#and vice versa with fantasy that has sci fi aspects. the sci fi parts are just part of the fantasy world. they’re included in it.

[gaypornluvr420]

“but is there really a difference between sci fi and fantasy” YES but it’s based entirely on vibes.

[braywright]

His Hideous Heart

Despite how much I read and my feeble attempts so far, I don’t really consider myself all that good at writing book reviews. The main issue (in my opinion) is that I never read new books fast enough. I can never touch the cultural Zeitgeist right as it is happening. I only ever catch it as it passes into obscurity. I love Rick Riordan, yet I still have not managed to finish the Trials of Apollo series. And my tendency to reach decades old books that no one has ever heard probably doesn’t help.

His Hideous Heart is just one example of me taking a bit too long. The book came out in 2019, so it’s honestly a miracle that I’ve already read it and that it only took me 6 months to start writing this review. It’s a collection of short story retellings of Edgar Allan Poe stories. All of which are things I love, so you’re probably wondering why it took so dang long. I wish I had an answer for you.

But I am here now. So let’s get into it.

Now, one major thing to note is that these are specifically Young Adult retellings. All of the authors featured are Young Adult authors and they are written in a Young Adult style. There is a lot focus on relationships, diverse characters, and teenaged characters. None of this is necessarily bad (in fact, I think retelling old literature from a diverse perspective can add a whole new element to a wonderful story). But you can tell it’s written with teenagers in mind, and that means the quality can fluctuate a lot.

Honestly, I think the best stories are the ones that stick closest to Poe’s original styles. The one’s that are murky and eerie, with unclear details and the feeling that the narrator cannot be trusted. These often stick to the heart of what makes Poe so great—it’s about the emotions, the turmoil of the characters, and not why the creepy thing is happening. Among the best ones are “It’s Carnival!” (a retelling of “The Cask of Amontillado”), “Night-Tide” (a retelling of “Annabel Lee”), and “Lygia” (a retelling of “Ligeia”). They all have the vibe of a classic Poe story while making their own mark.

Vice versa, the weaker stories are ones that try too hard to explain how the strange thing is occurring. For example, “The Glittering Death” is a rewrite of “The Pit and Pendulum”. One of the great aspects of Poe’s story is how insane the tortures are, how impossible they would be for humans to replicate. Yes, he makes the Inquisition the perpetrators, but they are treated more as a vague, inhuman force than a real enemy. The mythic impossible quality of the punishment is part of what makes the story so intense. In “The Glittering Death”, however, the perpetrator is a serial killer who kidnaps a girl, locks her in a cage, and tortures her while spouting religious sayings. Its more Criminal Minds than Edgar Allan Poe. The torture is awful, but does not have that same impossible, inescapable quality that the original had. It completely removes the vague supernatural elements.

Other stories go the exact opposite direction. Rather than remove the surreal details, they go full fantasy/sci-fi to explain them. “The Fall of the Bank of Usher” (guess which story this is retelling) takes the sickly Usher siblings and makes them…futuristic cyber thieves working to take down an AI fungus? “A Drop of Stolen Ink” and “The Murders in the Rue Apartelle, Boracay” both take a Dupin mystery and turn into a sci-fi/fantasy adventure. Which is completely unnecessary since the Dupin mysteries are some of the only Poe stories which are 100% set in reality.

Which does not mean that the fully modernized stories are all bad. “The Oval Filter” takes the enchanting portrait from the original story and turns into the social media profile of a murdered girl. And rather than just being a story about a young dying because of her husband’s obsession, it is about her murder being avenged. Now, it could arguably fall into the stereotype of a woman being ‘fridged’ (horrifically murdered to advance a man’s plot line), but it still did something interesting with the original idea. Rather than remove the surreal aspects or completely change an established plot, the author took a vague idea Poe wrote about and expanded it to work in a modern story. And, notably, it never tried to explain how the dead girl’s social media kept working.

It’s not a bad collection. It was trying something new for a new audience, and I appreciate that they put the original stories in the back so readers can compare the retellings. That said, I’m not keeping it. I feel no need to reread it and I don’t think I’ll be recommending it all that often. If you like Poe, you could read it, but don’t expect perfection.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/10

[legionofpotatoes]

Sci-fi anon here. Appreciate you taking the time to answer my question with such detail! I think you were right about the aesthetic, and the world building structure, but with DA specifically, I think you hit the nail on the head with the idea of the games not being a continuous story about the same character as they were in ME, creating a disconnect in my mind (though Assassin's Creed is one of my fave series, so that alone couldn't be it). I guess I've always thought of DA as just ME but fantasy, which led to me making unfair comparisons between the two.

If you don't mind talking about it more, what aspects about DA do you enjoy more than ME? World building, aesthetic, story, systems?

Hey again anon., no problem.

Honestly DA being ME in fantasy isn’t too unfair, and it def works vice-versa as well, with them being made by the same company and all. The fundamental ways those two series approach worldbuilding, gameplay pillar nesting, and char progression are very, very, very similar. I mean I went to DA Origins after completing the whole ME trilogy, and a few days with was what it took for everything to click and feel familiar. And double that for II.

As for saying what aspects of DA I personally prefer, well, I prefer Mass Effect, so :D I may not be the best to make those arguments. ME stands on a different level for me due to some parts nostalgia and some parts structure; lot of it has to do with the long-form Shepard story across three games, and the general Trekkie fantasy of a mobile mini-hub (read: ship) with all your friends taking you across the universe in search of adventures. That trumps the medieval stronghold skirmishes for me, even though functionally DA games end up doing the same exact thing. But like there’s no accounting for taste, and the texture of it matters to me.

Not what you asked, sorry. World building is just as great in DA, I genuinely think so. Like I said, they have a rich lore that is constructed with the specific aim for the player character to see the pointed moral quandaries peppered within and ultimately engage with them through character-driven story beats. And again on that, your mileage may vary on the quality of writing and authorial intent on said story beats. 

The aesthetic is incredibly well executed, especially I’d say with Inquisition, which paid a lot of attention to in-game art and visual identity of various races, architecture, and other cultural oddities like clothing or customs. On a technical level that really stood out compared to Mass Effect’s alien stuff, but again it was a newer game with a much larger scale than the OT.

I mentioned with the combat that it could be more fun in DA due to its classically structured melee and ranged RPG systems leveraging party makeup and power sets and tactical pause and what have you. That’s true, but the mechanics differ drastically from game to game; the combat framework of Origins may feel outdated much the same way ME1 does compared to the refined locomotion and gunplay of 3, but the moment you go to DAII it’s all immediately faster, more fluid and responsive, and sort-of fat trimmed (this also kinda leads into a ME2 analogy I see). To me Inquisition feels like a perfect marriage of the two - the tactical pause is back, powers have better synergy, but it’s totally playable gung-ho without too much chess pondering.

The story is a Big Topic. There is no unifying immediate overarching threat like the Reapers in DA, and the games don’t all take place within the span of 2 years, but there are similar unexplainable slower-moving world-ending events under threat of coming to pass due to various unstable political meddling or supervillain fuckery. And it always comes down to you and your friendship making skills to assemble the fantasy avengers and make tough choices and pull through. Interesting to note here though, that compared to its bookend games, the initial stakes in DAII are much much lower - it is a game about a refugee trying to survive in an oppressive city, and it pretty much squeezes an incredible amount of juice out of that premise. And yet it still ties intrinsically into the overarching state of the continent and franchise characters.

Similar to Mass Effect’s several trilogy-spanning crucial satellite dilemmas like the Genophage or the Geth, Dragon Age has its own few mega-parables shadowing the story and threading through the series, like the ongoing oppression of Mages who hold unpredictable power by the police force of knights who exist to control them. Bioware tries to do a lot with this premise across the games, pushing some uncomfortable IRL metaphors with varying degrees of success. So that part of the Bioware TouchTM is undoubtedly here if you enjoy it, and again, ties into my earlier argument about how most of the (even deep-seated) worldbuilding that gets introduced will eventually become something you engage with critically throughout the games, and that it’s not all salad dressing and Tolkienesque lore with no visible function - something that may understandably be a frightening prospect.

But again, to bring it all back. I’m more of a Mass Effect guy, but I think Dragon Age is great. If you engage with its story ethos critically it has BIG ole holes, and mechanically Origins is probably too dated to even estimate correctly, but that’s all par for the course with Bioware and nothing you’re looking to avoid I’d reckon. I can’t tell you there’s stuff in DA I enjoy more than in ME, but it’s definitely more of the same-ish stuff in an extremely well put-together package that is diametrically opposite in its aesthetic presentation, and that to me is an extremely alluring, interesting, and compelling deal, if not an outright great one.

[wallaceandpestle]

questions to ask yourself when engaging in criticism/discourse of media:

- are the problematic aspects intentional bigotry, ignorance/insensitivity on the part of the creators, or just bad writing

- who/what is creating/distributing this thing (publishing companies, TV networks, etc) and what else have they made

- who is sharing their criticisms of the media and what else have they made

- who is the target audience and how likely are THEY to think critically about the media (ex. for shows primarily meant for children- how much will the kids watching be paying attention to/internalizing the parts of the show you consider problematic? as for media with an older demographic, can you trust the viewers to recognize the flaws?)

- do the overall positive representations and lessons present outweigh the failures?

- is it actually offensive or damaging or do I just dislike it because it’s not to my tastes?

- which themes are more present and important to the story? which ideas are just one-offs and are in conflict with the rest of it?

- is it actually getting worse or am i just losing interest (this is a big one for long running franchises)

- how much of my criticism revolves around my/someone else’s fan interpretation/obscure background knowledge? if someone watched the show with no idea as to headcanons, fandom discourse, who the creators are, etc, would they think im reasonable?

- for fantasy/sci-fi stories with high stakes and mythical/“larger than life” elements: is this an allegory or representation of a much more human/relatable issue, that’s just told through a fantasy perspective? am i meant to relate to the characters more so than the actual events?

- (MADE UP EXAMPLE: if a space story has an arc where a character’s missteps and rash decisions result in like, a planet being destroyed, and there’s an arc about them overcoming the failure and growing from it, is the story actually encouraging planet destruction OR is it meant to be relatable and helpful to people who have made much smaller mistakes in the past? even if the writing is poor it’s probably the second).

- is someone being censored or is this just something universally considered upsetting/taboo that people don’t want to see

- can i still enjoy it even acknowledgeding the negative aspects? (the bar for how willing someone is to accept failed/problematic aspects of media is different for everybody. what you can look past someone else might not, and vice versa)

[tlbodine]

Hard-Boiled Fantasy

So a conversation from @firefly124-writing about the TV show Supernatural and where it exists in relation to horror got me to wondering about the origins and trappings of what we now consider the “urban fantasy” genre, which I realized I haven’t really dug that deeply into before. 

That sounded like a fun rabbit hole to fall down, so I figured I’d do a bit of digging! 

So the initial question was: Is Supernatural a horror show? 

It kind of seems like it should be, right? There’s ghosts and demons and all manner of other things that go bump in the night. 

But structurally, it sure doesn’t seem like a horror. In horror stories, the monsters usually hunt the characters, not vice versa. And the story beats are all wrong. In fact, if you subbed out monsters for regular criminals, you’d pretty much just have a crime drama. 

And in that respect, Supernatural is hardly on its own. In fact, there’s a ton of supernatural crime fiction - from Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, to Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, to Angel (not so much Buffy, more on that in a minute) and many, many more besides. In fact, the whole genre of “urban fantasy” seems to have some hefty overlap with supernatural crime stories – but are the two interchangeable? Or is there more to it? 

First Off: What the Heck is Urban Fantasy? 

Our benevolent overlords at Barnes & Noble compiled a handy list of recommendations for Urban Fantasy series (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/12-urban-fantasy-series-to-binge-read/), and looking at them side-by-side, we can begin to see some trends:

Super-powered and/or badass main characters 

Serial format that lends itself to a “monster of the week” type storyline

Crimes and/or supernatural political intrigue 

But are they, like, the defining traits of the genre? Let’s investigate further..

According to this article from Writer’s Digest, there are a few key ingredients: setting as character, a central mystery, character-driven story (often in first person narration), and a romance subplot - https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/5-elements-urban-fantasy-novels-must

But I take some issue with that. I think there are a fair number of stories that feel like they should qualify as “urban fantasy” without ticking off all of those boxes. Setting aside everything that could be considered “paranormal romance” - your Twilight and True Blood and whatnot (Buffy slots here better, maybe)- there’s still plenty of things that seem like they should be urban fantasy, like Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere or Lev Grossman’s The Magicians or Charles de Lint’s Newford series, or War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. 

But it’s OK - urban fantasy is large, it can contain multitudes. 

The real question is, why is so much of it just supernaturally flavored crime fiction? 

The Origins of Crime Fiction 

Crime fiction/mystery/thriller is the second-most popular book genre, coming in right behind romance for sales: https://bookstr.com/article/book-genres-that-make-the-most-money/

With that in mind, it kind of makes sense that you’d want to fold crime fiction elements into other types of stories. A genre that popular and ubiquitous is going to have lots of familiar tropes and appeal to a lot of people. 

And as it turns out, crime fiction has its roots tangled quite deeply with horror fiction – so deep, in fact, that the granddaddy of all detective stories is none other than Edgar Allan Poe. 

Poe’s character C. Auguste Dupin – from famed stories like “The Purloined Letter” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” – lays down the template for detective stories in the 1840s, from the eccentric gentleman of leisure turned detective to the impossible crimes explained by the power of deductive reasoning. That template would then be lifted almost wholesale by Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1880s with his Sherlock Holmes stories. 

And, really, it shouldn’t be a particular shock that detective stories started to really take root in this time period. In a post-Enlightenment world, we were collectively struggling with our relationship to nature, science, industry and the mysteries of the universe. Even as we continued to fear things that went bump in the night, we increasingly sought to rationalize it all. 

There was also, of course, more crime – and, thanks to developments in both city living and news reporting, people were aware of those crimes. Jack the Ripper captured public imagination and inspired terror with his murders in 1888, about the same time as H.H. Holmes was running his murder hotel in the United States. 

So with that in mind, is it any surprise that crime fiction entered its first Golden Age in the 1920s and 30s – a time when organized crime was at its peak thanks to Prohibition? 

What is especially interesting to me is that even as horror waned in popularity in the 1940s and 50s, crime fiction was entering a second Golden Age thanks to Film Noir and all of its now-familiar tropes – from world-weary detectives to beautiful dames in trouble and rain-drenched streets. 

Some reading you may find interesting on that topic, especially in regards to how the Noir genre survived the Hays Code: http://hayscodeandfilmnoir.blogspot.com/ and https://vicolablog.wordpress.com/2017/06/05/film-noir-and-the-hays-code/

Putting it All Together 

So with this historical context firmly in mind, I think we can make a few logical conclusions. 

First, I think it’s safe to say that people like crime stories because they tap into cultural fears and fascinations – crime is something that we are all aware of but which most of us have fairly little hands-on experience with, so it’s only natural that we’d be morbidly curious about it. Crime is interesting because it’s dangerous and taboo, and that makes for good storytelling. 

Second, it also seems safe to say that many people prefer crime stories to horror stories because they are more comfortable to consume: 

The hero is usually empowered rather than powerless

Justice is usually served at the end (whereas horror tends to have a bleak outlook) 

The overall feeling can be fun/adventurous/even silly and largely safe, despite the presence of a murder – see the entirety of the “cozy mystery” genre 

Mysteries tap into a puzzle-solving, intellectual aspect of the audience as opposed to a visceral/primal response

Now obviously these lines are drawn in ever-shifting sands. There are plenty of horror stories that are primarily intellectual, and crime fiction can be plenty bloody and visceral. And that’s not even touching on the cross-overs like Thomas Harris’s work or the entirety of giallo filmmaking: https://vicolablog.wordpress.com/2017/06/05/film-noir-and-the-hays-code/

But by and large, speaking in general terms, I think we can make an argument that there is probably a somewhat wider audience for crime/detective stories than for horror specifically because the intended purpose of horror is to make the reader/viewer uncomfortable, and a whole lot of people dislike feeling uncomfortable. 

So with all of that in mind, I don’t think it’s too much of a leap at all to see how our modern understanding of urban fantasy as a supernatural crime thriller got its start. 

By taking familiar horror tropes that have slipped into pop culture – monsters and demons and zombies and whatnot – and then folding them into the comforting tropes and narratives of popular crime fiction, creators can delve into everything that is cool about horror without the icky, alienating bits that make people feel bad. 

(I’d also posit that this type of storytelling is gaining an increasingly powerful foothold in modern times because it side-steps some of the more problematic aspects of realistic crime fiction – ie, the socio-economic status of most criminals, the corruption of the legal system, etc. By making fantastical creatures the perpetrators, we can skip the discomfort of due process and human rights and focus on the fun parts of solving crimes with a clear conscience)

But that’s just one opinion, from an admittedly biased horror blogger. I’ll leave you with this final essay on the topic, which follows a similar path and draws a different (but quite interesting) conclusion – https://carriev.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/the-long-and-diverse-history-of-urban-fantasy/

PS - if you like these deep dives and want to support me in doing more of them, don’t forget to drop a tip in my tip jar:  Ko-fi.com/A57355UN

[dragonnan]

7. earbuds or headphones? // 10. game you were best at in p.e.? // 15. favorite book you read as a school assignment? // 18. ideal weather? // 45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

7. earbuds or headphones? Headphone - earbuds really hurt - like a LOT - if I wear them longer than like 10 minutes.  

10. game you were best at in p.e.? Hmm… I mean when I was really young I suppose volleyball?  I was even on a team which I barely have any memory of but I know we went to a few games against other schools.

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment? I seem to remember really liking Jane Eyre - mostly for the psychological aspect of his “attic wife”.  My view on that book, as an adult, is vastly different than the way it read as a teenager.  A short story I really enjoyed was “The Lottery” (note: the original Hunger Games in many ways). It was twisted and dark and horrifying in a real world way and was one of the first stories to touch that dark angsty part of myself.

18. ideal weather? So actually not an easy ask lol!  For walking around in nature or outdoor shopping: Between 65-72 with a slight breeze and enough clouds to give random shade but not enough to block any delicious sunshine.  For enjoying from my chair inside with hot stew on the stove: extremely heavy rain so intense that you can’t see across the street.  For going fishing: Soft misty rain just chilly enough to need a jacket with beads of water that collect on your hair like tiny pearls.  For Christmas: medium heavy snow with fluffy large flakes and a layer of snow on the ground that sparkles like glitter.  For Fall: slate grey skies and snappy chill with a breeze that carries the scent of spice and colored leaves.

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero? This has changed every few decades.  As a child it was fantasy all the way - my heart is a dragon and my steed is a winged unicorn (or vice versa depending on my mood lol!).  My teen and young adult years were ALL sci-fi!  Loved it in every flavor from X-Files to Stargate to even that bizarre short lived series Cleopatra 2525.  As a middle aged adult I’m now all about superheroes and aside from recent significant disappointments in several movies/series I’m still all in on my favorite characters. 

[phantom-le6]

Film Review - Wonder Woman 84

Carrying on with my film review interval quickly so I can get on to reviewing the Batman animated series, it’s time to join DC a bit early, albeit in the live-action world of the DCEU as we take a look at Wonder Woman 84…

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

A young Diana (Wonder Woman) participates in an athletic event on Themyscira against older Amazons. After falling from her horse due to looking back at her opponents, Diana takes a shortcut and remounts, but misses a checkpoint. Antiope removes her from the competition, explaining anything worthwhile must be obtained honestly.

 In 1984, Diana works at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. while secretly performing heroic deeds as Wonder Woman. New museum employee Barbara Ann Minerva, a shy geologist and cryptozoologist, is barely seen by her co-workers and comes to envy Diana. Later, the FBI asks the museum to identify stolen antiquities from a robbery that Wonder Woman recently foiled. Barbara and Diana notice one item, later identified as the Dreamstone, contains a Latin inscription claiming to grant the holder one wish.

 Barbara wishes to become like Diana, which unwittingly results in her acquiring the same superpowers, while Diana unknowingly wishes for her deceased lover Steve Trevor to be alive, resurrecting him in another man's body; the two are reunited at a Smithsonian gala. Failing businessman Maxwell "Max Lord" Lorenzano tricks Barbara and steals the Dreamstone, hoping to use its power to save his bankrupt oil company. He wishes to "become" the stone and gains its wish-granting powers, becoming a wealthy and powerful figure who creates chaos and destruction as his powers trigger worldwide instability.

 Barbara, Diana and Steve discover that the Dreamstone was created by Dolos/Mendacius, the god of mischief, also known as the Duke of Deception. It grants a user's wish while exacting a toll unless they renounce the wish or destroy the stone. Although Diana's power and Barbara's humanity diminish, both are unwilling to renounce their wishes. Learning from the U.S. President of a satellite system that broadcasts signals globally, Max, whose powers are causing his body to deteriorate, plans to globally grant wishes to steal strength and life force from the viewers and regain his health. Diana and Steve confront him at the White House, but Barbara, now aligned with Max, betrays Diana and knocks her down, escaping with Max on Marine One. Steve convinces Diana to renounce her wish and let him go, restoring her strength and gaining an ability to fly.

 Donning the Armor of Amazon warrior Asteria, Diana flies to the satellite headquarters and again battles Barbara, who has transformed into a humanoid cheetah after wishing to become an apex predator. Following a brutal match, Diana tackles Barbara into a lake and electrocutes her, then pulls her out. She confronts Max and uses her Lasso of Truth to communicate with the world through him, persuading everyone to renounce their wishes. She then shows Max visions of his own unhappy childhood and of his son, Alistair, who is frantically searching for his father amid the chaos. Max renounces his wish and reunites with Alistair and Barbara returns to normal. Sometime later in the winter, Diana meets the man whose body Steve possessed.

 In a post-credits scene, Asteria is revealed to be secretly living among humans.

Review:

Unlike a lot of people, I have enjoyed a lot of the DC Extended Universe to date.  Granted, most of their films have been flawed to varying extents, more-so than I’ve known with the MCU, and in truth only Man of Steel and the first Wonder Woman solo films cleared top marks.  Warner Brothers and DC are clearly trying, and while they might not succeed with live action the way they do with their animated DC films, I think we can all at least commend the effort.  Certainly, that effort shows through in this film, which is both sequel to the first live-action Wonder Woman film and a further prequel to Wonder Woman’s present-day self in Batman vs Superman and Justice League.  It’s well-cast around a decent plot, and offers both the action and character most audiences expect from films of this genre.

 However, the film is not without flaw, and these become more prevalent looking at the behind-the-scenes stories and features than through watching the film itself.  First, let’s tackle the couple of controversies that have come from the observations of others.  According to Wikipedia, the film has been criticised heavily on two counts.  First, Steve Trevor is brought into the film by possessing another man’s body in a plot thread analogous to 80’s era body-swap films like Vice Versa.  Because Steve and Diana have sex at one point during this time, this aspect is likened by some to rape despite that not being the intent of the film makers.  The second point of controversy is a scene where Wonder Woman saves Muslim children from being run over, something that is apparently controversial because actress Gal Gadot once served in the Israeli Defence Forces and has spoken in support of them.

 With regards to the first, I think the film makers needed to make it clearer that while Steve is doing his possession bit, the body’s native soul is totally elsewhere, as that might have changed how some perceived the scene.  Me, I’ve taken it from the first as just Steve and Diana without that exposition, and I think we can be a little too quick to assign the concept of ‘rape’ to certain sci-fi and superhero fantasy concepts.  This criticism strikes me as people wanting to be louder on a subject that is better tackled by being smarter about it, but I do think it’s probably something story tellers need to be mindful of going forward.  If you’re going to set up something that could look like rape if not explained fully, make the time to do that, no matter how it may hurt other aspects of your story.

 With the second, I tend to look at every religious conflict now and in the past and think “will you just grow up and stop having such massive-ass hissy fits over a bunch of stories that might not even be true?” Honestly, I don’t get why so many Christians, Muslims and Jews have to have massive conflicts with each other supposedly over faith.  You’re all worshipping the same deity, for crying out loud, and odds are 50/50 as to whether that deity even exists or not.  That’s honestly not worth keeping up a bunch of rivalry and hatred that started thousands of years ago; these days, it’s just an excuse.  Got land that’s holy to more than one religion?  Just share it.  Don’t like someone else’s religion and want to stick to your own?  Just say “thanks but no thanks” and carry on about your business.  That’s the mature, adult approach, and by the same token, just accept that it’s Wonder Woman saving some kids and leave the personal politics to your own story-telling.

 So, having dismissed the quibbles of the possibly over-reactionary viewers, let’s get into the bigger issues.  In terms of adaptation accuracy, the film is mostly good, but falls a bit short on Maxwell Lord.  The guy’s supposed to be a pretty irredeemable slimeball going by the comics, and while I can accept the film giving him some justification for taking things too far, I have a hard time buying into him effectively doing the ‘right thing’ at the film’s climax. It feels highly out of character, not to mention a bit anti-climactic.  Then again, that’s why I’ve never enjoyed superhero match-ups that pit a massively over-powered hero against a villain who is all about brains.  Such clashes make it impossible for the superhero to win in classic physical combat and gain the catharsis that comes from that.  It almost feels like that part should have come first and the grudge-match with Cheetah should have followed it.

 More significant an issue than that, however, is the idea that the whole wish fulfilment aspect of the plot was somehow people seeking lies and needing to accept the truth.  Wishes are not lies; wishes are wishes and have no set place in the truth-versus-lie dichotomy.  As such, truth is not by any means the answer to things when wishes go wrong.  Wishes going wrong is simply a literary device used to convey the idea that somehow wishing is bad, but it’s not.  After all, how many people who worked on this film wished at some point they’d be able to bring Wonder Woman to life on the big screen? Every film, every TV show, every book, every story anyone has ever created is the execution of a wish.

 The reality is that wishes only become a problem as a result of greed, which is the problem created by Max Lord in this film. If he’d just wished to hit oil to save his company, he’d be fine and things wouldn’t have escalated.  Instead, he takes on the Dreamstone’s power itself so he could exact his own price from future wishers, and as a result he upsets the stupidly precarious balance that keeps the world going.  It’s an interesting idea, albeit not all that original; leaving aside the classic “monkey’s paw” legend and others like it, you’ve only got to look at the Jim Carry film Bruce Almighty and Carrey’s character Bruce granting all prayers while using God’s powers to know wish fulfilment is dangerous in excess.  However, anything in excess is dangerous, and it’s not like wishing worked out so badly for Aladdin if we go by Disney’s versions of that story.

 The reality of WW84 is that it’s a decent film that’s mostly well-acted and has a decent story, but with a flawed underlying message that gets bogged down by various flaws in execution.  If I had to pick out a film that illustrates why the DCEU needs the Flash solo film to reboot it, this one would have to be right up there with Justice League, Aquaman and Birds of Prey.  Like those films, this one only warrants 7 out of 10, and much of that is down to a lot of the actors performing so well, especially Lilly Aspell as the kid version of Diana in the opening scene.  Only 10 years old at the time of filming and she did every stunt herself; an impressive feat to say the least.

[cbcdiversity]

Author Q&A with Sayantani DasGupta

Why is diversity in science fiction and fantasy so critical?

I grew up on science fiction and fantasy – Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time to The Hobbit to Star Wars, Star Trek, and Carl Sagan’s amazing show, Cosmos. Science fiction taught me to imagine big, to envision things beyond my reckoning. It taught me to dream. But of course, science fiction and fantasy back then didn’t let me see anyone who looked like me in a central role. As a brown skinned, immigrant daughter, I loved science fiction and fantasy. But science fiction and fantasy didn’t really love me back.

I think over the years, we’ve seen a vast improvement in terms of representation in many genres of children’s fiction. My own kids got to read a much more diverse array of books than I ever did. But not across all genres, unfortunately. My son, in particular, was a huge fantasy reader – if there wasn’t a talking bird, or flying horse, or a wizard in the tale, he wasn’t having it! Yet, the same gaps in representation I found as a young lover of science fiction and fantasy are still around 30+ years later. That’s a problem, because if all books are in the business of building our imaginations, then sci-fi and fantasy are in the business of building radical imagination. And if there’s ever been a time during which we need a collective radical imagination, it’s now. That’s part of the reason I wrote The Serpent’s Secret.

I really believe that sci-fi and fantasy narratives help us imagine the futures we want, or don’t want. Diverse science fiction and fantasy – narratives in which indigenous characters and characters of color, LGBTQI+ characters, and characters with disabilities and other marginalized identities are central to the story and not just sidekicks – help write diversity into everybody’s future imaginings. Seeing a brown, Desi immigrant daughter as an intergalactic heroine in a story, for instance, helps all of us understand real life brown girls or Desi immigrant daughters in new ways – and see their heroism and strength. Diverse science fiction and fantasy also can provide a way to understand current day oppressions in a new light, and provide means of activism and social justice.

In the end, if a young person has never seen someone who looks like them, or shares an identity with them, being brave, being heroic, or saving the world, it becomes very hard to imagine themselves doing any of those things either. If we want to build a more just future, if we want to equip young people with the tools to help build a more just future, then we need diverse science fiction and fantasy to build our roadmap to the stars.

Why is humor and joy an important aspect of the diverse books movement?

Many years ago, I kept trying to write my own immigrant daughter story. And for some reason, I’d internalized this message that immigrant daughter narratives had to be sad, had to be about conflict with parents, had to be about fraught relationships to culture. The reason I never wrote that novel is that I didn’t have a particularly sad or fraught or conflicted story to tell. I had an overall wonderful relationship with my immigrant parents, and my background. And for whatever reason, I felt like there was no room to tell that story.

I think there can be a demand for authors from marginalized backgrounds to write difficult, heartrending stories about the challenges of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, ableism, or other oppressions. To write books that “teach” the mainstream about our experience. And we can internalize that demand, as I did. While it’s really important to allow kids of all backgrounds to see their own community’s suffering and resilience reflected in books – it can’t be the only, or the predominant, type of narrative we see out there. I worry about the tendency to demand the performance of pain from marginalized communities for others’ voyeurism. People from marginalized backgrounds have all sorts of stories – and it’s important to make room for that variety.  

Who is allowed to be happy? Who is allowed to be magical? Who is allowed to be funny? These can be political questions. Joy can be a type of resistance.

Mythology vs. Folktales – What’s the Deal?

Although they’re interrelated, mythology refers to stories of a religious or spiritual nature, while folktales are day to day oral stories of cunning, or family unity, or common wisdom. Think Zeus and Osiris vs. Jack and the Beanstalk or Goldilocks. When it comes to South Asian stories, there’s a lot of overlap, of course. Religious stories of all kinds seep into folk stories and vice versa. But when I wrote The Serpent’s Secret, I was primarily inspired by folk stories from Bengal, not religious or mythological stories per se. And because Bengal used to be one big region before the 1947 partition of the South Asian subcontinent by our departing British rulers, these Bengali folk stories I am inspired by are shared by people of multiple nations – Indians from West Bengal and Bangladeshis, not to mention Bengalis throughout the global diaspora. These Bengali folk and children’s stories are also near and dear to people of multiple faiths – Hindus and Muslims and Christians and Atheists. And rather than allow false divisions between our communities based on nation or religion, I want to be clear about this and honor the wide reach of the Bengali folk stories that inspired me. I want to honor our commonly shared stories throughout Bengal and the Bengali diaspora.

Sayantani DasGupta grew up hearing stories about brave princesses, bloodthirsty rakkhosh and flying pakkhiraj horses. She is a pediatrician by training, but now teaches at Columbia University. When she’s not writing or reading, Sayantani spends time watching cooking shows with her trilingual children and protecting her black Labrador Retriever Khushi from the many things that scare him, including plastic bags. She is a team member of We Need Diverse books, and can be found online at www.sayantanidasgupta.com and on Twitter at @sayantani16.

[archonreviews]

The Archon’s Opinion: What Makes a Good Game?

So, you’ve no doubt noticed that I’ve reviewed a few games so far. But games aren’t the only things that this Archon’s got opinions about; I’ve also got opinions about things relating to games. Thus in the spirit of opinionation, I’ve decided that every once in a while, I’ll do a piece on a concept or thing or ... something relating to games. Welcome ye then, to the first installment of a new series, “The Archon’s Opinion”.

As mentioned, I’ve reviewed some games. And I’ve even recommended a couple; conditionally, anyway. But as I learned in my college philosophy classes, it can be useful to define one’s terms. Thus, I’d like to talk about what exactly makes a good game, and what exactly makes a good game good. I understand that this is a very broad topic, but I hope to address more narrow topics in later entries into this series. And who knows, maybe this will be really insightful and interesting! Maybe. We’ll see.

Now, in my personal life, I’m inclined to follow a very simple standard of judgement when it comes to whether or not a game is “good”. That standard is, “It’s good if you like it, and vice versa.” Of course, this standard isn’t very constructive, and can, in fact, be a little counter-productive when trying to figure out what makes a good game. I really dug Shadow the Hedgehog but does that make it a good game? Probably not; at least, not if we’re discussing objective aspects of a game which can be said to be done competently. While it is generally understood that taste is relative, there are certain objectives that can be sighted when looking at aspects of a game; par exemple, a wall is meant to block progress, and a floor is meant to hold up characters and objects that do not float. If, in a video game, they do not serve those functions, they cannot be said to be competent, and any game that bases itself on such can reasonably be described as a “bad” game. On the other hand, a game that bases itself on competently done walls and floors can be considered to be “good”, reasonably speaking.

With the “subjectivity argument” out of the way, we can discuss what really makes a game good. Generally, when I ask someone why they like a game, they give me one of two reasons. The first usually goes along the lines of “Well, I can’t really articulate it, but I just kinda like it, okay?” The second goes like, “Well, I really liked how they handled XYZ!” While both answers are valid in their own way, it’s the second we’re concerned with. After all, that XYZ represents a concrete, quantifiable element of gameplay that can judged on its competency. XYZ’s represent walls that block and floors that hold, so to speak. Those XYZ’s can be broken down into a few core elements are, at least, to some extent, ubiquitous to video games. I’ll go through each of those elements and give examples of games that do them really well. My point, in this here paragraph, is that games can be good for various reasons, each of which can make a game good in its own special way.

The first way a game can be good is via depth of mechanics. Mechanics are more or less ubiquitous to all games, video or not. When you move a piece in Chess, you’re experiencing a mechanic of the game. Same for the breath holding mechanic in SCP Containment Breach. Any element that facilitates gameplay in even the smallest form counts as a mechanic. What makes a good game from mechanics is usually the depth of those mechanics. Good mechanics-based games usually require a great deal of skill to be good at. Games like League of Legends and the Call of Duty series are examples of good skill-based mechanics-driven games (or would that be skill-driven mechanics-based games?). Regardless of my personal feelings about LoL or CoD, I must admit that the mechanics in both games are deep enough and in many cases complex enough to warrant a high investment of skill. In addition to skill-testing games, there are games in which the mechanics are so central, that all other trappings are faff and nonsense. These games include rhythm games, such as Dance Dance Revolution, and puzzle games without story, such as Bejeweled. In these cases, the mechanics are so central, so essential, that frucking them up means frucking up the whole game.

The second way a game can be good is in terms of plot. Games by Bioware, Obsidian Entertainment, or Atlus all tend to excel at this aspect. A good plot should be much like reading a good book; whatever reasons you enjoy a particular work of literature, a video game of a similar bent should make you feel a similar way. Of course, video gaming being an interactive medium, it stands to reason that the feels evoked would be more intense as compared to those evoked by a book. Tying into this somewhat are games with extensive lore or flavor. Games by Illwinter Games and Bethesda tend to overwhelmingly excel at this, covering their worlds with gallons of flavor text and backstory. Dominions 4 and Morrowind are in particular exemplary examples of backstory-rich games. You could spend hours rifling through the flavor text and lore-stubs. Dominions in particular is a perfect example of the marriage between mechanics and lore. If something is mentioned in the flavor text, it’s a good bet that it will affect the game somehow. Morrowind, on the other hand is an excellent example of a compelling plot married to a red velvet-rich backstory. If you want to just booty-blast through the plot, you’ll have a great time, but reading though the in-game books, and listening to the little pieces of advice and secrets the NPC’s have can help contextualize the setting and story all the more. In essence, a plot-driven video game is best when it sucks you in; when you spend hours researching the backstory online, or are constantly thinking about what’s going to happen next; that’s when you’ve got a good plot-game.

A third way in which a game can be good comes from a sense of competitive balance. Many games are/can be competitive. Basically, anything with a multiplayer mode can count as competitive. But greatness in a game designed specifically for multiplayer functionality only truly comes when that functionality it designed for balance. It doesn’t have to be like Chess, where each side is more or less equal. In fact, the best multiplayer games aren’t necessarily the ones with the most exacting balance, but instead are ones in which each player, no matter what the circumstances are, assumes that they at least have a ghost of a chance. I mentioned LoL and CoD earlier, but on reflection, they’re closer to this kind of game. No matter which characters or elements a player decides to use, there’s always a sense that one could still win the day. Another game that’s weirdly good at this is Ensemble Studios’ masterpiece, their magnum opus, Age of Empires 2. While most people play a particular mode which caters to a particular set of playable civilizations, it can be reasonably said that every playable civ is excels in a particular setting, thus creating a sort of meta-balance. Essentially, no matter what game mode you’re playing, there’s always a civ for you to play. In addition, there’s an entire genre of games that tries to make this their hat: fighting games. Most popular fighting games are meant specifically for multiplayer. Thus, they strive for competitive balance. The best such games make certain that every character has something about them that allows them to be successful.

A fourth way a game can be good is via the aesthetics. This goes beyond graphical considerations; CoD can reasonably said to have competently executed graphics, but it is not the game’s aesthetics that make people like it. Aesthetics doesn’t just refer to a specific artistic style either. In fact, there are many games with great aesthetics that have a variety of different artistic styles. Shovel Knight, for example, has a very distinctly retro artistic style that drew in plenty of people. One of the many reasons Shadow of the Colossus is regarded as a great game is it’s vast expanses and sweeping vistas, as well as the design of its titular colossi. The Endless series of 4X strategy games have this odd-but-awesome kinda sci-fi/fantasy hybrid aesthetic going for them. Generally, what makes a good aesthetic is the ability to enthrall a player with the visuals alone. This is certainly one area where the “subjectivity argument” gains an worrying amount of ground. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and whatever the beholder doesn’t find beautiful, it blasts with eye beams. A good way to judge a game’s aesthetics is to look at the intent of those aesthetics. For example, if a horror game’s aesthetics fail to facilitate a scary environment cannot be said to have succeeded as a scary game. Aesthetics should make a player feel a certain way, and when they succeed in that task, they can be said to be competently done.

The above four characteristics are merely four of the more prominent ways in which a game can be good. There are indeed many other ways in which games can be good, and the best games are good for a myriad variety of reasons. Nonetheless, I hope I’ve done a decent job of outlining how a video game can be competent in some of the more obvious ways. Perhaps I’ll do another episode in this series in which I do a “part 2″, and go into more detail.

^(Of course, Shadow the Hedgehog is totally the perfect game. Swear on me mum.)^

[obsidianarchives]

Marci and Ako

Marci & Ako are the podcast duo behind The Colored Pages Book Club, a bi-weekly podcast discussing fiction, fantasy, and magical realism written by writers from colorful backgrounds. Through this lens they discuss their own lives as well as bigger social themes such as liberation, anti-oppression, and intersectionality. 

Marci is originally from Atlanta, Georgia, but, while they’re always repping Atlanta egregiously, they haven’t actually lived there since high school. A lover of Motown, anime, dance, and tea parties, Marci can often be found pounding vegan yogurt or engaging in rodent-like shenanigans with friends. While not always an avid reader, Marci’s love for storytelling dates back to his days as a wee lass enjoying cartoons, playing Japanese Role-Playing games, and living a life filled with hijinks and tomfoolery that honestly just had to be conveyed to others.

Ako has lived a decent bit of her life in one place or another. She considers home to be where her heart is — and anywhere she can find a decent slice. She never leaves her bed without her wits about her, and is always down for an adventure, a little mischief, or nonsensical turn of events. Her diet consists steadily of afro-futurism, sci-fi, fantasy, and comics. And she firmly believes a good story, heard at just the right time, can change a life. 

Black Girls Create: What do you create?

Marci: Through our collective vision, we create a virtual space of radical love for readers, writers, video game nerds, fantasy lovers, anime geeks, artists, and so many others that dare to imagine. We focus on centering the stories, narratives, and discussions that mainstream society tries to erase by centering the most marginalized or, in our words, most “colorful” individuals. 

Ako: As Marci said, we’re just making Black kid magic or youngblood joy. We’re trying to create a corner of the internet that’s a little off the beaten path. Somewhere you can laugh, relax, and maybe think a little.

BGC: Why do you create?

Marci: Both of us share the core belief that imagination is the greatest catharsis and is the vector we need to create a better world. For that reason, literature has been a very transformative part of our lives. We wanted to create a show that made discussions around the precious medium more accessible. Conversations around books can be hilarious, serious, silly, and have the charm of two good friends catching up. So, we wanted to encourage imagination and change what it means to be someone that consumes and appreciates literature. 

Ako: Yeah, I think all people create in some form or another, whether it’s tangible or intangible. Creating is what we do with our lives and imagination, and I feel CPBC is one of the tools we do it with. I create to figure things out, to deal with life, to change my life, and sometimes, frankly, to escape my life. I create because I want to experience something that’s not there or I want to give my take on something that is. So for us, just like Marci said, we wanted to create a place that honors imagination, by interacting with it. You open a book and you see someone else’s whole perspective on life and you ask yourself, “How do I feel about this? What did I learn? What do I think?” and then get to talk to your friend about it and that conversation becomes this creation of fun, joy, healing, and growth.

BGC: Who or what inspires you to do what you do? 

Marci: Whether I was telling some ridiculously dramatic story on the bus or literally getting sent out of Calculus class for sharing some ridiculous tale, I’ve always been a storyteller. What can I say? But more than CPBC serving as a platform for Ako and me to tell our collective story — a story of friendship, social action, and rule breakers — we’re inspired by all the great stories that precede and exist alongside us. Stories are the key to building empathy, creating community, and fostering visibility and it’s the potential of stories and the act of storytelling that inspire us the most. 

Ako: For this podcast? I guess Marci inspires me. I mean they called one day and said, I have this idea for a book club and I thought of you. Before that I had very little intention of doing anything related to podcasting. But it was one of those moments when someone says, “Hey, I found this magic carpet and I’m gonna take it on a joy ride. Are you in or you out?” And at first I was worried — “What if we fall? What if we run into a plane? What about altitude sickness?” But then I thought, “Well if it's Marci, it’s sure to be an adventure, and moreover, I certainly don’t want to regret not giving it a shot!” It’s moments like this, that when life asks you if you dare — and whatever you answer kind of tells you the life you want to live. 

BGC: Who is your audience?

Marci: Listen, we invite anyone to listen to the Colored Pages Book Club! While the show is about fiction, fantasy, and magical realism, Ako and I love us some anime, 90s cartoons, and similarly imaginative mediums. So, for our readers out there, tune in if you’re looking to be part of a virtual book club, trying to find more books by colorful writers (women writers, LGBTQ+ writers, writers of color, etc.), and ultimately looking for hilarious discussion and intersectional analysis to accompany your reading experience. And, for everyone else, tune in for the anime references, the personal anecdotes, the hilarious sidenotes, and the general nerding out that take place. (And don’t worry if you haven’t read the books. Think of the show as Sparknotes: Blerd Edition.)

Ako: I agree, anyone who wants to join the conversation is more than welcome! That’s what’s so cool about having an online “book club.” We get to be like, “Yo, people somewhere out there, we read this book and we had some thoughts — what about you?” Of course, injustice and hatred isn’t really our speed, so if that’s what you’re into, we’re probably not for you. But otherwise, if you like books, blerd stuff, nerd stuff, or just something fun and a little different from the usual, you’re in the right place. 

BGC: How do you balance creating with the rest of your life? 

Marci: Lately, I have been really intentional about crafting time each day for the things that matter most to me. I am someone with a lot of varying interests and curiosities and keep myself on a set morning self-care routine that ensures I’m equally contributing to my personal, mental, and creative health. So, while that means I can’t quite binge YouTube video game reviews or the latest season of Pose like I used to, it’s well worth it. 

Ako: I don’t…or I’m learning how to, I guess. But often my life bleeds into my creative process and vice versa. Sometimes it’s not great and sometimes it is amazing. An experience will influence a creative project I’m working on, and often my creative projects influence how I live my life. Mostly, I just try to make sure one doesn’t sideline the other — but I would be lying if I said I had it all figured out. 

BGC: Why is it important as a Black person to create?

Marci: As Black people, our voices and stories have been erased, disregarded, and misappropriated for centuries. So, by creating, we are able to control our own narratives and ensure our stories are being told honestly and respectfully. But, in addition to that, as a Black, queer individual, I understand that my liberation is not mutually exclusive to the liberation of others. That it is just as important for me to lift up and support others on my journey of creative expression since, quite frankly, we can ALL eat. There’s more than enough to go around.

Ako: Because we’re humans, and creating is the human experience. Often times the world tries to deny or define that experience for Black folks. But honestly, we’ve created in the face of oppressive forces that have tried very hard to stop us before and we continue to create in the face of those forces now. Why wouldn’t we? We exist on this earth experiencing all that it is, and so it only makes sense that we influence it, and we leave a part of ourselves here in whatever form that it takes. 

BGC: Advice for young creators?

Marci: My biggest advice would be to not be afraid to create in ways you haven’t before. Learning to podcast was definitely a learning curve and historically, I’m not someone who really fell in love with reading until fairly recently. I spent so much time in the beginning stages doubting my ability to realize this idea and to manifest our vision for CPBC. It’s very normal to question your ability to do something you haven’t before, but dare to believe in your ability to learn, expand, and grow and, most importantly, trust that your spirit would never manifest an idea that you were incapable of actualizing.

Ako: I think just start. It doesn’t have to be good, in fact it probably won’t be, but who cares? Creating is for you. It’s not for the world, although you might share it. It’s a way of freeing yourself, or working things out in your mind, or imagining possibilities. Don’t think so hard about what it should be, just start, and allow the experience to tell you of what it is. 

BGC: Do you have any future projects?

Marci: So, in the vein of challenging your perceived creative limitations, I am actually in the process of writing my first novel. It’s an idea that has constantly shifted and expanded throughout the years, but I’m finally working to actualize this creative vision. Details to come.

Ako: I’m really excited to one day start an animation company. Animation, to me, is such an innovative and dope medium. It allows a creator to play with so many aspects of storytelling. And when I think about how those aspects could be used to tell different perspectives I get really excited. So, that’s my dream and I honestly look forward to it.

Follow Marci and Ako on Twitter @TheColoredPages and find their podcast at www.thesecoloredpages.com.

[bestwomenseroticaoftheyear]

Today, February 10, is last day to submit to Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 4

We’re having some technical difficulties at the BWE site so since today is the deadline, here is the full call for submissions for Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 4. No extensions will be granted. All stories submitted by Saturday, February 10, 2018 that meet the guidelines will be considered.

To everyone who previously submitted work to Volume 4, you can expect to hear back by September 30, 2018. If you have any questions, contact editor Rachel Kramer Bussel at bweoftheyear at gmail dot com and she will get back to you ASAP.​

Call for Submissions - Extension

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 4

To be published by Cleis Press in December 2018

Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Make sure to read and follow the guidelines in full. Guidelines may be updated over the course of the open submission period. Feel free to repost these guidelines as long as you link to this site (https://www.bweoftheyear.com/call-for-submissions), which will always contain the most up-to-date version of these guidelines. For occasional BWE submission tips, follow @BWEoftheyear on Twitter.

This is an extension of the original call; if you already submitted work, it's still being considered and you will hear back by September 30, 2018. If you previously submitted one story, you can submit one more; all authors can submit a total of two stories.

This anthology is open to women, genderqueer and nonbinary authors only. I'm seeking 2,00-4,000 word original, unpublished erotic stories with women, genderqueer or nonbinary protagonists that touch on the theme of outsiders or the theme of risk. Stories without one of those elements will be rejected. 

What I'm specifically looking for:

Erotica stories relating to current events (but that will still be sexy to readers in 20 years)

Ownvoices erotica stories (author and protagonist share a marginalized identity - for more information, see originator of the term)

Stories with transgender women as protagonists

Stories exploring a specific culture (see "On the Calendar" by Kate Sebastian in Volume 2 for an example)

Stories dealing with mental health

Stories starring women who feel like outsiders because of an aspect of their sexuality

Stories starring women over 50

Historical erotica (see "Demimonde" by Valerie Alexander in Volume 1 for an example)

Humorous erotica (see "Starstruck" by Lazuli Jones in Volume 1 for an example)

As in prior volumes, I want your best, boldest, hottest, most creative and diverse 2,000-4,000 word erotica stories, written by and starring a wide range of women, genderqueer and non binary characters, from single to coupled, living in big cities and small towns anywhere in the world, of varying sexual orientations, races, ages (all characters must be 18+ for the entirety of the story), fetishes, jobs, interests and life experiences. First, second and third person narratives are all welcome. The two themes of this anthology will be Outsiders and Risk, as detailed below. While reading the first three volumes isn't required, please note that for the sake of variety for our readers, highly specific story settings or topics, such as a shoe shine, that have already appeared in the series are unlikely to be repeated, but broader ones, such as an office romance, are welcome.

For this volume, I want stories that speak to the book's themes of outsiders and risk, though those words don’t need to be used explicitly in the story but should be conveyed by the plot. In terms of outsiders, that could include any woman who feels like an outsider, whether from her relationship(s), her sexuality, her personality, her looks, her career, her age, her race, her religion, her family, her community, her workplace, her country, etc. Perhaps she is right to feel like an outsider, because she’s deliberately ostracized or left out; perhaps she would be welcomed by others but still feels like an outsider. Whatever the case, I want to read about how her outsider status is affected by her sexuality, and vice versa. Perhaps she is a refugee arriving in a new country, a virgin whose friends are all sexual libertines, a woman who’s made to feel her desires are untoward or unnatural, etc. The more creative and unique your plotline, the more likely your work is to be accepted.

In terms of risk, I want to read about women who put everything on the line in pursuit of love and lust, who take dramatic, daring risks that will make readers marvel at their passion. Maybe she quits her job, or dares to make waves in a long-term relationship. Maybe she pursues someone everyone’s told her is wrong for her, but she does it anyway. How is taking a risk sexy for her? What is she sacrificing, and why is she doing it? I want to read about women who are natural risk takers as well as those who are innately risk averse but are compelled to go against their instincts and take a risk anyway. I don’t want clichéd plotlines or generic characters; stories should be original, captivating and arousing. Stories can reflect current events, but shouldn’t be so specific that they will be out of date. Stories should be timeless enough to appeal to readers now as well as in ten, twenty or thirty years. Keep in mind that stories will not overlap in plotlines, so the more individual and memorable yours is, the more likely it is to be accepted. 

I’m especially interested in hearing from and about: stories set outside the United States, stories set outside major cities, romantic erotica (they don’t necessarily need to have a traditional “happily ever after,” but happy endings are extremely welcome too), stories involving more than two people, stories in unusual settings, erotica touching on current events (though the story should be one readers ten or twenty years from now will also appreciate), stories with a feminist outlook (that may or may not have the word “feminism” or “feminist” in the text but convey a feminist worldview), BDSM stories, especially ones outside of the Master or Mistress dynamic, and stories starring women creative, memorable fetishes.

Stories in the final book will range from humorous and playful to intense and soulful, and will reflect a similar sexual, racial and age diversity as the stories in Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volumes 1, 2 and 3. Story submissions must be unpublished (never published, in whole or in part, anywhere, online or offline). No scat or incest, although age play will be considered as long as it’s clear in the context of the story that the characters are engaging in roleplay. No poetry will be considered.   

In a nutshell: I want stories that blow my mind, that grab my attention from the first sentence and don’t let go, that say something new and exciting about sex and sexuality, that will appeal to longtime erotica readers and new readers of the genre. Make every word count and advance the story you want to tell. Consider each sentence and ask yourself: Does it serve a purpose? Is it advancing your story? If not, cut it. I want stories that will make readers stop everything they’re doing and eagerly read every last word to find out what happens to your characters. I gravitate toward unique, creative, memorable characters, settings and scenarios. Contemporary stories will comprise the majority of the book but historical, sci fi, fantasy and paranormal stories are also welcome. For an idea of the types of stories I like, see Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 1, 2 and 3. If you submitted a story to Volume 1, 2 or 3 that was rejected, you may resubmit it if it fits the theme of outsiders or risk, but in most cases, a new story stands a far better chance of acceptance.

In the interest of publishing a wide range of authors, those whose work appears in Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 1, 2 or 3 will not be considered for this volume, but contributors to previous Best Women’s Erotica collections are welcome to submit work. 

Rights: non-exclusive right to publish your story in this anthology in print, ebook, and audiobook form. Authors will retain copyright to their stories. See exact contract terms below.

How to submit: Submit only 2,000-4,000 original, unpublished stories that are not being considered elsewhere. Word count applies to the text of your story, excluding story title and author name. Maximum two submissions per author. Stories CANNOT be under consideration elsewhere at any point prior to the book's publication date in December 2018. I want only original work that has never been published online, in print or in any format at all, including personal or other types of blogs. All characters must be 18 or over for the entirety of the story. US grammar (spelling, double quotation marks around dialogue, etc.) required. Submit to bweoftheyear@gmail.com with “BWE 4 Submission: Story Title” in the subject line by attaching a Word .doc or .docx file, double spaced, Times New Roman Black font with legal name, pseudonym (if applicable), mailing address, phone (only to be used for urgent communication about your story) AND 50 word-or-under third person professional biography either on the first page of your story above the title or in the body of an email. Make sure you use an email address that you check on a regular basis (at least once a week). Sample bio format with URL is as follows:

Rachel Kramer Bussel (rachelkramerbussel.com) writes fiction and non-fiction. She is an editor, author and blogger.

All stories must have a title and byline (author name) included with the submission (no untitled stories) at the top of the first page. Indent half an inch at the start of each paragraph. Use double spacing for the entire file; DO NOT add extra lines between paragraphs or use any other irregular spacing. Title your document BWE 4 STORY TITLE LAST NAME, such a "BWE 4 Lovers Doe." If you cannot use Word, submit as both an RTF AND include the full submission in the body of an email, including title, story text, bio, name and pseudonym (if applicable), mailing address and phone number. DO NOT SUBMIT MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF THE SAME STORY AS ONLY THE FIRST VERSION WILL BE CONSIDERED. SUBMIT YOUR STORY WITH THE TITLE, AUTHOR NAME AND WORDING YOU WOULD WANT PUBLISHED IF THE STORY IS ACCEPTED. MAKE SURE TO THOROUGHLY PROOFREAD YOUR STORY BEFORE SUBMITTING IT. Only stories that are between 2,000-4,000 words and submitted by November 1, 2017, 11:59 pm EST will be considered. Please do not ask about exceptions to the word count or deadline as they will not be granted. 

I will confirm that I have received your submission within 72 hours. I will respond to all submissions by September 30, 2018 at the latest. If you have not heard back from me by October 1, 2018, feel free to follow up at that time. Please note the time frame and if you need a response sooner than September 30, 2018, this is not the right anthology for you. 

Payment: $200 and 2 copies of the book within 90 days of publication. Payment will be made only via Paypal (strongly preferred) or U.S check (only for U.S. addresses).

Deadline: February 10, 2018, 11:59 pm EST

For questions that aren't answered in the guidelines: Email bweoftheyear@gmail.com (note that NO word count changes will be granted - stories sunder 2,000 words or over 4,000 words will be automatically rejected)

If your story is accepted, you will need to sign a contract agreeing to the terms below in order for your story to be published in the anthology. If you are unwilling to sign this contract, DO NOT to this anthology

The parties agree as follows:

I. GRANT OF RIGHTS

Author hereby grants Editor, during the first term of the United States copyright, and any renewals thereof, in the “Work”:

a. The non-exclusive right to “publish” (i.e. print, publish, and sell) the Work as part of the Book in printed and digital form in English in the United States and its territories; and

b. The non-exclusive right to “publish” and license the Work as part of the Book in printed and digital form in English in other countries; and

c. The non-exclusive right to publish and license the Work as part of the Book in printed and digital form in English and the right to license, translate and publish the Work as part of the Book in printed and digital form in languages other than English in all countries; and

d. The following non-exclusive subsidiary rights to license and publish the Work as part of the Book in the United States and all foreign countries, to wit: anthologies, magazines, book club editions and reprints; Braille editions; audio, computer disk, all electronic/cyber rights, CD-ROM and microfiche editions; and television productions (including network TV, cable, and pay TV); and

e. The non-exclusive right to excerpt from the Work in non-book printed materials issued by the Publisher and/or its licensee for the sole purpose of promoting the Work, including, but not limited to, bookmarks, post cards, buttons, and t-shirts; and

f. The non-exclusive subsidiary right, for promotional purposes, to serialize the Work in periodicals, newspapers, and magazines.

II. ACCEPTANCE OF MANUSCRIPTS AND CHANGES

a. Editorial revisions to the Work may be made at the suggestion of the Editor and/or Publisher. The title may be changed only by mutual consent of the Author, Editor and Publisher. Editor has final say on the substantive content of the Work.

b. The completed manuscript shall be deemed satisfactory in content to the Editor and Publisher unless within ninety (90) days of its receipt, Publisher or Editor gives Author written notice of the respects in which the manuscript is unsatisfactory. Author shall have thirty (30) days from receipt of that notice to make and submit such changes.

c. Editor reserves the right to choose not to include the Work in the Book, if Publisher declines to accept it, or for any other justifiable reason. In such event, this Agreement is null and void; all rights revert to Author, and Editor does not owe Author payment.

III. WARRANTIES AND INDEMNITIES

a. Author represents and warrants that she now owns all rights granted hereunder, free of liens or encumbrances, and has full power and authority to execute this Agreement; and further warrants that the Work is original with her and not in the public domain. Author will give formal written notice of any previous publication of the Work upon presentation of the final manuscript, including editorial addresses of periodicals and/or publishers.

b. Author further represents and warrants that the Work does not infringe statutory copyrights or common law literary rights of others, and does not violate the rights of privacy of, or libel, other persons.

c. Author agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Editor and the Publisher, and the publishing of any reprint or book club edition of the Work licensed by the Publisher, pursuant to the Agreement, against any final judgment for damages (after all appeals have been taken) against them in any action arising out

of facts which constitute a breach of the foregoing warranties together with reasonable costs and attorney’s fees incurred by them in defending such an action in which such judgment is recovered.

V. COPYRIGHT

Author shall retain copyright of the Work.

VI. PAYMENT

Author shall receive PAYMENT LISTED ABOVE to be paid by Author within 90 days of publication of the Book.

VII. AUTHOR’S COPIES

Publisher will give to Author two (2) free copies of the Anthology. 

IX. SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

This Agreement shall be binding on the parties and her respective heirs, administrators, successors and assigns.