#wayfarers series

[thekawaiifruitworld]

Okay, so that one little sketch was so much fun that I had to expand it a bit... :D

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 4

Book summaries below:

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle series)

A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.

Science fiction, classics, speculative fiction, anthropological science fiction, distant future, adult

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers series) by Becky Chambers

Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

Science fiction, adventure, series, adult

[a-mymble-that-mumbles]

I know that a Wayfarers fandom exists somewhere. SOMEWHERE.

AND I CANT FIND IT.

Hear me now

I will find you

I will join you

And I will never be seen again.

Thank you for your time.

*i know it exists but not as much as I want it to*

[devils-sacrament-catering]

Becky Chambers really said neopronouns are the norm thousands of years from now in basically every species/language and only doubled down harder as her series went on and I love her for that.

[rewcana]

everyday i think about how i wish the dent bots from the wayfarer's series were real

[callmemanatee]

I've heard fans say there should be a movie adaptation of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but consider this instead: a YouTube channel with a series of "vlogs" where characters from the Wayfarers books talk about what they're up to these days.

It would be small-scale, personal, and sweet. Just like the books we've grown to love.

[carcinogenet1cist]

The book Record of a Spaceborn Few is about so many things. It’s about the unbroken human spirit. It’s about how humans fear change but also desperately want it. It’s about how humans are reluctant to accept help, and also feel left behind when none is offered. It’s about human nature’s wariness of outsiders against our better judgment, but also unending curiosity. It’s about human unending optimism and the drive to survive.

But also it’s about 4 protagonists ending up at funeral for a guy they didn’t even really know.

[limnrix]

So this was inspired by the Exodan ships in Becky Chambers' Record of a Spaceborn Few and how they're laid out in recursive hexagons. I kind of just did it to see if I could, and started thinking architecturally / city planner style, so things aren't necessarily how they're described in the book, but how I would want a utopian nested hex city. I put in actual doors in the residential areas which was maybe unnecessary. It doesn't include manufacturing really, and I'm not totally sure where education goes, but there's some flexibility for a lot of things under the "retail" category. I preferred to make it all symmetrical rather than making district centers different. There could maybe be a bigger park around the Center, for composting, instead of "administration", which a society with internet may not need actual rooms for. Instead of handwaving that there's a transport level above this, I specifically tried to lay out a way to walk/ride through from any place to another, with some consideration for privacy, although sometimes traffic will go through your yard. Arguably there could be a 7th scale level, but I'm not going to torture InDesign any more.

The smallest unit is the hexagonal room. Homes are 5 rooms (sometimes 1 or 4 depending on throughway placement) and a half bath around a living room, which has a hallway going to the center of each hex. Hexes are made up of 6 homes around a yard and eating area with a kitchen in the middle, with households taking turns making one big 30 person meal a day. There are six hexes in a neighborhood around each park, and each park has a gym, pool, and public bath center servicing about 180 people. Six neighborhoods surround each district with shops, public spaces, services, and a clinic in the center for around 1080 people. The districts surround an administrative center, and death services in the middle. The whole ship houses around 6500 people.

[pop6squish-uhuh-cicero-lipschitz]

I recently devoured all of Becky Chambers’ books and they were exactly what I needed. I was reading a lot of Octavia Butler before and got really into sci-fi fantasy, but her books are really unsettling (as they should be) and I needed a little break. I love how Chambers’ style embodies a lot of what I adore in Octavia Butler combined with Star Trek and a few other things. It’s very hopeful and comforting while still shining a light at the terrors.

I’m gonna try Annalee Newitz next— does anybody have any recommendations for authors with similar styles and subject matter? I’d love recommendations, especially if you know there’s an audiobook!

[boyduroy]

Please do yourself a favor and go read the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers, it is such amazing queer science fiction that explores themes of family, belonging, and Identity

[thekawaiifruitworld]

I've just finished reading "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet" (Wayfarers Series, Becky Chambers) - which sat on my to-read list for far too long and which I loved! Its been a bit since I've last read through a book in one go, completely forgetting time - So here's a little sketch of Sissix & Ashby. :)

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 2

Book summaries below:

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers series) by Becky Chambers

Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

Science fiction, adventure, series, adult

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher (Sworn Soldier series)

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruravia.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

Horror, fantasy, gothic, mystery, historical fiction, turn-of-the-century, retelling, novella, series, adult

[meetmeinmyden]

Pepper’s story about the Big Bug Crew, and the fact that she has figurines on her shuttle dashboard as well as at home, meant I had to draw them

[b-plot-butch]

is it time for another a closed and common orbit reread

[tgirlsunshine]

fuck, i just reread the long way to a small angry planet and i'm so.. incapable of being normal about the Aandrisk. half the characters in that book are like your family structure doesnt make sense or why are you so physically affectionate with everyone all the time at their entire species and meanwhile my poly ass is out here like i would literally deal with all the hassle of being a cold-blooded reptile if it meant living in a culture where casual intimacy could just exist, and where families work in a way that makes fucking sense, and where you can just HUG PEOPLE and be NORMAL ABOUT IT

in retrospect when i read this book the first time (before realizing i was poly) that could've really been a big fuckin clue huh

[beautifulbookishdisaster]

Such a quintessentially Human thing, to express sorrow through apology.

Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet