This Is How You Lose the Time War
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | This Is How You Lose the Time War |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Amal El-Mohtar (author), Max Gladstone (author) |
| Date(s): | 2019 |
| Medium: | Novella, epistolary |
| Country of Origin: | |
| External Links: | Simon & Schuster Page |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This Is How You Lose the Time War is a 2019 science fiction novella featuring a canon f/f relationship. In 2020, it won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards for Best Novella.
Canon
The novella focuses on a burgeoning relationship between two time traveling spies, named Red and Blue. Red comes from a highly technological society and Blue from a garden that forms one merged consciousness. They are opponents, trying to edit the other society out of the timeline; however, they start sharing a series of competitive letters out of boredom, which eventually blossoms into something more.
Notably, the novella is mostly epistolary and features very poetic language.
Fandom
So far, the fandom is very small, with only a handful of fanworks on AO3 or elsewhere. The fandom overwhelmingly focuses on the canon relationship between Red and Blue.
Quotes from the book are sometimes included in edits for other fandoms or juxtaposed against quotes from other works - for example, an edit linking quotes from The Song of Achilles, Harrow the Ninth, and This is How You Lose the Time War [1] or superimposing quotes from the book on images or gifs related to other pairings such as Clexa[2] or Catradora[3].
The Bigolas Dickolas Incident
Comparisons
Some fans have compared the book with another series known for its time-travelling shenanigans, the obscure Faction Paradox.
[scribblesscript]
I know there's a good chance the authors of This is How You Lose the Time War have never read a Faction Paradox story in their lives but if you told me they had copies of The Book of the War on their shelves to consult periodically throughout writing I'd say "yeah checks out"[4]
Co-author of the book Amal El-Mohtar is herself a Doctor Who fan, having contributed to non-fiction books such as Queers Dig Time Lords and Chicks Unravel Time, though it is unknown whether she is aware of FP.
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfiction
- This is how you lose an office feud by ConvenientAlias
- THIS IS HOW YOU SURVIVE THE COHABITATIONAL BLISS THAT FOLLOWS AFTER YOU WIN/LOSE THE TIME WAR by ScottLynch78
Fanart
- Red & Blue dancing by layaart
- another less stylised blue and red by layaart
- this is how we win by kevplummer
Edits
- “I would have fought you forever. I would have wrestled you through time. I would have turned you, and been turned.” ― Amal El-Mohtar by elloette
- @projectliterature event 02 : underappreciated — this is how you lose the time war, amal el-mohtar & max gladstone by noahczreny
- pride month » this is how you lose the time war by sunchosens
- mission 01: pride month by filippakosta
- untitled edit by parhelias
- Love Is in the Air event: This Is How You Lose the Time War by ladyeowyn
Archives & Fannish Links
References
- ^ post by scorpia on Tumblr, Aug 25 2020 (accessed Feb 26 2021)
- ^ untitled gifset, Archived version by thatsway-haught, Oct 15 2020 (accessed Feb 26 2021)
- ^ untitled gifset, Archived version by adoorgayskull, Aug 14 2020 (accessed Feb 26 2021)
- ^ [1]