#martha yumes are you out there.....

[rosemaze-reveries]

― after all the times i swore to you?

romantic hcs with martha’s various roles mostly sfw, some implications

Sway

⚜ Sway’s penchant for disappearing makes her a complicated lover. She likes to keep an air of mystery around her, and she’ll slip away at the first sign of you trying to breach it.

⚜ This can be attractive ... if you’re only looking for a quick rush. Some nights she shows up to whisk you away somewhere, others leave you wondering if you dreamt it all.

⚜ In your brief time together, she acts as if you’re her one and only. She often makes sappy promises while kissing your hand, insisting she’ll always come back for you.

⚜ Who knows if she really means it? You’re enchanted in the moment.

⚜ She loves seeing you wear her coat, saying it suits you better than her. She’ll adjust the laces on the back to fit it for you, sometimes playfully making it too tight for a reaction.

⚜ The only time she takes off her gloves is when she’s intimate. She likes to make a show of pulling them off with her teeth + usually they end up stuffed in your mouth

⚜ No matter how much love she gives, there will always seem like a layer of distance between you.

Dance in the Snow

⚜ The Madam is older, wiser, and much more secure of herself. Most people know not to cross her, but some claim they’ve found her single weakness: you.

⚜ Romance with her feels like a slow dance. She politely turns down many of your advances, but teases you just enough to keep you coming back.

⚜ Her customers had an unspoken understanding that you belonged to her long before she made it official 😔🫰

⚜ When she decides to let you into her heart, she’s very intense with her love. Always keeps an eye on you & checks in throughout the day. She’s fond of peppering you with kisses behind her folding fan.

⚜ Despite holding herself to high expectations (+ wanting her partner to be the same), she is definitely softer around you.. she’s more concerned about you taking proper breaks, and likewise you’re the only one she relaxes around.

⚜ She often gives you intricate accessories. When she catches you wearing her gifts, a gleam of satisfaction lights up her face. She caresses them gently, saying, “Did I pick this out? Your eyes were so mesmerizing, this almost slipped by me.”

Pirate Gunner

⚜ Her hands are calloused, steady, and exceptionally tricksy. Not many can make you so sensitive with a single touch.

⚜ Kind of a clumsy flirt. She once calls you her most precious treasure, and never comes up with anything else. Her handsiness makes up for it <3

⚜ She likes playing with your waistband, usually handling you by the hips. It takes her some time to realize how badly this flusters you because it’s a mindless thing to her.

⚜ If you’re worried about onlookers, she’ll remind you that she’s the captain-- they know to mind their business.

⚜ Often pretends to nap around deck, knowing you’ll eventually come wake her. She waits until you’re hovering above her before she hooks an arm around your neck, reeling you in for her good-morning kiss.

[sixofravens-reads]

re: 2023 new releases. hope you're ready for a long message because there were a lot.

hot new releases/things that were relatively popular

He Who Drowned The World, Shelley Parker Chan (Chinese mythological historical, very gay, very stabby a la Baru Cormorant. Book 2 of 2. A particular favorite of mine from this year)

Witch King, Martha Wells (New fantasy book by author of murderbot fame. I didn't actually click with this one but I'd be remiss to leave it off)

House With Good Bones, T Kingfisher (Southern gothic rose horror by the very talented Ursula Vernon)

Translation State, Ann Leckie (high sf alien horror regency romance. Wheeeeee. I had a lot of fun reading this. You can read it as a standalone, but you get deeper context if you've read the ancillary justice series, also highly recommended)

Will of the Many, James Islington (futuristic roman empire aesthetic rigged murder school. Not precisely good but appallingly catchy, I read all six hundred pages in pretty much one sitting. If you liked red rising you'll like this, if you hated red rising you will Not)

OH YEAH THE ACTUAL NEW MURDEBOT NOVEL (System Collapse)

A Power Unbound, Freya Marske (book 3 of 3, magic alt edwardian romances with murder. This is more romance proper but it's about equal with the action plot and Marske is very good. I don't think you've read these so you'd have to start at book 1)

Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh (The book that absolutely knocked my socks off, my pick for the best sff release of the year. I forget if I've already told you about this one)

Starling House, Alix Harrow (Southern gothic house drama. Similar feel to Ninth House or The Book of Night)

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty (Divorced lady pirate adventure-drama a la Arabian Nights.)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Heather Fawcett (Charming, heavily fairy tale trope themed, vaguely reminiscent of the Lady Trent books)

more obscure new releases from this year that I thought were cool, but not in the Hot New Reads You Can't Miss Because Everyone's Read Them category

Under Fortunate Stars, Ren Hutchings (sf timey wimey space shenanigans with aliens. Immensely cool premise.)

Small Miracles, Olivia Atwater (fallen angel sent to tempt a too good mortal. Extremely charming)

The King Is Dead, Naomi Libicki (vaguely persian flavored fealty romance, very heavy to the fealty. Original, thorny, and intriguing)

The Deep Sky, Yume Kitasei (What if we terribly traumatized everyone going on a generation ship by making them go to viciously competitive boarding school together and then act surprised when a murder mystery occurs. Heads up that it's more interested in the human drama than the SF worldbuilding)

The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (early modern fantasy world anti-imperialism fever dream narrated by a cult survivor. Brilliantly written, spectacularly original, one of the best books I read this year)

Things for 2024, content warning for being (obviously) things I haven't read and thus without quality control

The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Katherine Arden

The Familiar, Leigh Bardugo

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, P Djeli Clark

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

Goddess of the River, Vaishnavi Patel

The Woods All Black, Lee Mandelo

Exordia, Seth Dickinson

A Sorceress Comes To Call, T Kingfisher

Running Close To The Wind, Alexandra Rowland

Wow tumblr just lets me keep writing words. I didn't think they let me have this many in asks. Oh, and pro tip-- keep an eye out for tordotcom's most anticipated upcoming books for the first six months of 2024. They should be publishing it within the next week or so and I always add masses of books to my tbr from there.

oh holy crap, thanks!! I'll have to check these out!

thoughts on a few of em:

He Who Drowned The World - still have to read She Who Became the Sun lol but hopefully I'll get to em next year!

Witch King - Martha Wells has been recced by like All my sci-fi mutuals now lmao I REALLY gotta get into her!

House With Good Bones - THIS ONE IS ACTUALLY ON MY SHELF!! I just didn't fucking read it this year whoops. Very excited for new Kingfisher

Starling House - I was on the fence about this one since I really didn't like Once and Future Witches, but those comparisons give me hope! I'll add it to the library list!

Some Desperate Glory and Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries are 2/3 of the books published in 2023 that I actually managed to read (the 3rd is The Woman in Me lmao), I can't remember if you recc'd Some Desperate Glory, but it was SOOOOOOOO GOOD OMFG

Small Miracles - my aunt has been trying to convince me to read Atwater for quite a while, I'll have to give this one a try!

The Saint of Bright Doors - I have this one on hold!! Saw a post for it a week or so ago and it sounds absolutely delightful!

The Familiar - SO SO EXCITED for this one! I hope Bardugo is maybe...slowly....extricating herself from the Grishaverse and going to write more books not related to it... (not that they're all bad, I loved the Six of Crows duology, I'm just not into it anymore and I reeeealllly like her adult books lol)

Running Close To The Wind - oh yay new Rowland! I still haven't read her last book (the one with the guy on the cover who looked EXACTLY like my boss to the point where it became an Office Meme that [Boss] Is A Gay Romance Cover Model, still meaning to get a UK version of it but haven't yet) but I'll have to look this one up!

[waterdeep]

38-40!

38. releases you’re looking forward to next year

1. godkiller by hannah kaner 2. the scourge between stars by nessa brown 3. the deep sky by yume kitasei 4. witch king by martha wells 5. a day of fallen night by samantha shannon 🤩

also really looking forward to the dungeons & dragons: the legend of drizzt visual dictionary that's out in march 👀

39. five books you absolutely want to read next year?

this is so hard... how to narrow the list down to five... i won't include the books above, though they're all obviously books i want to read next year

1. babylon's ashes by james s.a. corey 2. deadhouse gates by steven erikson 3. malice by john gwynne 4. spectre of the past by timothy zahn 5. the curse of the mistwraith by janny wurts

40. do you have any reading goals for next year?

i have a few reading goals for 2023!

i want to finish more series. i've started a lot of series (41 are in-progress atm 💀) but haven't finished as many in comparison so one of my goals is to get the number of in-progress series down to 20ish if i can.

i want to read(finish) more of the physical books i own. the number of unread books on my shelves is... too big. it's too big. which is great because so many options but also........ too big.

buy less books. i've set a little 'you can buy 1 book for every 10 books from your physical tbr that you finish' goal for myself excluding pre-orders and special circumstances.

send me bookish asks! 📚

[soartfullydone]

5, 33, and 38 for the book asks!

bless you, cassie

5. The longest book you read this year

Morning Star by Pierce Brown at 524 hardcover pages. Honestly, shout out for this being a trilogy I actually started and finished this year. It's been so long since I've done that, and it was delightfully fucked up.

33. Did you DNF anything?

For once, yep! Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor because it was so heinous.

38. Releases you’re looking forward to next year

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

Dark Rise Book 2 by C.S. Pacat

The Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Blood on the Blade by Ana Lal Din

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

Witch King by Martha Wells

Chaos and Flame by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland

The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten

The Eleventh Hour (The Adventure Zone) by the McElboys

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei