#katherine chen

[starcrossedjedis]

SARA did I just see you have a MK oc??! TELL ME EVERYTHING IMMEDIATELY -🍂

ALVITA you totally saw that right 😁

Mortal Kombat was my absolute comfort film of 2021 and I have watched it an unhinged amount of time 😅

So naturally an OC was spawned 🥰

Meet Detective Katherine Chen, currently undercover as a small scale drug dealer, because these jobs have a tendency of opening doors within the LAPD - and she has her eyes firmly set on the homicide division.

But even the most meticulus preparation doesn’t account for bad luck and so she's made by another dealer she'd taken in way back in her patrol days.

Kate makes a narrow escape and even manages to take out one of the drug ring’s most nefarius enforcers. But not before he puts a knife into her, leaving her to bleed out in a dark back alley somewhere in Central City.

When Kate comes to, she finds herself in an ancient Shaolin temple at the end of the world with a strange dragon branding on her torso and a mysterious man with glowing eyes telling her she killed one of Earthrealm’s champions and now has to compete in an ancient tournament called Mortal Kombat.

She has only a few months left to get battle ready with the help of two other champions and to unlock her Arcana - the ancient power awoken by the dragon mark.

She arrives a few months before the others, training with Liu Kang and Kung Lao - who make no secret of the fact that she probably killed the other champion by dumb luck and that while her martial arts training might have been enough to stun the guys at the academy, it's nowhere near where it needs to be with nothing less than the fate of all mankind at stake.

The weeks fly by and while her fighting improves greatly, Katherine still hasn't unlocked her Arcana. Much to Raiden's dismay, who likes to remind her that the clock is ticking for Earthrealm. And who suspects that his two best students might be finding it hard to train her with the appropriate urgency.

And when the others arrive and it turns out that it's not just Katherine who isn't ready for the tournament it soon turns out that a certain monk especially might be pulling his punches...

So, that's the (I'd say) first act on Katherine 🤗

Her Arcana is the ability to turn the kinetic energy of an attack into a shield (looking like a sort of glowing/fiery force field or throw it back at her opponent like an energy ball/sphere). She unlocks it during the fight in the temple, when she steps between Liu Kang and what would have been a deadly attack and turns it into a shield covering the both of them long enough for Raiden to get them out alive.

Liu Kang is in love with her and has no idea what to do with that, Kung Lao calls her mèimei (little sister) - losing him wrecks her almost as much as it does Liu Kang - and she hates Kano so fucking much she wishes her Arcana was to make people drop dead with a glare. Also, I am pretty sure that she'll gonna get along great with Johnny Cage (I love Karl Urban, sue me) and again, Liu Kang has no idea what to do with that 😁

I am always down to clown if you wanna know more and since it looks like my creative rut is still going nowhere, I am thankful for anything that keeps me working on any of my OCs in any sort of capacity 🤗

[renegadesstuff]

THEIR MAN 🥹🤍

[broeckchen]

[medea-of-colchis]

I decided, if I am to scream, let it be in battle. There is no chance for peace except at the point of a sword.

From Joan, by Katherine J. Chen

[astrothii]

joan of arc retellings try not to use catherine d’arc as backstory trauma challenge: impossible

[gameofthunder66]

FBI (2018- ) tv series

-(finished) watchin' Season 6- 5/21/2024- 3 [3/4] stars- on CBS (Paramount+)

[kammartinez]

She learned that day: When one man beats you, it invites others to try, too. People can smell out weakness. Only strength keeps them at bay.

Joan: A Novel, by Katherine J. Chen

[wherekizzialives]

August Reads

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I ran up against the limitations of my body this August and so the months reviews are a little late (although I’ve back dated the post so it is in the correct order on my blog) and I didn’t read anywhere near as much as I did in July because I have been trying to properly rest when I can rather than “rest” by crocheting and reading at the same time. Of the six,…

[emptytcwn]

tag dump #10

[superreader30]

[starcrossedjedis]

How many of your ocs have superpowers?

*opens handy dandy masterlist* 🧐

- Gol D Mira (Sairen Sun) has been given a Mythical Zoan Fruit that gives her the ability to turn into a mermaid and submit people to her will (she later learns to utilize her devil fruit power to tab into the Haki abilities she inherited from her father, but they are always intertwined with her Sairen form)

- Moira Finnigan, Evanora Black, Minerva Weasley and Olivia Nott are witches

- Mila Lebedev has been given a knockoff version of the supersoldier serum which makes her a little faster, better, stronger and less breakable

- as a fighter for Earthrealm in Mortal Kombat Katherine Chen has an Arcana - she can turn the kinetic energy of an attack and turn it into a shield

- Nyka'a Sundar and Jaren Korr are full on jedi and Inara'a Brae is a force sensitive seer and telepath

And that's it for my fandom OCs 😊 thank you for asking ❤️

[kvothes]

louise glück was a tremendous poet in her own life and also taught, advised, and nurtured uncountable other poets. her picking richard siken’s crush for the yale younger poets prize is a well known fact, but she selected a number of other poets for publication during her tenure as the contest judge that i think are worth knowing.

peter streckfus, cuckoo (2003)

richard siken, crush (2004)

jay hopler, green squall (2005)

jessica fisher, frail-craft (2006)

fady joudah, the earth in the attic (2007)

arda collins, it is daylight (2008)

ken chen, juvenilia (2009)

katherine larson, radial symmetry (2010)

poetry is a community! read her—and also read the poets she wanted to promote.

[renegadesstuff]

Her boyfriend will disappear without a word 💔

Her fiancé will disappear without a word 💔

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc Author: Katherine J. Chen Genre/s: historical Content/Trigger Warnings: suicide, rape (implied), emotional and physical abuse of a child, emotional and physical abuse of a spouse, animal death, death of a child, death of a sibling, war-related violence typical for the period Summary (from publisher website): 1412. France is mired in a losing war against England. Its people are starving. Its king is in hiding. From this chaos emerges a teenage girl who will turn the tide of battle and lead the French to victory, becoming an unlikely hero whose name will echo across the centuries. In Katherine J. Chen’s hands, the myth and legend of Joan of Arc is transformed into a flesh-and-blood young woman: reckless, steel-willed, and brilliant. This meticulously researched novel is a sweeping narrative of her life, from a childhood steeped in both joy and violence, to her meteoric rise to fame at the head of the French army, where she navigates the perils of the battlefield and the equally treacherous politics of the royal court. Many are threatened by a woman who leads, and Joan draws wrath and suspicion from all corners, while her first taste of fame and glory leaves her vulnerable to her own powerful ambition. With unforgettably vivid characters, transporting settings, and action-packed storytelling, Joan is a thrilling epic, a triumph of historical fiction, as well as a feminist celebration of one remarkable—and remarkably real—woman who left an indelible mark on history. Buy Here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/joan-a-novel-of-joan-of-arc/18860873 Spoiler-Free Review: I’m familiar with Saint Joan of Arc, mostly thanks to a Catholic school education and a general curiosity about the lives of these people whom the Church seemed to think were pretty damn important, if they were powerful enough to bend God’s ear on behalf of us mere mortals. Like most Catholics I’m familiar with the general outline of her life story: how as a girl she had visions encouraging her to save France; how she spoke to the Dauphin and convinced him to give her an army; how she succeeded in battle until she didn’t; and then was burnt at the stake by the English for heresy. However, the memory of her victories continued to live in the memory of the French people (not least because her achievements were crucial to France winning the Hundred Years’ War), and almost five hundred years after her execution she’d be canonized as a saint, thus cementing her legendary status. It’s a good story - a VERY good story. It’s why Joan is one of the most memorable saints in the Church’s immense roster, and why even non-religious folk know who she is and the general outline of her life and eventual death. It also helps that there are PLENTY of fictionalized depictions of her, both in print and in film, and there are almost as many non-fictional accounts of her life too. If you want to go down a rabbit hole of everything Saint Joan, you can easily do that and get lost down there for a good long while. So: with all of these books and movies already out there, many of which are considered to be quite good, what makes Chen’s novel, in particular, stand out? Personally, I think it’s that her take on Joan is, firstly, very human, and secondly, there’s little of the divine to be seen anywhere in this story. Those two things are tied together: throughout the novel Joan’s perspective on her achievements is that SHE has accomplished them, no one else. Oh, sure, she’s aware that her talents are likely God-given, (and there’s a brief moment in the novel where she contemplates God taking those talents away and gets really scared), but more in the manner of a seed being planted in her - a seed that was nurtured under the abusive hand of her father Jacques d’Arc, and which she then found use for as she grew older. This doesn’t mean she’s an atheist, of course, nor even an agnostic. No: Joan believes in God, but her relationship with God is different. Instead of begging and pleading to him when she prays, she bargains with him. There’s a couple scenes in the novel where she talks about how her prayers to God go, and it’s generally her talking about all these things she has done and wants to do, and then telling God “So: what do you think? Maybe we can help each other out here.” This is very different from the other depictions of Joan that I’ve seen, which have portrayed her as completely devoted to God and moving only as he (through her visions) commands her to. Speaking of visions: there’s none of that to be seen here. Oh sure, Joan has dreams, but not the visions (or hallucinations) of the saints that a lot of material out there says she had. Instead, Joan’s motivations are entirely - and heartbreakingly - human. I won’t go into the details because that way lie spoilers, but suffice to say that what gets Joan out of her home and to the court of the Dauphin has very, VERY little to do with divine inspiration, but A LOT MORE to do with entirely human (and, therefore, probably more relatable) motivations. But that raises the question: where DID all those stories of visions and divine inspiration come from in the first place? In Chen’s novel, those are all part of a propaganda push, orchestrated by certain members of the Dauphin’s court, in order to get the Dauphin off his butt and moving in fighting back against the English and the Burgundians, and then later, after her initial victories, rumors and stories concocted by people who had encountered her and were looking for something hopeful to hang onto in the face of the despair and tragedy of the war. Again I won’t get into that too much because spoilers, but it soon becomes clear to the reader that in the novel, the legend of Joan was something other people created, and that she herself didn’t have much to do with its creation except through her actions - actions which were then taken by others and spun this way and that for their own purposes. In the novel, Joan is entirely aware of these stories, and how she deals with them is interesting to read about too. Interesting, too, is how she is aware she is being used, but decides to take that in stride and find her own way of using others in turn to achieve her own ends. Overall, this is a very good read, largely because I like this take on Joan: not  a saint, and not a madwoman, but someone thoroughly human, who wanted to do what she could with what she had - and accomplished a great deal, even as she went against the grain of what was expected of her as a woman. However, just as her own motivations and desires were entirely human, so too were the challenges that stood in her way - and while some she could overcome, there were more that she could not, like systemic misogyny and political maneuvering. Despite knowing the end of her story even before the novel begins, reading about this particular take on a familiar figure was quite fun, and I think other people will enjoy it too. Rating: five fleur de lys

[quo-usque-tandem]

Joan by Katherine J. Chen

[astrothii]

just checked out a joan of arc retelling from my local library!! no matter what i am certain i will have strong opinions about it.