#look at me buying a kindle version of the AS book at the end just to know this thing

[autumn-oceanopromises]

Review for the Night-Bird’s Feather

Look, I’m not your typical reviewer of the Night-Bird’s Feather. I want to get this out of the way: I am not going to rave review about the deeper meaning of this story, in part because I’m just not intelligent enough, I think. But as a fond connoisseur of fairy-tales, even sometimes dark ones, and being marginally familiar with Dr Moran’s previous work, mostly from Ryuugi’s fanfic and Glitch, I bought the Night-Bird’s Feather.

I bought it on Kindle thanks to Prokopetz’ recommendation, having bought Glitch Version 0 beforehand (also on Prokopetz’ recommendation). I give the Night-Bird’s Feather 10/10 stars. 100/10. 2500 mechanical spiders/10. I will read it again at some point in the future on my Kindle, probably when there’s no data coverage, on the Tube, again, and spend half the trip reading and half the trip trying to figure out what the characters are saying when they’re not being incredibly blunt. I recommend that you buy it. I recommend that you read it. I don’t recommend that you comprehend it. Comprehension is not necessary for this anthology of connected fairy tales. In fact, arguably, it’s better if you don’t, and let the rhythm of the words wash over you and turn your brain off. Certainly the incredible over-stimulation and twisty layers made me feel like a child again, poking at a mother who is probably stuck in a heron’s egg, and definitely not capable of explaining what the bloody fuck is going on beyond the absolute surface layer.

This is not going to be a spoiler free review. I love it too much and comprehend it too little to dance around plot points. I have no criticism to give, because almost the whole thing went over my head, beyond the usual things where Dr Moran is absolutely brilliant at worldbuilding and scene-setting, having tied it in some part to the Bleak Academy, and the characters are, while mostly setpieces in the way that fairy-tale characters are, are also vocal mouthpieces talking in complex tongues, registers, and reasoning, regardless of physical or developmental age. Yes, it’s unrealistic and heavy-handed on the philosophical moralizing, but as I mentioned, I understood none of the philosophy, so I can’t and won’t criticize it. Since it also doesn’t seem at all out of place. The massive monologues are a part of the style and weave easily into the narrative. In any case, realism is not what you read Dr Moran or fairy-tales for.

The Night-Bird’s Feather is at once a combination of fairy/folk-tale anthology, in the way that linked fairy-tales are, and at the same time an examination of one central character’s life through time (literally through time in some ways), a legendary figure and/or matriarch of an inestimable family, where the matriarchy mostly happens off-screen. The reader is introduced to this matriarch in her founding, origin story, via a child of the family, and the rest of the cast of characters star in various, repeating roles as they move toward the child of the family’s personal present (for a given definition of present, given the nature of the bleak academy), a nest of stories, like scheherazade; but honestly the central linking conceit of the story reminded me the most of The Time Traveler’s Wife, had the perspective been centered on the time traveler rather than the wife.

The anthology has an incredible exploration into a very small number of characters: all of the relevant characters are introduced in the first story, and all of them are explored in great detail and are all very relevant. No additional mice, except for those family members locked in the initial egg, are introduced, which scurry off into the ether - the story ends when the central character has moved on to other things, and feels simultaneously finished in a nice neat bow and unfinished in a Wattersonian way.

The book, as a whole, is darkly beautiful, and very Slavic. I hadn’t read much Slavic fairy tales beforehand, so I can’t attest as to the stylization’s accuracy - the only one I know is Koschei, and that was a Britishized version for ages 6 and under, anyway. The prose is stunning - glittering and evocative, imaginative and lush, ornamented yet clear. It is a book which drips poetry out of every line, which I adore, and is simultaneously a clearly-understandable fairy-tale for children (if dark and mature - along the lines of Grimm - though in no part edgy - I think - nor with a focus on gore for the sake of gore), and a deeply meaty chunk of philosophizing for adults. It’s worth buying for the descriptive prose alone.

The book is also, on occasion, incredibly funny. Because it relies on subverting expectations of fairy tales, and the focus character is something of a guile hero given the stakes she puts herself up against, sometimes the characters make razor-sharp observations against expectations that absolutely shattered my sides. 

You can - I certainly did - push the heavy cerebral stuff to the side, and just focus on the fairy-tale. There is a lot of it, and all of it is good. I think the heavy cerebral stuff actually adds something - in that in its exclusion, everything else is starkly, darkly emotional, kind of. But the tone is unrelentingly miserable, a drudging, if beautiful, tragedy by Westernized and flanderized fairy-tales’ standpoint - from what I have seen of Slavic mythology and fairytales, that tone is pretty much on point. With the clear cerebral philosophy + comedy, though, and all the time and dream travel, that makes it bearable, even addictive.  

I read all of it in a single sitting. I understood almost none of it. I’d read my partner, if I had one, this story, before bed. We would likely dream lush, vibrant, beautiful dreams, like watching rain pour down from inside a cozy house, like we were kids again and ignoring all the really thorny problems of the world that only adults could see and comprehend. There’s a beauty in just being able to push it aside and admit that it’s just way too much for us. If asked, I’d be able to explain none of this book. I recommend it to everyone.

[pricklyest]

What e reader did you buy? Do you recommend it?

I was waiting to answer this when I stopped being sick so I could maybe be coherent but at this point idk when that's going to happen so we're just going to go w it and hope this makes sense sorry

I bought a kobo clara 2e. I wanted the smallest ereader I could find that was a reasonable price and also waterproof because I like to read in the bathtub and I am not immune to dropping things in the water. have ruined more than one book that way, have also ruined a nintendo switch that way.

the kobo ecosystem is not bad in terms of ereaders if you exclusively buy your ebooks from the kobo store. the kobo store is better than the amazon ebook store imo bc it lets you download drm-free versions of your purchases without having to go through any conversions, which I don't think is true of the kindle store.

kobo also lets you upload your own epubs and pdfs to the ereader from your computer pretty easily (you can add them like you would to a flash drive or you can use something like calibre to manage your library for you). there have been a few times when I've plugged my kobo into my computer and it hasn't automatically connected so I had to disconnect and reconnect it but then it worked fine. so it can be finicky but ultimately you should be able to get it.

the software that actually opens the ebooks and that you read with is actually different based on whether it's an epub in the kobo format (the filename will end with .kepub.epub) or literally anything else. kepubs will support more features, like annotations and faster page flips and easy word lookups in dictionaries (especially useful for reading the locked tomb which is Full of vocab words). you can also actually make changes the the font type and size. whereas anything else it just displays and doesn't let you highlight, annotate, or select text text. you can zoom in on things, but that's about it.

the good news is there are a lot of tools that let you turn things into kepubs. I currently use a plugin you can get for calibre, but I'm thinking about trying kepubify bc some of the epubs I've downloaded have turned into funky formatting with the calibre plugin.

right now my kobo clara 2e downsides are 1) device is still bigger than I'd like*, 2) kepub vs other file formats thing is mildly annoying, 3) can't buy ebooks from kobo store via app on my phone, have to either buy from kobo website or from my ereader, 4) screen is often less sensitive than I'm used to with other touch screen devices (this may just be an ereader thing), 5) I can't send books to my kobo wirelessly unless I've purchased them in the kobo store (idk if this is something I could do for other ereader systems, I haven't looked).

*there aren't really any devices from any of the major ereader brands with screens smaller than 6in (which is what the clara 2e has). I also looked at the xiaomi inkpalm 5, which does appear to be an ideal size for me, but you have to do some annoying command line shit to get it running in english and it doesn't appear to be waterproof. I may look into it again if I get sick enough of not having my ereader actually fit in my pants pockets. you could also get an eink phone and use it as an ereader, but they're phone prices instead of ereader prices, and most of them have the same language support issues the xiaomi has. the other thing I looked at is the open book project and the m5 paper which are both diy ereader kits and I'm more inclined to fuck with one of those than the xiaomi if I decide to do something more fun in the future, but I don't have the bandwidth for that right now.

kobo also supports integration with overdrive so you can check out library books, but I have recently discovered my library card is expired and bc I'm sick I haven't gone in to get a new one yet so I have no idea what that looks like and whether or not reading library ebooks uses the good reader (like with kepubs) or the no features reader.

one last annoying thing is the kobo store on the reader keeps trying to tell me to subscribe to kobo plus, which is basically like spotify premium but for ebooks and/or audiobooks. but not all titles ever are included so I haven't really looked into it v much bc rn I've found what I wanted to read through other methods (shout out to standardebooks.org)

anyway overall I would say I'd recommend it if your use case is exactly the same as mine, which is I wanted something small to read in the bath and carry around to hopefully replace my doomscrolling habit with reading like I used to when I was a kid, and it so far has been mildly successful. I did start wearing a fanny pack on a regular basis so that way I could actually carry it around everywhere like my phone, but even with a fanny pack I don't think you could fit something much bigger than 6-7in screen, so I'm not sure anything else would work. if you wanted a bigger ereader, I know someone else who has one of the larger kobos (not sure which one, we don't talk super often) and seems p happy w it. I briefly entertained the idea of getting one from kobo w a stylus and using that to take notes in class bc I saw some people in the ereader subreddit say they liked using it for that, and then I remembered I have an ipad and apple pencil to do that exact thing already and I'm already really happy w that setup.

[italiantnea]

another one joins the fray

hello!! yeah yeah i know there's like 3 fan translations of this novel going on already. however i just went through the hassle of buying the ebook so i decided to try my hand at translation too

it might not be pretty but im looking forward to it!

this is admittedly a pretty self indulgent project, lmao. this is my first time translating a japanese novel. yeah yeah im aware how that makes me look. im trying my best

i've been learning japanese for a few years now and my first language is chinese, which helps a bunch

i have the e-book version of both light novels. I'm typing up the translations line by line, and using the dictionary (jisho.org and the kindle built in dictionary mostly) excessively to check vocabulary and anything i don't understand. i might not be totally sure about the meaning of some sentences, but all in all i think the story is understandable. apparently there's an e-book exclusive bonus tidbit at the end too, look out for that

i only joined this fandom this winter. ive caught up on kara no kioku but i'm not that familiar with what goes on in the fandom or the rest of the nitty gritty lore, sorry.

I'm translating chapter by chapter as I read. not sure how frequently i'll update, especially after school starts in 2 weeks. but i'll try my best

i know @inochinoyomikata has been posting translations as well (I use their version as a reference while translating as well😅) there's a few missing lines here and there and I try my best to fix up some awkward parts and provide extra context when possible

my main blog is @italiantea, and i draw fanart too. allegedly.

anyway. we'll see how this goes. peace out, yeet

[thessalian]

Thess vs Last Straws

You know that feeling when one of your friends is a self-absorbed little shit and you know they’re a self-absorbed little shit but their self-absorption and little shit-ness just hit one button too many and you just want to slap them? It’s the weirdest damn feeling because it can be the smallest thing to set it off after years of arguably bigger issues.

This is concerning an old RP friend, who I still follow on Facebook. Now, he was an issue generator for quite awhile when I used to see him in person. I honestly have zero recollection of how we met, but he joined my Mage group when I ran in meatspace, and a few other games as well. He was problematic in all of them, frankly, with a bit of Main Character Syndrome and that thing that goes, “I have to be a hero in this game because I need validation of the type I don’t get in real life”. Also ... okay, y’all know I have zero issue with anyone on the spectrum, but I do have issues when someone doesn’t try. Fucking hell, I try - every day I try, and it’s not easy, so I am totally understanding when people slip up. But I tripped over a post of his that basically went, “Hey, I think I’m going to write up a guide to how to communicate with me and hand it to everyone I know”, and he was not joking. Not sure he ever actually did it, but his answer to, “I have communication issues” was not “I should work harder at ensuring that we all understand each other as best we can”, but “I will tell everyone how to talk to me so that I don’t melt down, and thus put the entire responsibility for the success of our communication into their hands because I can’t be bothered to moderate my own behaviour”.

I largely stopped engaging him after that, at least in part because I was a little disturbed at his overriding need for a girlfriend. I swear, it was all he talked about for quite some time. Of course, see above re: his communication skills, so that probably wasn’t happening. But he said something today that I just wanted to slap him over. He was whining about “I can’t buy the Toby Daye series or the InCryptid books because they’re not out on Kindle! Why are they not out on Kindle? WOE!” At which point I looked at my two shelves of paperback involving both those series and went, “Hang on; what now?!?” Then I engaged.

I should not have engaged. I mean, my first thing was flagging up that honestly, I don’t know if the author asked for there to be a gap between those books getting published and those books hitting Kindle, but I wouldn’t blame her if she had. McGuire is hugely outspoken about how book piracy can destroy an author’s career, particularly when dealing with a series. Book 1 sells well, but if Book 2 (or 3, or 4, or whatever) gets pirated more than it gets purchased, the publisher will decide that the series isn’t worth it and bin the whole thing. Now, I imagine you can pirate a book that hasn’t made it to ereader yet, but it’s a lot harder and a lot messier, and it still might not end up legible. So I started with the first bit of that - I mean, they’re her biggest and longest-running series and I wouldn’t blame her for not wanting the Kindle versions to float around for a good long while.

He said, “But if I can’t buy it, wouldn’t that make me more liable to pirate it? Which I don’t want to do because I do want to support her, but...” Like he had no choice - like it was either Kindle or nothing.

I looked at my two shelves of paperback again at that point and decided I wanted to throttle him, not slap him. So I flagged up the second part of that statement above - how a pirated copy of a book that hasn’t come out for ereader is likely to be messy and barely legible and there are other ways to buy a book than getting the Kindle version - like the local library, or ... you know, buying the paperback. I asked him to at least please not be disingenuous; to acknowledge that it wasn’t that he couldn’t buy it but that he couldn’t have it in his desired format.

Apparently he doesn’t have a local library, but he did at least subside a bit with, “But I see your point. I guess I’ll just wait”. Given the earlier replies, I can’t help but read that with a tinge of sulk.

Maybe it’s just the one straw that broke the camel’s back. But after awhile, you get tired of someone insisting they should have things entirely their own way without having to compromise or consider the situations or feelings of others, and then sulking when they have it proven that the world doesn’t work that way. I distanced him when he whined to me that he had to be the hero in my game because it gave him the kind of validation he lacked in his real life; I distanced him further when he whined about not being able to get a girlfriend. I’m about ready to just block him entirely over this one. Not because this is that bad - although it is that bad, since I’ve read time and time again how pirating books can destroy a series and an author’s career - but because it’s one more bit of proof that he has to have everything entirely his own way and will sulk if he doesn’t get it. My life is too short and too stressful to deal with people like this.

I mean, I don’t have anything against people who prefer Kindle to dead tree. But someone whining that they can’t buy it at all when what they mean is, “I can’t have my preference”? Miss me with that. If I want to support my favourite author and read the continuation of the story I’ve invested so much time and feels in over the years, and I can’t have it on Kindle? Just put down the paperback and back away slowly. Gods, he’s even whingeing about Be The Serpent and that’s not even out in paperback yet.

[fairytalearista]

I posted 657 times in 2022

That's 657 more posts than 2021!

116 posts created (18%)

541 posts reblogged (82%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@taleweaver-ramblings

@lady-merian

@dangerously-human

@swinging-stars-from-satellites

@thrina-thrina-on-the-wall

I tagged 436 of my posts in 2022

Only 34% of my posts had no tags

#kendra e. ardnek - 41 posts

#books - 29 posts

#writing - 21 posts

#fairy tales - 18 posts

#austen fairy tale - 17 posts

#rizkaland legends - 14 posts

#the austen fairy tale - 13 posts

#cinderella - 11 posts

#pro life - 11 posts

#jane austen - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#okay but i've been looking for a good version of much ado to watch ... for a project ... i think i need to go hunt down the full version...

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

So, I published a Cinderella / Pride and Prejudice mashup last week. And it's already my fifth-highest grossing book, as it just passed the royalty total for the book I published ten years ago...

So, um, if anyone else wants to help me see how many more of my back titles it can outsell by the end of the month, that would be fun. The title is Crown and Cinder, and it is the second book of a series of Austen / Fairy tale mashups. (By the end of next year, I do plan to have all six of Austen's novels retold, and I have a fairy tale picked out for every one of them). It's pseudo-medieval worldbuilding with elemental magic, and I think they're pretty fun.

And if you'd like to check out some other fun Cinderella retellings, I just published Cindy Ellen, a short and sweet western-esque retelling by my mother, and my friend Sarah Pennington released Mask of Scarlet, which is a mystery set in a Jazz-era world with fae. It's delicious and I highly recommend the whole series. Bastian is the Best, and you all need to fall in love with him as much as I have.

56 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

#4

Can y'all do a thing for me? Crown & Cinder, my Cinderella / Pride & Prejudice mashup, is currently 99 cents on kindle, and will be so for about a week. It's a countdown sale, meaning that I'm making the full 70% royalty.

I'd like to try to get 1,000 sales while it's a dollar. I'm currently sitting at one. So if the concept sounds intriguing to you (and it's a VERY fun story - Lizzy has fire magic!), please consider buying it - and sharing this post to spread the word. a thousand sales is a lofty goal, but I think if I can hit the algorithm right, it'll be possible. So, pretty please, go check it out.

(And, cough, book 1 will be 99 cents next week, but I dropped this one this week 'cause of scheduling issues. So keep an eye out for that.)

57 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

#3

"He's only mean to you because he likes you."

Like many girls, I was told this by my mother, but it was always with the caveat: "And he lacks the emotional maturity to properly handle the attraction." And I think that's an important caveat that most girls need to hear - you can take the complement, you can let it boost your self-esteem, but move on. He's just an immature boy who isn't worth your time.

And, honestly, it can work both ways. Girls can be just as mean when they don't want to admit attraction.

319 notes - Posted July 19, 2022

#2

"What your characters say is their motivation isn't in line with their character and actions."

Yup, it's called narrative dissonance. Homegirl ain't being honest enough with herself to admit what's actually driving her. Maybe she'll figure out over the course of the book, maybe we won't. Who knows. I love pitting show and tell against each other and seeing who comes out on top.

522 notes - Posted July 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

The secret of creating good art isn't talent, it's patience.

I'm an author, my sister draws and paints, but we both dabble in the other's wheelhouse.

And, one day, I had just hastily thrown together my cartoonish attempt at a fairy (Not terrible, but I've just accepted that my art style is on the cartoon side of things), and my sister starts telling me all the tricks and stuff that improves proportions and style ... and I just look at her and go, "I don't have the patience for that."

And she just pulls back, blinking. "But you sit there, hours upon hours, stringing words together for your books. Don't tell me you don't have patience."

"I do have patience for writing. Every word I write is visible progress, and I've moved forward in the story. But art is static. And I don't have the patience that allows me to pour hours and hours into something static. You, however, focus on that one image and chip away at until you have it."

My other main craft is knit and crochet. My sister sews. And I realize that this holds true. My patience is linear. I'll spend weeks and years on a project, just so long as each word or stich is a visible step forward. My sister's patience is more abstract. She will polish the details on a image until it's perfect, constructing elements until it fits her vision - but she won't give it the time I will. She wants to get things done and have them be over.

And neither one is wrong. Neither is unreasonable. But if you have an art you want to pursue, you have to give it patience. The patience to do the craft, and the patience to learn how to do it well.

And yes, some of us have a bit of talent that means we need a little less patience ... but that talent is just a head start. We still have to run the rest of the race.

6,677 notes - Posted April 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

(Btw, C&C is officially now my second-highest grossing book, and it is slowly but steadily overtaking the record holder, Water Princess, Fire Prince)

[jargonautical]

Who here likes books?

There’s a saying, isn’t there, about how a writer’s life is 50% hoping to be noticed and 50% living in fear of being seen. That’s where I’m currently sitting, directly on that line and vibrating gently with terror.

I wrote the book that had been haunting my waking brain for three years, in the hope that getting it out of my head and pinning it to a page would somehow help. Nobody would ever see it, I told myself. It was just for me. I’d get it done and that would be an end to it. I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to going back to ‘normal’. 

It doesn’t work like that. Now I’m trapped in a corner of my kitchen, fending off ideas for the sequel with a broom. Books want to be written, don’t they? And, as I’m discovering, they’re not shy about it.

Stories want to be told.

I’ll be using this blog to share a chapter at a time, once every week or so. If you like what you read, please let me know! All comments, feedback and suggestions are welcome.

The e-book is also available to buy, so if you want the whole thing all at once just visit www.laurie-mather.co.uk for the links to Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo and EPUB versions.

[iredreamer]

Hey Irene! about that lighter, I've been searching like madness for 20+ minutes now (in both swedish and english), without any luck, haha. Any chance you can share which episode(s) you've see that lighter from? (because I have never paid attention to that myself). I dunno if it will help, but it might give some inspiration what to search for, hmmhm.

hey, it’s from Gentleman Jack 103. It also shows up in episode 6 when AW wakes up in the night, AL uses it to light up a candle beside the bed.

@victorialitera answered my post (thank u so much by the way) saying they’re pretty sure it’s a portable tinderbox, so that’s what I’m researching now.

After a little history check I found out that friction matches were invented in 1826, and that till that time tinderboxes were what was used around the house to light a fire. So it is more than plausible (I think) that in 1832 tinderboxes were still widely used. And also, it looks like friction matches always had kinda the same look, they have not changed much since their invention – this kinda rules out the possibility of this thing being an early friction match of some kind.

I do think that portable tinderbox is the right answer, I just have to find the exact same kind.

EDIT_1: okay, looking closely, she uses a fire striker (? no idea what’s the name in english, in italian it’s called an acciarino) to start the flame on top of something that is made of I don’t know what but it looks reusable.

And this is what confuses me about this whole thing: the way she lights it. 1) in everything I found about tinderboxes all the contents are not “fixed” to the box. 2) you have to take them all out to light the fire…so the way ^this thing^ works is kinda different.

My research continues…

EDIT_2: editing this post to add the super useful replies I received. Thank u so much @troiings for trying to figure out how ^this^ works: 

so… imo it looks like she’s holding a “pen” of sorts with flint on the end (the white tip)… basically flint with a handle. the box contains carbon steel (create a spark by striking with the flint). what i can only assume is that the bit at the end is combustible something or other… and it looks like there’s makybe??? a plug on the end of the box. Perhaps there’s oil inside of it, and the combustible *mumblemumble* is an oversized wick? basically strike up a spark with flint+steel, light the wick, refill the body of the box with oil when needed? this is literally me going by what it looks like is happening and paying no regard to historical whatever

And thank you @extra-mt16 for the info:

A FB group had a discussion regarding the tinderbox a while back, and people were equally confused and intrigued. There was one answer that might be of help. The person read somewhere (maybe in Angela Steidel biography) that AL had it custom-made to her specifications. That might explain the unusualness of the design. :)

This explains A LOT. ( @flozmin you were so right!) Now I have to find that reference and ideally find the journal entry where Anne describes it (which I feel is gonna take forever). @extra-mt16 I’m not really active on FB for these kind of things, do you know if someone managed to find the diary entry? Or do you have some hint around what time Anne had the tinderbox made?

EDIT_3: Update! Thank you so much @winteringinrome for your reply and sharing even more info about this thing:

This page was linked on the FB group and has pictures similar to what Anne used in the show and explains how it works: http://www.oldandinteresting.com/tinderbox.aspx also had a vague memory of Anne talking about something like this in her diaries and I found the following reference in Anne Choma’s book:"John [Oates] thought that for 2 or 3 pounds he could make me a portable one (a reservoir of air like that for air gun and filled in the same way), all to go in a box of 6 inch square - one reservoir full would keep up a strong and regular blast for 1/4 hour” - 12 Sep 1832 (SH:7/ML/E/15/0117).This seems to be talking about something slightly different (blowpipes rather than a tinderbox) but I wonder if that’s what is ringing bells with people.

The link about the tinderbox is also the one I stumbled upon while researching tinderboxes (another reference to understand how those things worked is this: regencyredingote - The Tinderbox it doesn’t have pictures but it’s an interesting read that explains in great details how a tinderbox works etc. etc.) and yep, it looks like the concept of the thing is the same, but the design is different.

I’m just very curious to know if the object we see is accurate or if it’s just inspired by something AL wrote in her journal (like the quote posted above for example). By the way, half an hour ago I wrote to Anne Choma on twitter asking her if the object we see in the show is accurate (long shot, I know but worth trying). Let’s see how this thing evolves.

By the way, you are all amazing, replying and trying to figure this out! What a community! Anne Lister would be proud!

[wearethekat]

A comprehensive guide to getting the best out of your library card: free books!

okay, so you’ve been through your local library branch. You’ve read all their library books. Is there nothing left to read? NO! 

Step One: The first step to acquiring More Books is to check the library catalogue. Most libraries aren’t islands, they’re in a system with many other libraries. This can range to like three other libraries in a small city system to over thirty libraries in a multi-county system. These libraries will almost certainly ship you books from branch libraries to your home library. The best way to go about accessing these books is to google the library’s website. The catalogue should be somewhere large and obvious.

[ID <a picture of a library catalogue search bar, searching “charles, kj” by “author”> /END ID]

I’ve refined the search here by author, because I’m looking for a specific author rather using generic keywords. I hit search, and tah-dah!

[ID <the results of the search, showing 14 ebooks. The first two book titles are visible in the picture: Gilded Cage and Any Old Diamonds> /END ID]

I get 14 books in result! Unfortunately, it looks like this library system doesn’t have any physical copies of this author’s books. So we advance to Step Two of the More Books search. (if there had been physical copies, you would click a button labeled Place Hold or something similar and go through your library’s system to get them to send the book to your library.)

Step Two: if you’ve exhausted all the physical books in your library system or can’t find that specific book you’re looking for, the next place to look is your library’s ebook collections. These three sites are going to be specific to what I have access to, your library may vary.

Site one: Hoopla! Hoopla is an app, but it also works over internet browser. Hoopla has the same books no matter what library system you access it via. It also has music and movies, but it’s really mostly for ebooks, audiobooks, and comics. You read checked-out books over the hoopla app. The limit on Hoopla is you can borrow only a certain number of books per month. This depends on what you’re library has paid for. It could be three or it could be ten. Hoopla is very easy to set up, you just select your library system and enter your card barcode number, then set up a password.

[ID <a picture of search results for “k j charles” in Hoopla, which got 24 results. The first four books are visible: audiobooks for Slippery Creatures and The Sugared Game, plus ebooks of Unfit to Print and Slippery Creatures> /END ID]

tah-dah! here’s my search again on Hoopla. This gives me access to 24 more books. If I wanted the book, I’d click on the title and click “borrow.” If this was over the app on a tablet like a civilized person, it would look slightly different, but the mechanism would be the same. 

site two: Overdrive. Overdrive is another book app. It does only books, audiobooks, and a very limited range of comics. The books you can access will be specific to your library-- the library will buy the title to certain ebooks and you can only get those. How many books the collection has will vary wildly depending on your library’s funding. The limitation on Overdrive is that your library only has a certain number of “copies,” and if someone’s already got the only copy, you have to wait until they’ve finished it. 

[ID <search results for “KJ Charles” in the Overdrive app with 5 results. The screen shows the first four results: Gilded Cage, Any Old Diamonds, Band Sinister, and A Fashionable Indulgence.> /END ID]

okay, here I’ve run the search in the overdrive app. This gets me five results. as you can see, someone’s checked out the last title, so if I wanted it I’d have to go on the waitlist. Overdrive books are usually epubs that y ou can read on the app, but occasionally the only format available will be a kindle book for some reason and you’ll have to download to that app. 

site three: Enki. Enki is very specific to what I have access to, I think it’s only for a limited local geographic area. But! I am adding it just in case, I have no idea what you personally have access to. Enki specifically does obscure ebooks and random self-published stuff. This is the site to check when you can’t find the book anywhere else. The collection is fairly limited. It works the same way as Overdrive: there are a limited number of “copies” and if someone’s checked it out you have to wait. However, Enki has the same book collection no matter what library you access it through. Enki has a particularly ornery search function.

[ID <a screenshot of a search by author for “milan, courtney” with 19 results. The first two titles are showing: Duchess War and Unraveled> /END ID]

here I’ve been forced to abandon my trusty KJ Charles search since there aren’t any of her books on this site. I’m not going to show screenshots, because this is likely to be relevant to very few people. But the one important thing to remember when using Enki is when you checkout the ebook, DO NOT read in web browser. This is an absolute nightmare to use. Click “download” then “open” on the little popup and you should be able to read the book on any app you have that reads ebooks. I read mine on the Overdrive app. 

step 4: this is the nuclear option. its power is without bounds. its name is inter-inter-library loan. Unfortunately, you might not have access to it with your local library. My version is LINK+. It will send me books from a huge number of university and large public libraries across three states.

[ID <a screenshot of a search in LINK+ for “charles, kj” with 11 results. Only one title is visible, Slippery Creatures> /END ID]

it only does physical books, and I would not recommend using it if you are at all likely to turn the book in late or lose it, since they charge colossal fees ($75 plus for missing books). But this is an incredibly useful tool. Since I got access to it, I’ve gotten to read books that I wasn’t able to access in any other form. If it’s a physical book, this system will almost certainly have it.

step 5: the only real option left for More Books is getting other library cards. Would highly recommend this tactic though-- it’s very useful for both ebook apps, so you can get extra books per month/have access to better collections. Most libraries will give you a card if you have a physical address. Do you have accommodating friends/relatives who live in another area? When you visit, apply for a library card using their address!

step 6: sorry, that’s all I’ve got for free books. You’re going to have to buy the book. Try local indie bookstores, it’s always nice to support them.

general notes:

if you have technical issues with any of these things, go to your local library. Their job is to help you with this stuff, and most librarians love to be asked! They can set you up with any of the apps or help you order specific books.

 Don’t worry about returns with ebook apps, it happens automatically.

 I know that there are apps that help you search these ebook apps (such as Libby), but I don’t use them, so I’ve highlighted the individual apps here.

and about my example searches here: both KJ Charles and Courtney Milan are awesome. Go read their books!

and to any reblogs: please don’t add on names of pirate sites, okay? no book pirating is the hill I will die on, and this post is specifically for supporting your local libraries and novel authors.

[thebibliosphere]

The problem with Amazon and Indie Publishing.

Hey fam, this is just a heads up from myself and all the others involved with the Weird and Wonderful Holiday Romance anthology regarding the paperback edition.

It’s been brought to our attention that some serious nonsense is happening regarding Amazon and Amazon-owned distributors (looking at you Book Depository) stating falsely that our books are either out of stock (false) going to take two months to ship to you (FALSE) or allowing scalpers to set the price at ridiculous amounts such as these, instead of our actual price:

ID: An image showing the cost of our paperback anthology costing $45.25 instead of our set price of $17.99.

PLEASE DO NOT BUY FROM THIS SELLER.

The marketplace has been hijacked by a scalper who does not represent us or any of our distributors. The anthology should never cost more than $17.99 (+tax/shipping), and it should NOT take two to three months to get to you. It is in stock and ready to be shipped from our printer, Ingram Sparks, today.

As is evident from our Barnes and Noble link:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/weird-wonderful-holiday-romance-anthology-caitlyn-lynch/1133948930?ean=9780998168425

ID: An image showing the cost of our paperback anthology being sold through Barnes & Noble for $17.99, fully in stock and ready to ship and also available for delivery Friday 8th of November with Expedited Shipping, something they would not be able to do if the book was out of stock.

And also here from Ingram Spark themselves:

Sorry for the Potato Quality of this one, but if you click it you will see it is fully ready to ship/download without delay.

So what the heck is going on with Amazon then? Well, as I’m sure you’ll all be shocked to learn: Amazon is a complete bag of dicks and are actively throttling our sales because we chose not to use their printing service. Yep, I’ll say that again: Amazon actively throttles the sales of Indie Authors who choose not to use Kindle Direct to Print as their main printer and distributor and then tries to get you to buy the Kindle Version so THEY can get the sale:

ID: An image showing Amazon giving false information stating the paperback of the anthology “usually ships within 1-2 months. Why wait? Try the Kindle Edition instead and start reading now!”

And if you think that sounds like playing a game of Monoply with your hands tied behind your back, you’d be right!

So what’s the big deal, Joy? Why not just bite the bullet and print things through the KDP store? Well person who was no doubt going to ask this in the comments, I’m glad you asked. Here are multiple reasons:

Number one: Kindle Direct pays less in royalties than other more reputable printers. The difference is about a dollar and change less, but when you factor in the cost of production and how little the indie author actually makes in take home sales, that dollar matters.

Number two: Kindle Direct quality control is an absolute shit-show, and it’s not unheard of for books to be sent out either missing pages, printed upside down, with pages cut in half, or just plain blank! For an example, please check out this post from Nicole Autumns’s twitter dated Nov 4th 2019 to see what we’re dealing with, and also understand why many Indie Authors are starting to drop KDP like the rotten hot potato it is.

Number three: here’s a funny thing, there’s no reason for the KDP quality be be Like That, because with the exception of Australia, KDP’s main printer is (drumroll please!) Ingram Sparks! Yes, that’s right! OUR PRINTER. The one they are saying is out of stock. Now isn’t that interesting. (NB: The article is wrong about earning more through KDP and does not reflect the experiences of our authors or the publisher.)

Number four: we actually did submit for KDP after we realized they were going to throttle our sales, meaning we now go to print at a loss, and also risk shoddy quality control and

Number five: We Shouldn’t Have To! That’s it, that’s the tea. We shouldn’t have to use KDP for them to represent us honestly and act fairly as a distributor, but unfortunately for you me and everyone else who isn’t Jeff F*#!%$NG Bezos, Amazon has no such qualms about things like honesty, fairness or transparency. 

So, why sell with Amazon at all? To put it simply: Because we have to.

Amazon is the #1 retail seller for books, and for a lot of us it’s the only chance we’ll get at gaining any real income from our work. Not everyone has the luxury of a book deal from a Big Publishing house that pays to keep the lights on. And even those are few and far between, and often not as much money as you think they are.

And in case you weren’t boiling mad already? Want to know what else Amazon throttles? Reviews! So if you’ve read our work and enjoyed it? PLEASE leave a review, either on the amazon page out of spite, Good Reads (also owned by Amazon, fyi) or wherever you got your copies of the books from.

Reviews matter so much to authors, they’re not just a nice way of letting people know you liked something, they also keep us relevant to the algorithms and not shunted to the side in favor of people who pay for their reviews, which yes is a thing, and maybe we’ll go into that another time.

So to bring this long ass and extremely worn out post to a close: if you were one of the people who contacted us about this, thank you.

If you were one of the people who expressed interest in the anthology but were put off by Amazon’s bullshit: please take a look at our other paperback distributors.

If you read our anthology: please consider leaving a review! We’re fighting an uphill battle against an unethical multibillion dollar conglomerate that’s got a stranglehold on the industry and we’re all very small and very tired, and speaking for myself, very queer and disabled, so you can imagine the kind of stress we’re under right now.

I dunno how to end this. Support your local author. Eat the rich.

Be excellent to each other.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Rereading TBTP. Might be crying.

IT'S SO GOOD.

I love that we got a flashback arc, and learned so much about Soul Society in the process (tidbits about captain turnover, promotion ceremonies, Vizards pre-banishment, Den of Maggots, etc. I loved getting to learn more about the youthful origins of the above (+ Akon, Aizen, Tousen, Urahara, Yoruichi, Tessai, etc.). And Shinji and Aizen's dynamic(s) are just fascinating.

I haven't personally spent a lot of time thinking about the Vizard characters, but I adore this arc and I think its culmination is both heartbreaking and infuriating--especially since it was apparently so INTENSELY REDACTED from Soul Society's history (even at the level of Gotei 13 leadership) no one is allowed to speak of it and anyone who wasn't around during that time doesn't seem to know about it at all, even as a vague thing that happened? Right? Even though--not even getting into personal losses--it resulted in the condemnation of a whole swath of basically irreplaceable captains and some VCs and anyone worth anything in the Kidou Corps Kidou Corps leadership. At a point where they already didn't have a 10th captain! And then suddenly they're down another, what, four? Five?? SIX?! And this just never??? comes up?? Even after Aizen gets "killed" and there's some kind of ambiguous ryoka invasion afoot.

(On that note, I think it says a lot that even though the Ryoka special edition of the SC gets published, it says almost nothing about the nature of the defection/betrayal, or the whereabouts of Aizen, Tousen, and Ichimaru. Gotta luv the fictive semblance of freedom of the press and transparency of leadership!)

(It also makes me wonder how much history Byakuya knows as Kuchiki head that he just never bothers telling anyone else about. I have a deleted scene from the first Bleach fic I wrote where Ukitake and Hitsugaya do a history deep dive post-Aizen--Ukitake takes the Council of 46 library records and Hitsugaya gets permission from Byakuya to go through the Kuchiki records. And Byakuya is just like "Good. Someone else should also read them" but at no point does he 1) explain what he means by that, 2) offer an explanation of what he thinks is worth finding, or 3) assist, lol. But I ended up taking it out because Ukitake had already gotten his "ffs Byakuya, I know you're being less beneficial to my aims than I know you are capable of being" vibes from other scenes.)

Last summer when we learned that they'd e-published color versions of Bleach manga, we were like, "eh, it looks fine in BW"--but then I looked it up on AmazonJP and was like, oh heck this looks very nice. This is a whole new experience vs. grainy illicit scanlations. (Much love to scanlation teams, who are talented manifestations of divine intent, just like fansubbers. <3333)

So anyway, we went through this whole overinvolved rigamarole of making an AmazonJP account with a fake JP address and a VPN and the Kindle Apple App in order to buy Bleach カラー tankoubon.

The book I chose was TBTP (well, the first half of--because of course it's split across two separate books lmao rip), because it had a bunch of characters in it that I didn't/don't know that well, and I thought it would be fun to see how they interacted and what their dialogue was like in Japanese. I think mostly what I learned is that Shinji and Hiyori talk way too much because a lot of my translation notes are "idk some kansai shit" lololool but that was a lot of fun.

All told, extremely worthwhile ￥528, even though my credit union then flagged my account because it detected potential fraud because of an international purchase, and I had to go deal with them. XP

I mean look at these babies, these children:

These tiny, tiny feet abutting fresh entrails:

Look at the pain of dramatic irony:

The terrifying panic and sadness:

And then to be condemned to death??? For your service? Your sacrifice? As your reward for not dying outright while carrying out your ~sacred duty~ to the ~Soul Society~??? OKAAAAAY THEN.

Ugh, now I wanna reread the second half of TBTP and/or rewatch the whole sequence. ToT <3

[thefangirlphenomenon]

No.2 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (summary at the end if you don't want to read the whole thing)

"Real men wear floral when trespassing"

- Holly Jackson, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

A lot of readers are avid true crime aficionados who love the thrill of watching a true crime documentary under the covers on weekends and secretly think that they could commit the perfect crime, (don’t worry your secret is safe with me, a fellow true crime afficionado). If you spent hours watching Law and Order, Blue Bloods, CSI and saw yourself as a novice sleuth trying to solve the crime before the characters figured it out - then this book is for you.

Besides having two very likeable main characters (although the perfect A + student Pippa is a bit unrelatable, she makes up for it by being so sweet that she would make the sugar pot jealous), this book also has the essence of dark academia. It's not as dark as If We Were Villains or A Secret History but it has the same premise: a student madly consumed by something that they are passionate about that leads to the detriment of those around them and great heartache and sorrow for everyone.

Pippa does the things that every true crime aficionado has imagined themselves doing - solving crimes, being the hero and essentially staring evil in the face and coming out on the other side as the victor. I loved the witty remarks in this book, and it is one of the few YA novels that I have found in the last year that reads like a YA novel. YA novels have recently been saturated with smut (with grown adults rating their spiciness) and very childish protagonists (that turns the book from YA to teen) in my opinion. This book has none of that in, it is simply a YA thriller that will keep you in suspense until the last chapter.

The last thing I just need to mention is the difference in covers. The US cover (left) is far superior to the UK cover (right). The US cover makes you think that the book will be dark and suspenseful while the UK cover looks like the book is meant for children.

Rating: 8/10

Is it worth your money?

In the US the book retails for $3.41 as a paperback. The Kindle version is $8.99.

I would say this book is worth buying and checking out.

Summary of my review:

A great YA thriller that keeps you on your toes. 8/10

[alexisnoir]

I need your help guys in deciding on something...

I wish to buy myself complete collection of Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle. There is so many editions, versions I can’t decide which one would be the best for me so please help me decide. 

I’ll let you know that I’m thinking between English language version and Polish language version.

The English versions I’m considering are:

The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classic Collection) Hardcover

Sherlock Holmes Volume 1: The Complete Novels and Stories Volume I and Volume II Paperback

This two editions I’m considering because:

- the two volume edition I am able to get very cheaply, for less than 1$ for a book and also I love the classical look on the cover

- the Barnes and Noble one just caught my eye in my friends house. The biggest problem I have with this edition is that it’s one big book

The Polish editions are:

Sherlock Holmes wydanie kompletne - 9 books in total, BBC Sherlock themed. From my understanding this was released in Poland only since I could find this edition only in Polish language but I could be wrong and missed something.

Księga wszystkich dokonań Sherlocka Holmesa. Hardcover. Limited edition, one book.

This Polish editions I’m considering because:

- the 9 book collection is organised. I can read either from the end or from the beginning by simply taking out one book and not going through one huge volume in my hands. Besides the covers are BBC Sherlock themed, neat looking.

- the collectors edition is one book, leather bound but I know where I can get it very cheaply. I’m still unsure about that one because it is, as I said above, one huge book. 

I own Metro edition that is huge, over 1000 pages and reading it was a huge pain yet I love that edition because of the Metro Exodus hardcover edition and font inside.  

You may wonder why won’t I simply download the books to my Kindle or go to a library. Firstly, I do have the Kindle version, complete collection but I will be selling this Kindle to a friends mother whose eyesight got so bad she can read comfortably only on Kindle since you can get the font very large. I’ll get another Kindle when it will be on sale. Besides I simply wish to have a book edition in my hands, to read in my bed or outside not being scared my battery will drain on the worst possible moment. 

If anyone of you has any other edition to consider for me, please let me know. 

[cammie-morgan-goode]

Hiya I just found your tumblr and wow the stuff you say about the characters (eg their biggest fights ect) just make so much sense. Besides from your in depth analysis of gg (which i am totally here for) i was wondering if you know anywhere i can find the epilogues of the 10th anniversary editions of gg? Coming from a very broke uni student who can't spend more money bc she already has a set of gg :)

Hi anon! Thank you so much for the kind words! I absolutely love analyzation and these books with a passion!

I definitely know your struggle with trying to find the GG 10th anniversary epilogues! Not many people want to buy the series again in their new versions and I honestly can’t blame them.

I ended up getting them on Amazon kindle. I had purchased the series years ago and found out that I could go onto Amazon and download the new content through my account.

Now, I know not many people have digital copies of these books. So, I have looked and found a couple places to read the epilogues but, I don’t think they have all of them.

There’s a book on wattpad that has “declassified” GG content. Deleted scenes and some epilogues. Also, you can find some on the GG wiki page. Or! If you have a friend that has access to the content, you can have them send it to you!

I also have screenshots that I got from friends if you would like me to email them to you or screenshot them and send them to you on tumblr!

[thelagomlifestyle]

21 Healthy Habits And Goals To Incorporate In 2021

2020 was quite exhausting to be very frank both mentally and physically. For some, it was a chance to learn something new, slow down and focus on themselves but for others, it was mentally exhausting to the point that it led to laziness, procrastination, and delay in work without a proper routine.

In this blog post, we are going to cover 21 healthy habits and goals to maintain a balanced lifestyle.

I want each and everyone to take it slow and not put too much pressure to achieve all these goals at once because it takes time to build a habit.

All I want to say ‘Do not give up’

One and a half months have already passed and during the new year a lot of us must have set some resolutions for ourselves like we do every year.

Most of us are still going strong and that’s great but for those who feel like they are not able to keep up with their resolutions ‘It’s completely okay, you can still start’.

1) Prioritize Your ME Time

Having ME time is an important part of our daily life be it at night for a few hours after work or maybe on weekends when you have the whole day to yourself.

Watch your favourite Netflix show, take a nice shower, create a skincare routine wherein you pamper yourself by scrubbing, a nice face pack, and a face mask, eat whatever you feel like on weekends (cheat day), light a scented candle to uplift your mood

Try this scented candle which not only smells amazing but is super affordable at the same time. It instantly lift up your mood.

I have used their Rose, Ocean and Jasmine fragrance and it feels so good when you light up and listen to music or read a book. I mean there must be a lot of things you feel like doing but you can’t prioritize yourself throughout the week, these are just a few examples above.

I would suggest making the most out of your ME time.

2) Eat Nutritious Meals

Try to add fruits and vegetables to your diet.

I am not a fan of dieting at all and I try to eat homemade food throughout the week and have a cheat day on weekends just to balance out

Honestly, it is impossible to have too much homemade food or too much junk, we need to balance out.

One thing which I need to focus on this year is to include fruits in my diet because I eat less fruits and it’s not that I don’t like them but I just don’t know the reason.

Maybe I am too lazy to eat fruits

Anyways, include green vegetables in your meal throughout the week and fruits as well as it’s going to be good for your health, skin and also for your digestive system.

3) Drink More Water

I just can’t focus on how important it is to drink water.

It might sound basic but remember basics are the hardest to incorporate.

I know everybody knows the importance of drinking water but I would still like to state a few:

It keeps your skin healthy

Removes body waste

Improves digestion

Improves blood circulation

There are tons of other advantages but I have mentioned a few basic ones here.

A tip: Carry a water bottle with you wherever you go and refill after a few hours in case you are like me and feel lazy to go to the kitchen and get water.

4) Journaling

This is something that I started last year during lock down when things started getting pretty exhausting mentally and I wanted something to brain dump all my thoughts.

Journaling requires you to be true to yourself and be as transparent with your thoughts as possible.

There is no one to judge you, it’s just you and your diary.

Also, journaling helps you feel mentally relaxed and lets you reflect on certain situations and dilemmas going on in your life.

5) Schedule Your Sleep

My 2021 goal is to have a proper sleep cycle because 2020 has worsened my sleep schedule.

I used to sleep at 2 or 3 am most of the days in 2020 because of lack of motivation.

Get 7-8 hours of sleep in a flow and sleep early so that you can wake up on time.

It is going to make you look fresh in the morning instead of getting puffy eyes when you wake up. Also, it affects your health.

I am telling you all this because I have been there and it did affect my health and my face used to look super dull.

I am trying to improve my sleep schedule and trying to wake up early. Of course, it is going to take time but you have to be persistent.

6) Spending Time In Nature

If you want peace and need to calm your thoughts then being close to nature is the perfect answer.

It helps you reduce stress and increase your happiness.

Last year we were locked inside our homes and nobody was allowed to go outside.

Now that things are getting back to normal try to spend as much time in nature as possible.

Go to parks near your place, plan trips where you can be close to nature or maybe put as many plants as you want in your house.

7) Make Your Bed As Soon As You Wake Up

It is a good habit to make your bed as soon as you wake up as it prevents you from getting back to bed instantly and also reduces mental stress

Imagine you come back after work to a cluttered bed I am sure it is going to exhaust you mentally and now imagine if you come home to a nice, clean bed you will feel so relaxed.

So make sure you make your bed as soon as you wake up.

8) Social Media Detox

We all need a break from social media from time to time.

I mean there is no point in endlessly scrolling your feed and wasting your time and energy.

Social media is also one of the major reasons for procrastination.

Only follow people who inspire you and avoid following people who make you feel bad about yourself and fill you with negative or toxic thoughts.

Do not let anyone or anything question your identity.

Consciously, start giving your precious time to your friends and family instead of unnecessarily being on social media.

Set a specific time you want to use social media or set a limit.

9) Read Books

To be honest, I was never a big fan of reading books until last year when of course there was a lock down and we were trying to learn something new or build a nice habit.

That was the time I started reading books and the book that I read was a self-help one which changed my perspective to perceive life to a whole new level

The book is written by VEX KING named – GOOD VIBES, GOOD LIFE.

If you haven’t read this book please read it. It is an amazing one.

Written in simple language and something which is guaranteed to change your mindset.

I somehow love this new habit and I try my best to read a book daily for 20-30 min either in the morning or before sleeping.

You know until last year I was in no position to guide you why reading books is a good habit but now I am pretty sure that I am in a position to tell you.

It enhances your creativity, increases your knowledge and you know knowledge is never wasted.

You can use a kindle or paperback version, whatever you feel comfortable with. I prefer paperback so that I can be away from the screen for a few minutes.

10) Celebrate Small Wins

It is important to celebrate small wins in your life instead of being harsh on yourself.

Celebrating small wins will make you feel motivated to grow more in life and make you feel good about yourself.

11) Prioritize Meditation

Start by meditating 10-15 minutes each day if you are just starting out but I would say START.

There are a number of apps like Headspace, Calm, or Youtube where you can follow a guided meditation.

It is going to calm your mind and let you sit in stillness and reflect on your thoughts and emotions.

12) Set Boundaries

Setting boundaries should be given priority in life.

Do not entertain anything which makes you feel uneasy.

Also, learn to say NO when you don’t feel like doing a certain thing.

I know I know it is not easy to say NO to a lot of people and I am one of them.

I always feel like I am going to hurt the other person without realizing that the thing is being done at the expense of my happiness.

Another important thing, communicate with people and let them know if you don’t like a certain situation so that they know there is a thin boundary that they should not cross.

13) Being Productive/Organized

Okay, being organized is something that I suck at and I feel like I am telling you guys about so many weaknesses of mine.

But like so many of you I am also trying to be a better version of myself.

I really need to start planning a day or week ahead to stay productive in life because I am really bad at planning things

This is the reason I end up completing most of my tasks at the eleventh hour.

This is something that I need to focus on in 2021 so that I can make the most out of it.

Plan monthly tasks related to work or set weekly or monthly goals or plans. There are a lot of things you can do to stay organized.

Use either a dairy to write your to-do list or if you can then buy a productivity planner to keep you organized. There are so many productivity apps out there as well.

14) Get Therapy Or Consult A Counsellor

This is a serious topic which I need everybody to take seriously.

IT IS TOTALLY OKAY TO CONSULT A THERAPIST IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE SUFFOCATING FROM WITHIN

Do not care if anybody is trying to judge you because it’s your lie and nobody has the right to judge you in this matter.

Most people don’t normalize going to a therapist which I feel is so wrong.

It is so difficult for people to tell that they are seeing a therapist

Why?

People think anybody visiting a therapist is either crazy or has serious mental problems.

Especially after last year which took a toll on a lot of people’s mental health we need to accept the fact that it’s fine if we seek help.

I mean we all need help at some point or the other in our lives and there are certain things we do not find comfortable to share with our closed ones.

The fact is now it’s time to change our thought process and focus on our mental health more.

Normalize saying “I am visiting a therapist”

15) Slow Down And Give Yourself A Break

Last year became the year we all were forced to slow down in our lives.

Things didn’t go as planned and life became a bit complicated in a lot of ways.

We got so much time in our hands to self-reflect and learn so much about ourselves.

Instead of rushing through this year try to take things slow and take each day at a time.

I am in no sense asking you guys to not be productive, all I am saying is don’t put too much pressure on yourself or do not overestimate your goals.

Take one task at a time and give your best at it.

16) Create A Thin Line Between Spending And Saving

I mentioned this point in one of my previous posts where I mentioned how important it is to save money and not to spend it on unnecessary things.

Things you only desire but don’t need.

Again last year taught us the importance of saving money because when so many people were unemployed they relied on their savings.

Make a point to save as much as possible this year and in the coming year because life is so uncertain, you never know what is going to happen next.

17) Invest In Yourself

Invest in yourself means this year make a point to learn a lot of new things be it new courses or seminars, maybe a good workout or reading a new book, listening to a podcast.

Spending your time and money on something which will help you grow into a better person is the best choice you can make.

It’s good to unlearn and learn in life. Also, it’s a fact that knowledge is never wasted.

18) Stay Away From Toxic People

Stay around quality people because that’s the best gift you can give yourself.

Also, that is a sign of self-love.

I read an amazing post of Steven Bartlett on Instagram wherein he says

“Being selective about how you spend your time and who you spend your time with is a sign of self-respect.” –  Steven Bartlett

19) Practice Gratitude

One of the healthy habits which we tend to ignore is practicing gratitude.

Practicing gratitude is like a continuous journey which makes you feel good about life and gives a positive perspective altogether.

There are a number of ways you can practice gratitude –  by keeping a gratitude journal, gratitude prayer and being kind.

I have written a detailed post on how effective practicing gratitude is for your mental health.

20) Declutter Your Surroundings

A decluttered space brings you positive vibes and a clear mental state as well.

Take some time out daily for 15 minutes to clean your space especially on weekends so that throughout the week you don’t have to stress too much over cleanliness.

At least make your bed daily in the morning as soon as you wake up.

21) Stop Being Afraid Of Failure & START

Failure is something which can paralyze your thought process and you are so afraid to start anything which makes you feel uncomfortable.

Start taking baby steps and do not worry about the results. Focus on learning new things throughout the journey.

Also, remember it is okay to fail because at the end of the day you got to learn something new.

If you don’t start anything which makes you feel uncomfortable you won’t ever come out of your comfort zone. Also, you never know when these small steps can give you big results.

Words From The Lagom Lifestyle:

It’s high time we need to focus on ourselves and take care of our mental health.

Don’t be in a rush to take up all the goals together and go on with one at a time.

You have a full year to try these new habits and enjoy the process. Take things slowly and do not rush anything.

You might feel these are so basic points that I have mentioned but trust me sometimes the basics are the hardest to keep up with.

All the best for this New Year. I wish we could have the courage and move towards our dream life

Lots of Love, Sejal

[dahvangogh]

and empty words are evil | jason todd

[ prologue | one | two | three | four | five ]

[ao3 link] [masterlist]

note: hello there!I usually post a new chapter every Tuesday but I had my finals this week and it was impossible for me to finish the damn chapter on time. So, I'm sorry. If this happens again, I promise I'll say something on my Tumblr. Now with the chapter... There is a certain scene I'm very happy to finally post, though I'm not very happy about how I wrote the big final scene.Thank you all for your comments, hits and kudos, they have all made me so so so happy. Now, I want to ask... Is my writing okay? I find it a bit stiff or weird, though because it's not my native language I'm not sure if that's true or it's truly okay.What do you think about the new chapter? Did you like it? What do you think will happen next? Please, leave a comment down below if you can and see you on the next one!

Much love xx

CHAPTER FOUR

“As if you were on fire from within.

The moon lives in the lining of your skin.” – Pablo Neruda

Saturday had been ethic, to say the least. Grace had accompanied Lisa to Gotham City General Hospital after her friend had called her boss a thousand times and he hadn’t answered the phone. Her blonde friend could be fun and always ready for trouble, but she would always be the first one to lend a helping hand. The Hospital’s main entrance had been crowded with police guarding the doors and reporters crowding around.

Grace had waited outside while Lisa went inside through the employees’ door. Ten minutes later, and a headache from the shouts and yells from the paparazzi to the poor policemen doing their job, she had gotten a text from her friend telling her she was staying to help and will call her later.

The raven-haired had gone to a small bookshop, a hidden gem in the gothic-themed city, trying to calm her rage with a new book.

She had ended buying a beautiful vintage version of Wuthering Heights, despite having read it in her kindle many times, and sat all morning in a Parisian-themed café. She had finished it whole while sipping a cappuccino with the sirens of the police cars and ambulances as a background soundtrack.

That evening, after having a small meal due to her queasy stomach, she had pressed play to her 70s music playlist and cleaned her house from head to bottom until everything was spotless. After finishing, she had taken a relaxing bath and almost drowned when falling asleep in the bathtub. After that, Grace had chatted a bit with Lisa, who had seemed tired and without wanting to talk much about the hospitalized police officers or anything; then ate a small dinner, again due to her unsettled stomach, and finally, she had jumped to her big comfy bed.

She sighs, hugging one of her big pillows, turning around and still not comfortable.

Tomorrow…

The room is pitch dark, except the soft night light sneaking through the curtains that cover her ceiling to floor windows, and the raven-haired doesn’t hear any sounds, as usual, emitted by the busy city below her tower.

She will pay for what she has done.

She turns again, this time face down while hugging a bit her pillow, and places her head looking to the side.

Finally comfortable, Grace drifts off.

[ -  -  - ]

Grace feels on cloud nine.

Her bed has never felt as comfortable and warm as it does now, so she refuses to wake up. She wants to prolong this moment for as long as she can, to break such a rare moment of peace –where her anxiety is tamed and not as high as a skyscraper, or her hands aren’t feeling clammy despite rubbing them together nonstop–, would be like committing a sacrilege.

So, she keeps her eyes closed and her face furrowed on her warm pillow.

Her hand, resting on her flat stomach, starts moving –without her wanting to– and travels until touching something hard but warm.

She feels the steady beat of a heart through the palm of her hand.

Though, it isn’t her heart.

The raven-haired wants to go full alert, her mind screaming inside about the dangers of someone being near her while she is so vulnerable, but her body doesn’t follow orders.

She has never felt more at ease than she does now.

Don’t mistake her, Grace’s mind keeps screaming inside her, still trying to make her body answer but yet she remains in the same position.

Grace stays laying face down with her hand on someone’s hard chest.

She feels a strong big arm sneak under her neck, now acting as another pillow despite her head lying on one, and its hand starts combing through her hair, the movements slow and steady.

It feels so good, she almost moans out loud.

Her feet finally move a bit, swimming in the sea of silky and soft sheets, until they meet the touch of another pair. Her toes shyly touch the foreigner limbs for a few seconds, as if exploring and meeting someone new. Instinctively then, instead of jumping out of the bed as any sane person would, she interlocks their limbs together.

That gets her a reaction from the mysterious being.

A soft caress on her cheek, so soft and loving she wants to cry and beg for the touch to never stop, and so she answers tugging his feet closer towards her limbs.

“Love… ” the low male whisper is as soft as a feather and gives her goosebumps, “Love.”

She opens her eyes slowly, forgetting the warnings her mind keeps shouting inside her and discerns a pale chiseled jaw connected to a thick and strong-looking neck thanks to the night light sneaking through her curtains.

“Oh, there she is.” the mocking tone on the voice doesn’t hide how loving the sentence sounds, plump lips curling into the hottest and sweetest smile she has ever seen. “Hello, love.”

Her fingertips itch to touch him, to memorize those soft lips and strong jaw so later she can draw him until she runs out of paper, and it makes her feel so weird and stalkerish. Grace feels her cheeks redden and quickly looks down, accidentally moving and placing her head on the croak of his neck, hiding from him.

He chuckles softly.

“Oh, I see... we playing hide and seek?” his big hand combs through her locks, calmly untangling her dark tresses. Then, just as calm, he begins his countdown. “Ten…”

He is so warm and she feels truly safe and loved in his arms.

Her stare is directly on his abs, now realizing that her lover sports a ridiculously perfect six-pack which unintentionally makes her toes twitch. She can’t help herself and so her stare travels a bit lower.

“Five”

Grace bites her lip when seeing the dark happy trail below his belly button and follows it with her eyes, almost gasping out loud when seeing his V line. Her eyes go up, trying not to see what’s lower of that V line, and sees his broad chest. She can’t help but think, how it is much better sculpted than even Michelangelo’s David. Her hand, already placed on it from before, slowly travels towards the attractive jaw with her eyes following the movement.

She caresses his strong jaw, feeling the beginning of stubble growing, sighing loudly as she cups his cheek.

“One.”

He feels so soft and warm, perfectly fitting the palm of her hand as if it had been created just for her, and so she sighs again, totally entranced.

After six years of avoiding any physical touch or intimacy, Grace feels like she wants to kiss someone.

Her toes curl at the thought of losing herself in his arms, to devour those soft and plump lips of his until she is left breathless and her body completely flushed.

Grace closes her eyes and turns her face to the side, reverently kissing his palm once.

She hears him emit a low sound that makes her tummy and a place lower inside her throb until her toes curl again. It is a foreigner feeling, one she has never felt before, almost scaring her how her whole body is burning with want and need.

“Don’t leave me.”

She can’t help but beg.

He feels like how perfection probably feels like.

His arms feel strong and loving, and it has been a long time since Grace has felt as loved and protected as she does now, and he tugs her closer.

“Please…”

She opens her eyes, wanting to remember this moment; a tear falling and running through her cheek.

Her lover, propping himself up on an elbow while hugging her towards him, kisses the hand on his cheek. Then, his face comes closer until the tip of his nose rubs her own in an Eskimo kiss.

She can’t help herself and smiles lovingly at him, her arms encircling his neck and hugging him towards her.

“Be with me always. Take any form, drive me mad!” she lets out a small gasp, his quoting of Wuthering Heights making her thighs rub together. “Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you... ”

His left-hand cups her cheek, tenderly caressing it, and she tilts her head towards it.

“Oh, God. it is unutterable... ” he nips at her lower lip, then drags it towards him and lets it go with a soft kiss. His cheeks are tinted adorably red. “I can not live without my life, I can not live without my soul.”

She looks up, needing eye-contact and to discover if his eyes are as beautiful as she sees him is, when everything goes dark.

Grace wakes up, desperately looking beside her and patting the empty bedside beside her as if searching for him, then looks at the alarm on her nightstand.

It’s 05:55.

The raven-haired fans herself with her hand, tying her hair up despite the tresses sticking to her neck and face.

It felt so real.

Why did it feel so real?

She rubs her thighs together, sweat coating her forehead and feeling too hot despite the doors of her bedroom’s balcony being wide open. Grace gulps, her mouth feeling as dry as sandpaper, and she raises from her bed.

Immediately, she notices how wet her panties are.

“Oh god… ”

The raven-haired goes to the kitchen, opens the refrigerator and picks up a glass water bottle. She chugs it, drinking straight from the bottle instead of pouring it in a glass as she usually would, and smacks it against the marble aisle.

She puts her hands on her hips and almost jumps from how weird the contact feels, her body still feels clammy and too tender.

Grace decides a cold shower and a change of pajamas, underwear included, is in order.

The shower is as quick as lightning, probably similar to those that superhero Flash has, and she quickly picks up one of her brand new sketch pads and her pencil case on her way to her living room’s balcony.

She plops herself in the white armchair and draws him, all that she saw of him and touched with her fingers, drafting and drawing him throughout many pages of her sketchpad.

Ten pages just of his body.

His thick and strong neck.

His chiseled jaw.

His plump lips.

His sweet and perfect smile.

The only thing that makes her wake up from this sort of trance, after three hours of drawing him so she will remember him when her mind fails to, is her phone ringing annoyingly.

She picks it up.

“Bitch! I’ve been bombarding you with messages since an hour ago!” Lisa’s loud voice makes her furrow her brows. “You okay?”

Grace gulps and tries to smile.

“Yeah… yeah. ” she nods, which is stupid because Lisa can’t see her. “I was just drawing, you know how I get when I’m in my bubble… ”

“Oh, yeah. Well, why don’t we go to Pauli’s Diner for a good breakfast and to disconnect?”

Grace raises a brow.

“Aren’t you still at work?”

“Nah, the boss gave me Sunday off because I went to help yesterday.” She hears her friend sigh dramatically. “I offered my free Saturday to help and he said I could have today off. Weird, right? Since when is my boss a good person that cares about others? But fuck it, a good breakfast will do me some good.”

She laughs at her best friend’s ramble.

“Okay, see you in fifteen minutes on our spot!”

Grace stands up, her sketchpad and blanket dropping on the floor.

“Wait! I can’t… ”

But her friend already hung up.

“Lisa! ”

[ - - - ]

The first thing Grace does after coming back from her breakfast with Lisa is to take an Advil. Then, she proceeds to shut the curtains, and only when the room is completely pitch black, she lays down on the bed and falls into the arms of Morpheus.

She wakes up at four pm thanks to the mailman, her migraine gone almost completely.

Yesterday, on her way home from the Parisian-themed café, she had dialed her father and asked for the urgent delivery of antivenin doses.

After six years, he didn’t even question her.

“It will be at your house tomorrow, sweetheart. Please… whatever it is, be careful.”

It seems, despite her never explaining anything, her father somehow knew she leads a sort of dangerous life. Though thankfully, he hadn’t mentioned it to her mother or long ago, Grace would have been submitted to extensive interrogation by her mom.

She opens the package and scans its contents. Three antivenins doses in its syringes with a plastic cap protecting their thin needles.

“Tonight,” she mutters to herself while storing them away in a small pouch in the utility belt of her suit. She stares at the black suit and touches it, her body shaking with excitement. “Tonight”.

Then, Grace prepares a quick meal and eats it in her living room’s balcony while finishing an essay for one of her classes, with a fluffy blanket protecting her body against the cold October wind.

She thinks and overthinks about what to do with Quinn.

I should drag her and Ivy to the GCPD with a bow tied around them.

She slowly chews her garlic bread, then drinks a bit more of her fresh orange juice.

Or should I just kill them? From what I know, both have killed their fair innocent people before Friday and they are a danger to society.

Grace keeps pondering about it while brushing her teeth, then tying her hair up in a bun, and changing into her sports bra and yoga pants.

She would probably decide what to do while training in the gym.

Probably.

[ - - - ]

It is truly a pity that Toxic Acres’s newly built houses and its neighborhood will forever, or at least until further notice, remain unsuitable as a residence for civilians due to its close proximity to a toxic waste dump.

The neighborhood is actually beautiful, though it is a deadly beauty.

Grace thinks she is immune to the toxicity surrounding the neighbor. When she had visited Quinn’s home the night they met and the other many times, including her special delivery of explosives, she hadn’t felt sick at all or had any subsequent effects of poisoning due to toxicity.

Yet, she knows Poison Ivy is an expert in not only poisonous plants and toxins but also of entrancing people with her pheromones.

Therefore, she had injected one of the antivenins at home before putting her suit and gear on and teleporting to the neighborhood.

Better safe than sorry, right?

Now, in front of Quinn’s apartment door, Grace seriously considers knocking or ringing the bell. Her good manners and impeccable vocabulary are always present, even before killing or arresting someone.

My parents raised me to be a proper lady… And while I don’t know if I’m a lady, I am totally well-mannered.

She ends up deciding that today she will be a bit rude.

The raven-haired extends her left hand and Jedi-like slides her palm, the main door opening without resistance from any lock.

Grace high heeled boots clatter as she walks herself in uninvited.

Why do I feel so edgy?

She hears Bud and Lou immediately come running towards her, their hoot-laugh annoying her to no end, and so she decides to quickly put them to sleep. She snaps her fingers and hears the sound of them collapsing to the floor.

“Bud?! Lou?!” Harley sounds between worried and alarmed. She keeps walking through the hallway towards the big living room. “My babies!”

She reclines her body on the threshold of the room, smiling sweetly despite wanting to knock Harley’s teeth off.

“Grace?” Harley’s pale face is masked in confusion, her head adorably tilted. “What are ya’ doing here?”

Liar liar liar liar liar liar liar liar

Quinn is sitting on the sofa, curled up into Poison Ivy’s side, wearing a set of black and red pajamas with diamond and heart symbols printed all over it. Despite that, she is wearing matching makeup on and her hair is styled in two ponytails.

“Hello, Harley.”

She turns towards the redhead and almost steps back.

The pull that woman has is powerful and scary at the same time. Her aura and body are constantly emitting pheromones and toxins, and just in case Grace lets her power visibly curl around her to protect herself.

“Harl, is that your friend Grace?” Ivy’s seductive and airy voice asks Quinn.

Pamela Isley is painfully beautiful in a unique way. Long fiery-red hair falling in soft waves around her torso, tan skin glowing and plump green lips. She is wearing silk pale green pajamas and they look more sensual than comfortable or homey.

The couple coordinately stands up from the big red sofa, the unconscious hyenas scattered near it, and look to her as if expecting her to explain why did she break-in.

Duh.

“You must be Ivy.” she smiles to the redhead, nodding her head. “Pleasure to finally meet you.”

Through the corner of her eye, she sees vines and plants start curling around the walls and floor. Ivy sort of smiles, probably feeling between friendliness and suspicion due to the green bluish aura surrounding her –or the unconscious hyenas–, and nods to what she just said.

“Likewise. Harley has told me everything about you.” the couple is now five feet away from her, though the blonde is kneeling while trying to wake up her dear pets. “A friend of Harl is a friend of mine.”

She mockingly opens her mouth in surprise.

“A friend of Harley?” she feigns astonishment, even going as far as placing a hand atop her right breast. “Me?”

Harley looks up while still remaining in the same position.

“Of course, you’re my friend. Ya’ helped me! ”

She would have smiled at Harley’s sweet smile if she wasn’t as angry as she currently was.

“But friends don’t lie to each other, right Harley?”

The blonde tilts her head, then stands.

“What… whatcha mean?”

Ivy takes a step towards her, vines and plants falling from the ceiling and bursting from the floor, the living room starting to look more like a botanic garden than a homey place.

“The police, Harley.” she tilts her head, a maniac smile appearing on her face. “The police.”

Harley stands up while blinking quizzically, then it seems she finally gets it and smiles shamefaced, her mouth curling in a bashful smile.

“Oops.”

Grace clenches her fists and the ceiling blows up, vines and plants falling from the sky as if it was raining nature.

“My plants! How dare you!?”

Ivy’s scream doesn’t even faze her, the raven-haired too angry with the harlequin to even feel threatened or scared.

“10 people have died in total, Quinn! Ten! And two are in critical condition!” she yells and the sofa and tv explode. Quinn, just shrugs which makes her even angrier than before, “You promised!”

“Accidents happen, ya’ know?”

The blonde’s high pitched voice annoys her now more than ever.

“You little piece of shit… ” Grace takes a step forward and extends her hand, going for her usual neck chokehold. She doesn’t even register her own coarse vocabulary. “You are so dead.”

Harley floats up in the air but before flying towards her glowing hand, vines start encircling her legs and arms, binding her to the floor.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” the redhead raises her perfectly plucked brow and new vines emerge from the floor, slapping and trying to stab her. “It’s over for you, nature always wins.”

She swats them away with her power, the vines either catching on fire or completely burning out.

Poison Ivy screams, a sound so high and piercing that Grace feels like her eardrums will probably burst and she will end up deaf. Out of nowhere, Harley jumps high towards her, swinging her circus hammer –where the hell did she get, it is a mystery to her– and she extends her hand, seeing clearly the perfect opening to grab the blonde.

Bingo.

Harley’s neck is now on her hand.

“I specially asked you to not kill any of the GCPD while you helped Ivy escape or I would kill you with my bare hands.” A circle of power protects both of them from Ivy’s nonstop attacks, though Grace doesn’t pay her as much attention as she probably should. The ebony-haired raises the hand she isn’t using, bites her index finger and slides her leather black glove off. “I keep my promises.”

The circus hammer falls to the ground as Grace tightens her hold on the blonde’s neck with her gloveless hand.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” the harlequin is still smiling and talking despite her very strong grip. A sudden attack of many pointy and deadly looking vines makes Grace lose her balance a bit, but the defense circle repels it and even sets on fire a few of them. “This is just a misunderstanding… I thought you said civilians, not cops!”

“Cut the bullshit! I clearly said cops!” her grip tightens even more, by now any normal person would have already blacked out or even died from lack of oxygen. “Stop lying!”

“Drop her or you will end up being fertilizer for my dear plants!”

“Oh, shut it.” she makes a motion of shooing her away with her gloveless hand, but Ivy uses her vines as a shield. “You will be next, don’t worry!”

Ivy’s next attack almost shatters the defensive shield.

“Quinn, last words?”

The redheaded vines raise up in the sky, thicker and more pointy than ever, the moon shining through the thick and lush vines.

“Believe me, no one wants to hear them.”

The words are followed with loud sounds of shots being fired and the surprise makes her drop Harley. Quickly, Grace creates a new protecting circle around herself. After all, the other shield was close to being completely shattered.

That voice… Red Hood? Impossible!

She looks up while Harley runs towards where Ivy is.

It seems the ceiling hadn’t blown up completely before, for he is standing up on the floor of the apartment above them while shooting down towards Ivy and her vines –the later using her plants as a shield for Harley and herself–.

His aura burns so brightly and fiercely, it almost makes her fear that she will catch on fire and burn too.

“Red?”

He looks exactly like he did back then.

She is alarmed that she feels happy and elated that he didn’t die.

“Don’t worry, I will take care of you when I finish with these two.”

Grace huffs loudly at his audacity, despite her clearly being able to kill him with the snap of her fingers.

“Take care of me? Careful or I will throw a wall to your face.”

She hears his loud laugh, technologically modified by his helmet.

“We will see.”

Through the corner of her eye Grace registers Harley picking up her circus hammer and new pointy stems of plants rising from the ground.

“This is all very nice and shit, but she attacked me first!”

Harley yells while marching towards her.

“Because you killed those cops, you liar!”

Poison Ivy’s stem rise and thicken, their pointy ends shinning by the light from the moon, advancing towards her.

It seems Red Hood takes pity on her and he unleashes a curvy blade, jumping atop the thick stems and slashing them.

Focus on Harley.

She sends bolt after bolt of her powers to the blonde, but she keeps dogging them and approaching her. Grace quickly muses and decides that she needs to  try something new, and so she concentrates her power on her hands and sends a blast.

“Nature always wins, Red Hood!”

It hits Harley directly on the chest and sends her flying towards the opposite wall.

She analyses her aura, its flames dull and calm, and so she realizes that the blonde is completely knocked out.

Grace turns towards Ivy and Red Hood, the later wrestling with a thick stem while dodging attack after attack from other stems. The raven-haired looks around, searching for something to tie up Harley until she remembers she always carries a few zip ties on one of the pouches in her utility belt.

She ties Harley’s hands behind her back and punches her in the face.

“That’s for lying, you clown.”

The maniac cackle of Ivy alarms her.

“That’s it, you are dead!”

She turns, alarmed by those words, and sees the exact moment when one of the many thick pointy stems cuts him on his left wrist. He had been wrestling and cutting plant after plant with his curved blade while Ivy relentlessly attacked him.

“Red?!”

Grace sends a concentrated and powerful blast towards Poison Ivy and it hits the redhead right on the face, knocking her to the nearest wall. The plants recede into the ground or curl away from the ceiling until the room no longer looks like a botanical garden and more like a messy and wrecked living room.

He turns around, his LED white eyes staring at her, wobbling while taking a step further.

“You… ”

He staggers again, his strong and heavy body swaying a bit, and groans while putting one of his gloved hands to his face.

Twenty bucks say that plant was poisonous.

“That crazy bitch… ”

She circles him and walks towards Ivy, kneeling on the ground and tying the redhead’s hands behind her back.

“There.”

Grace hears another groan and she looks over her shoulder.

“Don’t move, I will hand your ass to… the… police. ”

She tries not to laugh out loud at seeing him, so big and strong looking, wobbling like that while still trying to go up against her.

“Oh Red, you never fail to amuse… ”

“Stay there.”

He takes a step further and suddenly drops to the ground, the loud sound of his body hitting the floor matching with his loud groan.

She gasps, quickly rising and approaching him.

Grace kneels beside him, picking both his wrists to searching for the slash.

He grabs her wrist, his hold tight.

“What do you... think… you are doing?”

She searches through her pouches in her utility belt and takes one of the two remaining syringes out, dropping it in his chest. Then, she grabs the wrist where the slash is and rolls up his sleeve. His pale forearm is heavy and looks strong, her two arms probably make one of his, the veins bulging out quite a bit and she tries not to think how hot it is.

What can she say, she always had a thing for veiny hands and arms.

“What? No… no…  no.”

He tries to break free from her hold but she tugs his arm so it stays in place.

“I’m saving your life, you dumbass. So be quiet and stay put.”

With her free hand, she quickly picks up the syringe and bites the cap off the needle. Then, she holds his wrist so tightly it cuts his circulation and when a blueish vein stands out notoriously, she injects the needle and plunges the antivenin in.

“It’s antivenin, you will feel better in a few minutes.” She extracts the needle, pressing her tumb where she injected it so it does leave a bruise. “I’m afraid I don’t have anything to disinfect the slash though.”

He grunts in answer.

“Oh, you big baby.” she mocks him, then laughs while shaking her head. “Are you carrying any Band-Aids?”

He grunts again which makes her laugh.

“Want me to kiss it better?”

Now, it's his turn to laugh –the sound while technologically modified still sounds throaty and low.

“Well, this was fun but I’m getting out of here.” She pats him in the chest and sees how the bat symbol lights up, ready to leat a bolt of energy out. Grace quickly directs her power to her hands right in time to the symbol letting out a potent electrical shock. “Nice try.”

She stands up while he sits down holding his head, snapping her fingers and making the used syringe and cap disappear.

“I don’t remember that happening last time… What, you got that thing because you didn’t like me touching you?” she feigns to be hurt, though inside she feels alarmed that she might have hurt him last time with her careless actions. “I’m hurt.”

You hate people touching you that way, but then go around throwing yourself in someone’s arms without asking for his consent? You big hypocrite.

“No.” the word sounds guttural, though he quickly clears his throat and stands up. “It had been malfunctioning for a few days, you were just lucky.”

She tilts her head when she sees him put a hand at the back of his neck.

Is he embarrassed?

Grace laughs while turning around, ready to walk away and get the hell out of this place.

“Where the hell do you think you are going?”

He grabs her left wrist and turns her around.

“Me? Home.”

He laughs as if he can’t believe her.

“Don’t think so. I’m handing your ass in.”

She clicks her tongue.

“Why?”

“10 people died because of the explosives you gave Harley. Don’t feign ignorance, sweetheart?”

She sighs and relaxes her body, tilting her head up to see him because of how tall he is.

“Would you believe me if I tell you that I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt?” she points at Harley with her free hand. “I told her not to kill anyone, she lied to me and said she wouldn’t.”

He stares at her, not saying anything.

“That’s why I came here.” she shrugs while feeling like the worst person on the planet. “I was going to hand those two in.”

He tilts his head, his hold on her hand relaxing a bit.

“Sorry but that looked like you were going to strangle Quinn.”

His tone is mocking.

“She can be very annoying.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

She laughs at his comment, shaking her head.

“Let go of my wrist.” her voice is barely a whisper. “Please.”

He does as she said, though he takes a step further until they are both standing as close as humanly possible. She looks up even more than before, mentally cursing him for being so freaking tall, and places her hands on his hips.

“Now… can I go?”

“No.”

She pouts.

“Pretty please?”

He huffs and shakes his head.

“No.”

She concentrates a bit of her power on her hands and places them on his chest, the bat symbol uselessly letting go another electrical shock, and she shakes her head imitating him.

“Oh, c’mon Red!” she pouts again, trying to look seductive or at least cute enough to not hand her to the GCPD. “Pretty please with a cherry on top?”

He laughs loudly, a throaty sound that comes from deep within which she can feel through her glowy hands, and lowers his head so it’s closer to her face.

“Cute but no.”

She sighs dejected, then nods while patting his chest

“I’m sorry, Red.”

The glow in her hands brighten and he realizes what is about to happen, trying to pull back and avert the upcoming attack.

“Too late.”

She sends a blast his way and he collides with the wall, dropping to a sitting position beside Quinn’s unconscious form.

Grace takes advantage of his disoriented state and opens a portal to Robinson Park, where she plans to open another one to her house.

“Men… Always falling to the same old tricks.”

She sighs while saying it, knowing he will hear her, and crosses the portal until she is standing on the city’s main park. She turns around and sees him already standing up and running towards her.

“Bye, Red!”

Grace closes the portal on his face.

[ace-and-aro-support-group]

Asexual Representation in Fantasy!

If you're looking for a fantasy book with a unique world, captivating plot, and charming notes at the end, I strongly recommend The Last King of the Mountain by Camryn Daytona. I just read it and I loved it. Here's the description from Goodreads:

Ever since her mother Queen Aramaris was killed by the Malda, Ariawyn has been raised to be the next Queen Of Lathai. But she feels unprepared for her role, and instead flees from the elven lands, joining a group of wandering dwarves and returning to their homeland in Fighgarum.

As Ariawyn finds herself embroiled in the politics of the dwarves, those she left behind grapple with a kingdom that has lost its heir, an over ambitious regent, and unwelcome tidings from the Northern Isles.

I wanted to highlight this book because Camryn is a talented asexual indie author. Not only that, but she confirmed to me that the main character Ariawyn is asexual! My favorite part, though, is that there is NO ROMANCE in this book. At all. It’s amazing. If you’re interested, you can buy a kindle version or paperback copy from amazon here or you can choose to buy elsewhere here.