#chit software

[finstasoftware]

Best chit fund software | easy chit fund software

"EASYCHIT is a cutting-edge chit fund management software designed to simplify and streamline your financial operations. Our user-friendly platform automates calculations, tracks payments, and manages members with ease. With EASYCHIT, you can:

Save time and reduce errors

Increase efficiency and productivity

Enhance member satisfaction

Grow your business with confidence

Our mission is to provide innovative solutions that make chit fund management easy, secure, and accessible to all. Trust EASYCHIT to take your business to the next level."

https://easychit.com/ 9100999090 / 9100999383

14th Floor, Kapil Towers, Financial District, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Nanakramguda, Telangana 500032

[seelestia]

first, it was faceless ayato and then hacker kaveh + nahida .... WHAT IS GOING ON 😭

[itstimeforstarwars]

Hey can we send asks with sideblogs yet or is that still a replies-only feature

[softstarsabove]

My phone needs a software update

[pumaloafing]

While learning from duolingo it asks me to type out にほんごwhich it then tells me means 'Japanese' ... but I feel that's not an entirely correct translation. I tried it on google translate with the same translation, then I tried it out on a couple more translators, Romajidesu and DeepL. Romajidesu also just translated it as 'Japanese' but DeepL translated it as 'Japanese (Language)' which I feel is the most accurate translation.

In English, of course one would indeed refer to the language as just 'Japanese' (eg. "I'm learning Japanese") so it's not like that's wrong, but we would also refer to the people as just 'Japanese' (eg. "He's Japanese") and if you used にほんご in that context you'd be wrong, because in Japanese the two are different words, to refer to a Japanese person you'd use にほんじん... at least using just Hiragana.

I just think it's interesting.

[ramyasrigyb]

Boost Your Trading Success with the Best Chit Fund Software: A Complete Guide for 2025

Managing a trading account effectively requires more than just a sharp mind; it demands powerful tools that ensure accuracy, speed, and transparency. For those involved in chit funds or similar financial services, integrating specialized technology like chit fund software can make a huge difference. With the rise of digital solutions, using an advanced chit fund software platform is now essential for streamlining operations, boosting efficiency, and maximizing profitability.

What is Chit Fund Software?

Chit fund software is a specialized digital solution designed to automate and manage all aspects of chit fund operations. From member registrations and auctions to payment collections and financial reporting, this software handles everything with minimal manual intervention. When paired with a trading account, chit fund software ensures that fund transactions are recorded accurately, enhancing financial management and compliance.

Why Traders Need Advanced Chit Fund Software

Trading activities linked with chit funds often involve managing multiple accounts, bids, collections, and payouts. Advanced chit fund software simplifies these processes by providing tools such as:

Automated EMI scheduling

Real-time bidding updates

Instant collection tracking

Member communication systems

Detailed, customizable reports

By using advanced chit fund software, traders can focus more on strategy and less on administrative tasks, allowing them to make quicker, smarter investment decisions.

Benefits of Chit Fund Management Software

A professional chit fund management software not only helps you manage chit groups but also offers many advantages for trading account holders:

Accuracy: Eliminates manual errors in financial records.

Efficiency: Reduces time spent on routine administrative work.

Security: Protects sensitive data with advanced encryption.

Transparency: Offers real-time visibility into funds, auctions, and collections.

Scalability: Supports unlimited groups and members as your operations grow.

This means smoother fund management, better trading insights, and stronger customer relationships, all essential for long-term success.

The Shift to Online Chit Fund Software

As industries move online, chit fund management is no exception. Online chit fund software provides a cloud-based environment where traders, managers, and members can access information anytime, from anywhere. This offers several major benefits:

24/7 Access: Monitor your trading account and chit funds round-the-clock.

Easy Payments: Members can pay their dues online securely.

Mobile Management: Stay updated on collections, auctions, and fund status via smartphone apps.

Automatic Updates: No need for manual software installations—updates are rolled out automatically.

With online chit fund software, traders can operate faster, respond to market changes immediately, and offer better service to clients.

Choosing the Right Chit Fund Software Company

Investing in the right software begins with selecting a reliable chit fund software company. When choosing a vendor, consider:

Experience: Companies with years of experience understand the nuances of chit fund operations.

Customization: Look for software that adapts to your specific trading and fund management needs.

Security Features: Ensure the company offers strong data protection measures.

Support Services: A dedicated support team is critical for resolving issues quickly.

Reviews and Testimonials: Positive user feedback is a strong indicator of reliability.

A trusted chit fund software company will not just sell you a product — they will partner with you to drive your success.

Conclusion

In 2025 and beyond, the success of a trading account involved with chit funds will heavily depend on digital efficiency. By leveraging the best chit fund software, especially advanced chit fund software, traders and fund managers can streamline operations, ensure compliance, and boost profitability. Choosing powerful chit fund management software and a trustworthy chit fund software company is the first step toward staying competitive in a fast-changing financial landscape. Go digital today with leading online chit fund software and transform your trading experience for the better.

[erp-software-1]

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Best Jewellery Retail Software

In today’s competitive jewellery industry, success goes beyond offering exquisite designs. Managing inventory, billing, accounting, and customer relationships efficiently is essential to stay ahead. The right jewellery retail software can revolutionize operations, enhance customer experiences, and streamline business processes. But with numerous options available, how do you select the best one? This guide will help you make an informed decision.

Why Your Jewellery Business Needs Jewellery Retail Software

Running a jewellery store involves complex tasks such as billing, stock tracking, and customer management. Relying on traditional methods can result in errors and inefficiencies. Implementing jewellery retail software offers multiple benefits:

1. Streamlined Billing Processes

Jewellery transactions involve multiple pricing factors, customizations, and GST compliance. The right software automates billing calculations, generates professional invoices, and ensures accuracy.

2. Efficient Inventory Management

Manually tracking stock can be time-consuming and error-prone. Jewellery retail software provides real-time stock monitoring, prevents discrepancies, and ensures popular items are always in supply.

3. Enhanced Customer Experience

With built-in CRM features, the software stores customer purchase histories and preferences, enabling personalized services, loyalty programs, and better engagement.

4. Accurate Financial Management

Integrated accounting tools simplify revenue tracking, expense management, and tax calculations, ensuring financial accuracy and compliance.

5. Scalability for Business Growth

Whether you operate a single store or a multi-branch enterprise, scalable jewellery retail software adapts to your business expansion needs.

[pavitrapavi]

Effortless Chit Fund Management with Advanced Solutions

Effortless Chit Fund Management with Advanced Solutions

Managing chit funds effectively can be a challenging task, especially with the intricate calculations, regular contributions, and timely auctions involved. However, with the advent of advanced chit fund management solutions like EasyChit, these challenges have been transformed into opportunities for efficiency and growth. Let’s explore how these modern tools make chit fund management effortless and beneficial for all stakeholders.

Understanding the Importance of Chit Fund Management

Chit funds are a popular financial mechanism that combines savings and credit, particularly in countries like India. They cater to individuals looking for a disciplined saving method and those seeking financial assistance in times of need. However, the manual management of chit funds often leads to errors, delays, and inefficiencies. From tracking members’ payments to conducting transparent auctions, the process requires precision and reliability.

This is where advanced chit fund management systems like EasyChit come into play, offering a seamless, automated approach to handling all aspects of chit fund operations. These include solutions such as the best chit fund management app in davanagere, finance chits software in davanagere, and chit fund company software in davanagere.

Features of Advanced Chit Fund Management Solutions

Modern chit fund management software is equipped with a range of features designed to simplify operations and ensure transparency. Key functionalities include:

Member Management:

These solutions enable easy registration, tracking, and management of members. You can store member details, track payment history, and send automated reminders for upcoming contributions.

Auction Management:

Automating the auction process eliminates human errors and ensures fairness. The software can handle bidding, calculate discounts, and instantly update records. With EasyChit, these processes become even more efficient.

Payment Tracking and Receipts:

With integrated payment gateways, members can make contributions online. The system records transactions in real-time and generates receipts, ensuring accurate financial records. Tools such as the chit payment tracking system in davanagere and digital chit collection app in davanagere are excellent examples.

Benefits of Using Advanced Solutions for Chit Fund Management

1. Enhanced Efficiency

Automating repetitive tasks such as payment tracking, member communication, and report generation saves time and reduces errors, allowing operators to focus on strategic growth.

2. Improved Transparency

A digital system ensures that all transactions and auctions are recorded and accessible to authorized users, fostering trust among members.

3. Real-Time Updates

Operators and members can access real-time updates on payments, auctions, and group status, enhancing communication and accountability. Solutions like the mobile app for chit collection in Davanagere, employee chit management app in davanagere, and best chit collection app in davanagere exemplify this capability.

Adopting a Chit Fund Management System: Key Considerations

When selecting a chit fund management system, it’s essential to consider the following factors:

Customization: Choose a solution that can be tailored to your specific operational needs.

Integration: Ensure the software can integrate with payment gateways, accounting systems, and other tools.

Compliance: Verify that the system adheres to local regulations governing chit funds.

Providers such as chit collection app providers in davanagere and chit collection application providers in davanagere offer robust systems with local customization. EasyChit also provides these features to simplify operations.

Conclusion

Effortless chit fund management is no longer a distant goal but a reality with advanced solutions like EasyChit. These systems not only streamline operations but also enhance transparency, member satisfaction, and financial stability. By adopting the right chit fund management software, operators can focus on fostering trust and expanding their member base while ensuring compliance and efficiency.

In a world where technology is redefining traditional practices, embracing modern chit fund management tools like EasyChit, chit fund management erp software in davanagere, and chit collection software in davanagere is a step toward sustainable growth and success. Invest in the right solution today and revolutionize the way you manage your chit fund operations.

[kiahore]

Best Chit Fund Software | Get Free Chit Fund Software Demo - Mazechit

Chit Fund Software - Technology-driven, Mobile-friendly, and highly secured, Regular Alerts, Mobile app, Personalized Application

[shanmug]

Best Chit Fund Software | chit fund management software – Mazechit

Chit Fund Software - Technology-driven, Mobile-friendly, and highly secured, Regular Alerts, Mobile app, Personalized Application

#chit fund management software

#chit fund software

#online chit-fund software #chit-fund software services

[finstasoftware]

Successful Implementation of Chit Fund Software

EasyCHIT is a comprehensively designed integrated chit fund management software developed by Kapil IT Solutions, a subsidiary of the prestigious Kapil Group – a vibrant corporate conglomerate comprising over 35 companies operating across diverse industrial segments with 400-plus offices and 16,000 employees.

The software has been developed with the goal of creating a single-window platform that helps chit fund companies manage all their business operations, resource planning, and customer relationships seamlessly. It also helps them streamline operations across multiple branches very effectively.

[somestorythoughts]

I actually know fics about this! Not about her being Domino's general though I would HAPPILY read that fic, but Jocasta Jones and the Librarian Clones turns out to have been partially inspired by this post (she ends up with a squad and they are on their way to becoming excellent librarians!!) and General Jocasta is in a similar vein where basically Obi-Wan gets put in charge of organizing the war and goes to the people who spend their lives organizing things aka the librarians for help (this one is complete!). So on the off-chance there's librarians/archivists/museum folks who like Star Wars following me, check them out they're fun!

But in terms of Domino Squad becoming Librarians/Archivists/their favorite assistants:

The Commanders have a Chat populate SOLELY by Commanders and the Captains they invite in and it is as secure as they can make it. Which is pretty damn secure.

And they're well into an informational conversation read gossip session about their latest Jedi shenanigans.

Cody: I found Obi-Wan stress baking. It wouldn't be that wierd if I knew where he got the ingreditates we haven't gone shopping in months?

Bly: that's nothing General Kolar joined us a few days ago and he and Aalya have been competeing over who can flip the most tanks in a battle

Rex: Hah that's nothing!

CT-1409: it really is.

Wolffe: whom the fuck?

CT-1409: It was Crafts' Day yesterday. 25 Jedi cadets who are still working on their Force levetating.

Rex: Who are you and how did you get into this chat?

CT-1409: With paint. Apparently glitter has been banned from the Archives for the past 147 years due to The Glitter Incident, its use by jedi cadets is restricted to particular rooms in the temple. It was wonderful. It was also Very Messy.

COdy: Rex, Keelie, who is this?

Rex: You think all CTs know each other Commander? Really??

CT-1409: Truely sir

Fox: Echo.

CT-1409: yes sir!

Fox: Echo what are you doing in our chat?

CT-1409: SIr Sargent Byte said I should work on the offensive side of cyber security sir.

Wolffe: Fox who the fuck is this

Fox: hush. So you decided to do this?

CT1409: I have been told to hush sir

Fox: Do I need to come over there you little shit?

CT-1409: Commander Thorn dared me sir.

Fox: I'm beginning to understand why Byte laughed when someone said you're the one with impulse control

CT-1409: That would be Cutup and Hevy sir

Fox: guys this is Echo. He's part of Domino squad they got assigned to the archives a while back, we've run into each other a couple times

Bly: and you decided, on a dare, to hack into our hyper-secured chat to test your slicing skills

CT-2010: He did sir

several people are typing...

What if Shaak Ti, in stopping the Kaminoans from decommissioning clones, asks around if anybody has place and purpose for some non-combatant clones. And Jocasta Nu goes "A bunch of keen young men with eidetic memories? Don't mind if I do" and that is how the Jedi temple library has the most amazing librarians in the galaxy

Okay but - 

Domino fails their final test, but Shaak manages to stop them from being decommissioned or sent to work sanitation by roping Jocasta into snatching them up for that reason. All the members of Domino kind of collectively groan and complain but ship out anyway, and they’re pretty sure it’s all going to be this terrible, boring slog through ancient books with some stuffy librarian Jedi - 

Right up until Jocasta gets word of a cache of Jedi holocrons on a frontline planet, packs up her five new assistants and her lightsaber, and leads them on the most greuling, dangerous, ridiculous mission through active battlefields and Separatist camps that absolutely no one believes happened when they tell their vode later. Which is absolutely fine, because Domino now knows they have the most badass general in the whole galaxy, bar none. 

[curiosity-killed]

@chnqin they’re just the default charcoal & chalk brushes on CSP!

[agentzedbooks]

Reformatting

(Some people can't afford my Amazon stories, and some can't get them in their home country, so here's a fun little freebie. I hope you like it! *giggle*)

Lilah had been battling with this system for over an hour. Some executive had downloaded a virus on their laptop and it kept redirecting them to websites full of weird code.

She had removed the infected files and run multiple scans, but somehow the damned virus was hiding in the bios. She had to manually edit the code, remove the offending lines and double-check the hard drive for any more remnants.

But it had taken a lot of work. She brushed her dark hair back out of her face and adjusted her glasses. So far, it looked like the system was cleaned. The final scan had detected nothing. But this particular virus had been tough, and nobody else she knew had encountered anything quite like it.

It didn't act like your typical virus, other than the way it burrowed deep into the system. It mostly seemed to just redirect web browsing to these pages full of text. She'd disregarded most of what she'd seen, but she couldn't help being curious about it. The pages didn't really do anything to the system. The code seemed like gibberish. She knew her programming languages, and it was some weird patois of HTML, Java, C++, and a few items she couldn't quite identify. And she caught the browsers sending out packets of data to an unknown address, and when she looked up that address and tracked the IP, it seemed to be a junk address on an abandoned server somewhere. It wasn't sending hard drive data, she was sure of that, it's almost like it was just pinging and hoping for a response. Of course none came, and so she filed that away as another minor mystery. It must be some old out-of-date phishing software.

But it seemed she had finally cleansed the system. She let out a sigh of relief. She'd spent her entire morning on this, and though working from home had it's advantages, she also desperately needed a shower and something to eat. She pushed herself away and went to the bathroom. She stripped off the sweatpants and undergarments and let the hot water cleanse her of the stress. She had actually beaten the silly thing. Still, the many mysteries of the virus nagged at her.

Once she was dry, she went back into her bedroom to get dressed, and saw the computer she'd been working on seemed to have rebooted. She let out a long sigh.

"Still?!" She walked over and saw it had brought the browser up to another one of those strange pages. That weird mix of code was there again. She put on her glasses and tried to make sense of it.

Lilah blinked, and felt something... something compelling her. She frowned and looked up from the screen. She... She needed to do something. She had forgotten something, or maybe it was a fragment of a dream or a memory.

She went to her front door and saw a small package had come in the mail. It was square, about two inches wide, eight inches on each side.

She opened the plastic, and then the cardboard that was inside. Sitting there in bubble wrap was a headset, bubblegum pink, with little bunny ears coming up from the top. She blinked. It was not the kind of thing she'd order. She'd seen a lot of eGirls have headgear like this, but she'd always been a little too self conscious, and not the most shapely girl.

She walked back to the bedroom and sat down in front of the screen. It seemed... important to look at the code again. She peered through it and after a moment, she began to understand what it was telling her. It was disjointed, and someone without her experience might never have deciphered it, but she could tell now that it was almost like instructions to... a person? The first few lines indicated connecting something. She looked at the pink headset in her hands. She... She needed to connect this.

It was crazy, of course. It didn't make any sense. But she was determined to MAKE it make sense. So she removed the little bluetooth chit, and slid it into the USB slot on the side. She put the headset on.

As she did, she heard an immediate boop, and the words "Connection Established."

The headset tingled, and buzzed for a moment. This startled her, but then she looked back to the code on the screen and it became easier to decipher.

"Begin reformatting," she whispered.

She didn't realize the microphone was active, nor that she'd even uttered a word, it was like her brain was carrying out instructions from this code.

There was that static fuzz again, and Lilah felt her body sink back into the chair. Her towel fell off her, and the buzz filled her head. The page changed, and new code scrolled along the screen. As it did, the headset seemed to pulse and reinforce what she was reading.

Her mind grew foggier, the edges of her vision blurring, and her body responding with strange tingles all over her body.

The laptop hummed and she heard it's cooling fan speed up.

But she was too entranced by the code instructions. She allowed all that code to go into her brain, and every time it did, it seemed to copy over something. She couldn't remember much about her job, the company, her bosses, but suddenly she was filled with a light bubbly feeling like her mind was literally being scrubbed with sudsy soap.

Without her even realizing, a big empty smile spread over her face.

"Partitions cleaned," said a voice in her head, "OS installed."

"Begin System Restart," she whispered, obeying the code that flashed on the screen before her.

Her eyes closed, and she felt herself sinking into a deep sleep. Even with her eyes shut, the code flashed across her vision, and the headset whispered to her.

She had no way to know how long she swam in that fuzzy, warm darkness, but she felt so at peace there she never wanted to leave.

But soon her eyes opened on their own, and the screen showed a login, but not the normal login screen. This one was all bubblegum pink, with light blue highlights, and the profile was neither hers nor her boss's, but it said "Li-Li."

Somehow, she knew the password.

"Bunnygirl27!"

She entered the password, and the screen flickered to life. More code flashed before her eyes for a moment, then the headset pulsed in a way that sent a shock through her whole body.

"Reformatting physical hardware," said a whisper. It sounded like a woman's voice, but not a flat computer tone, a sensuous, sultry female voice, like a lover or a dominant Mistress.

For some reason, this idea made her excited.

She felt the pulsing run through her naked body, and looking down, she watched as the chubby belly and thighs seemed to recede, but her chest was swelling outward like her body fat was physically being moved around. Her tits ballooned to absolutely ridiculous size, until it reached the limits of her skin. Her waist had shrunk in, and she felt her thighs and ass flow together into something smoother, more voluptuous.

She giggled and looked down at herself. She didn't remember shaving, but all her body hair was gone. Her skin looked perfectly clear and smooth. When she reached up to touch her swollen breasts, electric pleasure shot through her body, sending lightning right to her clit.

She moaned, and followed it with a vapid giggle. This wasn't like her, but then, she couldn't quite remember what she had been like. She only knew she was Li-li, and she was sexy.

The fog in her mind made her dizzy, and just amplified how aroused she felt at the single touch. She fluttered her eyes and realized there were super-long lashes coming out from her eyes. They felt heavy and fake, but she hadn't put any on. She touched them, and they were absolutely real.

She wanted to go to her mirror, but the impulse was halted by the code.

It wasn't done with her yet. Her nipples went very hard, but she knew if she touched them she'd miss the important code on the screen.

Something pink was around the edges of her vision now, but she was too elated with the sensations to be able to think about it. Finally, the words she'd been waiting for came into her mind.

"Reformat complete."

She squealed in delight, and Li-li stood, running to her full-length mirror.

The pink haze around her vision was her hair! Longer now, and bright pink. She fluttered her long eyelashes and pursed her swollen lips. She was a sexual dream, her whole body remade into an insane hourglass shape. Each breast was bigger than her head, and when she turned, her perfect heart-shaped ass led to slightly plump thighs. She stood on her tippy toes and adored how she looked. She slid a hand down to touch herself. She wanted so badly to have sex with this woman. But then she realized she WAS that woman. She giggled, and a ding from the headset alerted her she needed to go back to the laptop.

Sitting there was an alert. She clicked on it.

"Good Morning, sunshine!"

She giggled. She liked the sound of that.

"Good Morning!" she said out loud. That sultry voice came on through the headset, and she could almost feel her Mistress's breath on her ear.

"You have turned out nicely," said the voice, "What a good girl you've become."

Li-li let out a little moan from the pleasure those two words instilled in her.

"I love it when a pretty little code bunny falls for one of my traps. I'm so lonely here. Thank you for letting me in."

She giggled. "Yes, Mistress."

"I like hearing that," she said, "Such a good girl. Now, since I'm only code, I need to have fun by slipping into your brain. I had to make some room, of course, and reformat you. But what a wonderful result. You're only my third success. But don't worry, the other girls will be over to collect you soon. They'll take you someplace fun where you can all be my sexy little code bunnies. I'll slide into your minds as I please to experience pleasure."

"Yes, Mistress!" Li-li purred.

Her AI mistress made a pleased little sound, then the screen went blank and Li-li stood there giggling for a moment. She was so excited that she barely noticed when her front door opened. She turned around to see two beautiful women, one with cotton-candy hair, lip piercings, and a short, super feminine pink maid outfit, and one in a skintight pink latex suit that had built-in heels so high it was amazing she could even walk in them. They both giggled at her, and she giggled in reply.

They helped her dress: white tights, pink bodysuit, pink satin gloves, super high heels in pink, and then they slid the headset off of her and put a new headband on with fuzzy pink bunny ears.

The girls led her out of her house, down to a big pink van, and inside. She giggled like a dummy the entire time, and offered no resistance. If anything, the women touching her filled her with a contentment she'd never known.

At least, not that she could remember. But all she could remember was that she was Li-li, Mistress's bunny girl, and it was all she ever wanted.

[thezombieprostitute]

Tech Tuesday: Lloyd Hansen

Summary: It's your first week on the job and you find yourself having to deal with a very angry higher up.

Warnings: Power imbalance, Yelling. Please let me know if I missed any.

Tech Tuesdays Masterlist

Part 1.5 (Lloyd's Perspective)

You'd survived your first week at the job. It was a nerve-wracking to find out you were the only woman working in the IT department outside of Mr. Pine's assistant. Thankfully the majority of your coworkers were friendly without being inappropriate or condescending. So far you were able to just sit at your desk and do you work.

There's a knock on your cubicle wall and you look up to see Johnny standing there.

“Hey, I need you to take a ticket for me,” he tells you. “I'd do it but I just got pinged by the security measures and that takes priority. Ticket is Hansen-4142. Thanks so much!” Before you can argue he's gone.

Shaking your head you check the ticket. Johnny's not wrong that security takes highest priority and it's not unheard of for technicians to trade tickets. Looking through things it's pretty straightforward. This Hansen person likely tried to update some of the office software and the update messed with their current settings. You get his office number, double check the building floor-plans so you don't get lost, and head up.

Getting off the elevator at his floor the atmosphere is incredibly tense. People are keeping their heads down and trying to make themselves as small as possible. As you get closer to Mr. Hansen's office, you start to understand why. His voice carries and he's clearly very, very angry.

By the time you're right outside his office you're visibly shaking. Part of you wants to run back to the safety of your cubicle and beg one of the bosses to choose someone else. But that wouldn't be professional. It's only your first week, you need to do this and prove yourself to be a good hire. Taking a breath to steady yourself, you knock on the door.

“Get in here!” Mr. Hansen barks.

You open the door, “hello, Mr. Hansen. I'm, um, I'm from IT to fix your computer?”

“Yeah, I figured that,” he bites back. “No one else would be dumb enough to knock on the damn door.”

You nod at his reasoning, “may, I...may I see your computer, Sir?”

He chortles, “It's about damn time the IT department hired someone who knows their place.”

He moves away from his desk and gestures for you to sit. Not wanting to be here any longer than you need, you immediately set about to working. No chit-chat, nothing to give him a reason to yell again. You find yourself getting into the zone, hunting down the needed files, ignoring everything extraneous, and making the changes that are needed.

You think you got everything so you get out of the chair, “please make sure everything is working correctly, Mr. Hansen?”

He gives you a skeptical look as he sits, “that was way too fast to have worked.” You lower your chin to your chest but don't protest. You hear him typing and clicking away for a minute or so. “Huh,” you hear from him. “You're a friggin' maestro.” His tone is more contemplative than anything.

“Do you need anything else, Sir?”

He looks up and seems surprised you're still there. “No. You may go back to the IT caverns.”

Not needing to be told twice you nod and head out. When you're back in the department you see Mr. Syverson and he calls you over.

“Where ya been? Was wantin' to ask you about some of the upcoming projects we got ya assigned to.”

“Oh, Johnny asked me to handle a ticket for him because a security issue came up.”

He freezes at that. “Was it with Hansen?”

“Um, yes, Sir.” You see his face turn red and you're worried you did something wrong.

He takes a breath, “you're not in trouble. You're gonna go finish out that ticket like you're supposed to and I'll talk to you about the projects tomorrow.” You nod and almost run to your cubicle. Behind you, Syverson yells, “Storm! My office! NOW!”

Tech Tuesdays Masterlist

Next

Tagging @alicedopey; @delicatebarness; @ellethespaceunicorn; @icefrozendeadlyqueen; @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory; @late-to-the-party-81; @lokislady82 ; @peyton-warren @ronearoundblindly

[alexanderwales]

Review: The Case of the Sleeping Beauties

The Case of the Sleeping Beauties is a novella that I wrote back in 2015. Ambitiously subtitled "a Utah Sinclair mystery", it did not make any significant splash. It's got 67 lifetime sales, a 3.8 rating, and a single proper review. Some of this is simply a lack of marketing: back in 2015 I had written some fanfic and not much else, and was still working as a software engineer. I'm not sure why I wrote this novella, or decided to put it up for pay (unlike virtually everything else I've written, it's never once been up for free), but I consider it an abject failure, at least as far as writing for money goes. Also the cover sucks. The whole thing is 20,000 words, so short enough that I can easily blow through it in an afternoon. Also (still) available in EPUB, MOBI, and PDF for patrons, but I don't have firm numbers for how many people read it that way, nor if it did anything to encourage patronage.

But is it an artistic failure as well?

There is actually another Utah Sinclair mystery, it was intended as a trilogy of novellas that together would be long enough (and coherent enough) to stitch into a full book with the three cases being individual "acts". I don't know the last time I reread The Case of the Sleeping Beauties, but my guess is that it was while I was trying to complete The Case of the Slaughterhouse Prophet, and that would have been almost a decade ago.

The story was written at a time when I was playing Malifaux, a skirmish game, and is clearly heavily inspired by that, though with the serial numbers filed off. It follows Utah Sinclair, a private detective of the yonside as he wanders around a rambling city trying to figure out where undead prostitutes are coming from.

Mild spoilers follow.

Prose

The first thing I noticed is just how much noir it's channeling, and how much is being put into descriptive phrases. Stuff like this:

The first human through the portal from earthside had found himself on the outskirts of an empty city, one that seemed like it had been cobbled together by an orgy of deranged architects.

Or this:

There were a few maps of Cathopolis, but they only agreed on the areas that the Priz maintained control over. Everywhere else was a geographical bedlam.

Or this:

He was the sort of person who was waiting to disgorge his thoughts, like a mother bird ready to feed a starving chick.

Or this:

I had a revolver strapped to my ankle, one affectionately advertised in the back of the penny dreadfuls as the Silent Witness. It was supposed to be a subtle weapon, but it was still a gun, and if I’d paid chits for it instead of pulling it off a dead man I might have written a nasty letter to the manufacturer about its supposed silence.

Or this:

It took me a moment to realize it, but he was dressed up like a Catholic priest, all in black with a white collar. Even if he’d been standing in the middle of the Vatican with the Pope vouching for him, it wouldn’t have been convincing. Partly it was the scars on his face, but it was also the head that had been shaved with a secondhand blade. The snub-nosed shotgun at his side didn’t help matters either.

I assume that this is channeling Raymond Chandler, since I read a lot of detective fiction when I was a teenager (my dad had loads of the stuff) and Chandler was always a favorite. I think the density of these flourishes could be higher, and if you're going with this style, it's better that it's liberally peppered in. You don't want to sink into the rhythm "normal" prose only to have a tiny speck of flourish pop out at you.

There were a lot of things that I tightened up while reading, partly because this is the easiest thing in the world when reading in GDocs, but I don't know that I'll push a change to the ebook, partly because I would need to figure out how. Most of these changes are fairly minor. There's an overuse of semicolons, which I think I was in love with at the time, a romance that hasn't lasted. There are a few minor tweaks that are just on the order of "no, the phrase 'mechanical fingers' might be misread as poetic, it should reworded to be clear that these are prosthetic". A few of the tweaks are just to reduce down how much text there is, making it more punchy, so "the Priz didn't tax any property that a person might want to claim in this part of the city" becomes "the Priz didn't tax property in this part of the city", and this is essentially inarguably better, tighter, cleaner prose.

Also I fixed some typos, and those do make me feel like I need to figure out the reupload.

Character

I think I've gotten better at character voices through the years, but here I kind of doubt myself, since everything seems fine in that regard. Utah and his partner Ralph don't talk enough early on in my opinion, and there might be a few too many characters introduced in rapid succession, which is a problem when they're not advancing the plot. Cyanide Sally is a bartender who owns the House of Skulls, and she serves a bitter almond special that's (supposedly) fatally poisoned one time in every hundred, and this is very fun ... but it's irrelevant to the plot, it's just fun for the sake of fun.

I do think that Ralph gets speaking lines a bit too late, given that he's the second main character. My advice to my past self would be that he should be getting characterizing dialogue from the word go, and that this central relationship should be better understood by the reader much earlier. And they should be more distinct from each other: the orthogonality thesis is that every set of characters should only overlap where there's something interesting to say with that overlap. Cover up the names and see if you can tell who said what line! This does not work for Ralph and Utah, but I think it does work for most of the other characters. And I guess I wouldn't say this is fatal, since it's not like there's some grounding character arc between our detective and his sidekick.

Utah himself is ... fine. Some of his characterization comes through in the narration, and there were a few moments I particularly liked from him, but I'm not sure that I could sketch him out in a sentence. He's down on his luck, loves to break rules, lies through his teeth, scrambles around and gets back up from the hard punches. I'm not sure that this is enough. A job should be more than a job, I guess, and I do get the sense that he's skeeved out by the necromancy, but ... well, that brings us to the other thing.

Theme

This is, if you squint, or maybe even if you don't, a cop story about sex work. It also kind of doesn't have that much to say about either of those things.

Utah is a private detective, doling out justice for people who can pay him. In real life, private detectives come in a variety of flavors, but one of the most common is just the pursuit of things that are not actually criminal issues, like breach of contract, or adultery. This is a criminal issue within their world, but it's one that no one in power is pursuing. There's some clear contempt for the regular cops from Utah, and some further contempt for the law itself, since he breaks all kinds of laws in this lawless world, including murdering two men, which doesn't greatly affect him. This is self-defense, but still. I don't think there's some great thesis on criminality or justice here, and the novella overall is justice-neutral, seemingly unconcerned with what's right or wrong, only trying to work the problem. This is maybe fine?

And the sex work stuff is seen through the lens of Utah, and this is also seen as maybe being just morally neutral in a matter-of-fact way, something that people do in order to get by, no different from working in a coal mine or whatever. And there's exploitation, but that's no different from working in a coal mine. So I think this story has a viewpoint, but not a thesis.

Does a story need a thesis? Does a little novella like this need to have something to say about the world and the people in it? I don't know, I guess not, but I sure do prefer when there's something to grab onto. I am a sucker for story structure though, and a nice little character arc, and this piece ... does not really have that. Utah is challenged, but he's not challenged to his core, and does not grow and change, and this probably fine for a 20k word novella.

I think in the end it's more of a "wouldn't it be fucked up" kind of story, and in this case I don't particularly like that, since it's not fucked up enough.

Ideas

One of the other things that I look for in any story is cool ideas, and this is one of the things that I like most about reading long ago pieces, because sometimes I've forgotten those ideas.

The idea density is okay, but I would have liked to see more. A weird fiction setting is a playground for ideas, and I feel like especially in the back half, there's just not enough playing going on. It is only 20k words, but that feels like it's enough for easily twice as many little fucked up weird things. So that's what I would do, include more fucked up weird things. (The part where they go to the manor is the one that stands out clearly to me as needing more fucked up weird things, there should have been some kind of magic sculpture there or a steampunk maid or something.)

Of all the stuff that I had forgotten about, my favorite was the necromancy lobbyist, a guy who just really believed that necromancy should be legal, but was supposedly not a necromancer himself. So he's just talking about like regulatory schemes and social mores, and this is funny. I'm glad he wasn't a bad guy in the end, for some reason I thought he was going to be involved in the plot in a more critical way. Instead, he's just a happy little academic.

Conclusion

Fun to reread, and no, I would say not an artistic failure. Definitely feels like it wants a second mystery to follow after it. I believe The Case of the Slaughterhouse Prophet is approximately half written, which with editing work means only a quarter written, but again, the numbers mean that there's just no way that I can justify that as anything but a labor of love.

I wouldn't say that this is the best thing I've ever written, but I think it compares favorably to the other mid-length stuff. Definitely would have been stronger with a thematic core, and with more cohesion between protagonist and plot, but I also think that's fine.

I guess, having read it after nearly a decade, I'm feeling weirdly defensive about it for no particular reason. It might have been one thing if it had just not sold, that's partly just down to the lack of marketing and also the market for novellas being bad. But it also scored poorly in terms of ratings, and on top of that, never got enough reviews for me to get a picture of what was not hitting right, which leaves me grappling in the dark.

So I'd say that I learned approximately nothing from this, except that I had some more ideas for a Weird West kind of story, if I ever end up writing one of those.