#the bookshelf progresses

[bookshelf-in-progress]

The Housemaid's Story: A Sleeping Beauty Retelling

From a prompt by @thegreenleavesofspringinsunlight: Sleeping Beauty from the point-of-view of the second under-house maid who just started a few months ago.

Oh, no, mum, I ain't hardly never seen the princess. I've only been here two months, you know, and those fine folks don't care to see the likes of us. We're meant to be like rats or black beetles, housekeeper says, crawling about during the dark hours and scurrying back to the shadows when we hear a footstep 'round the corner. I've done my best to abide by it, for my mum does so need my wages.

But I did catch sight of the princess once or twice. Just from 'round the corner, mind, but it was more than I could have hoped for two months ago. She's powerfully pretty--I'd say she was like a picture, but I've never seen a picture to equal her, and I've dusted half a million here in this old castle. She's rather like her great-grandmother Beatrice, if Beatrice were a beauty. Aurelia's got the same red-gold hair, only with proper tamed-down curls, and she's got rather less mouth. All her features are kind of carved-down-like, so's she's like one of those great statues in the garden, only ever-so-much nicer, seeing as she's got color and life in her.

They say she's fairy-blessed, and I'm inclined to believe it. Now, don't laugh! If you saw the princess, you'd believe it, too. Beauty like that is hardly natural.

They say it happened at her christening. The king and queen invited three old ladies that some folks say as has fairy blood in them, and they each offered the princess a blessing, just as if it were hundreds of years ago. Those fine lords and ladies were inclined to laugh, but the king and queen got all solemn-like and let those ladies do just as they pleased. They used such pretty language to promise that the princess would be beautiful and sweet-tempered, and if you'd seen the princess, mum, you'd know that part at least came true.

Then just as the third of the ladies was about to speak, some old woman stands up in the back as was never invited. They say she was dressed head-to-toe in black, just as if she was in mourning! I ain't had much acquaintance with royalty, but even I know that's hardly proper to wear to the christening of a princess! She hobbled toward the king and queen, and then said she was of the same kind as those three ladies, and had just as much right to give a blessing to the princess.

It started well enough, saying how the princess would be kind and good and beloved by her people. But then the old woman said the princess would die on her sixteenth birthday. All she'd do was prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and she'd fall down stone-dead!

Old Frederick was captain of the guard then, and he swears up and down that the sky--which had been as bright and cloudless as could be--turned dark and stormy then. He says the king motioned for the guards to stop the woman, and though Frederick tried to grab his sword, he couldn't move a finger. All he could do was stand there like a post and watch while the woman doomed the little princess. I know folks say as Old Frederick's turned a little doddle-headed, but the way he tells it...it gave me the shivers, it did.

However it happened, that old lady was able to walk out of the palace without anyone laying a finger on her. The lords and ladies tried to laugh it off as some old woman's ravings, but the king was white as a sheet, and the queen and the little princess both cried their heads off.

Then the third of those first three old ladies--the one as hadn't had a chance to speak yet--said she could help. She said that when the princess touched the spindle on her sixteenth birthday, instead of dying, she'd fall asleep for a hundred years, and she'd be woken by the one man good enough to marry her.

Yes, it does seem strange! Most people don't credit it at all. Oh, they know what the old woman said, but it won't happen just because she said it. Even if she was stooped and wrinkled and walked with a cane shaped like a--oh, what was it Frederick said...?

Yes! A raven's head! It's almost as if you were there! I suppose you could have been, as old as you are. Oh, dear, not that I'm saying you're old, mum, but I dare say you know for yourself that you're hardly a dancing young slip of a thing anymore.

Ha ha, imagine me, telling you the whole story what you must have seen for yourself! You mustn't let me rattle on like that, mum.

Oh, that's very kind of you. But there's not so much to tell after that. Most everyone thinks there's nothing to worry about, and I can't say I think they're far wrong. After all, why would a great lady like Princess Aurelia have anything to do with the spinning? That's a job for the likes of us. Even if she did have a fancy to try it, the king took every spinning wheel out of the castle, and the princess isn't stepping off the grounds until after the party tonight. Even if there is something to what Frederick says--if you'd heard him, mum, you might get a little shivery, too--Princess Aurelia's just about as safe as can be. You can enjoy the birthday celebration.

It can't come soon enough for me. They've been running us ragged trying to get ready for it. That's why you're being shown to your room by the likes of the second under-house maid instead of a proper escort.

I must say, if the princess does fall asleep, I'll almost envy her. It doesn't seem fair that she'll get all that time to rest. I think the whole castle would like a hundred years of sleep.

[yvesdot]

AHHHHH!!! The incomparable @furiousfinnstan made me this INCREDIBLE birthday commission... Kay with her thousand-yard stare and Atlas being cuddly. I love the classic Ninandrej use of screaming color, the shading on the bedsheets, the normalgirl PJs Kay is wearing (courtesy of Atlas, no doubt), the unshaven legs (!!!!)... How beautiful. It's absolutely perfect.

If you want to know more about these interdimensional sapphics-in-progress, check out the project page here. If you want your own excellent commission, Andrej's commission post is currently up here. And if you just want to throw him some money (you should), his crowdfund is here.

[stygiansauce]

Hi again, Sauce, darling!

Thank you for your kind words! I was poking my brain, and apparently your label in my head is just “Sauce, darling” so that’s my nickname for you now, I suppose!

I adore heels because of the height they add. Do they mess up my feet and threaten my ankles? Absolutely, but they are so worth it! I would have more heeled shoes, if I could find them and afford them. Alas, size 11 shoes are neither easy to find nor cheap.

The car seat makes me jealous. I can and will fall asleep in cars when I’m not the driver but it doesn’t mean it’s comfortable!

MOE keeps calling me, begging for a fine tooth comb reading, but I promised myself that I would wait until chapter five, so wait I will. (Do not take this as pressure for chapter five. Chapter five is taking its own time to come, and it will be all the sweeter for the wait and the anticipation.) Your posts about writing are helping me to grit my teeth and work on my own tales. Unfortunately none of my fanfiction, just my original story which is fighting me every single step. So I feel you on chapter five.

All this to say, I’m so flattered that you consider me a mutual. Here is my tiny teacup, it is overflowing with joy. Wishing you all the best with MOE and Crossing Sticks! You got this! You can wrangle those Ranchers! (Pats them firmly on the heads, “You two behave for Sauce now!”)

~Elen 🍠

Elen, my love!

I am so incredibly excited for your MoE read through, it's going to rock my world to peices and I'm going to die and ascend at the same time. I am not....rushing? persay? on chapter five, but I do have an offical deadline that I've set because I'm getting itchy about three months no chapter. It certainly doesn't help that sports au summer has a death grip on me and I'm trying to write the next sticks one shot at the same time.

The issue is that the next sticks shot is ALSO biting me when I try to feed it <3. Something about the pov and the way I'm trying to set up backstory is just noooooooooot flowing. the words are there but the flow of sentences and dialog is not. Either way, I am using the last dredges of my free time to make BOTH happen before I loose my marbles. With the new life series dropping soon too, I fear my time will be consumed entirely by Mr. Solidarity. Poor Mr.sauce, who does not favor Jimmy and would very much rather I watch Bdubs pov again because "his voice is nice"

Orginal work you say??? This is me perking up like a dog (The more I speak the more I realize Hybbat is right (Hybbat is always right) I am simply my pfp. I am 3 feet tall and I sleep on peoples feet.) I would LOVE to hear more about this if you're intrested in talking about it online. I'm very keen on popping into your ask box so you have a place to chat about it. I love supporting orginal works, I'm Kit's second biggest enabler about them.

Because it's fighting you, let me offer some unsolicited advice from my friend circle. Handwrite your work for a little. I wish I was joking but I'm not it reallllly works. I've been hand writing MoE 5 and then typing it up after the fact, it helps the flow TONS. I'm not sure if it's the act of writing it down or maybe its because you have to slow your brain a little to hand write. whatever it is, it works. I hope that helps your story stop fighting you. sending you love <3

[blondiestudyblr]

My bookshelf in progress 🎀🪄📚

[westerberg]

What should I put up on this wall… open forum

[ayearofbookswithme]

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEnfExGSWRU/?igsh=eGNsbjdhMzV0MXVq

[ravenpaws222]

Ok fun story there’s a copy of that one hxh volume that has Meruem holding the earth on the cover that’s been sitting alone in my local bookstore for at least half a year but I had to leave him every time I went bc I had too many other books, and today I go back to the bookstore with the intention of getting him anD HES GONE IM SO UPSET 😞😞

[misespinas]

« Books I’ve read in 2024 »

January...

Piercing by Ryū Murakami (184)

Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon (206)

February...

Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman (68)

Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig (281)

April...

Passing by Nella Larsen (128)

May...

A Mercy by Toni Morrison (208)

June...

2666 by Roberto Bolaño (893)

[dacuslucy]

omg your evil school tomorrow tag just made me realize that canada doesn’t have mlk day omggg righttt i have a good day at school!!!!

actually heartbreaking yes. Thank you i will!!!!

[planet4546b]

one half of one room packed. house of leaves time :thumbsup:

[bookshelf-in-progress]

A Father's Heart: A Beauty and the Beast Retelling

For the Four Loves Fairy Tale Challenge at @inklings-challenge

Let me tell you, I sure confused that Beast when I returned. Have you ever seen a cat pounce on its own tail? That was the look of confusion the Beast had when he saw me in his palace. Only this cat was enormous—standing seven feet tall on his hind legs—black as soot, with claws this long, and a mouth full of teeth like butcher knives.

"Where is your daughter?" he asked me. Yes, that's what he sounded like—all deep and raspy, like he was growling and purring beneath his words.

"At home," I said.

"You did not bring her?"

“You told me,” I told him, "that I could return to be devoured or send her to take my place. I returned.”

"She did not wish to save you?"

“I never told her. Do you think I could lay that kind of burden upon my own daughter? What sort of father do you take me for?”

He had taken me for a cowardly one, I guess, because it took me a long time to convince him that my daughters were all safely at home, and I didn't plan to fetch any of them. He didn't seem to know what to do with me after that. He wasn't as bloodthirsty as I'd have expected someone with that many teeth to be.

"You will be my guest," he said at last—and he didn't seem too glad about saying it. No doubt he'd have preferred a pretty young girl as a houseguest to a weathered old sailor. But he gave me run of the place—I could help myself to anything, go anywhere I pleased. I didn't understand it. He'd been ready to kill me for a rose, and now he was giving me everything in the house?

I wasn't about to complain, though, so I set about to enjoy the place. The Beast encouraged me to enjoy the luxuries of the palace, but I've always been a working man—I didn't fancy living the life of an idle aristocrat. Before the week was out, I was working in the gardens—the place was overgrown like you wouldn't believe. When I wanted a rest, I'd explore the castle, and boy, was there plenty to see. He had rooms upon rooms of treasures—paintings, silks, wines, musical instruments, even an entire room full of exotic birds! I'd made my living selling such things, and my head swam at the sight of it—a tenth of it would have been worth more than all the riches I could have transported in ten lifetimes.

I didn't make my fortune by having dull wits, and I didn't lose it for lack of courage, so it wasn't long before I began to piece together the truth of this place and confronted the Beast with it.

"How long have you been cursed, your highness?" I asked him one evening at supper.

That great big cat was so shocked he knocked a wine bottle off the table. "Who says I am cursed?"

"Blazes, man, I'm not blind! This palace is worth more than most of the kingdoms of the world put together. If there was a king out there this rich, you can bet every merchant in the world would know of him. He'd have destroyed the world's economy. Fairy magic's the only way you get a horde like this, but you, sir, are no fairy."

Now the Beast seemed intrigued. "How do you know that?"

"A fairy would never have let me live—if he promised to kill me, he'd have killed me. No mercy among their kind. Only a human could have changed his mind like that—for which I'm very grateful, by the way."

"You're welcome," he said, seeming dazed.

I went on, "You're definitely more than a dumb beast; you walk and talk and dress like a man, so it stands to reason you were a man once—that furry coat of yours is just some fairy shell. Same way all these riches are probably just dirt and ashes once you take away the magic. Which means you must have run afoul of a fairy sometime in your past, who decided to curse you with an animal body and then trap you in a palace full of false riches."

I looked at the furnishings, the food, the Beast's clothes—everything spoke of royalty. "Fairies always meddle with royals, so you must have been a prince. The seventh son of the king of Gher went missing just before I went on my last voyage, so I'd wager that he is you. Am I right?"

The Beast goggled. "I…can't say."

"Which means I'm right. No fairy worth his salt would let you say you were cursed. Which means all I have to do is figure out how to break it. Those fairies always give you a way out—the more improbable the better."

I came around to his side of the table so I could walk around him and examine him from all angles. "You were disappointed when I came—you wanted one of my daughters, not me. When I did come, you didn't seem too keen on killling me—which makes me think it was an empty threat, trying to convince me to send my daughter instead. Which means she must be the way to break the curse. What can she do that I can't? Easy—true love. No fairy would think a girl could love a hulking monster like you, so that would be their impossible way to break the curse. You needed, what—true love? Marriage?"

"I can't say," the Beast said, but I knew by his face that I'd hit upon the right answer.

"That makes things simple. You let me out once before. Let me go home again and fetch one of my girls, tell her there's a prince waiting for her, and bring her back to join you in wedded bliss."

He seemed genuinely horrified by that. "I…can't say."

"Oh, of course. It won't count if she knows you're a prince. Well, I'll leave that part out. Tell her that the Beast who spared my life is in need of more company. With a bit of time and a bit of encouragement from her old dad, we'll have you back in human form by Christmas."

He thought it was worth a try, and something he could arrange with the conditions of his curse. So I went home to my children, convinced my sons not to follow me to slay the Beast, and made the castle sound intriguing enough that all three of my girls agreed to join me. I thought that maybe Hope would be the one to break the curse—she's always been the boldest of my girls—but it turned out that my quiet, gentle Beauty brought out the soft side of the Beast. It was the cutest thing you ever saw, the way they'd sit together reading in the rose gardens, that great big cat as shy as a schoolboy with her.

It wasn't three weeks before the Beast worked up the courage to propose—and my Beauty accepted without hesitation. Then there was blinding light and earthquakes, and when the dust cleared, the palace was gone. We were standing in a clearing in the woods—and a black-haired prince stood where the black-haired Beast had once been.

He's an excellent boy—I'll be proud to call him a son. He doesn't mind at all that his bride's the daughter of a failed merchant or that she once worked on a farm. We'll all be moving to his palace across the sea to live as honored members of the family.

Which is why we're moving out on such short notice—his highness doesn't want to be away from his kingdom any longer than he has to. I'm sure you'll find someone else to take the old place off your hands.

No, you don't have to believe me, but it's much better if you do. You'll look much less like a fool once it comes out that it's all true.

[lilccreatures]

Been a minute but I'm still making progress on book 2's first draft. 28K in ☺️

Once this first draft is finished and I get the first edits done I think I'll return to book 1 for a third round of edits.

Going for 5 complete books by 3/28/26. 💫

[havetsavain]

One month until my first mg fantasy academia book, Havetsavain Academy of Arcane: The Other School, is published on Kindle! Going to be posting something once a day to get excited for it!

Today, here is a moodboard my co-author made for the Vararetori (principal) of Havetsavain Academy of Arcane, the mysterious Jinn himself, Mukava Skrybeard!

PLUS! A nice video version!

[lesbiten]

getting really good at procrastinating my art assignments until the last possible minute

[ayearofbookswithme]

FIVE STAR READ 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Nora Ephron seamlessly manages to make infidelity, heartbreak, and betrayal feel like a dark comedy at a family reunion. The book is filled with razor-sharp wit and hilarious observations about relationships, food (because who doesn't want to eat their feelings?), and the trials of juggling the desire to fit into a dream state and the need to see the situation for what it really is.

Ephron's protagonist, Rachel, is a food writer who mixes her snarky humor and expertise in the kitchen to hash out revelations on love and marriage. This reading experience was like being served a slice of key lime pie, but instead of a dollop of whipped cream, it’s a whole existential crisis. At the heart of it all, Ephron’s commentary on love is as comforting and as jarring as the time you found out your favorite cereal was discontinued. Some things end in order for better things to begin, and you know what? We survive. There's always a way! Growing pains always lead to growth.

In conclusion, Heartburn is a tragicomic feast for the soul—just be prepared to feel like you've been emotionally full for days after finishing it. Would recommend, but maybe with a side of Pepto-Bismol (;

Check out my Instagram for more!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEa6C2JyD6w/?igsh=MTNkemduenMwNzJ1dg==

[madness-of-void]

Hi. I'm alive. Just been moving all day. Calling it quits for now coz it's almost 9pm. Probably can finish everything tomorrow, and then the next few days I'm free! 🥳