Author: Sarah A. Hoyt

I promised my assistant I wouldn’t pick fights with the world in general on Tuesdays and Fridays, as she’s very busy elsewhere and doesn’t have time to comb through the comments.

Cracks knuckles, uses carnival barker voice: Welcome to the rumbl— er… Monday!

Smiles sharkilly.*

Let’s talk about the new, new thing and how terrible it is and fraught with trouble.

Which new thing? Well, sweetlings, we live in an era of rapid change. Real change, not the social from the top down bs, but change driven by technology which alters the way we do things because it exists. That in turn drives other change. (And I suspect if Trump can get things going the way he wants to, things will get changing faster.) So, new thing? We’re spoiled for choice.

I’m going to leave aside AI (which ain’t. No, I don’t care how much it throws shadows or how much it SAYS it hates/loves someone. If you guys think it hasn’t fed on every single story about AI rebelling/falling in love with/ruling the human race? You’re nuts. It’s an LLM.) simply because ce n’est pas mon metier.

Neither are self-driving or drive assist cars. I have experience as being not only a nervous driver, as one whose vision is going specifically on the “contrast” property. As in, I’m having trouble finding things that get lost against the background. I first realized this at the zoo, where they were trying to make the enclosures looking natural and the result is I didn’t see the animals at all.

I’ve never used full self-drive. I’ve used drive-assist, and found it perfectly safe except you can’t not be in the driver’s seat because there’s things that make it not “sense” right. (Like LLMS it has holes. It’s not human.) The weirdest one was a car with a HIGHLY polished back. For some reason this caused the car to start accelerating insanely towards the truck. But I was behind the wheel, I felt it, and I stopped it. I honestly don’t know why it was “light reflected on front, go very fast”, but there must have been a reason. Definitely needs adult supervision.

Anyway, so we’re not going to discuss that. We’re going to discuss things that I’m conversant with, granted at two or three remote in one case.

That case is remote work. The other case is indie publishing and ebooks.

Years ago, my friend Charlie Martin who sometimes writes posts for this blog told me something that I’ve never forgotten “ebooks win out in the end, because ebooks are the most economically efficient way to deliver story which is what the cstuumer is buying.” (Now that’s not all the custumer is buying with a traditional book. We’ll talk about that later.)

And the fact is that despite many, many surveys, polls, public chest beating to the intent that people loved paper will always love paper, that reading is a sensory experience and blah blah blah… ebooks outsell paper books ten to one. EVERY MONTH.

One of the problems with the ebooks is specifically Amazon’s outsized footprint. And their KU program which probably is violating some kind of restriction of trade regulation, but who is going to beard the gorilla.

I get less from KU now than I did for years, as a percentage of my work. But– It’s still almost half of my income from Amazon, and let’s talk about it: Amazon is where the money comes from. You might tell me you don’t buy from amazon, and I believe you, but 90% of people do. Because you get 2k from Amazon, you get $200 from B & N. You get change from EVERY OTHER SOURCE.

(But I’m about to make an experiment. I’ve taken the DST books from KU and once they roll off, I’m starting my own shoppify store, and also put it on all the other sites.)

However, revealed preference and what it forces on me or not, I’m open to the inconveniences and downsides of electronic books: mainly electronic books CAN be changed. And while the charge of “Amazon reached into my kindle” while it was bad publicity is also bs because they had to do it, for copyright reasons (THEY HAD TO. (And were probably set up.)) that’s not the big change danger. The big change danger are the things publishers are doing to books, and the reason I have Agatha Christie on paper, in case of grandkids. (I’ll note we’re a bit nutty, here on this side of the pond, as the the rest of the world has been on an “updating books so they connect to the current generation’s tastes” kick for 50 years at least.)

There is also, yes, that you can’t store it and all the DRM makes “own” it iffy. (Though honestly most of what I read on Kindle I’ll never want to read again.)

So, yeah, I do realize Amazon’s quasi-monopoly (even if a lot of it was acquired by being better) is a problem. A serious problem. Partly because companies with that commanding presence get sloppy and Amazon’s customer-service has already gone downhill.

BUT for now most people are voting for ebooks and Amazon with their money. It is what it is.

Also, the technology is very young. The kinks will get ironed. They get ironed by running into them and figuring them out. There are always problems. Someday we’ll discuss the jungle of paper backs back in the day. From violated copyrights to writers not getting paid, to– bah.

Also a lot of the complaints you have about ebooks — the changing of texts — you can complain about paperbooks too. Try getting an original Joy of Cooking. And I have a problem finding non-screwed-up Enid Blytons, though that is a problem that won’t affect most people here. But Europe is bad about this stuff, and I’m on the side of we “I want the book the author wrote” nuts.

The unfortunate problem is that you can keep a lot of books on paper, but not all of them. (And a lot …. well, check the bracings on your foundation.) You can keep a lot more electronic, if you can have a clean copy to archive.

No, I see no reason to doubt Charlie in this. The cheapest most efficient delivery method wins. Pretty much always.

This doesn’t mean paper books will go away, they’re just a different animal.

I used to buy popcorn books on paper — because there was no other way to buy them — popcorn books defined as books you read like you eat popcorn and don’t even remember very well after. Mostly mysteries, but also fantasy and SF. I bought them, I read them, sometimes I donated, more often they came unstuck (I bought books used. So I was often last stop) or I simply forgot to sell them and they cluttered the house for years and years.

I still buy books on paper. But I only buy those I wish to keep. The books I’m keeping now on paper, and I suspect most people are keeping, are special ones. Signed books. Books that had a profound effect on me. Books that remind me of an experience, like meeting the author.

People still buy books on paper, just a lot fewer, because now they are souvenirs, or experiences or — listen to me — for a certain kind of book, display items. if you’re not like us, and don’t read to read, but read to show off, and keep them around to display their erudition or their political opinions.

So no, paper books aren’t disappearing, but they are already a rump market, and my guess is they’ll become more so. And in the process, we’ll find each wrinkle with our nose. And then fix it.

Which brings us to another innovation: remote work.

Oh, the screaming and the belly aching. “But what if people aren’t working at all?”

And then there is this brilliant bit: Nail salon employee pleads guilty after netting nearly a million bucks by outsourcing U.S. government tech jobs to China and North KoreaNail salon employee pleads guilty after netting nearly a million bucks by outsourcing U.S. government tech jobs to China and North Korea. And more on that: here. (Side question, is “Maryland Man the criminal brother of Florida Man?”)

This immediately causes people to go “oh, no. Bring them to the office. This is not trustworthy.”

Let me interject that there are jobs that should never be done from home. Even desk jobs. And there are jobs — most of them involving national security — that should — if done remote now — be tightly controlled and watched. And most of them probably should not be done remote.

But your average job? Well, we’re back to the thing: Lowest expense for the delivery of work.

But Sarah, you’ll say, didn’t you read that thing above?

Oh, you think that’s new? Because I’ve seen things like that done in companies my husband worked for since mid oughts. You know, internet exists. You can supposedly work in an office and offload all your remote work to several people even in other countries, and then, well, you’re working very hard, late and early and here’s the work.

I’d like to tell you that all these bright boys were caught, but not even. Most of them even though we figured out what was going on… well, the bosses wouldn’t believe it even if we told them. These were golden boys, and they kept advancing, etc.

So, it’s not a new scam. Is it easier remote? Well, yes. To an extent. But if you read the stuff above, they were criminally negligent in both hiring and management. You interview in person, where it’s harder to fake. If it’s at all a sensitive position, you have them work in the office until you KNOW him/are sure of him. Administer a test, by all means. (Now they can.) Oh, yeah, and if you hire him for anything vaguely sensitive, by all means give him a dedicated laptop, and keep your own spyware on it that tells you what he’s up to. What are you, stupid?

In fact that entire sh*tshow was so badly managed that one wonders if the management was in on it and this was their way to sell secrets to China. Because I’m not stupid. And neither are you.

But are there problems with remote work? Well, let’s start with “how do we know if they’re working?” My husband (buffs nails) figured that out managing a remote team in the 90s: make it task dependent.

But what if people are working three or four part time jobs and cheeeeaaaaaating?

Get over the idea you’re buying time. Buying time for tech, creative or other brain labor NEVER made much sense. It’s a holdover form factory line work, when you bought time to buy a certain amount of work. It’s not real.

In tech work, or writing, or planning, or frankly just about anything you can do remote without issues? You’re paying for the task, not the hours. The hours are irrelevant.

Remote work is just underlining this fact, but it was always true. I know the readership of this blog. You guys know you’re faster than most people out there on the same task, right?

Say I pay someone (I’m about to) for managing a release and publicity? She actually gave me her price per hour, but I’m calculating that for what I’m willing to pay how many hours that would take. if she does it faster? I don’t actually care. Why would I?

If I wanted her to work exclusively for me, I would do so. I don’t. I would also have pay her more. Maybe someday. IF I have a dozen books coming out at once or something.

If the person is doing the job, why do you want them to work for you only if you don’t pay for exclusive. Is it a power thing?

It shouldn’t matter at all. Again, you’re not buying hours, but a completed task.

The other stuff? A lot of it are already solved problems that don’t inhere to distance work. A lot of them people know how to fix.

But there are bound to be some we haven’t thought about.

And there is, of course, the fact we need to start thinking of things another way. Jobs as tasks, just like we need to think of “books” as stories, not paper bricks.

What needs to stop is the freakout about everything that goes wrong with new tech. All the “ZOMG that changes everything!” “Ditch the new tech!”

New tech and new ways of doing things have bugs. Of course they do. They weren’t delivered from on high fully formed. They will have problems. The problems will work themselves out.

Chill. Most of these changes are taking power from centralized information and technology control. We know where the centralized modes are going: Europe for some reason just won’t make these changes. So they’re going hyper-controlled and hyper authoritarian.

The changes work in favor of decentralization and decentralization works in favor of liberty.

Why do you think all the orchestrated freakouts?

Chill. This too shall pass. And if we need to, we’ll find new solutions for the (few) new problems.

Keep driving.

*It’s totally a word. I just made it up.

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

FROM MACKEY CHANDLER: I Never Applied for This Job (Family Law Book 8)

Lee seems to be getting a handle on this sovereign business. Mostly it is making sure you have exceptional people and then stay out of their way. She’s learning moderation a little at a time and commissioned a self programming AI who may be a he instead of an it.
Friendship is also a difficult process to master when you are torn between the standards of several species, but she manages to satisfy Badgers ideals, and her Human allies turn out to be very good friends too. A little working vacation with Jeff and April solidifies that bond and gives then a couple of adventures too. They really needed to check on the Bunnies and the Jeff had to teach the squids to keep their filthy tentacles off Lee.
Now if the Earthies would just stop trying to kill her, and they figure out how to deal with the impending death of money, maybe she can do some stuff again just for fun.

FROM CEDAR SANDERSON: The Groundskeeper: Deadhead

The reward for a job well done…

Chloe loves her job as a groundskeeper in the big cemetery, and as a caretaker for its dead and undead inhabitants. In fact, she’s doing a little too well at it, and as a result, her Boss makes her an offer she can’t refuse.

Now she’s not only dealing with angry honeyscuckles growing in eldritch muck, but secret societies and a task that makes her wonder if she has a ghost of chance…

EDITED BY JAMES YOUNG WITH A STORY BY SARAH A. HOYT (ALSO STORIES BY OTHER PEOPLE YOU KNOW. LOTS OF PEOPLE YOU KNOW. TO MENTION TWO KEVIN J. ANDERSON AND PETER GRANT!): Thin Red Tales: Military Alternate History (Arc of Ares)

O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes,” when the drums begin to roll…—Rudyard Kipling, “Tommy”

From the first time a group of savages looked at each other, gathered into a formation, and then said, “Hey, let’s go together to swipe that guy’s food…” Humanity has sought to settle its differences by force. Whether for possessions, deities, land, or the sheer love of violence, organized conflict has been the Fates’ playground. Chaos and chance provide fertile ground for multiple “What if?” paths, and Thin Red Tales brings you several expert portrayals of things that could have happened, had Ares’s whims been different.

Prefer your mayhem to be up close and personal, with foes’ thrusting blades under arrows’ shade? You’ll love Rob Howell’s “Here We Must Hold.” Want that with ancient Latin and legions? Dragon Award nominee Sarah Hoyt (“To Save the Republic”) [Hey now. While I was finalist on some things, like Colorado Book Award and Mythopoeic Award, I DID win a Dragon and a Prometheus! AND am USA Today bestseller!] and bestselling author William Webb (“Broken Oath and Shadowed Blades”) will scratch your Roman Empire itch.

If you’re more a fan of enemies being close enough to see but not in each other’s personal space? NYT Bestseller Kevin J. Anderson, Sidewise Award Nominee Lee Allred, Colorado Book Award finalist Kevin Ikenberry, and newcomer Daniel Kemp bring you short stories from the Napoleonic era through the Age of Iron.

“But what if I really enjoy imperial angst but I have an allergy to black powder?” Thin Red Tales also gives you stories by Sidewise, Dragon, and Prometheus Award Winner S.M. Stirling, Sidewise Award Nominee William Stroock, and bestselling author Joelle Presby that cover both World Wars. Small wars against the backdrop of nuclear holocaust also get their due, as bestselling authors Peter Grant, Justin Watson, and editor James Young all provide Cold War-era stories that round out this take on alternate conflicts.

Bottom line: whether you like your alternate warfare served by the edge of a blade or delivered from several kilometers, Thin Red Tales has fiction for you. With its mix of new stories and previously published favorites, this second Arc of Ares anthology reflects the war god’s capriciousness from the dawn of time. So, grab your pilum or your sidearm, as you’re about to be entertained.

FROM PERCY SINCLAIR: New Dawn.

Earth tried to colonize Mars. They failed. But now the colony ship has come home, crewed by unknown entities far more powerful than dystopian Earth. Frantic to survive the invasion, Earth puts aside its internal quarrels and forms a coalition to investigate. But when the truth is revealed, everyone must make desperate choices. Caught in the web of lies and confusion, two scientists, one intelligence operative, and one pilot must choose who they will believe and where their true loyalties lie. Making the wrong choice could be fatal, both for the individual and for Earth-bound civilization.

FROM DAN MELSON: The Monad Trap: Connected Realms Book Two

You’d think there’d be more for a god to do.

Alexan and Petra have become Eternals – minor gods, binding themselves together in their divinity. According to most stories, that’s where ‘happily ever after’ would start. However, there’s a divine ecosystem, as red in tooth and claw as any other part of nature, competing for power and worshippers and other divine benefits. There’s also the diligar deity Klikitit, who’s appointed Alexan his personal enemy for having dared defend himself against one of Klikitit’s Sons. Then there is the question of how do they achieve the next step on the divine ladder? All of this while dealing with divine curses which bind both of them – for all divinities are cursed.

The Connected Realms are certainly more complex than they appear at first glance!

FROM RACONTEUR PRESS, WITH STORIES BY J KENTON PIERCE, LEIGH KIMMEL AND MORE: Steam Rising: Tales of steampunk and wondrous inventions (Raconteur Press Anthologies Book 35)

Steampunk. It’s not just a genre, it is science fiction in its purest form. In this collection, you will read of the ways that technology could both help and harm mankind. Steam power took a special kind of bravery to use and master, and the people who live in a steam-powered world adjust to that need: engineers, inventors, tinkerers and experimentalists of every kind and every manner imaginable.

Within, you will meet clockmakers and war-widows, steamship captains and airship pilots; you will see wailing engines race and clanking automata strut. Hurry on! The engineer is feeding the coal, and says she’s raring to go.

See that red lever over there? Grip ‘er tight, and heave forward the throttle…

FROM MARY CATELLI: Even After

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Mirror, mirror on the wall — can I be safe when I am tall?

Rumpelstiltskin got the baby.

Rapunzel and her prince never again met.

Snow White still sleeps in the forest.

Biancabella, Snow White’s half-sister, knows that if she is more beautiful than her mother, trouble will follow again. Her appeal to the magic mirror only gains her stories of how hard it is to fight the evil sorceresses and wizards and witches who have banded together to bring unhappy endings.

But with her mother seeking to constrain her, Biancabella knows she may have no choice to use that knowledge to attempt to escape.

FROM CHARLI COX: The Fae Wars: Northwest Front

Fae Wars returns on a new front as war rages in the Pacific Northwest!

Corporal Erik Doherty isn’t some kind of special operations super soldier; he’s just an infantry grunt trying to get by in what was once the United States Army, now an enforcement arm of the Fae overlords. When orders come down from a chain of command more interested in boot licking their new masters than protecting American citizens, he has to make the choice. To serve and live, or run and die?

Ashleigh Greene is a teenage girl with a price on her head, the Fae looking for retribution for the killing of one of their nobles. As her hometown burns behind her, she flees into the mist shrouded forests of the Pacific Northwest, her family killed by dragon fire and her world destroyed.

On separate paths, each human comes face to face with a haunting legend that has lived for thousands of years. One that has been waiting, watching, and hating the old enemy that has finally returned. Together, they bring war to the Fae in a battle for honor and revenge.

Book seven in the best-selling Fae Wars series!

FROM JERRY STRATTON: The Padgett Sunday Supper Club Ice Cream Cookery: Twenty-three great recipes for ice cream from your home freezer.

Twenty-five great ice creams and other frozen desserts from vintage cookbooks 1927 and up. Lemon Sorbet, Candy Cane, Cherry-Almond, Chocolate, Coffee, Cranberry, Mango, Maple, Peach, Peanut, Saffron, Vanilla, and Walnut! Including Italian and Russian.

FROM HOLLY CHISM: Normalcy Bias: Look closer…things aren’t always what they seem to be.

Look closer. The things that you’re assuming you’re seeing? May not be what you think. Is that really a mouse, or is it a Brownie? Is that really an owl? Is that polished gemstone a stone…or an egg?

We take so many things for granted. Some of them may be harmless, but many are a lot less so. I wonder how many people ignore red flags every day, because they only see what they expect to see?

This collection takes what’s “normal” and asks “What if it’s something more?”

FROM KAREN MYERS: Tales of Annwn – A Virginian in Elfland (The Hounds of Annwn Story Collections Book 1)

A Collection of Five Short Stories from The Hounds of Annwn.

The Call – A very young Rhian discovers her beast-sense and, with it, the call of a lost hound.

It’s not safe in the woods where cries for help can attract unwelcome attention, but two youngsters discover their courage in the teeth of necessity.

Under the Bough – Angharad hasn’t lived with anyone for hundreds of years, but now she is ready to tie the knot with George Talbot Traherne, the human who has entered the fae otherworld to serve as huntsman for the Wild Hunt. As soon as she can make up her mind, anyway.

George has been swept away by his new job and the people he has met, and by none more so than Angharad. But how can she value the short life of a human? And what will happen to her after he’s gone?

Night Hunt – When George Talbot Traherne goes night hunting for fox in Virginia, he learns about unworthy men from the old-timers drinking moonshine around the fire and makes his own choices.

Who could have anticipated that the same impulse that won him his old bluetick coonhound would lead him to his new wife and the hounds of Annwn? Every choice has a cost, he realizes, but never a regret.

Cariad – Luhedoc is off with his adopted nephew Benitoe to fetch horses for the Golden Cockerel Inn. He’s been reunited with his beloved Maëlys at last, but how can he fit into her capable life as an innkeeper? What use is he to her now, after all these years?

Luhedoc needs to relearn an important lesson about confidence.

FROM SARAH D’ALMEIDA: Death of a Musketeer (The Musketeers Mysteries Book 1)

The musketeers never expected to stumble upon her body—a beautiful woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Queen Anne of France herself, lying lifeless in the shadows of Paris.

D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis swear a solemn oath to uncover the truth behind this mysterious death. But their quest for justice quickly spirals into something far more treacherous than they imagined. What begins as a murder investigation soon reveals layers of intrigue and conspiracy reaching into the highest echelons of French society.

As the four friends follow a trail of clues through duels and deceptions, they find themselves squarely in the crosshairs of their old nemesis, Cardinal Richelieu, whose shadowy hand seems to guide events from behind the curtain. Each revelation brings them closer to King Louis XIII himself—and to dark secrets some would kill to protect.

With their loyalties tested and their faith in humanity shaken, the musketeers must decide how far they’re willing to go for truth when the price of discovery might be their very lives. Some mysteries, once unveiled, can never be forgotten.

FROM HOLLY CHISM: Gods and Monsters (Modern Gods Book 4)

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Here there be dragons…again, damn it.

Deshayna has her sanity back, and forces older than the gods have granted her a new purpose. Chronos, his freedom restored, fights for his sanity, and with it, a purpose in helping Deshayna—now called Shay—with hers. The gods are starting to pull together more…and it’s about time.

Millennia after the last dragons to threaten human existence have been hunted down, they’ve started to reappear, hinting to the surviving gods that something more sinister appeared first: Tiamat.

Instead of a confrontation, though, the gods—major, minor, and genus loci—are drawn into a frustrating hunt for a predator that flees rather than attempting to strike.

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: DAFFY.

It occurred to me today that maybe the problem is that I’ve become hard boiled.

Which is a problem, of course, since my favorite mysteries were always cozies. But you see, we have been watching a hard boiled mystery series on TV every night, and I know the tropes: every authority is corrupted, everything turned against the newcomers, the idealistic, those who are clean.

And I realized me, the cozy writer, have come around to a complete hard boiled world view.

For instance, all the people who throw fits about forgiving student loans don’t realize they are standing on the side of giving the government debt-slaves. Or maybe they do. Under Obama there was talk of not letting people leave the country who owed student loans. Think on that a minute. You’ll see what the plan see should they get fingers on levers again.

They don’t seem to realize to what an extent our money is fungible and being taken out of our pockets — continuously — by inflation. And how much of the money the government actually collects goes to…. oh, let’s look at the unroll, shall we, even without looking at the USAID schemes to fund insurrection against ourselves and the burning or our own cities, there is stuff like they’ve been funding each and every illegal to the ridiculous tune of 100 and some k per year, at least. Though a lot of those moneys come from city and state, you know where the money comes from ultimately. Printing press goes brrrrr. Sometimes we funded them higher through other programs, like the ones that gave them start-up money or house buying money.

Where did that money come from? Why from your pocket, brothers and sisters. printing press goes brrrrr.

I’m not going to worry too much about that, because my taxes, all the ones I’ve paid, the ones I will pay, all of them, have gone to the Taliban, left in pallets of cash in the ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Forgive me if I don’t think anyone should give them any cash. Not one more cent until we know where every cent is going. And you know d*mn well even with Doge, even with everyone doing deep dives, you know we don’t know everything they’re wasting.

But it’s not just that, oh, no. It’s everything else. Everything is stacked up against the new, the outsiders, those with no pull.

But even those who are supposedly at the top and have pull? Remember the healthcare CEO gunned down by Luigi whatshisname? And how the whole left say he had it coming?

Look, I’ve shared here — I think — about my own issues with our insurance. For instance, they don’t cover the expensive daily inhaler my doctor prescribed, which is part of the reason I keep getting sick. Underlying inflamation from low-level continuous asthma. And I had to fight them to get the meds my husband needs for diabetes.

I understand the anger at the insurance companies. And to an extent I have some problem sympathizing with them because the dumb bastards were all in on the Obamacare push. But– But what is happening to them is the same screwing at the hands of government we’re all getting.

Obama care mandates the coverage of gender transition — you wondered where so many cases came from? Why it became the first go to to push on autistics and mal-adjusted and, well, Odds? Easy peasy. You get more of what you pay for — and when cases multiplied by 400 or so, the companies paying for it, particularly the medicine insurance part are spending themselves bankrupt to pay for girls becoming boys and boys becoming girls. Diabetes? They ain’t got no money to treat no stinking diabetes.

All of this goes unnoticed. We notice that the insurance companies are dicks, but we don’t see the fed revolver at the back of their heads.

Like … No one speaks for the voiceless.

One of the situations is with people who are infertile. Can’t have kids. I was there. Back then already I ran into people telling us to “just adopt.” Back then we knew people who adopted. They had way more money than we had. They adopted from abroad: China, Eastern Europe. Even Western Europe, sometimes. Okay, Portugal, but that–

Why did people do that? Why the expensive process? The left says it’s because we want ethnic kids. The same left says a bunch of kids are in foster care because white people won’t adopt children of color.

The truth? Adopting in the US is all but impossible. You need a lot more money, you need to open your household and yourself to fantastic intrusion. And you kid can be taken from you at any time, even if you’re the only parents he’s ever known, because the US adoption system is in thrall with Rosseau’s idea that somehow “natural” is better, that there is some mystical bond between the child and the parent who held him for half an hour (if the mom wasn’t hopelessly addicted and even realized she had a child) before surrendering him.

Also, speaking of outdated notions, the US also believes that it will materially damage the child to be adopted by someone who tans a different shade. This is baffling to me,a s someone whose child is darker than her — and much darker than her husband — despite looking like both of us.

Which brings us to where we are now. There’s hundreds of thousands (millions?) of children in foster care, while hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people who long to have a family can’t adopt. At this point foreign adoption routes have closed. (Except Africa, and given what Africa is — poor fucked up Africa — you might be adopting a kid who was kidnapped or who knows?)

Most people don’t know. As with student loans where the decent people don’t talk about it, and slowly sink under an impossible payment system that would be outlawed if they were payday loans on the corner? As with insurance denying medicines we need because they’re too expensive, because the insurance has to pay for all the things that Obamacare says you can’t dispute, those affected don’t talk about it. What’s the point? And if they did, they’d talk about how the insurance is screwing them up.

Everywhere I look, things are crooked, people are caught in a system they can’t fight which is screwing them coming and going.

Even us, how often do we forget the swallowing up of Hong Kong? Oh, that wasn’t us? Sure it wasn’t. Because it was ignored and China was allowed to do what she would, and we didn’t even give any aid or offer of asylum to those who had fought against China.

How often do we talk about the way that the attempt at freedom in Iraq was ignored and by being ignored thwarted by Obama.

How often do we forget that there are three hundred thousand kids missing, give or take ten thousand, who crossed the border as… mules, as disguise, as heaven knows what, a lot of them children kidnapped or bought South of the border, and who just…. vanished.

Where are they? A system that can’t be trusted to make sure innocents aren’t handed off to the worst of the worst? It’s corrupted beyond belief.

As corrupted as it needs to be to lock up an entire country, destroy an economy, try to make us all conform to ridiculous pointless measures, let the old die alone and the young be maimed forever by isolation. And we know they did that.

I could go on. [Pours two fingers of Devil’s Cut. Swirls the glass.] Oh, boy, I could go on.

But I won’t. It’s not my job to blackpill you. (Lights virtual cigarette and takes a puff. Look, bud, with my lungs, virtual cigarette is all I can have.)

Yes, this is the chasm we stand at the edge of. This is the precipice we could fall down.

But–

This has been a time of miracles, the last 2 years. We’ve seen miracles. And the miracles have gone our way.

And Trump 2.0 has gotten smart about a bunch of things. Take the whole vexed issue of the student loans, which are still controlled by the government and still ridiculous and where people are still fell into the cement vat.

He didn’t rescind that on day one. Maybe because he couldn’t, because it’s tied to something else (Obama dealt dirty.) Or maybe he simply hasn’t got there, yet. However it might be simply he hasn’t got to it. So much to do, so little time. On the other hand… On the other hand….

On the other hand I think there’s some obstacle in the way, because he’s doing things. What things? Well….

I realize this lynch pin involves a lot of things more than this, but one of the things his EO on disparate impact means that tests for jobs are back on. And that means not only is the goose of colleges cooked, it tumbles a whole lot of pins, like people actually having to know what they’re doing, not just getting credentials because they know someone.

Blows rings on the imaginary cigarette and smiles at the dark night sky.

Yeah, the crooked judges are fighting back. What? you expected them to lie down and let us have our way. Nah. They’re going to fight every step of the way. The dirtier they are, the harder they’ll fight.

It’s going to be a fight in these mean streets. And, oh, the streets are mean.

But we’re fighting back. Not just Trump. There’s something awake and aware and fighting back.

And there’s us. Yeah, puny, powerless us.

But we can be voices for the voiceless. We can be connections for those without them.

And we can have each other’s back.

The system of the hard boiled requires that everyone, everyone be dirty, but the one upright man, and that the upright man be isolated.

Dome now. There’s too many of us. And we’re not isolated. We got each other.

We don’t have much, but we have each other. And we’re not crooked. And we’re going to keep at it.

Right?

We’re going to keep at it. Until we clean it up. It’s impossible to achieve perfect justice, but we should be able to clean this utter darkness and mess a bit. Just a bit. Give good a chance to flourish.

Give a chance to people who want to marry and feed themselves and have fat babies. Give a chance to people who want to build and create things that benefit us all. Give a chance to everyone else who isn’t utterly corrupt and evil.

We’re going to keep at it, right? And you’re too, right?

Finishes the virtual bourbon, stubs the virtual cigarette, puts on her fedora and walks out into the velvety dark night.

We’re going to keep trying.

And we’re going to win.

Today we remember the victims of Communism. I highly recommend this project.

Communism — lowball — over the twentieth century killed a 100 million people. That’s direct kills. Direct putting in grave.

It doesn’t count those killed by famine, by disease. And it doesn’t count those who were never born because desperate would-be parents couldn’t afford kids or died early of alcoholism. It doesn’t count those killed by the wars which are the way the communist monsters keep themselves in power.

It also doesn’t count the toll on civilization which costs lives: the corruption of our institutions, our colleges, our science, everything.

The fundamental flaw in the mind of the idealist, silly “communism has never been tried” people is that the only way that kind of communism would work is if EVERYONE did the thing they need to do.

Leaving aside the ability to know what to do, etc. never in the history of ever, since the first day of the universe has “everyone” done anything.

“If only everyone” is the lie at the center of the honeyed lie of communism.

The brutal reality is war, famine, and for the lucky ones a shot to the back of the head.

Communism is a virus. Humanity either kills it, or we lose civilization.

As for me and mine, we’re for civilization.

And now for the memes.

There is a train of thought that goes if you find anything at all is wrong with a child to be born, you abort it.

Look, it’s not that I don’t understand or even sympathize with the reasoning. All two times I was pregnant I bargained. “I can take deaf, I can take blind. Let his mind be okay.” Because in the present day, minds are essential to be able to actually be an adult and independent. The rest can be cumbersome, but you can deal with. (One of the best students in my degree was, or at least looked like, a Thalidomide baby. No arms. Hands coming out his shoulders, and shortened legs with feet. Never examined, obviously, since he was dressed in school and anyway, not a specimen, but I suspect no thighs, just legs. or very abbreviated thighs. His mom brought him to school, but he had friends, and the rest of the day they took him from class to class, hung out, etc. They removed his socks and shoes so he could take notes with his feet, then put them back on. Again, one of the best students, and I expect he has had a long and productive life as a translator/interpreter.)

If I’d found one of the kids really for sure, for absolute sure would be non functional, I don’t know what I would have done. I’m not judging anyone in that situation. You wonder about things like “who is going to look after him/her after I die?” and “How can I support him/her and still be okay for both of us?” and… I know two families in that situation. Knew a couple others in Portugal. There is no happy ending for those situations.

I understand.

When I refused to abort older child after being guaranteed that he’d be mentally deficient and never able to live on his own, it wasn’t even so much an excess of Catholicism (at the time honestly no.) It was part cussedness because i hated that Obygyn and part the fact we had gone through infertility for six years — six years — and been told a baby would never happen. At that point, I figured if I had to look after the kid his whole life, at least I’d have a kid.

As it turns out, he was fine. Though he’ll say given his choice of career he IS mentally deficient and his wife is proof he’s not able to live on his own. (I didn’t Gibbs slap him enough!)

I haven’t read the Martian Chronicles. It’s been a weird week. I’m better, but last week I was very, very ill and unable to function for days at a time.

But I was thinking about Clifford Simak’s novels and Data republican.

In Clifford Simak’s there is often the person who would normally be discarded in his time at least and some of them in our time would probably be aborted.

Some of them were just the outcast and the weirdo. The man who raised skunks. The oddball journalist without a life. The lonely paleontologist….

BUT a recurring character is the kid who is disabled. Deaf, mute, sometimes “not sure what but doesn’t respond to anyone or anything.”

Most of these are kids in the hills, when families were large, and people tolerated less than normal siblings or kids, fed them, though probably treated them like pets, not quite human.

I grew up in that kind of society, and while deficient people were less likely to be aborted (partly because the womb was more opaque back then) they were more likely to be treated somewhere between a kid and a pet. They’d be fed, and kept clean, and maybe given things to play with, but no extraordinary efforts would be made to school them or help them live a full life.

Now, of course, we’re different. We’re more likely to abort the kid, but also, if we have the resources, we’re more likely to teach the kid. Though any number of parents will still institutionalize a “defective.” Again, not judging. I can only imagine the horrible vise grip people are in, between trying to survive in a society that often demands everyone to work at all times. And looking after someone who will never get better, never be normal, is heart breaking stuff, stuff that demands heroism, and again there is no happy ending.

Simak had a tender touch with those kids. I’m thinking of the girl at the end of Way Station, who turns out to be one of very few sentients who can operate the peace-making gizmo. I now the figure appears under similar guises in a couple of other places.

I always thought that figure was fairly unlikely.

And then we have Data republican. I know some of her challenges, and I give all the props and admiration to her parents for facing those challenges, not institutionalizing her, bringing her up to be functional and make the best of her natural abilities.

When I started following her, I thought she was a Clifford Simak character come to life: a woman born for the moment.

What is the point of this? Well, other than being in awe of Data republican, which is always in style.

We all have challenges. Sometimes our challenges are more than anyone should deal with. I know this is true for a few of you.

But maybe there’s a time up ahead that you were born for. A thing only you can do and that others need.

This might be as big as the girl who could speak to the alien peace-gizmo and saved several worlds. Or it could be saying the right word to the right person at the right time. Making treat for someone who is very down. Say something that turns their lives around. That puts them on a better path.

But there is some situation up ahead, where only you, disabilities, abilities and all, can make a difference.

Stay on this side of the turf. Stay active, alive, alert. Learn everything you can. Stay engaged with people and the world as much as you, personally, can.

And if the occasion presents itself, stand up. Don’t be afraid to shine.

Weirdos though we are, there is a time and place for us.

So, I got in a fight on X and … Look, I realize the idea of forgiving student loans irks a lot of people. I even understand why.

I just think you need to think of it by turning it around another way. Because there was so much duress all along.

Were there some assholes borrowing half a mil to study fly fishing on Mars? Undoubtedly. There are always assholes. But that was neither the majority, nor the reason we should consider forgiveness, relief of staggered forgiveness or something — though for practical reasons I’m going to back forgiveness, and THEN SHUTTING DOWN THE WHOLE SYSTEM. Throw it to the free market. Things are changing anyway, and the duress is passing. But there is a whole 20 years of people with their butts caught in a vise.

“So, their problem,” you’ll say. And sure, it is their problem, but problems that affect that many people and are that big, affect all of us. And they are.

Not only should we look again at the question for fairness and justice but we should look at it from the POV of “clean the wound and let us heal” in a timely manner, that allows for a next generation.

Look, I know I have zero influence on this. ZERO. And I know this administration is committed to making people pay the loans as a matter of optics, etc. I also think the discourse around student loans has been hard-poisoned with false ideas, so that it seems like a no brainer to insist “Pay it, deadbeat.”

The fact that it’s me telling you to take a second look, should warrant a second look, though. Because I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it was needed.

I’m going to start from the practical side, first.

You have a lot of people between the ages of 45 and 25 not even looking at getting married, much less having kids.

Yes, I know it’s really hard to wrap your head around because everyone says we’re over populated, but we’re not. And we might — it’s hard to know because no one is telling the truth or keeping the right numbers — be on the verge of serious demographic trouble. The US almost certainly is, not sure about the world, because counting there is even harder.

There is a contingent of this generation, maybe 1/3 who are under crushing student loans and have no hope of paying them off.

Yes, there are other economic barriers to getting to where they can marry, own a home, have kids. There are many sources. BUT the loans are putting a crushing pressure on a system already tilted against the young.

Saying “Shut up and suffer, you’re young” is not a lot of fun, unless said in jest while you make kids carry heavy stuff for you (and feed them and pay them for it.) But it’s even less fun when it’s going to destroy civilization.

This is one barrier we can lift.

Then there is fairness.

“They signed. They should pay.”

Cool beans. Yes, I do understand that’s how civilization works. “My word is my bond.”

But I also understand that civilizations, nations, and heck villages (even if there it’s the law of “I give you such a kicking”) have laws, regulations and other ways to stop people who signed unfair contracts from having to be further victimized.

Were most student loans unfair.

Depends. I’m going step by step, okay?

1- They signed the contract.

They ABSOLUTELY DID. The vast majority of them were between 16 and 19. Most of them probably could read the contract they signed. (Though not all.)
Let’s assume they were all legal adults, though. Legal adults on paper. But note that the overwhelming chances — due to our anti-child labor laws and insane regulations — are these people have not worked a single day in their lives. NOT ONE DAY. They’ve never signed another contract. Not for more than “I won’t eat candy before dinner” with mom and dad. They probably have a bank account but likely it’s mostly for gifts and such. If they’ve worked at all, it was unpaid intern stuff during summer to buff their resume.

Both the concept of money and paying back money, let alone a full understanding of the bind they’d be in are at best academic concepts.

They are in fact the ideal population to be loan shark victims.

So, yeah, they signed the contract but there were extenuating circumstances.

But wait, there’s MORE!

2- Most of them signed under duress.

What duress? Well, you might not know this if you don’t have kids or have never actually had to get a pinch job without quite the right credentials, or don’t have friends who don’t have degrees, but by the 2010s it was almost impossible to get a job even in retail, even as a barista at Starbucks without at least an associate’s degree. And if you expected to go beyond entry level, you needed at least a BA.* (The * are because this is going to have footnotes.)

Yes, there were people who got somewhere without those, but it took being very special and also luck. You can’t count on luck.

So if you’re a kid who wants to get a job; don’t think that you can make a living from your tunes, or your game design that you never do, etc. you need to go to college.

Duress.

3- In addition, if you’re smarter than the average bear EVERYONE tells you to go to college. Parents (guilty), teachers, authorities, government. “Go to college. Make something of yourself.”

4- There are no scholarships. Or rather they are, but they have absolutely NOTHING to do with ability or hard work. They go to earmarked “protected classes.” You stand somewhat of a chance if you are a female of any color, with a good tear-jerking story. BUT mostly you need to be female, can tan, etc. Even male from “minority” ethnicity doesn’t really count. Because male.
There are little scholarships, hard to chase, and you can amass a number of them. Younger kid managed one. Substantial. Takes a lot of time and is hard if you’re in advanced classes. (He was.)

So that’s it for “they freely signed.” They signed because they had to**, and most of them didn’t have enough practice in financial stuff to sign anything in an informed way. The circumstances under which these contracts were signed would be ILLEGAL if it weren’t the feds doing it.

“But they have to pay or the economy crashes.” And “It’s not fair to make the little people pay for doctors and lawyers.***”

1- Bull. That money has been spent. It’s not waiting to be paid back. Obama made the government the only lender for student loans.
They then printed the money and handed it to the universities. It’s been spent.
It’s imaginary money. Like most of the money from the government. By being spent, its value was already inflated away. You already paid. I already paid. All of us already paid.

2- the way interest accumulates on these things and the fact they are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy AGAIN makes them on par with loan shark stuff.

3- People have a lot more of them than you expect, and they’re some of our more ambitious, hard driving people.

Like, for instance, if you want to enter medical school (there you have “doctors and laywers”) they prefer if someone has a masters or a doctorate. but you usually have to have at LEAST 2 BS degrees. With perfect grades. (No, it didn’t use to be like that.) But there are thousands of applicants for each medschool position.
I happen to know it’s the same with every highly desirable degree, particularly post-graduate. you have to make yourself look good. It’s a bet. Most bets don’t pay off. It costs a lot of money to bet at this table, though, and most people making that bet have been star students ALL ALONG. And most of them end up with debt they can never pay for. EVER.

We’re pulling these people straight out of the gene pool. Unless of course, they come from wealth.****

4 – A lot of the more accessible (money wise) colleges are playing games that force people to take longer to graduate, or simply make it impossible to graduate in any reasonable time. Look up the graduation rates at your local State college. Particularly for STEM. It’s easy to say “the kids are stupid now” but I’m going to beg you to believe they’re not. Most of them are not. And the ones who are, most of them aren’t aiming for STEM.
There are now scam “colleges” that work. You pay a lot of money and they get you graduated in a year. I know more than one kid whose parents had to do this. Neither the parents nor the kids are stupid, and they all work hard as heck. (No, neither are family.)

How to fix it:
FORGIVE the loans. Not like Biden did, which left so much room for fraud and also left the system up.

The only way to do it is to shut down the system of loans (it is my belief that the colleges are headed down anyway, particularly if the EO on disparate impact sticks.) If people need loans for college, let private lenders fund them. (I bet you that the price of college comes down from the stratosphere pretty fast too.

Set people free. Among other things, heck of a political statement. And who knows, might get some people to rethink their stands.

It won’t be noticed. It’s already been inflated away. And it opens the door to productivity and adulthood.

Now is that the only way to do it? No.

But what we’re doing is eating our seed corn. And when that’s done, we won’t have any more corn.

And no future corn either.

Yes I know “But they signed contract.” Consider, in the bowels of Christ that you might be mistaken.

Notes:

*This was done because they couldn’t administer literacy tests, and our schools are so floridly and obviously horrible, that you can’t tell if someone can read and write with A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA.
Now, the thing making tests impossible was “disparate impact” and it might be gone. Eh. Depending on judges. Or it might not. If it is, that is the right way to negate the need for “credentials” which is what all this idiocy is built on. Also what feeds the need for H1Bs: they are being tested abroad where it’s legal. Not the whole need, but a lot of it.
Which is why disparate impact has to go.

**Let’s dispose of “might have joined the services.” Not everyone can. A lot of kids have issues that preclude it. That’s one. Another is… well, let’s look at the last four years. or the ones from 2008 to 2016.

The other point is: the services don’t want to take every kid, do they? What would they do with them? And do you want people to only go in to get college paid for? I don’t.

***Not all doctors and lawyers make the money the envious imagine. Second they sacrifice a lot of earning time and most of them graduate under crushing loans. And they too are being undermined by “imported” workers. (A startling number of them from China.) Also they are a tiny percentage of those who owe money. Why are you concentrating on them? Leave envy to the leftists. They do it better.

**** if you want for it to be so that IN AMERICA people have to be massively wealthy to be doctors, or yes, lawyers, or higher level scientists, explain to me way.
And yes, we should be able to make medical degrees more available, etc. But that’s the institutions, etc. NOT people’s decisions.

Of sorts. Real post tomorrow.

I realized I’m coughing less, and less stuffed up, which means I am getting better. My voice is still not back. I sound like a three pack a day smoker, but I don’t sound like a goose hissing anymore.

The truth though is that I am tired. SO TIRED. Tired like I just ran a marathon. This apparently might be due to being on antibiotics, or at least some of you said so.

I’m hoping to work tomorrow, including a chapter of Witch’s daughter for the substack. I’ll even make this one free. (Don’t hold me to it, though. Tomorrow might end up being Wednesday.)

I do need to get on my feet though, because Indy is driving Dan nuts. Not enough occupation.

This was the crime scene in the office this morning:

AND someone got super-salty when I cleaned it up. “But but but, we had play dirt and SALAD.” Yeah.

The blackout: I would assume it’s lack of energy above all. (Kind of like I feel right now.) I mean when we were there six years ago they were going house to house — they, the government — and installing some kind of switch to make the switch on the board pop at lower loads. To make this clear, BEFORE the change I couldn’t turn on a heater and a hair dryer without taking down the electricity in this four bedroom upper middle class home.

What shocked me most of all was that my parents were okay with this, because climate crisis, don’t you know? (I bite my tongue a lot.) Kindly remember my family are neither stupid nor hard left (with one exception and he doesn’t realize he is. Just trusting the best sources in “academic” circles.)

I haven’t heard from them this time, but with Trump and the demonization of Trump over there — oh, by the way, an idiot left a comment that I’m handing to one of the fans to shred. I have volunteers, but if anyone else wants it, I’ll let Holly Frost know. It’s all about how Trump is “Destroying the world”. No, I’m not approving the comment. He’s an idiot (Probably from Europe.) I’m just outing him for a fisking. They don’t play fair on their sites and I know game theory. I’m not doing it here, either. — so with this, yeah, my tongue is going to be bleeding by the end of the next phone call.

The lights are going on in Europe. Literally it seems. Meanwhile they think the shadow of fascism is over…. us? It’s inexplicable.

Sometimes I wonder if the stress is keeping my auto-immune spun up.

I’ll go watch videos of the guy walking through cemeteries. (Faces of the Forgotten.)

BUT quickly: Whichever one of you told me to put vicks in very unlikely places — no, not there. It would hurt.

Anyway– “you magnificent bastard, I read your book!” I am better. Still extremely far from well, but you know? I’m starting to maybe believe hypothetically I might be well again some day.

And speaking of magnificent bastards in the best way: To the Eternal Glory of the Infantry shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

Sorry, got up very late and the cats murdered one of my potted plants. I need to go clean the crime scene. See you later.

I won’t say I forgot the promo post. I didn’t. I merely have been low on spoons all day, too low on spoons to think about getting a post up. Or to do more than think about it.

Only thing I can say is that I’m better than yesterday. Yesterday I crashed HARD. Really hard, back to being as sick as I’ve ever been. EVER. Since this stuff began.

So– if you’re on a CPAP and are very ill? Don’t forego washing it one morning. I did, because I forgot on Friday morning.

Anyway, I have no idea how I’ll be tomorrow. I hope better?

There will be a post either way. Just wanted you to know. I’m alive.

While on that, if you are a praying kind, spare a prayer for Kate Paulk. I hadn’t heard from her in a little while, thought she was in one of her depressive cycles. It happens to both of us and when we’re in the “I can’t even” phase we give each other space, and just try to check in once a month with “I’m okay.”

But I’ve been sick. I don’t know. Might have been more than a month.

Today I heard that early in the month she was in a house fire, severely burned, is undergoing surgeries and treatment.

She lives across the country, and there’s not much I can do for now, or until she’s better, but pray. All I can do for now is pray. So I’m praying, and if you’re of a praying kind, please pray for her.

Kate is an enormously talented writer, and if she didn’t have bad luck, she wouldn’t have any luck at all.

Sarah. Flaking out.