#Calix Lehrer

[camillenrose]

Calix Lehrer from Feverwake

#artwork #fanart #the fever king #the electric heir #Calix Lehrer #digital art #the feverwake duology #feverwake

[sp0okyghosty]

Shout out to Carter Ames for beating Lehrer's ass after he tried to kill Dara

#the fever king #the electric heir #teh spoilers #carter ames #dara shirazi #calix lehrer

[nycorix]

Y'know back when I first read Gideon the ninth I was coming off my fever king duology hyperfixation and went "hey Jod reminds me of Calix Lehrer lol" and then I read harrow and was like "nah Jod's not nearly as vile/manipulative/sharp he's honestly kind of a wet rag tbh"

Now I have reread gt9 and ht9 and am reading nona and I can say again, with feeling: w ow Jod really IS like Lehrer huh,,,,

#the locked tomb #the locked tomb spoilers #the fever king #the fever king spoilers #john gaius #calix lehrer #something something absolute power corrupts absolutely #unfortunately i remain a villain lover and even though i think both of them are absolutely horrible and have committed inexcusable acts #i am deeply fascinated by both of them as characters. sigh #tamsyn muir #victoria lee #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #the fever king duology #the electric heir #kase rambles

[hqlmesbqry]

iykyk about the three in the right corner

#the fever king #the electric heir #dara shirazi #noam alvaro #calix lehrer #carter ames #bethany glennis #taye washington

[crxxentum]

Sometimes I think about how I peaked™ writing a 1414 word oneshot for a dead fandom and then I keel over. Is this my legacy???

#>writing #>r(b)ambles #feverwake #the fever king #Dara Shirazi #Noam Álvaro #Calix Lehrer #writing #ao3 fanfic #my fic #Read 'a bush of purple hyacinths' by me on ao3 #Don't test me #READ FEVERWAKE PLEASE #PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE #My like...Three followers...

[atrengsinx]

Personal Feverwake fancasts <3

Noam - Darin Wilkens

Dara - Bror Koné(I also really reference Jack Pililaau and Liam Samuels)

Ames - Ingrid Elida

Bethany - Dorit Revelis

Taye - Mukasa Kakonge

Lehrer - Leif Stacey(I gave up with Lehrer…man’s looks are not normal but I see a older, more blonde and lighter eyed Leif Stacey that’s the closest I got)

#I still reread this series constantly #and will never stop <3 #the fever wake #the fever king #the electric heir #noam alvaro #dara shirazi #carter ames #bethany glennis #taye washington #calix lehrer #books #fancasts #book characters #book series

[e1dot]

Lehrer....

#fever king #my art #feverwake #calix lehrer

[archerofunspeakablelove]

So do any of yall think about how Lehrer would be 24 rn if he was real

#chaotic ramblings #LIKE?? #and he'd already have DEFLECTED A NUCLEAR BOMB?? #tfk #the fever king #calix lehrer

[gggafie]

Hello! I am running a test on the music taste of Tumblr users and you have been picked for it! To do this survey all you have to do is give me a general idea of your music taste! If you also would like to songs/playlists are also greatly appreciated. Please tag as many people as you can with your response so I can get more responses.Tysm and I can't wait to hear back from you

Cool :D

Well, my favorite artists are Sodikken, Jack Stauber, Mother Mother, Tom Lehrer, and Sushi Soucey.

My favorite genre of music is Techno :)

(I have a weird taste in music 🎶 🎵:))

@gfanlocalcryptid @gold-sky @kat-lsyeah @duskiefloof @dedfandom-xwx @calix-soulmane @marshart @mizzcrownx

#music #spotify

[rollercoasterwords]

Oh also!!! Please tell me what line ruined you bc I’m very very curious! When I started reading the electric heir I went into it thinking I would try and guess which line it was and send it to you BUT. THEN. every single line was just a PUNCH to the GUT and I’d get off my little treadmill and have like. PAGES of lines/scenes that got to me and was like “well I can’t send them ALL OF THIS” so I quickly gave up on that. But I would like to know please!!!!!!

um YEAH i know what u mean so much of it is absolutely gutting the part that has like. absolutely just stuck in my brain tho:

ok this bit from ch 31, when Dara + Noam are arguing -

No. Dara was wrong, it wasn't--Noam hadn't-- Calix wouldn't do something like that. Noam hated himself the moment he thought it. Because...because Lehrer had, to Dara. Only Noam couldn't help the voice that whispered back: But he'd never do that to you.

that entire argument really but also just. that specific part...like idk i really feel like this book captures so well what it's like to be an in abusive relationship especially w the way Noam is written...his struggle over untangling the feelings he has etc and this just like. immediate gut reaction of "he would never do that to me," and the way he hates himself for thinking that but still can't help believing it. makes me feel like i've been punched in the chest every single time i read it

#ask #spoilers #tw abuse

[burn-throughout-eternity]

The Fever King

I picked up The Fever King after seeing a post by @apollo-cackling pitching is as having excellent character writing if you're not put off by some plot holes and a lot of content warnings (apologies if I've misremembered any of that) and I don't think I can give a more accurate recommendation than that but I can ramble about the book.

It's a YA novel set in one of the independent states that emerged after the collapse of the USA and the emergence of magic (I'd gloss the magic as basically superpowers caused by a virus). Unusually for this type of novel while focused on America it actually acknowledges the existence of the rest of the world. Primarily Europe but that's still more than 99% of the type manage.

The characters are great. The protagonist Noam along with Dara, Ames and Calix Lehrer are all well developed characters. There's a lot to dig in to with them.

The extended cast is less interesting. Half of the most compelling characters outside of those four are long dead before the novel starts. But given the brief length of the book I think focusing in on a handful of characters was the right choice.

Every few chapters is interspersed with text from an in universe document (letters, transcripts, newspapers clippings, etc). I love in universe documents being included in a text but they have to have a degree of verisimilitude. The documents here generally feel like something that could really have been written.

The information given in them does feel somewhat obviously constructed to let us learn more about the setting and background without giving the game away but the historical record in the setting has been similarly shaped so it's not without justification.

The worldbuilding is potentially interesting but didn't get enough focus to really grab me. It might be further developed in later book but at this point it feels undercooking.

One thing I did like is that it didn't feel the need to give definitive answers to everything about the setting. Too many SFF authors think they need to dump a lore bible into their book. Maybe that's only avoided here because the world isn't the focus but I did enjoy not having everything spelt out and piecing together how much of the official narrative was lies and what the truth might look like.

The main character describes himself as a Marxist and another characters directly quotes Lenin and I kept expecting it to get into more overt political commentary (beyond stating that xenophobia/fascism is bad) but it never really does.

The politics in the book, both in terms of the structure of the society and the character's political opinions, seem to exist more in the service of character work than to make any complex political statements. This isn't a flaw but will probably effect people's enjoyment one way or the other so it's worth pointing out.

Before I started reading I saw another post by @apollo-cackling that it's a hard book to talk about without getting into spoilers for the final chapters which I definitely agree with. The first thing that's recontextualized by later revelations is literally in the first few lines of the book and before the first chapter even starts. Which does make it a little hard to discuss the book with people who haven't read it!

It's not a hard to read work and it's short enough so if it sounds interesting to you maybe give it a shot.

#may post some spoilery thoughts under a cut later #Still wondering how much of history Lehrer has misled everyone about. It's clearly not everything but also clearly a lot of major things #the fever king

[apollo-cackling]

but actually speaking of feverwake, it does something with its politics that... I can't say whether it's good but definitely feels intentional?

massive spoilers for feverwake. as in "this involves the twist the entire first book was based on" (/that might in retrospect be pretty (intentionally) obvious but it's still something better to be figured out by the reader)

I've seen some criticism of its (esp the 1st book's) politics being shallow which.. yeah. I love the books but yeah.

but also all of the politics in the book weren't intended to be political critique as much as... characterisation? idk how to say it but

take noam. he grew up poor, the son of undocumented immigrants living among other undocumented immigrants. he's very passionate about immigrant rights and yeah, obviously.

and the narrative utility is that this is something lehrer preys upon. lehrer uses noam's passion (and need for a father figure and desperation to not be trash) to draw noam ever closer and mould noam into a tool for his own use. lehrer uses his own revolutionary past to lure noam in, giving noam the tantalising hope that by following lehrer, he'll finally be able to help his people, that this way, he'll finally not be trash, hooking noam with something he can't give up.

lehrer subtly strips away noam's principles as he starts working for lehrer's cause, beginning with planting the idea that leads to noam proposing shutting off the power for a few days in the immigrant sector to stir unrest among the immigrants to create the ideal situation for lehrer's coup, even if that means some folks die because they couldn't get access to medical care, and culminating with making noam personally assassinate brennan, the last person he has left from his old life, cutting off that thread forever.

it's also something lehrer uses to play noam against dara, take noam's preconceived notions and deeply entrenched beliefs that noam never even suspects that dara was getting abused by lehrer and just thinks it's teenage rebelliousness, even when... yeah it got. pretty obvious.

TEH draws its scope very close and focuses a lot more on the personal but this still is a throughline, noam helping lehrer hunt down scientists developing a vaccine even though, yanno, that's something that would help his immigrant community a lot, wouldn't it? and noam agreeing to lehrer annexing atlantia, and helping to orchestrate the political theatre that smooths it over. he does speeches to try and undermine lehrer, but in the end that was more him struggling to maintain his sense of autonomy than actually being effectual.

it's like. just tracking this you can see how subsumed noam becomes in lehrer's influence.

and the part with witchings. you begin reading the series and it's like oh another series where the magic users are oppressed *eyeroll*. but then you read the traitor's crown and you realise oh, this is lehrer's excuse. this is the dichotomous worldview calix lehrer the teenager who's gone through immense trauma clung to to explain what's happened to him, and which adalwolf, intentionally or not, reinforced through letting calix help with the avenging angels. carolinia, built from lehrer's will and receiving very little outside information, reflects this. (lehrer putting his body + carolinia in stasis is a neat reflection of this)

(plus this being a worldview that morally justifies all his hostility to/strong-arming of york, texas, europe, etc. and really looking at lehrer's actions he is mainly motivated by his want to be admired, to be perceived as this messianic, godlike figure)

(which is why I wish the traitor's crown was incorporated into the main books. it recontextualises the books in a way that makes them work so much better, in a way that the snippets already in TFK gestures at, but doesn't manage to do as well)

like does that make sense, on a character level, the politics are used excellently and achieves exactly what it was aiming for (so in teh the politics are put a lot to the side bc lehrer is slowly stripping away noam's identity, and his politics with it). idk if what it's aiming for is good, but it did achieve exactly what it's aiming for

#my rambles #feverwake #book meta #accidentally just wrote uh. *checks* #680 words on this #thematically teh throws a lot out because it draws the scope so tight around dara noam and lehrer esp with the ending #I mean I don't mind I find all three very compelling and on a character level the ending is satisfying. but. yk #a lot of the ending falls apart the more you think about it #I do disagree with the argument that it's unrealistic for [redacted] to be convicted though bc that was international court #and basically all the countries around have a vested interest in taking [redacted] off the playing field #now that brings up other problems. but. yk #books

[sp0okyghosty]

More food for your gay soul

#the fever king #the electric heir #noam alvaro #dara shirazi #calix lehrer #carter ames #bethany glennis #taye washington

[wangyourtown]

Spoilers for The Fever King and The Electric Heir

Tw Talks of psychological abuse

I can’t stop thinking about all the little things Leherer did to subtly control Noam. Like, he suspected Noam wasn’t affected by his persuasion anymore, but he knew Noam would still follow his orders because Noam couldn’t reveal if it did or didn’t work. So it basically didn’t matter if the persuasion didn’t work— if Noam was double-crossing Leherer, he still had to follow Leherer’s orders.

Ok but this was mainly about the blood- transfusion stuff. Like I think Leherer was still considering if Noam turned against him or was still working with him. Just the symbolism that Leherer makes Noam depend on him in so many ways, the amount of codependency he holds Noam in. Like that transfusion was basically “If I die, you die.” Noam NEEDED no one to threaten Leherer’s life because if someone did, Noam was the one who was going down first. It also just showed how much importance Noam had to him. I kind of think of it as a dog and owner kind of relationship— Noam strongly desiring to please Leherer and be the sole recipient of his affection.

I am dying to know how Leherer actually feels about Noam, why does he want Noam under his thumb so bad. The only thing I can think of is his past trauma where he was powerless and constantly tortured. Having extremely powerful kids depend and desire him (Dara and Noam) made him feel in control. He needed control of everything, his lifespan, level IV, Carolinia. I think he wants the people to want him in power because I think it’s a trauma thing. He wants people to submit to him and acknowledge his supremacy and stuff. Also him releasing the virus, I think of it as a way to spite those who hurt him. If everyone’s a witching, then discrimination against them is going to diminish. I feel like it’s an empathy kind of thing, judging from how he reacted to hearing about Texas experimenting on witchings. He probably experienced flashbacks to his childhood or something. Or maybe he just wanted more witchings to subjugate and reaffirm is complex.

I might just be reading into some things wrong, cause it’d also make sense if he didn’t actually care about the experimentation in Texas and just truly wanted a reason to go to war with Texas. Him releasing the virus could just be a spite thing and something to fuel his ego.

Ik I got really off topic but just Leherer is such a well written character and I’m excited to read the book centering him. I like thinking about what he does, how he interacts with people, and his reasoning. God, Victoria was so good at writing a character I truly despise but an amazing villain with a complex story of his own.

Anyways thanks for coming to this hodgepodge of a rant— this is making me want to write an actual character analysis of Leherer. I( didn’t read it over so sorry if nothing makes sense)

#rant #the fever king spoilers #feverwake #the electric heir #calix lehrer #noam alvaro #dara shirazi #the fever king #thank you victoria lee for this treasure of a book and feeding me so well #tw abuse #mental disorders #tw psychological abuse #victoria lee

[hqlmesbqry]

Dara to Noam in the first half of the electric heir: do whatever you want, I don't care.

Dara when Lehrer beats the shit out of Noam in chapter 32: call an ambulance but not for me.

#the fever king #the electric heir #daranoam #dara shirazi #noam alvaro #calix lehrer #Fuck lehrer #W for the magic gays

[crxxentum]

Everyone shut up - I'm posting Feverwake content. I've been rereading The Eletric Heir and decided to post this piece on tumblr

Cw: Spoilers, mentions of abuse, self blame (and so on)

The air is stagnant.

Yet it doesn’t smell of dust, and the sour scent of litter that would pile up and spill out of trash cans.

It’s stagnant with the tart sting of silence. A hot summer's day, the air is heavy with heat and sweat. The fan swings in sluggish motions - like it’s limping through the air leaden with tension and heat. Noam can’t get comfortable in the chair, his thighs stick to the leather. It makes him feel itchy and his clothes feel slick. The air in this new house - this new beginning - is so different to Noam’s childhood. Summer in his childhood home was populated with elated screams of children, and a shirt so congealed with sweat it was see through. The heat there made everything sticky; like he had eaten an orange and couldn’t get the juices off his hands. There was an ice block he used to eat on those days, cheap and dense with artificial flavouring that made it almost sickly. He could make his own ice blocks now. Dara had consigned himself to letting Noam buy the plastic ice block mould at the start of summer. Noam would buy vats of juice and fill them up, sit outside and chew on them like the heathen he is.

The air is stagnant.

Yet it doesn’t smell of dust, and the sour scent of litter that would pile up and spill out of trash cans.

It’s stagnant with the tart sting of silence. A hot summer's day, the air is heavy with heat and sweat. The fan swings in sluggish motions - like it’s limping through the air leaden with tension and heat. Noam can’t get comfortable in the chair, his thighs stick to the leather. It makes him feel itchy and his clothes feel slick. The air in this new house - this new beginning - is so different to Noam’s childhood. Summer in his childhood home was populated with elated screams of children, and a shirt so congealed with sweat it was see through. The heat there made everything sticky; like he had eaten an orange and couldn’t get the juices off his hands. There was an ice block he used to eat on those days, cheap and dense with artificial flavouring that made it almost sickly. He could make his own ice blocks now. Dara had consigned himself to letting Noam buy the plastic ice block mould at the start of summer. Noam would buy vats of juice and fill them up, sit outside and chew on them like the heathen he is.

Noam once blended some bananas and cocoa powder up, and poured it into the moulds. He said he’d never go back to normal juice ice blocks. But some things require energy. Noam is so, so tired.

After Noam had stopped running - once Dara held his hand and they lay in the grass together. Dara pointing out the constellations with his hand intertwined with theirs, and they both fell asleep in the long grass. Safe. Once Noam had stopped running, he didn’t want to move again. It was utterly exhausting now, trying to get up and move. Dara was so busy now, always out of the house. Working day in and day out. Noam wanted them to be home more, to have someone to wrap his arms around. A childlike need, for someone that feels so old. Noam wants to have Dara fit into his arms, resting their head on his shoulder. Noam wants time to stop, the world to stop spinning for a while. Wouldn’t it be nice? If the world were to slow down, allow Noams weary head to catch up to just how fast the pace is.

Noam would want Dara to come home more. But things haven’t been quite right lately. Dinner is a campaign of hostilities between the two of them. One cannot comment something without it escalating into a diatribe on the other. They rub against each other like sandpaper on sandpaper, like nails on a chalkboard, like metal on china. Rubbing shoulders isn’t cat-like affection anymore. It’s incitement to an argument, a stepping over of boundaries. The air is thick with the heat of summer and the tension that Noam can feel in his shoulders and see in Dara’s. It’s a struggle between the two of them. There's so much they leave unsaid, out of fear or something else. Noam’s a coward and it feels so utterly stupid that he could think everything would be alright after this.

Solving things is somehow so much more difficult than just letting it fester like an open wound. Every word of vitriol that Dara spits, it bites and tears. Latching its teeth into Noam and tugging. Begging for a reaction, or an explosion. To give a reason and explanation for why Dara feels the way he feels. To rationalise something irrational. What fools they are.

Rumination isn’t quite a habit, but rumination on one thing for weeks on end might be. Noam drags himself off the leather chair. The feeling of sweat against leather is nauseating and Noam wants out. The room is impossibly large for someone who wants to lay on the floor and never get up. Dragging his bare feet across the floor, pulling his sweat sodden shirt off his chest where it stuck. Noam shoulders the door open, standing in the pitiful excuse of a breeze. It rustles a few leaves but does nothing to dislodge the thick sluggishness of the air. Dara is knelt by the garden, hat covering his curls. How Dara can stand having gardening gloves on in this heat is beyond him. Noam’s feet remain planted in front of the door, eyes following Dara as he pulls weeds out of the soil. Gripping the plants down low and yanking at them.

Noam sniffs, turning around and striding back into the house. Picking a glass out of the cupboard and holding it until the sink. Watching the water pool in the glass and slosh around the sides. He leaves it on the bench, opening the freezer and cracking the ice cube mould backwards and forth. Prying out four ice cubes with his thumb and forefinger and dropping them in the water. He brings it out the house, walking until he’s standing over Dara with the cool water in hand.

“What?” Dara asks, turning to look up at him. Squinting his eyes against the sun.

“I got you some water,” Noam offered, holding the water out to Dara like a peace offering.

For one moment, it seems like everything is okay. Like Noam and Dara can have one day without lashing at each other's throats like wild animals. Noam feels like a shaken up bottle of soda, standing there in the sun and waiting for Dara to take the glass out of his hand.

“Thanks love,” Dara acknowledges, giving Noam amnesty from their heat fueled irritation. Noam smiles, nodding his head to them and giving a mild ‘you’re welcome’. He doesn’t push his luck, turning around to leave Dara to his gardening. Noam feels victory against the battle that is trying to not provoke Dara. Everything he does seems to, lately. The midday sun is brutal, beating down on Noam as if to tell him to begone. Leave outside for Dara - you’ve already taken so much. You took his father from him, you made your bed now lie in it. Lay in the bed of lies alongside a man with eyes of something not quite evil but not quite goodness. Noam’s words are tar that drip out of his mouth, they sit heavy on his tongue. Noam is far too aware of the stains Lehrer left on him - and Dara - how he lingers in their lives despite being gone. Maybe Noam and Lehrer really are all too similar, maybe that is why Dara can scarcely look at him. If Noam was better, if Noam wasn’t so useless, he could have helped Dara. Could have helped Lehrer too.

Foolish wishes for a foolish boy. Noam is painfully aware of how foolish these thoughts are. But the mind doesn’t care for logic, it is animalistic. Soothed by raw words and so so into licking the lacerations they gave themself. Dara is an animal now. Licking his wounds and lashing out at those who come near. Of course he would rebel against Noam’s image. When Noam is the weapon used to deal so many of those wounds. What can one do, in this situation? But wait - anxiously, painfully, most of all - impatiently. A watched pot never boils they say.

Staring at Dara’s sunwashed form, Noam could feel at home. The air is sluggish and oh so dense. If Dara could forgive Noam, maybe he could forgive himself. Forgiveness is such a fickle thing, like the weather. There’s a rain cloud on the horizon, heavy and bloated with droplets of rain. Waiting to burst and thunder onto the ground. Noam will have to call Dara into the house before then. Hopefully Dara won’t take it as his attempt at asserting control, and definitely stay outside only to get the flu.

Noam opens the door gently, looking back at Dara. Grasp, hold, pull, throw. Dara’s just repeating the movements over again. He pads through the doorway, picking up his book from the table and settling into the velvet chair opposite the black leather chair. Leaning into the plush back and grimacing at the feeling of his wet shirt pressing into his back. He flips his book open, smoothing the crease of the dog eared page.

Noam has already gotten something that so many don’t get. Lehrer can’t hurt Dara anymore, so Noam will grin and bear the pain of knowing Dara hasn’t forgiven him for his sins.

#the fever king #the electric heir #Noam Álvaro #Calix Lehrer #Dara Shirazi #The feverwake series #feverwake #fanfiction #cross posted on ao3 #>etc #writeblr #creative writing #character study