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colucana · 9 months

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Clover's Megafauna PT 1

Two canon animals and two original

Clover kingdom’s fauna concentrates around the periphery of the common and forsaken realm, there are next to none living in the noble realm and the ones that manage to live there are usually considerate plagues. Although hunting and territory invasion have made many prone to aggression, both peasants and commoners have better time dealing with surprise encounters and have even tamed some.

Antibirds

No magic registered

Little birds native to Clover and Diamond kingdom, easily fitting in a person's cupped hands, they have no mana nor magic of their own yet still seem to have some semblance of awareness of it.

The little horns on top of their heads serve them no purpose whatsoever since their beaks and claws are more than enough to cause significant damage, whereas the bird’s skulls are not thick enough to receive impacts nor give headbuts. Some once said that it could have been a sexual dimorphism but that theory got quickly debunked and to this day, they are deemed useless.

These little critters have the habit of attacking or annoying anything with low mana levels, which doesn’t help them the slightest since some will rather choose to eliminate a little pest that could end up uncovering low mana levels in their family or themselves.

These birds actively avoid creatures and places that hold great levels of mana like the plague, maybe due to a mild hypersensitivity to it, but some individuals decided to stay in said places for the easy food, though they end up with a constant tired appearance.

People in the common and forsaken realm have passed through generations stories of antibirds pecking, scratching and pulling ears, hair or tails of devils, even parroting insults to them, as revenge they took their magic in exchange for useless horns along with an intolerance for magic. This obviously is nothing but a fable.

Remy’s trio of birds fly away from time to time in order to rest from all the mana that dwells in the Coral peacocks hideout, mostly for two to five days, and usually bringing back objects to adorn the little nest they have in their mage’s room.

Pahoehoe horse/Lava horse

Lava/Magma magic

Big equines that form herds near volcanic regions up to 20 individuals and tower over a human for a head and a half, only recurring to aggression if pushed.

Their mana is constantly making their fur and mane glow in a way that makes it seem like lava is sliding down off them but unless they are consciously using it, this could be considered more like an optical illusion than anything else.

Their big stature and rock-like feet makes them a danger to work with or wander near wild herds, since there’s always the chance of getting trampled or kicked if the individuals get spooked, not to mention adults may have a set of lower upper canine teeth. And this is in the best case scenario.

Sometimes they’re seen forcing the ground beneath their hooves open till they make magma pour out or they force the rock to melt then proceed to jump in as if it was a pool, why they don’t go to a volcano instead is a mystery

In the past, a Clover king wanted to copy Heart’s tactics of mages riding on magical critters, these horses being one of the main interest but not only the taming process was slow and dangerous, the unpredictability of the battlefield made them unusable since they could end up burning their riders and the small volcanoes they used to shot lava were near impossible to get a good aim with.

The failure of involving these creatures in battle ended with all the already trained horses being left to their own devices somewhere in the common realm. Sadly many weren’t able to join any herds without more often than not getting chased by the wild horses or falling easy prey of predators and hunters, the few that managed to survive did it by finding themselves in the common and forsaken realm villages, where people made use of them to carry, pull, transport, natural heaters, sports and companionship. Nowadays it is hard not to see a village without a few of them.

Spatial owl

Spatial magic

Nocturnal birds of prey that could easily grab and take off with a 10-12 year old child, originally from Clover kingdom but their task as messengers has made them spread around all the four kingdoms.

Birds with an incredible sense of direction and memory that allows them to open portals in areas where they know are either safe for raising their young, good hunting game or are away from crowded areas.

Owlets have very little control over their magic, usually it acts when they end up wandering too far from their homes or falling from their nest, the portal will open and automatically drop them back to their homes safely. As they grow and explore they will mark the places that are of their interest and consciously portal themselves there.

Elusive and cautious animals, finding a nest is a very hard task because if a nest gets compromised, the adults won’t hesitate to abandon the area, throwing their young through a portal to a new location they previously marked. No one has managed to find all the backup nests a single pair of owls may have.

Another creature that was part of clover program, only succeeded in full domestication via egg stealing, since adults and owlets would portal through the wards with no problem, escaping their captivity, and make mages pull their hair trying to come up with a way to include them as useful asset for the country.

Each important place in the kingdom is required to raise one owl, making a safe environment where they will want to come and go, squads have their own owls with unique kinds of markings. The bulls owl is as chaotic as the bulls themselves, with dark brown feathers and two light markings in the back that look like horns. Spends lots of time in Finral’s room.

Camouflage tiger

Chromatic magic

Striped felines that inhabit forest and strong mana regions, at times wandering through long patches of grasslands, only slightly shorter than a cotton lion yet still able to stand looking at a person in the eye without trouble.

Their magic makes their body constantly changing patterns but their stripes are the only things that stay somehow visible, only turning a shade lighter than the colour its trying to change into.

These big solitary predators roam around many places but are hard to catch since their magic allows them to blend and immitate other objects in with their surroundings with little effort, though someone with sharp eyes (and quick reflexes) might be able to their stripes and live to tell the tale.

Although normal chase hunters, they can also immitate other animals’ calls, luring any potential prey into a false sense of security before they jump for the kill.

Their magic differentiates from invisibility in the sense that these animals turn themselves into another part of their environment, curling into itself to look like a bush or a rock, drop to the ground appearing like another patch in the soil or becoming one with the grass and trees.

Some people have wanted to keep these animals like pets or something similar to the felines of Heart but because they are good at blending with the background and smart, they actively avoid mages to the point that their existence is even questioned.

#asta black clover #black clover #black clover critters #antibirds #lava horse #spatial owl #camouflage tiger #BC encyclopaedia #clover’s fauna #lucadoodling

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justmybookthots · 4 months

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January Wrap-up

#book review #riley sager #queen of nothing #holly black #the cruel prince #emily wilde's map of the otherlands #emily wilde's encyclopaedia of faeries #Monthly wrap-up #January wrap-up

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mercerislandbooks · 1 year

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Book Notes: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

If you’re searching for a fun fantastical read for your mid-January TBR, then look no further than Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett.

Set at the turn of the 1900’s in an alternate history where dryadology, the study of faeries, is the focus of entire academic departments, Professor Emily Wilde of Cambridge is on a field expedition to Ljosland to investigate the “Hidden Ones” rumored to inhabit the area. Accompanied only by her intimidating dog, Emily settles into a dilapidated rented cottage on the outskirts of an inhospitable village, made so largely by her own dislike of social niceties. Give Professor Wilde a brownie to befriend or a trek to a kelpie’s lake and she is perfectly content. Give her a pub filled with villagers to chat with and she’d rather hide away in her cottage with her books and papers. Enter Emily’s professional rival, Professor Wendell Bambleby, supposedly intent on “helping” Emily with her research, but really only achieving looking ornamental while doing a whole lot of nothing. Despite herself, Emily begins to take an interest in village life, especially the spate of young people being spirited off by the “tall folk,” and when her inquiries lead her into dangerous paths, it will take all of her wits and research to protect herself against malevolent enchantments and faerie kings.

Told in the form of diary entries, Emily’s voice is charmingly curmudgeonly as she lays out her research, recounts perplexing (to her) interactions with the village inhabitants and records her exasperations with Bambleby. Emily’s competency in her field is satisfying and her gradual softening towards other people endearing. Even though the interactions with the Other World and the Hidden Folk get predictably grim and bloodthirsty (see creepy bony hands on the cover), there is also a balancing coziness that feels like the warm cloak Bambleby is perpetually mending. Which you’ll need because there is a lot of snow in this book. This is perfect winter reading for those who’d rather read about mountains of snow than be in it. Fans of Holly Black and Margaret Rogerson should give Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries a try!

— Lori

#island books #lori robinson #emily wilde’s encyclopaedia of faeries #heather fawcett #fantasy reads #faeries #holly black #margaret rogerson

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viadescioism · 6 months

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Kwanzaa:

Kwanzaa, an annual holiday celebrated primarily in the United States from December 26 to January 1, emphasizes the importance of pan-African family and social values. It was devised in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, Inspired by Africa’s harvest celebrations, he decided to develop a nonreligious holiday that would stress the importance of family and community while giving African Americans an opportunity to explore their African identities. Kwanzaa arose from the black nationalist movement of the 1960s and was created to help African Americans reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage. The holiday honors African American people, their struggles in the United States, their heritage, and their culture. Kwanzaa's practices and symbolism are deeply rooted in African traditions and emphasize community, family, and cultural pride. It's a time for reflection, celebration, and the nurturing of cultural identity within the African American community.

Kwanzaa is a blend of various African cultures, reflecting the experience of many African Americans who cannot trace their exact origins; thus, it is not specific to any one African culture or region. The inclusiveness of Kwanzaa allows for a broader celebration of African heritage and identity.

Karenga created Kwanzaa during the aftermath of the Watts riots as a non-Christian, specifically African-American, holiday. His goal was to give black people an alternative to Christmas and an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than imitating the practices of the dominant society. The name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza," meaning "first fruits," and is based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of West and Southeast Africa. The holiday was first celebrated in 1966.

Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the seven principles (Nguzo Saba), which are central values of African culture that contribute to building and reinforcing community among African Americans. These principles include Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). Each family celebrates Kwanzaa in its own way, but Celebrations often include songs, dances, African drums, storytelling, poetry readings, and a large traditional meal. The holiday concludes with a communal feast called Karamu, usually held on the sixth day.

Kwanzaa is more than just a celebration; it's a spiritual journey to heal, explore, and learn from African heritage. The holiday emphasizes the importance of community and the role of children, who are considered seed bearers of cultural values and practices for the next generation. Kwanzaa is not just a holiday; it's a period of introspection and celebration of African-American identity and culture, allowing for a deeper understanding and appreciation of ancestral roots. This celebration is a testament to the resilience and enduring spirit of the African-American community.

"Kwanzaa," Encyclopaedia Britannica, last modified December 23, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kwanzaa.

"Kwanzaa - Meaning, Candles & Principles," HISTORY, accessed December 25, 2023, https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/kwanzaa-history.

"Kwanzaa," Wikipedia, last modified December 25, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa.

"Kwanzaa," National Museum of African American History and Culture, accessed December 25, 2023, https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/kwanzaa.

"The First Kwanzaa," HISTORY.com, accessed December 25, 2023, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-kwanzaa.

My Daily Kwanzaa, blog, accessed December 25, 2023, https://mydailykwanzaa.wordpress.com.

Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture (Los Angeles, CA: University of Sankore Press, 1998), ISBN 0-943412-21-8.

"Kente Cloth," African Journey, Project Exploration, accessed December 25, 2023, https://projectexploration.org.

Expert Village, "Kwanzaa Traditions & Customs: Kwanzaa Symbols," YouTube video, accessed December 25, 2023, [Link to the specific YouTube video]. (Note: The exact URL for the YouTube video is needed for a complete citation).

"Official Kwanzaa Website," accessed December 25, 2023, https://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.html.

Michelle, Lavanda. "Let's Talk Kwanzaa: Unwrapping the Good Vibes." Lavanda Michelle, December 13, 2023. https://lavandamichelle.com/2023/12/13/lets-talk-kwanzaa-unwrapping-the-good-vibes/.

#kwanzaa #black community #black culture #pan africanism #black history #happy holidays

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macrolit · 7 months

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NYT's Notable Books of 2023

Each year, we pore over thousands of new books, seeking out the best novels, memoirs, biographies, poetry collections, stories and more. Here are the standouts, selected by the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

AFTER SAPPHO by Selby Wynn Schwartz

Inspired by Sappho’s work, Schwartz’s debut novel offers an alternate history of creativity at the turn of the 20th century, one that centers queer women artists, writers and intellectuals who refused to accept society’s boundaries.

ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by S.A. Cosby

In his earlier thrillers, Cosby worked the outlaw side of the crime genre. In his new one — about a Black sheriff in a rural Southern town, searching for a serial killer who tortures Black children — he’s written a crackling good police procedural.

THE BEE STING by Paul Murray

In Murray’s boisterous tragicomic novel, a once wealthy Irish family struggles with both the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash and their own inner demons.

BIOGRAPHY OF X by Catherine Lacey

Lacey rewrites 20th-century U.S. history through the audacious fictional life story of X, a polarizing female performance artist who made her way from the South to New York City’s downtown art scene.

BIRNAM WOOD by Eleanor Catton

In this action-packed novel from a Booker Prize winner, a collective of activist gardeners crosses paths with a billionaire doomsday prepper on land they each want for different purposes.

BLACKOUTS by Justin Torres

This lyrical, genre-defying novel — winner of the 2023 National Book Award — explores what it means to be erased and how to persist after being wiped away.

BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN by Jessica Knoll

In her third and most assured novel, Knoll shifts readers’ attention away from a notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy, and onto the lives — and deaths — of the women he killed. Perhaps for the first time in fiction, Knoll pooh-poohs Bundy's much ballyhooed intelligence, celebrating the promise and perspicacity of his victims instead.

CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

This satire — in which prison inmates duel on TV for a chance at freedom — makes readers complicit with the bloodthirsty fans sitting ringside. The fight scenes are so well written they demonstrate how easy it might be to accept a world this sick.

THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese

Verghese’s first novel since “Cutting for Stone” follows generations of a family across 77 years in southwestern India as they contend with political strife and other troubles — capped by a shocking discovery made by the matriarch’s granddaughter, a doctor.

CROOK MANIFESTO by Colson Whitehead

Returning to the world of his novel “Harlem Shuffle,” Whitehead again uses a crime story to illuminate a singular neighborhood at a tipping point — here, Harlem in the 1970s.

THE DELUGE by Stephen Markley

Markley’s second novel confronts the scale and gravity of climate change, tracking a cadre of scientists and activists from the gathering storm of the Obama years to the super-typhoons of future decades. Immersive and ambitious, the book shows the range of its author’s gifts: polyphonic narration, silken sentences and elaborate world-building.

EASTBOUND by Maylis de Kerangal

In de Kerangal’s brief, lyrical novel, translated by Jessica Moore, a young Russian soldier on a trans-Siberian train decides to desert and turns to a civilian passenger, a Frenchwoman, for help.

EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES by Heather Fawcett

The world-building in this tale of a woman documenting a new kind of faerie is exquisite, and the characters are just as textured and richly drawn. This is the kind of folkloric fantasy that remembers the old, blood-ribboned source material about sacrifices and stolen children, but adds a modern gloss.

ENTER GHOST by Isabella Hammad

In Hammad’s second novel, a British Palestinian actor returns to her hometown in Israel to recover from a breakup and spend time with her family. Instead, she’s talked into joining a staging of “Hamlet” in the West Bank, where she has a political awakening.

FORBIDDEN NOTEBOOK by Alba de Céspedes

A best-selling novelist and prominent anti-Fascist in her native Italy, de Céspedes has lately fallen into unjust obscurity. Translated by Ann Goldstein, this elegant novel from the 1950s tells the story of a married mother, Valeria, whose life is transformed when she begins keeping a secret diary.

THE FRAUD by Zadie Smith

Based on a celebrated 19th-century trial in which the defendant was accused of impersonating a nobleman, Smith’s novel offers a vast panoply of London and the English countryside, and successfully locates the social controversies of an era in a handful of characters.

FROM FROM by Monica Youn

In her fourth book of verse, a svelte, intrepid foray into American racism, Youn turns a knowing eye on society’s love-hate relationship with what it sees as the “other.”

A GUEST IN THE HOUSE by Emily Carroll

After a lonely young woman marries a mild-mannered widower and moves into his home, she begins to wonder how his first wife actually died. This graphic novel alternates between black-and-white and overwhelming colors as it explores the mundane and the horrific.

THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride

McBride’s latest, an intimate, big-hearted tale of community, opens with a human skeleton found in a well in the 1970s, and then flashes back to the past, to the ’20s and ’30s, to explore the town’s Black, Jewish and immigrant history.

HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano

In her radiant fourth novel, Napolitano puts a fresh spin on the classic tale of four sisters and the man who joins their family. Take “Little Women,” move it to modern-day Chicago, add more intrigue, lots of basketball and a different kind of boy next door and you’ve got the bones of this thoroughly original story.

A HISTORY OF BURNING by Janika Oza

This remarkable debut novel tells the story of an extended Indo-Ugandan family that is displaced, settled and displaced again.

HOLLY by Stephen King

The scrappy private detective Holly Gibney (who appeared in “The Outsider” and several other novels) returns, this time taking on a missing-persons case that — in typical King fashion — unfolds into a tale of Dickensian proportions.

A HOUSE FOR ALICE by Diana Evans

This polyphonic novel traces one family’s reckoning after the patriarch dies in a fire, as his widow, a Nigerian immigrant, considers returning to her home country and the entire family re-examines the circumstances of their lives.

THE ILIAD by Homer

Emily Wilson’s propulsive new translation of the “Iliad” is buoyant and expressive; she wants this version to be read aloud, and it would certainly be fun to perform.

INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE by Emma Törzs

The sisters in Törzs's delightful debut have been raised to protect a collection of magic books that allow their keepers to do incredible things. Their story accelerates like a fugue, ably conducted to a tender conclusion.

KAIROS by Jenny Erpenbeck

This tale of a torrid, yearslong relationship between a young woman and a much older married man — translated from the German by Michael Hofmann — is both profound and moving.

KANTIKA by Elizabeth Graver

Inspired by the life of Graver’s maternal grandmother, this exquisitely imagined family saga spans cultures and continents as it traces the migrations of a Sephardic Jewish girl from turn-of-the-20th-century Constantinople to Barcelona, Havana and, finally, Queens, N.Y.

LAND OF MILK AND HONEY by C Pam Zhang

Zhang’s lush, keenly intelligent novel follows a chef who’s hired to cook for an “elite research community” in the Italian Alps, in a not-so-distant future where industrial-agricultural experiments in America’s heartland have blanketed the globe in a crop-smothering smog.

LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle

The year is 1915, and the narrator of LaValle’s horror-tinged western has arrived in Montana to cultivate an unforgiving homestead. She’s looking for a fresh start as a single Black woman in a sparsely populated state, but the locked trunk she has in stow holds a terrifying secret.

MONICA by Daniel Clowes

In Clowes’s luminous new work, the titular character, abandoned by her mother as a child, endures a life of calamities before resolving to learn about her origins and track down her parents.

THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

Based on a true story and translated by Lara Vergnaud, Sarr’s novel — about a Senegalese writer brought low by a plagiarism scandal — asks sharp questions about the state of African literature in the West.

THE NEW NATURALS by Gabriel Bump

In Bump’s engrossing new novel, a young Black couple, mourning the loss of their newborn daughter and disillusioned with the world, start a utopian society — but tensions both internal and external soon threaten their dreams.

NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason

Mason’s novel looks at the occupants of a single house in Massachusetts over several centuries, from colonial times to present day. An apple farmer, an abolitionist, a wealthy manufacturer: The book follows these lives and many others, with detours into natural history and crime reportage.

NOT EVEN THE DEAD by Juan Gómez Bárcena

An ex-conquistador in Spanish-ruled, 16th-century Mexico is asked to hunt down an Indigenous prophet in this novel by a leading writer in Spain, splendidly translated by Katie Whittemore. The epic search stretches across much of the continent and, as the author bends time and history, lasts centuries.

THE NURSERY by Szilvia Molnar

“I used to be a translator and now I am a milk bar.” So begins Molnar’s brilliant novel about a new mother falling apart within the four walls of her apartment.

OUR SHARE OF NIGHT by Mariana Enriquez

This dazzling, epic narrative, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell, is a bewitching brew of mystery and myth, peopled by mediums who can summon “the Darkness” for a secret society of wealthy occultists seeking to preserve consciousness after death.

PINEAPPLE STREET by Jenny Jackson

Jackson’s smart, dishy debut novel embeds readers in an upper-crust Brooklyn Heights family — its real estate, its secrets, its just-like-you-and-me problems. Does money buy happiness? “Pineapple Street” asks a better question: Does it buy honesty?

THE REFORMATORY by Tananarive Due

Due’s latest — about a Black boy, Robert, who is wrongfully sentenced to a fictionalized version of Florida’s infamous and brutal Dozier School — is both an incisive examination of the lingering traumas of racism and a gripping, ghost-filled horror novel. “The novel’s extended, layered denouement is so heart-smashingly good, it made me late for work,” Randy Boyagoda wrote in his review. “I couldn’t stop reading.”

THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS by Vajra Chandrasekera

Trained to kill by his mother and able to see demons, the protagonist of Chandrasekera’s stunning and lyrical novel flees his destiny as an assassin and winds up in a politically volatile metropolis.

SAME BED DIFFERENT DREAMS by Ed Park

Double agents, sinister corporations, slasher films, U.F.O.s — Park’s long-awaited second novel is packed to the gills with creative elements that enliven his acerbic, comedic and lyrical odyssey into Korean history and American paranoia.

TAKE WHAT YOU NEED by Idra Novey

This elegant novel resonates with implication beyond the taut contours of its central story line. In Novey’s deft hands, the complex relationship between a young woman and her former stepmother hints at the manifold divisions within America itself.

THIS OTHER EDEN by Paul Harding

In his latest novel, inspired by the true story of a devastating 1912 eviction in Maine that displaced an entire mixed-race fishing community, Harding turns that history into a lyrical tale about the fictional Apple Island on the cusp of destruction.

TOM LAKE by Ann Patchett

Locked down on the family’s northern Michigan cherry orchard, three sisters and their mother, a former actress whose long-ago summer fling went on to become a movie star, reflect on love and regret in Patchett’s quiet and reassuring Chekhovian novel.

THE UNSETTLED by Ayana Mathis

This novel follows three generations across time and place: a young mother trying to create a home for herself and her son in 1980s Philadelphia, and her mother, who is trying to save their Alabama hometown from white supremacists seeking to displace her from her land.

VICTORY CITY by Salman Rushdie

Rushdie’s new novel recounts the long life of Pampa Kampana, who creates an empire from magic seeds in 14th-century India. Her world is one of peace, where men and women are equal and all faiths welcome, but the story Rushdie tells is of a state that forever fails to live up to its ideals.

WE COULD BE SO GOOD by Cat Sebastian

This queer midcentury romance — about reporters who meet at work, become friends, move in together and fall in love — lingers on small, everyday acts like bringing home flowers with the groceries, things that loom large because they’re how we connect with others.

WESTERN LANE by Chetna Maroo

In this polished and disciplined debut novel, an 11-year-old Jain girl in London who has just lost her mother turns her attention to the game of squash — which in Maroo’s graceful telling becomes a way into the girl’s grief.

WITNESS by Jamel Brinkley

Set in Brooklyn, and featuring animal rescue workers, florists, volunteers, ghosts and UPS workers, Brinkley’s new collection meditates on what it means to see and be seen.

Y/N by Esther Yi

In this weird and wondrous novel, a bored young woman in thrall to a boy band buys a one-way ticket to Seoul.

YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang

Kuang’s first foray outside of the fantasy genre is a breezy and propulsive tale about a white woman who achieves tremendous literary success by stealing a manuscript from a recently deceased Asian friend and passing it off as her own.

#new york times #100 books #reading list #2023 #books #reading #have you read any of these titles?

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pigeonflavouredcake · 1 year

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My Grimoire Research Library

this is a list of my major resource I've referenced/am currently referencing in my big grimoire project. For books I'll be linking the Goodreads page, for pdfs, websites and videos i'll link them directly.

There are plenty of generalised practitioner resources that can work for everyone but as I have Irish ancestry and worship Hellenic deities quite a few of my resources are centred around Celtic Ireland, ancient Greece and the Olympic mythos. If you follow other sects of paganism you are more than welcome to reblog with your own list of resources.

Parts of my grimoire discuss topics of new age spiritualism, dangerous conspiracy theories, and bigotry in witchcraft so some resources in this list focus on that.

Books

Apollodorus - The Library of Greek Mythology

Astrea Taylor - Intuitive Witchcraft

Dee Dee Chainey & Willow Winsham - Treasury of Folklore: Woodlands and Forests

John Ferguson - Among The Gods: An Archaeological Exploration of Ancient Greek Religion

Katharine Briggs - The Fairies in Tradition and Literature

Kevin Danaher - The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs

Laura O'Brien - Fairy Faith in Ireland

Lindsey C. Watson - Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome

Nicholas Culpeper - Culpeper's Complete Herbal

Plutarch - The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives

R.B. Parkinson - A Little Gay History: Desire and Diversity Around the World

Rachel Patterson - Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Tarot Journey to Self-Awareness

Raleigh Briggs - Make Your Place: Affordable & Sustainable Nesting Skills

Robin Wall Kimmerer - Braiding Sweetgrass

Ronald Hutton - The Witch: A History of Fear in Ancient Times

Rosemary Ellen Guiley - The Encyclopaedia of Witches and Witchcraft

Thomas N. Mitchell - Athens: A History of the World's First Democracy

Walter Stephens - Demon Lovers: Witchcraft S3x and the Crisis of Belief

Yvonne P. Chireau - Black Magic: Religion and The African American Conjuring Tradition

PDFs

Anti Defamation League - Hate on Display: Hate Symbols Database

Brandy Williams - White Light, Black Magic: Racism in Esoteric Thought

Cambridge SU Women’s Campaign - How to Spot TERF Ideology 2.0.

Blogs and Websites

Anti Defamation League

B. Ricardo Brown - Until Darwin: Science and the Origins of Race

Dr. S. Deacon Ritterbush - Dr Beachcomb

Folklore Thursday

Freedom of Mind Resource Centre - Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of Authoritarian Control

Institute for Strategic Dialogue

Royal Horticultural Society

The Duchas Project -National Folklore Collection

Vivienne Mackie - Vivscelticconnections

YouTube Videos

ContraPoints - Gender Critical

Emma Thorne Videos - Christian Fundie Says Halloween is SATANIC!

Owen Morgan (Telltale) - The Source Of All Conspiracies: A 1902 Document Called "The Protocols"

The Belief it or Not Podcast - Ep. 40 Satanic Panic, Ep 92. Wicca

Wendigoon - The Conspiracy Theory Iceberg

Other videos I haven't referenced but you may still want to check out

Atun-Shei Films - Ancient Aryans: The History of Crackpot N@zi Archaeology

Belief It Or Not - Ep. 90 - Logical Fallacies

Dragon Talisman - Tarot Documentary (A re-upload of the 1997 documentary Strictly Supernatural: Tarot and Astrology)

Lindsay Ellis - Tracing the Roots of Pop Culture Transphobia

Overly Sarcastic Productions - Miscellaneous Myths Playlist

Owen Morgan (Telltale) - SATANIC PANIC! 90s Video Slanders Satanists | Pagan Invasion Saga | Part 1

ReignBot - How Ouija Boards Became "Evil" | Obscura Archive Ep. 2

Ryan Beard - Demi Lovato Promoted a R4cist Lizard Cult

Super Eyepatch Wolf - The Bizarre World of Fake Psychics, Faith Healers and Mediums

Weird Reads with Emily Louise -The Infamous Hoaxes Iceberg Playlist

Wendigoon - The True Stories of the Warren Hauntings: The Conjuring, Annabelle, Amityville, and Other Encounters

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llovelymoonn · 1 year

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could you do a web on feeling robotic/mechanical please?

franz kafka the diaries of franz kafka, 1910-1913: "january 5, 1912" (via @shi-saa) \\ debra baxter back to black \\ fernando the book of quiet (via @affect-encyclopaedia) \\ mahmoud darwish memory for forgetfulness \\ anne sexton a self portrait in letters \\ margaret atwood the door: "europe on $5 a day" \\ debra baxter catch your breath

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aroaessidhe · 1 year

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okay I was asked about fey books I’ve read that Do stick to folklore a bit more than certain popular books - and actually looking at what fey books I’ve read it’s a bit like.... books that stick to folklore closely I sometimes Don’t Love, and there are others that don’t stick to it as much but I like the overall narrative more? or some mix of that.

so here’s a list of a few - a range of how much they stick to folklore (which of course is an amorphous thing) and how much I like them, but it’s something!

That Self-Same Metal - literally just read this, it’s about a Black girl who’s the stage blade expert for shakespeare’s company and can see fey, and they’re appearing more and more in the city. explores a bit of the midsummer night’s dream fey but also like “shakespeare was wrong” and general folklore. definitely the start of a series and has a lot going on but I thought it has some cool ideas!

all Holly Black’s books deal with them well! the Modern Faerie Tales companion/trilogy has maybe aged a bit by now, and I hate way the romance ended up together in The Folk of the Air (and the way the fandom is about it) but otherwise I do really like how it deals with fey and politics! also enjoyed The Darkest Part of the Forest. these are all intertwined/same world

The Buried And The Bound - a hedgewitch girl keeps fey away from her town, and gets caught up with two boys who are cursed. mostly deals with minor fey and a powerful hag

An Enchantment of Ravens - it’s been quite a few years since I read this, but I do remember enjoying it. It is a bit more of a romance focused story also, an artist stolen into the fey realm for painting a fey prince as if he was human(iirc?)

The Bone Houses - not directly dealing with fey, but like the aftermath of the ancient fey’s curses? welsh myth inspired. which I think is cool.

At The Edge of The Woods - about a girl in a religious/patriarchial village who starts to have strange dreams about a fey boy luring her into the woods. it’s not super focused on them, but they’re very much the classic ‘dangerous fey stealing people away for entertainment’ kind of thing

Adult

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries - I sort of have mixed feelings about this - I really enjoy how it dealt with fey and the creepier folklore creatures side of it! the handling of the changeling was a bit iffy and not sure about the romance

The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt - dark fantasy novella about a wolf-shifter made to join the wild hunt to save his qpr. focused on the unseelie/wild hunt area

Silver in the Wood - gaslamp fantasy novella about the keeper of a magical forest, dryads and dangerous fey

The Wind City - a bit of a mashup of fey folklore and Māori atua in a modern NZ setting

Sinners/Veiled - very classic but also with the element of a modern setting where human pollution is like a drug to fey (and the MC is a drug lord.) (so kind of dark but also not dark in the sexy way bc the MC is aroace)

Under The Pendulum Sun - this is a gothic fantasy that has a bit of a new take on a fey world, but also definitely has some of those creepy folklore vibes.

Siren Queen - this only partly involves fey but I thought the way that it mashed up old hollywood and fey (aka shady deals for fame themes) was interesting!

Sorcerer to the Crown/The True Queen - my memory on this is hazy, but I believe it’s regency fantasy, with its own take on a fey world/magic (moreso the 2nd book)

Malice/Misrule - adult high fantasy lesbian sleeping beauty reimagining, this is kind of doing it’s own thing I guess (I don’t remember if they’re even called fey?) but definitely has a bit of the creepy creature/court vibes in book 2 especially

In The Jaded Grove - I was just looking up books to see if there was anything I missed and found this, which seems interesting to me!

I also haven’t read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (but I watched the show ages ago) and I believe that has the vibe too

#book list #im sure there are some im missing HAHA #some I left out like the witch king (kinda doing its own thing and then calling them fey) or ash/huntress (only lightly touches on fey tbh)#laya talks #the iron fey i loved some of the ideas but the story is kinda bad #wicked lovely.........i can't tell what is nostalgia and what is objective but I did love that series a Lot #(it's quite 2000s YA romance focused but like also. good fey)

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gothicmatter · 1 month

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hi hello!! what kind of metal do you think bsd characters like

me personally

atsushi: power metal bc he's a nerd (affectionate). also definitely nu or industrial

kunikida: black metal. (this makes me so happy for some reason, i always like it when ppl make kunikida a wild card)

chuuya: sludge🐌 metal lmao. but also. bro is the biggest NWOBHM enthusiast. loves thrash. loves groove metal. likes nu but prefers old school. the only one i hc as a full-on metalhead on this list (also maybe yosano)

yosano: gives me melodic death metal vibes for some reason (she could be into all types of death metal tbh. she's inherently metal. i love her sm, she's so cool)

akutagawa: gothic metal. you saw this coming from a mile away. but otherwise i don't think he's that big on metal tbh. which is good bc he'd be the biggest metal elitist ever. calls you a poser in victorian child speak. (he's into gothic rock and dark wave. but i don't think he'd be an elitist in the goth subculture, idk why. he's probably super chill actually. would rant about goth for hours if you mention it around him. he's actually waiting for you to mention it with the biggest bug-eyed stare ever.)

tachihara: crossover thrash. bc he likes hardcore punk

sigma: symphonic metal bc he's a pretty princess

dazai not included bc i don't think he likes metal?? i think he's more into grunge tbh

ranpo can't stand metal imo

poe listens to gothic rock only i think

that's it byeeee

edit bc i forgot gin!! i must be out of my mind bc she's more metal than all of them combined

gin: girl listens to everything metal. the most knowledgeable on this matter. metal encyclopaedia basically. probably runs the metal archives website. is in a band most likely. she plays bass. you rarely catch her without earphones (which you would think would be impractical bc she needs to be aware of threats at all times but. you will still never catch her off guard even w sepultura playing at 100000000000 volume. she's that good. i love her sm. i will never be able to repent for forgetting to mention her here)

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howlsmovinglibrary · 4 months

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Could I trouble you for a book recommendation? As someone who usually pretty exclusively reads fanfiction or nonfiction, I’ve never been good at finding good fiction and you always seem like you have interesting reads!

hey anon!

if you have anything specific you're looking for, genre-wise/dynamic-wise/tone-wise etc., please feel free to send another ask! :)

for now, I've gone with a list of books that I all rated five stars when I read them, that remind me of fanfiction (or at least, the things *I* like in fanfiction!)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett This is a fantasy novel with an academic rivals-to-lovers romance in it, focusing on an academic trying to document fairy activity in Iceland (in a world where faeires are real). The way the romance is written reminds me of my favourite fanfic dynamics (mutual pining high Charisma x high Intelligence, my beloved), but the plot of this novel is also really fucking stellar and it holds it's own not as a romance book.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik if you've read anything by astolat on AO3, then you've read Naomi Novik lol :')))) i prefer novik's fic, but Uprooted is one of my favourite novels. This is like, sorcerer x wizard, but again I feel like while the romance has fic qualities the plot of this novel really holds up (no one I know has been able to put it down for the last 100 pages. You then read the last 100 pages so fucking fast that you don't remember anything that happened.)

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan Sarah Rees Brennan writes with that humorous-but-serious style that I like in fanfic - like, the emotional moments hit so hard, but the rest is a wee bit silly and the jokes always land. This is a coming of age novel about a human guy who goes to portal-quest magic school, but basically tries to implement diplomatic/bureaucratic solutions to problems. The main character is a sarcastic bisexual after my own heart.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black This is the vibe most enemies-to-lovers fics wished they had, to be honest. This book is very easy to read, but the relationship between the two leads is Very Good. It tails off in the third book (still sad about this, to this day), but the 'let's be worse together' dynamic really had me by the throat for a while! Jude is an adopted human girl living in Faerie, ruthlessly intelligent and desperate to keep herself and her family safe, trying to find ways to survive in a place where she is constantly under threat. Cardan is an asshole. But he's about to be humbled like you'll never fucking believe.

The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood The Serpent Gates duology is the book series I've read most recently that gave me the serotonin hit of a solidly good fanfic. The author has this perfect balance of humour and solid, heartrending character work. Csorwe is a girl who has been selected to be the Sacrificial Bride to a god called the Unspoken One, but at the last minute is saved by a wizard who offers to take her away from her death and give her a new life.

#asks #bookish posts #book recs #these are all really fucking solid books I'll be surprised if you don't like at least one of them!

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sixofravens-reads · 5 months

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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!

#seriously this is SO MANY RECS THANK YOU!!

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colucana · 8 months

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Ink 🖋️🐧 and Paint 🎨🦌

The captain of the Aqua Deers seems to have meet a challenger

Ink penguin

Ink magic

Flightless birds that can easily reach human size and spread around all over the deck continent beaches.

Playful and social they form big colonies either in beaches or cliff near the sea up to 1.000 individuals or more.

Anyone who saw one individual used to believe that the black and white plumage that covers then was unique for each bird but as it turns out the birds can change the pattern of their feathers, either as courting strategy or to confuse predators.

That was a sad day for the one separating penguins by pattern

Experience swimmers able to outswim predators most of the time, if this were to fail their magic allows the to create a ink walls which helps them scape, this same trick is also used while hunting.

Their ability to wander around in land is faulty at best, just waddling with their short legs most of the time and slide the rest, creating safe path with their ink.

#rill boismortier #black clover #black clover critters #ink penguin #BC encyclopaedia #black clover fanart #lucadoodling

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aloneholy · 4 months

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hi i love your blog :) & was wondering if you could recommend your favorite/the best sapphic n wlw media like shows books movies please? I have recently come to ... Realisations .. :') I do love picnic at hanging rock btw and also the similar vibes of the media that you tend to reblog. homeorotic energy w out being Explicity Stated it also very welcome <3 thank you if you can and i hope thats okay !!! have a good day :)

hellooo what a lovely question - thank you so much! i’ll happily rec some things i’ve loved, especially that i find homoerotic/wlw media that Compel me much harder to come by - and i agree, picnic at hanging rock is so unique.

books:

- zami: a new spelling of my name by audre lorde - an “autobiomythography” & maybe thee most formative book for me, in terms of wlw reading. i read it for university and it changed me as a person, changed the way i look at loving women. it’s beautiful

- nightwood by djuna barnes - if you like the more unsettling aspects of picnic at hanging rock, something lynchian and modernist, this is a dark and heavily abstract lesbian novel which i really love

- our wives under the sea - a really poignant and lovely soft sci-fi depiction of a wlw relationship, themes of grief, identity, loss etc. some compare it to annihilation though expect much less science fiction

- her body and other parties by carmen maria machado - a lovely (probably my favourite!) collection of short stories which often are wlw-centric or have a vibe. stunning prose in general

- hera lindsay bird by hera lindsay bird - wlw poetry, very fun and contemporary, what i call self-aware poetry

- mary oliver’s poetry!!!

- for biographies, anything about tove jansson….

- anything by virginia woolf will fit the not explicitly stated vibe feeling - mrs dalloway has a really wistful lesbian undercurrent, orlando is a love letter to vita sackville-west. etc. etc.

movies:

- persona (ingmar bergman) - thee movie. it’s Not explicitly stated, it’s feverish and desolate, but it’s both intensely homoerotic and a searing exploration of identity, existential dread etc.

- mulholland drive (david lynch) - again, unsettling vibes. not even gonna elaborate on it - it’s a david lynch - but it’s a must-see

- passing (rebecca hall) - a moody, poignant and beautiful adaptation of nella larsen’s novella (which is on my to-read list) about a relationship between two women

- the favourite (yorgos lanthimos) - recently rewatched with a friend, no notes. a bizarre, obsessive, thrilling story. rachel weisz is to die for in it

- kajillionaire (miranda july) - a tender and strange (affectionate) depiction of a bond between two women in unexpected circumstances

- thoroughbreds (cory finley) - what if murder was homoerotic, what if murder was a metaphor. in a way this is about every codependent friendship between girls that has ever veered towards obsession

- vita & virginia (chanya button) - a biopic abt virginia woolf and vita sackville-west specifically, people have very mixed feelings on it but i personally love it to bits.

tv shows:

- black sails - anne and max’s storyline in black sails is the most visceral and lovely wlw story i’ve seen in tv or film… there are specific tws i would heed for max’s arc in the first season which i’d be happy to elaborate on, but their story is beautiful

- first season of killing eve is still unmatched 😔 second is still quite nice, if not as good. third is hm. the ending scene has whimsy to it. never watch the fourth.

things my gf loves that i still haven’t read/seen:

- portrait of a lady on fire - i just know it will Get to me so i’m waiting for the right mood to watch it

- this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar & max gladstone - same reasoning!

things i’ve started but haven’t had a chance to finish yet:

- little blue encyclopaedia (for vivian) by hazel jane plante - a beautiful (but sad, and also about grieving, hence it’s taking me a while) trans wlw story. quaint and quiet and wistful.

#wlw recs #wlw books #wlw movies #thank you for this question this was so nice to think about!!!#lesbian book recs #answered #my dream is for something like autobiography of red about women to exist #One day maybe i’ll make it happen #and i would love recs too!!!

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