#Black Lagoon novel

[slowlypalewinner]

From the Shaitane Badi novel

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔘𝔫𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔞𝔩 ℌ𝔬𝔯𝔯𝔬𝔯 𝔏𝔦𝔟𝔯𝔞𝔯𝔶 (ℭ𝔞𝔯𝔩 𝔇𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔫𝔢 յգԴԴ)

[hostess-of-horror]

[thedazzlesun]

Stanislav Kadinsky from the Black Lagoon light novel

[anotheradult]

it's been three days since i last wrote anything...

the withdrawl is kicking in and i already have an idea for something new...

from the following images, anyone wanna take a guess on what i'm thinking of writing next?!.

[ghostfriendly5]

‘Never Deal With A Dragon’ Book Review  (Problems)

(SPOILERS and heavy criticism follow)

This was one of the earliest Shadowrun novels, in 1990. At least the idea of writing a good Shadowrun story had caught on by the time Hairbrained Schemes took a hand in the game. The PC games had developed characters, brilliant female characters, plots without a surplus of dispensable moving parts where one incident develops naturally from the foregoing and resolution is quite convincing. NDWAD has none of these things, and Mark Twain would have roasted it on the same griddle as James Fenimore Cooper for the same egregious flaws.

It isn’t without good points. Watching the familiar elements of Shadowrun dance about isn’t unpleasant; the plot is intricately set up, even if it falls to pieces quickly. I was interested to learn for my own stories that only great dragons can project an innocuous aura, and that the Renraku arcology was being heavily used long before its official completion date in 2054. The story was presumably written firstly to introduce the different elements of the RPG, which must be why Armitage and Sam Verner are both magic-users with datajacks. Though there was less reason for giving the most shallow, pretentious chump in the Sixth World a starring role in this drekshow.

Sam is often whiney, full of religious/pacifist/materialist pretentions without any deep foundations in his character, which isn’t developed even by his extraordinary experiences, because there’s nothing there. A nothing man whose involvement in, influence on and survival of the plot are all shamelessly ‘magic-did-it’ contrived. I wouldn’t have bothered to write about him, if Black Lagoon hadn’t told this story far better, flawed as it is. If a woman hadn’t been casually gang raped by Native American gangers, simply to contrive trouble for this petted male protagonist. With a racist/misogynist trope that was killing people pre-1776.  

A novel can’t be held up for clarity of writing when it isn’t clear until the 3/4 mark that the unnamed scheming golden dragon in chpt 4 isn’t Lofwyr (Ambiguous language isn’t a mysterious plot, it’s bad writing). Or when it isn’t clear until an explicit statement at the end that Alice Crenshaw was raped by allies of the protagonist, because the story does not appear to give a damn about a woman being raped. Crenshaw’s flashback scene is largely a rant about how disgusting the poor are, and how she’s irrationally going to get revenge on Verner, not the rapists. Because the world revolves around the male protagonist, and rape victims are psychotic harridans, irredeemably ruined by the incurable and unmentionable. This isn’t as bad as Goblins Slayer’s casual shaming and silencing of women as helpless victims, but Alice Crenshaw is effectively written as a very stupid and ugly demonization of rape victims. This attacks everything the victim represents, even the corporate arrogance shadowrunners are meant to be attacking, as well as a strong woman, a career woman and a woman, in the most corrupted, shameful and disgusting manner. Which is resolved by killing the victim, while the rapists go off to party with the ‘heroes’. Flawed as my Fighter’s Story is, I think I’ve done better than that, without pay.

Sally Tsung, Susan’s Chinese-American soul sister, doesn’t fare much better. She does well in a few underdetailled fight scenes but her role as Sam’s love interest comes from nowhere at all, as if a pretty Asian girl to shag the MC can be taken for granted. The non-reaction Ghost-Who-Walks has to the white MC stealing his girl doesn’t add anything good to his character or Sally’s, although the ‘honourable’ street-sam should be more concerned that one of his best men is a rapist. If that’s all his corrupted honour is worth, that’s all this book is worth. He doesn’t care to know; neither he, Sam or the woman who’s alright because she’s shagging them, have to confront or even think about the atrocity they let their chummers commit. If you’re not prepared to write about rape responsibly, don’t write it, and Crenshaw’s role would function completely unchanged. Cut everything you can cut, including the Tir sequence, Greerson and Ridley, Sato and Marushige, half-heartedness of Lofwyr’s involvement, Hasserlich’s weak motive - if there’s nothing worth writing about an MC who isn’t there, write something else. Deal with Sam’s real problem of looking for his sister in this story, not the next one, without contriving a mess that accomplishes nothing and arrives in the air. 

It’s not enough to say NMDWD is dated; people are very much still happily writing and buying stories as poor or worse. Thinking of Glory, Eiger, Simmy Kim, Coyote, Gobbet, Is0bel etcetera, I can only be very grateful indeed that there’s a better world elsewhere.                          

[frankentyner]

Art Adams's 2000 graphic novel adaptation of Creature From The Black Lagoon seems to me to be one of the most under celebrated achievements in the history of illustrated interpretations EVER. I just finished reading it for the first time (in the 2006 collection titled Universal Monsters: Cavalcade Of Horror, available at Huntington Woods Library on Scotia for all of you Michiganian, or Michigander, readers) and feel very strongly that it's one of the most carefully & lovingly crafted graphic novels I've ever taken in. The detail...

[toonlets]

¡O Monstro!

From the graphic novel, MOONSTRUCK!

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: black science fiction

As february and black history month nears its end, if you're a reader let's not forget to read and appreciate books by black authors the rest of the year as well! If you're a sci-fi fan like me, perhaps this list can help find some good books to sink your teeth into.

Bleak dystopias, high tech space adventures, alien monsters, alternate dimensions, mash-ups of sci-fi and fantasy - this list features a little bit of everything for genre fiction fans!

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

Something massive and alien crashes into the ocean off the coast of Nigeria. Three people, a marine biologist, a rapper, and a soldier, find themselves at the center of this presence, attempting to shepherd an alien ambassador as chaos spreads in the city. A strange novel that mixes the supernatural with the alien, shifts between many different POVs, and gives a one of a kind look at a possible first contact.

Nubia: The Awakening (Nubia series) by Omar Epps & Clarence A. Hayes

Young adult. Three teens living in the slums of an enviromentally ravaged New York find that something powerful is awakening within them. They’re all children of refugees of Nubia, a utopian African island nation that sank as the climate worsened, and realize now that their parents have been hiding aspects of their heritage from them. But as they come into their own, someone seeks to use their abilities to his own ends, against their own people.

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

Novella. After having failed at establishing a new colony, starship Calypso fights to make it back to Earth. Acting captain Jacklyn Albright is already struggling against the threats of interstellar space and impending starvation when the ship throws her a new danger: something is hiding on the ship, picking off her crew one by one in bloody, gruesome ways. A quick, excellent read if you want some good Alien vibes.

Dawn (Xenogenesis trilogy) by Octavia E. Butler*

After a devestating war leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, survivor Lilith finds herself waking up naked and alone in a strange room. She’s been rescued by the Oankali, who have arrived just in time to save the human race. But there’s a price to survival, and it might be humanity itself. Absolutely fucked up I love it I once had to drop the book mid read to stare at the ceiling and exclaim in horror at what was going on. Includes darker examinations of agency and consent, so enter with caution.

Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson*

Utterly unique in world-building, story, and prose, Midnight Robber follows young Tan-Tan and her father, inhabitants of the Carribean-colonized planet of Toussaint. When her father commits a terrible crime, he’s exiled to a parallel version of the same planet, home to strange aliens and other human exiles. Tan-Tan, not wanting to lose her father, follows with him. Trapped on this new planet, he becomes her worst nightmare. Enter this book with caution, as it contains graphic child sexual abuse.

Rosewater (The Wormwood trilogy) by Tade Thompson

In Nigeria lies Rosewater, a city bordering on a strange, alien biodome. Its motives are unknown, but it’s having an undeniable effect on the surrounding life. Kaaro, former criminal and current psychic agent for the government, is one of the people changed by it. When other psychics like him begin getting killed, Kaaro must take it upon himself to find out the truth about the biodome and its intentions.

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh

Young adult. A century ago, an astronomer discovered a possibly Earth-like planet. Now, a team of veteran astronauts and carefully chosen teenagers are preparing to embark on a twenty-three year trip to get there. But space is dangerous, and the team has no one to rely on but each other if - or when - something goes wrong. An introspective slowburn of a story, this focuses more on character work than action.

The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

After the planet Sadira is left uninhabitable, its few survivors are forced to move to a new world. On Cygnus Beta, they work to rebuild their society alongside their distant relatives of the planet, while trying to preserve what remains of their culture. Focused less on hard science or action, The Best of All Possible Worlds is more about culture, romance and the ethics and practicalities of telepathy.

Mirage (Mirage duology) by Somaiya Daud

Young adult. Eighteen-year-old Amani lives on an isolated moon under the oppressive occupation of the Valthek empire. When Amani is abducted, she finds herself someplace wholly unexpected: the royal palace. As it turns out, she's nearly identical to the half-Valthek, and widely hated, princess Maram, who is in need of a body double. If Amani ever wants to make it back home or see her people freed from oppression, she will have to play her role as princess perfectly. While sci-fi, this one more has the vibe of a fantasy.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Life on the lower decks of the generation ship HSS Matilda is hard for Aster, an outcast even among outcasts, trying to survive in a system not dissimilar to the old antebellum South. The ship’s leaders have imposed harsh restrictions on their darker skinned people, using them as an oppressed work force as they travel toward their supposed Promised Land. But as Aster finds a link between the death of the ship’s sovereign and the suicide of her own mother, she realizes there may be a way off the ship.

Where It Rains in Color by Denise Crittendon

The planet Swazembi is a utopia of color and beauty, the most beautiful of all its citizens being the Rare Indigo. Lileala was just named Rare Indigo, but her strict yet pampered life gets upended when her beautiful skin is struck by a mysterious sickness, leaving it covered in scars and scabs. Meanwhile, voices start to whisper in Lileala's mind, bringing to the surface a past long forgotten involving her entire society.

Eacaping Exodus (Escaping Exodus duology) by Nicky Drayden

Seske is the heir to the leader of a clan living inside a gigantic, spacefaring beast, of which they frequently need to catch a new one to reside in as their presence slowly kills the beast from the inside. While I found the ending rushed with regards to plot and character, the worldbuilding is very fresh and the overall plot of survival and class struggle an interesting one. It’s also sapphic!

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah*

In a near future America, inmates on death row or with life sentences in private prisons can choose to participate in death matches for entertainment. If they survive long enough - a rare case indeed - they regain their freedom. Among these prisoners are Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker, partners behind the scenes and close to the deadline of a possible release - if only they can survive for long enough. As the game continues to be stacked against them and protests mount outside, two women fight for love, freedom, and their own humanity. Chain-Gang All-Stars is bleak and unflinching as well as genuinely hopeful in its portrayal of a dark but all to real possible future.

Parable of the Sower (Earthseed duology) by Octavia E. Butler*

In a bleak future, Lauren Olamina lives with her family in a gated community, one of few still safe places in a time of chaos. When her community falls, Lauren is forced on the run. As she makes her way toward possible safety, she picks up a following of other refugees, and sows the seeds of a new ideology which may one day be the saviour of mankind. Very bleak and scarily realistic, Parable of the Sower will make you both fear for mankind and regain your hope for humanity.

Binti (Binti trilogy) by Nnedi Okorafor

Young adult novella. Binti is the first of the Himba people to be accepted into the prestigious Oomza University, the finest place of higher learning in all the galaxy. But as she embarks on her interstellar journey, the unthinkable happens: her ship is attacked by the terrifying Meduse, an alien race at war with Oomza University.

War Girls (War Girls duology) by Tochi Onyebuchi

In an enviromentally fraught future, the Nigerian civil war has flared back up, utilizing cybernetics and mechs to enhance its soldiers. Two sisters, by bond if not by blood, are separated and end up on differing sides of the struggle. Brutal and dark, with themes of dehumanization of soldiers through cybernetics that turn them into weapons, and the effect and trauma this has on them.

The Space Between Worlds (The Space Between Worlds duology) by Micaiah Johnson

Multiverse travel is finally possible, but there’s a catch: No one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying. As such she has a very special job in traveling to these worlds, hoping to keep her position long enough to gain citizenship in the walled-off Wiley City, away from the wastes where she grew up. But her job is dangerous, especially when she gets on the tracks of a secret that threatens the entire multiverse. Really cool worldbuilding and characters, also featuring a sapphic lead!

The Fifth Season (The Broken Eart trilogy) by N.K. Jemisin*

In a world regularly torn apart by natural disasters, a big one finally strikes and society as we know it falls, leaving people floundering to survive in a post apocalyptic world, its secrets and past to be slowly revealed. We get to follow a mother as she races through this world to find and save her missing daughter. While mostly fantasy in genre, this series does have some sci-fi flavor, and is genuinely some of the best books I've ever read, please read them.

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings*

In an alternate version of our present, the witch hunt never ended. Women are constantly watched and expected to marry young so their husbands can keep an eye on them. When she was fourteen, Josephine's mother disappeared, leveling suspicions at both mother and daughter of possible witchcraft. Now, nearly a decade and a half later, Jo, in trying to finally accept her missing mother as dead, decides to follow up on a set of seemingly nonsensical instructions left in her will. Features a bisexual lead!

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden

South African-set scifi featuring gods ancient and new, robots finding sentience, dik-diks, and a gay teen with mind control abilities. An ancient goddess seeks to return to her true power no matter how many humans she has to sacrifice to get there. A little bit all over the place but very creative and fresh.

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson*

Young adult. Young artist June Costa lives in Palmares Tres, a beautiful, matriarchal city relying heavily on tradition, one of which is the Summer King. The most recent Summer King is Enki, a bold boy and fellow artist. With him at her side, June seeks to finally find fame and recognition through her art, breaking through the generational divide of her home. But growing close to Enki is dangerous, because he, like all Summer Kings, is destined to die.

The Blood Trials (The Blood Gifted duology) by N.E. Davenport

After Ikenna's grandfather is assasinated, she is convinced that only a member of the Praetorian guard, elite soldiers, could’ve killed him. Seeking to uncover his killer, Ikenna enrolls in a dangerous trial to join the Praetorians which only a quarter of applicants survive. For Ikenna, the stakes are even higher, as she's hiding forbidden blood magic which could cost her her life. Mix of fantasy and sci-fi. While I didn’t super vibe with this one, I suspect fans of action packed romantasy will enjoy it.

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

1960s classic. Rydra Wong is a space captain, linguist and poet who is set on learning to understand Babel-17, a language which is humanity's only clue at the enemy in an interstaller war. But Babel-17 is more than just a language, and studying it may change Rydra forever.

Pet (Pet duology) by Akwaeke Emezi

Young adult novella. Jam lives in a utopian future that has been freed of monsters and the systems which created and upheld them. But then she meets Pet, a dangerous creature claiming to be hunting a monster still among them, prepared to stop at nothing to find them. While I personally found the word-building in Pet lacking, it deftly handles dark subjects of what makes a human a monster.

Bonus AKA I haven’t read these yet but they seem really cool

Lion's Blood by Steven Barnes

Alternate history in which Africans colonized South America while vikings colonized the North. The vikings sell abducted Celts and Franks as slaves to the South, one of which is eleven-years-old Irish boy Aidan O'Dere, who was just bought by a Southern plantation owner.

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow

Young adult dystopia. Ellie lives in a future where humanity is under the control of the alien Ilori. All art is forbidden, but Ellie keeps a secret library; when one of her books disappears, she fears discovery and execution. M0Rr1S, born in a lab and raised to be emotionless, finds her library, and though he should deliver her for execution, he finds himself obsessed with human music. Together the two embark on a roadtrip which may save humanity.

Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase

Lelah lives in future Botswana, but despite money and fame she finds herself in an unhappy marriage, her body controlled via microchip by her husband. After burying the body of an accidental hit and run, Lelah's life gets worse when the ghost of her victim returns to enact bloody vengeance.

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith

Young adult. Fen de la Guerre, living in a quarantined Gulf Coast left devestated by storms and sickness, is forced on the run with a newborn after her tribe is attacked. Hoping to get the child to safety, Fen seeks to get to the other side of the wall, she teams up with a scientist from the outside the quarantine zone.

Everfair by Nisi Shawl

A neo-victorian alternate history, in which a part of Congo was kept safe from colonisation, becoming Everfair, a safe haven for both the people of Congo and former slaves returning from America. Here they must struggle to keep this home safe for them all.

The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Space opera. Enitan just wants to live a quiet life in the aftermath of a failed war of conquest, but when her lover is killed and her sister kidnapped, she's forced to leave her plans behind to save her sister.

Honorary mentions AKA these didn't really work for me but maybe you guys will like them: The City We Became (Great Cities duology) by N.K. Jemisin, The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull, The A.I. Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole

[hannaedits]

Book Review: In Darkness and Dank (Monsters & Mayhem) by K.L. Hiers

Read my review of the previous book in the Monsters & Mayhem series, Lightning Born by Sam Burns. Though this book is advertised as a dark romance, horror-retelling, et cetera, it really isn’t. The book opens with classic jungle adventure vibes combined with a healthy dose of modern chemistry, and anyone who doesn’t enjoy science can sympathize with the situation that Kittisak has found himself…

[franken-loser]

I JUST SAW LISA FRANKENSTEIN AND OHHHHH MY GOD IM SICK!! I GOT NAUSEOUS FROM HOW ABSOLUTELY ECSTATIC I WAS ABOUT IT!!!

LISA FRANKENSTEIN SPOILERS!!!!⬇️⬇️⬇️

THERE WERE SO MANY CLASSIC CREATURE FEATURE MOVIE REFERENCES LIKE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON AND THE MUMMY, FRANKENSTEIN REFERENCES, SOME GOTH BANDS LIKE BAUHAUS (I LOVEEE BAUHAUS) AND ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN (i wish they played The Cure though GODDD i love The Cure), AND A BUNCH OF A TRIP TO THE MOON REFERENCES???? The only correlation i can think of with a trip to the moon and frankenstein is that Frankenstein was the first sci-fi novel, and A Trip to The Moon was the first sci-fi movie WHICH IS SO COOL!!!! And i love how they took a modern twist on victor using electricity to bring his monster to life, by using a broken tanning bed😭😭 THE MOVIE WAS SOOOO CUTE.

MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!!

At the very end when victor (im calling the guy from the grave victor i dont think they gave him a name FRANKENSTEIN REFRENCE) is reading to burnt up lisa on the park bench AND SHE WAS COVERED IN BANDAGES (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN REFRENCE) THEY TOOOTALLY missed out in a chance to give her white streaks in her hair like the bride!!! I am sooooo drawing her with white streaks in her hair ASAP

Lisa Frankenstein has gone to my top four movies ever, the four being Mean Girls, Jennifer's Body, Nope, and now Lisa Frankenstein!!!! It was soooo good idk if im ever going to survive not being able to see it again soon RELEASE ON A STREAMING PLATFORM PLEASEEEEEE

[thenightling]

Someone finally asked me the golden question. How would I have handled Universal's Dark Universe.

Disclaimer: If someone sees this and likes my ideas, you may use them for free. No consultation or acknowledgement required. Just do justice to my boo boys.

Well, I would stop so blatantly trying to make it the MCU. It's not the MCU. And don't be afraid of a little camp. These are the classic monsters after all.

Time period. Start in the past and then WORK your way to the present. Don't force all of it to be set in the present from the get go. Let the audience feel and understand these are immortal beings. You can even make it a surreal, timeless, fairy tale-like setting that just resembles the nineteenth century. Most people use generic medieval for fantasy settings but Gaslamp fantasy is a thing.

2. Start with the most well-known of the monsters. Do Dracula. It can be a book faithful adaptation, or something along the lines of Bela Lugosi or Frank Langella. I think general audiences like Dracula to be fierce and predatory but also somewhat romantic, that's why the Mina / Dracula romance has endured even though it deviates heavily from the novel. So let Dracula be romantic but do something unexpected and fresh with it.

Honestly I'd love an adaptation of Fred Saberhagen's The Dracula Tape (Dracula retold from Dracula's point of view). But I know they'd want to stick with the public domain version.

Let Dracula have his literary powers to take wolf, bat, and mist form, and conjure storms. Let him be able to walk by day but not able to shapeshift by day. Bela Lugosi's version didn't actually burn in the sun until the sequels anyway and that was only from mimicking Nosferatu (1922).

Either leave out the reincarnated wife concept all together or let the reincarnation be someone other than Mina. Dr. Van Helsing (a male or female version) or even Jonathan Harker could make for an interesting twist. Lots of depictions of Dracula are bisexual now and this would be something fresh for the universal version.

3. When doing Frankenstein stop trying to recreate the Karloff version "for modern audiences." Let's try the literary version for a change. Long black hair, no neck-bolts or green skin, let him be articulate. And don't go for "steampunk action figure. " (I'm looking at you, Van Helsing.)

Let each classic monster have their own setting and time period. Dracula gets 1891 since that's when his novel takes place, unless you do a fifteenth century origin or fifteenth century flashbacks in the nineteenth century. Frankenstein is late eighteenth century or very early nineteenth century.

You can get more free with the concept if you do a Frankenstein sequel. Think 1985's The Bride but the male creature is intelligent and articulate too.

4. With Wolfman go old school. Practical effects in the style of Rick Baker. Get Guerrero del Toro involved with these somehow. That man knows how to handle classic monsters. Remember the rules, and acknowledge that he's mostly immortal and can regenerate. Everyone forgets this.

5. Have Danny Elfman do the music. I know he's already doing the Dark Universe park music but let him do ALL the music. Trust the man. Have you heard his score to Sleepy Hollow? Just let him do his thing.

6. Don't treat each film like a commercial for the next or hinted team up. Just let the films be able to stand on their own at first. That's how the Uniersal Monster movies started originally. You can let one or two characters turn up in multiple films but don't be ham fisted about it like with some of what was in 2017's The Mummy.

7. When you finally do allow the team up go watch the Asylum's Monster Mash (2024) first.

I'm serious. Hell, buy the movie from The Asylum to do a high budget remake but add about twenty minutes to it so The Creature from the Black Lagoon can be added too. It's cheesy but its fun. Let them be dysfunctional would-be heroes. Let have What we do in the Shadows-like moments without being too cynical and insulting and mocking the very idea.

By this point you already made the monsters scary but with some potential for redemption, compassion, and tenderness. Let them organically evolve from brooding villains and anti-heroes to surprisingly competent heroes but let it happen organically.

You can even get organic diversity. The mummy is from Egypt (North Africa), the witch is Roma (and possibly a previous lover of Dracula's daughter), The Creature from the Black Lagoon is from South America, etc. Again, get Guillermo del Toro involved. The Shape of Water was pretty much Creature from the Black Lagoon with a happy ending for The Creature anyway. An Abe Sapien-esque version of The Creature from the Black Lagoon would be great.

I forgot to say who the main antagonist would be in my version of The Dark Universe. Possibly a mad scientist like Doctor Moreau, Doctor Pretorius, or a faction of vampires who want to dethrone Dracula from his self-appointed title as king of the vampires. There's nothing in Stoker's novel or the Universal movies that claim he's the first vampire but he's commonly depicted as king of the vampires simply because no one had thought to unite and lead all of them until him.

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

Hey! What books by POC got a majority yes result? I'm interested in reading more by authors of color but when I used the be loathed Tumblr search function the only posts it brought up as tagged 'result: yes' were by white authors. Also, any personal recommendations for sci fi by POC?

hello! don’t mistake the stats — no books by authors of color have gotten a yes result either here or on the fantasy blog, and I don’t think any are likely to at this point (if Jemisin’s The Fifth Season couldn’t do it on the fantasy blog, I highly doubt anything else will); authors of color simply have an average yes percentage here that’s only slightly lower than the average percentage for white authors.

I’m happy to give my own recommendations, though:

any of Samuel R. Delany’s sci-fi. I think Nova is maybe the most approachable starting point (and quite good in its own right), but if you want to jump off the deep end, I think Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand is the greatest science fiction novel ever written; whether or not one agrees with that statement, I think it is pretty unequivocally the most science fiction novel ever written, by which I mean that no other book I’ve encountered or heard of has made such a thorough use of everything science fiction can be and do as Stars.

I also would be remiss to not recommend Octavia E. Butler; I’m personally not a huge fan of her books, but I do think every sci-fi reader should read at least one of them. the Earthseed duology (Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents) is probably most-discussed in recent years because they seem to parallel current developments in US politics, and the Xenogenesis trilogy (first book Dawn) is also considered a classic.

the elements of it that read as (at least potentially) science fiction upon publication now read as fantasy, but if you’re interested in something older, Pauline Hopkins’s Of One Blood, or The Hidden Self is an early work of science fiction/fantasy by a Black writer — it was serialized in 1903. it’s part lost world narrative, part last gasp of (pseudo)scientific mesmerism/animal magnetism theory, part troubled romance (caught up in turn-of-the-century racial politics).

Zainab Amadahy’s novel The Moons of Palmares is a cool (though a little short) novel about a racially diverse mining colony trying to break away from Earth’s capitalist / colonial domination.

I’ve enjoyed several of Aliette de Bodard’s Universe of Xuya books, which are mainly short — I think the first I read was On a Red Station, Drifting, and I also enjoyed The Tea Master and the Detective (even though I often don’t really care for Sherlock Holmes adaptations) and The Citadel of Weeping Pearls.

if you like science fantasy, I loved Jacqueline Koyanagi’s Ascension when I read it back in 2014. it hits a lot of ~found family~ notes that I think would appeal to what people on tumblr (say they) like.

I also would recommend any of Yoon Ha Lee’s books; I think the best starting point for his work is his short story collection Conservation of Shadows, which is incredible and also contains “The Battle of Candle Arc”, which I think is the best intro / preparatory reading for his Machineries of Empire trilogy (first book Ninefox Gambit), which is excellent (though very dark) but can be challenging to get into.

I read and enjoyed a lot of Nnedi Okorafor’s books in the past, although I haven’t read most of her more recent stuff, and I would particularly recommend Lagoon, as well as her short story collection Kabu Kabu, which includes some excellent sci-fi stories, especially “Spider the Artist” (also available online).

if by any chance you read Spanish, I can’t recommend Edmundo Paz Soldán’s Iris highly enough — incredible, deeply fucked-up novel about an anticolonial war in a corporate dystopia somewhere in ambiguously Latin America-slash-Oceania.

also “authors of color” isn’t necessarily the right rubric for these, since he’s Wajin in Japan, but if you like military sci-fi I’ve been really enjoying Tanaka Yoshiki’s Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels, although tragically Tyran Grillo’s translations of the middle novels are very bad.

Masande Ntshanga’s Triangulum was something I’d picked up entirely on spec at a bookstore a few years ago and it absolutely blew me away — I’ve been recommending it to everyone.

if you liked The Locked Tomb and ever found yourself thinking, “what if this decadent space empire ran on sex magic instead of necromancy”, I’d highly recommend Bendi Barrett’s Empire of the Feast

and some other short fiction collections (some with the same caveat re the utility of “POC” as Tanaka Yoshiki):

Gillian Ybabez, Homeward Bound, and other stories includes some sci-fi and some science fantasy, published as part of the now sadly defunct Trans Women Writers Collective booklet series and is still available through its successor, River Furnace.

Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others (now sometimes titled Arrival)

Hassan Blasim (ed.), Iraq + 100

Basma Ghalayini (ed.), Palestine + 100

Sofia Samatar, Tender  — Samatar is imo the greatest living fantasy author, but this collection is also about 50% sci-fi and she’s just as good at sci-fi.

most of it is realist but I have to mention Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s This Accident of Being Lost, which has two excellent sci-fi stories (“Big Water” and “Akiden Boreal”); Simpson has imo perfect prose — never a word out of place.

Sunyoung Park and Sang Joon Park (ed.), Readymade Bodhisattva

Michel Jean (ed.), Wapke, which was originally published in French but is apparently now also available in English

it wasn’t all my preferred kind of specfic, but Chelsea Vowel’s Buffalo Is the New Buffalo is worth a read in any case.

[brokehorrorfan]

The Universal Classic Monsters Collection will be released on 4K Ultra HD (with Digital) in digibook packaging on October 3 via Universal. Designed by Tristan Eaton, the eight-disc set is limited to 5,500.

It includes 1931's Dracula, 1931’s Frankenstein, 1932’s The Mummy, 1933’s The Invisible Man, 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein, 1941’s The Wolf Man, 1943’s Phantom of the Opera, and 1954’s Creature from the Black Lagoon.

All eight films are presented in 4K with HDR10. The Spanish version of Dracula is also included. Special features are listed below, where you can also see more of the packaging.

Dracula is directed by Tod Browning (Freaks) and written by Garrett Fort (Frankenstein), based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Helen Chandler, Dwight Frye, and Edward Van Sloan star.

Dracula special features:

Alternate score version by Philip Glass

Dracula (1931) Spanish version directed by George Melford

The Road to Dracula

Lugosi: The Dark Prince

Dracula: The Restoration

Dracula Archives

Monster Tracks

Trailer gallery

Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.

Frankenstein is directed by James Whale (The Indivisible Man) and written by Garrett Fort (Dracula) and Francis Edward Faragoh (Little Caesar), based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, and Boris Karloff star.

Frankenstein special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer

Audio commentary by historian Sir Christopher Frayling

The Frankenstein Files: How Hollywood Made A Monster

Karloff: The Gentle Monster

Universal Horror

Frankenstein Archives

Boo!: A Short Film

100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics

Monster Tracks

Trailer gallery

Dr. Frankenstein dares to tamper with life and death by creating a human monster out of lifeless body parts.

The Mummy is directed by Karl Freund (Dracula) and written by John L. Balderston (Dracula). Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan, and Arthur Byron star.

The Mummy special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Paul M. Jensen

Audio commentary by Rick Baker, Scott Essman, Steve Haberman, Bob Burns, and Brent Armstrong

Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed

He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce

Unraveling the Legacy of The Mummy

The Mummy Archives

100 Years of Universal: The Carl Laemmle Era

Trailer gallery

An Egyptian mummy searches Cairo for the girl he believes is his long-lost princess.

The Invisible Man is directed by James Whale (Frankenstein) and written by R.C. Sherriff (Goodbye, Mr. Chips), based on H.G. Wells’ 1897 novel. Gloria Stuart, Claude Rains, William Harrigan, Dudley Digges, and Una O'Connor star.

The Invisible Man special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer

Now You See Him: The Invisible Man Revealed

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: Unforgettable Characters

Trailer gallery

A scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.

The Bride of Frankenstein is directed by James Whale (Frankenstein) and written by William Hurlbut. Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, and Elsa Lanchester star.

The Bride of Frankenstein special features: 

Audio commentary by film historian Scott MacQueen

She’s Alive! Creating The Bride of Frankenstein

The Bride Of Frankenstein Archive

100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics

Trailer gallery

Dr. Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.

The Wolf Man is directed by George Waggner (Operation Pacific) and written by Curt Siodmak (I Walked with a Zombie). Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. star.

The Wolf Man special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Tom Weaver

Monster by Moonlight

The Wolf Man: From Ancient Curse to Modern Myth

Pure in Heart: The Life and Legacy of Lon Chaney Jr.

He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce

The Wolf Man Archives

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Trailer gallery

Larry Talbot returns to his father's castle in Wales and meets a beautiful woman. One fateful night, Talbot escorts her to a local carnival where they meet a mysterious gypsy fortune teller.

Phantom of the Opera is directed by Arthur Lubin and written by Eric Taylor (The Ghost of Frankenstein) and Samuel Hoffenstein (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Claude Rains, Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, and Edgar Barrier star.

Phantom of the Opera special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Scott MacQueen

The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Theatrical trailer

An acid-scarred composer rises from the Paris sewers to boost his favorite opera understudy’s career.

Creature from the Black Lagoon is directed by Jack Arnold (The Incredible Shrinking Man) and written by Harry Essex and Arthur A. Ross. Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, Nestor Paiva, and Whit Bissell star.

Creature from the Black Lagoon special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Tom Weaver

Back to the Black Lagoon

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Trailer gallery

A group of scientists try to capture a prehistoric creature luring in the depths of the Amazonian jungle and bring it back to civilization for study.

Pre-order Universal Classic Monsters Collection.

[fantasyfantasygames]

Sewer Monsters in Love

Sewer Monsters in Love, 21185Lalande, 2021

The "three kobolds in a trenchcoat" joke is pretty familiar these days, but fewer people remember Benjamin Grimm using the same flimsy disguise. This is a shame, because it's a much better fit for the premise of Sewer Monsters in Love (SMiL).

You, as the title says, are a sewer monster. You are in love with someone who lives Above, and you dream of even just being able to tell them. In order to live your dream, you are wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora (no, not a trilby, a fedora) and leaving your peaceful home to learn how to live amongst the humans.

And when they say "sewer monster", they mean something less Creature from the Black Lagoon and more Dianoga or Shambling Mound.

The game's weak point is character creation. There are five defaults (Man-Thing, Dianoga, Worm that Walks, King Rat, semi-anthropomorphic albino alligator) and you're told "make it up from there." The system is simple in the "gets out of your way" manner that I generally don't care for, but which is at least not broken. 2d10 + two stats + one skill + dice for bonuses, everything's an opposed roll, there's one "toughness" pool that is both your hit points and your emotional fortitude. When your toughness goes to zero, you slink back into the sewers for the night.

The art is not just the strong point, it's the centerpiece. The game is done in the style of a graphic novel, with the rules as text pages sandwiched between a comic of the monsters doing their thing, which is interspersed with a comic of people playing the game. It's done well. I've read enough awful examples of play to be genuinely surprised at how well SMiL is written. The art is in two different styles, but by a single artist. Their work is reminiscent of Joe Kubert for the monsters, and Fiona Staples for the framing story.

This game helped remind me that itch.io is not just a madhouse of ten million one-pagers, it also has some amazing work by some very dedicated people. 21185Lalande, in addition to being a red dwarf 8.3 light years away from us, is just the writer/publisher. The rest of the team is the artist, 411Gliese (same star), and main playtest GM HD95735 (again, same star). Lord I wish I had a playtest GM for my own game design.

[reality-liver-n0]

Big Boy post, this time on Revy

I guess this will cover the basics of Revy as a character and the fundamentals of understanding her.

First off, her nickname is not “Two Hands.” It’s “Two Hand.” Which I barely learned myself, I think the anime uses Two Hands which is the source for the added s. But at least in the manga and by Hiroe himself she’s “Two Hand.” This name originated from a character in a novel he read, “Run” by Douglas E. Winter. (I recently bought it like a fool so I’ll try and connect the character to Revy when it arrives). But I think the English dub makes the mistake of Two Hands which caused the confusion. I guess in the sub version it’s correct.

Revy is a Chinese American. But she is ethnically full Chinese. The American is just her nationality. Hiroe confirms this in an interview where he states Revy is a minority, her physical appearance is based on Mangoloid features rather than Caucasian. He also states that she faces a lot of discrimination in life.

Which is why I think I figured out why Revy in the anime as a kid has black hair when she shoots her father. She dyed her hair burgundy to look less Chinese. Think about it. If she is facing a lot of police brutality in Chinatown, NYC, and her own father beats her she would want to remove herself as far from that demographic as possible. This is why she doesn’t know any Mandarin and chose to not directly align with Chang’s triad. Also she wore hoop earrings as a kid too, at least in the anime.

There is no way she’d want to be seen first by her race. As she said, all the cops saw was a “little chink bitch.” She absolutely loathes to be viewed by her appearance rather than skill or personality.

This may link to her exposed clothing style. Not only is it practical for movement, which is all she does in combat, but it prevents her from overheating. But the most important factor is that she shows a lot of skin; exposing her arms, legs and stomach. Therefore, her athletic build is on display. And the implication of it is clear. She is proud of her body, she will kill you, and it does not matter what she’s wearing. On a level it may be a subconscious decision of the aftermath of her rape. The number one thing the victim is blamed for is what they’re wearing, or rather the lack of clothes, which must obviously signify they wanted it. This is below the lowest bar you can go in blaming victims. Unfortunately, it’s likely that Revy in hopes of getting a reaction or letting it slip, told her dad about what happened.

And what would he say? Something about dressing like a slut or whore if I had to bet.

So, by her current attire, Revy is saying the exact opposite, she’s rebelling against that idea. Or at least mocking the idea that less clothing makes a woman weaker/vulnerable.

Also, she wears the same boots as Dutch. They don’t share the same belt but Revy’s matches the boots: both U.S. military. I find it cute that she could’ve had any other boots but chose to match him. She really does look up to him, and he’s basically her only father figure. It’s heavily implied that he came up with her nickname; Two Hand. Since Benny says that Dutch is good at creating nicknames and right when Rock joined, he made one up for him.

Now I will cover the basic ground for Revy’s personality.

Anger: Yeah, obviously this is at the top of the list. It’s the most obvious to new black lagoon fans; how many times does she yell and curse? But I would argue that this is the emotion she’s most familiar with, not what defines her character. This is a defense mechanism for when she feels threatened. Calm down two men showcases this the best. When she can’t talk down to Rock she gets pissed and tries to kill him. When he pulls the gun away, she punches him, and she sounds like a kid when she yells at him. She is scared and confused on how anger is not making him stop. After all, it’s what stopped her dad and everyone else who got on her bad side.

I will say that the anime focuses on this and makes it a larger trait of her character than the manga. But she does use humor as her last defense mechanism. Again, in calm down two men when she obviously can’t shoot away Rock or scare him with anger in the manga she says, “Screw you. You’re way more out there. Gump. Dork. Fool-in-a-suuuuit.”

This is something I’ve only recently discovered. Due to only watching the anime I missed a lot of differences that the manga makes. Revy in the latest chapters actually does expertly use humor to deescalate things. Specifically, between Le Majeur and Eda where she insists they settle their tempers through drinks instead of a gunfight.

Another one is with Roberta’s Blood Trail when they meet the addict. Revy plays along with his conspiracy theories, which gets them inside and talking to him. She does threaten him but in a tactful way of offering him much pure product if he complies.

There are other moments too where she uses it, the documents for Chang, some interactions with Fabiola, Japan, etc. So, it is a natural progression of her learning how to use her strengths and her own use of wordplay alike Rock.

And I would argue that Revy is as smart as Rock. Not academically of course but she matches his wit by her street smarts and gut feeling. A prime example in Roberta’s blood trail where she purposely knocks a bottle over to start the gunfight. They save Fabiola and she remarks that she knows Fabiola has never shot before. Just by shaking her hand and her unsteadiness getting out of the car, she knows that Fabiola got frazzled up. She actually offers a lot of advice with Fabiola and Garcia.

Also, with the Feng arc she uses a soda to cause an enemy’s gun to jam. Knowing that it will soak up in the metal and prevent it from firing. She also manipulates him by playing cat and mouse. She openly mocks him by saying his brother’s last words were for the “devil to ream him out on ass fucking street in hell.” So yeah, she just leads him straight to a firing squad then ducks as he gets shot to death. She’s very aware of how to lead a team as well.

In Roberta’s blood trail she does it with Shenhua, Sawyer and Lotton. She openly yells at Shenhua for trying to kill Roberta, since it’s a death sentence. They would’ve gotten the Americans if Hotel Moscow didn’t step in.

Also, Revy is very well connected to the criminals of Roanapur. She has a snitch on hand, a drug addict that she supposedly supplies, knows one of Hotel Moscow’s men, speaks openly to one of Abrego’s men, etc. She is aware that having a lot of connections is a good thing, so no doubt that she checks up on her contacts or knows a lot of the regulars at the Yellow Flag.

Surprisingly there are moments where she predicts how a party will move/think. A few times she does it with Hotel Moscow, the vampire twins, escape routes in the city that someone can or will take, and the deserted meetup with Chang’s clients, Shenhua and the Irish driver.

I’ll try to update this later as much as possible. It’s just hard due to the manga being digital for the later volumes so it takes longer to go through each page to find references.