#A Song of Salvation

[aroaessidhe]

Aro & ace Books: Space!

Nophek Gloss - adult space opera with an aspec coded MC, and central platonic relationship

The Circus Infinite - space opera with an ace mlm MC

Adrift in Starlight - space opera adventure romance with an ace MC

Dare Mighty Things - YA about an ace girl in a space program

The Last 8 - YA scifi with an aro bi MC. first book apocalyptic earth, second more space opera

A Pale Light In The Black - space-coastguard, once of the MCs is ace

Fourth World - YA sci-fi trilogy with an ace MC and a demi MC, aroace side character

The Sound of Stars, The Kindred, A Song of Salvation - 3 connected YA space opera books which all have demi MCs

Lord of the Empty Isles - scifi w space pirates, aroace MC + no romance

#aspec books / aspec database / tumblr masterpost

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

Rubin Rima from A Song of Salvation is demiromantic demisexual!

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: A Song of Salvation by Alechia Dow

Author: Alechia DowPublisher: Inkyard PressReleased: July 11, 2023Received: NetGalley Find it on Goodreads | More Sci-Fi Book Summary: Zaira Citali was born to die. Her sacrifice is meant to be in Ozvios’s honor, but Zaira has trouble seeing it that way, so she promptly escapes. On her way to freedom, Zaira ran into Wesley – the boy prophesied to help defeat Ozvios. Admittedly, this isn’t a…

[10yrsyart]

(alternative music only video)

"Can anything separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (-) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loves us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our fears about tomorrow- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below- indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:35,37-39

transcript:

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste It all revolves around you And there's no mountain too high No river too wide Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side Storm clouds may gather And stars may collide But I love you Until the end of time Come what may Come what may I will love you Until my dying day

[dieselocelot]

in my commitment to staying away from guilt / i feel no emotion for those i have gone and killed / heartless devotion to saving the rest of me

[thatartiststudios]

Boys, when my baby found me I was three days on a drunken sin I woke with her walls around me Nothin' in her room but an empty crib And I was burnin' up a fever I didn't care much how long I lived But I swear, I thought I dreamed her She never asked me once about the wrong I did When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold, dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold, dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her

Work Song - Hozier/Rayllum

[macaronijail06]

Winter bird

[straynoahide]

tolkien meta: the melodic structure of the ainulindale, arda's endgame, and the doom of men

so basically this is about what one can learn and connect to the rest of the legendarium's lore from the ainulindale, and also peer into tolkien's psyche as a side effect i guess. expect excessive theology or more fun imo philosophy of divinity and lengthy tangents about melkor, the nature of evil and theodicy

a small disclaimer - this touches thorny topics in philosophy like the problem of evil, the nature of redemption/salvation, death...

this isn't about my beliefs but presenting and reflecting on tolkien's own within the history of ideas. i acknowledge anyone who reads this also has their own, and can agree or disagree with tolkien. my views may seep in unintentionally but i try to go deeper than that.

pd: I write Eru/One/God indistinctively on purpose. it's for rhetorical emphasis, not so much out of (cultural) christianity.

part I - introduction (in this post) part II - the themes/structure, discussion part III - discussion (cont): themes of arda and life part IV - discussion (cont 2): theme of the children part V - discussion (cont 3): aftermath/second music

Introduction (i rec reading even if you're versed in the lore)

for those who are not so familiar with parts of the legendarium but still interested in a deep dive, the ainulindalë ("song of the ainur") is the creation myth of tolkien's world.

i rec just reading it if you haven't even if it's after reading this. it's quite beautiful and unique and it's brought admiration even from ppl who study that kind of thing professionally about real cultures. i'm not given to flattery but idk just check it out.

so anyway, the ainur, spirits born from the One creator's mind directly, sang under (or despite) His direction and the melody (both harmony and discord) that resulted, is the history of the world.

by the world we have two concepts here, the entire universe (eä) and the planet (arda) 'earth', of which middle-earth is a later-stage continent. the music itself was a creative process that the ainur partook in before knowing the full implication of their singing.

God showed the ainur the vision of what their music had created and when they saw the world they wanted to live it, to dwell on it and experience it.

God granted this but said they had to remain in it until the full music, the full story had played out.

this includes everything that happens in the Silmarillion, the LOTR movies and sequels/prequels, the TROP series, games, etc, and in some stages of Tolkien's opus, our own world (WWI, WWII, etc).

the Discord refers to the rebellious effect of Melkor on the music as much as his part of the music - the dissonance born from his part's coexistence with the rest of the melody that is in harmony, and takes a 'life of its own'.

this is not unimportant, but i'm not going to discuss it at any point. i will point out here that it has been argued -controversially- by some people to be relevant in compatibilizing or explaining otherwise difficult-to-reconcile lore points that deal with "non-Melkorian evil". this is about things like Ungoliant or the nameless things 'whose mention darken the light of day', whose in-world origins are unclear.

on a broader note, this represents two very different intuitions about evil and divinity (Tolkienian v Lovecraftian, we could say). these are difficult to compatibilize and more than Tolkien's psyche, represent ancient tensions within monotheistic religions themselves, i think. so within Tolkien's world, which has an Abrahamic/monotheistic god, you still find traces of Lovecraftian horror.

all that follows is about Tolkienian evil (meta) i.e. Melkorian evil (in-world), that is uncontroversially and explicitly under the governance of the One, although non-Melkorian evil is a fascinating subject.

[wiirocku]

Isaiah 12:2 (ESV) - “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.”

[aroaessidhe]

 2023 ACE & ARO books - part 2

LOVE LETTERS FOR JOY - June 6 - pan ace MC

A SONG OF SALVATION - July 11 - demi MC

ETHERA GRAVE - July 18 - ace MC , sequel

THIS DARK DESCENT - Sep 26 - ace-spec MCs

BEING ACE - Oct 10 - ace anthology

LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD - Oct 17 - ace lesbian MC

part 1 / part 3 / part 4

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

Wesley Daniels from A Song of Salvation is demiromantic demisexual!

[ardentadoration]

“As the World Caves In” by Matt Maltese is Yoo Joonghyuk cradling Kim Dokja’s newly demon king body close at the end of the Dark Castle arc

We creep up on extinction, I pull your arms right in. I weep and say goodnight love while my organs pack it in.

[catholicsapphic]

The secret to truly enjoying Taylor Swift songs that they won’t tell you is that you need to let go of the expectations that you’ll be able to relate to them on a romantic sense and instead apply them to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I promise it you’ll get it immediately. Like heck yeah life was a willow and it bent right to His wind. This love is alive back from the dead. It was all by design because He’s a mastermind. My reputation’s never been worse so You must like me for me. I once believed love would be burning red (but it is golden). This is me trying. You know?

[10yrsyart]

possibly my favorite song of all time, “The Prodigal Son Suite” by Keith Green, tells the parable of the same name in Luke 15:11-32.  a man asked for his inheritance from his father before he’d even passed and then goes off to waste it all on worldly fun and fast friends. but when he runs out, he hits hard times and in his struggle, realizes his mistakes. he heads back home, hoping he will at least be allowed to work as a servant for his father. upon his arrival, his father rushes to meet him and the son confesses his sins and regrets. but the father is overjoyed to see him; he’s already forgiven him and throws a huge feast to celebrate his return to the family.

this parable is a beautiful picture of salvation and the heart of God the Father. the son didn’t deserve the celebration; he wronged his father and turned away from him. but the father still loved him and was ready and waiting to receive him back. the reconciliation only happened once the son acknowledged his mistakes and made the choice to return.

every one of us has sinned against God. and yet He still sent Jesus to die for us and pay for that sin in our place. He waits eagerly for us to repent (which means a change of mind) and turn to Him. His eternal gift of salvation is a gift of Grace, meaning it’s something we didn’t and can’t earn. like the father, Jesus waits with open arms to forgive us and receive us into His Heavenly family. and as Luke 15:7 says, “There is more joy in Heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God, than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” 

“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty of sins.” (Romans 3:22-24)

(even greater than my love for the parable, is my love for the beginning and ending segments of music. it sounds so much like a Heavenly Homecoming to me, that i tried my best to incorporate that feeling into the ending.)

[lovelyreny]

[incomingplottwist]

lovely (billie eilish and khalid) but it's yjh and kdj during the demon king arc

(I'm so normal right now)