Bee-kinden by David Mumford

There are small city-states of Bee-kinden in surprisingly many places. They are a quiet, industrious people who do their best not to trouble their neighbours. Bees work tirelessly for Spider overlords in the south, and cling to the inhospitable western coast. Most of all, however, Bee-kinden are slaves of the Empire. They are an Apt people, […]

Buzz Buzz

Possibly the oddest Shakespeare quote, out of context. Well, I did claim this to be Bee month, and it appears the Daily Mash agrees with me, with this article. The final paragraph about bees and wasps seems particularly appropriate. For the curious, this is a send up of a genuine news study, reported here. Viva insect superiority!

A Devonian Anomalocarid!

Because, every so often, I feel I should show that my geekery goes beyond RPGs or fantasy literature. There are plenty of links on this, within the somewhat clannish corridors of palaeontology, but I choose for reference this one. To declare, in tones of astonished wonder, "a Devonian anomalocarid!" is unlikely to prompt any great response, apart perhaps […]

Busy, busy

Somewhat disjointed owing to the fact that I'm knee deep in the Blood of the Mantis (or at least its edits) at the moment, but nonetheless. This month is nominally National Bee-kinden month, and I have some more art from the talented David Mumford here.  However, as a very special treat, the story this month is the […]

The Scent of Tears, by Keris McDonald

This is a première for the Shadows of the Apt site: the very first guest writer's story. This month I give to you The Scent of Tears by Keris McDonald, who writes: "Keris McDonald is an established genre writer with 5 books to her name … Just not in this genre. And not her real-life name either, actually. She was […]

The Real and Ancient Game, part II: Less ancient, more real

So… I'm standing in a block of perhaps twenty men and women forming a compact fist at the centre of the battle-line. Around us, our fellow countrymen make the numbers up to a couple of hundred, arrayed behind and to either side of us with an order that few of our allies can match. The front rank are […]