#she's so relatable too imagine serving the goddess of love for hundreds of years until she makes you feel a love you thought you would neve

[hxneylavendxr]

Thank you ems ♥️

Yeah im finally working on my yun jin and i have to slay signora for her talent material... had an Episode as a result

[razieltwelve]

Divine Interference Snippet

Here is a snippet from my newest collection of original short stories. The collection is called Divine Interference, and you can get it on Amazon here. It’s actually a sequel to a previous collection, Divine Assistance. Anyway, here is the snippet:

Heroic Destiny

As a young boy, Cassius had often indulged in dreams of heroism. He had dreamed of slaying dragons and wooing princesses, and he had imagined exploring distant, unknown lands and discovering priceless treasures. Life, however, had a depressing tendency to get in the way of dreams. When he was seven years old, his favourite hero – Gaius the Great – had been killed by a dragon while attempting to rescue a princess. The princess had eventually managed to escape when the dragon took a nap after eating a large contingent of soldiers, but there was nothing anybody could do for poor, brave Gaius. Incineration was not only extremely fatal but also extremely irreversible. Cassius had grieved for his hero before eventually moving on. It was what Gaius would have wanted. When Cassius was eight, he had paid close attention to the daring exploits of Flavius the Bold. The courageous explorer had departed for distant lands with a fleet of ten ships – and had been devoured by a sea serpent less than a week later.

To add to Cassius’s dismay, he’d found that his talents did not lay in swordplay, archery, or any other heroically inclined pursuits. Instead, he was incredibly skilled in the ancient and noble art of accurate financial accounting. It paid well – nobles and merchants were always on the lookout for good accountants – but it didn’t offer many opportunities for heroism. Indeed, his heroism was generally limited to badgering recalcitrant nobles and merchants for the necessary paperwork each week. Years of working in finance had also left him somewhat bereft of combat-related skills. If someone put a sword in his hands, then the only one in danger would be him since he was far more likely to accidentally stab himself than land a decent hit on his opponent.

To be fair, he didn’t have any major complaints about his life. He’d managed to make it to the age of thirty-five in close to perfect health, which was truly miraculous and commendable in a world where warfare, disease, and the occasional monster did a wonderful job of lowering the average person’s life expectancy. He also had a lovely wife and three lovely children. Heroes rarely lasted long, and he now had at least four excellent reasons to stay alive.

In his boyhood fantasies, he had called himself Cassius the Courageous, Slayer of Dragons and Wooer of Princesses. However, recent events had forced him to rethink that moniker. Something like Cassius the Unlucky or Cassius the Fortune-Challenged would have been more appropriate. Not long ago, a dragon had taken up residence in the hills not far from his hometown. As dragons were wont to do, the mighty beast had done a fantastic job of terrifying the townsfolk, eating their livestock, burning their crops, and just generally making a nuisance of himself – if the word nuisance could be used to describe one hundred and fifty feet of bronze scales that could fly as fast as the wind and breathe fire hot enough to melt solid rock.

Given the dire nature of their situation, the townsfolk had made numerous pleas to the local nobility who had furthered their concerns to the king after initial attempts to deal with the dragon had all failed in exceedingly fatal fashion. One of the local nobles, Lord Aurelian, who was renowned for his honour and courage, had even challenged the dragon to a duel. Alas, honour and courage were not especially effective against a dragon’s fire or a dragon’s teeth. The nobleman’s popularity had grown to immense heights after his heroic demise, but Cassius had a feeling that he would have preferred to retain his middling level of popularity if it meant not being set on fire and eaten in a little less than twenty seconds. Lord Aurelian’s son was now in charge, and the young man had opted for a more defensive strategy, which centred on appeasing the dragon with numerous cattle until a better solution could be found. Nobody liked giving the dragon food, least of all Lord Aurelian II, but his father’s fate was still fresh on everyone’s mind.

If only there was some way of scaring off the dragon, but the only thing dragons tended to be worried about were bigger dragons. And even if they could find a bigger dragon that was willing to help them, things could still go wrong. Several years ago, another kingdom had been under siege by a particularly ferocious female dragon. Using a veritable mountain of treasure, the kingdom’s rulers had bribed another dragon to drive her from their territory. Unfortunately, the dragon they had bribed had been a male dragon that had taken one look at the female dragon and decided that it was time to settle down and start a family. The kingdom had then been forced to deal with two dragons (with several more on the way). On the upside, the male dragon had at least had the decency to give the treasure back since he hadn’t actually driven the female dragon off.

It had taken weeks of frantic prayer to the kingdom’s patron gods and the Greater Gods before Young Death had turned up wondering why the kingdom’s cookie festival had been cancelled. The goddess had been duly informed of the cause – the rampaging dragons had threatened to set the festival ablaze and eat all of the cookie makers – and she had gone to have a quiet chat with the two mighty reptiles. Dragons were terrifying creatures, amongst the most powerful in the mortal world, but Young Death was the daughter of two Greater Gods, a being whose powers would one day be surpassed by only the Supreme Mother and Supreme Father. She was also someone who loved cookies very much, and the kingdom had promised to throw an even bigger cookie festival in her honour if she could save them from the dragons. Nobody knew exactly what she’d said or done, but the two dragons had left shortly after, vowing never to trouble the kingdom again.

Unfortunately for Cassius and his fellow townsfolk, their kingdom was not renowned for its cookies. Their king had also failed to find a solution. As an avowed pacifist, the king was a firm believer in only fighting defensive battles, which the kingdom’s treacherous terrain and harsh weather made exceptionally easy. More often than not, the terrain and the weather wiped out the kingdom’s enemies long before their soldiers had to do any fighting. Although prudent, this approach had not proven to be particularly popular with Annihilation, the Greater God who presided over destruction, devastation, and a great many other things, the most pertinent of which was dragons.

The kingdom’s clergy had prayed most earnestly and fervently to Annihilation, begging the Greater God to deal with the troublesome reptile. However, their prayers had been steadfastly ignored, and one especially pushy member of the clergy had been struck by lightning seven times after hurling a stream of invective at the Greater God. Witnesses had been sure that the first lightning bolt alone had been sufficient to kill the poor fellow. The following six had been all about making a point. Annihilation was not going to help them. If they wanted to get rid of the dragon, they’d have to do it themselves.

To make matters worse, the incredibly direct nature of Annihilation’s refusal to help meant that they likely wouldn’t be getting help from any of the other gods either. He was a Greater God, so the odds of any of his lesser peers going against his wishes were essentially nil, and only the Supreme Mother and Supreme Father clearly outranked him. Sure, the other Greater Gods might have been able to help, but they generally stayed out of each other’s business. In all honesty, if anyone were likely to get help it was the dragon. Life was the original creator of dragons, and she still stepped in to help them from time to time, usually by dispatching some of her more terrifying creations to help them. Only last week there had been rumours of a wounded dragon being saved by an army of mobras – fiendish creatures with the speed and agility of a mongoose and the deadly venom of a cobra.

In the time-honoured tradition of dragon-troubled kingdoms throughout history, the king had eventually decided to offer a fabulous reward to anyone who could defeat the creature. Heroes came from far and wide. One of them – Antony the Awesome – was one of Cassius’s favourites. Antony had slain no less than three gorgons, two hydras, and an entire band of roving Minotaur bandits. He was widely considered one of the premier heroes of the age, a man whose name was destined to go down in history as a hero of the highest quality. He was also, apparently, a bit arrogant, but Cassius was inclined to give him a little leeway. If a man could kill a hydra on his own, then who could blame him for walking into a tavern like he owned the place? Indeed, given how much money people paid to have hydras eliminated, the odds were good that Antony could buy any tavern he walked into.

Antony the Awesome and his associates had devised a cunning plan that would allow them to sneak up on the dragon while he slept and slay him. Admittedly, the first ten heroes had all tried something similar too, but Antony the Awesome was different. He was not going to get eaten because he was no mere hero. He was the greatest hero in decades, a true paragon of martial skill and warrior cunning. He was… awesome. Unfortunately for Antony, a stray crow had been his undoing. The bird had decided that the hero’s head would be a fantastic place to perch, and in a moment of irritation, Antony had swiped at the crow to shoo it away.

That had been a mistake.

Crows were animals that served Death. Harming one of them was thus generally considered an awful idea, and so it proved to be in this case. The crow had let loose a squawk of outrage, and the dragon had awakened to find Antony and his associates right in front of him. The following thirty seconds of carnage had been largely academic from the dragon’s point of view. When people were caught out in the open against a fire-breathing dragon, there really wasn’t much they could do except pray to the gods for a swift passing. The dragon had at least had the decency to let a few of them survive, mainly so they could tell everyone about how he had devoured Antony the Awesome. As for the crow, it had decided to make a nest in the remains of Antony’s helmet once the red-hot metal had cooled down. The dragon, although not very happy about having a crow building a nest in his lair, had wisely chosen to leave the bird alone. It seemed like a good idea given what had happened to the last person to annoy the bird.

The unrelenting failure by the heroes had eventually led to more drastic measures being taken. Lots had been drawn, and men were dispatched to try their hand at dealing with the dragon. As someone with a firm grasp of numbers and a great deal of common sense, Cassius thought the whole thing was beyond idiotic. What hope did normal men have against a dragon? The first seventeen men had all opted for some combination of trickery and stealth, and all of them had met similarly dire ends. Well, all of them but the fifteenth man. No one knew what he’d done to make the dragon so mad, but the beast hadn’t even deigned to eat him. Instead, all that had been left of the fellow was a large, smoking crater.

And then Cassius’s turn had arrived.

As an intelligent man who enjoyed living, Cassius had already tried several different tactics in a bid to escape what was sure to be a horrible and fiery end. None of them – not even bribery of the town’s nobles and officials – had worked. So here he was in the lair of the dragon, hiding behind a rock because the dragon had seen him coming and had simply been too lazy to fly out to kill him. Instead, the creature had waited for him to get closer before trying to set him on fire. It was almost laughable. The dragon had gotten so used to killing would-be heroes that it no longer bothered to put on a show.

It was a testament to the sturdiness of the rock that it had withstood the dragon’s fire for so long. Unfortunately, it had begun to glow, which meant he didn’t have more than maybe a minute or two before it melted and he got incinerated. Cassius decided to use his final moments in the mortal world to pray since, at this point, the only way he was going to survive was through some divine interference.

“Oh, gods above,” Cassius began. “I could really use some help. I’ve always done my best to honour and obey you, and I’ve done my best to be a good father and a good husband. I don’t know if I’ve done enough to earn your help, but if I have, now would be the time.” He winced as the rock began to glow even more brightly and its edges began to melt. “So if one of you could maybe send some help that would be great.” He looked heavenward, but the rock continued to melt with nary a sign of divine intervention. “I mean… Death? Annihilation? Wayfarer? Guardian?” He rattled off the names of the Greater Gods, hoping for a sign. When nothing happened, he moved onto the other gods, the ones that served directly under them. “Ruin? Justice? Torment?”

As he continued to work his way through all of the gods he knew, there was a part of him that marvelled at the dragon’s lung capacity. Sure, the reptile was enormous, but he was amazed at how it had been able to breathe fire for so long without pausing to take another breath. It had to have been breathing fire continuously for almost three minutes now. Nothing living could withstand dragon fire for so long, and even his mighty rock was on the verge of destruction too.

It was then, as all hope seemed lost, that Cassius’s prayers were answered. Alas, his prayers were not answered by Death, Annihilation, or any of the other gods he’d mentioned. If they had been, he would have been perfectly fine. No dragon would have dared to defy one of them. As he would later realise, his situation had only marginally improved. Indeed, some would have argued it had only gotten worse.

But at the time, he didn’t know that. At the time, he was absolutely convinced that salvation was at hand. The gods had heard his prayers. He was saved. He would not end up as dragon food.

“Fear not, mortal, for I have arrived!”

Cassius peeked around his rock as the dragon stopped breathing fire long enough to glare balefully at the god who had appeared on top of the rock. The god certainly cut a heroic figure. His eyes were the endless blue of the summer sky, and his jaw was squarer than an anvil. His broad shoulders and powerful frame were covered in glittering crystalline armour. Every move he made oozed power and majesty, and on his back was a great sword so sharp that it appeared to be splitting the rays of sunlight that struck its edge. In fact, merely looking at it had given Cassius a paper cut. Unbelievable. Maybe he could borrow it.

“Thank you! Thank you!” Cassius fell to his knees in gratitude. “Please, aid me, oh great…” He trailed off. He didn’t recognise the god, but it would have been incredibly rude and disrespectful to use the wrong name. He’d have to go with something more general instead. “Oh great and merciful divine one!” There. That should be a reasonably respectful way to address an unknown god.

“Worry not, mortal.” The god struck a heroic pose and gazed far into the distance. Cassius had no idea what he was looking at, but it certainly looked impressive. When he smiled, the god’s teeth sparkled in a way that was almost blinding. “I am not well known amongst your kind since I only appear to those who are truly worthy. Know, mortal, that you kneel before… Discipulus, the God of Aspiring Heroes.”

The hope blossoming in his heart died a swift, cruel death. Oh, he might not have seen him before, but Cassius had heard about Discipulus. He was the same god that had helped Antony the Awesome devise his cunning plan, and he had supposedly been heavily involved in the debacles that led to the demises of Gaius the Great and Flavius the Bold. Admittedly, he wasn’t the one who’d swiped that crow, but being involved in the deaths of three heroes who had, until they’d met him, never known defeat was not exactly inspiring.

“Oh.”

[pink-earmuffs]

STRANGE THE DREAMER - Hardcover Book Edition READ: 3/30-5/18/17 5/5 "The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around--and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he's been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance to lose his dream forever. What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries--including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo's dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? and if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?" This book was lyrical. Both in prose and in plot. I was extremely impressed with the level of detail and care that went into this novel. Why I loved it so much was because it read, not just as an original piece, as a hugely imagined fully formed world that you could get lost in and also manage to put the pieces together just as the main character does. This book is rich with imaginative ideas and wonderful prose. My only real complaint is that cliffhanger of an ending that makes the reader want more immediately. I took so long reading this because I wanted to fully appreciate every single word. And now I can't wait until the next one. ------------------------------------------ NOS4A2 - Paperback Copy Edition READ: 5/18-20/17 4/5 "Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country. Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland." Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son." I'll be honest here. I picked up this one based on the summary. I haven't read much of Hill's work - I know who his father is - I've only read one previous novel by him "Horns" and loved it so I decided to give this one a go. I was reminded of his fathers work in certain elements of this novel but the way it was done was enjoyable and yet this book reminded me of The Nightmare Before Christmas mixed with serial killers and enhanced supernatural mysticism. Manx is quite possibly one of the creepiest villains ever to be put to the page while Vic McQueen is one of the best heroines I've encountered. My only gripe is that I felt as if some questions about Manx might have been open ended on purpose. -----------------------------------------THE FABULIST - Paperback Copy Edition READ: 5/11-13/17 3.5/5 "A NOVEL OF AN IGNOMINIOUS FALL, THE RISE TO INFAMY, AND LIFE AFTER BOTH. It is the summer of 1998, and Stephen Glass is a young magazine journalist whose work is gaining more and more acclaim -- until a rival magazine tells Glass's editor that it suspects one of his stories is fabricated. As his editor sorts out the truth, Glass is busy inventing it -- spinning rich and complex blends of fact and fiction, and exploiting the gray world in between. But Glass is caught. His fabulism is uncovered and his career instantly unravels. Worse, his editor learns that it's not the first time. Soon, a long history of invention, passed off as journalism, emerges. Glass suddenly becomes a household name -- an emblem of hubris and a flashpoint for Americans' distrust and dislike of the press. The media is consumed with the story: Once the young man who had been known for mastering the "takedown" article, Glass now becomes the one every journalist wants to take even further down. Once the hunter, Glass becomes the hunted -- the story of the year. Glass responds to this agonizing public scrutiny with a self-imposed exile, first near Chicago with his family and then in the anonymous suburbs of Washington, D.C. There, he begins a long personal struggle with his misdeeds, working out his own answers to the questions of why he fabricated, how he can learn to stop lying, and whether, at age twenty-five, he has destroyed his life irrevocably. Glass encounters a world far stranger than his own fabrications -- one populated by eccentric coworkers, ailing animals, angry masseuses, sexy librarians, competitive bingo players, synchronized swimmers, a soulful stripper, and a mysterious guardian angel who dresses only in purple. Meanwhile, Glass is chased by marauding journalists whose desperation and ruthlessness manage to match even his own. As he dodges his pursuers, Glass grasps at straws only to find that, wondrously, they sometimes hold. Despite himself, he rediscovers the Judaism he'd left far behind in Hebrew school, and falls helplessly in love with a young woman who turns out to have her own shameful past. In the end, "The Fabulist" is as much about family, friendship, religion, and love -- about getting through somehow, even when it seems impossible -- as it is about reality and fantasy. At once hilarious and harrowing, "The Fabulist" is one of the year's most provocative novels." This book just seems self serving in a way that borders on the author making up even more absurdities in an effort to sell a book about his life. However, it is well written, I can't help but think this was his own attempt to lessen his own guilt about what he's done in his life through the one method he knows - creating fiction. ------------------------------------------ THE HEARTS WE SOLD - Paperback ARC Edition READ: 5/1-4/17; RELEASE: 8/8/17 4/5 "When Dee Moreno makes a deal with a devil--her heart in exchange for an escape from a disastrous home life--she finds her trade may be more than she bargained for. And becoming "heartless" is only the beginning. What lies ahead is a nightmare far bigger, far more monstrous than anything she ever could have imagined. With reality turned on its head, Dee has only a group of other deal-making teens to keep her grounded, including the charming but secretive James Lancer. And as something like love grows between them amidst an otherworldly ordeal, Dee begins to wonder: can she give James her heart when it's no longer hers to give? The Hearts We Sold is a Faustian tale for the modern age that will steal your heart and break it, and leave you begging for more." I have to agree with the one review that stated that "the rumpelstilskin clause" might look a tad familiar but it's nonetheless a strong novel with its own mythology and merits that are new takes within YA. The book provides hints that could lead to more within this universe even with the ending being satisfying but it's a wonderful novel with a new twist on a semi used prose. ------------------------------------------ CATALINA EDDY - ARC Via Netgalley (already released). READ: 5/21-22/17 3.5/5 "Times may change, but crimes never do, and neither do the people who investigate them. A collection of three loosely connected crime novellas, each set in a distinct era, Catalina Eddy is a gritty, hard-boiled exploration into the immutable police underworld of Southern California. In The Big Empty, an obstinate Los Angeles detective investigates the murder of his estranged wife while fears of nuclear war and Communism grip the nation; inLosertown, a mid-career attorney in San Diego chases down a legendary drug kingpin but chafes against the Reagan Revolution policies of his new boss; and inPortuguese Bend, set in the present day, an undercover cop is paralyzed in a gunfight but determined to solve what may be her last case as a police officer in Long Beach. They are all, in one way or another, stuck in dreary endless loops of love, murder, and the quest for clarity, release, and redemption." I was given an ARC of this a tad late but didn't mind because I had been wanting to read this for a while. Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Blue Rider Press & Plume for the chance to read. Daniel Pyne wrote a great crime novel/ 3 short series of noir tales that tie together over the course of several different decades but the effect from each of the stories reverberate over time. The Big Empty, The Portuguese Bend, & Losertown all take place at different time frames but handle different points of view in relation to crime which is a different take on what I usually see in crime novels. The Big Empty takes place in the 50's and a PI tries to figure out the death of his ex wife. The Portuguese Bend is told through the view point of a forensic photographer being the main protagonist. Finally Losertown gives the reader a look at the US Attorney Justice System. These stories that Pyne wrote are excellent editions to any crime/noir aficionado's reading library. ------------------------------------------ THE RED LILY - ARC via Netgalley READ: 5/19/17; RELEASE: 6/19/17 3/5 "The Black Lily resistance needs a larger army if they are to defeat the vampire monarchy. In order to do so, former lieutenant and traitor to the vampire Crown, Nikolai must seek help from the red-hooded temptress he needs to avoid at all costs. The secret he carries could prove dangerous for her if she gets too close…even though keeping her close—very close—is the only thing on his mind. Sienna will do anything for the Black Lily, and when Nikolai asks for her assistance to gain the trust of the commonwealth, it’s the last thing she wants to do. The thought of leaving her woods and her wolves behind is terrifying…not to mention the danger being with Nikolai poses." I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. Thank you to the author as well as Entangled Publishing, LLC for the chance to read and review. I have to give Juliette Cross credit here. Vampires have been done to death but here with the novels taking place in a sort of way that involves fairy tale retellings is genius. I loved that sort of element and she does it effortlessly. Sienna and Nikolai are a pair together but what I really enjoyed is that Sienna is no nonsense and isn't exactly "helpless" in terms of a heroine. I'm looking forward to more work from Cross and seeing where she takes this series. ------------------------------------------ ANGELS IN AMERICA - 2017 paperback edition READ: 5/18-19/17 5/5 "Tony Kushner's Angels in America is that rare entity: a work for the stage that is profoundly moving yet very funny, highly theatrical yet steeped in traditional literary values, and most of all deeply American in its attitudes and political concerns. In two full-length plays--Millennium Approaches and Perestroika--Kushner tells the story of a handful of people trying to make sense of the world. Prior is a man living with AIDS whose lover Louis has left him and become involved with Joe, an ex-Mormon and political conservative whose wife, Harper, is slowly having a nervous breakdown. These stories are contrasted with that of Roy Cohn (a fictional re-creation of the infamous American conservative ideologue who died of AIDS in 1986) and his attempts to remain in the closet while trying to find some sort of personal salvation in his beliefs. But such a summary does not do justice to Kushner's grand plan, which mixes magical realism with political speeches, high comedy with painful tragedy, and stitches it all together with a daring sense of irony and a moral vision that demands respect and attention. On one level, the play is an indictment of the government led by Ronald Reagan, from the blatant disregard for the AIDS crisis to the flagrant political corruption. But beneath the acute sense of political and moral outrage lies a meditation on what it means to live and die--of AIDS, or anything else--in a society that cares less and less about human life and basic decency. The play's breadth and internal drive is matched by its beautiful writing and unbridled compassion. Winner of two Tony Awards and the 1991 for drama, Angels in America is one of the most outstanding plays of the American theater." Review pending