Moe Lane's Blog, page 453
December 12, 2022
12/12/2022 Snippet, ANALOG.
I realized this morning that I was wrong about the tone of this piece. It’s going to be much easier now.
Patreon!That scream was wild and horrible, sounding precisely like a woman being burned alive, and it wouldn’t stop. Bernice had clearly never heard such a cacophony before, and she took a half-step forward before Greg’s right arm was suddenly an obstacle irresistibly blocking her path. “Don’t look,” he warned her as he stabbed at more buttons, his eyes determinedly lowered. “That’s what it wants you to do!”
From inside the box the screaming increased — rivaling the alarm sirens now going off all around them — as magnesium dust was sprayed into the flames. The box itself rattled alarmingly enough for Greg to reach for the coach gun kept within easy reach of his station, but that commotion died away even as he readied the gun. Greg snapped the breech open anyway to insert two buckshot cartridges. He told Bernice, “Get outside, Inquisitor Jones, and be ready to drop the blast door if you have to!”
“Yes, sir!” Bernice said, carefully not looking back. Greg ignored the honorific: this was business. “In position, sir!”
“Good.” The sirens were either lowering their decibels, or Greg was getting used to them, because it was getting easier to hear. “Now, either what inside’s gotten enough of a dose of burning magnesium to make it decide to give up and try another day, or it’s going to use all its oomph to bust loose. It does that, I’m gonna give it both barrels, and jump for the door. You hear the blast, you give me a three count, then pull the big switch. You savvy?”
December 11, 2022
Beginning of ANALOG.
This is going to be a horrible story. Not in terms of quality, I hope! But it’s gonna be just all sorts of ‘bad stuff happening.’
Supposedly, it used to be a lot easier to burn witches. At least, that’s what Greg had read in training. You just set up a stake with plenty of kindling, tied the witch to it, and set everything on fire. Easy enough, right?
Not these days. These days there was a checklist, and Greg was halfway through his part of it. They had separate people for everything: prepping the witches, getting them situated on the stake, actually burning them, and cleanup duty. Cleanup duty was the worst part, too. Everybody had somebody looking over their shoulders, just in case, but the cleaners were supposed to keep an eye on everybody, including themselves. Plus, they had to wear a full MOPP suit, and everything. Greg thought that was overkill — he only had to wear paper coveralls and goggles — but federal regulations were federal regulations. Better safe than sorry.
His watcher today was Bernice, and she was new enough to still wince whenever Greg parted one of the witch’s tendons. “Sorry,” she muttered when Greg cocked an eyebrow in her direction. “I’m just not used to that sound yet.”
Tweet-Thread of the Day, This Star Wars Thread May Stress Defense Contractors Out edition.
Every one of those I’ve seen who’s seen this one is nodding along.
1/ Here is how the abomination that is the AT-ST came about. Spoiler alert, it comes down to compromises & mission creep.
— Jake Chapman
"Initial Requirement: We need a small dropship deliverable armored sentry tower (ST) for forward operating bases with space for 4 sentries"
An early sketch: https://t.co/T4FRTI8hd0 pic.twitter.com/3oSp7xoCQS
(@vc) December 8, 2022
The ‘Okay, this looks interesting visually’ HELLBOY WEB OF WYRD reveal trailer.
I like the aesthetic for HELLBOY WEB OF WYRD. It’s really close to the original comics, which are of course wonderful. I’m interested in what the actual gameplay will look like…
December 10, 2022
Tweet of the Day, I Wonder What The Cats Did Earlier? edition
Because that was no accident of nature. The crow had business with those birds.
Addendum: A Grey-Back crow making two cats fight pic.twitter.com/E4RacYtlMM
—ᛟ Yuletide Raven ᛟ
Book of the Week: Triplanetary.
Really, the entire Lensmen saga, but Triplanetary is the one I’m reading now. They offered me a nice deal on the Kindle version, so… clear ether and hot jets, boys and girls!
Merry Christmas to *me*: they’re doing an animated BATMAN: THE DOOM THAT CAME TO GOTHAM.
It’s about da… no. This is the Christmas season. No negativity, if I can help it. I’m just glad that we’re getting this:
Revealed earlier in the week, Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham will see an alternate version of the character (as voiced by David Giuntoli, returning from 2020’s Batman: Soul of the Dragon) in the Gotham of that time period attempt to push back an ancient evil that he accidentally awoke in the first place.
If you’re not familiar with the original graphic novel, BATMAN: THE DOOM THAT CAME TO GOTHAM is a Mike Mignola project — and one that I recommend. Check it out!
#commissionearned
December 9, 2022
Busy day on infrastructure.
Not even remotely a creative day, though. Which happens. But! The tree is up, I’m halfway through the Amazon ad tutorials, and it looks like I will be doing an author table at the Maryland Renn Faire next year. That last bit in particular is good news, because that place is generally packed. I’ll be strictly talking up the print books, but that’s a fair deal to make.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
The tree, it is up. Ornaments limited until I see whether our new cat chooses violence or not. Our last one actually just liked being under it; I think that this gal has similar views…
Tree! pic.twitter.com/tN5Dz7n7Uo
— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) December 9, 2022
