This week’s New Worlds Patreon post comes with trigger warnings: the topic at hand is foundlings and infanticide. If you’re up for that, you can comment over there, but I’m well aware this one won’t be for everyone.

A new month, a new topic: the steadfast patrons of the New Worlds Patreon have voted for discussion of certain aspects of the life cycle. We’re starting off with a look at how well or badly certain child-rearing methods can turn out — comment over there!

The New Worlds Patreon is closing out 2023 with a fifth Friday in the month, and therefore a theory post! This one looks at the gap between how a society says it does things and how they actually work, and what can happen in that space . . . comment over there!

At the end of our New Worlds Patreon tour of crime, it’s time to show a little mercy — which is to say, we’re talking about pardons. Comment over there!

Did you know it’s illegal to enter the U.K. House of Commons while wearing armor? The New Worlds Patreon is taking a look at some of the odds and ends of our laws (and the breaking thereof) — comment over there!

You can buy all the New Worlds Patreon through legitimate channels, but some things have to be sold in the shadows. That’s right, come on into the black market, and comment over there!

My scofflaws at the New Worlds Patreon have voted for a return to crime! The topic thereof, at least, and we’re starting off with the lurid field of vice. Comment over there!

From the big to the small: the New Worlds Patreon is scaling down from grand empires to the question of government much closer to home. Comment over there!

This week the New Worlds Patreon is taking a look at a motif that speculative fiction is starting to more frequently view from the opposite side of yore: the colony. Comment over there!

Last week’s New Worlds Patreon had to leave out one particular type of political unit because it was — very appropriately — too large to fit into that essay. So this week we’re looking at empires: comment over there!

The November theme for the New Worlds Patreon has looped back around to government, so we’re starting off with a look at what meaning is embedded in the words we use for different kinds of political unit. Exciting, I know — but actually quite revealing! Comment over there.

It’s a topic often treated very sensationally, but the New Worlds Patreon had to get there eventually: we’re talking at last about the blood sacrifice of animals and humans. Comment over there . . .

No, the New Worlds Patreon isn’t talking about human or animal sacrifice — not yet. (That’ll be next week.) Instead we’re looking at some of the places where sacrifices are made and the reasons for them, and the use of inanimate objects for the purpose. Comment over there!

Having talked about sanctification last week, now the New Worlds Patreon turns to the holiest people of all: saints! Comment over there.

New month, new theme! The New Worlds Patreon is pivoting back toward religion, with a look at what gets sanctified and how. Comment over there!

As many of you know, when there are five Fridays in a month, the New Worlds Patreon devotes the fifth one to a theory post! This month we’re looking at the unfortunate messages your worldbuilding may send, whether you intend it to or not — comment over there.

For the end of a mental health month, the New Worlds Patreon asks whether more of our fictional characters should have PTSD from the plot . . . comment over there!

Having looked at the broad topics of mental illness and intellectual disability, now the New Worlds Patreon turns its attention to the question of how societies have generally responded to those afflictions. Warning: the answer is often “not well.” Comment over there . . .

With the theme of the New Worlds Patreon for September being the mind and its ailments, this week we take a look at some of the causes and effects of intellectual disability, especially in history. Comment over there!

It’s hardly the cheeriest subject for me to be posting about on my birthday, but since my New Worlds patrons kindly allowed me to sub in posts about labor issues for August, the topic they’d voted for got pushed to September . . . and that means we’re talking about mental illness today! Comment over there.