Moe Lane's Blog, page 663
September 23, 2021
‘Let Me Teach You How To Eat.’
The guy’s name led me astray.
Let Me Teach You How To Eat, Reverend Horton Heat
…And ain’t that a crying shame.
Ooooh New Tim Powers (STOLEN SKIES) coming out in January.
STOLEN SKIES is available for pre-order, but we all know that I’m just gonna buy the Baen EARC as soon as it’s available. Without shame, too. Giving writers money for an early look at their latest book is exactly what I want to use the Internet for, and I will be doing that until the day I die. And nobody can stop me, either.
Moe Lane
PS: I dunno, it’s about aliens or something. Tim Powers, remember?
ZEBRAS AT THE EVENT.
It could happen!
ZEBRA SIGHTING in Upper Marlboro, MD. Video from @wusa9 viewer Chris Horrell: pic.twitter.com/CI54iFpdNg
— Jeff Ackermann (@JeffAckermann) September 22, 2021
I am going to have to have some signs made up. Seriously, this is where we’re having the SCA event.
The Chock Full O’Footage DUNE international trailer.
…Well, the director’s read the book. I dunno if Villeneuve’s DUNE is gonna live up to Lynch’s, but he’s gonna give it a try.
Via Coming Soon.
09/23/21 Snippet, ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE MOON-BEASTS.
Horror!
Patreon!The trick was to forget each new horror as soon as it happened. It was easier than it sounded; the human brain is not designed to comprehend what Tobias was sensing. If he let it slide past him, no piece would be left behind for his mind to worry and scratch at. Well, there would still be some, but humanity long ago adapted to enduring chronic pain. He remembered impressions, though – and that was almost-literal; where the monster touched his psyche, it left bruises behind, and those he could understand. The monster was malevolent, and it was also horribly intelligent, in a distinctly anti-human manner. It was not until now that Tobias truly understood what the word ‘alienation’ meant: he had never before been able to compare his own situation with something so profoundly the Other. Even its malevolence was unlike anything he had ever felt before, subtly wrong and insistent in ways that mere human evil could not aspire to.
But alienation went both ways.
The monster could perceive his own memories, and promptly began to tear through them. Tobias thought it even enjoyed the revulsion that perception triggered in him. But what it could not do was understand the memories, or not fully. He could feel its patient bafflement as it contemplated his memories of geometry class; its grasp of space-time was capable of distinguishing between there and not-there, and that only barely. The thought would have cheered him, except that he was no longer feeling any emotions at all.
Tweet of the Day, …Mood edition.
Just a whale swallowing two tourists. (Powell vs. Kaplan & Rosengren) https://t.co/cl5v6fxLkJ pic.twitter.com/iDm7H9EOP1
— Wallstreetbets (@wallsteetbets) September 22, 2021
Via @CalebHowe. Mind you, the humpback whale didn’t actually eat them. This happened a few years ago; they’re fine. It’s still my mood this morning.
September 22, 2021
Buy my books! Although it may be my kids’ books, some day.
The eldest is starting to get into writing, which is way cool. The youngest is likewise firmly on the graphic artist track, which is just as way cool — and not particularly surprising, honestly. We were an artistic family, growing up: painting, drawing, dancing, writing, textile arts, and my dad was the cook. And since my wife’s a polymath, the odds were good the relevant genes would get passed on. Here’s hoping my kids surpass me.
But I wouldn’t mind if they had to work at it a little, so: buy my books!
The NIGHT TEETH Netflix trailer.
A day may come when stylishly absurd movies like NIGHT TEETH will no longer appeal to the adolescent still living within me. A day when I cannot ignore the logical flaws and contrived plots. A day when I say, Really: this makes absolutely no sense, so I shall not watch it.
And I’ll probably still be down for this on October 20th. Halloween season, folks!
09/22/21 Snippet, ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE MOON-BEASTS.
Bombing run!
Patreon!Knocking down the tower was so simple Tobias had to do it himself; the automated systems on the hopper (and every other device in human space) were designed to never, ever let something that destructive happen without human approval. Even then the actual mechanism was straightforward. The hopper’s spare recon drone could be released and aimed at the tower, again with the safety protocols disabled. After that it was just a matter of physics. The drone wasn’t moving very quickly, but then it didn’t have to. All it needed to do was impact against the tower hard enough to knock some pieces loose and knock the rest of it down.
Tobias didn’t wait around to watch the slow-motion collapse; as soon as the drone cleared its launch bay he boosted the hopper almost to the redline and peeled away at an angle up and well away from any human settlement. He half-hoped, half-dreaded the thought of not being pursued. He adamantly refused to remember what it felt like to share his mind with a monster, but the ghost-memory of its liveliest awfulness still lurked, deep down where the dark thoughts lay. He couldn’t risk returning home until he was sure he wasn’t bringing anything back with him.
A slurp of terminal static from the drone — and a flicker of another’s awareness — filled him with dread, and relief. The illusion of escape had just been shattered. This was going to end in a death, or deaths. Deaths, Tobias decided, would be fine. Not that he wanted to die, exactly. He was just running out of long-term plans.
