#cliopher mdang

[alfgifu]

[carrythetorchtoinferno]

possibly a coincidence that, in greek mythology, the term that describes your renown and your glory and your word-fame and what others say about you in rooms you will never stand in is "kleos".

possibly a coincidence that one of the greatest works of greek literature still available to us centers around the kleos of a man who spent twenty years on the ocean struggling to make it home to his family.

possibly a coincidence that kleio is the muse of history.

possibly a coincidence that kleio's name is usually, in modern english, spelled "clio".

[sandersgrey]

His Radiancy at any given moment:

Image Description: The lame boyfriend meme but edited to say "if i had a competent secretary i would hype him so much i would make him wait out side so i could go in first and be like get ready here comes the most specialest boy ever if you dont cheer and clap for him ill fucking blow this whole building up". End description.

[breadcatbooks]

The Arrest of Cliopher Mdang by astrocryptographer

April 22, 2025

Three-piece bradel with paper overlay and design in heat transfer vinyl.

This fic is a fun twist of genre; it takes a character who is very much not your typical action hero and thrusts him into the role of Indiana Jones, going on a cross-country adventure to track down the artifacts needed to break a curse (all while avoiding arrest). It's thrilling and cinematic, and so my vision for the typeset is very much inspired by the "action movie" theming. All of the "location headers" are meant to be reminiscent of the LOCATION IN BOLD IMPACT FONT WHITE TEXT ON AN ESTABLISHING SHOT that was a staple of 2000s action movie editing. The font and color choices were meant to add to the bold, adventurous vibes. The "forest fire" paper is in reference to a specific scene in the fic, and the overlay technique is heavily inspired by @zhalfirin's work. This was also my first time sewing endbands.

Materials: covers - 2 mm grey board spine stiffener - paperboard covering material - black and red linen bookcloth overlay - "Forest Fire" chiyogami paper vinyl - cricut brand gold foil, siser easyweed black vinyl

endpapers - green cardstock with pearlescent finish endbands - faux double core french endband, with cotton embroidery floss textblock paper - Hammermill 20lb printer paper, cream, 8.5x11

Typeset: Designed in Microsoft Word. The body font is Amasis MT Pro, headings are in Poppins, and "handwritten" sections are in Brotherland Signature and Weddingday Revisited. Images from Pexels.

Cover Design: Designed in Photopea. Font is Cinzel.

dimensions: 5.5"x8.5"

[artbykhuggs]

The private study scene from "The Hands of the Emperor"

[zhoudadudugongjin]

KIP 😭😭😭

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 1

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.

Science fiction, time travel, multiverse, epistolary, adult

The Hands of the Emperor (The Hands of the Emperor, At the Feet of the Sun, and other stories) by Victoria Goddard

Endorsement from submitter: "Amazing epic and intrinsically queer story about leaving home to change the world, about being a bridge between worlds, about what it means to choose to leave your home even which it is the most important place in the world to you. And so much more."

An impulsive word can start a war. A timely word can stop one. A simple act of friendship can change the course of history.

Cliopher Mdang is the personal secretary of the Last Emperor of Astandalas, the Lord of Rising Stars, the Lord Magus of Zunidh, the Sun-on-Earth, the god. He has spent more time with the Emperor of Astandalas than any other person. He has never once touched his lord. He has never called him by name. He has never initiated a conversation.

One day Cliopher invites the Sun-on-Earth home to the proverbially remote Vangavaye-ve for a holiday.

The mere invitation could have seen Cliopher executed for blasphemy. The acceptance upends the world.

Fantasy, romance, politics, secondary world, series, adult

[artfulacrostic]

OKAY so having reached the end of the redoubtable pali avramapul in concert w/the return of fitzroy angursell + of course the hands of the emperor, the question that i'm stuck on is: does kip know????

SPOILERS CLEARLY INCOMING FOR ALL THREE OF THESE BOOKS. just fyi.

it seems evident from his pov in hands of the emperor that he at least subconsciously knows or suspects something, but also consciously appears to be ignorant. (also please take all of my theorizing w a grain of salt bc i literally blew through these first three books in like five days.) the dream that he recounts to uhhhh. how are we referring to the emperor in fandom. tor?? his radiancy???? that kind of sucks bc he hates that method of address but calling him fitzroy in his capacity as the emperor feels kind of insane (how dare you, victoria goddard, make me feel insane about that when the separation between the parts of himself is such a big theme. i should feel normal about calling him his name. fuck it.) the dream kip recounts to fitzroy just before he leaves on his quest is clearly like. something. there's something happening there w the connection to "domina black" and the blond man. also, kip clearly knows that fitzroy angursell has some kind of importance to the man he knows as the emperor, re: the scene where they have that discussion about if fitzroy angursell should be freed and kip says he should be freed and the moment is just insanely charged. also, in the dream kip knows fitzroy's name and calls it, but when he wakes he can't remember (to what appears to be fitzroy's chagrin). and so maybe on some level kip kind of knows something, whether the something is that artorin damara actually literally is fitzroy angursell or not. so in hands of the emperor (which you'd think would give the clearest answer, being from kip's pov) the answer is like...maybe??

but in the return of fitzroy angursell, fitzroy doesn't really give much of anything about if he thinks kip knows. i mean, he's bringing kip up in his inner monologue every two pages but like, he isn't saying oh yeah kip probably knows who i actually am. he's saying like, ah yes, kip my viceroy who is doing such a good job always. have i mentioned how every helpful project was all kip's idea?? and that's basically it.

and THEN, in the redoubtable pali avramapul, pali is like. this motherfucker knows. he KNOWS. the scenes pali and kip (and fitzroy) share are SO INSANELY DIFFERENT from each perspective that it's driving me fucking crazy, absolutely ass over tea kettle bonkers. pali is like, this bitch clearly knows who i am, he clearly knows who fitzroy is, and he is keeping him LOCKED UP and is 100% the MAIN PROBLEM HERE, and i am going to fucking MURDER HIS ASS. THE MOMENT I GET THE CHANCE.

and kip is like oh wow this woman who my lord loves...:(...i guess i get it though, she seems like, insanely amazing. i would do anything to get tor out of here so that he can be a person and be happy, and she would clearly make him happy, so i am going to specifically cross every boundary imaginable in order to be helpful to the both of them. we are having a productive conversation!!!

and you go back to pali and shes like: IM SWEARING VENGEANCE. IM PRETENDING TO BE NICE BUT IM SWEARING VENGEANCE AND IM GONNA COME BACK AND KIDNAP FITZROY AND KILL THIS SLIMY SON OF A BITCH. (bro i love her sm lmao.)

but i feel like her misunderstanding is clearly borne out of the way that even she can see that kip clearly cares for the person underneath the emperor persona, and so she assumes that he must know him as fitzroy, in order to care that much. but kip, whether he really knows subconsciously or not, just cares. he just cares so much. either way he would care. and pali is so angry at everything that both she and fitzroy have lost (and dealing w huge amounts of internalized guilt) that she is assigning blame to the first person that is readily available to be the scapegoat, even though she should know (as the scholarly expert on the reign of artorin damara) that kip literally has nothing to with stealing fitzroy away in the first place and locking him into his bonds as emperor. at most, he's culpable of standing by for a long time without attempting to help, but the amount of time he spent with fitzroy is the only reason he was able to reach past the boundaries of station imposed on the emperor and start the process that will lead to fitzroy finally being free. so he's technically guilty of not moving faster, but i feel like that was a specific part of the process that could not have happened naturally faster...idk.

but yeah anyway i'm not convinced in the way pali is that kip KNOWS KNOWS, but i feel like maybe somewhere deep down...he kind of knows?? i'm SO interested to start at the feet of the sun, where i feel like prooooobably fitzroy will end up revealing his chosen name and full background to everyone at the palace (meaning our crew of kip, conju, omo, rhodin, etc). i want this reveal so bad it HURTSSSSS. but i felt like i had to get down some of my thoughts before i start bc im feeling crazy about this. but to be fair im feeling crazy about these books in general! so fare thee well, i am diving back in, and do not yet know when i may surface :)

[adromelke]

The Hands of the Emperor

Lord Mdang (Kip) and Féonie

I’m actually reading At the Feet of the Sun now, but drawing goes slower than reading for me.

I’ll be back with more Kip and HR!

[sarcasticbeanie]

His Radiancy’s Household

[piyo13sdoodles]

and sliding in at 7pm baker island time, october 31st, we have another scene from chapter 79:

At one point Cliopher heard the plinking cascades of his Radiancy's harp, and felt his heart overflowing again with gratitude, that his family could make his Radiancy so happy, that he was so happy, that his Radiancy was happy, that his family was happy, that they were playing all sorts of things including all his favourites, that his efforts to make time for his oboe meant that he could keep up. The last notes of one song led so naturally into one of Fitzroy Angursell's banned songs that he started to play it, realizing several incriminating bars in that only one other person was playing along.

AND IT IS DONE!!! thank you to everyone who joined the journey this month, it's been great <3

[punsbulletsandpointythings]

I....might be writing a Goblin Emperor and Cemetaries of Amalo / Hands of the Emperor crossover fic. Is that something people would read?

[oh-dameron]

-The Hands of the Emperor, chapter 63

Congrats to Kip for getting his Take That smack down directly after this and all, but several things occurred to me on a re-read:

1. Cousin Louya was right about the fish farm,

2. Cousin Louya was right about the sea turtles,

3. Cousin Louya might have a genuine gift of prophecy,

4. There is a faction in the Palace of Stars who do indeed hide behind cunning masks,

5. Said faction set themselves up to seize power after The Fall by positioning HR as a God, and then again after HR's heart attack by attempting to execute Omo and destabilise the guards, and then when HR went on his quest they called Kip into a super shady meeting and just coincidentally shortly thereafter he got hit with [AtFotS spoilers].

6. Kip's second-in-command, Kiri Kalikiri, is precisely placed to do everything that Louya warned about, and

7. Kiri Kalikiri's parents are priests of the Imperial cult.

Is that a separate thing from the Ouranatha? I don't know. I do think it's extremely unlikely that the Ouranatha are planning to sit back, let HR retire, and dissolve the whole edifice of the Imperial cult that they rest the bulk of their authority on. There's going to be at least one more mad grab for power in their death throes.

The other reading, of course, is that Cousin Louya is once again right on the money but what she's seeing is Kip's complete takeover and restructure of the government. But that doesn't jibe with her warning of destroying everyone who is not like them and the erasure of culture. Unless you count Kip's desire to verbally smack down bigoted fools he never seeks to destroy. The sort of language Louya uses to describe the threat is imperialist.

[breadcatbooks]

Friday Keeps Coming Next by @rattyjol

March 2, 2025 - March 19, 2025

Full cloth case binding with design in heat transfer vinyl.

This was technically not my first fanbinding, but it was the first fanbinding I willing to share with the world. This fic is a groundhog day AU, in which the characters have to relive the same day over and over again. I chose the belltower as the central image to design the cover around because it is A) the setting for a scene that particularly stood out to me and B) representative of the "time" theme without being too on the nose. The white and gold color scheme is appropriate to both the fandom and the setting of the fic. One detail I am particularly proud of: At one point in the fic, a character spends several days in bed in a fit of depression and grief at his circumstances. The author conveys this by using several of the "Day ###" headings that are present throughout the fic, but with no content in between, showing that nothing happened on those days (at least from the narrator's POV). When I saw that I knew I had to do the twilight thing.

Materials: covers - 2 mm grey board spine stiffener - 2 mm grey board covering material - cream linen bookcloth vinyl - cricut brand gold foil

endpapers - white cardstock with gold foil endbands - bookcloth rolled over twine textblock paper - Hammermill 20lb printer paper, cream, 8.5x11 Typeset: Designed in Microsoft Word. The body font is Baskerville Old Face, headings are in Brotherland Signature, and "handwritten" sections are in Weddingday Revisited. Cover Design: Designed in Photopea. The belltower image came from Alamy. Title font is Brotherland Signature, author name is in Alegreya Sans.

dimensions: 5.5"x8.5"

Fun fact: I actually made 3 copies of this book! The first copy, then an author copy, then I actually remade the first copy a few weeks later to fix a few issues (using bookcloth instead of random cotton, not scorching the cloth when applying the vinyl, using more appropriate font size/margins in the typeset, fixing some problems with the spine dimensions so the book would open properly. Here are the original copy and remake side by side:

[zhoudadudugongjin]

Oh they love each other so much 🥺

[becausethecat]

I WILL finish posting this series eventually!! I got stalled bc of a concussion... anyways more importantly! This one is one of my favorites, and is my favorite on the side of the detail work i did, while still allowing for it to be stylized. It's from october 25, and I worked with a few different photo references. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this turned out, and it was one of my best hands-holding-hands I've done in several years.

Chapter 61 “...Give me your hands.” The order was snapped out, Bertie all authority, and Cliopher found his hands loosening on the rope until his fingers ached with how hard he had been gripping. “Good. Good,” Bertie said, sliding his big warm hands into Cliopher’s so he could no longer feel the rope. “Now, Kip, I want you to step with me.” “Don’t let go,” he said urgently as Bertie stepped back, feeling all the space between them yawn open into vertigo. “Bertie!” “Right foot!” “Bertie, I can’t!” “You must!” “Bertie!” “Close your eyes, Kip, and trust me.” Cliopher had always responded well to direct orders from those he greatly respected. He closed his eyes.