#i write plenty Scottish characters and stories set in Scotland

[mekanikaltrifle]

Something about the Biffy Clyro song 'Unknown Male 01' makes it feel like such an angry and poignant piece against dismissing male suicide rates and the difficulty men have with their own lives. Like in Scotland, as many places, it is such an issue and so many people ignore it...

And knowing this song was made in honour of a legendary Scottish indie musician who did in fact take that path, that's sharp. Scottish men really do actually struggle with this and I wish they didn't.

Guess I know what charity cause I'm gonna look at next I have enough money to support two charities at once consistently. (I already donate to a homeless/housing charity, and don't plan to stop)

[writingwithcolor]

Showing Culture: POC Representation Speed Round

Representing POC in Ancient Fantasy Scotland

@adoliin submitted:

hello there! i’m an artist currently working on writing a high fantasy comic. the story all takes place in a made up country heavily based off of ancient scotland (i’m scottish and white). i want to include plenty of poc in my comic, but religion and culture within this setting (which takes place entirely in one small country) is fairly homogenous -  not many people visit and the church is totalitarian, which is important to the plot. 

my initial plan was to create people who happen to be poc but otherwise don’t differ in their culture or religion from the white characters, but of course that are unique in other ways. but i have no idea if that’s a good idea or not -  i’m very aware that the culture and religion that are in the story are based on things practiced by ancient white people, and don’t want to whitewash characters in this way - if that is what i would be doing. 

should i definitely make room to represent other types of cultures and religion in the story, and not just skin tone? any advice is very appreciated.

Yes to your last question. The thing with POC in Europe is like, they gotta come from somewhere! Because of some form of migration, they ended up from the places they were originally from. So your world has to account for the existence of these other cultures. Even if the POC characters’ are multiple generations away from the initial diaspora, they’re still going to have remnants of that original culture embedded in their home life and customs. Since your main setting is already based on a real-life place, just code your POC with other real-life identities. 

Here’s a link on avoiding White As Default and incorporating markers of POC identity. Also see Emme’s response in the very last ask in this post. 

~ Mod Rina

Coding Effectively, “Indonesian Culture?”

@wintersrchild submitted:

Heya! In this fantasy story I’m writing I do a lot of detailed worldbuilding and history for several different cultures/countries over a long period of time (on the scale of centuries). Because I can’t really cover every aspect of life I want to base those countries on existing cultures (especially so I could use already existing languages for names), however I want my countries to still be their own independent thing affected by the events in my story not just irl culture+magic, kinda like how most fantasy is based on medieval europe without actually being europe. 

My question is how should I go about this without coming across as disrespectful? Since I am essentially using that culture only for inspiration/aesthetic and want to leave a large space for my own creativity, which feels like it could very easily come across as insulting if I’m not careful. If it matters any I plan on using Indonesian culture for basis and if that’s the wrong term it’s because I still need to do most of the research ^^“

Read more fantasy that codes multiple cultures effectively (I like Tamora Pierce, Nahoko Uehashi and N.K. Jemisin). Without further detail, we can’t provide advice. Don’t be afraid to do your research, do your coding and then come back to us for our opinions.

- Marika. 

Re: Indonesia, as far as I’m aware this is just a national border and says nothing about the religious and ethnic diversity within. I also prescribe research!

~Mod Rina

Showing Nationality Where There’s a Disconnect from All Nationalities?

@alduranattackdog​ submitted:

So, I’m writing a story with the main characters having come from a nation cut off from every other country, such as China and Mexico, meaning that race indicators for them are unconnected to any nation. Is there a way to say “This person looks Dominican”, for example, without using nations that doesnt stem around foods and colors?

I have already stated the dangers of equating coding to racial appearance by nation (Post here, scroll down to my commentary). However I think the bigger problem is I don’t understand what you are asking us. 

- Marika 

I’m confused. If you’re cut off from every other country to the point you’re completely disconnected, then why would you describe someone as a certain nationality? If I’ve never heard of China as a country, then I wouldn’t describe an Asian person as Chinese. In fact, I really wouldn’t describe people by their nationality at all.

- SK

Indicating POC Race in Urban Fantasy

@genotaurus said:

I'm fearing I might be oversimplifying things for me when trying to write PoC characters. I for example write a multi POV Urban Fantasy where there is a magical society still on earth with the same countries and everything, but with highly different view points on, for example, sexuality and gender. "Normal" humans exist, but don't do much. Now, the story takes mostly place in Germany and I have written two prominent black characters, one protagonist and love interest. But I don't really indicate race in my story. I'll describe the skin, hair and eye color of every character (+ details like scars if they have any), but not really much else. Am I creating some type of unnecessary out for myself by making their descriptions so simple?

I think that (even if your story’s world doesn’t contain elements of racism/xenophobia) the fact that POC tend to keep their native cultures even with assimilation, is a very normal thing among diaspora. It’s not something that people would have a problem with reading, and actually much more realistic than having 100% culturally-assimilated POC (especially in a West-European country like Germany). 

I celebrate American holidays and whatnot, living in the United States. At the same time, my family also speaks Chinese, celebrates Lunar New Year, and lives by Twn/Sgp-Buddhist principles. 

While people living in one country generally share many cultural elements, you should remember that (especially with POC in a West European country like Germany) diaspora from other places of the world retain a lot of their original cultures, even in assimilation (myself a prime example). I’ll link you to our tag on assimilation where you can look for OwnVoices feedback to asks pertaining to this.

In fact, there are really simple ways that you can represent us beyond physical appearance! It doesn’t take a lot of work to do as these are really just small, everyday things.

Foods that they eat at home, restaurants that they frequent

Holidays and cultural occasions that they celebrate

Music that they listen to, instruments that they play

Language: name, culturally-specific phrases/vernacular English, other languages that they’re fluent in, name honorifics (which can also be used to indicate relationships between people!)

So many more: religion, principles, parenting styles...

I also encourage you to read the coding tag on our blog-- we have plenty of asks about coding tastefully if you’d check that out. :)

Although choosing not to write about POC cultures is something you can get away with your world still being called (ethnically) diverse, there’s also that facet of cultural erasure with not allowing us to celebrate the elements that make up our (socially-constructed) races. It takes a long time and some very specific situations in which POC retain their ethnicity/typical physical traits of their people, while being 100% integrated into a completely different society.

If you’re still on-the-edge about writing this, I urge you to check out our post on braving diversity from a while back. I think that a lot of your oversimplification of things stems from fear of misrepresenting us; However, with the right effort and work put into research, I think that including the little everyday things that POC do, can truly let you write something different, grow as a writer, and allow others to feel represented in fiction. :)

~ Mod Emme

[arcanacouncilrp]

      event three     -      may 29 - june 19

                     first.

      28 October 1382 —  We’ve spent the last few days with The Ancients.  They’re teaching us lots of things, things I couldn’t even have possibly imagined. Explaining things to us that should have seemed so obvious, but are still new and surprising. Most importantly: how Earth’s veins run rich with magic. They span the entire planet, providing the world with all the magic it needs to flourish. They’re called ley lines by some, these veins, and before we were chosen anyone could tap into their power, if only they knew how. Now that knowledge is our responsibility to guard.

      It is our duty to be the gatekeepers of this gift, or so The Ancients tell us. It’s why we were chosen; in the wrong hands, this level of magic could be catastrophic. The ley lines need care, too, though. If they are ignored, or abused, or even damaged, things could truly turn disastrous. This seems to be our most solemn assignment: to protect the source of our powers.

      It even seems like these magical veins may be more important to The Ancients than they are to humanity. I need to remember to ask them more later. Perhaps in private...

                    before.

      Magic and all its mayhem is an expected occurrence around The Lair. Talking cats, teleporting kids, floating objects, an ever-growing room full of puppies—nothing out of the ordinary there. Even shoes could rain down from the heavens and simply be taken in stride.

      When this happens in Hong Kong, though, it’s a problem.

      The freak weather incident baffled the world. Footage of city streets filled with shoes of all kinds, car windshields shattered by stilettos, and crowds running to find shelter from the fallout dominated the international media cycle. Quick on its heels, no pun intended, were investigations. What caused the shoe storm? Could a shipping plane overhead have lost its cargo?

       Disrupted shipping could have been a perfectly plausible explanation had Temperance not monitored for more unusual happenings. Other instances of strange behavior popped up one after the other. Sleepy Scottish coastal town of St. Andrews saw a sudden spread of dancing fever; residents have danced the tarantella nonstop for three days with no reason or end in sight. Trees all over Toronto appeared to be yanking up their roots and moving when no one is watching, resettling in other parts of the city like they’d always been there. A small church community in Ecuador started losing every photograph in their homes, only for them to show up scattered under churchyard trees, their frames broken or missing.

      Balfour convened the Council only long enough for everyone to agree on one thing: it was their duty to figure out what was happening and how to fix the problem before the public ran out of natural explanations. The Fool and The Hanged Man took off for each destination to gather on-site information. Justice and Temperance pooled their powers to determine the cause of this series of malfunctions, and perhaps even discover if it was connected to the magical failings the Council has already experienced.

      Judgement went a different route, taking to the astral plane to look for clues, and what he found astonished him. Several of the Earth’s ley lines pulsed with light, crying out for help. They had been disrupted by something, causing their magic to leak into the world untamed and wreak havoc on surrounding areas.

      Judgement searched for the who and why of the problems to no avail. Questions still abound—was this a natural accident, or did someone purposefully tamper with magic? Could this have anything to do with the elusive figures watching over the Councilors? If nothing else, this new information gives the Council a direction to move in: fixing the disruptions should stop the leaks.

                   now.

      With some discussion and a few useful, albeit abrasive, tips from Balfour, the Council splits off into groups to handle this problem—the first they’ve ever tried to solve without Feiyan, and one of the more complex problems they’ve ever seen, too.

      The shoe-fall is an immediate issue, and who better than the Council’s own damage control expert to handle it? The Tower goes to Hong Kong to sort the issue out, though he can’t dissuade The Magician from going with him. Disposing of the evidence may just go better with someone to weave illusions over it all anyway. Maybe while they’re there, they can find a clue about what exactly caused the incident, too.

      Fixing Toronto’s forestry won’t be easy, but if anyone is well-equipped to try, and perhaps find out what caused the problem in the first place, it is The Empress. She and The Chariot go together on June 2nd to see if they can set the city and its greenery right without any of the locals catching on.

      Dancing fever needs to be treated as soon as possible, so The Emperor and The Hierophant are sent to Scotland as a pair on June 4th. Three days of dancing have already gone by and plenty of residents need medical attention, but with any luck the Councilors can also determine how exactly the phenomenon started and spread - or, at the very least, they can simply do their best to help.

      On June 5th The Devil and The Hermit take to Ecuador to discover what they can about the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Manglaralto’s missing photos. At the very least, they can do their best to find any that are still missing and return them to where they belong. Disappearing photos seems tame for a magical mishap - unless there’s something else going on?

      Judgement stays behind at The Lair, hoping to learn more about what caused the magical leakages. He finds a few scraps of Feiyan’s old notes and makes some small progress getting Balfour to open up, but upon heading to the library to take up his favorite desk,                                                            he is greeted by a stranger…

      In the meantime, several teams are dispatched to key locations on the ley lines to try their hands at restoring them to their modus operandi. Temperance stays behind to work with Judgement on coordinating everyone’s efforts, and The Sun lingers with them, prepared to jump to anyone’s aid if something goes terribly wrong. Justice visits each location as needed to extend their abilities to help. 

      One blockage appears to be right in the center of Hong Kong, so Death and The Hanged Man go to investigate. Blending in and working quickly are the key elements to their operation. At Judgement’s direction, they find a dilapidated warehouse with a pit drilled into its foundation and then plugged with what must be several hundred pounds of salt. If they can undo the mess, will the leak be fixed? If they need assistance, The Tower and The Magician are just around the corner.

      Strength and The Lovers are tasked with a broken pipeline of magic just beyond the beaches of Montañita, Ecuador. At first glance it appears a rock slide is the cause of the line’s interruption, but a closer inspection reveals shards of glass and iron piercing into the sea floor. Perhaps they can find an explanation for the strange debris, if they don’t get distracted by picturesque beaches instead.

      The Scottish ley line break has been pinpointed to the land outside Boarhills, and it appears many of the locals are experiencing the same kind of dream: spindly Fey figures roaming the countryside, digging into the land itself. In search of what? Is this a clue to what caused the leak? It’s up to The Moon and The High Priestess to find out. If there is one thing they do know, it’s that the atmosphere in town is tense, and even the forest doesn’t seem to want them poking around.

      A thunderstorm over Strange, Ontario has made it difficult to figure out precisely where the leakage there is, but with a little luck and some well-placed talent, perhaps this is just the right job for The Wheel of Fortune and The Star. It turns out the real problem isn’t cloud cover - it’s the twenty-five iron spikes thrust into the ground, drawing lightning from overhead. Removing them seems easy enough, but where did they come from, and what does it mean?

      Popping in and out as needed, The Fool doesn’t linger in any one place for long. He’s most useful for transport, and he doesn’t believe much in the hysteria caused by all this anyway. Does it matter when reality hardly exists? This is what is on his mind when, stopped off at a halfway point for a break and a drink,                                       he is approached by an eerily familiar figure...

Happy plot day, councilors, surprise! Its our first venture out of The Lair and onto our magically assigned duties! Ley lines are broken, wrecking havoc across the world. You have your teams, get to work! As with our first two very fun events, feel free to continue on with those threads if you have some to wrap up. Reactionary threads are also, again, encouraged. If your assigned task does not have a date listed above, assume it occurs anytime between June 6 and June 19. This event will last three weeks instead of the normal two as there’s a lot of ground to cover. 

We are very excited about this plot, as it is going to work a little differently from those of the past few weeks. Our two solitary characters here will be given their scenarios in a private setting, and the details of those will hit the dash a little later. The rest of you may also find us sliding into your DMs in the next couple of weeks, so be on the lookout! You’ll get more information about how this works when your number is up (or when your fellow players clue you in on their experiences) and we hope to explore a little angsty self-reflection that will very heavily tie into future plots down the road. Each of your reactions to this plot will drive the story forward, so we can't wait to see what you have to write!

[genoacedo]

Diana Gabaldon is backing Outlander star Sam Heughan to become the next James Bond and says it would not mean quitting her hit TV show.

The star writer, famous for bringing her sweeping Highland romance to bookshelves and television, believes the 38-year old Scot would be perfect as suave spy 007.

Diana, 66, says she is neither shaken or stirred by the news that Sam, who plays Jamie Fraser in the small screen adaptations of her novels, has become a favourite to replace Daniel Craig as Bond.

And Diana says Outlander producers could work with Eon Productions, who make the Bond films, to allow him time for both roles.

The international best-selling author who advises on the Amazon Prime blockbuster series said: “I have seen that Sam is being tipped for James Bond and I think it would be great.

“Sam would do a fine job of it. There is always a lot of talk every time James Bond changes so it’s anybody’s guess.

“But I don’t think he would have to leave Outlander to be James Bond because the Bond movies are just that, they’re movies.

“Outlander is a television show so it would just be a matter of scheduling.”

With Daniel Craig expected to hang up his Walther PPK after the upcoming Bond 25 movie, Sam is third-favourite to take up the role behind Tom Hardy and McMafia actor James Norton.

Diana said: “I’m sure that Sam would bring something different to the role. He is a fabulous actor. I have seen him do a number of amazing things as an actor. He would handle that role well.”

Bond producers have plenty of time to decide.

The next film may be delayed after it was announced that Danny Boyle will no longer direct the project.

The Scots director behind Outlaw King and Hell or High Water, David Mackenzie, is among those tipped to replace him.

The next series of Outlander begins filming in 2019.

Diana added: “Sam is doing two movies during this haitus before filming on Outlander resumes next year.

“So things can be arranged. It is not impossible to do movies and television series at the same time.

“I think he could do both.

“It would be a matter of scheduling the show and films for nine months of a year and then their having a much longer haitus between filming to allow the actors to take on other jobs.

“I’ve seen all the Bond movies and I’m a big fan of Daniel Craig. I think he’s great and Sean Connery was fabulous. I actually liked Timothy Dalton a lot.

"I don’t think he’s a fan favourite but I liked him too and you can always rely on Sam to find something new about a character so we’ll see.”

Inspired by Scottish history, Diana began writing the Outlander novels in 1988.

The eight books have sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

Along with the television series, which stars Caitriona Balfe as Claire, the stories about time-travelling nurse Claire Randall have helped boost the country’s tourism trade.

“It is very surprising and I’m happy to be able to give something back to Scotland because it has certainly provided me with a great richness of history and background and national character,” Diana said.

“I hadn’t been to Scotland when I wrote Outlander. I wrote the book for practice and I had decided that the historical novel would be the easiest thing for me to write because I was a research professor and could look things up.

“It was a whim of the moment to set the book in Scotland.

“It was set in Scotland in the 18th century but it was just a practice book. I wasn’t intending to show it to anyone.

“It’s astonishing. It’s a book I wrote almost 30 years ago.

“It has just slowly grown and grown and now Outlander is being credited with lifting the entire Scottish tourism interest which is very gratifying to me.”

The books and television series have developed an international dimension with locations in the US, France and the West Indies.

She also plans to set part of the next saga in Prince Edward Island, Canada, where survivors of the fictional seat of the Clan MacKenzie – Castle Leoch – settle.

But Diana has promised not to turn her back on Scotland completely.

“All of the books have at least one foot in Scotland because you can’t really take Scots permanently out of Scotland,” she said.

“But what I did essentially was follow the tide of history because, you know post-Culloden, there was a considerable diaspora with Scots being forcibly transported, or in some cases just being obliged to move for economic reasons.

“There was no way to make a living in the Highlands and so a great number of them left either voluntarily or not, but where they went was largely to America.

“Some of them ended up in West Indies and those were transported.

“Others went to North Carolina, where a previous Highland clearance had settled a lot of people, or up the coast to Prince Edward Island.

“Most of the books are set between places because people moved around quite a lot in the 18th century.

“It was a time of great upheaval and georgaphical movement as well as war which tends to unsettle people so yes, the characters will return to Scotland periodically and our characters multiply.

“Jamie and Claire do at one point return to Scotland but it won’t be for a couple of books.”

[annarellix]

Death on a Winter's Day by Verity Bright (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #8)

My Review (5*) Another excellent addition to this highly entertaining historical cozy series. Each book is better than the previous and this one is the best so far. Even if it can be read as a stand-alone, I strongly advise to read the entire series in order to better understand the characters and their evolution. I had a lot of fun and I couldn’t put it down, turning pages and being on the edge because there were plenty of possible culprits and I wanted to know who-did-it and why. Ellie is as lovely as usual, and her uncommon upbringing makes her a perfect cultural observer of the 20s high class vices and virtues. I like her non-conformism and independence and was glad to learn more about her parents. Clifford is a perfect mix of Wimsey’s Bunter and Jeeves, a well read and clever man that know how to act as the perfect butler and when to act as a friend and mentor. The plot is well developed and gripping, there’s a lot of twists and I appreciated the right level of suspense and tension. I learned something new about Christmas in Scotland and appreciated how the author’s Christmas description reminded me of the Golden Age Christmas stories. It was a lot of fun; I laughed and was moved by some parts of the story. I can’t wait to read the next story as I want to know what will happen as the highly satisfying last pages left me craving for more. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Synopsis: Christmas at the castle with holly, handmade gifts, snowflakes and… is that a body under the tree? Someone call Lady Swift!

Winter, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift, amateur sleuth and reluctant lady of the manor, has been invited to spend Christmas in Scotland, at the beautiful castle of her dear friends Baron and Baroness Ashley. Even her favourite companion, master of mischief Gladstone the bulldog, is coming along to share a slice of turkey. As snow begins to fall outside, the rather mismatched group are cozy by the roaring fire, sharing a tipple over a plate of Mrs Trotman’s famous mince pies. But after what was supposed to be a fun party game, Mr Eugene Randall is found dead at the feast. A somewhat unpopular business associate of the Baron’s from across the pond, it seems Mr Randall has certainly upset somebody. Was it what he said about Scottish whisky? The killer must be in the castle… and when the Baron is arrested, Baroness Ashley begs Eleanor to investigate. Determined not to let her friend down, Eleanor sets about questioning the remaining partygoers. All too swiftly, someone else is found dead, having apparently fallen from a high balcony. As if one murder wasn’t enough to put a twist in the tinsel! Eleanor knows she’s skating on thin ice now. And when she discovers a hidden document that points the finger of suspicion at the unlikeliest of suspects, she realises there’s more to the story. Can Eleanor catch the killer before it’s time for Christmas dinner?

The author: Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.

https://twitter.com/BrightVerity

Buy Link: Amazon: https://bit.ly/3qOZpoS

Audio Links: UK: zpr.io/fTeJ8rAQjLGR US: zpr.io/8R94J4qaVH6U

Listen to a sample here: https://soundcloud.com/bookouture/death-on-a-winters-day-by-verity-bright-narrated-by-karen-cass

[69annebowlin69]

5-6/8/19 Watching True Detective Episode Eight Finale

5/8/19

16.53

I can’t work on anything else so i’m writing this up now to salvage this afternoon. Not up for cops and pseudo-philosophy.

One night the summer we all started taking pills, we were at my dad’s house after a party, i can’t remember where my dad was, but Adam said something about how with the Picasso and Kandinsky prints on the wall, it was like a pseudo-intellectual’s house, and because i didn’t know properly what pseudo meant or had such low opinion of my family and i, i took it as a compliment, that at least we were grasping to look like something more than we were. I hate this memory. Why couldn’t i defend myself. I would defend it now. Adam’s family had a fucking New Yorker cover print framed on their wall.

16.58

Hays’ jeans are too tight; his dialogue with Hoyt is a Previously On with the eery music. It hasn’t started raining outside yet.

16.59

This mf Hoyt literally dragged Hays from his house to walk through the Ozarks swigging bourbon and sobbing about the myth of the ideal family. I hate this show. Masculine posturing bullshit, but like a parody of the machismo that people mock online. As previously mentioned, i’m not one to shy away from the Big Opinion. This season more trash than season 2.

17.07

Damn dude sometimes you gotta burn your suit at 3 in the morning, give him a break.

17.18

I had to get the torch out myself the other night. One of the giant snails disappeared. Best friend and i looked high and

17.36

Sorry, the last entry wasn’t even worth finishing, and i had to go to the toilet to scroll the 40 pictures i took of passages from books over the past year. Some of them i couldn't even remember what they were, too much Tao Lin from before i read Richard Yates and saw how problematic he was; a lot of Liveblog, maybe my fav book ever.

17.38

What i look like, a snapshot:

the cheap sports direct adidas striped sliders with nike tube socks (white)

Black chino shorts (dirty, the only proper pair of shorts i own)

T-shirt of the keith haring statue of liberty print (too hack to wear in NYC; Eve’s mum got me it)

Hair “half-up” like Eve’s

Monobrow stubble at the top of my nose that i haven’t excised in a couple of days

Beard just about too long

jaw clenched

stomach gross

My legs are so bulbous, like why was i born with such ridiculous protruding legs. Not muscly, hefty. Very gross. Gross.

17.43

All i’ll eat tonight is a peanut butter and banana sandwich and an apple. Sorry, i have to try again with other Personal Projects. I don’t want to watch this show. i can’t watch this show right now. I’m no insider but there is maybe six per cent of a chance that HBO run it back for a fourth.

***

6/8/19

20.25

Emmy said she wouldn’t be impressed if i were to get in to a fight. I laid out a whole hypothetical where someone gets thrown out the bar where we work and is needling me the whole time. I take off outside after him and we get in to it, but it’s outside work premises. Asked her A) if she thought i was meek, B) would she understand if i threw fists in that instance and C) would i get fired. She wouldn’t be impressed and thought it was the bigger thing to do to let it slide. Also the police would get involved which would effect the work thing.

Pete’s been in fights. People are always getting in fights in the past. I’ve never seen anyone i know who’s been in a fight when they were actually fighting. The fights in True Detective are all in the past. Emmy said she doesn’t think i’m meek.

20.28

Mr Scotland (Peter Mullan) also does a show set in the Ozarks and what i think is that his southern accent was so bad that it had to be edited in post production. During his dialogue, the camera cuts to a reaction shot from his equally sociopathic wife or the Arrested Development guy, which is wildly disrespectful to a man who was trying to play an abusive maniacal southern drug kingpin instead of the usual abusive maniacal alcoholic Scottish criminal. This is what happens when someone tries to branch out and why so many people are scared of failure. Anyway, we’re not here to talk about rival crime shows set in the Ozarks. We’ve got a child sex ring to uncover and Dorff heat to savour.

20.30

Would be nice to have the honesty in a relationship where you can tell one another you should probably give up on a central arterial line of your life and move elsewhere. Emmy and i tell one another something like ‘you should quit’ all the time but neither of us really believe the other when they say they will. I don’t believe her when she says I love you during sex. It feels like a placeholder for real-life emotions or intensity that she’s still waiting to feel.

20.32

Quality of office lighting: strip lights, squares placed amongst the cardboard tiles, headache grain, staticky, unnervingly silent, revealing, bags under eyes, shadowy somehow, depersonalising, unaltering.

Quality of school lights from Euphoria: suplhate glare, neon, alienating and spooky but in a fun way?, fireworks! makes you say ‘it’s like a club in here,’ glitchy, Fireworks!, transformative.

20.36

Roland in the afterglow of starting a mass bar brawl then getting emotional over a mongrel, sipping straight Jack. Damn, to have memories like that. Roland didn’t have a gf telling him it wouldn’t be impressive or cool getting into brawls.

20.38

Like how they announce Man of the Match before the Match is even over (seems presumptive), i’ll be announcing my top crushes from this season VERY shortly.

20.39

Yup, not long to go until my number one crush from this True Detective Season is announced, as well as numbers two, three and probably four and five. It’s been markedly less horny than previous seasons, so we’re including different iterations of the same characters. It’s dry out here in the 80s.

22.02

There are noises in our living room, not like threatening banging or whatever, but people. There are friends in our living room. Not that we’re here to talk about popular 90s NBC sitcoms.

23.35

Everyone is here in our flat again tonight these snails have made us so popular.

Lucy put Mr Rightside on her arm.

Mil cast Bad Medicine to the TV and Jane suggested Van Halen.

Damon put on Carlyle Williams and Mil decided he couldn't apply for a Montreal visa until he found out what Sarah wanted.

Best friend and Jane cast Cold in my Veins. Mil got sad and started rallying for the TV to be turned off.

Best friend and Jane cast a Big Train sketch where Chairman Mao is dying and then the flatlining heart monitor turns into the opening riff of Virginia Plain and Chairman Mao recovers to sing.

Best friend cast the shooting stars where Vic and Bob do Virginia Plain and we listed the most recent instances we could remember of celebrity blackface.

I text Emmy if she wanted to work together tomorrow instead of taking the mushroom pills.

I feigned interest in a story about a kayak Jane told because i think she’s cool and want her to like me.

Lucy and Damon were lame when they left. Lameon lol.

Best friend turned off the tv and he and Jane went for a tab. Mil talked about Sarah.

Jane said she could get acid for Lucy but not this weekend and left.

Steve came in to ask if he could shut the door and I left to watch this episode.

00.07

This one-eyed mf talking like it’s Wuthering Heights and he’s [whoever the Irish housekeeper is who does most of the first half’s narration]. Recalling some vague terrible accident that blighted a rich-ass family, that should have zero impact on his one-eyed ass.

00.10

His story is very Woman in Black. Would love a Pizzolato reading list from this season. Friend of the blog Nick Pizzolato, please send me your reading list and influences.

00.12

It’s always too late. No matter what we do. Damn. That’s some extremely defeatist shit. Old people, you think they all feel this way. A cop out. These detective shows, i want meaning from them. Structure. Some kind of organisation that i can understand and trace, not this.

00.21

Roland and Hays hanging out, staying over at one another’s house. Can’t wait to be old, hanging out just me and the boys. Like how homes have a similar vibe to halls, just at the point on the back end of your life, symmetrical to the front. Just playing old Final Fantasies, absolutely on pills. Distracted during family visits because i have more gaming to do and a year left at most. Sounds reassuring. The long term doesn’t matter, so you do only the things that produce instant gratification.

00.32

Googled “what’s the word for when one thing is the same on one side as it is on the other’ lol then i cried at this stupid show. Mahershala Ali transcends this dumbass show and it’s writing and is  doing something complex and satisfying and sad. Pulling together what he can of this jumble that sometimes makes sense and most of the time is not worthy of us trying to make sense of it.

00.42

Ok, here it is. True Detective season three Crush List:

5. Me all the days i wrote this and didn’t throw up whatever i’d just eaten. Very proud and horny for u, my boy

4. 1990 Roland with the rockabilly blazer

3. Hays in the tight acid wash jeans

2. Amelia’s dulcet monotone transcends being annoying around the middle of the season and turns alluring, like i need to hear it for thirty per cent each episode. It’s pretentious but in a way that makes you wish you were pretentious

1a. Hays burning his clothes in the dead of night. Mysterious. Jacked. Sweating as hell. Haunted.

1b. Everyone who checked out during the front end of this season - intelligence is a quality that personally makes me very horny and they displayed plenty of it by forseeing that this season would be a less exciting mess than last. Would love for them to contact me to just like hang out and watch a different show, if they want.

[willreadforbooze]

Hello fellow boozie readers!

Sam’s Update:

Welp, this week was better than last week. Though, I’m still feeling the repercussions of the shutdown, but at least we’re open again. I also participated in the 24in48 readathon and was unsuccessful, but at least I finished two books.

What Sam finished this week:

  In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire: This is the next installment of the Wayward Children series. Seanan McGuire’s portal fantasy novellas. This story is about our beloved Lundy, and her trip to her portal world, The Goblin Market. While this wasn’t my favorite of the bunch, it was still really really good. I enjoyed the hell out of learning the rules of the Goblin Market and its ways. Highly recommend checking out Ginny’s review when it comes out.

Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan: GUYS GUYS GUYS this book was so good. It’s a debut novel set in an Eastern European/Russian inspired world. Our main character Nadya can speak to the gods. Her homeland and the heretical border country, Travana, have been in a holy war for over a century. Out other POV is the Travanian prince, Serefin. He’s a war hero called back from the front by his father. His spidey senses were tingling and he’s searching to uncover whatever his dad is up to. All while a rag tag group, with Nadya and a mysterious blood mage set off to infiltrate Travana. Guys this book was amazing. The hype train is real, and i am a passenger.

What Sam’s reading now:

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: Because I will never not be reading this book.

Ginny’s Update:

What Ginny Is Reading:

Wow, so yet again, plenty of books!

Odd One Out by Nic Stone – Hey, for more info on this check out Parker’s review!!! Coop and Jupiter have been best friends since childhood.  Rae is the new girl who was quickly adopted into their friendship.  And then the complications; there’s a lot of attraction.

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole – I’ve been pumped for this since I read a snippet at the end of a Princess In Theory – which I then pushed on all of my friends. Portia, the flighty best friend from the first book, is on a quest to better herself, meaning no hookups, no drinking and no bad decisions.  This goes well until she gets to her sword-making apprenticeship and oh no- the sword maker is hot.  Tav, the Scottish swordmaker is dealing with similar emotions after having sworn off of romance after the end of his marriage.  There’s so many innuendos already!

What Ginny Finished Reading:

The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman – This book was different than the first in ways I’m going to try to articulate in a post at some point.  Basically it’s a romp of an adventure around a few universes to try to save Kai.  There are Fae and Dragons and an unending Carnivale!

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson – This book takes place 1000 years after the first series where those events have become religion. Wax is a lawman who decides to take over the family dukedom, and then his life becomes the opposite of boring.  The mysterious disappearance of goods on trains, and gunfights and as always Allomancy.  This book was a trip and half, also gonna be a review.  Because I have thoughts on Wax and Wayne and Steris and Marasi and I want to share them.

Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett – This is non-fiction, one of the things I pick up on occasion.  Ann Patchett is an amazing writer, and in this book follows the relationship she had with Lucy Grealy.  The best way to describe Lucy (after reading the book) was that she was one of those people who drew you in completely, she was a poet, and author, and had survived a horrific childhood cancer.  This book is beautiful and fun and achingly sad.  Even days after finishing it, I find myself thinking about their friendship.  5/5 shots.

The Man I Fell In Love With by Kate Field – I received this book from Netgalley in return for a free and honest review.  This is the story of Mary Black who finds out in a public area that her husband is and has been romantically involved with a man.  She takes this as well as she can and the book follows her dealing with the divorce, her husband re-marrying and being ready to be in love again.  God, this book is a book of unintentional harm, which makes it feel so real.  The number of times someone does something thoughtless or careless that causes people pain is astounding but felt so real.  It’s rare that the people in your life intentional harm you, it’s more likely to come from the small slights.

Linz’s Update:

OH HAI WORK. Also we had a party Saturday, and a Royal Rumble watch Sunday, so lots of prep time and not a lot of reading.

What Linz finished: 

The Dating Game by Kiley Roache – finally finished the ARC. It was a pleasantly predictable love triangle story that takes place at a college outside Silicon Valley.

Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima – it was ok? I liked the original series more but I’ll read the second book in this one, because I liked how it ended

City of Ghosts by V.E. Schwab – I’m pretty sure Sam reviewed this? Its about an American girl who can see ghosts, and goes to Scotland where she sees more ghosts. This was def meant for a younger audience, so I get why the spooky level was toned down, but I would have loved this if it’d been written new adult.

Empress Of All Seasons by Emiko Jean – Def writing a review of this, so I’ll save my thoughts for that

What Linz is reading now:

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray – I’m garbage for all of her books, so I’m pretty sure I’m going to love the third isn

Amber and Dusk by Lyra Selene – From the December Owlcrate, a book I don’t know much about. I LOVE SURPRISES. It is staring at me from my nightstand.

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,

Sam, Melinda, Linz, and Ginny

Weekly Wrap-up: Jan 22-27, 2019 Hello fellow boozie readers! Sam's Update: Welp, this week was better than last week. Though, I'm still feeling the repercussions of the shutdown, but at least we're open again.

[wavenetinfo]

Anyone who’s even loosely familiar with Scottish history always knew this one was destined to end with a decisive swish of an ax — but that doesn’t mean it was easy to watch. After four seasons of bloodshed, heartbreak, deception, and binding corsets, Mary, Queen of Scots’ Reign has come to an end on the CW. At least the bonnie lassie went out with a showstopping (if a little rushed) series finale that included explosions, threesomes, and — of course — a beheading. Once you’ve mopped up your tears from that flashback-laden closing montage, check out what showrunner Laurie McCarthy had to say about bidding farewell to the rightful queen.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Mary and her great love Francis are reunited in Mary’s afterlife! Was it always the plan to bring Toby Regbo back for the end of the series? How did that come about? LAURIE McCARTHY: It wasn’t the plan from day one, but by early in their second season, their chemistry convinced me that there would be no love as great for Mary, now matter how we wrote the show. Mary faced so much strife, darkness, and betrayal once she returned to Scotland. She was altered by more and more difficult events and choices, and knowing that the facts of her death were indisputable, I wanted to return to the joy she had known in her life and believed she might mentally want to imagine herself there as well. The idea and filming of the final scene came before Toby Regbo departed the show, and long before we knew how many seasons the show would have.

Since we know from history that Mary Stuart’s life was full of so much tragedy and bloodshed, how important was it for you to find some way to give her a happy ending? Very important. We explored some very dark territory, playing things that really happened to her, plenty that might have happened, and a few that either occurred or were rumored to occur at other points later in her life. Those scenes were hard to write, and we all felt our lead character’s pain. We wanted to feel her joy as well reflected even in her final moments.

How did you go about planning out the final season? What was behind the decision to tell a pretty full arc about Mary’s marriage to Darnley as opposed to fast-forwarding the timeline? First of all, Darnley was such a complicated, flawed character, and I was so happy to have Will Kemp agree to play the role, that we really sunk our teeth into her second marriage and how Darnley’s weaknesses played into Mary’s downfall. But also, her marriage to Darnley was a bold move that could have worked. It could have brought her power in England. It might have undermined Elizabeth in such a way that Mary could have joined both nations (not, decades later, her son)… it was a strategic risk, which also angered Elizabeth and was part of her undoing. How could we not tell it?

When you began the series, did you have an idea of how much of Mary’s story you wanted to tell? How you would pace it out? Were there parts of Mary’s story you really wanted to tell but didn’t get the chance to? Yes. I wanted to tell all of it: her third marriage, her time on the run… there was a Western in another season, really, that would have been an interesting contrast to the machinations in France (a bloodbath, of proportions we had not seen before, was coming), and I would have loved to see Elizabeth’s rise in England. That said, there are indisputable economic considerations, and the CW supported the show as long as it could in every way that it could. They and the studio were incredible partners, always opening the gates wide creatively, and I’m deeply grateful for the time that we had.

So much of this final episode, and the series as a whole, really, was about these women in powerful positions fighting against men who don’t think they’re capable simply because they are women. They have to work twice as hard to get anything done or anyone on their side. It all sounds very familiar! Was it a coincidence that these stories about female monarchs in the 1500s would feel so applicable to today, or were you hoping people would make that connection? Either answer breaks my heart. Is it a coincidence if, at the top levels of power, very little has changed? I’ve read some comments about the show that implied that all the men on it were jerks — that the show was somehow “man-hating,” and that always amazed me. We had heroic, if complicated, men around all of our female leads throughout the show, but we did see them face some brutal male foes. I suppose I’m glad people see the portrayal of men who dismiss or want to take down women as “hateful,” but that is certainly what Mary, Catherine, and Elizabeth had to face. And yes, this year it resonated deeply. We didn’t squeeze in dialogue that also fit our times — we wrote for our characters in their time — but I wish it weren’t all so relevant.

Reign is known for some of its crazier moments (King Henry humping a woman out of a window, the prince of Spain being impaled by a sex horse), and the finale provided one last crazy moment: the queen mother, Catherine de Medici getting involved in a three-way with a witch. Was there the feeling in the writers room that you needed to go out with a bang? We loved doing crazy things, and we were writing characters who were both relatable but also lived in a world of privilege that is difficult to comprehend. Also, you’d be shocked how much of it actually came from, or was very inspired by, history. Sometimes, particularly with King Henry, we toned down what we’d read in our research (or in one case of blowing up ships filled with his own men, cut it in half). But we also took incredible license and as a group cackled merrily at some of the things royals, running amok, might do…

Over the series, was there anything pitched that was too crazy for Reign? I’m sure there was, but upon reflection, it’s hard to imagine what that might be. If it didn’t result in something, serve the story, and grow the characters in some way, we usually didn’t do it. The window-sex, for example, was only the beginning of Henry’s madness that led to Francis murdering his own father. Which led to a secret that drove Mary and Francis apart, for example.

Reign is also known for it’s amazing costumes. More than just being lovely to look at, the costumes also helped reveal character — like Mary wearing more plaid and heavier materials once she arrived in Scotland, or Elizabeth putting on her suit of armor. How closely did you work with your costume designer? Did you keep anything from the wardrobe department? If by working closely with Meredith Markworth-Pollak you mean me saying, “Wow, yes, that’s brilliant, let’s do that!” then yes, we collaborated. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but as the show went on, only slightly. We had very clear discussions at the pilot stage, even about beads for the girls’ hair, and I reviewed costumes for every episode. Meredith and I would talk about things coming down the road… Mary needing to show her power more, or embrace her culture. Battles we would need to build dozens of costumes for, pregnancies, and especially weddings. Oh, those wedding dresses — amazing. But what I really wanted was a pair of beat-up riding boots (sadly there were none in my size).

Elizabeth donning her armor and rousing her troops is a moving scene — as if the Elizabeth we’ve been watching on this show is finally becoming the Elizabeth we know from history. Were you there during filming? What was the feeling on set that day? I wasn’t there, I was busy with editing and wrapping things up in LA, and the fact that I missed it kills me. Let’s not talk about it, or I’ll get sad.

I was so happy to see Catherine choose herself over her children in the end. What were you hoping to say with Catherine’s story? We were gearing her up for her next chapter, when she would really have to play her children against one another and realize that some of them should never, ever rule. It also worked as a series finale, as a culmination of an arc for her. At the start of the series, she would have done everything for her children (and for Francis she did), but as a hardened pragmatist, and a survivor, even she realized some sacrifices might not be worth making.

17 June 2017 | 2:00 am

Maggie Fremont

Source : Entertainment Weekly

>>>Click Here To View Original Press Release>>>

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); June 17, 2017 at 08:30AM

[annajamesjournalist-blog]

Interview: Elizabeth Wein

For Books for Keeps

Elizabeth Wein’s new novel, The Pearl Thief, may technically be a companion book to her 2012 megahit Code Name Verity, but it is resolutely its own story. It follows Julie, one half of the duo at the heart of Wein’s Carnegie Medal-shortlisted book, years before those events are set in motion and readers can happily come to The Pearl Thief knowing nothing of what lies in store for Julie during the Second World War.

Here we get a younger and more carefree Julie, returning from boarding school to her home in rural Scotland for the last summer at the family estate before it is sold to raise much-needed money. Add in an accident, a host of potentially suspicious characters and some missing pearls and you have an old-school mystery book. Wein has long wanted to write a proper mystery story and the urge to revisit Julie was irresistible: ‘I’m such a fan of classic mysteries, and I love the 1930s, between-the-wars setting and the character of Julie just presented herself because she would have been in her teens then. I absolutely loved writing her narrative voice, it was so easy to channel.’

Although Julie will be familiar to many readers, The Pearl Thief isn’t a prequel in any traditional sense; when it comes to the plot there’s barely any foreshadowing: ‘I tried very hard not to be heavy-handed. I left the war out, even though there would have been rumblings of war around them. The story is very insulated from that - it’s a separate story. But Julie is the same and this is where the prequel quality comes in - you see why she develops into the character that she becomes.’

Although Julie’s family are dealing with financial constraints, they are still a wealthy, titled family and Julie is forced to reevaluate what that really means in The Pearl Thief: ‘It’s interesting because I don’t believe the word privilege was in use at the time. It’s easy to talk about the book in terms of Julie’s privilege, but that’s not something she or anyone around her would have applied to her situation. So it was a concept I was dealing with very consciously, though not able to articulate it as such for any of the characters. The language of equality changes all the time - every term we use becomes loaded with negative connotations and then we have to get rid of it and find another one.’

The book covers big ideas of privilege and prejudice, as well as Julie’s burgeoning sexuality, but at its core The Pearl Thief is resolutely a mystery. Although several of Wein’s previous novels have a thrillery sort of feel to them (‘A lot of my novels are kind of mysteries - Code Name Verity even won an Edgar, which is supposed to be for the best mystery!’) with clues and reveals and plot twists, but writing an old-school mystery proved to be its own challenge: ‘I knew what the big twist at the end was, it was how I was going to get there that I had trouble with! It was unbelievably hard to pull it all together and keep the tension up.’

Wein talks about having to research how long bodies deteriorate in water, how easy chimneys are to climb, and how to fish for pearls among other more niche queries - she also mentions finding a note to herself that said only ‘LEGS’ in capital letters which she couldn’t remember anything about. When she thought she was about there, and was two full drafts and five different editors in, a new editor read it and suggested a tweak on the reveal: ‘And I was like “oh my god yes!” - and of course that changed the entire plot and I went back and rewrote the whole book in six weeks and it just made so much more sense.’

The problem with writing mysteries is trying to see it from a reader’s perspective when you know all the answers: ‘I honestly don’t know what it looks like to someone who isn’t me writing it, what it looks like to a reader who comes to it fresh. I don’t know where their minds go as they’re working out the mystery and trying to figure out who did it. You have to give it to someone who hasn’t read it yet and let them have a look. It was so hard; I just kept flailing and the timing kept going wrong - it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.’

What Wein’s ended up with though is a tightly drawn mystery full of tension and genuine surprises. Julie finds herself embroiled in a mystery with deeper roots that she initially realises, one that incorporates family secrets, class tensions and a local family of travellers. Wein did plenty of research into the Scottish traveller community; there are several autobiographies from the time The Pearl Thief which she read. She also interviewed some of the authors: ‘I spoke to Jess Smith [who wrote an account of her childhood as a Scottish traveller] after I’d written the first draft and she actually had quite a bit to add; not just in terms of bringing the traveller sections in line, but also with the plot! It was a fun collaboration.’

When I ask Wein if this is the last we’ve seen of Julie, she laughs: ‘I don’t want to be seen as getting everything I can out of this character, and to a certain extent I think people like to have a bit of mystery to her… but I do have ideas, I love writing her!’ But Wein has put Julie to bed for at least the moment and is working on a handful of other projects; two of which are in the middle of contract negotiations and so still under wraps. The project she can talk about is a middle grade non-fiction book about the women who flew as combat pilots for the Soviet Union during the Second World War. It’s being published by HarperCollins in the US and is about to start looking for a British publisher.

Although Wein dabbles in other markets, she sees herself firmly as a YA author despite being regularly told she’s wrong about that: ‘I’m constantly getting people saying this book isn’t YA about everything I write! The characters are too old, or there’s too much violence.

I’ve always seen myself as a YA writer - why would I be anything else!’ Wein is, though, very careful about the way she writes potential controversial subjects: ‘I do feel a responsibility for things that I’m writing about - a responsibility to tell the truth. But you’ll never get graphic scenes of torture - or sex - from me. You get my characters’ emotions, their reactions, their interactions, but no actual graphic violence.’

The Pearl Thief does has distinctly less torture scenes than many of Wein’s previous books: ‘My books are always miserable! Well maybe not miserable, but certainly intense. There’s a darkness in them, and I think this one has a lot more light. It was a fun book for me to write and I hope people will enjoy reading it - but if there’s a message it’s one of tolerance, and appreciation of the things we have that we take for granted.’