Moe Lane's Blog, page 621

12/23/21 Snippet, THE STARS ARE WRONG.

Getting close to the end!

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The Vicar strode through this strangeness where I forced myself not to cower. As he woke, he spoke. “Feel that warm breeze, Guardian! Heat from the west, with the smells of the mountain upon it. Iron and stone, tree and grass; that is the true scent of the land! So it was here, in the oldest days.”

“But those days are long past, Vicar,” I said, and was amazed to hear myself speak. “This is the modern time. It is the time of Seacity, and the other cities and realms of the world. The wind has risen; but soon it will fade again. Just as it faded once before.”

“Spoken like a Guardian,” said the Vicar, seemingly not put out by my moment of defiance. “Although perhaps not the kind of Guardian your masters seek. — But, yes. Long ago, when the stars were right, the wind faded, and the world that now is came to be.” 

His voice turned triumphant. “But look up, Guardian, if you dare. Look up, and tell me if the stars are still right.”

12/23/21 Snippet, TINSEL RAIN.

Slept a lot, couldn’t sleep, got some work done.

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Getting out of the Castle was the usual half-hassle of some people avoiding me because of their guilty consciences, people trying to flag me down for something because of their guilty consciences, and actually having conversations with the few people who couldn’t avoid me, or me them. It’s all part of the life. People think I’m the only one who can also see the sins that gaze back them when they look in a mirror. Some people want to run away from that; others want to poke it like a sore tooth. Mostly I just don’t say anything. They’ll let out the words eventually.

The cabs were a snarl of double-booked carriages and surly horses, so I decided to take a walk until I got somewhere a little less insane. That lasted about five minutes before a police wagon pulled up to me. One of the black-and-white models the Flatfoots used. I was tempted to ignore it, but when I saw it was Sancho at the reins I decided not to bother. He’d just turn on the siren.

“Howdy, Shamus!” Sancho sounded unpleasantly jovial, which meant he was looking forward to this conversation, which meant I wouldn’t be. “Get in.”

I am… going back to bed.

I’m fine, just operating without an energy reserve. I need to get a good deal of sleep and recharge. And winter break starts tomorrow! No more getting up to make sure the kids are off to school at highly ridiculous hours. At least, for a couple of weeks.

Moe Lane

PS: Book sale still going on! Tell your friends!

FROZEN DREAMS Kickstarter backers, check your email!

You should be getting the Kickstarter version of the Fermi Resolution RPG rules. Cover and internal art, edited, etc. etc. etc. I’ve also closed that Kickstarter, now that the stuff is being distributed. Let me know if there’s a problem.

Keep watching this space for news on when I’m actually printing this puppy. You can also pick up FROZEN DREAMS here… (#commissionearned)

Fair warning: it may be an early night for me (got boosted).

I ain’t going anywhere for the next, well, week and a half; so if I do get knocked on my rear by the Moderna booster then this would be as good a time as any other, and better than most. Or maybe it’ll just be an excuse by my body to actually make me get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep for a change. Could go either way, really.

Tweet of the Day, How Did I Miss The TSW TTRPG Kickstarter News? edition.

Actually, I know how I missed the news of a Secret World TTRPG and Kickstarter. I missed it because when it came out I was off writing a novel. This is gonna be way cool.

#secretworld #rpg #5e #dungeonsdragons #horror Everything is true including the Secret World in 2022. pic.twitter.com/PdsVdbPk1B

— Star Anvil Studios (@AnvilStar) November 12, 2021

I need to rethink my writing strategy for this month.

TINSEL RAIN needs to get done, no question, we’re on track for that. But: THE DOOM THAT CAME TO LUNA CITY is this month’s Patreon entry, and I want THE STARS ARE WRONG to send around as a submission next year (originals do better than reprints, and I’d like to keep my hand in the submissions market). So I think I’ll try to finish THE STARS ARE WRONG in the next couple of days, then finish up DOOM. I think that’ll work.

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12/20/21 Snippet, TINSEL RAIN.

Chapterization is now horked! This is good, because the chapters were of wildly uneven size. This works better

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“All right, change of plans.” I gave Graciella a wry grin. “Well, change of plans for me. You’d be going back to the Billy anyway.”

“Hurrah,” Graciella muttered, then made herself smile. “Sorry, sir. I just hate looking stupid. But why the change in plans?”

I snorted. “Because the audience is tomorrow.”

“What?” She looked shocked. “Why are they telling you now?”

“Because if they gave me more than two days’ warning, something would happen. Fire, flood, locust horde, the sudden return of the Crazy Cocaine Hooker Killer from beyond the grave — the point is, if you want a Shamus to be somewhere on time, give him or her a day’s warning. One day’s warning. No more, no less.”

“Huh. Is that, ah, you know?”

I shrugged. “It’s New California.”

Tweet of the Day, The @HPLHS Has Dropped Another Solstice Carol.

Very good, on multiple levels.

Have you heard ‘Solstice At The Gilman House’ by HPLHS on #SoundCloud? #np https://t.co/KImtMzIU5G

— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) December 21, 2021

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME didn’t have a good opening, by pandemic standards.

It had an amazing one, by anybody’s:

MONDAY UPDATE, with actuals: Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home became the third biggest global opener of all time this weekend, now with a confirmed $600.8M through Sunday, versus yesterday’s estimate of $587.2M. Crossing the $600M mark makes it only the third film ever to the milestone in a launch frame. The Jon Watts-directed MCU entry is the No. 6 movie of 2021 worldwide (No. 3 for the studios) just from its debut and overtaking all other Marvel pics this year. Topping $600M at open is even more impressive as NWH did it without China, only the second film ever to the six-century mark sans that giant market.

I am personally fine, by the way, with us not taking the PRC’s official numbers into account when determining a movie’s box office. Indeed, when it comes to popular entertainment I would be fine with us not taking the PRC into account at all. It’d be better for everybody, in the long run.