Moe Lane's Blog, page 794
February 3, 2021
The War of Buck Rogers.
Didn’t think I’d be writing THAT tonight, yet here we are.
The Buck Rogers estate, overseen by the Nowlan Family Trust, on Tuesday fired off a cease-and-desist letter to Legendary about its recent announcement that it was developing a TV reboot of the popular sci-fi property. George Clooney and his Smokehouse partner Grant Heslov are set to executive produce Legendary’s Buck Rogers project with a script by Brian K. Vaughn and Angry Films’ Don Murphy and Susan Montford also producing.
In the brief-ish letter sent by email and snail mail to Michael Ross, Legendary Entertainment’s EVP Business Affairs, the estate contends that “the Buck Rogers interests” have already penned an agreement with David Ellison’s Skydance Productions to exploit the property.
Left behind in all of this is: which Buck Rogers are people going with? Comic strip, movie serial, or 1970s TV show? Because I gotta be honest: I watched the TV show when it came out, and I’m good, thanks. I won’t need another dose.
Moe Lane
PS: Seriously. The TV show had Gary Coleman in it. Several times. Damned if I know why.
The “…God DAMN it” THE NEVERS trailer.
THE NEVERS. Do I want to see women in full steampunk Victorian walking-around rig in combat scenes featuring umbrellas and superpowers? Well, hell, when I put it like that…
The TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION books are ordered!
These are the ones that will be signed! I did order a few extra, so I’m keeping the store open, just in case. But when I run out of extras I am closing the preorder store! THERE’S NO TIME! Take your chance here, and now!
…Or pick TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION up on Amazon, to be sure.
More seriously: the books probably won’t arrive for a couple of weeks. I expect that I’ll be mailing them out some time before the end of the month. I probably need my own, permanent store for this…
So. Advertising.
Got some good advice along these lines from my webdude Neil about how I should be looking for places like mine to do my advertising…
There’s a term of art called “look alike” segments.
— Neil Stevens (@presjpolkrta) February 3, 2021
Find places where social circles LIKE yours congregate.
I’d start with websites and youtube/twitch creators that cater to SCA and RPGs.
…and going from there. I also saw some good advice about how I should be asking my readers and whatnot: where do you go, when it’s not here? So, I’m asking: got any suggestions of streamers or creators who might be interested in doing advertising for my stuff? I budget for complimentary review copies, at the very least.
02/03/21 Snippet, GHOSTS ON AN ALIEN WIND.
I didn’t know why the ship was there, and then my wife told me, and now I know the rest of the story. Whew! I was starting to get a little worried, too.
Patreon!We didn’t actually talk to the Redacted. It wasn’t big enough to have a shard of The Process along, and we don’t have any other kind of artificial intelligence, and nobody’s allowed to try to make any until we’re sure the Amalgamation wasn’t wiped out by malevolent AI. But there was a ship’s log. Strike that: there are several ship’s logs. The one the captain is in charge of was ‘classified.’ The engineering log had gaps in it because of ‘security clearances.’ The Redacted’s supply database might as well have been broadcast in all directions.
“How did you know they didn’t lock the database down?” Nur asked me as we collated the Redacted’s inventory list into a form that The Process could chew on. It was going to be better at deciphering supply codes and designations than either of us would, and a hell of a lot better at extrapolating holes (and wholes!) in the data. “This info’s pretty comprehensive.”
“They never do,” I explained. “Council ships are top-heavy with frustrated military and scientist types. They never make a quartermaster captain… and there we go. That’s everything. Hey, Process! How’s it going?”
“It goes well, Tap-Dancer Tanaka,” responded The Process, more or less immediately. It calls us whatever we tell it to, within reason. “I assume you’re asking about my imaginary emotional state?”
February 2, 2021
02/02/21 Snippet, GHOSTS ON AN ALIEN WIND.
Gotta get back into the headspace.
Patreon!“Great. They’re a bunch of well-adjusted fanatics who don’t want to harvest our pineal glands.” I scowled. “But why are they here? There’s nothing on this planet except us, and the usual abandoned ruins.”
“Anything good in them?” asked Nur. “I mean, we’re here for the contragrav, sure. But they’d just buy in to get a piece of that, right?” He looked at me. “So, is there something going on under the table, Pam?”
“Geez, Nur.” I shook my head. “If we were running anything under the table — “ Besides all that stuff we’re gonna forget to get import stamps for, I thought “ — you’d be the one managing it, right? So you tell me: anything I should know about?”
Nur snorted. “Yeah, that’s fair. Nah, I got nothing going on the side.” Again, aside from the smuggling; which he was involved in. Maybe they really are interested in that? I thought to myself. But what was the point? If we got caught, they’d just make us pay the import fees, plus three percent. That wasn’t worth sending a ship here.
A ship… I snapped my fingers. “I am an idiot,” I said.
“Heh. You only say that when you’ve worked something out tricky,” Nur said. “What’s it this time?”
“Just that if the crew of the Redacted won’t talk to us,” I said as I stood up, “we’ll just talk with the ship itself.”
Now playing: the Penny Arcade e-racing Sea Shanty!
Link here. Singing and vocal arrangement by Nonnie Reed: a PDF to the shanty itself is below, with text after the fold. Also, this is very cool and I enjoyed it greatly. I hope you will, too.
(PS: this is my new book: Tales From the Fermi Resolution. Free on Kindle Unlimited!)
PA-Shanty-Google-DocsDownloadThe Flying Koala Commemorative Unofficial Penny Arcade Racing League Sea Shanty
Riding the wall, boys,
We’re riding the wall:
WHAM! BAM! Another car’s done!
Don’t go to the left, boys,
You’ll splutter and stall:
Don’t you change lanes
Until you have won.
The racing is heavy,
The cars are all fast:
WHAM! BAM! Another car’s done!
They roar and pass quickly
To put us in last:
Don’t you change lanes
Until you have won.
Riding the wall, boys,
We’re riding the wall:
WHAM! BAM! Another car’s done!
Don’t bother with pit stops
E’en for nature’s call!
Don’t you change lanes
Until you have won.
The track is degrading,
It’s mar-zee-ah-pan:
WHAM! BAM! Another car’s done!
When racers start spinning
It’s part of our plan:
Don’t you change lanes
Until you have won.
Riding the wall, boys,
We’re riding the wall:
WHAM! BAM! Another car’s done!
The black flag is waving
While more race cars fall:
Don’t you change lanes
Until you have won.
As the wreckage and tires
Rain down from the sky
WHAM! BAM! Another car’s done!
Win this race we will
Since there is no ‘try’:
Don’t you change lanes
Until you have won.
Riding the wall, boys,
We’re riding the wall
WHAM! BAM! Another car’s done!
As tragic misfortune
The others befall:
Don’t you change lanes
Until you have won.
The checkered flag beckons
To end this fierce clash.
WHAM! BAM! Another car’s done!
This strategy’s working,
The last lap we ….CRASH.
See the crowd cheer
As we e-clipse the sun.
Tumble and fall, boys,
We tumble and fall:
WHAM! BAM! And now our car’s done!
As things stop their spinning
My crew chief did call:
“Why did-n’t you change lanes?
You might’ve then won!”
Tweet of the Day, This Is Why You Test edition.
My wife has gently explained to me that this was not a successful test.
One of the engines never lit and there wasn't enough thrust to stop in time: pic.twitter.com/BvkPHGIy5l
— Scott Manley (@DJSnM) February 2, 2021
Still: at least they now know they’ve got a problem with the engines not lighting off properly when trying to land the rocketship. Maybe not the exact same problem, but SN8 and SN9 definitely had the same sort of problem. I mostly expect SN10 to do the exact same thing, and that will continue until suddenly somebody figures out what happened and then the rocketships don’t blow up on landing anymore.
The MYTHIC Subscription Drive Kickstarter.
On the principle that every little bit helps.
