#aziza barnes

[bookswgreen]

the blind pig - aziza barnes

I think this book has changed me. I would not call this an easy read, in fact, it's far from it. This book touches on a lot of hard topics like sex, race, and gender, but it has resonated with me. It's darkly beautiful but has been possibly one of the best things I've ever read related to how I experience my gender and the world occasionally, albeit with very different experiences.

So, would I recommend this? Yes.

5/5 ⭐️

"you're not alone in this. I can't stay human all the time too."

barnes' book captures a lot within it. I was recommended this book at a conference by some workers from Not A Cult after saying I liked work by Savannah Brown and Rhiannon McGavin. They gave me a couple others, but this was the book I knew I needed to jump into right away.

To put it simply, this book is...odd. I would call it hybrid, in the formatting of it. There are pages written in prose, others more resembling poetry, large chunks written in second person as well as writing dialogue more often in a classic script format instead of the traditional dialogue often seen in novels.

The writing is also very abstract but in a cool and fantastical way. Its grammar descriptions break from conventional, "standard" to AAVE and word salad in something that feels like exactly what a breakdown feels like. There are long metaphors that comeback similar to how a comedian might circle back on a joke from the begining of the show towards the end. It makes the reading pay off and the story of finding yourself in the world hit so much harder.

The story does go into some more graphic descriptions of abuse, racism, and sex, something to be aware of, but I think if you're in a place and position to be able to read it, you absolutely should.

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Thinking a lot about the Meritocrats as gods. Not uncorrupt gods. But gods almost as much as Poseidon or Artemis or Afrodite, in a lot of senses maybe even more because even the followers of the gods begrudngly follow the dragons.

This are mythical creatures of enourmous power that built the Meritocratic Lands as they wanted and proceeded to lie to their people about the rest of the world just enough to convince them that this was how the world was/should be (basically creating a narrative where they built the word as their image).

Everyone knows that their "democratic" leaders are puppets of the Meritocrats and most people are okay with it because the Meritocrats know what is best for them. And it makes sense because the whole idea of the Meritocrats is that they are "superior beings that are stronger and enligthed and can tell you what is good and what it isn't". Hell, Barnes talks about working as a meritocratic agent in a way that feels very similar to Zolf talking about Poseidon. About the sense of purpose, of being sure he was doing good because it was the will of a superior being.

And you can't convince me that Aziza and Wilde kneeling in front of Apophis didn't feel at least a little bit connected to the divine even if it was mostly by fear (on Wilde's case, cause my man had just saw Guivres destroy Paris). And this is another point! Guivres was just allowed to destroy Paris. And she could. I mean who could even try to stop God when he raised Sodom and Gomorrah? Who could stop a fucking dragon?

More on that you can't convince me that Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan didn't felt like a demigod. He spend his whole life knowing that he was different and suddently he discovers he decends from the god-like dragons who rule his word. And he has to have felt special, powerfull. I think part of his pride on being a dragon comes from it. Hamid decends from the gods. But also this is a world where greek heros are real. And Hamid knows that his blood means he is special but he also belives it means he has to use it for good and he heard all the stories about hubris before. That's at least part of the reason he at the same time wants to lead and is terrifield of it. He feels like a greek hero and it means there is a higher chance his life is a tragedy ready to happen so he'll keep doing good and he'll make the best of it, help everyone he can and live the best life he can because greek heros usually don't live long, specially when he intends to stay as a hero.

[horsesarecreatures]

“Jacob McGavock Dickinson started his Arabian horse farm when he purchased his ancestral home, Travelers Rest, in 1929. He named the farm after the property and continued to use the name when he bought a second location on Del Rio Pike in Franklin, TN. He operated the farm at both locations until the mid-1940s when he sold both Tennessee locations. Dickinson’s Travelers Rest Arabian Horses were popular in the United States, Poland, and England. He even was the first to import an Arabian horse from Brazil. Dickinson owned several notable Arabian horses, including Antez, Nsar, Czubuthan, Bazleyd, Jedran, Gulastra, Arie, Aziza, and Hallany Mistanny. J.M Dickinson kept the name when he moved to Santa Barbara, CA, and started the T.R. Ranch in 1947. When Dickinson moved to California, his farm was considered the second largest stud behind the W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch. 

Travelers Rest Arabian Horse farm returned to Tennessee when his daughter, Peggy Dickinson Flemming, opened an Arabian farm on her 300-acre farm in Columbia, TN. She continued the Travelers Rest bloodline through her breeding program. She would focus her career on dressage and running the Travelers Rest Riding Camp through the 1970s.

Image 1: Photo of the backside of Travellers Rest. In the Foreground is a Saddlebred mare and foal, Lizzie McDonald and Berwick Lass, and Mickey Mouse, the Shetland pony, in the background. Taken in May 1931. Travellers Rest Collection, Dickinson Era

Image 2: Photo of the barn and horses at the Franklin farm on Del Rio Pike. Travellers Rest Collection, Dickinson Era

Image 3: Sandy Hughes, head trainer with Bataan in California. Travellers Rest Collection, Dickinson EraImage 

4: Peggy Fleming practicing the levade, a part of the  Airs above ground move, a series of classical dressage movements. Travellers Rest Collection, Dickinson Era” -  Historic Travellers Rest

[vampyreblogger]

RQG SEXYPERSON COMPETITION MASTERPOST

Each round will last a week.

ROUND ONE

POLL A:

ada lovelace VS albert einstein VS amelia earheart VS amelie rose VS apophis VS ashen VS atsuanuub VS augusta leigh VS aziza hawaa al-tahan VS azu

WINNER: azu

POLL B:

barret racket VS bertus VS sir bertrand "bertie" macguffingham VS bi ming gusset VS bolla smok VS brock VS bronc VS celquinthion sidebottom VS charles babbagge VS chinua

WINNER: celquinthion sidebottom

POLL C:

cicero VS draal VS driak VS edward keystone VS eldarion VS elijah wormwood VS emeka VS eren fairhands VS eva van djik VS feryn smith

WINNER: edward keystone

POLL D:

figgis VS francois henri VS franz kafka VS friedrich (airship) VS friedrich (cult of apollo) VS gideon marsten-langdon VS gragg coulson VS grizzop drik acht amsterdam VS guivres VS hamid saleh haroun al-tahan

WINNER: grizzop drik acht amsterdam

POLL E:

harrison campbell VS hawaa layla halima VS hirald smith VS howard carter VS isaac newton VS jacques piaget VS james barnes VS jasper VS jean-luc bolieau VS jeremy

WINNER: james barnes

POLL F:

khantu VS kiko VS kondha VS la gourmande VS lady starling VS liliana beekos VS little VS maximus VS lord byron VS marie curie VS meerk

WINNER: kiko

POLL G:

mr ceiling VS natun VS nikola tesla VS oscar wilde VS paulette loup VS rakefine VS richard haringay VS sagax VS saira hawaa layla al-tahan VS saleh amoun al-tahan

WINNER: oscar wilde

POLL H:

saleh ibrahim al-tahan VS sasha racket VS sassraa VS selene souchet VS shoshva VS siggif VS skraark VS sohra VS sumutnyerl VS tadyka

WINNER: sasha racket

POLL I:

thomas edison VS vesseek VS vivianne messier VS yoshida shoin VS zolf smith

WINNER: zolf smith

ROUND TWO

POLL A:

azu VS celquinthion sidebottom VS edward keystone

WINNER: celquinthion sidebottom

POLL B:

grizzop drik acht amsterdam VS james barnes VS kiko

WINNER: james barnes

POLL C:

oscar wilde VS sasha racket VS zolf smith

WINNER: oscar wilde

ROUND THREE

celquinthion sidebottom VS james barnes VS oscar wilde

WINNER: oscar wilde

[lazyreinelle]

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms writer Aziza Barnes dies at 32

Excuse me but wtf-

This is so tragic.

[leafatlas]

'A Knight of Seven Kingdoms' Writer Was 32

Enter and Win With Amazon Aziza BarnesTV writers known for their work on It’s snowing and Teenage Bounty Hunterhas died. They are 32. Known to loved ones as Z, Barnes died by suicide on December 15, their family confirms via a rep. No other details were immediately made available. “It is with heavy hearts that we sadly inform you of the death of an undeniable and beloved artist, child,…

[whimsicaldragonette]

Blog Tour and Arc Review: The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan

Welcome to my stop on the Buried and the Bound book tour with Colored Pages Blog Tours. (This blog tour is also posted on my Wordpress book blog Whimsical Dragonette.)

Tour Schedule

Book Info:

TITLE: The Buried and the Bound AUTHOR: Rochelle HassanPUBLISHER: Roaring Press Books RELEASE DATE: January 24, 2023 GENRES: YA Fantasy PAGES: 384 REPRESENTATION: BIPOC, Queer

Click "read more" for buy links, synopsis, author info, my review, and favorite quotes.

Goodreads

Blackwells

Amazon

Book Depository

Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

As the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts—an uncommonly magical place—Aziza El-Amin has bargained with wood nymphs, rescued palm-sized fairies from house cats, banished flesh-eating shadows from the local park. But when a dark entity awakens in the forest outside of town, eroding the invisible boundary between the human world and fairyland, run-of-the-mill fae mischief turns into outright aggression, and the danger—to herself and others—becomes too great for her to handle alone.

Leo Merritt is no stranger to magical catastrophes. On his sixteenth birthday, a dormant curse kicked in and ripped away all his memories of his true love. A miserable year has passed since then. He's road-tripped up and down the East Coast looking for a way to get his memories back and hit one dead end after another. He doesn't even know his true love's name, but he feels the absence in his life, and it's haunting.

Desperate for answers, he makes a pact with Aziza: he’ll provide much-needed backup on her nightly patrols, and in exchange, she’ll help him break the curse.

When the creature in the woods sets its sights on them, their survival depends on the aid of a mysterious young necromancer they’re not certain they can trust. But they’ll have to work together to eradicate the new threat and take back their hometown… even if it forces them to uncover deeply buried secrets and make devastating sacrifices.

Author Bio:

Rochelle Hassan grew up reading about dragons, quests, and unlikely heroes; now she writes about them, too. She is the author of the middle-grade novel The Prince of Nowhere and young adult fantasy novel, The Buried and the Bound. She lives in New York

Goodreads

Website

Instagram

My Rating: ★★★★★

My Review:

This was phenomenal! It was just the right amount of dark for me - full of creeping dread and a constant level of darkness that you don't usually find in fantasy books. Like a Sabriel level of darkness. There were plot twists upon plot twists, and always revealed at the exact right time to make an impact and change the direction of the plot. And while the groundwork was carefully laid, several of them took me by surprise.

I never felt like the plot was forced into the 'standard' YA formula. I was dreading a typical love triangle and am so relieved that this is not that at all. In fact I love this, the bonds between each of the characters, the secrets and the trust. I have become used to checking the percentage on my kindle as a way to gauge what will happen next - but that didn't work here. The story shifted and changed and breathlessly barreled towards the end without ever letting up or falling into the standard back and forth I am used to. I loved it and I couldn't tear myself away.

I LOVED the characters. Aziza is practical and competent and I loved seeing her grow as a hedgewitch. Leo was warm and caring and it hurt to see the effects of the curse on him. Tristan was desperate and in a lot of pain and I really felt for him. I loved how their lives slowly twined together as the story progressed, and how three seeming strangers became inseperable and bound together. I can't wait to see where the next installment takes them.

I love how the story explored the boundaries and margins of things. The way Leo fought constantly against the edges of his curse. The practicalities and difficulties of Tristan being homeless. The way Aziza spent her time protecting the boundary between Blackthorn and Elfhame. The way the hag pushed up against both of those and was neither. The boundaries between love and friendship and trust and curses and lies.

The darkness was all-encompassing and weighed on everything, but there was just enough light to counter it that it never felt too oppressive or too much.

The writing was gorgeous. It was absolutely perfect for the story, and there were phrases that really stood out to me and stuck with me because of how beautiful they were. Darkly beautiful, but beautiful all the same.

I am SO glad it's going to have a sequel(s) because I don't want to leave this world or these characters and there is so much more to be discovered.

I would recommend this to people who enjoyed Garth Nix's Old Kingdom books (Sabriel), Libba Bray's Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy, Holly Black's Cruel Prince trilogy and Darkest Part of the Forest, Margaret Rogerson's Vespertine, Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series, and maybe also Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series. Stories of magic and darkness and terrifying, creeping evil and traditional fae and characters who are determined and hold just enough light to counter the darkness of their worlds.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Children's and Colored Pages Blog Tours for providing an early copy for review.

Favorite Quotes:

Even on four legs, it was taller than either of them and broader than the two of them combined: a wolf blacker than black, as dark as the space between the end of a dream and the moment of waking.

---

Her roots weren’t there; they were here in Blackthorn, not only because she’d been born here, not only because her parents had chosen it, but because it had chosen her. And Aziza chose it back. That was how you made a place your home: You put work into it. You carved out a role for yourself. You made yourself belong even if you weren’t sure you did.

---

If they could’ve cut him up into pieces and kept only the parts they found acceptable, they would’ve done it in a heartbeat. No, they hadn’t loved him. They hadn’t even liked him.

---

Leo’s car was a bucket of rust held together with duct tape and hope. It whined, it groaned, it sputtered threateningly anytime Leo turned left — but as Leo put what must have been all his weight on the pedal and the car lurched into motion, it was a chariot of the fucking gods.

---

She sounded calm, and she felt it, too, the cool practicality that came of being in a situation that was so completely fucked that your mind tricked itself into not being afraid — like cold that was so cold it burned. Fear that ran so deep it became bravery.

---

Overhead, the forest canopy dropped off suddenly, and the night sky gaped down like an audience, silent and breathless.

---

He knew better than most people that Blackthorn was ugly and dangerous sometimes, and its magic was ugly and dangerous sometimes, but the ugly parts of Blackthorn had a right to exist too.

---

Dawn broke sluggishly, with a first sliver of sun like the horizon cracking open an orange eye.

[jvzebel-x]

the fear of sleep is the fear of losing control.

(i am not afraid of the night: i am afraid of its obligations.)

[bookswgreen]

Goodbye April <3

April has officially ended, meaning my school year is almost over. It's nice, though a little jarring, as I've started packing while also finally getting a schedule that works well for me. I had a good month with some surprisingly good weather for a midwestern region.

I finished two (2!) books this month, which doesn't seem like much, I know, but for someone who hasn't seriously read books of choice in maybe four years, it feels amazing.

I got super lucky for nice enough weather to read outside the other day when I was able to finish Savannah Brown's closer baby closer in almost one sitting, only a couple poems having read before. A couple days prior I finished the blind pig by aziza barnes which I adored and hope to get a post written up about it in more depth soon or when my finals are fully over.

Plants Forever

A couple of my plants have continued to grow, while I also picked up another golden pothos from my school horticulture club which I will be planting with my current golden once I get home to have more soil.

I'm excited to get home as well, where my hardier and less water-needed plants currently are. I've missed having a couple of them nearby. As much as I know I need to take a break from getting plants, I'm still hoping to at least get a string of hearts when I can.

The Fun Things

I got some of the best times this month while I really got close to a few people, one of which is unfortunately graduating. One of them has continuously pointed out things to me and already seemed to pick up that green is absolutely my favorite color (could you tell?) and helped me find things with it.

A couple weeks ago I got a mug from an arts sale on campus which has given me so much joy. It matches a lot of the green shades I have within my room and clothes. This past weekend, my friends and I also went out to an arts store where I picked up some yarn and have started a new project (a granny square blanket!) while also finishing a bandana in one day. We visited a friends baseball game where I took my crochet with me and ended up getting a little visitor.

April has held up it's ends to continue being my favorite months and I hope it was good for you as well!

[lostography]

the blood learns to bend another way like the legs of a crane

- Aziza Barnes, "I Could Ask, But I Think They Use Tweezers"

[chenchenwrites]

Thanks to everyone who’s already shared this. And many thanks to Jesse Lichtenstein for writing so generously about my book in this article for the September issue of The Atlantic. 

Amazing to see my face in this illustration/collage by Eleanor Shakespeare, and along with Aziza Barnes and Layli Long Soldier (also featured in the article). I do feel like “How Poetry Came to Matter Again” is a reductive title—poetry has always mattered! Maybe poetry matters differently now, maybe poetry matters in different ways in different eras or for different generations. 

Titling aside, though, I think this essay offers some insightful readings of work by poets I really admire���yes, some close readings of particular poems! In a mainstream publication! Also incredible for my work to be introduced here in the context of some important ideas from Carl Phillips when it comes to identity and writing. You can read the full article in the print mag or online.

[buttonpoetry]

Down like a shot falling into unearthed light, or something like that, is who I was last night.

Aziza Barnes - “Saturdays at 1:00 AM”

[bostonpoetryslam]

my feet hurt. I don't have children so this ache is not noble. it's a loneliness & when I lie down nothing.

Aziza Barnes, from i be but i ain’t

[mooneyedandglowing]

I haven’t been / touched / in a while.

Aziza Barnes, from “down like a shot”