UPDATING OCCASIONALLY (FOR NOW)

9 thoughts on “558 – Cotton Clad Calamity”

  1. Raznaak

    Yup, he’s a bastard XD

  2. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    Are those pajamas available in XXXL in the gift shop?

  3. Otaku

    It’s been a while, so let me ask: Did we get a reason for him to WANT Susie dead? Not to backseat, but if we didn’t, I’m worried were about to move into “Stupid Evil” territory. Now, stupid happens, don’t get me wrong. It’s not bad storytelling for that to be the case here.

    You’ve just done a good job NOT having that be a driving factor, so the “Kill off the stars of my successful reality TV show.” seems shortsighted, otherwise. Oh, I guess I could be mistaken about the in-story reality TV show’s success. Like, if the company behind them is losing money, or they think a change in management at the ranch would make the whole thing more popular/profitable, then I can see the above scenario happening as well.

    I REALLY think I’m just forgetting something important, but that I don’t have time to deep dive to remind me of, hence the comment. >_<

    1. Deoxy

      It certainly has been stretched out over quite a while, but there have definitely been hints from quite near the beginning that whoever is running the reality TV show definitely wants her dead.

      But I certainly don’t recall any reason why.

      1. Clint

        Yeah it’s fair to not remember since it’s been a hot minute (many, many minutes) but if you feel like a refresher the most relevant bits would be the beginning of Episode 8 and the end of Episode 15. We haven’t explicitly spelled out exactly what The Exec means by his “side hustle” or who was on the other end of that phone call, though.

        I’m hoping that when the whole thing is eventually available it will make sense, or at least enough sense to have hung this narrative on.

        1. Otaku

          Thanks for the replies, Deoxy and Clint. Yeah, I’d totally forgotten about those things. Good to know!

  4. Evervigilant

    Seems about time for the two people who aren’t there to make a surprise entrance as the ace Susie didn’t even know she had.

  5. Scarsdale

    There’s still 3-5 people on her side that might be planning something. This guy is a megalomaniac with a god complex, so letting him think he’s the sharpest tool in the shed sets him up for a fall. Everything depends on those cameras, and I suspect their little stop over by the charging coffins had something to do with her actual plan, not the one the a-hole thinks it is.

  6. lyra

    Really enjoyed the opening of Zombie Ranch. I like the combination of the western setting with the zombie concept, it gives the story a really distinctive atmosphere. I’m a freelance illustrator and animator, and I’d be interested in seeing how some of these scenes could translate into motion, especially as a short animated teaser or character scene.

    If you’re ever interested in something like that, you can reach me here:

    IG: eve_verse_
    Email: [contact.lilaclines@gmail.com](mailto:contact.lilaclines@gmail.com)
    Discord: Lyralilac_

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558 – Cotton Clad Calamity
Posted on August 26, 2026 by Dawn

What would you call this? Armchair assassination? Merk-from-home?

Well, Suzie ain't dead (or undead) quite yet, so we'll just have to see if his gloating is justifiable.

Bits and pieces

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Clint

In a feature film I tend to believe that getting on with the story is job number one, since you’ve got a limited time window to tell (what should be) a complete tale. If you’re world building you drop just enough detail to assist that and no more. The original Star Wars has its famous opening crawl  and then gets right to the action, and as it goes along is constantly peppered with throwaway dialogue about Sand People or Jabba or the Emperor which hits just the right balance of intriguingly vague and supportive of “Oh okay, now back to laser swords.”

Here, we move at a more leisurely pace. Literally so in that the story is being told at a much slower pace as first presented, but also formatively in that we can take breaks from what’s happening directly to Suzie and co. and fill in some of those intriguing bits of the setting I may have had a character mention or may just be something you were wondering about. Like, what sort of tactics did the military come up with to fight (our particular brand of) zombies?

I suppose Star Wars trained me well for this in that I’ve spent probably a far too big percentage of my life wondering about the its intricacies and implications, so now that I’m developing my own setting I’m inclined to think about those answers and details long before a reader ever asks about them. And every so often, I get the chance to present those bits and pieces. Sometimes they’re even thematically relevant to the story at hand and that gets me perilously close to me thinking I might be decent at this.

Excuse the flippant self-deprecation, it’s an artist thing. Unless perhaps you’re someone like Kanye, but all in all I’d rather be me.