Michael W. Lucas's Blog, page 2

March’s Merdaille Sausage

(This post went to Patronizers in March, and to the public in April. Not a Patronizer? You could be.)

The business world is upended. Companies are bracing for survival. Jobs are being cut. It’s almost as if people realized that the ship of state has not only been overtaken by a great white whale, but the whale has climbed onto the deck and is thrashing about shrieking “Respect me! RESPECT ME.”

As if that could ever happen. But anyway.

There’s really only one reaction my family can have: tighten ...

“Laserblast” live-toot, Sunday 9PM EDT

How could I loathe a 70s film so much that I was compelled to write a novel giving us the story we should have had?

Wonder no more.

Over on the fediverse (Mastodon), there’s a weekly Old SF Movie Watch Party called Monsterdon. Every Sunday at 8PM Central US Time (9PM Eastern), folks watch a film selected by poll. This week’s winner is Laserblast. I’ll be watching and commenting with the #monsterdon hashtag.

For the record, I don’t recommend watching the movie. But if you must, you can at least j...

83: Pretty Much The Same As Today

The grand reveal: #projectIDGAF had a title all along. And seriously, I couldn’t have written this book if I GAF. It’s now on Kickstarter, because it was aimed square at April Fools’.

Jones said, “What do you want for your future?”

“I’m going to UCLA.” Katrina cradled her stomach, insisting that it settle down. “I’m taking Lance with me and getting a degree in mathematics.”
Jones was pretty certain she wasn’t, and Lance wasn’t either. “You know what I remember most from college?”

“What?”

“Hope.”...

1 April Kickstarter: Laserblasted

You ever have not merely a bad idea–but a terrible, no-good, utterly compelling idea? A hideous idea that won’t leave you alone until you act on it? An idea that makes folks say “You shouldn’t have! No, really, I’m not being polite. You shouldn’t have.”

No? Me neither.

This year’s April Fools’ book might be as close as I ever get.

This novel will go to Kickstarter backers and Patronizers first. I’ll have the print and ebook in my bookstore next, then it’ll be available on retailer sites. If you...

New book launches on Kickstarter tomorrow, but no title yet?

My new book launches on Kickstarter on April Fools’ Day. This is not a coincidence. It absolutely follows in the footsteps of Ed Mastery, the Networknomicon, and the Savaged by Systemd audiobook.

What is it? Not telling. I do have hopes for it, though.

I also have a blurb for it, from a famous author. Well, more famous than me at least.

I don’t know what more you could ask for. Oh no, wait, I do! I have been informed that people who follow this blog do so because they want my updates. Updates ...

82: Lying to All Sides

Project IDGAF is complete, so I’m back on the new Networking for System Administrators.

Network address translation, or NAT, uses a device that accepts packets bound for the public Internet, rewrites them so they appear to come from the NAT device’s public address, and forwards them to their destination. When the remote site answers, the NAT device rewrites the response so that it goes to the original client. The NAT device maintains a table of connections, and tracks the state of each connectio...

Some folks have seen next week’s Kickstarter

My writer pals Alex Kourvo and Zig Zag Claybourne got a look at next week’s Kickstarter. My webcam happened to be on, so here’s their reaction.

https://mwl.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/1-April-2025-KS-teaser.mp4

I might have gone too far this time. Then again, nobody’s ever gone broke underestimating the public’s taste, so perhaps not?

81: An Occasional Meal

Zeno’s Paradox of Book Endings is well in play for Project IDGAF. Only a couple scenes left, but damn if this book ain’t fighting me hard.

Thirty years of honorable service, and it all came down to a house he couldn’t take proper care of and a pension that didn’t quite cover his meals and a hippie granddaughter who liked the wrong kind of boy.

Of the three, Colonel Wittstock worried the most about his granddaughter Katie. Katrina to everyone else, but his love had been Katrina and he’d called he...

Direct Print Sales now shipping from US, UK, Australia, AND… Canada

Delivering books to Canada has long been a pain in my butt. I live in Detroit, Michigan. Canada’s right there! I can walk a mile to the shore, throw a rock, and hit a poutine wagon. But no matter how I stretch, I can’t get tiger tail and I can’t cheaply mail books there. It’s cheaper for me to ship to some parts of Europe and Asia than it is to ship to Toronto.

I just discovered that my direct print sales fulfillment printer, BookVault, now prints from Canada. I hit the button to enable that so ...

February’s Fervid Sausage

This See the Sausage Being Made post went to my esteemed Patronizers at the beginning of February, and will go to the public in March. Not a Patronizer? You could be.

One of the advantages of being a self-employed writer is that my schedule is infinitely flexible. I can work any hours I want, so long as I work them. The down side is that everybody knows my hours are endlessly flexible, and when there’s a family emergency I get elected to cope. A sane society would have supports for medical emerg...