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

[rangercorpstherapy]

There is a post about ableism in the sorcerer/siege of Macindaw books. I'm not going to reply directly to the poster because I don't necessarily think they're wrong, but there's a bigger problem I want to touch on without derailing their post.

The post by @bronze-oakleaf Sorry, but John Flannagan isn't an ableist for describing disabled people as disfigured, Will is. John, although in his usual hit-and-miss style, goes out of his way to show us that the people Will and others are afraid of are not monsters. It's been a while since I read these books, but I can remember there being a few backstories and instances in which it's made clear that Malcolm’s people are just very normal people who have fun, interests and hobbies and love each other deeply.

Will's apprehension of disabled people is very clearly presented as a character flaw. John is a children's author and cannot go into depth about how monstrosity isn't physical but something that manifests in the soul a la Victor Hugo's Hunchback of the Notre Dame. Still, I don't think any child (at least I didn't) finished reading Sorcerer and Siege thinking that disabled people were any less deserving of respect and love than others and Will kinda had a point there in the beginning.

I think the only example of bigotry where there is a high chance of it reflecting John's real-life views is the way he characterises Romani and Sinti in that horrible short story. Without going into depth the key difference here is that not a single person in the story thinks that Alyss and Will are doing or thinking anything wrong. Nuance, even if it wasn't much, visible in Sorcerer and Siege is missing.

Now I have that out of the way, this post is actually about character flaws. I'm not trying to be smug by pulling the historical accuracy card, but honestly, Will's views of disabled people are one of the few ways John established the world of Ranger's Apprentice as a Medieval society. I don't know how to say this without sounding kind of like an asshole, but if you want to critique Ranger's Apprentice flaws you also have to apply the same critique to the characters within Ranger's Apprentice. Separating art from the artists in this case doesn't really work because the art exists within the context the artist created. I don't think we have to be overly critical of characters because otherwise we're bad people and not woke, but viewing your favourite characters as flawed makes them inherently more interesting. I think viewing Will as an enforcer of feudal oppression (cop), extremely privileged (has an education and can bear arms) and classist with a very obvious disdain for those who are below him (this man should be nicer to farmers who can't read) is way more interesting than a perfect boy who fell victim his author's bigoted world view. Will, and all Rangers tbh, think they're better than other people. Rangers are smart they aren't like the uneducated masses who think wizards are real and the devil will claim your soul if you sleep lying down. But are they really?

Will is confronted with the fact he is like everyone else. He's also afraid of the “dreadful caricatures of normal people”, but why? The treatment of disabled people in Medieval society was very complex, and without getting into the nitty gritty, most of the cultural feelings towards them weren't because they were 'just ugly' but relied heavily on superstition. Will might be educated, but he still grew up in a society where disabled people were viewed as cursed, their ailment a deserving divine punishment. Him not being confronted with his hypocrisy in these books is the true moral failing of John to be honest.

Now to my final statement: pleasepleaselpleasepleaseplae let the Ranger's Apprentice characters be bad people. Because they ARE. I guess this post was a very elaborate way of saying Will isn't an UWU soft boy but a grown man with hairy balls. So are Halt, Gilan, Horace, Crowley (I didn't forget the time you enslaved a man king) and Duncan (Truly truly sick a twisted individual for sitting back and doing nothing as his daughter was sold into slavery because 'We need everyone here'. That wasn't a convenient plot point so Halt could save the day but misogyny). This doesn't mean Will isn't/can't be trans (because he is) or Cralt isn't canon (it is) for the sake of historical accuracy. I just want to say that these characters are all very privileged and classist individuals with many flaws thanks to the society they were raised in, which makes them more interesting. Remember be gay AND do crime.

[thepeacockangel]

I'm Seeing A Lot of Commentary On "Unschooling"

And as someone who went to a radical "unschooling center" and was homeschooled growing up-- this is definitely not how this is supposed to work. You're supposed to foster a bond with your kids, read to them, get them interested enough in reading to get them to want to learn to read, and then help them learn with the materials they're interested in. Allowing the children's interests to shape the curriculum. Classes are supposed to be AVAILABLE without coercion. I turned out really well, I'm a lifelong reader, a passionate researcher, and I learned very much what I love and what I don't. I think this idea of unschooling is such an utter betrayal of the very radical, very cool idea I grew up with. The idea I grew up with was essentially that children are naturally curious, and that you can engage with them as an active partner in the learning process, and the idea you have to force them to sit there unhappily rather than finding ways to get them interested is a bad way to teach. One thing that helped me with subjects that were difficult or otherwise boring for me, was my dad (who homeschooled me before the unschooling center), was also not naturally gifted in those areas, and learning about them together and trying to work how they worked with my dad (who is a passionately curious man) to build a real understanding of concepts tailored to our particular weird brains, rather than any kind of punishing rote learning. We'd discuss ways of thinking about math problems, and ways of thinking about the process of for example long division or fractions that are still useful to me to this day. It also felt good because he felt school had not taught him these things well as he had dyscalculia growing up in the 1960s and so the concepts just didn't go in fully the first time, and so working to get a full understanding of them together, really made a difference for me.

I think the most difficult thing was adapting to circumstances where I had to complete any kind of busy work, or had authority figures I couldn't negotiate with, and rules I didn't think made sense.

I feel like the rage-bait tiktoks and what seems to be getting called "unschooling" now are radically different from the Anarchist rooted and deeply practical form of education I experienced.

Also in like 2003 they had a special presentation of trans people and how they're good and fine, and even books on trans bodies there, and like-- I'm sorry, but that was cool as hell.

Howard Zinn was a text they fuckin' gave us. That shit was incredible.

[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

[insanelydeadlybookcollector]

One of my favourite things Once Upon A Time did was skew fairytale, myths, fables, and folklore. This isn't new or even remotely groumdbreaking, especially because the entire premise was adapting these stories. But I like how they did it and how much attention they paid to other retellings and, in a manner of speaking, validated those retellings and interpretations.

By this, I mean, how the writers have harnessed the story world Author plot and storybook existence and shown how in a few oral retellings or translations the gist of the story that we as an audience (and Emma in the story world) know has the bones of autobiographical truth but misses a few crucial details.

I could talk all day about retellings of snow white and Cinderella and Red Riding Hood that the writers of OUaT pay homage to (Red as the Wolf is no where close to being a new take but God they do it well). And then even changing the stories in a way that matches what they do with retellings in a novel way (Regina as the Ursula from Disney anyone? meaning the "real" Ursula can be anyone at all because this audience doesn't actually know Ursula) which serves in the same manner as their nods to existing appropriations and adaptations.

But I think, for me at least, how well they do this in their character of Captain Hook, a literary figure with near nothing specific tying him down and 101 readings because academicians and creatives alike have no consensus on what the hell Barrie was on about.

And from these little glimpses and subtle nods to retellings you can see how the story might have been twisted from autobiographical truth to some of the adaptations we know to the source texts. For example,

1. Hook as the original lost boy - a popular theory in adaptations. We see Killian and Liam in Neverland when he is barely an adult and still naive (sort of) and hopeful, long before his revenge days.

2. Hook as a symbol of adulthood, maturity and aging - for those who read Barrie as an allegory for children rallying against growing up and the only adult cast as a symbol of that, this guy is 300 years old.

3. Hook as the villain - sure thing.

4. Hook as fighting the tyrannical Pan - guess what? We've got that too.

5. Hook as rescuing Lost Boys - got that.

6. Hook as the guy kidnapping or otherwise delivering Pan lost boys - you'll never believe it.

7. It's an Crocodile that takes his hand - Hook calls the guy that took his hand that he's afraid of and hates with a passion a Crocodile.

8. Hook is Pan and vice versa, one grew up to be the other - not quite that. But we have a close enough story in 2 ways - pan/Malcolm and pan/henry.

9. Hook is Peter's father - again, a close enough story is provided that could easily be misremembered a few generations down or mistranslated a few times. Peter is Rumples father.

10. Hook wears red and has a perm - and I really do love this. They drop Blackbeard (the Treasure Island character that Hook was based on [so there's an even better nuance there too, not just in story world building but a nice nod to canon that their story world plot of misappropriations of the oral tradition of bedtime stories and generational stories is entirely feasable]) in Neverland looking exactly like Disney's Hook. Indicating that 'hey a pirate that looks like that is in neverland and well, there's only one of those in the story so it must be Hook' happened at some point.

I'll never get over how good they did that in story plot device of we're an appropriation, but our story is about this one source book existing that's a hundred percent accurate although it doesn't have all the details and somehow this realm is a bit mixed up on the facts.

[city-spies-confessions]

Yo yo! (Mod pls share ur opinion)

But honestly, am I a BIG fan of Mother? Yes. Does this mean what I’m going to say it bias? No.

but we got a Brooklyn Centered book (book 1) Sydney centered book (book 2) Paris centered book (book 3) and Book 4 is about Kat book 5 is about Rio

I Don’t doubt the next book might be about Cairo or Annie. But if James ponti decides to extend the series (he said he hopes to make at least 7 books at least that’s why I’ve heard) since book 6 might be Cairo (or not since we saw how Cairo was found, and we had some of book 5 mixed in with centering him and the other for Rio) Or Annie (if she decides to join) but if not.

hear me out.

James Ponti should make a Mother centered one of Monty

Even if they’re such a parental figure character we don’t really have much information. It would be cool on having one of those flashback chapters talking about how they were recruited. Going back to where they grew up. It would be so heartwarming.

I hope for a Mother centered book, how his world is, maybe angst too

Monty would explore more on who her parents where as she grew up her hobbies, and maybe angst too

But If Ponti makes the next book about Cairo and if Annie joins [book 6] (maybe) book 7 is about her (maybe idk how much he’s gonna write for the series since he’s such a good author and focusing mainly on his other series, but really this is just an opinion of mine) if [Ponti] does do this then if he writes more book 8 and 9 could be Mother and Monty centered! Maybe as a bonus book 10 (could be the last book if he writes) could be about clementine!

Thank you for reading I’m sorry for all the words I’ve had this in my head for two months and I got back into my city spies grind—

That'd be very cool, but I doubt it since city spies is already a bit different from his other books since it's third person, plus it's middle grade and most of those books stay in the main perspectives of children.

[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?

[all-pacas]

do you have any book recs or something you read recently that you really loved? i’ve been in a bit of a slump with my reading and i’d love to pick it back up

lol thanks for indulging me!

Currently I'm working my way through 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. It is very good, very dense, and impossible to even start to explain, one of those novels in a novel in a novel situations, loosely about a city in Mexico, but also a) a love triangle between english professors b) a teacher who grows obsessed with a physics book c) an American reporter sent to Mexico to report on a boxing match d) hundreds of murdered women e) a german writer. It's. It's a lot. It's very good, it's very long, I cannot explain it succinctly.

I also just started Haruki Murakami's Wild Sheep Chase, which. I love Murakami novels but they are probably not for everyone! As a starter book for him I like to recommend Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, as it's less surreal and more grounded than a lot of his novels (and shorter). Killing Commodore, one of his more recent novels, was very fun. And if you're into sort of weird Japanese literature, I highly recommend The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, a sort of… sci-fi-ish story about a lovely peaceful society who, periodically, have concepts (like "birds") outlawed and thus forgotten by all, or anything by Sayaka Murata, who has what I can only describe as humanity dysphoria and writes fascinating short stories.

After I wrote all this I decided to self-shame and show off my Book Mountain, the pile of books by my nightstand I've accumilated over many, many months and mostly have not yet read:

The Field Guide to the Connecticut River is actually super interesting if, like me, you grew up in New England and never thought of that river over there as an eco system in itself. It has illustrations! Pictures of frogs! Geological maps! Super fun to just page through, makes me wanna go hike and look at ponds.

Mary Beard is a fantastic author and I've loved her other Roman-related books (SPQR and Pompeii), super stoked to take another crack at Emperor of Rome.

Ours is a really well written novel with an interesting idea — in the 19th century a group of mostly escaped slaves form their own secret town hidden by magic and isolated from the rest of the world, and how that both protects and hurts them. I just can't get into it, but eventually I'll finish it.

A Children's Bible is quite short and it was fantastic. A group of rich adults rent a summer home and bring a dozen or so children, who are left to fend for themselves as their parents drink and lie around, all while quietly in the background the rest of the world collapses.

Lies and Weddings was fun! it's by the author of Crazy Rich Asians and is essentially a remix of that, just set in England this time. But if you like that sort of thing, it's a fun, quick read.

Bright Young Women was another really good book, I just recently finished re-reading it. I very much enjoyed Jessica Knoll's first book, Luckiest Girl Alive, she's a very strong POV writer. Bright Young Women is a sort of… fictionalized version of the fallout of the Ted Bundy murders, except the murderer is never named or made out to be sexy or sympathetic or cool. It's more about what comes before and after 'the perpetrator' comes into people's lives. Very, very good book.

Another novel (not pictured, but it's on my bookshelf in my line of sight) I really enjoyed recently is Wellness by Nathan Hill: he wrote The Nix a few years back and that was also great, he has a very light and funny style even as he's tackling like. Grief and trauma. Wellness is basically about a married couple in a rough spot, examining them both, how they came to be who they are, the way your past shapes you even if you don't know it, and who they try to be for one another. Maybe halfway through the story there is a silly little anecdote that later came back and made me cry because it was so lovely and paid off so well. Definitely recommend.

[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.