It’s getting close to Halloween and things are about to get pretty horrible! No more horrible than this Japanese lady who seems to have been transformed into a sink, an open drain for her mouth.
Oct 06
Worldbuilding Wednesday 10/6/21: Insects
In fantasy worldbuilding, insects get the short end of the (walking) stick. What’s the last imaginary one you can remember? For me, it’s the odd bread-and-butterfly of Alice in Wonderland.
The intelligent insect races of science fiction are more memorable. The Bugs of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, and the Buggers (Formics) of Orson Scott Card’s Ender series are two of the more memorable. Spindly, black, hairy, and multilegged, they are depicted as ruthless, avaricious adversaries without emotion and individuality. The same is true of the Tandu, a race from David Brin’s Uplift series who oppose the hubris of humankind for creating their own client races in intelligent dolphins and chimpanzees. (There is, incidentally, a whole encyclopedia of Uplift races and their relationships here, and it’s complicated.)
Alan Dean Foster is the only writer I know who bucked the tide and created an insect race friendly towards humanity. Known as the Thranx, his charming creatures are mantis-like and have an attractive odor. The same concept of mantid- or grasshopper-like insect men was adopted by TSR (now Wizards of the Coast) for their race of insect men known as the Thri-Keen which players may choose as a character.
Want to stick in some insects of your own to round out a world or two?
(NOTE: I’m including spiders and scorpions in the list even though, technically, they do not belong to the insect family.)
Insects
| Chicken Cabbage Spider
Coffer Fly Blue Oil Wasp Monk Spider Gilded Tigerfly Heath Darter Spindlecaster Spoonmite Ox Tick Sultan Kisser Copper-Backed Millipede Dune Mite Goblin Bug |
Harewhip Spider
Goodwife Flea Zebra Beetle Cattle Crawler Jupiter Beetle Spinster Fly Patron Hornet Empress Barrel Cricket Valparaiso Barrel Cricket Amber-eyed Mantis Pudding Mite White Slipper Butterfly |
Sep 29
Worldbuilding Wednesday 9/29/21: Bodacious Bs
Hans Holbein the Younger, Letter B, woodcut, Rosenwald Collection
I am not as fond of the letter B as I am of the letter A for fictional characters. Oh, sure, it has its uses for manly types, like Byron and Bradford — think the alliterative brawny, brash, beefy. But for female characters, it implies big bosoms, bellies, and behinds in matronly names like Bessie, Bertha, and Brunhilda. The shape of the letter itself contributes, looking like a female chest turned on its side.
But if you like B better than I do, here’s some names for fantasy works.
Character names beginning with B
| Male
Baaris Banidor Bavin Bichraldo Brames Brannar Braul Brimain Brisadh Bryzen |
Female
Baessa Bashka Bateitha Betensa Bevma Bhellina Binsi Birhani Brendhys Brywain |
Surnames
Balgandar Banshallam Barkvisp Barzisam Besslion Betterpike Blinquince Bosvarrough Brubborne Byfall |
Sep 27
Existential Spock
Mr. Spock deals with his fear in a unique way in this old comic book panel.
Sep 22
Worldbuilding Wednesday 9/22/21: The Best of Twittersnips
xxxx(Narnian Creatures)
It’s not too often that you see an illustration of Narnia where the viewpoint is looking into our world through the wardrobe, not the other way around. It also illustrates how odd this is, in a snowy forest filled with pine trees.
Naming Narnian beings is fun for me, so here’s a list of all who appeared in my Twitter feed 2017 – 2020.
Narnia Creatures
| Giants |
Riskwasp Crunchgirdle Rumblelungs |
| Wolves |
Windhoweler Warfang |
| Dwarves |
Skyscurf the Black Dwarf Truebuttons the Red Dwarf |
| Centaurs |
Calmstone Dawnwise |
| Squirrels |
Chattercheeks Nutmarch |
| Others |
Moonpad the Leopard Cleardip the Otter Ryehorn the Rhinoceros Tippineep the Mouse Moonglimmer the Stag Gracewing the Swan Nimplepaw the Fox Twitchnose the Hare |
Sep 20
I Come from the Land of Esa
How do I unpack this Tibetan / Polynesian / Mexican lovely’s costume? Hydrangea flower earrings, yellow rubber gloves, solid gold flower-shaped pasties (with exaggerated nipples/stamens), a handkerchief for a top, and a towel for a bottom. Plus, a cow head on her forehead. Her companion with his white miniskirt gets off easy… but is that a swarm of bees crawling up his chest?
(Oh… and Norman soldiers in the background.)
Sep 15
Worldbuilding Wednesday 9/15/21: National Parks
On first glance, it’s pretty hard to tell which poster is of a real place, and which poster is fictional, yes?
Brightly colored travel posters that look like silkscreens began in the 1930s, as part of a Works Administration Project (WPA) funded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, designed to give employment to otherwise unemployed artists. The Great Depression was still going strong, but many of these artworks created a post-Art Deco, pre-Populux aesthetic,a simple yet noble monumental grandeur. Today these posters of the National Parks are recognized for their artistic value and exist in many reproductions.
What’s the difference between a National Park and a National Monument? Parks are natural areas and encompass biospheres; monuments most often (but not always) preserve social or archaeological sites. In 2021 there were 63 National Parks and 129 National Monuments.
New parks are being added all the time. The latest is New River Gorge National Park, in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, which was declared in 2020. Parks can also be downgraded, redesignated, or divided. Ever hear of Sullys Hill National Park? I haven’t either; in the 1930s it changed agencies and now operates as a federal game preserve.
Here’s a list of National Parks and Monuments that may be coming in the future.
National Parks yet to be declared
| Dinosaur Mounds National Monument
Buzzard Back Wolverine Spoon Soda Shores Little Porcupine Wilderness Pronghorn Prairie Lizard Throat Wilderness Plume Island Big Hoof Island Mourning Woman Wilderness Bearded River Grand Oxbow Agate Peak Short Cap Fossil Beds Sequoia-Razor White Tail Slough |
Sep 13
Atompunk Reading
Starfire, by Robert Buckner
In the Atompunk Age, manly men read books like this one, accompanied by a dry martini.
Sep 08
Worldbuilding Wednesday 9/8/21: Models of the 1960s
Fashion models of the 1960s were a special breed. They may not have been conventionally pretty, but they stood out as individuals in a way the models of the 1950s never did. Donyale Luna (left) and Benedetta Barzini (right) certainly did with their sculptural poise and elegance. Unfortunately Luna met a sad end in the late 1970s, while Barzini went on to a second career as a university lecturer.
Where did David Bowie get his pre-Ziggy Stardust inspiration from? It could have been the mimelike poses of model Peggy Moffitt, above, or the impish cupie-doll / silent movie look of Cathee Dahmen, below. (Dahmen, who may have been the first Native American supermodel, has a backstory worthy of a Hollywood biopic.)
Many models of the era adopted one-word monikers, like Twiggy (Leslie Hornby) and German model Uschi (Ursula Obermaier) while others altered the spelling of their birth names to stand out from the crowd. Others were just as happy to use the names they were born with. Sixties models were also the first truly international group and their names reflect this.
Need a model? Look below.
Fashion Models of the 1960s
| Colette Jazz
Peggy Chad Lois Job Raven Iverley Quincy Cloudletter Patricia Strong Leslie Heinrik Paula Salt Stringy Jill Cathcart Peachy Cecilia Spear Spya Epet Elke Yor Maria Crisp |
Christina Stagberg
Erika Knorr Adelaida Anna Quick Cara Bluff Lass Jyski Bernadette Papp Sandy Wiss Cindi Chen Lamb Ulrich Amber Othley Rachel Woolsilk Ashly Ivis Cathy Strappel Macy Pizetti |