So minimum wage came up on Twitter. (You know if I insist on visiting that site I probably should go on blood pressure meds.)

But anyway, when minimum wage came up, I did my standard “You can’t legislate wages any more than you can legislate the weather. The real minimum wage is always zero.”

I trust I don’t need to unpack this for the people here, but supposing I get a lot of newbies or such: You can’t legislate minimum wage, because if businesses can’t afford to pay the set “minimum wage” they go under. Or fire employees and automate. Or fire employees and hire illegals under the table. Or–

So the real minimum wage, i.e. what your work is worth, is always zero. If government regulation prices you out of the market, you will be getting zero.

I’m explaining all this because I immediately got a lunatic telling me 0 was not getting paid and therefore not a wage, and I shouldn’t confuse things with linguistic mush. (I really should go on blood pressure meds.)

But then the real crazy hit. I have a few screenshots of his comments, though not all of them. (Seriously. I couldn’t capture all of them. For one they make my head hurt. I’m mostly putting them here so you capture the ah… full flavor (bouque garni de sewage) of his brain workings. And also so you guys know I’m not making him up. Because I’m not sure I’d have believed he existed without reading him.

He was defending the fact we absolutely needed a minimum wage, and a lot of this is “tell me you never ran a lemonade stand without telling me you never ran a lemonade stand.”

Dudes and dudettes: this guy is the real deal, the hundred percent brain dead, absolutely no understanding of economics.

There is the blaming of not having children on the fact we’re not raising the minimum wage. The crazy-cakes assertion that people who would take a low wage wouldn’t make good citizens. As I said I couldn’t capture it all. Somewhere he had a “cute” one about my preferring small government and large corporations. NOTE I’d never mentioned corporations, and this is actually and for real insane, since big government and large corporations go together like syphilis and madness. Government makes it impossible for anyone but the big corporation to comply with insane regulation. AND big corporations incentivize the government to create more regulations to eliminate competition.

He also told me that all western economies regulate minimum age as if that were a defense to lack of minimum wage causes infertility. I mean, talk about lack of mental connection.

AND he accused me of wanting everyone to be self employed or in a corporation. I don’t even know where he got that or what that means. Other than the voices in his head.

And don’t even ask me what the heck he means in that first one by my appreciating hierarchy. I THINK he means some kind of class system? Probably? Later on he went on about genetics and people being born to money. Most of it so incoherent I had no clue what he was implying. So I stopped engaging because the alternative was calling him and asshole moron over and over again.

And I’d already done that.

The point is that he was arguing from some unexamined assumptions in his head that dictated stuff like ‘smaller government means bigger corporations.’ Or ‘People aren’t having kids because they’re poor’ not because taxes are too high and the rules around keeping small kids in a house insane. And I couldn’t pierce his certainties, to the point he was actually arguing with what he thought I’d said and meant, not with anything I’d typed.

Part of the truly lunatic stuff was his telling me he was no commie, then telling me the poor and working class are somehow responsible for all the crime, because apparently poverty causes crime. Marx would love him.

But at the base of it was a complete lack of understanding of why employers pay wages and what sets the level of pay.

He seemed to assume that we were in a basic communist system where you were offered make work. at some pre-set pay, and therefore we had to accept it. Or something.

He failed to get that employers hire people not to be charitable but because they need some work done. And that work is worth some amount of money.

Take my business. For a long time, it’s been stuck at a certain level, unless I can pay contractors to do things. I’d love to have my assistant work for me full time, and I PROBABLY (with difficulty the first year) could pay her a very low salary which would nonetheless, since she works remote, be a great addition to her family income. What I can’t afford is the paperwork, regulation, and mandatory contributions that go with it.

But let’s suppose that you’re hired to flip burgers or check out people in the supermarket. And this is worth oh, $10 or so to the people hiring you. Why would you think that arbitrarily telling people to pay employees $20 would work?

People are likely already paying the highest they can, because that gets them the best labor they can get. (Particularly in a relatively tight labor market, which we have if you don’t count illegals.) So, if they’re not paying $20 dollars an hour it’s because it’s not feasible for their business right now.

You force them to pay that, and workers will get replaced with robots, companies will close, companies will fire legitimate workers and hire illegals, etc. etc. etc.

One of the things it will do is make it much harder to get that first, all important job and thereby worsen youth unemployment which is already bad enough. Or products will become so expensive that people can’t afford them.

When raving idiot went on about how if you pay the workers too little they can’t afford to buy things, he forgot if the employers have to pay too much for employees, then the product will be more expensive.

I swear these people think that employers are out to “exploit” the workers, just for funsie. Judging by his excursion into rage-envy of inherited money I’m going to assume he really thinks it’s two separate classes and no one who is rich ever had to get a job, or work up to a better job. This is by the way not only NOT the norm in the US but so far from the norm it’s ridiculous.

He also had a moment of rage about how if we don’t raise minimum wage it all goes to the 1%. As I said, I can’t actually discuss economics with someone referring to his home universe where the sky is made of green cheese.

What I can say is that you can’t regulate the price and wages. Or rather, you can, but all you’re creating is unemployment, government dependence and a black market.

The problem is not this lone crazy on twitter though. The problem is that years ago I looked at my kids’ economics text books.

They were all about “given that all these workers are equally qualified, would you hire the divorced mother, the handicapped worker, or this minority.”

And that’s wrong. It’s utterly and completely wrong, in the same way this man is wrong. It’s approaching business as a sort of social responsibility. “I’ll pay x because it’s good for society.” It ignores that businesses have to make a profit, to pay for labor and more products, and make it worth the owner’s spending money on things.

I mean businesses are in business to make money, which then allows the owner to take the money and invest it in other businesses to make more money.

This incidentally employs more people and gives people more products to buy. All without the benevolent hand of government planners. And yes, sure, minorities and divorced mothers, and all that should be able to work. But again, to be honest, while there will be bigoted employers, the successful ones won’t care about the employee’s personal life, unless it relates to the business. Instead, they will get the best employee they can for the best price they can. Because that’s how they make money, so they can invest it in more businesses.

I was assured by mental guy on twitter that my liberal (I think he means libertarian) theories of economics don’t work. But I wasn’t expounding any theories. I was simply explaining that economics is a science and things you do have consequences.

Sure, we all wish everyone could make a lot of money, but I don’t think legislating that you pay people a lot of money just because is how you get there. Mostly, what you’ll do is create a society in which few people work legally and those few have to pay for a massive number of welfare cases.

It’s time to respect economics as a science. You cannot legislate price and wages anymore than you can negotiate the weather. Which, of course, the crazy leftists also would like to do.

Thing is that wishcasting always loses to reality. Reality always wins, regardless.

And economics is very much reality.

But not very hard. I just don’t feel a post today. Nothing to do with the eclipse. We just have a ton of stuff to do and I have chapters to write.

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 JERRY BOYD: Thus Shook Zarathrustra (Bob and Nikki Book 45)

Sally has finally cleared the new planet. Surely that means it’s ready for people to come and check out, right? Our shepherd still gets a vote. Come see how much effort it takes to get a good, used planet into livable shape.

FROM MARK BOSSINGHAM: Chasing Naomi

July 1969. Clive, Iowa, Earth. Sixteen-year-old Allie has a big decision to make: Watch the lunar landing with her mom in their run-down double-wide trailer or boost to the stars aboard a grumpy, sentient deep space exploration vehicle (DSEV-424) buried in her backyard for 5,000 years.

Accompanied by Gem, a dead space captain, now a glitchy hologram, Allie stops on the moon and surprises Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard the Eagle lunar lander. (Neil never mentioned the encounter to Houston).

With Gem as her guide, Allie survives her first space battle and drops Gem off at a military regrow center in the middle of a spaceport casino. The teen’s adventure lifts off at a military space academy, where she faces danger, makes friends, battles enemies, and discovers her own surprising abilities.

Along with Rin, Sky, and Gem, Allie sets out on a mission to locate and defeat a rogue fleet led by Naomi, a mad-as-a-hatter warship, all while navigating the complexities of growing up and finding her place in the galaxy.

FROM AMANDA S. GREEN: Surtr’s Fury

Twenty-five years ago, the world changed. Rifts opened around the globe, releasing rogue magics that changed everything. Creatures once believed to exist only in movies and books were now real. People who once believed themselves “normal” found their latent paranormal abilities awakened and amplified. The land and creatures nearest the rifts were forever changed, whether for good or ill remains to be seen.

Either my parents had a warped sense of humor or they were forewarned about what my life would be like living as close to the North Texas Rift as I did. Why else name me Ripley after the main character in their favorite science fiction movie? Then they were gone. A basilisk killed my dad and Mom disappeared while investigating reports of rogue werewolves. At least that’s what I’d been told, and I never had reason to doubt it.

Until now. Someone attacked my home and my friends. When I discover who, they’ll learn it is never a good idea to mess with someone who plays with fire, literally as well as figuratively.

My name is Ripley Walker, and those responsible for hurting my friends will soon learn the error of their ways.

FROM ROBERT WENSON: Murder at Minstrel Manor: An Edwina Hackett Mystery

“Killed! As in murdered?” With these words, Edwina Hackett launches herself into trouble. Wealthy and reclusive inventor Sebastian Oldfield is found dead in his study on a stormy winter night. There’s no doubt it’s murder: the wounds in his head and the bloodstained paperweight testify to that. And Edwina, who has come to Minstrel Manor to paint Oldfield’s portrait, will let nothing stop her from following the ensuing investigation.

For newly-promoted Detective-Inspector Mallow of the East Fenshire Police, this is his first big case. He finds himself up against a plethora of suspects: the butler with a shady past; the dead man’s enigmatic assistant; the ne’er-do-well nephew who is deeply in debt; and the tenant farmer who had been summarily evicted.

And then there are the questions. How did the murderer get into the study? How did he get out? What is the significance of the illiterate note left under the body? Who has been forging Oldfield’s name? And what role has the mysterious and elusive Barnabas Merryweather been playing?

FROM J. D. COOPER: The Companions: The Bond

In the mist of ancient time, a time long forgotten by most, the Sidhe ruled Ireland. They were small folk, no higher than a mushroom, but they could work mighty magic. Each one was gifted in a unique way. Together they created beautiful works of art and magnificent structures, engineering beyond many modern marvels. Crops were blessed and harvests were bountiful. There was little suffering in Sidhe society for they cared for each other and used their magic to help their fellow Sidhe. For eons past, peace and harmony had reigned throughout the land, even since the foundation of the earth, for the Sidhe arose as an overflow of the creation of their island. Their magic emanated from Ireland itself. There was no Sidhe word for war.
Then, the Milesians came.
Eons passed as the Sidhe were diminished and began to lose their magic. According to an ancient prophecy,, a Sidhe who could make light would restore the Sidhe magic and allow them to live free from fear.
Jayspark was born into a world of diminished Sidhe. His family hid from the bigs until one fateful day when he met a lonely human boy. The two became friends and their bond created a magic that would finally allow the Sidhe to face their oppressors.

FROM HOLLY CHISM: Fire and Forge (Modern Gods Book 3)

Long after their worshipers are forgotten, the gods are still holding up a corner of the bar at the Godshead Tavern. Some have learned since their stories became myths, some never did, and some are still finding old curses coming back to haunt…

Poseidon wants Artemis to lift Medusa’s curse so he and Medusa can resume relations, while Chronos seeks another chance to be whole and get to know his kids.

Meanwhile, Ares falls head over heels for a mortal half his size who manages to kick his ass not once but twice, and Loki’s son is trying to rebuild his life (and his credit) after a short marriage to Pandora.

Life and love runs smoothly for no one, god or mortal. And another disaster is brewing…

FROM MARY CATELLI: Curses And Wonders

A collection of tales of wonder and magic.

A prince sets out to win his way to the dragon’s lair.

A woman fights a curse on her lands.

A man returns to his castle, bringing a magical sword, and worse things.

And more tales.

Includes “Dragon Slayer”, “The Book of Bone”, “Mermaids’ Song”, “Witch-Prince Ways”, “Sword and Shadow”, “Eyes of the Sorceress”, “Fever and Snow” — and “The Emperor’s Clothes”, which is not sold separately.

FROM LEIGH KIMMEL: Spiral Horn, Spiral Tusk

A unicorn’s horn for the king, a medal for the admiral — but what for the lass who makes it possible?

Rissa possesses the dolphin-singer gift, which saved her life when the thief-taker found her. If she can guide the fleet to the white whale with the spiral tusk, she might win back her freedom.

But first she must return to land — and the sea has become angry at her betrayal…

A short story of the Ixilon universe

Originally published in Beyond the Last Star: Stories from the Next Beginning, edited by Sherwood Smith.

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: MARVELOUS

Yesterday I did something I used to do more often, and looked into the latest discoveries in paleontology and archeology and such.

And shortly after remembered why I no longer do it every month.

Apparently the latest, greatest news is that — yo, this is amazing — they’re finally not studying pre-history through the eyes of racism and sexism, and as such have determined that pre-historic hunting parties were as much as 80% female.

This is a discovery that of course makes perfect sense. No doubt the males were all back at base camp, chest-feeding the babies. Thereby freeing the pre-historic girl bosses to go and hunt them some mammoth.

If you’re staring at the screen with dropped jaws, I haven’t gone insane. I know this is utter and complete nonsense. It’s not my fault that the people running all our intellectual institutions, including research are morons studying to be idiots.

Applying the Heinlein filter for the actual reason they have to believe that up to 80% — 80%! — of pre-historic hunters were female, i.e. “Again and again, what are the facts?” we get that they found one grave — one — where the DNA of the remains are female (and here we’ll keep quiet about the strange idea that 6000 (I think) year old DNA is easily extracted, non-contaminated, etc. We’ll pretend we don’t know all the times they walked back “new species” because the DNA amplification techniques CREATED those discoveries.)

Let’s assume they’re correct and this was a female, buried with hunting implements. Sure, maybe she was a hunter. There will always be one or two in a large enough band, for the reason that in primitive societies some women are brought up as male: lack of a son, need to support the family, etc. (It is rarely a sexual thing, or because the person WANTED this. In fact it’s often decided for them before they are weaned. In fact, in primitive/ancient societies including the ones of our ancestors that we know about in detail, there was remarkably little room for self expression, self-conception or self interest. When you live close to the bone, such things are subjugated to the needs of the family, the clan, the tribe, more or less in that order. Because survival is hard.) We’re also informed, in BREATHLESS tones that it’s now thought that spear throwers were used to make sure women could throw spears fast enough! That’s why they exist.

But spear throwers are made and used by males, the world over. Go look at the tubes of you and you’ll see videos of people making them and using them, and they’re all male.

Further there is no society today of the ones still surviving more or less in a stone age way that has that kind of distribution for hunters. More importantly, there is no record of them, going as far back as we can.

Maybe this is because yes indeed, the past (being much closer to the bone, and therefore less willing to indulge in story telling) viewed things through a racist and sexist lens. Why not? After all I grew up in an intensely patriarchal society that still hadn’t adapted to the idea of women taking any hand in intellectual pursuits. And yes, that was unwarranted sexism. And every society is racist against every other (Actually culturist, but it’s often couched in terms of race.)

But still… You’d think that here and there there would be a race of valiant Amazons, whose men stay home and pound the taro while they go out and hunt, right?

But the truth is that if you put this notion to the remaining stone age people, they will laugh till they pee themselves. Yes, I know, I know, they internalized sexism from the evil white colonizers whom they’ve met three times in the last 100 years. That’s how powerful and evil whiteness is.

Or, listen, okay? I know this is just crazy talk, but maybe males and females are different and have evolved to fulfill different reproductive functions. And the reproductive function of females is more onerous than that of males. Women in our natural state, and unless something has gone seriously wrong — which of course makes us of less use to the tribe — spend most of our lives pregnant, nursing or carrying for children too young to care for themselves.

I know for well nourished women of the 21st century who are maybe pregnant once or twice in their lives this might not seem incompatible with being a mighty hunter, but please, try to realize that there is no such thing a consistently well fed hunter gatherer. Not in our terms. They might be well fed for some time period, but not over their entire lives. And for women nutrition is very important, because we grow entire other humans inside us, and our body has a way of leeching thing we need to give them to the baby.

You might think that “losing a tooth per child” is an old wives tale, but I did. Because in childhood I didn’t have enough milk or dairy products (Mom being convinced they were a trigger for eczema. They weren’t. Sugar was. But… culture.)

Now imagine people living at stone age level, where eating organs is necessary to get vitamins. And women…. Well, most women were not in great shape. In most primitive societies the world over, in all of recorded history women and children eat last.

This is not sexism, it’s “men need strength to walk for days in pursuit of an herd.” Now, if women were hunters… Yeah, that. They would walk for sometimes three days straight, while on the verge of giving birth. Give birth, then walk back three days. Carrying the baby and the dead animals, of course.

This is nonsense on stilts as any woman who has ever given birth will tell you. Yeah, yeah, Chinese peasants gave birth and went right back to work. Well, it was the Cultural revolution and they didn’t want to be killed, so some/many probably did. But this was not good for either mother or baby.

And in the end this is what is driving me bonkers about this drivel. If women want to have fantasies about great female warriors or leaders in pre-history, what harm does it do?

Oh, yeah, there was also the fact a great pre-historic ruler in Iberia was FEMALE. (If you heard that in breathless tones, that’s how I heard it in my head too.) She was buried with SYMBOLS of kingship! She was obviously a great war leader! And this means women had far more of a role in leading these societies than we thought!

Or you know, it could mean that she was born to kingship or clan head, because there were no sons, and that her role was like that of many warrior-queens in history who did strategize but not actually fight. (Most rulers didn’t. Male or female.) Or she could be all that and a rare exception. It still doesn’t show that “women” had a greater role. Only that perhaps this woman did. And doesn’t erase the fact that in most stone-age societies recorded by other civilizations women didn’t take such roles unless the society was in such trouble that they had to and they were the only ones available.

Because women’s normal role of producing the next generation and keeping them alive was more important. Because without the next generation there was no future for the tribe, when the current generation aged out. And no one to look after the elders.

So, what harm does it do to let educated women of the 21st century have their little fantasies? If it makes them happy to think history was girl bosses as far as the eye can see, why not give it to them?

First of all, because it’s a lie. Lies have a way of corrupting everything they touch. It is impossible for humans to know the truth of everything as far back as it goes, but it is important to try, and to at least not tell lies.

Second, because it creates hatred between men and women, which in turn destroys our future. If women were always equal or superior even to men, in pursuits we view as male, then the only reason this was obscured in the recent past is because of men oppressing women. And that must mean it’s some sort of war, instead of a co-operation.

Third, because it creates in women an expectation of what they should be able to do that’s completely insane. I felt guilty as heck because I wasn’t up and functioning normally after giving birth, because “peasant women in China did” — which was probably a gross lie, but even if it weren’t didn’t mean it was good for you. (But also led insurance to deny care after 24 hours, which had its own issues.) — I routinely feel guilty because I need to sleep 8 hours, because I was raised on “the driven artist” myth. If young women are raised to think that their foremothers walked three days straight through while in the third tri-mester, they’ll feel pampered and inadequate and do themselves violence.

Fourth, because it erases womanhood. I know what they think they’re doing is showing how powerful and strong women were, but what they are actually doing is saying the only roles that matter are male, and therefore if women are to be important they must have filled this role that — until yesterday — we knew mostly men fulfilled. Having children, child care, and child birth are suddenly unimportant. Cooking — which in those days was far more difficult — and keeping the shelter from leaking/keeping the tribe covered, curing pelts, looking after the aged and the sick, none of that matters. Gathering supplemental food that keeps the tribe from starving when the hunting is bad? Doesn’t matter.

Walking for days after an herd and driving them over a cliff and/or making war on neighboring tribes is the ONLY THING that matters, because it’s traditionally considered a male role. And the only good women fulfill male roles.

This is bad crazy.

Anyone with any knowledge of biology, anthropology, or you know… how humans actually work, knows this is nonsense. Anyone who has lived in any way close to the bone (even if still in incredible abundance by pre-historic standards) knows this is nonsense.

But it’s being published in scientific magazines, because our intellectual elite produced by an educational establishment incapable to teaching people to read fluently and devoted only to indoctrination, is so poisoned with story they think they can wish cast the past into existence.

They completely ignore that the reason we can and have overcome racism and sexism to a great degree is because we live in a time of incredible abundance.

And they’re willing to throw it all away for a feel good story that doesn’t pass the laugh test. Even if it hurts the future.

I learned at an early age that anyone who claims to speak “for the people” or do things “for the good of the people” is usually wrong.

In fact, the honest and earnest zealot who thinks he’s improving everyone’s life by doing x y or z if more of a danger than your average, run of the mill venal corruptocrat who merely wants to line his pockets and move on. (Note the current crop of corruptocrats are different. They explicitly seem to want to destroy everything while lining their pockets. I have theories about why this is is, but expounding on them would explode the post to five times its size.)

But there is a brand of “the people” that tends to get under the defenses of our side of the political spectrum aka those to the right of Lenin.

That brand is “the people don’t want freedom, they want to be looked after.”

Um… okay. Cozy belief you’re parroting. But why are you parroting it? And where did you get it? And didn’t your mommy never tell you not to put things in your mouth that you don’t know where they came from?

I know that right at this point some of you are inflating, puffer-fish style, ready to blow me out of the water with “history shows that people mostly want a leader on a white horse.”

Does history show that? Does it really? And have you accounted for the different conditions of those epochs, and the way the story was recorded?

Yes, history in general is a parade of various dictators and pseudo saviors, and some of them seem to have been beloved by the people.

Were they beloved by the people? Were they really? Even for the last 100 years mostly we know they were beloved by the press. Before that? How do you know?

Also, until recently in historic terms, people assumed those who were born with the right to rule them would rule them, and the best they could hope for was a semi-decent human being as leader.

Let’s leave history out of this, because at most it shows us what people are willing to tolerate, and not what people want. And history also has the tendency to hide the circumstances of people quite sternly opposing things that they’re supposed to be quite happy with. Not only is history a threadbare cloth over fractious peasant revolts, but those peasant revolts happened at all levels, from local to national.

I.e. people aren’t willing to put up with as much as you think they are. It’s just they didn’t tell you when they could sweep sometimes quite bloody revolts under the rug. Guys, I’m a student of history and until about three years ago, I wasn’t aware of the fact the Dutch had eaten their prime minister. And if you say “Yes, Sarah but that means you didn’t study very far” bah. I’ve spent years reading up on the history of Europe, sometimes under the color of research, and sometimes just because I wanted to. You often don’t stumble on these things unless you’re looking at some specific year or some specific and often odd incident.

So, history while in general an indicator of things that failed spectacularly, is not a good indicator of what people want or fail to want. Just of what they put up with, and the range of the possible at that time.

After that, how do you know? Well, sure, surveys, polls, etc. etc. etc.

But mostly — hear me on this — you “know” the common people want to be ruled by their betters because that’s what you’ve been told.

Because honestly the times we live in, it’s no wonder the price of gas is so high, they are gaslighting us 24/7 with the light of a thousand galaxies. I.e. if you believe 34% of the people in the land love them some FJB brand of governance, you might want to put down the pipe and stop toking. Yeah, he does have some who “approve” of him. I suspect around 24% of the people who are crazy or otherwise benefiting from his grift. It might be impossible to go below that.

If you believe that everyone likes and adores beloved leader, you probably also think that he got the most votes in the history of presidential elections. You might also have failed elementary school math.

Look, the truth is that since Obama they’ve been desperately trying to keep up the facade of “everyone loves this person.” And failing.

The reason they’re failing is that they already have lost control of the narrative. Their narrative is so stupid and bizarre that the only way they could push it is when they had control not only of all forms of mass news dissemination, but full control of the academia, and full control of entertainment with all the storylines following what the regime wants.

The truth is that it’s always been that way for totalitarian ideologues (and ours are as fully totalitarian as those of the old USSR, just not as coherent and not in command of the armed forces.) The old horrors of the USSR were brought down by fax machines and typewriters. Think about it a moment.

Now, while blogs and our little discussion groups on line seem totally ineffective to us, they are enough that under the greatest effort at mass brainwashing — the covidiocy — and with all the celebrities shilling for Joe Biden and accusing Trump of horrible crimes, people hunched their shoulders and went out and voted for Trump in such numbers that they ended up having to fraud at the last minute, implausibly, and in front of G-d and everybody.

Our blogs and our little discussion groups are enough that Facebook is banning images in the sharing of my blog and I remain throttled on Twitter. (TBF I believe Musk that if he tries to dismantle the architecture of censorship the whole thing will fall apart, but Mr. Musk, it’s time to get doing with a parallel architecture you can switch the service to. Build under, build over, build around!)

(For that matter not having a social media platform under their complete control is so scary that overnight they switched from Musk fans to trying to make him the world’s worst arch-villain.)

Our blogs and our little discussion groups are enough that the would-be masters of the universe of the WEF rated censorship as their vital necessity right now.

Let’s face it, guys, we: the hobbits, the deplorables, the contrarians are winning this fight and the other side is on the run.

Even in Europe, with their almost complete control of the news and information structure — they’ve managed to keep ebooks and self-publishing unobtanium and blogs out of the question, through mostly draconian speech laws — they are facing mass revolts of farmers and working people.

Do people want “freedom” as some abstract ideal? Maybe not, because “freedom” as an abstract ideal can be pretty insane. (Look at Oregon recriminalizing drug use.) “Freedom” can be interpreted as a total absence of police, for instance, which might sound great, until you find that this means citizen patrols have to learn the three Ss. (And are, in places in this country, I bet you.)

But people do want the freedom to go about their lawful occasions, defined as earning a living, establishing their own livelihood, raising families, determining their own fate.

Every person does. And once the “ruler” interferes too much with that, you get revolt.

Sometimes you get the loud in your face revolt. And sometimes you get wearing your mask with the nose hanging above it. Or leaving every other pew in church empty by ADDING EXTRA PEWS between the existing ones.

And in either case, you won’t hear about it, more than likely. If you hear it’s likely to be the first one not the second. In your face, not hooves firmly affixed and refusing to do as told. But most of the time you won’t hear at all, outside the small group be it region or professional. Even when you hear about it, you don’t hear when the rebellion wins. (The trucker revolt in Canada. They got all their demands met. Yes it cost them horrifically. Because liberty is so valuable, it must be dearly bought.)

Yes the people want freedom, or at least individual liberty. No, they don’t want to be ruled and commanded. They want liberty enough that the left is going to hurt us very badly trying to fight their final rearguard action to stay in control.

If you believe only the enlightened, or educated or whatever want liberty and everyone else wants “security” or “to be ruled” you are victim of a deception that plays on your sense of unearned superiority.

And your parroting this nonsense plays into the enemy’s hands. Because it is foundational to Marxism that the workers are too stupid to know what they want or need and must therefore be led by intellectuals.

Stop picking up opinions you find lying about and putting them in your mouth because they taste so good.

You don’t know where they’ve been, or where they’ve come from.

And most of them are poison.

When my son was in the choir, he told me when you didn’t know the words, or if you’d lost your voice just before the number, or something, you could pass by just mouthing “watermelon, watermelon, watermelon” and no one will know, in the choir that you’re not actually singing.

I feel like I was hit over the head by a writer stopping a choir so he could sing WATERMELON at the top of his voice. This, of course, is a craft error and I covered that here. It is a writing mistake. Which is why I did that on that blog.

But on top of that I found myself thinking “Do you think?” — meaning the author — “In any sense of the word? Or are you just signaling with things you memorized and that you’ve been assured it’s what every smart person thinks? And even if you thought your lecture was on point and the matter is super important, what do you think it would achieve?”

I’m not going to tell you what the book or the author was. You can read the background details for why I started reading this book in the first place.

I hit a substantial portion of the book, and the character is making fun of the names developers give to developments and how they make no sense. It could be a good funny thing, but the writer couldn’t help himself and had to say “And that’s why when developers became politicians they lied so much.”

Uh. Look, guys, until that point I thought I was reading something 20 years old at least, but at that point I went and looked at copyright and, son of a bitch, yep 2020.

And you know what? That dig didn’t need to be there, and it totally threw me out, because why would someone 100 years in the future obsess on Trump? But TDS is a hell of a drug, so fine, whatever. I continued reading.

This kept on until in the middle of a tense situation and apropos nothing the character muses on where he could retire and decides that he couldn’t possibly go to the beach, because it “would be underwater by then.”

At which point I hit my first “do you even think?” because how many times have we been assured the beaches will be underwater? And yet it isn’t 100 years from now, and yet it would be in another… 12 years? What the heck?

What this told me is that the author was just “watermeloning” and not realizing that what he was saying didn’t make any sense in the book. It was a lack of respect for his character and his story.

At this point I had some trouble convincing myself to continue reading. I realized it when I found myself not wanting to pick up the book in the morning.

Still, even though it wasn’t rocking my world, the characters were not obnoxious and the story was at least somewhat interesting, and he had four more books in the series, and I didn’t want to go look for another series to start.

And then in the middle of a chase scene — A chase scene! — the character worries that his electric car is going to be stopped for the daily Earth hour.

The. DAILY. Earth. Hour.

He doesn’t even try to hide that this comes from the ravings of a autistic Scandinavian Teen. Okay, he didn’t mention that she was autistic and borderline illiterate, as well as a massive fraud — eating food that have to be flown in — when away from the cameras or thinking she was away from the cameras. But then again if he fell for the little Greta Mountain of Tuna act, how smart is he, anyway?

But in whose adult head does it make sense that this “great idea” for “slowing global cooling” came from a kid who is not a scientist or honestly — as anyone who hears her can tell — particularly smart. The only reason anyone paid attention to her was leaning hard on the myths of the holy child, who speaks for the gods, which is something that goes back to probably pre-history. But rational sense? Not a wit.

And then, beyond the massive disrespect for his own job of entertaining us, we get into the internal contradictions of this nonense.

He goes on about how stopping air conditioning or heating for an hour won’t hurt you, and it’s for the good of the Earth. Oh, come on. Do these people actually interact with reality, at any level?

Let alone that stopping your car in the middle of something can and will put people at risk, even if it’s a regularly scheduled event, because if all cars suddenly become disabled for an hour, you know there would be people who were caught in the middle of a traffic jam and delayed, or something, and in the middle there there would be an ambulance. People would die every day for this piece of nonsense.

But let’s go into the helping the Earth thing. HOW does stopping everything for an hour help the Earth? Cars are still going to go on their merry way, and use the same energy they would have used anyway. It’s not like people will go “Oh, oops, stopped for an hour. Won’t take that trip now.”

And the heating/cooling…. Good Lord. It’s the perfect “mouthing watermelon” but accomplishing nothing “solution.” In other words, it’s the same bullshit as all the “green” solutions that have us washing our dishes three times, and using at least twice the water we’d have used otherwise. Or having to buy plastic bags, because they’ve been “banned” and in the process using twice as many bags, because those are now crap. Or sucking a drink through a paper straw, even though all the plastic pollution in the ocean is a) grossly exaggerated. b) from third world countries.

BUT the heating and cooling…. What planet is this author from? Does he not realize that if you stop the heating or cooling, you’re going to end up using more energy to get it back up/down to temperature than if you kept it at a constant, which is how modern systems manage to save energy over older ones, by keeping a constant circulation, and giving it little jots now and then to keep it even and comfortable. I mean, who does it help, if after your “holy” Earth hour “Every day!” that you get massive fines for violating, you’re going to use MORE energy to catch up again?

This is why hotels who have to put in that green-signaling scam of putting the room key in the unit to make air-conditioning run, have just started as a matter of course to give you a card to keep in the unit. Because they’re not stupid and don’t want to increase their heating/cooling bills. (Unless they’re in Europe where apparently people don’t do math.)

Look, it would be okay, if this were, say, a romance, or even a contemporary mystery, but this was science fiction. I expect authors of science fiction to be minimally acquainted with science and how things work. Or to have first readers who are.

However, more importantly, holy heck, this author is at least ten, and I think fifteen years older than I. He has to remember the “we’re all going to freeze” hysteria. Has to. Absolutely has to.

He has to remember when it pivoted smoothly to “we’re all going to bake” over one summer. And he has to remember how it’s always twelve years away.

By Al Gore’s phony prophecies we should all already have baked. There should be no snow anywhere, etc. etc.

Instead, as far as we can tell, outside urban islands, the Earth has gotten if anything a little cooler, and we have a better chance of flipping to ice age than boiling. And if we do, it has zero to do with our tech or our “decadent” western lifestyle or any of that crap. If we do it’s mostly likely because of some cycle we don’t fully understand.

Most importantly, really, how can a science fiction author have missed the fact that nuclear energy would solve all of this without phony “Earth hours” and teenage recriminations, and there’s no logical reason not to use it, unless the goal is to take down civilization, not to cool the Earth?

But on top of all this? WHAT DID HE THINK HE WAS ACCOMPLISHING?

Did he think by doing this paen to “OMG the Earth is Warmering! We must follow St. Greta Mountain of Tuna and have a Holy Earth Hour every day to appease Gaia’s chafed vagina!” was going to convince a reader who, up till then had heard this same song sung in a million books, all school books for the last 40 years, most comic books and movies, popular songs, and of course Gretas Autistic Greatest Hits Tour and now, now, in the middle of this book which is not about St. Al Gore the Manbearpig, or the Prophecies of the Tuna Mountain, now, this skeptical reader — and let’s face it, that’s me — was going to stop and go “Oh, now, now that this character from an imagined future is telling me how important this bullshit is? Now, I’ll totally believe that 100 years plus another 12 in the future it will all come to an end if we don’t live like Neolithic farmers!

Pardon me for this rant. Unlike Bill Reader’s incredible post of yesterday, this is not carefully reasoned, or historical analysis. This is just me being so fricking incredibly tired.

I’d be okay if we were having an honest exchange of ideas, an argument on different paths humanity could take. I even understand some concern on the environment, because though I think they grossly overestimate our ability to affect complex systems like climate, I don’t think we should say put a shade between us and the sun (just to mention one of those ideas from the left) without carefully considering all the pros and cons.

But dear lord. The complete lack of originality and thought in someone who is supposed to be a futurist! It’s infuriating and more than a bit scary.

My religion forbids me from assuming that some percentage of humans are really NPCs just put in to lend verisimilitude to an otherwise thin and threadbare narrative.

But sometimes… Sometimes the temptation is overwhelming.

Because here we are marshaling our best arguments, making sure we have the facts right and making sure the lecture is appropriate wherever we put it, and then double checking everything we say.

And there they are, apropos nothing, breaking into things where it makes no sense, and shrieking at the top of their voices: WATERMELON.

Only Nazis by Bill Reader

Only Nazis would oppose the systematic rape and murder of Jews.
Only Nazis would oppose people who want to exterminate all Jews.
Only Nazis would oppose people who want to subjugate the entire western world, especially America.
Only Nazis would oppose segregating people by race.
Only Nazis would oppose treating people of one race as inferior with no reference to their merits or character.
Only Nazis would oppose censorship.
Only Nazis would oppose covert surveillance.
Only Nazis would support the individual right to bear arms.
Only Nazis would oppose arbitrary expropriation of property from enemies of the state under color of law.
Only Nazis would support election integrity.
Only Nazis would, in particular, demand that election laws not be altered at the last minute by illegal means.
Or ask for an audit when suddenly election tabulation happens in a way it has never happened in the past, resulting in multiple objectively implausible upsets at the last minute.
Only Nazis would question a vote where the poll observers were kicked out in the middle of performing the count.
Only Nazis would advocate for objective reality over the ever-changing whims and fantasies of the party and the state.

All these things and more you are told only Nazis would do. Of course it makes no sense. It’s not just untrue, it’s the opposite of true, like serving a person a cup of flaming gasoline and calling it ice-water.

It is time and long past time to speak truth. The Democrats are the Nazis. In every meaningful respect they are a 1:1 reflection—they are viciously anti-Semitic, power mad statists, no better than the ones America put down 80 years ago. History will eventually view it as an indictment of the breathtaking gullibility of man that the successors to the Nazis waltzed so easily into the corridors of power simply by insisting at every turn that they were not what they plainly were.

I will repeat again how this simple and stupid ploy managed to play out this way, in the prayer that maybe this time the signal will be heard. The “U shaped” political spectrum is a lie. It has always been a lie, and it’s a lie that serves the interests of the Left every time you repeat it.

Nazi is short for National Socialist German Worker’s party. They were named that because the Nazis were socialists—they were never, by any measure, excepting maybe the fucked up standards of Europe, “right wing”*.

The reason that “everyone knows” that the Nazis were “right wing” is because the main opposition to the Nazis in Germany as they were rising to power were “international socialists”, known otherwise popularly in America as communists—and more correctly and precisely, in their place and time, as advocates for Soviet hegemony of countries that communists organized in. In the years preceding World War II, what occurred in Germany was a fight between International Socialism and National Socialism. National Socialism won out in Germany proper—in no small part because Germans did not, in the main, want to become a Soviet vassal, and the Nazis were the most coherent opposition to that fate. But that wasn’t the end of the story, for two reasons. The most important of those was that Hitler and Stalin had a falling out. Their alliance up to that point, it must be emphasized, made perfect sense, because despite the fact that Hitler’s domestic political opponents had largely been pro-Soviet, the two totalitarian, statist societies had much more in common with one another than the Soviets had with any member of the allies. The other was that Germany was not the only place that far-left extremist groups had Soviet sympathies. Both Europe and the United States had the same problem, and such groups followed Soviet propaganda closely.

The standard smear that Soviet communists used against their opponents was to call them “right wing” (Like all Soviet propaganda the relationship to the truth was tangential at best— most right wing people did, in fact, oppose Soviets, but opposing the Soviets doesn’t at all imply that you are right wing. Note that modern day Leftists, by the old Soviet standards, would be considered rabidly “right wing” for arming Ukraine.). And shortly thereafter, American conservatives who opposed American Leftist groups that were heavily financed by, and compromised by the Soviets, began to be equated to the Nazis. That is why you may have heard Walt Disney accused of being a Nazi, for example—because Walt Disney opposed extreme Leftist union members who were not just Marxists, but Marxists with ties to the Soviet Union. In point of fact, Walt Disney was not a Nazi, and the accusation doesn’t even make superficial sense, but there was also no attempt to make it make any sense. It was simply repeated enough by Left wing groups that people assumed there must be some kernel of truth in it.

So of course your political spectrum looks “U” shaped. Both of its poles are left wing! That’s not some deep political insight: that’s you trying unsuccessfully to make sense out of competing propaganda. Nor is it an indictment of the “far right”, so much as an indictment of your historical understanding.

“Right wing dictator” in American terms is a contradiction in terms, a nonsense phrase. The joking tagline of this blog, “Taking over the world and leaving it ruthlessly alone” is exactly why.

To be a dictator is to centralize all power in the person and agents of the person. All dictatorships are statist in nature.

Yes, there have been examples of countries rocking back and forth between “Left wing” and “Right wing” dictators, but the latter are simply the effect from above writ large—a combination of unimaginative one-note Leftist attacks of Soviet pedigree, and people getting so tired of the Leftists presently in power that people who oppose them begin to call themselves “Right wing” without remotely resembling the American conception if it. In such countries, both sides end up cyclically redistributing each other’s wealth through and to the state, imprisoning each other’s leaders, and imposing overbearing laws targeting each other’s supporters. Those dynamics are best understood as competing factions of Leftists. Your precious “U shape” was drawn with only half the graph. A more accurate depiction would be:

 It was precisely because of the work of these groups that Europe went on to learn exactly the wrong lesson from World War I and II, embracing socialism and attempting to divest themselves of nationalism. Soviet-aligned groups—international socialists, remember—saw nationalism as one of the great obstacles to their success, and Europe fell for their bullshit, hook, line, sinker (rod, reel, fisherman, boat).

This despite the fact that both the socialist nation they stopped from conquering Europe by force, and the socialist nation they belatedly allowed to join the alliance to assist them in doing that, were examples of Hell on Earth—socially repressive, tyrannical, and eventually, genocidal (speaking of Ukraine).

That mistake has resulted in Europe as it exists today, lying on its deathbed, unable and unwilling to defend itself even as a war is raging closer to them than war has been in half a century. Their only pretense of defense is to whine that Americans are defending them inadequately—they will not shift a penny from the socialist state that they have built on, first, an ironclad belief in the accuracy of dusty Soviet propaganda, and latterly on simple corruption, cupidity, and avarice. Their farmers are strangling to death under the weight of repressive legislation and still their governments import every idiot third worlder with working legs to further overburden their collapsing welfare state.

None seems to dare admit the obvious— that on long enough time scales, anti-nationalism and socialism, as ideologies, are not survivable, nor sustainable, nor even meaningfully sane; as well they shouldn’t be since they are aggressor ideologies, meant specifically to ripen up countries to be conquered by an empire that ironically collapsed under its own weight decades hence. T

he violent third world Muslims who are toppling the old, sick, and weakened European countries pay no homage either to socialism or to nationalism, will certainly not practice “cultural humility”, nor will they care about the complaints of those who have turned such things into a secular religion. Europe’s “progress” will end in their lands and descendants beholden to the mores of the 7^th century, and all this they will tell themselves is for the best, because at least they didn’t repeat Nazism.

They will sacrifice all they have, all they have ever had, all they could have been, in return for a nod of approval from the ghost of Stalin. And the monsters that breed in their corpses will become the existential concerns of our children—but I digress.

Remember all of this. The person who calls you a Nazi online today is admitting implicitly that he or she is the inheritor of a party that was so compromised by the Soviet Union that it is still repeating its nonsensical slanders a century later. McCarthy was an optimist.

And Left wing puddingheads: don’t attempt to counter with laughable “white supremacist” groups that are supposedly right wing in the modern era.

The vast majority of these consist of three FBI agents and two men who are products of an American school system that isn’t even pretending not to be an indoctrination factory anymore.

There is an overwhelming chance that any “white” person participating in such groups has as many black ancestors as the average black person in America. (I remind you of the supposed kidnapping plot of a governor that, when all was tabulated and exposed, was composed of mostly federal agents).

The highest profile groups—like the very appropriately named Patriot “Front”—are almost certainly entirely composed of feds. To the extent that any of these groups are something besides yet another inappropriate and stupid use of Federal money, it’s a combination of ignorance about what Nazis actually were, and the same problem South American countries exhibit, cited above—namely, the Democrat party being so hostile, stupid, and evil, that some people actually begin to consider that an ideology that resulted in the death of millions might have a point, simply because the Left repeatedly assert that those are their opponents. Which is to say, that American Democrats self-consciously emulate the aforementioned suicidal ideology of Europe but lie more about doing it.

A gaggle of suspiciously crew-cut people in masks and professionally printed uniforms that by some strange coincidence include government-issue pants is not an example of Nazism, it’s an example of my tax dollars being wasted by an agency that stopped having a reason to exist after Prohibition ended. American college students coast to coast calling for Jewish blood in between advocating for Socialism—that is Nazism. That is obviously Nazism.

To my conservative readers, I will conclude with this thought:

2016 became, famously, the flight 93 election. I put it to you that this election is the Battle of Britain. We are going to decide in November whether the Nazis get to take over, by force, the bastion of freedom that they have relentlessly assaulted.

I invite you to consider it in that light when you are donating, campaigning, and voting—and to bear in mind that no incarnation of the Nazis, be they German Socialists or American Socialists, has ever cared much for conceptions of fair play or honesty. Do not assume, when you are making your plans, that such things will be sufficient. Leverage every ounce of power you hold over the Left, do anything you can to stop the corruption they are assaulting our system with. Be weary of dirty tricks, because they will certainly attempt some. You face a ruthless enemy who represent an existential threat.

But the horrors they will commit in the war are nothing compared to what they will do if permitted to win.

_________________

*That is also true of fascists, incidentally. Benito Mussolini was a socialist before deriving the political theory of fascism, which he saw as further articulating and perfecting of the principles of socialism. In fact the fasces (that’s fah-sees, not the plural of face), the eponymous symbol of fascism, is an axe with a bundle of sticks as its handle, chosen specifically because it symbolizes the strength of the collective bound together in service of the state.

THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS POST. THERE IS NO APRIL FOOLS. APRIL FOOLS IS A LIE. GIVEN THE CURRENT STATE OF THE CLOWN WORLD, I’D LIKE A SENSIBLE PEOPLE DAY – SAH

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 Graham Bradley: Rebel Heart (Engines of Liberty Book 1.)

For centuries the British Empire has ruled territories the world over, maintaining its grasp on its far-flung colonies by way of magic and brute force. Any successful attempt at rebellion is short-lived, as the rebels do not have the benefit of wizardy on their side.

The most recent attempt at secession happened in the New World in 1776, some two hundred years ago. General George Washington nearly succeeded at rallying his countrymen in a military revolt against the Crown. But disunity and infighting ultimately brought them down, and Washington was executed in a public spectacle.

Most people gave up. But not all.

The cleverest and most driven survivors went to ground. They learned from their mistakes. They planned, they plotted, they tinkered and they toiled. They began to develop new weapons and machines that would level the playing field. With technology at their fingertips, anyone could stand toe-to-toe with a British mage and come off conqueror.

The uprising has been a long time coming. The arsenal is as large as it’s going to get. Now all the “technomancer” army needs is soldiers, young patriots like Calvin Adler, who has had enough of the mages pushing him around.

Freedom beckons, if he will but pay the price in blood, sweat, and tears.

This is the New Revolution.

FROM JAMES TOTTEN: Mustangs and Thunderbolts (Breaching Ain’t Easy! Book 7)

What happens when new communication technologies allow the drone driver to leave the drone’s zip code? Who develops the target deck for massive strikes against Russian targets? What does it take to counter a new Russian trick? Follow the drone drivers of the 427th Combined Effects Battalion as they answer all of these questions and more in this fast-paced novella of World War Three.

FROM LINDSAY PETERSEN: Shadow Chasers: Steampunk Excursions to View the 1878 Eclipse.

A once-in-a-lifetime experience! Adventure you’ll never forget! Irresistible – to some.
In 1878 a solar eclipse was predicted, the shadow’s path to sweep from Alaska across the Rocky Mountains, promising an enthralling event guaranteed to strike envy into the hearts of others for the rest of your life. But how to get to the edge of the frontier safely?
Victoria Bearskin of the Wyandotte tribe and a student in Vassar’s astronomy program is forbidden to go. Nofina Nolana, an oyster pirate scoundrel from San Francisco orders his crew to hijack a ship to Juneau – which turns out to be Captain Nemo’s long-lost Nautilus submarine. From New Orleans Lurie and Clark ride paddle steamers up the mighty rivers of America’s heart to preserve images of the event.
While all eyes are on their sweet moments in moonshadow they overlook chance encounters with bad men, big animals and birthin’ babies. After all that, who would emerge from the mad gambles?
All learn there are no promises in this life, but there are second chances and new beginnings are born from once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
A stand-alone novelette of 14,000 words by Lindsay Petersen.

BY CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER, REVIVED BY D. JASON FLEMING: The Raider (Annotated): The classic pulp western!

When Ellen Ballinger got abducted, she managed to turn it into a complicated scheme to end up married to Jeff Hale. Jeff didn’t much like liars, nor stubborn, wrong-headed women like Ellen… and yet, there was something about his new wife, something a good deal less complicated than the land-grabbing scheme that he was facing from skunks like Dallman and Kellis. And seeing justice done, while staying on the right side of the law, and the right side of his new wife, would be more complicated still…

• This iktaPOP Media edition includes a new introduction giving the book historical and genre context.

FROM MARY CATELLI: Madeleine and the Mists

Enchanted pools, shadowy dragons, wolves that spring from the mists and vanish into them again, paths that are longer, or shorter, than they should be, given where they went. . . the Misty Hills were filled with marvels.

Madeleine still left the hills, years ago, to marry against her father’s will. If her husband’s family is less than welcoming, she still is glad she married him, and they have a son, two years old.

But her husband’s overlord has fallen afoul of the king. And all his men fall with him, including her husband.

She sets out, to seek the queen and try to bypass the king — and the Misty Hills.

Some things are not so easily evaded.

FROM CAROLINE FURLONG: The Guardian Cycle, Vol. 2: American Mage and Other Stories

It is said that war is hell. But what of the Prisoners of War, or the war orphans who grow up amidst the chaos, and what of those who escape their enemy’s prisons?

In Halcyon, meet a man who has been abused in a prison camp for so long that he has forgotten his own name – but not the desire to survive. Follow the adult orphans Warlock Ruthers produced in his campaign for power as they protect two children whom he seeks to murder to defeat a prophecy of his downfall in American Mage.

Meanwhile, Allan Kearney and Michio Oshika work on removing the demon tattoos from the former’s back at the same time they seek the means to end the persecution of Allan’s fellow prisoners. But demons do not release their prey without a fight, as the young Torránese soldier knows all too well. If he is to survive, let alone help rescue his comrades, first he will have to face the monsters clawing for his soul. It will be a battle that will require all his strength – and more…

FROM KAREN MYERS: The Visitor, And More: A Science Fiction Short Story Bundle from There’s a Sword for That.

A Science Fiction Story Bundle from the collection There’s a Sword for That

THE VISITOR – Felockati is anchored to his permanent location underwater and misses the days of roaming his ocean world freely.

But something new drops out of the sky and widens his horizons — all the way to the stars.

YOUR EVERY WISH – Stealing the alien ambassador’s dagger is a sure thing for Pete — just what he needs to pay off his debts.

Until he starts talking to it. There has to be a way to get something for himself out of the deal. Has to be.

FROM LEIGH KIMMEL: City of Blinding Light

The Columbian Exposition has transformed Chicago into a vision of the bright shining future. However, the electric lights that turn night to day bring no joy to Kitty Hawthorne, and not just because they are the work of her employer’s chief rival. Now Edison wants her to abandon her investigation of Tesla’s alternating current system and look into a mysterious newcomer. Who is Samuel Gillian, who devises calculating machinery as easily as he builds flying machines?

https://amzn.to/4cCd9sCFROM ILENE KAYE: The Keeper, the Cat, and the Gate: A novella (The Fae Gate Chronicles Book 1)

A Letter from out of the Blue,
a Puzzle with a Missing Piece,
a Cat that’s not really a Cat.
Do they mean more trouble than Nan can handle?

When Nan receives a box of wooden blocks and an enigmatic letter from a long-lost relative, she’s not certain what it means. There’s definitely something strange – one might even say magical – about the blocks, but what are they really for? And why is her newly acquired cat, Patch, so interested in them?

Patch has been tracking the blocks for over two hundred years. They’re the key to him becoming a man again and returning to his own time and place. If Nan can figure out how to use them.

But others are interested in the blocks, too. How are an inexperienced Keeper and a cat supposed to protect them?

FROM DAN MELSON: Measure Of Adulthood (The Politics of Empire Book 4)

Kusaan del. It means ‘divine finger’

The Empire of Humanity is locked in a war for survival with the Fractal Demons. Years on, the dice are still tumbling. Billions have died and planets have been destroyed. Meanwhile, an old loose end has resurfaced and forced Grace to confront a mistake from her teenage years – her son by a long-dead lover has lost his adulthood, and only Grace can save him from exile.

But the Fractal Demons initiate a new strategy, and are starting to turn the tide in their favor. Grace is unlucky enough to be assigned to deal with one of their first strikes under the new strategy, and she’s unable to prevent several million deaths.

But she’s learned enough to master her problems, both as the new mother of a two hundred year old son, and as one of those defending the masses of the Empire from assault by the demons. She has grown from her origins, and just because she seems to have a knack for attracting trouble doesn’t mean she can’t handle it. When the divine finger points at her, she steps up to deal with it.

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: EXPANSION

Today I have family things.

If you celebrate go and have a Happy Easter. If you don’t, go do something fun.

We’ll be back tomorrow, I promise.