Very Interesting, I Guess If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It.

R.I.P. Ursula Le Guine

City & the City by China Mieville

“We mourn the incomparable Ursula Le Guin, and it hurts. A writer of intense ethical seriousness and intelligence, of wit and fury, of radical politics, of subtlety, of freedom and yearning, Le Guin was a literary colossus.” - C.M.

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky 

“Those who see science fiction simply as a way of writing novels welcome the more Tolstoyan approach, in which a war is described not only from the generals’ point of view but also through the eyes of housewives, prisoners, boys of sixteen, or an alien visitation is described not only by knowledgeable scientists but also by its effects on commonplace people.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

Strange Bird A Borne Story by Jeff Vandermeer

“I think the biggest thing I took away from her fiction, and her nonfiction, was the sharp thoughtfulness and humanity behind it all.” — J.V.

At the Mouth of the River of Bees Stories by Kij Johnson

“It’s just as good as I thought it was going to be, if not better … the variety is tremendous, exhilarating. The book definitely won’t do that short-story-collection thing to you where all the stories run together into a sort of depressing porridge in your mind.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood

“We can’t call Ursula K. Le Guin back from the land of the unchanging stars, but happily she left us her multifaceted work, her hard-earned wisdom and her fundamental optimism. Her sane, smart, crafty and lyrical voice is more necessary now than ever. For it, and for her, we should be thankful.” - M.A.

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

“Ursula’s work holds a prominent place on the most cherished part of my bookcase.” - N.O.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss

“There is one thing I wish I could have told her, although she probably knew: that she has hundreds of daughters. All those teenage girls who also found her books in local bookstores or libraries and grew up to become writers. She taught them that women could write about other planets and political philosophy, with clarity, profundity, and grace. She gave each of us a little bit of her voice, and we are all better writers and human beings because of it.” - T.G.

The Ambiguity Machines & Other Stories by Vandana Singh

“A most promising and original young writer.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

“Ursula LeGuin was my first science fiction inspiration as a kid and she continued to inspire me throughout my adult life. Her stories are permanently installed in my mind.” - A.N.

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

“This was a subtle gift that Le Guin gave to a young person wanting to be a writer—the idea that there was more to writing fiction than ticking off plot points, that a rewarding story can be told without overt conflict, and that a world wide and deep can be its own reward, for those building the world and those who then walk through it.” - J.S.

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

“Whereas all my beloved P G Wodehouses and Philip Pullmans are neatly arranged on the bookshelves, my Pratchetts are strewn under the beds, in the bathrooms, the glove compartments. They have shopping lists, takeaway orders and Scrabble scores scribbled on the fly leaves. They were part of life.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link

Kelly Link has been hailed by Michael Chabon as “the most darkly playful voice in American fiction” and by Neil Gaiman as a “National Treasure”. If you don’t already know Kelly’s work, start here with her debut collection.

Blindness by Jose Saramago

“Blindness scared me to death when I started it, but it rises wonderfully out of darkness into the light.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older

“… a tremendous human being and storyteller who helped make fantasy a more imaginative and humane genre.” - D.J.O.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

“She is willing to change the landscape of your head with her ideas and there’s such power in that. It is the power of … that things could be different.” - N.G.

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

“She’s a cornerstone of speculative fiction, and so much of our best storytelling traces its roots back to her. The more I write, and the more I think about fictional politics and societies, the more I find myself in awe of her singular powers. Nobody else can ever equal Le Guin, but many of us will spend our whole careers striving to build on her incredible legacy.” - C.J.A.

Little Big by John Crowley

“… a book that all by itself calls for a redefinition of fantasy …” - Ursula K. Le Guin

Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar

“And what a surprise it was to find as I grew up that the author of some of my favorite childhood fantasy novels was also a brilliant essayist, enlightened political commentator, a champion of feminism, and an activist for a more inclusive publishing industry. A true example of an artist who, both through her books and activism, changed the world for the better.” - J.K.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf  

“It inspires me with pity, with terror, with awe at the mystery of human destiny, and the mystery of the art that can, for a moment, illuminate it.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

“Of course if you haven’t read Kavalier and Clay yet, go read it at once, what on earth have you been waiting for? Then read this. It is even a little crazier, maybe. Crazy like a genius.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

Shades of Milk & Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

“I think she did a lot for science fiction and fantasy—not just for women and women’s roles because of her feminism but also legitimizing us as an art form. There are a lot of people who will read an Ursula Le Guin book and go, ‘Well, this isn’t science fiction, it’s literature.’ But of course, it is science fiction. A lot of times, she can be a gateway drug for people.” - M.R.K.

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

“More than anyone else, Le Guin showed me how to write SFF with an anthropological approach while interrogating the colonialist agenda and assumptions of the field itself. More than any writer of her stature, she constructed worlds in which I thought I could find and lose myself. I will miss her dearly.” - K.L.

The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth #1) by N.K. Jemisin

“I’d definitely still be a writer if not for her, but I don’t think I’d be as good a writer. Le Guin is one of the writers who taught me that beauty and fearlessness go hand in hand.“ - N.K.J.

Plant cathedral, Remedios Varo

Beautifully melancholic

The procession of the months: the verses by Beatrice Crane; the designs by Walter Crane, [1889].

Typ 8302.89.10

Houghton Library, Harvard University

Wow, just wow...

Kazuki Okuda

reblog this if your blog is a safe space on april fools and won’t have any jumpers, screamers, or anything scary or anxiety inducing

I'm not sure if I should be amazed or worried by how far animatronics have come as far as realism goes. If they can make entertainment robots be so animated and move realistically, whose to say they haven't already made some for more "productive" purposes...

it took me like 3 minutes to process the fact that this wasnt cgi 

Love this

Star Maker, Remedios Varo

“Newt Scamander : “My philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice.” ― J.K. Rowling, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay

ig: amyyreadz

This quote speaks to me

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.”

— Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (via books-n-quotes)

This is so true, we need people choosing kindness more often in this world.