#Xiran

[xiran]

Does anyone still use this website? I drew that one scene from Frieren.

https://xiran.carrd.co/

[twohitgames]

Lost Ark actualiza su hoja de ruta de contenidos

Amazon Games acaba de publicar la hoja de ruta actualizada de Lost Ark en la que se detallan los nuevos contenidos que los jugadores pueden esperar en septiembre y octubre. Pronto llegarán muchos contenidos nuevos y emocionantes, y este otoño será un gran momento para los jugadores, con algunas de las actualizaciones más importantes del año. En primer lugar, los jugadores podrán enfrentarse a la…

[podddcasttt]

Friendly reminder that if you talk about how representation is important and how there's not enough diverse media, I implore you to seek out the media that already exists. And if you live in an area with a public library, go to see if they're available at your public library. And then go check them out.

As a librarian, it is demoralizing to see how low the circulation statistics are on lgbt+ books and books by BIPOC authors. I include them in displays and readers advisory, but people still don't check them out as much. Libraries only have a finite amount of resources, including space. We don't get a book then keep it forever. If not enough people check it out, we have to get rid of it to make room for more books. And when James Patterson Book #69 gets checked out 30 times in one year and cool, subversive Sci fi novel with a Black trans woman main character has never been checked out once, the librarian (me) has to make a hard decision.

If you're looking for something tangible and easy to do this pride month, look for lgbt+ books (there are millions of lists online that you can find. It's easier than it's ever been to find diverse books) and check them out from your library.

No time to read? Look for a short story or poetry anthology and just read as much as you have time for. Or just check out a book cus it looks interesting and read as much as you can. We have movies too.

As cool as it would be for me to just keep the books I want and get rid of the ones I don't, I have to listen to the community on matters of collection development. And the community tells me what books they want by checking them out and leaving the ones they don't want on the shelf.

If you think this doesn't apply to you because you live in a progressive area and obviously the books are being checked out, you're wrong. I once worked in a community with a large lgbt population. Those books were not getting checked out. If you want to tell me you live in a conservative area and your library doesn't have any diverse books, you are legally obligated to check the catalog before replying to this post. I currently work in a conservative community and we have lgbt+ and bipoc books. And if you still cannot find any, you are legally obligated to see if your library has a collection request form that patrons can fill out before replying to this post.

[daisymooonart]

Everybody's favourite Empress Wu Zetian from Heavenly Tyrant by @xiranjayzhao 😁🤩

[coikoi1]

[else-creates]

So I didn't preorder "Heavenly Tyrant" by @xiranjayzhao because of the delays, I just decided that I'd get it online or in person when it was released.

I genuinely thought it came out at the end of this month, I didn't know it had already been released until I saw it on a shelf today.

My girlfriend managed to swipe it out of my hands before I could pay for it though.....So now it's a Christmas present.

[orchid-bud]

[jayblanc]

Chinese Censorship of the 2023 Hugo Award Nominations

Back before the 2023 Hugo Nominations were conducted, I noted that the Chengdu Worldcon Hugo committee had inserted a worrying clause indicating that local government officials could invalidate nominations for breaching the norms and standards of China. I suspected this would result in arbitrarily applied censorship to control the ballot. I am sad and unsurprised to discover I was correct.

The 2023 Hugo Nomination vote data has been published (https://www.thehugoawards.org/2024/01/2023-nominating-and-final-ballot-statistics-published/), and includes notation where nominations were excluded from the ballot. Those with normal reasons, such as being in the wrong category or not being published in 2022 are identified with their reasons for exclusion. This time there are a number of nominations that are merely marked at "Not eligible".

Here is the list of those nominations, that would otherwise have been placed on the final 2023 Hugo Award Ballot.

Babel - R.F. Kuang - Best Novel: Very likely excluded for referencing student revolution, and the use of language and translation as coercive tools of oppression. Color the World - Congyun "Mu Ming" Hu - Best Novellette : A story about perception of, aid of, and discrimination against disability. Congyun Hu has left China and now lives in New York. Fogong Temple Padoga - Hai Ya - Best Story : Either there is something in the original Chinese that was not translated, there's a taboo subject that elides my reading, or this otherwise innocent looking near future tale of cultural building restoration was written by the wrong person. The Art of Ghost of Tsushima: Dark Horse and Sucker Punch Games - Best Related Work : The video game Ghost of Tsushima was subject to directed social exclusion for it's depiction of the Mongol invasion of Japan. Sandman, Amazon Studios: Best Dramatic Presentation (Long and Short) - A diverse and divergent cast, includes subject matter and social issues that are currently taboo in China. Paul Weimer - Fan Writer: Publicly Critical of holding a Worldcon in China. Xiran Jay Zhao - Astounding Award: Qualifying work "Iron Widow" is reimagined story of Chinese Empress Wu during a fantasy/mechanical alien invasion.

This raises a lot of questions as to if this basically taints the process, and what can be done about it.

[viinas]

Girls like me are karma I'll rule the earth, I'll be the sky And I'll be all of your worst nightmares

My friends and I made an EP inspired by Iron Widow by @xiranjayzhao called Empress of Nightmares and it's streaming everywhere and to celebrate, I drew this Wu Zetian.

(lyrics are from @soc-ck's Concubines song Girls Like Me Are Karma)

[ashmackenzie]

It’s release day for Heavenly Tyrant, the sequel to Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao! I'm still proud of this one a few years later, if you haven’t yet it’s definitely worth finding a physical copy to see the full wraparound. I also have prints available in my print shop!

Many thanks again to AD Terri Nimmo for working with me on this one!

[axolone]

Gao YiZhi in Heavenly Tyrant by @xiranjayzhao!

He was my surprise favorite in this book, I loved so many of his scenes, especially the hair cutting one.

[queenavryofkazan]

Finished Heavenly Tyrant and my main takeaway rn is that if Qin Zheng wasn't so possessive he could've had not just a ruthless thicc murder wife but also a ruthless pretty boy strategist husband and a hunk nerdy cinnamon-roll-who-can-kill-you husband.

Like man could've had the most ruthless polycule by his side ruling Huaxia and he fumbled it.

[incorrect-ironwidow]

Taiping: Fuck, marry, kill- Renjie, Shimin and Yizhi.

Zetian: Marry Shimin, fuck Yizhi, and kill Qin Zheng.

Qin Zheng: I wasn’t even one of the options, what the fuck?

[lamaery]

soooo, on a vacation trip a week ago, I stumbled over @xiranjayzhao's Iron Widow in a book shop in Copenhagen and devoured it last weekend. It was quite the fun read. (And I am not that inclined to mechs 😄 but the rage filled female power fantasy and the setting felt rather refreshing to me) And after finishing the book I had to get at least some art out of my system. As usual it didn't end up what I really intended it to be in my head initially, but also, as usual it has to suffice for now or I'll never post it.

[high-quality-tiktoks]

🤷‍♂️publishing can’t ask us to write bestsellers for them on no money

[shayminlucario07]

"A society that takes care of its own does not produce children who dream of burning it down."

-Xiran Jay Zhao, Heavenly Tyrant, page 208

(Not saying who says that line to avoid spoilers)