Praetermancy February 2025

Monthly Roundup

Introduction

Normally in this spot I have a brief bit about how my month went accompanied by a haiku. This month though, I want to spotlight a problem: book piracy on Amazon, and specifically, how it is affecting one of my favorite authors.

See, Kindle Direct publishing allows authors to publish their work without having to deal with publisher gatekeeping. (Whether you think that gate keeping is bad or not is beside the point). However, it also allows bad actors to pirate an authors book and publish it as their own, siphoning money away from authors and generally ripping people off.

This has sadly happened to Laird Barron, who's novel, The Light is the Darkness has been out of print for awhile now after the publisher went under. The rights to the novel haven't reverted back to Laird though, and my understanding is that they won't for a couple more years. This frankly, is a sucky situation for everyone except for Amazon and the pirates. Amazon isn't exactly going to hand over any royalties for the copies of Laird's book that sold and it is dragging it's heels when it comes to actually removing the stolen book from it's store. These pirates similarly are directly hurting Laird by stealing his book, complicating plans to actually release the book at a future date, and reducing the number of people who are actually interested in buying a legitimate copy.

Look, I know I'm not changing anyone's mind on the issue of piracy, you are either okay with it or you aren't. But can we at least agree that pirates shouldn't make money off their piracy? These fuckers are stealing. Plain and simple. They are stealing from Laird, and frankly they are stealing from you. By stealing from the author, they are limiting an author's ability to publish newer titles.

Laird is far from the only author affected by this type of crime. (And yes this is a crime. If you fuckers are reading this and get caught, you can actually go to prison. I kind if hope you do.) While it more commonly happens to authors who post on sites like Wattpad or Royal road, authors who's books are out of print are also vulnerable to this type of fraud.

If you find out a book you bought was pirated, I suggest the following actions:

1. Don't feel guilty. If you knew it was pirated and bought it anyways, feel guilty then, but if you didn't know, I think morally you are in the clear.

2. Report the product to Amazon. Will they do anything? Debatable, but its at least a step and doesn't let them hide behind the defense of "We didn't know" when lawyers eventually come knocking.

3. If you suspect an author isn’t aware their book has been pirated, reach out to them by whatever public social media is available so they can try and get the book taken down.

4. Consider donating to the author if they have a Patreon or other method to directly support them and you can afford it. It doesn't have to be much. Most authors don't make more than a 1 or 2 dollars off a legitimate copy anyways.

In the interest of that, I'm leaving a link to Laird's Patreon, if you bought an illegitimate copy of The Light is the Darkness, or if you are interested in supporting his work in general, please consider donating.

Articles

I was really proud of my articles this month, but none of them did particularly well. I completely understand why though, as we are deep into the Laird Barron Catalogue which hasn’t as of yet been well explored.

Laird Barron Read-along 71: “The Cyclorama”

Laird Barron Read-along 72: Conan:The Halls of Immortal Darkness

Laird Barron Read-along 73: An Atlatl

Bibliomancy: What I've been Reading

I didn't manage much reading this month and only have 3 books to show for it, but all of them were good reads that I recommend (if you can find a legitimate copy.)

The reason for this lack of reading is twofold: I spent way too much time playing Bloodborne, and I went on a podcast binge of 3d6 Down the Line's excellent Dolmenwood campaign.

Sun Eater Book 1: Empire of Silence - Christopher Ruocchio

The premise of the Sun Eater Series, as far as I can tell, is "What if Darth Vader with a degree in literature started as a noble in a space opera that resembled Mass Effect more than it did Star Wars." The result is... Not excellent, but really good. This book knows what it is and who it appeals to, and makes no apologies and no compromises. Hadrian Marlow is a protagonist you will either love or hate. On the one hand he's whiney, but the framing of the book makes it forgivable, this is his autobiography. Hadrian is a whiner and his future self looking back knows it, and leans into it to better reveal the flaws that he wants to reveal to you. The book also spoils itself constantly, telling you about events that will happen, but leaving it a mystery as to how things will actually play out. This has the effect of luring a reader deeper into the book to discover what happens next, even if they aren't entirely engaged with what is going on at that point specifically. If the series continues being this good, it will be a favorite.

Grave Empire: Book 1 of The Great Silence by Richard Swan

Cosmic horror trappings in a colonial fantasy setting. The Great Silence picks up a couple hundred years after the end of Empire of the Wolf and it leans hard into the cosmic horror. In other words, it's right up my alley! However, my praise isn't universal. Horror lives and dies on atmosphere. In Empire of the Wolf the balance was struck almost perfectly across the trilogy, slowly ramping up as the situation required. However, Grave Empire overplays its hand on one or two occasions, and some scenes that are meant to inspire dread are instead a little blander than I would hope. Less experienced (ie less jaded) horror readers probably won't notice though. In all other aspects though, Grave Empire met or improved upon my expectations, and I'm intrigued by where the series will go from here. Expect a review at some point in the future. Probably May.

The Light is the Darkness by Laird Barron

I actually have a physical copy of this one signed by the man himself. This book is worth it for super fans, but honestly I think it is Laird's weakest foray into long form fiction. It isn't bad by any means, and I eagerly await the day people can buy copies again without paying the eBay collectables tax. But it isn't required reading unless you are a super fan.

Part of this is admittedly down to taste. The Light is the Darkness leans heavily into the "Pulpwood" aesthetic: cinematic writing with a very pulpy plot and characters. The story doesn't feel very grounded and there isn't much dread to be had right up until the very last scene. Instead it feels like Quentin Tarantino decided to write a conspiracy action thriller with a horror twist. It's fun, it's satisfying, it's even really good, but it doesn't feel like a horror book. I'll have more thoughts on this and a complete write up available next month both here and on the Laird Barron Subreddit, so look out for that.

Ludus: What I've been playing

Bloodborne - Fromsoftware

Yeah, a lot of Bloodborne. Too much if I'm honest, but I'm about halfway through at this point so... Maybe next month I'll be done with it? Correction! I finished the game the day before I released this due to winter storms keeping me home from work.

Cinemancy: What I've been Watching (Yes, I know that's terrible Latin.)

Secret Level - Blur Studio

A video game anthology series with impecable animation and mediocre storytelling. Fans of the featured franchises will have plenty to enjoy, but very little to love. The production values are high, but the quality is just... Fine. Nothing stands out except the animation, which wasnt strong enough to make me feel much of anything except respect for the technical skill of the animators.

Instead, every episode felt like a surface level imitation of Love, Death, and Robots, if it had a videogame theme and lacked soul. Secret Level is a very corporate take on what games media should look like: safe, slick, and emotionally sterile.

Auguary: Looking Forwards into (Month)

Upcoming Articles

1 3/1/25 Laird Barron Readalong: "49 Foot Woman Straps it On"

2 3/8/25 TBD (Possibly a break week)

3 3/15/25 Laird Barron Readalong: The Light is the Darkness

4 3/22/25 Laird Barron Readalong: X's For Eyes

5 3/29/25 Praetermancy: March

Long Term Project Status

1. This Encroaching Darkness is still on hold. I was hoping to release it this year, but when going through and editing I found more that needs polished than I really feel comfortable with and I'm not entirely sure when I'll really be able to fix it.

2. I did actually get to make a little progress on "The Kelpies" this month. Not a lot, but more than I have the last couple of months.

3. All other writing projects are on hold for the moment.

4. I have a Dolmenwood campaign I'm going to be running soon. No guarantees on if it will go long term or wrap up after a few sessions though, but I'm looking forward to it, and you can expect the occasional campaign dairy when it starts in March.

5. The Rituals for Worlds Without Number section isn't coming a long as I'd hoped. Part of this is a time issue, but part of it is just that the systems there aren't meant for this kind of cluged together hack.

Auspices: Things I'm Interested in

Books

When the Moon Hits Your Eye - John Scalzi (March 25th)
Not sure how I'll feel about this one when I actually get the chance to read it, but it looks like a comedy story in the style of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, and I'm down for that.

TTRPGs

Gods of the Forbidden North Vol. 3 - Pulp Hummock Press
This one is running a kickstarter at the moment. While I haven't had the chance to dive into the first two books, they have nothing but glowing recommendations.

Mappa Mundi - Three Sails Studios

This is an interesting one because it isnt a D&D clone. Instead its a TTRPG focused around exploration rather than combat. I'm interested, but not entirely convinced that its something I'm interested in.

Kult: Divinity Lost Dark Realms and Other Horrors - Helmghast

Kult is a horror RPG similar to Call of Cthulhu, except it's way darker. Humanity is trapped within the material world, held captive to its illusions. But we were once greater, and we can be again. If. If. If, we can overcome the monsters arrayed against our very souls. It's Dante's vision of hell hidden behind the veil of modern existence. For a better look at the system I'll leave a link to Seth Skorkowski's breakdown of the system and a link to the base game.
Warning: Kult is very NSFW, and VERY ADULT. Like actually mature content, not 'hehe insert sex joke here' kind of stuff.

Video Games

Wanderstop - Ivy Road (March 11th)
Believe it or not, I am a huge fan of tea. A cozy game where you help a warrior settle down and make a tea shop then is almost exactly what I need. I hope it's as good as it looks.

Assassins Creed: Shadows - Ubisoft (March 20th)
I am not a big fan of Assassins Creed if I'm honest, but I am hopeful that this one will be good. If it reviews well, I'll probably pick up a copy. If not, well... It's hardly the end of the world. Might be the end of Ubisoft as we know it though...

Movies & TV

Mickey 17 (March 7th)
Not sure about this one. It might not be good, but I'm reasonably sure it will manage to be interesting at least.

The Electric State (March 25th)

It's a similar story with this one. Will it be good? I have no idea. But it is likely to be interesting at the very least.