…Exile”, which was about Mind-ships and countries at war, and inciting incidents (as Rochita was saying, it’s actually a very 9/11 story, though I hadn’t realised it at the time). It’s set in the Xuya continuity, in that developing bit of space that has two factions of Imperial Vietmam cohabit rather uneasily. And, er, I sold said short story to Ian Whates for Solaris Rising 1.5, an ebook anthology that will be out this summer. Will you just look…

Settler: “A person who settles in an area, typically one with no or few previous inhabitants.” (from my Apple dictionary and from google def, not sure what the source is?) Colonialism: (1) “The practice or manner of things colonial” and often serves as a synonym for “provincial;” (2) “The colonial system or principle. Now freq. used in the derogatory sense of an alleged policy of exploitation of backward or weak peoples by a large power.” (from t…

…ws, I have learnt more vocabulary by translating a fairy tale (Mỵ Nương and Trương Chi). I’m pretty sure mandarin ranks of Ancient Việt Nam are of no practical use, but “hát” (to sing) could conceivably come in handy. Still torn over words like “cung” (palace, temple), ngôi (throne), and “nhan sắc tuyệt trần” (exceptional, divine beauty), but who knows, I might need them some day……

Because it’s such a pretty, heartbreaking poem: Yêu Tác giả: Xuân Diệu Yêu là chết ở trong lòng một ít Vì mấy khi yêu mà chắc được yêu. Cho rất nhiều song nhận chẳng bao nhiêu; Người ta phụ, hoặc thờ ơ, chẳng biết… Phút gần gũi cũng như giờ chia biệt. Tưởng trăng tàn, hoa tạ với hồn tiêu, Vì mấy khi yêu mà chắc được yêu! – Yêu, là chết ở trong lòng một ít. Họ lạc lối giữa u sầu mù mịt, Những người ai theo dõi dấu chân yêu; Và cảnh đời là sa mạc c…

…r becomes replaced by a stream of good American soldiers fighting the evil communists? (or the reverse. Not really saying one is better than the other) -On the same subject, Marie Brennan has a series of posts on Information Density and whether it is possible to educate the reader away from what they know while keeping a narrative going at full clip: here and here I guess that, for me, it all boils down to: worldbuilding doesn’t happen in a vacuum…

…ors and the bodhisattva Quan Âm to find strength, but that it would always come back to that core of dark thoughts within you, that fundamental fright you carried with you like a yin shadow in your heart. (the sharp-eyed among you will have noticed that I used “yin” instead of the more correct “âm”–Vietnamese yin and yang are âm and dương respectively. I would have used the correct words, but since this was a passing reference and was never ever e…

…Very quick post to let you know that I’ve guest-posted over at Khaalidah’s blog on worldbuilding and its attendant issues: the post is here (thanks very much to Khaalidah for the invitation and her ongoing patience with my missing her deadlines…) It’s less an admonition that a series of questions I’ve been asking myself–and to which I freely admit not having answers to. Any thoughts/discussions much welcome!…

…wanting a huge uncut chunk of pork belly with the skin on were not exactly common… [1] Darn. Last time we moved, it took more than 3 visits to the butcher’s before I got flagged as “that girl who makes the weird recipes with our meat…” [2] Current mood: amused [1] Bit surprised though, because the neighbourhood is fairly cosmopolitan, and I can’t believe I’m the only one in need of that kind of ingredients on a regular basis… [2] It took about a y…

…ided–skipped over by Mind-ships as they cut through deep spaces, passed around at low speeds by outsider ships while their passengers slept in their hibernation cradles. Only if anyone got closer would they see the hulking masses of ships: the glint of starlight on metal, the sharp, pristine beauty of their hulls, even though they all lay quiescent and crippled, forever unable to move–living corpses kept as a reminder of how far they had fallen; t…

…didn’t really have enough examples for this…) [1] Some of them are, and I understand and respect that feeling. Likely, the reason they don’t want outsiders writing about their culture is exactly what I’m going to outline in this post–too many people have been doing it badly, badly wrong. [2] Again, not claiming to walk in people’s heads. Seen the feeling a lot on the internet though. [3] I’m not Chinese, as is by now evident; and China itself is…