The Three Coffin Problem is officially out today! Follow the adventures of vampire Judge Dee and his human assistant, Jonathan, as they travel across medieval Europe solving fiendishly-complicated mysteries! I’ve enjoyed writing these so much over the last few years, and delighted to have the tales collected into this novel-shaped book! My thanks to Jonathan Strahan, my very patient editor at Reactor who is the only reason Judge Dee wasn’t a one-off; to Cinthya Alvarez, cover artist extraordinaire; and everyone at Jabberwocky for putting this one together!
The AI Vampire
This was an unusually hard post to write, because it flies in the face of everything else going on.
Tor's Cabinet of Curiosities
From Besson's Dracula to Coppola: the works of art that inspired costume designer Eiko Ishioka
As Luc Besson's new Dracula - Love Lost brings the myth back to the movies, the appeal of the costumes designed by Eiko Ishioka for Coppola's 1992 film resurfaces. Clothes that transformed the vampire into an aesthetic icon, fusing art, symbolism and distant cultures.
The ‘Three-Body Problem’, the Imperative of Survival, and the Misogyny of Reactionary Rhetoric | Made in China Journal
Liu Cixin’s the Three-Body Problem book trilogy is one of the world’s bestselling Chinese sci-fi series, being read and endorsed by figures such as George R.R. Martin and Barack Obama. In Chinese public debates, however, critics highlight the series’ social Darwinist, misogynistic, and totalitarian tendencies, raising concerns about how the trilogy has been used by […]
Jubensha
Jubensha, also known as script murder games, are a Chinese genre of live action role-playing (LARP) murder mystery game. This genre became popular in China in the late 2010s and has been described as a "mix of Cluedo, Werewolf and LARP".
Against the brainrot
Reading the Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom by Stephen Platt (highly recommended), I was particularly impressed by the rules of life of Zeng Guofan, the conqueror of Taipings.
Relics and Rarities
Cryptopedia — Oakland Public Library
Cryptopedia — Demcak, Andrew — Cryptopedia by Andrew Demcak speaks directly to the secret sides of our beings, to our shadow-selves. It is the oldest story we have, and it wants to be told. This collection comes from a place where children go missing, where monsters roam freely, and urban myths transform into realities.
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
The final posthumous work by the coauthor of the major …
Lunacid
Cast into the Great Well, unwanted by the world above. You delve the dark in search of the Old One, your last salvation. Lunacid is a dark fantasy dungeon crawler inspired by Shadow Tower and King’s Field.
