Moe Lane's Blog, page 513
August 6, 2022
Book of the Week: Gathering Five Storms: A Dangerous Clique Novel.
Jim Geraghty’s an old buddy of mine from the Before Times, and with Gathering Five Storms: A Dangerous Clique Novel coming out later this month he will draw ahead of me on the novel front, four to three. This, of course, simply will not do. Of course, I do have GHOSTS ON AN ALIEN WIND coming up in spring of 2023…
08/06/22 Snippet, TOUR OF DUTY.
A discovery!
Patreon!February 13th
We’re adjusting our next exit point! When I first heard the news, I would have put a period after that sentence. It’s not like we’re aiming for a precise spot in regular space to drop the beacons. As long as they’re in the right general location, that’s fine – and general location can mean ‘up to a light year, in any direction.’ Big for us, not so much for hyperspace.
But all of the crew — I try not to think of them as the ‘real crew’ — are excited. They weren’t saying why, and I didn’t want to look like a complete deadhead by asking, so I sidled over to Gravitonics to see if Dan had any idea what was going on. It was his department that was getting the ship to exit early, after all.
“Oh, yeah,” he told me over lunch. “It’s pretty chill, actually. We detected something artificial on the long-range scanners. Pretty big, too.”
“Really?” I replied, just like a smart person and everything. “How do you know?”
“Know what? That it’s artificial, or big?”
“Yeah.”
Movie of the Week: The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
Specifically, the Dr. Phibes Double Feature The Abominable Dr. Phibes/Dr. Phibes Rises Again. It came up on Twitter, and the first one at least is ridiculously good; Vincent Price at his best and silliest. Or maybe the movie is ridiculous, and good. I’ve never actually seen the second one, but I hear that it likewise rewards the indulgent viewer.
Note: some awful person put THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES on YouTube. At 1080p HD resolution, too. I condemn such a flagrant violation of copyright, of course. And have embedded it so that you might condemn it, too.
#commissionearned
August 5, 2022
Tweet of the Day, Surely This Is An Elaborate Practical Joke edition.
I can understand a sequel to JOKER. I can understand having Lady Gaga play Harley Quinn. But… a musical?
Joker: Folie à Deux
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) August 4, 2022
10.04.24 pic.twitter.com/obp7T9lBFL
What’s the joke? And who’s the punchline?
08/05/22 Snippet, THE FIGHT IN THE GROVE.
There’s gonna be combat!
Patreon!“Put me down,” said the dryad suddenly. “There is danger.” I’m no fool; I stopped immediately, and let her dismount while I checked my weapons and armor. I‘m stronger than a dryad. A dryad has senses that shame mine. If there was something evil to be heard or smelled, she would be the first to know. Although now even I could now smell something foul on the wind.
“So, we’re expected, then.” I said as I took stock of our surroundings. We had paused by a tree, overlooking a stream; it was higher ground, at least, and would give us some warning of an attack.
“How can that be, Jack?” The dryad sounded more annoyed than fearful as she pulled a thorn-knife from the satchel she carried (the thought of satchels originally came from Yonder, but Those Who Speak have made it their own). That was good, as long as she did not take it too far. “I thought bittersap did not think.”
“It does not,” I replied as I noted the spastic sound of rustling, just ahead of us. “But it can be cunning. And even a beast knows enough to defend itself from harm.” And then I stopped talking, for out from the brush rushed a clot of beasts, snarling and screaming as they came.
Most of the poor damned creatures were small, and weak; voles and squirrels, mice and rabbits. No birds, thank the Sky Lady. Those would be especially dangerous. Though bittersap does not corrupt those of us made of meat, a bittersap bezoar can dominate the smaller beasts, for a time. And flying things would be of special use to one.
In some ways, what bittersap does to animals is worse than what it does to plants, or Those Who Speak. Bittersap preys upon plants, to take full possession of them and spread poison across the surface lands. It cannot do the same to animals. But the way bittersap rips through blood and flesh still swiftly drives beasts mad from the pain. There is no cure for the pain, once the animal has lost itself to madness. There is only the red haze of combat for it. They will fight, and strive to kill, until they die.
That was the fight we now faced; and any hopes that I had that it would be more tiring than dangerous died as the bushes shook to reveal a stag. Like the rest, it was jerking and befouled with the ichor of curdling bittersap. The blood smeared on its antlers and matted fur told me that this was not its first fight of the day; and I hoped it had killed its previous victims, for I could not go looking for them while the bittersap bezoar still lived.
Let the Bodies Hit the Floor: WB to axe SUPERGIRL?
Such are the rumors.
According to a recent report from Rolling Stone, the previously announced Supergirl film is also unlikely to move forward at the studio. The film has been in development, and Sasha Calle, who is also set to appear as Supergirl in the upcoming movie The Flash, was set to star. Her appearance in The Flash was meant to introduce the character before her solo film.
Of course, it’s not 100% certain that there’s going to be a FLASH movie after all, either. Although one wonders would happen if Ezra Miller did decide to finally snap like a rubber band and commit suicide-via-FBI. Would Warner Bros deep six the movie, or would they breathe a sigh of relief and release it as soon as possible?
…Look, we’re talking about a movie studio, here. They are, to mangle Time Bandits, mercifully free from the ravages of conventional morality. The survivors who worked on the film gotta get paid, right?
Moe Lane
PS: I don’t know how you fix the DC superhero movie problem at this point, really. Maybe just junk everything, and come back in twenty years.
#commissionearned
08/05/22 Snippet, TOUR OF DUTY.
I’m sure she’s fine.
Patreon![Journal entries deemed not relevant.]
January 28
We jumped out of the waypoint today. I was in Propulsion, getting used to my new station (they put Dan in Life Support; I got Janusz working with me, and isn’t that fun). I was surprised that the waypoint station was automated, but my mentor (i.e., the guy I follow around and do what he says) Lupe told me nobody ever lives at these things full time. Or part time. Or at all, if they can help it.
I guess that makes sense. It’s really lonely out here. Profoundly lonely. There’s no light, except what you’ve brought. No light, no sound, no activity, no life… nothing out here except the sound of your own heartbeat, drowned in the silences of dark matter and the Great Night…
Yikes! I should go work on something. Or go talk to the ship’s doctor. Or maybe both.
August 4, 2022
So, I figure either Cyber Runner or Diplomat in STARFIELD.
Look, we all know I’m buying Bethesda’s STARFIELD. And judging from the character class information that we can see in this article, I can already tell you my starting build: Cyber Runner’s got pistols, lockpicking, and diplomacy. That’s all I need, plus stealth. But I want to see Diplomat first. Maybe Professor, if that’s where the magic… ah, ‘Ancient Science’ or whatever they’re calling… is. I also like the spacesuit, but we all know that it’s the first thing that’s gonna get modded to infinity and beyond, so why waste time dwelling on it?
All in all: thank God this got delayed until 2023. I got a book to write in November.
