the-kouchfort - Tumblr blog

[the-kouchfort]

i said 'explain physics to me like youre in love with me' and after a while of quiet he went 'everything sings'. so i get it now

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'why are actors striking aren't they all millionaires' here's a paywall free link to an article that mentions how most of the cast of one of netflix's biggest shows had day jobs bc they couldn't afford rent

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@bat-in-the-machine​

Your restraint in the face of some of the things you have to deal with is amazing.

I need a Thank u Mr Terry tag

[the-kouchfort]

Welp. Guess I just found my birthday present to me, if I can afford it before it's over! =D

At @dduane's Ebooks Direct, now in progress: the Summer Solstice "Get Our Whole Store For $44" Sale!

(ETA: Reposting this because some folks have been getting the non-discounted version of the sale—possibly due to an affiliate-link problem—and I want to make absolutely sure the right version of the sale URL is in place.)

(Sound up for Vaguely Inspirational Music!)

The Solstice arrived a couple of days ago, so we're continuing to celebrate it the best way we can think of: by making the ebooks at Ebooks Direct even cheaper than usual.

That's right: we've reinstated the "Get Our Whole Store For $44 Sale"! That's 36 of Diane Duane's ebooks (@petermorwood's are still with another e-publisher, sorry, though there's a freebie of his in the package...), all DRM-free and with free replacements included in the price if they're lost or you change platforms. The package on offer includes the 9-book set of Young Wizards New Millennium Editions and the LGBTQ-centered Middle Kingdoms books, along with much more fantasy and SF. So if you've missed out on this offer previously, now's your chance to take advantage of it! (And us. We don't mind.) :)

Also, in honor of Pride Month—and much earlier than we'd normally put a new release into the whole-book package—we've added Tales of the Middle Kingdoms #2: Overdue to the offer. The only other place this new work appears at the moment is in the 2023 Pride Month package. (If you've been looking at that package, please note that everything in it appears in the Whole Store bundle, at a similar discount level. But the Whole Store offer will only last for 72 hours. The Pride package will be available until Irish midnight [GMT+1] on June 30.)

Interested? Then click here to put the $44 whole-store package in your shopping basket and grab yourself a bargain!

The product page will say it costs $55. But the link above has the discount baked in. Use it and the store will show the $44 price when you've gone through all the checkout steps before payment. (Sorry about this: it's how the store behaves when there are two discount offers running at once.)

If you go through to the just-before-paying stage and are still seeing the $55 price, please put the discount code EVERY72 into the "gift card or discount code" field on that page, and enter it. That'll sort things out.

Meanwhile, If you're not interested in the offer, would you consider reblogging it so that others in your timeline can have a look? Thanks! (And one sad inal note: due to Brexit, unfortunately this offer isn't valid in the UK. Details about the situation are here. Our apologies, as always, for the inconvenience.)

Meanwhile, happy day-after-Solstice to everybody! (Bearing in mind that there's another one going on in the Southern Hemisphere... though probably not so sunny.) And here's hoping that our offer will make your longest day—or shortest one—a little brighter.

[the-kouchfort]

My mother died Wednesday. For the past few days I've been sharing her art and stories on Twitter, but now Twitter crashes every time I try to tweet.

Yesterday it didn't seem real that the woman who created dragons and elves and fairies with the same matter-of-fact ease of someone building their thousandth stone fence was somehow gone.

Yesterday, the mind behind the Magnificent Tuttle, that ancient scholar of all things magical and mundane, who once wrote, "that dragons are myth is a myth, itself," will write no more.

But it's true.

The story will not follow. The storyteller has gone. There are no more tales. Fantastical or mundane.

I can't call her and commiserate on the latest horrific political news anymore.

There will be no more tales of the clever merchant Buffo, who has a deal worked out with the fae, who let him sell them in easily escapable cages, over and over, leaving their buyers with lovingly-crafted empty wooden cages.

[the-kouchfort]

Young Warrior

By Katherine Dewey

Young Warrior

His head filled with tales of valor, his heart filled with the honor entrusted to him, the young warrior prepared himself for the battle ahead. He recited the warrior's creed: "Our cause is just. Our force is strong. Our weapons wielded in God's name. Our foes are wretched. Their cause is wrong, their weapons the stuff of demon bane. Heros shall be made this day and the wretched shall be purged."

When the air sang with the first hail of arrows, an old soldier, scarred in face and limb, whispered in his ear. "Use your shield well, lad. They recite the same credo."

[the-kouchfort]

Mabb Held Out Her Hand

By Katherine Dewey

"Our Mabb," said the nurse, "loves to wander. Goes where she shouldn't, does our Mabb.

"I don't wander," Mabb said sharply. "I know where I'm going and why."

"Of course you do, dear." The nurse bent down and began to rummage through Mabb's pockets. "You have to check her for dead things," she told the orderly, "and injured things. Don't squirm, dear. You know the rules. She's a finder, our Mabb is. Just the other day she found a dead bird on the tennis court."

"It. was a hawk," Mabb told her, "a Goshawk. I wanted it for my collection." The old woman smiled at the orderly and then glared at the nurse. "I don't have a goshawk," she said, pouting.

"But you've got something," said the nurse. I know you, Mabb. I know when you've got some dead thing up your sleeve. Stop squirming and let me see your sleeves. Come, come, show me."

"It's for my collection!" cried Mabb.

The nurse sighed and folded her arms. "The cook made lemon pudding, " she said. "But if you've got another dead bird.--"

Mabb held out her hand. "It's not dead," she said softly, "just very quiet, like it's sleeping."

[the-kouchfort]

After the Hunt

By Katherine Dewey

Melindi frowned when she saw the rabbits. "Is that the pair that ruined my garden?"

Tiel said nothing. He let out a soft sigh that meant yes, then closed his eyes.

Melindi sighed as well, a heavy sound that meant she was a creature of profound patience and eminent wisdom. She understood him if all the world did not. Her husband was still lost in those small, sharp moments when the arrows had met their marks.

She watched him for a time, catching her breath when, for all of a heartbeat, he wasn't there. Quietly she made her way to the kitchen, where she laid the rabbits on the block. Tiel would dress them if he made his way back to her. If not, she would follow him into the brush. Better to live wild with Tiel than to listen to her mother for the rest of her life. Her mother saying, "I told you not to marry that beast. I saw it in his face after that first hunt with your father. Still wanting the wild life, he was, wanting it so much he vanished right before our eyes. I knew then he wasn't for you."

[the-kouchfort]

My mother-in-law died two days after my birthday. I’ll never forget that day. I will miss her till my last breath, the way I miss my father-in-law.

We had one hell of a rcky start, but over the last 25 years, have been able to learn to like eachother. She was an amazing woman, and you’d do yourself a fine favor by going to her website to look over her past work. She was an amazing sculptor, and had only recently gotten into 3-D sculpting. 

Much rambling has been had. Please go look into her work, her books. Her legacy. It is wonderful.

Defiance

Art by Katherine Dewey

All of Mom's sculptures came with a short paragraph or two of story, printed out in a calligraphic font on an artificially aged, stained piece of paper.

Only a few of those stories are preserved on her website, but even for the ones that aren't, the story was written. For this one, since I do not have that story, I shall tell the story of this piece's creation, as I'm pretty sure I'm the only witness.

We were at Hickam AFB, in Honolulu. My father was on TDY to Korea, and my sister was living off base with friends.

The sculpture of the dragon was complete, but it hadn't been baked yet: a dragon rampant, claws out, wings flared.

She put it in the oven to bake - polymer clay bakes at a reasonable 260+ degrees F, in a household oven - and waited. A half hour later, she takes it out and yells in frustration and anger.

The body had settled downwards from its intended position. She'd placed material underneath to prevent that but it had been insufficient. The clay had cured with the dragon in the wrong pose.

What's worse...

"It looks like it's taking a shit!" my mother yelled in frustration.

She was livid. As it cooled, she took the sculpture, about 10" from crown to feet, and rended it limb from limb with her bare hands.

I was a twitchy little thing back then, in my high school years, so I went for a walk.

When I came back, she had dug the dismembered polymer clay dragon out of the kitchen trash and was patching it together, muttering about how furious Dad was going to be when he got back.

The forelimbs were ruined, so she moved the wings forward to the shoulder instead of the back. She placed the dragon on an incline, with the head pointed straight down, and that solved the posture issue.

Then she sculpted an elf staring back up at the dragon, and "Defiance" was born.

When Dad came back, he didn't even realize it was missing limbs.

[the-kouchfort]

the oceangate situation is really funny but i do want to take a moment to look at the fact that five people of their own volition decide to go two miles under the sea in something controlled by a $30 xbox controller with no beacon or way to navigate, go missing, and immediately a massive search effort is underway with people anxiously combing the ocean for any sign of these chucklefucks, but the greek coast guard capsized a boat full of hundreds of migrants, killing 80 with over 500 people still counted as missing, and the eu won't even investigate

you can and should hate rich people, but you also need to show up for the oppressed

[the-kouchfort]

Want to help the man who helped me get started? Here’s a way.

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🗣 WRITERS AREN'T SHUTTING DOWN HOLLYWOOD THE NETWORKS ARE

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Lovely people of tumblr, if I may speak with my librarian hat* on for a moment:

If you are in the US, you may be aware that librarians are Going Through It because some malicious people believe in fascism and have decided to make that our problem. Whether you are in the US or not, there is something you can do to help your local librarians out:**

Say something nice to us.

You can post on social media and tag your library, you can find the library’s main phone number and call, you can go in person, you can send a card (we display cards in our break room)! I guarantee you that you will make the day of the person you talk to, we will immediately go tell all our colleagues how lovely you were, and you will help us live to love and fight another day.

*it is a fetching piece of millinery in purple silk

**I propose we make this an international group project. Whether your librarians are going through it or not, we all appreciate a kind word.