#definitely a Lot of racism and colonialism which is not fun to read! though it's still through a YA lens. there was def a part of me that

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

To Shape A Dragon’s Breath

YA fantasy

a young Indigenous girl finds & bonds with a dragon hatchling - the first time in many generations for her people - and is required to go to the coloniser’s dragon academy in their mainland city, to learn how to raise her dragon and the science of its magic

historical inspired setting on the cusp of industrial revolution with steampunk vibes

bi polyamorous MC, Black lesbian SC, nonverbal autistic SC

[spider-xan]

What’s the beetle

Okay, so I've decided to answer this in good faith, more for the benefit of my mutuals and followers than anything bc I suspect this was meant to be bait given that (a) I never once said the title of the book in any of my recent posts, yet anon knew exactly what I was talking about (which means you already know what the Beetle is, don't you, anon?), and (b) at least two other people received this exact same anon at the same time and there is a clear pattern to who received these messages, though I seem to be the only POC who got this.

Anyway.

The Beetle is gothic horror novel written by Richard Marsh that was published in 1897, which is notable bc that is the same year that Dracula was published - but while the Beetle is obscure and Dracula is a major pop culture phenomenon today, it actually outsold Dracula back in the day; the plot is similar to Dracula in that it is a xenophobic and racist reverse invasion story, this time featuring an Arab villain who turns into a beetle and uses mesmerism (similar to hypnosis) on a British man whom he sexually assaults to help him get revenge on another British man; (as a side note, I think there has been confusion about the villain being Muslim, but as far as I can tell, he seems to worship the Egyptian goddess Isis); there is a reveal at some point where the villain, an Arab man, turns out to have a vagina, which is both transphobic and Orientalist; (I think people get why it's transphobic, but the Orientalism is in Eastern men being 'feminized' as a negative comparison to Western men being 'masculine' as part of the broader idea of the Orient being 'decadent' and 'feminine'); the book is also very badly written, at least by modern standards.

I have no problem with people reading the novel bc ofc consumption is not endorsement and reading 'problematic' (I hate that word, it's so fucking vague) books isn't inherently a reflection of personal morals, and there is value in studying a novel like the Beetle for its historical significance (and how not to write a novel) and what it says on a Doylist level about important topics like colonialism (specifically the British in Egypt), Orientalism, gender, popular tropes during the Victorian era and what they say about Victorian society and its social anxieties at the turn of the century, etc.; for all of its faults and bigotry, there is a lot of thoughtful commentary to be written about the book itself on a meta level.

However, what does and did make me uneasy last year was the fandomization and memefication of the book, which is part of a larger phenomenon I won't get into right now, and fandom analysis often focuses more on Watsonian analysis, especially of characters like real people; I'm not saying you can't have fun or that you need a racism disclaimer on every post or should self-flagellate if you're white, but there are some books where fandomizing might not be the best way to engage with the material or certain aspects of a book - like, joke fanart of an Arab man as an animal molesting a white man is a really weird way to engage with the Arab man as a rapist and animal tropes (definitely Orientalist in at least two ways), especially if you are white and not the target of that kind of racism (like, quick, why is it funny to you?), and I saw very little grappling with how maybe there should be context provided for why that shit is racist, in stark contrast to how Dracula Daily did frequently discuss the bigotry in the novel.

Like, maybe I guess people thought the racism was so egregious, everyone would get it, but as we saw from DD, a lot of people genuinely don't know these things, and that's how you get serious racist, xenophobic, and Orientalist tropes that do very real harm to actual people - we're seeing this happen right now where Orientalist beliefs about Arab men being violent rapists and the idea of Arabs being a threat to the Western world are being used to justify violence and genocide - either being glossed over bc it's not fun or treated as a joke; and I'm not saying the Beetle is responsible for current geopolitics, but while fiction is not reality, fiction can reflect, affect, and reinforce beliefs that shape reality, and it's naive and denying the power of literature to act as if that isn't true.

Anyway, all that to say that I just think people should be a little more sensitive and thoughtful about how they engage with the novel instead of jumping immediately to irreverent fandomizing and memes, especially with what's going on in the world right now.

[hetagrammy]

i'm grateful that you listened to the feedback about the problems with that nyo!england fic. the racism in it, especially after the fic moved into the victorian era, and became a very white feminist understanding of the british empire, also bothered me a lot as a woc. one example is how OP described Maia/NZ as a 'little monkey' in chapter 13 (here: archive(dot)ph/pwuuv#selection-18037.204-18037.239) and depicts her as small and bizarrely childlike, even though OP herself said Maia is supposed to be a 20 y/o college-educated Māori woman by then. there was no warning for racism in that chapter unlike how she warned for anti-irish stereotypes in another one, and Maia's weirdly childlike demeanor remains in those scenes not from Evelyn's biased perspective, so it came off as unexamined racism against indigenous people that OP doesn't even think or realize is a problem. she's actually received feedback from poc about problems in her fic already so...idk what to make of the fact that she still hasn't fixed that. i just know i'm not comfortable.

additionally, the fact that she clearly took the concept of Maia from other people in fandom who did a lot of work and research to flesh out a complex female Māori NZ, infantilizing and simplifying NZ and calling her a monkey felt even more disrespectful. i think it's fine to be inspired by other people in fandom (i've seen your own fun take on regency NZ), but not like that.

Response under the cut, apologies for the length

I want to go ahead and say, while I appreciate being notified about this, I don't want my blog to become a forum for dogpiling on the author or making accusations. The critiques presented here are very valid, I just don't want to cause any more trouble than me making that fic recommendation already did.

That being said, the only chapters I had read from that fic were ones that happened to come across my dashboard, and they were centered around Cromwell and the English Civil War, which is an interesting period to me. Knowing these details about later events in the fic now, I can definitely see how that would cause a lot of discomfort. The "monkey" metaphor makes me very uncomfortable, because it is a very loaded term. Though I doubt the author's intention was to offend, it's definitely a term to avoid when writing a non-white character. It's a poor word choice, and it is an odd character choice considering most interpretations I see of Zee tend to have her as very independent and self-assured. Granted, it's not my place to tell people how to do their own characterization, but in this case it is a characterization that sticks out and can carry some unsavory connotations.

I've adhered to the interpretation of Zee as a biracial woman, mostly because from what little I know of New Zealand's history, the Treaty of Waitangi gave the Maori a little more influence and leeway to negotiate with the British crown. That is obviously not to say they were treated well, the treaty was breached numerous times and they were still subjected to heavy discrimination. However, I think that the Maori's position throughout New Zealand's history makes it fitting that its personification would share that heritage. That being said, I don't know nearly enough about the history of New Zealand to meaningfully write a piece examining Zee's relationship with colonialism. There's plenty of people in this fanbase who could do that miles better than I could any day anyway. In my Regency AU I'm still unsure of how much I would examine that, especially because she is a young child in that. It's a complex topic, and definitely not one to half-ass when writing out.

Long story short, writing historical content with any of these characters is something that should be handled with care, but I think that is especially true when it comes to non-white characters.

[rabbitindisguise]

I think I'm coming to the realization that "thanksgiving was created on a bedrock of racism" isn't like the point of the holiday

it's to eat food, have the day off, and encourage people to exist together who don't always exist together at the same time- like most holidays. A lot of the tumblr traditions, like posting donations links and the Adams gifset, that I was participating in for years . . . have started to feel like sort of empty sniggering at racist family members. And sniggering particularly because they weren't sad and miserable the day of, like I (the enlightened one) was. That feels like kind of shitty and more about my superiority than focusing on tribal issues. Being miserable isn't something to be proud of, for one thing, and for another it doesn't do anything productive to be mean to someone on a holiday and hope that I completely change their worldview in one angry conversation. That's something that has proven to not work (though setting boundaries and limiting contact in an otherwise healthy family situations because of repeated racism does often work fairly well from what I've heard, which people can see as "an argument").

Stuff that's missing for me now is the celebration of small and big wins for tribal nations, involvement with action groups and letter writing to government officials, voting literacy, awareness of growing concerns related to things that people can actually help instead of the helpless weight of all the bad things, and the hope that the united states can and should do better. Thanksgiving could still be fun because it's a day off. A structure might be a week of lead up covering the history, the current problems, calls to actions, and then ending with positive work towards a clear goal for the future, leaving the time when people are supposed to be relaxing doing something that can help alleviate stress and contribute socially just like volunteering at soup kitchens. These seem like very natural things to do in response to current tragedies, and happened with the coverage of the big pipeline building projects, but doesn't happen so often for small voting measures or things that can easily pass under the radar. The effects of past/current colonialism is an ongoing issue but treating it as a constant crisis led to burnout for me, and hijacking the holiday made to further entrench colonialism makes a lot of sense too.

I think it would be easy for a capitalist society to seize on unrest with the holiday by removing a national holiday with no replacement and contribute to more working days. That leads me to believe that the restorative answer to help fight back against the ongoing wrongs of thanksgiving, to change the narrative that silences native tribes by not even including their voice when discussing racism against them. Thanksgiving could be a day of mourning and the celebration can be focused on efforts to support tribal sovereignty, with of course eating and having the day off.

I think this is a good example of the way that activism I was doing rarely considered human psychology and even basic needs like "eating" and "resting." It was all theoretical- poor children relying on school lunch, amazon workers not having rest breaks. In order for me to help fight for human rights I often pressured myself to deprive myself of the very rights I was trying to protect, to both the detriment of myself and the people I was trying to help. It would also be more relaxing ways to spend fraught holidays for me to do this sort of thing because I don't really do the "activism" anymore yet still have the same values. Earth day, Christmas, and 4th of July of obvious choices, but I'm not sure what to do for Easter. Maybe Martin Luther King day but that already has a lot of that, plus ready made reading material and things. New Years, birthdays, Halloween, Julius Caesar stabbing day (March 15th), and other tumblr holidays are definitely just Days. I think it's important to have things that are just Days without the homework.

[buildarocketboys]

2 + 3 + 17 for the book asks! 📚

2. Did you reread anything? What?

Yes! I reread all three of what I deem my favourite books, which I try and reread once every year or two: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Nation by Terry Pratchett and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (just finished my reread of Book Thief yesterday, it's been a while since I last reread it so yes it did make me cry). I also reread This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (which I first read in 2020) and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (which I first read last year and is definitely a new fave). Also listened to Re:Dracula which I counted as a Dracula reread.

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

Not counting my faves/rereads, up to this point it'd probably be:

1. Babel by R F Kuang (soooooooo freaking good, magic system based on translation which made my little translator brain go brrrrr, translators of colour at Oxford in the Victorian era, pulls no punches on dealing with colonialism and racism and resistance, I adored the four main characters and their relationship and the ending broke my heart and made me cry. Just so fucking good, highly recommend)

2. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (Jade Daniels my beloved. These top two are so close but I put Babel slightly higher because I think it's objectively slightly better. But this is the book that truly has my heart. She's obsessed with slashers and her essays about them made me want to watch all the slashers, and she's a mess and thinks her town is gonna be victim to a slasher and whaddya know? Anyway so good I love her, the sequel is also very good and I'm very much looking forward to rereading them next year when the final book in the trilogy comes out)

3. Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt (trans woman and TERF dual POV, the haunted house is an allegory for fascism in Britain, and it's so fucking good. It's also A Lot though so proceed with caution)

4. Nettleblack by Nat Reeve (the MC in this is sooooo cute and so fucking anxious god bless. Vaguely Victorian era small town, youngest sister in the Nettleblack household runs away because she/they doesn't want to get married, ends up joining an all-female detective agency. Told through letters/diary entries etc and just a lot of fun, I'm pretty sure there's a sequel coming out at some point which I'm very excited for)

5. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (cosy sci-fi about a non-binary monk who is somehow unfulfilled by life so goes looking for more, meets a robot in the wild and goes on a road trip with it. Very cosy soft sweet and just what I needed this month)

Big shout-outs also to Bunny by Mona Awad, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth and Vicious by V E Schwab.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

The Night Circus kinda, only because I'm not usually very big on detailed, luscious description in books, like I can take it or leave it, but the description was what I absolutely loved about this book. It's so gorgeous and evocative and honestly I can take or leave the plot, but it was worth reading (and earned a 5 star) from the description alone.

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 27 of 26

Title: Jade War (The Green Bone Saga #2) (2019)

Author: Fonda Lee

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Female Protagonist, LGBT Protagonist, First-Person (briefly), Third-Person 

Rating: 10/10 

Date Began: 10/14/2021

Date Finished: 10/26/2021

Having barely escaped destruction at the hands of the Mountain clan, the No Peak clan seeks to strengthen its position locally and abroad. As war breaks out beyond Kekon’s shores, international attention turns to the small island nation and its valuable magic jade supply. Jade can enhance one’s physical abilities when worn, making it a coveted weapon of war. No Peak, led by the powerful and canny Kaul siblings, must strike risky alliances and combat unexpected enemies to secure the clan’s future on the world stage. But the Kauls will also have to grapple with themselves and how far they’re willing to go to protect family, clan, and country. 

“You have to go where your enemies are,” Hilo said. “And then further.” 

Content warnings and spoilers below the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Depicted — Death, animal abuse/death, graphic violence, graphic sexual content, drug use/addiction/withdrawal/overdosing, racism, domestic abuse, suicide/suicidal ideation, sexism, torture, terrorism, self-harm. Mentioned — Colonialism, p*dophilia, r*pe, child abuse, warfare, homophobia.

Jade War is everything a good sequel should be. The stakes are higher, the scope is broader, the political machinations are more intricate and intense, and characterization both improves and continues to impress. While I enjoyed Jade City a lot, Jade War is a huge step up. Assuming Jade Legacy sticks the landing (which I fully expect it to), I can say that The Green Bone Saga is one of the most criminally underrated fantasy series of the last few years.

Full disclosure — I initially struggled with this book. The first third or so is definitely a slow burn. Lee introduces a lot of different plot threads that, seemingly, have little connection to one another. Hilo meets with a jade smuggler to negotiate a hostage situation. Anden gets effectively exiled to Espenia and struggles to adapt in a strange, foreign county. Shae meets up with her secret boyfriend and ruminates on her role in the clan vs her personal desires. Stuff like that. I found it a little difficult to connect with everything. But all that setup pays off big time— and several threads from Jade City come back as well. Small details and minor characters return in interesting ways that play with one’s expectations. When everything comes together in the  final act, it’s simultaneously satisfying and harrowing.

While Jade City focused on Janloon and the clan war between the Mountain and No Peak, Jade War elevates things to the world stage. Jade, found only on Kekon, enhances the martial abilities of people who wear it. It’s captured international attention as a potential weapon. When conflict erupts in nearby countries, Kekon finds itself caught in the middle as allies and enemies alike seek to procure jade by any means necessary. Add that to a longer timeline and the strained, tenuous peace between the two Green Bone clans, and you end up with a layered political conflict.

And boy does political intrigue take center stage in this novel. The last book had its fair share of politics, negotiations, and backstabbing. But like everything else, it’s on a whole new level here. Everyone’s playing the long game, and many chapters read as intense, manipulative chess matches. Though they’re fun to read, these stretches would lure me into a false sense of security. Then Lee would just gleefully blindside me with a shocking twist or development. There’s always a sense of tension reading Jade War, because one never knows when the shoe is going to drop.

The title is almost a misnomer, because the so-called “jade war” happens elsewhere in a foreign country. We never see it directly. The war we do see is fought in nontraditional battlefields— boardrooms, clandestine meetings, homes, etc. I’m almost—ALMOST— disappointed that Lee’s excellent fight scenes are less prevalent in this book. But honestly, I think this just enhances the ones we do get. In particular, there’s an intense fight about halfway through the novel, and it’s probably the best one so far. I’m avoiding spoilers, but it’s just stupidly good. Again, Lee writes action better than almost anyone I’ve encountered. Her descriptions and choreography are vivid and cinematic.

Characterization is on-point, both improving what I liked and addressing my criticisms from Jade City. Specifically, the Maik siblings get a lot of development, something I felt was lacking in the last book. I got a clear sense of Maik Kehn and Maik Tar as individuals rather than interchangeable background characters. Maik Wen gets lots of attention and a few perspective chapters. She ends up being the most important character outside of the main leads.

Anden also feels way more impactful as a character. My struggle last book was that he didn’t do much and felt a little wasted. But now that he’s a fish out of water and has to develop as a person outside of clan expectations, he matures quite a bit. His chapters add a lot of context about the world outside of Kekon, and I like how even Espenia has an unofficial clan structure among the Kekonese diaspora. He also has the most optimistic ending, which is a far cry from last book. His chapters seem almost at odds with the rest of the story, but, like everything else in the book, it all comes together in the end. It’s hard to pick a fave out of the three leads, but Anden comes closest.

But most of all, I love that Jade War explores and expands on the morally gray nature of the characters. Jade City touches on this a bit; often our heroes do questionable things out of necessity with an ends justify the means attitude. After all, Ayt Mada and the Mountain are cutthroat and willing to do whatever they can to undermine No Peak. Why shouldn’t No Peak do the same? The kid gloves come off in Jade War, however. The climax of the first act solidifies this— I won’t spoil it, but it’s a total shock that haunted me for the rest of the book.

The morally gray, violent nature of the story is often juxtaposed with the core theme of family. There are several kid characters who are obviously set up to be the next generation of Kauls. Hilo, despite his brutal nature in much of the book, takes to fatherhood with love and enthusiasm. He’s shown to be a compassionate and caring father figure, something he never had himself. But then you have one chapter where Hilo dispassionately buries a man alive to suffer a slow, agonizing death in jade withdrawal… then goes home and has a cute, meaningful scene with one of his kids. It’s horrifying, and there’s lots of examples of this throughout the book. The takeaway is that the two sides of clan life are intertwined… something the conclusion (especially Shae’s speech) drives home.

One last detail I enjoyed is that Hilo and Shae experience a reversal. Hilo, normally portrayed as the headstrong warrior archetype, shows his more duplicitous and politically cunning side. Meanwhile, Shae becomes more impulsive; she’s the one who jumps into a secret relationship and picks the most notable fight in the book. This is the opposite of their dynamic in the last book, yet it’s still perfectly in character based on their backstories. In Jade City, we learned the two siblings basically hated each other as kids, and even now they butt heads pretty often. The narrative doesn’t dwell on this much, but it’s interesting that the two are, at their core, pretty similar people.

If I have a criticism it’s that, again, I wish we saw more of the Mountain and its villains. Ayt Mada is such a fascinating antagonist, but outside of a few memorable scenes, we see very little of her directly. Nau Suen is also an unexpected treat (god, that one wham line), but outside of one chapter, he disappears until near the end of the book. As the Mountain and No Peak become more similar, and the line of morality continues to blur, I really want to see more of these characters. They’re not exactly the narrative focus, and I get that, but I think exploring them more could only strengthen the story.

That being said, Jade War was freaking awesome. I’m sad I have to wait a whole month for Jade Legacy to release, but I have high hopes for it. Definitely check this series out; it’s unlike any urban fantasy series I’ve read before, and its roots in martial arts and gangster stories add a lot to the experience. Mind the warnings though, because these books get pretty dark.

[uncleghostt]

Can't stop thinking about how 18th century Moravians (Christian denomination, very prominent in the colonial days) fucked a lot and made it a religious thing just so they didn't feel guilty.

Take a seat, and strap in.

(CW: sex, religion, Christianity, cult mention, explicit anatomical terms, voyeurism, etc. This is a fun post about *strange* practices but please read at your own risk!!)

The Moravians were borderline a cult. They all called their leader "Papa", were very obsessed with blood and blood sacrifice, and had very very strict member rules. People *were* free to leave the faith if they wanted, but it very seldom happened.

Anyways, this group of people had all sorts of interesting things going on for them. First off, they were an industrial GIANT. Literally so efficient and skilled in like 200 trades that people all over the north east would horse and buggy it on over to Pennsylvania to buy their stuff. That said, they were one of the first people (they claim to be the first anyways) to divert water from the source and mechanically engineer it to produce energy. Cool stuff. They also were a multiracial group (allowing black individuals, native American individuals, etc) to hold equal status as other white members. It wasn't exactly an effort on "anti-racism" but definitely anamalous for the time period. Same goes for women. The men and women were separated almost ALL of the time (except when they were having sex, but I'll discuss that next) which means people of all genders were highly educated and expected to contribute equally to the community. Again, not exactly feminism, but it's notable.

Alright. Now onto what you've stopped for. The SEX. The Moravians loved sex and legit thought it was the key to *seeing god*. So much to the point where the whole goal of "unification" was so that a married couple could orgasm and "become closer to God". They even referred to cumming as "blessing the wife". It wasn't a free for all though. Oh no. There were very particular rules. On the eve of one's wedding, you would be sat down with the village elders and taught EXACTLY how you were supposed to fuck. Some accounts even state that the village elders would WATCH while unification happened so that they could *make sure* they were doing it right (ew). These rules are totally not conducive to actual sex either lol. So like (I'm gonna be explicit here) the men were only allowed to move at a certain rhythm while inserted (encouraged to move as little as possible) because their whole thing was "removing the lust from sex." Individual members frequently recounted these experiences in their diaries, a lot of people feeling shame for thinking about sex during sex, and for not reaching orgasm like God intended. (they would say stuff like, "I'm so upset with myself that when my husband blessed me, I didn't see God. He was not with me, I'll try and see him next time"—the poor women LOL)

And it's important to note that this didn't just happen any old place. Remember now that the Moravians had their communities segregated by gender. 'So where DID they canoodle??', you may be asking yourself. The answer? A tiny 5x5 room called the blue cabinet. Couples would LINE UP outside and wait for their chance to go in and bang. There wasn't even a bed in there!!! Sometimes it would be a wooden bench or specialized chair, but never a real bed.

((NOTE: Now, existence of the blue cabinet is not very well recorded (as one would imagine, sounds like a pretty taboo concept) but this is strange because the Moravians prided themselves on their record keeping. They had diarists account every day, every hunt, every death, every event, every action, etc. of the community. So this being left out, was definitely intentional.))

Okay back to business. So why did the Moravians, a very pious and deeply religious group, think it was okay (and even encouraged) to have sex??

Jesus side wound. Or as I like to call it, his side wussy.

Because his stab wound (from being crucified) kinda looks like a hoohah, they thought they could justify sex as long as they imagined they were penetrating Jesus's side wound. Seriously. They loved the side wussy so much they wrote songs about it and drew countless pictures depicting it. They even gave out little calling cards that were just rooms of their buildings as if they were inside of the wussy. Wild. I can't get over it. Look at it please hahahahahah

ANOTHER QUICK FACT: the Moravians had a very weird concept of gender and thought that "all people had female souls" because everyone was Jesus's bride. That said, they perceived Jesus himself to hold both male and female energy (nb king omg).

And LAST ONE I promise: the son of their leader got in big big trouble because he was having gay orgies in the Young single men's house (all houses were divided by gender and marital status)!! They caught all these young guys getting freaky and dressing up like women!!!!! hehehe

---

Okay I have so much more knowledge of this in my head but I'm sure your mind is blown so I'll stop there. Hope u have a great day being plagued with these thoughts as I am!

[lilquill]

On Representation, Diversity, and “have characters of color just don’t write about the experience of being a person of color”

Alright. I’m gonna piss a bunch of people off and also confuse a bunch of well-intentioned white people because I don’t think that you can write about a character of color without talking about the experience of being a person of color of a certain culture.

Seriously. There’s so many conversations celebrating how people have narratives where it “doesn’t matter” that one of their characters is a person of color and that their characters’ identity as a person of color “doesn’t affect the storyline” or whatever.

I’m going to cut right to the chase here: as a reader and storyteller of color, I’m not a fan of narratives where race doesn’t affect the story.

My race and culture and ethnicity ABSOLUTELY impact the way I perceive the world around me! For instance, many South Asian families bond with lively debates and discussions and lovingly roasting their family members. The way that I develop positive relationships, often with a solid dose of conflict and loudness and argument, is therefore fundamentally different from the way a white person would develop relationships; in fact, many white people are intimidated by how loud South Asians like myself are. We’re dramatic and loud and love jokes with wordplay! That’s just how it is and it means I form bonds with people differently.

I also have different values. White people are often more individualistic in culture, with more weird distant formal bonds with their parents (shit like referring to their parents by first name or, on the other end of the spectrum, calling their dads “sir”???) as opposed to the more comfortable and closer bond I have with my parents, where my family is all up in my shit literally all the time LMAO.

Literally white families are SO DISTANT to the point where white people consider practices like co-sleeping with your young child, something very common in South Asian families, to be child abuse?? Like, as if keeping your baby in a crib in another room where they’re not close to you and it’s harder to hear them isn’t dangerous but apparently suffocating a child while sleeping (which is very rare especially since co-sleeping is a practice that has gone on for MILLENNIA) is the bigger threat here??

White kids might perceive that as invasive or a violation of their privacy; I don’t perceive it that way because of the way South Asian families are structured. There’s a stronger emphasis on closeness with family. Of course, there are situations of kids being estranged or difficult family relationships or child abuse in South Asian families as well, but family is more valued in my culture.

The plants I put in my garden are different because of my identity; flowers like bela (Arabian jasmine) and bougainvillea and roses and gladiolus and marigolds and such things are what I’m fond of because of biases based on what my parents and grandparents like. I even once grew nenua (a type of squash). (I’m gonna get my hands on a raat ki rani soon I hope!!) And, of course, not every South Asian is partial to these flowers, but there’s definitely a cultural aspect as to why I personally like them!

The colors and patterns I gravitate towards are also different! I’m not a big fan of western “neutrals” and I find bright colors more appealing, especially because hey, those vibrant shades look better on brown skin! And GUESS WHAT, part of why the western world gravitates towards neutral colors in formalwear is because of colonialism and a disdain for the vibrant colors and dyes that colonized countries used. I love wearing jhumka earrings and statement necklaces and bright, vibrant jewelry as well. Now, obviously, this isn’t the case with every South Asian, but there is certainly some level of impact on these choices from my culture and upbringing.

Hell, even the food I eat is different! I drink chai in the evenings. I gravitate towards spicier dishes and better seasoning. I don’t eat meat other than fish/seafood and chicken and occasionally turkey because of cultural stuff, though ofc lots of South Asians are vegetarian and on the flip side lots of South Asians DO eat red meat and stuff.

And this isn’t even universal to ALL South Asians by any means, because my parents are specifically Hindu and from northeastern India and I’ve grown up in California! And there’s so many other details I could go into but for the sake of not writing a twelve-page essay I’m stopping here. 

Basically, my point is, I don’t want representation where race “doesn’t matter” to the story. Race impacts so many aspects of my life and how I perceive and interact with the world around me.

It’s ridiculous to me how so much “representation” is basically just starting with a default of a white character, making her brown, avoiding the stereotypes, and that’s....it. It doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel authentic to take away cultural impacts on your characters. People start with white western archetypes and tropes and try to mold them to fit characters of color, instead of starting off with an authentic character of color, and it really, really shows.

Especially because Tumblr and writeblr are such white spaces, and also because culture is usually picked up from the environment as opposed to online, the conversations centered around “representation” are always about “don’t do x stereotypes” as opposed to how to actually learn about other cultures and actually....write a character of color. So many of y’all only know how to NOT write a character of color as opposed to how to ACTUALLY write a character of color.

I see so many lists of tropes and things to not include in stories, and not enough things about values and family structures and food and fashion and ways of developing relationships and all that fun stuff that will shape who you are as a person.

And some of y’all don’t even TRY to, I dunno, engage with the culture of your character of color to actually write them. For instance, if you’re writing a South Asian character, go explore South Asian cinema! Go make South Asian friends who can tell you little details about their lives as they, y’know, exist and are your friend! In general, explore the movies and literature and music and dance types and food and drink and whatnot of the culture your character is from! Form relationships with people of those cultures; it’s the internet! I know this is a super white space but there’s PLENTY of poc on here! Make an effort, not just to avoid harmful stereotypes, but to write a character of color whose identity actually MATTERS.

When I’m reading escapist fantasy/sci-fi/romcom/etc. literature where characters aren’t being hurt by racism, I don’t want a story where RACE doesn’t exist, I want a story where RACISM doesn’t exist. I want cultural understanding, empathy, and compassion!

I don’t want a role a white character would play just switched out with a character of color.

For instance, in the movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Lara Jean’s identity as East Asian is reflected in her fashion choices; book author Jenny Han lent inspiration for this. The Yakult drinks she likes, inspired by Korean tastebuds, plays a role in the story, too. These are details that don’t necessarily heavily impact the plot; it’s a fake-dating high school romcom. But they make a more real, fleshed-out character. They’re little details, little in-jokes and references, showing that the character’s race and culture actually MATTER to the story.

There’s a part in Pacific Rim where Raleigh Beckett, a white man, is frustrated with Mako Mori, a Japanese woman, for not going against the wishes of her father figure, Pentecost. When he tells her she doesn’t have to obey him, she responds, “It’s not obedience, Mr. Beckett. It’s respect.” This depicts her cultural understanding of family and respect; her relationships and her responses to things are impacted by her culture.

This is what I’m talking about! In order to write an actual character of color, you MUST write about their experiences to a certain extent. Of course, don’t make your characters of a certain culture a monolith in terms of personalities and responses and all that, but understand how they may be similarly impacted by their identities.

Now, don’t write a whole damn novel about a character coming to terms with their racial identity and coping with racism, but you absolutely MUST holistically incorporate their identity into your narrative.

Otherwise, it’s not actually representation. It’s you essentially writing a racebent white character. It’s you using a white default and trying to adapt it to totally different experiences.

[dwellordream]

different anon i love several of the book recs and quotes you post here so could you sugest any period drama, mistery or something with a dark ambience or gothic romance with tragedy or not ? i'm having such a hard time finding something good and with the cuarentine i've burned trough my entire "to read" list. thanks a lot!

Warning that many of these books include themes of sexual assault, abuse, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, colonialism, etc. None of these are YA novels and they were all intended for an adult audience.

Uhhhh I would recommend Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and Other Tales which has some great Gothic writing and very dark ambience of horror, romance, mystery, etc...

I would recommend Dragonwyck by Anya Seton which is the most over the top Gothic romance to ever exist, imo... it was written in the 1940s but is set in the 1840s in New York, revolving around a farm girl sent to live with mysterious wealthy distant relatives at their rumored to be haunted Dutch estate. Lots of parties, murder, ghost stories, etc. It is definitely a product of its time and can be almost hysterically funny at times because of how over the top the heroine is, but I also genuinely like the prose and I think it’s a fun read.

In addition I would recommend The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo which is a mystery/romance/thriller set in China in the 1930s involving a young woman who works in secret at a dance hall and winds up in the possession of a preserved severed finger many dangerous people are looking for. Also a man eating tiger is on the loose attacking young women. And it really delves into unpacking colonialism and Chinese folklore.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin I would also say has a dark atmosphere and some mystery/horror elements though it is primarily a family drama. It’s about four siblings growing up in NYC who encounter a medium who reveals the date of their deaths to them, and how that shapes how they live their lives as adults and the choices they make. Sounds very depressing but it is in fact a book focused on the love and ties of family to one another.

I would also say that Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield is a great Gothic mystery focused on an ancient inn along the Thames and its various patrons. The drama begins when a fisherman bursts in with what he claims is a child’s corpse, but despite being declared dead the little girl comes back to life, only she is mute and cannot explain what happened to her or who her family is. Three separate families claim she is their child, stolen from them and a serious debate begins over who she should go to, while a lot of secrets and lies are exposed.

And of course though it gets harped about on here endlessly, I do think Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente is well written and compelling. It’s on the surface level a retelling of the tale of Marya Morevna, stolen away by the god Koschei the Deathless, but it’s really a book unpacking Russian history and culture by using folklore as a lens.

I’d also recommend The Night Watch by Sarah Waters which is essentially a love story/drama set during and after WW2 in London, told backwards between the two women in love with one another. It is very sad but also very good and has a very dark and dreary atmosphere, and discusses what we expect from relationships as well as the danger and anxiety of being a lesbian in 1940s England.

[bookofmirth]

Hi! Could you also recommend some m/m books? Your recent post about f/f books was amazing btw, thank you so much!

Hi! No problem! I will organize this post similarly, including descriptions for books even though some of them are super popular. :) Here is the f/f one for anyone interested. Also feel free to add on! I have others on my tbr but only included books I’ve read and can recommend.

YA:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Ari and Dante meet, bond over healing, and a reserved boy who has difficulties expressing emotions learns to let himself feel. 

The Raven Cycle, by Maggie Stiefvater. Rich boys and their mascot Blue go searching for a dead king; one of them is dead, one of them is going to die, and two of them will be boyfriends. 

Simon Versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Do I need to explain?

The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, by Mackenzi Lee. Super fun historical fiction where they go on some adventure, I honestly don’t remember what but I do remembering laughing a lot and Monty being very gay.

Fence, by CS Pacat (graphic). Competitive boys trying to win a place on the fencing team, and for one of them it’s the only way he can afford to go to the school.

Autoboyography, by Christina Lauren. A boy (who was out) moves to Utah, and has to go back in the closet. Til he gets a crush.

The Gilded Wolves, by Roshani Chokshi. A Parisian magical heist followed by a riddle in Russia, with gay. Like if Indiana Jones had been against colonialism and the theft of indigenous cultural artifacts. Underrated. Lots of mystery, great for people who like puzzles, and there’s so much acknowledgement of racism and cultural imperialism and neurodivergence.

Adult:

A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schwab (fantasy). One of my favorite ships ever, features four Londons with varying access to magic, a prince, and his pirate boyfriend. And some other stuff happens too. (The ship really starts happening in book two.)

The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller (uhhh idk). As the title implies, this is the story of the siege of Troy, focusing on Achilles, but his lover Patroclus is just as important to the story (if not more so).

Days Without End, by Sebastien Barry (historical fiction). I didn’t know going into this, but? Very gay. It’s set in the Old West if I’m right, it’s been a couple of years) about two men who are trying to find work, end up adopting a young native girl by happenstance, and then create a family together. One of the men is GNC but this was the Old West so... they didn’t have a word for it at the time that wasn’t derogatory. There is a sequel coming out soon, super rare for literary-ish fiction.

Tin Man, by Sarah Winman (contemporary/literary). This, like the manga below, doesn’t include a current m/m ship, but... It’s about a man who is reflecting on his relationships with the two loves of his life - his teenage boyfriend and his wife, who are both deceased. Really beautiful and sad. 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid (historical/contemporary). The focus of this book is definitely Evelyn, but she’s bisexual, and her bff is a gay man in a longterm relationship. 

My Brother’s Husband, by Gengoroh Tagame (manga). Maybe it doesn’t qualify because there isn’t a current m/m relationship, but the gist of this is: a man living in Japan is mourning his brother. His brother’s husband comes to visit unexpectedly and they both have to adjust to homophobia in Japan, or their own internalized prejudices.

Less, by Andrew Sean Greer (contemporary/literary). This won the National Book Award a couple of years ago! But it’s about an aging gay man, trying to feel successful as a writer, and regretting the relationships he has let slip through his fingers. The end was 💯 

The City of Brass, by S.A. Chakraborty (fantasy). Everyone needs to read this, it’s the best. The m/m relationship isn’t at the forefront, but everyone should read it anyway.

A Choir of Lies, by Alexandra Rowland (fantasy) . This is a companion to A Conspiracy of Truths, which was also just really queer all the way around, but this book is specifically Very Gay.

Red, White, and Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston (contemporary/romance). Do I need to explain this one either?

[brightbeautifulthings]

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

"Most everyone thinks of Smekday as the day the Boov arrived, and as the day they left, one year later. But the longer they've been gone, the less I care about that. The Boov weren't anything special. They were just people. They were too smart and too stupid to be anything else."

Year Read: 2020

Rating: 3/5

About: Gratuity "Tip" Tucci has been assigned a five-page essay on what Smekday--the day that the alien race called the Boov that conquered Earth suddenly left--means to her. But Tip's story far exceeds the assignment, and before long, she finds herself chronicling her journey from start to finish. Her mother was abducted the day the Boov arrived, and Tip goes on a journey to find her, first in Florida where the Boov relocated all the humans, and then to Arizona (when they decided they wanted Florida for themselves). Along the way, she becomes unlikely allies with a fugitive Boov who calls himself J.Lo and learns of a threat even greater than the Boov: an alien race called the Gorg who conquer every world for its resources. Trigger warnings: death, explosions, violence, severe injury, car accidents, racism (some countered).

Thoughts: I have a tendency to imprint on the first media I come into contact with, so I ended up liking Home (2015) more than its source material, but it's almost not even a fair comparison. It's one of those cases of taking the same premise to tell two totally different stories, and Home is definitely geared and sanitized for a younger audience than The True Meaning of Smekday. The film misses a lot of the larger, messier themes like colonialism and racism and trades them for themes of belonging and perspective (but I love the adorable movie ending). I enjoyed the deeper themes of the novel and feel like its slightly older audience would be ready for them. There's a strong parallel between the Boov "discovering" Earth and relocating its population to British-American treatment of Native Americans, and it includes a Native American side character later in the story.

Character-wise, I didn't always find Tip to be quite that believable. She often comes off more as a cynical old man than a twelve-year-old girl, which I think is partly her complicated relationship with her mother (with Tip sometimes having to play the mother role herself) and partly the author creeping into the character. J.Lo is about as silly as an alien character who names himself J.Lo would be, but I enjoyed the way his and Tip's friendship develops over the course of the novel from grudging allies to almost family. The Boov and Gorg cultures are also well-developed, and it's surprisingly science fiction heavy for a middle grade book. (A little too sci-fi for me, truth be told, but I like the idea of a female lead in a genre that's often male-centric.)

I don't like the essay structure of the book, and I don't feel like it best serves the story that's being told. Tip's first essay is barely an introduction on the topic, and she ends up writing the rest of it to be read only after she's old and dead. Again, this comes off extremely cynical for a kid, and I think the action of the story would have been better from a first or third person narrator instead of in Tip's "words." The other genres included are a fun diversion though, from photographs (illustrations) of some of the characters to J.Lo's comics about Boov life. The ending veers into the ridiculous, at least from an adult perspective, but I can see it working well for a middle grade sense of humor. I'm not quite the right audience for it, but I wouldn't discourage anyone from picking it up.

[carriagelamp]

Since it’s 🍁 Canada Day 🍁 I figured I’d do the same thing I did for Pride Month and post a round up of Canadian books. Canadian literature has a tendency to be overlooked, but there’s some amazing gems out there!

That being said, this is definitely not a definitive list. There’s lot of lists out there that probably better, more relevant books. This is just a personal list as a Canadian person of Canadian lit I’ve read that stood out to me for whatever reason. I definitely encourage you though to look into some of the new Canadian novels being written write now, especially all the awesome own voice stories being written by First Nations authors across the country!

I’ve read a fair few Canadian novels over the years, so I’m going to break them up into one post of highlights each day for the remainder of the week: one for Children’s Novels / Chapter Books one for YA / Adult Novels, one for Graphic Novels and one for Picture Books.

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

This is like… The Canadian Novel ™ isn’t it? I imagine that even if you’ve never heard of any other Canadian novel, you’ve probably heard of Anne of Green Gables, if for no other reason than it’s been adapted a million times over. If you’ve never bothered to read the original though, I highly recommend it. Since it was written in 1908 the language is definitely old-fashioned, but that somehow makes it engaging enough to keep an adult reader hooked, while not being too difficult for a child reader who’s moved on to full length novels. It also, of course, makes a fantastic read aloud – I’ve reread this book easily a dozen times over the years since first having it read aloud to me by my mom, during which we both bawled our eyes out together.

If you somehow haven’t heard of Anne, it’s about Anne Shirley, a wildly imaginative (and just wild) orphan girl who is adopted by the Cuthberts and brought to live with them on their Prince Edward Island farm, Green Gables. The Cuthberts had originally intended to adopt a boy who could help with the farm work, but when Matthew Cuthbert finds a girl waiting for him at the train station he can’t bring himself to turn her away. And so begins the hijinks and misadventures of Anne as she grows from child to young adult.

Le Champ Maudit by François Gravel

I’ve always loved the genre of child-horror and this book absolutely delivers. The creature, vieux Nick, and the way it exists in space is delightfully chilling even as an adult. The story is about Oliver, who has often been warned by his uncle not to go into the cornfields – it makes sense after all, the cornfields are vast and uniform, it would be easy to get lost in them. Oliver has no reason to assume there’s something more sinister lurking in them, or that it could be tied to the other people who have gone missing over the years. That is, not until he makes the mistake of chasing a rabbit into the stalks one evening…

The Dragon’s Egg by Alison Baird

I was absolutely a “dragon kid” as a child, I loved any sort of dragon book I could get my hands on and I read this one over and over when I was in grade three. It’s about Ai Len who is given a lovely river stone by her father from his trip to China. Ai Len is shocked one night when, all of a sudden, she realizes that it wasn’t a stone at all, but rather a dragon’s egg. Lonely Ai Len befriends the baby dragon (who disguises himself as one of her gold fishes during the day) and helps him grow and learn as they try to figure out how he can get back home to the river his family inhabits.

Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Fatty Legs is the true story account of Margaret Pokiak, an Inuvialuit child who grew up with her family in the Arctic. At the age of eight, despite their reputations and her father’s reluctance, Margaret begs to be allowed to attend the Catholic residential school because there was nothing she wanted more than to learn to read. There, far from her warm, loving family, Margaret learns about the cruelties and humilities of residential school. This book is a good introduction to residential schools for young children – it shows the horrors while still keeping the story child-friendly and relatable.

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford

The classic novel that inspired Disney’s film Homeward Bound. This story is about three pets – two dogs and a cat – who are left behind under the care of a family friend at an isolated cabin. These three determined pets though refuse to abandon their humans that easily. After a couple weeks of no contact, a decision is made: they will make the trek across the dangerous North Ontario wilderness in order to find their owners. This is a great animal story that genuinely feels perilous at times as these three house pets are forced to contend against the elements, wild predators, and even other humans.

Inkling by Kenneth Oppel

Kenneth Oppel is a human name in Canadian middle grade literature – not only is he a great writer, but an incredibly prolific one. If you have a middle school child in your life, consider checking out this man’s library of works because he has books that range across all sorts of different genres and topics, and they tend to be unique and gripping. They’re a staple in any Canadian school library.

Inkling is about a boy, Ethan, who is struggling with his life. His family has gone through a personal tragedy, his artist father is struggling to write a new graphic novel, and Ethan’s been entrusted with drawing the art for his school group’s graphic novel assignment, and he can’t bring himself to tell them his father’s talent wasn’t hereditary. Everything changes though, when one night, his father’s ink wakes up… This book is really heartwarming, with sweet family moments, lots of action, and an adorable ink blob that’s just trying to do its best.

My Name is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling

Another own voice novel, this time written by West Coast Salish and residential school survivor Shirley Sterling. This novel is written like a weekly diary by six year old Seepeetza who is taken from her joyous family home and forced into a residential boarding school. While there she is forced to change her name, her language, and all the things that made her life happy and complete. Despite all this, Seepeetza finds ways to survive and still find joy. This book is written for a slightly older audience than Fatty Legs, more of a thin middle grade novel but still balances the brutal horrors of residential schools with a child-friendly narration.

The Secret World of Og by Patsy Berton

This is another Canadian children’s classic, though a much less well-known one than Anne of Green Gables. My mom read this to me and my brother in early elementary school, a chapter a night, and I remember being completely wrapped up in it and it’s strange, quirky pictures. It’s about the five Berton children who discover a strange, cavernous world hidden beneath their club house, inhabited by little creatures called Ogs.

Secrets in the Sand by Sharon Siamon

This is exactly what it looks like: a true to form Horse Girl book. There’s nothing overly special about it, but I read it this month and was charmed by it. This is technically the second book of the Saddle Island series (and she has two other Horse Girl related series as well though I haven’t read them) but for whatever reason I read the second first and actually enjoyed it more of the two. It has it all! A spunky, head-strong girl! Her best friend and annoying brother! A small, financially struggling Maritime town! A brave horse that loves the ocean and swims into underwater caves! The promise of pirate treasure! Saving The Family Farm (and rebuilding it from the ground up on a tiny island)! Want a fun mindless horse adventure? Well here it is!

Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

I know, I know, another Kenneth Oppel book but listen… he is so prolific and also it might be a crime to do a Canadian book list and not mention Silverwing. This was a childhood staple when I was growing up, practically everyone had either read it for class, read the entire series on their own because who wouldn’t want to, or watched the weird ass TV series. Or done all three! If you haven’t read Silverwing but like animal adventure stories, this is honestly one of the peaks of the entire genre imho. It’s about Shade, a small silverwing bat that struggles with the rules and limits placed around bat colony life. He’s constantly pushing things, constantly challenging others regardless of if they’re his bullying yearmates or if they’re the clan elders. But one day, Shade takes it too far and breaks a vital law: he stayed up and saw the sun. Now the owls are determined to have Shade killed and the clan is prepared to exile him for his transgression. All this just as the clan is preparing to migrate, and Shade, with his small runty wings, ends up falling further and further behind in the storm…

Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker

I debated whether or not to include this book, given all the BLM movements going on. This book isn’t own voice, and in the research I’ve done since becoming an adult has made me realize a number of the problems that surround it. But still, it felt wrong to leave out, both because of the social climate right now and because this was another classroom staple when I was growing up. It’s about a pair of young slave girls who are horribly abused on the planation they live on, and who eventually join in on a plot to run away, to find the rumoured “underground railroad”, a network of people who help black slaves escape captivity and escape – in this case across the border into Canada. Despite its flaws, this was a book we read in school and, through the book and classroom discussions, really introduced me to the concept of slavery and racism… and the fact that racism is still horribly alive today. It shook me as a child – it was written to be optimistic and adventurous for children, but it still had more violence and horror than I was used to in books at that age and it really shook me. So I included it in the list because, for me at least, I believe it had a positive effect on my growth as a person.

Up In Arms by Amanda Spottiswoode

This is a woefully underrated series because it really delights me. It’s about six friends, spread across two families. Though they’re from the UK, this series is all about their adventures with their uncle in Canada. Spottiswood writes children travel adventures, all set around the 1940s. The first, Brother XII’s Treasure is a treasure hunt along the West Coast during a sailing vacation; the second, The Silver Lining take them into British Columbia’s interior on cattle drive as the kids get drawn into adventures on horseback, a familiar villain, and old mining secrets. This third book I actually read before the others, and is my favourite of the series. It’s back on BC’s west coast, only this time rather than a vacation the kids of be sent to Canada because of the outbreak of WWII. You get high-flying adventure, wilderness survival, and planning a heist to help right the wrongs done to a local Indigenous community by the white settlers. It’s just a lot of fun.

[mediaeval-muse]

Why “Anglo-Saxon” is a racist term, even in academia

I received a message from @shotofstress​ asking about the term “Anglo-Saxon” and why it’s bad, even in medieval studies scholarship, so I thought I’d post something publicly so everyone can know. And just as a note, I’m largely drawing on research collected by my colleague, Dr. Erik Wade (who is mildly tumblr famous).

For the sake of clarity, I will be using the term “Anglo-Saxon” in this post.

TW for racism and transphobia.

The term “Anglo-Saxon” was originally used to describe the language of early medieval English peoples (now “Old English”), but gradually became more of a term to describe the time period and inhabitants of England from c. 500-1066 AD. During the early part of this medieval period, following Rome’s withdrawal from England, Germanic peoples from Scandinavia invaded England and settled there. “Anglo” and “Saxon” refer to 2 of these peoples, but there were others, such as the Jutes. In many early medieval texts, you can see “Angle” and “Saxon” in things like law codes and chronicles, but they largely die out during Alfred’s reign (8-9th cent) and are replaced by the broader term, “English,” in the attempt to create a proto-national identity. The hyphenated term “Anglo-Saxon” was never used by medieval people to describe themselves. It’s an invention by modern scholars, gaining popularity around the 19th century... which is also when England stepped up its imperial agenda.

As white people came into contact with people of color more and more, they began to form a collective white identity to try to unite against others and justify their superiority. Early medieval scholars were not immune to this racism. In fact, many of them used their expertise in medieval studies to try to justify white superiority. See this excerpt from Jacob Abbott's 1862 History of King Alfred of England, for example:

Here is an example from Dexter Hawkins, "The Anglo Saxon Race," published in 1875.

Here is an excerpt from a commencement address given n 1875 at Syracuse University by Dexter Hawkins, "The Anglo-Saxon Race: Its History Character and Destiny."

Many of these early scholars also supported racist “science” such as phrenology. It’s quite easy to see how their scholarship was informed by their ideology, and not the other way around.

Another prominent example involves the creation of the Early English Text Society, an organization that many scholars still rely on to this day for definitive editions of medieval primary texts. EETS initially saw itself as promoting Old English literature as part of an explicitly colonial mission. They said "We are banded together to trace the springs [...] of the language that shall one day be the ruling tongue of the world."

In the 1950s, the term WASP (”white Anglo-Saxon Protestant”) first appeared to describe a social group in American society with a lot of political and economic power. Race is inextricably linked with social influence and power. Although the term became one of disparagement, I still hear stories from my colleagues of it being used against people of color (to exclude them).

So, it’s not just a case of the term being misused by politicians or imperialists or “scientists” of the day. This racist history is embedded within our own field of academia.

Since the 19th century, the term has been adopted by various white supremacist movements to uphold a racial hierarchy. Stormfront once published something on their site, proposing a connection between swastikas and "Anglo-Saxons." It also lists Beowulf as essential reading. Here’s a tweet from this year from a white supremacist who uses runes and the term to claim an ethnic past that technically never existed:

Even if academics use the term nowadays in a more or less “benign” manner, students and scholars of color are still being targeted by people who wield “Anglo-Saxon” as a weapon against them. Many of us do not want to give white supremacists the idea that we’re on their side - white supremacists have continually looked to the medieval past to legitimize their worldview, and if we don’t address our own complicity in white supremacy, our classrooms will continue to attract these students and alienate others. Here’s an example. Michael Drout is a major scholar, and though his tweet isn’t making fun of the current ISXX debacle, look at the way it’s worded, and the response:

White supremacists are emboldened when scholars use the term “Anglo-Saxon.”

And it’s not just people outside academia. Here are some links by scholars of color detailing how the academy itself upholds whiteness and white supremacy:

https://medium.com/@mrambaranolm/anglo-saxon-studies-academia-and-white-supremacy-17c87b360bf3

http://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2019/04/public-medievalism-and-rigor-of-anti.html?m=1

http://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2017/07/decolonizing-anglo-saxon-studies.html

Here is an email from a scholar JUST THIS WEEK which claims to want to reclaim the term from racists, but gets transphobic along the way.

Those who claim we “can’t let racists appropriate our term” is woefully ignorant. Racists have been using it for centuries, and in most cases the racists were scholars. In my opinion, the term cannot be reclaimed. It has gone the way of the swastika, and even of runes and Thor’s hammers. They are linked to white supremacy, and it’s more important that we prioritize real people and their safety than hanging onto an archaic term.

For those of you who might be shocked to learn this, know that I myself was ignorant of the racist history until recently, and I have been "Anglo-Saxon” to describe the things I study. For that, I am embarrassed and I apologize to anyone I have hurt. Hopefully, my future actions will help make up for any damage I caused. You can do the same. The future of the field is one that does anti-racist work, and this is one of the steps. It isn’t the only thing, but it’s a good start.

[reading-while-queer]

Red, White, and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston

Rating: Great Read Genre: Romance, Coming Out Representation: -Bi main character -Gay love interest -Mexican American/Mixed race main character -Other LGBTQ side characters Note: Characters have explicit sex; this is not YA and definitely not appropriate for younger teens Trigger warnings: Sex under the influence of alcohol (not in a predatory context, but still), forced outing, attempted rape (talked about, not in scene), drug abuse (not in scene), parent death, rare instances of homophobia, racism, xenophobia.

Red, White, and Royal Blue is the story of Alex Claremont-Diaz, a 21 year old student with political dreams: to climb the rungs as intern, staffer, and finally Senator by 30.  And his mother just happens to be the President of the United States.  Alex likes politics, but he can’t stand the fakeness of it all - and his frustrations come to be centralized around one man, Prince Henry of Wales.  Henry is only two years older than Alex, but while they play similar roles in life, and occasionally collide at international events, Henry is cold and aloof, never stooping to befriend his American counterpart.

This is where the novel begins: a rivalry come to a head at the royal wedding of Henry’s older brother, Phillip.  After a PR nightmare, Alex and Henry are forced by their respective handlers to play nice, or else.  And so a romance begins.

I really enjoyed Red, White, and Royal Blue.  Underneath its fun trope-y beginning, it becomes a drama that addresses queer sexuality on a more thoughtful level.  It deals with coming out in an interesting way, since the stakes are global.  If Alex comes out, what does that mean for his mom’s bid for re-election?  And for Henry, who doesn’t have the luxury of disappearing from the public eye after another four years, is coming out too costly?  This isn’t your average coming out story, but one of celebrity (especially unasked-for celebrity).  And, in fact, it isn’t entirely a coming out story at all.  “Coming out” is hardly the most pressing issue when Alex and Henry struggle to have a private relationship in the first place, both of them plagued by paparazzi and all their movements tracked.  Henry needs a political excuse to be in the same country as Alex at all, and vice versa.  This was such an interesting, high stakes spin, that Red, White, and Royal Blue really felt like a new, fresh story.

McQuiston’s writing definitely does her story justice - the characters feel like real 20-somethings, despite the display of artifice they give the cameras.  The writing is timely, too - Alex’s speech patterns are very 2019 Gen Z.  This book will age well, not because it could be imagined as taking place at some future point (the 2020 presidential campaign features strongly, after all), but because it is so unapologetically of its time.  McQuiston may be writing an alternate reality where Alex’s mom, Ellen Claremont (not Hilary Clinton), made the bid for president in 2016 - and won - but McQuiston still addresses the issues we are dealing with today, just in different ways.  A Trump-like character is Claremont’s challenger for 2020, for example, and an email leak winkingly brings to mind the nightmare of 2016.  But apart from these nods to root us in a familiar world, this is an alternate presidency where nothing seems to be happening at all - perhaps the greatest fantasy of LGBTQ readers today.  No war, no oil pipelines, no mention of policy whatsoever.

That isn’t to say that McQuiston entirely turns a blind eye.  As a fuck-you to current administration, McQuiston has Alex notice, almost with wonder, how he, a Mexican-American, can put his feet up on a White House railing where racist presidents have stood.  He’s aware of how plenty of White Americans today would be frothing at the mouth at the thought.  In this great escapist fantasy, all is calm, though the tempest is beating at the door.

I thought that Alex’s Mexican identity was handled gracefully in the novel - he’s half White, parents divorced, with his White mother the President, his Mexican American father a Senator.  His race isn’t something that’s mentioned once and never again, or worse, a “romantic” descriptor to sexualize and exotify.  It’s something Alex has to think about and mediate as a public figure - he has learned that he doesn’t necessarily poll well with White “family values” America.  His White mom being divorced, having non-White children living in the White House, this is all part of her “image.”  Alex has worked overtime to become popular anyway - he charms the camera as easily as he charms congressional representatives.  He manipulates his image purposefully, playing up his friendship with his ex-girlfriend Nora in order to tease the press that they might be back together.  America eats it up.

But McQuiston makes sure that being Mexican-American isn’t something that Alex is working past, or overcoming.  While racism is something he thinks about and must navigate, Alex loves himself.  He loves getting together with “Los Bastardos,” his dad and family friend/congressman Rafael Luna, to have a couple beers and talk shit in Spanish and English.  He loves making Mexican food with his dad.  He is especially passionate about Texas, his home state, and fixing harmful policy there.

This is only the stage on which the romance stands, but suffice it to say that McQuiston has spared no detail to make Alex’s life real outside of his relationship with Prince Henry.  When the reader is so invested in the reality of the characters’s lives, it only makes the romance more cutting, more true.  The emotional climax of their relationship was so heartbreaking I cried through a good ten pages.  McQuiston knows how to write emotion with lightning strike power and accuracy (which serves her well when writing sex scenes, too), and it is through emotion that McQuiston accomplishes her most crucial goal as a novelist: Red, White, and Royal Blue is a page-turner, at once cathartic, steamy, star-crossed, honest, and dramatic.  Reading this novel just feels good.  Red, White, and Royal Blue is a step above the rest, and should be a staple for LGBTQ romance fans.

Despite McQuiston’s resounding success with this novel, the arc of Alex and Henry’s romance did ring a little odd.  Not bad, just odd.  McQuiston starts off holding the railing, so to speak.  The romance begins with Alex hating Henry, so much so that he tells him to his face, despite being charged, as the President’s son, with grace and diplomacy.  The characters themselves compare their dynamic to Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, a comparison that was perhaps more a window into the author’s taste than strictly in-character.  Then, after a brief weekend of faking being friends for the camera… they become friends for real, texting each other about their lives.  Their supposed “hatred” becomes teasing ribbing and name-calling, which you can’t read as anything else but flirting.  This is a 400 page book, and already in the first 70 pages the blurb is out of date.  Red, White, and Royal Blue isn’t really about a couple who start out hating each other and gradually come to realize each other’s qualities, though it starts off on that path.  McQuiston could have packed a lot more character development into that “fake friends” weekend and a lot less in the texts and emails that came later, for a smoother transition from the narrative as advertised to the story she ends up telling - an even better romance, in my mind.

The better romance happens after the rather rushed arc of the first romance - McQuiston lets go of the railing, so to speak.  And though I won’t spoil it, this later arc deals with themes of sex versus love, the unique quandary of the forbiddenness of their relationship, and the fact that neither Henry nor Alex want to be in love with each other, because the consequences of taking their relationship seriously are global, public, and terrifying.  Where McQuiston starts in slapstick, trope-y romance, she ends up in something heart-wrenching and real.  The tonal dissonance between the two is a little awkward, and the former is less developed than the latter, leading to an imbalanced feeling to the novel as a whole.  However, where the novel ends up going is such good writing that I can’t fault the book - I think it’s an excellent read, beginning to end, its imbalances only visible once you reach the other side and look back.

There is so much to talk about in this 400-page book, a book I stayed up until 3 in the morning to finish, that it won’t all fit into one review.  It’s tempting to derail for another three paragraphs so I can talk about the explicit discussion of colonialism, a powerful metaphor behind both Alex and Henry’s identities.  I could go on about how Alex’s safe place is his father’s lake house, where he can be explicitly Mexican and connected to culture, food, and family.  In contrast, Henry’s safe place is a British museum of stolen statues, cold and nonliving, but still the only tie between himself, a royal descended from the royals who stole them, and the distant artists and ancient cultural figures depicted, whom Henry identifies as explicitly gay, even if that knowledge is purposefully forgotten.  It is a biting comment on the cultural black holes that are White imperialist nations, attempting to fill the emptiness themselves with culture pillaged elsewhere.  Henry is aware of it, and critical of it, but he is still a descendant of it.

Red, White, and Royal Blue will leave you with a lot to pick apart.  It earns some criticism, perhaps, from its overly sunny faith in definitely-not-Hilary President Claremont.  And, if you care about such things, there is the occasional moment of tonal dissonance where McQuiston’s realistic style butts heads with cartoon tropes (characters throwing food at one another to punctuate a point, for example) versus styles of speech recognizable from The West Wing (which come off as rather uncalled for and startling when no one else in the room is threatening over the top bodily harm).  But as much as one with an overactive mind might give pause over just how realistic it is for the sheltered Prince of Wales to have leftist ideas about dismantling British imperialism (now THAT is a dreamy fantasy), McQuiston also delivers a depth and breadth of material that is resoundingly good, and will have you walking away not only feeling good, but recommending Red, White, and Royal Blue to anyone who will listen.  This is a book to take a chance on.

For more from Casey McQuiston, check out her website here.

[boo-cool-robot]

Okay fine I saw Dark Phoenix

‘Repression works perfectly and has no lasting side effects!’ says man who pretended to be heterosexual for 30 years

Overall: Even though I don’t hate the basic beats of this story, it all felt very perfunctory. Unlike technically worse movies like The Last Stand or Apocalypse, no one at any point really seemed to be having fun. I think if they go in with appropriately low expectations, the X-Men fan will find things to enjoy. (I AM a known disliker of the comics Dark Phoenix Saga but like does that even matter considering that the people making this movie don’t seem to have read it?) 

(No-spoilers review of the Magneto bits: He had nothing to do this movie as a character but his powers ARE still sexy)

Spoiler thoughts in no particular order below cut:

The opening scenes of the movie are surprisingly decent? The dialogue is all Exactly What You Think Will Happen but McAvoy does a good job portraying Xavier as a guy just coming off a 6 year bender that culminated in his sister nearly shooting the president and his ex dropping a stadium on him that decided to immediately and awkwardly adopt a child. 

(In that vein, his rebuke of Jean’s father about ~hope~ is also real good in light of DOFP.)

The space mission? Also extremely fun, at least in concept if not execution

Alright fine seeing Charles Xavier get yelled at hardcore is pretty satisfying...world’s worst dad. (Attempting to finally give Hank a personality though? Mixed results.) 

I can see how this movie attempts to reverse some of the more misogynistic themes of the comic but uh. It’s not great. There are in fact very strong and obvious thematic threads through the alternate timeline movies about how Xavier seeks to control women that this movie could have highlighted and yet they went with vague and insipid girl power stuff from Mystique and Jessica Chastain. 

Speaking of Jessica Chastain, I am extremely relieved she isn’t Cassandra Nova, but really this feels like they could have gotten anyone to play the villain. It Was Fine I Guess

The real-world subtext of Jennifer Lawerence being ready to blow this popsicle stand really overshadows any annoyance I might have about Mystique’s wasted character arc. Also the fact that no one except Charles and Jean have a semblance of character arc in this movie.

Does Evan Peters also hate being in these movies?? While I’m fine with White Quicksilver getting sidelined, it was a noticeably weird plot move to never resolve the Pietro-Erik relationship

Kurt, Ororo, and even Scott also have nothing to do. It’s that kind of movie.

Scott got to say fuck but he said it like he was on the verge of tears. Which hey, points for that I guess. Also they didn’t do the Glasses Scene That Represents Scott Being Topped :(

Hey is it just me or does a lot of Jean’s plot in this resemble comics Scott’s? Like, Xavier adopting her as an orphan and erasing her memory of a family member, her dad who allegedly died in an accident being alive and avoiding her? I mean it’s a solid adaptation choice, it’s just weird

I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS WAS SET IN THE 90S BUT THERE WERE NO DISTINCTIVE CLOTHES AT ALL....WHAT IS THE POINT

The bit where Magneto rips a subway car out of the ground to use it as a battering ram is *chef’s kiss*...lifting all the guns from the car and firing them with his powers is also pretty good. I just wish he was played with literally any style or charm at all. He doesn’t have a character arc this movie and just kind of randomly does things, which is definitely his usual movie M.O., but it’s all so limp. No matter how dumb alternate timeline Magneto’s story is, he’s consistently oozed rage or bewilderment or strut. I’m overwhelmed by Magneto love whenever I watch these terrible movies but Dark Phoenix sparked nearly zero Magneto-related emotion in me! What the fuck! 

I am also a known Genosha-hater and I can see where they tried to sidestep the bad racism/colonialism implications by being very vague about Genosha’s history and exact location but they sure do have an island with a lot of brown people living there that got given to Magneto, played by a white guy, to rule. So like that’s fine (it’s bad.)

DAZZLER???

I predicted there would be a scene where Xavier walks because there is in every movie, but god what they did is way worse that I would have ever imagined. I hated watching it, what the fuck

I am deeply surprised that there wasn’t an excruciating attempt to make Xavier seem heterosexual

OKAY FINE THAT LAST SCENE. I’m so mad. A reconciliation between Charles and Erik is not earned at ALL and yet I immediately catapulted to “oh my god this would make a great proposal scene.” They’re in love, fuck this movie, whatever!!

[thesffcorner]

The Gilded Wolves

The Gilded Wolves is the first book in a YA fantasy duology written by Roshani Chokshi. It’s set in a fictionalized version of Paris, 1889; in this universe the destruction of the tower of Babel, left the world several fragments of Babel, each with an unimaginable magical potential. The Order, an organization lead by 4 Houses, hide and protect the location of these fragments, as well as lead the world into the art of forging; an ability to manipulate mind or matter into various ways. We follow Severin, the heir to a disgraced House of Vanth, and his ragtag team of thieves, who specialize in “acquiring” artifacts from the Order. During their latest acquisition of a forged Chinese compass, the gang realizes that the map hidden inside the compass leads to something immensely powerful and dangerous; a Horus Eye, an artifact that can show them the location of Babel fragment. This book was awesome; it has all the elements of this type of adventure story that I like; a motley cast of characters, treasure hunts, heists and powerful artifacts related to history. The world and the characters are incredibly entertaining, and if you at all enjoyed the original Mummy films, National Treasure or even Tomb Raider, you will probably love this book.

World Building: Let’s start with the world-building. This novel is set against the backdrop of 1889 World Fair or Exposition Universelle, which unveiled the Eiffel Tower. Combine that with the characters’ base of operation being a hotel called L’Eden, which Severin owns, and this book has the perfect atmosphere for Paris during the turn of the century. Choksi takes full advantage of the setting; we visit glamorous parties, cabarets, palaces and the Exposition itself, while also not shying away from the darker parts of Paris. Something I really enjoyed was the juxtaposition of France, and Paris in particular being this city of liberties and progressivism, while at the same time being firmly a product of its time, with all the colonialism, racism and xenophobia that entails. One thing I’ve heard from people who didn’t like this book is that the world is very confusing and dense. I definitely will agree that the first 50 or so pages of this book are very dense; there’s a lot that needs to be explained, especially the magic system and the background as to how this world is different from historical Paris. We learn about the Order, the Houses, Forging, the Tower of Babel, the Horus Eye and all the character backstories in a very short amount of time, and while I didn’t have a problem following any of it, I am also a huge history nerd and religion nerd, so a lot of these things I was already familiar with. I think there’s also a specific reason as to why a lot of people were annoyed with the world-building. Before this book came out, and with early reviews, it was compared a lot to Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Now, that comparison is apt; the general plot, the group of 6 ragtag thieves trying their best amidst a crisis much bigger than any of them, the search for a powerful, mysterious artifact, the heist elements, are all things that were present in Six of Crows. However, Six of Crows was a sequel to a whole trilogy that had already set up both the world and the magic system, so it was free to start the plot immediately. This book has to actually build up this world, and while we can agree or disagree on how successful it did it, I think a lot of people didn’t give it a proper chance, because they expected another Six of Crows, and they got something different. Speaking of the confusing elements, I really enjoyed the backstory on the Houses and the commentary on colonialism and power dynamics that Chokshi weaves in it. As secret organizations tend to, the Order is rather corrupt and power-hungry and the people who suffer under it, tend to be the same people who suffered under the European expansion of the 18 and 19 centuries. It was an interesting reflection of real historical events, and I enjoyed how it actually tied both with the plot and the characters. Plot: Speaking of plot, I enjoyed that a lot too. The plot is essentially several increasingly dangerous heists, and there’s nothing I like more than a good heist. But what really sold this treasure hunt to me were the actual clues and treasure. Without spoiling anything, this book relies heavily on puzzles, riddles and a combination of math and history. It make sense that the Order would design these elaborate puzzles based on math and historical knowledge, seeing as one of their main roles is preserving history. As such, it was a blast to try and solve the riddles with the characters, and I was thrilled to see they were actually complex, and not at all similar to the puzzles and riddles we usually get in media. There’s a lot of Latin, a lot of religious texts, a lot of play on words, and most importantly math! I love math! It was so much fun to see math in a fantasy book! My favorite puzzle had to do with a specific mathematical sequence that also shows up in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. It was great. Characters: The characters were all very likable, and distinct from one another. I will admit, at first I too fell into the trap of comparing them to the characters in Six of Crows, and though they do fill out roughly the same archetypes, they are entirely different people. Let’s start with Hypnos. He was my absolute favorite character; he has a dramatic flare and sense of humor, while also having a true vulnerability which the rest of the characters take a bit to see. I liked that he was unabashedly himself, that he had real struggles with race and belonging (seeing as he’s mixed race, his mother being from Mozambique), but was still a character who took everything in stride and was just a joy to watch bicker with the others. Tristan was the character I liked the least. He was the least developed one, and at many points I sort of felt like he was filling out the role of a child, while still being at least a teenager. He’s a botanist, and can forge plants, but he disappeared for long stretches of the book, making it hard for me to sympathize with him. Since he doesn’t get a PoV, and his personality isn’t strong enough to compensate for it like Hypnos’, he got lost in the shuffle for me. Zofia was my favorite of the girls. She reminded me of a mix between Audrey and Vinny from Atlantis: The Lost Empire; she’s stubborn, has a difficulty with conversations and people, and likes to blow things up. It’s never explicitly stated is Zofia is on the spectrum or just awkward, but I thought the way her discomfort with jokes, conversations, word play, physical touch and humans in general was presented was very well done and respectful. Zofia was a great character; she has flaws and insecurities, and she works through them in her own way, while also clearly caring about her friends. She is Jewish too, and this plays a big role in her character backstory that I really liked; it’s not often that we get visible Jewish characters, especially not in fantasy. Enrique was, after Hypnos my second favorite. Like Hypnos he has a very strong sense of humor, and he masks his fears and discomfort with jokes, which I can relate to a lot. He’s half Spanish, half Filipino, and a historian to add, which was very entertaining, as he is often paired with Zophia (Zophia being the math expert), to solve the riddles. I liked that his religion while being a part of his identity, didn’t overtake his character, and his banter with all the rest of the characters was very entertaining. Laila was a character I’m torn on. On the one hand, I absolutely loved her persona as L’Enigma, and I loved the banter she had with especially Severin and Zophia, but on the other hand I found her backstory contrived. I didn’t like that she needed this specific thing to have such large hang ups around, and I felt that it especially didn’t make a lot of sense with her persona as L’Enigma. I won’t lie and say that her relationship with Severin wasn’t heart wrenching, but I felt like out of all the characters she had the most muddled motivations. Her powers were very cool though, and I liked that she was clever in a different way from Enrique and Zophia, being more attune to people and manipulation than science or history. Finally Severin. Like Laila, I found his character a bit muddled; he seems to flip flop the most between being a charming manipulator, and a brooding, serious crime boss. I found the former part of his personality a lot more interesting, because those were the scenes where he didn’t remind me of a less developed version of Kaz. His backstory is interesting and I really liked his relationship with Laila, but I think the rushed ending really hurt his characterization the most. Overall, this was a book I enjoyed immensely. It’s fun, it’s fast paced, it has a group of incredibly likable and funny characters, and it was a blast to read. I can’t wait for the sequel and if you’re in need to some kids trying their best, check this out.

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