L.R. Lam - SFF Author

You guys rlly don't realise how much knowledge is still not committed to the internet. I find books all the time with stuff that is impossible to find through a search engine- most people do not put their magnum opus research online for free and the more niche a skill is the less likely you are to have people who will leak those books online. (Nevermind all the books written prior to the internet that have knowledge that is not considered "relevant" enough to digitise).

Whenever people say that we r growing up with all the world's knowledge at our fingertips...it's not necessarily true. Is the amount of knowledge online potentially infinite? Yes. Is it all knowledge? No. You will be surprised at the niche things you can discover at a local archive or library.

The devastating difference between how much time it takes to write something vs how fast people read it lol

you're falling in the trap!! it will be read by many people, many times, and it will live on in their memories. and maybe no single other human will match you in time spent dedicated to your story, but as a collective we will outlast you. acts of creation only grow when they are shared

This. Writing is not like dinner. It can be consumed many times

I love it when someone picks up my first book over a decade after I wrote it. I'm honoured when someone rereads my book. I did a signing once and someone brought a copy of Pantomime that was almost falling apart and they were apologetic but it's my favourite copy I ever signed. It wasn't pristine, it was loved. Maybe someone read your work in a day but they think about it all the time and it lives in their hearts. That's the goal. That's why I keep writing even though sometimes it's hard or bruising. Why I'm vulnerable like I was in Dragonfall. Because I want my worlds and words to mean to someone what my favourite authors mean to me. To carry the love forward.

In the UK, Dragonfall is 99p for the month of April! on Kindle. Grab it for less than half the price of a latte these days!

In Dragonfall, you can expect: - extremely slow-burn enemies to lovers epic fantasy romance between a dragon trapped in human form and a genderfluid thief - queernorm world (in fact, a queer celebratory world) where it's considered a bit rude to assume a stranger's gender, so you tend to default to they until told otherwise) - multi-POV, experimental narrative positions (4 POVs, first person, first person direct address, and third person in the same book) - lyrical, descriptive writing (?) - lots of lore and worldbuilding (I'd say it's epic fantasy first closely followed by romance rather than a more traditional romantasy approach to pacing) - a heist! - magic! (also if someone uses too much magic without fuelling themselves properly they transform into a cannibal vampire thing) - a reluctant assassin with good biceps and a pet wyvern - Deaf & hard of hearing representation - I'm really not joking when I say slow-burn--these two characters can't really physically touch for most of the book (they find some loopholes) and are very bad at expressing their feelings Content notes: available on Storygraph.

If you've read it, I'm always grateful for reviews on Amazon or other retailers to feed the algorithm (it is so very hungry). If you're in the US, it's not on sale but you can always take a gander at and perhaps pre-order the exclusive Barnes & Noble edition with red sprayed edges and gold foil.

Help spreading the word about the deal also always welcome to help this get out of my tiny corner of the internet and maybe convince someone to take a chance on my weird, queer dragon book.

Still cheap! Signal boosting appreciated. I'm in feral deadline mode.

Video of a kitten at a vet’s office protesting loudly as it’s scooped from the floor. Another kitten turns around the corner and walks up to the camera, also protesting loudly for its friend. From here.

— James Baldwin

Y'all misuse the phrase "The author is god". Yes, the author is a god, but not the Jesus Christ type. They are a greek god: Creating problems for everyone (the characters). Fate rules them more then they rule fate (the story writes itself). Knowing the whole history (lore) and changing it at their whim. A lot of people (readers) worship them. Will kill for fun.

Every mainstream media outlet imaginable wants you to know that Israel has just re-opened the Erez border, thereby allowing aid through it for the first time since October 7. The White House released a statement saying that it’s delighted to hear this news. It’s a great improvement from previous arrangements, reports state.

What they fail to mention is that now 30% of all Palestinian children under 2 in Gaza are malnourished, that the death toll has surpassed 33k, and that the US—the same superpower that’s telling Israel to protect the civilians—has signed off billions in weapons to Israel not even a month ago.

not nearly enough people are fuming about the cass review. do you understand the eventual implications? trans people in the uk will be considered children up until the age of 25, and denied HRT/surgery/even basic measures like legal name change and social transition. all owing to a biased and largely unscientific study. you know what “treatment” for gender dysphoria is recommended by the review instead? conversion therapy.

this will kill people and they know it, because they prefer us dead and out of sight. the government, the NHS and even the opposition have made this clear again and again. a twenty-five year old can have sex, get married have children, join the military, earn a living, be halfway up the corporate ladder or highly successful in their chosen career field by that age, but they can’t transition under NHS rules. this is a death sentence for trans teenagers and they are going ahead with it. it’s trans genocide, same as across the pond.

i’m so afraid for my trans siblings and our futures. i’m so scared for myself. what are we to do if not even the party that is supposed to be on the “left” gives a shit about our safety and mental health as long as they get voted in? labour have become tories with a red coat of paint. it all feels hopeless

It's fucking horrible. Scientifically it's absolute nonsense with the most ridiculously biased methodology possible, and it makes me feel fucking insane to see the way it's being talked about and how it's being used

I was 28 years old last year when my GP clinic was basically trying to use GUIDELINES MEANT FOR CIS CHILDREN to deny me HRT I had been on a wailist for for 7 years. I am fucking terrified of the way they will try to use this against all of us.

I've honestly not been able to read too much about the Cass report because I know it'll make me feel so furious and hopeless. It's all so needlessly cruel.

This is the same thing over and over again. Palestinians die every day, but it gets a lukewarm headline from mainstream media because death and destruction is inherent to Arabness. Then an aid convoy with white workers is obliterated, and now both the president of the United States and the president of Israel are making statements apologizing for “the poor protection of aid workers.” At one point we were seeing multiple reports a day of paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society dying, but nothing. Crickets. Because they don’t care. And even in these “remorseful statements” there is a strategic reminder that white lives hold more weight than brown lives.

This is the same dialogue that surrounded Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation. These people’s efforts shouldn’t be disregarded simply because they were white—but at the same time there always has to be a saintly white figure involved to get the general public to care. Why isn’t there this much outrage over the 32k+ deaths, the shooting of aid seekers, the ongoing famine. What about all the Gazans dying. What about them. What about them

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

I'm begging of you, please don't take my man

Your sword is long, your lance is keen, your shining helm afar is seen

But into darkness fell your star, Jolene

Long ago you went away, and where thou dwellest none can say,

In Mordor where the shadows are, Jolene.

The last whose realm was fair and free between the mountains and the sea

Gil-galad was an Elven king, Jolene

Perhaps the world of 2044 will be as different from ours as 1979 now seems from our present time. But let us also echo this wish into the future— may they have peace and happiness.

That post that's like "stop writing characters who talk like they're trying to get a good grade in therapy" really blew the door wide open for me about how common it's become for a character's emotional intelligence to not be taken into consideration when writing conflict. I remember the first time I went to therapy I had such a hard time even identifying what I was feeling, let alone had the language to explain it to someone else. Of course there are plenty of people who've never been to therapy a day in their life who are in tune to their emotions. But even they would have some trouble expressing themselves sometimes. You have to take into account there are plenty of people who are uncomfortable expressing themselves and people who think they're not allowed to feel certain ways. It also makes for more interesting conflict to have characters with different levels of understanding.

i think people have gotten out of the habit of writing characters being untruthful unless they're evil. sometimes people just lie, or they believe and repeat things that aren't true. people just do not and often Can not tell the absolute truth about themselves all the time even during heated and climactic moments. why are you writing everyone being absolutely honest about their feelings!!

Most of us are not necessarily unreliable narrators, but we are unreliable witnesses.

One of the things I do to really dig into a character is to ask myself what lie they believe about themselves. e.g. "I am unloveable." The climax of the story almost always forces them to confront that lie, and the obstacles of the plot along the way there have helped give them some tools to overcome the belief in that lie.

We just had family visiting and I always find it strange having to call my husband by his *actual name* to his face instead of the various nonsensical two syllable nicknames I've been calling him in private for almost 20 years. We have a full on dialect by this point and once we're alone again we're always excited that we can go back to speaking "the language."

I saw a very blunt Instagram comment today that told a writer, "AI is going to steal your job soon. You may want to choose something else." It was so nonchalant and casual, like what was just said wasn't heartbreaking to hear.

Can we writers just make a pact just to... not quit? Can we not give in so easily? Can we actually fight to keep our professions and continue to share our own original work? I will never expect writing to be my main source of income, but that does not mean I'm so willing to give it up for the sake of some robot.

I seriously would not worry... First of all, in order for AI to steal anything from anyone, we'd have to develop AI first, and we're nowhere near doing that. (What we have now is basically what Ted Chiang calls "applied statistics," or what others call "enhanced autocomplete.") And writing, as a practice, contains hundreds of tasks that require human creativity. Seriously, don't believe the hype.

I also believe that humans might enjoy playing around with AI for fun or find ways to use it as a tool, but they don't actually have any interest consuming art that hasn't been made by a human. It's like a candy shell. Sweet, sometimes pretty to look at, but fundamentally hollow.

In the UK, Dragonfall is 99p for the month of April! on Kindle. Grab it for less than half the price of a latte these days!

In Dragonfall, you can expect: - extremely slow-burn enemies to lovers epic fantasy romance between a dragon trapped in human form and a genderfluid thief - queernorm world (in fact, a queer celebratory world) where it's considered a bit rude to assume a stranger's gender, so you tend to default to they until told otherwise) - multi-POV, experimental narrative positions (4 POVs, first person, first person direct address, and third person in the same book) - lyrical, descriptive writing (?) - lots of lore and worldbuilding (I'd say it's epic fantasy first closely followed by romance rather than a more traditional romantasy approach to pacing) - a heist! - magic! (also if someone uses too much magic without fuelling themselves properly they transform into a cannibal vampire thing) - a reluctant assassin with good biceps and a pet wyvern - Deaf & hard of hearing representation - I'm really not joking when I say slow-burn--these two characters can't really physically touch for most of the book (they find some loopholes) and are very bad at expressing their feelings Content notes: available on Storygraph.

If you've read it, I'm always grateful for reviews on Amazon or other retailers to feed the algorithm (it is so very hungry). If you're in the US, it's not on sale but you can always take a gander at and perhaps pre-order the exclusive Barnes & Noble edition with red sprayed edges and gold foil.

Help spreading the word about the deal also always welcome to help this get out of my tiny corner of the internet and maybe convince someone to take a chance on my weird, queer dragon book.

Additional context because I know the radfems are going to get their hands on this and love it:

It's not just about hating men.

It's a political statement and protest for equality that specifically seeks to eliminate the way the way Korean women are used, abused, discarded within the patriarchy by their own refusal to participate in any of it or associate with anyone who benefits from it.

It's very specifically about Demanding equality from men in power by refusing to take part in the patriarchy and challenging the way it perceives women.

It's becoming a topic in the west now and so I wanted to add all this context with the addendum that this is NOT an inherently transphobic movement. It's also completely autonomous meaning there is no "leader" of it.

Each person will have their own reasons and method of participating in this movement. Anyone can join or be part of it. Yes this includes radfems and TERFs so when they eventually try to co-opt this movement as their own let's remember that they don't speak for all feminists and theyre definitely NOT the voice of oppressed Korean women who started this, and as such have No reason to put themselves in the spotlight of this movement. And we have no reason to let them.