#also the fact that the edit ends with the IDEA of tory instead of actually her irl. has she finally become an actual girl

[pinkgrapefloyd]

tory nichols x lady macbeth monologue

[googly-eyed-plank]

If The Outlaws had YouTube Channels (Part 1)

RANI • She'd seen how fun it looked to get on the social media train from various other people at school, but she was never allowed to make accounts herself when she was really into it, but did anyway, behind her parents' backs. She'd often use filming equipment from school or her mother's phone whilst she was busy, and send the footage to her school email for editing on the library computer, but wittled it down to filming on her own phone once she'd gotten one. • (Pre-Community Service) She started out with basic little things, like making lyric videos of her favourite songs - she was young at the time, so not all of the early ones have exactly the best colour palette, but they still did well in spite of this. Once she was older, and had her own phone, she moved onto trying to make study help videos, in a bid to make her own study sessions less draining, and made a fairly successful series on certain subjects (primarily mathematics). • (Post-Community Service) The uploads lessened, and the study series ended, and while it was a stupid idea, the thrill of potentially being found out enraptured her, and she began doing discrete haul videos of all the items she'd "bought" that day. These were less popular. • After running away, all her videos have since been privatised, and she unsubscribed from everyone else's accounts. She still follows Ben on an alt. • Rani currently has 40 subscribers, who were interested in the channel before it went idle, and forgot to unsubscribe. The Community Srevice guys used to be subscribed, but unfollowed at various points in time. • John was happy to unfollow after finding out about Rani dumping Ben, and Greg did so too, as he felt bad for Ben (given he's also been dumped numerous times), Ben took a while to unfollow, but did a few weeks before meeting Tori, and Gabby (with a little convincing there was no "tea" to be seen) and Myrna also did the same after this.

BEN • He started the channel a little while after he was dumped by Rani, deciding this would be a good venture to keep himself occupied instead of thinking about her, and finds himself actually enjoying it. • For the content? Cooking tips, mostly. Making food is one of his passions, and making people happy through something so simple is something that means a lot to Ben. While he won't do any tutorials for special dishes (gotta keep those recipes secret!), he does take requests for other things, and often replies to comments to try and help out others and their cooking journies where he can. • Often livestreams making a dish to allow for people to ask questions, and uses any donations to place in the fund to pay back Rani's parents for the loan. • He also promotes the foodshack from time to time, and manages to build a nice little community for himself. • After meeting Tori, she shows up on his channel quite a lot, most often on livestreams, where they reminisce on things that've recently happened, and joke about as Ben cooks. • Is doing very well for himself and currently at 3k subscribers and counting (some of his audience transferred over from Tori's channel). His biggest supporter is Tori, and he always pins the lovely comments she leaves on his videos.

TORI • She created her account on her 13th birthday, after also recieving her first ever pair of rollerskates. She had tried rollerskates before at a friend's party, and had always wanted a pair of her own as a result, so once she got them, she was only too excited to show them off. • Her first video was reviewing the skates and tattling off different facts and specifications she'd been researching leading up to this moment. • From there, it was mostly a lot of practising videos, and showcasing of cool tricks she'd learnt or come up with. At the end of each year, she'd upload a "best of" compilation, edited together with the help of her father. • By the time she was 16, she felt fully confident in her abilities, and while she still had some things to learn, she started making more tutorial videos, and reviewing/trying out other rollerskates she could get her hands on (at one point, a rollerskating place even sent her a free pair to review on the channel after liking her content for the last pair of theirs she'd bought). • Sometimes goes to the skate park to show them off, and livestreams with the use of a camera off to the side (managed by her dad), and a GoPro for different angles. Once she met Ben, he began manning the miscellaneous camera for her, so the lives became more frequent. • Once she and Ben starting dating, he began to appear a lot more in her videos, often holding the camera and giving commentary, and sometimes even being given lessons to see how he would do. • On special occasions (such as her birthday), Tori would begin recording small and sweet vlogs to upload, just letting her audience know how things were going. • Tori currently has around 10k subscribers, thanks to her stunning moves and the additional help of one of her skating videos getting somewhat popular on another platform. She's thankful for the happiness she gets to give to people through her content.

[nex-u]

BTW I WOULD ALSO LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT ALL YOUR ENSTARS AUS especially the saint spell one if you couldnt tell...i am So interested

Most of the stuff I have planned out at the moment are just the roles but this still ended up being somewhat long because of formatting so everything is undercut

The St Spell's one hasn't been that thought out yet, I literally just came up with it yesterday. I'm thinking about whether to keep the original St Spell's character, or to make it Ensemble Square but, it's been replaced with a magic school (I have no idea how else to word this)

Thinking up some stuff at the time of writing this

I could see Koga, Shinobu, Jun, Rinne, and Wataru as Animas

Valkyrie and fine as Clockhearts (Originating from what, I'm not sure yet)

Undead as Nephilims?

The witches could have a magic skill related to something in Enstars (Natsume would definitely be a witch, I could see him take as many magic classes as possible and practice it with Sora and Aoba in the forests)

Yeah I'll figure this all out somehow

The MILGRAM one is something I worked on with two friends. We decided to have their backstories the same with some differences so there's a reason for the fact that they're in prison (Haven't figured out the crimes yet but the roles are done)

Es: Anzu Jackalope: Daikichi Haruka: Mayoi Yuno: Arashi Fuuta: Koga Muu: Aira Shidou: Tatsumi Mahiru: Niki Kazui: Madara Amane: Tori Mikoto: HiMERU Kotoko: Souma

Sadly no Smoker Gang in this AU

Alien Stage roles are

Mizi: Makoto Sua: Hokuto Till: Rinne (I decided to remove the whole Till likes Mizi thing ((I mean, it's an alternate universe, so)) Ivan: HiMERU Luka: Izumi Hyuna: Still kind of trying to figure this one out

I'm working on a Makoto and Hokuto edit for this AU but I don't know whether to draw Hokuto with long hair or not

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun roles

Hanako: Kohaku Nene: Aira Kou: Hiiro Teru: Rinne Tsukasa: Tsukasa

This one is also still a work in progress. I'm thinking of writing a fic that follows the TBHK pilot so roles will probably be finalized by then

Anddd last but not least, takt.op Destiny (This is one I'm currently working on)

[C]: Conductor [M]: Musicart [O/R]: Other/Relative

Takt: Leo [C] Cosette: Tsukasa* [M] Anna: Arashi [O/R] Charlotte: Izumi [C] Extra character I added to be Izumi's Musicart: Ritsu** [M] Lenny: Madara [C] Titan: Kohaku [M] Schindler Valkyrie's Conductor: Shu*** [C] Valkyrie: Mika [M] Sagan: Eichi [C] Heaven: Nagisa [M] Hell: Hiyori [M] Kenji (Takt's Dad): Leo's Dad**** [O/R]

*: Something funny I realized this morning was that Tsukasa and Destiny are both sweet tooths

**: Charlotte isn't actually a Conductor, she doesn't have a Musicart, she works as an employee in the technology development department of New York Symphonica. I decided to give Izumi a Musicart in this AU to add all of Knights

***: Schindler doesn't have a Musicart (Despite working with Schindler, Valkyrie hasn't formed a pact with a Conductor), so instead of using a solo unit and separating a member from their unit I made it so Enstars Valkyrie replaces takt.op Valkyrie and Schindler

****: I don't know if Leo's dad has a name or not so I might end up using Kenji's name (So his name will be Kenji Tsukinaga)

That's a, pretty long list. If you read through all this thanks a lot, I'll be planning more and might make some art for these so I'll eventually dump some of it on here in the future

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

would you ever do a general rating of the 1d music videos?

I genuinely thought that I had already answered this, but I hadn’t.  So my answer is: Of course! I thought you’d never ask.

One Thing: Music videos are inherently absurd and in some ways the more naturalistic they try and be the more ridiculous they are - because you still have these people lip syncing through life.  One of the reason that One Thing works so well - is that idea of the video is that 1D are performing their song through London.  So you get all the absurd joy of an upbeat music video performance, but it feels real, because they are actually travelling through London on a bus performing.

There are so many perfect moments in this video: Harry’s ridiculous cheesyness at the beginning, Zayn with the Hijabi, Niall busking, Louis looking on while Zayn is busking and sort of taking charge, all the beautiful heartbreaking connection and charm on the bus.  Even Liam’s going blank as someone takes a picture with him - is capturing an importat aspect of who he is.  The framework that they were performing, allowed all these moments to come out that felt very real.

Kiss You: Glorious high energy ridiculousness.  The simple concept of tribute to Elvis movies works really well - working with the unrealness of filming makes the video feel grounded in a paradoxical way.  One of the reasons I like music videos is that they need to be based on an idea that can be executed in such a short space of time.  And that’s what I think 

What Makes You Beautiful: Is the WMYB music video actually good? maybe not.  There’s some really ridiculous cross fade editing and nothing about it is particularly interesting.  But it doesn’t matter, because I love it ever so much.  There’s so much joy from their performances - and they’re wearing really ridiculous trousers.  

Plus the ocean is in it lots and I haven’t been for a swim for almost five months and I haven’t seen a body of water larger than a duck pond for longer. Joy and a sense of place is enough for a music video.

Little Things: Sweet, sincere, naturalistic and effective.  It’s very simple and simple is hard.  But everything about it (except the song) works.

Best Song Ever: Such an absurd music video - but heaps of fun and that’s all that really matters.  Obviously Marcel and Veronica alone would be enough, but there is a lot of other joy to be had here, they interact with each other - and there’s synchroised dancing.  

(A small side note, I hadn’t realised that it was filmed in a synagogue, until Ben mentioned it recently on a day that was definitely not hte anniversary of it being filmed.  And I couldn’t stop thinking about it when watching, because it’s so obvious.  And there are all sorts of ways that the space doesn’t feel like an office, but a set pretending to be an office.  It doesn’t really matter in this video, because it’s supposed to be absurd, but Ben is really, really bad at sense of place in his videos).

Story of My Life: This is an excellent concept for a music video - it’s simple enough that it can be explored in four minutes, but it is interesting.  There’s an incredible behind the scene team that recreated houses from the 1990s, and those sequences really work for me.  The space they sing in also looks really cool and interesting, in a way that fits with the theme of the video.  Despite these strengths, it also invented 1D standing in a line, singing, but not interacting while being filmed from below, which is the curse of later 1D music videos.  (I absolutely get the appeal of 1D members having bits by themselves, and therefore making filming less intense for all involved, but why then choose such a terrible way for them to come together again?)

Live While We’re Young:  Watching the treatment has really brought out the weakness of this video to me.  The frolicking is fun - the whole video is super high energy and full of joy, but where are they and why? The video is just too clean, both literally and figureatively, to make the fun these people in their late teens and early twenties are supposedly having seem real.

Drag Me Down:  The concept behind the video is amusingly basic (’the opposite of being dragged down is going into space!’), but the video itself mostly works.  The setting is more than interesting enough to sustain 3 minutes and elevent seconds of 1D members existing in it. And Harry and the robot is actively good.

You & I: I’ve never quite understood the vitriol directed at this video.  It’s quite drab and not actively good, but there’s interaction between 1D members and the British seaside in bleak weather is a sense of place.  (Here’s getting even more controversial.  I’ve no idea why people call this plagerism.  Using the same special effect is hardly plagerism - and music videos as a genre involve a lot of using ideas.  

Perfect: I struggled with where to place this, because there’s a lot of good moments: the interview, Liam and Louis messing around, Harry and Harry L. And there should be a sense of space.  But ultimately the inexplicable decision to film in black and white really brings this video down for me.  As far as I can tell the only reason it was done that way to make it look pretty.  And I have a real thing about filmakers choosing aesthetics in a way that undermines what they’re actually trying to do.  If it had felt more real and grounded this video could have so easily captured the cooped up feeling of luxury - and the ways you cope in it that the song mentions.  But instead it’s just a series of aesthetically chosen snippets - and then people singing in a line for no reason.  

Night Changes: This video is at least a couple of places higher than it should be, because of the incadescent hammy charm of Harry’s performance.  Also because the fact that Niall wants to kill you at least makes his segment interesting. But I will say that I think the depiction of y/n ends up being quite misogynist, particularly because the video makes her everywoman.  She’s ridiculously passive thorughout each scenario, not just being led around by 1D members on the date itself, but also doing nothing while Niall is on fire.  Then her judgements are absurdly shallow - blaming Zayn for her ex being an asshole and Niall for being set on fire (although if she’s just using it as excuse to escape that’s legit)

History: This video is also a struggle - because the footage is really good and the present day performance is really bad.  In the end I dropped it down the list, because of the way it squandered potential and how easy it would be to make a better version of this video.

Gotta Be You: In a lot of ways Gotta Be You isn’t bad it’s just boring with some very odd serious faces.  But I can never unsee Liam rending at his trousers after singing ‘what a mess I made upon your innocence’ - and the video has to take responsibility for that.

Midnight Memories: This video is an abomination - trying for joy and a sense of place and failing spectacularly at both.  I have written a whole post about everything that is wrong with Midnight Memories.  And the only thing I’d like to add is: ‘Stop assuming that women owe you attention Niall’.  

Steal My Girl: So mostly this is just a mediocre video.  There’s no emotional core to it.  There’s no real sense of place - and the attempts at surrealism are super basic.  But it would be a lot higher up (because there’s a lot of bad 1D videos), if it wasn’t for the depiction of what is supposed to be Masai culture.

That video mostly depicts performers in that desert.  Ballet Dancers, marching bands, Sumo Wrestlers, rhythmic gymnasts and mimes.  These are all people who are performing in this video in a way they perform for a living.  To include a depiction of Masai people in that context, is to reduce Masai culture to a performance for white people.  

I think it’s also really importat that the Masai are presumably black American extras dressed up to look like Masai, while everyone else from ballet dancers to Sumo wrestlers, are what they are performing.  And I think you can really tell - particularly the difference between Zayn’s interaction with the Sumo wrestlers, and Niall’s interaction with the Masai.  The Sumo wrestlers are depicted as people who are interacting with Zayn and have agency. (There may very well also be things Japanese people object to about the depiction of Sumo wrestlers! Obviously I’m not an expert in any of this.  But I do think the difference between having people with knowledge, and having people dress up is very significant).

More than that, the whole idea of ‘bringing life to the desert’ is also a colonial idea.  There is life in a desert - and there are people who have lived in the desert - the idea that the desert is lifeless and needs to be transformed by outsiders only makes sense for people who want to erasing existing life and claim it as their own. 

One Way or Another Teenage Kicks: DAVID FUCKING CAMERON! JUST STANDING THERE SURROUNDED BY ONE DIRECTION MEMBERS!  Even if you leave aside the current set of clusterfucks that David Cameron is directly responsible for, because they didn’t know about them (WHICH I DON’T!), austerity was killing people in 2013.  David Cameron’s Tory governement relentlessly attacked poor and disabled people and made their lives worse. It’s shameful that any of them were prepared to be in a video with him.  (There is also the larger issue of the way Comic Relief constructs ‘Africa’ and the white saviourism of this video, but the appearance of David Cameron’s smug face means I can’t concentrate enough to write about it).

[womeninfilms]

Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?

Year: 2016

Length: 1h 26min

Genre: Thriller

Language: English

Director: Melanie Aitkenhead

Starring: Emily Meade, Leila George, Nick Eversman, Ivan Sergei, Tori Spelling, James Franco, Amber Coney

Story: Leah (Leila George) is a young woman in college, who is interested in acting and spending time with her girlfriend Pearl (Emily Meade). When Leah is cast as the titular character in Macbeth, she becomes more confident and decides to introduce Pearl to her mother Julie (Tori Spelling). Julie isn’t too happy about Leah having a girlfriend and tries to sabotage the relationship when Bob (Nick Eversman), a guy who is obsessed with Leah, starts feeding her lies about Pearl. What no one knows, however, is that Pearl is actually a vampire.

Pros:

Sapphic vampires: Of all the mythical creatures I like vampires best, so a movie about sapphic vampires is the best thing that can happen to me. This movie is exactly about that. It’s about Pearl falling in love with a human and not wanting to bite her because she doesn’t want to condemn her to lead a cursed life as a vampire. It’s a similar story to all the straight vampire stories out there, which makes it such a great asset to the canon of vampire movies.

Reversal of roles: Leah is in a literature class where they discuss monsters in books and films and how the monster is often seen as “queer” and has to be killed to establish heterosexuality. The movie takes this notion and turns it around. The monster (Pearl) is the good person in this story, while those who deviate from the norm and have to be punished are men who abuse and rape women. Pearl only kills abusive men who deserve it while saving innocent women from a horrible fate. This is an exact reversal of stories such as Dracula.

Cons:

It might be a porn film: The first thing I noticed that was off with this movie is the music. Even when it tries to be suspenseful it still sounds like something straight out of a bad porn film. Which brings me to the sex scenes and what leads up to them. Pearl is a photographer and she takes lots of sexy pictures of Leah, and these pictures often lead to sex. However, there are no explicit sex scenes until the last third of the movie when Leah and Pearl make up after Pearl tells Leah she’s a vampire. They have sex in a cemetery and this scene looks and feels a lot like a porn film. A couple of things could have been handled better in this regard.

The whole James Franco thing: The story is by James Franco and he also plays the theatre director in the film. Every scene with him is just incredibly weird. When Leah auditions for the role of Macbeth, he is on the fence at first, but when he sees her interacting with another woman (who touches Leah’s stomach and chest), he is suddenly on board with the idea. Later during rehearsals, they go through the scene with the three witches and the director plays music, which sounds exactly like the soundtrack, and has the three witches sexily dance around Leah, obviously enjoying the whole scene in front of him. What makes it even weirder is that Leah doesn’t feel uncomfortable with having her sexuality exploited like this.

Over the top violence: There isn’t a lack of violence in this movie. There are two attempted rape scenes, you see in great detail how a man’s wrists are slit with a razor blade, Bob drugs Leah’s drink and then tries to rape her, you see lots of bitten necks, Bob’s head is smashed with a statue and so on. The movie is quite cheaply produced, but they made sure to include lots of violent scenes with vast amounts of blood, so please don’t watch it if you’re not a fan of violent movies.

It’s not a good movie: I hardly ever write about a movie’s overall performance on this blog, but I have to say that this isn’t a good movie. The acting is average, the music, as mentioned, would be better placed if this was a porn film, the script could have used some editing, there is no character development apart from characters doing something contrary to what they did the whole movie, and the ending doesn’t make sense at all.

Homophobia: 3/10 – Leah’s mother struggles to accept her daughter’s sexuality. It’s mentioned that she is quite conservative, so this fits with her characters description. She’s not outright homophobic, but she often mentions she wishes Leah would bring home a boyfriend instead. Bob, who is obsessed with Leah, can’t deal with the fact that Leah is in love with someone else and even calls her a freak for being in love with a woman.

Violence: 4/10 – There is no outright violence against characters because of their sexual orientation, there are no homophobic attacks, for example, but Bob, who knows that Leah will never like him because she loves a woman, drugs her and then tries to rape her. He also tries to sabotage Leah’s relationship for the same reasons. And, as mentioned above, the movie is just violent in general.

Ending: The ending is inconclusive. Julie is killed by Bob and Leah smashes Bob’s head in return while Pearl takes care of three vampires who bullied her the whole movie. Then Leah convinces Pearl to bite her. Pearl mentions once that if a vampire bites their one true love, they are saved from being damned and will stay with this person for eternity. Leah wants Pearl to bite her for that reason, hoping she can save Pearl. But the audience never learns if Pearl is saved. Instead, there is a cut to a scene one year later which shows that the three vampires and Bob are still alive and then the movie is over.

Sexual orientation: Both Leah and Pearl only show interest in women. Their sexual orientation is never discussed. However, Pearl is most likely a lesbian because she had another relationship before Leah with the vampire who turned her, and this vampire was also a woman. Leah is aware that Bob has a crush on her, but she would never return his feelings. It’s not clear if she’s just not interested in Bob or in men in general, but it can be assumed that she is also a lesbian.

[darthbelle]

Good morning, Sam! I'm here with a few more fanfic writer asks if it's alright with you? How about 13, 14, 19, 20, 27 and 31 (for AEAL, I know you already talked about it a little when answering similar asks, but can u get into some more detail pls? Like, you thought about the piano scene and theeeen?...)? Have yourself a lovely day at your haunted cat farm (I presume)!

Hey! Sounds good to me!

13. When did you start writing fanfic?

 I actually just checked, and I was apparently 15 when I started writing fic! I started off with a few drabble-length fics, and then literally the next day, I started a multi-chap that, until AEAL, was the longest thing I’d ever written.

14. How do you feel about your older work?

Pretty conflicted, actually. 

I think that the ideas that I had were decent. The execution, though leaves something to be desired. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the fact that I know that people genuinely enjoyed (enjoy?) some of my older work, I would have considered taking them down and either completely starting them over from scratch at a later date or just never re-uploading them. 

But the stuff I wrote a year or two later (so, my Jori fics) I’m still proud of. I mean, I went and edited them all within the past year and finally uploaded them to AO3. Some of them I barely had to change at all, and some I didn’t need to change, but did anyway (like I did with Sober, actually). 

I’m glad I wrote the things I did (for the most part). They made me a better writer at the time, and I’m still pretty proud of some of the things I wrote. But they’re not up to the level of things I’m writing now (which need work themselves!), which is understandable considering I was a literal 15 year old when I was writing them

So yeah, conflicted but like, I don’t hate it 

19. What words do you think you tend to use the most?

Fuck. 

No, actually, I use fuck a lot without even meaning to. It just kinda slips out, especially in dialogue. 

Also, it’s less words and more patterns of words, but I use like, “arched eyebrows” and stuff like that a lot. Glances and glaring and honestly just anything to do with facial expressions...I tend to rely on that kind of thing. 

20. What feedback makes you the happiest to hear?

Gosh, how does one answer this without feeling a little conceited?

I don’t know if happiest is the right word, but if someone tells me that something I wrote made them cry, then I know that I’m doing something right because at least my fic made them feel. It’s also really cool when someone just is like “I spent all night reading this and just wanted to say that I liked it a lot” because it’s just so cool that someone would take the time to read something I wrote??? 

27. What time of day do you prefer to write?

It’s not that I like to write at this time of day, but I tend to write in the late morning and early afternoon because that’s generally the only time that I can actually write. 

Weirdly, I like to read and edit at night, though. 

31. What was the development process of [Fanfic Name] like?

Tell ya what, if I had known that AEAL was going to be somewhat popular, I probably would have kept a better record of its development process

But, just from deep diving through my records (literally, I was keyword searching through ancient messages and shit), it seems as if I started writing AEAL sometime in November of 2019. Well, I started doing research and very basic writing then. I don’t think I really started writing it until Christmas, maybe. At that time, I was still editing...Sober, I think? Wait, nope, apparently it was Empty. Dang, my timeline is all messed up.  Anyway

Maybe I should start from the beginning.  So, back in November last year, Victorious was put onto Netflix and suddenly, almost overnight, there was this fandom that just hadn’t existed the day before. I mean, it did exist- I know that there were still people writing Jori fic out there and stuff like that- but it was nothing like it had been back in like, 2012 and 2013. But then Netflix put it up and all of these people, whether they were like me and coming back to an old fandom or if they were brand new fans, were creating and interacting with Jori again. 

So I decided that maybe it was time to transfer over my old Jori fics onto AO3. Thankfully, I decided to read them first, though, and realized that I could make them better. Like, over 6 years had passed since I had worked on them and I figured I could try and fuck around with them a little just to see how they would be received. 

And, uh, they were received pretty well, I guess.

I started with Devil’s Advocate, which I considered my weakest of the three Jori fics I had at the time, and worked up to Sober, which was the one I remembered the most and was most excited to work on. And I got like, halfway through DA and was like “maybe it’s time for me to start writing again”. And that was...honestly, I was nervous. I hadn’t written anything other than research papers for years at that point, and even though my editing process had required me to write a bit (like, whole chapters in some places), it wasn’t the same as starting from scratch and coming up with something new. 

Around that time, I opened up a document and wrote down the line: “No one really expected Tori to go to college” (side note, I always think that I put “Vega” in there, too, but I guess I didn’t). And then I did some research (several hours worth) about the California university system, decided that it was way too complicated for me to do properly (and I kinda didn’t want someone to come into my comments and be like “well, actually” about the dang California educational system) and came up with a generic liberal arts college instead. 

And then I wrote the first page or two and got stuck. Like, really stuck. I had no idea what the hell I was doing, or what the story was even supposed to be. I wanted Tori and Jade to be at college together and that was about it. I think I almost abandoned it a few times just because like, the likelihood of me actually progressing forward with this fic was pretty small. It wasn’t even like some of the other fics I’ve started and never finished because at least with those I had written whole ass scenes before I stopped. AEAL (which was just known as “untitled as of now” until the day I uploaded the first chapter) only had a few hundred words and I wasn’t even happy with them. 

I don’t really remember what happened between then and early January. But in early January, I was struck with the imagery of...well, the piano scene. And I knew I had to write it because it was going to be stuck in my head forever otherwise. 

I just had to get to it. 

So I finished editing Empty, started editing Sober, and really started writing this silly little college fic that didn’t have a title. At some point pretty soon after, I had another image pop into my head: that of Tori stopping Jade from going up the stairs at a frat house with a guy they didn’t know. At that point, I didn’t know it was going to be the storyline it turned into- it was just going to be a catalyst for pushing them together, nothing more. 

I didn’t plan things very much at that point. I just wrote and the words just came out and by the time I hit chapter 6, I realized that I needed to make some decisions about the rest of the fic because whatever I did next would basically dictate what direction the story was going to go.

So I made some decisions. Wrote some things that didn’t work and pulled them and started over and by St. Patrick’s Day, I decided that they were going to go Shakespearean. 

And then there was Jake, and figuring out what to do with him, and the whole...well, everything else...and all throughout this I had that damn piano scene in the back of my head and goddammit I was going to write that damn scene even if it killed me. 

But uh...I almost didn’t write that scene. I almost didn’t write a lot of scenes. There were so many points where I had to make decisions about certain things and those certain things would have changed everything. 

But I guess I made the right decisions in the end (hopefully) because...well, I finished the fic. And I wrote that damn piano scene. 

Sorry for the literal essay of an answer, but uh...hope it provided enough detail for ya?

And thank you! You have a good day, too. Got any other questions?

[moriganstrongheart]

The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women – Review

Edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane ​2014, Running Press Paperback, 512 pages, $17.50 CAD

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Good: Great diversity, showcases excellent talent Bad: Not all stories are a worthwhile read

In her introduction to The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women, Alex Dally MacFarlane does a good job of laying down the purpose of the collection. She is not looking to change the sexism that festers within the writing industry, but is instead interested in building on a rich history of women writers in science fiction, demonstrating what female authors are able to do. Though if given the chance, I'm sure the authors in this anthology would see women given their rightful place as prestigious members of the industry. While things are rarely that easy, the stories collected here speak for themselves as to what women can accomplish when given the chance. I don’t think every story in this collection is worthwhile, but I also think that shouldn’t be taken as a slight against female authors, as I found many to be engaging reading experiences. I also would like to preface by saying I’m not generally a fan of short story collections; it takes me too long to read them, and I find myself cheated if a short story isn’t as good as I expected. I tried my best to not let this influence my opinions, but I may be harsher on some entries in this collection as a result.

To give each author the attention that is due to them, I will be reviewing each story on its own, and then conclude with my opinion on the anthology as a whole.

[ ! ] Spoiler Warning

Girl Hours

by Sofia Samatar, 2011 Rating: ★★★★☆

Girl Hours is a short poem written in reverse chronological order about the life of Henrietta Swan Leavitt, a woman computer from the 1870's. Being based on true events and taking the form of a poem, it has little to do with science fiction, though it is still an interesting read. As with most poems, word choice is limited, putting much of the onus on the reader to establish themes and timing. I normally find this pretentious, but I enjoyed the format in this instance. Girl Hours is one of the few stories I have read multiple times out of pure enjoyment, as its structure allowed for reading front-to-back as well as back-to-front, letting the reader to experience the poem differently each time.

Link to Poem

Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-realist Aswang

by Kristin Mandigma, 2007 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-realist Aswang is an interesting take on socialist mindsets. The text itself is enjoyable in its tone, but fails to make a lasting impression on me. I would have liked to see more of the world than what was presented, as the piece consists only of its namesake: an excerpt from a letter by an Aswang. While I find gaps in a narrative to generally be a good thing, it can be frustrating when that gap is too wide—as if the author is expecting the reader to fill in the majority of the worldbuilding for them. The strength of Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-realist Aswang is in its lighthearted tone, which Kristin Madigma uses to criticize socialist mindsets through the writings of the author-character. The aswang rambles about communist ideals and writes degrading comments about capitalism—like any good neo-communist. The fact that the author-character is an aswang adds onto the ridiculousness of the situation, as they include activities such as the consumption of capitalist children in their socialist portfolio. Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-realist Aswang is a fun little piece that would benefit from an expanded narrative, and I felt that it was ultimately forgettable in its details.

Link to Short Story

Somadeva: A Sky River Sutra

by Vandana Singh, 2010 Rating: ★★★☆☆

Indian culture has never been something I’ve personally found interesting. As Somadeva: A Sky River Sutra relies heavily on cultural artifacts and historical persons from India, I often felt lost in its many references. I think Vandana Singh did a good job of explaining the most relevant parts to her story, but the folklore is far too complex and I do not have the desire to investigate it further. I thoroughly enjoyed the themes, as Singh builds stories within stories within stories, creating her own mini-compilation of folktales and adventures. Narration is well done, as is the imagery, which accurately describes how time-lost souls would search for meaning in a world where memory is fleeting at best. However, there was a bit too much going on and it ends a bit abruptly for my taste; I would have preferred some kind of conclusion, even if it did not conclude with the protagonists’ journey. I am sure those interested in Indian culture will find this story much more compelling than I did, but the themes are strong enough to hold up the story on their own.

Link to Short Story

The Queen of Erewhon

by Lucy Sussex, 1999 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I’ll be honest in that reading The Queen of Erewhon was like reading Shakespeare from the future—and not in a good way. If you’ve ever had to read Shakespeare in its raw, historically-correct format, you may have had some issues understanding some of the nuances inherit from the time period in which is was written. Something similar is the case with The Queen of Erewhon. Lucy Sussex keeps shifting between two different narratives: one that details the protagonist’s journey to uncover a story about two women falling in love, and the actual story of these two women falling in love. On its own this was confusing enough; there is no clear delineation between when one narrative starts and another one ends. I kept having to stop reading to reorient myself whenever this switch occurred. My confusion was aggravated further by Sussex’s rich, almost overpowering politics and worldbuilding. Every other passage contains extensive amount of exposition that dilutes the purpose of the story. I normally don’t enjoy unfiltered politics in fiction, and The Queen of Erewhon has some of the worst examples of this. And yet, despite my difficulties, I did enjoy the story’s themes and—once I had finally gotten used to the format—I even enjoyed the narrative itself. But the experience of reading The Queen of Erewhon was a hassle. I found myself often taking breaks throughout my reading and it felt like I was putting more work into understanding the story than actually enjoying it.

​Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s Day

​by Tori Truslow, 2010 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s Day is more of an interesting read than it is entertaining. Tori Truslow goes at great lengths to present the narrative in the format of a biography and to incorporate passages from Shakespeare at multiple levels in the prose. She succeeded in creating a realistic description of a fictional man and his adventures through the fae world. I could easily see this faux-excerpt as coming from a full volume detailing the life of Elijah Willemot Wynn. The world was a little difficult to grasp at first, but I found myself well immersed thanks to Truslow’s decision to write her short story in a non-fiction style. It made the story feel grounded and real. My only issue with Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s Day was the inclusion of poetry and Shakespeare, which seemed out of place to me. It’s as if Truslow wanted to offset the dry, non-fiction aspects of the story with more whimsical passages. These passages—more than anything else—broke my immersion in the narrative. I don’t think they should have been omitted though, as these poetic passages are integral to the narrative she’s woven. I just wonder if it could have been handled better; perhaps if the author of the biography had spent more time analyzing the poems and references to Shakespeare, it would feel more grounded and less eccentric.

Spider the Artist

by Nnedi Okorafor, 2011 Rating: ★★★★★

Nnedi Okorafor tackles a lot of issues in Spider the Artist: domestic violence, the exploitation of third world countries, environmentalism and machine sentience. Normally, I would find so many topics packed into a short story overwhelming. But Okorafor managed to create a relatable and realistic protagonist in Eme, to the point I felt deeply connected to Eme as she wrestled with her identity in this broken world. If I have one criticism, it is how quickly the story resolves itself; it feels as though in one moment Eme is discovering who she is, and the next she is in the middle of a war. I don’t think the strength of Spider the Artist is the issues it tackles or the ideas it presents. Instead, it is strongest when we get to live life through Eme’s eyes. As such, I wish we could have spent more time with her. I would be interested in reading more from Okorafor, especially if she has longer works of fiction.

Link to Short Story

The Science of Herself

​by Karen Joy Fowler, 2013 Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

The Science of Herself is an interesting read—even leading me to research further into Mary Anning following my reading. However, the frequent name drops and descriptions of pre-Victorian era England bored me. I am not a fan of historical fiction, so this just wasn’t for me. Also, while I think it’s important to highlight people like Mary Anning lest we forget what she and other women in history have done, I don’t think stuffing thirty persons into a short story is the best way to do so, especially if the reader is unfamiliar with the subject matter.

Link to Short Story

​​The Other Graces

by Alice Sola Kim, 2010 Rating: ★★★★☆

The best part of The Other Graces is its inclusion of wacky, weird and wonderful science fiction shenanigans—specifically, in the form of a multidimensional, time-travelling network of singular consciousness which inhabits the minds of two versions of the protagonist for the purpose of ensuring the future of the younger protagonist, while simultaneously allowing the narrator to speak to the reader and the protagonist. And surprisingly, this multidimensional consciousness is rarely the focus of attention. There are some clues as to the ethical implications of using such a technology, and it is used at times as a metaphor for mental health issues, but these themes are glossed over in favour of plot. I feel that Alice Sola Kim handled all of this well, as it can be easy to be swept up in the majesty of one’s own conceptualization; too often I see entire storylines devoted to explaining how the author’s futurology would function and how it would impact society. The Other Graces manages to introduce an otherworldly concept like multidimensional consciousness while focusing on character, anchoring the reader in what would otherwise be a strange experience.

I also appreciated the way Kim presented Grace and her life as a person of Asian descent living in poverty. In some instances, I felt she may have over-characterized how downtrodden Grace was in her attempt to reset expectations about lower-class Asian-Americans. I understand that the fetishization of the exotic and status prejudice are big issues for minority groups; racists seem to think that people of different cultures are simultaneously privileged, yet inferior to them. However, I find this kind of negative language off-putting, as if unhealthy habits and subpar living conditions are a mark of pride for the character. There is no shame in what we can’t reasonably control, but doesn’t mean we can’t strive to be better. Grace certainly feels she can do better for herself; I just wish less time was spent on self-depreciation. I understand that others may be able to identify with her self-loathing, but it may also help to normalize negativity in like-minded readers.

Boojum

by Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette, 2008 Rating: ★★★★☆

Boojum is a combination of the familiar and the surreal, meant to dazzle and confuse, to entertain yet left wanting more. I don’t have a lot to say beyond the fact it’s a great example of what a short story should strive for. Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette weave an interesting, futuristic take on Lovecraftian and pirate lore—two genres of speculative fiction I have had a long-time love-hate relationship with. I’ve always enjoyed the aesthetics of Lovecraft, but could never get past how ridiculous and pompous it is. By the same token, I enjoy the aesthetic and romance of pirate stories, but I sometimes feel that authors rely too much on nautical know-how to carry the narrative rather than good characterization. My criticisms of these subgenres could also be applied to Boojum, though to a lesser extent. I think what saves Boojum to me is its excellent pacing and narrative structure, focusing on the way Black Alice interacts with the world, rather than having the story focus on the world itself. And so I can look past some of my issues to enjoy Boojum for what it is: a fun space-pirate story with minor horror elements.

Link to Short Story

The Eleven Holy Numbers of the Mechanical Soul

by Natalia Theodoridou, 2014 Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

The Eleven Holy Numbers of the Mechanical Soul skirts the edge between surreal and survival thriller, dipping its toes in both genres without commiting to either. I found the references to holy numbers and the fluctuating perspectives more distracting than compelling; it felt as though the author was trying too hard to add a mystical element to the story, in an attempt to elevate the story beyond being just science-fiction. It also never felt as though anything was at stake, with survival elements acting more as padding than anything compelling. Part of me wonders if this was all intentional, as if Natalia Theodoridou wants the reader to ask questions rather than just passively experiencing the story. Where exactly is Theo? Is he on a habitable planetoid? Are the machines sentient? Or are they just machinations of Theo’s engineering mind? Is he waiting for something? Will someone ever come? These questions are an undercurrent to the events in the story, and are what occupied my thoughts following my reading. However, there’s little substance to the story itself. In my opinion, Theodoridou excels at building a rich world around her characters, but I was not a fan of how she structured her narrative.

Link to Short Story

Mountain Ways

by Ursula K. Le Guin, 1996 Rating: ★★★★★

Unfortunately, I never had much exposure to Ursula K. Le Guin in my childhood, and it’s only recently that I’ve begun to hear how much she has contributed to literature. Her talent is obvious in Mountain Ways; after what I felt was a rocky start, I was fully immersed in her story. She places the focus on the characters, and the way they interact and change with the world, rather than on the world itself. Characters act like real people, with goals, flaws, worries and emotions. The world feels real and makes sense within the rules set by Le Guin. My only criticisms lie in the story’s beginning and ending. While I understand the necessity of explaining the complex marriage practices of the culture in Mountain Ways, I’m always wary when an author feels the need to address the reader directly regarding their world’s lore. It should instead be understood naturally through the interactions between characters, as they navigate their world and come to understand it. Although, her warning regarding the complexity of the ki’O’s marriage practices is well-founded; I often found myself confused when it came to marriage terminology, especially once genders were falsified. As for the ending, the conflict felt forced and unresolved. It’s as if the narrative could not end without some kind of conflict—as though Le Guin did not feel confident enough in her characters being influenced by anything but spurned love or misplaced anxiety. I felt betrayed that Shahes became so emotional, stubborn and unreasonable towards the end—especially after displaying such conviction, passion and determination up until then. Her stubbornness seems like a natural extension of her character, but she quickly became shallow and unlikable.

Perhaps this change in Shahes was what Le Guin was aiming for from the beginning. The change in narrative focus from Shahes to Enno/Alka is evidence of this. Beginning as a secondary character, Enno/Alka slowly turns into the protagonist, while simultaneously growing closer to the other members of their sedoretu and experiencing a rift with Shahes. I believe this change in focus is what kept me invested in the story, as I quickly latched onto Enno/Alka where previously I had difficulty feeling connected to Shahes near the beginning.

I also think Le Guin made the right choice in how she directly addresses sexuality and gender identity. In the world of O, the people inhabiting therein are bound together by marriage. Homosexuality seems accepted—even encouraged—and pre-marital sex is common practice. However, people are still expected to marry for the purpose of reproduction, with individuals expected to couple with a man and woman in a four-way relationship. As is the case with most stories worth being told, the main cast of characters seek to subvert these established laws through deception. While the events in the story are certainly interesting and help to build drama, there’s also a clear contrast with the gender politics and discussions of sexuality of our modern world. Mountain Ways reminds us that no matter how open and accepting your society might be, there will always be people who push the limits of what’s acceptable in the name of free love. It also reminds us that deception in relationships is difficult on individuals, and what may seem like a good idea in theory, is much more difficult in practice. I think it’s important that Le Guin does not preach free love as infallible, and helps to make Enno/Alka likeable, as they walk the line between wanting to follow their heart and following their beliefs. They are not bound by conviction, but by morality and reason.

Despite my issues with Mountain Ways’ beginning and ending, Ursula K. Le Guin lives up to her reputation by immersing the reader in her world almost effortlessly, while offering us the chance to explore important topics like sexuality and gender identity through excellent world-building. She demonstrates the power of science-fiction: the power to convey a message and discuss issues through metaphor, without being muddied by the social politics of the modern world.

Link to Short Story

​​Tan-Tan and Dry Bone

by Nalo Hopkinson, 1999 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

​I’ll begin by saying that the dialect Nalo Hopkinson chose for Tan-Tan and Dry Bone wasn’t for me. It made it difficult for me to become immersed in the narrative from the beginning all the way to the end. I thought the dialogue—which used the same dialect—was excellent. It felt authentic, and I could listen to an entire play or film with characters speaking in this manner. However, I was quickly fatigued by the dialect’s use in the narrative, leading to me having to repeatedly re-read passages to make I understood what was going on. That being said, I did enjoy Tan-Tan and Dry Bone for what it was. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much out of it as I think someone familiar with African culture would. To me it was a simple folktale with the purpose of representing African culture, while simultaneously conveying a message of hope for women caught in abusive relationships.

​​The Four Generations of Chang E

by Zen Cho, 2011 Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

The Four Generations of Chang E attempts to tackle real world issues through metaphor and allegory—in this case, the issues of immigration, segregation and personal identity. I think Zen Cho tackles these issues with a grace that points to a familiarity born from experience, or at least from close study of them. However, I found the story to be rather boring overall and the metaphors a bit on the nose. Characters also felt flat and one-dimensional; caricatures of actual people rather than real people onto themselves. The focus is placed on social issues, leaving the rest of the story feeling rushed, hollow and unfinished. I can appreciate how Cho used science fiction for tackling these important issues, but I could not get immersed in the narrative itself.

​Stay Thy Flight

by Elisabeth Vonarburg, 1992 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Stay Thy Flight has a very rough opening few paragraphs. The beginning third or so presents a very difficult barrier of entry, as the author uses punctuation and fragmented phrases to represent how time passes faster for the protagonist than for the reader, before said reader has even had the chance to understand what’s happening. The sequence also lasts longer and contains more intense descriptions than I think is necessary to convey the theme of how time is fleeting. In fact—in fear of what I may have to put myself through—I even read ahead to see if I was in for a long, difficult read under this format. If I had met this story outside of this collection, I most likely would have stopped reading it after the first or second paragraph for this reason alone. Even though I love the themes that Elisabeth Vonarburg conveys, all I wanted was to finish and move on as quickly as possible. It’s a shame, since Stay Thy Flight is an excellent piece of fiction and could have stood on its own, without the need for such extravagant prose.

As an aside, I tried to find the French version of this story—titled ...suspends ton vol—but unfortunately, I could not find it published stand-alone online. It is only available as part of French short story collections, which I am not ready to purchase or find in a bookstore for the sake of my curiosity. However, I would have liked to read Stay Thy Flight in its original format, to see if the opening felt more organic in Vonarburg’s native tongue.

Astrophilia

​by Carrie Vaughn, 2012 Rating: ★★★★★

Perhaps it’s a testament to the skill that Carrie Vaughn and Ursula K. Le Guin hold in writing fiction, but I feel I am quickly becoming a fan of the “lesbian farmer” trope. Astrophilia reminds me a lot of Le Guin’s entry in this collection, and Vaughn manages to capture my interest with her romance just as Le Guin was able to weave a story full of wonder, internal conflict and change. If I am honest, homosexual relationships in rustic environments have always been of particular interest to me. I think what pulls me to this trope is the atmosphere, combined with the inherit rebelliousness that the characters must adopt to make their relationship work. It’s thrilling and endearing at the same time. Add on the expectation that people must raise children once they are of age in these kinds of settings, and the field is laid out for compelling storytelling.

The romance between Stella and Andi embodies the best of this trope, and Vaughn seems to have a knack for writing a compelling romance on top of it all. I was fully invested in both characters, and the final conflict had me on the edge of my seat. I was a little disappointed in how things were wrapped up though. It felt less like an authentic conversation between adults, and more of a sermon from the author to the reader on the moral of the story. I wasn’t convinced by Toma’s change of heart; it’s not that I think a more violent end would have been more appropriate, but I feel as though Stella could have convinced him without trying to appeal to a belief he had had instilled in him since his childhood. I’ve never known someone to change their mind that suddenly, especially when they have been repeatedly challenged before. However, the rest of the story was superb, and I must also mention that I appreciate that the main source of conflict is not the topic of homosexuality itself; Vaughn chose to subvert the expectation that stories with homosexuality must ultimately contain conflict surrounding the sexuality of its characters, often ending in violence. While stories depicting the difficulties homosexual people face everyday is important, it’s also important to depict people existing outside of their sexual identity.

Link to Short Story

Invisible Planets

by Hao Jingfang, 2013 Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

I think what I most disliked about Invisible Planets was its format, in that it is simply a collection of worldbuilding concepts. Invisible Planets goes so far as to separate each world into its own section, with some commentary between the narrator and a surrogate for the reader (as the narrator addresses “you” throughout the story, and “you” respond). I do not know what the intent Hao Jinfang had when writing Invisible Planets. The structure feels uninspiring and bland. The exchange between the narrator and “you” near the end of the story feels similarly uninspired, and mystically nonsensical. There was no narrative here, only a collection of ideas. While that can be fine on its own, to me it feels lazy and unfinished. It’s the equivalent of going up to a writer or director at a convention and telling them you have this great idea, but you haven’t done any actual writing. You only wrote down the idea, dusted your hands and said “Yup, that’s good.” before moving onto the next project. Each world Jingfang presents to us is interesting enough on its own to warrant in-depth exploration, but instead she chooses to present them as flat canvases with which she expects us to paint our own narrative. Invisible Planets feels like a step back from what makes science fiction literature unique—in that it can explore themes and stories untethered by the weight of the real world. What it is instead is a synopsis for a series of pulp fiction novels from the 1940’s.

Link to Short Story

On the Leitmotif of the Trickster Constellation in Northern Hemispheric Star Charts, Post-Apocalypse

by Nicole Kornher-Stace, 2013 Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

From the outset, it was clear to me that On the Leitmotif of the Trickster Constellation in Northern Hemispheric Star Charts, Post-Apocalypse would be one of those stories that relied as much on flowery language as it did on weaving a compelling narrative. Combined with textbook-style prefaces, Nicole Kornher-Stace manages to craft the pinnacle of pretentiousness. It’s a shame because the story has a magnificent world and interesting characters behind all of its presentation. Kornher-Stace’s use of poetic prose and textbook-style elements confuses what ends up being a rather simple story. It’s an inspiring, deeply moving story. But I could not bring myself to care as I had to move through a veil of fog before I could enjoy it. There are times where unique formats can help to elevate a story, to enhance the message it is trying to convey. Most of the time—when an author attempts to deliver their story in a unique way—they are either experimenting or are crying for attention. I do not know which is the case for On the Leitmotif of the Trickster Constellation in Northern Hemispheric Star Charts, Post-Apocalypse, but either way, the format Korher-Stace chose detracts from the overall experience. If anything I think this story would work well as a quest in an RPG, wherein in the player would learn the fragmented history of the world through exploration, and Wasp’s character through gameplay. But it just fails in its current format to be a worthwhile piece of fiction.

Valentines

​by Shira Lipkin, 2009 Rating: ★★★★★

Shira Lipkin was able to convincingly sell what it’s like to live in the mind of a person trying to make sense of their world through the act of recording everything on paper. Acting almost like a computer, the protagonist has to constantly write down and then index things around her. I came out of Valentines thinking a lot about the human condition and how we think. It’s a simple story, but it conveys its message well. Lipkin has a good sense of detail, focusing on elements that put us in the mind of the protagonist, even if you don’t have experience with epilepsy or memory loss yourself.

​​Dancing in the Shadow of the Once

​by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, 2013 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I found Dancing in the Shadow of the Once boring, as it suffers from the issue of presenting a problem, waiting for the reader to solve it and then having the characters enact the solution long after the reader has already decided what the solution should be. The problem in this case is whether Hala should stop being a cultural historian for the amusement of the colonist elite, and the solution is her no longer being in this position. As a reader, it becomes obvious in the latter half of the story that she will follow this path, all that remains is to know how she will get there. I found this tedious as the character walks methodically to the resolution, with no new developments along the way. Rochita Loenen-Ruiz also falls into a trap I often see accompanying this kind of storytelling problem: she withholds information, or only provides enough characterization to further the plot and then retroactively develops the character in the hopes of keeping things ambiguous or mysterious. I find this writing technique shows a lack of faith in the author’s own work, which didn’t help my already low opinion of the story. The only thing that kept me interested were the story’s themes of colonialism and imperialism, that were unfortunately not as prominent as I would have liked. I also enjoyed the discussions around the culture, as few as they were. Finally, one of the strongest moments in the story is the dance between Hala and Bayninan, as it becomes clear that Bayninan has romantic feelings for Hala. It’s a shame the rest of the story does not live up to the emotional impact of this moment.

Ej-Es

​by Nancy Kress, 2010 Rating: ★★★★★

There’s just something about living life through a character’s perspective for a short time, to see the world as they do, to hear their thoughts, feel their doubts and experience their pain. Nancy Kress succeeds at this in Ej-Es. I was captivated throughout my reading, feeling as though I knew Mia on an intimate level, even though I only spent a short time with her. She felt like a real person; a woman tired of protocol, far from where she first began but still holding onto what she values the most. She knows her place in the world and how to navigate it, and yet comes off as vulnerable all the same. Kress managed to craft a compelling character piece, while simultaneously commenting on missionary work and how it impacts indigenous people. Kress writes wonderfully, conveying a compelling story with realistic characters and immersive narration.

Link to Short Story

The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees

​by E. Lily Yu, 2011 Rating: ★★★☆☆

The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees surprised me, in that E. Lily Yu manages to weave a rather compelling fairy tale, seemingly creating it wholecloth from nothing; or at least, I have never heard of this specific folktale before. It has some of the familiar trappings of fairy tales: whimsical creatures, talking animals and a morally good ending. There’s also a good amount of commentary on imperialism and politics, without the topics being forced down the reader’s throat. The only thing I’m not too sure about is what part the anarchist bees have in the story. They don’t seem to have any impact on the story; in fact, everything is resolved without the bees doing anything at all to secure their freedom. The only explanation I have is the story must be based on real-life events of which I’m not familiar with, or its implied that while the anarchists did not survive, their ideologies will live on in this hive’s society to inform decisions in the future. Either way, I can’t shake the feeling that Yu is making reference either to either historical events or an existing fable. If this is an isolated work, free from influence, then there’s a lack of clarity and consistency in the story, with too much left up for the reader to interpret. In either case, The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees is a great fable-like story that shows that simple, concise stories often work best to convey an author’s message.

Link to Short Story

The Death of Sugar Daddy

​by Toiya Kristen Finley, 2009 Rating: ★★★★☆

I was on edge for a good part of The Death of Sugar Daddy, mostly due to the way people in the story would refer to Sugar Daddy. I felt he would end up being a pedophile or some kind of undying being—both of which may still be the case, but I’m not convinced one way or the other. This rising sense of dread transformed into a feeling of heartfelt anticipation as more and more of the world spilled out, slowly building a picture of a world wherein memory is intrinsically tied to existence. Toiya Kristen Finley does an amazing job of building the world through her characters; the protagonist and supporting characters help to build the world without acting as walking exposition dumps, with defined personalities and lives outside the context of the plot. Finley proves to me once again that character-driven narratives are the best vehicles for worldbuilding, as they allow the reader to discover the world organically instead of academically.

I also liked that Finley was able to convey African-American culture without over-the-top social commentary. There was still some underlying social commentary about the wealth disparity of African-Americans in the western world, but it was never anything significantly overt. I can normally appreciate social commentary in fiction, but the character-driven narrative of The Death of Sugar Daddy allows the characters to experience this wealth inequality instead of preaching to the reader. It’s refreshing to have something that makes you think about the issue from a human perspective instead of a political one.

Link to Short Story

Enyo-Enyo

by Kameron Hurley, 2013 Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Some parts of Enyo-Enyo are genuinely interesting, and I think the underlying story is emotionally impactful, if not a little strange. However, any positive elements the story may have are overshadowed by its presentation—more specifically, the choice in vocabulary and the story’s narrative structure. From the first three or four paragraphs, it’s made clear to the reader that Enyo’s world is alien. This would normally be a good thing, but Kameron Hurley goes too far, and ended up alienating me with how “other” Enyo’s world is. And while I don’t have an issue with the non-linear timeline of events, it only helped to compound these issues here, making it even more difficult for me to follow what’s happening. Enyo-Enyo is a simple story told in a complicated manner—very rarely is this kind of storytelling effective, and often paints the author as pompous and shallow. It’s a shame, because I think I would have liked Enyo-Enyo if Hurley had written in a more straightforward manner.

Link to Short Story

Semiramis

​by Genevieve Valentine, 2011 Rating: ★★★☆☆

The easiest way for me to sum up Semiramis is to say that it instills a feeling that something is about to happen, or that some change is about to occur, but the reader is ultimately left at the precipice of anticipation, without anything ever being resolved. I didn’t like this at first. The protagonist-narrator would always seem on the cusp of making some kind of realization before moving onto the next bit of exposition or the next source of conflict. As a result, all of the events muddle together—with no beginning, no end. But as I reflected on what Genevieve Valentine might be trying to do, I came to my own realization that a feeling of helplessness is exactly what she was trying to convey. Between the global climate crisis and the protagonist’s struggle with their duties, environment and relationships, I underwent a general feeling of unease as the events of the story unfolded. It’s almost depressing as you come to the conclusion that sometimes, things are just out of your control, and all you can do is little things to make your life worth living. The world is cruel, unforgiving and need not pay mind to every individual. Not all conflicts come to a satisfying end, and waiting for something to happen will only lead to more anxiety as time moves on without regard for each individual’s desires.

I am still unsure whether I truly enjoyed Semiramis. Despite the message she was trying to convey, I had a difficult time initially remembering the contents of the story within a day of writing this. Perhaps the effects of the story were stronger than the actual fiction, and that should point to the power of what she was trying to do.

Link to Short Story

Immersion

by Aliette de Bodard, 2012 Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Immersion is something that’s outside of my lived experience, but is easy enough to read that it doesn’t really matter. Sometimes, this can be a good thing. But when it comes to Immersion, I’m not sure if Aliette de Bodard utilized the medium correctly. I get the message of the story; colonialism is bad, and often the colonized are the ones who have to fight back, or risk being overwhelmed. Where Immersion fails is that the world and the story’s underlying message don’t mesh. De Bodard goes back and forth between describing a rich fictional world and taking time to preach their gospel to the reader, with obvious tonal breaks between the two. In fact, there is a surprising number of exposition dumps for a short story of this length, most of which I ended up speeding through. The information provided has little impact on the conflicts the protagonist is dealing with. De Bodard also utilizes a trope I dislike, namely the constant need to excuse bad dialogue by labelling it as “inevitable” or “obligatory”. I can’t help but feel that de Bodard’s writing is uninviting, and that it lacks the polish that’s needed to convey whatever message she wants to get across.

Down the Wall

by Greer Gilman, 2015 Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

There’s just something about the writing in stories like Down the Wall that instantly turned me off. It feels like Greer Gilman is intentionally making the writing obtuse in an effort to make some kind of statement, or to convey a sense of the world she’s trying to portray. It just helps to break my immersion, forcing me to think about what the author is trying to say rather than investing myself in the world, characters and themes. I have to actively read and re-read passages, questioning if I truly understand what is going on. This kind of writing just makes me feel the author is pretentious, and unwilling or unable to let their story stand on its own. From what little I took from Down the Wall, I think it could have been a great story about children surviving in a run-down world, oppressed by adults and the system alike. But in reality, it is a confusing bowl of word soup bogged down by a lack of direction or purpose.

Sing

​by Karin Tidbeck, 2013 Rating: ★★★★☆

I instantly felt pulled in by Karin Tidbeck’s writing, fully immersed in the world she has created and the complex characters she introduces. Sing is a great example of what a short story should try to accomplish. Tidbeck gives us a slice, a mere glimpse of a person’s life as they go through their day to day life. You should be left wanting more, but also content with what you were given. I know that there are a lot of different kinds of stories out there; character-driven stories are not the only valid story type. But I’ve yet to find another story type that’s as engaging in this short story format. So many times I see movies and short stories trying to focus on world-building, plot, or even style, only to end up being convoluted or vapid in the process. Perhaps I’m just bitter, but Sing shows that you can have a fun, thought-provoking and immersive short story without needing to rely on literary tricks. I have a hard time finding anything wrong with Tidbeck’s writing, and I’m excited to read more of her work in the future.

Link to Short Story

Good Boy

by Nisi Shawl, 2009 Rating: ★★★★★

I felt myself enjoying Good Boy both on the surface level as well as within its deeper meanings. Nisi Shawl manages to craft a fun ride as we follow the antics of the titular Good Boy, after a short introduction to the characters and the concept of spiritual possession. There was something almost satirical about the way a hard science-fiction problem like colony-wide depression is resolved by dredging up the ghost of a 60’s-70’s Black clubgoer. Kressi’s serious, somber attitude is a fun contrast to the personality of Ivorene’s spirits. It’s just an enjoyable experience overall—and yet—below all this absurdity, is a surprisingly thoughtful exploration of colonization, the perception of spirituality, mother-daughter relationships, Black identity, and even the interpretation of spiritual possession as algorithmic computer logic. Shawl is somehow able to pack a lot within such a short story. These are the kinds of stories that make short stories worth it for me, with compelling characters, fun situations and thoughtful themes that stick with me long after I’ve finished reading.

Link to Short Story

The Second Card of the Major Arcana

by Thoraiya Dyer, 2012 Rating: ★★★☆☆

The Second Card of the Major Arcana feels like the setup to a joke, expanded over the length of a whole story, and then dramatized so much that’s no longer a joke—while remaining just as entertaining. The premise is simple, but I enjoyed Thoraiya Dyer’s approach in their execution of said premise. There isn’t a lot to say about The Second Card of the Major Arcana; it’s a fun little story with a great punchline, with my only criticism being that the violence and the sphinx’s mannerisms came across a bit juvenile. It sometimes felt like I was reading the edgy fanfiction of a DeviantArt teenager, rather than the thoughtful, well-developed prose of an established author. I have a hard time seeing this choice in tone as an issue though, considering it only reinforces the playful nature of the story.

Link to Short Story

A Short Encyclopedia of Lunar Seas

by Ekaterina Sedia, 2008 Rating: ★★★☆☆

This is the second short story in this anthology that has to do with the moon—and more specifically mermaids on the moon—which makes me curious whether there’s some established folklore I’m not familiar with regarding the moon and fae-like beings. That aside, A Short Encyclopedia of Lunar Seas is exactly what it sets out to be: a series of isolated stories based around the “seas” of the lunar surface. Ekaterina Sedia manages to weave a charming and whimsical set of tales that I found myself simultaneously amazed and confused by. Normally, the latter would be a detriment to the overall experience, but I think the segmented nature of Sedia’s work allows this kind of exploration. She’s able to explore outlandish topics at a fast pace, moving from one to the other without the need to retain much from the previous snippets beyond her style of prose. A Short Encyclopedia of Lunar Seas is an interesting experience, though not a significantly fulfilling one. I didn’t find myself coming from this story having learned or felt anything specific; it felt more akin to a series of short fairy tales aimed at adults, complete with a surprising amount of descriptions of breasts, though nothing that I felt was overtly sexual.

Vector

by Benjanun Sriduangkaew, 2013 Rating: ★★★☆☆

Vector is a good example in my mind of how to write flowery prose for a science-fiction or fantasy story without it feeling pretentious. I don’t think I’d be able to draw a distinct line between something that feels genuine and in service of the story, versus something that’s merely decorative and just a chance for the author to show their skills with a thesaurus. However, Benjanun Sriduangkaew manages to keep my attention throughout, and I never felt overwhelmed by her metaphors. Perhaps that is what makes for good flowery prose: a focus on metaphor in service of theme, rather than on superfluous wording that only serves to pad the text. Vector shows you can do the former effectively, reinforcing the themes instead of muddling them.

I think where Vector fails is that it wears its theme on its sleeve. Sriduangkaew manages to present the theme of the effects of religious-white colonialism in an interesting way, but I think she sacrificed characterization and any semblance of worldbuilding in the process. In other words, Vector opts to punch you in the face with its themes, with science-fiction elements sprinkled on top for decoration. It feels more like a chance for the author to soapbox than an authentic storytelling experience.

Concerning the Unchecked Growth of Cities

by Angélica Gorodischer, 2003 Rating: ★★★★★

Concerning the Unchecked Growth of Cities is pure worldbuilding. After getting used to the narrative style, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed myself as Angélica Gorodischer basically spent the entire length of her story delivering exposition on a single city. I’ll be honest that I wasn’t on board at first, but I quickly became enraptured by the complex, weaving story told from the perspective of the narrator. The narrative tone is also fun and a bit cheeky, which helped to lighten the expository load. The narrator is no-nonsense, but sass and sarcasm drips from almost every passage. Paragraphs are long and go on for too long, adding to the idea that Concerning the Unchecked Growth of Cities is a story being told orally—or at the very least, informally—by an aging storyteller. Gorodischer did a great job at not only weaving an interesting world, but managing to present in an entertaining way.

The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew

by Catherynne M. Valente, 2009 Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew relies solely on its premise and its world design to carry it, instead of having any interesting characters or a solid plot at its base. I don’t think premise and world alone are enough to make a great story, though I may be biased in that I don’t find the world Catherynne M. Valente created to be that interesting. Maybe it’s the steampunk/futurepunk aesthetic that’s off putting to me, but I never really knew what the setting was in any given scene, or how the characters fit within the context of that setting. Every scene has a dream-like quality, untethered to any semblance of a consistent reality. Perhaps that’s what Valente was aiming for: a world detached from reality, with nothing to anchor its people down. If this was the intent, I don’t believe she succeeded, as I was mostly left confused instead of swept away in the whimsy.

I just feel like Valente may have been trying too hard in her attempts to convey a specific feeling to the reader. I would have much rather have lived this world through the eyes of specific characters, instead of through the narrator, who lays out the primary events of the story as if it were a documentary. It all feels a little pretentious to me. Nothing proves this more to me than the “twist”, wherein the narrator is actually the boy that Bysshe interacts with. The switch from a documentary to telling of the ramifications of Bysshe’s discoveries and disappearance is too sudden, with the resulting revelations feeling preachy and disconnected from the rest of the story. The only saving grace for The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew could have been its world—specifically in regards to the callowhales—but it wasn’t enough to save it.

Link to Short Story

Conclusion

I enjoyed my experience with The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women, even though it took me quite a long time to finish it. While some of the stories didn’t feel worth my time, or didn’t fit my expectations coming into the book, I’ve come out of this collection with a list of authors I am eager to explore further, and I find myself once again appreciating female speculative fiction authors. I have always been a fan of female authors, as I find their works tend to be much more personable and focused on character. I consider this approach to writing incredibly compelling, as opposed to what I define as a “mansplaining” writing style—in which the author feels the need to explain everything to the reader from an objective perspective, including characters, settings and the world as a whole. This isn’t something limited to male authors, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s one of the reasons I tend to dislike books by male authors.

In concept and in execution, The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women is a worthwhile reading experience. It proves why it’s important to showcase female authors, while simultaneously being entertaining in its own right. It’s a shame that I personally don’t enjoy short story anthologies; a distaste that was compounded by my compulsion to review each story individually. It only takes one bad reading experience to put me off reading for days, if not weeks sometimes. I also need some time after finishing each story to think on it, so this format doesn’t lend itself well to individual reviews, at least not for me. Despite my issues with completing the book, I enjoyed my time with The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women, and will definitely be revisiting some of my favourite stories in the future

Official Book Website

[gyakutengagotoku]

GSvsAA - Spirit of Justice - Character Profiles

Following the AJ and DD ones, here’s the last of the second trilogy. From here, I’ll be jumping back to AAI and I’ll see how I’ll tackle it later. Perhaps it’ll be easier if I go in order of the files and work out the in-game sequence afterward. We’ll see.

Master post. I’ll update it later when I have time.

Since there’s already a thread for these names on Court-Records, I’ll be brief with the entries this time, unless I find some extra trivia to add. And while it’s atypical of me, I’ll share my speculation on the origin of some less obvious puns for the English names too.

Spoilers ahead.

Main cast

Rayfa Padma Khura’in (レイファ・パドマ・クライン) rei is “spirit”; while the reibana (霊花) is an alternate name for the higanbana (彼岸花), aka the Lycoris Radiata, an ominous red flower that grows in Buddhist Hell and is said to guide spirits into the next reincarnation. It’s frequently seen in funerals. Fyi, the higan refers to the "other side” of the Sanzu River, which is similar to the River Styx. padma means “lotus” in Sanskrit. Khura’in was taken from the Kurain we know, which in turn has been taken from the Klein Bottle. Trivia: Her Song of Ceremony is sung completely in Japanese. By that logic, we could have expected an English dub, but I guess Capcom US wasn’t interested, since they only gave us subtitles instead. A few internal game files have given her name as “Honfa”. I can only guess it’s referring to how she’s the central (hon) character to this game. Also, she’s the kind of girl who would be pretty “serious” (honki) about her roles.

Edit: Added a link to the official source of “Kurain”.

Nahyuta Sahdmadhi (ナユタ・サードマディ) Previously, we thought nayuta was the Sanskrit word, meaning “myriad” (or in some East Asian languages, “10^26 or 27), but as it turned out, it’s just the name of someone Yamazaki knew from his university. It was originally a placeholder name, but Eshiro liked it so much it came to be. His last name is based on the phrase hotoke no kao mo sando made, “Even the Buddha will get angry if you brush his face thrice,” or in other words, “Even the Buddha has limits.” It also may come from the Sanskrit word samadhi, a state of meditative consciousness. Trivia: Throughout the game are scattered references to the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, and he gives us three. Three times he gets to bind a defense attorney, referring to the three disciples of Monk Tang, the novel’s protagonist. Apollo is bound on the head; Sun Wukong is restrained by a magical crown that shrinks when a certain sutra is chanted. Athena's arms are bound; Zhu Bajie has been bound several times throughout the story due to his lewd and disrespectful tendencies. Phoenix’s favorite arm is bound. While there aren’t any particular instances of Sha Wujing’s arm being bound (that I can recall), he’s always been the most responsible of the disciples and is somewhat gullible compared to the other two. :3

Ahlbi Ur’gaid - Bokuto Tsuani (ボクト・ツアーニ) His name comes to “boku to tsua- ni”, or “on a tour with me”.

Shah’do - Mitamaru (ミタマル) mitama is “soul”; maru is a common ending to a boy’s name. He’s a “soul[ja] boy”! I’m sorry, I won’t do that again. His English name, literally “shadow”, may refer to how he’s always tagging along by Ahlbi’s side. Trivia: Shah’do is in fact the only non-human character in the entire series to play the part of the main cast in a game. He even got his own character entry, complete with quote, on the official site! Sadly, I have no idea what he actually says.

Episode 1

Pees’lubn Andistan’dhin - Potdino Nikawas (ポットディーノ・ニカワス) pottode means “coming out of nowhere” and niwaka means “suddenly”, likely referring to how he appeared in the intro out of the blue to join this country’s religious practitioners. din in Arabic means “religion” or “way of life”. Also, DEEN, pronounced with a long e-sound, is the name of a well-known Japanese rock band. Trivia: According to a tweet from Eshiro, this guy’s name is officially “Nikawas”, but for the longest time he and some others mistook it as “Niwakas”, which made it into the final release.

Paht Rohl - Miima Waruhito (ミーマ・ワルヒト) mimawaru is “to patrol”, so his name becomes “patrolling person”. Aslo, waru can mean “bad”, so he’s also not such a good person as he seemed.

Episode 2

Bonny de Famme - Nanano Mimi (菜々野 美々) If you flip the kanji in her last name, they make yasai (野菜), meaning “vegetable”. mimi is “ears”. de Famme probably comes from “defame”, given her and her sisters’ machinations behind the scenes. 

Betty de Famme - Nanano Kiki (菜々野 輝々) Kiki is named like her sister, though kikimimi means “ears poised for listening”. Also, the sound a bat makes is often romanized in Japanese as a ki sound.

Roger Retinz - Shinoyama Kanenari (志乃山 金成) It’s custom in Japanese TV production slang to switch syllables of a name or saying around, so we switch his name around. Shinoyama becomes yamashino, and Kanenari becomes narikin (金 can be pronounced kin). Thus, yamashi no narikin means “a swindling nouveau riche”.

Mr. Reus - Mr. Menyo (Mr. メンヨー) menyou (面妖) is “strange” or “suspicious”. I’ve heard speculation from other fans that Reus can be switched around to make “ruse”, as he is a masterful magician. His real name, Manov Mistree, is originally Fushigi Naohito (伏木 直人). fushigi na hito means “a mysterious person”.

Episode 3

Tahrust Inmee - Marmer Ahtam (マルメル・アータム) marumeru is “to make bald” and atama is “head”.

Beh’leeb Inmee - Sahra Ahtam (サーラ・アータム) sarasara is onom. for “silky” or “flowing”, in this case referring to her hair.

(Between these two, I can’t quite make out why they would choose these names, since they seem like very generic puns for witnesses in a case. Perhaps that’s the point?)

Puhray Zeh’lot - Ogam Mainiche (オガム・マイニーチェ) ogamu is “to worship”, and mainichi is “every day”, so it’s “pray every day”. His real name is Reehl Neh’mu, and its Japanese counterpart is Fon Myo, from honmyou, “real name”.

A’nohn Ihmus - Nanashiino Gonbe (Tent.) (ナナシーノ・ゴンビェ（仮）) Yes, the “tentative” is part of his name. nanashi no gonbee (名無しの権兵衛) is an anonymous or unidentified name, like “John Doe”.

Datz Are’bal - Datz Dinigel (ダッツ・ディニゲル) His complete name comes from datto de nigeru (脱兎で逃げる), or “fleeing as fast as I can”. Interestingly, his English name gets to keep the same first name, thus making “that’s a rebel” or “that’s horrible” (the latter probably regarding how he first looks on his wanted poster, but I’m not as sure about this one).

Lady Kee’ra - Torihime-sama (鳥姫様) It literally means “Bird Princess”, but it’s not an actual name. I was surprised to learn that she got a name in the English version. Her real name is Ihmsan, which is the same in the JP version. I’m not sure about the whole pun here, but imu is a verb meaning “to avoid, shun”, like a taboo. It’s supposedly taboo to say her name.

Edit: Okay, so it’s actually based on imu, 仏, in this case meaning, “a dead body” and the honorary suffix san. It’s referring to her killing spree. (The same kanji when pronounced hotoke is referring to the Buddha or someone with such imagery, though it applies less to her.)

Plumed Punisher - Torisaman (トリサマン) It’s an offshoot of Tonosaman, aka The Steel Samurai, but with tori for “bird”. Btw, Tonosaman comes from tono-sama, “lord”, and the word “man”.

Episode 4

Bucky Whet - Uchidate Susuru (内舘 すする) uchitate is “freshly kneaded”, while susuru is “to slurp”. His English name is from “buckwheat”, the kind of dough commonly used to make soba noodles. Interestingly, the embroidery on his lapel reads 上戸, ueto, but pronounced as jougo, it means “hard drinker”.

Taifu Toneido - Senpuutei Bakufuu (旋風亭 獏風) senpuu is “hurricane”; bakufuu is “blast”, like of wind or from an explosion. The tei (亭) is an honorary suffix that’s added to the pseudonym of a rakugo performer.

Geiru Toneido - Senpuutei Puuko (旋風亭 風子) I think Puuko was just chosen for its cuteness. The first kanji in her name is the one for “wind”, and ko is a common ending for a girl’s name.

Uendo Toneido - Senpuutei Bifuu (旋風亭 美風) bifuu, written as 微風, is “breeze”. His other personalities are named after rakugo characters. Kisegawa is the same in both versions. Her name is from the story Omitate (”The Choice”). Patches is Ippachi, and Owen is Sadakichi. Both appear in various rakugo plays and are well known stock characters; Ippachi as taikomochi (a male geisha) and Sadakichi as an apprentice. Trivia: Patches and Kisegawa speak in nonstandard dialects. I’m not quite sure which, though, so if someone could lend a hand, I’ll be happy.

Jugemu (ジュゲム) He’s named after the titular character of the rakugo play, Jegemu.

Episode 5

Dhurke Sahdmadhi (ドゥルク・サードマディ) It’s probably from Druk, the Bhutanese thunder dragon and their national symbol. There was even lightning behind him when we saw his silhouette in the anime prologue. Not to mention, Druk is also the “king” and “protector” of Bhutan; kinda like how this guy was nominal king of his country too.

Paul Atison - Kiyoki Masaharu (清木 政治) kiyoki means “proper” or “clean”; the kanji in his given name, when read as seiji, mean “politics”. It’s also this alternate pronunciation that makes it into his email. For comparison, in English, his full name is “Paul Atison Wimperson”, thus making his initials in his email “PAW”. (Coincidentally, he is kind of a “dog”, and not the kind I love. >:3c )

Archie Buff - Sanagi Fumiaki (佐奈樹 文明) sanagi is “pupa”; and the kanji in his first name, read as bunmei, mean “civilization”.

Sergeant Buff - Sergeant Sanagi (佐奈樹 軍曹) aka Armie Buff - Sanagi Philnelia (佐奈樹 ヒルネリア) Her name is probably from hirune, for “afternoon nap”. She’s a shut-in and is seen wearing her pajamas even well into the afternoon. (The colors are actually based on the Japanese air self-defense force uniform, but they look like pajamas.)

Ga’ran Sigatar Khura’in (ガラン・シガタール・クライン) garan is a Buddhist temple; namely, the “seven halls” that make up temple grounds. Her middle name may come from shi, kataru (死、語る), meaning “death speaks”.

Inga Karkhuul Khura’in (インガ・カルクール・クライン) inga means “karma” or “cause and effect”; karakuru is “to manipulate”. The rest of his name falls into the joke with Jugemu (wiki page linked above in Jugemu’s entry). (If someone could also help me break down his incredibly long full name in Japanese, that’d be great. I’m hoping it has a little more substance than “How could this name be any longer and more pompous than it already is”.)

Nayna - Baaya (バアヤ) Her name isn’t so much a name as it’s Rayfa calling her “granny”.

Amara Sigatar Khura’in (アマラ・シガタール・クライン) amala (阿摩羅) is a number, 10^23, and also a Buddhist term: Amalavijñāna, the highest level of “consciousness”. amara also means “immortal” in Sanskrit, having survived two assassination attempts. In her case, her middle name also refers to shi wo kataru (死を騙る), “faking a death”.

Jove Justice - Odoroki Sousuke (王泥喜 奏介) It’s almost the same as Apollo’s name, but the hou replaced by sou (奏), for “play music”. So, “Surprise! Here’s a music boy!” I mean, I couldn’t exactly use “play boy” since that sounds wrong...

DLC Episode

Ellen Wyatt - Outsubu Shizuku (大津部 雫) outsubu means “a large amount”, particularly of something small; shizuku is “a drop”. So, yeah, lots of tears.

Sorin Sprocket - Haguruma Raito (八久留間 来人) haguruma is a “gear”. Raito sounds like “light” as well as “Wright”, as in the Wright Brothers. (It has nothing to do with Nick or Trucy. Nick is forever earth-bound anyway.)

Pierce Nichody - Juumonji Kazuharu (十文字 一治) The kanji in his surname make up “character for ten”, which is 十, a cross. It’s likely referring to health organizations like the Red Cross. The kanji of his first name are “one” and “heal”, respectively; referring to his hard choice while he was still a surgeon.

Dumas Gloomsbury - Yonekura Seiji (米倉 静次) nekura is “gloomy”, “dark”. Perhaps his first name is from seijou (清浄), meaning “clean”; as in, he was innocent of the crash incident.

Edit: Okay, so Ash has told me that I made a wrong guess. The only other idea I can surmise is seji (世事), “ways of the world”, so that it works as nekura na seji to make “a gloomy world”.

Edit 2: And another wrong guess. Okay, I’m out of ideas. As I mentioned above, seiji as 政治 is “politics”, but the only connection I can make with him is how the Sprockets are indirectly tied into it and how he’s been made a scapegoat.

Selena Sprocket - Haguruma Hikari (八久留間 ひかり) hikari is “light”, to match her brother’s name.

Extra: Locations

Tehm’pul Temple - Ji-in Temple (ジーイン寺院) ji’in is “temple”, so the name is a repeat of the same word. Hence the English name.

Penrose Theater - Trompe Theater (トロンプ劇場) It’s from the French “trompe-l'œil​“, the art technique that creates 3D optical illusions from realistic 2D images. Penrose is likely from the impossible triangle, popularized by mathematician Roger Penrose.

Take-2 TV - Nidomi TV (ニドミテレビ) nidomi (二度見) is to “look twice” or “double take”, as in surprise. How convenient that in English, “take” has another appropriate definition.

Kurukurutei (来来亭) It means “Come Come Place” (the tei actually means “pavilion” in other contexts). Incidentally, that tei is also a suffix to denote a place as a restaurant. Trivia: Ash@C-R has noted that there’s a ramen restaurant chain in Japan with the same name but different pronunciation, but it’s probably a coincidence.

Alright, with that, I clean my hands for tackling AAI in the coming several days, but I expect delays over this weekend. I’ll be heading out of town for a day.