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solreads · 1 month ago

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Foxfire in the Snow - Review

Title: Foxfire in the Snow

Author: J.S. Fields

Series: The Alchemical Duology #1

Genre: Fantasy

Audience: Young Adult

Format: Novel

Representation: Nonbinary POV character

Summary: Confined by the wishes of their mother, a master woodcutter, for an heir, but enthralled by the promise of alchemy, Sorin, at age seventeen, has yet to start an apprenticeship. Instead, they’ve spent years isolated in the woods helping their mother with her craft. All the while they experiment with pigments extracted from fungi and a new solvent called bone oil which they dream of presenting at the alchemical guild fair to earn their place as an alchemist if only their mother would allow them to go.

When their mother fails to return from a trip and their home is attacked, Sorin runs from their old life to the capital and the promise of an alchemical apprenticeship. But the queendom changed while they were tucked away in the forest. Guild members are disappearing and the Queen has vanished with them. Industrialization and strange magic threaten the country’s way of life and its citizens.

When confronted by their childhood friend, the Royal Daughter Magda, Sorin begrudgingly agrees to join her on a journey to find both their mothers and the lost guild masters. To do so they must travel to an enchanted glacier dotted with the insidious magic amulets of a former tyrant and face the deadly environment, the forces that draw the guilders towards it, and their own muddled identity: neither a man nor a woman in a society strictly defined by the gender binary; not entirely a woodcutter nor an alchemist nor a witch and ever more unsure of which path to take.

Reflections: Elements of this world and this story hooked me, but on the whole, the disparate pieces of the story didn’t come together or didn’t fully engage me. The alchemy was one of the elements that initially made me want to pick up the book. The blending of science and magic or the scientific approach to magic are approaches I often enjoy in fantasy. Sorin’s work with fungal extracts and their interactions with various solvents was a unique direction to take. Their excitement in experimenting and thrill at their discoveries also immediately made me sympathetic to their stubborn desire to take this path against their mother’s wishes.

However, after getting hooked in the introduction, I never really became grounded in the story, like it wasn’t moving forward in any tangible way. In part, this may have been because the plot quickly went in a direction that distanced it from the main character’s goals and anything they cared about. They are drawn in the wake of another character, somewhat unhappily, but mostly just with disinterested grumbling.

Sorin as a character was also so malleable at times their opinions and beliefs almost became nonsensical. Their views on alchemy and magic and their convictions about who they were and what they wanted flip-flop wildly. There was some insight into why but it often didn't feel strong enough or it was hard to follow why they abandoned or accepted some way of thinking so completely given their previous beliefs. I didn’t feel whatever emotions must have been driving that.

Sorin’s relationship to their gender as a nonbinary person in a culture that doesn’t have (or doesn’t have widely known?) concepts or language for that experience was well written. In their narration, they articulated the struggle of essentially having social dysphoria that they couldn’t resolve and having discomfort with their body as a result, but not inherently having physical dysphoria on their own. It impacted their relationships (romantic and familial) and the way they interacted with society. Sorin couldn’t or wouldn’t even express much of their experience or what they want from other people outside of their own head. Relatable, but I wish they would have. I wish there could have been some progression. Please communicate instead of always being frustrated and miserable.

Also weird to me was Magda's treatment as heir to the throne. The queen mysteriously vanished (that’s sort of downplayed too). Thus Magda was essentially acting queen at a time when it was crucial for the queendom to have their royalty present to represent them, but nobody cared when she ditched her duties to go on this quest personally; she ran around without any guards; and her life was openly threatened with no consequences.

Warnings: Depictions of misgendering, dysphoria, self-harm in response to dysphoria.

Notes on Rep: MC identifies as not a man, not a woman, and not in between, but there are no words in their world for their identity.

#book blog #book review #trans books #bookblr #queer books #young adult books #fantasy books #nonbinary #foxfire in the snow #j.s. fields

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bereft-of-frogs · 1 year ago

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dark ocean duology | star wars (jedi fallen order)

A post-Fallen Order AU in two parts: After narrowly escaping the Inquisition’s clutches on Nur, Cere and Cal are not whisked from the water by Merrin’s intervention. Instead, they must embark on their own journey back to the Mantis. Wounded, ill, and trailed by the dead, they make their way through winding underwater passages and echoes of the past to make it home.

Featuring: oceans (both literal and metaphorical), the dead (also both literal and metaphorical), choices, and some much-needed catharsis.

part 2: to stand at the edge of the sea | chapter 3: and the great shroud of the sea rolled on

“We might have another option,” he says. “I maybe know a place where we could find plenty of replacements for the nav and comm systems, the right age even. Guaranteed.” “Where?” “Oh, just a massive scrapyard full of old Republic-era ships, that I happen to know my way around.” Cere looks at him with a flat, humorless expression on her face. “You want to go back to Bracca. Cal nods. “I want to go back to Bracca. Ok, well, want is a strong word…” - - - They’ve traversed the meandering pathways under Nur’s dark oceans and escaped the Inquisition yet again, but they’re far from out of danger, and a long way from reconnecting with the Mantis. All they’ve got is a stolen ship with a broken navigational computer and there’s only one place in the galaxy they might find a replacement. There’s just one other problem: Cal is dying. He’s been dying from the start. Cal just really, really doesn’t want to die on Bracca. chapter 3: FINAL CHAPTER! Cal manages to claw himself back to life, with a little help, but their other problems haven't solved themselves, unfortunately. If they want to make it back to Greez and Merrin, they still need parts to repair their ship. And there's just one last obstacle standing in their way: the Guild.

[ link to ao3 ]

I can't believe I'm finally done with this! Luckily I have plenty of whumptober prompts to occupy me. Thanks to everyone who has been following along! Until next time. <3

[ part 1: chapter 1 ] [ part 1: chapter 2 ] [ part 2: chapter 1 ] [ part 2: chapter 2 ]

[ series link ] [ spotify playlist ] [ image credit ]

#star wars #dark ocean duology #jedi fallen order #cal kestis #cere junda #star wars fanfiction #fanfiction

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sleepyowlwrites · 2 years ago

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an introduction to Sleepy's wips (this time it's for real)

welcome.

I'd like to sort these by active vs inactive wips, projected novels vs short stories, most recently updated vs neglected, but that's not very helpful, as my wips regularly rotate like they're on a merry-go-round, and I could work on twelve wips in a month or one. or none. the best I can do is list wips I have, indeed, written something for/about them, and then the ideas that have nothing after that.

Category: WIPs

(this category contains content, from a few paragraphs to several thousand words. yeah. I've got range)

Youth: The Ephemeral Infinite (#wip: youth story)

a young adult novel about ten teenagers who have feelings and sometimes talk about them. set in Paris, 2018, over the course of one school year. all ten POVs, and the story is non-linear. it's a combination of the real and surreal, as time feels foggy and all the kids have superpowers. they're not important.

status: draft 0 complete

Dirt in the Doing (#wip: city story)

a new adult novel about attempting to deal with emotional trauma via physical, often violent means. Jet, our POV, will punch anyone who tries to hurt the people he's reluctant to admit he cares about. this particular story has all of my favorite tropes because I'm writing it so I can read it. it's realistic fiction but I call it ci-fi (city fiction).

status: writing draft 0

Spirits and Summoners (#wip: summon story)

a new adult fantasy novel about summoners dealing with spirits, bounties, secrets, and some guy who is spirit-possessing dead dragons. Zan, our POV, is not the main character, and he knows it. this wip is heavily inspired by video games and contains some tributes to their unique ways of storytelling.

status: not trying very hard to either write draft 0 or worldbuild

House of Favors/Swords/Blood (#wip: guild story)

a new adult fantasy novel? about the three guild houses and their apprentices. there isn't really a plot yet. I have two POVs with more planned, and an immortal sorceress with no name.

status: I have started writing draft 0

Mercenary Story (#wip: mercenary story)

an adult? fantasy novel about mercenaries, a princess, shenanigans and questing. and trauma. can't forget the trauma. multiple POVs with a lot to figure out.

status: I have started writing draft 0

Every Other Star is Silent (#wip: anxiety story)

a new adult contemporary novel about Aidan, and his anxieties. set in college, with a tremendous amount of discussion on mental illness. singular POV, with a slightly unreliable narrator.

status: draft 2/draft 1 rewrite (but I haven't worked on it in two years)

Spider Silk (#wip: magick story)

a novella about a small town whose history is being rewritten by someone trying to hoard all the magick, and the few people somewhat unaffected by this who are trying to stop him.

status: I occasionally worldbuild and make cameos for my friends

The Search for Petrichor (#wip: rain story)

a new adult duology about magic, family, control, trust, and powers that everyone forgot about. seven POVs with a vaguely fairytale/folktale retelling vibe. in the same world as Guild Story.

status: unknown (truly, I do not know)

The Score (#wip: death story)

a short story about Lawrence Whitely and his experience in the sideways death world of The Score, and all the lives he sees and remembers in it.

status: in limbo, which is very meta

Princess Rowena (#wip: princess story)

a middle-grade series about Rowena and her friends getting up to magical shenanigans.

status: hanging out in the archive

It's a Big Universe (#wip: space story)

a novelette? about a cosmic being travels around the universe in their little spaceship, all alone, until they're gifted some friends by an oracle. they don't understand the concept at first.

status: I've written some of it! and then I abandoned it

A City Asleep (#wip: apocalypse story)

a short story? about two boys roaming a city after the world falls apart. there is not plot but there are VIBES.

status: two whole scenes! and some thoughts

Trans-dimensional Ghosts (#wip: ghost story)

a ? about a junior warlock who is forced (by oath as a warlock) to help out a young man and the ghost attached to him before the ghost can consume all his energy. trouble is, the ghost appears to be from a different dimension. there's also a werecat, which is fun.

status: there are words for this thing but it's been dead for years

Home is Where the Heart Is (#wip: hunter story)

a short story about the annual quest to find and kill the Winterbeast in order to free the spirit of Spring that's been trapped inside its heart all winter long.

status: the winterbeast is very much alive

The Summer Gallery (#wip: summer story)

a short story about a gallery Jake works at for the summer that may or may not actually exist.

status: it has a great opening line, which is something

The Train Between Us (#wip: train story)

a novella about two strangers meet on the train to work and discuss their careers, emotions, and personal struggles while unaware that they're in a pocket dimension for the duration of the ride each day. They gradually help and comfort each other until the pocket dimension expires.

status: writing chaotically

Category: short fiction/misc.

(this category contains content, just brief)

Gang Up On Crime (#w: sleepy stash)

originally the fanfic of a fanfic, this is now just about gang wars but like, for children. there's violence but it's for babies. I don't know what to tell you.

status: I have more thoughts in my head than in my docs

The Girl From the Dimension Next Door (#wip: dimension story)

about Aaron and Sarah, who live two universes apart and regularly bend and break through spacetime to share their childhoods and their troubles.

status: I started writing it as a tumblr serial

The Phantom Thieves (#wip: thief story)

about a group of thieves trying to steal a bridge. there are pocket portals and banter.

status: I started writing it as a tumblr serial

Glow (#w: sleepy stash)

a very short story about the love between mother and daughter (I wrote it for my mom).

status: finished/unfinished

Previous Lives and Premonitions (#wip: college story)

a short thing about what the title says. it doesn't really make any sense because the context isn't in the story.

status: unfinished/finished

Beasts of the Garden (#wip: castle story)

a (so far) only dialogue story about a rosebush thief who has to work in an enchanted haunted castle for three months and survive. part of a larger universe of fairytale retellings. this collective currently has no name.

status: spontaneously updating

The Emporium Chronicles (#wip: worker story)

retail! but make it fantasy.

status: technically this doesn't have content but I do intend to write it so it didn't really belong in the ideas category

Sharp Knives, Cold Eyes (#wip: necromancy story)

a young necromancer gets caught up in a conspiracy between rival gangs and also the death guild, and her companion fetch-quester is along for for the ride

Tumblr Shorts:

Hell in a Handbasket

The Chosen One

The Grave Diggers (from the future!)

A Universe of You

You Were a Windshield

Guilt and Guns (in Space!)

Heavy is the Head, or Something

Kismet

A Name for the Road

Category: Ideas without wips currently

The Girl From the Dimension Next Door (flash fic version)

The Score

A Soul in Parts - sci-fi story about near death experiences causing your consciousness to split. there is cloning. (I will never write this.)

Forged Fates - fairytale story about being named after whatever the stars or sages or something have declared your fate to be. the protagonist is Jack of All Trades and he's not having fun.

Making of a Miracle - Chaos and Inevitability are entities that are tired of the universe dying so fast when they go up against each other so they decide to create a creature who can balance them out. it's like two supervillains doing arts and crafts and the poor plucky creations having to deal with them.

Library of the Mind - psychological dark academia about exploring too deeply into mind magic. guarding yourself against being manipulated in good, but you can end up tearing yourself apart instead of building yourself up stronger.

The Recollection - a series of shorts about the Recollection, an archive for memories people don't want anymore. memory erasure angers the sage of memory, so instead of wiping the slate clean, unwanted memories are stored in a vault and taken care of by the archivists, childlike beings who encounter the best and worst of humanity while never remembering anything they archive past a day.

The Hat Trick Man - I will not elaborate, because I can't.

Death by Midnight - fairytale where the times of day have personifications and they're a bunch of siblings and midnight (for reasons) is killing the siblings - not permanently, but it does confuse humans when afternoon suddenly disappears from the day for a week - and the other times of day have to team up to stop midnight.

Killing Time - similarly, time's personification has been split into several pieces and the unlucky protagonists have to time loop travel to kill the fast times and hope they're never taking out the piece that holds their reality.

The War of the Words - about godling writers who control the fate of the world and they can't stop writing or the world dies, but also they can't agree on how the story goes, so it doesn't make sense

The Planet Farm Beyond Oblivion - prequel to Space Story about Oblivion, where planets are homegrown from fallen stars and shipped off to spots in the universe but disaster strikes in the form of one of the Growers planting seeds with toxic elements.

Only the Night Knows - fairytale about how only the Night remembers how to wake the sun, and the newest prince and his best friends travel through Night's tower to reach the end of night and the birth of a new day.

Uncommon Ailments - a shop that encounters every ailment from secondhand depression to displaced souls.

A Quiet Cold - a small town slowly freezes while people don't really notice until it's too late.

Blood of Gold, Blood of Silver, Blood of Bronze - blood types are categorized by the kind of magic one wields. it's a well-known fact that anyone can have strong and unique magic, and that the system for tracking it is highly biased and false, but most of the people with gold blood are rich, so society skews in their favor anyway. a new blood type comes on the scene, and others follow after that: iron, copper, steel, etc.. with every new set of powers, the hold the gold bloods have on society weakens. and then one blood type goes rogue, and the world might have to crumble before a new one can be built.

The Cure for Depression and Other Mythical Creatures - mini comics about mental health

August Blue - Conrad and Elsie in the summer by the lake, a place no one else knows or can find. Little does Conrad know that he drowned while looking for Elsie, but as he discovers it, there might be a way to come back. But can Elsie come back, too?

Unearthly Appetites - a guy gets cursed to become a demon and spends the rest of his humanity trying to appreciate it better while encounting strange beings

The Cure for Insomnia - a guy gets turned immortal (or does he) and gets depressed about not needing things like sleep and food as much and has to be rescued from depression by some found friends

The Pennyman - a boy tries to collect 1000 pennies in order for the pennyman to grant him a wish

Making a Difference - kids of an elementary school work at gathering the ingredients for a "difference" in order to put on a school play

Blood Orange - something about magical assassins in the summer trying to achieve the same goal and also kill each other a little bit

Twelve Shadows - a Peter Pan retelling where Peter is replaced with his own shadow which is currently haunting his lost boys while he's unsure of how to get himself out of a sticky bargain with an old, old creature. Meanwhile the boys are all losing their shadows and their selves and Peter can't afford to be a lost boy anymore. More than their shadows are at stake.

The Silence Machine - a deaf guy creates a machine to generate silence in order to undo the hypnosis placed on his town caused by constant music

The Decaying of Shelara Da'Esti - a summon story prequel about our favorite twice possessed skeleton

Sharp Knives, Cold Eyes - a necromancer accidentally sends her fetch-quester straight into a conspiracy and now they're unraveling a mystery about a cult, reluctantly befriend a wizard, land some assassin friends by accident, and argue a lot.

Romeo & His Juliets - Juliet returns to Romeo every time she fails to prevent his death. Still a tragedy.

Maisy Beckett & the Watermelon Boys - an only child meets a family of six boys who recruit her for a job at their family's farmstead during the summer.

Hit-the-Road Jack - a young man cursed with monster brand is hired to kill said monsters and then promptly run out of town so as not to infect anyone (even though curses can't be passed on).

The Blessed Beautiful - a school for young oracles where only the girls begin disappearing just as a treaty is being signed with a more powerful empire.

Category: lore OR plot but not both!

stuff about dryads - weird lore about dryads, originally for the Teen Wolf universe, now just chilling in my brain (lore)

romance story - a retelling/crossover of Les Mis and Sense and Sensibility (plot)

Snow Fangs and the Poisoned Cinderella - shapeshifters + curses, merging a few fairytales and also there's no romance (plot)

Moss-rose and the Sleeping Swan - retelling mashup of snow white and rose red and sleeping beauty (plot)

Marriage of convenience - Hadley Jamison is going to have to marry his childhood friend and nemesis, Amelia Kinsey. There's an inheritance, a dowry, a debt, and a lot of family history riding on it (plot)

Pirate Story - a young women gets lowkey adopted by some pirates and there's angst (lore)

Wuxia Story - a woman from a family of assassins marries a young lord who is trying to dismantle said family to prevent from from succeeding in killing the entire royal family. There are three sides at play and the newly married couple don't trust each other whatsoever (lore)

Category: Fanfic

here is a link to the existing masterpost about fanfics because I am not going to retype or migrate all of that, thank you.

I am so tired.

#sleepy's wips #sleepy stuff #i'm not going to delete this post #not this time

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ulfrsmal · 1 year ago

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Reading List Tag Game

Thank you for the tag @alexagirlie ! :D

What are your recent, current, and future reads?

Recent: In this month of January '24, I've read, ranked most to least recent:

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black (The Stolen Heir Duology #1)

Archangel's Prophecy by Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter Series #11)

Rise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan (The Riyria Revelations #3+4)

Archangel's Viper by Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter Series #10)

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & The Olympians #2)

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

Archangel's Heart by Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter Series #9)

and I also finished House of Chains by Steven Erikson (Malazan #4) which I started December '23. I've read more than I thought I had!

Current:

Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen #5)

Future:

Skyward Flight (novella collection) & Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive #2), both by Brandon Sanderson. Also The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake (The Atlas Six Series #3), been waiting like 3-4 weeks to get to that one 😫

I'm not tagging anyone but if you wanna rave about books, consider yourself tagged by me! :D

#thank you for tagging me #wynne rambles #books #i've never been more glad i keep a reading journal lmao i could not have answered this off the top of my forgetful head

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4tarosho · 2 years ago

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serilda's imagination and storytelling as well as her overall silliness would make her have the humor of an immigrant mother trying to tell a joke with a slight language barrier when she is older

#no this isnt projection what are you talking about #i feel like wyrdith would be like this too #looks like serilda gets it from her mother!!#guilded duology #guilded marissa meyer #cursed spoilers #serilda moller

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fairytypingg · 1 month ago

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alright no more stalling i need to yell into the void about my worldbuilding so far for the newbies rewrite or im gonna explode

side note. do NOT take this as word of god for the rewrite, it WILL change. im so serious this is a first draft AT BEST. im just throwing ideas at a wall rn, no idea what will stick yet

MOVING ON(under the cut that is)

currently what i'm working with is that the universe as they know it is easily traversable, and each "world" in this universe is a server, each with its own nether, end, etc.

the servers exist in almost a higherarchy of sorts, where some servers are more favorable than others to reside in.

that being said, we come first to our protagonist, joe. joe was the star member of a prominent guild in a highly ranked server, when a jealous rival guild framed him for a crime he didn't commit and he got banished(banned) to a lower ranked server(the one where the series takes place).

joe is, understandably, unhappy about all of this. and to pile on top of that, his new home has assigned him a parole of sorts, looking after a newer server member named adam(gold pants/naked friend) while he gets used to the way things work, as well as being assigned a moderator(who i haven't named yet, im playing with a reason to not give him a name, but more on that later) to keep tabs on him.

joe has made it clear from the start that he hates this server, and he only intends to stay until he can find a way to clear his name and return home to his server and his guild.

moderator, who has seen more than one downtrodden loser like joe in his time, shrugs him off and introduces him to adam. joe finds adam frustrating at first, of course, but adam clings to joe immediately. he's not very smart, but he takes one look at joe and decides that's his best friend for life.

joe takes a while longer to warm up to him, of course, but by the end of the night episode(or well, the rewrite equivalent), he's come to consider adam a friend and has become rather protective of him, especially following the end of the night.

i think the next big worldbuilding we'll get is the nether duology. at the end of night, they find an abandoned portal, and, moving the creative episode to before the nether duology, take that episode to fix it and explore what this new area is.

joe, of course, remembers the nether as a dangerous place of plentiful and rare resources, as was the case in his old server. however, things are different here(once again drilling home that this is not where joe came from, and he's not the savior of the dumps he thinks he is). they run into moderator after the portal disappears, and he explains that yeah, this is their prison since they're kind of at the lowest rank of the servers, so there's nowhere else to banish the unruly to.

i haven't quite figured out what happens to help joe and adam escape yet(since it's already established moderator can come and go as he pleases), but i know it'll have something to do with moderator helping them via doing something he's not supposed to.

this is going to lead us into the next arc! im skipping both silverfish and spleef aside from maybe reimagining them as character focused "minisodes" as filler before the next big lore drop, where i'll be making heavy changes to what was originally the christmas duology.

the idea is that the christmas duology starts as it did in the original newbies, more or less, adam decides he wants to chase a legend that may or may not exist, claiming he heard about it in "the nursery"(which has been referenced multiple times at this point by adam and nobody else, everyone else has no idea what he's on about. remember this for adam's backstory later)

adam wants to experience the "holiday spirit" by finding the elusive owner. moderator is wholly against this idea, and so was joe until moderator agreed with him. joe can't help his skepticism of moderator's excuse, and decides "fuck it, lets see what this is about"

after the whole montage thing(which i intend to keep more or less the same), adam accepts that they're lost, thousands of blocks away from spawn. he and joe get in an argument, and adam storms off. moderator stays behind to comfort joe, but they're quickly interrupted by what appears to be Also moderator, albeit with slightly different accent colors and a more serious demeanor. this other moderator(who joe takes to calling "purple moderator", and later just "purple") refers to our moderator as "number 48" and insists he go with him, amending that he can bring his "assignment"(joe) with him if he has to.

purple takes them to a facility deep underground, where joe witnesses moderator put on trial by a hundred of other slightly different colored moderators, standing before the owner as the judge. the crime? helping joe and adam escape from the nether.

joe learns that the moderator that's been with us is one of over a hundred moderators, clones created to run the server. they're in every server, and have a different "base form" in every one(joe vaugely recalls the moderators in his original server all wore similar suits of armor that hid their face, but had assumed at the time that it was a uniform). our moderator is Moderator #48, and was personally assigned to watch over joe, as well as "the anomaly", which is how they seem to refer to adam.

despite arguing the best he could(and joe trying desperately to help), Moderator #48 is sentenced to final banishment, essentially execution for a moderator.

before that happens, though, adam swoops in with an elytra and rescues joe and moderator, and they fucking book it man.

they end up making a new base together out in the wild, given that the three of them are essentially fugitives with nowhere else to go.

i haven't rewatched the herobrine trilogy yet, so i haven't planned on including it yet(key word, YET).

the last arc i have planned is when they find an end portal under their new house and adam(who insists that he has no idea where the elytra came from) inexplicably has the ender eyes to activate it(he also doesn't know where these came from).

they decide that with nowhere else to go, wherever this mysterious portal goes has to be better than here, being hunted by the entire moderator fleet.

within the end is the ever-foreshadowed nursery. this is where all the new server members come from, and apparently what makes adam an anomaly is that he retained some knowledge, memories, and abilities from his time in the nursery.

of course, the dragon is the final boss(because why wouldn't it be). she's the mother of all server members, and calls the owners usurpers of the dragon thrones. she tells joe he doesn't belong here, he's not one of her children. as the owner arrives to take care of the trio once and for all, and is about to take control of the dragon, she makes joe an offer. he can leave this behind. he doesn't have to stay here. she can fix things back in his original server and send him home, he can leave adam and moderator to their fates and wash his hands of this server he hates so much, forever.

and joe thinks back to his adventures. he hates this server. hates it. he hates this stupid out of date world, he hates being on the lowest rung, he hates the corrupted leadership, he hates it all.

but he doesn't hate its people. he doesn't hate adam, someone he's come to consider his best friend. he doesn't hate moderator, who has saved them time and time again. he doesn't hate the myriad of other characters they've met on their journey, at least, not as much as he feels he should.

and he declines the dragon's offer. he chooses to stay and fight with his friends. even if it's futile to try and save them, he wants to at least be witness to the fates of his friends.

and the owner then takes control of the dragon for the final battle.

after an intense and climactic fight, our heroes emerge victorious, defeating both the owner and the dragon.

i'm not fleshed out on the details of what happens next, but my general idea is that adam inherets the role of owner(something something chosen one) and gives moderator jurisdiction over the other mods, renaming him "Moderator Prime". adam lifts the impassable barrier between the end and the overworld, allowing the residents of the nursery to learn as they go, with the unity of their senior members to guide them.

and finally, adam asks joe to be his right hand man. when joe asks why, joking that adam seems to have it all under control, adam tells him that he'd rather joe help keep him in check.

he's still a newbie, after all.

FADE TO BLACK, ROLL CREDITS, I'M A GENIUS.

and yah that's what i'm rocking with. anyone whos genuinely interested in this concept can rb or comment or shoot me an ask with ur thoughts, thatd b dope

#shut up quill #newbies tag #ambitious ass project #im so excited to do things with this rewrite tho awawawa

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redezlyn · 7 months ago

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Hai! Welcome to my blog, I’m honestly not sure what I’ll post here but as Oscar Wilde said ‘To define, is too limit.’

A warning to misogynists, sexists, racists, homophobes, transphobes etc (basically people who shame people for their appearance, beliefs, sexuality and gender) that they are not welcome here! Any comments that are hateful, disrespectful and/or rude will be reported and the commentator blocked. Thank you! :)

Books/Tv-Series/Films/Manga/Anime/Fandoms in general that I love (and will prob re-read/watch as much as humanly possible) :

AGGGTM; Grishaverse (Six of crows duology, Shadow and Bone trilogy, king of scars duology); One of us is lying trilogy + series, Two can keep a secret, Nothing more to tell (basically the whole Karen.M.McManus universe); MCU; DCU; Marvel comics; DC comics; Sandman universe (including dead boy detectives); Starwars; Avatar The last air bender (animated series) + The legend of Korra; The series of unfortunate events (both book and series); Trollhunters tales of Arcadia + 3below + Wizards tales of Arcadia; Gilmore girls; Lucifer; How to train your dragon; The hunger games; Divergent (book series); The maze runners; Legend trilogy; The folk of Air universe; ACOTAR; One piece, SpyxFamily; Jurassic universe (park, world etc); RiordanVerse (Percy Jackson,HoO,ToA, Magnus Chase, etc); Wizarding world (Harry potter, Fantastic beasts and where to find them etc); Renegades trilogy (Marissa Meyer); Lunar chronicles; Guilded Duology (Marissa Meyer); Twilight (book series); The Big Bang theory; Young Sheldon; The owl house; Shatter me series; Fallen series; Damsel; Stranger Things; Nimona; Dune; Brooklyn 99; Psych; Batfamily lore; The inheritance games; Five survive; Lockwood and co; The Witcher (book series); Shameless; Get even; Fourth wing; The 5th wave trilogy; Hercule Piorot; Enola Holmes; Sherlock Holmes; Lotr and the hobbit; Twisted series (Anna huang); Arcane; Knives out; Grownups; 10 things I hate about you; Uncharted; Indiana Jones; Full house; Pitch Perfect; Pirates of the Caribbean; Sherlock; Wednesday; Criminal minds; Spider-Man into the spider verse (ik I mentioned marvel but I HAVE TO MENTION!!); Deadpool (same previous excuse); Star Trek; Agatha Christie’s series; (I’m going to stop here until others come to mind)

Artists who have songs I adore:

Olivia Rodrigo; Conan Gray; Girl in Red; Cavetown; Alec Benjamin; Hozier; Boywithuke; YUNGBLUD; Skrillex; Billie Eilish; Melanie Martinez; DNCE; Shawn Mendes; Fugeee; Frank Ocean; Vance Joy; Alessia Cara; Declan McKenna (mainly bcs of his song Brazil); Current Joys; AURORA; Neoni; AVIVA; Grandson; Cults; Sub Urban; Birdy; Black Eyed Peas; Bob Marley; Gracie Abrams; Lorde; Mad Tsai; Måneskin; Red hot chilli peppers; Hasley; Ruelle; Run-DMC; Salt-N-Pepa; The Rolling Stones; Florence + the Machine; OutKast; Imagine dragons; Cigarettes after sex; The doors; The Clash; Fleetwood Mac; Cream; Arctic monkeys; The xx; The Lumineers; Em Beihold; Dominic Fike; Tom Odell; Onerepublic; Coldplay; Tracy Chapman; Mitski; Flight of the chonchords; Gorillaz; Cage the Elephant; Childish Gambino; Queen; Queens of the Stone Age; Plan B; Creedence Clearwater Revival; Nirvana; Black Sabbath; Guns’n’roses; AC/DC; Iron maiden; Jimi Hendrix; Michael Jackson; John Newman; Radiohead; Kasabian; Labrinth; The Police; The last dinner party; The Who; LINKIN PARK; Pink Floyd; The White Stripes; Muse; Beastie boys; Amy Winehouse; ABBA; Tenacious D; Ed Sheeran; Adele; Selena Gomez; Sia; Taylor swift; Eminem; Missy Elliot; Doja Cat; Elton John; Harry Styles; Metallica; Milli Vanilli; The Neighbourhood; Rage Against The Machine; Of monsters and men; Paramore; Marina and the Diamonds; Phantogram; Steve lacy; ThxsoMuch; Sofi Tucker; Indila; Sabrina Carpenter;

Things I enjoy doing in my spare time: Gaming; Reading; learning + playing guitar; listening to music; going out with friends; hiking; binge watching/reading fandoms; sports (football and volleyball are my favourite); writing fics or stories; photography; sketching, drawing and researching art (that intrigues me); chess; board and card games; archery; playing and hanging out with animals (my dogs specifically); learning about situations and subject + their topics; debating and discussing topics that interest me to learn and share knowledge of them;

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b-splendens · 1 year ago

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Pre-finals update

WOW i haven't updated in a while. literally had to cold turkey myself out of tumblr because i was distracted. oh well. what better time to come back then right before finals!!!!

two things:

horn and tails has slowly been refined more and the base is solidifying

new vampireXwerewolf duology in development NOW

Number 2 will give me some practice with the creative process and help me better approach Number 1 in the long run

But in general I just want to have two very self indulgent short stories that pack a punch instead of a longer murder mystery that might feel flat

Elaboration on 2:

nblw and mlm

both = werewolf vampire hunters versus vampires

one of the former is part of a werewolf hunters' guild seeking to grow a second tail, the other is repressing himself to stay hidden in a human hunters' guild

one of the latter is a "new gen" vampire hellbent on becoming the top of the powerscale, the other is an "old gen" vampire who just likes screwing around

fighting!!! action. deception.

lore!!!! werewolves and vampires are the descendants of the gumiho. because I SAID SO.

""fighting""

#man my tag system lasted like one year

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hollyvorpahl · 2 years ago

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Two wonderful commissions of my Halfling Innkeeper Dorothy "Dot" Tuttle and her love interest Nephimos done by @izzymatic-art

I've been talking about Dot a bit on here and thought now was as good a time as any to show some art of her. Dot is the MC of The Dot Duology which encapsulates Tales from the Drunken Duke and The Guild of Lesser Glories. Dot's story starts with a letter from her Great Aunt leaving her the deed to a Manor in the Capital of the Human realm. Leaving home for the first time, Dot meets new people and transforms the manor into a tavern called The Drunken Duke.

#wip art #slice of life #fantasy #Tales from the Drunken Duke #creative writing #i should be writing #writing #fantasy romance #i love writing #writeblr

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susiephone · 6 months ago

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ok i was tired last night but here's my pitch for you, yes you, to read DARKER BY FOUR by June CL Tan!

first in a duology, the sequel's title and release date have yet to be announced

the story concerns the fallout when Four, one of the ten kings of the underworld, suddenly vanishes, leaving the underworld out of balance, which bleeds out into the mortal realm and causes problems there

problems such as the creation of revenants, demonic monsters that eat humans and drink their spiritual energy, which is what allows people to do magic

our story follows 3 POVs: Rui (a teenage girl whose mother was killed by a revenant, training to be an exorcist and trying to track down the revenant that killed her mom), Yiran (the bastard son of a famed exorcist who is the first in his family line to have no magical abilities at all), and Nikai (a grim reaper with no memory of his human life who works in the Fourth Court of the underworld, having been a close personal friend of Four)

rounding out the cast is Ash (Yiran's legitimate half-brother and exorcist captain), Ten (another king of the underworld who has been forced to take over the Fourth Court in Four's absence and is NOT happy about it), and Zizi (a talented mage who has refused to join the exorcist's guild and thus dabbles in illegal magical experiments, and a friend of Rui's)

the stories of all these characters collide as Rui and Yiran are forced to work together when they encounter a revenant, Zizi is hired to create an impossible spell, and the humans all get tangled up in Nikai and Ten's search for Four, as more and more revenants pop up by the day

the worldbuilding in this book is AMAZING, it's largely based on chinese mythology, and everything is clearly very intentional and thought-out, from the ins and outs of the exorcist guild to the history of exorcism to the bureaucracy of the underworld

Rui is an extremely compelling protagonist as she's on this constant revenge quest and top of her class, but still very much a traumatized teenager who is wary to get too close to the other people in her life

similarly Yiran is also very fleshed-out and has a great character arc as he reckons with being the sole "normie" in his family and his seemingly predestined role as the family disappointment, and what happens when he has a chance to prove them all wrong

great action sequences!!

the author said she wanted the book to feel like a shonen anime, and she 10000% succeeded, it's awesome

there's a lot of shipping potential, both in where i believe the official romances are going and in the probably-not-gonna-happen territory. the official romances are really compelling and well-done and i can't wait to see where they go, but the non-canon pairings are also really intriguing and have a lot of potential

big expansive world that has a lot of story potential - this is supposed to be a duology but i hope the author does more with this setting because there's SO MUCH there

the core mystery of what happened to Four is really well-done and while i didn't see the book's main reveal coming, it made sense in hindsight

overall the author does a great job with tension throughout the book, you're always excited to find out what happens next and the scenes where the characters are in peril feel really high-stakes

the book ends on a major cliffhanger and i am SO EXCITED to see how it resolves in book 2

as a final note, the author's official webpage for this book has lots of worldbuilding stuff, and official art of the characters!! LOOK AT THEMMMMM. (click for full size.)

in conclusion please read this book. please let this become a big thing. i need active book fandom again and this book deserves it.

i just finished "darker by four" and i am VIBRATING and i'm gonna reblog this when i get home and try to convince you all to read this because i NEED this series to get as popular as six of crows or the raven cycle so i can talk about it with other people.

#darker by four #june cl tan #booklr

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