The Big Thing For Me This Year

The big accomplishment for me this year is the completion of my first novel, Reavers of the Void. So far backer feedback has been positive, which has me feeling good as I look forward to launching it on Amazon next month. I haven't felt any such sense of accomplishment in a very long time, so this is a big deal for me. Let's hope it hits well when it goes live.

The Metro City Boys Talk Best & Worst of 2018

The Metro City Boys did their year-end show tonight, talking Best & Worst of 2018, in one extra-long episode.

The Business: Inappropriate Characters Returns!!

The RPGPundit got together with his fellows for another episode of Inappropriate Characters last night. For all those wanting the old-school way of RPG play, this is for you.

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Vox Day: Sex Predators In Science Fiction

Tonight, Vox Day talks about the horrific rot in Science Fiction, pedophilia and other child sexual abuse. The book, of course, is The Last Closet by Moira Greyland.

While the front half is all about the book, the topic goes beyond that and Vox starts making connections to current affairs that you might have missed. worth your time.

Vox Day: Israel's Wall and the Federal Shutdown

The Supreme Dark Lord ran a Darkstream tonight.

Whatever else he talked about herein, it's clear that he's hammering home the point that there is no substitute for Christianity if the West is to survive. The rest is detail.

On Boxing Day 2018

God bless all you retail workers taking returns today, on Boxing Day. May you enjoy quite the dinner when you get home.

Today being the day when gifts get returned in bigger numbers than any other this year, one can imagine the Returns desk in the stores (and their counterparts online) being swamped with merchandise to restock, sometimes smoothly because the returning customer has all their documentation on hand and sometimes not. Please be kind to them, have your receipts ready, and don't lose your patience.

My Life In Fandom: "Merry Christmas Without You", From Macross Frontier

Have your Merry Christmas with a bit of weirdness.

Taken from one of the live shows, performed about 10 years ago, and it still holds up.

Christmas Eve Reflections for 2018

The older I get, the more I appreciate the spirit of the season for what it is.

My household gets together on Christmas Eve for dinner and the exchange of presents. When I was a child I wanted to race through dinner to get to the presents. Now, not so much; I don't see my sister that often anymore, so family meals mean more now. My father is long gone, so it's just my mother and my sister now for immediate family. That time becomes less of a bother and more of an event as time goes on; the presents are becoming a side show.

Not that we didn't do well. My folks are at a point where gift cards are desirable, and they do watch my Wish List at Amazon. (The first three Elric BDs and Hoaxed in paperback.) The rest was enough new clothes to prompt a wardrobe flush, which will occur over the coming weeks as I am able.

But the heart of the season is the birth of new hope, and at this time of year that's what's happening without realizing it. We're refreshing that hope, and the joy that comes with it, so that we go into the new year ready to face what awaits. Merry Christmas, folk, and a happy New Year.

My Life In Fandom: One Punch Man's Second Season Is Here

I loved the first season of One Punch Man, as I adore its opening theme (and its English adaptation), so when I heard that a second season got greenlit I knew I was in for fun. Despite a change in animation houses, this still looks fantastic and I can't wait to watch it next year.

Catch up if you haven't. This is one of the most hilarious show on the planet, and I expect that to continue, so you know there's going to be jokes folks who aren't up to speed will miss.

My Life In Fandom: Vox Day Talks The Berenstein Bears & More

The Supreme Dark Lord, Vox Day, talks Berenstein and the Mandala Effect tonight in the Darkstream. Never let it be said that the Supreme Dark Lord has no sense of humor.

This Darkstream is all about memory, and how it is bizzare that a large percentage of people remember a book series by one name when it is another. Due to doggos, he had to cut it short, but this is a nice one to watch for a Saturday night. Big Lies, memories weirdness, and other memory manipulation madness. This is a fun Darkstream.

The Business: "Reavers of the Void" Now Shipping To Backers

Despite being sick all month, I finished revising the manuscript, and then I had format the manuscript and put it into ebook form myself due to my intended company not doing jobs until after January 1st. That involved a crash course on using Word to do so, and the result is a basic ebook with no frills, which may not be good enough for launching on Amazon after the New Year. I asked the backers to tell me if that's the case.

So that's a load off my shoulders, and I invite backers to read the Writer's Notes over at the Study. They may find them interesting.

The Business: Cover Reveal For "Shining Tomorrow"

My peer, Rawle Nyanzi, put forth the cover to his upcoming novel Shining Tomorrow up at his blog. He's been working on this for some time, so I'm glad to see that he's getting close to the next stage with this reveal.

As is now very clear, Rawle Nyanzi and Brian Niemeier present very different takes on the "Let's do our own mecha story." prompt than I did. One of us is guaranteed to satisfy what you're looking for if you're looking for action, romance, and giant robot combat. I'm on the Space Opera angle, Brian's doing his Gundam homage, and I'm getting an Utena vibe from Rawle's project.

And from what I'm seeing, Rawle's take on the prompt is going to be fantastic. Keep an eye on it, folks. I think you're going to like it.

Signal Boost: Brittany Pettibone Launches "What Makes Us Girls"

Before taking a lengthy detour into activism, Miss Pettibone was an author and co-wrote a novel with her sister. Now she returns to the literary world with a non-fiction work, What Makes Us Girls. I'll let the authoress do the pitch.

I know that most of you reading them are men, but you have women in your lives and if you think this would interest them then pass the word to them. You'll find store links, her website and newsletter links, etc. in the video Description.

We already have one feedback video from Blonde in the Belly of the Beast. Miss Pettibone provided Blonde with a review copy, and this is her review video.

For the women and girls in your lives, I think this book deserves a shot. I wish Miss Pettibone good luck and hope that she accomplishes what she intends with this book.

It Can't Rain All The Time: 2019 Is Better Than We Think

Friend of the blog Person of Wolfness brought this video to my attention. I've decided to share it here because its positive message needs to be heard.

Combine this with Brian Niemeier's post today, and you get a more hopeful view of next year than it seems at first. Yes, the pressure will ratchet up, but a lot of grifters and scenesters will melt away as it does; this means that those remaining are more likely to be sincere and therefore someone willing and able to work as a team to see these Left death cultists stopped and their gains reversed.

Cover Reveal: Reavers of the Void

I would reserve this for the writing blog, but this deserves the larger audience of the main blog. Here it is!

I'm almost done with the manuscript. File formatting soon, and backers will get their ebooks after Christmas. Still fighting the Martian Death Flu too.

My Life In Fandom: #SuperRobotSunday Is Good Reading

Over at Twitter, one of the friends of the #PulpRev scene does a thread under the name #SuperRobotSunday. This week? Brave Raideen.

FAAAAAADE IN!#SuperRobotSunday reaches the spring of 1975 with Raideen the Brave (or Brave Raideen) which ran for 50 episodes.https://t.co/tHXCTUFLZ6

— Doomsayer Kes (@KKalvaitis) December 17, 2018

As the thread indicates, there's a lot of music and video clips used to support the snippets used in the thread. A lot of now-famous writers and producers cut their teeth on the super robot shows of the 1970s, and those early experiences informed the works for which those individuals would later become famous (or infamous). Follow up those clips, and if they don't turn you off then find and watch the series. Nevermind the animation; it is what it is. The same goes for the music. Pay attention to the story; these shows aren't the Mad Libs detractors sometimes claim, despite they're being commercial shows meant to push merchandise.

My Life As A Gamer: It's You, Blizzard

I have uninstalled all Blizzard games. I also uninstalled Destiny 2. I've hit the point where I lost all desire to play Blizzard's games. The ongoing PR trainwreck is no help, but the burnout is the primary reason, coupled with recent patches doing nothing to fix my issues with their design decisions regarding World of Warcraft.

I'm out. Unless a miracle occurs, I will stay out. I have gametime going for another year for WOW, but that's just going to waste until I see the product people actually produce good product again and that means telling the beancounters to shove off or get defenestrated. As I don't expect Blizzard's management to unfuck itself, I expect to not play any Blizzard games going forward. I have a Steam account; I can get my gaming fix there.

Or play tabletop games.

My Life In Fandom: E;R's Death Note Review Is Fantastic Fun

So your pal E;R is in the sights of the SJWs. I wonder what could have set them off? Maybe this three-part evisceration of Netflix's adaptation of Death Note

If that's not enough, go watch him tear apart Mouse Wars and other bad movies formerly from fun franchises. They're all fun, with just the right flavor of naughty, and that's why the SJWs hate this man and want to run him through a woodchipper.

My Life In Fandom: Razorfist Talks "Elric: The White Wolf"

This is a follow-up to his previous Elric-in-comics video.

In case you missed it, you can get it new for $13. Take a good look at what you're buying and consider that this is in hardcover. It's a steal. This is the best Elric comic adaptation I've ever seen, so I concur with the Razor that this is one worth jumping on. God bless the Franco-Belgian comics scene; you're doing what American publishers are too pozzed to do.

Vox Day Talks Meritocracy

The Supreme Dark Lord talks meritocracy on the Darkstream

The questions after the main point of the stream remain worth sticking around for.

Razorfist on the Patreon Purge

Razorfist puts aside the persona to talk Sargon's deplatforming and why the entire trend is dangerous.

Razor's take of this being Lefties out-grouping others is valid; that is the result desired. He's also right that it doesn't require a conspiracy to do this; the tech heads can just talk openly on a call and arrange the hits. It's openly championed within the companies, as all of them are converged. I think Razor's on to something here, and I think what he presents makes the problem even worse due to popular support within the tech companies.

It's going to take government regulation to stop this. Get used to it.

My Life As A Gamer: Razorfist Reviews Red Dead Redemption 2

I am not surprised to see Razorfist come out in favor of the game. Everyone that's played it has come to some similar conclusion. This is going to be a game that Rockstar will more than recover its investment in; it has legs, and I expect that with some good DLC and online addons it can remain popular well into 2019. There is room in the market for Western action games. Now it's up to developers to figure out how to do that without cloning Red Dead.

My Life As A Gamer: Mechwarrior 5 Gameplay Footage

Speaking of big stompy mech action, here's a gameplay video for Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries.

It's looking good so far. Piranha's choice to return to the cockpit view, real-time approach vs. Harebrained Scheme's adaptation of the tabletop game will find its audience, as that cohort hasn't been served outside of the MMO for years now and want a new game. Hopefully the final product that ships will deliver on the hype.

The Business: Why "Muh Representation" Rings Hollow For Asian SJWs

When Hollywood cries "Muh Representation" about Asians, this is why. All Asians in the West can go back and hustle in the massive entertainment business across the Far East, especially if they are Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. There is no need to work in Hollywood at all, and everyone knows it.

The takeaway: When you've no less than three long-thriving entertainment business nodes, each with global reach and influence, "representation" isn't a thing.

My Life As A Writer: The Consequences of DNA-As-Code

Tron:Legacy continues to be a smarter film than one expects. This clip is in Act 3, a short one to cover reviving our heroine, but our mentor implies that what he did to Quora could be done to ordinary people on the outside. It's short, but the audio is soft so do what you must to hear it clearly.

Take a look at what Kevin Flynn manipulates. That's DNA. He goes through it like a coder looking to isolate a bug, and then he rips it out. The DNA, being self-replicating, respawn new strands to replace the broken ones. These strands are, in effect, rolled out backups brought online. When Kevin reattaches the disc to Quora's back, that's when the change-sync begins and the repairs take place.

And I remind you that Quora comes into the real world at the end of the film. Kevin's implications turn out to be correct; the question thereafter is how to make that happen in real-space.

So I put you the question: once this capacity becomes reality, what are the implications of it? In light of things such as CRIPSR, this is not far fetched or far off.

Razorfist Has His Masterpiece: Metal Mythos - Black Sabbath

Cancel your evening plans. Razorfist released his first two hour Metal Mythos video, premiering at midnight last night, and this is the man topping himself.

You watch that and you witness a man displaying his masterpiece. Every era of the band, every controversy, every music business bullshit event, all documented and covered. This video was a massive undertaking and its completion marks a turning point for the Eloquence of Elocution. He's taken about 15 years to reach this point, and it shows when you look into his archives. This is attained mastery in action, folks. Stick with it, and you'll get there too.

Narrative Warfare: The Yellow Vests

And here I thought I'd have nothing to post for today. Nope.

Narrative Warfare: You Can Buy Them That Cheap?

This is more significant than it appears.

Media companies have admitted in articles that they pay @GeorgeTakei money to tweet out their articles with his "witty" commentary.

That makes his posts into undisclosed paid promotions.

When will @FTC get involved?

— ThΔt Festive Pooka (@TheQuQu) December 5, 2018

Bad enough that celebs do it for free, so it was a matter of time until some celebs figured out how to monetize it. This is hidden influence peddling, as often as not for petty concerns, but when someone major wants to shift the narrative this is now an option. Its got to be cheaper than the usual ones, and until now there was no scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission to contend with.

It's got to stop. Report this to the FTC when you find it.

The Business: The Supreme Dark Lord Can't Be Shut Down Anymore

If you shut a man out of your platform, he may well build his own. If the man you shut out is Vox Day, then you guarantee that he will build his own. Today, at his blog, Vox announced the launch of Alt-Hero: Q 2.1. This is the debut of Vox's own crowdfunding platform. He has no intention at this time to expand it beyond something he publishes due to bandwidth reasons, which is reasonable, but the point stands: he can't be shut down by the REEEE Brigade anymore.

As a bonus, Voxiversity 010: Rhetoric & Dialetic

The Business: Metro City Boys Podcast #110: Winter of Our Discontent

The Metro City Boys just fininshed Episode #110. Go watch. Good shit.

The Business: Arkhaven Comics Continues To Deliver

The Supreme Dark Lord hosted an Arkstream tonight:

The long and short is that feedback from retailers and other parties has been heard and heeded, leading to changes in format, which will be seen shortly. The success of Arkhaven continues, and soon Swan Night's Son will begin its journey to the stands as one of Arkhaven's non-supers offerings. Unlike DC or Marvel, Arkhaven actually listens to its customers and partners and as a result the upstart continues to upset the business and take over abandoned territory.

Imagine if a powerful corporate publisher moved in like this. Marvel and DC would be eliminated within five years. As it is, Arhkaven could do it in ten.