tales of the urban adventurer

https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/61YIs8 And as long as you’re making jokes and memes about straight pride parades, donate to the bail fund for anti fascists who were arrested today.

Rating: Great Read Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Spy Thriller Representation: -Gay protagonist -Bi protagonist -Black protagonist -Disabled and disfigured protagonists Note: Amnesty features minimal (but present) explicit sex. This novel is NOT YA. Trigger warnings: torture, graphic injury, injury by fire, addiction, alcoholism, state violence/corruption, bombing/explosion, death

If you have not read Amberlough and Armistice, you may wish to skip this review!

Amnesty is the third and final book in the Amberlough Dossier, and with its completion I can say with confidence that this is my favorite LGBTQ series - maybe even my favorite series, period. Amnesty had me checking my calendar for months in advance of its release.  Donnelly has remarkable skill with suspense, skill which she puts to phenomenal use in the spy thriller genre, and which will make readers just now picking up the first book in the series glad that all three of them are now available.

That is the key to why Amnesty (and the previous books in the series) work: Donnelly makes you wait.  These books demand patience from the reader, and it makes the pay-off that much sweeter.  However, this is not your typical slow burn romance, only because the burn is not slow - the fire is roaring in the hearth!  Only, one of the main characters is standing outside in the snow because he is too proud to be warm, while the other is in a neighboring country.  Every time Donnelly adds another log to the fire, and you expect the romance to finally pay off, you realize, damn it all, that Cyril and Aristide are still outside in the blizzard.

Donnelly makes you wait on the romance, but that is only one of Amnesty’s moving parts.  Amnesty is not by any means a book where nothing happens for 300 pages - it’s a balancing act where the romance is drawn out slow, but the thriller-style plot keeps you frantically turning pages.  Still, Amnesty is something of an outlier of a thriller.  The core problem of the story is an open-ended question: how do you rebuild your life after you have lost everything?  The city of Amberlough has just experienced the rise and fall of a fascist regime; the country at large has not even elected a new government yet.  Our main characters are war-scarred, broke, and newly arrived back home only to find their old life is no longer there to receive them.  What do they do when one of their rank is lauded as a war hero while the another is reviled by his country as a traitor?  Not exactly typical thriller fare.  Yet Donnelly’s strongest suit is tension and suspense, so despite the lack of a heist, kidnapping, or assassination attempt, Amnesty still reads like a thriller.  The stakes are high on a very personal level, and we readers have dashed our way through the heists and hijinks with these characters for long enough in Amberlough and Armistice that the rather more subdued plot of Amnesty is not unwelcome.  The reader interest in knowing the characters come out of things okay carries some weight for the plot - but I doubt you’ll mind.  After all, you will be too preoccupied with whether the characters come out okay.

Donnelly’s world-building continues to dazzle in Amnesty, as well.  One of my favorite things about her work is that she does not coddle her reader.  You are given exactly as much information as you need, exactly as many reminders, and no more.  And because the world is so rich, and the reminders so sparing, the reader’s immersion in Donnelly’s world is nearly flawless.  With every book, Donnelly gives us a little bit more context, meaning that the reader absorbs information more like a child absorbing the world naturally than like a student committing things to memory.  It helps that Donnelly uses real-world touchstones that allow her readers to fill in the gaps, touchstones which also explicitly create room for people of color to take a starring role.  I’ve spoken about how well Donnelly uses Porachis as an analog for South/SE Asia in Armistice, and in Amnesty, she only continues to fill in the gaps on her globe.  

In this book, we learn more about the countries of Liso, Asu, and Niori.  Asu and Niori are both east Asian countries, partial analogs to China and Japan, while Liso appears to be linguistically tied to southern Africa, with minor character names like Achela Aowamma taking inspiration from Sesotho, though Jamila Osogurundi’s name may be a composite of Oso (Nigerian surname/prefix) + Gurundi (Nigerian snack).  There is no one-to-one comparison to be made.  Just as Gedda isn’t quite the Netherlands, neither are Porachis, Asu, Niori, and Liso exact analogs.  Donnelly’s writing choices here are fascinating - she gives just enough of an analog in order to create diversity of ethnicity that real-world readers will be able to understand and appreciate, while still changing enough to make her world an original, non-derivative fantasy.  It is a delicate line to walk, and Donnelly does so with grace.  I strongly recommend the whole series as a tool of study for aspiring writers, even if the genre isn’t your usual cup of tea, because it really is that good.

The globe isn’t just flavor, either.  One of the main themes of Amnesty is how one reconciles living an international life.  Lillian and Jinadh continue to play a role as main characters after Armistice.  Their arc in Amnesty, however, is about reckoning not only with the fallout from the ousted OSP regime, but the personal struggles of being displaced.  Jinadh is a Porachin prince, while Lillian is Geddan.  They cannot be married for political reasons in Porachis, but Lillian has the advantage of language and culture back home in Gedda, which is a source of marital strife for them.  Yet what choice do they have?  Is it better to live in a country where neither know the language, like Asu, or to allow Lillian the gift of her homeland, no matter how ‘unfair’? It is questions like these that build Amnesty into a story so real it is almost tangible.

Amnesty - the whole series, in fact - is a rough read.  Donnelly pulls no punches in her treatment of war and fascism, though it is important to note that her interest lies on the boundaries of war - the social consequences - not the thick of the fighting.  In Amberlough, Donnelly first questions how fascist regimes rise to power.  In the sequel, she asks how a fascist takeover unsettles the countries around it - to the point that refugees from fascism cannot count on their safety even far from home.  Finally, the last book in the series asks about the aftermath; how is history written around fascism?  How do nationally-held emotions become more sacred than law, and to what end?  And, on the smaller scale, can one recover a self that you once were, before great trauma?  Can you pick up where you left off?

If you, like me, read Amberlough and Armistice, I highly recommend picking up where you left off with Amnesty.  A rough read it may be, but one that fully rewards its reader’s patience.

Transgender Anime has room to grow

"Welcome to the Gender and Anime panel," joked boota3, the panelist presiding over a packed room at Anime Boston last month. "Otherwise known as the Attack on Titan dub premiere.”

I wrote the novella Party Discipline while I was on my grueling US/Canada/UK tour for my novel Walkaway, last spring. Today, Tor.com publishes the tale, in which two seniors at Burbank High confront their uncertain future by planning a “Communist party” in which they take over a defunct factory and start it up again, a tangible, dangerous, playful reminder that material abundance is here, it’s just not evenly distributed.

The piece is accompanied by a gorgeous original illustration by Goñi Montes. It’s been long enough since I wrote this that I was able to re-read it with fresh eyes and found that I enjoyed it immensely, and I hope you agree.

Antoine met us at a froyo place off San Fernando, the sketchy part near the dead Ikea that had been all cut up for little market stalls that were mostly empty. I hadn’t seen him since we’d been freshmen and he’d been a senior, and in the years since he’d got strangely greyish, his skin sagging off his face and his hair shot with white, like he was an old man. He looked like he hadn’t been sleeping much, either.

He made a sign at us, a thing with his hands like the kids had done to pass messages around the classroom back when we’d been kids. It took me a second to remember what this one meant: phones down, school cop’s coming. I couldn’t figure out what that was supposed to mean, but Shirelle got it and reached into her purse and shut her phone down. Now I got it, I did the same. We’d both been infected before, of course, drive-by badware that let some creepy rando spy on us through our phones, but then we got more careful. But he wasn’t worried about randos spying through our phone: he was worried about cops.

You think Burbank PD is going to bother with you? I wanted to ask, but fact was, maybe they would. Why not. Once they bought that kind of thing, why wouldn’t they want to use it every chance they got? I probably would.

“Damn.” He looked us up and down, not like a perv, but like a grownup judging a little kid. “You two are so young. I don’t know if this was such a good idea.”

Shirelle gave him an up-and-down of her own. “Antoine, we’re only five years younger than you, fool. Smart, too. Besides, it was Lenae’s idea, not yours.”

That was news to me. Far as I knew, he’d had the idea, told Shirelle, and she’d said, Oh, Lenae said the same thing. But the way he shook his head, I knew it was true – he’d got the idea from me. That made me feel pretty badass, tell the truth.

Party Discipline [Cory Doctorow/Tor.com]

In 2006 – Republicans in Congress passed a poison pill piece of legislation forcing the Post Office to pre-fund retiree health benefits 75 years out into the future – basically funding benefits for future employees who aren’t even born yet. The Postal Service has to do this by giving the Treasury $5.5 billion every single year. That’s a requirement that no business, or any government agency has ever had to comply with. And it’s the reason why the Post Office is going bankrupt today and looking into closing down post offices, laying off workers, and cutting down delivery service.

So why is all this happening? Because the Postal Service employs hundreds of thousands of unionized workers – where as private mail carriers like UPS and Fed Ex do not. Republicans – in their non-stop war on labor – realized that they could hurt unions by bankrupting the Postal Service. That’s what they did in 2006, and their plan is working today.

This is a screen shot of me buying a shipping label for an 8oz package from WA to NJ via USPS.

This is a screen shot of me buying a shipping label for an 8oz package to the same address via FedEx. 

Don’t forget, sellers need to charge a little extra to cover their packing materials and such.

So do you want to pay $4-$5 shipping, or do you want to pay $13 - $14 shipping?

Oh, and notice that USPS has an estimated arrival date of September 2nd vs FedEx September 6th. 

“This is Marcus Martin. You may have seen him in another picture- being hurtled in the air as a terrorist’s car plunged through the crowd of counter-protestors in Charlottesville. Marcus had pushed his fiancée, seen here hugging him, from the path of the vehicle before it slammed into him. After Marcus was hurtled over the car, the terrorist backed up over him. Miraculously he lived, a broken leg his only injury. This picture was taken at the vigil for Heather Heyer who was a friend of Marcus. Marcus was wounded standing up for what is right.”

X-Men: Years of Future Past

“It always begins as a joke. Listen to me, both of you.

“One sees a father or mother of whom they do not approve – and their brats won’t shut up, and the parents are so exhausted that they just let their children scream, all sticky and crying and hitting and wild.

“And you say to your friends, ‘You should have to pass a test to breed.’ Do you understand? ‘You should have to get licensed to have kids.’

“It starts as a joke.

“Then perhaps there is a tragedy. A postpartum who should’ve gotten help, but her insurance did not cover the therapy. A father who erred, because he was raised believing men are pathetic if they are caregivers.

“The first tests are drafted. And you think, ‘Good.’ You think, ‘Those children will be safe now.’

“The test comes out, and yes, there’re some problems, but nothing that cannot be ironed out, yes?

“But now anyone with a mental illness, with a criminal record, is barred from becoming a parent, and you think, ‘Well, that is sensible, yes?’ Because you’ve never known anyone like that, so who is to tell you they are not like they are portrayed in stories?

“Sick, dangerous, criminal – these words expand.

“Suddenly it is anyone with diabetes, anyone with cancer, because they could die and leave their children orphaned, so how dare they ever try to have children?

“It is deaf couples, disabled couples, interracial couples, gay couples – because don’t they know how hard they’re making it for their children?

“Then it is whoever they want.

“You think you are working for the greater good. You can’t even fathom the life of someone who isn’t exactly like you.

“Then one day – it is you. Some gene, some history, some past behavior – and suddenly, you are too sick, dangerous, criminal.

“Because the truth is this: human hate can adapt to anything.

“You think you are safe. But if someone hates you, they will come up with the reason after the fact.

“Only then do you realize what you put in power. Only then do you realize what you stripped away. 

“There is terrible power in a joke, in a story, in taking the truth and making it ugly.

Art by Dhiyanah Hassan.

Publisher: Annorlunda.

Space opera. 

“i’ve never seen these words displayed with brightness and color before. they’re typically found on black, gray, or white blackdrops. so, i’m purposely putting them in unexpected, vibrant places. because these words belong there, too. they belong everywhere. take what you need.”

But I’m asking you all for help, again.

I am a mixed race Canadian First Nations person, (i am Secwepemc, and Hungarian Roma!) and my cousin, a half Cherokee, half Secwepemc man was murdered.

He went hiking with two of his “friends” in a Forrest in British Columbia. And that is where his two friends pulled a gun out, and point blank shot him in the back of the head killing him.

That was 6 years ago. For 6 years my cousin was “missing” And the RCMP never bothered to look for him, because they figured since he was First Nations, he was an addict, and willingly left.

This past January (January 2017) the two men came forward, and confessed to the RCMP about shooting and killing my cousin. And they lead the RCMP to where my cousins body was dumped.

From there they did a DNA test on my cousins bones, and it was a match to my uncle, his father.

finally my cousin Josh was brought home. Where we cremated him, and we split up his ashes between his loved ones.

This is where I need help.

February 2018, is when the trial is set to start. And the only person who will be at the trial, Will be Josh and I’s grandmother. But she’s 76, and sick.

As of November 2017 I will have $600 in savings, to put towards flying out to British Columbia to represent my family at the trial. But I need more money.

I need money for flight, a place to stay, and for public transit.

“Why don’t you just work?” You may ask. We’ll my dear friend. I was diagnosed with a severe, aggressive tumor this past year. I had it surgically removed from my jaw January 2017. And iv been recovering from the major surgery I underwent. I’m just starting to work again now, in July 2017.

TLDR: Please help a first nations family get justice for their murdered family member. I need help, and funds to go stare the men who murdered my cousin in the eye and watch them get put away in jail.

Iv been keeping everyone updated on my blog, but I really want the word to get out.

don’t just pay it. do not automatically pay the hospital bill when you receive it. call your health insurance provider and POLITELY say, “excuse me, i just received a bill for $1200 for my hospital visit/ER visit/etc., is that the correct amount i’m supposed to pay?” because hospitals bill you before your health insurance and they will take your money no matter how the amount due may change based on your health insurance looking at it. 90% of the time, if your health insurance is in any way involved in the payment of that bill, you do not have to pay as much as the hospital is billing you for. call your health insurance provider first, and POLITELY request clarification, always remember that the person you are talking to is human and this is just their job, and then you will very likely find out you actually only owe $500.

Also, it is important [for people receiving medical care in the USA] to carefully read all of the items on the medical bill and look for errors and overcharges. I know that the normal feelings of avoidance and dread can make it hard to look at scary hospital bills, and that’s okay! But as the OP mentions, private orgs like hospitals don’t monitor overpayment of bills - they are motivated to charge you extra - and it is basically impossible to get your money back. Read the bill carefully and make sure that the charges are correct, using the links below for help if you need. If they haven’t sent you an itemized list, you can ask for one. Sometimes you will be charged extra for items or treatment you didn’t receive. Most people don’t know that you can dispute medical bills! But in 2009, Consumer Reports stated that 8 out of 10 medical bills scrutinized by a watchdog had errors, and generally you are not obligated to pay for someone else’s error.

You may be charged for using medication that you actually brought into the hospital with you - that’s easy to dispute! You may be charged for the consumables used during your stay such as sheets, gloves, gowns, etc - the hospital should actually cover that under its running budget. You may be charged for a brand name drug if the generic was available for cheaper - the links below explain how and when you can dispute this. You may be charged a surprisingly expensive “oral administration fee” (where a nurse puts pills for you to take in a little clean paper cup and then hands it to you) but that’s worth disputing if you were actually able to take the pill out of a bottle and put it in your own mouth. And so on.

8 Things You Should Know About Challenging a Medical Bill (FORBES) (includes links to sites that help you calculate how much a procedure/treatment usually costs in your area, if the costs seem super high)

7 Tips for Fighting and Paying A Huge Medical Bill (FORBES) This explains briefly how to negotiate costs, and payment plans.

10 Common Medical Billing Overcharges You Can Prevent (Bill Advocates) A breakdown of errors and overcharges to double check.

#bookeveryweek Steeplejack by A.J. Hartley.

This is a brave and wonderful book, tackling race and class in the context of political intrigue and a murder mystery through the eyes of a 17-year-old steeplejack. If you like historical fiction coupled with suspense and thriller elements, this story is for you.

The world building for Bar-Selehm (a fantasy version of South Africa) is deep and fascinating, and deftly interwoven into the story so naturally and organically that you don’t notice it as you read, but find yourself immersed. This post colonial historical fantasy never becomes pedantic or lingers too long in exposition, but still really paints a fascinating world.

The three main kinds of people we encounter are the white colonial Feldish people, Lani immigrants descended from indentured servants (like the main character), and indigenous black Mahweni people, both city-dwelling and unassimilated. We see a variety of characters of all three groups and get a good cross section of the city.

Anglet or Ang, the main character, is pretty amazing. Not only is she physically adept enough to make her living as a steeplejack, which involves climbing to dizzying heights and repairing masonry, she’s also smart, independent but still connected to others, and insightful. She’s physically strong, and making it as a young woman in what is essentially a job for boys (not even men, because most don’t live that long).

I quickly found myself on her side and cheering for her, which is a good thing, since the novel is entirely in her perspective. If I have one complaint about her, it’s that she’s a little too perfect, stopping just this side of being more properly named Mary Sue. But there were enough times that she needed to rely on others, that I was able to forgive the slightly implausible range of her skill set.

For most of the book, the pacing is beautiful, giving us hints of what to come at the right time, but not giving things away too soon or manipulating too broadly with red herrings.

Unfortunately, the ending felt rushed, to the point that several lingering plot points were resolved by looking into a single carriage at the end of the climactic scene and finding that not only were situations we worried about resolved, but the people involved were all in the carriage. My suspension of disbelief was also stretched thin by the number of things one of Ang’s friends was able to resolve for her so quickly, the one time that the difficulties a person of his race might have in being heard by the right people was ignored. I was glad he succeeded, but part of me doubted he could have.