#shannon the ocean fairy

[rapscallion-rumble]

Shannon the Ocean Fairy (Rainbow Magic)

I have a few things to say.

1. I think I'm going to challenge myself to see how many fairies I can draw before I get burnt out/bored.

2. I always found Shannon's outfit so weird? So like, I changed it.

3. Yes, I like Winx Club. Yes, her outfit is inspired by Bloom's enchantix form.

That is all.

[katlimeart]

Made in 2018

If you’ve seen this anywhere else, I posted it back on my deviantArt when it was made.

Mario girls cosplaying as characters from various books - requested by

1. Shannon the Ocean Fairy - requested by tricia-of-mewni

2. Ella the Rose Fairy - requested by tricia-of-mewni

3. Alice the Tennis Fairy - requested by tricia-of-mewni

4. Sienna the Saturday Fairy - requested by tricia-of-mewni

5. Monilea - requested by danfrandes

6. Milissini - requested by danfrandes

[duckprintspress]

October 2024 Created Works Round-Up!

Duck Prints Press���s monthly “created works round-ups” are our opportunity to spotlight some of the amazing work that people working with us have done that ISN’T linked to their work with Duck Prints Press. We include fanworks, outside publications, and anything else that creators feel like sharing with y’all. Inclusion is voluntary and includes anything that they decided “hey, I want to put this on the created work’s round-up!”

Check out what they’ve shared with us this month…

-

Estudo sobre Magia e Cristais - Ace Week Art by May Barros / @mayarab

art || original work || poly (multiple genders) || general audiences || no major warnings apply || complete

summary: Piece depicting the three main characters of the short story Estudos sobre Magia e Cristais by May Barros: Marcela is a white latina necromancer, Solis is a pale fairy with pink hair and wings and Talita is a black princess. The three are taking a stroll in a forest.

TUMBLR - LINK

-

Came Back Wrong by May Barros / @mayarab

fiction || original work || no ships || teen & up || graphic depictions of violence || 762 || ongoing series

summary: A flash fiction where Vanessa is revived by a supernatural force, but she is no longer the woman she used to be

LINK

-

A Long Winter Podfic (remastered) by Shannon / shannonxl / @shamwowxl

audio || captain america || m/m, f/m || steve rogers / bucky barnes and steve rogers / peggy carter || mature || creator choses not to use warnings || 04:00:00 || complete

summary: Podfic of A Long Winter by dropdeaddream, WhatAreFears.

In 1945, Steve Rogers jumps from a nosediving plane and swims through miles of Arctic Ocean to a frozen shore.

In 1947, Steve Rogers marries Peggy Carter.

In 1966, the New York Times finds the lost letters of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.

YOUTUBE

-

It has been 0 days since River’s last cock-up by ShannonXL

fiction || slow horses || f/m || river cartwright/louisa guy || explicit || no major warnings apply || 5,841 || complete

summary: River gets dosed with an aphrodisiac on an assignment. Because of course that’s the kind of thing he would do.

other tags: Sex pollen

​-

held within the sharp and curving by corduroyserpent / @corduroyserpent

fiction || the scum villain's self-saving system || m/m || gongyi xiao/zhuzhi-lang || mature || no major warnings apply || 5,077 || complete

summary: The former snake-man of Bai Lu Forest watched Gongyi Xiao writhe and shudder and cry, and eventually go still.

It was a pitiful end, but it was not *the* end. Because, many years later, the former snake-man of Bai Lu Forest also watched Gongyi Xiao wake up.

other tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chronic Pain, Hurt/Comfort, Intimacy

TUMBLR - AO3 - TWITTER - LINK

​-

unwarranted tenderness by corduroyserpent / @corduroyserpent

fiction || heaven official's blessing || m/m || jun wu/mei nianqing || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 606 || complete

summary: Jun Wu wakes up after his post-defeat nap. He is not alone.

other tags: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Main Story Spoilers

TUMBLR - AO3 - TWITTER - LINK

​-

Secret Lives, Chapter 9 by EliotQueliot / @eliotqueliot

fiction || the magicians (lev grossman, syfy) || m/m || quentin coldwater/eliot waugh || mature || creator choses not to use warnings || 9,870 || work in progress

summary: Secret Lives started as a Duck Prints Press May Trope Mayhem piece...an AU in which Eliot and Quentin are supervillains/superheroes (you decide...and at some point, they're going to have to). Eliot works primarily with ghosts in this fic, and I wanted to post some Queliot to enjoy for the Halloween season, so a haunting seemed quite appropriate…

other tags: Superheroes; Supervillains; Implied/Referenced Child Abuse; Past Child Abuse; Canonical Child Abuse; Bullying; Heroes; Brakebills (The Magicians); Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence; Ghosts; Homophobia; Murder; Canon-Typical Violence; True Love; Haunted Houses

TUMBLR - AO3

​-

you want it darker? || dark king eliot, Chapter 5: Eliot by EliotQueliot / @eliotqueliot

fiction || the magicians (lev grossman, syfy) || m/m || quentin coldwater/eliot waugh || explicit || creator choses not to use warnings || 19,652 || work in progress

summary: With Josh's help, Eliot gets to work collecting ingredients to bring Q back, including a visit to the Kitchen Witch.

An ambush by the Takers leads to an unsavory encounter with the Dark King.

(Warnings for Dark King Rupert Chatwin’s unwanted behavior toward Eliot in this chapter.)

other tags: Grief/Mourning; Canonical Character Death; Canon-Typical Violence; Soulmates; Underworld; Resurrection; Dark Fantasy; Margo Hanson is a Good Friend; Julia Wicker is a Good Friend; Quentin Coldwater Lives; Depression; References to Depression; Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence; Fillory (The Magicians); Goddess Julia Wicker; Fix-It; Suicidal Thoughts; Afterlife; Ghosts; Souls; True Love; Angst with a Happy Ending

TUMBLR - AO3 - TWITTER

​-

Mosaic Haiku Ch. 14 poems, Ch. 4 paintings, Ch. 1-3 drawings by EliotQueliot / @eliotqueliot

poems, watercolor paintings, and drawings || the magicians (lev grossman, syfy) || m/m || quentin coldwater/eliot waugh || general audiences || no major warnings apply || ongoing series

summary: Mosaic Haiku is a project very dear to my heart, pairing haiku with watercolors and drawings celebrating the lifetime of love that proved the key to saving all magic, shared by Eliot and Quentin at the Mosaic in The Magicians 3x05, A Life in the Day. I've added an all-new Ch. 14 (photos with the haiku on Tumblr; art to be added to the haiku on AO3 later); two new watercolor paintings for Ch. 4; and I found/reinstated some version of the drawings for Ch. 1-3 (I hadn't yet started scanning the drawings separately for those, so quality varies). Going forward, the drawings will remain visible instead of simply being replaced by the watercolor versions. So far, the art is fully complete for Ch. 1-3 and in-progress for Ch. 4 & 6. This month I'm especially pleased with the two paintings of Quentin and Eliot in their golden years (see one of the Tumblr links and the Instagram link).

other tags: Haiku; Poetry; Mosaic; Beauty Of All Life; Episode: s03e05 A Life in the Day; Mosaic Timeline (The Magicians: A Life in the Day)

TUMBLR - AO3 - INSTAGRAM - TWITTER - LINK

-

Daisy and the Devil by Scarlett Gale / @scarlettgauthor

fiction || original work || no ships, platonic or familial || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 9,554 || complete

summary: A playful fairy-tale retelling of The Girl without Hands that gives the girl in question (Daisy) a name, actual agency, female role models, and a happy ending.

LINK

​

[thelostrainbowthenovel]

Winx Club AU: Magic Titles

The second post for the Winx Club AU, following after this previous one(with the story/general info)! In this one, it is just the magic titles for everyone who is a magical warrior in this AU. There are some more characters than this who have magic, but as they don't use their magic to fight they don't get a title. If that makes sense lol.

But yeah, I hope you enjoy! I'll go over everyone's magic more when I eventually make the individual posts. I am also separating these by kingdom, to make them a little easier to read through.

================================================

- Feor

. Soleil: Former Witch of Firestorms

. Ignatius: Wizard of Flames

. Hestia: Fairy of Embers

- Arian

. Noelani: Fairy of Clouds

. Caelestis: Wizard of the Striking Sky

. Talia: Fairy of Rainbows

. Amaya: Fairy of the Winds

. Skye: Witch of Cumulonimbus

. Raine: Fairy of Glamour

. Iris: Fairy of Grace

. Aurora: Fairy of Light

. Eteri: Witch of Spirits

. Selene: Witch of Hurricanes

. Archer: Wizard of Constellations

. Castor: Wizard of Shining Stars

- Mareas

. Arethusa: Witch of the Seabed

. Meredith: Fairy of Ocean Waves

. Brooke: (Future) Witch of the Sea

. Shannon: Fairy of Selkies

- Erdennia

. Demeter: Fairy of Greenery

. Enki: Witch of Trees

. Gaia: Fairy-Witch of Vines

. Avani: Fairy of Flowers

. Rosia: Witch of Briar

. Carmelo: Wizard of Gardens

- Other

. Argento: Wizard of Metals

. Idalia: Witch of Herbs

. Ren: Witch of Swamps

[rainbowmagicfairyfight]

[thelemonzone42]

Ally the Dolphin Fairy

Rachel, Kirsty, and Kirsty’s Gran were getting off the bus to the beaches near Lea-On-Sea Resort. It was a local resort for visiting tourists. Kirsty’s Gran had to go shopping for a little bit. The girls promised to stay together. As they were enjoying the beach, they came across a shiny shell with a ribbon on it. It was an invitation to the Fairyland Royal Aquarium Gala.

After changing into fairies behind a rock, they were transported to Fairyland. It was there they met Shannon the Ocean Fairy and her helpers, The Ocean Fairies. Then it was time for Shannon to play her annual song of the aquarium. Just as she was about to play her song, someone started ranting about how much he hated the beach. It was Jack Frost, he grabbed Shannon’s conch shell and gave it to his goblin minions. As usual, the goblins fought over who gets to play with it. They were fighting so hard, they accidentally dropped the shell and it broke into seven pieces. Jack Frost hid the pieces in different parts of the human world. Fortunately, Queen Titania sent seven Magic Ocean Animals to guard them until one of their fairies showed up. 

Queen Titania gave Ally, Rachel, and Kirsty orders to go find Echo the Dolphin in The Human World. A few seconds later, they were at Ocean World Aquarium. Angelfish, seahorses and all other sorts of fish.  At the Ocean World Wild Dolphin Show, the performers canceled because the dolphins have been acting strange. Rachel, Kirsty, and Ally knew that a piece of the shell was missing. By the dolphin pool, they found goblins in disguise fighting over who gets to feed the dolphins.

In the ocean, they could see Echo, Ally’s pet dolphin swimming with a pod of dolphins. In fairy form, they asked Echo where the missing shell piece was. Echo leads them to the bottom of the sea and to a sea cave. Behind them, goblins were trying to get it, but they were interrupted by a consortium of crabs. The dolphins decided to distract the goblins while the fairies traded a pearl for the shell piece. Before they got a chance to get the shell piece, one dolphin swooshed in and accidentally made the shell piece fly out of one of the crab’s claws. A goblin grabbed it and the dolphins swam for it. 

Rachel, Kirsty, and Ally followed the goblins to the surface where they could see the goblins attend a wakeboarding show. They weren’t fast enough to catch up with the goblins, but the dolphins are. Hopping onto the dolphins backs, the fairies made their way to the rescue. The dolphins popped in front of the goblin who was wakeboarding. The goblins were so scared, he dropped the shell piece and Ally got her shell piece back. She kissed Echo as a way to say, ‘Thank You’.

When Ally sent Rachel and Kirsty back to Lea-On-Sea Resort, the two girls could see that they were only gone for a minute. Now they only have six more shell pieces to find.

The End.

[sendme-2hell]

Rating the Books I read after Gideon the Ninth (in order) by how well they made me forget my Gideon the Ninth angst

I starred the ones that I actually recommend if you want something similar to gtn.

I was bored so I made this. Mostly just so I can look back at this and laugh at myself in a few months and remember what I’ve read. 

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

**Harrow the Ninth -Tamsyn Muir 

Summary: A depressed girl has to navigate murder attempts by both the mom and the dad of her dead ex-girlfriend who she can’t remember. She tries to make soup and writes fanfic to cope. 

How well it helped me forget: -100/10 but also 10/10 

Rating explanation: This one gets a 10/10 because it did make me feel better about a *particular* GTN plotpoint which I was very angsty about, but tragically it did make me more feral. After reading it I reread both books so I don’t think it helped me forget my angst. 

Similar themes to GTN: all of it, plus more memes 

I Want to Be Where The Normal People Are - Rachel Bloom 

Summary: Rachel Bloom who wrote the world’s most relatable song: “You Stupid Bitch,” and starred/created in Crazy Ex Girlfriend, writes about having anxiety, feeling like she’s not normal, and Harry Potter fanfic.

How well it helped me forget: 8/10

Rating explanation: For a few minutes I actually did forget about my griddlehark angst while I learned more about Bloom’s life and laughed at the painful relatability of it all. 

Similar themes to TLT: ummm depression, feeling very out of place, memes

Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

Summary: The book The Handmaiden was based on. A girl is sent to become a Lady’s handmaiden to con her out of some money. She falls in love. Many plot twists. 

How well it helped me forget: 5/10

Rating explanation: I was sadly still thinking about TLT the whole time I read this. I liked it but I actually like the Handmaiden better because the women spend more time together. Like in this book, I wish that Harrow and Gideon could spend more time together. 

Similar themes: wlw enemies to lovers, at some point you realize the main character’s love interest understands what’s going on way more than the main character

Kindred - Octavia Butler 

Summary: Very dark book about slave narratives. I cannot make a joke here, but this book is excellent. 

How well it helped me forget: 10/10 

Rating explanation: Again, I can’t make a joke. But Octavia Butler is amazing. 

Ash - Malinda Lo 

Summary: A wlw retelling of Cinderella with fairies and an emphasis on stories 

How well it helped me forget:7/10

Rating explanation: This was really quick and fun and I definitely was rooting for the lesbians. Also it was nice it had a happy ending! If you liked Crier’s War (which I did), this was clearly an influence for Nina Varela. 

Similar themes: wlw, the magic one + the fighting one dynamic

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

Summary: A deadly pandemic wipes out so many people that the world spins into chaos and no one can figure out how to use electricity apparently? But the book is really about fame and wanting to be remembered. Go figure.

How well it helped me forget: -10/10 

Rating explanation: Ok that’s not fair. It helped me forget about Gideon and Harrow but it did NOT help me forget about Corona. It was technically good and a lot of people I respect love it, but either because I was still thinking about TLT or because it was about a pandemic, I couldn’t really enjoy it. 

Similar themes: post-apocalyptic 

Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston 

Summary: The Prince of England and The son of the president of the US are enemies. They are definitely enemies.

How well it helped me forget: 6/10

Rating explanation: This was such a fun read that it almost distracted me! Tragically I was in such TLT headspace that I kept pausing to read fanfics where Gideon and Harrow switch eyes. 

Similar themes: Enemies to lovers, queer

Troubling Love - Elena Ferrante 

Summary: In true Elena Ferrante fashion, an event spurs an Italian woman to do a lot of internal processing and have some flashbacks. 

How well it helped me forget: 7/10

Rating explanation: This book was a bit disturbing so it distracted me in that way. Plus I love Elena Ferrante’s writing so much that it felt like coming home to an old friend. Unfortunately for me, this is Elena Ferrante’s least queer book. I know because I have now read them all. Her most queer book, The Lying Life of Adults, would have distracted me better. Also just using this space to tell anyone who’s still reading this (probably no one) to go read My Brilliant Friend (and the corresponding Neopolitan Novels). They are not similar to TLT except they are vaguely queer and about competitive friendships where the girls are obsessed with each other in maybe an unhealthy way. Ok so a bit similar. Genuinely my favorite books ever. 

Similar themes: mommy issues, daddy issues, childhood trauma

On This Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous -Ocean Vuong

Summary: A Vietnamese immigrant reflects on his mother, grandmother, and his own life experience in the US. It is poetic and beautiful and will make you cry. 

How well it helped me forget: 10/10

Rating explanation: This book is beautiful. It really changes how you think about the US. Plus really interesting stuff about the western way of telling stories. Cannot recommend it enough, though very little to do with TLT. 

Similar themes: queer, stuff about language, childhood trauma, you will cry

**The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon 

Summary: OK sorry none of those were good suggestions for what to read after GTN. THIS is what you should read after GTN. It is an incredibly slow burn wlw enemies to lovers. There are dragons, there is magic, there are very cool female characters who I am in love with. This is like Game of Thrones but if it was good, queer, and only one 800 page book. 

How well it helped me forget: 10/10

Rating explanation: Enemies to lovers!!!! What more do I have to say? Also very cool world-building, interesting religious themes. 

Similar themes: wlw enemies to lovers, religious themes, magic, very old wizard milfs, also mlm

*The Traitor Baru Cormorant 

Summary: Baru is a very smart girl in a colonized island. She decides she will play the game of the colonizers, rise up in their society, and destroy them from within. How is that going, Baru? 

How well it helped me forget: 100/10

Rating explanation: This DID make me forget TLT. The only book to truly make me. It made me forget so badly that I wanted my Griddlehark angst BACK. GIVE ME IT BACK I don’t wanna feel sad about Baru anymore. I cannot recommend it more, it is so good, but it did make me ugly cry. It also made me majorly depressed about colonization and the state of the world. 

Similar themes: wlw enemies to lovers, ending will make you cry

*The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson 

Summary: Baru is depressed, has brain damage, throws up a lot, is sad about (redacted), does some things without remembering them because there’s something going on in her brain. Sound familiar? It’s kinda like Harrow the Ninth but more depressing. Oh also a lot of new characters are introduced, old characters come back, a lot of setup for the next book. Euler’s identity shows up out of nowhere?! 

How well it helped me forget: 10/10

Rating explanation: Again, it made me forget but only because I was so engrossed in this story. Also kinda depressed. This book is kinda depressing. But Baru is very fun to be around, and there are some other great characters. Marry me, Yawa. 

Similar themes: again, this is just harrow the ninth on steroids, I am in love with every single woman in this series

*The Tyrant Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson 

Summary: Baru makes a new bestie, reunites with an old bestie, and discovers a dead bestie in her brain!

How well it helped me forget: 1000/10

Rating explanation: I loved this book. There were a few scenes I reread >four times. This book makes the other books in the series worth it. 

Similar themes: please see my venn diagram comparing tlt, baru, and A memory called empire for more information

*The Ninth House - Leigh Bardugo 

Summary: A girl has seen ghosts her whole life and because of that, gets accepted at Yale even though she didn’t finish high school. Yale is like a hotspot for ghosts I guess. It’s dark academia, the girl has a secret, the narrator is pretty funny.

How well it helped me forget: 6/10

Rating explanation: I was trying to get distracted from TLT (and Baru at this point), but it’s hard to forget about Harrow and Gideon in a book called The Ninth House (hello?). It was enjoyable and there was some good humor. I’m curious about the next book in the series when it comes out. It is not wlw unless you squint (which I do). 

Similar themes: debatably wlw body posession, nine houses, the ninth one being important, nerd boy who reminds me of pal, woman is revealed to be MUCH older than I originally thought, soul eating, revenants, tombs, necromancy, character named Mercy

The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon 

Summary: It’s the future and London is a hotspot for clairvoyants. Paige is a woman who has a special gift and can jump into people’s bodies and possess them briefly (among other things, this is a terrible explanation). Because of this, she is sent to a secret part of the city where clairvoyants are trained to be monster fighters (but also like, kept there in captivity against their will). Unlike every other book on this list I honestly wouldn’t recommend. I know there are other books in the series. If you’ve read on and it gets better let me know. (I know no one has gotten this far reading this but still)

How well it helped me forget: 4/10

Rating explanation: This one was disappointing because I loved Priory of the Orange Tree so much. This book did not distract me from my griddlehark or barhu feels. There’s also a character named Warden so I thought about SexPal a lot. 

Similar themes: enemies to lovers, ghosts, possession, queer but only background characters 

****The Unspoken Name - A.K. Larkwood 

Summary: A girl is in an isolated cult that wants her to die as a sacrifice (sound familiar?). A definitely not evil wizard helps her escape. She meets a cute necromancer who’s also kinda from a cult. She goes on some gay adventures, gets the help of a morally grey older necromancer (who I’m in love with), and fights with her frenemy. 

How well it helped me forget: 10/10

Rating explanation: This is the most similar to TLT on this list. Gideon and Csorwe would be friends. Seriously I recommend this! And the second book comes out soon! And it’s not sad like TLT or Baru! 

Similar themes: sword lesbian + necromancer dynamic, wlw enemies to lovers, cults, tombs, necromancy, character named “the sleeper”, also mlm

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue - V. E. Schwab 

Summary: Adeline Larue made a deal with a demon in 1714 France, because she wanted to see the world and stuff. It backfires of course. She is immortal but no one remembers her. This causes all sorts of problems and makes her very angsty. The narrative flashes between her going through the years, and her falling in love with the only person who will remember her. 

How well it helped me forget: 2/10

Rating explanation: I know people loved this book but I did not. I liked the last 50 pages, I’ll give it that. I wish it was more queer (it was a little queer). 

Similar themes: as I said, a little wlw, immortality, demons, I guess falling in love with someone and them not remembering you now that I think about it 

Sula - Toni Morrison 

Summary: A story about two black women in the 1920’s-1960’s in an Ohio town. It is really great and interesting. It is a book about complicated female friendships (among so many other things that better writers not writing a list no one will read about their TLT feels have outlined) which I love. I was told I should read this after the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante and it did not disappoint. Same vibes. 

How well it helped me forget: 10/10

Rating explanation: This was just a great book. Has really nothing to do with TLT

Similar themes: debatably queer 

*Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect,  - Martha Wells

Summary: Muderbot is an artificial construct who just wants to be left alone to watch tv, damnit! It doesn’t want to interact with humans, and it definitely does not want to talk about feelings. Too bad some humans want to become friends with it.

How well it helped me forget: 10/10

Rating explanation: These books were so good. They did help me forget! The books are really about having anxiety, making friends, and letting yourself have feelings. Also they are SO FUNNY. Highly recommend. In the way that I love Gideon’s POV, I love Murderbot’s POV

Similar themes: funny narrator, queer characters, space, people who don’t want to deal with their feelings being forced to deal with their feelings

*A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine 

Summary: Mahit is sent a dangerous, evil empire to be an ambassador. Lots of beautiful writing about colonialism, assimilation, language, and culture.There is gay angst and funny characters. I am once again in love with a morally grey older woman character. 

How well it helped me forget: 10/10

Rating explanation: Yes this book is great and did distract me from gtn (mostly. I did end up reading a great fanfic about wake, g1deon, and pyrrah in the middle but otherwise...). It is part of my holy trilogy of wlw books (this, baru, tlt) that I just read recently. The next book comes out on March 2nd so it will be a good distraction from waiting for Alecto. Like Baru, it made me feel like shit about colonialism but unlike the other two books in my trilogy (redacted but if you’ve read those books you know) didn’t happen. It had a not too sad ending. 

Similar themes: see my venn diagram, but seriously what is going on with brain surgery in these books...

*The Luminous Dead - Cailtin Starling 9/10

Summary: A woman needs money and to get the money she goes on a risky cave dive. It turns out the only contact she has with the rest of the world is a woman who’s kinda a dick. It’s 400 pages of creepy cave diving and these two women talking to each other. It’s creepy and uncomfortable and I loved it. I did spend the whole book thinking it would be such a good story podcast.

How well it helped me forget: 10/10

Rating explanation: It did make me forget about tlt! There are some kinda boring parts but it pays off. The relationship between the two main characters is very interesting (though a bit fucked up). 

Similar themes: wlw enemies to lovers, traumatised characters, shitty moms

[marialeto]

Ascended Master and Tarot Card of the Day

September 10th, 2022

Saturday

Kali

Colors

Kali’s essential oil blend consists of 3

essential oils

Orange 4

Spanish Verbena 7

Black Spruce 5

Kali’s divinely blessed braided intention, prayer, and meditation bracelet is made of 3 strands of yarn.

Orange for Sacred Soul

Red for Purpose

Black for Journey

Message- Encompassing our soul leads us to sacred adventure.

The gemstone is Soapstone (in the shape of a Cobra today.)

Sweetgrass coffee today

🧡❤️🖤

Tarot Card - Lakshmi The goddess of abundance

I choose to feel abundant. Wealth is an inside job.

from the Divine Feminine oracle

Lakshmi personifies the splendor of affluence that arrives will be a line or every action with what the soul desires lost for us. She represents a reference, sacredness, knowing, understanding, and goals.

Our ultimate goal is to know our true bliss.

🧡❤️🖤

Photo of the day

September 10th, 2022

Saturday

Photo of the Day

Along the way

Photo taken in autumn 2012 at Calgary cemetery in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Featured in the collection Landscapes through the seasons.

Purpose, journey and sacred soul.

🧡❤️🖤

Today the ray of light is Sweetgrass. As is the flame, color, flavor, candle, and coffee.

Solar plexus is the chakra.

Sunrise is from 6:25 AM to 7:11 PM in Vogel. The forecast is a high of 79 and a low of 62° with sun followed by clouds later.

The moonrise is 7:44 PM until 7:40 AM in Pisces all day today.

Today is the day of the full moon and the moon was at its fullest at 4:58 AM

Pisces 5

The spirit animal is Musk, the angel is Fire, the being of light is Bailey, the goddess is Iris, the God is Flake, the Saint is Robert, the ascended master is Kali, The planet is Saturn, the number is three, the Elohim is body, the element is wind, the place is Spanish Verbena, the star is Tara, the country is Kiribati, the theme is route, the gemstone is soapstone in the form of a cobra, the day is universe, the day of the fairies, the divinity is feminine, the keyword is grassroots. The note is grassodians.

It is Jared and Austin’s day two and Shannon’s day today.

The song of the day is Exit by The Black Crowes

Album, Wiser For The Time, Live 2013

The Musk Spirit animal means endurance.

Soapstone has been used for thousands of years, it has been used in world art, inlaid designs, and sculpture.

It has a soothing calming effect while balancing positive energy. It promotes truth, logic, rational and creative thinking.

Kiribati is a country in Oceana in the central Pacific Ocean. It is known for culture, folk music, dancing, remote islands, small towns, hospitality, casual places, privacy, nuts, Christmas island, and Phoenix Island.

The Goddess Kali is associated with Indonesia. She turns darkness into light. She stands for self empowerment, dissolving limiting beliefs, change of perspective, and invitations into Divine adventures.

[bookwyrminspiration]

In your kotlc rainbow fairies AU Linh should be the ocean fairy, I vividly remember one of the books was about Shannon the Ocean Fairy and Linh’s a hydrokinetic. Tam could be either darkness or night.

With the other seven are they going to be connected, like with the original rainbow fairies, or disconnected? Because there’s like sets of seven fairies like the rainbow ones, weather ones, jewel ones, day of the week ones but it’s not like all the kotlc characters have a color attached. I mean there’s like a Fitz-teal thing but teal isn’t even one of the seven colors. I can’t think of something that works for all of them.

oo that's an interesting thought! I wasn't sure whether we should assign each of them to an already existing fairy or if it would be better to come up with someone new for each of them--though that might be a little difficult given just how many fairies there already are

Linh as the Ocean Fairy would be great!! Shannon was one of the special ones, which is how I categorized Tam and Linh given their relationship to the group. Her magic objects are pearls, which I think I could go with her really well.

I'm not sure who Tam should be, but i'm leaning towards either Trixie the Halloween fairy or Ivy the worry fairy for two completely different reasons. I don't know how well he fits into Fairyworld so he might be the kind we'd have to make one up for. At least in terms of special editions. There's plenty of darkness related fairies within the series, but I feel like Tam isn't part of a group enough to be that kind of fairy

as for the other seven, I think they could make a good group!! I mean, there's seven of them and the series are always set in seven so it seems too perfect to pass off the opportunity. I wonder what the overarching label would be--I don't think "the Elf Fairies" would work. But I'm unsure what we could substitute it for. The Lost Fairies?? Unsure

I don't think there's any existing group of seven that would fit the group as a whole as they're so different, but!! We could mix and match from the other series!! Dex could be Orla the Inventor fairy, perhaps. There's not a lot that fit them so we might have so make some jumps and assumptions and explain the thinking behind each choice but its chill!! We got this

I've read too many of these books to not go all out and try and create a way to mesh these two things together. Tempted to write this a little bit ngl...

[apaleflame]

Some LGBT SFF

Burning Roses, by S. L Huang, is a fantasy novella that re-imagines of the red riding hood fairy tale and the legend of hou yi the archer. the two middle-aged women join forces on a quest to rid the countryside of deadly firebirds, and along the way are forced to reconcile with their mistakes and sacrifices from their pasts. this novella scratched a particular itch i have for mature and complicated relationships. both main characters are/were in w/w relationships

Witchmark, by C. L. Polk, is a wwi-inspired fantasy following dr. miles singer, a mage (in a society that publicly shuns the use of magic) who joins aeland’s military to escape a family that would keep his magical gifts shackled for their own ends. having survived the war and taken up a position at a cash-strapped veterans hospital, he becomes embroiled in a mystery that risks to expose his true nature to his colleagues and his family. helping him unravel the mystery is the most beautiful man he’s ever met. miles is a gay man.

The Priory of The Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon, is a stand alone fantasy epic that spans a well developed, diverse world as it stand on the cusp of crisis. as an ancient evil rises from it’s millennia long slumber, the lady-in-waiting ead has been tasked with keeping the ruling queen of inys, sabran the ninth, safe from the assassins dogging her steps using forbidden magic. sabran berethnet is the heir to a queendom that’s stood a thousand years, and pressure is rising for her to produce a daughter to protect the realm from ruin. across the ocean, the the dragonrider-in-training tan must make a choice and keep a secret that would cause her entire world to come crumbling down. this is a long book following multiple pov characters, two of whom are hashtag confirmed on page to be gay, while the world itself has neither sexism nor homophobia.

Amberlough, by Lara Elena Donnelly, against the backdrop of a 1930s-esque city on the brink of a fascist take-over, we follow the secret agent cyril depaul, the smuggler/performer aristide makricosta, and burlesque dancer cordelia lehane. the three of them become entangled in each others lives as they struggle to survive the rising political tension in the city of amberlough, using any means necessary to survive-- including each other. scratches my particular itch for flawed and complicated relationships. cyril and aristide are lovers, other queer elements are present as well.

The Seep, by Chana Porter, is a speculative novella about the gentleest alien invasion. the life of 51 year old trans woman trina goldberg-oneka is irreversibly changed in the wake of the quite invasion of the alien entity called the seep. through the seep all lifeforms are connected, capitalism falls, hierarchy crumble, and anything you dream of can become possible. she and her wife deeba live happily under the seeps utopian influence, until deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby which might give her the chance at a better life-- using the seep to make this dream a reality, she leaves moves on to her new life leaving trina devistated. following trina’s journey we explore grief, alienation, and the pain of moving on. not gonna lie this one is a bit weird, which i love, but might not be for everyone. that being said i love this take on a soft alien invasion and what the implications of something like the seep might have on humanity and the earth as a whole.

[landofsonlali]

Sapphic September 2021

based off this prompt list from @solar-settings and @averywritesthings​, i have created a collection of 30 drabbles featuring the women of Schitt’s Creek. each drabble features a different combination of characters, including platonic, romantic, and queerplatonic relationships. 

click the read more for a chapter breakdown!

read the full collection on ao3!

chapter 1: sunrise, alexis/rachel, rated G

chapter 2: picnic, stevie/ruth, rated G

chapter 3: garden, heather/shannon, rated G

chapter 4: stars, twyla/alexis, rated G

chapter 5: pool, stevie/twyla/alexis, rated G 

chapter 6: wedding, ronnie/dulce, rated T

chapter 7: new moon, tennessee/heather, rated G

chapter 8: dawn, heather/rachel, rated G

chapter 9: freezing, alexis/shannon, rated G

chapter 10: festival/carnival, rachel/twyla, rated G

chapter 11: dust, stevie/elaine, rated G

chapter 12: hollow, ruth/twyla, rated G

chapter 13: moving day, moira & jocelyn & ronnie, rated G

chapter 14: farm, alexis & stevie, rated G

chapter 15: haunted, vivian blake & clara mandrake, rated G

chapter 16: smoking, stevie/twyla, rated T

chapter 17: fireworks, rachel/shannon, rated G

chapter 18: double date, twyla/alexis/stevie/ruth, rated G

chapter 19: fairies/the fae, stevie/rachel, rated G

chapter 20: history, gwen/wendy, rated T

chapter 21: celestial bodies, ronnie/vanessa, rated T

chapter 22: autumn, alexis/tennessee, rated G

chapter 23: twilight, moira/ronnie, rated T

chapter 24: magic, magdalena/kristen, rated T

chapter 25: space, twyla/shannon, rated G

chapter 26: ocean/the sea, alexis/ruth, rated G

chapter 27: road trip, stevie & ronnie, rated G

chapter 28: laughter, twyla/albany, rated G

chapter 29: costume party, moira/jocelyn, rated T

chapter 30: sunset, alexis & moira, rated G

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: A Jungle Fairy Tale

AU-gust Day Thirty: Magic AU Fandom: Once Upon A Time/Lost Pairing: Rumpelstiltskin x Claire Littleton

Rated: T

Summary: The survivors of Oceanic 815 discover that they are not alone on the island, and that its native inhabitants are… odd, to say the least.

Note: I’m not quite sure how much this counts as a magic AU since OUAT is in its nature a magical canon universe and Lost certainly has some supernatural and fantasy elements. But this idea’s been floating around in my mind for a couple of years now, so I thought I might as well dust it off here.

A Jungle Fairy Tale

The survivors of Oceanic 815 first realised that they were definitely not alone on the island on their first night, listening to the roar of something pounding through the jungle and seeing the trees shaking. Luckily, whatever it was decided that it was going to go in the opposite direction to the beach, and they never got a glimpse of whatever strange creature could have caused so much noise and destruction.

They first met the other inhabitants of the island the following afternoon. Claire hadn’t realised that anything had happened until she heard a commotion at the treeline at the edge of the beach, and everyone racing over in that direction. Carrying the extra weight as she was, it took her a while longer than everyone else to get over there and see what all the fuss was about, and she was very tempted to just stay exactly where she was and let someone else report back. Still, from all the raised voices, it sounded like something important was happening, so she heaved herself off the sand and made her way across to the source of all the excitement.

She had to double take when she saw it.

There was a man sitting casually in the upper branches of one of the trees, calmly gazing down at the gathered survivors. At least, Claire had to assume that he was a man. His skin was a greenish grey colour with a slight sparkling sheen to it, as if he was coated in a layer of gold dust, and his eyes were wide and an unnaturally yellow-grey. He seemed completely at ease in the tree and not at all worried by the fact that Sayid was holding the axe he’d been using to chop firewood, and Sawyer was pointing the marshal’s gun at him. In fact, when he saw the gun, he just tutted, waggling one clawed finger at Sawyer.

“Honestly. Humans. Always the same since the dawn of time. You accidentally find somewhere new and immediately start pointing weapons at the locals.” He tsked again. “It’s really not a good first impression, dearie.”

“Who the hell are you?” Sawyer asked. His brow was furrowed as if he couldn’t quite believe the evidence of his own eyes, and it appeared to be a common sentiment among all the people gathered under the tree.

“Ah, names have power, dearie, but since it looks like we’re all going to have to get along until your rescue arrives, if it arrives, I will be charitable for now. You may call me Rumpelstiltskin. Welcome to my home. Please put the gun down or I may be forced to do something drastic, and believe me, I do not require firearms to do it.”

“Rumpelstiltskin?” Beside Claire, Shannon scoffed. “As in that little imp from the fairy tales who steals babies?”

Claire looked down at her belly, worried for the first time since she’d seen the strange man.

“I did not steal them!” Rumpelstiltskin leaned at little further out of the tree, ignoring Sayid and Sawyer, and pointed an accusatory finger at Shannon. He seemed more enraged about her comment than he had done about being threatened in the first place. “I received them in fair deals that mothers then cried foul on because they didn’t understand what they were getting into, so eager were they for the untold riches I could provide!”

Shannon threw her hands up in defence and took a couple of steps back. “Ok…”

“Sawyer, maybe you ought to put the gun down.” Jack, as ever the voice of reason, came forward to the front of the group.

“Are you crazy, Doc?” Sawyer jabbed a finger towards Rumpelstiltskin. “Because he definitely is!”

“I am.” Rumpelstiltskin nodded calmly. “Spend a few years here with only Mal for company and you’ll all be a little…” He swirled a finger next to his temple. “Which is why we need to get you off this island as soon as possible. Can’t have you going bananas. The only bananas we want here are the kind that grow in the trees.”

“How long have you been here?” Sayid had since put down the axe and was looking at Rumpelstiltskin with more curiosity than fear.

Rumpelstiltskin counted on his fingers, holding up three.

“Three years?”

“No.” He seemed a little offended by the suggestion. “Three centuries, dearie.”

“All right, we’ve got a crazy guy who looks like someone had an intimate encounter with a crocodile and who is apparently over three hundred years old.” Sawyer shook his head in disbelief. “I’m not the only one hearing this, right?”

There was a general murmur of consensus among the survivors and Sawyer finally lowered the gun.

“All right. I’ll play along. How do you propose we get off this island, then?”

“Well, if I knew how to get off, don’t you think I would have done it two-hundred and ninety-nine odd years ago?” Rumpelstiltskin gave Sawyer a butter-wouldn’t-melt smile. “Still, there’s what, fifty of you, and there’s only been me and Mal for so long, so I’m sure that fifty heads are better than two. Although, having seen some of you, I’m not so sure.”

“Hey!”

“Sawyer, leave it.” Jack stepped forward, unofficial spokesperson for the group. “Is there anyone else on the island?”

“Apart from me and Mal? I think there’s a man in a bunker somewhere, but he might have blown his brains out by now.”

“What about that thing in the jungle last night?” Kate asked. “It was loud enough; you must have heard it.”

“Oh, that’s Mal, no need to worry about her. She doesn’t realise how big she is sometimes.” Rumpelstiltskin waved the concern away airily.

“How big is she?”

“Well, she’s a dragon, dearie, so she’s rather large at times.”

“A dragon? Ok, that’s it, this is just ridiculous now.” Sawyer threw his hands up in defeat and left the group, taking with him a great deal of the tension. Although Rumpelstiltskin had seemed at ease before, he visibly relaxed now that Sawyer was gone.

“What do you mean, ‘rather large at times’?”

Claire couldn’t help thinking that Kate was focussing on the wrong things here, but since they’d already accepted the existence of Rumpelstiltskin, they might as well accept the existence of a dragon as well.

“She’s not in her dragon shape all the time, obviously.”

There was silence for a moment, until Rumpelstiltskin suddenly clapped his hands together, startling the gathered survivors.

“Well, that was a lovely introduction. You know me, I know you, welcome to the magical island where, yes, dragons do exist. Please think twice before pointing weapons in my direction and please don’t worry about Mal, she’s harmless. I’m sure our paths will cross again before you leave, please pick up all litter, please be aware that those little orange berries are extremely poisonous, and otherwise make yourselves at home but don’t abuse our hospitality.”

He raised one hand, about to snap his fingers, but then he paused, cocking his head on one side and staring straight at Claire. She took a step back under the force of his gaze, and Shannon and Kate stepped in closer to her protectively.

“Are you sure you should have been flying, dearie?” he asked softly. “You look about ready to drop.”

“I…” Claire put her hands on her belly. “The doctor said it was fine,” she said.

“Well, just keep him safe in there, all right?”

With that, he vanished in a fingersnap, as if he’d never been there at all, leaving the survivors all looking at each other, trying to work out if that had really just happened or if they’d all had a mass hallucination.

With impeccable timing, Claire felt a little kick against her palm, and she gasped.

“Claire? You ok, hun?”

She nodded. “He moved. First time since the crash.”

She didn’t know why she suddenly thought he was a boy. Maybe because Rumpelstiltskin had seemed so sure. All the same, he was now definitely a boy in her mind. She looked back up at the tree branch where Rumpelstiltskin had sat. She’d been unnerved when he’d taken a sudden interest in her, but she hadn’t been scared. He’d seemed genuinely concerned for her and the baby.

Claire shook herself and moved away with the dissipating crowd.

Only time would tell.

X

The next few days passed mostly without incident, and Claire was almost beginning to think that she had dreamed the encounter with Rumpelstiltskin, if it wasn’t for everyone casting wary glances at the tree line now and again.

It was night-time when she saw him again. Sayid and Jack were keeping watch by the bonfire, and Claire couldn’t sleep. Now that Baby had started moving again, it felt like he was moving all the time. Especially whenever she was trying to get some rest. There was no use in even attempting to sleep yet, so she sat up in her little tent, looking around.

He was standing under the tree they’d first seen him in, watching the camp. There was nothing nefarious in his gaze. If anything, it was protective, fatherly. She wondered if he’d kept watch over them before and they just hadn’t noticed.

Presently there was a little rustle in the trees, and someone joined him, a woman with the tips of horns peeping out of her mess of curly blonde hair. She must have been the mysterious Mal. At least they hadn’t had any dragon-related incidents since that first night.

Claire watched them for a few minutes, until Rumpelstiltskin looked straight at her and waved. She ducked back inside her tent in embarrassment, before curiosity overcame her and she stepped out, picking her way across the sand towards them.

“Hello again, dearie. How are you and the little one?”

Claire nodded. “All right. He’s keeping me up.”

Mal gave a soft laugh. “Yes, they do. It’s only going to get worse, I’m afraid.”

“Do you have children?”

“I had a daughter.” Mal sighed, and Claire decided that the past tense was enough not to press the point.

“Glad to hear you’re both doing well. Hopefully, you’ll be nice and safe and snug somewhere on terra firma when the time comes.”

“Yeah.” Claire sighed. She hadn’t wanted to resign herself to having the baby on the island yet, but the longer it took for rescue to find them, the more it seemed like she was going to have to do just that. “Hopefully.” She paused, the question that had been hanging at the back of her mind for the last few days now sitting on the tip of her tongue. “Why are you so concerned for me and the baby?” she asked. “I mean, I’m not going to accuse you of wanting to steal him, but…” She sighed. “Did you know I was going to give him up for adoption?”

Rumpelstiltskin shook his head. “I don’t know things. But I suspect them. I have a certain degree of foresight which gives me a certain degree of insight.” He gave a long, heavy sigh, and with that sigh, Claire could well believe that he was over three hundred years old, and the weight of all those centuries was bearing down on him now. “We don’t get new life on this island,” he said. “It’s part of the curse that brought us here. We’re static, and we’re very old. He’s something new.” He nodded towards her belly. “He’s a brand new soul, and as such we will do all we can to protect him.”

There was a fierceness in his words, and in that moment, Claire knew that he meant it, and that he and Mal, for all their strangeness, could be trusted. Whether he would help them off the island or not, she knew that they were at least safe with him.

“You should try and sleep,” Mal said. “You need as much as you can get, even if it’s only a catnap.”

Claire nodded and began to make her way back to her tent. Mal and Rumpelstiltskin were still there in the shadows when she glanced back over her shoulder.

X

“She’s too young for you.”

“Mal, I’m three hundred and fifty-two years old. Everyone is too young for me except you. And we established a couple of centuries ago that we’re good friends, but we definitely do not like each other in that way.”

“You know what I mean.”

They were watching Claire retreating down the beach.

Rumpelstiltskin sighed. “I know. But there’s something about her. She’s their heart, although they don’t know it yet. She’s special, Mal, surely you can see it too.”

“Rumpel, she’s a human who’s about to have a baby and who desperately needs to get off this island and you’re an Immortal who’s been banished here and can’t leave it. It’ll never work. But yes, I will admit that she is lovely. Inside and out.”

“Do you think you could… you know.”

Mal rolled her eyes but nonetheless acquiesced, bringing her hands up to her mouth. Her eyes flashed reptilian gold for a moment as she blew a puff of smoke into her palms, forming it into a ball. Rumpelstiltskin snapped his fingers, encasing the ball in a soft lilac glow.

“Don’t say I never do anything for you.”

“It’s not for me, Mal. It’s for Claire.”

Mal just raised an eyebrow and moved back into the trees away from the survivors’ camp. Rumpelstiltskin snapped his fingers, rematerialising outside Claire’s little tent. She startled when she saw him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. This is from me and Mal.” He held out the lilac ball and Claire took it.

“It’s warm. Sorry, that’s stupid, of course you know it’s warm.”

“It’s dragon smoke,” he explained. “It’ll warm and cool as you need it to, and it should ease the pain and make you more comfortable. Like Mal said, you need your sleep.”

Gingerly, Claire put the ball behind her back, almost immediately giving a sigh of relief.

“Oh, that feels great. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome.”

He made to vanish away, but Claire’s voice stopped him.

“Wait, Rumpelstiltskin.”

“Yes, Claire?”

“Will you stay a while?”

“If you would like.”

Claire nodded, patting the blanket beside her, and Rumpelstiltskin sat down.

“No one really talks to me,” she said. “It’s like I’m this ticking time bomb waiting to go off. They’re all polite about it, but they’re all thinking the same thing. What happens when the baby’s on the outside?” She sighed. “You’re the only one who seems to see past that and look me in the eye. You’re not worried about what’ll happen when the baby’s here. You’re more concerned with making sure we’re both ok right now.”

Rumpelstiltskin shrugged. “It just makes sense, that’s all.”

They fell into silence for a while.

“Earlier, you said that you and Mal were under a curse that had brought you here.”

“Yes. I wasn’t quite sure you’d believe that.”

“Well, I’ve learned to believe in fairy tale characters and dragons over the last few days, so why not believe in magic and curses too? Hurley thinks he’s cursed, it’s not too far-fetched.”

“Yes, Mal and I are cursed. For my part it was the entirely wrongful baby-stealing reputation. Mal’s is roughly the same, although she did actually steal one; an eye for an eye to replace her own stolen child.” He sighed. “They always went to good homes. For every set of careless parents who dealt their child away to me without realising what they had done and trying to renege on a fair contract, there was another set of parents who would do anything to have a babe of their own – even make a deal with me. It all worked out very well for the little ones in the end, and even despite my current exile, I don’t regret any of it.”

“You just wanted the best for the children.”

Rumpelstiltskin nodded, and Claire smiled.

“Thank you for looking out for mine. Even though you knew I was going to give him up.”

“You were doing what was best for him. If you didn’t think that you would be able to care for him, then making a deal to give him up to someone who could was the right thing to do. That’s not something to be ashamed of. It shows more sense and maturity than most of the people I dealt with.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do now if I can’t get off the island. I never thought I’d actually be a mother.”

“You have more help than you know. Everyone will band together for you, as much as they might be avoiding you now. Responsibility, once it’s there, will change things. And you know that you can always call on me and Mal if you need us. We’ve lived here for so long and gone so mad that we really don’t want it to happen to anyone else, so we’ll do what we can to help.”

“Thank you.” She reached across, taking Rumpelstiltskin’s hand and squeezing. He startled for a moment before squeezing back tentatively.

“You know, I’m looking out for you, too,” he said eventually. “Not just the little one. You’re a remarkable person in your own right, you know.”

Claire looked away, her cheeks colouring in the firelight.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll leave you to get some rest now. But just call if you need me. Names have power, after all.”

Claire nodded.

“Rumpelstiltskin?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for everything.”

She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek before lying down again and readjusting the ball of smoke behind her back; within a minute she was sleeping peacefully.

Rumpelstiltskin vanished back to his home in the trees, touching the place on his cheek where Claire had kissed him. Let Mal be cynical. He wouldn’t have got this far and survived this long without hope, and he was going to keep that hope till the end.

X

The ball of dragon smoke was still just the right temperature when Claire woke, and she smiled, stowing it in her luggage for when she next needed it. She cast her mind back over the previous night, and her discussion with Rumpelstiltskin. As strange as it seemed to be developing feelings for the man, she couldn’t deny that the feelings were definitely developing. It would be strange, of course it would – she was human and he was whatever he was, and he was cursed to spend his eternity on this island whereas she was very much determined to get off it.

But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t have hope that maybe something more could come of their tentative friendship, after all.

[hecallsmehischild]

Recent Media Consumed

Books

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Wow. Chilling fairy tale. Beautiful. Immersive. Otherworldly. You don’t get to fully understand everything, and that’s exactly how it should be, in this story’s case.

Out of the Fog: Moving from Confusion to Clarity after Narcissistic Abuse by Dana Morningstar. I continue to read through some books about personality disorders and the relationship fallout from being connected with these people. This book, after “Healing from Hidden Abuse” by Shannon Thomas, has been the second most helpful to me so far. At first, it wasn’t giving me much new information. But as the chapters went on, it offered me two really valuable things. First, it offered me many stories from people who had been through these situations, including a few who had been through it in friendships (it’s hard to find literature covering abusive friendships). Second, it offered a lot of explanation of terms. For example, it defined what a healthy friendship is and is not. It contrasts a lot of terms it explains, too, like, “Boundaries versus fortressing,” or “Partner versus target,” etc. It explained the concept of “fleas” (problematic behaviors that abuse victims may have picked up from abusers that can be gotten rid of with careful attention, as opposed to “catching narcissism” or thinking you’ve become the same as the abuser) and introduced many other concepts I found helpful. Frankly, this is a good book to read whether you’ve been through an abusive relationship or not, because it’s also an educational tool for people looking for good friends or trying to enter the dating pool. I strongly recommend this book as a good read for emotional and social education.

The Tragedy of Islam by Imam Mohammad Tawhidi. Not sure all of what to say, here. It’s interesting, but also difficult for someone who isn’t very familiar with Islam to track along with. I had to do a lot of context mining to understand who various people were in relation to each other, and a lot of the moments where the author tried to make a serious point, I didn’t understand the weight behind it because I had no familiarity with the players. At the same time, my husband and I pushed through reading it and understood it for the most part. It sends me back to issues in my own beliefs, where the original documents are in a language I can’t read and don’t want to learn, so whose words do I trust on it? Many people CAN read those documents, but who is and isn’t lying? I will say, there is some weight to the fact that this book has over 20 pages of citations (that’s over 500 citations for references listed in this book). For now, not basing all my opinions/learning on this book, but holding it as a piece to consider as I move forward in general-knowledge reading.

On Deck: The Medium-SIzed Book of Zim Scripts vol 1 by Eric Trueheart, The Art of Invader Zim, Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell.

Movies

Hoaxed. This is bleak. And hard. And makes me just want to disconnect and live in the woods.

A Whisker Away. I’m a little conflicted. On the one hand, I’m disturbed by the stalkerish behavior of the main character. On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character quite this level of expressive in anime before, and I really enjoy the 250% capacity she emotes at. I also enjoy the magical story quite a bit. I… dislike most of the people. However I can’t say these character types don’t exist in real life, so this is in no way a bad story, or bad characterization, I just have trouble rooting for them. I still enjoyed it overall, though.

Silence of the Lambs. Was obsessed with seeing it as a child for some reason. Wised up about my visual limits by teenagehood. Watched it recently for the first time. Not as gory as I thought, definitely disturbing. Interesting movie. The characters, man. The characters. What do you even say? Frightening and fantastic.

Hamilton. So I was not very invested in the first third. The narrative was a lot more scattershot than I’m used to, but it started really coming together after that, and it straight up murdered me during “It’s Quiet Uptown.” I know this is fictionalized history but tell me human history isn’t exactly this tragic, splintered by millions of large and small bad decisions. I hurt all over by the end of it, and I did not expect that at all.

Where The Red Fern Grows (2003). I had no idea there was a remake. The old version was an utterly traumatic part of my childhood that I rewatched many times because, apparently, I liked the heartbreak it brought me. This new version was pretty good. It didn’t especially move me, but I thought the hunt in the storm was a bit more intense and certainly the camera was more adept at catching close-ups of frantic, scurrying raccoons. Now I’m wondering how the old one holds up…

Games

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I did it. A complete non-gamer beat Ganon. I’m so psyched. I want to play it all over again in a few months. It’s beautiful. It’s fun. It taught me my way around a controller. I want to play more…

On deck: Yes, Ant, Psychonauts. ;)

[zenosanalytic]

The Paradox of Oceans

I liked The Shape of Water, but my reaction to it was more thoughtful that ecstatic. It’s more than a Good Film; it is a Beautiful Film, in Every Respect.

It’s not the movie I thought it would be, it is only partially the movie it was marketed as, and I understand how this could get in the way of either seeing what the film is doing, or appreciating it. One of the things del Toro is best at as a director is taking what people typically consider schlock(especially horror), and turning it into deeply sensitive examinations of emotions and the human condition. To Wit: a big deal has been made of TSoW being a “monster-fucking” movie; about del Toro’s interest in a movie where “the monster gets the girl”. Eliza and the Amphibian Man certainly DO get naked for some all-but-filmed sexytimes(Twice no less owo), but it doesn’t end up being the interspecies love-film it was sold as. That’s unfortunate in that I continue to want to see that movie, but irrelevant(to me) in that the movie it IS, is still Excellent. Fundamentally, The Shape of Water is a movie about companionship, and the monster-fucking and romance, such that it is, only works to serve that theme alongside other examples and examinations of intimacy, connection, and feeling. The Shape of Water is, most centrally, about the search and desire for Companionship and Acknowledgement; not JUST to have someone, but to See and Be Seen, to Hear and Be Heard, to Touch and to Be Touched. To be Accepted rather than Denied and Rejected.

Eliza feels the world refuses to see her instead of her disability; that she lives in its shadow. The Amphibian Man is homeless, friendless, surrounded by incomprehensible enemies who refuse to acknowledge him or communicate, who torment him physically and care nothing for his feelings, in the charge of a man who reviles him as an offense precisely because of his difference from him, and revels in the pain and anguish he causes “The Asset”(he is, quite literally, commodified!). Giles feels abandoned and rejected by the one person he thought he had a true connection with -his old lover, a person(I got the sense) he had dedicated years and possibly decades to, but who is determined to remain in the closet, and who asked him to quit his old job at their ad agency to preserve that closeting- clinging to him by the end of a thin, slippery line, desperate to keep that connection alive in a dangerous world now turned upside down where he understands nothing, has no-one(but Eliza) and where anyone, no matter how fair their smile, could secretly revile him for his love. Zelda is locked in a dying marriage with a man who has shut himself off from her, and from all those human connections that are the sinew of any vibrant relationship, because he has given up on himself. Dimitri has left home out of patriotism and idealism to live as someone he is not, with his only lifeline back to his true Self and true Ideals a pair of brutish, criminal fools who care about as little for those things as they do for his safety. All these people are alone. All these people desperately don’t want to be; want a real, reciprocal connection. All these people are reaching out in what variously pitiable ways they have available to them. The Shape of Water is a film that asks you to empathize. It is a film that asks you to reach back. It is a film that asks you to be human.

Which is its central, and powerful, irony, I think, because it’s also a film where the main protagonist, the most humane of them, is very likely not human in the biological sense, though this is only possibly confirmed at the very end. At the opening of the movie we see that Eliza has six “scratches” on her neck, three to each side, that look like nothing so much as gills. This lays down a marker that slowly, very slowly, pays out through the film, as Eliza’s growing connection with AM opens up her life and unlocks her true nature. The film is skillfully cagey about it though; Eliza is associated with water from the opening scenes, starts to show a preternatural affinity for water as the story proceeds(she knows exactly when the rainy season will start, and controls drops of rain on a bus window), but the nature of the film makes you question the reality of any of this. There’s a whimsicality to the film(Eliza’s dancing, the old music, the set design, Eliza’s daily routine montages) which makes the experience of watching it rather Amelie-esque. As a result, I found myself wondering if this was real magical realism, or just the imaginative, quirky, not-really-magical kind so common in movies from the early 00s. But she DOES call when the rains will arrive; she DOES fill a whole bathroom, implausibly, with water in an apartment with rickety walls, flyapart doors, and floors that you can see light through. At the same time(quite literally :p), AM displays truly magical abilities, establishing miracles are possible in this world, and in doing so suggesting yet another connection between Eliza and him. There’s one particular fantasy sequence where the movie suddenly becomes one of Eliza’s dancing musicals for a moment, a part I found kind of jarring and didn’t really like until writing about the film, just now, made sense of it :p :p This isn’t done in such a way that you feel wrong drawing your own conclusions before the end, but the reality of the magic and the unreality of Eliza’s fantasies are kept in such a (non-stressful)tension that it truly remains up in the air until the very end(and even the end is somewhat ambiguous).

Rather than being an interspecies romance, I saw this as a modern child-theft fairy-tale in reverse; a story NOT about the human-child taken by a Witch or the Fairies, but of the “changeling” left-behind(though in this film I’d say there was more of a “separated” or “taken” feel) and their recovery. The typical taken child is forced into a life of drudgery, is insulted and mistreated, denied emotional fulfillment and acknowledgement, finds a way to fulfill these needs with small, similarly oppressed allies, and finally finds her way home through her own pluck and wisdom, the immeasurable help of the seemingly powerless, and sometimes the love of a mysterious male hero of her own age, and from her own world. Eliza walks this same path, but rather than being taken back to the world of humanity, she is taken from it back to the waters she was found in. Eliza not only attains equal acknowledgement and romantic fulfillment in AM, she is “brought home” by him; quite literally healed of the injuries -emotional, social and physical- her forced sojourn among the humans caused her[1]. There are a thousand ways she could have come to be “lost” among the humans, but that she is “found” through her journey with AM and brought to a place and belonging she recognizes as “home” was, to me at least, unmistakable.

And it is equally unmistakable, given the central position of Companionship and Connection, why the villain is who he is, and why that person is considered the true “monster” by it. Strickland(as wonderfully named as he is played by Michael Shannon) is a man who has built his life around rejecting others, and any attempt at real connection they make. He is the classic “1950s Man”: obsessed with Male Will and emotionally dead by choice through its application; valuing only those relationships which can advance his career or ego; taking pleasure only in the practice and display of power, and the ability of that to humiliate others. Strickland is a man who can never truly be home because he rejects the idea of home, of belonging, of ever being so “weak” as to care for or need another person. And this emotional deadness -which the movie aptly shows is a choice, done by his own hand(there’s even a scene of him reading The Power of Positive Thinking which is not only a wonderful skewering of the character’s type and his era, but also of the US’s current president; Donald grew up in the church of the vile conman who wrote that book)- is just as aptly shown to be his REAL weakness and true undoing. He never suspects that Eliza and Zelda, mere “piss-wipers”, could have had anything to do with AM’s escape, instead chasing the fantasy of a Soviet Strike-Team; he focuses so much on his career and gratification, and is so willfully oblivious to his own body(scarfing his pain-pills just as greedily as his candy), that he doesn’t notice that two of his fingers -recently bitten off by AM and surgically reattached- are going gangrenous. The audience sitting in the theater watches them redden, turn purple, turn black, but he doesn’t take notice until almost the end of the film. There’s a particularly symbolic scene involving them where he tears the fingers off solely for effect, for no better purpose than to frighten and intimidate, driving home absolutely how self-destructive, and ultimately disdainful of self and life, this man and his inhumane philosophy are.

TSoW was also a rather religious movie, thematically, which surprised me since none of the reviews and reactions to it that I’ve read brought this up. The Bible is a thin but strong line within this film; the Old Testament textually, and the New more in theme and by reference. The story of Sampson and Delilah is brought up twice at important moments. The film closes on a reference(I’m pretty sure) to the Song of Songs(though maybe it’s Psalms). Strickland’s hatred of AM is driven by the conviction that humans are made in god’s image and AM is not, making him an “affront”(to what Strickland doesn’t say, but I would argue to himself, which is the only “god” Strickland cares about). The obvious idolatry of this, the transformation of the human form into the divine(and the philosophical relation of that thinking to Olympian philosophies, it should be said), is totally missed by Strickland, as it tends to be by Christians; the movie is openly disdainful of his position. AM can heal injury, rise from the dead, and(possibly, depending on how you read the ending) resurrect others; actions clearly analogous to Joshua’s miracles. Strickland sneeringly mentions that the humans who lived with AM “worshiped him as some kind of god”, as evidenced by their leaving such “divine sacrifices” as... food to eat, and plants and stones that he found beautiful near the lagoon they pulled him from. I found myself wondering if he felt beatified by being invited to a neighbor’s weekend grillup. At the end of the film, seeing AM rise from the dead, Strickland, in horror, says “you really ARE a God!” right before AM kills him, which ought to tell us how serious his earlier professions to Christianity truly were. AM never claims to be god, of course, or even A god, and neither do any of those who help him ever see anything other than a being who can think, understand, and feel just as well as they do. It’s a notable point: the only “Pious” people in the film -the only ones who make a point of publicizing their faith and god and identifying themselves through it- are all the bad guys; quibbling over profanity as they carry out the most profane actions. The protagonists never bring religion and god up, until Giles’ narration at the end.

They are, I suppose, content to merely live a message of love, and to journey to, and in, and with love, rather than shouting their profession from the street-corners.

OK: that’s a pretty religiojudgemental way to end this, especially for an atheist, but it was just too good a line for me to resist X| Hope this review was entertaining/edifying ^u^ ^u^

[1]Two other potentially constructive analogies/critical avenues: 1)Tarzan. Eliza is stranded in Civilization by accident as a baby, grows within that strange world, mastering its ways as best her unsuited abilities allow her, then “saved” from it, and brought back to the “wild” of the Sea by one of her kind also brought there by his own tragedy. 2) The Little Mermaid. Eliza grows up, voiceless on land, denied love; one day she finds a Prince from the Sea on Land, taken there against his will; she decides to befriend him, and he returns her acknowledgement; she discovers a plot against his life and, out of friendship, saves him; a romance blossoms from this; in the end, she is “redeemed” and healed, body and soul, when he returns her to the ocean where she belongs.

[onlymexico]

Guillermo del Toro Gómez born October 9, 1964, is a Mexican American film director, screenwriter, producer and novelist. In his filmmaking career, del Toro has alternated between Spanish-language dark fantasy pieces, such as the gothic horror film The Devil's Backbone (2001), and Pan's Labyrinth (2006), and more mainstream American action movies, such as the vampire superhero action film Blade II (2002), the supernatural superhero film Hellboy (2004), its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), and the science fiction monster film Pacific Rim (2013). His latest film, The Shape of Water, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and is scheduled for an American release on December 8, 2017.

In addition to his directing works, del Toro is a prolific producer, his producing works including acclaimed and successful films such as The Orphanage (2007), Julia's Eyes (2010), Biutiful (2010), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Puss in Boots (2011), and Mama (2013). He was originally chosen by Peter Jackson to direct The Hobbit films; he left the project due to production problems but was still credited as co-writer for his numerous contributions to the script.

Del Toro's work is characterised by a strong connection to fairy tales and horror, with an effort to infuse visual or poetic beauty.  He has a lifelong fascination with monsters, which he considers symbols of great power.[3] Del Toro is known for his use of insectile and religious imagery, the themes of Catholicism and celebrating imperfection, underworld and clockwork motifs, practical special effects, dominant amber lighting, and his frequent collaborations with actors Ron Perlman and Doug Jones. He is also friends with fellow Mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu, collectively known as "The Three Amigos of Cinema”.

When del Toro was about eight years old, he began experimenting with his father's Super 8 camera, making short films with Planet of the Apes toys and other objects. One short focused on a "serial killer potato" with ambitions of world domination; it murdered del Toro's mother and brothers before stepping outside and being crushed by a car. Del Toro made about 10 short films before his first feature, including one titled Matilde, but only the last two, Doña Lupe and Geometria, have been made available. He also wrote four and directed five episodes of the cult series La Hora Marcada, along with other Mexican filmmakers such as Emmanuel Lubezki and Alfonso Cuarón.

Del Toro studied special effects and make-up with special-effects artist Dick Smith. He spent 10 years as a special-effects make-up designer and formed his own company, Necropia. He also co-founded the Guadalajara International Film Festival. Later in his directing career, he formed his own production company, the Tequila Gang.

In 1997, at the age of 33, Guillermo was given a $30 million budget from Miramax Films to shoot another film, Mimic. During this time, his father, automotive entrepreneur Federico del Toro, was kidnapped in Guadalajara. Del Toro's family had to pay twice the amount originally asked. The event prompted del Toro, his parents, and his siblings to move abroad. In an interview with Time magazine, he said this about the kidnapping of his father: "Every day, every week, something happens that reminds me that I am an involuntary exile [from my country]

Del Toro has directed a wide variety of films, from comic book adaptations (Blade II, Hellboy) to historical fantasy and horror films, two of which are set in Spain in the context of the Spanish Civil War under the authoritarian rule of Francisco Franco. These two films, The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth, are among his most critically acclaimed works. They share similar settings, protagonists and themes with the 1973 Spanish film The Spirit of the Beehive, widely considered to be the finest Spanish film of the 1970s.

Del Toro views the horror genre as inherently political, explaining, "Much like fairy tales, there are two facets of horror. One is pro-institution, which is the most reprehensible type of fairy tale: Don't wander into the woods, and always obey your parents. The other type of fairy tale is completely anarchic and antiestablishment."

He is close friends with two other prominent and critically praised Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu.[15] The three often influence each other's directorial decisions, and have been interviewed together by Charlie Rose. Cuarón was one of the producers of Pan's Labyrinth, while Iñárritu assisted in editing the film.

Del Toro has also contributed to the web series Trailers From Hell.

In April 2008, del Toro was hired by Peter Jackson to direct the live-action film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. On May 30, 2010, del Toro left the project due to extend delays brought on by MGM's financial troubles. Although he did not direct the films, he is credited as co-writer in An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies.

On June 2, 2009, del Toro's first novel, The Strain, was released. It is the first part of an apocalyptic vampire trilogy co-authored by del Toro and Chuck Hogan. The second volume, The Fall, was released on September 21, 2010. The final installment, The Night Eternal, followed in October 2011. Del Toro cites writings of Antoine Augustin Calmet, Montague Summers and Bernhardt J. Hurwood among his favourites in the non-literary form about vampires.

On December 9, 2010, del Toro launched Mirada Studios with his long-time cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, director Mathew Cullen and executive producer Javier Jimenez. Mirada was formed in Los Angeles, California to be a collaborative space where they and other filmmakers can work with Mirada's artists to create and produce projects that span digital production and content for film, television, advertising, interactive and other media. Mirada launched as a sister company to production company Motion Theory.[19]

Del Toro directed Pacific Rim, a science fiction film based on a screenplay by del Toro and Travis Beacham. In the film, giant monsters rise from the Pacific Ocean and attack major cities, leading humans to retaliate with gigantic mecha suits called Jaegers. Del Toro commented, "This is my most un-modest film, this has everything. The scale is enormous and I'm just a big kid having fun." The film was released on July 12, 2013 and grossed $411 million at the box office.

Del Toro directed "Night Zero", the pilot episode of The Strain, a vampire horror television series based on the novel trilogy of the same name by del Toro and Chuck Hogan. FX has commissioned the pilot episode, which del Toro scripted with Hogan and was filmed in Toronto in September 2013. FX ordered a thirteen-episode first season for the series on November 19, 2013, and series premiered on July 13, 2014.

After The Strain's pilot episode, del Toro directed Crimson Peak, a gothic horror film he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins and Lucinda Cox. Del Toro has described the film as "a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story", citing The Omen, The Exorcist and The Shining as influences. Del Toro also stated, "I think people are getting used to horror subjects done as found footage or B-value budgets. I wanted this to feel like a throwback." Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, and Charlie Hunnam starred in the film. Production began February 2014 in Toronto, with an April 2015 release date initially planned. The studio later pushed the date back to October 2015, to coincide with the Halloween season.[

He was selected to be on the jury for the main competition section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Del Toro directed the cold-war drama film The Shape of Water, starring Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, and Michael Shannon.[29] Filming was set to begin on August 1, 2016 in Toronto,[30][31] but del Toro confirmed on his personal Twitter account that filming would begin on August 15, 2016.[32] Production was officially announced to have begun on that day and wrapped twelve weeks later, the film is currently in post-production.[33] On August 31, 2017 the movie was screened and premiered in the main competition section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival where it was awarded the Golden Lion for best film, making Del Toro the first mexican director to win the award[34][35].

On July 21, 2016, it was reported that del Toro will retire from producing for projects that he isn't creating or directing himself.

At the D23 Expo in 2009, his Double Dare You production company and Disney announced a production deal for a line of darker animated films. The label was announced with one original animated project, Trollhunters. However, del Toro moved his deal to DreamWorks in late 2010. Trollhunters was released to great acclaim on Netflix and "is tracking to be its most-watched kids original ever

[sciencespies]

Academy scientists describe 71 new species in 2019

https://sciencespies.com/biology/academy-scientists-describe-71-new-species-in-2019/

Academy scientists describe 71 new species in 2019

Siphamia arnazae, the cat-eyed cardinalfish, is a new species of cardinalfish from Papua New Guinea. Credit: © 2019 Mark Erdmann

In 2019, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added 71 new plant and animal species to our family tree, enriching our understanding of Earth’s complex web of life and strengthening our ability to make informed conservation decisions. The new species include 17 fish, 15 geckos, eight flowering plants, six sea slugs, five arachnids, four eels, three ants, three skinks, two skates, two wasps, two mosses, two corals, and two lizards. More than a dozen Academy scientists—along with many more international collaborators—described the new species discoveries.

Proving that our vast and dynamic planet still contains unexplored places, the scientists discovered these new plants and animals across five continents and three oceans—venturing into Croatian caves, diving to extreme ocean depths, and surveying savanna forests. Their results help advance the Academy’s mission to explore, explain, and sustain life.

“Despite decades of tirelessly scouring some of the most familiar and remote places on Earth,” says Shannon Bennett, Ph.D., and Academy Chief of Science, “biodiversity scientists estimate that more than 90% of nature’s species remain unknown. A rich diversity of plants and animals is what allows life on our planet to thrive: the interconnectedness of all living systems provides collective resilience in the face of our climate crisis. Each newly discovered species serves as an important reminder of the critical role we play in better understanding and preserving these precious ecosystems.”

Below are highlights from the 71 new species described by the Academy in 2019.

Flowering plants in need of protection

Emeritus Curator of Botany Frank Almeda, Ph.D., described a rare white-blossomed plant Trembleya altoparaisensis this year based on several specimens collected over 100 years ago by the famous 19th-century botanist Auguste Francois Marie Glaziou. As rare now as it was then, the plant proved difficult to find in the wild. “People don’t think plants move,” says Ricardo Pacifico, a Ph.D. student working with Almeda and visiting researcher at the Academy, “but they do.” When an environment changes, plants will move to areas that better suit them. For botanists like Pacifico—who sometimes relies on a single museum specimen collected decades ago to track down a plant’s current whereabouts in the field—these migrations can be both challenging and rewarding. Luckily, on a recent expedition to the lush canyons of Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park in Brazil, Pacifico was able to track down a living specimen of Trembleya altoparaisensis to inform Almeda’s species description.

Almeda emphasizes the importance of Pacifico’s fieldwork to document exactly where these plants thrive in the wild. “Sure, national parks are protected,” he says, “but we must ensure we know what grows in the parks.” He says that finding and documenting species such as T. altoparaisensis and Gravesia serratifolia—another new species from a national park in Madagascar described by Almeda and his former student, Heritiana Ranarivelo—is crucial for effective management of the parks in the event of wildfires or other disasters.

Justicia alanae is a new species of flowering plant from Mexico. Credit: © 2019 Jonathan Amith

A long-snout skate with potentially high stakes for steaks

Thanks to a discovery by Ichthyology Research Associate David Ebert, Ph.D., the Falkland Islands have welcomed a new-to-science skate. Since the 1970s, the Falkland Island fisheries have been one of the largest distributors of skates—cartilaginous ray-like fish that live at depths of up to almost 2000 feet (600 meters). The fish are particularly popular in Korea, where they are fermented or filleted into steaks. Through their research, however, Ebert and his team have shown that some of the skates on the market might not be Dipturus chilensis as previously thought, but are instead the newly described species Dipturus lamillai. Ebert urges fisheries to reevaluate their sustainability and surveying practices in order to prevent overfishing of the newly described species before its population status can be fully evaluated—and to ensure the wrong skate doesn’t end up as a steak on a dinner plate.

A menagerie of microendemic and critically endangered reptiles

Academy Research Associate Aaron Bauer, Ph.D., has described more than 205 reptiles during his career, and this year he adds another 15 mottled day geckos, three island-dwelling skinks, an ostentatiously orange lizard, and a high-altitude girdled lizard to the tree of life. Bauer recommends that many of these reptiles be listed as critically endangered due to their microendemism—a term used to describe species only found in an extremely small geographic range. This restricted distribution means these animals are particularly susceptible to any sort of disturbance, such as deforestation. In the case of the newly described skink Kuniesaurus albiauris, invasive fire ants already threaten its restricted, native habitat in New Caledonia. Bauer says that finding these microendemic species is crucial for conservation. “If we don’t explore isolated habitats, like mountaintops,” he says, “we would miss a huge part of the biodiversity that’s unique to these regions.”

Californian corals make a case for conservation

Despite being less than 60 miles off the coast of San Francisco, much of the biodiversity in the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary remains a mystery. This is especially true of deeper-dwelling species. “We know the intertidal zone, but the deep sea is out of sight, out of mind,” says Invertebrate Zoology Curator Gary Williams, Ph.D., who described two new California coral species this year. Williams says that deep-sea surveys using remotely operated vehicles—like the 2018 expedition led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that collected a new lemon-yellow octocoral Chromoplexura cordellbankensis—are increasingly important for informing the expansion of marine protected areas and protecting the beautiful biodiversity thriving in the unexplored depths of our own backyard.

A fleet of fish (including a cat-eyed cardinalfish and a fish named C. wakanda)

From the purple, armor-like scales of the vibranium fairy wrasse Cirrhilabrus wakanda to the scintillating stare of the cat-eyed cardinalfish Siphamia arnazae, Academy researchers described 17 stunning new species of fish this year. Many of the colorful creatures come from tropical reefs—ecosystems known for both their biodiversity and their vulnerability to climate change. As the oceans continue to warm, the species that depend on the reef’s abundant resources are jeopardized. Efforts to document these species, such as those by Academy researchers and their collaborators, helps to ensure that conservationists, policymakers, local communities, and beyond better understand what is at stake.

Cordylus phonolithos is a new species of girdled lizard from southwestern Angola. Credit: © 2019 Ishan Agarwal

Cave-dwelling and ant-loving arachnids

As you move east from the Pyrenees Mountains on the border of Spain and France to the Balkan Mountains outside Bulgaria’s capital city of Sofia, a group of related cave-dwelling harvestmen (organisms related to spiders) becomes more adapted to life in the dark. This gradient of traits—known in biology as a character cline—helps researchers better understand the process of how a new species branches off on the tree of life. There is now a new link in this character cline chain thanks to the description of the cave-dwelling harvestman Lola konavoka from Croatia by Academy Curatorial Assistant of Entomology Darrell Ubick.

This year Ubick also co-describes the first—and only—species in a new family of “ant-worshipping” spiders. These curious arachnids spend most of their time underground in ant mounds, although scientists aren’t sure why. “The only way to see what they’re doing,” says Ubick, “is to dig them up. But then they’re no longer in their natural state.” It wasn’t until a recent expedition to Mexico’s Chihuahuan desert—the spider’s namesake—that scientists were first able to witness the species in the wild. But since they were found scattered around the surface of a collapsed ant nest, their underground behavior remains a mystery.

A stunning assortment of sea slugs

Academy Curator of Invertebrate Zoology Terry Gosliner, Ph.D., has described about one quarter of colorful sea slug species known to science, but these masquerading marine invertebrates still find ways of surprising him. Parts of Madrella amphora—one of six new species Gosliner describes this year—closely resemble the snail eggs that tend to surround their habitat. “We recently confirmed through genetics that sea slugs mimic the colors of other species” says Gosliner, “but it’s rare to see sea slugs mimic other animals entirely.” Two of the other new-to-science sea slugs are notable for being unusually small members of a group of typically large nudibranchs known as sea hares—named for two appendages on their head that resemble bunny ears.

Explore further

85 new species described by the California Academy of Sciences in 2017

More information: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3516352

Provided by California Academy of Sciences

Citation: Academy scientists describe 71 new species in 2019 (2019, December 5) retrieved 5 December 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-12-academy-scientists-species.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

#Biology