#malorie's peak

[lemonadeandlanguages]

Watching the Malory towers show is making me want to reread the books, not because it's so good (though it's not bad) but because I really miss the original storyline

[rollercoasterwords]

the authors list is NOT too long you can make it even longer.... if you have the energy to share what do you think r's favourite book of each writer would be then..... i would be. intrigued.......

WHAT a fun question. let's see let's see....

(disclaimer that i would not consider myself intimately familiar with all of these writers so....not an expert but on this blog i am god and what i say goes sorry)

poe - i don't feel particularly strongly abt this one bc i'm not a huge poe fan myself, but. for remus....i think he would like the fall of the house of usher <3 think he'd get a kick out of madeline <3

peake - this one i do have strong feelings abt....remus is a mervyn peake girlie 2 me sorry but gormenghast is one of his favorite books this i believe in my heart of hearts to be true....

tolkein - tbh i don't actually think remus would be like. the biggest tolkein fan. i think he'd hook up with a guy who was really into lotr and borrow copies off him and then they'd stop seeing each other + he'd just never return the copies but. he would honestly just feel kinda meh towards tolkein on the whole...too catholic for his taste methinks...(sirius on the other hand would be really into lotr....nerd....)

shelley - frankenstein. self-explanatory

bronte - gave myself some wiggle room here by not specifying the bronte sister but. it would be emily and it would be wuthering heights <3 i think remus would have a love-hate relationship w it tho...like i think he'd complain about catherine + heathcliff but would also keep going back and rereading it...

hugo - personally. i think victor hugo would be one of his faves like i think remus would enjoy quite a few of his books BUT. his favorite would be the man who laughs <3

tolstoy - personally not familiar enough with tolstoy to give a firm answer on this one....i want 2 say the death of ivan ilyich but i could be swayed to think otherwise...

wilde - the picture of dorian gray. basic perhaps but who can resist dorian...

kafka - think kafka would be another one of his favorites. i wanna say the metamorphosis....maybe that is also too basic i'm just choosing all the hs english syllabus books but....well come on he turns into a giant bug. hard to top that. also #relatable for one remus lupin....

malory - turning this one over to @superloonyluna whose suggestion it was <3 i have not actually read any malory myself so i defer to her judgment

butler - i actually don't think remus would be big into sci-fi BUT. lily is + that girl would have him reading butler whether he wanted to or not. i think he would fuck w bloodchild + also the patternist series

le guin - honestly think he would fuck w pretty much anything le guin (especially once lily swayed him over 2 sci fi) but a wizard of earthsea would be like...comfort book that he read growing up + consistently returns to

[devoutjunk]

Novel Syllabus 2024

This coming year I think I'm going to be on here more often than I am on twitter or elsewhere, and as part of that, I'm going to start documenting the process of writing my novel more actively. I want to return to/resurrect the momentum and energy I had while writing the first draft and be more intentional about setting aside time to work, even when it's difficult. Below are my writing goals for the coming year as well as my reading list of texts for inspiration, genre/background research, comps, etc. Would welcome any suggestions of texts (any genre/discipline) pertaining to Antigone, death & resurrection, Welsh and Cornish myth and folklore, ecology & environmental crisis, and the Gothic.

Writing Goals

Reach 50k words in draft 2 overall

Finish a draft of Anna's timeline

Finish a draft of Jo's timeline

Polish & submit an excerpt for the Center for Fiction Prize

Reading

* = reread

Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & The Apocalyptic

The Memory Theater (Karin Tidbeck)

Who Fears Death (Nnedi Okorafor)

Urth of The New Sun (Gene Wolfe)

Slow River (Nicola Griffith)

Dream Snake (Vonda McIntyre)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Marlon James)

Notes from the Burning Age (Claire North)

Invisible Cities (Italo Calvino)*

Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)*

The Last Man (Mary Shelley)

The Drowned World (J.G. Ballard)

Strange Beasts of China (Yan Ge, trans. by Jeremy Tiang)

City of Saints and Madmen (Jeff VanderMeer)

Freshwater (Akweke Emezi)

The Glass Hotel (Emily St. John Mandel)

Pattern Master (Octavia Butler)

Sleep Donation (Karen Russell)

How High We Go in the Dark (Sequoia Nagamatsu)

The Magician's Nephew (C.S. Lewis)*

The Golden Compass (Phillip Pullman)*

The Green Witch (Susan Cooper)

The Tombs of Atuan (Ursula K. Le Guin)

Black Sun (Rebecca Roanhorse)

Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)

Lives of the Monster Dogs (Kirsten Bakis)

Brian Evenson

Sofia Samatar

Connie Willis

Samuel Delaney

Jo Walton

Tanith Lee

Retellings

A Wild Swan (Michael Cunningham)

Til We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis)

Gingerbread (Helen Oyeyemi)

Circe (Madeline Miller)

The Owl Service (Alan Garner)

Literary Myth-Making, Mystery, and the Gothic

Nights at the Circus (Angela Carter)

Frenchman's Creek (Daphne Du Maurier)

Possession (A.S. Byatt)*

The Game (A.S. Byatt)*

The Essex Serpent (Sarah Perry)

Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)

The Secret History (Donna Tartt)*

The Wild Hunt (Emma Seckel)

King Nyx (Kirsten Bakis)

The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)

The Lottery and Other Stories (Shirley Jackson)

Beloved (Toni Morrison)

The Night Land (William Hope Hodgson)

Interview with a Vampire (Anne Rice)*

Sexing the Cherry (Jeanette Winterson)*

Night Side of the River (Jeanette Winterson)

Bad Heroines (Emily Danforth)

All the Murmuring Bones (A.G. Slatter)

The Path of Thorns (A.G. Slatter)

Gormenghast (Mervyn Peake)

Prose Work, Perspective, and Stream of Consciousness

The Chandelier (Clarice Lispector)

The Waves (Virginia Woolf)*

The Years (Virginia Woolf)

The Intimate Historical Epic / Court Intrigues

Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel)*

Menewood (Nicola Griffith)

Dark Earth (Rebecca Stott)

A Place of Greater Safety (Hilary Mantel)

Research

The Mabinogion (trans. Sioned Davies)

Le Morte D'Arthur (Thomas Malory)

The Collected Brothers Grimm (Phillip Pullman)

Angela Carter's Collected Fairytales

Mythology (Edith Hamilton)

Underland (Robert Macfarlane)

The Wild Places (Robert Macfarlane)

Wildwood (Roger Deakin)

Vanishing Cornwall (Daphne Du Maurier)

Lonely Planet: Guide to Devon & Cornwall

A Traveler's Guide to the End of the World (David Gessner)

The Lost Boys of Montauk (Amanda M. Fairbanks)

A Cyborg Manifesto (Donna J. Harraway)

A Treasury of British Folklore (Dee Dee Chainey)*

The First Last Man: Mary Shelley and the Postapocalyptic Imagination (Eileen M. Hunt)

Antigone's Claim (Judith Butler)

Theories of Desire: Antigone Again (Judith Butler)

Ecology of Fear (Mike Davis)

[cecilyacat]

BBC Big Read List

Many years ago, I first started tallying the books from the BBC Big Read list, seeing how my reading and interests correllate. I don't take it as the "one truth" on which books are worth reading or "good", I just find it interesting which ones I agree with. Let's go!

Out of the BBC's "The Big Read" list from 2005, which ones did you read, plan to read or started to read, but didn't finish? The ones I read are fat, the ones I still want to read are in italics, the ones I started but didn't finish are crossed out and all the other ones I have either never heard of before or never wanted to read them.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien 2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman 4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams 5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling 6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne 8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell 9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis 10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë 11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller 12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (and I thought it was horrible. But I wanted to finish it!) 13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks 14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier 15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger 16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame 17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens 18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott 19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres 20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy 21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell 22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling 23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling 24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling 25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien 26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy 27. Middlemarch, George Eliot 28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving 29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck 30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson 32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez 33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett 34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens 35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson 37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute 38. Persuasion, Jane Austen 39. Dune, Frank Herbert 40. Emma, Jane Austen 41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery 42. Watership Down, Richard Adams 43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald 44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas 45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh 46. Animal Farm, George Orwell 47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens 48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy 49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian 50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (and I love it) 52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck (didn't finish it in school but want to try again) 53. The Stand, Stephen King 54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy 55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth 56. The BFG, Roald Dahl 57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome 58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell 59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer 60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky 61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman 62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden 63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens 64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough 65. Mort, Terry Pratchett 66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton 67. The Magus, John Fowles 68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett 70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding 71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind 72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell 73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett 74. Matilda, Roald Dahl 75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding 76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt 77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins 78. Ulysses, James Joyce 79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens 80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson 81. The Twits, Roald Dahl 82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith 83. Holes, Louis Sachar 84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake 85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy 86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson 87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley 88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons 89. Magician, Raymond E Feist 90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac 91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo 92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel 93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett 94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho 95. Katherine, Anya Seton 96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer 97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez 98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson 99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot 100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome 102.Small Gods, Terry Pratchett 103. The Beach, Alex Garland 104. Dracula, Bram Stoker 105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz 106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens 107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz 108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks 109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth 110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson 111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy 112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend 113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat 114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo 115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy 116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson 117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson 118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde 119. Shogun, James Clavell 120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham 121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson 122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray 123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy 124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski 125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver 126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett 127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison 128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle 129. Possession, A. S. Byatt 130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov 131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood 132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl 133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck 134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl 135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett 136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker 137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett 138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan 139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson 140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson 141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque 142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson 143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby 144. It, Stephen King 145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl 146. The Green Mile, Stephen King 147. Papillon, Henri Charriere 148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett 149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian 150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz

151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett 152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett 153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett 154. Atonement, Ian McEwan 155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson 156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier 157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey 158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad 159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling 160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon 161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville 162. River God, Wilbur Smith 163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon 164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx 165. The World According To Garp, John Irving 166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore 167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson 168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye 169. The Witches, Roald Dahl 170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White 171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (I've read excepts for uni) 172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams 173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway 174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco 175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder 176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson 177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl 178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov 179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach 180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery 181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson 182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens 183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay 184. Silas Marner, George Eliot 185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis 186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith 187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh (I stopped after the toilet-scene. Too disgusting) 188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine 189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri 190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. LawrenceLife of Lawrence 191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera 192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons 193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett 194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells 195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans 196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry 197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett 198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White 199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle 200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews

Read: 57 Want to read: 60

Some of the books to read I know very little about except the title and that they're classics, some others I know a lot about (and I even have "Men at Arms" on my TBR pile for when the mood strikes me next). I like reading classics once in a while, but especially older ones I can't read too often, I need to be in the right mood for that style of writing.

The last time I updated this was in 2015 and I had read 44 and wanted to read 72 - so 15 books in 9 years xD Like I said, it's not a challenge or a goal to read all of them, just a convenient way of keeping track of which classics I want to read eventually.

[soshinee]

You know what? Fuck you. Fuck all of you, and your little friends, defending these vermin and believing their PR lies. It was bad enough that you suck up to celebrities for no reason, but to try to publicly gaslight me into thinking I’m crazy is a step too far. Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you. You even let these fuckers get away with going on the news pretending to care about the mentally ill, and setting up manipulative clothing shops to have people think they care about poor people suffering in COVID-11. And also to use their Indian status to pretend to stand with non-famous POC by doing some fucking ticket lottery or whatever. Even goes as far as to not use a stage name so everyone can see his Indian name, and he can just flaunt it to everybody. Fuck you for defending pieces of shit like Joshua Rush, Andrew Feldman, Malia Pyles, Renee Rapp , Alex Boniello , Andy Nientus and Malory Bechtel Whitney Peak Mike Fast etc.,. Thats right, I’m putting all these bullshit celebrities on blast. You’re mad because I know the truth, I can see through all the lies, and here you are kissing the feet of Hollywood industry elite and supporting a world that grooms young children into becoming soulless sociopaths with PR teams. You don’t see how they’re all brainwashing you to love them? Are you so dimwitted you can’t believe that these rats are all liars? And streaming services like HBO Max and Disney+ are funnelling gold into these awful people’s pockets, because people like you keep falling for their trap.

[isnt-it-pretty]

Fandom: Tortall - Tamora Pierce

Chapters: 3/4

Characters: Alexander of Tirragen, Thom of Trebond,Liam Ironarm, Roald VI of Conté, Stefan Groomsman, Numair Salmalín, Veralidaine Sarrasri, Jonathan of Conté, Nealan of Queenscove, Keladry of Mindelan, Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Bittersweet Ending, Canonical Character Death (kind of), Protector of the Small au, lots of headcanons

Summary:

The dead don’t rest in King Jonathan’s palace, until the day they do.

Read from ch1 here!

[dionysia-does-stories]

My Fief for an Apple

Cringetober 2023, Day 7: Mary-Sue.

On AO3

Rating T - 1,636 words - Tortall - OC Future Fic

Summary: When Weldon's Son gets trapped in a ditch with his injured horse, Raoul and Buri's Daughter comes to their rescue.

Story:

Phillip surveyed his gelding, Bangle miserably. He was grateful at least that when they’d suddenly pitched off the road, Bangle fell in a way that he didn’t break his neck. Maybe more impressively the horse’s great body also didn’t break Phillip’s neck

While they’d survived the fall, they were both injured. Bangle had hurt his ankle. On his own he would never get out of this ditch. Phillip wasn’t of much help since his own knee was swollen and painful with what he hoped was a bad sprain.

Bangle was making awful sounds of distress. Phillip searched his saddle bag, hoping he had anything to distract the horse with, while they waited for a someone to pass by on the road. They were on the outskirts of a smaller village where the crown was hosting a jousting tournament. Eventually, someone would walk down the road. Phillip would be able to beg or bribe them for help. He just wished he could do something for his poor horse now.

“My fief for an apple,” he told the air.

An apple soared through the air, thudding into his lap with absolute precision. He turned to the the road, looking up to see a woman astride her horse. He made note of the fabric muffling her tack—that’s why he hadn’t heard her coming.

He told her, “well, I’m not giving you my fief. You’ve got more than enough land of your own.”

Phillip recognized Lady Knight Amiram of GoldenLake and Malorie’s Peak. She was probably the most recognizable knight in Tortall. She had her mother’s golden skin. The masses of curling black hair could have come from either parent, though she wore it in the braids of the Raadeh clan. Her eyes of darkest blue, like ripe winter sloe berries were what marked her as her father’s daughter. There was good humor twinkling in the depths of her eyes.

Phillip had never met her. He’d seen her at tournaments or riding with the King’s Own. She was death with a lance. The fiercest jouster in the kingdom. He’d seen her compete before, proud and confident. She was like an aspect of the Goddess herself.

There was a legend the Own told that she had killed a giant when she was just a girl. She’d strung up a trip rope at the edge of a sudden drop with a lance propped up at the bottom. Then she’d drawn the giant’s attention, getting it to chase her through the woods of Goldenlake to where she’d rigged her trap.

“What fief am I being cheated of?” She asked.

Phillip got to his feet, wincing in pain. He sketched a bow. “I’m Phillip of Cavall.”

“Ah. Of course, you are. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it sooner.”

Phillip felt a sense of pleased surprise. He’s never met Lady Amiram. She started as a page when he became a squire and so on, just missing each other. But he’d never have guessed, “You recognize me?”

The Lady blushed. “I recognize your horse.”

Phillip deflated. He made an admirable effort to hide it. “Cavalli horses are the best. I imagine someone who jousts as competitively as you do always has an eye for such things, Lady Amiram.”

She wasn’t taken back at all by his casual recognition of her. Phillip assumed that everywhere she went folks recognized her.

“Just Ama is fine.” She dismounted her horse. “Are you going to give that apple to your horse or did you make that request for yourself.”

Phillip had forgotten that he was holding the fruit. He offered it to Bangle, who pathetically munched on it. “We’ve fallen off the road and injured ourselves,” he pointed out somewhat unnecessarily. “If you wouldn’t mind helping, I’m sure we could get Bangle back on to solid ground.”

Ama looked them over, whistled. “That hole in the road sure got you.”

“Hole?” Phillip asked dumbstruck. He hadn’t seen a hole and didn’t like the idea that he could have been oblivious too it.

“Don’t berate yourself about it,” she advised him, sensing his thoughts in his tone. “The local lads have been covering it with a layer of leaves.”

Phillip saw red. “Someone deliberately did this?” His horse was whining in pain.

Ama produced a rope from her saddle bag, tying one end to her horse’s saddle.

“With all the knights visiting town for the tournament the local girls have been ignoring the local lads. And the local lads have decided to take that out on the knights. There’s little traps all over the village.”

She slid down the edge of the road into the ditch. She handed Phillip the free end of the rope. He suppressed his rage focusing on getting Bangle securely tied.

“And you know this how?” He asked.

She gave him a sideways smile. “Some of the local lads told me when I was checking in. I think their dislike of us knights only extends to you boys.”

“Ridiculous,” Phillip grumbled. “I’m hardly out here toying with girls. I don’t blow into town, bed whoever I want, and then carry on my merry way.” Phillip suddenly remembered Ama’s somewhat salacious reputation. “Not that there’s anything wrong about that, I just…”

She waited for him to pick his sentence back up but he couldn’t find the words. “My great-great-aunt Sebila, who marches on despite considerable age and infirmity, often says no man will marry me the way I, in her words, carry on like a feral cat in heat. I can never decide if it’s worse or better than the talking-tos my father got while he was a bachelor.”

“Any man would be lucky to marry you,” Phillip said with absolute conviction and completely by accident. He cursed his loose lips as she walked to the far side of Bangle.

She greeted the horse, giving him a chance to get used to her. The whole while Phillip couldn’t see her expression.

“Are you able to help push him up?” She asked.

Phillip lurched to Bangle’s other side ignoring the discomfort in his knee. “Of course.”

“Alright then.” She didn’t sound convinced. “On three.” She looked to her horse. “On three Killy.” The horse flicked his ears forward and backward in acknowledgement. The uncanny human understanding of an animal that spent time around the Wild Mage.

Ama braced herself and called, “one.” Phillip had heard other men talk about her, the beauty who could wield any weapon she got her hands on. She certainly wasn’t lacking for offers of marriage, just not accepting them. “Two.” When she was a page, she’d excelled in every subject. She done so well that her entire class was better than average for trying to keep up with her. Myles of Olau had often said “everyone runs faster to keep up with Ama of Goldenlake.” And Phillip felt like he understood why. “Three.”

Ama’s horse, Killy pulled hard at the rope as Phillip and Ama each shoved one of Bangle’s haunches. Between the four of them they got Bangle back on the road. Ama leaped up after him, reaching a hand back to Phillip. He clamored his way out of the ditch.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, like he had any idea what she was referring to.

“What?” He asked breathless from the struggle to get on the road and the pain in his leg.

“If I never get married, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’m inheriting all of Goldenlake either way.

He didn’t know what the right response to that was all he could think to say was, “my sisters talk about that a lot.”

“I’ll bet,” she said with a snort. She started untying the rope from Killy. “They stood to loose Cavall to a cousin, if your parents hadn’t managed to have you.”

She moved on to untying Bangle. Her muscles were tense, as if she expected anger from him.

“I was an accident,” he announced.

She caught his gaze, shocked. “You were not.”

“I absolutely was. My mother was at an age where my parents weren’t bothering themselves about pregnancy charms anymore. Turns out it’s rather common.”

She took Phillip’s saddle bag and attached it to Killy. “A happy accident, I’m sure.”

“If you go to the law library and look at the records from when your father was petitioning to have you made heir, my father was one of his staunchest supporters.”

“You were already born then,” she said. “What did he have to gain.”

“It was the only thing my father didn’t like about not having a son. The idea that my sister’s claim to Cavall would never be seen as completely legitimate.”

“I suppose we should limp back to town. You can ride on Killy if you’d like. He’s a calm enough sort.”

Phillip was briefly seized by a manly vanity that urged him to turn down the offer. Luckily, the madness passed and he clamored onto the horse.

The ambled down the road. Ama produced another apple from her saddle bag, which she took a bite of before offering the rest to Killy.

“You’re jousting tomorrow,” he’d meant to ask it as a question (even though he knew she was.)

“I don’t think you or your horse are in any state to challenge me,” she said with a wicked smile.

“Actually, I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner.”

He enjoyed the little blush that crept along her neck. He took it as a good sign.

“There’s a banquet.”

“Skip it.”

“Alright, but I picked out a very pretty dress for this evening. If you’re going to be the only one who sees me wearing it, then you have to make it worth my time.”

Phillip never thought he’d feel lucky to have fallen into a ditch. 

[harrypotterhousequotes]

SLYTHERIN: "Hasn’t anyone told you the palace is like a sieve? Servants talk, families talk, boys talk, and nobles talk. If people stopped talking around here, the walls would fall in. There'd be no wind to hold them up." – Tamora Pierce (Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak: Page) 

[animebw]

It has been a long time since I’ve laughed this hard at anything.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, read Mage and Demon Queen

[kadmeread]

Okay so, I’ve been thinking a bit about the Protector of the Small Quartet again, (Love that series, so much.) And one thing I want to know is why aren’t there more headcanons of Raoul adopting Kel? I mean we all know she’s basically a daughter to him, and most people think she’ll become his successor in the King’s Own, if not Training Master. And it’s not like there isn’t already a precedent set for it in the world of Tortall, what with Myles adopting Alanna and all. It just makes sense to me, Raoul is lord of two fiefs, Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak. Malorie’s Peak was his original fiefdom, and he was given Goldenlake later for services to the crown. He doesn’t have any children of his own to inherit them, he could have family who will inherit Malorie’s Peak, but it could be really cool if he adopted Kel and made her heir to his position as Lord of Goldenlake. I know he and Buri and now married, but do you really see them having any kids at this point in time? They have the Own and the Riders for that. And on Kel’s side she’s the youngest of seven I think it was, with little money etc, and little chance of being in the line of succession. She has the possibility of being given lands by the Crown due to her heroism, but I don’t see that happening any time soon, at least not til Roald is King. The only possible argument against it would be that Kel loves her parents and they love her, but honestly at the point in time they are at I think Kel is closer with Raoul than her parents, just through distance. Raoul was one of the first to fully get her to loosen up, and fully accept her instantly. I mean he had had practise with Alanna, and I am not at all saying Neal didn’t do anything, but Kel is comfortable with him, the way she is with few others, and willing to drop her Yamani mask, and tease and joke with him. Kel’s parents are good people, I fully believe that knowing they would struggle to continue providing for her and knowing that she would still also be their daughter they would be willing to share her, and allow her to further her position in life and influence so many more. Thus why I believe Raoul should either have adopted Kel, or have plans too.

[rollercoasterwords]

Dear Rae,

I-

*our last summer by abba plays on repeat*

"And when Remus begins leaving his own books behind, the sorts that are banned in wizarding libraries (muggle authors, mostly)—well, it’s not like he’s leaving them there for Sirius to read. But Sirius reads them anyway, sometimes, heart pounding, knowing that Lupin could return at any moment as he pages through strange and fantastical stories where they get everything wrong about magic—Poe and Peake and Tolkein and Shelley, Brontë and Hugo and Tolstoy and Wilde, Kafka and Malory and Butler and Le Guin. They tell stories that pick at threads insides of him that he didn’t even realise were unravelling, leaving him frayed at the edges and floating two steps away from his body when he shuts them and returns them to their shelves. Sirius even forgets, sometimes, absorbed completely in the strange and vibrant worlds, that they’re written by muggles at all" 😭

I did not need to copy that whole thing like i know you wrote it but i am just jidf;nuslafao'sancjn

Oh the reluctant camaraderie, the laboured togetherness, the tortured domesticity, the toast.. nooooooo

but please what is going on at ministry of magic?? he's good with the kids? he knows how much they can take? and now he's got the cruciatus tremors lord ...I am merely vapours reading this... - I- its giving "are you in danger of becoming a good man"

also you were not joking about reggie at all , rip darling boy not me trying to crack the code, i was like.. okay they said he's the last heir but perhaps he's defected from the blacks... perhaps he's been disowned...nope

and lastly

"Lupin is doing that thing with his eyes again. That thing he does, sometimes, when he looks at Sirius, like taking a scalpel to the skin and peeling it back." Sirius is a stronger soldier than I. It feels fairly palpable though that each of them has something the other needs, be it lupins ability to see through the glamour both magical and the one he clearly wears everyday and ....i'm not sure what it is when it comes to sirius maybes its just someone that can take care of him or someone he can come to trust with time.. i dont even know but im along for the journey <3

lmao that author list got so long bc i just kept adding writers like wait....he would read this too...and also this.....

and ummm. we'll get to see more of what sirius's job entails in ch 4 so <3 something to look forward to <3

hahaha yeah the only living heir line was not code sorry....regulus is actually pretty important to this story but. that will not come into play until later

and yeah ur definitely correct that they both like. have something they need from each other but i will refrain from saying any more than that bc i love 2 see the speculation xx

[the-pontiac-bandit]

If you're still answering tortall prompts, how about Raoul + family?

wow why NOT write 2000 words of blatant, shameless fluff about families you make for yourself??? inspired by this quote from tammy: “[Raoul and Buri] have glorious sex under trees, in tents, in lakes…. In carriages. I think at some point they’ll probably adopt. By the time they’re attached Buri’s getting a little old to have any of her own. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of orphans around.”

As Raoul stretched out, trying to make himself comfortable in his too-hard, too-small desk chair, he savored the warm feeling filling his chest and threatening to spill out and take physical form in front of him. In the midst of the most head-spinning, headache-inducing, sleep-sapping, joy-filled week he’d ever experienced, he’d had precious little time to slow down and simply exist within his new reality. He thought to close his eyes, the better to feel everything, but they only stayed shut for a moment before they forced themselves back open. He couldn’t stop looking at the scene in front of him for long.

Buri lounged cross-legged on their bed, far more relaxed than he had been at any point this week. Kel sat next to her, her back straight and her long legs carefully hanging off one side so as not to get dust from the practice courts on their bedding. Both had just returned from a full morning of training, sweaty despite a change of clothes and coated in dust despite a thorough washing, courtesy of a long, hot summer that had refused to give them rain.

Between them was the baby.

His son, he reminded himself. He thought the words a few extra times, even mouthing them once, as he had a thousand times in the last five days, as if forming them on his lips might make them feel more real.

None of this felt real to him yet. He supposed most people had nine months to get used to the idea before seven pounds of screaming chaos turned their lives upside down. He’d had exactly fifty-three days—he’d counted on Tuesday—so he supposed he still had some catching up to do. His mind was still reeling from the conversation that had led them here, and he wasn’t sure yet that he’d ever catch up.

He’d been sitting in this chair and pretending to read reports while mostly thinking about his right knee, which had been bothering him despite Duke Baird’s best efforts. He wasn’t sure why he remembered so specifically, since his days were nearly as certain to contain aches and bruises as they were to contain a sunrise. Buri had returned from a meeting with Thayet and Onua, although really, the word meeting conferred far too much dignity on what was more likely a combination of trick riding and palace gossip. They’d settled into the evening routine they’d shared for nearly a decade, working in comfortable silence with candles lit between them.

“Do you want children?” she’d asked, breaking the quiet spell of paperwork that gripped their nights.

“I think it’s a little late for that,” he’d replied with a snort.

She’d thrown a pillow at him. He had caught it and thrown it back without even looking up from the thick stack of papers in his lap, with a rude hand gesture following behind.

“You know what I meant. Did you want children? Before?”

Something in her voice had shifted. He’d finally looked up to find her eyes already trained on him. Her face had been so unexpectedly earnest that he’d actually taken a pause, had slowed the speed of their consistently paced banter, to think.

“I suppose I hadn’t given it much thought. There were friends, and then there was drinking, and then there was the Own, and then there was you,” he’d told her with a shrug. “I do like children, but I’m perfectly happy where I am.”

She’d chewed on her lip for a moment. He remembered being surprised by that. After nearly thirty years of friendship, she rarely took the time to think before she spoke with him anymore.

“Spit it out.”

“Do you want children?”

“And we’re back to the start,” he’d said with a grin.

“I spat it out. Now you answer it.”

“Hypothetically, sure, I’d enjoy a child. Now can I ask why you’re asking at all?”

“I’ve been thinking,” she’d started. She’d paused for a moment, holding her breath as though she was trying to decide whether she should speak at all. And then she’d let it all spill out at once. “I’ve been thinking it might be nice to have one. A child, I mean.”

She’d held up a hand and made a face before Raoul could even begin to formulate a joke about her monthlies or her aching hips or what they might do to make that happen. “Not like that. Thayet was telling us today about homes they’re opening in Corus, for children without parents. We were thinking about the children we traveled with back in Sarain, when Alanna found us all those years ago. Gods, it was terrifying, having Thayet and an infant to protect, especially when Thayet was ready to throw her life away for the infant. And I started thinking—we have money, and safety, and love, and there are all these children who have none of those things, and—”

She’d been speaking faster and faster, but she’d cut herself off abruptly at the look on Raoul’s face. “Never mind, you can forget—”

Raoul had smiled back at her, straightening up in his chair and marking his spot in the report on his lap before putting it aside. “So you want a child.”

The weeks that followed had been ones filled with paperwork and inquiries at the palace records about the process of appointing a common-born heir to a noble house and at the magistrate’s about drawing up paperwork for adoption. There had been careful planning and hushed discussions with only their closest friends about the best way to proceed. Buri had insisted on an older child, maybe eight or nine, saying that the few diapers she’d changed on the road to Rachia were enough for a lifetime.

Instead, five days ago, Buri had entered their rooms carrying a squalling mess of blankets with an air of forced nonchalance that had told him immediately what she’d done. Instead of clarifying, or teasing her, or asking if it was the smallest eight-year-old he’d ever seen, he’d simply held his arms out. While Buri had supplied endless explanations about Thayet ambushing her with a baby, he’d stared at the squirming mess of baby in his lap, blankets already coming undone, absolutely entranced.  

“He’s tiny,” he’d commented. His voice sounded like it was coming from someone else’s body. The baby was only just too large for him to hold in one hand, although he’d never try to prove it. The fragility of the life sitting in his lap was overwhelming.

“His mother died yesterday. Childbed fever, caught too late to help. The priestesses at the Goddess’ Temple were worried he might need more than the homes could give.”

Raoul had nodded, only half listening. The baby’s eyes were screwed shut while he wailed. His fine hair was dark, his skin tanned like that of the Bazhir babies Raoul had seen in his year in the Great Southern Desert. One of the baby’s hands had broken free of its blanket. It had waved in the air, keeping pace with his cries, which were far louder than he’d have believed such a tiny body could produce. He’d intercepted the hand with one finger and then watched in wonder as the baby had grasped it.

“Does he have a name?”

“Pathom,” she’d answered definitively, before belatedly remembering that names were the sort of thing parents might choose together. “That is, if—”

“Pathom of Goldenlake,” he’d cut her off with a smile.

The days that followed had been a blur. Thayet had found a wet-nurse and supplied an endless stream of goods that they’d have never known a baby required. Alanna had ridden in from Pirate’s Swoop at full speed to pronounce in a gruff voice that the infant was in perfect health. Gary had gifted them a bassinet and more blankets than any human child could possibly need. Dom had found a way to convert a standard-issue burnoose into an excellent baby sling, while Evin had given them a congratulatory note from George, who complained that Alanna had left before he could finish writing, and a cheerful promise that he’d never touch a soiled diaper. Onua had given them a set of unimaginably soft stuffed ponies, perfect replicas of the horses that roamed the highlands of Sarain where she and Buri had learned to ride.

Kel, away on business with Second Company at the Gallan border, had to wait almost a full week to learn she had a new godsson. He’d met the company when they’d arrived back at the palace long past dark the night before. They’d groomed Hoshi and Sparrow together while he thanked the gods for perhaps the hundredth time that her “testy pony” had finally found his way out of the Own stables and into a pleasant retirement.

Finally, when the last of the men had trudged towards the barracks and a well-earned nights’ sleep, she’d turned to him.

“Well?”

“There’s someone important I want you to meet,” he’d said, shoving his hands in his pockets with a smile that was equal parts nervous and eager.

“Sir, I’ve already met your wife.”

Raoul had let out a hearty chuckle. “But you haven’t met my son.”

Kel had frozen. Her face fell back into perfect stillness, the way it did when her mind was working its fastest.

After a second that felt like an eternity, she replied, “Sir, I saw Buri five weeks ago. If you’re telling me you’ve managed to grow a baby since then—”

“We didn’t, but someone else did. We adopted him from the Temple after his mother died in childbirth.”

Understanding flashed in Kel’s eyes while her face broke into a rare broad grin. She’d wrapped her arms around him in a fast, tight hug accompanied by enthusiastic congratulations that had gone suddenly silent in surprise when he’d added, a wicked glint in his eyes, “You really should come by tomorrow to meet your godsson.”

Buri had intercepted Kel on the practice courts the following morning with the dual goals of keeping her own skills sharp and ensuring that Kel would not be too polite to visit. And so now, he watched as Kel bounced his son with the brisk certainty of someone who had held a baby a thousand times. He could hear her cooing quietly at Pathom, softening her consonants while she told him all about forest campaigns in hill country. He knew he should ask her to speak up—if she was going to give her report verbally, she could at least give it at a volume he could hear—but he found he wasn’t particularly interested in the intricacies of the Second’s bowstring supplies. Buri made eye contact with him behind Kel’s back, laughter in her eyes. Buri could laugh if she wanted, but he was taking notes on Kel’s tactics. He would have sworn this was the quietest he’d heard his son in the entirety of his hundred-and-twenty-odd hours in the palace.

As his son stared wide-eyed at his former squire, Raoul was reminded of a comment he’d heard as they’d left Turomot’s offices the other day with paperwork making Pathom officially their own. “Well, that feckless Goldenlake dolt’s managed to start a family, even if it was too late to do the thing properly,” the Lord of Genlith had muttered at their backs as they’d left. Buri had elbowed him and whispered a quick “Feckless? I’ll show him feckless,” but her heart wasn’t in it. Before she’d even finished the thought, her eyes were back on Pathom, squirming against her chest in the burnoose that bound him to her.

And now, Raoul watched his son, passed between his wife and the woman who had been like his daughter long before any papers said he was a father. Stuffed Saren ponies lined the shelf above an intricately carved bassinet filled with beautifully embroidered blankets. A protection charm had been pulled from Alanna’s packs to hang at the head, while twin leather circles bearing the insignias of the Riders and the Own, no doubt carefully cut by mischievous commanders from the saddle packs of some unprepared trainees, was secured carefully at the foot. Raoul had to smile for a moment at Genlith’s ignorance—he’d begun his family right on time.

[sheshallfromtimetotime]

George Cooper may have spoiled me for non-fictional men to some degree when I was ~11, but boy is Raoul a revelation in my 20s. Anyway, I'm reading Squire again.

[syl-stormblessed]

it is still loving raoul of goldenlake hours

[raoulgoldenlake]

Day 3: Favorite Male Character

30 Days of Tamora Pierce

Raoul! From what I’ve seen, Raoul grew up the best of all the Song of the Lioness group, and seems to have facilitated long-term change in Tortall. He’s also friendly, slow to anger, well-liked, probably gay. Am I projecting? Yes. He’s my emotional support fantasy side character.

[metapianycist]

i did not know until tonight that i needed gay raoul of goldenlake fanfiction but here we are