This feels very surreal. I’ve been home for ten days of the last thirty and frankly too physically and emotionally busy for about two months to worry too much about politics.

So it’s surreal to see friends freaking out about yesterday’s elections and reading in them some sort of grim and inevitable future.

I’m not even fully here mentally yet, as my head is spinning on a million things, but I’m here to tell you that none of this makes any sense. Right now, right this moment, I want you to take a deep breath, then spit that black pill. You know d*mn well where it’s been, and you don’t want it.

Yes, yes, my heart breaks for some of the results coming through, but the areas so far reported have democrat machines that make the Terminator look human.

So NYC is going to take a turn in the barrel, and apparently so will New Jersey. If you’re in those places, please keep your weapons and clothes where you can find them in the dark, and consider a pied a terre elsewhere if you need to relocate in a hurry. Treat it as we did in the cold war, when we lived in a place we knew would be obliterated. Have a pied a terre, a vacation home, or friends who will take you at the drop of a hat. Just in case. Knowing you have an escape will make it easier not to be on edge the whole time.

Make what arrangements you need to make, particularly if you’re in an area that is already falling apart in dangerous ways. Years ago I’d say stick it out, but I really can’t when I left Denver. Granted, it took the extra incentive of altitude trying to kill me, on top of the crazy politics. Else, I’d still be there. But I’m not very sane about places, and in many ways I still miss my mountain home. I get attached to places as others get attached to romantic relationships. However, rationally and depending on what time you are in your life, it might make sense to up stakes, or even to relocate entirely.

BUT most of you will probably not need to do that, even if you might go through some seriously uncomfortable times.

However, if they win some of these, it doesn’t mean all is lost. And it doesn’t mean they win forever. Heck, it doesn’t mean they win in the short term.

Look, remember 2020? No, seriously, think about it. You can do it. It wasn’t that long ago. They had themselves a glorious spree. They frauded themselves in. They barricaded the capital behind barbed wire. They made up an armed revolt on January sixth. they acted like total crazy people. They acted exactly as though they thought that their reign would last forever.

Except that they couldn’t hold it. They couldn’t hold it because the times aren’t with them.

I told you back then that they were trying to build the Soviet Union while the Berlin wall was falling down.

It’s still like that. They’re out of ideas. They’re out of popularity. Their preferred system can only survive with total reinforcement by every information system, and they ain’t getting that. Not anymore.

We’re in the middle of a turn away from the madness of international collectivism. (We should definitely stay away from national collectivism, so don’t go falling into that.) It’s actual world wide. And what caused it was the opening up of information and people finding out they weren’t the only ones who disagreed with the status quo.

They can’t recover from that. Every year they grow weaker. They still have part of their mechanism. They will still sometimes win one. or a few. And right now they will be pulling everything out to try to blackpill you.

Well, forget that. Don’t think about what they’re going to do to you. Concentrate on what you’re going to do to them. Clean up election rolls. Expose their malfeasance. Slap the black pill out of someone else’s mouth.

Don’t flag, don’t give up, don’t worry. Things are going our way, and they’re weaker every year.

We’re not locked in here with them; they’re locked in here with us, and we’re stronger. And smarter. And more agile.

So if your area had a bad night yesterday, you’re allowed to take twenty four hours. Do whatever you do to feel better. Have some ice cream if that’s what it takes. But tomorrow? Tomorrow put your game face on, spit out the black pill and start working.

The black pill is a lie. If you believe it you will be defeated because you won’t even fight. Instead, turn your frustration into anger and your anger into working.

Even though they are already defeated, remember most of the casualties come in the mop-up. Try not to be a casualty. And try to make the mop-up as quick as efficient as possible.

Our job is to make the end of the rotten Marxist philosophy come sooner.

So, you’re allowed to be sad, but then get mad. And be not afraid.

In the end we win they lose.

Times are only good in retrospect. Those were the good old times, never These are the good times or those will be the good times.

Also Man was made to strive. We thrive on it.

Friends, we’ve hit the mother load, as we live in times where striving is on the menu every day and multiple times a day.

As good as it felt to get the dead jackboot of the previous regime off our the neck of the economy, it ain’t going to get much better for a looooong time.

Part of it is … that the eighteenth century gave governments the idea they could and should control the economy and the 20th gave them the illusion they could do so. It’s an illusion because while they can hurt the economy, they really can’t improve it unless they take hands off it completely. And of course government by its very nature is averse to that. So instead they do what government does best: hurt its own people and take their stuff.

At the same time, and partly probably because of the economy trying to avoid the abusive hand of government, we’re living in very fast, very strange, very changeable technological times. (Okay, this sounds like personification. That’s not what I mean. Of course that’s not what I mean. But the economy is made of people and — see the Man was made to STRIVE thing — humans rarely just lie down and die. You push us one way, we might go a hundred others, but unless in extreme circumstances and extremely and historically abusive cultures, we don’t just lie down and take it. What that means is that things flow into truly weird channels, as humans try to avoid repression.)

To explain, and I’ve rang that alarm bell here: if your government is controlling things so no native-born can get a job — and they were — then the story brain goes “that’s it. We’re done forever.” But that’s not the way real life works. In real life, kids tinker. Geeks get in garages and make things. And tech enables tech which changes every day life, which enables newer tech, which…. in an ever accelerating rhythm.

The problem is we don’t even know the side effects of some of the tech before other derivative tech is changing things over again.

I come from a time when a typewriter was a writer’s tool, then I wrote on computers, now I can typeset and put the book up in a couple of clicks. It’s been 25 years since I was first published. I won’t say this is unnatural, but it’s very fast tech progression. In some places and some fields, catastrophically fast.

So–

Well, this is good. That change is so fast. And yes, I’m aware I used “catastrophic” as an adjective, because it’s like a hurricane, changing the landscape as it goes. OTOH… if you’re having trouble keeping track of the change, it’s harder for the government to stick its nose in. Not impossible, heaven knows, but harder. Which means more freedom.

I had a big fight with someone very weird on X who was ready to sit down and sing her death song because “everything is going down the tubes since the seventies.”

I assume she’s younger than I. I lived through the seventies (granted very young at the start) and once that dismal decade was done things got BETTER. In fact until Obama, the best part about getting old was getting further and further away from the seventies. And even Obama couldn’t bring the 70s back. Thank heavens. Though Biden got close.

Meanwhile I and one of my younger commenters were telling her “no. There’s still hope for the future. There’s lots of tech that allows young people to thrive and make money.” And she was ignoring that this is possible.

Yes, it’s difficult. Very difficult. In some ways more difficult than we had it. In other ways… in other ways, what a wonderful time to be young.

They do not have the pathways, obviously open and ready to receive them, that they can just walk into if they do the thing and have the right preparation.

On the other hand, the future is wide open in a way ours never was. They know the possibilities for one. In the sense that the internet and the free flow of information tells them what is out there, what works, what doesn’t. And the wealth of knowledge is unbelievable.

Look, I went into writing dumb and blind, as most people do, with no idea of how the business worked — or that it was collapsing hard even as I was trying to get in — with only books and movies as lights for the way.

This was terrible because in movies and books, if your book is good and you work hard, you have amazing success. None of it was ever true. And by not knowing the truth and what actually influenced getting support and promo from your publisher, I did everything wrong and sideways.

Perhaps I’d still have done it that way. I’m not the brightest about social interaction, and there’s only so far you can push yourself. But at least I’d know. I wouldn’t eat my heart out for years wondering why my books weren’t “good enough.”

But also indie is so much more open, easier, more profitable. Even if I need to do a ton of research on publicity (so many scams. SO MANY) and set up my own shop and go wide. But the information is out there and I can do it. And if I were twenty, I’d have so much more energy and so many fewer demands.

The future isn’t dark. It might require a little more striving than has been normal the last hundred years, but the last hundred years have been a confusion of wars and killings to rival the 14th century.

This is more like the opening of new colonies. There is danger. Of course there is danger. There is every possibility of failure.

But the possibilities of success haven’t been so bright, so accessible, and the information so open.

No, your children won’t find the path you followed. Heck, if you’re of my generation, there was never a path. Just a crumbling edge you clung to, and sometimes jumped off of just in time.

If you have children — people ask me this — and want to prepare them to succeed, don’t put your trust in degrees or even in blue collar certifications. All of that is changing too fast. One or the other can be useful for a time, but it’s unlikely to be a life career.

Instead, teach them to start and run their own business as early as you can. Teach them to see the possibilities for businesses, to analyze profit and loss and know when to cut and find something else. Teach them flexibility!

It takes a lot more reflection these days, because things are changing so deeply. If you have children, it’s good if you do your own analysis and can guide and teach.

However, the most important thing is to know the opportunities are there, and they’re wide open if you can find them: More than in the 70s. More than at any time in the last 20th centuries.

Yes, the risk is immense too, but it’s always been for high reward.

Just remember: The cowards never start, the weak die along the way, but those who stick to it will find untold possibility.

That’s the way of the future and it’s always been.

The current future is just full of endless possibilities.

Did you miss me? Even a little bit?
I’m back. Nothing got done due to technical difficulties, but I’m back home early and very glad to be back home.

More tomorrow, but for now, home safe and sound, and tomorrow will probably resume normal work.

…. and maybe more clanker work on the sound track.

Which you DO know it’s your fault, right?

Book Promo

If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. A COMMISSION IS EARNED FROM EACH PURCHASE.*Note that I haven’t read most of these books (my reading is eclectic and “craving led”,) and apply the usual cautions to buying. I reserve the right not to run any submission, if cover, blurb or anything else made me decide not to, at my sole discretion.– SAH

https://amzn.to/47S8i6eFROM SEAN FENIAN: In Flux

Years ago, Justin—we’ll call him Justin—escaped from a hated orphanage, and from his own time. Now he will give a woman whom he does not know a last-second escape from hers—and also from her imminent brutal murder. Together, they will learn and share mysteries and wonders, pain and joy, make new friends and face new challenges, in a strange place outside of time and space as we think of them, where possibility can become reality—if your will is strong enough, and your vision clear and firm.

But be careful. There are deadly dangers hiding within the Flux.•••••

Sean Fenian’s new novel In Flux draws inspiration from sources including Jack L. Chalker and Julian May, in a setting with distant echoes of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, to tell a vaguely steampunk-era tale—but without the steam. It isn’t really an alternate-history novel—but it does contain alternate histories; and it isn’t really a time-travel novel—and yet it does feature time travel, of a sort.

FROM I. M. LERNER AND CATHERINE OSORNIO: The Hidden Entrance (Under the Staircase – An Economic Adventure Series for Kids Book 2)

On a hunch, he pressed down on the ledge, first on Hubris and then on Nemesis.
Crrrr….
The click-clackety sound of moving gears creaked loudly on the other side of the wall.
Slowly the bookshelf slid aside, revealing a dark hallway.

After spending the summer discovering the Under the Staircase Society, Nate, Maya, and Maggie are finally back at school. But while Nate would be happy puttering in his workshop and tinkering with his 3D printer, he can’t stand by as their beloved Apprenticeship Program comes under attack. The discovery of The Road to Serfdom sparks a chain of events they could never have expected. From Cipher Wheels to Cicero, secret desks to hidden passages, the kids must solve the mystery…before it’s too late!

Under the Staircase® Books A mystery and adventure series that teaches treasured values: personal responsibility, individual liberty, and economic freedom.

Psst! Parents & Teachers: The second book in the series introduces a variety of Friedrich Hayek’s economic concepts—individualism and collectivism, the knowledge problem, the fatal conceit, and other topics—using examples from kids’ day-to-day lives in school, with friends, and in familiar situations.

FROM CAROLINE FURLONG: The Guardian Cycle, Vol. 3: Neptune’s Envoys and Other Stories

There is no need to be afraid of the dark. But what about fearing that which lives in the dark? What if those shadows have teeth and glittering, hungry eyes?

Darkness conceals many Things better avoided. Meet the miner who delved too deep beneath Luna’s surface for treasure, yet lived to return and tell the tale in Despot Hold ‘Em. Follow Damien Fraser as he collects diamond rain from the cloud depths in Neptune’s Envoys – if he can avoid the Devil sharks. But are the Devils the worst things there?

Allan Kearney defeated the demons seeking his soul after escaping death in a Nihanese prison camp. Now, with the help of Michio Oshika and assembled allies, he plans to infiltrate the camp to free the other prisoners. But so much blood has been spilled that the ground is ripe for a Hellmouth to open. The demon priest who branded Allan and killed so many others is dead, yet another may appear, one who could draw a different demon to his aid with the right sacrifice….

FROM JOHN BAILEY: The Richmond Resistance: Twelve Tales of Quiet Defiance: (The Detective Stories)

The Richmond Resistance: Twelve Tales of Quiet Defiance

In the not-so-distant future, liberty hangs by a thread—and Richmond, Virginia, becomes the unlikely frontline in a quiet war for freedom.

When a buried federal directive threatens to strangle private life under the guise of climate compliance, disillusioned cybersecurity analyst Will Becker sounds the alarm. Teaming up with a retired Army colonel, a rogue engineer, a blogger-turned-homesteader, and a civics teacher with a hacker past, they form a decentralized network of resistance.

Through twelve bold, witty, and often deeply personal episodes, the Richmond Resistance battles everything from AI-enforced zoning codes and digital currency trials to false emergencies and algorithmic overreach. Each story is a stand-alone mission of smart, nonviolent defiance against creeping collectivism—and a tribute to the American spirit of independence.

Set in neighborhoods and suburbs across Central Virginia, The Richmond Resistance is a fast-paced speculative adventure brimming with humor, technical savvy, and moral clarity. Fans of Sarah A. Hoyt, Burn Notice, and The Adjustment Bureau will find much to love—and much to fight for.

FROM CEDAR SANDERSON: The Groundskeeper: Have A Dead Night: A Cozy Supernatural Mystery

As the cold rain falls on Belleview cemetery, Apprentice mediator Chloe Brandt is shifting from raking fallen leaves to solving mysteries for the living and the dead. If it’s not one thing, it’s another as a fallen tree, a new case, and an unexpected result all collide with a summons from a colleague. Now Chloe and her boss Mr. Cruor are headed for the deep hollers of Appalachia, to attempt the unraveling of a fifty-year-old tragedy, and they are walking right into an ambush. One wrong step, and the dead stay restless forever.

FROM RACONTEUR PRESS, EDITED BY NICK NETHERY: Mercs and Mayhem

We’ve collected eleven stories of mercenaries, spanning a broad range of genres and settings. A group of raiders sneaks into an enemy stronghold to open the way for their fellows, and find it to be very filthy work. An indentured drop trooper stumbles over a treasure of incalculable value, which might still be more trouble than it’s worth. Five soldiers of fortune wonder if what their client wants them to do is too much to risk the stain on their souls. A hyper-corporatized mercenary conglomerate hilariously, and brutally, reduces everything in battle, even blood and souls, into a dollar value.

Enjoy these tales and lift a glass, or say a prayer, for those who wage war for profit. Whether long ago, far in the future, or just yesterday, these soldiers of fortune are honored in these pages.

FROM GRAHAM BRADLEY: Fossil Force

Patrick Keller, new to the dusty trails of Vina Profunda, Utah, moves to his
grandpa’s ranch after tough times hit his family. On day one, he
uncovers an ancient Indian mask that once belonged to his Uncle Randy.
When he slips it on, it sparks a connection to three local boys—Steve,
Tyler, and Howie—who guard a jaw-dropping secret.As Patrick battles
threats in Utah’s wild landscape, he faces tough choices, wrestling with
anger from his family’s past. With his friends by his side and his
grandpa’s wisdom guiding him, Patrick discovers courage, teamwork, and
the true power of responsibility.Perfect for boys craving action and parents seeking stories of grit and growth, Fossil Force
delivers a thrilling ride through a world of ancient secrets and
high-stakes heroics. Join the Fossil Force for an unforgettable quest!

FROM SAM ROBB: Sigils Paperback

An open door is an invitation… but you may not like what waits on the other side.
James O’Neil is about to learn the hard way that names have power, and his graffiti tags can open doors in the forgotten byways of Pittsburgh. After an accidental summoning of a powerful and malevolent Fae, he only manages to escape by the intervention of other taggers. On the run, James needs allies, and answers, but everything seems to be conspiring against him and his world is falling apart around him. He can’t fight this alone…

FROM MACKEY CHANDLER: The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet (Family Law Book 2)

In the first book of this series “Family Law”, Lee’s parents and their business partner Gordon found a class A habitable planet. They thought their quest as explorers was over and they’d live a life of ease. But before they could return and register their claim Lee’s parents died doing a survey of the surface. That left Lee two-thirds owner of the claim and their partner Gordon obligated by his word with her parents to raise Lee. She had grown up aboard ship with her uncle Gordon and he was the only family she’d ever known. Him adopting her was an obvious arrangement – to them. Other people didn’t see it so clearly over the picky little fact Gordon wasn’t human. After finding prejudice and hostility on several worlds Lee was of the opinion planets might be nice to visit, but terrible places to live. She wanted back in space exploring. Fortunately Gordon was agreeable and the income from their discovery made outfitting an expedition possible. Lee wanted to go DEEP – out where it was entirely unknown and the potential prizes huge. After all, if they kept exploring tentatively they might run up against the border of some bold star faring race who had gobbled up all the best real estate. It wasn’t hard to find others of a like mind for a really long voyage. This sequel to “Family Law” is the story of their incredible voyage.

BY GEORGE O. SMITH, REVIVED BY D. JASON FLEMING: Pattern for Conquest (Annotated): The classic space opera

The Loard-Vogh were conquering the galaxy. They could not be stopped. When they got to Earth, they would conquer, even though it was known across the galaxy as The Planet of Terror.

The Loard-Vogh would win.

Humanity must lose.

But mankind has a secret weapon, one so sinister that no power in the galaxy can stand against it…

• This iktaPOP Media edition includes a new Introduction by D. Jason Fleming giving historical and genre context to the novel.

FROM HOLLY CHISM: Meals on Wheels (Liquid Diet Chronicles Book 4)

Not by the (nonexistent) hair on her chinny-chin-chin…

Meg Turner, vampire, accountant, ruler of her own small territory. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Not if you ask her, it doesn’t. Because the world’s going mad, the idiot mortals in charge are forcibly shutting down the economy without the understanding that it won’t start up again as easy as it’s going down, nor that it’s creating a nasty blood shortage for hospitals, much less vampires.

Even better, the head of her line is invading her dreams again, and teaching her history of all things. And teaching her about the laws, and why they’re there. It’s not just to avoid being noticed by humans capable of staking, beheading, and burning vampires during daylight hours—a vampire that breaks fundamental laws turns into something worse than a vampire.

And she’s got a bunch of those knocking at her border, wanting to come in. Worse yet, they’re sending their day-help into her territory to kidnap their meals, and they keep mistaking her for prey. And leaving their discarded empties in her territory to make it look like she’s draining humans without concern for the laws.

This really isn’t looking good, and it’s really not safe for her still-living friends and family.

FROM LEIGH KIMMEL: A Hymn for Those Who Fall Forever

Endings always hurt, but Vitali Grigorenko never expected a nightmare in orbit.

Assigned to command the last flight of the orbiter Baikal, Vitali had started the mission in a nostalgic mood. That went out the airlock when he saw the body tumbling through space just beyond the flight deck windows. A body in NASA blue, not Russian tan.

Now he’s trying to get to the bottom of a murder in space, and his own country’s space program as much a hindrance as a help. It’s becoming clear that politics is involved, on both sides of what used to be the Iron Curtain, and he’s going to need to go clear to the top.

A short story of the Grissom timeline.

A

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.

We recommend that if you have an original vignette, you post that as a new reply. If you are commenting on someone’s vignette, then post that as a reply to the vignette. Comments — this is writing practice, so comments should be aimed at helping someone be a better writer, not at crushing them. And since these are likely to be drafts, don’t jump up and down too hard on typos and grammar.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Your writing prompt this week is: BREAKABLE

Oh, the adventures I’ve been having! If you’re the person who helped us find an ATM, thank you. And no, I’m not going to tell the story. OTOH if you’re the couple I scared by completely ignoring you and bonding with your dog, I’m sorry. I was very tired. Normally I pretend that humans are almost as interesting as dogs….

And no, I’m not going to discuss the dead armadillo, thank you so much.

But through it all the sound track grows:

Probably more next week, after I land back home. And yes, you who set me on this course are deththththththpicable. You know who you are. Like you don’t know it’s dangerous to wind up the writer. Sigh.

Also, no, it’s NOT a rock opera.

A bien tot.

So, in No Man’s Land, in the lost colony of Elly, in the semi-tropical continent of Brinar, there is a festival so old that though it’s called Thanks for the Boats, no one knows which boats, why thank for them, or whom they’re thanking.

But there’s food and liquor and …. the king has a new interest. Sure. Spying. Let’s go with that.

Without further ado, listen to the clanker singing about Thanks for the Boats

Update:

Missa’s Confession, or the Sea Is Dark and Deep, which starts a new playlist: Songs from Elly.

Every time I hit x, I find someone talking with great certainty of what appears to be a parallel universe.

I’m not talking here of the doomers who are almost certainly foreign (or clankers) who mix up timelines and history, and seem convinced we’ve been living in dystopia since the 70s but also think that the US is somehow responsible for the inflationary policies of the rest of the world. (In the seventies! When the Mediterranean countries were already on the third or fourth cycle of inflating away their debt. Which arguably is also what the US tried to do.)

I’m talking of people I read and respect, who seem convinced all of the right has suddenly, overnight, become anti-semitic or worse.

They’re living in bubbles. And can’t seem to see outside them.

I wish I could say that this is a problem of the internet. Or perhaps not, since the internet isn’t going away. But honestly it’s weirder when the bubble is in real life.

For years I laughed at people who said that the communists were taking over or the like, because it was so weird and out of touch. What I should have done was check where they were coming from.

Yes, there are states, professions, locations where your view of reality will be completely distorted. It doesn’t make your view any more accurate, but it does explain why you think that.

I found this out in 2020 when we had to cross the country during lockdown. I found that the hard lockdown, unavoidable in urban Colorado, where the signs on the highway told you that you should be home, even though driving alone in your car (or with the person you lived with) could not cause contagion. But a couple of hours away, still in Colorado, little towns were fully open and people looked at you oddly if you wore a mask. And in other states, the enforcement was far less draconian and sometimes wildly spotty.

Another point at which I realized my bubble had blinded me was yesterday while talking about all the stratagems we used to go through to figure out which churches were less likely to serve up sermons on the wickedness of the right and the saintliness of the left. This was a theme of the last six years in Colorado, and I suddenly realized we haven’t found anything even half as bad since we moved. In fact, the worst sermons here would be very good in those days. (Like, I get annoyed because I think I know what the sermon is driving at, but not thing is explicit, and sometimes there is at least an attempt to head that idea off.)

Here’s the thing, yes, the net, and particularly X can make it worse. It’s still not as bad as the days the left controlled twitter. But– But other countries have realized that they can sow dissension and truly weird ideas in the US with their fifty cent army, some of which aren’t even clankers.

Can I tell you how to fix this? Well, I can’t tell you to regularly drive across the country and observe other places. I can’t tell you even to ignore all the bots and the crazies on X. But you should. Honestly, you should. It’s just that you might become confused about who is a bot or a foreign agent.

There are tells of grammar and syntax for foreign, more importantly there’s tells of worldview, like thinking the US is evenly divided by race, or that um… the media is perfectly accurate about how we live* and if you look, it starts to become obvious. For the clankers, not sure. Except sooner or later the “wait what?” comes through. (*Yes, this will also catch our hard left. or, as I said, foreigners.)

However and beyond twitter, keep one very clear thing in mind “Who would benefit if I believed this? And are they the kind of countries who would be paying for a fifty cent army?”

Other than that? Look at facts. Facts are hard to ignore or explain.

If there is a great anti-semitic movement in this country, how come the violence are the same ol’ leftist rentamobs and open-borders invaders we’ve always seen? I mean, it’s a good question, isn’t it?

In the same way, about my long running argument linked above, if everyone’s standards of life have been declining since the seventies, how come they actually haven’t, and if we were transported to the seventies most of us would bitch? I agree that currently the US is screwing the young, but that’s because we’ve become a stupid gerontocracy. And by “we” in this case I mostly mean the left. However, the young still have options we didn’t have, and those with a modicum of drive can forge their own paths. Claiming they can’t because Phds are more expensive or manual labor pays less doesn’t help anything and makes me want to b&tch slap the doomers. (Okay, that last one is constant, but still.) Yes, I’ll write about why the future is so bright we should all buy stock in shades, BUT first and more importantly, if your view of the present and future is that dark and you’re not a bot or a driven ideologue (For some reason the “everything has gone to hell since the seventies” is a favorite of card-carrying communists. I’m not sure why, except in the seventies the USSR still seemed ascendant?) check your bubble. Check what you might not be seeing.

As always, I’m going to recommend you listen to people talking in the grocery store, engage in casual chatter with your delivery people, and compare to what you think you know.

And if the future seems dark, go and look at the new tech, the new things we can now do, and don’t look at it through cautionary tales written half a century ago (No, truly, even if you discount USSR propaganda, a lot of the writers were just trying to write for the money.) And then think how you could use that to forge your own path.

Things feel dark because the left is dying. And they still have enough control over the opinion industrial complex to influence how the rest of us feel.

Talk of past unity and present strife ignores the fact that in the past there was only one opinion broadcast: the left’s.

Today the world seems to be falling apart but the truth is that we’re finally, at long last, fighting back.

Which is why the left is trying to obfuscate by being louder, crazier, and more than occasionally pretending to be on the right.

Oh, yeah, another reality check, people who say they’re on the right but parrot all the leftist talking points, probably aren’t on the right. High chances they’re ALSO not your friends.

We all tend to fall into the occasional bubble. And heck “Obsessed with politics” is a bubble. BUT thanks to the net, we can reality check.

Always reality check.

And don’t fall into despair.

Sursum corda. In the end we win, they lose.

No other outcome is possible — they’re at war with reality — but more importantly, no other outcome is acceptable.

Be not afraid. And keep your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

This is mostly an update state-of-the-writer post, but there’s also a reference to the kind of linguistic misunderstanding I love and which my fandom excels at, and which actually helped through a dark/difficult time. And is still helping.

So, first the state of the writer: I’m trying to finish Witch’s Daughter to send to my editor while I’m away, so it can go to my copyeditor next week, so I can bring it out on my birthday. As soon as it goes to the copyeditor, the earcs will go to substack subscribers, and go up for pre-order. I also intend to put the prequel, Witchfinder on 99c sale when Witch’s Daughter comes out. (I’m planning on taking everything off KU and going wide, so this is probably last hurray of 99c sales starting on my birthday and extending to Christmas.)

I am objectively 10k words from the end of WD, but my troubles never come singly, and these last two months have been extra special, so… our oldest cat, our beloved, fuzzy Havelock Vetinari (worst named cat ever! He’s sweet and brainless) is now in pain all the time, and peeing on things four or five times a day, which has kept me distracted and busy.

It is likely we’re approaching that awful, inevitable last visit to the vet. Certainly if he keeps acting like he’s in severe pain. And I can’t keep washing the protective covers on the leather sofas 4 times a day. But we’re leaving it till we return from SD. And maybe a week, to make sure it’s not just the upheaval of these last two months.

But– The visit is Thursday through Monday, because of driving time. The rest of the family will be home, so he’ll be cared for an maybe he won’t notice my absence? Sigh. We’ll see.

Anyway, wait till the fifth or sixth for me to be regular and coherent. While I’m gone, Holly will make sure you don’t have dead air, here, but I’ll try to check in. Likely to be busy at event 10 hours a day, so mornings and evenings, maybe?

Oh, yeah IF YOU WANT TO SEND A BOOK FOR PROMO, DO SO TODAY, AS I’M LEAVING THE PROMO POST SETUP TOMORROW. IF YOU DON’T HAVE IT TO ME BY TOMORROW, IT WILL BE NEXT WEEK, SO SORRY. Also if people freak at my absence (more likely spottiness) at insty, reassure them. Okay, just super-busy.

Now, the Chinchilla of Hope: if you guys read the acknowledgements of NML (right? Who does that?) I thank my chapter by chapter cheerers on and readers for the Chinchilla of hope.

How this came about: the Portuguese word for Chancla is Chinelo. I often threaten the chilluns (some older than I) with my Chinelo. But one of them is special-gifted on typos. And keep in mind this is me speaking.

So she started threatening people with the Chinchilla. This was so amusing it took off. So now the Chinchilla of Hope is a thing, coming out when the black dog has me by the heels and chasing that dread beast into its cave again.

While I’m intermittently absent from this blog till the fourth, may the Chinchilla of Hope be with you and keep you going.

Because we all need more fantasy animals in our lives.

So, one more song for the sound track. You knew this was coming!