#the library bards

[gwydionmisha]

ACTION ITEM Missouri!

"If you use Libby app to read your library books, like many people do, Sec of State Danny Hoskins of Missouri is canceling funding for overdrive/ libby- the ebook services for public libraries, Allegedly to protect children from pornography

Seniors, disabled, and others without transportation, and many others depend on this service.  "

Call to complain: 573-751-4936.

The friend who alerted me to this adds:

Also, to some at least there may be a work around: 

"This is a link to the Bard App which is through the library of Congress.  It is a free service for the disabled to listen to audiobooks through the free bard app on their phone or tablet.  Not sure if it works on a full blown computer but it's worth looking into.  Let's get around their utter bollocks as well as forcing them to retract it!"

[ladyannemarie5]

Jaskier graduated summa cumme laude from the most prestigious university on the continent. He acts like a superficial and disinterested bard all the time, but from time to time he acts like what he is, a master of the 7 liberal arts: Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Geometry, Arithmetic, Music and Astronomy.

Geralt doesn't notice this until Radovid shows up.

Every now and then Jaskier would blurt out a nonsensical comment that usually isn't meant for anyone, other than Geralt with his great ear, to hear.

The prince, hears everything that comes out of the bard's mouth and it is surprising when he laughs at whatever Jaskier said to the bard's amazement. Most amazingly, Radovid responds with another nonsensical comment that makes Jaskier laugh.

Geralt looks at them with a frown. Jaskier stops his laughter and eagerly asks the prince if he has read the philosopher he was apparently quoting. Radovid launches into a story of how his private tutor forced him to read the philosopher and he subsequently became enchanted with the man's writings and read his work for his own pleasure.

The more they travel, the more that happens. It turns out that the apparent nonsense Jaskier occasionally spouted is actually quotes, references and facts from philosophers, poets, astronomers, mathematicians, etc., that he was taught in college or read himself. Radovid responds to each of them with charm and delight, because apparently, Radovid has read them all as part of his royal education.

Geralt is not jealous. He isn't. No matter what Ciri and Yennefer say. He just doesn't like being out of the joke, doesn't like both of them acting like others aren't there and having to listen to their academic conversations when no one but them seems to care.

He just doesn't like that Jaskier smiles like never every time Radovid quotes an old poet of yesteryear that no one but them has read, as if it's an inside joke, because there should be no secrets in their group. He also doesn't like it when Jaskier laughs so loud because that can attract monsters. He hates that Jaskier sits next to Radovid every night talking about boring books because they are mere humans and if something attacks them, then both will be in danger and Geralt will only be able to save one (cof cof Jaskier), it's simple strategy. And absolutely not jealous because the bard now asks the prince for his advice when he writes songs, it's just that was something that used to de-stress Geralt and now he can't sleep well anymore. It's simple comfort.

But it all finally goes to shit when Jaskier turns down Geralt's invitation to spend the winter in Kaer Morhen because stupid Radovid invited him to his castle on the coast where he apparently has the best collection of maritime astronomy on the continent.

Geralt spends all that winter stuck in the library of Kaer Morhen reading anything that might interest Jaskier other than bestiaries. He tries very hard not to think about his bard and the prince huddled in front of the fire looking up at the stars until late at night drinking wine, getting closer and closer and closer until…

No. He won't allow it. When he sees Jaskier in the spring, he'll be sure to casually mention everything he read in winter, he'll make a fool of the prince when Geralt shows his bard the ancient books he brought him from the Wolf school library (not that Vesemir needs to know what came out of his precious library).

He'll graduate summa cumme laude from freaking Oxenfurt if it means getting his bard's attention again.

[wannabebardrambles]

Will saying he’s ‘fiending like an addict’ coming back in the new year....as if he’s not giving us all crippling addictions to long form media like ??? hello. hi yes i want reparations please

[galesafe]

I know I'm so late to the party and everyone has played this game 600 times but my Tav finally got to kiss that wizard and I have never been so invested in a fictional romance in my life

[beedreamscape]

In my dream of dreams for C4, Sam plays a wizard. Bc I know he'd do something juicy crazy intriguing.

[californiastatelibrary]

It's Library Card Sign up Month and did you know you can access over 160,000 audiobooks, magazines, and braille books through a convenient mobile app, BARD! Available through the Apple Store - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bard-mobile/id705229586 - or Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.loc.nls.dtb&hl=en_US&pli=1 (App access is restricted to patrons of the Braille and Talking Book Library)

Sign up for the Braille and Talking Book Library here: https://www.library.ca.gov/btbl/apply/

BTBL patrons please contact your Reader Advisor for assistance with access!

[lilyharvord]

I need people to understand that my hyperfixation ships are limited to one thing: a man who is usually in full control of himself meeting 1 woman and losing complete and utter control over absolutely everything he does.

I just like to watch when they go full feral for a woman who could literally chew them up and spit them out, but choses to let them stick around because I don't know, it's nice to have someone carrying their bag or whatever.

[upside-down-sock-drawer]

I need to get the gang back together to play dnd this is wild.

[agedlikemilky]

Damn, I was supposed to study biochemistry on this thing

I love my Lola, and I love whiteboards.

I might make a Lola introduction post later :3

[checkoutmybookshelf]

You Have My Attention: Warrior Bards First Lines

So the Warrior Bards' relationship with Blackthorn & Grim is very much ST:TNG's relationship to TOS. But where Blackthorn & Grim have an older feel to the writing style (think Robert Jordan or Tolkien), the Warrior Bards reads a lot more like modern fantasy. A good place to see that is in the first lines of the books, which are so important for catching readers.

A pox on Archu! Why must we fight in a wretched downpour? I hook my left leg around Brocc's right and throw my full weight backward, toppling us both to the ground. We roll, coating ourselves with mud. Shit! Who would want to do this for the rest of their life? I must be crazy.

-- The Harp of Kings

It's a glorious day. The sun is warm, the clouds are high puffs of white, the sea is as calm as it ever gets around Swan Island. We're sitting on the bench seats at the combat area, tingling with anticipation, knowing today's celebration marks the end of many months of grueling work. Work we've loved and hated. Work that has tried us to the edge of our endurance and stretched us to the furthest bounds of our ability--though, as Archu has told us, in a crisis you can always find a bit more to give. Work that has forged not only four warriors fit to join the island's permanent force, but also four true friends.

-- A Dance with Fate

I want to talk to the druid. Brother Oisin is an old man, but age hasn't slowed him much. He walks long distances and doesn't always keep to the roads. He is solitary by choice, loving wild places, praying alone, meeting with other folk from time to time to offer teaching or advice or help. At such meetings, if one is lucky, Oisin will tell tales of long agi, stories of wonder and terror, of joy and heartbreak. His tales are magical. They challenge the mind and refresh the spirit.

-- A Song of Flight

[nanalineni]

Rrnnnghgg

Dungeons. And mayhaps even dragons.

[shelvingcart]

S01 E03 - Episode 3: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Today Sarah and Ted discuss A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. They cover:

Background info on Victoria (V.E.) Schwab

Background info on The Shades of Magic triology

Plot summary

Character summary

Likes/Dislikes

Is Lila non-binary?

Fan fiction (Rhy/Kell, Kell/ Lila, Kell/Lila/Holland)

Book recommendations

[thatiswhy]

please stop using proto-stockphotos of your very attractive students of indeterminable gender on your webpage when i'm trying to look up free-to-use materials for my pet project and/or making silly jokes i'm trying to get my maths/puns on, not my horn

[indie-bard-maiden]

~The Library~

(the ballad, apart of my short story collection 'The Ballad of Hollowfaye' also available to read on wattpad)

The goddaughter of Wynter Myst retells The Ballad of Hollowfaye.

Genre: Ballad

Word Count: (to be determined)

She knew Hollowfaye like the back of her hand. Her godfather, Winter Myst, though he always insisted she and her twin sister, Zuzu, call him Father Myst, was the very mayor of this place. Or he was... She'd received the news that he'd passed just this morning. He'd been found with his cock in the dirt.

It was a painful thing to hear before she had to bear a 12 hour shift at the Library.

They'd been put into his care when they were young, after a brief stay in the Nunnery, where they'd been waiting for their mother to pick them up from school. She never showed. But he did. They'd never met him before, neither understood how their mother had known him, and when he saw them for the first time, in the sanctuary, he greeted them as if they were his oldest friends.

She learned everything there is to know about Hollowfaye. When Zuzu would wake up crying for their mother, Father Myst would come in with hot chocolate for each of them and 'Hollowfaye: Land Of and For the Odd and Strange', what everyone called an extensively researched, historically accurate memoir the mayor wrote of his town, he called a love letter.

She tried to remember it now. Quinby said she could leave now, or any moment when she felt it was too much. Reminiscing kept the sadness at bay. She hadn't seen his body, but she knew he died with a smile on his face. There was no pain or suffering. She wanted to think about him like he was...

With that goofy smile, and his innocent way of thinking, and how he could find the purest of happinesses just taking in the shade of a leaf in autumn. Every color was perfect, every tree, every flower, every cloud, every breath we took, every step we chose.

He was proud of her when she got her degree from the community college and decided to stay in Hollowfaye and work at the library. And he was proud of Zuzu when she quit college and decided to be a nun at East Church. He was even proud when she admitted she only did it because she was ashamed of her gayness for half a second, before the literal moon saved her life.

He understood exactly what she was talking about. Believed her, even. Supported her endlessly. Of course he would. He was in love with Hollowfaye. Not even some personification of Hollowfaye. He loved its forests and cliffs and coastline, in fact, there was nothing he didn't like about it. And it wasn't an 'it' to him. She was a she. And the feelings were entirely romantic.

The Ballad of Hollowfaye came back to her immediately then. She remembered him reading it to them as a bedtime story, and a good morning story, and a sending you to school story, and a 'do your chores' story. She wondered if there'd ever come a time when she'd forget it, try to remember it, and then it stays gone forever. Irretrievable from the past.

THE BALLAD OF HOLLOWFAYE:

"There lies a town with a moon perfectly aligned with Kismet;

where wind blows destiny;

and where birthright magic defies;

my dearly beloved Hollowfaye;----"

She remembers cutting him off the first time he read it. 'Hey,' she complained in his arms, 'This is a Ballad. The second and fourth lines are supposed to rhyme.' He scoffed at her, 'Destiny and Hollowfaye rhyme if you say Destiny with an accent. Have a little fun.' Zuzu yawned, already half-asleep, 'Yeah, Zaskia, have a little fun.' And every time after that first time, he read it as Destinaye.

'You are far more to me than scenery, soul, and sand;

your warmth in every day;

when i shall meet my end;

i'll return to you with still-beating heart and bouquet in hand;

Grace among your black rock cliffs;

Seduction in your Black Crescent Bay;

Faith in your glass, moonlit sky;

To some, just a coastal city in Maine;

but to this Mayor? to this house plant?;

I'll return to your eternal soil with still-beating heart and bouquet in hand;

Our souls shall rest in your Wildwood and picnic;

Forever bonded in holy matrimony;

And returned to each other when this plum tree dies;

I'd swim across your every stream, pond, and lake;

I'd face your hinterlands and more, just to hold your hand;

I beg to be held again within your holy clay;

She tells me, 'Forever-yet, my dear', and I beg her 'Please don't misunderstand'

I yearn for your eternal soil with my still-beating and the bouquet in my hand!"

She doubts there will come a day when she'll truly forget it. When she'll have to find his textbook in the library where she works and read the dedication and the acknowledgments, where he printed the poem twice.

She wipes her tear and turns to find Quinby waiting worriedly behind her.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

She nods, "Oh yeah. Death was nothing to him. He made it clear nothing would make him happier than his body being in the ground, and his soul dancing among the trees... Or whatever." She didn't want to sound ridiculous in front of him. Even if she did kind of believe that's what Father Myst was doing right about now.

"He's at peace, I can assure you. Death is really... Death is the longest part of life. It happens to everyone, and so nobody should be afraid of it."

He seemed so sure, she almost wondered if he was alright.

"Oh... Well... Thanks, Quinby. I appreciate that." She didn't know what else to say. There was nothing else to say.

When she ended her shift, she would peacefully make her way over to East Church and cry with Sister Zuzu before they set about planning his funeral. He always said to just dig a hole and throw him in it, preferably without his clothes on, but they couldn't. The whole town would be there. He deserved a more honorable send-off then that.

At least for all he did for Hollowfaye. Not the girl, but the town itself. The actual, real town.

He preached about cleaner alternatives back before it was popularized: helped push recycling, water conservation, gardening, and supporting small businesses; spoke passionately about keeping the forest clean and clear; kept industrialization far away from us. He made us a completely independent entity, and fully functional. We could literally become our own city-state like The Vatican if we wanted to. He made sure to bring the community together with celebrations like Yule and Imbolc and Beltane gatherings.

Not to mention he wrote that textbook that seriously helped get Hollowfaye on the map. Of course, it brought in some really strange tourists. People with fur all over their faces or razor-sharp teeth or scaly skin.

The point is he was the greatest love Hollowfaye had ever known. It was impossible for anyone to love her more ardently, more passionately, more wholly and completely. And he did all that, not because he was mayor, not because he was obligated, but because he wanted to... Because he loved her.

It.

Sorry.

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