Snippet From The Ithaca Mandate

In Light of Mother's Day

An unfortunate part of aging is learning about how to help your parents as they age, too.

My brother headed back to SC today, and tonight is the first night my mom is spending alone since my dad passed. Tomorrow is both her birthday and Mother's Day, so I just got off the phone with her to find out if she wanted company tomorrow. She is doing okay so far, and has shared that she is inspired to clean up the house and is also "writing about all the bullshit I've learned in the last two weeks."

My mom has always been an excellent writer, although her writing has typically encompassed horses and the Thoroughbred breeding farm she and my dad began operating in 2004. She has consistently used her social media to educate her followers on the realities of breeding and raising racehorses, sharing her joys and her wins, but never shying away from the unpleasantries and truth when things go wrong. I've always admired and wondered how my mom keeps going in spite of the many devastating setbacks they had with the horses over the years.

It seems now she is interested in taking a similar path and plans to help educate others in the processes of handling events following a death. She mentioned finding it cathartic, and I couldn't help but think this must be where my own interest in writing comes from. Just a few days before dad passed, she and I had been having a discussion on the phone about how she needed to write a book, and how she'd been told the same by so many people over the years (including me!) While I wish this could have happened under different circumstances, I am hopeful she will find this helpful as she moves forward, and that she will one day have something published.

That being said--my own writing may be a few days delayed this coming week, as I'm still running back and forth between my house and theirs to visit and as things come up. I'm hoping to get The Measure of Logic's chapter up tomorrow, since it's mostly written now, but I'd like to add a bit more substance before I post it. We shall see! Subversion Theory will probably be updated closer to the end of this week.

I know I don't need to explain this to anyone, and mostly I wanted to share my admiration for my mom this Mother's Day. Value your time with your loved ones--always.

Saw a debate about using s' or s's at the end of a character's name whose name ends in s to show possessive.

My conclusion: it depends on the style guide you're using, and whether you are an ancient prophet (???) holding a stick that belongs to Moses or a friend of Moses holding a stick that belongs to Moses. Also, just be consistent.

I will only use s' and I will die on this hill.

WIP Drawing of Gestalt Genesis: Ardent.

Gestalt: Genesis Class Crew Complement: 480 The “right hand” of the Sojourner class, Ardent is responsible for terraforming newly created planets. She carries the Location and Material Induction system that pinpoints locations suitable for star formation and transmits coordinates to Ithaca. Due to the LMI system’s extreme power requirements, Ardent is heavily shielded but carries no weapons.

In the distance, there was a gap in the glimmer of the stars. The sparks of countless more refracted off of something sleek and black. Thin veins of light traced impossible contours in layers of glowing white, and flashes of amber erupted and rippled outward when pieces of Ithaca’s wreckage got a bit too close. Another shaft of light slashed through the darkness, across the window, trained on something that streaked past Ithaca’s wing and then stopped to hover near the rubble of her bow.

A red glow bloomed from somewhere aft, and the shadow came about, close enough to take shape. Judith’s pulse thrummed in her ears. She recognized those lines. The iridescent ebony skin of the hull. The broad, hammerhead wings of the stern and the long, sleek prow that tapered into a wedge.

Ardent.

Kirk: Federation law is very clear on this

Kirk: (Proceeds to do whatever he wants anyway)

Picard: Federation law is very clear on this but I’m a very creative reader

Janeway: Guys you’re not going to believe this; Federation law has fucking NOTHING relevant to this current situation but I’m going to read 20 hours of other captain’s logs to make sure. Buckle up though because we’re probably going to do some buckwild shit after the commercial break

And as the Admiral "...people who LOVE YOU." 😭

Janeway in love with seven is like the most precious thing bc she keeps her emotional self kinda private from everyone on board but then *bam* SEVEN, anything to do with Seven and suddenly she's showing everybody her weakness unintentionally bc she's so deep for this woman she doesn't even realize she's telling the whole ship she's in love with her just by being in sevens court at every turn without any regrets. I love janeway. I love how janeway loves seven. I love how kathryn janeway allows herself to love seven, unequivocally.

For the love of all that you enjoy: DON’T PAYWALL YOUR FANFICTION.

Again, but louder:

DON’T PAYWALL YOUR FANFICTION

It’s getting more and more common. I’ve seen three posts about it in the last 24 hours - patreons where you’ll get “exclusive” fanfiction stories if you’re a subscriber.

Don’t.

Don’t do it.

It’s annoying, but mostly it’s fucking dangerous.

The whole fanfiction community prosper on someone else’s turf under “fair use” laws. In simple terms: we can play with other people’s creations for as long as it’s done for our own amusement, and that of our followers.

Once any kind of financial benefits are made, it becomes another abuse of someone else’s rights.

And look, I get it. It sucks, especially seeing the artists take commissions while the authors get nothing, and it takes hours and hours of our time, and I understand people are looking for a side hustle to make ends meet in this monstrosity of a capitalist society, but if we don’t stop it from happening, the rights owners will stop it.

And they’ll stop it for everyone.

It’s not worth it. Don’t do it.

Makes for good writing material though...

My Monday musings: I'm kind of surprised this isn't a bigger ship.

Michael and Nhan make a lot of sense to me. They went through the wringer together, they went to the future together, and Nhan was called in later to keep Michael in line because she knew her and how she would operate. Michael knew she would make the tough calls if she couldn't because that's what she'd done, and Michael accepted it and trusted her anyway. When push did come to shove, Nhan was convinced to forego her "duty above all" mindset and both of them grew from that experience.

It seems like Michael and Nhan had a way stronger foundation than Michael and Book, whose foundation the show skipped almost entirely and built through exposition once Michael and Discovery were finally reunited.

My beta reader is being nosy.

"I'm just gonna take a peek at what you've got in this here mug while I wait, kthx."

I love this game, I love this ship, and when the weather sucks, I love VR 🥲