Xenofiction - Blog Posts

Welcome to the World of Transliterated!

What makes you “you?” Is it your body? Your voice? Your home? Your name? If you lost all of them, who would you be?

Two humans awaken in a strange forest, their minds now inhabiting the bodies of ordinary animals. As they scramble to survive and hold on to their identities, they quickly discover that the world they've found themselves in is already inhabited, and that they have taken over the bodies of two of its inhabitants. To them, their lives have been upended and their minds have been forced into the incompatible bodies of ordinary animals, and any hope in uncovering the reasons why is shrouded in ancient mysteries. To the natives of this world, however, they are people who had existing lives and responsibilities. People stricken by an affliction of the mind, in need of care and a cure. Or perhaps people who have killed their bodies' original inhabitants and taken their place...

Together, they will need to master both their new bodies and the strange powers that allow them to communicate, all while grappling with an alien society and questions no one is prepared to answer. What good is a human mind in a world where humanity doesn't exist? What responsibility do you have to those you've harmed through no fault of your own? Do you even have a right to exist if your existence comes at the cost of others?

What will you do about those who claim that you don't?

Transliterated is a "Xenofiction Isekai" web novel that I have been writing for well over a year now. It was originally serialized on Cohost.org, but when that site shut down, it moved to more dedicated serial fiction sites such as Royal Road and AO3. In my eternal quest to get as many eyeballs on this book as possible, I would also like to start uploading chapters here as well.

If you're interested in reading ahead, check out the links above! If you'd like to support me and my work, then you can donate on either my Patreon or my Ko-Fi. Patreon supporters get access to advance chapters! And of course, my asks and submissions are open for those who wish to ask/send me things related to the book!

Otherwise, I hope you stick around and enjoy!

Be safe and fly true, folks.

Also going to finally make a pinned post for all my stuff:

BOGLEECH - my tumblr blog is named after this website I created around 2002 and still update. Thousands of pages worth of content focusing on creature design as well as real biology. My review of the original Legend of Zelda monsters might be the most straightforward example of my articles. Links to some of the most popular content:

POKEMON REVIEW ARCHIVE: - I rate and review each and every single Pokemon, in Pokedex order, on its merits as a creature design. I also do so as someone whose favorite animals are all parasites.

DIGIMON REVIEW ARCHIVE - same, but more chaotic.

CREEPYPASTA COOKOFF ARCHIVE - for several years I hosted a yearly writing contest before it grew too big for me to keep up with. There are over a thousand user submitted horror, fantasy, sci fi and surrealist stories here emphasizing unconventional, original ideas you seldom see from the "creepypasta" community!

The original "MORTASHEEN" Monster Archive - since the early 2000's I've created and illustrated more than 800 creatures and counting for my own monster-catching world, now set for release as a tabletop RPG setting.

AWFUL HOSPITAL: SERIOUSLY THE WORST EVER (page one): an interactive comedy-horror-sci-fi webcomic I started in 2014 about a medical facility that could maybe be better.

Some of my other internet stuff:

PATREON - constant work makes my patreon updates inconsistent, but the content backlog goes back years with a huge amount of exclusive art and writing. I try to put up new exclusive stuff whenever I can.

ETSY - I design all sorts of original enamel pins like these, plus I sell zero-maintenance terrarium plants (just leave them in a jar!), original books and other things!

COLOR THE ABYSS (available on the above etsy!) - a 30 page educational deep sea coloring book! Includes a few famous favorites like giant isopods and hagfish, but mostly focuses on less popular, often much weirder animals.

UNBELIEVABLE BUGS - also regularly restocked in the etsy store, 30 of the strangest and most surprising arthropods most people have likely never heard of, illustrated by myself and @revretch, written for even the youngest kids to understand (but will likely teach you something new at any age)

My Itch.io and Ko-fi - both sell digital versions of my books, including some creepypasta collections and my first novel, "Return of the Living," about a world of entirely ghosts suddenly dealing with the appearance of ghost-hunting monsters.

TWITCH CHANNEL - I now try to stream something at least monthly, sometimes weekly when possible, from horror games to books and art.

YOUTUBE CHANNEL - archives my twitch streams and other little things.

INSTAGRAM - look at pictures of my huge weird collection of toys and Halloween collectibles

BLUESKY - I'm going to put mainly just updates to my stuff on here. SEE ALSO:

HUMANS-B-GONE - a science fiction animated series by my partner @revretch, about a world of kaiju-size, technologically advanced insects and arachnids to whom vertebrates like us are just pesky little "gubs." Also has a tumblr account @humansbgone

Ya know what I hate? How in Science Fiction if there are aliens and humans, then the humans are ultra super special for whatever reason. Like they can’t just be there they have to ether be the main focus or the only species that matters! Apparently people can’t relate to aliens unless they are inherently superior.

I’ll be honest, whenever a work of speculative fiction (fanmade or otherwise) goes out of its way to describe an intelligent species with bizarre and complicated reproductive biology, the first question that invariably pops into my head is: “How do these critters masturbate?”

Inspired by various tumblr posts.

Humans quickly get a reputation among the interplanetry alliance and the reputation is this: when going somewhere dangerous, take a human.

Humans are tough. Humans can last days without food. Humans heal so fast they pierce holes in themselves or inject ink for fun. Humans will walk for days on broken bones in order to make it to safety. Humans will literally cut off bits of themselves if trapped by a disaster.

You would be amazed what humans will do to survive. Or to ensure the survival of others they feel responsible for.

That’s the other thing. Humans pack-bond, and they spill their pack-bonding instincts everywhere. Sure it’s weird when they talk sympathetically to broken spaceships or try to pet every lifeform that scans as non-toxic. It’s even a little weird that just existing in the same place as them for long enough seems to make them care about you. But if you’re hurt, if you’re trapped, if you need someone to fetch help?

You really want a human.

How I Play and Interpret Kenku

How I Play and Interpret Kenku

The kenku in the Dungeons and Dragons game are fun and interesting. I’ve put a lot of thought in to how the kenku curse manifests and how I play the details of how it works. I haven’t done a lot of research into the background of the characters, this is all personal headcanon. I understand the kenku’s curse not to just be on their ability to literally speak, but to clearly or intentionally…

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Hmmm I've seen a lot of crow and raven people in fantasy settings but sci-fi 'uplift' premises tend to focus on dolphins and chimps and other reasonable targets.

Want a sci-fi story that's set long after some unwise scientist CRISPRed a be-much-smarter tweak into at least two species each of corvids and cephalopods.

so we've got established society of crows, who absolutely picked up human languages fast and use them routinely to interact with human beings, and maybe don't have citizenship in human countries where they reside because they have their own political units that aren't based on terrain, but they are recognized as people by law

(but like, i want to emphasize they are crows that are physically the same as crows have always been)

and the much more mysterious and retiring underwater society of the octopuses.

Any tips on how to design reproductive/family life for long lived species? If they could live for 1000 years, family might be extremely complicated because of the possibility of siblings born 700 years apart, having great great etc... grandchilden before your sibling is born. Vocabulary? How about fertility age? Could 700 years could be considered too old to reproduce? How about dynamics on age differences between partners? Anything else? (No interspecies at this time)

Tex: What’s their perspective of time? Does their environment change more rapidly than they do? It would be a little different for an elf in Middle Earth than, say, a vampire in New York City.

Regardless of a species’ window of child-bearing years and years of childhood itself, how their own biology is perceived is influenced by their environment and experiences. Would someone of your species have children 700 years apart? Would that be a long time between children for them, or a typical span where it’s normal to have one child nearly every thousand years?

A human who has a child at 25 might not have a child at 45, even if they’re physically able to do so. I imagine a similar decision-making process might be involved no matter the species, particularly if your species is capable of doing anything about it - that does bring in another nod to enculturation. Is it even considered appropriate to have children 700 years apart? If so, what would be considered the social advantages?

Do they have a religion that prioritizes reproducing often and whenever possible? Do they not? What would be the rationalization behind either dictation?

What if your species, because it is long-lived, has names for children born at certain stages of life? Would that change family dynamics? If so, how so? What about how timing of birth affecting who they’re socially permitted to become romantically or sexually involved with? What would be the rationale behind those sorts of norms?

non-human trans characters who use different gender signifiers from us is sooo underrated. transfem bird person who thinks her colorful plumage means she cant pass only for every human she meets to be completely clueless. transmasc slime person who uses food dye to change themselves to bright orange, leading everyone they know to question how the hell slime gender works.

As A Velociraptor Should Do

Wrote this for an English project, can't believe I forgot to post it here!

Summary: A velociraptor makes a daring escape from a research facility! Freedom is all hers, if she wants it.

Rating: E Length: 1500 words CW: blood mention, animal death (raptor goes hunting)

The smell of grass and wildflowers lingered for longer than Sierra expected. In spite of her artificial surroundings, the raptor knew the scent well; her researcher/caretaker liked fresh air while he worked, so long as Sierra was secure in her enclosure. This time, however, the smell of the outside world persisted even after Avi left the surrounding room. Sierra put the pieces together: the scent meant an open window, an open window meant a passage to outside, to the forest she’d seen only through glass, and the forest meant hunting, and freedom, and very clever ambushes. And without Avi to catch her before she bolted, that left only one obstacle between her and that sweet, unrestricted freedom.

Sierra knew how the door to her enclosure worked, after seeing Avi open it so many times. The handle, chest-height for him, was still too high for her biting range, even if she stretched up as tall as she could go. For a brief moment, she nearly chirped a loud help call, to try to get the human to open it for her, but the thought of having to evade him on the way to the window quashed that idea. Instead, Siera crouched, took aim, and leapt at the door, landing with a crash of talons on metal. Her claws hooked into the holes in the mesh, and she grabbed the handle in her jaws and yanked down. With a click, the door slowly swung open. Success.

After some effort to disentangle her claws from the door, Sierra once again stood on the floor of her enclosure. She ruffled her feathers, took a step out, and froze. Surely she wasn’t going to escape without her beloved stuffed raptor! Quick as she could, she turned, grabbed Nevada in her jaws, and dragged him away. The steady sound of fabric sliding on tile accompanied the rhythmic click of dino claws, as Sierra searched for the open window, following her nose. Finally, a gentle breeze wove through her feathers, and she found herself and Nevada in front of a small cabinet. It felt familiar to her, and when the raptor drew close enough to see the dent in the metal, Sierra recognized it with a wince.

It had been a few months earlier, just after finishing a round of measurements. Sierra had spotted a curious, bright red bug zipping around in front of her. Naturally, such things must be caught. However, no matter how sharp her turns or how quick her sprint, the strange insect evaded her grasp. Avi was helping, in his own way: he did not run much, himself, but with some tool in his hand, he pointed out to her where the bug was with enviable speed and precision. With her natural hunting skills and Avi’s guidance, she remained hot on its trail until it sped under the cabinet, and Sierra did not, instead slamming into the metal hard enough to dent it. The noise must have scared it off, because it was another month before she ever saw another of its kind. And at least Avi was always there to help whenever one did show up.

Recalling the thrill of the hunt invigorated Sierra; she crouched once again, clamped down firmly on her toy, and leapt at the top of the small cabinet… but came up short and fell back to the floor. Undeterred, the raptor issued a low, warning trill at the furniture and tried again. And again. After the third failure, she let go of Nevada for one last attempt. This time, without carrying around a large stuffed toy, she cleared the jump with ease. And at last, the window was right in front of her. Sierra spared a glance back down at the floor-bound doll, but soon turned away. Freedom, it seemed, held a hefty price. She felt the wind ruffle her feathers - real wind, not just the building’s ventilation - and hopped outside, flapping her arms to slow her descent.

Across the field stood a forest of deep green. Sierra’s mind filled with outrunning and outwitting foes, as well as cornering or baiting them with another raptor. Surely, she resolved, that was where she would begin that liberated life, far from tests and researchers. She walked slowly, revelling in the feel of grass under her feet. Suddenly, movement! A pair of mice picked their way through the field, apparently unaware of how easily Sierra could see them.

A rush of energy coursed through the dinosaur’s body as she stalked her newfound prey. Slowly, quietly, and with utmost focus, she crept nearer and nearer. The wrong blade of grass rustled, and the mice shot off, with Sierra in hot pursuit. With her head tucked down, her body cut through the air as her legs propelled her around the field. A well-timed lunge split up the mice, sending one back closer to the building; Sierra stayed steady on the other, but inwardly congratulated herself on the trick. If she had been hunting with a partner, that other mouse would have just become easy pickings!

At last, the mouse misstepped, or maybe simply grew tired. It hardly mattered to Sierra, who slammed a clawed foot down onto its little body. The raptor picked it up in her jaws and quickly gulped it down. She felt giddy. Her first hunt! And she could only get better. The forest was closer now, and drew closer still with each step. Soon, she would vanish from the view of that building, and truly begin her life as a free, wild dinosaur!

Just before the first trees, the ground dropped away at a sharp ledge. Sierra was not foolish enough to fall, but instead hesitated at the drop. She looked back at the building she had come from. Just one more jump, and she may never see it again. No more tests, no more wire mesh enclosure, no more stale air. The raptor crouched and readied her arms to manage her descent, but more thoughts came. No more sleeping next to Nevada. No more hunting those red bugs with Avi. The little dinosaur stood back up. No more Nevada. No more Avi. She took a step back, then shook her head, as though she could physically shake the thoughts out of it. Surely, she was not in for solitude, just something different. In fact…

Sierra took a deep breath,screeched a call into the woods, and waited for a response.

Nothing.

Just idle birdsong and the rustling of leaves and branches in the wind.

She drew in another breath, and chirped as loud as she could, calling any raptors for help. And again, in case they hadn’t heard the first time.

No response.

Sierra shivered, and her feathers stood on end. She hadn’t thought of this, when she dreamed of hunting, wild and free, that she might do it all alone. There was always a second or third raptor in her thoughts, to share food with, to protect and be protected by, to play with. The more she thought of it, the more she realized she disliked the idea of it. She knew what she would do, then. Nevada wasn’t technically alive, and Avi wasn’t a dinosaur, but they were both infinitely better than nothing. Sierra turned around; real raptors or no, she was going to live with her pack.

…right after she chased down that rabbit she just saw move.

One quick meal later, Sierra found herself staring up at the windowsill she had first leapt from. To her dismay, it was too high to jump onto, as she discovered with several failed attempts. Determined to break back into the place she had just escaped from, she looked along the wall, and soon found a lower windowsill. Even better, once she had leapt up and peered through the glass, she saw Avi sitting at some kind of machine.

Sierra chirped for help, then tapped her muzzle against the window. Avi looked her way, then turned back. An instant later, he whipped his head around again and stood up fast enough to knock his chair backwards. Avi ran over to the window, unlocked it, and pushed it open.

“Sierra, how did you get out?” he asked. Sierra ducked inside, hopped onto the floor, and trotted back to the research and testing area. Avi followed, trying to look her over. “Is that blood? Not yours, I hope.”

Paying little heed to the noises Avi made, the raptor quickly found Nevada where she had left him, grabbed him in her mouth again, and dragged him to Avi. He finally noticed the open window, closed it, scooped up Sierra and her toy, then carried her to a small basin with a water spout.

“I’m gonna have to get an actual lock now, huh,” Avi muttered as he watched Sierra splash herself clean.

Sierra responded to his sounds with a happy trill. It was settled, then: the next time she escaped, she’d have to take Avi with her.

Thought-to-speech technology that gets hacked by people who want text messages from their pets while they are at work, only to immediately regret it because their pets text them the dumbest things, and the only way to get any kind of a clear image of what's going on is texting the other pets for cross-reference.

Like you get a text from your dog going "END IS HERE DOOM IS COMING URGENT URGENT SEND TEXT G-D HAVE MERCY, HUMAN COME HOME IMMEDIATELY", (you have no idea why the text translator has decided that your dog is jewish, but that doesn't feel important enough to look into or change) and before you do, you text the cat like "what's going on?"

And the cat replies "sunshine is turned off, window is cold >:C" so okay that's a clue. You've got a monitor lizard that doesn't do much monitoring, but will reply with whatever the lizard is feeling right now if you text "?" first.

"hwrmbglhlr the earth rumbles are sexy", replies the lizard. Okay, so dog panic, no sunshine, and the lizard is sensing vibrations. Oh, there's a rain storm overhead. Fuck's sake.

“Why are non-human characters always your favourites?”

I'm obsessed with pokemon doing just. weird animal things. A chatot trying to fight itself in the mirror. Flygon being a large weird lizard. Absol getting its scythe/horn stuck in things and needing to be rescued. Holding a torchic and moving it, seeing its head do the chicken thing. Furret being an absolute menace to society and stealing your socks to nest. Mr. Mime putting barriers around its food as a form of food guarding. Ninetales sleeping with its head tucked under its tails. Zigzagoon snuffling through the trash.

For the Solstice: “Invictus”

In the dimness he woke and knew it was too late. Morning never came so late unless the world was ending.

Fortunately, he knew what to do about that.

Keep reading

(name blocked because SPOILERS tho it should be pretty easy to guess)

(spoilers for Darkeye under cut obviously)

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We need more games where you play as animals.

Regular animals.

Cyborg animals.

Alien animals.

I don’t care. Just more animals please.

[Canon: talking animals and fantasy monster (Fanfic Flamingo) Fanfic: humans! Humans everywhere!]

“As he was no longer tracking a man, Copper felt himself justified in giving tongue, and his deep bay rolled out, first in a long howl and then in short, gasping cries. Instantly the Master was by his side. Copper showed him where the line was; but the Master, instead of instantly winding the scent, went back and forth in an exasperating way until he found something to look at in the soft earth. The Master’s inability to scent a perfectly clear line, as well as his tendency to stand for a long time staring at pointless marks in the ground, was his most irritating quality, and Copper had never grown entirely reconciled to it.”

—

The Fox and the Hound by Daniel P. Mannix

How can you not love this book?

“The female Utahraptor doesn’t have a name for herself. Her brain doesn’t operate with words, not even with silent, unspoken syllables. It works with images, colorful bursts of memory that make up a dreamlike history the brain constantly updates. Every day new experiences and new associations from her senses rearrange the symbolic registry. In her own brain the raptor identifies herself with the symbols she learned as a chick: ‘me… raptor… red.’ We can call her Raptor Red, because that’s how she labels herself in her own mental imagery.”

— -Raptor Red, Robert T. Bakker

Why do the peoples draw mermaids with knee bends in their fishy tails

*raises hand* I think it depends on the Pokemon in question?

Like, if it’s a mainline-game mon of questionable sapience then FUCK NO THAT IS MADE OF DISGUSTING but a lot of the anime mons and all of the Mystery Dungeon mons are of human-level intelligence and able to give consent, so I don’t have any issues if it’s one of them? (PMD2 protagonist/PMD2 partner is cute as hell, for example, and that’s human-turned-into-a-Pokemon/sapient Pokemon)

It’s not any weirder than interspecies relationships between humans and other sci-fi/fantasy races like, I dunno, half the pairings in Mass Effect or Ruto crushing on Ocarina Link.

That said I haven’t seen the Lucario movie so I don’t know if Lucario is intelligent enough to not be squicky, so carry on.

using non-human limbs to show a character’s expression is fantastic— fur bristling to show anger, big elf ears drooping to show sadness, tails swishing to show joy— but using non-human limbs as the only way to show a character’s expression is even better. a calm, stoic facade, their anger betrayed only by bristling fur. insisting they’re fine, but their ears are drooping. pretending they don’t care for hugs, but their tail is swishing madly.

Hi! I'm trying to write a fic where the main characters, who are normally human, are now animals. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to keep them in character though, since certain things they could do before, they can't now (ie. no hands, can't do certain things humans can, etc.) I'd very much welcome any advice, since I'm close to deciding this story idea is at a dead-end. Thanks!

Is this a fic where humans are suddenly turned into animals and now trying to deal with their new forms? Or is this an AU where the cast just are animals and that’s the world that they live in all the time? I’d write those in very different ways.

If this is an animal AU, and that’s a very doable thing. Just think about animated films. Even though the characters are animals doing very animal things, they also maintain personalities that are familiar to humans. 

If it’s a case of humans being transformed into animals, then they’ll need to spend time (and probably get frustrated) figuring out how to do things in their new bodies. No opposable thumbs means they’ll need to find another way to turn a doorknob, for example. No ability to talk means that they won’t be able to utter passwords for electronic locks. 

I haven’t written this kind of fic before, so I’ll open up the floor to see who else can add thoughts here. This could be a really interesting challenge for you, anon, so I hope you don’t give up!

Humans Are Weird

To be honest, I didn’t really intend to imply humans were the only weird aliens. It was more a case of “what do we do, what are we good for”? I wound up envisioning us as the rescue dogs of the universe because we’ve got a lot of the same traits that make dogs really valuable for that.

But, for instance, an ambush predator would be much less prone to sunk cost fallacies. A pursuit predator has to be persistent because it’s much worse to leave an animal half worn out to chase another one, even one that would have been easier to start with. Whereas a leopard will come out of hiding the instant it knows it’s been seen (to avoid the obvious pun) because there’s no point sinking energy into stalking something you’ve already lost the chance to pounce on.

A eusocial species would bond even more intensely than humans, but likely more highly confined to their own relatives let alone their own species.

We’d probably all be very strange to one another.

love stories about monsters are THE BEST because the idea of conceptualizing love in a way that is not human and fundamentally cannot be human and is AN ENTIRELY SEPARATE LEVEL FROM THE HUMAN is so great. 

made better when one half of the relationship is human and suddenly we’re dealing with a) a human learning to love like a monster or b) a monster learning to translate their love into human terms and that’s

the best thing

to me.

which often goes hand in hand with MONSTER TRYING TO HUMANIZE THEMSELVES but that’s.. not necessary, don’t worry monster, you don’t need to do that. your capacity for love does not need to be whittled and softened into a human shape. it’s okay. your heart can be brutal and all consuming. you will learn to cope and you will learn to funnel it, pieces at a time, into something conceivable and measurable to the human mind. 

and i don’t strictly mean monster monsters because there’s room here for divinity (alpha and omega, first and last, holy terror OF THE HEART. apocalypses OF FEELING.) or ghosts, or non-human, non-monster outliers (superheroes, androids, idek), or even human beings who are self-made monsters and whose expression and understanding of love is two steps removed and two shades off. 

but, you know what i mean. 

love stories about monsters.

Wildstar, Character Design, Female Objectification, Sexual Dimorphism and Biology in Video Games

We need to talk about the character designs in Wildstar.

We need to talk about the character designs in all science fiction and fantasy franchises that feature non-humans.

Wildstar is a science-fiction MMO currently in beta, developed by Carbine Studios. The general thrust of Wildstar is something along the lines of Firefly, Star Wars, and Ratchet & Clank; not exactly a grimdark sci-fi thriller. The mechanical features look interesting and the art style, in and of itself, is really vivid—but what they’re doing within the style?

Well.

The NDA dropped on a bunch of Wildstar content and character creation videos are up. You can watch them all, but here I’m just going to focus on the Granok, Draken, and Mechari.

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kinda tired of “human” apparently being the endgame goal for all non-human entities. why is calling them “human” the highest praise they can receive in fiction. angels, demons, robots, aliens, etc. becoming literally human or being as close to human as possible is always considered the pinnacle of personal emotional achievement or something. it makes me uncomfortable.

why is there so much fiction that claims angels and robots cannot TRULY know what “human” experience is like until they themselves are human?? why do you think non-human entities can’t be passionate about music or art until they’re human. what part of these activities strikes anyone as exclusive to humanity in the first place. literally what the shit is that entire set of tropes and themes 

Concept: an aggressively assimilationist interstellar hive-mind that’s also completely pacifistic, so instead of devouring worlds and forcibly subsuming entire species, it sends its creepy drones around to conduct informational seminars and hand out explanatory pamphlets about why you should submit to the glory of the Swarm.

Eve figuring out how to communicate with The Autumn Man. Magic can translate language quite well, but The Autumn Man has a hard time with mimicking, so speech doesn’t come naturally to him. But poking things? Sure, he can do that.

I accept that

I love science fiction and fantasy.

I’ve always chosen science fiction and fantasy first when I had a choice about what literature I read, and growing up almost all of the characters I identified with were in some kind of speculative setting. An obvious consequence of that is identifying with a fair number of nonhumans.

Here’s the complicated part. I’ve spoken before on the dangers of writing asexual and aromantic characters as “less human” because of these orientations, and I’ve warned against using sexual and romantic relationships as shortcuts to “humanize” characters whose humanity is in doubt. But unless misleading messages come with the stories, I’m more than okay with aliens, robots, fey creatures, and monsters being written as ace or aro. In fact, I want to see it there, because those are the genres I read.

It can become a problem when, under the blanket of science fiction and fantasy, we offer ace and/or aro characters who are simply naturally ace or aro because of their nonhuman status and use that quality to distinguish themselves from humans. You see it a lot when aliens who don’t have sexual reproduction or don’t form similar social relationships will laugh at and condescend to humans over what’s assumed to be a universal urge among them. This is an issue because

a) it suggests there are no asexual or aromantic humans;

b) it implies that a person who identifies with asexuality or aromanticism believes themself superior;

c) it creates a misleading connection between sexual and/or romantic attraction and “really” being human, having emotions, being functional, and having meaningful relationships;

d) it encourages a tendency to see humans without these qualities as more alien/less human or perhaps potentially evil. (How often do you see a SF villain scoffing at “human love” and have them not only be portrayed as robotic or  hateful because they don’t do love, but also be defeated by something related to love?)

I want SF/Fantasy to continue including ace and aro characters, and I’m not offended if they’re sometimes nonhumans, even if that’s how that whole race is and even if they sometimes react with bafflement toward some humans’ relationships. (I sure do.) I will happily take that representation. I want to see perspectives I relate to, even if they come from a robot or an alien or a mystical creature. And I think, if done right, nonhuman ace and aro characters can still get those orientations on the radar for fans who may not have been looking for such things, even if they might have initially questioned and rejected the validity of human characters being ace or aro.

However, when I say “if done right,” I mean they need to avoid these tropes:

Writing robots or aliens to “really understand” humanity by learning to love/having a romantic relationship or sexual experience

Writing nonhuman creatures to “become” more human through the act of falling in love or having sex

Portraying sex, sexual attraction, love, or romantic attraction as the major defining factor of who is human

Writing sex, sexual attraction, love, or romantic attraction as the central explanation in a human character explaining to nonhumans what makes humans human

Creating situations where a character’s humanity is in doubt and it is “proved” or “disproved” through a test that incorporates sex, sexual attraction, love, or romantic attraction (e.g., “if he’s a lizard person, he won’t be able to show love! Oops he failed the test, we found him out!”)

Assigning any nonhumans a lack of understanding about this specific aspect of so-called human relationships and associating this with innocence, superiority complexes, or evil

Having aliens or other nonhumans able to engage in or enjoy virtually every other human experience EXCEPT love or sex, which is on some pedestal they just can’t reach or comprehend

Inventing nonhuman societies that pair-bond or mate in very similar ways to “typical” humans, but having their ways portrayed as more hygienic or less messy than humans’, yet have them still somehow baffled by minor differences in how humans do it

Having alien societies that are as diverse as human societies in most ways EXCEPT that they have only One Way of mating/dating/reproducing, and humans’ heterosexual two-person pairing is presented as the “human” equivalent that they find disgusting

Having nonhumans all be gay, all be polyamorous, or all be asexual, but “learn” from humans that monogamous heterosexuality both exists and is better

Creating characters in the nonhuman world that don’t have physical sex/gender or only have one sex/gender, and never experience love or romantic relationships–portrayed as a Direct Consequence of their gender situation (while having an ace and aro sexless species is fine, just don’t portray it as if lol obvi the reason they wouldn’t have relationships is they don’t have boys and girls lol)

Having nonhuman characters fall in love with human characters and having the experience attached to a moral of This Is What Life Is Supposed To Be About

Having a nonhuman defeated because they Don’t Have Love (and therefore cannot comprehend the deepest and most strength-inspiring emotion in the universe, which can always be defeated by a protagonist who Has Love)

So, while it’s sometimes aggravating to have to find representation in nonhuman characters whose aro or ace status is portrayed as integral to their nonhumanness, I would rather have that than not see my orientations in SF at all. I have also seen plenty of aliens whose romantic and sexual habits are similar to non-ace and non-aro humans’ without the story suggesting those elements of their lives are uniquely human, so I’d like to see some ace/aro humans and nonhumans who just happen to be so. It isn’t automatically insulting to our orientations if a nonhuman character is ace/aro, but I’d like authors to think about how they’re portraying those qualities and whether they are sending negative messages about real ace/aro people through their inclusion in fiction. I’d also like to ask authors to seriously consider why they’re making the choice to attach those qualities to their nonhumans, and if “to make them distinct from humans” and “to make them more alien” and “to make them seem oblivious or innocent or empty or robotic” comes up, do some serious questioning and at least consider including counterexamples.

You can actually move away from and avoid cementing negative messages much more easily if there is more than one ace/aro character in your story. Maybe one of your nonhumans is just like that and you don’t want to change them? Well, great. But maybe have another character from that race, or a human, also be ace or aro and not be like that, or have the nonhuman character say or do something that confirms ace and aro status aren’t uniquely alien.

I say all this because I DO NOT WANT people thinking nonhuman characters can’t have sexual diversity, up to and including asexuality and aromanticism. I want to see them! I just don’t want to feel like my orientations are considered science fiction themselves, or that the only place I can see people like me are in books about things that aren’t possible or are definitively inhuman.