Moe Lane's Blog, page 19

It is the Glorious Fourth.

Have a beer (wine, soda, water, lemonade, scotch, milk, other liquids to taste). Grill (reheat, broil, fry, steam, eat cold, other food preparation methods to taste) some meat (fish, vegetables, breads, cheeses, salad, other foodstuffs to taste). Enjoy (no alternate menu choices will be offered at this time) being an American.

Happy Fourth.

‘Sit Down, John!’

Note the continuous shot at the start.

Sit Down John, 1776

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Holiday posting is now in effect.

I have plans for this weekend that involve beer, snacks, fireworks, and of course enjoying the hell out of being an American. I recommend that everybody else do the same. Happy Glorious Fourth!

Movie of the Week: Independence Day.

Independence Day! My absolute favorite collage-style film. The epitome of popcorn movies. I have watched this many, many times — and I am comfortably aware that I have plenty of beer in the fridge tomorrow for watching it again. I just need some meats, cheeses, and maybe a pickle or two.

…We do not speak of the sequel.

#commissionearned

Some Hex Nation sidebars.

That’s what I’m messing with today.

Poems of Last Stands

The Taiping Rebellion barely registers on European and American minds, except as one of those conflicts happening on the other side of the world, involving people with incomprehensible motives, and acting abominably to each other. Superficially, events are broadly transpiring at the same pace in the Hex Nation universe as in ours; the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan is dead, the main Taiping kingdom has been conquered, and all that remains are scattered guerrilla forces.

In June of 1863 Shi Dakai, a Taiping leader known both for his military skill and poetry, was tortured to death after surrendering to Qing forces (in exchange for the Qing sparing his men). An occult researcher with the right specialities would be able to determine that the combination of Shi’s poetical talents, popularity among the peasantry, and ritualize sacrificial death would imbue his poetry to the level of Books of Power. All the remaining Taiping know is that wizards can cast powerful spells using his poems, which on a practical level is probably all that matters anyway.

This will probably not reverse the fortunes of the Taiping, any more than access to Book Magic ultimately saved the Confederacy. The Qing have their own wizards, and their own Books of Power (it is death for a wizard to be caught with Shi’s poetry in his possession; but then, it is also death for a non-wizard). It will delay the final destruction of the Taiping Rebellion by a few months or years, and produce in the meantime an entire class of wizardly refugees with a burning urge to flee China before they are literally cut to ribbons.

America would probably be far enough.

Hidden Stanzas

The Japanese prize literature and poetry, their primary faith (Shintoism) has no particular issue with magical practices per se, and the forces supporting the new Emperor Mutsuhito are widely and accurately rumored to be interested in modernizing the country (not to mention ending the Tokugawa Shogunate). It would thus seem natural to assume that the Japanese would openly adopt Book Magic. They have not.

More accurately, they have not adopted it openly. Japan is currently in the early stages of what will later be called the Meiji Restoration. The Boshin War, or something like it, will erupt in the next year, and neither side is completely sanguine of victory. Both factions have created secluded campuses to systematically assess Japanese literature for Books of Power, and to quantify its True Lexicon. Japanese wizards who draw from Japanese Books of Power will rapidly find themselves at one of these campuses (or dead); Western wizards in general are even more officially unwelcome than other Westerners; and Ainu (and other indigenous, non-Japanese) wizards would be well-advised to go somewhere else.

Any rumor that the rising social/criminal group known as ‘yakuza’ are incorporating Japanese wizards unwilling to be involved in the coming civil war is just that: a rumor. There is also no inescapable proof that the yakuza are making money by helping Japanese wizards move overseas, to lands where the gold leaps out of the streams and the local authorities can’t tell a foreign scholar from a foreign peasant. And there’s no reliable witnesses that can attest that some of those yakuza came along, and have found California an amenable place to do business. Assuming that the tongs would even let them.

Tweet of the Day, A PSA/Reminder About Tomorrow edition.

Don’t be dumb. Well, none of you are going to be dumb that way. Don’t let other people be dumb.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. https://t.co/zk3s3fhdGJ pic.twitter.com/pdoVydFZfD

— Mike Kupari (@RocketPulpHack) July 3, 2025

‘Wild Child.’

Wild Child, Enya

#commissionearned

Hex Nation 7: Hexes, Cullies, and Varmints.

Yup, still mucking about with this. Found here.

Hex Nation 7 – Google DocsDownload

And the short story sampler for the Tales from the Fermi Resolution 2 Kickstarter is away.

It’s done.

It’s finally done. Done, and closed, and let me know if you were supposed to get it and you didn’t, and it’s done and closed.

I need a drink. Meanwhile, buy some books. Or an RPG.

#commissionearned

Disney looking at Indiana Jones IP, licking its lips.

DO NOT WANT DO NOT WANT DO NOT WANT.

Disney Reportedly Planning Full Reboot of the INDIANA JONES Franchise

Link: https://t.co/cgR8lIAo1H pic.twitter.com/w2FD434ySl

— GeekTyrant (@GeekTyrant) July 2, 2025

Via @BrianFaughnan.