#but it could have been so much more interesting than sanderson made it

[shouldprobablybereading]

Hot take of the day is that I think sanderson not letting adolin murdering sadeas have any real consequences killed like 95% of interesting debate on the morality of it

[fixfoxnox]

Okay but think about this, the cod boys' reaction to having a Barrack's Bunny with them.

(if you don't know, a Barrack's Bunny is usually a woman, but can also be a man, that sleeps around a lot with their colleagues)

Idk if you want to like do all of the fabfavorites, but I'ld be most interested in how König, Ghost and Keegan would react!!

While we're talking about König, I had a stroke of genius a few days back and decided that König to me looks like Lee Pace, so...yeah, I'm imagining Lee Pace as this man. Lee Pace is also my fc for Johnathan Sanderson but that less important rn also I'm assuming we want romance/spice here so:

COD Boys Reaction to Finding Out Reader is a Barrack's Bunny

Characters: Price, Ghost, Gaz, Soap, Roach, König, and Keegan

Warnings: Possessiveness, NSFW Implied, Minor NSFW, choking (light), mentions of STD's, reader is a barracks bunny (sleeps around essentially)

Price

Price sees you coming out of some new recruits room, hair mussed and clothes wrinkled

He's not an idiot, Price has been around, he's had people like you on teams that he's worked with before

Still, this is the first time he's actually felt tempted

Calls you into his office a week later, after he's done more research and watched you dissappear in and out of different bunks. He had to be sure before he could act.

Sits you down and tells you that he knows what you've been doing

You're in a panic, sure you've been enjoying yourself but its not worth losing your job over

Everything is made even worse to you by the fact that its Price speaking to you about it

Captain of the illustrious Taskforce 141, everyone knows him, everyone knows his skill

You, in particular, know how fucking attractive he is

So while Price is "scolding" you (literally just telling you the dangers of what you're doing) you're trying desperately to pretend you aren't losing your shit and horny as fuck.

Then, at the end, Price is tapping your papers together and tells you he wants you to stop sleeping around with other recruits

He tells you that he wants you to get tested weekly now, to make sure you don't have anything

You ask him in a meek voice why weekly, why weekly if you're supposed to stop?

He leans back in his seat, his eyes practically devouring you as he reminds you

"I said stop sleeping around with the other recruits"

Price gives a much better offer. If you want to fuck around, why not fuck around with his team rather than the typically less than stellar recruits you'd been sleeping with

It's really not much of a question for you

When you accept, you see just a hint of a smirk tug at his lips, not much but enough to have you going warm

If you're warm then, you're sure you'll combust when Price pushes his seat back just enough to motion to the floor in front of his chair, his legs spread

"Go on then, you can start with just your hands until we get everything else sorted."

He doesn't interact much with the new recruits outside of training, but he knows you

Ghost

Ghost learns about what you've been up to from Price

He's seen the way the other recruits flock to you and hang off of you, he knows several of them have crushes

He assumed, however, that you hadn't been giving any of them the time of day, so he's a little shocked to hear what you've actually been up to.

Maybe part of him is a little jealous, but the bigger part of him is excited.

If you're willing to fuck with recruits who barely know how to use their cock, surely you'd have no issue with him.

He waits for Price to talk to you and waits patiently for everything to go through before he makes his move

It's after training and he's just watched you the whole time, anticipation for whats coming

Ghost doesn't indulge often, but when you're so open and he's feeling more than a little desperate, its easier to wait for you outside of the locker room.

As soon as you step out he has you by the arm, pulling you somewhere quiet and secluded

He has you pressed against a wall, a thigh pressed up against you as he gets close.

He makes sure you know that Price has told him what you've been up to

He enjoys the embarrassment that flushes across your face, but doesn't let it last very long as he presses closer

Asks you if you've been satisfied with the recruits you've been fucking with. Asks you if they fuck you the way that you like.

He's right against you now, his entire body pressed against yours so all you can do is shake your head no, feeling flushed from head to toe

"Bad choice going for the recruits, if you're going to sleep around you can at least get something out of it. You want something out of it?"

Let's a hand land temptingly over your crotch as he waits for your response, his intentions are perfectly clear.

He waits for your permission before jumping you, but he certainly makes his point about those recruits

Its not hard for you to say you'll be aiming higher up from that point on

Gaz

Absolutely miffed when he finds out

He probably spends the most time around the recruits, so he definitely knows you

He never would have expected it from you

Never would have known if he hadn't overheard some recruit trying to brag about it

"You're not special, they're a bunny dude. They've had like half the people on our squad."

Has a whole moment™ because he knows he has to tell someone about this, like its part of his thing as a superior to you

But also 😏

Maybe he can handle it on his own

Bides his time, watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to approach

Ends up finding it when he sees one of the recruits yoinking you out of the cafe for a very clear purpose

Hustles through a short cut to be able to cut you guys off

Acts like he has no idea what you guys were about to do

"Oh, there you are. I've been searching up and down for you. Think I can borrow them for a sec?"

You're more than a little confused when Gaz takes you back to his room rather than any meeting room

The lock of the door clicks behind you and the two of you are left alone

Gaz starts with the professional side of things

"I know what you've been doing."

You run cold and rush to explain yourself, but Gaz stops you with a hand raised

"Listen, this can't be good for you, and its against regulation, so I really do need you to stop."

You nod your head rapidly, prepared to literally fall to your knees in thanks for him not ratting you out. That is until he steps into your space

"However, if you're careful, maybe have one person take care of you, maybe it'll be alright."

Your eyes widen and a part of you runs hot as Gaz reached forward to tuck a finger under your chin, guiding you closer with just a light touch.

You're literally helpless against him, unable to do anything but follow as he brings you closer

"I'd be willing to volunteer, if you'd like"

You do end up liking ;)

Soap

Soap barely knows the recruits, he hardly pays attention to them

However he does know you

Soap's had his fair share of flings and his fair share of run ins with Barrack Bunnies before, he knows the type.

And he sees you chatting it up with the recruits and his brain clicks into place immediately

Maybe he doesn't believe at first, but later he sees you sneaking out of someone's room and he knows his instincts were right.

A part of him is really excited

Since joining the 141 he's held out on enjoying any of the more risqué things that people get up to

And he's been a little too busy to actually seek anything out even if he'd wanted to

So to have you show up and fall right into his lap? He plans to take full advantage

Soap knows the game, he knows how this all works. You don't talk about it directly

So he starts by fully introducing himself, giving you his name with a joke and a little bit of flirtation attached to let you know he's interested.

Then comes the talking as he slowly hints at what he wants, what he knows that you do

You pick up on it all pretty quick, after all this is part of what you do

Still, to say you're surprised would be an understatement

A member of the famous taskforce 141 wanting to use you? Sign you tf up

When one of you finally cracks and invites the other back to your room/bunk, its a literal flurry of movement

You're both pretty much ready for this so it makes sense that you're both on the exact same page

Course he takes good care of you and you're more than pleased. He's easily the best you've had

Later when you're laying in bed together Soap tells you:

"As your superior, I am required to tell you that you need to stop this by the way. However as me?? Well, I'll find you again soon."

Roach

Roach is the unlucky one who doesn't realize what you get up to until he happens to walk by the wrong room at the wrong time

He's heading to a meeting with the rest of the team, completely oblivious to any of the people he passes or conversations going on

That is until he turns a corner and passes a room where he can very clearly hear moans echoing from

Stops in place, absolutely shocked because hey that's a fucking broom closet

Sticks around just long enough to hear whoever you're with moan out your name

Then he's scampering off to his meeting, his face red and his mind only focused on what he's heard

Thats when he starts paying more attention and, after walking by yet another one of your rendezvous a few days later, he realizes exactly what's going on

He's a little uncomfortable to be honest

He found you one of the more likable recruits and had been helping you with your weapons tests

He'd taught you how to line up your shots quicker with a sniper and the fastest way to reload a pistol

He'd been rooting for you and you knew it

So a part of him felt uncomfortable because, really, if you needed someone to take care of you, why would you not come to him?

What was so great about all those recruits you were fucking? What was so great about hopping between people?

He probably wouldn't have been so odd about the whole thing if he was one of the people you were seeing

He's a bit distant the next time he helps you, not talking as much and hardly meeting your eyes.

He's touchy though, constantly reaching out to correct your form and brush his fingers over your skin in a way that leaves shivers down your spine

When your session is over, he stops you

"Listen, I'm not going to make a big deal out of this because I don't see whats wrong with it, but if you're going to be with a new guy every night, you need to at least find somewhere better than a broom closet."

You go bright red, stuttering out apologies and excuses about sharing the bunks with others, all while he watches you with soft eyes

"Well, I guess you could always use my room."

You stop stuttering and for a moment you and Roach just stare at each other.

He seems a bit unsure of himself, but after you don't rebuff him, he continues

"But I'm the only person you're allowed to bring back there. How's that sound?"

That sounded just perfect to you.

König

The thing about König is that he's very possessive

Its hard to keep things and have a constant in life when you're in the military, so when König finds something constant that he enjoys, he gets attached

You become a constant in his life after joining KorTac and falling under his command

König likes the people under his command, but he really really likes you

A part of him views you as his already, even when he hasn't quite worked up the courage to tell you yet

It frustrated him more then he could explain

All that confidence on the field, but when it came to something as simple as confessing his feelings and that anxiety from when he was younger would bubble back up

But what frustrated him more was coming to the realization that you'd been bouncing around the various KorTac members practically since you'd joined

Well, the various members minus him

He'd spotted you sneaking off with Conor or Roze one too many times and he wasn't stupid, he could figure out what was going on, even if it had taken him longer than he wanted to admit

He would have to rectify this issue

He calls you to his office, declaring it a matter of utmost importance, of course you believe him

Its easier for him when he can slip into his work mask, using the title of colonel to shield him from his usual anxiety.

"I know what you've been doing."

He calls you on it. Wastes no time in telling you that he knows what you've been up to.

You panic, assuming you were on the chopping block for breaking regulation. Apologies spill from your lips.

König listens to them as he stands up and rounds the desk, getting closer and closer to you with each step.

Finally he leans over you, silencing you with his towering presence

"You should be sorry. The only person you should be pleasuring is me."

You're taken aback completely, but you can't deny the heat that comes with the possession

König makes sure that you understand who it is you'll be taking care of from then on out, all while wiping the remnants of the other members of KorTac away from your skin with his own heated touch

Keegan

It's hard for Keegan to admit that he feels jealous

Usually he's calm and cool about things, always keeping a level head even with a gun pressed to his temple

He knows it and everyone else around him knows it

So its hard to admit when he is losing his cool, especially when he's losing his cool over you enjoying yourself

There are really no regulations anymore. The military is barely a military, held together by a string in a wasteland

So there isn't even anything wrong with what you're doing.

He can't tell you to stop, he'll just look like an ass

So instead he has to sit and watch as you cycle your way through half of the fucking platoon.

It eats him up, drives him crazy

He'd had Hesh make fun of him several times, mocking him for wanting to be one of the people you brought home

Hesh didn't get it, Keegan didn't want to be one of the people, he wanted to be the person!

Since finding out what you'd been up to, it had been hell, and he finally decided that it was time to confront you.

He corners you in one of the weapons tents, has you pressed against some ammo boxes as he asks you what you were doing the night before

You stutter through your answer, a little embarassed to admit to it, even if there was nothing wrong with what you'd done.

Keegan lets you stumble over yourself, enjoying the fool that you make before he just comes out and says it

He's not kind with it, instead he offers a more vulgar explanation and you gape at him, unsure of what to say or do

"No more of that, doll. I'm tired of it."

You go to protest, prepared to point out that he couldn't really stop you

Thats when you've got a leg between your thighs and a hand pressed gently to the base of your throat

"I want you all to myself. I'll take you better than any of those fucking rookies could even dream of."

He makes good on his promise

[atla-what-is-this-site]

Fixing Voltron's magic system FT. Sanderson's Laws of Magic (and examples from various famous media)

Firstly, let's begin with what the Alteans canonically can do. As seen throughout the series, two alteans shown actually manipulate quintessence. Another has super strength but no magic. A final is shown to have none. (poor Coran). It is implied the majority (if not all,) have these abilities. 

Quintessence manipulation seems to have one small limit:  When Allura uses the magic too much, she passes out. But remember: shes powering a giant ship. We never see Team Voltron going and getting gas or whatever, which means Allura is probably the sole supplier of power for the Castle. Which is an example of how OP this ability is, even with the limit.

Then we have super strength and shapeshifting, two other abilities that all (or i guess most, since Coran never shows any signs of having them) Alteans seem to have. These abilities seem to have little plot importance besides a few certain episodes. There is nothing inherently wrong with these abilities. However, when you pile them on top of (if I'm being completely honest,) a character who's already quite over-powered, I think you can understand why I'm not the biggest fan. 

We know quite a bit about Alteans. They're one of the most important species in the series. According to Allura, they're super-ambassadors, and they use their shapeshifting to better blend in. Their culture seems very intellectual-based, with Alchemists holding high places. They mixed magic and tech to make incredible ships like The Castle. 

This is where things tend to taper off. We get brief glimpses of what could be rules: Allura always places her hands on whatever shes infusing. Clearly, you must be Altean or of Altean Heritage. 

Now, let's take a look at Brandon Sanderson's laws of magic. 

Number One: "An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic." 

This means that if we want to solve problems with magic, we need to explain how that magic can solve our problems. So, for example, Harry Potter. Every spell that Harry uses is explained beforehand so that the audience knows what he's doing. It just wouldn't work if Harry went around Lumos-ing away, making the reader guess what the spell does. 

However, in The Lord of The Rings, Gandalf doesn't need to tell us anything, because he barely ever uses his magic for plot important things. Readers don't want to read three paragraphs explaining how he made his fireworks, when the story isn't about his fireworks.

Number Two: Limitations are more important than power.

What your magic system can do doesn't make it interesting. There's no power that hasn't been thought of. Infinite power makes it impossible to come up with a plot. The character could solve anything, meaning there's no point in telling about the solution to their problem. However, when you throw in weaknesses, costs and other limitations, you get a much more original and interesting idea. 

Picture that one scene from Aladdin, where Genie tells Aladdin about the three rules. (No playing with free will, no raising the dead, no wishing for more wishes.) It's a simple and easy to follow system, with limitations that make the plot more interesting. Aladdin can't make Jasmine fall in love with him magically, so he's forced to come up with other ways. 

Rule Three: Expand what you already have before you add something new. 

This one leans more on general worldbuilding, but what he's saying here is don't shove new ideas in your reader's face. Don't create new magics out of nowhere. Build on what you already have. 

There aren't many examples of this, luckily Voltron isn't really guilty of this, so elaboration isn't really needed.

Now, we'll take these and begin perfecting the magic system. 

First, what is Quintessence? Quintessence is, essentially, the animating factor. It's what makes living things alive. It's a form of energy. 

This isn't to say nonliving objects can't have it, but most don't, unless it's given to them. 

Quintessence is energy. It can't be created, nor destroyed. However, you can transfer it from one container to another. 

There are a few things you can do with it. Firstly, giving a living being quintessence can make them stronger. This is what Haggar does with Zarkon throughout the first two seasons.

Next, taking too much quintessence from someone will "de-animate" them. A.k.a. They die from lack of life. 

There is one third thing you can do with quintessence. It takes a lot of training and a bit of energy. But I imagine you could also make these huge shockwaves that just fucken decimate everything in a 300 foot radius. However this is more after-we-get-ridiculously-good type material.

Our limits are these: 1. You must draw energy from something, whether that be your own energy or someone else's. If you use too much of your own, you could pass out and die. 2. You must maintain contact with whatever you're imbuing with energy/drawing energy from. (The only exception is the shockwave. But the shockwave comes from your hands so..?) 3. Too much quintessence can become an addiction. Specific examples can be Zarkon and Haggar. 

A little interjection: While Alteans have a lot of quintessence, it can only power a small ship for a few hours. However, Altean ships have evolved to collect quintessence from bacteria that gathers on the ship's metal. This keeps the ships sanitary and also helps with efficiency. As well, ships often use Balmera crystals as a secondary source of power. Balmera crystals hold high levels of residual quintessence.

We can construct so many different plotlines that can't be solved with quintessence, or the limits can prevent solution. What if the person who needs healing is out of Allura's reach? What if she doesn't have enough energy?

That wasn't so hard, was it, VLD team?

[marvelousmagicalaura]

I liked Warbreaker more than I originally expected. Each arc started slow, but it pulled together after certain points. For Siri, it was when Susebron was revealed to have no tongue. For Vivenna, it was when Parlin died. Lightsong's arc was always fantastic, even though it started slow. His personality, arc, relationships, intrigue, and twists made him my favorite character in this book.

I wish Vivenna and Vasher's POVs had slightly faster pacing and more insight into their headspaces. Especially Vasher. But I think Brandon did a great job getting the ball rolling once they intersected. Their arcs had me emotionally invested by the end. Nightblood is there for terrifying but adorable comic relief, so that's fun.

Siri and Susebron. Great characters, loved their arcs, and their relationship is so lovely. If I could praise Sanderson for one thing, he knows how to write bonds and character progression.

Blushweaver and Llariimar are lovely side characters. RIP Blushweaver, who was a prick that one time but I loved her desire to protect Hallandren. RIP Treledees, even though you were a butthole. Tonk Fah was funny and Jewels was interesting. But I wanted to spend more time with them, especially Jewels. I'm confident Clod is the animated corpse of Arsteel.

I’m mixed about the ending. The revelations, twists, and dynamics coming together were fantastic! As always, the sanderlanche slaps. But I think Brandon should have extended the aftermath by a chapter or two. So we get a proper goodbye to Siri and Susebron, and see how Llarimar is doing. I'm sure the murder of priests and one Returned, the betrayal of scribes, a God King that speaks, and the release of Kalad's Phantoms would impact whatever Hallandren becomes.

Lightsong should especially be significant in the aftermath IMO. He gave up his Breath to create something unseen among God Kings - one with a tongue. That is very significant for the world.

Peacegiver is so much of a god that the God King calls him "lord," and he meets that lord. The core characters certainly wouldn't reveal Vasher's significance to the public. But I think they, and possibly Llarimar, should come together to discuss his past IMO. Vasher is both Kalad AND Peacegiver. The one who transformed the jungle and mountains in two major ways that have persisted for centuries. I am shocked Sanderson just… moved on from that. I've never had that impression from his endings so far, not even for Elantris.

I wanted to see the Phantoms fry the Lifeless. I needed to see Siri and Vivenna saying goodbye, Siri and Susebron processing what just happened to Hallandren, or Llarimar processing his brother's death and reason for Returning. I would give this book 4/5 stars. The ending was rushed. Most of the characters and arcs could have used more meat. The pacing could have been better. I still like it a lot. But I think everything about Nightblood, Awakening, the intrigue of Vasher and Denth, and the Returned kept me sticking around. But I'm sure that's because I read all of Mistborn before this. I don't know how it would hold up as someone's introduction to the Cosmere, or something read right after the Mistborn Trilogy.

[markantonys]

Reading Lord of Chaos now and there's SO much good Gawene content. "Rare was the man who wanted to marry a woman who, with the Power, could handle him like a child if she chose." Well this man likes it!!

It feels weird to me that people hate him, because malewives are such an important part of the Wheel of Time world of gender relationships, and Gawyn is the Ultimate Malewife.

LOC was the book that first got me truly invested in gawyn and in gawene! and what a top-tier line that i'd forgotten!! rare is the man who wants to marry a woman who could handle him like a child but gawyn is over here going "mommy? sorry. mommy?" god bless him. he IS the Ultimate Malewife! he's crucial to the ecosystem!

it truly is baffling that he is the #1 Most Hated WOT Character. he doesn't do anything! at most i could see people finding him boring or annoying, but the level of hatred directed at him just makes no sense. most of the Reasons Why Gawyn Sucks posts i see are just people deliberately interpreting everything he does in the most uncharitable light possible, or hating him for things that they straight up made up and that did not happen in the text lmao

but also, getting briefly into a couple instances of Narrative Malpractice (to use @butterflydm's recently-coined phrase) re: gawyn later in the series. if i'm remembering correctly, you know most/all spoilers but this is your first time reading the series, so i'm putting a cut here to be safe - i don't mention any big spoilers though, just a few things that may not make total sense if you haven't read the book in question haha (mostly with TOM and point #2)

i feel like the biggest actual, not-made-up-by-haters issues are 1) gawyn was sooooo slowburned because his storyline can't move forward until egwene's does and hers can't move forward until the ta'veren boys' do and mat is busy getting walls dropped on him and fucking around in a circus for 4 books and killing the pacing, and so the ripple effect out from that makes it feel like gawyn is sitting around stewing in indecision for way longer than he actually is.

and 2) when sanderson took over, he brought with him a hell of a lot of real-world patriarchy-rooted assumptions of what it means to be a prince, and applied those to gawyn in a way that does not make sense since gawyn is a prince in a matriarchal society (or rather, in a country with matriarchal royal succession; culturally, andor is definitely not a full matriarchy despite what reddit believes). so he invented this whole arc of "gawyn needs to learn how to be a warder instead of a prince aka how to step out of the spotlight and live in a woman's shadow" but as the son of the reigning queen and brother & protector to the future queen, gawyn was literally raised from birth to be in a woman's shadow instead of holding the spotlight himself. this is not an issue for him. he literally swore the oath "my blood shed before hers, my life given before hers" as a toddler and was raised with that mentality, which translates pretty fuckin directly to being a warder and being in the shadow of a woman who's more important than him!

but sanderson assumes that a prince would struggle to play second fiddle to an aes sedai, because that would be the case for a prince raised in a patriarchal royal family. which is a shame because it leads to takes like "gawyn hates that egwene is more powerful than him" which is patently untrue for his original characterization, as you point to with this line straight out of RJ's mouth! (and even for his sanderson characterization it's patently untrue since the conclusion of that arc is that gawyn DOES happily step into egwene's shadow.) it's also a shame because that struggle between his identity & duty as a prince vs. as a warder could have been really interesting, but sanderson approached it from the wrong angle. alas!

in conclusion, the only things wrong with gawyn are things that are the authors' fault, but gawyn himself has done nothing wrong ever in his life <3 i have faith that the show can bring more people around to him! especially because galad will be there being so rancid in comparison as a show!whitecloak.

[sophieinwonderland]

what do you and ghost and other alters each like? as in hobbies and interests :o)

Can I tell you a secret? I'm actually the most boring tulpa ever. My primary interest is plural stuff. 🤫

Okay, maybe that's only partially true. See, I've always been fascinated with human psychology since before I became self-aware. I liked knowing what made people tick. I liked understanding the human brain.

And I feel like people don't fully appreciate how incredible it is that such an advanced piece of computing hardware came about through countless permutations of life beginning billions of years ago. Everything about our ability to think and feel emotions and perceive the world is incredible!

And we still don't understand it! We've learned to send people to the moon, we've seen 13 billions year into the past. We've discovered the building blocks of all matter, and found particles even smaller than those.

But we don't know how our brains work or what makes us tick.

So when I became self-aware and learned what I was, it was something new to marvel at. Because no one... really knew. Like, "multiple personalities" had been studied for about a hundred years exclusively in the context of trauma. But there hasn't been much effort to connect that to other similar phenomena like spiritual possession or other forms of voice hearing. And what research does exist is hard to track down.

So there are times when, as I joke above, I feel kind of bad because my primary interest is in plural psychology...

But at the same time, I feel like... how could it not be? How could I not discover my existence and then want to unravel its mysteries so I can understand myself and those like me better? When I realized that I had been thinking for myself for months even as I had been convinced I was imaginary... How could I not be amazed at this incredible potential of the human mind I discovered?

And it feels like we're on the cutting edge of understanding things most actual psychologists haven't really pieced together yet.

One of my favorite posts that I've written is the Manifestations post. And I mean, I think most of the information there was already in the community, albeit scattered. I think most systems knew headmates could exist in the inner world, they could switch, and they could be in a state where they're in the head but without any form. And the tulpamancy community at least knew imposition was a thing, and a lot of other plurals have described similar experiences. I don't think headmates being able to manifest in objects through Inhabitation is quite common knowledge yet. (And I had to coin Inhabitation myself.)

But even for those who knew of these experiences separately, I've never seen anyone put it together in a model like this, saying "here are these five distinct states headmates can be in while conscious."

And so that's a post I feel really proud of, for trying to codify experiences in ways that I think can make them easier to understand.

And I love expanding my understanding of plural psychology and developing new ways to think about it.

...

Anyway, Ghost likes superheroes, Star Wars, card games and stuff. Also Brandon Sanderson books.🤷‍♀️

(Abby is our local artist. But we're not that good at art so she doesn't do it very much, and the others don't really front all that much to develop their own hobbies.)

We have other interests too, but they tend to be more fleeting and on rotation rather being consistent.

...

Oh, and we're not alters. We don't use that word. And I don't really like it because of the association with "alternate personality." (Although nobody seems to be able to agree what alter actually means or where it came from.) It feels to me like it just sort of boils headmates down to what we look like to singlets. Personalities that takeover the body. And it erases the rich diversity of plural experiences.

[thatinsufferablenerd]

Post Spooky Update

The weather is slowly cooling off here finally. Spooky Season is over and another year has gone by without reading any scary books or movies like I say I’m gonna do every year. I’ve been enjoying all the festive content in my different social media feeds instead. Horror book recs from BookTube, video essays that analyze aspects of the horror genre, discussions of films or anime that set the mood. I probably should be more embarrassed of how much YouTube I watch, but seeing as I’m a housewife with a passion for learning and too many interests to succinctly sum up, I’m not going to lose too much sleep over it. 

I wish I did have some mood appropriate reads to tell you about. I love books, I love storytelling, I love getting lost in a good book, but my ability to actually get into–let alone through–books has atrophied so much I’ve concluded it’s a Me ProblemTM. When I was young, in elementary and middle school, I could read a book a day. I DID for a long time, exchanging the one I just finished for something new during lunch. And then I got older. I got into movies and writing, I had a job, then I had longer hours, then I had kids that I stayed home with. The library was too far to walk to, we didn’t have money to buy books, and I was too tired to read them anyway. It was easier to focus on honing my craft of writing because it was simpler to hit the backspace button when a toddler smacked my keyboard than risk a library book.

And I regret that. The act of consuming story and pure, distilled joy I get from them is a core part of who I am. If I didn’t love reading, I would never have developed a love for writing. If I didn’t love the stories and characters I read in books, I would never have discovered the love I have for analyzing and discussing them. I would never have learned about the relationship between literature and culture, that I love learning about historical context, the art of interpretation, or linguistics, things like that. Ever since I stopped reading piles of books or trade paperbacks of comics from the library, I’ve said to myself every few months “I miss reading”, “I want to get back into reading”. 

It’s not like I haven’t read anything since I was nineteen. Of course I have. I read all five books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series in the span of a year. I read monthly releases of DC comics for years, picked up pulpy romance novels ‘just as a palate cleanser!’, I tried starting book clubs with friends, promises of ‘I won’t buy or borrow any books until I read the ones I have’. And then I’d get through a few chapters of whatever I picked up only to put it down for the last time. I’ve made some progress! I read A Song of Achilles and Circe by Madelline Miller, Skyward by Brandon Sanderson, I accidentally read the sequel to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? In the last year. And I’ve gotten further in a lot of the books I’ve picked up than before. I’ve been reading manga more than anything the last few years. My Hero Academia, Spy x Family, My Dress-up Darling, Dungeon Meshi, Demon Slayer, One Piece, all stories I’ve enjoyed and have a lot to say about! I re-read the last six volumes of Demon Slayer a few weeks ago and wrote an entire comment section dissertation about it, the latest installment in a series that serves as the quiet void I shout into.

The first step for me was probably accepting that I’m never going to be able to read like I did in middle school. That’s okay, right? I might not have a JOB, but I am a grown-up with grown-up things to do. And it’s not like I’ve been sitting on my ass the whole time. I’ve learned so much, like how to actually form opinions, how to interpret text, how to analyze properly, how to do research, how to really write, among so many other things. Things I had to teach myself. I know, they say ‘the best writers are also prolific readers’. I believe that, I really do. I would never claim that I’m some genius writer and better than people who have gone to school for this or are so well-read that it improves their prose by default. What I am saying is that…I want to get there. I miss reading. 

So, I set a small goal for myself. There are so many books out there that I want to read. And sure, my little local library has a limited catalog, and Libby has at least two weeks’ waits on everything, and I can’t afford to buy books brand new, but we can only work with what we have, not what we don’t. I’ve decided to read one contemporary book, one classic, and one (ish) manga a month. Sure, there are going to be some blurred lines here, but I think we’re all mature enough to handle that. I’m going to define ‘classics’ as anything more than a century old. Slaughterhouse Five is newer than that but it is taught as a classic and on my TBR, so maybe it will count as a classic for that month. Who knows? We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. And if the manga is long, say, more than three hundred chapters, then I might split it into two months. 

With that being said, my picks for November are: A Hero of France by Alan Furst, Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf, and for the manga, Bleach.

My local library had a book sale recently. I bought a hundred and thirty books for eighty-five dollars in two trips. Not all of them are novels! I’m very proud of the memoirs and other non-fiction books I got. But that should keep me occupied for a good while yet. Not to mention the books I already have. That Furst novel is one of the ones I picked up last year at the book sale. It’s historical fiction about an agent in the French Resistance. I like historical fiction, I think it’s a versatile genre for both readers and writers. I read about half of a book called Lion’s Blood that was alternate US History last year that I’m gonna have to go back to because I STILL think about it. Anyway, that Furst novel. I’m about halfway through and I’m going to finish it. I’m invested enough to see it through, and I’m enjoying the experience. When I finish it and have had some time to collect my thoughts, you’ll be hearing them. 

While at that book sale, my almost nine-year-old became infatuated with a book. He liked the cover and title so much that he wanted me to buy it for him. I told him, “Buddy, this book would be a tough read for a grown-up.” He said he would figure it out, that he would ask for help when he needed it. The book was a dollar, so I bought it. I can’t say I’ve ever read Clive Cussler, but if I can help him understand it, I can be persuaded to read dry historical fiction. I know enough about WWII to explain what’s going on to him. It’s not on my list to get done by the end of November, but it is a high priority read. 

I picked Beowulf (and this translation) specifically because A) I know how influential Beowulf is on western storytelling, B) I’m a fan of Tolkien as a writer as well as his love of and gift for languages, C) I watched Monstrum’s episode on Grendel’s Mother and the Cardinal West YouTube documentary on Tolkien in the last few months, both of which I enjoyed a lot, and finally D) I’m a fan of Dr. Chase from The Best of Fantasy. My friend was kind enough to surprise me with a shiny new copy. It’s probably going to be a difficult read for me. I plan on taking notes and going slow to really digest it. I’m also trying to talk my mom into a buddy read, but we’ll see how the cookie actually crumbles with that one. 

Now, for how I landed on Bleach. I watched the entirety of Naruto and Shippuden (yes, even the filler) back in 2020, 2021, and then binged One Piece in 2023 into the early part of this year. So, of course, the insufferable nerd in me said ‘I want to be able to say I’ve seen the Big Three’. So I watched the anime. I wasn’t that impressed with it. Yes, certain characters stayed in my brain, yes I LOVE the Thousand Year Blood War (I’m currently behind), but it didn’t really hit me like Naruto and One Piece did. I thought the passion of the fandom might get me more into it. I tried art, lore videos, discussion, analysis, and that did help! But Bleach just…kinda fell by the wayside for me. A lot of fans say the anime isn’t as good as the manga, but it’s a long series. I didn’t have the time or energy to commit, especially when I had other series I was actually into to follow. I do follow One Piece, Spy x Family, and My Dress-up Darling on release. I followed MHA for more than three years week to week, only binging the last hundred or so chapters last month after its conclusion. 

And then AJ dropped his video titled ‘The Hollow Melancholy of Bleach’. It brings up some of the feelings I had watching the Fullbringer Arc and the Thousand Year Blood War and expresses something the anime just…didn’t capture for me. But that video and Geoff Thew from Mother’s Basement’s video on Bleach finally sold me. It took me a couple weeks, according to the notes I’ve been taking I started on October fourteenth. 

The manga is fantastic. I tried for thirty chapters a day and haven’t been as consistent as I’d like, but I’m in the two-sixties now. The art is beautiful, the character writing is great, the fights are intense, the vibes immaculate and the emotions are SO deep, so complex and resonant. I am so glad I jumped in, and I’m going to continue to take notes as I go. 

Reading isn’t the only thing I do, obviously. My first love will always be writing. I took a bit of a break cough-BookTube-cough, but picking it back up is always a joy. I’ll probably be spending some time in front of my white board in the near future working out some world building details that were not super relevant till now. I watched Jake over at Nerd Level Rising talk to Christopher Ruocchio and was sent into a PANIC over idiolects and regional dialect features, which I’ve been doing all along, just not enough? I guess? I looked everything over and did some light edits, took some notes to make things more consistent. Culture is a complex web, all interconnected and inseparable from the individual parts. Building them is hard work, a job that never seems to end, even if the document of notes is for me, not the hypothetical reader. 

You could say that I was too heavily influenced by long form stories with extended casts, because even though I’m closing in on a hundred and seventy thousand words, I’m in part two of…five? Maybe? In epic fantasy, there are so many moving parts to keep track of at any given moment aside from the nuts and bolts of prose and pacing. I worry all the time that everything I have is trash, and even if it isn’t, it would never get picked up by a trad publisher and I won’t be able to afford self-publishing. I’ve had some other sets of eyes on my prologue as alpha readers. Positive, encouraging feedback that I’m grateful for! It’s not the same thing as having someone who’s familiar with the story, who knows where my head is at, where I’m going. I don’t write to publish, I do it because I love it. But I’ve been writing for twenty years, and actively working to get better at it for fifteen of them. There’s just nothing to show for it. Everything I’ve finished has ended up in an old computer’s recycle bin or in a literal paper shredder, with abandoned works in progress along the way. As terrifying as it is to expose yourself to the light, it’s impossible to soak in the warmth of sunlight in the dark. 

I’m going back to the grindstone when I’m done here. I won’t give up. 

Other than all the YouTube distractions and trying to rightfully earn the title of bibliophile, I’ve been trying to watch shows again. Just a few things. I watched Kaguya-sama: Love is War and loved it, enough to put the manga on my TBR. I finally got around to watching Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End with the same result. I watched Dungeon Meshi twice, read the manga front to back. What a story! I’ve been meaning to write an essay on it, but I can’t imagine having anything to say that hasn’t already been said. I watched Mob Psycho 100 and can’t express enough how much it resonated with me. For the first time, I watched Over the Garden Wall. The kerfluffle on Twitter over it being removed and restored to Hulu recently had me digging that up. Quality Culture did a great essay on that series last year which I highly recommend. My friends have been obsessed with the new Interview With the Vampire series, enough to read the books, so I watched three episodes of season one and liked it a lot. I’ll get around to it. I watched Steven Universe: Future, which I’ve been wanting to for a while. We watched the main series with our kids and enjoyed it, and I thought the sequel series built on the themes and story well.

And like everyone else in the anime community right now, I’m watching Dandadan. It’s GREAT. The animation, the sound design and OST, the character writing, the action, all of it is just stunning. It’s funny and got a lot of heart to it. Momo and Okarun are so cute. I haven’t watched the new set of episodes in the Thousand Year Blood War yet, but I’ll catch up in the next week or so. I’ve been impressed with this adaptation, especially with the old series not really pulling me in until its final episodes. Not only is it visually enrapturing, it really hits on the atmosphere and emotions; not just in service to the story but truly elevates the material. 

With all the things I take in, it’s probably no surprise that there’s no less than five trains of thought going on at any given time. That video Tale Foundry did last week about Weird Tales and pulp fantasy, and this comment arguing that the fanfic community has stepped in to fill that niche? Yeah, I’m still thinking about it. Zoe Bee’s most recent drop about how metaphor influences the way we think and how that relates to politics? Of course I’m thinking about it! Not just about how it affects rhetoric but how it affects diction in prose, which is more my wheelhouse. Princess Weekes’ follow up to her ‘Tall, Dark and Racially Ambiguous’ essay surrounding casting Heathcliff gave me food for thought, and Jess of the Shire’s fantastic essay ‘Monstrosity & the Vampire’ did too. Tim over at Hello Future Me did a video about ‘Arcology: The City in the Image of Man’ and I’m still chewing on that one too. How could I not? The ideas presented there are FASCINATING, big picture questions about structuring society and the growing subgenre of solarpunk. Broey Deschanel and Final Girl Studios both doing amazing videos on The Substance? Of course I’m over here thinking about them! Final Girl Studios’ essay is called ‘The Simulacrum of Feminine Performance’, how could I not sit here and think about that, and what that is, and what that means?? And on top of all that, I opted into a DnD one shot in a couple weeks! Gonna need a character for that, one that’s PG…man, I’ve been busy! 

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World: Prologue

I haven't reread the whole of the series ever (my last reread was in preparation for the finale), so with the books getting more popular and the show simultaneously entertaining me and getting my goat I figured I'd jump onto the bandwagon and maybe get some validation from internet strangers. As the title states, this is a reread, so I will be spoilering the hell out of everything, so if you're a show only fan or still working your way through the books, please run away screaming (but tell your friends!).

...

Okay now that I can no longer hear any screams, let's get into things. I first started reading The Wheel of Time in 2003 in middle school, catching up in time to read New Spring when it debuted and the subsequent novels after (except oddly, Towers of Midnight, which I didn't get around to until the finale was right around the corner, so I guess my longest reread only goes up to book 12 technically). It's probably my outright favorite fantasy world and has a lot of characters I love - in fact, at times I feel I don't quite fit into the fandom because I don't have an irrational disdain of any of the common hate sinks bar maybe Gawyn, and even then some people are making me like him a little bit more so I don't know what I'm going to do then.

That said, like most readers who came of age in the 21st century, I do have a lot of problems with Jordan's worldview. It's a rather interesting friction: the man was definitely trying to write a world without the sexism of our modern era (and to a lesser extent other prejudices as well), and yet he could never rise above them himself. I'll probably spend a lot of time talking about this kind of stuff and what might have been done instead.

Likewise, when we reach the inevitable Slog (and sorry people who didn't start reading until the series was finished, it's real), I'll be talking a lot about how the plot might be adjusted for brevity and, once we reach the Sanderson era virtually everything I want to talk about will be magnified tenfold because as much as I enjoyed his efforts at the time, I've greatly soured on him as an author in general and as Jordan's heir in specific since.

But for now, let's focus on what's important: The Eye of the World's first prologue: Dragonmount.

The palace still shook occasionally as the earth rumbled in memory, groaned as if it would deny what had happened.

As first sentences go, I'm not in love. It's not bad, but it's just a little too vague; "the palace" doesn't really give my mind's eye much to work with because they can vary so much depending on when and where they were built. It ends well though.

The dead lay everywhere, men and women and children, struck down in attempted flight by the lightnings that had flashed down every corridor, or seized by the fires that had stalked them, or sunken into stone of the palace, the stones that had flowed and sought, almost alive, before stillness came again.

Despite its length, a sentence like this would work better to me as the start. It's shocking and terrifying; this is a level of violence we won't see channelers pull off until much later in the series.

The mind-twisting had struck at the core, ignoring peripheral things.

This feels pretty on-theme for the story, really. The Shadow tries to subvert the major powers of the world but its defeat is primarily orchestrated by a bunch of farmers.

The edge of his pale gray cloak trailed through blood as he stepped across the body of a woman, her golden-haired beauty marred by the horror of her last moments, her still-open eyes frozen in disbelief.

Well I made it four quotations before we needed to talk about feminism so that's... more than I expected, really. Meet Ilyena, a character so posthumous that despite being part of a prologue 3,500 years before the main story she's still already dead by the time it starts! Obsessing over dead women is probably one of the biggest complaints this series gets and boy does it deserve it. Despite electricity being long gone, our characters have no shortage of fridges.

That said, I do want to note that as it stands in this book, things aren't that bad. In this book. See, in this book, Ilyena isn't the only victim - the children she and Lews had are also among the dead, as are quite a lot of other people who just happened to live or work in the palace or were visiting. Except for the use of LTT's title "Kinslayer", none of them will be mentioned again after this book - in fact, the non-family members are completely forgotten after the prologue. But again, that's jumping ahead. In this book, Ilyena is about providing a specific name and face to the tragedy, humanizing all of the victims by proxy in a way that, "Twelve hours after saving the world, Lews Therin went insane and killed two hundred and sixty-five people including all of his blood relatives," does not.

...brought by merchants from across the World Sea...

We talk a lot about how Jordan was too immersed in southern culture to understand how its gender roles were about as universal as Mongolian throat singing, but not enough about how he's too immersed in globalized petro-fascist markets based on maximizing inefficiencies for the global elite to use to extract wealth to understand why a real planetary utopia living in harmony with nature wouldn't be shipping luxury goods across the ocean when there's perfectly fancy fabrics to make at home and anyway the Green Men should be able to help silkworms thrive anywhere if you're that desperate for something breathable.

On the other hand, points to him for not going crazy about Gateways and assuming that all global trade could be handled by teleportation just because they're a fun tool. I will have a lot to say about Gateways as we approach the authorial transition.

For a moment he fingered the symbol on his cloak, a circle half white and half black, the colors separated by a sinuous line. It meant something, that symbol.

Even now though, it means something other than what it once meant (being the sign of the seals on the Dark One's prison) and before too much longer it will pick up two more meanings, one for each half. The Wheel turns and the world changes.

Behind him the air rippled, shimmered, solidified into a man who looked around, his mouth twisting briefly with distaste.

Props to Ishamael for clearly Traveling with the True Power even this early on in the series.

Not so tall as Lews Therin, he was clothed all in black, save for the snow-white lace at his throat and the silverwork on the turned-down tops of his thigh-high boots.

Thigh-high boots! <3 (Seriously Ishy how can you want to destroy the world you can express your fashion sense in?)

Also note how this contrasts the Aes Sedai symbol described earlier. There's a little bit of white though, because it can't be helped even by the Shadow.

It will soon be time for the Singing, and here all are welcome to take part.

One detail from the Sanderson novels whose origin I'm uncertain of but like regardless of who came up with it is Rand's claim that the AoL was NOT paradise and that it was rotting from within even before the Dark One got involved. The latter half of this sentence suggests one such flaw: having the Voice is a hell of a talent, but apparently there were places that did not welcome all potential Singers. This could just be a result of the War, but maybe it speaks to something deeper.

“Shai’tan take you, does the taint already have you so far in its grip?”

Ish here is mostly pissed that he doesn't get to enjoy his gloating, because for all his talk about nihilism, he is petty first and foremost.

Dangerous for you, fool, not for me.

Ironically, all things considered it's really the other way around - Shai'tan is no threat at all to the Dragon soul and will utterly ruin Ish by the end. Ish really isn't anywhere near as clever as he makes himself out to be, he just looks smart because he's the last survivor of Academia.

“So you do remember some things. Yes, Betrayer of Hope. So have men named me, just as they named you Dragon, but unlike you I embrace the name.

This is an odd detail, all things considered. LTT's fatal flaw was pride (this very prologue says as much), so why wouldn't he be proud of a flattering name? I wonder if we get any more details on this in the books or if it's just a little detail that was lost in the shuffle.

But it is not enough. You humbled me in the Hall of Servants. You defeated me at the Gates of Paaran Disen. But I am the greater, now. I will not let you die without knowing that. When you die, your last thought will be the full knowledge of your defeat, of how complete and utter it is. If I let you die at all

See what I mean about Ish? This is not the behavior of someone who is tired of existence and wants everything to end, it's the behavior of a dude with a petty grudge that he dresses up in fancy terms and fancier boots.

[Ilyena] will give me the rough side of her tongue if she thinks I have been hiding a guest from her. I hope you enjoy conversation, for she surely does. Be forewarned. Ilyena will ask you so many questions you may end up telling her everything you know.

Quick, name a female WoT character that Jordan doesn't think this description applies to! Can it be done? I doubt it. Another common criticism is that for all of his 3,000 characters, all of the women were just his wife. I don't think it's quite true, but I do think that the women he knew well were all cut from pretty much the same cloth.

“A pity for you,” he mused, “that one of your Sisters is not here.

This is another oddity. AoL healing required all five kinds of weaves and they didn't divide things up by gender anyway, so why wouldn't a Brother suffice? There's plenty of male Aes Sedai who haven't gone crazy at this point, and it's been only a couple days at most so you wouldn't think people would have time to reflexively assume men wouldn't be helpful. Is this another kind of healing that works better when you do it cross-gender? Maybe Towers of Midnight mentioned that?

Helplessly he convulsed, thrashing, his skull a sphere of purest agony on the point of bursting.

Good to know that every incarnation of the Dragon suffers horribly for no good reason, I guess. Rand's nihilism is a lot more understandable to me than Ish's is, considering how little suffering the latter actually endures.

“You can have her back, Kinslayer. The Great Lord of the Dark can make her live again, if you will serve him. If you will serve me.”

"Your kids are fucked though. We put their souls in vacuoles and then jettisoned them towards Sindhol, so we can't fix that even if we wanted to. Also you balefired half of them repeatedly, we think. Hard to be sure because there's no record of them left except some silhouettes on that doorway over there."

(More seriously, they're being left out right now because LTT isn't cognizant of their demise, making this the only excusable omission.)

“Ten years your foul master has wracked the world. And now this. I will. . . .”

Plus a whole century of societal collapse, but I guess RJ hadn't come up with that detail yet. Hell at this point maybe Shai'tan was still supposed to be ET's son.

You and I have fought a thousand battles with the turning of the Wheel, a thousand times a thousand, and we will fight until time dies and the Shadow is triumphant!

Ish says this and the fandom as a whole treats it as true but... we don't actually know this! Third Agers often state that they HOPE to be reborn, which suggests that's it's possible the Wheel stops reincarnating some souls (replacing them, presumably) - and who better to retire than the people who stop being grateful for existence and start actively trying to undermine you?

Further, Rand's epiphany is about how despite the crushing cycle of everything, anyone can still hope to live a better life - there's no guarantee that Ishamael falls to the shadow every time, or that he ever has before or will again! Hell, he could just repent even after he falls. Bro has choices, he just refuses to see them.

His own sons and daughters, sprawled like broken dolls, play stilled forever.

This is actually another odd detail. I don't know how Aes Sedai fertility works, but while it's not implausible that LTT & IS could have children who were of the age where their play is the most notable thing about them, they should also have kids old enough to have grandkids by now! Lews' murders could potentially number in the hundreds without starting on the servants and faithful companions.

Also note that while Ilyena's demise horrified LTT and left him with nothing to live for according to the narration, it isn't until he sees that he's killed all of these people he loved that he actually tries to commit suicide. This is the sort of thing that's completely neglected going forward, but it is nice that things were a little more complex than him finding his girlfriend in the fridge and his mom in the oven.

The land around him was flat and empty. A river flowed nearby, straight and broad, but he could sense there were no people within a hundred leagues.

This is a pretty subtle sign of just how much death the last ten years must have entailed: the Erinin is flowing through a temperate part of the planet (there being no indication that the Earth's axis was significantly affected by the Breaking) yet there are no cities nor farms within a hundred leagues. By all rights there should be, but now they're gone. One can see why balefire was banned.

He did not believe it could come, forgiveness. Not for what he had done.

Maybe it's just my own weird moral code speaking but I think stuff one does while literally and entirely involuntarily corrupted by the source of all evil shouldn't really count against them. Obviously he's in shock, but it seems like something that carries on into Rand's behavior as well and it's a little depressing that in a series about free will vs. determinism there's such a common attitude that the stuff you're doomed to do regardless counts against you more than the things you had a choice in.

Because in his pride he had believed that men could match the Creator, could mend what the Creator had made and they had broken. In his pride he had believed.

And he wasn't wrong to believe that, he just did it wrong and doesn't consider that there might be other approaches. Tunnel vision is a real affliction in this series.

Only a heartbeat did the shining bar exist, connecting ground and sky, but even after it vanished the earth yet heaved like the sea in a storm. Molten rock fountained five hundred feet into the air, and the groaning ground rose, thrusting the burning spray ever upward, ever higher.

No denial on the earth's part here, just straight up compliance.

Of Lewis Therin Telamon, no sign remained. Where he had stood a mountain now rose miles into the sky, molten lava still gushing from its broken peak.

Now imagine a million more dudes doing this and you start to see why the Breaking was as destructive as it was.

Then [Ishamael] was gone, and the mountain and the island stood alone. Waiting.

Presumably Ishamael went off and told someone about LTT's suicide before being vacuum sealed for a millennium and change, cuz otherwise there's no way people would know what Dragonmount was.

The oceans fled, and the mountains were swallowed up, and the nations were scattered to the eight corners of the World.

The west, the Waste, Shara, the sea, the Mad Lands, north Seanchan, southwest Seanchan, and southeast Seanchan. There, we've turned what was obviously an odd turn of phrase into a literal statement with all eight items acccounted for!

Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs. Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

Well Rand did most of those things, but I don't remember any lambs, so I guess really he lost the war and the whole of the epilogue was a taunting dream the Dark One wove for him to distract him.

(God I hate those kinds of theories. If your assumption is that nothing is true, your theory is dumb and you should feel bad.)

From Charal Drianaan te Calamon,The Cycle of the Dragon.

So a lot of people talk about the conlanging in this setting and I just want to point one thing out: the fact that we go from the Old Tongue in the AoL to this New Tongue in the Fourth Age suggests very, very strongly that Randlanders are not inexplicably speaking English or anything close to it but something in between the two fake Tongues. We have a clear transition from things like "Telamon" and "siswai'aman" to "Calamon" for example, that dragon doesn't really fit into except as a distant ancestor/descendant.

Anyway, that right there is the prologue! I would compare and contrast it to Amazon's adaptation, but I cannot because they have not adapted this sequence yet. It's something of a shame, because I think the prologue is very important for making it clear that we're not actually doing a Tolkien-esque story like the early chapters suggest, but after seeing Winter Dragon I can also sympathize with not wanting to lead with this. That said, I am deeply depressed we couldn't keep Billy Zane and hope against hope that Rafe will find a role for him to be crazy in.

The TV show does do a sequence set in the AoL, but it's closer to being an adaptation of part of The Strike at Shayol Ghul than anything else, so I will hold off until we get there after A Crown of Swords.

[cranetreegang]

Random question. Favorite author/s?

I love this question!

Got me really thinking and most of them are on AO3 haha! But, this is probably a way longer post than it needs to be BUT LET ME GUSH!

FanFic Authors

Krebony - I love their story You Are My Home. It is such a sweet Ominis story and I am praying for the day it gets updated cause I am invested in what happens. I love the way Ominis is written (strong and sweet and protective and cunning) and it's a super sweet story with angst.

Lana_Morrigan - I love her Arcana - Julian story The Mirror Cracked. I love how she incorporated fairy tales into her story and it was just such a fun and heartfelt read. I enjoy reading very different prose from my own -> helps me grow more and branch out from the normal.

heartsof_theround - omg I love her story Our Floral Courtship. It was so cute and kept me on the edge of my seat. I love how she used the language of flowers (makes me want to do something in regards to that it was just so freaking CUTE).

@applinsandoranges - I love pretty much all of her one-shots because they're so well written and I love how sweet and cute most of them are (im sure everyone is sensing a trend with this and i am a sucker for cute and sweet content).

@eggymf - I love that she's putting in so much time and effort into crafting a long, multi-chapter story. I love hearing her ideas and how she executes them into her stories. I love how she writes Ominis - and I'm excited to see where OPPAW goes!

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NON FANFIC Writers

Kazutoyo Maehiro, Natsuko Ishikawa, Banri Oda - the genius writers behind Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (the critically acclaimed award winning expansion lolll). I am still reeling over the emotional devastation they caused me, and it's been a year since I played it. The characters they crafted will stick with me for a long, long time. It's truly amazing how someone can make a character - then make you care so much about them. It's an art I would love to hone and master - and I admire them greatly for being able to do this so freaking well. Like I don't cry much when I'm reading, but damn did I cry like a baby. A literal SOBBING BABY. Just... amazing.

Kentaro Miura - the legend who wrote Berserk. I'm not really into gritty, dark stories, but wow. Just wow. He made me appreciate the trials and hardships of what a character/person may go through - and how they may emerge and change from it. It's really beautiful how you can write the human spirit that survives even when everything seems against them. It's really made me think about how I write future characters -> what makes them human

J.K. Rowling - probs a controversial take, but I admire how she created a world, a literal world, that is such an huge part of society. When you think of wizards -> you think of Harry Potter. I believe that's an amazing accomplishment to have so many people love your stories and to be so invested in this magical world. She inspired a lot of people's imaginations and I think that's the end goal of every writer -> to inspire imagination. And I hope to keep doing that (even with my dumb lil writings about Ominis or whatever)

Brandon Sanderson - Currently reading Mistborn, but he's the first author that I'm reading with a different sort of lens. I'm viewing his work as a fellow author (i know, i know - hot take of me calling myself an author butttt). It's been interesting breaking down his work and how he structures things. I love how he's made the magic system and world easy to digest without it being boring. You're in this world - and it's so organic. You learn more and more without it being overwhelming. You start to really understand the magic system, and it's so freaking cool. I love his prose - as I'm not the biggest fan of flowery prose - and his is a bit more straight to the point.

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There's many more I could put on here - honestly there's so many fanfic writers that don't get enough credit, but they're doing the Lord's work out there. I love all of their creativity and how they inspire others with their stories and characters.

Thanks again for the ask! <3 <3

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2023!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

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140. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris--⭐️⭐️⭐️

Re-read in 2023!

Screw you, Bill. That's my main takeaway from this one again--my feelings on him being a crap boyfriend remain intact.

I also appreciated Sookie talking about money and how hard it has been for her to keep going and making ends meet. It's weirdly cathartic, especially when we compare the difference of how financially difficult life was in comparison to the financial difficulties of today. But also because I think a lot of the time, in these books (at least in the past), we focus so much on the relationships and the will-they/won't-they themes that we don't focus on the general lives of the characters. I'm excited to see what else comes Sookie's way! So glad I'm doing this re-read!

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141. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beyond the romantic idea that Sanderson essentially wrote this for his wife, this was such a fun and clever story full of adventure and hilarious moments. I enjoyed this so much more than I was expecting to, but I shouldn't have doubted because Sanderson's writing always scratches that one little fantasy itch you never knew was waiting to be scratched.

I loved the characters and how they all came together for this memorable adventure. Especially the narrator and how they spoke to us despite their current self not...being the way we expected them to be.

Also, my favourite and obvious theme was how it is a young woman who essentially saves the day. Sanderson's wife supposedly commented on how Buttercup didn't really do much to save her man in THE PRINCESS BRIDE, and I was curious to see what a more modern-day adaptation might look like. I wasn't disappointed because his mc is a badass who did all she could to save the love of her life.

While there were definitely some slower moments in the story, the dialogue and witty commentary will surely bring you back! Highly recommend it to anyone who wants a surprisingly humorous adventure set on another planet's oceans full of unexpected dangers.

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142. The Encounter by K.A. Applegate--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am genuinely enjoying the heck out of this series!

THE ENCOUNTER is from the perspective of the one kid whose unfortunate actions in book one changed his life forever. Keeping that in mind made this book so incredibly heartbreaking. There's obviously the pain of missing what his reality once was, but seeing his fight to keep the past part of him alive despite his life changing so much made me hurt so much for him. I think his actions during this book were perfectly suited to his age, because he is, after all, just a child.

I really hope we see a better outcome for him in the future. My heart aches knowing that he is the cautionary tale for the other kids in the group.

Yes, these books are fun and full of adventure and I love that they are actually meant to be read in order. But I think that in between those suspenseful moments, the reader needs to remember that these are kids fighting a very non-kid friendly war.

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143. I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As a bookstore employee, I'm enjoying reading these books because I can give better explanations to my younger customers! Also, these are just really fun bite-sized reads.

The titanic was a massive tragedy, so it was interesting to see it from the perspective of a child who had a better chance of actually surviving the sinking (a wealthy child). It made me think of a very, very condensed version of REFUGEE.

If you want a quick and eye-opening snack of history, I'd recommend this series!

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144. Monster Blood by R.L. Stine--⭐️⭐️

I don't even know anymore. LOL this book was something. Not the worst I've read in the GOOSEBUMPS series, but I do wish it had a bit more character development because, honestly, is it normal for kids who have just met to trust each other so thoroughly in the case of human-eating slime? Would you, as a precocious child, put your life in danger for the random kid you literally just met?

This is why I should have read these as a child. As an adult, my stranger danger alarms are just shining bright like a diamond.

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145. Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I went into this book with way too many expectations and that's my fault. I expected a gory and disturbing horror story set in a camp, what I got was a deeply disturbing exploration of the toxic world of cult-like religion that sent gay teens and young adults to Camp Damascus so they could be "cured" by any means possible...even if those means may be out of this world.

The book had it's moments of spook and legitimate chills because some of the language is deeply disturbing. Massive trigger warning for anyone who has trauma related to a religious upbringing. I wasn't raised in this way and I was deeply disturbed.

I wish I'd gone in with no expectations because I think I might have enjoyed it more. Was it fun? Absolutely! But I was very sad to see that it wasn't the setting I was hoping for. I know that a lot of other people will enjoy this book way more, and honestly that makes me happy!

That ending was great though--the explosion of build-up from the rest of the book was well worth the wait!

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146. Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There are only a few books where I can say I related a little too much to the main characters. Usually, it's books exploring my immigrant background, or growing up plus-sized, but this is the first time I've read a LGBTQ+ book where I related so much to the mc and her journey to understanding her sexuality and who she is as a person.

I grew up surrounded by heteronormativity. Any moment in my childhood where I was one step away from realizing my sexuality, something or someone was there to remind me that I can't stray too far. I had a friend who wasn't the greatest of allies and I still believe that set me back a million years. Coming to terms with who I am in my late 20's and early 30's was a massive mind-fuck. Suddenly, I started thinking about all of the signs and moments I ignored so I could stay in my little bubble. Reading IMOGEN, OBVIOUSLY by Becky Albertalli was like having a mirror put up to my face with a character yelling, "I told you so" (and plot twist, that character yelling is my younger self who always argued against me hiding my truth.)

Imogen, the mc, has a friend in this book who is the personification of doubts a new member of the LGBTQ+ community may feel when they finally let themselves step out of the closet. "Am I queer enough? Do I have a right to be queer when I haven't experienced half of the things other people in the community have experienced?" This friendship was toxic and a reminder that every community has its darker side. I wanted to hug Imogen for the doubts this friend seeded in her. But I wanted to celebrate her childhood friend who helped her understand that she is valid.

Yes, there is an incredibly adorable (and quick) romance in this one, but I think more than that, what needs to be celebrated is the support of non-toxic friends, and the personal growth Imogen experienced despite the storm brewing inside of her.

This book was difficult to read because of how incredibly relatable it was and because I know this is also something Albertalli wrote from her own experiences. I often worry about what others think of me when I approach the topic of being a part of the LGBTQ+ community and thankfully, I have some amazing friends who help support me. But I can't help but think of the other kids or younger adults who don't have that support, or guidance. This book could genuinely help so many questioning readers.

Through quick, witty, personable, and deeply emotional writing, Albertalli has created a novel that I recommend to everyone--whether they're a part of the community or an ally. Words and assumptions have more power than a lot of people seem to think.

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147. Far From True by Linwood Barclay--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As always, Linwood Barclay entertained me and kept me hooked. I'm always amazed by the twist and turns and the moments where my jaw genuinely drops because of the reveals.

I'll hopefully be reading the third one in the series soon--I'm curious to see why 23 is so important and who is behind it all! I'm totally reading this series out of order, but book four thankfully didn't spoil it for me!

Onto the next one!

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Have you read any of these? What are your thoughts?

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Happy reading!

[psalm22-6]

Source: the Los Angeles Herald, 16 August 1902

"Say, what's become of Fatty Malloy?" "Fatty? Oh, he cracked a gofe, an' a ' collar glued him before he could blow, an' the beak handed him a ten-spot." "Poor Fatty! I'm leary that he'll croak in the stir. Say, did you hear about Dutch Charlie? He got on his upper an' I grafted a benny an' was sent to the band house." "Dutch Charlie's a dead one. What's Jimmie Burke's graft row?'" "Jlmmie's a stall for a dip. Him an' his pal got a jacket last week." Had this conversation been a real one, as it might well have been, how many readers of this article chancing to have overheard the talk, would have had the slightest inkling of its meaning? Yet there are men who use these seemingly meaningless words and phrases and convey their meaning in them more readily than in the more polite forms of every day conversation. The questions and answers that serve to introduce this article are in the language of the professional criminal — a language which is as strange and as interesting and as full of revelations as any that could engage the attention of the student. [. . .] The very nature of this language and the use to which it is put demands that it be constantly changing. Criminals use it not so much for the sake of slangy and forcible expression, but to be able to talk while in the presence of honest people without having their conversation understood. Victor Hugo recognized this fact, and in his immortal "Les Miserables" he devotes several intensely interesting chapters to the language of criminals which he calls "argot." Many attempts have been made to prepare dictionaries of the criminal's vocabulary, but the fact that this vocabulary is so variable must always make the attempt a failure. Police officers try to keep themselves informed as to the changes In this remarkable language and in Kansas City none has been more successful in doing so, probably, than Detective Charles Sanderson. [. . .] The following list, however, contains, in addition to those already given, some of the most commonly used terms: Bilked—Fooled. Brltch—Front trousers pocket. Boobie hatch—Police station. Bit—Share. Caught up—To confess. Cold—Dead. Chop—To stop. Croaker—Doctor. Bum or phoney—Spurious gems or Jewelry. Crack—To make an assertion. Case—A dollar. Cup—To take. Cuducer—A conductor. Ditch—To throw away. Dummy—Bread. Dog—Sausage. Down below—Alluding to the penitentiary. Duck—A can of beer; to get away. Dick—Sheriff, constable or officer of any kind. Damper—Money drawer. Boost—To shoplift. Dan—Dynamite. Ducket—A ticket. Dos—A bed. Derby—A good haul. Elbow—A detective; also a bull; a harness bull is a uniformed officer. Fall money—Money put up for a man in trouble. Framed up—To make complete arrangements. Frisk—Search. Flag—To stop. Front—A good showing. Flash roll—Bills wrapped around paper to make a big showing, used by confidence men. Got it all—Life imprisonment. Gam—A leg. Glim—Spectacles. Gun—A thief. Gun. cannon or dip—A pickpocket Goods—Money. Hop—Opium. Hotel man—A hotel thief. Hooker—Woman thug. Hopscotching—Taking chances. Heel—A sneak thief. Holster—A shoplifter. Hoof—To walk. Instrument—One who picks the pockets of a man. John O'Brien—A freight train. Jug—A bank. Jerve—A vest pocket. James—A jimmy, a small crowbar. Knockout—A drug dope. Knocker—One who interferes. Kicks—Shoes. Kick—A pocket. Knowledge box—A college. Kangarooed—Given a false trial. Kip—To sleep. Leather—A pocketbook. Lam—To run.

[claireelizabethsblog]

~ January's Books Reviewed ~

January was a good month in regards to reading. Due to a lack of other obligations I read a lot, including completing a series that I had started the previous year.

Oathbringer pt 1 & 2 by Brandon Sanderson

(635 & 756 pages)

I am absolutely obsessed with this series. I read it under recommendation from a friend actually here on tumblr and I'm so happy I did. Sanderson's world is incredible, his characters are beautiful and the plot is intriguing and captivating. I genuinely would go as far as to say that Sanderson might be one of (if not the) best fantasy writers I have ever read. I did enjoy the first book in this series (The Way Of The Kings) the most I think, however I loved the character development of Shallan in this book. I would highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys fantasy or found family books. They are a big commitment and can be a little heavy getting into since it's a lot of world building, but I would say entirely worth it.

I gave both these books 4 stars ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

The Last Smile in Sunderland City by Luke Arnold

(316 pages)

I confess that I read this while waiting for the last Sanderson books to come so I was perhaps not in the head space to read something else, however I was a little disappointed by it. It wasn't bad by any stretch, however it was not what I was expecting. It was still a fairly light hearted mystery, however it was not as humorous as I was anticipating, and the mystery plot was strangely almost not the main focus, instead it became more of a character study, or political commentary. It was a really quick read however (I completed it in a day) and I'm glad I did read it. I'd recommend it to anyone who is maybe looking for a quick, easy first try at a fantasy book. The world building isn't as heavy as other fantasy novels and as it is a stand alone it's an easier first step into the genre than some other tombs of books!

I gave this book 3 stars ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Rhythm of War part 1 & 2 by Brandon Sanderson

(659 & 742 pages)

I am not a crier generally, so when I say that the start of this book made me actually fully sob I hope that that acts as a stronger review than any words I could say. It was emotional and so well written, especially the depiction of ptsd and depression. I really appreciated how fresh the story still felt. This is the fourth book in this series and it would have been so easy to just keep working in a formula that Sanderson knew had worked with the big battle scenes etc, instead (despite the name: Rhythm of War), this story moved away slightly for the war and fighting and instead showed a different form of tension. This kept the story exciting in my opinion, especially as I am much more inclined towards reading more subtle/undercover style fights than big battles. Some story lines were more interesting than others, but overall I felt this was an emotionally draining and addictive finale to the series.... that is until I realised that apparently their might still be more to come?! Either way, my comments from the previous book remain - I would highly highly recommend this series.

I gave both these books 4 stars ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe

(167 pages)

I know this is a classic. I know it is probably the original psychological horror. And I have so much respect for Radcliffe for that, however I did not find this book that enjoyable to read. It was simultaneously dreadfully slow and dull; and horribly complex. In theory, the idea behind it and the plot intrigued me but the characters were annoying and the style of writing was not engaging enough for me. If you like psychological horror books, I would recommend this, since it is where the genre started. It's a quick read for anyone who's wanting to tick classics off their list too.

I gave this book 2 stars ⭐ ⭐

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

(506 pages)

SOOO good! I loved the premise, and the characters are all so interesting and compelling. Some of them I despise with a burning passion, but in a good way! An incredible start to a trilogy as I finished filled with a desperate excitement to find out what happens next. I genuinely cannot reiterate how much I loved this book and how I would recommend it to everyone who in anyway feels inclined to reading anything in the realms of fantasy, mystery or general magic. I repeat: so so good!

I gave this book 5 stars ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

The Atlas Paradox by Olive Blake

(399 pages [hardback vers.])

Funnily enough, still so so good! I am obsessed with this trilogy and honestly the only bad thing about it might be the fact that I'm going to have to wait for the final book as it isn't published yet! I will say that I think I probably preferred the first one, but that is likely in part due to the fact that I read it a little quicker. In general, I find it is unusual to find a sequel that lives up to its predecessor so well like this. Again, I cannot recommend this enough.

I gave this book 5 stars ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

[thexgrayxlady]

What I Read in July 2024

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty - 4.50/5.00

If you could synthesize a book in a lab, just for me, this would be very close to the end result.

This was a fun, swashbuckling adventure, staring a retired pirate and her middle-aged crew. I love how despite being older, the characters are all still hot messes and absolute menaces to society. Amina, despite trying to reform for her kid, is still an adventurer at heart and you feel how much she loves being back on the sea, getting into misadventures. I was having too much of a good time to take too many notes.

Also Raksh sucks so much. He's just the worst. I love him. I want him to keep trying to serve Amina magical divorce papers forever.

It's really just held back by its ties to her previous series, which is mainly a personal grievance because I'm finding interconnected universes, especially when they don't need to be there, increasingly uninteresting. The part on the Peri's island drags a lot and they take a lot of the tension out of the ending.

The book has a fun, Raiders-esque feel to it. The plot unfolds at a pretty fast pace and I never got tired of the hijinks the characters got into getting the band back together.

Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan - 3.00/5.00

I'm always weirdly disappointed by these books. Like, they're not unenjoyable, but I always feel like there isn't enough focus on the speculative biology of dragons. The pacing for this book is a lot better than the previous entries, it gets right to business on Isabella's voyage around the world to study dragons. It's very accessible and easy to read. When the dragons are on page, they're really interesting. I really liked the illustrations. Unfortunately, I'm just not terribly interested in the politics of this world.

Wicked Beauty by Katee Robert - 3.50/5.00

I gave Katee Robert another chance and I liked this so much better than Electric Idol. Wicked Beauty made for a fun and easy beach read. The characters are less annoying, except for Hermes and Dionysus, who are, yet again, just so irritating. I hated every second they were on page. Fortunately, there was not very much of them.

I really liked Helen, Achilles, and Patroclus. They had a fun dynamic between them. I appreciate that while they come to care about each other, they have incompatible goals at first and they eventually work to figure out how to make their relationship work. They're all messy bisexual assholes and I loved watching them being messy bisexual assholes.

The ratio of porn to plot was a lot better in this book. The plot is kind of dumb, but it's entertainingly dumb and, let's be honest, you're not reading this series for the plot. There are some things from the plot that I would have changed, one of them is genuine and the other is just a personal preference. I wish that Helen defeating Paris had been from her POV and had more time and weight dedicated to it. It felt like the author was rushing to the end here. I also wish there had been more drama around Patroclus' injuries in the second trial, but that's just my preference. Hiding injuries is my catnip. It was dangled in front of me and then jerked away. Like the football. Jail for Katee Robert. Jail for 1000 years!

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson - 2.75/5.00

I see the appeal of these books. They do not appeal to me.

To it's credit, it is very accessible. Maybe a little too much so for my taste. I am, admittedly, a pretentious asshole. This could have been a fun book. At times, it is very close to being a very fun book. Unfortunately it settles for being the MCU of fantasy in both a complementary and a derogatory sense.

The language is very simple, to the point where the few times where complex vocabulary was used, it was somewhat jarring. I think I can count on one hand the number of times figurative language was used. Everything is very surface level, if it's what you're in the mood for, I could see it being very easy to turn your brain off and enjoy this and not have to worry too much about missing out on subtext.

That being said, everything is explained so often that you have to ask yourself if Sanderson thinks his readers are stupid. You just want to tell him that yeah, you got the point like three paragraphs ago, just get on with it. The over explanation of the, admittedly interesting, magic, the simple plot, and the beyond simple characters lead to the book feeling tensionless and bloated.

I actually like the magic system. When it wasn't being explained every other paragraph. Learning about Allomancy became very repetitive fast and I think at least half of it could have been kept in the appendix for a much tighter book. And because it was so overstated, I became kind of pedantic about it. The magic system doesn't even go as far as it could with its own logic. Why can they push and pull non-magnetic metals? Why is that road copper when it could be a much cooler magnetic metal? You could have a road made out of cobalt or neodymium or even nickel if you wanted something more mundane. Why is pewter the metal that makes you stronger when it's really soft and malleable in real life?

The world itself feels more like a themepark version of itself than an actual lived in world. I wouldn't care about this so much, but Sanderson gets so much praise for his worldbuilding and I do not get it. This is due at least in part to how flat and lifeless the characters are.

Vin is wildly inconsistent. She says over and over and over again that she doesn't trust people and she expects to betray her. Yet every time she encounters someone betraying someone else and she becomes surprised pikachu. Like, she should not need to have what noblemen do to Skaa women explained to her. She should not be shocked and appalled by it. She grew up with that threat constantly hanging over her head. She should not like or trust the nobility as much as she does, as quickly as she does. From the very beginning, she feels more like a sheltered noblewoman than a homeless orphan who makes a living by stealing.

I've very rarely encountered a character as annoying as Kelsier. You can practically see him tip his goddamn fedora and hear him say, "M'lady." I'm not sure a whole chapter goes by without one character or another extolling the virtues of the goddamn Mary Sue. He has one pretty good moment, when he returns to the Pits of Hathsin, and another when Sanderson has another all too brief flash of really good writing with Kelsier's death. The first is nearly immediately undercut when Kelsier single-handedly destroys the Pits in two pages and meets so little resistance in doing so that it feels like he could have done that whenever he wanted to. If he could so easily do this, why does the rest of the plan even need to happen?

Sazed's the best character and even then, he's still wish.com Alfred Pennyworth.

Because the main characters are so overpowered and the antagonists have very little presence on the page, plot has no tension. Everything just feels too easy for the characters. Everything more or less goes according to plan. And when it doesn't, it doesn't feel like they have to struggle to get things back on track. At the end, I had to ask myself what was the point of 2/3 of the book spent gathering the army when Vin and Kelsier were going to solo everything.

The tension is not helped by calling the oppressed underclass The Skaa.

The logbook bits at the start of the chapters are the most interesting part of the book because they're allowed to stand more or less on their own and they don't tell the reader everything that happens, then explain it in the narration, then have the characters discuss it again just to make sure that the reader knows what happened.

Admittedly, the last fifty pages are a blast, but you shouldn't have to slog through six hundred pages of repetitive, annoying, beige prose to get there. The Lord Ruler's entrance is really cool and creepy. What Vin does with the metal arrowheads is creative and frankly just nifty. Unfortunately, my copy had several misprinted pages right when it was getting good, so I couldn't really even enjoy that.

At the end of the day, it honestly feels like Sanderson would rather be writing manuals for a TTRPG than a novel.

Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse - 3.50/5.00

The cover is less criminally ugly than Fevered Star!

I want so badly to like this book more than I do. Unfortunately, it inherits too many problems from the previous book to land as effectively as it could. The author still has to scramble to move characters into place because of how much time the previous book wasted futzing around.

The whole Teek storyline feels rushed and I feel like Xiala should have gone through most of it in the previous book. If her mother, aunt, and the matrons were given more time to develop, then their massacre would have had more of an impact. The scene on the beach where she starts to Sing is really good and I wish that it had the impact it deserved. That being said, once it gets off of the Teek islands, watching her come into her powers is pretty cool and her storyline moves much more smoothly. Her reunion with Serapio is very cute and I love their relationship.

Naranpa's storyline ultimately feels superfluous and hastily tacked on as the conflict pivots away from the Crow God and the Sun God. At the end of the last book, I thought we would get at least something interesting happening at the Graveyard of the Gods and it just never happens. I feel like you could cleanly excise her parts from the book and very little would be lost. It's ultimately just so shallow and disconnected from everything else that it's hard to care.

None of Balem's flashbacks were needed and just leave the book feeling bloated. Frankly, I don't think that Balem's POV is needed to begin with. You could get just about everything you needed from that with some minor tweeks to Iktans.

Serapio's POV is easily one of the strongest. There's a scene with the man he thinks is is father that's so good. You get such a strong sense of his religious trauma and why he feels like his destiny is his only option. You really understand why he latches so strongly onto anybody who treats him like an actual human, like Okoa and Xiala.

Like. I loved the first book in this series. I love these characters. This is such an interesting world. I know it doesn't seem like it from this review, but I like this book. There's a lot of very good stuff in here. It's just held back too much by mistakes made in the previous entry and I wanted it to be better.

[blcssom]

as the air shifted between them, max's movements became less frantic and more indulgent, hands moving slowly over her body to memorize her figure which he would no doubt dream of later in the evening. "it is: it is what i wish, faye." his words were earnest, murmured against her chest as he stared up at her. "i wish for nothing more than to show you how your body ought to be cherished." he ached to touch her elsewhere, but instead maxwell focused on her pert breasts, tongue circling her one of her nipples before he took the other mound into his mouth with a soft moan. he could feel her shifting her hips, rutting against him in the pursuit of relief through the friction, and it took everything in him just to let her: after all, it was her body that would be informing his actions. no move would be made without express permission from the writhing frame beneath him. he cradled her closer, teeth tugging at her sensitive bud as another moan rang out from his chest. "as saddened as i am for you to hear that, i must admit a part of me is relieved." one hand raised to cup her jaw, tilting her head back as he straightened his spine so that his lips could overtake hers once again. a hum of approval settled on his lips as he held her body flush against his, desperate for her warmth to seep into his skin as he drew her tongue into his mouth and sucked along the smooth muscle gently. "i fear i may intend to spoil you, miss sanderson. and, before you agree too readily, you should know i can be very.... possessive. despite having been raised alongside siblings, i never have been much good at sharing." no doubt the town would see what he was witnessing the more he helped her awaken some of her more basest desires: faye sanderson was glowing with the fulfillment of each touch, and no doubt the rest of the young bachelors would take notice. they may not be privy to what had caused it, but nevertheless it would renew their interest and the sheer thought had maxwell's fingers gripping her a little tighter. thumb grazing over her protruding nipple, his other hand slipped between them so he could pull out the fabric she'd stuffed between her thighs. "you keep trying to deny me the feeling of your arousal, but you should know i am very eager to see how your body responds to my touch." he encouraged another roll of her hips, this time allowing her cunt to drag along his breeches. "i wish..." now it was his cheeks that turned a deep shade of scarlet. "i want to touch you there, but i do not wish to overwhelm you...."

faye preferred to stick to what was safe rather than venture into the unknown, but in this case, she'd never wanted something quite so bad as she did maxwell, and that was what drove her to swallow her fear and embrace whatever it was he had to offer. at least he seemed to know what he was doing, taking the lead so that faye merely had to follow along and hope she didn't fall behind. in the moment, she had no time to wonder where exactly he'd learned to be so adept at toying with a woman's body, too consumed with what was occurring in the present moment to concoct any theories. his chaste stolen kisses succeeded in soothing some of her anxiety, her body releasing the tension it'd been holding onto, once again relaxed in his grasp as he reassured her. though she wished she had more of an understanding of both their bodies in order to offer him even a fraction of what he was offering her, she had to admit, she was glad it was him to be showing her the ropes, to bring her into the world of sexual exploration with the utmost care and gentleness. she let out a heavy breath of relief once he exposed her chest to him, the rosy pink peaks of her breasts already pebbled from the slight bit of attention he'd been paying to them, barely able to lift her head in a nod as it felt so heavy. "if... i-if that is what you wish, my lord." the salacious drag of his tongue was met with a gasp, surprised at just how good such a simple action could feel, never having known what pleasure could stem from that part of her body. moving her hand away from where it had been pressed over his cock, she lifted her hips slightly and attempted to push the fabric of her chemise between her legs, bunching it up so that it may soak up the evidence of her arousal before it dampened his trousers. her lashes fluttered as he suckled on her other nipple, hips settling back down onto him and bucking of their own volition, having to sink her teeth into her lower lip to hold in a pathetic whine. his question caught her off guard, though she should've seen it coming. he wanted to know the extent of her ignorance so she wasn't kept totally in the dark when he eventually proceeded to more deliberate touches, but faye found herself flushed as she struggled to answer him properly. "no, never, i have... i have yet to explore that part of myself..." there had been one time, when faye was stricken with that strange feeling of sickness, that she had shoved her hand between her legs and cupped at the apex of her thighs, rutting against her palm to try and alleviate herself of the ache that emanated from there, but the resulting feeling was far too intense, it overwhelmed her to the point of fear and she'd never dared venture there again.

[allovertheworldblog]

All Aboard!, for all points West

I boarded the Sunset Limited train service, New Orleans to Los Angeles, on Monday 21st March 2011.

I knew the journey would take 2 days to take me the from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.

I was looking forward to it. 

I had a reclining chair to sleep in, a fold out bed in a ‘roomette’ would have been about $500 extra.

During the day there was an observation car,

a dining car and a snack car to entertain the passengers and keep us occupied. 

It turned out to be an interesting experience if not a wholly relaxing one, given the somewhat confined nature of the train.

The trip was a couple of hours short of 2 days and five miles short of 2,000.

At 11.55 we set off from Union Station in New Orleans headed for Union Station in Los Angeles.

The trip would take across the southern belly of the United States, into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and finally California.

As we leave New Orleans we climb high to get over the mighty Mississippi river. 

Announcements are made intermittently over the tannoy system. The usual kind of stuff, about the train, services available.

Most of the announcements are made at a reasonable level. The exception is Monika, the dining car attendant, who feels the need to almost shout over the tannoy.

She tells us that she’s taking reservations for dinner, breakfast, lunch etc.

She tells us that the service for such and such a time is available now in the dining car.

Each time she feels the need to almost shout the announcement.

In the afternoon we make a stop at New Iberia to let some passengers off.

A different voice comes over the tannoy, a man’s voice.

He isn’t shouty like Monika.

He says something in a low almost inaudible voice, before we pull off he says what sounds like 'eyeball Suzie’. Whatever can it mean?

A grizzled old Texan lady who has seen too much sun in her long life jokes with her friends that she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to sleep tonight because she won’t have the noise of the New Orleans trollies outside her window.

Before 18.00 the conductor comes over the tannoy and tells us that we’re crossing the Sabeen River and that we’re entering Texas.

We’ll be travelling across Texas for 24 hours, until we cross the Rio Grande.

Different times of the day afford different views, maybe a change in light, a change in landscape, different types of clouds.

Low fluffy clouds move quickly across the sky.

Higher up ones are more pulled out and stretched.

Then there are some dotted, dappled and even pointilistic ones.

The part of Texas we go through first off is pretty green. I guess it must be parched as hell in summertime. We pass some timber houses, some on stilts.

We go past China, Texas, where there are a couple of cows chewing the cud.

A big old evening sun signals the end of the day. 

The following days brings more of the same. The landscape has changed a bit though, it’s more parched. 

The conductor tells us about one of the places that we’re passing by. The town of Sanderson, where the Amtrak station closed 13 years ago, that doesn’t have a grocery store any more.

The nearest grocery store is 67 miles away.

The inhabitants call it 'paradise’ he tells us.

In the west Texas town of El Paso we come come parallel to the border with Mexico.

The houses in Mexico are so close to the border that we can almost see what’s on their dinner table.

In the middle of nowhere a man in jeans, white shirt and stetson is standing at a fence with 2 kids.

The guy looks like the Marlboro Man, a cowboy and a country singer all rolled into one. 

There could be more people on the train that the kids are waving at than they’d see in a week, a year even. 

We went past some real small places, places that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, places where the train doesn’t even stop any more.

Some volunteers from the National Park Service come on board to tell us about the flora and fauna of the state. 

We pull into Union Station in Los Angeles ahead of schedule at 08.15 on the 23rd March.

[terrapwaters]

Check out my newsletter at the above link, or under the read more!

Newsletter #5

January 24, 2024

Welcome to my newsletter! You signed up to be on my mailing list, so first I want to thank you for taking an interest in my work! Thank you!

What have I been up to lately?

Aether Beyond the Binary

24 hours left to back our Kickstarter! Don’t miss your chance to grab this anthology before it’s too late!

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, my short story Ancient Hearts Unearthed, will be included in Aether Beyond the Binary, an anthology from Duck Prints Press. Above is the awesome cover art by non-binary artist Mar Spragge. It’s all about characters outside the binary (nonbinary, agender, genderqueer, etc.) in an aetherpunk setting! Our Kickstarter runs through tomorrow, January 25th!

Here’s an excerpt from my story about a pair of archeologists exploring a newly uncovered cave:

Sasha almost ran into Victoria, stopping short. Over her shoulder, they saw the cavern wall. The appearance of the rock was unusual enough to draw Sasha’s attention to the fact that they’d come to a dead end. “Those markings are too regular to be natural.” They stepped around Victoria and reached out to run their fingers over the rock, feeling the way shapes had been carved into it. “They’re pictographs. Or runes, perhaps?” They turned to Victoria. “What does the ancient rune expert have to say about them?” “I’m…” She took a long, silent moment to look at the wall, moving her light around and tracing the shapes with her fingers. “I can’t see them well enough. We need the supplies to make rubbings. And more light.” “Where can we get anything other than aetherwork light sources?” “Candles, I suppose.” Victoria looked down at her hand, pressing the red light on and off. “Or some sort of electricity lamp.” She snickered. “Whale oil?” Then Victoria turned and ran a hand over the runes again. “What bothers me is that these are early Age of Aether markings. You see the way they’re using archaic forms of our letters?” Sasha leaned closer. “I’ll be damned. This doesn’t match the bronze era artifacts in the rest of the cave, either.” They made a tiny humming noise. “Who else would have this much knowledge of ancient runes?” As Victoria leaned as close as she could to the wall, she asked distractedly, “What do you mean?” “Obviously, it’s a fake,” they said, mulling over the problem in their head. “Sanderson has wanted my place on the admissions committee since he joined the department.” “What if it’s not a fake?” Victoria made a tiny, excited noise. “What if this is early Aether Age work? What if this is a secret that’s been buried for almost a thousand years?” Sasha’s heart swooped at the thought. “We have to find out what that inscription says.”

If you want to find out what happens next, please back our kickstarter campaign!

Nyctophobia Series (and more) under the read more!

For those of you who read my long Stranger Things Stoncy series, Mr. Sandman, Nyctophobia is the original sci-fi series based on elements of that story. Phase Shift is the first book in the series. I’m now posting it to my Patreon and Ream sites.  

Details

Rating: Teen and up

Tags: science fiction, alternate dimensions, teen characters, friendship, bisexual main character (minor references), lesbian character, nonbinary character, aliens

Summary: Despite being a self-professed science geek, high school freshman Camilla Mitchell has had a secret imaginary friend for years. It comes as quite a shock when said friend, Emma, accidentally drags her into a dimension full of hostile telepathic creatures. Cam’s friends, her brother, Oliver, and her mother, Kathryn, work furiously to solve her disappearance and bring her home. Other members of their small Minnesota town disappear, one after the other, including Lizzy Becker’s best friend, who is ripped from her arms. Lizzy badgers loner Oliver into working with her to rescue their missing loved ones. They discover a bridge between the two worlds—a bridge that allows the hostile creatures from Cam’s newly-discovered dimension into ours. If there’s a bridge, there’s a way to rescue the people taken. Right?

Content warnings: disordered eating, emetophobia, child abuse mention, homophobic bullying, teen characters in danger, gun violence, physical violence, abduction

The prologue and first chapter are now available for free on both Patreon and Ream! Chapters 2 through 4 are available to the $4/mo subscribers on either platform. New chapters drop weekly, on Wednesdays!

If you can’t subscribe now, backing during any month at the $4 level will get you access to all the members-only chapters posted up to that date while you’re subscribed. I’ll let you guys know when it’s getting close to fully posted, if you want to pay just for that month.

I finished adding all the Phase Shift details to the new series bible, which will help me as I finish the rewrite of the second book in the series, Inertia. This sequel is where the OT3 relationship takes off and I start incorporating elements of Mr. Sandman into the original series. Currently, Inertia is 80k words and about 4 chapters short of the end. I could use some help from an alpha reader to iron out the rest of the plot. If you’re interested, please let me know by emailing terrapwaters@gmail.com. I’m more than willing to trade alpha reads/critiques for a similarly sized project (or projects.)

Magnolia Way Series

This series is my take on a “Friends”-like sit-com in novella form. It’s centered on a four-person polycule living together in Chicago, 1999. They move into an apartment building full of colorful characters, and meet the cute girl who lives across the hall.

Moving Day (Book 1)

I finished a rewrite of the first version (that version is still available on Amazon). The rewrite needs to be beta read and edited, and I’ll likely start publishing to Patreon and Ream once Phase Shift is completely posted. It’s 18k, rated Teen on the AO3 scale. If you’d like to beta read the book, please let me know by emailing terrapwaters@gmail.com. I’m more than willing to trade beta reads/critiques for a similarly sized project (or projects.)

Spilled Coffee (Book 2)

This book is available now on Amazon. I’ll probably make some significant rewrites before this one goes to Patreon/Ream as well.

Overnight (Book 3)

This one has been beta read and is waiting for my edits!

Besides the above-mentioned editing, the next step for this series is to start writing book 4, which takes place during a Halloween party!

The Deity Tetrarchy

A.K.A Four Gods. This is a fantasy world I’ve been really inspired to write in recently. There are four gods and their domains are Time, Force, Life, and Death. The God of Time, Tempus, rules the Underrealm (where souls are eternal), while the God of Death, Tenemor, rules the Overrealm (where all living things must die). The Goddess of Life, Anivita, spends summer in the Overrealm and winter in the Underrealm. It’s vice versa for the Goddess of Force, Potentia, also known as the Winter Queen. The children of Life and Death are immortals known as clerics, responsible for shepherding the mortal souls in their care through their lives in the Overrealm. The children of Time and Power are immortals known as timekeepers, who care for souls in the Underrealm, where they rest and heal from the rigors of the Overrealm.

I have a few stories I’ve written or that I’m working on in this context.

The Wayward Timekeeper - An immortal cleric must go on a quest through the Underrealm to save his mother, the Goddess of Life. You can read this rated-Teen 9k word fantasy adventure story by backing the Duck Prints Press Patreon at the $10 level. Backing gets you access to a ton of awesome stories by fantastic authors. You can also buy this story as part of the author bundle add-on for the Aether Beyond the Binary Kickstarter!

Dancing for the King (working title) - Andelion has practiced for years to be allowed to dance for the god king of the Overrealm on the summer solstice. It’s the one day of the year his marriage vows lapse and the king can take a lover. This is going to be my contribution to this April’s DPP Patreon. It’ll be explicit, around 7k, m/m, with some delicious size difference content.

Laurel (working title) - When the impossible happens and an immortal cleric is murdered, Laurel must find out how. If someone has figured out how to kill the children of the gods, she and her siblings are all in danger. This is the novel I worked on drafting during Nanowrimo 2023. I’m expecting it to sit at a T rating, mostly a mystery/thriller in this fantasy setting. The main relationship will probably be f/f and maybe an f/f/f V-shaped triad. I’ve got some good content (about 30k), but I decided I needed to start the story further back in the timeline than I initially planned. I’ve also rethought a few of the characters and their roles, but I think a rough draft should be doable. I’ve done a lot more worldbuilding and identified a few characters who were missing from the story structure, so it’s coming along!

Here’s a snippet of Laurel:

Laurel ignored the screeching shouts of the band of children running through the monastery halls, until the door to her workroom opened and closed. A child wearing a hat with cat-shaped ears pressed his back to the door, panting with his eyes closed. Sweat shined on his freckled face, but when he opened his dark eyes and they twinkled, Laurel couldn’t help but smile. She raised one eyebrow at her little brother. “Who did you piss off this time, Teddy?” “Editha,” he said with a cringe. As he left the door and joined her at the worktable, he held up a curled lock of inky black hair. Laurel gasped and grabbed it out of his hand. “What did you do?” He grinned. “She said she wanted me to cut it. I decided she’d look best with short hair.” “Katysha is going to kill you.” Teddy tilted his head for a second, then asked, “Does it hurt? Dying?” “We can’t die.” Laurel set the lock of hair aside. “Yeah, but do you think it does?” As a cleric, Laurel had attended the deaths of several Houndsborough residents. She could lie to Teddy, but he’d be ill prepared for when it was his turn to start attending the dead and dying. Nodding, she said, “Yeah. It does.”

Marina (working title) - Marina only meant to go to the autumn equinox festivities in the capital city with her brother. She didn’t expect to be recognized as the reincarnated soul of the god-king’s former lover. I’ve got about 10k of explicit material, and I’m envisioning this as a series of short stories/novelettes as Marina gets pulled into the politics and intrigue of the palace and its harem. 

Others—I’ve got a few ideas around how the Goddess of Life, Anivita, would use her powers to experiment, and I’ve written a few snippets, but they’re still really rough.

Get Your Words Out

This year, I decided to focus on editing and planning. I’ve committed to work on writing for 20 minutes a day, for 350 days of the year. So far, I’ve done writing tasks on 22 of 23 days this month! I took the day off when I had a major dental procedure, but I’m still on track!

What am I reading?

I’ve been keeping track of my reading over on storygraph. Feel free to follow me there, and I’d love to follow you back!

Jay’s Gay Agenda by Jason June—I read this for book club. It was a little uneven with the characterization, but I can see why people found it cute.

Sordidez by E.G. Conte—this was an interesting novella about future decolonization of the Caribbean and the Yucatan. I feel like a lot of it went over my head, but I found it an interesting mix of viewpoints and unlike everything else I normally read. I’m glad I picked it up off the library’s choice reads shelf!

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir—I’m not quite halfway done with this one, and still very confused, but I’m enjoying the ride!

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé—This one is my current audiobook. It’s about lies and intrigue in a fancy private school, and I’m eagerly listening on to find out what happens!

Thanks for reading this far!

As you can see, I have a bunch of projects in the works. I’d love some feedback on which of these you’re most interested in. You can reply to this email, or find me on one of my socials.

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And that’s it for now! Thanks so much for your support!