P H Lee 🪬

this one drives me up the wall because you _still_ regularly get denials about it.

(tbh, the theory that the spanish made it up as a justification / othering never help up. it's the sort _we'd_ make up to justify an invasion. but the conquistadors had a different theory of just war, and also came from a culture that regularly hung corpses outside of city walls as a warning.)

my favorite version of this particular historiographical trend was the wave of claims that the Tenochtitlan skull-towers were invented by the Spanish to justify the conquest.

then they were digging for a parking garage in Mexico City and what do you know-- they found a tower of human skulls.

plenty of people make money on mars.

they just don't _fucking_ live there.

Wow! Amazingly productive!

new Meg Elison about to drop!

ngl the early squelching really sold me on asunder.

Wanna see a man get squelched?

they do not actually mean "consciousness" otherwise they would think it was morally unobjectionable to kill someone who is, for the moment, asleep.

"consciousness" is just a way that modern, secular academics say "the soul." but their musings and blithe statements about what does and doesn't have it are substantially less well-developed than any major theology. i don't think that there's much point in paying attention to it.

so nazi. the nazest.

i thought you knew!

where's the rest of the essay, though?

god lauren i'm beta-reading this novel right now

one of the unique miseries of being a writing professional is reading a draft novel, _loving_ it, and not being able to talk to anyone about it for several years, if ever.

anyway maybe in 3-5 years i will have a book i'm very enthusiastic about.

can we partner with the orange council?

We're back, and we got a new story up!

Cover art by Quentin Stipp features a robot and two humans walking into a forest and towards a tall building with red tubes that have burst through the upper levels and into the sky.

Our 19th anniversary issue of Clarkesworld features original fiction by Isabel J. Kim, Fiona Moore, H.H. Pak, Greg Egan, Liu Maijia, Carrie Vaughn, and Phoebe Barton.

Online now at:
clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_229

Subscriptions available at:
clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/

just grabbed the audiobook, i'll try it tonight.

I have not! Do you recommend it?

sapphic fantasy fall (girl gangs & golems edition) ✨

on BUTTERFLY release week, come join @maddiesmartinez.bsky.social and I over on IG on 26 Oct to talk about our sapphic fantasy books and our joint publishing journeys!

i did not make it easier for myself, either.

(in this case: the novel's co-protagonist has no body and doesn't speak or write in prose. sometimes, when inspired, she writes a poem. she is only a so-so poet.)

sometimes i will be like "why am i having such a hard time with this novel? i must be getting worse."

and then i'll remember. it is, in fact, quite difficult.

This one is about the intersection of imperial domination with local religious traditions. (Sorry, I struggle to describe Ann's books without sounding like that.)

But it's also a bunch of fun, flawed, incredibly strange characters making poor life choices at each other. You are going to love them.

this one is really fucking good, guys.

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨NEW ANN LECKIE🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

the sapphic historical fantasy in post/colonial Asia conversation ✨️ I'll be having a virtual launch for WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY with Vaishnavi Patel on 21 Oct!!

link in bio to register :)

Awesome!

hearthandfield.com/winter-chest... i have never made this but it seems pretty good?

chestnut bread, chinese-style chestnut cake, chestnut puree...