tea-and-cats-and-books

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Started reading devil venerable.

Very rough color sketch because I am absoluteky cackling

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what exactly is a Hobbit?

"...What is a hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. "They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off. They are inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colours (chiefly green and yellow); wear no shoes, because their feet grow natural leathery soles and thick warm brown hair like the stuff on their heads (which is curly); have long clever brown fingers, good-natured faces, and laugh deep fruity laughs (especially after dinner, which they have twice a day when they can get it). "Now you know enough to go on with." —J. R. R. Tolkien

...HTH!

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sad reality of the fanfic-to-published work economy is that the weirdest people are willing to do it. that's why there's now hundreds of shitty no plot cishet hate-to-love enemies-to-lovers books that are ex reylo fanfic. and it's not even good. that's because the people who wrote book-quality steve/bucky and kirk/spock fic are too normal to think to themselves "i should get this porn published". they're too busy working in local government offices

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I just found out about, and preordered, a new novel by Inori, the author of I'm in Love with the Villainess! It's called Homunculus Tears: Alchemy for the Brokenhearted. I'm so excited to read it! And of you love I'm in Love with the Villainess, maybe you'd love this too, so check it out!

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weird ass piece of yhj turning into swords that i made at probably almost 12 AM?

made in a something x something size cheap canvas and cheap acrylic paints that i dragged onto the canvas while still in their tube thingies in a fit of rage, then used some cheap acrylic markers to polish some parts

i dont fucking remember what happened i just know that i got so mad a painting wouldnt turn out the way i wanted it to so i just started going haywire and said to myself that i want to draw yhj turning into swords so i did that

i call this piece i want to be swords

a pic of the wip that i took when i gained clarity of my senses

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I hate that SEPTember OCTOber NOVember and DECember aren’t the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th months.

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you STAB caesar? you stab his body like the enemy? oh! oh! jail for brutus! jail for brutus for One Thousand Years!!

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Book Rec

Not many dramas for me to watch (Phone is the sole airing drama I am following), so I've been making up for it by reading a lot.

And I have a book rec:

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan - MY LOVE MY LOVE MY LOVE! If you ever want to have strangers stare at you as you cackle in crowded places, this book is for you. I was not particularly interested when I saw the description because I was thinking it was another "grimdark is cool/sociopaths rock" thing which is just not my thing and never was (nothing against it in fiction, just doesn't ping anything for me) but I was stuck at a long layover and the bookstore had it, I flipped and became a goner. I was refusing to put it down even close on no sleep, which shows how good it is.

Anyway, the set up: our FL Rae is a modern 20 year old dying of cancer. She gets offered a chance to live if, upon entering a fantasy series (one that is a favorite of her younger sister, but once she is familiar with through the sister and so has gaps), she obtains a plant that can make anyone healthy etc. She's got nothing to lose so...

The fantasy novel series in question is a dark, gothic gonzo extravaganza with characters who have monikers like The Last Hope, Golden Cobra, the Emperor, the Iron Maid and the blameless' heroine's stepsister, the villainess with the moniker Beauty Dipped in Blood. It is that latter that our heroine transmigrates into - a day before she's set to be executed!

Rae's goal is to survive long enough to be able get the plant - to do that she needs some fast talking and thinking as well a team of her fellow baddies. Will she get the attention of the Emperor, the series' dark, unhinged ML (who in the OG series went all Pedro the Cruel when his true love, the villainess' stepsister died - respect!)? How much will she drag the narrative off-key? (pun! ifkyk) Rae is not interested in romance, friendship, revenge or anything but survival. Yet, as she goes along, these desperate, larger than life, and irretrievably broken characters become more and more real to her.

The reason I love this novel is that it's both very very funny (I was literal when I said I was laughing in public) and very very dark (Rae is dying and has been dying for years - she has so much loss, rage and grief bottled in her and it keeps coming out and coloring everything and she fits very well into that Gothic world because she is just as damaged and desperate as the characters.) The prose is purple when it needs to be - and it fits the narrative perfectly and the characters are somehow complex despite their very larger than life/artificial personas. I am not very far in at all, but characters like the Emer, Rae's desperate, on edge of survival maid (who 100% has a lesbian love line with Lia, the pure heroine - I love ittttttt!), Key, Rae's unhinged, amoral, murder-talented and money-oriented guard (the one spoiler I have is his actual eventual identity and EEE YES PLS) who is drawn in by her feral self, Lia the pure (or not so pure) stepsister, and Marius the Last Hope - the seeming paragon who is so utterly damaged are all so very vivid and great to read about. (Side note - I live too much in danmei land, but Marius x Eric, anyone? Yes yes men are capable of platonic deep friendships blah blah blah.)

There is apparently book 2 coming in the fall this year and I CANNOT WAITTTT!

Sample quote:

Only minor villains had petty flaws like being greedy. Rae gave her minion an approving glance.

"I think we will be friends."

He tilted his head, with the air of a scientist beholding a specimen. "I've never had one of those before. Might be interesting."

"High five," proposed Rae,

Key's smirk tilted smile-ward. "No idea what you're saying."

Rae's hand was already lifted. "Hit my hand."

"How hard?" Key asked obligingly. "Should I break it?"

Rae stared back. "Do not! Tap my palm with your palm. Gently! Gently!"

Key frowned as though gentleness required ferocious concentration.

Next up in book posts: Washington's Lady by Nancy Moser, because the thought of the Father of the Country as a romance novel hero is giving me the best kind of fits and shortcircuits my brain tho not in the way the author intended.

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probably irrelevant but you know what this reminds me of!!! romeo and juliet (I, 5, 105-109)!! he really is a theater kid.

Romeo: Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.

Juliet: Then have my lips the sin that they have took.

Romeo: Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.

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calm down guys, it's only the 8th

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Hey did you know there's a tell all book about the behind the scenes of Meta and the author is forbidden from promoting it?

The good news is however that it's already published and can't be stifled and whoever didn't sign the NDA can promote it as much as they want.

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Amigurumi/Crochet Rishe and Arnold ✨

A close friend of mine asked me to crochet them for her 😄

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When I am in a the benefit of the doubt competition and my opponent is Baili Qingmiao 💀💀💀

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Just a quick note...

To let folks know that all the prices on our Ebooks Direct ebook bundles are still holding at Black Friday levels (pretty much 50% off, and in some cases more...).

This is locally germane just now because we're hoping to sign our new lease this week, and we've got some rental arrears to deal with... so some extra incoming funds would be extremely useful.

Want to help out? The Whole Store bundle is right here, and honestly, it's ridiculously cheap at $39.99.

And you can see the other available series- or universe-specific bundles here.

As usual: all our bundles are DRM-free, so they're yours forever to keep and move around as you please. And they come with our lifetime free replacement guarantee.

If you've already participated in these offers, or aren't interested, perhaps you might feel inclined to reblog this anyway, for others' attention? It'd be very much appreciated.

(I keep forgetting to add this, probably because i hate it: UK friends, please note that we can't sell directly to you any more, because of Brexit. Dammit. But still: sorry.) :/

Also, something new: want to support the local economy a different way? We've got a Ko-Fi now. (And they don't care about Brexit at all.) :)

Thanks, all!

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anyways shoutout to shen yuan and baili qingmiao for yaoifying and yurifying their original plotlines respectively, good for them

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