A Love Letter to a Lady Mantis / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page A Love Letter to a Lady Mantis.

page 1 of 212next »

Author's Notes

Zyn 04 Sep 2016 01:48

Alternatively titled, "cloud scorpion seeks lady red mantis mate" or "this is what happens when you are a nerd and try to write a love letter in biography form and then ask for your friends and family to read it".

Many, many thanks to Jekeled, Vivax, Silber, shaggydredlocks, Daily-SCP, AidenEldritch, and thedeadlymoose for reading this over in chat!

The Lady Zakuro also appears in the Serpent’s Hand tale Birdseed.

ETA: some basic trivia I learned from researching in relation to the insectkin court/culture/etc.

• IRL mantises have five eyes. (and that is why the high mantis court loves circles.)
• The promenade à deux is an actual scorpion mating behavior.
• Female scorpions and mantises tend to be larger than males.
• There are some very pretty mantises out there, like Orchid Mantis.
• The Japanese names of the high mantid court members are all taken from chapter titles in The Tale of Genji.

Last edited on 05 Sep 2016 04:14 by Zyn Show more

Shaggydredlocks 04 Sep 2016 02:22

As I stated earlier, excellent use of the SH format. This may be the first time I've seen fawning over the subject of an article that actually makes it better.

djkaktus 04 Sep 2016 03:58

This is pretty good.

Voct 05 Sep 2016 03:35

"Mantis Wives", by Kij Johnson, 2012, as published in Clarkesworld, nominee for the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, finalist for the 2013 Locus Award for Best Short Story.

What you've written is better.

Zyn 05 Sep 2016 04:02

…I just went and read all of "Mantis Wives", and despite initially having misgivings of the work being some sort of macabre insect-based kama sutra, found myself wanting to read more of the haunting words. The ending made me feel sad. I think I need to go sit outside and watch moths burn themselves on the porchlight. Insects are so…

Jacob Conwell 05 Sep 2016 03:51

This is a solid use of the SH format, and the jabs and banter in the footnotes is particularly entertaining.

+1. Great job Zyn.

Zyn 05 Sep 2016 04:16

My headcanon is that scorpionkin are very temperamental and like to tease. Spiderkin mostly tend to be on the patient side. Mostly.

Glad you liked it!

Jacob Conwell 05 Sep 2016 04:25

That makes a lot of sense.

Spiders tend to sit and wait on their webs to capture their prey, while scorpions actively hunt their prey down. You did a good job showing that in the personalities of the footnote writers.

SpectralDragon 05 Sep 2016 13:51

Not only does this make me happy because it's SH format and involves scorpions, but it's a love letter to a mantis. I'm going to print this out and frame it for whenever I have a bad day.

+all of the upvotes, you wonderful butterfly

Zyn 05 Sep 2016 18:45

I'm going to print this out and frame it for whenever I have a bad day.

;u; Yay!!! I am glad it gives you the happies!! Your koi SH GOI-entry made me the happies too. Happy trade!

_{In all seriousness though, I'm glad you liked the piece. Your Artificial Dragon's Gate was a big inspiration to me, especially since I don't think I've ever written anything with that sort of playful tone before.}

/highfive SH buddies

SpectralDragon 07 Sep 2016 12:25

Spirit Staff of Eastern Avian Shaman was written by you, wasn't it? That's what inspired me to go for it and write my koi entry.

_{uh oh does this mean we've created an ouroboros of inspiration}

/highfive

Zyn 07 Sep 2016 17:07

Yes, I did write the cell phone for birb. :3c I had a ton of help with that though.

_{maybe oh man i need to get "ouroboros of inspiration" on a T-shirt}

TL333s 05 Sep 2016 23:34

I'll be honest, I just read the footnotes, and a bunch of jerks sniping at some guy's moony poetry is absolutely worth an upvote in my book. :D

Zyn 06 Sep 2016 00:00

:D

Moony poetry is best poetry. I have some of my own stashed away in old journals from middle school. I cry errytime. From laughing.

GG Crono 07 Sep 2016 18:53

This is rapidly becoming my favorite GOI format. I love what's being done with it, the way it gives a brief glimpse into the world of some very unusual people who are still just people being people.

Zyn 07 Sep 2016 20:25

_{:3c mantis ladies be scary picky as heck amirite}

Incidentally, I wrote this on a day in which I spent a lot of time with a friend of mine, sitting in on her college classes because her term starts before mine does. I spent about three hours just jotting down notes about mantis courts and scorpion societies.

To write of another world, write in an unfamiliar place, I suppose.

Liberonscien 22 Sep 2016 14:59

I enjoyed this.

Crow-Cat 05 Aug 2019 16:10

I have to agree with the other commenters and say this might be my favorite Serpent’s Hand article. The world building, characters, and bug society were very engaging and charming. Reminded me of Hollow Knight in that regard. +1

Zyn 06 Aug 2019 05:38

Thank you so much for the kind words and the +1! A lot of time went into figuring out the details in the piece, so it's immensely fulfilling and heartwarming to hear that readers enjoyed the world building. :>

page 1 of 212next »