A rare copy of FACELESS by Shaolin of the Abyss

FACELESS – A Monk’s Journey
by Shaolin of the Abyss
Purgatory Press

My contact in the IDUniverse managed to find the long out-of-print Shaolin book that has been on my wish list for ages, transporting it to me via a hidden chest in the Reliquary in exchange for an embarrassingly large amount of in-game gold that will help fund his collection of bootleg arrows. (I know, this is ethically dangerous, as those will come back to haunt us.)

Of course the author covers the themes of anonymity, repetitious battles, and the frustration of spawning briefly only to die moments later. It is an exhausting existence, but he writes with a dark humor that slowly emerges as we get to know him. He fantasizes about Susan the Banshee, is deathly afraid of pestilence arrows, and loves those moments when he quietly fires on a foggy day and takes out a human who is already down to one HP. (“True confessions,” he writes. “I carve little notches on my bow for those.”)

The monastic solitude of the monk’s existence leaves many of his brethren feeling hollow, but Shaolin of the Abyss finds pleasure in wordplay as he writes about life’s pointlessness, arch-enemies, and his dream world of Bows and Eros. It’s a good read… recommended.

This is part of the In Death: Unchained literature collection by Steven K. Roberts.