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thisiscarmensita · 1 year

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2023 Reading Challenge -- Planning, ratings, and more!

This year, I set my reading goal on 23 books.

My Goodreads profile.

My rating scale:

5🌟 I loved this book. I'll read it again. I'll recommend it to everyone that will listen to me. 4🌟 I liked this book. I don't know if I will read it again, but there's a possibility. I'll recommend this book to those who show interest in the genre. 3🌟 This book was okay. I'll not read it again. I'll only recommend this book to those strongly interested in the genre, plus a specific trope or dynamic that's in there. 2🌟 This book was bad, to my tastes. I'll never read it again. I'll not recommend this book. If someone is really into the genre and multiple tropes the novel covers, I may mention that while I did not enjoy it, it fits what they're looking for. 1🌟 This book is the worst ever, and probably I DNF. If I could go back, I wouldn't read it. I'll not recommend it to anyone, even if they are obsessed with the genre plus multiple tropes and dynamics the book covers.

WIP - Books read with rating and reviews:

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman -- 5🌟.

Reading this book was time travelling back to childhood. I felt a connection with the characters that one can only find when listening to a fairy tale next to a fire.

I felt their excitement, and their fears. I was happy when they were, and felt sad when their hearts were shattered. It was easy, and natural to believe blindly each word I was told.

The author captured the magic of folk tales in this story, and created an unique framework of narration that allowed me to get out of the adult costume. Once a kid again, I could enjoy this book just as children do enjoy things -- completely, with passion, and without shame.

Fairy Oak Saga, Book 1: El secreto de las gemelas, by Elisabetta Gnone -- 4🌟.

I'm re-reading this series after more than a decade and a half. It's a good children's book, but if you read it as an adult for the first time, you may enjoy it if you love to read children's books.

There are some plot holes I attributed to my then reading comprehension, but in reality, they just simply exist. Sad to notice that, I would have loved to know the reasoning behind some magic that simply works just because.

A Dowry of Blood, by S.T. Gibson -- 4🌟.

Flourish writing, interesting characters and story, excellent portrayal of the relationship dynamics the main characters have going on.

You'll probably enjoy this book if you're looking for a slow paced story that focuses on relationships, and you like reflexive narrators who chew on their thoughts, personal diary style.

Belladonna, by Adalyn Grace -- 2🌟.

You can see the twist coming. In fact, it's so obvious and simple, I had at least 3 other ideas of what the "catch" was that were much better than what actually happened. I think the book is aimed for young audiences, and it may be enjoyable for the right audiences. I agree with the general criticism you find in others' reviews: the MC is bad at resolving mysteries, the characters have no depth, and it would have been nice to dig deeper into the ghosts and their existence.

WIP - 2023 TBR list:

WIP - Genres, tropes, and topics I'm interested in -- please, give me your suggestions!

Pirates, mermaids, and everything and anything related to adventures in the sea or coast.

Lesbian or bisexual wlw romances that don't have homophobia or lesbophobia in them, and don't revolve around coming out/discovering your sexuality.

Poly romances with a woman as the MC/narrator, and she's the one that's involved with more than one person. Better if it's not a reverse harem.

Vampires/werewolves/aliens/IA/paranormal-creatures romances.

Sci-fi and horror short stories compilations.

#2023 reads #reading challenge #books and reading #book review #book suggestions

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rachelbethhines · 2 years

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Tangled Bonus Marathon - Tangled (The Little Golden Book) & Rapunzel’s Journal: Letting Down My Hair

Introduction

At first, I wasn’t going to include any children’s picture books in the marathon; at least not any that weren’t associated with the tv show directly, and even then, only those with an interesting gimmick to make them worth my time.

For starters, there’s way too many out there. There has to be hundreds of Tangled related kids books that either re-tell the film over and over again, or offer up some gimmick that is barely related to the property. And that’s not even counting the hundreds of compilation anthology books that feature short stories from various Disney media, including Tangled.

No. It would just be far too massive an undertaking and I’m not that big of a fan. I only agreed to do this much because there’s a very limited amount of merch for the show.

So imagine my surprise when I ordered something called ‘Rapunzel’s Journal’, thinking it to be a recreation of the show’s journal, and it turns out not to be that at all. Rather it’s a kid’s picture book re-telling the events of the film, only through Rapunzel point of view.

Well, I already paid for it. I might as well review it. However, if I’m going to talk about a Tangled picture book, I’d much rather discuss The Little Golden Book.

Golden Books have been around since 1942, and when they first appeared on the scene, they revolutionized the entire print industry and children’s literature as a whole.

Before Golden Books were a thing, children’s story books were very expensive and were basically whole-ass multi-chapter novels; written with the idea that kid’s were mini-adults who just liked fantasy and fairy tales. There was no thought into development stages or growing reading comprehension. In large part because the kids weren’t expected to actually read the books themselves, but be read to by their caretakers. After all, a storybook at that time was a luxury item, and you wouldn’t want your kid to damage it!

So then comes The Little Golden Books. The goal of the book series is to offer cheaper and easier to read book titles for very young kids. The books are short, self contained, with lots of pictures, and designed to be very easy to read by small children who are just starting to learn their ABCs.

At only 25 cents apiece, they were a smash hit. Selling millions of copies on their first published run and basically created a whole new industry in children’s entertainment. Disney took notice of this and collaborated with them in 1944, releasing Through the Picture Frame; an adaptation of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale; one that never made it to screen. However, actual adaptations of Disney films and shorts followed soon after.

Ever since then, Little Golden Book adaptations of famous Disney properties have been a long standing tradition. Everything from films, shorts, television, and even the theme parks themselves have been subjected to the Golden Book treatment. Quite often, the publishing company hires Disney animators to illustrate these stories and over the years they’ve featured art work by such Disney legends as Mary Blair and Bill Peet.

As such, many of these Disney books have become collectors items over the years. Now, I would not call the Tangled version one of those collector items just yet, however, if you were going to invest a children’s adaptation of the film the Little Golden Book is the one to get, given it’s pedigree.

Therefore, I decided to just combine both books into one review, because it’s my review series and I can do what I want. Besides, both are too short for a solo review.

Content

Tangled (The Little Golden Book)

The actual content of the book is pretty sparse. Which is to be expected given the medium. However, it is heavily, heavily abridged. The crown subplot is completely dropped, the Stabbingtons are omitted, Eugene just randomly agrees to take Rapunzel to see the lights, and Gothel somehow tricks him off screen. Even his escape from jail happens off screen, and the entire story is pretty much told through exposition. It’s like reading a cliff notes version of the film, but with pretty pictures.

Most of the focus of the book is on Rapunzel discovering the outside world and as such the kingdom dance montage takes up most of the book. Which still isn’t a lot of page space, but there’s more dedicated to it than any other scene in the film.

However, for all of it’s very rushed story telling, the book at least has a clear beginning, middle, and end. A conflict is introduced (Rapunzel feeling lonely and isolated because Gothel keeps her locked away inside) and then resolved (Rapunzel finds, love, family, and the place where she truly belongs after Gothel is defeated). It’s not much, but it’s still more than what the next book in the review has to offer.

Rapunzel’s Journal: Letting Down My Hair

The description of the book as advertised is as follows: Rapunzel gives readers a glimpse inside her world in this 32-page deluxe storybook with a padded cover. Readers will find hours of entertainment in the color illustrations throughout. Told from Rapunzel's point of view, this title gives readers the richness of a storybook with the call-out elements of a scrapbook. Glittery pages and a gatefold add to the fun.

Now with that title, and such a vague description, is it any wonder that I mistook this for a piece of merch from the tv show? Especially since there was no reviews for it on Thriftbooks and no other images available but the cover itself.

But no, it has nothing to do with the series or the journal Arianna gives to her daughter. Rather it’s the events of the film as told from Rapunzel’s perspective; with the idea that she’s kept a secret diary from Mother Gothel her whole life, and is writing down quick snippets during her down time through out the movie.

Now with that premise in mind, the book does have some cute insights into what happened off screen. Like what does Rapunzel and Mother Gothel normally eat for breakfast, where does Pascal like to sleep, or what sort of ideas Rapunzel can come up with to entertain herself? ect.

It’s when the book is expanding on Rapunzel’s backstory and characterization that’s when its at it’s best. When actually detailing the events of the movie however, it tends to fall flat. It completely glosses over key events and how Rapunzel might feel about them. Like almost dying in the mines or getting to know the real Eugene. You know things that would no doubt be of importance to the character.

Yet the worse offense of the book is the fact that there’s no end to it. The book just stops after the lantern scene, and the final page is just Rapunzel coming to the decision to defy her ‘Mother’ with out showcasing the actual resolution to that particular conflict.

I understand that a book like this has a limited page count, but stopping halfway through the story is such a bizarre creative decision that only drags down what could have been a really sweet book.

Presentation

Tangled (The Little Golden Book)

I’ve noticed that there are two kinds of art styles when viewing any 2-D Tangled spin off stuff. You either have the Disney Renaissance reconstructions, where it’s made even more obvious how much of an Ariel rip-off Rapunzel’s OG design is, or Mary Blair homages. Lots, and lots of Mary Blair homages.

The Golden Book is no exception to this. Now, the artist does bring their own individual interpretation to the style, as do any artist trying to emulate another, yet the Mary Blair influence is unmistakable.

And with good reason. Mary Blair is one of the most influential artist to come out Disney studios, and someone who did a lot of work on the classic Golden Books. The only person who’s arguably had even more of an impact on the ‘Disney style’ is Fred Moore, himself. (He’s the one who invented the whole Disney look, like the aforementioned Renaissance style)

Moore’s the guy on the right, that’s Mary in the middle, and the third dude is the cameraman from The Three Caballeros

Anyways, all this is to say is that the art work is nice and the highlight of the story. I especially like this green dress we see her wear on one page. It’s cute.

Rapunzel’s Journal: Letting Down My Hair

The second book is that same sort of line less art style that is the hallmark of Mair Blair’s style. Only every now and then you’ll get these cool textural pages with puffed paint and glitter, that really pop out. It’s hard to tell with the picture, I know, but it is there. I can see this going over really well with small kids and adults who have touch based stims, like myself.

Would I Recommend It

I can only recommend these books for folks with very small children. That is who they are made for after all. However, art aside, there’s no real reason to pick these two out over the million of other similar Tangled picture books. Rapunzel’s Journal has a nice idea behind it but is let down by the lack of story. As for the Golden Book, the only thing that makes it stand out is the brand name. If you’re already collecting them then of course you’ll may want to seek it out if you haven’t already. Otherwise, unless you just happen to come across them for cheap, I wouldn’t bother.

What’s Next

We’ll finally be getting to the series stuff next review, where I‘ll cover the Before Ever After novelization.

Also the Bonus Stream will resume next Thursday at 9 PM EST on the Salt Discord.

#Disney #Tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure

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closet-is-tired · 3 years

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I really feel like i should mention that i was (and still am) a huge fairy tale nerd. Because it very much explains quite a bit about me

#would this be ever after high related??#idk man #i was the kid who would read those fairy tale compilation books #I've also spent way too much time trying to pick out books lol #it was the root cause of so many things in my childhood #duchess essay should be out soon #i got one of my friends to proof read it

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lostinthe-jojos · 2 years

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❥Anon requested: i’m the one who requested about the sibling haitani with ran and i ABSOLUTELY loved it <3 another request if you don’t mind: a diff version of those headcanons with rindou telling the sibling there are no monsters in their closet and reading them a bed story 👁👁 take your time 🤍

❥A/N: I'm glad you liked them! Sorry for taking so long!

Feedback, reblogs and comments are much appreciated!

Previous Part More Headcanons

The kid loved being with the two brothers but there was something about Rindou's presence that was... comforting. Sure, they knew Ran would protect them no matter what, but sometimes Rindou's honesty was what they needed rather than Ran's usually mocking tone.

And one of those times when they'd go to Rindou was when they needed someone to check under their bed and closet for monsters.

At first, Rindou thought it was stupid to think there could be monsters under the bed. Until he remembered his own childhood and how Ran would look after him when they were much younger. And the kind of life the poor child used to live until they took them in.

"And there's no monsters here either," he said looking inside the closet, "and if there's ever a monster, Ran and I will beat it up," he said and ruffled the child's hair, making them laugh in response.

"Rin," the kid said holding onto his leg, looking up at him, "will you read me a story?"

He was tired, but couldn't say no to those sparkling eyes.

"Sure," he said and carried the kid to bed, ticking them in, "what would you want me to read?"

"The book Ran bought me!"

He smiled and grabbed the book. It was a compilation of legends and fairy tales from over the word.

"We'll choose randomly, is that okay?"

The kid nodded and got closer to Rin, laying their head on his side.

And he began to read, his calm, soothing voice helping the kid to picture in their mind the places and characters that were painted with words and, very slowly, helping them fall asleep.

Rindou looks down at the kid when he hears a light snore and feels them nuzzle closer to him. He smiles and sighs, looking at their peaceful expression for a few seconds before continuing to read, just to make sure they are completely asleep before he even attempts to leave.

However, Ran finds Rindou asleep with the kid, his brother reclined on the bed's frame, neck in a surely uncomfortable position, and the blook open laying on his lap. Their new sibling was clinging onto Rin, hugging him, face nuzzled on his side.

Ran observed the scene for a while, before walking in to accommodate his brother in a more comfortable position.

Do not repost, steal, translate or distribute my work outside of Tumblr

#ʕ ꈍᴥꈍʔ — tokrev #ran haitani x reader #rin haitani x reader #ran x reader platonic #rin x reader platonic #platonic tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader

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konglindorm · 3 years

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Lindworm Promo Series Repost: Cite Your Sources

*This is a repost from 9/17/17*

But I’m a little obsessive about my fairy tales. You may have noticed. And this book wasn’t even mine. It belonged to my grandparents. So of course I had my own Asbjornsen and Moe anthology. Or two. Maybe three. And I kind of kept buying these books because I wanted my own copy of this one wacky story. But it wasn’t there. So I googled the complete works of Asbjornsen and Moe. It wasn’t there.

I took advantage of my university’s interlibrary loan system to request every single book in the country that mentioned lindworms. Or lindorms. Or lindwyrms, or a variety of other spellings.

Have I mentioned that I’m a little obsessive about my fairy tales?

Several other books and authors and random people on the internet attributed the story to Asbjornsen and Moe. Who definitely didn’t record it. The reason for this, as far as I can tell? This book my grandparents had, really nice hardcover, fancy publisher, gorgeous illustrations—it was kind of a big deal. All sorts of people had read the story in this book, and only this book, and assumed the information provided was reliable.

And here’s where the publishers went wrong. There’s an editor’s note in the front. It explains that all but two of the stories in the volume are from one particular translation of the works of Asbjorsen and Moe. What they apparently neglected to mention is that one of those two stories was not only from a different translator, but a different source entirely.

So Prince Lindworm didn’t come from Norway. That’s settled. And, okay, I don’t know what to tell you about the one random outlier in my interlibrary loan adventure that said the story was from Sweden, but I’ve got this worked out.

Really, it could have been worse. When I wanted to read the earliest recorded version of Beauty and the Beast, and I couldn’t track down a translation anywhere, I spent months tearing the internet apart before I found a copy that was clearly printed well over one hundred years ago, given the spelling and lettering, in French, scanned in and saved as a pdf. I still have that saved on my computer somewhere. Given that I don’t know any French, dictionaries only provided modern spellings, and any given character could easily have been three to six different letters in that typeface, the several months I spent attempting to translate didn’t really get me anywhere. I don’t think I even translated the first paragraph successfully.

I did a little better with Prince Lindworm. It still took me a couple months to find the text, and it was still a crappy pdf with outdated spelling. Plus it was in Danish. But the lettering was slightly more modern, and I happen to be much better at slogging my way through Danish than French. A little bit of Norwegian, a little bit of Anglo-Saxon, a tiny bit of German. It’ll get you places. Sadly, my extensive background in Latin was utterly useless to French. (And Spanish. It seems my teachers lied to me. I strongly suspect Romani and Portuguese would also be a bust, but at least I can stumble blindly through basic Italian.)

It was, when I found it, three or four pages of a quite large collection. I haven’t gotten into the rest of it yet—soon, hopefully. Gamle dansk Minder i folkemunde, it’s called. I’m good at general ideas in Germanic languages, not so much actual translations, so bear with me here, but I’m going to tentatively call this “Old Danish Memories from the Mouths of the People.” Sounds better in Danish, right? This is why I keep my translations to myself.

The compiler of this book is listed as Svend Grundtvig, and he’s generally known for collecting Danish folk songs, but as far as I can tell, in my admittedly spotty Danish comprehension, there’s no music for this one.

And, okay, I know I talk a lot about how stories, especially folk stories, don’t belong to anyone, because they’re so mutable, because a story is really a community, a conversation. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know where the conversation started.

For crying out loud, people, cite your sources! I dedicated months of my life to this. Do you have any idea how many utterly worthless books I had to read in search of some tiny hint of origins? How many incorrect attributions I had to read? How much respect I lost for researchers in this field in general?

Look, sometimes tracking down crap pdfs of source material can be fun, okay? I love pulling random linguistic data from obscure folklore and stuff like that. But really. Really. How hard can it possibly be to say, “hey, this historically and culturally significant story that I’m making a profit on because it’s been in the public domain for a hundred years originally came from Denmark”?

There is no excuse not to give fairy tales the correct attribution. Like, anthology and picture book based fairy tales have got to be the easiest writing to make a profit on. The story has been marinating in your brain forever, right? Do you even remember a time before you knew Cinderella? Just tell it in your own words, and someone else will come along and slap some beautiful illustrations on, and you’re good to go. It costs five minutes and zero dollars to add in a little note saying, “This adaptation was inspired by the French version of the story as recorded by Charles Perrault.”

But no, that’s too much work for you. Instead you’ll just go and publish a wildly popular book that heavily implies incorrect information, and let it spin wildly out of control until poor innocent college kids are staying up all night on the internet reading languages they don’t understand and enlisting the help of just about every library in the continental United States.

Ugh.

Anyway, Grundtvig is a really awesome dude who absolutely knows how to cite his stories. Kong Lindorm was told in 1854 by Maren Mathisdatter, age 67, in Fureby. It was recorded by Adjunct A. Levisen.

See? Was that so hard?

#lindworm #prince lindworm #king lindworm #king lindorm #kong lindorm #folklore #fairy tales #svend grundtvig #asbjornsen and moe

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starberry-cupcake · 4 years

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So, yesterday I saw a post about fairy tales and whether or not they’re “gruesome”. I wanted to expand on that in the tags, because a) I’m coincidentally finishing the preparation of the fairy tale history part of my workshop and b) I think there’s a huge part played by the intent of the writer/compiler and the audience it was aimed that, and that’s also very interesting to me; but then decided against adding it.

Still, @akallabeth-joie and @aurora-australis-tumbles wanted to know what I had to say, but tumblr ate half of my response last night. Here it is again, on read more not to bother those who don’t care about this.

The original post mentioned how some fairy tales aren’t really as “gruesome” as they’re made up to be and how that varies, in op’s opinion, due to culture or historical time frame. It’s actually not only that, because some very different versions come from the same countries, same time frames and sometimes even the same people.

A big difference in the content, construction and symbology of fairy tales has to do with the intended audience as well as the ideological mindset of the writer/compiler individually and the work the compilation was inscribed in.

In the post, one of the examples mentioned was Beauty and the Beast, which is one of the best examples of different audiences for the same tale in the same country and similar time frames.

Villeneuve’s version of the tale was influenced by the French salonnières, like Madame d’Aulnoy, so it was intended mostly to women of the aristocracy to entertain themselves. The part about them being aristocrats is very important, because class was an inherent part of the story, in Villeneuve’s version for example Beauty is secretly a princess, making her the right class to marry a prince.

Beaumont’s version, which is more widely known, was published in a magasin for young women who were getting an education and learning languages, which makes sense because Beaumont was a governess. As a result, a lot of the story is framed into marrying well and putting up with whatever husband you got, basically, but it’s also framed in a different more naive way, if you will.

A clear difference between the two is the “sexual content”, for example, Villeneuve’s Beast asks Beauty to sleep with him whereas Beaumont’s asks her to marry him, and Villeneuve’s reason for the prince to be turned is because a fairy wanted to force herself onto him and he refused.

Perrault was put in the post as an example of “not gruesome” because his Cinderella, as opposed to the Grimms’ Cinderella, doesn’t end in anyone being physically punished. Violently so, in the Grimm version, there’s bloodied feet and eyes getting gauged out. That doesn’t mean that Perrault was devoid of gruesome content, though, his Blue Beard is to me the scariest fairy tale ever because it excuses physical abuse towards women, something male translators were absolutely ok with until Angela Carter came in and said “what the actual fuck?”.

But, in any case, Perrault’s Cinderella doesn’t have a punishment for the stepsisters (the stepmother disappears halfway through) because Cinderella being forgiving and kind and showing the poise to not only forgive her bullies but get them to marry well was proof of her feminine virtue. Because Perrault was writing for the French aristocracy, mostly young women, since he was contemporary to d’Aulnoy but was compiling stories with an entirely different mindset (and hiding the fact that it was him who was doing so). And again, this was for aristocrats, Cinderella was not in Perrault a story from rags to riches, she was born with enough rank to attend that ball, she wasn’t poor.

The Grimms, on the other hand, were working differently. They were intending to build a compilation of tales to represent German tradition and identity, in a time in which they were lacking it (which is strange to think of now, but even the language was being threatened by the French influence). Their interest was in historical and traditional recuperation originally but the first edition of their selection did poorly and didn’t have much acceptance.

Their second edition, which they made for children, took off like crazy. The Grimms were publishing in the early 1800s, and it was in the mid 1800s when the concept of childhood as we know it started to take shape. They got to live through the first steps of children being seen as independent beings, the start of a public education and literacy and working rights, albeit shitty ones. So, the kids’ edition needed morals and teachings that would focus on them. They gave Little Red Riding Hood a mother and turned her into a kid, they turned some mother characters into step mothers and they put punishments to showcase how you Shouldn’t Be Bad.

And yes, the punishments were gruesome and violent, but this is the same place that thought, in the mid 1800s, that Der Struwwelpeter was kid friendly fun, so what do I know about anything.

Of course, like op said, some of this is dependent on history and culture, but also it’s super important to note that, when it comes to collected fairy tales and folk stories, the background, ideology, education and intent of the person writing or compiling the stories plays a big role in what they edit in them.

After the Grimms you’ll have people who are, like them, interested in recuperating stories of a specific place but with a much bigger philological intent which would take them to organize their stuff differently, like Afanasyev in Russia, Laura Gonzenbach in Sicily, Berta Elena Vidal de Battini in Argentina and so on.

Afanasyev compiled over 600 tales and added different versions of the same stories, to show all the variants one archetype could have, which derived into the immortal conservation of super important characters like Baba Yaga.

Laura Gonzenbach, who spoke 4 languages, interviewed women with little means and collected over 90 stories from Sicilian oral tradition, and translated them while respecting their representations and ideas, as well as the cathartic need of expressing the violence and abuse they had suffered.

Vidal de Battini had a very big interest on language and tradition, she worked for several decades, traveling over 100 times throughout Argentina and compiled over 3000 texts, including traditional stories, native peoples stories, legends, encounters with cryptids, jokes and tales about famous characters. She included a lot of notes and grammatical representations of dialect variations and explained how sometimes it overlayed with languages such as quechua, mapuche and other native tongues.

This also happened with writers, like Hans Christian Andersen, who was born in a low class, hated aristocracy and was also Very Much Not Straight, so his books and Perrault’s books might fist fight in my bookshelf when I’m not looking.

Anyway, fairy tales and folk stories are, to me, alongside legends, cryptids, horror tales and urban legends, one of the most representative forms of cultural identity. Still, the part that each person responsible for their collection played is also something that sheds light on many elements concerning their conception. It doesn’t taint them, it adds another layer that is fascinating to analyze, but doesn’t necessarily represent what one would think at first sight.

These people took the stories from the popular imagination and gave them back transformed, and those new versions still keep being transformed within popular imagination again and again.

#luly rambles #about fairy tale history #long post when expanded #akallabeth-joie #aurora-australis-tumbles #reply

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thelittlestcheshire · 4 years

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Hello! I’m Katie, and this is my muse Ches. If any of you were in Luxor over the summer, you know this pain in the ass so I’m probably gonna do a quick “here’s where this brat was” recap at the bottom, along with anything I’ve changed between that Ches and this Ches! I’m really excited to be back, and I’m really looking forward to roleplaying with everyone.

I also have the habit of writing crazy long bios when I do bother to write them so there’s a tl;dr for that, also some wanted connections at the bottom. I love plotting so if you ever have any ideas, feel free to come excited scream with me here or on Discord! So without further ado ♥

TWs: Gun Violence / Murder / Death (not by Ches), Blood, Abuse (Relationship), Cheating, Mental Illnesses, Drugs/Alcohol, Overdoses (also not by Ches / did not result in death)

Is that HAILEY CHESHIRE “CHES” ELSWOOD? Wow, they do look a lot like KATHERINE MCNAMARA. I hear SHE is a SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN year old SENIOR who originally attended CARNIFEX Academy. Word is they are an ARISTOCRAT student. You should watch out because they can be IMPULSIVE and STUBBORN, but on the bright side they can also be ENERGENIC and LOYAL. Ultimately, you’ll get to see it all for yourself. [KATIE, 23, EST, SHE/HERS]

Last Edit: 8/26/2020

♥ basics; Full Name: Hailey Cheshire “Ches” Elswood Preferred Name: Ches Elswood Age: 18 Birthday: July 19th, 2002 at 03:22 am Sexual Orientation: Biromantic bisexual Relationship Status: It’s complicated ( @ Elliot ) Occupation: Student Nationality: American [with French dual citizenship] Ches’s Car

♥ classes;

Anthropology

Shakespearean Studies

Linguistics

Latin

Music

Advanced Sociology

Advanced Psychology

World History

♥ extracurriculars;

National Honor Society

Theater Club (Actor)

Concert Band (Piano)

♥ background; Place of Birth: Paris, France Hometown: Manhattan, New York, New York Health Issues: Borderline Personality Disorder and PTSD, not that she likes to admit to it, however. She’s also highly allergic to the Perciformes family of fish (tuna, mackrel, perch , and bass). While she’s okay with the salmoniformes (Salmon and Trout), she really doesn’t touch fish outside of... literally salmon she makes herself since that’s all she trusts ok. ((Shellfish is fine though) Traumas: Watching her mother die (mugging gone wrong/shot to death)

♥ physical; Face Claim: Katherine McNamara Eye Color: Green Hair Color: Red Height: 5′3 ½” (not at fc height quick side note) Weight: 115 lbs Tattoos, Birthmarks, Scars, etc: Mole above her belly button, a few moles on her thighs, freckles and face moles. (Face Ref 1, Face Ref 2, Body Ref 1, Body Ref 2) . She also has a tattoo now.

♥ zodiac;

Tropical

Sun: Cancer Moon: Scorpio Mercury: Cancer Venus: Virgo Mars: Leo Jupiter: Cancer Saturn: Gemini Uranus: Aquarius Neptune: Aquarius Pluto: Sagittarius Lilith: Aries N Node: Gemini

Placidus Orb

I ASC: Gemini II: Cancer III: Cancer IV: Leo V: Virgo VI: Libra VII: Sagittarius VIII: Capricorn IX: Capricorn X MC: Aquarius XI: Pisces XII: Aries

♥ relatives;

Father’s Full Name: Edward Valentine Elswood Father’s Status: Alive Father’s Occupation: CEO/Owner of a multi-billion dollar luxury goods conglomerate (net worth of 50+ Billion in fact - in turn, Elswood kids do NOT bat an eyelash at prices) Mother’s Full Name: Julia Andrieux Elswood Mother’s Status: Deceased [shot by a mugger on the twin’s 8th birthday] Future Step-Mother: Rebekah Carroll (soon to be Elswood, watch this space lol) Step-Mother’s Occupation: Siblings: 6 brothers and sisters (family page here) Elswood-Carroll Children Oldest to Youngest:

Logan Elswood (24)

Jamie Elswood (22)

Emmett Elswood (19)

Cade Carroll (19)

Jonah / Ches Elswood (TWINS)

Flynn Carroll (16)

Effie Elswood (14)

Ella Elswood (10)

She also has a niece named Isabella (Belle) who’s now almost 8 months (DOB: 07/10/2019). Belle belongs to her oldest brother, Logan (and Belle’s mother isn’t in the picture).

This is a link to the Elswood family page if you’d like to know more about her family.

♥ relationships; Ex-Significant Other(s): Probably a handful of people tbh, hit me up if you want this as a WC Reason for Separation: Stuff not working out, Ches getting bored before she got attached, so on - she’s a flirt tbh, it takes her wanting to get invested for her to stay Current Significant Other: N/A

♥ misc;

Hobbies and Talents: Ches’s main hobbies are playing piano and archery (she forever misses her bow and arrow while she’s at school), as these are also the two things that are best at calming her down. She has an intense love for acting, so it’s not uncommon for her to be one of the first people to sign up for auditions, and she tends to sing a lot so musicals are truly her shit. It’s not uncommon to see her in the library, reading a book late a night.

However, a talent she doesn’t exactly own up to often is her talent for forgeries and lockpicking. While she doesn’t use these skills as they’re intended for often, she does tend to practice them a lot, so she’s not rusty for when they are actually useful.

Pinterest Section // Musings Tag // Playlist (it’s an in general Ches playlist tho)

Ches speaks English and French fluently, her mother was born and raised in Paris so she learnt them both at the same time

DO NOT CALL HER HAILEY unless you really want to end up on her shit list, it’s her biggest pet peeve, she will glare at you for hours.

She’s the mom friend if your mom friend also goes “I HAVE THE BEST IDEA” and drags you into trouble. Literally, the one who frets over you and proceeds to get you into trouble.

This muse does what she wants, I just write it down I apologize always for her

Doesn’t really... seriously date too much because of past situations (Her older brother slept with the first person she truly loved) and she tries to avoid falling in love

That being said platonic I love yous are her shit, she loves her friends a LOT

Ches is very serious about her studying (and wanting to be among the best of the best because - this girl has Ivy league college dreams and she has no intents on fucking those up), so like expect her to do shit like read an entire textbook at the start of school and study at midnight when her insomnia is kicking her ass.

She’s a bit of a closet nerd - if you look under her bed she has a chest of comic books, she’ll just lie if you ask her about them

Ches left Luxor due to a family emergency in October, it was a really hard decision (and it was a really hard decision to come back). She is just now coming back to school.

She got her tattoo while she was away from school, using a forged note of parental consent in New Jersey.

♥ bio;

TWs: Gun Violence, Murder, Death, Blood, Abuse (Relationship), Cheating, Mental Illnesses

Growing up as an Elswood means two things, you have a lot of siblings and a lot of money. Her parents had decided to raise their children in Manhattan, New York, where they could keep a close eye on their multi-billion dollar conglomerate. Her mother, Julia, would take them on trips constantly too - when she wanted to get the children away from the hustle and bustle of the city they’d go to their vacation home upstate, or their private island, or even to visit their family in Paris. At that point in life, Ches was happy. She had a solid group of friends, she had the best friend she could ever imagine having in the form of her twin brother, she had a loving and warm family, and she had a parent who would tell her no.

When she thinks back to her life before the incident, it feels like a completely different story. A fairytale even, perfect and happy in every way compared to her life now. However, it wouldn’t last, after all, fairy tales didn’t exist and reality was a much crueler mistress. One could say Lin-Manuel Miranda described it best; “life doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes.”

Everything changed on her eighth birthday when her mother took her out shopping to get a present for twin brother Jonah at Palisades Mall. A man came up with a gun while they were in the parking lot and asked for all of their money. Julia Elswood compiled but she made one mistake, the simple utterance of “Cours, Ches” as she gave the man her purse.

Ches might have gotten out of the event alive, but not she was not unscathed. Julia Elswood was pronounced dead when medics finally arrived on the scene, her blood coating her daughter’s hands and clothing from Ches’s attempts to stop the bleeding. She might have survived the event without physical harm but she was never the same child she was before after that.

One day she had an intact family, the next day the Elswoods were in ruin. Her father completely shut himself out from the family, only coming out for birthdays and holidays. Her oldest brother stepped up as their parental figure, first starting out with homeschooling before he eventually dropped out to ensure his siblings were getting as much of his time as they possibly could. He tried his hardest to make the loss of their mother easier on the younger girls especially, given how young they were at the time. She helped him with the girls as much as she could (and overtime she slowly started filling the role as their second parent). Because of how busy the younger Elswood children kept him, sometimes Logan didn’t have the time to comfort Ches when she woke up in the middle of the night, haunted by their mother.

That was when Emmett stepped in. It wasn’t uncommon for him to sleep on her floor so he’d be there when she woke up terrified out of her mind, and he was there when she just eventually stopped sleeping like people tended to. Over time she realized that Jonah and her weren’t truly two peas in a pod the way they used to be, that Emmett was the only Elswood who truly got her. He wasn’t perfectly normal either, his thoughts and feelings were flawed like hers.

In a family that made her feel so broken at times, Emmett was a saving grace - a reminder she wasn’t alone.

Going to school in Carnifex was an easy decision when you felt so alone at home, at school she found a close group of people she loved and cared about - she felt less alone and less like her family were judging her, and when the feeling came up - she could always toss herself back into her schoolwork and pretend that maybe, just maybe, she was just a normal kid living a normal boring life. Family issues easily bred vulnerability though, and it was that vulnerability that was exploited not long before she was set to start Carnifex.

Long-distance relationships weren't’ supposed to be easy, but when she fell in love for the first time. At the time, she had thought she was as fucked up as she could ever be, that at this point she was just focused on healing the wounds her mother’s death had left in therapy and after that, everything would be fine. James Ruth quickly showed her how mistaken she had been, even now she doesn’t like thinking about everything he had done to her. She doesn’t discuss everything he had put her through in the time they were together nor does she have any intentions on truly discussing the worst of the abuse she endured while dating him and she was home - even in therapy. It did, however, have an effect on her, it made her terrified of truly falling in love with somebody again. (Note: James is also a massive reason why she doesn't get along with her brother Jamie, the two Elswood siblings never recovered from Jamie sleeping with Ches’s boyfriend. It causes a good deal of tension in the Elswood home but Ches can’t just forgive him, her brother never even apologized for his actions, she wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t hurt her because her father wanted them to get along for his own sake. They were on the rocks before this and afterward, the tension just got a whole lot worse.)

Going back to Carnifex her sophomore year was a key factor in helping Ches get away from her relationship, and it became as much of a home for her than her actual home was the longer she attended. Sure, she still misses her younger sisters, she misses Emmett and Camellia, and she misses her friends in the city. She also dislikes just how restricted she truly is when it comes to Instagram and trying to grow her influence while she attends Carnifex. Networking had to wait until she was home and sometimes she questions why she decided boarding school was a good idea. And then Ches looks at her friends, at the education she’s receiving, and all the fond memories she’s developing. Carnifex, and now Luxor, was well worth the fear of missing out she feels.

If you had asked her at the start of this school year, she would have told you nothing could have gotten her to leave school for any amount of time her senior year, she had spent the whole summer at Luxor (even after hearing about her baby niece, that meant a lot) - she finally settled in, she couldn’t imagine anything happening that would cause her to leave the academy. And then, on October 16th at two am in the morning, she got a phone call from Ella. Their oldest brother, Logan, had overdosed. While his drug addiction had never been a secret to the family, his relapse had been a surprise to Ches. Her brother had sworn up and down he was fine, that everything at home was okay. Going back to New York was a no brainer, her family needed her - and she needed them.

Logan, who’d been the closest thing to a parent she had since her mother died, almost died - she almost lost all the parental figures she ever knew. It was hard, getting adjusted back to New York City, she threw herself into her school work and did her best to fill the shoes Logan left open as he went through rehab, and then, adjusted back to being home. While she stayed in touch with the people she had at Luxor, she wouldn’t come back until her brother way okay - until she felt safe about leaving him with his daughter and their siblings without her as a backup. Coming back to school this time was really hard on her, the homesickness is worse than ever and she’s constantly trying to check in on her siblings (because mom!Ches is truly in full force and she’s trying to get it back down) but she’s glad to be back. She’s missed being at Luxor, a lot, so she’s glad to be back.

TLDR / quick important notes bio recap for rereads:

Ches’s mother was murdered on her 8th birthday in front of her

She was raised by her oldest brother, Logan, and is NOT close to her father really. She also helped raise her younger sisters and is very protective of them.

The Elswood she is closest to is Emmett, Jonah and her grew apart after her mother’s death.

Ches’s first real love was James (an NPC), they dated (entire)Freshman-(mid)Sophomore years, it was abusive (much more than Ches will ever discuss unless she gets majorly close to someone and they HAVE to know (cough still hasn’t happened though cough)) and Ches is now terrified of falling in love again. Her messy as fuck relationships & exes all start after this point.

Ches’s history at Luxor is pretty much in-tact, changes will be below in another section!

Ches left Luxor because of her oldest brother, Logan, overdosing. He is alive but she stayed in NYC until he was out of rehab / stabilized in order to take care of her younger siblings and her niece, Belle.

Notable Luxor Notes:

Anything relating to Thomas (for those of you who know what I mean) really hasn’t occurred, so if you mention it she’ll just be like “who?” This seems like the easiest course of action given how things were left off

Other muses of note I’m not going to account for are: Asher (more will be added as needed).

Ches isn’t a member of the Churchill Circle (I’m leaning towards was never one either just because the reasons she joined are no longer a factor so... she probably wouldn’t have ever joined)

If anyone wants to change history and/or keep it intact, feel free to dm me to let me know and I’ll update this accordingly.

Wanted Connections:

Exes (when Ches dates it’s not for long, but she’s definitely the type to be like “I’ll go out with you” if asked and then... dump you if she thinks she’s getting too attached. So her exes are either on good terms, neutral terms, or they probably dislike her a lot)

Former friends with benefits - while Ches is no longer taking on new ones because of Elliot (and is starting to wean off her current ones), I’m always willing to headcanon past things!

FRIENDSHIPS (I am weak af for a good friendship plot, never be afraid to be like “hey can our muses be friends” the answer is legit always yes)

Enemies (Ches can... be a lot so it’s not unlikely she’s pissed people off ok)

#luxorintro #so yeah pretty much have a Ches and I am SO FREAKING EXCITED TO BE BACK OK #sorry this is so freaking long too ♥#also I was excited I revamped the bio and drafted it #it's about my bedtime right now though so not sure how far I'll get with replies I'm gonna try but it's legit the time I pass out right now

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doodlebugsandbumblebees · 4 years

Note

You are straight-up a very sweet Hufflepuff whom I would be delighted to know any and everything about, so is it alright if I go ahead and ask EVERY question for the question meme?

Awww, wow!! That really means a lot, thank you so much!

Alright here we go then! We’re going to get to know me a whole lot better lol because these questions are pretty fun. Obviously this will be a pretty long post so I’m putting it all under the read more

weird asks that say a lot

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

Coffee mugs I think. I have a pretty big collection of those.

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

This one is hard! Probably chocolate bars though.

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

Cotton candy 100%.

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

Hmmmm, I think hardworking and sweet came up a lot? I was very much a teacher’s pet and the perfectionist anxiety set in early lol so I was a busy, over-achieving bee.

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

I prefer soda bottles. Glass bottles especially.

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

It really depends? But I guess I’m more tomboy style than anything else.

7. earbuds or headphones?

Earbuds because I like to have one in and one out so I can still hear what’s going around me.

8. movies or tv shows?

TV shows because I like having more time to get to know the characters (and domestic/casual situations for overpowered or zany characters are way more likely to happen in a show than a movie and I live for those lol).

9. favorite smell in the summer?

Rain on pavement because it just storms and storms in the summer and it’s so nice.

10. game you were best at in p.e.?

Hmmm I was good at anything that involved running? And games that involved those wheely board things you sat on and scooted around on were always fun.

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

It varies? Bagels or toast most often I guess.

12. name of your favorite playlist?

Sick beats.

13. lanyard or key ring?

Key ring with a little stuffed animal on it. Right now mine has a bee on it and I love it.

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

Jolly ranchers.

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

Tuesdays with Morrie was pretty good.

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

Criss-cross.

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

My plain white sneakers. They’re not real pretty or anything but they’re very comfy and I don’t have to think about whether they match things.

18. ideal weather?

Partially cloudy all day, storm in the afternoon, cool in the evening.

19. sleeping position?

Always on one of my sides.

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

Notes on my phone or on my laptop with my typewriter keyboard.

21. obsession from childhood?

The Lion King and anything related to it.

22. role model?

Jane Goodall has been at least one of my role models since I was ten, but my mom is a big one too.

23. strange habits?

I’m still getting over periodically chewing my fingers? Does that count? I also have a quirk when it comes to touching certain metal things but especially coins so when someone hands me change I do everything I can to avoid touching it and hold it in the bills if I can.

24. favorite crystal?

Kinds of crystals I presume? I’ve always liked rose quartzes and amethysts (especially amethyst geodes since I have a couple of those).

25. first song you remember hearing?

Probably something from Tarzan or Mary Poppins since those were my childhood movies. So Stepping Time from Mary Poppins would be a good guess.

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

Swimming.

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?

Walking around in it because it’s hardly ever truly cold here and I like to savor it.

28. five songs to describe you?

I change music taste every five minutes so I’m going to say songs that describe me right now are brand new by ben rector, just a quail by louie zong, turning out by ajr, everything stays by olivia olson, and hooked on a feeling by blue swede.

29. best way to bond with you?

It’s all in the time. I get attached to people pretty easy as long as they’re nice and we can goof around, have fun, and talk about whatever. So putting time in to hang out means a lot to me.

30. places that you find sacred?

Hmmm, being deep in forests feels sacred to me so there are certain waterfall hikes in the smokey mountains and along the blue ridge parkway and in Hawaii that seem very special to me. And then disney world and disneyland will always have a sacredness to them for me because they’ve meant so much to me and the happiness it brings people is pretty magical.

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

My comfy jean shorts and either my yellowish flannel or my guardians of the galaxy shirt with my rebel jacket.

32. top five favorite vines?

Caterpillar Rave

I Smell Like Beef

I Could’ve Dropped My Croissant

Michael with a B

This Is The Comedy Police

Honorable Mention: FR E S H A VOCA DO

33. most used phrase in your phone?

Probably “okay cool” because I say that a lot.

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?

We are farmers, bum bud um bum bum bum bum.

35. average time you fall asleep?

1 AM.

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?

Oh gosh the first one… probably one of those vines up there. It might have been fre shavocado. This was a long time ago though.

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

Suitcase.

38. lemonade or tea?

Tea because I can’t drink citrus without it setting my mouth on fire lol.

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?

Lemon cake but I don’t have it often for the reason listed above.

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?

Some kids in elementary did something weird in the trees behind our school because the teachers weren’t watching them (I never knew exactly what it was but it was Bad tm) but the teachers didn’t know exactly who it was so they punished the whole grade and we were forced to only play kickball during recess for like 7 months and it was the worst. It’s not exactly weird per say but I always found it wild that the only conceivable thing they could think to do to solve this problem was force a bunch of scrawny, socially awkward, miserable children to play ground baseball with a permanently half-deflated rubber ball.

41. last person you texted?

My brother.

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

Pants pockets but only because I don’t get to use jacket pockets as often as I would like to.

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

I’m completely tied between hoodies and bomber jackets.

44. favorite scent for soap?

Ocean.

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

These are my three faves, not fair!! Sigh, probably superhero because even with sci-fi and fantasy my faves tend to be my faves because they have superhero elements. The colors, the Drama, the angst, the powers?? What’s not to love.

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

Baggy t-shirt and athletic shorts.

47. favorite type of cheese?

Smoked gouda.

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?

Watermelon.

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

“Keep moving forward.” from Meet the Robinsons most, but I also like “The bottom line is if you take a chance in life sometimes good things happen, sometimes bad things happen but, honey, if you don’t take a chance nothing happens.” from Dorothy in Golden Girls.

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

I don’t know about the hardest I ever have (because I am very lucky and have a very funny family so I laugh a lot) but watching vine compilations for the very first time with my siblings made me laugh really hard.

51. current stresses?

Fitting everything in. Days just don’t feel long enough and social situations plus school stuff always get to me but I’m doing okay.

52. favorite font?

I do like times new roman even if it’s used a lot but I’ve been using the font yananeska for calligraphy stuff lately and it’s a cool one.

53. what is the current state of your hands?

They’re always a bit dry and on the warmish side but they’re pretty good.

54. what did you learn from your first job?

Have never had a job job but I volunteered in a library for like three years and it taught me to enjoy the details, slow down and enjoy the quiet, simple tasks, appreciate really excited kids, and try to help people whenever I can.

55. favorite fairy tale?

Aladdin or beauty and the beast I suppose? I like that there’s multiple ways to interpret those stories and that they can be played with in some fun ways because they’re such interesting concepts by themselves.

56. favorite tradition?

How cities all over the world string up lights on things in the winter. It means something different to everyone and some do it and some don’t which is totally fine, but this idea of lighting up the world during the bleakest month, and how some people go all out with colors and patterns and synced to music, and how everyone does it a bit different, and how entire cities are just smothered in lights means a lot to me. I think it’s a very cool and very human thing to do.

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

The tough year before my family moved, getting through my really intense anxiety years where I couldn’t travel in cars for more than fifteen minutes without throwing up, and my month away at art school.

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

Hmmm, I guess I’m pretty proud of my writing ability, my singing voice, my art skills, and my ability to talk to anyone.

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

Probably something goofy like “YEET” or some variation of “That’s bonkers” because I do say those a lot.

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

Superhero.

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

“That’s all it is, a leap of faith.” from Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse is still pretty special to me. As is “I never thought I could do any of this stuff, but I can.” same movie.

62. seven characters you relate to?

Aaaaaaaa another hard one. Whoo boy, right now my gut instinct is probably:��Judy Hopps (Zootopia), Miles Morales (Into the Spiderverse), Raph (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Spiderham (Into the Spiderverse), Hagrid (Harry Potter), the firbolg (the adventure zone), and Sam-I-Am (Green Eggs and Ham).

63. five songs that would play in your club?

At the moment I would want you make my dreams by hall & oates, cantina band by John Williams, the bones by maren morris and hozier, hooked on a feeling by blue swede, and backflip by rivers cuomo to play.

64. favorite website from your childhood?

Coolmathgames.

65. any permanent scars?

I have a round scar on my elbow from when I skidded across the ground after crashing my bicycle.

66. favorite flower(s)?

I like lotus flowers, gardenias, and plumerias.

67. good luck charms?

My DnD dice, rocks (like my obsidian, sodalites, and amethysts), and my ten little lucky owl statues in different colors.

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

Beverly soda is the worst but a specific flavor I really don’t like is pickles.

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

Mantis shrimps punch so fast that the water around their punch boils. Also they have seventeen color receptors compared to our 3.

70. left or right handed?

Right handed.

71. least favorite pattern?

I’m not quite sure? I’m not crazy about optical illusions that look sort of smeared and are all black and white because they hurt my eyes so probably those.

72. worst subject?

I’m not great with math or sports, but I’ve gotten a handle on math as of late.

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

I’m not sure if they’re weird but I’m willing to try a lot so ketchup and mayonnaise is great, barbecue sauce and cheez-its is very good, and apples dipped in nacho cheese or salsa is not bad.

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

I think 4.

75. when did you lose your first tooth?

I think I was five? Not sure.

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

Baked potatoes but fries are very close.

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

Aloe plants.

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

I don’t eat sushi so coffee from a gas station.

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

School id photo.

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

Jewel tones.

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

Lightning bugs.

82. pc or console?

Console.

83. writing or drawing?

Probably writing because it’s more straightforward to me but it depends.

84. podcasts or talk radio?

Podcasts.

84. barbie or polly pocket?

Barbie.

85. fairy tales or mythology?

Mythology because it gets wild so fast and cracks me up sometimes.

86. cookies or cupcakes?

Cupcakes.

87. your greatest fear?

Being annoying or mean without realizing it and driving people away. I’m constantly scared I’m going to mess everything up which I need to work on because it’s hard to live that way.

88. your greatest wish?

Going to get a bit cheesy but to someday be a zoologist with some fun hobbies, travel often, feel satisfied with my life, and spend my days with someone I truly love and have a lot of fun with.

89. who would you put before everyone else?

Anyone in my family because we’re really close and they would do that for me.

90. luckiest mistake?

Probably going to an up-ity art school for a month a few years ago because while I was extremely depressed, homesick, and felt like a big failure the whole time, if I hadn’t done that and had my dreams crushed by some mean professors I might have gone there for a whole semester and spent a bajillion dollars to learn the same thing. And it inevitably put me at the school I’m at now which I’m very very happy with and suits me so much better.

91. boxes or bags?

I like boxes.

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

Fairy lights because I’m a sucker for colors.

93. nicknames?

Doodlebug is the biggest one.

94. favorite season?

Fall. Colors, halloween, thanksgiving, cooler weather, I love it ALL.

95. favorite app on your phone?

Spotify.

96. desktop background?

A painting of a whale shark from the Georgia aquarium because going there was a big deal for me and it’s very pretty.

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

Maybe 3? I don’t have to memorize them much anymore lol.

98. favorite historical era?

I kind of like the 1920s aesthetic these days but I love very scattered things about history so picking one era is tough.

#thank you very very much for the ask!#I had fun doing this and it was way more than I expected when I reblogged that post so I appreciate it #sorry its so long I have no restraint lol #asks #about me #long post

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thelastarchangelaskblog · 5 years

Text

A Conversation About Trust

A conversation about trust in this one! This one is after another session where @heliocentricgeometric was absent as Zira so Zira wasn’t with the party.

Thanks so much to @rebaobsessions and @thechaoticwave for helping out with formatting! It’s made compiling these a lot easier.

The below list should be ordered in chronological order from left to right. I’m going to make a separate page on the blog soon.

Pre-Campaign Tony & Rhodey Tony & Zira’s Chat

Tony & Rhodey’s Chat Tony & Rhodey Compile a List

The Trouble with Two Tonys Rhodey & Bob(Tony)

Rhodey & Zira (and Tony) DJ & Zira

DJ & Tony Rhodey & DJ

Charcoal as Breakfast Tony & Luna

Clint & Tony Rhodey & Bob(Tim)

About Death (Tony & Zira) Bob(Tim) & Luna

DJ & Tony & Rhodey DJ & Zira & Tony

(Read more.)

DJ had been waiting all day to get a chance to do this, but the timing hadn't seemed right. Slowly he approached Zira, and tried to get her attention.

DJ: Zira. Do you have a moment?

Zira’s head swivels around, not unlike a bird’s. She cocks her head.

Zira: Yeah?

The rest of the group was setting up for camp. Bob was still missing after the convo about how many shoulders he had, and Luna had wandered off to find some wood for their fire. Rhodey and Tony were currently in a heated debate about Bob's shoulders and how many he actually had, with Tony supplying some badly drawn diagrams.

They were far enough to give DJ and Zira privacy, but close enough in case DJ would like to ask for some kind of help. But Tony thought this should be DJ's conversation.

DJ: I wanted to give this back to you while we had a moment.

DJ pulls off his pack and pulls out a bundle. It has been wrapped in a piece of oilcloth he keeps around his blanket to keep any spilled chemicals away. He unwrapped the oilcloth and then a spare tunic to reveal Zira's book of fairy tales.

DJ: Here.

Zira’s eyes widen. They glitter with the gold that seems to be woven throughout her body and seem to be getting a little shinier.

Zira: I...thank you. It looks like you took...very good care of it.

DJ: Of course. You said it was important.

And she takes it, tenderly turning it over and inspecting it, just to be sure.

Zira: I...did. It was a gift from…well, not a friend. But someone kind. It’s a nice reminder of. Softness. I suppose.

DJ: Well, you said you would always come back for them. And I kind of guessed that meant they were important. I wanted to keep it safe. Until you came back.

Zira: I appreciate it. So much. (And she hesitates a bit.) Someone told me that if you have an object you care for, like a book. The best way to see if someone is trustworthy is to give it to them. I thought it was foolish, to expose a weak point so...recklessly. Simply to test someone. But I think I understand now. A little bit.

DJ shuffles a bit, he looks like he wants to say something, but he's obviously uncomfortable.

DJ: I'm...I'm sorry.

Zira: What for?

DJ: I shouldn't have gotten mad at you when we talked. And I shouldn't have stormed off like a kid in a snit. We're both adults, I should have explained why I was hurt.

Zira: If I had told anyone in my family that I didn't trust them, they would’ve been hurt as well. You aren’t family. But I can see echoes of them in you.

DJ droops a bit but stands his ground.

Zira: When I told Asher she scared me, she stormed off, too. But she came back. And so did you. It’s okay. And. I said something unwise.

DJ: But I should have been more respectful.

Zira: Are you apologizing to me for putting your foot in your mouth? Me?

DJ: Sometimes I forget that not everyone had it as easy as I did growing up.

Zira: That’s not a bad thing. You’re…soft.

DJ: I never had a reason not to trust people. Yeah, I guess.

Zira: I assumed malice. Ulterior motives. But you’re just. You. And it was so confusing. It still is.

DJ: My teachers said I trust too easy.

Zira laughs a bit.

Zira: You do. As long as you have someone to have your back when you do, that’s not a bad thing. It’s quite. Wonderful. At times. For someone to look at me and not see a threat.

DJ frowns, and looks up at Zira.

DJ: Zira, you had just saved my life. Even with being too trusting, I saw that as a pretty good reason to trust you. I know I'm not cautious enough sometimes. And a lot of times it blows up in my face. Usually literally. But I kind of thought after what you did, that we could, you know. Start to be friends.

Zira: I still don’t trust you. I don’t know if I'll be able to trust anyone. But... There is safety in numbers, and you took care of my book. Friends.. doesn’t sound too bad.

DJ sighs.

DJ: I can't really understand that, though I think if I had seen some of the things you've talked about, then maybe I would be the same way. (It sounds almost like a question.) But I promise that I will always take care of your book if you have to leave it behind. I'll keep it safe for you until you can return. (He gives a small smile.) It's what friends do. Maybe you can teach me to be a little more cautious.

Zira smiles back, hesitant but growing bigger.

Zira: Don’t worry. I got your back (And the way she says it, it sounds almost reverent. Like she’s handing him something precious that was previously only for a few. Like a promise made.)

DJ grins wider. Then frowns when he remembers something.

DJ: Speaking of which, do you think we can convince everyone to skip the whole undead thing and go straight to bribe the banshee

Zira: Probably not.

DJ: Damn.

Zira: People in this group have this weird habit of sticking their necks out for people they don't know. Undead can be irritating. And gross. But as long as you know what you’re doing, it’s fine.

DJ: I don't mind sticking my neck out to help people usually. I just don't like undead things.

Zira: Again: weird habit.

DJ: I read about them.

Zira: Eh. You get used to it. Only read? They’re a lot scarier in person but you get used to it.

DJ: Well, my Mum and Da always taught me to to let the dead be. Last thing you want to do is get them riled up. All that brings is bad luck and trouble.

Zira: Huh.

DJ: And that’s the last thing we wanted around the village.

Zira: That makes sense, undead can be dangerous, especially for those who are untrained. It’s just...another thing i don't understand, this obsession with respecting the dead. If they’re dead, why does it matter?

DJ: It's polite. And a lot of people, especially farther north, have ideas about respecting the dead as a part of their religion.

Zira: I. Have no experiences like that. (She seems torn, like she wants to say something but isn’t sure if she should, and has no idea how to phrase it in a way that won’t upset DJ.) But I suppose it doesn’t matter. We will resolve this issue and satisfy some people's desire to be helpful. And that will be that.

DJ snorts a little.

DJ: I really hope it is that simple. It would be super awesome if we could solve this.

Zira: I’m good at what I do.

DJ: This is true.

Zira: And paladins are uniquely suited to dealing with undead. We will doubtlessly all die and rot away eventually, and who knows, maybe it’ll happen tomorrow. But probably not. It’s good to be cautious though!

DJ snorts out a laugh when she talks about dying.

DJ: And there is the cheerful Zira we know and love.

She smiles brightly.

Zira: It's just good sense!

DJ: Maybe once we are done, we can see if Daman can sell us a jar of honey to take with us.

She brightens even more at the mention of honey

Zira: Yes!! I would love some more honey!!

DJ leans in a little conspiratorially.

DJ: When I was little, my Mum had to hide the honey on the highest shelf because my sisters and I would sneak out of bed and eat it out of the jar.

Zira: Oh my gosh! I’m not surprised. Honey is delicious.

DJ: I'm not as fond of sweets as my sisters, but I liked being part of the adventure.

Zira: That’s probably why we didn’t have any where I grew up! It’s too much temptation for such irritating children.

DJ looks kind of sad. And she’s still laughing.

Zira: Yeah, we were certainly something as kids. It was great talking, DJ. Thank you so much for taking care of my book.

DJ: Yeah. It was good talking.

And she smiles one more time at DJ, and turns and wanders over to the fierce debate over by the fire.

DJ: And remember if you have to leave for a bit, I will always take care of it.

She looks over her shoulder, her face soft and open.

Zira: I know that, now.

#heliocentricgeometric #doxblogsstuff #d&d campaign

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shelby-bach-books · 5 years

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Ever Afters Reading List

Dear Addison (of Charlotte, NC),

You mailed me a lovely note, asking me to recommend a fairy tale series like The Ever Afters that you might enjoy. I’ve been thinking about how to answer you for a while now. Then I realized you didn’t include your return address, so I am answering you via the internet.

I have bad news: you are asking the wrong person.

(Don’t worry—good news will come later because that’s how I roll.)

Authors aren’t the best at recognizing what books are similar to our own series, mostly because we’re too close to our own books. (Kind of like how a bunch of people will tell you that you look like so-and-so, and you don’t see how you and so-and-so look similar AT ALL, except maybe that you have the same hair color.)

And to be perfectly honest, in the early days of writing The Ever Afters, I would sometimes read what someone said was a lot like my series, and when I started to read them...it didn’t always feel like a compliment. I didn’t finish some of them, because they annoyed me so much.

I have since returned to some of those books, and I’ve realized that they’re realized that they’re not as annoying as I thought. Actually, they’re well-written and highly entertaining. They just weren’t the book *I* wanted to write, but similar enough where reading them could have tugged me a bit off-track, especially if I enjoyed them enough to emulate them.

So, in that way, me getting annoyed was the defense mechanism of my creativity—keeping my mental compost bin clear of influences that weren’t right for The Ever Afters.

So, that brings us to the good news I mentioned before: you may be asking the wrong person, but you’re asking me at the right time. Now, four years after I finished OEAE, I’m better read, and my opinion is less influenced than it was in say, 2012.

Anyway, that said, my answer is: What other books you like depends on what you liked about my books.

Like the Virgo I am, I have compiled an exhaustive list of recommendations (see below). It’s a mix of books I outright loved and books I came to love later on—and possibly a few books I just think more people should read.

With this list, I hope for two things: first, that you actually see this, and second, that you find some solid summer reading out of this list.

Thanks for writing, Addison!

Shelby

—

Straight Fairy Tale Retellings (i.e. one at a time)

- Robin McKinley’s Beauty and Rose Daughter and Spindle’s End (Chalice is also good, and The Blue Sword—but they’re not retellings)

- Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted and Ever (also loved the Two Princesses of Bamarre, but it’s also not a retelling)

- Diane Zahler’s the Thirteenth Princess among others

- Edith Pattou’s East

- Heather Dixon’s Entwined

- Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl

Mash-Up Retellings (i.e. more than one):

Olden Days ReMix:

- Patricia C. Wrede’s Dealing with Dragons series

- Grace Lin’s Where The Mountain Meets the Moon

- Catherynne Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

- Neil Gaiman’s Stardust

- Adam Gidwitz’s A Tale Dark and Grimm

Modern-Day Twists (Adult, but I read them first in high school/college):

- Elizabeth Ann Scarborough’s The Godmother’s Apprentice

- Kathryn Wesley’s The 10th Kingdom

- John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things

Romance-heavy, lush and lovely world:

- Marissa Meyer’s the Lunar Chronicles series

- Holly Black’s Tithe and The Darkest Part of the Forest

Well-paced plot of several tangled fairy tales, humor AND mystery:

- Michael Buckley’s The Sisters Grimm

Personal Transformation (ALL THE FEELS):

- Anne Ursu’s Breadcrumbs

- Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls

- Matthew Kirby’s Icefall

Magical beasties, and also dynamic and believable sibling relationships:

- Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven

- Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi: The Spiderwick Chronicles

Modern-Day DESTINY IS UPON YOU YOUNGLING series, with multiple kids growing up together through friendship and adventures:

- anything by Rick Riordan (but The Lightning Thief is still my fave)

- Suzanne Collins’s Gregor the Overlander series

- Shannon Messenger’s Keeper of the Lost Cities series

- Rachel Hawkins’s Hex Hall series

- John Stephan’s The Books of Beginning series

- Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis’s The Wildwood Chronicles

Follow Your Dreams, Lena-style:

- Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong and Dragonsinger

Austen Retellings:

- funny and magical and middle grade: Stephanie Burgis’s Kat, Incorrigible (plus the other two)

- Funny and rom-com: Shannon Hale’s Austenland

- Beautifully captured, keenly felt scifi world: Diana Peterfreund’s For the Darkness Shows the Stars

Lady Warriors:

- anything by Tamora Pierce, but especially Protector of the Small and the Trickster series

- Kristen Cashore’s Graceling and Fire and Bitterblue

Plot Twists like whoa:

- Jennifer Nielsen’s The False Prince

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citylightsbooks · 5 years

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5 Questions with Saskia Vogel, Author of Permission

Saskia Vogel was born and raised in Los Angeles and now lives in its sister city, Berlin, where she works as a writer and Swedish-to-English literary translator. Her debut novel Permission was published in five languages in spring 2019, and is being adapted for television. Saskia discusses her novel, published by Coach House Books, with Jiz Lee, at City Lights Bookstore on Wednesday, May 15th, 2019.

City Lights: If you’ve been to City Lights before, what’s your memory of the visit? If you haven’t been here before, what are you expecting?

Saskia Vogel: My first awareness of City Lights came from an ex-girlfriend in LA ages ago who spoke if it with such reverence. I wondered how, in all my reading of Ginsberg in high school, had I failed to connect his work and the Beats to an actual place, to a community. I think I was thinking in terms of past and present, but forgetting that the two are linked. You know when you're making your first connections between literature and the world? It was an eye-opening moment.

When I was working as a global publicist for a literary magazine out of an office in London, I tried to book events at City Lights as often as I could, and one year, I happened to be in San Francisco myself and finally got to see the shop. I bought a book by Anne Waldman, and fell in love with all the angles in the store, how it sits on the street, and felt very much in touch with the depth and breadth of the literary culture of California, my home state. I was already dreaming of this novel, Permission, then, but it was just a seed I was reaching for, wondering if it could maybe be something one day. And now, I can't wait to be in conversation with Jiz Lee. I've admired their work for so long, and can't wait to meet the City Lights crowd.

CL: What’s the first book you read & what are you reading right now?

SV: Oh my gosh. What could it be? My mother read to me always, and I started reading really early. She speaks German and Swedish, too, so there were always books in German and Swedish alongside the English ones. I remember reading my first book in Swedish (if you don't count Garfield and mystery comics, which are a total thing for Swedish and German kids, respectively), and staring at the word for forest (skog) and just not being able to understand. I couldn't make a connection between the word and the picture. I have strong memories of devouring Richard Scarry and Japanese fairy tales. Currently I'm reading Niven Govinden's beautiful This Brutal House, set in the drag-ball community of NYC.

CL: What are 3 books you would you never part with?

SV: Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape, edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney. Because we need these words and I am forever homesick for the land.

Lina Wolff's The Polyglot Lovers. She's one of my favorite authors and through some real luck, I was also able to translate a couple of her books. She was the first author I ever translated, and working as a translator has proved to be a perfect complement to my writing.

Rikki Ducornet's Netsuke. This slim novel opened up something in me as a writer.

CL: What writers/artists/people do you find the most influential to the writing of this book and/or your writing in general?

SV: Pat Califia's essay "Whoring in Utopia" shaped my thinking about sex work early on, as did Guy Baldwin's work on SM/Leather/Fetish, compiled in The Ties That Bind. The kink community in LA was hugely influential. The film adaptation of Elfriede Jelinek's The Piano Teacher, the tragedy of how she is unable to be heard by her lover, breaks my heart every time, and that failure of compassion and communication has followed me through the writing of this book. The work of Freud, Krafft-Ebing and those early sexual scientists who think in terms of pathology and perversion gave me what I am writing against, and Josefine Mutzenbacher, the first Germany pornographic novel, presumed to have been written by the author of Bambi, and similar stories about the joys of becoming a prostitute through the ages, were definitely texts that I was writing in dialogue with, notably in the prologue of Permission. And of course, Janet Fitch and Amy Friedman, my first writing instructors. Their teaching was invaluable.

CL: If you opened a bookstore tomorrow, where would it be located, what would it be called, and what would your bestseller be?

SV: My first thought was Lappland, the idea of being someplace remote and stunning. Then I started thinking about the reports from Sweden that I hear each year about communities without bookstores and libraries. I think I'd want to open up a shop, with a focus on children's lit, and also on community (like Libros Schmibros in LA). There's be a bestseller tie between Roald Dahl's Matilda and Morag Hood's I Am Bat. And it would be called BokBok (BookBook or Book-Beech Tree).

#saskia vogel #permission #city lights bookstore #author interviews #authors #fiction

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purplesurveys · 5 years

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457

Coffee mugs, teacups, or water bottles? Coffee mugs, I guess. I’ve never used a teacup and water bottles are bad for the planet. And mugs put me in a disposition to work lol. Bubblegum or cotton candy? Cotton candy. Haven’t had one in a while and it brings me back to being a kid. How did your elementary school teachers describe you? Very quiet, quite aloof, would bring a new book to read everyday in the corner, and not really fitting in any group. Do you prefer to drink soda from cans, bottles or cups? I don’t like soda. Earbuds or headphones? Earbuds. I used to be a headphones chick during my ~punk rock phase because I thought it made me look edgy haaaaaaaah but I got out of that period pretty quickly and now I prefer earphones.

Movies or TV? Movies. TV shows make me impatient what with all the cliffhangers and season breaks and hiatuses. Favorite smell in the summer? Fresh seafood being served while beachside. No other sensation can compare. Game you were best at in PE/gym? Track and table tennis. For some reason I enjoyed futsal too; I was a pretty good blocker. What do you have for breakfast on an average day? I skip breakfast kinda all the time. Name of your favorite playlist? Maybe the playlist I made that’s just a compilation of Paramore’s whole discography. Lanyard or key ring? I use a lanyard so that my keys are already bunched together with my ID, which for me is easier to keep around. Having them separated will just make it easier for me to lose one of them. Favorite non-chocolate candy? Sour Patch Kids.

Favorite book you had to read for school? Dekada ‘70 or Without Seeing the Dawn. I also remember fairly enjoying this book about the Holocaust, I think it was called Number the Stars. Most comfortable position to sit in? As long as at least one leg is up, I’m comfortable haha. Most frequently worn pair of shoes? I wear all my shoes once a week, so I don’t think I have a favorite pair I wear more often than the others. Ideal weather? Dark and gloomy and stormy. My love for the beach aside, I love the rain. Pencils or pens? Pens. Once we graduated from pencils from the fourth grade I don’t think I ever looked back. Obsession from childhood? My earliest obsession was the original Hi-5 cast. Then it involved into wrestling, Pokémon, Beyoncé, and Paramore. Favorite crystal? I had to look them up as I wasn’t actually familiar with any crystals, and rose quartz seems cute. Favorite activity to do in warm weather? Ugh, I get so sluggish when it’s summer. It’s no fun to do anything other than going to the beach and staying there all day long. Favorite activity to do in cold weather? Watch movies, do healthy self-care stuff like coloring, drinking coffee, studying. I’m so much more productive in cold weather/temperatures. Five songs to describe you? That’s too many. I can’t even come up with one. Best way for someone to bond with you? Be comfortable in silence with me and not bombard me with extraversion. Top 5 favorite Vines? “There’s only one thing worst than a rapist, boom!” “A CHILD–” “No” “T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-TAAAARGEEEEEEET” “Stop, I coulda dropped my croissANT” “what the FUCK is up kyle NO what did you say what the fuck dude step THE FUCK UP kyle” “Fr e sh a voca do” Ads you have stuck in your head? I don’t have any. They aren’t memorable anymore, just irritating. Average time you fall asleep? Anywhere between 9:30 to 1. Range is big since it’s different all the time. What is the first meme you remember seeing? Oh god, I was there from the beginning. War flashbacks all the way from 9GAG in 2009-2010 - the FFFFFFFUUUUU-, Forever Alone, Y U NO?, Bad Luck Brain, Ridiculously Photogenic Guy, College Freshman, Lazy Senior guys. Was there for all of it and it used to be the most hilarious stuff I’d see on the Internet.

I don’t actually know if these were the first batch of memes, but they definitely changed the game when it came to Internet humor. Suitcase, duffel bag, or backpack? Backpack. I never use the other two. Lemonade or tea? Lemonade.

Last person you texted? Gabie. Jacket pockets or pants pockets? I don’t mind either. Favorite type of jacket? Jean jackets or cardigans. Sci-fi, fantasy, or superheroes? Not a fan of all of these, but I’m most likely to get into something sci-fi. What clothes do you sleep in? Thin ones because it’s always really hot where I live, even with the AC on :/ Favorite type of cheese? Brie or ricotta. What saying or quote do you live by? “There isn't a person on this planet that should let a past nightmare dictate or cloud their future dreams.” What are you currently stressed about? Internship as always ughhhhh. Favorite font? I use Proxima Nova a lot. What did you learn from your first job? Favorite fairy tale? Never did like those, even as a kid. Favorite tradition? Huge Christmas dinnerssssssss. Talent you're proud of having? Having a sport. If you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be? Not feeling too creative for this today. Or ever. If you were an anime character, what genre of anime would it be? Character you relate to? Monica Geller or Amy Santiago. Favorite website from your childhood? Y8 without a shadow of a doubt. Any scars? On my left brow and one of my toes. Favorite flower? I like any flowers except for anthuriums. Any good luck charms? Nope. Least favorite flavor of food or drink? Rocky road and double dutch. Left or right handed? Right. Least favorite pattern? Can’t think of any. Worst subject in school? Calculus. Favorite weird flavor combo? Mayonnaise with everything, even though mayo doesn’t even count as a flavor hah. When did you lose your first tooth? I was either 5 or 6. Favorite potato food? As chips, fries, salad, or croquettes. Can’t help it, I love potatoes. Gas station coffee or grocery store sushi? Grocery sushi. I love sushi, no matter the quality tbh. Do you call them fireflies or lightning bugs? Fireflies. PC or console gaming? Console. Writing or drawing? Writing. Podcasts or talk radio? Podcasts. Barbie or Polly Pocket? Barbies. Fairy tales or mythology? I don’t care for either.

Cookies or cupcakes? Cupcakes, but this hurts to say considering I love cookies just as much. Your greatest fear? Failing. Your greatest wish? A secure future. Who would you put before everyone else? My girlfriend or any member of her family. Lamps, overhead lights, fairy lights, or sunlight? Lamps. Nicknames? Sure, but not a lot. I usually go by my given name. Favorite season? Winter, which I wish we had to begin with. Favorite app on your phone? Reddit. What is your desktop background? It’s one of the default mountain ones Apple provides in the Macs. How many phone numbers do you have memorized? Just my mom’s, mine, and Gab’s. Favorite historical era? I’m a fan of any. History’s cool.

#survey #surveys

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shadowtearling · 6 years

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A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh & Elsie Chapman

Details

Goodreads Rating: 3.91 Genre: YA Anthology (mix of contemporary, sci-fi, fantasy) Publisher: Greenwillow Books Published: June 26, 2018

Summary

Star-crossed lovers, meddling immortals, feigned identities, battles of wits, and dire warnings. These are the stuff of fairy tale, myth, and folklore that have drawn us in for centuries. Fifteen bestselling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are by turns enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate. Compiled by We Need Diverse Books’s Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman, the authors included in this exquisite collection are: Renee Ahdieh, Sona Charaipotra, Preeti Chhibber, Roshani Chokshi, Aliette de Bodard, Melissa de la Cruz, Julie Kagawa, Rahul Kanakia, Lori M. Lee, E. C. Myers, Cindy Pon, Aisha Saeed, Shveta Thakrar, and Alyssa Wong. A mountain loses her heart. Two sisters transform into birds to escape captivity. A young man learns the true meaning of sacrifice. A young woman takes up her mother’s mantle and leads the dead to their final resting place. From fantasy to science fiction to contemporary, from romance to tales of revenge, these stories will beguile readers from start to finish. For fans of Neil Gaiman’s Unnatural Creatures and Ameriie’s New York Times–bestselling Because You Love to Hate Me.

My Thoughts

I was really excited to get my hands on this because I am in desperate need of representation, and then I found out there are two Filipino stories I just about died. Finally! Finally something for me! My culture, as unorganized as it is, is rich with many folktales from creation myths to terrifying creatures of the night. Then I deflated after reading them. Roshani Chokshi’s “Forbidden Fruit” was the better of the two, with her whimsical, flowery writing style perfectly suited to the story of Maria Makiling. The story felt like it was Maria herself, light on her feet and softly treading on mountainside grass. It was objectively well written, but I felt like something was missing. Maybe that’s me expecting more from it, but it wasn’t quite what I needed. Melissa de la Cruz’s “Code of Honor” was, to me, downright offensive. It tells the story of a “manananggal,” which she calls “aswang,” whose mother died thereby making it necessary for her to flee. De la Cruz’s writing is clunky at best, full of telling rather than showing. What particularly irked me was how the main character constantly reassured herself that coming back home to the Philippines was a mistake, that she didn’t belong there, only to find that she truly had a family among white vampires in NYC. It was frustrating because it reinforced the already popular notion that in order to belong, one must leave the Philippines. I also just hated how often the reader has to be reminded that the main character was a vampire. We get it. You’re “bad” for wanting blood. Please stop.

As for the other stories, it was a mix varying from really wonderful to Bad.

“The Crimson Cloak” by Cindy Pon is by far my favorite, the narrator of the story emulating Jane Eyre by addressing the reader during crucial parts to set the record straight. I love the main character’s stubbornness and playful nature, and her story felt almost as though it were the original fairy tale.

Alyssa Wong’s “Olivia’s Table” was delightful in exploring The Hungry Ghost Festival and serving the readers a sampling of some delicious-sounding food! It has a good balance of flashbacks and current events, and it’s overall a well-rounded story.

“Still Star-Crossed” by Sona Charaipotra was frustrating because it might have been interesting had it been done better. As it stands, it only felt like the first chapter in a longer work because it was all set up and no pay off. Nothing actually happens except for the love interest showing stalker behavior, despite the main character showing visible signs of discomfort (aka literally running away). It was incomplete and not fully rounded as a short story. (And the first person POV with really flowery writing do Not mix).

“Spear Carrier” by Rahul Kanakia, about a kid who finds himself in the middle of a war because he wished to be a hero, was exhausting. It was full of lamentations of finding meaning in life, and it kept telling the reader “Look at me! I think a lot! I’m a deep guy!,” which got so tired after the first time. And the result? Nothing interesting. Just the main character being a “coward.” This was not worth the short time it took for me to read it.

Story Ranking (best to worst)

“The Crimson Cloak” by Cindy Pon

“Olivia’s Table” by Alyssa Wong

“The Land of the Morning Calm” by E.C. Meyers - I love the video game aspect that mixes with a ghost story!

“Daughter of the Sun” by Shveta Thakrar - Very whimsical and lovely, but sometimes the flowery writing got distracting. I liked the mashup of different myths.

“Forbidden Fruit” by Roshani Chokshi

“Nothing Into All” by Reneé Ahdieh - I like Ahdieh’s writing a lot, and this read kind of like one of those Pixar short films. I wish there were consequences for the brother’s actions, though.

“Eyes Like Candlelight” by Julie Kagawa - The first part was paced well, and once we get to the ending, it felt almost rushed in concluding it with little explanation. Still good, though.

“Bullet, Butterfly” by Elsie Chapman - This was interesting, but it would be better as a longer work so there isn’t insta-love and the world building can be done better.

“The Counting of Vermillion Beads” by Aliette De Boddard - I feel like this story was told through a foggy mist, like it’s the sky: there but untouchable. I can’t tell if that’s good or bad.

“The Smile” by Aisha Saeed - I like that this tackled the idea that master/servant romance as Not Good and gave the main character the power to choose for herself. I still take issue with flowery writing in first person POV and the phrase “hugged my curves.”

“Girls Who Twirl and Other Dangers” by Preeti Chhibber - There were two stories in this, a reiteration (kinda) of the original myth and the actual retelling. I liked the the myth of Mā Durgā and Mahishāsur better than the contemporary story.

“Steel Skin” by Lori M. Lee - It could have worked were it more developed. Needed another round of editing.

“Still Star-Crossed” by Sona Charaipotra

“Spear Carrier” by Rahul Kanakia

“Code of Honor” by Melissa de la Cruz - save yourselves

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konglindorm · 7 years

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I first read Prince Lindworm in a collection of Scandinavian fairy tales illustrated by Kay Nielsen, who, by the way, is awesome. The problem here is that it was a later edition of the book. At some point, I don’t remember why, I got super into finding out the history of Prince Lindworm. See, it was in this book, which was supposed to be stories from Asbjornsen and Moe. Those are the big Norwegian fairy tale dudes, for those of you who don’t know. But I’m a little obsessive about my fairy tales. You may have noticed. And this book wasn’t even mine. It belonged to my grandparents. So of course I had my own Asbjornsen and Moe anthology. Or two. Maybe three. And I kind of kept buying these books because I wanted my own copy of this one wacky story. But it wasn’t there. So I googled the complete works of Asbjornsen and Moe. It wasn’t there. I took advantage of my university’s interlibrary loan system to request every single book in the country that mentioned lindworms. Or lindorms. Or lindwyrms, or a variety of other spellings. Have I mentioned that I’m a little obsessive about my fairy tales? Several other books and authors and random people on the internet attributed the story to Asbjornsen and Moe. Who definitely didn’t record it. The reason for this, as far as I can tell? This book my grandparents had, really nice hardcover, fancy publisher, gorgeous illustrations—it was kind of a big deal. All sorts of people had read the story in this book, and only this book, and assumed the information provided was reliable. And here’s where the publishers went wrong. There’s an editor’s note in the front. It explains that all but two of the stories in the volume are from one particular translation of the works of Asbjorsen and Moe. What they apparently neglected to mention is that one of those two stories was not only from a different translator, but a different source entirely. So Prince Lindworm didn’t come from Norway. That’s settled. And, okay, I don’t know what to tell you about the one random outlier in my interlibrary loan adventure that said the story was from Sweden, but I’ve got this worked out. Really, it could have been worse. When I wanted to read the earliest recorded version of Beauty and the Beast, and I couldn’t track down a translation anywhere, I spent months tearing the internet apart before I found a copy that was clearly printed well over one hundred years ago, given the spelling and lettering, in French, scanned in and saved as a pdf. I still have that saved on my computer somewhere. Given that I don’t know any French, dictionaries only provided modern spellings, and any given character could easily have been three to six different letters in that typeface, the several months I spend attempting to translate didn’t really get me anywhere. I don’t think I even translated the first paragraph successfully. I did a little better with Prince Lindworm. It still took me a couple months to find the text, and it was still a crappy pdf with outdated spelling. Plus it was in Danish. But the lettering was slightly more modern, and I happen to be much better at slogging my way through Danish than French. A little bit of Norwegian, a little bit of Anglo-Saxon, a tiny bit of German. It’ll get you places. Sadly, my extensive background in Latin was utterly useless to French. (And Spanish. It seems my teachers lied to me. I strongly suspect Romani and Portuguese would also be a bust, but at least I can stumble blindly through basic Italian.) It was, when I found it, three or four pages of a quite large collection. I haven’t gotten into the rest of it yet—soon, hopefully. Gamle dansk Minder i folkemunde, it’s called. I’m good at general ideas in Germanic languages, not so much actual translations, so bear with me here, but I’m going to tentatively call this “Old Danish Memories from the Mouths of the People.” Sounds better it Danish, right? This is why I keep my translations to myself. The compiler of this book is listed as Svend Grundtvig, and he’s generally known for collecting Danish folk songs, but as far as I can tell, in my admittedly spotty Danish comprehension, there’s no music for this one. And, okay, I know I talk a lot about how stories, especially folk stories, don’t belong to anyone, because they’re so mutable, because a story is really a community, a conversation. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know where the conversation started. For crying out loud, people, cite your sources! I dedicated months of my life to this. Do you have any idea how many utterly worthless books I had to read in search of some tiny hint of origins? How many incorrect attributions I had to read? How much respect I lost for researchers in this field in general? Look, sometimes tracking down crap pdfs of source material can be fun, okay? I love pulling random linguistic data from obscure folklore and stuff like that. But really. Really. How hard can it possibly be to say, “hey, this historically and culturally significant story that I’m making a profit on because it’s been in the public domain for a hundred years originally came from Denmark”? There is no excuse not to give fairy tales the correct attribution. Like, anthology and picture book based fairy tales have got to be the easiest writing to make a profit on. The story has been marinating in your brain forever, right? Do you even remember a time before you knew Cinderella? Just tell it in your own words, and someone else will come along and slap some beautiful illustrations on, and you’re good to go. It costs five minutes and zero dollars to add in a little note saying, “This adaptation was inspired by the French version of the story as recorded by Charles Perrault.” But no, that’s too much work for you. Instead you’ll just go and publish a wildly popular book that heavily implies incorrect information, and let it spin wildly out of control until poor innocent college kids are staying up all night on the internet reading languages they don’t understand and enlisting the help of just about every library in the continental United States. Ugh. Anyway, Grundtvig is a really awesome dude who absolutely knows how to cite his stories. Kong Lindorm was told in 1854 by Maren Mathisdatter, age 67, in Fureby. It was recorded by Adjunct A. Levisen. See? Was that so hard? Remember to come and read my version on Patreon next month.

#lindworm #prince lindworm #my writing #books #publishing #fairy tales #patreon

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imagineabooksf · 7 years

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Review of Unidentified Funny Objects 6 edited by Alex Shvartsman

Unidentified Funny Objects 6 was yet again a tremendous success. Each volume keeps getting better.

What is my definition of success, you may ask?

(You can skip this part if you have read any of my previous short story compilation reviews.)

To me, a short story compilation is akin to one of those giant bags of mixed candy you buy for Halloween. Some of what you get are your favorite kind, some are exceptionally good (just not your favorite), some are OK (but still candy, so pretty darn good), and some are awful because you can’t stand the flavor but you know other people love them anyway. And occasionally it includes one or two kinds of candy even the kids won’t touch.

With that in mind, I consider any short story collection to be a success if at least 3 or 4 stories fall into the first two categories of favorite or exceptionally good, and one (or better, none) fall into the even the kids won’t touch it category.

Unidentified Funny Objects 6 was a tremendous success. Eighteen (18!!) of the 20 stories were either favorites or exceptionally good. You really can’t ask for more than that.

The stories’ humor ranged from laughing so hard I couldn’t read because the book was shaking, to snickering uncontrollably, to smiling softly.

None of the stories was of the “even the kids won’t touch it” variety or the “I can’t stand the flavor” pile.

My favorite story was “Approved Expense” by David Vierling. I would give it 5 stars plus. If you have ever had to submit or approve an expense report it will seem even funnier.

My other 5-star stories included “A Game of Goblins” by Jim C. Hines, “Twenty-Nine Responses to Inquiries About My Craigslist Post: Alien Spaceship for Sale. $200, You Haul” by Tina Connolly, “An Evil Opportunity Employer” by Lawrence Watt-Evans, and “Lost and Found” by Laura Resnick.

Highly recommended. If you need a laugh, go buy this book.

Short thoughts on each story without spoilers:

“A Game of Goblins” by Jim C. Hines

Rooting for the goblin was a definite change of pace. 5 stars

“The Breakdown of the Parasite/Host Relationship” by Paul R. Hardy

Possibly the ultimate story of passive-aggressive behavior. 4 stars

“From This She Makes a Living?” by Esther Friesner

Wonderful, footnotes included. 4 stars

“Twenty-Nine Responses to Inquiries About My Craigslist Post: Alien Spaceship for Sale. $200, You Haul” by Tina Connolly

Could you tell a story from only replies to unseen questions? 5 stars

“Tyler the Snot Elemental Scours the Newspaper, Searching for Change” by Zach Shephard

Even snot elementals need fulfillment. 3 stars

“Agent of Chaos” by Jack Campbell

A writer’s story in both senses. 4 stars

“Display of Affection” by P.J. Sambeaux

As the world speeds up. 4 stars

“The Great Manhattan Eat-Off” by Mike Resnick

Always a good story. 4 stars

“An Evil Opportunity Employer” by Lawrence Watt-Evans

Excellent. No spoilers. Don’t skip this story. 5 stars

“Common Scents” by Jody Lynn Nye

I love a good mystery, especially with these characters. 4 stars

“A Mountain Man and a Cat Walk into a Bar” by Alan Dean Foster

Mad Amos is fast becoming one of my favorite characters. 4 stars

“Lost and Found” by Laura Resnick

So many different layers of humor. Wonderful. 5 stars

“A Crawlspace Full of Prizes” by Bill Ferris

Fun and thoughtful. 4 stars

“Return to Sender” by Melissa Mead

How to flip a fairy tale on its head. 3 stars

“The Friendly Necromancer” by Rod M. Santos

A fun romp. 4 stars

“An Open Letter to the Sentient AI Who Has Announced Its Intention to Take Over the Earth”” by Ken Liu

I’ve listened to conversations like this. 4 stars

“Approved Expense” by David Vierling

My favorite story. 5 stars

“Alexander Outland: Space Jockey” by Gini Koch

Enjoyable story. 4 stars

“Dear Joyce” by Langley Hyde

Lovely. Just lovely. 4 stars

“Impress Me, Then We’ll Talk About the Money” by Tatiana Ivanova, translated by Alex Shvartsman

Possibly too close to the truth about corporate greed. 4 stars

I give it 5 stars.

(See rating system at http://tmblr.co/Zb30ArqLsiRe )

https://smile.amazon.com/Unidentified-Funny-Objects-Alex-Shvartsman/dp/0999269003

#book geek #book review #UFO Publishing #fantasy books #science fiction books #library #Alex Shvartsman

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