Reading lists are not for people on the edges or just entering our movements. Very few people are going to invest dozens of hours reading on a subject they’re not even sure they’re entirely interested in.
Instead we should recommend easily accessible short text, videos, podcasts, and media sites.
I have a list of such resources on anarchism on my blog that you can use as an example.
After people have already entered the movement and they are looking for more info is a good time for the reading list to come out.
In the meantime, if there’s a concept from something you’ve read that you think new peeps should be familiar with then digest it and make a more easily consumable form of media out of the needed information.
Not only does it help new people, but it helps people like me who need accessible options due to disability.
Tag: to read
yo so I’ve been pretty curious about communism for a while now, but I have no idea where to start learning more about it. Do you have any recommendations for resources for people who are pretty new to this? thanks
Well, if you’re just getting started, I would say the best place to start is with the basics. Jumping right in with Das Kapital is a great way to get a headache and give up on trying to learn more.
So let’s start with some simpler stuff.
The first thing I recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about communism is Friedrich Engels’ The Principles of Communism. It gives you a quick outline of all of the essentials, and it was originally intended for the exact purpose of educating people who don’t know a ton about the subject. If you only read one of my recommendations, this should be it.
Second, since we’re talking about Engels, let’s stay on that track and get some Mark in the mix too. That means Manifesto of the Communist Party of course. It’s similar to Principles in the fact that it’s a more general-purpose piece of literature, and there’s a reason it’s the quintessential book for communism as a school of philosophy.
Common criticisms of communism involve the revolutionary aspect of the ideology, and the best place to turn for a refutation of this critique is by my favorite theorist: Rosa Luxemburg. I am referring, of course, to Reform or Revolution. In it, my girl Rosa pretty efficiently and clearly outlines why revolution is necessary for society to move forward, just in case you didn’t get enough of that in the previous readings.
Now that you’ve got the basics down, you can go into some more specific reading and investigate what sect of communism you are most interested in, and where your politics might fall. Some good places to start are with the three major tendencies of anarchism, Maoism, and Leninism.
For a quick briefing on what anarcho-communism is all about, don’t turn to Bakunin or Stirner. Definitely don’t read Proudhon. The best place to start is with Peter Kropotkin’s The Conquest of Bread. Kropotkin is my personal favorite anarchist theorist, and even the most staunch “authoritarian” communist will agree that Kropotkin’s theory is, in general, fairly sound.
Maoism has a lot of competing trends and sects, but the central pillar revolves around who else but Mao Zedong. The little red book – Quotations from Mao Tse Tung – is an anthology of quotes by Chairman Mao that outlines and examines his ideology and gives you a good idea of why you might like Maoism.
Lastly, let’s talk about Leninism. It’s not my favorite, but there is no denying that Lenin’s writing has been important to world history and to the development of further communist theory. A large part of Leninism is about vanguard parties and the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat in the form of major state presence while building socialism. To learn more about these ideas, you should naturally turn to Lenin himself, and read his book The State and Revolution.
So, for the basics, take a look at the following:
- The Principles of Communism – Friedrich Engels
- Manifesto of the Communist Party – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
- Reform or Revolution – Rosa Luxemburg
And for more specific analyses of various tendencies, check out these:
- The Conquest of Bread – Peter Kropotkin
- Quotations from Mao Tse Tung – Mao Zedong
- The State and Revolution – V.I. Lenin
I hope this helps you!
I just really want to write a book (in fact, I think that I’m going to) where the protagonist is in a wheelchair. And they live in a city where there’s a group of superheroes. And there’s a big, magical, villain because of course there is.
And since they were a young child, this protagonist has wanted nothing more than to join the group of superheroes. Like they’re a huge fan of the group and they just know that it’s their destiny to join.
And one day, when wheeling through the city, they see the group of heroes fighting the villain. And they quickly wheel over and cry, “Let me help!”
But the ‘heroes’ laugh and instead make a whole bunch of ableist remarks.
And so the protagonist has to prove themselves.
And the villain is trying to warn them to stop.
But the protagonist ends up taking their footrest off of their wheelchair and they swing it. And it hits the villain in the side of the face and the villain collapses and groans in pain.
And so the protagonist proudly smiles and turns to the group of heroes.
Because they just proved that they are strong and worthy enough.
But the group of ‘heroes’ still keeps making ableist remarks.
And the protagonist is shocked.
And meanwhile, the ‘villain’ staggers to their feet and is standing next to the protagonist’ wheelchair.
And one of the ‘heroes’ goes too far when calling the protagonist the R word.
And the protagonist and the ‘villain’ just sort of glance at one another.
And the ‘villain’ is just like, “You know…I can zap them for you…if you want.”
And the protagonist hesitates and says, “Yeah, alright!”
One fried group of heroes later, the ‘villain’ says, “Why do you think that I’m always fighting them? They’re all a bunch of assholes.”
And the protagonist sadly nods and starts to wheel away.
Then:
“Hey, do you want a job?”
The protagonist turns at the villain’s remark. And the protagonist mumbles something like, “Oh, come on. I don’t need your pity.”
And the ‘villain’ is like, “Pity!? Do I look like someone who hands out pity!? I don’t pity you! I’m kind of afraid of you, to be honest! I mean…I’m going to have a giant bruise on my face because of you.”
“Yeah…sorry…”
“Water under the bridge! So, what do you say? Do you want a job?”
And the protagonist thinks about it for a minute before shrugging.
And the ‘villain’ is all excited because they’ve wanted someone to work with them for years but no mortal is allowed to ‘step into’ their lair.
And then the ‘villain’ stops and is like, “Hang on…you can’t work with me in that.”
And they gesture to the protagonist’s wheelchair.
And the protagonist is all embarrassed.
And then the villain goes, “Because we can get you a much better wheelchair! It’ll look great! And it’ll be indestructible! And it’ll have all sorts of weapons and gadgets! Hey, how do you feel about flying…?”
And all of that is literally in the first chapter and then the rest of the story follows the two going around the city like BAMFs, forcing people to stop being ableist, one way or another. And maybe it’ll have some commentary on the scale of morality and what it truly means to be a hero and what it truly means to be a villain.
Would anyone be interested in this!?
Because I really want to write it!?
YESSSSS. ALL MY YES PLS WRITE IT
I’D READ THE SHIT OUT OF THAT YES PLEASE
OP HERE!
Man, it’s so surreal to look at this.
BECAUSE I ACTUALLY WROTE IT!
AND IT WAS JUST PUBLISHED TONIGHT!
Of course, there are some differences between the final book and this original idea. The most notable difference is that all of this takes place in the first book (it’s going to be a series!) and the whole ‘superhero’ thing is just going to be a front. There’s a few other differences as well (such as a huge plotline involving Merlin and immortal characters!)
BUT I WROTE IT!
AND IT’S PUBLISHED!
AND IF YOU’RE INTERESTED, YOU CAN BUY IT HERE:
AND IF YOU WANT TO HELP ME OUT, YOU CAN REVIEW IT!
AND IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HELP ME OUT, YOU CAN SIGNAL BOOST THIS POST WITH THIS REPLY SO THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY KNOW THAT THE BOOK NOW EXISTS!
oh man you so rarely see ‘what if’ posts on tumblr get an actual follow-through. great job op! i’ll check it out!
The old gods are dead
Zeus sits at the bar, he’ll buy a thousand and one drinks and the girls who he smiles at will raise their eyebrows and think of the pepper spray tucked into their sleeves.
Hera waits at home. She knows the numbers of all the girls and she has their facebooks open on the computer. Her hands hover over the keyboard., She wants to tell them that men will always lie. She wants to take her own advice. She never will.
Apollo and Artemis travel the world. They are chasing the sun. Chasing the moon. They will never catch up. Their hand are curled around each others hip bones. Never in public though. They look too similar for that now. Society has learned judgement and so they keep their caresses safe in the shadows.
Poseidon wanders the shore. He wears a plastic poncho and carries a bag of trash. His tears mix with the salt water. No one can tell the difference. A girl with hair that moves like serpents trails after him, retribution in her eyes.
Hades lies in bed, his wife curled around him. He smiles because people will always believe in death and finally, finally he has beaten his brothers at something.
Athena paces through college campuses, handing out pamphlets on architecture. She scoffs at professors who are simply going through the motions. She carries signs in her hands as she marches through the streets with the students, screaming about the newest problem. She laughs wild, these children, these fearless children are her people.
Hestia wants her family to come home. She waits in the doorway, arms outstretched and a smile like forgiveness waiting to embrace the siblings whom she knows will never return.
Demeter counts down the days until her daughter returns. She smiles when children cheer over the snow days she gives them. There was a time when she had a child like that.
Persephone kisses her husband and grins when people tremble. She is vengeful and wears flowers in her hair and she will make damn sure that the world will never forget her name.
Ares walks through the Middle East, picking his way around the ruins of an elementary school. He stopped understanding war a long time ago. This was not brave, this was not heroic. This was senseless.
Aphrodite narrows her eyes at boys in cars who yell obscene things. She’s long since stopped romanticizing love. She is gaunt and over worked but sometimes she sees a teenage girl handing her baby over to an older couple who had tried for years and she feels young again. Sometimes, she sees Ares from across the room as soldiers embrace their loved ones and they smile at each other.
Hephaestus limps through his shop, his hands are worn down, his back is still twisted but people don’t seem to notice anymore. He makes their furniture, their toys and trinkets and they thank him, they pay him.
Hermes runs through the streets of New York, Tokyo, London. He is young in this time, young and beautiful and slipping between business men, his hands finding their way into their pockets. He never stops laughing.
Dionysus mixes Zeus his drinks. He watches his family grin and cry and get sick in the back room of the bar. He holds back their hair and hands them another drink before they even ask. He’s been here a long time. He’s seen them drunk more often then he’s seen them sober. He is watching them flicker out and fade.
The gods are dying. The gods are dead. The gods are us.
This is one of my top 10 posts on Tumblr.
anyone got some time to kill and want to read an awesome story about a cool trans girl and her lesbian best friend going on an adventure and fighting evil?
this story has:
- incredible worldbuilding
- takes place in a world where magic and technology coexist
- has LOTS of gay ppl
- has lots of HOT girls who manage to be hot w/ aesthetic alone
- hot gay girls with magic powers
- anarchists with magic powers
- hot gay girl anarchists with magic powers
- lore
- so much lore its really cool
- ghost wars
- like if ghost wars hasnt made you hyped yet theres somethin wrong w/ you
- and SO MUCH MORE
in summary please read this you will love it
10 Things that Red-Flag a Newbie Novelist
Beginning novelists are like Tolstoy’s happy families. They tend to be remarkably alike. Certain mistakes are common to almost all beginners. These things aren’t necessarily wrong, but they are difficult to do well—and get in the way of smooth storytelling
They also make it easy for professionals—and a lot of readers—to spot the unseasoned newbie.
When I worked as an editor, I ran into the same problems in nearly every new novelist’s work—the very things I did when I was starting out.
I think some of the patterns come from imitating the classics. In the days of Dickens and Tolstoy, novels were written to be savored on long winter nights or languid summer days when there was a lot of time to be filled. Detailed descriptions took readers out of their mundane lives and off to exotic lands or into the homes of the very rich and very poor where they wouldn’t be invited otherwise.
Books were expensive, so people wanted them to last as long as possible. They didn’t mind flipping back and forth to find out if Razumihin, Dmitri Prokofitch, and Vrazumihin were in fact, all the same person. They were okay with immersing themselves in long descriptions and philosophical digressions before they found out what happened to Little Nell. The alternative was probably staring at the fire or listening to Aunt Lavinia snore.
But in the electronic age…not so much. Your readers have the world’s libraries at their fingertips, and if you bore them or confuse them for even a minute, they’re already clicking away to buy the next shiny 99c book.
Whether you’re querying agents and editors or you’re planning to self-publish, you need to write for the contemporary reader. And that means “leaving out the parts that readers skip” as Elmore Leonard said.
Agents and readers aren’t going to want to wade through a practice novel. They want polished work. All beginners make mistakes. Falling down and making a mess is part of any learning process. But you don’t have to display the mess to the world. Unfortunately easy electronic self-publishing tempts us to do just that.
But don’t. As I said two weeks ago, it takes the same amount of time to learn to write as it did before the electronic age.
Here are some tell-tale signs that a writer is still in the learning phase of a career.
I’m not saying these things are “wrong”. They’re just overdone or tough for a beginner to do well.
10 Should Reads
for Ladies into Ladies into Sci-fi/Fantasy
[You like Buffy, contemporary urban fantasy, witches, sisterhood, Young Adult]
- You’ll love; The Engelsfors Trilogy by Mats Strandberg & Sara Elfgren Bergmark
[You like classic fantasy, epic fantasy, quests, magic, sole survivors]
- You’ll love; Fire Logic by Laurie Marks
[You like military fantasy, matriarchal societies, female warriors, slow-burn bow chicka-wow-wow]
- You’ll love; The Warrior’s Path by Catherine M Wilson
[You like shapeshifters, secret societies, romance, star crossed lovers]
- You’ll love; Second Nature by Jae
[You like super powered mutants, near future dystopias, underdogs, and orphans who like to box]
- You’ll love; Santa Olivia by Jaqueline Carey
[You like Zombies, pop culture references, innuendos and sass]
- You’ll love; Eat Your Heart Out by Dayna Ingram
[You like Norse mythology, urban fantasy, blacksmiths, dragons and Portland]
- You’ll love; Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts
[You like classic Science Fiction, parallel universes, poetry and philosphy]
- You’ll love; The Female Man by Joanna Russ
[You like gothic ghost stories, mind-fucks, atmospheric autumn novels in a New England setting]
- You’ll love; The Red Tree by Caitlin Kiernan
[You like robots, space, science fiction, wit, scathing satire]
- You’ll love; The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
You really should read more lesbian books, so you’re perfectly free to see this as the kick in the ass that you need to do just that. Pick one and read it. Pick two, read both. Pick all. Just read more lesbian books.
queerhomestuck 