#anyway go for it if you like urban fantasy / historic fantasy kind of stuff

[oldtvandcomics]

Happy Queer Media Monday!

Today: The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis

Another highly personal one.

(My copy of The Lights of Prague, flanked by two of my bat plushies. Picture taken in Old Town Square, after dark.)

Prague, not long after the introduction of gaslights on the street. The guild of lamplighters doubles as elite monsterfighter squad, whose job is to keep the normal population safe from the numerous beings active at nighttime. Meanwhile, said monsters have their own hidden society. Both worlds get thrown in disarray by a series of experiments, that, if successful, would let the pijavice, vampire-like creatures, go out during the sunlight hours. Lamplighter Domek and pijavice Ora get sucked in the middle of the conflict, struggling to keep up with the conspiracies as well as their feelings for one another.

The reasons why this book is so special to me are personal more than anything else, but I still feel that it would serve as a good example for changes in the fantasy genre.

This was the first thing I bought when I arrived to Prague for my one year in film school. Then it took me almost two years to read it, because I was reading everything but this book. The thing is, this is the EXACT kind of story I would have LOVED as a teenager, but apparently, I grew out of it and kind of lost interest. The book itself is good, and I really regret not getting to it ten - fifteen years sooner. It is also, all in all, not really that special or different from the ones that I did read back then.

What did stand out for me was the casual queerness. I bought it because of the Prague connection, and was fully expecting it to be completely straight, like the books I used to read as a teenager. It wasn’t. Ora is bisexual, having had two major relationships with women, as well as multiple with men, and Domek’s friend Cord (as well as his mystery boyfriend) is gay. It is all treated very casually, but it is very visibly there.

As I said before, I know this exact kind of book. I used to devour them around 2009 - 2012 (ish). Back then, this kind of casual queerness just didn’t happen. It did not.

Following the progress of queer representation is often frustrating because of how slow it is. It feels like it should be so normalized by now, and yet we are still stagnating and waiting for crumbs to drop. However, the progress becomes very visible the moment you look at the bigger picture in history, and compare media we have today with the way things were even ten years ago. Once upon a time something comes along that hits you over the head with this progress, and I feel like it’s a good thing to stop for a second and appreciate it.

So yeah, that is what The Lights of Prague symbolises to me.

Here is Nicole Jarvis’ personal webpage. About the pijavice, I only found this entry on the Monster Wiki.

Queer Media Monday is an action I started to talk about some important and/or interesting parts of our queer heritage, that people, especially young people who are only just beginning to discover the wealth of stories out there, should be aware of. Please feel free to join in on the fun and make your own posts about things you personally find important!

[claraxbarton]

Yeah So

I'm abandoning my Bingo Card and just... doing the AUs I feel like because I am not good at structure. XD

Anyway, here are some I'm trying to hit for sure - if you out there have a request, hit me up and I will try to work it into the lineup for sure (Also, in June if not sooner, regular WIP updates are a go).

Royalty AU - LarsDunn probably also some a/b/o action

Historical AU - just gotta decide on a time period and a WHO. It's so tempting to do a Jo/MackGatsby thing but I already wrote one devastating fic for that pairing I should try for something happy.

Regency AU - which yes is historical but come on we all know there's a difference. I almost want to try some Wyatt Johnston/???(Roope? Pavelski? Miro AND Roope? Ty? Logan?)

Western AU - gotta do some cowboy stuff I mean... Matthew is just. Right there. Cowboy hat in hand. Waiting.

Other Sport - maybe baseball?? but really i kind of want to do Tennis. Like. OH. Tennis veterans Leo and Connor, not DONE yet but closer to the end than the beginning and then there's Connor Bedard jumping onto the scene all young and amazing and 'please bad touch me' about it.

Not Hockeys - Some way to work in an established Adam and Leon with Vince thrown in there. Lawyers is always my go to???

Academic AU - these are so challenging for me because I just want to make everyone a professor but also I kind of want to experiment with maybe... professor/TA but then does that make me awful @dwisp tell me I'm not evil????

Amnesia AU - hear me out. Jo/Mack. But like... somehow I'd make it happy????

Urban Fantasy AU - I really want to do some witch stuff. Anyone have a pairing request? I mean, all back is always MattDrai.

SugarBaby AU - I just. really really want to.

---

Alright, that's my working list. If you have a pairing or prompt request send it my way. i'm gonna be real: Pacific Rim/Drift AUs are cool but not my thing.

Other than that, I THINK I'm pretty open.

[grapecaseschoices]

Idk if you've been asked this before but what would you like to see more of in IF genre wise and RO wise. Are there any tropes you wish were more prevalent or genres?

i may have? [i think so!] but thoughts change. so it's all good in the hood.

My response to the first one would always be more diversity. More characters of color, more characters of different ethnicities, variety in body types. More characters with disabilities. More short male and nonbinary ROs. More amazonian female and nonbinary ROs.

I've seen some improvement in body types, at least from the recent IFs I've been eyeing, especially when the ROs don't have pictures but more is always great.

As for TYPES:

For IFs:

I'm a historical romance fan, so I would love to see more of those. In general. I don't mean in a magical world [though I will get that to it], but slice of life during the Harlem Jazz Era, murder mystery in Japan in the 1930s, etc. And if you MUST, must, must do it in a European setting [nothing wrong with that, I love a good Regency romance], there is no reason for it to be all white. Or even entirely white. 1- I don't care about historical inaccuracies [half the time people get corsets and medical stuff wrong anyway] 2- if you MUST be accurate, do your research.

Though, I do love fantastical/sci-fi in historical settings. And I don't mean aliens made the pyramids [don't try it]! More like a Victorian era IF making influence of the steampunk genre [which go hand in hand]. Or netflix's taking zombies and putting them in ancient Korea [is it Korea? I don't watch those shows]. Give me elves in the Mayan empire. Or maybe something like where people advanced tech-wise but the social mores are very Regency. "Urban" Fantasy in Imperial China. Werewolves vs Vampires but make them Vikings.

More isekai IFs. Both in how they do it in manga/manhwa but also like a Kid In King Arthur's court, kind of vibe. You're not Alice but you're in Wonderland.

I love the slices of life coming out. Particularly the ones that are inspired by shows. I want more of that! Maybe even films.

I want more witches and werewolves. That is it. Separate. Together. Any era. I want them.

I also want more stories with the Fae. Changelings and hobgoblins and The Hunt. Tam Lin and kelpies and trades. The nightmarish stuff.

More stories about second chances in life, especially for older characters.

Um. I had more thoughts but I've lost them.

ROs.

Second chance! But something like you and your ex got a divorce, but there are kids [hi thicker than!]. Or the one who got away in high school/college [hi dropout!]. I don't want fresh feelings being washed out [though that's nice]. I want scratching at old scabs. I want you thought these feelings were dead but they're back. Or they did die, but now we're different people and -- oh, hello ... again?

Speaking of second chance. I would like more ROs who have pasts. Lost loves. Heartbreaks. Mistakes they've made and they're trying again.

Tired of alpha men. More 'alphas' of other genders.

I want ROs who are messes. And not in the shy, awk introvert~ Who is sometimes klutzy but its cute! I mean someone who thinks they're good with people but is actually a disaster. Characters who are angry. And mourning. And have their own issues that make them imperfect. That also won;t be solved just because MC is there.

This.

This.

Friends to Lovers to Enemies to Friends and then Lovers again.

Enemies to Enemies with Benefits to Grudging Friends to Bickering Lovers.

Older ROs.

MORE FAKE DATING/MARRIAGE PLEASE!

A King and a Lionheart. But make it dark.

And my all time fave: this right here.

[olderthannetfic]

What do you think of writers of both fanfic and commercial fiction who focus on het relationships in the latter while relegating m/m ships /queer content in general to the former? I understand why this division exists (het is commercially viable and safer, i.e. avoids accusations of fetishization and misrepresentation) but I've seen backlash against it (mostly ignored by authors) and wanted to hear your take.

--

I don't read Naomi's pro work because it doesn't interest me. (What? What?)

If you were genuinely asking about authors broadly... I don't have that much of an opinion. As both a writer and a reader, I really only care about the rising genre of "m/m romance" and other burgeoning Western BL industry stuff. While that stuff may not make it into bookstores, bookstores are dead anyway.

I'm less annoyed at authors than at audience members. We're at a tipping point where we actually have the beginnings of an English-language BL industry, but people are still giving asspats to mainstream publishing for crumbs. With filmed content, I sort of understand because people want lengthy genre TV, not one-off art films, and a lot of the queer media out there isn't very fandomy.

But with novels and novel series, it's just a total failure on the reader's part to be chasing after these fic authors who go mainstream instead of the ones who write shit like Jordan L Hawk's SPECTR series. They're delightfully dumb urban fantasy about a possessed goth twink, the vampire demon thing in his head, and their boyfriend the federal agent/exorcist. Like... do you think Hawk isn't a fandom person?

My favorite shit is like... one of them is afraid of werewolves and the other is a secret werewolf and OH NO now they have to work together as buddy cop partners! (Yes, Charlie Adhara's Big Bad Wolf series is pretty good.) I read early Anita Blake but gayer type urban fantasy crime procedurals, cozy mystery, some high fantasy, etc.

There are gaps though. I wish there were more Asian-flavor historical fantasy and more nonwhite leads who aren't treated in the Good Representation bland-ass way. I'd like to see more varied settings, more OT3s, and waaaaay slower slowburn. That latter is largely an issue because of the format, which is long novellas/short novels marketed at least somewhat as "romance", so the leads need to at least kind of get together in the first book. Mainstream-published urban fantasy and series mystery with B-plot romance can string things out longer, which is sometimes nice.

It annoys me how hard it is to find comprehensive info on this kind of content in a way that would let us 1. call it what it is, which is BL, not the broader category of "queer fiction" or the only-sometimes accurate genre of "romance", and 2. build more of a culture and identity around the non-fanworks stuff, including not just textual novels but other types of media like indie games.

I have a lot of pent up rage over fic fans who claim to want this industry but do nothing to support it.

Weebs are doing a better job than Western fandoms types, tbh. There's something of a push from the sorts of people who go to Fujocon to publicize BL games, webnovels, etc. in English to each other. I just think that it would be good to link up that kind of community more closely with the sorts of people at GRL. (GayRomLit is the industry conference for "m/m romance" and is attended by a lot of the big names in... like... Kindle Unlimited selfpub m/m, basically.)

Authors who go pro in another sphere are irrelevant to what I care about. They may well be tired of only writing about men, or maybe it really is that the media they consume doesn't have female characters they like (but they can easily create them themselves), or maybe they're just old and still see selfpub as what it was 15 years ago instead of the vanguard of queer genre fiction that it is today. (Though, of course, people do go into het selfpub erotic romance all the time from fandom. But, again, who cares?)

[isanyonetoknow]

[ID: black screen with a vulture on the right. It is looking to the left at a block of text. The header of the text says “Writeblr (re)Introduction” and the text underneath says “aka @isanyonetoknow has been here for a while and realized they never actually made a writeblr intro. oops.” End ID]

*waves* hello! so it turns out that i apparently? didn’t do a writeblr intro? at least, if i did, i can’t find it. so here is mine + a bit of a wip/writeblr search, because it has come to my attention that there’s not enough content on my dash.

who am i:

absolutely not a vulture posing as a human

like come on. where on earth would you get that idea. 

anyways i’m not a vulture. obviously. and you can call me ash. 

they/them pronouns please and thank you

i mainly write + draw on here, content wise

from time to time i’ll put out a post asking if anyone has something they want me to draw, like an animal. you’re free to send these recs anytime as long as they are safe for work/not outrageous/not you being entitled to my time. you know, basic things like that.

i also post thoughts into the void, as you do. 

what am i looking for:

fantasy (low/high/urban, it doesn’t really matter) ; scifi ; heist-esque ; containing crime families ; containing revolutions/rebellions ; containing road trips or people on the run

found!!! family!!!!

preferably minimal to no romance

SFW

character driven / character-centric

oh yeah and preferably a happy ending or at least, things aren’t as awful and terrible at the end. 

if your WIP has any or several of these, then i’m probably going to be interested. if not, let me know of your WIPs anyways, because i’m interested in learning about more WIPs!!! (i only ask that you only let me know about SFW/not overly filled with romance WIPs, though. i’m not comfortable with a lot of romance or things that are NSFW)

and of course, i have to plug in my own stuff, so under the cut, i’m going to talk about the WIPs i talk about on here.

the WIPs you can find on here are To Win A Prince, The Prison, Narrations, In the Name of a Capitalized Lord, and This Time Around. 

To Win A Prince | intro

After receiving three ridiculous tasks from the king, ex-Knight Aurelius Lijne embarks out on a journey to accomplish them so that they can finally marry their best friend, the crown prince, in peace.

Along the way, they’re saddled with people from all forms of life–from the bard who’s only here for his finals to the elf who might be a spy but is definitely a convict and fugitive to the Fae who’s spent more years among cowboys than their own kind.

Then again, what did Aurelius expect, when one of their tasks involved stealing the Dark Lord’s shoes of all things? 

fantasy + found family + a road trip essentially + forgiving (yourself) + healing + prying the teeth of the past from you because you can’t live there anymore, you can’t, that land only exists as long as you let it, it only exists as the teeth and the memory of pain. 

The Prison | intro

A traumatized teenager, the magic that they’re a vessel for, and the human experiment they rescued along the way journey together to save the last remaining sources of magic, while trying to avoid their tumultuous pasts.

found family + magic + mystery + some things you can’t get over and some things you shouldn’t get over and some things you’ll get over regardless of if you should or can because getting over it is the only way to live

Narrations:

One: a rebellion in a city that’s been stretching on for years; magic churning when before, it had been barely stirring; we finally figure out where the missing go. 

Two: people fall in between the cracks, and it hasn’t been a problem, except that the cracks have been growing larger and larger with each passing day. 

Three: the story is never what it looks like. no one knows where the truth ends and the lies begin. 

Four: a conversation between two prisoners, and their subsequent escape. 

aka four interconnected parts that span worlds. intro(s) + more details coming soon. 

found family + magic + space + time/dimension/reality travel + corrupt governments/agencies + revolution + possible apocalypse but not in the way that you think + fighting apathy and the desire to watch the worlds that failed you crash and burn because there are people worth saving 

In the Name of a Capitalized Lord:

Sasha has been wandering between lorddoms for almost as long as they could remember. And if there was anything they had learned, it was to never try and gain entrance to the walled lorddoms. The walled ones always had something to hide, something to protect, or something to fight against, and none of those was what Sasha, who always wished for a simple life, wanted. However, when hunger and fatigue grow too great, they try to gain admittance into a walled lorddom. And they get in. 

And they can't seem to leave. 

So they’re stuck in this walled lorddom, avoiding the lord that absolutely no one wants them to encounter, without anyone ever telling them why. 

It looks like they have to do all the work themself. 

mystery + historical fiction-esque + family dynamics + found family (literally) + mending relationships + sometimes it’s so much better to think that no one’s there watching and sometimes it’s so much worse

This Time Around

The one time Aleksei Aband tried to be of help, they got kidnapped and thrown on a pirate ship. The one time Hiro Kumagai tried to make his life interesting, he almost got killed, and then kidnapped, along with the resident “Kid You Stay the Hell Away From”, by pirates. 

Well. 

At least he did make his life interesting. 

pirates + curses + found family + healing + redemption + you shouldn’t have to owe your family for taking care of you or for being existent but that doesn’t mean you don’t feel that way and that doesn’t mean you don’t feel guilty every time you think you’ve let them down. 

[thecockerelinn]

Well, even though quarantine and lockdown may slowly open up for many of us, it’s not over yet, and besides one can never have enough means to escape reality, so here are a few book reccomendations.

All books on this list are LGBTQ or at least have (important) characters who are.

The “Classics”:

Wraeththu  - Storm Constantine (how is it no-one’s talking about this anymore? Please do take into account that those books were written in the early 1990s, they were way ahead of their times, and yet there may be some offensive things - it’s been a while that I’ve read them so I can’t come up with any example, but should you find them somewhat un-feminist, wait until the end xD)

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin (a true classic)

The Last Herald Mage series - Mercedes Lackey (gee yes Vanyel can be a real brat - not quite without reason though, but you’ll come to love him xD And yes we all just pretend that scene in book 3 never happened -_-) (also: influenced the Nightrunner series)

The World of Riverside series - Ellen Kushner (another influence on the Nightrunner series)

The Doctrine of Labyrinths quartet - Sarah Monette (beware, those books are not for everyone, trigger warnings are in order: rape, violence, mental issues, abuse / none of this is ever glorified or belittled, but it’s there, and it is so much a part of the characters’ lifes that it might occasionally seem like it’s not appropriately treated. Speaking of characters: very complex, intriguing characters with very dark sides, but you gotta love ‘em; intricate, complex world building / Nowadays Sarah Monette writes under the pseudonym Katherine Addison) (as far as I know they are unfortunately out of print so you’d have to check second hand book stores)

Historical fiction (with or without the paranormal)

Whyborne and Griffin series - Jordan L. Hawk (lots of paranormal stuff, magic, Lovecraftian creatures, awesome ladies, and so much more - and you will love those boys so much xD)

Magic in Manhattan - Allie Therin (the Roaring 20s, magic, prohibition)

The Collin Pendragon Mysteries - Gregory Harris (imagine Sherlock Holmes and Watson were canon; whodunnit, Victorian England)

Restless Spirits - Jordan L. Hawk  (let’s go ghost hunting: science vs. medium)

A Charm of Magpies - K.J. Charles (magpies - lots of them xP, magic, curses, intrigue, late Victorian England)

At Swim, Two Boys - Jamie O’Neill (set in Dublin around the Easter Uprising 1916; coming-of-age, tragic love story - don’t forget the tissues)

Cambridge Fellows Mysteries - Charlie Cochrane (Edwardian England, mystery, romance; amateur sleuths, found family)

SFF

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon (epic fantasy, intricate world building, clash of religions, dragons, strong female leads)

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter -  Alexis Hall (fantasy / mystery; Lovecraftian vibes, bizarre and witty retelling of Sherlock Holmes)

The Tarot Sequence - K.D. Edwards (alternative world, Atlantis, magic, god-like beings, found family; trigger warnings: mentions of rape, violence)

The Rifter series - Ginn Hale (fantasy, parallel world; god-like being, magic, religious strife, necromancy (in a way))

Iron Breakers trilogy - Zaya Feli (fantasy; intrigue, cultural differences, battles, fight for a kingdom, romance)

The Icefjord Saga - Zaya Feli (fantasy, Norse inspired world, magic, mythological creatures, battles, curses)

Tales from Verania - TJ Klune (fantasy, comedy, romance; hilariousness galore! - okay sometimes it’s a bit too much, but between all the jokes and sexual innuendoes, the story doesn’t suffer; basically everyone is gay, everyone tries to get into Sam’s trousers ^^;, did I mention the hornless gay unicorn that sweats glitter, and the sexually deviant dragon? xD)

Peter Darling - Austin Chant (fantasy, retelling; very interesting take on Peter Pan, takes place many years after the events in Peter Pan, focused on the relationship between Peter and Hook; the search for a place, for someone to accept you for who you really are)

YA and New Adult

Nevernight Chronicles - Jay Christoff  (sometimes I’m amazed what’s YA nowadays; fantasy; anyway beware of all the blood)

Feverwake duology - Victoria Lee (see above; dystopia; Holy Baby Yoda but these two books are intense! triger warnings: abuse, drug use, violence, mentions of rape, deadly virus outbreak)

Only Mostly Devastated - Sophie Gonzales (contemporary; all the feels: it makes you laugh out loud, it makes you cry; Grease says hello, super sweet quick read)

Timekeeper trilogy - Tara Sim (steampunk - or should it be clockwork punk?; mythology, gods, concept of time, ghosts, cute boys, discourse on colonialism)

The Torch Keeper trilogy - Steven dos Santos (dystopia; betrayal, love between brothers, biological modifications, deadly deadly trials)

Proxy duology - Alex London (dystopia; the rift between rich and poor, unjust society, technology)

The Disasters - M.K. England (sci-fi; band of misfits to the rescue!; Breakfast Club in space - kind of xD)

Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan (fantasy, mythology; ahhh Uncle Rick - just got to love the man, seriously; Norse mythology, diverse cast, homelesness, found family, disablitiy) (I’m aware it’s officially labelled Middle Grade, but who cares. It is linked to the Percy Jackson series, but you don’t need to know it to read these books)

The TBR pile (meaning books I haven’t read myself yet, but they certainly are on my tbr list, so perhaps they will be on yours now, too):

The Locked Tomb series - Tamsyn Muir  (fantasy)

The Bloodright trilogy - Emily Skrutskie  (sci-fi, YA)

Wild Sky - Zaya Feli (fantasy)

The Extraordinaries - TJ Klune (romance, superpowers - or not..., YA)

Reverie - Ryan La Sala (fantasy)

Soulbound series - Hailey Turner (urban fantasy, romance)

Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas (fantasy, paranormal, romance, YA)

Micah Grey series - Laura Lam (fantasy)

Specials:

A Song for Ghosts - Manja Siber (historical, mid 19th century Dresden) - Don your fanciest dress and fetch the binocular, it’s opera time! Originally inspired by The Phantom of the Opera and Yuri on Ice - see if you can spot the hints xD (as a fellow Watcher, Manja kind of makes the list by default* xP Give it a try, you can find it via epubli or on amazon.de)

*No, this isn’t nepotism, I’m just trying to give the support I wish I had. So if you’re an author and a Watcher and you’re not on this list, it’s because I don’t know about it. Tell me, and I gladly put your book on this or any next rec list.

[fyrapartnersearch]

Hello, hello! This is the first time I’ve put something out like this- ANYWAYS, my name is Vy. I’m 22 (turning 23 pretty soon), I go by pronouns they/she, I’m in an MFA Creative Writing program, I'm in the EST time zone, and I love, love roleplaying. Been doing it on-and-off for six years on Tumblr now and writing for ten years now. This summer I’m generally going to be free, but when I’m in school you can expect at least one response a week from me. After doing indie rp for years, I’d like to try my hand at 1x1 rp and maybe to find a long term partner I can write with as well!

I’d prefer it if my partner(s) were also 21+ since I tend to write about the darker aspects of life. 

Okay, now onto the RP stuff:

Style: Honestly, I like to think I’m pretty flexible? I personally prefer multi-para (200-500 words) and para threads, but I also love the occasional spontaneous RP that can happen through the chats. Para threads I’m more likely to respond to more frequently than multi-paras though. Writing can be exhausting.

I’m OC/OC interactions only. Not really comfy with writing canon characters.

Communication: It’s a necessity :D I usually find having some kind of a friendship with the other person does wonders for my inspiration. I tend to be kind of shy though, but don’t let that stop you from coming into my messages!! We can talk about anything although at the beginning I’m more inclined to keep the chatting more to rp plots and character headcanons until I get comfy. I will note though, there are days and times when I just won’t be up for chatting- when that happens, I might disappear for a day or two. I promise I’ll get back to you in 24-48 hours max. I’ll be patient with you. This is a hobby after all.

If any problems arise or something makes you uncomfortable or even you’ve just lost interest in a plot, please, please talk to me. I’m always open to critique and will appreciate it if you give me some. Ghosting hurts too.

Plotting: I love, love plotting! Even though this is a hobby, I do get very enthusiastic about epic storylines and memorable characters and character arcs.  If we plot something out though, please know I’m expecting us also to write it out whether it’s formally or informally. I’m really looking for someone who has that same enthusiasm and consistency. I’d say I’m more of a few plots but deeper development kind of writer. Also I really like doing angst. Well, a balance of angst and fluff.

Ships: Ships are pretty great- that being said, I’m here for chemistry and development first. I’m here for build-up and as far as I’ve seen my characters, I tend to be more on the slow-burn side of things. I personally am more comfy with M/M and F/F, but I’ll do the occasional M/F too. Nonbinary and trans muses are more than welcome too. I also love, love doing platonic and familial ships too. PLEASE I’LL GIVE MY RIGHT LEG FOR THAT GOOD PLATONIC SHIT.

I can double! Well, I’ve never done it before, but I have had multimuses with muses of all genders and ships of all kinds if that’s counts for something.

Characters: So I have a lot of pre-made OCs already with character arcs I’d love to write my way through. But within the plot, the most important thing for me is character development based on interaction. When it comes to making muses, I do tend to be more on the slower side, but on the flip side, those muses will have extensive backgrounds. If you’re looking for someone to help you with exploring the full depth and possibilities of a character, please sign me up! Please note also, all of my OCs are queer and a majority are POC. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, misgendering of any kind will not be tolerated.

While I do have faceclaims for my characters (and the ones I’d make), it’s not the most important thing to me. I’m here for content and personality.

Smut: I can do it- actually I’d be looking for ways to improve my smut writing. That being said, I’ll only do it if it contributes to the character and plot development. We can also always just fade to black as well. In terms of positions, I’m more used to writing the ‘submissive’ role, but consider me a switch. A lot of my muses are switches as well.

Limits: A hard no on rape scenes, non/dub-con scenes, incest (that includes relatives who are not related by blood), and toxic relationships. They can be referenced and alluded to in the past though.

Genre: I’m not really a high fantasy kind of person. I can do urban fantasy though- for the most part, my main focus is going to be character interactions, character dynamics so you might say my cup of tea is generally slice-of-life with a hint of magic thrown in. But I’m always down to try new things- except for high fantasy, I apologize.

Basically: Urban Fantasy, Supernatural, Slice-of-Life, Historical- the important part is that it’s character driven.

Plots: At the moment, I’m kind of sucked dry, but I’m more likely to be down to try whatever you throw at me! Or just introduce me to your OCs- I’ll most likely want to introduce mine and we can go from there!

Fandoms: I know I said I’m not comfy with writing canon characters, but it doesn’t mean we can’t throw our muses in those universes! Fandoms I’m familiar with include:

Shadowhunters, Harry Potter, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, ATLA, MCU, Harvest Moon, Fire Emblem, Studio Ghibli, and Pokemon. I’ll list more if I think of any.

Method: I’ll do discord, email, or Google Doc! Maybe in the future I’ll try my hand on Tumblr as well again too.

Congrats, you made it through the whole thing. If you’re interested, please hit me up either on discord or by email- I look forward to writing with you all!

Sincerely,

Vy

Discord: letscallitvy#0074

Email: vywritesatctl97@gmail.com

[comicteaparty]

January 29th-February 4th, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from January 29th, 2020 to February 4th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

Which genre is your favorite for webcomics and which is your least favorite? Why is that?

carcarchu

Romance is without a doubt my favourite genre although i do have a particular soft spot for historical series too (and if it combines the 2 that's a dream come true ). as for my least favourite i guess sci-fi, i'm really not a fan of having to remember a ton of world building details and the backstories of some sci-fi series feel like reading a textbook sometimes. also comedy can be really hit or miss for me if the sense of humour used in the comic doesn't do it for me

Capitania do Azar

Honestly I'll read petty much anything if I'm having fun, not necessarily a genre-related issue. I think nice, interesting stories can be crafted in any genres. That being said, fantasy is usually not my jam and I really like Sci-fi

Kabocha

When it comes to webcomics, I'll read a lot of stuff! But I think Fantasy and Drama have a soft spot in my heart for some reason! I really enjoy it when a creator seems to be having fun (or is aware) of how hammy their drama can be -- and fantasy can be chock full of it! (And as an aside, I love the heck outta romance when done well! A lot of webcomics that classify themselves as romances tend to be more Drama than Romance, mostly bc they don't follow the genre conventions of romance, and instead stick to a more dramatic-oriented plot structure... it's intriguing.) Anyway! I think my least favorite these days is slice of life and gaming comics. A lot of it gets really weird and overwrought and I just... I dunno, there's gotta be a draw. Gaming comics just aren't very fun to read, esp as I've gotten older. A lot of it feels like "hey here's this pop culture reference this small-ish in group gets! how funny! hahaha" or punching down, and... I dunno, I don't have a lot of time to keep on top of memes for games I don't/can't play.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I love fantasy and sci-fi, mostly because I'm a world-building nut. I want to get lost in a new place when I read. This also extends towards historical comics, but those are pretty rare. I won't lie though, I definitely fact-check historical comics when I read them, because I want to know how much I can trust the accuracy of the setting. I also tend to enjoy romance if done well, and especially when blended with other genres. IMO, romances can be kinda samey by themselves, so there needs to be some other plot outside of the characters' relationship for me to stay invested. As for least favorite genres... Definitely comedy and slice-of-life. As someone who regularly watches stand-up, I don't typically find comedy comics very funny most of the time, especially relatable gag-a-day types. As for slice-of-life, it often seems... boring to me. I mean, I might just be mentally unable to process the nuances or something, but what actually happens in slice-of-lifes? That being said, there are always exceptions to these preferences, because I have been completely turned off from certain fantasy comics, for example, and there are definitely comedies that I have enjoyed thoroughly. In the end, all that really matters is if a specific comic suits my tastes/quality expectations, genre tossed aside

Ash🦀

When it comes to webcomics, animal stories and fantasy are definitely my favorites. I like getting lost in a world, I don’t want to stay in my own if I’m trying to escape. Oh, also, and actually being able to read emotions. On animals, because the style and emotion often have to be pushed so much, it’s way easier on me to be able to parse expressions on an animal than a human. Might just be my autistic brain tho /shrug Also, sci fi, heavy dose of “sci” in there. If I feel like I’m learning something it makes it so much more fun. My least favorite genres are romance and historical. To be honest, I find historical pieces rely so much on the politics and the talking and the human nuance I don’t much understand in the first place that I end up getting bored or confused or both. And romance is... well, my mom constantly had hallmark movies on, so I’ve kind of grown to hate the romance genre as a whole tbh. If it’s a side piece in a fantasy, fine, okay. Too often they’re unbelievable and the couple just doesn’t have any chemistry, and I just end up not buying it, so I’d like to yeet it to the side as much as possible in most cases. Now, there are some that are exceptions, here, but they are few and far between. Somehow, LGBTA+ romance just blows past this hangup, however. I dunno, it’s easier for me to care then, it feels newer, and... well, frankly, a good deal of the time they’re written better, I dunno. So, they’re the exception to the rule.

Kabocha

Hard agree on the LGBTA+ romance -- but also other marginalized groups tend to be more thoughtful in romance and tropes they use! While there's a general sort of... uh, set of expectations as far as plot and the happily-ever-after/happy-for-now ending, it's honestly really just sort of nice to see creators be mindful about what they're making, and write stuff that isn't just the same sort of nonsense that gets marketed in the mainstream. ...Now this is making me think about how much I would love to see Courtney Milan or Alyssa Cole's works translated into comics... If they could do Pride and Prejudice, someone pls give me A Princess in Theory (Sorry, I'm... a little bit of an aficionado for the genre, particularly in romance novels)

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I was never able to get into ANY romance until I started reading some LGBTQ+ ones. I never liked the genre before then, but I think it was just because I couldn’t identify with / care about all the cishet couple represented. Once I was reading a romance I actually could connect with, it was completely different. It’s still not a genre I like to read very often because it’s so trope-heavy, though.

keii4ii

I feel like romance gets pigeonholed into a specific (and admittedly prevalent/highly visible) type, kinda like how "fantasy" was pigeonholed as Tolkienish fantasy for years and years until recently.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

As for what genres I do like, definitely fantasy. I especially like dark stories with lots of nuance, twisty plots, and some surreality. I like both high and urban fantasy, though as I get older, I lean more towards the latter. There’s someone really fascinating to me about mixing modern tech with magic and the supernatural. My least favourite (apart from most romance) is probably newspaper-style webcomics. I’m just not into that into punchline-a-strip or art art that has a Saturday-morning-cartoon feel. Not that it’s bad in any way, and I actually do have a few exceptions of comics in that style that I DO like, but it’s just not really my thing. I also can’t really get into political comics or war stories.

@keii4ii Yeah, it definitely does! And it becomes frustrating to try and find Something Different within the genre when the vast majority of it is using the same tropes and set up. I think that’s also why I’ve started leaning more towards urban fantasy as I’ve aged because a lot of high fantasy was becoming ‘more of the same’.

(says someone who creates a Tolkein-esque high fantasy comic )

keii4ii

You can still tell great stories within those prevalent types. Just gotta be mindful about choosing tropes/archetypes because they work for the story, as opposed to just going with them mindlessly. But that's not really extra work; that mindfulness is important no matter what kind of a story you're writing, IMO!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I also say I don’t get into punchline-a-strip comedy and yet have TWO comics in that genre, so I’m kind of a hypocrite.

Oh yes, definitely! I do try to avoid or even subvert some of those very common tropes, though I’m sure I don’t always succeed! Some tropes can be very effective, just not when every story feels like you’ve read this a hundred times before with minor variation.

Kabocha

Honestly, that's one of the great things about self pub and webcomics -- you can get SO many more unique voices without the gatekeepers that traditionally held genres and markets back. Like, y'all might not have heard, but back years and years ago, Borders had someone working there at the corporate level that helped stock genre fiction -- but basically segregated POC authors from the genres that they were actually writing in. Which was a load of crap. (And that's not even getting into issues with queer media and fiction being stocked in stores or even published.) So basically in stores you'd see for a while, kind of the samey sort of stuff that you find in genre fiction -- and I think webcomics helps kind of... break out of those same sorts of expectations for various genres? It's kind of nice on the whole.

FeatheryJustice

Favourite genre of comics: Comedy and Action. If I could find Jackie Chan action and humour combo in a comic I would love the hell out of it. Least favourite: Slice of Life of the drama variety and romance variety. I dont mind if it is slice of life with action or slice of life informative because I am reading for more. If it is a romance between just two high schoolers doing nothing then I get bored. If it is two high schoolers in a slice of life but it focuses on them working on an animation together giving us animation information I would be okay with that.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Lol, as someone who makes a fantasy series that plays with the amnesia trope like it went out of style (spoilers, it did), I totally agree that fantasy and romance can be very tropey.

kzuich

I like comedy and slice-of-life. Occasionally I like drama, but only if it's mixed with comedy. Or black comedy. (Seeing a recurring theme here? xD)

Or drama. With comedy sprinkled in.

I don't know why but I've always felt webcomics were really great for comedy. Some of the funniest stuff I've read was a webcomic. Dunno why. Least favorite genre? I don't really have one. I'll read anything but those are the genres I actually -like-.

DanitheCarutor

I'll read just about anything. I love stuff with some kind of surrealistic or abstract quality to it, like Weaker Sides (https://www.weakersides.com/), Seluda (https://tapas.io/series/seluda) and Hookteeth (https://hookteethcomic.com/). I also really enjoy stuff that is sad, or deals with heavy themes due to the feeling of catharsis they give me. Sun Rising (https://tapas.io/series/Sun-Rising), Rescue Me (https://tapas.io/series/Rescue-Me) and The Dogs on the Railroad (https://tapas.io/series/The-Dogs-on-the-Railroad) come to mind. It's nice to experience difficult emotions in a controlled environment. If I had to be genre specific I would have to say my favorite is the very elusive horror genre. Love me some spoopy shit and pretty much everything else that comes with it, no matter how cheesy it gets! It sucks that horror is so hard to find in webcomics, at least for me.

Least favorite genres? Gag-a-day, slice of life and romance. I have a lot of trouble getting into comedy comics that aren't story driven, so I don't usually read gag-a-days or autobios. I will read the latter two since most of the time they're good things to read when you don't want to turn your brain off for a bit, but all three genres are honestly really boring for me. When it comes to character centric stuff I really want something like a deep character study, although I haven't had luck finding stuff like that. Romance specifically, I have a hate/I don't mind relationship with. Romantic intimacy has always been super gross to me, I hate seeing people kissing on each other in movies due to an issue with how nasty the human mouth is, and the sound makes me sick to my stomach. With comics it's easier to digest, the characters are just drawings so I don't mind seeing them get all buckwild, but it's still not my most favorite. There are occasions where I can't even read a comic due to genre vs. setting. For example (and I'm am not saying this comic is bad, I mean it has over 100k subs) A Matter of Life and Death (https://tapas.io/series/A-Matter-of-Life-and-Death). I really love the art in this comic, the setting, some of the characters and the little bits of lore I saw. But it's a slice of life-esque romantic type of comic, so the world building for this extremely creative looking setting is kinda put on the back burner for intimate scenes between the MCs. Again, this doesn't make it bad. I personally turned out not to be the target demographic because I wanted 'A' and the creator wanted 'B'. Maybe I'll give this one another glance someday to see where the story has gone, I admittedly haven't read it in a couple years so the story might have developed.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

My fave is anything that deals in heavy lore-- most that fit the bill are usually fictional like fantasy and sci-fi, but there are always exceptions that play with some good world building outside those genres! I love to read comics that i can get lost in and want to almost research the world created-- as long as that element is balanced in a story, im usually up for anything! That being said however, my least favourite is the gag strips and strictly comedy. I haven't yet found any that have really made me read page after page since my first looksee with comedy comics (sassy creed and that super smash bros one come to mind so quite a while ago) but I'm sure if i was more diligent in searching through the genre I could find something for myself!

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I love history and sci-fi. I have a hard time getting into fiction and I like stories with a firm connection to something real in the world

kayotics

I’m a fan of fantasy stories, and I like romance sometimes as well. I don’t mind gag-a-day strips but I don’t really follow any, mostly since I’m looking for a little more meat in my story. Despite how much crossover sci-fi and fantasy have, I’m not big into sci-fi. If a story engages me in that genre, I’ll still read it, but it’s not a genre I search through. I also don’t read war comics. I have a hard no on superheroes as well, I’m just tired of them.

renieplayerone

I love anything thats a mix of SciFi and history or some other genre (its why i love blade runner, scifi film noir). Weaving history into scifi is a challenge but man does it make for really cool aesthetics and moral questions

RebelVampire

My favorite genre for webcomics is probably a tie between fantasy and sci-fi. Not only do I just personally love world-building heavy material, but I also just think webcomics is a medium well-suited to them. I kind of don't feel things like live action do those genres justice. However, webcomics have a lot of artistic freedom so art style, differing art effects, etc. can all come into play to create awe, whimsy, and a bunch of other emotions that just capture a feeling of wonder that I expect from those generes. As for least favorite genre, definitely serialized comedy - which by this I mean comics that have a story along with the comedy. For me I just...don't find a lot of them funny. A lot of the humor is a bit too trope-y for my liking or imitating comedy without really understanding why the comedy worked in the original source. So for me the jokes just rarely land even if I can appreciate the effort that went into the comics. That being said, there's always exceptions. Like http://sgkdr.webcomic.ws/ is a comic I would've initially passed just based on genre, but when i read it the humor was/is actually really smart and really creative. Just the same, there's plenty of fantasy and sci-fi comics I don't like, though this usually comes down to story execution even if I think the art is pretty to look at.

BadSprite

My favorite genres for comics are action, comedy, drama and slice of life. I'm particularly a fan of slice of life stories that take place in some fantastical world, because the nuances of the setting makes the mundane so much more interesting. Also action comedies are my jam. One of my faves being: http://paranatural.net/. I personally love how comedy is integrated into action scenes to capture the frantic nature of the situations. My least favorite genre are probably romance, it's not that I have anything against it. I just feel like there's an oversaturation of them and there's very few that brings something new to the table. Most of them feel too same-y for me.

eli [a winged tale]

It really depends on my mood~ my bookmarks are all over the place. If I really enjoy the art and the characters, I usually stay for the story. My usual go-to is fantasy, sci-fi or slice of life! I recently got into romance but I’m a bit choosey about it. I definitely echo @Kabocha ‘s statement about exploring different voices and subversion of tropes. Always eager to read tighter storylines and those that take risks in diversity. Least favourite same as @FeatherNotes(Krispy) really! Sometimes it’s funny (love strange planet) but I won’t be binging it

MJ Massey

My favorite genres of comics are fantasy, action/adventure, and romance. Especially if all three are together in one delicious package. I'll read pretty much anything but it's gotta be well paced and well written to keep me coming back

Javi

My favorite genres are action, comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, slice of life and adventure. Also anything with animal characters in it I'm already invested in it but that's just my furry brain talking (edited)

AntiBunny

I would say a broad term of adventure. Be it scifi, fantasy, road trip, or superntural I love a good adventure comic full of interesting characters and locations.

[passerby-boy-archive]

Interview from The Furthest Station paperback - properly this time!

So, uh, several months ago I said that at some point I was going to type up the full interview from the back of the paperback edition of The Furthest Station because I find a lot of it super interesting and it kills me they didn’t put it anywhere more accessible. So this is that, finally! Below the cut because damn, is this thing long.

INTERVIEWER: Hello, I’m Paul Stark from Orion’s audio team and I’m delighted to be joined today by Ben Aaronovitch, author of the bestselling Rivers of London PC Peter Grant series, available in hardback, paperback, ebook and audio narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. Ben, welcome, we’re here to talk about London and magic today. How are you doing?

BEN AARONOVITCH: I’m fine, thank you. Very nice to be here.

I: Fantastic. Well, on to a simple question to start with: What drew you to write about London?

BA: I always find this a very strange question. I’m from London. Should I write about Birmingham, you know? I write about London because it’s my home town, and I’m lazy and don’t like to go outside the M25. It’s what I know. I’d love to see more books - urban fantasy books - set in places like Birmingham - especially Birmingham, which I think is a very neglected city - and places like that and learn about those places.But all the people from those places seem to come to London and write books about London. So perhaps maybe the question you should ask is ‘why do you write?’ I write about London for a very simple reason: I’m a Londoner. I’m not sure why Neil Gaiman and David Carey and everyone writes about London, except for they’ve moved here and now they write about it.

I: And it’s an amazing city. Lots of history, wonderful characters and myth that kind of provides a bedrock for fiction. What prompted you to add magic?

BA: It never occurred to me not to add a magic. This is another one of those questions that’s rather like saying to a man that has set out on a long walk ‘What prompted you to use your feet?’ What prompted me to use my feet - I thought: I want to do magic cops. That was the first thing that came into my head. So, really, the magic is built in. Magic cops implies magic right from the start. So, really, the rest of that was kind of detail. So, we’re going to start with the idea that we’re going to have policemen who do magic and then everything else was a question of who they are and what they are doing. Police who do magic in London was the starting point of the series and so I wasn’t prompted to put magic into it, it was there right from the start. There were several things built in right from the start.

I: Given that you’ve also told us you should ‘write what you know’, is this your way of telling us that you can actually do magic?

BA: No, I am, in fact, a total sceptic. However, magic is a lot of fun to write about. So I can’t do magic. Honest.

I: What made you go beyond the magic cops? To make the rivers one of the key bases? Was that something you knew about, something you were passionate about?

BA: No, I didn’t actually know that much about the rivers. I came up with the idea of Mama Thames for a different project and then I incorporated elements of another project in the initial idea and then for the book. And once you have Mama Thames and look at a map of all the tributaries, you just go ‘ooh they must all be stroppy women’. So that’s where they came from. And if you just look at them you can see their personalities; a lot of them you can just see their personalities from looking where their courses are. So, you know Fleet, you know Tyburn, you know what they’re going to be doing.

I: Are there any that you feel you haven’t written yet that you’re really keen to?

BA: Oh, there are tons! There’s the River Rom, who is the goddess of illegal street racing. There’s the Wandle, who, for historical reasons,is the goddess of used clothes shops and schmutter. Basically the goddess of schmutter. That’s the Wandle.

I: Any beer connection? You’ve got a lot of breweries along the Wandle.

BA: Possibly, possibly. The Wandle was a very popular river for industry so you have the Romantics all setting up their factories down there. What are they called? I’ve forgotten their names. That’s terrible. You know the people who believed in fabric for the masses and beautiful - you see this is the trouble. I do all this research and it goes in one ear and out the other. People expect me to remember little details of Fleet’s course, ‘Does the Fleet’s course-?’ I don’t know! I’ve got to look at my map to know these things. ‘Where does Wandle…?’ Anyway, there’s a ton. There’s a place called Black Ditch and I haven’t really worked out where she fits in, and there’s Hackney Brook and there’s all the history of the Lea - a very complicated river as anyone who has ever looked at a map will tell you. And so there’s tons of people. You know I’m going to be writing for millions of years before I get to the end of the rivers and that’s not even counting going upstream and the Ash and all those. So…

I: Lots of scope.

BA: Lots of scope.

I: You mentioned earlier one of the prospects of writing on Birmingham. Now, I realise I’m asking a very geeky question here, but would each canal have an individual spirit?

BA: I don’t know. I’d have to go to Birmingham and find out. I don’t know, I’m trying to avoid the idea that everywhere has a spirit, a genius loci. Really the question is: would it be fun if it had a genius loci? So, Grand Union Canal has a genius loci. I didn’t mean it to have a genius loci and had no plans for it to be a genius loci and then I wrote a short story and it ended up having an orangutan for a genius loci, and it was like, ‘I didn’t plan that!’,but you know…

I: Stories have a life of their own.

BA: They often just go places I’m not expecting. So, yeah, I wouldn’t like to say what would happen if I went to Birmingham because you’re shaped by the environment you’re writing in and therefore you go somewhere and you find things. That’s the whole point of going somewhere is you find interesting things. There’s no point in saying ‘I’m going to do this’ and then you go somewhere and do it, or, at least, there’s no point for me to do that. It’s much more fun to go somewhere and then have a look around and go ‘ah’ - you’ve got to smell the place, really. I always say that you’ve got to smell the streets before you can write about them.

I: Fantastic, fantastic.

BA: Except the countryside, which always just smells the same.

I: There’s a bit of a different smell depending on what the local livestock is, but yes.

BA: Yes, unless you go downwind of a pig farm in which case it smells like ‘Get the f--- out of here’.

I: So, back on to your magic cops. Peter himself isn’t that great at magic, certainly he’s been slow on the uptake somewhat. Do you find--

BA: I love this notion that Peter is slow on the uptake.

I: Well he’s not slow on the uptake in general, but he certainly has perhaps been slower to develop magic.

BA: Than who?

I: Than certainly Lesley, I’d say.

BA: Are you sure about that?

I: I feel like I’m being lead down a blind alley.

BA: No, I mean this is where you get this weird idea from fanon, where fanon says that Peter is slow at magic, slow at picking up magic. I haven’t said if Peter is slow at picking up magic because aside from anything else Nightingale is a terrible teacher that way, with telling people how they’re doing. No, Peter is as good as you would expect him to be - someone who has only been doing it for four or five years you know, under the conditions like that he’s got two jobs. Remember he’s also a police officer also doing all these cases, occasionally having buildings dropped on him, so he’s not devoting his full time to it. So I think he’s doing all right.

I: So, did you always envision that Peter would be a student, but dealing with Nightingale who is a phenomenally adept magician, but is terrible at teaching as you say? Was that always how you saw the dynamic?

BA: Ah, well, Nightingale is very limited. I wanted to avoid Dumbledore. I wanted to avoid Gandalf. So, whatever Nightingale is, he’s not Gandalf and he’s not Dumbledore. He’s not a teacher. He’s not a mentor character. He is not, as by his nature, a mentor. He’s not the wise man who tells you what to do. He’s basically Bulldog Drummond with magic. He’s like a magical Bulldog Drummond, he’s possibly the most powerful wizard that the Folly has ever produced in terms of being able to do stuff but ask him how it works and he’s like ‘Uh… you know, I don’t know how it works. I just do it. I learn the formulas and am just good at it and can do these spells that no one else can do.’ And he can do them quietly and he can do them fast and silently and all sorts of things. It’s like he was good at sports except the sports was magic. He’s basically that, he’s one of those. I always imagine him in his cricket whites at Casterbrook: ‘Argh, play the game!’ or playing rugby, or the equivalent of rugby, and just charging through, you know, like ‘rraaaawwgh’ and snoozing through the academic part of the curriculum . So, you see, he’s that guy and part of the reason he has to look things up to teach Peter is he can’t remember what he was taught and he has to go back. But he is very very good. He is excellently good, but in some ways this is almost a story about the limitations of power. So there’s a limit to what you can do. If he got shot in the head from a distance he’s buggered. You know, as he said, ‘Shoot me. If you want to stop someone with my skills, just shoot me from a distance with a rifle.’ There is a limitation. I didn’t want - he can rip up a house by its roots and fling it over a garden fence, but he’s not Superman. He’s not a superhero. He has these limitations and magic has these inherent limitations. It does obey the rules of thermodynamics though it does bend them quite severely occasionally. Ultimately, the power has to come from somewhere and it can get dangerous if you overdo it.

I: Is that one of the reasons you’ve kept the top end of Nightingale’s abilities somewhat under wraps? Ultimately, he needs to be careful how much he exerts himself, how much he keeps from the public.

BA: Well, there is that. There’s also that he hasn’t needed to. And also, the more difficult spells and subtle ones like actually putting Toby to sleep in the first book - that was one of the most powerful spells he’s ever done in front of us, so to speak, in front of us in the book. Actually that’s a very difficult spell. Peter’s not going to learn that spell for like five years. Putting a dog to sleep. And Nightingale could probably put a person to sleep although he’d have to concentrate. You see, that sort of thing is very very hard. I’ve just written a passage in Lies Sleeping which discusses this, where Nightingale is doing something incredibly hard and Peter is astonished and it totally is a very simple thing. It’s not complicated at all. See, in a way smashing things is easier.

I: It’s almost like it’s that much more difficult to accomplish good sleight-of-hand right in front of someone sitting with you than perform a big stage illusion.

BA: Well, it’s also that most of the subtle magic involves affecting people and people are very resistant to being affected. If you want to have a fight with someone you tend to just throw something at them, or you knock them down, or you pick them up and you throw them away. But human beings - in the way my magic is constructed - are very resistant. You can’t reach into them and stop their heart. Magic is very bad at that. So, things like the glamour when you affect someone’s mind - those are all really difficult to do. To make someone pick something up, to take control of their hand - that’s really difficult to do.

I: The other side of that is that you've made magic and technology really incompatible as well. Why did you decide to do that?

BA: Well, you have to explain why no one’s recorded it on their mobile phones, don’t you? Otherwise why aren’t we looking at people, why is there no footage of Covent Garden, why is there no footage of half the things that have happened? Because it melts the chips. That’s the reason I did it. Because you’ve got to explain why it’s secret, otherwise it wouldn’t be secret.

I: Once you’d made that decision and written that in had you thought about taking it further? What would happen if someone tried to do a spell on a flight for example?

BA: You wouldn’t. That would be a very bad thing to do. Unless it’s a DC-3 you don’t want to be doing spells on a plane. I’ve considered doing a scene where you have some of the most powerful wizards assembled and none of them can actually use any magic because they’d all kill themselves if they did. Nightingale probably could. Nightingale is so controlled that he could probably get away with it. But most things about the technology - it’s the chips, not the technology. Microprocessors are particularly vulnerable to magic. So, you’re all right if you’re running valves and stuff. Nineteen-fifties Russian technology would be fine. You could launch a Vostok and you wouldn’t have to worry about doing magic with that, but not anything with a microprocessor, which is everything: your washing machine, your toaster, your cooker. And there’s nothing mystical about it. There’s good, solid world-building reasons why this happens, but we may never find out what that is because the point is Nightingale doesn’t know and I think Abigail, with forty years of study, might be able to explain it to you, although you wouldn’t understand the mathematics of why it affects microprocessors. And I did that on purpose so that I would never have to explain it.

I:  We’ve already touched on Birmingham, but are there any other cultures and their particular brand of magic that you’d like to explore?

BA: I’d like to explore all of them! That’s my big problem in life: that you cannot just do that. It's not really a question of cultural appropriation, which is what you essentially do when you're ignorant or you're knowledgeable but don't care. If you're honest, you can show what a culture is like: What are the Chinese like at magic tied up with Daoism  and stuff like that? But I just don't know enough Daoism to do that. It was quite hard to construct a magic system that was consistent with Anglo-Saxon and post-Norman, Roman Britain let alone one that’s consistent with more than five thousand years of Chinese, of continuous Chinese history, or Indian history for that matter. You have thousands of years of culture in places like Africa and you have to say ‘Can they do magic?’ Everyone does magic, right? What Newton did in my world is he systemised it and created a system that Postmartin calls - ah, I can't remember what he calls it now, but he's got a fancy word for it: syncretism or something like that. He basically took it and systemised it and made it repeatable. He made it a science, basically. He took the things that people were coming up with by accident and he made it a science, because that was what Newton was like, that's basically what Newton did and why I chose him for the guy who did this: because he was interested. We know that. He wrote more about alchemy than he did gravity. We know he was as interested as anyone. As someone once said: if anyone was going to find out if magic was real it was going to be Isaac Newton so I figured, right, he did. That's the whole point. There is a reason why it’s kept secret as well, but I can't talk about that.

I: Something to look forward to in a future book or interview!

BA: Yes, possibly.

I: You said you'd like to explore more. Is there anywhere outside London and the UK that you're currently researching with a view to writing?

BA: Yes, I'm going to do a novella set in Germany. I don't think it's even going to be a Peter Grant book. Because this novella you’re reading now was successful they want another one.  and I thought that if I can't experiment with the novellas what could I experiment with? So rather than taking a risk with a whole novel, I would like to write about Tobi Winter who is essentially Peter's counterpart in Germany.  I don't know why but he kind of turned up and started knocking on the door, like all my characters. I came up with this guy and I like him because he's slightly more lugubrious, he's more laid-back than Peter in some ways. He's kind of fun and also he's German so I've had to do quite a lot of research into how German magic works and all that stuff. And I've tried to stay away from recent history, stay away from the Nazis. Not because I feel like letting the Germans off the hook or anything, but I feel you can ram into the ground a bit. It's a bit like the occult Nazis have been done to death and with ignoring the history and stuff, like the Thirty Years War. Germany is a fascinating place, especially pre-unification Germany, when it's like a collection of states and you sit there going they're all Germans, but they don't think they're all Germans. It’s a lot of fun so I'm looking into that for this story, which is going to be the next novella.

I: And will you be basing it around the rivers again? Will be be seeing the Rhine or the Rhone?

BA: I don't know. Rivers of London is one thing, but I'm not sure you want to constantly go there. It's a bit predictable. ‘Oh, look there's a river. Is someone in it? Oh, yes they are. Oh, it's a Rhine Maiden.’ We've established that the Rhine Maidens come visit the Thames for tips, so we know there are Rhine Maidens. It's not going to be the Rhine anyway, because it's going to be Trier. It's not the Rhine, but I'm going for a research visit soon, so I'll ask. Ask the river who she is, or it might be him. You never know in Germany. Could be a guy. It's right on the border; I like it because it's right on the border with Luxembourg, so it's very liminal. It's one of those German cities that’s changed hands quite a lot of times. It's also one of the oldest cities in Germany because it was established by the Romans and there aren't that many Roman cities in Germany. And wine. It's basically about wine. It's basically an excuse - I don't even like wine, but I can't resist this. I've basically just found a way of making it a claimable expense to get a wine tour of the vineyards of Trier.

I: That sounds like fun. I have a feeling I can predict your answer this one because you touched on it earlier, but is magic purely fictional or do you think there are some elements of magic, or specifically your magic system that could be real?

BA: You know what? I was born sceptical. I'm one of those people who didn’t believe in Father Christmas when he was three and my parents tried, god bless ‘em.But I make no claims of superiority. I've just got that kind of brain; I don't believe in any of it. I believe in coincidences. I believe that things happen by accident. A lot. I don't look down on people much who believe in stuff, but I just don't believe in any of it. I'm just really sceptical. Sorry.

I: Do you think that makes it easier to write magic?

BA: Oh, god, yes! It's much easier to write because I'm not worried about whether it's accurate. I only have to worry about whether it's consistent, which is the classic thing in science fiction and fantasy. It's making what you do consistent. Unless - and this is very important - you deliberately don't. If you look at Jack Vance: He doesn't bother with consistency in his writing at all because he likes his magic wild and  mad. I like consistency because I essentially I'm a science fiction writer writing fantasy. I don't know how I ended up in this position, but it's how I ended up. But I do like a bit of wild magic, which is why I have the rivers. The rivers are my little bits of wild magic and they do wild things and strange things happen in the boundary of things. The fae are there and they're good for weird things happening on the boundary of things, but as for actual magic, no, I don't believe in any of it. I don't believe in any superstitions at all. I just never have. It's not a considered intellectual position. I just never have believed in any of it.

I: How about the more human magic? Do you enjoy watching magicians work in sleight-of-hand and things like that?

BA: Not particularly. I enjoy watching the work, if they're good, but I don't think to myself: ‘Yay, magician’. I like Jonathan Creek. Does that count? I like the early two or three seasons.

I: As Tim Minchin said, Jonathan Creek is a bit like Scooby Doo because no matter how outlandish things get there's always an explanation for everything that makes sense.

BA: Yes, that's part of the fun. It's much better. It's not doing it as old man Granger did it: In a mask, with glowy paint making glowing light.

I: And to go back to London for a little bit for one final question. We've touched a bit already on London's amazing history and the myths that have built up around the city. Is there any particular legend or historical landmark or historical story that you're looking forward to building into a future Peter Grant mystery?

BA: St. Paul's. St. Paul's is featuring very heavily in the book so far. I didn't mean it to, but in the same way the Royal Opera House became more and more important while I was writing the first one, St. Paul's has become more and more important while I'm writing the eighth one - oh god, I’ve lost track, seventh - it's the seventh. Lies Sleeping, anyway. The one after The Hanging Tree. And suddenly St. Paul's. I thought the climax was going to be in one place and now it's going to be somewhere else. And I thought it was going to be about one thing and now it's about something else and I'm sitting there going, ‘Will you make up your mind!?’ Which, of course is futile. I'm arguing with myself. It's very schizophrenic, arguing with yourself. So, yes, I think that St. Paul's is going to get an airing. But there's so much. You know... I haven't even done the Tower of London! It sits there like a big chunky block of history, just there. The Tower of bloody London waiting for me. There's everything from the Bazalgette sewer system - given that it’s about the rivers of London, I didn't even scrape the barrel, the side of a wall, when I did Whispers Under Ground. I did a whole book about the underground and I barely touched on Bazalgette. There's all that kind of stuff. There's so much history. So much stuff, from the Romans to the continuing debate about whether people actually occupied the inside of the city or they didn't. I met a Romanist and they said, ‘No, no. Of course people lived inside the city, we just haven't found the remains yet.’

I: Because we built on top of it.

BA: Yes, we continuously built on it for the last two thousand years and so it's hard to tell. I don't know... when Deloittes or someone needs a new headquarters no doubt we'll find out.

I: Well, Ben, thank you so much for your time today.

BA: That’s all right. It was my pleasure.

[jeanjauthor]

Organic Genre analogy

Chatting with my friend & fellow author @stephanie-weippert today, and I was trying to explain Organic Genre to her...and I think I hit on a really good analogy.

Traditional Plot is like going down to a river to pan for gold.  Organic Genre (almost always paired with some other genre fiction, historical, western, urban fantasy, science fiction, etc) is like taking the time to ooh and ahh appreciatively over all the other types of rocks and minerals found during the gold-panning process...and anything associated with those things.

It doesn’t further a traditional plot (the original reason for being down in the riverbed, aka searching for gold) to talk about the flint arrowheads you’re finding in the river, but that is the organic part.  It’s why you end up telling your fellow gold prospector why flint arrowheads remind you of your great-grandfather, who showed you when you were very young how he knapped arrowheads, your only real memory of him. 

That’s organic.  And if fellow prospector Bob (we’ll call ‘em Bob) then relates a story about how this piece of river-tumbled agate is the same shade of brown as an old dog he had when he was a child...that’s organic genre in action.  It’s getting-to-know-you stuff.  It’s daily life activities and discussions.

It’s a natural flow of events and conversations, an organic way to develop a character or a relationship between characters, or to showcase a bit of history for a region or a connection between events that maybe doesn’t get the gold panned out of the riverbed...but it does make the two characters more natural in their interactions, more relatable, more interesting.

And for all we know, that old dog was the reason why great-grandpa swerved his car to avoid hitting the dog, and instead hit an icy patch and slammed into a tree, and so that’s why there weren’t any more memories of him while the main character was growing up.

It doesn’t move forward the plot/central rising action of prospecting/panning for gold...but it does advance our understanding of these characters, their interactions, and their environment (they obviously are prospecting for gold in an era that has had cars for people to drive around in, aka early 20th century onward). Maybe the dog was injured anyway, and Bob is still upset...or maybe Bob feels bad that his dog was what caused the main protagonist’s great-grandpa to die in a car accident, and your main protagonist does their best to reassure Bob that it was simply one of those things...and hey, look, Bob! I found a piece of green jadeite, isn’t that Stella’s favorite kind of rock?  I’m gonna take it to her next time in town, see if it really is good green jadeite, which she could happily carve to her heart’s content!

...It doesn’t get the gold panned out of the river gravel any faster. But we now have more sympathy and empathy and understanding where these characters and their lives, their backgrounds, their histories, and surroundings are all concerned.  It makes us care, and care more about everything that could potentially be found in that riverbed than just the gold alone.

Sometimes we need to have reasons to pay attention to and care about other people, other matters, other events during the ordinary moments in our lives, and not just the big plot-moving action sequences.  By writing these organic moments into our stories, it gives us a chance to give our characters more depth, their histories more background, their interactions & surroundings more detail.

[mara-lune]

Ch. 1 Welcome to Lake City

Smith walked through the crowded, noisy streets of Lake City, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her oversized gray hoodie. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a messy bun, out of her face, as it always was. Despite the smoggy, gray weather, she wore her sunglasses and a pair of large headphones. This, plus her big, black backpack was typically her outfit of choice. She didn’t like making eye contact, or even worse, having people talk to her. Most people, anyway.

It was the end of the work day, and people buzzed past her, in their own worlds that barely extended beyond their own faces. Most were eager to get home from work, others were eager to get to their vices. A wretched few of them were looking for someone to chat up, usually with a sales pitch. The downtown plaza Smith waded through was what she considered “old-modern”. Stores, businesses, and restaurants lined the street level floors of the old buildings the city was founded on. There was always something under construction, but not always in a progressive way. The trend for the past twenty years or so was to make anything new as bright and sleek as possible, giving the urban city the ‘modern’ part of the ‘old-modern’ style, even though that modern feel was already a couple of decades old.

Lake City was also noisy. And not just the noise of traffic, construction, and people. Everywhere you looked was filled with lights, advertisements, and sometimes the bizarre art installation. The city had pumped some money into trying to make the walking streets more cultured and friendly, without really doing much else to help the area. This meant that you would often see panhandlers getting ignored underneath a giant neon light installation instructing passersby to love one another.

Smith slowed down and took a long gaze up at a two story billboard screen as it switched to an ad for SugarBaby Jean Co. The model in the ad smiled brightly behind a pair of tinted glasses, and a cheesy slogan declared this “The Summer for Sugar, Baby”, even though it was already fall. After a few seconds, the ad switched to an animated image of a fantasy city in a torrential storm, promoting the latest blockbuster movie, and Smith picked up her pace again. She turned the corner and finally made her way to the only place in town she actually liked, a tea shop called Lake and Leaf. Inside was white, bright, and quaint, but still warm and friendly. She took off her backpack as she made her way to her regular spot - the last stool at the end of the long counter. She pulled her tablet out of her backpack, and hung her bag on the hook under the counter at her knees. She took off her sunglasses, but kept her eyes straight on her screen in front of her.

“Hey, Smith. Reading more police reports?” asked a friendly voice from behind the counter. It was Rolly, one of the shop owners, and a friend of hers from when they were kids. He was built like a grizzly with the temperament of a golden retriever, and the tea shop was his passion. “The usual?” he asked, knowing that she wouldn’t look up until she was satisfied with her scrolling. Smith nodded, almost imperceivably. He shuffled off to his tea tins that lined the wall and began making her the usual cup.

Smith scanned the headlines: robberies, shootings, muggings - the usual, daily crime in their metropolitan city. She switched her app to a map of the city and pinned the places of the crimes. She added notes from the reports - time of day, victims, weapons - anything she could. Then she started reading the local news sites. Some of the news reported on the crimes and offered vague details, of which she also noted. Nothing was too insignificant.

Smith finally set down her tablet and looked up. She glanced around the shop. It was slightly busy. Most people liked going to bars around this time, but Lake and Leaf had its usual crowd. She reached into her backpack and pulled out her wallet. She pulled out a five dollar bill, and then stashed her wallet away as she saw Rolly head toward her with a cup of tea.

“Earl gray with milk, and a scone. I thought I’d try something a little different for you this time. The tea has lavender in it.”

Smith pulled off her headphones and discreetly set the money under the saucer as she picked up the cup and took a sip. “Oh damn, that’s good.”

“Can I get you anything else?”

“Nah, just this. What’s new around here?”

Rolly leaned on the counter. “You’ll never guess who came in here the other day.”

“Who?”

“That model you like, Ellis Jones.”

Smith nearly spit her tea. “No fucking way! Did you talk to her? What’s she like?”

Rolly chuckled. “I didn’t see her, Nate did. He said she asked for coffee - I guess she didn’t realize we don’t serve that here.”

“So what did she do? Did she get something else?”

“I don’t know! I wasn’t here!”

“Well, why didn’t you ask Nate? Is he here? Let me talk to him.”

“No, it’s his day off.”

Smith sat back in her stool, daydreaming. “Man, she’d be perfect…”

Rolly tilted his head at Smith. “Perfect for what?”

Smith sighed. “Well… I don’t know. I haven’t really told anyone yet.”

“What?”

“Nevermind, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Smith Kelley, we’ve been best friends since we were kids! We went to the prom together! We practiced kissing on each other. Tell me, girl!” Smith reached over the counter and slapped Rolly several times on the shoulder.

“Fine! You know how I like to read police reports and stuff?”

“Nooooo.”

“Shut up. Well, I was thinking. The cops around here… could maybe use my help.”

Rolly chuckled. “Okay.”

“I just keep thinking… I could do a better job.”

Rolly scoffed. “You? You’re a shrimpy little weakling who hates running.”

“Well not me-me, but I still think I could do something about it.”

“You mean you want to be a cop? I don’t know how you’re going to do that, being… well, all those things I just said.”

“I know this city inside and out. There are patterns and certain people who keep doing things and getting away with it.” She showed Rolly her tablet with the map. “See, there was a robbery six blocks from here a month ago.”

“But you’re a shrimpy…”

She swiped to another view of the map. “And then two nights later, another one a block away from that.”

“Little weakling…”

“And it’s more than just robberies. I mean, they were both robberies, but they were in and out of there so fast.”

“Who hates running…”

Smith put down her tablet and gave Rolly a look.

“I’m sorry, babe! I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be chasing bad guys. The police are decent. I mean, sure, they’re not perfect, but they’re good enough.”

“They’re not good enough when there’s still so much crime in this city!”

“But really, what were you thinking of doing? And what does Ellis Jones have to do with it?”

Smith paused for a second. “Okay, can I let you in on a little secret?”

Rolly sighed. “I don’t know. Your ideas are kind of out there. A lot of people think you’re just a conspiracy theorist.”

Smith lowered her voice and leaned in. She picked up her tablet and changed some settings on the map that showed an overlay of sewers, passages, and tunnels. “Whenever I freelance for the city government, I get a lot of access that I probably shouldn’t have. I know the city’s infrastructure - it hasn’t changed in the past ten years, and any time anyone tries to change it, it takes months, if not years of government bureaucracy to actually take effect. I know how to move around quickly, without getting caught.”

“Have you ever actually seen these tunnels and passages yourself?” Rolly asked.

“No, but I’ve seen big proposals get shot down because it’d be too expensive to build around them. And they don’t want to remove them or fill them in, because that would require a lot of inspections and restructuring. Redoing the underground infrastructure under one city block would affect, like, the next dozen around it.” She pointed to a city block on the map. “Remember when the old Elysian Hotel wanted to update and basically rebuild the whole building? Lake City put it on the ballot to make it look like they were trying their best to make it happen, but even when it passed, they decided to slap a historic landmark status on it so they wouldn’t have to bother with it.”

Rolly furrowed his eyebrows with a small realization. “Is that why they did that? It is a pretty neat, old building.”

“But have you also noticed that the tallest buildings in this city are only thirty stories?”

“Yeah, they passed laws to not build any higher than that so as to not obstruct the view.”

“The view of what?”

Rolly shrugged. “You know, the city. It’s kind of nice to look at.”

“But why not improve the city with taller, more impressive buildings?” Smith stared up at Rolly with a bit of a crazy glint in her eyes.

The two froze in an awkward standoff until Rolly finally broke the silence. “Babe, what is your point?”

“My point is that I could track the criminals. They show patterns. I’m sure some of them are even using some of these passages. Just imagine beating them at their own game. Following them, or even getting ahead of them. As, like… a superhero would.”

“A superhero!” Rolly shrieked.

“Keep your voice down, butthead!”

“A superhero!” he quietly shrieked. “Smith, you’re smart, but you’re also the clumsiest person I know. There’s no way you’d ever be able to do that, much less as a superhero.”

Smith looked up at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Not me, but someone like Ellis Jones could. Do you see the workout routine videos she posts on her Lookit? She can move.”

“Mm-hmm, you sure do like that.”

“Shut up.” She picked up her cup and finished off the tea. The little bell above the door jungled, and they both looked over to see a couple walk in and sit down around the corner at the other end of the counter.

Rolly stood up straight. “Mkay, girl. Well, you find Ellis Jones and train her to be a superhero. Let me know how that goes.” He moved the saucer on the counter, and slid the money she placed there back to her. “You’ll need this to get your superhero project started.” He turned to the couple and made his way down the counter.

Smith placed the money back onto the saucer and set her empty cup on top. She nibbled at the scone as she opened up her tablet and buried her face in the screen again. The tea shop buzzed with light conversations, clinking dishes, and tea tins being opened and closed. Smith put her headphones back on and drowned out the world around her. She didn’t hear the shop bell jingle again, and the excitement that filled the air when Ellis Jones walked in.

The statuesque model was as exquisite as they come. She had smooth, caramel skin, and her short, fiery orange hair was perfectly coiffed. Ellis’ long, graceful figure practically floated into the shop as her delicate dress fluttered around her. A couple of teenage girls in the shop approached her and asked for a selfie, to which Ellis happily agreed. After a couple of shots with a couple of phones, the girls thanked her and excitedly went back to their table, eagerly sharing their pictures on their Lookit accounts. Ellis went to the counter and sat at the corner, directly down from a still oblivious Smith.

Rolly put on his usual, friendly customer service smile, despite the fact that in his head, he was screaming his face off. “Hi there! Welcome to Lake and Leaf. I’m Rolly. What can I get you, love?”

Ellis scanned the shelves of tea tins that lined the long, side wall. “Um, I’m not much of a tea drinker.” Down the counter, Smith absent-mindedly picked up the empty tea cup that was still in front of her. She paused when she realized there was only a small drop left, but still tipped it up as far as she could to get the last bit. Ellis pointed at her. “I’ll have that. Whatever it is, it must be good.”

Rolly winked at her. “You got it!” He turned from the model, and squealed quietly as he bounced his way back over to Smith. “Um, excuse me, dear, what was it you ordered again?” he said in a loud, obvious voice.

Smith looked up at Rolly and gave him an incredulous look. “What?”

Rolly glanced down at Ellis. “Can you tell me which tea you had?”

Smith pulled her headphones off. “What?”

Rolly sighed heavily. “Which tea was that?”

Smith glared angrily at him. “You made it!”

“But maybe you can remind me what you had. That young lady down there would like to know what tea you had.”

Smith turned her glare down the counter. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw one of the most famous faces in the country smiling at her.

“Um. The usual?”

“Oh my god, ” he muttered, rubbing his hand into his forehead. He picked up the cup and saucer. “Oh yeah, this was an earl grey with milk and lavender.” He winked at Ellis again. Ellis smiled back at them. Rolly stuffed the cash back into Smith’s hand while she was distracted. He took the empty dishes and walked to the back kitchen, still smiling. “I’ll get that for you right away!”

“Sounds great!” Ellis grinned at Smith. “He’s really sweet.”

Smith tried her best to regain her composure. “Yeah. He’s an old friend of mine.” She realized she was holding the money and put it in her pocket. “He doesn’t let me pay for anything here.”

“I actually came in here a few days ago and I tried to order coffee. The guy who was here at the time was not as sweet.”

“Yeah, that’s Nate. He’s pretty much the opposite of Rolly,” she chuckled, awkwardly. “So do you, um, come here often?” Smith winced as soon as the words came out of her mouth.

“No, this is just my second time. I kind of felt bad after that first encounter, so I thought I’d try something different this time.”

“Yeah! You should!”

Ellis laughed. “Yeah, I will.”

Smith cautiously got up out of her seat. “Do you, um, mind if I sit closer to you? Join you? Do you mind if I join you?”

Ellis gestured at the empty stool next to her. “Please.”

Smith started to move closer, but then quickly turned back and gathered her things. Her arms full, she sat down on the edge of the stool next to Ellis. “Hi. I’m Smith.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Smith.”

“No, it’s just Smith. Well, Smith Kelley.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! Nice to meet you, Kelley.”

“No, Smith is my first name.”

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, it happens to me all the time.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Smith. I’m Ellis.” Ellis extended her hand and Smith shook it just a little too enthusiastically, dropping her headphones on the floor.

“Yeah, I know! You’re really cool. I mean…”

Ellis laughed. “Um, thank you.”

“Sorry,” Smith groaned. She put her tablet and sunglasses on the counter and reached down for her headphones. Her stool tipped out from behind her, and clattered loudly on the floor. “Shit, sorry. I mean, shoot. I didn’t mean to say that. Sorry.”

“You apologize a lot.”

“Sorry.” Smith scrambled under the counter in search of a hook to hang her backpack on, and took a moment to silently berate herself for her awkwardness.

Ellis leaned over and looked at Smith’s tablet on the counter. It was open to the police reports. “Are you a cop?”

Smith stood up quickly, holding her headphones and the stool that had fallen, with a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights look. “No.” Ellis looked at Smith’s reddening face. “I just like to read police reports. That’s kind of weird, sorry. A lot of people think I’m crazy.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy.”

“Really?” Smith was still awkwardly standing with her hands full, and her messy bun had become even messier.

Ellis reached for the tablet. “May I?” Smith nodded. Ellis started to scroll through the police reports, her brow furrowing. “This isn’t even half of what happens in this city.”

Smith finally put down the chair and sat down next to Ellis. “I know! The police--” she lowered her voice. “The police are basically useless.” She set her headphones on the counter and reached over and swiped the tablet to the map. “I’ve been tracking the crime in this neighborhood alone, and it’s pathetic how little actual policing goes on.”

“You’re telling me. My cousin was killed a few years ago, and the police couldn’t figure it out, so they gave up the case.”

“Oh shit! I’m so sorry.”

"They said it was a random, unprovoked attack, and he was an unfortunate casualty. They won't reopen the case, and the worst part is, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Smith hesitated as she read Ellis’ devastated face, scanning the reports.

“Um, listen,” Smith finally said, taking the tablet from Ellis. “I’m sorry that I even brought it up. You just wanted to have a nice, relaxing cup of tea, and I had to ruin your afternoon with all this talk about crime.”

“It’s okay,” Ellis said, with genuine gentleness.

“No, it’s not. I’m just Captain Bring-Down over here. I’ll let you get back to your tea,” she said, looking around for Rolly. “Which still isn’t here. Why did he even go to the back to make it? All the teas are out here.”

Just at that moment, Rolly came around from the back with a hot cup of tea with a sprig of lavender placed across the top. “Here you are! So sorry about the wait!”

Ellis smiled at Rolly. “Wow, thank you so much! It’s beautiful!”

“How come I didn’t get a flower?”

“Because I didn't want to have to go all the way upstairs to get you one,” Rolly playfully snipped back at her.

Ellis chuckled and removed the sprig from the cup and handed it to Smith. “Here you go.” Smith took the lavender and blushed. Ellis took a sip of the tea. “Hm, not bad!”

“See, who needs coffee?" Rolly beamed.

“Better than what I had last time. My assistant wanted to try this place, but I didn’t know what to get, so I just ordered the ‘Special-Tea’ that was on the menu.”

“The one that was basically all anise? Oh girl,” Rolly sucked through his teeth. “I tried that one. It was not good. My partner likes to come up with new brew combinations. Usually they're good, but that one was not. Can I get you anything else, Miss Jones?”

“No thank you, I’m fine.”

He turned to Smith. “How about you?”

Smith flushed. “No, you’ve gotten me plenty.” She looked down at the lavender in her hand. “Plenty…”

Rolly smirked. “Hm, I bet I can think of one more thing I can get you.” He turned to Ellis. “Miss Jones, my stupid friend here really likes you. Been a huge fan of yours for a long time.” Ellis chuckled and Smith turned even redder. “Of course, you are more than welcome to say ‘hell no, fuck off, creep,’ but what do you think about maybe meeting back here with Smith another time for more than just tea?”

Ellis raised her eyebrows behind her cup. “More than just tea? What else do you have back there?”

“Pastries and gayness.”

Ellis finished her tea. “Well, I’m not that big into pastries, but I like the rest of that idea.” She smiled at Smith, who had somehow gone from bright red to completely white. She turned back to Rolly and reached for her handbag. “How much do I owe you?”

“No no, let me!” Smith managed to stammer out.

“But you said you aren’t allowed to pay for anything here.”

“She’s not.” Rolly turned to Ellis. “Four eighty five, please, dear.”

Ellis reached into her handbag and pulled out her credit card. Rolly presented a card reader for her, and she settled her transaction. She turned to Smith. “I guess I’ll see you here…?”

“Tomorrow! If that’s okay with you. After work? I get off at five.” She set the lavender down on the counter and quickly gathered up her belongings and stuffed them into her backpack.

“Perfect! It was nice meeting you both.” Ellis got up from the counter and left the shop.

Rolly picked up the empty teacup from the counter. “You’re welcome,” he tossed at her over his shoulder as he headed to the back.

Smith reached deep into her backpack, pulled out a fifty dollar bill, and threw it at Rolly. She started to head out the door, but then turned back and grabbed the lavender sprig off the counter.

Smith sat on her unmade bed in her small studio apartment. She pecked away at a work project on her laptop. Normally, she would let herself get so engrossed in a project that she wouldn’t even notice the sun go down… or come up. This time, though, she eagerly watched the clock, waiting for 5:00.

The sun was starting to get low, but it was hard to tell with the usual smog that hung in the air of Lake City. The afternoon sunlight that did manage to penetrate through fell onto her bed next to her, where her tabby and white cat, Mat, lay snoozing. The sun crept along her bed until it reflected off of her laptop and into her eyes. She adjusted slightly on the bed, but couldn’t keep her attention on the computer anyway. She had spent the day working from home, as it was slightly closer to the tea shop than her current office, and she didn’t want to waste any time getting there. Of course, that also meant that all she could think about all day was five o’clock.

At 4:46, Smith got up from the bed and walked over to the mirror over her small dresser. The sprig of lavender she received the day before was taped to the mirror so it could dry out. She inspected her reflection and took the ponytail holder out of her hair. She fluffed and smoothed her hair out with her hands, and put it back up in her usual bun. She really wanted to look nice, but nothing but her typical style made her feel comfortable. The least she could do was make sure her messy bun wasn’t quite as messy. She checked her teeth, put on some deodorant, and smoothed her hair again before looking back at her computer. It was 4:47.

She flopped back down onto the bed, disturbing Matt, who let out a little ‘prrrp’.

“Sorry, Mat.” Smith leaned over and gave him a scritch and a kiss on the head. He yawned and stretched a paw out in return. She turned back to her computer and typed a few more things, unaware that she was shaking her foot like it had a flea in it. Mat stood and stretched, very much bothered by the vibrations Smith was causing, and jumped off the bed. After two more minutes dragged on, she finally shut her laptop with a deep sigh.

“You want your dinner early?” she asked Matt. “I might be out late after all.” She chuckled to herself, imagining the best case scenario of how the evening would go. Mat perked up and started rubbing along Smith’s legs at the sight of the cat food can.

Smith set Mat’s dish on the floor at his placemat and topped off his water bowl. She grabbed her gray hoodie from off the bed and put it on, and then picked up her tablet and headphones off her small kitchen table. The table had one chair at it, and was covered with junk mail, dishes, note pads, and other random odds and ends, which meant she didn’t have room for actual work there. The other chair was pulled close to her bed, where it had been serving as a makeshift table for a couple of old water glasses.

Should I take my backpack with me? She wondered to herself, as she packed up her essentials. Probably not. She reached into the backpack and pulled out her wallet, and tucked it into her hoodie pocket. She dug through her backpack again for her keys and chapstick and phone… and then put her wallet back into her backpack and slung the whole thing over her back. She slipped on her sneakers and headed out the door.

Smith hurried the five blocks from her apartment to Lake and Leaf as quickly as her little legs could take her - without running, of course. She hated that. As she stopped at a busy corner a block from her destination, she paused and admired a motorcycle parked in a lot. She had always wanted to be able to ride a motorcycle, if only she were a little taller to reach the ground. The 1200 cc sportbike was sleek, white, flashy and, in Smith’s mind, very sexy.

The traffic light changed, and Smith made her way into Lake and Leaf. As her usual habit, she started to remove her backpack once she got inside. She scanned the people seated at the counter, and started to head to her usual spot at the back of the shop, until another familiar voice caught her ear.

“No, green tea and black tea come from the same plant. They’re not different varieties. I mean, well, they are, they’re different types of tea, but it’s not like there’s a green tea plant and a black tea plant.” Nate was being his typical, know it all self. It wouldn’t be long until he would start being condescending to the poor person he was holding captive with his conversation.

“So which one is better?” Ellis asked, looking over a menu card.

Nate sighed. “Neither one is better. That’s like asking what kind of dog is better, although we all know that chihuahuas are the worst.”

“Okay, what do you recommend?”

Nate sighed again - his favorite thing to do. “I don’t know, what do you like?”

Ellis shrugged and gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I’m new to tea. But I’d like to learn.”

Smith walked up to the small table in the corner where Ellis was seated. “Black tea tends to be stronger, and sometimes bitter. It’s a pretty standard tea, like English Breakfast, or the iced tea you get at restaurants. Green tea can be kind of nutty and smooth.”

Nate’s eyes went wide as he turned to Smith. “Oh. My. God. You think you can just walk right up to Ellis Jones and Smith-splain my job to her?”

“Well, you were kind of being rude to her, and Ellis is really nice.” She sat down at the table across from Ellis and placed her backpack on the floor under her chair.

“Wooowww,” Nate taunted. “You’re just making yourself right at home. Bold.”

Smith tried her best to ignore Nate. “I’d recommend the green tea, if you want something lighter. Or if you liked the one you had yesterday, that was an Earl Gray with milk and lavender.”

Nate’s eyebrows nearly hit the ceiling.

“What are you going to have?” Ellis asked Smith.

“I think I’m just going to get an iced tea.”

“You want your scone?” Nate asked, anticipating Smith’s usual order.

“No, just the tea this time.”

Ellis turned to Nate. “I’ll have the same.” She held the menu card up to Nate, who plucked it from her hand and slowly spun around on his toes.

“Baaaasic.”

Smith gave Nate a glare as he left their table. Ellis gave Smith a wincing smile. “He’s… a lot.”

Smith waved her hand in apology. “Yeah, this place is always a little less busy when he’s here.”

“I definitely prefer Rolly.”

“Everyone prefers Rolly.” They both laughed. “Sorry I’m late, though. I tried to get here early.”

“Don’t apologize. I got out of a photoshoot early and there wasn’t much traffic at the time.”

“Oh, you were working. No wonder you look so nice.”

Ellis looked down at herself. She was wearing a black leather jacket and a loose, champagne pink top with two long, delicate, rose gold chains. “No, these aren't my work clothes. I changed before I came over.”

Oh, Smith thought to herself. Even when she’s in everyday wear, she still looks like a model.

“But thank you,” Ellis said. “You look nice, too.”

Smith scoffed. “Hardly. This is all I really feel comfortable in.”

“I think that’s what’s nice about it. You’re comfortable and effortless.”

Smith laughed nervously and clutched her hands together on the table in front of her. Her thumbs twitched together involuntarily, as she was so used to having something in her hands, which was usually her phone or tablet. “So what was the photoshoot for?”

Ellis pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Do you want to see? They let me take a couple photos with me after the shoot for my portfolio.” She swiped her phone on and handed it to Smith.

Smith’s eyes went wide. “Oh, yeah, that’s definitely not your work clothes.” In the photo, Ellis was crouched down and turned sideways, and wearing nothing but a pair of stiletto heels and some elaborate jewelry and makeup. “So it’s a shoe ad?”

“Perfume.”

“But… where’s the bottle? Are you even wearing the perfume?”

“That’s the industry.” She reached over and swiped to the next photo, a closer shot from the same session of her from the hips up. A pop of greens and yellows swept across her eyelids like comets across the sky, and her soft pink lips reflected a coppery shimmer. She was holding her right hand up, delicately framing her face, and her other arm crossed over her breasts. The heavy jewelry she wore dripped with emeralds and diamonds. Smith resisted the urge to keep swiping through her album, but instead stared intently at Ellis’ photo.

“Wow, those are great. You look ama-- you look great. Really cool.”

Nate came back up to the table behind Smith with their drinks on a tray. “Hm. I wouldn’t have gone with green. Clashes against your hair.”

Smith jumped and turned the phone over - a natural reflex whenever someone approached her while she was on her phone.

“You know, I had the same note for the stylist, but we had to go with what Josephina Bell wanted for her new fragrance label.” Ellis was starting to get the hang of handling Nate’s attitude.

Nate sat an iced tea down in front of Ellis. “Then maybe tone down the hair. Make it more golden than orangey.” He waved his finger around her hair. Ellis rolled her eyes up toward his hand.

“God damn it, Nate, keep your opinions to yourself,” Smith seethed.

Nate set the other tea down in front of Smith. “Anything else, honey?”

Smith was about to snap at Nate again, but Ellis interjected. “We’re fine, thank you.”

Nate gave them a sassy little wave. “Love you,” he beamed, before heading off again.

Smith took a long sip of tea as she thought of some sort of small talk to make. After what seemed like forever (but was really more like a few seconds), she finally spoke up. “Sorry, I don’t really go out that much. I don’t know what to talk about.”

Ellis laughed. “Well, you’re honest. But that’s okay. Tell me about what you do.”

“Oh, I do freelance stuff, programming, cybersecurity, data encryption, things like that. I get hired by the city a lot. It’s pretty boring stuff.”

“That doesn’t sound boring at all. That sounds impressive. You must be really smart.”

Smith shrugged. “I guess so.” She never knew how to take compliments, or even how to recognize them sometimes.

“But I’m guessing that’s not what you’re passionate about, right?” Smith thought for a moment. She wanted to tell her about her actual passion; she wanted to just blurt out that she wants to recruit a superhero, and she thinks it should be Ellis. But the idea sounded ridiculous. She couldn’t form the right words in her head to make it sound like it was, first of all, a feasible idea, and second, something that Ellis would even be on board with. They were virtual strangers at this point, and all they had in common so far was tea.

That, and their view on the police in Lake City.

“No, it’s not,” Smith said. “I like reading police reports.”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Right.” Smith reached for the phone in the middle of the table, but stopped when she realized it wasn’t hers. “Oh, uh. Hang on.” She reached under her chair and grabbed her backpack. Setting the bag on her lap, she dug out her tablet and put it on the table. She opened up the police reports and scanned the day’s entries. “Here, look. A new robbery last night.” She switched to the map of the city and pinned the place of the robbery, a mom and pop restaurant. “Three nights in a row, and three robberies. They’re all along the same line, but not on the same street. They all happened around 3 am, and they were all in and out in about five minutes,” she explained, unable to hide the excitement in her voice. “And the places have nothing in common: a small restaurant, a big box chain store, and a corporate office.” She looked up at Ellis with a glint in her eyes. “Somebody is moving quickly around the city, undetected.”

Ellis drew a line with her finger along the three points. “So that means that the next place they’d hit would probably be… this hotel?”

“I don’t know. These robberies all happened late at night when the places were all closed. But hotels are usually staffed around the clock. I’d say, maybe the restaurant connected to it.”

“What could they rob from a restaurant in the middle of the night?” Ellis asked. “Most businesses deposit their cash at the end of the day.”

“They were able to take a little bit of money from the small restaurant last night, but they made off with goods from the store, and some small electronics from the corporate office. They basically just take whatever they can get their hands on in a short amount of time. And whatever they can easily carry.”

“Why, though? What would they have to gain from such small crimes?”

Smith smiled. She couldn’t believe that someone was not only listening to her crazy interests, but actually seemed to be invested as well. “I don’t know. But they’re so frequent and they follow a pattern. It has to be the same people each time, and they’re probably counting on it to pay off in the long run.”

“I can’t believe the police haven’t noticed the similarities.”

Nate came back to their table. “Oh lordy, is she going on about her crime conspiracy theories? You don’t have to get sucked into her craziness, darling.”

Ellis smiled at him. “I know, she’s completely bonkers, right?” Smith closed her apps and set down her tablet, a little dejected that she couldn’t share her excitement with her crush anymore.

“Mm-hmm. You ladies good?” he asked, placing a check down next to Smith.

“Yes, thank you.” Ellis started to reach for the check, but Smith quickly grabbed it.

“I got it.” She reached into her backpack and pulled out twelve dollars from her wallet.

“Let me guess, Rolly doesn’t let you pay, but Nate does?”

“Yes, Nate sure does,” he said, snatching the cash from Smith’s hand. He picked up their empty glasses and headed to the back.

“Well, uh, I guess we should go,” Smith hesitated, disappointed that the date was over. “Sure. I have an early morning session with my personal trainer tomorrow.”

Smith nodded, attempting to look nonchalant. “Cool. That’s cool.” She stowed her tablet into her backpack again and stood to put it on. She paused when she saw Ellis reach under her own chair and pull out a black motorcycle helmet.

“Shall we head out?” Ellis said as she stood from the table.

“Y--yeah,” Smith squeaked, still trying to retain her nonchalance.

The two left the tea shop in the same direction.

“You know that I don’t actually think you’re bonkers, right?”

Smith gazed down at her feet as they walked along, side by side. “It’s nice to hear you say that.” They walked together a little further in silence.

“This is me,” Ellis said, and they stopped at the lot next to the red sportbike Smith had admired earlier. The sun had sunk low, and the streetlamps had turned on against the dusky sky. The light right above Ellis’ bike highlighted the glittery paint job, making it sparkle like fresh snow.. She set her helmet on the seat and zipped up her jacket, transforming her cool elegance into what almost looked like a mysterious… superhero.

“I had a nice time. Thanks for indulging me, Ellis.” Smith had a hard time looking Ellis in the eye, so she just admired her motorcycle.

“I did too,” Ellis smiled back at her.

“Well… drive safe.” It was the only thing Smith could think to say.

Ellis mounted the motorcycle and put on her helmet. “Thanks, I will. Good night.” She closed the visor and started the engine. Smith gave a small wave as she stood and watched Ellis pull out of the lot and speed off down the street.

“Oh damn!” she exclaimed aloud. I didn’t think to get her number. She pulled out her phone and opened up her Lookit app. She typed in Ellis’ name in the search and started scrolling through her photos and videos. Probably for the best. Would she even want me bothering her?

Smith slowly started to shuffle back to her apartment, still scrolling through Ellis’ pictures. Her thumb hovered over the ‘add friend’ button, as she nervously contemplated the idea of reaching out to the famous model that she happened to have a short date with.

Suddenly, two men jumped out from between a couple of parked cars. One of them punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to her hands and knees. Her phone flew out of her hand and disappeared somewhere in the dark street. “Just leave it!” one of the men said. They started kicking her in the ribs. Smith fought for some air to enter her lungs so she could scream out, but all she could manage were some hoarse gasps. One of the men started to pull her backpack off of her. Instinctively, she wrapped the strap around her hand and grabbed onto it for dear life. The only thing she could think to do was scream “No!” Smith curled into a tight ball on her left side around her backpack, as the one man kept trying to pry it away from her and the other one had gotten onto the ground and was punching her anywhere he could.

Smith opened her eyes as she heard a loud engine revving, and caught a glimpse of a white rocket hurtling toward them. The men also saw it, and took off. The rocket screamed past Smith and barreled toward the men. The rider leaned hard, making sparks fly along the pavement as the sparkling sportbike fell and slid toward Smith’s attackers. The rider had managed to let go of the bike before it hit the ground, and tucked into a tight roll. The motorcycle hit one of the men hard in the leg, and he let out a yell as he fell to the ground, pinned under the bike. The other man kept running. The rider got up and sprinted toward the man trapped under the motorcycle. He struggled to get out from under it, but the rider put her foot down on the wheel, holding him in place.

Ellis glared down at him through her helmet. To him, the dark, mysterious figure looked like a spectre in the night. The man trembled. “Pl--please! Don’t hurt me! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!!”

Ellis pressed down on the wheel again, and the man screamed out in pain. “You’re pathetic.” She let the bike go. He whimpered as he struggled to wriggle out from under the wheel. “Get the fuck out of here.” The man managed to get himself free and limped off as fast as he could. Ellis watched as he slowly vanished into the darkness.

After he was gone, Ellis turned and ran toward Smith. Smith groaned in pain as she struggled to sit herself upright.

“Don’t move.” Ellis knelt down beside her and took off her helmet. She helped Smith lie back down on her back, and looked her over. Smith had a large bruise on her right cheekbone, a bloody lip, and scrapes all over. Her clothes were dirty and torn from being kicked and knocked onto the ground. “Where does it hurt?”

Smith groaned again as she tried to gesture to her ribs, but her right arm was just as bad.

Ellis unzipped her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone. “I’ll call for an ambulance.”

As she was about to dial the phone, Smith reached up with her left hand and pulled Ellis down and kissed her, grateful to her savior. And she felt Ellis kiss her back. At that moment, Smith thought that maybe her plan wasn’t so crazy after all.

[authorelizabethhunter]

So, I’ve been pretty awful about updating the blog lately, and I apologize for that. Personal life has been a bit crazy (but good!) and I get overwhelmed, so I’ll try to give you a roundup of stuff I’m reading, stuff I’m listening to, stuff I’m writing, and stuff I’ll be working on next.

SPOILER ALERT: I re-released A Very Proper Monster, the Elemental World novella set in 19th century Dublin with Tom and Josie from A Scarlet Deep. It has a new cover and a brand new short story included, so if you’re just here for new stuff, scroll on down to the end for links, but I really hope you read the whole post. :)

In general, if you’re worried you’re missing something, the best way to stay in touch is to either get my newsletter (sent out once a month with free fiction goodies), like my Facebook page, or follow me on Instagram. I’m going to try to be better about blogging, but I make no guarantees because I’m an honest girl who knows her limitations. Between family, work, traveling to the other side of the world to visit my significant other, and eating/sleeping, the blog does fall further down on the list of priorities lately. So, you’ve been warned. (And appreciated. I really do appreciate those of you who are still reading.)

SO what have I been reading? A few things. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump, but these are things pulled me out and woke me up.

First off, for lovers of true Urban Fantasy, I’m going to recommend Amy Cissell’s The Cardinal Gate, which was a kickass ride set in Portland, OR that delves into fae mythology. Full disclosure: Amy and I are friends, and I think she’s super talented, and this book is great. Funny and fast and thrilling. It’s her debut, and I think readers of mine who love Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, and the like would really enjoy it. Lots of action and humor. I really well-drawn heroine who I’m eager to revisit. This is the start of a series and I’m definitely looking forward to the rest.

Dating-ish by Penny Reid is contemporary romantic comedy that is hilarious and HUGELY relatable for anyone who has dated in the last few years, and informative for those of you who are still trying to figure out what Tinder is and why your single friends give you THAT LOOK when you ask them, “Haven’t you tried dating online?” More than that, it’s another well-drawn female protagonist in the Knitting in the City series which will go down as one of the most compelling and well-drawn (and hilarious) groups of friends in fiction history. I know the covers are geared toward female readers, but I think this series would be really enjoyable for my male readers, too.

Short story fans like me understand how complex and difficult the form is to write, but how satisfying a well-written short story is when it’s done right. And Ken Liu does it RIGHT. The Paper Menagerie is on my Recommended Reads page for good reason. I’m picking my way through this collection the way you pick through a really good box of chocolates. You don’t want to devour them all at once. You want to sit and read when you have a half hour or so, finish a story, then ruminate on it a while. If you’re a fantasy/scifi fan struggling with short attention span lately, this book is the book for you.

So that’s what I’ve been reading lately, but what have I been listening to?

Okay, sometimes you just need mellow singer/songwriter chicks to listen to, and Joy Williams Venus (Acoustic) album is well worth the download. I’m not very familiar with her music, but I saw this video on YouTube:

And I sought out her music. I love her voice and the Venus Acoustic album is a deep, easy breath at the end of the day, which I need right now.

Can we talk about how my son keeps stealing my Duke Ellington & John Coltrane album? Seriously, some days I really do feel like I’m raising a senior citizen. He wears fedoras, too. I’m recommending this album on vinyl for those of you who like the ritual of records, but it’s available in digital format too. It’s hard to express how much I love this one. I’m not even a huge jazz fan, but there’s something about this record.

I just finished listening to all seven episodes of the S-Town podcast and I’m still processing. All I know for sure is that it’s good. It elevates the podcast format. It’s genre-defying. I don’t want to tell you too much, because I went into it with very little knowledge of what it was supposed to be, and I kind of feel like everyone should experience it that way. Here’s the trailer:

So that’s what I’m listening to lately. What have I been doing?

Oh, just re-releasing A Very Proper Monster with a new Tom and Josie story (!!!), and updating the covers for the Elemental World novellas!

And… they’re weird. But I love them. This is what I wrote on my Facebook page:

It’s a different look that started when I was designing the Monster cover for re-release. It’s a gothic romance, so I wanted the cover to reference those gorgeous old gold foil covers in Victorian printing. What I came up with was this:

➜Amazon (Kindle): http://amzn.to/2nxvyP5 ➜Amazon (Paperback): http://amzn.to/2ol6NFL ➜Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2niCpdo

(I’ll update with other retailer links once they go live)

This is the part where I say BUY MY BOOK!

(If you don’t already have it from Beneath a Waning Moon, that is. It’s the same story, just with bonus material and a new cover.)

So I designed this cover, and I just couldn’t stop looking at it. I loved it. But it was SO different. And I knew I’d been needing to update the covers on Waterlocked and The Bronze Blade, too, because they really didn’t fit with the other books in the series. In fact, the novellas themselves were kind of out there. So I’m taking a chance! They could bomb horribly. I don’t know. But I’m giving them a chance and I hope you guys enjoy them.

Here’s the synopsis for the new edition of Monster:

In Victorian-era Dublin, Josephine Shaw spends long nights filling the pages of her Gothic stories with the fantastic and the macabre, unaware that the suitor her father has arranged is one of the dark creatures she’s always dreamed. For Tom Dargin, courting an ailing spinster was only one duty in a long life of service to his sire. But after he meets the curious Miss Shaw, will Tom become the seducer or the seduced? Can a love fated to end in tragedy survive a looming grave?

A VERY PROPER MONSTER is an Elemental World historical novella originally published in the Beneath a Waning Moon gothic duology. This special stand-alone edition contains a bonus short story, Night in the Waking City.

Tom and Josie travel to New York City to meet with allies and publishers, but a chance encounter sends Josie into a rage, leaving Tom to look for unexpected allies in the city that never sleeps. Can a young human and an ancient vampire find his ailing mate before Josie does something she’ll regret?

And what am I working on RIGHT NOW?

As you may or may not be able to tell, I’m working on the next Irin Chronicles book. What is it called? THE SILENT. Whose book is it? Leo and Kyra’s. (FINALLY! you say. I know, I know…) And where is it set? THAILAND.

Thailand?

Yes, Thailand. (It’s so delicious…)

And here, my friends, is a little teaser for you from what I just wrote the other day. I’m about a third of the way into the manuscript and I’m aiming toward a Summer 2017 release, hopefully in July.

“Do you like books?” Kyra asked.

“I do. I like audiobooks especially. When I’m training or driving, I often listen to them.” He craned his neck and saw the stack of books by her bed. “I see you are a reader.”

“Yes.” He hadn’t asked, but she decided to offer some information anyway. “For most of my life—before I learned to block my mind—books were my best friends. I could listen to them and only hear what they wanted to tell me, not another voice behind it.”

Leo’s arm around her tightened, and she wondered if there was something he didn’t like about the story. Perhaps she shouldn’t have offered so much information when he hadn’t asked.

“Yes, I like books,” she said quietly.

“I’m glad you had them,” Leo said. “Tell me something else.”

“Like what?”

“Like everything.” ~ Copyright 2017, Elizabeth Hunter All rights reserved.

  BE WELL! I’ll try not to wait two months before blogging again.

Wishing you love and inspiration today.

Elizabeth

Still not dead. Work work work. So, I've been pretty awful about updating the blog lately, and I apologize for that. Personal life has been a bit crazy (but good!) and I get overwhelmed, so I'll try to give you a roundup of stuff I'm reading, stuff I'm listening to, stuff I'm writing, and stuff I'll be working on next.

[thedrowsydoormouse]

If you could make any household pet enormous what would it be? My dog is already pretty big (he sat on my throat the other day and I almost blacked out).

Favourite mythology/fairy tale etc? I don’t know if this really counts but I really love hearing ghost stories from the Disney parks. I love the contrast between the super clean, family friendly, safe image Disney prides themselves on in the parks versus the darker underbelly of the hauntings showing the not so safe and family friendly side.

If you could design a planet what colours would you choose? Every color of the rainbow, made metallic/sparkly, with a black background so they really pop.

Sentient plants or sentient machines? Machines. I’m basically vegetarian so sentient plants would be a nightmare.

Disney, Pixar or DreamWorks? Disney who also owns Pixar so I guess both of those!

Ice cream or soup? It depends on the weather and what I feel like having because I love both.

If you could live in any TV show/film/book which would you choose? Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist because I would love to know what songs are playing in my head so I can make a playlist.

Futuristic or steampunk? Steampunk. Give me corsets and top hats and all that crazy shit any day!

Space travel or time travel? Time travel because eventually, if you travel far enough into the future, you wind up in space anyway.

Superhero or sidekick? Hero. I hate being told what to do.

Favourite guilty pleasure? I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. If you like something just own up to it and own your truth instead of feeling like it has to be at all shameful.

Best comfort food? I live in Southern California and grew up eating a lot of asian food so my comfort foods have become Chinese takeout, sushi, thai food, and stuff like that.

Least favourite school subject? Biology. My teacher was the worst and it was so boring.

Weird quirks/actions you’ve noticed you do since rp? I don’t rp nearly often enough to have developed any quirks.

Favourite scene from any book/show and why? I have way too many but in the most recent episode of Zoey’s her powers were glitching and she was singing all her inner most thoughts out loud and that entire episode was fucking brilliant!

If you could come back as an undead being which would you choose? Vampire. I’m already basically nocturnal, I’m inhumanly pale, and I can totally get behind the aesthetic.

Rp scene that was the most difficult to film. See previous rp question.

Oddest things you’ve used to make a costume or film stand? When I was in college I had to make a ball gag out of a couple headbands and a dog toy for a student film I worked on. It was a very fun, interesting Halloween.

Favourite type of chocolate? Milk chocolate.

Do you think you’re best known for fluff, angst or crack? I haven’t actually published any of my writing yet but a lot of it is very angst-y.

Favourite hot drink? Tea. I could drink nothing but hot tea all year because there’s so many variations and flavors to suit my moods.

Outfit aesthetic you aspire for? “Is she a witch, a vampire, or a rock star. Or maybe she’s a pirate. I honestly can’t tell but I wish I was her because she is fabulous.”

Sun, moon or stars? Moon AND stars.

If you could master any five languages which would you choose? French, Irish, German, Spanish, and Italian.

Favourite place? It depends. My favorite place here in California is New Orleans Square in Disneyland. But my two favorite places to travel to are New York and New Orleans.

Something that’s bothering you at the moment? I can’t tell if I’m bored or hungry.

Favourite headcanon? Jimmy Palmer (NCIS) is openly bi but completely forgot to come out at work which is why it’s never mentioned or talked about.

Plot of a story/show you wish had been completed? I wish we had actually seen the Tiva reunion in Paris instead of just hearing about it second hand through the notes Senior had Jimmy deliver.

Favourite trope? Sexual tension you could cut with a knife.

Favourite flavour of crisps/chips? Zapp’s Spicy Cajun Crawtators.

Sweet or sour? Both

Spicy or savoury? Both again.

What would be the theme tune to your life? Monster by dodie

Favourite breakfast food? I hate breakfast.

If you could live in any historical era which would you choose? Sometime between the late 60′s (Vietnam Conflict era) and the 80′s when punk and goth were just starting out and counterculture was becoming more of a thing.

Premise of memorable childhood TV shows? I grew up watching a lot of Food Network more than actual kids tv and my favorite show was about how various sack foods are made.

If you could be any shape what shape would you be? I’m already pretty close to an hourglass shape.

If you could switch lives with any character who would it be? Breena Palmer from NCIS. I want a husband who loves me and our kid as much as Jimmy does and it would be kind of awesome to work as a mortician!

If you could switch the limb of one animal with another (e.g a spider leg to a fish tail) what would you choose? I would swap out my dog’s paws with cat paws because his nails hurt like a mother fucker when he steps on me.

If you could create a country what would you name it? Addamsland.

Do you make ny resolutions? Never have, never will.

Season you’re most looking forward to? Fall. I’m ready for Halloween.

Fish scales or reptile scales? Fish. They tend to be more metallic or holographic!

Paper or parchment? Paper because I’m not pretentious.

Paperback or ebook? Paperback. 

Warm tones or cool tones? I am painfully cool toned.

Creative subjects or analytical subjects? Subjects that require creative analysis.

Fog or snow? Fog. Give me those horror movie vibes!

Make up a premise for a TV show you’d want to see. Everyday life of a Chosen One post revolution in the style of B99 or Parks and Rec.

Any unpopular headcanons? Sam never actually got his soul back, he just got better at hiding it.

Favourite story genre? Urban fantasy. Give me magic in a big city like modern day New York and show how it seamlessly weaves into everyday life.

Trope that is most overrated in your opinion? Enemies to lovers but only if it’s done wrong like with (this is gunna piss off a lot of people) Reylo. Don’t have a girl fall in love with her abuser. If it’s done right in a way that doesn’t promote domestic abuse then I’m fine with it and sometimes even enjoy it. But it’s done wrong too often for me to ignore.

City lights or candle light? City lights. I want to bathe in neon.

Which element do you think best represents you. Fire. I can be really useful and helpful but I can very easily get out of control and destroy everything.

Opinions on valentine’s? Fucking hate it.

If you could feasibly live on one other planet, which would you choose?

Wood or marble? Wood. Marble, to me, is a little too Kardashian. I’d rather see an ornately carved wooden entrance way than one with giant marble staircases and marble pillars and the walls painted to match the marble.

Are you a spontaneous planner or an in advance planner? I like to have some idea of what I’m getting myself into but I also enjoy being able to go with the flow the day of and seeing where my moods take me.

Did you have any weird beliefs as a kid? The mirror in my bedroom was a portal to a different universe.

Any famous historical figures you think don’t deserve it? 90% of the famous white men. Like fuck Elvis and fuck the Beatles.

If you could be any plant which would you be? Mistletoe because of my red hair and my love of poison!

Any weird facts? Teeth are actually closer to calcified skin than bone.

Did you have a treehouse as a kid? No.

Rabbits or ferrets? Rabbits.

If you could switch lives with someone you know for a day, who would you choose? My dog. He does basically the same shit I do all day but he doesn’t know what’s going on so he never stresses about anything.

Opinions on nicknames? Some are fine. It depends on who gave it to you and their reason behind it. 

If you could become instantly skilled in one new skill, what would you choose? Fixing computers.

Ink wells or biros? normal pens.

If you had to switch one: fish in the sky or birds in the sea, which would you switch? Birds in the sea. 

Cheesecake or sponge cake? Both.

Weirdest deja vu moment? Last night watching TOWIE and talking with my mom.

Field of wildflowers or a forest? Forest. Weird shit happens in forests.

Nymph or merperson? Nymph.

Funniest story behind an inside joke? My freshman year of high school I was in the fall play and during my costume fitting they had me try on a dress that fit me like a second skin. The problem was they put it on me backwards so I had to rush to get it back on the right way. At the same time, one of the guys in the cast was trying to get into the wardrobe room and was pounding on the door telling us to hurry up which led to my friend, who was helping me with the dress, yelling at me to suck in my boobs (which were shockingly big for my 90 lb., 14 year old self) while twisting the dress around and another friend stopping the guy from opening the door. The whole thing gave off very B99 cold open vibes and it was great! Every time my friend saw me after that she’d yell “suck in your boobs” and we’d both die laughing, much to everyone else’s confusion!

If you could, would you choose to erase any of your memories permanently? I would erase all my memories from 9/11. Hopefully that makes me not as depressed and anxious.

@anangelamuse-castiel-spnfam I don’t know how I finished mine first because that never happens but now it’s your turn!

[danafraedrich]

December Mid-Month Review

I’m not trying to brag, but I have had a great reading month so far. Not gonna lie, having my Kindle read to me while I play video games has helped a lot. Even so, I’ve managed to plow through four books so far this month, and I’m well on my way to 50! Fingers crossed I don’t fall down at the finish line 🤞.

Ashes Swept by Julia J Simpson Young Adult, Science Fiction and Dystopian 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Buy it on Amazon

Y’all know I am absolute trash for a fairytale retelling, right? I haven’t read too many Cinderella retellings, though, which kinda makes when I find one all the more interesting. Julia J Simpson is another author I know from Instagram, and she is kind and wonderful and awesome, so I definitely recommend you follow her.

As for the book, this retelling had pretty much all the pieces I like. The world-building was really well done without being overbearing - I think a lot of books that require world-building tend to over tell you what’s happening, especially if it’s dystopian. This one was very centralized to Florida, and I’m totally okay with that because it was masterfully done. It also takes a hard look at class issues and handles them very well. And thank goodness for a book with diversity! We had POC characters, LGBTQ characters, and it was normalized, which I love to see. We need more of this in books! Anyhoodles, the ending did let me down a little because I felt like the final win was a bit passive, but I still really enjoyed the experience and hope to see Julia come out with more retellings.

How the Dead Lie by Stacey Rourke Science Fiction and Fantasy, Paranormal and Urban Fantasy 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Buy it on Amazon

When I went to Penned Con earlier this year, I met a bunch of authors from the Havenwood Falls Collective. Don’t know what I’m talking about? That’s okay because I’d never heard of it before either. It’s basically a bunch of authors who’ve gotten together to write books for this shared world, which is pretty amazing when you consider the coordination that must go into an endeavor like that. In addition to the regular Havenwood Falls collection, they have a YA one called Havenwood Falls High, a historical one called Legends of Havenwood Falls, and a naughty/adult collection called Havenwood Falls Sin and Silk. And you’ll pretty much never run out of material with this series. As I understand it, they have so many contributors now that there’s a new book from one of the collections coming out every week! 😲

Regarding the story, I was pleased I had no idea where it was going most of the time. When we got to the twist in the end, I was pretty shocked, and that’s one of my favorite things when I’m consuming entertainment. I find a lot of stuff to be pretty predictable TBH, so when I don’t know what’s going to happen, I get super jazzed. And I almost never find books where the necromancer is the protagonist. Plus, she works in a butcher shop. Hijinks ensue. Hooray. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like the sense of humor throughout the book. I love me some snark, but I feel like there’s a line between clever snark and petty high school snark, and this book, for me, tended to lean towards the second type. And the dialogue was really clunky. Still, it was a good romp, not to mention pretty short. I want to read one of these stories from the perspective of the amazing little coffee shop next. If you’re familiar with any of the titles that do, let me know in the comments below 👇.

Binding Dante Lovelace by Jennifer Rainey Science Fiction and Fantasy, Gaslamp, Steampunk 4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Buy it on Amazon

You all may remember I reviewed the first book in this series, The Last Temptations of Iago Wick, here. Binding Dante Lovelace is the follow up to that one, and I gotta say, I liked this one even more than its predecessor. Like the first one, it’s a little hard to connect with the Dante and Iago because they’re demons and do horrible things to people. I thought I would have even more trouble with Dante, though, because he’s what’s called a Catastrophe Artist, so he’s the type of demon responsible for freak accidents that rip friends and families apart. Surprisingly, I found I actually felt more for him because we see he feels remorse for what he does. Iago never really did. I like that we get to see a bit more of what hell is like too - a giant corporation of evil. If you’ve ever worked for an uncaring corporate entity, this will speak to your soul (no pun intended). They even hide behind their own policies when Dante, one of their own demons, gets into a sticky situation. Seriously, guys?! 😂 The plot gave us a proper adversary too, someone you can really enjoy hating, which I think creates ground for an interesting discussion on human nature and the potential for evil within ourselves, but that’s more of a coffee shop chat. Anyway, I don’t really have many complaints except for the fact that I still can’t really separate myself from the fact that Iago and Dante are demons, so I can’t quite bring myself to root for them as much as I want to.

Awakening by Brianna West Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal 2/5 ⭐️⭐️ Buy it on Amazon

I was in the mood for a light, fluffy romance and… well… not quite. Here’s the thing, and I’ve mentioned this before on this blog, I really, really, really don’t like gender stereotypes. And I know romance books tends to lean into them pretty heavily, so I was prepared for that. Unfortunately, these were way beyond anything I expected, to the point where some parts felt like we’d been transported back to the 1950s. For instance, our main character is cooking and she thinks she might actually make a good wife one day with a little more practice. Ugh, okay, no. Being able to feed yourself is a survival skill all human beings need to have. Granted, her love interest can also cook, but this does not fall into a “wife material” category. And the gay character was depicted super stereotypically as well, which just piled onto the mountain of gender stereotypes. People are people. A rowdy personality isn’t only a male thing, just as liking flowers or whatever isn’t exclusive to women. I find it all ridiculous and annoying. I didn’t find the book terribly sex positive either, which was something I was not at all prepared for. I expect romance books to be sex positive since, ya know, we’re here for the romance. But there were a lot of instances where the main character is defending herself, saying she’s “not a hussie, but…” or describing certain ways of dressing as “hoochie.” I admit, those words aren’t as bad as, say, slut, but they’re in the same ballpark, so I can’t get behind these kind of descriptions since they still demean women. So… yeah, unfortunately, this one was not for me.

So there are my books read so far this month. I’m currently reading on The Drowned Tomb by James Fahy, which will be my 48th book of the year. Wish me luck on getting to 50!

Thanks for reading!

[fyrapartnersearch]

marauders hp with a side of politics and queer romance, anybody?

name.            lucifer pronouns.     he / him location.       southern u.s. timezone.     cst / gmt–6 experience.  10 years

currently seeking.

some marauders era harry potter with a focus on their characters and their relationships with socio-political tension as the backdrop. i get really into expanding on the harry potter world both with the fantastical aspects of magic and the more gritty details of the wizarding world like economy and politics and social ideologies like pureblood supremacy. basically looking for a nice cathartic harry potter drama to run parallel with the bullshit we have going on irl with a pinch of lgbt romance thrown in. some feel good hurt-comfort as the characters grapple with their sense of right and wrong, family tension, friends they thought they could trust being seduced by voldemort’s movement and recruiting, et cetera. DRAMA!! LOVE!! ACTION!! adult wizards as the main characters but with flashbacks to their school days thrown in for funsies ( maybe they were friends back then, had a crush on each other, etc ).

some yakuza / gang drama featuring one of my favorite sons akira (click the link for his profile).

i have plenty of other interests as well but that’s what i’m in the mood for at the moment. that being said if you have an idea you’re passionate about, preferably some kind of fantasy (urban, epic, historic, original world, fandom-based, whatever—) and you think we’d be a good fit, hmu anyways and tell me about it because enthusiasm is contagious and if we’re on the same wavelength, the genre doesn’t really matter. having similar preferences when it comes to the general how and what is more important to me than the genre or world.

requirements / rp preferences.

please read all of this section before messaging me. this is what will determine whether or not our interests—and rules—are compatible, thus saving us both a lot of time and trouble.

age requirement.   i’m in my twenties and i prefer other people in the 20-30 range. my characters are 21–36, sometimes older in ongoing rps where the characters have aged. i rarely write teenagers or ‘young adult’ genre rps ( vld is an exception ).

content.   i like to write mature content— and i don’t just mean smut. i love writing about complex social and political dramas, as well as interpersonal tension. other ‘dark’ content which may not appear in the rp itself, but may be mentioned in respect to my character’s pasts, include: crime, illness, loss, trauma, violence, drug use, and human sexuality. i’m also totally capable of writing action, bdsm, horror, gothic/spooky vibes, and gore—just not excessive/fetishy—but these are optional and can be left out if they’re not your cup of tea.

substance.   far more important than the length of a post, i’m looking for an rp partner who can contribute to the story and help keep the roleplaying moving forward— not someone who puts in the bare minimum and expects their partner to do all the work required to keep the rp interesting. i don’t mind taking point now and then, in fact I volunteer—! but i’m not looking to lead every interaction between our characters, come up with every plot twist, et cetera. i want a partner who wants to work together to create a fun rp. if you’re just looking for someone to write you a story and entertain you for free without any engagement or enthusiasm on your part, please spare me.

style.    my writing is character-driven. the way i like to set up roleplays is to have a basic concept for the story, then introduce characters who have their own agendas. the character should be able to exist on their own—as opposed to the types of characters who exist solely as plot devices, with no solid personality or history, changing from post to post to suit the whims of the writer. i’m not looking for someone who will break character just to get a desired result. basically i run my rps like a dungeons and dragons campaign. most of what i write is plot-driven scenarios meant to test the characters and their relationship(s) through a series of challenges and emotionally charged situations.

shipping.   romance isn’t necessary—our characters can be close platonic friends, rivals with a complicated relationship, or whatever else. but i do love romance and have a strong preference for it. i’m a queer man and i like to write mlm. my characters are all queer, whether they’re gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, or something else. plus i love transgender, genderqueer, agender, genderfluid and nonbinary characters. and that’s that on that. i’m also down for the occasional non-heteronormative mxf. give me two flaming bisexuals disgusted at being perceived as ye old straight couple in public. i love that shit. but tbh i lean more towards mlm these days just because i already have plenty of good mxf romance in my life from media and i’m over here craving the kinda wholesome mlm content that doesn’t exist outside of fanfic and rps.

samples.   if you want better idea of how i write, and whether we’ll be a good fit, pm me and i’ll gladly send you some shit.

basic rules.   be chill, patient and respectful. my schedule is unpredictable. i’m pretty easy to catch for casual chats about the rp, but replies may only happen a couple times a week, with the occasional off-week when things are busy. on the other hand, there are occasionally days where i have time to do multiple replies—! it depends.

huzzah.   if you’ve made it this far and you’re still interested, that’s awesome! i swear i’m not a mean or super-serious person, even though it may sound that way. i’ve just been doing this for a long time and i know what i like. if you happen to like the same stuff, we’ll have tons of fun writing together—! if not, don’t worry, friend: there’s plenty of fish in the proverbial sea of roleplayers.

contact.  email me at baaaphomet[at]gmail.com or message me @baaaphomet [tumblr main]. as a fun ice breaker, tell me your fav 3 fictional stories ( books, movies, animated series, whatever they are ). this isn't a password though, it's just a question i ask all new rp buddies. ttys y'all.