#Kage Baker

[fishfingersandscarves]

pov you abandon your work to run away with the reincarnation of your dead boyfriend

[wanderrealms]

I think I recognized a character in The Bird of the River by Cage Baker.

First of the whole lost letter business was off. A lot of words spent on it so the letter being lost is propably important. It propably didn't exist.

The guy speaks similarly to Lord Ermenwyr, who can use glamour to change his appearance. Could be that a lot of lordlings speak loftily like that, but his older brother and father did not.

The suspicous character was stabbed for stealing a lady's honor. I know from Leaving All His Cares Behind that Lord Ermenwyr has to qualms about stealing ladies honor, so to speak.

It would be hilarious to see people react to learning Lord Ermenwyr and who his parents are. I hope it is him.

[grison-in-space]

I have found myself rereading the Anvil of the World (Kage Baker) in the wake of this morning's bit about the butterflies, and I'm delighted by Lord Ermenwyr all over again:

“…with complete confidence, my lord. The man is a seasoned veteran of the roads. Er—Smith! I have the great honor of commending to your care the very noble Lord Ermenwyr of the House Kingfisher.” “Honor to your house, lord,” said Smith, rising to his feet though he’d never heard of the House Kingfisher. Lord Ermenwyr was doubled over in a coughing fit. When he straightened up, dabbing at his lips with an embroidered handkerchief, Smith beheld a slender young man. A pomaded and spangled beard was visible below his half mask, which was that of a unicorn’s head. He had extended the unicorn theme to an elaborate codpiece, from which a silver horn spiraled up suggestively. The eyes behind the mask had the glitter of fever. “Hello,” he croaked. “So you’re the fellow taking me to Salesh-by-the-Sea? I hope you’ve had some training as a psychopomp too. I expect to die en route.” “His lordship is pleased to be humorous,” said Smith’s cousin, wringing his hands. “His lord father has paid a great deal for his passage to the health resort at Salesh, and I have written to assure him in the strongest terms that Lord Ermenwyr will arrive there safely.” “Really?” said Lord Ermenwyr. “Watch this, then.” He reached out with the toe of his boot and drew a bull’s-eye in the dust. Stepping back several paces, he hawked and spat in a neat arc, hitting the center of the target with a gob of blood. “You see?” he said brightly, as Smith and his cousin stared. “Utterly moribund. Don’t worry, though; I’ve got embalming spices in my luggage, and Daddy won’t mind my early demise much, whatever he may have written.” Smith’s cousin closed his mouth, then said hastily, “It’s simply the inconvenience of our local weather, my lord. I myself coughed up a little blood not an hour ago. It passes with the first winter rains!”

There really ought to be more chronically ill characters with that kind of a sense of humor rocketing around.

[drachenwiki]

There is an awesome short story about this topic by Kage Baker. The only difference is that here it's a swarm of small dragons that plagues the hotel instead of one big one.

You can read or listen to it here:

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/baker_03_18_reprint/

The idea of dragons in modern times is so fun because imagine a hot summer day on your vacay and go to use the hotel pool and staff is like "valued guests we regret to inform you that the pool area is out of service at the moment, we apologize for the inconvenience"

And people like "wtf why" looking out their hotel room window and there's this. This dragon just curled up in the pool chilling, literally, cooling itself down

Some of the staff are trying to gently shoo him away and the dragon does a soft little "rrrrrr" like a grumpy cat and a warning puff of smoke and they're like "fuck it i don't get paid nearly enough for this" and no ones using the pool today sorry!

[infinitaregna]

"I kissed him and wriggled upward to the pillow and the safety of English; it was a great language to be evasive in." - Rosa Mendoza

[lizabethstucker]

The Mammoth Book of the End of the World edited by Mike Ashley

3.5 out of 5

A collection of twenty-four short stories and novellas exploring the destruction of civilization and/or the planet. The authors range from Golden Age giants to more modern ones. While the majority of the stories are reprints, there are a few original to this collection.

I've taken my time reading this chunky book which is reflected in the time taken from start to finish. I find collections like this work better for me when I dip in when I want something different from what else that I've been reading. However the stories are different enough to read through with no interruptions.

One of the better collections of this trope that I've read in many years. Only one story came in rated at less than 3 stars, an unusual situations with such a narrow focus and large number of stories. A few of my favorites include "When Sysadmins Ruled the World" by Cory Doctorow; "The Last Sunset" by Geoffrey A. Landis, particularly heart wrenching; and "And the Deep Blue Sea" by Elizabeth Bear.

If you love well written stories, consider picking this up. It is well worth your time.

[ladykissingfish]

*Gaara and Naruto, in Naruto's office* Gaara: My thanks again for hosting me this week. Naruto: Ah, it's no problem, Gaara. We're friends, aren't we? And what kind of friend lets another friend come to his village and NOT have him in their own house?! *lightly punches Gaara on the shoulder* Gaara, smiling: Tsk; such informality between Kages. Our respective village elders would disapprove. But speaking of which ... you're positive there's not a problem with me staying with you? Naruto: Why would there be a problem? Gaara: Well ... I get the feeling that Sasuke isn't too happy to have me there ... Naruto: What do you mean? Sasuke knows how important you are to me, both as a friend and an ally to the Leaf. Gaara: I get that, but, I don't know. Sometimes I see him watching me out of the corner of his eye when we're talking and he honestly looks like he wants to kill me or something. Naruto: *bursts out laughing* Sasuke? Kill YOU? Come on, now. He's so sweet and gentle and -- *Gaara pulls a small, plastic-wrapped bag out of his pocket and puts it on the desk* Gaara: So the other day, while you were out, he made me these. Naruto: *looks at the bag* Cookies? See, he DOES like you! Sasuke is a great baker and his cookies are fantastic! You're in for a real treat, dattebayo! He -- Gaara: He filled these with almonds. After asking me to my face if I had any allergies. I told him when I eat any kind of nuts, my face swells up and I can't breathe. I watched him in the kitchen, chopping up almonds and adding them to the cookie batter. And smiling at me while he did it. Naruto: Naruto: M-maybe -- Gaara: Don't worry; I already asked Lee if I could stay with him.

[s-leary]

All of you reblogging this who haven’t read The Company series by the late Kage Baker… get on that.

The premise is that a 24th-century corporation invents immortality, but to prove that it works so they can sell it, they also have to invent time travel. Naturally. So they send a small number of people back in time—waaaaay back—and those folks collect orphans and turn them into immortal cyborgs with 24th-century educations, still embedded into whatever culture and time period they’re in but speedrunning modern technology in their little immortal enclaves.

There is nothing wrong with this foolproof plan and everything goes super well for both the immortals and their future corporate overlords. 🙃

its terrible for any number of reasons, but i think if we invent immortality there should be an extreme sport called civilizational speedrunning where teams of 20 go into the wilderness somewhere and try and be the fastest build the first internal combustion engine. i bet you could get it down to like 3 years tops

[fishfingersandscarves]

hello i am once again continuing my tradition of redesigning my favorite book's cover

[wanderrealms]

"“How do you get any sleep? Windmills make noise all night long!”

“Best thing, for a musician,” said Salpin. “The wheel goes around and the rhythm works itself into you. Makes you play better.”' -The Bird of the River by Kage Baker

This story has lovely details and moments.

[autistpride]

How many of these famous autists do you recognize? And this isn't even a complete list!

So many amazing wonderful people are autistic. I will never understand why people hate us so much.

Actors/actresses/entertainment:

Chloe Hayden

Talia Grant

Rachel Barcellona

Sir Anthony Hopkins

Dan Akroyd

David Byrne

Darryl Hannah

Courtney Love

Jerry Seinfeld

Roseanne Barr

Jennifer Cook

Chuggaaconroy

Stephanie Davis

Rick Glassman

Paula Hamilton

Dan Harmon

Paige Layle

Matthew Labyorteaux

Wentworth Miller

Desi Napoles

Freddie Odom Jr

Kim Peek

Sue Ann Pien

Henry Rodriguez

Scott Steindorff

Ian Terry

Tara Palmer -Tomkinson

Albert Rutecki

Billy West

Alexis Wineman- Miss America contestant

Athletes:

Jessica- Jane Applegate

Michael Brannigan

David Campion

Brenna Clark

Ulysse Delsaux

Tommy Dis Brisay

Jim Eisenreich

Todd Hodgetts

John Howard

Anthony Ianni

Lisa Llorens

Clay Matzo

Frankie Macdonald

Jason McElwain

Chris Morgan

Max Park

Cody Ware

Amani Williams

Samuel Von Einem

Musicians:

Susan Boyle

Elizabeth Ibby Grace

David Byrne

Johnny Dean

Tony DeBlois

Christopher Dufley

Jody Dipiazza

Pertti Kurikka

James Jagow

Ladyhawke

Kodi Lee

Left at London

Red Lewis Clark

Abz Love

Thristan Mendoza

Heidi Mortenson

Hikari Oe

Matt Savage

Graham Sierota

SpaceGhostPurp

Mark Tinley

Donald Triplett

Aleksander Vinter

Comedians:

Hannah Gatsby

Robert White

Bethany Black

Scientists/inventors/mathematians/Researchers:

Damian Milton

Bram Cohen

Michelle Dawson

Carl Sagan

Writers:

Neil Gaimen

Mel Bags

Kage Baker

Amy Swequenza

M. Remi Yergeau

Sean Barron

Lydia X Z Brown

Matt Burning

Dani Bowman

Nicole Cliffe

Laura Kate Dale

Aoife Dooley

Corrine Duyvus

Marianne Eloise

Jory Flemming

Temple Grandin

John R Hall

Naomi Higashida

Helan Hoang

Liane Holliday Willey

Luke Jackson

Rosie King

Thomas A McKean

Johnathan Mitchell

Jack Monroe

Caiseal Mor

Morenike Giwa- Onaiwu

Jasmine O'Neill

Brant Page Hanson

Dawn Prince-Hughs

Sue Robin

Stephen Shore

Andreas Souvitos

Sarah Stup

Susanna Tamaro

Chuck Tingle

Donna Williams

Leaders:

Julia Bascom

Ari Ne'eman

Sarah Marie Acevedo

Sharon Davenport

Joshua Collins

Conner Cummings

Kevin Healy

Poom Jenson

Amy Knight

Jared O'Mara

David Nelson

Shaun Neumeier

Master Sgt. Shale Norwitz

Jim Sinclair

Judy Singer

Dr. Vernon Smith

Artists:

Miina Akkijjyrkka

Danny Beath

Deborah Berger

Larry John Bissonnette

Patrick Francis

Goby

Jorge Gutierrez

Lina Long

Johnathan Lerman

Julian Martin

Haley Moss

Morgan Harper Nichols

Tim Sharp

Gilles Tehin

Willem Van Genk

Richard Wawro

Poets:

David Eastham

Christopher Knowles

David Miedzianik

Henriette Seth F

[grison-in-space]

I can't help but be reminded of Kage Baker's Anvil of the World, which involves a hapless caravan master entrusted with a gross of "glass butterflies" that appear very nearly as practical as this:

The man in the mask turned his head, peering through the domed lenses of his fish eyes. The name Smith was an alias, only the latest of many the man had used. He got awkwardly to his feet as he saw his cousin approaching. His cousin’s costume was fine and elaborate, robes of red-gold brocade and a fire efrit mask. No less elaborate was the costume of the lady his cousin had in tow: butterfly wings of green and purple foil and a butterfly mask of the same material. “This, madam, is Smith. My caravan master,” explained his cousin. “A most experienced veteran of transport. A man in whose expert hands you may trust the rarest of commodities.” This was not exactly true. Smith had never led a caravan in his life, but his cousin’s freight and passenger service had lost its former master to a vendetta on the day of Smith’s sudden arrival in Troon, so Smith was learning the business. “How nice to meet you,” said the woman in the mask, and shot out a black and curling tongue. Smith started, but the tongue was merely a feature of the mask, for it was hollow, and she poked it now into a tall glass of punch. “Honor on your house, lady,” Smith murmured. His cousin coughed, and said, “Smith, this is Lady Seven Butterflies of Seven Butterflies Studio. You will be privileged to transport her celebrated creations!” “I’m delighted,” said Smith, bowing. “Rely on me, lady.” But Lady Seven Butterflies had lost interest in him and fluttered off to the punch bowl. His cousin leaned close and grabbed him by the shoulder. They bumped papier-mâché faces as he hissed, “Very important client! Almost ready to sign a contract granting us exclusive transport rights! Used to go with Stone and Son until they broke goods in transit. Vital we catch the ball, cousin!” Smith nodded sagely. “Right. What are we shipping for her?” “One gross of glass butterflies, what else?” said his cousin impatiently, and turned to pursue the lady. Smith sat down again. It was a good thing his new job would require him to be on the open road a lot. He didn’t think people in Troon got enough oxygen.

come to Marshals if u would like to purchase World’s Most Breakable Object

[vivacias]

Iron Widow • Xiran Jay Zhao (@/xiranjayzhao) ⭐️⭐️

The Penelopiad • Margaret Atwood ⭐️⭐️⭐️

On Palestine • Noam Chomsky & Ilan Pappé ⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the Garden of Iden • Kage Baker 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

🔄 The Raven Boys • Maggie Stiefvater ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain • Nghi Vo 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Bruising of Qilwa • Naseem Jamnia ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Dream Thieves • Maggie Stiefvater ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Blue Lily, Lily Blue • Maggie Stiefvater 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Into the Riverlands • Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

🔄 The Fifth Season • NK Jemisin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Sky Coyote • Kage Baker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spear • Nicola Griffith 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Siren Queen • Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️

🔄 Outlander • Diana Gabaldon 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

🔄 Gullstruck Island • Frances Hardinge ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

House of Open Wounds • Adrian Tchaikovsky 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (Great Illustrated Classics) • Howard Pyle ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Babel • R.F. Kuang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Chainsaw Man Vol. 1-11 • Tatsuki Fujimoto 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

🔄 The Bloody Chamber • Angela Carter 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Haunting of Hill House • Shirley Jackson 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Sacred Bodies • Ver (@/sticksandsharks) 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

🔄 American Gods • Neil Gaiman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mammoths at the Gate • Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📌 The Brides of High Hall • Nghi Vo

City of Last Chances • Adrian Tchaikovsky 📌

Astielle • Kitty Unpretty 📌

Key:

⭐️ stars out of 5

✨ 1/2 star

🔄 reread

💀 did not finish

📌 in progress

[manic-intent]

The sixth World SF story bundle is out, and my space opera novel ION CURTAIN is part of the collection! So if you haven’t read it yet, please consider picking it up--and all the great books that are keeping it company :D 

Pay as much as you want ((minimum of $5 for 4 books, minimum of $20 for all 10)), and you can choose to use 10% of what you pay to support English PEN, the founding centre of PEN international, a charity that supports the freedom to read and write worldwide. 

Check it out here: https://storybundle.com/scifi 

Selected reviews:

Unto the Godless What Little Remains by Mário Coelho

"Rock'n'roll for the eyes."

– The Times

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

"Haunting and beautifully nuanced, Signal to Noise is a magical first novel."

– The Guardian

Ion Curtain by Anya Ow

"An addictive space opera"

– Publishers Weekly

Nova Hellas: Stories from Future Greece by Francesca T Barbini and Francesco Verso

"Often underwater, sometimes entirely virtual, facing calamities from austerity to beepocalypse, near future Greece comes to life in these stories. Forget everything you learned in school, on vacation, or from the faded memories of your immigrant γιαγιά. Λοιπόν, this is the real deal."

– Nick Mamatas, author of The Planetbreaker's Son and The Second Shooter

The Love Machine & Other Contraptions by Nir Yaniv

"In short, this collection of short stories is: outstanding. Buy more copies than one if you give special books to people you respect... I don't mean 'outstanding' in relation to other books this year, but in relation to any in any."

– World Fantasy Award nomineee Anna Tambour

& This is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda

"A beautiful and rending look at family, loss, and grief, all while sharply dissecting time travel tropes and delivering a powerful message about memory, storytelling, and responsibility. It's a story that hurts in the best of ways, confronting death and healing without losing its sense of humor or its impulse for rebellion."

– Charles Payseur, author of The Burning Day and Other Stories

And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed

"And What Can We Offer You Tonight is a deep dive into sacred revenge, a vivid, devastating and exquisite story of love and loyalty, among three friends who can ill afford such luxuries."

– L.X. Beckett, author of Gamechanger and Dealbreaker

Hadithi & the State of Black Speculative Fiction by Eugen Bacon and Milton Davis

"Eugen Bacon and Milton Davis come together for Hadithi & The State of Speculative Black Fiction to share a compelling addition to the commentaries and canon of black literature"

– Aurealis

Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders by Aliette de Bodard

"Delightful… Beautiful writing, weird and magical world, fascinating culture and politics, and compelling characters: what more do you need?"

– KJ Charles, author of Slippery Creatures

HebrewPunk by Lavie Tidhar

"Imagine Hard-Boiled Kabbalah... If you like your otherworld fun noir, have I got a book for you!"

– Kage Baker, author of In the Garden of Iden

[valiantarcher]

I’d love to hear your answers on 6, 9, and 11 for the book asks! :)

Thank you for asking!

6. Biggest surprise Keeping it on the positive side, I went into Dare by Tricia Mingerink with low expectations and was very happily surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

9. A book that made you cry I don't think any book has actually made me cry this year so far, but The Hotel Under the Sand by Kage Baker had a surprisingly poignant thread of grief woven through the otherwise pretty light-hearted, quasi-portal fantasy children's story.

11. Most beautiful book you have bought or received this year Despite being faded and worn, probably Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter (though The Green Book of Fairy Tales' cover has a lot of charm too!).

[karalynlovescake]

I really like Kage Baker. Her works range from fantasy (House of the Stag and Hotel Under the Sand) to sci-fi (the Company series) and the adult fiction trend more towards horror because... characters do fucked up things and have to live with that. I don't recommend if you can't handle your main characters to be a little fucked up.

She also died in 2010, so anything we don't know about her we probably aren't ever going to find out, sigh.

OK. Now that I can never read NeverWhere or Good Omens or American Gods again, are there any other authors that are kind of roughly equivalent in terms of tone and subject matter (urban fantasy with a whimsical tone and weird eccentric characters) or am I well and truly out of luck there and just have to look for a different genre altogether

I can make recommendations, but I can't necessarily promise none of the authors have ever done bad things- I'm not usually scrupulous about that, it's just that Neil Gaiman feels personal since we were tumblr mutuals, and since so much of the sff community has been silent about it. It's awful.

In any case, I can offer some recommendations. All of them are their own brand of weirdness, but they are good places to start exploring!

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

Last Call by Tim Powers

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire

Among Others by Jo Walton

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber

We Weill All Go Down Together by Gemma Files (this one is more horror than fantasy but has the eccentric urban magic vibe)

As always, I'm opening this up to my followers for more recs!