It may just be my impression, but usually when a story is set in a dystopian setting, the dystopia is played straight. However, when the characters encounter or start off in a utopian setting, they almost always will end up realizing that the utopia is actually a mirage, and in ...

On Utopias
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 26, 2025Quackcast 734 - When love turns to hate
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, April 8, 2025 LISTEN on our player!
Or Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com.au/podcasts/24f85853-5d63-44ac-885f-da23db0a53ad/the-quackcast
When love turns to hate… It's a common trope in fiction: partners split up and their once loving relationship turns to one of bitter acrimony! We see hate turning to love frequently too, that ...
Collective Lies about the Past
Gunwallace at 12:00AM, April 3, 2025
If you are setting a story in the past it can often be hard to get everything from the little things to the big picture right, especially if it's a period you haven't lived through yourself. Even then, your memory can play tricks on you.
It doesn't ...
Dungeons & Dragons as therapy
Gunwallace at 12:00AM, March 20, 2025
There was a recent article in the Guardian about how playing Dungeons and Dragons had helped siblings bond and cope with the death of their father. It got me thinking about the role that role-playing has played (now there's a phrase) in my own life.
For me role-playing began ...
The Tuesday Funnies
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, March 17, 2025
Photo: “A Page of the Tuesday Funnies Used to Wrap a Mason Jar at the Thrift Store”. The San Diego Union-Tribune. (February 2025)
Gleaning for vintage supplies at the local thrift store, I made out with an assortment of cream coloured typewriter papers weathered by age from card stock cotton ...
Nature As Antagonist
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 22, 2025
There is nothing more humbling against human hubris than Nature herself.
Even at humanity's peak expansion, technology, sophistication, education, or intelligence, all it takes for its eradication is for the earth to sneeze in just the right way.
Nature cannot be beaten or tamed. It can only be appeased ...
Announcing that Grenadine and THE LUNCHERS is now on The Duck!!
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Feb. 17, 2025
Photo: “#1 Getting Off On The Wrong Foot!”. Grenadine and THE LUNCHERS created by Arspitzer. (February 2025)
Arspitzer writes:
“Hi,
I'd like to announce that my new webcomic Grenadine and THE LUNCHERS that the first strip is now on The Duck!
Here's a link to it:
https://www ...
Dude in Distress Catapults to 300th Comic Strip Milestone!!
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Feb. 10, 2025
Photo: “Dude in Distress Strip 300”. Dude in Distress created by EssayBee. (February 2025)
EssayBee writes:
“Hi,
Just wanted to announce that last Wednesday (February 5th), Dude in Distress published its 300th story strip.”
Dude in Distress Comic Link
https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Dude_in_Distress/
From the “Dude in Distress Strip ...
Character Deep Dive: Vladimir Chekhov
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 28, 2024
It’s time for another Character Deep Dive, this within the amazing political war thriller The Second Crimean War by the awesome and proliferate The Doodler!
The Second Crimean War is an alternate history webcomic, of a different 1995 where, after the collapse of the USSR, the emerging, independent Ukraine ...
And Now Let's Party Like It's 1994!
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 26, 2024
Greetings! I hope you've all had an enjoyable holiday season so far, no matter what you're celebrating and regardless of actual ‘holidays’ are part of it for you.
The end of the year is still about a week away, but this will be my last regular Newspost of ...