New Worlds: Physiognomic Nonsense
Sometimes it’s fun for the New Worlds Patreon to take a look at pseudoscience. But the ideas behind physiognomy and phrenology are pretty ugly . . . comment over there.
Posts Tagged ‘book view cafe’
New Worlds: Idealized Bodies
Pivoting slightly from where this month’s New Worlds Patreon theme started (clothing) to other aspects of appearance: it’s time to take a look at the bodies underneath the clothes, and what we want them to look like. Comment over there . . .
New Worlds: The Flow of Fashion
Continuing with the clothing theme, the New Worlds Patreon is asking: what makes fashion change? Who drives that change? Comment over there!
New Worlds: Clothing as Communication
Six years after starting the topic, the New Worlds Patreon returns to other aspects of how clothing can communicate something about the person who wears it! Comment over there.
New Worlds: A General’s Job
For the last essay of December, 2024, and this particular sub-topic, the New Worlds Patreon turns to the top brass of a military force — and more specifically, what a good general does. (Hint: very little of the nonsensical “genius” moves TV and movies love.) Comment over there!
New Worlds: Chain of Command
This week’s New Worlds Patreon essay blends a bit into the previous, split apart mostly by the semi-arbitrary standard of having each piece be about a thousand words long, give or take. Having acquired our officers, how do we organize the authority they hold? Comment over there . . .
New Worlds: The Officer Corps
The New Worlds Patreon continues its military tour with a look at officers: how many of them there might be, how they’re chosen, and how they’re promoted. Comment over there!
New Worlds: Army Sizes
It’s not exactly tailored to the holiday season, but the New Worlds Patreon is looking at military matters this month. We start with “how big should that army really be?” — comment over there!
an error with last week’s New Worlds link
As my patrons know, I made a last-minute swap of the theory essay this past Friday. And I remembered to update the notification sent to them! . . . but I didn’t update my post here. So 1) y’all know what a future theory essay will be about, and 2) the correct link is to “The Setting Bible, Part 1.” (The swap happened because what was supposed to be an upcoming essay turned out to span two, and I moved the first part up so as to get both into the same annual collection, rather than splitting them across volumes.)
New Worlds Theory Post: Real Biology Is Stranger Than Fiction
Five Fridays in this November, so you know what that means: a theory post from the New Worlds Patreon! This time I venture a bit further out of my own sphere and talk about taking inspiration from biology; comment over there.
New Worlds: Laundry Day
The New Worlds Patreon‘s final clothing post (for now) takes a look at that most Sisyphean of domestic labors, the doing of laundry — comment over there!
New World: Well Shod
Hats last week; shoes this week, as the New Worlds Patreon continues its tour of our accessories — or are they necessities? Comment over there . . .
cui dono lepidum novum libellum
Last week, on a Tuesday when absolutely nothing else was happening at all, I put out a little book — and I do mean little. It’s right there in the title: The Writer’s Little Book of Naming, an 11K-ish headfirst dive into the sociocultural side of naming — particularly for people, but also a bit for places and things. It looks less at the conlang questions of phonetics and such, more at the ways names can reflect culture and, in so doing, help reinforce and deepen other aspects of worldbuilding.
This is actually the first installment of what I intend to be an irregular series, because it occurred to me one day that ebooks make it possible to assemble works on fairly specialized topics of craft — the kinds of topics that can’t really support an entire print volume, and which appeal to a niche market of writers, but dammit, I want to write about them, so here goes. I’ve got about six of these in mind thus far, so I’ll update as they make it out into the world!
(FYI, it is currently available only through Book View Cafe, the publisher.)
New Worlds: A Planet of Hats
From our underthings, the New Worlds Patreon proceeds onward to what we have on our heads. Did you ever notice how weird hats are? Comment on them over there . . .
New Worlds: The Unmentionables
For a month of clothing, the New Worlds Patreon is starting off right next to the skin. That’s right, it’s time to talk underwear! Comment over there . . .
New Worlds: Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms
The New Worlds Patreon wraps up another governmental month with a look (admittedly a brief and basic one) at pre-state societies. Comment over there!
New Worlds: The League of Extraordinary Governments
Just like superheroes, governments sometimes team up. The New Worlds Patreon is taking a look at confederations and leagues — comment over there!
New Worlds: Propaganda
Legitimate messaging or dishonest manipulation? This being the lead-up to the United States election, it’s fitting that the New Worlds Patreon is talking about propaganda — comment over there!
New Worlds: Constitutions
This month’s New Worlds Patreon essays are going to be a little bit of a grab bag, as the theme this time around is “governmental topics that haven’t fit into previous months.” We’re starting off with the notion of constitutions, which turn out not to work like I used to think — comment over there!
New Worlds: Celestial Signs
Remember the total solar eclipse across North America earlier this year? The New Worlds Patreon does, and so we’re taking a look at comets, supernovae, and eclipses . . . comment over there!
