#“what's the plot hole gail”

[gailynovelry]

When you suddenly become aware of a plot hole that probably 90% of anyone who ever looks at your stuff will not notice, think, or care about, but now it's in your brain and you need to dig up an old story to edit it into submission again.

[indigovigilance]

Miraculous Energy

Guys, I think I found a hole in the plot. We should probably walk through it together and see what we find.

inspo citation by @ritz-writes

Originally this post had to do with holding hands.

The 25 Lazari Plume

In S2E1 they hold hand through the conduit of Gabriel and perform "the tiniest, most insubstantial, fractional half a miracle we have ever performed. No traces of anything miraculous left behind. No- no- no alarm bells ringing in Heaven" miracle.

Even though they were trying to be surreptitious, they failed drastically. Common fanon is that their combined angelic and demonic energy, or the power of love, creates a holistic power greater than the sum of its parts. The result:

A miracle of more energy than anyone knows what do with: per Shax, "a miracle of enormous power... the kind of miracle only the mightiest of Archangels could've performed."

But.

This isn't the first time they've combined their powers to perform a miracle.

Two quotes from Gail Neiman:

The instance in question:

Theory:

There are at first glance two solutions to this paradox. Either

a) They did create a burst of energy but everyone above and below Earth was so freaked out by them having just survived hellfire and holy water (respectively) that they were like "yeah that tracks and we're not touching it with a 10 foot pole," or

b) They did not create a burst of energy in the body swap, and therefore the plume of power didn't have to do with the boys combining powers but instead has something to do with either (b1) Gabriel or (b2) the nature of the miracle being performed.

I don't like (a) because Saraqael is so dismissive of the idea that Aziraphale could have performed such a miracle. It creates a narrative inconsistency.

We are left with (b), and since purple is the color of Gabriel's divinity this would be narratively consistent. (b2) doesn't track because the nature of the miracle being performed is fundamentally the same: in S1E6 they were (what in other fantasy fiction is frequently called) glamouring to hide their identities, and they did the exact same thing to Gabriel in S2E1, obfuscating his angel identity with a made-up human one.

So, yeah. It perhaps doesn't lean into our preferred conceptualization of the super-powerful duo, but it does fit the evidence.

~~~

It looks like @ineffable-suffering already put forth this theory, I just missed it. You can read it here: What if it wasn't Aziraphale and Crowley who performed the 25 Lazarii miracle?

~~~

special shout-out to @flameraven for the scripts, you make my life much easier now that I can copy-paste quotes instead of transcribing.

If you liked this, you can find my meta index here.

[wizardysseus]

7, 17, and 20 for the book asks!

is there a series/book that got you into reading?

redwall by brian jacques! my grandmother had a stack of redwall trade paperbacks in the room where she also kept a bin of toys for her grandchildren. i started plowing through them and never looked back

top 5 children’s books?

ella enchanted by gail carson levine

holes by louis sachar

the graveyard book by neil gaiman

a series of unfortunate events by lemony snicket

the neverending story by michael ende

there are definitely more, though.

what are things you look for in a book?

toughie. depends on what i'm in the mood for.

for genre, i'm usually looking for fantasy. for worldbuilding, it really depends on the style of fantasy, but in general i like magic of many stripes (soft systems, rule-bound, whatever), folklore, and politics.

for prose, i look for a more grounded style (ie descriptive, but not too flowery or abstract). i don't look for a certain perspective or tense, but i do find that first-person and present-tense often fall flat for me, so when i'm reading those i look for a strong narrative voice that can carry them.

i look for characters who have the potential (if i'm reading a summary) to drive plot and have strong or off-beat personalities.

for character relationships, i look for those that aren't driven primarily by romance. i like for romantic elements to be more incidental to plot and character, but i love complicated familial and mentor relationships.

always looking for beasts and creatures and guys that are under a curse.

[cookinguptales]

ive been feeling a bit disenchanted with season 4. maybe its cause im dreading the finale based on the vague spoilers i saw, or the treatment of marwa or how the "the gang is separated unexpectedly" twist of s3 was totaly glossed over... i dunno. how are you feeling about it?

No specific spoilers here for 4.09 and 4.10, but just in case people want to avoid even my vague feelings and criticisms, I'm putting my answer behind a cut. Plus, as always, this did get long.

Honestly, I'm feeling a bit disenchanted, too. I'll write some meta about my exact reasoning after the episode airs tonight (and even more after the finale airs), but I just... Now that I know how the rest of the season is going to go, it kind of puts a lot of things I've been putting up with for the rest of the season into sharp relief. I thought certain storylines were going somewhere so I put up with the way they were being written, but now that I know they're not going anywhere with them, I've had to come to terms with the fact that what I thought was maybe hints was actually just lazy writing. That's kind of where I've been at the past couple days. Looking at the lil bits we've been picking through on fandom and realizing that they never really intended to flesh out any of those things or take them in any interesting directions.

I also agree thoroughly with Marwa. It's one of the things that's been a growing concern of mine throughout the season, and now that we have spoilers... idk, again, I'll talk about this a lot more thoroughly tonight? But I hate this storyline now. I also hate what I'm now seeing as an overdependence on hypnosis and Djinn-facilitated personality transplants, too. Like... I can recognize now that it's a season-long issue. Like damn, stop using this to dig yourself out of plot holes. It's lazy writing and the implications get creepy very quickly. I thought they were doing these things on purpose to criticize it later but maybe?? they're not??

I'd say the big two disappointments for me are Marwa and Guillermo... I won't get into details with Marwa, but Guillermo... yeah. I've been saying it since literally the premiere aired, but the whole one-year gap was a killer. I hate that we just don't hear from any of them for a year when they are doing important things. We miss all of Laszlo's bumbling through the beginnings of parenthood. We miss Nandor's journeys, for the most part. We miss Nadja's growing disenchantment with the council. And Guillermo, Guillermo gets the worst of it. He has the most change and the least of it is shown onscreen.

And I kept hoping they'd go back to it. They'd go back to what he must have been feeling and the decisions he must have made. That they'd explain why his focuses and motivations seem different. Why he's stopped being a weird little busybody who's a lil freak about the others' personal lives. Like... I cannot get over his behavior at the wedding. I keep trying to find a way to make it make sense! I don't care if he was no longer in love with Nandor or not! It didn't make sense for the nosiest, most interfering character in the entire cast to be the only one not to object! Mr. We All Need To Grieve Colin Robinson? Mr. I'm Going to Manipulate Everyone? Mr. Gail?

But as far as I can tell, they're really never going to meaningfully engage with any of that. And no, just saying that he got a boyfriend is not enough for me. You don't get a total personality transplant when you start dating someone! If you want me to buy that all these changes happened, you have to show me how they did! I feel so... idk, cheated with Guillermo. And when I'm feeling uncharitable, it makes me feel like they've adapted his personality to be whatever it needs to be to forward the plot elements they decided on. That's just... it's not good writing, and that is not a criticism I am accustomed to making with this show.

I have thoughts about Nandor, too, but it's a lot harder to talk about those without delving into spoilers... But I do think that in some ways his character has regressed as well. I think some of it might be purposeful...? Like a one step forward, two steps back situation? But I'll reserve my judgment on that one a little more until I've actually seen the episode.

It's odd, because I feel like Guillermo and Nandor have actually had some really nice moments in s4... when we're not focusing on the (imo) truly disastrous storylines that are their romances. It's like all preexisting characterization just flies out the window sometimes and that's so frustrating.

As for 4.09 in particular, too... I'm not going to say any spoilers, but it is bewildering to me to see my sense of humor diverge so wildly from a show that's always made me laugh more than any other, especially because the writers of the episode wrote two of the best episodes of the entire series. I haven't seen the episode yet, so maybe it will be way less bad than I'm expecting! I'm holding onto that hope. But I cannot see how they could make the spoilers I know funny and not just. Very upsetting to me, actually. There's a sort of cruelty there that WWDITS has never quite hit in the past, for all that it tortures its characters, and it goes into some tropes that I just find overtly creepy, honestly. I do not think I'm going to enjoy watching this episode at all, which is a feeling I have never experienced from WWDITS before.

As for the cliffhanger in 4.10... I have to say I find it unconvincing. I just don't believe it'll have lasting implications, and moreover, after seeing the way they casually disregarded the emotional arcs they set up in the s3 finale, I no longer feel like we have any guarantee that the events of 4.09 and 4.10 will ever be dealt with in s5, either. I'll talk about this in more detail after it happens, obviously, but like. It does feel like they're going WOW, ARE WE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO THIS? and I'm just sitting here like. no... you're obviously not... So it doesn't feel all that cliffhanger-y, tbh.

It's odd, because the one aspect of this season I was most convinced I would hate (Baby Colin) has been the one thing that I've felt genuinely touched by. I feel like this show has been at its best when it's used Baby Colin to delve into ideas of family and fatherhood and belonging, and it frustrates me a little that the back half of the season put that on the back burner for pretty extended periods only to return to it in the finale. The pacing is off.

I think in general the back end of the season has been... weird. 4.08 notwithstanding, because I think it's kinda it's own thing... I know we've gone around and around and around with episode order and such but I really do feel like some of these late-stage episodes smack of rewrites. I keep thinking about the fact that the Djinn wasn't supposed to be in this many episodes and I really have to wonder how that affected the Marwa and Freddie storylines, which I feel are by far the weakest part of the season.

Like damn, I thought they were gonna fuck me up because of the implications for my OTP, but I can write my way out of 4.10 fairly easily, if we're just talking OTP. I never thought that these storylines were gonna make me lose faith in the writing team. I feel a little adrift, if I'm being honest with you.

I felt myself just instantly shift into fix-it fic mode as soon as I learned about the events of 4.09 and just. It's never where I wanted to be with this show. I've been a diehard WWDITS fan since the movie first came out and it's always been a franchise where I've respected the writing above all else. Not every episode of WWDITS and Wellington Paranormal is an absolute banger, but I've enjoyed all of them and loved most of them. Nothing has made me laugh like WWDITS and I've come to be truly invested in the characters. So to see things to go so spectacularly sideways so quickly has me like... ah...

I'm readjusting, I think. idk. I've been thinking a lot. I've been talking to my cat a lot. lmao. I still have some hopes for certain elements of the last two episodes and I did really, really enjoy certain parts of season 4. It just... didn't ever end up being as cohesive as I'd hoped, nor did it have the same loyalty to characterization that I was expecting. (And it really, really did not seem to have any respect for most of its new characters.) It's frustrating to have bad so thoroughly mixed in with the good and to have to puzzle out which things don't work for you and which things do. It'd be easier if I just hated all of it! But I really didn't.

Either way, anon, you're definitely gonna see a LOT of words from me over the next two weeks. I have a lot of things to talk about and a lot of feelings to express and honestly, I'm really hoping I end up having meta to write about things I like, too. But who knows? I guess we'll see.

[cleopatras-library]

23 in 2023 Wrap-Up

So I made a list at the beginning of 2023, and did actually try to read most of the books on it! Results were mixed, but I did read a lot of books I'd been meaning to get to for some time, and made peace with many others. I won't be doing the same for this year because I genuinely don't have that many books I plan on reading. So here they all are:

Books that didn't come out this year:

Alecto the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir - I was very optimistic, but there was not in fact an official release date and there is not one now. I did read the new short story though, and it was very good!

Books I didn't start:

De Profundis, Oscar Wilde - Too stressed for something so soul-searching. Maybe this year?

Lord of the Flies, William Golding - I decided I wasn't going to put myself through this one again and let go of all my guilt about it.

War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy - Similarly, I finally came to terms with the fact that I'm not particularly interested in reading War and Peace right now.

Books I didn't finish:

Once & Future, A.R. Capetta & Cory McCarthy - Very YA, the humour was clearly targeted at a younger audience than me.

Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World, Janet E. Cameron - NOT in fact the lighthearted read its cover makes it out to be.

Beirut Hellfire Society, Rawi Hage - Not as interesting as the title.

The Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray - Might have the prose I liked least all year. The authors were telling everything, which made it very heavy-handed.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel - Too dark for me :) I regret starting this book. The prose was also a bit heavy-handed.

Books I finished that were Bad:

After the Victorians, A. N. Wilson - Written in 2005, and you can tell, because Wilson's opinions are stale as fuck. I can't really trust much of what he wrote because of that, though the chapter on crosswords was interesting.

Der Dunkle Schwarm, Marie Graßhoff - Dystopia with weak worldbuilding, and I found myself noticing plot holes, which isn't something I typically do.

Books I finished that were mediocre:

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald - 200 pages of Nick feeling uncomfortable and also some commentary on the american dream that has become common knowledge in the intervening century. This book is for someone else.

Ships of the ‘45, John S. Gibson - Exactly what it says on the cover.

Company Town, Madeline Ashby - Interesting worldbuilding, dull mystery plot (why is it that so much interesting fantasy/sci fi gets saddled with the dullest of imaginable mystery plots?)

Books I finished that were good:

Blood Like Fate, Liselle Sambury - I liked this a bit less than the first book, but it was still interesting and unique YA sci fi! The romance was also well-written.

Legendborn, Tracy Deonn - Honestly I was mostly reading this for the (enjoyably) messy love triangle, and I would continue the series if it looked like my preferred pairing was going to become canon.

Worlds of Ink and Shadow, Lena Coakley - Wittier than I remember it being!

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote - Different, but just as good as the movie.

Love After the End, edited by Joshua Whitehead - An interesting short story collection. My thoughts were very much provoked.

The Sentence, Louise Erdrich - Literary fiction I found satisfactory upon reading that has somehow stuck with me over the last few months.

Books I finished that left me Changed:

Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir - AAAAAHHH (highly recommend, this literally changed everything)

The Secret History, Donna Tartt - This book makes me think maybe I should be reading more thrillers? Or at the very least more dark academia, regardless of how cliche it seems for the rest of my personality.

Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club, Megan Gail Coles - The best literary fiction I read this year.

In conclusion, go read The Locked Tomb.

[thatbeluga]

Wet Sock Part Eight

Part One / Part Two / Wom’s Chapter / Part Three/ Wom 2 / Part Four/Part Five / Part Six / Wom 3 / Part Seven

Wom shimmied through the secret passageway, the cold stone scratching against his fur. Misp was at the front of the manor, keeping Rad distracted. He only had a few minutes to slip out and go on his super secret quest to do something, Beluga couldn't really remember when he wrote this and he didn't want to check and also he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to know at this point.

Speaking of Beluga, Wom pushed around a corner of the passageway and bumped right into Beluga.

"What's shakin' dipwad," Beluga said as Wom yelped in surprise.

"What the fuck Beluga! How did you get in here?" Wom hissed. He thought he was the only one who knew about the secret passages.

"Oh, these passageways have great acoustics," Beluga said, doing one of those beluga chirp things. "I like to sing down here. Mostly belty Cher stuff and the occasional Taylor Swift or Beyonce."

"Hold on, why am I surprised to find you here? In Wom 3 I was already planning on meeting you before I left," Wom said.

"Oh, well you see, I didn't reread it before I started writing this chapter," Beluga said. "Doesn't matter. You're here, and we're talking."

"Right," Wom said. "Misp and Gail are helping me keep Rad confined in the estate until we sort out all of this. I need you to help them in case she tries to escape."

"Hrmmm, pass," Beluga said. "I want to write the implied smut I keep promising and that can't happen if they're not together."

"The smut can-

"Implied smut. Key word," Beluga said, holding up a fin.

-come after some plot. Keep the people waiting," Wom said. "Anyway, I've made sure Mom can't leave, but I have a special mission for you and Fuck."

"You think I can't do something by myself? Why do I need Fuck's help?!" Beluga growled.

"Fine, fine, do it by yourself," Wom said. "I need you to make sure that Elmo doesn't try to come back. (Unless that's my mysterious quest that Author!Wom was planning on)."

"Oof that sounds like a lot of work," Beluga said. "Could I maybe hand that off to my associate?"

"And your associate is...

"... Fuck, obviously."

"Bees on a cracker," Wom cursed, shaking his head. "Just... make sure that someone is here to prevent Elmo from returning to the estate."

"Ok, I hear you, I definitely hear you, but what if I want to let Elmo back into the estate because of drama?" Beluga asked, clasping his fins together.

"Oh yeah, because the apocalypse would be so much fun drama for you to enjoy," Wom said. Beluga giggled.

"I would have a BALL please stop tempting me."

"I'm serious. If you let Elmo in, the things it could unlea-

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I've seen it happen before," Beluga said, shooing Wom out the hole at the end of the passageway. "Have fun on your quest, darling!"

"Hold on, hold on, hold on, you've seen this happen before?" Wom asked, pushing back against Beluga.

"Yup. I had to leave you with something mysterious at the end of the chapter," Beluga said. With that, he pushed Wombat out of the passageway. A panel clapped shut and covered the passageway, leaving Wom outside the estate.

[lashtonhemwinfan]

(lashton hemwin Roleplay plots)

Plot 1: Luke is a maid for his abusive step farther and he dose all the chorus for the house but when luke snacks off to the party luke and Ashton's eyes meat instantly and they both dance the night away and got married a few years after the wedding luke found out he is pregnant with twins will luke be ok or will his past come to hournt him (cinderella au)

Plot 2: Luke is in gail for murdering his abusive boyfriend tom and ends up in prison but luke finds out he is pregnant what will happen to the baby and luke?

Plot 3: Luke is a fames after in nyc looking for a break but when he meets ashton his hole like will change

Plot 4: Luke is in a abusive relationship with his so called boyfriend calum he hits kids and raps him what happend when his best friend ashton helps luke will ashton feel the same way

Plot 5: (a royalty au) and luke is the price and Ashton is lukes body gard but when they started to get to know eachother they fall in love but when luke fines out he is pregnant will Ashton and his family be accepting or will lukes like come crashing down

Plot 6: (Trigger worning this on is based on 911)

Luke works in the twin towers and he loves his job his team are really nice and friendly and when on a break from the office Luke sees ashton and he slipped on a bit of ice and his foot loops are on the floor

Plot 7: when ashton is dating a beautiful girl named Bryana Holly she was not a good girlfriend to ashton and would cheat on ashton on the daily with much hotter guys. when ashton finds this out he leaves Bryana and went to the only person he could trust Luke Hemmings as ashton is poring his hart out luke kissed ashton.

(message me if you are interested in role-playing any of these)

[yv-sketches]

I've the how to your dragon series and the wizards of once books. Any recommendations for books to read that are similar?

Thank you so much for this question!! 😊

I’ll do my best to answer, however, English is not my native language, so I am not super familiar with the Great Middle Grade series that undoubtably exist. I also read too many non fiction books when I was younger

Here are a few books/book series I found enjoyable in a similar way. (The list is not super long and none of them feature dragons, sorry.)

Most of these are more like twoo, because they’re really good but can’t touch Cressida’s masterpiece. I cannot think of ANY book series that can compare to httyd’s philosophical three way war and grand finale.

(Click read more for a list of half baked book recommendations by me XD)

1 ~ The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole - Michelle Cuevas

This is a stand alone that could easily be “How to take care for a pet black hole” written by Hiccup. It’s a short book, but it has the exact same dry and clever humour and becomes truly meaningful further into the story. The ending is bittersweet too.

This is probably the book I think has the most similar atmosphere to httyd. If you could collapse the emotions from httyd into 200 pages, this would be the closest matching result.

2 ~ Percy Jackson - Or literally anything by Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan is iconic and the only one who could win a ‘chapter title battle’ from Cressida. Examples: “My sword has a better social life than I do” or “A God buys us cheeseburgers” I am very ashamed to admit I have only read the first Percy Jackson book (I really should read the rest, you may sue me for not reading this iconic series) but I really liked it and from what I heard about the rest of the series it only gets better.

At least one crazy adventure each book, plenty of swordfights and a snappy protagonist to comment on everything. I’m not sure how to describe it accurately, but these books are written with the same hilarious tone as Cressida’s. You can read them out loud and they’d be funny I guess?

Also: Main characters with ADHD and dyslexia (looking at you Wish and Xar), characters from different countries, cultures and LGBT characters who have storylines outside of that characteristic. If you liked vikings, Magnus Chase is his triology about demigod children of Norse gods (though long series probably won’t bother you as httyd book fan).

3 ~ Cogheart - Peter Bunzl

These books are fun steampunk adventures. The setting is vaguely historical, but with victorians instead of vikings, pesky adults who don’t listen to children very well and an unusual pet companion. There’s also a secondary storyline about how beings with human intelligence are treated as lesser, and it’s treated important enough without overshadowing the main plot.

I’ve read the first two and so far it’s a series where you can read each book separate (though the first few httyd books could also be read as separates). There are two more and perhaps the secondary citizen issue will end up being the overarching plot?

4 ~ How to Become King - Jan Terlouw

The clue is in the title. The main character wants to become king, but has to complete 7 impossible tasks first. It does not get more straightforward than that.

The book does not have Cressida’s ridiculous humour, but the main character is Pure Good like Hiccup and each impossible quest actually has a lot of depth to it. A big part of the story emphasizes how humility and kindness are the things that make a good king. It’s a pretty old book and probably the most unknown one on this list.

5 ~ The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars - Jaclyn Moriarty

(I own a signed copy of this and the author was so nice) It is the second book set in this world, but with new characters. She said it can be read on its own, but perhaps it could be a bit confusing if you haven’t read the first. I hadn’t read the first and I was confused.

The absolute highlight of this book was the narration. There are two narrators who take turn narrating, and while doing so they comment on each other. They argue with each other and quip about how they do a better job narrating. It makes you feel like you’re part of the story too, similarly how Hiccup addresses the reader and comments on his younger self.

6 ~ Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer

Did anybody say fiendishly clever plan? When it comes to cheating death and trickery, Artemis Fowl is Hiccup and Xar’s long lost sibling. Except.... he is not as nice. To quote Camicazi: “You see, [I] have no morals at all. It's very useful...”

Where Hiccup was a Pure Cinnamon Roll and Xar an emotional hotheaded disaster, Artemis is a straight up bastard who cares for only four (4) people in total.

It’s very reminiscent of the earlier httyd books. Silly schemes, potty humour and characters that walk a fine line between likeable and annoying. I have not read the entire series yet, but the characters slowly mature with each book.

7 ~ Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine

This is more of a twisted fairytale like twoo and not a fantasy epic like httyd. It’s the story of a girl on an impossible quest in a fantasy world. There are a lot of fairytale tropes, but I really liked how the extremely complex kingdom fit into one book.

It’s the only book on this list where different languages are a major plot point, and there is an inequality problem with some creatures, similar to the wild dragons in httyd. The ending can’t compare to the satisfying yet bittersweet solution of book 12. It’s a fairytale happily ever after and certainly easier on the heart than httyd.

? ~ Anything by Roald Dahl

Everyone knows Roald Dahl, which is why this is probably an useless recommendation. His books are funny, crazy and sometimes a bit grim, but always great. What else can I say?

? ~ The gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue - Mackenzi Lee

Ok, this one is by no means a middle grade book. More like 15+. (There is violence and romance is a major plotline. Both the violence and romance are 15+, and while I did not find it too bad, it might not be for everyone)

However, it has almost all of the ingredients of a Cressida book. I really felt like I should include it because it belongs somewhere high on this list! On the surface it’s a whacky adventure with a sassy protagonist in a somewhat historical fantasy setting. Below that surface, it deals with major issues in an absolutely beautiful way.

The quotes are artistic, and this is the ONLY ya book I’ve ever read with messages that hit as hard and are written as subtly as the ones in the httyd books. (I have read books more beautiful, and books with greater messages than this one, but the serious parts were woven into the story in such a refined way.... I’ve only read that in Cressida’s books.)

Mind you, the protagonist is more of a Disaster Boy ™ than Xar and I wanted to slap him sometimes. Like Xar, he learns and gets better.

~

A few other books I should mention

Coraline by Neil Gaiman. The story is not similar to httyd and twoo at. all. which is why it’s not on the list. However, this is the ultimate book about not-so-great parents. Hiccup and the entire twoo gang can relate. Just a heads up: this is a somewhat scary story. Cressida doesn’t shy away from suspense and terrifying details, but in Coraline, the suspense is one of the main aspects.

A series of unfortunate events from Lemony Snicket. I haven’t read this, but I still want to. From what I’ve heard it’s a sarcastic adventure series that’s a lot more serious than it looks.

I have never read this series either, I do not even know what it’s about, but I’ve heard people from the httyd books fandom talk about it: Keeper of the lost cities by Shannon Messenger.

~

I hope this list was the kind of answer you were hoping for!

If you are looking for better recommendations, there are a lot of httyd book fans who can give you some, like @books-are-like-dragons @thefellowshipofthedragonmark @httydbooks-doodler .

[ckcker]

I Walk in Madness

Nobody has or can have all the information, but they have the requisite amount of information and agony in combination to believe they accurately see the entire thing.  I don’t and can never have all the information, but still I must have an opinion that seems binding or confident.  The information I selected and pressed into an opinion is now my special soul, and defines me.  It must be released and time-stamped to show that at one point, I made this all-encompassing definition, which is a summary of my self and the window of all my beliefs hereafter.  Elevate yourself to say, “I no longer wonder.”  

I have made myself publicly available; all that the community asks of you is that you participate.  To not participate is to disrespect those who put all of their time, effort and mental filaments into the ideal of community.  Such a reclusive impulse should be modified swiftly but in the most holistic way if possible, it is not helpful for others.  It is not helpful for you.  It is, at heart, cowardly, as it turns away in fear from the difficulties involved in building a resilient, healthy and just community.  It courts isolation as a comfort, when in fact voluntary isolation is the fortification of unhealthy habits and delusional or paranoid thought processes which precariously redirect the lost person away from the tough but rewarding civic duties necessary to building a fact-driven social network.  If I am lonely at night, the solution is to participate.  Though I walk in madness, I end up at the voting booth.  A discussion takes place in which everyone pretends to know how recycling works; one inches towards integration.  Recipes are shared, and an evening passes with an attempt to perfect avocado gazpacho.  

I love traditional open-toed sandals.  Making the body more vulnerable to the elements of the outside world shows a general dissipating apprehension.  Though current events inevitably fade in relevance and thus sustained public attention, their emotional immediacy and rousing thrust are exceptionally good at forcing the under-opinionated to participate and commune with others. Opinions always coalesce under the pressure of current events, and since current events are established and projected much more widely and much more often in this era, it follows that one should have more opinions, and participate more.  Of all the methods I’ve tried, the most effective and least artificial toner I’ve used is two tablespoons of rose water mixed with 1 cup of filtered water.  The rose water I use is a brand from Lebanon and you can probably find it in a local middle eastern grocery store.  Having a very public life no longer makes me uneasy!

I published the post and I was feeling satisfied, though very likely no other person would see it.  My only patron appeared to be a woman in her early 40s with hard bangs and a diamond choker smiling in her icon’s bubble, with arm around a presumed husband and the suggestive text “Be Kind” pegged in lower left corner in hot pink with white outline.  Miscellaneous background details in the icon, particularly a hanging silver streamer, communicated that at the time of the photo this woman had been at a New Years party.  Her silent interpretation of my persistently scarce content was eager musing territory for me when her icon focused my attention in the midst of a wild scroll, or when her face and militarized endorsement of kindness intruded with the elegance of a twirling maple samara upon my mind during a bout of fear-walking.  She made no effort to contact me, had no posts of her own or even personalized layout style, and yet she hypothetically watched me.  Of course it was pointless on her end — my posts were designed solely for the tactical misdirection of algorithmic spectres, conceived and published only in order to convince those supra-wiggly archivists of instinct that I was overwhelmingly a different person.  I did not want even the smallest gleak of truth to land online.  This “lost mind” plan even extended to my video watching and digital window shopping maneuvers, though in the case of the former it was impossible to totally restrain myself from a true curiosity and craving to pursue certain videos.  This lack of impulse control expanded even more robustly when porn entered an afternoon; it was insurmountable to search and watch against the specific desires and images I knew would satisfy me the most.  Yet I tried in rapid toe dips, once spending eleven minutes on a video of a nude bodybuilder shot-putting a collection of corns and lettuces into a wall, and with no o-face to conjure.  

“I walk in madness” was both my unorthodox phrase of meditation and most important sentence of self-parody.  When walking around at night in a certain state, I would now and then repeat to myself, “I walk in madness.”   After this I would laugh and say, “that’s dramatic.”  Self-parody swooped in to dehydrate the potential mirages, delusions.  But no other summary was as accurate — literally I walked in madness.  From the habits of my mind, a complex system had emerged and, quite simply, enveloped my unhinged ass.  I had strobe-nurtured my preferences for “the best way to think” over the last several years, so that now I was only sufficiently energized when mentally combining (1), an act of making fun of myself for feeling out of sorts, with (2), an earnest attempt at my own healing.  This perverse combo made me feel very aware but rarely good.  And when these thought commands then marinated in the head to a fully abusive gush, there was one more thing to consider.  What was the source of that powerful sensation that took me over when I went walking alone and without a plan at night?  What was it in the body that prodded me along that highly nummy snack trail of mini-catharses?  What was the source of those tiny pecks of transcendence that scattered down the back of the neck when nearing the production of an abyss?  That is, I did not only walk in madness because I had to, but also because it had become fun.  It raveled me on a line leading to some other connection, a connection which was not to The World.  It promised recognition of and commune with everything that did not matter or had not ever been confirmed to exist.

These areas were very important to pay attention to — I had ignored them for the majority of my, to be acutely real, goofiest years, it was important to know everything that was possible.  This was my routine.  I walked with glamour in circular patterns around less populated city neighborhoods at night, always listening to music that accentuated a spike in insane flavoring.  I only chose music that had the strength to combine halo and blurred hole, it was always music that floored my sensation to its final speed.  I knew I was so lucky to have built-in machinery that let me expand all of my reserves through music.  It was my only advantage.  It made me proud to turn inward.  If my skill was extreme sensitivity, it could only flourish in its most insular and native format.  

But I desperately needed new songs to fill me up, and over-listened as a resting state.  I over-listened, and a night out, i.e. the sustained advancement of nightlife over several hours, was an exhausting condition for me.  In a bar, I was penetrated by the old song I had heard over two thousand times before, but which now had been remixed in a contemporary style wherein synth stabs commanded by creatine hands had replaced what was once very clean, antiquated AOR guitar strumming.  The popular song I had highly ignored for the length of my life, and which hearing did not provoke outrage (or even flashback to wedding dance floor) but instead perpetual indifference in me, had been updated using the most cutting edge technology to produce aural depths not possible with the recording equipment available when the song was originally produced, and which now plunged the emotions much further down and much harder.  The original voice was now placed in a melancholy minefield of hysterically deep bass and plummeting, omnidirectional dynamics and, when the remix passed through the tequila that I was allowing to patrol my body, it replicated itself with viral menace to produce in me the extraterrestrial threat of a single tear.  

In this instance of a night out, Rob had invited me to this bar and party that I had never been to before.  Where I had expected to see more of his friends or even the endless hallway of acquaintances he seemed to be able to mobilize at random, instead I only saw Gail, revealing the conditions were such that Gail and I were the only people Rob had invited to the event.  There I stood under the song, almost leaking with melody-induced sentimentality or globular nostalgia mucus.  I looked across at Gail who was leaning on a wall, who did not seem to be able to observe me after our initial greeting when I arrived at the bar.  She appeared to not take in much information when moved from location to location, and when looking in her eyes I did not ever get the sensation that enormous perspectival changes were part of her social rhythm.  A common conclusion from a young person would be that she was fried, but whether as a condition of drugs/alcohol/trauma or some combo, there had not been any stories shared on which to focus a rock hard drama-horny eye.  Though I yearned to know what details flanked the long road leading to her hellscape, I realized it was unjust since I wasn’t prepared to present the full set of demonic coordinates that had led to mine.  How can one appeal with another story of lost sleep?  “Awake all night” is not the story anyway, yes we know, please make your complaining entertaining.  I was in the heart of the club, I understood it was not the moment to emerge brumal vapors in the form of uninteresting plot points excerpted from my very personal checklist of booboos.  “Oops,” the convicted serial killer said when the public did not like the realistic paintings he made of his victims while in jail.  Gurn: it was possible for the public to see horrifying paintings made by a serial killer.  

Several screens around the bar played the same music video, which the dance floor area magnified via projection on the wall, so that, in the most emotional part of the bar, emotion was keyed up considerably by the illusion of entering the world suggested by the song.  Rob and the bartender were near cheek-to-cheek, taking turns cocking their heads to the side so the voice of the other could enter the ear successfully over the newest Chicago house-derived, 80s-synthpop-infused rap song scorching the lair.  Gail stayed against the wall, looking around but appearing totally comfortable, a woman in her 60s drinking a High Life surrounded by a different generation, I was moved.  Being young is incredibly dangerous.  The bartender poured Rob and himself shots and they downed them together.  

Snippets of Gail’s circumstances had reached me, I knew she had been living with her son in Texas but now was essentially homeless, that Rob and Q.C. had met her at a goth club where she was hanging out with a much younger woman named Lillian.  Lillian would often be run into at the goth club or other clubs and bars, flirting with Rob and Q.C., and though she was definitely younger than Gail, she wore enough makeup to sufficiently alter minds and, with the support of moody bar lighting that left certain preferred corners in medium darkness, had an age that was unrecognizable.  “My instinct tells me she’s at least 35,” Rob had suggested after explaining to me the situation and after a long silence in which I didn’t respond or engage at all with what he had just said.  The pause had felt uncomfortable and also unnatural after such bulbous gossip so he apparently felt it important to break the silence with this one more detail of her estimated age.  I knew it would make both of us more comfortable if I said something in response to the story of Gail and Lillian but I didn’t, in the end, have anything to say, and so Rob told me he thought Lillian was at least 35, and I responded, “oh.”  Lillian and Gail were good friends and Lillian would often bring Gail along to the goth club; Gail did not dress on theme.  Eventually Rob learned she lived in her car and he invited her to stay with him for an unspecified amount of time.  Inevitably this increased my estimation of Rob’s worldview.  When he would decide once again it was time to throw trash from the neighborhood off the 2nd floor apartment balcony — for instance a decommissioned flatscreen or legless American Girl doll — Gail, watching through the open door from the beige velvet couch, would laugh once.  

Rob concluded his interaction with the bartender, turned to me and explained the bartender was hot and straight, and when the bartender worked the weekly gay night they held at the bar, he would appropriately enhance his image in honor of the conventional gay male eye — pouring himself into a tight black tank top that demonstrated his tactful chest hair and relevant bicep gains was the respectful thing to do.  “I’m going to dance now,” Rob said as a commanding female voice shook the establishment with its first notes.  

I wandered over with him but stuck to the doorway that connected the bar area to the dance floor, watching as he threw himself, alone, into the writhing environs, quite clogged with personal freedoms.  The mass of dancers sang the chorus of the song all together, the subject matter concerned a protagonist that felt jealous and sad to see their long pined after crush dancing with another girl.  In fact the protagonist likely never had a chance with the person who was their crush but had built up a dream narrative in which their idealistic love with this person was nearing possibility.  In the midst of such crushing circumstances, the protagonist, now left alone and heartbroken at some event they likely attended simply to engage further with their crush, has decided to dance through their loneliness despite it all, even if it will only enliven them for a moment, and for the length of the song.  Rob danced “with” almost anyone he turned his body towards.  Some people engaged, dancing back, and others stealthily maneuvered away.  At some point it was discernible that he no longer had on shoes or socks.  A girl very much liked that, drawing her friend’s attention to the fact, then touching Rob on the arm, saying something inaudible.  All three laughed.  I stood and watched, occasionally pinged by passing bodies gunning for the most emotional part of the bar.  I watched the video on the projection screen.  The female vocalist danced specifically, had short pink bowl cut hair, conveyed well-lit and accessible agony.  Several bar dancers unmistakably entered a sub-orgasmic flehmen response.  My left shoulder reflexively darted front and back — a significant space-grabber had brushed me by on their way to the dance floor.  It was eventually revealed to be Gail.  I watched her scream “YAHHHHHHHHHH!!!” as she launched herself into the crowd.  

[elliebartlets]

3.13 The Two Bartlets

Episode:

• ...why...does Josh keep coffee grounds in the fridge? lmao

• aw, is he wearing the too big pajamas that CJ gave him?? I love it

• Josh telling Leo about his sexy intimate time with Amy lol

“Anybody else in the office?”

“Hey Josh.”

“Heeey, Margaret.”

Lmao I’m dead

• the secret service dude was about to go catch CJ if she fell

• “The dada of dada”

“It’s like there’s nothing you can do about that joke. It’s coming and you just have to stand there.”

• also Allison Janney really can go from drama to comedy like *snaps fingers* that. CJ went from having a discussion with her dementia riddled father who keeps asking where she is, to cracking jokes about butter with Toby.

• in what world is a “less qualified black woman” getting promoted over a qualified white man?

• “Bob?”

“Sam.”

Actually the guy that played Bob passed away a few days ago.

• at least Amy has a cute dog

• I know Sorkin doesn’t plan ahead and pretty much writes things last minute, but this subplot with CJ and her dad really sets things up for The Long Goodbye

• “What are we keeping in the bullion depository?”

“Soup?”

“I wouldn’t ask a lot of questions Sam.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Lmao

• Rewatching this episode made me like Josh’s plot more than I remember. I love that he wanted to stay behind to help his friend, despite Leo telling him to go on vacation. (I love that Leo told him to go. He understands that the staffers don’t have a lot of free time for personal relationships. He has a failed marriage because of it.) And as much as I don’t like him and Amy together, I love that he decorated the apartment to make up for not going to Tahiti.

• “Your father used to hit you didn’t he, Mr. President?”

oh godddddd sjsososks nooo I cant watch

Podcast:

• guest star: Blanche Sindelar (property master)

• Bradley Whitford was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this episode and the series won an Emmy for best drama partly based on this episode.

• “CJs PJs” haha

• They wish Toby argued with CJ more on affirmative action, but I think Toby probably didn’t push CJ on it cause he could see her viewpoint was coming from a personal place, and just wanted to give her space.

• According to Alex Graves, Richard Schiff had a hard time saying “Uncle Fluffy” without laughing.

• the Uncle Fluffy stuff was based on Al Gore. Sorkin was annoyed watching Gore try hard not to appear smart.

• The Bartlet for America napkin wasn’t hard to duplicate since it was simple lettering, but it bugs me that I can tell the difference between the one in Bartlet for America and the one in the finale.

• Aaron and Tommy both have Bartlet for America napkins.

• There were three Gail’s throughout the series. Blanche took Gail home on the summer/holiday breaks.

• Tommy thought putting stuff in the fishbowl was “breaking the fourth wall.”

• Blanche’s favorite decoration she made was in S2 E1: In the Shadow of Two Gunmen.

“After Bartlet got shot, I made this fishbowl with a bullet hole through it, and I had the White House, and I had red gravel.”

They don’t think it ever showed up on camera but holy crap that’s like...intense and amazing.

• The hardest prop to recreate was the bill signing. They had to recreate the bill itself and the box it came in, so Blanche contacted the White House for help.

• Paul Revere’s knife was from eBay or History for Hire.

• “Well props to you Blanche.” I love/hate Josh’s dad jokes.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

ok its been like a week? a week since i've read remembrance and i'm still so hung up on it??? it is absolutely genius and literally is such an improvement on cannon? and ya'll just out here writing this novel-worthy book with hella twists and perfectly in-character cast and incredibly well-put-together plot and LGBT+ cast and absolutely gut-punching ending and not to mention LUCA GODDAMN FAWLEY for fun??? fun??? im in awe. also i want to give luca a hug very badly. also gail. also jacob. also

Anon I...

I...

(Flustered, inhuman screaming into a pillow, because I’m socially awkward and I don’t know how to take compliments.) 

Can I just say that you are pretty much the best? The actual, definitive best? Because you are. 😭😭 Like how are you really going to be out here sending me a message that manages to cover absolutely everything, from the stuff that I hoped I did well, to the stuff that I tend to think turned out poorly? My instinct here is always to say “But what about {Plot hole?}” But then I catch myself. Messages like these really help with my self esteem and my confidence as a writer, so thank you. To any other aspiring writers reading this, always try to catch yourself like that! You’ll be happier. To anyone who reads fanfiction (Which is most of us, I presume) you should totally let a writer know when you like their story because as you can see, it turns us into a blubbering mess of feelz.

The Fawley kids honestly need all the hugs, after what I’ve put them through. Really, MC just generally deserves hugs. Preferably from someone cozy like Barnaby or Sickleworth. 

[powerborntouch]

“The Altered Adventure: Fear of the Prophecy (Chp 4)” reaction

Time to get the plot rollin’

Now, if you don’t want spoilers, stop scrolling down and blacklist “altered adventure spoilers” or “fear of the prophecy”

BOI.

LETVIA.

SOMEONE PLAY MEGALOVANIA. SHE’S SO BADASS AND MURDEROUS. I LOVE IT.

Bran, you are an idiot. You know it’s possible to live happily as a transwolf without the morph ability. Just look at Half Howl. But you do you, I guess.

Hmm, the pirates didn’t ask for anything from Gail.

Honestly, Gail is my least favorite character and her story is my least favorite story from the novels. It just isn’t compelling. Void of anything.

I feel like I don’t even know her.

OMG. WITCH. STOP. LET GO OF MY INVISIBLE SON. DANG, YOU CAN KILL A VOICE?! THAT’S ILLEGAL.

Though this makes me wonder why Witch hasn’t used this power to try to kill Voice in book 1. I know that’s not a good idea because of the aura. But...he could have.

Well, at least that solved the plot hole of the highly protected(tm) Air Kingdom being easily invaded by the Rebellion. I like this change.

Rebellion: This used to be our home :c

Also Rebellion: *destroys Stand Down City, a nostalgic place for them*

Poor Voice. He didn’t get a proper burial.

The novel says it’s fitting that Voice was left to die in the city he destroyed. But eh, I felt nothing from that.

For starters, some scenes before implied that people left because they were grieving for the king, not because of Voice.

And secondly, I don’t like that the book glosses over the Air Kingdom kicking everyone out.

Displaced people and refugees is a relevant political subject. Voice’s reign kicking everyone out of Air Kingdom is relevant to our current political climate.

It would have been cool to see how the displacement affected so many families in Altered, and see how Voice hurt so many families with his actions. And to see what the book (aka the writer) has to say about displacement and refugees in the real world.

That’s all I gotta say about this chapter. It’s a good one.

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of June 20th, 2019

Best of this Week: Guardians of the Galaxy #6 (Legacy #156) - Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, David Curiel and Cory Petit

Talk about an explosive end to the first arc, huh?

Battered and bruised from their fight with Hela and the Black Order, Quill and the rest of the Guardians are pissed off and ready for round two. With Lockjaw's help, they teleport to Knowhere, taking the fight directly to villains.

Geoff Shaw takes this story to its absolute peak with his amazing art. Propelled by a psychic dragon construct created by Moondragon, Beta Ray Bill sends his Stormbreaker hammer into Hela, taking her out of the fight. The sight is awesome, but unfortunately the only teamwork really seen here. The dragon looks ferocious and rightfully takes Hela out, or else the fight would have been very one sided again.

Shots are far and mostly wide, showcasing the various means of attack as the Guardians tear through Thanos' alien creatures, mostly with Gladiator shooting everything in sight with his laser eyes. Shaw makes things look grand in scale, even when things are focused on one character such as Phyla-Vell after taking Proxima Midnight out of the fight with rays from her hands.

Things get even more tense as Peter confronts Cosmic Ghost Rider, who betrayed the Guardians in the last issue because of Hela's control of the dead. He falls apart as Hela's control over him fades and it's actually pretty sad, mostly thanks to Petit's lettering making The Riders apology even more melancholic.

Quill catches up to Gamora, who went to stop Thanos from being resurrected, and tries to convince her against killing her Uncle Eros, aka Starfox. Starfox had been the main antagonist of this Guardians book, thinking that Thanos would use Gamora's body to house his consciousness when it turned out to be his Brother, the only other Titan left. Gamora rationalizes that if it had indeed been her that Thanos took over and she were in Peter’s shoes, she would have killed the possessed body in an instant, stabbing Eros through the heart and preventing Thanos from being resurrected.

That one panel was absolutely beautiful, if a bit marred by the lettering covering the exit wound. Eros snaps out of his trance and looks like he’s gasping in pain. Gamora is resolute in her decision, much like she was when she killed Thanos in the beginning of Infinity Wars (2018). She apologizes to her Uncle who muses that the plot was miserably predictable. It’s heart wrenching, especially knowing how light hearted and heroic Eros was before all of this started, seeing him fall as low as he did, almost killing Gamora before the gambit was discovered.

Suddenly, Thanos’ body erupts awake, though his mind not fully intact due to the transfer not being completed.Hela returns and in her anger, fires a black hole missile at Gamora, but it gets deflected back at the Incomplete Thanos, causing him to become the center of the black hole. The Guardians escape as Hela and presumably everyone else gets sucked into the black hole.

Setting up the Death of Rocket arc at the end, I really enjoyed this issue. Not only was it action packed, it also subverted my expectations about its outcome. I absolutely thought that Thanos would come back in full force in the final pages of the story and while he may in the future, it was great to see that it won’t be a YEAR after he was killed in the first place. I had some initial bad feelings about this team of Guardians, but they meld together very well. The power of Beta Ray Bill, Phyla-Vell and Moondragon combined with the skill of Star Lord, Groot and Gamora makes for an absolutely interesting and banterful team. Also because I’m a huge Phyla-Dragon fan and I can’t wait to see more of them. High recommend!

---------------------------------------------------

There’s a lot to be said for how greed changes a man.

Runner Up: Iron Man #13 (Legacy #613) War of the Realms tie-in - Gail Simone, Paolo Villanelli, Edgar Delgado and Joe Caramagna

Tony Stark, eccentric, billionaire tech mogul, loved by millions across the world definitely had his flaws. He used to be a terrible alcoholic who sold weapons of war to the highest bidder until his failings led him down the path of heroism. His is a very heartwarming story and it’s intriguing to see what he used to be reflected back to him in the form of a greedy, magic leaking dragon as the War of the Realms reaches his front door.

With Tony’s armor being transformed due to being infected after his first encounter with Sadurang, he has to contend with one of the few things he tends to avoid like a plague: Magic. As a man of science and technology, it makes sense that Tony is averse to such things, taking a more structured approach to fighting people like Doctor Doom. He figures that it has to function similarly to coding and does his best to figure things out as lives are in danger.

Hs thoughts immediately drift to Saduran and how similar they are. Sadurang, the All-Consuming is a gold hungry dragon, sometimes in the form of a man, whose appetite causes him to destroy everything that will be a profit to him. Tony used to be much the same and claims that while he was changed, his time in the eScape let him hit the bottle again and he hasn’t managed to tell his new girlfriend, Janet van Dyne aka. The Wasp. To me, this seems like the next step to a destructive end after Rhodey manages to stop him from walking into a bar in the last issue. He’s not dealing with his problem by telling her and only seems to be pulled further in as Sadurang mocks him for his weakness.

With Janet and Rhodey’s help, they manage to take down Sadurang by distraction and utilizing an improved Mk. I armor. Villanelli’s art shined throughout this issue. I have a weakness for stipple shading and this issue is full of it, almost giving it sort of Pop Art feel that really helps with the gleans and reflections of Tony’s armor. Delgado’s coloring accentuates this by making everything much brighter. Tony’s red and gold stand out amongst the beautiful purple magic effects and Sadurang is beautiful in a similar shade of red. Wasps yellow makes her look downright angelic as she zips around before the bright silver of the Mk. I armor steals the show.

With the upcoming Ultron Agenda being teased by Mike Deodato Jr. and Marvel a few days ago and the secrets that Tony is keeping from Janet, this book is a high recommend from me because of the story possibilities that are likely to follow from this. Tony has an awful habit of pushing the women he loves away and as Ultron returns, will his secrets spill out then? Who knows, but buy this book!

[okayto]

Alex Awards

Alex Awards are given each year to 10 books written for adults, but which have special appeal to young adults. I often recommend them to students who are getting a bit tired of the YA collection*. The award’s homepage has lists of the awarded books each year, but here are a few of my favorites from its 20-year history:

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick (2001 award)

The true story that inspired Moby Dick, in 1820 the whaleship Essex was sunk by the sperm whale it was attempting to kill. The survivors piled into lifeboats and attempted a 3000-mile journey to land as their numbers dwindled. Once a well-known tale during the days of whaling, the story is now presented as an absolute page-turner.

 The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (2003)

In an alternate universe 1985, literature is the pinnacle of entertainment and pop culture. Literary detective Thursday Next investigates Shakespeare forgeries and book thefts before the hunt for a terrorist leads her to a device that can allow people to enter works of fiction, and her actions inadvertently change the outcome of Jane Eyre.

Fast-paced, quick-witted and tightly-plotted, this book (and everything else by author Jasper Fforde) is amazing, difficult to sum up, and absolutely no prior knowledge of any other books are necessary.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (2004)

What actually happens when you “donate your body to science”? Well, it could be used in crash tests…or as practice for plastic surgeons, or decomposed in various conditions so forensics people can do that “well at the rate of decomposition here in Kansas in July she’s been dead for three weeks” thing but in real life. Author-journalist Mary Roach is one of the funniest, most engaging nonfiction writers I’ve come across, and her abundant curiosity and willingness to ask lots of weird questions make the book fabulous.

Soulless by Gail Carriger (2010)

In an AU steampunkish Victorian London, Alexia Tarabotti has several problems. One: she has no soul. Two: she’s a spinster. Three: a vampire just attacked her without so much as an introduction, breaking all rules of social etiquette. And four: she just killed said vampire and is being pulled in to more supernatural shenanigans, which is not ideal during the London Season.

Fun with excellent doses of sarcasm and several other books and series subsequently written in the same universe.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2012)

Yes, yes, I know the movie just came out. I haven’t seen it. But the book is an interesting thriller—in a world where almost everything in is facilitated or done online through virtual reality (OASIS), a [generic teenage] boy races an evil corporation to unlock the puzzles of OASIS’s 80s-obsessed creator, in order to claim the OASIS for the common people and not require loads of money like Evil ComcastWarnerCorp will.

Lock In by John Scalzi (2015)

In the near future, a highly contagious virus leaves some victims “locked in” to their bodies: aware, awake, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. FBI agent Chris, locked in since toddlerhood and using an android body, teams up with a veteran agent to investigate a series of murders and finds that the real mystery goes much deeper.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (2017)

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children hosts those who have returned, from those worlds found at the bottom of a rabbit hole, in old wells, in the back of a wardrobe. However, not all children wanted to return, and their confused parents are eager to send them to a therapeutic school. When Nancy returns from an underworld and is packed off to the Home, her arrival coincides with a dark tragedy that threatens the Home’s existence.

Of note: Nancy is asexual and it’s not the point of her character, it’s just mentioned. (!!!!) A sequel-ish (same world, focusing on a different character), Down Among the Sticks and Bones, also was an Alex Award winner for 2018.

Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure by Ryan North (2017)

Did you ever read Romeo and Juliet and wished Romeo never met Juliet? Or thought it might be better if they teamed up to take over Verona with robot suits? Or just wished those Choose Your Own Adventure books from childhood came in adult size? Good news! All of that is here!

  *(This does not, of course, mean that you can’t find well-written YA books, but sometimes it’s hard to figure out where to start with “adult fiction” if one wants to explore past YA.)

[maryleemac]

Ten Questions for Gail Aldwin

Ten Questions for Gail Aldwin

In this column I’m asking subscribers to share their knowledge about writing, publishing, and marketing their books. I’m calling it “Ten Questions.” Thank you, Gail Aldwin, for sharing your insights about what it takes to get a book into print. – Marylee MacDonald Author Tip: “I follow a three-act structure to avoid narrative dead ends and plot holes.” If you’re on Goodreads, here’s where you can…

[supernatural-firstwatch]

Season 8 Episode 23: Sacrifice

SEASON FINALE AT LAST!!! Season 8 took me forever it feels like!!! So, how is Sam going to die at the end of this season only to come back the next one? It’s his turn. Dean died/went to purgatory in the last season. And since they’ve been alternating since Season 1...

- Roderick? Why is this Jody person calling Crowley Roderick? And who is his Jody person? They’ve closed down the bar! WAIT! This is Sheriff Jody?? I can never recognize her. And there goes Crowley, prepping a hex bag for her... Oooh, what are the brothers plotting? There is no way they’re going to be going along with this. So what’s the plan???

- Ok, so they got the whole tablet back together. And Kevin is in on the plan. And Cass is still going on with the trials to close Heaven’s gates. Maybe he should check in with the brothers...? Cause, you know, closing up Heaven while Hell is still wide open may not be the best idea.

- Awh, Sam and Dean are back at Bobby’s :( Man, Crowley is really letting Dean get that close to him? Hahahahahaha. Demonic handcuffs! They used the tablets as bait to get Crowley!!! Nice. Now they just need to “cure” Crowley.

- Oh Cass. You are still SO BAD at this!!! And the angels have Metatron.

- Oh, NOW they put up devil traps. Also, where are they getting the purified blood? HAHAHAHAAHAHA!!! Now I want to know what happened to Penny Markle in the sixth grade and what Dean did!!! 

- This is a bad idea. I wouldn’t leave Sam by himself with Crowley for 8 hours... Oooooo!!!! Sam injected Crowley with his blood post-confession and his arms glowed! That means he’s on the right path. Also, is he going to be able to keep this up for 8 hours? I mean... That’s a long way to go and his body is hurtling toward the cliff face. 

- You know, forcing Kevin to translate the tablet is going to blow up in your face. You’re acting a lot like the demons.

- URGH! WHAT IS CROWLEY UP TO BITING SAM??? And then not saying anything!!! Oooh, he’s gonna use his blood to communicate. Smart. Dean better get back to Sam cause he’s gonna need help.

- GAIL IS CUPID!!! AND IS SETTING THE TWO GUYS UP!!! HAHAHAHAH!!! LOVE IT!!!!! DEAN’S FACE!!!! 

- Oh, Sam looks so bad. He should call Dean. He won’t, but he should. I don’t know that Sam can physically do this by himself. And there’s Abbadon!!! I had a feeling we’d be seeing her again soon. HAHAHA!!! Crowley is hilarious if he thinks Abbadon is going to help him. She was horrified when she learned he was the King of Hell. Pretty sure she might just try to kill him instead. And Sam’s unconscious. HAHAHAHA!!! “You and I are going to talk about a little regime change.” Yep. Saw that one coming a mile away. 

- WOAH! Sam just set her one FIRE!! There she goes!!! Bye bye Abbadon! Go forth and find yourself a new host! And then come back to kick some more ass? HAHAHAH!!! “You did good back there, Moose. I’ll deny it if you ever quote me, but I’m a proud man. I’m proud of you.” You’re so full of shit, Crowley. You’re just glad Abbadon didn’t kill you. Except that Sam wants to cure you. HAHAHAHA!!!!!! “We just shared a fox hole, you and I!” WHAT??? “I deserve to be loved!” WHAT??? I love how Sam has the same expression we’re all sporting right now. Clearly it’s working. 

- Man, Sam looks like shit. Crowley wants to know where does he start with a confession? “Where do I start to even look for forgiveness?”

- I KNEW METATRON WAS A LYING LITTLE BASTARD!!! What is he trying to pull??? He’s trying to cast out the angels from Heaven?? “Our mission was to protect what God created. I don’t know when we forgot that.” You failed at your mission. You did a bang-up job at trying to destroy it.

- Wah wah!!! Is Dean going to stop the trial??? 

- MEEEEEP!!!!! Naomi got her needle jammed into the back of her head. Bye Amanda Tapping! I’ve loved seeing you again! Naomi would be in Slythering. Actually, most of the angels would be in Slytherin. Except Cass. Cass... That’s a good question. I’m not sure. Maybe Gryffindor? And now Metatron is holding a knife to Cass’s throat. 

- Oh, Sam. “You finish these trials, you’re dead Sam.”’ “So?” ARE YOU SERIOUS, SAM??? What about your whole speech of you wanting to live because you see a light at the end of the tunnel and you’re going to take Dean with you??? You can’t just be like “So?” !!!!!!

- And Cass is back on the chair. OH MAN!!! METATRON TOOK HIS GRACE!!! AND SENT HIM BACK TO EARTH!!! 

- OMG I’m going to cry... Sam. Sammy. THESE TWO!!! “We have enough knowledge on our side to turn the tide here. But I can’t do it without you.” “You can barely do it with me. I mean, you think I screw up everything I try. You think I need a chaperone, remember?” “Come on, man. That’s not what I meant,” “No, it’s exactly what you meant. You want to know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? It was how many times I let you down. I can’t do that again.” “Sam--” “What happens when you’ve decided I can’t be trusted again? I mean, who are you gonna turn to next time instead of me? Another angel, another-- Another vampire? Do you have any idea what it feels like to watch your brother just---” “Hold on, hold on! You seriously think that? Because none of it-- None of it-- is true. Listen man I know we’ve had our disagreements, okay? Hell, I know I’ve said some junk that set you back on your heels. But Sammy... Come on. I killed  Benny to save you. I’m willing to let this bastard and all the sons of bitches that killed mom walk because of you. Don’t you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you. It has never been like that, ever! I need you to see that. I’m begging you.”  

I CAN’T EVEN WITH THESE BOYS!!!!!And now Sam is likely dying anyway because of these trials!!!! And Sam can’t breathe!! And Cass doesn’t have his essence anymore!!! And it’s not like he could save Sam anyway. He said that a long time ago, that Sam was damaged in ways he couldn’t save him. 

- WHY IS EVERYTHING IN THE MEN OF LETTERS BUNKER SUDDENLY TURNING ON??? OH SHIT!!!! OH SHIT!!! THOSE ARE ALL THE ANGELS BEING CAST OUT OF HEAVEN!!!!

Well.... shit.... Is it all the angels that have fallen?? And have to live as humans?