Moe Lane's Blog, page 141

Ohhhh, right, this is why I stopped sending out stories. Publishers are drowning in them.

There are far too many desperate authors inundating the relatively few places that take unsolicited submissions. The folks with actual budgets have to throw up draconian requirements just to keep things down to a dull roar, and they still get enough submissions that they don’t have to pay squat. It’s very much a buyer’s market out there when it comes to short fiction.

Guess I can always throw ‘Audition’ on Kindle Vella. It won’t make any money there, either, but maybe it’ll help my Amazon algorithm.

Moe Lane

PS: It will not get better. In fact, thanks to people spamming slush piles using AI, it will somehow manage to make things even worse. I should just be grateful I have fans.

An addition to THE AUDITION.

Audition is the Unfiltered story I wrote a while back. I’ve decided that, horrible people or not, I could send it out as a short story, see if somebody will buy it. I spent most of the day adding the scene I’ve been meaning to add to it. Here’s a bit of it.

Patreon!

The interrogation process was strange.

There were four interrogators, one of whom sat next to the seccy (Norm decided he needed to remind himself that the pathetic figure in the gurney was actually a wanted terrorist), with the other three sitting behind. All of them wore full face masks, too. Madole shrugged when Baker pointed that out. “It’s not about personalities,” she told him, and would not comment further.

The questioning itself was even weirder. Baker and the others weren’t actually in the room itself, and there was no sound in the feed. The three interrogators still didn’t actually talk; instead, they huddled among themselves, silently writing on a piece of paper, making edits and additions until they apparently liked the result. Then they handed the paper to the fourth interrogator, who did speak aloud. After a moment, the seccy would mumble a response, which the interrogator would write down — and hand back to the other three. They would read it, put their heads together, and start scribbling another question.

That confused Ashelyn. “Why are they doing that? Can’t they hear the answers?”

Madole shook her head. “No. They have earplugs.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not about personalities,” Madole replied, eyes on the screen. Ashelyn looked at Norm, who shrugged. She rolled her eyes, but didn’t push the point further.

Patreon Microfiction: ‘Up Above.’

100WS-Up AboveDownloadPatreon!

‘Up Above’ would have been an interesting novel for me to have written, twenty years ago. Oh, well, I was kind of busy at the time. Besides, twenty years ago I wasn’t as good a writer.

Announcing the Halloween 2024 Chapbook sale!

Starting Saturday, all five of my illustrated four-story chapbooks will be on sale for 99 cents. This is a Halloween sale, so originally I was just going to do it for Anagnorisis and Revisionary – but then I decided that all the other chapbooks had horror stories in them, too, so why not go nuts? Certainly getting the whole schmeer for less than five bucks ought to be a bit attractive.

‘Poor Jack.’

Poor Jack, The Nightmare Before Christmas

#commissionearned

The CREATURE COMMANDOS animated trailer.

DC has a lot better luck with its animated shows than its live-action. Which is annoying when you’re trying to watch live-action, but at least stuff like CREATURE COMMANDOS look promising. …Also, Weasel is just plain disturbing. I know that’s the idea, but still: well done, DC animators. Well done.

The ‘I wonder if this is just being very Japanese’ Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League trailer.

Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League! Now featuring a Yakuza-storm!

…Actually, Robin asked the exact same question that you just asked. And the answer? Well. It’s a storm. Made up of Yakuza.

I honestly don’t think they could have come up with a more descriptive name.

Anyway, I may or may not see this in theaters, but BATMAN NINJA was sufficiently cool that eventually I’ll see this. I mean, you folks know me by now. I’m easy to please. Plus: ninja.

Moe Lane

#commissionearned

Book of the Week: Ghosts on an Alien Wind.

I know, I know – but I can justify this one, honest! The paperback for Ghosts on an Alien Wind is headed for the online Barnes & Noble store (it is not heading for actual stories, more’s the pity). I just need for the website to finish publishing it. It’s an experiment! If I get sales there, I will reconsider my current KU-exclusive status for my digital books.

If I don’t? Ach, well, I tried.

#commissionearned

10/19/2024 Snippet, NEVER RETURN.

This will probably be finished next week; it’ll be more than 3K words, but not too long. I have about three, four scenes left to write.

Patreon!

In the spiky shadows of the ward and Curwin’s tonfa the attacker was no more definable than a haze, roiling and oozing around itself. But it was a directed, twisted haze that hinted at ancient hungers — and a terrible, voracious need. I was shocked, honestly. How could something this powerful still exist in the United States? We had Soothed our portion of the East Coast centuries ago!

Fortunately, it was also not subtle: the enemy’s first attack was an attempt to batter down my ward with sheer force, which is obviously the exact thing that the spell is designed to counter. I still almost staggered as a whip of cloud-curdled magic smashed against my ward, scoring the ground in front of it as it recoiled and drew back.

“Stay inside the ward!” I shouted, my free hand twisting as I assembled another spell. “It’s a manifestation!”

‘X-Files Theme Song.’

X-Files Theme Song

#commissionearned