#flight and flame trilogy

[rj-anderson]

Hello, which years do your faery books take place in?

Does it go by original publishing date?

So like, Knife in 2009, then 16 years later is Rebel, so Rebel in 2025?

or like is it Rebel and the following books with overall shorter chronological distance between them with Rebel in 2009 with it being published in 2009, and then therefore the end of Knife being set in 1993?

Or is it entirely different?

What a fun question! Thank you for sending it. I do believe you’re actually the first person ever to ask me about this! The first trilogy of my faery books take place in the year they were originally written, not the year they were published -- which means KNIFE takes place in 1993, while REBEL takes place in 2009 and ARROW in 2010 (I’m pretty sure anyway, though it’s been a while since I looked at the timeline). SWIFT, NOMAD and TORCH don’t follow the same pattern, though, because I had to write and publish another book between the first two, and it took me several years to be able to write and publish the third (ah, publishing, how I love your fickle ways). So they would take place roughly around 2011-12, I think.

[raspberry-gloaming]

I've got to say that my favourite things about Martin is his dramatics and sheer theatre-kid ness. Like every single friend (not that there's many) he ever makes in the human world is linked to theatre. Dude collapses in a 12 year olds garden or like her pony trek and as soon as he isn't actively dying is like fellow theatre kid? must mentor must mentor immediately

[rj-anderson]

Well, it's gratifying to have this laid out so clearly, because this is exactly how the worldbuilding in my two faery trilogies works. I didn't have a checklist, I just wrote what felt right to my imagination, conscience and theological convictions as I discovered the story one page/scene/chapter/novel at a time. But in the end it turned out pretty much the way @magpie-trove is describing.

Thinking way back to my original post talking about all the eastern philosophy-based world building there is in children’s media at the moment and wondering what world building based on Christian thought would look like, I’m now thinking:

•*gifts,* which are things people wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do, bestowed on them by a higher being, as a gift and a responsibility, which may be honed by greater and greater acts of surrender

•the world and systems are designed *relationally*—based on people being connected

•hiddenness and revelation play a role

•the goal is redemptive rather than balanced (unless we are talking balance like in Chesterton’s Orthodoxy)

[namedafterflowerstournament]

Botanic Tournament : Ivies Bracket !

Round 1 Poll 1

[finnlongman]

Today is the anniversary of MOTH TO A FLAME being released, which means it's been an entire year of this trilogy being out in the world, finished, done, and almost three years since THE BUTTERFLY ASSASSIN first took flight.

It's strange, being now this far removed from a series I was writing for my entire adult life, and which it sometimes felt like I would be writing forever. It was hard to let go, and yet it very much felt like the story was complete, and I'd brought Isabel's arc to the point I wanted to bring it to. Recently, I was listening to the books as audiobooks -- I'm not a big audiobook listener in general, but it helps me gain some distance and perspective on my own work, so it doesn't feel so much like mine. And I was surprised how impressed I was by what I found, coming back to it now after a year, after three years. I'm proud of this story, of these characters, of the world I created.

It's been hard, though. The glossy stacks and spirals make everything look professional and social media ready, but sometimes it feels like MOTH TO A FLAME never quite got a chance to fly. Being released after Twitter became unusable but before Bluesky became a meaningful replacement was one challenge (and I think teenagers, my target audience, are still not on Bluesky!), as well as the state of the world, the cost of living crisis, etc. I don't think it's made it into as many libraries as the first two books, particularly as an ebook or audiobook, and I haven't had the chance to do much in the way of events, either. Plus, although the first two books were translated into French, sales weren't high enough for the same to happen to this one. So after ten years of working on this trilogy, it can feel a little like it just sort of ... ended, with many readers not realising the end existed, or having the chance to read it for themselves.

But I did get the chance to tell the story I wanted to tell, for which I'm grateful. And every now and again, I do get a message from a reader who has just finished it, to whom the resolution of Isabel's story meant something. And that, in turn, means something profound to me.

[arcann]

i forgot to ask earlier but 40k books have you been reading? I know you hate McNeil but is there anyone else that stands out as particularly good/bad?

My favorite faction is chaos! especially the chaos marines and especially the black legion and the children of the emperor. I like nurgle and slaanesh the best. I love body horror and they probably flaunt it the most. Their cults can be used in creative ways but it's necessary to recognize both are born from shitty stereotypes (fat = sick = evil and sex = evil). some (and i emphazise SOME) can make them cunty and funny while still being vile but not many manage it.

sorry i just come here to bitch but i do like other writers. [deadpan face] i swear it's just that mcneil was given some key story points and then he kinda slammed the floor at the. starting line since (at least in his 2000s era) he was insanely sexist and fell into many cliche story beats.

i've read:

the first five books of the horus heresy (horus rising (8/10), false gods (2/10), galaxy in flames (5/10), flight of the eisenstein (8/10) and fulgrim (1/10))

the black legion (this one is horus's legion, reformed by his first captain, abaddon after their fall into chaos) duology (talon of horus and black legion) (both 9/10)

two newer books about the children of the emperor (one of the chaos space marine legions, dedicated to slaanesh), renegades: lord of excess (9/10) and eidolon the auric hammer (4/10)

and i started the fabius bile (another member of the emperor's children, a frankenstein type of doctor and their local annoying atheist) trilogy but i'm only through half of the first book.

now more in depth analysis of what i think of each book below. it got a bit long.

horus rising built a really solid setting portraying horus as this charismatic yet emotional and easily angered leader in the 30k (yes thirty) century who was trying to deal with a new crisis (humanity's first contact with daemons). the emperor left horus as the supreme warmaster and de facto leader of the imperium's crusade to reconnect with all the worlds lost in the dark ages... the only plot hole which i do not understand is how could the emperor could at least warn the primarchs or AT LEAST horus about chaos. how is something so important left in the air when humanity is losing against it after ten THOUSAND years. aside from that abnett is a good writer, i enjoyed the characters he picked to work with as points of view and how the cult to the emperor began. I've heard some bad things about how, later on, abnett picked a character i have not read about as his gary stu type of character but from what just this he's been solid.

(the main character is called Loken lmao)

(also the primarchs are the emperor's genetically modified clones sons, there's 20 of them, two had been literally erased from history and everyone's memories, nine of them turned to chaos while the other nine stayed loyal)

false gods was mcneil's first book and it dropped the fucking ball by having horus act with very little purpose and falling into evil without much convincing even while still figuring out he's being manipulated. it feels like mcneil can't let him fail without letting us know he's still the best of the best. something of a tell don't show moment. the women in positions of power introduced here act hysterical and stupid and well, they just die. another character acts super sexist when he was mostly depressed in the first book and had a bone to pick with the freaking space marines when abnett was writing him and then was killed (the guy who dares to criticize men born for war deserved better imo). all in all a disappointment that the book which hides the reasons that colossal conflict began is so flimsy and boring and it's all the fault of a hate sink type of character who isn't even that good of a manipulator, he's just allowed to win.

galaxy in flames was pretty dry even if it depicts the traitors' first atrocity. by then horus is full bwhahaha evil >:) mode and at least four primarchs are on the same line of thinking. just a meh 5/10 book. it happened. it was horrible, or we were told it was. the book was mostly about two particular fights and several friendship breakups but all in all in i felt it was stale and i did not enjoy ben counter's writing style.

flight of the eisenstein picks up the pace once more by taking a more personal look from one of the loyalist astartes in one of the traitor legions and some of the previous narrators who, by a fluke, manage to escape and warn the imperium of the betrayal. nathaniel is in a really fucked up situation and makes some disastrous mistakes but he reacts in believable and humane ways while also being a fantasy super warrior. unlike galaxy in flames it doesn't feel like he's dragging us from point A to point B by immediately thinking about a solution to his problems. he has a lot of crises during that book. unfortunately he also becomes catholic on the process lol. i liked it so james swallow is in my green list.

fulgrim is mcneill dropping the ball again with his flat characters who are good and obvs get betrayed horribly, his hysterical and jealous women who could have appeared in any telenovela and flat reasons to turn evil. horus corruption of fulgrim is just

H: our dad doesn't love us😠 F: he does???🤔 H: no he doesn't 😡 F: no! he does! 😭 H: no he does NOT 🤬 F: oh no he doesn't love us!!!🫣

honestly this man can't write about true friendship, brotherhood or love. and ofc everyone talks up a storm about how the emperor's children fell in an epic concert of horror and debauchery. it's just public murder. literally so nothingburger. go girl give us nothing.

the black legion duology is amazing. full stop. starts a bit slow and i honestly was a bit put off by how mary sue-y the protagonist iskandor khayon (pronounced cain) is described as (+ it was the first wh40k book I've read in first person. I have no problem with first person pov, it was just unexpected) but it was fascinating to see life inside the eye of terror and the warp itself, the humilliations the losing team went through to survive, how they're pulling each other apart and still live on despite them being in the horror dimension and how abaddon gives them back the will to unite and take revenge on the imperium and stop being ghosts of the fathers that have abandoned them. iskandor is narrating everything from the 40k century but the tale happens just a thousand years after the horus heresy (another thing that's enjoyable about the writing is him reflecting in his mistakes and what could have beens after having another nine thousand years to reflect on them). it still has the usual racist stereotypes of wh40k so i'm still not giving it the 10/10.

I had A LOT of fun with renegades: lords of excess, almost unexpectedly. It's a mishmash of conflicts between a fracturing squad of emperor's children, daemons, genestealers and the practically kidnapped hive world citizens they're trying to take control over with the chaos marine leader, Xantine, right in the middle. it had a very neat use of omniscient third person and it actually showed the emperor's children being weird little freaks from the get go. my world for them not being written by mcneill.

i took eidolon the auric hammer on a whim because it's so short (like. 180 pages iirc) and eidolon is a recurring character in the horus heresy books i had already read. it's just a small story about how he had the chance to take over a world on his way to terra and the horus heresy final battle while betraying other chaos marines. very boring and predictable. i did not enjoy this at all except for how fulgrim bullies him into submission by the end.

what I've read about the fabius bile trilogy's first book hasn't been too interesting but it's picking up.

pros: an emperor's children chaos marine making deals with harlequins to take fabius where they want him to go as according to their grand performance made by their god. fabius being a body horror gremlin who has his space marine students practicing horror medicine.

cons: for now the writing hasn't done anything fun. there are certain plot holes or at least things that haven't been acknowledged (there's a legion where their primarch forced every member into going through a surgery where something called the butcher's nails were implanted in all their brains. they're in an almost permanent state of bloodthirst and aggression. one appears here and he's the voice of reason. huh?) but maybe they'll explain later so I won't make my judgement still.

[thehalfling]

30 Day Fictionkind Challenge

26 Astron — Day 26: What are some songs that remind you of your fictotype or source?

I have my own playlist for tracks which remind me of my source. Some of them are there because they're part of the adaptations' soundtracks, a few resemble what I enjoyed listening at that time, and most are songs that either fully or partially express feelings and thoughts of mine and—from what I remember at times, guess at others—a few of the people around me.

I won't be sharing the entire thing because I have a bit of a complicated relationship with my musical taste, and it would most likely be nobody else's interest to listen to it, but I'll at the very least list half of the tracks:

The Lord of the Rings trilogy's soundtrack, especially tracks such as The Shire, Bag End, Very Old Friends, Concerning Hobbits, Flaming Red Hair, The Council of Elrond (feat. Aniron), May It Be, The Journey to the Grey Havens, Into the West, Bilbo's Song, and The Road Goes Ever On…, Pt. 2 / “In Dreams”;

The Lord of the Rings musical's soundtrack, giving special attention to The Road Goes On, The Cat And The Moon, Flight To The Ford, and Now And For Always;

Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root;

Just How It Goes, None Of Your Business, Darkest Hour, House In The Woods, Some Day Come Back To Me, and Friends Make Garbage (Good Friends Take It Out) by Low Roar;

Horizons Into Battlegrounds, Ghost Lights, Stabat Mater, Wasteland, to the wilder, and Boat Song by Woodkid;

DIVING BELL by STARSET;

Who We Are, First Light, Wildflower and Barley (feat. Allison Russell), and That You Are (feat. Bedouine) by Hozier;

Breath Of Life and Various Storms & Saints by Florence + The Machine;

Come What May by Daisy O'Connor;

The Draw by Bastille;

A Pearl by Mitski;

Burial Blessing by Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane;

Boats & Birds by Gregory and the Hawk;

Herem by Perfume Genius;

Dear Fellow Traveler by Sea Wolf.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Talk shop Tuesday question coming at you (sorry if you've already been asked this before 👉👈🥺) : so, when you think of a fic plot, at what point do you think of the Pedro Boy/love interest to go along with it? Do you ever change that character as the idea develops?

Hi Rae!! Hope your Tuesday has been good to you! This is a great question, and one I haven't been asked, so thank you for sending it in!

It's actually sort of hard to say which comes first for me, the character of the plot. I think it usually starts with the character - I'll be sitting there daydreaming about a specific character, picking out details about them that stick out to me or things about their canon story that I wish I could change, and then I'll start thinking about ways to highlight those details or make those changes. With Point of No Return, for example, I was thinking about what Ezra's life before the Green could have been like, and who or what he was talking about when he said "no love too intimidating", and then I drove by an old farmhouse on my way home, et voila. The farm and the old flame came along due to the fact that I wanted to give those things to Ezra specifically.

OR I'll be listening to music or watching a movie/show or reading something that makes me think of a character, and I'll see where that leads me. Like with A Clumsy Romance. I was thinking about the Before Trilogy (because those movies are stamped on the inside of my brain and I wouldn't have it any other way) and - Before Sunrise, especially - just made me think of Nico because its this very ephemeral, romantic take on love.

In a way the love interest character, whether its a Reader insert or an OC, also comes rolled into the plot idea. I'll choose a profession or backstory or main character trait for them based on what I think would work best in terms of the story or in terms of who/what I think would work well with the chosen Pedro character. Many moons ago I wrote way more OC love interests than Reader inserts, but every now and then I still like dipping my toes back into the OC pool if I have a VERY clear and defined idea of who this character is. Like with Clara in PONR. I also have a very chaotic wip (I call it chaotic because the thing is currently in more pieces than an unassembled IKEA bookshelf) featuring an OC named Emma who will hopefully turn up sometime this year soon, and she is very much Emma in my mind, like she's a whole fully formed person in there.

RECENTLY HOWEVER! For the first time that I can remember! I started getting ideas for a new story, but the starring role is a toss up between 2 characters. I have the sort of overarching main idea (it's a monster story! a dark one!) but depending on who I decide to go with, it could kind of stray into a few different directions. So I feel like I have more musing to do with that one before it takes flight.

TLDR: I'm not in charge, really. The characters show up and say "This is what we're doing. Make it happen, bitch."

Thanks again for this!!

Talk Shop Tuesday

[edwin-paynes-bowtie]

Could you rec me some fantasy novels?

I assume you don't mean Cassandra Clare books since *gestures to myself*, so I'll just move on to others.

First is of course my eternal plea to read A Charm of Magpies by KJ Charles. Book one is The Magpie Lord. Subsequent books are A Case of Possession, Flight of Magpies, and Jackdaw. The series is sort of romantasyish but also kind of not, it's a genre-bend.

Some others I really like (no particular order):

The Four Horsemen series by Laura Thalassa *

The Bargainer series by Laura Thalassa *

Divine Rivals duology by Rebecca Ross *

We Hunt the Flame duology by Hafsah Faizal

Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen *

Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco *

A Stitch in Time by Kelly Armstrong * (Wessa nation, this one's for you)

The Diviners quartet by Libba Bray

The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ Charles *

Passenger duology by Alexandra Bracken

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Barshadoust

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin duology by Rosanna A Brown

A Darker Shade of Magic trilogy by VE Schwab

Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar

A * indicated romantasy, a genre I adore.

[rj-anderson]

After literal years of blathering on and off about various bits of it here on Tumblr, I'm happy to announce that my short story collection Tales from the Oakenwyld is finally out today!

If you've enjoyed my Knife and Swift trilogies inspired by English faery folklore and would like to read more about some of the side characters from the series, you can buy Tales from the Oakenwyld here.

And if you've already bought your copy, thank you! <3

P.S. Special shout-out to @scarvenartist for her delightful cover art of an appropriately grumpy-looking Thorn. It's always an honour to have you illustrate my stories!

[gasha40k]

I’ve been reading a lot of 40k fiction in between painting recently, and I’ve gotten a good bit of progress done on both. I’ll start with a little reading update.

Horus Rising

False Gods

Galaxy in Flames

Flight of the Eisenstein

Fulgrim

First Heretic

Know No Fear

Butcher’s Nails

Betrayer

Wrath of Khârn

Khârn: Eightfold Path

I finished Betrayer just a couple days ago, and holy shit. What an incredible book. I am a strong Khârn stan (Argel Tal, too) and I am more convinced than ever that I’m a World Eaters gamer.

I plan to read the three (or four) Unremembered Empire books before I loop back to A Thousand Sons to read the “main” Heresy storyline through to Slaves to Darkness, and eventually Siege of Terra. But for now, I’m making a little detour through all of the books that Khârn takes center stage for, so that I can satiate the hyperfixation and figure out what he’s up to in the 42nd Millennium. I also plan to finish most of the World Eaters books, as that was the whole reason that I started reading the Heresy in the first place.

Betrayer is by far my favorite Warhammer novel. Fulgrim was my top for a while—I may be a closeted Emperor’s Children enjoyer, don’t tell Blood Daddy—but man. Betrayer blew it out of the fucking water. What an incredible ending to an incredible trilogy. My biggest takeaways were as follows: nobody fucking likes Angron, and Khârn is my favorite guy ever. Enough gushing, though. Time for painting stuff.

The second Ultramarine I’ve ever painted, weirdly enough. My first Ultramarine was my first model, so my second being a keychain-corpse for a new army is weirdly sentimental

Since we’re on the topic of Khorne, I finished up the torso of my old school Daemon Prince. I’m exceptionally proud of this! I think the shading and blending is maybe some of my best, most advanced painting yet, and I pulled out just about every technique that I know for this thing. I even did a little drybrushing on the Necron skull. Here’s to hoping I can maintain this level of quality across the other pieces of this mini once I get some more primer.

Getting some good use out of my technicals, and finally utilizing my skull box

Still on Khorne, here’s some more progress on those Bloodletters from last post. They’re just about done, complete with horn blending and everything. I’m planning on doing flaming blades for them, but I’ll have to buy some more paints before I tackle that. I’ve got a handful more of primed and based Bloodletters, so they’ll probably be my backup easy paint for a while. The bases are simple and easy to make, but decently visually effective, which I think is good and fitting for such a massed unit.

Next up, I decided to give highlighting a go with one of my newer Thunderbearers, since I’m trying to boost my painting technique all around. This is definitely my best highlighting work yet, certainly leagues ahead of my first try from last year. I think he looks pretty clean!

I’m also experimenting with new photography backgrounds since I got kinda sick of having pasta or hamster cage cleaner or whatever the fuck in the background of my poorly lit update pictures. Think I may have stumbled upon a good method for backgrounds.

I love you, empty white void

Last but certainly not least, I finished up the first bike for my lone Outrider Squad. I’m really happy with him, as well. The hardest part of painting these dudes is definitely base painting. They just have a lot of ground to cover with your brush so they absolutely devour paint, but it’s cool cause I finally finished him up after like, actual months of sitting half-painted in my vehicles box. I’m a particular fan of the little white lens glare in the top left of his eye. I just think it’s neat.

This unit is gonna be mad satisfying to finish, and I can’t wait to get more work done. In the meantime, I’m chugging away at my first 5-man Berzerker squad, including their bases, which are gonna be pretty unique. They’re like, black mountainous rocks littered with skulls and blood-stained snow. Alongside that, I’ve also been stripping my Custodes, so I’ll have a bit of an update about that next time, too.

[bardic-tales]

Day two of the Leviathan Method still has me filling out Alex's bio. I am working on creating his sword: Aegis. Aegis can erupt in flames if Alex runs his hand along the blade portion of the weapon.

When he is in his true form, he has a 15-foot wingspan with six wings, signaling his archangel / Seraphim status: two wings covering his face, two wings covering his feet, and 2 wings that allow him to fly. He is only seen like this once in the entire trilogy. When he is seen with his wings, it is usually just the two that he manifests out of his back, giving him flight.

[crusherthedoctor]

Favorite Spyro music track?

Narrowing it down to one is impossible for me. It's not like the original trilogy makes up three of my favourite game soundtracks of all time or anything... :P

So instead I'll list my favourites... *breathes in*

Spyro 1: Dark Hollow, Sunny Flight, Dry Canyon, Ice Cavern, Alpine Ridge, Wizard Peak, Misty Bog, Wild Flight, Dream Weavers, Dark Passage

Spyro 2: All three homeworlds, Idol Springs, Colossus, Hurricos, Sunny Beach, Ocean Speedway, Breeze Harbour, Zephyr, Scorch, Magma Cone, Metro Speedway, Icy Speedway, Mystic Marsh, Robotica Farms, Metropolis, Canyon Speedway, Dragon Shores, all three bosses

Spyro 3: Sunrise Spring, Cloud Spires, Molten Crater, Sheila's Alp, Icy Peak, Enchanted Towers, Spooky Swamp, Bamboo Terrace, Country Speedway, Evening Lake, Frozen Altars, Fireworks Factory, Charmed Ridge, Midnight Mountain, Crystal Islands, Desert Ruins, Harbour Speedway, Agent 9's Lab, all four bosses

Enter the Dragonfly: Dragon Realms, Cloud 9, Honey Marsh, Platform Peril, Oasis Speedway, Volcano Slide

Season of Ice: Market Mesa, Spring Fairy, Roman City

Season of Flame: Sunny Plains, Celestial Plains, Moon Fondue

[prowerprojects]

Well, in Rouge's case, while I imagine her natural abilities is enough to get the job done at the bare minimum, any gadgets she'd have would just mainly be ones for spy work. {This also applies to those who has specific jobs.} (Unlike Tails, who often has to adapt to whatever problem is going on at the moment. Which would mean modifying or hijacking what he has on the fly. What was once a vacuum can be a flamethrower at any moment. In a way, it can actually make him a bit unpredictable, compared to those who have a specific form of combat. {Sonic's a quick thinker and uses his environment to his advantage, but would you catch him with guns?} He could be demolition, a trapper, defensive wall, setup/diversion or a summons lord. Whatever support is needed at the moment.)

In fairness, Rouge, Charmy and even Cream don't get a lot of opportunities to use their flight much other than maneuvering. Tails is more or less the same spot, be it game or adaption. (It comes down to it being used in different gameplay more, like that one Eggman boss from the original trilogy where he essentially has infinite flight. I think Tails Adventure had one too.) As far as shows which are generally free from game limitations, outside of AOSTH and Boom, they seem very keen on keeping him glued to the ground unfortunately.

What's funnier is that in Sonic X; which predates Lost World by nearly a decade, he actually did this before. At the end the episode where the Chaotix try to pair Tails with Cosmo, just before he returns the trinket she dropped earlier, you see it wrapped up in one of his tails. Just like the toothpick. And this adaption had Sega's hand on it. (And just to throw more tidbits out there: Tails using himself as a fan predates Archie and Mania, from a very old minigame from a popcorn machine. Where you see him fanning the flames, to a point where he slides a bit and has to reposition himself. And depending on how he uses this supposed tornado move in Superstars, it could be a "semi-nod" to the AOSTH episode Tails Prevails. {As well as another hc of mine being fuifilled. Tails being able to blow stuff away just makes sense})

Eye for an eye, it's a fair trade. :P (Heh, been trying to explore interactions that don't get touched on very much. Good place to start is to find a base that strongly supports both and work from there.)

Oh, I meant more like. Why can't Rouge use Tails's gadgets?

I do think Tails rebuilding his weapons on the fly (hehe) is a cool idea, and I could totally see it in a comic or a cartoon, how do you implement it in the games? I guess it's not impossible to come up with an explanation... oh it could be really cool if during the game you found a "base" that you can modify into a weapon of your choice (different ones with different strengths and weaknesses), and it would make people want to replay the game to choose a different weapon and try to beat the levels with it. (Maybe there could be a weapon that is harder to use so you pick it if you want to basically pick hard mode) It all sounds really cool but I'm not sure if we could actually get it in the games though. (Plus Tails being the sidekick can't ever be cooler than Sonic, you know how it is)

I also think Rouge has an advantage here too since she can also glide and maneuver with her wings, while the kids need to constantly flap/spin to stay in the air, so I don't believe they'd be able to replicate her fighting style with all of them cool kicks. (What little we see of Rouge(s) fighting in Prime is well done I think. Tails uses a drone :| But now that I started thinking about it, it's starting to make sense but uh. He's fighting in Boom and the comics though, and I'm already suspending my disbelief by believing he can fly in the first place, soo)

(Also I don't think there's infinite flight in Tails Adventure, in Sky Patrol you're forced to constantly be flying but if you don't replenish your stamina and get tired and fall, you lose)

Nooo way. (I need to rewatch X. Someday). It actually makes me feel better because I love that silly thing and if it was even in X we might see it again, I'm taking it as a win.

Also about Superstars, Sonic and Knuckles just get their regular attacks that they have in Modern Games (punching amd homing attack if I'm remembering correctly); I hope it means that the attacks Amy and Tails get would be added to their modern gameplay later on too. (Also interesting that they're using the clear emerald for this, because in Fleetway it also had special powers compared to others even if it manifested a little differently, it was basically the ME before the ME was a thing)

One thing I find interesting when it comes to Tails and Knuckles, is their interest in history. It makes sense for Knuckles, though seems a bit out of left field for Tails (but alas he must be the exposition fairy even when Knux isn't around), I wonder if Tails got into it because of Knuckles. (Also they're both afraid of ghosts, it's funny).

[rjjameshiii]

RJ's Platinum Collection #19: Spyro the Dragon

Achieved on 1/21/2023 at 4:26 PM

Another classic game from my childhood - however, unlike the previous ones, I never actually finished Spyro the Dragon when I was a kid. I only ever made it to Cliff Town before giving up. So I decided to get this platinum in the remastered trilogy in order to do what my younger self couldn't!

So the plot of the first Spyro is that an evil goblin thing named Gnasty Gnorc uses his magic to turn all adult dragons into statues because they insulted him on live TV. Honestly, I kind of get it. It was super uncalled for. Anyway, Spyro needs to travel to the various dragon worlds and free all the dragons.

Also side note, but every single dragon is male. No female dragons in sight. I must therefore assume they are all gay.

The platinum for Spyro is also the easiest of the trilogy, as all you need to do is free all the dragons, get all the gems, and find all 12 dragon eggs that were stolen by egg thieves. In addition, each level also has a miscellaneous trophy. All worlds consist of a hub level, three platforming levels, a gliding level, and a boss fight.

The first world is the Artisans World, full of artistic dragons and six trophies.

1/37: Hop, Skip, and Jump - Find the hidden entrance to Sunny Flight.

2/37: Sheep Kebab - Flame 10 sheep in Stone Hill.

3/37: Light My Fire - Light two bonfires in Dark Hollow.

4/37: Leaf On The Wind - Glide to the secret Egg Thief in Town Square.

5/37: Burnt Toast - Defeat Toasty without getting hit by him.

6/37: Barnstormer - Do a loop around an arch in Sunny Flight.

You also get a trophy for using the hot air balloon to travel to the next world, which is the Peacekeepers World. It's desert-themed and full of tough warrior dragons.

7/37: Boom! - Take a trip with the Balloonist.

8/37: Shoot The Moon - Use a cannon to dispatch a taunting Gnorc.

9/37: Birds Of A Feather - Flame every vulture in Cliff Town.

10/37: Bird Brained - Charge a vulture in Dry Canyon.

11/37: Triathlon - Defeat all three Ski Gnorcs in Ice Cavern.

12/37: What's In The Box? - Unlock the strong chest in Doctor Shemp.

13/37: Hot Wings 1 - Flame all fairies in Night Flight.

The next world is the Magic Crafters world full of dragon wizards. This is the world where the game starts to get hard, but I still say this is an easy game for all ages.

14/37: Comin' Through! - Charge through 4 Armored Druids near the start of the Magic Crafters world.

15/37: Pops Of The Tops - Detonate 3 explosive chests on the pillars in Alpine Ridge.

16/37: Arachnophobe - Defeat all Metalback Spiders in High Caves.

17/37: Egg Hunt - Defeat the hidden Egg Thief in Wizard Peak.

18/37: Gatherer - Collect all 400 gems in Blowhard.

19/37: Hot Wings 2 - Flame all fairies in Crystal Flight.

And then we go on to the Beast Makers World, which as a name doesn't make much sense. Do the dragons actually make the beasts that populate the world, or do they just tame them? Anyway, this world sucks and the trophy for Tree Tops is the bane of my existence.

20/37: Mushroom Hunter - Flame 5 glowing mushrooms in the Beast Makers world.

21/37: Rocketeer - Light 3 fireworks in 15 seconds in Terrace Village.

22/37: Cage Free - Free a trapped chicken in Misty Bog.

23/37: Launch Date - Jump off every Supercharge ramp in Tree Tops.

24/37: Gems In The Rough - Collect all 500 gems in Metalhead.

25/37: I Believe It Is Time For Me To Fly - Complete Wild Flight without touching the ground.

The second-to-last world is the Dream Weavers World and this world is just strange, like it's floating in the sky and is full of freaky creatures called fools, and the levels are trippy as hell. But it's a lot more fun than the last world!

26/37: Fool's Errand - Charge through three Armored Fools in a row.

27/37: Bad Doggies! - Defeat three Demon Dogs in their large form in Dark Passage.

28/37: Scrap Metal - Defeat all the Tin Soldiers in Haunted Towers.

29/37: All Puffed Up - Charge through 4 Puffer Birds in a row in Lofty Castle.

30/37: Jacques-tacular - Defeat 4 Nightmare Beasts in a single glide.

31/37: Fly Like an Eagle - Complete Icy Flight without touching the ground.

And then you get to the final world, Gnasty's World. You have to play all the levels in order, and they are the hardest in the game, but the boss fight against Gnasty Gnorc is laughably easy for the final boss. Completing all the levels was no problem.

32/37: Ratastic! - Complete Gnorc Cove without killing any rats.

33/37: What Really Grinds My Gears - Destroy six gears in Twilight Harbor.

34/37: Dragon and On and On - Get Gnasty Gnorc to complete 5 laps.

If you beat Gnasty Gnorc with all dragons rescued, all gems found, and all eggs found, you will get access to the secret final level, Gnasty's Loot. It's a giant map filled with treasure, and you need to find every last gem in order to get the Platinum.

35/37: I'm In The Money! - Unlock Gnasty's Loot.

36/37: Hoarder - Collect all gems in Gnasty's Loot.

37/37: Gnasty's Demise - Collect all Spyro the Dragon trophies.

I think Spyro is a classic and deserves the popularity and praise, but I also think this game is a super easy Platinum. However, it is also the only Spyro game I would willingly replay!

Rating: 9/10

[suzannahnatters]

HEY GUYS I'M COMING TO THE US LET'S MEET UP ~ Book Signing Event!!! ~ WHERE: Barnes & Noble Polaris in Columbus, Ohio WHEN: June 11th from 2-5 PM WITH: RJ Anderson, W.R. Gingell, Rosamund Hodge, and Joanna Ruth Meyer!

Let me just rave about my chums for a minute - - R.J. Anderson, who writes wonderful, old-school YA fantasy about fairies and faith! (Try KNIFE, I couldn't put it down)

- W.R. Gingell, author of beloved Aussie urban fantasy series THE CITY BETWEEN (my fave is BETWEEN WALLS but you have to read the whole thing)

- Rosamund Hodge, author of dark and bittersweet parables of sin, redemption, and stabbing things (if you haven't read CRIMSON BOUND what are you even doing with yourself)

- Joanna Ruth Meyer, author of heartfelt and evocative YA fantasies (INTO THE HEARTLESS WOOD is the cottagecore tree siren story you never knew you needed).

- And ME, your favourite author of ridiculously over-researched historical fantasy!

(- Also possibly a sixth MYSTERY AUTHOR watch this space)

IF you want to purchase books, you can snag a copy of DARK CLOUDS on the day, or if there's a specific title you want, be sure to call B&N Polaris at (614) 854-0339 and ask them to order it in for you.

11 June! Please come! Bring any books you want signed! It will be SO thrilling to meet you!