Pen's Reading Corner - May 9 · 2:50pm May 9th, 2022
Bolo
For many of you that word means an odd South American weapon, or a type of western tie. But to some of us who are in the know, that word brings to mind a weapon. A weapon not just of power and might, but of duty and honor, pledged to be humanity's ultimate knights among the stars.
I speak of the members of The Dinochrome Brigage, the Bolo AI super tanks.
At its core a Bolo is a tank with firepower that is measured in megatons per second, defences that are proof against anything short of the weapons it itself wields, and whose thinking and feeling AI core is dedicated to the survival and protection of humanity. Bolos can fail. They can die and be destroyed, but they never surrender and they never, ever, quit.
So why am I mentioning all this? Because a few brave souls have brought Bolos to Equestria in their writings and one of the best of them is Legacy by NFire. NFire has been gone from the site for nearly four years now, and Legacy is likely a deadfic, but at a million plus words the story has more than accomplished it's purpose.
The story involves a single Bolo, lost to time in the devastation of the Final War which manages to reactivate after Twilight's battle with Tirek uncovers a single solar panel. Slowly the great war machine returns to life, in a strange world where everything and everyone it knew and stood for is a million years dust.
The story grips you and the characters are engaging. Pages turn and chapters pass until you suddenly realize that you've read 500,000 words and not even blinked. This is the story that so hooked one of my children that it took them from having to sound out words to being a fluent reader over the course of eight months. It is simply that good and that true to the source material.
Keith Laumer would have been proud of NFire, and the job they did with this story. I can only hope that wherever NFire now is, they are doing well.
Read Legacy by NFire. It's a long read, but well worth it.
PS. You may have noticed this blog is a little late. That's because I'm currently undergoing a change of jobs and going from working my ass off as an overnight manager at the local Walmart to doing maybe a tenth as much work for the same amount of money at Costco. So these blogs may become a little more scattered than I'd like until things settle down.
Remember, keep your stick on the ice.
It’s good to hear your doing well, been a tough few years for you. I’ll give the story a try.
Oooh, that sounds like a very nice promotion for you. Congratulations!
I have not read Legacy, nor heard of the Dinochrome Brigade before... but I shall check it out. In return, I shall recommend a fic that is not dead, the author promises (though years between chapters is par for the course): Quantum Castaways, by DustTraveller.
This story is, at its heart, a mystery/adventure novel. It has humans (the plural is technical) in it, and it has Twilight Sparkle in it, and lots of awesomeness and explosions and movie references up the wazoo.
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I may be a bit of a fan....
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Cover art reminds me of the mobile bunkers from the Battle Isle games. Darn physics and the square cube law; giant war machines would be awesome enough to compensate for how terrifying they'd be.
... Zip ties and biasplies?
i read too many cop books, i know bolo as Be On the Look Out
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When brightly lit gonna be updated? I know you are still busy with jobs I’m not rushing you I am just curious
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Brightly is on hiatus until July when I shall again return to the north coast of British Columbia