Moe Lane's Blog, page 4
November 16, 2025
11/16/2025 Snippet, BANSHEE BEACH (86K words)
Skulking!
…
We hit paydirt behind one door. Literally. It opened up into an old corridor, and I mean really old. There were wooden beams that looked like fossils, and the intermittent lightstones on the walls were clearly put in later. Much later.
It was enough to make Lucas poke one as we moved through the corridor, hurry or not. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear these were pre-Old American,” he said. “I’ve seen basements like this up in Old California that were almost a thousand years old. But not this well-preserved.”
“Sure. They’re still using it down here,” I replied. “And it is pre-Old American. Everything around here was part of Old Mexico.”
“Mexico? Oh, right, they were a client-state.”
“Yeah, don’t say that in front of Sonorans…” then I didn’t hiss ‘Hold up!’ because Lucas had heard the faint sounds in front of us quicker than I had. Luckily, it wasn’t line-of-sight. Even better, they weren’t ‘Who’s there?’ sounds. More like a general ruibarbo.
LOTR MMORPG KIA.
For fans dreaming of returning to Middle-earth in a new, next-gen adventure, the news isn’t good. Amazon’s ambitious Lord of the Rings MMORPG, which had been in development since early 2023, has reportedly been cancelled.
[snip]
…one key detail came from [former Amazon Games Senior Gameplay Engineer Ashleigh] Amrine shared a bittersweet note: “Y’all would have loved it.”
…that probably we would have not.
Well, when it comes right down to it: why would this MMORPG be more compelling than every other fantasy MMORPG out there that’s been enthusiastically stealing from Tolkien for decades? Including, might I add, the already existing Lord of the Rings Online MMORPG*? What were they hoping to offer that would have made people drop World of Warcraft?
Ach, well, the question is moot.
Moe Lane
*Yeah, actually, I didn’t know it existed, either. It’s apparently free-to-play and people rave about it. I already have a MMORPG, though. And I’m gonna stay a Bee and a Monster Slayer until FunCom finally pulls the plug.
#commissionearned
Patreon Microfiction: The Ban.
November 15, 2025
‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn.’
No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Beastie Boys
#commissionearned
11/15/2025 Snippet, BANSHEE BEACH.
Less than I’d like, but I figure it’s good I got any done at all. We had deadlines tonight.
…
Lucas flexed his fingers a couple of times, nodding at how they had gotten full range of motion back. I wasn’t real thrilled with the look on his face, even though it wasn’t aimed at me. I could see him tucking away all the distractions in his head, keeping them buried nice and safe where they wouldn’t get hurt. “Just so you know, Tom,” he said, as evenly as if he was asking for the last roll, “these guys are evil-enough.”
I exhaled. I wanted to argue, but… “I figured, Lucas. Just let them surrender, okay? I mean, for-real surrender.”
“It’s not gonna happen, Tom,” Lucas replied, sword held loose and deadly in his hand as we ducked into the main hall. “They’re cultists. Cultists don’t surrender. But, sure, it’s a nice thought.”
Book of the Week: Sentry Peak.
The blurb calls Harry Turtledove’s Sentry Peak “the strangest Civil War novel you ever read,” and that’s reasonably fair. Note that the cover art has pretty much no relationship to what actually happens in the novel. That’s just one of Baen Books’ little ways, and the only real flaw in their corporate character. To quote somebody or other: you learn to find it charming.
#commissionearned
The RENTAL FAMILY trailer.
RENTAL FAMILY is not my usual fare, but I’m glad Brendan Fraser is back.
A new installment of THE BOLD MARAUDER is up!
November 14, 2025
The first COLD STORAGE trailer.
COLD STORAGE is absolutely my eldest’s aesthetic. Guess we’ll go to see it, then. February 6th, 2025.
11/14/2025 Snippet, BANSHEE BEACH (85K words).
Had to sit down and push myself.
…
The damn thing burbled as it… never mind. Let’s just say it made a noise. It did, all right: half snake’s hiss, half chicken squawk, and all scary. The sound carried in the room.
So did the rattle of the damn vent at the bottom of the wall as it opened to let it in. I paid attention to that without looking, which was easier than it sounds. A little. The knots were the important thing, and they were coming off nicely.
I could hear the ticky-tack sounds of little talons hitting stone as I finally got my wrists free and started fumbling with the ankle ropes. It wasn’t moving fast. I don’t know if that’s because it was trained to be slow, or because a monster that petrifies you on eye contact just doesn’t need to rush around. Maybe both?
Through my closed eyelids I could see the room rapidly lightening around me, and I knew then that my ankles would just have to wait. The damned thing’s hiss-squawk changed with the light, too. The talons started skittering excitedly, like it had a new toy. I wondered how many times somebody had faced this thing in this room, and whether the basilisk got to play with them before the whole stoneface thing. Then I decided that I didn’t want to wonder about that at all.
