#this series is pretty up the captive prince alley though so i think the fandom would like it

[metalandmagi]

I need everyone in the Captive Prince fandom to read the Tithenai Chronicles by Foz Meadows....not because I loved the series as much as Capri or anything, but I need all the good fanfic writers to make some fics for Asrien/Genral Naza ASAP! I'm starving over here!!!😭

[mild-lunacy]

Carry On genre medley

I read Prince of Air and Darkness by MA Grant today, and it's just up my alley. I mean, if my years of Harry/Draco fic devouring hadn't made that clear, there's also my love for Carry On. This is like the m/m romance genre version of the dynamic in that book, with the emphasis on romance rather than YA fantasy, which is sometimes a subtle distinction. That is, the complexity of the plot is what makes Rainbow Rowell's book different. Carry On takes the time to explain things, even though Prince of Air and Darkness also starts in the middle of the protagonists' last year in a magical school (college, in the latter case). There's a lot of history before canon started in both cases, but Rowell takes the time to have flashbacks, or have the characters simply remember some of it in detail. Reading some of the reviews, that difference helps explain why Carry On is a super popular phenomenon in the YA fandom, whereas Grant's book is just... relatively well-received.

To be clear, explaining things to that degree is not necessary for me at all. If you wait, MA Grant does address almost all the relevant questions. Perhaps not as soon or as in depth as many readers would like, but the obvious questions and/or plot holes are not ignored. The thing that I've found, reading the reviews, suggests that many people don't really follow along with revelations sprinkled here and there so well. I've seen a reviewer actually complain that they had to pay close attention to follow along, 'cause things developed pretty fast. This must have been more obviously necessary during the heightened action at the end of the book, so the earlier references to important plot points were easier to simply read past. A lot of reviewers thus mentioned they were confused, and gave mediocre marks. To wit, these are marks that the book doesn't deserve, because the things they questioned would have been explained if they'd paid closer attention.

Carry On itself is a very good book, but I've seen a lot of books that over-explain rather than cut things more closely. Overall, these books are often super popular. They are also stupid, as in they insult my intelligence as a reader. I mean... what can I say. Clearly, most people don't care, so this is primarily a personal issue. What I was complaining about is specifically over-explaining and ham-handedness in describing emotions or in general characterization. These things tend to be connected, though I wouldn't call Grant's book particularly subtle, per se. In deals in tropes (just tropes I love, not stupid and well-written). The writing just doesn't spend a lot of time on the fantasy and/or world-building aspects, which isn't to say it leaves gaping holes, as I said. This is actually what makes it a romance genre book, not a predominantly fantasy one.

Perhaps this lack of world-building emphasis is easier to ignore in the paranormal romances you usually see in the m/m romance space. This may be why it's no coincidence several reviewers mentioned they weren't fantasy readers. Theoretically, it should be fine because it's not a fantasy book anyway, per se. But unlike other mixed genres, it's harder to 'dip in' or borrow with full fantasy tropes than with 'paranormal'/urban fantasy stuff such as shifters, ghosts, witches and vampires. These are frequently successfully set in our world. And unlike those types of characters, faery princes require their own world, and this needs some focus to establish properly for those less familiar. So, as usual, it becomes a question of audience mismatch.

It is certainly possible to have significant world-building in fantasy or sci-fi m/m and het romance. There are certainly books that straddle the genres a lot more than Grant does. You could also see many urban fantasy authors (such as Ilona Andrews, for example) as 'paranormal romance' authors. In my opinion, paranormal involves less emphasis on world-building and more on couples. The Ilona Andrews duo do write about couples (and have a number of paranormal romance titles), but the Kate Daniels books have such great world-building 'cause they focus on the main character, and let the romance build slowly. Even their paranormal romance series, Hidden Legacy, spends a trilogy on one couple, which allows for a lot more leeway. It's damn hard to truly write romance with serious world-building while focusing on a couple per book, though it's possible. With most couple-centric fantasy books I can think of that blend genres successfully, the trick is in it being *urban* fantasy. The world-building load isn't quite so heavy there. Of course, there still are exceptions. CS Pacat and her m/m Captive Prince series, or Jordan L. Hawk's Hexworld, both taking place in the fantasy past with world-building galore. Captive Prince may be excused as it's multi-volume, but Hawk does focus on a volume per couple, as no one's complained of confusion that I've seen. This isn't even counting all the great sci-fi romance I've been seeing.

To be clear, I may not be the best judge regardless. I'm very familiar with all the relevant tropes and I need very little to paint a picture, so I noticed that Grant wasn't explaining some things yet, but easily found I could wait and go along until I got an explanation. One of my favorite books recently was a full fantasy by Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside. It spent a lot of time on explanations (that were probably necessary because the world was really complex, with nary a trope to help orient oneself). I was still a bit jarred by the frequency of rambly asides. I'm a person given to rambly asides myself (as you can see), but I don't generally appreciate them. I'm already given to distraction, so appreciate a narrative that's more fast-paced and focused. It's a delicate balance, made even more confusing by the demands of genre. Full epic fantasy is built almost entirely around world-building, so asides are to be expected. Romance, on the other hand, is built around relationship drama. Prince of Air and Darkness definitely delivers the relationship drama, heavily spiced with a fun plot that's slowly developing on a back-burner. So it's kind of written for romance fans, except they're not the ones who'd really love it. It's actually written for fantasy fandom slash fans, like me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[hawberries]

anons!

What am I supposed to do after reading the captive prince series i’m suffering and I need more             

read the fic. also a good option: suffer

First off, I am IN LOVE with your captive prince art it is so beautiful and it makes my heart ache. And second, i’m sorry to bug you but what is ‘summer palace’??

thanks so much! the summer palace is second in a series of short stories set in the captive prince verse, set a little after the events of the final book!

Hello! not sure if you remember  but I was the anon that asked about fan mail! Just wondering if you would prefer it to be mailed to your PO box or if you’d prefer it to be given in person at a con? Thanks for answering my previous ask and I hope you have a lovely day!             

hello, i sure do remember you! i don’t mind at all between the two, i’m just flattered you want to give me anything at all! i do check my PO box more frequently than i attend a con.

can.icosplayyourtaako             

of course!! please send me pics omg

hi! i know this is a weird ask but i was reading your artist alley guide and clicked thru your linked “most popular pieces” and saw your beautiful wolfs rain print and immediately teared up… it’s so beautiful and it makes me so happy!!!!

WAH what a sweet message! T_T i’m glad you liked it… it’s quite old now but i’m still rather pleased with it… woofs are good!!

Will you do the voltron callender again any time soon (I missed it the first time ;-;)

ah, sadly i wasn’t the one who organised it… and the nature of calendar projects is that they can really only happen at the turn of a year! i think med will organise another project at the end of this year, but it probably won’t be voltron, unfortunately! ;^;

i was looking at some of ur recent art and i felt like i recognized it from some where and it took 3 days to figure out but i finally realized that you drew les mis back in like 2013 and my gay ass somehow remembered that

wowie… les mis is a true throwback… i feel like i really peaked in les mis fandom and have been trying to recreate my success ever since

hi! i’ve noticed that when i upload my art on tumblr the saturation of the images drops quite drastically, do you have any idea how i could fix that?

this specific phenomena has never happened to me, but i think it has something to do with photoshop colour profiles. i’d say google that and see if there’s a more in depth guide regarding your situation!

I have 33 hours until my animation final major project hand-in and thus i am preparing for an all nighter… seriously debating listening to the entirety of captive prince to make use of my time while babysitting renders…

i know this was like a week ago but i hope you made it… animation final projects are insane… captive prince is not that good of a distraction piece, though, it takes a little bit of work. good luck with everything!!

will you be making the klance fanzine piece a print on your store?

yes!

how did u make the site to sell ur artwork?

it’s hosted on weebly! i’m on the business plan which is $360 per year.

I was letting my 2 year old cousin look through my photos and she didn’t say anything till she got to a picture of taako that you drew.  She showed me the phone and started saying “it’s so pretty” over and over again. And honestly mood

i immediately love this baby… i’m glad she is enjoying my glittery taako

for paper drawings, what pens do you recommend? i know nothing about drawing and i want to get my boyfriend some nice pens for his birthday. help pls

okay, well, you didn’t super need to send this to both my accounts! art tools are really up to individual preference so i would recommend you ask him what he likes, or take a look at his current tools and buy more of those. i personally favour microns and tachikawas if you have no idea where to start.

[rageofthenerd]

hi phyona! have you ever heard of the nightrunner series by lynn flewelling? it’s an lgbt fantasy series about a fairy spy (seregil) who offers to train a country archer (alec) to work beside him as a thank you for saving his life (this summary does NOT do it justice though there’s so much more to it than that). what made me try it is that its set in a world where homophobia and sexism don’t exist, which i think is really rare for this genre. (1/5 sorry i have a lot to say here!)

there are tons of well written, interesting, diverse female characters who get to do everything the males do in their world (scholars, knights, warriors, wizards, and the land is ruled by a warrior queen who’s title passes down her female heirs), and the two main protagonists are both bisexual and eventually end up together after an extremely slow burn buildup that gets you invested in their friendship first (i’m halfway through book two and they’re just crushing on each other for now). (2/5)

there are 7 books + a collection of short stories (that are basically fanfic the author wrote of her own work illustrated with a bunch of fanart readers sent her on her livejournal!) so if you end up liking it the story won’t be over for a while! it’s also incredibly well written, fast paced, and funny. bonus: there’s a trilogy prequel called the tamir triad about one of queens of the land nightrunner is set in, and it got really good reviews as far as i can see (3/5)

two things you should probably know before giving it a try: alec starts the series at 16 and seragil is his race’s equivalent of 25. they don’t get together romantically until much later though - they’re friends/co-adventurers for the majority of the first two books at least. also the first chapter has a pretty violent scene in it but there’s nothing like it in the rest of the series so far so don’t let that put you off! (4/5)

anyway sorry for the huge info dump! i’m just really excited about this series and hoping more people will join the fandom because it’s kind of dead right now (for NO reason seriously this is right up tumblr’s alley!!) (5/5)

Funny you should mention this, because I actually bought the first book a couple weeks ago!  I was looking for works like Captive Prince and Song of Achilles, and this series as well as The Foxhole Court kept coming up, so I bought the first books of both. I had a little trouble with the writing style of the nightrunner series, but that was mostly because of my weird aversion to a lot of exclamation points in dialogue haha, so I dove into aftg first and it ate my life.  After this lovely rec I’ll definitely return to nightrunner, though!  

Thank you so much for coming into my inbox and sharing this with me!  I love nothing more than hearing people passionately talk about books they love