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Christine

@klaxoncomms.com

3.5K followers 1.3K following 9.7K posts

Posts a lot of cat pictures. Former scholar of medieval Islamic history who now writes and podcasts about SciFi and Fantasy at Hugo History: https://klaxoncomms.com/hugo-history/ Queer/Ace/ADHD. #Vancouver 🇨🇦

klaxoncomms.com

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 13h

I think it’s cool that he was like ‘No, sculpt me as I am! Don’t present me as the same idealized form that we’ve had for pharaohs for 2000 years!’

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 13h

Okay -- that makes sense. I feel like I haven't seen that much ancient Egyptian art that has babies in it. Mostly just pharaohs killing people and also gods doin' stuff. Thanks!

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 14h

I do know that it's Amarna-period art, so the portrayal of the pharaoh is very different from standard Egyptian art. But...those babies, man.

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 14h

Serious history/art history question 🗃️: Why do the babies in this stele of Akhenaten and his family look so weird? Like, that is in no way what babies look like. Not even a little.

Stone carving of Akhenaten, his wife Nefertitie, and their three daughters. The light of the Aten shines down upon them. The pharaoh and his queen are seated. Akhenaten is holding and kissing a baby. The other two climb over Nefertiti. The babies look like aliens.

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 17h

It’s about 6 blocks of fairly tightly packed people. You can definitely stay on the sides tho.

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 17h

Not sure if this gives you a clear sense. There are a lot of people at the start but it very quickly spreads out.

Lots of people at the start of the sun run

Selfie out a white lady with two friends at the start of the sun run.

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 22h

A colleague has told me that Lathe of Heaven is a must in this category. Any more suggestions?

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 22h

I don't talk about this in the review, but Barry definitely knows her kayaking. If you liked We Ride Upon Sticks because Barry nailed the vibe of a 90s field hockey team, she does the same here with kayaking.

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 22h

My review of Quan Barry's The Unveiling. It features a group on a high-end kayaking trip in the Antarctic, which was interesting for me, since I took a kayaking trip in the Arctic this year.

Ancillary Review of Books @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org · 23h

Discomfort and Unreliability In Antarctica: @klaxoncomms.com reviews Quan Barry's THE UNVEILING, out now from @groveatlantic.bsky.social!

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/10/14/d...

Discomfort and Unreliability In Antarctica: Review of Quan Barry’s The Unveiling

Christine D. Baker Under Review:Under Review: The Unveiling. Quan Barry. Grove, October 2025. Quan Barry’s The Unveiling is not a book with easy answers. Not even to basic questions like “Wait, wha…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

Thank you!

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

Nice!

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

Moss narrator and a bog body: I’m in!

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

Inspired by V’s question: what are the mid-20thc scifi that seem the most concerned about the power of psychiatry to make suerhumans/mind reading? Bester’s Demolished Man; Heinlein’s Double Star; Sturgeon’s More Than Human — all have aspects of it. Got more reccs on this theme from the 50s and 60s?

Vanessa is the name of the Doctor! @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 1d

Q for the sci-fi fans - what would say are the biggest Malthusian-themed mid-20thc works (e.g. on overpopulation). As non-fan I’d default to Logan’s Run & Soylent Green but sure I’m missing good stuff. Pref film but books OK (both =perfect). 1945-1980. #HistSTM

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

Stand on Zanzibar was a Hugo winner. (I haven’t gotten to that one yet.)

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

Moss narrator!?

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

I’ll be at the Vancouver event!

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

I think we're going to do a little paddle near Vancouver on Saturday and I will try to practice my roll, so I'll def need the drysuit! (I'm only just beginning to learn to roll.)

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

We mostly do sea kayaking -- we're in Vancouver close to the ocean. This was unusually inland for us. The water was definitely warmer than the air temp -- probably 15C/59F? The ocean temp today is closer to 12C/54F, so noticeably colder.

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Reposted by Christine

ashley scarebanks 💀🕯️ @ziibiing.com · 1d

i’ve gotten to give out 17 $50 venmo “buy yourself a bag of grocery” gifts to Indigenous folks who could use it today

$50 can really make someones day

want to help do more?

OMG YOU ARE THE BEST
THANK YOU SMMMM
I NEEDED FOOD MONEY UGH
YOURE AN ANGEL

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

Almost all of us (we were in a group of 12) were pretty snug in our drysuits, so not too bothered by the rain.

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

There were some fishing boats, but the weather was cold and drizzly, so not too many.

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

I mean, The Demolished Man is interesting and does some cool stuff, but also has some deeply creepy shit in it. Im currently doing a podcast where I'm reading/discussing all the Hugo winners in order. Part of the conversation is assessing how things have held up/'warnings for 21st century readers'.

Hugo History: Episode 1 - The Demolished Man

Join us as we discuss the first ever book to win a Hugo Award: Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man: Host: Christine D. Baker, a historian who lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find her at @klaxonco...

sites.libsyn.com

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Reposted by Christine

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 1d

Most "classics" are boring as fuck to a modern reader in no small part because the context of the story is not understood by them and so many of the allusions and "inside jokes" known to then-contemporary readers have been lost in time and in translation

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

Thirded.

Christine @klaxoncomms.com · 1d

Yeah, I just went and got London: The Biography as an audiobook. (Pagan Britain doesn't seem to have audio.)