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The Empire of Quur and Its Eight Dominions

opens in a new windowPoster Placeholder of - 98A bastard son and the demons who want his fractured soul. A weapon that can slay gods and the men who will kill to get it. A whole fantastic series filled with abandoned immortality, divine emperors, dragons, and sea witches—it’s opens in a new windowA Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons! Culminating in the recently released epicly climactic finale that is The Discord of Gods, there’s a whole world just waiting for you to dive in, or revisit. And on that note, why not check out this opens in a new windowexcerpt of  opens in a new windowThe Discord of Gods, or this list of opens in a new windowother fantasy novels that subvert the age-old and oft-told chosen one narrative


Author Unknown, from the library of the Academy

An Introduction to the Great Empire of Quur, featuring the Dominions of Kirpis, Kazivar, Eamithon, and Khorvesh west of the Dragonspires, and Jorat, Raenena, Marakor, and Yor east of them.

This is merely the briefest overview of the dominions that make up the Empire of Quur. Each chapter in this book will go into greater detail on the lands outlined in this introduction, from history to trade to the ruling classes.

Quuross from west of the Dragonspires typically have black hair and olive brown skin. From east of the Dragonspires, Quuros are have quite a bit more variety in their appearance, ranging from the red-skinned Marakori to snow-skinned Yorans, and of course the horse-marked Joratese, who can be any number of hues, often all at once. Quuros view the Empire as the center of the world; so much so that “going south” is a Quuros euphemism for dying. The saying is suspected to have originated with Emperor Kandor’s ill-fated attempt at southern expansion into the Manol, where he met his untimely end.

The Empire began in the city-state of Quur, which serves to this day as the empire’s capital city. The first emperor, Emperor Simillion, began the process of expansion with the peaceful addition of Eamithon, the first and oldest of the Dominions, and the most tranquil. Yor, a hard land of ice and snow, is the most recently added, and if they have their way, will likely be the first to leave as well.

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A Brief Overview of the Dominions of the Empire of Quur

Eamithon

Ruler: Lyria Monara, the Virgin Duchess of Eamithon. She has notoriously remained single in an effort to deny a husband from claiming the Eamithonian title.
Primary Trade Goods: Coconut, hemp, rubber, hardwoods (ebony, teak, and mahogany,) pottery, jewelry-smithing and lapidary work.
Climate: Eamithon is tropical and lush. Although the area grows more arid as it nears Khorvesh, the majority of the dominion benefits from the cold current from the South and the many rivers and lakes coming off the Dragonspire Mountains.
Notable Facts: Eamithon takes a dim view of slavery. Technically speaking, slavery is legal there, but slaves who are brought there have a tendency to vanish and turn up as villagers in remote areas, with other villagers willing to swear that’s where they’ve lived their whole lives. There is also enormous peer pressure on anyone coming to Eamithon to free their slaves if they wish to continue living there.

Kazivar

Ruler: Kazivar is ruled by the twin brothers Allizar Nakairi and Markaem Nakairi, who are the product of a famous (and scandalous!) marriage between the rulings families of both Kirpis and Kazivar. Although technically one twin rules Kirpis and the other rules Kazivar, even they would be hard pressed to admit which kingdom belongs to which ruler. It’s only a matter of time before the High Council forces them to divide their dominions once more.
Primary Trade Goods: Wine, hardwood, and citrus. It would also be remiss not to mention the Kazivar Mines which produce the rare metals drussian and shanathá.
Climate: Kazivar benefits from a temperate climate and wonderful weather.
Notable Facts: Kazivar is home to several knights orders whose origins are rumored to have their roots in the original Kirpis vané of the region. In addition, there is much mixed vané blood in Kazivar. Occasionally vané traits, such as Kirpis cloud curl hair in pastel hues show up in children born there, denoting their mixed heritage.

Khorvesh

Ruler: Duke Hino Sarana, who is seventy-five, and still very fond of fencing.
Primary Trade Goods: Carpets, textiles, dyes, spices, and herbs.
Climate: Hot semi-arid.
Notable Facts: Khorvesh is the southernmost of the Quuros dominions, bordering the Korthaen Blight. As such, it has often been subject to aggressive morgage attacks, and much of the area takes a military bent. It has produced famous warriors and swordsmen, such as Nikali Milligreest, who defeated Gadrith the Twisted. Even the women are expected to be skilled fighters who can defend the home in case of morgage attack. Khorveshans are also known for flouting traditional relationships and often practice polygamy.

Kirpis

Ruler: See Kazivar
Primary Trade Goods: Lumber, pottery, wine. As with Kazivar, Kirpis insists that only wine made with grapes qualifies as true wine. Kirpis is also famous for the distinctive blue color of glaze used by its potters, although Eamithonian pottery is also renowned.
Climate: Temperate Forest.
Notable Facts: Kirpis was taken from the Kirpis vané (and divided to form the dominions of Kirpis and Kazivar) during a period of imperial expansion by Emperor Atrin Kandor, who wanted the vané’s shanathá and drussian mines to power further Quuros conquest.  The majority of vané who made their home in the area were forced to flee south. While there are officially no vané living in Kirpis, rumors of a band of Kirpis vané secretly hiding in the forest using spells and trickery have persisted. Kirpis is also the home of the Academy, where the Empire trains new wizards and sorcerers recruited from all across the empire. As such, it is a land with a diverse population that brings together many cultures and ideas.

Jorat

Ruler: Duke Forun Xun, who is nineteen years old, having taken the title at age eleven when his father was killed during the Lonezh Hellmarch.
Primary Trade Goods: Horses, grains, fruits (apples, pears).
Climate: Varied, with wide reaches of grassy plains. Jorat experiences notably violent storms and tornadoes.
Notable Facts: The Joratese were enslaved to be servants of the centaurs that ruled the area under the direction of the god-king Khorsal. When Quur invaded, the humans and their fireblood horse allies eagerly sided with the Empire to overthrow the centaurs and their god. As one might expect, horses still have a place of special reverence to the Joratese and their equine bloodlines are rightfully considered the best in the world. Fireblood horses are actually sentient, and have the honor of being the only non-human race in existence to be granted the rights of Quuros citizens. Unfortunately for lovers of horses, the Joratese take a dim view of outsiders, or the magic that resulted in their original enslavement. Visitors are seldom made to feel welcome.

Marakor

Ruler: None. The last Duke of Marakor was executed for failing to prevent the Lonezh Hellmarch and has not yet been replaced.
Primary Trade Goods: livestock, grains, fruits, vegetables.
Climate: Humid subtropical.
Notable Facts: Our current Emperor, Emperor Sandus, is from Marakor. He rose from humble origins to win the Great Tournament. In addition, the last terrible Hellmarch, where demons  and the demon-animated dead overran the dominions and killed thousands, began in Marakor, in the town of Lonezh, eventually working its way north into Jorat before Emperor Sandus (long may he reign) was finally able to stop it. The swamps and back-waters of the Kulma region of Marakor have a dark reputation for demon-worship, and many Marakori find themselves unable to resist the lure of demonology, witchcraft, and unspeakable cults.

Raenena

Ruler: Governor Vandus Nomon, who has been petitioning to be made an actual noble.
Primary Trade Goods: Gems and metals.
Climate: Mountainous.
Notable Facts: Raenena is a dominion of transients, since most of the people who come to this dominion to work in the mines are usually planning to leave again as soon as they strike it rich. The native population is small and it is widely believed that Atrin Kandor killed all the native Vadrath who called the mountains home. Of course, if that isn’t the case, it would be very difficult to know given how inaccessible most of the dominion remains.

Yor

Ruler: Duke Azhen Kaen Duke Kaen is the grandson of General Azhur Kaen, the Joratese commander who assisted Emperor Gendal in slaying the god-king Cherthog and his wife, Suless, while adding Yor to the Empire.
Primary Trade Goods: Furs, whale meat, baleen.
Climate: Rocky and cold.
Notable Facts: It is often rumored that prior to Quur’s intervention, Yoran witches used to eat children. This is entirely unsubstantiated, and likely untrue. The rumor almost certainly spreads from the fact that many Yorans still tell tales about the God-Queen Suless, who was associated with witchcraft, deception, betrayal and yes—eating children. Yor is a bleak land, inhabited by monsters like snow giants (though they are likely now extinct,) giant bears, and even rumors of dragons. The people there are not yet fully integrated into the Empire—at least, not at the time of this writing.

Devors

Devors is a unique place, as it is part of the Empire, but does not belong to one of the eight Dominions. It is an island chain south of the Capital, off the coast of Khorvesh. It is only notable in that it is the home of the Devoran priests and their prophecies, which have often brought violence and chaos to the Empire as men seek to turn said prophecies to their favor. Such mumbo-jumbo is not the place of a scholarly examination of the Empire such as this, and as such, we will discuss it no further in these pages. For further information, see A Compilation of the Devoran Prophecies, by Cedric D’Lorus.

opens in a new windowSign up for the Tor Newsletter to receive exclusive looks at Jen Lyons’ The Ruin of Kings before it comes out! We’ll be sharing details of the world, the magic, and the history of Quur that you won’t want to miss.

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Rules vs. Guidelines in Fantasy

Placeholder of  -7 opens in a new windowThe Witness for the Dead is hitting shelves on 06/22 and to celebrate, we’re doing a throwback to this amazing Rules vs. Guidelines in Fantasy guest post from author Katherine Addison! Check it out below.


By Katherine Addison

I have loved fantasy since I was a very little girl. My father read to me: L. Frank Baum, J. R. R. Tolkien, Susan Cooper, C. S. Lewis, David Eddings, Robert Jordan. As I grew older, I scoured both school and public libraries, read fantasy and science fiction and horror: Stephen King and Isaac Asimov and Ursula K. Le Guin, Samuel R. Delany and Lois McMaster Bujold and Angela Carter. I never stopped loving fantasy, never “grew up” into a preference for realism. And I have always, always loved what Tolkien calls secondary world fantasy, stories that take place in entirely made up worlds.

I love writing those stories as much as I love reading them. I love the freedom they offer for the exercise of sheer invention. And thus one of the things that frustrates me terribly about secondary world fantasy as a genre is how hidebound it has become. The combined impact of The Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons (both excellent entities on their own merits) has created a set of genre conventions that have almost become rules, rather than merely guidelines. One of these rules is that all fantasies shall be quests; another is that no fantasy world shall ever approach the Industrial Revolution.

Obviously, these rules get broken all the time, which is a good thing. But they remain in the background, like the ceiling in “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” that could lower and squash you at any time. And it can be very hard to think around them.

The Goblin Emperor was an attempt to contravene both rules. There is no quest, and this is a world with both magic and a lively technological and scientific community. (I never have understood why magic would negate technology, even though many stories I love take that as a guiding principle.) And the technology turned out to be decidedly steampunk.

I blame this on airships. Zeppelins and dirigibles and blimps and hot-air balloons. I love them, just as steampunk loves them, and insofar as I can tell you the idea that sparked The Goblin Emperor, it was the desire to put elves and airships in the same story. Once I’d made that world-building decision, the rest of it became inevitable, and I loved figuring out the details of how the airships fit into elvish society and thinking of names for the goblin steamships. When I realized the vast central palace could have a pneumatic tube system, I was excited for days.

The hardest part was the bridge that runs as a motif through the entire book. I’m not an engineer; I don’t have the first idea how you’d actually go about building a steam-powered retractable bridge. I was stuck on that problem for an incredibly long time. But Steven Brust said something that saved me. He said that when you’re describing made-up technology, he doesn’t want to know how it works, he wants to know how it runs. And that gave me the idea of a working model instead of a long expositional presentation, and that turned into one of my favorite set pieces in the book—which is also a scene in which magic and technology are used together.

Because as far as I’m concerned, the openness of invention in secondary world fantasy means that writers can build worlds where technology and magic are intertwined or where they are at odds or anything in between. If you can imagine it, fantasy will let you write about it, and that is the most powerful and enduring reason that it is my best-beloved among the genres.

Fantasy means never having to say, “It can’t be done.”

Katherine Addison is the author of the award-winning novel, opens in a new windowThe Goblin Emperor. Her next book,  opens in a new windowThe Witness for the Dead, comes out from Tor Books 06/22/2021.

Pre-order The Witness for the Dead Here

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Forming the Perfect Fantasy Heist Crew

opens in a new windowA Summoning of Demons is finally out in the world and while we’re so sad that the opens in a new windowChimera series is over, we are also SO ready to reenter Cate Glass’ world of forbidden sorcery and a ragtag magical crew of ready for whatever espionage, heisting, or skullduggery the Shadow Lord has in store for them.

To keep us going, we’re revisiting Cate Glass’ guide to forming the perfect fantasy heist crew! Join along and tell us in the comments which role you’d play in a heist.

Originally published June 2019.


By Cate Glass

opens in a new windowPlace holder  of - 73I’ve always loved spy stories, from The Scarlet Pimpernel to Len Deighton’s cold war novels to Robert Ludlum’s Bourne novels. I also enjoy elaborate heist stories like Denzel Washington’s “Inside Man,” Robert Redford’s “Sneakers,” and two of my favorite binge-worthy TV series—“Burn Notice” and “White Collar.”

These tales center on groups of skilled operatives who pull off amazing, twisty ventures that look very much like magic. When noodling around with my own project a couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to pull this classic story into a world of my own devising, to create my own group of agents or thieves and set them on intriguing adventures where the “magic” in the caper was actual magic!

First, where and when?

I envisioned a great city just moving into an age of enlightenment and the rule of law, where feudal barons are being replaced by merchants and bankers and explorers. Magic, believed to be the dangerous residue of the wars of Creation, has almost been eradicated, though the authorities are ever on the alert for magical activity. Rather than conquest and empire-building conflicts, I wanted to focus on localized intrigue and political skullduggery, struggles between new governance and old ways. Rather than battlefields, significant conflicts take place in salons or dining rooms, secret societies, artisan workshops, catacombs, public marketplaces, and dark streets. Combat involves betrayals, kidnappings, poisonings, and assassinations. And crises arise that need to be dealt with in secret, without the overt complicity of authorities.

opens in a new windowPlaceholder of  -49But, of course, before I could devise a first adventure for my little group, I needed to figure out who they were! Sorcerers certainly, and in my world, magical talents are unique and rare. And for truly complex missions, they would need more than magic.

So I looked back at those agents and thieves I so enjoyed and assessed the tools they used to get their jobs done. They used laser glass cutters or elaborate climbing harnesses to get them into inaccessible places. They impersonated their marks by using tools that bypass retinal, voice, or fingerprint scanners. Communications were on earwig devices. Their weapons were things like laser–aimed dart guns or focused explosives. I also considered the classic TV show Mission Impossible, where the team was not composed of experienced spies with super electronics, but actors, mechanics, electronics experts, linguists, and the like—who brought their own particular set of talents and more mundane tools, like makeup, latex masks, and trucks, winches, power supplies, and common screwdrivers to do similar tasks. Though I wanted to put my adventure in an era more like the sixteenth century, the skills they would need were much the same.

Poster Placeholder of - 8Time for a casting call!

WANTED, for four possible positions in or near the independency of Cantagna, applicants possessing one or more of the following job skills:

  • ability to breach secured facilities without detection
  • ability to replicate documents…and signatures…and artworks or other artifacts.
  • knowledge of history, art, law, government, important personages, and political and interfamily rivalries throughout the nine independencies of the Costa Drago.
  • high-level skills in weaponry and offensive and defensive combat.
  • impersonation.
  • costuming.
  • retrieval.
  • communications specialists.
  • improvise structural and mechanical devices in close quarters.

Applicants must be able to work in a variety of stressful environments in tasks which have no visible support from any official entity. Decent pay, but no benefits, no public acknowledgment of service, and most definitely no life, health, accident, or disability insurance.

After sorting through a variety of applicants with a variety of skills and background, I found my four. Like my favorite literary operatives, they should be able to create enough magic and mayhem to ensure the good guys – or mostly good guys – win the day.

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What’s in a Teixcalaanli Name?

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Arkady Martine’s brilliant (and now Hugo Award-winning) space opera A Memory Called Empire has a sequel coming next month and we NEED to share some of our many feelings. And our Teixcalaanli names.

That’s right. Like our protagonist Mahit, we love ourselves a bit of predatory space empire culture. That’s why we’ve all claimed names like 8 Gravity, 45 Neon, 23 Spandrel, and 13! Teapot.

Now you can join in the fun too. We’ve included our short and sweet name generator below, but if you’re ready to dig deeper for your perfect author-approved Teixcalaani name, we’ve got you covered. Continue below for Arkady’s guide to Teixcalaani names!

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BASIC RULES FOR TEIXCALAANLI NAMES

By Arkady Martine

 

Each Teixcalaanli personal name has a number part and a noun part. Both parts have symbolic meanings.

 

Numbers in general:

  • The number part of the name is a whole integer (i.e. no negative numbers, no decimals or fractions, and irrational numbers like pi or e are only for jokes). The range of numbers is almost always between 1 and 100, with lower numbers being more common.
  • Numbers from 1-20 are the most common number-parts, and suggest tradition and normalcy. Think about names like ‘John’, ‘Elizabeth’, ‘Maria Jose’, or ‘Mohammed’ – names that lots of people have and aren’t unusual choices.
  • Numbers from 21-60 are slightly more unusual but not weird in any way – they’re just the sort of name that is a little more unique. Think ‘Nadia’, ‘Malik’, ‘Yuko’, ‘Gabriel’ or ‘Makenzie’.
  • Numbers from 61-99 are less common, but no one is really going to blink at them too Think ‘Fashionette’, ‘Clemency’, ‘Ezekiel’, or ‘Thor’.
  • Numbers over 100 are like naming your kid ‘Moon Unit’ or ‘Apple’. Except in Teixcalaan you could name your kid Moon Unit or Apple…

Numbers in specific:

  • ONE – achievement, aggression, singularity, primacy, solidity
  • TWO – balance, reflection, liquidity, succession, mirroring
  • THREE – aggression and balance, think of a pointy but stable triangle
  • FOUR – intellect, broad-based knowledge, evaluation, strategy
  • FIVE – speed/quickness, humanity, diplomacy, exemplar-of-type (think of five fingers on a hand)
  • SIX – imperial power, ambition, multi-tasking, associated with the six directions of the world (N/W/S/E plus up and down) – Teixcalaanli symbolism is full of sixes
  • SEVEN – life of the mind, softness, care, security, unbiased evaluation
  • EIGHT – twice four, intellect applied, solutions
  • NINE – three threes, prickly, difficult, brilliant
  • TEN – reliability, omnipresence, financial success
  • ELEVEN – subversion, cleverness, flexibility … and loyalty. Tactics.
  • TWELVE – two sixes, power/authority, ambition but not the dangerous kind, success in money/trade

Numbers in the Teixcalaanli writing system:

Since Teixcalaan writes in characters (sort of a hybrid of Mayan glyphs and hanzi), there are multiple ways to write each number, most of which are not the simple way which is used in mathematics. Name-numbers have specific fancier glyphs, and these can be passed down or re-used. (See Eight Loop, the Judiciary Minister, and Eight Antidote, the imperial heir, who use the same number-glyph to write their names).

 

Nouns in general:

  • The noun part of a Teixcalaanli name is always a plant, an inanimate object, or a concept (in order of likelihood). No animals and no self-propelled inanimate things – i.e. ‘boat’ is an acceptable noun, but ‘self-driving car’ is not. (Honestly, both ‘Boat’ and ‘Self-Driving Car’ are names that Teixcalaanlitzlim would laugh at.)
  • Teixcalaan loves flowers. A lot of plant names are flowers and trees, including some unusual ones. See ‘Three Seagrass’, ‘Twelve Azalea’, ‘One Cyclamen’, ‘Eleven Conifer’.
  • Object names tend to be related to the natural world (‘Five Agate’, ‘Ten Pearl’), astronomical objects or phenomena (‘Sixteen Moonrise’, ‘Twelve Solar-Flare’) or common objects, often ones which can be held and manipulated. Tools are highly represented. (‘Nineteen Adze’, ‘Eleven Lathe’). Occasionally object names refer to architecture – ‘Five Portico’ is only a little bit odd as a name. (Something like ‘Two Paving-Stone’ would be odd, but no odder than a kid named ‘Winston’.)
  • Concept names again tend to be astronomical, mathematical, or scientific. ‘Six Direction’, for example, or ‘Eight Antidote’.
  • Often the noun part of a Teixcalaanli name is where a use-name or nickname is derived from. Some examples: Three Seagrass à ‘Reed’; Twelve Azalea à ‘Petal’; Two Cartograph à ‘Map’; ‘Eight Antidote’ à ‘Cure’.

Some symbolism for nouns, of what could be a very long list:

  • ‘Ink’ vs. ‘Inkwell’ – a person named Two Ink is someone who makes quick-thinking, indelible decisions, but a person named Two Inkwell is an endless store of new ideas. Both of these people are from traditional or tradition-minded families.
  • ‘Graphite’ – as opposed to ‘Carbon’ or ‘Diamond’, a child named ‘Graphite’ has a parent who is hedging their bets: ‘Graphite’ is flexible, changeable, useful in all its forms, while ‘Carbon’ has suggestions of ‘unavoidable, necessary’ and also ‘ashes’, and ‘Diamond’ is ‘inflexible, strong, beautiful’.
  • ‘Nasturtium’ – a victory flower! But also one you can eat as a delicacy. A Six Nasturtium is a name for a very ambitious child whose parent has aspirations of grand and flamboyant success … but a Two Nasturtium is a serene and delicate child whose success, while assured, does not have to be grand.

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Balancing Murder and Family Life

Work and family. Assassinations and PTA. Can you have it all? K. A. Doore, author of opens in a new windowThe Perfect Assassin and  opens in a new windowThe Impossible Contract (coming in November!), has the advice you need to balance murder and family life.


By K. A. Doore

Sleep when baby sleeps, they say.

Piss off, I say.

I mean, nobody says cry when baby cries or eat when baby eats or surveil your mark while baby surveils you. Wait. Maybe I do say that last bit.

Remember: children are always watching. Sure, they don’t seem like they’re listening, but they learn everything from you. So if your ten-year-old can’t sharpen a knife properly, that’s on you.

Right. Where was I? Helpful tips for getting blood off your walls? Five ways you can kill a man with a pacifier? Tips and tricks for composting bones?

No, that’s the easy stuff. The things you knew from before, if you were paying any attention at all in your classes, and you were, weren’t you? The harder stuff, those are the things you have to experience yourself. How do you balance your family and your work as a professional assassin, when your work can happen at any time and take you anywhere? When it involves a fair amount of practice and dedication that you can’t just drop because you had a baby?

Oh sure, you could stop working. But some of us still have to put food on the table, and taking a contract not only pays for this lavish lifestyle of cold coffee and toast, but it also gets us out of the house. You’ll understand the necessity of having something that’s just yours if you have a kid. Even if what’s “yours” involves a little murder.

So first rule, yeah? It’s not murder. We don’t use that word in this house and I won’t have my child growing up saying it. Murder is what serial killers do. Murder is messy. Murder is illegal. Yes, okay, technically what we do is also illegal, but we’re not here to debate technicalities.
The important thing is that your kiddo doesn’t go dropping the “m” word around their aunts and uncles.

Second rule: sleep when baby sleeps. I know, I just went off on how ridiculous that advice is, but it’s tossed about so often because it’s kinda helpful. If you can’t sleep for whatever reason – nerves, nightmares, contract deadlines – you can strap baby to your chest and multitask. No one will look twice at a person with a baby, even if that person’s casing the mark’s home. Use that disguise while you can.

Third rule: family time is important. They say the days are long and the years are short, but the time it takes for your kid to grab a knife when you’re not looking is literally negative. So keep an eye on them, preferably two. Play together, cook together, sharpen knives together. It teaches them early on the importance of a clean, well-honed blade and counting all your fingers.

Fourth rule: keep your first aid box well-stocked at all times. Fingers bleed a lot.

Fifth rule: teaching your child to finish a contract is teaching them responsibility. You don’t leave your room half-cleaned and you don’t leave a mark alive. These are both important life lessons.

Sixth rule: you don’t have to tell your spouse about your dayjob, but consider a believable cover for when you need to negotiate some alone time. Writers hold similar hours and interests, so try that out for size.

Seventh rule: you need to take care of yourself, too. Set the example early on that eating, sleeping, and bathing regularly are important and non-negotiable and you’ll spend less time later fighting your child to get them to do exactly the same. But you’ve got to stop fighting yourself, first.

Eighth rule: never feel guilty for continuing to pursue your passion. You went into this line of work for a reason, and having a kid doesn’t change that. If you just wanted money, you should’ve opened a bakery. But there’s something about those quiet nights out alone, just you, the wind, and your mark. There’s something about those heightened moments, every sense and every nerve ablaze. There’s something about knowing what you’re capable of.

Don’t forget that passion.

Ninth rule: you’re gonna fuck up. You’re gonna stay out too late some night because the mark refused to drink their poison. You’re gonna miss bedtimes and wake-ups, you’re gonna break promises, you’re gonna be too tired to even think straight and you’re gonna lose your cool. Forgive yourself, apologize, and do better. Seeing the way you handle your fuck-ups is just important for your kid as eating their vegetables, knowing their letters, and memorizing their antidotes.

Beyond all that, be flexible. Some days you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about; balancing your family with a little extracurricular murder will be as easy as sliding through an unlocked window. Some days, you’ll wonder how anyone raises a family in this economy. And inbetween those days, you’ll live your life and get to watch someone else live and explore theirs.

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Hope Is the Hardest Story to Tell

By Annalee Newitz

There’s a ghost haunting science fiction, and it’s hope. Writers have unleashed their optimism in subgenres that have until recently worn the matte gray of dystopia. Nihilistic near-future apocalypses are making way for tales of thorny, hard-won renewal like Mary Robinette Kowal’s opens in a new windowThe Calculating Stars and Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning. And world-obliterating robot uprisings are being retold as empathetic portraits of cyborgs like N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy and Martha Wells’ opens in a new windowMurderbot series. There’s a thirst for stories where somehow, despite ongoing disasters, we manage to muddle through because we care for each other.

opens in a new windowImage Place holder  of - 57That’s the nature of hope; it doesn’t wear a cape or kill all monsters with an oxygen destroyer. It’s just a friend, bringing you dinner as meteorites pound the Earth. Alexandra Rowland, who first identified this trend back in 2017, calls it hopepunk.

She opens in a new windowwrites, “Hopepunk says that kindness and softness doesn’t equal weakness, and that in this world of brutal cynicism and nihilism, being kind is a political act. An act of rebellion.”

I wanted to offer readers this kind of hope with my novel opens in a new windowThe Future of Another Timeline. It’s a group of feminist time travelers, including Tess, who are trying to change history so that women’s rights don’t disappear. But it’s also about a teenage girl, Beth, who is stuck in time, unable to escape an abusive father and a best friend who has decided to murder rapists as an act of riot grrl rebellion. Tess and Beth’s paths keep crossing in time, their efforts to transform political and personal history welded together without a joint. One is on a mission that stretches across millions of years of history, while the other just wants to survive high school. Despite the different scales of their problems, what they both need more than anything is hope.

The thing about hope is that it doesn’t wear a white hat; it isn’t a feeling that leads us toward perfect goodness. It’s the stuff of what Ursula K. LeGuin called “an ambiguous Utopia.” We find hope in novels like Mike Chen’s Here and Now and Then, where a time traveler must redeem himself after abandoning his daughter. He’s screwed up, but there’s still a chance he can set things right. Same goes for Marlee Jane Ward’s Welcome to Orphancorp series, where kids do forced labor in orphanages of the not-so-distant future, but find temporary freedom and safety in friendships with each other.

Hope is a narrow, moonlit pathway through the thorns.

These stories don’t necessarily leave us satisfied. They don’t end with everyone having a perfect life, or all the innocents being set free. Reading them leaves us with a painful, bittersweet feeling, because hopeful stories don’t shy away from showing us all the forces in the world crushing us, gaslighting us, and even urging us to die. Hope is a narrow, moonlit pathway through the thorns. But as long as we keep inviting people to join us on that path, we keep hope alive.

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How to Procrastinate #MagicXMayhem Style

Writers of the world RELATE because we’re talking procrastination. There’s no end to the distractions from writing, but everyone needs a break sometimes. All work no play does something that is undesirable (we’ve heard). So we sat down our opens in a new windowMagic X Mayhem authors (Actually we sent them emails–they may have been sitting?) and asked about their favorite distractions from writing and editing the work we love so much.

What’s your favorite way to procrastinate when you should be writing?

(We promise not to tell your editor)

 

Andrew Bannister, author of Iron Gods

I am a world-class procrastinator. I’m so good that I don’t actually have to do anything active. I can procrastinate while sitting still. I can procrastinate while simply breathing. But that said, listening to records is a favourite, as anyone who seeks me out on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter will quickly discover.

Sarah Gailey, author of opens in a new windowMagic for Liars

Right now, as I’m writing this, I’m on book tour, so the way I’m procrastinating is by collapsing onto my hotel bed, watching old episodes of Chopped, and eating as many Chees-Its as I can fit into my face. When I’m at home, I like to procrastinate by cleaning and coming up with elaborate recipes to try out. You know I’m on a tight deadline if I’m scrubbing the baseboards or googling ‘where to buy lamb tongue’.

Max Gladstone, author of Empress of Forever

Category error! Writing is a way to procrastinate from the rest of life.

Cate Glass, author of opens in a new windowAn Illusion of Thieves

opens in a new windowPoster Placeholder of - 40Small scale? Spider solitaire is excellent for clearing the mind of the modern and mundane before diving into a difficult scene. Or large scale? Binge-watching four seasons of Lucifer in three nights is necessary in order to study the story and character arcs and experience the rising tension to remember what I’m striving for, even if it means staying up far too late…

 

Duncan Hamilton, author of opens in a new windowDragonslayer

It’s not procrastinating, it’s ideating!

Saad Z. Hossain, author of The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday

I game for hours at night, often with a crew of three or four friends. We live in different countries, so gaming together, talking shit is a priceless way of keeping touch. Right now we are playing Red Dead Redemption 2 online. It’s a cowboy game, we spend a lot of time hunting, fishing, and hogtying random people. Not sure this is procrastination though. My view is that during downtime, your brain is still trying to process the story. Whenever you actually put down something on paper, I don’t know it’s like a quantum event almost, all those other possibilities just seem to die and you can’t get them back even if you go for rewrites or edits or whatever. So sometimes procrastination is good, it’s healthy. I look like I’m not doing anything but in reality… ok fine I’m not doing anything.

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S.L. Huang, author of opens in a new windowNull Set

Beating people up on the mat! (Or getting beaten up.) It’s okay, you can tell my editor—she does it too!

Tamsyn Muir, author of opens in a new windowGideon the Ninth

I play Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, because I am so unbelievably bad at Donkey Kong Country that after ten minutes I am more than ready to switch to something that I am more competent at than playing Donkey Kong Country, which is anything else.

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Brian Naslund, author of opens in a new windowBlood of an Exile:

I have a low-key addiction to reading “Today I Learned” facts on Reddit and going down Wikipedia rabbit holes about obscure animal behavior that could potentially be applied to dragons down the road.
I also have a bird feeder right outside the window by my desk, so I am definitely guilty of getting stuck with a scene, and spending 20 minutes looking at chickadees, which rarely helps solve the problem.

JY Yang, author of opens in a new windowThe Ascent to Godhood

I’m pretty sure he [my editor] knows anyway, he sees me posting about it on Twitter. My favourite way to procrastinate is some kind of eldritch combination between Tumblr, Instagram, and making art.

 

Stay tuned for more #magicXmayhem all summer long!

 

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I’ve Been Lit on Fire Four Times. Three of Them Were on Purpose.

Is there anything that says mayhem more than being on fire?  opens in a new windowMagic X Mayhem author S.L. Huang, the mad genius behind opens in a new windowZero Sum Game and opens in a new windowNull Set, tells us about her mayhem-filled days stabbing batteries, chasing storms, and setting accidental fires.


I’ve Been Lit on Fire Four Times. Three of Them Were on Purpose: The Story of My Partner In Mayhem.

By S. L. Huang

This is a story about one of my best friends.

He’s exactly the type of person you imagine when you picture someone from MIT. When I met him in college, his dorm room had computers racked ten high and he’d replaced the lock on his door with a fingerprint scanner. Now he builds bartending robots and flies helicopters as a hobby, both RC ones and real ones.

Poster Placeholder of - 64We are the exact worst friends for each other. Because every time one of us has a terrible idea, the other one does not say, “Hey, no, maybe we should think about that”, but instead, “HECK YEAH WE SHOULD TOTALLY DO THAT.”

Case study #1. When my friend was first getting into RC stuff, he visited me, and he was cautious in setting aside the drones’ lithium-ion batteries. “Careful, because if these get damaged or smashed, there’s a small chance they could explode,” he told me.

My eyes got wide. “Can we do that??!!”

No, he did not say to me. What are you talking about, that’s an awful plan, we should not purposely try to explode batteries. Instead, he cocked his head thoughtfully and said, “You know, I think I have a few extra!”

We figured out containment and I went and got my very big knife, because naturally I had a very big knife. And that was how my roommate came home to find us stabbing batteries in my apartment in LA.

She, being a sensible person, asked us what the hell we were doing.

“Stabbing batteries!” we answered cheerfully.

Why?”

“To see if we can make them explode!”

(They did not explode, sadly. Only smoked a little.)

My roommate did not think this was an acceptable explanation. We were thenceforth banished to doing all experiments outside the apartment. My roommate did stand lookout for us while we set things on fire in the alleyway, though.

(I said she was sensible, not unexciting.)

I’m often asked about a tidbit I have on my website about having been lit on fire four times, three of which were on purpose. The intentional times were all in the course of doing professional stuntwork—I love fire gags—but it will surprise nobody that the accidental combustion was in the company of this same friend.

Case study #2! One year I decided to have a birthday party, and my friend came to LA to help me throw the celebration. We were standing in Costco, and one of us said, “Oh my god, there should be flaming shots!”

The other of us, naturally: “YES THAT’S BRILLIANT WE SHOULD TOTALLY DO THAT.”

Right there in the frozen aisle, we pulled out our phones and looked up how to make flaming shots on the Internet.

Fast forward to midnight. I was . . . no longer sober. My friend, who had remained sober (fortunately, as we’ll see in a moment), was bartending. He made me another flaming shot, perhaps my fourth one of the night.

Which I promptly spilled on myself.

Being very much not sober, I looked down at my hands—which were very definitely, very obviously covered in flames—and giggled. “I’m on fire!” I announced, completely tickled by this fact. The fire was still only burning the alcohol, so it didn’t hurt at all. It was just very pretty!

My friend smiled, took me to the sink, and put me out before the flames got started on my skin. We may be terrible influences on each other, but he’s eminently competent in a crisis.

We’re a little older now, but not very much wiser. Just this month we were talking about a tornado warning in my area, and we happened across some great storm-chasing footage that had been captured via RC drone.

Me: “You should totally do that. I’d go with you.”

Him, fifteen minutes later: “I just looked up storm chasing. We have to plan this in advance. When are you free between next April and June?”

Me: “I’ll have to check with my publicists.”

That weekend I asked a mutual friend of ours if she wanted to come with us. She disassembles bombs for a living and rides motorcycles. “Uh . . . NO THANKS,” she said. “You guys have fun.”

I have many excellent friends. It’s either very good or very bad for me that one of them is also an excellent partner in mayhem!

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Would You Swipe Right for These SFF Characters?

Would You Swipe Right for These SFF Characters?

Look some of us have already dreamed of dating fictional heroes (and villains). But what if SFF characters had Tinder profiles?

Authors Sarah Gailey, Duncan Hamilton, Tamsyn Muir, Brian Naslund, S.L Huang, Saad Z. Hossain, and Cate Glass indulged us and wrote up Tinder profiles for a few opens in a new windowMagic X Mayhem characters.

Swipe up. We dare you.*

Please do not swipe in any direction, these are fake buttons.


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TEACHER, 10,000
???? miles away

Welcome! Welcome, on this happy day, to my Tinder profile. For ten thousand years I have waited in holy silence and solemn adoration of the one who is beyond death, the Kindly Resurrector, and now the time has arrived for me to be taken to the IHOP. Will it be you, child, who is found worthy of buying me a plate of Original Full Stack Buttermilk Pancakes? Perhaps it will. Or perhaps it will not! But oh, how glorious to fail in so sacred an endeavour. Lightly your bones shall lie, honoured for all time as one who gave their life’s blood to procure me an order of Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘n Fruity(R) Pancakes at the IHOP, along with a vanilla milkshake, which is my favourite. I cannot tell you how to take me to the IHOP; I do not know where the nearest IHOP is. Indeed, I am unsure whether the IHOP is even open at this time. This is a path that only you can walk – you, and the others who have come here in hope of the ultimate prize. There is little I know, and less I understand. All my faith tells me is that by the end of today – either on your dime, or another’s – I will be tucking into a heaped platter of Mexican Tres Leches Pancakes and a deliciously chilled vanilla milkshake, and that to me is the most beautiful mystery of them all.

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Ivy Gamble, mind your own business
Oakland

Seeking: No one, whatever, anyone
About: I’m probably too busy for friends or dating but whatever, I’ll try this thing out. Let’s get together for lots of drinks and no conversation about our pasts or emotions. Needy people need not apply. Don’t message me (please message me).

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Guillot dal Villevauvais, Gill for short
Mirabay

Former renowned swordsman seeks female, 30-40, for activities including, but not limited to, dragonslaying, overthrowing tyrants, and encountering ancient evils.

And romantic walks.

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Silas Bershad, 32
Terra

6′ 5″, 230 pounds

Full disclosure, I was convicted of a horrific crime by the King of Almira. But that was more than 10 years ago and it was a total misunderstanding.

Hobbies: Stalking dragons, killing dragons, drinking after killing dragons. Down to meet up for a beer before a slaying, too, in case I die.

Pretty outdoorsy. Mostly because I’m not technically allowed to sleep indoors or the king’ll have my head cut off (’cause of the whole exile thing). If you can bring your own tent, that’s a plus.

Swipe right if you like dragon tattoos, I have a bunch of them. But I also have a lot of body scarring from dragon-related injuries. Not the hot kind, though, like Geralt of Rivia. My body is kind of a mess. Just trying to be transparent here.

Not looking for anything long term because it’s very likely I’ll be dead in a week
Can’t host due to the 14-year exile / technically being homeless

What the people of Almira are saying about Silas Bershad:

“Don’t believe those stories about his foot-long cock. I mean, it’s fine, but it’s not legendary or anything.” – The Baroness of Umbrik’s Glade

“Silas Bershad is an asshole.” – The Baron of Umbrik’s Glade

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Melek Ahmer, ageless and undying
Katmandu

Melek Ahmer. Djinn King of Tuesday. And Mars. And copper. The Red King. Really just an all round top guy. Asleep for 5000 years so well rested. I like long walks, trampling the wildlife, and causing extinction level events. There will definitely be candlelight dinners, as electrical systems tend to malfunction around me. I also enjoy pets, specially mountain goats because they are very useful and we can eat them if we are hungry and also I can makes shoes and sarongs out of them.

I’m really interested in settling down with someone not a violent psychopath, someone who gets me, and cares about the simple things in life like eating, drinking, partying and occasional tyranny.

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Cas Russell, MYOB
Los Angeles

Independent ace mercenary seeks same. Don’t expect calls, texts, or any level of emotional support. But if people are out to kill you, I’ve got your back.

Note: I sleep with my gun.

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Zanj, 5000
Pirate Queen

old school > new school

“Anything less than the best is a felony”

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book-illusion

Placidio di Vasil
Cantagna

Background: Don’t ask. I mean, really don’t.

Swordfighting > Weaving

Swordfighting > Bathing

Swordfighting > Singing

Mead > Ale

Scars (mine) > Death (mine)

Considering the three elements of combat > Diving into a fight like a lunatic (you know who you are)

Ignore the hot woman I hang with (yes, I do respect her mind.) And ignore the feisty lad (not my kid, because I just don’t—reasons private) and the married guy who does weird things with paint, because I have nothing in common with him. Or any of them.

OK, never mind. I knew you were going to say that.

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Stay tuned for more #magicXmayhem all summer long!

 

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The Best and Worst SFF Worlds—According to Our MagicXMayhem Authors

Some fantasy worlds leave us aching for a passport to another world. Some futures seem worth skipping the present for. Others…not so much. We asked our opens in a new windowMagic X Mayhem authors which SFF worlds they would most and least like to try out and—not to sound like a lousy clickbait article—some of their answers might surprise you.

What are the SFF worlds you would most and least like to live in?

 

Sarah Gailey author of opens in a new windowMagic for Liars

Most: The world of Abhorsen by Garth Nix. The magic system is just so COOL. I’d have to learn how to whistle, though.
Least: The world of Harry Potter. We’ve got enough regular fascists, I don’t need wizard fascists too.

Duncan Hamilton, author of opens in a new windowDragonslayer

Most: Westeros, north of the wall. I’ve never seen so much untracked powder…

Tamsyn Muir, author of opens in a new windowGideon the Ninth

Most: Dinétah from Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning so that I could, with sweaty palms and dry mouth, shake Maggie Hoskie’s hand.
Least: Dinétah from Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning, because I am weak and would just be gnawed to death or shot before I ever got to sweatily shake Maggie Hoskie’s hand. I guess I could nod respectfully at her as I died.

Brian Naslund, author of opens in a new windowBlood of an Exile

Most: Tamriel, because I’ve spent enough time playing Elder Scrolls games that you can drop me anywhere and two weeks later I’ll be a moderately successful adventurer with a decent house. (Or I’ll have been killed by a mud crab within five minutes, but I’m willing to risk it.)
Least: Mad Max Universe, because I’m very prone to rashes and a desert apocalypse environment seems very rash-inducing, with very few options for treating said rashes. Also, murderous raiders don’t seem like great neighbors.

JY Yang, author of opens in a new windowThe Ascent to Godhood

Most: Honestly I would love to live a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…. Star Wars was the first thing that truly got me into SFF as a child, I just loved its textures and its sense of fun. The juxtaposition of its high-gloss centers of power and sand-crusted backwaters. I too would like to silence irritants during work meetings with the power of my mind, or tell the fuzz that these are not the droids you are looking for…
Least: The worlds I would least like to live in are all the post-apocalyptic ones. Sure, Fury Road was fun and everything, but would I actually want to LIVE there? Hell no.

Max Gladstone, author of opens in a new windowEmpress of Forever

Most: Peter F. Hamilton has a knack for making weird, cool, adventurous and above all livable futures—before he takes a sledgehammer to them. The first half of The Reality Dysfunction, and most of Judas Unchained, are essentially Escape Velocity fanfic: sprawling adventurous futures in deep SPAAAACE, rich with secrets and opportunity. Yeah, eventually ghosts and aliens show up, but by the time they do you’re really bought into the future they’re wrecking! Banks’ Culture certainly seems like the most pleasant future on offer, so long as you’re not drowning in feces on a secret mission. Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosiverse would also be a good choice. There are a lot of things to do there.

Least: Most worlds with a destined savior, chosen one, or whatever. Not because I dislike the concept of destiny! But because worlds that turn around a Destined One tend to be pretty uninteresting if you’re not the One. What’s everyone else doing with their time?

S.L. Huang, author of opens in a new windowNull Set

Most: Yoon Ha Lee’s Machineries of Empire. It may be a terrible and violent dystopia, but I’d be able to do magic with MATH!
Least: …Yoon Ha Lee’s Machineries of Empire.

Saad Z. Hossain, author of The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday

Most: I’d like to live in the Culture universe. Post-scarcity human society, totally utopian, sarcastic machine minds that are almost more human than human, glands that let you experience a plethora of mind-altering states without ill effect, killer drones at your beck and call… it doesn’t get better.
Least: The most horrible is probably Joe Abercrombie’s world. I mean it’s a standard dark fantasy world but the way he gives it to his characters, it’s almost impossible to believe anyone will get out with any shred of dignity, let alone an actual happy ending.

Cate Glass, author of opens in a new windowAn Illusion of Thieves

Least: Game of Thrones world. Whew. You can’t trust anybody.

Most: Roger Zelazny’s Amber, though only if I was one of the royal family and I could actually travel through Amber’s many reflections, finding one that was just perfect for me.

Andrew Bannister, author of Iron Gods

Least: This is going to seem strange, but the sff world I would least to live in would be anything that resembled Iain M Banks’ Culture. At first sight that must seem strange because who wouldn’t want to live in a utopia like that? No work, no ill health, unlimited leisure – what’s not to like? But Iain knew exactly what he was doing. The only time anything interesting happens in the Culture is as a result of external threat; so much so that the really interesting people join a secretive body called Special Circumstances which practically has the remit of going out to look for trouble. Without that, the people of the Culture are fundamentally unchallenged and bored.

Most: That leaves the question of where I would most like to live. A place where stuff is happening, I think. A place, a civilization in flux, experiencing some challenge. And I fancy somewhere sunny. How about the near-future South Africa of Lauren Beukes’ ‘Zoo City’? My only condition being that I would like to be one of the people with money.

 

Stay tuned for more #magicXmayhem all summer long!

 

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