Moe Lane's Blog, page 88
March 23, 2025
Some little quotes for the Worldbook.
I know, I was saying I was slagged, but I need to do these for the Fermi Resolution Worldbook anyway. These aren’t all of them, and I need to work on the tone, but here’s some of the stuff I was working on tonight:
…
You’d think the Universal Dominion would have tried to make us worship them, you know? But no, that was the one perversion they never tried on us. Everything else, but not that.
They wouldn’t let it happen on its own, either. We heard once about an entire captured town that got burned to the ground for setting up a single shrine to the Supreme Archmage. Everybody who came out got burned, and everybody who stayed got burned, too. They even killed the mage in charge of the town, because he let them do it. The mages ruling over us back then said it was all because the Dominion likes to show that it doesn’t need faith.
Guess they’re wrong.
Liza Skullcrusher Lupator (orcish legionnaire, 2835 era)
It’s the Kentucky Free State. We’re not the only bits of the USA left, and maybe if there weren’t so much territory between us and the Second Republic, things might be different. Or maybe they wouldn’t be. There’s been too many omens and prophecies revealing that the States won’t Reunite until a President rules from the White House again. Those prophecies feel right, too.
Oh, well. One day we’ll see the One True Governor return, to lead us north, and ‘rekindle the blessings of liberty, for ourselves, and our posterity.’ That’s a prophecy, too. I don’t know if the Second Republic has that one.
Mildred Deckard (human adventurer, 25th Century)
The Old Americans got results. They did things. They commanded powers and energies beyond our abilities to duplicate, and used them to create commerce and industry on a scale hitherto unseen. The lands they controlled were productive, wealthy, and safe.
It is foolish to disrespect such accomplishments – or their philosophy. Whatever modern people might think of the Old Americans, clearly their sentimentality and scruples did not prevent them from properly finding and exploiting success.
Miss Serenity Mehrotra (Greater Hershey commercial agent)
Okay, look, if you’re going to Cin City, remember these five things:
There are no mages in New California . They’ll never let you forget it, either.That ‘Lore’ thing they have? It’s crazy, but not the ‘I’m gonna strap you to an altar and sacrifice you to it’ kind. Just smile and nod and they won’t care if you’re not into it.Ignore the iceberg out in the middle of the Gulf. It’s some kind of First Age magic thing and you know it’s smart to leave those alone.Their nobles hate killing their enemies. It gets in the way of gloating over them later. Or seducing them. Sometimes, both at once. Don’t ask me how I know! There are no mages in New California . Yeah, I made that point already, but to quote their own Lore back at them: “it was such a big point, it deserves to be said twice.”Lucas Coltrane (elvish Adventurer, 2650 era)
The Old Americans still cast a shadow over this entire continent. Bigger than us, stronger than us, richer than us, maybe not smarter than us but with all that technology, what’s the difference? Sure, they didn’t know magic. Magic even broke them, just like it did the rest of the world. But even then, maybe they would have gotten through it. I mean, if you ask the Second Republic or Kentucky, the USA did.
But the rest of us know better. The Old Americans died. No: the Old Americans were murdered, and the ones who finally managed to shove the knife in got away with it. Except that, nine hundred years of atrocities and outrages, their descendants finally have nowhere else to run. So I wonder who really got away with it, after all? If salvage archeology’s taught me anything, it’s this: what goes around, comes around.
Eventually.
Alkali Jones (Serpent-Man Adventurer, 3054 era)
The snakes never used to be this smart. That’s no complaint from me, mind. Smart snakes don’t bite anything except rats and mice, don’t lash out even when a baby gets grabby or a cat hisses, they don’t cause a good Desereter any trouble at all. They purely hate the invaders as much as we do, too.
They scout with us, stand guard — well, slither guard, I guess — and when it comes time for a fight? Well, it’s hard to keep your eyes on the ground and on the enemy at the same time. Especially when a rattler doesn’t feel like giving you a warning before he bites.
It did take time to get used to having them snuggle up with you, though. Poor things can’t help it, though. We’re warm, and they need the heat.
Tabetha Frei (human resistance fighter, 25th Century)
I lost the whole day today.
Sunday was kind of chore day today anyway, and then I zonked out for an hour, got overheated somehow from making dinner, and zonked out again. I feel fine now, but I ain’t thirty-five anymore, either. I should probably go to bed early, and spend tomorrow alternating doing some writing with some healthy exercise. I mean, it couldn’t hurt, right?
Patreon Microfiction: The Snake Is In On It, Too.
Both I and the narrator of ‘The Snake Is In On It, Too’ regret to tell you that they locked up Loki for a reason. They also set up his systematic torture for a reason. That they didn’t consider the long-term effects of those decisions is hardly unexpected, given that particular culture’s nigh-crippling fatalism…
Patreon!
March 22, 2025
‘Beverly Hills.’
The smart kids in this video all settled down, got married, got kids, and stayed the Hell away from Beverly Hills.
Beverly Hills, Weezer
#commissionearned
Sorry, worn out.
Book of the Week: THE WINDS OF FATE.
Because I’m pretty sure that the book I was going to choose has an AI cover. It’s more annoying when a big publisher does that, for some reason. I mean, geez, they’re supposed to be the ones to have money to burn.
Anyway: SM Stirling’s THE WINDS OF FATE is on Baen as an E-ARC, and you can preorder it here. Continues the Roman time-travel story without sentimentalizing the Romans at all. I pretty much read it at one sitting. Check it out.
#commissionearned
Just did a first pass on my taxes. …Buy my books!
Dear Lord but you feel the impact of that Child Tax Credit segueing into a dependent one. In other words, my eldest is now almost an adult, which is really the most important thing here*. You want them growing up, after all.
None the less: buy my books! Every little bit helps.
Moe Lane
*Yes, the baby you remember is almost eligible to vote. I know it must seem like it sucks to get old, but as always: consider the alternative.
March 21, 2025
Just put up a poll on the Patreon!
It’s for which characters from the Fermi Resolution books to add as little story-vignettes to the Fermi Resolution Worldbook. Link here: alas, you need to at least be a free member to participate in the poll. On the other hand: a free membership is, well, free. And on the gripping hand, it’s only a buck a month to join and I’m even giving out free one-month memberships at the moment. So check it all out!
In the E-Mail: THE WINDS OF FATE.
The E-ARC of Steve Stirling’s new time travel novel THE WINDS OF FATE just dropped on Baen, so guess what I’ve been reading for the last few hours? Mind you, I have the hardcover pre-ordered, too. Just to be on the safe side. I mean, it’s an E-ARC. There might be changes.
#commissionearned
