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Cassie Cin is starting now!!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3343776113?pwd=NVFHS3hVNnhxdUpvMjRzTHFLYmY0QT09

Meeting ID: 334 377 6113

Passcode: cassiep

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Cassie Con 2020!

Welcome to Cassie Con 2020: Virtual Edition! Normally, we just shove all of our events into one weekend in October, but we thought we'd do things different this year.  Since we're virtual we decided to do events every weekend in October! We have varied the times of events to help with time zone shenanigans. All times will be listed in CDT.

Anyone is welcome to join us and we do hope to see some new faces this year. All of our events will take place on Zoom.  Details for each panel's Zoom meeting will be found in that panel's Facebook event (https://www.facebook.com/cassiepalmercon/). All panels will be recorded, but they many not all make it to our YouTube channel.  

Zoom is free and can be used on computers, laptops, and mobile devices. The software can be found here: https://zoom.us/ If you're new to Zoom you can find some info and how to's here! Calling in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AGsLQwjr0o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo1l6Ijz_wg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIkCmbvAHQQ

Our schedule should be posted shortly.  We can't wait to see you!

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Working on Cassie Con, and we are now ready to start scheduling. This link will help us find the most common times for availability. Please fill it out! https://www.when2meet.com/?9539762-OP6lh

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Cassie Con Survey

Alright friends! Here’s your chance to request what you want to see from us, and then also to get involved! 

https://forms.gle/387dwXPN7GKrzLhd9

This survey will close at the end of the month, and anyone who fills out the second part will be contacted afterwards. 

You are also welcome to come hang out with us on discord! 

https://discord.gg/5B79pbk

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Cassie Con Update!

Cassie Con is still going to happen!

While we are still working out all the details, know that it will be completely virtual and happening in October.

That said,  What kind of panels or activities would you like to see from Cassie con? Discussions, games, etc? 

All suggestions are welcome. Please keep an eye on this space for more updates soon!

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Shatter the Earth

If you’ve finished Shatter the Earth, what did you think?  Feel free to use spoiler cuts if needed.

Personally, I liked this one better than Brave the Tempest, if felt more concise and less chaotic. The Cassie/Pritkin dynamics were awesome. They seem to be getting back to their CtD/HtM type dynamics. The growth you see in several characters was great too. I’m looking forward to see where things are headed.

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Shatter the Earth Prep

I’m doing a completely informal backward re-read starting with Brave the Tempest.  Who’s with me? Tag #bwrr

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More art today, is it my birthday?? I Iove this!

An attempt at drawing after, oh, a decade?

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Beautiful!

Made this the other day.

#cassiepalmerseries #karenchance #cassiepalmer #fanart #goodreads #cursethedawn

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Cassie.

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I don't think anything he did to her deserves death. I also don't think Sal deserved death either when she had no choice. But from Cassie's viewpoint Tomas was being punished for what he did for her, that's why she wanted to be asked/consulted. She wasn't considering what he did in the larger scheme of things, just his crimes against her. From the senates, he betrayed them to their enemies and thus deserves death.

Claimed by Shadow Reread 2019

TINTTT

I’d forgotten that demons and vampires are essentially competing predators. I wonder how that works with, say, Casanova. Does he need double the partners? Do Rian and he take turns feeding? I assume one human can’t source them both, unless that human is merely a snack-sized morsel for them both? And how will that work with the demon-vamp hybrids we’ve seen? What type of life energy will the demons feed on, and will that conflict with vampires?

Is that…. Caleb? I hate to be that person that’s like, I spotted the AA man, it must be Caleb! But he was a prominent pain in the backside with the kids, and that started…. book three? book four? I think it would be neat if he showed up first as nameless henchman-type figure, and then KC decided to develop him further.

I just realized that the magic suits of armor were a great predecessor to the concept of the Allu.

Will Cassie ever call in that favor from Chavez? Or does the fact that Dracula dies negate it? OR maybe HE dies in the Dory side of this ‘verse. I’ll need to get on that.

….If the chameleon is always hiding when it’s on Cassie, why is it visible on Mac? 

And another clue that this whole thing was set into motion roughly six months ago. That’s when they guestimate Agnes started getting poisoned.

Also, something that has bugged me for literal YEARS. If clairvoyants have the potential to rise above all mages into the position of Pythia, why are they considered “the dregs of the magical world”? Makes more sense to me to treat them with some sort of respect. But I guess that only happens for the Circle-selected initiates that can scratch the Circle’s back.

“I really hoped the side effects from encountering incubi were going to wear off soon.” *snerk* Not likely in the current company you’re keeping, Cassie.

Interesting, so the magical tattoos imprinted on auras is a Fey thing. Think this will make a comeback now that we’re venturing into Faerie?

Knowing what’s coming ahead for them, I am delighted every time I read how horrified Cassie and Pritkin are that they’re attracted to one another.

Who is the mage that cast the geis in the first place? Mac is absolutely certain that only mages with low ability work for vampires, and they wouldn’t be skilled enough to pull off this spellwork. So is that typical Silver Circle arrogance, or was Mac on to something here?

In regards to Mac asking if Cassie is ever tempted to go back and change things, particularly her parents’ death: “Besides, I thought the idea was for me to help guard the timeline, not to interfere with it myself. I could end up changing something vital and possibly make things even worse.” It never hit me until just now, how absolutely vital that instinct is to the plot. If she’d gone back to save them, they wouldn’t be available to anchor the ouroboros, and things would have gone to hell in a handbasket long before now.

This is a good reminder that Cassie may shy away from being the HBIC now, but once upon a time, she dreamed of being the knight in shining armor. Or the plucky apprentice to a wizard. Why not both?

WHY do they need Cassie’s permission to execute Tomas? I get stuck on this all the time. ‘Vamps believe in ending problems permanently.’ I don’t know, maybe someone that sides with the enemy trying to bring you down with no regards to propriety or set rules would be considered an enemy? Maybe even a PROBLEM? Is she going to interfere with every punishment the Senate doles out, or just the ones that affect people she cares for? Like, maybe there’s a professional courtesy here, maybe, but only a few pages later she’s talking about how mages and weres don’t interfere in vamp affairs and vice versa and…. I don’t know where I’m going with this, but I guess I feel pretty strongly about people using their office to benefit people related to them. They shouldn’t get out of being punished for a crime just because you don’t want to see them punished. Boy, watch me rant about this bs when watching one of those crime procedurals and I see a cop let the perp go or destroy evidence because they don’t want to see their family do time for fucking MURDER.

Continuing on the theme of things that disturb me: Cassie deciding she’s definitely, no doubts about it, in love with Mircea when she KNOWS she’s under a spell known to amplify feelings. 

Also, maybe the doubling effects of the geis should be a lesson to the vamps NOT to lay ancient spells known to bind the spellee to the speller on someone who can time-travel? Or on someone they want to gain that ability? Because she did! And their machinations backfired on them! And that’s their fault, not hers! Consequences, not intentions, and all that rot. But I guess vampires are immune to consequences when the other party is non-vampire, hmm??? Shoddy double standards.

Wait a second….. Vamps don’t hear their masters in Faerie! Will this come into play during the vamp/demon invasion that’s coming? Masters can’t force possession so those possessed are willing in that aspect, but it’s all the ‘expendable’ ones being voluntold to sign up, so…. Maybe some will want to stay in Faerie? Or they’ll take the opportunity while they’re free from their masters to ask Cassie to do what happened to Jules?

I still cry when Mac’s wards get used. Odd. I don’t cry when he dies. But his wards disappearing feels like his final death. That’s something I really wanted to confirm while I’m at work.

And then more waterworks when she finds the chameleon. I’m a soggy mess now. 

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Brave the tempest/siren's song graphic meme

--5 Characters

--7 Chapters

--3 Locations

--10 Quotes

No specific dates or deadline. Tag it with bttgm or ssgm please!

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Cassie Con 2019 event schedule!

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Touch the Dark Reread 2019

Kristina, you ask, did you really wait until 3 weeks before CassieCon to start your reread?

And I answer yes, because of reasons. Valid reasons. There’s this trivia quiz that I bombed last year that was filled with “easy” questions, and the Quiz Master has flat-out said that they’d be “more difficult” this time around. What? Procrastination? I sailed passed soft deadlines and now I’m reading because of a hard deadline? I have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s for the quiz.

Last time around, I focused on a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the book. But let’s be honest; I don’t really have time for that this time. So, the plan is “Things I Noticed This Time Through (TINTTT)” (I need better acronyms)

TtD TINTTT

Rasputin wanted Mei Ling’s spot on the Senate. For prestige? Or so he would have an inside position when it came time to bring the gods back? Mei Ling was “new to the position” when Cassie was about seven, so…. How long ago was he passed over? How long ago did this particular alliance and plot begin? Myra was “kidnapped” more than six months before the start of the book, and Rasputin started killing Senate members six months ago, so at least that long. Were the sneaky plots ironed out by then, or is that how long Rasputin could hold onto his pride before seeking revenge?

Also, I missed it two times now. But Rasputin used to be Tony’s business partner. I’ve been trying to figure out how Tony got dragged/thrust himself into this mess.

Random aside - it’s never come up before really, but Cassie doesn’t shake people’s hands. In fact, it sounds like she doesn’t touch people really at all until she gets to know them a bit, and she tries not to do that much in case she needs to cut and run. That’s…. a really lonely life. She’s probably pretty touch-starved.

Another thing I keep coming back to on my reread is Cassie’s absolutely crazy plan to deal with Tony. Like, it’s smart, don’t get me wrong. She can’t kill him herself, so she arranges for him to get taken down by humans so that the Senate will stake him before he can either… what, bust himself out or tweak people’s curiosity with the medical exam? But she spent like 3 pages talking about how seriously the Senate takes the secrecy thing, so I can’t help but feel that she would get some fallout from that. Did she just not care in her quest for revenge, or was she so secure in her I’m-a-nobody position that she didn’t think the Senate would come after her too?

This book exposes her weaknesses a lot. She wants a person who does the guns and knives thing because she can’t. She gets caught by spells and wards and can’t get around them. She needs a spellcaster. She needs a war-mage. She needs a Pritkin. 

I am…. not a fan of Cassie being outside the time travel loop. It’s easier to keep straight when she’s the one doing the traveling, not the bystander caught up in the time-traveling wake. Gotta figure out this Francoise and Radella mess all over again. /sad face/

And man, it didn’t take them long to slap a tracker spell on her, did it. She thinks it’s a ward and doesn’t find out the truth until the fourth book, but I’m on to you here.

Also, I’m impressed by Pritkin handling both a shotgun and a pistol simultaneously. I don’t have irl experience, but i did recently pick up a FPS game with a shotgun, and the recoil on that thing, even using two hands with a person with enhanced strength, is a bitch.

It’s so nonchalantly mentioned here that I can’t help but feel suspicious: a theory that the earth generates a magical field much like its gravitational field, and that it might be tappable someday. It mimics something mentioned in later books too, about mages trying to tap the energy generated by ley lines to feed magic spells but it being too unstable for common use? And considering that the ouroboros is powered by Artemis’s soul being bound to this plane, and continuously fueled with the combined reservoir of Silver Circle mages, and this has been framed as a problem…. I don’t know, but it’s suspicious. I’m suspicious.

Also, I love the Cass and Billy Joe Show. “’Cause I don’t wanna have to hear about this for eternity if you end up a spirit permanently. I know you. You’d haunt me.”

I know this has probably been repeated (by me) ad nauseum, but good ole LC doesn’t really have a good showing here. I get really, really frustrated really, really easily with his “aww the poor baby human doesn’t know what’s going on, we must coddle her and her delusions” schtick he’s got going on. 

Interesting tidbit: earth is the element Pritkin has the most trouble using, but it forms part of his wards?

“Remember, I have a vested interest in seeing that this goes well.” Damn. Mircea told us from the beginning. We just assumed, like Cassie did, that it meant he was concerned about his immediate survival. But doesn’t Cassie also say later that Mircea doesn’t do anything for a singular reason? Another long-game play, by both Mircea and KC. Brava.

I decided to read the seduction scene, just to see if I could. It is highly, highly discomfiting. I think I’ll be skipping the rest. Considering “the rest” involves feet, I don’t feel bad about this decision.

I am deeply, deeply curious how Pritkin survived the assault on MAGIC. We all know he’s a bad-ass, and wily, and powerful. We know Cassie has a tendency to underestimate people, especially her allies, because she fears losing them. But we never find out what happened in that room after she leaves it, and that bothers me. He could have whipped out some awesome magic; maybe Silver Circle mages streamed in right after the Black Circle. 

Finally: I just had a thought as I read about Cassie finding a naked LC “simply stunning”. Can Cassie claim to have slept with LC? She considers him Mircea at the time, and she was inhabiting another person’s body on top of that. Still…. it’s a weird thought to have, that she kinda sorta slept with her stepdaughter’s beau?? I…. I need to wipe this thought from my brain.

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Siren’s Song

It finally dropped yesterday.  What did everyone think??

@overlycaffeinatedwarmage here: I thought it was spectacular and confirmed a couple headcanons that I’d be carrying around for a bit.  One was a years long theory, one was a BtT theory. 

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Siren’s Song

September 13th! Hopeful Siren’s Song date!

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Messing around with pictures, this is what happened. What do you think, how can I make it better?

#cassiepalmerseries #karenchance #bravethetempest #goodreads #cassiepalmer #reapthewind #fanart