Moe Lane's Blog, page 859
August 20, 2020
*THIS* is why the gaming industry needs to decouple from Chinese manufacturers.
Pardon my language, but: you have go to be fucking KIDDING me. From the latest update to the Tour de Lovecraft: Destinations Kickstarter:
The next step is obviously getting Tour de Lovecraft: The Tales and The Destinations to print, and if we get everything nailed down with our new Lithuanian printer this week, we should be on press next week.
Lithuania? Yes, Lithuania. Originally, we had planned to go with a Chinese printing house that I have some pretty extensive experience with from my day job, but we hit an obstacle: Thibet. On the World of Lovecraft map, we have Thibet (Tibet) labeled, in perhaps 8 point letters. But in China, that’s pretty much a non-starter, and no printer will touch it. We had thought we’d be able to move to a different printer than I have worked with that is based in far-more-permissive Hong Kong, but events in China caught up with us there, and *that* became impossible as well.
…We gotta stop using their stuff, folks. I know it’s cheap, but the goods are coming from a totalitarian dictatorship that uses our money to ever-more-comprehensively regulate its subjects. If you can’t even use the word ‘Tibet’…
Moe Lane
PS TIBET TIBET TIBET TIBET TIBET FREE HONG KONG AND FREE THE UYGHURS, TOO.
08/20/2020 Update, MORGAN BAROD revision: 74,414/80,000.
About halfway through the first pass-through of the book, in terms of chapters. Obviously, I’m almost at the target word-count. I figure that the vampire city chapters could use some more smoothing and so could the battle scenes, so I’m not worried about it. I’ll probably be getting this to the alpha reader by September, so if you want to beta-read let me know. I have a tentative date of February or March to Kickstart MORGAN BAROD, but a lot of that will depend on finances.
So, hey. Every little bit helps, right?
August 19, 2020
08/19/2020 Snippet, OMBUDSMAN.
Machinations!
Patreon!Morty didn’t bring any guys with him, either; but that wasn’t his style. Instead, he brought paperwork with him, which Bad Jack had started to notice wasn’t exactly the nicer option. You had to be careful about writing shit down. Just ask Yapper.
The Yapper business turned out to be something Morty wanted to bring up, too. “If you don’t mind, Director Steelman,” he said. “It’s a minor thing, for the moment, but I’d like to address it before it becomes a major one.”
“Sure,” said Bad Jack. “We can do that before my business.” Since my business is mostly gonna be me saying ‘Remember who runs this place, Ombudsman.’ Only, you know, all polite-like.
“Excellent.” Morty pulled out a few pieces of paper. “Mr. Joeson was very eager to avoid a noose after his conviction. He confessed to quite a few things, and made rather more accusations. Quite far-reaching ones, too.”
Morty looked up, catching and keeping Bad Jack’s eyes. “This is not a prelude to an accusation, an invitation for a bribe…” — Bad Jack surprised himself, and possibly even Morty, with his snort of suppressed laughter — “…yes, quite. And it is not even a veiled warning. Most of what Mr. Joeson told the Consortium is suspect.
“But some of it is not, so I have new orders from the Consortium to either confirm or disprove it. Despite Mr. Joeson’s best efforts, neither you nor your two immediate subordinates are under investigation; but there are members of your original staff who may — excuse me for saying this; who most likely are — guilty of serious violations of Consortium policy. I tell you this so that you are not surprised by the results of my inquiry.”
Bad Jack thought about screaming his response. Ten years ago, he might have. Ten years ago, I was a dumbass with more balls than brains. “All right,” he said evenly.
Reminder: The FROZEN DREAMS Giveaway Challenge!
Reminder: if I get ten sign-ups for a physical copy of FROZEN DREAMS at the Backerkit store, I will do a Goodreads giveaway of five physical copies. What a bargain!
:pause:
:crickets:
…Ehh, let me do one of those thermometer things. Haven’t done one of those in a long time, hey? It’s just not as much fun to run something like this when people don’t get upset when you succeed…
08/19/2020 Snippet, MORGAN BAROD novel revisions.
Ghosts!
Patreon!Morgan spent either a few bad hours, or possibly an eternity, moving through the ruins of New Brunswick. The MagTrak pushed its way through what looked like the aftermath of a modern battle; there were crashed helicopters and burned-out tanks and some truly terrible shapes burned on the ground and the walls. Night had fallen by then, and the shadows themselves seemed to flit and move when Morgan looked at them; whether from intent, or his own increasingly feverish imagination, he never knew.
And there were ghosts, perhaps? Nothing seemed to venture upon the Magtrak itself, but Morgan had a truly terrifying moment where he encountered the smashed remains of one of the maglev trains. Inside the shattered cars flickering white-grey wraiths endlessly replayed what appeared to be their last moments of life. Something about those repetitive movements unnerved Morgan, for reasons he could only feel, not articulate; or perhaps it was the fresher skeletons on the decaying carpets, some still holding swords and shields. If unwounded, Morgan might still have retreated from the scene; as it was, he was not ashamed to not stray too close to those drifting spirits’ blind gaze.
But he misjudged how close was too close; as he moved back from a visible spirit, another suddenly raised a loud keen and stopped its endless pantomime. Blind and slow it might have been, but it moved inexorably towards Morgan, who suddenly realized that navigating the passage without rousing another ghost or six might prove tricky.
What do I do? he thought as he tried to scramble away, hampered by his weakened state. The skeletons and swords bore mute witness to the potency of mundane weapons on this battlefield; or, more truthfully, their impotency. And in those first days Morgan bore no magical blade.
In the Mail: Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit.
Because why not?
Because I have nobody to play the Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit with, no time to play it anyway, and shelves of other TTRPGs already? Okay, sure — but aside from that?
Anyway, it looks pretty nice. Can’t wait for the video game! …No, seriously, I’m getting a little antsy. It’s been freaking years, man.
The first draft of the ANAGNORISIS mini-anthology (four books, 32K) is done.
I wasn’t really expecting to write about four thousand words today, but apparently that was a thing that happened. The next step is to get it out to readers with their red pens, obviously. I already have one volunteer; I would not object to more. I just need it done by this time next week. The sooner I have it back, the sooner I can plug it into Kindle Unlimited.
Email me or comment below if you’re interested.
August 18, 2020
‘The Mermaid.’
The Mermaid, The Clancy Brothers
Yeah, Soviet SFF was as dull as dishwater, too.
I’ve heard this song before; only the last time, the melody was Russian. From a document on how to make ChiCom science fiction movies:
To make strong movies, the document claims, the number one priority is to “thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping Thought.” Based on the Chinese president’s past pronouncements on film work, filmmakers should follow the “correct direction” for the development of sci-fi movies. This includes creating films that “highlight Chinese values, inherit Chinese culture and aesthetics, cultivate contemporary Chinese innovation” as well as “disseminate scientific thought” and “raise the spirit of scientists.” Chinese sci-fi films should thus portray China in a positive light as a technologically advanced nation.
Totalitarian government propaganda, in other words — and here’s a secret about totalitarian government propaganda: it generally sucks, with one major exception*. A better formula to create competent, yet soulless sanitized ‘art’ that will encourage an entire generation to recreate samizdat I have not seen.
…hopefully.
Moe Lane
*They can usually manage to come up with stuff worth looking at when the subject is “Kill the invading army actually on our soil.”
