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phoenixyfriend · 3 months

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Calls for Action, Call Your Reps: 2/13/24

This is USA-specific, as that is the place I live and know.

Find your elected officials.

Today, much of my information is coming from Democracy Now!, which I generally listen to as a podcast (functionally, it is a radio news broadcast, like NPR or BBC), and I am quoting from the text versions on their website.

The Senate passed a $95 billion military funding package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in the pre-dawn hours this morning. But the bill’s fate remains unclear after House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed the measure over its failure to include hard-line immigration restrictions. This comes after Johnson and other Republicans rejected an earlier version of the bill which did contain the border crackdown they had demanded. Johnson has told Republican congressmembers he will call a House vote on a stand-alone funding bill for Israel.

From the same page, we are hearing that President Biden is urging Israel to refrain from invading Rafah, where a million or so Palestinians are currently sheltering, but is not actually threatening any kind of repercussions for said invasion. Reports from both official sources (e.g. the Hamas-run health ministry) and less official (e.g. American doctors returning from relief services in Palestine) indicate that over half of the deaths in Palestine are children.

I am not going to pretend that I know what is going through Biden's head.

Both House and Senate:

Reinstate funding for UNRWA. While the claims made by Israel that employees of the relief agency were involved in Oct. 7th are troubling, THEY are not well supported, and western officials did not do their duty in investigating the claims before cutting funding. This arm of the UN is currently providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to the 2.3 million displaced peoples of Gaza. It is especially disturbing and concerning that the many children of Gaza, who are already suffering due to this conflict, are now having this support revoked. Many sources are also claiming that the evidence is flimsy at best.

Urge both Senate and House to refrain from funding Israel, or to at least put some strings on it. The IDF cannot be given funding without some regulations on what they can do with it. They have proven that they are unwilling to take steps to protect civilians.

FOR THE SENATE: Urge your senator to put their support behind Bernie Sanders and his motion to restrict funding to Israel until a humanitarian review of the IDF’s actions in Gaza has been completed. Cite it as Senate Resolution 504 if your Senator is right-wing enough to react negatively to the mention of Sanders by name. NOTE: This resolution was TABLED by the Senate on 1/16, but it is being brought back in as conditions continue to escalate.

FOR THE HOUSE: Urge your representative to put their support behind Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s petition for the US government to recognize the IDF’s actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, and put a stop to it. ALTERNATELY: recommend that they support House Resolution 786, introduced by Rep. Cori Bush, Calling for an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine.

On the House Floor this week, to call your rep about:

H.Res. 994: Married persons tax break. Vote nay. Loses billions in tax revenue and explicitly targets green energy.

H.R. 2766 and H.R. 4039: Condemnation of China's actions against the Uyghurs. Can't tell you which way to talk on this. Seems good on the surface, but given who's presenting it, I worry there's something worse tucked into the text. Hopefully someone can provide a better take.

H.R. 3016: IGO Anti-Boycott Act. Vote Nay. This appears to be intended to force US companies to do business with US allies instead of participating in boycotts. This appears, to me, to be an attack on movements like BDS. To Dem Reps, argue that this refuses the right of peaceful protest to US citizens. To Republican Reps, argue that this is a dangerous government overreach and that it is not the right of the government to force US citizens to purchase products and materials from specific foreign partners.

H.Res. 966: Condemnation of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7. Vote Nay. We know sexual violence is bad. Hamas has already been condemned for their actions. This is, at best, lip service. It is a waste of time. There are much bigger, more impactful things to work on, and this is going to waste time and resources in the Senate if it passes.

If you wish to support my political blogging, I am accepting donations on ko-fi.

#Phoenix Politics #current events #united states #are you guys interested in me continuing to do this? should I start including my ko-fi link?#Israel #Palestine #Gaza

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absolutebl · 8 months

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Hello! In the latest EP of I Feel You Linger in the Air, Yai addresses Jom as Por Jom. Jom seems surprised but I have no understanding of what Por means so it's significance is lost on me. Perhaps you can help shed some light? Also, how was Yai addressing Jom before?

Por/phor honorific in Thai - I Feel You Linger in the Air

I'm glad you asked it so I don't have to.

I have not encountered it before in BL.

Any of the the Thai language spies still out there wanna weigh in?

I did some poking around - but I could be way off base. Still this what I discovered:

Por is a paternal honorific, luang por is used for respected monks.

So I am assuming this use is relatively old fashioned (the reason we don't hear it often in our normal BL) and either one step more intimate or, more likely, one step more respectful than no honorific. Possibly scholarly?

I'm thinking all this has to do with Jom's demonstration of education. Yai has figured out that one of the reasons Jom doesn't belong and cannot fit in with the servants is that he is more educated than a peasant, which adds up to him being originally from a high status and wealthy family, especially speaking English and having travelled (he has a non-Chang Mai accent).

There is very little Thai middle class at the beginning of the 1920s since trade is being dominated/dictated by the West, or Chinese merchant operations, and Siam is a monarchy. So for a nationalize Thai citizen it's either military, landed gentry with trade operations (like Yai), military, or... none of the above. This changes, especially in the south, throughout this decade (as it did in other parts of the world). So there is a rising bourgeoisie going on in the background but it's not that obvious in Chang Mai at this time.

What this means to Yai is that Jom's family either got wiped out or politically entirely disenfranchised possibly as part of the 1912 attempted coups (or even WWI)? This would be mystifying for Yai because Jom doesn't act like he comes from a military family at all. So his background and status is very confusing for Yai, but Yai does know one thing...

Jom is NOT lower class by the standards of Yai's temporal worldview and existence.

For a young man to be educated and yet entirely alone is very dangerous and suspicious. Also, let's be clear, Jom doesn't look or act like a laborer. He red flags "cultured" all over the place.

Yai is paternalistic and caring towards Jom out the gate because Yai has a big ol'crush but also because he recognizes "his own" is trying to survive while isolated and scared. Yai wants to rescue Jom.

Some Historical Context for I Feel You Linger In The Air

I love history and so here's some quick info that any Thai watcher would likely know, but you might not... ready?

Remember:

Burma (Myanmar) to the west is occupied by the British.

The French hold Vietnam to the east.

Everyone is bickering over what would become Cambodia & Laos.

China occasionally gets involved from the North (also, lots of immigrants from China at this time accounting for a large percentage of the merchant/middle class)

Eventually, Japan would invade during WWII.

In part, The Kingdom of Siam was kept a "neutral" party because none of the surrounding colonial powers wanted to risk offending any of the other players in the area.

Siam re-negotiated sovereignty in 1920 (from USA) and 1925 (France & Britain). But during the time of this show (mid to late 1920s) it was back to it's customary type-rope balancing act of extreme diplomacy with the allied western colonial powers that surrounded it. Recognizing that Thailand was never colonized, it's boarders were constantly nibbled at and it was "ambassador-occupied" off and on by Westerners whose military backing and exploitive business concerns simply outmatched the monarchy, especially in the technology department (as well as by reputation on the global stage at the time).

In other words, the farang in this show (James & Robert) are bound to be both the baddies and the power players of the narrative.

The king of Siam at the time (Vajiravudh AKA Rama VI) was initially somewhat popular but also regarded as overly extravagant since Siam was hit by a major postwar recession in 1919. It should be noted that King Vajiravudh had no son because he was most likely gay (which at the time did not much concern Siamese popular opinion, EXCEPT THAT it undermined the stability of the monarchy).

He "died suddenly" in 1925 (age 44) with the monarchy weakened and succession handed off to his younger brother.

In 1932 a small circle of the rising bourgeoisie (all of whom had studied in Europe, mostly Paris), supported by some military, seized power from the monarchy in a practically nonviolent Siamese Revolution installing a constitutional monarchy.

Siam would then go through: dictatorship, WWII, Japanese invasion, Allied occupation, democratic elections, military junta, the Indochina wars, communist insurgency, more democracy and popularization movements, multiple coups, more junta, more monarchy, eventually leading us to the somewhat chaotic insanity of Thai politics we have today. (Which is, frankly, a mix of monarchy, junta, democracy, egocentric popularism, and bribery.)

(source)

#P'ABL gets crazy academic for a moment #a brief history of Thai politics since WWI #Thai BL #I feel You linker in the air #it's a great fucking show but everything makes more sense if you have historical context #thai honorifics #thai language #thai linguistics

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misalpav · 11 months

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south asians, the internalized bigotry needs to stop. we don't need to come to the usa or any other country for that matter and lose any semblance of our culture/religion. we don't owe that to anyone. people are allowed to wear a kurta, bindi, jhumkas, hijabs, or any other kind of cultural clothing of their choice. accents take time to adjust to and nobody has to change it the second they step into another country. it's okay to be proud of religion, food, language, clothes, etc. people who don't conform immediately or at all for that matter should not have to expect discrimination. hell, we certainly don't owe it to western society to integrate into their lifestyle, especially in countries like usa and australia where white people themselves are immigrants. quit the self-hate and the hate on other south asians, it doesn't make you cool.

#ive had a day today yes #these are all real things I heard today from someone #this is more targeted to diaspora than ppl living in south asia themselves but ive seen insane amounts of westernization stuff there too #so maybe its relatable there too idk #desiblr #desi tag #desi tumblr #desi problems #desi #desi culture #tw hinduphobia

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allthecanadianpolitics · 2 years

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I am making this post for no apparent reason, Americans

Resources for immigration to Canada:

Immigrate to Canada

Immigration and citizenship

Canada Points System

Six selection factors – Federal Skilled Worker Program (Express Entry)

Skilled Occupation List Canada 2022

Articles on moving to Canada from the USA:

Moving to Canada, explained

‘Move to Canada’ threats return – but actually emigrating there is difficult

Dreaming of Moving to Canada? Here’s What to Know If You’re American

Studying in Canada:

Step by step: How to get into a Canadian university as an international student

HOW TO APPLY TO CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES

Moving from the U.S. to Study in Canada

Study in Canada: Step-By-Step Guide for International Students

For knowing basic Canadian politics:

GUIDE TO THE CANADIAN HOUSE OF COMMONS

Canada Guide: Government

Canadian Government: Structure, Type & Facts

I know this isn’t viable for all Americans and in general I wouldn’t recommend it (given how difficult it can be) but I know a lot of vulnerable people are desperate and feeling very unsafe in the USA right now. I’m not judging anyone, which is why I am providing this information with no bias what so ever.

Americans should also know that Canada has every single systemic social issue that the USA does, so moving here is not going to necessarily get rid of these issues. They may be less severe in some ways, more severe in others but there are serious issues here, so if you are considering this please don’t uphold Canada as some kind of utopia.

I am also available anytime to answer any questions.

#roe v wade #uspoli #cdnpoli #canada #canadian news #canadian politics #canadian

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evilsoup · 3 days

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the danger that george galloway's politics (briefly: anti-imperialism + patriotism/nationalism + some increased workers rights + "anti-woke" i.e. anti-immigrant & anti-trans) represent is both in the immediate term the further normalisation of right-wing politics in british society and also in the longer term that he could act as the middle part of a three-step dance to the right for his followers:

Start off as part of the left, where workers rights, pro-gay, pro-trans, pro-immigrant, feminist, etc politics are grouped together

Move to a seemingly "realistic" position of abandoning a lot of the social freedom issues in order to appeal to (what you imagine to be) majority opinion so that you can get through the small part of the left-wing platform you preserve (anti-imperialism, supporting some workers)

Total absorption by the right, the abandonment of even those remaining rump of left-wing politics

It doesn't help that the form of anti-imperialism taken up by galloway supporters (ime) is based on a model of imperialism as something basically imposed by the USA on the rest of the world sort of from the outside -- essentially, a conspiracy-theorist's analysis -- rather than seeing imperialism as a system within which the USA is currently the hegemonic power, or that the defence of worker's rights is grounded in a sort of hazy nostalgia for the postwar boom. Put that nostalgia-and-conspiracy version of "leftism" through the three-step dance above and I think we could end up with something quite hideous!

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hilsoncrater · 1 year

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The thing is this: we knew that Jack wasn't going to be endgame for Keeley. We knew that from the jump. So now I'm trying to piece together why, to me, their breakup feels off and weird.

And it comes down to three main questions which are all interconnected.

1. Who is this for?

2. What is the context, both in show and in the broader sense?

3. What is the message underneath the choices the writers have made?

Who Is This For?

While the show itself is geared towards adults in the USA, there are storylines within that are written for specific demographics of the general audience. These are the implied audience.

Henry's storyline this episode was a nod to children of divorced parents; Sam's storyline last episode was geared towards immigrants and people of color (although, as others have pointed out, it also felt off in how it was handled); and Colin and Trent's storyline in episode six was for closeted queer people, gay men in particular. Keeley and Jack's implied audience are queer women.

But just because a storyline is written for an implied audience does not mean it excludes the general audience. If anything, it can be argued that it helps broaden the general audience's views on different stories they otherwise may not seek out or watch.

Which is why context is important. It plays a big role in how the general audience outside of the implied audience will form their opinions on the characters, the show, and the issues discussed. Context — especially in shows set in Today's World like Ted Lasso is — also informs how the general audience should interpret the underlying themes/messages.

It is worth noting that storytelling does not exist in a vacuum. Writers have a choice in how to present storylines and they have a responsibility to acknowledge how their choices interact with the real world. Life imitates art, art imitates life; societal norms inform stories, stories inform societal norms.

What Is The Context?

The context here is layered.

It isn't as simple as the microlevel of Jack breaking up with Keeley because she doesn't want to be associated with her anymore. To reduce it down to that level ignores the bigger picture. It's the same as judging a portrait painting based only on how, say, the eyes are rendered. (We knew the portrait will have eyes, but do the eyes fit to the face? How do the eye expressions shift the vibe of the portrait? What message is the artist trying to convey through the eyes?)

Let's talk in-show context, beginning with the characters and then expanding outwards.

Keeley, a bisexual woman who worked her way up to where she is now, is running her own PR firm. Jack, a queer woman who is the daughter of a billionaire, is her investor/employer. The chemistry is there, they get together even though Keeley is still upset over her breakup with Roy.

Jack sweeps Keeley off her feet with expensive gifts and trips. Keeley doesn't mind them, but Rebecca warns her (and the audience) that it sounds like love-bombing. Rebecca takes it a step further by comparing Jack to Rupert, who is established to the audience as an abuser. This idea of love-bombing — and by extension, the idea that Jack can be abusive like Rupert — is further reaffirmed when the waitress tells the two their bill had been taken care of by Jack.

Onscreen, Keeley establishes boundaries with Jack. The two appear to have discussed the love-bombing conversation offscreen, too, as they joke about it in Taste of Athens. The expectation for Jack to be like Rupert is subverted in the croissant scene, but still lingers in the background because of her remaining similarities to the man (wealthy/powerful/keen interest). We the audience need time to trust her after how Rebecca casted doubt on Jack's intentions.

Things seem to go well after that, with the two waking up together and Jack making plans to take Keeley to a family event. Then Keeley becomes a victim of a leaked video, and Jack begins to distance herself because of it. When Keeley says she doesn't regret making or sending the video, Jack leaves after victim-blaming and slut-shaming her.

Again, we knew Keeley was not going to end up with Jack. Their breakup was in the cards, this aspect was no surprise.

Expanding outwards now to other relationships in the show, Keeley and Jack are contrasted against Nate and Jade in both episode seven and episode eight. Where Keeley and Jack are established in a sapphic relationship, Nate and Jade are just beginning their own heterosexual one. Where Keeley and Jack wake up and have breakfast together, Nate and Jade do too. Where Keeley and Jack breakup, Nate and Jade's blossoms and cements labels.

Which, sure, fine, that's how it goes. But if we further expand outwards, we see that Keeley and Jack are the only sapphic relationship in the entire series. An entire series which featured, up until this season, exclusively heterosexual relationships. And still does, now that these two have broken up. There isn't another gay relationship onscreen (unless you count Colin and Michael, even though we haven't seen Michael since episode 3).

Speaking of Colin, sidebar here: The phone scene with Issac and his reaction to what was on Colin's phone is now the second time this season the writers have dangled the expectation of Colin potentially getting outed. Which, judging by Colin's knee-jerk reaction to both Trent and Issac finding out, would be a traumatic experience for him. Being outed is a traumatic experience regardless. This repeated use of fear also specifically plays into the Gayngst (Gay Angst) trope.

If we expand another level outwards, we have the in-show damnation of sexism and slut-shaming and victim-blaming. Multiple characters offer sympathy to what Keeley's fallen victim to. Rebecca, Barbara, Jamie, Roy — they all condemn what's happened and express their support to Keeley in their own ways. This provides context for how the general audience should interpret the underlying message of "A woman's private photos or videos getting leaked online is not her fault. It's an act of violence normalized by a sexist society, and the blame needs to be placed on the person who leaked them."

But who at their core doesn't show that support to Keeley? Who acts as an oppositional view to the underlying message? Jack. Jack, a woman. Jack, a queer woman.

She has her own motives. In a toxic spiral, she begins by cancelling on the event, then she downgrades Keeley to "my friend" in front of a peer, and finally she verbally expresses that it's bad for her personal and professional image if she's seen linked to a woman who's private affairs got leaked. The line in the sand is drawn: Keeley's livelihood is not the priority, Jack's image is.

And this sequence of events all reaffirm Rebecca's earlier mistrust that Jack is not a good person. While Jack is no where near Rupert's level, how she handled what happened with Keeley is still terrible.

And like, yeah, it also serves to show that both men and women are capable of causing harm and abusing their privilege and being egotistical. It reflects real life in that way. But look at the context of the show's treatment of its queer characters in a broader sense and how that context interacts with both the general audience and the implied audience of queer people.

The only sapphic (or queer, if you don't count Colin/Michael) relationship onscreen within three seasons is set-up to fail. The love interest is placed in a position of power over Keeley, which is pointed out by a straight character. Then the love interest is revealed to be toxic, which was also foreshadowed by the same straight character, and she slut-shames/victim-blames Keeley before leaving.

This was a deliberate writing choice. There were so many different avenues the writers could have taken. They could have had Jack fallout with Keeley over the leak in a less internalized misogynistic way, or even over something completely irrelevant to the leak itself. Jack, being a new addition, does not have the same groundwork put into her character to where she is confined to how she'd react. It wouldn't have been OOC of her to genuinely support Keeley, because we don't know her well enough to pass that judgement! On the flipside, it isn't OOC of her to leave, either, because of the same reasoning. But then the discussion becomes: what kind of character is Jack, and what does she represent both symbolically and narratively?

Storytelling doesn't exist in a vacuum.

Going outside of the show now, if you look at queer women stories in television/film, you begin to see the repeated pattern of queer women characters being written as toxic — or worse, predatory — and this characterization is rooted in real life lesbophobia and misogyny. There are tons of resources out there that detail the damaging, pervasive idea that queer women — lesbians, especially — are the same as predatory men. In a patriarchal, misogynistic, heteronormative world where women are hyper-sexualized yet demonized for taking charge of their sexuality, society shames queer women on all fronts.

And because queer women do not center men in their relationships, society historically has viewed sapphic relationships as "lesser" or "not a true relationship" or "just friends/gal pals". It's dismissive. (Until, of course, the fetishization kicks in. However that is a can of worms not to be opened in this meta.)

Queer women barely get screen-time as it is, much less outside of period pieces, and so when every other confirmed relationship shown onscreen falls into the same pattern, the same routine, it's exhausting. It's the same message/theme over and over and over again: "Queer women are toxic. Sapphic relationships don't work."

So why, then, did the writers of Ted Lasso introduce a sapphic plot for Keeley and choose to make it toxic? For a show that takes pride in subverting expectations, there is nothing subversive about this.

We can't judge this storyline by just the eyes. We have to look at the entire portrait painting and then go from there.

Which leaves us with the big double question of: What Is The Underlying Message Here? Why Choose To Portray The Only Sapphic Relationship On The Show In This Way?

#ted lasso spoilers #ted lasso #keeley jones #jack danvers #idk im just. really fckigng tired of seeing queer women relationships fail onscreen #ted lasso meta

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usadvlottery · 3 months

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Explore the journey to US Lawful Permanent Residency with 'USA Green Card: The Ultimate Guide.' This comprehensive resource unveils the intricacies of eligibility, application processes, and essential steps to secure your permanent residency status in the United States.

#american dream #US Green Card #Green Card application process #USA permanent residency guide #Immigration to the United States #Lawful permanent residency steps #USA Green Card eligibility #US immigration requirements #Permanent resident benefits #Green Card application tips #Green Card interview preparation #Family-sponsored immigration #Employment-based Green Card #Diversity Visa Lottery program #Green Card renewal process #USA immigration pathways #Permanent residency advantages

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aspiringbelle · 10 months

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Trump's war on immigration has left millions of job vacancies (many of which companies won't fill), and soured many immigrants about living in the USA. Other countries are stepping in to take advantage of it. Will Biden change anything? Will Congress?

@allthecanadianpolitics

(As an aside, one person in here is from my hometown.)

#politics #immigration restriction #canada

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stephenstrange-md-phd · 22 days

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From Stephen Mun :

Hello everyone posting my kofi account here, where I upload my art and trying to raise funds for immigration and to fund my medical education. All tips and donations directly go towards my education and ensure I get become the next star ✨ female CT surgeon in USA.

My vision is not only to inspire but also help thousands to come by volunteering in global surgery, dealing with critically ill patients in the CT Surgery ICU and to continue to guide young woman and people from humble backgrounds to feel more confident about playing life bigger.... All big dreams and I'm taking baby steps towards them. All and any help is appreciated

Tagging people I know here so that they can spread the word @salty-ironstrange-shipper @ironstrange-is-the-endgame @puppybaby15 @natasharomanoff-anon @loki-anon @americasfineasscaptain @stripesofbrooklyn @officialpeter-parker @born-to-be-mischievous

#stephen strange speaks #Stephen mun #fund raising #medical education

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a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives · 3 months

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Australian & New Zealand Author Showcase No 20 – Luke Arnold

February 9, 2024 by Charlie Cavendish

An idea squeezed into my head in 2023, after seeing so many of the book community gathering at conventions across the US and UK. And once my FOMO subsided, I got to thinking about who might be gathered together if we had similar conventions closer to home. Pending the master planning required to arrange a massive convention, I thought the next best thing might be to run an Australian & New Zealand author showcase. So, I sent out the call, with the only prerequisite for participating being the author had to have been born in either country or currently live there.

Its now 2024 and the Aussie / New Zealand Author Showcase is gathering steam again. Just when I thought it was over even more talent has emerged, at this rate its threatening to become year long event! I will continue to post their individual showcases at regular intervals. So hopefully you will enjoy these interactions with some very talented people. Please be sure to check out their work, sign up to their newsletters and follow them on their social media of choice. I make no apologies for any damage inflicted to your TBR’s!

Showcase No 20 finds me chatting with very talented Luke Arnold. Luke is the award-winning actor from projects such as Black Sails, Glitch and Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of INXS as well as the author of The Fetch Phillips Archives; a series of fantastical detective stories which has third instalments to date.

Do you feel that being an Aussie / Kiwi (or residing there) influences your writing?

Absolutely. I didn’t leave Australia until I was in my twenties so, for better or worse, I was brought up with a distinctly Australian outlook. It’s something that can be easily mischaracterised and also requires some distance to properly understand. Being both a young and old country, we’re still finding ourselves, experiencing growing pains, and struggling with our identity.

At the same time, isolation and an abundance of natural resources means a lot of us are able to benefit from a high quality of life without working as hard as we’d need to in many other places in the world. I think a lot of Aussies know this in their bones, and it makes us nervous of “rocking the boat” for fear that we might lose the advantages we have.

This aversion to change has some embarrassing repercussions on relationships between European Australians and Australia’s First Nations People, as well as our treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers.

We have a different kind of national identity to other western countries like the USA or Britain. We’re still trying to play the underdog – the little colony down under that punches above its weight – but that persona no longer fits us the way it used to. These themes seep into all my work.

Fetch Phillips may have the outward appearance of a classic American hard-boiled hero, but he has an Australian heart. He’s someone who feels separate, a bit ignorant, reticent to become a leader, and happy to defer to those he sees as being older and more experienced. He values being humble and self-effacing, but there is safety in that identity.

It allows him to shirk responsibility and hide in the shadows, even when it should be his moment to step forward. He’s a man who didn’t grow up when he was supposed to and is struggling to come of age too late. I feel like Australia is going through the same thing.

What are some of the challenges being located so far away from the rest of the world, do have any tips for overcoming these?

When I was first trying to get published, I was lucky in that I was already working overseas and had some profile from my acting career. That’s a clear advantage I don’t take lightly. Though I’d always wanted to write, the thing that pushed me to finish my first manuscript was a desire to spend more time at home. My acting career was reaching a point where every job was in a different city, and I wanted to know that I could keep working creatively without needing to get on a plane. There are numerous advantages to being creative in Australia.

One thing that is easily overlooked is that we have more safety nets that some other countries. I really notice this when I’m in the US. It’s terrifying to have no money in America. Of course, cost of living is going up everywhere, but I still think there are more ways to find a balanced life in Australia where you can keep a roof over your head and be creative at the same time. Yes, it’s a smaller market and it can be hard to break out overseas, but if the goal is to live a creative life where you do the thing you love without panicking that someone’s going to kick you out on the street, this is one of the best places in the world to establish yourself.

Personally, I know I couldn’t have survived as a young actor long enough to build my career without the support systems that Australia offers.

3. How do you go about establishing connections in the book community? (any tips / suggestions)

I’m terrible at this. My first two novels came out in 2020 when we were all locked inside, and I’ve only met a handful of other authors in person. So of course, social media is a huge asset.

I mostly rely on creatives I’ve known for a long time. Every couple of weeks, I catch up with an author friend, Steven Lochran, I’ve known since high school, and we read each other’s stuff and discuss what we’re working on. I have a number of other people, some writers some not, who I use as beta readers when they have the time.

Finding your own colleagues that you trust and feel comfortable to share your work with is more important than trying to network your way onto tables with notable people in the industry. If you do good work, then that will happen naturally.

4. Do you have a favourite character to write? And conversely are there any of your characters that are the more of a struggle?

Fetch is fun because he still surprises me. There’s a lot of me in him, and he’s dumb enough that I can stuff my own fears and ideas into his head and have him try and make sense of things. It’s always harder when I have to write someone more intelligent – someone who might have the answers he seeks – because then I need to get ahead of my own pondering and come to some conclusions. Perhaps that’s why everyone is fallible in my world, and even those who seem to have the answers will likely fall to pieces before the end of the story.

5. So aliens finally reveal themselves to us and your work is presented to them as example of what humanity has to offer, what do you hope they will take away from this intergalactic exchange?

I hope they’d see that we’re flawed, confused, vulnerable little things, and yet we keep trying to be better. Individually and collectively. My books are noir in tone, but the point isn’t to say that we’re all broken and corrupt. It’s about celebrating the way we keep trying to be good, even in the face of terrible darkness. Even when we’ve made mistakes that should he unforgivable. Even when the pressure – both without and within – feels like it’s going to crush us. Hopefully, if they’re looking at the state of things right now, it might help them see that we’re not completely lost.

6. Tell us something about yourself that not many people know?

In this relentlessly online world, it’s hard to think of something that isn’t already out there. So I’m trying to think of something obscure. Maybe I’ll share that I play a bit of Beat Saber in VR and I’m determined get to the top of the leader board for Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever (normal difficulty). I’m broken the top 100 but I’m gunning for a top ten spot.

What would you say is the best thing about being an author and the worst?

The best thing is that your work is all yours. There are very few creative endeavours out there where you can give so much of your internal world to another person. While our editors and publishers are integral, it’s not the same collaboration as making a film or playing a song with a band. This is all you.

The worst thing is that your work is all yours. You can get feedback and guidance, but it’s only your name on the cover. You must write every word, alone, without anyone encouraging you or sharing the load. Every time I write a book, I’m struck by what a monumental act of faith it is. One word after the other, day after day, for months, hoping that by the end it will be at all interesting to anyone else. Some days I can’t write a text to someone without crumbling under self-doubt, but then I have to find the motivation to pump out a few thousand words of fiction.

And at the end of it all, when someone else enjoys the finished product, they will also be alone, somewhere far away, playing out the story in their own head, and you’ll be completely oblivious to how it’s making them feel. It requires a level of self-belief that is easier to summon some days more than others.

8. Any other Aussie / Kiwi creatives you’d like to give a shout out for? (let’s spread the love)

I’m embarrassed to say that my reading really dropped off over the last year, but if you want some more noir, this time with a sci-fi twist, the 36 Streets by T.R.Napper’s is a fantastic cyberpunk story set in future Vietnam.

And I finally jumped into Maria Lewis’s The Rose Daughter and am bloody loving it.

9. What’s your favourite quote or passage from one of your books?

Shit. The ones I love one day, I cringe at the next. The chapters about Fetch’s love interest, Amari, in The Last Smile in Sunder City still hold a special place for me though. They were the first pieces I felt confident sharing with other people.

There’s a part where Fetch just lists the days they spent together. As the series continues, I have to keep returning to it to make sure that if I allude to an encounter between Fetch and Amari, it’s related to one of the occasions included in that list. It’s simple, and Fetch doesn’t include much emotion or embellishment, but every time I go back to it, that tragic romantic melancholy gets back under my skin.

9. What’s your favourite quote or passage from one of your books?

10. What can you say about your current project or what you are planning next?

The fourth instalment of The Fetch Phillips Archives is in the editing phase, and I’m really excited to get it in people’s hands. I’ve enjoyed the fact that Fetch has not yet lived up to being either a hard-boiled detective or a fantasy hero. His guilt, self-doubt, and insecurity have taken his investigations (and in some cases the plot of the books) off the rails. That was always intentional, and I found that journey interesting to write, but Book 4 is a different beast. Fetch is still a problematic guy, but he’s put himself together enough to tackle his next case with more determination. So, for the first time, we have a more focused narrative revolving around a single string of murders. There are a lot of rewarding moments in this one for readers who were hoping Fetch might eventually catch a break.

But it’s still noir, so don’t except all sunshine and roses. Just a mystery where the main character isn’t getting in his own way quite so much.

Bonus Question: Lastly Vegemite* yes or no?

Absolutely. Thin layer with plenty of butter. It’s not something I crave when I’m away from home but get me back in the Aussie bush and I’ll be searching for a jar in no time.

* An iconic dark salty spread that (most) Australians slap on toast for breakfast (NB explanation for the rest of the world)

Author Bio:

Luke Arnold was born in Australia and has spent the last decade acting his way around the world, playing iconic roles such as Long John Silver in the Emmy-winning Black Sails, Martin Scarsden in the screen adaptation of Chris Hammer’s Scrublands, and his award-winning turn as Michael Hutchence in the INXS mini-series Never Tear Us Apart. When he isn’t performing, Luke is a screenwriter, director and novelist.

He has published three books in The Fetch Phillips Archives, with the fourth instalment on the way. He performs the audiobooks for all his works, and The Last Smile in Sunder City was nominated for Best Fantasy at the 2021 Audie Awards.

Book/ Series Links

Social Media Links

@longlukearnold on Insta, X, and TikTok

Source: FanFi Addict

#black sails #luke arnold #fanfi addict #the last smile in sunder city #the fetch phillips archives #fetch phillips #interview

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