Happy Holidays

by on December 20, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I love the holiday season. We start out by thanking God for what we have. And the next day we have the time-honored tradition of ritual combat over the best sales on the planet. Then we cut down a tree, stuff it into our house, put ornaments on it, and light it up like a roman candle. The hope is that it will stand there for a month or two, drying out the whole time, and pray to God it never gets dry and hot enough that it actually bursts into flame. We hang stockings from our fireplaces for a fat man to come down our chimneys and stuff with gifts, and hope a stray ember doesn’t get caught in their fabric. We throw chestnuts into the fireplace, and hope they don’t scatter the flames when they explode. We place multi-piece candelabras on our pianos and hope the molten wax doesn’t seep into places we’d rather not. And I haven’t even started on the food. I gain ten pounds just looking at it. Maybe the happiest part of the holidays is somehow managing to avoid killing ourselves before we get through them.

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San Lucas Cats

by on December 19, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The sabertooth cats of San Lucas are the most widespread race on the planet. They were the dominant race on New Brazil, and had major populations on the other continents as well. They prowled the borders of the more advanced cat societies, on the edge of the lands were cats could live. Not too close to the watery shores, not too deep into the jungles, forests, and rainforests that shrouded the great cat empires. They were the monsters that ate unwary cats in the night, or overran small settlements and convoys stuck too close to the edge of civilization. Armed patrols kept them scattered, but they were always a threat to the other civilizations, especially during the wars and rebellions that waged after humanity colonized the world. And when humanity colonized the shores of those continents, the sabertooth cats were waiting for us.

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Star Wars

by on December 18, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I saw The Last Jedi on Friday.

It was a good movie. A good drama. And it was nothing like the Star Wars I grew up with.

Some of that we expected. Disney has certainly chosen to bury most of the Star Wars stories I grew up with. They wanted to go their own way, to be free to make new stories unfettered by those already written. They also, it appears, did not wish to make Star Wars stories.

The Star Wars stories I grew up with was witty heroes with quips and fancy flying and blowing that Popsicle stand before going home to celebrate their win with a stirring ceremony and a fun after party. It was Saturday morning serials full of adventure and daring do.

The Last Jedi is none of this. It is drama. It is good drama. But exciting (and adventurous) reading it is not.

I watch a lot of movies. I enjoy most of them. I left the Prequels happy and joyful. Even the last one that was the darkest of the lot. And even if JJ Abrams can’t figure out Star Trek to save his life, I love his Star Trek movies as a different take on the whole idea. Not a one of his movies has failed to leave me happy that I saw it. Happy to leave the theatre and talk about what I just saw. I’m generally pretty easy to please when it comes to movies. Especially action adventure or sci-fi movies.

But the Last Jedi left me feeling sad. Thoughtful. Depressed. I go to movies to be entertained. To have fun. To walk out happy to have spent some time and money on something I enjoyed seeing.

I am not happy to have spent my time and money watching The Last Jedi.

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San Lucas

by on December 17, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Essential Galactic Atlas

Landscapers on San Lucas are a different breed than those seen on most other worlds humanity has settled. The indigenous, alpha predator, sabertooth cats love how we taste, and so every town near the coast must have a kilometer-wide kill zone around it. Inland towns have two kilometer kill zones. The landscapers must take sniper nests and sentry towers into account. Underground sensors and popup weapons turrets are deployed in concentric rings. Defensive bunkers and wide motes are integral parts of every design. And landscapers earn combat pay when deployed to maintain those defenses, even when accompanied by teams of trigger-happy security guards. Visitors think it is a beautiful paradise, but those who live there know that San Lucas is forever at war with humanity. And the landscapers are the first line of defense.

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Isabella

by on December 16, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Isabella is one of the nicest, kindest, calmest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I’m serious. Her picture should be in the dictionary under the definition of those terms. Why she ever picked Juan Jose I will never understand. I’m not complaining, mind you, but I always figured she had to have been Saint Isabella because it took the patience of a saint to deal with all of Juan’s shenanigans. And yes, I know that’s me talking. But he said it, too, more than once. An interesting thing is that she had a physical body from the very beginning. We were still operating under American rules back then, so that took some quick talking to get approved. But they’d already grudgingly allowed Jasmine to keep her body, so what was one more little accommodation for “cultural reasons?” Especially when she meant bringing in another full Avenger squadron for the Hyades Campaign. She was one more step down the road we all took in the end.

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