Home of Author Marie Brennan
Heraldry is a peculiar mix of localized and universal. By “localized,” I mean that it’s very specifically a medieval-and-later European phenomenon. The idea of individuals or groups having emblems is vastly older and more widespread, but that isn’t heraldry per se; it lacks the hereditary element that turns idiosyncratic choices into an organized system. In […] The post New Worlds: Heraldry…
Uniforms aren’t purely a military thing. Sports teams wear them; so do students at certain kinds of schools. Some jobs mandate uniforms for their employees, including servants in the past wearing the “livery” of their masters. But we associate this idea so much with soldiers (and with the not entirely unrelated police) that being “in […] The post New Worlds: Uniformity appeared first on Swan Tower…
Having dusted off my Onyx Court-developed skills for the Sea Beyond, it made sense for the next Writer’s Little Book to be about the process of research! That is out now in ebook format, available from a variety of retailers. (And while you’re at it, you can also pre-order The Writer’s Little Book of Readings, […] The post another Little Book! appeared first on Swan Tower .
Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day, Amishi P. Jha. Discussed here and here. Sheine Lende, Darcie Little Badger, ill. Rovina Cai. Prequel to Elatsoe (which I really loved), ergo takes place in a world where magical stuff is openly known, though not always talked about — Shane is […] The post Books read, July 2026 appeared first on Swan Tower .
A few weeks ago, I posted about Amishi P. Jha’s Peak Mind, and the possibility that I would see greater returns from meditation if I sat for the length of time she recommends, as frequently as she recommends. I’m glad to say I succeeded in my experiment! In fact, though Jha says the minimum is […] The post A Month of Mindfulness appeared first on Swan Tower .
There’s been an implicit assumption in most of my essays — and often an explicit one in certain craft-0riented theory essays — that I’m talking about worldbuilding in the context of prose fiction: short stories, novels, and the like. That isn’t terribly surprising, given that when I started this Patreon, prose fiction was very nearly […] The post New Worlds Theory Post: Worldbuilding for Other…
Given that my job mostly involves sitting at a desk, I have to devote particular effort to getting exercise if I want to be in good health. This is not a modern phenomenon, but it is something of an elite one. If your day involves heavy physical labor in the fields or a factory, if […] The post New Worlds: Time to Exercise appeared first on Swan Tower .
This is honestly closer to a theory-type essay, as I’ve already talked about more concrete angles like prostheses and assistive devices (in Year Four), and this time around I’m looking more at the dynamics of presenting physical disability in fiction. Activists for better representation of disability often object to worldbuilding that imagines magic or advanced […] The post New Worlds: Physical…
As I promised when The Writer’s Little Book of Platitudes got republished, I am continuing on with the series! And as you can guess from the fact that the first two are focused on writing advice and the sociolinguistics of naming, the series will continue eclectic. Next up — and fairly timely, given the release […] The post two more Writer’s Little Books! appeared first on Swan Tower .
Recently Bona Books posted a discussion of how they unwittingly bought an AI-generated story for an anthology — more than one, actually, but one of them from the (now infamous) scammer Bella Chacha. There is understandably a lot of distress right now in publishing over how to catch these things and how to deal with […] The post Fast Fiction and Avoiding AI appeared first on Swan Tower .