#earthlings novel
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From a literary standpoint, cannibalism is a very interesting concept.
... come on, at least hear me out.
Devouring a member of one's own species can be a very powerful piece of symbolism when used correctly. In most post-apocalypse fiction, the act serves as a demonstration of the survivors' despiration. In contrast, the character Hannibal Lecter has no shortage of food, and chooses the act out of pure desire. He had everything he needed and it wasn't enough.
Earthlings, by Sayaka Murata has probably the most interesting use of the symbol I've read yet. Her novel uses the act to demonstrate the main character's disconnect from humanity and seizing power from people who enabled harm (I don't feel bad about "spoiling" this because it's a pretty big trigger warning).
Let's talk about Soylent Green. Personally, I've never seen the movie, but I've seen the twist a thousand times in a thousand other stories. Making cannibalism a shocking reveal has been done to death to the point that it rarely shocks. As soon as any fictional character says their franks and beans smells funny, you know it's made out of Frank.
And the whole "soylent green is made of people" plot twist has a thematic point. We are so divorced from the act of making food that anything could be in it. Hell, at this point we have all unwittingly eaten an ungodly ammount of plastic thanks to processed foods. But these twists fail to hit home and be shocking. And that's why I don't think continuing to use cannibalism as a surprising twist is generally effective.
I've started reading Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica. It's very up-front about its people eating, and it's gotten me thinking about horror. Deriving horror from things you don't know or understand has been popular for some time, but I think the horror of public knowledge and open secrets is actually more relevent to today's political climate. We live in a terrible system where we are all forced to contribute to atrocities and sit idly by while we watch people suffer from completely preventable tragedies. There is so much horror in the act of knowing. The act of participating.
... I read a lot of depressing books.
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around 1400 pages read so far this summer! so close to finishing my current book as well 📖 🧠
#princesastudies#studyblr#bookblr#studyblr community#my year of rest and relaxation#otessa moshfegh#studyspo#pretty books#reading list#welcome to night vale#wtnv novel#earthlings#sayaka murata#you feel it just below the ribs#notion#cute notion theme
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#earthlings#sayaka murata#japanese literature#books#bibliophile#amreading#book#bookstagram#book tumblr#bookish#reading#book aesthetic#booksbooksbooks#porcupine#hedgehog#fiction#novel#wrapping#bookmark#bookmarkart#bookmark of demise#diy bookmark#custom bookmark#paperback#saving this for later#fiction in translation#nolitethoughts#cute#funny
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what is it about books that feed my brain nutrients so much more than watching a critically acclaimed television program. I feel like it’s 1. the act of using brain for reading and 2. that books can explore a lot more ground without having to deal with the logistics of coordinating a visual project and getting massive amounts of funding for that project. Also censorship etc.
People (myself included) will always be like we need more fucking crazy bonkers stories and most of them they out there they’re just books. Anyways just thinking….
#i started reading books again this year and not counting graphic novels I’m almost at 1 book a month#if u count graphic novels I’ve read like 60+ lol#i just read earthlings by sayaka murata and if u can deal with the harsh content I would recommend highly
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Murata writes a sad reality of abused outliers surrendering to fantasy. I entered this novel ecstatic about the potential of alien hedgehog plushies but all I was left with was trauma.
7/10
#sayaka murata#earthlings#novel#novel review#novel recommendation#mystery novel#sci-fi novel#japanese novel#japanese literature#tw sex abuse#tw sex assault#tw cannibalism#unreality#booklr#book reviews#books#book review#book recs 2023
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#sayaka murata how i love you dearly#earthlings and convenience store woman were both so good i need to make time to read another book of hers#theres only one more novel of hers thats translated to english which makes me so sad#it is too hard to learn a language to a novel-reading level i dont have the motivation for japanese study to that degree
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Loud Rats Book Club 2023
This year the rats became literate!
We suggested a number of books each month and then voted on one to read (somehow Fish managed to read all 12 of them… wild!). The ones in red are the winners, but there are some other really good books in there.
Hopefully you can find your next favourite read below! :)
January
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson
The Butchering Art by Lindsay Fitzharris
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy
Fledgling by Octavia Butler
Pirates and Prejudice by Kara Louise
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
February
Adua by Igiaba Scego
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
March
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Humans by Matt Haig
Cane by Jean Toomer
Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (#1 Broken Earth Trilogy)
Young Mungo by Douglas Stewart
April
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrel
Dubliners by James Joyce
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
May
Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Where You Come From by Saša Stanišić
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
June
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill
Swimming in the dark by Tomasz Jędrowski
Girls like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 17 by Jeff Kinney
Zami: A New Spelling of my Name by Audre Lorde
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
July
Kid Youtuber 9: Everything is Fine by Marcus Emerson, Noah Child
Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella
Hit Parade Of Tears by Izumi Suzuki
When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back: Carl's Book by Naja Marie Aidt
Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Mapping the Interior by Stephan Graham Jones
August
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
Small Game by Blair Braverman
Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi
September
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
October
Linghun by Ai Jiang
Eyes Guts Throat Bones by Moira Fowley-Doyle
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley
Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić
Kindred by Octavia Butler
November
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Life For Sale by Yukio Mishima
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Liberation Day by George Saunders
Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
December
Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes by Maurice Leblanc
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
#loud rats#book club#to be clear the ones who won weren’t the BEST choice we just love democracy here
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You know how some characters have parallels whether to their classmates or side characters,Yuu deserve the same treatment.
I've had this idea for awhile but imagine yuu wasn't the only one summoned to Twisted Wonderland but one of the few to survive.What if twst was like the back rooms only yuu got dropped to somewhere more "stable",think if someone else got like dropped to like Briar Field imagine how scared they be.
Like twst in the Novel has a translation spell on it but only on the campus.But an older Earthling that somehow survived all the madness and confusion of a new world,along with being lucky enough to find another person like them.
But they hate everything in this new world the magic, the system,their values they're done horrible things to try to get home.
Now yuu has to defend what they hold dear,the need to go home or the care for their new friends.'Will you do whatever it takes to go home"
NOW WE ARE COOKING WITH GAS, I LIKE THIS!!! So I was thinking about this for a good bit and I have two ideas, but I think we need a name for this hypothetical person. Since Yuu is supposed to be (you) this other person is (not you). The two names I can think of are Noh (a play on "no" and a type of Japanese theater where the actors wear masks, which this character metaphorically will be) or Kuroko (stage hands in traditional Japanese theater who wear all black to suggest they are "invisible" which this character again is.) Of the two I like Noh better, so I'll use it for this post but I am open to critique.
Firstly, in line with what you originally proposed, if Noh got dropped in the forest somewhere, unless they already had survival skills they're going to end up dead pretty fast. Or if they get lucky, and you have suggested Briar Valley, a place notoriously unfriendly to humans, I could see things going south very quickly for them. This could be a good place for them to start their journey... but I had another idea. A horrid idea.
What if Noh arrived in Twisted Wonderland a year before Yuu did, but at the Royal Sword Academy? I know we like to talk about how they would be more considerate of Yuu's magiclessness... but that could be isolating in a way couldn't it? Yuu is considered different but equal to the NRC boys in a way. Noh isn't, there's no reason to enroll them as a student so they stay a weird sort of assistant, stuck in limbo with nothing really to do with people who are so blindly focused on the positive that they don't fully comprehend the spiral Noh is in. Noh has seen no overblots; all they have seen is the raw, painful reality of life for people without magic in a world that is increasingly focused on people that aren't them. And how painfully ignorant even the "nice" mages are.
When Noh hears about Yuu, they track them down. Unwilling to trust them at first, they don't mention their plans or their true feelings. They just want to talk about earth... for now. Concrete plans can come later once you both know just how little these mages are on your side.
They just want to go home... just like you... right?
#<3 asks#twisted wonderland x reader#twst x reader#twst yuu#i have a sort of... shape for Noh forming in my head#i like to base o.c.s from yuu's world off non disney properties so uh#noh would be based off of no face from spirited away#maybe they knew yuu? went to the same school?#i like the idea of the friend of an older sibling/relative/friend#so someone who knew yuu but only in passing#or maybe wanted to know yuu but wasn't able to get close until now
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James Gurney, 'Quozl', 1989
"Quozl…was painted for the Alan Dean Foster novel of the same name. The novel tells the humorous story of the Quozl, rabbit-eared aliens who land on planet Earth to establish a settlement or "Fist Burrow." The Quozle, like rabbits, reproduce at an alarming rate and have been forced to travel from their overcrowded home plant of Quozlene to colonize other planets…Quozl shows the moment in which a group of these aliens explore the dwelling of a typical Earthling family."
James Gurney writes of his planning of the cover painting:
As a fantasy illustrator, my goal is usually to create a completely new kind of architecture. With Quozl, my goal was to introduce the fantastic rabbit_like creatures into a familiar American living room and show them reacting to common, everyday things, like televisions, posters, and VCRs. I followed Alan Forster's description of this moment in the book, but elaborated the idea with images that i gathered on a research tour though a local shopping mall. When the painting was finished, it showed a number of trademarked images, like Wonder Bread and Bugs Bunny. The lawyers at the publishing company were nervous about showing these in the final image as it appeared on the book jacket, so, with my approval, they has an art director touch uo the painting (with water-based paints that could later be removed) so that all the recognizable images became just a little different."
The image reproduced on the paperback book jacket stretches across the spine, so that the right-hand portion of the painting receives prominence as the front cover."
Source
Addendum: I don't think it needs to be stated that what's being presented here as your "familiar American living room" reads as white and middle class. Not necessarily a criticism, just an observation. I guess I did need to state it.
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Books to get you Back into Reading!!!
It's a very common occurrence that people who loved reading as a kid struggle to get through a single page as an adult. But getting back into reading can be easy as pie with these fun, light reads!
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski
Who among us doesn't love a spooky haunted house story? This was Danielewski's debut novel and it is quite the fun, quick and easy read about a guy that finds a weird door in his house. The mystery is great for beginners to the horror genre in this light and straightforward book. I myself listened to it on Audible.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
You can't always judge a book by its cover but Earthlings is as cute and wholesome as the little stuffed hedgehog on the front. This book is about Natsuki, a little girl who's misunderstood by everyone in her family except for her cousin, Yuu. It's a wonderful story about the love of familial relationships and imagination. Talk about life-affirming!
Evicted by Matthew Desmond
This inspiring true story about poor families moving into new homes after eviction is exactly what you need to read to restore your faith in good ol' American capitalism. It will also prove to you that racism doesn't exist because it says that both white and black people can be poor! Plus we had a black president once! Hashtag racismisover. Hashtag gowokegobroke. Hashtag G-d bless the USA, except for California, the liberal hippi state. HASHTAG JESUS WOULD LOVE CAPITALISM TOO IF HE WERE ALIVE TODAY! HASHTAG BILLIONAIRE$ ARE ALL ALPHA MEN. HASHTAG--
... oh god I think I blacked out and typed this list. Happy April Fool's, everyone. These are all great books, but maybe not good to start with.
#april fools#best books#get back into reading#read a book#earthlings novel#evicted book#house of leaves
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any thoughts on "Yuu got isekai'd by death" theory? the evidence ive seen people on twitter bring up is 1) the coffins symbolizing parting with your former world and rebirth into a new one 2) the way in Savanaclaw manga's Yuuka runs into the traffic trying to save a cat and then instead of a car we see the carriage. (it also would make sense that yuuken would ..get hit by some wild driver while he was waiting at a bus stop) someone also said that it would add more reasons to why crowley is avoiding the topic of going home.
Personally, I feel like the theory is lacking in concrete evidence 🤔 and what has been presented so far has been very circumstantial or could easily be interpreted in other ways (especially because of how vague Crowley’s intentions are).
I can see where people are going with in regards to Yuuken, Yuuka, and even Yuuya (from the light novel) all suspiciously being transported to Twisted Wonderland at a crosswalk, but... I don't know, the pragmatic part of me is going, "Doesn't it make sense for them to see a carriage at a crosswalk??? That doesn't necessarily mean the Yuus all got ran over and reincarnated, even if that's what is typically associated with a lot of other isekai". (Also note that game Yuu doesn't give an explanation of what their most recent memory was before waking up in a new world, although this could just be the product of making game Yuu more readily self-insertable for the players.) The coffins are just something I see as an overall aesthetic thing (ie all students arrive at NRC in coffins and/or the carriage), so it doesn't make Yuu's arrival particularly special other than the being from another world aspect of them.
I also think there's tons of possible explanations for why Crowley may be avoiding the subject of bringing Yuu home or not putting forth a lot of effort to return them. It doesn't necessarily have to include "Yuu is actually dead". For example, it’s been mentioned in the prologue itself that Crowley wants (even “needs”) Yuu to help his students get along, so there’s an inherent benefit to himself and the school. That is already plenty of incentive for Crowley to get Yuu to stay.
This wasn’t mentioned in the ask, but I recall also seeing a few on Twitter suggest that since Yuu and Grim live in Ramshackle with ghosts (ie the dead unable to move on), this may imply that Yuu (and maybe even Grim) are also dead?? Again, this is something that I feel could easily be explained away by the dorm just being abandoned and being convenient housing for misfits; ghosts usually lay claim to unoccupied spaces with a lot of magical energy (ie Ghost Marriage) and Ramshackle just happened to fit the parameters?
The idea just brings up more questions than it answers, such as Twisted Wonderland as the (pseudo)afterlife (?), what are the implications for the other characters that already exist in this world (are they also all dead, or is it only Yuu?), why don't other Earthlings that die in accidents also isekai'd to Twisted Wonderland; does it require outside intervention/a spell? (like... Yuu has yet to meet anyone who is also from another world??? Statistically speaking, wouldn't there be more than just Yuu??), did Crowley kill a kid just to transport them to Twisted Wonderland (if he, in fact, did intentionally summon Yuu and only Yuu there)???? Or was that death coincidental and Crowley just happened to whisk them away after that? What would the issue be with telling Yuu they’re dead right away do they’re more willing and ready to adapt to a new life at NRC if Crowley wants their help with making his students get along? Why play the long haul and lie about it?
Overall, I think that it's a cool concept! Maybe something to explore for angst fics or fanart. I also confess that it’s a veeeery convenient excuse to keep Yuu forever in Twisted Wonderland and never actually return home (meaning the game can go on for longer and make more money). Still, it’s just not something I find myself completely sold on, especially when the evidence for it is very vague and has more immediate explanations offered for them. It also seems like it would actually explain very little as opposed to clearing things up 😅 so for now, I’m highly skeptical.
I feel like if TWST really wanted to foreshadow the “Yuu is dead” thing it could have been done in a much less obscure way (ie the game doesn’t outright tell us that Ortho died, but we get plenty of dialogue that hints that something is off with Ortho; something similar could have been done with Yuu, even if they aren’t the one overtly speaking. Maybe other characters can comment about their abnormalities, I don’t know.)
#twst#twisted wonderland#Yuu#Dire Crowley#Yuuka Hirasaka#Hirasaka Yuuka#Yuuken Enma#Enma Yuuken#Kuroki Yuuya#Yuuya Kuroki#disney twisted wonderland#twst theory#twisted wonderland theory#twst theories#twisted wonderland theories#Ramshackle Ghosts#Grim#Ortho Shroud
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books of year ‘23, but only the ones that weren’t rereads and that I had something to say about. Text is written out below the cut. Please recommend books to me!!
Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis
when i saw this being recommended to me on scribd i sent it to my friends along with the word YESSSSSSSSS about 80 times. This has palpable Diana Wynne Jones insanity which is very exciting to me. The romantic lead is so boring but he’s not important; what’s important is the main character’s batshit physical transformation and its consequences. This book also triggered a personal ephiphany that i’d been setting myself up for for years, which is a little bit happenstance but I’m glad it happened while listening to this as an audiobook on a hike.
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Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura
I’ve read a few books with a similar tone and goals but most of them do not feel as sincere, or they get preachy in a way this does not. I am a massive sucker for narratives about going and coming back to magical worlds (pre-isekai boom), like coville’s unicorn chronicles or barker’s abarat. they’re the most effective to me when they do what this is doing: telling an empathetic human story. One thing I really appreciate about this book as a mental illness narrative for younger people is its willingness to tackle the idea that someone’s terrified inner voice can be incorrect, or it can reflect reality accurately— some people do have a reason to be excessively scared. I think there’s a tendency when tackling this concept, especially for child readers, to tell them that their anxieties are silly and illogical, that of course no one is trying to hurt them. But that’s not always true. I appreciate that this story is able to question the main character’s assumptions about other people’s evil intentions while not questioning that her feeling of fear is real, while simultaneously acknowledging that similar pain is felt by kids going through abuse. I think I would have preferred a smaller cast or a longer book with more exploration of the other kids.
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Earthlings: A Novel by Sayaka Murata
another very empathetic mental illness book, but much more disturbing. the main character’s worldview is alluring because the narrative paints reality in such a bleak way. If it didn’t force a sense of perspective on you, it could be a document that starts a cult. It’s very accurate to some experiences that I have had and things i have heard people say while in dangerous situations that involve religious behavior.
It’s very difficult to challenge the type of thinking this explores because each brick that builds a wall between someone’s mind and the rest of reality can seem like a reasonable brick. but when you look at the whole wall you can’t understand how such small and normal things as bricks could seal someone up inside and swallow them. This does a good job of showing you its challenge without being cruel. I’m glad I read it.
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What Once Was Mine: A Twisted Tale by Elizabeth J. Braswell
official goth retelling of disney’s tangled, I had to see what was going on in there but it was pretty boring, worth the $0 price of library admission for rapunzel having evil moon hair that fucking kills you
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Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker
NO EXPLANATION FOR WHY THE TODDLERS STARTED TO CRAVE BLOOD. WAS HOPING DRACULA WAS BURIED UNDER THE PRESCHOOL BUT NOBODY LETS ME HAVE ANYTHING AROUND HERE
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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I’d never read this before. Soooooo fun
fucking GET HIMMMMMM GIRLLLLL YESSSSSSSS!!!!! KILL!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex by Henricus Cornelius Agrippa, edited by Albert Rabil Jr. 2007 edition
I cannot recommend this text enough if you are insane like me in pain like me (english literature major). Imagine that you are the princess of Austria and you’re bored of mummifying your husband’s heart and you decide to buy the man who would become arguably the world’s most famous wizard. this happened in real life. And what he decided to do was kiss her ass with his entire mouth. To that end, he wrote a torturously funny ted talk about how god made women better than men. Here are some reasons: women don’t drown in water because they’re fatter than men, but when women DO drown they do it face down so no one will see their boobs. Menstrual blood cures epilepsy and depression and can extinguish fires (????). all eagles are female (?????) and god created women last so he had tons of practice by then. This is the holy grail of bitchy footnotes. So many of these are just “he made this up”. It’s so fun!! And it’s helpful to remember that people have always been making shit up.
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honorable mention: I read through the letters of Saint Hildegard of Bingen and I have to recommend this to everyone alive. I think she was in lesbian love so hard that that’s why she she wrote that shitty letter to the pope. but what do i know. she is also about 80% of the reason we know anything of what medieval medical knowledge was among women in europe. She also documented a ton of natural science.
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The Crone Wars by Lydia M. Hawke
Now i have to admit i didn’t read all these. I did read the first one but this author’s priorities just don’t really align with mine, since these are ultimately straight romance novels. However, I wanted to show how long the series goes and what the titles are because I think they’re really fun. It was very cool to see what YA sensibilities look like with a 60 year old protagonist. This main character really reminded me of Usagi from Sailor Moon, which as a massive freak about sailor moon is not something I give out lightly, and I kept imagining events from this book as drawn by Riyoko Ikeda. After spending a little time with it, the manga panels just sort of happened in my mind and i recommend the experience. I do still want to draw some scenes from it sometime.
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My Speculative Biology Library
Got talking on Discord about biology (it started with laughing about a pic of a bacteriophage my husband freaked out about) and because we're all sci-fi loving nerds, the topic of speculative biology came up. I'm no biologist (unlike two very talented other discord members), but I love science, and love reading and writing about animal life, evolution, and figuring out how to make my own aliens as "realistic" as possible (i.e. at least scientifically plausible).
One of my fellow discord members (Discordians? Discordees?) asked if I would post my collection of speculative biology "research material", so @admiral-arelami, this one's for you!
In no particular order, with some entries being more scientific than others:
Extraterrestrials: A Field Guide for Earthlings
by Terence Dickinson and Adolf Schaller c 1994
A kid's book, this little volume actually gives a great introduction to the idea of looking at aliens from a more scientific perspective. It starts with looking at some popular sci-fi aliens, then moves on to discussing theoretical planetary environments, and the aliens that might evolve to live there. The cutie on the cover is a creature that might live in the atmosphere of a gas giant!
Speaking of which:
Cosmos by Carl Sagan. c 1980 Both the mini-series and the book. Wish I could find my beautifully illustrated hardcover edition, but oh well.
This absolute classic features an unforgettable chapter where Carl Sagan speaks about the possibility of life in the atmosphere of Jupiter, imagining "sinkers", "floaters" and "hunters", as a small example. I was absolutely blown away and I'm not the only one! Notable sci fi writers like Robert L. Forward and Timothy Zahn (I'm a huge fan, if you couldn't tell by my blog) have both written novels about the same topic. If you're a fan of Classic Doctor Who, the Cosmos mini-series won't disappoint in the aesthetics department either!
After Man: A Zoology of the Future by Dougal Dixon c 1981
Considered one of the most influential texts of the speculative biology sub-genre, and probably one of the first to treat the topic with genuine scientific curiosity. It looks at a world 50 million years in the future, and theorizes about how modern day animals might have evolved during that time, assuming that humanity has gone extinct. Beautiful artwork accompanies intriguing looks at possible animals, all sorted by biome.
After Man is part of a loose "series" along with The New Dinosaurs (a speculative Earth where non-avian dinosaurs never went extinct)and Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future (what might have happened to humans in the After Man universe, who aren't so extinct after all). I don't have the other two (yet), but the whole "trilogy" is available to borrow (for free, and legally!) on the Internet Archive, so I've read them. Man After Man is messed up.
The Future is Wild c 2002
Basically a spiritual successor to After Man, this 13 part mini series has the same premise -- looking at how modern day animals might evolve in the future -- though it examines different time periods: 5 million years, 100 million years, and 200 million years in the future. I love this series for its creativity, pretty decent CGI (especially for its time) and some absolutely unforgettable animals, like the giant Toratons -- tortoises the size of sauropod dinosaurs! Some of its premises are a little questionable as Science has Marched On, but it's still a really fun watch, and puts as much thought into its wildlife as its predecessor.
Future Evolution by Peter Ward c 2001
This book also looks at possible future life on Earth, but takes a much more pessimistic view of things, and the author honestly doesn't sound like he enjoys the topic at all, which makes me wonder why he wrote about it in the first place. Unlike the previous two examples, he assumes humanity will still be around in the future, and our presence alone basically prevents any cool megafauna from evolving in the first place, and he assumes we'll never make any headway into space either. Kind of a downer, actually.
HG Wells Science Fiction Treasury c circa 1895-1901
The previous entry compared his work to Wells' The Time Machine, and honestly, he shouldn't have. Wells was a visionary. In his novels, long before anyone else even considered doing so, Wells thought about the effects of lower gravity on his Martians and their susceptibility to Earth bacteria in War of the Worlds, the possible future evolution of humanity in The Time Machine, and more on alien life in The First Men in the Moon, to name a few in this collection. The Island of Doctor Moreau is a borderline case, since the "beast men" there were made and didn't evolve naturally, but is still an interesting look at humans' relationship with other animals. Basically, anyone interested in spec bio would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn't read Wells' novels.
The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth c 2013
Part guidebook, part novel, this work looks at popular creatures from mythology and actually tries to examine them from a scientific perspective, looking at how their anatomy might possibly work, and their relation to humans, if any. Definitely an interesting look at creatures that are usually brushed off as pure fiction, like mermaids, harpies, centaurs, etc.
Speaking of mythical creatures ...
The Flight of Dragons by Peter Dickinson c 1979
The original "Dragonology", this book, which partly inspired the animated film of the same name (which was made by the same studio as The Last Unicorn). Its ideas on how dragons scientifically may fly and breathe fire have been "borrowed" by many other speculative works afterwards, and most theories seem pretty solid. However, I can't ever read this book again after it proposed wildly unfair sexual dimorphism for dragons. It said the cool, fire-breathing giant lizards we all know and love are the males, while things like Medusa or Grendel's Mother, mostly humanoid mythical monsters with barely any connection to dragons, are the females. Yeah ... that killed it for me, I'm sad to say.
The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide
by Terryl Whitlatch and Bob CVarrau c 2001
This book looks at the animal life of various on-screen Star Wars planets, with specific chapters on Tattooine, Dagobah, Yavin IV, the Forest Moon of Endor, Bespin Hoth, Coruscant (yes, Coruscant apparently has some wildlife!) and 3 separate chapters on Naboo, with a little bit at the end showing off other notable Legends animals (such as fan-favourite Ysalamiris!) Not the most scientific on in-depth book in this collection by any means, but the artwork is beautiful, and at least it tries. I'm really glad I saw it on Ebay!
To Seek Out New Life: The Biology of Star Trek
by Athena Andreadis c 1998
There's a couple Star Trek biology books out there, but I enjoyed this one the most. It doesn't really talk about animal life, but instead focuses on Star Trek's sapient (mostly humanoid) alien species, and tackles some philosophical questions, such as whether artificial lifeforms like androids or holograms count as life -- a topic the shows themselves have wondered about.
The Teeming Universe: An Extraterrestrial Field Guide
By Christine Cline c 2021
The newest book in my collection, the author and illustrator really puts a lot of thought into what alien life might actually be like, using the newly-discovered planet types of reality as opposed to science fiction, like a tidally-locked planet around a red dwarf star. He also assumes humans will be able to go out and explore these worlds ourselves, and that we can make peaceful contact with sapient aliens we may encounter (who will NOT be humanoid!). A refreshingly optimistic and fun look, and very up-to-date.
The Zoologist's Guide the the Galaxy by Arik Kershenbaum c 2021
I had actually completely forgotten that I picked up this book! Once I read it, I'll give a proper review, but considering it's just as new as The Teeming Universe, I'm hoping it will be just as accurate and fun!
#Speculative Biology#my spec bio collection#so far#science fact#science fiction#love this genre so much!
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What are ur fav books? (Fic and nonfic)
If ya got 2.5h to kill I may as well send asks xD
skgkxlkslf im actually on the train now but that just means i have 7 more hours to kill so yes! thank you!
(im gonna have to divide this up into categories and ill give you my top 5 for each because im an indecisive bitch)
fav classic novels: women in love by d. h. lawrence, the waves & mrs dalloway by virginia woolf, a portrait of the artist as a young man by joyce, moby-dick (duh!)
fav contemporary classic novels (post-wwii for simplicity's sake): a single man by christopher isherwood, beloved by toni morrison, the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson (i read this every year for halloween), giovanni's room by james baldwin, housekeeping by marilynne robinson
fav classic novels that were written in 1913/14 but not published until 1971 thus making you reconsider the categories you take for granted before even having read a single word: maurice by e. m. forster
fav contemporary novels: a little life by hanya yanagihara (this is not a recommendation actually if you want to read this book find a therapist first, then put it in a box labeled 'uncle jimmy's failed tie-dye projects' and forget about it forever), call me by your name by andré aciman, earthlings by sayaka murata, milkman by anna burns, my tender matador by pedro lemebel
fav recent novels: assembly by natasha brown (you could also call this a novella tbh i think it's less than a hundred pages), swimming in the dark by tomasz jedrowski, the life of the mind by christine smallwood, jonathan abernathy you are kind by molly mcghee, the book of goose by yiyun li
fav short stories/short story collections: mothers and sons by colm toíbín, dubliners by james joyce, the garden party by katherine mansfield, odour of chrysanthemums by d. h. lawrence, life ceremony by sayaka murata
fav nonfiction: sea and sardinia by d. h. lawrence, the lonely city by olivia laing, fearing the black body by sabrina strings, a field guide to getting lost by rebecca solnit, shrill by lindy west
honorable mentions: the color purple by alice walker, through a glass darkly by jostein gaarder, disorientation by elaine hsieh chou, medallions by zofia nalkowska, what we dont talk about when we talk about fat by aubrey gordon
THANK YOU FOR THE ASK THIS TOOK ME A FULL HOUR
#ask#moochies#lit#&#also#this guy didnt mention a single german title smh#actually swimming in the dark ive only read in german#= im wasser sind wir schwerelos
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Top 5 books ^_^
Horrendous bookish rambling ahead! Also fair warning some of the stuff I read has a tw.
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer - I love this book. The whole SR series. Altered my brain chemistry. It’s a biological cosmic horror written in the most wonderful way. I have so much love in my heart for the protagonist - it was reading a book from my own perspective, I related to her so badly. I felt so seen by her. She’s second to Shuu for me. I love Jeff Vandermeer, I think he’s a truly a remarkably underrated artist especially in the horror genre. There was a film made of the book, but whilst both the book and the film deal with the same theme and have the same premise, they are different stories with different characters. Both worth looking into.
by Chandler Morrison - a very raw depiction of eating disorders. I was genuinely shocked to see this was written by a cis man, because it was such a raw, real showcase of what having an eating disorder is like. All the ugly parts, the genuine horror of it as a concept. It is the best representation of eating disorders I’ve yet to read. It pains me to not have this in print. I have Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison too, which I also really liked - but TW it’s a satirical extreme horror novel and there’s lots of gross stuff in it. But thighgap is very dear to me. Obviously huge TW if you check this one out. <3
Tender Is The Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica - Tokyo Ghouls fans might like this! Maybe. This is about a dystopian world where a ‘disease’ has spread to most of the animals of the world, crucially farm animals, which ultimately leads to the farming and breeding of the only safe meat left - human.. The protagonist is someone that basically manages several of the farms/factories (i can’t exactly remember), and he is gifted one of the farmed humans, which he keeps as a pet. It’s a very twisted novel, and so full of depth and moral questioning - all the characters in this book have great depth, and I really enjoy that. It’s never written as a simple ‘thing bad’, and I really find that valuable, especially these days. A lot of people pass this book off as vegan propaganda (very interesting take it u read certain parts of the book btw), and I’m not going to say the take is invalid, but I do think it is quite a reductive, surface-level analysis of the book. Really worth sinking ur teeth into. :)
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata - either this one or Convience Store Woman are excellent novels. Murata is one of my favourite authors. I have all three of her current releases. Earthlings is really hard to explain, but just bc the material is sensitive - tw for CSA and i guess incest? There’s cannibalism but we’re tg fans im not tagging that lmao. This book very much deals with childhood trauma and its effects, sadly very relatable. It’s a painful read, but I found it so dreadfully validating. Sayaka Murata as an author does that. One thing to note about Murata, is that she really does write about neurodivergence and asexuality in a very interesting way, I think especially for a Japanese author. Convience Store Woman is also wonderful, again dealing with neurodivergence, asexuality, being aromantic, and living a happy ‘unsuccessful’ life that the general world deems disappointing. Convience Store Woman is probably a better started than Earthlings, though I love them both. I highly rate her as an author.
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Okay, so it’s Dostoyevsky, i don’t need to explain why it’s good. This is one of the more underrated of his works, I feel. I love Dostoyevsky generally as an author, I like Crime & Punishment, Notes From Underground is on my tbr, so is Demons, I’ve read parts of The Brothers Karamazov , but this book specifically is very beautiful to me. I feel like sometimes people understate the optimism that can be found in works by authors like Dostoyevsky, and this book is paramount to that optimism. My God, do I need to reread it.
Sorry 4 rambling! Some other books I like a lot are Watership Down, Battle Royale, Fifteen Dogs, Social Creature, and Hot Milk. I like too many books to list, my god! This is why Goodreads is a godsend! I’m planning on making a Tokyo Ghoul reading list at some point, maybe!
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