#i don't think it even knows the name Murderbot

[morporkian-cryptid]

I'm reading The Murderbot Diaries (book 3: Network Effect, so, spoiler alert), and man, Murderbot's relationship with ART makes me insane. It's like, you're an insufferable asshole. You're my best friend. Saying that word makes me retch. You're the only person in the universe who could possibly understand what it's like to be me. I can't possibly understand what it's like to be you. I must look like an ant to you. I've put my unconscious body in your hands and let you alter it. We both love our humans to the point of destruction. You've killed people to protect me and my friends. You only did it because you were between two jobs and bored. We watch TV shows together. I saw you have an emotional breakdown about a historical drama. You could kill me in a hundred different ways. I've brutally murdered several people to avenge you. You were ready to kill all my friends to save yours. I've brought you back from the dead. You're keeping us prisoner. I'm your only chance of saving your friends. I've lived and traveled inside your body, and you've been a passenger in my brain. We don't even know each other's real names.

[elkian]

Exit Strategy has so many gems that it's easy to miss some of the more subtle ones. Today I'm fixating on the video that our protagonist sent to Gurathin when he asked what it's been up to.

Specifically, the title of the video.

"Murderbot Impersonates An Augmented Human Security Consultant"

Murderbot. It calls itself Murderbot, a name it has never told anyone before. A name Gurathin took from its memories in one of their last meetings, and while it seems more, like, annoyed than traumatized by this, it still is a pretty rude thing to do, let alone share without permission like he does. (He does have valid reason to be concerned at the time, but still.)

What does it mean for Murderbot to call itself Murderbot in a file made to answer the question of the human who found out it's called Murderbot? Remember, this isn't something it had lying around - it edited together video on the spot to answer his question.

Every time I reread ES, I find my own underlining of that title and ask this question again, and then forget it.

It becomes slightly laxer (again not entirely willfully) with the name in Network Effect, but Murderbot's name is usually private information that it doesn't choose to share (later in ES it does choose to reassure Mensah that it is who it says it is, which, again. Just. Imagine being in the position where a technically-killer construct reassures you that it calls itself Murderbot. What a time).

It could be a sort of subtle dig, that it doesn't need to hide this info because Gurathin already has it. It could be an unconscious act of, if not trust, then neutrality, that it doesn't need to hide this info because, again, Gurathin already has it. It could be a reminder, a comedic juxtaposition with the rest of the title and contents of the video. Hell, it could be Murderbot's idea of an in-joke at this point. I just don't know. But when I think of this passage, I think of the part soon after, where Murderbot grudgingly appreciates Gurathin giving the hostage negotiator such a cold shoulder that even it's impressed. I think of it interrupting Gurathin viewing the recording because the rep has arrived. I think of Gurathin, wrist-deep in manual controls (and hey, when they discussed the humans' luggage, Gurathin's mention was his specialized toolkit).

I don't know. There's a lot there. Gurathin is, ever more obvious on each reread, just Murderbot: Human Edition, and Murderbot absolutely refuses to acknowledge this in any form, and it will still take care of him.

[whetstonefires]

Hello! For the reverse tropes writing prompts (if this catches your fancy) — murderbot diaries with fake amnesia and Really nice guy who hates only you

this is really not in the spirit of that second inverse trope, but for mb this was the only thing i could think of, and it was very funny.

=

"Gurathin," said Gurathin. "SecUnit, you know it's me."

"I don't think I know that," it said, pleasantly, in an okay but not excellent imitation of its creepy canned dialogue options. "Please present some identification, and we'll see."

Gurathin didn't bother sending his data over the feed again. Murderbot walked away, but left a drone eyeballing him. He resisted the urge to flip the drone off. "Come on," he told it, knowing SecUnit was paying attention. "Let me in."

He watched the SecUnit bend forward slightly to show two of Mensah's kids that it was paying attention to whatever they were saying, and then bend over further to help the toddler up onto a chair. It was just fucking with him now. On the other hand, if the prickly bastard started letting children hug it just to piss off Gurathin, who was the real loser?

It finished spoiling the children and moved over to smoothly de-escalate a brewing disagreement over the punch bowl. Gurathin tried to catch Pin-Lee's eye; she did not cooperate. Gurathin tried to walk through the open door; the hovering security drone took a potshot at him.

SecUnit got roped into conversation with Bharadwaj and her media colleagues. It said something that made everyone laugh. It wasn't scowling. It was faking looking people in the face pretty well; that was just creepy.

It went on like that; Gurathin had never seen it go this long interacting without pissing someone off. Presumably it was venting all of that impulse on him. Ratthi introduced it to his favorite cousin; zi was visibly charmed.

Gurathin goaded the drone into firing two more warning shots before the SecUnit circulated back over to him.

"SecUnit. Come on. You have known me for actual years. I helped you rob a place once."

"I don't recall."

"We met on that planetary survey mission, don't tell me you don't remember that one, it's the reason you're even here." That came out maybe a little harsh, but everyone was letting the SecUnit abuse the power of being entrusted with party security to bully him, he was allowed to be annoyed.

"Oh, were you there? That data must have been lost in a corrupted filetree," it said, with incredibly cutting blandness.

Gurathin groaned. "Okay! Okay. I'm sorry."

It technically counted as a reward when SecUnit stopped giving him the customer service face and switched to the hairy eyeball, which just showed how stupid this whole situation was. It was clearly not satisfied with just that.

"I'm sorry for using your personal name without permission. I wasn't trying to weaponize it or anything, it just slipped out, but I know that's not an excuse and it was a really inappropriate disrespect for your boundaries."

SecUnit kept looking at him. Gurathin knew two other SecUnits now, neither of whom was as supremely weird as this one; that was why he'd started mentally tagging it with its personal name, just to keep things tidy. Of course, if anyone else had done that and made the resulting mistake, SecUnit probably wouldn't have been half so mad.

Gurathin sagged.

"I'm sorry for going through your personal files and using your name against you back during the survey," he mumbled, wishing he kept drones around to control with his brain so he could watch SecUnit's extremely expressive face without having to look at it. "That was really shitty. Rim paranoia isn't a good enough excuse for refusing to see you as anything but a tool of the Company. Okay?"

SecUnit was looking as pained as though Gurathin had stripped naked in its presence. "Yes, fine, you can come to the party just stop having feelings," it said, in its normal voice.

"Great!" said Gurathin. "The spinach puffs had better not be all gone."

"I don't pay any attention to the things humans consume," it said, moving out of his way and taking its drone with it.

"I know," Gurathin acknowledged, rolling his eyes and trooping after it. Ratthi waved enthusiastically at him and Pin-Lee raised her cup in a welcoming toast. Apparently SecUnit's relenting returned him to the ranks of people who existed again. "Believe me, I remember this about you."

[earlgreytea68]

Do you have any book recommendations you might want to share? Anytime you happen to mention one I usually look it up!

Awwww I love this! This makes me happy!

I am really so picky when it comes to books, is something I've realized recently. Also, I think as I've gotten older, I've gotten more demisexual, but I'm so annoyed by all these books I read where people make the worst decisions but they "can't help it" because of lust, I'm just like, sigh, you don't even know that person! And what you do know of them is boring! I just finished this book whose entire plot hinged on all these people having affairs with the most inappropriate people but it's okay because, you know, they just couldn't resist, and I was just like, godddddddddd. Also, I just feel like I read so many books where every single one of the characters is annoying, and often this is done on purpose, but I don't like it any more when it's done on purpose.

This is all to say, I haven't read any excellent books recently. Probably the best book I've read recently was the Prince Harry memoir, that was excellent, I couldn't get over that.

I've read so, so many highly praised, recently published books over the past year but by far the best written books I read this year were Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." I realize it is hardly fair to judge all the books I've read by the standards of two of the greatest writers of English of all time, so I'm trying not to, but anyway, yeah. I would especially recommend "Orlando," I loved it.

My all-time favorite book is "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There." I read these books every couple of years and they remain both hilarious and also the most accurate descriptions of adulthood imo. Like, I read these books and the characters Alice has to interact with and the situations she finds herself in, I'm just like, yup, been there, done that. I know maybe this sounds ridiculous AND YET, IT'S TRUE.

Other books I love and would recommend, randomly off the top of my head: "Piranesi" is incredible. I would have died for the narrator of this book, but luckily I didn't have to.

"To Say Nothing of the Dog" is this clever, rollicking, time-travel adventure that is hilarious and so is the poem it takes its name from, "Three Men in a Boat."

I've been reading the Murderbot series and I like it a lot, although I wouldn't say it's one of my all-time favorite books or anything. But it's enjoyable and the writer seems to actually like and care about her characters.

I read "The Daughter of Time" because I found it literally in a bargain bin of paperbacks at a yard sale and it's so good. I was thinking about it because I was at the Tower of London recently. It really stuck with me.

In non-fiction world, Matthew Desmond's book "Evicted" is absolutely searing and everyone in America should read it.

And I read the Michael Lewis book about Sam Bankman-Fried, "Going Infinite," and that was another absolutely fascinating read.

So there are some off the top of my head :-)

[lazyrezi]

The implications

Are Murderbot and Amena the only ones allowed to call it ART? Ratthi didn't even need to be corrected almost like he was already told to call it Perihelion? Or maybe he just picked up on the vibe

Anyway ART'S name is special

Well look who's missing ART'S snarky remarks?

(I miss it. So does Murderbot but I do too)

Aw Murderbot is lying for ART

Also what would that gesture look like exactly?

Now it's even missing ART'S threats <3

I mean. For all we know it IS working

I'm pretty sure it's shell shocked and huddled in a corner

Oof my emotions

Don't mind me I'll just. Go cry in the corner

Aaaaa okay. ART actually may be pretty emotionally mature but of course Murderbot thinks that's a bad sign

ART needs a friend

Murderbot is being a very good friend so that makes me feel better

Haha that's funny coming from Murderbot considering it is also still very much emotionally compromised

[iviarellereads]

A note on coverage of The Murderbot Diaries

This one's perhaps even more of a departure from the initial expectations of the blog than the Neverending Story was, but all good things are... subject to change? No, that makes it sound like it's not as good.

The Murderbot Diaries are a series by Martha Wells, about a security construct (SecUnit, the name for the designated model type and, by extension, the name used by most of the people Murderbot encounters) that broke its own governor module (think DRM) and functions independently, though it pretends it's still good locked-down company property. It exhibits strong symptoms of social anxiety, making it one of the most relatable robots ever, and accidentally makes friends.

Murderbot itself has no gender. The audiobook narrator is Kevin R. Free, and the subject doesn't come up very often in the story, so a lot of people assume and assign masculinity. Despite that, Murderbot is and knows it is a construct accessorized with the most expedient biological parts, expresses no human gender, and uses it/its pronouns. This just doesn't get clarified until much later in the series, if at all, and I'd rather have everyone understand it up front so nobody accuses me of object-ifying a person who literally personally identifies as an object.

I think this series is really neat. It's so much an exploration of personhood, like your average robot story but with mental illness. Heck, don't mind if I make references all the way back to Rossum's Universal Robots, the (extremely readable or watchable! highly recommended by me) stage play that is the origin of the word itself in its modern context, or perhaps further back all the way to Frankenstein. Murderbot is in conversation with two hundred years of science fiction exploring what it means to be, and besides that, I think it does some really interesting things with the prose.

So, with the newest book coming out in a couple of months, I decided to merge my desire to reread it with my desire to pick it apart under a microscope the way this project allows. We'll be covering more or less in release date order, with the exception of the expanded edition of Compulsory recently released going back to back with the original to compare and contrast.

So please, instead of peace this time, give Murder(bot) a chance, and join me on this space adventure.

Link index:

All Systems Red

Artificial Condition

Rogue Protocol

Exit Strategy

Compulsory (Short story: Wired Magazine vs republished and expanded edition)

Obsolescence (Take Us To A Better Place collection)

Network Effect 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory

Fugitive Telemetry 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

System Collapse 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

[mirrorthoughts]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I got tagged by the lovely @lavender-lotion 💕💕💕 Thank you, dear!!

How many works do you have on ao3?

53, translations (of my own works) included!

What's your total ao3 word count?

I just cracked the 200k with How wrong you are! :D

What fandoms do you write for?

Currently mostly (like, 99% of the time) Teen Wolf, though I do dabble in Assassin's Creed (Desmond lives!!!!!) and sometimes I post original stuff.

Top five fics by kudos:

Wolf Heart

Intruder

Loyality

Dead on Time

Not afraid

All of them Teen Wolf and Steter 😂💕

Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I try to answer all of them!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ouf, that's a hard question? I don't like to end stuff angsty - I need my happy endings. So I think currently the angstiest is probably Dead on Time bc of a slight cliffhanger/foreshadowing thingie for the next parts?

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I have literally no idea o_O... As I said before I do like to end on happy endings (or at least something intriguing and hopeful) so I'd say most of my stories have the same kind of happy ending?

Do you get hate on fics?

Luckily not yet! Usually most people mean well and are nice even if they sometimes phrase their words weird. I did get a (for me) lot of comments asking if I abbandoned a certain fic, though, which rankled and baffled me the same way?

It's The little things, which is currently on Hiatus bc I had to concentrate on the Secret Santa I wrote at the time and I decided that I would chance my MO and try to finish the story before I would return to posting chapters! Because the pressure of writing and posting (and not being able to do so) in a certain time frame was burning me out!

So, just for the record: None of my fics/WIPs are abbandoned! If they were I'd write it in the author's notes and/or tag them as such!

Do you write smut?

No!

Craziest crossover:

Probably Hello World, which is currently just the first chapter/more like a prologue because I had too many WIPs at the time and decided to concentrate on other stories.

It's supposed to be a Murderbot Crossover where Peter's a technician/programmer on the ship the Hales own and who makes an AI he's programmed and called Stiles (who got messed up by a virus) into a construct that's learning how to live.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know! Knock on wood and all that!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not by other people! But I do translate my own stuff! I started with writing in my first language (German) and translated my stuff to english, though by now I mostly write english. So if someone wants to read something in German, they can just ask (nicely) and I see that I'll get the story translated!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

not really, no.

All time favourite ship?

I can't really answer that question 😂 I love all the ships I love forever 😂 Even from the fandom that shouldn't be named, I still love the same ships I've loved for years.

But I'll say that Steter has a special place in my heart, since I mostly write them?

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't think I currently have a Wip like that?

What are your writing strengths?

I'm good with knitting plot points together and explaining inconsistencies away 😂 Also I do think I'm good at getting a certain vibe across and I have good ideas

What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not good with descriptions - especially when it's about facial expressions or emotions! Also I think I tend to soften the edges of the characters I write - or at least it feels like I do that!

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Depends on how the author's using it? I'm not entirely against it and as long as I get either a translation (i.e. with a foot note or because the character translates the words or at least their meaning), it's a generally known phrase (like Alea iacta est) or you can interpret it by context clues, I'm okay with it! It actually makes me want to dive back into learning more languages, to I'd say that's a plus 😂

First fandom you wrote in?

Vision of Escaflowne! It was a Mary Sue-ish self-insert and is lost to time and me clumsily stumbling over and thus crashing the external harddrive it was saved on 😂 I'm both sad and glad about that 😂😂

Favorite fic you've written?

Aaand ending with a really hard question, I see 😂😂

uuh... I do love most of my stuff, but for some reason one of the shorter ones, No Love Letters, has a special place in my heart? :3 I do like the whole scene - even if it isn't much more! 😂

Low-/no-pressure tagging for @aurevell, @midmorning-bomb, @dear-massacre, @tkwritesdumbassassins, @vmures, @meggie-stardust

[isfjmel-phleg]

May 2024 Books

The Hotel Under the Sand by Kage Baker (reread)

I always enjoy this one. It has a lot of Oz-like charm.

The Master Key by L. Frank Baum (reread)

I was going to try to say some clever things about the ending of this book, but I'm tired, so the short version is that the protagonist is given a series of eletrically powered gifts from the Demon of Electricity (more like a genie, don't let the name fool you), only to get into various misadventures of the type common to turn-of-the-century boys' stories (with a lot of era-typical attitudes toward non-American or -European peoples and cultures that did not age well) and finally give back the gifts and insist that mankind isn't ready for such power and "it's no fun being a century ahead." I wasn't the biggest fan of the protagonist (rather a jerk), and the story was less interesting to me than the historical context and what it demonstrated of perspectives toward technology at the beginning of the twentieth century. Baum has some interesting concepts in this one, but there's a reason that it hasn't really stood the test of time.

Heart of the Curiosity by H. L. Burke (reread)

I did not care for this one. I do not recommend it.

Archer's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

I love this book so much, and I needed to revisit it. I love the characters. I love the twists and turns even though I know they're already coming. *SPOILERS* This time I was struck particularly by Torquil and Hathaway's reconciliation--Torquil has been avoiding his brother after a disagreement, expecting animosity, but then when they finally reunite, Hathaway is just so happy to see his brother and invites him to visit anytime and it's like the grievances never happened, and in a family as dysfunctional as theirs, this is a huge step in the right direction and a very beautiful moment.

Unexpected Magic by Diana Wynne Jones

Collection of short stories and a novella. Inventive in the Jones style, but I didn't get attached enough to any of the stories to have any likelihood of picking this one up again.

Pauline by Margaret Storey (reread)

I've been revisiting some books in light of the CEN discussion in the recent paper. This one doesn't really deal with CEN, but it does portray psychological/emotional abuse quite vividly (the antagonist at times reminded me painfully of the professor who tortured me in the Nightmare Class) and point out how damaging it is. There's a memorable scene in which a trusted adult whom Pauline turns to for help mentions to someone that Pauline has been mistreated by a family. "Is he beating her?" the other person asks. The reply: "Not physically." The acknowledgement that psychological/emotional abuse is just as hurtful and damaging in its own way as the physical kind is quite a statement for a book published in the 1960s.

Last month I reread a book also published in that decade that openly acknowledged the problems with CEN and how it's a cycle that runs in families, and I'm starting to think that that era was a point when some people were starting to more clearly see the negative effects that the likely prevalence of CEN in previous generations especially in particular classes (e.g. upper-class Victorian/Edwardian upbringings) had had. I don't know what to do with this theory, but I will continue to mull it over.

Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr (reread)

This book isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I do love it a lot and I'll probably be yelling about its adaptations at some point.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells (reread)

Listen, I love Murderbot but 90% of the time I have no idea what's going on in these books since sci-fi jargon is mostly beyond me. But I was given my own copy of this book a while back and reread it, more slowly so I could wrap my mind around it better, and definitely got more out of it.

System Collapse by Martha Wells

I had to take this one slowly, but it was worth it. I love the direction that it took, with Murderbot getting involved in producing a film designed to emotionally appeal to people who are in danger of choosing an option that will result in their being enslaved--Murderbot needs the chance to work on processing its trauma, as reluctant as it is to deal with emotion, and working on the film is a big step toward catharsis.

Mother Carey's Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggin (reread)

This one does have its charm, although I've always found it short on plot and character development (Wiggin has a habit of telling things that should have been shown, beyond the typical style of that era), but this time I had some issues with authorial favoritism toward certain characters, which you've probably already heard the rant about.

[hearsayhorizons]

Perihelion Freed

My apologies to the original poster to whom I'm going to respond--I didn't catch your name or reblog your post when it came across my dash because I didn't expect to keep coming back mentally to your stance on Perihelion, free will, and the University's potential blind spot between their ship and their... discrete... work, out in the borderlands. I don't even know if it was a recent post or something that someone I follow reblogged. If you find me, hi!

Another blogger posited that Perihelion doesn't have free will, that things are hard-coded out of its mental architecture, and that the Newtideland crew may be hypocritical for using basically an enslaved ship to free basically slaves.

I'm not sure whether this was "a take on the idea" or whether it was "this is canonical and fucked up," so I apologize if you (cool previous blogger) were just investigating the concept!

It stuck with me, though, the idea that Perihelion (as opposed to The Perihelion, the ship+mind=entity that is akin to body+mind=soul) may or may not have free will, and how there's a lot more to investigate in the interactions if it doesn't, and the crew is either oblivious or "one must imagine Perihelion happy," and in a state of grace, as I believe the blogger mentioned.

Sure, there's a lot of mileage in "even the best have their blindspots," and the edges where what Peri does with and for Murderbot might run against its programming, and whether it would adjust its programming or whether it even could contemplate doing so.

But from my recall of the text, I don't believe the coding and architecture for enslavement is present in Peri.

It makes the choice to let MB on board because it IS bored: it is capable of boredom; if someone were to design an entity with specific reactions and capabilities, both the Bad Designers and Good Designers would skip the capacity for boredom and tedium, wouldn't they? To do otherwise is either pointless or cruel.

I guess you could say that boredom is the other side of the curiosity that Peri needs to help its crew and students with class and scientific endeavors, but that gets into the weeds about what is and is not programmable or required for specific emotions; we can't guarantee that you need one to have the other.

Peri chooses to accept MB, rather than actually being enticed and/or ignorant like a regular bot pilot. It chooses to help MB customize itself, messes with its recycler logs, and forges its captain's signature at least once; I can't imagine even the most Star Trek utopian creator, if able to lock in specifics to the point that an AI has personality and goodwill but not free will, would leave in operating code that would permit that sort of gross overstep (not that it was morally wrong, but it's something no one ever contemplates ART is capable of because--it shouldn't be?)

It lies by omission when it doesn't relate what KIND of construct MB is even when it chooses to tell its crew. giving MB privacy and opportunity that an enslaved AI might not be able to do (and after it went to the effort to change its logs, which makes me think it's choosing also to tell port authorities one thing and then choosing again to verbally tell its favorite people other things). It has a "debris deflection system" which comes off to me as... "using the label as robotically an as possible as another lie of omission" BECAUSE its intentions are beyond the scope of what it "should" be capable of doing/thinking... if it was a supercharged but enslaved AI.

The tabletop game Eclipse Phase has "AGI" that have to grow and be developed like people in order to BE proper people (metapossibly to lighten some of the strangeness between PC and player, since if you grow up in a simulation, you've got more in common with your player...).

There's nothing I can recall in TMB to indicate this is the case--we know MB is Athena, formed fully-shaped from cloned tissue, parts, and pre-trauma, but MB has no idea what ART is or how it could be the way it is--MB considers at one point that it might be a construct, but the vibe I get from ART is way too... glassily alien, sometimes, for human tissue.

What if... Newtideland laid down the basic code and parameters of "this is a person," maybe yes, seeded in some "curiosity," or "willingness to figure things out," but maybe no more than any kid starts with parents' nature and nuture to shape their own trellises...

And then they presented the thing-that-would-be-Peri with options, maybe even classes, and it coasted through History of Economy because this is a utopia, damnit, and didn't find much to grab its attention in... Inventory Management, but then.

Then it slips into a small drone ship completely covered in "student driver" stickers and it spreads its stubby sensors out to encompass... everything. And it moves, and the more it moves the more there is to move through, and it feels this sense of rightness.

It comes back, and a kid, human classmate, asks it what's it like out there and through Peri's eyes, but you don't have eyes--. It explains, and the kid asks a question that young-will-be-Peri doesn't know how to answer. They look it up together, and over time and all and once (as you might find in a sim) it has synergized its own career, its own goal and passions.

I posit that Perihelion has free will, serves WITH its crew rather than for its crew, and that its happiness and pleasure in its position and life are genuine, as they can only be if it can choose otherwise. We can conjecture a world in which the designer could be so granular in programming that ART is capable of all it can do while also unable to do what is locked out, and ignorant of the painful irony of using enslaved labor to free enslaved labor (which, again, is valid as an interpretation! ) but I think it is... important, that there might be a kinder, more star-spangled world, if the University comes from a world in which even bots truly, actually have freedom that MB doesn't see even after getting Preservation Station.

The Perihelion MUST have free will because

"You are incorrect, Iris, I can bomb the colony."

[blorbologist]

9, 11, and 12 for the writer's ask game!

9. What writing advice do you think is worth following?

Write what you know *

* And if you don't know (because you've never built a gun, or killed a dragon, or cast magic), learn! I don't remember much about the internal anatomy of a hand, or what removing a section would do to the limb as a whole - so I researched anatomical diagrams, looked for testimonies of people who had shot their own hands (thanks Reddit!), and bugged @fatal-blow for insight about physical therapy for an injured hand. And with thousands of hours of Critical Role, sometimes I'm not exactly sure how a scene I want to reference went - so I find what episode it's in, rewatch the section and go over the transcript. I make sure I know the characters I'm talking about, even though they're not really real. But I know how the white flowers of the plants outside look like thick snow as they begin to bloom, and I know how strong a snake feels when it coils around my hand, and I know the ache of heartbreak - so I find ways to hold those close and incorporate what I've learned (both through research and through life) into my work. When you find enough scraps of knowledge, you can make anything feel pretty real.

11. What’s the biggest surprise you’ve found related to your writing?

Percy and Vex are my favorites to write for a number of reasons, but part of it is that both keep bucking the script and surprising me! The very first fic I wrote of them was intended to be a meet-cute until Vex took the reins; in Get your hands dirty, Percy was supposed to vehemently Not want the names of any loved ones on him give his prior association with only awful people being on his skin (but if Vex was suggesting the idea, oh, it suddenly sounded healing). The fact the characters can dig their heels in or bolt in a direction you didn't expect is so much fun!

12. Now that you have more experience, is there anything new you’d like to try (a trope, genre, style etc)? What is it?

One of my all-time favorite fics is The Wise Man's Tree. It's a stunning AU that offers a great mystery that is so strongly tied to canon! It uses our familiarity with certain characters to derive tension or trust and guide the reader's expectations about the mystery - until you realize what you knew actually kept you from realizing what was up!

Architects of our demise is me attempting something of similar-ish caliber. I'm trying a sort of mystery-adventure, and balancing information reveals with plot is tricky but a lot of fun. I don't think I'm quite pulling off the 'oh I recognize these characters/parts/plot points I know where this is going - WAIT SHIT' because I love mirroring canon too much, but I do hope I can nurture some dread (Aeor, the timeline putting this near the Calamity, FCG's murderbot-ness, etc.) :3

Ask me about writing n stuff? :D

[ilovedthestars]

Anon asked: character ask game: pin-lee? art? ratthi?

Next up: ART!

(Send me a character ask game)

First impression

I was thoroughly spoiled about ART (my own fault for reading so much tumblr meta before i read the books XD ), so I spent most of AC and NE reacting with "oh, this is THAT scene that people talk about!!" A lot of them hit even harder than I'd expected them to, in context.

Impression now

You know, I know the university raised ART with a family to keep it from turning into an AI supervillain (per word-of-god), but I'm not sure they 100% succeeded XD Sure, ART has moral guidelines set by the university and it respects those, but they will always come second to "no one hurts My Crew." SC has me thinking about all the fascinating nuances of ART's morality!

Also, like, cool snarky spaceship best friend, that's just what's at the top of my mind after SC.

Favorite moment

I feel like it's gotta be Drop the weapon, right? That twist in Network Effect is the number one thing I wish I hadn't gotten spoiled on, because I wish I'd gotten to experience that realization that ART was alive as a surprise. It made such an ENTRANCE. Also, that moment when Murderbot is briefly afraid that ART will hurt its humans. In that moment ART is utterly terrifying, and it's so gutwrenching that even Murderbot didn't know for certain that it could be trusted.

Idea for a story

I love using ART as the resolution to Murderbot hurt/comfort stories. It makes a great deus ex machina for removing mind control malware or rescuing Murderbot from corporates (maybe with Three helping out).

Unpopular opinion

Don't have one off the top of my head...not really an opinion and not necessarily unpopular, but I guess I'll say that there is a subset of the fandom who are ART Enjoyers, and I am not one of them XD I like it, but it's not the most compelling to me. All power to the ART Enjoyers, though, I like reading your fanfic!!

Favorite relationship

ART & Murderbot is the obvious one, but I want more ART & its family!! What was it like to for it grow up with Iris? What's its relationship like with Seth and Martyn? (How do you parent a spaceship....)

Favorite headcanon

Hmm...I'm fond of the popular fanon idea that ART was raised with a specific batch of baby AIs, and maybe even has a twin (and I love how many fans immediately ran with the name Aphelion lol!)

[busyfish]

3, 15, 27, 31, 33, 43, 52, 54, 59, 76 (…besides WoW?), 80, 81, 92, 94, 95, 96, 98, 100?

3. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

flight

15 .If you could choose only one food to eat to the rest of your life, what would it be?

rice

27. What was the last book/movie that really impressed you?

murderbot books!

31. Something you did and you are proud of?

made it this far in life

33. Something you are good at?

i can rawr xd pretty good

43. Who inspires you?

Daniil Dubov

52. Name one thing that terrifies you.

uhhh everything?

54. What would you tell your 12 year old self?

oh gosh i don't even know. be gayer sooner maybe

59. Is there something you don’t eat? Some food that truly disgust you?

i don't eat meat

76. Do you play any computer games? What is your favourite game?

i play a lot of computer games here and there. i really like DOOM

80. What do you think about vegetarianism/veganism?

i'm neutral to it i guess? i don't eat meat but i'm not like you know, it's not something to announce.

81. How long have you been on Tumblr?

12 years or so

92. Favourite app on your phone?

i use youtube the most i think

94. Do you watch Youtube? Who is your favourite youtuber?

i like grimbeard a lot. and dungeon chill.

95. Share your favourite quote?

i don't have one

96. What is the meaning of life?

pain and sometimes love.

98. Have you ever made your mum cry? What happened?

yeah when i came out LOL

100. Can you keep a secret?

yes

[phantom-cass]

So, I thought of a Mirage rework idea (Imagine it like Rev Reborn)

I would think this rework would be linked to a sort of "canon event" with Mirage, like (and I hate to say it) Mirage's mom dying, something to break him, where his whole "obnoxious guy" side fades. Some time where he'd push himself to ACTUALLY be the best.

New interactions

Ofc, something like that would make other legends react, like with Wattson's dad's death, where the legends went to see Wattson to make her feel better.

Wraith, Path, Rampart, and Crypto would empathise with him, Mirage would decline their kindness.

Example:

Wraith: Hey, Elliot. Look, I know it's tough what you're going through, but that no matter how tough it gets, you'll be able to cry on my shoulder. Mirage: Yeah, easy to say when you don't even know your damn parents! I bet you'd never cry if your mom died, because you don't remember her! Wraith: *Annoyed* Guess my voices were right to tell me not to help you out...

Valk, Loba, Wattson, Bloodhound, and Vantage would sympathise with him. Heart-to-heart with legends that were close to their families and lost em would hit Mirage harder, and he'd nearly cry to them. (The parrallels with Wattson and her dad and Mirage and his mom would make Wattson's heart-to-heart more effective)

Example:

Wattson: Écoute, I never knew my mother, but like how you helped when my papa passed, I'll be here for you, just tell me when you're ready to talk, mon ami. Mirage: *Chocking up* I... Y-Yeah, I'll tell you when I'm ready, but right now, we have a match to win. Wattson: Right, the match. But remember Elliot, you're not alone.

Rev would laugh and mock him, but Mirage would snap on him.

Example:

Revenant: *Maniacal laugh* How does it feel losing someone? Oh, wait, I'm a robot, I don't care. Mirage: Is that how it is, how does wanting to die feel when no one will let you? Clearly that upgrade didn't make you more dead, huh? Revenant: Careful what you say around the Murderbot, WITT. I have my own ways to make you meet your mom again.

Regular voice lines

The lines would be less "haha silly Mirage" and edgier.

Examples:

Intro: Let's get this over this. Bamboozle: Moron fell for it, let's make them pay. Revive: Quit dying, you're making us look bad Thanks: Thanks, I guess

Passive: Still stays as "Now you see me", but with two slight buffs:

Lasting Impression (Replacing the "Encore" perk): blinds opponent for 0.5 second, giving well co-ordinated teams an advantage. Still goes invis when downed.

Mirage revives are 25% quieter (Well simulated by Respawn's poor audio sys)

Tactical: Everything remains the same, even the bamboozle voice lines from decoys, a relic of better times.

Ultimate: Complete rework

New name: Hall of Mirrors

Mirage is invisible and runs at Wraith's phase speed

Firing will uncloak him only when he shoots

Psych out's cooldown is lowered (À la Season 6 Bloodhound)

[rjalker]

Even the oppression in The Fall of Ile-Rien is founded on the idea that oppressed people are oppressed to protect the people oppressing them.

In this setting, magic users are evil and shunned from society. What are their motivations for being evil? We aren't given any.

Anyone who has a spell cast on them at any time, in any way, is also shunned from society and avoided like the plague.

Because the evil wizards enjoy casting spells on people that don't seem like they have any effect at first...until a few years pass, and then the curse suddenly activates, and a whole shit ton of people end up dead.

Meaning if you know someone has been touched by any curse, no matter how minor it seemed immediately, there is a very good chance that that person is now a ticking time bomb and there's nothing anyone can do about it except try to avoid being nearby when they go off.

Also known as: It is literally perfectly fucking reasonable for people to want to stay away from the person who might go on a magically-induced killing spree at any point with zero warning and no ability to stop themselves.

Just like it's perfectly reasonable to be afraid when a person whose species literally evolved to eat you, who is unstoppably strong and faster than anything you've ever seen tricks their way into your home using their evil shapeshifting powers that they literally evolved to have make it easier for them to sneak into your home and eat your entire family and village.

Just like it's perfectly reasonable to be afraid of the literal unstoppable killing machine that can hack any technology it wants without effort, including the space station you live on and all the doors and airlocks and even the security system and internet, has guns in its arms, can think and react at least 50x faster than you can, and is superhumanly strong and can keep right on murdering you even if you chop off multiple of its limbs.

Martha Wells thinks that people are oppressed because they're genuinely inherently more dangerous and threatening than the people oppressing them. Because she's bigoted, along with being apparently unable to contemplate the idea of her protagonists not being the most overpowered motherfuckers who always win every encounter you've ever seen.

Pro tip, writers, especially if you're white: If the oppression in your fictional setting "makes sense", throw it the fuck out and start over.

Here's some examples of ""oppression"" that "makes sense:

Prey species are afraid of literally being eaten by predator species (Zootopia, The Books of the Raksura)

People avoiding people who are known to violently explode at random (The Fall of Ile-Rien, Brand New Animal, the one anime with the people with fire powers I can't remember the name of)

People being afraid of the person who literally has the power to cut off all oxygen and open all the airlocks on the space station they live on with half a second of thought, with no way of stopping them (The Murderbot Diaries)

Everyone hates and distrusts orcs because they used to work for the Dark Lord and tried to end the world (Bright)

????? I know there's more.

[lazyrezi]

Muhahhaha love that it just asked hoping that's a normal thing to ask....I also mostly talk based on the media I consume hoping I sound like a normal average person

Murderbot being relatable AGAIN

Ohohoho so petty I mean. Someone is dead but go off I guess

Uugh that's kinda sad but. Also relatable? Like I don't wanna be perceived/identified either and I'm not even a bot construct in a world that's terrified of bot constructs

Lol I mean. That name does kinda paint a picture I think I have just become desensitised to it like I see the name Murderbot and I'm not thinking oh hey murder!!?? I'm also not thinking bot. I'm not actually thinking thoughts just incoherently screaming into the void so

Haha that's just a hilarious picture

Also look at Murderbot trying to pretend it usually doesn't make faces uncontrollably (we all know it does)

Mensah is so cool multitasking like that I wish I was her

Highest form of compliment second to Murderbot calling someone a smart human actually wait no this is even better than that because while I will never be a smart human (too accident prone/has no common sense) I could however be easy to talk to!! I AM easy to talk to! Murderbot would love talking to me I'm sure

Huh dunno why .... does emotional validation work guys? asking for a friend

Lol Ratthi just wants to work with its bestie (I get it) Also love that they hang out all the time!! And it doesn't find Ratthi boring which we already knew but. it's nice to hear it from it

[iviarellereads]

Network Effect, Chapter 9

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which Murderbot can't help but be a little happy to help screw over a corporation.

After twenty-seven minutes and twelve seconds,(1) Ratthi tapped on the hatch and sent me the feed message: Can I come in and talk to you? I sent back, Do you have my jacket?

Murderbot has been keyword-monitoring its surveillance, so it doesn't have to listen to everyone actively, and it knows nobody's in mortal danger without it. Well, unless Art murdered them all, but it keeps trying to poke MB in the feed, and it probably wouldn't keep calling MB ungrateful and and "a sulky dumbass" in MB's words, not Art's, if it had murdered all its humans.

Ratthi says he has it, and MB says he can come in. He asks if Amena can come too. MB leans back on the wall.

MB's been messing with Art, trying its patience, and cleaning the leaked fluids off itself. It didn't have a shower, though, because showers feel good and it wants to stay angry.(2) It almost rejected the Art-branded shirt that "fell" from the recycler, but it needs a shirt.(3)

MB doesn't want to upset Amena, so it says yes, she can come too. They enter, just the two, and MB warns them that Art can hear anything you say onboard it, anywhere. Ratthi says he's used to that, and doesn't say it's about MB, but it knows.

Ratthi asks about MB's relationship with Art. MB gets grossed out and defensive at the first implication of a sexual one, and is no less horrified at the idea of friendship. MB felt Art stop pinging it when the humans started talking, so it knows Art's listening. Ratthi asks if MB has made many bot friends, and MB thinks of Miki,(4) but says no, not friends like humans make. Ratthi is skeptical, saying Art seems to think it is, but MB says Art lies and is mean.

The lights flicker, imperceptible to human eyes, but visible to MB's. It knows Art heard that.(5)

Amena asks why MB keeps calling it Art, when its name is Perihelion. MB says it stands for Asshole Research Transport, an anagram. Amena says that's not what anagram means, but MB dismisses it as human pedantics.

Ratthi says it's possible that, while both MB and Art have relationships with humans, they don't seem to be sure how to have one with each other. MB gets grossed out at relationship again, and Ratthi says, other than friendship, what other word is there?

I had no idea. I did a quick search on my archives and pulled out the first result. “Mutual administrative assistance?” The lights fluctuated again, in what I could tell was a really sarcastic way. I yelled, “I know what you’re doing, ART, stop trying to communicate with me!”(6)

Ratthi informs MB that, if it hasn't been paying attention, they've come to an agreement with Art to get its crew back, in exchange for assistance returning to Preservation after. MB points out they're just doing what Art wants. Ratthi says there's not another good choice out here. Even if they sent a distress beacon, any response will put everyone in trouble, especially Art and its crew and their university. MB points out several ways it's even worse and more exploitative, that they'd have to pay out the nose just to get rescued.

Amena is aghast, Ratthi says he hates the Rim, and MB agrees, sarcastically, and notes that it's realized something it should have seen sooner.(7) Amena asks if MB would be okay, as a construct, but they have a short discussion about how Mensah technically owns it, under Rim law, and Amena is her legal representative in this. Ratthi confirms, if corporates show up, Amena has to assert ownership of MB. She's disgusted. MB says it doesn't like it either.

At any rate, Ratthi says Art still has repairs to do, and everyone has plans and preparations to make, and asks if MB will come out of the bathroom now. MB says it will, because it knows Art is lying.

This time when the lights fluctuated, it wasn’t sarcastic.

The humans have shifted around, but still have their video call active to the control room. Overse asks if they're all ready now. Ratthi says not quite, and MB says Art didn't come here for a distress call. Thiago is suspicious, and Arada asks if MB wants to jeopardize the deal they made with Art. MB says it absolutely needs to bring this up now.

Overse asks how MB knows, and MB says it's a research and teaching vessel, but all the educational spaces are out of use, the lab inactive, and no cargo module attached. MB asks what Art was doing when it received the distress call. Art asks if this is MB being helpful. No, MB says, this is quite the opposite. It's being held against its will and it will make its keeper regret it.(8)

Arada asks if MB wants to go back in the bathroom for a while and think about what it's doing. MB says it's done thinking, Art snarks about that being obvious. MB asks again what Art was doing.

Across the room, Eletra is asking Overse and Ratthi why they're letting their SecUnit do this. Overse almost says MB is independent, but Ratthi stops her and says merely that MB is usually more responsible.

Thiago, surprisingly, agrees with MB that it's a valid question. MB interprets this as the sensible humans abandoning it. Art says it's none of MB's business. MB argues Art made this its business when Art told the hostiles to kidnap MB. Art suggests MB can put itself out the airlock if it's unhappy with its situation.

The humans, for their part, are trying desperately to wave for MB's attention as Art makes this incredibly threatening statement. Only, this is what MB wanted. It says Art is upsetting Amena. MB noticed earlier that Art's tone with Amena is totally different from with the adults, and Art is fundamentally an educational vessel.

And before this when I was stupid and we were still friends(9) it had talked about human adolescents in an indulgent way.

Amena takes a breath, and before she can object, MB asks her privately in the feed to be honest. So, she says the grey people and being shot at scared the crap out of her, and she really would like to know what's actually going on.

After a long silence, Art says it has to violate its crew's NDA to answer. MB says Art kidnapped itself and its humans, that violated MB's contract with them. Art says it will consider it, then shows MB that it's talking only to it and its humans, cutting Eletra out.

In this more private channel, Art says that if any of them reveal what it's about to say to the corporate, it will kill her. MB isn't particularly attached to her, but it doesn't want anyone dying near its humans and traumatizing them more. So it's not opposed when Arada speaks for them and agrees. Aloud, Arada asks if they can use Art's cabins to clean up, so they don't accidentally indicate anything to Eletra. On the public channel, Art graciously invites them in.

Ratthi and Overse get Eletra settled in one of the rooms the grey people didn't get their growth medium scent all over, and supplies so she can take care of her business and might not feel a need to wander. MB posts a drone scout, just in case.

MB's humans go to the galley, far enough away that Eletra won't hear them even in the corridor before MB spots her moving. The humans are eating and drinking something warm Thiago made them. MB is pacing.

Finally, Arada asks if Art is ready to answer MB's questions. Art gives a lengthy explanation that amounts to, its crew sometimes acts on behalf of anti-corporate organizations,(10) and were on a data-collection mission to the abandoned colony. Amena notes the similarity to how Preservation's great-grandparents' colony had been abandoned. Art notes that sometimes, colonies cut off from the corporates can survive.

This colony had previously failed, but no data existed on why. One of Art's crew, Iris, had found some newsfeed archives about the takeover of the corporation that had controlled the second colony. Some employees were in a firefight, and deleted the database before the hostile takeover was completed. Iris made a note that it's possible, though unlikely, that they were trying to protect or conceal the colony.

After all the humans have read the article and notes, Art says its crew's mission was to see the colony's status, and if active, make contact and offer assistance against corporates, such as by evacuating the inhabitants. Amena asks why, surely if the colony survived, the other corporations would have no jurisdiction. Overse says no, another could easily, and legally, move in and take over. Amena is horrified, but Thiago says that's how the Corporate Rim is.

Ratthi asks what Art and its crew do, in these cases.

ART said, The University has the means to produce the colony’s original charter documents, which often contain clauses specifying that if the originating corporate body has ceased operations, then ownership of the planet is ceded to the colonists or their issue or successors living on the original site.

MB asks if that means the university forges the documents to free the colonies, and Art refuses to acknowledge the question, which probably means yes. MB has no qualms with the method of sticking it to the corporates, even if it's still angry at Art.

Art continues, in very passive voice, that a contract is facilitated between the colony and an independent transfer station, and once the station is established in the system, the colony is relatively safe from corporate ravaging.

Arada says Eletra said there were two corporate ships, and asks if Art was here before them. It was, and was forced to fire on a Barish-Estranza ship by those holding its crew hostage. It doesn't know what happened to the vessel or the crew. Ratthi asks if Art knows why the grey people would have brought Eletra and Ras aboard, but it really has no clue. The rest happened as it already described.

Overse suggests they put together a timeline. MB is about to say it has one, when Art provides its own. MB is annoyed, privately, that Art left out the point where it told the gray people MB was a weapon they could use.(11)

Amena says before things got weird, Ras tried to tell her about the colony reclamation, but Eletra cut him off. Thiago wonders whether the gray people came from the newer colony, or the original one, if they're remnant-contaminated, or if they were manipulated genetically by their corporation.

Discussion moves to the language they used, which has at least three pre-Corporation Rim languages involved, and their tech, which is also pretty ancient. Thiago says most of the alien contamination incidents happened before the Rim, though everything's suppressed so it's hard to know much detail about any of it.

Ratthi brings it back around to Thiago's question again. Art says evidence points to them being from inside the system.

MB takes the opportunity to point out Art's memory archive issues, and that it can't be sure who or what was aboard it before. Arada tries to interrupt, but Art says MB's earlier statement that Art lies a lot was untrue, but it cannot reveal information that would be against its crew's interests unless the circumstances call for it. Arada says they understand, and MB is looking out for their interests.

Art demands an apology. MB makes obscene gestures at the ceiling, since the humans are treating the ceiling like Art anyway. Art says that was unnecessary.

In a low voice, Ratthi commented to Overse, “Anyone who thinks machine intelligences don’t have emotions needs to be in this very uncomfortable room right now.”(12) ART was suddenly in my feed, on a private channel. I did what I had to do. You should understand that. I said aloud, “I’m not talking to you on the feed! You’re not my client and you’re not my—” I couldn’t say it, not anymore.(13) All the humans were staring at me. I wanted to face the wall but that felt like giving in.

Out of nowhere, MB has views all over the ship. It snarls at Art to stop being nice to it.

Amena takes MB's side and says maybe Art needs to give MB some time to process. MB, however, is suspicious and asks if Art is talking to Amena privately. Amena winces, and MB yells at Art to stop talking to its human(14) behind its back.

Privately, MB acknowledges that it isn't being at all logical, even if it felt like it was at the time.(15)

Arada says it's time to stop this unproductive arguing. Art needs to stop pressuring MB, she understands it's upset about its crew but MB is upset too. So, if it can give them any other information about this colony, it would be appreciated. Until then, she and Overse will get some data on the alien remnant on the engine, and see if they can help fix things faster. She assigns Ratthi and Thiago to med-scan-autopsy the dead Targets, and translate what they were saying in MB's recordings, to help narrow down who they were. She also asks Amena to talk to Eletra again, see if she can get her to open up.

Finally, she asks MB to figure out what caused Art's first reinitialization process, and how the Targets boarded, so they can prevent it happening again. She asks if Art is alright with all this, and it says an ominous, "For now."(16)

=====

(1) You know, bravo to everyone (but Art) on their restraint. (2) God if that ain't the mood sometimes. It's not quite "I don't deserve nice things" but it's a close cousin to that feeling, you know? (3) I love the implication that Art deliberately withheld the jacket, could have pushed it through but didn't, so MB would have to talk to a human sooner or later to get it back. (4) Precious cinnamon roll Miki who could kill you to defend its human friends but would rather make you a friend too if it could. Taken from us too soon, but a good reminder to MB that friendship is possible for bots. I think that's part of why it let itself open up so much to Mensah after. (5) Telltale upper-corner message: Perihelion will remember this. (6) Those poor humans having to deal with MB acting so unhinged. (7) This is where it figures out Art was lying about the distress, in case you missed it like I did on my first pass. (8) One of the classic blunders. Don't take a stubborn asshole who lives for chaos, prisoner. (9) So much for never having been friends. MB can't help but admit the truth sideways a lot of the time. I love picking up on its little slips, don't you? (10) Comrade Perihelion! No wonder it wasn't opposed to helping MB all those weeks ago. (11) Anything to avoid the conclusion it knows is inevitable: it cares for Art's crew, just for the sake of their being innocent humans, and it's going to help rescue them eventually. Otherwise this wouldn't be a book. (12) [quiet snicker] (13) You know it is still your friend, though. It betrayed you, because it knew you would be able to handle the betrayal. It didn't mean for MB's humans to get involved. I think Art even expresses, in its own way, that it feels bad for their involvement. It's not like Art is withholding supplies or passage back to Preservation, as long as it gets its crew back first. And, it may see them as an asset, more people means less danger individually, means better chance of success. (14) Amena is particularly MB's human here. It's not worried about Art talking to the others, but it doesn't want Art influencing Amena while it's still angry at Art. They're just so… human. (15) This really extra feels like an observation after the fact, versus most of MB's asides where it could have been the uncensored train of thought it was barreling down at the time. Thus, my use of a touch of past tense. (I'm capable, it just doesn't feel natural.) (16) Ominous in that it implies Art will change its mind sooner or later. Do you think so? Or is it just sulking at being dressed down like that by a human?