DarkAge
Today Kirk Warrington releases his mature fantasy novel, DarkAge:
DarkAge is a mature, fantasy fiction, podcast novel where Sword and Sorcery meets Medieval Fantasy.
A group of friends playing a fantasy role-playing game, DarkAge, become trapped inside the game as their characters. Many of their past gaming decisions will come back to haunt them. They must battle wizards, demons, knights, giants, and the undead but find their most deadly foe is each other. Will our heroes find their way back home? Will they want to go back home?
Come hangout at The Busted Skull Tavern, where the ale is cold and the wenches are hot.
The first five episodes are released today. Follow along with Kirk as he updates, or get a custom feed and listen on your own schedule.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Please forgive any mispronunciations (example: katana) as I am definitely more of a writer than a public speaker.
I hope you enjoy my book.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
DarkAge is the story of a group of roleplayers who get stuck in their fantasy role playing game. They had seemed like good attributes to have when it was all fictional, but now that they are trapped in their character’s bodies, they are second guessing their creations. I can’t wait to see what happens to Tony who is trapped inside a beast’s body and can’t articulate even the word “Help!” What about the guy who goes to sleep in a normal body and wakes up as a Sumo Wrestler? My favorite line so far: “I wasn’t fat last night!” Great entertainment! Warning: Might make you get strange stares at the bus stop when you laugh out loud while listening on your headphones.
October 18th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I enjoyed this book. I don’t know anything at all about role-playing games, but the characters entertained me, and I wondered: given the opportunity, would they play a role playing game again, and if so, how would they change their characters?
I never found out, but I did explore the Darkage world as the characters traveled.
Kirk is a character himself, with this idiosyncratic performance of his novel. Oh, I guess the expert who discusses the pronunciation of ‘katana’ does not make it to the Podiobook version – too bad!
I will never forget the day I started this podcast with the volume turned up. Honest truth.
Thanks, Kirk, for a solid addition to the Podiobooks collection!
October 30th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Dark Age, is like what you image some of your role playing games would turn into.
Finding yourself in a fantasy world with the need to take on your characters persona and abilities to avoid being cannon fodder.
The characters gaming past catches up to them on more than on occasion.
Decisions are made and mistakes made, will they get home in one piece or not. Listen and you will not be disappointed.
November 10th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
DarkAge is a fascinating look at what could happen if you get too caught up in the gaming world. Should I warn my grandsons? Maybe. It all seems so real! I love Vaughn trying to get Kevin’s help to pull his wolf’s skin off and then Vaughn giving in and eating breakfast. Best line so far – “The women are sure friendly in these here parts”. How John Wayne!! LOL Enjoy but don’t sit too close to that screen!
November 13th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Great book, though I would have like to see them make it back to the real world. Oh well, can’t wait for Darkage 2 *hint hint nudge nudge*
November 27th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Having played many role playing games myself I find this book to be fascinating. Honestly, at first I thought that the book moved a little to quickly and wasn’t really narrated very well, however further along I changed my mind. The book slows a little to allow you to notice the transition of the characters into their characters, and Kirk’s voice and the fact that he changes it for each character, grows on you. I love this book and look forward to more from the author.
December 8th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Best. Intro. Ever.
Regarding the mispronunciations, at first it was annoying, but now I find it charming. Normally this sort of thing irritates me, but with this type of story and with Kirk’s style of storytelling, it feels less like I’m reading a book and more like I’m listening to one of my half drunk friends telling me a story, unnecessarily emphasizing things, committing grammatical errors, and mispronouncing words to be sure, but who cares? It’s my buddy telling me a story. Just go with it. The mispronunciations soon seem less like errors and more like idiosyncrasies of a friend.
Thanks, Kirk, for the great podcast. Keep the chapters coming!
December 27th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I just listened to the first three ‘chapters’, and I’m loving it! It’s got me totally hooked and I can’t wait to listen to the rest of it.
Now what you need to do is create a *real* “DarkAge” rpg!
December 29th, 2008 at 11:38 am
this is some good stuff man! (I mean i could nitpick but then i would think you’d just be that much more less likely to continue these stories, or something like them in the future, and I’m sure other less courteous folks have already informed you…)
anyhow, I greatly enjoy your podcast!
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
*************FYI**************
I accidentally skipped an episode and had to reload DarkAge #29 as the episode I passed over. #30 is the former #29. Sorry if I messed anyone’s listening up. Thanks to Dennis F. for catching my error. I appreciate everyone’s patience.
January 9th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Kirk,
Thank you so much. This is a very good story and I really enjoyed it. Let me explain why:
First, it is a great topic. What kid playing D&D hasn’t thought about becoming his (or her?) character? I suspect the same is true with the World of Warcraft generation. Otherwise reserved people who have the opportunity to be someone else, someone powerful and respected in another world.
Second, you have some great characters who struggle with the reality of the brutality of violence and death. This adds depth to your story.
I do hope you will continue writing and podcasting. I think you can make Darkage into a sequel that will increase your odds of getting published. If course you are getting some constructive feedback, but you are also smart enough to know that you can use all of it to make your stories even better.
I was very sorry to see it end…and look forward to your next podcast. Great stuff, thanks again.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I really enjoyed the book, I hope you do a Darkage 2.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
I like nf7mates response. The drunk friend analogy is perfect! The first few episodes, I was out off because the “real world” characters seemed unrealistic in the way they interacted. Ironically, they seemed more believable after they got stick in darkage. Anyway, I am really enjoying it and look forward to finishing it.
January 17th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Despite the odd reading pace and dreadful mis-pronunciations, this book was enjoyable. However, there are some major issues. WARNING: PSEUDO SPOILER…
There are some major league issues that have not been resolved by the end of the novel. Even with a sequel, there needs to be some closure on things like what happens with James and John. What about William? What happens when a player character dies in Dark Age? I don’t really know where a sequel will go from the end of this story. If these loose ends were tied up, it would be a great novel on it’s own, but I have a feeling that a sequel will just draw things out.
January 17th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Thanks everyone for their feedback. I really do appreciate it. Please keep it coming.
Although I have messed up on the pronunciations of many a word.
Hades is pronounced correctly in the podcast. This is John’s character and not the Greek God of the underworld, therefore it does not have to be pronounced hey-deez. John pronounces this differently on purpose. Although he wants to associate his character with death, he does not want to be the Greek God of the underworld. (Not B.S. to cover my own lack of oratory skills but FACT, I’m more than happy to admit when I messed up on something – example katana.)
Thanks again for everyone’s support.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:55 pm
This was not good story. i found that the plot was very weak.
January 24th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Kirk. Let me say that I did enjoy this book a lot. I re-read my post, it sounds like I’m bashing your book, but on the whole, it’s definitely worth the listen. The character development is good, the action is cool, and it’s lovely violent. There is a lot that went into writing this book, and I think with some good editing, it could be really really good.
January 24th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
No problem Octopon, I understand. Thanks for the feedback.
February 4th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I really enjoyed this book. It had a great plot and was really captivating. I really liked all the action and I hope Kirk writes DarkAge 2
February 10th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Dark Age is looking to be a good story but im finding it hard to listen so far. I am enjoying the story very much. But Listening to the author read it is hard as it seems he is trying too much to make everything clear in his reading that it seems to drag. I remember when i first noticed early on and i thought it was a voice for a character and i thought that maybe the character was a little slow thus his speech was slowed and awkward but as i kept listening it was on the narrative parts as well. Most of the time it is like this but every once in a while he would say a small part normally but then switch back in mid sentence. I don’t mind the mispronouncing of words and i actually think its kinda cool the way he does say Katana, (IE. Kat-na rather then Ka-ta-na) I will try and listen to the rest as i am enjoying the story but hope that the speech will get better.
February 25th, 2009 at 12:28 am
I enjoyed the story. I think your reading style improved as you went. I look forward to DarkAge 2.
Maybe as a tie in to the next instalment, you could ask the fans to send in some artwork of the darkage charatcers. It would be good to have a character history page on your site to get to know them better.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I have to say that I started the series with some hope to it. The reading style of the author -needs work- and I also don’t think the characters were very three dimensional at all. I think this is a good start with fantasy genre, but I had to give up on it after awhile.. there wasn’t enough there to hold me.
March 10th, 2009 at 4:18 am
So far, it’s enjoyable enough. I’m on to Episode 8, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the premise and the characters. I particularly like the way you sow the seeds for what is going to happen, e.g. Tony’s Jekyll/Hyde skill, Rich’s demon problem, the quest to get the wish (I assume this comes to fruition).
However, the narration and writing style makes it difficult to listen to – I’m now continuing with the book out of sheer determination more than anything else.
You need to loosen up and speak at a more natural place – you’re suffering. From. The worse case, of. The Shatners. I, have ever. Heard
Also, your writing is a little too explanatory, particularly in the opening chapters. You create a great scene between characters, and then throw in something unnecessary like “William worked the next character into the game” (two or three minutes after that character has been introduced).
Finally, there seems to be an unnecessary focus on sex so far. I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s because your writing as your teenage characters, but it comes across as more than a little juvenile.
I’ll stick with it, and so far it’s enjoyable enough, but you have some things you need to work on before DarkAge 2.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:35 am
Finished it – through sheer determination alone. My points still stand.
It was tolerable, borderline enjoyable.
April 21st, 2009 at 3:02 am
My review of DarkAge can be found here:
http://freshly-ground.blogspot.com/2009/04/audiobook-review-darkage-by-kirk.html
April 26th, 2009 at 3:00 am
Hey you can check out another review of DarkAge at
http://lonewolfsageco.com/main/?p=30
June 6th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Checkout http://cthulhupodcast.blogspot.com/ as I read the H.P. Lovecraft short story The Festival for the Cthulhu Podcast.
June 26th, 2009 at 8:22 am
First off I would like to thank you for Dark Age it went by all to quickly as about the only breaks I took came when my Ipods battery died..
A few thoughts.
One thing that I kept thinking as I listened to DA was “When are they going to go on the assigned quest?” they just hang out in this town. The super wish granting item mentioned at the beginning of the story seemed like fore shadowing of a possible solution to there entrapment and not one of them thought to look for it..
Second & this didn’t have to happen but I sort of hoped it would. At the end I’d have liked to find them back at the apartment the whole escapade rather than magic having been part of the game scenario. Why? well it would be quite a hoot to hear them rag on each other one last time.(King Cronearth got taken down bitch what you gota say about that..)
Finally criticism of a sort
Again I really enjoyed DA & I’m in my thirties but for me the novel reads as Young Adult I’d say 16-21 if that were the target audience the explicit language and sexual content probably seem inappropriate to publishers who must consider to whom they will market a book. Sadly I don’t have a solution to offer, Henrys abuse of power rings true it would be awkward to white wash him, heck if you did it would likely eviscerate the story..
August 4th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I’m about halfway through, and i like the story so far. The only thing that grates on me is the pace of the narration…it’s rather choppy. And James sounds like William Shatner on a really bad day. Overall though, I am enjoying it thoroughly. Kirk, thanks for clearing up the mis-pronunciation of katana!!
Keep up the good work!
August 21st, 2009 at 6:05 am
I agree with Stinky Pants about the narration. I had to stop listening half-way through, because it got to the point of being annoying.
On a possitive note, the idea for the story is very cool, I would love to get caught up in a role-playing world like that!
January 16th, 2010 at 5:39 am
Listened to the podiobook a few days ago. Loved it! Glad Lourdes and Malcom got it. If I had to hear, “You bastards!” one more time… lol great job and keep it up. I want to see where the story will continue.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
I would love to listen to this podcast all the way through. However, the narration is absolutely terrible. Please, please find someone else to read your story. It has some promise, but I just couldn’t take the terrible voices.
March 25th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Ok. The story was somewhat cheesy, and the narriation was medicore. However, I actually really did like the story and would like to hear a part 2. Thanks.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:55 am
This is the first podiobook that I have not listened to the whole way once I started. I am a little bothered by the voices, but I could deal with them, the thing that really bothered me was the writing itself. You might like it, but this is a case where the idea is good, and just needs a little revising.
October 24th, 2010 at 4:52 am
DarkAge is available to buy on Amazon.com.
January 3rd, 2011 at 11:04 pm
I actually liked the Dark age. It was a definite romp and a bit cheesy, but that was a big part of its charm. I do think that perhaps the reader might want to work a bit on his pronunciations. Lourdes, rapier and katana being the most notable examples. It was a bit rough to try and get into the story itself while translating words and names into something coherent, which made me think about giving it up. I do think that there are a few things to hammer out in the writing, such as more complexity in character expression, but overall this was a fun story.
January 7th, 2011 at 8:08 am
Great work the writing was decent and I liked the narration. so some words weren’t properly pronounced you would have to be a complete douchebag to have that turn you off the wild adventure.
January 25th, 2011 at 11:18 pm
i really enjoyed the story it was well written and a very unique ideal not the usual fantasy read that im used too nice change thank you Kirk i was however disappointed to never find out what happened to William and i thought the transition from real life to dark age was a little abrupt but was functional and i also thought that they were going to find and use the wish to get home mayby in part 2 any way great job Kirk and i personally liked the narration not at first but it grew on me
February 9th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
guess this makes me the a ” complete douchebag” got about halfway and could not take it any more. The story has promise, but you must have some form of speech impediment. On a further note, William must be a hell of a DA game guide to run a game with so many ppl at once, but i suppose you wanted both heroes and villains of the story to be from the “real” world. Regardless my vote is redo this one first. you have a fine voice, you don’t need to have a different voice/accent/inflection for every person to differentiate them, and if you do don’t make them sound like bad parody of bill and ted and little nicky
April 24th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
I give this story a B-. Simply because there were many unanswered questions. At first I hated the narration, however I got used to it and kinda liked it at the end. Never judge a story on the way it is read. Good job kirk, there were areas of improvement, but it was still a good read.
July 31st, 2011 at 9:44 am
okay…(breath)….okay. My apologies, but i could not even get past episode 1 man. The sheer mispronunciation is making my head WANT to explode! The story sounds interesting, but it DEFINITELY needs to be remastered. I might’ve been able to keep going but if you are going to write a story in this type of genre (so to speak),you need to know what is what and who is who. Such as Hades(hay-deez),katana(ka-taw-na), etc. I guess that makes me a complete douchebag for literally judging a book by its cover, but most authors are expected to have or demonstrate writing knowledge/skill beyond the 8th grade.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:44 pm
Well, Kirk tries really hard, his reading is slow, but clear, I have turned others off for being worse. I have to agree that some of the mispronunciations are irritating.
The story is pretty good actually, and that makes this book worth listening to.
October 6th, 2011 at 9:09 am
When I first began listening to this audio book, well I honestly have to say it startled me awake! I tend to load a few books on my MP3 player and listen to them as I doze off to sleep at night (also listen to them when I have appointments, ect.)
The intro music, turn down your volume if your not wanting a surprise, but after awhile, I did get used to it. After that first chapter, I was enthralled with the story.
It did take me some time to get used to the narration, but I have to applaud Kirk for all the hard work he put into this, especially after listening to the Q&A.
The story has a bit of a slow start, but you really do get a feel for the characters once it gets going, and by chapter three, I was no longer just listening to this on my MP3, but catching every chapter I could, while working on various projects at my computer.
I think one of my favorite aspects of the story itself, was how I could see my own friends and gaming group in similar light if such a situation were to happen to them. Wonderful story and please keep writing, can’t wait to hear some more of your work!
November 21st, 2011 at 6:41 am
Well personally I enjoyed this book, I must admit it was an effort to follow at the beginning of the story and it took some resolve to persevere with the different characters and voices (especially James) – But please don’t get me wrong once you get used to the book and the format of story (which is well written and entertaining) its an enjoyable listen and seems to improve with each episode.
This book is reasonably long and must have taken a lot of time and effort to write and produce, Thank you for sharing and I look forward to hopefully hearing a sequel???