Joe Cecil

Lesbian crocodile tamer

Entering the Heart of Sun and Moon references a "bonus" mahasiddha (not part of the more popular list of 84) that is I think my favorite because by title she's just so surreal: Srirudra the Lesbian Crocodile Tamer. It cites another book, Warp and Weft of

Tenssaiga

InuYasha features a sword that heals: Tenssaiga, "the sword that can save a hundred lives with a single stroke." It would be amazing overpowered — except it belongs to InuYasha's brother, the demon Sesshomaru, who disdains it. More than that — it's not just a sword

Event horizons in worldbuilding: Worm

Something I notice about Worm in retrospect that is really clever is that it has this "event horizon" in its history. It's like Earth, and everything is normal... up until this event horizon where superpowers appear and everything changes. This is a really clever idea. By

Organizing a scene around food

Inspired by a Visa post, I recalled a lot of scenes where characters are eating: 1. Cowboy Bebop. The pilot, I think? 2. Neon Genesis Evangelion. A scene from one of the early episodes. 3. Aggretsuko. Many such scenes. 4. InuYasha — a lot. 5. Avatar: The Last Airbender did this

Night Watch is dark—and funny

I think Night Watch is the most low-key dark Discworld story I've read so far. It's funny, too, it's a Discworld book so of course it is. But there are lots of scenes and remarks that are surprisingly dark, sombre, or serious given the

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