Reposted from...elsewhere.

 Reposted from...elsewhere.

Eighth Spirit of October
Judgement
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

And here we have the tree of the Hanging Judge.

Seriously, the name fits. I mean, it IS hanging there. And yes, it's judging you. You know what you did.

Calm down, it's not going to do anything. It's a hanging judge, not a hanging punisher.

Go ahead, reach up and touch it.

And there you are.

What? I said IT wouldn't punish you. I didn't say anything about me.

It had to be done.

Don't judge me.

Reposted from...elsewhere. 

Fourth Minor Spirit of October
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

The Corner Things

Do you ever wonder why your cat stares at the corner sometimes?

Just as the madmen said , corners are intersecting planes that reflect across dimensions. Occasionally thing can use those colliding planes to cross into our world and do...not much. They are small and scared by the vastness of our world, so they cling to the corner, trembling while the cats watch them.

They are harmless, mostly.

They DO distract the cats from the thing on top of the dresser across the room. Which is another story.

Reposted from...elsewhere


 SECOND MINOR SPIRIT FOR OCTOBER
Since I'm not doing Inktober, I thought I'd do something else. Like a spirit a day for October,.


The Phone Whisperer

It used to be, late at night, the phone would ring, and when one picked it up, there would be nothing but an incoherent whispering just on the edge of hearing, or a sound like sighing wind. The phone company said it was just equipment malfunctioning, or branches rubbing on lines sending a signal to a random phone.

They were lying.

Some people thought that if they listened hard enough, through sheer will they could make the words make sense, and gain esoteric knowledge.

They were wrong. They were hearing hunger.

The phone whisperers are almost all gone now, thanks to call number displays, and answering machines and cell phones. But occasionally, if you pass an old phone on a corner or next to an abandoned gas station, late at night, the phone will ring.

Don't pick up the receiver. They're desperately hungry, now

Hugo or tiptree Awards Nomination Recommendation: Always Human, by Walkingnorth

Always Human is a completed slice of life science fiction lesbian romance, where body modification technology may increase human capability, but doesn't make relationships any easier.

In Australia of the 24th century, body modification mods are easy and ubiquitous, used for everything from preventing cancer to radically altering one's appearance. Sunati is fascinated by the woman she sees at the train station, who apparently uses no mods at all, but her offer of an anti-allergy mod just makes the woman upset and leave. A later meeting gives the woman- Austen- a chance to explain over a cup of coffee. Austen has Egan’s syndrome; an overactive immune system means she can't use mods at all. Things that are simple for everyone else, like immunity to allergies or changing hair color are difficult or impossible for her. On impulse, Sunati asks her out, and despite her reservations about Sunati’s motives, Austen agrees.

So begins a charming and surprisingly deep romance where one of the main characters has all the abilities of a healthy, intelligent 21st century person, yet is handicapped in dealing with 24th century society. The nature of such a handicap is explored, but not overdramatized or sentimentalized. Austen herself is justifiably angry at the suspicion of being patronized.

"Sunscreen. Makeup. Treadmills. Overlays.

There's so many things that Austen does because she can't use mods.

So much effort just to have a normal life."

The characters are relatable, their flaws realistic; Sunati overthinks things and keeps secrets, while Austen has a temper and suspects Sunati is infatuated with a brave fantasy Austen, not the real her. When Austen asks Sunati if she would have asked out if she hadn't had mods, Sumati is honest enough to say she isn't sure- but she still loves Austen. Sunati is used to changing herself at whim- wouldn't it be easier to change her life to stay with Austen? That tension informs much of the story.

This is a hard science fiction story on a small, intimate scale. No galactic empires will be toppled, or dystopic regimes overcome. We don't even learn much about Earth of the 24th century, except that it's prosperous, pastel colored, and advanced technology has been used to make people’s lives better, rather than create the sort of meathook future transhumanist writers like Varley would.

It is also cheerfully, matter of factly, diverse. Neither of the main characters are American or white, and even outside of body modifications, the larger cast is obviously from a variety of ethnicities. Pride interestingly still exists, but there is no sign of prejudice based on gender or sexual orientation. Even Austen faces not discrimination at the university, but the offer of accommodation, and a comfortable life on basic income and disability- and her pointing out how that may not be desirable is a major element of the series.

The issues and decisions the characters make are gripping without a huge dramatic background. And the final decision Sunati faces, which may gives the choice of giving up a dream or separating her from Austen, doesn't need a dramatic setting to be vitally important to both the couple, and the reader.

The first episode of Always Human is HERE.

I haven't been writing a lot recently, thanks to the stress of the current political climate. What I have been doing is reading a lot of news, and one of the things I've been reading most of all recently is condemnations of Antifa violence. Supposedly antifa violence is far worse than Nazi violence, because it]s provoking or something, Certainly the recent media coverage conveniently ignores the Nazis in favor of focusing on antifa, with pious comments about free speech, "Violence begets violence", and all that. Unfortunately much of the pro-antifa response has concentrated on the morality of punching Nazis, and hasn't really drilled down to the problem that the Nazis already are violent.

So my question has to be, at what point IS violence by the antifa justified? As in, how many people are the Nazis allowed to kill (with the tacit approval of the police and government), before it's OK to be violent back?

I mean it IS possible to make the case that the guy who was killing black people and who just happened to have a copy of Hitler's speeches in his house was just one disturbed individual. Doesn't mean anything. And the guy who drove his car into a crowd of protesters, killing one? Just one isolated confused person. And so on, and so on, and each act of violence by the Nazis will result in stern finger-waggling at the antifa- "See what you made them do?"

There is that rule: "Believe the autocrat. He means what he says." And when Nazis say they intend to kill anyone they hate, well, there are those who believe them. But that's evidently inappropriate.

So here's the question again: How many people will the Nazis be allowed to kill before we are allowed to fight back? (please round down to the nearest million) And at that point, will fighting back do any good? Will it be too late to run?

Well, looks like the Sad Puppies have their very own congresscritter. So you see, THIS is what happens when you let children read Heinlein at a formative age. Make 'm read Ursula K. LeGuin, N.K. Jemisin, and Anne Leckie instead.

So there's that old saw by Chesterson: “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

And I'm thinking, what then, is the value of modern fantasy? Well, maybe it's to say that dragons don't need to be killed. Maybe the dragons can be understood or befriended. Or that it's wrong to be killing dragons. Or maybe that the dragon isn't actually a dragon at all.