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Worldbuilding Wednesday

@worldbuildingwed.bsky.social
50 followers 74 following 152 posts

A Medium publication dedicated to recommendations, resources, and rants for fantasy and sci-fi writers.

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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 20h
"For fantasy books, superstition can be a powerful tool for worldbuilding. Magic is rarely an exact science, so stories that prominently feature magic should have examples of where it is misunderstood or even misappropriated." #worldbuilding #writing #booksky #fantasy #writingcommunity
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Seven years of bad luck: worldbuilding with superstitions
Exploring belief, and disbelief, in folklore and superstitions can be a powerful way to worldbuild.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Butterflies are actually kind of spooky? 🦋🩸🦇 #worldbuilding #writing #writingcommunity #booksky #vampires
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Worldbuilding Wednesday's September newsletter is ✨LIVE✨ and packed with fantastic articles, book recs, and the ugly truth about space travel. 👀 #worldbuilding #scifi #booksky #fantasy #writingcommunity #litRPG #horror
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✨The dungeon, deepspace, and the darkness✨
September 2026 recommendations, resources, and rants for fantasy and sci-fi writers.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Bruce Wayne is not a symbol of hope, but a symbol of fear for the villains stupid enough to cross him." #writing #worldbuilding #comics #batman #DC
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The Mythology Of The Batman
How the story of the Dark Knight’s world defies all superhero tropes to create a modern legend
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Murderbot has mixed feelings about humans, having witnessed both the heights of altruism and the depths of depravity that human beings are capable of." #SciFi #fantasy #GiftArticle medium.com/theuglymonst...
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Starships and Dragons Will Keep Us As Pets
If it loves us, it won’t kill us.
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"A comic might have been the best way to explore the unhinged nature of these games." #NationalComicBookDay medium.com/theuglymonst...
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‘DIE’ Maps the Madness of Roleplaying Games
A comic about the unhinged nature of TTRPGs
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
30 more #worldbuilding questions to distract you from finishing your first draft ✍️✨ #writing #booksky #fantasy #scifi
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Would The Hobbit have been as compelling if Gandalf was the main character instead of Bilbo?" #worldbuilding #writing #booksky #fantasy #writingcommunity
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A plea for the prevention of over-powered characters
There has been a recent trend of creating all-powerful characters who border on being Mary Sues and Gary Stus. What’s the antidote?
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We want YOU 🫵 to write something spooky for Worldbuilding Wednesday 👻✨👽✨🐉 #booksky #worldbuilding #writingcommunity #fantasy #scifi #horror
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Worldbuilding Wednesday Call for Papers
October writing prompts for maximum spookiness
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"If you’re nostalgic for the Gameboy-era style of games with a modern flair, this is the game for you." #IndieGames #Medium medium.com/theuglymonst...
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‘Mina the Hollower’ Wants to Challenge You
A perfect mix of classic game look and feel with modern innovation that wants to challenge you
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"September 22nd marks yet another Hobbit Day (referencing Bilbo and Frodo’s shared birthday), making it the perfect time to show some appreciation for the indelible influence that Tolkien has had on the fantasy genre." #hobbitday #lotr #tolkien #worldbuilding #booksky
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Hobbits made Tolkien go from good to great
“Hobbits really are amazing creatures, as I have said before. You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet…
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"Anakin’s betrayal is an ontological question that is not so easy to disentangle: was he destined for Betrayal from the beginning? Or did he have the capacity to change?" #StarWars #NoPaywall medium.com/theuglymonst...
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Star Wars is About Betrayal
Why does our society link evil and betrayal?
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"Students are returning to classrooms, coffees are steaming in the brisk morning fog, and the leaves are slowly smoldering into reds and oranges." #worldbuilding #booksky #darkacademia #writing
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5 dark academia reads to start autumn off right
Cobbled streets, historic schools, shadowed studies, and secretive scholars.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"You might think you have total control over your narrative, your world, your characters, but that isn’t entirely true. There is a long tradition of authors sitting back with shock as their stories spiral away into new, unplanned directions." #writing #worldbuilding #booksky #sherlockholmes
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When the author hates their own character
Three authors that couldn’t understand why their readers loved their characters.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
No one ever said your #worldbuilding had to be strictly practical. The world isn’t strictly practical. 🕊️✨ #writing #booksky #writingcommunity #fantasy #scifi
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"After all, if vampires are now primarily love interests in fiction, why can’t vampires themselves become a symbol of love?" #writing #worldbuilding #vampires #anime #fantasy #callofthenight
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Call Of The Night Remains A Romance-First Vampire Romance
How a paranormal romance introduced a terrifying villain without falling face first into the conventional horror genre
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"‘One Piece’ is over 1000 chapters long. How will we make this as brief as possible?" #anime medium.com/theuglymonst...
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A Complete, Brief(ish) Summary of ‘One Piece’
The Golden Age of Piracy has gone into full bloom...
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Lady knights are a fascinating trope because so often — especially in settings that emulate the gender roles of the past — women are meant to be protected, not do the protecting." ⚔️❤️ #writing #worldbuilding #fantasy #thelockedtomb #booksky
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Lady knight stories for Chappell Roan lovers
Stories of chivalrous women in armor for those who couldn’t get enough of Chappell Roan of Arc
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"Therefore, it’s probably no surprise that early hominids, i.e., those ancestors who had yet to fully move from ape to man, have a long history as fantasy villains." #writing #worldbuilding #booksky #fantasy #horror
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A History Of Cavemen as Fantasy Monsters
Looking at the lasting impact of John Buchan and Robert Howard’s use of early hominids in fantasy stories.
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Nadine Antoinette 🖤📚 @lilblackheart.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The horrors persist but so do books, flowers, animals, the ocean, sunsets, trees, libraries, iced coffee, spooky season, the word ‘fuck’, and the moon.
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Daley @daleyday.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Why did Tolkien care so much about what the Hobbits were smoking? 💨 #writing #worldbuilding #tolkien #lotr
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Writing to annoy your readers is a worthy pursuit 📚✨ #writing #booksky #lotr #theprincessbride #tolkien #worldbuilding
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alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
sorry, but torturing the omelas kid is just a smart move, polling-wise. i personally wish there wasn't a kid in the omelas hole--of course i do!--but let's not get distracted by purity tests, here.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"We’re told that dragons have their own culture and laws, but rarely shown this in the Empyrean series. This seems to be because if Yarros gave the dragons the kind of agency she claims that they have, much of the plot would fall apart." #worldbuilding #writing #fantasy #fourthwing #dragons
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Dragons are people, too: writing people that aren’t human
Fourth Wing insists that dragons are an independent people, but what’s shown is a very different — and unequal — relationship.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"Every worldbuilder gets asked the same question eventually. What’s your magic system? I never had a good answer. Because The Shift of Times doesn’t have one, not in the traditional sense." #writing #worldbuilding #fantasy #magic
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How Do You Build a World That Has No Magic System?
On science that whispers, strange objects, and worlds that reveal themselves slowly.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"I think there’s a missed opportunity in the fantasy genre around the concept of a warlock, a magic user that gets their magic via a pact with a much more powerful being, their patron." #worldbuilding #fantasy #writing #booksky #baldursgate3
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Warlocks are underrated
Let’s make a deal: write more warlock stories.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Okay but more airships ARE always necessary 😤 #worldbuilding #writing #booksky #fantasy #scifi #steampunk
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
"DELTARUNE has been a slow burn type of game. I can’t help but think that a return to this darker tone might be around the corner as the numerous dangling plot threads are resolved in the final act." #worldbuilding #videogames #gaming #writing
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I Miss the Despair of DELTARUNE Chapter One
Why does one of the most influential RPGs of this decade suffer from such a drastic tonal shift?
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"Tolkien was a magpie too — he took what he loved from Norse mythology and used it to create the foundation of Middle-Earth. He was well aware of that he, like many writers, are influenced by what we read and see." #worldbuilding #writing #booksky #fantasy #lotr
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What fantasy writers owe to Tolkien
Unsurprisingly, it’s a lot, but just what he invented may surprise you.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
"... the next time you think about penning a superhero-themed YA story, take a moment to decide whether the Spider-Man format is really what you want or whether you wanna write something closer to Devilman." #writing #worldbuilding #spiderman #devilman #superheroes
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Devilman Remains The Best Subversion Of Spider Man
Two very different takes on how to write a teenage superhero
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Hoarding resources? That’s how you get dragons. 🐉 🔥✨ #worldbuilding #fantasy #writing #booksky
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"The state of art appreciation in the United States is disgusting." #Indie #TTRPGs medium.com/theuglymonst...
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TTRPG Cover Art is Criminally Undervalued
10 Fascinating-as-Hell Roleplaying Game Covers
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"...when has art not been propaganda?" #movies #books #Medium #midterms #NoPaywall medium.com/theuglymonst...
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All Media is Political, Whether You Like It or Not
Happy Midterm Elections!
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Happy #worldbuilding Wednesday! ✨ Our monthly newsletter is LIVE and filled with excellent articles, free writing resources, and indie reading recs. ✨ #writing #booksky #fantasy #scifi #indiereads
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✨Monsters, curse words, and writing courses✨
August 2026 recommendations, resources, and rants for fantasy and sci-fi writers.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
📚 ✨ ✨ ✨ #booksky #supportyourlocallibrary #batman
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William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 25/08/2026
[Exit Queen.]
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
"...if we ostracize anyone enough, they will come at us with evil schemes." #movies #NoPaywall medium.com/theuglymonst...
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‘Megamind’ and Being Pushed into a Box
What is a superhero?
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
"The Long Halloween is not perfect, but it does give a good general overview of who Batman is. He’s a detective first and everything else must be filtered through that." #comics medium.com/theuglymonst...
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Beginner Superhero Comics for Normies
“Hey Heather, what is a good beginner superhero comic book for a normie like me?”
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"Batman: TAS is a reverse Murder Call: instead of 90s setting made to look like the 40s, it’s a 40s setting made to look like the 1990s, and a lot of that is due to depicting technology and social mores that the modern audience is familiar with." #writing #worldbuilding #batman #scifi #fantasy
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The 40s/90s Setting
How an ambiguous time period defined 90s crime fiction and what that means for modern speculative fiction.
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chrishawn @chrishawn.net · 20/08/2026
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I promise the former is more accurate than the later. ❤️
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
"The same people who are pulling both Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart from retirement are the ones who have kept their comic book counterparts in cyclical hell." #XMen medium.com/theuglymonst...
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Expiring Utopia: Why Disney Fails the X-Men
The status quo keeps getting a lifetime X-tension
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
"There are stories out there that share Pokémon‘s appreciation for the bond between a supernatural creature and a plucky protagonist as well as explore the concept of borrowing a creature’s power to do battle." #writing #worldbuilding #pokemon #booksky
medium.com
Medium
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Trekkie Bill 🖖🏻 @trekkiebill.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
True story: #StarTrek had Kirk reporting to a Black flag officer five years before the U.S. Navy had a Black admiral. Representation matters, and Star Trek has always been political.
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Because The Ugly Monster's writers are GODLIKE, we now have 15,000 followers on Medium. Now read this think piece about The Odyssey. #NoPaywall medium.com/theuglymonst...
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‘The Odyssey’ and Bourgeois Subjectivity
If Spartacus is the story of ancient proletarian revolutionaries, then Homer’s The Odyssey is the founding myth of the bourgeois
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
"The notes that will never appear in the story do something specific. They give the scene a past." #writing #worldbuilding #booksky
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The Notes That Will Never Appear in the Story
Some of the most important parts of a story are the ones readers will never see.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Make your vampires 👏 WEIRD 👏 #writing #worldbuilding #booksky #fantasy #vampires
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The Ugly Monster (Oscar) @theuglymonster.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
"Anne Boleyn was executed by beheading on the 19th of May 1536, four days after her conviction. She was accompanied by two female attendants and was said to have been in good spirits and faced her execution with courage." #NoPaywall #history medium.com/theuglymonst...
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The Tragedy of Anne Boleyn
The life of Queen Anne would have made a powerful story in Shakespeare’s catalogue
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Worldbuilding Wednesday @worldbuildingwed.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
"...it is important to give due recognition to the authors that are taking fantasy and science fiction to new places, new time periods, and giving voice to diverse perspectives." #writing #worldbuilding #booksky #fantasy #scifi
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Decolonizing speculative fiction: 5 must-read Black worldbuilders
Must-read worldbuilders that are taking science fiction and fantasy out of the Eurocentric dark ages.
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Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Have to reshare this every time I see it. Raymond Chandler mocking science fiction in 1953 and sounding cool as hell. He should have written some space stories.
Did you ever read what they call Science Fiction? It’s a scream. It is written like this:

“I checked out with K19 on Aldabaran III, and stepped out through the crummalite hatch on my 22 Model Sirus Hardtop. I cocked the timejector in secondary and waded through the bright blue manda grass. My breath froze into pink pretzels. I flicked on the heat bars and the Brylls ran swiftly on five legs using their other two to send out crylon vibrations. The pressure was almost unbearable, but I caught the range on my wrist computer through the transparent cysicites. I pressed the trigger. The thin violet glow was icecold against the rust-colored mountains. The Brylls shrank to half an inch long and I worked fast stepping on them with the poltex. But it wasn’t enough. The sudden brightness swung me around and the Fourth Moon had already risen. I had exactly four seconds to hot up the disintegrator and Google⁵ had told me it wasn’t enough. He was right.”

They pay brisk money for this crap?

Raymond Chandler | Letter to H. N. Swanson, 14 Mar 1953 | Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler
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