Moe Lane's Blog, page 832
November 17, 2020
In the E-Mail: GOD CANCER.
Got it as part of Greg Stolze’s Kickstarter. So far, so good! It reminds me a bit of Charlie Stross’s “A Colder War,” but that’s to be expected: it’s a Mythos story partially set in Antarctica. The similarities are obvious. But it’s its own thing.
Moe Lane
PS: I’m also keeping an eye on Greg’s funding model, here. He’s using DriveThru Fiction to distribute the book and it looks like his Kickstarters are there to pay for publishing fees and whatnot, while I’ve been using mine to cover the gap between my existing funding and expenses. I might want to fiddle with that, at some point. Something to think about.
In the mail: Hunting Four Horsemen.
I actually bought a physical copy of HUNTING FOUR HORSEMEN, because it’s Jim Geraghty and he’s a buddy. It’s a CIA black ops thriller in a post-coronavirus universe, with the added benefit of not being 750 pages. I loved Tom Clancy’s work, but he really needed more editors willing and able to tell him Cut it down another 20%.
Day 17, TINSEL RAIN NaNoWriMo: 36392/60000.
60% done! Huzzah. It’s starting to feel kind of like a book, although this one isn’t being written all that sequentially. And, honestly, there’s 20K words that need to be added to TINSEL RAIN after NaNoWriMo*.
Patreon!*I’d also like to note how there’s a tuckerization opportunity for TINSEL RAIN, courtesy of the new Kickstarter. Get your name in the book! One spot left!
I ducked through two alleyways and hopped the fence to a cul-de-sac, before my luck finally coughed its last and died. There were a few more of Rowan’s boys in the cul-de-sac than I could manage on my own, and I wasn’t exactly quiet when I jumped in. I don’t even think they were waiting for me; I saw a map of the city on a makeshift table. They were probably planning how to look for me, only to have me show up on my own. See what I mean about my luck dying?
There’s a time for the quipping, and there’s a time for just flat-out mayhem. I was going down swinging, and maybe I wouldn’t be getting up again, so it was time to make it all count. There was a dim chance I could push my way through; and, if I didn’t? Ehh, there were better places than this. Shamuses don’t always die in their beds.
When they’re outnumbered ten to one, some people hit the weakest person first; other people, the strongest, or the leader if he’s not the strongest. Me, I look for the one who reacts first. I mean, he’s gonna be coming after you right away, so you might as well? This gang’s veteran or badass or whatever looked older, so he was probably unflappable or some other annoying kind of stoic. You can’t really punch somebody like that and expect him to fall over.
What you do instead, is trip ‘em. And boot ‘em in the head while they’re getting up. You have to be really stoic to ignore a boot to the head.
November 16, 2020
The ‘Ehhhh?’ new THE STAND trailer.
I’m not sure they got it right. As Stephen King himself noted, THE STAND is a book about medieval Christianity, and while King may not have meant that description in an entirely positive way, the novel draws a lot of power from the idea that the Divine is not and will not be commanded by Man. It’s not enough to believe in God; what’s needed here is to fear Him and His implacable, inexorable goodness, and I don’t know if there’s a mainstream director at the moment who can manage that.
But I might be wrong, here.
11/16/20 UPDATE, TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION Kickstarter (60 hours to go!)
And so, we begin the final sprint. The TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION Kickstarter has been very educational. I think even more so than the first one. The first one let me know there was an interest in my stuff; this one is letting me know what I need to do to work from there. Well, if it was easy everybody would do it, right?
Day 16, TINSEL RAIN NaNoWriMo Kickstarter: 34374/60000.
It’s starting to cohere. Maybe. I think. Gonna be a Frankenstein* of a book at 60K, though. I need to add at least 20K to it… probably next year.
*Somebody recently noted that knowledge is knowing Frankenstein’s creation is the monster; wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein himself is. I more or less agree with this.
Patreon!“So, you think he walked off with something from the warehouse? Something unofficial?” Graciella frowned. “But wouldn’t they have noticed that?”
“Not if they didn’t know they had it. Let me fill you in. You remember the manifests of the shipment that came in, the night Brigham took a powder?” She nodded. “A shame the paper trail didn’t tell us who sold the shipment to Brigham’s bosses – but that’s okay. No seller means you can guess ‘the Adventurers’ Guild’ and get it right, nine times out of ten. The Guild’s always picking up unconsidered trifles and bringing ‘em back for resale. With a markdown for ‘as is’ and ‘no questions answered,’ sure.”
“Really? Where do they get the goods?”
I put up a finger. “Ah, but that’s a question.”
“But what about the original owners?”
“Another question.”
This seemed annoying to Graciella, for some reason. I suppose she had a vigorous view of property rights. “And… all right, fine. I don’t see how this is any different from pirates or bandits.”
“Okay, that one I can answer,” I replied. “It’s the Adventurers’ Guild. Bandits or pirates aren’t the Guild’s competitors; they’re its prey.”
Political Beats started a Patreon.
Despite the name, Political Beats is basically a deep dive musical podcast where they pull in people from The Life to talk about important things, like relevant bands. Jeff’s a good dude and he’s been doing the podcast for forever; fans been nagging him to do something about getting it funded, and this is it. Check it out.
Moe Lane
MY Patreon is, of course, here.
Tweet of the Day, This Penny Arcade Strip Is All Too Real edition.
I showed it to my eldest, you see. And he absolutely and on the spot had to go watch Ghost Rider clips. And he howled at how awful those clips were. Oh, how he howled.
Happy Monday! pic.twitter.com/lCsn6LSEj6
— Gabe (@cwgabriel) November 16, 2020
