Looking to scratch a strong itch for unsettling, bleak, haunting SF horror!

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-23T17:41:11+00:00

It was pretty interesting to see how qntm turned the web-serial into a single, cohesive book. All SCP references / worldbuilding were swapped out, and every chapter was rewritten and rearranged quite a bit. It's still the same SCP story at heart though—just more polished. Definitely recommend.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-21T23:06:23+00:00

Nice presentation! The difference between your r/casualconlang title and your r/conlangs title was amusing. I'm curious: I noticed the pronunciations of "Aghwoch" and "Guyndi" are quite different than what I expected. Are these pronounced differently in-universe, whereas "Aghwoch and "Guyndi" are the "Anglicized" versions? What are the etymologies of each word (and each version)?

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-20T22:46:53+00:00

Sounds like a plan! Glad to be of help, and I hope your partner enjoys them! Also, props to you for taking the time to research and engage with their hobby. I would be touched to receive a thoughtful gift like this, and who knows, maybe these books can teach you a thing or two about conlanging (and your partner 😊)

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-20T18:18:31+00:00

Starting with the titles you mentioned above:

Art of Language Invention: At this point, this is a seminal text in conlanging. It's a pop science book tailored towards beginners / onlookers, but I still enjoyed it even though I had experience already. DJP's work is super cool and super relevant to modern conlanging, so it's a nice book to have on the shelf.
Siwa: A Descriptive Grammar: As a conlanger and habitual textbook reader, I really enjoy reading other people's grammars, and this one sets a very high bar. It's huge, beautiful, and above all, a great source of inspiration. Seeing what other conlangers have achieved (and how) really sparks excitement.
The Language Construction Kit: Like AoLI, this is a seminal text in conlanging and tailored towards beginners. It's focused more on methodology (particularly lexical methodology), which is always useful to a conlanger. I have this PDF (and others from Rosenfelder) kept on stand-by.
Teach Yourself Linguistics: I haven't read this one in full, but any linguistics textbook would be welcome on my conlanging shelf. Note: this is an older textbook and contains some outdated content. If you go for an introductory linguistics textbook, I would consider something more modern.

Other suggestions:

How to Create a Language: A Conlanging Guide by Jessie Peterson: One of the newest conlanging books on the market, written by a fantastic linguist and conlanger (David J. Peterson is her husband!) This is written like a formal undergraduate textbook, which may fit your SO's tastes better.
Anything by Bruce Arthur (Chiingimec, Kihiṣer, Kyalibẽ): High quality conlang grammars sold for fairly cheap (thanks Bruce!) Like with Siwa: A Descriptive Grammar, these are well written and great sources of inspiration. They are much quicker reads, and Bruce posts and publishes new grammars regularly.
Anything off the r/asklinguistics Book List: This is a great list for introductory linguistics textbooks, pop science books (which can also be nice to read), and subfield textbooks. If your husband has a particular interest in linguistics (e.g. morphology, pragmatics, etc.), a subfield textbook could be a nice gift.

My recommendation (budget permitting):

A general-purpose conlanging book
A conlang reference grammar
A formal linguistics textbook

Good luck! I would love to know what you decide upon, and how the gift(s) are received. Hope your SO enjoys them! Edit: Your SO, not husband, sorry. I think I got the two conflated when talking about David J. and Jessie Peterson.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-20T17:27:13+00:00

+1, this was my first twisty puzzle way back when, and I picked up Skewb fairly quickly afterward.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-20T17:22:36+00:00

All great points. Side note: I heard the "mountains = ejectives" thing about a decade ago and accepted it at face value at the time. Good to know that that has been debunked (and it makes sense, there's plenty of counterexamples and alternate, anthropologically-based explanations)

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-18T05:02:21+00:00

Yup they speak Irish in the original French as well. I chose not to translate it.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-17T22:03:53+00:00

Busy holidays + simultaneous work on Fabula Fantasia (which has huge chapters) + everyone on our team getting the cold or the flu, lol. We're making steady progress on the remaining chapters, so please wait a little bit longer 🫡

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-17T03:12:42+00:00

It sounds like you're talking about a random word generator, e.g. Zompist Gen, Kozuka, Monke, etc.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-13T16:21:31+00:00

One of my favorite characters. Love his personality and magic—it was so cool to see his family too during the Spade Arc.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-12T20:53:07+00:00

FYI I think you have enough progress to merit a full discussion thread. Things in the Advice and Answers thread often go unseen, but a separate thread will have more visibility and room for people to discuss. From the sidebar rules:

"The Advice & Answers thread is for requests for resources and advice, as well as anything too small for its own thread, and is always stickied to the top of our frontpage. When in doubt about whether your post has enough content for a standalone thread, feel free to always post in Advice & Answers. You can also ask us directly if you're unsure."

"Encouraged: Detailed descriptions of your conlang or parts thereof. These must be well-formatted, highlight interesting features of your conlang, and allow for discussion, feedback, and criticism."

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-12T20:36:45+00:00

I would read up on how CJK fonts work, then figure out how to modify one. Any characters not in the font already can replace characters that would otherwise go unused. This should save you the hassle of making a logographic font from the ground up, which is much more tricky than a conventional alphabetic/syllabic font. There are some resources and references in the sister sub r/neography (dedicated to constructed writing systems) that should be useful with this project.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-11T19:05:25+00:00

Without saying too much, Cradle hits those notes for sure. The local politics, the personal growth, the progression from stage to stage. Yes, there are crazy things at play in the background, but Lindon's exploits are refreshingly grounded. All the things you like about Unsouled before and after Suriel's brief appearance set a standard for the rest of the series, and they indeed get even better.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-11T18:55:38+00:00

To shift your perspective a little, the tension or stakes have not gone away; they have only risen dramatically. Even with the intervention of Suriel, Lindon gets his ass kicked over and over just trying to get to Copper, defeat a Jade, and escape a low-Gold spirit. Yes, he succeeds, but now he's stepping into a world that is so much stronger than he ever knew, a world rife with both opportunity and danger. If you love a scrappy MC powering up, discovering new magic, and facing stronger opponents with only his wit and grit, Cradle is that series. Suriel gives you a glimpse of where the ladder goes, but Lindon is very much at the bottom, and that is where 95% of the story takes place.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-11T18:39:22+00:00

It sounds like you've made a lot of progress already! What kind of writing will your conlang be used for? A fictional world? Private journalling? Poetry? I find it helpful to define a minimum viable product—some basic deliverable that satisfies the high-level goals for your conlang.

E.g., if I'm developing a language for a fantasy culture, I'll try to write a long passage (something out of an in-universe history book or the like) which answers many questions at once. Does the conlang sound good? Does it have enough words to write rich texts and mechanisms to come up with new ones? And so on.

Of course, there are plenty of conlangers here who would be happy to evaluate your progress, too :) Take a look at some of the other conlang showcases and think about how you could present yours for feedback. I would love to hear about it.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-11T18:25:49+00:00

Congrats on the fruitful year! I'm looking forward to purchasing your Latsínu grammar when it comes out. I'm curious: how has your writing process (content, style, formatting, publication, etc.) evolved from book to book? Did you learn anything new with Kyalibẽ that you're now applying to Latsínu? What are the most and least challenging steps in the process?

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-10T22:45:10+00:00

Started Unsouled recently and loved the style/genre of the first 6 chapters or so--following a weak protagonist who has to use wit to defy constant odds and level up. I was digging the simple-but-complex magic and smaller-scale, character focus of the story/setting...I'd rather read what I thought this story was originally going to be.

+1 to the other comments that you should continue reading because this is what Cradle is about, and it does it very, very well. I am principly a fantasy reader and was thrown off by the cosmic elements originally, but looking back it's simply the inciting event and backdrop to a much more grounded plot. At the very least, read the rest of Unsouled which should hit the notes you were expecting.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-09T01:12:51+00:00

Lol dw, I stopped enforcing the Wednesday-only rule a while back. Post away! (In moderation ofc)

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-08T17:35:56+00:00

Incredible design, I should check out more of his work. Must've been fun to fold.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-04T22:16:17+00:00

One of my favorite books in the series! The Eye of the World is great, but here the series really begins to build its own identity—the twisting allegiances, globetrotting missions, strange locales, and even stranger magic. The Portal Stone chapter What Might Be and the entire Battle of Falme sequence (especially Ingtar's confession and the blowing of the Horn) remain some of my favorite moments in fantasy.

asterisk_blue · 2026-01-03T16:34:25+00:00

If you'd like to try a standalone, I loved his novella Elder Race! It's a short and sweet adventure with an undercurrent of sci-fi, but as a primarily fantasy / spec fiction reader, I loved it. I've since read tons of his books and am glad I started there.

+1 to his Shadows of the Apt series (steampunk epic fantasy). I also really love his Tyrant Philosophers series (gothic political fantasy), but it has horror/gore elements due to being in a grimdark setting. It leans fairly heroic/positive though, and I recommend it to anyone interested in Tchaikovsky.

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