#I love Euclid and Magic Man already

[pushing500]

Today there was a spectacular space battle over Parish-by-the-Expanse, so our cultists were looking forward to some fresh meat and potential new recruits.

These two survivors in particular caught my eye, so we'll start trying to convert them ASAP.

Euclid is a genie with level 17 crafting skill, which we need to craft a new leg for Socks so she's not stuck with the peg leg anymore.

Magic Man is a Drakonori and, I'll be honest, I didn't even look at his skills or traits. His name is Magic Man, and he looks like fun to draw, so he's staying whether he likes it or not.

Laursen put his skills to good work making a new bed for Cecil, who I'm sure will appreciate the effort.

And finally, I wanted to show off the girls' new bedroom because I'm quite proud of how it turned out. You can even see Cecil's masterwork human-leather bed in the bottom left, next to Salvatore's human-leather cat tree!

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[northsouth89]

Decomposing into Primes

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[I fancy the idea that the linguistic technology of mathematics can be more better. Better in its accessibility, better in the user experience, better suited to the lives we as individuals, as communities, as peoples wish to live.]

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Before jumping in, I want to note that this is a bold goal. It was meant to be a bold goal. I remember in school learning about great historical figures, being drawn into the narrative of great-man-history. I remember realizing that I too am someone. Alexander the Great, some guy. Euclid, some guy. Me, we'll see.

Over time I developed a taste of alchemical art, history, and philosophy. I appreciated the brewing of the philosopher's stone as an impossible goal, an unattainable goal. Aiming for absurdity made failure inevitable, but effort always available. I was already behind and I was always failing so I could mine that fear for oomph.

Burnout followed, obviously. But by that time I was finishing up a graduate degree, I was in the throws of mastering the preliminaries of statistics and mathematics. I had eaten so many words and symbols that even my vomit was information dense enough to return to and gobble down like a dog and their sick.

Learning a bit more about meditation, finding the roaring guilt and shame church and family had put in me, exploring life on my own terms, I found something out. I don't know what that thing was, oddly enough, but it clicked. The world hasn't lost magic, we've just smeared so much of it over everything that we stopped noticing it, stopped feeling it.

A new love appeared, that of computer science. Machines are just very fast language, questions asked yes or no, one or zero. After I was done with the silly elixir I found I had it, I had my own flavor of enlightenment.

Spores of dormant evangelism bloomed in me, and they grow yet in my garden. Many ideas and urges grow there, it's a bustling ecology that keeps itself (mostly) in check.

I have insights! I have epiphanies! I can help! Listen to me!

But wait, hang on, I'm still having a rather bad time of it, I realized. Between excitements and success I wasn't all that well. If anything I share is worthwhile, shouldn't that complex of ideas be caring for me, nurturing me, helping me thrive? Is my ego, identity, soul, whatever we call it, is it just looking to fuck?

No, seriously, a fuckboy of a worldview is not good company to keep. If I have the urge to appear as though I've figured it out, shouldn't I, you know, have it figured out?

And that's where I am, a few failures and increasing successes in. Iteratively changing or maintaining parts of my life until it's clear what I might want and enjoy. Leaving behind engines that run on should or must. Whether it's hellfire or a basilisk bite, let it come and let me sit with it rather than panicking and helping threats spread.

I don't want to be a full-on monk, but some isolation was necessary while I learned to live without justification. That quarantine was needed, but now I'm turning back and asking how I can better connect. I have amazing relationships with low obligation, both ways. Do I want to change that, do I want to live in touch or correspondence? What works for me, yes, but what also works for you?

And so we come back to my stated goal above. The urge to come up with a framing for that vast artifact we call math that will leave future humanities looking back, wondering how we did as well as we did before we figured out what numbers were actually for.

The proof I've set for whatever idea comes next, is that it should cure our contemporary crisis of loneliness. Allowing us to approach or shy away as the urge finds us, knowing we won't be forced, knowing we can always do different.

There are a cloud of ideas forming a nebula of sorts. When they coalesce, will it be a nothing? Will it be like the other children of Numeracy such as economics, such as city-erasing bombs? That's the danger of invention, of procreation, the future is not written yet.

With this preamble I feel I've said something that's needed saying. I hope I return and continue this decomposition, and I hope I forget it and move on. Either could be exactly what needed to happen, either could help or harm our world. I do not sit in a place so clear as to predict. But I can hope. I choose to hope.

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Goal decay:

"I fancy the idea that the linguistic technology of mathematics can be more better."

• Some bad grammar here to avoid the false appearance of precision.

• Linguistic technology has been divided into Bureaucratic and Poetic technologies. Each have their merits; poetry is beautiful, but full of passions both ecstatic and harrowing. Bureaucracy is dull and clunky, but as shelter from the anguish of life, these features can be a comfort. (P is exciting, retreat to B for peace and safety. B is draining and lifeless, retreat to P for lightning.)

• An assumption of agency. This is an assumption, yes, but the path we're on (I think) should map to one or more of the following four:

Have agency? y/n.

Believe in agency? y/n.

If we have yy, good. yn, bad. ny, couldn't be different so neutral. nn, couldn't be different but right on accident.

Thus assuming agency is my default.

•

"Better in it's accessibility, better in the user experience, better suited to the lives we as individuals, as communities, as peoples wish to live."

[themagiciansreccenter]

Author Spotlight: @thursdayeuclid

Every week we interview a writer from The Magicians fandom. If you would like to be interviewed or you want to nominate a writer, get in touch via our ask box.

First things first, tell us a little about yourself.

I'm a thirty-something disabled bipolar queer trans guy who publishes original m/m romance novels when I can tear myself away from fandom long enough to do so. I'm pretty blind without my glasses. I usually have blue hair, a nose ring, and a man bun. As Thursday Euclid, I write lots of happily ever afters, and as prettyclever, I do pretty much the same thing, except with other people's characters that I'm just borrowing from a surfeit of affection.

How long have you been writing for?

My first stories were written when I was a very young child, but I didn't try a novel until I was nine. It didn't quite work out--I couldn't sustain the work to complete a work of that length, and I was writing long-hand---but I tried again at twelve and managed to finish about 50k words. I had a tumultuous adolescence but eventually found myself in Harry Potter fandom in the early aughts, and then I took a long break trying to be a professional. Turns out, I couldn't stay away from tragic magical boys.

What inspired you to start writing for The Magicians?

I was irritated with how season four was playing out. I overly identify with Eliot Waugh--he's who I want to be when I grow up; I'm 37 so I'm running way behind schedule--and his relationship with Quentin was *so* important to me. When Quentin got back together with Alice, I was like, "This is it. I've gotta write fic."

That was the beginning. A few thousand words came of it. Ever since the season four finale, though, I've done nothing but write oodles of Queliot fic with my cowriter and best friend clancynacht/charlotteschaos in my every free moment. I was already reading Magicians fic, but there just wasn't enough novel-length Queliot to suit me, so me and Char are remedying that in our own weird way.

Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write? What it is about them that makes them your favourite?

Eliot, because he is me in so many ways, and in all the ways he is not me, he is pure fabulosity and sex appeal. Kady, because she is just the baddest bitch. She delights me to no end. Penny 40, because his sass is killer, as is his tsundere ish, and I just really miss him. Char always writes Quentin and Margo when we collaborate because she's fantastic at channeling them, so I stick to my own faves.

Do you have a preference for a particular season/point in time to write about?

I didn't really start writing fic until s4, but (extrapolated) S5 has been my favorite thing to write. I've also loved the Mosaic fic we're writing based on 3x5 and 4x5. Most of what I read is totally AU, though.

Are you working on anything right now? Care to give us an idea about it?

We've now posted like 225,000 words of Queliot fic, still working on Sound & Color, and we're also working on another novel-length fic for Magicians Hallmark Holiday Exchange as I type this. Since it's all anon, I can't tell you much about our story except that we've already written 65,000 words of it, and the mutual pining is real, y'all. It's very festive, and Quentin is an adorable sad boi and Eliot is very soft and spook and also protective.

How long is your “to do list”?

Char literally made a Basecamp list of everything I should be doing outside of fic, but when it comes to fandom, it's really just MHHE and Sound & Color. We write together really rapidly. For example, when we wrote It's Never Over, we were done with over 100k in a month.

What is your favourite fic that you’ve written for The Magicians? Why?

Definitely It's Never Over. It's crackalicious and full of book canon references, and it's the Magicians Season 5 Queliot fans deserve. I'm so proud of how that one turned out. I've never written a story in fandom that people were so passionate about, either. It was published immediately after that heartbreaking finale, and people really responded to how we resurrected Quentin. Also all the smut, because there's so much smut in that story. Sex magic left and right.

Many writers have a fic that they are passionate about that doesn’t get the reception from the fandom that they hoped for. Do you have a fic you would like more people to read and appreciate?

I hoped Sound & Color would get more attention than it did. It's a long, weird (not quite complete yet) trip through 3x5 A Life in the Day. There's already a lot of Mosaic fic out there, and it's a crowded field, although I think Sound & Color stands apart for being so complete and slice-of-lifey. It's not just focused on the most dramatic moments, but on their entire lives together from beginning to end because I couldn't get enough of imagining it. It's a long, thorough exploration.

What is your writing process like? Do you have any traditions or superstitions that you like to stick to when you’re writing?

I like to listen to Radiohead when I write. It's inspiring and relaxing and keeps the words flowing. Also, Char often creates Spotify playlists for our stories, and I'll listen to those to set the mood as we write. Sometimes I listen to Kpop while writing too, because I only understand one word in fifty and it provides excellent background rhythm.

Because I collaborate with Char on just about everything, we used to write together in Google Docs before migrating our process over to OneDrive through Microsoft Word, which also lets us see each other's work in real time and edit each other's additions to the story. In a lot of ways, it's similar to roleplaying, which is why we can write 100k in a month without getting burned out. We've been working together like this for more than ten years now, so we've got it down.

Do you write while the seasons are airing or do you prefer to wait for hiatus? How does the ongoing development of the canon influence and inspire your writing process?

I prefer writing canon-compliant stories during hiatus and writing AUs while the seasons are airing. Historically, I tend to only read in a fandom until hiatus, and then I start writing. Coming from a book-based fandom (Harry Potter), Magicians feels very different dynamically and has different demands.

What has been the most challenging fic for you to write?

Definitely The Fake Dating One Where El's Parents Come to Visit, because it was different from what I'm used to writing. For one, it was short(ish) and two, Eliot's parents were drawn from my parents, who are also extremely religious, conservative, small town bigots. It cut closer to the bone in a lot of ways, but it was also different because Quentin ended up taking a more dominant, protective role, really exhibiting his innate bravery, and it was a little uncomfortable letting Eliot be rescued by Quentin just because I identify so much with El.

Are there any themes or tropes that you like particularly like to explore in your writing?

Idiots in love, mutual pining, fake dating, dicks & daddy issues, biphobia and bi erasure in queer culture, mental illness, family of choice, friends-to-lovers

Are there any writers that inspire your work? Fanfiction or otherwise?

Lev Grossman, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, George RR Martin, Stephen King, NK Jemisin, Owlet (her Infinite Coffee series is incredible if you like Stucky), and Olen Steinhauer.  

What are you currently reading? Fanfiction or otherwise?

I just finished reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, which I admit I read just because Chris Evans recommended it, and wow am I glad I did. Changed the way I look at the world.

Now I'm working my way through the Inheritance Trilogy by NK Jemisin, the Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, the Fever King by Victoria Lee, and All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer.

What is the most valuable piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?

Practice makes perfect. If you don't give it your best every day and work on it even when you don't feel as inspired, you'll never develop the muscles it requires to perfect your craft.

Are there any words or phrases you worry about over using in your work?

My characters murmur way too much. Also honestly, just, like.

What was the first fanfic that you wrote? Do you still have access to it?

It was called "Isildur's Bane" and it was a really insanely nerdy LOTR fic about Isildur and the One Ring. It was gen, and it had none of the characters/pairings people actually wanted to read about, but I was damn proud of it. I have no idea what happened to it. It's been almost twenty years.

Rapidfire Round!

Self-edit or Beta?

For fic, Char and I edit each other as we go. I'd love to have an actual beta, but I do not have one.

Comments or Kudos/Reblogs or Likes?

Comments feed my soul. They used to give me anxiety, but now they are my everything.

Smut, Fluff or Angst?

angst with a happy ending

Quick & Dirty or Slow Burn?

slow burn, to read and to write

Favourite Season?

Season Three

Favourite Episode?

All That Hard, Glossy Armor

Favourite Book?

The Magician’s Land

Three favourite words?

herculean, susurrus, callipygian

Want to be interviewed for our author spotlight? Get in touch here.