Flynn’s robot LOT, for real.
Robot’s are awesome. I have had a Roomba for years. That’s an example of a robot that does specific tasks. But what about all the other repetitive tasks that occur every day? Washing and putting dishes away, making the bed, doing laundry, making breakfast and coffee. I’d like to reduce the amount repetitive tasks that occur daily so I can spend more time working on experiments and going on adventures.
Flynn’s robot, LOT (Logic On Treads), is something like Tony Starks robot. It’s helpful. LOT can do repetitive tasks so that Flynn doesn’t have to. LOT can also help Flynn by being an extra hand. Plus, when Flynn is making things that need to be precise, it’s nice to have a precise instrument around, like LOT’s robot arm.
The kind of robot I need is something like LOT. A somewhat universal robot that can help with more than a single task. Rather than just a vacuum robot (which is great), the robot I am building needs to do much more. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and I think Flynn got it right with LOT. The basic structure I need is a mobile robot arm that can respond to basic input and preferably, verbal input.
Making a robot will take time. I’ll have to design, make and assemble components and program a “brain”. I see teaching a robot to be much like teaching a baby. Start with the basics; getting around, avoiding danger, exploring the environment, listening to simple commands, replying with simple output. Then adding more complexities, like controlling its arm and hand. Then onto even more complexities, like dynamically adapting to verbal input. For example, if I say, “LOT, get me a cup of coffee,” LOT will know that means to run several libraries of tasks that end up with a fresh cup of coffee next to me as I write. Of course that’s a very simple example that is actually more complex than it seems in the background. But it all seems do-able, and I’ll keep you in the loop.
Explore your world!
-Stone Marshall
Flynn’s Log 5 news
Starting an email with “Dear Reader” feels lame. I’d rather say, Hello Andrew and Rachel and Ryan and Ava and, well, I think I’m making the point to myself. With each new book, I can’t exactly write an email to every one on the team, but I can reply to each email I receive. I don’t always reply and I’m sorry for that. But I’ll keep trying!
So, as I write this email, I’ll write to my son, Nabru Marshall.
Hi son,
Nice job at the Pokémon tournament on Saturday! No, I can’t play Pokémon now. Why? Because I’m writing you a letter. Let’s play tonight, 8pm, but you’ve got to give me a couple of Megas or else I have no chance. Ok, sure, we’ll build on our Studio Minecraft server for a bit and then play Pokémon.
Should we open the Stone Marshall Studio MC server to our readers? I think it makes sense to do that. They’ll get it. We’ve built the Legends & Heroes world they know from the books. Right, Jesse built most of it, but you’ve got your secret area that only you and your buddies know how to get to. Doh, it’s not a secret area now that I told everybody, but the entrance is still a secret.
How should we open it? We’ve got to keep the world intact. We can’t have Greifers destroying the Kingdom or parts of the Beyond. We can change the game mode to protect it. I think it would be cool to have a certain time each week where we login and create groups (Heroes vs. Legends) and have battles. I’m not sure how to set that up. I wonder if one of our readers knows how to admin an MC server?
You know what else I’d love? To have a reader-created world that we can write stories about. Make it part of our Legends & Heroes series.
Your buddies want me to finish Flynn’s Log 5. Yea, I know. I get email every day from readers, our friends, who want the same thing. I’m working on it. I distracted myself early in the year. We started the Stone Marshall Studio and the Legends & Heroes series to give me more time to write Flynn’s Log and keep up with our friends’ demands for more books, but it backfired. We spent tons of time working out the Legends & Heroes story arc and creating characters and illustrations and the world. And the whole time we left Flynn in limbo.
I need to tell you about Flynn.
What’s taking so long? Yikes, that’s a tough question. I love Flynn, but his mind is a bit mixed up right now. He doesn’t realize what’s really happening. So I’m trying to help him, but he’s not listening to me. He’s only listening to Zana.
Why don’t I tell Zana what to do, you ask? Right, have you tried talking to Zana? She’s way too logical. I can’t get anything past her. I try to explain “life” to her and she destroys my logic. I use the definition of life and she tells me how her version of life is more accurate. I can’t convince Zana to tell Flynn anything that I want him to hear.
Whose cap did Elle grab in Flynn’s Log 4? Wait just a minute, I’m not giving spoilers here, but I think you know what happened, if you look deep within.
When will the next book be out? If Flynn and Zana cooperate, then we’ll have a Christmas release. Elle is being helpful, but right now I need to listen in on Flynn’s mind. I also need to intercept Zana’s transmissions (her encryption is becoming more difficult to break).
I’ve not yet told you anything about Flynn. That’s because you keep asking questions. Flynn is, well, he’s where we left him. What’s he been doing? We’ll find out soon enough. But, I need to warn you. His emotional state might be unstable. He’s facing some questions that we all face, questions about his very existence and what it all means.
Does he find the answers? No more questions!
Until then, our friends can read the latest Legends & Heroes issue. Yes, our friends can get free codes for iBooks. I can’t get codes for the other ebook stores, it’s like Apple “gets it” with codes and the others don’t. But I can still get the issue to our friends who read on Kindle, Android, etc., if they know how to load an ebook onto their device.
So, if your friends want the latest issue for free, ask them to email me. If they read iBooks (Apple devices), I’ll send a promo code. If they use another device, I’ll send a link to the file for side loading.
But I need the right information, so be sure they send this to me:
Subject Line of Email: Legends & Heroes Issue 8
Type of eReader: iBooks, Kindle, Google Play, NOOK, Kobo, online, other
Or, if they don’t want the hassle of side loading and don’t mind paying a buck, they can get it here: https://www.stonemarshall.com/l&h0008. Be sure they ask their parents if it’s OK to buy the book and download the file!
With Love,
Dad (Stone Marshall)
Stone Marshall Wiki
Big thanks to Killer 7012 for starting a wiki. http://stone-marshall.wikia.com/wiki/Stone_Marshall_Wikia
Kobo readers save 50% – limited time
The Kobo team was nice enough to offer 50% off sale for all of my ebooks for the next couple of days! This is great news that I wanted to share with you!
If you don’t read of Kobo, sorry, but this offer won’t be very useful to you. 🙁
If you’ve been waiting to buy your next Flynn’s Log or Legends & Heroes ebook, your wait is over. Kobo is offering my readers 50% savings on every ebook, for a limited time. Go to StoneMarshall.com , click the book you want, click the KOBO button and buy your book from the Kobo website. When you checkout, use the Promo code listed below. Each country has it’s own promo code and ending date, so check the details and save on your next ebook now.
Canada October 28th – October 31st Promo Code: CA50SALE
United States/Australia/New Zealand October 27th – October 30th Promo Code: GET50SALE
United Kingdom October 30th – November 2nd Promo Code: UK50SALE
Be sure to use your Kobo promo code.
Two new Legends & Heroes Minecraft Comic Issues
Meta’s studies of enchantments are interrupted and her world changes forever!
Legends and Heroes Issue 6: Metamorphosis
Meta is a simple mage apprentice girl who unexpectedly becomes the keeper of one of the powerful shards of Bregu.
After the destruction of her village and the death of those she loves, she seeks revenge on the person who dealt this infamous destruction, the dark mage. Yet instead of receiving an attack power from the shard, it gives her ashape-shifting ability that sometimes bring her into funny situations.
Please rate and review!
Dreams of adventure finally coming true, but will Dane survive?
Legends and Heroes Issue 7: Quicksilver – Castle Bound
A blacksmith can swing a hammer, but can he swing a sword? Dane has just left his smithing apprenticeship to pursue the adventure he has been waiting for his entire life—how will he handle his first taste of the battle? He is young, impulsive, and inexperienced, but the Quicksilver that coats his body might be of more use than originally expected.
Dane’s adventure heats up as he is thrown into battle and meets more of the Royal Guards he so admires. Will they be able to help him in his quest to identify how he survived being coated in the mysterious metal covering his skin? Join him in his journey to find out!
Legends & Heroes Issue 7 is out on Oct 10
Quicksilver – Castle Bound, is out October 10th! But wait, where’s Issue 6?
Ok, so the Stone Marshall Studio has been busy putting together this epic storyline I’ve been working on. We’re creating origin stories, writing epic backstories, developing character relationships and trying to get all the characters together at the right time along the timeline.
And after all this we finished an issue out of order. Doh! But it’s ok, with all the flashbacks that show characters backstories, you can pretty much read these issues in any order you want.
Get Issue 7 the moment it’s available here: https://www.stonemarshall.com/book-list/legends-and-heroes-issue-7-quicksilver-castle-bound/
That being said, Issue 6 will be out soon!
Author Spotlight-Stone Marshall | jessicawrenfiction
Author Spotlight-Stone Marshall
Posted on March 22, 2015 by jessicawrennovels
Ah, the nostalgia. There is nothing like playing the old-school video games. My personal favorites were Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog. Mario, Luigi, Sonic, Knuckles, etc, had to journey through various worlds, battle different creatures, overcome various obstacles, and along the way, collect various helpful items such as coins, mushrooms, stars, and flowers that helped them shoot fireballs. If they touched a monster once, they shrank. Twice, they died in a very dramatic manner (jumping straight up in the air with a look of shock on their face before falling off the edge of the edge of the screen. Goofy synthesizer music plays both during the game and upon the death of a character.
I haven’t played Minecraft (and I’m afraid to start; it might become addictive and cause me to waste a lot of time), but from Marshall’s description of it in his children’s novel Rescue Island: Flynn’s Log 1, it sounds like it operates under the same principles. The characters battle monsters, eat food provided by the digital world to restore their lives, and collect items necessary for survival or extra protection. The novel revolves around a hacker known as Flynn. Flynn has no memory of his previous life as he finds that he is a digital character in Minecraft. He battles giant spiders, hunts and fishes for food, and builds shelter. His only companion is an ocelot named Verve (and later, Verve’s daughter Khan). Soon, he finds out that it is his destiny to connect the digital and the physical worlds, and is unsure of how to do that.
If there is a secret to getting kids engaged in reading, I think Marshall has it. Marshall seems to understand that you have to write around kids’ interest and not try to enforce outdated, archaic material on them. I hope elementary schools are beating down Marshall’s door to buy the book. If there were more novels like Rescue Island, then schools wouldn’t struggle so much to get kids to read. I will be ordering a copy for my daughter. If you have a child age 5-12, I highly recommend this as a must-read. I also think adolescents and adults would enjoy this whimsical but action-packed novel as well.
To buy: http://www.amazon.com/Flynns-Log-Rescue-Island-Marshalls-ebook/dp/B00JOUMLYU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1427045129&sr=1-1&keywords=rescue+Island
Flynn’s Log 1 featured today, Free on ChoosyBookWorm, get it here: http://StoneMarshall.com/FL1-CBW
Flynn’s Log 1 Featured on ChoosyBookWorm.com
Get the epic story of today, Free! Read it on Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, Nook orKobo. Choosybookworm.com
Online Guide to Flynn’s Log Characters
Check out the readers character guide.
- See what they look like
- Find details and other facts.
- Lots of information for fans of Flynn and friends.
Check it out here: StoneMarshall.com/CharacterGuide
Flynn’s Log update|New Character Guide and Illustrations!
New Illustrations
Flynn’s new digital styling reflects his evolving and changing game world!
Check it out in the revised series!
You can update the books on your e-reader to the latest version. Find the update button to get the latest version with the new illustrations. If you need help, search your eBook store.
New Character Guide
- See what your favorite characters look like
- Find details and other facts
- Discover new creatures
- Get lots of information on Flynn and friends
Check it out here: StoneMarshall.com/CharacterGuide
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Thanks for reading!
-Stone Marshall