#working class SFF

[gollancz]

The 2023 Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist has been announced - and Gollancz has two titles!!!

THE RED SCHOLAR'S WAKE by Aliette de Bodard

Shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association award for Best Novel, WINNER of the BSFA award for Best Cover, this sweeping sapphic space opera can now add another award nod to the list. It's a stunning romance between a sentient pirate spaceship and the woman she marries in order to find out who killed her first wife. TorDotCom compared the dynamics to that of classic gothic novels, Tasha Suri said it was "so romantic I may simply perish". Inspired by Vietnamese culture, and the famous Chinese pirate Ching Shih, it's the sort of book that will make you go feral with delight.

PLUTOSHINE by Lucy Kissick

Winner of the inaugural Working Class Writers' Prize, PLUTOSHINE was written while Lucy Kissick completed her PhD, looking at the composition of Martian lakes by recreating them in a lab and extrapolating how they interacted with the atmosphere. This novel takes her knowledge of planetary atmospherics and geology and blends them with a thrilling story about terraforming, colonisation, and the impacts on everyone involved.

We're so so delighted to be the publishers of two of the three women shortlisted for the 2023 prize, and that they represent the diverse voices that Gollancz is striving to champion!

[victusinveritas]

Writing advice from Nick Mamatas.

Some science fiction/fantasy creative writing students I have encountered, a field guide

1. World-Savers: these are generally older students, have no real interest in SF/F, are writing a book to express political or metaphysical ideas they consider to be radical and necessary for the future of life on Earth. In reality, they're writing long Platonic dialogues about their ideas, and authority from various culture and pop culture tropes (aliens, noble savages, fairies, resurrected presidents)–to the extent that their work has a plot at all, it involves a Christ figure transforming the world via a sacrifice. The ideas aren't very radical either: "pollute less" and "love your neighbor, unless they're a dick" are common. Occasionally the message for the world has to do with something more prosaic: reverse budgeting, the evils of Affirmative Action, the importance of installing solar panels, how dare Eileen divorce me and fuck like three guys in the six months after she moved out, etc. These students are utterly confused by actually existing SF/F stories they read, and often interpret them in bizarrely sexual ways. They don't believe in numbering the pages of their manuscripts, and often attempt to submit work in PDF so it won't be stolen.

2. Children with Money: recent college grads, or drop-outs, these people have read Harry Potter, Twilight, and perhaps three or four other best-selling young adult series and nothing else. They are easily upset, especially when someone suggests reading more. Their main interests are YouTube personalities, video games, and a sort of Puritanical pansexuality that actually makes smut boring. They often "forget" to read the work of other students, and have no idea how to use a printer. They warn the other students that their story might be "too intense" because it contains, for example, a depiction of a car accident. Their stories are routinely awful, and always contain a character named "Aidan." Sometimes their parents come to class to make sure I am "not a serial killer", as though they could possibly tell from looking at me. (Oh, "Mamatas" IS a white person name...I guess?)

3. Anointed Ones: They contact me, or the people running the workshop, beforehand, to make sure that "the class is right" for them. They have file cabinets full of their stuff, and after many decades of toil, they are ready to reveal their work to the world. They just need a mentor, and an ally—could I be the one they've been searching for lo these many years? Prior workshops were full of callow teachers and jealous students. Why they were only allowed to submit ten pages a week! Some of them have actually read fairly widely, but you wouldn't know it from their work: three adjectives per noun, a fetish for speech tags other than the word "said" or no tags at all. Often these stories include as characters philosophical prostitutes with very sensitive nipples. They never miss a class and often show up more than thirty minutes early. One time, I had to hide in a closet to avoid an extensive pre-class conversation with one.

4. Frightened Proles: These have read Stephen King and Dean Koontz and sometimes even horror writers from this century. They generally have working-class jobs and write about working people who encounter the supernatural on the late shift. They really hope they can sell their novel soon, but they know it'll take a lot of work. (Ten more drafts oughta do it!) They wear baseball hats to class and look like enormous eight-year-olds. They get very excited when I mention professional wrestling or do a taiji move in class. Their significant others are often nameless—"my girlfriend" "my wife." They buy my books and bring them to class for autographs. Some of them get published after, especially flash fiction.

5. Repairables: decent writers, often involved in the SFF "scene", who need to be fixed after a bad experience with Clarion or another workshop or an overeager editor at a semipro magazine who told them some idiot nonsense they decided to believe because they were told it was "unprofessional" not to consider editorial feedback. These either get published...or lost to MFA programs, video game jobs, fandom, podcasts, or other writing-shaped pursuits. Most of them are ferocious name-droppers; the ones who heard of me beforehand know to keep quiet though.

[essektheylyss]

I have decided that I need to be more in the habit of reading weird fiction, and I have from now until the end of September without classes, so I've endeavored to read one piece of short speculative fiction available in lit mags online everyday until then.

In an effort to actually maintain that, and also because authors and lit mags are frequently the only ones promoting their own works and we should change that, I'm going to post them here, probably without additional commentary or I'll get overwhelmed and stop doing it. There will likely be no rhyme or reason to what the vibes are, because I plan to open a lit mag and read the first thing that catches my eye instead of trying to figure out which ones are actually my speed. This is an effort to read a lot of different stuff, after all.

If you want to read along, I'll post these under the tag "#sff shorts with megs"!

Here's the first:

[codename-adler]

🌻🌻🌻

thing is, when i dive so deep into something i love, i can't talk about it. almost at all. like The Hunger Games? my final project for an SFF class was a rewritten ending of the first book bc i legimately could not write an essay about it.

anyhoo. same thing goes for aftg. like i mentioned somewhere, it took me years to manage to make this blog what it is, write fanfic, posts, interact, and hardest of all the funny stuff. but i came around. in the aftermath of this godforsaken miracle curse of TSC, i'm not sure how to proceed bc it's too fresh too close too much. i'm also looking at things mere hours after the end. tomorrow might be different!

all this to say, i'm thinking of going back to my All For The Game Cinematic Soundtrack project, years in the works, bc that does not involve talking! basically, i'm building a soundtrack as if aftg was a TV series, episode by episode, season by season. i'll be adding TSC to that.

the format went through many changes, at first looking like this:

now it's starting to look like this:

my playlist is currently 529 songs & 35h04 long! i'm very specific about every little thing possible, but i see it all so clearly, right here in my head, how the scenes go, the angles, the lighting, the beat... ah! how i wish i could produce it for real... i was very lucky to find a kinship in the marvelous @cielalune in how she wrote her breathtaking TLoU AU x aftg fic turn out the lights.

ty jo for the ask xx

[xhorhaus]

staying up till 2am to watch the latest candela episode was entirely worth it for so many reasons!! as someone currently writing a unit plan to teach about sff and horror and social justice issues this episode was perfect food for thought!! assorted things:

this circle in particular, but candela in general, is asking one of those important questions in the horror genre— what makes a monster? typically, in traditional horror, it's what society fears (even in early work such as vampiric folklore and frankenstein— the "Other" always reflects something that threatens to upturn societal values) but i love the way candela is flipping that on its head. Like social injustices ARE the real evil all along and it is so refreshing to see that

it started with Sean in the last circle: is revenge monstrous? is the blood of the people who ordered him to war somehow worth more than the blood of the people he killed when he was ordered? how do you stop being a weapon once you've been honed into one

And this circle is all about monsters. On technicalities, most of them have something supernatural in them but i was particularly struck by aabria's response to and elsie's reflection of her role in cullet research: sometimes inaction against power structures is a root of evil and while guilt makes for interesting self reflection in the aftermath, it is not an excuse (a fantastic mirror of so many real world things)

And then there was the "evil" they were fighting in the first place: a child who was scared and fighting tooth and nail with all the tools she had to keep her people safe. Watching from a country where those indigenous to the land do not have equal access to clean water; and are often prosecuted for defending further desecration of their land and communities, i think the way this was dealt with was an excellent story choice. The characters had a choice to be real allies, to support mina in the way that she was asking for with the tools they had, while also taking care of her and acknowledging that there were things she did not want from them. Whether or not they follow through on it remains to be seen, but i think letting her keep the water sentinel, and offering to cart water over were both great. Hopefully they can live up to their commitments because i have a feeling that candela, like most structured institutions, isn't gonna view it quite the same way

i think between the war trauma and lack of veteran support, terrible mental health treatment, the clear differences in social class across newfaire, and the bug in a jar approach candela has to studying even its own people— i would not be surprised if we slowly headed towards more circles that not only actively hid things from their lightkeepers, but also went rogue entirely! And i, for one, look forward to that

[theladyragnell]

How did you get to a stage where you love your writing so much you don't care about marketing it? I have had trad pub in my head since I was 13 years old and struggle not to think about what others would think of my writing even even I tell myself it's just for me :(

Oh, anon, I wish I had easier answers for you, or really any for-sure answers at all.

First, I just want to say that for me, this is a few different questions! Wanting to do traditional publishing, loving your writing, and not caring what people think are all related, but they don't have to go together all the time.

Because I do still, in my pie in the sky dreams, want to be traditionally published! I read a lot, and I love my writing, and I think that my writing does stand up to a decent amount of what's coming out, but it's not currently a path I'm pursuing, which is largely because publishing is full of Nightmare Tasks for people with difficult brains (query letters my beloathed), somewhat because of how the industry is treating workers and authors these days, and somewhat because of how hard I find criticism to take.

Which leads to, as you say, struggling with what other people think of your writing. And I do! When I post a new fic, or share a new story with a friend, I get anxious and I want people to like it! But nonetheless I write things I love and want to write, because I have tried the "write trends" thing and tried the "write things to make a specific person happy that I'm not into" thing and popular as the results might be, and they're fine stories because I'm a good writer, but I don't love them or come back to them.

But also, that "that I'm not into" thing is very important! Because I do still care a lot what people think of my writing. It's just that I count myself as one of those people, and I try to write for certain people or subsets of people, not the whole world, because the more people I try to please, the blander and less like myself I feel like my writing gets. So I try to write for myself, and also I'll write a trope or relationship dynamic a friend likes, or I'll write for a subset of a fandom that has a particular taste, or I'll just make up a guy in my head (positive). It becomes an exercise in triangulation! This is something I do a lot with exchange fics, where I try to find a midpoint between my tastes and my recipients' tastes, something I find very enriching. So yes, I do care a lot what other people think!

But the loving my own writing ... that's a mix of a lot of things. Some of it is experience. I have been writing as a major hobby for literal decades, and I write fast, which means I have written enough to feel comfortable with my skills. Some of it is wrapped up in the previous point, where writing things I love makes me love my writing more, which means even if I'm not writing publishing trends (my pacing is slow and has too many conversations! I don't like a lot of the current romance genre trends, much less SFF romance trends!) I still love what I'm doing.

But it's also learning and growing so that I know my writing is getting better! It's analyzing what an author I love has that I lack and trying to find my own way to it. It's learning to use language in new ways when I'm not a very language-forward writer. A lot of times, it's trying (and frequently failing, because this one is hard as hell and easy to do wrong) to find the core of my id on a certain trope or relationship dynamic and go all in on it.

I love my writing because it's mine, and my writing is the way it is because I love it. I loved my first embarrassing gel-pen-in-a-cat-notebook "novel" in seventh grade, and I love the epic 6-book sci fi romance series that I finished most recently and may someday be brave enough to self-publish. None of them are trendy. But for me and the people the stories matter and have mattered to (friends I no longer speak to from middle and high school passing my handwritten works back and forth in the middle of class, friends who read my works as I write them or when I finish them now), and the people they might someday matter to, I don't think the trendiness or the marketability matter.

And I don't think they will for you either someday, anon. <3

[fahye]

Hello! I love your work and recently read your short story "Eat Prey, Love" in the CSFG anthology -- it was so delightful, and really left me wanting to see more of that whole world you created. I was wondering if you mind talking about your process for inventing / writing short stories like that one? It's a medium that I've always found very challenging to tackle.

Thanks for sharing your work with us all! (Sorry for anon, I'm a little starstuck)

ok, I'm finally tackling some asks that have been in my askbox for AGES because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to say anything useful 😅

anon......I have no set process for short stories. I don't write them very often, and when I do it's literally just: have idea, start writing it, see if it works! I am also MUCH more likely to write in a chaotic scattershot out of order style as I used to do for fanfic, than I am when I'm drafting a novel.

if you want permission to let that all go and accept that you're more suited to longform fiction: me too! consider it granted!

but if you're interested in actively improving your skills, I HIGHLY recommend mary robinette kowal's resources on short story writing. she has a patreon and teaches online classes, but the writing excuses podcast also has a huge and valuable backlog. and you could do a lot worse than beginning with this guest lecture she gave in brandon sanderson's BYU course on writing SFF.

[queer-reader-07]

I'll help you procrastinate!

What were your favorite books as a child, and what are your favorite books now?

Also, I need book recs. Preferably fantasy or sci-fi, but I'm not opposed to other genres.

you, my friend, have no idea what you've just gotten yourself into

my favorite childhood books were definitely the Magic Treehouse books and Percy Jackson! (although i'm still a huge Rick Riordan fan to this day)

i say my number one spot is tied between The Feeling of Falling in Love by Mason Deaver (a truly beautiful YA t4t romcom that i WILL peddle until my dying breath). and Dune by Frank Herbert! (the duality of man, if you will). i've written many a long winded pieces on Dune but if you haven't read it already go do that <3

i also read a lot more nonfiction nowadays, usually feminist & liberationist literature & memoir! (and ofc my fair share of romcoms and occasional litfic... as i say this i'm realizing that aside from horror i kind of read it all 😅)

SFF book recs!! (i'll throw in some other genres at the end if you do decide to branch out 👀)

i am a HUGE Octavia Butler fan so i'm going to recommend Dawn & The Parable of the Sower

Dawn is the first in the Xenogenesis/Lilith's Brood series (and i will admit that i have yet to read the sequels, don't come for me i'm ass at finishing series). I love this novel for how it discusses what it means to be human through explorations of race and gender in the wake of an apocalyptic event. I'd also class this novel under "it's about hope if you pay attention enough" which is a huge thing for me

The Parable of the Sower is part of a duology (which i have finished!) although was meant to be a longer series, unfortunately Butler passed before finishing it. this is the book that had me going "this woman is a profit" because of how much the events of the novel remind me of the modern day. set in the 2020s in the wake of climate and economic collapse, we follow Lauren, a teenager with hyper empathy (a condition she has due to her mom's drug use during pregnancy) as she not only works to survive in a crumbling society but also build a new future for humanity. this is another story that i believe is at its core about hope, but that specific kind of hope that can only exist because of the despair one has experienced. a hope borne out of a refusal to accept destruction as the only way forward. a hope borne out of a love for humanity.

A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers!!! this is a soft, quiet, tender story about a robot who just wants to learn what humans need. and this robot starts to learn that when it encounters a monk who just wants to be in the wilderness alone to find their true calling in life.

Babel by RF Kuang is one of those books that i will fully admit is a tad bit condescending to the reader but nonetheless i find it a great and engaging place to start when it comes to literature that explores the violent ramifications of colonialism. like yes it overexplains things that i think could've been left to subtext, but i will also point to it before i point to academia, ya know?

The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams follows a main character who is like if Indiana Jones was a Black lesbian in a fantasy world and better. i call this one "not necessarily adventure gone wrong but rather adventure became far larger and graver than you could have ever imagined." empires on the brink of collapse, a species of creatures people don't quite understand are about to return, and the ninth rain is imminent. (also part of a series i have yet to finish, im sorry!!)

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake. this one has NG vibes but is written by a markedly better person!! the godson of Death, a vampire real estate agent trying to sell a house and a ghost haunting said house (he's quite the pain in the ass if you ask her), and some really high stakes games involving the literal gods; what could possibly go wrong? (specifically recommending the audiobook for this one, it was phenomenal!) (this one is also very gay!!)

ok now i'm gonna throw some non sff at you to try to get you out of your comfort zone :)

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is a heartwrenching memoir-esque narrative of a queer boy writing to his mother in a language he knows she cannot read. it tells the story of what it's like to be an immigrant and the child of one, of what it means to be queer in a culture that doesn't accept you. it is, at its core, a story about the urgency of survival and the anguish of love that explores how we find joy in this broken mess of a world. (i read this one in a Gender in Lit and Film class i took my freshman year of highschool for a unit on masculinity and it has 100% shaped how i view and interact with masculinity especially in regards to race)

in a similar vein but not quite i'll also recommend Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. written in the 50s, this is a heartbreaking story to two queer men falling passionately in love only for it all to be ripped apart. i've recommended this book before alongside the lyrics to Good Luck Babe! by Chappell Roan. "you can kiss a hundred boys in bars // shoot another shot just to stop the feeling // you'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling"

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is a novel i read right around when it came out back in 2020 and i really ought to revisit. it is, in my opinion, one of the best fictional explorations of what it means to be a mixed race person in the US. Bennett explores race in the United States through two twin sisters, both biracial, one who lives her life in the town they grew up in as a Black woman and the other out west as a White woman. told throughout generations their lives become more and more intertwined (were they ever really separate?).

probably my favorite memoir of all time is A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliot which explores race, gender, colonization, and more through the lens of Elliot's experience as a mixed race, First Nations Indigenous woman. the title comes from the Mohawk phrase for depression and it is with the same urgency and feeling that that phrase evokes that Elliot writes all her essays with. I particularly think of her essay titled "Half Breed: A Racial Biography in Five Parts" because its exploration of the grief only felt by being mixed or having mixed children is deeply personal to me. however, all her essays have so much depth and emotion to offer.

i'm not sure if romance novels or YA contemporary are your thing but if you're interested shoot me another ask about those, didn't include them here since those are more "you like em or you don't" imo

ok that's all for now thank you for providing me this distraction and giving me a chance to go full special interest on you <33

[itsallsternutation]

A Beautiful Blossom (1/?) (Original Work) (F/Enby)

Hello everyone, this is what I've been working on in the span before and the span after I made this blog, but didn't post anything. This is the first time I'm going public with this outside of a few other sneeple I met in other places, so please... 1. let me know what you think. I have a whole bunch more stuff like this already cooked up that I'm gonna post over the next few weeks 2. If you're on SFF, please go there at https://www.sneezefetishforum.com/topic/84545-bernis-burny-nose/ and let me know what you think there too : )

At some point in the next few days, I'm probably also going to post some picrews and character bios for my characters, so definitely be on the look out for those

Okay, I'm done now. Time to start.

-itsallsternutation

Part 1: A Beautiful Blossom

Ah, fall. 

Even before, fall had always had a soft spot in Sam’s heart, but now they could safely say it was their favorite.   All the hits were there. It was the season of their birthday, (September 29th) their favorite colors (red, orange, and yellow), and their favorite clothing (hoodies, sweaters, and cozy flannels). But now, it was also the month Sam met their favorite person in the world. They had known the sounds of fall for as long as they could remember: the crinkling of the leaves, the trees rustling in the wind, the peaceful quiet that all the other seasons just didn’t seem to have. However, now that Sam had met the love of their life, these had been joined by a few new sounds:

"eh…Eh…EH…EEESHIEW!"

Even before they knew it had come from her, Sam knew that sound. They knew it from the first day of their Freshman Latin class in college. The class wasn’t one of their cores (they were a skilled writer) and they knew it wasn’t one of hers either (she was a programming prodigy), but nonetheless, the stars and arbitrary graduation requirements aligned to put them together in that moment. They both had arrived early, albeit for completely different reasons. That was where Sam had first heard those beautiful sounds. Sounds like: 

*sniff* *sniff* “heh…"

And…

“hh-hh...hih-HEH…”

And the famous one of course…

“Heek-SHIEW!”

They hadn’t thought much about it, until they turned to their left and realized they inadvertently found themself next to the source. It was a girl. A pale one in a pink hoodie, with round glasses, and with dark hair tucked into a cute little beanie. The glasses were tucked onto a nose that was just as pink as the hoodie and just as little and cute as the beanie.  It was clear to Sam that she was having a bad time. There was a long string of watery snot dripping down her nose and she seemed deeply distressed about it. However, at the moment, she appeared to be too busy frantically searching her bag to be able to attend to it.

Startled with sudden realization, Sam reached into their pocket. Sam had never had any allergies, but everything else that seemed to make people sneezy or snotty seemed to affect them enough. Because of that, they had accumulated a collection of handkerchiefs and always made sure to keep one with them. The one they pulled out was big, plain, white. Sam wordlessly offered it to the girl along with a comforting smile. She visibly hesitated at first, but as she did, her look changed: her eyes narrowed, her head turned upward, her breath became a kind of congested, shuddering stuttering: “hh..huhg..gh..hgk…” As if by desperate instinct, she grabbed the hanky and held it to her face, but it appeared her nose was not yet ready to resume its newest verse: “hgk..geh…”

Until of course it was: “heh-EhSHEW! HISHOO! Ah-ASHOO! heh-Heh-HEH! EESHOOO!” Her nose then followed with a gurgling blow as a chorus, which in turn was followed by a semistifled “Hap-tshh”, and a soggy reprise.  When she had finally recovered enough to bring the hanky down from her nose, she looked towards Sam and began stuttering out an apology: “Oh shit! I-I-I’m…sorry. I didn…I didn’t mean to-”.

“Bless you. Don’t worry. Last time I checked, that’s what those were supposed to be used for.”

“I promise I’m not sick. I’ve just got…huh…HuhEshh! Ikshh! Sorry.” she tried to explain before being interrupted by two snotty sneezes in quick succession. 

“Allergies?”

“Yeah…” she responded with a nervous chuckle “Sorry…”.

She then tried to offer the hanky back, but Sam declined. “You look like you might need it more than me.

In response, she opened her bag, and began searching it again. This time she was quick to find the object of her search: a smaller handkerchief of her own with an absolutely adorable blue line pattern on it. “You can have mine if you need it. I haven’t used it yet,” she said with a snuffle. 

“Thanks,” Sam replied with a smile, “I’m not used to seeing that many other people use handkerchiefs.” 

“Me neither. My family is from Japan and apparently everyone there has one, but I grew up around here and I’ve never known anyone else who uses them.”

“You’re a local?”

“I’m in-state, but from here specifically. I was born and grew up about an hour from here. My parents are both doctors in the college clinic system,” she explained. “I’m Berni, by the way. Um…you should probably pick a different seat before class starts. I don’t want all my sneezing and sniffling to interrupt you. I’m just taking this class because I need the foreign language credit.”

“Nice to meet you Berni, I’m Sam. And don’t worry I think everyone is here for the language credit. Besides, ani mdbr abrit.”

“Huh?” 

“I already have a foreign language.” Sam explained.

“Oh, me too. Kafunshō ga kirai desu.” Berni replied.

“I know that was probably Japanese, but what did you say?”

“I hate hay fever.” she said with a groan as she began wiping her nose with Sam’s handkerchief.

“I had a feeling, but what did you say?”

“That is what I-”

But before she could finish, the professor began to speak. Despite Berni’s insistence, it was too late for Sam to move. Dr. Senex had already begun his first of many completely uneventful lectures.

Both Sam’s parents were alumni of the college and had many stories. Sam’s father in particular had more than a few stories about Dr. Senex in particular. According to him, Senex was a relic even thirty years ago. Since then, the professor had lost most of his vitality, hearing, and sight, but still kept his droning voice. Apparently during his “prime”, an English teacher who was 30 Dr. Senex’s senior described him as “the very same puny, inexhaustible voice our dear friend William spoke about when he received the nobel prize in literature.” The reason why his classes were so popular after all this time was that they were the perfect places for people like Sam and Berni who didn’t wish to invest too much of their time into language classes. 

Sam almost dozed off several times, but each time he was roused by another soft snuffle, another wet sneeze, another gentle “sorry”, or another gentle nose blow. Finally, just as he was about to drift off again, he was roused by a different sound, a whisper:  “If you already know a foreign language, why are you here taking Latin?” Berni asked.

“I don’t really wanna talk about that,” Sam whispered back. “If you already know Japanese, why are you here taking Latin?”

“I don’t really wanna talk about that eih…eh…Eih-EEIKTSHOO!” she began to respond before being interrupted by an extra loud, extra forceful, and extra messy sneeze. “Fuck…” she muttered almost fearfully.

A few of the nearby students turned to stare. However, it was mostly out of boredom or curiosity and not out of disgust. No one seemed like they particularly cared that much about the professor, who himself gave no indication that he had even heard the sneeze. One girl however, a tall redhead sitting nearby, responded to Berni’s sneeze with a hateful glare. When Berni realized this, her face turned red with shame and Sam watched as she quickly rushed out of the lecture hall, letting out fits of desperate sneezes as she did so. After she left, Sam realized that she had left most of her stuff, including her bag, a laptop, and, most worryingly, the handkerchief they had given her. With no real plan in mind, Sam carefully picked up the hanky and followed her outside.

Berni was not particularly hard to find outside the lecture hall, but Sam probably could’ve found her from the sound of her sniffling alone. She was sitting alone on a bench, wiping her itchy, teary eyes and her itchy, runny nose with the sleeves of her hoodie. She seemed too preoccupied to notice Sam, so they wordlessly sat down next to her and offered the same white handkerchief (albeit now a little soiled) and the same comforting smile (albeit now a little sad) as before. 

When Berni looked up to notice them, she let out a sound that sounded like an intersection between a groan, a moan, a sigh, and a sob before taking the handkerchief, pressing it to her nose, and blowing hard. The blow she gave was far more forceful than those she had done before. It began of course as a wet, congested gurgle, before transforming into a loud honk. With its great force, the blow was over in a few seconds. When it ended, Berni lowered the handkerchief to reveal a pair of itchy, teary eyes and a nose that was rubbed raw with irritation. 

There was a long silence between the two before it was broken. However, unexpectedly, it was the far quieter one who broke it first: “I’m so..thank you…thank you so much.” 

“Bless you.” Sam said with concern in their voice.

“I’m so gross.” she said with a sniff. 

“Rough day?”

“Yeah,” Berni answered as she wiped her teary eyes.

There was a pause before Sam checked their watch and realized what they needed to do next: “How about this? I think there’s only a few minutes left of the lecture, so how about we go in, finish it up, and when it’s done, I’ll take you to lunch somewhere quiet.

“I c..I cuh…Hhh-eISHuh!” she began before being interrupted by a sneeze she muffled into Sam’s damp hanky, “I can’t…”

“Why not?” Sam asked with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

“You’ll…heh..yeugh…you’ll hate me for…hehh-HeehHH-Heeiighh-SHhEIW!” she exclaimed, “You’ll hate me for sneezing and snorting so much.”

“I don’t really mind,” Sam said reassuringly, “And I don’t think anyone there is gonna mind either. No one really cares about that class anyway and everyone knows all the pollen around here is killer.”

“Lottie minds. She hates me already,” Berni sobbed. 

“Lottie?”

“My roommate. She gets mad at me. Says I’m gross and that my hay fever messes up her beauty sleep.”

“I think…I think I might have met her,” Sam said, perplexed.

“You did?” Berni asked with a sniff.

“I think she was in my history of journalism class. About yea high, red curly hair and freckles?”

“Yep,” Berni confirmed.

“But she…she just seemed so nice. How could she say something like that to you?”

“Because she’s right. I’m disgusting,” Berni lamented before blowing her nose wetly into Sam’s hanky.

“Right? Of course not. You have allergies. If you didn’t sneeze or blow your nose every once in a while, you’d probably drown!”

This humorous remark did a lot to cheer Berni up, and she let out a cute giggle that sounded much happier than before. “You don’t mind that I’m such a sneezy, sniffly, snotty...heh-HESHIEW!...very sneezy mess?” Berni asked with a cute snort as she wiped her dripping nose. 

“Of course not,” Sam reassured. “Don’t I’ve had plenty of friends with allergies, so I know what I’m getting into. Heck, I’ve been known to be a bit sneezy myself. Why do you think I had that handkerchief with me?”

“Do you have hay fever too?” Berni asked sympathetically.

“No. I’ve got rhinitis, but it's more of the nonallergic kind.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means that a bunch of things that aren’t allergy related makes me sneeze. Smoke, dust, strong smells, spicy food. Pretty much anything under the sun ironically including the...ah..choo! Ashiew! Hep-Chiew! Including the sun!” they said with a laugh “speak of the devil.”

“Aww,” Berni cooed as she grabbed the handkerchief she had given Sam and used it to wipe the snot on their nose, “that’s gotta suck. I have to say though, I think your sneezes are a lot cuter than mine.”

“Eh, I could take it or leave it. It doesn’t really bother me that much.” Sam explained with a chuckle. “I have to say though, I actually think I like your sneezing better.”

“What?” Berni asked surprised, “Why?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you later. Tell you what, if you come back and help keep me awake through that snore fest of a lecture, then I’ll tell you over some lunch. My treat.”

“Okay,” Berni said with a smile, “It’s nice meeting you Sammy. Thank you for…thank you for helping me.”

“No problem Bern” Sam said with a laugh.

As Sam and Berni quietly snuck back into the lecture hall, neither knew this beautiful –and very sneezy– fall day would blossom into a wonderful, blooming bond. Berni would give Sam a new reason to love their favorite season, but little did Berni know, Sam would give her something even better. 

[kaonarvna]

Hello 👋🏻 I'm KNV! I'm a writer and visual artist. This account features both my original work and fanworks for my eternal hyperfixation: ff7!

Disability, chronic pain, narrative medicine, grief, and class are subjects inseparable from my work, and you'll find those ideas weaved into just about everything I make. I primarily write prose, in science fiction/speculative fiction/science fiction fantasy genres (SF/SFF), as well as creative nonfiction essays.

You can't find my website here, though it's (always) desperately in need of an update. If you're just here for the fanfiction, here's my A03. x

「 a "pretty" self portrait — for once 」

Some helpful tag-links:

My Art 🌿 Original Writing 🌿 Fanfiction 🌿 EDS Posting 🌿 BUJO Sketch Dumps 🌿 Misc. Personal Posting 🌿 WIP Posting 🌿 Decision Polls 🌿

Finally——I don't bite! The ask box is open, and if we're mutuals, so are my DMs. Feedback of all varieties is always appreciated. Or, if you think you've found something I'd enjoy, you're more than welcome to send it my way. Thank you for taking a moment to look at my work, I appreciate it.

[thekhoei]

The Beatles and Vietnam (part 1/?)

My Roman empire is whenever my favourite bands have songs in my mother tongue. Today's case is the most influential band of all time, The Beatles (now why im sounding like a freaking interviewer). I wanna share yall a 1987 record by an overseas singer named Kiều Nga (overseas artists are conservative due to the complications behind USA's most infamous war crime - Indochina/Vietnam war). It will take me long to explain the whole thing, so i will break it short while writing about that record. You can find it here on Spotify (im so grateful to still get chances to listen to it, bc the real tape costs quite a lot in my currency, but i can link you where to buy. it's around 32$ in foreign currency. and the fact that it still exists tho i thought it would become a lost media 😭)

This is not the only songs that were covered in Vietnamese, as there was this version of Something by Don Hồ (1992), or You won't see me by Thúy-Hà-Tú (a pre-1975 girl band (?)). You can find some other different and later covers besides the 1987 record on a local channel here. The Beatles and Beatlemania became a worldwide phenomenon during the 60s, and in Vietnam it was no exception. There were so many young bands inspired by them, and even one of our big song-writers Phạm Duy was a fan of them. The Beatles left a foot print in our flow of music during the war. And iirc, there was a commotion (?) relating to the rock n roll wave and The Beatles in the late 60s - early 70s. In old magazines, image of The Fab Four were on almost every pages! It shouldn't be a surprise to me but i'm still so shocked to learn about how the 4 guys brought love to my beautiful homeland, and so many early fans who were, and still are in love with them, like me, a youngster in 21st century. I mean, who am i even kidding, not my country being an inspiration behind those well-known songs.

The 1987 tape was produced by Dạ Lan Productions (originally Mây Productions), and it was numbered the 46th.

Some fyi/disclaimer ig: I did mentioned of why this is a conservative topic. I am a nothern Vietnamese. And Dạ Lan Productions was a product by the overseas singers who followed the lead of RVN/South Vietnam. But i have been growing up with many kind of music without bothering to care whether it is against the government's ideal. And i'm not the only one who has that thought. Most Vietnamese are working class/peasants, and not much gain access to higher education. Music is the beauty of life, and the heart of the composer. Whether it's bad or good deed, it's only love that matters. Not like all of us understand the true nature of communism or capitalism, we only want peace and love, and that war is over. Our current government is no longer against most RVN artists and it's legal for this kind of music to be spreading now.

Dạ Lan tape 46 is a cassette tape featured 10 translated Beatles songs by various artists, with Yesterday/Mới hôm qua, And i love her/Và tôi yêu nàng, Here comes the sun/Vầng dương sáng ngời, Michelle/Michelle yêu dấu, Strawberry fields forever/Tình yêu cuối trời on side A; and I want to hold your hand/Đôi tay thiên thần, Let it be/Chớ âu lo, Ob-la-di Ob-la-da/Cuộc tình Desmond Molly, The long and winding road/Dấu đường tình, If i fell/Một mai nếu yêu anh on side B. Most of them stay accurate to the og, except the Vietnamese version of SFF has a whole new name and meaning (roughly translated as Love in the end of the world??). Mind you that when western music arrived to this land as a result of the first colonization by French, there started a trend named "nhạc ngoại lời Việt", which means creating a whole new lyrics on the original foreign song. I mean it's obvious that not many understand about copyright back then, and the music was only circulated in the country. That era was called "Tân nhạc Việt Nam" (Vietnamese modern age music), along with the modern changes of literature and many forms of art. The overseas singers who moved to a new land during the war mostly were against VietCong, so this kind of music was banned in the northern. Except it broke the wall and bridge that held the grudge.

I will make this a long series to break down the history of The Beatles and Vietnam's connection (will have tag as well if anyone's interested and want to follow) and compare the difference between both versions, as well as finding more information on this topic bc im so invested. There are still concerts and shows running by this generation fan of The Beatles, and im so grateful to be a part of it. I mean, isn't it wonderful that The Fab are still listened by 21st children, like what Brian once predicted?

Thanks for coming to my Ted yap (i'm a professional yapper)

[bookcub]

Books I Read for My SFF Class Rated from Worst to Best

clearly this is the most objective list ever obviously (jk this is based on how much I got from reading the text to how useful it was in context)

also while this syllabus included movies and tv shows, I am focusing on the books cause this is a book blog

19. Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan- The worst of the worst. Contains racist ideology and a magic system that makes no sense. This is a book clearly written by a white outsider about Hawai'i. I am also far too old for dystopias. One upside is that there were no random romances and it was about familial love.

18. Survive the Dome by Kosoko Jackson- Despite agreeing with the ideology of this book, this was truly a horrible reading experience. Poorly written, annoying and bland characters, and very inconsistent.

17. Blazewrath Games by - You wouldn't guess that a book that's essentially The World Cup with Dragons could be boring, but you'd be wrong. Nothing significant in this text rip.

16. Peter Pan by J M Barrie- Unfortunately, this book makes sense being included in this context of children's SFF so I can’t say it shouldn't be included, but this book was agonizing to read. Beautiful writing. And yet, some of the most racist and sexist content I have ever read in my life!

15. Charlotte's Web by EB White- Pretty painless to read and interesting to discuss in the context of sff literature cause uh, not generally a book I would categorize as such. I didn’t think our discussions were particularly notable and I would have preferred another text.

14. The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline- *sighs* There are some incredibly important concepts in this text but woof. Again, I am too old for dystopias but unexpectedly I had a real problem with the way women were written in this.

13. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum- Again, this is helpful in context of a children's fantasy class and it was fun to read in context as a Wicked fan. If I didn't know it from related media, this would be super forgettable.

12. Bunnicula by Deborah Howe and James Howe- Fun, and a fantastic audio but there wasn't much to talk about here in our class but there's potential. Very funny.

11. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling- I am dreading the class on this but I am very excited for the critical readings and it was exciting to re examine the text as an adult with the knowledge I have now. I do think that we could have done a magic school section with books responding to HP instead. Again, interesting in the context of the genre.

10. The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen- One of my classmates had a lot of issues with the portrayal of Judaism in this text, so ideally this would be replaced with a text written by an author who did more research.

9. Feed by MT Anderson- I did NOT like this but incredibly relevant and scary to think this was written about 20 years ago. Good for the syllabus, not good for me!

8. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien- I didn't mind listening to this and it was another sensible inclusion. Occasionally boring but I'm supportive.

7. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by - I liked the perspective this book provided and it was a pretty fun read. I think this would work best as a readaloud text. It was also beneficial to read a book written by an author who wasn't American or British for comparison to the other texts.

6. A Wrinkle in Time by - Another classic that makes a lot of sense in its inclusion in the syllabus. Sparked really good conversations about the definition of genre. I enjoyed resisting this text as well, incredibly nostalgic for me.

5. Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova- A lot of fun! I love portal fantasies and this had a classic adventure but didn't feel trite at all. I actually enjoyed the love triangle and will consider reading the books later in the series.

4. American Born Chinese by Gene Luan Yang- This was a difficult book to read but it was incredibly rewarding. I had to sit with it a lot to process and I think the author asks really interesting questions. I would recommend this to most people.

3. Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo- Shockingly, the adult novel ranks 3 on my list. .. hmmm . . this was largely both because I loved it and hated many of the other books. Absolutely stunning as a novel, engaging, and downright magical. I love books centering family and slowly finding how much I enjoy multigenerational novels. However, it is interesting considering this class is about children's lit. . . I would highly recommend this to readers who want a story that isn't afraid to challenge normal.

2. Kindred (graphic novel) by Octavia Butler- I love Kindred and if this was the novel and not the graphic, it would be #1. An amazing book that does not stray from intense topics and makes history very accessible. The only time travel book I love. I adored presenting on this book and still believe Kindred is one of the best books I have read. Such a good inclusion on this syllabus.

1. Nimona by ND Stevenson- NIMONA MY BELOVED what is there to say. This is perfect for this class. It is certainly marketed to young adults, and uses elements of scifi and fantasy masterfully. Challenges conventions of the genre, asks the age old question of who is a monster and who is human. . .beautiful found family. . .funny as hell. Perfect.

[canmom]

Feel free to ignore considering it’s a very messy topic. Why do you think SFF communities (especially book communities) attracts so many bad faith actors?

my apologies anon, I took a minute to answer this one.

I think the most parsimonious answer is that they don't, especially, it's just that bad faith actors are basically everywhere. like, is it really true that there are more bad faith actors in SFF than in say, music? film? 'literary' fiction, or other genres like crime or erotica? i think if I was as immersed in any of those worlds as I am in SFF, I'd know about just as many stories of petty cruelty, exploitation, bizarre dramas...

still, some speculations about factors playing into it, that aren't necessarily specific to sci-fi.

the thing about SFF is that it's a subculture, and one that's pretty niche. not quite as niche as like, BASE jumping or something lol - most bookshops around here will have an SFF shelf, and obviously SFF films and games are almost as mainstream as entertainment gets - but for dedicated sci-fi fans it's seen as a sort of refuge of 'people like them' (generally some variety of autistic nerd archetype), and there is a lot of anxiety that comes with maintaining that.

this sort of attitude is commonly associated with the old guard of reactionary fandom - the infamous Puppies - but I think by now we've seen that the current overtly queer/progressive/whatever you wanna call it generation is just as capable of lashing out at perceived intruders. (for an obvious example, this kind of sentiment was a major factor in the Isabel Fall incident.)

besides that, what are people fighting for anyway? what are the 'stakes' of scifi/fantasy fandom? intuitively, they're tiny. but...

within any niche subculture, it is possible to achieve a certain degree of fame and influence. if you can play the rhetorical game, you can establish yourself as a microcelebrity/tastemaker, promote your friends and make a show of casting out the enemies, and set up the rules of the discourse... in your small bubble. until sooner or later the wind changes and you get knocked off the pedestal, anyway. so part of it is just people wanting to rule an insular little fiefdom.

but then there's also like... 'being an author'. SFF lit is not especially popular these days. you can't really make a living from short stories anymore (too few magazines that pay, too hard to get in, too little reward). however, if you get very, very lucky, make the right connections (probably at Clarion), you might just be able to get some novels published, and maaaybe they will find an audience and earn out their advances... and if everything goes perfectly, you might just manage to make a reasonable middle class sort of income.

and that's not nothing! especially if other forms of work are inaccessible. i have a friend whose circumstances were changed very dramatically when they got a big advance on their novel. but ultimately I don't think it's about that, nobody would sensibly try to become an author for the money, it's an obviously terrible gamble.

however, within the subculture, being a published author is a still big deal. it's a sense that you've 'made it', people will look up to you, or resent you if they don't feel you deserve it. there is a strong divide between 'authors' and 'fans' that structures interactions between the two. I don't get the impression that this is actually very fun for the authors, but it's easy to see that from outside and think "I wish I was worthy of that kind of respect too".

much the same applies in other fields - for example animation. maybe it pays shit and demand insane hours with zero job security... but for the fans, you come to have immense admiration for the 'real animators' and want to feel you could be their equal one day. and people are willing to sacrifice a lot for the sake of that idea of accomplishment, even if it's still very unlikely.

so with all that in mind... science fiction authors are usually science fiction fans. there's not really any other reason you'd write it lmao. so could speculate that for the ones who have 'made it', the situation is still precarious, or seems like it. there's little guarantee you'll get published again if a book doesn't sell. and you depend on a good reputation to stay in the game. so you have a bit of power (enough to go to your head) and fear of losing that power and sense of accomplishment... that's probably sufficient to motivate a whole lot of horrendous behaviour that would seem incomprehensible from outside.

none of this is really specific to science fiction/fantasy. but then I don't think SFF is really all that unique.

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2024 #43

hello hello it has been a bit of a weird week of ups and downs. really excellent movie times with friends, good food, and halloween crossdressing, but also a long approaching break up finally got made official today. my reading has not slowed down in the slightest though so let's talk about it!

Finished:

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallet, narrated by Thomas Judd I think this book is really one that should best be enjoyed in audiobook format. Like yeah okay there's some reasons you'd want the text version if you're a person who likes to try to solve the mysteries in mystery novels and want to highlight or take note of certain parts, but the conceit is that these are transcripts of audio messages left by a severely dyslexic man who uses them for notetaking/journaling while trying to uncover a mystery. as I said last week I got really attached to our main character Steve

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 5 written by Kaneshiro Yamada, art by Tsukasa Abe, translated by Misa 'Japanese Ammo' I am not particularly interested in this first-class mage exam arc that Frieren and co have been on for this volume. Idk i just find it much less charming than the sort of adventure of the week style that had been the previous pacing. I'll take a break reading this for a bit and see if it has its charm for me again after a little away. The anime is definitely on my to-watch list now

"Male Sexual Victimization: Examining Men's Experiences of Rape and Sexual Assault" by Karen G. Weiss glad i read this for myself after seeing it cited in another work

click by hornyonside (birdlord5000) on ao3 tender sky/fourteen fifteen smut that's a good time

Whitewater Foxholes by Aterikakaal (Biorenewologist) on ao3 Phyrgian has a disappointing hookup with Corrasion bc they are home sick for other branched :,(

to remake ourselves by evilmageclub on ao3 read for shapeshifting samsam smut

when the moon has gone to bed by blacksatinpointeshoes on ao3 if you would like to cry over a Fero/Samol modern au, might i recommend this fic? go forth and witness Fero as just some guy you meet in Boston

"The Third Sex" by Talia Bhatt on substack

"Degendering and Regendering" by Talia Bhatt on substack read some of Talia Bhatt's transfeminist essays this week. highly HIGHLY recommend reading "The Third Sex" if you have ever heard of hijra being described as "India's religiously venerated third gender" because Bhatt does some vital recontextualization with that

Longbourn by Jo Baker, narrated by Emma Fielding A great supplementary read to Pride and Prejudice, spinning up a dramatic story for the servants of Longbourn that only mildly intersects with the trials and tribulations of the Bennets. Since it was written in 2013 is reckons a little bit more with racial and class politics for regency England in a way that Austen's work did not explicitly. not perfectly but in a way that made me sit up in my seat reading it. the romances in this makes my heart ache like crazy

blind item by blacksatinpointeshoes on ao3 tabloid fic of clementine kesh's school years

Magic's Promise by Mercedes Lackey, narrated by Gregory St. John I need to incorporate the ways this book handles sexual coercion and violence towards minors as well as incest into my thesis somewhere, at the very least to point at it as a thing the fantasy genre deals with. it is fascinatingly frank

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallet, read by Annie Aldington, Nneka Okoye, Gareth Armstrong, Sid Sagar, and Kristin Atherton I guess having key characters make up fake people that seem as real as the rest in the epistolary format is Hallet's signature

Started/Ongoing:

John Dies at the End by David Wong (Jason Pargin's psuedonym) reading for SFF book club. I am finding it incredibly abrasive tonally....

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall oh poor Stephen.... so my copy is like subtitled as a classic work of lesbian literature, but to be clear, it is also very easy to interpret it through a transgender lens

[amethystaurawriting]

The Best Books for Dystopia Lovers Coming in 2024

Are you a science fiction and dystopia fan looking for your newest read? Well, the new year is approaching, and it promises a stack load of books for your library!

As another year comes to an end and we move into 2024, our obsession with dystopian universes and stories is still very prevalent. The whole world is still reeling in the aftermath of our own apocalyptic pandemic, and yet, the genre of dystopian fiction is still massive and making waves in the reading world, impacting young and old alike.

So, here are the top 5 dystopian fiction books coming out in 2024 that you should definitely read!

Iron Crow by Kim Petersen

In a post-apocalyptic Seattle, the city has split into two factions, the ruling class of Crows who flourish in the Space Needle, now known as the Nest, and the Hydrans who exist on the city floor, diving to scavenge Lake Union for scrap metal to survive. Amongst the wreckage of old ships and structures sitting underneath the water, the protagonist of this novel, Rayna, dives to make money for her share of food.

She leads the same life as every other Hydran, until she sees something she’s not meant to in the Crows Nest, and suddenly secrets are revealed that have profound consequences.

For everyone…

Release Date: 9 January 2024

Perfect for fans of series like the Hunger Games and Divergent. And for those who love to binge read their book series, fear not, as the sequel will be right around the corner a month later!

Earthflown by Frances Wren

With England’s water supply controlled by a massive pharmaceutical company, this novel brings together three quite different people with lives containing different fates and different dreams, but as Ethan saves the life of Corinna Arden, the heiress of the company controlling England’s water, he ties himself further with her twin brother.

Javier Arden has been sending him flowers at work, and he’s a beautiful man, so what if he’s been stalking Ethan? A little harmless romance wouldn’t hurt him, unless his roommate Oliver has something to say about the rich guy on his couch.

Until he finds himself caught up in a murder conspiracy and a dangerous plot for a lucrative reconstruction tender that will change England’s landscape and control of the water supply forever.

Release Date: March 2024

This is one for the graphic novel lovers, fully illustrated and beautifully designed to bring you the best reading experience in SFF this year.

Scorpio by Marko Kloos

From the author of the bestselling Frontlines and Palladium Wars series comes a new novel, depicting the story of a woman working as a dog handler amidst an alien invasion. In one of the few human colonies left, buried underground in a shelter that only survives with the toil and effort of the dregs of humanity to keep it standing.

The entire human species hides from the Lankies, the monstrous species that chose to invade Earth, and after a salvage mission goes wrong for Alex Archer and her band of last humans, whatever was hiding their existence stops working, and Alex is plunged into a new battle for survival as the Lankies come to kill her off.

With the help of her black shepherd dog, Ash, trained to sense threats, can Alex work with her fellow humans to fight their invading species and save what remains of the planet?

Release date: 1 January 2024

This one is for those who enjoy a good, traditional invasion story with the protagonist being one of the last humans alive. Dangerous aliens, a species on the brink of total destruction, and a cute dog. What more could you ask for?

The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey

From the mind that created the Expanse, now a major science fiction television series, comes a brand-new space opera with high stakes and what appears to be an unbeatable enemy.

Dafyd Alkhor is the assistant to one of the most intelligent scientists on Anjiin, planet of the human race, and he loves his job, as simple as it is. Right up until he doesn’t.

The Carryx, a race hellbent on committing genocide throughout the galaxy and becoming the one true rulers of the universe, descend upon Anjiin one day. They destroy most of the human population and capture the ones life behind, throwing them into a game of survival against another race.

Simply for the fun of watching two species fight to survive extinction.

Now Dayfd, along with the other captives of his race, must work to understand and manipulate the Carryx if they want to get out of the game alive.

Release date: 6 August 2024

Perfect for fans of space operas like Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky and the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, this new novel will have your mind reeling with excitement and thrilling adventures as Dafyd fights to survive the game of death and genocide…

[homenecromancer]

look maybe this is an unpopular opinion but i gotta say it

i see people get mad at sff authors for using unrealistically long periods of time, or describing something as unrealistically big or small — anything where the numbers just don’t quite add up, people love to scoff about it

and like i get it. i do. i have, while writing historical fiction, agonized over the exact date something became available. i get the impulse to have the numbers add up

but also it has never bothered me when an author tosses off something about an evil wizard’s thousand-year reign, or a narrow wall that works out to be two hundred feet high… because, in my heart, i’ve always classed those as rhetorical devices in the same family as describing a length of time as “forty days and forty nights” when it was not literally so. the intent is “it was a very long time” or “it was a very large thing”, conveyed in a somewhat poetical way. of all the things that bother me in fiction, this sort of deliberate phrasing never has.

ok im gonna go edit some fic so i can anonymously post it to ao3, seeya