Cranky PSA: Children and Hardware Are Unmixy

I never thought I’d have to say this, but apparently some people really haven’t clued in. Hardware stores are not grocery stores. They are not child-safe. They’re barely adult-safe. Do not let your toddlers out of grabbing range.

Worldbuilding: Life on the Rung

Consider the step, in all its permutations; from a niche chipped out of a rock face to grand stairways to the lightest aluminum folding ladder. We think of being human as working with our hands, but we shape a lot of our world for our feet.

If You’re Interested in Archives…

I just heard about this court case, figured I’d pass the news along in case it was of interest.

Full disclosure: I’ve never borrowed books from Archive.org. What I have checked out on their site is their very large section of archived old foreign shows. They have, among other things, about 80 eps of Unfettered Shogun. That is an awesome thing to have preserved.

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On Writing: Drawing on Weird

One thing many writers may not appreciate enough is the fact that each and every one of us is a one in a billions chance. Where you were born, when you were born, what heritage you have, what culture and ways you’d defend to your dying breath – each of us in all the world, is the only one of us there is. We are unique.

Colors of Another Sky Ficbit – Rifling Through

A/N: And the schizo tech continues….

“What’s so special about a rifle?”

I tried not to sigh in relief; Ha-neul might be understanding about ignorant foreigners, but at least I wasn’t about to look like an idiot. I’d never gotten into guns. But this, I knew. “Know why an arrow has feathers?”

Worldbuilding: Ground Truths

Everyone has their own ideas of what they’d want to introduce to another world or time; everything from pizza, chocolate and shampoo to water filtration, basic sanitation, and vaccination. All of those are good things. But there are a few smaller things in particular I’d introduce to a place and time that didn’t have them, that most isekai or time travel books never notice. Specifically, steel-ground grain, information about vitamin C, and punctuation marks.

Worldbuilding: Give It Structure

What’s your world built out of? Physically. As in, what do characters and cultures in your world consider construction materials for ordinary surroundings?

Worldbuilding: Heterozygote Advantage

One of the interesting facets of how DNA works on Earth is, so long as you’re one of most eukaryotic organisms, you generally have two separate copies of each and every gene in your genetic makeup.

There are, of course, exceptions.

Worldbuilding: Icy Reflections

I don’t care how the calendar marks it. As far as I’m concerned, winter starts when it gets Really Freakin’ Cold. Which it did this past weekend. Call it an arctic blast or a blue norther, it’s really cold.

Of Turkey and Saucy Customs

I know, Thanksgiving is a family holiday. But… there are those of us not at large family gatherings this year. And I want to offer a hug to those of us who are doing that on purpose, because sometimes, the best thing you can do with certain families is stay far, far away from them.