Patreon Microfiction: Horror Without Lovecraft.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Horror Without Lovecraft would be an entirely different genre. Or, possibly, subgenre. I mean, people do like to be scared, so chilling stories and novels would still exist. But the impact of “Supernatural Horror in Literature” in creating the horror genre as its own thing, independent of other types of genre fiction, was profound. So much so that modern popular fiction would look utterly different without it.

Patreon Microfiction: “It’s *Sort* of Humane.”

…Which is to say, dumping your undesirables into another timeline, naked, is not really humane at all*. I can’t imagine that the people living on the other side of “It’s Sort of Humane” enjoy being that first timeline’s dumping grounds, either. Well, that’s what they get for not inventing dimensional travel.

Moe Lane

*Honestly, this is a very grim piece. It’s just that all of the assumptions about what kind of worlds are involved are in my head, mostly because I didn’t want to inflict that particular bit of worldbuilding on the rest of you.

Patreon Microfiction: ‘Fine Terran Craftmanship.’

Perhaps ‘Fine Terran Craftmanship’ is simply pro-Browning propaganda. But perhaps we should be unsurprised if, once we are out and about the stars, alien collectors flock to our planet to acquire M1911A1s and Avtomat Kalashnikovas in the same way that we will go to theirs to find guaranteed authentic Altarian needle-pistols and flame-spears. Some aesthetics might be universal.

Patreon Microfiction: “Flee The Charnel Ship!”

Well, something was bothering me when I wrote “Flee The Charnel Ship!” – but I’m blessed if I remember what it was. Although that might be the DST talking. It’s hitting real hard this morning, for some reason.

Patreon Microfiction: Cosmic Horror Shouldn’t Be This Dull.

Yeah. Cosmic horror shouldn’t be this dull. And yet, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be, is there? That’s the entire point of an indifferent cosmos that doesn’t care in the slightest about how you feel about things; sometimes you’re not even allowed the dignity of having bad things inexorably happen to you.