Moe Lane's Blog, page 158

Movie of the Week: DANGEROUS LIAISONS.

I’m picking DANGEROUS LIAISONS because some genius at Amazon has decided to remake CRUEL INTENTIONS as a series. Since We all know that movie was only a “little copy, a child’s model or a slave’s flattery” of the Glenn Close / John Malkovich / Michelle Pfeiffer masterpiece, it’s safe enough to assume that the series is going to somehow be even worse. Hell, the new series may not even be particularly lust-inducing. We don’t really do those anymore, after all.

Truly, this is an appallingly drab age.

Moe Lane

#commissionearned

Item Seed: The Fathomless Grimoire.

Need to do more of these. They’re good for me.

Fathomless Grimoire – Google DocsDownload

Probably going to see VENOM: THE LAST DANCE today or tomorrow.

Still figuring out when I can see VENOM: THE LAST DANCE. The critics hate it, naturally, much like they hated the last two, too. Just as naturally, I am reassured by this. I thought they were going to be flat-out wrong before, and I turned out to be correct, at least in my particular case. I’m ready to be vindicated again.

To Vella or Not To Vella: that is the question.

This is related to the problem that I have been contemplating all this week: to wit, that there are no markets for novellas, novelettes, or even longer short stories anymore. The cupboard is not just bare: people have gone in and removed the shelves and back wallpaper. We’re lucky they didn’t take the actual doors, too, but I guess the idea was to keep up appearances.

:pause:

That turned out to be a surprisingly apt metaphor.

Anyway. When it comes to longer form stuff I pretty much have to publish it myself. As I see it, I have four options:

Publish them as standalone novellas, either on Kindle or another platform. Pros: Effectively free, and I already know the mechanisms involved. Cons: ‘effectively free’ means ‘no cover art,’ and that will be an expectation. Also, people can get itchy-titchy when you sell them a short story for ninety nine cents, even when you tell them upfront that this is what they’re getting.Publish them on Kindle Vella. Pros: also effectively free, and the ‘no cover art’ problem is minimized. Cons: the ‘no cover art’ problem is not actually eliminated. Also… does anybody actually make money on Kindle Vella? I’m not sure the program is a success.Publish them on a paid Substack tier. Pros: It’s essentially like Patreon, for people who don’t like Patreon. Cons: I would have to charge more per month than I do on Patreon, and publishing on Substack is kind of ephemeral. I mean, even more so than the Internet is in general.Keep collecting them and making them into illustrated chapbooks. Pros: print option! Cons: …come, I will conceal nothing from you. My illustrated chapbooks won’t make their money back for a long, long while. The illustrations cost money. I mean, I’ll turn a profit on these at some point, but the idea is to generate more revenue now.

I don’t know what the answer is, yet. If somebody has an opinion, feel free to share it.

#commissionearned

Yeah, day called on account of new videogame. [EDITED]

[UPDATE: Sleep Madness has struck. I’m out. Peace!]

Baldur’s Gate 3 is very fun. It is also kind of distracting, and distracting may be… a good idea for the rest of the month. It’s getting a bit intense out there.

The ‘Comforting Weight of Nostalgia’ TRACTION PARK MASSACRE trailer.

I’m gonna show TRACTION PARK MASSACRE to my eldest and tell him it’s based on a true story. I mean, it’s not entirely a lie. It’s not like anybody ever proved that Action Park didn’t have serial killers. God knows it was rumored to have every other risk to life and limb present on its grounds.

Yes, this is absolutely based on that water park. ‘Traction Park’ was literally one of its nicknames, and the color scheme of the logo is evocative. It’s a solid concept for a schlocky horror picture, too. Dunno if my kid will want to see it in theaters, because it seems destined to end up on Shudder…

Moe Lane

#commissionearned

I’m impressed with Baldur’s Gate 3’s game engine.

It’s crisp, smooth, no stuttering, and intuitive once you figure out what the keys do. I assume everybody spam-saves before doing dice checks, yes? Because I am totally doing that, and I don’t care what that says about me.

Check out Baldur’s Gate 3* if you haven’t already… oh, who am I kidding? I am one of the last people in my demographic to download the game.

Moe Lane

PS: High Elven bard. I thought about one of the other classes, but the high Charisma and extended proficiency checks sold me.

PPS: Do I end up punching the white-haired dude on the cover in the face? He kind of has a punchable face.

*I’d put in an Amazon link, except that the PS5 version is going for one hundred and twenty bucks? What’s up with that?

#commissionearned

‘Nebraska.’

Elements of this approaches my horror aesthetic.

Nebraska, Bruce Springsteen

#commissionearned

THE GOBLIN is now available on Patreon for free members.

I’m trying to sweeten the pot, get some signups that way. THE GOBLIN was recently made available for people with paid memberships; this is the free-membership version. Check it out, and you don’t need to tell me that the protagonist is at least mildly awful. I wrote him to be that way.

Patreon!

DARK HISTORY! Only 99 cents!

More reminders! DARK HISTORY is now available on DriveThruRPG.