Moe Lane's Blog, page 789
January 3, 2021
About half a day left on the CYBERPUNK 2020 Humble RPG Book Bundle.
Humble is offering a good deal for the money, although there’s a reason why the video game is CYBERPUNK 2077 instead of CYBERPUNK 2020. The game got dated really quickly, starting with the assumption that the Soviet Union would somehow survive and going on from there. Flipping through the various texts, I was also struck at how much better the real 2020’s environment is when compared to what 1989 thought 2020’s environment would be like. Important safety tip, kids: date your future histories so that the main events will happen after you likely die. It avoids a lot of awkwardness later.
Still, check it out.
What I’m trying to watch this week.
This is sort of a New Year’s Resolution: I have a pile of movies that I’ve been meaning to watch, only it’s been hard to make time. So I figure I’ll try to watch more movies a bit, here and there, and see if I can get back into the habit of seeing them all in one go. This week’s entries:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Some liberties have been taken with the book, I think – and I mean the P&P&Z book, not the original. I remain adamant in my belief that Jane Austen would have cheerfully added the zombies herself if she lived in our era. And that she would have taken to the fantasy genre like a duck takes to water.Warm Bodies: The movie that did not launch the zom-com genre, and I suppose that this was for the best. Still, I hear it was sweet, for given values of ‘sweet,’ and I surely can catch bits of it as I go.
01/03/21 Snippet, GHOST OF THE DEVIL-HORSE.
Psychometry!
Patreon!The practical result looked a lot like a New Californian or Hersheyan kinetoscope production, only in reverse. As the spell was cast, dim outlines of bones could suddenly be seen under the ground. As the spell steadily went to older and older memories, those outlines shifted in place slightly — and then seemed to erupt out of the ground, only to flow to various spots on the battlefield. There they lay, until they began to stand up, and make various jerking motions, miming the use of swords, shields, bows, and various pole-arms.
It obviously wasn’t a perfect representation, since we couldn’t see the skeletal outlines of everybody who survived the battle. But it was easily enough to let us get a feel for how the fight had gone — and, more importantly, it let the researchers steadily peel away and identify the layers on impressions that had to do with the original fight. Anything left would be what we were looking for, in terms of wandering ghosts. As a technique, it was really very impressive. Hank had put together a good team.
And then it all went to hell.
Patreon Microfiction: Shambling Back From The Edge.
“Shambling Back From The Edge.” Hrm. I seem to like playing around with the idea of free-willed Undead. I dunno why.
Patreon!January 2, 2021
Book of the Week, TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION (pre-order).
TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION is my upcoming collection of short stories set in the world of the Fermi Resolution! It includes a novelette starring Shamus Tom Vargas! Pre-order here!
01/02/2021 Snippet, GHOST OF THE DEVIL-HORSE.
Different worlds!
Patreon!We were politely received, mind you. Even warmly received. But I suspected that the site had an altar to Needtuno, God of Secrets somewhere, because we weren’t told anything.
“I cannot confirm nor deny the existence of group nightmares among our forces, last or any night,” Major Vee Thetawon said with a surprisingly cheerful smile. It’s a stereotype that halflings are happy all the time, but she seemed fairly chipper as a default. “I can assure you that we do not engage in any activities that would knowingly cause nightmares among your expedition.”
Oddly enough, I believed her. Still… “What about inadvertent activities? You do anything different last night?”
“I cannot confirm, deny, or otherwise discuss classified activities that may or may not have happened,” she said with a completely inappropriate dimple. “But, since I am assuming that you would like me to check…” She broke off.
“I am,” I said after a moment.
“Then I will be happy to ask the appropriate individuals to conduct a review. I think it would be appropriate to let you know whether or not your nightmare problem was coming from our activities.”
“Because, sure, you’d tell us if they were,” Jackie said a little hotly.
The major looked at her. “Why wouldn’t we?” Major Vee said, with what sounded like actual confusion. “What good would that do anybody?”
Now on the Wish List: THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN!
I have been assured by the Internet that buying THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN is absolutely a business expense for anyone writing post-apocalyptic high fantasy fiction. Alas, the Amazon gift card haul this Christmas was… well, not having any of my immediate family in the hospital from COVID was the best Christmas gift of all*. So, to the Wish List it goes. I’ll get to it eventually.
Moe Lane
*Straight up. My folks were really lucky last year.
Prayers for David Weber.
He’s reportedly in the hospital with COVID. On the bright side, David Weber is also reportedly doing better, so there’s that. I’m sure prayers would still be appreciated.
Sorry to start the day with bad news.
January 1, 2021
Sic Transit Gloria Flash.
Such as it was*.
Rest in Pie.https://t.co/zapBJrtOzK
— his regard (@hisregard) January 1, 2021
I do feel bad for the grad student who will have to rebuild the code from scratch in 2140 as part of his or her doctoral thesis in early 21st century memetic trends. If you’re reading this, in fact: no, we didn’t really care whether or not Die Hard was a Christmas movie. It was just something we would say.
Moe Lane
*My oldest kid’s pissed off Flash is going away, though. Straight up. I was a little surprised, too.
Tweet of the Day, The Relevant Spider Robinson Story Is Called ‘Melancholy Elephants*’ edition.
This, but sort of for real?
Good news for my adaptation of The Great Gatsby, in which Nick is a ninja fighting bootlegging dinosaurs with the aid of his best friend and astronaut Jay. https://t.co/W71knn6bWe
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) January 1, 2021
Frankly, the current public domain line should be 1971 (50 years). Or 1991 (30). You could make an argument that it should be 2001 (20). It should not be ‘forever minus one day,’ and it was a cheery note in a long night when the person who uttered that inane suggestion suddenly had to find a different line of work.
But I digress. At least we’ve got 1925 to work with, now. With any luck at all I’ll be able to draw from everything from WWII before I die.
Moe Lane
