Taking the Odyssey (Thaddeus' ship which he named after an old book he found in the ruins of a library on Lullingstone) out of hyperdrive, Thaddeus navigates his ship toward a giant cloud covered planet. "This must be Ventura."

Finding a safe corridor between the clouds, the Odyssey twists and turns between dark clouds and lightning bolts until it finds its way to solid ground. The landing gear deploys and the ship lands with a soft bump. The crew breathes a collective sigh of relief as they emerge from the safety of the ship, stepping out onto the alien landscape of the storm-wracked planet.

The landscape stretches out before them, shrouded in swirling mists. Flashes of lightning dance across the sky and the faces of the crew. Dark clouds loom overhead, casting shadows that play across the rugged terrain. Despite the chaos of the storms, there is a certain stark majesty about it; jagged rock formations jut up from the ground, and valleys below them seem to be carved by relentless winds. The air feels charged with electricity, like lightning is crackling within the very molecules of air they breathe. And the booming thunder is almost melodious in its rhythmic certainty.

Amidst the scene, one of the crew members draws Thaddeus's attention to a distant light flickering in the darkness. Squinting against the swirling mist, Thaddeus can just make out the faint glow of a ship approaching through the storm. As it draws nearer, it becomes clear that something is indeed making its way towards the landing site.

Starlog of Paladin Roach as told by chadnorth:

Having unloaded a cargo of daggits to brokers on Diamond ‘Captain’ Roach now decides to use all of Precious’ fuel to accept a cargo of pilgrims to the planet Rapelje on the Outer Rim. The cargo consists of about 27 adolescent females robed in red with white hoods to be delivered to the Central Temple of Joris (the hierophant). As expected the trip is concluded with his normal precision (they made it). There was a parade planned for all of the newcomers as few travelers come out this far. Paladin is uninterested in the fanfare. He does not seek an audience with Rapeljeins nor does he provide a grateful donation; he thinks delivering the pilgrims with their virginity intact is more than sufficient especially after such a long trip.

Upon collecting payment he heads for the nearest hostel. While on Rapelje a lone figure dressed in black arrives at night and offers up a fair price for his next delivery.

Extremely bored while waiting for a landing clearance that may never arrive, Willy Minmax uses his time in Gondilly orbit to negotiate with the owner of the pointless scissors.  Willy manages to talk a gentleman named "Rip Higgs" down from "heavily discounted, free on board Gondilly" to "on consignment".  Why the seller would feel comfortable putting his goods onto a confessed "tramp steamer" is not disclosed, but Willy promises to do his best and return with the profits as soon as practicable.  Suspicion and regret fill his mind, despite the far greater justification for Mr. Higgs to own such feelings.

Do any of you recall my brief attempt at NaNo back in 2022? I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

Why? Well, it's because I'm being... condescending. Not my proudest moment, but if I can't be honest with you folks, who can I be honest with?!

Condescending how, you ask?

Well, I've been listening to a lot on Audible recently. (Yes, I know there are other, ostensibly better audio book storefronts out there. Yes, I should give them my business.) Like, A LOT of audio books. I stopped listening to podcasts altogether for a few months. That dumped a lot of listening time back into my schedule. On top of that, the hours for this 'new' job are... significantly longer.

If I'm doing the math right, I've listened to 42 books since starting the job in November. Some of these are pretty lengthy.

All but two of them are in the LitRPG genre.

I'm kinda fascinated by what I'm hearing. Partly because it fits that ooooold fantasy trope that I so enjoy - someone from 'the real world' going to a fantasy world. This trope is not the newest thing in the world (the Guardians of the Flame series was one of my favorites as a kid) but the LitRPG genre is at least new to me.

So I'm making a little 'study' of the genre. Trying to figure out the similarities and differences between the different authors. Figuring out what the audience of the genre expect.

From what I can piece together, the LitRPG genre is to fantasy novels as streaming is to video game playing. There's this sense of 'no real start or stop - just follow along with out hero on the adventure!'.

Some series even seem to eschew the whole 3 act format. More than once, I found myself surprised by the Audible Guy saying "Audible hopes you have enjoyed this program." Side note: if you see me in person? Ask for my imitation of that guy. I have heard so many audio books, I feel like I can actually nail his every nuance.

What's more, the writing is... not amazing. Some series are better than other, for certain. And the voice actors really help here. Still.

Seeing it yet?

My NaNo thing was fun for me in part because I used a randomizer to create a kind of prompt for that day's writing. That, in turn, made the whole thing a bit like a solo TTRPG for me.

And I think that the audience for the genre is so hungry for MOAR they don't care that it's not as polished. Call it the YouTube-ification of novel writing.

I say all of this to simply say that I write moderately well during my first draft of most creative writing.

In other words "I could do that. Maybe better than that."

A novel series (especially in an audio format) is obviously a looong way out. If I was to get a three book series completed, it would arguably be the biggest accomplishment of my life.

But I'm looking at NaNo 2022 and thinking...

Did you read my efforts in 2022? Would you like to see Morgan make a return?

ETA: Looks like I never posted the words I did for Day 4. I'll see about doing that asap.

The tale of Hirila as told by nikkinoorden:

Desperately longing to leave her home planet, but never old enough to travel, Hirila finally, finally was granted a license to leave Tibro. Growing up in such an advanced society may have its benefits like being educated enough and access to technological refuse to fashion your own ship from secondhand parts, but Hirila may have been the odd one out since the pressure and expectations from a society who prides accomplishments above personal happiness or self worth was suffocating. Thus, rather than studying the mystery behind “Ghosts” like her family demanded of her, she worked hard and made her one person shuttle to leave.

She submitted her traders license number and a cargo list at the traders' guild. Her destination? Urakaze, home to probably the most inhospitable environment. However, she had heard of a rumor while repairing space vessels that there was a lone continent that wasn’t tainted by industrial waste and was uninfluenced by the Algebras. A place she could gather a few meager resources as well as hope she could venture farther out into the unknown, leaving Ghosts and her do or damned society behind.

The tale of Paladin Roach as told by Doug Hoek (chadnorth):

Paladin Roach was a late starter. He managed to scrape together enough money to repair the engines on the crashed ship that he inherited from his uncle. He posted on an Intergalactic message board, “Have ship will travel” along with his coded contact information. Then the long wait, wondering who’d be dumb enough to to risk their cargo in this old clunker named “Precious.” Finally an interested party made contact -- a load of pet robots are needed to be delivered to Diamond. Paladin researched Diamond’s import policies and restrictions, weighed the costs and and benefits, and after taking enough payment to cover initial costs blasted off.

Once in orbit around Diamond the cargo was transferred to an awaiting shuttle (an unexpected cost plus tax) to be offloaded to the consortium itself (more cost and taxes).  "Should be able to show enough profit to get wherever the next load may take me", he said.

<< part of my continuing series recording memories to assure myself I've actually been to the places I think I've been to>>

I'm doing New York in two parts. This part is just about the New York City area. At some time in the future I may write about the not-NYC part of New York. 

Excelsior is Latin for “Higher.” And the NY state motto. Now you know.

Despite growing up just 3 hours south of New York City, it was never an experience for me as a child. NYC was that far away overwhelming dangerous big city. Nevermind that we went to DC a lot,  Philly sometimes, and Baltimore upon occasion -- I do not have one childhood memory of going to NYC.

My first NYC memory is when I was about 19 and I had an interview in NYC for some summer internship (that I didn’t get). I stayed with my cousin who lived in Brooklyn, navigating my own way via Amtrak & subway. By this point I’d already spent time in Madrid and maybe London - city transit did not intimidate. About that same age - maybe a year plus or minus, I met up with a few friends in Manhattan. We went to my first Broadway play - something forgettable with Mark Hamilin (yes, of Star Wars fame) as the lead called. . . queue me going on a google dive to find the name . . .yes, found it THE NERD 1987-88. That would have made me 18. I remember it as it was my first NYC play. And I remember noticing how the sidewalk of Broadway sparkled in the night light. I thought then, as I do now, that more sidewalks should be sparkly. 

Across the years I’ve had a number of trips to NYC. I've had a work meeting or two there; a work meeting or two just outside the city that I would tack on a day or two to visit into the city. Plus a few other personal trips here and there. One that sticks out in mempry: while I was living in San Franciso, 3 of us gals did a weekend in NYC in November 2008. We ate our way through top chef restaurants, went to night clubs and speakeasy style bars. It was wonderful and we felt so chic doing the cross continental weekend trip to the Big Apple. Here, a photo of us at Buddakan. 

In January 2017 CM Adams ​​​​​​​ invited me to this event in NYC (well, Brooklyn) called Zlatne Uste Golden Fest. It became a mini-reunion as a few other college friends joined; we’d do the event and then some city tourist things. I must shout: ZLATNE USTE GOLDEN FEST IS THE BEST PARTY. Rooms of music, tons of dancing, great food, fancy fancy location “Grand Prospect Hall”.

I ended up going back 2018, 2019, 2020 and then it didn’t happen in the Pandemic years. The venue got sold and demolished. Very sad :-( I thought the Golden Fest would become one of those awesome things in my past, never to experience again. However, it appears they have found a new location and it will happen this May 2024! Same bat party, new bat venue! I just got tickets & bringing my kiddo!  WOOT WOOT. Also WOOOOOT.

Just last fall I did a 3 night jaunt to NYC to see the Broadway revival Sweeney Todd - the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I was only vaguely aware of this musical, but a friend really really wanted to see it. I was happy to join her and have an excuse to visit the city. The musical was great. The eateries we went to were great. The Brooklyn Museum was well worth it. Consuming too many mimosas (because we couldn’t find any Bloody Marys) and talking about art for hours was definitely worth it. It’s always great to have an excuse to visit NYC. I’m glad I have another one coming up soon.

So yes, New York City. Been there.

Thaddeus Nebulaire, born into the aristocratic opulence of Lullingstone, never quite fit in with the shallow customs of the elite class. Instead, he found solace and companionship among a group of smart stargazers who shared his passion for astronomy. It was during this time that he encountered an eccentric entrepreneur named Willy Minmax, who introduced him to his fabulously successful invention, the portable holoemitter.

This encounter with Willy sparked Thaddeus's imagination and planted the seed of curiosity within him. He purchased a holoemitter that projected a mysterious stellar phenomenon, one he had never seen before but felt compelled to explore. Inspired by this newfound fascination and armed with his family's exorbitant wealth, Thaddeus secretly embarked on a mission to build a ship with his friends and set sail to find the phenomenon.

As the final touches were made to his ship, Thaddeus stood on the brink of a new chapter in his life. With a mixture of anticipation and trepidation, he prepared for his maiden voyage, ready to leave behind the confines of Lullingstone and set sail into the unknown depths of space.

Thaddeus gave one last glimpse of the expressions on the faces of his friends in the seats next to him before pressing the ignition button on his control panel. With each hum of the ship's engines and each flicker of starlight through the viewport, Thaddeus felt the thrill of adventure coursing through his veins, knowing that he was destined to chart his own course among the stars.

"First stop, Ventura!"

A subtle mistake, just one letter is all
Such mishaps are rare, I'm sure you'll agree
The error was tragic, the error was small

You're catatonic. Your daughter's holding a doll
This visit's unusual, I'll refund your fee
A subtle mistake, just one letter is all

There's a hole in the ceiling, someone could fall
A bug in the system, a B not a T
The error was tragic, the error was small

To give you this check, that's the crux of my call
Overcharged for retrieval you see
A subtle mistake, just one letter is all

His body, you asked, I'm not trying to stall
I do sympathize with your plea
The error was tragic, the error was small

Is that someone I know? I must run down the hall
Though believe me I've wanted to flee
A subtle mistake, just one letter is all
The error was tragic, the error was small

For my birthday, I wish for my mother to be alive and well.

Yes, more than I wish to lose 30 lbs or get that proverbial pony.

More than I wish for Mandy Patinkin to sing to me and with me.

If Mom could read that last one, she would be ... well, not surprised, but definitely a little wowed and she'd say something funny about it, which I can't replicate because Mom's humor was on point and not predictable.

From a message to a friend:

Saturday is my first birthday without my mother. And my therapist canceled our Friday appointment. Normally I love my therapist, but I think it is time for a change. We are outgrowing each other, at least for now. She's great with my marriage, but the grief not so much. It comes in waves. The extreme UNRIGHTNESS of a world without my mother in it echoes - it doesn't make sense. It's similiar to how I felt after Bankrupt Apprentice Host won the U. S. Presidency ... like reality as I knew it altered and I was trapped in a funhouse, mirror after distorting mirror, no escape. Except with the political thing, the hits kept on coming, and in a world without Mom, the worst hit already happened. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

And now, politics ...

MSNBC hired former RNC Chair and current election unreliability conspiracist Ronna McD.

What is bad about MSNBC: They hired Ronna McDonald, making all of us Grimace.

What is good about MSNBC: they have not, as far as I know, suppressed any of their talking heads from expressing their own (not the network's) opinions about having her on their air and therefore legitimizing the lies that come out of her face. At least, they didn't gag my girl, Rachel Maddow. Nor did they gag Chuck Todd, and on this issue, gagging Chuck Todd would actually be a bad idea.

Democrats, liberals, leftists ... we don't all speak in one voice. We are bad at lockstep. Often that hurts us - the "big tent" party has too many squabbles under the canvas and we can't win for losing. I hate not winning, especially in regard to Roe vs. Wade, which MOST OF AMERICA WANTS AND YOU KNOW IT, YOU STUPID JUSTICES, FUCK!!!! BUT ... I would hate moving in lockstep even more.

During this election season (and yes, it's March and the election is in November) it's time for that balancing act. It's the same juggle, slice and sort that it has always been, but for some reason it's different every time too.

Different groups, different issues, different prejudices ... different crazy conspiracy theories and now the Web instead of a mimeographed overtyped "mag" to bring them to the world.

When my father was in high-school, he was interested in journalism, but he didn't write for the school newspaper. He and some friends published an "underground" high-school newspaper with the "real news" in it. Connection with above being mimeographing, not conspiracy theories.

My father is one of the coolest humans on earth. Maybe the world "cool" is dated (and in some ways so is my Dad!), but the man who had lunch with the priest who inspired The Exorcist and who met Malcolm X (had a conversation with him) twice, who was programming an ATARI 800 for fun in the early '80s ... the list goes on. My Dad is extremely cool.

Tangent Woman, out!

CORRECTION: Ronna McDonald works for NBC, not MSNBC. 

So, deepfakes are officially out of control.

Someone connected with us fell for one that could’ve cost him a fortune the other day, and he’s not 80, they had his son’s voice and caller id.

And this morning I fell for an incredible fake SpaceX live stream until fake Elon started trying to get me to send him crypto. But understand I was watching what I was absolutely sure was the real launch feed for 20 minutes before that, complete with live commentary.

And of course, YouTube's algorithm fell for it too. The scam artists took advantage of the originally scheduled launch time to go live with a very accurate copy of the real channel. Damn.

Check the receipts. Check URLs, text people back and let them know it's an emergency that you confirm something you think you just heard them say, call people back, ask their girlfriend if they’re really in jail or just busy in a meeting and not getting back to you.

This is one of those moments when someone who has been paying a lot of attention to what's going on with a technology decides it's time to start telling their friends and relations and anyone who will listen to be really damn careful. Be really damn careful.