#vhd book 5

[vivataurus]

Am I consistent with my reviews?... About as consistent as the plot in this story. Here is yet another review in my Vampire Hunter D series.

I believe I was warned about this book (along with the next); good god was this a shit show.

The dreamy vibe where D enters the castle grounds with the dancing guests and fluttering blue light was a wicked way to start the book. Figuring out whether the Archer was friend or foe, as well as hoping to find the actual grounds of the castle was at the forefront of my mind. Instead we are introduced to the most cringe townspeople that I've read in the book series.

We all know the author loves to write D as a Mary Sue, but the absolute dick stroking through out this whole book made me grimace. I figured because of the dream they all dreamt that the townspeople were made to be extra horny or something. But to my displeasure, half of the pages in this book was the town's women dropping their panties over D. Lord only knows that this is gonna keep happening in the later books. After reading the entire story, I understand they were existing in a dream and acting according to the dream maker Sybille. That's also the reason for my major whiplash when half the town was hatin' on D and throwing bombs in his hotel room even though they let him into town no problem. At the end of the day, you couldn't put your finger on any of the characters as they were being controlled by a dream, and even a dream within a dream. I wanted to like the Sheriff so bad, but the issues with abandoning his wife and his inconsistent behavior towards D was a struggle to read.

Now I wouldn't say that Nan was the worst female lead of the series (that personally is Lina for me), but she comes second place so far. I'm sorry I couldn't stand her ass. Every scene with her made me cringe and confused. She would try so hard to seem so mature and in the next breath act like a brat. I guess that's the author's interpretation of a young woman that age. Speaking of sexism, the very first conversation she has with D made my blood boil with this quote "The girl smiled wryly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. It's better you hear it from someone upstanding, like a grown man, instead of from me..."(16). So she says that to D when he arrives to town looking for Sybille, but then acts like a childish brat getting frustrated at D and demanding his attention in the rest of the story. It's like if she was so "aware" of her standing as a woman in this sexist idea, why would she act the way she does in the rest of the book? Wouldn't she not want to impose on D? She supposedly dreamt of D more than the rest of the townspeople and had a better idea of what kind of person D was. Wouldn't she not be as surprised when he cuts people in his way down? Her existence felt pointless after she makes a witness report to the Sheriff when D defends himself against the farmer/assassin Tokoff. Don't even get me started when her boyfriend gets in the mix and somehow D is put in the middle of their lover quarrels. Then the end sloppily ties her character together with the plot by making it like Sybille the dream maker transferred her soul into Nan, and that's why Nan was relevant. Maybe I need to reread the book in the future to have a better understanding, but after freshly finishing the book I find anything to do with Nan to be straight up annoying.

I will say that though all the dick stroking, minor parts of the story were interesting as they revealed more about the lore/universe in the VHD series. For example, the hotel owner just lets D under his roof with no issues even when it's revealed that dhampir's can't be housed unless they are on official business/with handlers. And of course being drawn to a town by a dream girl doesn't exactly make the cut for official business/invitation. I enjoyed D's interaction with Ai-Ling and the descriptions of the farms and animals that were the new livestock for humans to consume.

Overall I was not thrilled by this book in the series, as it felt very inconsistent in its characters. Of course I know the reason was the plot, but I still didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. I wasn't satisfied with the ending at all and needed more answers about how Sybille met the vampire who bit her. Who was the vampire who bit her? etc.

VHD 5 Rating: 5.5/10

[nosferatil]

I AM SO UPSETTY SPAGHETTI RN 😠‼️

(More under the cut im just ranting)

Volumes 5, 6, and 8 of VHD showed up and i was OVERJOYED to say the least (literally JUMPING up and down yelling YIPPEE, clacking my heels and doing a jig)

I was overlooking them and noticed !!!!! The people who unboxed those books WERE NOT CAREFUL WITH THEIR BLADES!!!!!! The backs were sliced in half SO FUCKING DEEP that like 3 paged were cut too. None of the actual manga pages, just the ads in the back, BUT STILL. THE INTEGRITY OF THE BOOK HAS BEEN TAINTED!!

There was no such description on the page so i was under the impression that the LIKE NEW MANGAS were NOT ACTING THE PART OF SOME MIDDLE SCHOOL EMO KID !!!!

VHD is so important to me i genuinely almost cried ngl im gonna put some tape on them and hopefully not cry myself to sleep knowing my BABIES were ABUSED !!!! RAAH.

[reverend-meat]

i was tagged by @wndfsh, so here are five of my favorite characters! (thanks for the tag!) In no particular order... 1.VHD I just think that D is... such a good spin on the traditional hero, in a way that is still very traditional. I love that its a re-tellilng of a cowboy on a tireless trek, with no home. D is such a good meshing of the traditional macho wanderer while also being... such a retelling of it? Ethereally beautiful and soft spoken, while also being so distant that you the watcher feel that you don't know him at all. I love love love love it. D has resigned himself to sit by and watch time go by, like a stone in a river and I love that.

2.Zidane Tribal One of my oldest fave characters. I remember playing FF9 when it first came out for the PS1, or rather, watching my family play it. I was always so enthralled by Zidane. He is the foil to Cloud and Squalls' moody teenage heroism. A bright and excitable hero who despite being rougish and a thief, wants to do the right thing? He wants to save the girl and help his friends, he wants to save the kingdom and all because its the right thing to do? I always loved that he is so runty in stature and so lithe compared to a lot of the american comic book archetypes I grew up with. I'm also a sucker for a character who is a hopeless romantic. LOVE HIM.

3.Vincent Valentine My beloved undead hopeless romantic. I - okay I remember playing Dirge of Cerberus over and over again for the ps2. Going through a time in my life where I felt completely isolated, freakish and like no one would ever understand or even like me. Vincent took all of those things and embodies them all. Still, he does his best to do the right thing. This man is TIRED but... I suppose I always liked that he was gloomy. And that he had people who cared about him despite that.

Yeah we all make jokes about how he needs to get over Lucrecia but... I love that he didn't? He is a character that's been through so much and will never be his old self again. That has always resonated with me.

4.Vivi Ornitier HE'S JUST A LITTLE GUY. Just a little runty guy doing his best and I love that for him. Truly that's it. That's all. We all go on a journey to find out if we're really human and what that even means.

5.Kite

Another gloomy guy. Something about characters with stitches has always appealed to me. Limbs that are mismatched and ill-fitting, skin that feels alien. Being a zombie shambling through your own life. I love that he has a poor attitude about everything. I love that he's a loner, even by Hunters' standards. I love that his only friend is a talking clown head of his own making. Also long hair morose hook nose, all my favorite features. King shit.

[spadefish]

i’ve loved vhd literally since i was 4 or 5 years old (my parents have questionable taste in which movies children should watch) but since rereading the first book again (and watching vhd bloodlust just now) i s2g it’s gonna become a special interest this time

[thetonecontrol]

Interview with Electronic Audio Experiments

Righteous Ryan: When did you decide to become a builder and what motivated you to do so?

Electronic Audio Experiments: Even before I taught myself how to play the guitar I was always interested in what makes instruments work, so naturally I was a pedal nerd as soon as I learned what they were. After studying electronics for fun on the side (took a couple extra courses during undergrad and then read books on my own) it became a natural progression of my interests to start tinkering with my own. I did a few tagboard clone builds before I realized I wanted to have more control over the design process. And that's still my primary motivation: I love the design process with all of its challenges and room for artistic decisions.

EAE as a company formally started in approximately winter/spring of 2015. In February of that year, Boston was slammed over 5 feet of snow. I spent a lot of time in my crummy basement apartment eating frozen pizzas and breadboarding what would eventually become the Longsword V1. I used it on a couple records I was a part of (Perfect Moments by Tiny Fractures and the Native Wildlife s/t - both on bandcamp, for the curious) and that generated enough interest to do a release that summer. The rest has been a whirlwind!

RR: What motivates you to create original circuits?

EAE: Short answer - it's really satisfying to me, basically my favorite pastime.

Longer answer - I love the challenge of making something from scratch that hopefully lets my personality come through. I should qualify; I am not reinventing any wheels here. Designing "from scratch" is like building something out of legos. You can't really design new pieces (which leads some of the more cynical folks out there to say there's nothing new under the sun) but there are lots of building blocks and lots of ways to arrange them. The artistic merit is in the details, and the fun is in the thrill of the chase. It's an obsessive process but endlessly gratifying.

RR: Are you currently working on anything new?

EAE: Oh god, too many things. Here's a sampling:

Halberd - this is a drive which started as the preamp block of Sending, but heavily mutated into its own thing. It features pronounced treble attack/clarity, stupidly high output, and a strong second harmonic response. Been "finalizing" it for a while but I'm trying my damnedest to release it this summer. (If you want to hear a rough demo of an earlier iteration, check this video out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpGgzl3lOgs)

Sending V2 - I'm trying to add some features while I do an SMD conversion - mostly modulation and CV control over delay time. Currently on the back burner while I get the Halberd sorted out.

Hypersleep - this is my weird multi-tap chorus/vibrato/reverb-ish thing (nb: this is also in Ian's video linked above). It's also on the back burner while I get the Halberd sorted out. I really want to put it to production but it depends fully on whether I can source enough MN3011 BBDs to make it happen. If I can get enough to build 50 I'll do a limited run, but I'd really prefer to do 100 if at all possible... so we shall see what happens.

Super secret collab with Electrofoods Pedals - stay tuned, I am very excited

Surveyor - IVP side of the Dude Incredible, will be released later this year. It's ready to rock.

Various contract designs - Caroline Somersault (just wrapped up), Caroline Megabyte (working on the second round of prototypes), Dunable Eidolon (close to done, just needs some code fixes), another 2 or 3 projects all TBA.

RR: What is your design process like?

EAE: Whenever I design something new I have to answer two questions. 1) does it exist already? and 2) does it address a need or want in my own sonic pursuits? For instance, drive pedals will reflect my tone in whatever band I'm currently in. If it's already been done I can go buy it. If it hasn't been done then the work can begin.

If the design is simple or contains simple building blocks I often go straight to the circuit board layout and if necessary, debug from there. I can often turn a project around pretty quick if that's the case. If I'm not sure whether or not a building block will work, I can try simulating or breadboarding. Circuit simulation is extremely powerful but requires interpretation of the results, which also sometimes differ from reality. Breadboarding is great for audible characterization of a new idea, but the added parasitic capacitances can dramatically alter the frequency response of a circuit - especially a high gain drive or something with lots of complex filters. So there's usually a loop of steps where I move between a breadboard, circuit simulations, and a working prototype until everything works out. Sometimes I just have to resort to plain old math to get what I want.

The first pass of design is a go/no-go check. Does it work? Once it does, I refine it until it can produce sounds I truly like. This is also the step where I do the most work to address noise, oscillation, unwanted artifacts, etc. The final step is to identify which controls I want to keep, and then I determine the tapers/ranges of those controls.

Once there's a working prototype I do extensive beta testing with friends, local musicians and engineers, etc. When testing at home I can lose sight of how good (or not good) a prototype sounds. So a sanity check helps! Once this feedback is incorporated into the process we can go to production. At that point we get the artwork done and start working with our local SMD shop to get boards going.

RR: What's your setup (guitar, amps, pedalboard)?

EAE: I've been awful about maintaining a static setup. I realized that when you're not in a band you can just buy whatever sounds good instead of worrying about serving a song or particular mix. I have a wide assortment of guitars and amps that I use to test pedals during the R&D phase but listing those won't really tell you a coherent story. BUT I started a new band and we're tracking a record (we just did guitars + drums at GodCity) so I can tell you all about the gear I used for that. It's a post-metal sort of outfit so there are lots of heavy sounds but lots of unique mid-gain tones as well. This is also a great chance to plug some work by my friends...

Guitars - Travis Bean TB1000S, which is essentially vintage correct after some restoration work at Electrical Guitar Company (new bridge + pickups). Sounds like a piano. A very angry piano.

My very heavily modified Classic Player Jazzmaster with EGC JM500 pickups and a Robot Graves neck. It can do pristine, chimey cleans or a savage clang depending how much gain you use.

Amps - Traynor YBA1 MKII - Basically a marshall-ish amp with really big transformers. I modded the preamp to roughly superlead specs, but it's got way more bandwidth than a typical marshall.

Traynor YBA3 - not mine, lives at GodCity. Was extensively modified by my friend Scot from SnK pedals, who is also a gifted amp tech. It's loud and clean with a sound that's almost like an ampeg.

For cabs we mostly used an emperor 6x12 with an assortment of speakers. The mic was placed on a Texas Heat.

For my own use I have a pair of Joe's TL806 cabs (Thiele 1x12 design) with EVM12Ls.

Pedals - Halberd proto - great for slamming tube amps!

Electrofoods Oprichniki - the highest gain big muff variant around. I don't even know if it should be called a muff variant because of how twisted and souped up the circuit is. It is an absolute beast.

Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler - another extraordinarily high gain fuzz which sounds like absolutely nothing I've ever heard. It's a nice contrast to the more scooped flavor of the Oprich.

SnK VHD - a high gain distortion, used extensively for lead parts especially. Super tight and clear.

Sending V1-ish prototype - also has a tone control. It works ok I guess. Still very much a work in progress!

Lastgasp Misty Cave - weird drone-y reverb/flange thing? Hard to describe. Sounds heavenly.

Hypersleep proto - for room-ish reverb

Red Panda Tensor - Used for a particularly glitchy "solo"

Dirge Slowly Melting - I saw the end of the world, and it was terrifying

Lots of other stuff - I forgot!

Other - Yamaha FX500. The ultimate digital pad machine.

Roland RE-501 Chorus Echo - my drummer owns this, holy hell it is magic

My modular synth - a whole goddamn mess of its own

[askarabbitbreeder]

Reasons why rabbit breeders say no to buyer inspections

Websites and books often suggest pet buyers ask to inspect the breeder’s breeding facilities. It is also popular among animal rights extremist groups to say a breeder must allow buyers to see where the rabbits are kept and if they are not allowed it must mean the breeder has “something to hide”.

The fact is there are good, valid reasons why breeders refuse to allow people into their rabbitries. The following article explains the reasons why a breeder will maintain a “closed” rabbitry. None of these have anything to do with providing inadequate care. Ironically in many cases, irresponsible breeders allow buyers to see where the animals are kept. There seems to be a disconnect in their minds, they really think conditions are fine when they aren’t. So the reverse seems true of what animal extremists recommend, those who should be hiding their conditions are more than willing to show them off.

Valid Reasons A Breeder Says NO to Buyer Inspections

1. A breeder does not want unruly children in the rabbitry.

Sure, nobody thinks their kids are a problem but many breeders have had bad experiences with buyers and their children disrupting the rabbitry. Rabbits can be easily spooked by strangers, and when the strangers run around the rabbitry screeching and poking fingers into cages and rabbits, well those conditions are less than ideal for the bunnies. We find this to be especially upsetting to our does that are pregnant or have new kits. The same is true of adults. The rabbits are very used to us coming into the barn and they are easily scared by strangers.

In addition to risking injury to the rabbits there are liability issues. Suppose a child gets injured in the rabbitry? What most people probably don’t know is that insurance companies do not cover rabbtries, they will not cover people who have buyers come onto their property to purchase a rabbit. Children out of control in a small rabbitry can fall, get cut or scratched, or even bitten.

2. Risk of Disease

Breeders have no control over where a buyer has been and what infectious agents they may be carrying on them. So to allow someone into the rabbitry puts every rabbit at risk. If a breeder brings rabbits to a buyer separate from the rabbitry they can better control and minimize disease risks. The US has had several outbreaks of VHD, a foreign animal disease that the USDA will kill every rabbit on the property if just one rabbit becomes infected. Due to VHD, breeders have been told they should keep a “closed” rabbitry and not allow visitors in.

3. Risk from animal rights activists.

The secret is out, animal rightists opposed to animal use do pretend to be pet buyers in order to get into breeding facilities. They can be working alone or for animal control in order to gain access and then lie about conditions so AC can obtain a search and seizure warrant. This is a very real threat as many animal control agencies are anti-breeder and do target breeders who are taking proper care of their animals. Or the activist may be working on their own and plan to come back at a later date and steal the breeder’s rabbits.

4. Avoid upsetting owners when they want a rabbit not for sale.

Many breeders report experiences where a buyer sees rabbits they want but they are not for sale. Perhaps there are younger babies not yet ready to leave or the breeder doesn’t know if they will be for sale. Sometimes a buyer falls in love with one of the breeders best show rabbits. In any case it makes it easier to show the buyer only those for sale vs. letting them into the rabbitry.

5. Risk of strangers

No matter how much correspondence or conversations a breeder has with someone every perspective buyer is a total stranger. Think about that, would you allow a stranger into your home to “inspect”? Besides privacy issues breeders face serious risks letting buyers into their homes or breeding facilities. The buyer my not actually be looking for a rabbit, they could be a thief, or worse. Most probably have heard the news report about the pregnant dog breeder who allowed a woman in she met at shows who ended up murdering the woman after cutting out and stealing her baby. With all the reports out there about bad people one should be able to understand why breeders are reluctant to allow people in. Think about it, would you be willing to let strangers into your home to look around?

6. Concerns about Town Ordinances

Some cities, towns, and counties have unfortunately come up with number limits not based on facts, logic, or common sense. A breeder may not allow visitors because they live in an area where the government has seen fit to remove the rights of breeders.

7. I’m a breeder not a petting zoo!

Sometimes “buyers” aren’t serious about getting a rabbit, they just want to use the breeder like a petting zoo. Raising rabbits requires a lot of time and work. In addition to the rabbits breeders are attending shows, dealing with other buyers, and of course we all have our own families and jobs. Rabbitries aren’t here to serve as petting zoos so keeping people out of the breeding facility helps prevent “window shoppers”.

Credit @2009 Rabbit Education Society.