#The Spellcoats

[quordleona03]

Enchanter without equal

On meeting celebrities where you don't expect them - I met Diana Wynne Jones at a friend's party.

It wasn't so much that she was at the party - fandom is fandom is fandom, writers are also fans and fans are also writers -

it was that we were both in the kitchen, both nursing glasses of red wine, both staring at a man with very white legs in black leather jeans with lacings just separated far enough that a distinct line of white showed all the way up his leg. He was standing sideways on to both of us, talking enthusiastically to a fourth person, and as we both became aware we were both staring, Diana lifted her wine-glass and made as if she were about to pour it down the white line on his leg, without actually doing so.

Our eyes met. I said, charmed "I was just thinking of that!" And she said "Irresistible!" - but resisted. And we had a lovely chat about leather trousers and kilts and men who do and do not have the legs for them, and I didn't actually realise til someone else told me that I had been lost in conversation with Diana Wynne Jones, who wrote The Homeward Bounders and Power of Three and The Spellcoats and Chrestomanci and other books that had furnished my mind.

Diana Wynne Jones 16th August 1934-26th March 2011

[yonayona]

some of my latest dalemark stuff

btw once I did Hern and Kars Adon as Tarot Lovers, so I decided to make more of Dalemark tarot!

[namedafterflowerstournament]

Botanic Tournament : Main Bracket !

Round 1 Poll U

Tanaqui means "rushes" in-universe, although it breaks down into "younger sister"

(Rushes and cosmos flowers)

[quietflorilegium]

"He paused again before answering sadly and hesitantly, “I am very devious, Granddaughter. You—you would not be here now if I had.” It came to me that my grandfather was not only bound and sad, and weighted with shame and loneliness, but even uncertain how to talk to an ordinary person like me. I had not thought it was possible to love him until then. I wanted to turn round and look at him, but I did not dare."

Tanaqui, Diana Wynne Jones, "The Spellcoats"

[thenugking]

Can't believe the revisionist historians in Dalemark who had the official translation of the Spellcoats claim Kars Adon died, when what really happened is that he united the land by marrying Hern.

This is a hill I will die on, they're gay as fuck for each other and Kars Adon absolutely did Not need to die and use his dying breath to name Hern his heir for the plot to work. So mad DWJ killed him but also so delighted that the story we actually read is a translation the glossary says is not entirely accurate.

[littlemissinkdrinker]

The Spellcoats by Diana Wynne Jones

As a knitter and spinner, I absolutely adored this one. The story itself is the typical Jones's story of magic being found in unknown ways and people stumbling along and into and out of trouble which I will always inherently love (and she writes it so it always seems so organically). Spellcoats as a historical note is very fascinating to read in a more fantastical setting and I just really enjoyed how everything wove together, weaving pun 100% intended.

Read : Dec 26th, 2022 - Jan 6th, 2023

Rating : 5 Stars

[deborahocarroll]

Wrapup: #MarchMagics 2022!

Recapping my recent #DianaWynneJones and #TerryPratchett adventures!

Time got away from me (clearly! XD), but it’s time to look back at the Diana Wynne Jones and Pratchett related goodness I got up to in March — and, actually, April as well! I didn’t manage to finish up my March Magics goals during the month since I got crazy busy, so I carried on a bit of the reading in April, which was rather nice, actually. And now that I’m trying to ease back into blogging, I…

[thenegoteator]

Finished the dalemark quartet yesterday and I may never recover

[risenwraith]

Some of the badges I sewed and used to decorate the coat of an American Civil War era Necromancer I played in a LARP game. (I ripped apart a replica jacket and replaced all the original insignia with occult symbols and imagery filled with moons, stars, sigils and skulls.)

[tanoraqui]

Trick or treat! Queen's Thief series or Spellcoats please?

This is a great combination because one of my favorite pet headcanons is that these series take place on different continents in the same world. The vibes just match, you know? The themes of real people becoming history and legends, the amount of fantasy in the fantasy settings (very little, really, and both ambling toward industrial revolutions). The way the gods do and do not interact with and relate to humans; how the older gods are more nature-based and the younger more human. Eugenides the god could so be an Undying of Dalemark, as could Immakuk and Ennikar.

[Tanaqui voice] “Go to bed, Duck.”

[incomingalbatross]

Diana Wynna Jones books I liked which are not the Ingary or Chrestomanci books (though still pretty predictable, probably)

Dark Lord of Derkholm and The Year of the Griffin. First one especially. Sword-and-sorcery/D&D parody with heart. Mad science but magic. Large family vibes. The (logistical) (and other) horrors of war. Griffins. The sequel has academic satire.

Hexwood. Timey-wimey. Aliens and magic and other magic. Memory alteration. Classic DWJ identity shell game, at a level even surpassing the Ingary books' denouements. Knights and castles and woods and space and a robot. I could not AT ALL draw you a diagram of this book, but luckily I don't have to.

The Dalemark Quartet. Maybe Spellcoats especially? The whole thing held me remarkably well, though, given it's one of those series where we keep jumping to entirely new casts of characters. The most purely secondary-world epic fantasy in her works, I think. Politics and gods and mythic prehistory. Wins the prize for Most Extreme Unlikable-To-Likable Protagonist Arc (Successfully Executed).

Archer's Goon. Okay, I was primed to like this one because I'd seen mutual talking about it. Still, though. SIBLINGS, man.

Enchanted Glass. Like the aesthetic of the glass. Like the worldbuilding. Like the family setup.

Deep Secret. Slightly mixed feelings about this one because of the not-appropriate-for-children bits (glancing though they are). Still, though. Cool multiverse. Ghost mentor. Authentic 90s nerd culture. Babylon. And I like the characters.

[yonayona]

been playing with their design. As I remember Kars Adon and Hern look pretty alike but I'm craving for some hight difference here and a little bit buff Hern because he's a buff boyfriend who can carry Kars on his arms 🥰 yep. this will be the next one.

and mullet Kars Adon? yes please

[iamfitzwilliamdarcy]

thinking about the dad in the spellcoats falling in love with/marrying an Undying and now he’s the single father of some weirdo kids

[quietflorilegium]

"What kind of illness is it that has a man in a fever in the morning and out fishing in the afternoon? Hern says it is a very rare and uncommon disease called cowardice."

Tanaqui, Diana Wynne Jones, "The Spellcoats"

[thenugking]

also if i had a dollar for every piece of media I've been into were weaving is magical and integral to the plot, and the protagonist has been seperated from their mother since their childhood but she is capable of appearing to them as a swan, I'd have two dollars, which isn't a lot but it is weird that it's happened twice

[aestivetic]

The Boy Detective FAILS, by Joe Meno

The Manual of Detection, by Jedidiah Berry

The Master Li Trilogy, by Barry Hughart

Tales From Jabba’s Palace, edited by Kevin J. Anderson

Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina, edited by Kevin J. Anderson

The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones, particularly The Spellcoats and Drowned Ammet

Zanoni, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

The Sea-Priestess and Moon Magic, by Dion Fortune

Heart’s Blood and A Sending of Dragons by Jane Yolen

“San Diego Lightfoot Sue” by Tom Reamy

Looking for book recs!

I have only-engages-with-media-via-word-of-mouth disease and would love to get some recommendations from yall!

First, I am always interested in recs in the scif-fi/fantasy and adjacent categories that feature queer people (though I'll note that I'm typically not interested in YA/anything super lighthearted).

Right now, though, I'm trying to read things for research/inspiration purposes while I'm developing my next big solo project (Working Title: SOUP.) To that end, I'm looking for stories that feature...

Gender fuckery - where are the modern day Left Hands of Darkness? Especially interested in stories that imagine post-gender society

Spatial horror - think megastructures and endless hallways, ala Blame! and House of Leaves

Strange or unconventional divinity - gods that are barely distinguishable from monsters, machines, or the mundane

Hivemind or Many-In-One beings or characters - unconventional takes on mindreading would also work

Worlds or environments not anchored, either partially or wholly, in physical space - think dreamscapes, spiritual realms, planes in-between or outside of the Material

Recommendations definitely don't have to have more than one of (or even heavily feature) these very specific elements btw! And again, I'm happy to hear about basically any book in the scif-fi/fantasy and adjacent categories that has queer people in it, especially if it makes you starry eyed/foam at the mouth/react like a dog destroying a chewtoy.

Any help growing my painfully sparse tbr pile - including simply boosting this post - is very much appreciated!