@heiseonline@social.heise.de2025-09-25 08:51:00
@heiseonline@social.heise.de2025-09-25 08:51:00
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2025-10-10 13:21:09
Finished "Lobizona" by Romina Garber. I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. It's a powerful depiction of the fear of living as an undocumented child/teen and it has interesting things to say about rejection, belonging, and the choice between seeking to be recognized for who you are and wanting you blend in enough to be accepted as normal. However, it's also an explicit homage to Harry Potter, and while it doesn't include antisemitic tropes or glorify slavery or even have any anti-trans sentiments I can detect, to me the magical school setup felt forced and I thought it would have been a better book had it not tried to fit that mould. Also, it would have been a super interesting situation to explore trans issues, and while it's definitely fine for it not to do that, the author's praise of Rowling's work has me wondering...
There's a sequel that I think could in theory be amazing, but given the execution of the first book, I think I'll wait a bit before checking it out. By putting her main character in opposition to both ICE in the human world and the magical authorities in the other world, Garber explicitly sets the stage for a revolution standing between her protagonist and any kind of lasting peace. But I'm not confident she's capable of writing that story without relying on some kind of supernatural deus ex machina, which would be disappointing to me, since "a better world if only possible through divine intervention" is an inherently regressive message.
Overall, #OwnVoices fantasy centering an undocumented immigrant is an excellent thing, and I've certainly got a lot of privilege that surely influences my criticism. However, #OwnVoices stuff has a range of levels of craft and political stances, and it can be excellent for some reasons and mediocre for others.
On that point, if anyone reading this has suggestions for fiction books grappling with borders and the carceral state, Is be happy to hear them.
#AmReading
@aardrian@toot.cafe2025-09-01 02:41:26
Just finished “For All Mankind” season 3 and consider it the weakest season yet. With the exception of a couple episodes, it felt like a weird soap opera. Even the sciencey bits of the show seemed to gloss over or deus ex machina challenges (or physics). Debating if I’m tapping out of yet another AppleTV sci-fi show.
@stargazer@woof.tech2025-08-07 14:22:02
#WritersCoffeeClub August 5: How much misdirection is unreasonable?
6: When is deus ex machina warranted?
7: Have you always written, or was there a tipping point to get you to start?
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5. None as long as it is satisfying.
6. I'd say avoid it. Usually not satisfying. I have used it before as a shortcut, still salty about it.
7. Always? No. I started to wri…
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io2025-07-15 16:26:53
He is searching for a deus ex machina (in a literal, not literary sense)—it’s essentially religious fanaticism and we are all going to pay the price for it.
@portaloffreedom@social.linux.pizza2025-09-20 09:33:17
I think I want to replay deus ex games, the reboots
@stargazer@woof.tech2025-10-03 14:33:38
#WritersCoffeeClub October 2025
1. Have you written in an epistolary format?
2. Do you tend to include prologues? Why?
3. How do you transition into writing mode?
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1. Not the entire big literature thing. I did better.
In-game letters.
I love notes and letters in Morrowind, Deus Ex HR and MD as well as Dishonored. Not so much post-Oblivion (Beth Fallout3 …