#Unlikely Heroes

[starlingcircus]

Ich vermisse dich.

[Twitter]

[howifeltabouthim]

'You're right about us . . . We're not the heroes, we're the odd ones out. The losers. But did you ever think that might be why we've lived so long? Losing makes you tough.'

Lev Grossman, from The Bright Sword

[sluggoonthestreet]

The sklornax invasion was cancelled due to one hungry goose and a scout ship that looked a lot like a bagel.

[cmweller]

Challenge #04313-K295: A Visit of Change

The human was one of the ones often called the "slower sorts". Those in the village were not exactly kind to them, either. In the Inn where they lived and worked, when they saw Bibrid and Gikka, they smiled saying 'draggies!", and went to cuddle with the two as the weather was cold and damp, and their only other bed was a hay-pile on the floor near the wood bin, and a rough, old, small piece of burlap for a cover. -- Anon Guest

The one they called Slow Loryss was the speediest young man in the village. They called him 'slow' because he wasn't very bright. Though fully grown, he retained the faithful innocence of a small child. And a lot of the temperament, absent-mindedness, and reluctance to eat vegetables.

Greatfather Langeven gifted him something each Midwinterfeast, just in case you were wondering.

The gifts never lasted, because the people around Loryss were... well. Censorable body parts. He didn't have any true family to care for him and the rest of the township didn't have the patience to try understanding him. Or dealing with him at all, if they could help it.

[Check the source for the rest of the story]

[internutter]

Challenge #04307-K289: Ancient Nightmares

The child was terrified as storms raged outside the old building they were taking shelter in, the wind rattling the tightly locked windows. Wraithvine got the fire going while others did their best to help the frightened child calm. Including a gentle, cuddly, feline.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04008-j356-a-lesson-in-trust

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04148-k130-one-link-in-the-chain

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04240-k222-midwinterfeast-blessings -- Anon Guest

Rain raged against the old farmhouse's roof. The wind screamed in the trees outside, threatening to extinguish the fire as Wraithvine attempted to start it. Gikka, feeling every degree of the cold, had sunk into a torpor and a convenient corner. Amity had monopolised the blankets because Berrie was shivering.

They were still shivering even though they should have been nice and toasty warm.

Amity rocked with her adopted child, trying to hum a tune above the racket of the storm. Which was too loud to do such a thing.

Lilbit, finished with grooming her floof, oozed her way into the blankets, and then Berrie's arms. There, she started purring and doing her own work to clean Berrie as only a cat can.

[Check the source for the rest of the story]

[deebrisbyfish]

As an artist, I LOVE creative collaboration. It's not a thing I get to do all that often, on the art side of things, as I tend to do all my own artwork from beginning to end on most of my projects, from pencils to final art. So, I'm always thrilled when I have the occasional opportunity to work on pieces with OTHER artists.  When I was doing the Wellkeeper, about half of the covers were inked by the fantastic Tony Kordos, and I adored that team-up. And recently, for the Finding Dee Kickstarter, I worked on a studio JAM cover for that book. An homage to the classic, Gil Kane "Giant Sized X-Men #1", I did reasonably tight digital "pencils" for the piece featuring Me, Heidi, and Poe bursting out of a shot with other characters from UNLIKELY HEROES STUDIOS! The awesome Laurie Foster did the inks over my pencils, which were then given awesome colors by Katy Rewston, who colored the book interiors as well. I am SUPER happy with how this came out, and now that the Kickstarter is in the can and folks are all receiving their books, I wanted to share the process a little! Hope you enjoy.

[prosegalaxy]

In twilight's eerie embrace, A romance blossoms, intertwined with epic quests. Unlikely heroes, guided by arcane artifacts, forge a tale of darkened love.

[theversevoyager]

Upon the vast, celestial stage, where heroes bold and quests of grand design unfold, In realms of magic bound by artifacts untold, A twist reveals itself, altering what we saw, The heroes' tales rewritten, now to ponder. This is the summary of your work so far: 1. Created a sci-fi poem based on a twist revealing events and heroes.

[heathercauthor]

The bisexual chaos is coming

I turned the "humans are space orcs" threads into a series called Earth Sucks! And the sequel is coming in August 😈

Book 1 synopsis: It's the apocalypse, and Feng has a knack for pissing people off.

Mercenary Feng is both the hunter and the hunted, searching for his missing family while hunted by the alien intruders who are trying to get him to stop blowing their shit up.

Life gets worse when he must befriend one of the alien creatures to survive. She grew up on stories of humans, and Feng’s about to upend everything she's ever known—if they don't get each other killed first.

"Readers may appreciate the many twists and betrayals..." —Kirkus Reviews

"Action-packed, fast-paced sci-fi story bursting with psychological games and manipulations..." —Readers' Favorite

If you like the Last Of Us, the 100, or unlikely allies in the slightest, check out Earth Sucks On Amazon, Kobo or Barnes and Noble!

[rmhashauthor]

The Last Hour of Gann - the book that ruined me

If you have not read this BEHEMOTH of a novel, I strongly suggest you do. If you want something that will enthrall you, scare you, amuse you, ruin your life and obliterate your soul, I CANNOT in good conscience let you go another week without this beast of a story.

Summary (from Goodreads): "It was her last chance:

Amber Bierce had nothing left except her sister and two tickets on Earth’s first colony-ship. She entered her Sleeper with a five-year contract and the promise of a better life, but awakened in wreckage on an unknown world. For the survivors, there is no rescue, no way home and no hope until they are found by Meoraq—a holy warrior more deadly than any hungering beast on this hostile new world…but whose eyes show a different sort of hunger when he looks at her.

It was his last year of freedom:

Uyane Meoraq is a Sword of Sheul, God’s own instrument of judgment, victor of hundreds of trials, with a conqueror’s rights over all men. Or at least he was until his father’s death. Now, without divine intervention, he will be forced to assume stewardship over House Uyane and lose the life he has always known. At the legendary temple of Xi’Matezh, Meoraq hopes to find the deliverance he seeks, but the humans he encounters on his pilgrimage may prove too great a test even for him…especially the one called Amber, behind whose monstrous appearance burns a woman’s heart unlike any he has ever known."

Guys. Guys. This book ripped me apart. Amber is simultaneously the best and worst sci-fi heroine, her sister is pathetic and terrible, Meoraq is probably the least sexy but the most BADASS MMC EVER and the rest of the cast is every stripe of humanity you can imagine. There's a guy whom I wished from page one would shut up shut up JUST SHUT UP ALREADY and fall in a hole forever. R Lee Smith's characterization is on point and consistent throughout the book.

This is a BRUTAL story from beginning to end, even for someone like me who LOVES reading gnarly survival stories. Not gonna lie, there are several instances of sexual violence - I don't like it, I don't condone it and I won't write about it in any of my work, but in this case it was used to really drive home the brutality of life on Meoraq's world. There are animal attacks and vicious fighting and horrific injuries, but again this is not a happy story. This is a very messy, dangerous world and it takes a lot of grit and no tolerance for squeamishness to survive.

As unpleasant as Amber can be at times, I sincerely liked her as a character. She's unpleasant because she was brought up under pretty bleak circumstances and her life on Earth just didn't get better. And it got even worse once she signed her contract in more ways than just ending up on a planet where almost everything is trying to kill her. The thing about Amber that I really respected was her instant realization of just how fucked she and everyone else is and her first instinct is to start looking for water, food and shelter. She takes initiative while everyone else is sitting around waiting for help.

I appreciated how R Lee Smith took me inside Amber's head and showed me her memories to either confirm or contrast with how angry she is at the way her life has turned out. Her sister is basically the sad polar opposite - none of Amber's grit has rubbed off on her, and as awful as the story ended for her, she kind of deserved it for the choices she made (or refused to make). In the end I just felt sorry for Nicci for having such weak character.

Meoraq is NOT a sexy guy. I love sci-fi romances mainly because I want to see what weird, freaky things people are into (myself included, lol) and I want to see how the author turned something that SHOULD be bizarre into something that makes me think "...you know what? Maybe I COULD..." Not Meoraq. The only thing I found even moderately attractive about him was his incredible knowledge of and experience with living as he had for as long as he had. And he was funny sometimes. But he could be SUCH an ASS. And yet by the end of the book I had developed an IMMENSE respect for the guy - if I'd been in Amber's shoes, I would PRAY that I'd run into someone as competent and self-assured at Meoraq, otherwise I'd be dead within a week.

I am not a religious person. I tend to keep my distance from organized religion because I have seen the damage religious fanaticism can do. That being said, Meoraq's STRICT adherence to his beliefs make a weird kind of sense once you get to the part of the book that explains WHY the faith he follows has essentially taken over the world. I kind of admire the guy for his extensive knowledge of his faith and its teachings, which is to say he understands it more than I think some IRL groups understand their religion's intent. I sincerely appreciate R Lee Smith's deep dive into what life was like for Meoraq as a boy, how his experiences developed him, and how his relationship with his god evolves through the story. The guy has some truly incredible faith and his religious experiences gave me some perspective as to why some people continue to stick with their faith in the face of undeniable evidence to the contrary.

Here's the thing, though - from day one of their meeting I wanted Amber and Meoraq together RIGHT NOW. They both have this "fuck around and find out" vibe that WORKS. From the very beginning there is a sizzle in the air as they work out how to communicate, and while I was annoyed with the other survivors for inferring that the two be bangin', I knew EXACTLY where they were coming from because it was JUST SO DAMNED OBVIOUS. There were many times I had to put this book down and yell at it because, and I quote, "oh my GOD would you two just GET IT OVER WITH??" And when they do, it's not pretty but by the time that happened I understood that it wouldn't be because of the world they now occupy. Again, this is not a happy story. There IS some happiness, though, and it's made all the more precious for being so rare.

I will say that this is a LONG book, and it deals with some HEAVY ideas. Many of which I don't agree with, but I don't regret reading this monster and I sincerely appreciate R Lee Smith's willingness to really push the boundaries of what the average sci-fi romance reader is used to or may find in good taste for the genre. This is a HARD book to get through (~ 1,000 pages long) for many reasons, the subject matter alone will be part of the reason I think most people will either avoid it or put it down. It's really dark and I wouldn't recommend it to someone who isn't ready for some of the nastier scenes (CW for sexual assault on men and women, animal violence, human-on-human violence, alien-on-alien violence, just a lot of violence in general, catastrophic events, and my personal non-favorite: BUGS) but if you're looking for something that will sink its claws into your mind and make you question everything about people, religion and humanity, then The Last Hour of Gann is my #1 pick for "you'll hate it but you'll love every second of it".

I saw another reader on Goodreads describe this as an "odyssey" and I 100% agree - this thing takes a week to read and it feels like a lifetime. Another called it "Epic Science Fiction" and I CANNOT agree more. It's epic, it's monstrous, it's graphic, it's downright horrible at times, but MY GOD I love this book for everything about it from the length to the characters (even the ones I hated) to the intense survival to the hilariously frustrating romance between two of the most stubborn, thickheaded people I have ever had the pleasure of being annoyed with. I stayed up late reading this damned thing TWICE and I'm going to do it again.

Disclaimer: I am strongly opposed to censorship in general. The world is a rough, difficult, dirty and dangerous place and it's just a fact that awful things happen and awful people exist. I don't condone rape or murder, but the unpleasant truth is that it happens on a daily basis. If that makes me a cynical old bat, then I guess I'm a cynical old bat. Anyway, the point here is if you pick up this book, do practice some self-censorship. You're the one who gets to decide if you like it enough to finish it. I don't know your story therefore I have no authority to determine what you can handle. But I do implore you to give this book a good old-fashioned try because I think it'll open some eyes and maybe give some perspective on the real world we live in. I got a lot out of this story and I think it's a damned shame that it's not more well-known. I believe that as sentient beings we have an obligation to push ourselves with respect to what we know and what we can learn, especially if we have to be made really uncomfortable to do so. I agree with a lot of the things people said about this book on Goodreads but I also disagree with much, but those are just my opinions. There's a reason I own two copies of this book, one physical and one digital, and if that's not a recommendation I don't know what is.

[rhythmicreverie]

In the realm of Eldoria, two factions clashed in an age-old feud. The warlocks of Thalasar sought to control the mystic Crystal of Aeternum, while the knights of Drakonia vowed to protect it. As the battle raged on, an unlikely duo emerged: a young sorceress with no magic and a skilled swordsman with no strength. In their quest for unity, they faced perilous trials and unearthed ancient secrets. The Crystal of Aeternum revealed its true power - the force that bound Eldoria together. United, the heroes turned the tide, and a new era dawned upon the land. This was a tale of two hearts, beating as one, and the magic that lies within us all.

[howifeltabouthim]

A quest is hero's work, hero's business, and that's just not quite you lot, is it? You're the other ones, the sidekicks, the spear carriers. The stage is empty now but for the stagehands, and who will play the story?

Lev Grossman, from The Bright Sword

[writingratthings]

The Quantum Mouse: A Fable of Curiosity and Understanding

Once upon a time, in a quiet corner of a laboratory, there lived a tiny and inquisitive mouse named Milo. While other mice scurried about in search of crumbs, Milo found himself drawn to the world of science and knowledge. Unbeknownst to anyone, Milo possessed an extraordinary ability—he understood the complex realm of quantum mechanics.

Milo spent his days nestled amidst the shelves of books, devouring pages filled with equations and theories that fascinated him. He marveled at the mysteries of atoms, particles, and the intricate dance of quantum phenomena. While his fellow mice teased him for his peculiar interests, Milo remained undeterred.

One fateful day, a renowned physicist named Dr. Olivia stumbled upon the laboratory. Intrigued by the tiny creature with a keen interest in her field, Dr. Olivia decided to observe Milo's extraordinary intellect firsthand. She set up a special experiment to test his understanding of quantum mechanics.

In the middle of the laboratory, Dr. Olivia placed two boxes, each containing a single particle. One box held an electron, and the other contained a photon. Dr. Olivia wanted to see if Milo could predict the outcome when both boxes were opened simultaneously.

With anticipation filling the air, Milo observed the experiment. In a remarkable display of his understanding, Milo confidently exclaimed, "Dear Dr. Olivia, the electron will display particle-like behavior, while the photon will exhibit wave-like properties."

The onlookers gasped in astonishment, unable to comprehend how a tiny mouse could grasp the complexities of quantum mechanics. Dr. Olivia smiled and said, "Milo, your understanding of quantum mechanics is truly remarkable. But can you explain your reasoning?"

Milo, filled with excitement, replied, "In the microscopic realm of quantum mechanics, particles possess dual nature. The electron, being a matter particle, will exhibit particle-like behavior when observed, such as position and momentum. On the other hand, the photon, being a quantum of light, will display wave-like properties, such as interference and diffraction."

Dr. Olivia nodded in admiration, her eyes gleaming with wonder. She realized that knowledge and understanding could reside in the most unexpected places. Milo, the humble mouse, had unlocked the secrets of quantum mechanics through his insatiable curiosity and dedication.

Word of Milo's incredible insights spread far and wide, captivating scientists from all corners of the world. They flocked to the laboratory, eager to learn from the remarkable quantum mouse. Milo became a symbol of the boundless nature of knowledge, teaching humanity that intelligence and wisdom can emerge from the unlikeliest of sources.

From that day forward, the laboratory became a hub of collaboration between scientists and the extraordinary mouse who bridged the gap between quantum mysteries and the natural world. Milo's legacy inspired countless researchers to explore the wonders of science and encouraged them to embrace the unexpected.

And so, the fable of Milo, the mouse who understood complex quantum mechanics, traveled across generations, reminding all who heard it that the thirst for knowledge knows no boundaries and that wisdom can be found even in the most unassuming creatures.

[cmweller]

Challenge #04179-K161: Rest and Refuge

Wraithvine, hir cat, Gikka, and the little gnome that was a dragon in disguise came upon a hotel that was a hot spring resort. The very kind family offered a free vacation for all of them. Why? Because the family believed that all travelers should find relaxation on their travels, and it made them happy to help people. -- Anon Guest

It wasn't the first hotel and resort associated with volcanic hot springs. It was, however, one of the few that welcomed guests with no money.

"Hospitality is our pleasure," insisted the house matriarch. "Relax and revitalise. You need it."

Bibrid, especially, needed it. He was intensely nervous in most placed offering healing services. Dreading the moment he might be called in, and thereby trapped, by the need for his gifts. Very few people, after all, ask about who might heal the healers.

[Check the source for the rest of the story]

[internutter]

Challenge #04273-K255: The Unlikeliest Match

My father's was a faerie who used magic to grow to the size of a human. My mother is the sweet Hellkin who inspired him to do so. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Considering that Hellkin's origins centred around being biological weapons against Faekindred... this is going to be interesting]

Ma and Da aren't what you call a traditional love story. It's not like genetic mortal enemies get together and make a kid. There's like a thousand tawdry romances about a mortal falling in love with any given Faekindred... Elves, Wudzgaad, Brauniin, Gobelliin, even Faeries. There's fewer about Faekindred who falling in love with a mortal.

There's only one story I know about a Faerie falling in love with a Hellkin.

They're literally natural enemies. Nanogh and the Plane of Torment are opposites, and Hellkin exist because Humans needed an edge against Elves and the Faekindred ruling over them. Their story is the kind you might expect, being forced to work together or die. They got over their instincts and then another set of instincts kicked in. By all laws of nature, I should not exist.

[Check the source for the rest of the story]