Forum Name: KatieHal
Goes By: Katie
Real Name: Katie Hallahan (pronounced: HAL-la-han, not HALL-a-han)
Current location: Boston, MA!
About me:
I'm 30 years old and I've been a Boston native all my life. Grew up just west of the city, went to Boston College for undergrad, and stuck around afterwards, too. Despite this, I do not have a Boston accent! It's sacrilege, I know. I also don't really like seafood despite living here my whole life.
I work in the educational publishing industry as an editor in my day job, an industry that's all over Boston. My major in college was English, so this is no surprise really. I also love to write, and I hope to one day actually complete a story and get it out there and published! You'd think being IN the publishing industry would help with that, but I'm completely the wrong end of it for publishing science fiction and fantasy novels!
Stuff I Like:
I LOVE watching TV. I have a crazy list of shows I watch throughout the year, and that I've watched in the past as well. A few on the list of current shows are Supernatural, Gossip Girl, Glee, The Amazing Race, Community, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Doctor Who (the new series), and I'm adding The Walking Dead to that, too. Past shows I've loved include Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica (new version), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and LOST. I just really enjoy good stories, good characters, and some good drama. :)
I also love reading, again mostly sci-fi and fantasy. I'm currently re-reading The Dresden Files and went as a character from those books for Halloween. There's also the Song of Ice and Fire series, Harry Potter, Codex Alera, the Chronicles of Prydain... I'm drawing a blank, but I enjoy the genre books, YA books, and I've also got The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on my reading list right now, too.
For a more unexpected fact about me, I've been taking American Jiu Jitsu for almost six years now. Our style/school focuses on practical self defense, ranging from ground fighting and joint locks to submission holds and throws. I'm only 5'3", so I really enjoy that the style does not depend on size and strength and is something anyone can learn and use. I'm currently a 3rd rank brown belt and a certified instructor, and sometime this spring or summer I'll be testing for my first rank black belt and then I'll be Sensei Katie! :ninja:
King's Quest:
My first King's Quest game was either 3 or 4, back when I was close to ten years old. I'm pretty sure it was 4, since the cover had a girl on a unicorn and that was just about a guarantee of how to suck me in! I loved walking around, exploring, typing stuff in, finding objects and the whole fairy tale feel of the games, it was all right up my alley.
I found KQ through some other Sierra Games, however. We first had The Black Cauldron from a family friend who gave us a bunch of their old games (which is also how I discovered the Chronicles of Prydain book series!), then we bought Space Quest 2, and then finally King's Quest 3 and 4. I would not beat any of the King's Quest games until MUCH later, however--not until I found the first KQ collection years later and had some serious help from hint books, too!
The Silver Lining:
After graduating college in 2002, I was jobless and living at home and killing some time playing old Sierra games when I decided to go see if there was another KQ game out there. Sadly, there was not, nor was there a Sierra anymore really, but I did find the group that would become Phoenix Online Studios one day! I applied to be a staff writer and was hired soon after, quickly ending up as Cesar's co-writer. This thrilled me to no end, as a pipe dream when I was much younger was to write adventure games when I grew up. And here I was, actually doing it!
At some point, I'm not quite sure when, I became the official Co-Designer and joined the Board of Directors. I'm actually the only female director we have, which I think is pretty cool. :) Back in April or May of this year, I added PR Manager to my title as well, and it's been so much fun doing PR work! The team's great, the work is fun, really just working on TSL in general has been an amazing experience and dream come true!
Other favorites:
Purple
Pot roast
Mexican food
French vanilla coffee
Pumpkin-flavored things
Red hair
Role-playing games
Corgis
Halloween
Karaoke
Friends & family!
And some pictures!
Halloween this past weekend:
(http://www.majhost.com/gallery/katiehal16/Pictures/halloween_sbs.jpg)
Last fall at the 'Davis Mega Maze' (huge cornfield maze with game stations etc inside, really fun!):
(http://www.majhost.com/gallery/katiehal16/Pictures/kt_shrug.jpg)
Me with horns:
(http://www.majhost.com/gallery/katiehal16/Pictures/kt_horns.jpg)
And Rich & I at PAX East last year with our TSL shirts(I'll be there again this year!) (actually this is at a pub across the street):
(http://www.majhost.com/gallery/katiehal16/Pictures/pax_pic.jpg)
Nice to meet you!
Indeed! :) Are you a natural redhead? :)
I'm actually not. :) But I pull it off as though I were! My actual hair color is brown with red & blonde in it--so, sort of chestnut-ish.
Do people really try to pronounce it HALL-a-han? Ouch.
Oh yeah, all the time. I get why, I mean it does have the word 'hall' in there.
Quote from: KatieHal on November 02, 2010, 11:28:32 AM
I'm actually not. :) But I pull it off as though I were! My actual hair color is brown with red & blonde in it--so, sort of chestnut-ish.
Woah, plot twist!
Quote from: KatieHal on November 02, 2010, 11:08:46 AM
I'm actually the only female director we have, which I think is pretty cool. :)
!!!
(http://iusd.imperial.k12.ca.us/cfowlkes/Rosie-the-Riveter-Tin-Sign-C11751163.jpg)
LOL, plot twist. Love it!
We can even do it without overdoing the mascara like on the poster. :P
Quote from: KatieHal on November 02, 2010, 11:08:46 AM
Current location: Boston, MA!
YAY!!!!!!!
QuoteI also love reading, again mostly sci-fi and fantasy. I'm currently re-reading The Dresden Files and went as a character from those books for Halloween. There's also the Song of Ice and Fire series, Harry Potter, Codex Alera, the Chronicles of Prydain... I'm drawing a blank, but I enjoy the genre books, YA books, and I've also got The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on my reading list right now, too.
What is Codex Alera?
Boston FTW!
Codex Alera is a six book fantasy series by Jim Butcher, who also writes The Dresden Files.
Quote from: Deloria on November 02, 2010, 01:40:27 PM
We can even do it without overdoing the mascara like on the poster. :P
Well, y'know. Good ol' Rosie the Riveter does the job even with the mascara. ;)
She is a tough broad.
*How* fantasy is it? High fantasy? Low fantasy? Somewhere in between?
I didn't even know that was such a think as high and low fantasy. I though fantasy was fantasy.
I've heard of "high fantasy", but what is "low fantasy"?
Low fantasy is like when there's not a lot of magic or where magic is kept secret so it more closely resembles reality -- whereas high fantasy is like Lord of the Rings and King's Quest, where you have elves and dragons and every other person is magic or part of some prophecy.
Low fantasy is like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where the people who do know about magic have to try to keep it a secret (you know, until the series finale in which case it's totally fine to have the Hellmouth swallow your town or have a dragon flying over the city and breathing fire at skyscrapers.....), the world itself is not magical and most people have no idea that there's magic about.
Then you have "mid-fantasy" (I guess it's called?) which is like Harry Potter -- it's low fantasy in that the world itself is not magical, but it's high fantasy in that there's a sort magical world-within-a-world.
Am I making any sense here? :P
Yes, you are. Thanks for the explanation.
Quote from: kindofdoon on November 02, 2010, 11:35:19 PM
Yes, you are. Thanks for the explanation.
Good, cause I was confusing myself. :P
Pretty high fantasy--set in it's own world (Alera), there's magic that's VERY prevalent to the story and setting, weird fantastical races, etc. So, yeah, I'd say high!
Hm, by your definitions there, I'd even say most 'low' fantasy is stuff I usually call urban fantasy. Buffy, Dresden Files, and even the TV show Supernatural would fall into that category. Which is probably the genre (or sub-genre) I enjoy the most (right now, at least). :)
Quote from: KatieHal on November 03, 2010, 07:34:06 AM
Pretty high fantasy--set in it's own world (Alera), there's magic that's VERY prevalent to the story and setting, weird fantastical races, etc. So, yeah, I'd say high!
Hm, by your definitions there, I'd even say most 'low' fantasy is stuff I usually call urban fantasy. Buffy, Dresden Files, and even the TV show Supernatural would fall into that category. Which is probably the genre (or sub-genre) I enjoy the most (right now, at least). :)
This reminds me of the LARP youtube clip that was on Tosh.O "Lightning bolt, lightning bolt, lightning bolt!"
I must concur with the cheering for Boston! HUZZAH! HUZZAH! HUZZAH! Katie, do you happen to know when PAX East is this year? I was never able to go last time, but I really would like to go this time. It's great to learn more about you! And we share a lot in common! (I'm a Gleek. I admit it. I've fallen under Glee's hypnotic spell.) I still need to watch the new Battlestar Galactica, but it's most certainly on my list of things to do. Along with hundreds of other things... But I must make one thing clear: I worship Joss Whedon. My facebook bio will attest to that... Buffy The Vampire Slayer=Pure Epic Win. And, in my opinion, Twilight has NOTHING on Buffy. But let's not turn this into a buffy vs. twilight debate...
Quote from: KatieHal on November 03, 2010, 07:34:06 AM
Hm, by your definitions there, I'd even say most 'low' fantasy is stuff I usually call urban fantasy. Buffy, Dresden Files, and even the TV show Supernatural would fall into that category. Which is probably the genre (or sub-genre) I enjoy the most (right now, at least). :)
Urban Fantasy doesn't fall on the High-Low Fantasy Spectrum. Urban fantasy technically is a sub-genre of contemporary fantasy that is generally the opposite of Epic Fantasy -- Urban fantasy is set in a modern city, whereas Epic fantasy scales an entire world that's usually medieval or historical in some way.
There's not much High Fantasy that qualifies as Urban Fantasy, however there's some Low Fantasy that qualifies as historical fantasy -- anything Conan, for instance, as Hyperborea is a low fantasy setting.
See, there's like... scales, you know? You got high to low fantasy, and contemporary to historical, and then there's more localized fantasy versus epic fantasy. My absolute favorite, period, is epic high medieval fantasy -- you know, sword and sorcery and/or heroic fantasy.
This should help you, because it's where I learned about all this stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fantasy_genres
DD: PAX East is March 11h to 13th, and I've already bought my 3-day pass. :) And YAY Joss Whedon!!! I'm a huge fan in general of his, though Buffy is the franchise I enjoy the most. The Season 8 comic has been....interesting, though. I'm still waiting to see how it all wraps up before making a total call on what I think of it.
LOL, yeah, there are various kinds of fantasy--though, like I said, I was mostly saying your examples of low fantasy were ones I'd call urban fantasy, in this case.
Quote from: KatieHal on November 04, 2010, 05:39:36 AM
LOL, yeah, there are various kinds of fantasy--though, like I said, I was mostly saying your examples of low fantasy were ones I'd call urban fantasy, in this case.
The examples I gave were also urban fantasy but that was mostly coincidence. :P
Quote from: KatieHal on November 04, 2010, 05:39:36 AM
DD: PAX East is March 11h to 13th, and I've already bought my 3-day pass. :) And YAY Joss Whedon!!! I'm a huge fan in general of his, though Buffy is the franchise I enjoy the most. The Season 8 comic has been....interesting, though. I'm still waiting to see how it all wraps up before making a total call on what I think of it.
LOL, yeah, there are various kinds of fantasy--though, like I said, I was mostly saying your examples of low fantasy were ones I'd call urban fantasy, in this case.
Thanks for the info. I should probably pre reg for that... As well as anime Boston now that I thjnk of it...