Heavy on the chocolate and glitter!
Category: Fantasy
Worldbuilding Wednesday 12/7/22: Magic Spells of Ancient Egypt
As far as we know, most of the magic spells of ancient Egypt dealt with protecting the dead on their journey to the afterlife. Amulets were concealed in mummy wrappings and spell-prayers carved in hieroglyphics all around the tombs — on the walls, columns, even ceilings. These people took their afterlife very seriously. As I …
Masks of the Snow Queen, Part 1
For many years my favorite science fiction novel was The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge. The book was a comfort read for me. I had read it so often I could quote it, and given a sentence or two from anywhere in the book, I could tell what came before, and what came after. …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 11/30/22: Magic Items of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt, I’ve found, is so fascinating on its own that for fantasy writers and worldbuilders there isn’t a lot that needs to be created from scratch. The amulets above, for example, were created in about an hour using text prompts and various AI art generators. And ancient Egyptians did love their amulets. Any significant …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 11/23/22: Names of Ancient Egypt
The civilization of Ancient Egypt has enthralled the Western world ever since Napoleon’s forays down the Nile brought it to the attention of European scholars. Part of that was the indecipherable hieroglyphics that covered its temples, tombs, and monuments. Not until the 1850s were these translated into English, using cross-translations from the Rosetta Stone. In …
Dragon Waffle
I present to you… a waffle shaped like a Chinese dragon! AI art at its greatest.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 11/16/22: Let’s Talk About -ling
A few months ago, back in August 2022, the ARCs (advanced reader’s copies) of a YA fantasy novel, Lightlark, were released to selected readers and reviewers to generate some buzz. The author, Alex Aster, had generated plenty already. Already active on BookTok — the TikTok community centered around reading and authors — she’d been talking …
Dragon Empress, Empress Dragon
At the top, Dragon Empress; at the bottom, Empress Dragon. Both AI variations on the same source art, with differing word order.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 10/26/22: Hogwarts Houses
Now that Halloween is coming around, let’s talk about a perennial costume: Harry Potter. Either Harry himself, in a black robe (a polyester one used for graduations is available at most thrift stores), scarf, round eyeglasses, and eye-penciled scarf, or one of the other characters such as Snape, Hermione, or a Death Eater. All have …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 9/21/22: Complicated Magic
Sometimes I randomgen a spell or magic item that is so complicated to describe I know it won’t fit on a twitter post. So I’ve saved them for here. Complicated Magic Book of Dragon Coloring: Contrary to popular belief, most dragons lead dull existences. When they’ve gotten to an age where there are few …