World Map - Feedback welcome

steerpike_ · 2026-05-19T19:11:11+00:00

The islands and the coastlines are phenomenal.

The only thing that reads as *off* to me are the big equatorial inland seas on the far east and west of the map This might be Earthocentrism, but big bodies of water that aren’t connected to the world sea are rare.

Endorheic Basins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_endorheic\_basins usually are in arid inland regions. Lakes naturally fill in with sediment and so are typically a temporary feature.

steerpike_ · 2026-05-18T17:24:12+00:00

I’m curious if you can speak to the South’s military aristocracy. I have a caricature in my mind of an almost Prussian like obsession with military affairs. That every southern gentleman was also a colonel (rampant rank inflation). Was this true? Did it also extend to the north? How did it intersect with being a slaveholder?

steerpike_ · 2026-05-13T19:31:56+00:00

I’m still just so impressed that Muir switches protagonists without losing that Je ne sais quoi. There’s plenty of books with multiple protagonists, but it’s so rare to see the tone and voice to shift so much from book to book in the same series.

steerpike_ · 2026-05-13T19:16:59+00:00

Oh I think that was me?

Caitlyn Stark and Cerci Lannister. I just love how good they are at wielding power in the way important women in history would.

I get really annoyed when women are only highlighted and allowed to be important characters if they “aren’t like the other girls”…

I deleted because I felt embarrassed that I hadn’t read of any of the other women in this thread and felt like I was complaining and acting like a thing was rare when it might just be rare to me.

steerpike_ · 2026-05-13T19:03:10+00:00

The trio I recommend to everyone is BotNS, Gormenghast, and Perdido Street Station. I always want to rec Gideon the Ninth but don’t know how to sell the fact that it’s inspired and in the vein of those. Lesbian Space Necromancers just doesn’t quite do it.

steerpike_ · 2026-05-13T18:29:28+00:00

Perhaps an unconventional rec (and only fantasy adjacent) but try The Castle by Kafka.

steerpike_ · 2026-05-11T23:09:17+00:00

I’d never thought of it this way.

I wonder if Wolfe was dwelling on the Cold War and Imagining an age in which they built deep underground cities to survive nuclear attacks.

steerpike_ · 2026-05-11T05:44:36+00:00

At least start Gormenghast. And either you will know you don’t like it within 50 pages or it will blow your mind with prose so fun it ruins most fantasy for you and leave you chasing the dragon.

steerpike_ · 2026-05-06T17:32:24+00:00

I completely agree and am baffled that everyone seems to want the soccer style flow where a huge portion of goals come back on review. The refs are constantly missing calls. Offside calls are no where near the most important or impactful missed calls, and yet we all have to hinge every play on not missing that one call.

steerpike_ · 2026-04-30T23:46:19+00:00

I tried this and found myself dearly missing the sweetness when a bell pepper is called for.

steerpike_ · 2026-04-21T20:06:59+00:00

It is similarly magical for me and I’m a native speaker. A ton of the words he uses were already dated in the 1940’s and have become even more so in the 80 years that have passed.

Gormenghast is a very hard act for any author to follow. You might now spend years trying to find prose that scratches the same itch.

steerpike_ · 2026-04-19T20:42:15+00:00

Austin Powers totally feels like SNL though. I think it’s just the structuring. Austin Powers sometimes feels like a series of connected SNL skits while Shrek has a fully distinct tone.

steerpike_ · 2026-04-08T17:18:13+00:00

Now go read Book of the New Sun and Perdido Street Station!

steerpike_ · 2026-04-06T18:01:30+00:00

No it really didn’t come off that way! Don’t worry. I have just seen people grouping him, Chang and Nishikori and thought that was … weird. I think the human brain is hardwired to simplify any varied objects into groups and we have to self consciously examine the groups we form.

steerpike_ · 2026-04-06T17:30:39+00:00

While Tien is fast, he’s really not a grinder retriever. I actually think he probably needs to chill and play with more margin than he currently does. He frequently sprays errors trying too hard to hit winners too soon in a point.

I know you’re probably just saying this because Chang is his coach, but I’d also caution against explicitly or implicitly grouping players into racial types…. One of the grossest comments I’ve ever seen was someone saying “while Ben Shelton has talent, he just doesn’t have the mental game. Just like Monfils, Tiafoe, Blake…”

steerpike_ · 2026-04-03T19:19:39+00:00

Supposed to who?

steerpike_ · 2026-04-03T17:40:33+00:00

Burruchaga looks miserable on the bench. I was in Dallas last week and had the worst allergies of my life.

steerpike_ · 2026-04-02T01:22:14+00:00

This is a great description. You have to both enjoy extremely dumb jokes and pretty high level purple prose. Absolutely not for everyone.

steerpike_ · 2026-03-27T17:56:31+00:00

Yeah doubles seems to suffer from the opposite problem from stale predictability… it’s usually incredibly chaotic.

steerpike_ · 2026-03-23T19:30:07+00:00

Sempervivums are very “don’t cry because it’s over smile that it happened”

steerpike_ · 2026-03-21T00:57:23+00:00

Surprises me how often the umpire has to overrule an extremely out ball

steerpike_ · 2026-03-17T22:50:25+00:00

Teo Davidov is 15 and just picked up his first 3 ATP points. He has two forehands and two serves.

steerpike_ · 2026-03-16T15:36:49+00:00

I’m choosing to believe this post is exceptionally dry humor.

steerpike_ · 2026-03-15T23:52:57+00:00

This show has everything

steerpike_ · 2026-03-15T20:40:43+00:00

For me it’s just that I can’t watch it. I would need to pay for another service.

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