#indigenous fantasy

[ravenkhor]

Quick sketch of Ikumak <3 I'm going to be drawing Kalea next!!

Ikumak's design and the culture he's from feeds a lot of inspiration from Yupik and Inuit cultures, but also feeds a little bit from other canadian tribes like Ojibwe, at least when it comes to the stories meant to originate from his home, Astivia, since Astivia is made up of 5 major groups rather than just one large group.

[ladyimaginarium]

indigenous mermaid moodboard.

[laikacore]

First Peoples Shared Stories: orders open now!

Laika Wallace’s short story, Snow Blindness, has been published in First Peoples Shared Stories by Flame Tree Publishing!

Taken from the publisher’s website: Following the success of Black Sci-Fi Short Stories comes a powerful new addition to the Flame Tree short story collections: the first peoples in Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, the first migration, the first exploration, the discovery of land and landscape without the footprint of humankind. Stories of injustice sit with memories of hope and wonder, dreamtime tales of creation and joy highlight the enduring spirit of humanity. These stories, selected from submissions by new writers and cast alongside ancient stories and oral traditions from around the world bring new perspectives to the legacy of First Nations, of First Peoples.

His addition to the anthology follows a Mi’kmaw trans lesbian and hir daughter searching for a planet for their family to call home after being adrift in space for many generations, and finding something they could never have predicted, for better or for worse…

Orders are open now at the link in the first reblog. Reblogs are very appreciated, as are requests for the book at bookstores and libraries. Thank you for supporting indigenous authors!

[loveaankilaq]

Fantasy books stop having arctic kingdoms of all blond hair blue eyed white people.

[elliepassmore]

Black Sun review

4/5 stars Recommended if you like: epic fantasy, multiple POVs, Indigenous fantasy

There's a lot going on in this book leading to the major event at the end. We get insight into the running of a major religion and the whispers of a coup; we get glimpses of the past and present of a god; we get an extended road trip; and we get someone who recently lost his mother but still wants peace. It's somewhat hard at first to see how all the pieces lay together, but as the book progresses, it's interesting to see how each of these elements plays into the larger whole.

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in this one and getting to see the different cultures and people. Tova was particularly interesting and I liked that we got, essentially, a walking tour of the city. There are four different districts in the Sky Made portion of the city, and each of these has their own traditions and hierarchies. Then there's also the Earth Made people, which are generally relegated to second-class citizenship in Tova. The Maw is a cliff area where the Earth Made make their homes out and within the cliffside. I was definitely intrigued by this mazelike neighborhood, which seems like a city within its own right.

The Sky Made clans are Carrion Crow, Golden Eagle, Winged Serpent, and Water Strider, and it's from their ranks that the priests are pulled. When the book opens, its clear the current Sun Priest is attempting to bring the priesthood back to its former glory while trying to honor the horrors the group enacted decades prior. Naturally, this causes some issues, both within the priesthood and outside of it, and it was interesting to see the political machinations at play inside an important institution that was nevertheless becoming increasingly obsolete. I also liked seeing how traditionalism and relation to one's clan played a role in people's stances.

On the 'flip' side of things are Serapio, a man/god whose duty is to enact vengeance for the wrongs of the priesthood. Okoa is also on this 'flip' side as a young man whose mother recently died and who is trying to puzzle out what is going on in Tova while he's been away. Both Serapio and Okoa are Carrion Crow, the people who were targeted by the priesthood all those decades ago, but where Serapio/the god seems to think the whole priesthood must suffer, regardless of whether some are attempting to remedy the past, Okoa comes from a place of understanding the nuances of what is going on in the Tower.

In terms of characters, Serapio, Okoa, and Naranpa are all involved in the politics of Tova, even if they haven't been in Tova. Xiala is hired to transport Serapio but is otherwise uninvolved in what's about to go down in Tova. Obviously by the end of the book she's somewhat involved, but overall in this book she has little to do with the goings on in Tova, though I suspect that will change in book 2. This is a very plot-driven novel, so the characters don't undergo a ton of growth during this one, though they don't necessarily remain static either.

Xiala is a siren/mermaid sea captain. She enjoys her work, though not always the trouble that comes from crewmembers and merchants, and is also a bit of a troublemaker. I enjoyed her chapters and liked getting glimpses of her past and culture. It was interesting to see her on the sea and I enjoyed the scenes where she, the crew, and Serapio are on the water.

Serapio I was more wary of. His chapters oscillate between past and present, with the past acting as a guide to how he got to be who he is today. Knowing that he is a vessel for a god is obviously a heavy burden to bear for anyone, and it's clear that he's lonely. Serapio is determined to see his work through, but at the same time, over the course of the book, it's also clear that he wants company and to have a semi-normal life, if that's even possible.

Naranpa is the Sun Priestess in Tova and is trying to change how the priesthood runs so that it both remedies the sins of the past while also providing for the people of Tova. She gets a lot of pushback from people at different angles, and while I felt she was a bit naive and idealistic, I also felt bad for Naranpa considering the sheer number of people who oppose her. I liked getting to know her and knowing that she genuinely does want to help, and I did like knowing that she has at least some allies.

I wasn't too sure of Okoa at first, but he quickly grew on me. He's the son of the Carrion Crow leader and has been away at war college for some time now. He returns upon the death of his mother and immediately clocks that something isn't right in Tova. He and Naranpa almost have mirrored plotlines, with Naranpa trying to figure things out from the inside and Okoa trying to figure them out from the ground. I liked that they got to meet and have a tentative allyship, though I wonder if that still remains. Okoa is clearly trying to step into his role with his clan and is doing his best to protect them and his sister. I actually liked Okoa a lot and wish we saw more of him.

Overall I enjoyed this book and found the worldbuilding to be excellent. It didn't always hold my attention the way I would've liked from a 5 star read, but once the machinations in Tova really started going, I found myself more drawn in. Not sure if I'll read book 2, but we'll see how I feel about it.

[specialagentartemis]

story about a heist team doing a heist of colonial museums and returning unethically stolen sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony to their original communities

but the story isn’t about them

the story is a legal thriller about the repatriation coordinator and the pro bono lawyer who get frantically called in by that community when an artifact goes missing from a museum and shows up unexpectedly at their doorstep and now they are in a shit ton of (potentially international) legal trouble because the heist team did not take the legal ramifications into account, and no one else believes them that they didn’t steal it, and The Law is saying they are legally obligated to return it to the museum and are also probably going to go to prison for this, and activists are protesting, and it’s rocking the repatriation world, and it’s turning into a huge Thing

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

I loved this book so fucking muuuuch....

From our collection: Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction (2020) ed. by Joshua Whitehead.

This exciting and groundbreaking fiction anthology showcases a number of new and emerging 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous) writers from across Turtle Island. These visionary authors show how queer Indigenous communities can bloom and thrive through utopian narratives that detail the vivacity and strength of 2SQness throughout its plight in the maw of settler colonialism’s histories. Here, readers will discover bio-engineered AI rats, transplanted trees in space, the rise of a 2SQ resistance camp, a primer on how to survive Indigiqueerly, virtual reality applications, motherships at sea, and the very bending of space-time continuums queered through NDN time. Love after the End demonstrates the imaginatively queer Two-Spirit futurisms we have all been dreaming of since 1492. Contributors include Darcie Little Badger, Mari Kurisato, Kai Minosh Pyle, David Alexander Robertson, and jaye simpson.

The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States.  Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.

[noahhawthorneauthor]

Be thankful for who you are today, and do better than those who came before you.

I live on Iroquois land, specifically the Mohawk region. The Iroquois, or Five Nations, was brought together by Deganawidah the Great Peacemaker, and it was composed of the nations Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca.

Later on the Tuscaroras joined, and they became Haudenosaunee, or 'six separate nations.'

Happy Thanksgiving, keep your minds open, never stop learning, and don't let history become forgotten. The majority of us are already do a damn poor job of not repeating it.

[ravenkhor]

WIP art of Nuvua Tuktulok and her son, Ikumak Tuktulok.

Nuvua and Ikumak are both healers, though only she can use her abilities due to the fact Ikumak doesn't have all ten fingers on his hand. Though, both of them have physical features of the Tuktulok family's magic, giving them green eyes when naturally they would be brown.

There's a lot of antler coding in the patterns in her gloves (which are made to be similar to Kakiniit, which she does have on her face) to call back to the Caribou spirit they descend from :)

Ikumak has a lot less of a natural-themed design, as he takes on a completely new role unlike any of his ancestors.

[maplewozapi]

Final fantasy XIV characters commission, I had so much fun with this commission! She’s so gorgeous 🩷💖💜😆🎀

[rs-hawk]

Kinda gross you're sexualizing your culture. Literally playing into colonist fantasies about the "sexy savage Indian"

I have been trying to find a way to respond to this because I think this brings up the debate of cultural appreciation versus cultural appropriation. This is my personal take, and if any other Indigenous people disagree with me, that is their opinion, and they are right to have it.

Here's the thing, you're talking about my culture. My heritage. My ancestorial beliefs. I have talked a few times about how growing up I didn't have much positive representation for that part of myself, and how hard it was for me. That is a large part of why I write about Indigenous coded characters or about Indigenous creatures. Before I began writing my own stories, I had never read a single romance novel with any Indigenous main character (if you know any, definitely let me know!), aside from Cowboys and Indians novels, which for me is not included in "positive representation" (but if other Indigenous people want to, that is up to them).

If you were to bring this up about say the Straggele, I would understand more because just because I have studied folklore and culture from around the world, doesn't make it mine. If someone who was Swiss reached out to me and said something, I could understand where that came from. However, allowing parts of my history to influence my writing, getting to create characters that I see myself in, reading more into the history of my nations and our cousin and sister nations, amongst so many other things, is not sexualizing my culture. I am not appropriating myself or playing into stereotypes by writing what makes me happy.

I also want to add that the colonist fantasy includes a lot of racist stereotypes, which I don't put in my writing. There are no Indigenous women who use their body to get what they want or trick European men into helping them. There are no damsels in distress Indigenous women who just blink their big brown eyes and sling their braids over their shoulders as they ask for help. They're not naked and flaunting themselves or anything like that. Also, how are any of my characters "savages"? All of my stories are written in roughly this day and age aside from an ongoing commission.

It is not playing into colonist fantasies to write about Indigenous people. It is not playing into colonist fantasies for me to want to write about creatures from my own culture. Just like it would not be playing into colonist fantasies to sexualize a Kelpie as I'm also mixed with Celtic, or a Babau as I'm also mixed with Italian.

I am allowed to celebrate and use aspects of my culture and history, any and all of it from any part of my culture from any part of my family.

[skylessknights]

GET TO KNOW ME: ♡ favourite underrated tv show - Trickster

There was a time when we were all family. Witches, Ancient, Tricksters. Cycle and balance...harmony. You're called ancients? Why do you want my son? Your son? The son of a trickster and a witch. I've never seen that before.

[mordredsgun]

Yearly re-read of my comfort book 🌿

[alpaca-clouds]

The Stories We Are Missing

I hate Disney. I really do. I hate them, because they are shitty to a lot of workers. I hate them, because they consolidate so many IPs only to then make the most generic stuff with them. I hate them, because they don't invest in new ideas anymore. And I hate them for being such cowards.

However... I will give them credit for producing Iwájú and Kizazi Moto. Two afrofuturist series. Iwájú being one series that actually just tells one story - while Kizazi Moto is an anthology series like Love Death + Robots on Netflix. Well, that is all that it has in common with LD+R is that it is a scifi anthology series. It has less issues with the sexism and racism of LD+R.

And thinking about this has brought me to the one aspect of our lack on Solarpunk media, that I think gets ignored too much. Again, because white people. And this is... Well, the lack of well published afrofuturist and amazofuturist stories - or movies. And I would assume also the equivalent for other indigenous cultures. (I think the name right now is "Pacificafuturism" for the polynesians, I have no idea whether the indigenous people still living in Asia have something along the lines.)

The irony is that I actually think, well... Let's face it: There is a reason why Disney of all people is investing in some Afrofuturist projects. And that reason is that there is a big audience for this stuff. Disney probably just saw how Black Panther was printing money and was like: "I guess we'll make more of that!"

Now what does this have to do with Solarpunk?

Well, I will remind you: Solarpunk originated with Amazofuturism. And futuristic indigenous stories tend to have a lot of Solarpunk vibes at the very least. Not all of those stories will be Solarpunk, no, but even those that are not will offer us things to learn. Because I will say it once again: We really, really do have a big issue in a lot of SciFi/Fantasy that way too white and way too stuck in the storytelling conventions of western society.

And here is the thing: I doubt most people will be able to name a lot of afrofuturist media other than Black Panther, and maybe the series above. Or maybe you actually can think of some novels like the ones from N. K. Jemisin, Octavia E. Butler, or Nnedi Okorafor. But not much more.

Now, in terms of Afrofuturism there is a bit more - but the other things? Most Amazofuturism is only ever published in Portugese or maybe Spanish in some cases. And I am honestly not certain if there is even anything that is not self-published out there in terms of Pacificafuturism. (I mean, I know a few Maori movies that I guess you could consider, but...)

What I am trying to get at: I think we need more indigenous futurism/indigenous scifi. Not only so that we read more that breaks out of western storytelling conventions, I think we also just need other perspectives on the future. Because our western, white perspective is limited - and we got to imagine the future for way too long.