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Golden-age sci fi is so goofy out of context. I'm skimming through an anthology curated by Isaac Asimov (for reasons that will soon be revealed) and turning to any page at random is basically guaranteed to show something ridiculous.

Highlights include:

a futuristic baseball game

a woman concerned about whether or not Water Babies, which seem to be grown in tubes, are taught to ride dolphins

a lot of sorcerers, for some reason (seriously, sorcerers came up in like 3 different random stories I happened to flip to)

a woman prostituting herself to a shady alien king

the phrase "Ah, the giraffes. For every one of me there's a hundred of them. But I'm worth a thousand giraffes."

#sci fi #quotes #isaac asimov #if 'I'm worth a thousand giraffes' isn't engraved on my tombstone i'm! not! dying!

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How to Write an Award-Winning Short Story | "Lemon Squares in All Dimensions"

A robot housewife confesses to murder--and that's just the beginning.

A reading and commentary of my short story “Lemon Squares in All Dimensions”, which recently won an honorable mention in the Science Fiction Writers of the Future competition, along with advice for aspiring authors!

You can also read the short story here.

#sci fi #lemon squares in all dimensions #original writing #feminism #nonbinary #(those tags are relevant I promise!) #Youtube

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My short story "Lemon Squares in All Dimensions" just got an honorable mention in the Science Fiction Writers of the Future contest!

#original fiction #sci fi #short story #lemon squares in all dimensions

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A cold, bluish gleam came to life overhead.

Where the walls and floor were featureless steel, the high ceiling gleamed and pulsed wetly, like the lipidous surface of an organ. It was a thin membrane, illuminating the narrow passage with its bioluminescence. The glow was incidental, produced in reaction to the temporal energy fed through it at all times. It was a conduit for magic, the reason a spaceship could arrive at its destination weeks or months after departure rather than hundreds or thousands of years. 

It was not sentient, but it gurgled like a living thing. It respired, taking in the ship’s stale air and replenishing it with oxygen before releasing it in a drawn-out hiss. Now that she could see the membrane, Ako heard it over even the engine, as if a concealment charm had been lifted.

The membrane was hidden everywhere else. This was common practice on spaceships. Though the membrane was necessary, passengers found its presence unnerving. It was only here, in the emergency staircase, that no false ceiling covered it.

Keeper Verentei tipped her head back, eyes half closed, basking in the eerie blue glow. This was what she wanted her acolytes to see. But why? 

Ako blinked, confused, and craned her neck, too.

The hearth-keeper spoke. “This is what I am.”

The membrane’s subtle pulsing seemed to shift to match the cadence of her speech. It carried and amplified sound, as it did magic. Although Keeper Verentei did not raise her voice, every word was clear.

“To be Keeper of the Hearth is to be falsely admired,” she continued, “to be thought virtuous when I burn in error, as do we all. I am nothing sacred, only a conduit.” She raised her thin hands. “I am the moist, corporeal, revolting thing that breathes in the darkness behind walls. Greatness passes through me, but it is not of me. I am that which should be hidden from sight as I am used. I am the membrane.”

-She Who Bleeds Stars, excerpt

#original fiction #original writing #sci fi #fantasy #she who bleeds stars

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"The Myth of the Woman Who Wanted Too Much" Poetry Reading!

#poetry #poets on tumblr #mythology #original writing #youtube video #Youtube

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The anthology my publishing MA cohort is putting together is now available for preorder!

Feisty Felines and Other Fantastical Familiars explores the furry, scaly, or prickly underbelly of the magical world, where even classic black cats take unexpected paths.

Fun and feistiness are balanced by surprising moments of emotion in these twenty-six never-before-seen stories and poems.

Witches, cat-lovers, and fantasy fiends will all fall in love with this magical menagerie.

Preorder Feisty Felines now to find your familiar!

#writeblr #bookblr #witchblr #catblr #publishing #original fiction

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The Red String of Fate and Other Ties That Bind, an Ode to OCD

What if I slide

into death this

blurry way?

I wouldn’t

mind, but

a part of me keeps thinking

about that line from Crime and

Punishment:

“You have destroyed

and betrayed yourself for

nothing.”

The red strings of fate caress my throat

like a lover.

They pull me by

bleeding wrists like a

flesh marionette.

Everywhere

I turn, I see

a crimson cat's cradle blocking blue skies.

I suffocate in scarlet spiderwebs.

I loosened

the strings that held me together for too long

and now I’ve forgotten how

to bind myself and everything’s coming

apart,

unraveling,

and this isn’t a suicide note, it’s just something

I’m writing because I’m scared

I might die.

I’m scared, but there’s no comfort

in the thought that I might

live. 

#poetry #poets on tumblr #original poem #mental health #ocd #crime and punishment

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"Once immersed in your subject of interest, there is a predictability and escape from the chaotic real world. Knowing everything about a subject makes it known and provides a sanctuary from the anxiety and stress of a feeling of not knowing what's going to happen most of the time."

-Sarah Hendrickx, Women and Girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder

#quotes #autism #*clenches fist* One day I WILL work this quote into an analysis of The Luzhin Defense and neither God nor Nabokov will stop me

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Cait Corrain is Not the Problem

As a publishing MA student and person of color, I wanted to give my perspective on the Cait Corrain review-bombing controversy and what it reveals about systemic racism within the industry.

I also shine the spotlight on ten books that deserve your attention more than . . . you know.

#cait corrain #goodreads #reviewbombgate #video essay #bookblr

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"The Fears We Don't Name Take Shape"

#poetry #poems #original writing #poets on tumblr

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Sweater Theory

Sometimes, writing is going to feel like wearing an itchy sweater.

You got that sweater because you love it. You look great in it. You post a thousand pictures of yourself in the sweater. You tell all your friends and family about your amazing sweater. You are, frankly, kind of insufferable about this sweater.

But it itches.

This fantastic, gorgeous sweater that you adore is an absolute bitch to wear. Just the thought of putting it in on in the morning makes you want to die. So you reach for a boring hoodie instead.

You might tell yourself, "It's colder in the evening, anyway. Maybe I'll try the sweater then?" You're a dirty liar. Why would you put on sweater at night when it's been a long day and your comfiest pajamas are right there?

You keep waiting for there to be a perfect moment where just the thought of wearing the sweater excites you. Sometimes, those moments come. You throw that sweater on, and everything is perfect. You don't feel the itchiness at all--everything has melted away but the joy of wearing your most favorite sweater in the world.

But you can't wear the sweater all the time.

The next time you think about putting it on, you remember how badly it itches most of the time. You don't want to wear it unless you know it'll feel perfect, but you don't want to spend your life in boring hoodies, either.

Sometimes, wearing the sweater will kind of suck.

You can do it anyway.

Once you stop expecting to achieve sweater nirvana every time you put it on, you realize that being itchy isn't the worst thing in the world. You can deal with a little itchiness in your life--fifteen minutes, half an hour, maybe even an hour a day. Once you've put the sweater on, your skin gets used to it, and the irritation fades.

You just feel warm.

#writing #writing advice #writing tips #original writing

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Astralinn "brainwashed her little brother so he'd stop embarrassing her at dinner parties" Kamisako is probably the only person who could lose a good sibling contest to Alexey "got his brother high at a rooftop party a few weeks after heart surgery" Kamisako

#amethyst the assassin #original fiction #unstoppable force (alexey's inability to consider the consequences of his actions) #vs immovable object (astralinn's belief in her own superiority and impunity to treat others as she pleases) #I love writing scenes between astralinn and alexey because they're such interestingly different flavors of #Worst Person You've Ever Met

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I finished proofreading ATA part one earlier today and went straight into layout because I couldn't wait to try it!

It's been smooth sailing sooo far (aside from learning that when you hyphenate too many words in a row it can majorly mess up the line spacing) but we'll see how it goes in the end.

#for the record all the hyphens were there because-all-the-robots-talked-like-this #which I like as a stylistic choice but not enough to try any major vellum-wrangling over it #(theres really only one chapter with any robot dialogue anyway) #maybe one day

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“This war, this endless fucking war . . .” Vierres shoved his chair away and started pacing. “They know all about us up there. They see what’s going on. They could end this overnight, if they wanted to. But they won’t.”

“Don’t see why they would.”

“They could!” shouted Vierres. “Don’t you see why that matters?” He inhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his hair. “None of this has to happen, but it does. It keeps going, on and  on, decade after decade, century after century. . . . They—” He went still. Vierres regarded Amethyst’s expressionless face with a disappointment that was almost tender. “You still don’t understand.”

-Amethyst the Assassin

#quotes #sci fi #original writing #amethyst the assassin #vierres is one of my favorite characters that isn't in the main five #because he's so RIGHT in the ways that count but also horribly misguided in every other way

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Some of my favorite parts of "Destabilize", a collage poem I wrote incorporating direct quotes (in brackets) and paraphrases (in parentheses) from

The Street by Ann Petry

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

"Boys Go To Jupiter" by Danielle Evans

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisernos

#poetry #quotes #the link is to the full poem which is up on my website since it's easier for me to post a bunch of images there than on here #esp since tumblr tanks the image quality and makes the text a little harder to read

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"Keeper Verentei was fond of parables. The only time she seemed content was when she read from the Keepers’ Tome during the nightly prayer. Her rapid-fire speech slowed, her harsh voice softened. It was as if the words were old friends come to visit, and she wanted to linger with them as long as possible."

-She Who Bleeds Stars

#she who bleeds stars #fantasy #original writing #original fiction

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"When you've lived in a cage, you can't bear not to run, even if what you're running toward is an illusion."

-Robert C. O'Brien, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

#quotes #mrs frisby and the rats of nimh #it was probably one of the first legit chapter books I read on my own and it still hits to this day