#The False Prince audiobook

[inbabylontheywept]

What Talon And What Dreadful Claw

I wrote this in response to this prompt. Ivan Alexander recorded this story, so if you like audiobooks, click here to listen. I cannot understate how talented he is.

She’d watched him walking over the horizon for almost six hours now. She loved getting guests - loved seeing the resignation of men half dead with thirst, trading certain death in the sands for possible death near her waters.

And they were hers. The promise of Ramses still stood, even if it had been a millennium since the concord. By rite of blood and writ of paper she was the queen of the deeper duat. And it was a queen’s privilege to choose her guests. And, occasionally, kill them with her claws.

She could have flown over, but she had time. More time than anyone. More than enough time to wait.

𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒

Her guest was not half dead. He was, to be technical, less than a quarter dead, but that was only if you measured things in years.

He was young. His face certainly seemed less lined than her own. There wasn’t much else she could judge age from - the lines of her form folded into wings and furs and claws at the same point that his folded into silks and beads.

He’d prepared for the meeting by bringing a wealth of spices. It was a trick common to royal travelers: If sweat couldn’t be prevented, it could at least be masked. She could still pick traces of it up under the sandalwood and myrrh, but it was pleasant. Salty and metallic and sharp, underneath all the soft wisps of smoke.

He’d brought her gifts. When she told him that the gifts were not acceptable as passage, he said that wasn’t how gifts worked. Gifts weren’t given in exchanges - they were given for the joy of giving. And it brought him joy to share with her.

She didn’t know how to respond to that, so she simply asked if he intended to cross through her duat.

“Maybe,” he replied. “What’s your price?”

“A riddle,” she’d said. “If you get it right, you can pass. But if you get it wrong, I will devour even your bones.”

He grinned and it wasn’t false bravado. He’d known the cost before she said it.

“I love riddles. I accept.”

She loved this part. She loved the tension of it, that singular moment of truth where she wasn’t just a mind or a monster, but something straddling both worlds.

She spoke.

“I can survive beyond death, but can be broken without force. I can summon without breath but-”

“A promise.”

She looked at him wide-eyed. It wasn’t her best riddle, but it was one she’d made herself. It wasn’t supposed to be this easy.

She let him pass but she did - to her great shame - sulk. To his credit, he only lingered an hour or so in the shade of the oasis. There was a longing to him that she couldn’t describe. It unsettled her, but it went away when he took his camels and continued past, traveling on into the deep duat.

She forgot about his gifts until long after he’d passed the horizon. She’d expected human trinkets - gold and gems. Useless baubles. The pelts that had been carefully rolled up and placed inside the chest were strangely thoughtful.

She carried them back to her cave, and laid them flat across the floor. That night she slept better than she had in many, many years. In the morning, she woke up and smelled myrrh, and was almost happy to imagine the prince coming back. If she was disappointed to realize that the smell was coming from the scents soaked into the furs, that was a secret she could keep even from herself.

𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓐭

It was a week before he came back.

She recognized his outline on the horizon. She had a good memory, and beyond that, he’d made quite an impression on his first meeting with her.

He’d begun to run low on his spices, and his clothes were looking far more rumpled than they had at the start. That travel was beginning to wear him down should’ve meant nothing to her. Now, she felt odd. Would she still feel victorious if he failed her riddle? Or would it haunt her, knowing she could only catch him at his worst?

(Did she want to catch him?)

She waited for him to make it to her oasis again. It seemed to be part of the ritual, to sit and watch the speck on the horizon grow to the size of a man. They didn’t exchange pleasantries when he arrived. Instead he gave a small nod to acknowledge her before climbing down from atop his camel. She hadn’t demanded it prior because she knew all too well how easy it was to catch a camel, but there was still something respectful in the gesture. Here was a prince willing to die with dignity. Here was a man who lived and died by rules.

Could she be blamed for admiring that?

Only when he was fully settled in to listen did she begin her riddle.

“Toothless maw that eats all these:

Raw flesh, dung, fresh air, and trees.

At night I’m bright, in day I’m black,

I die, I’m gone, but always back.”

She was on the third line when she saw his face light up. He waited to answer this time, more focused on being polite than showing off how clever he was. She liked that. She knew he was clever, but now she knew he could be patient too.

“A campfire.”

It was one of her favorite riddles, and the joy she got was twofold. She was happy for the prince, happy that he would survive another day, and happy for herself too. It was infinitely preferable to lose with skill than to win through circumstance. She would feel robbed, if she had to eat the prince on a bad day. If he lost, he needed to lose at his best. He needed to lose in a way that mattered.

He went through the oasis again, but lingered far longer. They spoke in moments about each other’s lives - her memories of the time before even Ramses, and his experience as the seventh in line to the throne. He was trusted to act as an emissary specifically because he was so far from inheriting the throne.

“Not that I’d want it anyway,” he said. “A camel is a better throne than any silly golden chair. The seat in the palace only lets me see the bald spot on the high priest’s head. The saddle on this camel lets me see all the beauty in the world.”

His head wasn’t turned towards her when he said that, but she could see his eyes glance over her.

It was easy to pretend she didn’t notice, and he did nothing to press it further. She showed him the best trees for picking dates, the best ponds for catching fish, and the first cave she’d set her lair up in - back before even Ramses. Back when she was much, much smaller.

She slept in the next morning. The sunlight made a soft beam through the cave, over the pelts, before landing across her face. Any other day it would’ve been a wonderful way to wake up, but the realization that she’d missed her chance to say goodbye made her scramble. She made a short flight over the waters to see if he was gone, and got her answer before even landing - there was no camel tied to the palms.

Still, he’d left her a gift. The boar roasting over glowing coals had clearly been caught the night before, and the fact that it was unspiced meant it was for her.

It was also another oddly thoughtful gesture. How many humans would realize that unseasoned meat was a sphinx’s preference? How many would research that far?

She landed near the meal and approached. Down on the ground, there was so much more detail to see. The tracks of the camel, the care taken to not leave a mess. The simple note left besides the firepit.

She reached out and read.

I’m sure you don’t depend on travelers for your meals

But I do feel bad, having deprived you twice.

Enjoy the boar. I will be back in two weeks.

She hadn’t taken a bite yet, but she could pretend the warmth in her stomach was the meal. Two bites was all it took to make the illusion complete.

𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒

She waited until the fifteenth day before flying.

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected - a sandstorm, perhaps, or a heatstruck camel. Instead, it was only a few minutes flight before the smell of blood caught in the back of her throat.

It was hard to describe what happened after that. Sometimes, she was more mind than monster. Sometimes, she was more monster than mind. That day was a monster day.

He’d lost a lot of blood by the time she found him. A frankly terrifying amount of blood. She could carry him back to the oasis, but that’d only delay the inevitable.

But sphinx knew many things that humans did not.

She carried him, and he was light in her claws. Light in the way that humans were, but some small, scared part of her brain was worried that the blood loss made him lighter still. Like a date left in the sun.

She followed the trail through the desert until she found the thieves that did this. They had his gifts and his spices. They’d have taken the clothes off his corpse if they’d been able to catch his camel.

They’d have taken his life. The one human life she’d valued in one-thousand years, and they’d have taken his life.

It was hard to hate humans. They were so small and short lived that taking them personally felt childish. But this day, she hated, and it made killing easy. Five of the six bandits were extraneous. The last, thankfully, had blood that smelled like the prince.

(He was much less thankful about this than she was).

She took them both back, the prince held gently in her front talons, the bandit half crushed in the back. The transfer spell took exactly as much as it needed. It would’ve been crueler to let the bandit suffer the same fate he’d intended to inflict on the prince - to struggle on with too little blood, until his body failed. It was tempting, but she felt a sick gratitude that he had what she’d needed when she needed it, so she made the end quick. Or, quick enough.

Thirty seconds isn’t long, but it’s an eternity when falling.

𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒

The prince recovered enough to speak after three days. He asked her to tell him riddles, and if she was as jealous of her domain as she pretended, she’d have said no. But good riddles were the tool she used to rid herself of unwanted guests, and this guest was… wanted.

So she read riddles to him for days at a time. Read all the ones she’d hoarded from scholars. Read ones she wrote herself, just for fun. She started with her best riddles because she loved his praise, but moved on to her earlier ones because what they lacked in cleverness, they made up for by being earnest.

He loved those riddles the most.

One week stretched into two. He spent his days swimming after fish, chasing after boars with spears made of stone (she hadn’t seen that in a very long time) and scurrying up the trees to pick dates. And his nights, he spent imagining riddles around a campfire.

She knew it wasn’t going to be permanent, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be beautiful. She’d outlived so many things in this world - seen rivers change courses and lakes run dry. If impermanence was a poison, then it was a poison she couldn’t avoid. There was no wall she could build to keep death at bay. She could only share her home with it and hope that one, one wonderful, far away day, that even death would die.

But that day would not be soon.

The king’s men found the oasis after a month of searching. There were no riddles this time. The prince left willingly, and the men with bronze blades stayed respectfully far from her part of the duat. It went as good as it could have gone, all things considered. If some part of her felt empty afterwards, well, maybe she just needed to eat.

Regular gifts did find her way to the duat, as thanks after that. Herds of goats were released near her borders, to hunt at her own leisure. Soft pelts from the northern lands were delivered in chests, and she luxuriated in their fluff.

Most importantly, a regular shipment of blank vellum began to make its way to the duat. She was told was explicitly that it was for her to write more riddles. And also, if she had a spare moment, she could send letters back with the vendor. The prince always made sure to send at least one out to her, and she always made sure to send one back.

Always.

𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁗 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑𓁗

It had been decades.

She just-

She couldn’t see how humans were like this. She’d written with him six months ago! He’d been sharp as ever. Sharper, even. Time had winnowed him into a razor’s edge, and she'd been so amazed to see him change. And then he’d gotten busy, and they’d stopped writing letters for just a month, and then it was two months, and then three and now-

Now he wasn’t well.

The last letter she’d received hadn’t even been from him. It had been from his eldest brother, the reigning pharaoh. And it had broken her heart.

He was forgetting… everything. His mind was breaking. Decades of brilliance, and now he was falling apart at the seams. Some days, he didn’t even know who he was. But on the days that he did, the only thing he could talk about was going to the oasis one last time.

And his brother who had kept him close, who had been so protective of him after his near death with the bandits, had finally agreed.

He was going to be arriving any day now. The note had a sort of helpless plea attached - that he didn’t know what to do at this point, but that whatever it cost her to keep him comfortable, he would repay tenfold.

She sent a letter back saying it was a gift. She was the queen of the duat, and it pleased her to give this to her neighboring kingdom. Nevermind that her kingdom had no subjects, nevermind that she had no armies at her disposal. What she had, she could give, and this was… easy.

It made her happy to write the letter. It remind her of the first words the prince had spoken to her, all those years ago.

𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁗

He arrived a few days later, escorted by fifty soldiers. She was grateful that he was in one of his lucid moments. She couldn’t imagine how it would be, to be seen and not known.

She didn’t wait for them to make it all the way to her oasis. She flew over to meet them, and then carried him back. The traditional wait was from when she thought she had time. Before she'd realized that there were ways for even an immortal to find themselves in a hurry.

He spent his first day back chasing fish, the same way he did before. The boars he left be - seventy, he insisted, was far too old to be messing with boars. And when the evening came, they gathered by a campfire to share riddles.

They went back and forth, laughing at each other's crafts. It was only after an hour of reminiscing that she actually asked him her favorite riddle, the riddle that she had permanently written in as His riddle. The one with toothless maws and meat and light in the dark, and he stared at her - not blankly, but worse, confused, because he recognized the riddle, but could no longer answer it.

She could see the distress growing in him, and it broke her heart. He hemmed and hawed, but right when he looked on the brink of giving up, he looked at the fire and started in relief.

“A campfire!” he said, and they laughed, and if he could pretend his tears were mirth and not mourning she could pretend that hers were the same.

𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒

He was not well the next day.

He knew who he was, thankfully, but he didn’t remember getting there. He stumbled around almost dazed until he saw her. Then he sighed in relief.

“This is my favorite dream,” he confided in her. “I’d like to get back here for real one day - but this dream is lovely. Can you read me some more riddles? Just like last time. I've never forgotten.”

She didn’t even touch her later works. She went to her earliest ones, the easy ones, and the way he pondered minutes at a time made her stomach clench.

𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒

She did not sleep that night.

She had spent literally her entire life trying to make harder and harder riddles, and now-

They needed to be easy. They needed to be simple. They needed to rhyme, and feel like riddles, but they needed to be solvable by someone that -

She had to stop writing for a few moments to compose herself. She couldn’t afford to cry on the vellum. A new shipment wouldn’t arrive in time.

She was immortal, but she was still running out of time.

𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒

He woke up the next morning completely confused. She’d prepared her first riddle as

“Who sits in the sand

Beside my lair

Who swims through fish

With thin white hair

Who braved the desert and survived

Then returned home alive and thrived?”

But after several seconds of silence she couldn’t take it anymore.

“It’s you,” she said.

“Oh!” he replied, surprised.

“What do you know about this place?”, she asked, after several more long seconds of quiet.

“…Not a lot,” he admitted. “But I know I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said.

That was the only riddle she had for the day. He fell asleep in the midmorning, and she took the time to go catch a goat for them. He was still asleep when she returned and remained that way the rest of the day. She stayed awake long after sunset, watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest and praying it would never stop. She wasn’t sure when she fell asleep - she just knew that when she woke up, her prayer had gone unanswered.

𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁒 𓁓 𓁔 𓁕 𓁖 𓁗 𓐭 𓐮 𓁐 𓁑 𓁗

The vellum vendor arrived at the start of the deep duat only to find the oasis empty. He looked for hours, but there was only a single vellum left behind in the cave. He grabbed it and read the half finished riddle.

​ What hungers and is never full?

What is complete but never whole?

What pierces armor, shields, and hearts?

What ends before it even starts?

What force can make a monster thrall

What talon and what dreadful claw

Can heal the slice it makes each day?

What pain can make the godless pray?

It was all he could take back to the pharaoh.

He hoped it was enough.

[nczaversnick]

Writblr Interview

Thanks for the tag @willtheweaver

Short stories, novels or poems?

I’m definitely a novel guy, both for reading and writing.

What genre do you prefer reading?

Definitely fantasy and mythology. But I often cross into sci fi and dystopians

What genre do you prefer writing?

I am honestly not sure how to answer this, given that I’ve done almost nothing but work on one project for over a decade

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

I start out with an outline but when I get down to the scenes I like to wait and see what happens then adjust my plans accordingly

What music do you listen to while writing?

I have playlists for some characters but on the whole I pretty much just have one playlist with all of my music on it that I hit shuffle on every time.

Favorite books/movies?

Oh cmon we’ll be here all day. I grew up on pretty much everything made by Jim Henson or Mel Brooks and I listen to audiobooks 40 hours a week at my factory job. I burn through a lot of material XD8 to summarize my favorite movie is The Princess Bride, and my favorite book is The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Any current WIPs?

For the most part just Project Gemini.

Fandomverse is an rp chain, and I mostly do art for this not so much writing snippets

Elemental High is an idea I’ve been toying with. it’s basically Project Gemini, if it were a Disney Channel series. I think it’d be super interesting to see how I as a writer could tell the same story through a completely different lense/ how would the story change if I changed its intended audience?

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you what would your standard outfit be?

Lucky for all of you, I did make a cartoon me. The color would change based on what color my hair is

Create a character description of yourself:

If I thought anybody in an orthodontics factory was about to be isekaied or find a weird portal into another dimension it was this guy. He was at least 20 years younger than everyone else in the building and, in a lot of cases, twice that. But despite being super easy to spot in a crowd, he never really says much without prompting. Still, as loud as he is in a visual sense, he never seems entirely here. Like the voices in his head are more interesting than anything going on around him. Dude fucking lights up if you mention pizza though.

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

Not consciously no. People will say Quinn is based off my enby stoner best friend but from my point of view, I don’t know many enby stoners who aren’t like Quinn. But as a whole I like to let the characters tell me who they are. Any resemblance to someone real or imagined is purely coincidental.

Are you kill happy with your characters?

Rachelle, my partner for Project Gemini, would say yes. I have elected not to comment

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Hate to be the odd one out here but an ice cold Dr. Pepper is what I go for

Slow or fast writer?

If I can get a glove going I can write badly pretty fast. But overall, I’m 13 years into the only real project I’ve ever had and I’m still not done with book 1

Where/who/what do you draw inspiration from?

It helps for me to keep consuming new stories but honestly, the best inspiration comes from the interactions about my work from all of you out there. Unmatched. (Shoutout to @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet and @the-letterbox-archives for giving me so much)

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

Probably a librarian of some kind, just like I’m trying to do in real life. But I’m way to exhausted and disabled for that adventuring crap XD8

Most fav book cliche:

Oh I don’t know how to describe it. When the protagonist is a young boy without a father and they find a father figure/mentor/bodyguard. I eat that shit up and I don’t see it very often. [examples would be Sage and Mott from the Ascendance Trilogy/series by Jennifer A Nielsen and Matt and Tam Lin in The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Least favorite cliche:

I really hate it when a main character (regardless of gender) is passive. It’s just so not fun to read about someone who never takes action in their situations.

Fav scene to write?

Almost any of Cas and Adrian’s interactions. I adore their dynamics

Reason for writing?

Because I’ve got shit inside my head and it’s not doing any good in there so I might as well get it out here.

Tagging: @honeybewrites @wyked-ao3 @kittrrrr @zackprincebooks @theverumproject @the-golden-comet @fractured-shield @poppycat-writes @illarian-rambling @finickyfelix @kuebiko-writing @yourpenpaldee @the-letterbox-archives @moltenwrites @davycoquette @drchenquill @leahnardo-da-veggie +open tag

[momiji-bookhouse]

Your writing is so good, I love reading your work! Could you write for Albedo + Glaze Lily please?

[Glaze Lily]: "Tell me, oh storyteller, of the tale of those ill-fated, star-crossed lovers."

Event Masterlist

pairing: Albedo x gn!reader

genre: angst

At its core, the art of alchemy goes against the natural order of the world. The process of breaking an object down into its very essence, molding it to one's will and transfigure it into something else entirely, is one that displays the arrogance of humankind in thinking they can tame something that cannot, and should not, be controlled. But those ever lofty gods do not take heed to these trivial acts of arrogance. What harm is there in allowing mere mortals to fiddle with a little sliver of power?

Alchemy remains harmless to their eyes, until it deals with giving what was once inanimate or decayed feeble life, something they thought they have buried deep underground long ago.

Their fears are realized when a practitioner of that forbidden knowledge appeared in the high walls of Mondstadt.

"Do you think he'll come today?"

"I sure hope so! He's so dreamy~."

You finish the coffee order in your hand, only half-listening to the conversation from your coworkers about some guy who's been coming into the cafe lately.

"What's so great about this guy anyways?" You ask after handing the coffee to the customer.

"Oh (Y/N), if you were here then you would get it. He's so handsome! He must a model. Or an actor."

"Or a prince of some kind. Gods, he looks like he's straight out of a fairy tale. I wouldn't mind if he sweeps me off my feet."

"And his voice...I can melt just thinking about it. Do you think he voices audiobooks?"

"Maybe he can help cure my insomnia by reading a bedtime story to me."

You look at them in suspicion. "That sounds a little too perfect."

"I thought so too! But man, he's so fine. Even his name is pretty." One of them sighs. "Albedo."

Something prickles at the back of your mind at the name, but you quickly shake the feeling off. "That's a rare name."

"I know! I tried looking him up, but he doesn't seem to have much of a social media presence."

"Oh, if only he would show up for your last shift, (Y/N), then you'll see."

You smile ruefully at the reminder that this will be the last time you work here before you move to another city. "Let's see what happens."

To your coworkers' dismay, there's no sign of that mysterious, golden customer. Though you can't deny that you're curious, there's no help mulling on what could have been, especially when you're going to be leaving soon.

At the end of your shift, you change out of your work clothes and hug all of your coworkers goodbye, clocking out one last time before exiting out the back door to start a new chapter in your life.

A few minutes later, the bell chimes, and a young man with hair as pale as chalk walks through the front door.

───── ⋆⋅✨⋅⋆ ─────

The gods trembled upon their divine seats in a mixture of fear and indignation at the last remaining student of the Art of Khemia. An abominable creature existing outside of their jurisdiction that cannot be directly influenced by their dictated fate.

But they would not make their move just yet. No, let the false creation be lured into a sense of security. Let him be convinced that he deserved a life of happiness and peace.

He would make a mistake soon enough.

Spending time in an art gallery isn't what you expected for your day-off, but some of your colleagues have recommended this place to you ever since you've moved here, so you figured there's no harm in going. Besides, it would be a nice change of pace, and it's free to enter to boot.

Coincidentally, the day you decided to go is the day that the gallery is introducing a new exhibition from an artist that you've never heard of before.

"Kreideprinz?" You pronounces as you look at the brochure in curiosity, the name settling into your tongue like a well-worn blanket.

"It means Chalk Prince," the person at the counter informs you. "He's a rising artist that started out in the online space and amassed a following over the years for his sketches and paintings. He's famous for blending realism with a fantastical approach in his landscape depictions. His identity has been a well-kept secret in the industry, but there's a rumor that he may appear at the event tonight."

"Is that so?" You say under your breath while scanning quickly through the brochure. There's no denying the beauty of these images.

"You can find out more on the website if you're interested."

The exhibition is called "On the Boundary", and according to the brochure in your hand, displays a series of his paintings that depicts the world constantly in motion and often on the cusp of a transitional stage.

You stroll through the gallery and find yourself lost in these worlds: from a blooming field of Cecilias that hide signs of decay and rot; to the ancient mountain of Vindagnyr — verdant and prosperous, only belied by a thin flutter of snow on the ground; to the old city of Mondstadt blanketed by darkness and a whisper of a storm.

But not all of it signifies doom and gloom. There's the Tower of Decarabian and the bubbles of resistance hidden among the crowd. The early formation of Liyue Harbor, a skeleton of its now glorious self. The rain slowing its downpour on Yashiori Island. A dazzling depiction of Sumeru City as dreams return to its people.

You stop at a painting of Starsnatch Cliff at night, not as sprawling or grandiose as the others, but something about the simplicity of it draws you in. You wonder what the change could be in this one, could it be the saplings of Cecilia dotted throughout the dusky landscape? Or something in the breeze? Or maybe it's the silhouette of two figures sitting on the precipice of the cliff, bodies so close together that they almost seem to be fusing.

You stare at the sight, entranced. An overwhelming, unnameable feeling fills your soul, a mixture of wistfulness, nostalgia, and yearning. You've been to Starsnatch Cliff once before, but never like this. This is the cliff in another time other than your own. So why is it that you can feel the breeze caressing your cheek, the solid presence of someone beside you, their velvet touch against your skin?

You snap out of your reverie just in time to realize that you had a hand outstretched as if you were going to touch the canvas. You look around to catch the disapproving look from the security guard nearby and quickly retract your hand, your cheeks flaming in shame.

You walk away, and that unexplainable feeling becomes nothing more than dew sliding off a leaf.

That night, a young man wanders discreetly through the gallery, his eyes as blue as the waters of Cider Lake sweeping over each artwork before halting at a particular one.

He gazes at the painting of the lovers on Starsnatch Cliff, and only those observant enough would be able to understand the look in his eyes.

───── ⋆⋅✨⋅⋆ ─────

The creature had everything anyone could ever desire for. Respect from his colleague, power, talent, friends, family, even love. Oh, how he trembled when he realized that this molded heart of his could be capable of such a flighty and ferocious emotion.

How tangible he must have felt, how corporeal and human to be able to taste the fruits of love. He thought he had risen above his shameful origins and was worthy to stand by his lover.

Oh, how the gods anticipated his eventual fall from grace.

It's the perfect day for a stroll in the park, and you congratulate yourself for dragging your body out of bed and enjoy the weather for a little bit, even when your plans for the evening consist of binge-watching your favorite shows and ordering takeout. Ah well, no shame in that.

You're walking along the lake when you feel something crashing into you. You're preparing to chastise them when you realized that the person is only a child, a blonde girl wearing a red dress adorned with clover patterns whose height only manages to hit your upper thighs. Tears rim her eyes, and she has a panicked look on her face.

"What's wrong, are you lost?"

"Klee can't find her mom anywhere! I wanted to see the ducks so I turned away from her for a moment and now I don't know where she is!" She lets out in a ramble.

"Ok," you gently take a hold of her shoulders. "I need you to calm down for me, Klee. We'll find your mom together."

"R-really?"

"Yeah," you smiled. "I promise. Can you describe her to me?"

"M-mom has blonde hair like me, and she's wearing a red dress today so we can match! She's also tall, and very pretty!"

You nod and look down at her dress. Let's hope that there's not a lot of blonde women wearing red dresses with clover patterns in the park today. "Ok, let's go find her."

You let the little girl take your hand and slowly lead her through the park, eyes peeled for the woman fitting the description. You decided to go towards the security booth, thinking that if a panicked parent just lost their child, that would probably be the first place they go to.

Along the way, you get to talking with Klee to ease her worries, asking about her family and listening to her stories about Dodoco (her early interest in chemistry and bomb-making is a bit concerning, but you attribute that to childhood curiosities.)

"You remind me of my brother!"

"Hm? I do?"

She nods enthusiastically, her previous worry seeming to have lessened. "Big brother is also very kind, and he always look after me. Even when he's busy with work, he would find time to play with me."

"Sounds like a good brother."

"He is! I love him very much!"

Thankfully, true to your guess, when you arrive near the booth, there's a hassled woman fitting the description talking to the security guy., waving her arms around frantically.

"Mama!" Klee exclaims and leaves your side to run to her. At the shout, the woman turns around, her eyes brightening in relief.

"Klee!" She springs her arms open to hug the girl. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"

"I'm sorry," Klee hangs her head guiltily. "I just wanted to look at some ducks."

The woman's shoulders sag. "Oh well, that's alright my little clover. You're here now. Are you okay?"

"Mhmm! I had some help!" Klee gestures to you, still standing there to see the reunion. The woman locks her eyes with yours, and to your surprise, a quick flash of recognition goes through them. She looks at you stiffly, eyebrows furrowed and her mouth almost hanging open.

But she recovers only a second later. "Thank you for helping my Klee."

"It's nothing." You wave a hand. "I'm glad I was able to help."

She nods, and the movement seemed tense. "Come on Klee, say goodbye to the nice person."

"Bye bye!"

"Bye Klee, bye Dodoco."

The woman looks as if though she wants to say something more, but at the last minute she turns away, and offers nothing else than a wave goodbye.

───── ⋆⋅✨⋅⋆ ─────

His fate may not be written by their hands, but his lover was not immune to the whims of destiny.

How cruel it must have been to see a life taken so prematurely, when there was still so much potential and purpose left. How distraught the alchemist was when he witnessed the lifeless body of his lover, how he had begged and pleaded and prayed to the gods he never truly believed in.

They were anticipating this moment, and his next action was one that would seal their paths forever.

"False creation, your attempt at tampering with the natural order of this world to revive a human corpse to life has left us no choice but to intervene. Their soul is no longer of this world, and it is not your right to tether them back to a husk. We cannot ignore this transgression, nor can we let it go unpunished. While everything in this world live and die, you cannot age nor die. Enjoy your immortality, homunculus, and know that you will never be reunited with your love. No matter how many ages past, no matter how many times they reincarnate, no matter if civilizations rise or fall, your paths will never cross again. Heed our words, homunculus. Heed them...or reap the consequences."

You're speedwalking on the sidewalk, silently hoping that you'll make it in time for your appointment. You weave through the streets towards the tracks, the pedestrian light ahead letting you know that a tram will be making its way through soon. You speed up, but the moment your feet makes contact with the tram tracks, you turn to meet the sparkling teal eyes of a young man, his pale blond hair brushing his shoulders, strands pulled back into a half-ponytail to reveal ethereal and delicate features that takes your breath away.

How does one measure a moment when it seems to last forever? You're confident that you're still moving, and yet your feet seem to anchor itself to the ground, trapping yourself in this one instance and refusing to let you go. Everything that is once concrete fizzles out until your surroundings become nothing but dust. There's nothing but you and this man that you've never seen before.

Then why is it that deep inside you feel something call out to you? Why is it that goosebumps rise to your skin and ears buzzed and something creaks in your mind like an abandoned cabinet finally being opened?

Why is he gazing at you with so much tenderness and sadness?

The moment passes. You emerge on the other side safely, the tram blocking your sight entirely. You find yourself lingering for a few seconds, as if seeing if you can catch another look at that mysterious person. The fleeting desire is broken when you take a glance at your phone, horrified to know that you only have a few minutes left.

You dash off, all thoughts of that beautiful man seemingly lost to you.

───── ⋆⋅✨⋅⋆ ─────

Albedo watches as the tram pass, and to his disappointment there is no sign of you on that other side.

He had anticipated this. The gods have kept vigilant to their words for thousands of years, never letting up in their promise to never let him see you ever again. But this slip of theirs...how interesting.

He had seen it in your eyes, he knows that deep down your soul still recognizes him, even when a fog encases your heart and mind. This gives him some hope yet, that those deities up above are not all-powerful and omnipresent.

He turns away, his footsteps clacking against the sidewalk as he thinks about his next move.

He will find their weakness, topple them from their heavenly thrones with his bare hands, and reweave the strands of fate.

After all, Albedo has nothing but time and patience.

[ah0yh0y]

tagged by @ribcagelikepiano for the get to know you game!! thx friend !!!!!

questions: last song you listened to, currently watching, currently reading, current obsession

last song: Come Hang Out by AJR off the top of my head by my tabs say Providence by Poor Mans Poison . Come Hang Out feels so nostalgic to me even if i only listened to it recently reminds me of a graduation song (it came out 5 yrs ago so it makes sense. I just really love Poor Mans Poison's vibes generally great fuel for daydream and also matches well with the feeling of revolution (and seeing everything collapse i guess.) (ish) mentally listening to Your Love is All I Need by Sami Yusuf tho at all times lately, probs because i have been trying to wean myself off listening to music for like the 50th time. (its slow going but IM GONNA TRY inshaallah ill be able to do it) (he also took the old nasheed music video off his channel? sad its so good)

currently watching: does d20 mentopolis count? only watched one ep but its good. i havent watched anything regularly besides like school vids for a bit. tried watching the dragon prince s5 when it came out but buffering (the video player i mean) and dissatisfaction at the pacing and characterization kinda stopped me. ill back on it at the end of the yr when everything is settled. if we are talking about podcasts started relistening to wolf 359 and keeping up with the greater gatsby (the latter has SUBLIME noir vibes as it is a noir i bloody love shipwreck's work it scratches that itch in my brain so well) . i may have seen spoilers for wolf 359 so i am anxiously waiting to see if i am proved wrong but im on s4 so its soon prepare for a barrage of reblogs for it. watched s4 of malory towers it was very nice i cant wait for s5 - the pantomime hopefully we get new members for the older years next season i miss the larger cast

currently reading: not much really. fanfic alot. i guess. caught up to the end of the To Make a Legend series on ao3 (pjo) and other fics for a couple of other fandoms (in one false move by Kalidium is really good if your into murder most unladylike - spoilers for A Spoonful of Murder though) also been reading barbie 2023 fanfic? was bored and started hunting for good ones (slim picking at the moments but if you want character study and grief and some bloody good writing def read something in me in you by telm_393 i cant explain it its that good) also reread My Memories Came Back in the Form of Someone Else by Lucy_Luna yes its that really good spiderverse fanfic do check it out

BESIDES THAT THO in terms of actual books. have the audiobook saved for The Valley and The Flood so gonna listen to that later. Have to read The Hate Race for class (not my fave but i need for analysis ive read it like 3 times but I STILL DONT REMEMBER ANYTHING) .

started rereading The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes a couple of weeks ago ahead of the movie coming out at the end of this year but never got the chance to finish it so ill have to get on that too.

also dracula ive been reading as well but more on that the next section.

current obsession: re:dracula is the first that comes to mind im so bloody invested in jonathan's wellbeing and his relationship wiht mina and the whole story its insane . i should read more older books its good . re;dracula DOES SUCH A GOOD JOB AT SUCKING YOU INTO THE STORY THE VOICE ACTORS REALLY MADE IT FOR ME i just cant with ti it makes me so bloody happy!! Renfield's voice actor is a standout for me everytime he's there i just have to pause and stare at a wall. also jonathan's actor as well hes SO GOOD i was geniunly worried about jonathan not sending me voicemails into my phone i was THAT endeared to him

besides that PLAY IT BY EAR the musical improv show by dropout is also a obsession of mine i cannot with their talent. the MUSIC so good i want to play it all the bloody time . i am in absolute awe in the performers ability to create a story and TIE IT ALL TOGHETER SO WELL like every piece of information is used whether you expect it or not . DN THE BAND OH GOD I DONT KNOW HOW THEY SO IT THE MUSIC IS SO FUN AND CREATIVE AND FITS THE MOOD AND MADE UP ON THE SPOT???!!! HOW I DONT KNOW (if u ask me who my favourite guest star is at the moment its ross byant hes an absolute delight whenever he is on a d20 show- the improvised shakespear episode blew my mind)

anway THIS SI LONGGGGGGGG soz

no pressure tags: @filmloser04 @mistichallow @charlies-a-thief

@literallymahir @quotidian-oblivion @monochrome-anomaly @suksiili @miseria-fortes-viros and anyone else that wants to join!!!! (you dont have to do a brain dump like me i always go overboard)

[bevinconner]

@ascendantking

i mean… if you insist…

i’ve gone through several iterations of an ascendance warriors au in the past, mostly just drawing designs but also partially trying to get the story to fit into the wc world— a lot of stories you can surprisingly easily fit into this setting that has so much story potential. but this one in particular… is a bit tricky. a lot of little details just don’t line up trying to just put the exact plot into a clan setting and it gets convoluted and confusing trying to explain it

but as i’ve been listening to the audiobook for into the wild, the first warriors book (and now i’m rereading the false prince) i’m like…hmmm…….. i could cleverly intertwine both stories in a way that is recognizably both of them while also being new and providing new opportunities for different character moments. sort of putting tfp characters into the roles of the first warriors arc, but it’s not a 1:1 thing…… yeah sage is like firepaw, roden like graypaw and tobias like ravenpaw, but so is imogen? and tobias would get graystripes riverclan romance arc. and it’s hard to Explain but i See the vision and the thing is i really really want to WRITE it but that’s a BIG TASK. but only then can you truly understand MY VISION.

i’d be happy to elaborate on this idea more if anyone’s curious abt it but i don’t know what parts of it i need to explain the most. i’ve thought about it A LOT

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I've read so far in 2023!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

___

88. Under the Iron Bridge by Kathy Kacer--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

UNDER THE IRON BRIDGE was an understandably difficult read, especially since it explores one of the worst crimes against humanities in living history.

I can't even imagine what it would have been like to live in a society where people were clearly being indoctrinated and brainwashed and feeling powerless to not become a part of that problem. The way the MC's classmates talked about their "leader" and how the lessons in their "youth program" were so inspiring and eye opening was so deeply disturbing. This book isn't for the faint of heart, especially because even though the MC is incredibly against the regime and is actively trying to escape it, the dialogue and indoctrination that he witnesses is sickening.

This is a very important read, I believe. The discomfort I felt while reading this is a good reason enough (for me) to recommend it because history can be uncomfortable and sometimes that's the best way to avoid repeating it.

___

89. The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan--⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE MAZE OF BONES was a fun read! I can see why it was so popular when it first came out, especially since it was a semi-interactive mystery book.

This was also darker than I was anticipating and I kind of loved that.

I will definitely be checking out the rest because I need to get some answers 👀

___

90. Parting Shot by Linwood Barclay--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I made the mistake of jumping into this book without seeing if it was the first in a series or nah. Turns out it's book four, aha, and although it pretty much spoiled the events of the previous books, I'm looking forward to being properly introduced to the main characters!

With all of that being said, though, I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit! Like always, I loved the twists that Barclay wrote and the mystery behind the whole thing. Especially those last few chapters.

It took me a bit to get into PARTING SHOT, but I would still recommend it. There's just such an addicting quality to these books--the mystery of it all, the suspense, the twists. So fun and perfect for summer!

___

91. The False Prince by Jennifer E. Nielsen--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First of all, I can't get over the fact that this is a middle grade book???? This is such a mature and dark read that I wouldn't have been surprised to see it in the YA section. I'll definitely be recommending this one to the older middle grade and younger young adult readers!

I don't know what I was expecting when I first started THE FALSE PRINCE. It had been sitting on my shelves for years and I finally picked it up, thankfully. This was such a fun read! I love the trope of prepping someone to be a fake anything of power. It was fun and the sassiness gave it an extra edge I wasn't expecting.

I highly recommend this one, especially if you like quick fantasy novels that feature an MC you can't help but root for, and a twist that isn't entirely unpredictable, but is still a hell of a lot of fun to get to!

___

92. Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White--⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I listened to this as an audiobook and I won't lie, I had to restart it because my mind was wandering everywhere during my first listen. While this book was enjoyable and features incredibly important topics, something about it just didn't pull me in as much as I was hoping it would.

First off, extreme trigger warning for anyone who has religious trauma. The cultish dialogue and beliefs of these religious characters was so jarring and uncomfortable. Their erasure of the MC's identity because it didn't align with their God's beliefs made me so uncomfortable, and although I know this was the point of using this controversial topic, it made me contemplate DNFing. But then I remembered that discomfort in this context is good because it's further forcing me to feel some modicum of discomfort that real-life people actually feel in their very real lives experiencing very similar forms of oppression and erasure.

I did find it fascinating how the literal monster that the first male MC is turning into could be a metaphor for how the world might view his real identity and not just the person they hide behind the mask. But his old life would rather keep him as the monster than as who he truly is. That aspect of the novel was genius and a perfect juxtaposition to the MC's desire to just be who they are (even if it means eventually accepting who he is becoming.)

The second MC was a character with Autism and while I am not well-versed in the topic, I absolutely adore reading characters with Autism. White has their second main character stimming and finding ways to cope when he's over-stimulated, and I loved seeing those honest and vulnerable moments.

The plot had its fun moments and even though the story was full of heavy imagery and messages, I think they all worked well together to make this a gritty story. I'd recommend it (especially because I know some people absolutely loved this), but be wary of the trigger warnings.

___

93. The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okay, the level of cuteness and representation in this book was, phew.

I was first a little wary of this one because it sounded almost too cute to be true. And then I started it (after promptly forgetting what the synopsis was about) and YESSSS, I'm so glad I finally picked it up!!!! I loved it so, so much!

First, I loved that we had a dual perspective because I enjoy being able to see both sides of a story, rather than seeing the MC freak out about a potential miscommunication. Both characters were so rounded and offered so much to the story that I simply can't imagine this book without either of their POVs.

Secondly, I loved the representation of mental health! It was candid and didn't shy away from the very real anxiety that exists when faced with social pressures, or the reality of when someone is emotionally overwhelmed and struggles with their depression for days at a time. It was heart-rending and so honest that I couldn't help but want to hug these characters.

Finally, I loved the chemistry between the two characters. I love reading books where the characters are obviously falling in love, but are completely unaware of it until it slaps them in the face. It's fun because you can then yell at whichever MC has completely missed the fact that they're in love. It's strangely therapeutic.

I loved this book so much. From the fun setting, to the memorable friends and side characters, this book was just full of fun from the beginning to the end! (Even with some slightly less intense spicy scenes!)

___

Have you read any of these books? Let me know your thoughts!

___

Happy reading!

[dontthinkaboutcookies]

I don't read much, but I've been doing audiobooks recently. I did Kingkiller and am partway through redwall book 2

I'm not familiar with the titles in your description; got any top recommendations? Bonus points if it's likely to have an audiobook 😁

I’ll always recommend Anxious People by Fredrik Backman; it’s my favorite at the moment.

Plot-wise it’s about a hostage situation but there are a bunch of themes it covers, such as adulthood, morality, parenthood, homosexuality, immigration, addiction, money, isolation, infidelity, depression, suicide, grief, etc.

I think it’s profoundly written. It’s made me laugh and cry. It’s a wonderful character study and a compelling story.

There is an audio book as well. Totally get what you mean about audio books, I find it difficult to focus on reading even when I’m really interested in the text, so listening to it makes it easier to focus longer.

I’d say my second favorite would be The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. It’s about a coup in the fictional kingdom of Carthya. It was my favorite for a while before I read Anxious People. It started out as a trilogy but the author ended up writing two more books.

Refugee by Alan Gratz is a great historical fiction following three main characters, each in a different time. There’s a boy and his family trying to escape Nazi Germany, a girl and her family trying to escape Cuba in the late 90’s, and a boy and his family trying to escape Syria in 2015. Definitely made me cry.

If you read/listen to one I’d love to chat about it

[silvercaptain24]

Ascendence trilogy?

Yeah! The first book is the False Prince- it follows an Orphan Boy named Sage. It’s soooo good, you should try it! I think they have the audiobook on Spotify if that helps at all?

Not the new buy audiobooks thingy like it’s an album

[lauravanarendonkbaugh]

She Speaks In Flames

Their ancient kingdom will fall, and it is all his fault.

A false prince must discover the truth of a soothsayer’s threatened disasters and find what his life is worth.

Short story, 7500 words.

Audiobooks and ebooks are delivered with a fully-featured ereader and audiobook app. Read in the provided app or on your favorite ereader, such as Kindle or Nook. Techy knowledge is not required, but tech…

[ireadyabooks]

The countdown to The Captive Kingdom (coming 10/6!) is officially on. ⚔️ 

Join us each Thursday as we share a new video from author Jennifer A. Nielsen where she takes us #BehindTheCrown, revealing facts about The False Prince series! 

[ascendant-queen]

Okay so if you haven’t listened to the audiobooks for The Ascendance Trilogy, DO IT!!!! I cannot stress how amazing they are. The narrator, Charlie McWade, does such a good job and it really makes the books come alive! Not only that, the audiobooks for TFP and TST include a special bonus scene and they are both SPECTACULAR so if you haven’t listened to it, GO DO IT!!!!

[koroleva-nazyalensky]

What are the books you're currently reading about? :)

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen is about a seer named Violet, who occasionally makes false divinations to get an advantage in court, and her frenemy Prince Cyrus who knows this, and determined to put her in her place once he gets crowned. I'm only a few chapters in and idk when it's going to happen, but I can see these two crazy kids getting together from a mile away, and I'm not even mad.

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green is the Sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, a science fiction novel set in the modern day, that follows the adventures of a woman named April May who accidentally makes first contact with a transformer-shaped Alien she names Carl. Using social media to make a change, and a name for herself, the first book is about how she rises to internet fame and how through a series of poor decisions, it all comes crashing down. The sequel is about how her friends and colleagues deal with the aftermath of the first book. I'm usually not an audiobook person, but as a casual nerdfighter, I really enjoyed listening to these two, because they had the same cadence as a vlogbrother's video, social commentary to boot.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo is about a homicide survivor named Alex who can see ghosts and has something to do with secret societies, but I'm only like a chapter in, so I'm not entirely sure where it's going, but I'm a huge fan of Leigh Bardugo's YA works so I'm excited to dig into her "Adult Debut".

Also, I'm technically still reading Dune, but ngl I'm high key procrastinating. Like, I just got back from the library and picked up two more unrelated books to avoid jumping back into it procrastinating. Like, I know it's going to be good but I haven't fully invested in it yet, and I don't know if I have the mental capacity to at the moment, procrastinating. So yeah, I'll get to it eventually but idk when.

But anyways thanks for asking! I've been offline for the past couple of days because my queue is all backed up and irl work is kicking my ass, so it was nice logging back on and seeing a message :D

[ladyherenya]

Books read in September

I had a moment of intense self-centredness and, internally, wailed: Why isn’t the world filled with more books that appeal exactly to me??? 

I’ve concluded that it’s like I have an inner story-troll sitting inside me shouting: Tell me a story! I try to appease it by presenting it with books, one at a time, and seeing how it reacts. 

Favourite cover: Flyaway.

Reread: The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley. (I also reread From All False Doctrine at least twice.)

Also read: The Disastrous Début of Agatha Tremain by Stephanie Burgis and Snow Day by Andrea K Höst.

Still reading: The Time-Traveling Popcorn Ball by Aster Glenn Gray and The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett,

Next up: I have borrowed The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, Taking Down Evelyn Tait by Poppy Nwosu, and Between Silk and Cyanide: A Code Maker’s War, 1941-45 by Leo Marks. And maybe I’ll finally get around to The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams?

*

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakroborty (narrated by Soneela Nankani): I think this Middle East-inspired fantasy was just not the story I was in the headspace for -- it was longer, with more complicated worldbuilding and fewer answers. Possibly I’d have followed the political intrigue of Daevabad better had I read this in one gulp (I got halfway through the 20-hour-long audiobook before it was due back and I read other books before picking up the ebook). I liked the two protagonists, enough that I’m curious about what happens to them next, but the second book is 23 hours long and undoubtedly won’t resolve everything either. Maybe another day.

Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier: Ryo is left as a “tuyo” -- a sacrifice to be killed by an enemy -- as a sign that his tribe will withdraw from the Ugaro’s war with the Lau. But his captor doesn’t want to kill him, he wants Ryo to help him stop the war. Neumeier effectively creates tension between people who are polite, honest and honourable, and shows an intriguing relationship, defined by mutual respect, fealty and something more familial. There’s also some unusual magically-defying-physics-as-we-know-it worldbuilding but apparently I was far more interested in the character dynamics. I enjoyed this. Sequel, please?

From All False Doctrine by Alice Degan: My favourite book this year! Toronto, August 1925. Elsa Nordqvist, who hopes to write her MA thesis on a recently-discovered Greek manuscript, is at the beach with a friend when they meet two foster-brothers. This meeting deftly sets up everything which follows. The cover says “A Love Story” but this is also like a cross between a Golden-Age mystery novel and a fairytale retelling, with bonus academia and Anglicanism. I really like how much these characters value their friendships, their lively, intelligent and often honest conversations, and the way the romance unfolds. It also feels like a story written just for me and a hard one to review because my reaction has been very personal.

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark (narrated by Julian Thomas): Set in the same city as A Dead Djinn in Cairo, this novella follows two agents from the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities as they investigate a possessed tram car. The world-building is vivid and cleverly, thoughtfully, imaginative. But, perhaps because of the mood I’m in and because this story isn’t interested in exploring the personal lives of its detectives, I have no feelings about this.

The Angel of Crows by Katherine Addison: Sherlock Holmes wingfic involving Jack the Ripper murders. Not what I’m looking for in a Holmes retelling. But I was sufficiently intrigued by something the author wrote. I really like Crow and Dr Doyle (arguably more than their original counterparts). My interest wavered a bit during the second half. It closely mimics the style and structure of the original mysteries in many ways and that’s not my favourite style. I wanted fewer cases to solve, and more of Crow and Doyle interactions. I liked the ending, enough to be glad that I hadn’t given up halfway through.

Making Friends with Alice Dyson by Poppy Nsowu: Australian YA. Alice plans to spend her final year of high school staying invisible and studying hard, but is thrown into the spotlight after someone posts a video of her dancing with Teddy Taualai. I loved how intensely this captures Alice’s emotions and perspective, and how the story explores that people have different emotions, perspectives and needs. Alice seems to me like someone who might be on the autism spectrum -- and whether or not that’s what the author intended, it’s great to see characters like her represented. I wish it had unpacked her relationship with her parents more, but that didn’t negate how much I enjoyed this. 

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han (narrated by Laura Knight Keating): I can’t remember why, after I read To all the boys I’ve loved before and P.S. I still love you in 2017, I decided against reading the third book. It turned out to be my favourite. I loved it! I had a different experience of finishing high school and applying for university, but I find Lara Jean’s perspective intensely relatable: she has strong opinions about aesthetics; she’s nostalgic, introspective, stressed by uncertainty; she enjoys spending time at home with her family. I liked how this book captures her wonder at the intimacy of knowing another person well, and how, although she sometimes worries about their future, she has very few doubts about Peter himself. I haven’t come across very many YA novels in which a teenage girl is so secure being in a relationship. 

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley:  After her sister dies, Eva stays with family friends in Cornwall, where she and Katrina spent summers years ago. I wasn’t expecting time-travel. I like time-travel stories, and I like how Kearsley handles it here. Eva’s choices make sense, given her situation, and the story emphasises that, even though she cannot control when she travels in time, there are still many choices she can actively make. So Eva becomes fascinated with 1715, because of the people she meets there and the relationships they develop... but I wanted to spend more time in the present-day Trelowarth, with its rose gardens and new tea room.

Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings: After she receives a mysterious note, nineteen year old Bettina flouts her mother’s rules for ladylike behaviour and embarks on a roadtrip with a couple of forgotten friends in search of her brothers, who disappeared three years ago. I loved some of the descriptions, especially seeing a rural Australian setting for this sort of fantasy. Jennings creates a wonderfully eerie atmosphere and the mystery kept me reading. However, the folktale parts of the story are dark, uncomfortably so. Very successfully Gothic, just ultimately not really my brand of Gothic.

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan: There’s something so incredibly soft about this romance -- yet at the same time, it’s about two people who work fiercely towards their goals, worry about things, and are acutely aware of the discrimination they and other they love face as Chinese people in late 19th century England. Chloe and Jeremy’s relationship is characterised by banter and gentle teasing that reveals just well they know and accept and care about each other. Moreover, they have friends and relatives -- and a community -- who are supportive. I really enjoyed reading this and appreciated how low-angst it is.

The Threefold Tie by Aster Glenn Gray: Very tender. The characters convinced me that they were capable of communicating honesty with each other and making an unconventional relationship work. I liked the prose, which is no great surprise. 

Hamster Princess: Whiskerella by Ursula Vernon (aka T. Kingfisher): This time, adventure finds Harriet at home: her parents are throwing a masked ball so she can “meet some nice young princes without terrifying them”. But the princes are all preoccupied with a beautiful stranger, and Harriet is distracted by the mystery: who is this hamster, how did she get in without an invitation and what sort of magic is behind her glass slippers?  I think this is my favourite of Harriet’s adventures (so far). I loved the humour in this one.

Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer: When Echo finds her missing father unconscious and half-frozen in the woods, she is given a choice by the white wolf. A retelling of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” with elements from “Beauty and the Beast” and “Tam Lin” thrown in, this has so many things which appeal to me, including an unexpected and wonderful library. Yet I found it frustrating and slow; the prose and the characters are rather straightforward, and I predicted nearly all the twists (bar the finale). But I believe that this tale could delight a younger, or a less critical reader.

The Disastrous Début of Agatha Tremain by Stephanie Burgis: In the two years since she turned sixteen and dismissed her governess, Agatha has been free to disregard ladylike behaviour, studying the books in her father’s library and teach herself magic. But then her aunt arrives and insists upon Agatha making a social début. This novelette is another story that I suspect I’d like more if it had been longer, if some of its ideas had been expanded upon and some of the relationships been given more space to develop. Agatha’s aunt and her motivations were unexpected, and I wasn’t entirely comfortable or satisfied with how that was resolved.

Snow Day by Andrea K. Höst: This novelette takes place after the Touchstone trilogy, more specifically after In Arcadia. Two outsiders get to see Cass and her family on Snow Day, and reveal a bit about their upbringing on Kolar.  This feels very much like fanfiction which just happens to be written by the author. It is fun to see familiar characters through others’ eyes and the expanded worldbuilding is interesting, but as a narrative, it seemed somewhat incomplete. (Maybe she’s planning something more with these characters?)

[the-knights-who-say-book]

May 2020 — This month I got back into audiobooks—four of them! And I had a really good reading experience overall. Also, I started my real live book blog.

REVIEWS

Stone Butch Blues — ★★★★½

Queen of the Unwanted — ★½☆☆☆

Phoebe, Junior — ★★★☆☆

Through the Door of Life — ★★★★½

BOOKS READ

Tack and Jibe — ★★★½☆

A Princess in Theory — ★★★★☆

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy — ★★★★☆

Sorcery of Thorns — ★★★★★

A Little Light Mischief — ★★★★★

Howl’s Moving Castle — ★★★★★ (reread)

ONLINE READING

Original fiction

@sadoeuphemist‘s stories — The Scorpion and the Frog, Death Magic, Secret Identity, The Light Circus, The Book-Burning, Pandora, Stone Soup, Telephone Hymns, A Lonely Planet, The Daimyo, True/False, The Shoemaker Elf

Glisk by Josephine Rowe

Chopin’s Eyes by Lara Elena Donnelly

Morrigan in the Sunglare by Seth Dickinson

A Being Together Amongst Strangers by Arkady Martine

Fanfiction

i know you don’t believe (it’s you i’ve waited for) — Supercorp vampire soulmate au

WATCHED

TV

The Dragon Prince (seasons 1-3)

Movies

The Half of It (2020)

Mirror Mirror (2012)

Much Ado About Nothing (2019)

Emma (2020)

Hercules (1997)

Youtube

Overboard — Polygon’s board game show

therochellefish — crafty, artsy, and fashion stuff

Well-Loved — thrifted fashion and sewing

MUSIC

VÉRITÉ — Somewhere in Between

Sir Babygirl — Crush on Me

MY WRITING

Ghostette — a plan for and partially-written reimagining of Villette

Of a Witch, a Gossip, and a Library — in which a small town attempts to replace their witch

[covertius-fic]

In the spirit of bringing everything back to Captive Prince ...

A while back I was listening to Dead Wake, Erik Larson’s book on the Lusitania, on audiobook, and I’ve been meaning to get back to it and finish it, but one of the things that was a revelation for me was Britain and Germany’s kind of moral argument going on in the context of their naval battle.  For context, my US history courses covered WWI, but despite the sinking of the Lusitania prompting our involvement, the focus was a lot more on the rise of nationalism in Europe and beyond and the conflict between President Wilson’s isolationism and the popular desire to get involved in Europe’s war and the sheer loss of humanity caused by the incongruity of traditional battle strategy with modern weapons of mass destruction and the Treaty of Versailles and how its unfairness paved the way for Hitler’s rise to power and how it was kind of the culmination of the journey of the US taking its place on the world stage after Admiral Perry in Japan and Roosevelt’s policy of interference with Latin America, and we really didn’t discuss the naval theater at all.

So the conflict I have just learned about at the age of 34 as a (in my opinion) fairly well educated person with a Master’s degree is:  the British said that Germany was barbaric because the U-boats attacked both civilian vessels and ships of neutral nations, while Germany maintained that yes, that policy was cruel, but it was a direct result of and response to the British navy’s willingness to fly false flags - that British naval vessels were both flying flags of neutrality and disguising themselves as civilian vessels to sneak past German vessels, and as long as they were doing that, Germany could not be expected to treat neutral and civilian flags as legitimate.  That they would happily respect both the flags of neutral nations and the safety of civilians even in British ports if they could be certain that fair naval targets for engagement were identified as such, but as long as the wolves were wearing sheep’s clothing, they would shoot all sheep on sight and it was the fault of the wolves and not themselves.

And that’s been kind of blowing my mind in regard to real world politics (and I also don’t want to let that argument excuse atrocities, because Erik Larson also mentions occasions when civilian ships were sunk and U-boats surfaced to shoot with rifles any survivors who had made it to longboats, which is horrifying whatever the justification) but also - 

I wish that kind of thing had shown up in the CP books a little more often as a downside of the Veretian comfort with deceit and treachery.

When going over the Battle of Marlas, we learn that the Veretian scheme to mount a surprise attack under a flag of parlay did not work because the Akielons (having dealt with their rival nation for many years) expected that the Veretians might try to deceive them, and therefore did not treat the flag of truce with the same respect that they would have given if it were flown by, say, Patras.  They didn’t attack the envoys - but they remained war ready because they had learned that a treaty flag did not necessarily mean an actual ceasefire when the Veretians were the ones flying it.  And I wish that kind of thing had come back again later in the series.

Because the books make very good points!  About how the “treacherous” Veretian approach can be more effective and lead to less bloodshed!  Like the “dishonorable” bribing of the Vaskian raiders, or the switching of livery at Ravenel, or Laurent’s “you mean effective?” trick with the horses while undercover!  Those strategems lead to fewer deaths than an honorable fight would have, and it’s a good thing that the books pushed Damen into uncomfortably viewing them in a positive light!

But also - there’s a reason why the Geneva Convention considers it a war crime to put a red cross on a white field on anything that’s not a neutral medical facility, and that’s because the second enemy nations learn that the red cross doesn’t always mean hospital, that on at least one occasion it has meant something else disguised as a hospital, all hospitals become unsafe, because who knows that there’s not really an armament under there?  Not the people deploying the bombs!  Not anymore!  And I wish that had come up again in the series - that yes, sneakiness and deceit and treachery can be effective and can lead to more positive outcomes up to a point but no further, and that once the line is crossed, it comes back to bite everyone - including the people who performed the trick in the first place - square in the ass.

[jessicafurseth]

Reading List, Disassociation edition.

[Image: Agnes Denes: A wheat field in Manhattan (1982)] 

What I Didn't Know Before was how horses simply give birth to other horses. Not a baby by any means, not a creature of liminal spaces, but already a four-legged beast hellbent on walking, scrambling after the mother. A horse gives way to another horse and then suddenly there are two horses, just like that. That’s how I loved you. You, off the long train from Red Bank carrying a coffee as big as your arm, a bag with two computers swinging in it unwieldily at your side. I remember we broke into laughter when we saw each other. What was between us wasn’t a fragile thing to be coddled, cooed over. It came out fully formed, ready to run.

Ada Limón (2018) via “Pome”

*** 

"I could have done a lot of things in that moment and in those months, but after years of doing a lot of things the only thing I hadn’t tried was to just not at all. And when I just didn’t, it was over.” This is for all the divorcees [Rachel, AutoStraddle] 

"During my past decade of singleness I’ve slept on half the bed, and I’ve filled the other half with pillows, books, and a laptop streaming TV. Always sitcoms. Never music (too much feeling) or audiobooks or podcasts (too much thinking) or movies or dramas (too much plot).” [Briallen Hopper, Curbed] 

The end of babies - this is absolutely stunning [Anna Louie Sussman, The New York Times] 

"Can a woman artist — however virtuosic and talented, however disciplined — ever attain a fundamental freedom from the fact of her own womanhood? Must the politics of femininity invariably be accounted for, whether by determinedly ignoring them or by deliberately confronting them? The latter is a fateful choice that can shape an artist’s life and work; but does the former — the avoidance of oneself as a female subject — inevitably compromise the expressive act?” [Rachel Cusk, The New York Times] 

“Don’t think of yourself as lacking some inherent quality you need before you can start building the kind of life you did all those years of work to get. After all, that life will not be perfect, or uniformly good, it will simply be full of the things you choose to do.” [Brandy Jensen, The Outline] 

“It is never possible to have it all. You will, in fact, miss out on or lose some things that might have been very meaningful to you. These disappointments are a feature, not a bug, of a well-lived life.” On mid-life [Corinne Purtill, Forge at Medium] 

On the false god of disassociation [Emmeline Clein, BuzzFeed] 

"“Is it hard for you to speak to me as your dad?” I asked him. He actually took a deep breath. Oh, boy, I thought. He stepped outside. “Well, I’ve learned to prepare myself.”” [Tom Chiarella, Forge at Medium] 

From my favourite genre of tech stories: how the Hmong diaspora uses conference calling to keep their community connected [Mia Sato, The Verge] 

Yes, autism can be a superpower [Joanne Limburg, The Guardian] 

Today in “representation matters”: Keanu Reeves is dating a woman with grey hair and no one expected to feel quite this emotional about it [Ali Drucker, The New York Times] 

The Jungle Prince of Delhi - a once-in-a-lifetime story to tell [Ellen Barry, The New York Times] 

"The 2000s were a bad decade, full of terrorism, financial ruin, and war. The 2010s were different, somehow more disorienting, full of molten anxiety, racism, and moral horror shows. Maybe this is a reason for the disorientation: Life had run on a certain rhythm of time and logic, and then at a hundred different entry points, that rhythm and that logic shifted a little, sped up, slowed down, or disappeared, until you could barely remember what time it was." [Katherine Miller, BuzzFeed] 

Danny and Grace: A love story