Larry Correia's Blog, page 13

Fisking the Guardian’s Village Idiot: Part 1

Damian Walter is that dude over at the Guardian who made shit up about me before. That time he put words in my mouth, said that I warned writers not to write about gay characters if they want to remain commercial, and he even put it in quotes as if it was my actual words. That isn’t even close to what I said, or what I’ve actually done, and doesn’t match up with my real life actions, writing, or even the philosophies of other authors I’ve promoted, but hey, whatever.

Here is the last one: http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/04/15/larry-f-correia-international-lord-of-hate/

Note, this is going to be two part Fisk, with today being the article, and tomorrow I’m going to go through Damien’s comments where he threatened me with some nebulous harm if I don’t apologize for and confess some sins, and then he went on Twitter to ask his followers to find bad things I’ve done (normally journalists do research before writing about something).

So here is Part1. As usual Damian gets damn near everything wrong, so let’s go through and take a look at what passes for journalism at the Guardian. This is going to be long, but Damien has a real gift for shoving two or three lies, half-truths, or distortions into nearly every line. Hmm… I heard Jay Carney’s job is open.

As usual, the moron is in italics and my comments are in bold.

Here is the current article: http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/30/science-fiction-real-life-war-worlds but it is all reprinted below for your enjoyment. Note that Damian’s article is absolutely filled with links, let’s see… a dozen of them in fact, but not a single one of those links are to the actual words of the people he is maligning… Curious.

Science fiction’s real-life war of the worlds

For many years, a very particular and very narrow set of authors has dominated SF. But battle for a broader fictional universe is under way.

When is a giant lizard not a giant lizard? When it’s a metaphor for the might of the military-industrial complex. Audiences turning up for the latest cinematic incarnation of Godzilla have expressed some disappointment that much of the battling kaiju action was kept off screen.

Keep in mind, his last article about what evil homophobic hatemongers conservative writers are started out by explaining the reason male gamers played female characters in video games was so they could explore gender roles… as opposed to it being nicer to stare a girl’s butt for 200 hours of Skyrim. But nope, exploring gender boundaries.

Because when I think of socially conscious, non-binary enlightenment, I think of the LOL WUT tits or GTFO denizens of Xbox Live. So keep in mind, Damien isn’t very smart and does a lot of grasping at straws.

In its place director Gareth Edwards makes the smart decision to tinker with the kaleidoscopic political meanings that surround the giant lizard. What Edwards chooses to place front and centre are the twin legacies the second world war foisted on modern society – nuclear weapons and the United States military in all its glory. By the end of the movie we’re left in no doubt that, whatever risks they pose, we need the monstrous forces mankind can control to defend us from the monstrous forces – be they real or imagined – we cannot. Audiences want sci-fi to entertain us, but even blockbuster movies come loaded with political messages.

Okay, heavy handed straw grasping intro out of the way, I wonder how many people bought tickets to see Godzilla for the political messages versus how many went to watch giant monsters smash stuff? But hey, let’s roll with it. I think Damian’s point is that political messages in sci-fi exist… Yep. As much as they try to rewrite my old posts to be that message fic shouldn’t exist at all, on the contrary, I said it did, but that if you wanted to be successful, you needed to put the story first, and once you’ve provided your readers with enjoyment, then you can slip in your message… Message first can turn off readers. And as much as they try to change the narrative, my words (which they never actually link to) are right there.

Or in this case, the giant lizard came first, message second. Damn, Damien, even your intros get the slander wrong. I really hope you’re just an unpaid intern or something and the Guardian isn’t actually giving you money for this shit.

In recent months the community of science fiction readers and writers has been embroiled in an escalating war of words over the genre’s political soul, catalysed by the nominations for this year’s Hugo awards.

By escalating, he means some people on my side actually got involved for once and quit letting his side set the narrative unopposed. It was so much nicer when my side just immediately shut up out of fear of backlash, career sabotage, and threats of character assassination.

Allegations of bloc-voting arose

Yes, allegations of block voting, which means I asked my fans to vote. A quick search found about thirty other authors, fanzines, bloggers, and even publishing houses that did the same thing I did. Only I had the audacity of having the wrong kind of fans (and more of them!). Damien knows this, but he’s simply obfuscating the issue to get in some more snide insinuations.

He’s leaving out the allegations against me of fraud, misogyny, racism, homophobia, wife beating, and threatening puppy murder… No. I’m not making any of those up, but when dealing with Social Justice Warriors you will quickly discover that they will say anything to sabotage their ideological opponents. Proving that was sort of the whole point of my nefarious campaign. They certainly rose to the occasion.

as a slate of little-known writers appeared among the nominees,

That’s right. Little known writers. Since I’m the unnamed guy who put together this evil voting plot and is up for best novel, let’s take a look at how little known I am.

My 11th novel comes out this summer (Don’t worry, I’ve got 13 more under contract). I’m a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and bunch of other lists bestseller, and the most accurate bestseller list of all is Nielsen Bookscan where I’ve been as high as #5 and stayed on for 20 straight weeks. On any given day I’m usually in the top 50 fantasy authors on Amazon and that’s without anything new out (highest I’ve been is #3 after Martin and Gaiman). I’m published in 7 languages. I do even better in audiobook, where I’m one of the bestselling and best reviewed authors on all of Audible, and I’ve been nominated for 3 Audies and won 2 of them. (those are pro juried, so sadly no allegations of ballot stuffing there).

According to the Guardian’s own stats about how much authors actually get paid, I’m way above the cutoff for the top 1%. But to be fair to Damien’s inability to actually know stuff, I’ve only been professionally published since 2009. The fact that I’ve only been doing this for 5 years kind of sucks for my detractors, since so many of them have been doing this far longer yet are much less successful. That has to gnaw at them.

But little-known. Got it!

after a concerted campaign by a small group of writers to get the books on the ballot.

By concentrated campaign, he means a couple of blog posts, a poorly drawn cartoon, and a video of sad puppies. No, I kid you not. My spokesman was Wendell the Manatee. Unlike Damian, I’ll actually post links to the topic, here is where I go into it in detail: http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/04/24/an-explanation-about-the-hugo-awards-controversy/ The whole thing and the reasons for it were out there in the open the entire time I was doing it.

Behold the architect of your doom.

A startling conspiracy theory was at the heart of the campaign. It alleged that a powerful clique of liberal writers and editors had taken control of science fiction, and worse, were politicising a genre that should exist purely for entertainment. They were filling the genre with heavy-handed “message fiction” and excluding conservatively minded writers. So conservatively-minded fans should vote for those writers to redress the imbalance.

That’s sort of related to what I said, as rewritten by somebody with a paint huffing addiction… I do like how Damien stated it all super nefarious like that though. But strangely he didn’t link to the posts where I talked about the demonstrated bias against non-leftists, or the posts about how the heavy handed message fic was driving away readers and causing the market to shrink? I’m sensing a trend. I wonder why Damien never seems to link to what his opponents actually say, when it is so much easier to make up really dumb straw man versions instead?

I wouldn’t call any of this startling though. I pointed out that the awards were biased, and if any openly conservative author got on the awards ballot they would be attacked and sabotaged. I was called a liar. So I got some conservative authors on the ballot and they did exactly what I said they would. (they were even shriller than expected, and major professionals jumped into the witch hunt, so for that, I sincerely thank them for being so predictable).

Point proven. Hilarity ensued.

Of course there is a certain irony in forming a political clique and launching an overt pol1itical campaign to de-politicise sci-fi– although registering the irony requires more self-awareness than these authors can seem to muster.

I like how he restates my publicly proclaimed goals to be something they weren’t so he can say I’m dumb for not achieving them.

The goal was exposing people like you, Damien, and you can try to say I failed, but poor, depressed little British man, my campaign consisting of manatees, big eyed puppies, and cartoon moose rocked your little world so badly that you’ve repeatedly talked about it in your national newspaper column now. So, I’m very aware of the irony, and it is so very delicious.

This dastardly clique was my fans. If your crowd hadn’t been such obnoxious, pretentious, bossy assholes on Facebook, Twitter, and blog comments, constantly bitching at us, explaining how conservatives and libertarians can’t ever be *real* writers, and calling anybody who disagreed with you racist/misogynist/homophobic without any actual evidence continually for the last five years, then getting a bunch of fans to pony up $40 to vote wouldn’t have been so darned easy.

And that irony is only made stronger when 2014 has proved to be a pivotal year in liberating science fiction from its own innate political biases.

Yes. The publishing industry—which is mostly based in Manhattan—is politically biased. For once we agree!

For decades, science fiction’s major awards were given, year after year, to white male authors.

That’s fantastic… Except when Damien says decades, he’s not talking about any of the recent ones. There have been blog posts (written by reasonable moderate types who really don’t like me or my campaign either) pointing out that women have won about a third to half of the awards over the last forty years, so once again, Damien is just a liar.

Women writers have asserted a growing presence in the genre, leading this year lead to a strong presence in all of the genre’s major awards.

Great. Despite the narrative about me to the contrary, I like female authors. I support female authors. I support authors from any group you can think of as long as they tell a good story and they’re not complete douchebags, so I guess you could say that I just support authors in general. I’m all in favor of anybody from any group being able to write what they want, more power to them.

So if we want true equality among writers how about we give awards based on quality rather than what box the author checks on an EEOC form?

Oh, but wait. I forgot. I like to judge people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. That’s racist now. I also like to judge a book based upon whether I like it or not, rather than ranking the nominees based upon the acceptability of their political outlooks or which ones best assuage my warm-beige guilt.

(speaking of irony, when the announcements were made and I immediately started getting character assassinated for being a hater of women, homosexuals, sunshine, and goodness with zero evidence, the book of the week I was promoting on this blog was written by a non-white immigrant woman and had a gay hero, but hey, narrative).

Women and non-white writers swept the board at the Nebula awards, winning every major category.

Normally, if there is a bunch of gloating and back slapping about how one particular group was totally shut out of something, we’d consider that bigotry. However I tend to forget that to a libprog diversity is literally only skin deep, while diversity of thought is evil and must be crushed. The same people crowing about this year’s diversity were happy to attack nominees last year for their religious beliefs, because that’s the wrong kind of diversity. They routinely attack non-whites and women if they aren’t of the correct political persuasion.

Speaking of gloating, Twitter after the Nebulas was interesting. If you take the tweets of the Social Justice Warrior crowd, Ctrl H, find and replace White Male with Jew, they totally sound like snippets of Heinrich Himmler speeches. It is hilarious until the nausea sets in.

High profile crowd-funded publishing projects such as Women Destroy Science Fiction are proving the commercial potential of a more diverse genre.

Not to bash this particular anthology, because I know nothing about it, but this super example of commercial potential raised $53,136. Good for them. But to illustrate just how profoundly disconnected Damien is from reality, keeping in mind that I’m a “little-known” author, my Kickstarter for a role playing game based upon one of my series raised $80,681, and my Kickstarter for merchandise related to my novels raised $101,396.

So I wouldn’t recommend taking business advice about commercial viability from a lying euro-weenie-socialist who has probably never held a real job. Now fetch my latte, Damien!

It is fair to say that SF is coming to terms with its historic gender and racial biases.

From a genre that really came to be in the 1930s to the 1950s there may have been bigotry? This is my shocked face. Well, good thing you guys are ready to attack people now for the sins of those that came before, because they share similar plumbing, DNA, or sexual orientation.

But not without some resistance from reactionaries within the genre.

They really need a boogieman, don’t they? Isn’t it interesting about how my campaign to demonstrate that there was bias and sabotage in the awards system, is immediately changed by the biased to be all pro-racism in order to sabotage it?

As Samuel Delany noted, at a time when he numbered among the very few black writers in the field, prejudice within science fiction would “likely remain a slight force – until, say, black writers start to number 13, 15, 20% of the total.” Author NK Jemisin employed Delany’s quote in her own Guest of Honour speech at WisCon. Her incendiary argument to fight against bigotry comes at a the time when she and other writers of colour including Aliette de Bodard, Sofia Samatar and Nalo Hopkinson command a higher profile in the genre than ever before. And the resistance Delany predicted has come true.

Does that mean that since I’m the only non-white author up for best novel, I have your vote, Damien?

It is no coincidence that, just as it outgrows its limiting cultural biases, science fiction should also face protests from some members of the predominantly white male audience who believed it to be their rightful domain.

That doesn’t even make sense. So, I’m not a white guy, but I hatched this elaborate plot to keep sci-fi white… even though us right wingers are capitalists who want to sell books to everybody. Sure, I’m super excited for my Chinese translations to come out this year, but that must be because of the billion white men who live there.

Since Damien brought up irony, here’s some for you. My audience is diverse. That’s what happens when you are popular and actually sell books. Look at the picture of the Diversity panel at the Nebulas. It is a bunch of old white people fretting about their white guilt. It is so white and old it looks like a Klan rally compared to my average book signing. My fans are the rainbow fucking coalition compared to that picture.

You know an organization that is actually diverse? The US military, #1 book in Baghdad and Baghram, baby.

But as we’ve already repeatedly seen demonstrated, it doesn’t matter that my fans are all over the board, young and old, straight and gay, all sorts of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and even some liberals (though by that I mean they’re actual well intentioned liberals, as opposed to the wannabe fascist control freaks who’ve taken over the term), but my fans don’t count, because they’re the wrong kind of fan. They are united in that they’d rather enjoy books than get snidely insulted by people like Damien for racist attitudes of their grandparents might have held.

What the conservative authors protesting the Hugo awards perceive as a liberal clique is simply science fiction outgrowing them, and their narrow conception of the genre’s worth.

That makes pretty much no sense whatsoever since over recent years sci-fi readership has been shrinking. It hasn’t been outgrowing anything other than Damien’s dignity.

Why has our market been shrinking? Well, it can’t be because people don’t like sci-fi and fantasy, because they love throwing lots of money at it in movies, TV, and games.

The opinion that I’ve long held, and which helped inspire my dastardly campaign of evil to begin with, was that sci-fi readers were leaving our genre because they were getting tired of being preached at with liberal cause of the day message fiction. They were bored with dying polar bears, murderous bigoted Christians, lectures about the dangers of capitalism, and thinly veiled Dick Cheneys as bad guys. You can really only slap half of the country upside the head and tell them their beliefs are stupid and backwards so many times before they quit buying your stuff. (but keep in mind, the left are supposed to be the inclusive ones).

How did I come to this belief? Because the people who’d been quitting told me so. I kept getting messages from readers with some variation of “I’d quit reading SFF because I was bored/tired/annoyed etc. but your stuff is fun!” over and over and over and then they’d provide me with large royalty checks. This got me to thinking that there might be something to this crazy idea of putting reader enjoyment ahead of placating the perpetually outraged Damiens of the world, where everything including Godzilla and Tomb Raider had to be boiled down to cisgender patriarchal neocolonial military-industrial privilege.

Of course, if those authors really wanted to de-politicise science fiction, they could easily help to do so – by admitting the genre’s historic bias and applauding its growth.

I don’t think anybody has ever said that bias hasn’t happened somewhere at some point, so thanks for that piece of straw. As for applauding its growth that’s the point, you moron. It isn’t growing. You guys are shrinking it. You might think you’re all about diversity and inclusiveness, but you’re not. You’re the opposite. You’ve drawn battle lines and then done everything possible to damage the careers of anybody who believes differently than you.

De-politicize? I was never in this to sway people like you, Damien. That’s impossible. We can’t de-politicize genre fiction any more than we can get leftists to stop banning university commencement speakers, boycotting businesses, or getting people fired for having differing opinions. Censorship and intimidation are simply in the nature of all statist bullies.

My mission was to convince the undecided. My side aren’t the ones trying to silence anyone, and all of the observers have watched your side try to stomp me (and fail miserably). Of course, your side will immediately cite somebody disagreeing (or failing to cheerlead sufficiently) with one of their ludicrous ideas as silencing, which will require them to retreat to their convention mandated racially segregated safe zones with a case of the vapors.

But in reality it isn’t the right trying to shut anybody up. Quite the contrary, Damien, we want you guys to keep talking so the world can see what censorship happy little fascists you are.

My successful campaign was met with a concentrated effort that would have made most normal authors apologize, run away, and hide (that’s what usually happens, but the fact that there isn’t anything you people can actually do to intimidate some of us must drive you nuts).

And by doing everything within their power to welcome new authors from diverse backgrounds, instead of agitating for protest votes to push them out.

And by diverse backgrounds, you mean as long as they are in complete political lockstep with your side?

The real prize for science fiction is not diversity for diversity’s sake

(although I happen to believe that would be prize enough).

A nugget of truth? Now we’re getting somewhere.

Since you’ve never actually created a single piece of fiction anybody has ever wanted to purchase, you are perfectly happy for sci-fi/fantasy to crash and burn, because then you can self-righteously brag about how at least it was mostly straight white males who died in the fire.

We live in a world of seven billion human beings, whose culture has not been reflected or rewarded in ‘the mainstream’. Science fiction

Wait… You mean the ENGLISH LANGUAGE award and books haven’t fully reflected genre fiction from the entire rest of the world? How dastardly.

– from cult novels that reach a few thousand readers,

I wouldn’t know what that is like.

to blockbuster movies and video games that dominate contemporary culture – has the potential to talk across every remaining boundary in our modern world. That makes it, in my opinion, potentially the most important cultural form of the 21st century. To claim that potential, it cannot afford to give way to the petulant protests of boys who do not like to share their toys

What a bunch of pretentious dribble from a sad little man who has never created anything of worth in his life.

So tune in tomorrow as I go through Damien’s pathetic threats, his complete lack of research skills, how my teaching women to carry guns is actually misogyny, and his pathetic attempt to channel Stalin.

The Drowning Empire, Episode 55: On Discarded Parchment

The Drowning Empire is a weekly serial based on the events which occured during the Writer Nerd Game Night monthly Legend of the Five Rings game. It is a tale of samurai adventure set in the magical world of Rokugan.

If you would like to read all of these in one convenient place, along with a bunch of additional game related stuff, behind the scenes info, and detailed session recaps, I’ve been posting everything to one thread on the L5R forum, http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=295&t=101206

This week’s episode was written by Pat Tracy, as our resident poet does his thing.

Continued from: http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/05/23/the-drowning-empire-episode-54-second-city-stories/

On Discarded Parchment

By Patrick M. Tracy

Within the empty room where the visiting samurai stay, the smell of burnt fabric yet lingered. Kiyoshi gathered the bundle of clothing and held it at arms length. It was thick with sweat and blood and worse things. She didn’t care to examine it, but carted it to the back of the Radiant Fog and tossed it into the trash.

She gathered her cleaning supplies and went to work, changing the bedclothes and putting the place back to order. As was normal for samurai, the place looked as if a great wind had come through, and everything was thrown across the scene in casual disorder. The writing board had been left in the middle of the floor, obviously well used. A dob of sealing wax still lingered on the split boards, looking almost like a child’s candy. Kiyoshi sighed and pried it away with a long thumbnail she lacquered for that purpose alone.

“Samurai,” she whispered. Lonely young samurai, at that. They had not been purchasing the company of the Geisha, though she had seen evidence to suggest that they had the koku to do so.

When she picked up the writing board, a piece of rice paper fell from beneath it, drifting to rest upon the polished bamboo slats. The masculine, forceful hand that had wielded the brush had been tired, rushed, imprecise. Smudges of what looked like charcoal in the shape of a hand’s heel impressed upon the far edge of the page.

“Do not read it, Kiyoshi,” she told herself. As with many times before, she could not take her own advice to heart. She lifted the page, obviously filled with poetry, and read.

Tonight

we fight in hell

the furnace heat

and breath of

Jigoku upon our

cheeks,

Eyes

withered from

the inferno

Blades

tinged red

in the forge

Soot

spirals ever

skyward

Chimney

the hollow

aperture of doom

Raging ever upward

like the arm of a

maimed god held

forever within the

tomb of the earth;

impossibly yearning

upward into the

heavens it can

never hoped to reach

And inside the

maelstrom, with

flashing swords we

hew away at our

enemies as our

kimonos burn away

Kiyoshi knelt on the floor for several moments, her fingertips against the thin paper, her mouth slightly open, aware of her own heart’s beat. She put the page down on the ground and stood, then reached down and picked it up again, carrying it with her as she left the room and hastily retreated to the cramped closet where she kept her treasures. Lifting a loose board, she nestled the poem with all the other things she had found. She replaced the board, patting it carefully. A small smile stole across her plain face, the one that none of the samurai lingered upon. It mattered little. Unseen, she was the keeper of little slivers of their souls.

##

To be continued next week:

The likeness is uncanny

By Jeff Brimley. I like the way he captured the nuance of the International Lord of Hate, not to mention the tears of the Sad Puppies.

Geeky Hobbies: Sunday Afternoon Mini Painting WiP

Here are some of the things I’m painting currently.  These aren’t quite done yet, so all you get are crappy iPhone pics with bad light for now.

 

I’m expanding my Warmachine mercenary army.  The armor on Ossrum there came out really good.

My Merc army is now Dwarf friendly!

 

And another dwarf with a big explodey hammer:

 

And a pirate witch:

This picture doesn’t do it justice, but the shading on the black cloak came out amazing.

This was actually an experiment in two brush blending with a few different dark blues and grays.

EDIT: to add an airbrush experiment photo:

 

 

WesterCon this July

As part of my book tour this year I’m going to be at WesterCon on Saturday July 5th.

http://westercon67.org/registration/

They’ve got a special if you preregister, only $25 if you do it before June 1st.

 

 

LAST CHANCE to Punch Mental Illness in the FACE!

The Indiegogo campaign to help out Rob Wells ends tomorrow. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/al...

So this is it. $10 will get you the eBook.

We’ve made a huge dent, but there is a little bit left to go. Unlike Kickstarter a project doesn’t need to fully fund, so the project is going forward no matter what. But it would be amazing to do the whole thing.

The Drowning Empire, Episode 54: Second City Stories

The Drowning Empire is a weekly serial based on the events which occured during the Writer Nerd Game Night monthly Legend of the Five Rings game. It is a tale of samurai adventure set in the magical world of Rokugan.

If you would like to read all of these in one convenient place, along with a bunch of additional game related stuff, behind the scenes info, and detailed session recaps, I’ve been posting everything to one thread on the L5R forum, http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=295&t=101206

This week’s episode was written by Paul Genesse, recounting the events of a session where we got our gang warfare on. 

Continued from: http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/0...

##

 

Letter from Akodo Toranaka to Utaku Yanai

Written on the Tenth Day of the Month of the Rat

Second City, The Ivory Kingdoms

Dear Yanai-san,

I have thought of you every day since our parting at the Teika Pass. I remember often our time together at Journey’s End Keep, the trek to the Crab lands, the battle at the Teika Pass, and the last ride we took with your dutiful entourage into the mountains. It gives me great comfort to know you are always surrounded by such fine warriors, and know that I too am in good company. My companions are never far from my side, and even if we are separated, there is little I would not do if any of them were in danger. I must admit I would tarnish my own honor to help them, but I hope it will not come to that.

Yanai-san, if ever you need me or my friends to help you, please send a message and I shall come as quickly as I can.

I do not know when we will see each other again, but it may be a very long time. Until our next meeting these letters will have to suffice.

Do not think I am overly distracted, but when we walk the muddy streets of Second City and I hear horses or see riders, I look up and hope it is you.

We are both bound by our current duties, but I look forward to the day when we can travel together and wage war against our enemies, shedding blood together as we did in the Battle of Teika Pass. To be on campaign with you will undoubtedly be one of the most memorable times of my life, and something I will work tirelessly to achieve.

I dream of what it will be like to see you in command of a host of Battle Maidens at the head of a vast host. It will be as we discussed: None shall prevail against the might of the Unicorn cavalry, and the Lion infantry I hope to command. Together we shall fight for our beloved Empire against all enemies, and the chroniclers of the history of warfare will write at least one chapter about us, and our use of the time tested tactics, and those new stratagems we have considered. Perhaps then, your Utaku, and my Akodo ancestors will judge us worthy to bear their ancient and famous family names.

It is still my intention to become your husband, but we are both patient samurai, and any desires of the flesh we have, must wait until the time is right, when it is no longer imperative for you to lead the Battle Maidens. However, I believe that a betrothal, even one of several years in length, is the right course at this time, both for us personally, and for our esteemed clans.

I believe that this is the time for such a bond between us, and our two families. I wish to become your betrothed, and will be asking for an arrangement to me made. If those far above me in status and power agree, it will come to pass.

It is my hope that such a betrothal will occur as soon as possible, for I must tell you that I will be leaving on an expedition into a distant and dangerous jungle. The location of the temple under the waterfall has been discovered, and an Ivendi man, Jagdish, of whom you know, will lead us there. My friends and I will travel to this place regardless of our circumstances, but we have learned that with only a large force of samurai and porters will we be successful. The Jolly Crab trading company is going to financially support this venture, but we need samurai who possess great fortitude and courage.

The strength of the Unicorn clan is sorely needed now. Subotai will be going on this journey, and the honored son of Kohatsu-sama, and all of us, will need as much support as can be found.

I will not ask you to go on this journey, and I must admit I do not want you to risk your life on this mission. The time will come when you will wager everything, but not now.

Your Daimyo has made it clear that your duty is in and around Journey’s End Keep, but if you know of any samurai, or even ronin, who are trustworthy and honorable, please have them come to Second City and find me. I can promise them the most difficult journey of their lives. The jungle and the worst monstrosities of the Ivory Kingdoms will try to kill them. Many will die, and many others will likely have their minds and their will broken.

When we reach the temple behind the waterfall, we will likely face the Dark Oracle of Water himself, or perhaps the tiger demons known as Rakasha. We believe at least one of these Rakasha is trying to bring back the banished Ivendi goddess, Kali-ma. We will not let this happen. The Destroyers were defeated and they must not return.

It is also likely that the remaining members of the Ten Killer gang will try to murder us. My friends and I have personally slain four of them now, and driven off two others. They will be back, and perhaps now they will understand that we are not merely young samurai who have earned renown by chance.

My friends and I, Subotai-san, Uso-san, Isao-san, Oki-san, and Shintaro-san, are the servants of the Fortunes and our respected lineages. We have been chosen to accomplish more than most samurai, and shall do our duty regardless of the challenges, or our youth and inexperience. Young samurai often believe they are immune to death, invincible, and beyond reproach. This is not true, but beliefs like these will serve us well in the weeks ahead. We will need all the courage we can muster, for we will face the worst of the Ivory Kingdoms.

Those samurai or ronin who join us will have glory and renown. Those who die will be honored and I can promise that their spirits will come to understand the magnitude of their sacrifice, even if they do not realize it now.

We are going after the greatest enemy of our age, The Dark Oracle of Water, Junzo the Vile. He will drown our people and the Emerald Empire if he is not stopped. My friends and I confront him.

If we die, we die, but we shall not fall easily. The Ten Killer gang, dishonorable lackeys of Junzo will come after us again. They abducted Uso-san a day ago, but we freed him, and slew two of the Ten Killers, driving two others away. The pair that escaped, an archer nearly as deadly as Oki-san, and a monk of great skill who was able to paralyze Shintaro-san with one blow, will not escape us forever.

They did not expect us to come to their meeting with so many allies, and through overwhelming force we routed them, despite their clever trap in the Crab foundry known as the Eye of Jigoku.

I personally took the head of a Ten Killer. A bushi from the Mirumoto School. His pair of swords were no match for my Akodo training, and I slew him before he could kill any of my friends or allies.

A Crab Berserker recruited by the Ten Killer gang, an axe man called the Woodcutter, did not fall so quickly. My friends and I learned that men such as him must be decapitated, or pierced through the spine. He would not fall from slashes or blood loss. I wish I had been closer to him in the fray. He was a dead man, but his body refused to fall and he continued his vicious fight. I would have taken his head and ended his resistance.

There will be more like the Woodcutter, and we will deal with them with sharp steel.

To be a warrior and fight for the Empire is the highest form of service. You and I shall do our duty, and perhaps someday we will be gifted with the opportunity to fight once again against our enemies. Until then, I shall think of you often, and pray for your health and well-being in the shrines of Hachiman, the God of Battle.

I shall write as soon as I hear any news of my betrothal request.

My sword and my soul are yours in this life and the next.

Akodo Toranaka

Secret Letter from Akodo Toranaka to the Voice of the Empress, Miya Todo, in the Winter Cipher

Written on the Ninth Day of the Month of the Rat

Ivory Kingdoms, Second City, at the House of Radiant Fog

Most Honored Miya Todo-sama,

We have made great progress in our mission to uncover the truth behind the dagger known as Corruption, which wounded the Imperial Heir. We believe that Kuni Hazu found the dagger in a temple behind a waterfall in the Demon Jungle, and now, a trustworthy Ivindi man called Jagdish will lead us to this place.

That temple beneath the falls lies in an extremely dangerous part of the kingdom, filled with monsters, demons, killer plants, diseases, and foul magic. It is a horrible, evil place, avoided by the Ivindi for the last 400 years. There was a great war called the War of Maharajas which ripped the kingdom apart, and this place has been abandoned ever since. Since that time, the region has become even more corrupted and overgrown. It is where the dregs of Kali-Ma’s cult fled. It is far to the northeast, in the deep jungles where no Rokugani has ever settled. This jungle is past the watchtowers that guard the jungle, which borders the Shadowlands to the north of it. This place is the home of the Red Hunger, a snake so large that it eats elephants, and other unspeakable beasts.

We have been told that the demons of the Shadowlands don’t ever try to cross this jungle, because it is dangerous even to them.

We shall go to this place with as large an expedition as we can muster. Is the Shogunate able to fund our expedition and help provide us with trusted samurai from any of the major clans? I believe that Crab samurai would be extremely valuable in such an endeavor.

If there is any way you could use your influence to persuade the Governess, Otomo Sukihime, to approve our expedition that would also be very helpful. She appears to be very difficult to work with, and her son, Otomo Akio has already made a veiled threat to me, hinting that he knew about my opposition to his tiger demon friend, Doji Chonitsu.

My companions and I will await your response, and will follow whatever orders you give.

Humbly,

Akodo Toranaka, Son of Goro

Letter from The Voice of the Empress, Miya Todo to Akodo Toranaka

Written on the Tenth Day of the Month of the Rat in the Winter Cipher

Toranaka,

Thank you for your letter and the information you have acquired. It is vital for you and your companions to go to this temple behind the waterfall.

From what I have learned about this territory, the Demon Jungle you have mentioned, a large contingent of men is required for this expedition. The Shogunate regrets to inform you that it cannot be directly involved with this venture. No direct support can be provided at this time as far as samurai. However, we will order your friend, Yasuki Dokansuto, to fund this endeavor under the auspices of the Jolly Crab Trading Company.

We cannot attempt to influence Otomo Sukihime or her son Akio either. Be very careful in your dealings with them.

Miya Todo, The Voice of the Empress

Secret Letter from Akodo Toranaka to the Voice of the Empress, Miya Todo, written in the Winter Cypher

Written on the Eleventh Day of the Month of the Rat

Ivory Kingdoms, Second City, at the House of Radiant Fog

Most Honored Miya Todo-sama,

We have received your letter and will proceed accordingly. We have a plan to recruit samurai to our cause, and will first attempt to gain the approval of the Imperial Explorers. Their help will be critical, but we will need assistance from many samurai.

I do have an idea that will help us succeed on our mission and will keep the Shogunate’s involvement a secret. It involves the Unicorn Clan. Moto Subotai is still officially the Lion Clan’s hostage, and under my guard. It will soon be known that he will be going on this mission to the Demon Jungle. The Unicorn will likely want to send some of their samurai along to help protect the esteemed son of Moto Kohatsu.

Another reason they would send along samurai would be if I were betrothed to Utaku Yanai. She and I became close during my time at Journey’s End Keep, as you already know. Ide Zhao had begun to arrange our marriage when he was murdered by Xiong’s assassin. If such a marriage were arranged, there could be peace between the Lion and Unicorn clans once again. I am in no rush to take Yanai-san away from her duty among the Battle Maidens. I believe that a long betrothal, perhaps many years in duration would be perfectly acceptable to both of us. The Empire and its security come before everything.

I humbly ask that you, Most Honored Miya Todo-sama, secretly if you choose, appoint a Nakado to arrange the marriage, which will help bring peace between the Lion and Unicorn.

I believe that if a betrothal were arranged, even more Unicorn samurai would be sent on this expedition, and help guarantee our success in finding out what effect the dagger Corruption may have on the Imperial Heir.

If the Unicorn samurai came with us, Lion samurai would also be sent, to show that there was peace, and to keep up appearances. Subotai-san would still be considered the Lions’ hostage until the marriage perhaps, and if many Unicorn came with us, Lion would have to accompany us as well to maintain the appearance of still controlling the son of Kohatsu.

My strategy to gain the assistance of the Unicorn will likely cause the Lion to follow. The Shogunate will be able to keep its distance, as the arranged marriage is already known to have come from Ide Zhao, and the Ide family.

My companions and I will await your response, and will follow whatever orders you give.

Humbly and with Greatest Esteem,

Akodo Toranaka, Son of Goro

##

To be continued next week:

New $10 level on this Kickstarter for just the fiction

I’ve talked about this Kickstarter before because I’ve volunteered to write a short story for them. Several other really awesome authors have also. However many of our fans want fiction, but they’re not gamers. So they’ve added a new level: ($10) GAMBLER: Not a gamer? Get an e-book that contains any fantasy short fiction we unlock during the campaign (written by our dream team of authors!) Plus, we include your name in the front of the e-book. It’s a gamble, but with these authors it’s worth it!

So if you just want some fiction, here you go!

John C. Wright reviews Hard Magic using the Periodic Table of Awesome

One of the more enjoyable book reviews I’ve gotten lately: http://www.scifiwright.com/2014/05/hard-magic-by-larry-correia/

And the funny thing is, since the 3rd book of this series has gotten a Hugo nom, I’ve seen lots of posts and outrage, but no actual reviews by any of those detractors. One of the other nominees said that Warbound isn’t a real contender and is just a protest vote. Meanwhile in the real world this series has won 2 Audies and is currently up for a 3rd (juried award for best audiobook), books in this series have been finalist for best novel in other countries (where I can’t be accused of campaigning because I didn’t know or didn’t speak the language), and the actual reviews from some really respected authors have ranged from extremely positive to “damn, I wish I would have written this.”

The latest from the Fainting Couch Brigade, they go after Uncle Timmy

Since the Social Justice Warrior contingent of sci-fi fandom is on a quest for perpetual outrage, here is this week’s stupidity. A convention, Archon, had a guy many of us know and love, Tim Bolgeo, scheduled to be the fan guest of honor, until an anonymous internet pussy alleged that Timmy was racist, so Archon immediately folded and disinvited him.

Fellow warm beige Author of Color, Jason Cordova has more: http://jasoncordova.com/2014/05/20/uncle-timmy-and-the-thought-police/

Most authors know him as Uncle Timmy. He’s helped out so many new and aspiring authors to get their work out in front of the fans that it is ridiculous. Uncle Timmy is the go to guy in southern and midwestern fandom to meet people. You know the guy who knows a guy? That’s Timmy.

First off, anybody who has ever talked with Tim Bolgeo knows this allegation is crap and Archon is being stupid.  Uncle Timmy is no racist. His crime was reposting jokes that would have been okay to laugh at if they’d been told by a comedian on TV. One lone ANONYMOUS jackass threw a fit so Archon tossed him.

Fascinating… So fandom is so trained and cowed by the constantly outraged Social Justice Warriors, that we’re to the point that anybody who ever said something even slightly edgy or outside of accepted group think can be booted. Of course, I’m sure if Timmy was a communist, abortion activist, anti-gun, Occupy Wall Street, gender studies major with a pony tail, then A. nobody would whine about him being a guest. B. If somebody did, the con committee wouldn’t have cared.

Second, I’ve met Tim Bolgeo several times, and I’ve met members of his family. He’s a good dude. He’s a decent human being. I’ve had conversations with him about various controversial issues, and he was never anything but polite, funny, smart, and articulate. He helped me out when I was first starting my career, and the first out of state con I ever attended as a pro writer was one that he’d been organizing for 25 years.

I don’t know what kind of raving lunatic this ANONYMOUS internet pussy painted Timmy as, but horseshit. My understanding is that he chose to go to one of the first non-segregated schools in the south, and has set up a charity on behalf of a deceased friend who was black. Oooooh, but that is soooooo outweighed by hurting somebody’s feelings for telling a joke that would be okay to laugh at if John Stewart told it.

Third, listen fandom, it is time to cowboy up. Put your big girl panties on. You have gotten into the bad habit of immediately rolling over anytime some shrieking Social Justice Warrior says they must retire to their fainting couch because they have the vapors. They started with big name writers, then they began freaking out about things award presenters MIGHT say, and now they’ve worked their way down to attacking other fans. They want a purge. Anybody who may potentially hurt their delicate lilac scented feelings is an untouchable and must be shunned. They’d clone Stalin to run for SFWA president if any of that crowd actually knew how this whole science thing worked.

Luckily for us the SJW’s weapons are their salty tears of sadness and Twitter.

So QUIT CAVING IN.

Their outrage doesn’t grant them magical powers of discernment. Do your freaking jobs. Use your brain. If somebody is angry about a guest, maybe you should slow down and find out why before immediately surrendering to the angry mob, or in this case ONE PERSON.

Otherwise they own you. They own you because you let them. Rule number one of dealing with Social Justice Warriors is never apologize for anything that shouldn’t be apologized for. Rule number two is don’t be afraid to tell them to shove it.

Archon, you owe Uncle Timmy an apology.