#I grew up reading those books and he really is the one children's author that rly cared and evolved w diversity

[artificialnightmare]

Fukuzawa Yukichi

w/ adult soulmate who loves to read.

— fluff, x readers, gender neutral, sfw

— you love books he loves cats.

suggestion : listen to “twilight time (single version) by the platters” while reading

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Fukuzawa hummed quitely to notice his appearance in your room. Lately, he’s been out all day-night due to the elevation of current crimes up in the city, “what have you been reading? I see that you’ve been really dwelled inside the book on your hands?”

“ah, good afternoon, dear.” you welcomed him with a delightful tone; you did actually enjoy seeing him within his rarely seen presence. though, you both engaged and about to get married at the end of the year, “new book. I purchased this yesterday on the new bookstore down the street, next to the cafe where we first met.”

“oh, right. that cafe. i remember it vividly.” Fukuzawa walked closer to you. He put his hand on your shoulder and leaned closer to see the book in your hands, “newest bookstore? still, it’s rather having the same stuffs with the others, right?”

“perhaps, yes.” you said, “and so does all the cats and kittens you kept and took care of.”

“it’s really not a fair comparison.”

“for me, it does.”

He seemed irritated. You heard from others he always the fearless, determined, and stern man of authority. For you, it was rather amusing to see him getting agitated for simple matters. As the scary man people feared, the perception of your own towards him shunned to the winsome and warm-hearted fiance.

“my dear, I was joking,” you kissed him on the cheek, “i appreciate your care towards those kitties. i love having them around the house.”

When he felt the kiss on his cheek, he glanced at you solely to see how serious you took this, “really?”

“yes, of course.”

The truth, you did love cats and kitten, but solely adored their cuteness. Though taking care of them was rather not your virtue—if you wanted to compare it with how Fukuzawa handled each of them with utmost care, you were ashamed as it was an inapproriate comparison.

Known him as a perceptive man, thus he said, “I might troubled you on this matter,” he shyly kissed you back on your cheek, “you must learn more how to take care of them, don’t you think? if you really love them around.”

You wished he was home more often to take care of the kittens, “so, when i’m going to have times to read these books i owned if i constantly taking care of them?”

He giggled, looking at how you sighed he thought it was adorable, “you will have the time.” he took the book in your hands, flipped it to each sides several times, “i will accompany you, either to read or buy them.”

Astonished by his offer, you glanced at him with pleasant eyes, “you? really?”

“yes, of course.”

“But…” you hummed, thinking about how busy he was being lately, and to rushed such a dangerous work would not be safe for him.

Astuted by your worries, he rather took the initiative, “I valued my works and you, to forget about one will make me miserable.” a gentleman like Fukuzawa would never want to see his loving fiancé grew weary over what he did, “give it a rest, my dear. i supposed you should have known i’m a professional of my own matters.”

“I hear you, my dear, Fukuzawa.” you heard them, though worries would not leave your heart. maybe you’ve been blinded by the love that fills your heart, even with him boasted about his proficient ways of doing his matters.

“my dear,” he kissed you softly on the lips,” do not ever be worry, i am never alone in this. the children had been of a tremendous help. we all have each other hands notably in dangerous situation we might face forward.”

You chuckled, with a composure of an unconcerned sight to him, “you’re correct. they are there with you.”

“so…?” he asked.

“so…?”

Fukuzawa smiled, “should we pick a time for us to go to the bookstore, my dearest?”

.

forward rendezvous might—as you thought recollecting his words— felt like a dream of heaven. of which stars and moon combined as a marvelous scenery of countless nights.

.

waiting for you two kiss beneath its delicate rays.

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a/n : finally i went back to writing again (after 2 years lol). i read several books so i thought my competence of writing had been elevated even just by bit. i hope you enjoy this fluff. <3

[winterandwords]

Writer interview tag

Thanks to @deanwax and @sergeantnarwhalwrites for the tags!

This is a loooong one, so I'm going to leave it as an open tag for anyone who wants to do it. Remember to @ me so I can see your answers. Blank template is under the cut 💜

📝 About you

When did you first start writing?

Forfuckingever ago. Seriously. My childhood was littered with 'books' written on folded and stapled sheets of printer paper.

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

I read pretty widely and definitely enjoy reading the genres and themes that show up in my writing, among many others.

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared?

I don't try to emulate anyone, but I'm sure I'm influenced by what I read as much as anyone else is. Someone once described my writing as "if Anne Rice wrote a Bret Easton Ellis book" and I chose to take that as a compliment.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)?

I have a desk in front of a window with a view that I'm in love with. Rolling farmland reaching to mountains in the distance. I've looked at it daily for almost three years and the novelty still hasn't worn off.

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

Absorbing stories from other places. Books, TV shows, films, the persistent horrors of existence.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

Yes, but not intentionally. And the when is as significant as the where. I didn't notice this until someone else pointed it out and now I can't stop seeing it.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

Drugs, violence, organised crime, fuck the system, weather symbolism, nice coats. No surprise at all tbh.

📝 Your characters

Would you please tell me about your current favourite character?

I can't choose between my children.

Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life?

Most of them, honestly. If I had to pick one, it would probably be Brett from November Breaks and Spin Cylinder because he's the one with the most of me in him, but it would be a total disaster because the parts of me I dumped on him aren't exactly the best parts.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

I don't know that I'd dislike any of them, but things would get frosty and weird pretty fast if I was in a room with Gillen from Bridge From Ashes and Name From Nowhere.

Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters.

There is no process. They just arrive in my head and I write about them to stop them yelling at me.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

Obsessive tendencies, rejection of authority, masochism, recklessness, enthusiasm for recreational drugs.

📝 Your writing

What’s your reason for writing?

It makes me happy. I wish it was deeper than that, but it isn't.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

When someone notices some tiny detail I put in there and didn't expect anyone to pick up on. When someone connects with my characters. When someone feels seen because of something I wrote.

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc)

I've never really thought about it. Maybe if reading my writing gave someone else the courage to write what they wanted instead of what they've been told they should write? I struggled with that a lot so it would be cool to help someone else through it.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Character voice, I think? Dialogue? I don't know.

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

See previous answer 🙈

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question)

It's cheaper than therapy.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Yeah. If I was the last person on earth, at least my characters would keep me company while I lost my mind.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

I write what I enjoy and I assume that if I enjoy it, someone else will too. No matter what you do, there's going to be someone else out there who'll get a kick out of it.

About you When did you first start writing? Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write? Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared? Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse? Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about? Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

Your characters Would you please tell me about your current favourite character? Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life? Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them? Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters. Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

Your writing What’s your reason for writing? Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers? How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc) What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer? What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others? How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question) If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write? When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

[docholligay]

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

I came to this book with a not-insignificant amount of baggage and decided to read it anyway. Or, let it go through, rather. And it got drawn. This book, I know, is on a lot of people's favorite lists, which always carries with it a pressure, and I know most of those people experienced it as a child, which always makes me suck my teeth a little, because we all carry the weight of nostalgia with us when evaluating things we grew up with. Also, there was once major cheating trying to get this book into contention for Eight Days.

But, I read it anyway. This is a great kids' book. I know it was written before children's literature was as much a thing, and so it's slippery to define--the only reason it's very easy with Watership Down is the author was pretty clear that he wrote these stories for his daughters--but this is a children's book. It is a very very good children's book. I do sometimes have issue with the way that any time a book is sufficiently good, you see people say it's not for children. There are also excellent, well plotted, heartfelt children's books. Watership Down, Bridge to Terabithia, Tuck Everlasting, there are books that are written for children that resonate, and have meaning, and it is a mistake, and not kind to children, to assume all they can enjoy is pablum and power fantasies.

ANYWAY YES THAT IS MY NON-SPOILERY TAKE. This is an excellent children's book, and I will absolutely read it to Jewlet as she gets older. If this were NOT a children's book, and/or I was in a saucy little mood, I think I would be harder on it. I mean even technically any time I am recommended a children's book as a grown-ass woman, I am meant to take the recommendation as such, but this is such a GREAT children's book I gave it a pass I would not give a lesser one.

Spoilers below the cut

There are so many little things for a kid to take away from this, but it never feels like it's teaching a lesson, and I think it's all the more valuable for that. For example, at the end of the book, with the unicorn, this children's introduction to what it means to KNOW.

What the fuck do you mean by that, Holligay? I've been thinking over and over again about the end, and how she is not like other unicorns, can never be like other unicorns again, and I really like that. Sometimes, you know things your peers do not know. Sometimes, things have touched you that have not yet touched them, may never. It separates you, in some ways, from people. Not totally, but there is always something that feels different when they don't know the things you know. Hard concept to explain to a kid, hard concept to explain to an adult. Well done here.

Oh god, probably one of the more Doc moments of all: "The Bull's nought but a pet name you give your cowardice" what a great moment, and how correct. How many times are we all so guilty of the same? That the big bad is actually us breaking in the face of our fear, the same as the unicorn being driven into the sea, and on that note, I think it is important, and I love, that the Bull was all about FEAR. So far as i can tell, the Bull couldn't do jack shit to the Unicorn, but he could frighten all of them. It is fear that keeps beauty, and magic, and truth, in the bottom of the sea. This is something I would go over with Jewlet, what do we think about the fact that the secret, after all this time, was to be very brave? To refuse to stand down? Maybe fucking Cully could have done it, we don't know because the fear of what the Bull COULD DO, that just became a mask for cowardice.

Hm, other things: I love the idea that Schmendrick's reward for finding his magic is mortality, because to be able to die is a beautiful thing. It is the tragedy of the unicorn that she can't, in part. The skull says it's not good to have time. "Rush, scramble, desperation, this missed, that left behind, those others too big to fit into such a small space--that's the way life was meant to be. You're supposed to be late for some things. Don't worry about it." I love this especially within the fantasy landscape of the time this was written in, where we're still FAIRLY happy with the idea of The Undying being a reward, and immortality a boon.

There's something I really like about the spider who believes herself to be Ariadne, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

ANYWAY THIS IS NOT PROFESSIONALLY COMPOSED ENJOY

[ednito]

Welp! Everyone asked for him, I shall give you what you crave! Jervis tetch!

Tw: death, abuse, bullying, stalking, kidnapping, self harm, I'm sure there will be others but I am going blank on what they could be so read with caution!

Jervis was born in a very large family over in the UK, his mother getting with different men he grew up never really having a father figure, he also grew up poor and never really had a lot growing up. Compared to other children, he was tall and lanky yet freakishly smart, and because of it, it was constantly teased by people and grew up not having a lot of friends. Home life wasn't exactly better either, so he grew up pretty neglected. One thing that helped him cope was reading books. He loved many genres, but science and fantasy were his favorites! One particularly being Alice in Wonderland but which was his favorite!

Eventually he graduated from high school and with his genius intellect it landed him a spot in a pretty prestigious university in the United States, he was originally unsure about the move but seeing how none of his family really cared he just decided to leave as soon as he could. In university that's were he met his wife, alice, they were both taking a course in neuroscience and quickly fell head over heals for one another. Eventually after they graduated they both quickly got married and lived pretty happy lives for the most part, tetch Eventually gaining a job at Wayne tech which made them move to Gotham.

Everything was fine for the most part, he on the rare occasion was able to meet Bruce Wayne and they grew a small friendship as tetch was growing to be Wayne techs leading neuroscientist though many staff members didn't like that and without bruce's knowledge would bully and berate him. Jervis while used to it would on the occasion lash out in fits of anger and eventually after an incident of a group of particular bullies sabotaging an important project for Jervis it lead to him unfortunately losing his position at Wayne tech.

Being unemployed led to Jervis struggling to find a job, it eventually got him mixed up with Salvatore maroni and his goons, trying to convince Jervis to sell him some secret blue prints and projects affiliated with Wayne tech but Jervis still valuing his relationship with Bruce refused and threatened to call the authorities on maroni. Eventually this lead to an altercation with maroni that lead to the death of alice, with so much anger and despair Jervis took one of his own personal projects with him to confront maroni (a prototype to what would be Jervis's mind control machines) and put up a good fight, using his machine he was able to Mind control three of his goons (who eventually became Jervis's three loyal goons) but after finally confronting maroni his machine fails him and explodes, flashing so bright it blinds him in his right eye and causes the base to catch on fire. Luckily, a newish and quite odd vigilante called batman was able to swoop in and save whoever he could, maroni and a handful of other goons were able to escape before he came in.

In the hospital Jervis and those three goons were In a coma for 4 months, all showing brain damage from the prototype, when Jervis did wake up Bruce was there concerned for him but Jervis didn't exactly remember Bruce- unfortunately losing most of his memories, including most of his memories of his wife. By day Bruce would be there to give him company and to help jog his memories, and by night batman would come and also help. Eventually Jervis mixing up some of his memories started to believe that he was the mad hatter from the storybook and refused to believe the woman he was shown (his wife in their wedding photo's) was his Alice, though when asked who exactly his Alice was he would describe her exactly how she was when alive though he could never describe her visually. He refused to believe that his Alice was dead, believing she was just lost in a new environment as to him they just moved to Gotham to start a new life and his last memory of his Alice was with them drinking tea together chatting, last thing he remembers her saying was "don't forget your hat". Unknown to him that was his last interaction with his wife.

Eventually he was put into arkham asylum for his protection and to help his recovery where he was watched over by Dr. Arkham and Dr. Crane but would eventually grow restless and somehow escape. And after a 2 years of being missing came back as the mad hatter.

Hatter doesn't really find any interest in robbing people or murder or power, most of his schemes are made to help find his Alice. Occasionally there will be someone who he thinks would be his Alice and would quietly stalk them, watching them every day waiting for the right time to finally take them out for a tea party. Of course, Jervis doesn't see this as stalking and kidnapping, to him he was just being shy, to him he feels in his heart Alice already is waiting for him and that she's ready for anything when it comes to Jervis. But eventually something goes wrong and it makes him realize that this person is not his Alice, with this knowledge he grows angry and lashes out, never to the person! But to himself, angry that he could be so foolish to mistake them for his Alice and that he's wasted this person's time. Though unsure on how to handle the mix up he leaves it to his goons to handle them, which unfortunately leads to the person being dumped someone or even killed. Usually though batman is there to intervene in these tea parties.

Hatter before and after the incident has always been a friendly and kind man, never really wanting to hurt anyone. But he's prone to intense rage and often times takes it out on objects or to himself, having scars align his arms and legs. After the incident he often times experiences chronic headaches and has short term memory loss, cause of it He's always writing down this thoughts but they always end up being nonsense.

Now here's some little tidbits about Jervis I couldn't really fine a way to incorporate into the synopsis!

While Jervis is usually dissociated there are times where he's calm and collected, where he's behaving just as he did before the incident, this gives Bruce a lot of hope that Jervis can get better.

While Jervis believes in a lot on nonsense and things that are clearly untrue he is very adamant that Quandarism and riddler are quacks and are untrue and that he feels pity for those who genuine believes in that nonsense.

Jervis is pretty tall and lanky, after the incident he's lost a lot of weight and is relatively weaker then before and unfortunately has anorexia

He's actually pretty serious most of the time, rarely ever being childish. When people laugh at him he gets incredibly angry

While he HATES going to arkham asylum he genuinely like Dr. Crane and occasionally flirts with him (unknown that's what he's doing)

He's the only rogue to come close to knowing Batman’s true identity

Welp! That's pretty much it for Jervis! Took some time to type but I'm glad I did! Was actually surprised Jervis got the most votes lmao!

[highfantasy-soul]

I know some people are upset about Gabe not being physically abusive in the TV show for Percy Jackson, but I think it's a change that makes sense.

This is a show geared toward younger audiences - which means morally difficult decisions made by protagonists aren't as prevalent because, you know, kids take what they're shown at face value. If this was geared toward older audiences, they could trust the viewers to critically examine Sally's decision to get with/stay with Gabe despite his abuse, but that's just not the case here. Honestly, the whole 'woman submitting to an abusive man/authority figure for their kid' is a pretty common thing in older kids fiction and I'm glad we're moving away from that - just like we're moving away from showing antagonists are bad by them being ugly or fat (see Echidna in the book).

Having the lesson 'staying with a physically abusive partner for your kid is good, actually' might not be the best message to send, especially since the show just didn't have the time to really delve into that this season, and let's be honest, it doesn't really come up much more in the rest of the series - nothing more than what they could still bring up in the fact that Gabe drank a lot and wasn't a pleasant person to be around.

I think giving representation to kids who grew up in explicitly abusive situations is important, but I also think it needs to be done carefully and with enough time and focus to make sure that the kids that the story is geared toward are understanding and not taking the lesson 'it's heroic to subjugate yourself to abuse for someone else'. Adults can have mature conversations about that - children can't, not in the format/time the show had for it.

I definitely wish they had explained why Sally was with Gabe at all in the TV show as her marrying him just to use him like that is morally questionable in and of itself. Those who didn't read the books are probably left still very confused about that since it wasn't even like Sally was financially dependent on him, he was just there to be the classic 'evil step-parent' to the downtrodden protagonist kid without much more depth than that. But honestly, I think that's better than a super abusive one-dimensional character that's just tossed out at the end of the season without much more going into it.

tldr: Kids fiction is evolving and treating issues like staying with an abusive partner a bit more carefully now, so if the show didn't have the time to focus on that story beat, I'm glad they didn't half-ass it and inadvertently push a really harmful lesson onto the young kids the show was geared toward.

[carrotcouple]

Book Thoughts: Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones

*knock knock* I got it into my head that I wanted to talk about the books I read and how I felt about them and try not to spoil them so that if anyone reads this post they can pick up the book without knowing everything that happens in it.

So 'Cart and Cwidder' is from "The Dalemark Quartet". Publication wise it is the first book to have been published. Chronologically however, it is the third book in the series. I decided to read the series in publication order. For those of you who recognize the name, yes! It is the same author who wrote Howl's Moving Castle! I actually read the fourth book (chronologically and publication wise) randomly when I was a child cause I found it in a library and none of it's friends were around.

From my understanding each book in the Dalemark Quartet is about a different character's story and all these characters end up significant characters in the fourth and last book. With heavy Welsh Mythology and Celtic Mythology roots, the Dalemark Quartet is a fun vibe for those who liked Arthurian Mythology too!

Cart and Cwidder is about a family of Singers (consider them traveling bards). Moril, the youngest son of the family, is the main character. He's dreamy but level headed and rather detached from the world. He tends to go where the wind takes him. His family travels between the North and South of Dalemark often, singing songs and talking to people. The North and South have a horrible relationship and tensions are rising. War seems to be looming on the horizon.

Now that my brief summary is over, lemme talk about how I enjoyed the book, my overall impression of the characters and the themes that I gleaned from the story.

Moril was an incredibly fun character to read. His dreaminess and detachedness led to a very broad view of the story. The story was, of course, written in third person but it was through his point of view. He was fairly content to remain stagnant in that dreamy state at the beginning of the story, but when the ball starts rolling and the plot catches him, he has to learn to grow into his own person, realize that the stagnant dreaminess was his calling to pave his own path as a Singer and eventually lead him to play the blessed Cwidder. He grows in leaps and bounds in this story, hearing the music in the wind and letting it carry him.

Brid was fun! As the only daughter in the family, she was naturally closer to her mom, but she didn't quite have the same steadiness. In fact, it's mentioned on more than one occasion that she needed to be in performance mode in order to do anything in public. Yet despite being in performance mode, she had no qualms with integrating her personal emotions and her real personality into the story. It was incredibly endearing how halfway through the story, her siblings and Kialan let her take the reigns in familial stuff. She was cute and young and wore her heart on her sleeve, but she too grew by the end of the story.

Kialan, who is a boy the family takes in to travel with them briefly is prickly and annoying (to Moril and Brid) at first. He's a smart and no nonsense kind of person who is always looking over his shoulder and trying to keep himself safe. He has one goal and has been trying to achieve that goal for a long time, sometimes no matter what cost it comes at. However, by the end of the story he grows incredibly attached to Moril and Brid. Ready to trade in those self survival instincts and smarts, just for them.

There are other characters, but these three were the central ones, so I really will not talk about the others.

'Cart and Cwidder' is a children's adventure story, not unlike "The Dark Is Rising Sequence" and "The Chronicles of Narnia". So you can expect going into the story that the characters will behave like children, but will often have that beautiful view of the world that adults do not have. 'Cart and Cwidder' is actually fairly dark though, so keep that in mind going into the story.

Music was a central theme, since Moril plays a Cwidder and sings and Brid sings too. Music reaching people, telling people stories, news, about their loved ones, is something explored heavily. But music having power is explored too. How music can move mountains, stop wars, make the most alert soldier sleep, make the hardest heart melt.

It is somewhat of a coming of age or a self discovery story on Moril's end. Throughout the story he struggles with what kind of music he wants to make and what music means to him. The fact that his Cwidder holds power that deeply unsettles him adds flavor to his struggle. He learns to find himself, what he wants, acknowledges the power he holds as a person, a musician and a storyteller and also realizes what he wants to do with that.

Truth is an incredibly large part of the story that was not as obvious. But Moril has to learn to be truthful. True to himself, true to his Cwidder. He has to face the consequences of twisting the truth, the consequences of lying. With a constant opposite being shown in how his father only performs and his sister also does too and how his brother tries to share his truths, Moril has to understand what is actually truth.

And lastly, my favorite bit was a minor but nonetheless, the role of women in the story. Given the time period in the story, it is better for a woman to get married in order to be protected and safe. And we see the decisions that Moril and Brid's mother makes and how they're somewhat resentful of her at first but then they understand and realize she was just a person. And then we end up seeing it reflected in Brid as she learns and grows.

Cart and Cwidder was a super fun read with secretive bards, ancient legends, magic, songs that can move mountains, wars, conspiracy, discovery and freedom.

[johaerys-writes]

Not counting Patrochilles:

1) Who are your favorite characters from Greek mythology (in general)? 2) Who are your favorite Homer characters specifically?

Omg what a great question. So I have many many favourites when it comes to Greek myths, it's hard to choose. I basically grew up reading simplified versions of these myths, specifically these children's books by Sofia Zarampouka (a greek author and painter, I'm sure any Greeks following me will recognise these lol):

Just look at all those gorgeous covers. I had the whole series at some point and I have no idea where it is now, but I used to read these over and over when I was younger.

I absolutely loved reading about the labours of Heracles, those were really fun even though I didn't love Heracles himself as a character. I also really liked Theseus' story (Ariadne and her yarn! The maze! The Minotaur! Poor Aegeus dying at the end aksjs so sad) even though, again, I never much liked Theseus as a character haha. Atalanta was one of my favourites and her myth is very cool, and I also liked Perseus' story a lot. Antigone is a huge favourite, as well as Iphigeneia. I find their stories very compelling and very tragic and I think about them a lot!!!!

Another one that I absolutely love is Medea and her story with Jason and the Argonauts. The Argonauts on their own have a very interesting myth (heroes that sail to a strange land with strange customs in search of the mythical golden fleece) but the appearance of Medea and her later story with Jason is what makes it a fascinating story for me. She is the embodiment of what most Greeks at the time would find at once incredibly alluring and incredibly threatening: she is foreign (the Other), beautiful, powerful, she has hidden knowledge and magic, she defies her own father and kills her brother to help Jason escape. And when Jason, dickhead that he is, abandons her to marry someone else, she commits the ultimate taboo of killing her own children. She is such a polarising and blood-chilling character and I really love seeing how much she has inspired artists through the centuries.

As for Homeric characters, I do love Hector a lot, and the moments when he appears in the Iliad are among my favourites, alongside all the Patrochilles moments. I find Nestor very entertaining and he's always a delight when he appears, and I also enjoy Diomedes' and Odysseus' bro chemistry a lot lol. Clytemnestra is also one of my favourite characters in Greek myth in general. Technically it's Euripides' version of her that I love, based on his Iphigeneia at Aulis play, she doesn't appear in the Homeric works but she is mentioned so it counts lol. I also really love Briseis-- even though she talks very little in the Iliad, I still love her characterisation and the overall role and significance she has in the story. Another one I really love is Priam, I cannot read the passages where he appears in the Iliad without tearing up, he's just such a kind and noble person and his interactions with other characters in the epic give so much depth and nuance to Trojan society and culture and the tragedy that befell them.

Most of my fave Homeric characters are from the Iliad, but I should give special mention to some Odyssey characters I really love. I always found Circe very intriguing and the descriptions of her island and her magic etc are SO interesting and I wish we had been given more!! (Honestly even though I adore the Iliad I always found the Odyssey much more fun to read lol). Telemachus and Peisistratus are also special blorbos (and here I should give a shoutout to the amazing @figsandphiltatos for writing the fic that made me insane for them alsjs 😭🙏)

Gosh this is already so long and I feel like I could talk about this forever ahaha. I probably left a lot of characters and myths out but didn't want to ramble too much. Thank you once again for this question!

[goodfully]

a little delayed but i wrote most of this in my notes app waiting for internet access hahaha i finished reading the third book yesterday, mostly in the car, im in the middle of a trip with family and relatives so this might be more vague/disorganized. mm okay thoughts on "those who leave and those who stay"!

i mean all of this in a lighthearted way! but wow idk what i was expecting with nino, i was lowkey hoping he wouldnt be a major character in the third book. oh my god, i swear every time ninos name was revealed (the author of some article, somebodys friend, some babys father, etc..) i mentally rolled my eyes.. i get that hes an important character and its great how he encourages lenu with her academic work much more than pietro ever did, but wow, tbh ive had enough with this guy hahaha

okay! i think what i liked most about this book is that that while the first two books were centered on lenu and lila looking towards their future and escaping their neighborhood, the third book was so much of them both looking back on the past. by that i mean, both their own lives in that neighborhood in naples, as well as history and politics globally.

anyway im glad we got more political history in this book, it just makes sense to i think. lenu and lilas lives are very much affected by it, and always had been, but it becomes much more clear to them now that theyre older, altho ig in different ways. mm like understanding the connection between the violence in the neighborhood they grew up in and the systems of exploitation that exist globally (like imagine finding your first boyfriend is the leader of some fascist thugs that beat ppl up in front of the factory your friend works at). i think its important bc ever since the first book im sure that we've been hearing from both lenu and lila that they feel as tho something beyond their grasp and comprehension is keeping them from escaping from the lives they had/have. and like.. maybe theyve known it was the patriarchy, fascism... before they even knew what it was. ahh the stuff that lenu said in the beginning about how we cant really escape bc the world is poisoned everywhere. its a bleak view, but that part in the very beginning was ahhhhh...

oh god, lenu having daughters.. like.. more mother/daughter relationship things... the things girls learn from their mothers (dede and elsa in front of the mirror acting dissatisfied with the way they look.. i know it was a short, insignificant scene but i would have cried) and also. when lenus mother came to take care of her, and she said "i was afraid she would never return. but she always did"... ahh!!! and then when elena told her daughters about leaving their father and both of her daughters asked if she would take them or begged her to stay. screams. oh oh oh and every single time she notices that one the younger children resembles their father???

as much as i do adore lenu, i find myself attached to lila.. so when there was that big chunk of just purely lilas part of the story, i was excited (despite the very distressing events)... anyway thoughts on that lila part:

i was thinking about how much this part showed how revolutionary movements arent that straightforward, esp between the actual working class and the intellectual students, like when revolutionary movements arent led by the ones the revolution was made purposefully to liberate? ohh actually i have a lot of thoughts on this and the events that happened, i like how much ferrante talks about it, but ill keep it short.. the part with lilas speech in the pamphlet, the fight in front of the factory, pasquale and nadia disagreeing with lenu helping lila, local and state armed fascists, union organizers not truly representing the workers, its relation to the patriarchy etc..

also so heartbreaking, seeing lila lose her mind over her child, believing that the closer he is to her, the more likely he'll break.. like her. god god i understand that feeling, but i imagine its so much worse for lila when its her own child. that thing about feeling trapped in the same fate as your parents is just so so sad. ive literally never wanted to have my own children bc of this.

i know im projecting onto lila, but tbh the idea that lila is aroace is...!!! haha.. like when she was crying and telling enzo that she loves him and wishes every night to hold him close, but "beyond that i dont want anything." and hhfhrh idk i feel this way for a lot of ppl and know i risk being left if im unable to give what the other person in a relationship wants and they suffer for it. hh

oh! i think its cool that while the revolutionary/workers rights movement was a bigger thing for lila, the feminist movement was more significant for lenu.. god pietro was so??? idk why he was so insistent on following traditional husband/wife roles. i thought something was off about him since they first got engaged and he didnt care of her novel. tbh i am happy for her and hope she gets to be content with her self and her life in the next book. oh and the new thing that lenu writes is so interesting... i think maybe the women in the books would find it the truth for them, except probably lila. so it was interesting when alfonso tells lila that he wants to if he was a woman, hed want to be like lila.

oh some other random parts i keep thinking about: when she and lila were talking excitedly like when they were children, and the talk finally inspired something in her to write a second novel. and when lila read it, and cries. and they both say they dont know who they are without the other.. and when lenu starts rambling about how she believes lila has the intense capacity for apocalyptic violence like she did at the start of the second book, i go crazy i love that hahaha. hmm and gigliola... i remember not thinking much of her yet in the first two books, but really i like her and feel a lot for her.

mm there might be stuff i forgotten to mention, but ill end this here for now! i cant believe its only one book left already...

[prahacat]

Hi, I really hope you don't mind me asking a few of the questions from the fan fiction writers ask because I'm curious. Of course it's totally fine if you don't want to answer.

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

🍭why did you start writing?

And my own... Do you write in your first or second language and how does this affect your writing process?

Hey! I LOVE talking about writing and (fan) fiction so thank you so much for giving me an excuse to do so! <3

✨ A fic I wish got more credit: "The Red Night" (it's on both tumblr and ao3) Yes yes, I know. It's poetry, it's very short, it's kinda weird(?) but also kinda generic. Basically the kind of stuff where, as a writer, you're lucky if people click on it at all (and I'm beyond happy some people did and even liked it enough to leave kudos/likes or reblog <3). But I spent several days on those ~500 words, I love how it turned out, it's like my favorite child, it's so ME ... and sometimes I can't help but wish it would get the same love as my other fics.

💝 A fic that got a different response than I was expecting: All of them, in some way, but especially "Three Days of Thawing". It was the first fanfic I uploaded to ao3 after years of writing original fic only: a little oneshot I wrote as a part of a bigger project and ended up posting just for the hell of it. I honestly didn't expect to get a response at all. A fic where nothing happens, it's just 15k of two old jaded men bickering and drinking tea? Little plot, hardly any romance? they don't even kiss. Who'd want to read that?

🍭 Why I started writing: Writing in general: Because of my love for words. My family had a lot of books, so I grew up with stories. As a kid, reading was like eating to me. Sometimes, when I was starved for words and there was no book around, I'd read the tv manual, a cookbook, the labels on my cereal box. Whenever I was bored, I'd dig through my parents' bookshelves until I found something that sounded interesting. Naturally, since it wasn't geared toward children, a lot of it went right over my head. For example, I remember reading this passage from Bronte's Jane Eyre:

‘As we are!’ repeated Mr. Rochester—‘so,’ he added, enclosing me in his arms. Gathering me to his breast, pressing his lips on my lips: ‘so, Jane!’

… and it had me so confused. I didn't get it. "Pressing his lips on my lips? Okay, so like kissing? Why doesn't the author simply write kissing then? That's such a strange, roundabout way of phrasing it!" Yes, I was very young. But moments like that made me think about the different ways to use language for the first time. I feel like writing stories is all about expressing simple truths in a bit of a strange, roundabout way.

Writing fan fiction: I started writing fanfic (again) because I was stuck with my original story. So I wrote a short story about my current obsession, Star Wars. And then another one. And another. I love the disaster lineage, and I love writing for the PT because so many of my favorite themes can be accommodated in the stories. A lot of it is about family, about the more quiet, intimate struggles that happen inside of us, but there's also something so inherently "Greek tragedy" about the characters that makes their destruction feel intense and almost inevitable.

First and second language and how it affects my writing process: I write in both my first and second language. English is my second language. I don't think my writing process differs much in either language. My English is okay, I guess ... I keep looking up comma rules and prepositions when editing.

There are a few instances, especially when writing emotional, introspective scenes, where the idea of what I want to say evokes a strong, very specific feeling, but it remains abstract, almost like music or a blur of colors. Or like a train of vague thoughts, but they keep moving and flashing and I can't grasp them. And in such cases, I sometimes resort to my native language to "search" for imagery or tangible concepts that can be expressed with language. It's not like I have difficulty expressing my ideas in English, it's more that the process of pulling them from some unconscious, wordless depths into the realm of consciousness and language comes easier to me in my native tongue. I guess it's more of a creativity technique?

For example, I remember using this technique on this little paragraph from "Three Days of Thawing" (the fic where Dooku is stuck in his Redemption Arc, oscillating between self-loathing and the need for acceptance/forgiveness):

Maybe Dooku wasn’t happy, how could he ever again, but he had learned to put some distance between himself and the hated shadow inside him, the way most people no longer think about the bacteria living in their mouths or the mass of dead skin cells on their bodies, all a gross but inevitable part of the self. Him: the man he hated, and the man who hates, and the man who tries to forgive them both, and the dizzying distance in between. Sometimes, when he sits by the lake and stares at his reflection trapped inside the ice, he can delude himself into believing he might become whole again.

I felt the part about the split self very strongly, but it wasn't until I thought about it in my native language that the words to express this feeling came to me.

There are quite a few scientific studies about how emotions are accessed and processed differently in your native language and in your second language. I know I'm definitely a bit more detached from my emotions when I'm speaking/thinking in English. In contrast, my "English brain" is more rational and analytic, which is great for "killing your darlings" and avoiding sappy, melodramatic dialogue (something I love to write, but it often doesn't feel right for my fav characters like Dooku or Obi-Wan).

Gah, I could really talk about this topic for hours! It's so fascinating to me, and I'd be very interested in hearing the experiences of other bilingual writers!

Thank you again for the questions, this was a lot of fun!

[mariacallous]

When Carrie Fisher passed away in 2016 at the age of 60, she was remembered as far more than her iconic turn as the girl in the gold bikini. In addition to a prolific acting career, Fisher authored seven books, served as a script doctor for other writers, and always made a point to speak openly on her struggles with addiction and mental illness.

"Books were my first drug. They took me away from everything and I would just consume them."

Often likened to Hollywood’s Dorothy Parker, Fisher harbored a deep love for language. In a 2008 piece for The Week, she provided a list of the books that most influenced her life and work, including classics by George Eliot, Joan Didion and Salman Rushdie. Read on for her favorites.

Middlemarch by George Eliot (also rec’d by Zadie Smith)

“One of the greatest books ever written by a woman, especially in those early days. Although Mary Anne Evans gave herself a male pen name, she showed incredible ambition and scope in her writing—the world she created, the characters she imagined. I love that line in the book that reads: “The really delightful marriage must be that where your husband was a sort of father, and could teach you Hebrew, if you wished it.” It was hard to be a woman in those days, but her storytelling was exceptional.” -CF

Naked by David Sedaris

“This collection of personal essays made me laugh as hard as any book I’ve ever read. I also discovered that I needed glasses when reading this, but still it’s one of the funniest books ever.” -CF

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (also rec’d by St. Vincent)

“I love her use of spare narrative throughout this story about an unfulfilled actress looking for purpose in her life. I admired the style then and have tried to pattern some of my own writing in that fashion.” -CF

My Old Sweetheart by Susanna Moore

“She’s an extremely talented writer. Her first novel, set in the 1950s, is about a woman who grew up with a very eccentric mother, which, of course, is why I related to it.” -CF

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

“I love Salman. He’s a friend of mine, but I loved this book—which allegorically weaves a family’s story with the history of modern India—even before I knew him. I’m just showing off that I know him.” -CF

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust

“I’m also showing off that I’ve actually gotten through Swann’s Way, the first volume in Proust’s monumental work In Search of Lost Time. Just getting through those first 100 pages, where he could not fall asleep until his mother kissed him good night, was an achievement alone.” -CF

[forest-of-stories]

Throwback Thursday, Fandom Edition: "It's Slinkster Cool"

I wrote a fan letter to Francesca Lia Block when I was 13.

I also enclosed a hand-drawn "family tree" depicting the interconnected relationships in her Weetzie Bat series, the omnibus edition of which I would eventually read and reread so many times that it literally cracked in half. I mentioned two family members in my letter, but at some point, I shared the series with Younger Sister as well. A couple of months ago, she went on a work trip to Los Angeles, and told us after returning that she'd looked around for landmarks from Weetzie Bat.

As a young reader, I was enthralled, not only by the lush descriptions of food and outfits and city streets that filled those books, but by their inherent sense of wonder and appreciation for creativity and chosen families, and by the version of adulthood that they seemed to offer. Maybe I didn't want to go to clubs or star in movies or learn to surf when I grew up, but I was very attached to the idea of sharing a beautiful house with all my friends, and maybe some adorable dogs, where we'd create the art that we loved and – to quote Missing Angel Juan, my favorite book in the series – live like "kids playing in the street before they have to go in for dinner." The life I eventually built hasn't always been like that, but I'm lucky to have experienced moments that feel similarly satisfying.

As with many childhood favorites, I can find a lot to criticize about Block's writing when I look back on it now, and so can other people. In 2013, Debbie Reese wrote about the questionable Native American representation in the Weetzie Bat books on her incredible American Indians in Children's Literature blog. James Frankie Thomas*, in an installment of his 2019 "YA of Yore" column, discussed the uncomfortable body issues that recurred across Block's canon (there's your content warning for eating disorders), as well as some of the limitations of the remarkable-for-its-time queerness in her books. But he also talks about why her work was genuinely appealing to so many readers, and I found myself nodding along with his observation that "Block’s style flattens magic into the everyday and imbues the everyday with magic... by the grace of luck, Block made it seem cool to be swooningly, squealingly excited about everything." I did include the phrase "sappy as that may sound" in my letter, but I like to think that Francesca Lia Block, of all authors, wouldn't be put off by sincerity.

She eventually wrote back to me, on a postcard that is now barely legible: "Thank you for the cool project and your note. I really appreciate it."

*Since writing the column, Thomas has come out as trans, and his byline and author bio reflect this, but the "YA of Yore" tagline still uses his old name and the pronoun "her." If you want to read his related essays, I recommend them, particularly the one about Animorphs, anoher beloved series that I talked about a couple of weeks ago.

[pollyssecretlibrary]

"The Countess and the Commoner", by Matilda Madison

𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗯𝘆 the author 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 “𝗥𝗲𝗹𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗥𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀” 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘 - 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟲𝘁𝗵, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

“ℐ 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒾𝓃 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒶 𝓋𝒾𝓈𝒸𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝑒. ℐ 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒷𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉. ℐ 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈. 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊.”

My dear friends, never promise your partner on their deathbed that you will never fall in love again, even if you are totally sure that they are the love of your life.

When her husband Robert, earl de Marchand, was dying of a fever, Sarah promised him that she would never ever fall in love again. She would never remarry and she would keep the estate until their son grew up. Big mistake, because not three years later Sarah feels lonely, so lonely that she thinks of taking a lover, one with whom she would never fall in love. But fate never plays fair and precisely the one she chooses, handsome commoner Simon Archer, is precisely the one she will fall in love with, again.

Simon is someone’s son, a secret that will be unveiled later in the book, his mother left him and his older brother Jack, at a nunnery when he was a baby. Ever since then, both brothers have found their fortune in timber and other investments, they’re incredibly rich, but that will never allow them join the ton, nor they want to be one of them. But Simon is a family man at heart and he dreams of a wife and children by his side, therefore when Sarah tells him they no longer can be together because of the promise that binds her, he decides to look for a wife somewhere else. Even though he’s deeply, madly in love with Sarah.

Sarah is much like the dog in the manger, when she realizes that Simon intends to become engaged to some other woman, she’s suddenly upset, will she have the courage to be honest to herself and fight for the man she loves?

This and much more is what Matilda Madison has to offer us. The story starts at a slow pace, but it reaches a moment when everything becomes so exciting that I couldn’t, I wouldn’t stop reading. I think what engaged me in the story is the powerful feelings and sensations that both Simon and Sarah are feeling, the angst, the longing, the desperation, the little hope and the perseveration. Before they can be together one of them needs to realize what is really setting them apart. A promise to a dead man? Class differences? Family and friends? Fear of rumors and half-truths? All of those factors are cards on their table, is love the highest scoring card that will invalidate all others? I cannot answer to that question, you will need to read this compelling story, feel the same as Sarah and Simon feel and hope for the best. Be moved as I was moved, cry as I cried, laugh as I laughed, dream. Always, always dream.

[rose-of-redwall]

The Redwall Universe through Redwall and The Rogue Crew

Hi friends! I'm graduating highschool in two days (TWO DAYS!! ISN'T THAT CRAZY!!), and as a final project during my senior year, I did a literary analysis of the Redwall series! My final essay studies the themes in the Redwall universe as observed through the lens of the first and last (published) book, as well as through my own knowledge, and also examines the differences therein. I wanted to give insight into the series while explaining the background of all my points just a little bit :).

To start the project, I reread Redwall (well, most of it, but then life got busy. No matter, though, I've read it countless times before.) Going into this year, I had finished twenty-one of the twenty-two Redwall books. So, as part of the material for my project, I read The Rogue Crew for the first time! You guys should see my annotations in the book. There are at least four notes on each page, it's insane but also so rich and lovely. I also focused some of my studies on the I-Am That Is poem as its own unit, seeing as it's one of the most famous poems in the series, and I came up with some really fascinating notes.

I'll add a photo of my notes to my blog after this post because I just find them so interesting and I hadn't thought of a lot of the things I wrote beforehand. That's something about this project- diving into the books like this and writing my own thoughts about them has helped me understand them so much more deeply. I'm very grateful and excited that I finished this project and created what I have. Anyway, I'll get back to business.

I can officially say that it took me about a decade to read all the Redwall books and that I finished them by the time I was eighteen. I'm sure that no one is surprised I chose to do this project while completing senior year, these books mean so much to me and I want to bring them into my future with me. Here it is: The Redwall Universe through Redwall and The Rogue Crew. To read my work, scroll on through the break!

(P.S., There's more rambling after the essay. I can't resist talking about my creations and my love and all the other stuff I wrote this semester. See ya!)

I have been loving the Redwall series by Brian Jacques for over a decade; the books have always drawn me in with their world-building and depth. Redwall, written in 1986, starts the series in a revered sandstone abbey, the center of this world. After another twenty books, The Rogue Crew continues to expand the land of Mossflower and the surrounding country. As the very first and last books in the series, they are glimpses into the vast and complex universe of woodlanders created by Jacques. A universe that started in the real world, and grew to be full of adventure, joy, and tragedy- grew to be full of culture, history, and community- a universe that always invites its readers in.

The Redwall world was based on Jacques’ own backyard, and continues to be influenced by our reality. The series was originally written for children, the author wanted to use his stories to guide them growing up. Therefore, his books reference the reality that those children lived in. He has stated that the Abbey was inspired by the ruins of a church he visited as a child and that his experiences with poverty and food insecurity influenced the description of bountiful feasts in his books. He used his writing to illustrate beautiful woodland, grassland, and seaside settings for readers to experience. Additionally, descriptions of human churches and horse-and-buggies were included in Redwall, but scrapped for the rest of the series. Even though those ideas were discarded, Brian Jacques continued Redwall’s connection to humanity through an emphasis on the natural world, a connection to his audience, and the lessons he wanted to teach.

Although it is a series written for children, Redwall is often very heavy. Jacques’ desire to teach about morality through his stories meant that the battles in Redwall are battles between “good” and “evil.” The antagonist is always defeated when goodbeasts triumph in the end, but still, so many innocent characters die. Heroes and villains alike are killed without warning, shocking their comrades and readers of the series. As part of his lessons on morals, Jacques writes with the idea that “good” characters belong to some species and “bad” ones belong to others. This helps him effectuate his lessons on morals. Although this is a theme that the author only strays from when he wants to convey growth or individuality, his characters often hold different opinions regarding ethics. The Abbot in Redwall accepts villains because he believes it is right to lead with trust and love. Sometimes he is right, and sometimes he is gravely mistaken. The Rogue Crew, though, leads encounters with violence in all cases to protect themselves and everybeast on the High North Coast. In the Redwall books, some characters will always be a threat to peaceful life, and some will always be good and kind to all.

Equally as often as the books are tragic, though, they are daring and joyful. Each book is split into three (or four, in the case of The Sable Quean) subsections, the first of which is the discovery of a quest, the second the adventure itself, and the last the final battle. Of the adventures, the most famous is in Redwall, when Matthias follows a riddle left for him by Martin the Warrior to unearth the dead hero’s iconic sword and shield. As the books progress, more groups travel farther through Mossflower and the story delves deeper into its history. Villains arrive from overseas and heroes come from Salamandastron and even farther in all directions, traveling through the beautiful and unpredictable world. New and unique settings are discovered, new alliances are made, and goodbeasts explore all of Mossflower country and the land beyond. Characters quest, guided by their ancestors and comrades, to learn about the world and enjoy its bounty.

The most important value in the Redwall world, the one that Brian Jacques and all his readers emphasize, is community. Mossflower is steeped in community, culture, history, and tradition. Redwall Abbey is ancient and universally known as a sanctuary to those of good heart. Its Abbeybeasts support each other and provide for all of Mossflower with feasts, celebrations, a well-run abbey, and sturdy sandstone walls. They love and guide each other, but as a culture, they look to Martin the Warrior. Martin helped create the Abbey and is tied to it intrinsically. The goodbeasts within trust his guidance and protection, as he is the image of their home. His spirit appears to Redwallers in dreams and with riddles, but he also appears to would-be enemies, terrifying them into abandoning their prospects of riches and conquered lands. As much as Martin protects the woodland community, Abbeybeasts work through him as well, by invoking his image to raise their own spirits and frighten their enemies. Abbey society values the culture of community and love in Redwall, an idea that Martin helped grow, but that has been true forever and always.

Redwall Abbey is the center of the Redwall world, but is by no means the only community of value or impact. Another ancient location, Salamandastron, has been standing since the beginning of time. The warriors within have long-established teachings and traditions. Its Badger Rulers are summoned there by their ancestors to command the coast. The Long Patrol have a professional duty to protect every goodbeast from danger and to spring to battle at a moment’s notice, but they do so with good spirits and comradery. GUOSIM shrews are known to all woodlanders and warriors as they traverse and rule the River Moss. Throughout the country, small communities add to the tapestry of  Redwall characters. Their existences and relationships create the web that is Mossflower Wood and the surrounding countryside- they are all special and integral to their stories.

Redwall has been a big piece of my life for such a long time, which I have found to be true for many other readers- I have found real friends through talking about the books! Brian Jacques started writing for a small group of children, but the series has grown well past that in the last thirty-seven years. During his career, he shared twenty-two intricate, meaningful, and celebrated stories with the world. Jacques wrote fantasies about adventure, tragedy, morality, beauty, and joy. Although his works are fiction, he wanted his audience to find real values and a real home in them. Jacques loved his readers and welcomed them into the books. My friends like to say that Redwall lives on because of the community that has been brought together around it, that it will never really end. Brian Jacques likes to say that the gates of Redwall Abbey are always standing, always open to those of good will and a kind heart.

Thank you so much for reading! I always say this, but I'm quite proud of what I've done. I'm so happy to be able to use my own words to create what could vaguely be called literature or art, that comes from my own heart and from a series I love so much. I am also so glad to contribute to the community with something I'm proud of, something I think is valuable, and to have a community to contribute to in the first place! Love to you all, and thank you again for visiting.

I have a lot more resources I created during this whole big project, so let me know if anyone wants to see my write-ups and things on the books! In truth, I'll probably post things later if I decide they're cool.

Have a wonderful night! Signed, Sable Rose.

Works Cited

Jacques, Brian. Redwall. New York, Penguin Random House, 2010.

---. The Rogue Crew. New York, Philomel Books, 2011.

“Redwall.” Redwall Wiki | Brian Jacques and Redwall Information. https://redwall.fandom.com/wiki/Redwall.

[andreasphilippineslitblog]

Week 2 Blog

This week I read pages 42-95 of the book “Monsoon Mansion” by Cinelle Barnes. 

The most important sentence of this week can be found on page 54: “I said, ‘God, I need a new hairbrush. And I just want everyone to stop fighting. Amen.’” Her father tells her about a war happening in the Philippines, and how she and her brother are to band together against the common enemy. The author experiences a sudden change in her life, when her parents start constructing a place for weddings, birthdays, and parties. She is trapped upstairs for the duration of time where there are events hosted everyday. Then she is introduced to Elma, the daughter of Manang Biday (the helper), they build a friendship, since her brother is engulfed in his video games, ignoring everything. One day everything changed for her, a huge monsoon hit, flooding her family’s mansion. During those forty days everything was hectic, flooding from the main floor to the second floor, valuable items from the monsoon gone from the ocean, her family being torn apart from everything. Her mother frustrated from losing everything, her father in sorrow, her brother silent and distracted, the helpers adapting the best they can with their chores. While that is all happening she and Elma, were in a state of imagination to distract themselves from the situation. 

I can’t help but feel sympathetic for Cinelle, she is going through a lot, the family issues, her house being flooded, and how aware she is with everything. She knows more than anyone in this book, and she’s only a child. I learned that her mother is like a child, throwing tantrums when she doesn’t get everything her way. Although her actions are childish, I feel bad for her, she lost everything, her money, children, and home. I also feel bad for her father, the mother is always lashing out at him, since their money is going down the drain from his job. There are stories from her father’s childhood that are entertaining, he grew up poor and has lots of tales to tell. Even for Paolo, he’s silent during the whole incident, and copes with video games. I’m glad Cinelle now has a friend with everything she is going through. I really like the book so far, very interesting and captivates my attention.

Word Count: 390

[genuflectx]

Ender’s Saga, sans the Forth

I found myself writing something soft and sappy about Ender’s Game after reading it, never finished, and then I read the next two novels, Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide, and the illusion was well broken. There’s a forth, Children of the Mind, but despite it being the second half cleaved from Xenocide, after Xenocide I find myself hard pressed to read #4. So we are going to pretend it doesn’t exist except for the brief synopsis on Wikipedia.

Ender’s Game is one of those classic novels you may have read in school. It was released in 1985 by Orson Scott Card, who would have been about 34 at the time, but he had been publishing since the 70s. Ender’s story would continue on for decades. Even today Card still writes and publishes for Ender, but Ender’s Game was the first and, out of the three I have read, the best.

Ender’s Game is simplistic, following just Ender and then his two Earthbound siblings as a secondary plotline. Three main characters with spatterings of child soldiers flittering in and out of Ender’s life. The climax is unexpected and shocking (in a good way), though the ending after that is divisive. Going from a 10 year old boy to a 20 year old man running a colony on an alien planet in the course of a few sentences will certainly do that. But before that, Ender’s game is easy to swallow, it’s themes uncomplicated and plot one-track-minded. It’s not so subtle in it’s criticism of the military, child soldiers/lost childhoods, and war.

Then, you pick up the second book, Speaker for the Dead. From #1 to #2 Card makes a great leap that is incredibly jarring, but it pushes us forward into an expanded universe. Once comfortable with that, the book is solid. More complex than the 1st (as sequels usually are) and a large swath of new characters on a new planet. But Valentine falls by the wayside, only a distant memory for Ender throughout SFTD. There is mystery, there is conflict, there is tragedy and new belonging. It ends just as abruptly as the 1st ended, with a single sentence marrying Ender to Novinha, who he had never expressed previous romantic affection for except for when he first saw her teenage face. But otherwise it ends well; an interspecies treaty is formed and the Hive Queen emerges again. This one tries to tell us peace is hard work but worth it, unfortunately that is layered under Card’s love of colonialism and his thoughts on religion.

You want to know what happens next with the Hive Queen and so pick up the third book, Xenocide. With a name like that you might dread the future for the buggers and pequeninos. But #3 is wildly different than #2, a seemingly endless train of thought. I describe this book as Card talking to himself. There is still remnants of his writing there, mainly through the new planet of Path, but the majority of this book is a hodgepodge of philosophical essays on God that he put quotation marks around and credited to his fictional characters. Characters we grew to know from SFTD have been watered down into clones of Ender or Valentine. Except if they are a woman, because then they get a dash of hysterics. It ends with most of the plot unresolved, because the book was so long that the publisher forced Card to cut it in half. Thus, where Xenocide leaves us unfulfilled, we are expected to continue with Children of the Mind to find out the conclusion to the main story of Ender. But I had such a hard time with large pieces of Xenocide that I cannot image forcing myself to do so again with the forth book. In Xenocide, he hits you over the head with the same arguments about peace being worth it but this time it feels more like he’s beating you with a bat. This book really didn’t tell you anything new, only amplified previous messages by 10, coupled with the occasional messy 90s sci-fi that was so endearing in Star Trek.

Card, as a sci-fi author born in the 50s, has his issues. And where you might be able to ignore those issues through Ender’s Game due to its simplicity, his opinions only become louder and more obstructive the deeper into the series you get. It’s easy to miss opinionated content in Ender’s Game when it is so subdued and you cannot see a pattern in it. But continued reading reveals the patterns, and indeed makes those patterns scream at you until you can’t help but cringe.

There are three women in Ender’s Game, and all three are not great. One, a religious mother who forgets her son exists once he’s gone. Two, a sister deemed “too empathetic” and “mild” to be of use, whose great deeds are underscored by her brothers’. Three, an emotional child-solider who is the first to have a mental break during combat. “Two” is Valentine, of course, Ender’s older sister who he reveres like a goddess and has an uncomfortably loving and close relationship with that boarders on something not familial. 

But SFTD and Xenocide push the limits of caricature with Card’s women characters. Calm, rational women are the outlier for Card. Where it is unusual in Card’s universe for a man to be violent and unintelligent it is also unusual in Card’s universe for a woman to be unemotional and uninvolved. Ela is the main outlier, here. You can argue Valentine is as well, but by Xenocide she has turned into Ender and I hardly view her as her own character anymore. Long gone is empathetic Valentine, for when she meets disabled Miro the first things out of her mouth are vile insults to his character and personality, based solely on his being disabled. She says everything just short of “don’t be so sensitive just because you’re a c-slur.” By Xenocide, Valentine is not the calm-and-rational outlier woman Card so rarely writes, she has lost all her empathy which had made her Valentine, but has kept which traits that make her reflect Ender’s own. Not even Valentine can be her own woman. If a woman is to be rational in Card’s universe then she is to be a copy of Ender, who himself is frequently hailed as Card’s self insert. Perhaps Ender and Valentine’s relationship, so deeply close that even their own spouses are jealous, is more a reflection of Card wanting to fuck himself more than the other, grosser explanation, which is an obsession with pseudo-incest.

But gender dynamics are very surface level for Card. Beyond that, by SFTD, the main theme is that “colonization and religious indoctrination is a good thing.” The enemy is non-interference, the enemy is letting culture develop on its own timeline. In Card’s universe, it is wrong to let the pequeninos be as they are. In Card’s universe, it is “good” and “noble” to convert non-industrial colonies of pequeninos to Christianity, specifically to Catholicism. In Xenocide, a priest which converts the pequeninos (one of Ender’s stepsons) is a martyr when he dies and he is celebrated for introducing aliens to an Earth religion that is unnatural to them. And this is despite half of the pequeninos planning to take Catholicism and use it to commit genocide against humans, who would die of the virus that they carry, because they believed the virus to be God’s way of purging the unworthy. But Card’s rational is that such pequeninos were “just reading the Bible wrong,” and that “they would regret it,” not that giving tribal aliens the very Earthen, very human, Bible was maybe, just maybe, a bad idea. This could have been a warning to the dangers of interference but, knowing Card and his opinions, that isn’t so. He genuinely sees this all as a “good” and “noble” thing.

Card’s adoration of colonialism is made even more clear in his inability to write space colonies as anything but segregated. By SOTD we are 3,000+ years into the future, 3,000+ years since spaceflight, but humans apparently cannot conceive of interethnic colonies. A colony is either all Nordic, or all Portuguese, or all Chinese, carrying with it the same architectural, religious, and cultural identities that they held 3,000 years ago. If a colony must be Chinese then by God, Card believes that the colony must still uphold kowtowing and the social standards of ancient China and show no sign of cultural drift, save for the addition of computers in each room. If a colony must be Portegese then by God, Card believes the colony must all be blatantly Catholic and built of brick, as if incapable of cultural exchange. Card writes Xenocide in long self-important philosophical dialogues that make you wonder if he thinks the sun shines out of his own ass, but he simply cannot image a human being whom is not a caricature of their society as it was thousands of years ago. He should have put his money where his mouth was and made Ender and his family the picture of White American Mormanism stereotypes, too. But of course he’d never, because he’s Ender, and Card would not want to be stereotyped. I am certain that yes, there are people like his characters which exist in the world. But the inability to show any human as complex cultural peoples who can change, instead having each one represent the accumulation of generalized Wikipedia articles, shows a lack of extended understanding and what I might even call romanticization.

Much of SFTD and Xenocide’s story and themes get lost in Card’s loud, screaming opinion on religion and morality. There was a paragraph in Xenocide about how Ender believed that nobody important ever had pre-marital sex, and how immature one must be to have pre-marital sex. And this, of course, was in response to thoughts about Miro and Ouanda, Miro’s half-sister. Not about how glad Ender was that the siblings didn’t have sex before they knew they were siblings, but about how glad he was that they never had sex because it would have been pre-marital. And on incest- I have barely even touched on it yet. Because incest is a major theme across all three of these books, and if the synopsis for Children of the Mind is right, such theme continues into book four. It would take a while to comb through every incestuous thing in these books, instead I’ve made a chart for you, which took considerably less time to draw than writing about it would.

... But I’ll write it out, anyways, because I hate myself.

- Ender and Valentine have a loving relationship that makes both of their spouses jealous. They are compared to a celibate couple. Card has Ender comment on the perceived strange relationship between them by having Ender imply anyone who thinks they’re incestuous has a “sick mind,” so clearly Card knows about this long-lived interpretation and isn’t happy about it.

- Pipo (father figure to Nova), real father of Libo. Libo, (brother figure to Nova), secret lover to Nova. Nova has 6 children with her brother figure. They aren’t technically siblings, neither by law nor blood, but she grew up with him as if adopted.

- Nova has Miro with Libo, then Libo has Ouanda with his actual wife. Miro and Ouando make out and kiss in great detail. They are half siblings. They stop once it’s known they’re siblings but Miro more than once wallows over how sad he is that they had to stop. He wished they never found out.

- Ender first sees Jane as his lover in book 2. Then later in book 3 sees her as a child. Val, a genetic clone of Valentine in a teenage girl’s body, is taken over by Jane. Thus, Jane, once-lover to Ender, now mind-and-body-sibling to Ender, marries Miro, Ender’s stepson. So, Miro is married to his step sibling and his step father’s ex-lover who is in the body of his step-aunt Valentine.

... And this doesn’t even cover the child-adult and grooming relationships, but I put them on the chart. Multiple relationships start with a teenage girl and an adult man, often with the adult man “waiting” for the child to come of age. Jane is also likened to a child frequently, including in her chosen virtual appearance.

These three books have some good things in them. And once, in 1985, when only Ender’s Game had the great name Ender, it was something special. But as Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide (and Children of the Mind, which I will still not read) released throughout the next decade... the child solider Ender and his remorseful tragedy faded away like fog, replaced by the unavoidable opinions expressed by Card. We all know he holds homophobic views. But his books hold, somehow, even worse views. As much as I loved the conflict between the pequeninos and the humans in Speaker of the Dead, as much as I loved the dysfunctional Ribeira family, it was overshadowed by Card constantly trying to justify colonization and forced religion. As much as I loved the story of Path, the almost sexual mind-merging to the Hive Queen in her presence, it was overshadowed by stuffy chapter-length-rants about God and an insane amount of hatred for the disabled.

Across the 3 books I read there must be well over 300k words, so even though this analysis (review? book report?) is long, if I meant to do a real analysis I don’t think it would fit on Tumblr. And honestly... I don’t want to make an analysis that long, anyway. I had enough thinking to do after Xenocide and a million reviews have been made for Card since the 70s. Everything has been said by everyone else, anyway, and the things I didn’t touch on (or only touched briefly) are written everywhere else, if you want to read them.

For now... I am tired. Ender’s Game will remain one of my favorite old sci-fi novels. But as for the rest of Ender’s story goes... it could have been great, had Card not been the author, or maybe if he’d just stopped kissing his own damned reflection as if he thought himself better than his reader.

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2022!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

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271. Seven Days in June by Tia Williams--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is definitely one of those books I needed to be in a mood for because the first time I tried to read it, I wasn’t into it. But the second time was definitely the right time. Williams’s book deals with some heavily important topics, but intertwined with the depth and the emotional moments is this undercurrent of sexiness that defines the tension between the two MCs. I don’t know if half the time it was WHAT the characters said to each other or HOW these things were said. Beyond the surprisingly spicy moments, the interactions between the two MCs were so raw and yearning that I was sucked in. I think that other than that tension, the more important topic is the pressures we sometimes put on ourselves. We tend to take on the responsibility of pain and grief when we feel out of control. I think it’s important for Williams to show her readers that thin line we sometimes walk between survival and self-destruction. It was haunting and the moment we truly see how life can throw you a punch of guilt and pain, we are hoping that that communication growth carries our characters out of that dark emotional area. Beautifully written, compelling, sexy, and full of great relationships, I think this is definitely a must-read for anyone seeking surprising contemporary books. Also, I just took a star off because it took me a hot minute to get into the story at first.

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272. Melissa by Alex Gino--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gino's book has gone through a beautiful evolution where it started as one thing and grew into an even more beautiful example of readers empathizing and understanding a story. While this is a shorter novel, it packs quite the punch. This is such an important story for people to read because it helps put you in the mind of a young character who is struggling with her identity and how to present herself to the world as her true self. I think that while some parts were harder to read (emotionally), I think they're also very important because it shows the varying reactions of both parents and children. This is a must-read for everyone and can easily be read in an afternoon. I really want to read all of this author's works now!

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273. Rick by Alex Gino--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After having read MELISSA, I really wanted to check this one out because Rick was a character that was portrayed as a bully in the past. I wanted to see how his character grew and how he would separate himself from his bigoted bully of a friend. I think this book also shows that there CAN be redemption for people who have previously been antagonists. I think authors that do this show a very rounded understanding of human behaviour and how mindsets can change when empathy, personal experience, and education is introduced to their lives. Another great book by Gino. I really need to read their other books!

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274. 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have a love hate relationship with short story collections. Some of the stories in this one were very memorable (like the inflatable people one), and I LOVED the really short one about ghost forests. As much as Hill wanted to present himself to the world as separate from Stephen King, I can definitely see a lot of his influence in his writing. Specifically in how he writes the shock and awe of horror and the discomfort of biases the characters present. His writing is truly just as intoxicating and jarring as King's. I'd recommend this if you love creepy short stories--just keep in mind that "The Black Phone" is very different. It's still good but this is one of those rare times where the movie was better (for me).

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275. Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was so different from Ng's last books, but in such a good way. I love her writing but this was such a powerful work of fiction because it is so incredibly timely. There were moments where I thought of the pandemic and how the Asian community was and is currently being treated, I thought of the history of how North America has treated its Asian communities, and it made me think of all of the restrictions other minority groups have experienced on this continent. What made this even more of a jarring read is how close our society is to enacting these kinds of laws. Don't go into this book expecting works like Ng's previous books--instead, expect a powerfully written story full of the love of literature, impactful messages, and the dangers of staying silent in a society that demands you speak up.

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276. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Re-Read November 2022 Now I know why I devoured this when I was younger. I think with older age (in my 20s), I judged this book to such a degree that I lowkey villainized it in my mind. This re-read has helped me appreciate this story more. Is it perfect? Hell no. Does it have problematic moments? Yes, absolutely. But to be honest, it's not as bad as I had painted it in my head since the one and only time I had read it. I'd like to thank my rewatch of the movies for inspiring this re-read.

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277. The School for Good & Evil by Soman Chainani--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Re-read November 2022 I wanted to re-read this because I just watched the movie and I'd forgotten quite a bit since the last time I read this book. I really wanted to actually finish the series this time around! While there were some things that I think might be challenged today (like the fatphobia), I think the story overall still offers incredibly important conversations about gender roles and the importance of different relationships (specifically friendships). I'd still recommend this to readers because it shows that there's more to life than the physical attributes of a person and the public perception some people might have of others. But also, the definition of beauty and how we see ourselves and our worth.

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278. The Great Bear by David Alexander Robertson--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It's been a while since I read book one in this series but I've been meaning to pick this one up. I will admit that I was a little wary at first because the topic of bullying was rough. But I also know that it is an important one (especially when it is bully based on racist and homophobic rhetoric.) The story of this one hit harder than the last one because of the emotional aspects of it. The grief and the confusion that follows grief was powerful and can be a relatable topic. I think it's also a great topic to help readers empathize with those who have lost someone important in their lives. Be prepared for this one--I may or may not have shed a tear or two. Also, be prepared for a story that teaches you to show strength and courage in the face of adversity, and the importance of friendship and perception.

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279. Thanks A lot, Universe by Chad Lucas--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First of all, I don't know what I was expecting when I picked this book up but this wasn't it. I'm so happy I finally read it because it was both so sweet and so heartbreaking. It goes to show how different families can be affected by things and how everyone has their own stories and experiences while growing up. I loved the exploration of how there are different kinds of families and how important it is to have powerful friendships. This is also set during a time where both of the MCs are experiencing some pretty major changes--one with his identity and the other with his family. I also like that there wasn't a cookie cutter ending because well, these are kids. It also shows us that while some people present one side of themselves to others, usually there are many more sides to their personalities. This was adorable and I want to give all of these characters hugs. Also, props to the one dad. He may not have been the best dad work-wise, but even though he says he had no idea what he was doing as a teen dad, he sure gave incredible advice, helped his child understand some of life's messages, and gave him so much love that it made me want to tear up. Their relationship was beautiful and something I think many kids wish they had with their parent(s) or adult in their lives. I definitely recommend this--100%. Also, for those who have those friends who make uncomfortable jokes about race and someone's sexuality, this book helps with those conflicting emotions and with the strength to stand against those "jokes".

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280. The Best At It by Maulik Pancholy--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This story is one of those important stories that I think kids should read, especially because of some of the more jarring aspects of the story. There was one main issue that I struggled with (even though logically, I know that a lot of kids are this way because of their need to avoid uncomfortable situations) and that was the MC's attitude and how he reacted to others who stood up for him when he faced racism and bigotry. I can see this being relatable for many younger readers, but as an adult I felt both frustrated and sad for him that he didn't feel like it was right for him to stand up to the people keeping him down. I do recommend this one but remember that it is a very jarring read. And trigger warning for racist and homophobic rhetoric.

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Happy reading!