Malinda Lo

This image popped up on my tumblr dash earlier this week: I had no idea anyone could be a professional mermaid performer! But that sent me searching for more photography of the mythical, and wow, there are some talented photographers out there. Here’s some mid-week eye candy full of the surreal (photos link to the ... More→

Welcome back to my two-part discussion of heteronormativity, fantasy, and Kristin Cashore’s Bitterblue! Part 1 is here in case you need to refresh your memory. Picking up right from where I left off yesterday, I was about to tackle this question: Is it believable to have same-sex relationships in a medieval-esque fantasy world? SPOILER WARNING: ... More→

As a writer of fantasy and science fiction, I’m often asked for my tips on world-building. Earlier in 2012, I taught a workshop on it at my local library, and all year I’ve been meaning to put those notes online. Finally I have time to do it! So, here are my thoughts on world-building, with ... More→

Last month we got HBO, which meant I could finally watch Game of Thrones, a show that I’ve been dying to see ever since I saw the first promos for it. The first season wrapped up back in June in the U.S., so I’m a few months behind, but I loved watching the episodes in ... More→

Some weird things are happening here on my blog. You can’t see it unless you look at the source code, but I’ve been hacked. It doesn’t seem to affect the external appearance much, but it is a problem and I’m working to resolve it. That means that things might get a little wonky here over ... More→

Ever since I blogged about the casting of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, I’ve been thinking about a broader question: How exactly should one write about race in a novel of speculative fiction that is not set on this here Earth right now, so that readers understand what you mean? I’ve blogged on writing about race ... More→