About

I’m a graduate of the University of Chicago and a lapsed PhD candidate at NYU (where I studied racial bias in police shoot/don’t shoot decisions). I worked with Bungie Studios on much of the lore and backstory for Destiny.

You can reach me at sethjosephdickinson@gmail.com.

77 thoughts on “About

  1. Nicole Deyerl

    Looking forward to reading the traitor baru! If you end up making a facebook page for yourself/your works, let us know!

    Reply
  2. therarecommoner

    Books of Sorrow is one of the most amazing texts I’ve ever read in a game and could stand alone outside of the medium all together. Just brilliant. Congratulations on its creation and publishing. I wish you could hold a talk on it. The destiny community would trip over themselves to engage you. I wonder if you’ve ever inquired about that… They really could use a boost to the lore right about now…

    Reply
  3. Max D'Ambrosio

    The Book of Sorrows and your other Destiny lore work is among the best fiction I have ever read; you managed to reinterpret a generic hostile alien swarm into a full-fledged fictional civilization, with a compassionate treatment that stirs up major insight into how people fall to the temptation of their darker impulses.
    Sometime after Shadowkeep’s Unveiling book concludes, will there be similar material for the Traveler or beings associated with it? Or perhaps the Ahamkara, or Mara Sov? I hope you are given lots of input into wherever the story/backstory leads.

    Reply
    1. Max D'Ambrosio

      PS: I am in the process of seeking out your other work as well! What pieces are you most happy with/proud of?

      Reply
    2. Seth Post author

      If you’re interested in the Awoken and Mara, the Marasenna lorebook might catch your interest. I got to collaborate with some very talented writers on that one (who have done other great writing about Riven and the other ahamkara.) Jon Goff’s Dredgen Yor saga is also a popular read. Thank you for your kind words!

      Reply
      1. Max D'Ambrosio

        Marasenna’s also fantastic. I sort of assumed it filled the “in-between” role in relation to the Book of Sorrows, but on reflection I guess Mara’s most likely firmly aligned with the Sky, rather than some incoherent idea of balance between good and evil. I really appreciated that recent letter from Eris Morn where she criticized the moral relativism that’s “fashionable” among those going for edginess.
        Are you currently directly involved with writing the Unveiling book? Of course, I am not sure how much you are allowed to say about current or future work, so it’s no skin off my nose if you can’t confirm or deny.
        I’m also curious as to what that creative process looks like. For the collaborative portions, are there meetings and writers’ rooms, draft exchanges, all of the above?

        Reply
        1. Seth Post author

          I did have the good fortune to write Unveiling, yeah. Unfortunately due to time and money constraints the creative process is usually pretty solitary. I get a brief, write the story, maybe get some feedback by email.

          Reply
  4. Stephen Bernal

    Heyyy, buddy. Scourge here. How have you been doing, plague notwithstanding? Just concerned about you is all.

    Also, I’m finally reading The Traitor Baru Cormorant, and really enjoying it so far.

    Reply
  5. Alasdair Neason

    Hey Seth. Just read your The Final Order story from the From A Certain Point of View anthology. I really had a blast with it. Can I ask if the Alderaanian refugee convoy event Canonhaus is referring to is the one from the Star Wars: Squadrons game or something else?

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      I think it is, yes; when I pitched the idea of Canonhaus being involved in killing Alderaanian refugees I was told there was an upcoming project with a related event which we could refer to. I imagine that was Squadrons.

      Reply
  6. ennis rook bashe

    hey this is ennis, i just wanted to say how much i love tyrant???? i love the hallucination/tulpa stuff and baru realizing the limits of her conditioning and how she’s been conditioned and how there’s another, better way to achieve her goals!! I love the right-justified (or left? i’m dyslexic) text! i love the scene where she has meningitis and she’s hallucinating and she figures all the shit out!!! every time i read your work i feel like i am a gay who can do math, capable of both solving the trolley problem and writing a good book that i will actually be proud of! i know nothing about economics but i am delighted!!!
    hope you’re not too bored, and that maybe you have managed to find some wild new quarantine hobby. have you read the locked tomb series? it’s about petty genius lesbians being terrible, so you might like it.

    Reply
  7. Titan

    Amazing work on Book of Sorrows it is definitely the best lore in any video game. I hope you’re helping Bungie with Witch Queen I’d love to see more hive lore in Destiny 2 it’s kind of lacking it compared to Destiny 1.

    Reply
  8. mary

    Hi, Seth! I love your work and I want to send you a nice message. I was wondering, is the email listed here still your active one? (I know you’re not active on twitter, so I just wanted to make sure.)

    Reply
  9. reveries

    Hello. I was impressed by Marasenna and I wanted to know a few things about how you created the queen herself, meaning her character, her actions and her image. What is it based on, on what idea? And what message does it carry. What does name and surname her and her brother mean. Why did she make such decisions and what did she sacrifice in her fate what is her sacrifice. And who is she in general?

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      I didn’t really create anything about the Queen. I didn’t originate the character or write most of her foundational dialogue/lore. Between Taken King and Forsaken there were no plans to bring the Queen back and it seemed like she was just dead. When I worked on Forsaken, I tried to square all the evidence from the Destiny 1 grimoire and the abandoned Taken King plot hooks with what was happening in Forsaken. So she had to be present at the creation of at least some Awoken, had to be obsessed with secrets, had to have a tense relationship with her brother, had to have a plan (in partnership with Eris Morn) related to getting blown up by Oryx that justified her being absent for a while, had to have a mysterious relationship with the Nine, had to be unable to save Uldren from dying in Forsaken. All of that was already canon and had to be tied together. Other writers also contributed a lot, though I don’t want to share names without their explicit permission.

      Reply
  10. Teddy Partridge

    I just finished devouring your three Baru volumes and I am a fan.

    Remarkable world-building and morality development.

    Is there anywhere to read more about Incrasticism? I’d like to know more about it.
    Also, are you a queer person? If not, I must say your understanding and writing about queer relationships is outstanding. Bravo. I would like to know more about the Princes’ choices/assignments of gender.

    Finally, when is Book Four? I understand you deserve a serious break after Books 1-3.

    Reply
  11. Shields_up

    Hello!
    Curious if there’s any lore books or CE material in The Witch Queen you were involved in writing, if you feel like / are at liberty to talk about it.

    I miss your occasional pop ups at reddit, despite the lore page being a mixed bag, but hope you’re doing well!

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Hey, thanks for asking! I think any convo about that should wait until they’ve announced whether or not there’s a CE. Have they done that one way or the other?

      Reply
      1. Shields_up

        Yes! Sadly I missed the option to order it, already sold out. There’s a Hive Ghost model and such, but they still have the details on the Bungie store. I’m hoping to do what I did with Shadowkeep and find a no game code box of the books and other materials on eBay in several months. So worth it for the manual explaining the Anomaly cladding!

        Reply
        1. Seth Post author

          Someone just emailed me to tell my that scans have been posted so I guess I can say that, yeah, I wrote it.

          Reply
          1. Shields_up

            Oh Jeez!
            Well, ok! I look forward to getting my hands on the book sometime in the future!
            Thanks for replying!

  12. Avinash

    Hi Seth, sorry to bother you here, Just wanted to say that I just read the full The Witch Queen CE book and Ikora’s letter to Sen-Aret is one of favourite writings from the whole Destiny Universe, Thank you for your contribution on my Favorite sci-fi stories.

    Did you write anything else for TWQ? I feel like Alter of Reflection lorebook has some of your touch as well. Thanks for amazing stories.

    Also, just started Traitor and it’s soooo good. Can’t wait to find out how the story goes.

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Sorry for missing this post for three years! I’m glad you enjoyed. I don’t remember writing anything else for Witch Queen beyond the CE book…well, there was some cool stuff involving Ikora battling an unusual Vex, but I don’t think it shipped anywhere.

      Reply
  13. Ashley

    Hey Seth! I wanted to ask if you lurk at all on twitter/tumblr and see fanart/memes for Baru?
    The Masquerade series has really changed my standards for reading, so I wanted to thank you for that!

    Reply
  14. Ivars Ozols

    hi,

    are there any ways or places where one would be able to read your stories :

    The Immaculate Conception of Private Ritter
    Claymore Three-Zulu
    Hypocrite

    Cannot find any websites or publications where it would be possible

    Thank you so much in advance for your reply

    Reply
    1. Anthony King

      Hey Seth! First and foremost: THANK YOU for The Masquerade! Easily one of my eternally-loved series; which spurs the question…

      Will we get a Baru book 4!? Just re-read the series and am now fiending for more, hehe.

      Cheers!

      Reply
      1. Seth Post author

        Yes, but not soon (as in, not next year, not the year after). I want to do it right. Also I am trying to ship what was supposed to be the fun book between Baru projects (written between Baru 1 and 2, even) and it has turned into an unending nightmare.

        Reply
  15. Kip Brady

    Thank you for speaking to us at the International Pilot Club Convention in Rochester, NY. You did not mention you were a writer, but I am glad Mississippi has you in government! Keep up the good work, Mr. Dickinson! I will buy your books and tell our club to do the same!

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Whoa, hold up! Sorry to disappoint, but I’m a different Seth Dickinson. There’s a few of us out there.

      Reply
  16. Sean

    I’m a bit late to the previous posts, only just found your site. I just wanted say your contribution to destiny lore is very much appreciated. Books of Sorrow, The unveiling are in my opinion great works and both I read often. Books of sorrow being my favourite and gives a different depth and perspective to the hive and their beginnings.

    I will look for your other works that are mentioned many times in pist above.

    Reply
  17. Lorelei

    I’ve just eaten my way through the Baru Cormorant series, and I love the subnautica games /, so I admire a lot of your work.

    Just wanted to say loved the use of tribadism (rip for a lack of invert) as period appropriate terminology! And trans rep in the book is fantastic too!

    Wanted to ask – are you planning any author tours soon?

    Reply
  18. awsimo

    Hi, Seth! Enormous fan. Any plans to put out a collection of your short stories? I know getting any book to print can be a bit of a nightmare, especially when you’re trying to collect a bunch of stories that have already been put out by a bunch of different publishers. But I’m just sayin’, I would preorder that DAY ONE if it happened.

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      No plans, for better or worse. Single author collections are always a bit dicey financially and I have a hard time reading my work and thinking “yes, I should put this all in one place!” But for whatever it’s worth the short stories are mostly all readable online.

      Reply
  19. Ivars Ozols

    Hi Seth,

    It’s more than a half a year since I last asked you about Baru Book 4. Could you please give us ANY UPDATES about the book and how it’s going. ANYTHING you can give us would be better than a vacuum of information. You have so many eager/passionate readers who would appreciate a glimpse, a particle, a molecule. Please 🙂

    Love,

    Patiently/impatiently waiting

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      I haven’t written a word on it since I threw out the last draft, been focused on Exordia and the new day job.

      Reply
  20. Fisher

    Just found out that a great deal of my favorite Destiny lore was written by one person and that they have their own novel series… I’ve already bought the Audible book for The Traitor lol.

    Your writing gives wonderful depth to the Destiny universe and her characters, and I’ve been wanting to read more of it. Hope that you might still be working with Bungie and that Subnautica is going well. Can’t wait to see what your series has in store!

    Reply
  21. Mildred "Midge" Sullivan

    Seth, thank you for your presentation on your upcoming Legal History of Mississippi book. I think it will be a great addition to the research collection at Ole Miss. I wish I could take your class! You are a captivating speaker and a great lecturer. I did not know you also wrote science fiction. I have ordered the first book and look forward to reading it! -MS

    Reply
  22. Mildred "Midge" Sullivan

    Hello, Seth. I am sorry for that. I am not very attuned to blog posts. I remember when computer screens were green! I will still enjoy your book, I am sure. I like to read new things. Science Fiction differs from my usual fare; I have many user comments online. I look forward to being your new reader, even if it was by accident! -MS

    Reply
  23. J A-S

    I just read the excerpt for Exordia and it’s spectacular. I’m cry-laughing and regular crying within just a few pages.

    Is it fair to say you think more about the genetic bottleneck than most people?

    Have you done any writing for The Final Shape?

    Good luck on the book release!

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Glad you like what you’ve seen! I think you have to consider the genetic bottleneck if you’re trying to imagine humans as aliens – how are we different from other species? Well one obvious thing is, we had this wild population bottleneck. We treat humans as a drop-in default that you can just put in any fantasy world and they fit, but that makes no sense. Because to have humans you have to have the bottleneck. So what caused it in your fantasy world?

      It’s all part of this creeping determinism that infects human thought, where we treat our current situation as the default inevitable outcome, instead of a weird contingent specific unusual branch of the possibility tree.

      I have not written anything for Final Shape except of course the title. Nor have I been approached (nor told they were doing Witch Queen and Final Shape based on my writing in the first place).

      Reply
  24. Vicki Overacker

    Hi Seth, I would like to thank you for your kind responses to your reading community – my daughter emailed you to ask if you could possibly sign a copy of your latest book for her partner who is an avid reader. She just received it and her partner was absolutely thrilled, you made their day!

    Reply
  25. 12cd

    Hi Seth!

    I had a bunch of thoughts after reading Exordia, and of course a lot of rhetorical questions I shouted into the void of discord chats but I do have one question that you don’t have to answer:

    Did you have fun with this one? I hope you did. I hope you write more and keep sharing it with the world.

    There’s a lot to admire with your word craft and fun characters.

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      I did, yeah. Maybe too much fun! I think I did a better job of writing it than editing it. There’s stuff that I find endlessly engaging and interesting and rewarding, kind of crunchy idea stones or technical details that go in my gizzard to grind things up, but to other people they are just rocks. Maybe I should’ve taken some of the rocks out…but I liked how some of those rocks sounded when banged on or blowtorched or crunched between your molars or what have you. So I left them in.

      Reply
  26. Ivars Ozols

    Hi,

    Is Exordia a complete standalone? …

    BTW – how is it going with Baru 4 ? 🙂 ( I have not asked this question for a while)

    Thanks in advance

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Hi Ivars,

      I would like to write two more Exordia books, but we will see how sales go.

      Baru 4 is the thing I am working on now, but the work is not going well — I’ve been busy with my day job and with some difficult freelance that’s taking forever. I’ve also been having brain trouble; I’ve been able to afford a specialist (finally) and they are gluing electrodes to my head and using neurofeedback to try to improve my focus and executive function.

      It will come out, but it’s not coming out this year or next or probably the one after that. Sorry 🙁

      Reply
      1. Shannon

        Exciting to hear forward movement on any Brain Trouble Mitigation Measures! Love this for you!

        Also, Exordia is insane and I ate it whole. I accidently pre-ordered the audio book instead of the normal kind, so immediately bought the book book when the audio book plopped into my library, but then, fighting my own type of Brain Trouble, ended up reading at times and listening at others to keep momentum up against the attention span demons.

        I hope my double purchase has somehow helped in some small way ensure there are more books. I must know what THAT is.

        Reply
  27. Emily

    Hi Seth, starting by informing you that opening Baru 2 and reading “A question: if something hurts, does that make it true?” made me say aloud “Holy shit.” The prose in these books is so startling (in a good way!) that I sometimes have to read sentences and then just sit for a second thinking about my life. Incredible work.

    I was wondering if you have a pronunciation guide available anywhere? I have done some googling and found references to Stakhieczi and the “X” in Xate Yawa/Olake, and I’m pretty good with languages so have more or less been able to parse, but am curious about things like whether Xate Olake should be read as o-la-ke (with “ke” as it would be in, say, Chinese) or o-lake (as “lake” might be in American English) or something else entirely.

    Eagerly anticipating whatever you’re working on!

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Hi Emily! Sorry it took me months to reply. I am glad you like the prose, I can never decide if it’s good or insufferable head cheese. Sometimes I think I ought to simplify it. Like this. Just keep the sentence structures regular, with a comma or two. But then inevitably I return to my strange unpunctuated or overpunctuated ways, with semicolons; and when I go back and read it I wonder, “Does anyone flow through this, or is it more like trying to innertube down a river at low ebb, and the rocks are covered in rotting slime and rusty cans?”

      The only guide I have is the x = sh thing. Otherwise, pronounce as you please. I confess that I have neither any inner vision (aphantasia) nor any spoken inner monologue, so I don’t need to ‘hear’ how a word sounds in my head to write it; for me what’s important is just how the word looks as a shape on the page. This leads me to produce some oddities.

      Personally I say ‘Oh lake’ but only because I’m lazy.

      Reply
      1. Emily

        Thank you for getting back to me! And in weirdly fortuitous timing, I actually finished Baru 2 the same day you replied, a nice little alignment. For what it’s worth, I like the semicolons, and the thing you sometimes do where you follow an action with a sentence fragment that describes some sensory response by the character to whatever just happened.

        That’s really interesting, I appreciate you sharing! I also have no spoken inner monologue, especially when I read, but I do like to make all my friends listen to me talk about books and characters I think are rad as hell. The oddities are enjoyable. Thanks again for your response!

        Reply
  28. Lillith

    Hey Seth, I saw another comment and I’m really glad you had fun when writing Exordia, because it’s the best novel I’ve read. I was a massive fan of your Destiny work centered on morality and metaphysics, and was disappointed as Bungie stripped a lot of the themes away in retcons to make it easier to fit into the “shoot the bad guy” game setup, I didn’t imagine I’d get a much more interesting approach to many of those themes with Exordia, and I’m so happy it happened.

    This is, alongside Alex White’s “Into Charybdis”, my favourite book, it’s the first time I read a book that ends in such an open way and I’m left so satisfied. I’m a huge physics nerd, though I had to drop out from my physics degree because ADHD made it impossible to actually learn the math, and while listening to the Exordia audiobook with my GF, I kept stopping and ranting about the physics you were describing and the impact they could have in the story later on, and I was so happy to see it consistently pay off as you involve real physics concepts and go the length of explaining them (doing a much better job of explaining the basics than most pop-sci physics educators, I must say).

    I’m eagerly looking forward to your next work, whether that be in Subnautica (is that still a thing you’re working on?) or Baru 4 or Exordia 2. I hope you’re doing well and that Exordia makes enough money that you don’t have to worry about it for a while.

    Thanks for reading this, if indeed you do, and thanks for writing these wonderful stories.

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Into Charybdis, eh? I’ll check it out!

      I am glad an actual physics person likes the physics — I suspect a bunch of it is wrong or at least handwaved in a way nobody who actually understands it would handwave, but, hey, it’s MY space opera and I’ll ruin physics if I want to. I too struggle with ADHD like stuff (or so it’s looking, they have done a bunch of brainwave analysis on me and there’s something going wrong) which often makes it very hard to write.

      I am still working on Subnautica, that’s where most of my energy is — unfortunately for my book progress, but it has gotten me out of the roach infested shitheap I lived in until a year ago, so maybe having a day job is good actually.

      Thank you for taking the time and energy to write me, it means a lot.

      Reply
      1. Lillith

        Thanks so much for replying!

        Well, for what it’s worth, as someone who does understand most of the physics, even if I can’t do the maths, I appreciated all your handwaving as it was creative and actually fun! It felt like the kind of stuff you’d joke around in a physics class “wouldn’t it be cool if this was actually [thing]”. I’ll also say the physics stuff was done well enough that I was surprised the plot didn’t involve some form of the Holographic Universe Theory, what with how it’s intricately related to most concepts you introduce in Exordia, it’s a theory born out of the study of the Entropy of black holes after all. (I heavily recommend PBS Space- Time videos on the matter if you want quick introductions that also point to academic papers on it).

        I also shared some excerpts with friends who are currently finishing their Physics degrees and going to do PhDs soon, and they loved it! A friend who’s doing a Physics-Maths double degree put Exordia at the top of her to-read list the moment I showed her the bits with Aixue talking about what she likes about Physics.

        I hope you get some help with the ADHD, I’ve had some (very very mild) success in treating it with Concerta, you’ve already got the ability to put in a lot of work and have created plenty of great stuff, so I’m sure with some treatment you’ll manage just great!

        I’m also glad to hear you’ve got a good living situation now thanks to having a (full time?) job working on Subnautica, that’s great. I was wondering though, seeing your comment on another reply about Exordia sequels depending on sales, does buying a physical copy of the book help the most? I got the audiobook but I’d like to purchase a text copy at some point, and I was wondering which version (digital or physical) helps more, since I imagine the cut that the publisher takes might be different, and maybe they value sales on one version more than another.

        Reply
        1. Seth Post author

          A year late but – it doesn’t really matter where you buy the book, get the version that’s best for you. The best thing you can do to support an author is leave an honest review. Good or bad, it feeds the algorithm and pushes the book to more people.

          Reply
  29. Kelly

    Hello Seth Dickinson,

    Your books have given me a great deal. A moral worldview (to use when I need one), a connection to a loved one that bridges our incompatible neurology together, and (somehow) how scientists think black holes might work using the simplest explanation possible. I have learned five arbitrary things about science from Exordia now and I will treasure them in my hands like baby chicks. <__< Also your made up word game continues to be magnificent. (Cancrioth is still like, on my Top 5 Best Made Up Words Ever).

    I don't know how to express how grateful I am for all this. At all. It's weird to say, "You have no idea what you've done to me, you blessed bastard," but that's the power of stories. Something you know a great deal about. We share a similarly intense appreciation of that power, for good or ill. "Gather round, gather round, tell me a story…" *Echolalic Princess Tutu reference goes off in my head*

    Also, although you will never understand this bit, since it's quite idiosyncratic to me, but I could swear that you've "met Mar." Or found him in yourself, rather. "The Devil," that is, or whatever his archetype goes by these days. In your story he's Iruvage, and he's just one of an entire race of him, but still. You hate what he represents (and so do I), and yet know him very well. Enough to bring me a great deal of joy and delight, like a kid witnessing the sparks coming off fireworks, entranced, young again for a moment. I'm a sucker for a really good villain. :]

    Anyway…Even if I never get Baru 4 after all, or anything else, what you've made is beautiful. And it mattered. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart.

    Reply
  30. Sigrid

    The Baru Cormorant series has swallowed me whole and chewed me thoroughly. As an aspiring writer, it’s a zenith star and a sleep paralysis demon both (I mean this as the highest compliment–I tremble in awe at the ~everything~ it has done to me and that in everything I write henceforth it will be traceable like the carbon date of a skeleton or the way Homestuck has altered the chemistry of every author I respect, somehow. It always comes back to Homestuck. It’s the original sin.)
    Anyways I don’t know if you read these anymore but in case the terrors of creating are frothing you I guess I wanted you to know your works have lit a fire in me and the Baru series is officially my ultimate fave series 5ever. Thanks<3

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Thank you for your kind words! You should know that I have not ACTUALLY read Homestuck, I am free of sin

      I hope to get you a fourth and final Baru novel in the mid future.

      Reply
  31. Ethan

    I finished The Traitor earlier this week and started rereading Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. I’m a little shocked at the similarity in themes, even though they’re very different books. Are you familiar with it?

    Reply
  32. Shields_up

    Hi Seth! Just thought you might find this satisfying if you hadn’t read about it:

    The latest episodic story in Destiny takes place on the Dreadnaught as a pulse of paracausal energy bonds with an echo of the memory and subjectivity of Oryx from just after he became the Taken King.

    As Xivu and Savathun bicker over how to put the resurrected ghost of their brother in a body and what they should all do next, he learns that you, the guardian, killed him and is very impressed. “If I am dead, then a deserved to die. Aiat!” He starts calling you “Knife of my Slaying” and declares you his Heir Presumptive, setting tests for you on the Dreadnaught. Meanwhile Eris is trying to trap him within her newly discovered throne world.

    Despite kind of an abrupt ending, pretty much everyone agreed it’s the best the story has been in a while.

    Thus far it’s clear that Xivu is certainly not The Boring One and she has never come close to dying in a strike.

    Reply
  33. Aspyn

    Absolutely loving the Baru books!

    I especially love the political themes. Its interesting to explore these themes inspired by real history (I definitly get British colonization of India vibes) in a setting where we van view these themes without pre-concieved biases we may have viewing our own world. I feel like too often people envision imperialism as simply a big army killing people and taking land, which causes them to miss the more insidious ways that colonialism and imperialism evolve over time.

    I was curious if you had any recommendations for specific sources to look into or that inspired your depiction of Falcrest’s methods of imperialism.

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Sorry I left this sitting for months! I try to draw on a bunch of different sources for the Masquerade novels, so that it’s not just a 1:1 “X historical situation but fantasy” — after all, historical situations are contingent on physical conditions and on prior history, so it’s hard to justify having the same things happen in a different world. THAT SAID, the Portuguese and British incursions into the Indian Ocean are certainly an influence. Also residential schools, the French revolution, American eugenics…honestly America is a much bigger influence on the Masquerade than many readers seem to ken on to. Perhaps because they don’t know what America got up to, and how recent a lot of it was!

      I think I namecheck a few books in the acknowledgments of Tyrant? But, also, a lot of it is just me reading a lot of things and then it all goes into the blender until only the hard pointy bits are left and I take those out and don’t really remember where they came from. Sorry, that’s not super useful…

      I think the most important part of my method is, try to complicate, try to be specific. It’s easier to generalize but every historical circumstance, even fictional ones, has its own particularities. Don’t take anything for granted, even apparent truisms like “colonialism occurs because it’s profitable”  —for who? In what ways? Etc etc…sorry, I am rambling.

      Reply
  34. Grassmannian-Type

    It’s remarkable (in a good way) that the most active public-facing line of communication you seem to have is the comments section on a decade-old blogpost. Beautifully Web 1.0 in a way I sorely miss. Anyway, obviously loved baru, loved exordia, loved the thing you wrote for magic (I don’t play, but you’ve hit the Peter Watts/Greg Egan levels of “read anything with this name on it”). I always thought the Aurdwynni stood out among fantasy cultures for both feeling like an internally consistent culture behind which you could feel a real sense of history, rather than just being nonsense syllable jumbles, and also not just being “fantasy Aztecs” or something. Have a good time!

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      I am really glad to be off Twitter, etc. Just brutal spaces. The excruciating ordeal of being perceived by everyone everywhere in the worst faith possible.

      I’m glad you liked the Aurdwynni! They’re a bit of a mess (hopefully in a way that feels true rather than a way that feels incomplete). Let’s hope we see more of them soon.

      Reply
  35. Morgan Jane Albertson

    I just finished Traitor and you write lesbian longing better than any cishet man ever has.

    I found your writing through Magic, and I’ve definitely become a huge fangirl. This quote:
    |”Wouldn’t you hope, if there were gods, that they would chase you across the stars just to make sure you were all right?”
    has had me fucked up for weeks. You display such a deep understanding of both the power of love and what terrible things we will do to hold onto it. Six months ago I didn’t know your name, but you’ve made me a day 1 reader of all of your work moving forward.

    …also I would gobble up any author commentary you can offer on Edge of Eternities!

    Reply
    1. Seth Post author

      Thank you for your kind words! Would that we had such gods above us. There may be some interview(s) coming up about Edge of Eternities — I think actually there was one already? And you’ve just reminded me, I might’ve forgotten to reply to an invitation to do one, so thank you for that.

      Reply

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