whispersmith

[whispersmith]

Wait, so you’re telling me today’s the 4th? What’s next, the 5th? The minor fall? The major lift?

[whispersmith]

Anti-Stratfordian who thinks Shakespeare did write his plays but he was from somewhere else

[whispersmith]

The conversation at the beginning of Season Two between Cassian and Niya, the TIE fighter technician we never see again, is one of the strongest moments in the whole series. There's an incredible emotional intimacy between these two people who are not friends, not lovers, have never had and probably never will have a full conversation, but they are risking their lives together in that moment. And the things Cassian says are amazing because of course he's manipulative, of course he's saying whatever will make Niya stay calm and not mess up the mission, but he also means every word of it, and he known that he owes her that, owes her those true words.

And then when the theft of the TIE fighter goes wrong, and the stakes are suddenly very high: we're not worried about whether Cassian survives, we're worried about whether Niya's sacrifice, Niya's potential death was worth it, or if it was for nothing. If Cassian fails, he breaks the promise that he had given Niya, and probably dozens of others like her, little quiet admins and technicians and comms operators and janitors who put it all on the line for a rebellion.

[whispersmith]

Pro tip is you can literally just read more books and get curious about books instead of generalizing about Publishing Today. There are thousands upon thousands of books out there being published by all kinds of presses from the big 5 to tiny indie presses. Go to your local library or independent bookstore or Bookshop.org and browse. Writing off the entirety of contemporary publishing for being too whatever is just as much anti-intellectualism as complaining that books are too hard for the average reader.

[whispersmith]

[whispersmith]

I don't hate romantasy, or cozy fantasy. I'd love if they entertained me, because the people who are entertained by them seem to be having great times. but I met a hardworking self-pub entrepreneur today who specifically said her fantasy romance book was set in the real world so readers wouldn't have to learn any words, and, I love learning words. I love being utterly bowled over by them, which is why I read New Weird. The point of reading fantasy for me is that I will be so overcome by turning new concepts or big monsters over in my brain that I will be eased in my heart regarding my real non-cozy job or normal romance or whatever the escapism in the fantasy is supposed to help ease. That's the whole thing. and bartender, make it hard to pronounce

[whispersmith]

happy lottery day girlies!

[whispersmith]

there’s a girl in there

natalie portman behind the scenes of the phantom menace (1999) / angelita mallows

[whispersmith]

genres i'm tired of:

"feminist retellings" of stories that can already be considered feminist in their own right

"feminist retellings" that fumble the "feminist" plotline so bad it just turns misogynistic

"feminist retellings" that still center around and hinge on men

"feminist retellings" written by people who don't understand what feminism is

[whispersmith]

My latest cartoon for New Scientist.

[whispersmith]

One big advantage of literary fantasy over more visual media is that you can hide completely batshit worldbuilding in plain sight. Like, yeah, what this setting calls "elves" are actually grey aliens, like from UFO folklore, but it takes thirty chapters for the reader to get enough information to piece that together because none of the viewpoint characters particularly remark upon it. Why would they? Elves looking like that is normal for them.

[whispersmith]

Last night in the throes of a migraine I listened to the book critic podcast A Meal of Thorns, which was satisfyingly willing to dislike things and also has an episode on The Scar. They theorized a bunch of reasons why New Weird faded as a genre and told me things I didn't know about how New Weird was part of an "anti-fantasy fantasy" trend that doesn't seem to exist any more. It 1.) reminded me how The Scar and the movie Stalker both end with people turning their backs on potentially ruinous or transformative catharsis, and 2.) was interesting in this moment in particular because I kind of think New Weird is coming back. Proof: Jared Pechacek, Hiron Ennes

[whispersmith]

[whispersmith]

Nobody Was Questioning It But Just As A Reaffirmation She Has Still Got It

[whispersmith]

creating a book series called "big fear shakespeare" where i expect you to know every reference and definition and instead there are comments in the margins saying things like "what kind of idiot wouldn't know this?"