#Llwellyn

[iopanic]

The first and probably easiest method for choosing a name is by simply looking one up. A person can choose a name based on qualities they possess and want to be rid of, like the woman with the prickly personality who calls herself "Porcupine." Then, we'll all know to stay clear of her when she's starting to take aim with her quills. We can also choose names than can imbue the practitioner with certain qualities and personality traits that can help us avoid illness, bring luck, or remind us of where we're going or of where we've been. There are many god and goddess names to choose from, if one wants to be more connected to a particular deity.

[chronivore]

Halfling Name of the Day: Eavaan Llwellyn

[spoopieere]

EXTREMELY LONG RAMBLE ON HOW: Book!Anton has parallels with a Ram & Book!Carson has parallels with a Bloodhound/scent dog

All of the lines I referenced are taken from the physical book: "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac Mccarthy & Published by Picador in the "Picador Collection"

Word count: 3k words

This is an insane rambling with barely any beta readers btw, so any is feedback appreciated. I hope y'all enjoy this :3 -Love, Orange-

1. Anton

Animalistic traits: - ”He tore strips from a hand towel with his teeth” (pg.7) -“Chigurh opened the plastic package of cashews with his teeth and doled a third part of them into his palm and stood eating” (pg.53) “Chigurh ate another handful of the cashews” (pg.53) “Chigurh poured more cashews into his palm” => There is no indication of him putting down the cashews packet while he ate. He only puts the cashew packet down at: “Chigurh poured the last of the cashews into his palm and wadded the little bag and placed it on the counter” (pg.55) - One can build the image of him tearing things with his teeth and eating from the palm of his hand, like an animal would during that whole time. Of course, he could’ve both used the hand he’s holding the packet to pick up the nuts, but it only states that he “stood eating”- so this is up for interpretation. - ”The car started and pulled off from the gravel apron onto the highway south. The lights never did come on” (pg.57-58) [Context: It was almost dark. Sheeps in general can see in the dark better than humans can, good night vision.- but so does any other predator animal] - “He tore the packet with his teeth..” (pg. 164)  - Employer: “...He killed two other men a couple of days before and those two did happen to be ours. Along with the three at that colossal goatfuck a few days before that. All right?” Carson: “All right. I guess that will do it” Employer: “Good hunting, as we used to say. Once upon a time. In the long ago.” Carson: “Thank you sir. Can I ask you something?” (pg. 141- 142) [I’m not sure if the “good hunting” is the employer referring to Anton’s killings and comparing him to a hunter; or telling Carson to have a good hunt (on Anton). But for the sake of this argument, I am interpreting it as the latter.] => Because Carson replies with “thank you sir” afterwards, it’s safe to assume that the “Good hunting” was directed at him to go… hunt Anton. Indirectly degrades and compares Anton as some sort of prey animal, or an animal in general. => BUT if we take the other interpretation route: Calling Anton killing people as “hunting” doesn’t equate him to a *human* hunter either, as predator animals also *hunt* for their prey. So this “good hunting” can be interpreted as calling Anton either a prey animal, or a predator animal.  - Anton just stands and listens, like an animal standing in the woods listening for either predator to run away from, or prey to hunt. (“Listening” appears 24 times in the book: 10 of them is dedicated to describing Anton’s actions) - (Llwellyn does the same thing, which is interesting)  +“He drove across the bars of the cattle guard and got out and closed the gate again and stood there listening” (pg.58) +“ He reached over into the passenger seat and turned the dial slowly forward and then back, listening” (pg.98)  +“ He stood listening at the door. Then he punched out the lock cylinder with the airgun and kicked open the door”  (pg. 103) +“ When he came back up he stopped and stood listening in the hallway outside his door.” (pg. 172) +“He stood leaning against the door with the shotgun in both hands, listening. He went down the hallway and picked the crushed cylinder out of the floor and put it in his pocket and went on to the elevator and stood listening again” (pg.198) +“He crossed the room and stood at the doorway listening”  (pg. 200) +“He opened the screen door and punched out the cylinder and walked in and shut the door behind him and stood listening” (pg. 203) +“He put the shotgun in the crook of his arm and took out a can of orange soda and opened it with his forefinger and stood drinking it, listening for anything that might follow the metallic click of the can.” (pg. 203) +“ After a while he rose and crossed the room and went up the stairs. He stood listening at the head of the stairwell.” (pg. 203)

Parallels to a ram (male sheep): There are enough parallels to know that Anton is compared to an animal. Both prey and predator. But there was never an exact predator that can be applied to Anton, he’s just IS a predator; and I’d assume most people would think of Anton as such too considering his job. While the imagery comparing Anton to a prey animal, especially the sheep, is more implied. - His main car is literally a RAMcharger. (hehe) -”It was cold out on the barrial and he had no jacket but he didn’t seem to notice” (pg 59-60) [Sheeps can generally withstand the cold to as low as 25F ~ 3.8C. So a little bit of the desert cold won’t bother a ram as much, plus it adds to how *alien* Anton is.] -“When he was done disinfected the wound a final time (…)  and bound them with gauze off of a roll packaged for sheep and goats” (pg. 164)  => ???Like… couldn’t he just steal human bandages? I'm pretty sure a pharmacy would be more likely to have normal bandages than Veterinary wrap. -“Chigurh watched it all without turning or looking”  ” Chigurh lay there pulling back on the bracelets with his knees between his arms and his face averted” (pg.6) => Sheeps can almost see 360 degrees around them without turning their heads. So if this applies to Anton, it’s almost like he can see what’s going on without having to directly look at them. - Anton: “Even a nonbeliever might find it useful to model himself after God” (pg.256) + RELIGION BABYYY. In catholicism, it is believed that Jesus is the son of God. AND WHAT ANIMAL IS TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH JESUS??? THE *LAMB* - A SHEEP. And a Lion. (Isa. 31:4; Hosea 5:14; Rev. 5:5) [Though in Christianity alone, God is associated with only a lion] + Anton explicitly said here that he is an atheist, but he finds it useful to model himself after God, not God’s teachings, but God. I think it shows how… psychopathically egotistic he is, that he is a non-believer and doesn’t see himself as God/ a god- but rather someone who imitates the image of God, then uses it as an excuse to keep his word to murder Carla. Which is also blasphemous as it counts as using God’s name in vain, so Carla was right to call him a blasphemer.  [Does following the image of God give him a sense of superiority over those who don't? Or is it because he models himself after god that it justifies him killing others?] + It is also interesting how the book both gives Anton parallelism to animals but gives him both prey and predator traits. Just like that of the image of God is both a Lamb, and a Lion. => I think by admitting he is an atheist, yet models himself after the image of God due to its *usefulness*, we can assume that Anton’s image is comparable to a sheep, yet his nature isn’t. Sounds corny, but I do think it is a “Wolf in sheep’s clothing” situation. + Eyes: “at once glistening and totally opaque” (pg.56) Eyes are the window to the soul, as they say. But Anton’s eyes are “totally opaque”, as in unable to see anything deeper beside the “glistening” on the surface. Whatever is “glistening” on the surface is purely for aesthetic or to deceive those who only look at him at a glance. But even if they look deeper, they won't find anything.  => Anton “modelling” himself after God, can be interpreted as him masking himself as a “sheep” to blend in, to disguise himself as unassuming as possible to hide his true nature.  => We can see that this “modelling” himself after God also reveals Anton’s predatory nature. Because he uses that as an excuse to explain why he *has to* kill Carla. => If we are talking about this sentence in “Anton’s ideology” route, we can interpret this as Anton using the words/ teaching of God and twisting it to fit his own ideology. (bc y'know… the Bible is largely up to interpretation of those who read it)

No, I don't think Anton is the Antichrist. Anton is unpredictable, yes, but he is not Lawless (A sign of the Antichrist). Like Carson said in the book “You can even say that he has principles. Principles that transcend money or drugs or anything like that”- Anton has principles, and rules that he follows despite how Lawless he might seem to most. - The boy’s confession with Sheriff Ed Tom at the end: This is like, the most descriptive description of how Anton looks like we’re gonna get.

Ed Tom: “On the report you said he was maybe in his late thirties” (pg.289)  Boy: “Not real tall. Sort of medium” (pg. 290) -  “(...) He was kindly dark complected is all” (pg.291) -  “He was medium height. Medium build. Looked like he was in shape. In his mid thirties maybe. Dark hair. Dark brown, I think. I don’t know, sheriff. He looked like anybody.” (pg.292) “(...) He didn’t look like anybody. I mean there was nothing unusual looking about him. But he didn’t look like anybody you’d want to mess with. When he said something you damn sure listened” (pg.292) 

=> Anton is literally so unremarkably average and unassuming looking that it was so hard to pinpoint anything special about him, aside from previously mentioned aesthetic traits (hair/eyes colors) BUT there is something unusual or uncanny about him that is hard to point out. Even the color of his skin is ambiguous because it's “kindly dark complected”- it's not that light or that dark either. It’s just kindly leaning to the darker shade. Even Llwellyn described Anton as “faintly exotic”- like he MIGHT be a foreigner, but he also might not be. But leaning to being foreign. =>Anton is so vaguely described, he is so ALIKE with anybody else that from a glance he CAN be anybody else. It’s like… he’s blending into the crowd… like a sheep blending into the flock. (I’m going insane, sorry) =>BUT THINK ABOUT IT. Aren’t Christians all modeling themselves after the teachings of God? So in a way, aren’t they all lambs in God's floc? And God/Jesus is their shepherd. (Jesus’s followers are called and compared to Lambs). Anton, is a non-believer, yet he finds it useful to also model himself after God. And so, his unassuming appearance only helps him blend in with the others easier, to look just like any other sheeps in God’s flock.  =>BUT. There will always be something uncanny about Anton’s appearance that gives it away- that even when Anton looks like anybody, “He didn’t look like anybody” either. Just like how his eyes glisten, but ultimately opaque underneath. Just like how his image will never be following the true words of God, there will always be something that gives it away that he is just a predator in sheep’s clothing. (It’s probably because of all the murders..) 

2. Weird comparisons when it comes to Anton & Carson?? (idk lmao i just think it’s funnie)

-Anton* “He placed his hand on the man’s head like a faith healer” (pg.6)

-Carson* “Wells shut the door and stood with his hands crossed before him at the wrist. The way a funeral director might stand” (pg.139) 

=> Why are both of them are hitmen, whose job is to KILL people but it’s only *Anton* that’s associated with someone with a positive connotation like a Faith Healer- to heal people’s faith in Christ and/or physical maladies? (which is very ironic bc Anton’s about to kill someone right after this)  While Carson is compared to a funeral director, establishing his connection to death. Carson is *tasked* to kill Anton, but he never seems to have the intention of doing so, rather he seeks out Llwellyn to strike a deal & get the money, instead of going for Anton (probably bc he knows he can’t kill Anton- like Carson said, he himself is a “daytrader”, so I doubt he was planning to kill Anton in the first place). What he primarily did in the book was tracking Llwellyn down via the mess Anton & Llwellyn left behind, following the blood, examining the scene, sniffing around.. y’know, LIKE A DOG-

3. CARSON!!!

Carson being alluded to be a dog: - BEFORE CARSON SHOWS UP OR EVEN MENTIONED AT ALL, there are two mentions of dogs that are used to describe the silence of the environment around Llewellyn and Anton.  + Llewellyn’s: “He closed the bag and redid the fasteners and shoved it under the bed an rose and stood looking out the window at the stars over the rock escarpment to the north of the town. Dead quiet. Not even a dog.” (pg.23) + Anton’s: “ He waited. Then he tapped again. He turned and stood with his back to the trailer and studied the little park. Nothing moved. Not a dog.” (pg.80) - BUT the moment Llwellyn crosses the Mexican border, the *setting* before Llwellyn’s about to meet Carson, the presence of a dog being *there* is suddenly mentioned:  “The Mexican gateshack was just ahead (. . .) Over the low black hills beyond the town. The water moved beneath him slow and dark. A dog somewhere. Silence. Nothing.” (pg.117) - AND when Llwellyn finally meets up with Carson at the hospital, what was the animal that was explicitly mentioned to be completely there before Llewellyn opens his eyes to see Carson?? “ Moss woke in a ward with sheeting (. . .) Dim noises from the street. A motorcycle. A dog. He turned his face on the pillow and looked into the eyes of a man sitting on a metal chair against the wall holding a bouquet of flowers.” (pg.148) => A DOG!!!!!!!!!! COINCIDENCE?? I THINK NOT- 

Bloodhound-like traits: -What is a Bloodhound: The Bloodhound is a large scent dog, originally bred in the Middle Ages to track animals during hunts, and people. This breed has the ability to discern human scent over great distances, even days later. It is often used to track escaped prisoners, missing people, and lost pets. (according to Wikipedia) - I want to state that the way Carson ever so patiently sat and waited for Llwellyn to wake up for an hour reminds me of how dogs do. And incredibly alike how a bloodhound would find its target and sat guarding it until its master came to collect it. As bloodhounds have a better instinct to hunt, rather than kill.  + Recall to when the Employer said “Good hunting” ;) - I would also want to mention this line that Carson said to Llwellyn: “You need to throw me a bone” (pg.157) => And istg the only animal you ever throw a bone to is a dog.  -It only took Carson “About three hours” to track Llwellyn down, it shows how good Carson actually is at tracking someone and their shit (the money).  -As the name suggests “Bloodhound”, which is a breed of scent dogs, means that there has to be blood and a lot of sniffing involved right? WELL-  + The first thing Carson did upon reaching the room where Llwellyn stayed at the hotel last night was… Sniffing. Like a scent hound or any dog would do to start tracking something:  “It took him about 15 seconds to get into Moss’s room and he shut the door behind him without disturbing the tape. He leaned against the door and smelled the room.” (pg.146) “The first thing he did was to walk carefully over the carpet (...) He rose and picked up the pillows and smelled them.” (pg.146)  + Carson is also mentioned beforehand to be walking around with only his socks in this scene, similar to how Anton did it to make his walk silent. Hitman stuff ig. And also Bloodhounds are silent while on a trail themselves. +The next stuff Carson started to pay attention to was Blood. Get a whiff and take a look at the tracks. Like a scent dog would do: “ A  bloody towel lay in the floor (...) There was a bloodstained washcloth in the sink (...) Bloody handprints. A bloody handprint on the edge of the shower curtain (...) The pavement has been hosed off but you can still see the bloodstains in the concrete of the walkway where Moss had been shot.” (pg.146) “(...) A cotton robe that was black with dried blood” (pg.147)  +Carson’s sense of smell is also mentioned further into his investigation: “A darkened room. A faint smell of rot.” (pg.147)  +Carson also used Llwellyn’s blood on the pavement to track down the money: “He was standing where Moss had stood four nights ago.” (pg.166) “He studied the blood on the sidewalk. Where it trailed off to nothing (...) Faint outline of a boot print in blood (...)  He studied the chain link fence to see if there might be blood on the wire.” (pg.167)   +Carson takes pictures via his camera while he investigates. Kinda like how a scent dog would form “track pictures” (A “track picture” can consist of many elements: ground, earthy & air, in which includes a lot of other elements like dirt, sweat, skin, plants,...) to lock into a specific track so they follow that track instead of others. In this case, blood.  “ He took a small camera from his jacket pocket and took a couple of pictures of the dead woman…”  (pg.147) “He took out his camera and snapped a picture of the sky, the river, the world.” (pg.167)  I think it's cute.. to headcanon... Carson being into photography a bit.. - Unrelated but, when Anton and Carson were in the room together, Anton said this: “You think you can put it off with your eyes” Carson: “What do you mean?” Anton: “You think that as long as you keep looking at me you can put it off” (pg.176) => AND I CAN’T HELP BUT IMAGINE CARSON GIVING ANTON PUPPY EYES SO ANTON WON’T KILL HIM

That is all I have. Thank you for reading. I love you if you did so. I do accept feedback as I MIGHT use some of this to add into my uni subject's literature analysis on NCFOM. All of this just to have an excuse to draw Anton with sheep horns and Carson as a dog boy btw... Carson is a dog boy confirmed. Anton is that weird looking sheep standing alone on a field in the middle of the night and staring straight at your camera as you took the picture.

Again, thank you <3 -Orange-

[cariciapadre]

new babes i whipped up . i plan on using one much more than the other

[idontliketomatoesleavemealone]

man I used to have ocs I don’t even think about these days

[strawbeb]

guys i know it’s like one of the most emotionally charged moments of the entire duology but i can’t not laugh when jesper and kaz start fist fighting

[a-wayfairing-stranger]

New ship: Llwellyn & Daenerys

[altered-statuses]

My latest mix of vintage new age music - enjoy!

Si - Earth Tone (Australia, 2001) Terry Oldfield - Prayer Before Dawn (UK/Australia, 1988) Dean Evenson - River of Dreams (USA, 1999) Llwellyn - Tantric Sexuality Part 1 (UK, 1999) Ray Vanderby - Mountains of Joy (Australia, 2010) Adrian Ross - Moonahcullah (Australia, 1997) Steve Roach - Structures from Silence (US, 1984) Imee Oi 黄慧音 - Om mani padme hum (Zen mix) (Malaysia, 2001) Shaun Rigney - Wetland 999 (Australia, 1996) Kamal - Blue Dawn (Germany/Australia, 1993) Vicki Larnach - Light Up the World (Australia, 1989?) Jeff Wolpert - Swimming with Dolphins (Canada, 2000)

[primeval-scion-of-the-mists]



FINALLY got time to do some art party drawings! Here's Astromancer Rhinn for @zeeplaguedoktor and Keeper Llwellyn for @sunsrefuge :D Hope you like it! They were so fun to draw <3

[akitasimblr]

anwen llwellyn by @simbico

🖤previous | next🖤

[lizbethborden]

Hi again! Yeah, from your bookshelf! You seem well informed and I wanna know the type of stuff you read and might recommend. I don't even know what to tell you for my interests because I feel like I'm just begining. Sorry I'm young and dumb still haha.

#1 you're not dumb and #2 nothing to apologize for :)

Here's some books I've got on my shelves or that I've read:

Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists, Laura Bates

Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, Katha Pollitt

Women, Race, & Class, Angela Davis

American Girls, Nancy Jo Sales

Lesbian Culture: An Anthology, eds. Julia Penelope and Susan J Wolf

Lesbian Studies, Margaret Cavendish

Hood Feminism, Mikki Kendall

Against White Feminism, Rafia Zakaria

Sister and Brother: Lesbians and Gay Men Write About Their Lives Together, eds Joan Nestle and John Preston

Another Mother Tongue, Judy Grahn

Aimee & Jaguar, Erica Fischer

Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought, ed. Briona Simone Jones

Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell

The Mary Daly Reader, eds. Jennifer Rycenga and Linda Barufaldi

Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, eds. Martin Duberman, Martha Vicinus, George Chauncey Jr.

Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society, Cordelia Fine

Speaking Freely: Unlearning the Lies of the Father's Tongue, Julia Penelope

The Resisting Reader, Judith Fetterley

The Double X Economy, Linda Scott

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture, ed. Roxane Gay

Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists, Joan Smith

Intercourse, Andrea Dworkin

The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Government Plan to Imprison "Promiscuous" Women, Scott Stern

The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory, Marilyn Frye

Only Words, Catharine A. Mackinnon

Everything Below the Waist: Why Health Care Needs a Feminist Revolution, Jennifer Block

Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts, Anne Llwellyn Barstow

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, Peggy Orenstein

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado-Perez

Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Values, Sarah Lucia Hoagland

We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement, Andi Zeisler

Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, Adrienne Rich

On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose, Adrienne Rich

Feminism, Animals, and Science: The Naming of the Shrew, Lynda Birke

The Female Body in Western Culture: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. Susan Rubin Suleiman

Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Gloria Anzaldua

Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic Surgery, Virginia L Blum

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, Patricia Hill Collins

Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked our Sexuality, Gail Dines

Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, Susan Faludi

From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Marilyn French

This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, eds. Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua

Seeing Like a Feminist, Nivedita Menon

With Her Machete In Her Hand: Reading Chicana Lesbians, Catriona Reuda Esquibel

The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture, Bonnie J. Morris

Foundlings: Lesbian and Gay Historical Emotion before Stonewall, Christopher Nealon

The Persistent Desire: A Butch/Femme Reader, ed. Joan Nestle

The Straight Mind and Other Essays, Monique Wittig

The Trouble Between us: An Uneasy History of White and Black Women in the Feminist Movement, Winifred Breines

Right-Wing Women, Andrea Dworkin

Woman Hating, Andrea Dworkin

Why I Am Not A Feminist, Jessica Crispin

Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Between Women, Leila J Rupp

I tried to avoid too many left turns into my specific interests although if you passionately want to know any of those, I can make you some more lists LOL

I would suggest picking a book that sounds interesting and using the footnotes and bibliography to find more to read. I've done that a lot :) a lot of my books have more sticky tabs or w/e in the bibliography than in the text so I don't lose stuff I'm interested in.

Hope this helps!

[how-to-spell-llewelyn]

Hi, I was just wondering if you are joking about not knowing how to spell Llewellyn's name, or if that is really the case. If it is, his name is definitely spelled Llewellyn. I don't know where the one l at the end came from, but every single time on the credits it is listed with 4. Nearly every time listed as Llewellyn, except two times where his name is listed as Llwellyn, which is clearly a mistake. The definite proof, however, for how Llewellyn spells his name is heard in season 15, episode 22 - Sweet Amelia. In it, Llewellyn himself confirms his name has 4 Ls and spells part of his name. From what he says and how his name is usually spelled in the credits, it is clear the correct way, again, is Llewellyn.

Part joking, part genuine, I made this blog very very shortly after Watts was first introduced, whichever episode they first reveal his first name, so there was still some lack of clarity over how to spell it and I think the first iteration of the wiki or some article or something, I can't recall exactly, but I remember googling it, spelled it Llewelyn, so I put that in tentatively while squinting at it, so at first it was a genuine question, how the Hell do you spell this man's name, google lied to me, but after a while, it became a joke because the spelling Llewellyn was confirmed, and also I'm just too... can't think of a better word, uh neurotic to change any of my urls ever, it feels like a monumentous impossible terrifying task for no reason.

[miniaturemoonheart]

☽ 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳𝗶𝗲𝘀 ☾

It's nearly impossible these days to avoid having your image available either on the internet or simply on the cameras and mobile devices of others. This need not be a source of magical fear, however, if certain precautions are taken. We can seal ourselves and disconnect all images of us at once using a single selfie.

For this spell, all you need is an image of yourself (it can be on your phone) and your athame. Gaze at the image and see a thin, glowing cord linking the image to your body. With the athame, make a smooth cutting motion, severing the cord so that the image can no longer be used to magically influence you in any way. Next, encircle the image with the athame in a counterclockwise circle and envision that every image of you instantly loses its cord as well.

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: James Kambos

𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲: Llwellyn's 2023 Witches' Spell-A-Day Almanac - 7/13/2023

𝗨𝗿𝗹: https://www.llewellyn.com/spell.php?spell_id=8979

[spoopieere]

Actually making an analysis on Themes and Characteriszations in "No Country For Old Men" for a university subject btw.

I'm going cuckoo over the book looking for details that will both help my analysis paper and my autism over Anton & Carson.

[dndhistory]

206. Bob Blake - RPGA4: The Elixir of Life (1983)

It might seem strange that this is the last of the RPGA modules because if you read through this you can easily see that the story, which started off in RPGA3 is unfinished by the end of RPGA4. Well, the truth is this is not the last RPGA module really, it's just the last that was sold as a separate piece to RPGA members. The followup to this module would eventually come out in Polyhedron magazine, giving us RPGA5 to 8, finally finishing up this story.

In RPGA3 the player characters went off to try to find a way to bring back legendary king Llwellyn by first meeting some Druids who told them it was the correct time to do it and then obtaining the keys of the tomb. in RPGA4 we get two more wilderness adventures continuing the path to the resurrection of Llwellyn, now making the players find his regalia and a potion that might help bring him back to life.

Quite short, at about 16 pages, it consists of two short missions designed for RPGA tournaments having originally been run at Gen Con XVI. This module has much improved illustration when compared to previous RPGA modules, which is always a good thing.

[readnburied]

January Reading Wrap Up

Target: 10

Read: 8

January was not exactly a successful month for me in terms of reading. I planned on reading ten books and ended up reading only eight. So I do feel disappointed, but it’s still okay that I at least managed to read eight books. 

So without further ado here is the list of the books I read: 

Figment by Cameron Jace 

This is book 2 in the Insanity series by Cameron Jace which follows a girl named Alice Wonder who is locked in an asylum. The story continues with Alice’s adventure as she tries to navigate between reality and imagination, trying to find and stop the Wonderland Monsters from killing innocent children. Add a handsome, sweet boy who just might not be what she expected and you have a roller coaster of a book. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series. The twists and turns and the fantastic way the author plays with psychological concepts really kept me at the edge of my seat. 

Llwellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kynes

If you’re into witchcraft or esotericism, then it’ll be good for you to give this a book a try. Someone like me who is new to this world would benefit greatly as correspondences are difficult to find at times. However, this book contains all the correspondences organized alphabetically so it is a helpful book to have around, whether you’re a beginner or at a higher level. It was a highly informative book for me. 

Childhood Disrupted by Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Childhood plays an important role when it comes to shaping our personalities, and this book tells us exactly how childhood impacts our lives as adults. The trauma we experience as kids, whether physical or psychological, it leaves a mark, the signs of which appear in our adulthood. 

Containing real life accounts of people who suffered in their childhood in one way or another, this book is an eye opener for those who believe that the trauma suffered in childhood has absolutely no effect on our lives and personalities as adults. 

This book was enlightening and an engaging read, so do give it a try if you’re looking to read something interesting in the non-fiction genre. 

Cloak and Dagger by Nenia Campbell 

This is book 1 of The IMA series by Nenia Campbell, who—in case you guys didn’t know—is one of my favorite authors ever. This follows Michael who happens to be an assassin working for the IMA. When a hacker manages to breach into the organization’s database, the IMA sends Michael to find out who’s behind it and kill the one responsible. Christina, on the other hand is an ordinary school student until she’s kidnapped by a group of people who are dead set on killing her. This follows a chain of events that lead to Christina fighting for her life all the while trying to navigate the sinister world of ruthless mercenaries. 

I love Nenia Campbell, and this is the second series that I’ve started reading by her and so far I love the first book and I’ll be reading the rest of the series as soon as I read all the other books I plan to read. The plot is intriguing as I love reading about criminal organizations and assassins just happens to be my favorite. So this book was a quick read for me, though the antagonist in the book made me want to kill him. 

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi

This memoir follows the life of actress Portia de Rossi and her journey with Anorexia and her love for food as she tries to fit in with the cutthroat world of media and stardom. 

The purity and rawness of this book was what really kept me flipping page after page. Portia de Rossi really poured her heart out in describing her battle with Anorexia and how the world forces you to change yourself just to feel accepted. And I think everyone should read this book, because no one should be pressured into changing their appearance in order to feel accepted and beautiful. 

Audacity by Melanie Crowder

This is a novel written in verse and the first of its kind that I’ve ever read and for some reason this novel did not speak to me in the way I expected it to. I’m not sure if it’s the novel itself or the format as I’ve never read a novel written in verse before. 

However, I did understand the overall context of the novel which follows a Jewish girl as she fights for equal rights at the work place. A girl who refuses to back down due to tradition and the cruel condition of the workplace. This novel is meant to inspire and it did to me to some extent, but I believe that someone else might get more out of it than I did. 

True Nature by Willow Madison

Before I give my opinion on this book, I would like to mention the trigger warnings associated with this book. This book contains abuse consensual and otherwise, so please read at your own discretion. 

So this is a dark romance book which dives into abuse and intertwining it with love. This is book 1 in the series involving Max and Lucy. Max is a man of primitive thinking and clearly knows how to treat a woman—in his opinion of course, which many of you might disagree with—while Lucy takes whatever Max dishes out. 

Though I’m all up for dark romance, I kind of found Lucy a bit too docile for my liking. She never questions how Max treats her and happily goes along with whatever he says and does. I know I’m no one to judge but it would’ve been nice if Lucy had a bit of a backbone. 

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia 

This is a contemporary novel following two high school students, one who is a popular comic artist but no one knows her identity, while our other main character writes fan fiction related to the same comic. His fan fiction is loved by everyone who is a fan of the comic. 

Eliza loves to draw but with being an introvert comes a strong desire for privacy and that’s exactly what she exhibits when she hides behind a pseudonym and dazzles the world with her comic. Whereas, Wallace passionately writes fan fiction based on Eliza’s character, and even though he’s open about his craft, he has his own closet full of secrets. And when Eliza’s secrets come out, it becomes a tricky maze of emotions and feelings as they both try to figure out what it is they truly want. 

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was cute, inspirational and downright fun. It even made me wish that I could one day have my own comic or webtoon which I can present to the world, however, I can’t even draw a straight line. Wallace and Eliza really are perfect and I intend to read more books by Francesca Zappia. 

Well there you have it. These are the eight books that I read in January. Do let me know if any of these piqued your interest and do let me know what you read in the month of January. Let’s see if I’d be able to complete the next month’s target.