I hate it when people defend fic by insisting that it is, or can be, better than published fiction. Fic can be very good, but it is a whole different genre, and really good fic never tries to be like published, or even publishable fiction.
Case in point, I recently read a story that absolutely floored me with the strength of its characterisation, dialogue, and sheer vision. It was a deliberate riff on the concept of Omelas, fitting a new narrative into the imagery of darkness and light, of solitary suffering under a joyful city. It engaged with the problem of evil and the difficulty of not only building a just society, but also ensuring it actually remained just in the face of serious pressure over time. It made me feel things I haven’t felt since I was eighteen and heavily overidentified with Alyosha Karamazov.
But I can’t share this brilliant gem of a story with anyone I know irl because it also has three scenes of Optimus Prime getting vigorously dicked in the dorsal access port, whatever that is.
I really hope everyone reblogging this followed the link and read the article, because it’s larger point is really good
“Reproductive health and childbirth is a crutch, and Lucas gets away with it because his audience accepts that these things are mysterious and cannot be intervened with the way that that the loss of limbs can be remedied with robot prosthetics, or the way Luke can be rescued from near-death on Hoth by being submerged in a bacta tank. Having babies is worse than being mauled by a wampa ice creature or being chopped up by lightsabers and falling into a river of lava. Lucas can write a world like that, and worse, the audience will accept it.
But uteruses aren’t made of malignant magic. Women’s bodies are real physical things that can be studied and understood and when necessary, cured. ”
IDK about everyone else, but I’ve actually been certified as a doula and childbirth educator and worked in women’s health media for most of a decade.
All points valid, but “Help me OB-GYN Kenobi” broke me.
And this is how you can tell a story was written by men because pre-natal healthcare never even occurred to the writer. Women’s insides are a mysterious and magical place that no man either can fathom, or just just not want to think about, so in stories like this they just handwave it away as” dying in childbirth”.
Does anyone have an update on where things are at with the writers strike? It’s disappeared from my various feeds and algorithms.
The writers’ strike is ongoing and the studios are still not returning to the negotiating table. Unfortunately a lot of the coverage has tapered off because we’re on 50+ days of striking and it’s not new anymore. The last strike in 2007 lasted 100 days, so don’t be surprised if this strike lasts as long, or even longer.
Please keep vocally supporting the WGA online to keep the pressure on the studios & to keep WGA members motivated and encouraged! There are many ongoing donation drives, such as the Star Trek fan snack squad (Twitter account required to DM the organizer) and the Our Flag Means Death snack squad (opens the PayPal fundraising page—no Twitter required). There’s a longer list of ongoing donation drives here.
The Entertainment Community Fund is also always accepting donations to support entertainment workers affected by the strike. Please boost and encourage your friends to keep supporting the strike. Hashtag #IStandWithTheWGA #DoTheWriteThing to boost the cause!
“I want,” the man said to the art robot, and then described an image in some detail. “Certainly,” said the art robot. A printout came out of its chest. “Thank y- Hey! What’s this?” “A list of artists who make images of the kind you describe, and who are accepting commissions.”
This is a horror story to a techbro and a feel-good comedy to anyone with a sense of human decency.
Reblogging because it’s a damn potato and I want to encourage people to assume potatoes are magical.
w-what if potato is actually lucky
Blessed is the spud
Gimme the luck
never pass the potato
I’m not ignoring the potato
rbing this again to add that, not to be totally superstitious but the day after reblogging this i literally got offered TWO jobs….all hail the potato…..
