Goblin Market

by on May 15, 2025 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Raconteur Press is publishing another Wyrd West anthology this weekend, so I thought I would point you to one of my Wyrd West stories that they already published so you can get a primer on what to expect. The Goblin Market can be found through many times and places from old fantasy realms that never existed to the outer spaces of science fiction that we may one day find. The Goblins in the Marketplace of my story are found in the middle of Oklahoma in 1877, and features the first appearance of Captain William Carter of the Texas Rangers, hunter of otherworldly creatures and threats to mankind. The trick is figuring out which ones are just otherworldly creatures and which ones are true threats to mankind. And for added fun, the Goblin Market features a cover so good you won’t find it on any Dragon Award.

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Mass Migration

by on May 14, 2025 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Arab invasion and eventual conquering of three quarters of the Roman Empire was one of the most successful mass migrations of all time. It started out beyond the fringes of the Empire in the Arabian Desert when Mohammad first united the Arabian tribes into one coherent army under his command. What followed was a lightning campaign, by historical measures, that conquered all of the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula from the Roman Empire in approximately a century. The also destroyed the Persian Empire and their conquering armies traveled all the way to India in the East. It took the proto-French cavalry to stop the invasion into modern-day France, and that saved the rest of Western Europe from a major Islamic invasion for the next millennium and more.

The Arabs settled into and ruled the lands they conquered, and from that time on they kept track of who was Arab and who wasn’t. Who was Muslim and who wasn’t. While other races and religions were officially tolerated in their lands, they were distinctly second-class citizens at best. They converted churches and temples to Muslim worship. Their raiders landed on European, African, and Indian shores alike in search of new slaves. They turned the men into eunuchs and placed the women in harems, effectively erasing the enslaved populations from history by the simple expedient of ending their family units.

The Arab mass migration effectively wiped out the cultures and peoples that existed before their arrival, elevated their own culture above all others, and recreated the very land in their image. This mass migration is one of the most consequential in human history and has changed the world like few others.

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Mass Migration

by on May 13, 2025 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Normans ruled England with somewhere between an iron fist and a velvet glove depending on who you ask. The Saxon accounts in general hate them. Robin Hood has become a legendary dogooder throughout the English-speaking world for a reason. In most versions of the tale, he was a Saxon stealing things from the rich Norman nobility and returning the stuff to the Saxons they stole it from to begin with. On the other hand, the Normans never committed a widespread eradication of the Saxon people. They never even banned them from speaking what we now call Old English, even as the Normans continued to speak French.

Then one day the French monarch died. And wouldn’t you know it, the Normans were married into that royal family as well, and they wanted a piece of that action. The French had not forgotten that the Normans were just jumped up Norse raiders with delusions of grandeur though, and they refused to be ruled by barbarians. The very divided French kingdoms of the era could agree on that at least, and they went war to support their fellow Frenchmen over those jumped up Normans.

The Normans rather quickly realized that they could not win against a unified France, but they were not about to give up on their dreams. They needed more manpower, so they went to their Saxon underclass looking for more warriors. And what were those lower-class poor really good with according to every Robin Hood story we know? The bow. The English Longbowmen became the terror of the continent throughout what Historians would call the Hundred Years War that forged both the England and France that we know today.

France drove the Normans from Normandy in the end, and the Normans settled down in England. And in a hundred years and five generations of fighting the French, the Normans did what they did in France. They assimilated with the locals. They began speaking English, but not every word of French disappeared from their vocabulary. Many still remain. But that was the final result of the North Man’s mass migration from their Viking homeland. They disappeared into the land of England and just settled down. They assimilated, but they also left their mark on the lands they settled while doing so.

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Trump – The Presidency

by on May 12, 2025 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

On this week’s episode of Trump – The Presidency, Season Two…

Trump offers the Mexican President to send troops into her country to stop the cartels. Her bosses, the cartels, tell her to refuse the offer.

In his role of Troller and Chief, Trump announces that he wants to reopen Alcatraz. The left immediately turns on Nicholas Cage, blaming him for the decision. They vow he won’t get a major acting role ever again. So, status quo.

The Governor of Canada comes to visit the White House and pretends to be defiant, telling Trump that some things aren’t for sale. Donald was confused since he didn’t offer to buy Canada, he was thinking of just walking across the border. Carney says as long as they have the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, their nation is secure.

As it turns out, tariffs work, much to the chagrin and confusion of the mainstream media. The UK, not wanting to cut its own throat, negotiates a trade deal with the US. Despite a rise in the stock market as a result, the left still claims that tariffs are a direct threat to the global economy, global warming, and will lead to another January 6th.

Joe Biden is hoisted out of his coffin and trotted out to The View where it turns out, he’s the least offensive smelling thing on the set. “Doctor” Jill Biden comes to wipe his drool, change his Depends, and answer for him. Biden claims he could have beat Trump and the Harris lost because America is sexist; proving that he is, indeed dead from the shoulders up. He then proceeded to shake hands with an imaginary ghost that drifted across the stage.

In a surprise move, an American pope is named. JD Vance sends word to the Vatican that he will not meet with the new pontiff for at least six months.

Rounding out this episode, American forces bomb the Houthi’s into a cease fire. As it turns out, saying “Don’t” wasn’t as effective as dropping bombs. Go figure.

Will Congress do some actual work when they are back from their 23rd vacation of the year? Will a district judge order Trump to resume bombing the Houthi’s? To find out, tune in next week, same MAGA time, same MAGA channel.

– Blaine Lee Pardoe

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