I submitted it for The Unspeakable Oath, but the latest one just came out and it’s not in there, so I guess they rejected it? Shame they didn’t let me know, though. I would have put ‘Walk-In Debriefing’ up already if they had. I rather like how it came out.
This is Cthulhu Mythos, mind you, so don’t expect it to be cheerful. Continue reading Short-short fiction: ‘Walk-In Debriefing.’
Dunno what’s more depressing: that I only this week discovered that Larry Niven’s and Steven Barnes’ The Moon Maze Game: A Dream Park Novel came out in 2011, or that I saw ‘2011’ and thought ‘five years ago.’ Probably the latter. After all, at least I got to read the book — but I feel that I lost those two years of lifespan, somehow, and I wouldn’t mind getting them back.
Still, hey: Dream Park novel.
I… OK, yes, I would. But here’s the thing, and Penny Arcade is kind of alluding to it, here: what you’d get is Dream Park*-style professional LARPing. That means athletes who can also act. Even the people doing magical character classes would have to be in shape. Which means that they’re all going to be fairly young, too. Or else really in shape.
So I guess I’m saying that I’m not anticipating this to be a retirement career in my golden years. Even if they set up a league tomorrow. Which they are not; Hasbro was mostly thinking of Magic: The Gathering anyway.
Moe Lane
*Wait, they wrote another book in the series? Why the hell wasn’t I notified of this?
I suspect that Ruthanna Emrys would find my interest in her Innsmouth Legacy series (latest book: Deep Roots) perhaps a bit disconcerting*. But I’m liking this current book for the same reason why I liked Winter Tide: it’s a thoughtful look at how HP Lovecraft’s creations can be re-imagined into a less horrific form, while still keeping all of the mythology and history and whatnot. This latest one involves the Mi-Go; and so far they’re less incomprehensible whisperers from the darkness, and more smug jackwagons. I find this to be remarkably entertaining, in its way.
*Although it’s equally likely that she just yelled “DID THE CREDIT CARD CHARGE GO THROUGH?” and not worry about it. Pay to the order of, baby. That’s the most beautiful poetical phrase in the English language, as Bob Heinlein once noted.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1403226937/widdershins-curtain-call
And the keyrings are already gone.
Harrumph. Anyway: Widdershins is an awesome webcomic, Curtain Call was a fun little brawl featuring Our Heroes vs. The Seven Deadly Sins, and the Kickstarter will get you the latest book and PDFs for the rest. I heartily recommend it, whether or not I got a free keyring*.
Moe Lane
*[UPDATE]: …Arrangements were made on the keyring thing.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1558938733/miss-melee-volume-1/
This Kickstarter will collect the first six issues of the superhero webcomic Miss Melee into Volume 1 .
Just remembered that Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik is finally out, so I went and downloaded it. So far, so good: I gather that it’s a retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin legend, and so far it’s coming along nicely. Can’t wait to finish it.
It is difficult to write anything about the background to SM Stirling’s The Black Chamber without casually breaking my own rules about not discussing certain topics. Suffice it to say that, as an introductory book to an action series, it is quite good; plenty of fights and derring-do and super-tech (for 1916) gadgetry and whatnot. It is also made reasonably clear that this alternate history (Teddy Roosevelt wins in 1912 after Howard Taft has a heart attack) is not quite the Progressive (note capitalization) Earthly Utopia that the heroine thinks that it is; quite a few rather ominous things and societal trends are lightly alluded to, in a way that allows the reader to raise an eyebrow at the implications. I look forward to some interest as to how the next few books in the series turn out, because there are some indications that it’s going to be set in an altogether pleasant world.
Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Squirrel Girl. Steve Ditko was an extremely private person, and it is unclear if he had any family or loved ones. But I will be a lucky man if I ever create something half as iconic as Spider-Man. That character is one of the images that they will remember from our era. There are worse legacies to have; in fact, there aren’t that many that are better.
Via @kennethhite.
Just in the proverbial nick of time, too. Something like 7:58 PM Eastern time. I had Black Chamber and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 8: My Best Friend’s Squirrel coming in the same shipment, and I would not have been amused if they had come actually late. I was not amused that they didn’t show up this morning, honestly. …God, we are all so spoiled by modern society, aren’t we? “How DARE they take until evening to get a book delivered to my door the day it was published! How DARE they, given the discounted price of the book and the shipping I didn’t have to pay!” It was very silly of me to be annoyed, honestly. I’ve got it good, after all.
