Historical inspiration for my fantasy novel: foreign rule in Finland & the Philippines

Why do I write historically-inspired SF/F set in societies that disregard personal autonomy? I admit, when I first noticed it I got a little concerned.⁠ Shouldn’t I be writing about dragons or something lighthearted and fun? ⁠ Then I took a step back and looked at the broad strokes history…

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Historical inspiration for my fantasy novel: Early Finns, Sámi, and “unnatural” magic

By April 2022 I had almost entirely lost steam with Seeker of the Lost Song. I had already changed the setting once, from a generation-ship in space. For the type of story I was writing, the characters needed movement. They needed a quest. Deciding that the closed environment of a…

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The Quiet is Loud & old Filipino restaurants

Firstly: Happy Filipino Heritage Month! 🇵🇭 There’s an old-school style of Filipino restaurant called “turo-turo1.” The name is an example of classic Filipino word reduplicating, and stems from the word for pointing at something. They're often located in strip malls, and the typical feature is their cafeteria-style presentation, all food…

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