The Dungeon Anarchist’s Rise & Revolution Introduction We’re finally here! I know, my review of books 1-3 was only a month and a half ago, but I read this series fast. There’s another world where I reviewed 4-6 mid-July, and yet another where this look at 4-7 came two weeks ago. But as I said last week, bingeing the series so quickly ended up burning me out on it a little, so the break has been helpful for me to process and recover enthusiasm. If you’re here and still deciding whether to start the series, make sure you’ve read my prior review first! If you’ve read some and are deciding whether to continue, I hope this article will be helpful. But I imagine most readers (if they exist) will just be here to read another person’s take on books they quite enjoyed. For them I’ll do my best to offer what insights and commentary I can! A brief preview of my thoughts: these books are good, they’re easy reads, and they have some truly compelling moments which make me glad to have read them. At the same time, any issues you had with the early books (particularly 2 and 3, once you’re in the swing of things) will absolutely continue to bother you should you choose to proceed further. At the same time, most of the things you enjoyed about those books will continue to entertain you, on increasingly impressive scales. So let’s get into it! Spoilers ahead for Dungeon Crawler Carl up to the end of Book 7: This Inevitable Ruin. Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 4-7, by Matt Dinniman Story & Structure Carl and Donut overcome a variety of tricky obstacles and make it down to the 10th floor of the World Dungeon. Katia goes full body horror at the end of the 9th floor and is sent to a safe zone where she’ll hopefully be able to protect humanity’s surviving children. Next section! (Not really, but it is tricky to find an effective level of detail for a summary that doesn’t either gloss over almost everything or take a few hours to convey.) Carl’s (and Donut’s) goal is already mostly solidified by the end of book 3, but becomes further crystallized into: survive & thrive, save as much of humanity as possible (in and out of the dungeon), and kill every evil alien showrunner/oligarch/noble/hunter he can along the way. He often accomplishes these goals very creatively, with details of his plans hidden from the reader until the climactic moment when they’re revealed in full. It’s entertaining! But for my taste it also sometimes manages to be both expositional and confusing, which can easily detract from those heightened moments. It’s likewise nice to see fellow Crawlers, NPCs, and even former Crawlers getting more page time and parts to play, fleshing out the world beyond Carl’s limited point of view and experiences. But it also greatly detracts from the narrative’s precarious momentum during downtime and makes action even more chaotic and harder to follow. Ultimately, the storylines of the dungeon itself are inspired by and straight out of TTRPG campaigns. It’s wonderfully imaginative and excellently executed, arguably better than even Critical Role and Dimension 20 for Dinniman’s inherent ability to control all aspects of the narrative. But they’re also necessarily shallow (which he’s great at satirizing) and follows the usual TTRPG curve, where early levels are filled with action and later levels involve lots of planning for rarer, climactic encounters. So enjoy these stories while you read them, but I don’t have too much to say about any of those details in particular. Dungeon Crawler Carl Characters, art by ThisBandicoot2919 Highlights & Morals The good news is that, despite how bogged down in the details the narrative sometimes feels, most of the highs in this series remain truly high. Probably my largest omission from above was the books’ growing characterization of the System AI—the effective Dungeon Master for the game and a surprisingly engaging third party in the conflict between the Crawlers and the showrunners. We learn that these AIs are actually not so artificial in origin, but in fact ancient Primals (like Carl’s chosen race) being awakened and trained through the process of running the dungeon and interacting with the life of entire planets. (A fun parallel to The Locked Tomb and general personifications of planets, like Gaia.) We also see that the showrunners have an explosive failsafe in place in case the AI gains too much understanding and control over the system at large—one of the best twists of the series so far was Carl using his access to permanently disable this failsafe and let the AI grow and act as it pleases. Another significant highlight occurs in book seven, with a focus on past authors of the Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook. We learn several of their fates through flashbacks and actually have several others return to the dungeon to aid Carl’s struggle. These characters’ stories were filled with heart, trauma, and overwhelming passion that felt a cut above anything else the series has accomplished thus far. They’ve chosen to return to this place that tormented them, and to likely die in the hope of striking a blow against the showrunners, and it’s truly great stuff. I’ve been mentioning the alien showrunners and nobility a lot, and that’s because they really have been centered to be the main antagonists, over fellow crawlers, anything in the dungeon itself, or the AI. This builds off of what we see of the Orc princes in the early books and expands to include the Hunters—killing crawlers for sport on the sixth floor—and Faction Wars participants—playing war games with the lives of crawlers and NPCs. It’s nice to have Carl taking direct action against the real evils, inciting alien populations against their overlords, and even managing to remove the antagonists’ protections so that their lives are just as at stake as those of the crawlers. Samantha, Demigod and sex doll head, art by luxfatale Impossible not to mention Samantha, who seems like an offhand joke at first but blossoms into a hilarious character and weapon in her own right. Her French-accented catchphrase of “I will kill your mother” has quickly grown on me where “Goddamnit Donut” always felt a little twee to me. Emberus, the Gate of the Feral Gods, the card game, Miriam and Prepotente, Quan Ch, and the appearance of Bea and Carl’s dad also stand out to me right now, mostly just as fun and notable elements of the story. Also very interested in where Scolapendra’s awakening is going! Finally, I think the Ring of Divine Suffering and its damaging effect on Carl’s mind and soul is a strong (if a little blunt) reminder of the cost Carl’s crusade must necessarily have on him—a supernatural timer for him to either complete his quest or become the monster himself. An important parallel to this is the idea of masks, that Carl and Donut must act this way to survive before eventually shedding the mask later—and trust that they won’t be changed too much in the process. It’s an interesting place to put focus considering that death is ostensibly waiting for them around every corner, but I think that makes the humanity of it all the more potent. Faction Wars, art by Levi Cleeman Staring Down the End There are two—really three, since book nine is being split in two parts—books left in Dungeon Crawler Carl, and #8: A Parade of Horribles, is already out in the world and waiting for me to read it. And while I’m sure it’ll be interesting and exciting and mind-bending and all the rest, I’m honestly not as fascinated and intrigued by what’s to come as I am with most series. Because we know the broad strokes of how it’s going to end, right? Our system AI grows strong enough to corrupt/challenge the Eulogist—the central alien AI—and burns the current order down even as Carl and Donut reclaim Earth for what remains of humanity. What I want is for a new, better system to be proposed after all the anarchy and revolution and violence—both on Earth and in the universe at large—but Game of Thrones taught me that such things are much easier said than done. I think these are ultimately good books with a fun, brutal depiction of taking action against the controlling puppet-masters (an idea that could only be dreamed of in Chain-Gang All-Stars, which I compared the early books to), but I’ve also come away wishing they had a little more to say. Imani, art by Andrew Mar (so much more incredible art on his page!) I wished at the end of my previous review that the books would apply their anti-capitalist lens to the pre-dungeon world, and I half got my wish by getting a glimpse of the same themes in the alien society instead. But there’s still very little representation or exploration of everyday injustices, and at this point it seems clear that there won’t be. And that’s ok of course, but I think it does lessen the experience and value of these books for me personally. As I discussed with regard to The Will of the Many, there’s an innate contradiction to any bestselling critique of capitalism, and I don’t know that either text ultimately overcomes it. What are your thoughts on the series so far? Any important themes or moments I missed? Thanks for reading and until next time <3

A tribute to limerence, wildfires, and eclipses Introduction & Personal Writing Hello! I'm back with another short story today, this one written just three weeks ago at quite a difficult moment for me, and thus coming from a very personal and emotional place. But more on that in a moment—first, here are the short stories I shared two weeks ago, in case you're interested in more or in a point of comparison for how my writing has evolved over the past year. Second, you can still look forward to my next Dungeon Crawler Carl review soon (covering books 4, 5, 6, and 7), but I'll admit I burned myself out a little bit on the series and need a little more time to get excited about writing that piece. Also certainly on the way is a review & analysis of Between Two Fires, a fantastic dark medieval novel with some similarities to The Devils which I reviewed early this year. Ok, a little about the story. (Feel free to scroll down and read it first if you prefer!) As I mentioned in my post at the time, my city was experiencing incredibly unhealthy air quality as a result of raging wildfires around the province. I'm used to supplementing my mental health with long walks and runs out in nature, so the disruption was very disorienting and depressing even beyond the overwhelming existential horror of climate change. Earlier in the same week, I had learned about the idea of limerence—essentially when a crush becomes neurochemically addictive, with intrusive thoughts and a deadening of most other feelings. The experience can be greatly heightened by common aspects of ADHD, including hyperfixation, rejection sensitive dysphoria, and emotional dysregulation. A helpful explanation I found is that limerence often takes hold in people whose self-worth is lacking, but who feel more complete when they're around their crush. Thus identifying those areas of low self-esteem and generally focusing more on oneself first can be an effective preventative measure against limerence. I learned about limerence the hard way, but I can't stress enough how important that knowledge has been to me over the past few weeks. It helps to explain so many past experiences that I otherwise struggled to reconcile with my understanding of the world. It prompted me to work on myself and tackle new projects, including writing this short story, inspired by both wildfires and limerence and more. Would love to hear your thoughts on the story below! Thanks for reading and until next time <3 Art by hellothisisangle The Girl Who Loved the Sun A tale, for you, from Gaia. Transcribed from the scorched bones that nourished this soil, absorbed by the questing roots of the Great Tree whose fruit you now consume. Plump and sweet, but also a little bitter, no? Perhaps a hint of smoke, even these many lifetimes later? Your pardon, a tale. The Girl who Loved the Sun. Keep eating, and see it from her eyes, feel it with her heart. Relatable, to love the light? Certainly we have all seen the Sun’s beauty, felt the incandescent glow of Her attention. Many have fantasized and dreamed of basking eternal in Her affection; religions and nations have devoted themselves to praising Her. But all know not to stare too long. All except the Girl, that is, whose heart and soul were pierced with shadow. When the Sun looked on her she felt healed and whole, a person worthy and capable of love. Art by MK Cooper Yet the Sun’s attention never lingers long, and each intervening darkness saw the Girl tormenting herself with tearing wishes and stabbing regrets. Whenever the Sun’s gaze alighted on her it found deeper, darker shadows to fill and less of the Girl to warm and adore. Her sight and care for others waning, the Girl realized that she and the Sun were all that existed and all that mattered; a tale of true love that would shine through the ages. For who else had ever felt such overwhelming ardor and need, and had felt it shining back with such warmth and generosity? In the long and painful nights, the Girl turned to fire for light and warmth and a reminder of her soulmate—though it was a pale imitation and only caused her to yearn all the more. So the fires she set grew and grew, apace with the ripping shadows in her heart and soul. One day, the Girl was standing on the highest peak of the highest mountain. Demonstrating her devotion, yes—but also waiting for the raging inferno of last night’s fire to finally die down in the forests and valleys below. Her mind, her heart, and her soul now had room for nothing else but her love of her Sun. When the light began to dim, she was confused. She stood above the clouds and the stinging black smoke. It was the middle of summer, and her Sun had promised to spend many more hours with her than this. Yet the darkness continued to grow. Suddenly, squinting her scarred eyes in the dying light, she could see it. Her Sun was not alone in the sky—had taken up with Her vile and eternal consort, in fact. The Moon, who had overseen and reveled in every painful moment of the Girl’s life. An ill-conceived afterthought in the face of her and her Sun’s love. Art by MK Cooper But all those nights of fantasy and self-flagellation had worn the Girl’s denial down to a threadbare tatter, which crumbled before the overwhelming truth in the heavens above. That her Sun loved another. That theirs was not a special and unique bond—that it had never been a bond at all. That all of her hope and joy, hate and criticism, love given and received and denied, was pure imagination. Immaterial and inconsequential. As the Sun disappeared into Her lover’s embrace, what remained of the Girl’s heart broke fully and finally. She fell, staring into the towering and cascading wildfire that was the only remaining light in the world, and realized her life hadn’t been so inconsequential after all. ~ Ah, welcome back; I see you’ve finished your fruit. Yes, it grows quite well here. As do we all, focused as we are on caring for each other and our world. Take the seeds and plant them, is all we ask. Share the tale with the people there, in case they have forgotten their own great tragedies. Ha, yes. May She watch over you as well, good traveler.

In conversation with House of Leaves and Piranesi Introduction I watched the movie! A little late to the trend, perhaps, but excited to discuss it nonetheless. Will keep this top section vaguely spoiler-free as usual, though I don’t think there’s much to ruin with foreknowledge here. While I vaguely knew about the idea of the Backrooms going into this, I wasn’t quite up on it enough to realize that its lore and origins are (supposedly) entirely distinct from the SCP about the infinite IKEA. (Though the fact that the film also features a furniture store would seem to indicate they’re pulling on both fandoms in order to get butts in seats.) Today I’ll examine what Backrooms is about, the degree to which it succeeds in its various goals, and briefly discuss how it relates to two of my favourite novels: House of Leaves and Piranesi. Follow me; you wouldn’t want to get lost. Clark in Backrooms, art by vlaurr What is Backrooms? If you’re as yet unfamiliar, the Backrooms originated as an online scary story (“creepypasta”) based on a vaguely off-putting picture of empty office spaces. It added to the internet’s fascination with abandoned and liminal spaces and attracted contribution through imaginative storytelling and further photographs of unsettling places. One such creator, Kane Parsons, apparently took the idea and ran with it, to the point that his web series was adapted into a feature film by A24. The internet is chock-full of articles on all of that if it’s of interest to you. The Backrooms film follows Clark, the manager of a furniture store, and Mary, his therapist. Clark discovers an entrance into the infinite, liminal Backrooms in the basement of his store, and explores it before bringing it up to Mary in their next appointment. He then returns with his assistant manager and her boyfriend, both of whom are killed while exploring. Clark disappears for weeks, prompting Mary to check in. She enters the Backrooms and finds Clark, who has somehow come to learn that the Backrooms are echoes of reality—content degradation and copy decay of the real world. He’s then killed by an echo of his own furniture selling-pirate persona, and she barely escapes by finding a staging area for a corporation investigating the Backrooms. Mary in Backrooms, art by vlaurr Does it work? On a visual level, I think Backrooms does a phenomenal job of portraying the uneasy feeling that has always been associated with this idea, as well as the strange wonder of exploring these spaces. The fuse box at the beginning is one of my favourite moments from the film; new switches growing diagonally like tumours and eventually controlling the store’s entire power flow. The other excellent part for me is seeing hints of human life in this alien world; the corporation exploring this place becoming as alien and unnerving as this other world itself simply by their presence within it. As a feature film, Backrooms is also obligated to tell an actual human story—something audiences can relate to and maybe even learn from, in addition to necessarily adding stakes and tension. I thought the actors and characters were great, and I really appreciate how hard they pushed the therapy angle with Clark needing to ‘find a new path’ forward. The idea is that he’s not responding to therapy; that he believes he’s just wired this way—and so has become stuck, lost in the infinite labyrinth of his own mind. Mary as therapist tries to go in and help him, and he attacks her both consciously and otherwise. She barely escapes, having failed to help her patient and with some new trauma to process herself. It works, if you don’t think about it too hard. But mostly because the filmmakers are jamming a square peg into a round hole with enough blunt force that just about anything would’ve worked. The Backrooms has its own lore and rules and, most importantly, fans: those certainly came first for the filmmakers, and telling a fully cohesive and meaningful story necessarily came second. Thankfully, the fraying-mind-as-infinite-liminal-world idea has been done before, and better, in House of Leaves and Piranesi. By Joaco-Art House of Leaves and Piranesi I’ve written about both of these novels in great depth before, so I’ll keep this fairly brief—and spoiler-light, in case you want to check them out for yourself. To massively oversimplify House of Leaves, it follows a man’s growing obsession with exploring the apparently infinite liminal space which suddenly appears in his home. It’s a powerful allegory for his discomfort living as a simple husband and father after a career as a front-line journalist, and it’s only one of many examples in the novel showing how obsession can pull you in and destroy your life before you even realize it’s happening. Piranesi moves in the opposite direction, beginning with its protagonist living a simple, innocent life in a strange and endless space. (Filled with statues which seem to echo ideas from our own world, in an interesting parallel to Backrooms.) Over the course of the book, ‘Piranesi’ learns more about his past and present and must accept his own agency in determining his future. Both my readings of Piranesi have taken place in single afternoons, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. The difference between these stories and Backrooms is again simply creative liberty: the filmmakers were bound by the property they were adapting, and so could only messily nod to the same ideas that House of Leaves and Piranesi are able to explore so profoundly. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Exit Backrooms is a fun, well-acted and well-executed film that manages to faithfully and intriguingly adapt the best parts of its source material. In order to have it function as a film, the creators behind it attempted to graft on a Backrooms-esque echo of stories like House of Leaves and Piranesi, which works just well enough while still making me appreciate the originals more. Currently, Backrooms is the closest thing that exists to an adaptation of either of those books (though stop-motion animation studio Laika is apparently working on a Piranesi film), so I'll accept it as a fun simulacra of what could be. What did you think of the film? Any details or allusions I missed? If you’re a fan of SCP and other online creepypasta, have you read (my review of) There Is No Antimemetics Division? Thanks for reading and until next time <3

Tales of pain, change, and hope – written by me Introduction I wrote these stories last summer, in response to interesting prompts from the submissions page of Vellum Mortis – a (would be) monthly zine publishing speculative flash fiction (stories of <1k words). My first story, "The Litany of Renewal", was accepted and published in their August 2025 issue. My second, "Changing Seasons", was accepted for their September 2025 issue. Unfortunately, they decided to put the zine on indefinite hold before that one made it to publication – not that they told me until mid-November. That experience dampened my excitement for fiction writing for a while, but I recently wrote an entirely new story and am feeling the interest and confidence building back up again. So I wanted to share these here today and hear your thoughts, if you have any. If you're interested in more, I've previously shared three other stories: Class Trip (absurdist dystopian sci-fi) Dedication (heartfelt) Kakistocratic Oath (absurdist story for a prompt about kakistocracy) I hope you enjoy them! Thanks for reading ❤ The Dark Lady, art by Amelia Leonards The Litany of Renewal They say Sanctuary has ten thousand floors, every one uniquely dazzling and seductive. In truth it has ten thousand and one. But it is considered impolite to mention the Midden, so that over the millennia its existence has faded into myth. On ten thousand floors it is a rumoured curiosity, like the question of what might exist beyond Sanctuary’s walls – or more importantly, who was who at the previous evening’s masquerade. On one floor, the Midden’s existence is an incontrovertible truth, one which does little to ease the existential horror steeping its inhabitants. Chief among these damned souls is Carrion, waking from fitful sleep in her worn and patched hammock. She raises a sickly pale hand to cover her mouth even before her eyes shoot open, but the ingrained motion is vestigial: she learned to suppress her waking screams many cycles ago, a rare feat of self-mastery in the Midden. Carrion intones the litany of renewal beneath her breath as she pulls her grimy vestments over her bald head and pallid frame. Rising and walking barefoot down the narrow torchlit hall which her clergy call home, she keeps her gaze fixed studiously on the rusted floor. Whether her fellows have found the brief embrace of sleep or lie awake in terror, their privacy in this hall is sacred. At the end of the hall she pauses and takes a deep, calming breath. Repetition should make her days easier, yet somehow it never feels that way in the moment. Centuries ago the hall’s one exit may have been a functioning mechanical door, but now comprises a jagged hole carved through the sealed metal. Learning to contort herself through it in her youth cost Carrion two fingers and left her with countless scars, so that even after decades she gives crossing the threshold her undivided attention. Only when she is safely through and taking her first steps does she notice that He is there waiting for her, a column of greasy black smoke rising above the towering piles of refuse to either side of the path. Carrion immediately kneels before Him, wincing at the pain in her joints from the sudden movement. Not for the first time she wonders what form He takes at the center of the smoke, if any. When he speaks, his deep and rasping voice emanates from all around. “I partake of your faith and suffering, mortal Carrion. Witness now the transubstantiation that you and your order facilitate.” She’d greatly prefer not to watch it, miracle or otherwise, but it is ritual and His commandment. She can’t refute that feels her spiritual and emotional burden lighten as she lifts her eyes. Bits of moldering refuse nearby – some recognizably and stomach-turningly organic, others parts of objects alien to anyone in the Midden – spark and disappear in smoke before her, replaced by a basin of crystal-clear water and a bushel of bright fruits. “Thank you, my Lord.” Carrion’s voice rasps from disuse and dehydration. “I humbly partake of your divine gift.” She drinks heavily before taking two of the round fruits He calls ‘apples’ and delightedly biting into one. “Did you know,” she flinches when she hears Him speak again, assuming he has already departed as is custom for these unpredictable visits, “that you are the eight hundred and sixteenth of your line to hold the name Carrion?” “Oh. Um, no, my Lord. I knew I was named for my mother and grandfather, but…” She isn’t sure He even heard her as He continues, “And deeply devoted you have been. Perhaps uniquely so, among the millions who work and suffer in the Midden so that Sanctuary can thrive. Most raise a fist or voice in anger at some point in their lives, pointless though it will always be. But not you, nor most of your ancestors. Why?” “I… I cannot speak for them, Lord. But I live to serve.” His silence, for seconds that turn into minutes, prods her to continue. “Perhaps I foster some hope that my faith will be rewarded in another life, or that you might at least look with favour upon my successor.” Carrion had borne no children, nor had her mother: His divinity molded life anew from the very flesh of the previous generation. “That was supposed to be the way of it, you know.” She had never heard His tone so wistful, contemplative. “When Sanctuary was founded, it was agreed that a few hundred people from each floor would take turns working in the Midden each year, to serve their civic and spiritual duty. When they did, their family would be spared for the next generation. Communal responsibility and upkeep, for what was to be the greatest project in the history of your species.” The smoke is billowing now, an eerie sight in the windless Midden. Carrion thinks she can see ember-like eyes flickering a meter above her. “But as soon as the first group of volunteers had arrived, the rest of them locked the doors and threw away the key. Your people and I have been eating their waste and delivering it back to them clean and purified for thousands of years, Carrion. Does that not enrage you?” She grits her teeth but can’t stop tears from falling. “Of course it does!” Her scream echoes and carries through the Midden. “Good.” Suddenly a shiny metal object drops in front of her. “A man above threw away the key once more this morning, apparently believing doing so would cure his nightmares.” Was that a wink from a smoking ember eye? “Let’s help some lost souls find God, loyal Carrion.” She finishes her apple and picks up the key, smiling for the first time in her life. *** They say Sanctuary has ten thousand floors, every one uniquely dazzling and seductive. In truth it has but one, and none will ever forget it. Wings, art by Amelia Leonards Changing Seasons Word spreads by calving glaciers, singed whispers of moths, twinkling constellations: For the first time in centuries, there is to be a Convergence. Summer, ascendant but waning, will attend Winter at the Bohemian Palace. Summer, alongside His heir Laurel and select retainers, arrives with the distant sun’s rays. A perk of His station, and besides, He wouldn’t be caught dead navigating the void by any other means. Even at the speed of light, the journey has taken most of a day; in addition to becoming somewhat claustrophobic towards the end. The Bohemian Palace is rather elegant, despite the perpetual shroud of night out here beyond the Kuiper belt. The alien architecture, carved out of a rogue planet, had already seemed to be on the verge of crumbling over a millennia ago, on His last visit soon after Laurel’s birth. It might well be twice as unstable today. Or perhaps it is only Winter that has warped and wilted. Where now are the gleaming ice sculptures, the haunting ossuaries? Though loath to admit it, He finds the silence and emptiness rather more disturbing than the discordant braying and chittering horde that had welcomed him previously. What malignities do these cavernous shadows hold? He is sorely tempted to banish the infernal darkness. A flick of the wrist, a muttered word and all would be visible. But it would be costly, here and now. Not only to wield Summer in the heart of Winter, but also to offend his hosts and, worst of all, to convey any sense of weakness. Not today, with victory so close at hand. With no welcoming party, it is Laurel’s keen senses that guide Summer and His retinue through the abyssal halls to Winter’s Court – such as it is. Cold lavender light suffuses Winter’s vast throne room. And here at last are the Unseelie, diverse in all ways except for being uniformly alien to human or Seelie eyes. Are they, perhaps, also meeker and more ragged than great Summer recalls? The idea certainly serves to warm Him, whether or not it is strictly true. As Summer enters, the thronging courtiers bow and somewhere violins begin to intone the unique melody of Convergence. He can see Winter on Her throne – but She is statue-still. Her piercing eyes, that haunted Him for decades, closed. Once more His relief is drowned away by discomfort at the unexpected. Two figures flank Winter’s throne: the left is entirely encased in armor, such that He might have mistaken it for decoration or magical construct if not for His innate sense for living beings; the right is Winter’s Herald, a stooping half-giant who has held the position almost as long as her Queen. It is she who speaks as the violins fade. “Welcome, Summer King, to Winter’s halls. Your season stands ascendant, in more ways than one. Many moons have now passed since your Estival Solstice, yet Summer remains almost at its apogee, and Winter at our nadir.” The Herald clears her throat violently and gestures to her Queen. “It now takes all Winter’s time and will to maintain even a semblance of balance! One slip and millions die, human and Sidhe alike. Countless Unseelie have committed themselves to stemming the tide of ecological collapse, while you- you…” She stares at Summer while she catches her breath. Horror on her gnarled face at the self-satisfied smirk on His. “What do you have to say for yourself, Lord Summer?” “You’ve just about said it already, although I’d have loved to hear it from Her lips,” He replied. “I’ve won.” Silence and bewilderment suffuse the throne room as readily as the cold light. “You what,” the crone finally gasps. “I’ve won! Checkmate. Seelie defeats Unseelie. No more chaos, no more rivalry.” Summer laughs, addressing the alien audience. “You all can clear out. My heir Laurel will take the reins, and put Winter to bed. Comfortable Summer for all, forever.” The crone looked ready to try and strike Him. “There is a balance to be kept, you sun-addled fool.” Before He could reply – with fire or words, He hadn’t quite decided yet – the armored figure speaks up. “I’ve seen enough,” a warm youthful voice proclaims as they reached up to doff their helmet, “She was right about Him.” There, waving their golden hair free of the helmet, is Laurel. A much more vibrant Laurel, positively radiating their seasonal inheritance. Summer can barely turn before He feels an icy blade pierce his throat. Cold insectile eyes on His Laurel’s face, all the false colour draining away as if summoned back to its rightful owner. As His power ebbs, Winter opens Her own horrible eyes. Her rasping voice is a blizzard He can’t shut out. “Swapped in the cradle, yes. You just had to come and parade your precious heir, knowing my lack.” He tries to talk, to beg, but the ice is in his vocal cords. “But you are right, in a way. I do believe it is time for me to retire – or at least take a sabbatical.” Winter is old, but age is fickle amongst the Sidhe. “Luckily, we have two well-trained heirs right here. Though which will be which?” “Perhaps a change is in order,” says the changeling heir as they remove the blade and let Summer’s life drain onto the cold floor. “Winter turned Summer is Spring, no?” “And I shall be Autumn,” declares Laurel. “Seasons of change, in place of extremes. That we might not forget our shared kinship.” With Winter’s blessing and Summer’s blood and the triumphant swelling of violins, the Sidhe are born anew.

A superior, updated moral for our times Background & Expectations Amidst the horrible air quality that held my city hostage for a few days last week (hooray for multiple levels of government gutting environmental protections to make a buck), I journeyed out to see Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Not because I'm a particular fan of either Nolan (my mild audio processing issues make half his films incomprehensible without subtitles) or the source material (always preferred The Iliad), nor even to support the film against the apparent online backlash over its casting choices. Honestly, I think it was mostly Angela Collier's video from a few weeks ago, where she speculated on how Nolan would handle various aspects of the text, that got me interested at all. Then, let's face it, the cultural zeitgeist probably pushed me over the edge. Angela rightly points out that much about Homer's Odyssey clashes with our culture and world today. Just look at the role of women in this foundational western story—it's no wonder that Circe, A Thousand Ships, The Penelopiad and many more stories have been written to re-examine these characters through a feminist lens. Natalie Haynes' Pandora's Jar also offers a brief but powerful critical look at the original depictions of these women. But Angela's main focus was on slavery: that this mythical Greek world was built on the back of slaves, that Odysseus owns slaves and that his final "heroic" act of vengeance in the text is to execute many of them. So, how does Nolan thread the needle of staying true to the story while not alienating his audience? Let's get into it in spoilers below. Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus (1891), by John William Waterhouse A Great Film For my part, I think Nolan manages to thread the needle fairly well. He avoids the erasure route by specifically naming these characters as slaves, while also omitting Odysseus and Telemachus' grisly execution of Ithaca's slave women at the end of the story—instead just having Penelope push disloyal Melantho to her doom in the battle with the suitors. Nolan also gives Penelope and Helen more complex characterization than Homer, but their overall roles ultimately remain unchanged. Calypso is a neat framing device for the first half of the story but doesn't particularly shine as a character in her own right. Circe's scene with Odysseus' men is one of the best in the film—those transformations, oh my—but then Odysseys shows up, says he and his men are actually the good ones, and she just meekly exits. For me, the film's at its best when it's following Odysseus and his crew. Polyphemus, the Laestrygonians (forgot about that encounter, what a scene!), Circe, Hades, Apollo's cattle, his scenes with Athena, and especially the flashbacks to Troy—it's gorgeous and tense and I couldn't get enough of it. Odysseus and Polyphemus (1896), by Arnold Böcklin The suitors plotline didn't do much for me, in comparison. (Maybe it's just Tom Holland? I haven't even seen Uncharted but it feels like such a joke to cast him as a teen again after having him man up for that film years ago.) Pattinson and Hathaway and everyone else killed it—even Bernthal's mob boss-esque Menelaus was enthralling—so maybe it's simply down to my not liking the premise of it. The central point of Homer's epic is about Odysseus and Penelope's love and loyalty: him braving constant dangers and the antagonism of the gods to return to her; her delaying choosing a new husband in hopes he will one day return. It's nice, it's quaint, it's human. But I would have been disappointed leaving this film with a pure moral about love and loyalty in the year of our dystopia 2026. Thankfully, Nolan agrees. From early in the film, we hear rumours of mysterious "Sea Peoples" attacking Greece (a cute nod to real history) as a pressing reason for Penelope to marry and thereby resecure the Kingdom of Ithaca. At the same time, we see Odysseus flashing back to the sacking of Troy, and in particular the temple's statue of Athena being decapitated. We also get hints from Athena and Calypso that Odysseus may not be so eager to get home after all. Finally, the whole film places enormous emphasis on "Zeus's Law" (xenia): treat others (particularly travelers and guests) with respect, for you never know who might be a god in disguise. Would you believe that, rather than an eclectic bunch of worldbuilding, all of this is setting up the real, gut-punching heart of the film? Odysseus Between Scylla and Charybdis (1806), by William Bromley Burn to a Cinder We learn that Odysseus feels incredible guilt for the trick he played which resulted in the destruction of Troy. He left the city an apparent gift from the gods, which they brought behind their walls in trusting respect of Zeus's Law. (Admittedly, a bit of a stretch perhaps. But the rest works so well that I can go with it.) When the Greeks betrayed that trust and fell on Troy with absolute violence, Odysseus fears that he has destroyed Zeus's Law and the advanced civilization it allowed; that humans will again become beasts incapable of trust or empathy. Penelope then realizes that the Sea Peoples aren't mysterious foreigners at all, but rather the violent and greedy Greek armies returning from Troy provoking a general societal cascade into barbarism. And while that moral about the death of empathy is new to this interpretation of the story, it fits beautifully with the concept of xenia that already pervades The Odyssey—I was going to list examples, but frankly the whole damn story is about hospitality and trust and homecoming when you think about it. I chose Epica’s Burn to a Cinder for the featured song today because it captures the mood at the end of Nolan’s film: mourning the loss of empathy and rise of xenophobia while swearing to either fight it or flee to somewhere better. We see Telemachus take up the Ithacan crown while Odysseus and Penelope sail into the sunset, both to honour his fallen men and to find a brighter future for themselves. Agamemnon in the film, art by weeramix Safe Travels All that to say, you probably already know whether or not you’ll enjoy The Odyssey. It’s an adventure/political fantasy story with a star-studded cast and a nearly 3-hour runtime—your mileage will absolutely vary. If you're someone who is genuinely on the fence, I do recommend it. I'll take a wonderfully diverse cast any day, and between the filmmaking craft and ultimate moral on display, I think it stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of films released these days. Plus, Agamemnon's design is just goddamn wild. Last week I wrote about wanting to collect lessons and truths about the world in one central place, and hey, I think The Golden Rule of being nice to people probably deserves a spot on the list—though I certainly hope it's not one I would completely forget otherwise. Thanks for reading and until next time <3

To remember and reflect upon (with ADHD externalization) Faulty Memory Writing this blog has been an incredible boon to my mental health. It's given me consistent structure and routine, a place to reflect on and internalize lessons from media, an outlet to praise or complain about stories and the world, and so much more. Unfortunately, the nature of our brains—particularly for we ADHDers—is that even as the one writing them, many of the morals and lessons I take and conclusions I draw end up falling out of my head days, weeks, or months later. This time last year I had just re-read The Shining and re-watched Midnight Mass and fervently believed that an outlook derived from 'The Serenity Prayer' could and would solve many of my problems. Today, a few days into a personal struggle with my addictive tendencies, I tried to call up that quite relevant lesson and found only crickets and cobwebs where it was supposed to be. And that's one that I could even remember writing off the top of my head. A helpful strategy many ADHDers (and others) use to overcome these deficits in our working memory is externalization: putting important things in writing, asking others to check in on us, placing visual cues in our environments to remind us of things we'd otherwise forget or miss. I'm working on using these techniques more myself, so why not use this as an opportunity to do so! If you feel so inclined, copy/paste or paraphrase anything that feels important for you to remember and digitally or physically pin it where you'll see it! I'm going to be taking these from my own posts, CBT, quotes from books, and probably other places. I'll endeavour to add to this list over time, and maybe also subtract from it if something ever proves ultimately unhelpful or untrue. Art by Amalia Rachel Truths/Lessons "Fill up your own cup, and let them fall in love with the overflow." – Harry Styles, shared with me by my friend Lauren and reflected on at the link by Aanya Singhani. "There is still time" – article on I Saw the TV Glow and how now's better than never "Overthinking brings confusion; action brings clarity." A simple truth that I've badly needed to hear all my life. (Related to SMART Goals, Next Step) Beware Cognitive Distortions – Think of times when you've fallen into these unhelpful thought patterns, so that you can recognize them next time they arise. "Shame is a shackle. Free yourself." – Matt Haig, The Humans "You are what you eat" – article on The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and the state of our minds on the internet [The Opposite of This] – article on a CGPGrey video and The Screwtape Letters "Don’t aim for perfection. Evolution, and life, only happen through mistakes." – Matt Haig, The Humans Life is about connections (between Gods, plus people) – article on Terra Ignota A better future only requires radical empathy – article on Terra Ignota Loneliness & Depression Escape requires action – article on "A Secret Door" Life can get very dark, but the sun will shine again – article on Rhythm of War, "De Profundis Borealis" Behavioural Activation Scheduling – Consciously including activities in your schedule which offer Socialization, Achievement, Pleasure and Self-Care. Live now, die later: Catharsis of Apocalypse & Death – taking present solace and finding beauty by remembering the existential Manage Your Expectations – article on Severance and how anticipating perfection is never going to end well ADHD & Anxiety “I [will] have the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” – article on The Shining, Midnight Mass, Alcoholics Anonymous SMART Goals – Whether doing high-level project management or getting yourself off of TikTok, a helpful guide for actually getting shit done The most important step is the next one – article on Oathbringer Get offline – article on surviving with ADHD in the addiction/attention economy "Everyone has a part to play." – A friend in response to my article on empathy exhaustion. Just because we can't all show up 100% for every important cause doesn't mean we can't make a difference somewhere, using our personal strengths and interests. ADHD & Helpful vs. Unhelpful Guilt Authority is a Mask – We're all only human, despite what they'd have us think Mindfulness "Be curious. Question everything. A present fact is just a future fiction." – Matt Haig, The Humans (also very relevant to the themes of KJ Parker) Queer Theory / False Dichotomies – Seeing beyond true/false, black/white, male/female etc. "Choose Again" – article on Hyperion Cantos Think for yourself – brief reflection on 'Captain Goat' Design your own universe – article on 'Design Your Universe' and 'Stay the Course' Art by Ed Perkins What are yours? (Okay, is the above a lot messier than I envisioned? Yes. But hopefully it'll function.) Like I said, this is a resource I want to add to over time, to continually reflect on and learn from. So I'd love to hear any aphorisms, lessons or other ways of thinking that get you through the day! Thanks for reading and until next time <3

From spirals, negative self-talk, and apathy Harsh Awakening Just a short piece today as I face down a busy and anxious week; as always consider checking out some of my past work if you’re craving more! Anyone who’s opened a few of my articles this year will have a sense of how much I’ve recently been enjoying the music of Avatar, a Swedish heavy metal group who consistently explore dark and absurd themes while endlessly experimenting with their style and sound. One of their songs that I’ve been meaning to reflect on for a while is ‘A Secret Door’, off of their 2020 album Hunter Gatherer. The album itself is arguably the group's darkest and most serious, with 'Child' and 'Gun' being deeply haunting in their own ways and 'When All But Force Has Failed' being my go-to track for screaming and raging at the world. This heavy tone marked a very notable shift from the band's previous record, Avatar Country (2018), which had delivered a much lighter, parodic look at monarchy and nationalism. Combined with all the other downers of 2020, it's easy to see why Hunter Gatherer met mixed reactions and is generally forgotten about these days. I partially mention that context because I think it's an interesting parallel to 'A Secret Door' itself. (Make sure you watch the music video above!) In a lot of Avatar's songs (and Epica's, for that matter), there's a notable division between the innocence and wonder of the clean vocals and the anger and bitterness of the harsh vocals; it's a dynamic that it's easy to become familiar with and begin to subconsciously accept. It was only recently that I realized 'A Secret Door' intentionally plays on and breaks that paradigm, with the beautiful and seductive clean vocals constantly trying to give up and sink into spirals, depression and apathy—while the harsh (and louder chorus) vocals represent a screaming wake up call to break free with action, mindfulness and hope. It's a haunting way of conveying how easy it is to passively slip into darker moods, and how jarring it can be to finally, actively choose to break free. The music video elevates this already deeply affecting song to new levels, with dancer Mpululu Ntuve's character trapped alongside her inner demons. To me their struggle is a beautiful and resonant depiction of living with anxiety, depression and especially negative self-talk, as we see the angry and abusive figure keeping her scared and off-balance until she finally finds the courage to fight back and look for an escape. The lyrics say that "the door will show before we land", which I find a remarkable nod to how difficult it is to escape these unhealthy mental patterns: it feels almost impossible to just find improvement on your own, with no momentum behind you. But possibilities for hope, help and connection will come your way if you open yourself up to them—and if you look for the door, it will show before you land. (I've previously written about another song with a similar message.) Art by Omu Rizer Find Your Door This song only gets more and more interesting as I continue to think on it, but as I said above, time is short today. Maybe I'll revisit it at some point. I find a lot of emotional depth and resonance in this type of music, but 'A Secret Door' manages to go a step beyond with how it lyrically, structurally and visually asks us to break free of our own mental prisons and abusers and take care of ourselves. Of course, it can also be very difficult to even recognize when we're trapped in these patterns, and I hope that simply bringing it up is enough to kickstart someone's mindfulness—just as Avatar hoped when they released this track into the world. I'd love to hear what this song means to you; whether it resonates and any different responses you have to it. Thanks for reading and until next time <3

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Origins The Pitch Almost from its inception, Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman has survived and evolved based on its own success—progressing and growing in the publishing world not unlike its protagonist leveling up and descending in the World Dungeon. The story began with the author posting a few segments online, which gained enough traction—combined with the onset of the pandemic—to encourage Dinniman to try self-publishing the first book in October of 2020. By 2024, the series had proven successful enough for Penguin Books to secure the rights—mirroring the story of There Is No Antimemetics Division, which I looked at earlier this year. When I briefly mentioned the series last week, I didn’t expect to be returning to discuss it in greater depth so soon. (I again thought today’s post would be about Widow’s Bay, but alas the back half of the series has yet to pull me back in.) So today, a proper spoiler-free pitch before I dive into a light review & analysis of the series’ first three entries. Dungeon Crawler Carl is a LitRPG progression fantasy which, at its best, feels like it offers the highlights of video games, action films and Tabletop RPGs in book form. It follows likeable, fun characters and gives you strong reasons to care about them. The imagination and worldbuilding here are excellent, striking an essential balance between fantastical absurdity and rules-based logic. The series both mocks and embraces tropes of these games in a way that demonstrates knowledge, care, and creativity. The third book is called The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, referencing the real life anarchist text, and so I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that it is also where Carl truly embraces his goal of surviving long enough to do real damage to the system around him. That (for now) background storyline is certainly the most interesting to me, so I figured it would be important to include in a pitch to anyone with similar interests. I don’t think Dungeon Crawler Carl will be for everyone—but it absolutely has a broader appeal than I would have imagined before trying it myself. These books are just about as smooth reading as can be, so consider giving them a shot! And if the LitRPG elements absolutely aren’t your thing, consider checking out Chain-Gang All-Stars instead; it features a similar oppression-as-entertainment idea but is perhaps a little more realistic and believable! Now, finally, let’s wade into some spoilers. Dungeon Crawler Carl 1, 2, 3; cover design by Will Staehle Best in Dungeon The series follows Carl and his pet-show-cat-turned-intelligent-being Princess Donut as they enter and explore the World Dungeon—created by advanced aliens by rapidly recycling the Earth as we know it. They’re two of only a few million survivors of this sudden apocalypse, placed into a deadly game show where they could technically win back authority over the planet if they complete the 18-floor Dungeon. Though we soon learn that over the centuries, possibly millennia, no one has ever made it past floor 13. As fun as monster-slaying and lore-exploring is, I’ve consistently found the strongest moments in the series so far to be the emotional character-focused ones. (Who are you and what the hell did you do with Zach? Yeah, great question.) Maybe it’s how few and far between Carl and Donut’s moments of reflection are that make them so poignant, but it’s genuinely powerful every time they think back to their lives beforehand in connection to what they currently face. Carl’s memories of his abusive father and trying-her-best mother, and of his ex-girlfriend Bea preparing to give Donut away for a new show cat, give important context, purpose, and depth to the story. The same is true for their interactions with other Crawlers, hearing their life stories and building bonds of empathy and shared humanity, and sometimes even with the Dungeon’s NPCs—real people forced into playing roles and living or dying at the whim of Crawlers and storywriters alike. The System and Carl’s dream of taking it down have to be the other main highlight. Similar to Chain-Gang All-Stars, the story turns humans fighting for their lives into the ultimate reality show—complete with sponsors, talk shows, attempts at outside interference and edited narratives skewing/misrepresenting reality. So in addition to completing quests and surviving traps, Carl and Donut must also navigate celebrity status and agent drama and the expectations of various writers, owners and audiences if they want to have a hope of staying alive. Carl repeating himself all the while, "You will not break me." So I simply adore that Carl receives the Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, an illicit journal from past Crawlers similarly bent on structural revenge against the system. Likewise, the relationship between the Dungeon’s owners and its System AI (the game’s Dungeon Master, more or less, with a foot fetish you wouldn’t believe) is shown to already be surprisingly antagonistic. It’s exciting to see Carl learning about all the cracks in this world and preparing to start driving wedges between them. And again, the imagination is just a blast. Just about every Crawler has their own fascinating race/class combo that blows even the most extravagant homebrew D&D game out of the water. There’s a Top Ten Leaderboard and it’s honestly just a blast to see Dinniman having fun coming up with the best and baddest and showing off highlights from their journeys. Carl and Princess Donut, art by Luciano Fleitas Favored Prospects As fun as these books are, I think there’s definitely still room for improvement. (I know, the series is almost done, but this is what I’m hoping to see as I keep reading.) As nice as the moments of reflection and rebellious anger are, they could be better. In addition to having the Cookbook, Carl’s chosen class is the ‘Compensated Anarchist’. And it’s all well and good that he’s rightly angry at the oppression of the Dungeon, but I need to see him start recognizing that the same faults existed (in different ways) in the world before. That will require more flashbacks and reflections, which I think could also get meatier. Part of me is worried that Dinniman’s already running out of inspirations pulled from Carl’s previous life. And I know, I should have more faith. But so far I’m not seeing a ton of depth waiting to be explored. (I can’t help but speculate that Bea and/or Carl’s father will make some form of reappearance, either somehow as fellow Crawlers or maybe as NPCs or mishmashed Bosses, and frankly I can’t wait.) Finally (for now), I will just say that there are some parts of these genres that don’t translate as well into novel form. Dinniman tries to make the rules-explaining and -lawyering as interesting as possible, but sometimes it just feels like a headache. Likewise with some of Carl’s plans, inventions, and constructions; it can really break the flow sometimes. Part of the issue might be the audio format, where there’s no option to just skip past these things. But I think it’s just worth noting about the series! Carl, Princess Donut, and Mongo, art by Naomi Dale “Now get out there and kill, kill, kill!” Dungeon Crawler Carl is a genuinely fun fantasy story told through a fairly unique lens, with moments of humour and heart but also of tragedy and rage. I think it artfully shows the parallels between all of our numbers-go-up games and our world which tells us to keep accumulating wealth and materials at all cost. Both the Dungeon and Late Stage Capitalism demand that we throw empathy, community, and individual thought under the bus in order to secure our own perilous future in a world we have no control over. And I hope Dungeon Crawler Carl continues to demonstrate the importance of empathy, community, and individual thought in resisting those same systems. Whether by family or fireworks, I’m very much looking forward to seeing Carl tear the system down. Thanks for reading and until next time <3

Widow’s Bay, Dungeon Crawler Carl, KJ Parker's Making History A lovely new Avatar song about living more in the moment (I think) Queer Cheers This upcoming weekend marks my city’s Pride Celebration, in its 45th year and apparently the second largest such event in the world. It feels a little strange to realize that I haven’t really focused on Pride Month around here this year. But I think it’s an essential aspect of my writing year-round, which is perhaps more important than one month of screaming about it all together? And that seems like an important parallel to my relationship with Pride overall: that I honestly identify with and take more joy in everyday queerness than in the overwhelming spectacle. Not that I don’t see the real historic, current, and future importance of being loud and proud—but as with so many things, maybe it’s okay for different people to play different roles. This past year especially, I’m thankful to say that I’ve been a part of and experiencing queer community every week if not every day. It’s hard to express how much of a positive impact it’s had on me—not just in affirmation and meeting people with similar interests, but also in shaping the way I think and providing me a degree of separation from the general culture I find so alien and alienating. Anyway, this weekend I’m also participating in the 30th annual pride & remembrance run on behalf of that wonderful community and a few incredibly important organizations working towards a safer and kinder world. I’ve never asked for pledges around here, so instead please consider donating a few bucks to my fundraising page if you’re able! Art by Susan Kao for The Toronto Star (2024) Exciting New Stories I also wanted to briefly discuss a few items which are currently taking up space in my head! As with my previous 'catching up' post, I hope you'll bear with me as I tidy up my ADHD mind in preparation for more focused pieces to come. I've said once or twice before that Midnight Mass is probably my favourite TV show that's ever been made, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that I'm currently enthralled with the newly released Widow's Bay. (I was thinking of trying to binge the latter half of the season in order to fully discuss it today, but I think waiting and savoring it is healthier on all fronts.) No spoilers today beyond the show's premise, which is of an isolated island community experiencing a terrible supernatural curse. Where Midnight Mass took that prompt to delve into the heart and soul of its characters and beautifully explore topics of addiction and faith, Widow's Bay instead follows a mayor desperate to establish their town as a tourist destination. The show (so far) executes both its horror and dark, deadpan comedy wonderfully—as long as you're willing to genuinely pay attention, because it isn't in the habit of spoon-feeding anything to viewers scrolling on their phones. Header art from Apple TV Dungeon Crawler Carl is another SFF series that's grown to enormous popularity in the last couple years while looking quite different from the speculative fiction I tend to read and write about. It's a LitRPG, meaning it heavily incorporates elements of tabletop roleplaying games—such as character stats, monsters, quests and overall progression fantasy—into the reading experience. I won't pitch you on it yet, but I'll admit I'm enjoying it more than I expected (especially since I bounced hard off of the first LitRPG book I tried). It's mostly just entertainment for entertainment sake so far—I'm almost done the second novel in the series—but there's also an interesting anti-capitalist sentiment which I'm informed becomes far more central in later books. Anyway, quite entertaining and the audiobooks have been a welcome companion to my runs and walks over the past two weeks. Carl, Princess Donut and Mongo, art by alemonleaf K.J. Parker's Making History was the pick for one of my book clubs this month, and it was a treat to return to this deadpan and cynical man's mind after spending over a year away. This new novella plays with many of the same tropes and ideas as his The Siege trilogy, particularly the tricky relationships between power, accepted truth, and reality. I thought Parker's ideas were incredibly important back in Fall 2024, and while I wasn't wrong, I couldn't foresee just how omnipresent they would become in the world of accidental and intentional AI misinformation. Social media and the rapid news cycle allow rapid proliferation of these untruths, and make it so much easier for people to take in the content without seeing the fact-checking (occasionally) being done in comment sections. And believe me, I'm all too aware of the irony that my almost two-year-old shitty AI-generated art remains the only portraits of Parker's The Siege characters online. If I have money someday, I'd love to commission actual art for these characters and more, but for now, alas. K.J. Parker is utterly fascinated by ideas of what is genuine vs. simulacra and has either found or implanted a similar mindset in me, and yet it's still terrifying to see these ideas come to life around us. So I fully recommend Making History as an easy jumping off point into Parker's larger bibliography, if those ideas are interesting to you too! Making History by K.J. Parker, cover art by Marie Bergeron Celebration Regardless of my personal relationship with huge Pride festivities, hugely successful new book series and the truthfulness of art, I want to remind myself (and perhaps anyone reading) to take the chance to celebrate when we can. I was a very different person when I started this blog two and a half years ago; isolated and anxious, worried to an extent that I'd already read all the good and interesting speculative fiction that existed. Clearly I couldn't have been more wrong, as fascinating new stories come out every month and help me see the world in new ways. Likewise I continue to meet and get to know more people, and continue to grow as a result. It's worth celebrating! So happy Pride, happy storytelling and happy beginning of summer! Thanks for reading and until next time <3

Lives fixated on death (vs basketball), with a 2026 sequel on the way Indigenous Horror I read Stephen Graham Jones' The Only Good Indians (2020) for a recent book club and felt compelled to discuss it briefly here. Despite it not being a flashy new release itself, the novel does have a sequel coming later this year: Off the Reservation (2026) will pick up with one of the surviving characters a few years after the events of this first book. Stephen Graham Jones is also the author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025), a critically acclaimed masterpiece which recently won the Bram Stoker and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, and the Locus Award for Best Horror Novel. I took a close look at the book's morals and depictions of history and of vampires back in December, which you can find here. SGJ is a truly prolific author, having published over thirty novels, novellas and short story collections since the year 2000. (As a matter of fact, he announced another new novella while I was in the process of writing this article.) He is also fiercely dedicated to this genre of Indigenous Horror, portraying genuine Indigenous experiences through the lens of supernatural terror, and pulling from traditional Indigenous storytelling to do so. June is also National Indigenous History Month in Canada, and I'd recommend this book to anyone with the stomach for it! Even if you're not a horror fan, consider reading other books by Indigenous authors: I've written about Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves and am a big fan of Rebecca Roanhorse's Trail of Lightning and Tanya Tagaq's Split Tooth. (I also just read Billy-Ray Belcourt's A Minor Chorus and enjoyed it, though it's quite a heady, philosophical experience.) I'm always looking to expand my horizons, so feel free to send any other recommendations my way! But without further ado, let's head into spoilers for The Only Good Indians. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones Cyclical Violence Fundamentally, and as I'll discuss more in the next section, The Only Good Indians is about the inherent conflict and claustrophobic nature of Indigenous Peoples trying to navigate life on and off of reservations. It is also essentially a slasher, with most of its characters simply trying to avoid violent ends rather than doing much learning and planning in their own right—like if King Sorrow was told from the perspective of the dragon's victims, rather than of his summoners. As a result, the plot is fairly straightforward—though its supernatural mechanics remain quite fluid and vague. Ten years before the beginning of the story, four young Blackfeet men—Ricky, Lewis, Gabe and Cass—were hunting on the last day of the season and were impatient to make names for themselves as men and provide for their communities. Thinking no one would know the difference, they entered an area of hunting ground traditionally and legally reserved for elders and quickly stumbled upon an entire peaceful herd of elk. Unthinkingly, the four did what they had been preparing all their lives to do and massacred the confused herd even as the weather took a severe turn to a blizzard. Against all odds, Lewis sees one young elk survived and shoots it several more times before realizing it was pregnant. He insists on burying the fetus and taking every part of the mother even as his friends realize they won't be able to carry out the vast majority of the herd if they hope to get their truck out of the quickly deepening snow. In the end, they're caught by the reservation's game warden and are only allowed to take away the elk mother. In the present-day prologue, we see Ricky murdered by a mob outside of a bar who blame him for damaging their vehicles—though from his point of view we see a large elk was truly responsible. We see Lewis begin experiencing visions of the dead elk mother, and watch over the course of chapters as his paranoia grows and grows, suspecting both his new co-worker Shaney and his wife Peta of being manifestations of the elk come to torment him. He ultimately kills both of them and tries to run back to the reservation before being stopped and gunned down by police. (He takes an elk calf from Peta's apparently pregnant body and it escapes after he's shot, quickly growing into the Elk Head Woman who is indeed here for revenge.) Gabe and Cass remain on the reservation, and we find them preparing a sweat ceremony for Nate, a troubled young man from their tribe. Gabe is the absentee father of Denorah, a fourteen-year-old basketball player who quickly becomes the actual protagonist of the book. A long and tense scene at the sweat lodge sees the Elk Head Woman manage to manipulate Gabe and Cass into conflict with each other. Gabe murders Cass, thinking he'd shot Denorah, then shoots himself on the Elk Head Woman's promise that doing so would stop her from going after his actual daughter. Denorah arrives in the morning to check in on the sweat and quickly realizes the Elk Head Woman (disguised as Shaney) is more than she appears. She runs, challenges the monster to a basketball contest, and runs some more, finally arriving at the scene of the elk massacre. Her adopted father arrives—the same game warden, though I'm only realizing that now—alerted by a barely surviving Nate, and is prepared to shoot the Elk Head Woman, but Denorah stops him, and in doing so stops the cycle of generational violence that had encompassed them. German Cover art by Vincent Chong Living up to Expectations Cycles are important to much of Indigenous storytelling, and I think Stephen Graham Jones employs them powerfully here. The four men's massacre of the elk herd was an act of instinct, but was built upon lifetimes of their society defining what a successful young man looks like—even though that definition had grown further and further from actual, respectful traditions. When the cycle turns and the Elk Head Woman comes seeking revenge, she does so following the same terms as were dealt to her: almost thoughtless death, without mercy. Though, one of the most fascinating parts of this book to me is how the Elk Head Woman (and whatever metaphysical form she took before being birthed from Peta) manipulates the four men into violence and death, rather than getting her own hands or antlers dirty. Does she recognize that they were also (arguably) societally manipulated into massacring the herd? Thus shaping her cyclical revenge in the same way? She certainly seems intent on personally killing Denorah, perhaps reflecting Lewis personally burying her own elk fetus? By far the most powerful motif, in my opinion, is that of imagined news headlines. Before he dies in the prologue, Ricky pictures the headline "Indian Man Killed in Dispute Outside Bar"—knowing that his subjective life and current supernatural terror will be reduced to a nameless statistic. Lewis does the same, though his imagined headlines are more focused on being seen as representative of or otherwise betraying his people—constantly seeing himself through the white/American gaze and guilt for having left the reservation. And of course, Gabe and Cass do learn of their friends' deaths from very similar headlines, demonstrating that this isn't paranoia but simply frustration with reality. Though these two are less prone to such imaginings—generally being less interested in or exposed to those perspectives since they've always lived on the reservation—Gabe does envision all the reasons he'll be blamed for the sweat lodge massacre: "He's the one they're going to say did it, who cares why. Because he's an Indian with a Bad Track Record. Because a Tribal Police Office Came Out. Because He Didn't Like His Other Friend's Fiancée. Because His Mind Boiled Out in a Sweat. Because His Murderer Friend Just Got Shot. Because the Great White Stepfather Stole All Their Land and Fed Them Bad Meat. Because the Game Warden Wouldn't Let Him Get His Own Meat. Because His Father Reported Him for Stealing a Rifle. Because the Rifle Was Haunted by War. Because because because. He did it for all those reasons and whatever else the newspapers can dream up." —SGJ, The Only Good Indians Denorah once again bends and redefines the trend by imagining only sports news headlines for herself, showing her focus on both pursuing her dream and changing the narrative that has for so long followed and defined her people. Again working to break the cycle and tread new ground. Elk Head Woman, art by Cal Sabatini Breaking Free The end of the novel sees (Final Girl) Denorah survive and implies she will indeed go on to become a basketball star. And thank goodness, because her fakeout death at the sweat lodge massacre was a truly brutal kick in the stomach. Her success and escape from the cycles trapping her is delivered as a deeply felt point of hope: the book's title comes from signs and chants at her basketball games—"The Only Good Indian is a Dead Indian", "Off the Reservation" and more. But, while Denorah's success is hopefully reshaping narratives towards Indigenous Peoples, it's probably not making a significant impact on the day to day lives of even her own reservation. As with so many speculative fiction tales, one person escaping is nice, but real societal change is the goal. And I have to imagine that the sequel, Off the Reservation (2026), will be grappling with that issue to some degree. Though it's named after another of those hateful phrases thrown at Denorah, the book apparently follows Nate—very much indicating to me that the focus will indeed be on Denorah's people rather than on her individual success. All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It's not as deep or ambitious as The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, but is still surprisingly full of heart and meaning for being a relatively short slasher novel. There's something to this Stephen Graham Jones; consider checking out his work! Thanks for reading and until next time <3

Another bestselling critique of late-stage capitalism What is this book? (No Spoilers) The Will of the Many (2023) by James Islington is marketed as epic fantasy, a classification which immediately resonates with its size—nearly eight hundred pages long—and that it is only the beginning of a three- or four-book series. If you’ve read my post from last week on the dangers of romance-as-reward tropes in science fiction and fantasy, you’ll already have some idea that this won’t be my most glowing review. But for what it’s worth, it also won’t be my harshest: unlike with Katabasis, I certainly wasn’t left feeling like the author gave up halfway through. My main issue with The Will of the Many, which I’ll get into further in spoiler territory below, is that it is doing very little that is new or interesting. Granted, that’s partially down to my personal exhaustion with many of these tropes—it’s not hard to see why this book would come off better to readers with less experience of the genre. So while we’re here in the spoiler-free zone, I’ll share some similar stories and a few alternate recommendations to give you a sense of this book. Red Rising and Empire of Silence are the most strikingly similar books I've read, but insert any narrative about a young man seeking revenge against empire here and you won't be too far off the mark. Probably more universally relatable is simply The Hunger Games, which I'll return to further on. If you're like me and are more interested in novel and boundary-pushing stories than reading the 'next best' edition of the same old formula, I think Seth Dickinson's The Traitor Baru Cormorant and Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances are far more interesting and engaging explorations of anti-imperialism. On the other end of things, if you just want a more fun magic-adventure-in-fantasy-Rome, I quite enjoyed the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher (lost Roman legion enters world with elemental Pokémon and wolfmen and Zerg). But I guess we're here for a reason, aren't we. Let's get into spoilers ahead. The Will of the Many A Familiar Synopsis Vis is our hero, born Prince Diago of the island nation of Suus before his family were killed and land taken by the Catenan Republic, forcing him to go into hiding. Despite being only seventeen, his noble education and difficult life since have shaped him to be both incredibly smart and a badass in a fight! (Paul Atreides who? Can't wait for Chalamet to be cast as Vis too.) It's in this early section that we learn just about all there is to know about this world's magic system. After a ritual involving the Aurora Columnae (white pillars that are relics from another era), people in this world are able to cede their Will (half their life force and intellect) to those above them in a strict pyramid-shaped hierarchy. Vis has managed to avoid the Columnae and ceding, so retains his full individual Will while beating up Septimii (who wield Will equivalent to 2.5 people) and even a Sextus (9.25) in his underground fights. Suddenly, Vis is being adopted by Magnus Quintus Ulciscor, who wants someone untouched by the Columnae to attend, infiltrate and investigate the elite Catenan Academy. They encounter the violent rebel group the Anguis along the way, one of whom is secretly Vis's new mother; Vis is trained more and harder by Lanistia; lots of politics, and hints at schemes, and baths; then finally Vis is in the Academy. Let's be honest, the Academy is the reason this book succeeds—echoing The Name of the Wind and Fourth Wing and Transphobic ScarBoy and Ender's Game and Red Rising and on and on. I've read it before and so have you. So I hope you'll forgive my not delving into every moment of interpersonal drama or Vis's quest to rapidly rise through the ranks. It's Vis's time sneaking out of the school that's actually interesting to me, wherein he finds more relics and ruins from bygone eras, hinting at alternate realities and gruesome means of traveling between them. It's revealed that the Academy's Labyrinth test is a recreation of a deadly trial involved in achieving Synchronism, apparently important to reaching these other worlds. Would you believe it: the school year ends with a battle royale and oh—the drama. [Insert how much I care here.] Vis successfully runs the real Labyrinth and comes back with mysterious new abilities; the epilogue reveals that he's actually been cloned into one of (probably both) the other worlds simultaneously. The Will of the Many Characters, art by rikkuart The Great and the Good If you can't tell from my tone, I really want to dislike this book. Yet I have to admit it's a functional, decently well-structured story with a clever allegory for our world defined by late-stage capitalism. The Catenan Republic makes ceding Will to your 'betters' an essential aspect of living in their society, just as we're obligated to participate in the economy as workers and consumers. Those who refuse in the book can be placed in 'sappers', which painfully drain Will while keeping their victims on the maddening edge of consciousness. Prison labour in our world isn't much better, forcing people into the system while denying them most of the benefits. The people at the top, whether gathering the Will of thousands or sitting on billions of dollars, are still only human—certainly not morally elevated by their power, despite society's worship and respect for them—and only hungry for more. It's the kind of simple yet potent symbolism that we all wish we'd come up with ourselves. (I will briefly note that I think Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker has a much more interesting depiction of one person holding the life force of thousands in the God King Susebron, though: I haven't yet seen a Princeps in this series, and Warbreaker lacks the larger hierarchical allegory.) And yeah, the mysteries around all the history, relics, other worlds and the Labyrinth were just plain cool. Estevan's alien abilities and the hinted connection to Suus and Vis's parents added to my fascination. (Though, I think Mark Lawrence did many of the same things first and better in the Book of the Ancestor trilogy, where the Blade-Path—a simpler Labyrinth—was secretly a physical stand-in for the process of accessing the Quantal Path and was connected to many secrets of the world.) Alternate Cover art by Antonello Venditti The Tired and Frustrating I think I’ve already made many of my gripes clear about the many tropes The Will of the Many is built and succeeded on. In addition, if I had any patience left for this type of protagonist after Red Rising and Empire of Silence, Vis has now utterly depleted it—as Ryland Grace did for the geeky sci-fi protagonists when I read Project Hail Mary. (I do want to say, The Will of the Many is at least far better than Empire of Silence at masking and reimagining its many significant inspirations.) This book also doesn’t portray queerness, race, gender, disability or even economic class in any interesting ways. (Vis is subtly implied to be dark-skinned, not that [any?] official or fan artists got the memo—see him looking rather white popping out of the marble above.) Does it portray any of those things outright badly? No, it just prefers not to engage. But that’s the thing, right? Can you have an effective critique of capitalism and imperialism that refuses to engage with any actual aspects of oppression, let alone their intersectionalities? And frankly while having the protagonist continue to luxuriate in his noble station and all it entails? And like with Vis as the protagonist, the issue isn’t that The Will of the Many is an offensive outlier—it’s that these soft, somewhat hypocritical ‘critiques’ have become the norm. The bestselling norm, even. Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, has lamented the way the dire warnings of her series have repeatedly been diluted, sidestepped and misinterpreted. She even raises this quote from David Hume, particularly apt for The Will of the Many: “Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers.” Yet repeated exposure has failed to overturn our corrupt systems—if anything, it may be serving as an inoculation against actual change. Since everyone is aware (that everyone is aware) that something is wrong, we’re all individually less likely to act. The Bystander Effect, Narcotization dysfunction, Jester’s Privilege, what have you. (I may still write more on it, but I think today’s song ‘Spillways’ is likewise about how repentance and prayer can’t fully absolve inner torment, let alone fix the real world around us.) And I’d argue that by being so milquetoast in its critique of the system (while simultaneously winning big in the system), The Will of the Many is strongly representative of the problem as a whole. The Will of the Many, cover by Jaime Jones Copy and Paste On the other hand, maybe this is someone’s first glimpse at seeing these ideas explored and represented in science fiction and fantasy, and maybe it resonates with them as other stories did for me. I certainly hope so! The book does offer a touch of real philosophical debate between Vis and the Anguis: the rebels see every Catenan person as guilty for their participation in the system and therefore deserving of death, while Vis sees the lack of alternatives available to the vast majority. It’s not much, but it’s at least raising the question of personal responsibility. The idea of Vis being copied sounds neat at first, but I’m tired enough of one of the guy. Still, learning more about the mysteries of the world will probably draw me to at least try The Strength of the Few before passing judgment. As I think I said with Katabasis, I wouldn’t be this harsh or verbose if this wasn’t a solid, promising book in a lot of ways. If you enjoyed it, I’m glad! I also hope you’ll go on to read more of what the genre has to offer. Read it, read one of the dozen other books I listed—you do you! Thanks for reading and until next time <3

My neurodivergent experience and the downward trend of critical thinking A haunting song about being isolated from reality Context & Intent As with many of my articles, this one was born from a chaotic confluence of inspirations. Chief among them, though, has to be my ongoing experience reading James Islington’s The Will of the Many (2023). I was hoping to finish it in time to review today, but it’s a thick tome – even listening to it at 1.6x speed – so that will have to wait for next week. I’ll hold back most of my feelings about the novel until then, but one element of it did lead me to a realization about much of SFF romance in general. Having read such varied and unique books lately, The Will of the Many genuinely surprised me by being so devoted to genre conventions. Perhaps those familiar beats serving as backdrop helped identify the protagonist’s romance subplot as something that was weighing on me. And it’s not really even the fault of this book, that Vis/Diago passively attracts and eventually enters a relationship with his classmate Emissa. We’re at least told that they’ve spent pleasant time together; many authors don’t even offer that much. And that’s the realization: that it’s standard genre practice to inform readers about romance rather than showing it. Not problematic in and of itself, of course, until you see it’s almost always male protagonists passively attracting partners simply by virtue of being themselves. The intent feels very gendered to me; the idea that these SFF stories are for boys and romance stories are for girls. But ultimately, don’t both take the awkward and emotional complications out of actual human interactions in favour of telling a thrilling and enjoyable tale for readers to insert themselves into? Now, the fact that these are genre conventions is supposed to help alleviate the issue: readers should be cognizant that these stories are eliding realistic romance for entertainment purposes. But what does it say that I’m only fully putting this together now? As an undiagnosed neurodivergent kid and teen, I learned almost everything from stories. It’s really only in my (late?) twenties that the switch has flipped toward critical thought and analysis. And the generations of kids consuming stories like these and worse, with their critical thinking skills at a profound low? The parallel to resurgent conservative ideas around male entitlement and traditional gender roles are hard to ignore. 'Catenan Academy Elites' from The Will of the Many, art by rocinanterising Harmful Lessons Another minor inspiration for this article is, and go with me on this, porn. (Someone in one of my book clubs compared it to social media, and it resonates!) In fact, isn't our current world entirely built on selling attractive and uncomplicated lies and half-truths? A related phrase I've recently seen: "sex doesn't sell; voyeurism does." The idea being that frictionless, risqué illusions of authenticity are far more attractive than navigating actual reality. The informed romance trope in SFF is cut from the same cloth, depicting easy and happy relationships just coming the protagonist's way. It suggests that romance is a guaranteed reward for being a 'nice guy'. In traditional Romance stories, the mirrored perspective is all too familiar: true love is just about being accepting and subservient to Prince Charming. As I alluded to above, these lessons infected my understanding of the world when I was younger. Stories like The Princess Bride (at least on a surface level), Eragon and Transphobic Wizard Child – as well as the early Disney Princess movies and who knows what else – established romance as just being an uncomplicated and expected part of life. And as with any time our understanding of the world conflicts with reality (triply so for neurodivergent folks), I felt angry, scared and hurt when that was proven untrue. I moved past it and eventually learned! But you don't have to look far online to see whole bacterial cultures of people who didn't, as well as those who stayed too long in abusive and harmful situations because they believed those stories about true love. And I'm just left wondering, why? Why is informed romance so often a necessary reward for these heroes? Frodo and Luke did just fine. Something about masculinity, or society's underlying fear of being alone? A brief aside: there are many things to be said about Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind (2007) and The Wise Man's Fear (2011) at another time, but trying to think about them in terms of this informed romance trope is an absolute headache. We're told Denna is Kvothe's true love but she flits in and out ceaselessly, Fela throws herself at him and is warded off, Ari approaches more cautiously (as he does with her) – then the second book has him thrown into intimate encounters with his teacher Vashet and legendary Fae Felurian. It's almost another level of male fantasy, despite starting out much more complex and interesting. Fela and Kvothe in The Name of the Wind, art by Julia Maddalina Queers do it better? (Happy Pride Month!) You might notice that I keep saying SFF and spelling out science fiction and fantasy rather than calling these stories speculative fiction, and here's where I admit I'm making a fundamentally inane distinction. Because while these stories are by definition speculative, they feel like they belong to another era, where heterosexual romance was as much the goal as slaying the dragon or recalibrating the planar tesseract. In a certain way, I think queer theory and speculative fiction go hand in hand: both thinking and existing beyond established conventions to find novel perspectives and experiences. Queer authors are rarely going to elide the beginning of a romance because even today, those situations can feel just as speculative as unicorns and FTL – in addition to the importance of representing queer experiences to all audiences. The Traitor Baru Cormorant and The Locked Tomb and Winter's Orbit (I could go on) depict messy, often tragic queer relationships as part of telling profound speculative fiction stories, and they are all much better for it. Romance isn't a reward or a sub-objective, it's baked into these characters' lives and informs how they navigate the world. And of course, this isn't an absolute truth: I'm sure there are plenty of queer stories out there sticking to genre conventions; and I can also shout out series like Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings and Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen's Thief for portraying deep and complex straight relationships for their male protagonists. (In researching this, I've also spoiled myself that The Will of the Many doesn't stick to this trope forever. Alas. It's also doing a nice allegory for capitalism, which puts it more in the speculative side of things. But more on that next week.) Thanks for reading (and enduring what was probably a lot of obvious observations for most of you) and until next time <3