Moe Lane

Heh. There might have been a joke there if I had called it “The Principal of the Thing.” But then people might have written in to let me know that I meant ‘Principle,’ so I guess I dodged a bullet but not noticing the potential joke before now.

Hydrans look kind of like reptile-quails, with big eyes and a fuzzy brown-gold carapace. The species is generally considered to be solidly in the ‘weird-looking, but kissable’ category by most humans. They don’t wear much, but Hydrans are quite fond of boots; they typically adopt various species’ styles (Terran snakeskin boots are popular). Hydrans are invariably encountered with a beer in their hand.

What is the fellow in ‘Waiting’ waiting for? Good question. Shame nobody bothered to tell him the answer, huh?

Neither was what you’d call too cheerful. Or, perhaps, cheerful at all.

• As the Golden Emperor Lies Dying 5: RPG!
• Old Lou: Short story!

“Do You WANT Supervillains? Because…” is kind of grim, hey? I mean, the more you think about it. Oh, well: they can’t all be cheery.

The good-ish news? My decision to have a single tier is going to save my readers quite a bit:

If the patron is not receiving any benefits, the pledge is not taxable in most places. For example, any pledge where the patron didn’t select one of your tiers, and any amount of money added on top of the tier cost is not in most places taxable. One notable exception is the EU, where we are currently required to apply tax (VAT) to all pledges regardless of whether the patron is receiving any benefits. We are working with EU tax authorities to secure reductions and exemptions for support-based pledges in the future. 

I have a single tier for $1, and it’s pretty explicitly a ‘first-look’ tier. I have a history of eventually giving this stuff away, so even if Patreon decides that my PDFs are taxable income they still can only ding my readers to the tune of the individual US state sales tax, which works out to three to seven cents a month. And if they try otherwise, I can contest that with an absolutely clear conscience, because I’ve had only the one tier since the day I signed up. This isn’t a situation that I’m now trying to evade, in other words; it’s merely one that legitimately doesn’t fully apply to me.

But I’ll keep an eye on it nonetheless.

What happens if the weakly godlike AIs decide to just simply work around us, instead of going down the genocide/involuntary uplift paths? You don’t see many post-Singularity stories along those lines, I think. I believe that’s a bit odd, really.

“Hear The Word Of A Lord” whipsawed back and forth between creepy and non-creepy, I feel. As well it should have; I had the devil of the time deciding on the final tone. And on a hundred-word piece, too.

I don’t have much to say about ‘Last Laugh.’ It’d make a better short story than a short-short, I think. I didn’t at the time, but I reserve the right to change my mind.

A little late, but it’s been a busy couple of days. Click here for the latest FREE installment! Then sign up yourself! It’s just that easy.