Lesson One: Joe Hills says you can code a bad web page first

A title card with Joe Hills pointing at the words: "Lesson One: Make a Bad Web Page First"

Introduction

Howdy, aspiring web publishers! Joe Hills here, writing as I always do in Nashville, Tennessee, and today I’d like to welcome you to my new series “Joe Hills says you can Code.”

This series welcomes folks with little or no programming experience to the power of creating and publishing your own work on the internet. Future lessons will focus on publishing your first web page, expanding your work into an entire web site, and ways to manage sprawling amounts of work like blog posts—but first I’m going to teach you how to make a bad web page.

A bad web page is a starting point, like an illustrator’s pencil sketch or a sculptor’s rough concepts. We’ll make something to prove we can make it, examine it in light of what we’ve learned, and then ultimately re-create, refine, and replace it with something better.

Aside: What does Joe even know anyway? I’ve been marking up web pages in html and styling them with css for fun since I was in middle school in 1999. I started building websites professionally as a LAMP developer (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) starting in college in late 2006. You can check my LinkedIn profile for more specifics.

The simplest possible bad web page

The simplest possible web page is a text file saved with an .html extension. That’s right, you can just type a bunch of text into Notepad and save it as mybadwebpage.html, and when you double-click on that, it’ll open in a web browser, just like if you’d sent a request to a web server. So, let’s do that.

Step 1: Open a plaintext editor, like Notepad in Windows or bbEdit on MacOS. Rabbit hole warning, professional developers have very strong feelings about why the text editor they use is the best. You could spend weeks just trying to compare and mess around with different options, but sticking with something dead simple is all you need to get started.

Step 2: Write something in the text editor. The traditional programming example would suggest you write, “Hello, World!”—but I think you should express what’s in your own heart. For my part, I’m writing:

Howdy, y'allball! Joe Hills here, writing not yet entirely valid html from Nashville, TN!

A screenshot of Joe Hills adding his greeting into Notepad.

Step 3: Save the file with a .html extension somewhere you can find it.

Step 4: Find it. If you can’t try step 3 again.

Step 5: Open the file in your web browser.

Step 6: Look at that!

A screenshot showing the same greeting in the text editor as in the web browser.

Congratulations, you made a bad web page! If you uploaded that file to a web server right now, someone who accessed it would see exactly what you’re looking at. We’ll get to hosting and self-publishing in Lesson 2, for right now, let’s focus on adding actual html tags to our html file.

Once more, with HTML

Before we start adding html tags, we’ll add an instruction at the top of the file for the web browser to interpret the document as html:

<!DOCTYPE html>

That done, we can start using html tags around text in our file.

If you’ve used markdown or other markup languages, you’re probably loosely familiar with the idea of adding tags around text—but either way, you’ll pick it up fast.

Headings, paragraphs, and lists 

Let’s say we wanted to add a header above the text we wrote earlier. We can insert a new line above that with “Greetings!” and save our file, but when we open it, all the text has run together. That’s because HTML tags are used to separate elements, like headers and paragraphs.

If we add an opening <h1> tag and a closing </h1> tag before and after “Greetings” and an opening <p> tag and a closing </p> tag around our other text, we can save and reload the file in our browser to see our header and our paragraph are now both separate and visually distinct.

Let’s add another header, “Some websites I recommend” You’ll wanna wrap that in <h1> tags as well.
<h1>Some websites I recommend</h1>
In addition to paragraphs and headings, one of the most common ways to structure text in html is as a list. There’s a few kinds of lists, but the simplest is the unordered list, which opens with a <ul> tag and closes with a </ul> tag. Each list item inside a list opens with an <li> tag and closes with a </li> tag.

For my list, I’m going to list three websites hosted by folks that I appreciate.

<ul>
<li>gamersoutreach.org</li>
<li>wikipedia.org</li>
<li>lovetropics.org</li>
</ul>

If you create a list like that, save it, and reload your html file, you should see something like this:

A screenshot showing how the code renders a list.=

That’s progress, but I bet you’d like those websites to be clickable links? Good news, the HT in HTML is HyperText, which is the original term for links. Side note, the ML is Markup Language, which is why we’re using it to mark up a bunch of text with links.

The anchor tag, which opens with <a> and closes with </a>, can be added around the name of your website to turn that text into a clickable link. To actually tell the browser where to go, you’ll need to add something extra inside the opening <a> tag, a bit of info called an attribute. By setting the text in the href=”” attribute to the precise URL I’d like to point at, I don’t have to clutter the visible portion of my website.

For example, I can set the Love Tropics href=”” attribute to link readers directly to their about page, “https://lovetropics.org/about” while the visible text reads cleanly “Love Tropics.”

Once more with validating

What we’ve got won’t yet meet a bunch of requirements of the HTML5 specification, we can test for what’s missing by copying our code so far into the html checker at: https://validator.w3.org/nu/#textarea

A screenshot showing the HTML validator returning errors for a missing language declaration and a missing page title.

The results of the validator may seem overwhelming, but basically it’s just informing us that we have yet to do the bare minimum to create a standards compliant HTML5 document.

Adding a title and structure

None of the tags we need to add to achieve validation are any more challenging to implement with than the anchor tag.

First, we need to add opening and closing <html> tags around our code, starting after the document type declaration, and closing at the bottom of the file. This won’t be fully standards compliant until we add a lang=”en” language attribute, assuming you’re making your site in English. Otherwise, you can look up and add your own language’s code there.

Next, we need to add a title to the web page that will show up in your browser’s title bar or tab list. Since that title is information about your web page, rather than presented inside of your web page, it will go in a special html block right after the opening <html> tag called the <head>. Everything below the closing </head> tag we need to wrap in a pair of <body> tags, like this:

<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Please, Mister Web Page is my father, call me Ishmael</title>
</head>
<body>
Everything else we've done so far
</body>
</html>

Now, if we copy and paste everything we have into the HTML validator, we get a nice happy response!

A screenshot of the updated code returning no validator errors.

Once more, with colors!

You may have noticed by now that your web page isn’t very colorful or visually distinct yet. Every browser has a default set of styles for html elements, and, yup, you’re looking at them now. Let’s quickly learn the fundamentals of how to  override those defaults with something prettier!

Earlier, we learned the <head> block at the top of the file includes information about your page, and our next tag <style>, will allow us to include CSS styling instructions for the rest of our document.

Since our document has <h1>, <p>, and <li> tags, let’s try adding a splash of color to each by creating a “CSS selector” for each tag followed by a pair of curly braces that will contain “declarations” of how we’d like each to appear.

There are CSS declarations for every imaginable way you could present your work, from font-size to text-align, from background-color to border. The Mozilla Developer Network has great documentation on using each one, so I’ll leave it as an exercise for you to decide how you’d like to customize your first web page.


<style>
h1 {color: #550000;}
p {color: #005500;}
li {color: #000055;}
</style>

Well, that certainly is colorful at least!

A screenshot showing how the CSS styles change the color of the result.

All you need to do now is add a CSS selector for the <a> tag and you can color your links any way you like too!

That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Conclusion

This is just the beginning of your web-publishing journey! There’s a lot more to learn about HTML and CSS, and a ton of highly-specific tutorials about their intricacies. I hope you take the time to indulge your curiosity and explore the parts that are most interesting to you!

Since this course is focused on helping you get started in each broader area of practice, we’ll be moving on next to self-publishing in Lesson Two.

However, if our start today has already got you excited about hosting your own web site, I recommend you consider my sponsor NameHero using my affiliate link at https://www.namehero.com/joe and considering the Turbo Cloud plan, since it also includes a domain name with purchase. We’ll get into publishing your page and allowing folks to access it via your domain name next time, though, so there’s no rush!

Thanks so much for taking the time learn something new with me! Until next time, y’all, this is Joe Hills from Nashville, Tennessee. Keep adventuring!

HermitCraft World Tour Guidebook: Season 10

Howdy, HermitCraft guests!

Here’s a World Tour Guidebook highlighting a dozen mini-games and a few other points of interest on the server! Feel free to show these pages publicly with your viewers if you’d like to plan and build hype for your visit this Saturday!

Your Hermit Host will provide you with other non-public facing details, like the mod list and connection info shortly as well, so keep an eye on your messages for that!

Thanks, and keep adventuring!

The title page of the HermitCraft World Tour Guidebook for an event to be held Saturday, September 20th at 6pm BST. There is a screenshot of the HermitCraft Worldspawn and text that reads, "Welcome, visitors! The guidebook highlights a few of the many fun things to experience on HermitCraft!"

The Overview page of server regions with the following descriptions for each: 1. Worldspawn You'll log in here, meet up with your host Hermit, and we'll kick off with introductions and a guided tour of the server. 2. Shopping District Need building materials? You can shop until you drop in any of our eclectic and upscale retail establishments. 3. Gaming District After the guided tour, there's tons of games to check out that you can only play on HermitCraft! And also Rock, Paper, Scissors. 4. Hermit Holmdel Want to claim a plot and start building? Here's the place to create!

The mini-games map page. Games listed include: "A. Dipple Drop B. Dye-duction (Pearldle) C. Ghastketball D. HermitCraft TCG E. Hungry Hermits F. Mace Race G. Metro Mayhem H. Ravager Rush (Frogger) I. Tennis J. Scootball K. Skizz's Pyramid (Parkour) Beyond this map L. Cub's Labyrinth (Parkour) M. xB's Trident Arena"

This page shows screenshots of Cub's Labyrinth, a parkour maze with lava and ice. An infobox includes the following information: "• Individual parkour • Unlimited simultaneous players • Takes as long as you like • No cost"

This page shows screenshots of the Dipple Drop game. An infobox includes the following information: "• Solo dropper game • 1 player at a time • Takes about 5 min • No cost"

This page shows screenshots of Dye-duction, word game based on Wordle. An infobox includes the following information: "• Individual or team word game • One player or team at a time • Takes about 15 min • Costs 1 diamond"

This page shows screenshots of Ghastketball, an arena with happy ghasts floating in it. An infobox includes the following information: "• Team parkour • Up to eight players • Takes 10 min • No cost"

This page shows screenshots of the HermitCraft TCG Arena. An infobox includes the following information: "• 1v1 Trading Card Game • Requires two players • Takes about 45 min • No cost: pre-made loaner decks available"

This page shows screenshots of the Hungry Hermits kitchen. An infobox includes the following information: "• Co-op hectic cooking game • Requires two players • Takes 5-45 min • No cost"

This page shows screenshots of the Mace Race game. An infobox includes the following information: "• 1v1 mace parkour race • Up to two players • Takes 5-15 min • No cost" An additiona box contains the text: Xisuma says: "Don't spam attacks on the armor stands. That can break them!"

This page shows screenshots of the Mace Race game. An infobox includes the following information: "• 1v1 mace parkour race • Up to two players • Takes 5-15 min • No cost"

This page shows screenshots of the Ravager Rush game. An infobox includes the following information: "• Solo Frogger game • One player at a time • Takes 5min, more if skilled • Costs 1 diamond"

This page shows screenshots of the Scootball game. An infobox includes the following information: "• Team football-like contest • No player cap • Takes about 30 minutes • No cost"

This page shows screenshots Skizz's pyramid. An infobox includes the following information: "• Solo parkour quest • No max players • Takes 20-60 min • No cost"

This page shows screenshots of the Tennis game. An infobox includes the following information: "• Individual or team contest • Two to six players • Takes about 30 minutes • No cost"

This page shows screenshots of the Scootball game. An infobox includes the following information: "• Team football-like contest • No player cap • Takes about 30 minutes • No cost" An addtional box states that xB says: "Make sure to pick up tridents and armor after each game, and put the heads of your defeated foes on the wall!"

This page shows more activities to do, with the following text: "∞. Build anything at Hermit Holmdel Free your imagination by claiming a plot at Hermit Holmdel and building whatever you like to commemorate your visit to HermitCraft! ∏. Appreciate the Fanart Museum Witness the talent of artists in the HermitCraft community! …. Please hold at the Permit Office Wait in line, as long as you like! The perfect spot to AFK while on a snack break! "

This page shows a screenshot of Hermit Holmdel from above with the exhortation "Build anything at Hermit Holmdel." A box explains that Joe Hills says: "No, seriously, build whatever out here, there's no unifying theme or expectations. Express yourself and have fun!" There are three steps listed: 1. Claim any island, hourglass, or sausage shaped plot by simply removing its yellow claim banner. 2. Build whatever you like in your plot to leave your mark on HermitCraft Season 10! 3. If you need supplies, help yourself to one of Hermit Holmdel's many supply depots, go shopping, or shake down your host Hermit for the treasures of their base storage.

This page shows a screenshot of HermitCraft fanart museum exhorting visitors to "Appreciate the Fanart museum." An infobox says: "Need a few quiet moments? Just a bit east of Worldspawn, you can relax and enjoy the talents of amazing artists."

This top of this page shows a screenshot of the Permit Office with text that reads: "Please hold at the Permit Office." An infobox reads: "There's always time to queue at the Permit Office!" The bottom of this page shows the HermitCraft server viewed from above at night with the text: "Your host Hermit will send you any other info you'll need. Thanks for reading, we'll see you Saturday!"

2025 Q3 Meeting Minutes

  • YouTube channel memberships
    • Data shows around 45 people signed up for their own membership while 40-50 were gifted to the community
    • Emotes were fun to add and there’s still room for more to be added
    • There is a plan for more tiers of memberships to be added
    • There is a chance for high focus/less chatty craft streams exclusive to YouTube and discord members only
  • Hiding archived channels
    • Channels will first be moved to a read only archive and then hidden after 3 months
    • Staff still have access to the hidden channels and members won’t lose access to newly archived channels that are put into the read only category
    • We will not be archiving everything from the server with the use of any external tools
    • Old archive categories, Zone of Archived Rooms, Yet another zone of archived rooms, yet a second archive category, yesterday’s SMP: Create Mod 1.19.2, yesterday’s SMP: Modded 1.19, yesterday’s SMP: Vanillish, Yesterday’s ds9 working group, Yesterday’s SMP: vault hunters – All hidden to clear up the server category/channel list
  • Specific channels to be added or removed
    • Typography – Not added
    • Spam AI you poisoned – Not added
    • New archive category created: y’all read only now ya hear
    • Spam sites you webbed – moved to read only archive
    • Spam servers you operate – modified the channel description to include websites and servers
    • Multiplayer meetup – Not added
    • Players wanted – Not archived
    • Friend codes – Not archived
    • Public domain works – moved to read only archive
    • HCTCG webcam games – moved to read only archive
    • HCTCG meetups – moved to read only archive
    • HCTCG deck building – Not archived
    • HCTCG collecting – Not archived
    • Gun crimes – Not archived
    • V Rising – moved to read only archive
    • Satisfactory – moved to read only archive
    • UFO 50 – moved to read only archive
    • Web design dev – Not archived
    • Programming – Not archived
    • Hosting – Not archived
    • Hardware – Not archived
    • Cybersecurity – Not archived
    • Sports – Not archived
  • In place of discord forums, the goal is to eventually move the current events and technology channels to a new self hosted php forum.
    • This is because Joe does not want to deal with the stress of discord’s forum feature; he has experience creating forums and would rather utilize his own creativity and create a space of our own we can go to should discord ever be bought out by meta or any other event we feel the need to flee from
  • Merch store
    • Long term, Joe’s own merch store will be dependent on data collected from the HermitCraft merch store and the revenue made during the hiatus
  • Server migration to apple silicon
    • Needs more troubleshooting, but otherwise testing has gone great and is worth developing over time
  • Next generation Vanillish server
    • This would be the cozy palling around server with voice proximity chat, be the same game version as HC, update when HC does, have the same seed as HC, the same quality of life datapacks, and overall be the experience most similar to HermitCraft.
    • Joe is going to have a call with Yirggy to announce plans for Vanillish and Elevenstorm with a timeline of server events after Twitchcon on October 17th
  • Next generation Modded server
    • This will launch at the beginning of October so Joe can play on it during the HC hiatus. It will be a create mod modpack, and there will be a friendly haunted house build contest.
  • Next flagship server
    • Elevenstorm, a mix of everstorm and the bleeding edge server. Players will have to use game events to achieve features of the server, such as doing a build contest to turn off fire tick. The “HermitCraft What If” server. More details in #feedback-elevenstorm
  • Details for the servers will come out closer to their launch dates once the server operators finalize the designs. Feedback is welcome in the respective feedback channels found under the Joe Hills Meta category.

Joe’s updated mod list for HermitCraft 10 on 1.21.6

Howdy, y’all! Joe Hills here, with a list of mods I’m using now that HermitCraft has updated to Minecraft 1.21.6, as well as notes on why I’m using each.

Armor Poser

Armor Poser creates an advanced and intuitive user interface for manipulating armor stands.

Version:
10.0.0
Created by:
Mrbysco, ShyNieke
Website
https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/armor-poser

Bedder Mod

Bedder Mod makes the warning text larger the longer I click on a bed.

Version:
1.1.2
Created by:
ToxxicGlitter
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/bedder-mod

Bobby

Bobby renders full chunks beyond vanilla render distance.

Version:
5.2.8+mc1.21.6
Created by:
johni0702
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/bobby

Camera Utils

Camera Utils allows longer-distance 3rd person camera settings, as well as deploying a static camera.

Version:
1.21.6-1.0.16
Created by:
henkelmax
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/camera-utils

Chat Heads

Chat Heads displays player heads next to chat messages.

Version:
0.13.19
Created by:
dzwdz, Fourmisan
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/chat-heads/

Chat Signing Hider

Chat Signing Hider conceals Mojang pop-ups when you connect to servers.

Version:
1.21.6-1.0.5
Created by:
henkelmax
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/chat-signing-hider/changelog

Cloth Config

Version:
19.0.1.147
Created by:
shedaniel
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/cloth-config

Face bar

Face bar replaces the gems in the player locator bar with players’ faces.

Version:
1.0-SNAPSHOT
Created by:
Cortex
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/facebar

Iris

iris loads shaders.

Version:
1.9.0
Created by:
Coderbot
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/iris

MaLiLib

MaLiLib is a library required to run MiniHUD.

Version:
0.25.0
Created by:
Masa
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/malilib

MiniHUD

MiniHUD overlays additional information, such as horse speed and light level.

Version:
0.36.0
Created by:
Masa
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/minihud

Mod Menu

Mod Menu shows a list of mods so I can access their options easier.

Version:
15.0.0-beta.3
Created by:
Prospector, modmuss50
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/modmenu

More Culling

More Culling prevents rendering obscured geometry to increase performance.

Version:
14.0.0-beta.1
Created by:
FX
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/moreculling

Replay Mod

ReplayMod captures network data to allow reconstructing in-game events from different camera angles.

Version:
1.21.6-2.6.22-5-g289cea5
Created by:
johni0702
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/replaymod

Server Resource Pack Checker

Server Resouce Pack Checker avoids re-downloading server resource packs I already have by comparing the hash from the server with the local pack’s hash.

Version:
1.21.6-1.2.2
Created by:
henkelmax
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/server-resource-pack-checker

Simple Voice Chat

Simple Voice Chat allows folks to voice chat inside of Minecraft via either proximity or groups.

Version:
1.21.6-2.5.31
Created by:
henkelmax
Website
https://modrinth.com/plugin/simple-voice-chat

SkinShuffle

SkinShuffle allows hotkey-driven skin changing.

Version:
2.9.3+1.21.6
Created by:
IMB11
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/skinshuffle

Sodium

Sodium is a graphics performance and optimization mod required by Voxy and Nvidium.

Version:
0.6.13+mc1.21.6
Created by:
jellysquid3
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/sodium

Status

Status lets Hermits indicate via the tab menu whether or not they’re available, streaming, or recording. It also lets us create a “no sleep” jumpscare text.

Version:
1.21.6-1.0.8
Created by:
henkelmax
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/status

Voxy

Voxy creates reduced level-of-detail meshes from cached chunks and renders those beyond the regular view distance.

Version:
0.2.0-alpha
Created by:
cortex
Website
https://modrinth.com/mod/voxy

Summer Reading Recommendation: Dungeon Crawler Carl books 1-7

Three trusted friends each recommended Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series of novels to me, but the series stayed toward the back of my queue for almost a year because I found the name of its emergent genre, “LitRPG” unappealing to the point of avoidance. I started the first book about a month ago, loved it, and read the following six immediately. I refuse to recommend you a LitRPG series, because I don’t want this at the back of your queue when it belongs at the front.

After reading the first few chapters of book one, in which Seattleite shipyard worker Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s award-winning cat are drawn into an alien-built underground dungeon where video game rules are enforced, I realized the book is basically structured as a written Let’s Play for a non-existent video game. I counter-propose the term “Lit’s Play” and I will strongly recommend you Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series of Lit’s Play novels.

The Dungeon Crawler Carl novels are full of well-grounded human characters coerced, tricked, or forced into comedically ludicrous scenarios with all sorts of bonkers aliens and dungeon NPCs. These situations are structured to condemn systemic exploitation in a way that feels to me like they could have been imagined by Kurt Vonnegut if he were young enough to have grown up reading Douglas Adams and playing D&D. The dialogue is snappy too, and if you enjoy books-on-tape, the narration and voice-work for the characters by Jeff Hayes is masterwork-quality.

If you’re dubious about whether this series is for you, here’s a few points I’ve noted that might encourage you to read it:

The first couple books introduce basic abilities, spells, and game mechanics that the characters try to find ways to exploit. Malicious compliance is king. As the series progresses, the equipment and abilities the characters gain access to and their interactions with other players compound to create new exploits that are increasingly wild and frustrating to their enemies—and delightful to readers like myself!

By book three, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, it’s also obvious that Matt Dinniman isn’t only a gaming nerd. He wanted to do a lot of research on trains, track gauges, subways, and other railroad technology, and shares his passion that subject in all sorts of fun ways in the Iron Tangle level of the dungeon. It makes me smile when folks are excited about their interests and Dinniman’s definitely add to the fun!

By book four, The Gate of The Feral Gods, it became clear to me that the series is heading toward Game of Thrones levels of complexity in terms of competing factions with internal strife squabbling about the problems they are most familiar to distract themselves from the shadows of emergent threats they deem impossible.  Dinneman does a great job of grounding the external galactic intrigue to in-dungeon events, which keeps its presentation as goofy as everything else. If you appreciated how Bojack Horseman used animal puns to facilitate its unbearable dive into the crushing horrors of addiction and depression, you’ll love how Dungeon Crawler Carl cranks everything familiar and bizarre about game logic up to 11 in order to showcase the depravity of exploitative systems of government and commerce.

I won’t say much about the later novels, except that they rewardingly build on the groundwork of the first few books and escalate everything in ways that made me cackle throughout. After finishing book seven, I immediately restarted the first book, and I’m enjoying it thoroughly.

Strongly recommend.

Happy Easter! Resurrection and special thanks!

Happy Easter, y’all! Joe Hills here, writing as I always do in Nashville, Tennessee, with a few quick updates now that I’ve returned from the Pacific Northwest.

Resurrection?!

Since today is Easter, I’m going to start off by thanking folks for joining me last night to kick off the next novel I’ll be reading weekly, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Here’s the VOD of that:

You can find the playlist for my Frankenstein readings at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7On8E0_x1tqXTMocvxGuv2kqu3XThT_t

If you’d like to read along at home, or read ahead, you can find the text I’m reading from via Project Gutenburg at: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/84/84-h/84-h.htm

I’ll usually be reading Frankenstein each Saturday night from 8:30–10:30pm US Central Time, though next week’s Saturday reading will be much earlier in the day than usual to accommodate family plans. You can find my latest streaming schedule at https://joehills.net/soon

Gamers For Giving 2025

Y’all really showed up for this year’s charity stream event and helped HermitCraft raise over $800,000 for Gamers Outreach for the second year in a row! Thank you for helping us build and deliver hundreds of gaming karts to children’s hospitals!

There are so many generous and talented folks who worked to make this event successful that you may have caught on camera throughout the weekend, like Anthony from Mojang, the production crew from Liquid Dogs, and the Gamers Outreach staff. I’m grateful to all of them for making the weekend spectacular!

I wanted to take a second here to shoutout two folks I worked with off-camera who particularly helped us have an amazing event: Travis Ericksen and Nate Jones.

Special thanks to Travis Eriksen from Childs’ Play Charity for loaning Gamers Outreach and HermitCraft the telepresence robot that ZombieCleo, Oli, and Joel piloted around the studio, and for taking time out of his weekend to help us troubleshoot it with his tech expert Garrett!

Travis previously visited my studio with his kids, and we had a great time together, so if you’d like to learn more about Child’s Play, consider checking out the VOD of his visit!

Special thanks as well go to Nate Jones of Northstar guitars! Nate is the amazing luthier who built the custom HermitCraft guitar for the auction. The guitar sold for over $5000 and brought delight to every Hermit who held and signed it. If you’d like to see Nate’s build video for that, you can find it here:

The weekend was packed with fun moments, so I’m in the process of editing a recap video about the weekend now. I hope to have that video out by the end of the week, so I’d best get back to editing!

Until next time, y’all, this is Joe Hills from Nashville, Tennessee. Keep adventuring!

 

Report for the NOPOE in Exile

It has been an incredibly busy week on #HermitCraft!

Come check out how VintageBeef and I have been searching and trapping the Permit Officers’ facilities, and see my side of me trying to mess with Skizz during his stream yesterday!

Rejoice! Grian finally discovered my Secret Santa gift… from last year!

It’s been a couple months since I left Grian his Secret Santa gift, so y’all might not have seen that he finally discovered it today in the first few minutes of his video:

If you want a refresh about how Skizz and I brainstormed this present, check out my Christmas 2024 video here:

For the full backstory on the giraffe, you can check out Skizzleman’s Guess The Build video about it!

“Too Many Boots” — my AMC drama pitch

The pater familia of an immigrant family that owns and operates several parking lots is arrested by ICE.

The eldest tries to manage the business while the second eldest plays vigilante and sneaks up to ICE vehicles during raids to boot them.

I imagine the eldest would be focused on the day-to-day concerns of running the business and dealing with the cutthroat competition, while the the vigilante kid would be stealing boots from those competitors to use against ICE while sowing chaos in the local parking economy.

Recommend: The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey

I’ve just enjoyed The Mercy of Gods, the latest novel by James S.A. Corey, which focuses on some distant future offshoot of humanity that has lost touch with their earthly origins and is suddenly introduced to the rest of the galaxy by way of an imperial alien invasion force. It kicks off a series called Captive’s War, presumably because the POV characters are all POWs attempting to sort out how best to understand their enemies and resist effectively despite bleak prospects and bizarre challenges.

Given that Corey’s nine Expanse novels and many side-stories and novellas consistently impressed me over the last decade, this felt like a safe purchase and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s more of the same style of writing, but with different settings and scope. The concepts of the different alien species were varied and interesting, and I found the characters’ internal struggles and decision-making thought-provoking—even when their choices didn’t strike me as optimal.

The most resonant structural choice of the novel for me was that the story is broken into six parts, and each part opens with a historical analysis from one of the enemy alien captors about where things went wrong for them after capturing these humans. As a science fiction reader, this initially feels recognizable and comfortable, like Asimov opening chapters of Foundation novels. As the story progresses, a disconcerting feeling creeps in that while the captor alien is trying to pin the blame for his failings on a particular human, this may not be that straightforward a narrative. It feels like a Cardassian enigma tale, where every character is guilty, and the exercise for the reader is to determine guilt of what. The answers all seem to be some small manifestation of hope as resistance, which collectively may tip things in future novels.

As the other books in the series aren’t out yet, I don’t know if they’ll stick the landing the way Expanse Book nine did, but what I’ve read is pretty good. I’m confident enough to encourage folks check out this novel while we wait for more.

Recommend.