Rabid Sharks
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Prison Blog

In which Possum recounts his experiences as an offender in the system.

Possum Bones is autistic. He has identified as a dirty kid in the past, and he’s attended multiple rainbow gatherings. He has several years left to serve in the Washington Correctional system.

He has been making art since he could sit up. He communicates better in writing than speech. If you are interested in the experience of an autistic person doing prison time, check out his Prison Blog. If you are a fan of comic art, underground/outsider music, Lovecraft, Clarke Ashton Smith, Murakami, Cixui Liu, etc.

review of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Muir is very good, but she's weird. I wouldn't say her writing is what makes her good ... I've explained what I mean by this. Writing as in, the skill of conveying ideas through text in an elegant manner. I'd say for one thing, she's got that witty charm. Like Pratchett, only darker humor. Also, her characters are very well wrought. Gideon is like a lesbian Zapp Brannigan. Very lovable character. As the protagonist, she's not stupid like the above, but she is like Zapp in that she is lustful and filled with drippy fantasies of quixotic bravado. I hope I'm using that word right ... Anyway. Gideon is comically aloof , full of vinegar for people who are smarter and higher born than herself, and champing at the bit to prove herself in bloody combat. I'm going to assume Muir was born female because this is not a female heroin as I've ever seen a man write. Male writers invent punchy female characters but their punchiness is usually tinged by some level of what I can only assume is a male misunderstanding of typical female psychology ( Obviously since I'm also male I can't really be sure what the deal is , but this character feels real and fresh ) ? I'm probably over focusing on the gender/orientation of the character ( Again , card carrying semen dispenser speaking ) . Gideon and all the other characters are so engaging. The story I read by Muir that was a nebula nominee ... ? The seer one. Anyway, its a sleeper and so is this book, which I usually wont tolerate . Like, it starts out kind of like " Eh " but then gets interesting later. The downside is it looks like ... If you're expecting a grand system explaining how the necromancy works or how we got to where we are ( As in, necromancers in space ) or things like that ... Well I havent finished the book but I don't think that is Muirs style. Its been an interesting read with a lot of imagination fuel for lumbering charnel golems and Castlevania-esque backgrounds . Looks like the cover for the next book was on the cover of spectrum 27 too, so that's cool.
If I'm going to nitpick ( always ) the whole " factions " thing is extremely played out in the genre , esp. in concert with study based magic users ( Wizards effectively ). Its so played out you could make a roleplaying game called Wizards and Factions. Hm. Maybe I'll do that.

A good read , but : fantasy arranged like science fiction is still not science fiction. Mrs. Nash the librarian tried to sell me on the term ' speculative fiction ' but , I'm finding that's an idea that doesn't work for me. You can have rules established for how supernatural forces work in your world , but unless they're rules that follow the faintest hint of real physics, it’s not science fiction. So, for example, you can't tell me "Earthsea" is science fiction, even though LeGuin DOES write sci fi with honors.

Elisa Carlson