Imagine Being Surrounded by Maps

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The Villa Farnese is a gorgeous Renaissance palace in central Italy, built in the early 1500s and richly elaborated with sculptures and frescoes. One of the rooms in the villa features a map of the world filling the wall at one end, with detailed maps of the continents on the other walls, under a ceiling decorated with constellations. Standing in this room, the magnates of the villa could see the whole world, as it was known to scientists and cartographers of the day.

The map room at Villa Farnese, photograph by Etienne (Li) via Wikimedia (Caprarola, Italy; completed 1574; fresco; by Giovanni Antonio de Varese)

Looking at this space, it occurs to me that a room like this would make an excellent setting for a scene in a fantasy or historical story. Many such stories play out over long distances, and knowing how one territory or city relates to the others around it as well as to the shapes of the land can make a huge difference in understanding the stakes and possibilities in play.

Africa, from the map room at Villa Farnese, photograph by Jean-Pierre Dalbèra via Wikimedia (Caprarola, Italy; completed 1574; fresco; by Giovanni Antonio de Varese)

In a visual medium like tv or movies, it could be very helpful to have a visual in the background while characters are discussing important movements or plans, but even in text, putting your characters in such a place could give you an opportunity to describe them looking at the map, tracing routes of travel or the borders between nations, and arguing for their plans.

Europe, from the map room at Villa Farnese, photograph by Ulrich Mayring via Wikimedia (Caprarola, Italy; completed 1574; fresco; by Giovanni Antonio de Varese)

Maps make everything better!

History for Writers looks at how history can be a fiction writer’s most useful tool, from worldbuilding to dialogue.

Review of the First Pern Book: Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

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I’ve long been aware of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books, if only on a superficial level—fantasy, dragons, getting a bit old but supposed to be good; that sort of an idea. While on the lookout for more cozy fiction in our local library, I randomly ran into Dragonflight, the first Pern novel, and decided to finally give it a go.

And before I get into my review: Spoiler warnings in effect! Also, a heads-up on one f-bomb.

Current Reading Dragonflight

It was interesting. No, truly—not the “interesting” interesting, the faux compliment or empty-nothings-version of polite interesting. Really, truly interesting. And it does feel somewhat old. (Published in 1968, so not as old as The Lord of the Rings, to put it into my own SFFnal context).

Humans settled the third planet in the Rukbat solar system and called it Pern. Contact with Earth was broken, however: after two generations, Rukbat’s stray planet (which follows a wildly erratic orbit) came close enough that deadly spores crossed over to Pern and dropped from the sky with devastating losses, not just among the settlers but native Pernese life as well—only solid rock and metal proved impervious.

To burn these devastating silvery threads from the air before they had a chance to land, men and women with high empathy and rudimentary telepathic ability were trained to work with “dragons” bred from indigenous life forms that resembled their mythical Terran namesakes. The process took generations, and a complex, stratified society with tithing responsibility was created to feed and equip the dragonriders while they focused on defence and training in their unfertile mountaintop abodes known as Weyrs.

Each time the stray planet—also known as the Red Star—passes close enough, the Threads fall for a period of 50 years. Then the wanderer swings far enough away and at least another 200 years (sometimes 400 due to the erratic orbit) go by in peace, which is long enough for the rest of the populace to forget and start resenting the tithes and scorning the dragonmen until the next 50-year Pass comes along.

The two main characters are Lessa of Ruatha Hold and dragonrider F’lar of Benden Weyr. We first encounter Lessa as a ragged kitchen girl who survived by serving those who betrayed her family and took over their lands. F’lar offers her a chance to impress a golden dragon, a future queen dragon, with whom she will share a telepathic bond, and to become a Weyrwoman, a co-leader of a Weyr, possibly with F’lar himself.

Over the couple of years it takes for her queen Ramoth to mature, Lessa learns more about the civilization on Pern, the ballads, the teachings, and what it means to be Weyrwoman. The major problem Benden Weyr faces is that another Pass is impending, but there are not enough dragons to protect all of Pern, for currently only one Weyr out of six remains populated; why dragonriders in the others disappeared hundreds of years ago is not known.

The setting falls into fantasy despite the science-fictional premise, but some details deviate from “pure” medieval-European-based fantasy. For instance, the dragons are able to breathe fire after chewing (fueling up on) a native rock called firestone; dragonriders use this ability to destroy as many Threads as possible while they are still falling. Dragons can also travel instantly from one place to another, or one time to another. Furthermore, all dragons are able to converse telepathically and willing to pass on messages from human to human. Finally, crafters (which I wish were talked about more) end up re-inventing flamethrowers to destroy spores that made it to ground.

The structure differs quite a bit from the typical structure of current fantasy novels. The book is divided into four sections that at times felt like they would’ve worked better as individual short stories. Apparently Dragonflight is actually two novellas squished together to make a novel, so that probably explains this tangle.

There were also confusing things. For example, some events span many Turns (the Pernese year) in a very short span of pages and this isn’t very clearly remarked upon. Somewhat annoying was the s’elling of d’agonrider n’mes w’th an a’ostrophe. There is a story-internal reason, but it’s only vaguely referred to.

Moreover, it was frustrating to me that Lessa kept leaping to conclusions and acting without thought; I would’ve liked to see more character development. The description of the society also remains rather narrow, since the POV characters are almost solely Lessa and F’lar. This feels to me like a deliberate choice by the author, not a flaw due to lack of skill, but your mileage may vary.

Some of the more disgusting details include F’lar’s tendency to call Lessa merely “the girl” and to grab and shake her, and yet he cannot fathom why she at times resents him. Hello, dude, could there possibly be a reason…?!? This might be a character development choice, but it never paid off, IMO. Also, during Ramoth’s first mating flight (with Flair’s dragon Mnementh), Lessa was pressured to stay in telepathic contact with her dragon to take advantage of the surge of sexual desire and to essentially manipulate a pairing of Lessa and F’lar, like their dragons.

Browsing reviews, it’s pretty clear that Dragonflight (and likely the rest of the Pern series) has a particular audience that cares deeply for McCaffrey’s approach and worldbuilding; the rest don’t. I can see why many people liked it, and I can also see why many people disliked it.

I saw one reviewer complain that the main problem was solved “easy peasy because of time travel”. I’d say that’s missing the point; to me the focus isn’t how the lack of dragonriders was solved. Instead, the author concentrates on the attempts to get there. How to find the right people and put them in places where they can be most effective. Convincing others, the necessary political maneuverings, discussing possible strategies, etc., to try and wrangle out a solution to a deadly dilemma given these particular constraints. A kind of council of Elrond, if you like, but as a novel.

I found Dragonflight engaging enough that I started reading the sequel, Dragonquest. However, I soon found I didn’t have the motivation to continue the same kind of people-wrangling, when a lot of the interpersonal relations were antagonistic (I do like my stories with a heaping of Learning to Work Together), and especially because F’lar still fucking cannot stop shaking Lessa. I’ll be better off spending my reading time elsewhere, now that the novelty has worn off.

Image by Eppu Jensen

ICBIHRTB—pronounced ICK-bert-bee—is short for ‘I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read This Before’. It features book classics that have for some reason escaped our notice thus far.

The Sacred Argippaioi

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The Greek historian Herodotus provides some interesting information about a people living in the mountains beyond the eastern steppes whom he calls the Argippaioi:

They are said to be bald from birth, men and women alike, and they have flat noses and large chins. They speak their own language, but wear Scythian clothes, and depend on trees for their food. The tree they live off of is called “pontic.” It is about as big as a fig tree and bears stone fruits the size of beans. When the fruit is ripe, they strain it through cloth, and it yields a thick black juice, which they call “askhy.” They lick this juice up or mix it with milk and drink it; they make cakes out of the thickest of the leavings and eat them. They do not keep large flocks, for their pastures are not suited to it. Each of them lives under a tree, which they cover with white wool felt in the winter, but not in the summer. No person harms them, for they are said to be sacred, and they carry no weapons. Their neighbors refer conflicts to them for judgment, and anyone who flees to them for refuge is safe from harm. They are called Argippaioi.

– Herodotus, Histories 4.23 (my translation)

This is an interesting passage both from a historical perspective and as storytelling inspiration.

Historically speaking, many of the details Herodotus presents seem to indicate some actual knowledge of a central Asian culture. The geographic description could apply to the Altai Mountains, which lie east of the broad Eurasian steppes. The physical description of the people might be a garbled attempt to describe Asian features. The description of the tree fruit and its use matches fairly well with traditional ways of using the fruit of the bird cherry. The tree covered in white cloth could be a Greek’s misunderstanding of a chum or other type of tent. In contrast to some of Herodotus’ wilder accounts of the distant regions of the world, it sounds like he may have gathered some fairly accurate information about peoples in central Asia, which he put together as best he could given the limits of his own knowledge. The trade routes that we know as the silk road were already active carrying people and goods across Eurasia in his time, so it is not implausible that during his research among the Scythians he might have learned about peoples at the farther end of the route.

On the other hand, the idea of a sacred people who live without weapons and are left unharmed by their neighbors is an interesting concept to think about as a writer. Herodotus perhaps mistakenly associated privileges that belonged to a priestly or shamanic class with a whole people, but what if there actually were a sacred people living in peace in the mountains, acting as wise advisers to others and providing refuge to the desperate? What would it be like to live in such a culture, and what kind of conflicts could arise among a people who don’t fight? What worldbuilding could you do around such an idea? In one kind of story, the sacred people could be a refuge for the hero on their journey and a source of wise counsel, like the Elves are to Tolkien’s Hobbit heroes. In a different kind of story, imagine how power struggles would play among a people who do not fight, who even must not fight in order to preserve the awe that their neighbors feel for them. Replace the battles and murders of Game of Thrones with competitions over personal purity or devious advice given to neighboring peoples, and you could have a story that is dramatically different but with just as many opportunities for vicious betrayals and sudden reversals.

History can be a great source of writing inspiration when we get it right, but it can spark good narrative ideas even when it’s wrong.

History for Writers looks at how history can be a fiction writer’s most useful tool, from worldbuilding to dialogue.

Quotes: A Life Was Built on the Back of Firsts

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For fiction to work, it has to balance a certain amount of realism with the fictional. A shared experience between the writer and reader is needed to make sense of the invented. Too much of the latter, and the text becomes gibberish; too much of the mundane, and the spark goes out.

Most published writers manage it well, but now and then you find a detail that practically smacks you in the face with suspension of disbelief, but not necessarily through any fault of the author.

Take this section of a sci-fi novel, for instance:

“Everyone remembered firsts. Your first love, first kiss, the birth of your first child, or the sight of your first snowfall. A life was built on the back of firsts. Shining moments, pins in the timeline, holding who you were together.”

–Acaelus Mercator in The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O’Keefe

Current Reading The Blighted Stars

I have to confess that the first snowfall had me laughing out loud, and long and heartily, too! Not because it’s an unreasonable first to remember per se. (I gather there are a lot of people for whom it was indeed a remarkable moment to witness!) I laughed because this is a case of inadvertent but nevertheless a complete and a total case of nooope.

My first snow would be extremely unlikely for me to remember, having grown up two hours south of the Arctic Circle. As unusual as remembering your first rain for the Irish, maybe, or your first mountain for someone who grew up in the Rockies.

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, your audience just completely bounces off your writing. And that’s fine, because at best it’s how we discover the remarkable in our everyday.

O’Keefe, Megan E. The Blighted Stars. London: Orbit, 2023, p. 180.

Image by Eppu Jensen

Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.

Official Trailer for the Rebooted Red Sonja

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The Red Sonja reboot I mentioned a while back has a trailer out now:

Red Sonja | Official Trailer HD by Samuel Goldwyn Films on YouTube

Hm. Not very many fantasy elements, merely the large cyclopian monster on the arena. Other than that it reminds me of Game of Thrones and not in a good way, sadly.

I’m looking forward to another trailer—at least I’m hoping we’ll get another one—and a few more details, since at this writing it still doesn’t look like there will be a theatrical release in Finland.

Finally, a PSA since some people on the Internet seem to need it: this version of Sonja does not wear a chainmail bikini. I am not an expert in armor, but I do know what chainmail looks like, and this isn’t it. This is scale mail of some sort.

According to IMDB, this version of Red Sonja is already out in Australia, Greece, and Kazakhstan, with releases coming in the U.S. (Aug 13, 2025), Ireland (Aug 18), and Thailand (Aug 21).

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.

I’ve Got the Sun in My Pocket

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I have these white cotton home trousers that Eppu made for me years ago. They are very comfortable, and I wear them all the time when just hanging out at home. I wear them so much, in fact, that they are starting to get worn through in places and need repair. I got a rip at the corner of one pocket opening, and here’s how she fixed it.

Eppu is good at making invisible repairs to our clothes, but she decided to try something different this time. Instead of hiding the patching, she made it a feature. There’s a recent trend for visible mending, including use of the Japanese stitching technique called sashiko, and this was one of Eppu’s test pieces to try out the approach. Just a little experiment to see how it would come out and how it would wear on a piece of clothing that gets used so much.

I think the results are great. Now I’ve got the sun in my pocket, all day long!

Image by Eppu Jensen

How It Happens looks at the inner workings of various creative efforts.

Ropecon and Rainbows

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The 2025 Ropecon—the largest non-commercial RPG convention in Europe organised entirely by volunteers—is over. Thank you, everybody! I’m exhausted and happy. (And sick; con crud got me this year. Bleah.) I do need to get one thing off my chest, however.

I’m going to make an exception and write in Finnish this time, because I’m responding to a post about inclusion at the con by Merli Juustila, the chair for Ropecon ry., the entity running the con, published this June before the Helsinki Pride parade. (FYI: Juustila’s post is Finnish only.)

TL;DR for those who do not want to attempt Finnish: apparently every year for many years now, the organizers get complaints about rainbows at Ropecon and why that should be; it’s a gaming event, after all, or so says the feedback.

My response: Obviously, it’s because it’s a part of people’s identity and part of their lives. By the same logic, you might as well complain about historical dances, cosplay, card games, kids in strollers, or black clothes being visible all over the place during Ropecon.

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Things I Have Learned By and About Going to Ropecon

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This coming weekend is Ropecon, the major role-playing convention in Finland and one of the highlights of our year. Eppu and I always attend, whether it’s to play games, run games, catch up with friends, attend talks and workshops, or disco the night away.

As part of our Ropecon routine, once the weekend is over and we’ve recovered a bit, we compare notes and write down things we’ve learned from the experience to make the next year’s con easier, more manageable, or more fun. Here’s a few of the things I’ve learned over the years that have made my con experience better.

Since we live close enough to the convention site to go there and back again each day, here are some handy ways to manage home life for the weekend:

  • Make one big pot of soup or some other warm dish (chili, borscht, beef stew, etc.) and one big bowl of salad to leave in the fridge over the weekend. We can dip into one or both whenever we’re at home and need a low-effort meal.
  • Run and empty the dishwasher the morning of the first day of the con. Then just pile in dishes as you use them over the weekend and run it when it gets full and you have time.
  • Have a big piece of paper that says CLEAN on one side and DIRTY on the other; leave it on top of the dishwasher with the appropriate side up. When you’re half asleep in the morning and in a rush to get to your first panel, it saves time and brain power to not have to stop and think about when the dishwasher was last run or emptied.
  • Have a good store of salty snack foods on hand (chips, pretzels, peanuts, etc.), because you will be sweaty and dehydrated and need a quick electrolyte restorer.
  • Wash and chop a big pile of vegetables like cucumbers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, peppers, etc. on the day before the con for easy-to-grab healthy snacking, too.

Some advance prep also makes the at-con experience easier:

  • Make a daily schedule for the con with an hour-by-hour breakdown of what you want to do, including room numbers. If you’re not sure what you’ll be doing at any given time, write down all the possibilities you’re considering. Share this schedule with anyone you want to meet up with at the con, so they have an idea of where to look for you and when you’ll be free.
  • Write out your contact information (and your partner’s) and make that your phone lock screen for the weekend.
  • Leave a comfortable change of clothes in the bathroom at home every morning before you leave for the con, since you might want an immediate shower and change as soon as you get home.
  • Leave an empty drying rack in the bathroom, too, so you have an easy place to hang sweaty gear to dry before putting it in the laundry.

And some notes for making the con experience as fun and comfortable as possible:

  • If you have one warm, full meal a day, you can get through the rest of the day by snacking when you have free time. Make sure to drink plenty of water as well.
  • Pack a change of clothes in a bag with a zipper closure and leave that at the coat check in case you need to change during the con. Include a dry wash cloth in a plastic bag, so you can wipe yourself down if necessary.
  • There will always be someone at a game who needs to borrow dice, so bring an extra set for lending out.
  • For games that I run, print up a sign with the game name in big, visible letters that can stand on the table so players can easily find me.

If you’re on your way to Ropecon or have another con in your future, I hope you have an easy and wonderful time!

How It Happens looks at the inner workings of various creative efforts.

Kangina: Half a Year’s Worth of Fresh Grapes from a Pile of Mud

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Kangina are traditional, ecological, and effective northern Afghani mud-straw containers for keeping fresh fruit good longer. They work best with a particular type of grapes with thick skins and a late harvest.

Wikipedia Voice of America Kangina

Freshly formed bowls are first baked in the sun for a few hours. The fruit is then placed inside, another bowl is placed on top, and the join sealed with more mud.

Atlas Obscura Stefanie Glinski Kangina Pile

The kangina are then stored in a cool, dry place for up to five or six months. To open, you gently crack the kangina halves apart. (Seen, for example, in this Voice of America video.)

Definitely not quick or low-effort, but still an impressive way to preserve fruit and introduce variety into your winter diet, isn’t it? Perhaps not the best containers for a party of intrepid D&D adventurers to carry with them, either, but certainly an inspired method of storing food they could run into while resting between quests.

Images: Grapes in a kangina by Voice of America via Wikipedia. A storage pile of kanginas by Stefanie Glinski via Atlas Obscura.

Out There highlights intriguing art, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.

Murderbot Season One Is Over

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So, the first season of Murderbot tv adaptation ended. I have thoughts and feelings! But: more importantly, the announcement was already made via multiple channels that the series has been renewed for season two!

Tumblr mysticalalleycat Premium Quality Entertainment

Yaaaaay!

Tumblr improbabledreams900 Murderbot S1E10 Smile

I will want to binge the whole series through one more time at least and ruminate on some of the changes before I can say anything sensible.

For those interested who might’ve missed it, Reactor has published a free Perihelion story by Martha Wells.

Images: Premium quality entertainment via mysticalalleycat on Tumblr. Smile via improbabledreams900 on Tumblr.

This post has been edited to correct a typo.

In Seen on Screen, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.