Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Not all heroes wear capes.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

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Reader Interactions

44Comments

  1. 1.

    Mobile Grumpy Code Monkey

    It’s called “puppy license”. It’s good for about six to eight months, after which Koda’s less likely to tolerate such things. Or Lovey has taken over. One of the two.

  11. 11.

    Mary G

    She’s growing so fast. Thanks for sharing with us, geg6. Ginger’s genes weren’t too strong, I guess.

  17. 17.

    Major Major Major Major

    I gotta get some new pictures of my cat for y’all now that he’s all grown up, but now that other Mr. Major^4 has chicken pox, I’m a little busy watching Netflix with him and going to Walgreens. Poor guy. Apparently he missed the vaccine due to a doctor’s mix-up :(

    Shameless plug: The Fish, part 4 is up, if you’d like to read more about the world where all the fish vanish.

  28. 28.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @Major Major Major Major: If you’re still around, I have a couple of questions. Foremost, I’m curious about what you’re goal is in writing “The Fish.” I know you said at one point that the motivation is at least partially therapeutic, but do you have any plans beyond that? That could range anywhere from trying to sell it somewhere to looking for wider distribution channels without necessarily trying to sell it, to just having friends and acquaintances read it on your blog. I just think it’s interesting finding out about WHY people write fiction.

    The other question is what you are envisioning as its structure. So far it’s just disconnected vignettes of people’s immediate reaction to the disappearance of the fish. Do they connect to each other eventually, or are you just going for snapshots?

  30. 30.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I know I missed you, but…

    My goal is to write something people I care about would enjoy reading. IIRC Borges once said something like, “people started paying attention as soon as I started writing the kinds of stories I thought my friends would like.” So I’m trying to write those. Same with A Day Late…

    Structure is definitely Pratchett-facing, as far as this sort of stuff goes. Characters will meet up eventually, solve some problem, won’t be the main problem, etc.

  33. 33.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I want friends to read The Fish. The other one is a halfway-written novel that I’m using the periodic format to kick my butt into finishing.

    I’ve got a plot outline for The Fish, but really I just think it’ll make a fun yarn. Of course, lots of good stuff starts as a great yarn.

    ETA: Anyway, the big-boy plot starts in a couple posts, I think.

  35. 35.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    Pratchett is one of those authors who I read and it’s clear that he’s a good writer but it just doesn’t click. Charlie Stross is another one. In both cases, a part of it is that they write in a very casual tone of voice that I find off-putting. In this way, I see a resemblance with your writing. As I said last night, that makes me really reluctant to offer criticism, because on a fundamental level I don’t get it and trying to make the changes I’d suggest would be horribly counterproductive.

    All of this is opposed to someone like Neal Stephenson, who’s just a bad writer that has somehow duped a lot of people into thinking that he’s good.

  36. 36.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: You know, I adore Stephenson, but not because he’s a good writer. His novels are structurally terrible. He can’t even end a short story to save his life.

    But he’s decent at explaining stuff like crypto to my mom, so he can’t be that bad. And he’s got a handle on phraseology, though possibly to his detriment.

    I like Pratchett, but he’s not really somebody you can offer authorial criticisms towards since he’s super self-taught and never even went to college. Like, his books are a clusterfuck. And that’s as a final draft. I’m just putting up a first draft. And that’s not to be elitist or anything, and it’s really cool that he went from getting kicked out of (I think) Secondary to becoming a Knight. He’s very playful, he’s just not very structured.

    Stross might be a better match for me: some CS dork, though in my case I do have a minor in creative writing taught mostly by Wolff.
    I’m just not using it that much.

    It could also be–I have no idea how old you are–generational, in case you’re of the age that didn’t grow up with casual online bullshittery being the predominant form of social discourse. Just spitballing.

  37. 37.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    I turn 47 in a couple of months and I’m pretty much self-taught as a creative writer, too. My bachelor’s degree in is statistics and I have a master’s of accountancy.

    My take on Stephenson comes from reading Cryptonomicon and hating it, plus a lot of conversations with a friend who had the same reaction to Snow Crash. My criticisms were legion, including the fact that the World War II portion of the plot made absolutely no sense, either historically or logically. And I found the modern portion to be a load of Libertarian White Guy bullshit that also didn’t make any sense if you looked at it.

    Me, I’m very, very fond of Guy Gavriel Kay, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Iain Banks, and Alistair Reynolds.

  38. 38.

    Major Major Major Major

    Oh, I love Banks.

    Sorry if I sounded like a dick in my earlier post, the five-minute edit window is murder.

    Didn’t mean the age thing as a diss or whatever.

    You’ll find an overriding plot in two or three more posts, I think. Don’t give up yet. But it might be very Douglas Adams-y.

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