Sunday, 30 March 2014
How many people wanted to make their own language as a kid?
Either because they wanted to say things secretly to each other without adults hearing, or because they were nerds and liked Lord of the Rings.
I was the second option.
There are tons of fictional languages. LOTR has Elvish (multiple varieties!). Game of Thrones has High Valyrian and Astapori Valyrian. Star Trek has Klingon. What use are they? Not a lot in the real world, but I suppose they help world-building and reader immersion into a story. Mostly, though, I'm pretty sure it's the creators just getting off to sweet linguistics :V
I do not blame them.
It's fun, okay? Like, even looking at other real languages, the different ways sentences are constructed is fascinating. My favourites are French and Japanese - just about as different as you can get. I learned French at secondary, and Japanese at college. I also learned Ancient Greek electively at school, but wasn't much good at it. I did, however, love seeing where some of our English words come from. English is basically one massive bastardisation of multiple other languages, and I love it to bits. Even when it isn't particularly sense-making.
In my novel, there isn't a particular need for a constructed language, or conlang. I might not even include it, but it was a lot of fun to make and saying it was involved in my novel gave me an excuse to procrastinate. As of now, the language is unnamed. The working backstory is that it was created pre-cataclysm by a group of linguists in the original city state that survives to the story, and while it enjoyed usage among various intellectuals it remained somewhat of a curio. I guess it was kind of like a divide in the class system already, and though it doesn't survive as a spoken language post-cataclysm is still around in the histories. It's designed to be fairly logical and simple to understand, and its words stem from various European languages as well as being invented.
It's an excuse, okay?
So, first, I guess I can talk about some of what I've got so far for it. I've worked out most of the rules behind the language, so it's really just creating words now. Pronouns seem like a good place to start. These don't really stem from Euro languages, these were among the words I invented. (Note, x is pronounced as sh. So xau is pronounced shau, xue is pronouned shue.) The pronouns are gender neutral, but have their own twist.
I : llui You : xau He/she/they : xue It : sia It (abstract) : siu We : lluitou You (plural) : xautou They (plural) : xuetou It (plural) : siatou It (abstract) (plural) : siutou Let me explain the significance of 'it'. Yes, I know 'it' has no plural in the English language.
'It' pronouns, that is sia and siatou, are used to refer to things that are not alive. That includes inanimate objects, as well as things that were once alive and now are not - including dead people. It's basically 'they' for non-alive things. Someone who refused to believe or didn't want to admit someone had died would use xau and xue to address/talk about them, instead of the correct sia. On the other hand, if someone were to refer to an animal or plant as sia, it would seem very ignorant - as if the worth of being a living thing that evolved over millions of years was not being taken seriously.
It's a fatalistic kind of language in this sense, I think - not necessarily atheist, but it accepts that people die and that's the end. However, I still wanted it to value life - possibly more highly than otherwise, since it accepts that there is only one and it's finite.
This is all fairly significant to later plot points - especially, the question of whether anyone or anything should last forever.
Siu and siutou are the abstract version of sia - they're used for concepts, generally, things that don't actually exist tangibly in the world. There is no xue equivalent, since an abstract concept cannot ever have lived. Siu might be used as a pronoun for situation in general, for an ideology or a theory - that kind of thing.
Next, nouns in general. Now, nouns are slightly different to pronouns in that the unmodified 'stem' is always taken to be a plural but in the abstract. For this example, I'll use the word houmou, meaning person. This stems from homo sapiens, the Latin name for human.
ó houmou : a person, a single specific person. For example, ó houmou li-vitka literally means a person is looking/staring, one specific person that is being directly referred to. All singular nouns (an apple, a bird) must be preceeded by ó. í houmou : some people. A specific group of more than one person. í houmou li-vitka literally means people are looking - a particular group of people are looking or staring. houmou on its own, houmou li-vitka, means that people are looking, but a wider group of people than the immediate or specific group - people in general are looking or staring.So, with this example, if you were with your friend in public and they started to argue with you (and people began to stare...)
"li-shiok, lua ó houmou li-vitka." - Stop, that person is staring.
"li-shiok, lua í houmou li-vitka." - Stop, those people are staring (that particular group over there.)
"li-shiok, lua houmou li-vitka." - Stop, people (in general) are staring.
Lua in this case means that, or those, depending on how the noun is modified. Without it, "Li-shiok, ó houmou li-vitka." translates to stop, a person is staring.
Also, the phrase does not have to be written in that exact order - I write it that way because my native language is English. As long as the general meaning of the phrase is clear:
"lua ó houmou li-vitka." - that person is looking.
"li-vitka lua ó houmou." - is looking that person.
It can be written or spoken either way.
ó houmou is treated as the noun as a whole, so you have to move that part as a whole chunk. The verb is li-vitka, to look/stare, with vitka being the raw verb and li (the sole irregular verb, 'to be', essentially meaning is) defining the tense (in this case, present.) Without the li prefix, vitka is treated as a noun (ó vitka - a look/a stare, ie he gave me a funny look.) Therefore, li-vitka has to remain together as a whole chunk. Lua, meaning that, can go before or after the noun it indicates. You can just as easily write "ó houmou lua li-vitka" as any of the others, but "ó houmou li-vitka lua" is a bit awkward. The modifier should remain attached to what it is referring to in some way.
It is able to go either side of the noun without confused meaning because in English, that has two meanings. For example, "That person that is looking at me." You will notice the first that is concrete (that particular thing there) while the second that is abstract. This sentence in my language would be:
"lua ó houmou chae li-vitka sa llui."
But it could just as easily be written:
"ó houmou lua chae li-vitka sa llui" or other variations thereupon.
However, lua should be joined onto the noun it modifies, and chae should be joined onto the verb it modifies. It would make less sense to write "ó houmou chae lua li-vitka sa llui", even though the direct translation in English would not be much different.
It's complicated, I guess, but simple once you get your head round it!
I'll explain other things such as verbs and tenses in some other post.
But if you want to create your own language, the first thing you have to think about is the rules. I've tried to create mine so that it's easy to understand and learn for people who may speak different languages than English as well as English speakers, and while it's stripped-down in some ways is more complicated in others. Verbs and nouns are based around concepts - for example, vitka as a word covers looking and staring. However, the act of seeing is different to looking - to see rather than stare, you have to register and comprehend what you are staring at. It implies knowing something, and so the concept of actually seeing something is merged with the concept of comprehending or understanding - thus, you have the verb scioa. It comes from the Latin scio - to understand.
On the other hand, there are two words for light - lux and lliume. Lux would be used to describe a harsh light, or a glare - the light from the desert sun would be lux. Lliume is a softer, gentler light, or a glow - the morning light through spring leaves or the light of the aurora borealis would be lliume. Stick a verb prefix before them and they become the verbs to shine (harshly), or to glow.
So, it's quite different to English! But making it is a lot of fun.
If you want to make your own language, I do have some software I can recommend for you. WeSay! It's basically a way of creating your own dictionary (you make an entry for each word, and there's space to write the meaning/origin of the word as well as sample sentences) and you can then search through it either for the English meaning or for the word itself. It's not originally intended for conlanging, but it works very well for it.
Download WeSay Here!
With this entry, I have cemented my place as a huge geek. And I love every second of it.
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
...I'm back home! 
I didn't get much of a chance to write any entries because it's been so mental here. Putting my room away had to coincide with finishing genetics, but I managed it, and I got a 2:1 (!) in my molecular cell biology assignment. I did not expect more for this particular subject, but after a term of all firsts I couldn't help but feel (stupidly) disappointed. It's okay. It's probably going to be better than my genetics, which is what it is at this point.
The last few days of college, I wasn't particularly sober either. This term I barely went out, only one time before that last week, but I guess I just wanted to have fun. We went out on the Wednesday fairly spontaneously, then on the Thursday we had a really cute corridor meal out at the Italian restaurant. A table of twenty four people orz, I think the owners were a little alarmed. Then, of course, the Friday was the last night - so we had to go to Klute. Klute is officially the worst nightclub in Europe, and for a good reason. However, the drinks are extremely cheap.
Now, I have to revise. And it's rubbish.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Last night there were two stupid fire alarms in college, one at about quarter past two and another at half past three wtf. I'd just got to sleep in time for the first one, nearly had a heart attack cause I'd just started a weird dream. I can't even remember what it was, it was just really uneasy-feeling, like it was coming up for a nightmare. I was vaguely irritated by the first one. By the second fire alarm I'd just got to sleep again, and I was livid.I like the word livid. It sounds malevolent when you say it. I was very malevolent that night. Waking up for my lecture at 9am today, I was still directing malignant thoughts at whichever hapless, oblivious idiot who'd ruined my sleep. I would be so embarrassed if that was me wtf. I hope they realise they inconvenienced literally everyone in the college, and feel adequately guilty that their desire for a drunken late-night toastie caused everyone else trouble.
Don't wake me up from my sleep, okay?
Come the glorious revolution, fire-alarm-setter-offers will be the first on the block. Incidentally, I found a new word today. Ktenology. It is the science of putting people to death. Jacking it for my novels, hahaha. Sounds exactly right for a regime trying to justify public executions.
I have to finish my genetics summative before friday, but I got tons done so that's just fine. Just got to finish the additional question and conclusion orz. No one else on my corridor understands the amount of pride I've taken in my A4 piece of paper with a circle and five labels drawn on it. Restriction mapping is time consuming!!
Plasmids are fun, kids.
Absolutely no writing of any sort planned for this week, cause I have to pack up my room to prepare to go home. College refunds me some for the trouble, but even so. Do you know how many postcards I have on my wall? It'll take me an hour just to get them all down OTL. And the amount of useless tat and rubbish I can accumulate in eight weeks is terrifying. It must be a talent.
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Aah, a really old picture today. Annoying thing about this blog theme is that I have to include one picture with the correct resolution to display on the main page, or it stretches out strangely. I'll try and find some good ones.When I'm developing new characters, one of my favourite parts is naming them. I guess there's a kind of power in names - you have to choose the one which seems most appropriate. My preferred way to go about it is to find a name that has a meaning that fits the character, either due to an attribute they have, for their past, or for their fate.
These are some of my names, for your perusal. All come from my series of novels, the Light Age.
Lilia Parell - the main character, typically referred to as Lily. I chose her first name originally because lilies are the flower traditionally used at funerals - so it's a mournful name, in a way - a name that gives in to death. In the context of the story it has greater significance, I can't exactly say why without giving huge details of the plot away, but she's named for someone else. Her surname is a corruption of the French pareil, meaning similar or equal, as well as the English parallel - and considering who the Lilia she was named for became, this has serious consequences.
Cosette Mauvaire - I like this one. She's the most feared ganglord in the story, guilty of mass murder and just about everything else under the sun, but her real name is Cosette Moray. Cosette is again French, it either means 'little thing' (as in, of no importance) or 'victory'. Moray comes from the eel, a bottom-feeding creature - albeit poisonous.
Cosette originated from a life of poverty, where she and her addict mother were physically abused by her gangster father, Lester Mauvaire. When she chose to become predator instead of prey, after her mother died and her father scarred her face for cheek, she took his name. Mauvaire is a combination of the French mauvais, meaning 'bad' or 'evil' (fairly generic, taken on its own) and faire, the verb 'to do'. It's when all this is put together that her name takes on its full meaning - the bottom-feeder attaining victory, albeit a victory either attained by doing evil or one which will cause evil in itself.
Fitting, since by kill tally she's probably the second-most deadly character in the book, and in my opinion the nastiest. Considering some of the other characters, that's an acheivement.
Cassandra Rossi - Cassandra actually appears in my short story collection, City of the Damned, as Cassandra Trent. She came to me when I was writing it, and I began to develop her. But I liked her so much, I continued to develop her afterwards and Cassandra 2.0 appears in the Light Age. Of course, her backstory is quite different, but her general personality and traits are similar.
Rossi is supposedly the most common surname in Italy, and it literally means 'red'. Cassandra has scruffy, light ginger hair, so that's fairly simple. It's her first name that's important. Of course, in the Greek myth Cassandra could see the future but was cursed to never be believed. Pretty much everyone came to regard her as insane. In the story, Cassandra is a little different to most people - I basically wrote her with several autistic traits, although due to her low working-class background there is no way she would have had money to go to a doctor and get the correct diagnosis or any assistance. As of such, Cassandra's word was never regarded highly in the first place - most people around her only saw her as strange. Despite her high intelligence, she wasn't always able to communicate her thoughts properly, and wasn't much good at reading social cues. Her father was the only person who was really kind to her as a child - he was an independent software engineer and so Cassandra grew up surrounded by computers. Ultimately she would become adept at hacking and coding, and grew resentful when the government began to restrict freedom of information. She got involved with various hidden online communities and conspiracy theories, and she tried to denounce the Premier (Rosita) as a tyrant to her neighbourhood. However, Rosita's cult of personality was so strong that nobody believed Cassandra, and she was ultimately forced to run from the militia. Her father was arrested for political crimes in her stead.
In the end Cassandra becomes the techie for the resistance effort. I'd just like to clarify that despite what most other characters thought of her, the ones that mattered and I myself do not consider her to be insane. Just a little different, and that's just fine. I hope to write a character with autistic traits realistically and in a positive light, while keeping in with the limits and nature of the Light Age's society.
Alistair Beckett - This one's for those who know English history. He's the Premier's right hand, her only confidant, and the closest thing she ever had to a friend. He was certainly the only person she ever regarded as her equal, since he shared her great intelligence. But I'll let you work the meaning of this one out for yourself.
Sebastian Finch - The kleptomaniac vagrant who Lily falls in with. Sebastian means revered, and so he is - but not for anything good. Finch was taken from the cockney rhyming slang for 'pinch' - half-inch. Essentially his name stands for 'revered thief'. Fitting, considering his talent for liberating things from their rightful owners.
Zeno Parvenu - The crazed anarchist who once plotted to blow up the monorail, with a name that has meaning beyond himself. In the story, he is imprisoned in the Premier's gulags. The Parvenu Affair was a huge scandal and factor in the Premier's rise to power. In short, two people were blamed for it - Zeno Parvenu and Rosita's enemy Renna Banks, and while Zeno got sent down Renna escaped and became the city's most wanted. Ultimately, she leads the resistance effort. Renna was a politician from a poor background, and while the Parvenu Affair was so named for Zeno, it was always a double entendre. A parvenu is someone from humble origins who has risen quickly to a higher social status, but is still unaccepted. Rosita always considered Renna to be a parvenu.
Zeno's first name is a corruption of the Greek xeno - relating to foreigners, aka the strange. Zeno was always strange - even before his years of solitary confinement he was never wholly sane.
I'm quite pleased with them, despite some of them really only making sense in the context of the book. I try to make most characters have such meanings in their names, particularly important ones. That's how much thought goes into them! I think it's more fun than picking a random 'cool' sounding name, although sometimes I'll think of a moniker that simply fits the character for no other reason than how it sounds. What's really funny is choosing a character name at random only later to discover that the meaning of the name fits them like a glove.
I'm not sure the brief descriptions of each character I gave you will have entirely expressed it, but hardly any of the characters can be defined as truly good or evil - just on different sides. By the end, if they haven't died for their good qualities, most will have lost them or become corrupted. There are only a couple of exceptions to the rule. Lilia herself, I regard as an antihero. Although she began her story with her heart in the right place and generally good ideals, the price she and others will pay for them probably weighs that out. She has to cling onto what she's fighting for, even if it's impossible and costing more all the time, because it's already cost her dear and she has to know it was all worth it. She has to see it through to the end. She didn't ask for any of the story to happen to her, and initially it wasn't her fault - she just got caught up in the actions of others, and had to live with the consequences. Even Rosita, the Premier, isn't entirely evil. In fact, at the most basic level, the two are very similar.
That's the kind of thing I like to write. A big moral mess.
If you want to contact me for any reason, my email isMonday, 17 March 2014
Did my maths exam today. For those who care to know, this blog was created this weekend as a specific means of avoiding revising for this test, but I reckon I passed it anyway. It won't have been done with any style, it won't be so much a pass as a you-didn't-quite-fail, but I don't care. It's an 'optional' module I was forced to take, I've hated the subject since quite literally my first lesson in reception, and it's worth 10 credits out of 120. I can make up the difference.
Of course, if I don't get a 2:1 plus this year, my parents are going to slay me. Despite the fact it's formative year and doesn't count. "Waste of time, us paying for you to go to university if you come out with a useless degree!" And if it's not a first by the end, I'll keep on being a family disappointment.
It'll get there, I think. Next year I get to choose all my modules and can pick ones I'm good at/care about/can blag, soooo...
Back to the test.
I literally found out about it last Monday by accident after hearing some guys talking in my lecture. I thought it was next term, and I also thought it wouldn't be 100% of the module mark. Oops. Possibly attending the lectures would have helped with that. Either way, I was super nervous just before I sat the exam. I guess I didn't do any exams in maths for years, so I didn't know what to expect. I know I fluffed the first question and the last one I had not a bloody clue, but the others were fine. There wasn't a ton of maths, a lot of it was writing about statistics. This made me extremely happy. I hate numbers, can't do maths to save my life any more. However, if my past results are anything to go by, I'm really rather good at blagging essays on things I know next to nothing about orz.
I was so happy after it was over, I actually skipped most of the way back to college. Relief! And then had to work on my genetics assignment. I cracked the hardest part of it, just have to write it up now. And pack up my room. And make my sorry way home for Easter.
It's going to be one hell of a week. No room for writing at all!
I think I'm going to start my novel this Easter, though. I'll have tons of revision to avoid, anyway - and plenty of shenanigans with both uni and home friends for blog material. I'm thinking this blog is going to be for basically whatever - whenever I feel like writing it. It's good practice, right? Maybe I can use it when I have writer's block to try and get rid of it. I'll post quite a lot of writing related stuff, too - writing tips I find useful, stuff about my story and characters, my progress... but also stuff I find funny, and probably stuff that makes me angry. Like current affairs.
I don't know what anyone's going to get out of this blog, besides me. I guess I don't mind if no one reads it - hahahaha, it's probably going to end up super shaming anyway. But it'll be useful for me, and fun. Maybe it'll encourage me to not give up on this. And that's the important thing.
Memories, I suppose. Hey, uni's been pretty cool so far. I'd like to be able to remember it all someday (excessive alcohol consumption doesn't really help with longevity of recall OTL. Hey, I've been working this term, it was just first term and fresher's that was mental.)
The next couple of entries will probably just be random pages for the menu bar, because this template means for some reason actual pages don't work and I have to do them as entries. Tch.
Of course, if I don't get a 2:1 plus this year, my parents are going to slay me. Despite the fact it's formative year and doesn't count. "Waste of time, us paying for you to go to university if you come out with a useless degree!" And if it's not a first by the end, I'll keep on being a family disappointment.
It'll get there, I think. Next year I get to choose all my modules and can pick ones I'm good at/care about/can blag, soooo...
Back to the test.
I literally found out about it last Monday by accident after hearing some guys talking in my lecture. I thought it was next term, and I also thought it wouldn't be 100% of the module mark. Oops. Possibly attending the lectures would have helped with that. Either way, I was super nervous just before I sat the exam. I guess I didn't do any exams in maths for years, so I didn't know what to expect. I know I fluffed the first question and the last one I had not a bloody clue, but the others were fine. There wasn't a ton of maths, a lot of it was writing about statistics. This made me extremely happy. I hate numbers, can't do maths to save my life any more. However, if my past results are anything to go by, I'm really rather good at blagging essays on things I know next to nothing about orz.
I was so happy after it was over, I actually skipped most of the way back to college. Relief! And then had to work on my genetics assignment. I cracked the hardest part of it, just have to write it up now. And pack up my room. And make my sorry way home for Easter.
It's going to be one hell of a week. No room for writing at all!
I think I'm going to start my novel this Easter, though. I'll have tons of revision to avoid, anyway - and plenty of shenanigans with both uni and home friends for blog material. I'm thinking this blog is going to be for basically whatever - whenever I feel like writing it. It's good practice, right? Maybe I can use it when I have writer's block to try and get rid of it. I'll post quite a lot of writing related stuff, too - writing tips I find useful, stuff about my story and characters, my progress... but also stuff I find funny, and probably stuff that makes me angry. Like current affairs.
I don't know what anyone's going to get out of this blog, besides me. I guess I don't mind if no one reads it - hahahaha, it's probably going to end up super shaming anyway. But it'll be useful for me, and fun. Maybe it'll encourage me to not give up on this. And that's the important thing.
Memories, I suppose. Hey, uni's been pretty cool so far. I'd like to be able to remember it all someday (excessive alcohol consumption doesn't really help with longevity of recall OTL. Hey, I've been working this term, it was just first term and fresher's that was mental.)
The next couple of entries will probably just be random pages for the menu bar, because this template means for some reason actual pages don't work and I have to do them as entries. Tch.
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Dystopia and futurism are my thing, and I look to explore many different concepts in my work - social mobility and the class system, the relative nature of morality and the idea of good versus evil, the neutral alignment of the universe, and human nature.
'If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.' - Nietzsche
Light Speed Brave Heart Isolated System Angel Rose Prequel: LiliaI am currently working on a series of four novels plus a prequel. It follows the story of Lilia Parell, nine hundred years in the future, and her descent from one of the wealthy few to a life of poverty, crime, and ultimately rebellion against her unequal, unfair, unfree society. I drew heavy inspiration from the British class system, but pushed it to the very extremes. It's a meat-grinder world driven by pointless cycles of brutal revenge, and street-kids and gangs and corruption abound. You refuse to play the game, you end up as someone else's pawn. It's survival of the fittest, the nastiest and the richest - and everyone has their own agenda, especially the tyrannical Premier. Her cult of personality infiltrates every aspect of the city, with even the slightest criticism of her decrees treated as high treason. Lilia will come to learn that actions, no matter how small, always have consequences - and that people rarely get the endings they deserve. This project has been developed over five years, from when I was fourteen and had the first version of the idea.
It's been refined, reiterated and developed into its current form, and the final plans are all complete. At the most basic level, it's putting a cast of very different characters with different circumstances and polar motivations through the machine of a society the Light Age is, and seeing if they make it to the end. Plot note: a majority won't, and barely any survive unscathed. It's not all misery, I promise! It's just hard to stay 'human' in a world like that. I hope to start writing it properly soon; just as soon as I gain the confidence to begin.
'A lie told often enough becomes the truth.' - Lenin
Click on each book cover to be taken to the amazon page. Stories 8-12 will be published soon.
This was my gap-year project, a collection of interlocking short stories exploring a range of different concepts - including artificial intelligence, human experimentation, surveillance, false imprisonment, morality, suicide, and what emotions really are. It was a practice run, if you will, of various things for the Light Age, and an attempt to improve my writing. I see it as a very, very dark fairy-tale - the worrying thing is that parts of it are true.
It includes:
Opposite Day, where a young politician makes a deal to save his city. Souls of Machines, where a psychologist befriends the most remarkable soldier. Another Bite of the Apple, where a writer in the employ of the Ministry of Media comes to learn that the Government is not quite as kind as he preaches. Quantum Entanglement, where a neuroscientist has to make an impossible choice between right and wrong. We've Lost Our Moral Compass, where an orphan girl with no hope for the future turns to a life of crime. Spidermusings, where the city's real Premier finally gets his own word in on matters. Death of the Hour, where an old computer hacker - and one of the Government's most wanted - reflects on the penance she chose for herself. Original Sin, where two convicted defectors, guilty by law but not both by action, plot to break out of the Government's prison. Viral Heart, where the Government's final plan for the city is revealed. It's fought
against by a human who became a robot - and a robot who became a human. Against the Machine, the true story of the city's most notorious terror-maker. The Government is Kind, where that story comes to an end. Shadows on a Wall, where everything finally melds together.
Hallo. My name is Alice, but I also go by llumie on the
internet. I'm a nineteen-year-old aspiring author from Cambridge,
England, and I'm studying biological sciences at university.Taking my aspirations into account, there's a reason for that choice - I just haven't quite worked it out yet. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I've wanted to be a writer since I was seven years old and was finally allowed to read the first few Harry Potters. From then I began loads of different stories, and finished barely any before finding a better idea. I took a gap year (2012-2013) to try authoring for myself, and I completed a set of interlinking short stories. These are published on amazon.com, and I definitely think you should read them. But now, I'm working on my main project - a series of four books plus a prequel, set in a post-apocalyptic future. The original idea for a single book came when I was fourteen and working on an art project for school. Five years later it's evolved into something far more sophisticated, and after planning everything to the last detail I'm ready to write it. It's the idea, the best I've had so far - it's stuck around the longest, and it's by far the darkest. It should be good, if bleak. I'm pretty sure it's going to be good.
I really hope it's good.
Besides writing, I draw and read. If I get any art done, I might post it here. As for reading, my true loves are George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, Kurt Vonnegut, Stanislaw Lem, Aldous Huxley, Daniel Keyes, Chuck Palahniuk, Tim Lott and of course, J. K. Rowling. Without her, who knows what seven year old me would have decided they wanted to be?
I'm inspired by science, politics, and the future. I'm an atheist, and I've just about come to terms with that. I love the sea, because it's where everything came from and always inspires. I loathe entitled people, lazy people, most politicians, and anti-intellectualism of any sort. Ignorance isn't attractive, especially the willful variety. And if you're going to be apathetic in your actions about a cause, don't pretend you really care.
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