#The Secret of Suzanne

[opera-ghosts]

December 13. 1912 was the first performance in The Metropolitan Opera New York from the Intermezzo “The Secret of Suzanne” from the Composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948).

This short piece was followed by the Opera “Pagliacci” with Enrico Caruso that night. Here we see the original evening cast document.

[knightofthenewrepublic]

[bubblesandpages]

Suzanne Collins, manufacturing fake dating scenarios since 2006

[prophecyofgray]

"Beware, Underlanders, time hangs by a thread..."

hello hello! this september 1st marks the 20 year anniversary of gregor the overlander, the first book in the underland chronicles series by suzanne collins! i wanted to do something special to celebrate and i thought a little (re)read event would be a lot of fun!

all of the details are in the images above (image descriptions provided), but here are the dates once more:

Aug. 7th-11th --- Gregor the Overlander

Aug. 12th-16th --- Prophecy of Bane

Aug 17th-21st --- Curse of the Warmbloods

Aug 22nd-26th --- Marks of Secret

Aug 27th-Sept. 1st --- Code of Claw

and remember to use the tag #TUC20 during the event to meet and interact with other fans + #TUC spoilers for any new readers we may have during this time. i'll be going through and reblogging posts, so feel free to tag me (@prophecyofgray) as well!

one more thing: i think it'd be a lot of fun if we did something extra special on the anniversary itself, but im not sure what. feel free to share ideas in the tags <3

that's it for now! boost this if u can + spread the underland chronicles agenda to your friends >:)

fly you high!

[tangents-within-tangents]

Recently reread the Underland Chronicles so I decided to dig through and find the old fanart I did when I first read the series like 11 years ago (wow i’m old) so please enjoy

Featuring my Mark Crilley manga phase, my terrible handwriting lol, ✨copic markers✨, random details I latched on to for some reason, FEELs wtf bro, and me somehow missing the fact that Luxa got a haircut in book one, and spoilers (fr go read these books if you haven't they are so good)

Luxa and Henry (and questionable armor choices??)

The weave texture was meant to show that their clothes are made of spider silk (Idk what the random thigh pouch is supposed to be tho)

Hamnet and Hazard (and long arms so they can hold hands lol)

Queen Luxa

Yeah 13 year old me really latched on to Luxa and tried to make her my personality lolll

And for some reason the fish-shape crystal thing really stood out to me I guess

And the turtle trapdoor, I remembered that bit specifically during my reread bc I pictured this drawing I did of it. (I also vaguely remember writing (like by hand in my notebook) a mini missing scene fanfic about Luxa using the turtle trapdoor when she snuck out to join the quest in PoB XD)

(Don't ask about that size difference lol)

Okay here come the scenes/spoilers (and FEELS)

(and apparently I thought that holding Ares' claw meant his foot instead of his wing)

There you have it lol

I also distinctly remember making like a montage of Lapblood moments (the dart frog jumping near her face, strangled in the vines, sinking in quicksand (all near death experiences apparently, rip she had it rough), and Gregor brushing her fur) bc those were the moments I remembered and kept picturing during my reread. But unfortunately I could not for the LIFE of me find it!

Anyway, looking at your old art is cringeyyyy but it's still kinda fun too. This really is not how I picture the characters or clothing and stuff anymore, I might do some redraws if I ever find the time/motivation (lol as if) 

[rockrosethistle]

my favourite thing in media lately is when a white boy raised by his grandma just goes fucking apeshit insane

like I never expected meemaw to churn out psychopaths but I'll be damned if it isn't entertaining

[phantom-of-the-coquette]

if i had a nickle every time my favorite book characters had the same last name, i would have two nickles. which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. yes i'm looking at you haymitch and francis abernathy

[bookfirstlinetourney]

Round 1

When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress.

-The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.

-The Secret History, Donna Tartt

It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men.

-Red Sister, Mark Lawrence

[terapsina]

26 for the ask game

(ask game)

26. Favorite novella(s).

The Emperor's Soul is I think my favorite of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere novellas, largely because I enjoy reading about con artists and thieves. Ones with magic power to rewrite the history of objects? Even better.

Thornhedge is a fun take on Sleeping Beauty that answers the question of why a fairy might have had NEED to put a girl to sleep. And how extremely stressful it would be to then spend hundreds of years dealing with all these knights trying to rescue this princess because apparently there's a story about it (reminds me a bit of how stories have a life of their own in Terry Pratchett's Discworld).

Mysteries of Thorn Manor is an epilogue novella to Sorcery of Thorns that I really enjoyed. A really nice self-contained look into the happily ever after of the characters I love (I mean what's not to love about the warrior librarian of living magical grimoires, a magician who has earned his magic by making a deal with a demon, AND the demon in question (Silas is the best, we love Silas)). Do need to read the preceding book to enjoy the novella though.

Artificial Condition, the second Murderbot novella. I mean I love all the novellas (and one novel) in this series but this one was my favorite. Because ART. I mean a sarcastic, extremely competent SecUnit meeting an equally sarcastic and kinda terrifying Asshole Research Transport? What more can one ask for?

The Secret Life of Bots. Its on the shorter end of the novella spectrum but I adore the little Bot that could. This Bot just gives me the WALL-E feelings, okay?

The Lies of the Ajungo. Okay, so I'm actually currently reading this one but I can already tell it's going to be very good. A story about a boy who goes on a quest to bring water to his city (they're under the thumb of a neighbor city that provides them water... as long as they agree to cut out the tongues of anyone older than thirteen.

It was a twofold price, a price of blood and a price of history: an untongued people cannot tell their story.

[overandunderland]

Gregor:*Fresh off yelling at Luxa*

Ripred:👀👀👀

Gregor:WHAT?!

Ripred:Nothing 👀👀👀 *deep nasal inhale* yikes.

[wallbeatjournal]

if you had to base a new riverdale season off three movies, which would you choose and why? they could be tonal choices or you can pluck entire elements of the movies and work them in.

ok i broke the rules bc i didn't stick to movies, i went novels and pop culture with it too. and i also kind of embroidered a few references together around each main riff in a way that i think COULD be riverdalian, but these are my 3 selections:

jt leroy (2018). trashy iffy-hot-take kristen stewart/laura dern movie about a very 2000s literary scandal/internet drama run Too Far into irl drama that i think riverdale would know better what to do with. two ideas (this is a jughead plot btw):

put jughead in the dissociated trauma-projecting controlling persona-having laura albert/jt leroy role and rope veronica and reggie and their monetary-business motivations into the scam angle. monica posh savannah knoop stuff and rattling veronica and jughead around in a jar together intensely in a campy way

or step lightly outside the bounds of this script into the real livejournal and myspace based drama of it all and jughead's sometimes-characterization as a guy who needs help unpacking metaphor even though he's swimming in it. make him into one of the many emo band boys (ryan ross?? ryan ross????) who related so so so so sosososo much to the writing of jeremiah terminator and then had a whole crisis when j.t. was unmasked as a middle-aged woman with a metaphorical literary persona.

permissible bonus web-weaves: james frey a million little pieces and oprah, augusten burroughs and running with scissors. we're doing the 2000s obsession with author authenticity is-this-really-autobiographical-if-it's-not-literally-true-or-are-you-shaming-your-family-for-NOTHING questions and scandals. but we're especially doing the emo community freaking the fuck out about blorbo from their novels doing a catfish online to extend the persona just that much further.

the avril lavigne replacement conspiracy theory (linking the wiki even though what i'm REALLY thinking of here is this moving pandemic essay alexander chee my beloved posted that i can't locate now, riffing on themes of feeling like a ghost inhabiting your own life after a major trauma). they can work in some other famous body double / replacement and assassination conspiracies (paul is dead, jfk) too but avril is the main reference and this is a betty plot.

pull in some actual alexander chee images and motifs too maybe, his novels about csa grooming trauma and having complicated feelings about your intimate abusers via like grandiose opera/paris siege metaphors (the queen of the night) and fox demons (edinburgh) betty would eat, i fear, even if they're a step off her normal serial killer media mix. dark betty has the range <3

stephen king's the long walk / suzanne collins' the hunger games / battle royale / state-sponsored brutal murderous game show authority abuse dystopia media homage in general!! especially when it's homoerotic and full of ptsd and institutional abuse, because clearly this is a plot primarily for archie and the lads. imo the long walk ("how bad do you have to hate yourself to join the military" but it's game show horror) and the hunger games ("child stardom is traumatic institutional abuse especially in the era of social media and society simply pretends not to see it" but make it a ya game show adventure) should be the main references, but we could work the academic/art-competition angle of battle royale for kevin. as a treat. ok yeah and maybe work in that arnold schwarzenneger movie the running man too while we're here picking up interwoven motifs at the store. why not!

[rainingincale]

Some of my favourite series that I feel are thoroughly under-appreciated. (Part 1 of book recs here)

[i-only-know-fandoms]

Since we're all talking about Suzanne Collins again now that the BoSaS movie is coming out soon, can we talk about her first book series, The Underland Chronicles? I know we all know she doesn't hold punches in THG, but holy shit, she does not hold punches! Those books literally changed me

[leer-reading-lire]

JOMP Book Photo Challenge || January || 14 || So Many Books

The books currently on my nightstand.

[sisterdivinium]

Guilt served as comfortable bed sheet, as did darkness — the price for the sacrilege of love.

But a mischievous light shone briefly from outside and Jillian perceived the shapes of the woman she had spent the night adoring: scars, dimples, hair and fat which she only loved all the more, growing ashamed of her shame, of hiding her own mangled arm.

Then she saw the thin, injured skin of Suzannes’s knees and understood.

She could not hide from God.

Jillian dropped to her own knees, cursing the cross, defying it; worshipping her lover with new passion under His resentful eye.

[grimini]