John Lone Books

Though I've been mostly interested in writing for animation and comics, while playing video games I questioned who came up with it's stories. Many games have little to no stories and focus mostly on mindless entertainment...which isn't always a bad thing. But some video game stories really touch the viewer (Half Life 2, Final Fantasy, Bioshock, etc. come to mind.)

On a whim I bought this book and have enjoyed it immensely. Both the authors provided much more than I was hoping for. Both are seasoned game writers/designers who have worked on many games you know, and are still working on games. Stuff like UNCHARTED - DRAKE'S FORTUNE, CRIMSON SKIES, PROJECT ORIGIN, and FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY - THE GAME. These guys know what they are doing.

The book breaks down not only how to write for games, but what that entails, hardships you will find along the way (both with writing and people), they provide sheets you can fill out to create your own game bible to pitch. And as an added bonus they occasionally have writing exercises to help you hone your craft or understnad a point better.

Leave no stone unturned and that's what these two have done. It has my highest regards! Buy it and truly educate yourself.

I am a Multimedia student in Community College.

This book has given me a ton of good ideas on how to create a top-notch game!

I reccomend it to anybody (Like Me.) who wants to design a hit videogame!

this book is chock-full of incredibly useful information about writing and game design. many of the classic traps in this area of game development can be avoided by following flint and john's advice here. everything is outlined in a very clean and (not surprisingly) fun and witty read.

as a game developer for 10 years now, i found information in this book that i'll be using in the future and i can't recommend this book enough. these guys get it, and so should you.

As a member of the student team who needed to produce video game in rather short amount of time, I have found this book extremely helpful. I did like one-sheet summary that allowed us to summarize everything. The content was very helpful. Thank you.

This book, is a no nonsense guide to the video game industry and more specifically to game design. It gives relevant realistic experience written in an upbeat humorous and succinct style.

There aren't any cons to it that I can think of.

As a longtime fan of the Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore ruled!), I like just about anything with the Ranger in it. The Filmation cartoon, the less than stellar old comic books (Gold Key, maybe?), heck, even the Clinton Spilsbury (sp?) movie from the 80s. But this is probably the best Lone Ranger I've seen, in any medium. The updates of the characters, made more gritty and "real" feeling, all work. And there's nods to other versions of the characters, even to Tonto's famous "How!" phrase. I'm already looking forward to the next graphic novel installment of this series.

Cue the William Tell Overture....

Fans of the 1950's-60's Lone Ranger television show will probably want to avoid this book. Some of it you will probably find near sacrilege. The Lone Ranger and Tonto both have more depth in their character here than in the television series, but both are departures from the traditional characters, especially Tonto. The Tonto in this series is not a nice guy. Don't misunderstand me, he is heroic figure and his interaction with the Lone Ranger is great, but these aren't the black and white good guys/bad guys of yesteryear.

I almost closed the book when the Lone Ranger cursed. Call me shallow, but there are a few icons I would rather not hear obscenity from and the Lone Ranger is one of them.

The book is also rather thin compared to most graphic novels, I assume it's because it's from an independent company instead of Marvel or DC.

So why give it four stars? Even though these characters are different they are still very, very good. There is a lot of depth to this book and it's a fantastic read.

The art within these first 6 issues makes the purchase worth it. The dialogue is quite sparse, but this makes the Lone Ranger a superb example of the potential within this visual medium, "Show don't tell". This TPB also has some fascinating sketches in the back with notes from the artist and you can see the characters come to life. There are times when the sparsity of dialogue leave me a bit confused as to what is going on, but the story always brings the reader back, and sometimes just getting lost in the visuals is just as good as reading any comic. This comic is good old fashioned gun slingin', vengeance seekin', Wild Western fun. Highly reccommended, well worth the price tag too.

When I was a child back in the early 1960s, I wanted to grow up to be a hero. I tied a towel around my neck and was sometimes Superman or Batman. I ululated in the back yard like Tarzan and shamed the cats in the neighborhood. I ran as fast as Jonny Quest in my PF Flyers.

But the hero I loved most of all at that time was the Lone Ranger. His adventures came on every afternoon, and I'd get home from school in time to watch him shoot the guns out of the bad men's hands, give lectures on the evils of, well...evil, and leave that cool silver bullet behind so people could ask, "Who was that masked man?"

The Lone Ranger was the brainchild of George W. Trendle, a radio producer, but he was given life by Fran Striker in radio script and novel form, and brought to iconic life on television by Clayton Moore.

But in the beginning, he was a young Texas Ranger named John Reid who was with his father and brother the day they were gunned down by Butch Cavendish's men. Reid clawed his way out of the grave, donned his signature mask, and started cleaning up the West.

The last couple of years, Dynamite Entertainment Comics brought the Lone Ranger back to comics, which had to have been one of the coolest and riskiest things ever done. I mean, in an age of FaceBook and MySpace, who'd buy a cowboy hero?

More people should, because the graphic story rendered by Brent Matthews (a Hollywood scriptwriter) and Sergio Cariello (an award-winning graphic artist) is one of the best stories that came out in novel form this summer. The story is familiar to everyone, but Matthews's way of telling it in cinematic presentation, and Cariello's beautiful drawings, give the tale a life that hasn't been seen before.

There's enough new twists and turns, between the principal characters as well as the legend itself, that even old-time fans like me will find something to celebrate and enjoy.

I loved the pacing of the book. The story came to life and moved toward an emotional peak that will leave you breathless at the end. I enjoyed the way the friendship that developed between the Lone Ranger and Tonto was the same, yet different, from everything I'd known. That relationship was re-imagined in a way that works perfectly.

Matthews stays off the page as an author. Some comics authors give in to the temptation to clutter the pages up with narrative boxes and dialogue. Matthews is only there when he needs to be. He stays out of the way and lets Cariello work his magic.

The art is astounding. Vivid and raw, I could taste the dust and feel the heat of the day as I zipped through the panels. At first glance, Cariello's art looks a lot like Joe Kubert's pencils. Kubert was another favorite of mine for his tenure on SGT. ROCK and THE HAUNTED TANK as well as several other war strips.

The graphic novel has drawn some flak from Lone Ranger purists, but I believe it's one of the best stories that's ever been done that brings in all the elements of the character. I loved the story enough that, after finishing it the first time, I opened the cover again and read it once more.

If you like the Lone Ranger, you'll probably enjoy this book. Unless you're one of those purists. If you want a good read or a fine example of everything the graphic novel can be, you'll want this book. So saddle up, pardner, because it's time to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear.

This book was given to me by the author, who was also my advisor for my M.S. at Georgia Southern University. I love the book, and am planning on giving it to my father for Father's Day.

Wonderful book, gave to my husband for Christmas. Now he is bird watching. really nice book and the pictures are really nice.

Written by one of my current Professors at Georgia Southern University....great book! Lots of pictures and very informative. Easy to find the bird you're looking for....highly recommended!

This book, written in novel form and taken after the Lone Wolf Series (writen by Joe Dever), takes place in Magnamund, a vast world where the peoples only real protection from their mortal enemies, the Darklords, are a few handfulls of the finest warriors: the Kai Lords.

Vonatar, an apprentice in the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star (a wizards guild) kills one member after secretly learning the forbiden Right Hand magiks. He goes to meet the Darklords and start the fiercest war ever seen in magnamund, one which would almost completely wipe out the Kai Lords.

Only one boy can save them. A mere Kai Initiate, Silent Wolf must track down the mighty Vonatar and stop him at all costs...but can he endure all of the harshness of Magnamunds terrain, creatures and enemies? Read Eclipse of the Kai to find out!

This book, written in novel form and taken after the Lone Wolf Series (writen by Joe Dever), takes place in Magnamund, a vast world where the peoples only real protection from their mortal enemies, the Darklords, are a few handfulls of the finest warriors: the Kai Lords.

Vonatar, an apprentice in the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star (a wizards guild) kills one member after secretly learning the forbiden Right Hand magiks. He goes to meet the Darklords and start the fiercest war ever seen in magnamund, one which would almost completely wipe out the Kai Lords.

Only one boy can save them. A mere Kai Initiate, Silent Wolf must track down the mighty Vonatar and stop him at all costs...but can he endure all of the harshness of Magnamunds terrain, creatures and enemies? Read Eclipse of the Kai to find out!

I have been THE Lonewolf fan since early childhood. My collection is vast, and this is one of the books I have. Purely wanderous, mythical, and what pure fantasy is all about.

Starting of as a setting for the gamebooks, starting of with Flight from the dark, this novel, being the first Legends novel, sets the scene and explores te world and characters which are included in the game book.

So good, written well, and fantastic for the imagination. Some one PLEASE make this into a film.

John Gaps III is a combat photographer for Associated Press. Wounded three times, he clearly gets close to the action. It shows in this book.

Being in the military myself I have had the opportunity to work with John Gaps recently while deployed to Kosovo. His pictures grab you and show you the shocking truth about what is real. This book is a must read for all future War Correspondents.

In 1960, at the age of 40 and after many years wondering the globe, Texas-born writer John Graves bought a worn-out patch of land in the hills south of Fort Worth. It began as something of a retreat and became a life-long attachment. This book, published in 1974, is a humorously thoughtful description of how this new landowner becomes equally owned by the land he has settled on.

Not a long book, it reads at a leisurely pace, as Graves traces the history of the land, once fertile and grass-covered. He tells what he knows of the numerous tribes of Native Americans who once lived on it, including the fierce Comanches. Then he characterizes the first settlers, who knew next to nothing about land stewardship and cared less, exhausting it with poor farming techniques, overgrazing, and a single-crop economy--cotton. We learn of the toll taken in depleted soil, diminished flood control, and the spread of cedar and scrub brush across former prairie. And we learn of the descendants of these early settlers, diminished by reduced circumstances, some of them making a living by cutting down cedar brakes into fence posts.

Having established the history of the land, Graves takes us on a tour of his farm, which he calls Hard Scrabble, describing in turn the fields and streams, the plant and animal life, the weather. Then he describes the long, slow process of reclaiming what he can of his 400 acres, clearing the land, building a house, barn, and other outbuildings, learning stone masonry and carpentry as he goes. In connection with this subject, there is a discourse on the industriousness and workmanship of Mexican laborers, all of them illegal, who help him with building, fencing, and fighting back the growth of unwanted brush and cedar. On the subject of animal husbandry, he tells of raising cattle and goats. And in the investment of himself in all of these he ruminates on how they transform him and root this former world-traveler more firmly into a rural frame of mind.

Of the many things I enjoyed in this book, I especially liked his capturing of the way his country neighbors talk. Their points of view and temperaments are captured in quirky turns of phrase and syntax. An episode involving local fox hunters is a joy to read. Graves is in many ways a Texas version of E. B. White, transplanted from city to country and not only seeing this remote environment with fresh eyes but engaging physically with it, befriending the long-time inhabitants, and discovering a way of life only dimly understood by city-dwellers. Although Graves' writing style is more given to verbal flourishes, his wry humor and literary allusions remind one of White's collection of essays on living in Maine, "One Man's Meat."

I recommend this book to anyone interested in country life, Texas, subsistence farming, and natural history. As companions to "Hard Scrabble," I would recommend books by three other rancher/farmer writers: "Windbreak," by South Dakota writer Linda Hasselstrom, "A Collection of Cowboy Logic" by North Dakota writer Ryan Taylor, and "Sketches From the Ranch" by Montana writer Dan Aadland.

Texan John Graves is not a man to shy away from challenges: he invites them. When he bought his little piece of Texas, he clearly knew he was in for a big one, but I am not sure if he was aware of how his accumulated knowledge of this land would shape the man he was becoming. This book takes you through the process of a bumpy courtship and the resulting marriage between a man and his land.
Already armed with a deep appreciation of Nature, he was able to slowly coax renewed vigor into this misused patch of land through his gentle nurturing of it.

The book is full of his personal adventurers such as stone masonry, animal husbandry, carpentry, and all the hazards inherent in farm life. All presented without regret, with humor and modesty. Inevitably he laments the encroachment of more urban activities as they threaten his bucolic existence. Yet he speaks of the duality of his own urban interactions and compares them to the realities of his rural lifestyle.

This book to me was as much about the man John Graves as it is about his subject, "Hard Scrabble". Tough and complex, like his Patch of Land, he personifies the best Texas has to offer.

Legends of Lone Wolf are so good, that I seriously hope that the publishers would begin re-printing them again!

Fans of the Lone Wolf series will love this incredible book. The conclusion of the Berkely-Pacer Legends series, the book masterfully puts in novel form Lone Wolf 3: The Caverns of Kalte. From the icy glaciers Lone Wolf and his three guides must face to the final confrontation between our hero and the evil Vonotar, adventure is put into prose that takes the reader's breath away. The syntax, the words, and the general tones Joe Dever sets makes this icy adventure one to get

Reptiles are one of the most successful classes of animal that inhabit the earth. They occur in almost every climate and it should be no surprise that the Pacific Northwest has its share of fascinating reptiles. There are 42 species of reptile found from British Columbia to Northern California and Reptiles of the Northwest by Alan St. John is the guide to them. Comprehensive, with brilliant photographs, it is simply a must-own for not only budding herpetologists but naturalists and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages. Reptiles of the Northwest by Alan St. John has an easy to access and understand quick reference guide and detailed introduction to reptiles and herpetology. Each species of Northwest reptile is given a complete introduction with detailed description and information on its distribution, habitat and behaviour. What sets Reptiles of the Northwest by Alan St. John apart from other field guides are the 6 beautiful and informative color photos of each species and the informative and whimsical field notes describing each reptile. These are accounts of encounters Alan St. John has had with these reptiles and they give the reader experiences that you don't find in the average field guide. They are filled with the author's wonder and joy in these creatures, written with humour and warmth in a casual biographical style.
This is a special field guide. Its soft cover allows for ease of slipping into any backpack enabling one to take advantage of the great inclusion of the Northwest Reptile Life list note pages. Reptiles of the Northwest by Alan St. John is definitive and comprehensive It is a unique field guide to unique animals.

This is a marvellously well-done little book whose only (minor) fault is that it skimps a bit on information about the animals themselves; facts about their diet, reproduction and behaviour are condensed into a paragraph each. Instead, we have a field guide worthy of the name that tells you where and how to find reptiles in northwestern North America and how to identify them, and that provides very good subspecies data (a rare thing nowadays), excellent range maps, and beautiful photography. Most enjoyable are the field notes at the end of each species description, in which the author tells a story about finding the animal in question in the wild (often so that it could be photographed for this book). This feature alone makes this book one of the most unique field guides I have encountered in years, and reminds us that a field guide is really about encountering and interacting with animals in the field -- and this point is ably illustrated by the often-funny photos of snakes dangling off someone's ear or lizards biting someone's hand. Highly recommended.

We set up bird feeders in the little backyard of our urban condominium and watched as the birds came to feed. That was fun, but now we wanted to know more about those birds, and this book does just that. Each specie has a nice colour picture, description and a bit of advice on where and how to spot them. When we travel around the province visiting family or camping, this book is by our side with a pair of binoculars. We have given this book as a gift to a number of our family and friends.

I am just a beginner birdwatcher and this book was so easy for me to locate the different birds I saw. Very informative-Good drawings and a great price. I just love this book. Being from the Pacific Northwest I didn't want to look through the books that displayed all North American birds. It would take me forever to find the bird I saw and I would forget most of the time what the features were. With this book-refined down to the pacific northwest birds- it is so easy and QUICK to identify the birds in my backyard and on the coast. Pick one up today....you won't be disappointed.