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Yo, is this racist?

5 Replies

No really, I have a question. 

I’m brainstorming world building for a book I’m gonna write, and I’m having LOTS of fun. Working out food shipments and gravity generation and all kinds of stuff. However, it seems both boring and inaccurate to assume that SOCIETY OF THE FUTURE would be primarily drawn from my own culture. Particularly because, y’know, I come from an island in the North Atlantic. People eat fried bread dough and fried bologna for breakfast, with molasses on both. SO I wanted to take a bunch of other cultures and make a melting pot of awesome, basically. 

AND then I was wondering whether it would just come across as rude and appropriation-ist if I have this stew of elements from cultures that aren’t mine. If I have, Asian and European and American ELEMENTS, but not a careful homage to any culture. 

I figured I should ask this now, before I get a bunch of it all nailed down in words. 

My motivating theme for the book is THINGS THAT ARE AWESOME, and you know, racist grossness is not exactly awesome. 

P.S. The world has kitchen gardens and chopsticks and awesome collars and kids with wings and magnetic trains and quarantine zones and DEATH and grapefruits (maybe) and biometric scanners and embassy blocks and spy trains and secret thieves writing and NO KISSING and amnesia (yes, this is my amnesia story (I figured I’d go all the way and try so make a novel out of my one story.)) and friends and con boys and oxygen rationing and incense. And possibly faith, too. Also, a girl named Pax who has a sideline as the personification of Justice. 

I HAVE FOUND A THING FOR YOU.

So, you know how I was talking in my last blog post about how darn useful critiquing is, as a reader and a writer? And how everyone should do it? (Well, I may not have said everyone, but it was implied, right?) I have found a position which will allow you to do almost exactly that!

The magazine I review books for, (first review forthcoming soon,) has a volunteer slush reader position open. It’s a YA spec fic magazine, so young adult fantasy, science fiction, horror and any mixture therein. And as a slush reader you’d read 5-10 stories a week, give brief feedback about whether it works or not, and why, and get an excellent add-on to put on your resume.

So, stats;

  • unpaid
  • 2 hours a week
  • excellent on your resume
  • USEFUL FOR WRITING

You want to apply, yes? Yes. Here is the link.

LINK TO APPLICATION INFORMATION.

I always reserve the rights to take my own survey results and run into the sunset with them, giggling maniacally.

So remember that survey I did before vacation, when I thought I was going to accomplish things? Yeah. I tried to forget too, but it’s still hanging around.

So here are the results!

  • The most popular options, with five votes each are;
    •  Sleep. More sleep
    • Work on a short story and send it out for sale. I don’t care what story it is, just send it out! Are you a professional or not?,
  • Close behind, with four votes each;
    •  Work on Expendables
    • Eat all the things.
  • With three votes was;
    • Work on Karma Police! I know that story has a soul in there somewhere…
  • There was still some popularity behind these options, each with two votes;
    • Write that story you said you were working on 4 months ago, the one about the wings and the plants that eat people.
    • Write that story with the first line “The snake in my bed was expected, but the boy underneath it was a surprise.”
    • Write more reviews! I don’t have NEARLY enough snark in my life!,
    • Forget writing, READ ALL THE THINGS,
    • Write something new and creative! I’m sure there’s a shred of creativity in there somewhere!,
    • Learn to play mine craft.
  • With a single vote each, some people felt I should use my time in;
    • I think you should dye your hair a cool colour. Like Orange. Yeah.,
    • Learn to play Halo.
    • Forget writing, learn to play the drums.
    • Forget writing, learn to knit. Like a boss.
    • Dedicate your time to producing a truly excellent tumblr.
  • And finally, there were two write-in votes.
    • Enjoy the simple things in life – crisp winter air, a hot shower, a steaming cup of coffee/tea or cider, a warm bed, the smile of a friend, the laughter of a child, curling up with a good book that no one has told you to read, helping someone do something simple, music that calms your soul…
    • Psanky eggs!!!

As you can see, I have not achieved everything on that list. Not quite.

The good news is that now my “school vacation” extends until September! I can totally manage to get another few things crossed off the list by then! Like dying my hair and/or eating all the things!

So many options, and they’re all so beautiful!

I’ve been thinking about what I should do over vacation. *blissful smile* And I decided that I should do the traditional thing and let someone else decide* what I’m doing!

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* Note: When I say “decide” I don’t mean that I’m actually going to necessarily abide by the outcome of this poll. I just like polls.

Dudes, Dudes, Dudes. Dudes take a look at this.

Erin Bow, talking about a chapbook poem she received funding to work on.

The quotation from Willa Cather that contains the title asks: “what is any art but a mold to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself- life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.” One could replace the word “art” with “magic,” or with “science.” What is any great work of humankind but just such a mold?

If you are not already following Erin’s blog, why on earth not? Go there now and revel in the words!

Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ago chose to neglect those plausible reasons. They wanted knowledge and beauty now, and would not wait for the suitable moment that never comes. Periclean Athens leaves us not only the Parthenon, but, significantly, the Funeral Oration. The insects have chosen a different line: they have sought first the material welfare and security of the hive, and presumably they have their reward. Men are different. They propound mathematical theorems in beleaguered cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on scaffolds, discuss the last new poem while advancing to the walls of Quebec, and comb their hair at Thermopylae. This is not panache: it is our nature.

– C. S. Lewis: Learning In War-Time