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ARCANE + ALIASES  (insp)

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If The Raven Cycle tv series doesn’t take a page out of SKAM’s playbook and every time Ronan Lynch exits a car the world goes into slow motion and aggressive bagpipe music plays then honestly….what is the Point™ I ask u

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Annabeth: Percy was never very good at the flirting thing.

Percy: Wha-Wha...? What are you talking about? It worked with you.

Annabeth: Oh, you know what? No, you're right. We met, you flirted, and then BAM! Four years later you had me.

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Zia Rashid

In the Italian translations of The Kane Chronicles, Zia is called Ziah, because without an H it means "Aunt". It's stupid but it makes me laugh every time.

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wait a minute…

OH MY GODSSSSS

OMGS

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You know what I love most about @rrriordan? When he announces a release date for his next book, he freaking respects it.

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My undersized baby mexican little precious joy who just loves to call his girlfriend "mamacita"

How I picture all the demigods & magicians meeting

Like I can see the MCGA gang meeting the seven and the Egyptians in some quest and the Egyptians introduce Blitz and Bes since they´re both dwarves, and then everyone looks at the Greeks, like expecting them to bring forwards their own dwarf and the seven slowly all turn to Leo who’s like

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I just like that the Percy Jackson fandom is like the hufflepuff of fandoms:

People who don’t know about it think it’s silly 

We care a lot about diversity 

It’s lowkey gigantic, but feels small

Everyone from all the other fandoms is welcome 

Full of really nice and hilarious people 

We’re just happy to be included tbh

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Me: Percy needs to rest we don’t have to read about him in every book

Also me: I want to see him where is he where is my blue boy

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HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

Ways to resolve a love triangle:

- kill one - make two of them fall out of love with each other - turn one evil - give one a “higher destiny” - merge them iNTo onE pErsoN I’M LOOKING AT YOU RICK RIORDAN

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Rick Riordan, ladies, gentlemen, and whatever you feel you are.

Rick Riordan won a Stonewall award today

for his second Magnus Chase book, due to the inclusion of the character Alex Fierro who is gender fluid. This was the speech he gave, and it really distills why I love this author and his works so much, and why I will always recommend his works to anyone and everyone.

“Thank you for inviting me here today. As I told the Stonewall Award Committee, this is an honor both humbling and unexpected.

So, what is an old cis straight white male doing up here? Where did I get the nerve to write Alex Fierro, a transgender, gender fluid child of Loki in The Hammer of Thor, and why should I get cookies for that?

These are all fair and valid questions, which I have been asking myself a lot.

I think, to support young LGBTQ readers, the most important thing publishing can do is to publish and promote more stories by LGBTQ authors, authentic experiences by authentic voices. We have to keep pushing for this. The Stonewall committee’s work is a critical part of that effort. I can only accept the Stonewall Award in the sense that I accept a call to action – firstly, to do more myself to read and promote books by LGBTQ authors.

But also, it’s a call to do better in my own writing. As one of my genderqueer readers told me recently, “Hey, thanks for Alex. You didn’t do a terrible job!” I thought: Yes! Not doing a terrible job was my goal!

As important as it is to offer authentic voices and empower authors and role models from within LGBTQ community, it’s is also important that LGBTQ kids see themselves reflected and valued in the larger world of mass media, including my books. I know this because my non-heteronormative readers tell me so. They actively lobby to see characters like themselves in my books. They like the universe I’ve created. They want to be part of it. They deserve that opportunity. It’s important that I, as a mainstream author, say, “I see you. You matter. Your life experience may not be like mine, but it is no less valid and no less real. I will do whatever I can to understand and accurately include you in my stories, in my world. I will not erase you.”

People all over the political spectrum often ask me, “Why can’t you just stay silent on these issues? Just don’t include LGBTQ material and everybody will be happy.” This assumes that silence is the natural neutral position. But silence is not neutral. It’s an active choice. Silence is great when you are listening. Silence is not so great when you are using it to ignore or exclude.

But that’s all macro, ‘big picture’ stuff. Yes, I think the principles are important. Yes, in the abstract, I feel an obligation to write the world as I see it: beautiful because of its variations. Where I can’t draw on personal experience, I listen, I read a lot – in particular I want to credit Beyond Magenta and Gender Outlaws for helping me understand more about the perspective of my character Alex Fierro – and I trust that much of the human experience is universal. You can’t go too far wrong if you use empathy as your lens. But the reason I wrote Alex Fierro, or Nico di Angelo, or any of my characters, is much more personal.

I was a teacher for many years, in public and private school, California and Texas. During those years, I taught all kinds of kids. I want them all to know that I see them. They matter. I write characters to honor my students, and to make up for what I wished I could have done for them in the classroom.

I think about my former student Adrian (a pseudonym), back in the 90s in San Francisco. Adrian used the pronouns he and him, so I will call him that, but I suspect Adrian might have had more freedom and more options as to how he self-identified in school were he growing up today. His peers, his teachers, his family all understood that Adrian was female, despite his birth designation. Since kindergarten, he had self-selected to be among the girls – socially, athletically, academically. He was one of our girls. And although he got support and acceptance at the school, I don’t know that I helped him as much as I could, or that I tried to understand his needs and his journey. At that time in my life, I didn’t have the experience, the vocabulary, or frankly the emotional capacity to have that conversation. When we broke into social skills groups, for instance, boys apart from girls, he came into my group with the boys, I think because he felt it was required, but I feel like I missed the opportunity to sit with him and ask him what he wanted. And to assure him it was okay, whichever choice he made. I learned more from Adrian than I taught him. Twenty years later, Alex Fierro is for Adrian.

I think about Jane (pseudonym), another one of my students who was a straight cis-female with two fantastic moms. Again, for LGBTQ families, San Francisco was a pretty good place to live in the 90s, but as we know, prejudice has no geographical border. You cannot build a wall high enough to keep it out. I know Jane got flack about her family. I did what I could to support her, but I don’t think I did enough. I remember the day Jane’s drama class was happening in my classroom. The teacher was new – our first African American male teacher, which we were all really excited about – and this was only his third week. I was sitting at my desk, grading papers, while the teacher did a free association exercise. One of his examples was ‘fruit – gay.’ I think he did it because he thought it would be funny to middle schoolers. After the class, I asked to see the teacher one on one. I asked him to be aware of what he was saying and how that might be hurtful. I know. Me, a white guy, lecturing this Black teacher about hurtful words. He got defensive and quit, because he said he could not promise to not use that language again. At the time, I felt like I needed to do something, to stand up especially for Jane and her family. But did I make things better handling it as I did? I think I missed an opportunity to open a dialogue about how different people experience hurtful labels. Emmie and Josephine and their daughter Georgina, the family I introduce in The Dark Prophecy, are for Jane.

I think about Amy, and Mark, and Nicholas … All former students who have come out as gay since I taught them in middle school. All have gone on to have successful careers and happy families. When I taught them, I knew they were different. Their struggles were greater, their perspectives more divergent than some of my other students. I tried to provide a safe space for them, to model respect, but in retrospect I don’t think I supported them as well as I could have, or reached out as much as they might have needed. I was too busy preparing lessons on Shakespeare or adjectives, and not focusing enough on my students’ emotional health. Adjectives were a lot easier for me to reconcile than feelings. Would they have felt comfortable coming out earlier than college or high school if they had found more support in middle school? Would they have wanted to? I don’t know. But I don’t think they felt it was a safe option, which leaves me thinking that I did not do enough for them at that critical middle school time. I do not want any kid to feel alone, invisible, misunderstood. Nico di Angelo is for Amy, and Mark and Nicholas.

I am trying to do more. Percy Jackson started as a way to empower kids, in particular my son, who had learning differences. As my platform grew, I felt obliged to use it to empower all kids who are struggling through middle school for whatever reason. I don’t always do enough. I don’t always get it right. Good intentions are wonderful things, but at the end of a manuscript, the text has to stand on its own. What I meant ceases to matter. Kids just see what I wrote. But I have to keep trying. My kids are counting on me.

So thank you, above all, to my former students who taught me. Alex Fierro is for you.

To you, I pledge myself to do better – to apologize when I screw up, to learn from my mistakes, to be there for LGBTQ youth and make sure they know that in my books, they are included. They matter. I am going to stop talking now, but I promise you I won’t stop listening.”

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My babies.

My second day of DigInktober. (??) 

See if I can keep this up all month.

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My heart breaking, pt. 188273747381

The more that I see the less that I know for sure

(Mark and Kieran! I really drew the picture just for the sake of them holding hands on the staff.)

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THIS GAVE ME THE THOUSANDTH HEART ATTACK WHILE READING THIS BOOK

Hey Y’all! Exclusive free #LORDOFSHADOWS poster of a scene from Lord of Shadows by @CassandraJP @cassiejp at #YAllFest! Visit the @RivetedLit booth! #yallfest #lordofshadows #cassandraclare THE DARK ARTIFICES: book two!

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This was a funny scene, but it broke my heart.

Lord of Shadows snippet: “The shadows were lengthening by the time Julian and Emma fin ished their lunch. Julian bought some food and supplies at a small grocer’s shop, while Emma darted next door to pick up pajamas and t-shirts at a small New Age shop that sold tarot cards and crystal gnomes. When she emerged, she was grinning. She produced a blue and purple t-shirt emblazoned with a smiling unicorn for Jules, who stared at it in horror. She tucked it into his pack carefully before they started across the town to find the beginning of the path to the coast.” LORD OF SHADOWS 5/23/17

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I just finished Lord of Shadows. No spoilers. BUT IF THAT'S WHO I THINK IT IS IT'S GONNA GET FREAKIN BETTER

Cassandra Jean sketched a (non-spoiler) scene from Lord of Shadows. ONE MORE DAY TO LOS! #loscountdown #tda #lordofshadows

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I love how the fandom complains about Percy being in every new book Rick writes but we still read the book to find out how Percy is doing. our hearts melt when we see his name in a sentence or when someone mentions him. Percy is just an amazing character that we all love and never want to stop reading about. We all complain but deep down we’re glad Rick hasn’t ended Percy’s story