An Ill-Fated Girl Just Happens to Meet an Ill-Fated Man in F&SF My story An Ill-Fated Girl Just Happens to Meet an Ill-Fated Man is in the May/June issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Unfortunately I can’t find a link to buy the individual issue, but it should be available at newstands throughout the United States, as well as through subscription services on Weightless Books and Amazon.
(First time attempting to comment here; let's see how it works!)
The other thing about "as you know, Bob" is that it's often not just something *one* character says; it's a whole conversation. “—He pissed off Canada! Canada, the country right to the north of us!” gets followed by "yes, and Canadians are usually known for being easy-going, to the point where we joke about it" or something equally alien to how people usually talk.
But the trick for *that* (well, one trick) is to get the characters to argue. You can get away with all kinds of exposition if the people involved disagree on the topic, since they have good reason to remind each other of details or bring something up only to dismiss it a moment later.
"An Ill-Fated Girl Just Happens to Meet an Ill-Fated Man" in F&SF, some award things
(First time attempting to comment here; let's see how it works!)
The other thing about "as you know, Bob" is that it's often not just something *one* character says; it's a whole conversation. “—He pissed off Canada! Canada, the country right to the north of us!” gets followed by "yes, and Canadians are usually known for being easy-going, to the point where we joke about it" or something equally alien to how people usually talk.
But the trick for *that* (well, one trick) is to get the characters to argue. You can get away with all kinds of exposition if the people involved disagree on the topic, since they have good reason to remind each other of details or bring something up only to dismiss it a moment later.