#daniel schwabauer

[waffle-sorter]

So. What are the parameters here?

The alien serum has been described as healing "all natural ailments" and doing "genetic healing". It will rebuild an arm on a person who was born without one, but not on someone who had theirs amputated.

So what counts? We're told it fixes cancer patients - would it heal the long-term damage from sunburns if there's nothing actually cancerous? Or a smoker's lung cancer, where there's a large component related to the person's choices? If you have a genetic predisposition to, say, dental cavities, would those be fixed or would you just be less likely to get more going forward? Autoimmune issues? Down's syndrome is presumably covered, but what about other forms of neurodivergence? How does it treat intersex people whose genes are "normal" but don't get carried out as expected?

It's all about the edge cases.

[pargery]

"Even the Grand Canyon is only grand for a little while. After that it's just another detour on your way to a cold drink."

From _Maxine Justice: Galactic Attorney_ by Daniel Schwabauer ©2022.

[dragonanne]

Tagged by @secretwriterstudentjaune

1) Three non-romantic duos: Hmmm...brotps I adore would be Jack and Daniel (SG-1), Sam and Daniel (SG-1), and Lune and Matsen (Jade Torch -- is it cheating to use my own book??? xD) If that's cheating, then Sam and Frodo (LotR).

2) A ship that might surprise others: I kinda ship Link x Mipha from BOTW. I like Zelda x Link too, but something about Link x Mipha is just so sweet and tragic. I like that they knew each other for a lot longer than Zelda and Link knew each other.

Let's be real. I don't have a lot of crazy ships. Although, in SG-1, I do ship Vala x Tomin (but I also like Vala x Daniel).

3) Last Song: Shackleton by Adam Young

4) Last Film: My parents and I watched Hitched for the Holidays last night. Very funny romcom with Joey Lawrence. It's a Hallmark movie from 2012, so just before they all got so unbelievably cookie cutter/copy+paste with their plots.

5) Currently reading: Operation Grendel by Daniel Schwabauer

6) Currently watching: The X-Files. I'm nearing the end of season 1. I've never seen it before, and I'm loving it!

7) Currently consuming: Coffee

8) currently craving: idk. I don't have a strong craving for anything right now.

Tagging @aceofstars16 @quiescentdragon @ryeillustrates @accidental-spice @jenniferbrincho (if any of y'all have already done it or already been tagged, my bad--my memory stinks 😅)

[paranormaljones]

AIWS boneyard and behind the setting sun >:)

AIWS Boneyard is my "boneyard" for And I Would Stay A While Longer, it's where I put scenes or snippets that I like but they don't work in the bigger picture of the scene; they may end up getting reused in a different part of the fic, or they might just stay in the boneyard forever. XD Lemme find a little snippet . . .

“Say, what were you doing here last night, anyways?” Lucy asked suddenly, looking at Lockwood. “Poking around on the ground for ages. Couldn’t tell what you were doing, besides getting your trousers muddy.” “Oh, I was just looking for something I lost a while back.” He shook his head. That was hardly important at the moment.

That was just a little dialogue snippet that I took out from the scene where Lockwood brings George to the woods where Lucy is.

(Boneyards are very useful writing tools, I use them for most of my WIPs)

And Behind the Setting Sun is a WIP I started years ago, heavily inspired by Redwall and Daniel Schwabauer's Runt the Brave series! I haven't worked on it in ages, I think I started it when I was 17, maybe? The idea is still there, and I'd still like to turn it into a whole novel someday. I kind of need to rework all of it though. Here's a snippet from the beginning!

“I am called Grey.” The stranger’s voice was cold, his eyes dark and angry. “Is that a joke?” Bannon scoffed. Rhea felt a shudder run down her spine. The stranger did not answer right away, but his glare grew hotter. “No.” Rhea looked around at the crowd of uneasy watchers, more mice from the Sanctum. Thin, trembling wisps. They all felt what she did. The silence was like a blade at their throats. She looked back at the stranger. Blood dripped down his side, striking against his pale fur. “You’re injured,” she said softly. The stranger’s glare shifted from Bannon to her, and she felt something like a thousand pinpricks in her paws. He didn’t say anything, only stared at her.

Thank you for the ask!! Got me wanting to work on a WIP now 😂💙

[dragonanne4fun]

Some books know I want to read this year:

Operation Grendel by Daniel Schwabauer (finish)

The Unanswered Questions by Lauren D. Fulter (reread but also it would be the new illustrated edition)

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

The Agaped Bearer by Hannah Lindsey

Riddle of Hearts by Rosie Grymm

Wizards of the Apoclaypse: The Forgotten Prophesy by X Zombie

Dragon School: First Flight by Sarah K.L. Wilson

North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Books I am eyeing but undecided:

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Earth-treader by Alissa Zavalianos

Reckless by Cornelia Funke

Dune by Frank Herbert

Yesterday or Long Ago by Jenni Sauer

This list may change. These are just my thoughts as of 1/1/2024. And I plan to read more books than these, but I don't plan what I'm going to read. I just have an idea of some of what I currently want to read.

[cultivating-wildflowers]

Books of 2022 - May

Upended all my reading plans again because I agreed to judge books from another round of this contest I signed up for. It’s fine.

Technically for this round I was signed up for ebooks instead of audio but.... They gave me five books and about four weeks and I had to do something to get it done in time*. So when I found a few of the books on Hoopla audio I snatched them up. It’s all good. (And it’s not like I was asked to judge presentation/quality of print/any of that stuff because they’re ebooks after all. We’re fine.)

It kind of went downhill from there.... Started a ton of books, reread some favorites, glumly cycled through a bevvy of subpar books I quickly DNF’d.... Fun times. I’m closing out the month with several books half-finished.

I also started Dracula alongside what appears to be fully half of Tumblr, so I’ll be reading that in bits and pieces through November, eyyyy.

*Yes yes I asked. I volunteered. That changes nothing.

Total books: 6 |  New reads: 4   |   2022 TBR completed: 2 (2 DNF) / 11/22 total   |   2022 Reading Goal: 40/60

April | June

#1 - Secret Contest Book #4 (Sci-Fi) - 3/5 stars (audio)

We’re gonna call this one “lackluster”. It had a lot of intriguing elements, but the execution left a lot to be desired. Unremarkable characters, uncompelling story, decent world-building. This is not the first book I’ve read by this author, but it does cement the fact that her writing is not for me. (And it felt like fantasy, not sci-fi.)

ONE thing it does have in its favor: the main character is handed a gun for safety purposes and is IMMEDIATELY and concisely instructed on basic gun safety. Props to the author for that!

#2 - Operation Grendel  by Daniel Schwabauer - 5/5 stars (audio)

This is the book I mentioned near the beginning of the month where I was vague on the plot but didn’t care because it was so engrossing.

And it held up through to the end! A solid, immersive military-leaning sci-fi adventure with a splendid balance of action, drama, and humor. No frills, no overblown world-building, just adventure and explosions and the fate of worlds hanging in the balance. I recommended it to a friend before I’d reached the quarter mark.

And THEN I got to the twist near the end and recommended it to about five other people. A delightful read.

#3 - Secret Contest Book #7 (Sci-Fi) - 5/5 stars (audio)

AHHHHHHHHH. I LOVED THIS ONE.

Space. A 20-something main character. CATS. Giant bugs. The ever classic “what makes us human?” theme coupled with “what makes me worthy of love?”. Good, good, excellent characters. Subtle, natural world-building. Even a touch of a murder mystery! So much to love.

I did not have high hopes for this one and it blew me away. I laughed, I cried.... It moved me, Bob.

#4 - The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison - 5/5 stars (reread)

This is one of those books I read, knew I liked but couldn’t say why, and left to simmer in the back of my brain. It is also evidence for either 1) the benefit of rereading, 2) the fact that some books are better enjoyed in print rather than audio form, 3) or both; because while I know I enjoyed it before, it felt like a different and (somehow) better book this time around, after the love and exuberance on my Tumblr dash drove me to a reread.

I grabbed a physical copy from my library and...promptly read like half a dozen other books first. As one does. But once I finally got to it, I worked through it pretty quickly.

It’s such a soft book, all things considered. It’s a rich book with surprising depth. It has soul, y’know?

And I still can’t articulate exactly why I like it. I need to get a copy of my own.

#5 - Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal - 4/5 stars (audio)

One of y’all on here liveblogged your read of this book and it looked fun, so I picked up the audio to get me through some yard work during the holiday. It was a fun, quirky read; a nice change from the denser books I’ve been slogging through all month. It kept a good pace and there was an excellent balance between comedy and...not quite horror? But darker stuff. If I’m gonna read paranormal, this is more my speed than the usual fare.

The audiobook worked and I’m familiar with the narrator, but there’s something about translating online chats and text messages to audio that is tricky and jarring.

#6 - The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien - 5/5 stars (reread)

“This book will be the bulk of my May reading” I wrote under a picture of my complete Lord of the Rings volume, way back at the end of April.

Like an idiot.

Now here I am at the end of May and guess how much I’ve read. Just this one, and just barely.

I don’t really have coherent thoughts, and it’s not like I need them; LOTR is part of the culture psyche. I love it; that is all.

DNF:

Secret Contest Book #5 - Cliche cliche cliche YA dystopia. It has been a while since I’ve read a dystopian book (I think the last true dystopian I read may have been Scythe) and I don’t think it’s for me any more.

Secret Contest Book #6 - Boring. And theologically suspect.

Secret Contest Book #8 - Bland bland bland. Clumsy writing style, clumsier dialogue, uncompelling story and world. Just dull. Hate that it forced me to rate either of the others higher than it. That was just rude.

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine (’22 TBR) - Half of the issue was I built up my expectations too much; the other half was that it simply was not my style at all. I gave up within the first chapter.

A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes (’22 TBR) - I’ve read one other of Brandes’s books and it was good enough that I added this one to my list. However, that other book (Fawkes) was a historical fantasy and this is a YA dystopian. I had bad luck with YA dystopians this month. It’s just so not my style and, while I LOVE the premise, I couldn’t force myself to suffer through. I absolutely skipped to the end to see the answer to the Question raised at the start.

[paranormaljones]

Dropping in for the random asks💜. Do you have a favorite childhood book/series? Also, current favorite?

Buckle up. I can feel a ramble coming on. 😂

I can think of a few favorite book series from my childhood, most notably the Dragonkeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul. I was a dragon kid, and those books filled a void in my soul.

The second one I can think of is the Tira-Nor Chronicles by Daniel Schwabauer. The first two in the series were allegorical and based on the story of King David from the Bible. The third I can't remember as well; it was a standalone and came out many years later. Those books impacted me spiritually and had a HUGE influence on my own writing. I think about them often.

The third series is a little more embarrassing: the Phantom Stallion series by Terri Farley. As well as being a dragon kid, I was also a weird horse girl. 😂 They were surprisingly good and gave me a very relatable female POV character to take comfort in; she was a lot like me, and my age at the time I read them.

Current favorite series? Lockwood & Co. 😂 And The Hunger Games is a close second.