Moe Lane's Blog, page 39
May 19, 2025
So, Arbutus battle report from yesterday.
It was… instructive. Also, highly remunerative. Enough so that I’m wondering anew whether having the propane gas tank explosion and foot traffic diversion at the Laurel Main Street Festival made the difference between profitability and not, after all. I got a decent number of people pleasantly surprised to see somebody selling fantasy novels, which suggests to me that this market is underserved*.
On the other hand, I managed to skin my knee and palm from a fall (uneven pavement), the load-in and load-out situation was kind of insane, and I almost got hit by a deer on the way home. Also, I am pretty definitely an introvert. These big venues are draining. It took me most of the day to recharge. Gonna need to toughen up on that!
Anyway, next up is Savage Fest. Hopefully I’ll have physical copies of the Fermi Resolution RPG to actually sell, at this point…
*Also, I need to get on with BANSHEE BEACH. Gonna need that book for next year, and maybe another illustrated chapbook.
Patreon Microfiction: “Undude Ranch.”
I’m always interested in the question, What do you do when the Undead abomination isn’t being abominable? At what point do you start minding your own damned business? “Undude Ranch” represents one end of that spectrum – but what’s the ethical stance if the skeletons do, say, leech life force out of humans or something, and they know it, which is why they moved to Death Valley and put up “Do Not Disturb” signs?
Patreon!
May 18, 2025
It was actually a really good sales day…
…but I cannot see straight at the moment. I’ll talk about it in the morning.
Selling books at town festivals is not for the timid, apparently.
Earlier:
BEHOLD! I am at the Arbutus Arts Festival. pic.twitter.com/x7Z3F5urbN
— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) May 18, 2025
Just now:
If blood be the price of book-selling,
— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) May 18, 2025
Lord God, we have paid in full! pic.twitter.com/4NO7AXli6U
I endure.
May 17, 2025
Arbutus Arts Festival tomorrow!
Temperatures in the upper eighties, but at least it’ll be cloudy. Either rain or actual shine would be a problem, in their own special ways. Light posting tomorrow and stop on by if you’re in the area!
…I have no idea how this is going to go. Hopefully there’ll be fewer propane explosions, at least. Once in convention season is fine (well, unless it’s your propane tank). Having a second one go off in my vicinity might get me tagged as a Jonah.
Book of the Week: The Fermi Resolution Worldbook.
This, obviously, should surprise nobody. But, yeah, the Fermi Resolution Worldbook is easily my book of the week. No apologies, no regrets. Get the books when you’re done!
#commissionearned
‘Some Notes on the Kamchatka Territory.’
This is not the next novel (TINSEL RAIN): it’s for the next novel after that.
Some Notes on the Kamchatka Territory
Purchased in 1867 along with AlaskaTerritorial capital is Seward (Petropavlovsk)Created as full territory by President McKinley in 1897First significant divergence in American history: 1904. Territorial Governor Charles Fairbanks not chosen as Vice President [Howard Taft remains governor of the Philippines until 1910]. Albert Cummins chosen instead.Presidents of the United States, 1901-1933
Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909 [R]Albert Cummins, 1909-1917 [R]Champ Clark, 1917-1921 [D]Eugene Foss, 1921-1925 [D]Calvin Coolidge, 1925-1933 [R]Hiram Johnson, 1933-1933 [R]Al Smith, 1933- [D]Territorial Governors, Kamchatka Territory, 1897-1933
Charles Fairbanks, 1897-1911Herbert Hoover, 1911-1917Woodrow Wilson, 1917-1919Edith Wilson, 1919-1925Herbert Hoover, 1925-1933Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-History
United States enters World War I more or less on schedule. President Clark isolationist, but given no choice after submarine warfare escalates. Does not insult the Japanese Empire at the Treaty of Versailles, and his attempts to limit American involvement in Russian Civil War partially stymied by Territorial Governor Edith Wilson after 1919.The territory is bounded on the west by the Russian Imperial Republic (White Russian client state of America) and the Priamurye Protectorate to the south (Czech exile client state of the Japanese). Soviet infiltration attempts are common, but the Foss administration recognized both the RIR and the Soviet Union in 1923. The income tax, direct election of Senators, and women voter Constitutional amendments still pass.Prohibition does not. The Anti-Saloon League (ably led by the charismatic and venerable local missionary Howard Hyde Russell) is nonetheless a major annoyance in the territory. Prohibition on the United States’ mainland is very much a patchwork affair.Former President Teddy Roosevelt dies in 1927, during a hunting expedition in the RIR. It is widely rumored that he was assassinated by a Soviet kill squad, but only after having the satisfaction of watching the last assassin bleed out in front of him.Edith Wilson remains a terror to the Clark administration, and its successor after Champ Clark does not run for a second term in 1920. She stays in power until Coolidge finally removes her in 1925, and remains a power in the territory to this day.Russian influence on the territory is noticeable, both from the original inhabitants and later refugees.The 1929 stock market crash happens three months earlier, and President Coolidge was largely and popularly blamed for the stubborn recession that followed. The economic recovery does not come in time to prevent Al Smith’s election in 1932 on a ‘New Deal’ platform.The Japanese Empire and the United States have a better working relationship, not least because America has a permanent presence in the region that would be vulnerable to Japanese aggression. Note that neither the Manchurian Incident, the creation of Manchukuo, nor the Tsuyoshi assassination took place in this timeline.FDR is the new territorial governor. He did not contract polio in 1921. He is also highly ambitious.Patreon!
May 16, 2025
‘Happy Jack.’
Happy Jack, The Who
#commissionearned
