#diane duane

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: The Sower

Octavia Butler: Submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of the parable of the sower Butler: the parable of the tale of the sower Butler: the tale of the sower Butler: boy that's really not working

Butler: for this story, i think it's time to look to the future Poe: the future? Butler: yes the far distant future Butler: of 2024

Butler: so in the future of 2024 Butler: a christo-fascist government comes to power over a crumbling America bedeviled by climate change and wealth disparity King: Poe: Koontz: Barker: Butler: now you may be asking Butler: how did she know? Poe: how DID you know?

Butler: an America falling apart, states are their own military dictatorships, police are corrupt King: that's crazy that you're so good at predicting America's future King: it's like you live in America or something!

Poe: for real, how are you doing this? Barker: eh i'm not impressed Baker: i feel like predicting the rise of a christo-fascist government in a crumbling America bedeviled by climate change and wealth disparity is pretty much a gimmie

Butler: ok fine Butler: but what if this christo-fascist government comes to power using the slogan "make American great again" Barker: Barker: ok yeah that's impressive Poe: how ARE you doing this??

Butler: simple Butler: i simply looked at the America of the present day Butler: and asked myself what would the future look like King: that's good! i gotta make a note of that King: anyone got a pen? King: these writing tips are gold!

King: that is seriously incredible King: some scary accurate predictions! King: why is everyone always talking about Margaret atwood's predictions? these are way better! Barker: yeah these leave Margaret atwood in the dust! Barker: like, there's no comparison! Margaret Atwood [under cardboard box, through vocoder]: beep boop :(

Margaret Atwood: [under cardboard box, through vocoder] beep boop i am predict-o-tron, the robot that predicts the future Barker: oh we're not interested in that anymore Margaret Barker: your predictions are all so obvious Margaret Atwood: [under cardboard box, through vocoder] beep boop :(

Barker: but go ahead Barker: give us one now Barker: if it makes you feel better Atwood: [under cardboard box, through vocoder] beep boop reproductive health will be threatened by conservatives Barker: oh damn wow Barker: you must have fuckin crystal ball to come up with that one! Poe: clive Barker: oh come on edgar we all saw that one coming

Butler: anyway this christofash government in a collapsing dystopian America only lasts one term Butler: then they vote him out Barker: wait, they still have elections in this collapsing dystopian America? Butler: oh yeah Butler: yeah i mean why not?

King: this is a real downer King: can we hear some future predictions that DON'T come true? Diane Duane: i have some stories about the utopian post-scarcity star trek future King: no i meant like King: bad things that don't come true King: not good ones :/

[petermorwood]

@dduane's greeting is sound, provided it's edited to match circumstances - for instance, are the words "fallen" and "defiance" appropriate?

If not then good manners, always advisable when confronting a god of anything, would be to drop them.

A modified version of the other standard wizardly greeting might work better: "Fairest, I am on Errantry, and I greet you."

"Fairest" needn't be a reference to appearance, since the word can also mean "most free from bias" - and, if pressed for details, the journey from one end of life to the other can qualify as errantry.

(DD might have some opinions, so I'll give her a cup of tea and point her at this post...)

So you're hanging out with your wizard friend. You're going through various planes of existence as they try to figure out how to reverse your petrification curse (it's okay, it's going slowly, right now you just have some grey stiff toes). They pull you aside and say "Alright, we gotta go through this court... I think the royal magician can help us. But be careful, there's a God here. Be respectful and obedient if they say anything"

You walk in, nervously, and it all goes to hell immediately. Your wizard buddy is spotted and you have to make introductions. Your wizard friend says "I'm pleased to introduce you to the God of Gender" and motions for you to say something.

How do you greet the God of Gender?

[canadiankazz]

I felt bad about Mike Flanagan not being included so I decided to make another poll.

Inspired by @ktlsyrtis 's poll.

Please, please, please reblog this so it reaches the widest audience possible.

Also sorry if I'm not the only one who's done another poll.

[lichqueenlibrarian]

Jim go the fuck to sleep

[pratchat]

Thanks to listener @natski07 who asked @dduane about the story behind “Hollywood Chickens”! For our part, Ben’s research suggests they arrived under the underpass in late 1969 (so a bit earlier than the story suggests), and their exact origins are unknown. There’s more in our episode notes, but we love that Natalie asked, and Diane answered!

Im listening to Pratchat podcast ep81 https://pratchatpodcast.com/2024/11/08/pratchat81-notes-and-errata/

They are discussing the Terry Pratchett short story "Hollywood Chicken" which Terry wrote in his author note that it was inspired by a trueish story from yourself. Did you ever visit or see the chickens in your travels around Hollywood?

Yes: often. They lived at the patch of ground on either side of the Vineland offramp of the Hollywood Freeway/US 101. You could see them scratching around and doing their thing pretty much any time you went up that offramp in a car or bus. (As for “trueish”: God love ‘em, they’re still there. In fact, they’ve apparently spread to the next offramp down.)

Terry’s exact wording about this in his forenote to the story is, “Diane Duane swore it was true, and I wasn’t about to argue.” 😏 This would have been because when the subject came up in some convention bar or other, (a) we were in Telling Another Writer About A Cool if Unlikely-Sounding Thing mode—at which time you do not “pull the long bow,” just lay out the facts as known to you—and (b) I knew quite well Terry’d later do his fact-checking and possibly find out more about the story than I knew: which would be fun. …Thus (eventually/accidentally) leaving me with one of the greatest blurb slugs ever seen. 😄

HTH!

[petermorwood]

37 Years Ago Today...

There are many phrases which ease the tension of a wedding rehearsal.

"Cuff keys? I thought YOU had them..." is not one.

There are many phrases used during the course of a wedding ceremony.

"One Ring to Rule Them All, One Ring To Bind Them..." is not one.

Not even when the wedding takes place at a Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention where the phrase "Hey, great hall costume!" from a small child suggests the small child has either Failed To Get It...

...or is Witty Beyond Their Years.

Don't use the phrase "Oh good, it IS you!" at this point...

... or "Will you marry me?" at this point.

Just get on with things.

We've been getting on with things for 37 years as of 10 AM Eastern Standard Time today, and we intend to continue doing so for a good few years more.

Love you, hon.

Happy Anniversary!

[spocks-husband]

Can't believe Diane Duane invented love with this passage that's so crazy

[megansantucciauthor]

DIANE, YOU CANNOT JUST SAY THIS ABOUT THE MOON.

[doolallymagpie]

as I enjoy linguistic fuckery in my sci-fi, I’m a big fan of how Diane Duane said, while writing her Romulan books, “you’re gonna either learn Rihannsu and you’re gonna like it, or you’re just gonna have to hope I have someone translate for you in their inner monologue”

[andietries]

GASP

From the episode of the cansino guy with an alien in Pijamas bff that later disappears after travelling to the beginning of the universe

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Wizards

[at unicorn fuck club] Brandon Sanderson: boy, i love being a fantasy writer! Sanderson: and the best part of being a fantasy writer? Sanderson: it's talking about wizards! Terry Goodkind: wizards? did you say wizards?? Goodkind: i LOVE talking about wizards! Sanderson: me TOO!

Sanderson: i mean, why even be a fantasy writer if you don't like wizards? Diane Duane: i write about wizards too! some of them are cats! Tanya Huff: OMG me two!!! Huff: TWINSIES!!!

Sanderson: how about you george? how do you feel about wizards? GRR Martin: well see the saga of fire and ice is based on the historical war of the roses so actually its p realistic Martin: just kidding, of course there's wizards! Goodkind: WIZARDS! Sanderson: WIZARDS! Duane: WIZARDS! Huff: WIZARDS!

Sanderson: you gotta like wizards if you're gonna write fantasy Sanderson: jrrt, how do you feel about wizards? Tolkien: wizards? Tolkien: meh Tolkien: they're okay Sanderson: Goodkind: Martin: Duane: Huff:

Sanderson: tell us about the wizards in middle earth, jirt Tolkien: ugh god Tolkien: why do you always want to know about the wizards Tolkien: i have literally no interest in talking about these wizards Tolkien: when we could be talking about the hobbits sexy sexy feet Tolkien: big hairy stinky feet

Sanderson: c'mon jirt tell us about the wizards Tolkien: ok fine Tolkien: well there's gandalf the gray Tolkien: and saruman the white Tolkien: and umm radagast Tolkien: he's brown

Tolkien: and then there's like Tolkien: ummmm Tolkien: two other guys Sanderson: what're their names? Tolkien: what? oh jeez Tolkien: i gotta come up with TWO more wizard names? Tolkien: god this is intolerable

Sanderson: c'mon jirt you've got us all wondering Sanderson: you can't just say there are these other wizards and not tell us anything about them Tolkien: ugh christ Tolkien: fine Tolkien: they're Tolkien: god i dunno what colors are left Sanderson: there's blue Tolkien: fine that's it they're blue

Sanderson: wait both of them? Tolkien: yeah Sanderson: they're both blue? Tolkien: yeah Sanderson: Sanderson: you know there's a whole rainbow of color options Tolkien: oh my god shut up Tolkien: i am so fucking tired

Sanderson: so there's gandalf the gray, saruman the white, radagast the brown, and two blue guys Tolkien: yeah thats right Sanderson: and the blue guys aren't named Tolkien: nope Sanderson: Sanderson: ok but Tolkien: why do you all care so much about these stupid blue guys Tolkien: just accept it!

Tolkien: just deal with it, you foolish son of a took! Sanderson: Tolkien: you dotard! Naught but a ninnyhammer! Sanderson: [looking at his CTR ring] Now calm down, brandon-diddly-diddly-diddly-doodly, he's doing their best, shodilly-iddly- iddly-diddly. Gotta be nice, hostility-ility-biddly- diddly

Sanderson: if you didn't want to talk about wizards, why'd you even make the blue guys? you could have stopped at 3 Tolkien: i was on the spot, okay? i panicked! Tolkien: you lot with all your wizard pressure! Tolkien: i don't care about wizards!

Tolkien: listen, assholes, i got into fantasy for exactly 3 reasons: Tolkien: sexy hobbit feet Tolkien: feasts Tolkien: and fuckin' tom bombadil! Sanderson: tom bombadil? Tolkien: he's only the most important thing in middle earth! Tolkien: that capering buffoon of a wifeguy holds it all together!!

[discombobulatedgirlworld]

@dduane created the Romulan language!!! and is here on tumblr

[bogwarg]

OH I LOVE DR MCCOY

Book is Doctor’s Orders by Diane Duane!

[ineffablemossy]

Good Omens Fandom assemble! It's that time again...

Another Amazon Prime poll that we need to turn around. You know what to do:

https://www.youtube.com/@PrimeVideo/community

Currently at 25% in 3rd place, but I know we can change that quickly. NOTE: if you're on mobile open the link in your browser and choose 'desktop mode' to view the community tab (shoutout to everyone who put this tip in the comments of my last poll post!)

[ibrithir-was-here]

How the heck is there not more talk about Tanith Lee??

Like my gosh, the woman wrote, according to her wiki, 90 books, over 300 short stories, two World Fantasy Awards, and was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award/Augus Derleth Award and wrote for tv shows.

Like, it's not like she just wrote a heck ton but wasn't very good! She was clearly very good she won awards, and i've read a swath of her stuff across different genres and really enjoyed most of it. I mean that even if not each one has been my cup of tea I can at least appreciate the skill and quite a lot I have truly enjoyed. She's got great prose and style and imagination. Not everything obviously was a banger, but they've all been at least well written, which is harder to come by in writing than you might think.

But nobody ever seems to talk about her?? And I feel like the fantasy crowd on here would really enjoy her stuff. The woman has done stuff in pretty much every genre from what I can see, but I never see her listed on fantasy authors like Clive Barker or Diana Wynne Jones or Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett or Diane Duane even though she was writing at the same time and has a similar sort of '80s Doing Cool Stuff with Fantasy vibe' I feel like people who like those authors would enjoy though she's very much her own style of author.

Anyway this was really just me putting out a rant that such a prolific and talented author seems to have fallen by the wayside and I think it's really a shame

Heck she even did a witch-queen fighting againt vampire Snow White a whole decade before Neil Gaiman did his phenomenal Snow Glass Apples and it's also excellent, give a look here: