#did I mention I was reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell? did I mention this means I'm really so brave?

[wetcatspellcaster]

@novarunestone thank you for the tag! I got tagged in this on my main blog an hour ago (curse of sideblog life) so I'm sorry for jumpscaring you with like... an immediate reply :')

edit: oh my god I'm a fucking idiot ignore me. completely different set of questions I was just so excited to be efficient.

Last song listened to: Ugly Heart by G.R.L (lmao what an utter bop)

Favorite color: blue! turquoise! purple!

Currently watching: Miss Scarlet and the Duke (I need William to realise Patrick Nash is RIGHT THERE taking bullets I need him to panic and I need him to START SIMPING. otherwise the rivals-to-lovers vibes will prove too strong and I *will* start shipping the second lead I will do it. at least he realises how hot of Eliza it is to be sexy-brained.)

Spicy/savoury/sweet: sweet

Relationship status: single!

Current obsession: BG3, D&D, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ( I'm so brave), Fantasy High, Game Changer - my friend made me rewatch everything yesterday bc she is a Sam Dalton truther

Tagging: @imscissorbladez @violacae @dolceaspidenera @dillardpickle and anyone else who is feeling fancy x

[bloody-wonder]

making progress on old series

let it not be said that i can only start new series🧐

new releases:

empire of the damned by jay kristoff (book two in: empire of the vampire). i might have mentioned this one once or twice already so let's keep it brief. i loved it! even more than book one, i think. love liathe joining the main cast, love jean françois' everything, love how everyone got queerer, love the reveals at the end. very excited for the last book in this series, altho i'm a bit disappointed that it's now three books instead of five - since there are five vampire houses i wanted them to keep taking on a house in each book, with blood chastain being the final boss. very rude of kristoff to betray my vision.

the sunshine court by nora sakavic (book four in: all for the game). i don't think this spin off continuation was necessary and i didn't particularly enjoy it but i'm glad jean stans now have their own sacred text. my biggest fear was that nora would retcon something about the og trilogy and that didn't happen so i can just keep living in peace while mostly ignoring tsc fan content. more thoughts on why i didn't vibe with tsc in these posts.

mislaid in parts half-known by seanan mcguire (book nine in: wayward children). so this series consists of books focused on individual wayward children as well as of ensemble books which are usually weaker and this particular novella unfortunately belongs to the latter category. i still liked it fine and it was a quick read but tbh i'm ready for this series to wrap up so i hope goodreads isn't lying about the next book being the final installment.

fence vol. 6: redemption by cs pacat & johanna the mad. i rated it five stars but ngl i have no memory of what happened in this volume altho i read it in february😅 i like this series overall but i feel like the first few volumes were more exciting. weirdly now that the slow burn is finally starting to pay off i suddenly lose interest😕

heartstopper: volume five by alice oseman. i'm not a big fan of heartstopper in general, i think it's overhyped, but i did like this volume more than the previous ones. maybe i'm biased bc it features tori coming out as ace which prompted me to pick up solitaire which i loved and so it retroactively cast a more favorable light on the graphic novel. looking forward to reading the last volume bc i like finishing things and then i might as well read the nick and charlie novellas - at which point i will have become a person who doesn't like oseman's books all that much and yet has somehow read all but one of them🫤

mammoths at the gates and the brides of high hill by nghi vo (books four and five in: the singing hills cycle). i have only really liked the second singing hills novella so at this point it would be smart to admit that this series is simply not for me and stop reading it but. these books are so short and perfect for when you want to get through something quickly even if you know you're not likely to enjoy it. and if indeed eight stories are planned then it means i have now read more than half so i might as well complete the series🤷‍♀️ *gets shot by sunk cost fallacy police*

series i completed:

regency faerie tales by olivia atwater (read books two and three: ten thousand stitches and longshadow). love love LOVE these books!! i read half a soul last october and ten thousand stitches this january - both times when i was sick in bed and i couldn't have wished for better books to help me recover from a cold. the first one is pride & prejudice meets jonathan strange & mr norrell, the second one is a cinderella retelling, both have lovely romances and can be read as standalones. i think half a soul is fairly popular (and constantly compared to the book that shall not be named😒) but ten thousand stitches is very underappreciated. i for one think it's at least as good, if not better, than half a soul - apparently people just can't appreciate a love interest who isn't angsty and brooding😒 longshadow is a companion novel too but imo it features too many characters and concepts from the previous books so it should definitely be read last. i didn't like it as much bc i think it relies too much on the stuff we already know and love instead of giving its protagonists enough time to shine but it is queer which made me realize we don't have nearly enough queer fae books. what a disgrace🧐

noumena by lindsay ellis (read book three: apostles of mercy). so this was unfortunately mind-bogglingly boring. this type of sci fi is usually not my cup of tea and so i stay away from it but i decided to give this series a try bc it was written by lindsay ellis. the first book was entertaining enough but both sequels bored me to tears. it seems i was under a misconception that the story was gonna be about a sad girl trying to navigate a third thing type of relationship with a freaky alien but it was instead about her navigating instalovey relationships with random humans and the alien was also there sometimes. big disappointment👎

series i'm slowly working my way through:

the memoirs of lady trent by marie brennan (read books two, three and four: the tropic of serpents, the voyage of the basilisk and in the labyrinth of drakes). i read book one last december and liked it just enough to continue the series but every next book after that turned out to be amazing. follow lady trent, a 19th century dragon naturalist and adventurer, legendary as she is scandalous, as she travels through fantasy africa, oceania and arabia in search of dragons living and extinct, starts various political upheavals, makes breathtaking discoveries and finds love - a life journey she recounts as an old woman in a delightfully snarky narrative voice.

book two is my favorite so far bc it found a perfect balance of fast-paced adventurous plot on the one hand and character and relationship development on the other. i'm a bit sad that natalie left the main cast after this book - one of the only two criticisms i have of this series is that the titular lady trent remains the only important woman character. i think it wouldn't be too far-fetched to have one more woman on the team and natalie was a perfect protegée who, might i add, is also canonically ace. hate to see her leave😒

book three introduces a love interest who i at first found kinda bland but he grew on me in book four. my favorite relationship in the series however remains the one between lady trent and her trusted colleague tom wilker with whom they used to butt heads when they first met but who is now her dearest friend and longtime companion on her journeys. there are many books about romance and friendship but not so many about the utter satisfaction of having a coworker you can absolutely rely on. my prediction/wish for the last book is for wilker to turn out to be gay and find love too🤞

the other criticism i have has to do with the worldbuilding and i'll elaborate on it when i complete the series later this year.

the witcher by andrzej sapkowski (read books two and three: the time of contempt and baptism of fire). i'm enjoying this series much more than i thought i would. the key to success here is to leave behind all expectations you have from reading western epic fantasy or indeed from the witcher adaptations. this saga started as short stories and sapkowski remains a short story author first and foremost which might irritate a reader expecting a novel with a neat three act structure but which i personally found fascinating. the opening chapter of book two told from the pov of a messenger who encounters all major characters on the road, gets a death prophecy from a girl he doesn't know to be ciri and indeed dies as the chapter ends - i think that was a very creative way to reintroduce the reader to the main cast and plot essentially through the format of a short story.

another thing sapkowski does a lot is conveying everything through dialogue which, as you might know, is like bookish catnip to me lol. some dialogues are there just for the sake of dialogue, only bc the author wanted some side characters he made up to have a funny conversation. to be fair, at worst this structure becomes too meandering but i gotta say i find that chapters that are focused on mundane scenes seemingly going nowhere are more fun than plot focused chapters about sorceresses and wizards fighting or whatever. the witch trial chapter in baptism of fire - that's where it's at for me.

the thing i'm still not so sure about is the way women and women's issues are represented. very mixed feelings on what happens to milva in book three, tho i think i wouldn't be so skeptical had she not been the only woman on the main cast in that book. (cahir and regis are such fun characters with interesting motivations and stuff so ig i'm pissed that the only female character's deal has to be about that). ciri on the other hand is written very well imo and i totally did not expect her to be in a sapphic relationship. sure hope nothing bad happens to her gf🥲

vorkosigan saga by lois mcmaster bujold (read books one, two and four (??): shards of honor, barrayar and the vor game). so after reading the warrior's apprentice and the mountains of mourning last year i took a step back and read cordelia's books which i unfortunately didn't like. cordelia is a type of female character i don't vibe with and the gender themes in her books, while likely very progressive for their time, often made me roll my eyes, grind my teeth etc. in my goodreads reviews i explain my issues in more detail. the ethical implications of uterine replicators haunt me still😕

returning to miles in the vor game was both welcome and disappointing bc i keep expecting more from this man and he keeps falling short of my grand lymondesque expectations. in this book in particular i was immediately hooked on the arctic base plot only for it to be cut short bc this is a space opera and miles needs to go do pew pew pew in space, just like in book one. boo. now that i know weatherman was formerly a short story bujold later incorporated into the vor game i think it's curious that i seem to like miles a lot in short stories and novellas (the mountains of mourning remains my favorite) but am underwhelmed by the full length novel miles.

i will say however that now i have sufficiently adjusted my expectations and am very motivated to find out if there is a vorkosigan book out there that i will absolutely love. so i'll keep reading a few books per year - there's something soothing about slowly working one's way through a very long series😌

the realm of the elderlings by robin hobb (read books two and three: royal assassin and assassin's quest). the farseer books are the longest and (for the most part) the most boring books i have read this year. normally i don't torture myself like this but i wanted to do it for the fool and see how his relationship with fitz develops. was it worth it? i would say yes but only bc i let myself curate my own perfect reading experience and skimmed aggressively, sometimes skipping entire chapters. and i will do it again!👿 bc i will keep reading the elderlings books to see how the one million page yaoi plays out.

the only part of the farseer trilogy i really enjoyed was the second half of assassin's quest - not just bc fitz and the fool were cute and heart-wrenching together but bc of the entire unlikely fellowship on this quest. nighteyes is my favorite which is a feat on hobb's part bc normally i don't care about animal companions or am annoyed by them. kettle is iconic, always remember to take an auld woman on a quest (or she will chase you down and join despite your protests and prevarications). i hated starling but in a series where most characters provoke zero emotions that was a welcome change. kettricken was also there. their group dynamic was delightful and i wish the entirety of this series (or at least of this last book) was this slow burn psychological character study in close proximity group dynamics. but you can't always have what you want ig🤷‍♀️

what's next:

finishing the memoirs of lady trent - only one book in the main series is left and then there's also a spin off about her granddaughter, i think

rereading swordspoint which i first read back in 2020 and found underwhelming but it may just have been bc captive prince was such a hard act to follow for many gay books i tried back then. i hope i will like it more now that i can meet it halfway and if it goes well i want to complete the riverside trilogy right away

sometime this fall i'm gonna read pandora and vittorio the vampire. finishing the vampire chronicles is on my bookish bucket list and now, two whole years after i reread three of them to refresh my memory, i finally feel sane and brave enough to keep working towards that goal. so wish me luck🥲

finishing joanne harris' st oswald's series which started with one of my favorite dark academia novels gentlemen and players. i read the sequel last year and liked it a lot so now i want to read the final book a narrow door which also seems like a perfect autumnal read

the new evander mills mystery comes out in october and i'd like to read it before the year ends

2024 reading updates | goodreads

[ilthit]

Ruby sent me numbers from the choose violence meme, so here we go!

1 - the character everyone gets wrong - Shen Jiu (Scum Villain's Self-Saving System) 7 - what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? - hate is a strong word but I have mentioned: John Childermass and the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) 22 - your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores - this one is from Mo Dao Zu Shi (the novel)

Full discussion under the cut.

the character everyone gets wrong

Shen Jiu from Scum Villain's Self-Saving System. CAVEAT: You are allowed to write him anyway you like, let him fall into whatever character slot you that pleases your id. I'm not a cop, you do you. I too have even written some SJ fic that I didn't think was in canon character (the Golden Concubine one). But. If you want to be true to the character as he is written in the novel. He is not gay. Sorry. He hates men. Hairy chests make him want to vomit. He's more than a straight guy, he's like a male lesbian. Yue Qingyuan is his soulmate? Maybe, sure, if you want. Yue Qingyuan is such a big simp that Shen Jiu learned to trust him, like he doesn't trust anyone else, and then he sucker-punched that trust right out of him by appearing to have dumped him to pursue personal success. Shen Jiu is an abused, traumatized alley cat, too proud and too fragile to let anyone close. Whenever he's tried to extend a hand to make a connection with another man, such as asking Yue Qingyuan to explain, or protecting Liu Qingge in a fight, those men were unable to respond the right way*, and he immediately retreated back with all spikes out. He has to be the strongest, but he can't. He needs to be in control, but he isn't, even of his own anger and fear. The only time he can rest is in the arms of a woman, or when getting to spoil and protect an innocent girl, someone who is not trying to take his place. Also they're soft and they smell good. And I just think that's valid.

You know how many fics there are with Shen Jiu/female character on AO3? Last time I checked it was two, I think it must be three by now. Honestly, just let Shen Jiu like girls. It's fine.

*Their inability to respond correctly may be part of the critique of toxic masculinity that is a major theme of SVSSS, which is why I quite enjoy the idea that an AU where Shen Yuan meets Shen Jiu, this could change, because while SY certainly has piles of toxic masculinity, he has proven through the narrative to at least be able to respond differently. Shang Qinghua might have done it too, and he tried, but didn't have the power to push through his System and circumstances. That scene in the carriage where he tried to save Shen Jiu is one of my favourite SQH moments, it made me feel for both of them. It still doesn't mean I think canon-compliant SJ would sleep with either of those gross boys.

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Hate is a strong word, but I went from feeling vaguely positive about John Childermass, the holder of the braincell in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, to feeling vaguely negative just because the fandom is so much about this one character that I feel like all other characters get pushed aside. I get that to some people it's specifically the Childermass fandom and they wouldn't be here except for Childermass, but… hey.

In the same fandom, I went from being entertainingly creeped out by the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair to not wanting to read any fic with him in it at all, because I worry that the fic will treat Gentleman/Stephen Black as somehow romantic or desirable and, again, I don't want to judge, but that creeps me out in a way that is no longer entertaining.

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

In MDZS the book, aka The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, there is a scene in the extras where Wangxian are enjoying their honeymoon and overhear gossip at the inn where they talk about Nie Huaisang's recent political ascent, and Wei Wuxian muses briefly about how they might not be so happy with him for long, and then decides it's none of his business and he just wants to start living his life now. This is, to me, KEY to the whole story.

In The Untamed, the TV version, Lan Wangji is said to be ascending to the position of chief cultivator, and I am sure this is because on television, they wanted to say: Look, Wen Ruohan was evil, Jin Guangshan was evil, Jin Guangyao was evil--but now a good man will be Chief Cultivator and so everything will be fine!

The book, the author, is saying: It is not possible to be the leader and be a good person. It is not possible for those in control to be benevolent, because power will always fall in the hands of those who are willing to commit atrocities to gain it.

Nie Huaisang is my close second favourite character, I'm not bashing, but he is cunning and ruthless and was willing to let a lot of people die to get his revenge. Jin Guangyao was cunning and ruthless and was willing to let a lot of people die to get consequence and still wicked tongues. Jin Guangshan… You get the picture. In the book, the Wen aren't living on a volcano making zombies for fun like cartoon villains, they have a prosperous city and seem to be generally okay kinda leaders until they started overreaching with the outposts. That's all. Greed, the ambition for revenge and to attain material goods and earthly power, leads inevitably to evil. The only way to a happy ending is to refuse to participate.

You couldn't have that on TV, because it would imply the government may not be on your side. 🤫

MDZS fandom is wide, I am sure I am not the only person to discuss this aspect, but maybe it just seems so momentous to me that I am surprised I haven't yet seen more talk about it.

[whimsicaldragonette]

Audio ARC Review: Babel by R.F. Kuang

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Publication Date: August 23, 2022

Synopsis:

From award-winning author R.F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide… Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

My Rating: ★★★★★

*My Review below the cut.

My Review:

Oh. My Gods. Five Stars do not do this book justice. It was stunning and gorgeous and horrifying and devastating and so, so believable. The way R.F. Kuang grounds every aspect of her worldbuilding in real-life history (documented in copious footnotes) makes the progression of the story logical and feel true. It also makes the horrors of colonialism creep up on you until it's overwhelming.

I adore the magic system, based on translation between languages, and the shades of meaning that are lost in the process. It is these lost shades of meaning that power the magic when inscribed on silver bars.

The academic setting feels incredibly realistic and nostalgic (in that weird way that brings back memories both good and bad).

The way everything is tied together and carefully plotted, the slow revelation of the horrors of the web of colonialism that traps them all, the slow and inevitable way the characters grow and grow apart -- it's all masterful.

Did I mention devastating? Because I cried more than I have at most books I've read this year. I got so wrapped up in the characters and their struggles that it felt so incredibly real

The audiobook was performed beautifully, with a different narrator reading the footnotes and pronouncing the things being translated from other languages, which made it easy to separate them from the main text. I couldn't put it down and if it hadn't been for the holidays would have flown through it in just a few days.

11/10 highly recommend.

*Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVoyager for providing an early copy for review.

[talpup]

PFFFT LOL I'M LOVING THE NEW HEADER IMAGE. Fr though, i really liked the way you handled the world building for crossroads and lost song (i'm so sorry i just favor fics with overhaul in them)- are there other series (fanfics or original works) that you looked to for inspiration to build the lore/world? And are there any fantasy series you read or follow rn?

Those fics have lowkey been re-kindling my interest in the fantasy genre that i thought ended when i got bored of the YA section in middle school ._.;;

I’m glad you like it. lol

No need to apologize for favoring Kai fics. I’m the same way with Shouta, rarely reading anything that isn’t centered on him with a certain adult flavor. And it’s not because I don’t enjoy fics focused on other characters. I mean I read and thoroughly enjoy chatting with @inorganicone2230 about their Kai fics; and loved the handful of other authors Kai fics they have told me about. It’s just, we all have our preferences and only so much time in the day so we tend to stick with those preferences.

‘Lost Song’ is a fanfic continuation from an original series that has three previous original books (four if you count “book II” from the 2nd book of the series ‘The Dragon-Griffon War’). Yeah, I’ve gotten better with titles over the years. lol Anyway, the lore/world building of ‘Lost Song’ was pretty much layout in the first book of the series ‘War of Divisions’ and grew from there. As I wrote that book in my mid-teens, it was mostly me just letting my kid mind wander. Though my love and obsessive reading of ancient mythology had a lot to do with it. The idea of bringing all the mythic creatures from different lore together in one world was pretty much just my teen self doing what my kid self did when I made my Barbie’s, He-Man’s, Thundercats, and Hot-wheels exist in one big fantasy so I could play with them all at once.

When it comes to ‘Crossroads’ and the more supernatural/magic stuff in it, I'm totally not as knowledgeable of magic, witchcraft, and/or the occult as I am in mythology. In fact, I know next to nothing about the subject unless you count some of the ancient festivals that started out more as celebration of ancient gods. So in the case of witchcraft based magic (not magical creature based), I kinda just bullshit my way through, using the mythic history I know and building from there, or just doing what makes sense to me.

Though if you’re interested in a more informed based witch/magic fantasy, I highly recommend @lord-explosion-baku ‘Thorns’, which I am woefully behind on and need to binge.

As all my suggestions would be Shouta centered fics, and you mentioned how you favor fics with Kai in them, I'll hold off listing recommendations unless you get back to me saying you're good with Shouta focused stuff. ...though I really should make a rec list to give fellow authors more love.

General side note, not directed at you anon...

If you read someone's work please comment and/or reblog. It really means a lot to writers.

As for original/published works, I never pass on recommending Sir Terry Pratchett's Disc World series. I have devoured every book of the series, and often spout one-liners from his work. The man was a genius, and will forever be an inspiration who was taken too soon from this world.

You mentioned how ‘Lost Song’ has given you a sense of escapism (something I’m still squeeing about). Because of that, I gotta recommend ‘Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell’ by Susanna Clarke. It’s a book that gave me that eerie excitement I got as a kid every Halloween and my adult self thought I would never feel again.

Lastly @inorganicone2230 has gotten me into Sarah J. Maas A Court of Throns and Roses series. Which is just so yummy.

[slow-burn-sally]

Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell (riddled with spoilers)

I finished it! I finally finished it! I just read the last page like seven minutes ago and I loved it so much! 

I have a lot to say. The gentleman is so horrible! His last story about finding Stephen’s true name by tracking down all the pieces of his mother and murdering a bunch of people??? JESUS CHRIST THAT WAS ROUGH.

Also the differences in plot between the book and the show got very pronounced during the second half of the book. There were a lot of things added in the show that didn’t happen. And things left out. Like Childermass’ conversation with the Raven King?? Poor guy. Didn’t even recognize him! And how the gentleman was crushed under a bunch of millstones rather than pulled into a tree on his dance floor at Lost Hope. How he never punished anyone (which was a relief) before Stephen killed him. 

The whole plot with Stephen being granted all of England’s power by mistake wasn’t explained in the show at all (at least not in a way I remember). It was wonderfully written and I loved that little twist that allowed him to kill the gentleman and take his thrown.

I loved Drawlight’s magical bad acid trip of being eaten alive and becoming the forest and then really loved his murder and how evil Lascelles is. And by “loved his murder” I really mean it was well written and fucked up and just amazing. Same with Strange and Norrell’s reunion and their trying to figure out how to summon the Raven King. Only, HE DOESN’T SHOW UP FOR THEM IN THE BOOK?

Also...we’re just going to assume that Lascelles was killed? By the Raven King? Hmmm. I almost forgot that there was no explicit mention of his demise. 

Where do people get the idea that Childermass and Segundus fight all the time? In the book they meet like three times? And even though one of those times involves Childermass shutting down the school, the other times they were civil. Don’t get me wrong, I love fics that have them going from enemies to friends to lovers etc (and I mean LOVE THEM), but I didn’t see the cannon support for it from the book and would love it if anyone wants to comment. 

This book is full of ships! I could see Arabella/Emma, Strange/Norrell, Strange/Childermass, Childermass/Lascelles. Not that I ship all those characters, but there are a lot of moments that support a shippy element for them. The only two I didn’t see as being very shippy were our boys, Childermass/Segundus. Which won’t stop me from shipping them in the slightest, but the show almost has more of a shippy vibe than the book and that was a little confusing. Any thoughts? Does anyone have any johnsquared quotes or book moments bookmarked that I may have missed? I did read quite a bit of this while blearily tired and late at night and may have missed something. 

Now, I finally can write my johnsquared fic! I am beyond excited. This book was fantastic and beautiful and poetic and funny and scary and a little bit sexy and very very special. <3

Ps. I still love the show too. IMO they can stand separately and have a lot of value on their own. I will definitely be rewatching it soon to look more closely at the comparisons. 

[mythopoeticreality]

For the reader asks: What do you wish more authors in your fandom would write about?, - What reader or write do you think most deserves a high five?, and Tell me a headcanon (and who you wish would write it)?

Ohh! Awesome! Just the questions I wanted to answer too! xD Thank you, you wonderful nonnie for sending me these!^^ I umm…I might get a bit long-winded here so bear with me….>.>

What do you wish more authors in your fandom would write about?

Oh dear…you just gave me free reign here to give you my fannish wish-list anon. Do you realize what you’ve done?!

Okay, no but, these are some of the ideas and characters I’ve most wanted to see more explored for such a long time now, so this might get a bit long as I’ve been thinking about some of these things for so long, so…let’s split this up by fandom:

Silmarillon/Tolkien:

More Tinfang please, definately! Probably my most obscure fav here,but he has so much potential? I mean, he’s this haf-fey pied-piper type figure and I just need like…all of the fic of him outwitting orcs and robin-hooding it up across Beleriand just basically ruining Morgoth’s day in his own small ways xD I love the idea of Tinfang being this folklorish figure amongst the elves, and I’d love to see more of that.

On that note: More Middle Earth Fairy Lore in general. Yeah I know most of this stuff is only half-canonical at best and pretty obscure, coming from the Book of Lost Tales, but still, it’s just fun? Again, I love the idea of elvish folklore, especially pre-Valarin folklore and I’d love to see more of it, and incorporating some of these older Lost Tales era ideas is such a great way to do it? Besides, the addition of fairies answers an age old question in Tolkien Fandom:

“…they were born before the world and are older than its oldest, and are not of it, but laugh at it much, for had they not somewhat to do with its making, so that it is for the most part a play for them…”

TELL ME THAT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE TOM BOMBADIL TO YOU!?! Case closed. Tom Bombadil is a Fairy.

Asside from Tinfang and Fairy lore, however, There are a couple of things I’d love to see more of in this fandom as well.

More Amlach would always be a blessing.I don’t really see why he is so often overlooked as a character either. Here’s this guy, he’s like, ‘Okay, I’m maybe not so cool with these Elves dragging us into this war of theirs that I certainly didn’t  sign on for’  but then Morgoth comes along, and sends one of his servants to impersonate him while he’s away. Amlach finds out is all ‘What?! You stole my face?! Oh it’s personal, now…” and then goes to find Maedhros and becomes one of his vassals to fight against Morgoth. He has to be one of my favorite Men in the Legendarium, and I can’t help but picture his relationship with Maedhros to be just…so full of snark. He’s not awed by these elves after all, he’s just here because Morgoth’s an asshole. Honestly, I can’t help but feel that if Amlach feels like Maedhros is wrong about something he will speak up about it. And..Maedhros actually appreciates that? Amlach’s honesty, I mean, maybe not the snark all the time xD I just want to see more of that relationship, and it’s development, blossoming into some kind of respect and friendship between the two. Basically Amlach is awesome and I want more of him.

Finally, I’d love to see more Eönwë/Mairon stuff? This is my ship! The whole tragic lovers-to-enemies dynamic that they could have going? Those moments where Sauron came begging to Eönwë at the end of the War of Wrath and things almost, almost looked like things could have been reconciled, where everything stood on a knife-blade and a held breath? YES, I am here for that. And yeah, I’m a sucker for redemption fics, so I’m here for AU’s where Sauron actually did turn around and seek the Valar’s forgiveness as well.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell:

*slams fist on table* More JSMN Crossovers! I mean, the King’s Roads literally go everywhere, and I can’t be the only one who sees the potential there! You’ve got all of fiction and reality open to you! For instance: 

Send Childermass off on the King’s Roads exploring Faerie and Looking for a way to read Vinculus, and have him stumble on into the DC Universe to run into John Constantine! They can be Snarky Northern Bastards together and deal with Fairies and Demons and Magic! 

Have John Uskglass wander into Wizarding New York in 1926 and meet Credence Barebone! Can you imagine what that would be like? The Raven King meeting this orphan kid who grew up in pretty much the exact opposite situation to himself, In a world where magic is kept a secret, and who had to spend his life suppressing this magic he had? What would be going through John’s head in that moment? What would be going through Credence’s? Can the Raven King take Credence under his wing, get himself a new apprentice? He should. That would be really cool. 

Oh, or what about Strange and Norrell while they’re trapped in the Pillar of Darkness? Send them to Valinor! Imagine the reactions of the Elves and the Valar at the approach of this huge Tower of Midnight. What New Sorcery of Morgoth’s is this? Is this the arrival of some new evil into their realm, like Ungoliant? Imagine this army of Elven warriors – the very same ones that Durring the War of Wrath fought to take down the source of all evil in Middle Earth – all lining up and preparing for battle…only to discover a pair of fondly squabbling academics

Or you know what? We don’t even need the King’s roads for crossovers! One of the things I’ve been most wanting to see in this fandom is a Sandman/JSMN crossover just…focusing on the relationship between Uskers and Morpheus? Like, I could totally see Oberon’s Favorite Foster Son as having encountered the Lord Shaper over here during his time in Faerie? And just, as a being of Faerie, as a Magician, as a Legend in and of himself, he totally has this connection to Dream? And honestly….why wouldn’t I want to see these two being Melodramatic and Goth and Awesome together? I’d really love to see how they’d interact. (Crossovers involving Daniel would *also* be amazing too of course and I’d really love to see John dealing with the feelings of knowing but not knowing Daniel, of interacting with someone who is at the same time so much older and so much younger than himself. How weird does it have to get to begin to stretch at even the Raven King’s own standards for what is “normal?”) 

Other crossovers I’d like to see: John Segundus and Arthur Weasley hanging out because that would be just…the most adorable thing. And Also Henry Lascelles and Lucius Malfoy, because they just kind of deserve one another really xD

Asside from Crossovers I’d really love to read more things focusing on just the general history and world building in JSMN? I want to see like, the effects of magic on things like the Interregnum and the Restoration! I want to see what sort of History Play Shakespere wrote about John Uskglass and How opening night went! (You Know the Raven King showed up,watching from the shadows. You just know it.) I want to see Isaac Newton as a Magician, dammit! (speaking of that last one I got this lovely fic around Christmas Time about that very thing and I am eternally greatful for it, and y’all should go read it)

And honestly, more fics about the Aurate Magicians and John Uskglass would be amazing? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I want an entire series of novels dedicated to the Aurate era of Magic. I want *all* of the medieval politics and drama. How does John Uskglass interact with say…Emperess Matilda or Henry V? How does magic change things and introduce new issues that have to be delt with? Also…the characters of this time period just *fascinate* me. Yeah, John Uskglass, but also Thomas of Dundale? William of Lanchester? Catherine of Winchester? Donata Torrel and Margaret Ford and their troop of women magicians? Thomas Godbless? Walter De Chepe? Lookit. I just need *all* of the stories about the Aurates.

Oh, and one more thing: No 80′s AU JSMN fandom? I am Dissapoint. I need John Uskglass hanging out in Le Phonographique as is only his natural habitat ;P 

What reader or writer do you think most deserves a high five? 

But there are so many awesome people in both my fandoms? I mean Just going off of the top of my head…

@jordenspuls and @somepallings just seem like all around really cool people and it’s always a delight to see their back-and-forth crossing my dash (even if most of the time I’m too much an awkward nerd to say anything myself) Not only that but they’re also really awesome writers and if you like Johnsquared you should definitely check out both of their work!^^

@ohveda is also super-cool and is also an awesome writer, especially– again – if you like Johnsquared. Also, it always makes me smile when I see a comment on one of my metas, because we’ve always had nice discussion in the past. 

Of course I’ve gotta mention @regshoe here, for loving the Raven King as much I do, for always being an awesome person to talk to and for writing such amazing fic as well as comments in my own stories.

And on that same note, theseatheseatheopensea is another amazing writer in JSMN fandom (seriously, the writing is just georgous. Go read that Isaac Newton story.) and always leaves such lovely comments in my fic as well!^^

Finally, @thearrogantemu and @prackspoor have both written some of my favorite Silm fics.

Tell me a headcanon (and who you wish would write it)? 

Okay, so for most of my headcanons and ideas I don’t actually have an ideal writer in mind for any of them. I’d just really love to see what would happen if anyone took them up and ran with them.

That said, because I cannot provide any actual writers for these headcanons, I will give three each from each fandom to make up for it 8D

The Silmarillion/Tolkien:

  More Fairy Lore from Arda: Before encountering the Valar the elves would often leave out small offerings to appease the fairies and spirits of Middle-Earth. A few berries, a piece of meat from a good hunt, a dish of milk left out on the doorstep. After meeting Oromë and going to Valinor, the offerings became more craft-oriented and were said to be for the Valar, rather than the Fairies. Many – especially amongst the Vanyar – stopped leaving out offerings all together, seeing them as relics of the misunderstandings of the past, too pagan a tradition to continue with. MírielÞerindë, however did continue to leave out small scraps of brightly embroidered fabric as a tribute to Vairë whenever she began a new project. Fëanor continues on in this tradition, leaving a small wire spiral out on his workbench whenever he starts something new – not for the Valar or to keep the Fairies from interfering – but as a tribute to his mother.

Curufin is actually the best rider and horsemen amongst his brothers and taught Celebrimbor to ride 

Arien and Sauron were actually really close before Sauron’s eventual betrayal. Being some of the few Fire-spirits who remained on the side of the valar gave them a particular bond, and  Mairon was someone for Arien to turn to when the feelings of grief and betrayal that her brothers – The Balrogs – left her with grew to heavy. Well that was untill…

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell:

Catherine of Winchester actually didn’t start out as a particularly impressive Magician. Actually, if anything, magic was fairly difficult for her at first. Where she was impressive was in her dedication to her craft, and her shear stubbornness in it’s pursuit was what actually impressed the Raven King enough to take her on as a student (this one is actually a fairly new headcanon for me, but there is something about the idea that I find so appealing…)

Thomas of Dundale is actually a huge nerd when it comes to Arthuriana and tales of Chivalry. He was actually kind of having a bit of a fanboy freakout when he first learned Chrétien de Troyes wrote a song about him. xD More seriously though, tales of Knights and Brave Deeds were what he grew up on before being stolen away to Faerie, and during late nights in the Brugh, when neither of them could sleep, Thomas would keep both himself and John entertained with the old stories his nurse used to tell him. Sometimes he even thinks of himself and John as a kind of reversed Arthur and Merlin. 

William of Lanchester was actually one of the Raven King’s apprentices in his youth. That first week within John Uskglass’s company was one of the most frustrating experiences in William’s life, and by the end of it he well and truely hated John Uskglass and his particular manner of doing things. It was just so much the opposite to William’s own approach? He swallowed it down and pushed on anyway, because he did want to learn, but he ranted to Thomas (who he got on with brilliantly from the start) a lot about John during those early years of their relationship. Thomas helped him stick it out, Thomas gave him space to vent and honestly? Thomas helped smooth things over between William and John when they clashed the most. “He takes growing used to. But he’ll grow on you, if given a chance.” Thomas would say to him. William would just scoff. “Yes. Like a fungus.” Yet by the end of his apprenticeship, William found himself as one of the Raven King’s most trusted advisers and closest friends – and the thing that surprised William the most? When he realized it, he wasn’t surprised at all.

[samayla]

A Very Ecclesiastic-Looking Badger

A Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell fic

In which Jonathan Strange’s attempt to communicate with an ornamental pear tree does not go as planned.

*formerly titled A Terribly Funny Story

Rating: G

Also on AO3

“Really, Henry, I am surprised at you,” said Jonathan Strange to his brother-in-law one afternoon. The gentlemen were in the garden, where the magician had spent the greater part of the morning attempting to coax the spirit of an ornamental pear tree into their discussion of its annual pruning. “You are always saying I should be more serious.”

The previous spring, the Stranges’ gardener, Mr Underhill, had taken a bad fall from the tree, an incident which Arabella had mentioned again just that morning. As Jonathan had only just finished reading a treatise on forest spirits not three days past, he’d seen it as a practical opportunity to test out a few theories he’d developed on that front.

Henry Woodhope, however, failed to see the merit in the endeavor. “Jonathan, why can Mr Underhill not simply take more care on the ladder this year? I really do not think that Mr Norrell—”

“Of course Mr Norrell won’t approve,” said the magician as he flipped rapidly through his mentor’s copy of Lanchester’s Language of Birds. “That is precisely why I am testing these theories here, and not Hurtfew Abbey or Hanover Square.”

Jonathan made a sudden, triumphant noise and halted his frantic reading. He’d found the entry he was looking for. “Now, Henry, if you would be so kind, I require a pear from the tree in question — No! Don’t pick a fresh one!” he exclaimed, startling his brother-in-law half out of his skin. The magician scarcely noticed, having returned to his reading. “Imagine my breaking your finger off and then asking to speak with you. Even if you did condescend to speak to me, Henry, I doubt even you could find anything of a very savory nature to say to me. Just choose a soft one from the path, if you please.”

Henry obliged, presenting his brother-in-law with a sticky, half-rotted pear from the ground beneath the tree. “I require a leaf and a branch as well, Henry,” Jonathan instructed with perfect disregard for the juice that dripped toward his elbow as he took the pear. “A handful of dirt, as well, if you would. Just from around the roots there, Henry.”

The dirt clung to his sticky fingers and caked in black crescents beneath his fingernails, and Henry made a comment about how terribly dirty this endeavor was becoming.

The magician paid him no mind, now turning the book sideways to squint at a note in the margin, some warning of Norrell’s, no doubt, in his usual, cramped handwriting. He muttered to himself for a moment before taking the shriveled leaf and twig from Henry. He arranged them along with the pear on the ground before him, then held out his hand for the dirt, which he flung across his own shoes. He placed his hand on the trunk of the pear tree and muttered some words beneath his breath. The tree creaked, and some birds flew up suddenly form the hedge that bordered the garden, but nothing else appeared to happen.

Jonathan frowned, but then collected himself after a moment. He consulted the book again. “I suppose this tree is unused to being thus addressed,” he mused. “After all, how often have we passed it by with nary a glance? Perhaps it is even offended. How do you suppose one might make an apology to a pear tree, Henry?”

Henry did not answer.

“Really, Henry, it is remarkable how very alike you and your sister are. Arabella frets over dirt, too, but I have told her a thousand times, it will wash. We magicians never regard a little dirt.” He paused to think for a moment. “Perhaps, if we were to pile some fresh soil around the base of the tree, it might look upon us more favorably. What do you think, Henry?”

Still, his brother-in-law did not answer.

“Well, if you are determined to pout like a child, you should not expect it to have the least effect upon me. My father went to great lengths in his own tantrums, and his contrariness has conferred a perfect immunity upon me.”

Jonathan raised his eyes from his book at last, to see how Henry would take such a declaration, but he was nowhere to be seen. He spun on the spot, but could not tell where he might have gone.

Just then, Arabella materialized at the end of the garden, bearing a tray laden with sandwiches and lemonade. “Where is Henry? You two have missed lunch again.”

The magician blinked. He’d assumed he’d gone back inside, but surely he would not have missed lunch if he had been in the house.

Arabella laughed indulgently. “Lost him, have you? If you’d take your nose out of your books once in a while, Jonathan…” She placed the lunch tray atop the birdbath. “You get started on these, lest our garden guest get any ideas.”

Jonathan whirled in alarm. “Garden guest?”

“There,” Arabella answered, gesturing toward the edge of the garden, where a little badger was nosing about. “Over by the hedge.”

Jonathan squinted at the creature for a moment. “Does that badger look a little… ecclesiastic to you, Bell?”

“Ecclesiastic? Jonathan, whatever are you talking about?”

“Nothing, Bell,” he answered absently, starting to approach the badger. His mind was running in a million different directions at once.

“You leave that badger be, Jonathan,” Arabella warned him sternly.

He froze, momentarily torn, but then returned to the tray of sandwiches. “Of course, darling,” he said lightly.

“Eat your lunch, Jonathan, and I’ll send Henry along from the house.”

As soon as she was gone, the magician dropped his sandwich and scanned the garden for the badger. “Henry?” he hissed, wary of his wife overhearing. “Henry!” There! Beside the rose bush!

He worked ridiculously hard to capture the silly beast, which retreated almost at once into the hedge, forcing Jonathan to climb in after him. He congratulated himself on having had the good sense to shed his jacket for the adventure, but the thorns absolutely shredded his shirt.

“Henry, you idiot! I’m trying to help you!” he growled in exasperation.

The badger, cornered at last against the garden wall, turned on him. It scaled his pant leg, then scrabbled up and over his shoulder, drawing blood in long scratches across his shoulder and back as it took off.

“Jonathan!” Arabella had come back outside in time to see her husband fighting his way back out of the hedge and taking off after the terrified badger. She snagged his sleeve as he made to dash past her. “Jonathan! What on earth are you doing? You’re bleeding! You leave the poor thing alone!”

“Arabella,” Jonathan panted in some indignation, “I must catch that badger!”

“Whatever for?” she demanded.

The badger disappeared around the corner of the garden shed, and Jonathan tore out of her grip, staggering after it.

“Jonathan!”

“It’s Henry!” he bellowed back. He got around the corner of the shed to see that the gate was open. Already, the badger was nearing the copse of trees on the edge of the side yard. He would never catch him, and even if he could, he could never hope to find him, in among the brambles and tree roots.

“Jonathan,” Arabella asked as her husband stomped back to her side, “what do you mean ‘it’s Henry?’”

“I mean,” he panted crossly, “that I have transfigured your brother into a rather ecclesiastic-looking badger, Bell.”

Arabella laughed a little helplessly, but his expression did not change. “You cannot be serious!”

The magician picked at the torn fabric of his sleeve to inspect the stinging cut beneath. “I am quite serious, Arabella,” he snapped. “Your brother is a badger, and I have just lost him, thanks to your meddling.”

“My meddling!”

“Yes, your meddling!” Jonathan swiped irritably at the side of his neck, where something warm and wet was running beneath his collar. His hand came away bloody. “If you had not delayed me, I might have stood a chance of catching him, but now he is gone.” He shook out his handkerchief and pressed it to the cut on his neck. “All logic and common sense seem to have deserted him. He’s become entirely unreasonable.”

“Jonathan! Henry can hardly be blamed if you have upset him! What on earth could have possessed you to turn him into a badger?”

“Bell, I did not intend to turn him into a badger! I meant to discuss garden maintenance with the pear tree!” He took a deep breath and then continued more calmly in an effort to reassure his wife. “You must understand: I am a magician. These things happen. It is nothing to concern yourself with.”

“’These things happen,’ Jonathan? You are not the Raven King, for all your sand horses and daydreaming of the King’s Roads! You cannot go about turning people into animals! You —”

“Arabella,” he cut in, “I have already told you I did not mean to do it. One moment, Henry was complaining of the dirt on his hands, and the next, he was a badger. I cannot account for it at —” He stopped his lecture, struck by a sudden thought. “Perhaps there were badger bones beneath the tree!” He started for the tree but then stopped to appraise it warily. “Or perhaps he did offend the tree after all.”

Arabella seized her husband by the shoulders and forced him to look at her. “Jonathan! Listen to yourself! Henry was turned into a badger for offending a pear tree?”

“Who knows how far the trees’ influence extends, Bell. The trees of England were the Raven King’s favored allies, after all…” He stopped himself before he could provoke his wife once more with further talk of the Raven King.

Arabella, too, took a deep breath. She was embarrassingly close to hysterics, and such nonsense would do none of them the least bit of good. “But what has that got to do with Henry?” she asked steadily.

“I’m not sure yet, Bell,” her husband answered. He downed a glass of lemonade. “Come on, I need a book.”

Arabella hesitated, but Jonathan stopped and ushered her on ahead of himself. “Leave the sandwiches for now. They may well lure him back.”

“Yes,” Arabella said dryly. “I daresay maiming you was hungry work.”

“I am not ‘maimed,’ Arabella.”

Their argument carried with them into the house, until they parted ways. He made for the library, wishing he had the library at Hurtfew at his disposal. She, meanwhile, chose to enlist the maids’ help to make one more search of the house, hoping to find Henry in some overlooked corner or another, reading a book or writing next week’s sermon.

Over the course of the afternoon, there was little change in the situation. Arabella and the maids had not discovered Henry hiding in the house, and tea-time came and went unobserved as they searched. As he did not come wandering in from parts unknown, they were forced to leave the matter up to the magician and carry on with the rest of their day.

For his own part, Jonathan had not set one foot outside of the library all afternoon, except to put Mr Underhill and the under-gardeners on a watch for the badger out in the grounds. All manner of  creaking and splashing and cursing came from the library, so that when dinner time arrived, but he did not, Arabella was forced to seek him out herself , as the maids were all too timid to disturb a magician at work.

“I am busy, Bell,” Jonathan answered shortly when she told him the chicken was growing cold.

“Jonathan, you are being absurd. You left breakfast early. You have missed lunch and tea, and now you propose to miss dinner as well. Starving yourself will not help my brother in the least.”

Jonathan allowed himself to be led downstairs and into the dining room, where they found Henry, seated at the table and seemingly unconcerned with anything but the roast chicken he’d pulled in front of his seat.

“Henry!” He looked a mess, dusty and distinctly rumpled, but otherwise intact. “Where have you been?”

“My dear fellow! However did you manage to change back?”

“Change back?” Henry asked around a mouthful of chicken. “What do you mean?”

“You were a badger,” the magician exclaimed with an expression of great interest. “Do you not remember?”

“Badger?” He swallowed thickly and took a drink of water from the cup his sister poured for him. “No, I was in Hopton Heath. Been all afternoon in walking back.”

“Hopton Heath?” Arabella asked, perplexed.

“What on earth were you doing there?” Strange demanded.

Henry looked at him in exasperation, as if his brother-in-law were being particularly dense. “I haven’t the faintest idea, Jonathan. One minute, you were trying to talk to the pear tree in the garden, and the next, I was standing beneath the one in the square at Hopton Heath, which was creaking and bowing as if in a high wind, though it was beautifully sunny and calm this afternoon.”

“Remarkable!” Jonathan dragged a chair near to Henry’s and assaulted him with all manner of questions. What was it like? How did it feel? Did he see anything? “Think now, Henry. You really must tell me everything you can remember about the experience.”

Henry, who merely wished to eat his chicken in peace, was quick to grow impatient with the magician’s questions. “There was no ‘experience,’ Jonathan,” he insisted. “It was Hopton Heath. We were all there not a month past for the fair. Now, I really am quite famished.”

“My dear, dear fellow,” Jonathan exclaimed, “how can you eat at a time like this? You have just traveled by magic! No matter that it was only to Hopton Heath — such a thing has not been done since the days of the Raven King. If only I knew how I had done it. You had the dirt and the pear juice… Perhaps you were the envoy… You say there was a pear tree in Hopton Heath as well? Perhaps the seeds grew—”

Henry sighed and cut him off. “Really, Jonathan, I found the whole thing terribly inconvenient! It is nearly six miles from Hopton Heath. Appearing suddenly in the square and putting the pear tree out of temper did not endear me to the locals, and as it was not a market day, there was not a soul on the roads with a cart or carriage to assist me. I have not eaten since breakfast. I am tired and dirty and sunburned, and I have a blister on my left heel from walking all that way. I wish only to eat some dinner, take a bath, and go to bed. I will answer all your questions tomorrow, but only if you leave me be tonight.”

“Yes, well, of course you are tired, Henry,” Jonathan soothed. “I daresay the whole thing was quite unexpected, and it is no wonder if your ordeal has made you cross.” Jonathan poured a glass of wine for his brother-in-law.  “You have my sincerest apologies.”

“Thank you,” Henry sniffed. He drank some wine, and Arabella persuaded him to put some chicken on a proper plate, with potatoes and green beans, and by the time Jonathan and Arabella had dished their own plates, he was feeling much more himself. “What on earth happened to you, Jonathan?” he asked suddenly, seeming to have only just noticed the tears and blood stains on the magician’s shirt.

“I ran afoul of a badger,” he said inattentively. Without the distraction of his books, his hunger had made itself known almost as urgently as Henry’s had done.

“Wait. What about that badger?” asked Arabella. At Henry’s blank look, she related the events of the afternoon.

“Are you quite certain you were not a badger today, Henry?” Jonathan asked.

“Quite certain,” Henry answered. When his brother-in-law continued to look skeptical, he insisted, “I have never been a badger a day in my life.”

Jonathan shrugged and returned his chicken and potatoes. “It was just a badger then, I suppose.”

“The poor thing,” Arabella exclaimed. “Imagine chasing an innocent badger about the garden! You’ve probably traumatized it!”

“I traumatized the badger?” Jonathan demanded. His fork hit his plate with a clatter as he dropped it to pluck dramatically at the tears in his shirtsleeves. “What about me?”

“You have only yourself to blame, Jonathan. I did tell you to leave the poor creature be.”

“I thought it was your brother!”

“I feel I ought to be offended by that somehow, Jonathan,” Henry laughed.

“Not at all, Henry. It was a terribly ecclesiastic-looking badger, I assure you.”

“Oh, yes,” Arabella answered with a mischievous smile. “Very dignified as it scrambled over your shoulder and skidded past the garden shed.”

[johannesviii]

The Adventuress of Henrietta Street

Some highlights of the last EDA I’ve read (The Adventuress of Henrietta Street).

I took these screens while reading, along with my reactions. As usual, this is full of spoilers.

“Let’s wish for something simpler next time. I need a break.” (me, right after reading Grimm Reality)

OH SHIT OH PLEASE NO NOT NOW. NOT. NOW.

This is not what I wanted.

I’m not going to make any friends here, first because I’m sure this book has a ton of fans, and second because I don’t dislike it for the reasons you might expect. Sure, it sidelines Fitz and Anji, sure, the ideas aren’t as numerous or groundbreaking as the ones in Alien Bodies and Interference, sure, the pace is extremely slow, sure, it does some debatable things with the internal logic of the series, and yes, sure, it mostly takes place in a brothel. But while these things can be considered problems, they’re not real problems to me. Some of the most creative things in this story are actually possible thanks to them.

No. I have a problem with the way this story is written and framed. And I can already hear someone saying something like "what, is the academic style too much for your small brain?", but I actually think it doesn’t go far enough with its fake academic style.

By all means, write a fake pseudo-academic paper! Invent a ton of fake sources and names! Write horribly long digressions in footnotes until they eat up the rest of the page! Analyse this story like a bad history student and put on paper some really weird conclusions about it- most of them probably wrong. Even if you don’t go all out and write House of Leaves lite, at least write Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell lite, please. Have. fun. with. it.

But it’s not written like a fake master thesis, because there’s no sources, no footnotes, no actual goal or real analysis (right or wrong), and in the end, it’s mostly written like a normal novel, except it has a very flat tone and often digresses to talk about historical events. Reading Henrietta Street is not like proof-reading a badly organised master thesis written by a dispassionate student: it’s like trying to read a novel buried under piles of gratuitous infodumps. And that’s a real shame, because there’s an interesting story somewhere in there. 4,5/10

Okay, this is interesting.

That’s VERY cool.

That part made me laugh pretty hard.

Apparently the biggest danger that sex workers face in their line of work is accidentally summoning demons, and that also made me laugh pretty hard.

I’m not sure this is supposed to be funny, but it sure is.

Aaaaaaand she actually summoned a demon by accident and that guy was killed. Okay.

That’s very nice but there’s a distressing lack of footnotes and fake references in that pseudo-academic book. Also if there’s no quote from the dream journal (or if there’s some, but boring), I will riot.

Okay, first, I have to say Scarlette sounds incredible.

Second, I immediately pictured her like Mylène Farmer’s 18th century libertine persona, except with black hair.

This is probably a bad thing.

Oh my god

Ah, I was starting to wonder where our main idiot was.

Please tell me Eight is fencing with Scarlette. PLEASE.

YESSSSS Oh my god what a wonderful mental picture.

SCARLETTE, NO.

WAIT WTF EIGHT HAS A BEARD NOW?!

Ooohhh, he has finally discovered where he was from and probably what happened to Gallifrey! Interesting!

We already kinda knew that was what made The City of the Dead and its magic possible, but it’s always nice to have a clear confirmation.

I’M HOWLING

"Hello I’m the Doctor, can I stay here" "Sure"

So he’s looking for magicians. And clearly doing some research. I have to ask, though: where are Anji, Fitz and the TARDIS?

Meanwhile, on "The Doctor Is Asexual", episode 75647

These books have recently acquired a strange taste for tarot reading.

Wait, the Doctor is sick?

That’s all very interesting but could you please hurry up a little bit?

Again, I wish this kind of fake document had fake sources and/or footnotes to accompany it.

Again, I wish there was a fake drawing and a fake source there.

Interesting.

Also... is it bad if I’d like to read that book instead of the one I’m currently reading?

So the demons actually look like apes. Uh.

How much do you want to bet these creatures were inspired by this painting?

I love this dialogue.

What is your plan and what the hell are you trying to do.

"When Scarlette asked reasonably what on Earth she thought she was doing"

I laughed out loud at this awful, awful typo in French. That should be "par les couilles" and the level of sheer incompetence on display here is worse than any misused French ever printed in these books (yes, even the non-sentences of The Turing Test).

If you don’t speak the language, don’t pretend you do & send it to an editor anyway. You already know I don’t speak English very well, but you don’t see me trying to get my English typos printed in a book costing actual money and bought by actual people.

What are you trying to achieve.

Well you’re not wrong.

FINALLY

This is a wonderful little scene.

"It’s worth stopping" YEAH YOU THINK

WAIT WHAT, THEY DIDN’T ARRIVE WITH THE TARDIS

WHAT’S GOING ON

Another wonderful mental image.

Okay so I think that’s an important character. I don’t think anyone spoiled me anything too important about this book, but I’m pretty sure this guy comes back later.

The fact I didn’t stop to consider how awkwardly Fitz would behave in a brothel is all you need to prove how innocent minded I tend to be

This would be so much better if it was either written completely like a fake academic work or completely like a novel, because this weird hybrid thing isn’t working.

CUTE

How much do you want to bet he did a James Bond impression.

Fitz no.

Also this is a pretty great scene.

Is that a compliment or an insult

Oh. So he was looking for magicians of sorts who could act as a replacement for the Time Lords?

Anji as a prophet and a force of nature is a marvellous thought.

"But they had a tendency to giggle every time [Fitz] walked past"

Okay, I guess Sabbath is bad news, then.

 Is Sabbath actually human? Because if he’s a Time Lord survivor, that would explain a lot of things.

Probably panic.

It’s not a real EDA until someone is coughing up blood

Or because this book is clumsily organised.

And here’s another typo in French (éventrés).

Also who is that random guy with a rosette and why is he, like, metaphorically eating popcorns in the background?

Is that battleship a TARDIS?

It’s completely anachronistic, so it could very well be.

A question you could be asking yourself in quite a lot of these books, Doctor.

Take a shot every time an adjective reminds you that Sabbath is fat.

I’M HOWLING

Ohhhh is it his fault because he destroyed Gallifrey? Is that it?

What the fuck are you two talking about.

So the wedding is some sort of ritual? What?

What inspired the author to sit down and write this book also remains unclear.

That still sounds wonderful and I’d gladly read that book if it existed. Although it’s easy to picture it like some sort of Codex Seraphinianus variant.

A strange way to talk about regeneration, but a pretty cool one.

Of course, Doctor, of course.

Why is the author so fucking terrified by this very mundane detail about women.

"Assassin" as a noun doesn’t have a feminine equivalent so this is yet another typo in French.

Ohhh, is he trying to rebuild a TARDIS? Where is the real TARDIS, anyway?

You really don’t want Anji to have any kind of major role in that story, do you?

So this is what the ‘horizon’ is like. I like the black sun thing. Well okay it’s a bit of a goth cliché, but still.

I SPAT OUT MY TEA

DON’T MAKE ME THINK OF BETTER STORIES

And I’m pretty sure this would be a lot more dramatic if this book was written like a novel OR like a cold academic piece, but it’s neither, so it just sounds disinterested.

At least we have excerpts from the dream journal mentioned at the beginning!

...we know. It’s a very, very mundane thing, dude. It happens when a lot of women are living together. It happens in nunneries too. There’s nothing magical or evil about it, and this is getting very ridiculous.

Recently, in one of these liveblogs, I was wondering how many stories had living planets in Doctor Who and particularly in the EDAs... so I’m glad somebody else thought it was a recurring theme as well.

No seriously who the fuck is this guy.

Okay okay I laughed pretty hard.

I seriously doubt that.

138 PDF pages, and next to nothing has happened yet, apart from a lot of exposition.

Yes okay but could you please do something with this idea instead of just exposing it layer after layer?

A bit too meta for my taste, but still enjoyable.

Again, more explanations for this very cool concept, but nothing new.

Okay. Now do something.

We knew this already. Now do something with it.

An interesting parallel but the book still refuses to do anything with its ideas at this point.

Meanwhile, nothing happens.

YOU DON’T SAY

OH. Okay. At least we know the purpose of that wedding thing now.

It’s… very weird, honestly. I mean, the Doctor never really had ‘roots’ with Gallifrey, he hated the place (in Classic Who, at least – and in New Who as soon at it existed again) and tried to get away from it as soon as he could. But hey, fluidity in canon and all that, so why not. Can’t say I like it, but yeah, why not.

Meanwhile the Doctor gets worse and worse and Fitz finds yet another girlfriend "out of boredom"- which is understandable at this point.

Usually I would be like "OH NO" but since something is happening at last, I’m like "OH MY GOD, FINALLY"

Wait wait wait.

You know I try to avoid spoilers for these books but I couldn’t avoid this one. So.

Is this the book where Eight loses a f█cking HEART

I WISH

And now the Babewyns have a leader, since you persisted to do nothing.

Again, I wish this book was full of fake sources for this kind of things.

Good description of the TARDIS’ sound!

Finally, someone’s doing something about the Babewyns! Go Scarlette!

I like this detail.

WAIT A F█CKING SECOND

IS THAT THE MASTER

IS THE MASTER JUST CHILLING IN THE BACKGROUND OF THIS STORY WITH POPCORNS WHILE WAITING FOR THE SHIT TO HIT THE FAN

Okay, so the wedding plans had to be changed and now the bride will be Scarlette.

And the Master is drinking in the background, like:

Eh eh, so Moffat wasn’t the first one to think about this!

Take a shot every time an adjective reminds you that Sabbath is fat.

Holy shit, Scarlette rules.

And this is very sweet.

Well you’re not wrong.

Eight you are literally dying, there is no shame in using a wheelchair, okay

This is a great mental picture.

I’m pretty sure "howl of laughter" wasn’t the intended reaction, but I’m sorry, he kissed Scarlette and instantly started the apocalypse, I can’t stop laughing

You know what, just for fun, I am going to pretend this is a post-apocalyptic version of the Library of the Serpent’s Hand from the SCP mythos.

Ooooooh boy.

YEP. YEP, YOU ARE THE MASTER. YOU LITTLE SHIT.

At least he’s being reasonable for once.

How very convenient for you.

Yes I was about to ask, could you please hurry up and die already?

OH SHIT JULIETTE HANGED HERSELF.

YEAH YOU THINK

ISN’T THAT OBVIOUS WTF

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

FDSDFGHFDSGHFDFH I KNEW IT

To be honest, this book is FINALLY getting intense and interesting.

WELP, FITZ ISN’T THE LEADER ANYMORE, BYE BYE FITZ

YOU DON’T SAY

Bye bye, Master.

You weren’t very useful, were you.

YOU DON’T SAY

This place looks terrifying in my head.

Finally, FINALLY, this book is gripping.

But it took the Doctor, literally dying on the floor, in a pool of black blood, in a post-apocalyptic dimension for it to become gripping.

Or just a self-insert.

OHHHH HERE IT COMES, FOLKS.

Ah yes, one last typo in French, just because.

YOU DON’T SAY

Hey, isn’t that the cover?

SFSDFGHGFDHHHH ONE OF YOUR HEARTS WAS LITERALLY TORN AWAY FROM YOUR DYING BODY FIVE MINUTES AGO, CAN YOU PLEASE SIT DOWN FOR A SECOND BEFORE CHALLENGING GIANT MONSTERS IN A FIGHT TO THE DEATH

Hi happy Eight, we missed you!

YES BUT SCARLETTE WITH A SWORD IS AMAZING

Holy shit, Eight.

Holy shit dude.

I hope Scarlette isn’t really dead.

Apparently she is. F█ck.

There’s hugs, though. Hugs are always good.

DOCTOR WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING

COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT

OH SHIT SCARLETTE FAKED HER OWN DEATH

And she’s still pretty great, too.

How very convenient for you.

EXTREMELY OMINOUS.

Phew. I’m glad this book is over. It was just as exhausting as the previous one, although in completely different ways.

[cinaea]

I, M and Q for the fanfic ask meme? Sorry if thats too much or youve already answered one of those, btw, i absolutely adored trinity + volition, am super excited for the up coming part and hope youre having a lovely day!!

Hello, munchkin! Thank you for responding to the FanFic Meme!(This is a reminder to everyone else that they’re also welcome to send me anask!) I’m gonna take these out of order, to end on a fluffy note.

I: Do you have a guiltypleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

Let’s go with reading, ‘nony, because the next bit showcasesone of those guilty pleasures in my writing. Prepare for TMI, but hey, youasked. I browse the Tentacles tag on AO3 when I’m trying to get in the mood, ifyou know what I mean. Just about any fandom (no matter how obscure or badlywritten), I’ll read it as long as it’s short, complete, and explicit. I’m notlooking for thousands of words of character development—I want the raunchystuff up front. Bring me that sweet, dub-con xenophilia, baby.

In case you’re already sorry you asked, let’s move on toeven more disturbing pastures. Triggerwarning for dub-con in this one, folks, though if you’ve read Volition, I suspectyou’re comfortable rolling these dice.

Q: Do you have anydiscarded scenes/storylines/projects?

While writing Chapter 8 of Volition, I realized therehad been a pacing problem since Chapter 4, and that I was risking drawing out thedays of the interrogations too long to keep readers engaged. Also, man, commentershad turned against Steve hard, which hadn’t exactlybeen my intent—I’d hoped that general fanon love for Steve would help readerssee through that part of Bucky’s unreliable narrative.

Sidebar for an example: There’s amoment in Chapter 11 where Steve decides to stop kissing Bucky, and Bucky thinksto himself how self-righteous Steve’s being, thinking he knows anything abouttrauma. And I’m like: Surely people will see that this is a ridiculous thing to think about Steve;Steve has experienced plenty oftraumas and knows how they can fuckyou up. Fuck you, Bucky, you’re awful here.But no, commenters agreed with Bucky, and that was even after I’d sped up the outline to bring up some of Steve’s backstorysooner in Chapters 9 and 10.

So yes, I’d made a critical mistake and bogged down the 25-50%of the story with lots of incidents that essentially spun their wheels and didn’tbring Bucky and Steve any closer. I needed to get to the kissing and the disastrousbonding ASAP. I did some shuffling and condensed the planned Chapters 9-to-12into 9-to-11, sacrificing a few unsuccessful interactions and one big, momentousshowstopper that was planned but never written.

If you thought the failed D/s scene near the finale was high-stakes,just wait until you hear about the semi-disastrous blow job I had planned forwhat was originally Chapter 11, the day between the kiss in Tony’s lab and theirbonding! The goal was to introduce some sexuality into the story, as well asone more instance of all three of them fucking up. That meant putting Bucky ina desperate headspace where he’d be willing to do just about anything to securehis friends’ safety, while Tony and Steve were oblivious to Bucky’s skewedinterpretation of events.

Following the nerve-wrackinginterrogation that came dangerously close to revealing that Bucky had killedfor Mentallo willingly, Bucky stumbles to his doms’ bedroom in the middle ofthe night, anxious to convince them to bond, and finds them grinding againsteach other in bed. Bucky’s libido has been muted since assaulting Clint, but hecan’t help but watch from the doorway.

Tony spots him and coaxes him tojoin them. They all move to the edge of the bed, and they take turns kissing Bucky,who’s not sure if he’s into this, but he needs them to want him, and he feelslike he can’t risk saying ‘no,’ but they keep inviting him to greaterintimacies (because Tony’s problem in the first half is how much he assumes about Bucky), and he can’t seemto catch his breath or find his footing.

Steve ends up kneeling on the floorbetween Bucky’s legs, and Tony rubs Bucky’s arm and shoulder and kisses hisneck, urging Bucky to “Let him/he wants this so bad/etc.” Steve unzips Bucky'spants and pulls out his half-hard cock (it feels good but also weirdlysickening, he hasn't been even this hard in years), but Bucky's not sure hecan/should; this isn’t what he came for but doesn’t he owe it to his friends(uncomfortable echoes of the Ebersol mindset)? Tony puts Bucky's hand inSteve's hair and tells him he's in control, because of course that’s what Tony thinks Bucky needs. Bucky reflexivelytightens his hand in Steve's hair, and Steve takes that as a command and leansforward, maybe whispering "please." His dom is begging, and Bucky’s instincts and his brain both say he should lethim have what he wants, but.... Steve may possibly make skin contact, but Buckypanics and dashes out of the room. Or else Tony manages to talk Bucky throughthe entire blow job, but Bucky’s in a messed-up headspace the entire time, andcomes with a wave of guilt.

In looking for a way to condense the middle chapters, Iconfronted just how disturbingly dub-con the moment was, and ultimately I feltgood about cutting it. Aren’t we all glad I made that choice? The story didn’tneed any more train wrecks, and theirrelationship is healthier for not having included such a messed up sex scene.

Phew! That was dark. Let’s end on whimsy!

M: Got any premiseson the back burner that you'd care to share?

I’ve got this half-formed Bucky/Steve idea that I’d love tosomeday find the time to write, but I’ve got three more big stories to get outfirst (two in Trinity Universe, and one in GGundam). Who knows if I’ll ever find the time? It’s a ~fairytale mashupthat combines aspects of @astolat‘sfabulous The Crown of theSummer Court, the too-brilliant JonathanStrange and Mr. Norrell, a dash of the DresdenFiles novels, and a whole bunch of Fairy lore I’ve consumed over the years. Thepremise goes something like this:

Steve and Bucky are childhood friends in village on the edgeof a woods. One day Bucky wanders alone too far into the woods in search ofherbs to use as medicine for Steve, and ventures into a Fairy Ring. The Faesnatch Bucky away and replace him with a changeling that wastes away and dieswithin a week. Everyone believes the switch except Steve, who discovers thepiece of wood where Bucky’s body should be [something something the wood as stand-infor the metal arm? to be developed]. Steve studies everything he can about theFae over the years, and finally a passing sorcerer (Howard? Tony?) gives Stevethe potion that upgrades his sickly body to Cap body, and takes Steve along when he leaves town. Steve quests for years tofind Bucky, and [plot point to be determined] finds himself in the land of theFae, where he’s to serve as the champion for a Fairy Lord. Unbeknownst toSteve, the champion of the rival Fairy Lord is the Winter Soldier, a practicallymute human foundling who has spent more than a decade in Faerie and has beenspelled to forget his human past. The Winter Soldier is tasked with seducingSteve into violating some rule of hospitality before their scheduled match.Steve resists manfully even as he realizes it’s Bucky, and he makes it a termof his continued service to his sponsoring Lord to restore Bucky’s memory andfreedom if Steve wins. There’s a tournament, plenty of canoodling that Steve’shard pressed to deny, and an eventual happy ending.

…That’s about all I’ve figured out so far. Lots of pining, Faerierules lawyering, dueling, manly yearning,etc. I haven’t yet planned how to work in Peggy and/or Sam. T’Challa wouldlikely be the Fae Lord sponsoring Steve. Did I mention rules lawyering? Becauseyeah, I was going to have to come up with that twist, too. Difficult.

This has been fun, peeps! Let’s do more asks! And hey, ifyou like these Ask responses? Like my writings? Feel free to buy me a coffee sometime. After all, Iwrote this post from a Starbucks. Mama has an expensive habit.

[sophia-sol]

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

Has it seriously been 3.5 years since I last read this book? Apparently! Multiple times over the last few years I felt in the mood to reread it but never did because facing that many pages at once seemed like more of a commitment than I was willing to make. But I finally got around to rereading it again and it is, as always, great. I think at this point I've read it enough times that I'm not getting anything really new out of the experience, but it's still an endless pleasure to be able to bury myself in that world for several weeks.

There's two things about the book I particularly want to mention this time around.

1. There's just such an ENDLESS quantity of extremely minor characters who exist for only a couple sentences or maybe a couple pages in this book who could easily get an entire novel or at least a short story of their own and I want to read all of them. The Summer King! Maria Absalom! Francis Pevensey! Mr. Pink! Mrs Brandy! The Half-Finished People and the Lakota! ET CETERA.

2. This book is just so good at summoning up the atmosphere of eerie otherworldliness associated with the Raven King and the King's magic and fairies/Faerie in general. SO GOOD. The Raven King is 100% my favourite character in this book and he just pervades the entire thing even though he only shows up on-page for like...two pages. Which is exactly the right amount of time for him to show up because it means he never has the chance to become prosaic in the eyes of the reader.

[physticuffs]

Hello! I have a question.... what are your favorite books, and why? (I love your blog!)

@smallricochet

Wow, thank you! Took me forever to reply because my first answer got erased when i was halfway through. Rawr. anyway, here’s the thing: i don’t have favorites. I just love books so much i can’t choose! And there are books for different moods, too, or books that i love for different reasons. There are those that i can read anytime because they’re friendly and easy to sink into, but aren’t necessarily the best of anything in a particular aspect. There are books that i have to be in a specific mood to read but that i love more than anything when i am in that mood. There are books that are outstanding in one thing and lacking in another…so i don’t have favorite books, and when i have to think of my favorites, they’re divided by genre. This is gonna be a long post, haha. Without my bookshelf in front of me, there may be some I’m forgetting, but those are the ones that stand out in immediate memory.

Fantasy: most of the books i’ve read would probably count as fantasy if you included YA, but i’m going to break out YA as its own thing because i look for different things now than i did when i was younger. For one thing, the writing style plays a much larger role now for me, which is one of the things that makes Neil Gaiman one of my favorite authors. American Gods is this gorgeous book examining the nature of belief, with such evocative language that i felt like i was taking the journey alongside the characters. The characters themselves are rather stock, but that’s okay–Gaiman has a true sense of the mythic and interweaves old stories with new in a way that captivated me. I also loved The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which just felt…almost more real than our own world. I read the book (it’s quite short) in one sitting, and when i finished i realized i’d teared up. There’s a scene where the main character is immersed in this experience of understanding everything and then is pulled out of that state, and i felt the same way upon closing the book. The sense of the world-beyond-our-world was intense–again, taking the journey with the characters. I adore Good Omens, which was co-written with Terry Pratchett, and i think combines the best of both authors: Gaiman’s sense of mythology, Pratchett’s humor, and their shared love for stories that examine the values individual people hold. Individual values are a theme often repeated in Pratchett’s books, of which my favorites are Hogfather and Thud! because of the beautiful, hopeful characterizations and complex conflicts. Pratchett’s books really carry this sense of optimism and hope for how much better we can be; his characters have this evolving humanity (lol some of them are dwarves and trolls and werewolves) that really strikes a chord with me. Also, those books are fucking hilarious.

I’ve written about Guy Gavriel Kay recently; his novel Under Heaven is remarkable for its beautiful language, fascinating characters, and exciting political plot. I love that niche–historically-based political fantasy–and am really relieved to have found someone besides George R. R. Martin who does it, since Kay is much subtler and doesn’t have Martin’s penchant for shock and gore. I’m about to read every other political fantasy novel Kay has ever written. I used to think that if i could write like anyone i’d want to write like Gaiman, but now that i’ve read Kay’s work, i’d rather write like him, because that’s the genre i’d want to succeed in.

Then there’s Susanna Clarke’s exquisite Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I know this is very much a love-it-or-hate-it book, and i love it. Actually, i think it’s a perfect novel. I would change nothing about that book; there’s nothing that could make me like it better. The descriptive visual language is rich and flowing, the dry humor is just right, and the mythology she builds is original and forms a perfect pattern. One of the things that stood out to me the most in the book are the names. I’ve never seen an author choose names like her–they’re all lyrical and evocative without being literal. I don’t even want a sequel because the plot is wrapped up perfectly; i just want a whole series set in that world. (Clarke also wrote a short story collection in that setting, The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which is excellent, but does not fulfill my desire for a million more full-length novels.)

Historical fiction: The Lymond Chronicles. This is a masterwork, to the point that the author, Dorothy Dunnett, was knighted for her books being such a huge contribution to UK culture. They’re hard to read, no denying that, but they are unparalleled for incredible descriptive language, depth of emotion, dexterity with shifting viewpoint, epic scope, characters’ journeys and personalities interwoven in fascinating ways…they so far outshine every other work of historical fiction i’ve read that i think i can say that series is my favorite. HOWEVER, the irony of it is, i have never reread those books, except the first. I flick around occasionally to reread passages, but they’re simply too dense to make for good light reading in between all my new reading material. I love Les Miserables too, in the sense that i think it’s one of those almost accidental masterpieces that would never make it to market in full form today. Victor Hugo was a mystic grandpa whose interest in architecture/public infrastructure reeeeally got in the way of his own plot. I can’t HELP but love that book and i don’t even know why, except that Hugo captures the emotions and complexities of youthful rebellion so well, and is deeply respectful to the tragedy of it–not flippant, not over-aggrandizing, but accepting in just the right way. I also wanna give a shoutout/honorary mention to Romance of the Three Kingdoms. (It’s sort of unfair to put it with historical fiction, given the part where a guy’s ghost wanders around beating people up, but like. What else do i call this book.) I mean, it’s not my usual fare, but it well deserves its place as one of China’s four great classics. It’s so different from modern writing, which places a lot of emphasis on knowing individual characters. Three Kingdoms doesn’t give a shit about the inner lives of the characters. This is a story about how empires are formed and fall. it’s a true epic, and a fascinating look into one of China’s most tumultuous historical periods. (most tumultuous, except for all the others. You do you, China.)

Nonfiction: I’ve only rather recently become interested in nonfiction, and most of what i like is just a combination of good writing style and a topic i’m specifically interested in. How Not To Be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg–applied math and statistics, written in a very fun way. The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist’s Thumb, by Sam Kean–a history of the periodic table and genetics respectively; Kean is such an engaging writer and really knows how to draw a common thread through anecdotes. Fermat’s Enigma, by Simon Singh–a history of the quest to solve Fermat’s Last Theorem. Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia, by Donn Draeger–uh, what it says on the cover, but also a very interesting cultural text, although the info is a bit out of date. Walking the Bible, by Bruce Feiler–Feiler travels through the Middle East, examining the historical context of biblical stories; i’m reading his other works now. There also have been a couple books i’ve read for school that i loved–one was a cultural study of Hello Kitty, of all things, and one was about coffee farming in Honduras. Both were for a globalization course, but i can’t remember the titles offhand. I also read Walkable City by Jeff Speck for urban studies, about the importance of building walkability into your urban planning, which kicked off an interest in urban planning for me. I wound up getting three other urban planning books out of the interest generated by that one.

YA: Most of the books that have stuck with me after i read them as a teen had characters i wanted to be friends with or that i strongly related to–books with a lot of analytical, assertive girls, or girls who loved stories and were very imaginative. These include Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, the All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor (bonus points for multiple girls i related to and they were Jewish), The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (again bonus points for multiple girls i related to), Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, and The Princess Academy and The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. These last three (modern takes on fairy tales) mattered so fucking much to me, and they seriously hold up on rereads. Hale and Levine don’t protect their readers from harsh events, but it’s still fantasy, still has the magic i love reading about. They show the young characters win magical battles and friendship through intelligence, creativity, and determination, instead of beauty like the original tales, so that was really inspiring for me, and i related really hard to the main characters personality-wise. All three main characters in these books do find relationships or even marry at the end, but it’s because they’ve already been best friends with their love interests for a while. There’s also The Hunger Games, which had fascinating characterization, and unusually subtle morality for a YA series, especially in the last book, and the similarly adventurous Icemark Chronicles series by Stuart Hill, which is historically-based fantasy–think Guy Gavriel Kay for younger readers–with a wonderful main character that i really looked up to. And then there’s The Pushcart War, by Jean Merrill. The Pushcart War is just completely charming. It’s a friendly, quick-read book about a group of pushcart vendors trying to make space for themselves in New York City, opposing the aggressive truckers, and it was just plain fun while also being…actually pretty educational about urban design.

So…i know that’s super long, but y’know, asking me about favorite books is a dangerous thing to do. And i can’t emphasize enough that this is only what i can think of off the top of my head, without my bookshelf in front of me. But thank you so much for the question!

[aspiring-dm]

Getting to Know You: Samuel Aldan Periden Xavier Ripley III of Deadbrook

When I’m not DM’ing, I’m obviously playing in other games.  The one currently ongoing 5e game I’m playing features one of my favored characters that I’ve made: Samuel.  Sammy-boy borrows a bit of his concept from Percival de Rolo from Critical Role, and much more of it from Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

So keep reading if you want a look at how I designed this character, how I play this character, and some possible futures I see for him.

At the character’s inception, I basically wanted to re-skin and re-tool Percy from Critical Role.  There were two aspects I wanted to keep.  One was Percy’s ingenuity and inventiveness.  However, rather than working with mundane means such as gunpowder and machinery, I wanted Samuel to be a pioneer in magic.  So, I started talking to the DM about the possibility of further along the lines granting players the ability to create new spells or magic items.  In his background, he was especially interested in converting divine magic to an arcane format, trying to study how to cast spells like Cure Wounds without the need of a holy patron.  He wanted his power to be his and no one else’s.

The other aspect I wanted to keep was what I consider to be a true neutral alignment.  While Samuel was always trying to do what he thought was “best” he was completely willing to commit acts that he would openly consider “evil” in order to achieve them.  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, but he’s a bit more willing to sacrifice the few than most.

His background, tl;dr.  He showed an interested in magic at a young age, so his father, the baron of a small town named Deadbrook, called for a teacher from the capitol.  Samuel trained in magic under his teacher for a few years, but when his master was called away on business he had to continue studying on his own.

Eventually his father died and he became baron of Deadbrook.  However, he let his father’s adviser, Valentine Norbary, handle most affairs, choosing to isolate himself and continue studying.  For two years he was baron before his mother died, just as he had begun trying to find ways to cheat death.  He didn’t want to let his mother die, and he had a basic understanding of a way to bring her back.

He summoned a fairy.

Now, for those of you who think all fairies are just merry pranksters, tiny little creatures who steal your food when you’re not looking, that’s not always the case.  Samuel quickly learned that fairies were not merely mischievous, but powerfully malevolent and malicious.  The fairy appeared and offered to “restore half the time Samuel’s mother would have been alive in this world had she not fallen ill.”  She was about forty, so say she was going to live to eighty-four.  That’s another forty-four years, so she would live twenty-two of them.  It seemed to Samuel a better deal than her being dead now.

However, over the next few weeks, his mother went insane.  Babbling nonsense fairy tales, and eventually tried to slit her own wrists.  Samuel knew it had to be something to do with the fairy, so he summoned it back and demanded that the fairy fix her.

The cold creature explained that his mother would indeed live half of her life in this world... only she wouldn’t live all of it at once.  Instead, she was constantly bouncing back and forth.  In the day she lived in this world.  At night, rather than sleeping, she danced in the fairy world.  

Samuel ordered the fairy to put her back the way she was, but the fairy refused.  Samuel had unwittingly made a deal with a fairy, far more dangerous than one with a devil, for at least a devil is honest.  The fairy had done its service, and Samuel never thought to ask what it got in return.  Indeed, it was given access to the mortal world.  Samuel had invited the vampire in, and now he was powerless to stop it.

The next day, a priestess and some guards came to take his mother somewhere quiet and remote.  Over the next few months, Valentine led a coup against him, and he barely noticed.  Valentine banished Samuel and married his sister, giving him the right to rule over Deadbrook.  Samuel didn’t care about ruling the hamlet, but he did take offense at Valentine.  He left for the capitol and joined the scholars’ guild in search of a way to undo his wrongs, and waiting for the day to take vengeance on Valentine.

So, Samuel now keeps his identity a secret, under the guise of a simple scholarly wizard named Samuel de Rolo (discreet, I know).  No one, not even his group, knows that he is the 76th Sovereign to the throne (basically meaning 75 people have to die for him to become king of the whole land).  He is sent on an expedition with some younger wizards and scholars to an ancient dwarven mine, whereupon he and the rest of the party have been captured by the same band of gnolls, orcs, kobolds, and goblins all strangely cooperating.  They escaped in a cave-in (which just happened to force them into the dwarven mine they were investigating) which then led to their discovery of a pair of powerful psychic forces manipulating the creatures that captured them.  A Cthulu-like entity and an apparently sentient tree which seemed to be warring with each other.  The party managed to kill the tree, but not without losing a party member they later learned was apparently a “hero” of Deadbrook, who saved the town from a demonic invasion that occurred after Samuel left.  They were then rescued by the Lion’s Legion, the military force of the land, who escorted them back to the nearest town, which as luck would have it, was Deadbrook.

The guards kept trying to get the party to meet with the baron- Valentine.  Samuel’s previous history and legal banishment from the town meant that he couldn’t really allow Valentine to know he was back, and so successfully slipped away while the guards weren’t looking and got a room in the inn.  The guards still found him and want the party to meet Valentine again at noon the next day, which is where we’ll be resuming the game this Sunday.

It’s also worth mentioning that Samuel and a ranger in the group both failed saving throws while staring at a painting that flashed Cthulu’s face and then vanished.  They haven’t realized yet, but they each had the other’s dream instead of their own that night and have begun sharing thoughts.

So, Samuel is a very depressed, introverted, and intelligent individual.  He rarely makes conversation with the students he was supervising or the party members except for function.  His own survival is his highest priority.  He makes every effort to save his part members from danger, as soon as he is out of its way as well.  This particular group has made a huge habit of readying actions.  Every single member always has an arrow or a spell trained on every door ready to get a surprise round in before the fight begins.  Except Samuel.  Samuel never prepares an action, he always watches and waits to see what the best course of action is, analyzing all his options.  He’s a bit resentful of the religious members of the group, who follow Deneir, god of writing.  He has nothing against what they preach, such as literacy and education for all, but he has no desire to ever again owe anything to a more powerful entity, and sees religion and the gods as dangerous crutches.

There are two main outcomes I predict for Samuel, assuming he doesn’t die, although you should never try to plan your character externally (your character should have plans, you should not).  The first, his current goal, is to continue studying magic and growing more powerful.  What hasn’t occurred to him is that his desire is basically to become a god himself so that he can create and restore life at will.  The second is for him to take responsibility for his actions, either guilted or bullied by his sister into resuming his role as baron of Deadbrook.  His family for hundreds of years had been loved by his people, but when he ruled they grew to resent him, and he would have to work to repair that.

Let me know what you guys think, or if this gave you any ideas for your own characters, or if you even just want me to keep you updated on the game Samuel is played in.