#i originally posted this when i was on vacation but it wasn't connected to its companion piece yet

[itstimeforstarwars]

The siege has gone on for a month now, and Anakin is getting impatient. When he and Cody find a tunnel that might lead past the blockade, nothing is going to stop him from exploring it, so Cody does his best to mitigate the risks and prepare backup in case it ends up going wrong.

(Written for Forgotten Chapters. Companion piece to Mapmaking by bringyourbasket.)

“Cody marked the coordinates on a map as they were updated… they could see that the tunnels definitely went towards the city.” —Mud, Muck, and Mapmaking by soft_but_gremlin

Art for Forgotten Chapters: A 2003 Clone Wars Era Zine

~

I wanted to make this post with both of our contributions, so that y'all could easily see both! It was a great time working with bringyourbasket, and I'm really happy with the way our work turned out!

[blurrypetals]

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 23, 2025 - ★★★★★

Man, this might be Emily Henry's opus thus far. It's going to be at war in my heart with Happy Place for my favorite of hers for years to come, methinks.

Where to begin? While this is certainly still a romance in every way like Henry's other 5 adult novels, this also feels like it goes beyond "just" being a romance. This is also somewhat true of Henry's other work, but I feel like this has the most meat to it that isn't related to the romance.

Beach Read had themes of grief. People We Meet on Vacation and Book Lovers both had themes of balancing your career with your real life. Happy Place had themes of maintaining relationships as you grow older. Funny Story had themes of finding confidence in yourself as an adult. An argument could me made that all of those themes have some overlap with the other books, and I would agree, but Great Big Beautiful Life has all of those themes and more.

The way Margaret's story unfolds as she spins a yarn of her family's past was brilliantly written. Henry swept me up in this decades-long tale and I loved seeing in the end what was true, what wasn't, how those differences affected the themes of family, of legacy, and of loneliness and aging alone.

I loved the romance here, too. The way Alice and Hayden just go together was so lovely, heartwarming and satisfying. They fall relatively quickly in comparison to Henry's other works, but it never feels forced or instantaneous. They build something real while also having believably strong chemistry and intense attraction to one another. I loved how they bonded early through physical touch and genuinely sweet, cheeky conversation, so it makes it work very well when that physical and emotional connection both intensify later in the story.

For a great deal of the story, I was thinking about that think Emily Henry has done in every single one of her adult novels where the couple gets into some kind of spat wherein the guy typically becomes cagey for no reason and they break up at the top of the third act. It's one of my least favorite tropes in the best of times, and luckily Henry's books are typically the best of times, so I usually give her a bit of a pass for it, but I've also grown tired of it.

So I was pretty happy that this didn't have that exact same bullshit all over again. Yes, Hayden and Alice do have a third act break, but it's far more realistic, believable than it's been before. Alice goes home to protect Hayden from the truth. It was the woman being cagey for once! And I was so glad Hayden wasn't keeping a secret from Alice. It could so easily have turned out that he was working for or with Margaret the whole time and I'm so glad it wasn't about that. He was just a heartbroken, lovesick pup who didn't want to get hurt ever again.

I absolutely loved this book and I think it is some of Henry's best writing. Sometimes it's an absolute privilege to get to experience a book and it's true that I felt honored to be in this book's presence. We're not worthy! Henry's lovely mix of romance and literary fiction is at its best here, striking an excellent balance of her two genres, and it was a treat to bask in the glow of this book's Georgia sunshine. As always, I can't wait to see what she writes next!

[promiseiwillwrite]

Things I like about Christianity

I come from Alabama, by way of Kentucky. I grew up in the South, immersed in Southern Culture, Southern Values, and Southern Ideals.

Hard Work, Self Sacrifice, Putting others before yourself, Kindness, Strength, Devotion, Keeping your word.

These were things that were pressed into the mold of my soul before I even knew the concepts existed.

I remember being told to stand in the hall for hours after I asked about dinosaurs in my vacation bible school class. And then looking up at my favorite tree as our car passed it on my way home from there, and deciding that I believed in dinosaurs even if I couldn't be good enough to be with god in heaven. I was five.

But my Grandparents bought me as Many Dinosaurs as I could want, Because I Loved them.

My Grandparents were absolute saints. Their family meant more to them than money or perception. They loved us, and it was unconditional. Even when my mom, with her notoriously bad taste in men kept bringing them home. They welcomed them with open arms because my mother loved them. My grandfather mentored my dad and got him the engineering job that became the foundation for his 40 year career.

And my Grandmother still chased him down the hall of her retirement community building with a bright red Louisville Slugger after she found out that he had abused me and my sister.

My mother came out of the Broom Closet when she divorced my dad. And her next failed marriage was to a man who emotionally and verbally abused me and my sister as well. But this man was a piece of work. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Substance abuse, Psychotic Episodes, Poor emotional control and other problems. And he was a Hater. He blamed Christians, Christianity and the Establishment for Every problem he saw in his life and his mind.

He considered himself a pagan person. And he thought of himself as strictly countercultural.

He was an Anti-role model for me. I strove not to be like him. I saw his bitter rage and terror, and agoraphobia and I swore to myself I would never be that way.

But despite my best efforts, parts of him rubbed off on me. Like Gomez Addams. My Mother and my Step Father were like Gomez and Morticia, and the Addams's romantic entanglements were like the "relationship Goals" for my parents. I was taught that this was the model for Knowing for sure that it was Love.

For better or for worse.

It is through this lens that I look back at Christianity, and its ideas, and stories, and interpretations. It is from this perspective that I can sit down and try to piece together something worth having.

I always did love the stories of the Folk Devil... Why the Sea is Salt was always my favorite.

I Loved the stories of Saint Martha and the Tarasque, and Saint Francis of Assisi, and Joan of Arc as a kid, but never told anyone because those were Christian things, and I wasn't allowed to like stuff like that. There were some stories of the Knights of Templar protecting folk healers and midwives, instead of crusading and murdering people. There was Mother Theresa of Calcutta, who lived in my lifetime and helped Many people.

I don't know if you've read Madeline L'Engle, but her story called Many Waters is a fantastic read. Lots of Angels, and Nephilim and Unicorns.

I am sure that there are a lot of people who will be upset at the idea of me liking these stories. I was 12. There was no context for me to use to connect these tales to their origins. I could not have known that they had been stolen from Jewish stories and traditions.

The history of my family is very strong in the Holiness Faith. My Great Grandfather received an epiphany and became a traveling minister. He founded many churches in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. He played guitar, and wrote Christian Music. He lived to be over 100 years old.

I like to think that some of what motivated him was love. I never knew him. I have seen a few pictures. My mother has some of the sheet music he wrote.

For such a long time, I did not claim this part of my heritage because All I could see of Christianity was the oppression. The Ugliness portrayed by my Step Father. His burning, righteous indignation at everything it stood for. And my own shame, acknowledging that it was a part of me whether I liked it or not.

But I think this view was limited. As much as Christianity has problematic aspects, so does everyone. So does Every path. And I think that there are good parts, even so.

And like the pieces of fabric that make a quilt, I am going to take some of these good ones, some of these that make up who I am, and I am going to make a blanket to wrap around the shoulders of people I love. I am going to use that blanket to let myself rest, and heal, and learn that safety is a thing I can Make in my life.

And I think I will have done alright by my Great Grandfather, for an old swamp witch.