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A Portrait of the Desert in Personages of Power #Part I
Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #229
Issue #229 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies online magazine, featuring Pt. I of a novella by Rose Lemberg and a story by Theodore McCombs.
87 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 28, 2017
3 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Scott H. Andrews
466 books24 followersScott H. Andrews is a writer of science fiction. He teaches college chemistry. He is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the fantasy magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
Andrews's short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Space and Time, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, On Spec, Crossed Genres, and M-Brane SF.
Andrews's short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Space and Time, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, On Spec, Crossed Genres, and M-Brane SF.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 20, 2017
I highly recommend the audio version of this story, read by C.S.E. Cooney. I cannot imagine a better voice for the tale told; I got goosebumps within the first 30 seconds. Cooney conveys the power that the protagonist holds, the power held in each of the main characters, the power held by their adversaries. http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.co...
This story has layers. I found my attention wandering at times in the first half, not quite yet used to the rhythm of the tale - only to be gut-gripped by how important something became later, in the nuance, the weight, the delivery, the texture of a moment. The inflection of the meaning changes in the telling.
This story has everything I look for in a drama: focused on relationships, exquisite in the tension between individuals, and beautifully told where prose feels drawn taut by poems. It is the only story I can think of that has gotten the dynamics of trust right.
If you read for character, if you fall into the sensuousness of words, if unbridled strength seems always rooted upon utter vulnerability... Read this. Listen to it.
This story has layers. I found my attention wandering at times in the first half, not quite yet used to the rhythm of the tale - only to be gut-gripped by how important something became later, in the nuance, the weight, the delivery, the texture of a moment. The inflection of the meaning changes in the telling.
This story has everything I look for in a drama: focused on relationships, exquisite in the tension between individuals, and beautifully told where prose feels drawn taut by poems. It is the only story I can think of that has gotten the dynamics of trust right.
If you read for character, if you fall into the sensuousness of words, if unbridled strength seems always rooted upon utter vulnerability... Read this. Listen to it.
June 16, 2017
See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant
I would like to thank Rose Lemberg for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I may not be able to give this more than five stars on Goodreads or on my blog (I guess it's my blog so I could give it more stars but I like everything staying lined up with Goodreads so..), but, in my heart, Rose Lemberg gets all the damn stars in the sky.
Lemberg artfully opens up their new novella with a short legend, one of which is truly entrancing. That's something that you'll always find in anything written by Lemberg. The way they set up their universe, the way they write so intimately within it, you can tell that these stories will not only be beautiful, but also impactful. I was not even 15 pages in before I found myself crying about consent and pronouns at 1:30 in the morning. That is not a joke. Portrait goes into in-depth discussions about consent, but it also touches on smaller things, like respecting pronouns and trust. There were moments when I would shut off my reader just to hug it to my chest I was so moved with the words Lemberg had put on the page.
The Old Royal is bigender, and that is mentioned not only multiple times in the novella, but it also goes into how the Old Royal likes to shift between genders. Then, there was also a minor character, Marvushi, who had some gender fluidity, as they went from they/them to she/her pronouns and back to they/them. There are multiple nonbinary characters all throughout Portrait, some nb from the beginning, some realizing it later on, and it was wonderful, and so realistic. I especially loved the mentioned Sandbird Festival, where the Old Royal helps nonbinary individuals change their body into their image. Like, holy shit I want that??
In addition to Lemberg's exquisite writing as well as the diverse set of characters, this piece also tackled heavy topics. Consent, and what it means, pronouns and respecting them (there was one character who "didn't get" neutral pronouns and instead used he/him and I nearly SCREAMED), as well as sadism, and being a survivor of traumatic events. Lemberg delved into these topics with no hesitation, and that's not something you see often. Someone willing to discuss these topics in literature.
five (million) stars - Overall?
Rose Lemberg continues to blow me away. After Geometries of Belonging and Portrait, I know that I have found one author that will never disappoint me. I realize that it's a stretch to say that, but the #OwnVoices nonbinary rep, specifically bigender, has been flawless, and everything else about Lemberg's work has been nothing but gorgeous.
Would I Recommend?
Love High Fantasy? Love diversity? Love really cool world building? Or how about being inclusive in experiences, kinks, genders, sexualities, backgrounds, lives, etc? Love just being utterly blown away by an author's writing? Then read anything by Rose Lemberg.
Trigger warning for kink, edgeplay, and discussions of trauma, mentions of suicide, misgendering.
I would like to thank Rose Lemberg for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I may not be able to give this more than five stars on Goodreads or on my blog (I guess it's my blog so I could give it more stars but I like everything staying lined up with Goodreads so..), but, in my heart, Rose Lemberg gets all the damn stars in the sky.
Lemberg artfully opens up their new novella with a short legend, one of which is truly entrancing. That's something that you'll always find in anything written by Lemberg. The way they set up their universe, the way they write so intimately within it, you can tell that these stories will not only be beautiful, but also impactful. I was not even 15 pages in before I found myself crying about consent and pronouns at 1:30 in the morning. That is not a joke. Portrait goes into in-depth discussions about consent, but it also touches on smaller things, like respecting pronouns and trust. There were moments when I would shut off my reader just to hug it to my chest I was so moved with the words Lemberg had put on the page.
The Old Royal is bigender, and that is mentioned not only multiple times in the novella, but it also goes into how the Old Royal likes to shift between genders. Then, there was also a minor character, Marvushi, who had some gender fluidity, as they went from they/them to she/her pronouns and back to they/them. There are multiple nonbinary characters all throughout Portrait, some nb from the beginning, some realizing it later on, and it was wonderful, and so realistic. I especially loved the mentioned Sandbird Festival, where the Old Royal helps nonbinary individuals change their body into their image. Like, holy shit I want that??
In addition to Lemberg's exquisite writing as well as the diverse set of characters, this piece also tackled heavy topics. Consent, and what it means, pronouns and respecting them (there was one character who "didn't get" neutral pronouns and instead used he/him and I nearly SCREAMED), as well as sadism, and being a survivor of traumatic events. Lemberg delved into these topics with no hesitation, and that's not something you see often. Someone willing to discuss these topics in literature.
five (million) stars - Overall?
Rose Lemberg continues to blow me away. After Geometries of Belonging and Portrait, I know that I have found one author that will never disappoint me. I realize that it's a stretch to say that, but the #OwnVoices nonbinary rep, specifically bigender, has been flawless, and everything else about Lemberg's work has been nothing but gorgeous.
Would I Recommend?
Love High Fantasy? Love diversity? Love really cool world building? Or how about being inclusive in experiences, kinks, genders, sexualities, backgrounds, lives, etc? Love just being utterly blown away by an author's writing? Then read anything by Rose Lemberg.
Trigger warning for kink, edgeplay, and discussions of trauma, mentions of suicide, misgendering.
July 24, 2017
“A Portrait of the Desert in Personages of Power” by Rose Lemberg (38000 words)
People, this story. I have of late lamented that there was not enough queer smutty stories appearing in pro SFF venues. Here is one that captures the scope and awe and magic of fantasy and builds a world that is both shatteringly real and peopled by characters diverse and raw and hurt and yearning for something they can’t quite give breath to. For fans of BirdVerse, in which this story is set, some of the characters and ideas will be familiar. Tajer Ranraven, who appeared in “Geometries of Belonging” (still one of my very favorite stories ever) is back, but a much different, much younger person than when he/they appeared in that story. This piece finds him in the middle of his journey following his expulsion from the Katran University, and finds him from the perspective of one of the most interesting and mysterious figures in BirdVerse, the Old Royal of Che Mazri. Part of what I love about the story is how it treats with mysteries and with secrets, which is a large part of the province of the Old Royal. And yet they have secrets of their own, and though a lifelong teacher they also have some lessons to learn.
Now, Things Happen in this story. There are assassins and magic and betrayals and plots and politics all happening throughout the piece. But for me the crux of the story is trust and it’s a very personal kind of trust. All of the characters are dealing with their own pains and their own insecurities. Each of them has been hurt and is worried about being hurt again. The Old Royal, for all that they are considered a wise old sage, is no exception. Indeed, the story reveals the layers of hurt and distrust that they have, compounded by the lives they’ve lived and the friends and lovers they have lost. Compounded further by the long line of people who want to do them harm. They begin the story tired and worn, which is understandable given their age and the life they've lived. They are grieving and at the same time seem close to giving into the weariness that plagues them. Relationships take work, and the Old Royal has been letting their relationships suffer because they are looking at the end of their life and their subsequent renewal with a strong yearning. When Tajer arrives, though, he presents them with not just a new challenge, but with something they’ve been starving for—a peer. Someone who sees beneath the wrinkles at the person there and sees in that person someone to respect and desire.
And yes, this is a rather sexy story. It’s about exploring sexuality and negotiating consent and finding pleasure and release in pain and especially for these characters, who as the title implies are powerful, it becomes difficult to find true consent, difficult to find people who can say no but will choose to say yes to the other’s vision and pleasure and desires, all the while finding their own as well. And it is some rather kinky stuff the characters get up to, finding the joy and pleasure not exactly in submission but in the giving and receiving of pain and consent. They both have these desires that are not often embraced, that are often seen as wrong or disgusting, and yet with each other there is not that judgment, though both of them still very much fear rejection and betrayal because to admit to their desires, to act on their desires, makes them vulnerable.
And I love that these are characters that hurt each other, that the story doesn’t make their relationship or…courtship(?) clean or easy. They are negotiating half-unaware at times of what the other is thinking of feeling or what might trigger a harsh response. They are people who live with deep traumas and yet those traumas do not prevent them from reaching out in hope and finding joy in one another. The web of characters the story creates is one that, like the Grid of the world, is weakened by absences and a general distrust. And while some of the characters seem to think the only way to counter this decay is to create one person to anchor the web and dominate, Tajer and the Old Royal push for a different way, a more subtle and in many ways more precarious way. They seek to strengthen not by creating a powerful single point but by working on the bonds between each person and strengthening those bonds with affection and trust. By drawing the points on the grid closer, in harmony and balance, they create a more stable world, a more stable network of friends and lovers, teachers and students. It’s a lovely and moving narrative that fits wonderfully with the other BirdVerse stories, which do share a concern with the way that hate and war and dissolution weaken the world to a dangerous degree. Here we see the power of people (queer people, mostly) coming together to find common ground and work for healing and safety and peace. It’s beautiful and you should read it!
Plus, you know, the world building and character grids work much like the weakened Grid of the world. The Old Royal has let their affairs slip, and their web of people, like the Stars that are supposed to stabilize the world, are frayed and threatening to be extinguished. And they find it hard to care until they are reminded of the beauty and power and joy that such a grid can be. That when they trust they are supported, and the heavy burdens they carry don't have to be carried alone. It's a great moment of parallelism where the Old Royal must first see to their own interpersonal web of friends/lovers/advisers/etc. before they can truly understand what's happening to the world at large. And while the novella doesn't seek to bring the larger problem of the weakened Grid to any sort of conclusion, it does hint at how the Grid can be repaired--by getting past all the mistrust and pain at a national level. By dropping away these nationalist assassination attempts and posturing and hatreds to form something out of trust, consent, and mutual support. Which, fuck, given everything happening nationally and internationally right now, is SUPER FUCKING IMPORTANT JUST READ THE NOVELLA PEOPLE IT'S AMAZING!!!
(plus OMG THE CHARACTERS!!! They are all so awesome and if everyone doesn’t want all the Marvushi everything then YOU HAVE NO TASTE! There are just so many great characters all orbiting around each other and I love them all and can’t wait to read more amazing BirdVerse stories!)
People, this story. I have of late lamented that there was not enough queer smutty stories appearing in pro SFF venues. Here is one that captures the scope and awe and magic of fantasy and builds a world that is both shatteringly real and peopled by characters diverse and raw and hurt and yearning for something they can’t quite give breath to. For fans of BirdVerse, in which this story is set, some of the characters and ideas will be familiar. Tajer Ranraven, who appeared in “Geometries of Belonging” (still one of my very favorite stories ever) is back, but a much different, much younger person than when he/they appeared in that story. This piece finds him in the middle of his journey following his expulsion from the Katran University, and finds him from the perspective of one of the most interesting and mysterious figures in BirdVerse, the Old Royal of Che Mazri. Part of what I love about the story is how it treats with mysteries and with secrets, which is a large part of the province of the Old Royal. And yet they have secrets of their own, and though a lifelong teacher they also have some lessons to learn.
Now, Things Happen in this story. There are assassins and magic and betrayals and plots and politics all happening throughout the piece. But for me the crux of the story is trust and it’s a very personal kind of trust. All of the characters are dealing with their own pains and their own insecurities. Each of them has been hurt and is worried about being hurt again. The Old Royal, for all that they are considered a wise old sage, is no exception. Indeed, the story reveals the layers of hurt and distrust that they have, compounded by the lives they’ve lived and the friends and lovers they have lost. Compounded further by the long line of people who want to do them harm. They begin the story tired and worn, which is understandable given their age and the life they've lived. They are grieving and at the same time seem close to giving into the weariness that plagues them. Relationships take work, and the Old Royal has been letting their relationships suffer because they are looking at the end of their life and their subsequent renewal with a strong yearning. When Tajer arrives, though, he presents them with not just a new challenge, but with something they’ve been starving for—a peer. Someone who sees beneath the wrinkles at the person there and sees in that person someone to respect and desire.
And yes, this is a rather sexy story. It’s about exploring sexuality and negotiating consent and finding pleasure and release in pain and especially for these characters, who as the title implies are powerful, it becomes difficult to find true consent, difficult to find people who can say no but will choose to say yes to the other’s vision and pleasure and desires, all the while finding their own as well. And it is some rather kinky stuff the characters get up to, finding the joy and pleasure not exactly in submission but in the giving and receiving of pain and consent. They both have these desires that are not often embraced, that are often seen as wrong or disgusting, and yet with each other there is not that judgment, though both of them still very much fear rejection and betrayal because to admit to their desires, to act on their desires, makes them vulnerable.
And I love that these are characters that hurt each other, that the story doesn’t make their relationship or…courtship(?) clean or easy. They are negotiating half-unaware at times of what the other is thinking of feeling or what might trigger a harsh response. They are people who live with deep traumas and yet those traumas do not prevent them from reaching out in hope and finding joy in one another. The web of characters the story creates is one that, like the Grid of the world, is weakened by absences and a general distrust. And while some of the characters seem to think the only way to counter this decay is to create one person to anchor the web and dominate, Tajer and the Old Royal push for a different way, a more subtle and in many ways more precarious way. They seek to strengthen not by creating a powerful single point but by working on the bonds between each person and strengthening those bonds with affection and trust. By drawing the points on the grid closer, in harmony and balance, they create a more stable world, a more stable network of friends and lovers, teachers and students. It’s a lovely and moving narrative that fits wonderfully with the other BirdVerse stories, which do share a concern with the way that hate and war and dissolution weaken the world to a dangerous degree. Here we see the power of people (queer people, mostly) coming together to find common ground and work for healing and safety and peace. It’s beautiful and you should read it!
Plus, you know, the world building and character grids work much like the weakened Grid of the world. The Old Royal has let their affairs slip, and their web of people, like the Stars that are supposed to stabilize the world, are frayed and threatening to be extinguished. And they find it hard to care until they are reminded of the beauty and power and joy that such a grid can be. That when they trust they are supported, and the heavy burdens they carry don't have to be carried alone. It's a great moment of parallelism where the Old Royal must first see to their own interpersonal web of friends/lovers/advisers/etc. before they can truly understand what's happening to the world at large. And while the novella doesn't seek to bring the larger problem of the weakened Grid to any sort of conclusion, it does hint at how the Grid can be repaired--by getting past all the mistrust and pain at a national level. By dropping away these nationalist assassination attempts and posturing and hatreds to form something out of trust, consent, and mutual support. Which, fuck, given everything happening nationally and internationally right now, is SUPER FUCKING IMPORTANT JUST READ THE NOVELLA PEOPLE IT'S AMAZING!!!
(plus OMG THE CHARACTERS!!! They are all so awesome and if everyone doesn’t want all the Marvushi everything then YOU HAVE NO TASTE! There are just so many great characters all orbiting around each other and I love them all and can’t wait to read more amazing BirdVerse stories!)
November 14, 2017
So far, this one doesn't look like my sort of thing. It is well-written, and the author seems to have taken to the deserts of Oz.
Well, maybe later, or another story?
Ann Leckie gave this a nice shout-out, https://www.annleckie.com/2017/11/11/...
"I’m behind in catching up with Rose Lemberg’s Birdverse stories. ... I highly recommend it"
Part 1: http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.co...
Part 2 is linked, as are others of Lemberg’s stories
Well, maybe later, or another story?
Ann Leckie gave this a nice shout-out, https://www.annleckie.com/2017/11/11/...
"I’m behind in catching up with Rose Lemberg’s Birdverse stories. ... I highly recommend it"
Part 1: http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.co...
Part 2 is linked, as are others of Lemberg’s stories
April 8, 2019
A copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review
This non-binary centered novella has supermages and spies and ghosts and I adore the ways those things are interwoven into a narrative that is so much about consent and kink and trauma.
This is my favorite book that has come out in 2017, the one closest to my heart. I love it dearly. It means the world to me.
I love how intensely enby centered it is. How it offers a vision of a world where non-binary folks can be celebrated and powerful and honored for who they are. How it is told from an enby perspective and feels like it's written for enby readers.
I needed this book very much. Especially for the way it engages so deeply with consent and sadism. My heart was in my throat as I was reading the first half particularly, watching the Raker get accused of harm, watching him be defensive and angry, watching the OR sort through the pieces, from a place of deep acceptance of sadism. It was painfully resonant, and deeply healing, to read this story, as a sadist, particularly as a sadist who has struggled with internalized shame around my sadism. It made me cry, and it made me feel so much, and it felt like being seen.
The kink itself is glorious, some of the best and most gorgeous descriptions of magical SM I have ever read. I love that the kink is power neutral and that it's not about sex. (There is no sex in the story.) It's not about sex, and very much feels like romance. Not a classic romantic arc of a standalone piece, more the beginning of a long polyamorous fantasy romance series, where the Raker and the Old Royal continue on throughout, as kinky lovers and as friends. The kink itself, and the dance around it, feels like some of the most romantic kink I've read. It's beautiful.
I loved the way consent was a constant question and discussion in the entire story. Not just around kink, but about magic and disclosure and touch, woven into everything. The way the story grappled with the complexities of consent, and wasn't interested in simplifying it. Instead wanted to hold the places where it was hard and nuanced and there was less clarity. The way that both the Raker and the OR care so deeply about consent.
One of the things I most appreciated was the representation of trauma in this story, especially around the depiction of the Raker, who got to be a trauma survivor that wasn't especially sympathetic, on the face of things. He's angry and defensive, and prickly and lashes out instinctively to protect himself. He isn't wanting protection or rescue. He is suspected by many characters to be a criminal. He is openly a sadist. And he is also deeply traumatized, by what has happened to him, and by the ways people treat him. I especially appreciated that the Old Royal doesn't pressure him to tell about the trauma, and makes it clear that its not ok for others to demand that he do so. And that we never hear the details. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the way this challenges common narratives about trauma, that it resists presenting his trauma story in ways that are exploitative. It makes the story safer for me as a trauma survivor. (So does the way the story engages with consent.) It feels like one of the most radical things this novella does, resisting those common narratives.
The story travels back and forth between lore and reality, interweaves them beautifully, shows the history of magical geometry, and shows both the study and practice of it as well. I loved the university setting; if there is any place in Birdverse I'd like to be, it's there. Loved the relationships in the story, especially the ORs relationship with Marvushi and with Nihitu.
There are deeply compelling plotlines aside from the central relationship between the OR and the Raker. I enjoyed all the intrigue in the story, quite a bit. I also really liked the complexities of plot circling Ranra, a ghost that is trying to resolve a problem she helped create.
I love Birdverse deeply, and this novella has become my new favorite Birdverse story. The language, as always with Birdverse, is just gorgeous. The story beautiful and important and resonant and radical and there is so much wonderful in it.
Trigger Warnings:
This non-binary centered novella has supermages and spies and ghosts and I adore the ways those things are interwoven into a narrative that is so much about consent and kink and trauma.
This is my favorite book that has come out in 2017, the one closest to my heart. I love it dearly. It means the world to me.
I love how intensely enby centered it is. How it offers a vision of a world where non-binary folks can be celebrated and powerful and honored for who they are. How it is told from an enby perspective and feels like it's written for enby readers.
I needed this book very much. Especially for the way it engages so deeply with consent and sadism. My heart was in my throat as I was reading the first half particularly, watching the Raker get accused of harm, watching him be defensive and angry, watching the OR sort through the pieces, from a place of deep acceptance of sadism. It was painfully resonant, and deeply healing, to read this story, as a sadist, particularly as a sadist who has struggled with internalized shame around my sadism. It made me cry, and it made me feel so much, and it felt like being seen.
The kink itself is glorious, some of the best and most gorgeous descriptions of magical SM I have ever read. I love that the kink is power neutral and that it's not about sex. (There is no sex in the story.) It's not about sex, and very much feels like romance. Not a classic romantic arc of a standalone piece, more the beginning of a long polyamorous fantasy romance series, where the Raker and the Old Royal continue on throughout, as kinky lovers and as friends. The kink itself, and the dance around it, feels like some of the most romantic kink I've read. It's beautiful.
I loved the way consent was a constant question and discussion in the entire story. Not just around kink, but about magic and disclosure and touch, woven into everything. The way the story grappled with the complexities of consent, and wasn't interested in simplifying it. Instead wanted to hold the places where it was hard and nuanced and there was less clarity. The way that both the Raker and the OR care so deeply about consent.
One of the things I most appreciated was the representation of trauma in this story, especially around the depiction of the Raker, who got to be a trauma survivor that wasn't especially sympathetic, on the face of things. He's angry and defensive, and prickly and lashes out instinctively to protect himself. He isn't wanting protection or rescue. He is suspected by many characters to be a criminal. He is openly a sadist. And he is also deeply traumatized, by what has happened to him, and by the ways people treat him. I especially appreciated that the Old Royal doesn't pressure him to tell about the trauma, and makes it clear that its not ok for others to demand that he do so. And that we never hear the details. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the way this challenges common narratives about trauma, that it resists presenting his trauma story in ways that are exploitative. It makes the story safer for me as a trauma survivor. (So does the way the story engages with consent.) It feels like one of the most radical things this novella does, resisting those common narratives.
The story travels back and forth between lore and reality, interweaves them beautifully, shows the history of magical geometry, and shows both the study and practice of it as well. I loved the university setting; if there is any place in Birdverse I'd like to be, it's there. Loved the relationships in the story, especially the ORs relationship with Marvushi and with Nihitu.
There are deeply compelling plotlines aside from the central relationship between the OR and the Raker. I enjoyed all the intrigue in the story, quite a bit. I also really liked the complexities of plot circling Ranra, a ghost that is trying to resolve a problem she helped create.
I love Birdverse deeply, and this novella has become my new favorite Birdverse story. The language, as always with Birdverse, is just gorgeous. The story beautiful and important and resonant and radical and there is so much wonderful in it.
Trigger Warnings:
September 17, 2017
This was amazing. I listened to the audio version and I recommend it, but do read the summary and probably also Xan West's review for content notes.
Note to self, though:
Note to self, though:
August 4, 2021
*This review is only for A Portrait of the Desert in Personages of Power, Part I*
July 20, 2017
It took me a little while to get into "A Portrait of the Desert in Personages of Power, Pt. 1" by Rose Lemberg, but it eventually worked its magic. The characters, especially the protagonist, are so compelling and I was won over by the complex interpersonal relationships against the complex universe that surrounds them. The final scenes of Part 1 as characters begin to recognize the assumptions they have made about each other were really powerful and left me excited to jump into Part 2, which I will do very soon…
"Ora et Labora" by Theodore McCombs is a powerful story set in a fully-realized world in which mathematics and religion construct a barrier–perhaps a protective one despite all of its horrors–around society’s castoffs. There are hints about some of the story’s secrets early in the piece, but I glossed over them because I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from such a dangerous tale. As the truth is revealed, the story comes into sharp, visceral focus even as the future is left ambiguous. The end comes with lots of ramifications to think about.
Other elements I enjoyed about this story: the imagery and beautiful language to describe an awful circumstance; the way my sympathies as a reader changed as more information was revealed; the use of religious jargon (lots of words I had to look up, but I found that really fun); the characters and how they are revealed in small details that take on greater meaning later in the story.
"Ora et Labora" by Theodore McCombs is a powerful story set in a fully-realized world in which mathematics and religion construct a barrier–perhaps a protective one despite all of its horrors–around society’s castoffs. There are hints about some of the story’s secrets early in the piece, but I glossed over them because I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from such a dangerous tale. As the truth is revealed, the story comes into sharp, visceral focus even as the future is left ambiguous. The end comes with lots of ramifications to think about.
Other elements I enjoyed about this story: the imagery and beautiful language to describe an awful circumstance; the way my sympathies as a reader changed as more information was revealed; the use of religious jargon (lots of words I had to look up, but I found that really fun); the characters and how they are revealed in small details that take on greater meaning later in the story.
January 30, 2018
A lush, rich, deeply queer Birdverse novella - one whose characters have very, very different desires from mine, but who were interesting and nuanced. I don't think I've ever seen such a complex portrayal of consent in fiction - I love how in this corner of Birdverse, at least, negotiating consent of all sorts is important and normalised. It was also very cool (and eye-opening, for me as a not-very-kinky-at-all person) to read such a portrayal of the characters' intimate and deep joy in kink, without it being really sexualised. Magic and desire all intertwined, and the characters' complex histories. I also really enjoyed how the narrator, the Old Royal, got to fulfil their desires regardless of their age, and being desired by someone younger: something very rare indeed at least in SFF.
I also really appreciated the attention to language (both in terms of narrative and in terms of the in-universe language situation): the prose was - as usual for Rose - beautifully crafted, and I especially liked the attention paid to people's pronouns, changing them as requested, and just how unmarked it was for the narrator to do that. Rare (alas) and lovely.
The aspects I've noted here are only part of the novella, too. The more I think about it the more astonished I am at how complex a work this is. I think I'll definitely need to reread it sometime.
I also really appreciated the attention to language (both in terms of narrative and in terms of the in-universe language situation): the prose was - as usual for Rose - beautifully crafted, and I especially liked the attention paid to people's pronouns, changing them as requested, and just how unmarked it was for the narrator to do that. Rare (alas) and lovely.
The aspects I've noted here are only part of the novella, too. The more I think about it the more astonished I am at how complex a work this is. I think I'll definitely need to reread it sometime.
October 31, 2017
A Portrait Of The Desert In Personages Of Power, Pt. I - Rose Lemberg *****
Fantastic. Beautiful prose, examining the interplay between two very different powers, one old and one young. Uses of power, attraction and consent between those with power and those without. All set in a fascinating world of magic, against a background history of the world's Bird deity. Loved it.
Ora Et Labora - Theodore McCombs ****
Initially reminded me of Neal Stephenson's Anathem, establishing the setting of a closed off mathematical/religious abbey. But in this case the "Disordered" have been sent here for a different reason and the establishment of the order and its religious trappings may be an attempt to defend the Disordered. Really enjoyed the little hints gradually building up to the reveal and the possible futures offered by the ending. Only complaint would be that the reasoning for establishing the abbey and adopting the religious aspects felt a bit weak.
Fantastic. Beautiful prose, examining the interplay between two very different powers, one old and one young. Uses of power, attraction and consent between those with power and those without. All set in a fascinating world of magic, against a background history of the world's Bird deity. Loved it.
Ora Et Labora - Theodore McCombs ****
Initially reminded me of Neal Stephenson's Anathem, establishing the setting of a closed off mathematical/religious abbey. But in this case the "Disordered" have been sent here for a different reason and the establishment of the order and its religious trappings may be an attempt to defend the Disordered. Really enjoyed the little hints gradually building up to the reveal and the possible futures offered by the ending. Only complaint would be that the reasoning for establishing the abbey and adopting the religious aspects felt a bit weak.
August 8, 2017
Wow. How to describe this intricately woven, exquisitely crafted, stunning masterpiece by Rose Lemberg? As always, Lemberg’s prose is spellbinding, and if you’ve followed their Birdverse stories, this novella is a must-read – it delves deep into the history, spirituality, and mythology of that world. Love, transformation, magic, lust, longing, pain and desire – so many threads are woven together in this tale. Breathtaking storytelling.
September 8, 2017
I bit of had trouble getting into this and keeping the characters straight. Probable didn't help that I was jettlaged. Once I got into it I enjoyed it. Some very beautiful writing, interesting characters and cool world building. It definitely nice to learn more about how magic works in the Birdverse. Also the main character is non-binary so worth checking out if you are looking for more representation.(content note: sadomasochism)
February 1, 2018
Two incredible stories. I adore Rose Lemberg's writing and this story is breathtaking, there's so much to think about and to feel. (Part I of the novella is in this issue and it continues in #230 - I haven't yet finished it because I'm trying to read slowly and take everything in.) And then I was fascinated by Theodore McCombs story - this satisfied something deep in me and I may need to just go meditate on it for a while.
July 17, 2017
I listened on audio podcast http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.co... so had a little trouble at first sorting the change perspective from past stories to current time. It was good overall, not good enough to listen again to improve my understanding but good world building & storytelling.
Want to read
July 7, 2017recommended:
https://ada-hoffmann.dreamwidth.org/3...
https://ada-hoffmann.dreamwidth.org/3...
May 28, 2018
Not my cup of tea, but wonderful prose and intricate lore. It never quite hooked me though, but a nice example of modern allegory.
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