#and questions cliopher on it

[icryyoumercy]

... have we considered cliopher mdang showing up at the untheileneise court, taking one look at it and going 'this is the worst organised court i have ever seen, how do you people get anything done, gimme that' and then sends the entire government on vacation, and starts in on the paperwork

and when maia returns a week later, cliopher presents him with a stack of folders about three feet high, and goes 'i'm not fully familiar with your relevant culture and economy, but this is a rough outline of how to retire and abolish the emperor by the time you're fourty, and if sayo aisava can find us the required staff, you'll be able to begin working on it within the month'

[book--brackets]

Kingdoms and Empires by Jaclyn Moriarty (2017-2023)

Bronte Mettlestone's parents ran away to have adventures when she was a baby, leaving her to be raised by her Aunt Isabelle and the Butler. She's had a perfectly pleasant childhood of afternoon teas and riding lessons - and no adventures, thank you very much.

But Bronte's parents have left extremely detailed (and bossy) instructions for Bronte in their will. The instructions must be followed to the letter, or disaster will befall Bronte's home. She is to travel the kingdoms and empires, perfectly alone, delivering special gifts to her ten other aunts. There is a farmer aunt who owns an orange orchard and a veterinarian aunt who specialises in dragon care, a pair of aunts who captain a cruise ship together and a former rockstar aunt who is now the reigning monarch of a small kingdom.

Now, armed with only her parents' instructions, a chest full of strange gifts and her own strong will, Bronte must journey forth to face dragons, Chief Detectives and pirates - and the gathering suspicion that there might be something more to her extremely inconvenient quest than meets the eye...

The Lost Conspiracy by Francis Hardinge (2008)

On Gullstruck Island, legend has it that the mountain ranges and volcanoes are in charge. Anger them, and you'll pay the price. Keep them happy, and you'll enjoy their protection. These stories of the land's command come in handy for quiet, near-invisible Hathin when she must run for her life. Hathin's sister, Arilou, is believed to be a Lost. The Lost are held nearly sacred by those on Gullstruck, for they can send their senses away from their bodies. If Lost, Arilou can read a message across the island. If Lost, Arilou can hear whispers in the corners of private rooms. If Lost, Arilou can smell bread baking in the governor's mansion. All from her beachside hut. But the question remains: Is Arilou really a Lost? When all the Lost drop dead--except Arilou--she and Hathin are swept into a grand conspiracy that leads them to the most sinister depths--and heights--of the island.

Isola by Brenden Fletcher (2018-2020)

An evil spell has been cast on the Queen of Maar and her Captain of the Guard will do anything to reverse it. Their only hope lies on an island half a world away--a place known in myth as Isola, land of the dead.

The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee (2016)

Sometimes love is right under your nose. As one of only two aromateurs left on the planet, sixteen-year-old Mimosa knows what her future holds: a lifetime of weeding, mixing love elixirs, and matchmaking—all while remaining incurably alone. For Mim, the rules are clear: falling in love would render her nose useless, taking away her one great talent. Still, Mimosa doesn’t want to spend her life elbow-deep in soil and begonias. She dreams of a normal high school experience with friends, sports practices, debate club, and even a boyfriend. But when she accidentally gives an elixir to the wrong woman and has to rely on the lovesick woman’s son, the school soccer star, to help fix the situation, Mim quickly begins to realize that falling in love isn’t always a choice you can make.

The Fairy Realm by Emily Rodda (2001-2006)

When Jessie searches for her ill grandmother's missing charm bracelet, she is led to a magical world and finds she has a reason and right to be there.

Lays of the Hearth-Fire by Victoria Goddard (2019-2023)

Cliopher Mdang knows all about consequences. He is the Secretary in Chief of the offices of the Lords of State: the official head of the Imperial Bureaucratic Service of Zunidh, unofficial head of the government. He spends his days dealing with all the manifold results of enormously complicated systems.

He is also the personal secretary to his Radiency Artorin Damara, Last Emperor of Astandalas, Lord of Zunidh: the Sun-on-Earth, the Lord of Tising Stars, worshiped as a god.

Cliopher has never touched his lord, never called him by name, never initiated a conversation. He would never say aloud that he loves him, but it is for his lord, and not his own power or prestige, that he spends his life far from home and the family who have never quite forgiven him for leaving.

It is blasphemy to suggest that the Sun-on-Earth might need something as ordinary in human as a break. But one day Cliopher turns to his lord and invites him on a holiday to his homeland, the tropical paradise of Vangavaye-ve, which is as far from the court as it is possible to be. It is a place where pretension is soundly discouraged and pretenses are undone, and where the divine never very far from the human.

Valkyrie by Kate O'Hearn (2013-2016)

Freya is dreading her upcoming birthday when she'll officially have to take up her duties as a Valkyrie. She doesn't want to follow in the footsteps of the legends before her--legends including her mother and sisters. And she certainly doesn't want anything to do with humans 

Freya thinks humans are cruel, hate-filled creatures, but as she observes their world, she begins to wonder what it would be like to make friends with the girls or laugh with the boys she sees. And what would it be like to live without the fear that she could cause someone's death with a single touch? 

Then when she's sent on her first mission, she reaps the soul of a fallen soldier with unfinished business...business that sends her on an epic quest to the mortal world. Will Freya find the true meaning of being a human, or will she finally accept the legend she is destined to become?

Doomspell by Cliff McNish (2000-2002)

In a blaze of light, rush of wind and scrabble of claws, Rachel and Eric are ripped through the wall and hurtled on to another world. Like thousands of other children before them, they have been snatched away by the Witch.

But this time the Witch has met her match. Rachel discovers that she has extraordinary gifts: she can transform herself into a feather, or fly on an owl’s back, just as the Witch can. The Witch is excited she has found someone to use for her own evil purposes. But for the Witch’s victims, Rachel is their only hope.

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve (2010)

Eleven-year-old Polly Peabody knows her family's world-famous rhubarb farm is magical. The plants taste like chocolate, jewels appear in the soil, bugs talk to her, and her best friend is a rhubarb plant named Harry. But the most magical thing is that every single Monday, at exactly 1:00, it rains. Until the Monday when the rain just stops. Now it's up to Polly to figure out why, and whether her brother's mysterious illness and her glamorous aunt Edith's sudden desire to sell the farm have anything to do with it. Most of all, Polly has to make it start raining again before it's too late. Her brother's life, the plants' survival, and her family's future all depend on it.

Lyra by Patricia C. Wrede (1982-1994)

Trouble is brewing in Alkyra. While the kingdom’s noblemen squabble, on their borders an ancient enemy, the Lithmern, raises an army. As the head of the Noble House of Brenn attempts to organize an alliance, the princess Alethia celebrates her twentieth birthday. She is a remarkable woman: quick-witted, beautiful, and handy with a throwing knife. But on the next night, she passes through a dark corridor on her way to the banquet hall, and never emerges from the shadows. The Lithmern have kidnapped the princess.   When Alethia regains consciousness, an evil Lithmern with a face made of shadows is carrying her through the forest. These are magic woods, home to fabled creatures whose existence she has always doubted. To find her way home, Alethia will have to learn to trust in the old tales, whose legends of magic and daring hold the only hope of saving her kingdom.

[nimblermortal]

@icryyoumercy @hello-delicious-tea

This is a first draft, jetlagged thing and needs. Rework to give the forceful personalities more input. But I think you will enjoy anyway.

Lays of the Hearth Fire, modern AU: Buru Tovo gets a phone and is using it to ruin his younger cousins' lives.

It was well known in Solaara that Secretary of State Mdang would not tolerate emoluments of any kind, so when he took his Buru Tovo to his favorite hot pot restaurant, the waiters made them wait ten minutes for a table and promptly abandoned them there. Buru Tovo watched as Cliopher, without breaking his explanation, pulled up the menu from the QR code and passed it over to him. It occurred to Cliopher belatedly that Buru Tovo might not know how to use a touch screen – he had certainly never seen him operate a phone – but by the time he finished his sentence Buru Tovo seemed to have figured out how to scroll.

He pointed at what he wanted and told Cliopher, and Cliopher sighed a little at the technical ineptitude of the older generation, took his phone back, entered the order, and paid. He thought little of it at the time; he was far more concerned with ensuring Buru Tovo was comfortable, and as little disappointed by Cliopher’s life in Solaara as he could be.

He’d really just been hoping Buru Tovo would enjoy the whole prawns.

---

Some months and far too many sudden jet trips later, Cliopher found himself sitting in Gorjo City with Fitzroy, across the table from Buru Tovo at a restaurant that wasn’t Esha’s. It wasn’t that Esha would disapprove, she happily acknowledged the joy of good junk food, but he suspected she would have some feelings about his taking the Last Emperor of Astandalas to a fry shop. Even a good fry shop. Even the one Buru Tovo sat at to play dominoes when he was in Gorjo City.

He was watching Buru Tovo quietly and politely grill Fitzroy on his aptitude and Islander when he heard what was unmistakably the sound of a Grindr notification. He glanced at Fitzroy, whose hand reached toward his pocket and stilled again; not his. Well and good, except that in the next lull of conversation Buru Tovo pulled a phone out of his grass skirt and, with the air of the very old, swirled his finger several inches from the screen before distinctly swiping right and putting the phone away again as if nothing had happened.

Cliopher wondered briefly if his Buru Tovo’s husband – Vou’a – knew that Buru Tovo was swiping right on hookup apps, and decided this was none of his business. It was, after all, far more surprising that Buru Tovo knew how to use a phone. He had not, to Cliopher’s knowledge, handled money until he had come to visit Cliopher in Solaara. Cliopher was fairly certain that if Buru Tovo had suddenly gotten money somewhere, purchased a phone, and obtained a phone plan, someone in the family would have mentioned it.

He wouldn’t have mentioned it to Buru Tovo, except that there was a TV playing the news in the corner of the restaurant. Buru Tovo sat facing it, and when they heard Prince Rufus’s voice describing the latest legislation he was taking a stand against, Cliopher sighed involuntarily.

Buru Tovo shook his head disapprovingly. ���That man,” he said, in tones of agreement, “does not understand the give and the take.”

Fitzroy coughed around his sandwich. Cliopher reached over and gave him a few hearty pats on the back, which seemed to help.

And he wouldn’t have commented on that except his cousin Faila was at the next table, and she caught the motion of Cliopher whacking Fitzroy’s back and said, “Why, it’s Cousin Kip! You look fine in those fancy clothes. Is Tovo making inappropriate comments about politicians again?”

“Again?” Cliopher echoed. He looked at Buru Tovo, tongue caught. Look. Listen. Questions later.

But Buru Tovo was in a forthcoming mood. He shook his head sadly. “Spent some extra time in Solaara after you left,” he said. “Those politicians, eh, very handsome young men, but disappointing.”

Cliopher was not sure he was prepared to grant Buru Tovo either the handsome or the young part of that description, though he had certainly had his share of disappointments.

Faila rolled her eyes, a gesture so redolent of their shared youth when she was starting at the puppet theater that Cliopher was struck with a sudden bout of déjà vu.

“Ever since he got back from Solaara he’s inseparable from that thing,” she complained. “We told him it’s not healthy, but he’s completely addicted to it. As bad as my granddaughter.”

Some people, Kip was reminded, had grandchildren. He restrained his sigh. The Grindr notification chimed again.

“It’s a good way to meet people,” Buru Tovo said blandly. “I am making friends with princes all over the world.”

“Friends,” Faila repeated sarcastically. “Princes. Half of them are real politicians, and the other half claim that if he just wires them money they’ll send him twice as much in return.”

“He doesn’t send them -” Cliopher began. Pig butchering scams were one of the problems he’d been glad to leave in Aioru’s hands.

“Of course not,” Buru Tovo said. “Couldn’t figure out the wiring nonsense. I just give them the bank information.”

Fitzroy, who had read Cliopher’s report on the pig butchering at least, looked appalled. He had agreed on the priority Cliopher had assigned the problem, and so on their not having gotten round to it before handing the government over to Aioru. Cliopher had been glad, when Fitzroy – his Radiance that was – left to find his heir, that at least he knew not to answer the pig butchering ledes. It was one less thing to worry about. Had been one less thing to worry about.

“You just give them the -” Cliopher began, a second time.

“Bah. I’m not using it,” said Buru Tovo, inarguably. He didn’t use money, after all. Cliopher could see the logic. If there was anything in the account – if the account existed in the first place – someone ought to get use out of it. And the stipend had, after all, in part, been Cliopher’s attempt at an answer to the problem of scams. No one could be entirely taken in if they could always count on having something to live on. “They all seem worried when they look at it anyway. Keep telling me to take the stipend again.”

“All?” Fitzroy inquired mildly, his eyes dancing. Fitzroy could not be trusted with family matters.

“Maybe you can talk him out of it,” Faila said, gathering her things. “I’m done trying.”

“Young people don’t know how to live without all these modern gadgets,” Buru Tovo said, waving his phone. “I tell them how to start fires, find food on the islands, get their passports back from their supervisors…”

Cliopher blinked. “You’re being tanà. To scammers.”

Buru Tovo was abruptly more serious. “If someone comes to the tanà for answers, he does not get turned away.”

“So they’re. Wontok?” Cliopher asked, several things clicking together in his head.

Buru Tovo huffed. “Don’t have to be Islander to come to the tanà for help,” he said. “You taught me that.”

His phone dinged again. He picked it up, scowled, swiped left; then made an impressed face, nodding, and swiped authoritatively – if still in the most geriatric fashion Cliopher could imagine.

“Palace guard training them up well these days,” Buru Tovo commented, and spun his phone round for Fitzroy to take a look.

[myfeelingshavefeelings]

So, on a whim I borrowed an ebook version of The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard from my local library, and after spending all my free time in the past week reading it, I have literally just finished it.

This is insane. I have not been so caught up by a novel in years. I read this approx 300,000 word book in like a week when it normally takes over a month to complete a novel half that length (if I ever finish it at all, which does not always happen). I had genuinely begun to wonder if I just didn't like reading as much as I used to, after recently having to give up on both Wicked and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

And the last time I managed to read such a long book as this without my attention inevitably waning was because I was staying at my grandmother's for 10 days and had little else to entertain myself other than churning through like 100 pages a day. (The book in question was The Priory of the Orange Tree, which I did greatly enjoy but which did not enrapture me as THOTE has just done).

I have already borrowed the prequel novella Petty Treasons and intend to start it after I finish this post. In fact, I intend to read all of the stories set in the Nine Worlds. I may even sign up for the author's email newsletter. I am almost certainly going to ask my brother to buy me a physical copy of this book for Christmas.

I don't even know if I can explain all the things I love about this book. As an ace-aro I greatly appreciate the lack of a romance plot. As someone who loves her friends so dearly, I loved seeing Cliopher's friendships with his Lord, with Conju and Sir Rhodin and Commander Omo, with Bertie and Toucan and Ghilly. As someone who comes from a large family that I don't always feel I fit into properly, the arc of Cliopher's family coming to understand and appreciate the work he's been doing and continues to do was a salve on my soul. I love the writing and the characters and the rich world that Victoria Goddard has created, and I look forward to continuing to learn about said world as I continue reading her stories set in the Nine Worlds.

[alfgifu]

Fic analysis 9. Tenebra, or The Crow

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47563792/chapters/119874838

Word count: 246,201

Chapters: 67

First posted: 31st May 2023

Last chapter up: 22nd January 2024

Summary: 

It was highly inconvenient to find myself transformed into a crow in the Imperial Apartments, and somewhat alarming when I discovered that I could not access my magic, and therefore could not turn back.

...

The small room was empty, and dark. A single patch of silvery moonlight picked out a fluffy piece of fabric draped over the back of the long couch.

Cliopher stared for a long moment, then became aware of movement by his feet. He looked down. The large black crow had landed beside him in a splatter of ink, and was regarding him solemnly with one gold-rimmed black eye.

“She’s taken him,” he said, softly.

How and why this came about

The behemoth.

It wasn’t supposed to be. Tenebra started as a collaborative story-making exercise in a discord channel with a number of people feeding in. The premise - that the emperor becomes a crow, and that Cliopher fails to recognise him - led to a rush of ideas about what Cliopher might have done to try to rescue his lord. Most obviously, Cliopher would travel to Sky Ocean and attempt to bring the Sun-on-Earth back from the Sun or the Moon.

The livefic hopped about a bit but mostly consisted of bits of the conversation between Cliopher and the Moon Lady and then a later scene of Cliopher on Loaloa finally recognising what has happened and figuring out how to restore his Radiancy.

With the agreement of the other participants I offered to tidy it up a bit. I thought I’d probably add about three chapters at the start (to get Cliopher and his crow up to Sky Ocean) and then could just stitch together the parts we’d sketched for the second half.

That was not what happened.

First off I realised how many questions we’d left unanswered about what had happened and why. I didn’t want to dwell on it but I did want there to be a sense that there was a reason, so I started with a mishap befalling the Diamond of Gaesion. Then I plunged into the reaction of the Imperial Household to the sudden disappearance of his Radiancy and, well, it was more than three chapters. I skipped the politics almost entirely, and it was still more than three chapters.

Cliopher had to adopt his crow, extract himself from the Palace, and travel to Gorjo City to get his boat. That meant reckoning with his family and friends too. Including sections from Tenebra’s pov added more length and shenanigans, as did working through a properly mythic voyage into Sky Ocean.

All told it took nine chapters to get to the Moon Lady, two for the negotiation, three to get out of Sky Ocean, four to get Cliopher and Tenebra back to the Vangavaye-ve, and another four for Cliopher to put his clues together and break the spell.

I could have stopped there, where the livefic ended. Yes, the world was going up in flames, but Cliopher had his emperor back, that was the important thing.

Only, as that arc of the fic ended, in the immediate reaction to being restored to human form, Fitzroy kissed his rescuer.

I could have left it there, too. But it would have felt cruel. There were so many questions and challenges raised by that one instinctive kiss. I wrote it because it felt natural in the moment and then I sat around wondering what I’d done.

And then I fixed it. Which took another 13 chapters. 

Cliopher is clearly presented in the books as being (a) uninterested in sex unless someone else raises it, (b) strongly longing for a lifelong committed relationship which is deep and bonding and doesn’t involve sex, or doesn’t have to involve sex, because that feels more true and meaningful to him given his personal indifference to sex (c) someone who thinks of himself as only being attracted to women, (d) someone who constantly muses on the physical presence of his beloved lord in terms that certainly sound a great deal like physical attraction.

Fitzroy, by contrast, is famous for his exploits as a lover and unquestionably physically attracted to Cliopher, but has a whole empire’s worth of trauma around asking for the things that he wants.

It felt important to take some time to work through what it would look like for them to talk to one another about all of this and come to an understanding.

The second place I could have left off would have been the end of what became a short recovery break on Loaloa, around chapter 35. Having got that far, however, I sort of wanted to resolve all the other threads left hanging - the politics, the priest-wizards, and so on. And that was another 32 chapters.

What worked and what didn’t

Tenebra was supposed to be a short fic and I thought I’d finish it faster if I just wrote and published as I went. So that’s what I did - I had no buffer at any stage, I dropped a chapter as soon as I finished it and went on to the next one. This led to an erratic posting approach. At times I was uploading chapters every day, or even twice a day. At other times I let it lapse for weeks while I focused on something else. This helped me keep up the illusion that it wasn’t a real fic and I could therefore do what I liked, which I needed so I didn’t run screaming for the hills.

I was pleased with the slow disintegration of Tenebra’s human intellect, and also with the way that Fitzroy kept crow mannerisms when he returned to human form. It was also satisfying, if rather hard work, to bring together all the big politics of the world with the small politics of friends and family.

Navigating Cliopher and Fitzroy into an acknowledged bond and physical relationship was something I approached with a certain amount of fear and trembling. The ace representation in these books is important; the relationship dynamics in canon are interpreted in different ways by different people; I’m not ace myself. I wanted to do the characters justice and I’m pleased with how it came out.

Chapter 35 also included my first ever sex scene which felt like a big deal at the time. I was thrilled to find that depicting sex isn’t materially different from depicting any other part of a relationship - what does this look and feel like to the characters, and what does that mean to them? - but I did go back and tweak it very slightly around the time I finished the fic up, because I think the pacing was too hurried in the first version.

What I learned from writing it

Working on something over such a long time and sharing it in instalments as written gave rise to lots of opportunities to take inspiration from comments. I appreciated them greatly, and was incredibly pleased with the art that some readers made [melts].

There was some fandom drift over the time I was writing, with many of those who had been involved in the early conversations moving on from active involvement in the discord server. The big burst of fic in the summer of 2023 was almost certainly not sustainable given the small size of the fandom. By the time I was uploading the later chapters at the end of 2023/early 2024 the Lays fic conversation had largely dried up and the enthusiasms on the server had shifted focus - which happens, of course - I’m sure things have moved on again in the ten months since then.

It was hard not to read that change as a sign that I was doing something wrong, even though rationally I knew that made no sense. So I definitely learned something about the fragility of ego, the addictiveness of validation, and the way the brain benchmarks automatically to context.

More cheerfully, I did finish it, and I’m proud of it. I think it holds up well to re-reading. It turns out that far more plot can be worked out on the fly than I used to believe, and I love the way this story surprised me as I was writing it. If I’d planned it and written it all and done an editing round and had a good beta, would it have been better? Yes, probably, but it also might never have happened at all. Sometimes you just have to keep swimming.

[ruinconstellation]

Fic rec: "Dispatches from the Junior Secretariat" by @wingedscribe

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: Gen Fandoms: The Hands of the Emperor - Victoria Goddard, Nine Worlds - Victoria Goddard Relationships: Gaudy Vawen & Tully nai Vasiaan, Gaudy Vawen & Cliopher "Kip" Mdang, Gaudy Vawen & Tully nai Vasiaan & Zaoul of the Tkinele, Gaudy Vawen & Lord Eldo Vardes Characters: Gaudy Vawen, Tulliantha nai Vasiaan, Zaoul of the Tkinele, Cliopher "Kip" Mdang, Artorin Damara, Lord Eldo Vardes, Kiri Kalikiri, Aioru (The Hands of the Emperor) Additional Tags: Bureaucracy, Leaving Home, Family Feels, Cliopher Mdang's Relentless Competence, POV Outsider, closer to POV Newcomer actually, but that's not a tag, Canon-Typical Court Racism, Fabricated Thunder Lizard Facts Sorry Tully, Familial Rejection, Fitzroy Angursell Poetry Readings, One-Sided Rivalry, Misunderstandings, Gratuitous Use of Metaphor, Canon-Typical Gazing, The Mortifying Ordeal Of Knowing Your Boss Is Human When He's Supposed To Be An Emperor, Canon-Typical Speculation about Cliopher/His Radiancy, sibling dynamics

Summary:

Gaudy Vawen is leaving home to follow his uncle. Eldo Vardes is doing the same to defy his father. Zaoul wants to find the answers to questions only he is asking, and Tully wants to find problems only she can sort out. They collide in Solaara, where they find the Imperial Bureaucratic Service poised to aid the greatest transition in government since the Fall. And also, where they find themselves the somewhat-captive but very intrigued peanut gallery to the lives of both Cliopher Mdang and His Radiancy the Emperor. A retelling of parts of Hands of the Emperor through the the sometimes-comprehending, often-bemused, always-intrigued eyes of Gaudy, Tully, Zaoul, and Eldo as they grow and advance in the Service.

[abigailspinach]

“Aioru said, even more slowly, “That didn’t use to be the case. This never came to us before you created the Ministry of the Common Weal. I remember now, the Council of Princes said that if you wanted to listen to every niggling little complaint that came in from the people, they’d let you.” “Yes,” said Cliopher, and looked seriously at them. “Let this be a lesson to you all: whoever takes the responsibility gains the power. By giving up that task to us, the princes gave up also the power involved in performing it. They were able to become more efficient and focused in areas they thought important; I have been able to guide the Secretariat into taking responsibility for the things I think are important. And over time, we have gathered a considerable amount of power.” “And nobody sees it,” Aioru said wonderingly, glancing down at the paper. Cliopher could see his thoughts racing, as he started to make connections he’d never thought of before. “It’s all there, in plain sight but—but nobody sees.” “But we don’t seem to have any of the privileges of power,” someone said from behind Eldo. “We don’t get to stand in court looking magnificent—well, you do, sir, but not the rest of us.” Cliopher smiled. “The question of whether the form of power, or the reality of it, is more important to you is one that only you can answer. I stand in court as I do because it is part of the game to show that I have the prestige, and because I do not intend to destroy the princes—far from it! I do not wish them to lose their culture any more than I do my own. You do not, the Upper Secretariat does not, because the transferal of power is not complete, and I have no intention of it remaining with us—with me, with you, with this department, even with this part of the government—for much longer.” He gazed solemnly at them, meeting each one’s eyes. “We are responsible for tending the fire on the journey so that we might hand it over to the next community who needs it. We have gathered the responsibilities and done our best to find ways to fulfil them. The next stage of the process is to start returning the powers—and the responsibilities—back to the provinces.””

[ottovanvonveen]

“I suppose that’s an adequate excuse.” Conju sniffed. “I cannot believe you made him poet laureate. He’s going to be insufferably smug.” “What? Who?“ “Why is the question I’ve been asking myself for the past fortnight,” Conju said, with an elaborate gesture of ennui. “His poetry isn’t even that good.” Cliopher frowned painfully. “Do you mean Fitzroy Angursell’s?” “Yes. The poet about whom you wrote a most impassioned essay your dear successor decided to take as your last request. I understand the general response was tears.”

Hello.

[accidentalspaceexplorer]

2023 Book Reviews: Fantasy, Part 2

1. At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard: 4.75/5

Pitch: 2nd in a series; about a bureaucrat running an empire in like the most wholesome fashion

Review: If I didn't already love Cliopher Mdang, I don't think I would have liked this book as much as I did - it felt less well-structured or well-focused than The Hands of the Emperor, which was noticeable because of the 800 pages, and it has a very different plot, more mythological and epic adventure than just the intense character portrait you get in HOTE. But I did already love Kip, so I had a fantastic time with it anyways, just spending some extra time with some characters I love. I really enjoyed getting to see his perspective on other parts of the world, and I'm glad it answered some lingering questions from HOTE. Also, the relationships were fantastic, but personally I wanted something different to happen.

2. Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines: 3.25/5

Pitch: books are magic, literally, and something bad escapes from a book to the real world

Review: I had fun with this, more in the second half than in the first, but I'll be honest that it didn't do as much for me as I'd hoped for. Fun, definitely, and a cool magic system, but as I didn't much care about Isaac by the end, I just wasn't very invested. I probably won't continue on, but I can honestly tell my friend I borrowed it from that I enjoyed it!

3. High Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson: 2/5

Pitch: 18th century London with fae but if Parliament fails to pass a bill endless war will start back up again

Review: At this point, I'm pretty convinced that I don't actually like whimsical books! This is supposed to be whimsical and charming but it just makes me not believe in the characters or the dangers, so there is no tension and I don't like anyone and then I don't like the book.

4. The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden: 4.5/5

Pitch: 3rd & final book in a trilogy; Russian historical fantasy about the god of winter and the rise of Christianity

Review: I really enjoyed this final installment. Vasya was as captivating as always, and I really enjoyed the way the story echoed her struggle to decide what and who she was in the plot. Plus I cried at the end. I'm glad I finished this series!

5. Babel by R. F. Kuang: 4.75/5

Pitch: dark historical fantasy about colonization in a world where translation is magic

Review: This was extremely well-written, and the ramifications, philosophies, and thoughts that the book digs into are likely to stay with me quite a long time. I can't say that I ever fell headlong in love with any of the characters, though - while I thought they were very compelling and rich characters to explore, there was always a bit of a distance between me and them, so I was aware the whole time that it was a book, rather than being completely sucked in. About halfway through, when the plot kicked up, that did fade somewhat though.

I would recommend this book, although I warn you when you pick it up that terrible and awful things will happen. Just be in the right headspace to read this.

[hello-jumping-in-puddles]

mid-year book freak out tag

tagged by @bloody-wonder, thank you!

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2023? 

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. i dont even know what to say. i want to sit raptly while someone smarter than me explains all the history and symbolism in this book that i missed. haunting.

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2023? 

partially just because i've read few sequels this year, The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik wins. I maintain that Orion is boring as hell after book 1 and I don't care about him but the rest of the book? Delicious. El is so snarky and dark. Ooooh im an evil witch princess im so scary my friends have to hold me back from committing evil (devotes her life to protecting other people) (refuses to live in an enclave because it feels like cheating) (shows up whenever people ask for help even if they suck). also the reveal with the mawmouths was just. such fucking 10/10 writing. the punch of understanding. the way the text gives the reader space to figure it out themself and just go HOLY SHIT.

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To?

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle. I have it downloaded. I am ready.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2023? 

I have no idea. I just find books when I find them, y'know?

5. Biggest Disappointment?

ironically, the sequel to question 6, The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard. after a book which is about a guy whose whole thing is "really good civil servant" this book was just...not what i wanted. it was about a classic singing robin hood style hero who is charming and cool and magical and does adventures and maybe otherwise i would have enjoyed it but how can i read a book set in the world of my favourite bureaucrat Kip and not read about bureaucracy??? only book so far this year i just straight up didnt finish. also, you can only tell the same vague story about how kip made a joke that one time without actually telling the joke before it stops being "backstory" and starts being "the author never actually figured out what the joke was".

6. Biggest Surprise?

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. absolutely bizarre book. there is no real plot other than the emperor preparing for retirement. the first three hundred pages the emperor just. goes on vacation?? i was expecting political intrigue but the political intrigue is 90% just "the rich guys dont like it but our guy, Kip the bureaucrat, is the emperors specialist guy and also extremely stubborn so everyone has to go alone with UBI". the biggest conflict is literally just interpersonal miscommunication but good. i was so hooked it was ridiculous. where did the heterosexuality come from i am perplexed

7. Favorite New Author?

i was about to say catherynne m valente but i actually cant claim that because now i looked her up and ive read other work by her! she did The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making and sequels which were extremely delightful also. so this one goes to Victoria Goddard on the basis of i have apparently read a lot of authors i already know this year

8. Newest Favorite Character?

Cliopher (Kip) Mdang my beloved

9. Newest Fictional Crush?

¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

💕Best Ship💕

¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

okay i guess maybe kip + the emperor? or maybe el + liesel because i was surprisingly a big fan of liesel by the end. though maybe thats just me wanted el to be with someone more interesting than orion.

10. Book That Made You Cry?

i can't actually remember if i cried but Driftwood by Marie Brennan was quite haunting and beautiful and bittersweet

11. Book That Made You Happy? 

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. now, all brandon sandersons are at least 30% power of friendship by weight but i really do appreciate that this one was like "yeah no we're saying that part out loud. people are heros because they love their friends anything else is just set dressing"

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw This Year?

i...dont think ive watched any book adaptations this year

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year?

don't write 'em, so n/a

14. Most Beautiful Cover?

im going to say Deathless tho i think i am biased because the book hypnotised me

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year?

so many. Ancillary Justice. I also really should read Nona the Ninth but book 2 was so...eugh. i ravenously devoured a bunch of Pratchett's last month and i am waiting on several more from the library. apparently theres a new murderbot out soon? i should check that out.

tagging @a-fish-bee, @foxsoulcourt if you want to do this one :)

[rattyjol]

fic ask meme: what is the Vorkosigan-HOTE crossover or fusion fic that lives in the back of your brain? (and if you don’t have one, what would it be?)

ooooh, GOOD question...

if we wanted to make Gregor's life even sadder (why) we could throw in some touch taboos and whatnot, but that's sad, moving on

not HOTE, but Miles at Morrowlea could be fun. who is he when he's not Lord Vorkosigan, but he's not outright lying about his identity either?

GREGOR at Morrowlea. Gregor and Hal being friends!!! yeah, there it is, I found it

yeah Clary Sage is basically Gregor's whole [gestures] thing. except he runs away to screw in lightbulbs instead of going off to an anonymous radical university like a sensible person

does Gregor know how to take off his own boots? these are the hard-hitting questions of our time

veering hard left, I bet Kip and Cordelia between them could institute UBI and a planet-wide electrical grid on Barrayar in about three years

now, in a fusion fic where HR is emperor of Barrayar, imagine the look on Kip's face when he finds out he's going to be the first person granted a new Vor title in like two hundred years. Lord Auditor Cliopher Vormdang...

[captainsupernoodle]

Weekend Reading

Cold Hands, Warm Heart by Zizzani - oneshot, SVSSS, 16k, T

“If the body can’t warm up, then things get uh, b-bad?”

Mobei-jun cuts him a look that’s made for slaughter. “What does that mean?”

“A-ah, it’s called hypothermia, my king.”

“And you die once it happens.”

Again, not a question. “You can.” When Mobei-jun makes an absolutely terrifying face, Shang Qinghua hastens to add, “But not instantly! Y-you can actually recover from it, if the hypothermia doesn’t progress too far.”

“How far?” Mobei-jun growls.

“There are f-f-f-five stages,” Shang Qinghua shivers out, lips numb. “The fifth stage is death.”

-

Shang Qinghua and Mobei-jun have their spiritual powers sealed before getting dumped in a white-out snowstorm. Mobei-jun quickly learns that humans are far more susceptible to the cold than he thought.

Savvy by Dragonstorm - oneshot, The Hobbit, 1k, G

Bella had very little hope that she would be immune to dragonfire by the time they reached Erebor, but she thought it was worth trying for anyway.

chickens, cattle and cat by deniigiq - oneshot, Star Wars, 5k, T

There is a pause.

Maul breaks it by jabbing a finger into Obi-Wan’s face like it is itself a blade.

“I do not love. And I said no chickens,” he says.

“Cross my scorched heart,” Obi-Wan says with acid.

(Maul and Obi-Wan become roommates on Tatooine. Force-Ghost Qui-Gon observes him and Obi-Wan settling into domestic distress.)

soon, they say, if not today by Ariaste - complete, The Hands of the Emperor, 44k, T

Cliopher passes the Imperial exams on the first try.

It changes everything.

[alfgifu]

Fic analysis 7. Hands to the wheel

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47188921/chapters/118896205

Word count: 70,497

Chapters: 16

First posted: 16th May 2023

Last chapter up: 6th July 2023

Summary: 

The Last Emperor of Astandalas asked for peace. Cliopher Mdang travelled half way round the world of Zunidh to broker a ceasefire for him.

He may have, just slightly, exceeded his remit.

How and why this came about

The list of short follow up stories with a ‘where are they now’ theme included one for Lady Angusta and Lord Oriaz, a pair of bosses I had invented entirely to be bad at communicating with one another. I had in mind that this would be the Examination Scandal that’s referred to in the books, and I had also mentally joined the dots to a reference to Cliopher firing the entire Upper Secretariat.

Originally I’d planned to do a very short piece from Lady Angusta’s pov of her being fired. I thought I could keep it to one chapter, tick it off, and get on with my life.

By the time I got the blank page in front of me, though, I found that I was more interested in Cliopher’s view on the Examination Scandal. And Cliopher’s view on the aftermath of Littleridge. And also, how do you go from being the emperor’s new secretary to effectively running his government? That’s a big leap!

As an aside, the head of the UK civil service is the Chief Secretary to the Cabinet, and those appointed to it often have worked as Principal Private Secretary (PPS) and head of the PM’s Private Office before they get the appointment, but these are distinct roles. Victoria Goddard’s reference points would presumably be Canadian, where the head of the civil service is the Clerk of the Privy Council and is also described as secretary to the Cabinet. I’ve just been down a wee rabbit hole of recent post holders’ career histories and it looks like the pattern is a little different there. They’ve more frequently had ambassadorial and foreign policy experience.

Cliopher, Sayo Normal Man, seems to take on all these jobs at once.

Anyway the question of what might lead him to fire all of the Upper Secretariat - to even be in a position to fire all of the Upper Secretariat - was the real spur for this fic.

Then of course I went back to figure out how that started. I did at least this time have a reason for backtracking to do more build up - I really wanted to show how big the shift in power and authority was, and to fit in some of the early moments of recognition that must have happened between him and HR.

This was also written before Game of Courts which gives Conju’s perspective on some of these events, so like all of Embers it’s somewhat AU now on the friendship between Cliopher and Conju.

What worked and what didn’t

I was finally beginning to lose faith in my ability to judge how many chapters remained in a longer fic, in that I was still saying ‘probably three more to go’ but by this stage I was saying it with some uncertainty.

I made a list at the start again, this time of all the things that needed to happen or be resolved over the course of the fic. That was much better than a list of jobs Cliopher could have that I made at the start of Embers, because from the start I could think about how all those things related to one another and how I could bring them in together.

It wasn’t long before I realised that the real shape of the fic had to be everything hitting Cliopher at once until he cracked and took charge. I also realised fairly early on what the major twist would be, and I was pleased with how it landed.

I wasn’t expecting this to be so much fic-as-therapy but it worked.

It was also fun including little bureaucratic in-jokes like Inkstone (tip o’the hat to UK government cat Gladstone) or naming a chapter after an economics treatise (Cliopher is a Keynesian, bite me). 

There was definitely a stressful point mid-story where I wasn’t sure what shape would come out of all the pieces I was wrangling, but the experience of writing Embers gave me the confidence to push ahead anyway and it did all come together despite the total lack of a plan.

What I learned from writing it

This is a better fic in every way than Embers was - better titled, better shaped, tauter and punchier and more structured. What’s interesting is that so little of that was intentional. Perhaps the lesson should be that if you pile enough things on top of a character and work a way through them, the plot weaves itself.

I also found that things that felt self-indulgent to me often added depth and were worth including. Again, having the confidence to relax and write what I wanted was rewarding. It was important to me to show the shape of the achievements Cliopher would need to land before he could practically run the government, be the emperor never so enamoured with him, etc. But it was also important to show that relationship developing too and the growing trust between them, while staying true to the level of uncertainty Cliopher still canonically has several hundred years later. Having all of these things in the back of my mind actually made it easier to write each scene - I didn’t think each time ‘how will this fit into those narratives?’ but the themes naturally came through in the way they informed the progression of events and the characters’ reactions each time I asked myself ‘what happens next?’

I also reached the end of Hands to the wheel entirely done with grinding out two updates a week to build out the Embers narrative. This was where I finally felt confident enough to start picking things up on a whim and writing what I wanted to write - which would include a couple more Embers pieces but would also include a lot more experimentation and [jazz hands] drama from this point on.

[alfgifu]

Fic analysis 54. As the Wave Hesitant

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58428883/chapters/148831711

Word count: 13,560

Chapters: 2

First posted: 24th August 2024

Last chapter up: 25th August 2024

Summary: 

Cliopher doesn’t dream of kissing. Except once, after watching the Moon Lady attempt to seduce his Radiancy.

If he thought to mention that on the vaha, some things might have turned out very differently. Others, exactly the same.

How and why this came about

A friend reflected on a discord channel that it isn’t quite true to say that Cliopher doesn’t dream of kissing, because in Hands of the Emperor he has a dream of the Moon Lady and his Radiancy that leaves him aroused and “very much in sympathy with his lord”.

So, would anything have been different if Cliopher remembered that on the vaha in Sky Ocean in At the Feet of the Sun?

The question struck me as incredibly compelling because I think it gets at the heart of the ambivalence we see in Cliopher as a character. He tells us that he has had lovers and prides himself on being good in bed (in a slow, considerate way). We see him on page masturbating after the incident with the Moon Lady and his Radiancy. We see him accepting an invitation to have sex with a friend, Vho Suzen. We see him admiring his Radiancy’s body in a whole host of ways (“like a story of creation” indeed). But we also see that he doesn’t think about the possibility of kissing Fitzroy or consider that Fitzroy might want to have sex with him until a long time after all these things have happened. He doesn’t think of himself as somebody who wants sex, he doesn’t mind not having sex, his great desire is for a committed and publicly recognised friendship/partnership, not for a physical union.

It struck me at once that if something alerted him to the fact that Fitzroy wanted to kiss him, or have sex with him, there was every chance that he would happily fuck Fitzroy boneless without thinking twice about it. It’s not unimportant to him, exactly, but it’s not perhaps important in the sort of way that would (to Cliopher) be a defining moment in their relationship.

The inspiration plunged me at once into liveficcing the scenario. I wrote the whole of the first chapter in chunks over several days, mostly in the early mornings or on commute. The second chapter took a lot more time and thought, because I had brought my scenario back round to dock into canon and wanted to see what changed about the vaha scene with this different context.

Bluntly, how important was sex/whether or not these characters had had sex to the articulation of their commitment to one another?

Not much at all, I thought. But I had to work through it step by step to see if at any point it did give rise to a difference in direction.

What worked and what didn’t

With the first chapter I was deliberately trying to write a different sort of sex scene from most of my other works. I wanted it to be soft, slow, and tender. There are several authors in the fandom whose smut is so gorgeously evocative and I wanted to see if I could learn from them and do some of that. This was a situation where it helped to be writing over several days in discord-text-box chunks, because it helped me think about the very small movements or shifts I wanted to make slowly, and to set each one out with deliberate care. I really liked the result and definitely want to do more of this.

The second chapter felt like an entirely different beast. I ended up sitting with At the Feet of the Sun open and simply typing out the whole of chapter fifty-four, The Song of the Breaking Waves, asking myself with each paragraph, “Has this changed?”

Most of it hadn’t. There is still a misunderstanding, because the noodles hadn’t actually discussed what they were doing and because they have such different perspectives on what it meant. It took longer to think and work through, even though I only made small tweaks, than it had taken me to write the entire first chapter from scratch - but I’m very pleased with where it ended up. It does feel a bit cheeky, hewing so close to the text and yet making such significant changes, particularly with a scene that means so much to many readers, but it’s also the kind of experimentation with narrative that fanfic is uniquely suited to support and I’m proud of it.

This was another fic where I explicitly sought out beta readers and benefitted from their thoughtful advice. 

What I learned from writing it

An interesting effect with the first chapter was that I often ended one short section with the start of the next one hovering in my mind, but when I came back the next day and picked up I invariably went in a different direction and didn’t feel like that was a loss. The best next line changed on me without any particular reason, just that alfgifu on Tuesday went in a direction that hadn’t occurred to her on Monday, and so on. I don’t think the version I would have written if I had jotted down and stuck with all my ‘next best lines’ when they appeared would have been any worse than the one I ended up with, but it would absolutely have been a different story.

There’s a reflection in there about the contingency of history and the impact of a butterfly flapping its wings, etc, but there’s also a reflection in there of growing confidence as a writer. There were multiple good ways I could write this fic and I didn’t need to stick to the first one that came to mind. I could just go with whatever felt right at the time I was writing and not worry about missing some better option.

This fic, like In every heart, is also directly referencing the conversations in the fandom about Kip and Fitzroy and the role of sex (if any) in their relationship. I don’t personally find the question itself particularly weighty but I can see how much it carries for other people, and it has been interesting and informative to be part of those conversations.

A long-term committed relationship that includes some recognition and promise to one another certainly does not have to include compatible and mutual sexual desire, or actual sex. But it’s also tricky when one person wants sex and the other doesn’t. And it’s even more tricky when one person wants sex and the other isn’t really fussed either way but idealises a relationship that doesn’t have to be about sex. 

That’s a crunchy interesting conflict, because character B is putting their love of an ideal of what a relationship looks like above figuring out the dynamics of the actual relationship they are in. With this fic, though, I think I’ve finished saying all the things I want to say about it - at least until there’s more relevant canon.

[alfgifu]

Fic analysis 34. Tomorrow changes

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51520390

Word count: 2,296

Chapters: 1

First posted: 11th November 2023

Summary: 

Conju finished his steady pacing along the final side of the great Bath. He emptied his basket, slung it comfortably over his arm, and strolled back to where his closest confidante and dearest friend was standing just inside the door, looking mesmerised.

“Your first sight of the bath, eh?”

Cliopher Sayo Mdang visibly collected himself. Conju noted his distraction, noted the wideness of his eyes and the tension in his stance, and felt the first tiny intimation of worry.

How and why this came about

A prompt challenge for alternative points of view on canon, which I took as an excuse to slip back into Conju pov. I do occasionally think how much I’d love to write Conju’s diary / perspective / sniping of the whole of HotE.

I landed on this scene by the simple expedient of starting at the beginning of the book and flicking through until I hit the first scene I wanted from Conju’s perspective, which was incidentally the first scene featuring Conju. Funny, that.

What worked and what didn’t

Conju and Cliopher’s friendship is a source of endless delight. Conju has a unique perspective on Cliopher, a set of cultural and practical constraints on what he can say out loud, and a beautifully waspish inner voice of affection and respect and frustration all wound in together.

Taking even five minutes to think through this scene from Conju’s perspective really makes it clear how unorthodox and terrifying the whole Vangavayen vacation is for everyone in the Palace. Going on holiday with a man who might incinerate anybody he touches, and whose authority is absolute to the point of it being death to question him, but who is insisting on being incognito… and doing it on virtually no warning, with virtually no back-up. Plus this plan means you have the head of state, the head of government, and the head and deputy head of the planet’s armed forces all incommunicado for weeks.

The fact that the entire household rallies round and makes this happen without the world imploding politically or actually is kind of astonishing and I wanted this fic to show how much it was a measure of love and trust that they would even consider it. I’m pleased with how it came out.

What I learned from writing it

I did a quick bit of reading on rose varieties, and learned that there’s no such thing as a natural black rose, and fell down a rabbit hole of rose-related rumours and romanticism. For science fic!

I’ve noticed that alternative povs on canon scenes tend to be popular so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that this fic is one that still attracts a trickle of kudos, despite being short and contemplative. To me it felt (and feels) like nothing special - a nice gentle side sketch because prompt challenge. But it works and it’s practice and that’s all good.

[ottovanvonveen]

“I only have metaphors,” Fitzroy said after the game was finished—Cliopher won handily—and the board set again. Cliopher waited patiently, curious—how could he not be curious?—but aware this was not the time to ask questions. “The fire at the heart of me, down to a handful of embers, buried in ash. The garden of my poetry, blighted, frosted, burned, sere as a northern winter. No clear wind, only stagnant, heavy air … doldrums. My whole … myself, thrust down so far below the surface I thought I should never return. They were trying to make me a god, you know.”

Chewing glass rn