Moe Lane's Blog, page 650

‘Demeter’s Daughter.’

Demeter’s Daughter, Grace Griffith

#commissionearned

NaNoWriMo, Day 24: 1,540 / 48,200.

Had a lot of stuff to do today, but I persevered.

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“Ah, they serve beer here,” Oft said as he settled himself at our table. Uninvited. “May I dare hope that there might also be potatoes?”

“If you like them fermented? Sure,” I replied, after looking at the other two. “They don’t really serve food here.”

“A shame. They go so well with beer. ‘Boil them, mash them, stick them in a stew’ — oh, forgive me,” Oft said while shaking his head. “I have a bad habit of quoting Scripture, even if in this case ‘tis only from the apocrypha. But I am here on other matters. Specifically, about the smuggling operation that we all keep pretending doesn’t exist.”

“Who’s pretending?” I said, my tone perfectly even. “It doesn’t exist.”

“I can assure you, Chief Pilot Tanaka: it exists, we know this planetary station’s personnel are all involved in it, and nobody on my ship cares in the slightest about whether or not you’re paying the required tariffs. Honestly, we have other maddened grizzly bears to stun.” He rolled his eyes. “Never mind that reference. More apocrypha, I’m afraid.”

Just watched the first episode of HAWKEYE (It’s good!).

No, really. I was worried that Kate Bishop would be this already perfect superheroine in every possible way, Clint Barton would be this washed-up old guy who nobody remembers, and him ‘helping’ her would be the only way he could rekindle his heroism. That is… pretty much not what is happening, so far*. Instead, we’re getting a fairly demented, but so far entertaining, Christmas story. I am down for this.

Moe Lane

PS: On a not-quite-related note, regarding THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER: I continue to find it impossible to believe that there is a single bank in Louisiana which would have not given Sam Wilson a loan, if only for the commercials. “When one of the Avengers – OUR Avenger – came home to his community to help his sister get their parents’ business back on track, we were there. We assembled for Sam: we’ll do the same for you.” [Stock photo of Falcon smiling, hands on hips, wings extended] [bank logo, catchphrase]

*And to put it mildly.

The Moe Lane Black Friday novel sale starts… Friday!

Starting Friday, my two novels (FROZEN DREAMS, MORGAN BAROD) and one short story collection (TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION) go on sale in the Kindle store for 99 cents! Come see what all the fuss is about!

(This is Kindle only, so if you want the paperbacks, click here.)

#commissionearned

Moe Lane

‘Henry Martin.’

Henry Martin, Joan Baez

#commissionearned

NaNoWriMo, Day 23: 2,140 /46,660.

Went well.

Patreon!

We had told The Process that it didn’t have to wait for an invitation to talk for this meeting, so it smoothly chimed in. “There is some indication as to where the data packet did come from, Lt. Commander. Executive summary: our theory is that the packet was implanted in 4-9-43’s data storage during its last port of call, and designed to execute during routine docking operations. Evidence for this: the last transmissions from 4-9-43 show anomalous metadata rapidly spreading through the ship’s communications system, consistent with malware commonly used by anti-colonization terrorists. 4-9-43’s last port was the regional center Afa, which has had a perennial if low-grade problem with death cults for the last five years. Conclusion: perhaps one of those groups acquired access to 4-9-43, and successfully left a time-delayed malware in its systems.”

Burcu narrowed her eyes. “I remember Afa. From three years ago; the ship I was on had to assist in cleaning out a cell of the League of the Viridian Triangle. Absolute fanatics, they were. The kind who would, if they knew they were dying, cast themselves into a well in order to poison the water. And they did have a taste for malware.”

Greg stirred. “That’s one of the groups on the list. Along with the Order of Truth, the Bureau Désavoué, and the Galactic Pioneer Scouts.” An involuntary shudder went around the room at that last name. Even Burcu looked slightly alarmed. “Exactly. Sabotaging an innocent cargo freighter and the people trying to offload it is exactly the sort of thing any of these bastards would do.”

I have applied for a vendor table at Farpoint 29.

Farpoint is an experiment: I’ve seen what kind of business I can do at the smaller venues, so now I’m ready to try a larger one. It is also an opportunity for me to get out of the house for a few days, which is something I should probably be doing more of. And selling at conventions was always part of the plan.

So, we’ll see!

Moe Lane

PS: If you can’t wait… buy my books!

Holiday posting (more or less continues) tomorrow.

I mean, NaNoWriMo’s been wrecking my schedule anyway. But it’s Thanksgiving week, so it’s only gonna get crazier. If I don’t tell everybody to have a good holiday: have a good holiday.

Quote of the Day, Things That Make You Go, ‘…Crap.’ edition.

Do not want: “One of the company’s newest hopefuls in the arena is Mass Effect. Amazon Studios is nearing a deal to develop a series based on the best-selling sci-fi video game franchise from Electronic Arts.” …God help us all. I’ve always smugly watched other people’s favorite video game franchises crash and burn when they’re brought to the big screen; but I never thought it would happen to me. Clearly, this is a judgement upon my sins.

#commissionearned

Moe Lane

PS: Yes, Bioware is dead to me, too. It still pains me to see this.

NaNoWriMo, Day 22: Bye day.

I kind of had a half day off today, and writing right now feels like a chore and not a pleasure, so I’m not going to force it. I’ll hit the target number of 50,000 without question, and can still make it to 60,000 if I push it. If I do, I do.