Moe Lane's Blog, page 636

In the Mail: the 2022 Skin Horse Calendar.

Very nifty (you can get your own here).

In the mail, @shaenongarrity ! pic.twitter.com/whZkhSIfgG

— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) December 24, 2021

Since I did the calendar Kickstarter at a high enough level, I also got an original Skin Horse art strip along with it. I requested something involving funk; I am pleased with what I got.

12/24/2021 Snippet, TINSEL RAIN.

Looks like this is going to crack 80,000 words.

Patreon!

Speaking of the needle: I unwrapped it, and showed it to her. I was hoping for a hiss, or possibly a mad scramble for holy water. Instead she just held it for a second or two before dropping it back down on the rag I had wrapped it in. “Well, it was evil.”

“Was?”

“Feels like it got thoroughly cleaned.” Mira gave me the Look New Californians give when they want you to know they’re talking about magic. “The kind of cleaning that wipes away distinguishing marks.”

“Well, I was in a hurry, and it was still wriggling,” I replied. “In my foot.”

“What? Sit.”

“It’s fine.”

“Sit.”

When a cleaning lady tells you to sit and uses the tone Mira did, you sit. While she started fussing with me, I asked her, “Hey, did you know a Joey the Pug?”

“Not enough to feel too bad if he’s dead.” She looked up. “He dead?”

“Afraid so. I take it he didn’t have many fans?”

“You could say that, Shamus. Joey was a little too sketchy for the Syndicate. Not respectable,” said the illegal mage, “and he was tied up with some bad people. I’m not gonna lie, he was going to end up with a shiv in his gut. There. Now your foot is cleaned, and ready to heal.”

‘Fairytale of New York.’

Fairytale of New York, The Pogues

Present wrapping!

Done before Christmas Eve, too. WHAT SORCERY IS THIS

…Seriously, it’s weird to get this done ahead of time. Pleasant, but weird. But now we can spend tomorrow preparing for all the other stuff. Like the meal: Christmas dinner is going to be a New York Strip Roast. I didn’t want to do a standing rib roast because there’s only going to be the two of us eating it… and then I was seduced by the strip roast, because it looked so nice at the butcher’s, so what could I do but buy it uncut?

Now I have to convince myself not to get overly fancy with it. We have the roast, asparagus, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. That’s fine for Christmas dinner. That’s fine.

The second UNCHARTED trailer.

I dunno. At least Tom Holland is believable as somebody who can do jumpy-flippy stuff. The thing is, though: I’ve never seriously played UNCHARTED. I just can’t get into console games, and yes, it drives me nuts, too. So I dunno how badly I want to see this.

#commissionearned

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

Getting close to the end!

Patreon!

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.

Patreon!

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.