slowly inching forward in the game’s opening level were occasionally frustrating, but more with myself than the game itself.

Every time you kill something, you get echoes, the more kills, the more echoes. But if you die, you lose it all, and the only way to get them back is to get to the place you died, and either find the stack of echoes on the floor, or track down an enemy who wandered off with it. So, there’s a big risk vs reward part to it, and several times, I died before getting back somewhere, losing those echoes forever.  

 

Then something clicks. The combat, the heavy and light attacks, the gun to parry, the dodging, it all comes together. The fact that you have to take on enemies one at a time, avoiding large groups, separating your enemies for easier pickings, is a bit weird coming from someone who played Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, but once you get used to it, it’s glorious.

I’d played about 5 hours now, and gotten to the first boss a few times (even unlocking a short-cut, which is a godsend. And the ability to level up, which is even more of one). I’m yet to beat the boss, and there’s still a danger that if I’m not concentrating I could get killed by anything, but I can see me getting better and better. I’m getting used to the controls, to the world, to taking things slow.  But more than that, I’m loving every second I spend in the dark, disturbing world of Bloodborne.

Prison of Hope Reviews 2

Yep, I’m back with some more early reviews of Prison of Hope.

.First of all is a 5* review of Prison of Hope on Bitten by Books.

‘I cannot wait until the next Hellequin book comes out.’

http://bittenbybooks.com/prison-of-hope-by-steve-mchugh/

And then next up is a brilliant review on One Book Two:

“This series is a must read. The action, adventure and history keeps the reader engaged at all times. It is a story that incorporates the emotional side of the characters, their passion for justice as well as their conflict.”

https://onebooktwo.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/prison-of-hope/

Only 3 weeks until the book launches now. if you haven’t yet pre-ordered, you can do so by going HERE.

Prison of Hope: Reviews

Reviews are beginning to trickle in for Prison of Hope. And Liz Wilkins on her blog has given it a brilliant review, which you can go HERE to read in it’s entirety.

But here’s a snippet.

“Overall then a really great read, all of them, another strength being that you can read any one on its own, you don’t necessarily have to read in order. A series that I hope will run and run.

Highly Recommended”

Prison of Hope: Goodreads

Right now my publisher is running a competition on Goodreads for 20 people to win a copy of Prison of Hope. I should mention that only people living in the USA are eligible. Sorry about that.

 

Click the picture below to enter (which is as easy as clicking a button that says enter). Best of luck to everyone who takes part.

FB Event Q:A

I did a FB event on the weekend, and I thought a few people might like to read what I wrote and see what the answers to a few questions about future Hellequin books were.  To begin with here’s what I posted. The questions are down below.

I’m Steve McHugh, author of dark Urban Fantasy series the Hellequin Chronicles. And when I first came up with the idea for the series, I wasn’t entirely sure how it was all going to work.

I had this mammoth idea for multiple books chronicling the life of the main character, Nathan (Nate) Garrett. Nate is a 1600-year-old sorcerer, who also goes by the name of Hellequin. He was the shadowy assassin for Merlin (yes, that Merlin), who left his post under less than ideal circumstances. He’s a man capable of extreme levels of violence on his enemies, while being someone that his friends count on. The fact that he has a sort of switch in his head that lets him go from calm and pleasant, to committing awful acts against his enemies, took time for me to get my head around.

I spent several years with Nate before I wrote the first book, Crimes Against Magic, and even longer re-writing it and getting it to a place I was happy with. And finally in 2012, the book was published, and now the 4th book, Prison of Hope, is just about to launch too. It’s been a crazy few years. Going from self to traditionally published author was not the journey I’d expected, but it’s worked out well.

After I finished book 4, I immediately started book 5 (which is also out in Aug this year), and then I stopped. I can switch Nate (and many of his friends) on and off in my head without trouble, but we need a break from one another. I don’t want to get to the point where I’m tired of writing Nate. I’ve got a lot of plans for Nate’s future, and the trouble he’s going to get into, but until then I’ve got some other books to write. And there’s nothing quite like writing something new and unknown to make things fun.

And now for the Questions!

 

Q: Are we likely to see Nate in are we going to see him in the trenches of World war one?

A: Well book 5 is 1888 London, and I’ve got plans for one in 15th or 16th century Japan, one in China. Another in the USA. And I’m torn between Mongolian and the Ottoman Empire. I may just use both. No plans for WW1 just yet, although that’s not to say he won’t be in there at some point.  The whole WW1 timeline for Nate isn’t set in stone yet. So I need to figure out where he’d be at that time. Oh I forgot, Russia too. 1916/17.

 

Q: London 1888 does that mean what I think it means?

A: You think it’s Jack the Ripper? I can neither confirm nor deny that.

 

Q: I see Merlin in that book description? I don’t read a lot of historical fiction, but that kind of historical I can get into.

A:  It’s set in Modern day with flashbacks to a period in Nate’s life. So book 1 was The Hundred Years War, book 2 was 1882 Montana, Book 3 1970s Maine and book 4 is 1936 Germany. And yes, it’s that Merlin.

 

Q: The Hellequin Chronicles includes aspects of Greek and Roman mythology. Can you speak to that?

A: The idea is that all of the gods and goddesses from myth are real, but they’re sorcerers or elementals and that sort of thing. So yes, Greek, Roman, Norse they’re all real, and don’t exactly get on. But it’s all governed by Avalon, which is led (in theory) by Merlin.

Book 4 has the first Roman God in it (Diana). I LOVE writing Diana.

 

Q: Will Nate meet with the voodoo queen of Mississippi?

A: I have no plans for Nate to visit the Mississippi. Although I only work out the flashback a few in advance, so it’s very possible. I’d like to do one in New Orleans.

 

Q: Does that mean Thor could turn up in a future book?

A:  The whole Norse group will be dealt with in the future.

 

Q: What about a novella set just before the 1st book? I liked cat burglar Nate.

A: I did have a plan for that, yes.

 

Q: Will we get to see the people in London from the first book? (Kinda curious about the favors and that from Francis)

A: Yes. Book 6.

 

Thanks to everyone who turned up and asked a question. If you have any that I haven’t answered, feel free to ask in the comments section below.

Prison of Hope Chapter 1

To gear up for the forthcoming release of Prison of Hope, I posted the Prologue a few weeks ago. If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it HERE.

I now present to you, Chapter 1 of Prison of Hope. Enjoy.

 

 

C H A P T E R 1

France. Now.

My mistake came in the form of saying “yes”—a simple, but powerful word that along with its brother, “no,” can do a lot of good or a lot of damage. Once that first word had left my lips, I was duty bound to follow through. I could have come up with an excuse to get out of it—hell, I could have shot myself and said someone was trying to kill me. Should have, would have, could have. Instead, I convinced myself it wouldn’t be bad, that it might even be fun. I was wrong. It was hell in a carriage.

I’d agreed, for some foolish reason, which I liked to believe had to do with drugged food and drink, to accompany Thomas Carpenter and his daughter Kasey on a school trip to Germany. Traveling along with my closest friend and his teenage daughter were over a hundred of her school friends, several parents and guardians, and their teachers. All spread out over a four-carriage train.

Avalon—the hidden true power of our world—arranged the trip, like it did for all Avalon-funded schools. But teenagers are moody and temper prone at the best of times. Throw in the beginnings of their powers, be those magical or otherwise, and you had the makings of a tense atmosphere.

Many of the kids with parents in attendance pretended that their parents didn’t exist, while most of the parents silently watched their offspring with the attentiveness of an eagle searching for its next victim. Occasionally, one of the teenagers would say something inappropriate and receive a chastised glance or a discreet cough aimed in their direction, which in turn made the teen sigh or roll their eyes. It was like the Cold War all over again. I was half-expecting someone to turn up and start building a really big wall between the two sides.

Even Kasey, normally one of those rare teenagers who didn’t mind sitting with her parents, was some distance down the ornate train carriage, surrounded by an unknown number of other teenage girls.

Fortunately for my sanity, I’d decided to take an eBook reader with me. Unfortunately, Tommy didn’t have anything to do, so I’d managed about three pages in the hour and a half since we’d left London.

I glanced through the touch-activated tinted window beside me, as the scenery flew past. The train’s interior reminded me of the Orient Express: everything was of the finest quality, and no expense had been spared. Despite the antique feel to many of the fixtures and fittings, there was nothing antique about the technology contained within. The exterior was no different; the train looked like one of Japan’s bullet trains and was capable of speeds that easily matched them. Hades’s engineers had worked wonders with the train, which was now in regular use, ferrying school trips from whatever country they came from to the compound in Germany.

“So, what’s the book you’re reading?” Tommy finally asked after holding his tongue for far too many miles.

I glanced up across the small table that separated his seat from mine, picked up the reader, and placed it in front of him. He touched the screen and tapped it a few more times as he read a few pages. “This is a grimoire.”

“Yes, it is.”

“It’s in eBook form. Aren’t they meant to be old and dusty?”

“Hades had his people change them to electronic form for ease of access. It used to take weeks to find what you were looking for; now it takes minutes.”

“Why would a sorcerer even need a grimoire?”

It was a valid question. A sorcerer’s magic is part of us. We think what we want to do, and if we’re powerful enough, we do it. Only witches, or something else without an innate magic, use grimoires on anything close to a regular basis, by permanently tattooing their bodies with runes, and even then that’s only if they really want to blow themselves up. Grimoires aren’t really books on spells. They’re books of ideas that you can use with the magic at your disposal—and in some cases, knowledge on how to access that magic.

A lot of grimoires show rune work and how someone with zero innate magical abilities can apply certain runes to their body to allow them access to some exceptionally powerful magic. It’s why they’re so dangerous; they can teach people who have no innate ability how to access magic, but not necessarily how to wield it safely.

“Yes, well, I’m trying to figure out how to do something and I thought maybe this would help.”

Tommy tapped a few more screens and his eyes widened.

“Do you know who this book belongs to?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

“It’s fucking Zeus’s,” he whispered in return.

“I just said I knew that.”

“The last time someone took one of his grimoires, it started the Titan Wars. Prometheus chained to a rock, the creation of Pandora? You know all the really fucking bad stuff that happened.”

“Right. First of all, you’re beginning to get high-pitched and sound like a girl,” I pointed out. “Second, Hades gave it to me. Zeus disappeared hundreds of years ago; I don’t think he’s going to miss it.”

“What’s the problem?” he asked in an abnormally deep voice, which made me smile.

“Look, you know how I can only use air and fire magic from the four elements that make up the first set of magic?”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Yes, it’s come up once or twice in the previous six hundred years we’ve been friends.”

“Sarcasm’s the lowest form of wit.”

“That’s puns. Get on with it.”

I opened my mouth to argue and wisely closed it when I noticed the smile creep onto Tommy’s face. Bloody wind-up merchant. “Right. Well, once you’ve learned those two types, and before you can move onto the Omega magic stage, you can learn how to merge your elements. So, fire and earth can create magma—that sort of thing.”

Omega magic is only available to the millennia-old sorcerers and consists of mind, matter, shadow, and light magic. For the time being, they were beyond what I was capable of, but being able to merge my two elements was a distinct possibility, and something I was very keen to master.

“So, what about fire and air? What do they make?” Tommy asked, all sense of teasing now gone.

“Lightning.”

Tommy blew out a long breath. “Well, I understand why you’re reading Zeus’s personal grimoire. You can learn how to wield lightning?”

I shrugged. “Not sure. Not all sorcerers can merge their elements.”

Unfortunately, when Zeus wrote his grimoires, he believed only he would ever use them, and as he was already a powerful sorcerer, he had no need to explain control or patience. Besides, back in the day, Zeus didn’t have a lot of either of those to go around. So, actually mastering something that Zeus didn’t feel the need to explain in detail involved a lot of trial and error, but mostly a lot of throwing around dangerous levels of magic.

“Is the book helping?” Tommy asked, passing my e-reader over to me.

I put the device in my bag, which I made sure was shut tight. “I think so; it’s just a matter of practice. When I absorb a soul, I can access it easier. I blew up a toaster at home.”

For most of my entire sixteen hundred years of life, I’d had six dark, constantly changing marks on my chest. A few years ago, someone I’d considered a friend had sacrificed her life to save my own. It had the side effect of beginning the removal of the marks. An increase in my power and manifestation of necromancy were the first steps on my path to discovering what the marks were hiding. Four marks still remained, waiting until some arbitrary point when they’d vanish too. In the meantime, I practiced my necromancy, which comes in a lot of different varieties; mine allows me to absorb the spirits of those who have died fighting.

“Why would you blow up a toaster?” Tommy asked.

“Well I didn’t mean to. I just sort of lost control. Earlier in the day, someone came and asked me to go with him and his teenage daughter to Germany. Shockingly enough, he mentioned nothing about the entire bloody school year accompanying them.”

Tommy’s face was a picture of innocence. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. I remember very clearly whispering about the school trip part. Besides, we’re going to see Hades—it’s not like that’s the worst trip ever. I thought having you around might make the whole trip more bearable. Olivia had to stay in England, and dating an LOA director doesn’t really make the other parents want to be too friendly with me.”

Olivia was Kasey’s mum and head of the southern-England branch of the LOA, or Law of Avalon, which is best described as Avalon’s police force. They’re a sort of mix of the FBI and Interpol. They’re not always the most popular people, even to other Avalon members, and despite Kasey’s school being Avalon funded, a lot of the parents would have loyalties to people who might have very different interests to Avalon’s power and influence in the world.

Tommy had found making friends with some of the other parents to be hard work. Avalon politics is full of long memories and longer feuds, and Tommy’s association with some powerful members of Avalon made people wary of him.

“It’s nice to see you both for more than a few minutes at a time,” I admitted. I’d been away from England on and off for just over two years, ever since my necromancy reared its head. I’d missed spending time with Tommy, Olivia, and Kasey.

“Will Sky be there?” Tommy asked.

“Probably—she does like to enjoy my misery.”

Sky was one of several people whom Hades and Persephone had adopted over the years. She had been born in America a few hundred years ago to a female European missionary and male Native American chief, the latter of whom worked for Hades. When she was very young, rivals within the tribe had murdered her parents, who were both necromancers; their power had been inherited by Sky. After that, Hades and Persephone had taken her into their home. Hades had also erased those responsible from the face of the earth. It isn’t wise to piss him off.

“You know, I never understood something about grimoires,” Tommy said, taking the conversation back a few minutes.

“And that would be?” I asked after a few moments of waiting for my friend to continue.

“What was the point of putting in all the runes about how to access magic? The original grimoires were written by sorcerers, so surely they shouldn’t have needed the knowledge.”

“I don’t really know the full answer, but basically a lot of sorcerers reach a point when they’ve mastered so much magic that they try to look into new ways of increasing their strength. Runes are a popular choice. And then, once Zeus’s grimoires were given to the humans, they started practicing and making their own versions of the books.”

“Hence, witches,” Kasey said as she stepped out from beside me.

I turned to the young teen. “You need to start wearing a bell.”

“Sorry, Nate,” she said with a sly grin. Kasey was every inch her father’s daughter in personality, although in looks, thankfully, she took after her mother, with long red hair, green eyes, and an elegant face. No teenage girl wants to be short and stocky with a permanent five o’clock shadow.

A few years ago, a then twelve-year-old Kasey had put herself between me and something so evil that I was certain I couldn’t have beaten it. She’d stopped me from getting hurt more than I’d already been, possibly saving my life in the process. Considering the attention he’d get from both Tommy and me, I almost pitied the first boy she’d bring home. Almost.

Kasey sat opposite me, and I noticed that one of the parents farther down the carriage was giving me an evil glare. She’d been doing it on and off since I’d arrived at the train station, although I had no idea what I’d actually done to earn her wrath.

“Her name is Mara Range,” said a young woman sitting on the opposite side of the aisle to Tommy, Kasey, and me. She had dark hair that was almost black, tied back in a ponytail. She wore a simple light-blue T-shirt, the same color as her eyes, with a picture of Led Zeppelin on the front. It hugged her figure, showing off both her athletic body and the tattoo that stopped just above the crease of her elbow. I couldn’t make out what it was, but the reds and purples certainly made it appear colorful.

“Sorry—I saw you glance over at her. I’m Emily Rowe,” she said quickly and shook my hand and then Kasey’s and Tommy’s. “I’m one of the lucky people chosen to help with the rabble. No offense.” She aimed her last words at Kasey.

“None taken,” Kasey said. “Your nails are awesome.”

Emily wiggled her fingers, and indeed the little skull and crossbones on each nail must have taken some time and effort to achieve.

I had slightly more important things to consider, though. “And why does this Mara woman suddenly have an issue with me?” I asked.

“She’s a witch,” Emily said. “A lot of the coven members are on this trip. Unfortunately, because most of the higher ranked members stayed home. Mara is in charge of the coven.”

I sighed. “Great. Nice to know there’s going to be a frosty reception for the next few days.”

“Why?” Kasey asked. “I don’t understand what you’ve done. You’ve never even met these people.”

“A lot of witches don’t like sorcerers,” I said.

“Why?”

I opened my mouth to explain and then stopped, I wasn’t really sure how much to tell her. On the other hand, if I avoided the question, she’d never stop asking. “What do you know about witches?”

“They can use magic, but don’t have an innate talent for it,” she said as if she were reading from a book.

“Something like that, yes,” I said. “Basically, witches are, for all intents and purposes, human. They could easily live a normal human life with no magic at all. But a long time ago, some humans were taught how to use runes to access magic. Unfortunately, where I have the innate ability to use it from birth, they have to make themselves access it. And whenever witches use magic, instead of extending their life, it actually takes time away from it. The more powerful the magic, the more life is taken.”

“So they can’t extend it at all?” Kasey asked, slightly shocked.

“There is very dark blood magic that allows witches to extend their life by hurting and killing people. Some witches aligned themselves with certain powerful people in Avalon who convinced them that sorcerers were keeping the magic from them. That was a few thousand years ago, and over time witches have maintained a very bad view of sorcerers. They think we’re trying to keep them down and not allow them to reach their potential—that we show off just to rub their noses in it.”

“They’re jealous?”

I nodded. “That’s the sum of it. After such a long time of being told it, many witches believe the lie.”

“And what do sorcerers think of witches?” Kasey asked.

“We don’t,” I said with a shrug. “They’re not powerful enough to concern us for the most part, and those that are will kill themselves well before they become noticed by Avalon. Occasionally, one of them does some dark stuff—killing a sorcerer for blood was an old trick of theirs—but for the most part, witches are seen as people to ignore. Because they’re aligned with Demeter and Hera, they have enough members that they can affect a vote in Avalon, but that doesn’t happen often.”

“Why align with Demeter?” Kasey asked, clearly in her element of being able to ask every question her quick mind could think of.

“Demeter, Hera, and a few others were the ones who convinced witches that sorcerers were out to get them. They arranged the witches to support them in Avalon matters in return for information on how to obtain true power. Information I don’t think they’ve ever actually followed through with.”

“So, do all witches think this?”

I shook my head. “No, just the stupid ones. I’ve met some very smart and pleasant witches. And I’ve met some evil ones too. A witch in a quest for power has the worst of human nature wrapped up in the ability to hurt a lot of people.”

“A lot of witches are very nice people,” Emily said, making an attempt to show that not every witch was a power-hungry nutcase. “Some of them only use magic to help others and try to spread a message of peace.”

“Unfortunately, those who are in league with Demeter undo a lot of that good work. The witches think they have power and a say in what happens, when actually they’re just being used to further the aims of those who would throw them to the wind the second they needed to.”

“Yes, but like I said,” Emily stated, “not all witches are like that. Some actually use their brains and don’t want to follow like sheep.”

“I’d like to meet more of them,” I said, and then a horrible thought occurred to me. “You’re a witch, aren’t you?”

Emily nodded, and Tommy laughed out loud, gaining a few glances in our direction from other adults.

“Are you a member of the coven?” I asked, ignoring my friend.

Emily nodded again. “Have been for a few years now. You don’t seem all that embarrassed. I could have been offended.”

“But you’re not, so you either agree with me, or you don’t care. I’m going with the former.”

“I agree with you. Too many witches crave power and are easily swayed to a life of serving those who don’t really care about us. A portion of the coven would slit their own throats if Demeter told them to. Fortunately, they’re in the minority. The coven leaders normally manage to shut them down before they start ranting.”

“And Mara belongs to that smaller group, I assume,” I said. “Yes, she’s probably in charge of it, although I have no proof of that. She’s certainly not shy about her feelings toward sorcerers.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

“My pleasure. They’re mostly all talk, though.” Although she smiled as she spoke, it was the word “mostly” that stuck in my mind.

Hellequin UK and Australia sale

Well it’s not long now until Prison of Hope is released on 14th April. But before then, there’s a sale on in the UK for the first three Hellequin Chronicles books. Crimes Against Magic, Born of Hatred and With Silent Screams are only £1 each. I know I’m biased and all, but that’s a bit of a bargain.

 

Click the link below to go to my author page, which is where you’ll find them all.

UK Hellequin Sales

 

But there’s something for those fine folks in Australia as Crimes Against Magic is also on sale for only $1.93.

Australia sale

 

Feel free to share this with your friends, loved ones, and frankly, people in the street you don’t know.