#((like how i have posted essays and stuff about discworld and terry pratchett too))

[noirandchocolate]

Is this funnier or less funny than when I was at the front of the “top Discworld blogs” a few years ago?

[cbk1000]

Hi there!

Ive recently stumbled across your works, and I just wanted to say that I enjoy your writing soso much!! Each time i read any of ur pieces, i feel ever so blessed that i can read them for freee,,, ??like wow!! I absolutely love your characterization of arthur, and any piece of banter you write never fails to make me laugh!

Your writing style is so addictive, ive honestly found myself missing it when I read anything else. Because of this, id like to ask if you have any book recs? hehee anything that inspired that brain and writing of yours seems like it would be a worthwile read!! From ur alltime favs, or recent favs, comfort books, or books that gave u personal epiphanies, pls feel free to not hold back !! (If its not too much trouble)

And once again, thank you soso much for all your lovely works!! 💗

I LOVE talking about books, so thank you so much for this ask. This is a very truncated list of some of my favourite authors and books because if I wanted to talk about all of them, that would be a post as long as one of my fics.

First up is Terry Pratchett, who I came to rather late; I just started reading Discworld in 2020, despite @clonemaster-general and @jinxedwood telling me years earlier I should read him, so they should feel free to be smug about the fact that I ignored their sound advice for a long time and then went, "Ok, where do I sign up for the cult" after reading approximately one (1) Pratchett novel.

Discworld is a fantasy satire series that's over 40 books long, but those 40+ books simply take place in the same world and do not have to be read in order, although I would recommend reading any subseries featuring the same characters in order (the City Watch books starting with 'Guards! Guards', the Witches starting with ''Wyrd Sisters' etc.) Pratchett did write some non-Discworld books, although the bulk of his very large body of work is that series. He was a very gifted writer who was able to present the stupidity and injustices of humanity in a way that made you laugh and feel that it's bearable to live alongside these things. No other author has made me laugh so much at dumb little puns or dick jokes and then suddenly slapped me with a banger of a line about human nature.

'The Once and Future King' by T.H. White. A retelling of Malory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur'. It's silly, it's touching, it asks why humans go to war. If you're tired of relentless grimdark, this book shows you that a novel can explore serious themes and ask serious questions of its readers while also being a bit silly and stupid, because like suffering, silliness and stupidity is an intrinsic part of the human experience.

'The Left Hand of Darkness' by Ursula Le Guin. I could really just say, "All of Ursula Le Guin's stuff" because I've read several novels, a ton of her short stories, plus most of her essay collections and I've loved them all, but I wanted to mention this one particularly because Le Guin was examining our ideas of gender and society in the fucking 60s and I'm tired of hearing right-wing nutjobs bang on about trans people like they're some alien species newly landed on our planet to kidnap our children. Also, what I love about Le Guin's sci-fi is that she was concerned primarily with the culture of alien societies, not laser guns, and her world building is incredibly deep in that regard. Her father was an anthropologist, and you can see how his studies shaped her writing.

'The Lymond Chronicles' by Dorothy Dunnett. I love me a good swashbuckler, and these are some good swashbucklers. There's also some really beautiful prose that really evokes the landscapes of 15th century Europe, and her action/battle scenes are some of the most gripping I've read. The caveat with this one is that I actually don't like the main character all that much; he's a real special guy who speaks all the languages, is good at all the things, is a master strategist at 20, and is hot to boot. But the story is told mostly through the POVs of other characters that get caught up in his exploits so you're not stuck in his insufferable perspective, and I found the books overall (there are six in the series) very hard to put down.

'The Count of Monte Cristo' by Alexandre Dumas. The OG swashbuckler, really. Shipwrecks! Duels! Poison! Revenge! People just don't do dramatic adventure novels like Dumas anymore.

'War and Peace' by Tolstoy. I can't not mention this; I've read it twice so far in English and once in Russian. Tolstoy was an amazing observer of human nature. Also, he clearly thought Napoleon was a little bitch and reading about him from the perspective of a Russian novelist is quite entertaining after reading about him from Victor Hugo's perspective.

'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo. I also have to mention this one. Yes, there are very lengthy asides on the Parisian sewer system. In the middle of a chase scene. But tbh, Hugo was curious about everything and while maybe he talked about every single one of those things a bit too long, it still endears him to me. Also, he was known more as a poet than a novelist by contemporary readers, and even in translation I think the fact that he was a poet really comes through in the prose.

Also, really anything by Patricia McKillip if you want dreamy, poetic fantasy that feels like being dropped right into the middle of a fairytale where magic has no hard rules and is something a bit wild and dangerous and beautiful.

I also read a lot of non-fiction, so I'll just list a few of my faves: 'Survival in Auschwitz' by Primo Levi; 'The Gulag Archipelago' by Alexandre Solzhenitsyn; James Herriott's 'All Creatures Great and Small' series; 'Landmarks' by Robert Macfarlane (but really any of his nature writing; this one I liked particularly because it's about the power of language to evoke a sense of place and how our vocabulary for the natural world is slowly being subsumed by our increasingly technologically-driven world). 'The Demon-Haunted World' by Carl Sagan, which was written in the 90s but if anything is even more relevant today as we struggle with parsing the mythology of pseudoscience and the real-world harm it perpetuates.

And I read a fuck ton of poetry, so I'll just rattle off a list of some of my favourite poets: Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooks, Edward Thomas (I also love his nature writing), Alexandre Blok, Pushkin, Ursula Le Guin (she's primarily known as a novelist, but she has some very good poetry as well), Mikhail Lermontov, Anna Akhmatova, Alexander Pope, Tennyson (particularly Idylls of the King), Seamus Heaney, and Yeats.

Anyway, this is a small sampler of books I've read and loved.

[elleleuthold]

Get to know the writer:

I was tagged by @caffeinewitchcraft in the Writer’s info meme. Thanks, this was fun!

1. Name?

Elle. It’s been a nickname for a while, and is now a penname.

2. Five words that describe your writing?

A mess of character emotions.

3. Literature / art / films you’d recommend?

I always have trouble with this question. But if you like history, I recommend Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Lowen for American history, and I just got Rejected Princesses for Christmas and am quite enjoying it. In fiction, I heartily recommend the Discworld series (don’t feel like you have to go chronologically) and Every Heart A Doorway (<3 multiple worlds and an ace protagonist). For classic fantasy, I go Belgariad for the cleanest, clearest hero’s journey I have ever read, and for classic sci-fi I’ll say the Ender’s Game series, because it was the first to really open my eyes to the ways adult actions and popular narratives shape children/the future. If I had to choose only one book to read over and over forever it would be Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. My favorite short stories are You, an Accidental Astronaut by Sonja Natasha (@heysonjanatasha), and How to Become a Robot in 12 Easy Steps by A. Merc Rustad (just go read all their stuff). My favorite poet is Richard Siken; Crush destroys me every time I pick it up.

I’ve also read a lot of good books this fall (I started following @lgbtqreads, @disabilityinkidlit and @richincolor which are great if you’re looking for more diverse options). Lies We Tell Ourselves is a really impactful story about desegregation, racism and lesbian coming-of-age in the South; Not Otherwise Specified is Contemporary YA about a black bi girl in Nebraska and I loved it to pieces, and I’ve been reading the Wings of Fire series at work, which is a highly-addictive kids series about dragons and prophecies.

Gah, this is turning into an essay, um. I like a lot of art, but I am terrible about remembering pieces or artists. The stuff I like best usually has evocative linework and minimal, but bright, colors. For film, I’ll say Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ghost in the Shell (the anime, subbed), Steven Universe and the first two seasons of Elementary. Also Life, by NBC (it’s on Netflix), which is the best detective show I have ever seen, hands down. Characters, writing, plot, music, cinematography, everything is amazing. I also play a lot of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, which are games where you fight against injustice and other threats the government refuses to acknowledge exist, and also you can kiss love interests of whatever gender you feel like.

4. Images, symbols, and settings you associate with your work?

Smooth, damp rocks by the riverside, a blank sketchbook page and a cheap pen, too many research tabs in the browser, worn book spines, copper glinting in sunlight and the wind in my face. Also, I seem to write a lot stories that involve escaping various types of prisons for some reason.

5. Themes / concepts you are hesitant to write about?

Abuse and assault, and also non-mainstream-American/English/Japanese cultures, mostly because I’m afraid of getting things wrong. I very much want to write a multiplicity of situations and cultures but am still mostly in the research stage. On the abuse and assault topic, I am also squeamish.

6. What would you tell someone who’s nervous about starting out?

Everyone’s nervous. The greatest writers you idolize have self-doubt. You gotta start anyway, because no one else can tell the stories you can. Start with whatever your favorite pet idea is. Frame it in words. Get it on paper. But don’t confine yourself to that. Write it when it’s fun, and write other stuff the rest of the time. You might need to practice more to really do it justice, and that’s okay. Take prompts, write sprints and drabbles and fanfic and poetry. Do NaNo, enter challenges with daunting deadlines. But above all else, finish a story. However long, however short. Finish something. I learned more from finishing one piece and editing it than writing 100 unfinished snippets, and each successive piece I finish adds to that knowledge.

And if you’re comfortable, post it. If you’re not, share it with someone, even if it’s unfinished and you’re just stuck. An alpha reader, a beta editor. Ask your friends and followers to look at a carefully controlled google doc. Ask me. If I can’t look something over for you myself I’ll do my best to put you in touch with someone who can. Writing gets about 1000 times more fun when you’re not doing it in a vacuum.

7. Three of your writings you’d recommend to people who’d like to know more about you?

Well, I haven’t posted much here yet! But this faerie snippet is based on my favorite fairy tale ever, The Ballad of Tam Lin (the original has some skeevy bits but I have a few novel adaptations I adore), bridesmaid is probably the most personal of what I’ve posted so far, and Exit Arc is the most polished piece. I’ve been writing in fandom for years (Heroes, Doctor Who, Marvel, Band of Brothers, etc), but I’m trying to keep this account just slightly separate from my fanworks. If you’re interested in my fics, I’d be happy to share that info via ask or message.

8. What pushes you to keep writing?

I’ve learned in the last few years that words are even more important than I realized, and stories are on a whole level above that. I spent a few years in academia, and a few years in magazine editing, and while I still loved words in the end, those experiences conspired to convince me that words were infinitely mutable and no story could be true in any lasting way. But then I started working in schools, with kids of every age between six and 18, and I could see, again, how important words were, and how much impact stories could have. I started reading more nonfiction and stories other than fanfiction again. And I looked at the state of published fiction and determined that most of it is not a vision of the world I want those kids to grow up with. Most published fiction I see on shelves and in magazines doesn’t even represent my own generation, let alone theirs. Things are getting better, more inclusive and representative, but a lot of publishing companies are run by people like my old boss, who gladhand around in an exclusively white, straight and male club and think that trying new things and helping people achieve their dreams should take a distant backseat to making money.

So I guess what I’m saying here is that what drives me is a desire to see more stories that reflect a world I want to live in, where people who haven’t been traditionally recognized in popular literature not only exist, but go on adventures and save the world, because everyone should have access to that dream. I want more stories about hope and friendship and the importance of taking care of ourselves and standing up for each other, because we need more of that in the world. I want to see more stories that break genre barriers and refuse to follow the same old patterns, and stories that actively criticize those patterns, because those are the stories that teach people to think outside prescribed lines. And I can’t sit here, feeling these things, and not contribute.

and i will tag... @fontess, @mm-mendell and @eggletine (only if you feel like it, of course!)