#Baen

[detroitlib]

From our stacks: Cover detail from Dead on my Feet. Wm. Mark Simmons. Riverdale, NY: Baen Books, 2005. Cover art by Patrick Turner.

[dzelonis]

Morgan Llywelyn, Michael Scott - Silverhand (The Arcana #1)

Links uz grāmatas Goodreads lapu Izdevniecība: Baen Manas pārdomas Silverhand galvenais varonis Caeled grāmatai sākoties ir vien 13 gadus jauns puisis, kad ļaunu un cietsirdīgu valdītāji– dvīņu brālis un m��sa Lares un Sarel, kuriem pašiem ir vien 18 gadi, par savu maģijas spēju un to spēku eksperimentu mērķi izvēlas nelielu pierobežas Ward Point pilsētu. Nejauša laime vai Izredzētā varoņa…

[whimseysthrone]

David Drake, 1945-2023

Rest in peace, David Drake. May your memory be a blessing. I did not know David Drake, but I knew his work. I reviewed a number of his books here. Recently, when a friend was looking for a very particular flavor of genre fiction, I recommended Drake. I said, “He may not write the most poetic or literary story, and you might be able to spot tropes from a long ways off, but damn does he know how…

[shannon-foraker]

Weber also worked with Eric Flint, who was a socialist. There's not many non-het characters, besides Admiral Sarnow (him being gay is mentioned outside of books only).

However, as a POC, I loved that the MC wasn't just a white dude!

I think Bujold might not be conservative, but I can't find a source. I mean, one of her MCs is from Beta Colony (think her version of Beowulf in the Honorverse)

Oh, by the way, did I mention that in the Honor Harrington series, the Royal Family of the Star Kingdom of Manticore is African?

Plus Honor herself is at least partly Asian, but I can’t recall to what degree. But wait, there’s more. Manticore has actual genuine gender equality. The second book in the series deals with the Kingdom allying with a planet where women are treated like second class citizens (but are downright liberal compared to their cousins, who make ISIS look like the ACLU). In that book, the Manticorans have trouble grokking the idea of gender-based discrimination, while the Graysons try to wrap their heads around the idea of women having positions of authority.

It’s pretty mindblowing considering that David Weber is a white guy and a conservative (presumably. He’s a member of the NRA and I’m pretty sure he created Haven’s Basic Living Stipend system to critique the idea of a welfare state).

[chordsykat]

Winter Wonderklok 2023! Day 1!

Improvised Snowman Decoration

Happy Holiday Season and Merry Shitscram from the cast of Dethkomic, y'all. :)

The Winter Wonderklok Prompt List is right here!

[dethkomic]

A Wild Dethkomic 3 Trailer Appears...

I know last year (two years ago?) I made a trailer for Dethkomic II in comic form. This year I decided to lose my entire mind and made an animation...

So, let me start by saying what a pleasure it's been to work on this, this week. I literally took 5 days and did minimal commission work, thinking I might get it done, or I might not... and had such a blast, I ended up making it longer than I originally planned.

Enjoy the ride... :) (FLASHING LIGHTS WARNING I AM SO SERIOUS ABOUT THAT - be careful) And more announcements to come! Stay tuned!

[moonfl-0-wer]

I just did something… X

If you know you know

[gyossefka]

“The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers” by Jan de Baen.

[brujasvascas]

The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers,  c.1672 Jan de Baen

[dolly-macabre]

A promo shot for a Baen-shee/Dolly Macabre tour 🤘🏻

Thanks for letting me borrow your band @chordsykat

[kattartsblog]

Makina at an Industry Party (Metalocalypse OC Tribute)

Makina may be brave as a performer on stage, but is a bit too shy at gatherings.

There are so many amazing OCs out there in this fandom! I couldn’t think of who I wanted to draw first then I was like “Heck it, I’ll do as many as I can!”

OC Credits

Eden Gardyn - @m3gahet

Aurora Attic - @neopolitangumdrops

Dahlia Birkett - @dolly-macabre

St. Cecilia Jameson - @gointothevvater

Blanca Tennbris - @plvtosun

Ryan Yoshida - @milobat

Fiona Lindstrom - @sillydorito

Zorya Auvelomaa - @mrfelixfischoeder

Baen-shee (Sparkles the Bassist, Eden Nightwish, Nita Nirvana and Caj Stryker) - @chordsykat

Makina “Medusa” Gorgon - ME

[sixth-light]

Love your Wheel of Time posts on the impact of Jordan's time in the Citadel on his understanding of the world. Have gotten to book 13, the Black Tower focused sections- do you think if Jordan has survived to write that book, the Black Tower would have its own version of gay-for-the-stay pillow friends?

Hmm, interesting. In general I am very reluctant to give dead authors credit for stuff they never got a chance to do. You see a lot of this around for example Terry Pratchett, where people are pretty quick to claim he would have taken X or Y opinion (also an opinion they hold) due to the generally progressive trajectory of his work.

And, like, maybe he would have! And maybe Jordan would have had gay Asha'man! You can certainly see a more openly queer trend in the parts of the series he wrote as it went on, though still under certain pretty strict constraints. I think ultimately I'm less interested in the question of whether people might one day have done those things had they lived longer, and more in where they fit into the wider picture of queer representation in fiction. I think it would be utterly wrong to say Jordan would never have represented queer men in the text of his work, and it seems likely on the balance of things had he done so, it would have been similar to the way he represented queer women. (I would be remiss if I didn't note there's been plenty of discussion about how the subtext of WoT resonates for a lot of queer men - even if it's not as explicit as for the women, there's not nothing there!)

But I think it would also be wrong to say he certainly would have. That door is shut. All we get for sure is the knowledge of what he did write for publication when he wrote it, and the knowledge that he was willing to be a lot more frank in his personal notes and worldbuilding material about sexuality than he was in his actual work - which was not because SFF of the time made it impossible to depict queer men. Not doing so was the choice he made when he had the choice. That's not meant as a judgement on him or a declaration he should have done it differently; it's just the reality of what he did.

Now, if the question is "how would Jordan have depicted gay men had he been willing to do so" then yeah, 100% we would have seen Asha'man hooking up because there were no women, that seems to have been his baseline understanding of homosexuality (see also Shalon having an affair with Ailil because her husband was somewhere else). In fact, I suspect the whole thing he set up with wives/girlfriends accompanying men to the Black Tower was to avoid having to write the Asha'man sleeping with each other! It's kind of noticeable that in absolutely none of Jordan's societies that we see significant depictions of (i.e. I'm not counting places like Shara) are there ANY celibate/separatist male groups. Even the Whitecloaks, unlike some of their historical inspirations, have no expectation of celibacy or avoidance of relationships with women.

No-homo-ing his way towards greater involvement of women in society is the most Robert-Jordan-esque thing RJ could have done as a writer. You kind of have to respect it.

[stigmatam4rtyr]

The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers (between 1672-1675, oil on canvas) | Jan de Baen

[mcrcki]

@mischiefxmuses said : “I don’t really do Halloween, it’s a bit silly really.” - Zash to Vesta

"oh come on, don't act so lame, zash." vesta collapsed into the couch in one of the den's, tossing a small piece of candy at him. "it was like, the weekend to just get away with anything and you, what? sat at home? or worse.. did you work?"

[stainlesssteellocust]

Hyperion is a rare beast in that it’s a novel I will recommend pretty much without caveats

I don’t think everyone will like it, and I don’t extend that blanket rec to the sequels, but I think it’s worth a shot, and you can get a little something out of it if nothing else

[chordsykat]

Kloktober 2024 - Day 8

A Favorite Headcanon: Today begins a three-day series of events that take place during Nita and Caj's wedding because I'm going to make you all deal with the fact that I've turned this whole show into a conduit for pairing my own characters with each other yet again... First up, I've always loved the idea of Charles giving Caj away to her new wife... Right in the feels.

Kloktober prompt list is right here!