#taji from beyond the rings

[sweetfirebird]

[barbex]

Books of 2024 (2023 or close to it)

@hoochieblues tagged me to list books and in that moment I immediately forgot about any book I have ever read. Did I even read a single book in 2023? But thank you for tagging me, I'll do my best.

“the game is to share 9 of my favourite books from the last 12 months, or 9 books on my tbr list for this year”

I'm tagging: @mareebrittenford, @dyrewrites, @tryingtimi, @tsuraiwrites, @midnightprelude, @lesetoilesfous, @tarysande

Let me list nine books I liked, I don't know if I read them all in the last 12 months, I just went to my Kindle and picked what sparked a good memory.

Band Sinister by KJ Charles M/M romance, regency historical Lots of pining and repressed feelings in this one, until it leads to wonderful sex and love. Kj Charles knows how to do it.

A Game of Hearts and Heist by Ruby Roe F/F romance, fantasy Fast paced and very sexy fantasy heist. So much sex that even I, certified smut queen, sometimes thought "Now? Really? Don't you think you're kind of busy right now?" But I enjoyed it a lot and there's two more books in the series.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree cozy fantasy with a little F/F romance, fantasy This book has started a whole new trend of cozy fantasy. This is a story about what happens if the barbarian warrior lady hangs up her sword and opens a cafe. The romance is not the main story. I would have wished for a bit more introspection from the main character but I know how difficult it is to write a stoic character who doesn't want to think about feelings.

The Calyx Charm by May Peterson M/M romance, trans main character, fantasy, magic Beautiful prose! Sinister magic, darkness and families at war. Two characters so very much in love, the transwoman loved and accepted by her lover. This is the second or third book in a series but I read another book in the series and it didn't feel all that connected. And the prose was not as pretty as in this one.

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian NB/M romance, regency historical The main character uses she/her pronouns but I read in an interview with Cat Sebastian that, would she write the book today, they would probably use they/them pronouns. But it really doesn't matter much for either main character, the main male character already falls for the nb character when they dress and act like a man. A high stakes regency romance with the expected societal problems and lots of love.

Taji from Beyond the Rings by R. Cooper M/M romance, science fiction This book is so good! Cultural differences between species making romance and connection dangerous, feelings, sex, and politics raising the stakes every minute. I read this book again right after I finished it, it was so good.

The Elf Tangent by Lindsay Buroker F/M romance, fantasy A fun story about a human princess who loves mathematics and an elven warrior, trying to stop a war from happening. Nerdy and clever heroes with a bit of enemies to lovers.

The Hidden Moon by Jeannie Lin F/M romance, set in historic China This is like book five of a series but that didn't hinder my enjoyment. A woman, too smart for her own good, trying to solve a crime in a time when women were not allowed to do anything, especially not investigate assassinations and talk to street scoundrels. Or fall in love with said scoundrel.

---

Phew. That was a lot. Happy reading.

[colorful-yarns-queer-stories]

Sometime you just need to read something soft

[felixjoyful]

Y'all do yourselves a favour and go read Taji from Beyond the Rings. I'm rereading it, again, I'm only halfway through chapter one and I'm having feelings again.

It's a beautiful scifi romance with overthrowing the government as a subplot. The imagery is beautiful, the world well thought out and cis people don't exist.

Please go and read it, I need people to share the love I have for this book.

[queerlyloud]

Welp. With a list three pages long of stuff that needs to be done, there is only one thing to actually do.

Time to read Taji and hide under my blankets again.

[vashti-lives]

I got a present in the mail! It’s so pretty!!

[felixjoyful]

Trenne : Peha ⭐

Taji : This translates as star but it must be wrong.

another absolutely fantastic trope is when a scifi/fantasy character calls the oblivious object of their affections a term of endearment in their fictional first language during an emotional moment which they refuse to translate, and their love interest assumes due to the unresolved sexual tension fuelled rivalry aspect of their relationship that it's an insult, only to have their world absolutely rocked to its core when they finally manage to get a translation and realize that the other person has been pining for them the entire goddamn time

[churkey]

Reading an actual book and it’s *awesome*.

[sweetfirebird]

Currently reading about aliens and now I'm thinking about Taji and his mouth.

Taji's mouth? Or Taji as The Mouth?

[senshilegionnaire]

ooooooh.

Attention Romance Authors

Me: Na na na, writing a fanfic about a character who only reads space-themed pulp romance novels…. Me: What’s a fun silly idea for a space-themed pulp romance novel?*  Me: “He meant to make a book recommendation, because he had a carefully curated selection of novels which included a whole series about a plucky Martian colonial governor who fell in love with an alien space prince.” A statistically significant number of my readers: So….that’s a real series, right? That’s an in joke? Where can I find them? What are they called?  Me: APPARENTLY THERE IS A NICHE THAT NEEDS FILLING. 

Someone get out there and write a romance series about a plucky Martian colonial governor who falls in love with an alien space prince. 

* You know, like something Anne McCaffrey would write, only without all of the [insert exhausted hand gesture here] around consent and sexuality. 

[felixjoyful]

Just remembered that Taji From Beyond The Rings exists in my life and I am so fucking grateful.

[queerlyloud]

I'm thinking about Taji again.

(Quote from Taji from Beyond the Rings by R. Cooper)

[bountyofbeads]

https://apnews.com/e36db7c72c1adba1a6cae75091bc273d

AP says a US official told it the new airstrike north of Baghdad was "not an American military attack." No idea of this is true, but would it then be a US coalition attack? Israel? (But this would seem unlike the usual Israel attack.)

Iraq official says airstrike targets Iran-backed militia

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ZEINA Karam | Published January 3, 2020 7:50 PM ET | AP | Posted January 3, 2020 |

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran promised to seek revenge for a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad’s airport that killed the mastermind of its interventions across the Middle East, and the U.S. said Friday it was sending thousands more troops to the region as tensions soared in the wake of the targeted killing.

The death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, marks a major escalation in the standoff between Washington and Iran, which has careened from one crisis to another since President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions.

In more violence, another airstrike almost exactly 24 hours after the one that targeted Soleimani killed five members of an Iran-backed militia north of Baghdad, an Iraqi security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. The Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces confirmed the strike, saying it hit one of its medical convoys near the stadium in Taji, north of Baghdad. The group said none of its top leaders were killed. A U.S. official said the attack was not an American military attack. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

The targeted strike against Soleimani and any retaliation by Iran could ignite a conflict that engulfs the whole region, endangering U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria and beyond. Over the last two decades, Soleimani had assembled a network of heavily armed allies stretching all the way to southern Lebanon, on Israel’s doorstep.

“We take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over,” Trump said of Soleimani.

Still, the United States said it was sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Middle East, reflecting concern about potential Iranian retaliation for the killing. The U.S. also urged American citizens to leave Iraq “immediately” following the early morning airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport that Iran’s state TV said killed Soleimani and nine others. The State Department said the embassy in Baghdad, which was attacked by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters earlier this week, is closed and all consular services have been suspended.

Around 5,200 American troops are based in Iraq to train Iraqi forces and help in the fight against Islamic State group militants. Defense officials who discussed the new troop movements spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision not yet announced by the Pentagon. A Pentagon official who was not authorized to be identified said the U.S. also had placed an Army brigade on alert to fly into Lebanon to protect the American Embassy. U.S. embassies also issued a security alert for Americans in Bahrain, Kuwait and Nigeria.

The U.S. announcement about sending more troops came as Trump said Soleimani’s killing was not an effort to begin a conflict with Iran. “We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war,” Trump said, adding that he does not seek regime change in Iran.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “harsh retaliation” after the airstrike, calling Soleimani the “international face of resistance.” Khamenei declared three days of public mourning and appointed Maj. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, Soleimani’s deputy, to replace him as head of the Quds Force.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the killing a “heinous crime” and said his country would “take revenge.” Iran twice summoned the Swiss envoy, the first time delivering a letter to pass onto Washington.

Iranian Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the U.S. attack a “cowardly terrorist action” and said Iran has the right to respond “in any method and any time.“

Thousands of worshipers in Tehran took to the streets after Friday prayers to condemn the killing, waving posters of Soleimani and chanting “Death to deceitful America.”

However, the attack could act as a deterrent for Iran and its allies to delay or restrain any potential response. Trump said possible targets had been identified and the U.S. was prepared. Oil prices surged on news of the airstrike and markets were mixed.

The killing promised to further strain relations with Iraq’s government, which is allied with both Washington and Tehran and has been deeply worried about becoming a battleground in their rivalry. Iraqi politicians close to Iran called for the country to order U.S. forces out.

The Defense Department said it killed the 62-year-old Soleimani because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” It also accused Soleimani of approving orchestrated violent protests at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

The strike, on an access road near Baghdad’s airport, was carried out early Friday by an American drone, according to a U.S. official.

Soleimani had just disembarked from a plane arriving from either Syria or Lebanon, a senior Iraqi security official said. The blast tore his body to pieces along with that of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. A senior politician said Soleimani’s body was identified by the ring he wore. Iran’s state TV said Friday 10 people were killed, including five Revolutionary Guard members and Soleimani’s son-in-law.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The attack comes at the start of a year in which Trump faces both a Senate trial following his impeachment by Congress and a re-election campaign. It marks a potential turning point in the Middle East and represents a drastic change for American policy toward Iran after months of tensions.

The tensions are rooted in Trump’s decision in May 2018 to withdraw the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, struck under his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Since then, Tehran shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone and seized oil tankers. The U.S. also blames Iran for other attacks targeting tankers and a September assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry that temporarily halved its production.

Supporters of the strike against Soleimani said it restored U.S. deterrence power against Iran, and Trump allies were quick to praise the action. “To the Iranian government: if you want more, you will get more,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted.

“Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran,” Trump’s former National Security Adviser, John Bolton, wrote in a tweet.

Others, including Democratic White House hopefuls, criticized Trump’s order. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Trump had “tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox,” saying it could leave the U.S. “on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East.”

Trump, who was vacationing at his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, said he ordered the airstrike because Soleimani had killed and wounded many Americans over the years and was plotting to kill many more. “He should have been taken out many years ago,” he added.

The potential for a spiraling escalation alarmed U.S. allies and rivals alike.

“We are waking up in a more dangerous world,” France’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, Amelie de Montchalin, told RTL radio. The European Union warned against a “generalized flare-up of violence.” Russia condemned the killing, and fellow Security Council member China said it was “highly concerned.” Britain and Germany noted that Iran also bore some responsibility for escalating tensions.

While Iran’s conventional military has suffered under 40 years of American sanctions, Iran can strike in the region through its allied forces like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraqi militias and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called on “the resistance the world over” to avenge Soleimani’s killing. Frictions over oil shipments in the Gulf could also increase, and Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard has built up a ballistic missile program.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it in a statement Friday that it had held a special session and made “appropriate decisions” on how to respond, but didn’t elaborate.

Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett held a meeting with top security officials Friday, but the Israeli military said it was not taking any extraordinary action on its northern front, other than closing a ski resort in the Golan Heights near Lebanon and Syria as a precaution.

The most immediate impact could be in Iraq. Funerals for al-Muhandis and the other slain Iraqis were set for Saturday.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi condemned the strike as an “aggression against Iraq.” An emergency session of parliament was called for Sunday, which the deputy speaker, Hassan al-Kaabi, said would take “decisions that put an end to the U.S. presence in Iraq.”

___

Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Robert Burns, Lolita C. Baldor and Zeke Miller in Washington; Jon Gambrell and Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Bassem Mroue and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut; and Joseph Krauss and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

[strinak]

TJ Land's books (m/m, m/nb, f/f, poly, ace), especially Hot Air and Eternity's Sunrise

Megan Derr's books (m/m, f/f, poly, ace)

R Cooper's books (m/m, f/f), especially Jericho Candelario's Gay Debut and Tit for Tat and Taji From Beyond the Rings

Lyn Gala's books (m/m), especially the Rownt books

Melissa Scott's books (m/m, f/f), especially Trouble & Her Friends and the Points books

okay, enough of this. everybody reblog this post and recommend your favourite piece of actually good media that centers queer characters and their stories. i'll go first by saying please listen to friends at the table.

[absolutely-flabbergasted]

@marinxttes said everyone who wants it is tagged and I love tag memes so here i go!! I tag @songofsunset @thisnameisquitequeer @babybird and whoever else wants to

favorite color: eye-searingly bright pink

currently reading: Taji From Beyond The Rings by R. Cooper. Human dude has the hots for some thundercats-lookin alien dudes.

last song: Vanilla by TAEYEON

last movie: The Little Vampire 3D (it was bad)

last series: uh I'm watching Cody Ko's latest Couple's React video if that counts

sweet, spicy, or savoury: where the FUCK is SALTY

craving: some of the spuffy fics i follow to update soon pls im a thirsty fan

tea or coffee: coffee, i don't get the appeal of tea its just hot water?? I hate hot drinks

currently working on: fanart for my fave spuffy fic

[sweetfirebird]

Pets

I am posting these all out of order but whatever it's December and my mind is just rushing wind and tumbleweeds right now.

Anyway. Next up in the charity prompts:

Moggot donated very kindly and asked for Trenne meeting a cat. Which is obviously very funny so of course I made it just a tiny bit sad as well.

Content tags: uh the Sha attitude toward the hurat. The human attitude toward Trenne with his ears. Lonely and a bit sad bb Trenne. Not exactly spoilers for Taji From Beyond the Rings but... will it make sense if you haven't read that? I wonder. Trenne and this universe belong to me, and all that.

Pets

Trenne desired to center himself so that the others on his team would not notice his discomfort at traveling over water in this way. He had never been on a boat, although he had seen some in his life before the I.P.T.C. He had also never been flown through the air in his time before he joined the humans and left his home, his planet, forever, and he had learned to deal with that, so the motions of boat-over-water would become acceptable with time, he was certain. But he would have preferred to grow accustomed to it quickly so that the humans on his team would not find discomfort amusing.

Their amusement was not cruel, in most cases. They took amusement in many things done even by other humans. But I.P.T.C. was Trenne’s chance to be something other than hurat, and he did not know how to react to human teasing.

Centering himself would have helped calm him, but the boat did not have space for him to move freely. It barely had room for him to move. So he tried to content himself with sitting on the small cot given to him as a bunk for the duration of this journey and using the Data Device the I.P.T.C. had given him during his first assignment to learn more of the ways of both humans and the places they lived.

The engine of the boat made noise. So did the water it moved through, and the warm rain outside, and the members of his team scattered around the boat wherever there had been space to set up cots.

Humans were in many ways easier to deal with than those Trenne had known in his own world. They had their own worries and complaints and angers toward one another, but they did not know Sha, or hurat. They bonded as easily as the stories about them suggested… but they were loud. Trenne could not help but flatten his ears a little to muffle the noises they made as they spoke and ate and cleaned themselves and expressed every emotion they had without consequence.

For all of that, for how wild even the quietest of the humans around Trenne would seem to those in the empire of Trenne’s birth, they had come from other places, and like him, were new to many things. So they might tease, as was their way, but they did not always assume the worst of him. Possibly because they did not know hurat. Or possibly only because Trenne was of a greater size than them.

He gave them no reason to fear him, regardless of their reasons, and tried to accept their teasing if he felt it was meant…

Kindly. That was what humans would say. If it was without malice.

The boat moved, a gentle swaying motion that nonetheless made Trenne want to go outside to look at the water so he could predict how the boat would move next. But they had days yet to travel, so he made himself be still.

This place was a small planet according to his superiors. His team were headed to a remote base where they would be bored for several months, also according to his superiors. But some local ally of the I.P.T.C. wanted protection from those who they—he, Trenne reminded himself--a human gender marker of ‘male’ status with no other indicators attached—claimed were against I.P.T.C. interference.

That was possible. It was also possible that he lied. The ability and desire to lie was a trait humans and the Sha shared.

But it was not Trenne’s place to question, so he did not. Not aloud. He kept his thoughts to himself, as humans said, a habit conditioned into him since his earliest years.  

Much like calming himself with breathing so that no emotion would show through his actions, which he greatly wished to do now.

Instead, he sat on his cot, which faced another cot, currently unoccupied, along a narrow hall in the middle of the boat, and pulled out his Data Device.

He removed his earlier information searches in order to look through the games, which he found useful when he needed to pretend that he was not paying attention to the others around him.

A whisper, a hint of a sound made him pause. He kept his attention on the screen of the DD but tried to assess the sound and where it had come from. When it did not reoccur, he assumed it was a consequence of the rain hitting the boat. He chose a game of bintoh, then stopped when the noise occurred again.

He turned his ears toward the source of the sound, then raised his head to find it with his eyes.

An animal sat on the other cot, staring at him.

Because Trenne had heard Delayn and the others name it earlier, he knew this animal was a cat. Trenne had searched for information on cats shortly afterward, in his first moments alone. Cats belonged to what humans called a “family” which was a different family than the ones of blood and close relations that humans claimed. Felidae was the family of categorization, and it held cats of many sizes and colors.

Humans had brought cats with them across the stars. The smaller ones, like this one, were popular and “loved.” Humans kept them with them in their homes, as “pets.”

Humans did such things. They would bond with anything, and with no one else human or sentient around, turned to animals for companions.

Cats seemed a strange choice, to Trenne, although the small ones were obviously less dangerous than the big ones. The information on them said they were predators and efficient hunters. So efficient that their presence was restricted in most places because of the damage they caused to local animal groups. This cat was wearing a collar, probably as a device to keep it on board the boat and out of trouble.

Trenne considered this cat, a “domestic pet” the information had claimed. It was certainly used to humans and their loudness. Nearly everyone on Trenne’s team had stopped to touch the cat and speak to it the way humans spoke to their children.

They had also paused upon realizing Trenne had never seen such an animal before and teased him. He hoped with human affection.

The cat, they had said, must be a long-lost sibling of his.

Trenne had no siblings that he knew of, but eventually had understood their humor when the cat had reacted to their laughter.

The cat’s name—humans, being humans, named their pets—was Boots. For the four white feet—paws—Trenne assumed, since boots were shoes and the white spots resembled those. It was covered in fur except for its nose and eyes, the fur striped and dotted in many shades, reminding Trenne of the place he had left behind. Boots also had large eyes which saw better in the dark than in the light, according to the DD, and sensitive ears, with hearing better than a human’s. The ears were atop its head, roughly triangular, with tiny wisps of fur at the crest. They turned to follow sounds as Trenne’s did.

Trenne wondered how the cat felt to have its home periodically filled with noisy, mostly human soldiers with much heavier boots than its own.

The others had referred to the cat with a human gender marker—she—but Trenne was not certain that this was meant the way humans meant it for each other, and so settled on it, which was insufficiently informative but hopefully nonoffensive.

Boots been stroked and touched by everyone earlier, so perhaps it found the noise worth it. Humans, for all their destruction, showed affection nearly constantly: to each other, to their favorite possessions, to small animals they let live in their homes.

The domestic pet cats got food, shelter, and that affection. Boots had basked in it, purring. A sound Trenne had heard clearly from some distance away, so he’d read about that too.

Boots regarded him with interest now as it hadn’t that morning. Cats did not understand words as such, Trenne had read. They could not converse but would at times make sounds for humans to imitate what humans did. They understood tone and intent, and associated word sounds with certain things or events.

The information had not mentioned their emotions, if any, although the others has behaved as though purring meant happy.

“Boots,” Trenne greeted the creature at last, perhaps as he should have with the others that morning. He kept his voice down, but the cat heard, its ears swinging forward and staying there. Interested, Trenne would have said, if speaking of someone from his world with ears like that.

Trenne let one of his ears track the sounds from the rest of the boat. Murmurs from elsewhere. Splashes of water at semi regular intervals against the side of the boat. Their sergeant, a few rooms away, complaining about something.

Opposite him, the cat’s ear flicked in the same direction, although it did not look away from Trenne.

Trenne pulled his ears forward again, attentive. “You do not purring.” He paused, then sternly corrected himself. “You are not purring. I offend you?”

He felt somewhat foolish—human, to talk to the cat this way. The cat would not understand. Not words. But Trenne knew other ways of speaking.  

He swung his ears slightly outward, hoping to indicate he was not alarmed by the cat’s presence. Which he was not. The cat was a predator but so was he, and he was much larger.

Perhaps his size alarmed the cat, so he also slid slightly down the wall at his back, keeping his ears relaxed as he did.

The pupils of the cat’s eyes became very large. Its tail twitched at its side. Then it opened its mouth to display its teeth—or yawn.

Humans yawned. Trenne had not read far enough to know if cats also yawned.

If it had been a display of teeth, Trenne must have threatened it. He put down his Data Device and rested his hands at his sides.

Boots pricked up its ears once again, then with no warning leapt from the far cot to Trenne’s.

Trenne turned to observe and keep the cat in sight. The cat knew it was being watched, glancing up to meet Trenne’s stare as it stepped with great care, and probably silently to human ears, to Trenne’s knee, where it flopped over onto his side, exposing its stomach and vulnerable places.

Trenne realized his ears had gone flat with alarm and straightened them before anyone might walk by and see.

He had not read far enough to learn if cats knew fear, either, although they must. Everything did, surely. Everything with brains enough to recognize dangers. Yet someone—something—that had felt fear would not lie down in such a way, so it must not.

Perhaps, Trenne suddenly suspected, the pet cat had only experienced what humans called love here on this boat, and so had learned to expect “pets” and not danger or cruelty.

Boots turned to look at Trenne again, then slowly closed its eyelids before reopening them. A soft life Boots had. A hunter who did not hunt, who was fed and shown affection until that was what it expected, even from Trenne. 

Trenne glanced around, but no one was nearby to laugh at the hurat, so he carefully, slowly, moved one hand as he had witnessed the others do, running his palm down the length of the cat’s back.

The fur was pleasing to feel. The cat’s body was warm, warmer than a human’s body temperature. It blinked slowly at Trenne before curling into a ball, leaving part of its back pressed to Trenne’s thigh.

Trenne attempted another stroke—a pet for a pet. Humans named their creatures for what humans did to them but the pets didn’t seem to object. Boots did not. Boots rolled over again, putting its face to Trenne’s leg. Its breath was warm too, its heart faster than a human’s but much quieter.

Trenne rested his palm over some of the markings, familiar and strange, and then felt the rumble a fraction of a second before he heard the sound. Purring.

Humans were free with their affection, Trenne reflected again, but others might not mind. Others might like it and grow used to it.

Trenne’s ears went flat again, but he continued to move his hand, gently stroking the length of Boots’ back so the low, soothing noise of purring would continue. He liked it. It indicated comfort and pleasure.

“A soft life,” Trenne sound aloud again, although he was not certain that soft was an adjective to be used in that way. Trenne was possibly incorrect, but to the cat, it was simply more noise, so it did not matter.

Perhaps that was the purpose of a pet. That, and soothing purring, and a warm body next to his.