Friday fiction is back and hopefully back to its regular schedule.
In case you missed it, Guild of Magic is out now from major retailers here. You can also grab it from my shop now, or read the latest chapter below. \
And, if you love audiobooks and haven't dived in to the NYC Questing Guild series on audio yet, I've started uploading the prequel stories on YouTube. Listen to the first Beatrice prequel short story, Trainee, the prequel novella, Memoria, and the second prequel short story Enforcer for free, and subscribe to be notified when future audiobooks are uploaded!
“This belongs in a museum!”
I went to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny the other week, and on the way to the theater, my cab driver laughed at me when I told him what movie I was seeing.
"Why would you want this new movie to ruin your enjoyment of the original three?" he asked in a less polite way.
The fourth Indy film left a lot to be desired, but it in no way impacted my love of the series, tracing back to the first time I watched Last Crusade on TV as a kid (only afterward did I go back and watch Raiders).
Although I loved Star Wars, there was something about Indiana Jones that resonated with me in a different way.
I remember thinking that for all of the awesome adventures to be had in a galaxy far, far, away, there were still amazing things here on Earth. Indy's adventures around the world (via the classic travelogue maps) were proof of that.
My love of the series didn't stop with the movies. Two of my favorite computer games growing up were the game adaption of Last Crusade and the all-new adventure (with voice acting!) in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
That second game had three different paths (cooperative, logic, and fists) and I dutifully played through all of them to get the full experience. It rightfully should be considered as an entry alongside the movies, and I suspect that the writers of the movie felt the same way, as I got strong FoA vibes multiple times during the movie.
The real-world setting combined with the unexplained magic and myth we see in the movies in fact inspired a lot of elements you will find in Guild of Tokens and Guild of Magic.
The whole thing came full circle for me at the beginning of the new movie, as I learned I had inadvertently included the titular Dial in Guild of Magic months ago when Jen encounters the Antikythera mechanism.1
And although the box office returns compared to the massive budget means we won't be getting the promised Indy TV show, I hope it still sends a signal to LucasFilm that this is a character and universe that people care about and we will eventually see new stories told via books and comics.
But if for some reason a miracle happens, I have already put together the perfect cast and plot for the new show here.
Or, if you want to take a trip back to 1989 and learn some storytelling lessons along the way, I highly recommend this breakdown of the Last Crusade script revisions.
Guild of Magic, Chapter 44
A new chapter of Guild of Magic is now unlocked!
And while Guild of Magic crescendos toward its conclusion for free subscribers, if you are a paid subscriber, it’s time for the fourth chapter of the next book in the NYC Questing Guild series.
Guild of Relics, Chapter 6
As a reminder, if you are a paid subscriber and are wondering where your weekly chapters in your email is, going forward, the link to the new chapter will be in this weekly post.
Comics!
If you’re a comics reader, head to my weekly comics release post below from the past three weeks, where the week’s new releases, summer events, whether there are too many comics, and comic art collecting. Also leave a comment to any of the July comics posts to enter this month’s giveaway!
This month’s featured promo
Question of the week!
What’s your favorite summer movie?
You’ll get to read about this in chapter 46!