#brais the assassin

[roostercrowned]

wanted to bring some more class (clown ass) to the blog I'm about to leave on a huge and stressful but hopefully somewhat fun roadtrip, but when I get back I'll see about getting this made into stickers. Maybe I can even trick people who weren't emotionally devastated by this character into buying them? We'll see, we'll see. wish me luck!!!!

[illustratus]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969

Sir Hilary Bray explains: “Have a look at this: arms of Sir Thomas Bond. Baronet of Peckham. Died in 1734. Argent on a chevron sable. Three bezants. Good motto, eh? “The world is not enough.”

[smashpages]

Out this week: Assassin’s Creed Visionaries Presents: Shinobi + Uncivil War (Massive, $4.99): 

This is the second issue on a new anthology series that features creator-driven, original tales set in the Assassin’s Creed universe. This issue features contributions from Bray Dornback, Chuck Austen, Pat Olliffe, Ryan Benjamin and more.

See what other comics and graphic novels will arrive with it!

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 1, Poll 13

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave here.

Jedidiah A.A. Martin-Camp Here and There

Qualifications:

refuses to label his sexuality but BOY does he like men (looking at Mr Sargent for this one :3) also has ADHD! but its not known how attention deficient or hyperactive he is

also is a stupid cringefail loser who I want to push down a slide that's been fermenting in the sun all day during summer <3!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Propaganda:

Raised in a religious yet wealthy household, Jedidiah Abraham Adonias Martin--also known as "Jed", "Jeddie", "The archivist", "The clockmaker", or various misspellings and mispronunciations of his name--refuses to label his sexuality, but BOY does he like men (looking at Mr Sargent for this one), and also has ADHD! He may have dropped out of medical school and is "too repressed to write poetry", but he's still one of the camp nurses, alongside Sydney October Sargent! After talking to a bunch of birds, we found out that Jedididididiah will die on a Thursday (not a spoiler as of writing this). It has also been confirmed that he has a photo of Sydney on his desk (aww) and he plays D&D. Oh, and he's terrified of all things shelled. Would you like a snail as you think about voting for this loser? (affectionate)

Submitted by @spud-the-stupid

Ballister Boldheart-Nimona (Film)

Qualifications:

He has a boyfriend (and then they have a sort-of-breakup but they're back together by the end) and he has a prosthetic arm.

He’s gay and missing an arm.

He’s explicitly gay, in love with a man. He loses his arm then builds himself a prosthetic while on the run like a badass.

His boyfriend cut his arm off :( he uses a prosthetic now. His arm got chopped off after being falsely accused of killing the queen, he spends the rest of the movie with a prosthetic metal arm. His arm was also chopped off by his lover, Ambrosius Goldenloin, during said false assassination.

Canonically has a boyfriend and built his own prosthetic

Qualifies by both being canonically disabled (amputee) + canonically gay

Propaganda:

Please plz plz vote for him

His boyfriend cut off his arm. He made himself a prosthetic. He used his arm to block someone’s sword. He kissed his boyfriend. He has sad wet cat eyes, which isn’t relevant but still. He has them.

He’s so GOOD even though he’s having like the worst day ever (specifically talking about movie but webcomic also applies). He has the biggest wettest eyes how can you not root for him????

People love him! He kinda looks like a sad, poor little cat. A real soggy wet kitten man.

Let's see. He and Ambrosius are lovers, or at least boyfriends, from the moment they're introduced. Ballister gets his arm chopped off by Ambrosius during the false assassination. Ballister spends the rest of the movie trying to convince Ambrosius and the kingdom of his innocence, with a metal arm replacing his missing one. It originated the phrase "Arm Chopping is not a love language!" Did I mention he's a main character too?

Is a science nerd, built his own prosthetic arm with his non-dominant hand, accidentally adopted a trans chaos demon of a 1000yo being

A knight, Nimona's best friend and father figure of sorts, but the plot mostly revolves around him- Ballister is framed for murder and has to hide while trying to figure out who framed him and how to prove he's innocent. Nimona becomes his sidekick (he didn't want one, she just showed up at his place one day like a very chaotic stray cat) and together they form a great duo against the corrupt government. This is complicated by Ballister's ex Ambrosius, who accidentally cut off Ballister's arm and is a bit brainwashed by government propaganda. Oops. You should watch Nimona it's great 💞🦈

Submitted by @foulfirerebel (fifth person) and at least 7 others.

[lenreli]

Day 12 - "Don't take me for a fool" [Human AU]

[AO3] Time for more getaway driver Hob & criminal Dream!

-

Morpheus enters the garage of the quite ordinary home, looking critically around as he follows the sound of metal-on-metal. Smirking, he finds what he was looking for under a car, legs sticking out. “Hob Gadling,” he intones, relishing as he sees Hob’s leg twitch, the sound of metal stopping as the getaway driver slides out from underneath the car, white singlet dirty with oil as Hob looks up at him, eventually sighing. 

“Morpheus of the Endless,” Hob replies as he gets a towel to wipe his dirty hands, and Morpheus tries to not let the shock show on his face, well-thought out plan disappearing in a puff of smoke. “Congratulations, you know how information gathering works.” Hob sighs and rests on the side of the dark green car he was working on. “Thought I should look into you since the last time,” Hob says with a shrug, and Morpheus scowls, not enjoying the constant feeling of being wrong-footed that Hob gives him. 

Well, maybe he does like it a bit, not that he’d say it. “I,” he starts, and then shuts his mouth as he realises that he forgot what he was planning to say, mind still reeling at hearing his name out of Hob’s mouth. 

“Are you here to kill me, Morpheus?” Hob asks with a tilt of his head, hands going into the pants of greasy blue jeans, and Morpheus can only shake his head. “So, why are you here, then?” 

Morpheus gapes, managing to get his thoughts together as Hob stares at him. “I ― do you not remember?” He asks, baffled and offended. 

“Sure I do. But why?” Hob asks, raising an eyebrow. 

Gritting his teeth, Morpheus salvages some pride to ― give, “because I want more of,” he breathes out.

Hob looks up at the ceiling, then walks towards him with an intensity that makes him step back ― until he hits a car as Hob grabs onto the lapels of his coat. “More of what? A relationship? My skills for only you to use? You’re not the first to do this, you know, so don’t take me for a fool, Endless,” Hob threatens, and Morpheus’s heart beats wildly as Hob lets go, nose scrunching. “Though, if you wanted more of a business thing, you’d kidnap me. Also not the first time.” 

“No,” he chokes out, mind swirling with all that Hob’s given him, “no ― just, a relationship. No strings attached.” 

He’s given a skeptical look as Hob crosses his arms, “and people have used relationships to also try and get information for who I’ve done jobs for, not to mention the last woman I was with I had to kill because she was an assassin with me as her mark,” Hob says, scowling at him. 

“You could just say no,” he says, and Hob raises an eyebrow, “truly. I do not care for ― whoever you do jobs for, I just,” Morpheus takes a deep breath, steeling himself, “I want you.” 

This time, Hob is the one who opens and shuts his mouth, looking even more confused. “I’m so used to people in our line of work just,” Hob gestures, as if Hob’s lists of what’s happened to him is in an itemised list in the garage. “You’re insane.” 

“So people keep saying,” Morpheus replies, sighing deeply as he steps forward, taking Hob’s grease-stained hands, “I noticed you didn’t say no.” 

Hob stares down at their hands, looking even more perplexed, “I don’t think I’m ready for a relationship right now. Sex, fine, but emotionally?” At this, Morpheus laughs, the sound horrible and braying as it echoes throughout the garage. “What?” 

“You forced me to reveal emotions I’d rather die to even speak, but you’re not the one ready for emotions,” he says, biting his lip to stop his horrible laughter. “I would be fine with that.”

“You are insane,” Hob says, something like awe in his voice ― though, Morpheus can’t think further on it as Hob moves forward, hands cupping his face as they kiss, nails trailing down his neck as their bodies press together, Hob’s body scorching against his. 

“Our jobs have nothing to do with this,” Morpheus breathes, cupping Hob’s clothed cock in one hand as Hob moans, the other’s stained hands quickly going to tear Morpheus’s pants open. 

“That’s the most sane thing you’ve said since you came here,” Hob mutters against his lips, and Morpheus whines the coolness of the car behind him contrasts with Hob’s heat, at the feel of rough hands stroking his cock. “Fuck it,” Morpheus hears as Hob bites down his neck, Hob’s other hand trailing up his spine under his shirt, “we’ll see how this goes, I guess.”

[motifcollector]

inspired by @iloveyoumorethangod here are 9 book recommendations!! these are my fave novels atm, limited to what i've read in the past 2.5 years or so (since beginning of 2021) so not counting some old faves i need to revisit. i think i like stories about obsession... also these are not in order btw!

ALSO would love to see anyone's faves!! also also feel free to add me on goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9264448-peyton) or storygraph (https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/ghosthardware) bc i love keeping up w what people are reading! (i use both sites)

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (trans. Denys Johnson-Davies); Beloved by Toni Morrison; The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie; The Lover by Marguerite Duras (trans. Barbara Bray); Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë; Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov; The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood; The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky); Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore

Honorable mention: Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy

[trentonsimblr]

His Grace Lord Edgar Hubertus Carrasco, Duke of Ponte

Edgar is the x7 great grandson of King Ellington I. King Ellington bestowed the Dukedom of Ponte to his granddaughter, Princess Eleanora upon her marriage to Lord Bernard Bray. Princess Eleanora was the second born child of Princess Emeline, Princess Royal and Duchess of Foxhill. The Foxhill Duchy went to Princess Eleanora's brother, Prince Christopher. King Ellington wanted to bestow the title to his granddaughter as she was sixth in line to the throne and the daughter of his favorite daughter.

Edgar was the last of his line to be born with lavender eyes. He and his wife, Lady Hannah, had six children together in hopes that the next would be born with his lavender eyes rather than Hannah's stormy blue. Historians believe that it was Edgar's death and lack of lavender eyed children that gave the Ingebretsons and supporters the courage needed to stage the failed coup (the assassination attempt).

The current Duke of Ponte is Edgar's great great grandson, Lord Conrad Reynolds. Edgar is also the x3 great grandfather for Archer Layne and Audrina McCormick.

[synnthamonsugar]

top 5 gay destiny moments? 🧐

OKAY I'M GOING TO SPLIT THIS INTO CANON AND SUBTEXT.

Canon:

[Spoiler alert for Season of the Plunder]

Sjur Eido being sent to assassinate Mara Sov and being like "Oh god she's hot I CAN'T" (and she didn't)

Ana Bray faking her own death to get out of doing stupid guardian things, researching her past, and falling in love with OWL Sector nerd Camrin Dumuzi in the process

Ikora's and Chalco Yong's QP relationship, "WHAT IS THIS THING WE DO, IKORA?" (me wailing in the background)

Eriana-3 plotting to kill a god to avenge Wei Ning.

Subtextual / implicit:

The Awoken, whose entire society is based on being queer and loving space.

Savathun's fixation on Eris Morn. "Hehehe we're practically the same person, do you hate it? Ooo I'm gonna pretend I'm you and talk about how strong and smart and brave you are and give you a made up name that means transcendent/beautiful/wise!!!! I'm going to write about you symbolically bearing my beloved daughter!!!!!" I am not even going to try to unpack the psychosexual implications of all this. 2.2. Eris' fixation on Savathun; "if you've been arch-enemies for more than 7 years you aren't enemies, you're gay."

Depending on your Guardian's/Young Wolf's gender … the tension between them and Drifter in Season of the Drifter … dude was/is down bad for the Guardian.

Whatever Eris Morn has going on with Ikora and Mara. My queen this, my queen that, "you will try to gentle me!" etc. etc. etc.

Shaxx marrying everyone who wanted who obtained The Vow . . . we love an implicitly bi/pan king!

[iwillberunningfromdemons]

She sat down again and said, "Well. It's a strange pleasure to see the man who wears my ship's face—though doubtless you think of it the other way. Please, come to our table, and have a cup of coffee and tell me how it felt to see the figurehead Amber carved to match the man who held her heart."

The silence that follows a very awkward statement has a peculiar noise of its own. I swear that I could hear Lant holding his breath and literally feel the wide-eyed stares from Spark and Perseverance. I found a hasty lie. "Coffee would be welcome! It may be spring, but the wind off the river cuts right down to my bones."

She grinned. "You never knew she'd carved your face for the ship, did you?"

Was honesty becoming a dangerous habit? What would Chade have thought? I allowed myself an embarrassed laugh and conceded, "Until a very short time ago, I did not."

"Oh, sweet Sa," Althea muttered, and Brashen brayed out the suppressed laugh that he could hold back no longer. I heard a soft exclamation behind me and turned to find that Alise had joined us.

"Oh, the things our women do to us!" Brashen exclaimed and came to clap me on the shoulder.

▪︎

"I've put Prince FitzChivalry and "Lady" Amber in the same room she once shared with Jek and me. Lord Lant, Clef has offered to share his cabin with you. He's given you the bunk and we'll hang a hammock for him. Per we put belowdeck with the crew." She gave me an apologetic look. "For now, we put your serving girl in with you and Amber, but—"

"Actually I don't mind a hammock belowdecks alongside Perseverance. It's better than sleeping on an open deck."

"Oh, we can do better than that. No need to separate you from your lady." This from Brashen.

Assassin's Fate, by Robin Hobb (Fitz and the Fool Trilogy #3)

[thecreaturecodex]

Mater Cachinnarium

"Truce?" © deviantArt user damie-m, accessed at his gallery here

[People who have been following the Monster Girl Summer project may have noticed that there are a few plot threads being developed alongside the big Mormo vs. Lamashtu plot. This entry ties into the sample beldam NPC and Mad Maddy Maddison]

Mater Cachinnarum CR 12 CE Outsider (native) This woman is lean and ashen-skinned, with clawed hands and jagged, saw-like teeth. Her face seems perpetually fixed in a cruel smirk.

Mater Cachinnarum is the Mother of Sneers, a notorious bogey of eastern Garund. Her wicked braying laughter is heard everywhere from bustling cities to isolated oases, and always shortly after a mutilated body or two turns up. Even more destructive than her serial killing is her delight in framing others for her crimes. She is adept at stoking paranoia and hatred, and those that escape her attacks may become scapegoats for the next murder she commits. Rumor has it that anyone executed for a crime she committed hears her laughter as they die.

The Mother of Sneers was not born a bogeyman, nor even properly born at all. She is the brainchild of a wizard named Valinus Trent. Trent was the sole survivor of an Aspis Consortium expedition into the heart of the Mwangi Expanse, and while attempting to find safety found themselves in the clutches of the beldam Mancinia Spurge. Spurge played the good host for a time before tormenting Trent and eventually trapping their soul in a black sapphire. Mater Cachinnarum is essentially a projection of the darkest parts of Trent’s psyche, their disdain for less intelligent people and fear of being bullied magnified into a shadowy murderer.

Mater Cachinnarum both resents and kowtows to Spurge, as if the gem is broken, the Mother of Sneers will immediately cease to exist. Thus, between her personal projects, Cachinnarum serves Spurge as an assassin and recruiter. Mater Cachinnarum desires an apprentice; her previous apprentice was the dark dancer Mad Maddy Maddison, who escaped her about a year ago. Mater Cachinnarum occasionally torments Maddy with nightmares, but doesn’t want to kill her—she has something much crueler planned. The Mother of Sneers is waiting a few years for Maddy to become established and develop friendships, only to murder everyone Maddy cares about and frame her for those crimes.

Mater Cachinnarum      CR 12 XP 19,200 Bogeyman variant tulpa CE Medium outsider (augmented fey, native) Init +9; Senses low-light vision; Perception +23 Aura deepest fear (30 ft., DC 28)

Defense AC 28, touch 26, flat-footed 21 (+9 deflection, +6 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 armor) hp 127 (17d6+68); terrible rejuvenation 5 Fort +11, Ref +16, Will +13; +4 vs. mind influencing effects DR 15/cold iron; SR 21

Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee 2 +1 claws +15 (1d8+2/19–20) Psychic Magic CL 17th, concentration +26 20 PE—burst of adrenaline (1 PE), burst of insight (1 PE), create mindscape (5 PE), ego whip I (3 PE, DC 22), foster hatred (5 PE, DC 24), levitate (2 PE), mind probe (4 PE, DC 23), paranoia (3 PE, DC 22), possession (5 PE, DC 24) Special Attacks sneak attack +6d6, striking fear Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +25) Constant—detect thoughts, tongues At will—darkness, gaseous form, ghost sound (DC 19), invisibility, suggestion (DC 22) 3/day—crushing despair (DC 23), hold person (DC 22), quickened phantasmal killer (DC 23) 1/day—nightmare (DC 24)

Statistics Str 12, Dex 23, Con 18, Int 17, Wis 16, Cha 29 Base Atk +8; CMB +9; CMD 36 Feats Dodge, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Magical Aptitude, Mobility, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (phantasmal killer), Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse Skills Acrobatics +16, Bluff +29, Diplomacy +22, Disable Device +16, Escape Artist +19, Intimidate +32, Knowledge (local) +17, Perception +23, Sense Motive +23, Spellcraft +17, Stealth +29, Use Magic Device +23; Racial Modifiers +4 Intimidate, +4 Stealth Languages Aklo, Common, Necril, Undercommon; tongues SQ creator link, sustained by thought, variant tulpa Gear dead man’s headband, bracers of armor +2, amulet of mighty fists +1, wand of acid arrow, 700 gp

Special Abilities Creator Link (Su): A tulpa has a special link with its creator or a creature that it treats as its creator. By concentrating for 1 minute, the tulpa can sense the direction and relative distance of its creator, as long as they are both on the same plane. Deepest Fear (Su) A bogeyman is cloaked in a 30-foot aura of fear. This aura manifests as a shifting haze of images that reflect the viewer's deepest fears. The first time it ends its turn within the aura, a creature must make a DC 28 Will save or become shaken for as long as it stays within the aura. If the creature succeeds at the saving throw, it cannot be affected again by the aura for another 24 hours. This is a fear effect. The DC is Charisma-based. Striking Fear (Su) If a bogeyman confirms a critical hit or a sneak attack with one of its claws on a target currently suffering a fear effect, that effect automatically becomes one step more severe (shaken creatures become frightened, frightened creatures become panicked, and panicked creatures cower in fear). A DC 28 Will save negates this increase. In addition, a critical hit from the bogeyman's claw forces any target that has successfully saved against the creature's fear aura to make another Will save against its effects, even if 24 hours have not yet passed. This is a fear effect. The DC is Charisma-based. Sustained by Thought (Su): Tulpas sustain themselves on and gain their power from the mental energy of living creatures concentrating on the tulpa itself. Tulpas do not heal or regain psychic energy naturally. Instead, whenever a living creature spends at least 10 minutes mentally picturing the tulpa, or interacting with it in some way, the tulpa heals 5 hit points and gains 1 point of psychic energy. A creature other than its creator can't provide more than 5 hit points and 1 PE to the tulpa per day with this activity, but its creator can feed its tulpa indefinitely, granting 5 hit points and 1 PE for every 10 minutes she spends in this way, up to the tulpa's maximum hit points and PE. A creature that regularly spends time mentally picturing or interacting with the tulpa may eventually forge a powerful link with the tulpa, and effectively be treated as though she is the tulpa's creator (though this does not supplant the original creator or other creatures treated as the creator by use of this ability). A creature other than the creator that focuses on the tulpa enough to provide it with psychic energy each day for 7 consecutive days must succeed at a DC 20 Will saving throw or forge such a link. Terrible Rejuvenation (Su) A bogeyman gains fast healing 5 while any creature within its deepest fear aura is suffering from a fear effect, including any fear effect created by the aura itself. Each round it gains this fast healing, it also recovers 1 PE. Variant Tulpa Mater Cachinnarum does not have a creator in the sense of a traditional tulpa. Her existence is tied to the gem in which Valinus Trent is trapped in. As long as this gem exists, she returns from death 1 month after slain, but if the gem is broken and Trent is freed, she is destroyed. Mater Cachinnarum does not gain the mental form special quality of a tulpa, and does not gain a racial bonus to skills. Her psychic magic can affect any creature, not just herself and a creator. Her terrible rejuvenation allows her to heal without being in the presence of a creator.

[rebeccadumaurier]

2023 Books in Review

a tiered ranking of all the books i read in 2023! originally i was going to write up my commentary on each one but then i was like hahaha.....no, so below the cut is just a list of the titles/authors in each tier instead.

changed my brain chemistry

The Idiot, Elif Batuman

Land of Milk and Honey, C Pam Zhang

The Borrowed, Chan Ho-kei (trans. Jeremy Tiang)

My Cousin Rachel, Daphne du Maurier

Vagabonds, Hao Jingfang (trans. Ken Liu)

The Membranes, Chi Ta-wei (trans. Ari Larissa Heinrich)

Under the Pendulum Sun, Jeannette Ng

Severance, Ling Ma

He Who Drowned the World, Shelley Parker-Chan

Vita Nostra, Marina & Sergey Dyachenko (trans. Julia Meitov Hersey)

Network Effect, Martha Wells

top-tier stuff

Our Share of Night, Mariana Enriquez (trans. Megan McDowell)

Brainwyrms, Alison Rumfitt

The Door, Magda Szabo (trans. Len Rix)

The Lover, Marguerite Duras (trans. Barbara Bray)

Fun Home, Alison Bechdel

Strange Beasts of China, Yan Ge (trans. Jeremy Tiang)

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers

Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, Kim Fu

Tell Me I’m Worthless, Alison Rumfitt

Bliss Montage, Ling Ma

How to Read Now, Elaine Castillo

Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer

The Fifth Season, N. K. Jemisin

If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin

My Brilliant Friend and The Story of a New Name, Elena Ferrante

The Jasmine Throne, Tasha Suri

good, well-written

Carmilla, Sheridan Le Fanu

Life Ceremony, Sayaka Murata (trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori)

Yellowface, R. F. Kuang

A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine

Assassin of Reality, Marina & Sergey Dyachenko (trans. Julia Meitov Hersey)

Witch King, Martha Wells

Tokyo Ueno Station, Miri Yu (trans. Morgan Giles)

Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler

Peaces, Helen Oyeyemi

Gingerbread, Helen Oyeyemi

Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir

The Pachinko Parlor, Elisa Shua Dusapin (trans. Aneesa Abbas Higgins)

All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Fugitive Telemetry, and System Collapse (Murderbot #1-4, #6-7), Martha Wells

Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee

The Dry Heart, Natalia Ginzburg (trans. Frances Frenaye)

Gods of Want, K-Ming Chang

Paradais, Fernanda Melchor (trans. Sophie Hughes)

The Mushroom at the End of the World, Anna Tsing

Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced An Emergency, Chen Chen

The Hurting Kind, Ada Limon

Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie

An Unauthorised Fan Treatise, Lauren James

Upstream, Mary Oliver

The Art of Death, Edwidge Danticat

Meander, Spiral, Explode, Jane Alison

alphabet, Inger Christensen (trans. Susanna Nied)

Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

flawed, but enjoyable

The Wicker King, K. Ancrum

Exit West, Mohsin Hamid

Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters

Flux, Jinwoo Chong

Bang Bang Bodhisattva, Aubrey Wood

The Murder of Mr. Wickham, Claudia Gray

Natural Beauty, Ling Ling Huang

The Monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson

Certain Dark Things, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Likeness, Tana French

The Cabinet, Un-su Kim (trans. Sean Lin Halbert)

The Kingdom of Surfaces, Sally Wen Mao

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On, Franny Choi

good, well-written, but not my cup of tea

The Good House, Tananarive Due

The Transmigration of Bodies, Yuri Herrera (trans. Lisa Dillman)

Roadside Picnic, Arkady & Boris Strugatsky (trans. Olena Bormashenko)

The School for Good Mothers, Jessamine Chan

At Night All Blood Is Black, David Diop (trans. Anna Moschovakis)

Family Lexicon, Natalia Ginzburg (trans. Jenny McPhee)

The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo

The Kingdom of This World, Alejo Carpentier (trans. Harriet de Onís)

Against Silence, Frank Bidart

flawed, less enjoyable

Tenth of December, George Saunders

Counterweight, Djuna (trans. Anton Hur)

Authority, Jeff VanderMeer

Comfort Me with Apples, Catherynne M. Valente

Babel, R. F. Kuang

The Genesis of Misery, Neon Yang

Carrie Soto Is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid

not ranking

These are nonfiction and they aren’t literature-related, so it just felt weird trying to rank them.

Visual Thinking, Temple Grandin

On Web Typography, Jason Santa Maria

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo (trans. Cathy Hirano)

[morwynlefay]

i posted some sketches a while back of the different characters in the choose your own adventure film i’m making. hare is a start of another of the character’s costumes

in the story you are trying to assassinate a bandit leader and to do ghat you have to recruit a partner to help you.

this is one of the options in choosing a partner that you get, his name is Tristan Perrin, he is a knight from northern Velowyn, which is the kingdom next to the kingdom where the story takes place, Bodernland

the things missing from the costume at the moment is a maille shirt and collar, a oair of spaulders, gauntlets, split hose and braies and a pair of shoes

[historical-mg-ya]

Favorite 2010s book or series

[uarmeimu]

20 books challenge

If you could only keep 20 books (physical/ebook/audio), which would be the ones you would keep?

Rules are simple:

1 book per author. 1 book per series. Tag #twenty books challenge

i saw a challenge from @theinquisitxor and tagged myself to do it

book names are below the cut

magic for liars by sarah gailey

american gods by neil gaiman

the silver chair by cs lewis

lirael by garth nix

the return of the king by jrr tolkien

jonathan strange & mr norrell by susanna clarke

we are okay by nina la cour

house of hades by rick riordan

the magician king by lev grossman

assassin's quest by robin hobb

crooked kingdom by leigh bardugo

black leopard red wolf by marlon james

words of radiance by brandon sanderson

dracula by bram stoker

squire by tamora pierce

a swiftly tilting planet by madeline lengle

just ella by margaret haddix

wuthering heights by emily bronte

the sweet far thing by libra bray

ptolemys gate by jonathan stroud

[james-vi-stan-blog]

Ok my personal response to The King’s Assassin. From the perspective of a layperson who is not in any form a historian, merely a fan of James VI/I. Edit I also fixed the author’s name in my post, I dunno HOW I messed that up, fever scrambled my branes.

I don’t hate the book, and it would be wildly arrogant of me to say “it’s bad! It’s inaccurate!” when I know like 5 things, have read a handful of books and have to scrape my meager knowledge outta JSTOR allowance and what my library has. And overall, I think it actually does a great job of introducing the different factions involved, the shifts in politics as they happen, and presenting loads and LOADS of interesting anecdotes in order of their occurrence. It’s highly readable and takes you on this rollicking adventure through a twisting and turning, but comprehensible narrative.

But… I think that’s its core problem. It’s a narrative. Woolley is telling a story from history, with themes and characters and surprise reveals. Woolley has a particular vision of George Villiers as a villain protagonist with an arc, and writes almost from a third person omniscient perspective. And I think this is to the book’s detriment. The full complexity of human beings, who can’t be boiled down to archetypes and who aren’t on coherent trajectories and don't have arcs, gets flattened.

It’s very, VERY credulous in general. Basically, any rumor that ever existed is included. All accounts are essentially trusted with no interrogation of political slant or provenance. As a James fan, I noticed the unquestioning use of Weldon and Eglisham in particular; since my knowledge is limited I can’t say what other questionable sources were used, but this review calls it out for heavily using an alleged hoax. The epilogue and “““proof””” of the poisoning is especially weird. (Leanda de Lisle's review talks about it. Listen to her, an actual historian who knows actual things, not me)

On the one hand, this maximally inclusive approach brings in all kinds of tales that an unfamiliar reader might not have heard of, giving the most colorful possible account. But I felt that mixing in the extremely dubious sources with the reliable ones, distinguishing them little in the text and using unnumbered endnotes, is really deceptive and misleads the reader about the certainty of the narrative Woolley favors.

As far as what this means for Mary & George… I mean. The book is a titillating account of lurid scandal. And we already knew the series is going to be a titillating account of lurid scandal. Expect the series based on a book that already incorporates fiction and wild speculation to become even more fictionalized and speculative for the sake of drawing in viewers who want to watch and thirst over while also judging bad people who do bad things.

But that’s what all historical dramas are like and have been like forever. Especially the general time period—the Tudors have gotten this treatment forever. Viewership and big bucks don’t come for “documentary with re-enactment”. And in general, people don’t find history worth watching unless there’s butts and boobies.

Sure, I’ll be disappointed if when the drama inserts loads of stuff that definitely never happened for sexXxyness. Yeah, I’ll be bummed out when it conforms to traditional depictions of historical figures that were codified by agenda-laden traditions. But this always happens. And you know, if a bare butt gets someone to watch who would otherwise have never known about the incredible queer drama that played out in the Jacobean court, who probably doesn’t even know Buckingham from the Three Musketeers, I’m happy. Because even though it didn’t happen as M&G is gonna depict it, it did happen in the broad strokes, these people were real, and that’s been largely buried and forgotten.

The world NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT JAMES. And even if the picture someone comes away with is inaccurate, at least they will know he existed and loved men, and just that fact now being in their brain will please me so much.

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

The wind has existed forever. It has seen much of this country of dreams and soap ads, old horrors and bloodshed. It has played mute witness to its burning witches, and has walked along a Trail of Tears; it has seen slave ships release their human cargo, blinking and afraid, into the ports, their only possession a grief they can never lose. The wind was there when President Lincoln fell to an assassin's bullet. It smelled of gunpowder at Antietam. It ran with the buffalo and touched tentative fingers to the tall black hats of Puritans. It has carried shouts of love, and it has dried tears to salt tracks on more faces than it can remember.

The Diviners, Libba Bray