The Pale Lieutenant – Chapter 4

4: Hic Sunt Dracones As soon as Cheeta deemed herself presentable again – a process which went remarkably quickly given the primitive boudoir facilities on offer, mostly thanks to the efficiency and moral support of her new ally – Steerpike signalled for the airlift, and a few minutes later an I-Sec aircar touched down outside...

The Pale Lieutenant – Chapter 3

3: Cheeta's Tail Deep within Sector 9-delta of the wasteland – a sprawling, inhospitable tract of marshes interspersed with tangled oak woodlands that had an excellent view of the Cobalt Mountains and absolutely nothing else to recommend it – stood the ancient ruin known as the Black House. So ancient, indeed, that some claimed pre-Cataclysm...

The Pale Lieutenant – Chapter 2

2: ACAB Ravenstrake Mansion, Quadrant D-74, The Old City, west of the river. Several months later... From the moment he opened his eyes, Lord Ravenstrake knew that this would be the worst day of his life, assuming that he was lucky from this point. Interior Security personnel were an unwelcome sight in one's bedchamber at...

The Pale Lieutenant – Chapter 1

Of all these weird creatures who lock up their spirits, Drill holes in themselves and live for their secrets. (Radiohead, “Subterranean Homesick Alien”) 1: Ambition Makes You Look Pretty Ugly There was nothing left, no, of the brain that would have scorned all this. The brilliant Steerpike had become a cloud of crimson. He wallowed...

The Pale Lieutenant – Introduction

(Cover image - Antonio Sant’Elia, "Air and train station with funicular cableways on three road levels" from "La Città Nuova", 1914.) ****** Introduction: The Gormenghast / Titus Trilogy by Mervyn Peake, an Overview If already familiar with the novels or intending to read them, please skip this section, unless you have a thing for other...

“The Pale Lieutenant” (Fanfic, WIP)

Illustration for Titus Groan - "Barquentine and Steerpike" Mervyn Peake, 1946 Inspiration for writing has been rather low since Covid, with no ideas striking me so powerfully that I end up in that "must write it down before I forget it" mode that usually kick-starts a project. However, on recently re-reading the Titus / Gormenghast...

Dantalion (C64)

There's been an update to the Annwn Games page to reflect a change of host for the downloads (all free from Richard Bayliss' C64 site at https://tnd64.dreamhosters.com/), and also for new release "Dantalion" - a metroidvania-style game that earned an 80% review in ZZAP! 64 Micro Action #30. This is an expedited release, as the...

Launch Interceptors…

A spot of early 1970s Gerry Anderson cosplay. If you know, you know...

Daggerfall Unity – The original Elder Scrolls remaster

Well I never, after years of wondering if Bethesda ever intended to do more with the Elder Scrolls series than intermittent re-releases of "Skyrim", they surprise everyone by bringing out a remaster of "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion." Alas, my creaky old laptop is not up to playing that, so instead I've recently been looking back...

Commodore 16 Retrospective (video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-mZR3YsOyY&t=2s Although my main retrogaming obsession has been with the Commodore 64, it was not the first games machine I had. That dubious honour goes to the Commodore Plus 4 - a rather ill-fated mid-1980s attempt to launch a business machine which failed due to a combination of lack of demand, having inadequate built-in apps,...