Moe Lane's Blog, page 672
September 7, 2021
In the Mail: @HPLHS’s THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM (DART).
Awesome props, as always.
In the mail. pic.twitter.com/O4YyYegSD2
— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) September 7, 2021
If you’re a gamer who wants to adapt HPL’s stuff for a campaign then the HPLHS’s stuff is dang near mandatory. And the radio plays are fun, too! Check ’em out.
09/07/21 Snippet, ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE MOON-BEASTS.
So… when the world of the Fermi Resolution ended, what did happen on the moon?
Patreon!
Heinlein Station
American Administrative Zone
Luna
2103 AD
Europe was still burning.
At least, Tobias assumed the roiling, red-black clouds swirling over most of the continent represented out-of-control fires. The alternatives literally did not bear thinking about, considering that the last three people to get a closer look through the telescopes had all gone irretrievably mad. He felt there were quite enough horrible suggestions of meaningful shapes in those clouds, even with the naked eye. He didn’t need to see more closely for himself.
In contrast, the fires over Africa and South America had by now burned off, with only patches here and there of strangeness. Tobias knew that Asia was like Europe, and Australia and Antarctica more like Africa. And North America was… dark. For the last four months, two weeks, and five days. Not that he was counting.
No need to, Commander Mather, came a whisper in the back of Tobias’ mind. I can count such things for you.
Tobias gave the faint grimace he used instead of smiling. “Sounds like a waste of taxpayer money, Asenath. Shouldn’t you be off tracking trans-lunar shipping, or something?”
Asenath — short for the Advanced Smart-Encoded Naval Autonomous Tracking Hub — emitted the faint susurrus of static that she now used instead of laughter. Find me some and I will look at it, Commander. Until then, my programming dictates that I must not be idle. Counting the days for you poor, doomed meatba— humans is as good as any other task.
“Ouch,” Tobias said as he pushed himself off of the lunar rock he had been using as a backrest. “Tell me what you really think of us, why don’t you?”
The AI’s response was immediate: I am terrified that you will all die and I will be helpless to stop it.
September 6, 2021
Happy Labor Day!
In honor of the holiday, I didn’t do any. Well, I did go grocery shopping, but that doesn’t really count. I gotta eat, right?
My Mini-review of SHANG-CHI.
Short version: It would be a shame to miss this on the big screen. It would be stupid to choose to miss this on the big screen.
Slightly longer version: some guy on the Internet was whining about how he’d rather pay thirty bucks to watch SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS ‘safe’ at home. This would be… contraindicated. Excellent martial arts action, engaging lead characters (I had suspicions on how annoying Awkwafina would be: turns out she’s funny as hell), entertaining cameos, and a nice, straightforward action-driven plot. This is what popcorn movies are supposed to be, folks: I had a real good time.
Moe Lane
PS: Remind me to gloat over the spoiler in two weeks.
September 5, 2021
‘Boys of Summer.’
Huh. This doesn’t suck.
I finally get to see SHANG-CHI tomorrow.
Was gonna go Saturday, but we had to rewrite the weekend schedule at the last second. Nothing bad for the immediate family, but it was more important than a movie. I am really starting to look forward to seeing SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, though: it’s racking up the score on both sides of the Rotten Tomatoes listing. More importantly… I could go for a martial arts flick, right now. A cold beer beforehand doesn’t sound half bad, either.
AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM apparently drawing from PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES.
And what is PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES? Why, this: a 1960s Italian camp flick that apparently you can’t get anymore because it actually doesn’t suck at all.
James Wan – who directed the first AQUAMAN, and who had to be watched like a hawk lest he turned it into a Cthulhu Mythos horror movie* – says that the above flick is going to be an inspiration for the sequel. And you know something? I’m down for that. The aesthetic intrigues me and I was upset there weren’t more Deep Ones in the first movie.
Moe Lane
*Note that I would have been upset about that… for not knowing ahead of time.
Spent most of the morning reviewing PROJECT SHIVA.
Reviewing, plus taking notes. And… oof. It’s gonna need a bunch of stuff done under the hood, starting with yanking the narrative engine and replacing it with the more superior one I should have used from the start. There are also pacing issues. I’ve noticed that NaNoWriMo is very good for getting you to work, but you can tell when somebody’s hit their daily wordcount.
Still, it’s not a bad framework for a book. The unspoken conceit amuses me. I just need some more parts than I though if I want to fix PROJECT SHIVA up properly, that’s all.
Patreon Microfiction: “Assault With Batteries.”
I like the conceit and the world of ‘Assault With Batteries;’ but I suspect that I don’t have the math needed to write it. There’s a conceit in it that would make an engineer’s eye start twitching, you see. Ach, well, should have taken more STEM classes…
Patreon!September 4, 2021
‘Night Moves.’
Hey, it’s September. How did THAT happen?
