#A Choir of Lies

[thesebooksaremytherapy]

Now having read some of the older books of Alexandra Rowland I have concluded that they started slowly slipping in more and more feral, wild, goofy comedy bits until finally we got “Running Close to the Wind” and “Yield Under Great Persuasion” and honestly what a hero. Those are so fun and absolutely unparalleled in published fiction.

[brazenskald]

In my first year of university, I was going through a very tumultuous time. There was all the many new things that come from leaving home, some good, some bad. There were the difficulties of a demanding if rewarding job, and I first became acquainted with the not-so-fondly-remembered and not yet fully un-internalized “student lifestyle.” Terrible food, awful sleep schedule, and this omnipresent sense of impending doom that was, at least in my case in Fall 2019, surprisingly prescient. Throughout all of this, I was not prepared to be struck by the warmth and depth and resonant Truth that cut through the noise and spoke to me with a certain book I picked up, by happenstance, because of its pretty cover. That book was A Conspiracy of Truths by @ariaste. You may have heard of them. https://www.alexandrarowland.net/a-conspiracy-of-truths

Now, needless to say I devoured aCoT, and subsequently its excellent sequel A Choir of Lies. I was sorrowfully disappointed to find out after finishing the absolute rollercoaster of Choir that there was in fact, no further reading yet to do. And so, profoundly affected as I was by this (for now) duology, which I will doubtless craft a dedicated and appropriately lengthy treatise at some point in the future, I set the books in a prime place upon my shelf and turned to face the rest of the year buoyed in my hopes for the brightness of Spring and the long lusty laughter of Summer. Alas, they were all of them deceived for another global epidemic was to begin. One (or two) life-altering years in a pandemic later… I returned to university, fully prepared to enjoy the hell out of an actual honest-to-gods academic institution that didn’t begin and end with a computer screen. It hit like a truck. Same awful student lifestyle, more bad habits piling up, and a rapidly growing sense of my own undiagnosed issue rearing its ugly head. I made one decision that saved me, probably. I kept buying and reading phenomenal books. I kept looking for stories to motivate, enervate, and inspire. Somewhere deep in my subconscious, I remembered that fateful message spoken by a Chant on a page three years past. To loosely paraphrase, “Stories [are] people, and the way people are.” I chose to focus on resilience, made it my motto, and sure I still had lots of work to do, but it helped. It gave me the push I needed to keep going.

That last long Winter that seemed so dark that the sun was never going to come back? I went a-wandering, and lo, a new instalment from @ariaste ‘s Mithalgeard universe! Not a Chant sequel as such, but I couldn’t get my hands on it fast enough. It was an oasis. A respite from the grind and dreary routines. It was also gay as… well as gay as a rainbow covered in gold, let’s say. And I cannot recommend A Taste of Gold and Iron fiercely enough, because although in many ways I managed to end my degree on a high note, that book drew me out of the darkness of the coldest part of the year. It gave me the sense to smell the flowers, to bask in the green and golden glow of a soon-to-be-attained victory, long overdue.

Alex had by this point also published several shorter works, (and a whole library’s worth of content on AO3, naturally) which I leapt to read whenever they crossed my radar. It helped that I joined their discord community which was leaps and bounds more reliable in terms of getting updates and also just having the chance to share in mutual fandom gushing. If you’re even remotely interested in learning more about what I’ve talked about here, you should join in! https://discord.gg/XHJ9Uy5gef Everybody there is absolutely lovely. So why do I bring all this up? To summarize a preamble that is, to put it mildly, not short, Alex’s writing sings to my soul. I love it more deeply than my non-existent children, and their body of work continues to evolve and grow and deliver on the themes and core messages that hooked me with that first book.

But wait, there’s more! Life carries on, and with it comes new stories! Specifically, Running Close to the Wind! It’s Our Flag Means Death meets Mithalgeard, which if I haven’t convinced you to go and read those other instalments, well just trust me when I say that is a potent and persuasive pairing! It’s also going to be dropping at an important time for me, what with convocation, another big move in my life, and a whole whack of uncertainty. Much like Avra, Teveri, and Julian though, I’ll just have to brave the rocky waters and hold on to those nearest to me, and that’s what I’d like to focus on at the end of this post. A Conspiracy of Truth taught me that stories are people, A Choir of Lies showed how stories can change people, and A Taste of Gold and Iron drove home that stories we tell ourselves are the hardest to rewrite, but also the most rewarding when we take ownership of them. I anticipate that with Running Close to the Wind, Alex will likely show us (with ample amounts of pomp and queer circumstances) how the story of ourselves can only ever be written by interweaving the tales of those closest to us. Perhaps, we’ll even discover how to navigate the often stormy seas of uncertainty that seem omnipresent these days, whenever we deign to pull our noses out from whichever books we’re currently nestled within. I know that’s certainly something I’ll be looking out for, come this June, and now hopefully you will be too! (This last link does go to the webpage for Running Close to the Wind, Tumblr’s just being weird I guess.)

[ofliterarynature]

no, no, I definitely haven’t been buying more books :D

[aluradragon]

I crocheted a star-in-the-marsh from Alexandra Rowland's A Choir of Lies!

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[ariaste]

Just wanted to pop in and express appreciation for your work! I started with a Conspiracy of Truths (after hearing about Choir of lies, and finding it was a sequel), then A Taste of Gold and Iron stole my heart and ran away with it (I’d preordered it and have since read it more than a few times. It’s amazing). And now I’m circling back to a Choir of Lies… I’m about halfway through, and I love it so far. The push and pull way you’ve handled narration is fascinating, and i feel like im watching a magic trick. Also, every time i see a mention of Araste I gasp and point and go, “I know those guys!”

The subtle interconnectedness and consistency of your stories (that I’ve read so far) are like looking at a gem from various angles. Thank you for sharing it all with the world! I can’t wait to read more of your published works in the future.

(Also, I’ve never sent an ask before, I hope this is the correct channel for this kind of thing)

Oh thank you so much, this is so lovely to hear!!! I am so delighted that you are enjoying the interconnectedness of the books, and you'll be happy to know that my next book, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND (coming out next year) has even more of that kind of thing. ;) If you're interested, I have an official Discord server for fans of my work! Please feel welcome to join us if you'd like to! https://discord.gg/ftYnk8T42K

[plantdad-dante]

Book #99 - A Choir Of Lies by Alexandra Rowland

(I- this- hng. It happened again.) I told you. I told you before, and it still holds: witchcraft This book has bewitched me, just like its predecessor did. It is echoing in my head, swinging back and forth in my skull like the pommel of a great bell, and I'm expecting a headache, but all I hear is wondrous music. The music sings of stories, of grief, of community and ruin and healing. And it sings of names - and as I listened, something moved into place. Something that had been sitting wrong for some time. Whoops, personal note incoming, but what else is new. ... Why do I have to have a name? No, serious question now. Like, fine ("not fine", says the inner punk), the bureaucracy needs to call me something, needs a definitive name to put on the eviction notice, but why do I need a name - one singular, solitary, defining name - for other people to call me? See, I realized, as Ylfing was contemplating names and Chants early on... I don't think I have a "real" name. I don't think I even want one. A legal name, sure, I can live with that, I guess. But a "real" one, one that's a fitting label to all of me? Yeah, no, fuck that. I like the internet, or at least this corner of it, in this regard. Here I call myself Dante, and no one, including myself, expects that to be my "actual" name, whatever that means. And yet it is as valid a name for me as anything. I like that. I like that a lot. Maybe this notion is a temporary thing. Maybe, one day, another piece will slot into place and render this feeling void. Maybe one day I'll find a name that feels the way Ylfing seems to feel about his. But "one day" isn't now, and a maybe can turn into a no just as well as into a yes. "Hi, I'm a dude. I don't really have a name - call me whatever you like." ... I had not intended to derail this post like this, but this blog exists, first and foremost, to chronicle my reading experience, and if that is made up of a bunch of weird epiphanies as of late, then I guess so fucking be it. [post script: If writing truly is a copy of one's mind, I might have to have some words with my past self about the multitude of characters in all the unfinished, never-to-see-the-sun stuff I write who have pretty flimsy relationships to their own names, and often only have a name at all because their found family issued them one on family-recruitment day. I might have spent ten minutes laughing hysterically when I realized this.]

[sjaukes]

when a flower bulb shows up in fantasy netherlands

[xdeerlybelovedx]

"God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay-- Carlo, Romeo, please focus!"

They in fact, did not focus... but the show went well!

I saw over on my personal (@xbraveheartx) that @saikakin wanted to see tiny choir children and so I said I would deliver ♡ just a little doodle, but I couldn't let it go ♡

[nofatclips]

Castrati Stack by Tim Hecker (with The Icelandic Choir ensemble, arranged by Jóhann Jóhannsson) from the album Love Streams

[bleaksqueak]

Also i know i’ve yammered about how much i loved it already, but really, check out this soundtrack if you haven’t

Will tumblr let me link three videos?? Let’s find out!

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

Ok so uh just to clear up my tags from yesterday bc i overthink everything & don't want ppl to get the wrong idea fjhdhg; when i say "liking/hating things the wrong way" i mostly mean having bigoted reasons for opinions or being a dick about them or being weirdly performative with/invested in fictional activism (and those same ppl tend to be the ones who make dragon age opinions a morality race smh).

And overall of course everyone is entitled to simply Not Like a character! And there is lots of valid criticism that i might even agree with! But i am also entitled to blocking ppl who are being overly negative about them; not because you're not allowed to do that or because you're wrong, but bc i like to curate my fandom experience and not going insane bc of constant discourse. Highly recommend doing that btw; blacklists are there for a reason and your mental health is important✌

[aintitfierce]

songs i associate with vanya (i hope you're prepared for a lot of instrumental tracks)

a very small wish (haha)

beautiful yet truthful

who'll buy my lavender?

vaggvisa

end credits

wo ist die kase?

deku palace

stone tower temple

тили тили бом

slow box waltz

irresistiblement

trollmoors vaggsång

wyrd

jdnt

dance of the cygnets

mighty

[vixlenxe]

"My girlfriend is the prettiest girl in the world, & somehow she doesn't believe it. She could wear a plain bedsheet & it would instantly be glamourized by her."

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

the more i listen to nathalie stutzmann the more i regret not really Doing Much with singing

[ariaste]

Just finished A Choir of Lies and I appreciated how you took me from, "Damn it Ylfing stop being *such* a sadboy" to "Aw, good job buddy, look at that character growth". Two thumbs up.

Also, I was behind the times at finding Be The Serpent, but I love it so much! I started listening to the podcast just after it ended, so sadly I never got to self-indulgently suggest to y'all that you read any of my tropey f/f fanfic. It's linked in my Tumblr though, just saying. ;)

Many thanks to you and the other slerpents for all the combined literary merit you've put out into the world, and for making me feel cool about my lifelong fanfic obsession. 💖

Aww thank you so much!! I'm glad you liked both the book and the podcast <3 Love a sad crying boy tbh

BTW! If you're interested in hanging out with other fans of my work, I have an official discord server here: https://discord.gg/chBuBYWrMz You're welcome to join!