Lawrence Stewen

I've been thinking about the word spiritual sequel.

How a piece of media can feel like a sequel to something else, even if it officially isn't.

It's not quite the same as "inspired by..." more so an unrelated continuation which attempts to be superlative to the original's themes and design goals.

Art vs. Product:

- A product is consumed by the consumer. We digest the product, taking what we want, and discarding the rest.

- Art consumes the consumer. It digests us, leaving us changed and broken.

Social media is like eating crab. You have to put in a lot of work before you see the results.

And the results are often disappointing.

Yet here I am, eating crab anyway 🦀

I think this process actually took me 30 days given the days where I forgot to post anything. But better late than never!

I gave myself the extra challenge of only posting one cover per author (no multiple books by the same author).

While this was fun, I do want to post more in-depth content soon.

Cover of The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

20/20

Cover of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

19/20

Cover of Viriconium by M. John Harrison

18/20

Cover of Revenge by Yoko Ogawa

17/20

Cover of Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer

16/20

Cover of The Etched City by KJ Bishop

15/20

Cover of Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig

14/20

Cover of The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson

13/20

Cover of Gawain and the Green Knight

12/20

Cover of Morigu: The Desecration by Mark C. Perry

11/20

Cover of Imaro by Charles R. Saunders

10/20

Cover of Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

9/20

Cover of Ministry of Moral Panic by Amanda Lee Koe

8/20

Cover of The Chosen by Ricardo Pinto

7/20

Cover of Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

6/20

Cover of The Resident Tourist by Troy Chin

5/20

Cover of the Divinity Student by Michael Cisco

4/20

Cover of Sisyphean by Dempow Torishima

3/20

Cover of Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin

2/20

Cover of The King of Nightspore's Crown by Raphael Ordonez

Stealing this idea from @melisfluous.bsky.social

20 days, 20 books that have stuck with me. No explanations, just covers.

1/20

Travelling via plane is the closest thing there is to time travel. I wonder if the rules of plane travel would apply to time travelers, too.

Some kind of lag.

Going through immigration at a port.

Declaration of goods that contradict laws of the time you visit.

Cheap transport is uncomfortable.

The resident tourist returns to his foreign home. Forever strange in a land turning ever stranger.

For me, writing flash fiction is harder than writing a novel. Recently, I switched things up and started writing flash on my phone. It's helping, I think. Hand cramps and eye strain from a tiny device is really forcing me to wrap things up quickly before the pain becomes intolerable.

I imagine an afterlife of airports. Ghost planes land in abyssal silence. Spectral passengers phase through the advertisements of good times lost long ago. Where do they come from? Where do they go? There are no dream destinations, no teary homes. Only ceaseless transitions.

One of my favourite fantasy novels of all time, Tehanu, is about a widowed grandmother forced to deal with the hidden horrors lurking in her community.

Le Guin knows how to make small, personal conflicts echo with mythic resonance. This is a great starter pack to her work.

Why did so many people follow me after I forgot to post anything for over a week? I probably have @teresempierre.bsky.social to blame.

Thank you for following me. I appreciate your interest. Hopefully something good happens to you soon 💚