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.

Watch your language…

Posted on October 25, 2017 by Clint

When you’re a writer you tend to pay attention not just to words but the way people say them, and unless you’re some kind of filthy, futile prescriptivist you also should have a fascination with the way that such things evolve over time. Don’t get me wrong, Strunk and White have their place in terms of setting up some common protocols for communication, but outside of formal settings I think it’s an enormous mistake to get hung up on split infinitives and sentence-ending prepositions so long as the meaning remains clear. Writers can certainly benefit from editing, but they also need room to play. And use fragments. Sometimes.

However, back to the subject of verbal evolution, of which one of my favorite examples is the English farewell term of “bye.” The meaning has not changed but the original form was “God be with ye,” which then eventually contracted to “God bye ye,” then “Godb(w)ye,” then our modern “goodbye,” and finally down to the monosyllable noted above.

Similar to this, in Spanish there is still the phrase “vaya con Dios” (literally translated as “[you] go with God”) but that’s a mouthful and “adiós” is much more common. Some argue that the latter has never had anything to do with deities but considering the very similar French “adieu” and that the original Latin for “to God” or “by God” would have been “ad deus,” I don’t buy it.

In any case, were I to try to invent my own language I would no doubt fail drastically, but it would be hard to go wrong by having my informal farewell be short, to the point, and either referencing or deriving from a reference to deity or some form of “until we meet again.” The latter is what “hasta luego” and “auf wiedersehen” basically translate to, in case you were wondering.

This sort of “phrase archaeology” is a really good thing to practice if you’re coming up with slang, though. Spoken language is where evolution of language take place first, and in general spoken language likes to simplify for efficiency’s sake. Today’s slang then becomes tomorrow’s prescription.

More on this topic next week.