#E Jade Lomax

[ink-splotch]

More a Haunting than a History - Version 2.0!!

an (updated!) interactive fiction game from E. Jade Lomax (ink-splotch / dirgewithoutmusic), the writer who brought you Beanstalk, Second Star to the Left podcast, and Stay?. "Return to your sleepy, strange little hometown after years away. Explore your old haunts, reconnect with old friends and new, and dig into the mysteries that rise up in the town like mist. It's a story about leaving home and coming home; about life after death-- in more ways than one. This choose-your-own-adventure game lets you explore who you used to be so that you can decide who you want to be."

More a Haunting than a History is my second IF (interactive fiction) game, a story about returning to your childhood small town and finding both it and yourself different than you left them.

Version 2.0 is cleaner, stronger, with new content and a trophy system! If you've already explored MAHTAH, dive back in to see what's new to find, experience, or break-- if you haven't given MAHTAH a chance yet, I'd love it if you gave the new & improved version a try!

PLAY IT HERE:

In version 2.0, I made three main changes, as well as various bug fixes (thanks everyone who wrote me about bugs!):

Updated the dialogue system to make for smoother, less awkward conversations-- dialogue being the main gameplay mechanism!

Streamlined the dreams & climax/river scene systems to improve the narrative experience (ensure certain backstory content got seen/emphasized/excluded as relevant)

Introduced a trophy system (more details on the why of this under the cut)

MAHTAH was both a blast and a slog to write, just like Stay? was a rush -- I'd love to hear your thoughts, feelings, and experiences as I start chipping away at my next IF project.

Why trophies? I've added in "trophies" at the end of the game because a) it seemed fun and b) I'm hoping this will help shore up one of what I see as the weaknesses of MAHTAH-- a single playthrough feels "complete."

In some ways, this was a goal of mine; I wanted non-repeat players (players who get to an ending and never pick up the game again) to have a satisfactory and full experience & to not feel like they were "missing out" on anything. 

But this also leads to there being no clear motivation to replay the game, and no hint of the different secrets you can find, relationships you can build through the game, and endings you can have open up to you. It makes the "exploration space" feel more shallow than Stay?'s-- and it is certainly different than Stay?'s-- but they are both stories about exploration & discovery.

In MAHTAH, the discoveries are your friends, your feelings, your relationships, your past-- yourself, even. You can get a pretty full picture in a single playthrough if you max enough things out, in just the right way, but generally I think it takes a few playthroughs of MAHTAH to get the full experience and story.

Even if a single playthrough can be "satisfying,"  it's not the end of the story or the experience, but my focus on trying to make single playthroughs "stand on their own" undercut the visibility to the gaps and holes still remaining that required repeat playthroughs to access. 

So: trophies. They're fun! And they both inform the player at the end of the story that there is content they didn't access -- and ideally make some of that content interesting and desirable. It gives the player a goal as they launch into the next playthrough, and hopefully having that goal lets them play the game in new ways and meet new experiences. 

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Characters, book, and author names under the cut

Viv/Tandri - Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Jean Moreau/Jeremy Knox - The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic 

Sally-Anne/Sez - Beanstalk by E Jade Lomax

Christine Braxton/Stephanie - Fire Season by KD Casey

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fantasy Books Bracket: Preliminary Round

Book summaries below:

The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach (The Endsong series)

A police officer is murdered, brought back to life with a mysterious new power, and tasked with protecting her city from an insidious evil threatening to destroy it. The port city of Hainak is alive: its buildings, its fashion, even its weapons. But, after a devastating war and a sweeping biotech revolution, all its inhabitants want is peace, no one more so than Yat Jyn-Hok a reformed-thief-turned-cop who patrols the streets at night. Yat has recently been demoted on the force due to “lifestyle choices” after being caught at a gay club. She’s barely holding it together, haunted by memories of a lover who vanished and voices that float in and out of her head like radio signals. When she stumbles across a dead body on her patrol, two fellow officers gruesomely murder her and dump her into the harbor. Unfortunately for them, she wakes up. Resurrected by an ancient power, she finds herself with the new ability to manipulate life force. Quickly falling in with the pirate crew who has found her, she must race against time to stop a plague from being unleashed by the evil that has taken root in Hainak. Fantasy, science fiction, adult, Maori-inspired

One Stormy Day in New Providence by E. Jade Lomax and K. Sundberg

An heiress, a diplomat’s daughter, an undercover auditor, a corporate spy, an ex-detective, and a fraud walk into the small field office of a major insulation corporation. Half are there under their proper names. Only one is there to do the job they were hired for. The punchline is friendship. The selfsame cast could also be described as five liars and one truth-teller; four on-the-clock employees and two interlopers; or a thief, three people trying to solve the same conspiracy from different angles, an ex-boyfriend, and a woman who desperately deserves a nap. They are a single mom (and grandma!), a PhD candidate, the victim of a coercion campaign, a veritable genius with debilitating attention and anxiety disorders, a man trying very hard not to be in love, and a young woman who packs her girlfriend PB&J’s every day because it’s the only thing she can reliably make edible. When a magical storm falls over the city– a storm that freezes not the flesh from your bones, but fries the circuits in your brain– our crew of technicians and tricksters must set out to fix all that’s gone wrong. Fantasy, urban fantasy, mystery

[echoesofagiantkiller]

A young man named Jack the Beanstalk left the Forest, once, and he never truly came home.

Beanstalk, by E. Jade Lomax

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Sneak by E. Jade Lomax

goodreads

A century ago, the general chosen to lead the armies of the Nerian Alliance against their shared enemies deposed the allied kings he served. With loyal soldiers behind him, the general conquered their three kingdoms in the name of unity and strength. Now, the vast swathe of land that was the Alliance is known simply as Neria. The old borders and the old ways are forgotten— by most. This is the story of a princess called Sasha and a rebel named Andrea, neither of whom are as righteous as they think they are. It is the story of Will, an ambitious amateur spy, and Gabrielle, the equally ambitious youngest princess, who are not as smart as they think they are. This is Gregory’s story, about a shy young mountain lad who is not as useless as he thinks, who is not as harmless as he thinks. They all have a long way to go.

Mod opinion: I haven't read this fantasy book and while the character in question doesn't come out during the course of the story, they are author confirmed and since this was a submission I included it. It always makes me happy to hear a hidden story like this resonating with a reader.

[my-writing-on-the-wall]

I've been sick so I haven't really got the headspace at the moment to dive into my current book which is about data science.

But I thought I could yell into the void about one of my all time favorite book series.

Leagues and Legends by E.Jade Lomax aka @ink-splotch

I adore the story and well rounded, loveable characters and the books are so remarkably well written. I struggle to put it into words.

I am not usually one to reread books all that often, there are simply to many I want to read, but I have read all three of them several times.

[eruditetyro]

@thriftdyke tagged me to post my 9 favorite books! secretly, this is just a list of books/series I read or reread this year. once again as always whenever there is a book question I am directing everyone to the beanstalk series by e. jade lomax aka our very own tumblr user @ink-splotch, because I have been proselytizing about this series for, like, at least nine years now. one of the series of all time. i tag @joculine @premiumgelato @unloneliest @adhdnarut0

[thoughtsformtheuniverse]

tagged by @booksandchainmail to shuffle my general listening music and post the first 10 songs. I chose my 'music' playlist rather just my full library to avoid the two (2) podcast episodes and random audiobook chapters in there.

1. Songs for Lonely Giants by The Mountain Goats ⁃ I mean. it’s The Mountain Goats. it’s slow, it’s sad, it’s pretty weird. I found this one on a character playlist for Jack from E. Jade Lomax’s Beanstalk series (read it for free here!) it’s very good!

2. Moving On by Oysterband ⁃ not blue oyster cult, but a much weirder band that mostly sings songs about working man’s politics in England in during the last century. this song has both the lines "we asked the man for justice, well he handed us a stone" and "the way to hell is straight and sure/the way to heaven is long/the way to your heart is never-ending/so I just keep moving on" and I adore it

3. Four Hours by The Longest Johns ⁃ I found The Longest Johns late in college (and felt deeply smug when their Wellerman was a hit a year later. I found them first), but I do just listen to a lot of sea shanties. This one is a big ass mood for getting off a ship again and trying to adjust to Land and Not a Watch Schedule. Also, like most sea shanties, great to do chores and lab work too

4. Theseus by The Oh Hellos ⁃ god but I always love The Oh Hellos; this is a song about the importance of maintenance and I treasure it. all of the Zephyrus album is good

5. Loves Me Like a Rock by The Wailin’ Jennys ⁃ turns out The Wailin’ Jennys, usually a folk band, did a cover of Paul Simon’s Love Me a Rock. it’s pretty good. (I actually downloaded this earlier today; I have no sophisticated thoughts yet)

6. I Don’t Want You Now by KT Tunstall ⁃ If Only is probably my actual favorite song off this album, but KT Tunstall is always a good time

7. Angels of the River by Oysterband ⁃ aaand the other stuff Oysterband does is odd, folky, kinda wifty stuff like this. Genuinely no idea what this one is about, any more than I know what Milford Haven is about. I like it though

8. Now I am an Arsonist by Jonathon Colton (ft Suzanne Vega) ⁃ to me, this is a very unlikely combination of artists; Colton usually does deeply nerdy fare, while Suzanne Vega soft and strange. this song is on my thieves playlist, and I could not really describe why

9. Heavy Horses by Jethro Tull ⁃ most of the Jethro Tull songs I like best are songs about industrialization with some of the weirdest flute solos I have ever heard, and Heavy Horses is no exception. This song is nearly 9 minutes long and about the arrival of tractors. it’s great. (Stormwatch is actually my favorite Jethro Tull album, and Weathercock or Acres Wild are more favorite songs from this one, but do I really like Heavy Horses)

10. Falling For The First Time by The Barenaked Ladies ⁃ This is the kind of overlapping wordplay I’m here for, the whole chorus delights me; "Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost/Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost/What if I lost my direction? What if I lost sense of time?". And the way it comes back in the final chorus, but tweaked a little. it’s just a good time.

I’m deeply surprised that there’s no They Might Be Giants, Great Big Sea, or songs from my highschool acapella group, but other than that, this is pretty representative.

@epsilon-delta do you play tag games?

[isolatedphenomenon]

“For Rupert,” said Laney.  “Do you have another boyfriend that might be lurking in the Graves’s dungeon?” said Spider. 

...

“You and your girlfriend having little secret conferences without us?” said Grey. 

...

The sound made Rupert shiver. “Your girlfriend’s the one who nabbed me,” she said. “Didn’t invite Farris for some reason.”

...

“I need to get to work, and so does Doc,” said Susie, as Doc nodded gruffly. “Jack, you got your people?” “Yes’m,” Jack told the woman.

...

“They’d left Dadlus alive. Your people."

...

“I’m hurt, Jack. Don’t you think, if I stole one of yours, that I would have the decency to make sure you knew all about it?"

...

“But also, yes, Jack, you’re special. You’re Rupert’s,” she explained. “That matters to me.” “Me, too,” he said

...

“Marian understands sticking with your own; she and I just both didn’t know that you lot were mine.”

...

“I’m a stranger.” “You’re Uncle Jack’s,” she said. “You’re not.”

...

“I don’t want it to be like this,” said Rupert. “I don’t want to leave holes in people, good people, my people.”

...

Laney lifted her head and told Jack on the upper bunk, “He’s bright, this adopted kid of yours.”

...

“I have a feeling,” Laney croaked into the darkness, “that was our boys.”

...

The sentry Jack was relieving glanced at Jack as he climbed up onto the platform and said, “This yours?” Grey looked up at Jack. 

...

“They’re not strange, they’re mine,” said Jack.

- Leagues and Legends by E. Jade Lomax

[ursae-minoris-world]

TAG GAME 🌟

Tag 9 people you'd like to know more.

Tagged by @starlightvld thank you!!! 😊

Last song: in all honesty... I was just watching this amv so that's the last song I heard lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPaysUywNZg

Currently watching: I'm in the middle of the last Candela Obscura episode (The Collectors) by Critical Role

Currently reading: Currently reading again the Leagues and Legends Trilogy by E. Jade Lomax ( https://ejadelomax.com/leaguesandlegends/beanstalk/ ), I just started the 3rd book (Remember the Dust).

Current obsession: Still very focused on VLD!

Tagging: @cruelisblue @hazeleks @jacqulinetan @dylexa @eaion @tomatocages @cinnamondjinn @kissingkeith @goldentruth813

(if you feel like it!)

[grifff17]

I relate to this so much. I deeply believe that there is so much niche media that would be so widely loved if it was just better known.

This is what I try to do when recommending obscure audio fiction. I try to bring more attention to these stories which are mostly unknown even within a medium that a good amount of people don’t even realize exist.

There is so much deeply niche media which has changed me as a person, and I feel obliged to try and share these little-known stories with the world.

Another reason I love niche media is that it can afford to be experimental. Nothing with a 6-figure budget or higher will ever try something weird, due to the risk it does not work. Weird experimental stuff can be incredible and unique.

Anyways if you’re reading this and inspired but not sure where to start, check out my website (link below and in my bio). Most of the audiodramas on there are very niche.

For some more specific recommendations, I want to give a shoutout to Stories From Ylelmore, a cozy urban fantasy podcast about 3 kids getting up to magical shenanigans in a small town, made entirely by one person. Also check out The Alliance Books by E Jade Lomax, a low fantasy political intrigue trilogy that humanizes both sides of a conflict, and are free as ebooks on the author’s website.

That’s enough rambling for now. Please message me if you have thoughts on this, I’m always happy to talk about it.

somewhere on a long dead forum there's a link that no longer works to a mod to a game nobody plays that would be a valuable contribution to the way people see level design if it got a chance to be seen. somewhere on a website that gets 15 monthly visitors there's a webcomic that woulkd inspire and resonate with you and change your life even in a small way if you could just find it. somewhere theres a music artist that would inspire you for years to come but their work just can't manage to be seen online or off. theres so many things that would change your life that just can't seem to rise to the surface and remain undiscovered and forgotten. or maybe never shared

[queereads-bracket]

Hiya! Love this as a thing, thanks for making it! I was wondering whether you had a complete list of submitted books anywhere, or if you'd be willing to make one? I would love to be able to add them all to my TBR and scrolling through the polls takes a bit of a while 😅 Thank you!

yes absolutely! helping people find fun new things to read is my Secret Nefarious True Purpose of this blog 😈

Below is a full list of all 68 entries to the Queer Fantasy Books bracket:

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley The Captive Prince series by C. S. Pacat Squad, written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Lisa Sterle Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas The Tamir Triad series by Lynn Flewelling The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon Thousand Autumns: Qian Qiu by Meng Xi Shi The Tea Dragon Society by K. O’Neill The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series by Rick Riordan Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson Princess Princess Ever After by K. O’Neill The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater The Dreamer Trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater The Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks The Last Binding trilogy by Freya Marske The Witch Boy series by Molly Knox Ostertag Nimona by ND Stevenson The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez The Seraphina Duology (Seraphina, Shadow Scale) by Rachel Hartman The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw The Simon Snow series by Rainbow Rowell The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard Crier's War duology (Crier's War, Iron Heart) by Nina Varela The Burning Kingdoms series by Tasha Suri The Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan Crimson Sails series (Hunt on Dark Waters, Blood on the Tide) by Katee Robert House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland The Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach (The Endsong series) Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust The Rise of Kyoshi by F. C. Yee The Last Hours series by Cassandra Clare Salt Slow by Julia Armfield Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag The Masquerade Series by Seth Dickinson Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree Witchlight by Jessi Zabarsky Monstrous Regiment (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie Six of Crows duology (Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom) by Leigh Bardugo Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender (Infinity Alchemist series) Mooncakes, written by Suzanne Walker, illustrated by Wendy Xu Malice duology (Malice, Misrule) by Heather Walter The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow Snapdragon by Kat Leyh The Dark Artifices series by Cassandra Clare The Knight and the Necromancer series by A.H. Lee When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill The Left-Handed Booksellers of London series by Garth Nix The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern Taproot: A Story About a Gardener and a Ghost by Keezy Young The Radiant Emperor series by Shelley Parker-Chan Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare The Marble Queen, written by Anna Kopp, illustrated by Gabrielle Kari Saint Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo The Cursed Heart by Derin Edala One Stormy Day in New Providence by E. Jade Lomax and K. Sundberg Godfell: The Complete Series by Christopher Sebela, Ben Hennessy (Illustrator)

[echoesofagiantkiller]

But at the base of Jack’s ladder, the closest anyone would come to the scattered magic still hissing and dripping down, there was a girl with short gold curls and Jack knew every one of her names.

- Remember the Dust, by E. Jade Lomax 

[an-inky-fingered-lass]

have i ever mentioned how much I love these books. I love these books. SO much. I need to actually write some coherent things about them at some point (which i will) cause they are so so important to me, but I just....

The Leagues and Legends trilogy (especially Remember the Dust!!!! I have been rereading that through good days and hard days and boring days and it makes me feel like i'm wrapped up in a warm blanket with the sun shining gently through the clouds outside the window and-- anyway I digress) has my whole heart. The ballads. George!! Laney!! GreyJackRupertJillMarianSezSally-AnneMuchBeaBidi look I love them all okay.

like I said. more coherent words coming shortly but for now just have some feelings.

also. I literally just finished reading Alliance today and aarrrrghh there my heart goes again. I love them. I loved all three of them but idk there's just something about the third book with me apparently, Traitor just....struck a chord? I need it let it just settle softly in my brain for a little while longer before I can come up with coherent words about it i think but. Sash. Eli. Will. Andrea. Nate. Gregory-

*curls up into a tiny little ball to think about all these kiddos and Feel Things*

alright so this was supposed to be something brief and just a reblog of this very cool thingy about these books that i love and i am still slightly scared of tumblr and this whole putting-words-out-there-where-people-can-see-them thing and i hope this tag is okay buuut @ink-splotch in case you ever happen to see this, i just wanna say that your writing is incredible and resonates with me in a way that nothing else really has before, and I'm so glad I stumbled upon it. thank you so much for bringing these beautiful stories out into the world.

also I stuck the links to the books (the e-books are available to download!! for free!!!) in the titles, so just in case anyone is seeing this who hasn't checked 'em out yet, goooooooo find them right now! be prepared to have your whole heart stolen away (and given back, filled to bursting) <3

“This is a story that believes in heroes in the same way it believes in forest fires, or apples dropping to earth, or stairs in a mountainside. Heroes are destructive. They are inevitable, inexorable, and drawn to fall. They are built. The Academy believed in heroes in the same way it believed in uniforms and old family names. Heroism was tangible and came with a badge attached. Jack Farris believed in heroes in the same way the town built up along the banks of the river believed in flotsam.”

—

Beanstalk, by E. Jade Lomax

Ok, so I’m starting to reread the Leagues and Legends books in my downtime (which today means at almost 1 am after trying to write this on mobile and having it stop working and delete all of it) so you all get some rambles.

First off, this opening is stellar. Right off the bat it tells us that this story falls in the legacy of heroes and fairy tales. Beyond that, in the first five words, we know that this is a meta story, aware of its standing and ready to wink. By the end of the first section, Lomax has hinted at tragic flaws and the hero’s journey, the traumas and dramas (sadly lacking in llamas) that drive heroes forward and forge them into adventurers/rescuers/annihilators.

And then immediately subverts it with an image of heroics as regulated and taught, with an air of pretension. The traditional heroic molds are the prince and the peasant; this two-sentence introduction to the Academy is steeped in classism. Heroism can be born into, it can be bought, and it is bound by appearance.

And then, just for fun, subverts the whole concept of heroics in this world anyway, with the declaration that our leading trickster views them as so much trash and nuisance built up and in the way.

And they’re all true. In her introduction, Lomax maps out the forces shaping the book. At the topmost level, it’s the concept of story itself. Literary traditions and narrative tropes shape storytelling and our understanding of it. They’re important and heavy. On the second level, we see the internal power structures of the world. Forces like the Academy and government agencies, the traditions and culture that have brought the world of the book where they are. And then the bottom level, the individual characters themselves, where Lomax smirks at the top two levels and declares that they might as well be thrown out because these characters will have NONE OF THAT. And we see small rebellions twisting the status quo the whole way through, the power of individuals to cause change, and not just the “oh we saved the world we’re heroes” way.

And this is such a great bit of meta fun, because of course this is a hero story, and of course Jack Farris is a hero, but that gives him even better perspective for how he views them, tbh. And for that matter, while it’s a hero story, it’s probably even more of a healing story, but that’s getting quite ahead of myself and it is now 1:30 in the morning.

(via storiopath)

[sock-to-the-third]

Second star to the left

Creators’ other work

Stay — chose your own adventure game

E. Jade Lomax

The Sky Left Us — visual novel ($20)