Moe Lane's Blog, page 153

Tweet of the Day, This Articulates One Of My Life Goals edition.

Some day, I hope to infuriate a reviewer one-half as much as these four men infuriated this nameless The People writer.

"Blame these 4 men for the beatnik horror." The People, 7 August 1960. pic.twitter.com/898WHuI6sP

— Pulp Librarian (@PulpLibrarian) September 26, 2024

Also: I have to go look up Gregory Corso now. If he can be in this mighty company and not be ashamed, there must be something of his work worthy of note.

Weird day.

Had to run a bunch of errands, including stuff for Fright Reads this weekend. Also, kind of funky scheduling stuff going on right now, so pretty distracting (it shouldn’t be, but it isn’t). Worst of all: my head is apparently insisting that I read this very expensive book (Japanism, Pan-Asianism and Terrorism) instead of researching stuff for, you know, BANSHEE BEACH. Which absolutely has to be the next book, and that’s all there is to it. The Siberian detective novel can be the next one after that.

#commissionearned

09/25/2024 Snippet, THE LAST DAYS OF UNHOLY TOLEDO.

Trying my best to reel this one in.

Patreon!

The Monsignor pursed his lips, looking backward himself. After a moment, he shrugged. “There may be something back there, yes. As I have said, the spellcraft is weaker here than it should be. Perhaps some spirit has taken hold of frayed magic, and reweaved it into a form more pleasing to it.” He shrugged. “No matter, as long as it contents itself with easy prey.”

The Monsignor turned … only to find Maddox’s arm blocking his way. “Unholy Toledo had a name for showing contempt for the wits of others. Which is why there’s an army at its walls.” The Monsignor’s nostrils flared at the accurate accusation. “We may be underground even now, but I am no fungus, to be kept in the dark, and fed shit. What can we expect from the rest of these miserable chambers? For clearly you know.”“Oh, I do! My circle” — Nat’s eyes narrowed, for that was not a word one liked to hear a mage use to describe his associates — “long had the task of preserving these pleasure chambers. Ha!” he went on, seeing Maddox start slightly. “Not all tastes are as coarse as yours, fighting-man. Those of us with more rarified psyches require subtler delights. But it is fair that you know what you face.”

The ‘Michael B. Jordan Southern Gothic Horror’ SINNERS trailer.

I thought that might get your attention.

Also featured in SINNERS: tommy-guns, some sort of shambling monster horde, and presumably the cleansing power of flame.

(Via Facebook.)

Moe Lane

PS: Heck yeah I’m down for this.

‘The Girls Around Cape Horn.’

Paul Clayton is who I think of when I think of ‘melancholy folk.’

The Girls Around Cape Horn, Paul Clayton

#commissionearned

09/24/2024 Snippet, THE LAST DAYS OF UNHOLY TOLEDO.

Getting there!

Patreon!

Nat discovered the reason for those hose-mouths soon enough. “Damn!” he shouted as a stream of gray filth splattered across his shield, befouling it with a quickly-hardening slime. He smashed the shield in the foul attacker’s face, wincing at the fresh screeching. “Don’t let it get on your skin, right?”

“As little as possible!” yelled the Monsignor, his face a snarl of hate as the tip of his staff glittered an evil green. It trailed a brief green mist, too; but when the mist met flesh, the flesh bubbled. “They overwhelm their victims, trapping them in… their spray…”

He stopped in surprise, and perhaps mild dismay. Maddox and Nat had paired up, back to back, and around them was now piled a heap of stinking spider-things. Even as he watched, one monster spouted at Maddox’s head, only to have it intercepted by Nat’s now-encrusted shield. One quick stab later, and it was shuddering in death on the floor.

Nat fumbled with his shield. “Disgusting!” he rasped, and looked wildly for the doors. “We must move. Do these things ‘know their place,’ too?” he asked the Monsignor.

“They do,” the Monsignor admitted. “And they are deadlier than this. I wonder if the spells are failing.”“Maybe they are, maybe they’re not,” Maddox spit. His face and beard had streaks of the spider-thing’s spew smeared across it; but if they hurt, he showed no sign of it. “Either way, run!”

TRAIL OF CTHULHU Second Edition Backerkit starts October 15th.

Welp. This could prove expensive. Worth it, but expensive. On the gripping hand, TRAIL OF CTHULHU is a great game and a second edition is justifiable. GUMSHOE as a system has adapted a bit since the game came out and some updating seems reasonable. Can’t wait!

Link here, to sign up for the campaign notifications, and to get the Quickstart ruleshttps://t.co/44ii2MJaY3

— Kenneth Hite (@kennethhite) September 24, 2024

The THE IRON GIANT Honest Trailers.

Honest Trailers decided to play with fire. THE IRON GIANT is one of those movies. You are not required to like it, but by God and His Four Archangels you will not belittle it. Brawls have started over less grievous insults.

Fortunately, Honest Trailers loves this film, too. All the jokes are acceptably good-natured. Which is for the best, really.

…Brawls.

Moe Lane

#commissionearned

Tweet of the Day, Whoa edition.

I hope this isn’t faked somehow, because it’s pretty dang cool.

Nice! pic.twitter.com/kGnFEknZTL

— Daddy Warpig (@DaddyWarpig) September 24, 2024

ACX will let audiobook narrators scrape their own voice for AI narration.

ACX/Audible is also going to be continuing to mainstream their AI narration ‘services’ generally, but this is what caught my eye: “ACX’s new AI tool will allow voice narrators to replicate their own voice.” Translating some of the PR-speak on the fly, ACX will take a maybe-representative sample of the narrators’ voices, recreate it in hopefully an accurate fashion, and presumably pay a smaller royalty to the narrators to “reflect the work involved in creating and managing voice replica productions.”

That last is kind of harsh. Why? Because while I might not be inherently upset if somebody cloned their own voice for one of my audiobooks (since Audible didn’t steal it from somebody else), I am absolutely not going to pay full price for something like that. I might not even pay ten cents on the dollar. And why should I? When I got a narrator for FROZEN DREAMS, I was happily paying for the time and effort as well as the voice. If neither is as much of a factor, then my initial offer is going to reflect that.

Sorry if this seems hardnosed. But self-publishing is a business. I won’t pay boutique prices for mass-produced product.