#'she invented the genre of science fiction'

[dailykafka]

Not to start some drama but Mary Shelly is not the ultimate historical figure of tumblr for the very simple reason - she is cool. And we are on a site where a bug's race was the hot topic of the town for weeks…

[writers-potion]

Different Genres, Different Fight Scenes.

Romance

No real gore; write entertaining fight scenes with an illusion of reality

Avoid excessive arobatics or feats of unbelievable strength. Stay realistic - describe the weather, how the ground feels.

Add a layer of erotic tension.

Use injuries as opportunities to test the hero and heroine's relationship, for displaying touching and tender care.

Fight scenes in romance tend to be short (<700w)

Where there are several fight scenes: (1) he comes to her rescue - (2) she comes to his rescue (3) together they fight in the final showdown.

Fantasy

Fantasy fight scenes will primarily be enertaining, but have considerable grit.

Since readers needs to retain their suspense of disbelief in dragons, fairies, unicorns, etc. it helps to keep fights realistic.

Heroes will be skilled in using the weapon of their choice, and he climax of the fight will be prolonged, detailed and technically precise.

Science Fiction

Invent a special weapon for your book. To make it plausible, take a real-life weapon and extrapolate.

To make it interesting, the weapon will have a critical flaw or have consequences to the user which will make the plot more interesting.

Thriller

Fight scene in thrillera are very gritty, with real violence and gore. There will be several injuries and death.

However, the hero will also show off his skill in prolonged fight scenes, making it entertaining.

The suspense section is typically long

The hero will often have advanced level fighting skills.

Horror

As long as the blood is plot relevant, readers will want to see gore and grit.

The suspense and aftermath sections will be long, with unexpected twists that gets the hero behind his back.

Cozy Mystery

Cozy mystery won't have too much fighting involved, but if it does it will be be short.

Focus on how the hero struggles towards the next clue as a result of the fight rather than on the fight itself.

Historical

Fight in historical novels can be anything between entertaining and gritty.

Consider the periodic background, tech level, and relative wealth of your fighters before you give them weapons and armour.

In period where life expectancy was shorter and violence was more commonplace, your heros will be less bothered about seeing death, gory gutting, or having children in battle. Less qualms about killing.

In most periods and societies women didn't fight, and you must come up with a plausible backstory for her.

Literary

Either the fight takes place off stage or it is shown in all its realistic brutality.

Literary fight scenes are gritty and short.

You will choose to focus on the aftermath - play up the tragic, sinful, meaninglessness, etc. of violence for the reader and how it affects your hero's psyche.

Young Adult

YA fight scenes are entertaining, but it can escalate to be very scary.

he plot often revolves around he protagnoist performing implausible feats of fighting, often with exceptional martial arts skills.

Choose whatever martial arts teenagers find "cool" and build up your knowledge about it.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

[specialagentartemis]

Black Women writing SFF

The post about Octavia Butler also made me think about the injustice we do both Butler, SFF readers, and Black women SFF writers by holding her up as the one Black Woman Writing Sci-Fi. She occupies an important place in the genre, for her creativity, the beauty and impact of her writing, and her prolific work... but she's still just one writer, and no one writer works for everybody.

So whether you liked Octavia Butler's books or didn't, here are some of the (many!!! this list is just the authors I've read and liked, or been recommended and been wanting to read) other Black women writing speculative fiction aimed at adults, who might be writing something within your interest:

N. K. Jemisin - a prolific powerhouse of modern sff. Will probably have something you'll like. Won three Hugo awards in a row for her Broken Earth trilogy. I’ve only read her book of short stories, How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? and it is absolutely story after story of bangers. Creative, chilling, beautifully written, make you think. They’re so good and I highly recommend the collection. Several of her novels have spun out of premises she first explored through these short stories, most recently “The City Born Great” giving rise to her novel The City We Became. Leans more fantasy than sci-fi, but has a lot of both, in various permutations. 

Nisi Shawl - EDIT: I have been informed that Nisi Shawl identifies as genderfluid, not as a woman. They primarily write short stories that lean literary. Their one novel that I’ve read, Everfair, is an alternate-history 19th century that asks, what if the Congo had fought off European colonization and became a free and independent African state? Told in vignettes spanning decades of political organization, political movements, war tactics, and social development, among an ensemble of local African people, Black Americans coming to the new country, white and mixed-race Brits, and Chinese immigrants who came as British laborers.

Nnedi Okorafor - American-Nigerian writer of Africanfuturism, sci-fi stories emphasizing life in present, future, and alternate-magical Africa. She has range! From Binti, a trilogy of novellas about a teenage girl in Namibia encountering aliens and balancing her newfound connection to space with expectations of her family; to Akata Witch, a middle-grade series about a Nigerian-American girl moving to Nigeria and learning to use magic powers she didn’t know she had; to Who Fears Death, a brutal depiction of magical-realism in a futuristic, post-war Sudan; to short stories like "Africanfuturism 419", about that poor Nigerian prince who’s desperately sending out those emails looking for help (but with a sci-fi twist), and "Mother of Invention" about a smart house taking care of its human and her baby… she’s done a little bit of everything, but always emphasizes the future, the science, and the magic of (usually western) Africa.

Karen Lord - an Afro-Caribbean author.  I actually didn’t particularly like the one novel by her I’ve read, The Best of All Possible Worlds, but Martha Wells did, so. Lord has more novels set in this world—a Star Trek-esque multicultural, multispecies spacefuture set on a planet that has welcomed immigrants and refugees for a long time, and become a vibrant multicultural planet. I find her stories rooted in near-future Caribbean socio-climatic concerns like "Haven" and "Cities of the Sun" and her folktale-fantasy style Redemption in Indigo more compelling.  And more short stories here.

Bethany C. Morrow - only has one novella (short novel?) for adults, Mem, but it was creative and fascinating and good and I’d be remiss not to shout it out. In an alternate-history 1920s Toronto, scientists have discovered how to extract specific memories from a person—but then those memories are embodied as physical, cloned manifestations of the person at the moment the memory was made. The main character is one such “Mem,” struggling to determine who she is if she was created from and defined by one single traumatic memory that her original-self wanted to remove. It’s mostly quiet, contemplative, and very interesting.  (Morrow has some YA novels too. I read one of them and thought it was okay.)

Rebecca Roanhorse - Afro-Indigenous, Black and "Spanish Indian" and married into Diné (Navajo). I’ve read her ongoing post-apocalyptic fantasy series starting with Trail of Lightning, and am liking it a lot; after a climate catastrophe, the spirits and magic of the Diné awakened to protect Dinetah (the Navajo Nation) from the onslaught; and now magic and monsters are part of life in this fundamentally changed world. Coyote is there and he is only sometimes helpful. She also has a more traditional second-world epic high fantasy, Black Sun, an elaborate fantasy world with quests and prophecies and seafaring adventure that draws inspiration from Indigenous cultures of the US and Mexico rather than Europe. She also has bitingly satirical and very incisive short stories like “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience” about virtual reality and cultural tourism, and the fantasy-horror "Harvest."

Micaiah Johnson - her multiverse-hopping novel The Space Between Worlds plays with alternate universes and alternate selves in a continuously creative and interesting way! The setup doesn’t take the easy premise that one universe is our own recognizable one that opens up onto strange alternate universes—even the main character’s home universe is wildly different in speculative ways, with the MC coming from a Mad Max-esque desert community abandoned to the elements, while working for the universe-travel company within the climate-controlled walled city where the rich and well-connected live and work. Also, it’s unabashedly gay. 

And if you like audiobooks and audio fiction (I listened to The Space Between Worlds as an audiobook, it’s good), then Jordan Cobb is someone you should check out. She does sci-fi/horror/thriller audio drama. Her works include Janus Descending, a lyrical and eerie sci-fi horror about a small research expedition to a distant planet and how it went so, so wrong; and Descendants, the sequel about its aftermath. She also has Primordial Deep, about a research expedition to the deep undersea, to investigate the apparent re-emergence of a lot of extinct prehistoric sea creatures. She’s a writer/producer I like, and always follow her new releases. Her detailed prose, minimal casts  (especially in Janus Descending), good audio quality, and full-series supercuts make these welcoming to audiobook fans. 

-

Nalo Hopkinson - a writer who should be considered nearly as foundational as Octavia Butler, honestly. A novelist and short story writer with a wide variety of sci-fi, dystopian futures, fairy-tale horror, gods and epics, and space Carnival, drawing heavily from her Caribbean experiences and aesthetics.

Tananarive Due - fantastical/horror. Immortals, vampires, curses, altered reality, unnerving mystery. Also has written a lot of books.

Andrea Hairston - creative and otherworldly, weird and bisexual, with mindscapes and magic and aliens. 

Helen Oyeyemi - I haven’t read her work but she comes highly recommended by a friend. A novelist and short story writer, most of her work leans fairytale fantastical-horror. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is a collection of short fiction and recc’ed to me as her best work. White is for Witching is a well-regarded haunted house novel. 

Ashia Monet - indie author, writer of The Black Veins, pitched as “the no-love-interest, found family adventure you’ve been searching for.” Magic road trip! Possibly YA? I’m not positive. 

-

This also doesn’t include Black non-binary sff authors I’ve read and liked like An Owomoyela, C. L. Polk, and Rivers Solomon. And this is specifically about adult sff books, so I didn’t include Black women YA sff authors like Kalynn Bayron, Tomi Adeyemi, Tracy Deonn, Justina Ireland, or Alechia Dow, though they’re writing fantasy and sci-fi in the YA world too.

And a lot of short stories are out there in the online magazine world, where so many up and coming authors get their start, and established ones explore offbeat and new ideas.  Pick up an issue (or a subscription!) of FIYAH magazine for the most current Black speculative writing.

[youremyheaven]

Vedic Astrology Observations:

ive noticed that revati, punarvasu & swati naks are most often associated with the cyberpunk genre/its aesthetics. there are sooo many examples of this:

keanu reeves is a punarvasu stellium and he was in the matrix movies

arnold schwarzenegger is best known for his work in sci-fi/cyberpunk movies, including total recall, the terminator movies, the 6th day etc

aespa is a kpop group known for their cyberpunk aesthetic and futuristic concepts, the 4 members have the following naks: karina is a revati sun, punarvasu moon, giselle is a swati sun/mercury with punarvasu rahu, winter is swati mars with punarvasu rahu , ningning is swati venus (i have a feeling she's revati asc)

gakuryu ishii, the acclaimed cyberpunk filmmaker has punarvasu moon amatyakaraka and revati mars atmakaraka

aditi, the mother goddess is the creator, when we log on, we enter a different reality. revati is consciousness itself (the nature of which is questioned often in science fiction+ cyber punk works of art) swati is maya or illusion. this explains why these naks are so intricately linked to these themes.

2. 🦋 I've noticed that although butterflies are most commonly associated with punarvasu, sooo many sidereal pisces folks (Revati + UBP) are drawn to butterfly imagery. There are a ton of examples but here's a short thread:

Erika Sawajiri has Revati sun + UBP moon. This movie itself features heavy butterfly imagery 🦋

Here's Salma Hayek, a UBP moon with temporary butterfly tattoos + wearing a butterfly top

Salma was in a movie called In the Time of the Butterflies where she played 1/2 of a duo of sisters called "Butterflies" along with Lumi Cavazos who has Revati Saturn as her atmakaraka and Rahu in UBP

Bella Hadid has UBP Ketu & here's her with 2 separate butterfly bday cakes 🍰🦋. Anyone who knows her knows how obsessed with butterflies she is lol

Woosung has Revati Moon & Venus and his debut EP is literally called "Moth" 😭his album cover features butterflies too but for some reason I can't upload it :(

a little bit of a stretch but Jackson Wang is UBP sun + Revati venus & he has a song called "Papillon" (French for butterfly🦋 👀)

3. i think vishaka's invented siren eyes

both beyonce & laura prepon have vishaka moons (there are a million other examples including jennie from blackpink but im too tired to attach pix ya'll)

4. a lot of writers who employ the stream of consciousness technique have the same combination of naks or naks that fell under the same planet.

Virginia Woolf was Shravana sun, Uttara Ashada venus, Mrigashira mars with ketu in Rohini (also Rohini asc)

James Joyce was Shravana sun & venus, Pushya moon, Shatabhisha mercury, Mrigashira mars with ketu in Rohini

(These two have their bdays super close together and its interesting how they are both considered the figureheads of this style of writing).

Anton Chekhov had Shravana sun & rahu, Revati moon, Uttara Ashada mercury & Shatabhisha venus

Literally 3 Shravana sun natives

William Faulkner had Hasta sun, Uttaraphalguni moon & mercury, Pushya ketu and was Ardra asc

Leo Tolstoy was also Uttaraphalguni moon & mercury, Pushya venus & saturn with Revati ketu and was Ardra asc

These two have the same moon, mercury & rising sign

Henry James was Aswini sun, Revati mercury, ketu in Ardra & Magha asc

Marcel Proust was Aswini moon & asc, Magha venus and Ardra rahu.

Two Aswini natives to the mix

As we can see there's a strong Moon, Sun & Nodal influence. I believe having nodal signs can make an individual very imaginative + Moon influence gives grounding to the endless nodal imagination.

5. Punarvasu natives have a habit of returning to the same themes in their works over and over again. I attribute this to the "boundless" nature of this nakshatra and its cyclic nature.

Makoto Shinkai has Punarvasu Ketu and his movies can be said to be interconnected, and have a similar over arching theme and take place in the same spiritual universe.

Frida Kahlo who has a Punarvasu stellium (sun, jupiter & rahu) literally drew herself over and over again

Gustav Klimt who has Punarvasu sun atmakaraka repeatedly used the same gold motif across many of his paintings. Jupiter is associated with the color yellow/lead and it features prominently in most of Klimt's work <3

6. serpent yoni ladies have the most distinct look. you can tell just by their eyes

Natalie Portman has Mrigashira sun

Myrna Loy has Ashlesha sun & Mrigashira venus darakaraka (I know Ashlesha does not have serpent yoni but naks associated with Nagas often have serpentine physicality)

Look at how serpentine their eyes look!! There are mannyyyy more examples ofc. I'll make another post about it sometime.

That's it for now folks<3

[your-darling-gaze]

Late on this but better that never.

I'm called Darling Grace or Cherry, (she/her) I'm 21, I'm into every practical genre of music, sound engineering, hematology, law and chemical sciences.

Face Claim: Lana Del Rey 🎀

SAVE THE DATE: THE WEDDING

CHECK OUT THE WEDDING CREW HERE!

Occupation: Experiment Handler and Alloy Specialist at STARK INDUSTRIES, Co-researcher and Data Analyst at The Verizon STEM Effort Organisation, Sub-lecturer at The Wellington International University of Arts and Sciences, Head priest at The Vulpes Temple of Fox, Cincinnati and Bassist with the band Kizses.

Weapon of choice: Taser knuckles, Modified Bearing Slingshot.

Powers: Eau-Mutation, partial marine vision, hydro-physical adaptations, Dasyatidae-gene (sting instinct).

Correspondent of The Holy Scripture of Fox

Proud inventor of THE ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY GENERATOR

Bi, ADHDer, anxiety at it's finest. also separation anxiety. Recently diagnosed Neuro-divergent folk, Hyper-sensitive, Aerophobic, Trypophobic, Mildly Anorexic.

Adopted by: @clintbarton-thearrowguy and @laura-barton-shield <3

Siblings: @cooperbarton-hawkeyeskid , @hawkeyes-favorite ,

Worshipping: The Demigod of Vulpes and Entertainment- @fox-barnes (As head priest.)

Bestayyy: Rowan @the-loss-of-my-life , @elliesquipsandbits-69 , @you-know-frankieeex <3

The Love of my Life: @soldier-bucky-barnes ♡ Check out: Our Love Story Through Time

Lab partners: @imnothulk & @tony-starkinator

Alternate Account: (Roleplay) @yoursx-cyber-skye

Family: Papa Clint Barton. Mama Laura Barton. Lilaaaa, Cooper Barton and Baby Nathan :) Grace, our kitten. James Barnes, my dearest Cooper Barnes, our puppy.

No fine objective to life, always homesick, longing and mutilated for no specific reason, but we ignore that. To define is to limit, and therefore, there isn't much that can make me into an image.

Loving Cats because I believe I am one of them. You may talk to me if you feel like it, I don't bite, as much as I seem like it.

G'Night.

A song that describes me:

picture me so :3

Love Always, Your Side Character.

(bye.)

[gwens-fiction]

Intro Post

Hi! I’m Gwen. I’m 26, she/her, have a masters in wildlife biology and conservation management, bachelors in biology with minors of English and environmental studies. I have two younger siblings, and 8 pets (5 dogs, 1 rabbit, and 2 cats). I write a lot of fanfiction for the Penguins of Madagascar fandom, but I also write several original things, too.

Genres I write tend to fall under: fantasy, urban fantasy, sci-fi, horror, weird science, action comedy (with animal characters), mystery, poetry.

Feel free to ask to be on any tag list! WIPs below the cut.

Original WIPs

Hidden Earth Chronicles

Summary: Necromancer Vasco has just returned home to find his beloved wife missing. He and his brother-in-law set out to find her and along the way Vasco learns more about where he came from and his own abilities.

Tropical Storm

Summary: Martin along Evy and Diego, are newly moving into the San Diego Zoo. However, Martin’s life is unexpectedly rocked when a secret agent accidentally drops a piece of top secret spy equipment among his belongings. Now he’s been recruited by the local espionage squad. Together they keep the zoo safe from assorted enemies, as well as face international threats.

Also planning: Patagonia Penguins which takes place long before this but is connected via being about Martin's parents.

My Baby’s a Werewolf

Summary: Single Dad, Sebastian’s, toddler daughter, Amber, gets bitten by a “big dog” one evening and becomes a little werepup. Now her dad is handling the pressures of being a single dad as well as trying to get his daughter back to normal.

Obscure Science

Summary: Rejected scientist Dr. Darwin Rose finds new employment with an off-the-record agency that focuses on well…obscure and bizarre occurrences, whether they be paranormal, supernatural, fantastical, or seem like something from science fiction, this agency investigates it all. Darwin is paired up with another scientist, Dr. Cassidy Blue, and together they have some crazy escapades.

Shady Acres

Summary: Sydney, freshly graduated from high school, goes to spend the summer with her older brother Ryan at his cabin. They set up trail cameras for fun but soon get unexpected photos that introduce them to whole new oddities that the woods can offer.

Title Under Construction

Summary: A small town has become plagued by a mysterious creature that keeps eating the inhabitants.

Fanfic WIPs

A Scientific Romance Series

A series of Penguins of Madagascar fics about Kowalski the penguin and his invention unexpectedly pairing him up with the penguins' arch nemesis: Dr Blowhole and how they’re making this relationship work.

Spin Offs:

Scientist Overboard

Summary: Francis and Kowalski have been dating for over a year when Kowalski and the others go on a mission out at sea. Kowalski finds himself washed overboard during a bad storm, waking up without any memory on an island. He and his spirit guide then attempt to return to New York while the others try to find him.

Haunted Mansion

Summary: Blowhole, Kowalski, and their children decide to go on a family vacation, but get sidetracked by a haunted mansion's advertisement that Blowhole couldn't pass up. Will include 2 guest OCs of my friend @insert-meaningful-username. A Franski fic with bonus fankids.

Collaborative WIPs with @insert-meaningful-username

Mallory Manor (Title Under Construction)

Summary: Rose sneaks into the sketchy old Mallory Manor at the end of the street and discovers far more than she bargained for.

Clandestine Affairs

Summary: During the biggest heist they’ll ever pull off, infamous criminal duo Show Biz planned on robbing one of the richest and highly valuable connections to have, Julien Prince. However, they’ve finally been caught by their rivals. With the heroes winning this battle, surely things will now be brought to justice...until, the charges are read. Sentence to death for...murdering the Senator of Delaware?!? NOW, our heroes must team up with the baddies to end this confusion, solving the mystery of the true mastermind before the crooks are falsely put to death for the only crime they didn’t commit.

Caretaker of Madagascar (Penguins of Madagascar series)

Summary: Some believe misfortune can bring people together. Others believe that destiny has the power to interconnect lives, whether those lives wanted to or not. Call it a coincidence. Call it fate. Call it a despicable force of nature. Either way, nothing could've stopped the fact that Bridget Ailith, a cantankerous new zookeeper, found herself forced to team up with the Penguins to undo a machine's disastrous effects. Doesn't help that those penguins are now—

Do You Read Me, 00FU? (Subnautica / Neebs Gaming inspired series)

Summary: Hired aboard Alterra’s prestigious and pristine spaceship, The Aurora, space engineer rookie Appsro finally gets his opportunity to voyage across the galaxy… Until it fucking crashes onto an uncharted pelagic planet. Alone and stranded on quarantined 4546B, all Appsro has in his survival skill set is his ingenuity, some tools, stubbornness, and the aid of a few (debatable if helpful or not) Alterra HQ Operators. Can he prevail and escape the treacherous deep waters, enormous aquatic monsters, and the lethal thousand-year-old bacteria that feast upon the planet? Probably not. He’s fucked.

[until-another-one-comes]

I feel like Arnold would be open to any genre but he’s partial to sci fi, fantasy and definitely crime fiction too.

Afton sounds like my dad fr. I think he’d read a lot of non fiction books about science or philosophy. Idk if documentaries existed in the 1950s but Afton would watch that.

I just think Raftellyn would be into painting. Idk why I just feel like she does that during her free time.

I know Angus might be from the mafia but your description of him sounds like he’s secretly a cryptid in the woods. But on another note, I think he’d be into action/drama/crime movies.

Other than cooking, I think Nacha learns how to knit from Margarette of course. She’s also the type to enjoy soap operas imo.

The Rudboys would be into target practice. They’re probably into weapon craftsmanship too. I don’t know if motorcycles are invented during this time period but Steven would love driving on a motorbike. And surfing.

Poor Francis! I wanna let him try out a new hobby! His life is so difficult he doesn’t know what he enjoys! 🥺 I want him to find a hobby he likes!

As for Anastacha, I think she’d be the tomboyish type. She’s not fond of ‘girly’ interests or whatever. I’m not sure what kind of stuff boys are into during the 1950s though.

Robertsky would try baking too. To make peach flavoured desserts. Albertsky on the other hand would be into woodworking/wood carving I think.

Yup! Arnold is very open with any kinds of genre so long as its well-written (as a writer he still has a critical eye when it comes to literature)

I'm not sure either but if they do then yeah Afton would love that. I'm imagining him watching those while rambling to Mia

Thats a very cute hc!

'cryptid in the woods' HELP sorry angus 😭.

AHHH I LOVE YOUR HC FOR THE RUDBOYS. Biker!Steven is real

Francis just doesn't really have an interest he leans into much compared to most residents lmao. Could be because he never had the time for it or could just be natural

I imagine Anastacha to lean more into 'alt' look/behavior like punk or goth than a tomboy but thats cool too! Thats very cute too cuz then we get very contrasting interest with her and Nacha who does 'girly' stuff like sewing and baking. Anas is probably the rough sporty type

I really like that hc for the Peachman bros. Albertsky being into woodwork makes so much sense

[sarnai4]

Movie Marathon

Here are some modern headcanons I have for Dagur when he's watching movies/his reactions afterwards.

Action films: He's memorizing all the best stunts so that he can try them immediately once the movie has ended. If one of these includes a fight scene, he's also planning which one of his friends he's going to have join him in this (probably Snotlout because Hiccup would die).

Comedies: He does better with dark comedies because he always laughs at the wrong spots for the regular ones. They have a sad moment and he's still thinking it's a joke, then wonders why everyone is giving him weird looks. At least with the dark comedies, he's supposed to laugh at someone dying.

Romance: Constantly says something inappropriate so that Astrid and Hiccup are embarrassed. The scene wasn't even intimate, but all his comments and winking would make you think otherwise. The only time he blushes too is when he and Mala are brought up, then he gets a bit bashful, but he also keeps kissing her during the smooching scenes.

Adventure: Will not stop asking Hiccup to go on the same adventure with him as the characters had. The puppy dog eyes don't go away until Hiccup finally agrees, then he gets a giant hug.

Film noir/mystery: Trusts no one, especially the main character. He's convinced the killer is secretly the hero and that the MC is just giving their side of the story to deliberately throw everyone off their trail. He's extra paranoid towards everybody for a minimum of 3 days. Mala's trying to let him know that their friends are not out to get him.

Drama: Finally knows when the sad moments aren't supposed to be laughed at. So, he tears up instead while hugging a pillow. Snotlout sees this as a cue that he can be watery-eyed too without being poked fun at. Now, they're both crying on the sofa because the main character just expressed how much love is had for someone else right before that second person dies.

Western and pirate: Combine action with adventure. This is why Hiccup's on a horse with a cowboy hat and why Snotlout is trying to not be forced to walk the plank.

Suspense/thriller: You thought he was paranoid before with the mystery films? He's not so much suspicious of the others as he is jumpy. This was probably the quietest he's ever been when watching something because he's waiting for that moment when everything goes wrong. The twins definitely take advantage of the jumpiness later, but they might get tackled in retaliation.

True stories: Sits by Fishlegs so that he can fact check that what the movie is saying really is true. They're whispering just about the entire time because Fishy is having as much fun talking about what he knows as Dagur is having learning about it. When the movie ends, they will proceed to geek out about the new information like it's a Gronckle until someone stops them.

Fantasy: Lots of "oohs" if there are impressive visuals. This genre gets his mind going with all the potential creativity, so he becomes disappointed if what actually happens in the story isn't as inventive as what he thought of. He also always thinks the heroes should be more ruthless than they are.

Musicals: Is making a mental note of the best songs so that he can ask Heather to sing them. He'll sing his request until she gives in. Some form of dance/movement is happening during the numbers too. If he's trying to not disturb the others, he's probably bouncing in the seat.

Science fiction: Is torn between being a skeptic and suspending his disbelief. He both scoffs at the overly unrealistic parts, then is impressed by how the characters managed to pull something off without dying. This time, Hiccup is his fact checker if the movie involves some type of engineering.

Horror: He's taking notes. Who let him watch one of these? There will be no stopping him now. He's determined to be even better than the scares he saw in the movie (according to him, they weren't scary and he thought each kill was funny). At least the next week is spent with everyone around him on edge because they don't know when there's going to be a pretend masked slasher coming for them. It's not even Halloween, but it is for them. Mala's not safe either. After Dagur puts a probably harmless snake in their bed, she makes him sleep on the sofa until he's out of his horror phase.

Every movie: Has a big container of some snack. Don't reach in without asking because he will bite off your hand not be happy. He's never on the edge seat because he wants to be able to hug people on both sides. He tries to not talk for the entire thing, but he will absolutely give the characters advice with Snotlout. Expect an in-depth discussion afterwards.

(Update) Decided to write this for whatever reason, so the first part is now on Ao3 and Fanfiction.net under "Movie Marathon" too.

[tallaxia]

Death Machine article with director Stephen Norrington, Brad Dourif & Ely Pouget

Cinefantastique #26 - 1995

Brad Dourif creates the mother of all rampaging robots.

The mother of all psycho robots roamed the corridors of Pinewood Studios, England from September 2, 1993, for 12 weeks. But the 20-foot tall, cable-controlled star of DEATH MACHINE mav look vaguely familiar. Like a giant metallic version of the Alien from Rid¬ ley Scott’s 1979 science-fiction classic? "Well sort of,” replied director Stephen Norrington adding, "It’s like ROBOCOP, TERMINATOR and HARDWARE too! That’s why it got financed in the first place. But while DEATH MACHINE is in the same area as all of those genre movies, it has emerged from that place with a unique style and humor to become its own separate entity.” Trimark Pictures has picked up the film’s U.S. video and technical rights for release later this year.

Norrington makes his directorial debut with this selfpenned chiller after years of gaining a formidable reputation as one of Britain's best special effects masters. He began as Rick Baker’s runner on GREYSTOKE and has since worked on numerous blockbusters including ALIENS, RETURN TO OZ and YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES. "After GREMLINS 2 I began losing interest in effects,” explained Norrington. "I started writing scripts with effects twists and the third one I came up with was DEATH MACHINE.” By 1990 however, Norrington hadn't got very far in attracting any financial interest in his new ambition so he joined the ALIEN special effects crew “just to keep my hand in” and then accepted an offer to supervise SPLIT SECOND. While working on that futuristic actioncr, producer Laura Gregory showed interest in one of Norringlon’s other scripts. SPEEDER, as a possible sequel for Rutger Hauer. (The script: Norrington’s TERMINATOR meets A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, is now planned as a follow-up to DEATH MACHINE.) The interest led Norrington to meet future DEATH MACHINE producer Vic Bateman (Japan's Victor Company head), who handled the world sales for SPLIT SECOND.

Noted Dominic Anciano, who produced DEATH MACHINE with Bateman and had a massive European success with Peter Medak’s THE KRAYS, "Vic thought Norrington ’s writing and ideas were very commercial and urged me to take him seriously. Because SPEEDER was apparently all tied up with Laura Gregory, I asked Stephen what else he had written and was given DEATH MACHINE. I thought it was so unusual for a British writer to be that succinct in his writing, that passionate about directing, 1 felt I had to give him the chance and let him make it his way. DEATH MACHINE is the sort of movie audiences worldwide want to see and we seem to have a commercial knack for making them in Britain.”

Co-financed by Japan’s Victor Company and Britain’s Entertainment Film Distributors (the latter produced SLIP STREAM), the $3 million DEATH MACHINE is set in the 21st century and focuses on nightmare events taking place behind the closed doors of the Chaank Weapons Corporation. The company has appointed a new female Chief Executive, Hayden Cale (Ely Pouget), to ensure they remain the leader of the techno-armament pack. But she wants to fire their number one asset Jack Dante, a neo-hippie whose dark genius for weaponry design is the envy of the industry. However, Dante is a childlike psychopath incapable of making the distinction between right and wrong after years of watching hardcore cartoon violence on television and decides he isn’t going without a fight. The result is the invention of his most destructive instrument ever…the unstoppable DEATH MACHINE.

Norrington pointed out, "It’s a hybrid of a million things I love; maniacs, actor Brad Dourif [who plays Dante], psycho robots, corporate nightmares, DIE HARD action and huge hi-tech sets. And that’s only naming a few. It’s your average ‘Crazed cyborg on the rampage menacing great looking people' saga!” Added Norrington more seriously, "While DEATH MACHINE is grim with some blood and gore, it isn't a splatter movie. Underneath the surface it’s about losing one’s innocence and how you become dehumanized if you are involved in an industry dealing with destruction. Do such inventors ever think about what they’re doing in real terms? Does their judgment have a guilty edge? This is about that turning off point taken to the most horrifying extreme.”

It was this edge in Norrington’s script which stirred Brad Dourif’s stomach a little. "And when that happens, it’s a sign of good material,” noted the voice of Chucky from the CHILD’S PLAY movie series and star of BODY PARTS and GRAVEYARD SHIFT. "The main point of interest for me was the cartoon connection. Dante is so tuned into animation and the mass media, he mimics everything he sees. I m taking a lot of acting risks playing this part because his responses are all so unreal and based on recognizable things. Dante responds more to TV than people. He’s a villain but a hard one to hate."

Many of the crew have noted how Dourif’s on-screen identity resembles Norrington's own off-screen look. Dourif nodded sagely, "There arc numerous similarities between Dante and Stephen. It’s his personal story about the problems we will all face when the world becomes even more industrialized. 1 can honestly say that Stephen is the best director I’ve ever worked with. It’s the era of first-timers and I've had an incredible run of them. Stephen is better equipped than most to direct this sort of movie because of his visual eye, love of the genre and his special effects background."

For Ely Pougct, the attraction was the weird twisted logic of DEATH MACHINE. The actress who appeared in the recent DARK SHADOWS TV series noted, “In Hayden’s backstory, she was responsible for the death of a child. So hunting and trying to kill the ‘childlike’ Dante causes her major psychological traumas. However, I'm definitely the tough Sigourney Weaver figure in DEATH MACHINE. Despite the script's hard as nails exterior, Stephen has put in a softness, an underlying sadness allying it more to KING KONG and FRANKENSTEIN than the obvious hi-tech equivalents.”

“The fine acting from Brad and Ely has made DEATH MACHINE less derivative than I expected in truth,” admitted Norrington on the Pinewood soundstage where the glass Chaank offices have been created. He added, “Their unique characterizations have added some real potent surprises above those contained in the script. It's less reliant on hard-tech gimmicks than I anticipated and far more bizarre than I ever imagined. I see it as a more thoughtful cross between Sam Raimi horror slapstick and James Cameron energetic action."

Norrington loves those two directors. It’s the reason he included them in a script peppered with familiar names for the leading characters; Scott Ridley, Carpenter and, of course, Dante are other examples. Plagiarism as an art form!” said Norrington. "I wrote the script when I was still a frothing fan boy. Then someone pointed out Fred Dekker had done exactly the same thing in NIGHT OF THE CREEPS. How uncool! 1 ditched a few references after finding that out.”

Responsible for the special effects in Norrington’s feature debut is Creature Effects (CFX for short) an all-British outfit consisting of Dave Elsey, Cliff Wallace, Alan Hedgecock and Brendan Lonergan who together and separately have worked on numerous high profile movies including NIGHTBREED, RETURN OF THE JEDI and WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. Norrington chose CFX mainly because he knew them, and their work, personally.

Constructing the Death Machine fell to Animated Extras, the prosthetic/ mechanics company owned by Daniel Parker and Nick Williams who worked on the Indiana Jones film scories, ENEMY MINE and MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN. They worked from Norrington’s design marquette for the killer robot. "The fullsize construction was so big and heavy it needed 12 people on the controls to make it move,” said Parker.

So was directing harder or easier than Norrington expected? He gave a wry smile and said, “I’d directed some award winning commercials and promos before DEATH MACHINE. Anyone could do it. I’m living proof that directing, in the words of the immortal, god-like James Cameron, is criminally easy. The only challenge I’ve faced had to do with time and money: staying at a consistently high quality on such a short schedule.”

[booksandchainmail]

3, 4 and 20 for the end-of-year book asks?

3. What were your top five books of the year?

with the caveat that favorites are hard:

Furious Heaven, by Kate Elliott. Alexander the Great in space, nicely hefty space opera/military scifi. I've though about this book more than maybe any non-web serial book in the past couple years. I have a playlist for it. Persephone Lee blorbo of all time. I need to remember to keep reading Kate Elliott, her stuff is mostly intimidatingly long but I've loved every book of hers I've read.

To Shape a Dragon's Breath, by Moniquill Blackgoose. After hatching a dragon, a Native American girl is forced to attend a colonial dragonriders school. This book was so perfectly targeted to me, I'm a sucker for books where people raise dragons. And the worldbuilding! Such an interesting alt-history, and such a fun magic system that is mostly actual chemistry/physics. This is one where I also got really really invested in the side characters, Theod's arc in particular hit me really hard. But it's also great to have a book (not even a super long book!) where I can say things like "I'm interested in the main character's older brother's girlfriends plotline about inventing long-range airships", and have that level of engagement across a wide cast. Also, this book has the perfect title in ways that become clear partway through.

Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. After Earth collapses, it's terraforming experiments live on. The best part of reading for the Hugo awards has been getting to find Adrian Tchaikovsky's work. I love this book (and the series I'm using it as a proxy for) deeply, the kind of science fiction so sweeping and devastating and heartbreakingly compassionate it makes me cry.

The Saint of Bright Doors, by Vajra Chandrasekera. An odd novel about a man who has decided not to be a chosen one. I keep turning this one over in my head, it's a strange book in genre and tone, but I think very effectively. It's not so much of a personal choice as the others on this list, but it had real weight and power to me. One where I posted a bunch of quotes, and have more I want to share.

He Who Drowned the World, by Shelley Parker-Chan. A genderqueer retelling of the founding of the Ming dynasty. The first one is one of my top books of all time, and this was a worthy sequel. Great character work, and great complicated messy relationships and tangled sexuality and gender.

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

So many good new authors! I listed out twelve who I enjoyed but that didn't seem in the spirit of this question. Moniquill Blackgoose and Vajra Chandrasekera both made it on to my top list with their first books. I'd also add CSE Cooney, both her novel and short fiction are excellent and I love the way she uses language.

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

Probably He Who Drowned the World? I loved the first book so much, this was one of the few books I preordered instead of getting through the library. And I'd say it lived up to it, maybe not quite as good but the first book set such a high bar.

Other choice would be Some Desperate Glory, which I got obsessed with from prerelease material. Unfortunately I overhyped it in my head, it would have had to be hundreds of pages longer to have what I wanted. Even so it was excellent, but I'd like to come back to it with clearer expectations because I think I'd appreciate it more.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep7: Sacred Ground

This episode is one of the most woo-woo mystical storylines Voyager ever did, but it's not a genre that really works for Star Trek, at least not outside of Deep Space Nine. Plus, it's truly bizarre anti-science stance is honestly baffling for a science fiction show.

I didn't mind this one as a kid, but as an adult, it really doesn't hold up, on any level. First of all, using Kes as a damsel in distress is not my favorite thing. At least it was Captain Janeway who had to rescue her and not a male character, but still, if they needed a character Janeway would feel protective and motherly toward to go rescue, it could as easily have been Harry Kim. But a storyline where no one had to be the sleeping beauty damsel would have been better.

But the biggest problem I had with this episode was that this script felt like it was preaching to us to cast aside our foolish godless atheist belief in science and embrace blind belief in a mystical higher power that knows what's good for us. Which is gross in general, but doubly gross to say to Star Trek fans. For one thing, the assumption that you can't believe in science and believe in any kind of god is weird and totally wrong, and the assumption that seeking to understand something will ruin it's magic or whatever, is bizarrely backward, and literally the exact same reasoning that theocracies use to maintain their stranglehold on power.

This episode was obsessed with the idea that it's desperately important for everyone to have 'blind faith', but unquestioning loyalty to any religious doctrine is the anathema to the cooperative future that Star Trek imagines. Any idea that's set above question, beyond the reach of empirical evidence, is ripe for any charismatic, unscrupulous person to twist for their own gain and use to divide and conquer. Science, meanwhile, is not a belief system, and it's not comparable to a religion, in that science still exists, whether you believe in it or not. Science is simply observation of the world around us, and it's always struck me as odd when some religious people take offense to that. If you believe a god created the world, aren't you honoring your god by learning about their creation? Anyone who forbids or discourages learning is always trying to maintain power over others. Romanticising ignorance or blind faith, and ridiculing those who seek to learn and understand the truth is always ill-intentioned, ALWAYS. This episode natters on about how Janeway supposedly needs to find some faith, but when she expressed her absolute confidence in her ability to find a scientific explanation for everything, she was expressing faith, in her own way, but still, the supposed 'ancestral spirits' in this episode mock her, and disdain the faith she already has, just because it isn't faith in them, and their power. This story fell apart, right there.

These 'spirits' are obviously not benevolent if they'll only help people who worship them blindly, and the people on the planet absolutely were assholes to not let the Voyager crew just scan the energy field in the first place. If saving an innocent person's life would 'offend the spirits', then your spirits are assholes, dude! They don't deserve anybody's worship, considering they're happy to let someone almost die, and her whole crew worry about her, just to teach some passing strangers a lesson about how blind faith in them is the only way- and it wasn't! Science literally would have fixed it immediately! Once again, this script hurts itself in it's confusion!

I did think the part about the trials in the ritual being whatever the individual person invented for themselves was an interesting concept, since a lot of times, people do believe that they have to suffer to gain something they seek, and put themselves through needless torment. That was a much more interesting concept to explore, especially for Janeway, but it was steamrolled by the constant, condescending, holier-than-thou crap in the rest of the episode.

Having Janeway be sad she found out the scientific explanation at the end was the most ridiculous, out of character nonsense I can think of. Even if she'd have said she was glad to know, but didn't really need to this time, that would have been fine, but to have her literally be like 'boo, finding out how it works ruined the magic!!!' was the dumbest thing ever, and no scientist would think that, ever. Does the writer of this ep really have such lack of poetry in their soul that finding out the science behind a rainbow makes the rainbow less beautiful and miraculous to them? Because that's what I'm sensing from this godawful script.

There was some nice dramatic lighting, and the temple design was atmospheric, but that's about all I can say in this ep's favor.

Tl;dr: A truly bad faith take on the nature of both science and faith, that manages to be offensive toward both concepts. It wanted very hard to be deep, but it felt more like an evangelical sermon than a Star Trek episode.

[phuljari]

incoming rant: the robotification of women

teri baaton mein aisa uljha jiya (2024) is among the latest movies in the genre of science fiction romance. it reminded me of an old itv show bahu hamari rajnikant (2016) , while i wasn't an avid watcher of the latter, i knew of it's existence. why did it remind of that particular sitcom? well, mainly because of the comedy. but it also reminded me of similar themes in english movies like ex machina (2015), wifelike (2022), archive (2020) and her (2013), which is surely a bit far fetched considering that in her, the ai never had a body. only a voice.

here, i think it's impertinent to also acknowledge male robots in indian cinema, like chitti from robot/enthiran (2010) and g.one from ra.one (2011) even though he wasn't an actual robot? i don't know if he classifies as one. so let's say, non-human, programming-based male entity (nhpbme). similar to samantha in her, a non-human, programming-based female entity (nhpbfe).

so yes, while male robots and nhpbme do exist in the sci-fi romance genre, it's the comparatively larger robotification of women that feeds the male gaze, and the patriarchy by an extention— which is ultimately problematic.

coming to the movie that i actually want to discuss, kriti sanon's sifra, in tbmauj, is the perfect lover, perfect bahu. why? she knows everything aaru (shahid kapoor) likes and wants. she has no chik-chik or tantrums like other girls. she can make cuisines from all around the world, can access everything on the internet quickly. she has perfect skin, perfect hair. probably doesn't age too. she is the dream girl of a typical man. she doesn't have her own opinions or problems, she serves him and him alone. no family of hers to care about, she can care about his family and their needs. the female gendering here acts like objectification.

the worst part of this movie was that it didn't do anything? since it was a comedy, it didn't delve deeper into the nuances of increasing technological reliance that humans have. i think it was probably meant as a warning— when sifra malfunctions and starts executing tasks that were deleted. but even at that, it fails because urmila's (dimple kapadia) company (so intelligently named) e-robots/robotex (something stupid like that), ends up launching her along with few other robots. only adds a dialogue which meant that you need to handle these robots responsibly. then, what was the point of all the testing they tried to do? placing her in different environments like india, when they don't really end up rethinking the whole idea or putting in more safety features? of course, there's no deeper meaning here. indian comedies don't really have subtext.

but it's perpetuates the same old concept of subservient women. rule-followers and caregivers. an image etched in stone. why do women ask– what do men want? men want this, an ideal version. have always wanted. fuelled by the unrealistic p*rn depictions. do they ever think what women want? aaru so casually tells off his friend who has a wife to look at how pathetic his own life is. he defends sifra's un-emotional response to a situation by attacking his friend's relationship asking if human women are any better?

it reminded me of wifelike (2022) where female robots are curated according to a person's need, a replication of their dead spouse. to love them, to serve them, to help them come out of grief. it's so funny to me how in tbmauj, sifra is shown to retain her feelings, getting jealous when aaru interacts with another woman despite getting reprogrammed; compared to how in wifelike, the robotic version of the human it was based on, always ended up leaving the husband because the human version never loved him.

isn't it interesting how female robots instantly get sexualised, and are depicted doing things that one would never ask their girlfriend or wife to do? these robots happily perform roles that are stereotypically feminine, wife-like. they're invented to put aside their feelings (if they have them) to take care of their human partners'. sifra cooks perfect food, emphasized by how many time aaru fired his maid for not cooking things the way he likes it. she probably doesn't have mood swings from periods because she's a robot. she doesn't eat, doesn't get out of shape. and most importantly, she doesn't age (cue: i'll get old but your lovers stay my age). as if the expectations from women aren't enough, that they're required to age gracefully, or best option— not age at all.

if you still don't get it, let me remind you how siri and alexa also end up on the same side of gender spectrum— female.

so the message is, guys, don't give up on your dream girl! you'll surely find a robot that satisfies all your needs! 🙄

men want perfect women, but women can't be robots. let's stop perpetuating the same image and setting unrealistic standards. real humans have real problems, deal with them.

[doctorfiction]

Go Ahead . . .Suspend My Disbelief!

Question: Do you have any general suggestions for an author who wants to write a thriller with a medical theme as its hook?

This question is very timely for me as I am just starting a new book. I would like to say that this is my second novel, but like many authors, I have a number of books in progress and struggle to find the one that inspires me to push through to the end.

That said, I took a look at my “works in progress,” and found that they all have something in common.

I like searching the web for a new scientific breakthrough or discovery that fills me with hope and scares the shit out of me simultaneously.

There . . . you see . . . we have the makings of a good thriller already. Kind of like Schrodinger’s Cat, it’s both alive and dead at the same time.

I am delighted and somewhat surprised to announce that my debut novel, Immortal Red, has just become an Amazon Best-Seller in the Medical Thriller, and Crime & Mystery / Science Fiction genres.

As such, I will use it as one of my examples for how to select an idea / premise for a novel. Shameless Plug: The eBook edition of Immortal Red is on sale for a limited time for $0.99 on Amazon. CLICK HERE for a deeper explanation and the opportunity to buy at $0.99 if you wish. While searching the web for second-hand parts for an ancient Lotus Elan and a used tweed jacket on Poshmark, I came across this article about a unique creature.

Fact: Turritopsis dohrnii, the dime-sized jellyfish with the bright red stomach, is the only creature on earth with the gift of immortality (notice that the title of the novel, Immortal Red, is chosen from the headline). When confronted with death due to advanced age, starvation, or trauma sufficient to kill but not obliterate, turritopsis dohrnii has the ability, through a process called transdifferentiation, to repair itself by converting adjacent healthy cells of one type into precise replacements for damaged cells of another type. This is not unlike a fetal stem cell, except for the fact that turritopsis can do this a seemingly endless number of times. Through this mechanism, turritopsis is able to effect a complete repair of all damaged tissue and emerge young and healthy.

Now I was intrigued and looked for a way to make this a universal concept, something that would appeal to everyone.

Questions: Would you want to live forever? Would you kill to be able to live forever? If everyone you know and love—dies of old age—would you want to go on? Would you be motivated to do anything if you had all the time in the world?

Suspension of Disbelief: A marine biologist snorkeling off the coast of Cape Fear discovers the jellyfish and takes it to her lab for further study. She kills the little invertebrates over a hundred times only to have them come back to life, new and perfect. She wonders if there may be mammalian applications. The Institute finds her research interesting but unimportant and cancels funding. Her husband works for the eighty year-old director of a CIA black ops division charged with doing jobs too dirty for the rest of the agency to touch. Surprise, the aged director offers to fund her research—and we’re off on a tale filled with a diverse cast: Nick, an archaeologist turned CIA “fixer,” who is dying, Tommie, a Native American who has died more times than he cares to remember, and Lucy, a young graduate student on the run with the “Cliff’s Notes” for immortality.

Procedure: At this point, I had to invent science sufficiently credible to allow human application of transdifferentiation. I took liberties with the existing science, but remained true to basic scientific and medical principles to allow the reader to suspend disbelief.

Here is another example of a simultaneously hopeful and horrifying scientific “breakthrough.”

CRISPR: (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) By use of a hand-held “gene gun” scientists are able to coat a heavy-metal projectile with specific gene material and literally fire it into a cell, inserting this genetic material into a strand of DNA to repair the strand or eliminate the sequence of certain diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis. . .

or to create a genetically modified “super” tomato.

All well and good until a Chinese scientist used the process in utero to create genetically modified super-twins. He’s now in prison, and there is a selective moratorium on the use of CRISPR in humans.

But once the cat is out of the bag . . .

The internet is chock full of tidbits like this if you just dig a bit. Below are the workings of machinations of one such headline:

“Combining a Virus and Genetic Material for Insertion into a Human Genome.”

Consider the following premise: the military, searching for a way to offset its ever shrinking ranks decides that it needs to create soldiers who can operate on the battle field without the constraints of conscience or the PTSD that often results from such activities.

The researchers note that the limbic system plays a vital role in the inhibition of violence and manifestation of the inevitable mental trauma of these actions. A plan is developed to insert DNA from the limbic system of a reptile into the limbic system of a test subject. Researchers note that reptiles are able to attack their prey without anger or regret. They simply do what is necessary to survive.

Ideally, the effects would be limited in both time and scope, manifesting on the battlefield and dissipating soon afterward. To that end, a decision is made to combine the type-specific DNA with a virus and literally give the subject’s limbic system a short-term “cold.”

What could possibly go wrong?

Well—it turns out—not only are the changes not limited to the target organ—the subjects are also contagious.

This premise happens to be the idea behind Elegant Beasts, a novel I am currently working on.

Below you will find the teaser prologue illustrating the evolution of an idea from Science Fact to Created Science to Suspension of Disbelief.

Elegant Beasts

Prologue

            What if? The two most dangerous words in the English language. What if he hadn't ignored that nagging pain in his gut? Or better yet, what if he had never worked for that chip manufacturer growing those damn silicon crystals for micro-circuits and then cleaning them with trichloroethylene?

            But that had been 1973. Who knew, another provocative word pairing, that “Tricky” would turn out to be one of the most potent hepatic carcinogens the world had ever seen? A time bomb that could sleep soundly for decades before waking to spawn a tumor that would quietly, double every 6-8 months, seeding the lung and regional lymph nodes. before bursting free, to take out its host in six months.

            “Damn.” Albert Fontaine, MD rolled on his left side, brought his knees to his chest and palpated the growing mass under his right ribs. If he lay perfectly still, in a tight fetal position there was no pain. But moving—well— that was something else.

But, this morning, something was different. He didn't know what. But it didn't matter, given his present circumstance, different was good. The mass felt, not so much smaller, but softer, somehow less of a challenge to his survival.

            Elizabeth Gilmore, PhD in Genetics and Virology or as he nicknamed her, Elizardbeth, now shortened to simply Lizard had told him this was just a “taste” of what was possible. A cure for the incurable. But at what cost he thought, picking at the scaly rash that had appeared on his forearms.

            Life for his humanity. But not the life he had now. Was it a good trade? He supposed it was a matter of perspective and belief. He was no longer the Catholic schoolboy who accepted everything the nuns told him. But he was not quite ready to accept the Kansas rock band's thesis that “all we are is dust in the wind.”

            The skin of the creature was the worst part.

            Albert Fontaine had always been fascinated with skin. It was an overlooked wonder of evolution and accident, a twenty-one-square foot organ with an exceptional ability to regenerate itself. He had once read that dead skin cells accounted for a billion tons of dust in the atmosphere and he wanted to believe it, but as a scientist, he had no faith in how they’d arrived at that figure. Measured how many cells the average individual lost in a year, he supposed. 30,000 cells a minute? Was that right? Skin was always changing. Microbes roved its surface, fighting disease, the miniature populations unique to the species they protected. Fontaine liked this idea of humans hosting one kind of vibrant community and dogs another and baboons and sharks yet another. He was not religious, but this felt close: every moving creature a solar system for another world, every beating heart a sun, each world contained by living, seething skin.

Albert brushed the now vaguely greenish flakes from the rash on his forearm.

Lizard had hinted at the existence of another subject, someone months further along in their “treatment.”

And so, Fontaine had broken into Elizabeth Gilmore’s lab to see for himself.

Broken in wasn’t quite the correct term, since he had used a key card to gain access, but he’d acquired the duplicate key card under a false premise. So whatever that was, it was enough that he felt jumpy. He was not given to criminal activity; he did not get speeding tickets, he did not cross against the light, and he did not eat donuts from bags labeled with other people’s names in the break room. So long as the rules made sense, he was a rule follower.

But Elizabeth Gilmore’s research did not make sense.  She had been one of DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) “golden girls,” a rising star in charge of a government-funded “super soldier” program. Fast forward six months: The Lizard had been unceremoniously booted from her high-tech digs in the Virginia Tech research center and banished to a hastily outfitted lab in one of the many dozens of remote abandoned buildings that dot the nearby Radford Army Ammunition Plant Army Base  

As Fontaine prowled through her lab, he tried to look as if he belonged, although he didn’t truly believe he would be interrupted. It was after hours for most of the staff and he’d watched Gilmore leave as he arrived. She worked the twelve-hour day shift that was typical here, seven am to seven pm. Fontaine was on the exact opposite, pulling nights since beginning his circadian skin research.

Gilmore’s lab was impeccable, not just spotlessly clean but fastidiously organized. A radio had been left on and it played the glimmering ‘80s music she listened to relentlessly. He’d somehow expected her research to be secret, hidden away, but the isolation chamber was clearly labeled.

Fontaine hadn’t been able to see anything through the glass square in the door, so he dutifully scrubbed down and searched for a hazard suit. Finding none, he considered his options. Given his dismal prognosis he decided to go for it.

The door opened with a snake-like hiss as the chamber decompressed. His vision adjusted slowly to the faint red lighting.

There it was.

One fell straight into uncanny valley just to look at it. Two legs, two arms, those frightful hands, the eyes. Was it a thing that looked human or a human that looked like a thing? It was impossible for Fontaine to tell which direction the slider was being pushed.

And the skin was the worst part. On some areas of the body, it was smooth and hairless, the surface marked only by striations that reflected the arid environment of the isolation chamber. But on other others, particularly the arms and the face —

He was reminded suddenly of his younger brother, a miracle baby. He’d been born with Harlequin Ichthyosis, a rare skin disorder that left him plated with a thick armor of his own skin, a tiny stegosaurus-human chimera. The red, scaly plaques had to be operated on to keep his limbs from auto-amputating, and to this day he had to constantly manage his scaly, red skin.

Looking at Gilmore’s research, he was reminded not of the adult his brother had become, but the tiny, scaled hybrid in the ICU he had begun as.

“Dr. Fontaine, you seem lost.”

Fontaine startled.

She was there. Of course, she was there.

Elizabeth Gilmore stood just outside the isolation chamber, her narrow, shapely face framed in the thick glass window. He saw the thick blue lanyard at her neck; she had not left at all.

“What is the use of such research?” Fontaine demanded, his voice raised in order to be heard. “What practical application can there possibly be?”

Gilmore smiled. It was neither amused nor friendly. “It cured her anxiety disorder entirely.”

Her. Somehow it was far worse to think about the creature as possessing a gender.

“This is unethical,” he told her.

Gilmore merely blinked at him.

“How did you even get someone to volunteer for this?” he asked.

Gilmore looked away for a moment; she was tapping something into the keypad. When she looked back at him, her smile was gone. She said, “They wander in after hours.”

He heard the lock slide into place.

[experiment31e]

Do y'all like stories about a girlboss mad scientist who has autism and social anxiety and likes committing acts of hubris?

Do y'all like creepy atmospheric podcasts that sound old-timey and from an alternate timeline?

Do y’all like Frankenstein but wish it had a lot more LGBTQ+ characters and a cat?

Have we got a podcast for you!

Experiment 31E is a new(ish) podcast. Season one wrapped in April, and all twelve episodes are available to binge now.

What’s it about?

Experiment 31E is a Frankenstein-inspired, speculative fiction podcast set during an alternate version of the Victorian era that follows the recorded notes of a scientist who is performing a dangerous experiment. As she seeks to perfect her formula and find a suitable specimen for testing, unexpected threats rear their heads while her own motives lurk in the dark.

Now, you might be wondering a few things:

First—how alternate is this version of the Victorian era? Well, some things are the same, some things are different. This story takes place in an alternate timeline, and the differences in the timeline will become more prominent as the story progresses.

Second—is this sci-fi? Fantasy? Horror? It’s a bit of all of them, actually. We use the broad genre label “speculative fiction” because this story features elements from science fiction, fantasy, horror, alternate history, and a smidge of steampunk. There are strange inventions but also alchemy and magic. It is not scary or gory, but it has a sinister air to it. It explores issues of identity, ethics, and mortality, not shying away from the darker aspects of humanity. There are moments of levity, but this is a story where the main character is experimenting on corpses, so it’s not exactly a tale for children.

Third—so…is this just a retelling of Frankenstein? Nope! The bones of this story owe a lot to Mary Shelley’s novel in that it features a scientist trying to reanimate dead matter (there’s also a…let’s say secondary meaning to “Frankenstein-inspired” that you will discover later in season one). But this isn’t just Frankenstein in the Victorian era with a female protagonist. While there will be some similarities (and allusions), this is not the same story.

Who are the characters?

This is a story with a single narrator, a bit like the early days of Welcome to Night Vale. However, there are several secondary characters vital to the plot.

Victoria “Vic” Corvino Trafford, aka The Scientist: The morally gray protagonist and narrator, Vic is an American who inherited a manor belonging to her late father’s family in England. She has been living there for two years at the start of the story. She’s autistic, asexual, gender nonconforming, and most importantly, a James Clark Ross fangirl. She enjoys tinkering in her laboratory, avoiding people, and trying to resurrect the dead. Vic believes in science, not magic, but is willing to give anything a try for her experiment. She is also quite handy with a knife.

John, aka The Boy: John is a stoker from Manchester who used to work in the cotton mills but now works as Vic’s assistant. He’s the Igor to her Frankenstein, the Smithers to her Mr. Burns. He’s assisted her for the two years she has been in England, but she still calls him The Boy. He’s a bit of a yes-man, but there’s more to him than first meets the eye.

Solomon and Rahul: Partners in business and in life, Solomon and Rahul are a perfect balance to each other. Sol can get a bit too hyper-focused, while Rahul is a tad chaotic, but together they equal 1 Functional Person. They run a jewelry store in Manchester—which is actually a front for their alchemy shop in the back room. They are some of the few people Vic trusts enough to tell about her experiment.

Herman: Herman is The Worstᵀᴹ. He’s a resurrectionist, aka a body-snatcher. He digs up fresh corpses and sells them to Vic for her experiments. Vic hates him, but he’s a necessary evil for her purposes.

Vic’s Mother: Vic’s mother is dead, but her influence on her daughter’s life still resonates. Vic’s mother was a scientist herself, and she used to tell Vic fantastical stories about impossible things that inspired Vic’s inventions.

Lydia: The overseer of Vic’s estate back in America. She was once friends with Vic’s mother before working for the household. She’s highly reliable and knows all the family secrets.

Lady Carmichael: An old friend of Vic’s father. She writes letters to Vic and invites her to a ball. Vic would rather eat coal than attend.

Stove: A cat.

Who made this?

Experiment 31E is an independent podcast written, performed, and edited by Lauren Triola. This is her first time making a podcast, so admittedly there was a learning curve when it comes to voice acting and sound editing, but she’s been writing stories for as long as she can remember. Lauren is autistic and asexual, just like the protagonist, and she has a complicated relationship with gender that inspired Vic being gender nonconforming. Lauren is also a bit of a history nerd—people obsessed with the Franklin Expedition might be familiar with her series of blog posts about John Torrington. Most of the music featured in the podcast was written by Lauren’s sister, Shannon, while a few of the simpler themes were written by Lauren. Lauren also runs all the social media sites and is writing this post (hi!).

Who is this for?

Excellent question!

Obviously, fans of Frankenstein will probably enjoy this story, as will people who enjoy retellings or remixes of Frankenstein, like Mackenzi Lee’s This Monstrous Thing. If you love the character Jack from Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series then you will most likely love Vic as well, since she is very similar to Jack—as in I-did-not-realize-how-similar-until-it-was-too-late-Seanan-please-don’t-sue similar (basically they’re both a combination of queer/neurodivergent with mad scientist, so if that’s your very specific trope, you’ll love it).

If you participate in Tumblr’s annual book club of Dracula Daily, or listen to the podcast @re-dracula, then you’ll probably enjoy Experiment 31E too. It’s got a classical literature horror feel to it, with an eerie atmospheric sound.

Fans of AMC’s The Terror may enjoy the mix of speculative fiction and history. There are plenty of historical Easter eggs in this podcast—including some references to polar exploration and the Franklin Expedition. While this story takes place a couple years before the expedition, the writer of this podcast is quite obsessed with Franklin and Co., so expect mentions of some crew members to pop up here and there.

If you enjoy Mike Flanagan’s horror-with-feelings style of writing, like Midnight Mass or Haunting of Hill House, then you might enjoy this too. Experiment 31E isn’t straight up horror like the shows in the Flanaverse, but it’s got some philosophical musings on life and death that wouldn’t be out of place in Flanagan’s work.

All in all, this is a story for anyone who likes creepy things. It’s for anyone who likes protagonists who aren’t completely good or evil but fall somewhere in between. It’s for anyone who has ever felt different or been told that there is something wrong with them. Most importantly, it’s for anyone who wants to hear a mad scientist cackle as they defy the laws of nature and bring something unholy back from the dead.

So give it a listen!

Thanks for reading this far! We hope you give Experiment 31E a try! Check out our trailer for season one below:

[profiterole-reads]

2022 Favourites

In no particular order. This is content I've read and watched in 2022, not necessarily content released in 2022.

Books

1. A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland: m/m heroic fantasy + non-binary characters. This was one of my most expected novels of the year and I was fully satisfied with the result. One of the protagonists suffers from severe anxiety.

2. [French] L’Héritage des Rois-Passeurs by Manon Fargetton: portal fantasy with a lesbian protagonist. The French language in the secondary world is different, but I don't know if the author invented the variations or based them on something real.

3. Sword Dance by AJ Demas: m/nb historical fantasy. This trilogy takes place in a fictional world based on Ancient Greece. It's a delightful mix of intrigue and domesticity shenanigans.

4. The Hollow Star Saga by Ashley Shuttleworth: f/f and m/m urban fantasy (YA). This series about the fae also includes a touch of Greek mythology. I care a lot about all the characters.

5. Youngblood by Sasha Laurens: f/f urban fantasy (YA). This is my favourite queer vampire novel. It's an excellent mix of vampire lore, romance and mystery.

6. The Magic Between by Stephanie Hoyt: m/m magical realism. The characters have superpowers, but it's not superhero fiction. It's a fun bi4bi romance.

7. One Verse Multi by Sander Santiago: m/m/m science fiction with a trans male protagonist. This is my favourite read of the year. I loved the science in this story and how the author played with the Mandela effect (false memories shared by many people).

8. Safe and Sound by EM Lindsey: m/m romance. This is a very moving hurt & comfort novel. This author always does a great job with the intersectionality of queerness and disability, deafness and vertigo in this case.

9. If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So: f/f romance. This novel is about identity (queer, but also British and Cantonese) and fandom.

10. [Spanish] Anne sin Filtros by Iria Parente and Selene Pascual: f/f/m romance with a trans male protagonist (YA). This novel is also about queerness and fandom. I've read several books by these authors and this is my fave.

 TV shows

1. Ancient Detective: murder mystery/wuxia with BL vibes + a non-binary character in the last few episodes. While this c-drama is mostly m/f, I appreciated the queer touches, as well as the complex plot.

2. Legend of Yunze: GL wuxia. This c-drama is a quick watch, with episodes that are only a few minutes long. What's nice is that the f/f is not very censored for a Chinese show.

3. The Lost Tomb/DMBJ franchise: adventure/fantasy with BL vibes. This c-drama franchise kept me busy for a good part of the year and I estimate that I've seen about half of it. It covers a genre that is relatively rare in Western shows.

4. Bulgasal: urban fantasy with a queer-coded villain. Sure, queer-coded villains aren't the best form of representation, but the one in this k-drama is very well-written. The reincarnation plot is fascinating as well.

5. Vampire Academy: urban fantasy with some f/f and some m/m (YA). I loved the movie way back and I'm glad that they've added queer representation to the show, even though it would have been even better if they had made the Lissa/Rose subtext canon.

6. Wednesday: murder mystery/urban fantasy with a probably a-spec protagonist (YA). This is a delightful adaptation of the Addams Family, true to the old movies.

7. Love in the Air: BL romance. This addictive Thai drama is my favourite show of the year. Payu/Rain are my fave couple, they're so playful and loving. For Prapai/Sky, there's a lot of hurt & comfort, which gave me so many feels.

8. Semantic Error: BL romance. This k-drama's protagonist is on the autism spectrum. It's enemies-to-lovers, or rather annoyances-to-lovers.

9. She Makes My Heart Flutter: GL romance. This k-drama is a quick watch. I love that it mostly focuses on sapphic friendships.

10. Heartstopper: m/m romance with some f/f and a trans girl (YA). I love the webcomic and the adaptation is really well done. It's such a sweet story.

[jetwhenitsmidnight]

Cursed Under London by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch

Release date: 4 July 2024

Genre: adult historical fantasy rom-com

If you like:

Grumpy x Sunshine

Only One Bed

Found family

Trio of disaster bis sharing one(1) braincell

A little cat-sized dragon

Horrible History (the author wrote for the show)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Synopsis

In an alternative Elizabethan London, Upper London residents Fang and Lazare awake from their deaths to discover they are not quite human anymore. In fact, despite having acquired the power of immortality, they’re also not quite vampire, zombie, werewolf or any of the other supernatural beings that reside in the underground city of Deep London.

Thrown together by the curse they share, the two strangers set out to reverse the spell, all the while trying to ignore the intense connection between them. As they are drawn further into the shadowy world of Deep London, they unearth a dangerous plot which they appear to be right in the middle of…

Content warnings

Violence, death, blood

Child abuse, child endangerment, confinement, kidnapping

Sexual harassment (recurring)

Racism

Consumption of human flesh (not cannibalism)

Mention of animal abuse

Alcohol consumption

Review

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC! 🐉🐈‍⬛🧛

I have to be brutally honest; this book could use a lot of editing.

There are PoV changes in the middle of paragraphs, sometimes it is not clear who is being referred to, and the dialogue could flow better. Also, the writing is very anachronistic. Like, "hot" and "hotties" are used multiple times throughout this book. I'm not a historian, so maybe they did say that in Elizabethan England, but at one point "re" was used, and as a computer science student I am fairly certain that emails had not been invented yet. If you are the type of person to be put off by this, be warned.

I also have to address the blurb and the fact that it is wrong! The blurb describes this book as a "cozy rom-com", which it is not! These guys die so many times, they are constantly adventuring and hauling ass. I think they chill out for like ONE (1) scene, then they immediately go back to being in danger! This is the opposite of the meaning of cozy!!

That being said! I freaking loved this. These characters are so fun to read and they were so endearing to me I fell in love with their dumbasses. These three adults share one brain cell and Nell has it 90% of the time. The other 10% is when Lazare is being emotionally intelligent, and Fang breaks the smart Asian stereotype by having the brain cell never. Also Amber the dragon is the sweetest little baby I want to adopt her and feed her all the meats she desires.

The world-building is rather interesting and fleshed out. The author does such a good job at showing how the supernatural creatures live alongside the humans, as well as how they are integrated into this society. It was really interesting getting to explore this alternate version of London (and also Deep London).

I appreciate that our main characters are PoC; with the way people get mad/debate about the existence of PoC in historical fiction, having characters that are not white + having their race be intrinsically tied to their backstories was much appreciated.

This book is also hilarious. Your mileage may vary; my bestie thought the humour was a bit much, and I personally found some of it to be ridiculous but I could still find it funny.

I also loved the stupid-ass romance. Lazare and Fang are so dysfunctional and stupid (endearing) (and moreso Fang). Their dynamic was so frustrating to read but in a good way, I promise! Also, this is pitched as a romance, but (IMO) one of the central tenets of the romance genre is that the couple ends up together by the end, which is NOT the case here.

Since this is book 1 of a series, they will probably get it together in the sequel. Which, BTW, I am beyond excited for I need it so bad.

(@ the author or publisher or whoever is in charge of this, I would love an ARC for the sequel hmu)