Are you there, internet? It’s me, Bret.

It’s been a month and a half since my last post – sheesh! So I guess this is another one of those “what I’ve been doing during my extended silence” posts.

Primarily, I have not been reading or gaming or doing anything sword & sorcery-related. Been on a music kick the last couple of months, as my buddy Scott and I push to finish recording our latest album (well, EP – that’s the length we’ve been recording our last few albums).

I’ve never been a pedal or effects kind of guitar player, just a straight-up distortion guy, but at 55, I’m suddenly getting interested. So I have gotten an analog chorus pedal (MXR M234) and an Echobrain analog delay pedal (TC Electronics). Not messed with them yet, but later today I will.

Applied for a job last Friday that I really hope I get. It’s a long drive, but good money, and I need a full-time job again. I am very fortunate to have my part-time writing gig, but there is zero opportunity to advance or get a pay raise, I get no credit for what I produce, and it is draining. Oddly enough, I feel that if I get the full time job, I’ll have more time for reading and gaming.

I have had a few things I have wanted to expound upon in both gaming and the speculative literature arenas, but ultimately have not done so. Things are so polarized now that if you make any comment that is not in lockstep with either current political orthodoxy, you are automatically characterized as equal and opposite. Yeah, yeah, I know…welcome to the internet. It’s ridiculous, but so are many of the opinions held by people who commit to the false dichotomy of our politics, with the flaws (and a few virtues) of each “side” being so clear. I am not saying that the right and left are necessarily equal and opposite reflections of each other (that is demonstrably false), only that their flaws are great and rather obvious if you have some distance, and that, sadly, their respective righteous bigotries do mirror each other.

But I have probably said too much on that topic, already. I’ll leave it at this: I wish most people could break free of the shackles that ideology creates, and be more understanding of each other, and that there was a level of discourse that was above mere soundbites. Even extended essays that purport to take a closer examination of a topic or person are just padded-out hit jobs with quotes or actions taken out of context and magnified so that the author can get +1s from their tribe. The extended hit jobs on Gary Gygax the last few years spring to mind. I am not a big fan of Gygax (more of an Anreson guy myself), but the way dozens of people all piled on him in mainstream websites and other various corners of the net to gain socio-politcal credibility among their ideological fellows was pathetic. A few choice quotes were blown up, while 99.99% of his quotes were ignored, to paint the picture of a monster. Even his mentally-suffering second wife was used as a tool to attack him by a few amoral authors, despite her love for him. I was tempted to engage a few times on that issue, but seeing the fate of those who did try to introduce more complete facts and some reason to counter those narratives, there was clearly no point. Those efforts were part of a larger assault on old gamers, an attempt by the outrage cult to falsely categorize the old days of gaming in a dark light, and the righteous cannot understand evidence contrary to their beliefs.

Since I am not offering any solutions, I should just…stay in my lane. That’s what people are told to do, by sheltered, angry fools who do not understand the irony.

So that’s why I’ve stayed out of those arenas. Plenty to say, but rational discourse is not possible, even when someone ostensibly encourages discussion. In this climate, people cannot listen or change their opinions, only dig in harder.

OK, I’m really done talking about it.

Staring now.

On a more positive topic, there are some good books coming out now. The third book in Howard Andrew Jones’ Ringsworn trilogy is about to be released, or maybe has already been released. I reviewed the first book on here, but I did not give a review of the second. If I do review of the third one, maybe I’ll say why. But I did enjoy the first two volumes, and look forward to the conclusion.

Long-time Science Fiction author John Shirley has just put out a book with two S&S novelettes, The Sorcerer of Atlantis. Stoked to get and read that. DMR books has had a steady release of interesting S&S titles this year; I need to get caught up on those.

Tales From the Magician’s Skull #6 showed up a few days ago. I think I’m looking forward to that issue. It contains stories from their open call, so it may just rub my nose in the fact that I didn’t submit anything. Stiff upper lip! It also contains a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser story, which I am approaching with mixed feelings. I’ll keep an open mind, though.

I’ve read most of Skelos #4. I like most of what I’ve read. may or may not do a review. I did see, sadly, that two of the three principles have recently distanced themselves from the magazine. Apparently, this is over them having to fund copies to the Kickstarter backers out of their own pockets. I know the main dude was hit by some tragedies, including his wife dealing with cancer. I hope they are well. I hope the magazine stays viable; it is eclectic and interesting.

There are webfiction sites I need to get caught up on. Heroic Fantasy Quarterly continues their pace of production, as does Sword & Sorcery Webzine. There is a magazine called Whetstone that I am interested in, distributed for free in pdf. I read a story by the editor in Skelos #1 and liked it quite a bit, but the author has had a few essays in Blackgate that were given in academic prose that was a bit silly, and he had a needlessly defensive, politically-driven mini-meltdown in one of the comments sections that was off-putting. I don’t read Cirsova Magazine because of the alt-right rants of the publisher – same reason I will never get any of the shovel-ware from Castalia House (well, besides their books being shovel-ware) – and rightly or wrongly, the ivory-tower commentary of this editor, while being from the other side of the aisle from the just-mentioned hosers, has kept my enthusiasm low concerning that magazine.

I said I was not going to bring that up again. Sorry, but it is almost inevitable, particularly on Blackgate, which I used to love, where many of the authors have a pronounced political persuasion and let fly. For some of them, it is paint-by-numbers to the point of caricature.

Can’t get away from it, can I? It is everywhere…

Hopefully, this will be the last time I ever bring up politics on the blog. While I have strong opinions, they do not conform to either base ideology, and elaborating is simply a recipe for making misunderstandings and, probably, enemies.

I’ve definitely said more than I wanted to on that subject. It seems to have dominated this otherwise innocuous post!

So – now that I have offended ALL of my readers with my own sanctimony – I’ll leave you guys with this promise of actual content to come shortly:

I promise actual content to come shortly.

In the meantime, here is our band’s page on Soundcloud. We have written 50 or 60 songs over the years, maybe more, but we have only put the four most recent on there. We have five more that we are in the process of mastering that should be on here in the next month or two, maybe longer depending on the copyright process. The four we are recording now will be up probably next year.

Anyway, I hope you are all well! And that you like hard rock!

Frau Blucher