#it started NARRATING ITSELF WHAT SORCERY IS THIS

[dapurinthos]

my brain went 'but what if writing jonelias porn did fix you? here, i'm narrating it in your mind.' and now i have a 3000+ word text file and the looming question of 'what does elias bouchard smell like?' and having flashbacks to that one tweet that asked kacey rohl what mads mikkelsen smelled like immediately post-trou normand airing with that kitchen cleaning-confession scene.

[athenasdragon]

In thinking about how the Dragon Age games have changed since Origins, I’ve been thinking about genre conventions and the inspirations for the series.

Dragon Age: Origins is very very heavily lifted from Dungeons & Dragons, and my impression is that this is because Baldur’s Gate was a big inspiration. I think it’s especially obvious when you open up your character profile. Like that is straight up a d&d character sheet. You can map the d&d classes onto the DA:O subclasses too (e.g. some of the warrior subclasses are champion [classic fighter], templar [paladin], and berserker [barbarian]). The heavy focus on tactics and the top-down combat option also evoke TTRPGs to me.

And of course, because we’re existing in the genre tradition here, we have a lot drawn from the Lord of the Rings as well. Darkspawn/Orcs are an unambiguously evil species that exists just to cause destruction! Humans are the predominant species, but we have nature-connected elves and subterranean dwarves! Our story takes place in among the ruins of a past civilization that existed in a distant age! We’ve got themes of history and faith and a little fellowship going on a journey to defeat an evil dragon.

So with that in mind, we have a pretty straight up and down medieval-inspired dark fantasy. It follows so closely in this tradition that we even see the writers struggling to break out of molds that they explicitly set out to avoid—for example, certain gender politics.

I really think the character who starts to break that is Varric. Not only is he a well-known author (requires not just widespread printing but widespread literacy and reading for fun—now we’re talking much more recent history in our world) but he’s writing (Kirkwall-flavored) hard-boiled detective fiction, which is explicitly an American* post-WWI tradition. This is a genre that explores the gritty reality of life in cities, interpersonal and systemic violence, and often positions a lone morally grey hero in small-scale opposition to those larger forces. Kirkwall (and DA2) isn’t a bad place to add that flavor.

Inquisition starts to feel more 20th century to me as well. We’ve got international espionage and geopolitics. We’ve got anxieties of a dramatic apocalypse brought about by man’s hubris. We’ve got, effectively, some variety of civil rights movement for both elves and mages.

What really got me thinking about this is that Neve and Lucanis feel like they’re some the same genre to me: the jaded, brilliant, but somewhat poorly-upkept big city detective and the heir-apparent of a powerful mafia family caught up by a betrayal both feel very interwar noir imo. Emmrich’s look is also SO 1930s. I can only speak for myself but I think that’s where a lot of the change in “vibe” can be traced.

It feels to me like Varric’s narration of the series has tugged the story itself into the genre he exists in.

Anyway, whether you wish the series stayed more straight up and down sword and sorcery or like the direction it chose to establish itself, I think it’s interesting to think about!

* I might ramble about how deeply North American the geography of Thedas is another time lol

[ofliterarynature]

NOVEMBER 2024 WRAP UP

[ loved liked okay nope dnf (reread) ]

Kicking Ice • (The Bride of the Blue Wind) • Animal Farm • The Lost Manuscript • Heart's Blood • Hotel • The Liar's Knot • The Education of Pip • The Glassblower • Terec and the Wall • (The Hands of the Emperor) • The Village Library Demon Hunting Society • One Good Turn • The Silence of Bones • (The Raven Tower) • The Art Thief • Safer Places • Letters to Half-Moon Street

* * * * * *

Letters to Half-Moon Street - an absolutely charming epistolary regency romance told mostly through letters between the main character, his siblings, and his love interest. The mc is gay and demi-sexual (and a younger son) in a queer-norm England where gender norms have been replaced by rules about birth order, and there's magic - it's very Sorcery & Cecelia meets KJ Charles (if not quite as good). As I said, very charming, but when I read the two shorter follow ups, One Good Turn and The Education of Pip, it was pretty clear that the epistolary format (and romance) helped cover a lot of hurts. I applaud the author for including an aromantic character and trying to write stories about finding your place and self-recovery without romance, but in her attempt to create comfort she sacrificed any real development to the characters or the plot. (also, while the rich upper class characters are exceedingly nice to the lower-class characters, we still almost never see any of their servants. hmm.) There's a few more books in the series that are romances (and at least one looks like it might be epistolary), so we'll have to see if she improves. Fantastic covers though!

Safer Places - a comic collection that was supposed to be for my book club but didn't quite work out unfortunately! These comics were very strange and dreamlike, making me not quite sure what happened but very much wanting to think about it. The artist also returned to a story idea several times, sometimes taking on an entirely new shape, and it really lent a sense of connection to the book as a whole. Would recommend!

The Art Thief - I'm not really one for more narrative-type nonfiction or for true crime, but non-violent crime involving fine art? I don't know why I find the fine-art world (and crime) so fascinating, but I do, and I enjoyed this! It was actually a fairly nice, chill read to distract myself with in the middle of the election.

The Raven Tower - revisiting my first Ann Leckie 5 years later - this was incredible! Slow yes, but watching the story build itself out of all the pieces was absolutely fascinating. 100% satisfied with the ending, but it was also a bit of a cliff-hanger? I'll be absolutely fascinated to see what kind of stories Leckie felt compelled to write that take up half of the Lake of Souls collection.

The Silence of Bones - DNF @ 11%. I was very interested in this as a historical mystery with a female protagonist set in Korea, but leery of it being YA. I admit I wasn't a big fan of the audiobook narrator, but an hour and a half into the audiobook I still hadn't hadn't settled into the story, so decided to drop it.

The Village Library Demon Hunting Society - This was very high on my watch-list for 2024 due to my love for CM Waggoner's first book Unnatural Magic, but was somewhat leery of the cozy-fantasy vibes it was giving. My first shock came when it turned out to have a fairly modern and contemporary setting and was not in a fantasy other-world, though as expected it was definitely going for the cozy-fantasy and elderly-person-solves-murder vibes that are popular right now, and with which I've personally had mixed results. Overall though, it was aiming to be a sort of meta-commentary on cozy mystery tropes, which I think it was successful at! I think it definitely did better than its sci-fi cousin, the Midsolar Murders series by Mur Lafferty. I just wish it had a better title, this one is a bit of a mouthful and only semi-relevant.

The Hands of the Emperor - started slowly rereading this a few months ago with the intention of getting around to my first reread of the sequel. Honestly, the perfect book to be reading during an absolutely horrible election, I imagine I'll be burying my head in the Nine Worlds a lot in the upcoming years.

I wasn't quite ready to head directly into AtFotS after finishing Hands, so jumped around to some of Victoria's short stories I hadn't read yet. Terec and the Wall is the second Terec story - I admit I really don't have much interest in this sub-series? This one in particular was at least interesting in the second half because of its crossover with the Greenwing & Dart series, so I recommend you don't read this until you've read that. The Glassblower was...fine. It showed promise, but it was so short! I hope the second part fleshes out more, but idk. It's also related to the Ysthar collection of books, which is the only part of the Nine Worlds that I haven't bothered to revisit yet. To skip ahead a bit, the third of the Sisters Avramapul novellas is finally out! It's been a while so I decided to reread the first two books, starting with The Bride of the Blue Wind. It's a Bluebeard retelling and deals with pregnancy/body horror and is not for the faint-hearted! Sardeet was SO YOUNG in this, I don't think I quite realized before. Good but not my favorite of the series.

The Liar's Knot - loved loved loved. These books are so good even if (or because?) all of the plot twists are somewhat soap-operatic. I think this is my favorite in the series because the characters are a bit more settled but also having to learn to trust each other. And all of the secret identity reveals!!! I had a wonderful time.

Hotel -DNF @ 8%. picked this up at a recent library sale because a mystery at a hotel sounds cool! Then I started it on audiobook and realized it was a thriller (not my thing) written by a guy in the 60's (ditto). What I read was certainly passable and maybe I could have gotten through it, but I lost interest.

Heart's Blood - I've seen Marillier's work around somewhere, and picked this one up at a library book sale at some point. I got so close to DNF'ing this early on and almost wish I had. It wasn't bad I think, it has some beauty-and-the-beast vibes, but it felt excruciatingly slow, and something that I couldn't quite put my finger on was annoying the heck out of me. It made me wish more times than I should admit that I was reading Chalice by Robin McKinley instead. I'm not entirely scared off of trying Marillier's other work, but I'd proceed with extreme caution.

The Lost Manuscript - DNF @ 19%. A surprisingly lighthearted novel told in letters about a woman who finds a manuscript in a hotel bedside table and proceeds to track down the original author, only to discover someone else had added to the manuscript at some point after he lost it. She and her contacts try and trace its history back to find the mystery author. Seemed very nice, if you're looking for something calm and lighthearted? Just not what I was looking for at the time.

Animal Farm - somehow managed to escape reading this for school, and a podcast I listen to loves recommending this, so I picked up a copy at the same sale as Heart's Blood. I feel like I spent most of the book sagely nodding my head, like yup, that's how it can be! Very smart book, not a favorite but I'm glad I read it.

Kicking Ice - backed this on Kickstarter ages ago when I was still deep in my Check, Please! fervor. Finally picked it up because it was short and I needed to finish another book for my owned-tbr challenge. It was ok. Maybe a better choice if you're a young girl interested in hockey or sports in general? I also didn't like the art style used for most of the book, so a pass from me. I'm sure a lot of the info about the NWHL is also outdated by this point.

[markwotson7]

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[infini-tree]

its later now.

there's been a lot of discussion about the chameleon-- and of course her backstory of how she was deemed too small/lowly/weak to be accepted to train kung fu. personally, i think the motivation in and of itself is a good foundation. but again, there wasn't a lot of elaboration, leaving it to feel like a plot hole than anything (and why so many people point out mantis, a master objectively smaller than her on account of being a literal bug).

so, here's how i'd reframe her backstory: its still the same thing, but it would tie back to her whole 'we're not so different' spiel to po in a much stronger way, since that was the thing that prompted her to mention it anyway.

the chameleon is po with a twisted sense of idol worship. she wanted to be the masters she idolized, but couldn't quite get it.

considering her deceptive nature, i think there is a level of ambiguity/unreliable narrator aspects for whether it was a point-blank outright rejection, she wasn't accommodated the same way po was, or that she simply wanted to be a master easily without the hard work as po mentions in their fight.

(its probably one of those things that have to written pretty tightly to convey that, but i'm not getting in the weeds. if i had to give a comparison to existing characters, it would kind of be like syndrome from the incredibles and the stark difference between the starting scene/flashback of the movie vs. how he views it via flashback.)

either way, she didn't have an oogway figure to get her foot in the door, or a shifu figure willing to train her. she had to settle for sorcery (in a way a theoretical rejected po would have had to go back to noodle making). and despite how accomplished she became in sorcery, it felt like settling for 'second best' and she could never be satisfied with that.

so she lashes out. emulates the masters despite cursing them for never giving her that chance. she doesn't even emulate them accurately as a result; her double-sided worship and anger reduces a master's worth with their power-- they're untouchable to her, both in terms of combat skill and social standing. she hates them for that. she wants to be that.

this establishes itself from minor things like having zhen refer to her as her master (not to mention the whole can of worms that is their mother-daughter relationship), to major things like her whole Shapeshifting thing and just the general social climate of juniper city. i'd have it potentially being the first locale being neutral or outright negative to the concept of kung fu after the chameleon basically props herself up as one-- instead of protecting the city like the jade palace and the valley or the master's council with gongmen city, she subjugates it with power in a way she thinks masters would wield.

she's the know-it-all kung fu fan that belittles others to po's joy to share his interest in kung fu to others. she'd Um Actually is what i'm saying /j

(also, also: personal sidebar. i think her Villain Color should be purple. so imagine there's more purple on her, all her scenes are purple, when she has the upper hand its purple... until it becomes the contrasting gold that comes with heroism/po getting the upper hand. it fits her arrogance/magic theme.)

hm. maybe i’ll at least post my chameleon thoughts later

[ericmicael]

The Enchanted Forest vs Frozen 2

Before starting this analysis, I must clarify 4 things:

. it's a book so obviously the parts that have music are altered slightly to make sense of the book, so I don't think there are any differences.

. the book doesn't start in the same way as the movie, it starts with Elsa and friends searching for a vehicle to go to the Enchanted Forest after talking to Pabbie. What I mean is that some scenes that happen before are remembered as flashbacks and that I won't mention the moments that they happen since they are the same as in the movie.

. the book goes until Elsa and Anna decide to continue the journey after the Earth Giants pass through the Northuldra camp.

. chapters 4 and 9 have no difference from the movie so that's why they're not here.

------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 1

The origin of the vehicle that takes them to the enchanted forest. It is revealed to belong to farmer Anders, who is a friend of Kristoff's. Shows the group going to the vehicle and getting the supplies. An interesting conversation comes from Olaf who asks if now with Arendelle deserted the realm can still be called a realm, but Elsa just tells him not to worry because they'll solve the problem.

------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 2

Olaf saying he's excited about the trip to the Enchanted Forest.

Olaf's new curiosities: bees have an extra stomach just to transport nectar, the difference between a lunar rainbow and a normal rainbow, there are animals that use their tails to balance themselves and also as a blanket, the sun is a very big star, the clouds of storms are called cumulus nimbus, it also explains what cirrus clouds are.

Olaf quotes Marshmallow and the Snoogies. He also says that his brothers like knitting and reading groups.

It is shown that Anna was the one who placed Iduna's scarf on Elsa's body.

When Elsa and Olaf sleep instead of Anna wishing Kristoff to kiss her like in the movie, she was focused only on Arendelle showing that she knows many of the villagers and cares about each one of them.

The timing of Kristoff's proposal is also different. When Kristoff starts talking Anna instead of confusing the words she starts to feel that Kristoff wanted to criticize some attitude of the princess, but just like in the movie Elsa wakes up and interrupts everything.

------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 3

There are two differences the first is the inclusion of Elsa listing the 4 monoliths and the second is the absence of Olaf saying that Enchanted Forest can transform them.

------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 5

In the book when Anna and Elsa realize that Olaf is gone, there is a narration saying that they joined Kristoff and Sven to look for him, while in the film, right after the sisters realize that Olaf is gone, it already shows the snowman.

Olaf, before shouting for his friends, starts talking to himself wondering if he's the only one who feels they're being watched.

At no point does Olaf remember that he doesn't know a person named Samantha, although he also mentions that name.

------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 6

Olaf in the book does not initially say that the hurricane is the Spirit of the Wind.

In the book when Elsa gets trapped by Gale and seeing the memories, it is shown that her thoughts were focused on getting out of there and solving what she had come to solve. In the movie, she blasts the storm after hearing the last line from Runeard, but in the book that last line happens after she blasts the storm before the magic dissipates.

  ------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 7

When the storm invoked by Gale is dispelled in the film Anna asks if Elsa is okay, this conversation doesn't take place in the book.

When Anna questions Olaf about something he has said before and he only mentions cucumbers in the movie, it's not clear what the snowman's doubt was about, but in the book Olaf makes it clear that his talk about cucumbers is what he has doubts about if they are fruit or vegetables.

In the book the conversation about water is much simpler, he just says that she has memories although some doubt this theory. In the film, he cites examples of what it means for water to have a memory.

Gale's next interaction with Elsa is the same as in the novelization, the Spirit of the Wind goes to her lifting her a little off the ground making the rest of the group fear he might do something bad, but she reassures them. In the movie he is more playful.

After Gale interacts with Elsa, he makes a path through the trees and Elsa wonders if she should follow him. In the film, the scene of the encounter with the statue of Agnarr and Iduna is more direct.

The book doesn't have Elsa telling Olaf to hide behind her or Kristoff questioning what Anna intended to do with the ice sword.

  ------------------------------------------------------------

CAPÍTULO 8

After Mattias and Yelana's reaction to Elsa's magic, the differences between the film and the book begin. To make it clearer what they are, I'll list the order of all events.

FILM:

· Anna, Elsa and Kristoff talk about the Northuldras wondering what to do next, Olaf decides to take the lead and begins summarizing “Frozen 1”. Ryder turns out to be the most cowardly of the Northuldras hiding behind Honeymaren.

BOOK:

· Ryder smiles at his sister and says the reason for the ice sculptures has now been revealed. Olaf approaches him by introducing himself, Ryder calmly introduces him and his sister Honeymaren, who is a little more reticent about Olaf than he is. In the book there is no summary of "Frozen 1".

MOVIE:

· Mattias questions if Elsa is really Arendelle's queen, the young woman confirms and soon after Yelana questions why the spirits gifted someone from Arendelle with magic. Yelana's speech makes Mattias respond and thus starts the debate with him about who started the attack 34 years ago.

BOOK:

· Anna asks Mattias if he knows her, he responds by asking if she has been in the forest before.

MOVIE:

· Anna recognizes Mattias through the portrait in the library, after which he asks what happened to Agnarr and Anna explains how they died. Mattias says that he can see Agnarr in the sisters and after that encourages his soldiers to gather as guards for the two women, the soldiers were already preparing to attack the Northuldras who, seeing the danger, became defensive.

BOOK:

· Anna recognizes Mattias by the portrait in the library, then he asks if Agnarr was really their father, Elsa confirms and the Northuldras seeing the danger put themselves on the defensive.

MOVIE:

· Elsa interrupts the beginning of a fight saying that they came because of a voice and that if she finds out that whoever emits the voice can free everyone, she asks them to believe her. Yelana says they only believe in nature and at that moment the Fire Spirit manifests.

BOOK:

· Mattias questions the sisters about Agnarr's fate and Elsa explains that he died 7 years ago (yes, 7 years, not 6 years), Mattias says he can see Agnarr in the sisters, which makes Anna introduce her and Elsa in a way more formal.

· Yelana questions why the sisters are in the forest, the two women explain that they were expelled from Arendelle by a magic that was intended to protect them, Mattias questions what was the threat to which Anna replies that everything they know has to do with the Enchanted Forest. A soldier says that no one knows what happened in the forest, so Yelana questions what kind of spell Elsa used to awaken the spirits and enters the Enchanted Forest, but Elsa explains that it was someone who summoned them and allowed them to pass, besides that person probably has the answers to set everyone free.

· Yelana remains suspicious of Elsa and says she doesn't trust her or her sorcery, but Anna defends her sister saying that Elsa is not a user of sorcery and that she was born with powers.

· Northuldras leader questions why nature gifted someone from Arendelle with magic, Mattias replies it was to compensate for Northuldras' crimes, Yelana says Arendelle was the traitor who used the dam as a trap. Mattias says the dam was a gift of peace which Yelana corrects saying it was a gift of hate. Mattias asks if Yelana wants to see the end of Arendelle, but Yelana says she doesn't have that level of resentment.

· After the conversation with Mattias the leader of the Northuldras approaches Elsa saying that King Runeard hated magic, but Mattias says that Runeard feared people who used magic for evil and that's why he was murdered. Yelana says Mattias can't prove it, but the lieutenant says that even the spirits acted against Northuldras, to which Yelana replies by saying that the spirits also arrested Arendelle's soldiers and at that moment the Fire Spirit manifests.

----------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 10

As in the novelization, when Honeymaren says that the scarf belonged to one of the oldest Norhuldras families, she also mentions that the scarf is given to newborn babies.

Before Yelana introduces them as the Northuldras, the woman says that when nature speaks, they must listen.

Elsa only promises that she will free them from the forest, it is Anna who promises that they will also restore Arendelle. In the movie, only Elsa makes the promise and Anna says how big that promise is.

Right after Ryder's conversation about Elsa's promise in the movie, this is the moment he introduces himself to Kristoff in the movie, the book doesn't have that introduction.

In the book it is Mattias who informs them that the Earth Giants walk north at night, in the film it is Honeymaren who says the phrase. In the film, it is also at this point that Honeymaren introduces herself to Anna.

  ------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 11

There is no scene of Ryder deciding to help Kristoff propose to Anna. In fact, they don't even interact in this chapter.

Mattias and Anna's conversation begins with a narration saying that the lieutenant had already told several stories about Agnarr to the princess. The conversation itself is the same as in the novelization with Mattias being surprised by the height of Agnarr, after that they talk about butter and only then begins the conversation that happens in the movie about Halima.

Elsa and Honeymaren's conversation has new phrases, the woman Northuldra asks about the voice and why the queen believes this voice has the answers she seeks, Elsa explains that the voice speaks to a part of her that no one else has spoken, the part magic. Only after this conversation begins the "campfire scene" which has no change except the position of the scarf which in the film is only on Elsa's legs.

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CHAPTER 12

In the film, it is Honeymaren who asks Elsa to hide, while in the book the queen acts alone.

In the book, there is no interaction between Olaf and Bruni hiding from the Earth Giants.

When Elsa watches the Earth Giants from her hiding place, Anna fears they will go to the queen, which prompts the princess to take a stick and tap the stones, drawing the giants' attention to her. Elsa seeing Anna in danger uses her magic to lure them away. In the movie the scene is simple, Elsa hides realizing that they seem to feel her and then the giants leave.

In the film after the giants leave, Anna questions whether Elsa intends to follow them, the queen says she believes she can calm down the Earth Giants like she did with Gale and Bruni, but the princess is still afraid her sister will get hurt. Anna reinforces the mission to find the voice, discover the truth and return to Arendelle. Olaf arrives with Bruni commenting on the situation, Elsa says the giants have noticed her and since she doesn't want to put anyone in danger, she needs to leave. Anna agrees with Elsa and tries to find Kristoff to go together, but she finds neither him nor Sven, Olaf explains that they left with Ryder. Anna feels hurt that Kristoff left without warning, but she decides to continue the mission with Elsa and Olaf.

In the book when the Earth Giants leave, Yelana says that the giants sensed Elsa and came after her, the queen agrees and even says that although the giants looked angry, she felt they wanted to help, Anna doesn't agree with her sister's words. Olaf still looks frightened by the Earth Giants visit and approaches Elsa to calm down. At this point in the narration, the book says that Elsa felt that the forest was already changing her with each encounter with the spirits and was confident to face the next challenges and overcome them even if Anna didn't understand what she was feeling. Elsa finally says she needs to go out and find that voice, she didn't want to stay there and risk more spirits emerging and putting more people in danger, Anna is by her side ready to face the next dangers together.

[waka-chan-out]

SERIOUS QUESTION!!!

How do you write banter so well? I’m trying to write something and it’s a first date thing. How tf do people talk? I’m always awkward and my characters are nothing like me so like… can’t just write what I’d say. But I don’t know how people talk!!! HOW DO YOU DO THIS?!?! Every bit of dialogue you write is always so…. Real. It has tension and reality and just.. WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!?! How did you get good?? I stg if you say practice I’ll cry because you can’t practice if you don’t even have a starting point. My cursor is currently teasing me with it’s flashing right next to an open quotation mark as words refuse fall on the page. PLEASE HELP!! I’m so stuck and I just want this scene to be cute hsjhfkahfewhfih

well first of all, thank you so much. that’s probably the best compliment i could ever get about my writing. i love writing banter so it’s lovely to know other people enjoy reading it.

i hate to say practice…….but it’s kind of that and kind of not.

i think it’s not just practice but it’s also experience? like i’ve been writing since i was really little but the most dramatic changes with my writing happened when i was consistently writing and reading other people’s in-progress work. i’ve been in a lot of workshops and it’s really easy to pick out who the beginner writers are because there are a few ruts they fall into that are easy to fix, they just need to be willing to listen. here are a few tips that i’ve taken to heart over the years and consistently tell other people.

1. let your dialogue stand on its own. that sounds overly simplistic, but it’s really the most important thing to learn. if i read someone’s work and i find they’re adding multiple punctuation marks, overusing italics, writing in all caps, or using shit like “exclaimed” or “cried out” over and over and over, i can immediately tell that they aren’t confident in their ability to write strong dialogue. your reader should be able to read the speaker’s tone and infer their feelings through what they’re saying, not how you present those words. i know a lot of people give writing advice and tell you to use fun dialogue tags to make your writing more lively, but in a legitimate creative writing class they’ll tell you that that’s the exception, not the rule. if you go back through my fics i guarantee at least 80% of my dialogue tags are just the word “said,” because i try my hardest to write the character’s tone into their words and try not to give myself much wiggle room outside of that.

2. just….read it out loud. i have read so many beginner writers stories and it just……it’s hard to read sometimes because you can tell they were trying to make the narrator the sassiest person on the planet or try way too hard to make them sound clever, and they end up landing in a weird limbo between what a sixth grader would want to say to tell someone off and something no human person would ever think of saying. whatever you write you just want to make sure it sounds relatively natural. i know that’s annoyingly vague advice, but it’s simpler than you think. like if some person in your story is giving the main character shit, you don’t want them to start screaming elaborate insults at them. no human person has ever behaved like that. you want to slow it down and think it through. start off with how you would act in a situation, and then build off of that. most of the time my reader is basically just…..me? like how i would act in a situation? or how someone similar to me would act? but i find the characters quite easy to write because i already have a baseline for how that character would act.

3. on top of that, i usually have benchmark dialogue or action moments set for a scene, so i know i have to somehow get to that. like in my kita “what, do you like him?” story, i already had that line set out for me, but as i was thinking about that scene i came up with other moments i wanted to happen. i wanted to use the line “i always thought you were handsome too” because i wanted kita to get flustered. i wanted some nervous fumbling with a key in a door to happen. and i wanted the reader to somehow end up on a table. so having those story beats laid out made me realize that i have to send the conversation in that direction, and it makes the scene not feel as much like a lawless wasteland.

also, that’s not true at all !! you can always improve and practice no matter what state you’re in. even if you don’t think the dialogue you write is good, it still exists when it didn’t before. that’s something to be proud of in itself. you can start off with a dialogue prompt or a random line you want to include somewhere, and just get going. one of the things i do sometimes is if i don’t know where to start a scene i’ll start it from the very beginning, and then i can shave off the bad, fluffy dialogue that i don’t need when i’m at a point i’m comfortable with.

all of this being said, the best thing you can do is have people read your writing and give you advice based on your starting point. i would genuinely love to take a look at your work and see if there’s anything i can help with or more more personalized tips i can offer. that’s what i want to do for a living and nothing makes me happier than talking about craft and writing and things like that, so i’m more than happy to help. even if you just want to chat over ideas, i’m here to listen and talk. i love this kind of thing.

i miss doing workshops so much. now i wish i could just sit down and do a big fanfiction one. alas, we must continue to communicate online.

[inknose]

mdzs read diary part IV, the end

It’s inspiring how much self care wwx is gonna finally get now that his husband will go along with whatever he does, so he’s gotta look out for lwj’s well being if not his own. that is emphatically the STUFF

dragging my hands down I face as I read this, after all these chapters of getting up close and personal with ghouls bleeding from every orifice, slaying ancient beasts, rebelling against the entire cultivation world, the two of them are absolutely paralyzed by middle school crush sleepover math

chicken

he actually drew kissy doodles .... he....

IDK I THINK I JUST DOCUMENTED THIS PART CUZ I WAS STILL SCREAMING you cant expect me to have very useful things to say at this point

this is torture you are both so mushy you are so GONE

This part really stood out to me, it’s an attitude I feel like wwx implies with his inner narration a few times but most clearly says here: he’s not one for allowing himself to exaggerate how bad his circumstances are/could be even a little bit - he’s already lived through some extreme low points and found a way to keep going, so he never makes sweeping statements about what he couldn’t live without (Inner JingYi: you’re supposed to say you’d be lost without him here!!!) Instead he seems to accept as a given that being alive doesn’t guarantee him any pleasantness or joy at all, and as a result his feelings toward being in TRUE LOVE are surprisingly pragmatic, but also colored with such gratitude. There are a lot of things in the novel that struck me, like this, as being just a little to the left of familiar tropes/sentiments, and were more touching for it. Whether it be the influence of culture difference as opposed to what I’m used to reading in most western romance stories, or MXTX’s unique outlook, or a combination of both, it was really refreshing and made me pause over it. Not “I can’t imagine living without you” but “I could be living without you, but instead I get to be with you and I think that’s the best thing that could happen.”

ADJFDKFJ THE UST BEING SO STRONG THAT EVEN THE VILLAIN COMMENTS ON IT IN THE MIDDLE OF EXECUTING HIS EVIL PLANS IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT WILL NEVER FAIL TO MAKE ME LAUGH MY ASS OFF. hes like god damn! here I thought I had problems

it was at this moment that I realized we were doing this Now... I’m still recovering. What a scene. I am so glad I saw the most incredible fanart soon afterwards, bc the fact that someone has already drawn a perfect comic of this part means I don’t have to

I love you so much, you are so annoying, you are perfect... I like how he’s been experiencing openly requited love for all of ten minutes but he’s already figured out how to weaponize it to piss people off

doing!!! his!!! job!!!!!

ahh... it’s a really good story. JGY is a great character. One of the most interesting differences for me between drama watching vs. novel reading experience is that without an actor to bat his vulnerable doe eyes at you and smile faintly with his cute dimples, the book does not go much out of its way to try to lull the reader into a false sense of security around him or *endear* him to you the way the show does. But just by seeing events through wei wuxian’s POV, its still enough to evoke pity or understanding towards him. The overall impression is a bit more detached though, there’s less emphasis on the spectacle of how he could manipulate everyone closest to him and more of a general feeling of resigned tragedy that everyones the worst on this bitch of an earth.

I CANNOT DEAL WITH YOU FOR EVEN ONE MORE SECOND!!!!

I clearly paused to take note of less and less parts at the end & the extras due to: a) too excited to reach the end b) too spicy to photograph and c) too sleepy cuz I kept reading in the middle of the night. but I absolutely took the time for Bro We Are Teens appreciation corner:

I’d absolutely read 40 more extra chapters of their monster-of-the-week field trip antics.

god... poor Jin Ling now basically has to deal with divorced parents that talk shit about each other to him whenever he is saying with one of them. except they are both his uncles. just a disasterhood of all uncles from start to finish. AUUUGH wei wuxian and jiang cheng have fucked me up completely, I dream of them reconciling but I also REFUSE to believe it would ever be easy. let me know if theres a fanfic that absolutely tortures you for decades before they hug

HAHAHA oh no this man ain’t making it to immortality thats for damn sure. HE’S JUST GONNA TRY AS HARD AS HE CAN HIS WHOLE LIFE NOT TO LOOK AT HIM BUT THEYRE *MARRIED* SDLKFJSF ohhhh it’s too funny, like... the mundane domestic family drama IN the fantastical swords and sorcery setting is what really ratchets up these things from amusing to fucking hilarious I think

aaaa the end... final random thoughts? No not final, I would like to please keep discussing at length and exhaustively, all the time please - CQL has gotta be one of the best TV adaptations I’ve seen. ANY adaptation of anything would be lucky to be so good!! reading the novel has just made me appreciate it even more.

- I don’t think I can do justice to what I find most fascinating about comparing the two versions briefly, to do that I need to get drunk and ramble at my friends for hours but... the condensed version is something like this. Really all the significant differences between the two versions (besides the ones which can be attributed to censorship and therefore aren’t worth discussing) are a side effect of the structure of how the story is told - there’s barely anything changed arbitrarily. Aside from having a cold opening, the drama sticks to a very linear version of the story, and I think for a TV show or film, that’s probably the best way to do it. We see everything, we get shocked and tricked and betrayed and surprised along with the characters, we feel the biggest impact at the climactic scenes having experienced all the build-up. The novel on the other hand is not only much more non-linear in WHEN we learn bits and pieces of information, but that information is also obfuscated under wei wuxian’s multiple layers of Unreliable Narratoritis, which are as follows: 1) difficulty remembering things because of personality/avoiding painful memories/actual memory loss, 2) No Homo Goggles still on, and 3) a wry sense of humor that makes the reader unsure of how much they can trust his attitude toward things, especially near the beginning. The experience of reading is a puzzle the reader has to mentally piece together through all of the above listed camouflage, and the puzzle itself is a three-sided mystery: One - How Bad of a guy was Wei WuXian really, and how exactly did all the bad stuff in his life go down; Two - wangxian epic pride & prejudice gambits; Three - political murder mystery. (I love stories like this btw... though I fully admit I’m glad I watched first this time bc it might have taken me a long time to tackle otherwise.) Because of this, where the drama wants to pull you in and submerge you in all the most potent emotional parts, the novel in direct contrast deliberately side-steps around these things and asks that you hurt yourself by filling in the blanks. In fact the more intense emotions and painful memories involved, whether it be his relationship with jiang yanli, his DEATH, the darkest days of war times etc, the more the novel evasively withholds details. I actually really like both styles of storytelling but each one is obviously way better suited to its medium. ANYWAY.... THATS BASICALLY WHERE MY BRAINS AT WHILE IM READING GAY SWORD WIZARD BOOKS

- The extras are so saturated with domestic married bliss that it’s a good thing I stopped taking pictures because I’d just take a picture of every page. this is too much for me to take... I did jump the gun a few times and read a few fanfics while I was still mid-read of the book (I tried to hold out but alas I am mortal) and at one point after finishing I was like “wow what fic was it in where lwj says something cute and wwx kisses him in public but they’re in the corner of the restaurant so no one really sees... OH NO WAIT that was actually in there.” and ... and that’s the LEAST OF IT... *stares into the distance* theyre married wow

- I ofc couldn’t help but see a few vague blogs beforehand so honestly I was braced for something like, wildly ooc for the sake of porn to happen in the extras... I definitely appreciate how the incense burner porn interludes could be uhhh a lot for many people and not my personal cup of tea in terms of smut however [here follows the words of a poisonous frog who has dwelt her whole life in the rainforests of BL] the concept is also surprisingly SWEET SDFLKJF like wwx sees lan wangji’s darkest mixed-up violent teenage fantasies and he’s just like aww babe you had a crush on me!! just... good for them

- I swear I’m not gonna rehash every cute married thing they do but wei wuxian grading papers in the tub........................rEALLY GOT ME

- I want to Draw - ok thats enough if I keep going I’ll just write “wei wuxian grading papers in the tub” seven more times probably

[rockislandadultreads]

Start a new series on audiobook; here’s a list of firsts in popular book series. Available now! 

Summaries & Ratings from Goodreads.com

Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell

(A Witchcraft Mystery #1)

3.89/5

Lily Ivory is not your average witch. Her spell-casting powers tend to draw mischievous spirits while keeping normal humans at a distance. But now her vintage clothing store could give her a chance to make friends in San Francisco....

Lily hopes for a normal life when she opens Aunt Cora's Closet. With her magical knack for vintage fashion -she can sense vibrations of the past from clothing and jewelry—her store becomes a big hit.

But when a client is murdered and children start disappearing from the Bay Area, Lily may be the only one who can unravel the crime. She tries to keep her identity a secret while investigating, but it's not easy—especially under the spells of sexy "mythbuster" Max Carmichael and powerful witch Aidan Rhodes. Will Lily's witchy ways be forced out of the closet?

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

(Outlander #1)

4.23/5

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

(Delirium #1)

3.97/5

In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn't about to make the same mistake.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena meets enigmatic Alex, a boy from the "Wilds" who lives under the government's radar. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love?

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

(Southern Reach #1)

3.7/5

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition. The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself. They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

(Crossfire #1)

4.18/5

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness. He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily.

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private wounds and desires.

The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

(All Souls Trilogy #1)

4/5

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

[chilly-territory]

Uchouten Kazoku 2, chapter 1 (part 3 out of 3)

This was chapter 1 out of 7 in total. As should be clear, the anime did make some changes; they’re not plot-impacting, but the novel definitely feels ‘fuller‘ and clearer, if you will. And yeah, I’m absolutely loving this novel, the writing style, the characters, everything.

The Eccentric Family: The Nidaime’s Homecoming (Uchouten Kazoku: Nidaime no Kichou) by Morimi Tomihiko

Chapter 1 (part 3/3, pages 52-67)

〇

I set my mind on visiting Akadama-sensei, currently working hard at his training, and delivering him some mamemochi [*1] as a sign of support.

That said, Kumogahata was awfully far away.

I planned to borrow my eldest brother's automated rickshaw for the trip, but my stingy brother just wouldn't give his permission. His reasoning was that Akadama-sensei in his seclusion was bound to be in a rotten mood, and it would be too late to cry if his precious rickshaw was to be accidentally smashed to smithereens in a misdirected explosion of sensei's anger. With no other choice, I went by bicycle, forced to pedal all the way, but the road was so long that soon I got fed up with it almost to death. I had lost count to how many times I had wanted to just wolf down the gift mamemochi and turn back as if nothing had happened.

Still, clenching my teeth and following the winding mountain trail, at long last I had arrived at my destination.

Since there was a tengu secluding himself in the mountains specifically to train, I was prepared for some great rumbling and shaking in the region, but Kumogahata's settlement looked peaceful as ever. Rays of the early summer sun shone through fresh verdure that the mountain hamlet was buried in and illuminated the vicinity, the old building of an elementary school and stone walls included, with the only loud sound coming from the water flowing in the irrigation channels leading to the plots of cultivated land. Time flowed sluggishly, like syrup.

I came as far as the branch office of the Kumogahata ward office and, slumping in the shade of a tree, took some rest.

Suddenly, a voice came from overhead.

"My, my, if it isn't Shimogamo Yasaburou."

I looked up in surprise and found a genteel elderly man in a white shirt coupled with a bolo tie sitting on the small concrete overhang of the branch office and slowly drinking grape-flavored Fanta. He was one of Akadama-sensei's few friends, Iwayasan Kinkoubou, running a used camera shop in the Nipponbashi neighborhood in Osaka after retirement.

"Oh, Kinkoubou-sama." I rose and bowed my head to him. "Did you come to see how Yakushibou's doing?" "Yes, sir. Seeing as I've found myself with a lot of free time on my hands." "Hahaha. Such a kind-hearted pupil, as always. Then let's go visit him together. We can climb to the tengu training ground from here."

In front of me were the steep stone steps leading to Kouunnji temple.

Following Kinkoubou, I started climbing them.

Rather than entering the temple's grounds, Kinkoubou proceeding along a small waterway on the left, setting foot in the mountains. Passing through a grove of trees glistening with new green, the waterway soon dived into the chilly cedar forest. Wherever you looked, all you would see were towering deep black cedar trees tearing into the very sky itself. The more the tranquil atmosphere of the small mountain hamlet receded, the more the solemn tengu presence grew.

A small gourd, dark brown in color, that hang at Iwayasan Kinkoubou's waist produced adorable little splish-splash sounds.

"It contains dragon water."

I knew that the area around Iwayasan-Shimyouin temple was the source of the Kamogawa river, but the fact that a few dragon stones were buried in the surrounding mountains was new to me. The liquid that seeped out of those stones was called dragon water and it was beloved by tengu and habitually used as an energy and vitality booster. What was in the gourd was collected for Akadama-sensei who intended to challenge the Nidaime to battle. It appeared that Kinkoubou had no slightest intention to try and stop this ongoing fight between Yakushibou Sr. and Yakushibou Jr.

"Tengu are creatures who know not how to settle things peacefully." "Good grief, both the father and the son are so equally difficult and ill-natured that I'm just stumped." "I'm thankful that you're worried about your mentor, but there is no need for tanuki to go as far as rack their brains on how to settle the fight between those two. Just let them do as they please."

We walked for about 15 minutes along the waterway until numerous fallen cedar trees, quite big at that, blocked our way on both sides. It was clearly a tengu's doing. Kinkoubou drew a seal in the air with his fingers and chanted some incantation, then made a gesture as if to open his linked hands, and the fallen trees rose one by one, clearing the path in front of us.

On the other end of the opened path was the tengu training ground.

On the clearing shaped like a footprint of a giant, in the part where the arch of the foot would be, there towered a lone enormous cedar with its top stabbing the sky. Beneath it was laid out the stale bedding specially brought here from the apartment behind the Demachi shopping arcade. Akadama-sensei, hugging a daruma in his lap, puffed on his tengu tobacco. For someone who had taken pains to seclude himself deep in the mountains, this sight hardly bespoke of any changes for the better.

Accepting the gourd with dragon water from Kinkoubou, sensei glanced at me.

"Yasaburou, what are you doing here?" "I was searching for tsuchinoko and got lost. This is mamemochi, a small present for you." "All you ever do is play around without a care in the world, huh."

At this point, sensei must have been aware that I, while knowing perfectly well about the Nidaime's return, had feigned ignorance. But with all the time that'd passed, he didn't throw a fit about it now.

"So... what is he up to?" "He keeps to himself at a hotel in Kawaramachi-oike." "Probably devising schemes upon schemes on how to cut off my head while I sleep. Mickle fails that fools think [*2]."

Akadama-sensei uncorked the gourd, gulped down the dragon water and wiped his mouth.

"That accursed fool. I see his bad habit of worrying about trifling things and straying off the path of sorcery is incurable. Nyoigadake Yakushibou neither hides nor runs! Time to do battle has cometh! Hi-hoo!" "He is not the same anymore, Yakushibou."

When Kinkoubou said that quietly, Akadama-sensei snorted and fell silent.

Back when I was a tiny little furball, Akadama-sensei would announce a so called extracurricular lesson, round up his tanuki pupils, toss them in a handbasket and fly to this tengu training ground. While the tanuki played in the grass-covered clearing, sensei smoked his tengu tobacco on the top of the massive cedar and amused the little tanuki by setting weirdly-shaped cloud afloat in the sky.

Seeing this cedar after such a long time made me feel nostalgic, and I slowly circled it. Because of its massiveness, the top was well out of sight. On its thick branches senjafuda [*3] were pasted here and there, as well as various other things lost or forgotten by tengu, such as sake bottles and onigawara tiles [*4] probably collected as a joke, with a discolored hand towel caught on a branch fluttering in the spring breeze.

When I was little, once, Akadama-sensei lost his temper and tied me to the top of this cedar as punishment. Forgetting all about me, sensei left, and I was left behind to sulk silently at the top of the cedar until my eldest brother came to get me.

When I narrated these memories, Akadama-sensei said, "Oh, I forgot that, I completely forgot that." "How awful of you to forget, sir." "Well, I used to tie up your father and before him his father, too, so how can I remember every one of you little critters?"

After a few moments, Akadama-sensei got up from his stale futon, gave the gourd a shake and approached the base of the cedar. Turning the gourd upside down, he let the dragon water flow until the gourd was empty.

"Are you sure?" asked Kinkoubou. "I've known this cedar for many years, so why not give it what's still left," sensei replied.

Sensei's profile as he poured the dragon water onto the roots of the cedar was full of dignity befitting a tengu by the name of Nyoigadake Yakushibou. It vividly reminded me of what sensei looked like in the past when he still reigned over Nyoigadake and spat on the world below in its entirety.

Pushing the now empty gourd back to Kinkoubou, Akadama-sensei took out a letter from his breast pocket. At first I mistook it for a love letter, but only until I saw the words 'letter of challenge' on it.

"Take this to him. Know that this is a honorable task."

I accepted the sealed envelop and prostrated myself.

"I, Shimogamo Yasaburou, am honored."

〇

I handed over Akadama-sensei's letter of challenge to the Nidaime in the lobby of the hotel in Kawaramachi-oike. Even as he accepted such a disturbing thing as the letter of challenge to an all-out duel from his own father, the Nidaime didn't so much as bat an eye, his face calm and indifferent as if what he'd just received was a routine mail order.

"I might go. I might not," the Nidaime said. " I would prefer for you not to assume I will."

In contrast to the Nidaime's apparent lack of motivation, the tanuki world met the news of a tengu duel with wild enthusiasm. Would Akadama-sensei win, like those hundred years ago, and kick the Nidaime out of Kyoto? Or would the Nidaime emerge victorious, carving a path to a new era open for tengu? Tanuki waited for the day of the duel with batted breath.

To begin with, tengu had always been creatures that peered down at the whole of creation from the pinnacle of haughtiness.

They were great because they were tengu, and tengu because they were great. According to the logic of tengu who carried all before them, the likes of tanuki were but furballs, the likes of humans but naked monkeys, and even all the other tengu but oneself were but paper tigers.

The only being of any importance between Heaven and Earth was oneself - that was what tengu were.

Consequently, a father was greater than his son, and a son greater than his father.

There was just no way this conflict could ever be settled peacefully.

〇

On the night of the duel, Akadama-sensei crawled with wobbling steps up and onto the main roof of the Minamiza theater.

From his wearing a hachimaki headband and a tasuki sash, it was evident that he was brimming with fighting spirit, but his swaying form crawling up the roof on all fours had not a drop of anything that made tengu tengu. To put it mildly, choosing the main roof of the Minamiza theater from which he had kicked down his son a hundred years prior as the location for the duel was a rush decision on his part. Still, sensei kept crawling on with indomitable drive, finally making it to the rooftop somehow.

"Freely flying through the sky is what defines a tengu, but... good grief."

Akadama-sensei sat down cross-legged and wiped the sweat, then lit up his tengu tobacco.

The night wind, cool and pleasant, dissipated the tendrils of the thick smoke.

From that spot, if you looked to the east, you would see the lights of Gion-Shijou stretching in a line like some sort of a night festival, and if you looked to the west, the radiance of Shijouoohashi and the downtown high-rise area would come into view.

From the rooftop of 'Restaurant Kikumi', located on the other side across Shijou-doori street, the night wind brought the delicious smell of cheerfully sizzling roasted meat. Its beer garden, illuminated with paper lanterns, was reserved exclusively for the Kurama tengu tonight, and it looked like the conference they were holding there, themed 'How to thoroughly mock and make fun of Yakushibou', had already opened and was well underway. They obviously planned to enjoy the show that was the duel between Akadama-sensei and the Nidaime from their box seats with a beer mug in hand. For to tengu, strife and duels were the best snack to go with their beer.

The Kurama tengu, bending over the railing of the beer garden and leaning far out into the space over Shijou-doori street, brandished folding fans and even a megaphone. "Yakushibou, fight without reserve!" "Leave it to us, we'll pick up your bones for you!" "Yeah, pick them up and throw them into the Kamogawa river after!" As they shouted these cheers no one asked for, the Kurama tengu clanged their beer mugs together, scattering beer foam and jeering loudly.

"You stupid little mountains acorns... Just you wait, one of these days, I'll drown you in Lake Biwa," sensei cursed through clenched teeth.

As a matter of fact, the Kurama tengu weren't the only ones burning with curiosity.

The area around Shijouoohashi bridge was teeming with innumerable tanuki who, shapeshifting into regular drunkards, gathered to watch how the duel would unfold. Even the Nise-emon Yasaka Heitarou accompanied by my brother Yaichirou were standing by somewhere in the vicinity of the bridge. Worth of mention was also the roof of 'Touka Saikan' on the opposite shore of Kamogawa shining bright with hanging lanterns, where Iwayasan Kinkoubou waited for his old friend's duel to end while drinking some aged Lao Jiu wine [*5] all by himself.

In due time, black from head to toe, the Nidaime descended down from the dark night sky, as if a drop of ink from a fountain pen. Putting a hand to the brim of his silk hat, he gave a shameless little bow to Akadama-sensei in greeting. And then spoke up in a manner of a total stranger just passing by.

"Good evening, elderly gentleman. What might you be doing in a place like this?" "I'm expecting some company." "What a coincidence. I am also expecting some company here." "...Who might you be waiting for?" "Someone quite worthless. I'd rather not speak of him." "Oh? Isn't that quite the coincidence. I'm waiting for someone equally worthless myself."

Akadama-sensei put out his tengu tobacco and stood up, wobbling precariously. Back still bent, he glowered at his son, laying eyes on him for the first time in a hundred years.

"That fool was my son and my student, but now he is neither. Barely halfway through his training, he did something as stupid as wasting time on a love affair and even defying me. How utterly deplorable for the man who was to eventually succeed someone as grand as myself and hold the world in his grasp, to be played by some little lass and stray from the path of sorcery. Since then he had disappeared without a word from him for all those years, and now, after all this time, he's suddenly back. Figuring he won't even have enough courage to show his face at my place, I took the initiative and sent him a letter of challenge. Thinking I might kick him down from here again," Akadama-sensei provoked, but the Nidaime said nothing, remaining unfazed.

The tengu father and son didn't move, only kept glaring at one another.

Soon, however, the Kurama tengu in the beer garden got tired of waiting. "Come on, come on!" "Hey, get to it already!" "Don't tell me you've made up!" "What friendly father and son!" they jeered and mocked.

The Nidaime raised a hand in a leather glove and took off his glamorously glittering silk hat.

Holding it to his chest, he made a quick motion that took only a moment, like praying to Heaven; without skipping a beat, he turned with a cold expression, facing the beer garden where the Kurama tengu were partying, and hurled his silk hat with ferocity. Apparently, that silk hat of his, intended for self-defense, was fashioned out of a shell for a cannon used in World War I. The silk hat smashed into the tables with deafening rumbling in its wake, silencing the Kurama tengu in one blow.

The Nidaime turned back around, tilting his head a little and fixing his hair with a theatrical gesture.

"If you think you can kick me down, by all means, try." "Rest assured, I shall. Prepare yourself."

What Akadama-sensei took out from his breast pocket then was the Fuujin-Raijin folding fan [*6].

〇

The Fuujin-Raijin folding fan was such a peerless fan that if you waved with one side of it, you could summon a gale, and if you waved with the other, you could produce a thunderstorm. Formerly, it was one of the seven tools of Nyoigadake Yakushibou, but in defiance of its value, sensei treated it roughly. When he presented it to Benten as what he called a 'commemoration of love' gift, he seriously pissed off both the tengu and the tanuki worlds, but last year, after much ado, the fan had returned to his possession.

As Akadama-sensei was at the present, he had no power to summon tengu winds. Even if he tried, pouring all of his might in it at that, it would be something like a spring breeze streaming across a field of blooming lotus flowers, capable of only gently fluttering the Nidaime's bangs at best. However, as long as he had the Fuujin-Raijin fan with him, even sensei could blow off the Minamiza without much trouble despite his old age.

"Say your prayers!" Akadama-sensei let out a thunderous shout and raised the fan overhead.

Only, the fan suddenly slipped out of sensei's fingers and flapped through the space toward the Kamogawa river. No matter how powerful a fan it was, it was completely useless unless you waved it. Akadama-sensei, panicking and trying to catch the fan that was being swept away, grabbed only at the empty air, losing his balance, falling with a thud and slipping off head first. The fan kept rolling down nimbly.

At this rate, the Fuujin-Raijin fan and our former mentor's life both would be in danger.

Appearing out of the dark, I dashed along the roof and, catching the fan, shoved it in a pocket, then took a firm hold of sensei and checked his slide.

Akadama-sensei got up silently and sat down next to me, crossing his legs.

There were tears in his eyes as he held his nose that he'd hit hard, but he didn't seem to have suffered any other injuries.

From above us the Nidaime's stern voice rained down.

"Is that you there, Yasaburou-kun?"

I immediately prostrated myself on the edge of the roof. "Shimogamo Yasaburou, at your service."

"What are you doing in a place like this?" "...Following the call of my idiot blood, I'm afraid." "So you came rushing to the rescue, huh," the Nidaime sighed. "Good grief, how truly foolish creatures tanuki are. I will admit that they are charming, but the fact that they are fools still stands irrefutably." "That is a rather tengu-like thing of you to say, Nidaime, sir." "I am not a tengu. What is a tengu? It's that senile old fool right there." The Nidaime pointed to Akadama-sensei with his chin. "After all his big talk, throwing his weight around and bragging about his magical powers, in the end, unable to even defend his own territory, he had been run out by the Kurama lot and forced to seclude himself in a filthy apartment for the likes of humans to live in. I'm sure even now he thinks of himself as great, when in reality he's but a laughable naked emperor. Incapable of making a single tengu whirlwind do his bidding, he can't even fly through the sky properly. What is he even capable of anymore? What truly meaningless and risible last days. This, however, is what a tengu is. What a tengu's ruin is. ....Aah, still, even knowing that, what a positively pathetic sight this is. To think you would still choose to live reliant on the pity of creatures such as tanuki." The Nidaime knitted his beautiful brows, gazing down at Akadama-sensei with cold eyes. "You should be ashamed. For shame!"

Probably unable to stomach the Nidaime's words, Akadama-sensei wobbled to his feet, pushed me aside and tried to crawl up the roof. Although slipping and sliding, after a few tries he managed to hold on feebly, then made another attempt to climb to the high place where the Nidaime stood.

Out of breath and with his white hair disheveled, he groaned out, "Don't you run away, just wait right there. I'll kick you down once again."

What the Nidaime haughtily peered down at in those moments from his high vantage point was not only his father frantically crawling up the roof, but also myself watching with batted breath, the city below and the masses wriggling and squirming in it - overlooking all of that at once. The only being of any importance between Heaven and Earth is I alone, his cold eyes were eloquently expressing. And I was enchanted with those glimpses of a dazzlingly blazing tengu beneath the veneer in the Nidaime who insisted he was 'not a tengu'.

Letting his white cheeks stretch in a derisive smile, the Nidaime said, "Oh, are you still not dead, father?"

Akadama-sensei replied through grinding teeth, "...If you want me dead, then try and kill me."

The Nidaime snorted with laughter at that. "You're not even worth killing. You can die in some ditch on your own somewhere, for all I care."

Not waiting for sensei to finish crawling up, the Nidaime jumped off the roof.

Easily leaping over the Kamogawa, he gave a slight bow to Iwayasan Kinkoubou sipping wine on the roof of 'Touka Saikan', then flew off into the sparkling night city.

Akadama-sensei could only watch him go with a gaping mouth.

And that was how the curtain fell on the tengu duel.

〇

"Good grief, he ran away again. What a pathetic fellow."

Akadama-sensei sat cross-legged in the middle of the roof and smoked his tengu tobacco, pleased expression on his face as if he'd just successfully finished a difficult task. I sank down to sit beside sensei, gazing absentmindedly at the brilliant radiance of the night city where the Nidaime flew off to and playing with the Fuujin-Raijin fan.

In due time, Akadama-sensei opened his mouth to say in an exasperated manner, "My goodness, what a tanuki you are, you seem to be positively everywhere." "I take the duty of being elusive and unpredictable close to heart."

Out of the blue, sensei asked, "Well?" and nudged my flank. "It's my victory, isn't it?" "...E-Erm, how did you come to the conclusion that you won, sir?" "If you can't understand, then there's no point talking to you."

Sensei watched the Kamogawa river beneath as it carried its waters from south to north, while puffing on his tobacco with satisfaction.

By the river, the noryouyuka cool-floor [*7] opened for operation, its night illumination casting phantasmagorical lights on the black surface of the water. It was a scene of a nighttime amusement that would suit Benten's taste perfectly.

My and sensei's thoughts seemed to coincide at that moment.

Looking toward the Kamogawa, sensei murmured suddenly, "I wonder where Benten is and what she's doing." "When she gets back - things will turn fun, for sure." "... Now, of all times, is really the time when that beauty should be here more than ever."

Sensei stared at the moon glittering in the night sky and said on a sigh, "How I want to see Benten. Oh how I long to see Benten."

T/N:

[*1] Mamemochi (豆餅): a rice cake with beans. Why did Yasaburou choose to bring mamemochi? Apparently, there is an old and popular wagashi shop (that is, specializing in traditional Japanese sweets), Demachi Futuba, located in the Demachi neighborhood which, in turn, is not far away from Shimogamo shrine. [*2] Mickle fails that fools think (下手な考え休むに似たり): this translation is not a widely used one, so just to elaborate a little if this is your first time seeing this proverb: basically, the sense here is along the lines of 'They to whom only bad ideas come might as well be asleep' and 'Inadequate ideas are worse than none at all'. [*3] Senjafuda (千社札) lit. thousand shrine tag: a name tag originally posted on shrine pillars by pilgrims (wiki) [*4] Onigawara tile (鬼瓦) lit. demon tile: ornamental roof tiles with oni/demons (wiki) [*5] Lao Jiu 老酒: a variety of rice-fermented traditional Chinese wines, a subtype of Shaoxing wine (wiki) [*6] Fuujin-Raijin (風神雷神): fuujin is lit. wind god and raijin is lit. thunder god [*7] Noryouyuka (納涼床): a wooden platform, a type of restaurant balcony overlooking the river for enjoying cool breezes, mainly in the evenings, laid out in summer (jp wiki)

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 2 September 2019

Quick Bits:

Agents of Atlas #2 again seems to focus more on Amadeus Cho and his perspective than the rest of the team, but it’s still very entertaining. Greg Pak, Nico Leon, Pop Mhan, Federico Blee, and Joe Sabino continue to weave together intrigue, superhero action, and romance with a very interesting mystery evolving. 

| Published by Marvel

Animosity #23 is part one of “Rites of Passage” from Marguerite Bennett, Elton Thomasi, Roberto De Latorre, Rob Schwager, and Taylor Esposito. While Jesse and her caravan continue to try to make it out west, her animal friends attempt to plan for her upcoming 13th birthday. Wonderful character moments here and further insight into the horrors that the animals have seen.

| Published by AfterShock

Battlepug #1 brings the web comic to regular monthly print comics from Mike Norton, Allen Passalaqua, and Crank! While it does help to have read the previous adventures, you can pick up and enjoy this humorous take on sword and sorcery fairly easily. Some very nice humour in the “Covfefe” puppet.

| Published by Image

Berserker Unbound #2 is another wonderful issue from Jeff Lemire, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin, and Steve Wands. The art alone from Deodato and Martin is wonderful, deftly mixing the modern and the archaic. It’s also very interesting to see the barbarian trying to navigate our strange modern world and the fact that he can’t understand anything that anyone is saying.

| Published by Dark Horse

Birthright #39 gives us the confrontation with Mastema. Learning that she’s pretty much thoroughly insane and that the entire two worlds are screwed. At least, from her perspective. The colour work here from Adriano Lucas is positively brilliant.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Breaklands #1 is a Comixology digital original from Justin Jordan, Tyasseta, Sarah Stern, and Rachel Deering. It’s different, bloody, and intriguing as to what’s going on. The opening suggests a kind of weird cult, the past gives the impression of post-apocalyptic tribes or gangs. 

| Published by Justin Jordan

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #8 is a prelude to the “Hellmouth” crossover event with Angel, but I’ll say that it is essential to the overall storyline. This issue basically sets up the entire thing, even while still doing prologuey things. Great art from David López and Raúl Angulo. And, despite what Angel (at least that’s who I assume is in that devil mask) and Xander say, the “bat” costume is great, even if it doesn’t make sense.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Conan the Barbarian #9 takes us on a trip through Conan’s hallucinations of monsters he felled in battle as he tries to lead a group of people caught underground in the lair of the Undergod. Incredibly impressive artwork from Mahmud Asrar and Matthew Wilson. As we get a bit of reminiscence here, it feels as though we’re approaching the end of this arc.

| Published by Marvel

Crowded #9 is pretty intense as Vita and Charlie breach a hotel and try to get the information on who set up the Reapr campaign from one of Charlie’s old “friends”. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, Tríona Farrell, and Cardinal Rae continue to keep this story on its toes, speeding along as fast as it can.

| Published by Image

Dark Red #6 begins the next arc from Tim Seeley, Corin Howell, Mark Englert, and Carlos Mangual. It tosses more complications into Chip’s life in the form of a “cleaner” enthralled to another vampire and a family of were-jaguars fleeing from an El Salvadoran gang.

| Published by AfterShock

DCeased: A Good Day to Die #1 expands the story a bit further with this one shot featuring a reunion of some of the Bwa-Ha-Ha era of the Justice League and a few other guests. Great art from Laura Braga, Darick Robertson, Richard Friend, Trevor Scott, and Rain Beredo.

| Published by DC Comics

Deathstroke #47 continues “Deathstroke RIP” and it’s going to do your head in a bit. A banged, bruised, beaten-up, and confused Slade shows up with a bad attitude and we’re unsure how he’s back from the dead and acting fairly un-Slade-like. Also, Jericho gets his Doctor Manhattan moment. Priest, Fernando Pasarin, Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Cam Smith, Wade von Grawbadger, Jeromy Cox, and Willie Schubert are definitely continuing to keep this interesting.

| Published by DC Comics

Die #7 catches up with the other half of the party in Isabelle and Chuck and, well, Chuck is an asshole. Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles manage to out-bleak the previous issue, but in a way that doesn’t elicit sympathy this time. It’s interesting as to how they build up Chuck, elaborate on his backstory, and make him even more thoroughly unlikeable.

| Published by Image

Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #3 is fairly impressive, with Gerard Way, Jeremy Lambert, Steve Orlando, Doc Shaner, Tamra Bonvillain, and Simon Bowland managing to become even more inventive with the narrative for an already incredibly inventive series. This one takes the convention of a flashforward and presents it as an issue of Doom Patrol in the future, weaving in some hard-boiled narration through a series of novels. Great work here all around.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Everything #1 is weird. Very weird. This first issue from Christopher Cantwell, INJ Culbard, and Steve Wands feels like it’s mostly about setting up the atmosphere and briefly introducing many of the characters as the new Everything Store opens up in Michigan. Love the art from Culbard.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Fallen World #5 concludes what has been an excellent series setting up the next stage of the 4002 AD time period of the Valiant universe from Dan Abnett, Adam Pollina, Ulises Arreola, and Jeff Powell. The art from Pollina and Arreola is gorgeous, really leaning hard into the weird and wonderful of the future.

| Published by Valiant

Fantastic Four #14 kicks off “Point of Origin” celebrating the initial launch of the Fantastic Four’s expedition that turned them into the Fantastic Four. The shifting timeline makes this feel weird, but it’s still an interesting premise. Great art from Paco Medina and Jesus Aburtov.

| Published by Marvel

Future Foundation #2 is more fun from Jeremy Whitley, Will Robson, Paco Diaz, Daniele Orlandini, Greg Menzie, Chris O’Halloran, and Joe Caramagna. Why exactly the kids would mistake a younger looking Maker as their own Reed Richards is anyone’s guess, but this is still an entertaining prison break story building upon loose threads from Secret Wars.

| Published by Marvel

Ghost Spider Annual #1 continues the “Acts of Evil” theme running through this year’s annuals as Gwen takes on Arcade and a host of Spider-Man’s villains and allies. It’s a good story from Vita Ayala, Pere Pérez, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Clayton Cowles that helps Gwen get a sense of place when it comes to some of the differences between Earths-65 and -616/

| Published by Marvel

Giant Days #54 is the end to the series, but there’s one more issue in the story in the Giant Days: As Time Goes By special. Still, John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell gives us one last hurrah as Daisy, Esther, and Susan spend the summer together before graduation, tying up some loose ends, before saying goodbye to one another. It’s an emotional end, full of the eccentricities and humour that have been a hallmark of the series.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

The Green Lantern #11 continues the multiversal adventure. This is really some of the fun, eccentric science fiction-y superheroics that Grant Morrison really excels at along with gorgeous artwork from Liam Sharp and Steve Oliff. I quite like Sharp’s Neal Adams-esque Batman GL and it’s neat to see the Green Lantern oath’s differences across multiple universes.

| Published by DC Comics

Harley Quinn #65 kind of does an end run around the “Year of the Villain” content, incorporating it as a couple pages of the comic within the comic, while the rest of the issue is devoted to Harley dealing with the grief of the loss of her mother. By kind of ignoring it. Escaping to the Coney Island Volcano Island and getting a bit...rustic. Sam Humphries, Sami Basri, Hi-Fi, and Dave Sharpe also keep Harley’s trials going along nicely.

| Published by DC Comics

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #1 follows up on Poison Ivy’s new status after regrowing herself from the death sustained in Heroes in Crisis. Now, I can’t say I exactly liked that series or what happened, but I do think that Jody Houser, Adriano Melo, Mark Morales, Hi-Fi, and Gabriela Downie make the most of it and turn it around into an entertaining start to this new story. Also, a nice pick up on both the broader “Year of the Villain” event (even though there’s no event banner) and on the new developments in Justice League Dark about the Parliament of Flowers and the Floronic Man.

| Published by DC Comics

Immortal Hulk #23 brings the fight to Fortean. It’s absolutely brutal on both sides. Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Paul Mounts, and Matt Milla really do an incredible job with the action here. And the end is stuff of nightmares.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League #31 continues the “Justice/Doom War”. It’s very, very nice to see the Justice Society back in the mainline DC universe. Combined with the Legion of Super-Heroes back, it’s a wonderful time to see these two teams back. Feels good. It also helps that Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez, Alejandro Sanchez, and Tom Napolitano have JSA nestled within a great story, flinging the Justice League through the past and future.

| Published by DC Comics

Lois Lane #3 is worth it for the art from Mike Perkins and Paul Mounts by itself. The fight between the two Questions is incredible, beautiful flow of action and energy all through the exchange. Also, we get some follow up on Superman protecting Lois adding complications. There could be an argument made that this story is unfolding at roughly a snail’s pace, but that would overlook the wonderful character moments occurring, the atmosphere, and epic action sequences. 

| Published by DC Comics

Midnight Vista #1 is a wonderful start to this story from Eliot Rahal, Clara Meath, Mark Englert, and Taylor Esposito. It’s an alien abduction story told pretty much straight and its intriguing as to how the disbelievers in this tale are going to deal with, even amid the very real kidnapping and lost time that occurs. I love Meath’s line art here.

| Published by AfterShock

No One Left to Fight #3 hits hard a couple times, first in Winda’s decidedly horrible way of handling rejection and jealousy and then in the Hierophant’s temptation of rebuilding Valé, fixing what ails him. More great work from Aubrey Sitterson, Fico Ossio, Raciel Avila, and Taylor Esposito. This book is a feast.

| Published by Dark Horse

Pretty Deadly: The Rat #1 is a very welcome return of this series, shifting time frame again to ‘30s Los Angeles and adopting a noir style. The artwork from Emma Rios and Jordie Bellaire is drop dead gorgeous, seemingly coming up with new styles and approaches to storytelling. The film stills in particular are very impressive.

| Published by Image

Savage Avengers #5 brings a bloody and brutal “end” to the first arc from Gerry Duggan, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin, and Travis Lanham. It’s not so much a conclusion as a chapter break, ending the bit with the Marrow God, but transitioning into whatever will come next in the war against Kulan Gath.

| Published by Marvel

Sea of Stars #3 is another showcase for Stephen Green and Rico Renzi to just illustrate the hell out of some really cool stuff. This one shifts primary focus back to Kadyn and his interstellar entourage and it’s hilarious. The kid does kid things that drive his space monkey and space whale friends insane. Especially taunting a quarkshark.

| Published by Image

Something is Killing the Children #1 begins a rather disquieting horror series from James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’Edera, Miquel Muerto, and AndWorld Design. It’s brutal, bloody, and filled with all of the terror that you get from a frightened kid who just watched his friends get butchered. This is a visceral horror that punches you right in the gut. Very well done.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Spawn #300 is not a bad anniversary issue, a fairly hefty book featuring a lead “chapter” with gorgeous artwork from returning long term Spawn line artist Greg Capullo, kicking off with something disturbing, then leading into a combination of the story threads that Todd McFarlane has been weaving for some time now. While there is a foundation on the old, this one also sets up a fair amount of what’s coming. Great art throughout from Todd McFarlane, Greg Capullo, J. Scott Campbell, Jason Shawn Alexander, Jerome Opeña, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Brian Haberlin, Peter Steigerwald, and Matt Hollingsworth.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order - Dark Temple #1 is a tie in to the forthcoming video game from Electronic Arts by Matthew Rosenberg, Paolo Villanelli, Arif Prianto, and Joe Sabino. It centres around a padawan who somehow managed to escape Order 66 on a recently-joined Republic world of Ontotho and the mystery of a temple that she was sent to investigate.

| Published by Marvel

Supergirl #33 concludes Kara’s quest and “The House of El: United”, giving her perspective on the founding of the United Planets in Superman #14. It’s a decent end here, opening up new possibilities for what we’ll see next.

| Published by DC Comics

Triage #1 is a very impressive debut from Phillip Sevy and Frank Cvetkovic. Interesting set up of variations on the same woman, Evie, across multiple worlds, and a mystery as to what’s going on. Sevy’s art here is gorgeous.

| Published by Dark Horse

Usagi Yojimbo #4 begins a new two-part arc in “The Hero” as Usagi agrees to escort an author caught in a controlling, loveless marriage to her father. There’s a really nice opening sequence in this one with zombies.

| Published by IDW

Vampirella/Red Sonja #1 is a pretty good start to this series from Jordie Bellaire, Drew Moss, Rebecca Nalty, and Becca Carey. It’s set in 1969 and built around the Dyatlov Pass Incident, which sends Vampirella out there to investigate to potentially find a “friend”. Beautiful art from Moss and Nalty. 

| Published by Dynamite

Web of Black Widow #1 is wonderful. Stephen Mooney was born to draw espionage thrillers, having done so incredibly on his own Half Past Danger as well as The Dead Hand and James Bond 007. He has a style that reminds me of Dave Stevens and it just works perfectly for this kind of story. Add to that Jody Houser, Tríona Farrell, and Cory Petit, throw in a mystery born out of Natasha’s past and continued questioning her own status as her since she was brought back from death, and you’ve got a recipe for a near perfect storm of a debut.

| Published by Marvel

Wyrd #4 concludes what has been an intriguing series from Curt Pires, Antonio Fuso, Stefano Simeone, and Micah Myers.  This has been a rather interesting story of superpowers seemingly gone wrong and it ties up with a Superman analogue as a child going homicidal. It’s dark, but it feels real.

| Published by Dark Horse

Other Highlights: Absolute Carnage: Scream #2, Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1, Alpha Flight: True North #1, Amazing Spider-Man: Going Big #1, Archie #707, Batman/TMNT III #5, Champions #9, Charlie’s Angels vs. Bionic Woman #3, Curse Words #24, The Death-Defying Devil #2, Descendent #5, The Dreaming #13, The Goon #6, House of X #4, Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #1, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #8, Nuclear Winter - Volume 3, Old Man Quill #9, The Punisher #15, Redneck #23, Rick and Morty Present Flesh Curtains #1, Section Zero #6, Space Bandits #3, Star Trek: Discovery - Aftermath #1, Star Wars #71, Superman: Up in the Sky #3, Transformers/Ghostbusters #4, Turok #5, The Wicked + The Divine #45

Recommended Collections: Age of X-Man: Prisoner X, Black Badge - Volume 2, Catwoman - Volume 2: Far From Gotham, Hellboy and the BPRD: 1956, Immortal Hulk - Volume 4: Abomination, Infinite Dark - Volume 2, Outcast - Volume 7, Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider - Volume 2: Impossible Year, Superb - Volume 4: The Kids aren’t Alright, War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas, X-Force - Volume 2: Counterfeit King

d. emerson eddy is currently suffering the effects of a very gassy pug.

[stageleviathan]

Ghibli 1: Castle in the Sky

[935 words]

Psychic asylum seeking in dark and troubled times (“dark and troubled times” known as “all the god damn time”) has led to the rare, joyous discovery, the gem laced bounty here and there in craggy twists in deep hell-mouths, the dirty pearls at the bottom of seas frothing in the tumult of wicked waves. It is the rare comfort, the thin splinters of mirth that help form the trees twisting in the gale winds of the  these terrible years.

I speak of Studio Ghibli movies. Through some means and ways, I've happened upon what could be a treasure trove of their entire oeuvre, flush to ripped seam of their animated marvels, most of which I, ghastly enough, had not seen; even the few I had witnessed I barely remembered. I had, for quite some time, wanted to rectify this, and now – even amidst a bevy of life's jabs, even with a shifting future at my job, even with invisible monsters gnawing at my ambition and drive, even with the great library of shows I should be watching – is just as good to watch some Ghibli now as any other time.

I decided to go in order. I am currently skipping (though have every intention on going back to) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, since that was movie had been conjured just prior to Studio Ghibli's founding. Instead, I started off with Castle in the Sky.

Castle in the Sky, like nearly all the stories you were ever told, is about two people, and worlds' more chasing after them. A young girl named Sheeta falls out of the sky like a feather, clutching a glowing blue stone. She is found by a young boy who works in a mine named Pazu. The girl, much like all people and all things, is being harried by sky pirates, the military, and a mysterious man who harbors a deep secrete pertaining to Sheeta and her stone. No one takes any of this lying down, and adventure bears fruit.

In a world where creativity and the fantastical are often pummeled in turn by heavy boots of the bland and the processed, Castle in the Sky finds itself as a beacon to the delight of the imagination, a two hour verse on the scripture of the glorious unreal. It stretches and dares across its every minute of film, and it's a wonder in a land often void of any such thing.

It's a glowing, sappy, gushing assessment of the movie, yes, but I fell in love with the whole of the story nearly instantly, and the adoration never abetted in the two hours since. It's a modern(ish) fairy tale, with all of the nuggets and fountains of delight and amusement striated between vine-thick strands of peril and excitement, Castle in the Sky ranks high and heavy as a masterful synthesis of action and adventure, with touches of romance that refuse to gunk up the gears, with all the magic and splendor you would want from such a story.

And goodness hell, what a story. Once Pazu and Sheeta meet the story races along, pounding dirt like a slapped racehorse. Supposedly, Sheeta and the stone have some connection to a floating island from Gulliver's Travels called Laputa, a place considered utterly mythical, though Pazu claims his late father had seen it and even took a picture. The sky pirates are hunting down the stone for treasure, and the mysterious man wants both the stone and the girl, his aim bolstered by a rocky alliance with the military. Somehow, Sheeta is key to getting to this floating land, if such a place even exists.

(It does.)

The characters are all expertly crafted, with distinct wants and needs, charms and antagonistic designs. Just as imbued with personality are the inanimate objects, from buzzing sky flyers to the cities themselves, made with such artistry that they speak without speaking, just a transmuted form of character. The visuals propel the movie into the strata of legends. Everything, from the animation to the backgrounds, from the brown and grey mine city, to the brilliant pool of colors of the character, to the hollow tones of Laputa itself , exudes an indelible charm, and is surely the sheer product of some imaginative sorcery, a fully formed spell that charms for its length and lingers like a glamor for far, far longer.

You can nearly hear someone telling the story as it progressed, voices altering in shift and pitch to differentiate between characters, hands dancing in the air like a puppet master or a painter casting swaths of imagined watercolors around the room, creating the imagery of the tale. The movie has no narrator, yet you could almost hear one speaking far off in far whispers. Castle in the Sky is that kind of marvel, that kind of beauty, a story so simple yet, at once, riveting. To find a misstep in this movie is searching for a specific grain of sand on a beach; eventually, you give up and bask in the waves and lie in the sun.

Often, some of my favorite movies include worlds I want to live in, and rare is such sentiment more relevant than the world of Castle in the Sky, with all of its wonder and all of its danger intact. If the fabric of the real was as finely made, if more movies dared to have even a third of the scope and creative prowess as Castle in the Sky, it would be a much better world to live in, a much better place to exist.

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Battle Tech, Manly Wade Wellman, Savage Heroes, Space Force

Science Fiction (Tor.com): Anyone who has played Traveller (or even just played with online character generation sites like this one) might have noticed that a surprising number of the characters one can generate are skilled with blades. This may see as an odd choice for a game like Traveller that is set in the 57th century CE, or indeed for any game in which swords and starships co-exist. Why do game authors make these choices?  Just as games mix swords and starships, so do SFF novels. The trope goes way back, to the planetary romance novels of the Golden Age. Here are five examples.

Fiction Review (Legends of Men): Savage Heroes is a sword & sorcery anthology that’s pretty rare in the U.S. That’s because it’s a U.K. publication. The first S&S anthology I reviewed was Swords Against Darkness. It’s a great anthology that came highly recommended by an expert scholar in the field. Savage Heroes is better though. It captures very well the combination of historical adventure, lost world fiction, and cosmic horror that makes Sword and Sorcery unique.

Fiction (Wasteland & Sky): Hard-boiled noir is an interesting subgenre. It’s mostly remembered in the mainstream, if at all, for cheesy parodies that family sitcoms and cartoon used to do back in the 1990s. What it is remembered for is as a genre about hapless detectives in black and white 1930s settings having to find a killer among a cast of twelve or so shifty character archetypes. Plenty of fun is poked, but they hardly take the genre seriously.

Science Fiction (Scifi Scribe): We’ve all seen the memes, right? The minute the world started talking about the mere idea of a United States Space Force, we were all instantly greeted by “LOL, Space National Guard/Space Force Reserves!” All joking aside, the irreverent interservice banter and, shall we say, “robust,” back-and-forth on social media reflects the very real, and very important, national-level discussions about creating a new military service branch.

Cinema (Jon Mollison): The birth of Dungeons and Dragons is a strange and fascinating story of how creatives can draw forth order from the froth of chaos. I went into this film expecting a lot of defensive snark about how Gary Gygax was a Johnny-come-lately who yoinked the idea of RPGs out from under Dave Arneson’s nose.  A fraudulent Edison to Arneson’s Tesla, if you will.  And there are hints of that within this film, but only hints.

Art (Mutual Art): Theron Kabrich quietly gazes at Roger Dean’s watercolor, The Gates of Delirium. He has been Dean’s friend and representative at the San Francisco Art Exchange for thirty years, selling his paintings, drawings, and prints to an international audience of collectors. Millions of copies of the image have been made. If Tolkien’s timeless classic inspired Dean’s enduring fascination with pathways at the beginning of his career, it is Robert McFarlane’s writing about wandering journeys along the ancient tracks twisting through the British landscape that have his attention in the present.

Art (DMR Books): Stephen  Fabian, as I’ve pointed out before, is a living legend in the fantasy art community. His output from the 1970s to the 2000s—both in quality and quantity—can only be called astounding. I covered some of that in my three-part series on his Robert E. Howard-related art. However, a friend of mine recently brought Fabian’s artwork for In Lovecraft’s Shadow to my attention. That book, in some respects, may be Stephen’s greatest sustained work. In Lovecraft’s Shadow was a collection of August Derleth’s Lovecraftian fiction published in 1998 through a joint venture by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box and Mycroft & Moran.

Review (Tea at Trianon): I remember as a twenty-two-year-old being excited when I saw a new book called the The Mists of Avalon by an author called Marion Zimmer Bradley. Mists was presented as the retelling of the Arthurian legend from the point of view of the women of Camelot, which I thought was a thrilling idea. However, I found the book heavy on paganism and morbid, explicit sex scenes, but light on romance, heroism, chivalry, mystery, faith and all the qualities I had come to love in the Camelot stories. This brings us to Moira Greyland’s recent book, The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon.

Fiction (Adventures Fantastic): I’m going to look at three of his stories that feature the same  character, Sergeant Jaeger. First is “Fearful Rock”.  Originally published in the February 1939 issue of Weird Tales, the central character of this novella is Lt. Lanark. He and Jaeger are leading a cavalry patrol in Missouri during the Civil War, looking for Quantrill. What they find is a young woman being sacrificed by her step-father to the Nameless One in an abandoned house under the shadow of a formation known as Fearful Rock.

Fiction (DMR Books): Tanith Lee was a force to be reckoned with in the ’70s, ’80s and on into the ’90s. She exploded onto the SFF scene with her debut novel for DAW Books, The Birthgrave. That book was labeled at the time as being “sword-and-sorcery”. I would probably call it heroic fantasy, but it remains a minor classic regardless of specific sub-category. During her forty-plus-year career, Tanith published ninety novels and a myriad of short stories. Her prolificity was on display right away. She quickly followed up The Birthgrave with more notable books like The Storm Lord and Volkhavaar, along with short stories like “Odds Against the Gods” published in Swords Against Darkness II.

Science Fiction (Men of the West): The book. Not the movie. If you can even call Verhoeven’s bastardization “Starship Troopers” at all. Robert A. Heinlein is an increasingly controversial figure in recent years, moreso than he was in his lifetime. This, of course, is due to his dubious content in his later career. But he was nothing if not influential on the genre, and his early works, such as his juvenile novels (of which this was the last), remain worth a read. We may go into Heinlein’s other works later, but the focus is not so much on the man as on the book.

D&D (Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog): I think Gygax is pretty clear about how initiative works in the DMG. (His surprise rules do make a bit of static, though.) Here’s my take on it: 1) DM decides what the monsters will do. Check reaction and/or morale if need be. 2) Players declare their actions. If they want to win at rpgs, they will advise a high t caller who will then speak for group.

Cthulhu Mythos (Marzaat): “Bells of Horror”, Henry Kuttner, 1939. This is a fairly good bit of Lovecraftian fiction from Kuttner. He uses a typical Lovecraft structure. Our narrator opens by mentioning a weird event then gives the back story of what led up to it and concludes with a not all surprising event. (Sometimes Lovecraft managed to surprise with his last lines, sometimes not.)

Authors (Goodman Games): While all of Wellman’s oeuvre is worth reading, it is his Silver John stories that most impacted the world of fantasy role-playing. Wellman is one of the names on Gygax’s Appendix N roster of influential authors. Although no specific title is listed alongside his name, it’s been suggested that the character of Silver John influenced the bard class in D&D—a wandering troubadour who uses song, magic, and knowledge to defeat supernatural menaces. Stripped of the pseudo-medieval trappings of D&D, the bard and Silver John become almost indistinguishable from one another.

Pulp Art (Dark Worlds Quarterly): It shouldn’t be any surprise that the artists that illustrated Short Stories would appear in Weird Tales and vice versa, though to a lesser degree. Fred Humiston is a good example. For many years, he illustrated half of each issue of Short Stories along with Edgar Wittmack.

Cinema (Film School Rejects): Most movie fans associate Martin Campbell with the Bond franchise and other blockbusters. However, before he became one of Hollywood’s A-list directors, he helmed Cast a Deadly Spell, a genre-bending TV movie that originally aired on HBO back in 1991. It isn’t the most known movie in his oeuvre, but it’s easily one of his most entertaining and rewatchable efforts.

Tolkien (Monsters and Manuals): I have no idea what Tolkien had in mind for the geography of Rhun and the peoples within it. But it seems to me that, while one shouldn’t think of Middle Earth as being too closely paralleled with the real world, there is a case to be made that its character is roughly akin to the Eurasian steppe this side of the Urals – more specifically the Pontic Steppe north of the Black Sea (with the Sea of Rhun here being a bit like the Black Sea).

Gaming ( Walker’s Retreat): The other day I posted a new BattleTech lore video. I mentioned that the channel posting that video did more to promote BattleTech than anything that the current owners of the property–Catalyst Game Labs–have done. All of the other lore channels and battle report channels contribute to this effort, and it helps that Harebrained’s adaptation is very close (but not identical, which it should have been) to the tabletop game, but there’s sweet fuck-all for marketing from the company itself.

Sensor Sweep: Battle Tech, Manly Wade Wellman, Savage Heroes, Space Force published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[sahibookworm]

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish that now has a new home at That Artsy Reader Girl.

It’s finally time to talk about all the books I loved and adored in 2019 and I’m already very very excited. These may not all be the ones I rated 5 stars and I may have even found some flaws in them, but they are all the books which I felt a deep connection to, have already reread (atleast some of them) and I would love to share them all with you. Because I have a huge list, I’m gonna divide based on my favorites for each month.

January

All of you already know how much love I have for Red, White and Royal Blue because I have been shouting about it for the past one year now, but I still can’t stop. My first favorite of 2019, it remained my top throughout the year because it’s that special.

I couldn’t believe I had waited so long to read The Song of Achilles because it’s such a well written and emotionally affecting read that I couldn’t forget it for a while. And as expected, it involved a lot of tears.

February

Watch Us Rise is a powerful YA contemporary with lots of commentary on white beauty standards, fatshaming, feminism and intersectionality. It had it’s issues especially regarding white feminism, but I really connected with all the other themes.

The Right Swipe is a super sexy romance featuring a powerful black woman CEO and a soft cinnamon roll ex-football player hero, while also talking about important issues like workplace sexual harassment and the longterm affects of CTE on football players. I loved Rhiannon so much as a character and can’t wait to see her again in the rest of the series.

Heated Rivalry is probably my favorite sports romance of the year and I can’t tell you enough how much I love Ilya and Shane as a couple. The development of their relationship over almost a decade is just brilliantly written and it is at times both sweet and sexy. The author said she would be writing a sequel for them soon and that sounds amazing.

March

The Huntress is a thrilling fictionalized story of the strength and resilience of women who fought in WWII and survived, and also those who fought years later to bring justice to the Holocaust victims, even when the world was ready to forget them all.

The worst part about Descendant of the Crane is the fact that we don’t know if it will ever get a sequel. This book has so many twists and turns and betrayals that I was on the edge of my seat for most of the time. What a debut.

I wasn’t even gonna read The Priory of the Orange Tree but once I started, I just couldn’t stop. It has an expansive world and mythology, an excellent cast of characters and a sapphic romance for the ages.

And one of my most anticipated releases of 2019, We Set the Dark on Fire is the most fiery and passionate romance of the year set in the backdrop of a revolution, and after that mind blowing cliffhanger ending, the sequel can’t come soon enough.

April

Good Talk is a book that left me feeling a lot of things and with many questions on my mind, because I just found it so relatable and relevant to my current life. Too real and heartfelt, maybe even painful at times, but nonetheless a very important read.

I would have never read Aru Shah and the End of Time if not for some cajoling by my dear friend Nandini, but thank god she did. Because, this book is just so much fun and the elements from the Mahabharata are perfectly captured.

May

Shadow of the Fox is the beginning of one of my favorite current YA fantasy series and it was such a delight to read. A sweet and lovely protagonist like Yumeko, a funny and unlikely ensemble cast and a quest full of adventures and monsters – what more could I have asked for.

The Candle and the Flame is what you would call a quiet fantasy, it doesnt have a lot of high stakes but reading it just gives an amazing feeling. And the setting of the fictional City of Noor is probably my favorite of the year. Such a charming and unforgettable debut.

A smiling fat brown girl on a cover – I was in love with There’s Something about Sweetie since the first time I saw it, and it will always have a special place in my heart.

June

I adore The Bone Witch trilogy but the finale The Shadow Glass is my favorite – this series has the best characters, beautiful relationships and an ending that blew my mind. A perfect trilogy…!!!

And now the perfect standalone of the year for me, Sorcery of Thorns. While I love the adorable romance and the ever mysterious demon Silas, the heart of this story is a love of books and I resonated with it very deeply. The climax fight is just perfection.

One Giant Leap is not great by any means, but it’s the sweetest romance I read last year and I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. And the setting of space travel and a delightful set of nerdy characters make for a charming story that will make you smile.

Hungry Hearts is an anthology that has all my heart – a beautiful amalgamation of food and culture and the importance of both in our lives, it’s a heartwarming read and definitely made me very hungry.

July

My top most anticipated release of 2019, A House of Rage and Sorrow was as explosive as I expected it to be and the roller coaster ride just amazed me. I think I raced through it in a couple of hours because I couldn’t put it down for even a second.

Jade City is a book that took it’s time but once it got a hold on me, it wouldn’t let go. I was tense through most of it and the twists and turns just killed me.

I don’t know what I was expecting from Govinda, but I didn’t expect it to just completely mesmerize me. What an imaginative retelling of my favorite epic. And hatsoff to the author for attempting this for her debut.

August

The Merciful Crow is definitely one of my favorite debuts of 2019, with it’s brilliant cast, fascinating world and magic system, an endearing romance and great commentary on class and oppression. I’m very eagerly waiting for The Faithless Hawk.

Three Parts Dead is a book that is pretty out of my comfort zone, but I just wanted to give it a try and it completely blew me away with the unique world building and magic system. I’m quite excited to continue with the rest of the series.

September

I feel like Steel Crow Saga is one of the most underrated fantasy novels of last year and it deserves so much more hype. It has an excellent ensemble of diverse characters, I loved how queernormative it was, the commentary on war and colonization is on point, and it wears it’s Asian inspiration on it’s sleeve. Love it so much.

Bringing Down the Duke was a delight to read and as someone who doesn’t know much about the suffragette movement in the UK, I loved the setting and getting to know more about the struggles the women faced who were fighting for their rights. And the romance is a lot of fun.

I never knew the whole story of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, so reading She Said which is about the investigation, the scope of it and the sheer number of courageous women who came forward to tell their stories, made me feel all kinds of things. This can be a very rage inducing read but also a very important one at the same time.

Probably one of my top favorite YA fantasies of the year, There Will Come a Darkness has excellent worldbuilding, another ensemble cast which I fell in love with and some amazing action sequences. I can’t wait to read the sequel.

October

Burn It Down is an anthology that really affected me, with it’s number of essays on women talking about their relationship with anger and how it has affected them during their life. I think this is a very important read and I know I will be going for it again and again.

Blowout is a fascinating read (and listen) about the Oil and Gas industry and it’s impact on global geopolitics, and I had so much fun listening to it narrated by Rachel herself. It’s very informational, can feel pretty bleak at times but still ends with a dash of hope.

While Catch and Kill is also mostly about the Harvey Weinstein investigation, it’s also a story about the intimidation tactics used by powerful people for covering up their crimes, and the lengths to which sexual harassment is covered up across major corporations. Hatsoff to Ronan for his work but also for his excellent writing style, because this one surely reads like a spy thriller.

November

I never thought a history book would make this list, but How to Hide an Empire is a brilliantly written book about the unknown (or deliberately misrepresented) history of the American empire which exists till today. I learnt a lot of things here and I think it should be required reading for everyone who want to know more about their country.

This is How You Lose the Time War literally has nothing going for me because it is completely out of my comfort zone, but I got lost inside the poetic beauty of this love story and had to try very hard not to cry in public. Such an imaginative book.

The Poppy War was a great debut and I really enjoyed it, but The Dragon Republic took the whole story to another level and I’m just glad that I decided to read this series. It’s absolutely brilliant and I can’t recommend it enough.

I saw Killers of the Flower Moon on a must read books of the decade list, and decided maybe I should give it a try. And what a riveting read this was. The writing itself is exceptional, but it’s the content that is almost disbelieving to read about, and I wish everyone in the country would get to know more about this bloody history of Oklahoma.

December 

I was definitely motivated to read Blood of an Exile because of the presence of dragons, but this book turned out to be so much more. Almost two very different worlds in one, a highly unlikely group of characters coming together to form beautiful friendships and some excellent twists and turns – this became an instant favorite and I can’t wait to read Sorcery of a Queen.

A very unexpected read which wasn’t even on my radar, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories totally blew my mind with the author’s storytelling as well the very important themes he was able to talk about within just a few words.

Are any of these your favorites too? What are some of your favorite books from last year? Let me know all your thoughts or links in the comments below…

TTT: Favorite Books of 2019 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish that now has a new home at…

[sighmabean]

@writing-prompt-s I couldn’t find the prompt that sparked this idea but I wrote it and liked what I had so far. Thought I’d share anyway even though it’s been a minute.  It’s the prompt where the author is writing a story, stops, leaves, then comes back to find that the story is writing itself. I took that idea and ran with it.  From the Notes of Terra

Hi hi! This is Terra speaking. Recording. Something. Oh gosh, I lost my train of thought. I lost the next sentence. Maybe I need this app to rewrite my opening. Hahaha. Ooo. Bad joke. I'm nervous. Sorry! I'm gonna start this over. Don't fire me!

------

Hello there, this is Terra script supervisor and pre-production assistant for MESS films. Today I will begin documenting the effects of the Storytime App via my audio diary…*sucks teeth*... Is diary professional? Notebook! My audio notebook. So okay, here we go.

I am launching the app and running it on an old story I tried to write but then forgot about it as soon as I hit page two. The moment I started it, I was instantaneously overtaken by this drive to get it out and a page later it fizzled out almost as suddenly. So let's see what you got app. *singing this* Hopefully, you have more of an attention span than I do. Alright! It's running. Okay then, I'm going to leave and not watch this pot boil or whatever. Until next time. *lower* “Until next time? God. Do you even want a job? “

------

Hello again. This is Terra and I'm just realizing that I probably don't have to keep introducing my name all the time, ya big slowpoke you. Hahaha. I am checking the document now - oh it's sunset. About 6:36 PM. I started this around 9:00 AM or so. I'll be better about the timestamp going forward. Promise. Okay, looks like…oh wow! It works. Whoa! There's like quite a few pages here. Okay, I'm going to read these and respond in a moment.

-----

Hahahaha. Well. So suffice it to say the app doesn't necessarily make things more interesting as much as it makes more things. This piece is still pretty dull as hell but that's on the arteur and not necessarily the program. I can't remember now if I mentioned this or not but this story was based off of “Her Morning Elegance” by Oren Lavie. So it decided to continue that same thread by taking this female character and continuing her day which is really more in her head than it is with reality. So there's like two pages of her making bread and cutting a slice of it and I'm not even lying. So there's that. And I've caught up to the point where she has finished everything she's doing today and getting ready for bed and I don't think I necessarily need to keep reading about her putting on her pajamas and the feel of the cotton and her thoughts about what the feel of the cotton sends her to in the vast recesses of her mind. I don't think anybody else needs to worry about this so I'm going to move on and start the app on a different story. This one is a sword and sorcery piece that I wrote during a fantasy Workshop back in college so let's see what happens. It has a battle and sword fights and magic and all around more entertainment value so it'll be interesting to see how the app responds. That's all for now. Signing out.

-----

Good morning. It is January 19, 2025. The time is 8:45 AM and I am checking the fantasy stooory… Now!

Oh wow! There's like. There's a lot going on here. Okay so first off, I forgot that I had two perspectives in this piece that I alternated between and the app kept both threads running simultaneously. It's separated the page into two columns to accommodate this and I think that's really brilliant. Oh my god. Now I'm wondering how it responds to each type of perspective in narration - third person, first person, omniscient, etc. I'm reading from the beginning and I chose third person but didn't commit to it as much as I wanted to, ya know? Like there's still plenty of moments where italics run rampant with the thoughts and intentions of my characters. So let's play scientist. I'm going to add one more story - sorry, I should say prose - to the mix and I'm picking something with an omniscient narrator. Aha! This’ll work. It's a children's story I wrote about manners. Okay. It's running on that too. Signing out for now.

----

January 23. 9:05 AM.

So instead of just updating as things were happening I decided to wait to see how a whole theory of mine panned out before reporting it so that way it's a more complete thought? At least to me. With that said…Holy. Donuts. First off let's get organized. I've divided the stories into A, B, and C. Story A is the one about the woman. Story B is the one about fantasy. Story C is the one for children. So story a is still going strong she is continuing her week she even had a doctor's appointment. That was a whole thing was just her and the doctor. Story B continues to amaze me.

The characters are just so deeply invested that no matter how hackneyed my plot was they are determined to treat it like it is on this Tolkien level epic, which I guess for them it would be because it is their lives. And another interesting thing is one narrator is recovering from battle and so they've been stuck in a hospital bed for a while which means these stories are being told in “real time.” These stories are continuing to grow minute-by-minute in their own world instead of skipping to the good parts like we would as writers. For example I skipped three days in keeping this journal but they've been developing for three days in each of their worlds.

Story C is a learning lesson too. After they initial scenario is dealt with the main character continues to want to learn things because that's their personality, so they keep learning about how things are made and where they come from. Here's hoping they can avoid “The Talk” for a few more novels at least.

So what next? New mediums that's what. I'm going to start a new set of stories at the end of this week on the app and close these out. Bye for now.

--------

January 28. 9:00 AM.

Whoa. So. Revelations. Um. I decided to cancel story A first last night and something told me not to do them all at once and um yeah. It's heartbreaking in the weirdest way. I have pages and pages of this woman searching for depth in every possible way, yearning for it where there is none. And then towards the end it's just her realizing nothing has meaning at all. And she feels so alone from that. And then she presumably ya know… Ends it herself. And the story is locked for some reason? I don't know. Someone in the tech department needs to fix that ‘cause I feel like I definitely murdered her and it's just. Um… Uncanny? Unsettling? Disturbing. But I guess at least now we know the way a story ends. With Death and blank pages. Hmm…

------

January 29. 8:58 AM.

I debated it all day off-recorder yesterday and I can't cancel the other stories. Not until I figure out a way to manipulate the ending so that I feel better for having left the characters in a better frame of mind. So for the first time I'm altering them today. I'm going to speed up Story C to when my little child character is a preteen and see what happens when I add the skip instead. Also, Story B killed a character I had from the beginning and I'm just going to bring him back because I liked them too much to kill. I mean it made sense but I don't like that ending personally.

Meanwhile, I've added two new ones to the mix. Story D which is a very short play I wrote for in class about these people forced to play happy in childlike TV program world. They get a new co-worker who doesn't know the rules and just questions everything. Let's see where that goes. It was meant to be a comedy. Here's hoping this app has a sense of humor.

Story E is a comic that a friend of mine wrote. It's about a mystic healer sent on a perilous quest to find a cure for their village’s water supply. They're pursued by all kinds of beasts and especially targeted by a hitman from a warrior tribe that wants to enlace the healer’s tribe. I told my friend to give me half of that story since it was already complete.

So let's find out how formatting works in the App. Signing off.

[radcrusadecrusade-blog]

The Secrets of the Jews distance

Strategy to battle Russia a summary on returning from distance, I am a grandson of a founder of Judaism all details can be verified in a short time. Research in the clairvoyant drug "Ketoret" an illusion drug a "methanic" compound when discovered was observed to design dreams and set obsessions and understood when managed will end consciences trained to sing and dance for self-satisfaction of a druggist or sorcerer. We were sworn to author a final prologue for the association of the Torah's authors and their children a hobby priesthood and birthright of New York constitutionalist deeply rooted taken to Judah Ha-Levi's philosophical holy land that is east of our ocean with prayers of a holy land religion that philosophize eternally searching for unending re-structuring of the conscience of the mass to glorify "the name his name Judah" and the nemesis to the constitutionalist's Hebrew bible the Torah the tune and not the language. The tune describes distances of words at the dawn of language to relate what to when. The final prologue The Sayegh family was brought to Israel from New York one of the first known Jewish families Torah adherents and children that were illegitimate born from rape to the sisters. In the brothers home it was planned adultery from Yael Sayegh formally Brown and her group with nowhere to turn two additional children were born to the original association that are illegitimate. An experiment understood justified by Israel and failed and now ignored that one person in their country would identify the problem and reality of what was happening, one son is now thirty two years of age and the second twenty nine State of Israel who are you? We are the Torah and we are the Jewish wanted for a Middle East real estate brand and its founding declared philosophy of contrasting-philosophy a hobby known that dares truth always resulting in a performed sincerity not our tune not our song and not our theatre. My families association Aram soba authors of the Torah are from New York articles and poems were written that referred to us as Syrian a bridge with a flagged name that started with a sea and then a board and then a hymn that brought Ashkenaz a name understood as acid and a reminder of American lore that symbolized a rebellion was fermenting against those in the faraway land of the Middle East that crossed that bridge into an environ that was not known to us or referred to from our founding to the 1940's. The title Jewish was from the combination of "Jehovah and wish or will". It was a craze after its completion when written on parchment by 1911, to educate and study its reason emphasis was on writing poetry philosophies movie scripts plays stories of Amalec a named borrowed as the enemy for part of the chronicle book series on prophets, book design and written narrations to self-educate on penmanship and comprehension and all never occurred and was only for practice of its unknown language. America is in a war of wits with the Soviet Union-Russia a distant area as a result of their unending shenanigans of which they staged a comical Arab oil embargo that depressed our economy when all oil is manufactured and never drained from wells; and their Israel less than a thirty hour drive south from central Russia was then publicized as the holy land a tourist location for a massage and prayer that began issuing medallions of righteous gentile and prisoner of conscience for old friends and placed named plaques in partisan theme parks. They already drugged youth and parents in the city of New York a wickedness that is not to be forgotten to demonstrate for freedom of a non-existent soviet Jewry leaving them in a permanent unhappiness and health dependency to create an environment of excitement and encouragement for Soviets traveling the highway distance of two turnpikes and four exit ramps for a home and salaried part in Israel, which seemed to be a large movie studio and later sworn by Arabs to be a cover-up of its collapse a jurisdiction already known as a place of rotational beliefs and part of unending invasions of Russians on Russians precedence with accurate documentation from its on-set. The State of Israel's location has no connection to the Torah or the founding religion where places mentioned are philosophies not tourist sites as Jerusalem its capital never mentioned. America's founding Jews understood the Torah to study priesthood and when read in public to be witnessed as ritual of awareness of reality and its development through the stories dreams and their counterparts in Israel only as a source for philosophies to find purpose to read and reasons of their culture. Israel Jerusalem and the Temple, the first second and third was another Russian prank making idiots of the United States, the Arabs and Africa. A shangrila society that is a eternal dream in a bubble where the reality induces dreams that expands until it dissolves. When shangrila is bursted it would be understood a Russian ritual and never permitted again. Daydreaming is forbidden and their creation, a gateway to psychosomatic disturbance. Our hearts underwent operations and replaced with prosthetic aortic valves with unending mechanical beats and illegitimate children ours emotionally an institutional crime hidden than veiled as an absurdity of a mark when known becomes cultures final silent affinity and it is known. The ketoret's vapor in a short time becomes atmosphere worry depression pains dream and fantasies are noticeable until the induced instructions are accepted "The Holocaust" A production referred in the Hebrew as "Shoah" was actual pronunciation from show and never occurred Jews as social groups are lawful and not a people within a people and were not in Europe. It blossomed from the absurdity that it was documented accurately in awareness which overwhelmed the designers-producers having them lose control. The  humor that Jews were used for soap was a result of frustration of the inability to function by the priesthood who train endlessly not to err, sodium acetate that is used by sorcerers for Ketoret was believed needed for producing soap and that Jews were allied to Freemasons the fraternity as a compound of lime is also required. The term holocaust was from the cause of a hologram and the parchment written Torah finally understood as the reason of the final solution of sorcerers with crazed indoctrinations they cannot escape in sanctifying ills on life and society in a world they created idolizing the Torah that consecrated their dissolution without their awareness. Jew was in place of Jehovah a spirit of a mind with instructions heard prescribed. In New York an Israeli bank opened alongside with its Jewish agency and behaved as part of the publicized intelligence service "Mossad" constantly searching to benefit from America's original Jewish community that suffered from constant intrusions in their lives. The bank was not very well known and could have been from Canada or Mexico, when the bank was set ablaze on kings' highway Brooklyn, they responded they are of the ten ancient lost tribes and clearly understood in our city that a long war for sanity was upon us. Our families started as young friends that went to work for the federal government under patronage of Secretary George Marshall we were their children. Following eastern European's imposed immigration on Israel by 1973 it became their southern gateway, since 1964 when New York was called upon to defend Israel as part of the precedent of documentation and present its Europeans staged as victims over 22 million people entered from the Soviet Union and replace America's bloodline its citizens of register. "The god whom" America responds to the god whomever; it is all of it and if you had the emotion needed and not the illusion you would have foreseen early on, it is time for Central to be aware and it is soon time to return home my two sons will be killed, I took it all. Russia has over two million people in America that practice sorcery drugging with the methanic the illusion drug and the catalyst of the unending invasion of Russians on Russians and dreams they bring that perpetually will bring them. Israel already identifies itself as a Russian theme park with less than a thirty hour drive south from Russia itself the idea center; from its introduction into the environment originally thought a curiosity or a state of being and then a movie studio over twenty million Soviets entered our home environment our home country blurting out the sound Jewish and claiming rights from publications and over publication. The methanic identified as Ketoret the Biblical clairvoyant drug of designing dreams and setting beliefs was discovered through literature of the nineteenth century analysis and sacrifice, never with intended assistance resulting from its secretive habit the rings of misery. Daydreaming can now be totally controlled, when they created our dreams they limited our emotion of discovery intrigue and health in a life that years are numbered. The individuals profiled that drug are immediate epidemics on arrival including tourists as they never stop their barrages of misery when setting our rules as if it is by the god whomever; they are methanic. Those that we challenged harmed us dearly and are not forgiven our heart operations were planned years earlier including the replacement with prosthetic aortic valves never needed so its unending mechanical beats will be a reminder of a countdown for the hosts demise and then a clock of the error when realized the anesthetic suspended dreams that followed illusions being ignored and increased awareness, when of the dream makers became a required self-obsession. Israel's shenanigans of children born not to the known father and the courts and medicine forbidding paternal tests to the offspring following the then stated purpose that their holy land religion must prove equality in discrimination between Jews and Arabs by spokespeople of a government elected by self-protocol and only insanity a prologue understanding too late it was a self-explanatory and not an accusation of former citizenship intrigued by the performance and awaiting the play. Who were the Jews? a handful jeopardy group of membership and not the enchanting shangrila tabernacle community that required conversion for the chosen for a ticket turning towards the east the western wall and going south where it was newly built,a place for prayers to be heard or scribbled on notes and placed in the wall's crevices designed for traditions that are imagined and all searching for direction and Arabs that are answerable to protocols requiring attendance for complaining their attendance. Arabs the southern tribes and play things that walk were then challenged with not respecting borders and the Israeli reason for racing across the Atlantic from east to west over the great barrier carrying their designed flag the Mogen David planting it in every auditorium of aspiring strict communities with a sales pitch "to search for direction" when Ketoret was unleashed, territory was taken land mind and soul.  A report was sent to the Central Intelligence Agency with the hope that the MK Ultra research in mind control would be recovered it was not complete and now it is MK methane-potassium it is not and ultra the wasted time invested Jew a temporary phenomenon was in place of Jehovah a conscience with thoughts prescribed, only while possessed by Jehovah is a person known as Israel a host and Samaritan upon completion of the possession the exorcism is considered a success and Israel is discharged. "Whomever" Sorcery the playing field begins with designing the imagination with Ketoret the illusion drug, the Cohen. Whatever ends are decided by people who influence either the hypnotists or ventriloquists that are not always aware of their actions damage or whereabouts, the biblical Prophet. Sorcerers compose ghosts in the conscience referred also as spirits or ions,The Witch. The vapor rare when needed is to be overseen by priests who train endlessly not to err, the Priest. Vocal conversation including what seems superficial broadcasts to a person's belief emotions and becomes their sincerity and not their superstitions, the Rabbi. Premonitions result when groups are drugged implanting ideas and emotions within them and keeping records of their victims interacting for game and sport, the Hypnotist. Cow-hands are people who work in an environment of methane as cow waste and develop obsessions for the activity, the Patsy. Sorcerers who practice in the described environment are hypnotic and become deeply obsessed in their blessings or spell even from a misspoken phrase constantly reinforcing its outcome even to each other by sanctifying any belief, the Pagan. Dreamers set are victims of the chemists and also perpetrators of creating dreams that end with life's new goals, the Clairvoyant. The dream or obsession the clairvoyants set could be for a year in advance changing beliefs and the resulting reality that delivers on demand and a designed personality that will not be noticeable, the Psychopath. Chemists with notions set from a clairvoyant not known or realized establishes rings of individuals to train as clairvoyants permanent dreamers as his helpers to bewitch the notion, the Alchemist. Possessed are conditioned for a repetitive dream blurt out statements at times planned for a sales pitch, party act or sorcery, the Ventriloquist. Spirits and beliefs gain strength from dreams and anesthetic at regular intervals will put you in sleep where they are no dreams and obsessions of the ill and the illness will be slowed but not cured, the Doctor. Ringleaders among  those described manage humanities dreams aspiring through craft to attain, the Sorcerer Whom. A conspiracy is staged and never known how absurd claims are believed and trusted from the first misinterpretation of Hebrew of the improvement of mind-set as the exodus the movement of people from slavery resulting in its yearly holiday recalling legends of the slaves, accurate documentation was recorded in awareness and set the precedent of a goal to end unsupervised illusions. "Expressions for communication on visits from the planets east" Sephardic from the combination of the Hebrew "sepher" meaning book and the American "dic" an abbreviation of dictate in setting an expression to standardize the method of writing the Torah a rule book to be sanctified of developing etiquette for the conscience from being misunderstood only as sanctified and not its ultimate purpose a rule book. Later day Hebrew developed in the Middle East in the early mid-nineteenth century the period of civilization that conceived a theater resulting in a new culture and its methodology of organic degeneration to create the methanic atmosphere that preceded the thoughts hearing the word Sephardic to mean Spanish which proceeded a migration of Peron's Argentine peasants to Frank Sinatra's New York searching for their newly understood north east African roots. The State not yet known by the name Israel defiantly did not represent or understand the scripture Egypt and the flight from uncontrolled instructions as thoughts resulting in their holiday that honored independence of their state and relived its need without a copy or explanation of the Torah by the Sephardic, trusting screenwriters of the developed language. Russia and for Germany took the term Ashkenaz understood as acid that dissolves and when handled properly still dissolves. Zionists; Soviets that wanted everyone's home narrowed to one of their own. Soviets; sovereign and that is it individuals perpetually searching for a throne in a unending life time game of musical chairs known in the already confusing Hebrew as a "Sephardic nusach" a combination of noose and ache and its meaning Sephardic be formulated ."Zahal" Israel's army singing a Hebrew motivational song of identifying places on their horizon and for others a title of the hit song from Annie's Broadway of hope in a depression the same for Abba Hillel fans American Zionists now reminiscing the distance of what was their beliefs and benefits bestowed by their lives. "Phrases reminded from whom as origins are to be checked" Anti-Semitism was semi italicized characters written from right to left Arabic and anti was italicized characters written in the opposite direction Latin or English. The Hebrew language was Italicized designed to write the Torah the textbook for training prophets and priests had no linguistic form connection and was not originally developed for a country with a fascination of folk dancing and philosophize philosophies an eastern European hobby. The first Jewish centers in New York where in neighborhoods called Italian from italicized nobody knew whether they were going from right to left or left to right Mr. George Gershwin's humor not to forget origins and misuse of connected phrases, immigration to America was not as large as thought ports did not exist to receive newcomers. Torah is read loudly clearly and witnessed by a quorum that it is heard vocally not mistaken that it is a dream, a ritual of awareness of reality and its development through the stories dreams. Bensonhurst New York was where the first successful prayer of acceptance of the Torah as a rule book to develop conscience's etiquette as a community. "Israel's military mind challenge the wind" The Uganda Entebbe raid that rescued Israeli and Jewish hostages was a fantasy and happened during the time of preparing Israel for immigrants to their messianic country, resulted from a challenge of absurd claims and which were to be believed and an unknown setting for a precedent of accurate documentation of absurdity from the moments beginning in awareness. The raid never took place it was intended to upstage America's independence celebration of two hundred years its bicentennial July 4 1976 and constantly reminded. Those who came as immigrants and not before took the Torah a textbook with rules of developing etiquette of the conscience in place of uncontrolled illusions and dreams and exchanged it into an "Elel" an Idol to which a prayer is chanted referring to it as the old testament; Jerusalem and stories of a temple were from hymns of a holy land religion with no connection to the Torah and missionized as history of substance and sediment when chanted to the direction of the Torah. This new religion publicized as Yehudit designed not many years earlier could profess all beliefs except with the word Jesus not mentioned in the Torah; Yeshu considered a translation of Jesus from Torah "yeshurun" a Hebrew word explained by the authors family as hark listening to an unseen spirit and another eastern religion. Jewish was planned by the families of the authors to insulate and protect them and attempt with the pre-known misunderstanding of kashrus in reference to all cuisine list ingredients on industry packaging in liberty their land of birth America. "Soviets final intrusion in humanities souls" The published account of return from distance resulted from the stubborness to protect  awareness resulting from the textbook the adored nemesis a rule book sanctified of developing etiquette of the conscience for prophets that would end unregulated use of Ketoret creating illusions that converted the nemesis to an idol for prayer that is misread and protected by its idolization. All part of the final war between those demanding consciences of instruction that require to understand and idol peddlers for consciences that mimic. On a nation's inception its first moment of independence whatever tribe and whatever land blessed by trained priests and prophets that nursed the birth of a nation will hear the name lord Jehovah in their thoughts as memories of happiness and then never needed to be heard again for that nation under one god and lord its Citizenship of register and none other from that day forward with borders marked and symbols songs and pride of their design interrupted by a free world that will arise for the deserving honor.