#I would have to re read some of my older work and the crit I got on them from teachers and classmates

[camarilla-intuition]

I had a pretty interesting dream that I started writing critical ish essays for this blog, y’know actually using it kinda like a blog for not just my art. And this might just be because of how many video essays I have on all the time in the background but like…. I Was missing the kinda writing I used to do in college lately…….

[sadgirlmadgirlbadgirll]

Genshin Character

Name: Zixin (meaning: new son)

Rarity: 5 stars

Vision: Dendro

Weapon: Catalyst

Meta role: DPS/ sub DPS

Substat: ER%

Nation: Liyue - was born in Qingce village but lives in the harbor now

Age: About 25

Pronouns: he/him

Hobbies: Checkers, puzzles, reading, gardening, taking the tea, walking around to clear his mind, feeding birds and fishes

Occupation: Scholar, employee of the ministry of civil affairs who works closely with the Feiyun Commerce Guild

Goal: Help the people of Liyue, make discoveries, travel to sumeru one day

Character traits: curious, outgoing, serious, rational, creative, smart, witty, grounded, composed, mature, extrovert, talkative

Childhood/ background: Grew up in Qingce village with his parents and older brother, but left to study medicine under Baizhu in the Harbor, and started working at the ministry of civil affairs for money. He is now in the higher ranks, and works closely with Xingqiu on a lot of matters. He often visits his parents in his town, and helps with chores in the garden and makes sure they have everything they need. He’s also well trusting by the higher ups of the Liyue Qixing, and by Yelan, and he never hesitated to help out for the greater good. Whenever legal trouble comes up, Yanfei runs to the rescue to make him understand the matter. Baizhu still teaches the young man, though he has grasped most of the concepts long ago now.

Fighting style: lots of hand and arm movements (flowy), makes vine like plants go out of his hands, adding the dendro effect to enemies

Skill: Favour of nature; renders enemies in a small radius immobile for 2s, and applies the dendro effect to them with a vine-like rope around them. Skill also reduces opponent’s RES to all dmg for 6s. CD: 7s

Ult: Downfall of the unworthy; targets the 3 strongest opponents (based on HP) on the field and gives them the mark of the unworthy. Those marked will have reduced RES to all dmg, and will take a CRIT hit when a dendro atk or skill hits them. Skill deals base dmg as well. EM is increased for all party members. Mark duration: 12s. CD: 15s

Additional talents: Favour of nature’s radius is expanded by 30% / For every elemental particles received, Zixin gains a 2% dendro dmg bonus. Max 10 stacks, each stack lasts 5s.

Passive: When picking up a plant when Zixin is in the party, there’s a 35% chance to obtain a second one (does not apply to the teapot flowers)

Signature Weapon: Grimoire of forbidden sunlight; CRIT DMG% - When the character has full elemental energy, they will gain a 30/45/60/75/100 EM bonus thats lasts 5s. This effect cannot stack.

Friends: Yanfei, Xingqiu, Hu Tao, Zhongli, Baizhu, Yelan, knows Xiao but they aren’t close (acquaintance) , would be friends with Albedo if they ever met

Fav food: Mochi, Lotus Flower Crisp (specialty dish - when he cooks there’s a chance to obtain Evergreen Lotus Bloom)

Least fav food: Marshmallows - too soft, he likes crispy things

When it rains: Hmm this’ll be good for gardening/ I knew i should’ve brought an umbrella…

Thunderstorm: Yikes! We should get inside!

When it snows: I admire those who can tolerate the cold…

When it’s sunny: Ah, the perfect weather for growing flowers./ Sun’s out, let’s get on the move.

Good morning: Did you sleep well traveller? I made you some herbal tea with wild mint and glaze lilies fresh from my garden. Or if you’d rather eat i can make something?

Goodnight: The moon is out, that means we should rest. Sleep well, traveller. Tomorrow will be a good day.

Chatting: Have you ever heard of the Mare Jivari, traveller? they say that the wind never blows there… and that makes me wonder, what kind of life is there over there? Is there truly no vegetation? Can a even gods discover the secrets of this place?/ Qingce village used to be full of life and young people, but now only the older folks are left. Sometimes i feel bad for leaving, but i met you, so i don’t regret anything.

Levelling up: I can feel the power coursing through my veins… amazing! / This journey has taught me so much, thank you for allowing me to join on your adventures.

Low Hp: I can’t take much more/ I’m gonna need a lot of tea after this!

Hit: Hey!/ You better calm down!/ Enough!

Fallen: Take care of my plants…/ Please don’t forget about me…/ Carry on my research…

Opening a chest: ohh! what’s in there?/ Look at all of this… we got lucky!

Sprinting: Catch me if you can!/ Alright, let’s go! // when stopping: Ah, you’re fast!

Adding to party: Are we going foraging?/ Is my expertise required?

Idle animation: Adjusting glasses/ playing with dices or chest piece/ flipping through an old book/ making a little plant grow at his fingertips

Idle voice lines: Teyvat is beautiful, don’t you think?/ The soil here looks perfect for growing flowers/ I always appreciate a good scenery

[ed-edward-blackbeard]

Fanfic Author Meme.  Keep Reading after question 2 for 3-50.

1. What was your first fic and could you stand to reread it today?

Jesus Lord, no.  I’d die of secondhand embarrassment before I got halfway through it.  It was never published online, thank Christ.  It was called … ugh, I don’t remember what I called it, but it was a line from Edmund Spenser.  (Don’t judge.)  It was an OC female character and Autolycus, from Hercules and Xena, played by Bruce Campbell.  It was… a SHAMBLES.  Self-insert, wish-fulfillment of the worst kind.  But, my friend Alicia read it at the time and she told me how great she thought it was, and I should keep at it.  So, thank you, Edmund-Spenser-titled-fic.

2. What’s your most recent fic and how far do you think you’ve come?

It’s called “i commit sins every day but i never give my soul away”, and it’s on my AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/22951009.  And I actually don’t have a unit of measurement for how much I’ve improved.  But it’s also been… God, I’m 43 today,  so it’s been 27 years I’ve been writing.  Almost thirty years.  Shit, I’m old.

3. In your opinion, what’s your best fic?

Oh, man.  Tricky question.  If by best you mean technically written, most enjoyable?  I’d say maybe wasting the dawn.  Definitely By Inches We Fall.  But to be totally honest with you?  I think my best fic, the one that got me, personally by the throat, shook me, and hasn’t let me go?  Shoah.  It’s one of my earlier fics, from the Sentinel fandom, but man.  Writing this was rough.  I did my research on concentration camps, and I couldn’t sleep right for weeks.  Lisa and Patt were holding my hands over AIM practically every night when I was sobbing that I couldn’t finish it, that I couldn’t do it, that it was too much.  (I’d have been about fucking seventeen, maybe nineteen, when I was writing it.)  I bit off way more than I was prepared for, but I didn’t quit.  And I’m proud, quite frankly, that I even finished the damn thing, but even this far removed from it, I still feel that gut-punch when I go back re-read it, which is why I don’t.  And haven’t for a couple of years.  

4. In your opinion and without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic?

It’d probably be Consortio.

5. Is there any fic that makes you super happy to reread and remember you wrote that?

I actually feel that way about 99% of my stuff.  Even some of the older stuff, I re-read it and I get really happy because not only do I see myself changing and maturing, I realize I was harder on myself than I should have been.  I didn’t suck like I thought, and I get the warm fuzzies.

6. Is there any fic that makes you super embarrassed to reread and remember you wrote that?

Er, not really?  I mean, there’s some cringey shit I wrote when I was like, twelve, but not even I know where those notebooks got off to.

7. What’s the fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

By Inches We Fall.  It’s my only Game of Thrones fic, and I feel like I really want to continue the story of Jamie and Brienne and their kids, and of Jaime being Hand to King Jon and Queen Sansa.

8. What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

How Firm A Foundation.  It’s a Deadwood fic, and I (many years ago, when Deadwood was actually on the air) actually sketched out how every chapter would go.  There’s a few things I’d change today, if I started it again, just because I can plot better than I could ten years ago, but I think the thread of the story is gone forever.

9. Have you ever written for a fandom without watching/reading/playing the source material?

Yami No Matsuei.  A friend of mine was actually heavily into YnM, and I wrote several stories for her.  Later I’ve watched some of it, and I realize I did okay on my characterizations, but there’s always things I could have done better.

10. Have you ever written for a fandom without reading other fanfic for it?

Pretty much every fandom I have ever been in.  I don’t read a lot of fanfic, because I’m afraid (almost paranoid, in fact) that I’ll internalize something I’ve read and later spout it out in my fic, and I don’t ever want to copy anyone, deliberately or otherwise.

11. Have you ever written a fic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting?

I have, and I didn’t publish it for the reason above; I didn’t feel like my take on it was original enough to bother.

12. Have you ever written a fic and decided never to publish it? Why?

Lots of reasons, actually.  Sometimes I write with the intention of not publishing, it’s something just for me.  I’ve also written a few fics that I ended up absolutely hating, and they’ve never seen the light of day.  I’ve also done some that I felt wasn’t original enough, or they were written about the trope du jour, and I had nothing else to offer that ten other people hadn’t already done.

13. What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today?

Sentence style and structure.  I used to do the whole, “He said.”  “In reply, she said.”  “The sky was blue when he rode in.”  And then a few of my better friends (and betas) took me in hand and showed me how to mix it up, chop my comma addiction in half (seriously, I once had a single sentence run on for twelve lines.) and I feel like I get a better grip on characterization.

14. What’s the biggest change in your taste between when you started in fandom and today?

Sex.  I used to write it in everything.  And then the more I wrote, and the older I got, the less I wanted to write it (or read it, or talk about it.)  So I’m a lot more comfortable writing non-sex stories than I used to be.

15. Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular?

Of course.  I think everyone has, at one point or another.

16. Have you ever stopped writing a fic/for a fandom because it wasn’t receiving enough attention?

Anything I’ve ever abandoned was lack of my own attention, not anything else.  I’m kinda used to not getting a lot of attention.

17. In your opinion, what’s your most overrated fic?

What He Wants.  It’s pretentious wankfic, for a pairing I don’t actually like all that much (Lucius/Harry), and I just feel like everyone loves it way more than it deserves.

18. What’s your most underrated fic?

I’m gonna pick on Shoah again, because I feel like it just doesn’t get enough love.  I’m biased, because of how emotionally attached I am to the fic, but I feel like it’s ignored.

19. If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick?

Wasting The Dawn.  It’s a Magicians fic, and it showcases every character from the show, and I think I did a passable job of hitting every voice.  So I’d be proud to show that one around.

20. Have/Would you ever rewrite a fic? If yes, would you take the original down?

Would I rewrite it?  Sure.  Would I take down the original?  Um, that’s a little more difficult.  On the one hand, I’m not really ashamed, as such, of anything that I did.  But having two copies of things would get really complicated and onerous.  I might actually start a second pseud, like maybe kelex-originals or something like that, and move the originals over to that, and leave the rewrites on my main, with a link to the original in the notes.  Yeah, that’s probably what I’d do.

21. If someone starts kudosing and commenting your fics in a spree and has a few works of their own, would you go look through theirs?

HELL YES.  Mostly because I’m always looking for shinies to read in fandoms I don’t write for.  I also kind of like to read their stuff and get a feel for who they are and why they like what I’ve got.  But mostly, I just love it and it makes me giggle watching someone go through my fics and like EEEE THERE YOU ARE AGAIN.

22. Has there ever been anyone who’s made you freak out because they read your work and followed/favorited/reviewed?

Fucking scads of people, actually.

23. What’s the nicest review you’ve ever gotten?

Oh man, I’ve got a fuckton of good ones.  But the one that I always get a kick out of is on one of my Gotham fics, and the comment was along the lines of, the tag mentioned bed-sharing and they thought that was all it was going to be, but it was so much more and they got caught up in it and it was wonderful.  And that’s my favorite (if not the nicest) because I love the fact that I was able to give someone something they enjoyed, even more because it was unexpected!

24. What’s the meanest review you’ve ever gotten? Do you think the reviewer intended it?

It was a review back in the days of OneList, and I was told that my pencils should be broken and my keyboard taken away because I was a terrible writer.  And yes, I know they meant it.

25. What constructive criticism, however well-meaning, always makes you feel bad when you see it in a review?

It’s less a concrit and more a crit.  But it’s always, “why did you do X?  It was out of character!” and that makes me grit my teeth.  Mostly because I feel like I’ve always explained, thoroughly, why I’ve done something (whether in dialog, in the writing itself, or heavily implied in monologues), and that question always makes me want to throttle someone because either they didn’t get it, or I didn’t.  

26. What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised?

Humor.  I’m a sarcastic bitch, and when it’s appropriate (and sometimes when it isn’t), I have funny characters or have characters deadpan things.  And it delights the fuck out of me when someone highlights that as one of their favorite parts.

27. If you could only ever write crossovers or single-fandom fics ever again, which would you pick?

Single fandom fics.  I’m not a fan of crossovers, though I’ve written them from time to time, and probably will again if I think it’s appropriate.  I just prefer not to cross the streams, as it were.

28. if you could only ever write for a single crossover or a single fandom again, which would you pick?

Good Omens.  Hands down.  So. Many. AUs.  So many ideas.  So many delightful characters.

29. Does the division of your writing across fandoms line up with your reading? What’s the biggest discrepancy?

It does not.  I read far, far less than I actually write.

30. Do you continue to write for a fandom after you’ve moved on or do you focus solely on the new one?

I usually focus on the new one, however, I’ve occasionally re-visited a fandom after I’ve left it, because inspiration hits me, or I’ve gotten back into it.

31. Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right?

Margo Hanson, from the Magicians.

32. Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying?

There’s a few.  Eliot Waugh, Lex Luthor, Jack O’Neill, the Doctor (9 & 10 mostly)

33. Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up?

Not really?  Characters and scenes are as long as they need to be.  I do think the quality holds up, though, because honestly, by the time they’re done, I’m done.

34. Was there any fic that you wrote that really surprised you in the fandom reaction? Was it just by the numbers or did they take it an entirely different way?

Not really, or if there was, I don’t remember it.

35. Have you ever written a ship into a fic without meaning to?

Yup.  It snuck in there, especially in the background early on, and by the end I was like, what the fuck, I don’t even ship you, YOU DON’T EVEN GO HERE.

36. Have you ever sincerely written a ship you do not support into a fic?

Nope.  If I don’t like a ship, I don’t write it.

37. Have you ever purposefully bashed a character/ship in a fic?

No.  Not as a writer.  But like, I have written a character saying “I don’t think X belongs with Y, they belong with me!” because that’s pretty much how the actual relationship went down.  (Spike, Buffy, Riley most specifically.)

38. Have you ever purposefully written something you know your readers would find uncomfortable/would not enjoy? If yes, why?

Very, very, very many years ago.  I wrote it just to see if I could.  I could, I did, and I haven’t written it again.

39. Do you consider yourself to have a readership?

No.

40. Do you feel like you put out enough content?

I feel like I put out what I need to.  Is it enough?  idk.

41. If you cross-post your fics on multiple sites, do you have a favorite? Are there certain fics you would only post on certain site?

AO3 is, hands down, my favorite.  For awhile, I was posting to WWOMB (Wonderful World of Make-Believe) but I’ve stopped there, sadly.

42. How many views has your most popular fic gotten?

Consortio is my most popular fic, and it’s gotten 21,658 hits.  Although the fic is multi-chapter, so I don’t know how to break that down into individual hits. In fact, four of my five most popular are multi-chapters.  The only single-chapter fic is What He Wants, clocking in at 6,743. 

43. Your least popular?

The Rose and the Yew Tree, with 0 hits.

44. Do you follow/favorite/kudos/comment/review more stories than you have received?

Unfortunately, no.

45. If you had to call yourself an author of a single genre (besides fanfic) what label would you give yourself?

Pornography.

46. Do you consider yourself a diverse author?

Diverse as in fandoms?  Yes.  Diverse as in style?  Not so much.

47. If someone you know in real life who isn’t involved in fandoms asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first?

I’ve done that before, and I’ve tailored it to the person and what I know they like.  For example, my old boss got me hooked on La Femme Nikita (the Peta Wilson one), and so when she wanted to read my writing, I gave her my LFN fics to read.

48. Does anyone you know from outside of fandom know you write fanfic? Are they involved in the same fandom too?

Yes, and some of them.

49. Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it?

Yes.

50. Has writing fanfic had a significant impact on your life? Would you say it’s entirely positive?

It has had a very significant impact, and no, it hasn’t been at all positive.  Some of my best moments, as well as my worst, are because of fanfic and fandom, but fanfic in particular.  Fic’s brought me close to people, fic’s pushed me away from people, and it’s made people change the way they look at me.

[xd4005-frankieharrison]

Final Poster

I removed some of the information, kept it short and simple and easy to read, i changed the colour of the drop shadow to a dark purple because it made all the text easy to read, i also changed the colour of the stroke back to white to marry in with the rest of the text on the poster. 

I didn't add any more eyes to the monster because i felt like the texture of the goop was already too much detail and to add more eyes it would look too busy, less is more.. 

I did experiment with taking the smoke out of the background because it looked like it was coming off the monster instead of from the buildings however when i look the smoke out it looked too plain and ive decided that it looks better just to keep it there. 

i did end up going back to some older ideas just to re inspire myself because i thought something was missing or something didn't seem quite right with the water i originally wanted my monster wading through, i felt because i needed to put text over that part of the image there wasn't enough room to put detail to make it look like water, so i used some older designs to inspire me to have it as though the goop coming off the monster was overflowing. 

i am happy with my poster even though i had some trouble with the colour scheme and the addition of the monster but though group crits and perseverance i managed to make it work and i am happy with the outcome.

[rathertoofondofbooks]

  Today I’m thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour for Kay Landale’s The Comfort of Others and am very excited to be sharing an interview I’ve done with Kay.

Please tell my readers a little bit about yourself and your novel

The Comfort Of Others is my sixth novel. It tells the story of the friendship between an elderly woman, Minnie, and an eleven year old boy, Max. Both have issues that they need to come to terms with, and the novel is about how they approach that.

I live in Oxfordshire, am married and have four fledged children between the ages of nineteen and twenty four. When I’m not writing or reading I’m mostly walking or running, and my labradoodle Rocco is with me for all of the above – his favourite spot is beneath my writing desk.

I’m reading The Comfort of Others at the moment and am finding it very moving – in particular the way you show the loneliness of Max and Minnie, and the way it’s possible to find friends in the places you’d least expect. What inspired you to write it?

I’m so pleased that you are finding it moving – thank you.

Minnie was the character I started with. I was interested in portraying someone who has not lived the life she wanted to life, and who has been stigmatised by shame and secrecy. I wanted to explore how someone who was basically vulnerable and sinned against can manoeuvre themselves into a position where they see themselves as wholly at fault. I also wanted to think about how time can change the perspective by which something is viewed, and Rosemount was a means of ‘fastening’ Minnie into the period in which it all happened.

I was very conscious that Minnie wouldn’t open up to an adult and so I wanted to explore how a child – with a child’s unerring accuracy for truth – might be able to win her trust. Max is watchful; he is frequently just on the outside of things, and it was this shared quality which became the premise for their friendship.

I’m finding myself getting quite emotional at some of the things Max says but clearly doesn’t understand yet, but as an adult I see the bigger picture. I’m getting similar emotions coming up whilst reading Minnie’s story – from the way she’s looking back on her life and seeing things anew. Both characters feel like real people to me and I know I’m going to miss them when I finish reading. How did you find writing from the perspective of a young boy, and of an older lady?

I loved writing Max and Minnie.

Minnie came to me almost fully formed. I had such a strong sense of her girlhood – her exuberance, her zest for life – and of how her mother found that so very difficult. The emotional truth of her adult life also felt very immediate to me; her total withdrawal, her bruised reflections and her sadness that she has been so effectively snuffed out by her experiences.

I really enjoy writing from a child’s perspective. Most of my books contain this as a feature. What I loved about Max from the start was his desire to please; whether it’s his mother with her startling hair colours, the old man who gives him the dahlias, or Mrs Philips with her budgie and her buttered brazils. He is constantly trying to piece together the implications of his mother’s actions – which is the same as Minnie when she was a girl – and that kind of watchfulness was a very immersive writing experience.

How did you first come to be a writer?

When I was a child I always wanted to be a writer, and upon leaving university, I refined that into working with words, which I thought made a bit more (necessary) financial sense. I worked as a copywriter for a brand development consultancy, and then began having my children (four of them in five years).

I was totally rubbish at anything resembling controlled crying, and so when my children woke in the night, I would go and sit with them and just pat their backs or stroke their hair but not talk, as we all know how quickly that becomes a game of  i-spy. Sitting beside them in the darkness I began to think about the central character of my first novel – Martha – and basically began telling myself a story. I was working part-time at this point and realised that Martha was developing a hold on me when I would drive to work and be thinking about the plot rather than the meeting I was headed to. When my youngest child started nursery school, we realised we could just about make the numbers work as I could write without the cost of childcare, and so I resigned and began writing the book that became Redemption. For years I fitted my writing around school hours and term times, with lapses for example when they all got chicken pox in perfect sequence. Now that they have all fledged, my timetable is much more flexible. It was very disciplined in the early years!

It depends what stage of a book I’m at. If I’m mulling on the beginnings of an idea I don’t spend much time at my desk. I walk miles and I think, and have my notepad with me, and I tidy cupboards and wardrobes. I’m a big believer that if the mechanical, logical part of your brain is engaged, your creative thinking somehow is liberated.

When I’m writing a first draft, I’m very disciplined. I work most days and aim to have about three to four thousand useful words. That’s not always the case, especially if the plot takes a different turn and I need to pause to recalibrate. I’m very fond of a French phrase – Reculer per mieux sauter – which basically means to pause in order to jump better. I think it’s important to know when to do that.

When I reach the end of a book – the last 20,000 words – I get really obsessive and work much longer days and find it hard to think about anything else.

When I have a complete draft, I put it aside for a couple of weeks and catch up on everything I’ve neglected, and then return to it with fresh eyes and start editing and refining.

It never feels finished – I mostly get to a point where I can’t bear to look at it anymore!

What has your journey to publication been like?

I’ve been hugely lucky. My first book was published by a small indie publisher, Transita. My second book – which was very dark – did not get an English publisher but went to a three way auction in Germany and then Poland, which was pleasing. I learned some lessons from why that hadn’t worked for a UK audience, and then my third book was signed by Hodder and Stoughton, and they have remained my publishers ever since. I’m working on my eight book now and am hugely proud and thrilled to be part of Hodder’s team of writers. They have a wonderful mural at Carmelite House called the River of Authors which streams around the lifts at each floor. My name is next to John Lennon’s, which is when a school register alphabetised strategy really pays off!

What are you reading at the moment?

I’ve just finished Sebastian Barry’s Days Without End, Polly Clark’s Larchfield, and George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo. I re-read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and now I’m reading Sarah Dunnant’s In the Name of the Family. I’ve got the new Elizabeth Strout on pre-order on Amazon and can’t wait for it to arrive!

If you were to be stranded on a desert island and could choose just one author’s books to read, who would you pick and why?

Virginia Woolf, no question. To The Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway are two of my favourite books ever. Every sentence she is writes it so beautifully balanced, so loaded with psychological insight and with such an awareness of what it is to be alive; she would be sustaining company on a desert island.

Is there a question that you wish an interviewer would ask that you’ve never been asked? What’s your answer to that question?

That’s a very clever, very tricky question! I think it would probably need some analysis to answer correctly! I write obsessively about mothers, about mothering, about the ties that bind us. To be totally truthful I don’t know why this is such a preoccupation. I have the objective, lit-crit ability to see how much it features in my work – I found Minnie’s account of her mother’s death very moving to write and I hope it holds a truth about what we need to feel and hear as adult children – but I can’t subjectively tell you why that is the case.

How can people connect with you on social media?

Twitter @kaylangdale. I’m constantly vowing to be become better at it although am also mindful how it can suck up time. I always answer back, and really enjoy hearing from readers.

    The Comfort of Others is out now and available from all good bookshops or online at BookDepository.

The blog tour continues all this week and you can find the other stops here:

Interview with author @KayLangdale about The Comfort of Others #BlogTour @HodderBooks Today I'm thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour for Kay Landale's The Comfort of Others…

[cyrkensianbuds]

Who's ready for some blathering about another Fatesona?

Gemma (Châu Huệ) Văn

General Description

Age: 60~ but appears to be 32-35 (There’s a reason for this, but she remains tight-lipped against Corrin’s wheedling, poking, prodding, whining and numerous attempts at guilt-tripping)

Gender: Female (Probably. Maybe.)

Race: Human (Sort of.)

Birthday: June 22 (around 40~ yrs before Corrin’s birth and she spent about 10 to 15 years in the Deep Realms for some reason)

Title: Sovereign of the Independent State of Nam*

Class: Priestess

Secondary Class: Dark Mage

Weapon: A really long scepter of some sort??? (She refuses to say where she got it from, but you have the sneaking suspicion that she might have stolen it from the Nam treasury)

Hair: Black

Eyes: Dark Brown

Requirements for Joining: Win 3 Skirmishes in a Row each in Kitsune Hamlet, Mokushu Cave and Izumo: Castle Interior. (9 Skirmishes in total, all in a row)

However, she is not eligible to put on the battlefield until you fulfill a few requests for her. Namely, recruit at least one of her adopted children who are wandering around the lands doing stuff.

[I might just write up a few trigger cut scenes to make myself suffer for funsies]

Roster: The Ruler of the country of Nam whose main goal in life is to make Corrin’s life harder for them see her children grow up and live happy and peaceful lives. And give her grandchildren.

Personal Skill

Sovereign’s Might (Or The Most Important Life Skill : Delegation)

“A Ruler’s strength is not based on battle prowess, nor magical affinity, nor one’s leadership abilities, but how well a Ruler can use all of these things in tandem.” *pause* “And delegation. Delegation is important too.“

Unit’s HP Regeneration is activated, increasing 1 HP per round. Def +1 Res +1 Mag +1 AVO +3 CRIT +3 Dmg Dealt +2 Dmg Received -2

All allies within a two square radius of the Unit will receive the same benefits except that HP Regen for all units, including the Unit in question’s, is +3.

Units that leave the radius will retain these boosts for 6 player/enemy rounds

Are you still reading this? Alright, you might want to sit somewhere comfortable and maybe grab a snack, this might take a while.

Background

Gemma was born to a pair of "Hoshidan” immigrants in Nestra. She lived and worked in the family business, which was entertainment.

She eventually apprenticed herself underneath an infamous Dark Knight against her parents wishes and traveled with him for several years.

They eventually meandered their way down past Nestra and Asturias** down to the Southern Reaches***, picking up strays as they go along.

They disappear for around a couple weeks, and when they finally get back in touch with their network, Gemma’s master is returns in an urn and Gemma and her brood of strays look 10 or 15 years older with a few notable additions to the crew.

Gemma inexplicably makes her way to Nam, where she overthrows the usurper and takes her place as the Ruler of Nam.

(She won’t tell anyone why she was put on the throne and instead of someone else, but you figure it has something to do with the way her eyes glow golden sometimes.)

Fun Tidbits

- Kidnaps Adopts all the children, whenever possible. She is always on the look out for children to kidnap adopt. It doesn’t matter what alternate universe she is in, she will always be surrounded by children.

- She likes using fire metaphors a lot. And puns, let’s not forget the puns. She basically has an old woman’s sense of humor, y'know if that old woman was the ruler of a country who enjoyed both knitting and crushing her enemies beneath her delicate heel equally. Who also had humor black enough to give yourself the perfect dye job.

- She does not consider any of the Children Units nor Elise nor Leo nor Hayato or anyone else she consider under the age of 20 as adults. They are all little itty-bitty warriors who shouldn’t be thinking of marriage at their ages.

- She has a smattering of really diverse abilities including some weird Songstress abilities from who knows where and some intermediate sword mastery in her arsenal along with some unique Tomes in her inventory. Where the heck did this lady even come from?

- She knows Nyx from a long while ago, though what their relationship is, they won’t tell. They spend a lot of time gossiping and trading notes in some sort of ineligible code.

World-building Information and Additional Notes

*The Independent State of Nam used to be a country whose northern half had been annexed into the Hoshidan Union until about the time in which Garon was born; one of the reigning lord’s cousins started up a civil war with the help of a foreign Sorcerer/Mechanist (Historians were never clear on this part since no one ever lived long enough or got close enough to see what exactly it was he was doing) from the North.

The Hoshidan Union were pushed out of the country entirely and the few controlling officials that they did have were executed; anyone who dared to approach the borders of the country, from either outside or in, were to be killed on sight.

This, naturally, prevented anyone from getting in or out of the country while the war raged on.

It ended with the usurper taking control of the government and replacing all of the administration of the country with his supporters.

The borders were loosened up a little to allow trade to trickle through, but the new administration kept an iron grip on the market, raking in all of the profits and allowing only an infinitesmal amount to funnel down to the common person.

Known and suspected supporters of the previous administration were arrested without rhyme nor reason and were placed in labor camps.

Police brutality was a fact of life and no one except the supporters of the current government were safe from poverty and starvation.

Anyone who was even distantly related to the previous lord and who posed a threat to their tyranny was executed publicly. Not even a single child was spared.

The people couldn’t take it anymore.

Because the borders were loosened a little, people started trying to escape. Land borders were still zealously guarded so people turned towards the sea.

Many people tried to escape and many failed, but some managed to make it across the tumultuous ocean on rickety ships to Notre Sagesse, where people were eventually moved to Asturias**, Cheve, Nestra or stayed on the island nation.

The country itself has undergone another, perhaps less bloody in the literal sense, change in administration, though the borders are just as impenetrable as before as the new Sovereign settles in.

(Gemma won’t tell you how she did it.)

(But you do notice a lot of scorch marks on the floor of the Palace.)

[The Independent State of Nam is heavily based on Vietnam. It is the pseudo-Vietnam.]

[This is assuming that Hoshido is either pseudo-Japan or China, Nohr is pseudo-Germany, Cheve is pseudo-France, Nestra is pseudo-Italy and Notre Sagesse is the pseudo representative of some French speaking country]

**Asturias is the pseudo-Spain of the FE13 world.

***The Southern Reaches is the pseudo-continent of Africa and then some.

I mean, if I’m going to go this far, I might as well keep on going, right?

Quotes

Walking around in My Castle

“You have a castle located in an alternate dimension that just kind floats in space? Alright, not the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.” (First time being talked to in my Castle)

“It doesn’t matter what you say or how big and endearing your puppy dog eyes are Corrin, it’s not going to help you in your interrogation.” (After being talked to several times)

“You wouldn’t mind if I just kind of lay face down on the ground and just sleep for a couple of years, would you?” (After working)

When Dodging or Avoiding

“Is that a Lance in your pocket or are you just happy to see-Ohp, Nope. That’s definitely a Lance.”