Hugo Talk, NaNoWrMo Plans, and Holiday Sketches

On By laurenjholmesIn Uncategorized

Just a quick update on things happening with me. And also a look at the Hugos, though not much since I haven’t really been following them this year. I could pretend to be really noble and say I was boycotting them due to China’s human right’s issues, but whilst that certainly turned me off, I probably wouldn’t have made much Hugo content anyway, since I’ve just been busy with a lot of other things this year.

Hugos

Though a huge shout out to S.B Divya, who withdrew her novelette ‘Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold’ from consideration to protest the oppression of the Uyghur people and inclusion of an apologist for the Russian Invasion of Ukraine as a guest of honor. She’s not the only person to make such a statement; in fact over 100 authors signed an open letter to have the the 2023 host be reconsidered due to human rights abuses in Xinjiang. I’m just focusing on S.B. Divya here because as I said, I’ve been a bit out of the loop with the Hugos, but I loved ‘Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold’ so much that I did hear about this. This is one of my favourite fairy tale retellings, and was just great seeing a story that features the silk road. I started reading this after work one night, and stayed up way too late to finish it. If Divya had not pulled ‘Two Hands’ from consideration, it would have been a real contender. Fortunately, it was published by Uncanny, so you can all go read it for free HERE. I highly recommend this story.

This also marks the first time in eight years that I have not read the winner of the Best Novel Hugo before the award ceremony. ‘Nettle and Bone’ by T. Kingfisher sounds awesome, and I will read it soon. Though that being said, a few years ago it became a bit of a thing on this site about how long it took me to read T. Kingfisher’s other masterpiece, ‘A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking’, so we’ll see how long it takes me to get to this one.

At the time of writing, I haven’t been able to find the stat sheet/long list for these awards, but if I do and I see anything interesting to talk about, I’ll come and edit this post. Or make a new one if I find enough to talk about. Would like to promote other artists who pulled their stories from consideration if I can get that info. In the meantime though, a list of finalists and winners can be found HERE.

Holiday Art

As to why I’ve been too busy for the Hugos, part of it is that I was out on a Eurotrip last month. I said that ‘in a few days’ I would post my art, so, behold my art. Better late than never.

A monochrome graphite pencil sketch of a robot next to a Korean woman playing a flute. The Robot is non-humanoid; cylindrical in shape with a monitor and flat surface on it's top. It has two draws at it's front, as well as a label in Korean (which the artist unfortunately does not understand and therefore has probably butchered) on it's side. The woman playing the flute is sitting down and dressed in traditional Korean hanbok, with a long dress and a flower patterned top. In the background are some small mountains, with the silhouettes of a procession of people holding fans and umbrellas close to the edge of the page. A passenger airplane flies over the mountains.
There were cultural shows and robots at Seoul Incheon Airport.
Monochrome graphite pencil drawing of thirteen skulls with various levels of damage are arranged in the shape of a love heart. The heart shape is shaded around the skulls.
The Catacombs of Paris were amazing. Creepy, but amazing.

I flew into Paris after a long layover in Seoul. Which in itself was a fun experience; Incheon Airport is a top tier airport. Lots of cultural activities, and robots too. I got a robot to go pick up crabcakes from a nearby store and deliver them to were I was waiting at the gate. Totally pointless, since the shop was twenty metres from where I was sitting, but such a cool SF experience.

A monochrome graphic pencil sketch of a brick tower at the corner of a brick building. The tower has three levels of windows visible and there are loops of metal on the roof. Coming from behind the tower are three giant kraken tentacles reaching out. At the bottom of the page one tentacle is wrapping around the Nautilus submarine from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. A forest of giant mushrooms surrounds the Nautilus. Behind the tower in the background can be seen a blimp-like airship to the right, and a rocket blasting off in the distance to the left.
Jules Verne’s house in Amiens was full of so much Jules Verne merch.
A bright sketch coloured with markers showing five narrow Amsterdam canal houses. The road in front of them is lined with bicycles and a pink electric scooter. The bottom half of the picture is taken up by the canal, which has clear blue water, and is filled by two boats - one brown rowboat by the moored at the canal wall, and a red boat with a closed windows, and six yellow rubber duckies. Above the houses can be seen the outlines of three green parrots.
Amsterdam is a beautiful city. And we saw three stores selling rubber duckies there.

Another great SF experience was visiting Jules Verne’s house in Amiens. There were so many copies of his books and original merch and models. I think I’m going to have a Jules Verne binge soon. Might be a good excuse to do some reviews. Other highlights included visiting the Australian War Graves at Villas-Bretonneux, (which was a very moving experience and a great source of pride for my Dad), cruising through the Amsterdam Canals, visiting the Enclave Capital of Baarle Hertog/Nasseau, and discovering the city of Gent in Belgium. And of course, seeing Ayreon live, which I talked about in the last post.

A coloured pencil sketch featuring a green table with two meals and two drinks on the top of it with two chairs around it is set up on a line of pavers with white crosses on them. On the left side of the floor pavers is a paver with the letters 'NL' in white pictured on it. To the right side of the line of crosses is a paver with a white 'B' on it. Behind the table are two tricolour flags; the flag of The Netherlands to the left, and the flag of Belgium on the right. Behind the flags are two churches; a light brown one to the left, and a brick red one to the right.
Had the unique experience of sitting down at a table for lunch with Dad, whilst we were both in completely different countries. Baarle is such a fun little town.
A monochrome graphite pencil sketch of three medieval towers crowded together. The closest at the bottom of the page is a church with sharp spires and a two rooms coming off a central two stories high with a sharp triangular roof that is topped with a cross. The building behind that, towards the right of the page is a large brick belfry, A low narrow building connects to the belfry tower, which is five stories (or five windows) tall and has a clock over the uppermost window. The building is topped by a large spire, which has a dragon silhouette at the very tip. The building behind the belfry and towards the left of the page is a massive, multilayered cathedral with two main chambers, multiple spires, long arched windows and a huge tower at the front. The top of the tower resembles a crown surrounded by four spires topped with crosses. A long pole with a crucifix on top emerges from the central point of the top of the tower.
The Three Towers of Gent. Gent is such a beautiful city.

As you can see, I drew a lot on my holiday. Even now that I’m back home, I have built up a pretty good drawing habit, which I’m currently using to work on some World of Black and Green content. Might have to put out a little teaser soon.

Speaking of upcoming work, I find myself once again stuck in what I like to think of as the ‘NaNoWriMo Dilemma’.

NaNoWrMo and Upcoming Projects

Every year, by the time NaNoWrMo (National Novel Writing Month, find out more HERE) rolls around, I get stuck. I want to participate, but I’m usually in the middle of one of my own projects. This year I’ve got a really nice story about a little girl being raised by robots taking shape, and I am not super keen on pausing it again. On the other hand, I’m in a really good position time-wise to aim for 50,000 words in a month, and I have some worldbuilding done for a story about a magic boarding school featuring an elemental magic system. Both are projects I’ve started on and am really excited for. Comment below which story you’d be more interested in seeing. If I don’t write this year, I will still follow along with other writers at the NaNoWrMo forums. I’ve joined the community under the name Trilobytes, and would love to hear from anyone on here over there.

And if you do want to connect with me, I’ve been pretty good about streaming at 7pm AEST over on my twitch. If you like Zelda, Randomizers, or want to chat about SFF, come join me. In the mean time, keep an eye out for more World of Black and Green art.

~ Lauren

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