#tithenai chronicles

[samglyph]

Cae & Vel - Commission

When I tell you I was so so so excited to get this commission from @poemsingreenink I am not exaggerating; A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is one of my favorite books, and it was a genuine joy to revisit my designs for these characters (and in a rare moment of peace too)

Commissions & Tip Jar

[fozmeadows]

Hi!!! I'm just a quarter of a way through A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, and was so happy to find you have a blog!! It's been a lovely read, I love the prose and the world building, the normalization of queerness and how it would look in a fantasy setting on a functional level. I really appreciate that the inclusivity in queerness doesn't immediately make Qi-Katai an idyllic paradise and there's a level of groundedness to how things work.

I can't wait to finish the duology! I was wondering if you had any specific race/POC rep in mind when writing Vel and Cae, because just based on description, I've been picturing Vel as potentially South Asian and Cae as perhaps East Asian? I'm not completely sure. Would love to hear your thought process!

This is an interesting question, because while representation of all kinds is relevant to SFF stories, I don't think it makes sense to analyze secondary settings in quite the same way we do those which, by whatever logic, are considered an extension of the real world. In the case of racial representation, the reason for this is that race is foremost a social construct rather than an immutable biological category: it's a word we've looped around the (predominantly visual) expression of certain traits with reference to a (perceived) shared cultural, religious, geographic and/or historical framework, and as such, even when a given fictional realm is (arguably or explicitly) based on a real-world setting, I'd argue that the act of redrawing the cultural context means implicitly reconsidering our associated racial assumptions, too. For instance: Cae is described as having bronze skin, brown eyes and straight black hair. In the real world, this could plausibly describe a person from any number of backgrounds, because none of these traits, either singly or collectively, is unique to a given group. But for precisely that reason, if I gave Cae's description to a character from a story set in the real world, there'd be a reasonable expectation that I specify their heritage, not just so the reader could picture them better, but because knowing whether they were Thai or Native American or Turkish would impact other aspects of their characterisation. Cae, however, is Tithenai, and Tithena is neither a real place nor based on a specific real-world culture, which means that, regardless of whether you picture him as resembling someone who's Thai or Native American or Turkish or any other thing, the cultural underpinnings of those racial categories are irrelevant to the text, except inasmuch as you might also choose to imagine other aspects of Tithena - the clothes, the food, the architecture - as being similar to that particular real-world culture. But, by the same token, you might just as easily choose to imagine these things as disjunct, or to forgo overt real world comparisons entirely. How you build the visuals of the story in your mind palace is up to you! But what I'm trying to get at is that "specific race/POC rep" is not a given in this milieu, because the relevant categories are all ultimately derived, not from immutable biological separatism, but real-world social distinctions born of centuries of geopolitics, migration and cultural intermingling that don't necessarily have meaningful analogues in an invented setting. Even highly oversimplified terms like "white" and "black" are ultimately products of a specific cultural discourse, and while we might employ them of necessity, we should still keep in mind the fact that their parameters are no more fixed than their implications are neutral or their usage universal.

At the same time, however, there are unequivocally many instances where authors intend the inhabitants of their secondary worlds to be firmly associated with specific real world analogues, even at a granular level. Whether by overt implication or authorial word of god, these are stories and settings which, despite having no in-world connection to any version of our Earth, are still presented as spiritually deriving from it, as though possessed of a sort of cultural haecceity. Which is, I hasten to add, entirely fair; and particularly given the strong historical bias towards white Eurocentrism within fantasy as a genre, the more recent boom of stories that take their inspiration elsewhere is entirely justified, to say nothing of being wonderful. It's just that, as a general point of principle, I think it's important to acknowledge that race, by virtue of being socially constructed, does not have to retain the same boundaries and categorizations in a secondary world that it does on Earth. While readers and creators alike are still inevitably influenced by and thus beholden to the real world optics of race - meaning, to give just one example, that "But it's a fantasy world!" is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for uncritically replicating a pernicious racial stereotype - it doesn't therefore follow that all secondary world fantasy characters and cultures must have a set real world analogue; that we cannot ever imagine them fluidly. All that being so, therefore, you're absolutely free to imagine Vel as South Asian and Cae as East Asian! I do not have any immutable facecasts for either of them, and am delighted with all permutations. However, when A Strange and Stubborn Endurance was first released, Tor commissioned this gorgeous artwork of Cae and Vel by Nicole Deal, for which I was asked to provide some vibes-based visual references for the artist. My choices for Vel were Mika Zibanejad,

Damiano David

and Riz Ahmed;

for Cae, it was Booboo Stewart

and Paing Takhon.

None of these are definitive, but they're certainly fun to look at, and either way, I hope this answers your question! :)

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 1

Choose a book:

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle series)

The Tithenai Chronicles by Foz Meadows

Voting ended onNov 30, 2024

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.

Science fiction, classics, speculative fiction, anthropological science fiction, distant future, adult

The Tithenai Chronicles (A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, All the Hidden Paths) by Foz Meadows

Endorsement from submitter: "Incredible plot, incredible worldbuilding, incredible relationship building."

“Stolen me? As soon to say a caged bird can be stolen by the sky.”

Velasin vin Aaro never planned to marry at all, let alone a girl from neighboring Tithena. When an ugly confrontation reveals his preference for men, Vel fears he’s ruined the diplomatic union before it can even begin. But while his family is ready to disown him, the Tithenai envoy has a different plans: for Vel to marry his former intended’s brother instead.

Caethari Aeduria always knew he might end up in a political marriage, but his sudden betrothal to a man from Ralia, where such relationships are forbidden, comes as a shock.

With an unknown faction willing to kill to end their new alliance, Vel and Cae have no choice but to trust each other. Survival is one thing, but love―as both will learn―is quite another.

Byzantine politics, lush sexual energy, and a queer love story that is by turns sweet and sultry, Foz Meadows' A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is an exploration of gender, identity, and self-worth. It is a book that will live in your heart long after you turn the last page.

Fantasy, romance, arranged marriage, politics, murder mystery, secondary world, series, adult

[xxlilnifflerxx]

The Tithenai Chronicles - Foz Meadows

I’ve never actually done a book review here before, but I desperately need more people to know about these masterpieces.

The Tithenai Chronicles do a beautiful job of painting a picture of what it means to be queer in today’s world. A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is a message of coming out and becoming true to oneself while All the Hidden Paths tells a story of what it means to be out.

These beautiful stories are told in a wonderful, fantastical world and follow two protagonists; Velasin and Caethari. Each character is beautifully written and tell their own version of what being queer means to them.

Add in compelling murder mysteries and you have a story that I could not tear my eyes from. Overall, these are easily the best books I have read in years.

I feel it is important to add, these books do contain many potentially triggering subjects and readers should check the author’s warnings before reading.

[fozmeadows]

Hi! I’m in the US right now and I’m not feeling so good. The Tithenai Chronicles are my favorite books. Can you share some happy fun facts about the characters to cheer me up?

Once they settle at Ravethae, Cae and Vel soon find themselves custodians to a litter of kittens sired by Son of Spoons. One kitten in particular becomes so enamoured of Cae that she starts using his braid as a ladder to climb up and sit on his head, clinging on contentedly for as long as he'll allow it or until she gets bored. For this feat, Vel names the kitten Chamois, after the silk chamois that scale cliffs in the mountains, and so it becomes a not-uncommon sight at Ravethae for Cae to be seen walking around with Chamois riding him like the tiny, furry captain of an ambulatory ship. Cae, in turn, makes a game of pretending the kitten isn't there, to the bafflement of adult guests and the particular delight of various children.

When Yasa Kithadi comes to visit them and asks, somewhat exasperatedly, why there's a kitten on Caethari's head, the whole estate holds its breath to see if the heir apparent will commit to the bit, or break character in the face of his grandmother's judgement.

"What kitten," Cae says blandly.

Outwardly, Yasa Kithadi appears unmoved. Inwardly, she's endeared. And if Chamois just so happens to acquire a fetching collar during the course of the yasa's visit courtesy of some anonymous donor - well. That's neither here nor there.

[fozmeadows]

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance has sat neglected on my shelves for far too long, and I am so excited to finally be reading it! I am up past midnight on a work night because of this book. And can I just say—hot diggity dang I am not okay, oh my goodness that is so much in just the first fifty pages. (;﹏;) Velasin has a chokehold on my heart already, and I love Markel's willingness to Do A Murder, because same. I am not too far in, but thank you for this book that is already turning out to be a gem!

Aaaaah, thank you so much! This is lovely to hear 🥰

[fozmeadows]

I haven't been able to put A Strange and Stubborn Endurance for the last several days and upon seeing it has a second book (yes more banter between them), I was wondering if you had a third planned because I am thoroughly enjoying Velasin's character and the political intrigue between him and his new betrothed. Thank you so much for your time, and I wish you many happy days ahead.

Thank you so much! While I won't rule out returning to the setting in the future, the Tithenai Chronicles is complete as a duology, so there's only A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and All the Hidden Paths. However, if you enjoy my writing, I also have a stand-alone m/m fantasy novella, Finding Echoes, out with Neon Hemlock press, and a queer portal fantasy duology, An Accident of Stars and A Tyranny of Queens, out with Angry Robot! :)

[fozmeadows]

Is the Tithenai Chronicles book 3 still in the works?? I can't find anything about it online!!

That would be because the series is complete as a duology! Though I won't rule out returning to the setting in the future, this particular bit of story is done :)