Whether you’re gearing up for a religion-based holiday right now or not, you may be interested in this week’s New Worlds Patreon essay, about holidays based in religion. Comment over there!

Have you ever been called a bastard, or called someone else by that name? This week the New Worlds Patreon takes a look at illegitimate children, and how and why they’ve been stigmatized. Comment over there!

Adultery: illicit crime, or expected behavior for a man in power? This week the New Worlds Patreon continues its study of marriage by looking at what happens outside of marriage. Comment over there!

In speculative fiction, we have surprisingly few stories that focus at all on what happens after someone’s spouse passes away. This week, the New Worlds Patreon looks at widows and widowers — comment over there!

Because humans have historically used marriage as one of the fundamental building blocks of society, previous New Worlds Patreon essays have not quite exhausted the topic. This week we’re talking about a few more types, including a basic anthropological concept underlying all marriages. Comment over there!

Since October has five Fridays, the New Worlds Patreon gets a bonus “theory” essay! This time we’re looking at the concept of essentialism, and how it can be both useful and dangerous in speculative fiction. Comment over there!

It’s time for presents! The New Worlds Patreon is taking a look at the practice of gift-giving: what we give, and when, and how. Comment over there!

Have you been deluged with solicitations to donate to various worthy causes? The New Worlds Patreon takes a look at public and private forms of charity and how those types operate. Comment over there!

Around the world we tend to share the idea that generosity is a good idea . . . but what we expect from that has changed over time. The New Worlds Patreon takes a look at ring-givers and potlatch chieftains, i.e. conceptions of generosity and how they may have changed over time. Comment over there!

The New Worlds Patreon invites you to come inside, rest your weary feet, and consider the topic of hospitality. Comment over there!

This week on the New Worlds Patreon, we don’t always target the body when punishing someone for wrongdoing. Sometimes the punishment is social instead — but that requires certain additional factors to work. Comment over there!

“Spare the rod, spoil the child” — or for that matter, the criminal. The New Worlds Patreon tour of punishments takes a look at those inflicted on the body. Comment over there!

As the New Worlds Patreon looks at punishments, it seems only natural — given modern practices — to think first of imprisonment. Comment over there!

This month on the New Worlds Patreon my patrons have voted to look at the punishment aspect of law and order. Before we get into the specifics of what types of punishment we inflict, we should consider why we punish people at all — what goal(s) that’s supposed to achieve. Comment over there!

Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis, or tried to get an answer to some unsolved question from your dreams? The New Worlds Patreon is wrapping up its sleep month with a look at the magic of dreams. Comment over there!

I’m astonishingly bad at remembering my dreams, but other people are much better at it than I am. This week the New Worlds Patreon talks about dreams: how they happen, why they happen, and what they mean. Comment over there!

Most of you reading this probably sleep on mattresses on bed frames in dedicated bedrooms, with soft pillows and nobody else in the bed except possibly a spouse. But this week the New Worlds Patreon explores a wide variety of sleeping arrangements. Comment over there!

One of the great benefits of my line of work is that I can take a nap if I need to. Which is pertinent to the new topic for the New Worlds Patreon, because my patrons have voted for me to talk about sleep! Comment over there.

As the theory post for this fifth Friday, the New Worlds Patreon is turning its attention to another useful anthropological concept: marked and unmarked categories. Comment over there!

The New Worlds Patreon has spent the whole month talking about religious topics, and we’re wrapping up (for now) with the idea of syncretism: the borrowing of traditions or even whole gods from one religion into another. Comment over there!