Michelle Botes launches eBooks

Michelle Botes is now releasing eBooks under Shelren Publications - under the management of Michelle and Darren Albinson. The first eBook is already available, with more coming soon.
The eBooks are in PDF format so that more people are able to have access to it (those with the fancy gadgets and those with just a normal PC).
For those who are interested in buying them will have to contact me so I can give the details.
Nikasko is the first of the eBooks. The first person who contacts me to buy it will get it for free. The deal is: you have to have an iPhone or Ipad to let me know whether it is running smoothly or not, since this is the first book.
For the discription and price go to michellebotes.withtank.com.

Here is a sneak peek:

Chapter 2

“Grandpa, we don’t feel like hearing stories tonight,” a much younger Christian said.
“Yeah Grandpa, they are scary!”
“Okay, relax. Now sit still. I am going to begin,” Jonathan Hamilton said. “You know by now that this is a story called Nikasko. It is a code and you should never forget it. That is why I tell you that every night. Now, the last time I told you the first part of the big explosion of a planet. The planet’s explosion was caused by a chain reaction. The planet Paco, which was between Jupiter and Saturn, was like our planet. It was beautiful and everyone lived in peace, but then Kako, which was between Mars and Jupiter, went boom. This would have caused a chain reaction and destroyed all the planets, even Earth, if it was in perfect alignment, which was about to happen in only two weeks time.”
“Only? That is long.”
“Yes, but not when it comes to planets, Christian. Planets move very slowly and that means that they were pretty close to a line already.”
“Sorry, I don’t mean to sound rude, but you told us this last week. Just get on with it already.”
“You are impatient, aren’t you, Daniel? I am going to tell much more, but I have to see if you understand everything.”
“There is something I don’t understand.”
“Oh, and what is that, Daniel?”
“This happened years and years ago, right? So long back that not even our history books know of these planets called Kepo and Papko. So what does it have to do with us?”
“You will learn the answer of that in good time. Now where was I? Oh yes. When this planet went supernova it was amazingly not scattered everywhere and it didn’t destroy any planets except for one: Paco.
“When Kako exploded two big pieces went to where Paco is. One hit Jupiter, but not full blast. It only scraped its side. The damage is visible today; known as the Red Spot. But Paco was not so lucky. It was hit full blast and the entire planet was destroyed.
“Of course there were other pieces that had gone to the other planets too, but it didn’t hit them, which I believe till this day was a miracle.
“If the planets were in a perfect alignment when it exploded it would have bumped into the others and caused a chain reaction of Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury bumping into each other and finally into the sun. You can imagine the rest for yourself.
“The asteroids found between Mars and Jupiter are pieces of Kako, but no one knows what happened to Paco’s pieces and many in my family who told me this story believes that it was The Dragon.
“Now the point is that the one planet that was destroyed by Kako, Paco, had people on it. These people lived in peace their entire lives and loved their planet. They loved their lives so much that they would give anything to live on, but they didn’t know how big that anything will get.
“You see, if someone dies, one can go to wherever he or she has to go or you can go to The Dragon – better known as Kasho. Only the really desperate goes to Kasho, because legend says the one who goes to him would be better off in hell than to ask him to live again. He would let you live, but with one thing in mind – you have to do something in return. Kasho has only one thing in mind: pain.
“As you probably guessed the people of Paco were desperate enough to go to Kasho and they asked for their entire planet back, but they should have been more specific by adding, ‘as it were before’.
“Their planet still looked the same when they got back, but there was a big difference. They saw that they do have a sun and moon. But there was a big change when it came to the other planets they could normally see.
“There were no other planets and no stars to look at. That was not the deal they have made and to tell the truth, The Dragon didn’t ask anything in return. He just made it happen. They lived on in peace until The Dragon appeared in their dreams one night to tell them what they should do to stay there. If they didn’t do as he said, he will see to them personally. Nobody had ever thought that they would be cursed like that. Nobody wanted to be with The Dragon. Anyone who faced him before would understand.”
“What does it look like, Grandpa?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know that, Christian. But I do know that no one can look at him.” The kids squirmed and looked at one another, all secretly imagining the Dragon.
“The people of Paco were to fight a war forever; never to die unless in battle. If one died he was reborn again. There were a lot of them who tried suicide to save themselves from this curse that was placed upon them, but it would not work. The Dragon would just send them back and nobody wanted to face him more than necessary.
“They will fight things that came from the sky and ground – monstrous things that made them keep awake at night, unable to find peace. They lived in fear everyday for when the creatures would come to cause them much pain. Imagine living in fear for eternity.”
“It was their own fault, they asked the Dragon.” Daniel got a huge blow from Inga’s elbow in his side for being insensitive.
Jonathan cleaned his throat and went on with his story, “But that was not the eternal war. The real war was the war they have to fight every hundred years. They had to fight the people of Earth and destroy the planet. If they succeed, they will be released from their deal and live their life peacefully between Jupiter and Saturn. If all was lost, they will have to live in fear for another hundred years. They had fought men from Earth many times and failed. They will come again someday.”
“That is scary, Grandpa.”
“Now, Gabrielle, it’s only a story. Come sit on my lap.” Gabrielle jumped up and ran to jump on her grandfather’s lap, smiling contently.
“Tell us more!”
“Fine, Daniel, but there is only so much that I can tell you. They can only send a few people in to fight the earthlings, for the others need to fight the things on their planet, which is destroying all that is pure and beautiful.”
“That sounds like winter,” Inga said and everybody laughed.
“True, but these things also wanted to kill the humans. Later on they realised that they would never succeed in winning against everyone on earth so a very brave princess went to talk to Kasho and they agreed upon a new rule. The Dragon would choose certain fighters of earth and send them to another planet where they will fight. It would be fair if it were to be a small amount of people from earth and twenty from their planet. They fought on Kako from then onwards.”
“But how can that be? Kako was destroyed. It didn’t exist anymore.”
“Clever you are, Casey, but the explanation is even cleverer. The planet is from the past – when it still existed. The earth fighters are from the present and the Paco fighters are from the future.”
“But if they are the future then earth was doomed, for the future can not be changed.”
“Christian, I like your thinking. Yes, if you put it like that our battle is lost. Yet that is the fighters’ job: To keep our destiny of falling at the hands of the Paconians as far as possible from us. As long as the fighters from Earth won, we were safe for another hundred years.”
“How long do they exist now?”
“You always believe everything you hear, don’t you, Casey?”
“So what if he does, Daniel?”
“And you always poke your nose in everyone’s business, Inga.”
“Oh, I do not.”
“Okay you two, no fighting. The answer to your question, Casey, is for a very long time.”
“But … Grandpa … ?”
“Yes, Gabrielle?”
“They don’t really exist, right?”
“Well, that is a story for another time. Now off you go,” he said as he helped her off his lap, “It is time for bed now”.
They walked to Christian’s room where they are to spend the night. They spend a night at his house every week.
“Christian?” Gabrielle asked while they walked up the stairs.
“Hmm?”
“Do you think he tells us that story for a reason?”
“I think that he knows too much about this story to not tell it for a reason, Gabrielle.”

If you want to know more, you will have to buy it ...

Time for an update

Hello everyone!

I have not been up to anything the past few weeks, being preoccupied with some things. But it is time for an update.

I plan on doing the test run of the game with real people soon, playing against myself was not very helpful. Then I can finally go on with it and decide on the name.

The books will be edited soon and I will put on discriptions of the story on the website http://michellebotes.withtank.com/ when they are ready for your order. They still need to be illustrated so it will still take some time!

Hope all is well.

Some interesting things to look at

For those wondering where on earth to find a good anime shop: AnimeDirect. Check out www.animedirect.co.za or call them at 0115110466. The service is horrid at the actual shop but the merchandise...! The shop is located in Fourways, Monte Casino, Gauteng.

For those wanting some awesome martial arts training there is a SA National Wushu Training Centre. They teach contemporary Wushu, traditional Wushu (better known as Kung Fu), Tai Chi Chuan (that slow movement thing), training in weapons and full contact Sanshou. You can go to their website www.sawushucenter.cjb.net or email them at wushutiger@hotmail.com.

One name had joined the other ideas for the name of the RPG game: Jonin (by Holly Raider from my fan club on Facebook).

That's it for now.

The names so far, still more needed

Alright, I have one person who had come up with some great ideas for the name. Janet Botes said the following: Karu, Sentiba, a night with a face, warrior's victory, honour and love, quest of a traveller and a pursuit of honour. These are great names, thank you!

If you have any you prefer this is the time to say so. You can vote for one or you can suggest more. The name decision phase will still go on for a while.

Further wanting to play the game has brought up so many loopholes that I still hadn't actually got to the play part. I'm still fixing all of the faults and then I will go on to try and play once again. After that a bigger test will commense.

For now I really want and need more suggestions for the name. If you win you will recieve a free game! So far only Janet Botes stands a chance against herself.

A name?

Good day to everyone reading this blog!

Today I've come to the point where I can no longer avoid it...

I need a name for the game. I have decided to put all my energy into completing the game before I do anything more on the manga or stories. So I've finished the basic idea behind the game. I just hope it is not too complicated but I believe players will soon find their mathematical skills developing. I try to make it interesting, free and entertaining while staying as far away from it being like DnD.

The plan now is to start working on testing the game for any loopholes. This way I can fix any major disturbances before any design and layout is done. I will then finish the manual I am trying to keep as short as possible since people do not want to read how to play the game for days, they just want to play it! So if you are wondering what I may be doing, know that I am playing a game against myself.

But what I need from fans is to help me out with a name. It is a shinobi (ninja) role playing game, so be creative. I might even give the winner a free game...

website

Aaah, finally. The long awaited... My website is not fully up and functioning but it has been created.

I would love to hear feedback. So please go right ahead and visit michellebotes.withtank.com.

The game is finally in concept phase - on paper. It will be a game that will require some practice and mathematics (okay only plain counting numbers together but that is what calculators were invented for). I really believe it could be turned into a great game. It will take a lot more time to get it to the testing phase. I'll keep you all updated.

The manga's first part has been written, the characters created and I've started playing around with their expressions. This is a real challenge but a good one.

The stories I've finished so far need editing before I can do any more with them. I have a few pictures that will need to be illustrated to be placed in the books when they are ready to be bought.

That's the update for now!

Japanese Lessons

How do you say "Japanese lessons start soon" in Japanese? I don't know but you might soon. Once again Genshiken.UCT is launching something fantastic for the Japanese fanatics out there.

Something I think most Anime fans would love to be able to do is just listen to "un-dubbed" Anime episodes without needing to read everything. "Oh no that subtitle went by too quickly." Also to be able to read the "in the next episode" section of your favourite manga. Recently I found a Naruto game I could play on the computer, I was so excited and found the game started the same as the Anime we all love so. Then I saw it... the entire game was in Japanese and there wasn't an English version of it.

Things like that happens and it is for this reason I would love to learn Japanese (yeah to play a game...). Japanese is said to be a tough language to learn but I think having other people struggling with you makes it all worth it. Anyway imagine how you and your friend can speak a language hardly anyone else speaks in South Africa - that could get interesting.

For more information just ask. For now I'll say it is in Cape Town, at the University, every Wednesday at 13:00. Anyone and everyone are welcome. If you're wondering why I'm not attending - I don't live in Cape Town, yet.