Something I just noticed about Brandon Sanderson's books (no spoilers)

One of the things pseudo-historical fantasy has not generally copied from actual history is the peasant rebellion, probably because so much fantasy is objectively pro-aristocracy [1]. Sanderson seems to be an exception: there's something like a peasant rebellion in the Mistborn books and there's one referenced in the upcoming Warbreaker.

1: And SF too, of course. Who among us has not wanted to see the Comyn lined up against a wall and shot, preferably in the middle of a speech where they explain they are keeping the people of Darkover poor, backward, isolated and politically oppressed for the people's own good?

Something I just noticed about Brandon Sanderson's books (no spoilers)

One of the things pseudo-historical fantasy has not generally copied from actual history is the peasant rebellion, probably because so much fantasy is objectively pro-aristocracy [1]. Sanderson seems to be an exception: there's something like a peasant rebellion in the Mistborn books and there's one referenced in the upcoming Warbreaker.

1: And SF too, of course. Who among us has not wanted to see the Comyn lined up against a wall and shot, preferably in the middle of a speech where they explain they are keeping the people of Darkover poor, backward, isolated and politically oppressed for the people's own good?

Something I just noticed about Brandon Sanderson's books (no spoilers)

One of the things pseudo-historical fantasy has not generally copied from actual history is the peasant rebellion, probably because so much fantasy is objectively pro-aristocracy [1]. Sanderson seems to be an exception: there's something like a peasant rebellion in the Mistborn books and there's one referenced in the upcoming Warbreaker.

1: And SF too, of course. Who among us has not wanted to see the Comyn lined up against a wall and shot, preferably in the middle of a speech where they explain they are keeping the people of Darkover poor, backward, isolated and politically oppressed for the people's own good?

Speaking of the Comyn

If you could overthrow one fictional set of aristocrats and nobles whose creator clearly thinks are the bee's knees, which lot would you pick?

I'm more inclined to be harshest towards the SFnal aristocracies, since they have actual history to have learned from.

Speaking of the Comyn

If you could overthrow one fictional set of aristocrats and nobles whose creator clearly thinks are the bee's knees, which lot would you pick?

I'm more inclined to be harshest towards the SFnal aristocracies, since they have actual history to have learned from.

Speaking of the Comyn

If you could overthrow one fictional set of aristocrats and nobles whose creator clearly thinks are the bee's knees, which lot would you pick?

I'm more inclined to be harshest towards the SFnal aristocracies, since they have actual history to have learned from.

About Avatar: The Last Airbender

Over in soc.history.what-if, Doug M. says I have to point out that while the /world/ of Avatar is very Asian influenced (and in a charmingly syncretic way...love that Balinese monkey chant), the ethnicity of the characters is quite deliberately blurred. Ang has pale skin, brown eyes, and vaguely Caucasian features; Saka and Kitara have olive skin, vaguely Asian features, and blue eyes. Zuko and the other Fire Nation characters tend to look Northeast Asian, but their eyes are usually orange, red or gold. In fact, this was one of the fun aspects of the series; the various "tribes" were to some extent racially distinct, but in ways that didn't map to here-and-now ethnic groups.

I have not seen Avatar but the above makes me want to track it down. I don't see any particular reason why the particular constellations of associated features in humans in secondary worlds would occur as they do in our world [1] if the histories of the worlds are distinct (and assuming we're not talking about a world crafted by some Dull God too uncreative to avoid blatant ethnological plagiarism).



1: A special stabbity-stabbity to all those authors who have secondary worlds with nations and ethnicities unlike our world's except for the gypsies, who apparently spring up like mushrooms everywhere even in worlds where their historical roots do not exist.

About Avatar: The Last Airbender

Over in soc.history.what-if, Doug M. says I have to point out that while the /world/ of Avatar is very Asian influenced (and in a charmingly syncretic way...love that Balinese monkey chant), the ethnicity of the characters is quite deliberately blurred. Ang has pale skin, brown eyes, and vaguely Caucasian features; Saka and Kitara have olive skin, vaguely Asian features, and blue eyes. Zuko and the other Fire Nation characters tend to look Northeast Asian, but their eyes are usually orange, red or gold. In fact, this was one of the fun aspects of the series; the various "tribes" were to some extent racially distinct, but in ways that didn't map to here-and-now ethnic groups.

I have not seen Avatar but the above makes me want to track it down. I don't see any particular reason why the particular constellations of associated features in humans in secondary worlds would occur as they do in our world [1] if the histories of the worlds are distinct (and assuming we're not talking about a world crafted by some Dull God too uncreative to avoid blatant ethnological plagiarism).



1: A special stabbity-stabbity to all those authors who have secondary worlds with nations and ethnicities unlike our world's except for the gypsies, who apparently spring up like mushrooms everywhere even in worlds where their historical roots do not exist.

About Avatar: The Last Airbender

Over in soc.history.what-if, Doug M. says I have to point out that while the /world/ of Avatar is very Asian influenced (and in a charmingly syncretic way...love that Balinese monkey chant), the ethnicity of the characters is quite deliberately blurred. Ang has pale skin, brown eyes, and vaguely Caucasian features; Saka and Kitara have olive skin, vaguely Asian features, and blue eyes. Zuko and the other Fire Nation characters tend to look Northeast Asian, but their eyes are usually orange, red or gold. In fact, this was one of the fun aspects of the series; the various "tribes" were to some extent racially distinct, but in ways that didn't map to here-and-now ethnic groups.

I have not seen Avatar but the above makes me want to track it down. I don't see any particular reason why the particular constellations of associated features in humans in secondary worlds would occur as they do in our world [1] if the histories of the worlds are distinct (and assuming we're not talking about a world crafted by some Dull God too uncreative to avoid blatant ethnological plagiarism).



1: A special stabbity-stabbity to all those authors who have secondary worlds with nations and ethnicities unlike our world's except for the gypsies, who apparently spring up like mushrooms everywhere even in worlds where their historical roots do not exist.

Why I wasn't planning on seeing the live-action Avatar even before they announced the casting

"Written, Directed and Produced by M. Night Shyamalan".

He had one good movie in him and I've seen it. Tragic casting is only the (or rather "a") specific way in which his version will suck.

Why I wasn't planning on seeing the live-action Avatar even before they announced the casting

"Written, Directed and Produced by M. Night Shyamalan".

He had one good movie in him and I've seen it. Tragic casting is only the (or rather "a") specific way in which his version will suck.

Why I wasn't planning on seeing the live-action Avatar even before they announced the casting

"Written, Directed and Produced by M. Night Shyamalan".

He had one good movie in him and I've seen it. Tragic casting is only the (or rather "a") specific way in which his version will suck.

Three from the Hubble

Images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveal 14 young, runaway stars plowing through regions of dense interstellar gas, creating brilliant arrowhead structures and trailing tails of glowing gas.

*

Brown dwarfs, objects that are less massive than stars but larger than planets, just got more elusive, based on a study of 233 nearby multiple-star systems by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble found only two brown dwarfs as companions to normal stars. This means the so-called "brown dwarf desert" (the absence of brown dwarfs around solar-type stars) extends to the smallest stars in the universe.

*




This composite color infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy reveals a new population of massive stars and new details in complex structures in the hot ionized gas swirling around the central 300 light-years.

Three from the Hubble

Images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveal 14 young, runaway stars plowing through regions of dense interstellar gas, creating brilliant arrowhead structures and trailing tails of glowing gas.

*

Brown dwarfs, objects that are less massive than stars but larger than planets, just got more elusive, based on a study of 233 nearby multiple-star systems by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble found only two brown dwarfs as companions to normal stars. This means the so-called "brown dwarf desert" (the absence of brown dwarfs around solar-type stars) extends to the smallest stars in the universe.

*




This composite color infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy reveals a new population of massive stars and new details in complex structures in the hot ionized gas swirling around the central 300 light-years.

Three from the Hubble

Images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveal 14 young, runaway stars plowing through regions of dense interstellar gas, creating brilliant arrowhead structures and trailing tails of glowing gas.

*

Brown dwarfs, objects that are less massive than stars but larger than planets, just got more elusive, based on a study of 233 nearby multiple-star systems by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble found only two brown dwarfs as companions to normal stars. This means the so-called "brown dwarf desert" (the absence of brown dwarfs around solar-type stars) extends to the smallest stars in the universe.

*




This composite color infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy reveals a new population of massive stars and new details in complex structures in the hot ionized gas swirling around the central 300 light-years.

A Sarah Connors Chronicles question

Did Chola (Sabrina Perez's character), the haughty young woman who acts as a look-out for Carlos and who Cameron seems to take advice from on body language and make-up, ever actually get a line? Or was she just too cool ever to stoop to mere human speech?

A Sarah Connors Chronicles question

Did Chola (Sabrina Perez's character), the haughty young woman who acts as a look-out for Carlos and who Cameron seems to take advice from on body language and make-up, ever actually get a line? Or was she just too cool ever to stoop to mere human speech?

A Sarah Connors Chronicles question

Did Chola (Sabrina Perez's character), the haughty young woman who acts as a look-out for Carlos and who Cameron seems to take advice from on body language and make-up, ever actually get a line? Or was she just too cool ever to stoop to mere human speech?

What we learned tonight at gaming

Quinn the Warlock can't stay awake while on watch to save his life, barely can tell a bear from a tree, can't hit worth beans in the dark and has convinced himself that his mental attacks (the things that target versus will) weren't biting because they don't work on animals.

We learned later just how many hit points a bear has so it's just as well Quinn never tagged him.

What we learned tonight at gaming

Quinn the Warlock can't stay awake while on watch to save his life, barely can tell a bear from a tree, can't hit worth beans in the dark and has convinced himself that his mental attacks (the things that target versus will) weren't biting because they don't work on animals.

We learned later just how many hit points a bear has so it's just as well Quinn never tagged him.

What we learned tonight at gaming

Quinn the Warlock can't stay awake while on watch to save his life, barely can tell a bear from a tree, can't hit worth beans in the dark and has convinced himself that his mental attacks (the things that target versus will) weren't biting because they don't work on animals.

We learned later just how many hit points a bear has so it's just as well Quinn never tagged him.