The Solarium

author, artist, purveyor of pretension

[solarissantaella]

Hope Is Not Passive, a charity anthology raising money for Kids In Need of Defense, is up for preorder!

This is a sci fi and fantasy anthology meant to share stories of hope, resilience, resistance, and progress. My story, "Ghosts and Futures", is a climate dystopia centering a group of genetically modified aquatic life forms created and enslaved by humans to harvest waters from the skies.

KIND is an organization that provides legal aid to immigrant and refugee children separated from their parents at the border. Supporting KIND means a lot to me, not only as a Latina who sees the need for this kind of work within my own community, but as someone who sees borders as inherently anti-human. The violence perpetrated there in the name of national interests is and always has been appalling, and KIND is providing an invaluable service to some of the most vulnerable individuals facing it.

I wrote "Ghosts and Futures" specifically for this anthology because I wanted to support this project and its cause, and I hope you, the reader, will join me in that mission however you can.

[katytearlewrites]

'Hope Is Not Passive' is a speculative fiction benefit anthology that features original stories from 21 authors (including me!). All of the stories explore hope as something to be fought for, sought after, and protected.

Proceeds go towards Kids In Need of Defense (KIND). Pre-orders are officially open!

Pre-order your copy here: https://www.quillsandcosmos.com/product-page/hope-is-not-passive

[solarissantaella]

The Pandora Principle video is up!

Nearly 50k words of notes and several hours of filming and editing later, it’s finally done! I really enjoyed getting to dive into the text, and discussing a good book (as opposed to Spock, Messiah!) presented a whole new set of challenges. Still, I’m glad I had an opportunity to discuss such a compelling and—to coin a term—fascinating book.

Also, special thanks to @aphrostiel for letting me feature some of their art when discussing the enduring influence this book has had on the fandom!

[solarissantaella]

A sneak peek at my upcoming Trek Roulette video about The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes!

[solarissantaella]

finally finished my notes on the pandora principle

[aphrostiel]

mr. spock & saavikam

they're my everything

[ethanmaldridge]

The horrors persist, but so does Pride

[solarissantaella]

My favorite type of character is one who is so brilliantly gifted at One Thing that it destroys them from the inside out.

They eagerly sacrifice any other talent, virtue, or joy they might have had onto the altar of perfection. They become a creature too specialized to survive outside its rarefied enclosure.

There's something pitiable about them, contemptible, even, but they're so venerated within their circle that, to most people, it doesn't matter. They convince themselves it doesn't matter. Maybe they're even proud of it, the sublime assurance, the incandescent purity of such a focused existence.

But it will never be enough. They will be thrown from the pedestal, and talent will not save them. They will be suffocated by their shortcomings. Their cries for help will echo in their own great emptiness and go unheard. Even their gift will become a curse, an obsession, a chain. Breaking it is their only hope of happiness or redemption, and they'll never do it. Never. Never.

[solarissantaella]

I like how this art inspired by Lemon Squares in All Dimensions turned out, so sharing it now is as good an excuse as any to announce that I signed a contract for the novelization not too long ago! We're currently looking at a March 2027 release, just in time for International Women's Day.

[solarissantaella]

I like how this art inspired by Lemon Squares in All Dimensions turned out, so sharing it now is as good an excuse as any to announce that I signed a contract for the novelization not too long ago! We're currently looking at a March 2027 release, just in time for International Women's Day.

[annabelle--cane]

important Character traits:

paranoia

control freakism

sense of self-worth so low that it loops back around into being totally dismissive of everyone else

a warm-hearted kind center beneath 200 protective walls of bitterness that doesn't actually make the bitterness better in any way at all even a little bit

bisexuality

crushing feelings of responsibility

zero understanding of own bodily autonomy that bleeds out and affects how they treat others

a lil petty vindictive sadism they maybe don't wanna look at too hard or acknowledge

full self-awareness of all their most negative traits without working to fix those traits at all

internalized misogyny

a mysterious undefinable hunger that cannot / should not / must not ever be sated

asexuality

[solarissantaella]

Spock, Messiah! fried my brain so bad it actually got me to make a video for the first time in over a year.

[solarissantaella]

Hope Is Not Passive | Quills And Cosmos

Hope Is Not Passive is a science fiction and fantasy benefit anthology exploring hope as action, endurance, and moral courage in imagined wo

Quills and Cosmos Press, an independent publisher that works with minority authors, is seeking submissions for a sci-fi/fantasy charity anthology!

The project is meant to raise money for organizations that support immigrants, either by offering legal representation, reuniting families, or doing advocacy work.

I have no affiliation with the press myself, but as a Latina, I want to support this project any way I can. I submitted a story a while ago. Originally, they were supposed to send acceptances and rejections out last weekend, but they ended up significantly extending the submission deadline. Now, they're accepting stories until April 30th.

From what I know about the anthology production process, I would guess they haven't received enough submissions to move forward. I would hate to see a wonderful project like this fail to come to fruition when I know there's so many writers out there who would love to support it (and get published in the process!)

If you're a writer and this cause interests you, I highly encourage you to check out the application guidelines and give it your best shot!

[solarissantaella]

Since it's still Trans Day of Visibility here, I figured I'd draw Francisca!

I'm incredibly grateful, now and always, for my trans siblings. If I wasn't fortunate enough to be in community with those courageous enough to question arbitrary societal conventions and live as their most authentic selves, my own journey would have been much harder.

Lots of love from your agender comrade, Solaris!

[apolladay]

Do you currently have a library card?

yes

no

Voting ended onMar 31

Libraries have great online resources!!

[iladvi]

If you're in the USA, you can sign up for a free digital card with the Queer Liberation Library on Libby. See @queerliblib on Tumblr for more.

[valtsv]

the author's barely disguised open wound splattered livid and filthy across everything they create

[solarissantaella]

"She soars through the universe, leaving cliffs where her family hangs; she will not be Andromeda, bound to a rock until the prince comes, but fly on her own from our stifling kitchens." -"The Child Dreams" by Sonya Dorman