Moe Lane's Blog, page 695
July 18, 2021
The July Patreon Pledge Drive!
For as little as a dollar a month you can get fiction, microfiction, and TTRPG material showing up into your inbox. We are a mere eighteen dollars away from the next goal (a weekly pulp SF serial called THE BOLD MARAUDER). Join today!
Patreon!
07/18/21 Snippet, THE DEFENSE OF WINDERMERE CASTLE.
Science!
Patreon!The party did not see another living creature on their way to the mine, nor did they encounter any living dead ones. But the skeletons grew ever more numerous, until they threatened to become another layer of the road. Here and there they encountered corpses not as far along in their decay, but not many. Seen or not, the scavengers had been busy.
Two things became clear as they traveled: none of the corpses wore a stitch of clothing, and they all died fleeing the mine. Or at least, the corpses that still had sodden flesh on their bones were all aligned in the same direction. Jimmy knelt over one of them, his neckerchief over his mouth to ward away the smell. “This poor bugger looks like he was crawling when he died.”
Witherby joined him, carefully poking at the decaying mess with a branch (Carlotta could still remember the days when such disregard for a corpse’s dignity would have repelled her, but it took effort). “Hullo,” he said. “This one’s had a broken rib or two.”
Tweet of the Day, Jim Has A Point edition.
To which I’ll add: while I understand the strategy that the people running this bookstore are employing (an appeal for cultural sub-demographic solidarity), it is by no means any sort of universal appeal. I suspect that some customers they don’t actually want… which is, of course, their privilege. But it then becomes the privilege of others to think of the plight of this particular bookstore as not being a universal problem, either. That’s the natural by-product of making appeals that are not universal.
I'd like to see every independent bookstore in America thrive,, and appreciate the sentiment of this independent bookstore in Mystic, Connecticut. But I can't help but notice that Amazon is open on Sunday afternoon in midsummer and this store wasn't. pic.twitter.com/I3gA2AueQm
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) July 18, 2021
Patreon Microfiction: ‘Getting Used To It.’
I’ve had the backstory to ‘Getting Used To It’ bubbling away in the back of my head for the last decade or so. The only problem is, it requires a little more science that I am prepared to science in my science fiction. Guess I should have taken more math classes.
Patreon!July 17, 2021
‘Pachelbel – Canon In D Major’
I want to return this entire week to the shop. It simply did not suit.
Book (Well, Short Story) of the Week: ‘Pickman’s Model: A Romance.’
Why Moe Lane’s “Pickman’s Model: A Romance“? Because it’s mine, it’s good, and I’m trying to push it. Every copy of it I sell (and MORGAN BAROD, later this summer) puts me ever-so-closer to being able to pay for a project I’m trying to fund. Buy the story, read it on Kindle Unlimited, do it however you like: it’s all good. I just gotta keep swinging at it, that’s all.
July 16, 2021
‘Very Full.’
I’ve been that particular flavor of drunk. It was very enjoyable.
07/16/21 Snippet, THE DEFENSE OF WINDERMERE CASTLE.
19th Century Forensics!
Patreon!“How long, gentlemen?” At their looks of confusion, Carlotta shook her head as she knelt herself, to get a better look. “My pardon. How long have these bones been here?”
“At least a season, Your Grace,” said Jimmy. “No skin, the hair’s all blown away, and see the muck underneath the bones? Somebody left the bodies to rot where they were tossed.”
“Tossed? How do you know that, Mister Jimmy?”
But it was the lieutenant who answered. “No clothes, Your Grace. Not even a rusty belt buckle. They were either unclothed when they died, or stripped afterward.”
“And then left here on the road,” mused Carlotta. “But why? And by who? This is not normal practice for revenants.”
The MONSTER HUNTER: LEGENDS OF THE GUILD Netflix trailer.
Via Constant Reader junior: this looks like it’s based off of one of the Monster Hunter games, which is something I keep asking myself if I want to play. Problem is, it’s on the Switch, and we all know my problems with making time for non-PC games, dagnabbit. Anyway, MONSTER HUNTER: LEGENDS OF THE GUILD seems cool:
Tweet of the Day, This Amuses Me More Than It Should edition.
I mean, if my wife said that to me in the tone that I’m imagining Mila used there, then let me tell you something: I would go right up to her and say, Yes, dear. Also, I like being in a situation where I’m gonna go to space! is a more frivolous decision than it used to be. I feel that this is definite technological progress.
Ashton Kutcher reveals he had a ticket on the next Virgin Galactic flight to rocket into space but Mila Kunis convinced him “it was not a smart family decision to be heading into space when we have young children.”
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 17, 2021
(Source: https://t.co/D8zd1KiZ5B) pic.twitter.com/cxigj1DZx4
Via @BrianFaughnan.
