#the worlds first author

[meganwhalenturner]

While at Elliot Bay Books, my ears perked up at a casual mention of poetry by “some woman from ancient Sumer or Ur.”

Was it Enheduana???? Yes!

I’m still bummed I missed the exhibit on Enheduana at the Morgan Library.

So, even though I had *just* said that I wasn’t ever going to haul paper books around in my suitcase again, I bought this translation by Sophus Helle.

I’m so glad I did. It’s a great book. Great subject, great writing. I can’t comment on the accuracy of the translation, but the poetry is knockout and the essays are accessible and fascinating.

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[bloodybellycomb]

It really sucks that creative people are now also expected become their own marketing team or become experts in business ventures in order to keep making art. Literally cannot think of a group of people less inclined to tedious number punching work than passionate artists.

[ash-and-starlight]

Every Day i think about the official radiant emperor Fuck Tier List

[totallyseiso]

There's just something about seeing a real historical figure turned into an anime character on an official city sign

[sunlightandfreshcherries]

End of this chapter, from A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss by Qvill

[teleport-warning]

Day 2: Rebirth

[tcfactory]

I have an idea I will need to ruminate on later to flesh it out more, but it goes something like this:

Shang Qinghua is God of the World, in the sense that he was a god who got a premonition of a Calamity that would destroy the entire world. So to prevent that all the gods pool their power to separate the world into one where all the mythology and stuff is real and a copy that's basically a low-magic/no-magic version that will be safe from said Calamity. They make the System to keep the two separated-but-connected and to help Shang Qinghua remake the original world when the time is right. Shang Qinghua, as the god who foresaw the looming disaster and was pivotal in averting it got tasked with taking the remaining divine power and going to the other world to hide from the Calamity and write the world back into existence once it's all over.

Except something goes wrong. One world is destroyed as anticipated, but Shang Qinghua has lost his godly powers and his memories when he got placed into the no-magic world. He's just our poor author friend Airplane bro.

The System is so relieved when the creator finally starts to write that it immediately implements it all without screening - System has been programmed to be very efficient! It can extrapolate from the smallest crumbs to recreate the world and its history in full! When Shang Qinghua has written enough that the world is back to its fully functioning glory the System is meant to bring the author-creator back to survey the world, but it does an oopsie and hey, transmigration! The restrictions on having to follow the plot are there so Airplane can experience the the life of a human in this recreated world as he had written it, so that corrections can be made before the new world is finalized. The 'Return Home' function isn't meant to take Shang Qinghua back to the other world, it's meant to turn him back into a proper God of the World(s) so he can make revisions, with full admin access. That's why it can't be dismissed permanently, it will happen eventually when Shang Qinghua reaches the end of his life or ascends.

The PIDW world also exists, as a backup copy in a way? So god Qinghua can always look at it and check what the effects of his revisions are. It's real enough that Bingge gets to hop over to the SVSSS world for his appearance in the extras.

Shen Qingqiu gets the System's attention because during his qi deviation he briefly makes contact with his incarnation in the other world and gets a full set of copies of Shen Yuan's memories. Someone who has read the Divine Work and can help keep Airplane on track with the plot and in character, because System is getting really agitated that its god is trying really hard to get out of what the System perceives as a short roleplay session. So it locks Shen Jiu's memories away for the time being and let's 'Shen Yuan' lose on the world.

A lock that gets eventually removed shortly after canon SVSSS ends. And the Shen Jiu personality and all his memories take priority because they are the ones that originally belong to this incarnation.

It's a big old mess, waking up and realizing that he lived the last couple of years as if he was a spoiled young master, shoved against his will into someone else's life. The memories from Shen Yuan's life in the other world are faded - still there, but they don't have as much of an effect on him anymore - but the things he felt and experienced since his qi deviations are all very vivid and very disorienting.

He needs time, to make sense of himself. He needs to think and he needs to be away from Binghe for a while, because the jealous disdain he felt for the child who had all the inherent gifts needed for success but still acted the helpless sheep and the love 'Shen Yuan' felt for adult Binghe are both there, equally vivid.

When he comes out of secluded meditation he's... different. Not cruel Shen Jiu, not kind Shen Yuan, but something in between. Much closer to the former, to the initial displeasure of most everyone who's not Yue Qingyuan, but there are aspects of the person he became in the last few years that he refuses to let go.

The eventual talk with Luo Binghe is beyond uncomfortable. It's not easy to admit to someone so much more powerful than him that he's more of the person Binghe hated rather than the person he loved. He's not the kind shizun, he refuses to pretend to be. If Luo Binghe wants to leave, there could be a way for him to go to Shen Yuan, who is the closest thing, but Binghe should keep in mind: that's not the person who has fallen in love with him. He likely would, if given a chance to meet Binghe, but they don't have history together.

He tells him that despite everything, the person Shen Qingqiu is now still loves Luo Binghe - loves him differently so things will need to change, but this is all he can offer. If Luo Binghe is willing to give it a try and see if he can love this sharper, more cruel Shen Qingqiu back, then Shen Qingqiu will not push him away.

[dimension20stuff]

How can you listen to the children's adventure and dislike Suvi? How can you listen to tiny traumatized baby Suvi and not directly map that onto angry bossy adult Suvi?

[my-name-is-apollo]

This now happens to be one my favorite passages about Apollo:

However, the Megarians later dedicated a golden plectrum to the god, paying attention, as it seems, to Scythinus, who so speaks about the lyre: (the lyre) "which the beautiful-faced Apollo, son of Zeus, harmoniously tunes up, connecting the beginning and the end, and the light of the sun he uses as a shining plectrum."

- Plutarch, On The Pythian Oracles (C1st to C2nd A.D) quoting Scythinus (C5th to C4th B.C) (trans. Andrei Lebedev)

[concernedbrownbread]

I’m a kazekage temari truther

[copepods]

i love suns and pebbles canon dynamic in my head its kind of weird and fucked up and i wish more people depicted it as that (tag ramble incoming)

[communistkenobi]

I’m curious if other communists have like a religious relationship to their political beliefs for lack of a better word? That’s not a good word to use but I don’t know how else to describe it. I’m solidly atheist but all of the feelings and emotions religious people talk about, revelation and spiritual connection to community and so on are all things I experience pretty regularly and I interpret those feelings as fundamentally communist. the way I take in and absorb information in particular feels revelatory in a religious sense. I’m pretty sure this is fairly common with MLs but I’m curious about it in general

[elvensemi]

Been working my ass off on a double length update for the premier of A Place Among the Stars, my original sci-fi... debut? I guess? In that it's my debut into sci-fi. Guys I've worked so hard on it hhhhh I hope people like it. There will be some teaser art coming out soon-ish.

It'll be releasing April 28th thru Patreon.

In May, I'll also be releasing a free ebook that contains the first few chapters from each of my stories, to allow you to sample Khajit's wares (is that joke too dated). Once it drops, please feel free to download it and also send it to every single group chat you're in that has a book recommendation channel lmao. Remember: you can't beat free!

[mothinflamesdoodles]

Fanart for @ketchupsapocalypse

[bleaksqueak]

Woah dang, waking up to 99+ notifs on tumblr almost always means that an old Homestuck piece is going around again... imagine my delighted surprise to see it was all notifs about Soli! That was a great thing to wake up to. Felt an actual flutter in my chest. Thank you so much, everyone! And apologies for how Elias' hair keeps subtly changing. You always kind of figure out exactly how a character looks and how to draw them as you go along with sequential art. It, funny enough, largely comes from figuring out their acting (so lots and lots of different angles and features that need to shift/change slightly to carry the weight of looking like they should feel, for lack of a better way to describe it ) At any rate, glad to see people are excited for chapter 3! next update will be next week, and will be a two page spread.