/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.12159089]

>At the very northern tip of Manhattan lies one of the last wild places in New York City, a swath of ancient forest that has survived more or less undisturbed for hundreds of years. On an overcast afternoon, the park is relatively quiet, save for the occasional squawk of migrating geese and the distant groan of the Metro-North winding up the Hudson. A solitary jogger lopes along a dirt path edging the dense woods. “I love this park because it’s the last of the forest as it used to be, before we showed up and fucked up everybody’s shit,” fantasy writer N.K. Jemisin tells me as we set off through the woods, her hands tucked pensively into the pockets of a long gray cardigan. After a moment, she adds an important caveat. “Well, I mean, technically my ancestors weren’t fucking anybody up. They were just being fucked up. That said … ” She drifts off, her eyes on the red oaks overhead. Reality always creeps into Jemisin’s fantasies, whether she wants it to or not.

>We’re here on a research expedition to gather details for a scene in her new trilogy, which she describes as a magical battle for the soul of New York City. Over the last decade, Jemisin, a former practicing psychologist, has become one of the world’s most acclaimed authors of science fiction and fantasy, known for crafting richly imagined fantastical realms and melding elements like mysterious sentient floating crystals with searing critiques of contemporary political power structures. For her new book, she wanted to write something light and fun — “a palate cleanser” about tentacled monsters — but Jemisin can never stay away from heavy themes for long. Partway through her first draft, it dawned on her that the new book was really about gentrification and racism. “I just want to write about things blowing up. Gods and planets and moons crashing into things,” she tells me. “But what I write ends up being very political. If I write about dragons, I’m writing about dragons as a black woman, and it’s fucking political.”

[Anonymous No.12159092]

>>12159089
>Jemisin’s phenomenal success has been something like an earthquake ripping through the traditional order of fantasy itself. (Perhaps this explains why certain writers, nearly all of them white men, have taken issue with her rise. But more on that later.) All together, her work has sold a million copies in English and has been translated into 24 languages; TNT is developing it as a TV show. In 2016, the opening book in the trilogy won the Hugo Award for best novel, science fiction and fantasy’s most prestigious honor. She was the first black writer to win this award, though she doesn’t see this as a milestone worth celebrating. “It just emphasizes how flawed the field has always been,” she says. The following year, she won the Hugo again. This year’s win made her the first writer of any race to claim the award three years in a row for each book in a trilogy. For perspective, George R.R. Martin has been nominated in that category four times, but has never won; Neil Gaiman, a fan of Jemisin’s and one of fantasy’s most bankable stars, has won only twice. The demands of success have not disrupted her torrid writing pace; when she’s on deadline, Jemisin aims for 3,000 words a day, and has managed to publish ten books in just the past eight years. Her latest, How Long ‘til Black Future Month?, out this week, is a collection of short stories, her first book to be released in hardback.

[Anonymous No.12159094]

>>12159089
damn, powerful.

[Anonymous No.12159114]

[Anonymous No.12159121]

Yikes, yipes, yeesh

[Anonymous No.12159126]

>By Lila Shapiro
>Shapiro
Interesting surname. That Finnish?

[Anonymous No.12159132]

>>12159114
Damn.. hard hitting transgressive stuff.. middle aged white men take a knee

[Anonymous No.12159137]

>>12159114
why this

[Anonymous No.12159138]

>Jemisin draws even more heavily on psychology and sociology than on the hard sciences. In a seminar on world-building that she occasionally gives at writing conferences, she encourages aspiring writers to read classic works on the history of human civilization, like Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel.

[Anonymous No.12159156]

>>12159138
Haha holy shit this bitch is a walking meme

[Anonymous No.12159157]

I only read the first post but I honest to God cannot tell if it's satire or not

[Anonymous No.12159160]

>>12159089
Can we stop giving attention to these people please

[Anonymous No.12159184]

A BLACK WOMAN has gone to the grocery store to buy some milk. As a BLACK and a WOMAN she ponders, "As a WOMAN, and as a BLACK, what milk is right for me?" Grasping a milk carton in her strong, BLACK, WOMAN hand, she at last makes a decision, a decision deeply resonant with her identity as a WOMAN who is BLACK, indeed, with WOMEN and BLACKS everywhere. She marches to the register with a spring in her step and places the milk down onto the counter. "As a strong, powerful, important BLACK WOMAN, I - a BLACK WOMAN - would like to purchase this milk." The cashier rings her up. "That will be two dollars and eighty-nine cents," he says, practically sneering at her for being a BLACK WOMAN. The BLACK WOMAN defiantly raises her BLACK, WOMANLY hand, a bold, defiant symbol of her brave defiance as a BLACK WOMAN, to silence the racist cashier. "Your racism won't hold me down! I'm going to purchase this milk whether you like it or not!" She hands over the money to the racist cashier, who says "What?," clearly stupefied by the bold defiance of this BLACK WOMAN. She marches out of the grocery store with her head held high, and steals a Slim Jim, not so much as a WOMAN, mostly as a BLACK that time.

[Anonymous No.12159194]

>>12159138
>guns, germs, and steel
holy cringe.

[Anonymous No.12159201]

>>12159184
lmao

[Anonymous No.12159202]

>>12159184
>She marches out of the grocery store with her head held high, and steals a Slim Jim, not so much as a WOMAN, mostly as a BLACK that time.

Kek'd
Would nominate for a Hugo.

[Anonymous No.12159229]

>>12159184

[Anonymous No.12159245]

>>12159114
>unbelievably refreshing as a middle aged white man
this is him, I thought these fags weren't gonna breed

[Anonymous No.12159274]

>>12159089
>jogging

Yeah right. She looked so good on her author pic in the 5th Season. What happened?

[Anonymous No.12159291]

>>12159089
Do niggers even have Dragons?

[Anonymous No.12159297]

>>12159184
>She marches out of the grocery store with her head held high, and steals a Slim Jim, not so much as a WOMAN, mostly as a BLACK that time.

[Anonymous No.12159303]

>>12159184
Lost out loud at the ending. Fucking kek

[Anonymous No.12159306]

>>12159291
They appropriated them from the yellow people

[Anonymous No.12159334]

>>12159157
Same. I've never heard of her, leaning towards satire.

[Anonymous No.12159338]

>>12159245
>implying that's his kid

[Anonymous No.12159359]

>>12159184
10/10

[Anonymous No.12159412]

>>12159245
>that pained, uncomfortable half smile
>those dead eyes
every tiem

[Anonymous No.12159433]

>>12159306
She really needs to stop appropriating European literature and things like English and books, and Asian mythology.

[Anonymous No.12159865]

>>12159089
>I'm writing about dragons as a fat black woman, and it's f*cking political.'
But why though? Why does she HAVE to make it political? Can't she just write a good piece of literature without the political crutch/shield against criticism?

It's all so tiresome.

[Anonymous No.12159889]

>>12159865
Yeah but a dragon stole Eddie murphy from her in shrek 2, so if she doesn't make it political she just looks jel, you know?

[Anonymous No.12159897]

>>12159114
This reminds me of sneaker ads.

[Anonymous No.12159921]

>>12159089
oh gee, I wonder what her politics could possibly be

[Anonymous No.12159930]

>>12159114
well well well if it isn't reddit

[Anonymous No.12159959]

>>12159865
Because a dragon can't just be a dragon, it has to be a symbol of the white man's power over her. That way she can kill it and feel good about herself. Everything has to be political, because everything has a fuck you to someone.

[Anonymous No.12159978]

>>12159138
This can’t be real.

>you live in a reality where popular writers call blatantly revisionistic histories ‘classics’

[Anonymous No.12159981]

>>12159184
Good story, submit it to a flash fiction blog

[Anonymous No.12159986]

>>12159978
Welcome to the Ministry of Truth, anon. Things were always this way.

[Anonymous No.12159989]

>>12159184

[Anonymous No.12159994]

I'm a progressive and I don't mind those themes in literature if their done with tact, problem with it is faggots write the same banal, ham-fisted regurgitation of the liberal-democratic status quo and then try to make it digestible by painting on genre tropes.
When pressed on the lack of subtly or creativity they go on the defensive and say it was on purpose, and pretend like it's something revolutionary that they should be proud of.

[Anonymous No.12160007]

Finally. It's about time someone dared to speak out.

[Anonymous No.12160015]

>>12159114
God damn these people are pathetic quivering worms.

[Anonymous No.12160016]

Imagine taking yourself seriously as a writer and swearing in an interview. Imagine taking yourself seriously as a journalist and publishing swear words in the headline.

[Anonymous No.12160017]

>>12160007
…don't they order their books and choose the ratio themselves?

[Anonymous No.12160031]

>>12160016
I imagine being James Ellroy all the time, anon…

[Anonymous No.12160039]

>>12160017
It's been tried before.

[Anonymous No.12160072]

>>12159089
>Her debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award, and short-listed for the James Tiptree Jr. Award.
>The James Tiptree Jr. Award is an annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender.
>The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms also won the Sense of Gender Awards in 2011.

Truely the reigning fantasy queen. Just look at these awards.

[Anonymous No.12160100]

>>12160072
>>The James Tiptree Jr. Award is an annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender
Tiptree's rolling in her grave. She only came up with the pseudonym to not be the first female in another field she succeeded in.

[Anonymous No.12160117]

>>12159089
>After a moment, she adds an important caveat. “Well, I mean, technically my ancestors weren’t fucking anybody up. They were just being fucked up. That said … ”

[Anonymous No.12160148]

> which she describes as a magical battle for the soul of New York City.
So is it a bunch of former yuppies fighting woke now-yuppies for who can serve Wall Street the best?

[Anonymous No.12160171]

>>12160148
*neo-yuppies

[Anonymous No.12160178]

>>12160148
Not progressive enough.

A bunch of fat, black, and latinx gender non-conforming sex workers resist the the forces of cis heteropatriarchal white supremacists attempting to build coffee shops in poor neighbourhoods.

[Anonymous No.12160237]

>>12159184
Based

[Anonymous No.12160247]

>>12159184
it doesn't say what type of milk she chose

[Anonymous No.12160259]

>>12160178
That’s not significantly different from what I said.

[Anonymous No.12160270]

>>12160072
Lots of awards, yet I've never heard of her and can't readily find any information on how well her books sell. Hmmm.

[Anonymous No.12160302]

>>12160247
Chocolate

[Anonymous No.12160317]

>>12160259
You made your point simply and concisely. That's wrong. You need to cram in as many buzzwords as possible, even if you have only a faint idea of what they mean. If your message isn't a convoluted mess of jargon, you're clearly uneducated and need to go study a gender degree.

[Anonymous No.12160348]

>>12160117
The eternal Bantu strikes again

[Anonymous No.12160449]

>>12160007
Couldn't all the time spent turning the books, then turning them back later, been spent on... I dunno... writing a work of fiction?

[Anonymous No.12160585]

>>12159865
>Can't she just write a good piece of literature
Obviously not

[Anonymous No.12160591]

>>12160449
that's very white cis male thinking there mate

[Anonymous No.12160625]

America is NOT sentient

[Anonymous No.12160631]

>>12159184
>"As a WOMAN, and as a BLACK, what milk is right for me?"

[Anonymous No.12160640]

>>12159184
>She marches out of the grocery store with her head held high, and steals a Slim Jim, not so much as a WOMAN, mostly as a BLACK that time.
lmao

[Anonymous No.12160822]

>>12160039
Reminds me of the Feminist Bookstore skit from Portlandia.

[Anonymous No.12160831]

>>12160822
They filmed that segment at the store
https://www.oregonlive.com/tv/2018/06/portland_feminist_bookstore_in.html
>The volunteer-run space gained a national profile thanks to its association with "Portlandia," though In Other Words later made headlines for repudiating the IFC sketch comedy show.

[Anonymous No.12160848]

>>12160831
Wonder if the owner of the store knew what they were shooting. Though Portlandia never did mean-spirited satire.

[Anonymous No.12160851]

>>12159089

Dragons arguing, pige, etc.

[Anonymous No.12160858]

>>12159184
he cute

[Anonymous No.12162137]

>>12159184
but blacks are like intolerant of lactose and stuff

[Anonymous No.12162187]

>>12159089
Fucking who?

[Anonymous No.12162302]

>>12159089
I bet almost all of she sales are from libraries! It a racket!

[Anonymous No.12162311]

>>12159092
Deadass read that as "How long until black people shut the fuck up" and had to doubletake

[Anonymous No.12162323]

>>12159184
fucking kek

[Anonymous No.12162726]

>>12159114
Ever time I become afraid 4channel is becoming Reddit I read actual Reddit posts and thank Allah that we're miles away from it.

[Anonymous No.12162768]

>>12160348
I keep hearing “Bantu,” being thrown around. Unless her ancestors are from central or South Africa,she isn’t.

[Anonymous No.12162859]

>>12159089
>Undisturbed for hundreds of years

For being the kind of people that pretend to care about the environment, they are not very educated about it.

[Anonymous No.12162901]

>>12159184
>and steals a Slim Jim, not so much as a WOMAN, mostly as a BLACK that time.
Jesus Christ anon, you should be proud of yourself for that line alone.

[Anonymous No.12163070]

Is everybody in the thread missing the point? She's not complaining about muh racism, she's just saying it creeps into her work when she just wants to write fun genre book.

[Anonymous No.12163196]

>>12159184
what a roller-coaster, bravo

[Anonymous No.12163202]

>>12162768
it's just a way of speaking, everybody killed each other everywhere always

[Anonymous No.12163203]

>>12162768
Bantus originally came from western africa??

[Anonymous No.12163239]

>>12159114

How do people become as pathetic as this? The world would honestly be a better place if these people weren't in it

[Anonymous No.12163259]

>>12163239
The weak subsidize the lifestyle of the strong. Without mindless consumerism I couldn't make stock gains year over year. Without the unintelligent I couldn't benefit from cheap labour. And without beta cucks, my physique and personality wouldn't stand out to women. Be thankful for the rabble.

[Anonymous No.12163271]

>>12163203
Central Africa, I believe, then migrated South, conquering and genociding as they went. Anyone who thinks privative cultures are peaceful and fucking delusional.

[Anonymous No.12163324]

>>12163070
Yep, she was just so oblivious to her own work that she didn't even notice it. Over 500 pages in she suddenly realized: "Oh, it seems like I'm unexpectedly writing about racism again (for the tenth book on a row)".

[Anonymous No.12163522]

>>12159114
I want to laugh at this Reddit thread so badly, anyone got a link?

[Anonymous No.12163546]

>>12163522

Here, Anon. Have fun: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/a1kd9j/for_reigning_fantasy_queen_nk_jemisin_theres_no/

[Anonymous No.12163835]

>>12163271
The Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from Western Africa-- near modern-day Nigeria-- southward and eastward, spreading out across all of the southern half of the African continent.

t. wikipedia

[Anonymous No.12163861]

Oh no! A black woman is writing popular fiction and has opinions. Something has to be done.

[Anonymous No.12163890]

>>12163861
Just wait until the boys at the redpill book club hear about this one. A fine addition to our cringe comp indeed!

[Anonymous No.12164075]

>>12159089
>>12159092
I have been reading fantasy and sci fi shit my entire life and I've never heard of her. Her "success" is due to the cancer infecting the genre and prices how meaninglessness the awards have become

[Anonymous No.12164093]

>>12160270
She's clearly an industry plant

[Anonymous No.12164271]

>>12164093
Not a plant, but definitely a darling. She's black, she's a woman and her politics are correct, so her skills as a writer are of secondary consideration.

[Anonymous No.12164357]

>>12159184
INCREDIBLY based and ASTONISHINGLY redpilled

[Anonymous No.12164364]

>>12163861
>Effeminate passive-aggressive sarcasm
Why is this the only sort of response you people ever make?

[Anonymous No.12164527]

>>12164364
>Effeminate passive-aggressive critism of effeminate passive-aggressive sarcasm.
OMG I literally can't even. Fuck off turd sucker.

[Anonymous No.12164572]

>>12159089
black people are so fucking black that they can neither write nor speak nor think about anything else apart from being black

but the thing is society is constantly reminding them that they are black, and constantly telling them that to be black is to be politically involved. ergo, when women, the most narcissistic first class citizens in the US decide to write, and by some star birth are black, than everthing they do is lauded as black activism, even if it is swearing while communicating nothing in an interview

[Anonymous No.12164609]

>>12159184
Bravo anon. I genuinely laughed out loud.

[Anonymous No.12164808]

>>12159184
Good job. The ending had me in stitches.

[Anonymous No.12164822]

>>12159114
lol

[Anonymous No.12165750]

>>12159184
Put me in the screenshot

[Anonymous No.12165796]

I don't understand why everyone ITT is so angry.

[Anonymous No.12165853]

>>12165796
Probably cos they can't write 3000 words a day like the woman in OP

[Anonymous No.12165886]

>>12159201
>>12159202
>>12159229
>>12159297
>>12159303
>>12159359
>>12159981
>>12159989
>>12160237
>>12160247
>>12160631
>>12160640
>>12160858
>>12162137
>>12162323
>>12162901
>>12163196
>>12164357
>>12164609
>>12164808
>>12165750
Based and redpilled. And not one samefag.

[Anonymous No.12165887]

>>12163239
They're just following the state religion. This is why I think, in a way, correcting the course of society wouldn't be that hard. Progressivism requires massive levels of reality denial and relentless propagandization to get people to believe it, so it wouldn't be that hard to use that apparatus to promote another, more beneficial worldview.

[Anonymous No.12165922]

>>12159138

[Anonymous No.12165927]

>>12163259
The weak subsidize the lifestyle of the parasitic*

[Anonymous No.12166339]

>>12159184
I didn't know Hussie browsed /lit/, lmao

[Anonymous No.12166383]

is her prose good

[Anonymous No.12166396]

>>12159184
>She marches out of the grocery store with her head held high, and steals a Slim Jim, not so much as a WOMAN, mostly as a BLACK that time.
Holy fucking shit, where can we fund your first published book?

[Anonymous No.12166422]

>>12159089
Jokes aside, the article makes such a big deal about her, like she's the next big thing, but i doubt literaly anyone has heard about her name or even her books by themselves

[Anonymous No.12166451]

>>12166422

i see a lot about her complaining about how white dudes are more popular than her

[Anonymous No.12166492]

>>12164572
Writing a character who happens to be black, with a slight intention of said black character’s problem not being “woe is the negro,” still plays into that right?

[Anonymous No.12166501]

I'm not american, but why everything in america boils down to race?

or is 4chan autism?

[Anonymous No.12166522]

>>12166501

political agitators

[Anonymous No.12166621]

>>12163890
kek

[Proud Social Justice Warrior !BgjMIiqmkk No.12166633]

>>12160117
That said it wouldn't have occurred had her forebears' overlords not sold their people for a truckload of beads.

[Anonymous No.12166798]

>>12159184

[Anonymous No.12166817]

>>12166501
Both

[Anonymous No.12166827]

>>12166501
Neoliberals

[Anonymous No.12167035]

>>12159291
>Do niggers even have Dragons?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WnfoJ51Qhk

[Anonymous No.12167817]

>>12159245
Guy clearly has a happy home life. Y'all just jelly

[Anonymous No.12168190]

>>12159184
f*cking brutal

[Anonymous No.12168418]

>>12159184
Unbelievably refreshing as a middle aged white man who has been reading fantasy his whole life

I will buy anything you write for life

[Anonymous No.12168579]

>>12165886
Shut the fuck up

[Anonymous No.12169085]

>>12163259
Kek hey fellas look ova heah! This guy's wearing tighties-whiteys and dressin out in the locker room today!

[Anonymous No.12169092]

>>12165853
Crying because based you fucking faggot

[Anonymous No.12169101]

>>12159184
Certifiably based.

[Anonymous No.12169637]

huh wait, i dont get all the ruckus.
is this scrap bellow a piece of the book with some fantasy race replaced by "black"?
>>12159184
>A BLACK WOMAN has gone to the grocery store to buy some milk. As a BLACK and a WOMAN she ponders, "As a WOMAN, and as a BLACK, what milk is right for me

[Anonymous No.12170000]

>>12160039
feminism in commerce and business is a gimmick

[Anonymous No.12170184]

>>12163546
>By the dead, I love the way N.K. writes. I want to roll every word around in my mouth and savour it before moving on to the next one.

[Anonymous No.12170198]

>>12163546
>that thread about Lovecraft where they progressively discover how redpilled he truly was
made me kek how their innocence is shattered

[Anonymous No.12170208]

>>12163546
>ANAL_LAZER:
>Lol I knew this post would bring out the racists. Classic /r/fantasy

Literally every one in the thread is either
1: Bowing down to her
2: Giving very tip toe critisim like "I really love her as a person, but I didn't like this book, are the others ones better?"

[Anonymous No.12170324]

>>12163546
Every dissenting comment is either deleted or downvoted

Still amazes me that downvoting is a thing. Creepy Reddit people

[Anonymous No.12170341]

>>12170324
You ever feel like ideas are sometimes more powerful than the people who create them? Or brands?

[Anonymous No.12170346]

Did anyone else think that was a weed plant behind her because she has dreadlocks?

[Anonymous No.12170365]

>>12169092
Incredible post

[Anonymous No.12170392]

>>12159184

[Anonymous No.12170399]

>>12164527
Lol I got 3 windows open all showing big booty bitches spreadin the booty meat and dropping big fucking logs.
On paper plates, the floor, filling their panties, just whole lotta fucking caca everywhere my guy.
Im all about the fucking caca. I love caca. I wish I had caca. I wish I was caca.
I got my own profile where I share dookie content of sexy hoes. It's MrPopo_TheLandlord.
In the winter I fill my balaclava with shitpaste from my ugly bitch wife.
Dont worry though my guys my daughter finna be 21 next month and I am going to make some moves. She could use the action.

[Anonymous No.12170429]

>>12170399
what the heck, man.