#bren does star wars

[brennacedria]

Lookie what I got!

[callsign-rogueone]

Hey my love, welcome to another rant of a chaotic mind. 😵‍💫❤️

Hear me out. Bren and duchess dancing. That's it. Whether it's at an event, say maybe there's this event at riorson house and there's music playing ( like classical idk ) he's dancing with her. Wedding ofc too. Say duchess is playing her millennial music and she's just idk vibing/dancing to it while holding Brens hand, he's going to give in to his wifey! He's has to right? He's a simp for her. He's gonna twirl her and hold her hand or waist/ lower back. And when she's just vibing to her music he lets her do what she wants. It's just a thought that has been stuck in my head for 2 days.

Also what do u think is bren and duchess song? I love the song love story from indila for them. But what do u think lovely? ♡

love all of the rants, especially about my most favorite couple 🧡

Duchess, being nobility, was definitely taught to do ballroom dancing and all that fancy stuff as a child. so she totally could (and has before) lead Brennan around in a lazy waltz in an empty ballroom in Riorson house or her parents' house, just the two of them swaying and Brennan humming a tune for them to dance to... keeping one hand on her back like you said, maybe he twirls her and pulls her in for a kiss, or dips her to make her laugh and hold on to him tighter... lots of potential there.

which is good practice for rare formal events where it's expected of them. and their wedding, of course. their first dance is just them swaying around and him holding her close and trying not to cry lol. Bren is absolutely going to cry at their wedding because he loves her so much and cannot believe it's happening + all the emotions of his fam not being there + the "official" start of his second life... yeah. I got a request for their proposal / wedding / honeymoon which I'm working on and it's going to be several emotions, fluff, spice, and a few tears lol

and you know he cannot say no to her. if she wants to dance with him, he's getting up out of his chair and following along, even though he's not the best at it / shy -- he just loves seeing her happy, loves holding her and seeing how graceful she is. he'll also stand silently and just watch her dance if she doesn't know he's there, and scare her a little bit every time when she twirls around and realizes he's there and gets all shy and embarrassed. but he just gives her a kiss and says it was cute / reminds her how much he loves seeing her like that.

also, if they're at a fancy party or something her parents are hosting, Brennan is by her side all night. no other man is going to dance with her since Brennan is glaring at any man who gets too close or looks at her the wrong way, especially if most people there don't know she's married to him. possessive baby, hehe.

only Brennan gets to hold you like that. the exception was Liam and Xaden and her dad each dancing with her at her wedding, which is traditional, and he knows that's her family. but nobody else! especially not Drake Cordella.

I do not understand any french at all but that song is really pretty! here's some of the songs that are on my playlist for them (I have playlists for most of the couples that shall remain secret, hehe)

across the stars (love theme from star wars): I like using this one when I'm writing for multiple couples, including them <3

I also like a lot of dramatic Lana Del Rey for them... young and beautiful (especially the orchestra version!!), born to die... dark paradise...

war of hearts by ruelle was on repeat when I was writing the chess game, for the dramatic ambiance. I'm listening it to it again now, going through my playlist for them and I can feel the panic I was trying to convey in duchess when the venin shows up... the lyrics don't really match their story but the vibe does!

for more thematic, obvious reasons, work song by hozier... "no grave can hold by body down, I'll crawl home to her"... generally anything about defying death for love. Brennan is just very Hozier coded in the depth of his love for his partner and his devotion to her,,, yeah. expect an essay about that later lol.

also, would that I by hozier... this one has references to fire, and to the beauty of her hair, and we all know how Bren feels about her hair.

til forever falls apart by ashe. I have a one-shot planned for this song but not for them, though I think it still applies -- they're endgame, until death and beyond.

I'm thinking about doing a little "disney love songs" type thing with little fics for a handful of the gfs / wives, and theirs would be kiss the girl from the little mermaid, with Ban and Marbh meddling and encouraging them to just kiss already!! since I still haven't given you how exactly they got together...

another song I have saved for a future chapter of theirs is are you with me by nilu. that will be the title for their next full chapter toward the end of iron flame / battle of basgiath... there's gonna be some angst there for sure, but "happy ending" (or as happy as the end of iron flame can be... both of them survive and the argument they have is resolved.)

[symbioteburnout]

Thoughts on Extreme Carnage

Now that I’ve had a chance to ‘digest’ the events of Extreme Carnage, I think I’m ready to give my opinion on the event as a whole.

The Good

We finally get that long awaited reunion with Andi and Flash, and it was easily the best part of this event. Along with the creation of Silence. Personally, I still prefer Mania as Andi’s go-to symbiote, and I wasn’t too fussy on her being Scream’s new host, but I think I can get behind Silence.

The issues where Chris Mooneyham is on the art are easily the best drawn in the event, and my preferred artist. I’m kind of wishing he was the only artist on this project instead of changing artists between books.

I liked the team up of Flash Andi and Bren, I love that how this event was clearly made to hype up Venom 2 but instead what we got are more people demanding more books with Flash and his two kids.

The Bad

It’s rushed, there’s no doubt in my mind this event was rushed. You have four writers and several artists working on this book together, it could have, and should have been better written and more planned out. The constant change of writers and artists caused a change in tone between issues where we’d go from dark, to light hearted, back to dark, then dark some more, then a little lighter, then dark again. It honestly reminds me of the problems with the Star Wars sequel trilogy. There was no plan, Marvel just assembled this creative team, told them ‘we need a Carnage event to build hype for the movie’ and then left them to their own devices.

That ending, God that ending was awful. Carnage and Agony get away, Carnage now has an upgrade in the form of Tony Stark’s Extremis Symbiote, Senator Krane is dead but he got what he wanted in the end (anti-alien predjudice is through the roof, people are more afraid than ever), and then there’s the fact that Flash bonded SLEEPER with his war buddy Hank without Hank’s knowledge or consent (I mean, Hank really didn’t do much in this event anyway but the idea that Flash did that to him doesn’t sit right with me).

The WTF

The constant changing of artists between issues causes character appearances to drastically change in each book. It is most noticeable with Andi as she frequently has a different haircuit depending on which artist is drawing her (Mooneyham; short haircut. Sandoval; long hair. Galan; bob. Garcia; short haircut).

Tony Stark experimenting on symbiotes with Extremis tech and treating them like ‘just suits’. Flash does sort of call him out for this, but doesn’t do much beyond that, and of course, all Tony’s experimenting winds up doing is giving Carnage an upgrade.

All in all, this event just kinda ‘happens’, and apart from Andi’s new symbiote and Carnage’s Extremis, not much has really changed. It was kind of just a nothing event.

[fiveisnumber1]

Oh dear Fiveisnumber1, please bless my day with trivia about the H7

These are just some random trivia that I found when looking through my notes. Not all the trivia I have but I hope it’s enough. Also, I didn’t add much about the reader but I have some more stuff if you really like it. Anyway, prepare to have your day blessed anon:

Lucas:

Listens to the Pod Save America Podcast

Plays DND as a Goliath Barbarian named Bekthor the Boulder (NG)

Hates the New England Patriots, but he really hates Tom Brady

Favorite John Mulaney set is the one about Bill Clinton

Has the largest house out of all the friends but hosts the least amount of times

Is a camp counselor in the summers

Thinks light blue Gatorade is the best

Met Dean after accidentally knocking him out when he got hit by a football Lucas threw

Dean:

Plays the drums

Only drives manual cars

Took the Hogwarts house test and then proceeded to brag for three days because he got Gryffindor

Favorite John Mulaney set is the one about going to church and everything becoming switched up

Jams out to Big Time Rush frequently

Plays DND as a Human Rogue named Archer Cardinal (NE)

Blamed himself for the time reader overused her powers and went into a 3-day coma

Owns two cars, Ford Mustang for regular use and a Mazda RX7 for drifting (although the mustang has been drifted in on occasion)

Addison:

Plays DND as a High Elf Cleric named Priestess Alvaerelle (LG)

The first musical she saw on broadway was Hairspray

Favorite John Mulaney set is the "Why buy the cow?”

Not spoiled but if she wants something she typically can convince her dad to let her have it

Has a Sephora membership card

Big fan of the Bachelor/ette, Four Weddings, Say Yes to the Dress, and any other wedding-related/competition shows

Favorite fruit is mango

Allergic to nuts

Kenny:

Has an extensive lego star wars collection

Detailed knowledge of Lego Lore (Star Wars, Bionicle, and Ninjago)

Plays the bass

Is really good at sewing

Plays DND as a Tiefling Necromancer named Rodeo Jack (CN)

He put his highest roll into charisma the charisma stat for his DND character

Favorite John Mulaney set is the “I’m New In Town”

Does not fear death in the slightest

Next door neighbors with Bren

Reader:

Plays DND as an Aasimar Wizard named Andromeda Celestia (CG)

Hates snow because it reminds her of when she arrived alone in 2013

Favorite John Mulaney set is "Street Smarts”

Bren:

Plays the guitar

Typically is the Dungeon Master for DND nights. 

Plays DND as a Half-Elf Warlock named Nicovar Leocyne when not DMing (LN)

Favorite John Mulaney set is the "Law and Order/Ice T”

Really likes Ouran High School Host Club and will watch it with Kenny on the regular

Next door neighbors with Kenny

Has stolen multiple Russian literature books from Viktoria’s house

Has a poetry journal

Viktoria:

Plays DND as a Lightfoot Halfling Bard named Navia Noteswell (TN)

Favorite John Mulaney set is the “Salt and Pepper Diner”

Her mom works for a book publishing house

Calls her younger brother Maxipad when she wants to annoy him

Watches murder mystery/crime documentaries

Her favorite holiday is Christmas because then she has an excuse to blast the nutcracker through the house

Not interested in men, loves women tho

Named her voila Screech because that’s all it did when she started to learn how to play

[jackalgirl]

Quick Note & Glossary - Foreigner

(not the band)

I'd like to explain a little bit* of stuff for friends who are not familiar with C.J. Cherryh's s-f series, the one that starts with "Foreigner", if you're all confused about who the hell this Machigi guy I've been posting about lately and what's going on here.

* I'm totally lying. It's a lot.

TL;DR: the series is amazing and I highly recommend it. I will explain why below the cut because <sigh> as always with me, it's long.

Most of the stories take place on the earth of the atevi.

The atevi (singular: ateva) are the indigenous inhabitants of a planet in a star system Somewhere Out There. Hundreds of years ago, a human colony ship on its way to establish a colony in a known place got lost when something unexpected happened during travel through folded space. Eventually**, it ended up in the system of the atevi sun.

** Important other things happen that play into the politics of what the humans do next, and also later, in the series.

The humans realize that the only inhabitable planet in the system is already inhabited. The people there have reached their equivalent of the Steam Age. There is much argument as to what to do about this.

Ultimately***, a group of humans ends up on the planet.

*** I'm glossing over it, but it's important for Many Reasons.

At first, everything is great. The atevi (generally at least a head taller than your average human, with black skin and pointed ears, and golden eyes that, yes, pick up and amplify the light in low-light conditions and glow, like cats' eyes) and the humans appear to be getting along swimmingly. But it turns out that they are dangerously misreading each other, each assuming the other is wired like they are. They aren't. At their most fundamental levels, where it really counts, they are completely alien from one another, and while the humans have been handing over advanced technology to atevi under the mistaken impression that they are "friends", what they've actually been doing is destabilizing the atevi political and cultural landscape.

So the atevi go to war, during which they almost completely wipe the human settlement off the face of the earth.

Because those innate, wired-in, instinctive differences are so critically important, and because all of the languages of the atevi are really really really difficult (but the court language of the main political power in particular), an agreement is made between the atevi and humans: humans get their own enclave on a large island, and they'll stay there. There will be one, and only one, human who will be allowed by law to speak to the atevi (any atevi) in Ragi (the aforementioned language), and that is the paidhi -- the translator. This person will advise both the atevi and human governments and will be able (via veto power) to control the transfer of technology from humans to atevi in order to ensure that the rate is slow enough to allow atevi culture and politics to adapt to it while remaining stable.

The whole series is mostly from the point of view of Bren Cameron, who is the current paidhi, and deals with all of the things he has to deal with. I love him, because he is linguist and a diplomat, so when he gets into trouble, he armors and arms himself in words. He is not atevi, and that's what makes him useful to atevi -- he can see beyond their innate wiring and find angles and compromises that they might not have sussed out themselves (although, on the other hand, sometimes his own human wiring gets him into trouble too).

Some terms from Ragi (the lingua franca****, of the atevi)

**** Shut up, Max

aiji - ruler. Plural: aijiin. A gender-neutral term for the person in charge of an association (see below).

ateva - member of the sentient species of the world. Plural: atevi.

aishid - a close group of associates. Typically a lord will have four (4) bodyguards, who with the lord form the complete aishid unit of five (5).

ashidi'tat - association. An alliance of clans and/or sub-associations. On the world of the atevi, the most powerful association is the Western Ashidi'tat, led by Tabini-aiji. This is the atevi government that human government is bound, by law, to deal with (via the paidhi, see below). Machigi is the aiji of the Marid, an association of clans to the south, who for a great part of the series is responsible for a great deal of, shall we say inconvenience, for both Tabini and Bren (and everyone else).

paidhi - translator. Plural: paidhiin (although there's only supposed to be one. But as one would imagine, it does get complicated for Reasons as the series progresses). This is the human who, by law, is the single point of contact between human and atevi culture.

man'chi - attachment. Often defined as "loyalty", but that's a human word so it's not right, and it's much, much worse to try to define it as "friendship" (that sort of thing leads to wars). It is, in essence, a flocking instinct: an ateva's instinct to turn towards a leader. Most of the animal life on the world of the atevi experiences man'chi (it's not just the atevi). It is an instinct that all atevi have and feel it towards someone, with the exception of aijiin (who receive the man'chi of others, and it is that receiving of man'chi that binds them to duty) and unattached people who are the ateva equivalent of sociopaths. Because actual neural wiring is involved here, it is not at all a metaphor to say that aijiin are born, not made.

nadi - gender-neutral term of respect for non-nobles, a polite form of address. Plural: nadiin. Usually appended to the name (e.g., "Banichi-nadi").

nandi - gender-neutral term for a noble, an extremely polite form of address for the nobility. Plural: nandiin. Also usually appended to the name, but sometimes proceeds it (e.g., "Nand' Bren" or "Bren-nandi")

-ji - suffix of affection (e.g., "Banichi-ji").

A note on the Ragi language: atevi are hard-wired for math. This is part of what makes the language, especially the language used in court (which is absolutely necessary for diplomacy) so incredibly difficult. There are different pronouns and word-endings for different quantities of what's being talked about -- it's so rampant, in fact, that Bren discovers that he can do rapid mathematics in his head by simply thinking in Ragi. But as such, it is very, very, very rare for a human to ever become fluent, even after a lifetime of study. Bren Cameron is a truly extraordinary person in that he is.

Additionally, a deep deep feature of atevi culture (and this is mostly universal) is an understanding that, essentially, even numbers are unlucky and odd numbers are fortunate. An ateva will be very uncomfortable if presented with two options, for example -- they will be on edge, on a very deep psychological level, until a third option appears. The fact that human culture is often centered around duality is one of the many, many reasons why a paidhi is absolutely necessary.

[xbellaxcarolinax]

Forging A Heart (Ivar the Boneless) 12- Northumbria

Pairings: Ivar x Artemis (OFC)

Word Count: 3545

Warnings: Mentions of blood eagle.

11- Arvid/ The Sacrifice

...

"I did not take you to be the type to get seasick." Artemis says with a smile. She hands Ivar a scrap of cloth when his head emerged from the side of the ship. He spit into the sea the remnants of the bitter sick in his mouth before glaring at her. He snatches the cloth from her hands and wipes at his mouth unbecomingly before tossing it back at her.

"I am not fond of the sea." He mutters bitterly, groaning again as his stomach began to churn unpleasantly. Ivar scooted as far back into the corner he was in, treating the space as a safe haven. 

"The sea is unpredictable, Prince, I think we all fear it." Artemis looks out into the calm Northern Sea, its waves gently rocking the ship like a babe in a cradle. Both Ivar's and Artemis's people were excellent seafarers, it must have bren engraved in their blood, but the fear of open water was still a rational one. 

There were hundreds of ships down towards the horizon, and beyond, and a nervous buzz settled in the lower pits of her stomach. It was finally happening, all this talk of vengence and war, it all felt like stories one told a child at night.

The ship beside their own had her heart feeling heavy. Arvid's blue eyes were locked with hers as he grabbed an oar to help steer the ship. His wife was not far from him, watching the waves push and pull. She was a pretty thing, with yellow hair and blue eyes, exactly what every man here wanted. Her name was Alfhild, daughter of a well off farmer in Kattegat. 

A small wedding was arranged. It was a simplistic wedding, and they were married right before they departed to England. For such simplicity, Arvid seemed to be the star of the event. His dark hair was neatly combed with intricate braids styled down the front, and he wore his very best clothes. 

Arvid was a good man, if he could treat a slave with respect, then he would no doubt treat Alfhild in the proper way.

"Does it upset you?" Ivar interrupts her thoughts, gazing at her through his lashes.

"Hmm?" Artemis turns to him, her eyes swirling with mixed emotions. She began to fiddle with her leather padded vest, hearing Ivar suck his teeth at her feigning confusion. 

"Are you upset that he is now married?" He reworded his question, lifting the hood of his cloak to shield his face, "His wife is pretty." He says as an afterthought, resting his head on his hand. The nausea was coming back.

"He deserves happiness and a suitable companion." 

"I asked you how you feel about it, Artemis." Ivar lightly scolds her, adjusting his lifeless legs. He waits for an answer as he watches his older brothers bombard the front of the ship, no doubt feeling as if they could conquer the world. Perhaps one day they will.

"It does not matter what I feel. A slave does not have that luxury." She handed over the cloth again when he suddenly lurched over the side of the boat again. Groaning, Ivar sits back properly, snatching the cloth from her.

"You are not wrong," He says in agreement after a moment, "But you are no ordinary slave. You are Ivar the Boneless's slave. You are not average. You may think yourself downtroddened, but the gods have blessed you. This is where you belong." Artemis says nothing, though her eyes said it all. 

What was that? Where did that come from? 

Ivar stares back, unmoving, his eyes solely on her. His brown hair, growing longer by the day, blew in the salty breeze, and although his cheeks were reddened by the constant vomiting, it did nothing to tarnish his pleasant features. He looked more a man by the day.

"Do not look at me like that." He says finally, breaking their gaze in favor of looking out towards the sea.

"Like what?" Her lips began to curl into a grin, and she leans back against the wooden rail with her arms crossed. 

"Like that," Ivar grumbles, waving his hand around to make a point, "With those eyes." He wrapped himself tighter in his cloak as if to hide. Artemis continued to smile, focusing her gaze on her wool trousers now that she felt a sudden shyness engulf her.

"You should tell me another story," She tells him, "Perhaps the one of Odin's eye?" Ivar hums, bringing his eyes back to hers.

"Very well, but after, you must take your turn at the oars." Artemis nods, casting one last look at Arvid before focusing all her attention on the crippled prince beside her.

"As you wish, Prince Ivar."

...

Spring was at its zenith when they finally arrived.

They landed on their sandy beaches, in a place they called Northumbria. The sun wasn't always visable as the clouds dominated the sky for most of the day, just as it does in Kattegat. It was a rainy country, with constant passing showers. The air was a bit humid and sticky, not a pleasant feeling after traveling such distance. 

The Ragnarsons made their plans, attack and kill King Alle of Northumbria, and continue into Wessex. Ivar mounted his chariot as soon as they boarded off their ships, and they made camp in a field near by before regrouping into the fierce Heathen Army that struck fear into the hearts of men all throughout Europe. 

Hundreds of tents were set up, surely appearing as a maze from high above. It was a war camp, the first that Artemis had ever seen, and it was truly an intimidating sight. It was over crowded and noisy, and if it weren't for the ships being spotted by the kings men, the wild chatter would have given them away. She sees Arvid again, setting up his makeshift home and forge, as his new bride went to gather wood.

"How fairs the marriage?" She approaches him. Having enough of his struggling, she grabs the tarp on one end as he grabs the other, stretching it over the wooden stakes that he had previously imbedded into the earth. She wasn't much help, her stature did nothing to aid him, but he looked over his shoulder at her with a beaming smile, and the glow reached his eyes.

"I've missed you." He replies sheepishly, turning to face her fully while rubbing the back of his neck, "The marriage was arranged, as you know, but Alfhild is kind." A man steering a cart arrives with all their forging instruments placed in the back. 

"I'm glad the union has been in your favor. You will grow to love each other, in time." She says, reaching for the tools that were rolled into a thick cloth. Arvid placed his larger hand atop her smaller one, grabbing her attention instantly. 

"I do not love her." His tone was the most serious she's ever heard it, his eyes boring deeply into her own. Artemis gulped, nervously shifting under is gaze.

"Arvid?" She says his name hesitantly, removing her hand from under his.

"I do not love her." He repeated with finality in his tone, letting his arm drop to his side. Alfhild approachs with an arm full of wood. She had not witnessed their encounter, and she smiles at both her husband and Artemis.

"Artemis, it is nice to finally see you after such a long journey." She says, going over to Arvid to place a kiss upon his cheek. Artemis fought to give her a smile while watching the exchange, placing her hands behind her back in her awkwardness.

"Likewise, Alfhild. Would you like some help with the wood?"

"Nonsense," She replies, "You are not ours to command. You worry about the tasks that are expected of you." And with that she heads into the empty tent.

Artemis groans, dropping her face into her hands.

"Arvid, she is much too kind. If you cannot love her, than at least try to like her." She begs through her hands, her muffled voice causing Arvid to smile.

"If I am to see you every day, then that will be a challenge, but I will try my best, if you wish it so." Artemis peeks at him through her fingers, and he could still see through the slits how piercing those eyes were.

"You promise?" 

Arvid rolls his eyes but continues to smile at her, draping his arm over her shoulder in the most friendliest of hugs he could give.

"Yes, yes, I promise." She returns the smile gratefully. 

He drops his arm from her as soon as Ivar's chariot came to an abrupt halt in front of the cart, his reckless riding causing Alfhild to come out from the tent in curiosity.

Ivar glares at Arvid, moving his blue eyes to his slave. Artemis gazes at him curiously.

"Set up the forge with only what you need before nightfall. There is work to be done before we attack tomorrow, understood?" Artemis lowers her head.

"As you wish, Prince Ivar." Ivar scoffs at her before nodding his head in aknowlegement towards Arvid and his wife.

"May the gods grant you a happy marriage." Ivar's demeanor changes suddenly as he smiles, baring his wolf-ish teeth. 

"Thank you, Ivar." Alfhild replies when her husband remained silent. Ivar grunts, slamming the reigns harshly on the mare's back, the chariot disappearing into the mess of tents. Arvid grumbles, turning to look at his wife who joined the rest of the women in creating a fire in the middle of the surrounding tents.

"He reeks of jealousy. " Arvid grunts, grabbing a crate filled with supplies. Artemis joins him, placing the cloth covered tools atop a smaller crate that would be easier for her to carry.

"I suppose you were right." She follows behind Arvid, almost crashing into him when he turns to face her with a hardness in his eyes.

"Yes, and you seem to enjoy it, do you not?" Without another glance, he makes his way into the tent, leaving Artemis to ponder his words.

And she came to the conclusion that Arvid was correct.

...

King Alle was easily defeated. His army was no match against the larger one of the heathens. 

The battle lasted no more than an hour, and Artemis waited patiently in Ivar's tent for his return. She had no doubt he would return. 

"Artemis!" She hears Ivar's familiar voice call for her, and when she exited the tent, her hands flew to her lips in shock. 

He sat in his chariot smirking, with a naked man attached to the backend of the chariot from his feet. The man was filthy from head to toe, squirming as his hands were also bounded behind his back. He had the appearance of a fish out of water, or a worm tunneling out from deep in the earth. It looked humiliating.

"I present to you the King of Northumbria." He announces proudly, looking back towards the fat man who groaned for mercy over the dirty cloth that had been tied over his mouth.

"The king?" Artemis whispers, eyes raking over his bloody form. A Christian king brought down to nothing. It was a sad sight.

"He is to be blood eagaled," Hvitserk appears with the rest of the brothers, dropping an arm over her shoulder. Something about the term did not sit well with her, but she decided to ask anyway.

"What is a blood eagle?" 

"Something you would not bare to witness." Bjorn answers, lowering himself to one knee before the king.

"You are going to die now," The Saxon words escape Bjorn's mouth easily, though Artemis didn't understand a word of it. 

The king began to cry, large droplets of tears running down his dirty cheeks. He pleaded in his language once Bjorn removed the cloth from his mouth, babbling something about gold and silver, perhaps trying to bribe them for mercy, but this king did not know who he was dealing with.

"You've never been around such things, have you?" Sigurd slowly approaches Artemis, whispering in her ear while Ivar watches the fallen king.

"No." She replies, her eyes following both Hvitserk and Ubbe as they crowded around the naked king to humiliate him further. 

"He tortured our father and threw him into a pit of snakes until he died," Sigurd says darkly, "He is to receive the highest punishment that can be given." He crosses his arms, looking down at her.

"The blood eagle is not for the faint of heart." 

Sigurd was right.

There weren't many witnesses as the rest of the army stayed behind to protect the camp. Floki was there, smiling menacingly while watching as the king was placed over a tree stump. Helga and Tanaruz stayed behind at the camp as it was no place for a child. 

"Be brave, baby bird." Ivar says to her, and she watches after him as abandoned his chariot for crawling on the moist ground, settling himself directly in front of the crying king for the best view.

And so it began.

Bjorn did not hesitate to carve into the kings back, plunging the knife deep into his skin and dragging in down. The King cried out and Artemis's heart began to race wildly, watching the blood ooze from the large wound. 

Again, Bjorn plunged the knife parallel to the wound, carving down his back easily. The thick blood covered Bjorn's hands and dripped down towards the forest floor like a river. Once she heard the ominous sound of bones cracking, and how easily Bjorn pulled out the kings lungs to rest atop his shoulders, she immediately felt the bile rise.

She felt lightheaded, turning round and falling to her knees, heaving up the contents of her stomach with eyes tightly closely. She could recognize the thick liquid seeping into the leaves and onto her fingers.

With a shaky breath she lifts her trembling hand, her palms and fingertips coated in King Alle's sticky blood. She could smell the iron instantly, lowering her head again to release the remaining food she had in her stomach.

She pants, sweat clinging her hair onto her brow, feeling her rapidly beating heart would leap out of her. She blinks the tears from her eyes before crawling away from her sick and the blood.

...

Blood.

Bones.

Lungs.

Artemis shot up quickly, her head spinning from her sudden movements. Her heart pounded in her ears and her breathing was laborious, choking on the oxygen she struggled to inhale. Pushing her hair away from her face, she takes a ragged breath, willing herself to be calm.

"Finally wake."

She whips her head at the sound of his voice, meeting the familiar eyes of her crippled master. He sat up, leaning against the wooden frame of his makeshift bed. In his hands was an elaborate golden crown, shinning jewels embedded within.

"Veikr." Ivar says to her, using that same word, though there was no hostility in his tone. Instead he chuckles, shaking his head as he brings his fingers to the pointed edges of the crown.

"I thought I told you to be brave," There was light teasing in his words, though it was apparent that he meant them, "You failed."

"Forgive me." Artemis mumbles, scouting her surrounds. Ivar's small tent was illuminated by the very few candles Artemis had arranged herself at his bedside, giving the small space a strangely cozy atmosphere.

The bed was soft, layered in the furs she had choosen specifically for him. She grips the soft hairs under her palms tightly, a rising panic surfacing as her mind raced with scenes from eariler. She sniffles, swallowing thickly when she felt her throat tightening.

"Hush." Ivar tells her, almost commands her, though somehow his voice was the most soothing it's ever been. The hot tears began to blur her vision, spilling past her lashes and down her cheeks. She felt her throat tighten as she fought to keep in her whimpers.

"Artemis," He calls out to her, and she when turns again to look at him, he raises a brow, "Stop your crying. Sit beside me." She sniffles again, her tears not masking her bewilderment. She waited for him to laugh and tell her to get out.

"You look foolish," He says instead, "I said stop your crying and sit beside me. You sound like a whimpering babe without it's mother. Come on." He beckons her with his hand, satisfied when she finally scoots back to sit up against the wooden frame as he did.

"Here," Ivar hands her the crown, watching her grasp it with trembling fingers, "It is Alle's crown." The distraction calms her for a moment, her curious eyes raking over the gold. She was holding the crown of a dead man.

"Saxon work is impressive, but I think you can do better. What do you think?" Artemis licks her dry lips, her finger leaving a print of the smooth edge of a ruby. 

"You want me to make a crown?" She says to him with watery eyes.

"Mm, perhaps," He shrugs, fiddling with the edges of the fleece blanket he was under, "I might need one in the future." She remains quiet after that, hearing the crackle of the fire and the murmuring of the men outside the tent.

"Prince Ivar?"

"Yes?"

"What happened?" Ivar chuckles, snatching the crown back and placing it under the bed before crossing his toned arms over his bare chest.

Oh. 

Had his chest been bare the entire time?

"You fainted," He smirks, "Like the little baby bird that you are." She frowns, ripping her eyes away from his glistening skin and onto her hands. 

"I've not seen such cruelty before." She says quietly, remembering the king's screams vividly.

"Cruelty?" Ivar scoffs, "He deserved his fate and more." 

"He was a Christian king." She responds.

"He was a worthless Saxon." He spits, yanking at the collar of her shirt to pull her torward him. She yelps, their eyes clashing as he brings their faces so close, the tip of their noses almost brushed.

"Who are you to pass judgement, hm? Are you a god?" Artemis hurriedly shakes her, not wanting to ignite his anger further.

"Well?" Ivar insists.

"No." She finally squeaks, and he releases his grip on her, only somewhat satisfied. He pauses, an angered breath passing his lips.

"When I first came to England with my father," He begins, "I did not know it would be the last time I would see him." He wasn't looking at her, but she could see how his eyes glossed over, his blue irises appearing red from the candle beside him.

Artemis listens intently, picking up the sadness in his tone even though he tried to hide it. She fiddles with her fingers, feeling an awkward and tense air around them.

"He surrendered to them. Do you know what he told me as his final request?" 

"No." He turns to face her again, slinking forward on his toned arms to get a good look at her.

"He told me to avenge him. To lead an army into England and enact revenge." Ivar was so close to her again, just a breath away as they stared each other down in the dying candle light.

"Alle tortured him, threw him into a pit of venomous snakes and watched him die. I'm certain you have heard the story," He spits, his lashes fluttering as he fought to control his emotions, "And you think us cruel? What do you know of having a father murdered unjustly?" 

The question sounded rhetorical, but his eyes were begging for an answer. Artemis says nothing at first, looking away from his intense gaze, pushing a lock of matted hair behind her ear. She sighs, biting her lower lip before facing him again, her features hardening.

"What do you know of being stolen away from a father?" She counters back, watching him jerk away from her as if burned. Ivar frowns, her words taking some sort of affect on him. He clenches his jaw, the rolling of the muscle poking through the skin of his angular face.

"Sleep," He commands suddenly, moving forward to push her down enough to lay back against the furs. Her confusion was evident, but he ignores it, resting against his pillows and placing an arm behind his head. 

She had her own cot in the slave tent. Which she should be in. Not with Ivar.

"Prince-"

"It is late," He cuts her off, "You are unwell. I'm trying to keep you safe like I said I would." 

"Yes, but-"

"You want to venture out in the darkness? The men will not be kind. Go on if that is what you wish." 

Well, she supposed he was right.

Ivar chuckles to himself when she curls up into herself, her hand gripping the furs. He reclines further under the blanket, turning his back to her and scooting to leave as much space between them as possible.

"Go to sleep," He grunts, "You will return to your own tent and duties come daybreak." And with that he blew out the candles beside him, and the entire tent descended into darkness.

... 

Veikr- Weak

...

@heavenly1927 @didiintheblog @rastakami23

@heavenly1927​ @didiintheblog​

[ofbjoe]

Juxtaposition and Derivation (english version)

“Una and Leofric should be asleep now.” Astrid’s hushed voice is barely audible as she comes around the shabby house that saw Bren grow and goes to stand near the road. “No one’s coming.”

“Don’t say their name out loud.”  Eadwulf’s low growl rings behind him. “They’re traitors. They don’t deserve a name.” 

“Are you sure you don’t want to confront them before we end this, Bren?”  she asks. “For closure?” 

“The cart is over there,”  Bren says instead of anything that could be misinterpreted. “Wulf, a hand?” 

“Already on it.” 

They pull the creaking cart out of the shed and bring it to the front of the house to block the only entrance. The two boys step back, panting. At least, Bren is; physical effort never was his strong suit. 

He glances at Eadwulf looking towards his house, towards their last mission for the night. He is rubbing his hands and arms, and Bren is not sure if it’s because of the scars from Master Ikithon’s experiment a few days ago or if he remembers their… first stop of the night. It has been gruesome. 

Bren knows he must do it too, for the good of the Empire, but part of him wants to ask Eadwulf if it was difficult to watch his own flesh and blood die at his own hands. But he decides against it: there’s a trace of confusion and grief and anger in Eadwulf’s eyes, but when he notices Bren staring, it’s gone. 

“You ready?” 

Bren nods. “Yeah.”

His hand is shaking as he makes the flame appear. He closes his eyes, breathes in, breathes out. 

He is quick but methodical. First, the pile of firewood by the east wall. Second, the roof, covered in hay to make it burn quickly. Third, the windows and doors to block the exits.

The smoke starts to billow. Bren steps back, looking at his work. 

A strong hand squeezes his shoulder reassuringly. Another, more delicate, alights on his hip. 

“You made the right choice,”  Astrid says. 

“For the Empire,”  Eadwulf states. 

“For the Empire,”  he echoes. 

The flames are self-feeding now. It’s only a matter of time until—

-----

The roof is bright with flames and he hears more than he sees the first beam yield: the crack is covered by the muted roar of the flames, but the spurt of embers and burning hay it sends flying, rising towards the night sky like thousands and thousands of fireflies, captures his eyes and imagination. 

A vertigo. 

The day has been long helping his father with the crops, and every single muscle hurt, even those he didn’t realize he had. They’re a little short this month, and even though he would very much like to read a book, he knows they have to be frugal with the candles and they can’t read into the night anymore. Which explains Bren’s presence on the front step a few hours after sundown. It’s summer, fireflies’ season. A lazy and lovely and bored evening, looking up at the clear sky splashed with stars.

His mother joins him, sits beside him, and pats her laps. As the almost teenager he is, Bren hesitates, but lies down. She tangles a hand in his hair as they watch the sky in silence.  

“You see that one?”  she says pointing up. 

“The fireflies?” 

“No, silly! Farther away.” 

“The stars?” 

“That’s a planet, that one.” 

“Another place?” 

“Yeah,” she smiles. 

He hums, contemplates the possibilities. 

“And this,”  she adds mischievously, “this is the constellation of the Big Spoon.” 

“Don’t lie to me, mom. I’m too old for this…” 

“ And right next to it is the little spoon!” 

“MOM!” 

“ Not too old for that one, are you?”  she snickers before starting to hum a Zemnian lullaby, her voice, lilting but slightly off-key, drifting him to sleep. He takes her hand, presses a kiss on the back of it and closes his eyes. 

“We should move,” Astrid says. Bren blinks off the vertigo.

There’s shuffling inside the house by now. Panicked barks and yells as his parents realize the situation. Bren frowns. The hand on his shoulder squeezes. A delicate hand slips in his, and tugs. He follows without resistance. 

He looks at the house, at his own quarters upstairs now engulfed in flames. He can picture the door frame where, once a year, his father noted his growth with a small mark and where he himself once tried to do so with an already-adult and annoyed Frumpkin. That door frame must already be crushed by the beam by now. 

 There is a cat at the window, staring at him disapprovingly, calm as ever. 

Bren blinks. The cat is gone. 

Bren blinks a few more times. Was there a cat? He feels like there shouldn’t be a cat in there. He can’t remember why. 

He stops. 

He can’t remember why. 

Him. 

The screams start to pierce through his skull.

“Bren?”

Something in his mind starts to fissure.

-----

“ You asked to see me, Master Ikithon?” 

“Yes, yes I did, Bren. So, how did your little trip to Blumenthal go? Did you see your parents?”

“It went well, Master. They ah… They’re very thankful that I was offered the opportunity to serve the Empire. But ah… they seem worried about me that is.”

“You seem... troubled.”

“Do I?”

“You do. Does your family cause you worry?”

“Well, I miss my family and they miss me in kind. I haven’t been with them for Harvest Close for the third year in a row.”

“Not everyone understands what it means to offer their life for their country. But is that all that bothers you?”

He thinks about telling Trent that he had just learnt about the death of his childhood cat, but decides against it: it is not something worthy of Master Ikithon’s time.

“One night, as they thought I was asleep, I overheard them talking about me. Father thought [REDACTED] and… and Mother, she said she… she [REDACTED].”

“Those sound like very dangerous and very unpatriotic thoughts.”

“And then, they [REDACTED].”

Master Ikithon stays quiet, his gaze so severe and intense Bren had to look down. His jaundiced hands are almost immobile on the table. The silence is almost deafening against his inner turmoil, but Ikithon seems to not even notice the heaviness of the air. Bren has to break it.

“I don’t understand I—They know the Empire is keeping us safe… How could they?”

That… that doesn’t seem like something his parents could think, could say, could do…

“Often, the enemy is closer than we think,” Ikithon says. “Traitors and revolutionaries often live inside the Empire they mooch off like leeches.”

“How could I be so blind? All my life I…”

“It is dreadful news, you must feel quite ashamed.” Ikithon leans over the table towards him, ever so slightly. “What do you plan to do about this?”

Bren feels the anger flare up.

“I will do what it takes to keep the Empire safe.”

Ikithon says nothing, but the beginning of a smirk makes its way to his lips. He leans back, calm as ever. 

“You seem tired. Sleep on it. Bring me Astrid as you get out.”

“Bren?” Astrid says. “ Are you alright?” 

He looks up.

Two silhouettes pounding on the window. 

-----

“A kitten!” 

“I found him hidden in the chicken pen,” his father says. “ His mother doesn’t seem to be around.” 

“Leofric, is it really—” 

“Can we keep him?”  Bren asks.

There’s a smug look on Leofric’s face as he turns to his wife. 

“You always worry Bren will grow up lonely without a brother or a sister. I think we can afford a cat, Una.” 

“Dad, you’re the best!” 

“I love you too, little bear.” 

“They’re inside…”  he mumbles.

“Yeah. That’s the point. Remember?”

-----

The muscles locked in place. 

The high-pitch whistle in the ears, overwhelming everything else. 

The cold, the void, the suffocation.

His parents’ screams. 

It starts as a whimper, a groan. It then bellows into a howl. 

A scream he can feel passing through in his own body.

A scream that will never leave him, that he will always hear when he closes his eyes.

He opens his mouth in a yowl without hearing himself.

“Pull yourself together!”  Eadwulf orders. “ Shit! You’re gonna wake up the whole Zemni Fields!”

“If Master Ikithon learns you got cold feet…” Astrid tries to hush him.

“We can’t let them burn! They’re… I…”

“Bren!”

“Don’t touch me!” 

“Bren! Stay!”

“Mom! Dad!”

“Bren, what are you doing!”

“Wulf, catch him! He’s gonna burn if he gets there!”

“Damn shit!” 

His mother’s very unsubtle ways of asking if anyone from the capital had caught his eye yet. The red of his ears when he tried, and failed, to convince her to drop it.

“Geh mir aus dem Weg, Wulf! Ich muss—!”

His parents laughing and kissing on the front porch after they thought Bren had gone to sleep, leaving their initials in the dust like teenagers.

“Verräter sind Verräter. Werd nicht weich.” 

“Bren, sei vernünftig—” 

“Ich sagte ‘fass mich nicht an! ’” 

The fear of the blade the first time he shaved. The steady hand of his father showing him the ropes. His mother’s peck on his cheek afterward.

“Ahh!”

“Astrid! Das war’s, du gehst nirgendwo hin, Kumpel.” 

A tall and dark shadow framed by reddish light. Fixed dark blue eyes, shining cold against the flames. Almost inhuman.

The fearful smile of his mother when his father managed to scare off a bear threatening to ravage their apple tree. 

Another loud thud. The house ablaze, looming, breathing out a splash of fireflies.

The joyful tear of his stoic father when Bren was accepted at the Soltryce Academy. 

The cracking sound of Wulf’s fists and shoulders.

“ Hide this necklace, don’t tell your mother,” Father says with a giddy smile, handing him a wooden beads and tiny quartz necklace he clearly made himself for her.

Astrid’s hissing behind him. The smell of burnt flesh.

The field and the work, the sweat on his weak back. The apple tart at the end of the day. 

The pounding on the door stops.

Magic tingling at the tip of his fingers. 

“Geh mir aus dem Weg! Ich muss—!” 

“Versuch es erst gar nicht, Bren.”

The world upside down. 

The taste of cold dirt smeared on his face. 

A human warmth and weight on his back. 

Wulf’s scars itching his neck.

The dark and thick smell of rose petals mingling with the smoke.

His eyelids grow heavy.

Nothingness.

Silence. 

The end of his life as he knew it. 

[klcthebookworm]

2020 My Year In Fic

2020 Fiction Word Count:

86691 / 126531 words. 69% done!

Insights To Not Forget:

So I had a beautiful plan that I was going to reset and hit the ground running for 2021. See Year Zero is Reset Year.

Covid-19 was officially found in my state March 9, 2020, and life found unforeseen territory.

March 24th, I had to adjust to working at home. June 1st, back to working in the office and commuting daily. November 30th, we're back on a modified work from home/office plan (day at home, next day commuting in). I haven't gotten sick and I haven't passed on covid-19 to anyone else. For 2020, that is the biggest win anyone can have. 1.83 million people (to date) didn't get that win.

Would I have forgotten about my buckle down and reset plans without a global pandemic distracting me? Quite likely, I tend to forget all my plans every year. In fact, the writing business plan that I made to cover the year (I use it below for all the goals of the year), the printed version is on my filing cabinet and covered with so many other notes, I can't read the plan. (Removed the notes). This is for 2019. I never printed out 2020's?

And you can see by the total words written, I came under what I wanted to write. Let's see what I accomplished this year.

Stories I Posted:

Star Wars: Sororal Lineality: Aftermath: Word count = 3309. The Fic Whining Circle was getting stories ready for May the Fourth. I decided that this story would be perfectly short to get it up and started writing on May 2nd. I didn't get it finished for May the Fourth, but put it up on Revenge of the Fifth. And then it turned out to be the only story I posted in 2020.

Stories I Finished:

Star Wars: Unexpected Consequences: Word count = 126,607 (31,008 written previously + 49,572 written in 2019 + 46,027). The first draft was finished on July 28th, and it took the rest of the year to get my first edits polished to a second draft for my beta to go over. Now I need to go prod her so I can start posting in 2021.

Star Wars: Sororal Lineality: MJ-0002: Word count = 5664 (387 written in 2019 + 5277). I finished this short story as planned after I finished Unexpected Consequences and before I picked up the next novel. I hope to post it after Unexpected Consequences, but I may need to use it for a May the Fourth story.

Stories I Didn't Finish:

Strix: Forget the Sun: Word count = 31,146 (26,588 written previously + 4279 written in 2019 + 279 written in January) I took a very tiny stab at this novel in January and promptly lost it to work on other things.

Star Wars: Looking For Home Future Timeline: Word count = 7598. So at the end of February, I got stuck on giving the Sequel Trilogy Trio better movie(s) and started writing detailed notes on a future story that will probably never been written. I had already put Rey and Poe Dameron in the sketchy future of the Looking For Home so I needed to figure out how to add Finn. I got stuck with the Third Act, and probably need to declare it has to be a trilogy to get the resolutions I want. Maybe I need a Death Star.

Star Wars: Everybody Lives But Maul: Another plot bunny developed during the year. Mara Jade was given to Darth Vader to annoy him so he would eventually murder her, but he bonds with her instead. So Palpatine orchestrates that Lady Vader's path crosses Maul's on Tatooine. Only Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter ruin the planned outcomes, and Mara remains on Tatooine for her safety. I really don't know if it will be a novel or something else yet.

Star Wars: Everybody Lives But Maul: Prologue: Word count = 1385. So far all I have written in this AU is the scene of the adoption of Lady Vader. I don't know where this scene will end up in the finished work.

Star Wars: Rescue the Farmboy: Mission on Mimban: Word count = 22,882 (8093 written in 2019 + 14,789). After writing "MJ-0002," I came back to Mission on Mimban from the beginning. Still working on it.

What I Think About My Stories:

My favorite story this year: Star Wars: Unexpected Consequence. I can't wait to turn this one lose on the readers.

Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Star Wars: Looking For Home: Future Timeline. I really need to spend some more brain time on this one if just to find a conclusion that makes me happy.

Most fun story: Everybody Lives But Maul. I really wasn't expecting to write it accept the idea would not leave the muse alone and then this happened:

KLCtheBookWorm: I really don't know what to do with Vader and Leia... unless he goes into her cell deactivates the IO droid and "Now Princess can we discuss waging war against Palpatine? Because he orchestrated my first family's death, has tried to kill my daughter, and your rebellion has made her flee her safe haven so he will potential see her again. He will not have her or my grandson." Sithspit, why does the muse want to rewrite OT constantly? JediMordsith: lolol Hmmm.... that could be interesting. Or he could go to Bail. "I will give you your daughter back if you help me get mine back." KLCtheBookWorm: YOU GAVE ME MORE PEOPLE TO HELP LIVE! JediMordsith: Bail convinces the rest of the Rebel leaders to work with Vader to take down the Emperor because he knows what a father's love is. KLCtheBookWorm: I always consider Alderaan's destruction a fixed point in time But the conversation between Bail and Mon Mothma. "You wanna do what now?"

Yeah, at that point I will write it.

Stories I wrote that I never thought I'd write: Star Wars: Everybody Lives But Maul. Technically I haven't really started the narrative, but really, Muse, was not expecting yet another rewrite of the OT. This one is the third, after Rescue the Farmboy and Sororal Lineality.

Hardest story to write: Star Wars: Looking For Home Future Timeline. I have never gotten stuck in which I couldn't finish off an outline. And this is so stuck.

Biggest disappointment: Strix: Forget the Sun. I did not even try for NaNo during the pandemic. (Huge props to everyone who did). I'm considering to do NaNo in April instead in 2021 to finish this novel.

Biggest surprise: I only posted ONE THING! I'm not beating myself up for any of the results of 2020 because it was garbage year, but I honestly didn't plan to leave my readers hanging so hard. On the plus side, they will have at least 30 weeks of new content to read in 2021.

What's your favorite piece of dialogue you wrote this year? From Star Wars: Sororal Lineality: Aftermath.

Luke opened his eyes to Leia’s suspicious face. “She was arguing with Threepio. I went the other way.” “So she couldn’t put you back in the medbunk.” Leia bounced to her feet and helped leverage him out of his seat. “You are going right back to it and staying in it until we reach the Fleet, Commander.” “Aye, aye, Colonel,” Luke replied with less than the banter he normally did. He leaned heavily on Leia, more than he should. Lando finished locking down the controls and followed behind them. “Colonel? Not a General?” “Not a General yet,” Luke responded with a wheezy laugh.

It took a while to figure out what Leia's military actual rank is based of costumes and plot actions in Empire Strikes Back. Major Bren Derlin didn't get a yes from Leia because she loves the two men out in the cold, but because she out ranks him.

What's your favorite piece of description or narration you wrote this year? From Star Wars: Soroal Lineality: MJ-0002.

The last one she dared to open was a recording. Her memory replayed on the screen: a child’s best dress colored green as the recorder tilted down, followed by looking back at the sad adults in the shadows of the shuttle’s lights. She heard the woman’s quavering voice, “Please, don’t take my baby.” Then the gnarled hand extended from the sleeve of the black robe and a tiny hand took it, and the recorder turned to the lit hatch at the top of the ramp. Mara's surroundings registered in waves after that. Her glutes were tingling as she shifted from sitting in a collapsed position on the floor. The floor was cold stone. The recording was playing on a loop above her head. She hadn’t fainted because she wasn’t flat on her back. She climbed up to her feet and shut off the playback. Now the title of the file burned into her retinas, Primary Memory Imprint for Murdering Judges Clone Line.

I can't wait to share this story with readers.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would, less, or about what you predicted? Oh I came in under what I had aimed for, only writing to 69% of my goal that I set from what I wrote in 2019. But 2020 was a garbage year so I'm not beating myself up over word count results. As I went through the year though, I noticed that August and September were totally spent on just editing and no new words. That means I need to watch the schedule in 2021.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? I have officially started the write a series of short stories and keep them under 7500 words. I need more practice writing short, which is why I plotted Sororal Lineality this way.

Did you meet last year's goals?

That's a no, and boy, how is it a no. 2021 Goal is to not have Leeloo laugh at me.

The goals from my unprinted 2020 one-page business plan are:

Use Ali Luke's Two Year Novel Plan to finish the Strix series

January - May 2020: Finish Strix: Forget the Sun's first draft = Nope, not done yet.

June - October 2020: Finish Strix: Forget the Sun's second draft = Nope.

Writing Star Wars AU fanfics

Finish Unexpected Consequences' first draft = Done

Start writing Sororal Lineality = Two stories done out of 28

Finish Rescue the Farmboy: Mission on Mimban's first draft = Nope, but I am currently writing it.

Send Unexpected Consequences to beta reader = Done

Send Sororal Lineality stories to beta reader = Done

Edit Unexpected Consequences = In Progress

Edit Sororal Lineality stories = Done

Post regularly to Intentionally Left Blank, Dreamwidth, Discipline Under Fire, Tumblr Random Thoughts, Pillowfort = Do once a week on Saturdays = I haven't been doing this at all. Tumblr posts happen when I'm home but usually reposting and not anything I have written.

BookWorm's Library website maintenance = Work on once a week on Sundays = Really need to do this

Make sure the software is up to date once a month

Add any files that need adding

Add Media Center to BookWorm's Library = Work on once a week on Sundays = Hasn't happened yet

Create section

Make artwork

Code section

Upload files

Add more fanfics to AO3

Upload Zackverse in story order = Nope, not yet

Upload Star Wars: Unexpected Consequences when edited on Ao3 = In Progress

Upload Sororal Lineality stories when edited = In Progress

Upload Rescue the Farmboy: Liberation to FF.net and the Library when finished = Oops, forgot about this

Upload Rescue the Farmboy: One More Service to FF.net and the Library when finished = Oops, forgot about this

Post Star Wars: Unexpected Consequences to FF.net = In Progress

Post Star Wars: Unexpected Consequences to Library = In Progress

My daily writing plans to help the above list of goals get done:

Write 600 daily words. Can be split among the projects. I'm making the yearly goal to reach whatever number I actually reach on December 31st.

Write and edit every day.

Schedule website updates and fanmix work on the weekends.

Work in meditation time with Brain FM.

Use my Kanban Flow checklist consistently.

Don't let chores pile up now that you have two jobs plus writing to do.

Reward myself when goals are reached throughout my Reset Year.

Do you have any goals for the coming year? The goals from my 2021 one-page business plan are:

Use Ali Luke's Two Year Novel Plan to finish the Strix series

April - August 2021: Finish Strix: Forget the Sun's first draft (I'm going to push myself to get it done in by treating April as NaNo, but more time is available if I need it)

Sept. - Dec. 2021: Finish Strix: Forget the Sun's second draft

Writing Star Wars AU fanfics

Finish Unexpected Consequences' third draft

Finish Rescue the Farmboy: Mission on Mimban's first draft

Edit Rescue the Farm: Mission on Mimban to second draft

Send Rescue the Farm: Mission on Mimban to beta reader

Finish Rescue the Farm: Mission on Mimban third draft/li>

Finish Sororal Lineality: Miha first draft

Edit Sororal Lineality: Miha to second draft

Send Sororal Lineality: Miha to beta reader

Finish Sororal Lineality: Miha third draft

Writing Zackverse

Work on Hyrueliana's overhaul

Post regularly to Intentionally Left Blank, Dreamwidth, Discipline Under Fire, and Tumblr Random Thoughts = Do once a week

BookWorm's Library website maintenance = Work on once a week on Sundays

Make sure the software is up to date once a month

Add any files that need adding

Add Media Center to BookWorm's Library = Work on once a week on Sundays

Create section

Make artwork

Code section

Upload files

Add more fanfics to AO3

Upload Zackverse in story order

Upload Star Wars: Unexpected Consequences when edited on Ao3

Upload Sororal Lineality: MJ-0002 on Ao3 on May 4th

Reload Sororal Lineality: Aftermath on Ao3

Upload Soroal Lineality: Miha to Ao3

Upload Rescue the Farmboy: Liberation to the Library

Upload Rescue the Farmboy: One More Service to the Library

Post Star Wars: Unexpected Consequences to Library

Upload Looking For Home: My Home Is You to the Library

Upload Looking For Home: Outcast to Library

Upload Sororal Lineality: MJ-0002 to the Library

Upload Sororal Lineality: Aftermath to the Library

Upload Sororal Lineality: Miha

Update FF.net profile of where newer stories are now

My daily writing plans to help the above list of goals get done:

Write 600 daily words. Can be split among the projects. I'm making the yearly goal to reach whatever number I actually reach on December 31st.

Write and edit every day.

Schedule website updates and fanmix work on the weekends.

Work in meditation time with Brain FM.

Use my Kanban Flow checklist consistently.

Don't let chores pile up now that you have two jobs plus writing to do.

Here's to 2021. We'll get through it together.

[midnight-dice]

MIGHTY NEIN STAR WARS AU

brought to you by someone who does not know her star wars that well, but needs to impose her ideas on others anyway.

Caduceus is a Grey Jedi who has stayed at the ruins of an Outer Rim temple for a long time. He's strong with the force, often has conversations with force ghosts, but no one has seen him use his lightsaber staff. Most younger people in the Order have no clue who he is.

Beauregard has been a Jedi knight for just under a year now, having been Knight Dairon's padawan for a while. She's cocky and reckless, but she's also a talented Jedi.

Fjord has been a smuggler all his life. The vast void of space is home to him, and this has been the best way to see it all, given his upbringing. So when some voice comes to him in his dreams - speaks of provoking. Of rewards. He takes the chance, along with the discovery of his own Force Sensitivity.

Mollymauk has been everything at least once - disgraced Jedi, wanna-be-prince on a backwater planet, and now? Bounty hunter. It's an easier and happier life, the dishonest one. Information brokering with the crime boss The Gentleman gets him by in between big hits.

Jester grew up in Hutt space, her still mom the star at a rich club and well known escort. unfortunately, she got a little too mischievous with the clientele, and now has a minor bounty on her head for it. She's never been off-planet before, so this is a real adventure! She's got a knack for droids - no matter Sprinkle's protests or TRV-L35 encouraging shenanigans on her stolen borrowed ship.

Yasha was an Inquisitor for Darth Obann. She knows this, and she struggles still with the Dark Side every day inching in on her. Her escape left many bodies in her wake, and she's vowed to find a Light within the lighting that she uses. Her two sabers - a grey and a red one, are formidable weapons in her hands.

Nott is not like Yoda or Yaddle. She yearns for a shorter life, one where she can grow old with her husband. In the meantime, she's become a mercenary to support him - it's not like she has much choice just yet.

Bren was a Death Trooper, part of an elite killing squad for the Empire, after showing a lot of talent at the military academy. Darth Ikithon was his tutor and his commanding officer. And then he used a Jedi mind trick against him, just to see how strong his hold was. It was strong enough to have Bren assassinate his parents without prejudice, followed by years of docile activity even as Trent bore Kyber into his arms to force Force sensitivity on him. Whatever he did backfired, though - as Bren used an orange-red lightning against him that distracted him. Fast forward, and Caleb has a Force Bond with a space cat named Frumpkin.

[readbythestarlight]

for the meme: whoever your two favourite characters on critical role are c:

So this took me a couple of days to answer because I couldn’t decide who my two favorites were. I love lots of characters! And then it was like should I choose my two favorites specific to the M9, or should I just try out of the whole entire very wide spread cast of both PCs and NPCs alike. Then I was stuck with not two but THREE, so because I can’t narrow it down any further, here are my THREE favorite characters on Critical Role.

1. Caleb Widogast

How I feel about this character

Where do I start? Caleb has been my favorite from the beginning. He falls 100% into my type of good person with a past they regret, kinda hates themselves, needs hugs desperately. His learning slowly to open up to people, the times he’s (often painfully) admitted how much he cares about them. How he went from by his own admission just using the Mighty Nein to caring for them as his own found family, would do anything for them, would die for them? The times when he steps up and leads and really shines in the part. His book holsters. Like oh my god this nerd carries his important books in holsters!! The flare he puts into his spells. The way he loves his cat.

And like his interactions with the M9!! The way he softens whenever Jester does something nice for him? The special connection he has with Nott/Veth and the way her faith in him pushed him to do all he could to help her. The Team Dad conversations he has with Fjord. The siblingness with Beau, where sometimes they fight and sometimes they hug awkwardly but they would die for each other?? The way he connects with Yasha and they have these quiet moments of solidarity where he makes sure she knows she’s important to them and that she is a good person. And the way he’s clearly to this day still trying to figure his relationship with Caduceus out but he gives him books and stuff. GOD. I love Caleb and I love how Caleb loves his family!!!

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Early on I shopped Widofjord and still on rare occasions get some warm fuzzies if I think about it. I kinda sorta shipped Widomauk but I think that was more like because there was so much art/fic than because I was actually naturally drawn to it.

Right now and forever even if it kills me: Shadowgast. Essek/Caleb. Give me that good good good “falling in love with a man who is the literal shadow of myself, my narrative foil, a drow who I see so much of myself in and who I want to help save if he’ll let me because I know who he is and I know why he’s like this” like god just fuck me up like that why don’t you.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Caleb x self-love and forgiveness.

Caleb and the whole Mighty Nein always and forever because found family is my deepest joy.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Honestly I don’t think I have one. I have certain ships I don’t like but that’s not involving him directly so… Maybe that I hope he always goes by Caleb and never goes back to being called Bren?? But I don’t think that’s likely to happen nor do I think it’s probably an unpopular opinion so. *shrug*

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I sometimes kinda wish all those early theories that Caleb was a werewolf had been true because I really liked those theories.

I also 100% hope that someday Caleb gets his hand on the magic that he wants, gets his hands on the ability to change time–and makes the right choice not to.

2. Caduceus Clay

How I feel about this character

My boy. My son. Listen I loved Mollymauk, I did, but if someone was like “Molly can come back but Cad would have to leave” I would choose Cad in half a heartbeat. He’s so chill and so wise and he cares a lot, he takes care of everyone and even while he’s outwardly so calm we’ve seen that he has all these deep emotions going through him, he feels things so strongly but he doesn’t let them get the best of him. Cad is someone I would want to be best friends with, because you know he gives the best hugs and he’ll make you tea when you’re sad but also you could both pull pranks on your siblings together and it would be glorious.

Also he comes through with some of the cleverest non-combative moves and some really clutch saves and as someone who has always been more of a support character than anything it makes me so happy to see a cleric doing so much.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

No one. Cad doesn’t strike me as being especially interested.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Cad and Fjord. That whole friendship was just so unexpected but has been SO. GOOD and I want to see so much more of it.

My unpopular opinion about this character

He is perfect. He has never done anything wrong in his life and if anything happens to him I will kill everyone in this room and then myself.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I have a couple things so here’s a list:

- I want him to like lose his temper. Just once. We’ve seen him a little frustrated or even irritated, but I want him to just put his foot down and just be really viscerally angry to the point where everyone is kinda intimidated just once.

- I want to see the M9 take care of him. He’s died like, what, twice? And it never really gets addressed. The first time he’d seen his family in years and they were all turned to stone, and it was never really addressed. Cad’s a very calm guy and he doesn’t show his worry or his grief very often but we’ve seen that it is down there and I want to see more of it.

- I want him to either join in on one of Jester’s (less disrespectful) pranks, or else I want him to pull a prank on the M9 all on his own. We’ve seen that playful prankster streak with his sister, now I want to see it with his found family!

3. Essek Thelyss

How I feel about this character

Oh hot boi. I pretty much loved him from day one, and from day one was terrified he was going to be the traitor. Which he is. But I fell for him anyway and I still love him so much, even while I’m also the epitome of that Tyra Banks meme:

I still love him though. I don’t even really know what it is. Probably at first because he was all cool and mysterious. But then he seemed so lonely, and he kept helping the M9 and was especially kind to Caleb, and as they came to care about him I just loved him even more. I like his voice, and I like his sarcasm, and I like the fact that he was supposed to just be this selfish evil SOB and he would have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for these meddling nerds and their insistence on being his friend.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

As previously mentioned, Caleb. Shadowgast. On this side of the coin give me that “I see so much of myself in you, bright and curious and determined and full of aspirations, reaching for grand things beyond yourself; I see what I could become if I keep going this way, I see what I could be if I change, I see you reaching out to stop me from hating myself the way you do” and I just. God, guys, I’m so deep in Shadowgast hell.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Essek and the whole Mighty Nein but like especially him and Caleb (if they don’t end up romantic I still want them to be bros), him and Caduceus, and him and Yasha.

My unpopular opinion about this character

He deserves the chance at a redemption arc!!! Whether he succeeds or not is up in the air but he deserves the chance to try, especially since he has already shown regret for his choices! You can fight me on this but most likely if you try to attack me about it I will block you.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Redemption! Like not right away, not in a single act (no star wars nonsense in here where people think one “selfless” act and then dying after means you’re redeemed), but in one or many lifetimes of using his skills to make things better. He can’t undo the war he helped start but he can spend the rest of his lives helping to repair some of the damage and to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

….Boy that was long. But THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK @jivvin

and for letting me ramble about my boys!! I miss them desperately so it was fun to gush about them.

[brennacedria]

Oh!

I haven't checked yet, but I assume I have a ton of Star Wars stuff queued for tomorrow. Blocking "Star wars" should be able to catch everything though. (And I've had Star Wars on my tag list for a few months now, so odds are anyone who needs to block it already has.)

[lumateranlibrarian]

Get to Know the Blogger meme

Tagged by @penthesilea1623

I will tag: @vaderslocker @godihatethisfreakingcat

2. Height: 5′3″ and this is the hill I will die upon.

3) Wearing: Blue jeans, hiking boots, heather-grey turtleneck

4) Introvert or Extrovert: Introvert

5) Siblings: One (1) brother

6) Following: 103

7) Followers: 298, we’re so close, you guys.

8) Degrees: Undergraduate and halfway through a PhD.

9) Instruments: These days, piano primarily. Used to do French Horn in middle/high school, and before that there were two painful years of violin in elementary school.

10)  Favorite authors: Melina Marchetta and also I gotta say hats off to tierfal on AO3 I have read Flying Horses more times than I have fingers and toes and that is the honest to god truth.

11)  Favorite Star Wars: ANH, but I did genuinely enjoy Force Awakens, and Rogue One was also exquisite.

12) Last Google Search: “what is statistical whitening”

13)  Recommend a video game: Journey (PS3)

14) Recommend a music album: Radio Quiet, by Griffin McElroy

15) Recommend a book: Chronicles of Lumatere by Melina Marchetta

16) Recommend a recipe: These banana oat cookies are literally my comfort food. Instead of cranberries, I do coconut shavings, cinnamon, walnuts, and chocolate chips.

17) Share a creative thought that you had today: Okay so listen (BUT FIRST, CRITICAL ROLE SPOILERS LIE AHEAD, YE BE WARNED). I was braining up an idea where Yeza and Caleb essentially swap roles. Caleb’s dad gets dishonorably discharged from the Dwendalian military because Reasons (good guy reasons like standing up to the man), and he moves the family to Felderwin. Meanwhile, Yeza somehow attracts the attention of Rexxentrum for his alchemical and tinkering talents, and is recruited by the Soltryce academy (Trent comes later). So fast forward lots and lots, Yeza is now a member of the Mighty Nein under a false name and Caleb is Bren because he never had to be Caleb, and instead marries Veth, later Nott, as Veth Ermendrud, and Yeza is the quasi-platonic life partner this time around. OKAY. SO. TIME FOR THE ACTUAL CREATIVE THOUGHT. Bren still gets kidnapped by Krynn for working with the Dynasty to make the Beacons work. Nott and the Nein (now with Artificer Alchemist Yeza) rescue Bren and eventually get him back to Nicodranas where Luc (and his parents who never got murdered) wait. And Bren convinces Yussa to let him apprentice under him to earn some money for his family to live in Nicodranas for the time being but also to learn THE REAL GOOD MAGICS. And things happen and Nott goes adventuring with the Nein and then the HAPPY FUN BALL happens. And Bren, because he’s been apprenticing for Yussa, is the one who leads them through the Happy Fun Ball to find him. SORRY, I PROMISE THE CREATIVE THOUGHT IS LITERALLY THE VERY NEXT THING. Bren is owning the adventuring life, they find the spells that might restore Veth’s body, Bren and Yeza have an Academic!Bonding!Moment! Nott gets overconfident, forgets to check for traps on the magic box, insta-dies, Bren freaks out in the Prison of Soot, gets paralyzed because he calls out for Veth, everyone escapes but Bren and Nott both are SUPER upset and they have a big fight and I haven’t decided how they’re going to resolve it, I promise they will, but in the meantime it’s some GOOD. ANGST. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

(Okay but seriously, they have a huge fight. And Nott definitely does NOT go with them to Zadash that first night - she stays in Nicodranas because she feels horrible and guilty and how can she justify leaving her family when the Chained Oblivion is on the rise? But they’re also Caleb and Nott, they’ll figure their shit out, Bren will sneak Nott back into Yussa’s tower and send her to Zadash the next night, but this is the night after the Nein have been attacked by the Inevitable End. Nott is a day behind the others, and she doesn’t arrive in Rexxentrum until the others are gone, and the battle for Rexxentrum has already begun. She’s scrambling down the streets of the city with Dairon and the rest of the reinforcements from the Cobalt soul. It’s raining, no, it’s storming and she doesn’t know if the world is ending or where her friends are and - 

And as for after that?

Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Force of Execution (2013)

Force of Execution is a 0-star movie. It establishes itself as much from the first few minutes. Not because it's offensive. Not for anything that it does. Because this film doesn’t care. It's only use might be to give die-hard Steven Seagal fans a wake-up call. Your idol’s present career is below even the Wal Mart bargain bin.

After Roman Hurst (Bren Foster, who doesn’t display an once of charisma in a film already devoid of charm) botches an assassination thanks to deliberate misinformation from Ice Man (Ving Rhames), his hands are horribly mangled and he’s forced into “retirement” by his boss and long-time friend, John Alexander (Steven Seagal). When Ice Man begins a gang war, Roman is called back into action to save his new friends: a restaurant owner named Oso (Danny “I just want to leave my family some money before I die” Trejo) and waitress Karen (Jenny Gabrielle).

Force of Execution meanders aimlessly for ages. We get scene after scene of would-be actors improvising their thug-life dialogue, formerly prominent performers lounging in greasy strip clubs (which, I’m almost certain doesn’t feature any female actresses, but plenty of actual strippers), and lame brawls where Seagal - far past his prime - fights in unconvincing hand-to-hand combat. Reason dictates that, since Roman is our main character, he should be most prominently featured. In the hands of director Keoni Waxman, it takes an eternity for us to get to the point.

Force of Execution? Please. That title is so lame and generic I forgot what I was watching halfway through the film (which runs somewhere between 99 minutes and a thousand years!!!). Actually, I’ve changed my mind. It’s perfectly suited to a lacklustre effort that could’ve easily been called “Action Movie”. I’ll admit I’m not a Seagal fan. I like Under Siege. Just about everything else he’s touched could be rated “G for garbage". This? It takes painful filmmaking to a newer, lower level of Hell. As Seagal mouth-farts his way through insipid dialogue, he displays zero charisma and enthusiasm. He performs few of his trademark stunts and none of them are impressive. Then, it gets even worse with an open ending that teases a sequel in the most improbable way. If a Force of Execution 2 does get made, I’d rather eat a can of cat food than even take a peek.

This is nothing more than a crappy direct-to-video action movie with a bunch of stars phoning it in for a paycheck. Nobody involved cared. Anyone who says they did are so devoid of talent they need to quit their job and do something, ANYTHING, else! I couldn’t wait for Force of Execution to end so I could write this review and then forget I’d ever wasted my time on it. (On DVD, July 27, 2017)

[askhewtahmas]

OOC: Who are some of your favorite Disney Descendants Blogs?

OOC: My two go-to’s are definitely @isleofthelxst and @queendohertyplayfair!

Bren & Lana @isleofthelxst are so amazingly sweet and talented and they were the original blog to make OC headcanons and aesthetics for the descendants fandom! They’re not super active at the moment because of school but they said that they should be coming online more during the summer holidays, so keep an eye out!

@queendohertyplayfair doesn’t post strictly about descendants, as she also posts about Marvel and Star Wars, but she started off posting purely about descendants and still posts about it quite a bit! She does ships, headcanons, AUs etc and mostly writes about the Sea Three and her own OCs (who are all amazing!). Ship and headcanon requests are currently closed, but she does absolutely amazing edits too, so definitely go check her out!

[jasonfry]

“Duty Roster” is my contribution to the unbelievably fun Del Rey anthology Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View. (Please go here to read more about the project and First Book, the charity it benefits.) As promised, here are some notes about the story and a discussion of its construction.

(SPOILERS MOST DEFINITELY AHEAD! SERIOUSLY! STOP!)

“Duty Roster” was my Plan B for From a Certain Point of View -- the scene I asked to do was taken. Happily, the consolation prize was pretty good: in the same email I’d also proposed a story I wanted to tell nearly as badly, which I described as “Wedge with the other pilots.” 

But I had a twist in mind: my POV character wouldn’t be Wedge, but Fake Wedge.

If you’re not a massive Star Wars dork like I am, this will require a little explanation.

That’s Wedge Antilles sitting next to Luke in the Yavin 4 briefing room as General Dodonna tells the rather skeptical pilots the plan for attacking the Death Star. Wedge says hitting a two-meter exhaust port is impossible, even for a computer; Luke, apparently hell-bent on coming across as a yokel who says nonsensical things, replies that he used to bulls-eye womp rats, which aren’t much bigger than two meters.

Here’s the funny thing: the actor in that scene isn’t Denis Lawson, who plays Wedge in the cockpit scenes in A New Hope, as well as in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. They sound the same, but they sure don’t look the same. 

That’s because they aren't the same. Wedge is played by two different people in A New Hope. In fan circles, briefing-room Wedge became known as “Fake Wedge,” and arguments about the identity of the actor who’d played him went on for years -- until Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo dug into production reports and Web images and proved that briefing-room Wedge was an English actor named Colin Higgins.

Why the switch? By Higgins’ own admission, he kept flubbing the line and got fired. Happily, Hidalgo’s discovery led to Higgins joining the Star Wars convention circuit and getting some love and recognition from fans before his death in 2012. 

So why does Wedge sound "right” in the briefing-room scene? Because all of his lines in the original trilogy were dubbed by a third actor, David Ankrum. If you were miffed by reports that Lawson had no interest in a Force Awakens cameo, perhaps you have more sympathy for him now. Also: you should stream the 1983 movie Local Hero. Lawson has a starring role, he delivers his own lines, and he’s wonderful.

Anyway, Fake Wedge became a part of Star Wars lore, with his different appearance just one of those movie moments in which you had to suspend disbelief. 

For FACPOV, I figured we could have a little fun with that. Hence my proposal: I wanted to do a pilot story about Wedge, except I’d be writing about Fake Wedge, who wasn’t Wedge at all. He was another pilot who was frequently mistaken for Wedge, and hoo boy was he tired of it.

I thought that was pretty funny. My editor thought it was pretty funny. The folks at Lucasfilm, presumably, thought it was pretty funny.

I was pleased with myself (and tweeted out a picture of a Wedge figure standing next to Aunt Beru and her blue-milk pitcher), at least until I realized something I hadn’t thought through earlier.

Fake Wedge not being the same as Wedge was a gag. It was a pretty good gag, but a pretty good gag is still just a gag. It would take about 500 words or so for me to tell that joke. What would I do after that?

That’s where I realized I’d actually signed up for something pretty challenging, and got a little worried.

“Duty Roster” wouldn’t work if it was just a Fake Wedge gag. It had to pivot from that and become something else -- a story that captured the terror of the Yavin 4 battle from the perspective of those left behind and saluted the heroism of the pilots who’d fought in it. The reader had to start off identifying with Fake Wedge, but wind up appreciating and admiring Real Wedge. And Fake Wedge had to make that same journey.

I realized that was a tough landing to stick, and 2,500 words (or however long “Duty Roster” turned out to be) wasn’t a lot of time in which to stick it. Well, there was no way to solve it except to get to work.

Before we go any further: Is “Duty Roster” canon? Beats me. I wrote it as if it were, working carefully on Red Squadron’s assignments and making sure the scenes in Massassi Base matched the movie. But that's just good practice. I suspect The Powers That Be would rule that it isn’t -- they’d say Wedge is Wedge, long pointy nose or not. Which is just fine with me -- and, for the record, would be my ruling too. My only concern was telling a good story. 

Job One was giving Fake Wedge a name. “Col” was easy -- that rather obviously honors Higgins. “Takbright” came after a couple of false starts, and was a portmanteau of two TV roles from his long career. 

From there, I told the joke, which I will now ruin by explaining. 

We see Col first, raging about the nickname he hates -- a nickname that I had to avoid specifying for as long as possible to make the joke work. A Mon Calamari tech, Kelemah, thinks Col and the person he’s confused with look alike -- but then all humans do to him. (Setup, plus mild social commentary.) Kelemah then notes that Col and his doppelganger sound exactly alike. (More setup, Ankrum tip of the cap, the most astute readers now realize what I’ve done.) A veteran pilot, Puck Naeco, almost says the forbidden nickname, but falls back to asking what, exactly, “the kid” said to make Col so mad. (Bit of misdirection, more setup.) Col recounts the two-meter objection we know as Wedge’s line. (Some readers now get it, which is a reward but means I’ve got to hurry to the punchline while they’re still smiling.) Biggs enters with other pilots, including Wedge. (Pieces moving into place.) One of those pilots, Elyhek Rue, mistakes Col for Wedge. (Board now set.) Laughter, and Puck explains that’s why Col is and will always be known as Fake Wedge. (Punchline, and scene.)

See what I mean? We’re less than two pages in and the joke has been told. Which is why I also used the gag to introduce the most important characters for the more serious story “Duty Roster” would have to become.

To pivot effectively, I couldn’t tell the joke and then take time to introduce a bunch of new characters to the reader. So we’ve got pilots and techs doing double duty for the gag and the serious story. There’s Puck, who’s Col’s mentor. Kelemah, whose technical knowledge will be critical later. Rue, who will be with us throughout. And of course Wedge himself. That’s a variant of a basic lesson: storytelling is most effective when scenes and/or characters are advancing the story on multiple fronts.

With the gag behind me, I had to establish Col as a sympathetic yet flawed character. And so I dived into that, setting up Col and Wedge as opposites in temperament and attitude. Col is dedicated to the rebel cause but thinks his anger reflects well on him; he’s too self-absorbed to realize it’s what’s holding him back. He sees Wedge as too quiet and reserved, perhaps even insufficiently devoted to the cause -- which is both unfair and untrue, and says nothing about Wedge but everything about Col’s immaturity and jealousy.

The pilots get their assignments, which is where Col’s dreams turn to dust. I had to engineer it so Luke’s flight of three is the last one filled out with pilots, and the final spot seemingly comes down to Wedge or Col. There’s no particular reason that flight would be announced last, so I suggested that Red Leader is filling flights in order from most-experienced pilots to least, with Luke a bit of a wild card since he’s just shown up. You can see the storytelling gears turning a bit there, which you’d rather avoid. But sometimes you can’t, and I like to think I got away with it.

A brief continuity note, for those who are interested: I’d filled out Red Squadron for The Essential Guide to Warfare, in a section whose most notable contribution was assigning Puck Naeco (originally introduced way back in the strategy guide for the X-wing game) to the up-for-grabs call sign Red 12. I was happy to do so again in “Duty Roster.” 

The rest of the squadron had some alterations, though, to fit Rogue One. It was obvious that X-wing pilots who’d survived Scarif would fly at Yavin 4 too, so Ralo Surrel, Harb Binli and Zal Dinnes were in, and off-screen Legends pilots Rue, Bren Quersey and Wenton Chan got sidelined. But that fit perfectly with the theme of the story. It’s no accident that Rue, Quersey and Chan are the  three pilots with Col as he watches the battle.

Col doesn’t get his spot on the mission, and so remains in the pilots’ ready room, alone in his misery. (Once again: he thinks it’s all about him.) Giving into his rage, he trashes the place -- only to realize Wedge has left his helmet behind. Wedge enters and tries to avoid a confrontation, but when Col tries to bait him he quietly but firmly puts Col in his place, showing the maturity and sense of camaraderie that Col lacks and the leadership he’ll display as a squadron leader in the future. 

It’s a moment of realization for Col. Which is why he cleans up the mess he’s made and heads for the war room to stand with his fellow pilots. That’s his turn -- and it’s because of Wedge.

Col finds his place in the war room and the Battle of Yavin unfolds as we know it. Except we learn something new that’s really important: Wedge is flying an X-wing with suspect hydraulic lines that were patched up after Scarif. It’s risky, but his choice was to fly and take the risk or stay behind, and he chose to fly.

As a fellow pilot, Col understands the risk Wedge is taking. As the battle unfolds, he thinks about how each of the squadron’s pilots has a shot at becoming the rebel hero he’s dreamed of being. That’s a bit of the old Col, but he doesn’t stop there. He cheers for them (a marked change), and also understands that some of them have no chance at glory -- they’re flying to buy the others more time, and know they’ll have to sacrifice their lives to do so.

And he understands that once Wedge’s hydraulic lines are severed, he’s as big a danger to Luke and Biggs as he is to the TIEs chasing them. So Col doesn’t blame Wedge when he peels off -- in fact, in a sign of his newfound maturity, he urges Kelemah to tell Wedge to do so. 

We then learn something else: Wedge charged his auxiliaries and tried to go back to help, which would have been a death sentence. It’s a bit of continuity added to a scene that doesn’t really work in the movie (where the heck is Wedge going?), but Col’s reaction is the key. He understands he would have done the same thing Wedge did, that it would have been a mistake, and begs Wedge not to throw away his life for nothing but pride.

The pilots return, but while everyone runs to congratulate Luke, Col hurries to find Wedge, who’s wrestling with the guilt he feels at having left the fight. It’s Col who absolves him, pointing out that Wedge took out six TIEs, ran the trench at full throttle, kept a malfunctioning fighter intact and then tried to go back. Because Wedge Antilles is that awesome, and because Col Takbright -- Fake Wedge -- has finally figured out that they’re both part of something larger, and that a single pilot’s identity (or mistaken identity) is far less important than what they can do together.

So that’s a wrap. Some other interesting bits for the trivia-minded:

Wedge’s malfunction has been described in various ways in various sources. I took bits and pieces of multiple explanations.

Luke’s simulator run is from the old Brian Daley radio dramas.

I didn’t know the canon status of Blue and Green squadrons, and didn’t want to open a canoncial can of worms. So Red Leader doesn’t know what’s happening with them either. Which makes sense -- he’s got enough on his plate. Since I couldn’t have the reader think Col could just join another squadron, I added the note about his having to go to the back of the line in such a situation.

Colonel Cor is mentioned in the Rogue One visual guide.

Kay-One-Zero is the Alliance evacuation code. Note that you don’t need to know that to understand the reference -- Quersey gives an explanation that reads right on the page but also helps those who don’t know every bit of Star Wars canon. Context is critical for making lore support a story instead of distracting the reader.

When Porkins dies, Rue quietly says “So long, Piggy, you will be avenged.” This is a thought balloon for Biggs in the original Marvel adaptation of A New Hope.

I accounted for the fates of Red Seven, Eight, Nine and Eleven, whose deaths aren’t seen on-screen.

[aion-rsa]

Top New Science Fiction Books in November 2020

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Looking for space opera or alternate Earths? Here are some of the science fiction books we’re most excited about and/or are currently consuming…

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Top New Science Fiction Books in November 2020

From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back 

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Del Rey  Release date: Nov. 10

Den of Geek says: A collection of 40 Star Wars stories spanning The Empire Strikes Back and beyond, this is a smorgasbord of different authors, styles, takes, and genres within the movie saga. 

Publisher’s summary: On May 21, 1980, Star Wars became a true saga with the release of The Empire Strikes Back. In honor of the fortieth anniversary, forty storytellers re-create an iconic scene from The Empire Strikes Back through the eyes of a supporting character, from heroes and villains, to droids and creatures. From a Certain Point of View features contributions by bestselling authors and trendsetting artists.

Buy From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back.

Stillicide by Cynan Jones

Type: Short story collection  Publisher: Catapult Release date: Nov. 17

Den of Geek says: Literary fiction publisher Catapult crosses over into science fiction with this print release of a highly acclaimed series of climate fables written for radio.

Publisher’s summary: Water is commodified. The Water Train that serves the city increasingly at risk of sabotage.

As news breaks that construction of a gigantic Ice Dock will displace more people than first thought, protestors take to the streets and the lives of several individuals begin to interlock. A nurse on the brink of an affair. A boy who follows a stray dog out of the city. A woman who lies dying. And her husband, a marksman: a man forged by his past and fearful of the future, who weighs in his hands the possibility of death against the possibility of life.

From one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, Stillicide is a moving story of love and loss and the will to survive, and a powerful glimpse of the tangible future.

Buy Stillicide by Cynan Jones. 

Nucleation by Kimberly Unger

Type: Novel  Publisher: Tachyon Publications Release date: Nov. 13

Den of Geek says: Virtual reality meets aliens in a space opera packed with ideas about wormhole travel and first contact. 

Publisher’s summary: Helen Vectorvich just botched first contact. And she did it in both virtual reality and outer space.

Only the most elite Far Reaches deep-space pilots get to run waldos: robots controlled from thousands of lightyears away via neural integration and quantum entanglement. Helen and her navigator were heading the construction of a wormhole gate that would connect Earth to the stars . . . until a routine system check turned deadly.

As nasty rumors swarm around her, and overeager junior pilots jockey to take her place, Helen makes a startling discovery: microscopic alien life is devouring their corporate equipment. Is the Scale just mindless, extra-terrestrial bacteria? Or is it working―and killing―with a purpose?

While Helen struggles to get back into the pilot’s chair, and to communicate with the Scale, someone―or something―is trying to sabotage the Far Reaches project once and for all. They’ll have to get through Helen first.

Buy Nucleation by Kimberly Unger. 

Top New Science Fiction Books in October 2020

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Type: Novel Publisher: Orbit  Release date: Oct. 6 

Den of Geek says: Robinson’s intricate eco-thriller-flavored SF novels have proved prescient in a world of droughts and fires. His latest novel leans in to make a statement about both humanity and science in the face of climate change. 

Publisher’s summary: The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us — and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.

It is a novel both immediate and impactful, desperate and hopeful in equal measure, and it is one of the most powerful and original books on climate change ever written.

Buy The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.

To Hold Up The Sky by Cixin Liu

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Tor Books Release date: Oct. 20 

Den of Geek says: Cixin Liu engages with both hard science and the human heart in a short story collection from a master novelist. 

Publisher’s summary:  In To Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physicas to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself.

Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China and will take you across time and space through the eyes of one of science fiction’s most visionary writers. 

Buy To Hold Up The Sky by Cixin Liu.

Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard

Type: Novella Publisher: Subterranean Release date: Oct. 31

Den of Geek says: Aliette de Bodard’s Xuyan series is a creative blend of hard science fiction and space opera based on a network of space stations. A story from the point of view of a living starship who is also a trickster sounds like it’ll fit right in. 

Publisher’s summary: Vân is a scholar from a poor background, eking out a living in the orbitals of the Scattered Pearls Belt as a tutor to a rich family, while hiding the illegal artificial mem-implant she manufactured as a student. Sunless Woods is a mindship and not just any mindship, but a notorious thief and a master of disguise. She’s come to the Belt to retire, but is drawn to Vân’s resolute integrity. When a mysterious corpse is found in the quarters of Vân’s student, Vân and Sunless Woods find themselves following a trail of greed and murder that will lead them from teahouses and ascetic havens to the wreck of a mindship and to the devastating secrets they’ve kept from each other.

Buy Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard.

Top New Science Fiction Books September 2020

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots 

Type: Novel Publisher: William Morrow Release date: Sept. 22 

 Den of Geek says: This next-level meta take on superheroes looks witty and biting. But what really makes it stand out is the character’s predicament: she’s a laid-off henchman going from bad job to worse, struggling with her own moral code along the way. 

Publisher’s summary: Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy?

 As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured.  And, to her horror, compared to the other bodies strewn about, she’s the lucky one.

So, of course, then she gets laid off.

With no money and no mobility, with only her anger and internet research acumen, she discovers her suffering at the hands of a hero is far from unique. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks.

Because the key to everything is data: knowing how to collate it, how to manipulate it, and how to weaponize it. By tallying up the human cost these caped forces of nature wreak upon the world, she discovers that the line between good and evil is mostly marketing.  And with social media and viral videos, she can control that appearance.

It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world.

A sharp, witty, modern debut, Hench explores the individual cost of justice through a fascinating mix of Millennial office politics, heroism measured through data science, body horror, and a profound misunderstanding of quantum mechanics. 

Buy Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots on Amazon.

Divergence (The Foreigner Universe) by C.J. Cherryh  

Type: Novel Publisher: DAW Release date: Sept. 8 

Den of Geek says: Why, you might rightly ask, would we recommend #21 in a series? This is because C.J. Cherryh is a master at what she does: slow, meticulous space opera with engaging characters and a transporting sense of completeness to its world of diplomatic clashes between humans and aliens. Really, we recommend you start at #1, Foreigner, if you haven’t read the series before. And if you have, this September is a real occasion.  Publisher’s summary: The overthrow of the atevi head of state, Tabini-aiji, and the several moves of enemies even since his restoration, have prompted major changes in the Assassins’ Guild, which has since worked to root out its seditious elements—a clandestine group they call the Shadow Guild. With the Assassins now rid of internal corruption, with the birth of Tabini’s second child, and with the appointment of an heir, stability seems to have returned to the atevi world. Humans and atevi share the space station in peaceful cooperation, humans and atevi share the planet as they have for centuries, and the humans’ island enclave is preparing to welcome 5000 human refugees from a remote station now dismantled, and to do that in unprecedented cooperation with the atevi mainland.

In general Bren Cameron, Tabini-aiji’s personal representative, returning home to the atevi capital after securing that critical agreement, was ready to take a well-earned rest—until Tabini’s grandmother claimed his services on a train trip to the smallest, most remote and least significant of the provinces, snowy Hasjuran—a move concerning which Tabini-aiji gave Bren a private instruction: protect her. Advise her.

Advise her—perhaps. As for protection, she has a trainload of high-level Guild. But since the aiji-dowager has also invited a dangerously independent young warlord, Machigi, and a young man who may be the heir to Ajuri, a key northern province—the natural question is why the dowager is taking this ill-assorted pair to Hasjuran and what on this earth she may be up to. 

With a Shadow Guild attack on the train station, it has become clear that others have questions, too. Hasjuran, on its mountain height, overlooks the Marid, a district that is part of the atevi nation only in name—a district in which Machigi is one major player, and where the Shadow Guild retains a major stronghold.

Protect her? Ilisidi is hellbent on settling scores with the Shadow Guild, and her reasons for this trip and this company now become clear.  One human diplomat and his own bodyguard suddenly seem a very small force to defend her from what she is setting in motion.

Buy Divergence by C.J. Cherryh on Amazon.

An Unnatural Life by Erin K. Wagner 

Type: Novella  Publisher: Tor Release date: Sept. 15 

Den of Geek says: Putting a robot on trial is an old concept in science fiction: just look at Star Trek. This novella looks like an entry in the contemporary conversation with this pleasingly retro concept. Publisher’s summary: The cybernetic organism known as 812-3 is in prison, convicted of murdering a human worker but he claims that he did not do it. With the evidence stacked against him, his lawyer, Aiya Ritsehrer, must determine grounds for an appeal and uncover the true facts of the case.

But with artificial life-forms having only recently been awarded legal rights on Earth, the military complex on Europa is resistant to the implementation of these same rights on the Jovian moon.

Aiya must battle against her own prejudices and that of her new paymasters, to secure a fair trial for her charge, while navigating her own interpersonal drama, before it’s too late.

Buy An Unnatural Life by Erin K. Wagner on Amazon.

Top New Science Fiction Books August 2020

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir 

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor Release date: Aug. 4

Den of Geek says: Muir’s necromancers in space have gained an enthusiastic following for their irreverent tone and wild gothic magic. 

Publisher’s summary: She answered the Emperor’s call.

She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.

In victory, her world has turned to ash.

After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem. Nothing is as it seems in the halls of the Emperor, and the fate of the galaxy rests on one woman’s shoulders.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, last necromancer of the Ninth House, has been drafted by her Emperor to fight an unwinnable war. Side-by-side with a detested rival, Harrow must perfect her skills and become an angel of undeath ― but her health is failing, her sword makes her nauseous, and even her mind is threatening to betray her. 

Sealed in the gothic gloom of the Emperor’s Mithraeum with three unfriendly teachers, hunted by the mad ghost of a murdered planet, Harrow must confront two unwelcome questions: is somebody trying to kill her? And if they succeeded, would the universe be better off?

Buy Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir on Amazon.

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky 

Type: Novel Publisher: Orbit Release date: Aug. 18

Den of Geek says: Portal fantasy of a sort, backed by hard science fiction from the author of the award-winning Children of Time, this novel looks inventive, rigorous, and adventurous. 

Publisher’s summary: They thought we were safe. They were wrong.

Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back.

Lee thought she’d lost Mal, but now she’s miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal’s reappearance hasn’t gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn’t the only one with questions.

Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power – and they may or may not be human. His only clue is grainy footage, showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor.

Dr Khan’s research was theoretical; then she found cracks between our world and parallel Earths. Now these cracks are widening, revealing extraordinary creatures. And as the doors crash open, anything could come through.

Buy The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky on Amazon.

Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May 

Type: Novel  Publisher: DAW Release date: Aug. 4

Den of Geek says:  This ensemble cast space opera fits nicely into the “Expanse” model of adventure stories with enough political detail and blood to make you feel like you could walk into the far-future world. An early review calls it “epic, if occasionally bumpy.” 

Publisher’s summary: When Eris faked her death, she thought she had left her old life as the heir to the galaxy’s most ruthless empire behind. But her recruitment by the Novantaen Resistance, an organization opposed to the empire’s voracious expansion, throws her right back into the fray.

Eris has been assigned a new mission: to infiltrate a spaceship ferrying deadly cargo and return the intelligence gathered to the Resistance. But her partner for the mission, mechanic and hotshot pilot Cloelia, bears an old grudge against Eris, making an already difficult infiltration even more complicated.

When they find the ship, they discover more than they bargained for: three fugitives with firsthand knowledge of the corrupt empire’s inner workings.

Together, these women possess the knowledge and capabilities to bring the empire to its knees. But the clock is ticking: the new heir to the empire plans to disrupt a peace summit with the only remaining alien empire, ensuring the empire’s continued expansion. If they can find a way to stop him, they will save the galaxy. If they can’t, millions may die.

Buy Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May on Amazon.

Top New Science Fiction Books July 2020 

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The Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott 

Type: Novel  Publisher: Tor Books Release date: July 7 

Den of Geek says: Kate Elliott’s long career in fantasy has proven her a master of world-building. It has a heck of a tagline: “female Alexander the Great in space.” This series promises strong science fiction action. 

Publisher’s summary: Princess Sun has finally come of age.

Growing up in the shadow of her mother, Eirene, has been no easy task. The legendary queen-marshal did what everyone thought impossible: expel the invaders and build Chaonia into a magnificent republic, one to be respected―and feared.

But the cutthroat ambassador corps and conniving noble houses have never ceased to scheme―and they have plans that need Sun to be removed as heir, or better yet, dead.

To survive, the princess must rely on her wits and companions: her biggest rival, her secret lover, and a dangerous prisoner of war.

Take the brilliance and cunning courage of Princess Leia―add in a dazzling futuristic setting where pop culture and propaganda are one and the same―and hold on tight:

Buy The Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott on Amazon.

Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis 

Type: Novel  Publisher: St Martin’s Press Release date: July 21 

Den of Geek says: Lindsay Ellis is known primarily as a YouTube pop culture critic. She excels at explaining why pop culture works or doesn’t work, as well as adding context to day’s top headlines. Her first book sounds like a mix between Arrival and The X-Files, set in the early 2000s. 

Publisher’s summary: The alternate history first contact adventure Axiom’s End is an extraordinary debut from Hugo finalist and video essayist Lindsay Ellis. 

Truth is a human right.

It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government―and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him―until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.

Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human―and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.

Buy Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis on Amazon.

The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronauts) by Mary Robinette Kowal 

Type: Novel  Publisher: Tor Books Release date: July 14 

Den of Geek says: The Lady Astronaut series tackles sexism (lots and lots of sexism) in an alternate world where the space race is hurried along by the arrival of a meteor strike. It has gained a lot of fans for its determined characters and convincing alternate history. 

Publisher’s summary: The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program. The IAC’s goal of getting as many people as possible off Earth before it becomes uninhabitable is being threatened. 

Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President.

Buy The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal on Amazon.

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