#world of the White rat

[tam--lin]

@beradan and I went to the Connecticut Renaissance Faire today as unnamed White Rat and Saint of Steel acolytes.

Emily's embroidery is from art by @magpiemalarkey, mine was designed by my partner based on art from various Kingfisher romance covers.

[crabs-with-sticks]

Just a lil rant about my newest beloved fantasy author

Something I love so, so much about T Kingfisher's (@tkingfisher) work is how she portrays the mundane as something so beautiful and wonderful. The majority of her protagonists are all quite regular people, with regular lives, regular hobbies, and regular bodies. And how despite that, all her characters are so interesting, so lovable, and so deeply and utterly human.

Its amazing seeing a series where multiple female romantic leads are plus sized, and there is a mix of both body positivity and body neutrality. Because like yeah, they are gorgeous. But also, at the end of the day bodies are just bodies. A bit in Paladin's Faith got me thinking about this, where the male lead asks about the female lead's stretchmarks, and its very much treated as just a normal thing that she has as a woman, not detracting from her beauty, not adding to it. They just are.

And don't get me started about how nearly all of her male romantic leads, who are for the most part, big, strong, sword-wielding paladins, have knowledge of some form of textile craft, and how it doesn't detract from their masculinity at all. And instead it is something that would actually be very useful for a soldier to know.

Tldr if anybody else is obsessed with T Kingfisher's work as much as I am please let me know so that my long suffering reading friend can have a break from it.

[beradan]

It's RenFaire crunch time!!

Original art by @magpiemalarkey based on the World of the White Rat novels by @tkingfisher

Faire is in two weeks. Send help.

[polyamorousmisanthrope]

Oh, It Hit Me

When @tkingfisher is talking about how pretty the Dreaming God paladins are, THIS is the kind of person she's talking about...

So pretty...

[rabbitstitch]

I won't put it here (because spoilers) but I NEED you all to know that the last lines of T Kingfisher's Paladin's Hope has GUTTED me every time I've read it, and I don't think it will ever not hit me like a ton of fucking bricks. If you have access to this series in any capacity, I highly encourage you read it. Like DAMN.

[dragonbadgerbooks]

I got to get my favorite books signed by my favorite author the other day!

[goodgrammaritan]

Couldn't remember Zale's name from the White Rat series by T. Kingfisher, and I was like "Zillow? Zagat?"

No, no, their name is not associated with real estate or restaurants.

(I had to grab my copy of "Swordheart" to check.)

[earthgirlmd]

[kitabasis]

I really respect T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon for looking at Dragon Age and going “I can do better paladin/knight romances”. And then proceeding to write 7 books (and counting) on the matter.

[krakenartificer]

But since he can only get his head partway out of his ass, he can only go toe-to-toe with a demon who’s partway to being a god 😂

[drplague1961]

paladin’s whatever: the progressive installment /j

finally starting this today— hoping for the best since i really like piper (for obvious reasons) and galen but im keeping my expectations grounded

[tam--lin]

Good evening, I just spent two hours on a World of the White Rat "what religious order do you belong in" quiz.

[shiroikabocha]

One of my favorite things about the White Rat books is how they explain demonic possession, and I’ve wanted to see a more in-depth exploration of the idea of a cooperative possession since Clockwork Boys/Wonder Engine.

And now I have it!!! ❤️ ILU Wisdom I will be your paladin cleric since I have zero muscle tone but a good brain for numbers

[beradan]

Finally, the White Rat costume writeup

@tam--lin and I went to the CT RenFaire as White Rat and Saint of Steel characters, as you may have seen earlier

(more pictures and general commentary below)

I finished at the last minute due to about equal parts Tradition, Probably!ADHD, and Attempting to Use a Reconstructing History Pattern.

Don't use Reconstructing History patterns, kids.

In my defense I bought it 10+ years ago before I knew better and hadn't actually tried it out yet.

After a lot of printing and taping and several mockups and a hefty scoop of swearing, I scrapped that idea and made a dress out of rectangles and triangles instead.

(shift: lightweight white linen from The Stash, probably either from fabrics-store.com or graylinelinen.com; dress: midweight brown linen from fabrics-store in "Shitake," lined with more of the white linen)

If you are following along at home and would also like to make a dress out of rectangles and triangles, and you are not running on 20 years of "I know what I'm about, son," I would recommend The Medieval Tailor's Assistant by Sarah Thursfield and Morgan Donner's blog and YouTube.

The tabard is loosely adapted from a Tudor kirtle pattern in The Stash, which was lightly modified from a pattern in The Tudor Tailor, because I knew the armholes would work and I didn't want to fuss with armholes more than absolutely necessary. It laces up the side above the waist to keep everything in place.

(tabard and cape: more fabrics-store linen in "Asphalt")

The cape and hood are based on Lea Wittie/Lady Aíbell ingen Dairmata's cape tutorial, separated, and shortened for convenience. The cape ties at the neck and the hood closes with hooks and eyes. At some point which is not now I may tinker with the capelet on the hood to make it tuck under the tabard. I cut it very short so you could still see the sigil but now it has a tendency to leave an Awkward Gap.

For the sigil, I borrowed @magpiemalarkey's excellent White Rat artwork. The rat and halo are appliques, and I embroidered the rest of the details on top by tracing the art onto wash-away stabilizer and using that as a pattern.

Finally, I slapped together a belt pouch at the last minute from (stash) fabric, a (stash) button, and a hair tie, using Butterick 5371 (adequate, but maybe not how I would have done it if I hadn't been doing it the night before). I'm used to costumes with a full skirt and tie-on pockets and realized that this would in fact be a pocketless costume the night before.

The whole costume holds up nicely to several hours of riding in the car and a day of schlepping around outdoors, and it's super comfy. 10/10 would White Rat again, except next time we should bring explanatory business cards because nobody can guess this costume on sight.

[polyamorousmisanthrope]

Immensely flattering.

[reviewsthatburn]

Bleak and humorous, CLOCKWORK BOYS follows three convicted criminals and a scholar sent to find out what they can about the terrifying and murderous "Clockwork Boys" who have been devastating their towns and villages.

As a journey narrative, CLOCKWORK BOYS focuses on the dynamic between the members of the party, as well as the internal struggles of the two point-of-view characters. Slate is a forger, Brenner is an assassin, Caliban is a paladin who has a dead demon rotting in his skull, they're on this trip in hopes of a pardon if they survive. Learned Edmund is a formerly cloistered misogynist from an order who prizes learning and instills a fear of mere proximity to women. There's a mix of genuine character growth and learning each other's edges, the kind of forced intimacy which is fostered by a suicide mission with terrible travel conditions in the middle of a war. The worldbuilding is conveyed through a mix of exposition, character reactions, and things encountered as they travel. Slate and Caliban think about themselves and their companions, often thinking things they don't dare or don't know how to say out loud.

Full Review at link.