#here's what I have in the chapbook:

[pangur-and-grim]

I'm the opposite of a free-verse person. I love finding formats so complex that their instructions look like summoning circles. it is FUN!! I am PLAYING!!

[izzy-b-hands]

First notif i see after getting out of the shower i forced myself to take:

Button's (the poetry group, not the pirate lol. tho i would happily be a part of his poetry group too) chapbook contest opens up in November

do i dare dream and try to put together another chapbook again

[elspethdekarios]

Places in Waterdeep

According to this reddit comment, Gale’s tower is most likely in the Dock Ward on the corner of Sea Lion and Sail Street. Assuming Gale and Tav spend most of their time in Waterdeep either at home or at Blackstaff (well, depending on what your tav does for a living! I imagine mine works nearby), here are some possible locations for all your fanfic needs. I’m using this map and the descriptions it gives for the locations. This is not an exhaustive list–just the ones I thought might be the most useful to writers.

- Near Gale’s Tower (Dock Ward) -

Taverns and Inns:

The Quaffing Quaggoth

Tavern. A favorite among sailors, merchants, and young nobles, this dwarven owned and operated establishment is known for its own specialty brew – the Quaggoth, a thick house-brewed stout mixed with a shot of a house secret liquor.

The Sailors' Own

Tavern. The place is low-beamed and crowded, with weary sailors slumped on benches playing at board games, cards, or merely getting thoroughly drunk. This place is just what its name implies. It belongs to the sailors, and they don't really want anyone else here. The proprietor is Guthlakh 'Hands' Imyiir. (so, maybe not likely for them to frequent this one, but who knows!)

The Pickled Fisherman

Tavern

The Soaring Pegasus

Tavern

Bard inn

A cozy inn owned by a family of past adventurers, it appears to have been fixed up recently. Most of its visitors are sailors, but it has been known to house meetings between gangs in order to keep the peace. In the basement is a hidden underground fighting ring.

The Angry Coxswain

The tavern contains a one-way portal connecting with a prison cell in the slave market in the Mulhorandi city of Skuld.

The Yawning Portal

Inn. Built in 1306 DR on the ruins of Halaster Blackcloak's old tower, the Yawning Portal gained most of its renown for being the primary open route to the Undermountain. The Portal's innkeeper, Durnan, is a former adventurer of great power and renown.

The Gray Griffon

Tavern

Darth's Dolphyntyde

Tavern

Selune's Smile

Tavern

Azuth's Mug

Tavern

The Rearing Hippocampus

Inn. Probably the classiest inn in Dock Ward. Favored by many caravan masters and merchants who want a good, secure place to sleep, and regular visitors to the city who have business near the harbor.

The Splintered Stair

Inn. The entry hall of this room rises up three floors, overlooked by interior balconies linked by elegantly spiraling stairs.

The Blackstar Inn

This dignified, even haughty inn is like a fortress on the outside, with barred windows, stone walls, and a slate roof. Its lobby has two armed guards, and the four hostlers in the locked stables are also armed. Fees are high, but in return, guests get almost soundproof rooms. Each room has a hip-bath, a double bed, water and wine provided for drinking and various pamphlets and chapbooks provided for light reading. Each room also has its own fireplace, albeit with a miserly supply of firewood, and the patrons tend to keep to themselves. A good place to get a long soundsleep. Asiyra Boldwinter is the proprietress of this inn. Her manner is one of uppercrust, noble dignity.

The Empty Keg

The Empty Keg is a rowdy beer-hall. Later at night, it sees visits from workers from Mother Salinka's next door to reinvigorate business there.

The Red-Eyed Owl

This is the closest thing Waterdeep has to a comfortable, unimpressive, welcoming gathering place for the neighborhood. It is the kind of place where friends will come in and hail each other across the room. The food and drink are pleasant, if unspectacular, and you'll be allowed to sit in peace. It is a rambling old wooden building that looks as if it's about to fall into the street. Balarg 'Twofists' Dathen, a man with long, red hair, owns and runs the tavern.

The Sleepy Sylph

Tavern. Locals in the neighborhood come here for a single drink, to enjoy the music and to watch the waitresses (wearing diaphanous robe), and then go to the Owl, just steps away to eat and drink at about a third the price. The owner is Callanter Rollingshoulder, a tall man dressed in dark silken robes with a magnificent mustache.

The Bloody Fist

Tavern. Bullies and angry people come here to pick fights, and a room upstairs is retained for a succession of novice priests of Tempus who dress broken bones and perform minor healing magics in return for donations to the war god. Members of the Bull Elk Tribe can usually be found drinking here. Proprietor: Uglukh Vorl, a half-orc.

The Sleeping Snake

Tavern. This rowdy place is roughly furnished in hastily mended furniture. Members of the Black Boar Tribe can usually be found drinking here.

Festhalls and Entertainment:

From the Forgotten Realms wiki: “A festhall was an establishment combining the services of brothels, casinos, and private clubs. Festhalls provided a variety of adult-themed leisure activities and entertainment, including sex work, gambling, day spas, dining, exotic dancing, companionship, role-play, and other specialized interests.”

The Mermaid's Arms

Festhall. Elegant dining lounges, in which one dines or just drinks with an attractive host or hostess (or alone). Increasingly, the Arms is being used by single gentlefolk for a night of love. In other words, patrons are going there to meet each other, not to hire a host or hostess for the night. The Arms is large, well-lit, always busy, and can be quite expensive.

The Hanging Lantern

Festhall. The Lantern, an escort service known for the stunning beauty of its workers, and for the skill of its matchmakers, is famous up and down the Sword Coast.

Blushing Nymph

Festhall. The long stair links the oubliette of the Blushing Nymph festhall with Undermountain's first level.

Mother Salinka's House of Pleasures

This is a dingy low-coin festhall owned by halflings and frequented by those who are there for a 'brief visit', or can't afford or are turned away from the Yawning Portal.

Three Pearls Nightclub

Festhall. Pearls, as it is called, is a popular evening destination for Waterdhavians, offering stand-up comics, trained animal acts, illusionists' recitals, bards, orators, and exotic dancing. It has a low ceiling and is usually hot and smoky. The manager, Xandos Waeverym, is known as 'the Dandy'.

Seven Masks Theater

The theater caters to a lower-class clientele, and ship captains and sailors are admitted for free. The owner of the theater is a burly and jovial Shou man with a braided goatee named Rongquan Mystere.

The Purple Palace

Festhall. This is the closest thing Waterdeep has to a Calishite silks-boudoir. Its lavender silk draperies and gauzy hangings are heavily perfumed. Everything is cushions, soft carpets, music, and purple-tinted, spiced wine. Companionship is expensive and very good.

The Smiling Succubus

Festhall. Not exactly the pride of Wharf Street, but one of its most popular destinations.

Businesses and Shopping:

Whistling Blades

Business. Weapons.

The Fishscale Smithy

Adventuring gear

Talnu's Ropeworks

Adventuring gear

The Old Xoblob Shop

This curiosity shop is filled with lots of battle trophies and souvenirs from Undermountain. Worth a look to see the stuffed beholder for which the shop is named. The shopkeeper is a deep gnome.

House of Pride Perfumes

Business. The House of Pride is crammed with a forest of glass bottles of all sizes, shapes, and hues. It is protected by a special enchantment that prevents glass from breaking. The shop is run by two sisters and is guarded by trained hunting dogs.

Khostal Hannass, Fine Nuts

Business. Food.

Felhaur's Fine Fish

Business. Food.

Miscellaneous:

Mirt's Mansion

Villa. Mirt is a friend of Durnan (see The Yawning Portal). Both used magic to extend their lives.

House of Two Hands

Monastery. Order of the Even-Handed.

Harborwatch Tower

City building

The Griffon

The walking statue called the Griffon is shaped like the beast for which it is named. Though it stands on all four legs, its back is fully twenty feet off the ground, making it a mount fit for a storm giant. Although it has shown itself to be capable of flight, with the granite feathers of its wings spreading like a bird's, the Griffon now merely stands in a regal pose near Peaktop Aerie atop Mount Waterdeep, looking to the southeast over the Dock Ward. Newcomers sometimes assume it to be a monument to Waterdeep's Griffon Cavalry, but Waterdavians know better.

Peaktop Aerie

City building

Castle Waterdeep

Thick-walled stronghold that broods over Castle Ward from the flanks of Mount Waterdeep. Pennants and banners are often hung and flown from its battlements to signal the arrival of diplomats or the commencement of ceremonies.

Starry Cradles orphanage

The Starry Cradles orphanage is a Dock Ward orphanage run by Matron Griselda Hoppletun, a halfling care-taker, and funded by the House of the Moon and the Selûnite clergy thereof.

- Near Blackstaff Tower (Castle Ward) -

Taverns and Inns:

Sapphire House

Expensive rooming house on Swords Street. The inn is a five-story building.

Tavern of the Flagon Dragon

Tavern. Three Stories high, stone dragons at the base of the walls are all gouting fire, two dragon helmed guards at the door. Caters more to the less-than-noble class.

The Singing Sword

Tavern. Three floors of busy diners enjoy one of the largest menus in Waterdeep. They are entertained by the high-voiced ballads of the wondrous magical blade for which the tavern is named. Gothmorgan Ilibuld, the proprietor, is a polite host.

Wyrmbones Inn

Inn

The Pampered Traveler

Inn. This inn stands like an exotic castle. There is inside a library filled with books and a reading table with a glass top, under which can be seen a map of the known Realms as far west as the Moonshaes, as far east as Thay, and as far south as the Shaar. All in all, a quietly luxurious place to stay. This is undoubtedly the wealthy scholar's choice of hostel. The inn is run by Brathan Zilmer, guildmaster of the Fellowship of Innkeepers.

Dauntlyn's Doors

Luxury Inn

The Elfstone Tavern

Tavern. This old, dimly lit tavern caters to elves. By night, dancing lights spells bathe the place in soft, floating, blue motes of light. Gentle harp, pipe, flute, and choral music is performed and service is fast and graceful. Dwarves and half-orcs will be driven away; humans and halflings are tolerated in small parties; half-elves are just accepted. Yaereene Ilbaereth is the tavern's proprietress.

The Blue Jack

Tavern. The tavern specializes in low prices and fast service, and it's a success. Immithar the Glove, the tavern's proprietor, is quick with a joke or to mimic the speech of other.

The Jade Jug

Inn. Waterdeep's plushest inn. Guests are attended by a personal servant for the duration of their stay and their every need is attended to. The charming, beautiful, one-armed hostess is Amaratha Ruendarr. She notices every detail.

The Dragon's Head Tavern

Tavern. This modest place is aimed at those who like to sit quietly and chat over their drinks. The proprietor is Vorn Laskadarr.

The Asp's Strike

Tavern

Festhalls and Entertainment:

Jhural's Dance

Festhall

Silavene's

Festhall

The Smiling Siren

Festhall. Nightclub & Theater. Home to a company of popular local actors who can perform everything from rowdy comedy to high tragedy. Nobles often hire the place for an evening for exclusive performances. The Siren is also home to traveling troupes of vaudeville jugglers, comedians, and nearly nude dancers or burlesque dancers. Before and between performances, the place is used for drinking and dancing to live music, sometimes with show dancers on the stage. The mage Perendel Wintamer runs this nightclub.

Lightsinger Theater

Business. Entertainers.

Mother Tathlorn's House of Pleasure

Festhall. Entertainers. The most famous house of pleasure in Waterdeep is a large, five-floored building with two additional levels of dungeons below ground. Mother Tathlorn's has on staff several priests of Sune. The most popular service performed at Mother Tathlorn's is massage and bathing, but all of this luxury and pleasure doesn't come cheaply.

Businesses and Shopping:

The Market

Open marketplace. Largest open space in the city surrounded by stone buildings that enclose the maze of temporary stalls and carts that appear here day and night.

Blackwell's Fine Books and Good Tomes

Blackwell's Fine Books and Good Tomes is a posh retail shop, located in the shadow of the God Catcher statue. Owned and operated by the Blackwell family, Blackwell's Fine Books and Good Tomes specializes in rare and antique manuscripts. The shop is especially known, among the noble set, for its restoration, document preservation, as well as transcription services. Mr Blackwell's son, Aldous, has been known to keep an eye on any ancient texts which spend time in the family's shoppe.

The Bookstore occupies the bottom of a three story building. The upper two stories are the Blackwell's lavish townhome apartment.

Paethier's Pipeweed

Business

Eilean's Maztican Delights

Business

Sharkroar - Harth Shalark's Broadsheets

Business

Sorynth's Silverware

Business

The Curious Past

Business is run by Bronwyn Caradoon, dealing in exotic items while also being a front for Harper Activity.

Diloontier's Apothecary

Assassins. Drugs. Poisons. Potions. Now renamed to 'Diloontier's & Sons Apothecary'.

This upscale store catered to the elite of Waterdhavian society. Those who had the right credentials and money for it could quietly purchase poisons and more nefarious potions from the proprietor.

Balthorr's Rare & Wondrous Treasures

Business. Magic items. Balthorr 'the Bold' Olaskos will fence stolen items for 40% market value.

Old Knot Shop

Adventuring gear

Rebeleigh's Elegant Headwear

Business. Clothing.

Halls of Hilmer, Master Armorer

Armor. Hilmer, a tall, strong, and soft-spoken man, with shoulders as wide as most doors, only makes plate, but he's known as the best, or among the best, in all the Sword Coast lands. He's a master craftsman.

Halambar Lutes & Harps

Business. Entertainers. This shop sells all sorts of stringed musical instruments. Kriios Halambar, guildmaster of the Council of Musicians, Instrument-Makers, and Choristers owns and runs this shop.

The Golden Key Locksmiths

Business. The proprietor, Ansilver, makes custom locks to order, and guarantees that he's never sold a key that will open the lock you buy from him to anyone else.

Phalantar's Philtres & Components

Business. Drugs. Poisons. Potions. Here you can buy medicines, herbs, and rare substances used in the making of perfumes, scented oils, poisons, and as material components in the casting of spells. Phalantar Orivan will fence stolen goods for 40% market value. He is said to be fabulously rich.

Olmhazan's Jewels

Business. All the gems one can think of, except very rare or magical sorts. Jhauntar Olmhazan, Gentleman Speaker for the Jewelers' Guild, owns and runs this shop.

Temples:

Font of Knowledge

Temple of Oghma. Largest public library in the city.

Halls of Justice

Temple of Tyr. Holy Order of the Knights of Samular.

Spires of the Morning

Temple of Lathander. Order of the Aster.

Temple of the Seldarine

Temple of all elven deities.

Miscellaneous:

Melody Mount Walk

A magically lit tunnel that runs west up to the cliffs on which the New Olamn barding college is situated. The tunnel contains a little-known portal between Waterdeep and the keep in Rassalantar. The tunnel continuously resounds with music due to an ongoing concert known as the Neverending String of Pearls that is performed by bardic students from New Olamn in a small alcove in the tunnel.

Syndra Wands' Tower

Wizard's domicile.

The Lady Dreaming

One of the eight enormous statues called the Walking Statues of Waterdeep, scattered throughout Waterdeep to defend the city in times of great peril. This statue has the appearance of a titanic sculpture of a noble lady asleep in her garden.

The Great Drunkard

One of the eight enormous statues called the Walking Statues of Waterdeep, scattered throughout Waterdeep to defend the city in times of great peril. The unconscious pose of the statue and the tavern in its lap made the name of the Great Drunkard a natural fit.

Duir's Alley

This busy, winding passage is often the scene of spell demonstrations and practice, as patrons or staff spill out of the rear of the Elfstone Tavern and unleash magic down the alley.

Cat Alley

Recently, a masked, rapier-wielding, quietly chuckling assailant has made this a dangerous place for women after dark.

The God Catcher

One of the eight enormous statues called the Walking Statues of Waterdeep, scattered throughout Waterdeep to defend the city in times of great peril. This is perhaps the most famous walking statue in the city, thanks to its dramatic pose : a well-muscled but impassive male human with a sphere of stone floating above its right hand raised skyward.

Piergeiron's Palace

White marble Palace and main office location for many city officials, the majority of which are dedicated to the administration of city services, such as the Watch, the Guard, city clerks, and the Loyal Order of Street Laborers. The ruler of the city - the Open Lord of Waterdeep - resides and works here.

Tower of the Order

Guildhall. Magic items. Scrolls. Watchful Order of Magists & Protectors.

House of the Fine Carvers

Guildhall. Guild of Fine Carvers.

The Map House

Guildhall. Surveyors', Map & Chart-makers' Guild.

[galedekarios]

the chosen's earring & the celestial spyglass (idle champions)

with idle champions releasing gale as a hero and revealing his age and alignment, there are also a bunch of items relating to him:

many of them have very sweet and cute descriptions, like a ball that gale tried to get tara to play with, lifting his spirits even tho tara didn't see the sense in it, or the collection of waterdhavian chapbooks that gale is glad are written at least in full sentences, the crystal ball used for divination as well as a helpful tool for shaving - but what caught my attention are two things that are more serious than the others:

The Chosen's Earring A symbol of Mystra's faith in me. Former faith, I suppose...

i found the wording here extremely interesting. there is a popular fanon theory that the earring is gale's focus, and it very well could still be.

yet the wording makes me thing that it's not something that he got for himself, but that it was something given to him. by mystra. a symbol to mark her newest chosen. a gift, but also expectations.

while idle champions is of course only a mobile game and we should probably take everything here with a big grain of salt, it's still interesting to me.

the other item that caught my eye was the celestial spyglass and its description:

Celestial Spyglass I like gazing at the heavens. To remember. And to forget.

this immediately stood out to me because it reminded me of gale's alternate astral sea / boat scene in act 3:

Gale: Quite the view, isn't it? The Outer Planes are a place of potential, somtimes overwhelming possibility. I conjured this illusion often during my confinement in Waterdeep. An escape for the mind where there was none for the body. It was easier to stare at the celestial abyss than recognise the emptiness within myself. Easier to pretend my destiny lay among such stars, than work to salvage a life on solid ground. You changed all that.

we also know that gale's tent still holds such a celestial spyglass:

he also comments on it if you explore the world and fine one, like in the abandoned wizard tower:

the "to remember. and to forget." is also very interesting here. i think from his act iii dialogue we can infer what he means by this and it tugs on my heartstrings the same way the alternate act 3 astral sea / boat scene does.

to remember the beauty of the weave, a time where he was all but one with it, where he glimpsed at those possibilities. and to forget, to forget all that came after, the crushing loneliness, the isolation, the abject feeling of failure and loss.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

hey there! fellow naturalist (albeit less experienced!) here! in regards to the AI-generated ID guides, do you have any advice for helping the general public learn to recognize them? are there any giveaways other than incorrect information a layperson might not pick up on that we can tell people to watch out for?

Hi, @fischotterkunst! It's a messy topic, to be sure, but here's what I've been seeing of these AI-generated texts, at least on Amazon:

--If you sort your search for "foraging book" or "mushroom hunting" or whatever search string you use by "Newest Arrivals", you'll notice that there is a glut of books that have come out in the past few weeks. Yes, there are always new books, but this is at a higher than normal rate, which suggests AI is behind at least some of them. There ARE occasionally real authors' books that just happened to come out recently, so don't dismiss every single book that is a fresh release. Use the other criteria below.

--They will invariably be self-published or from some publisher with zero online presence. Not a problem by itself; my own chapbooks are self-published on Amazon KDP. But they come out every three months, not every three days, because I am researching, writing, and editing them all myself, rather than churning out content with AI.

--The titles and subtitles are often very long and stuffed with keywords. They are obviously optimized for search engines rather than being descriptive of the book and they have a rather clunky fashion.

--Look for obvious typos and other errors; for example, in the image above we have "WILD MUSHROOM COOKBOOK FOR BEGINNER: The complete guide on mushroom foraging and cooking with delicious recipes to enjoy your favorite". It should be "for beginners", and the subtitle just...ends prematurely. Favorite what? Favorite mushrooms? Favorite cartoon characters? Favorite color? Also, while there are lot of variations on name spellings, "Magaret" instead of "Margaret" stands out as a possible fake in combination with other clues. (All her other books also have this spelling, though.)

--This is a BIG one: Who's the author? Check their bio. In the above image you'll see that "Jason Cones", the author of "The Wild Edible Plants Forager's Handbook: A Beginner's Guide to Safe Foraging, Including How to Identify Edible Plants, Learn About Their Medicinal Properties, and Prepare Them for Cooking", has a very generic picture and bio that has pretty obviously been generated by AI. If you search for him online, the only page for an author named Jason Cones is the Amazon author page--no website, no social media, no interviews, nada. Even a brand new author will at least have something other than their Amazon page, and they'll mention experience, credentials, other biographical info.

--Look at the author's other books. Magaret seems to focus on cookbooks of very specific sorts, but again they've all come out in a very short time. They also tend to often be on really super-specific niche subjects--this, again, is not a red flag in and of itself, but it's a common pattern with AI "authors". Jason Cones, on the other hand, has written over two dozen books not just about foraging but anger management techniques, acupressure, and weed gummies, and all of his titles have come out since last December.

--If all the books have the same cover but slight differences in title, it's also a big red flag. There are reputable publishers of regional foraging guides like Timber Press, but their books are written by multiple authors and have come out over a long stretch of years (plus they're a well-known publisher with a solid track record, online presence, etc.) Also notice the typos in the title and subtitle; everyone says "Mushroom Foraging", not "Mushrooms Foraging", and "Keep Track Your Mushroom Sightings" is missing "of".

--Compare the descriptions of multiples of these new books and you start seeing patterns. If you look at the images above, you'll notice that both Lorna K. Thompson's "Foraging Recipe Cookbook" and Kevin Page's "The Ultimate Foraging Guide for Seniors" have a very similar formulaic description. They start with a brief story about a person in a town or village who discovers some foraging secrets and then transforms his life, and then a list of things you're supposedly going to find in this seemingly miraculous book. This basically reads like "Hey, ChatGPT, tell me a story of a person who improved their life with foraging in two hundred words or less!" Also, the ends got cut off of my screen shot, but they both end with "GET YOUR COPY TODAY!"

I have not purchased any of these books to verify how awful the content is, but what little content I can see in the previews is uniformly formulaic and, again, reads like someone asked an AI to write content on a topic with some specific keywords thrown in. Needless to say, I do NOT recommend any of these books.

Also, I feel really bad for any actual authors who released their books in the past few months. They're likely getting drowned out by this AI junk, though hopefully they're getting enough attention for their work through their publishers, social media, etc. to get some sales. Support your real-life authors, and boycott AI!

Finally, PLEASE reblog this! It's really, really important that people know what to look for, and the more posts we have floating around with this info, the less likely it is someone's going to get poisoned by following what these books have to say.

[papenathys]

*PLEASE DON'T IGNORE*

So most of you guys know me as Mimi, the person behind papenathys. But did you know I have written a book, a whole collection of poetry? I have just sent in my manuscript for editing and expect to hear back soon.

Here is what you can expect from my book:

💗 chapbook

🤍 26 poems

💙 bengali nostalgia

💗 queerness + sapphic love

🤍 trans bodies

💙 digs at indian academia and politics

Now, here's the thing. Since it is an indie press, by all chances the book shall not be available in print outside of India (not confirmed yet, but this is likely). In that case, would you like me to open a Ko-Fi shop where I make the ebook available? I would love you guys' support on this, because this is my first work and I would like it to reach as many people as possible. Please consider supporting a trans desi poet this pride!

[inkedwingss]

I’m not a performer. I’m just a poet.

And my poetry spreads its wings wide,

as I was blessed and cursed

with an inked heart.

These words might not even be mine!

I’m not a poet, I’m a prophet.

I tell myself the next paragraph.

Don’t ask me to perform—to breathe,

and to live and to fly

I must write—or die!

I’m not a prophet, I’m a poem

lacking words—ink spilt,

hungry lines.

“tracery” by timothy cleary

Keep reading to check what I have been up to.

So, yeah we are back at doing this:

And this:

And this (my wrists crying):

You have to understand I come from a lifetime of not finishing absolutely anything (except two novels). I mean relationships, projects, paintings, books, food, degrees, whatever you can name... I'm the queen of abandoning shit half done.

So the fact that I didn't drop all of this and that I'm still writing my novel, and my poetry chapbook while working a lot, and trying to read (because there is always a lot that I want to read and I end up not doing it enough nowadays), is amazing. Also, I managed to not give up the little zines yet. A miracle.

Just recently I managed to finish my literature/language degree (dropped uni 4 times). Just recently I managed to not run from a real relationship and get married (and very happily married, but only God knows how much my husband fought for me). Just recently I managed to stay, for the first time ever, in the same job for more than 6 months. Not giving up stuff is... New.

But I'm also trying to slow down and focus more on consistency than on doing too much all the time. No rush, no anxiety around it, just a gentle unfolding: one day at a time, enjoying the journey, yada yada. I'm ready for a burnout-free, but productive 2025.

I'm back at Substack (even though I cursed that platform and the vibe is still a bit off for me), because of how practical it is to do a classical blog style and their easy newsletter system...

If you want to get poems in your inbox, subscribe. I'm always uploading stuff there because it's easy, and if it gets too complicated, I will find excuses to give up creating. And what we don't create, consumes us. I know that too damn well.

This year was very important for me to remember that I'm a writer, to connect with some lovely people here and gather strength, but this is still... just my tumblr. And tumblr people can always find me on other platforms, but I'm not interested in other platforms finding me here. Truth be told being in this space since 2009... There is a language that I speak that is mine and mine only and I honestly enjoy tumblr as the quiet space with no expectations. This will never be my writing blog, but now I finally managed to put myself somewhere else.

Maybe it's because I'm not scared to call myself a writer anymore.

I wonder why I took so long.

__

✶ A big thanks to you, lovely people:

(let me know if you want to join or opt-out)

@caustic-splines @hersurvival @canibereborn

@soulstarscape @informedimagining @thedayoftherae

@sablewing @stumbling-through-time @burntblanc

@lelestarmy @fairytaleinagem @remnantofabrokensoul

@yakultstan @illarian-rambling @cssnder @crow-with-a-typewriter

[verysium]

what do you read in your spare time? you’re one of the most eloquent users i know, id love to hear how you find the media you consume and what your favorites are

omg ei 😊 welcome back to the inbox! thank you for your sweet words although i'm probably not qualified enough to be considered the full definition of eloquent. i am going to preface this post by saying that i definitely don't read as much as i should, so this list is not going to be comprehensive whatsoever. the last time i even visited an in-person library was like half a decade ago, and since then my spare time has been nonexistent lmao. anyways, here are some of my favorite/most recent reads as listed by author:

POETRY

richard siken: i think siken is already well-known both in the literary world and in whatever booktok deems is popular culture. if you don't already know him though, he is best known for his poetry collection crush, which delves into themes of obsession, gay love, and violent eroticism. i actually read this chapbook unknowingly. as in i was hounding sketchy pdf download sites at 3 AM and saw a man with bloodied lips on the cover and decided to read it. he basically became my summer fever dream after that. the way he juxtaposes images is seamless, smoother than water. only richard siken can talk about violence without making it sound violent. i also enjoyed his other poetry collection war of the foxes, especially "portrait of fryderyk in shifting light." i think light is a common motif throughout most of his poems, and he manipulates it effortlessly. the most recent piece i read from him is "piano lesson." i have nothing left to say that he didn't already say, so i would just recommend reading it for yourself. he is the og big brain when it comes to word play.

ocean vuong: he's unforgettable, and i mean that literally because nobody forgets a person named ocean. time is a mother was exactly what the name suggests: an exploration of grief, loss, and the rewind of time after his mother's death. some of the poems are almost cinematic in quality. "künstlerroman" is my favorite because it feels exactly like watching a video tape in reverse. i think his most famous work is "someday i'll love ocean vuong." it was the first piece i ever read from him, and to this day, it remains my comfort poem.

silas denver melvin: i only recently discovered him through his chapbook grit. i think he's also on tumblr @/sweatermuppet. he writes a lot on the trans experience, and his work gives me a mix of southern gothic and country vibes. would definitely read his other publications if i had the time.

chen chen: one thing about chen chen is that he always comes to devour. my favorite works from him are "self-portrait as so much potential" and "song of the anti-sisyphus." you have to put on your thinking cap for some of his poems, but once you grasp the meaning, everything makes sense all at once.

franny choi: "disaster means without a star" was the entire inspiration behind my first rin fic. i relate to her more personally in regards to the diaspora experience, but her collections are worth reading in general because of the sheer quality.

pages matam: his poem "piñata" was what got me into slam poetry. his work mostly consists of political commentary which i feel is particularly relevant in today's social climate. "on learning america's english" also resonates with people who have encountered the entire losing/learning immigrant tongues experience.

laura lamb brown-lavolie: i've only read one spoken word poem from her, and tbh i only needed to read one. "on this the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the titanic, we reconsider the buoyancy of the human heart" is my two-headed calf poem. one day i will get this tattooed.

brendan constantine: once again, this was the result of me being chronically online coupled with the boredom of an august heat wave. i found "the opposites game" through TED. honestly, i was a bit unsure about it at first, but it's a cute little poem that makes you really delve into the intricacies of craft.

TEEN POETRY & PROSE

yasmeen khan: she could mouth her words onto every square inch of my body, and i would still be coming back for more. ingraining them into flesh is not enough. "movie stars" is by far my favorite work from her. she writes about femininity and womanhood so profoundly. it's tragic, but really i wouldn't have it end any other way.

kaya dierks: her writing is basically middle-of-nowhere small town stoner teenage life but personified. "crushed" is my favorite piece from her. the soundtrack for this work was definitely by ethel cain, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

FICTION

madeline miller: i was first introduced to her when i read the song of achilles. let's just say that book had me nonverbal for the greater half of three months. it was my metaphorical hatchet. i buried it once, and i never want to dig it up again. i read circe a few years later. the first time was during the blue hour at an airport, right between one red-eye flight and another transfer. i don't even remember that experience because i was heavily sleep-deprived. i read it again recently for a literature course, this time for academic analysis. overall, i enjoy the the heroine-centric narrative. typically, i'm a bit wary of novels with heavy feminist themes because they either project their agenda too strongly or they run the risk of misrepresentation. circe doesn't exactly have that problem. it was more about empowerment and less about exercising power over others.

charlotte brontë: as a historical figure, brontë was questionable, but jane eyre most certainly was not. that book rewired my brain, and that is saying something because i have never read any classic by choice. and it is so important to me that jane was the ugliest, plainest girl you could ever imagine. also cus i unironically enjoy angst, and this book was full of dramatic misunderstandings.

yoko ogawa: i love japanese literature, so there is no reason not to include this one here. "a peddler of tears" is one of my favorite short stories. i did not expect the ending at all, but it was welcome. something about violence, body gore, and dismemberment being framed as romantic and semi-erotic just gets to me. sign me the hell up. hotel iris is a hit-or-miss with some people. either you like the fact that art makes you uncomfortable or you shut it down completely. for me, i was alright with exploring some of its darker themes, but read at your own discretion.

NONFICTION

ross gay: he lives up to his name both in optimism and in carefree joy. probably one of my favorite creative nonfiction authors simply based off the accessibility of his writing style. easy to read and understand but still hits you with the full force of a semi-truck. i would recommend his book inciting joy. it's a collection of essays that delve into grief, but since this is ross gay, he makes it seem like a quintessential part of life.

paul kalanithi: sixteen-year-old me was mind blown by him cus before that doctors were shrewish old men with bald spots and sterile coats, not poetic surgeons who dissected the anatomy of word and recited t.s. eliot in the most heart-wrenching way possible. he is everything i want to become in both life and death. when breath becomes air literally does take your breath away.

[wifelinkmtg]

mom said it's my turn with the five-dollar bill

hello! i've set up a ko-fi. you can give me money if you want. there's no emergency but i am one of those disabled broke transsexuals only just escaping a terrible and dare i say kafkaesque living situation, so it'd help.

WHAT YOU GET FOR THE MONEY

you know i'm gonna keep writing dumb horny reviews of magic card art as long as i stay interested, and when i stop being interested i'll start writing dumb horny reviews of something else.

i got a chapbook called WOLFCANNON coming out this year! it's about what if the roman republic'd had a multi-story wolf mecha that you could fuck. there will be an electronic version available for free, which will always be true of my poetry, but there will also be a physical version available! meanwhile here's the one poem i've bothered to get published in a journal that hasn't since gone defunct, RIP Entropy.

one life-changing* essay every year or so. here's a moodboard for the next one:

...and much more! probably. we'll see! i have so many projects back-burnered at any given time.

YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO GET ALL OF THESE THINGS FOR FREE JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR. BUT YOU CAN ALSO ELECT TO GIVE ME MONEY ABOUT IT

if you do, thank you! regardless, thank you all for reading my writing. i have accidentally built a small audience in maybe the dumbest way possible, and i am never going to be good about responding to replies or messages, but i do appreciate all of you, so, yeah, thanks. see y'all next time.

[pinetree-poet]

NOVEMBER POEM-A-DAY CHAPBOOK CHALLENGE: DAY 1 ~ BEFORE YOU LEAVE

BEFORE YOU LEAVE © 2024 - G. Smith (BMI) =================== I drove a truck for thirty-odd years, Countin’ the miles and shiftin' the gears, Haulin’ the lumber, movin' the steel, Chasin’ the white line, and turnin' the wheel.

I’ve been to Portland, I’ve been to Rome, But my favorite place was my bedroom at home. That’s where she waited, between every load, My one destination, whatever the road.

“Before you leave me, please tell me,” she’d say, “That you’ll come back to me, whatever, what may. “And know I’ll be waiting, with heart open wide. “So tell me you love me, and come be by my side.”

I pulled in one evenin’, after takin’ a call, And cancellin’ a trip, cancellin’ a haul. The doc said, “I’m sorry, she doesn’t have long, “And I cannot help with whatever is wrong.”

I looked at her sleeping, so peaceful, at rest, And knew in soul that my life had been blessed. And despite all the highways, and each traffic jam, She’s been the reason I am who I am.

“Before you leave me, please tell me,” I said, “That you know I love you, and I’m here by our bed. “And I know you’ll be waiting, with heart open wide, “At the gates up above, for me to be by your side. “I know you’ll be waiting for me to be by your side.”

[topazadine]

How to elevate your writing style with 6 simple hacks

Let's go through a few simple and easy tricks to make your writing masterful! No expensive writing courses - these are all so very free.

Read and write poetry

Use Microsoft Read Aloud

Develop your theory of mind

Be vaguer (within reason)

Listen to IRL conversations

Say less to do more

Read and write poetry

I often get complimented on my poetic writing style (no wonder my entire book series is about poetry magic). Here's what a professional editor said about the sixth book in the series, Poesy:

There's no real secret to how I have developed my style: the entire start of my journey, from about age 14 to age 26, was writing poetry. I read good novels and practiced my poetry in addition to getting my Brit Lit degree and all that stuff. (I have a chapbook out called The Lucretia Cycle, which is about my sexual assault at age 25. Trigger warning, obviously.)

Why is poetry so helpful for fiction writers? The word flow. Poetry is meant to be spoken aloud, so it needs to have a certain cadence.

As an aside, this is why I hate people who think you can just take a sentence and break it up however you want and call it poetry. No! They're different forms. You can use poetry to inform your fiction writing style, but it doesn't really work the other way around.

Anyway, practicing a lot of poetry helps develop your internal voice so that you can self-edit, improving your word flow and making for a smoother reading experience.

To write good poetry, just like with writing good fiction, you need to read good poetry first. Hunt up an anthology of celebrated writers, search "100 best poems of all time," stuff like that.

As a test for if a poem is good, read it aloud. If it makes no sense and sounds weird, then it's a bad poem.

Use Microsoft Read Aloud

This goes along with the abovementioned poetry: you want to develop a good word flow. Even if your readers aren't listening to an audiobook, most people have an internal voice that reads along with them, and they're going to get annoyed if your writing has a jangly, unpleasant flow. Of course, there are times when you do want a jangly, unpleasant flow, like when you're discussing something gross, but most of the time, you don't want that.

Hearing your work read aloud not only helps you catch typos, but it also lets you notice if you use the same word too many times; the Microsoft Read Aloud voice uses the same tone for the word every time so it'll be very apparent. You can also ensure that sentences flow smoothly with one another based on the practice you've done with poetry.

The other thing that Read Aloud helps with is punctuation, something that a lot of people struggle with. See, the way that we teach punctuation in school sucks because it doesn't point out that punctuation is basically stage directions for reading aloud; that's the whole reason it was invented. It helps group words together so that we understand how they are related and how we should verbalize them. Even if your punctuation isn't grammar-school perfect, it will make sense to readers if it helps them slow down at the right points.

My ultimate goal when revising is to put my headphones on, sit with some knitting, and not have to stop the Read Aloud for several pages. Once I've hit that point, I know I'm good to go.

Develop your Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind is the ability to understand that someone else may not have the same knowledge, experience, opinions, or beliefs that you do. It is a crucial skill for writers in a variety of ways; I'll detail a few of them now.

Being aware of audience. What enraptures us as a writer is not always what our readers will care about. This is why infodumping is annoying; it often is about the writer wanting to show off how smart they are and how much they have thought about their characters. Writing in an engaging way. Going along with this, good writers understand that their readers are likely not devoting their lives to any one book; they're able to recognize that their book is one of dozens or even hundreds that the reader will consume this year. As such, they push to make their book stand out by making it as intriguing as possible. My way of standing out is going all in on characterization, and including poetry, which is designed to be memorable. Considering a reader's blind spots. A great beta reader can help you with this, but if you have good ToM, you can rectify these errors yourself by remembering what you haven't told the reader yet - and what they need to know right this instant. It also ensures that you explain things in a way that makes sense to readers, such as remembering that not everyone knows the same pop culture references and may not be familiar with certain brands or objects. Understanding characters' perspectives. When my brother started reading my first book, 9 Years Yearning, one of the first things he said was something like "ugh Orrinir is SO down bad for Uileac!! Why can't Uileac see that!!" Well, because Uileac is a teenage boy who is also down bad for Orrinir but is terrified of pushing his closest friend away by confessing. Applying Theory of Mind allowed me to write a story where both characters are practically screaming their desire, but neither is willing to take the plunge. There's no forced miscommunication, just a very human reaction: accepting one pain (keeping one's feelings hidden) to avoid another, bigger pain (ruining a close friendship). Remembering what information only one character has. Especially crucial in mysteries and thrillers, but it applies to every book in some fashion. Your characters don't know what the other does unless they are a mind reader (unlikely), they are actually told the information direct from the source, or they sniff around and find it out.

Now, I know that some neurodivergencies have issues with Theory of Mind, but recent neuroscience demonstrates that there are actually a number of ways to improve your ToM.

If you have autism, schizophrenia, or other neurodivergencies, please don't think it's impossible for you to become a good writer; it's absolutely not.

Anyone can become a great writer if they work hard and practice. No matter your neurotype, no matter your background. I'd never gatekeep this beautiful art from anyone.

I've found some resources about improving theory of mind here and here, but there are many more out there. I'd also argue that dialectical behavioral therapy, targeted toward developing theory of mind, would be helpful too.

Be vaguer (within reason)

Keeping some mystery in your works is important for a few reasons.

Invites further reflection. When everything is spelled out for your readers, there's little room for them to come up with their own theories and perspectives on your writing. Gives readers autonomy. Readers like to take ownership of a world - that's why we have the entire genre of fanfic. Leaving some things open for interpretation helps them feel like they are part of the experience rather than a passive viewer. Helps your writing pass the sniff test. This is especially important for scifi or fantasy, but it matters in other genres too. Getting too specific gives readers a chance to go "well acktuahlly" if they happen to be more well-versed in a topic than you are. Blatant misinformation breaks their immersion. Avoids infodumps. Readers' eyes will glaze over if you throw too much information at them. Let them think. Sprinkling a few tidbits in here and there, then making the reader connect the dots, is far more enjoyable than a wall of irrelevant details.

The funny thing is that what I remember from texts is always the small and charming details rather than the big important plot points and explanations of the world mechanics. For example, it has been literally 20 years since I picked up a Redwall book, but I remember the sumptuous discussions of the feasts, with all the yummy cheeses and so on. I remember the discussions of the tapestries and the abbey's tall ceilings. Those are the memorable details, not the exact plot points.

What can you be vague about? Well, it really depends on what type of book you have - there's no one-size-fits-all rule. Make a hierarchy of things that are most important for readers to understand, and let everything else be background info.

In general, though, avoid specific measurements. Time, distance, weight, height, and so on, unless they are absolutely critical to the plot for some reason (unlikely). If you're wrong, readers will be very annoyed.

Listen to IRL conversations

I have a more in-depth guide to dialogue planned, so I'll leave this pretty short.

One of my favorite ways to improve dialogue is to watch interrogation videos. You have access to hours of unscripted conversations from a variety of people in all sorts of situations.

But, at the same time, you are not trying to figure out what to say in response to anything because you've not having a conversation. It can be challenging to notice verbal tics when you're working to digest and respond to someone else.

Another popular method is to just plop yourself down at a cafe, or bus, or whatever else, and quietly listen to others without seeming weird.

The important thing about both of these is to choose something where you are passively listening to someone speak without needing to contribute anything.

Do not rely on movies, or other books, or podcasts, or whatever, to build your dialogue skills. These are edited down and agonized over; they are not going to teach you how to sound natural. You need real-life examples.

Say less to do more

Good writing can do a lot of work without extra fluff because the writer is targeting multiple things at once. Excellent authors can build foreshadowing, demonstrate personality, worldbuild, and infuse themes just by having a character walk across a room, moving the plot forward without separating every single thing into its own point.

Sentences can be pretty short, less than two lines, and still powerful. For example, I'm proud of this part from my upcoming book, Pride Before a Fall.

As if a world-fever had broken: Orrinir woke feeling sluggish, mind full of marbles that rolled every time he moved. His first thought was of Uileac lain beside him, eyes closed and hair stiff with sweat. A bath would be in order, but later. Assuming the cavalryman even let him.

Clearly Orrinir had a rough night full of unexpected problems, and now he has a mental hangover. He's tired and has many disconnected thoughts rattling around in his head.

From the "world-fever" part and the fact that Uileac is covered in sweat, we can sense that Uileac was sick but the danger has now passed.

Uileac and Orrinir clearly had some sort of argument, and now Orrinir's not sure whether his partner will accept his care. We also guess that Orrinir desperately wants to help his partner and is kind of obsessed with him but also scared of rejection. He seems a bit snippy and resentful, too.

Each of these sentences is less than two lines, but they all get a lot done very quickly.

Note also that while I use two unique phrases in the first line, the rest of it is pretty plain. The reader can enjoy the interesting metaphor in the first line, then get back to more straightforward discussions afterward. It's not a 24/7 purple prose fest.

This is a very hard skill to learn; even after over 15 years of writing regularly, I'm still working on it. However, you can get to that point by just revising over and over again.

Write your draft in as much detail as possible, unconcerned with if it's wordy or messy. Then, figure out how you can say the same thing more concisely without losing the meaning. Go back in and do this again, and again, until every single word has a reason to be there.

I've created a masterlist of writing resources that you can peruse at your leisure, all for free.

The posts I write can sometimes take me hours - they're always intricate, always thoughtful.

I do this as a labor of love for the writing community, sharing what I have learned from almost 15 years of creative writing.

However, if you'd like to support me, maybe you'll consider buying my book?

At $0.99, that's about 7 cents for each minute you spent reading this post.

9 Years Yearning is a gay coming-of-age romance set in a fantasy world. It follows Uileac Korviridi, a young soldier training at the War Academy. His primary motivations are honoring the memory of his late parents, protecting his little sister Cerie, and becoming a top-notch soldier.

However, there's a problem: Orrinir Relickim, a rough and tough fellow pupil who just can't seem to leave Uileac alone.

The book features poetry, descriptions of a beautiful country inspired by Mongolia, and a whole lot of tsundere vibes.

You can also check it out on Goodreads for a list of expanded distribution. If you loved it, be sure to preorder Pride Before a Fall, arriving January 1, 2025!

If you do purchase my book, don't forget to leave a review!

Reviews are vital for visibility on Amazon and help to support indie authors like me. Whenever you love a book, be sure to let the author know! It's much appreciated.

[fatimaamerbilal]

Forgive me if this has already been asked, but what exactly is moony moonless sky? Is there a place one might be able to access the whole thing, assuming it’s a poetry collection or chapbook?

P.s. your writing is incredible. Thank you for giving words to what most people can’t say or don’t understand. <3

hey, you absolutely don’t need to apologize. ‘moony moonless sky’ is just a compilation of poems i started writing when i was fifteen. i am not sure if it’s a poetry book or something else because the chances of its physical existence are quite thin. to answer your second question, i'm sorry, but as of right now, there’s no outlet for you to access the entire collection. i have been told that some people here would appreciate a pdf file containing all my work, so i have been working on that from time to time.

thank you so much for reading. i hope you’re having a great day!

[darkfeanix]

Sunday Snippet

Tagged by @defira. As always, much appreciated.

Apparently it is still Sunday somewhere in the world, so this counts. My hand slipped during lunch at uni today and I accidentally wrote what could be the opening scene of a Gale romance fic, if this character is the one I choose to play in-game. He doesn't even have a full name yet, but here are the last three paragraphs of the scene I wrote:

And then there was Gale. The distance that had grown between Milo and Gale was of a different sort; confusion and hurt and betrayal and relief all mixed into a tightly knotted ball of unspoken feelings. And right then neither of them was quite sure how to even begin untangling it all. After all, Gale had resigned himself to a noble sacrifice. In the dark mindflayer hive beneath Moonrise Towers, he had been on the cusp of following Mystra's instructions and triggering the Orb of Karsus embedded in his chest, in order to put an end to the Absolute once and for all.  And at the last possible moment, Milo had stopped him. He was still asking himself why he had done it. It very well could have been their only chance at stopping the Absolute – or more specifically, the Chosen of the Dead Three behind it, and their enslaved elder brain. Alone, any one of them would have been formidable, but all three Chosen working together, with the elder subjugated to their will, could very well have proven impossible. So why plead with Gale to not go through with it? Because he was selfish. Because he cared, and he couldn't believe that Gale's sole remaining purpose in life was to die. He had made mistakes - some of them very grave indeed - but redemption through death should not be the solution. Milo hated when his favourite chapbooks ended in that way, and he would be damned if he let the man he had been developing very strong feelings for be pushed into that position, even if it was at the behest of a goddess.

As I said, I wrote it in a very short period without much planning. Not 100% happy with Milo's characterisation, but it's a proof of concept I guess?

Tagging anyone who sees this and would like to share a snippet of recent writing.

[cog5]

Villainations on a Theme

Thinking up titles for these posts is the hardest part. Something else that’s difficult is trying to create variety in villains while writing a mega-dungeon. I first took the route of having the villain pop up here and there, to make them known, and give the adventure party a chance to interact with them. These interactions set the tone of who this person is. But in the last third of the dungeon, I started to really lean in on playing with different incarnations of the villain, to lean on some of the original facets of their core personality, but then also explore what they might be like if they had lost everything in their life, if they were all-powerful, if they were a puddle of living oil – things like that. 

See, this particular villain has a cloning machine that they use to clone themselves. An aspect of the adventure is that some of these clones have become aberrant, gaining unique powers of their own, or having different circumstances that cause them to diverge from the standard archetype of the villain I first started with. I don’t think I would have done this with a smaller adventure/dungeon, so it’s been an interesting side effect of writing a mega-dungeon where I am constantly scraping by, trying to generate unique ideas to come up with something new. It’s good mental exercise.

I don’t know if this approach works for everyone, but quantity has been effective in sifting out quality for me. That is, writing a lot helps to unearth interesting ideas. Proof to me that it’s worth sitting down and writing a little every day, even if everything that’s on the page doesn’t make it into a final draft. So much of what ended up in the final version did not exist last year during my initial drafts. 20 months later, the mega-dungeon has taken on a life of its own. Even in the final hours of writing yesterday, certain things just fell into place that I had not even been thinking about. It’s a unique sensation when things click like that.

I’ve come to a close on this mega-dungeon, finally. All 12 areas are complete, and I managed to squeeze in an intro and some adventure hooks. 240 pages, last I counted. I’ll likely do one more pass of proofreading, undoubtedly there are still typos, or miss-referenced locations. But it’s a load off for sure. Time to take a breather and focus on something new for a while. I appreciate everyone who has come along for the ride, thank you!

Things I’ve Been Playing

Role-playing adjacent, I picked up a very unique game called “Lost Worlds”. I had never heard of it before, and happened upon a stack of the play books at my local game store. It’s a game from the early 80s, and the mechanics are so utterly novel to me. It’s nice to be surprised. 

The best way I can describe it, is a mix between a choose-your-own adventure book, and a one on one character fighting game, ala Street Fighter, but with a fantasy theme. It’s all done with a couple of books. You and your opponent each have a character card that lists your moves like “down swing”, “thrust” and other “special” attacks. 

Then you exchange your book with your opponent and shout numbers at each other to perform your character’s moves. The numbers are listed on a matrix that correspond to pages. The matrix combinations define who parries, who hits, etc.

It’s fun not knowing exactly what move your opponent is going to pick, and when you have an advantage, you can press on it by picking a move that would score you a hit. There is a real sense of action. No dice, more of a rock-paper-scissors strategy with extra layers. It’s impressive, all being done with a couple of small chapbooks. 

Without knowing how it all works, it’s a bit like magic. After researching how it works (I won’t spoil it), it’s still pretty special. I could go on. So I will.

Another interesting thing about these books, the fact that the illustrations depict the action in first person. Meaning once you’ve exchanged your book with your opponent, you are seeing their character through your character’s eyes. That is, you see an illustration of them attacking you, or blocking your attacks. Pretty much every situation is accounted for. Fascinating stuff that I have just not seen anywhere else in this format. 

I guess this was based on an older game called Ace of Aces. An aerial combat game with similar mechanics. A bit of a rabbit hole for me, for sure. Love digging into this kind of thing.

And of course, you can run campaigns, and your characters can level up. It also mentions using the Lost Worlds battle system in place of traditional RPG combat, taking your Lost World characters into your favourite dungeon adventures. The game was popular in DnD’s early days – if I manage to get a B/X or OSE game up and running one of these days, I might just try this mash-up.

—

Alright, that’ll do for now. I believe I’ll take a break for a bit – see you around!

Oh yeah, go back Get it at Sutlers! Everyone needs a little more Troika! in their lives.

[crippleprophet]

Hello! Do you or your followers have any tips for attending an academic conference with chronic pain and mobility disability?

ooh okay this definitely isn’t universal bc the only conference i went to in person was fall 2019 & a huge biomedical engineering one, so both scale & the particular flavors of ableism may differ for you not to mention yk. covid. but here are my takeaways:

if you don’t have a motorized mobility aid you may want to rent one - i rented a mobility scooter for part of the time & immediately called to extend the rental for the full duration after getting there because the conference center was fucking massive. i definitely could not have physically walked it. so see if you can check the size ahead of time & plan accordingly - it sucks that disabled people have to put in so much effort but if it’s at a conference center calling the staff might help. if it’s at a university their access & accommodations office might have a relevant campus map

i stayed at the adjoining hotel also for access reasons (getting a mobility scooter into an uber is not my idea of a fun time) which was way more expensive than my colleagues who could share an air bnb. check with your department to see if they have conference funding! your university’s access & accommodations and/or financial aid offices also might have recommendations for funding options

if you’re doing a poster presentation & will be seated, a laser pointer might be helpful if you won’t be able to point at the top of the poster with your hand! someone also recommended i make little printed flyers with summaries, the main graphics, etc so i could talk to people directly more easily since i couldn’t present the “standard” way - your department should also be able to print that sort of thing for you if you’re interested

if the conference is at a university, check social media to see what disabled students are saying about access issues to anticipate etc

it’s gonna be ableist. again this is coming from my experience in BME which is super cure-oriented so it might not be universal, but however ableist you expect it to be, double that. i had at least two breakdowns over the 4 days about how hard it was to navigate the environment, how isolating it was, feeling like i wouldn’t be able to have a career in academia, etc. if at all possible, have a support system “on call” for you during this time - if you’re 18 or older & want to join my bitter cripple discord, feel free to dm me! i’d also think about learning about any disabled people in your field. & if you want some commiseration, i have several poems about my conference experience in my chapbook mountaintop (available free)

invest in a P100 respirator if you haven’t already! i have one of the kinda cyberpunk looking ones but people can be weird about it (moreso than they already are for masks they recognize), my gf uses the Flo Mask which is less obtrusive & really likes it

i hope that’s helpful! other folks feel free to add on, & please dm me or send another ask if you have more questions! i will leave you with two blessings, one from my first disability studies professor & the other from a longtime friend:

run people over.

take up space. take up more.

[gaydryad]

Ooh, can you elaborate on calls of the void?

Calls of the Void is a personal zine/chapbook :] it was supposed to just be a little project since at my uni, creative writing grad students get a chapbook published and my publishing / book layout special interest kicked in to be like "ok what do I want to actually have that be and how do I want it to look". it's the first project I've done where the format (length, page size, general printing limitations/requirements) came before the writing and this has been both fun and annoying as fuck (I've had to change the page size like three times due to being bad at math...).

I also was uh, having a lot of thoughts about Mortality due to personal stuff, which is part of where the title comes from. anyway here's a whiteout poem I made from an email my dad sent me after I came out to him with my new name (these would be on a recto and a verso respectively, so that the second page is on the back of the first):

[image IDs: two non-facing pages. the first one is titled "dear" in all smallcaps. the rest of the text is a block which has been selectively whited out, leaving only certain words visible. together the two pages show all of the text, but only the text on the first page is legible, as the text on the second page has been flipped horizontally so it appears to be backward. the text reads as follows, with parentheses indicating the backwards text:

'Void (I definitely don’t like. It’s negative; ok, I get you can argue it’s neither negative nor positive but we’re positive, and that makes it negative. We are the opposite of the) void. (You are the opposite of the) void. (You are not alone in the) void; (you have to at least admit that the rest of us are here with you in this world, facing the same) void. (And this world that I refer to, as you know it, every single thing that you may think of when I say “everything,” that which you know, is all within you. I suppose you feel you find yourself in a) void, (or with the) void, (but even in this solipsist view it’s you vs. the) void, (you are the negation of the) void, (you are the fill. If you are surrounded by the) void, (if you are the little that is, you are not the) void, (you are what is not) void. (No one can prove to you that solipsism is wrong but it’s a very stupid thing to believe, and the world will prove you wrong every time. And the truth is, you are the opposite of the) void. (You contain all of the light.)

(The) Void (is such an absurd idea; it can’t exist, it can’t be anything. It’s a self-contradiction!) It would be enough (to create the universe!)

(So I don’t know what dark mood has you identifying with The) Void, (but as your father,) I (cannot) approve.' /end ID]