#brian craig

[land-of-reads]

Starting the final book in Warhammer’s “Orfeo” Trilogy. You can read my bloggings of books 1 and 2 here: Book 1: Zaragoz, Book 2: Plague Daemon.

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You called me mamacita, all night long...

[rosencrypt]

"What will be will be, and no man has authority to command the wind or the ocean or the sun - and yet, nothing is finally settled in advance but that which still leaves room for choice and chance. If the summer is to be good, I will not have made it so, and if the summer is to be bad, I shall not be to blame - but in either case, if I play to the limit of my talent, and find the rhythms of the world unerringly, things will be better than they would be had I done nothing at all. And so it is with all the affairs of men, which is why we need a Code to guide us, despite that we have a Destiny to meet."

Brian Craig, Storm Warriors

[clevermird]

Review: Zaragoz (Warhammer Fantasy: Tales of Orfeo bk. 1)

The Tales of Orfeo trilogy seems to be kind of forgotten by Warhammer Fantasy fans. I don’t think I’d ever heard anyone talking about it before I dug it out of the depths of the fan wikis and decided to give it a read. And while I ultimately enjoyed it a fair bit, I ultimately understand why no one really talks about it, either. 

Wandering storyteller and musician Orfeo has been captured by Arabian pirates, but their leader has offered him a deal: the man has a mysterious connection to the region of Zaragoz and if Orfeo can tell him the tale of what happened the last time the bard was there, then he will not be sold as a slave. So Orfeo sits with him and tells of a land where darkness hides around every corner and the coming of a mysterious priest awakens ancient magic baked into the stones of a young nobleman’s house.

The biggest problem with Zaragoz is that every emotional reaction in the story feels muted. Orfeo’s stoicism is probably intentional, to fit with his character as a man who has traveled a great deal and seen all kinds of things come to pass. But even still, one would think that after being condemned to a fate worse than death, for example, or finding out that a major power in the area is secretly a worshiper of the evil Chaos Gods, he would have stronger feelings about it than “well, this isn’t good”. I exaggerate for comedic effect, of course, but only slightly. It makes it harder to judge the stakes than it should be, and also more difficult to connect to the characters and to the story. 

And the events of that story are pretty cool. As I was reading through it, I kept feeling a sense of familiarity that went beyond simply being set in a universe I knew, and at some point, I realized it – Zaragoz very much feels like a tribute to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The old location with something evil lurking in it (almost to the point of feeling like a character in itself), cultists around every corner, and a big bad that is something dark, mysterious and ultimately unknowable and uncontrollable. The focus on swarms of rats doesn’t hurt either, given that the first Lovecraft I ever read was “The Rats in the Walls”. 

The story is pretty typical for a Warhammer Fantasy novel, but there were enough twists and turns to keep me on my toes, and at under 250 pages, a few slow-downs in the pacing weren’t enough to make it feel like a drag. The prose was good enough to ignore for the most part and Craig manages to pull together a chaotic finale that put a grin on my face.

While I fully understand how this one slipped through the cracks in discussions about Warhammer Fantasy, I did enjoy reading it and I feel like it deserves a bit more recognition. A great small bite of cosmic-horror inspired fantasy that doesn’t try to be more than what it is.

Warnings: Expect most of the typical content warnings for Warhammer Fantasy works – lots of violence, light body horror, a torture scene or two, and some references to slavery and various forms of in-universe bigotry. Also worth noting that country of Araby is pretty blatantly cobbled together from stereotypical views of the Middle East, which some readers might find offensive or distracting. Rating: 7/10

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Target lawsuit signals new right-wing strategy to squeeze corporate America

A far-right group led by former Donald Trump advisor Stephen Miller is suing Target over shareholder losses.According to Miller's group, the

Gideon Rubin at Raw Story:

A far-right group led by former Donald Trump advisor Stephen Miller is suing Target over shareholder losses. According to Miller's group, the losses are in connection with Pride Month promotions is part of a broader effort to give corporate America pause before supporting progressive causes, The Washington Post reports. Miller’s America First Legal filed the lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Target misled investors when the shopping behemoth said it was monitoring financial risks associated with the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies, the report said.

Aaron Gregg and Jacob Bogage write for The Post: ”For America First Legal, the lawsuit represents a new strategy of seizing on investor losses to pressure corporations over political causes.” “Miller’s legal group has put forward numerous complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, taking issue with various companies’ racial equity initiatives. The group has written to the EEOC urging investigations into allegedly discriminatory hiring practices at major corporations, including Starbucks, McDonald’s and the investment firm BlackRock.”

[...] The lawsuit contends the company’s stock value fell as a “direct and predictable result of management’s calculated decisions to promote sexualized material to children,” referring to family-themed LGBTQ Pride items. “These false and misleading statements [about Pride Month promotions] caused Target’s shareholders to unknowingly support Target’s Board and management in their misuse of investor funds to serve its divisive political and social goals―and ultimately lose billions,” the lawsuit alleges, according to the report.

Anti-LGBTQ+ extremists such as America First Legal founder Stephen Miller are using lawsuits to suppress corporate LGBTQ+ visibility and support.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Former Trump advisor’s organization sues Target over Pride displays

The organization says Target investors lost value because of the store's Pride displays, which were only put up to "serve woke elites...

Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

A conservative legal organization has filed a lawsuit against the retail chain Target, arguing that the backlash the store faced in May from conservatives angry at its Pride displays cost an investor money. America First Legal, founded by former advisor to Donald Trump Stephen Miller, filed the suit in a federal court in Florida. America First Legal is representing Brian Craig, a small investor who says that Target misrepresented how well it was monitoring risk. Craig claims that Target misstated how it was monitoring “social and political risks” to the company and instead was beholden to progressive activists, resulting in lost value for investors.

At issue is the Pride displays in Target stores. In May, it became a trend for conservative influencers to go to Target, find the Pride display, and express disgust or anger that rainbow onesies were being sold as they acted offended by the idea that children could see the displays. Often they would harass Target employees in the process. The attacks on Target soon became unhinged, with people getting angry at AI-generated images of “Satanic” clothes and displays that didn’t actually exist. Some designers who worked with Target – or any of its partners – were being accused by conservatives on social media of being Satanists themselves. Target put the displays further back in stores and removed some items that they felt were more controversial, leading to criticism from LGBTQ+ people. Last month, seven GOP state attorneys general sent a letter to Target telling them that its “Satanist-Inspired” merchandise was illegally putting investors’ rents at risk because the Pride displays might have cost the company some business. The letter cited several incorrect internet myths about Target in the process.

[...] Miller said on Twitter that the lawsuit was filed against Target “for violating the Securities Exchange Act after destroying shareholder value by pushing sexual propaganda on kids.” America First Legal’s account said that the lawsuit was filed because “for far too long, large corporations have recklessly pandered to the left and ‘bent the knee’ to serve woke elites.”

America First Legal, founded by white supremacist former Trump Administration official Stephen Miller, is suing Target over their LGBTQ+ Pride displays as a result of Brian Craig's claims that he saw some of his shares lose value.

See Also:

The Advocate: Target Sued Over Inclusion of LGBTQ-Friendly Merchandise

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Brian Craig

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