#The Wounded Tree

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

note: the original publication of The Unicorn Chronicles was in four volumes, but the reissue has split volume 3 (Dark Whispers) into two revised and expanded books, and volume 4 (The Last Hunt) into three books (The Invasion of Luster, The Wounded Tree, and The Gathered Glory). for the purposes of this blog, I’m using the original publication, taking volumes 3-7 of the reissued series as variations of volumes 3 and 4 of the original publication.

however. given how annoying this is, if you have read any of The Invasion of Luster, The Wounded Tree, or The Gathered Glory (even if not all three) I think you’re justified in voting yes in this poll.

(faq · submit a book)

[catilinas]

The wind blows their ghosts to the ground

line (loosely a translation of iliad 6.146-9) from memorial by alice oswald, embroidered onto a ginkgo leaf i found on the ground

[earc-magus]

Some @thesiltverses themed tattoo flash in roughly an American traditional style.

This summer, I want to make a lot of flash-like art to build out a more thorough illustrative portfolio.

If, by chance, one of these catches your fancy enough to make into a real thing, all I ask is you donate at least $10 to a local (to you) nonprofit of your choosing, or RAWtools or The Trevor Project if you need suggestions, and send me a pic of the finished artwork.

[doctorloup]

I will die today. I will not die helpless. My death will not amount to nothing. My hand will draw the marks of my revolt. My flesh shall take the great shape of my revenge.

On a bit of a silt verses relisten and the youth have taught me where to find the drawing programs.

[linka-from-captain-planet]

most important ship in the game

[manticorecure]

watched branzys new video and. um. the brainrot got to me so. so. i. i. i creakingfied that goat

[firnuel]

I'm finally finishing the silt verses and i keep getting caught up in the parallel dichotomy of the theme of the twin mouths of the trawlerman - the mouth consuming and the mouth returning.

Carpenter, whose entire childhood turning adulthood identity, her family lore and family loss all given up to the parish of tide and flesh, and yet who the very god she abandoned - the god who would give her anything she wanted if she only asked for it - refused to eat her when she begged, and eventually let her go.

Faulkner, the man who believed so ardently he was the true and only prophet of the river, who spilled the very words of his god from his blessed mouth, but he never truly stopped giving, broken down into only stories by the parish and robbed of every last person he cared for until even his own voice was swallowed up in the raucous din of his people.

Paige, she gave money to her father, her life to her company, her car and care to some kidnapping strangers, and birth to a new god but in the shadow of her only child found teeth of her own - her creation steals and thieves and corrupts the sacrifices and systems of the world at large and she snatches up the survivors left in the rubble, first in line at last.

Val, a willing saint, she took the god that was given her, swallowed it so completely into her self that they became a new whole, she walks across the land ravaging towns and people and taking pain out of so many not-mothers flesh, but - she promises the people as she eats them - she wants to save them, and at her moment of triumph she wastes herself giving happiness to a single man instead.

[vaultnewt]

Giggling like a madman and twirling my hair every time Arcade Gannon speaks but immediately shaking my head and sighing exasperatedly afterwards so everybody in the general vicinity knows that I disapprove of his voice actor

[earc-magus]

All are laid to rest

I made a three miles pilgrimage to the local river and listened to the last ten minutes of the silt verses knee deep in muddy water and swirling silt.

This podcast is the single most influential creative work I’ve had the honor and horror of following for the past several years.

It’s a big part of what made me who I am.

What’s the opposite of a sacrifice?

A gift.

Hold your beloveds close.

[pinkelotjeart]

The silt verses chapter 37

I will keep making cool silt verses fanart until more people listen to this podcast, I am desperate.

[komsomolka]

fandom loves to joke about how caleb must have covertly disliked zayne all this time because he sees him as love rival. and while i think those kind of insecure attitudes are not out of question with caleb i find it way more interesting to imagine how zayne probably witnessed a lot more vulnerable sides of caleb than mc because caleb felt he had to constantly project strength in front of mc as they grew up. and caleb despises himself for those weaknesses and by extension zayne for knowing about them but also can't help but start to relax more around zayne :)

[ignitingthesky]

yesterday I was thinking: even though Paige is turning into a tree, wouldn't it be nice if years and years and years later, when new pilgrims pass by the spot that was supposed to be a tree, they see it split open by new growth of crocus flowers?

[in-the-eye-of-the-beholding]

this is a silt verses blog now sorry (go listen to it if you haven't. this post will have spoilers)

I'm having straight up revelations in here, yall.

first I'm thinking about names. about how paige's god had a good, descriptive name, a name that poetically conveyed what it was meant to be. we are the many below, the crushed and trampled, the unseen masses devoured by the system and buried under its weight

but... not a lot of people call it that. it's the wound tree. it's a tree that wounds. that's all it gets to be

and of course it is, because one of the points of paige's story is that the system subsumes criticisms into itself. the moment she put it out there is the moment she lost control of the narrative. it was always going to be the version of itself most convenient to those in power. not a force of justice for the downtrodden, just a force of random, spiteful violence seeking to tear down innocent ordinary people doing their ordinary jobs

the many below were never going to be heard because it is not the narrator of its own story

secondly, with that in mind it occurs to me that VAL is the perfect warsaint, the perfect embodiment of this kind of narrative violence, the perfect distillation of the government's most terrifying and devastating power: the power to retell the narrative as they see fit. the power, if you will, to have the last word.

that unseen yet ever-present god that the cairn maiden describes? the one that's pretty transparently a god of capitalism, or at the very least easily reads as such?

I think we know its name - one of its names, anyway.

because what changes when VAL starts taking the narrative into her own hands, when she refuses to tell the story she's fed, when she begins to refuse cruelty and grasps for defiance, for kindness? she starts leaving out the magic words:

the Last Word tells me so.

[mongeese]

Very small piece overshadowed by everything else but I full almost cried at Elgin's line here. Service to others and service to a cause you believe in as service to yourself. Not working for anyone else but dedicating yourself to your work and your community because you want to, because it matters to you. So fucking true. Anyway totally unrelated hc that definitely isn't me projecting I think Elgin's butch

[Image ID: A screenshot of The Silt Verses transcript. It reads

"PAIGE stares at her. She's genuinely touched.

PAIGE: Do you do anything for yourself, Elgin?

ELGIN: (Almost surprised by the question) All of this has been for me. You know that Paige, don't you?"

End ID]

[cookiesandcantarella]

You know the silt verses is great because we get to see Hayward trade in his job as a cop to become co-leader of the government-toppling murder-suicide cult and this is a huge sign of positive character development for him. Where else would you get this????

[dailyhtfboards]

Day 47

Today’s board is:

It’s been so long since we’ve had a Giggles board!! Here she is, quite well rested.

(From TV episode 12A I’ve Got You Under my Skin)