Nearly all of the essays for the New Worlds Patreon this month are going to be talking about genitals or other explicit topics, beginning this week with circumcision. You have been warned; now comment over there!

It seems fitting for Halloween that the traditional fifth-Friday New Worlds Patreon theory post should focus on weird critters — but in this case, real ones! Let’s talk about drawing inspiration for science fictional and fantasy species from the aliens we share a planet with: comment over there . . .

How many people have ever been able to afford to retire, and what has “retirement” meant through the ages, anyway? The New Worlds Patreon has some thoughts — comment over there . . .

Insurance is rather a hot-button topic these days, especially (but not only) in the field of healthcare. How did it even get started? That’s the topic this week at the New Worlds Patreon — hint, it involved ships sinking at sea. Comment over there!

I’ll admit up front that I am not the best person to talk about investments and the history thereof in any real depth. But it’s a topic I want the New Worlds Patreon to address, even if only briefly — so comment over there!

For October, my loyal patrons in the New Worlds Patreon have voted for a turn toward the field of economics! Though what we’re talking about this first week could potentially have gone into the “law and crime” category instead, as we’re talking about bribery . . . comment over there!

Every U.S. schoolchild learns about the Bill of Rights, but how many of us remember why the Third Amendment — the one about the quartering of soldiers — was so important to the Founding Fathers? The problems with housing soldiers, in war and in peacetime, is the topic of this week’s New Worlds Patreon essay; comment over there!

As part of its current tour of military topics, the New Worlds Patreon is taking a look at all those other people involved: not the soldiers, but the secondary army of people who support and/or profit off them. Comment over there!

The counterpart to the New Worlds Patreon‘s discussion of supply lines last week is “living off the land” — usually meaning off the backs of the civilian population. Comment over there!

My New Worlds patrons having voted for a set of military topics this month, we’re taking a look at the logistical side of warfare! Not to the depth that an officer or military historian would study it, of course, but we can at least manage a top-level overview of how worldbuilding factors shape the way armies get fed. Comment over there!

In obedience to long-standing tradition, in a month with five Fridays, the New Worlds Patreon turns its attention to matters of theory and craft! This time, we’re taking a look at the worldbuilding on-ramp — which is to say, the vital questions of how much to explain at the start of your story, and how choosing the right entry point can ease the reader’s way in. Comment over there!

This week, the New Worlds Patreon pivots slightly from human migration and cultural contact to the question of how societies respond to crisis — a question whose list of possible answers unfortunately includes “turn on any perceived outsiders” among its historical and present-day options. Comment over there . . .

The New Worlds Patreon can’t do more than touch on the incredibly complex topic of how cultures influence each other and hybridize — but even that brief touch is worth taking a moment for! Comment over there . . .

The New Worlds Patreon has covered the reasons people migrate; now it’s time to look at what happens after they do. Comment over there!

Migration, either as individuals or as populations moving wholesale, has always been part of the human story. The reasons why are the subject of this week’s New Worlds Patreon essay — comment over there!

Two moons? Two suns? Planetary rings, whether on your own ball of rock or the one nearby? The New Worlds Patreon is happy to wander away from planets like our own and consider alternative setups. Comment over there!