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jeannereames · 3 days

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I read DWTL, both Becoming & Rise. Loved it! You've brought Alexander's world to life in such a relatable manner that it doesn't seem it's based on an era dating back more than 2,000 years ago. I really wish you continued the series, telling the story of Alexander after he became King. Is there any account of Alexander's relationship with, or treatment of commoners? I'm a big fan of Alexander. Crush on him! And here's my next question. Would he fall in love with, or marry a commoner?

First, thank you. 😊 I’m glad you both enjoyed the novels and felt they brought that world to life. I do hope to continue the story but Riptide is not (at least at present) interested in publishing the rest, as they aren’t even remotely Romance. (They took the first two, which is really one novel, because it did have a love story even if it’s really a coming-of-age historical.) I’m currently working on a monograph about Hephaistion and Krateros (non-fiction), so that’s eating up a lot of my time.

As for your question…. First, let’s separate “love” from “marriage,” as those two things did not necessarily go (in fact, very rarely went) together. The notion of marrying for love is really quite recent, (almost) all over the world. Marriage was, for Macedonian kings, a deeply political act. So, he wouldn’t marry a woman who didn’t serve a political purpose; 99% of the time, that would be a “royal” or other high-born woman.

Sorry there’s not a more romantic answer to that, but it’s honest.

Love it something different, although there, recall the Greeks recognized different sorts of love, and separated eros (desire) from philia (true love/deep friendship). Eros was assumed not to last, whereas philia of the best sort was long-standing, even lifelong. Greek men generally didn’t assume they’d feel philia for the women for whom they felt eros; that’s typical Greek misogyny of the time. Alexander was somewhat different from other men, in that he did seem to value the opinion of the women around him (certainly the older women from his mother to Ada to Barsine to Sisygambus)…but he still wouldn’t necessarily put them on a level with the men in his life.

Could he learn to? Perhaps. He might be better positioned than most, so I wouldn’t necessarily put it beyond the scope of possibility. Yet it would take a radical realignment of his world, one where he’d be around a woman long enough to learn to respect her enough to feel philia for her, not merely eros.

A time-travel situation is most likely, although the one example of that I’ve seen wasn’t (to me) at all convincing—in part because it put the (modern) woman in the past. Pull Alexander into the present, with Hephaistion already dead, and you might get something more believable ... because that removes two of the biggest problems. First, a world where men interacted very little with women, especially men on military campaign. And second…

Hephaistion.

Whether or not they remained physical lovers, Hephaistion was the dearest person in Alexander’s personal orbit. While certainly Alexander had flings with both women and teens/young men, Hephaistion remained central. I find it unlikely that would change while he was alive.

There have been a few attempts in novels to do an opposite-sex romance with Alexander, and all had to deal with the Hephaistion Problem. 😉 One could argue that even Mary Renault’s The Persian Boy grappled with this, and also had a Hephaistion Problem.

So, the first more recent one, and arguably the most successful, was a trilogy by (Alison) Spedding from the mid/late-80s (The Road and the Hills, A Cloud over Water, and The Streets of the City), wherein Ailixond (Alexander) meets Aleizon Ailix Ayndra (an Alexander-Hephaistion mix). They fall in love and conquer the world, then she takes over after he dies. Despite the way it sounds, it’s a fun read. It’s also not an historical, so she can play with the facts as she wishes.

Another by Jennifer Macaire (Time for Alexander Series) has Ashley, a professional journalist (and essentially a self-insert), time travel from the present into the past to interview Alexander. She falls in love with him, and with Hephaistion too (who’s inexplicably not called Hephaistion, but Plexis). The research is slap-dash with multiple problems from odd spelling choices (what is Seleucos? Seleukos or Seleucus—pick Greek or Latinized, please), to confusion on details. The one plus is more time to some of the women surrounding Alexander.

A late ‘60s trilogy by Helene Moreau (penname), reprinted as one long novel in the early ‘70s (by Playboy, no less), was called Roxana. Although, quite shockingly for the time, she did depict Alexander and Hephaistion as lovers, it's kinda-sorta a Roxana-Alexander love story. Except Roxana doesn’t love Alexander, who’s not a good guy; her true love is a Jewish fellow called Mordechai. Hephaistion, although a “rival” for Alexander, isn’t especially negative even thought he's a problem for Roxana’s plans to bind Alexander to her via desire.

Last, Stephanie Thornton flipped the script in her The Conqueror’s Wife, with the romance being Drypetis and Hephaistion. Alexander is a Bad Guy (as is Roxana, btw). While Thornton also makes ATG and Hephaistion lovers, she inadvertently paints same-sex relationships as negative by framing. (Or at least, I will hope it was inadvertent.) It’s a traditional m/f Romance, so Drypetis will win--and as Alexander is bad/evil, the message is that opposite-sex love “saves” Hephaistion from Alexander. Not sure she actually meant that, but it’s not queer-friendly. (There are no other positive gay people; Roxana's brother is a minx.) I think she used the same-sex affair to appear edgy and hip, but just wound up seeming homophobic.

Anyway, all of these try to foreground a female in Alexander’s life, or in Hephaistion’s—but must then deal with the problem of the Other. Spedding simply makes her main (female) character a Hephaistion analog. Macaire turns it into Threesome; Ashley falls for both men. Moreau and Thronton adopt more traditional love triangles, although Moreau’s is really a quadrilateral with Mordechai; Roxana is only using Alexander. And Thronton has her lead (Drypetis) “win” by making Alexander evil.

I will note that in all the novels I’ve read about Alexander, I have yet to see a woman author portray Hephaistion as evil/the bad guy, even when Alexander is evil/the bad guy. Even Moreau’s Hephaistion is neutral/nice to Roxana. It’s only male writers who depict him negatively. Make of that what you will. 😉

Of these four books, Spedding might be the only one to succeed because it’s epic (quasi-historical) fantasy; she’s not trying to be historical. After that, Thornton’s is perhaps the least inaccurate historically, but that doesn’t make it particularly good.

So, the biggest issue with giving Alexander a true (female) love is … Hephaistion.

I'll add that I don't like love triangles when they involve Alexander and Hephaistion, but not because I ship the two. I just don't like love triangles period. Too often in fiction, they become a quick way to inject drama because the author can't think of something more realistic. *roll of eyes* There are PLENTY of real-life problems that couples face that have nothing to do with a third (human) party. A love triangle can be interesting in a long-standing relationship like a marriage on the rocks (which is where they're most likely to occur in real life). But generally, I find love triangles in Romance (as opposed to lit fic) trite in execution, tbh.

(For the curious, my article on presentations of Alexander and Hephaistion in novels, “Alexander the Great and Hephaistion in Fiction after Stonewall,” is available on academia.edu; I go into more detail there, breaking down how different authors treat the relationship according to when it was published, gender of the author, and genre of the novel. But two of the novels mentioned above are not in that chapter because they fall outside the parameters I set for examination.)

#asks #Alexander the Great #marriage #Alexander and women #Alexander and marriage #Fiction that depicts a love story between Alexander and a woman #love triangles in Alexander the Great fiction #Hephaistion #Hephaestion #Roxana #Drypetis #Macedonian marriage #historical fiction #ancient macedonia

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sillycatloverr · 8 months

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hello fellow Just Roll With It podcast enjoyers. you may call me vel (yes like velrisa. no i will not elaborate). let me shortly detail you my history with jrwi.

i had listened to the first two seasons on the og campaign during dec 2020 thru feb of 2021, and i managed to get through like 25 episodes of riptide before i stopped listening due to Life Problems lol.

fast forward to now. i am starting college very soon, and i realized i needed something to listen to in my idle time. i’ve been thinking abt jrwi a lot recently, so i decided now would be a good time to get back into the series!

i have nobody to talk to abt it directly, so i made this blog to hopefully find likeminded individuals to discuss the series with. i hope a couple of you decide to stick around :)

if you need some convincing, here are some of (what i would consider) my funniest tweets from my time in jrwitwt!

(context for the trenders one: a bunch of people started clowning on the op of the og tweet bc they thought non-binary ppl were trenders)

#jrwi #jrwi show #just roll with it #jrwi riptide #just roll with it riptide #jrwiblr

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asimperingswannsong · 1 year

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Torbi’s Journey

Author’s Note: IDK it’s just a protest over the amount of Star Wars and Marvel content Disney is spewing out without giving me Phasma’s backstory. Delilah Dawson was kind enough to provide source material but instead Disney gives us Star Wars: Andor? She Hulk?

I’m sure this timeline is muddled and I’m no great expert of Star Wars history so please be gentle.

Summary: Captain Phasma/Torbi

- reading Delilah Dawson’s novel ‘Phasma’ is a helpful prereq. An unhinged person like Phasma deserves an equally unhinged love interest. That’s the working theory here. There’s a non-con riptide swirling under the surface so mind yourself.

———————————————————————————————————

The tall blonde stood, drink in hand, and watched the glint of the lights from the chandeliers bouncing off Captain Phasma’s armor as she wove her way through the crowd. General Hux droned on at her elbow about weapons shipments and other boring bureaucratic niceties. The man was all work, even at what purported to be a party.

She’d spent the last eight years scheming, cheating, and killing her way through anyone who tried to dismiss her or undermine her in anyway. She’d eliminated anyone who tried to question her legitimacy. She’d learned well from a thief and scavenger who’d rescued her from the surface of her home planet in what came to be a sort of apprenticeship (from her failed attempt to steal from him), but his only intention was to swindle and grow his fortune by pirating equipment shipments from hyperlanes and profiting from other’s misfortunes. Her ambitions were larger in scope, and it wasn’t long before he became an obstacle.

Naturally, she’d removed that obstacle, and the next one, and the next. She wanted more than money. Her goal was crystal clear. She’d maintained the contacts her rescuer helped her make, but she also assumed new roles with contacts of different sorts.

Slowly, she’d established an identity as a legitimate supplier to the First Order. She purchased supply lines and ships, then factories. She employed workers to make the things she’d previously only stolen. Overtime, Lady Ruth Deimos emerged as someone who could be relied on to provide weapons and other supplies on strict deadlines.

Her reliability had finally gotten her here. In regular and direct contact with General Hux, and so close to her goal, so close.

“Why is her armor chrome colored?” “What, oh…” she’d caught General Hux off guard. He’d been completely oblivious during his interminable rambling. “Uh, she created it herself. At first I thought it was presumptuous but my father had an image in mind for promotional purposes. I now see her use as a figurehead for the fleet. Our troops have come far under her leadership, and she inspires them admirably.”

“Could you introduce us?”

He guided her through the crowd over to where Phasma had taken up position on the perimeter. She was, no doubt, bored; standing and watching First Order officers schmoozing with politicians and suppliers.

“Captain Phasma.” “General.” “This is Lady Deimos. She’s supplying us with new blasters for the recruits.” “Hello.” “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve seen the footage of you in battle, very impressive.” “Thank you Lady Deimos,” Captain Phasma observed the woman. She was beautiful; creamy skin, dark blue eyes, light blonde hair; tall - 5’10”? Phasma detected something in her attentive gaze that she couldn’t quite place. She was used to flattery. Since agreeing to be the face of their promotional campaign, with posters and footage of her plastered everywhere, she’d attracted a sort of fan base. But, this seemed like something else, almost a sense of familiarity.

“General Hux.” His comm interrupting. “Yes, trooper?” “Sir, we’ve detected activity outside the banquet, there appear to be two people trying to gain access not on the guest list. We suspect they may be rebels.”

General Hux nodded to Captain Phasma who immediately turned to collect her guards before exiting to investigate.

Lady Deimos sighed in frustration inwardly. Every time she tried to move in, her efforts were thwarted in one way or another. She tried again and again over the next few weeks to gain direct contact with the captain, but Phasma maintained only a passing interest in the ordering and supply of weapons. As long as they were there when needed, she wasn’t overly concerned with where the weapons came from. After a few weeks of failed attempts at gaining direct access to the captain, Lady Deimos fell back and decided to switch gears entirely.

——————————————————————————————————

She left her operations manager in charge of luncheons and other tedious interactions with the General. She put away her gowns and finery, donned a leather jacket and some canvas work pants, and began to frequent very different sorts of gatherings; a series of dives on backwater planets; some of them she owned or at least owned a stake in. They were places frequented by scavengers, bounty hunters, rebels, anyone who wanted to drink, eat, gamble, or meet up outside the gaze of the First Order. A few evenings spent next to a few drunk and extra friendly patrons along with some well placed bribes and she came away with a name.

He was going by Gavin, but his actual designation was trooper TS4067. She intercepted him on his way to provide his rebel contact with the latest intel he’d gathered. After a few drinks, the promise of greater riches than the rebels could comfortably provide, and a light sprinkling of the threat of bodily harm, she’d received a promise to be advised of troop movements.

After a few months, the opportunity she’d waited for finally presented itself. A few scavengers had inflicted enough damage to a shipping hyperlane to attract the notice of the First Order; like a fly biting the hind end of an ass enough that it finally swings around to scratch it on a tree and squash the fly in the process.

She knew from TS4067’s report that the order knew virtually nothing about the encampment where the scavengers where hiding. She gathered as much information as possible from a few of her sources and arrived in advance for additional reconnaissance.

She was safely stowed away in a rocky outcropping with a good view of the village through a set of quadnocs when Captain Phasma, TS4067, and a small group of other storm troopers arrived.

The settlement was not large. It contained several low dome-shaped structures designed to withstand sand storms. There were village elders dotted around the perimeter playing large harp like stringed instruments.

The music emanating from them was a high pitched sort of whiny sound that couldn’t be described as pleasant. At first, she’d thought maybe it was a primitive religious practice designed to remind the citizenry to remain penitent? That was the only reason she could think for why they would tolerate such a caterwauling. Of course, when she discovered the actual purpose, she knew immediately that she could use it to her advantage.

Predictably, the order did not waste a great deal of time considering the anthropological origins of the harpists. They executed them almost immediately, unknowingly, sealing their own fate in the process. She could only hope that Phasma would live up to her reputation when the time came.

The silence caused the people to begin exiting their homes to investigate the sudden change.

The troopers wasted no time in rounding up the inhabitants. The scavengers were pulled from the crowd and executed in front of the others as an example. The soldiers continued by killing people at random, ransacking their possessions, and sitting a few of their dwellings ablaze before the consequences of their actions arrived. It started with intense ground tremors. Suddenly, three very large and angry Tr’chasian dragons emerged from underground burrows.

TS4067 was devoured whole pretty quickly; a loose end nicely tied up with no effort on her part. Now she grew tense as she saw Phasma engage with one of the creatures while her troops continued to be decimated around her. Phasma discovered quickly that her blaster was no match for the thick armor like scales on the exterior of the beast. She was attempting to maneuver herself underneath it to look for weak points when she was caught by the swipe of its back foot and sent flying. She impacted with the side of one of the dwellings. That was her cue to intervene. She activated the beacons she’d placed earlier throughout the settlement. A reproduction of the harpists song flooded the village and sent the beasts retreating back into their underground burrows.

———————————————————————————————————-

She waited as Phasma recovered. The medical droids had stopped her bleeding. Her ribs were healing, and she expected her to regain consciousness at any moment. While she waited she admired the Captain with her helmet removed.

She was quite beautiful in repose, pale skin, blonde eyelashes and eyebrows that almost blended into her skin, close cropped blonde hair, longer in the front where it hung in messy waves from humidity maybe. She had surprisingly delicate pink lips with a scar above the right side that Hetaera was resisting the urge to trace with her fingertips.

She began to consider the potential outcomes for this iteration of her plan. This site she’d brought Phasma to was a relatively new acquisition of hers. A watering hole that had recently begun to turn a decent profit. The hidden medical bay which she’d designed for this specific purpose was also doing a decent trade in providing care to wounded rebels and others who’d had unfortunate encounters with the order. She’d hate to see it go but she was prepared for the possibility that Phasma would lash out in anger.

She mentally snipped the thread tying her to this place and let it go in her mind. Next she considered the possibility that Phasma would report back to Hux and compromise the entirety of the business she’d created under Lady Deimos. She was by far the most lucrative of the half dozen identities she’d cultivated over time. But riches were not her goal. If this identity and all of its holdings collapsed, so be it. She only needed to retain enough wealth for the next phase of her plan and she’d more than made that sum over and over again.

Phasma awoke suddenly and began to test the restraints on her arms and legs. She struggled for a bit, found them unyielding, and dropped her head back in a huff. She turned to find Lady Deimos regarding her. She was standing, watching her, and holding one of her old blades.

“Did you save me for the satisfaction of killing me with my own blade?” “Do I looked dressed to kill?” Phasma took in the flowing blue gown that accentuated her figure and matched the blue of her eyes. It was an incongruous pairing with the makeshift weapon in her hand.

“Then what does Lady Deimos, the First Order’s arms supplier, want with me?” Lady Deimos smiled, “I brought the blade as a clue to my identity. Lady Deimos is just another fiction I invented while scheming of ways to be here with you. She was just a means to an end.”

“The only thing the blade tells me is that you’ve been scavenging on my home planet.” “I didn’t scavenge it. It was given to me by my mother. She pulled it from the sand after you’d dropped it in battle.”

The only hint of recognition was a brief widening of her eyes before Phasma re-schooled her expression to mask any emotion. She regarded Ruth intently a few moments. “There were no survivors. You cannot…” “Siv was behind the blast doors of the medical facility before Brendol Hux bombed the planet’s surface. She survived, as did I.” “That’s imposs…” “Is it?”

“Where is Siv now?” “Dead, I assume. She went out hunting when I was twelve years old and never returned. I was not able to locate her remains.” “And what is your name? Your actual name?” “Torbi.” “And what is it you want? Toture or some other revenge?”

Torbi smiled and took a seat on the ledge of Phasma’s medical bed. “No, none of that.” “My mother regarded you as a blood traitor and a savage who couldn’t be trusted.” “I don’t necessarily believe that to be inaccurate, but I think she failed to consider a motivation behind your actions that all the other Scyre failed to consider as well.” “Oh? Care to enlighten me as to the insights you’ve drawn about me without ever having met me before?”

Torbi reached out to delicately rearrange a strand of hair that’d fallen into Phasma’s eye. Phasma roughly shook her head to remove Torbi’s hand. “With pleasure dear, I think they all failed to notice that they were a doomed race that refused to lift a finger to try and change their fate. They failed to see that the brutal disregard you showed for your parents, your brother, and the rest of your people was born of necessity. That you were the only one with the will and the determination to survive and now their bones are buried in the sand and here you are, surviving. Thriving. I can’t pass a screen or a wall without seeing your face or hearing a summary of your latest act of valor.”

“What is this? You have some sort of crush on me?” Phasma asked with disgust in her voice. Torbi laughed. “Maybe it started as something like that a long time ago. It was fairly lonely on the planet’s surface with just my mother to keep me company. But I think it may have evolved slightly from there.”

Phasma grew annoyed with the restraints holding her down. “What do you want?” she scowled, furrowing her brow together. Torbi reached out, placing both thumbs on the scowl lines in between Phasma’s eyes. She gently smoothed the lines with her thumbs, lightly running them out and along Phasma’s eye brows, before gently drawing a few circles at her temples in a soothing manner.

“What I want is to broaden your perspective out past the end of your nose. I too survived and escaped the planet’s surface. I too had to act in callous disregard for those around me in order to survive and to thrive in my own way.” Phasma drew her brows together again as she waited for Torbi to continue.

“My point is, it would be a great shame if you and I went through all that trouble and all that effort just for the Scyre to come to an end when we perish.” “My childhood crush had at one time pictured a future in which I was able to tame your animalistic instincts and form you into a partner that I could love. But you are thoroughly entrenched in your new role with the order and I’m not so certain I could ever really trust you.” “I’ve grown inpatient with waiting just as you have with being restrained in this manner. Only I’ve waited far longer. So I can only apologize and tell you that I’ve taken the liberty of drawing a few blood samples from you while you recovered and I plan to use those samples to isolate your DNA. I will then recode donor sperm with your DNA and I will continue the Scyre race beyond us. I want to thank you for your role in starting our family Phasma.” With that Torbi leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Phasma’s lips.

“I’m sure you’ll destroy this place but I want to encourage you not to hurt yourself trying to escape. The droids who treated you have been programmed to wipe their circuits and deactivate and the restraints holding you in place will release you shortly.”

“I hope to see you again sometime. And I hope to do so without being disemboweled for my troubles. Goodbye, Captain.”

#Star Wars: The Last Jedi #Captain Phasma #Phasma/Torbi #my fic #gwendoline christie

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dykebraad · 2 years

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Hello mutual well first of all sorry for needting to see all the stuff i reblog and second. Hii is there a right way to start with jrwi or can I hop in basically anywhere or

Im just very intrigued thank u

HELLO MY SILLY LITTLE MUTUAL!!!!

This is actually a really convenient time to ask to get into JRWI seeing as they just started uploading Apotheosis publicly for non patrons!! Only episode 1 is public as of now though. [Link]

Generally speaking though, JRWI currently has 3 campaigns ongoing right now: Riptide, Prime Defenders, and Apotheosis, though the last 2 are patreon exclusive. Here's a link to their main campaign, Riptide. And for a bit of backstory, The Black Rose Pirates Oneshot, which I actually had no idea existed until like 20 episodes in the main campaign lol. At least in my experience, you can get by pretty far in the main campaign not having seen the oneshot, though you might get confused when it comes to certain bits about Chip's backstory.

I wrote this up very quickly so sorry if anything seems confusing!! Feel free to ask abt anything I probably forgot to mention!!

#jrwi #asks

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jackiebrackettt · 2 years

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do you have any favourite jrwi episodes or episodes u would recommend :O i've seen u and a couple of other cool ppl posting about it so i figured i would check it out ^_^ no worries if not!

oh man o(-( it’s kind of hard bc it’s like.. all in order so a lot of my fav eps are eps that have character building/development moments. buuuut this is prob a good one that’s not too far in that it gets spoilery and isn’t too dependent on needing to know the character backstories

I’m just gonna stick with riptide since it’s the only non-patreon one I know:

-Episode 21! it’s a bit of a dungeon crawler ep and gets a bit chaotic but it’s very fun and beloved to me for reasons probably different to most ppl

-also if u like ranboo eps 12-14 include him as a guest and can show u the characters’ personalities/the show’s personality pretty well without relying on you needing to know much about the main campaign

For a bit info: the main plot really starts to kick in around episode 8 but that’s just in the sense that it’s where it hits you that “oh something deeper is going on” - like there is a lot of plot beforehand but it’s more focused on one specific place

-ep 15 is a classic fav for me but it’s really one where u have to know a bit about the characters b4hand so it might not necessarily hit as hard if you don’t watch in order

anyway yeah hope this helps a bit! apotheosis’ first ep is on YouTube if you want to check that one out (and if you like it enough - it’s currently completed and only 15 eps! you’d only need to pay the lowest patreon tier for 1month ($5) to watch the whole thing)

aaaand the first five eps of prime defenders is up on YouTube too - this one’s currently ongoing so you won’t be able to do the same as with apotheosis but you can watch the rest at patreon if ur really interested :]

#asks #anon

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aramais · 1 year

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hmmm silly question whats ur fave episode(s) from each of the jrwi campaigns? (excluding ones you haven’t heard obvs)

ohhh this is a difficult one. the obvious riptide episodes are 15 (the gillion chip fight), 53 (the end of the block arc), 58 (the slice-of-life episode in all-port), and 82 (gillion's 'revival'), but some more obscure ones I enjoy are 47 (the episode in the edison kingdom where they make their vow) and 32 (where they first hang out with the granberry pirates).

ok you're going to have to bear with me in from here on out bc I can't renew my membership atm until I get paid a few days from now so I'm listing episode numbers by heart LMAO.

pd wise I really enjoy the vibe of the early episodes, specifically s1 ep2 where they get their first mission but have little to no clue how to actually be superheroes. s1 ep19 (or 18? idk the one where ashe gets shot and william dies again) is also really entertaining. in s2 I like ep5(?) where they go to the car dealership, whatever episode the fall scene was in, and erm um. the jason king oneshot for. non biased reasons

in apotheosis. well. episodes 11-14 obviously but I remember 2 and 10 being really good too. bitb is a little difficult since there's so few episodes but if I had to pick it would be 4.

#sorry for writing a lot oops #I might enjoy this podcast a little bit #ask game #thank u for indulging me :3

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jeannereames · 5 years

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I really enjoyed the first part of Dancing with the Lion, and I was wondering if you are planning to write any more fiction about Alexander beyond the second part?

I do. From the beginning, I’d intended to write his story all the way to the end. But I’m not sure that’ll happen immediately for a couple reasons.

First, I really need to work on a non-fiction, academic biography of Hephaistion that’s a serious update of my dissertation from 20 years ago.

Second, I actually started these novels 30 years ago. It’s taken me this long to find a publisher willing to take a chance on them. And even then, I had to cut the book in half for Riptide to do so. In the meantime, I started another book series, a trilogy about Dionysos and Ariadne, called 49. The first of that is done and the second is about half done. At the time, I thought it might sell first, as it’s an SFF adventure story. The pacing is much faster, etc. But it, also, had issues due to length. I just…can’t write short. Although all beta readers say it really DOES read fast, publishers look at word-count, especially for a first novel. Many have a “no exceptions” policy and won’t even consider a first novel past 120K words, and many prefer it under 110K. 49 is 145K, and unlike Dancing with the Lion, it really can’t be split or cut further without doing severe violence to the plot.

(Dancing is a novel, in that the focus is on character development; 49 is a romance (in the old meaning), so that the focus is on the plot.)

I’m hoping Dancing with the Lion sells enough to allow me to sell 49 finally. I think readers will really enjoy it, given feedback from beta readers. That, of course, rests on word of mouth about Dancing getting out, as Riptide doesn’t have the publicity budget of the big House publishers, such as Bloomsbury, who published A Song for Achilles. Unless Dancing sells well enough, 49 will never sell (and for that matter, neither will any of the follow-up novels in the Dancing series). That’s just the realities of publishing, unfortunately. Sometimes it’s easier to sell a first novel than a third.

In any case, I do plan to continue Alexander’s story, although probably not with Riptide, as the tale will turn darker and sadder as it progresses. Alexander’s story really doesn’t have a “happy” ending, and Riptide, as primarily a Romance publisher, wants HEA endings. The first novel, or now pair of novels, has that (more or less), but once we get past Gaugamela, that’ll be a lot harder to maintain. Of course, if the novels make them a lot of money, they might change their minds (ha), but going forward, I’ll probably have to get a new publisher.

I have quite a number of aspects of the rest of the series in mind. I know several character plot threads that’ll run through the books, and some important characters who haven’t shown up yet (although one will appear in Rise).

For instance, in the next book (which will go from Alexandros becoming king up till Granikos), Hephaistion gets to be a spy in Athens for some months, with Aristoteles as his “handler,” if you will. He volunteers for it, but decides he’s not really made for that. And I want to actually DO Alexander’s Thracian and Illyrian campaigns, as they’re usually ignored but it’s there that we see him emerging as an utterly brilliant tactician.

So I have given a fair bit of thought to the rest of the story, not just in terms of known historical events, but fictional threads, as well. :-)

#Dancing with the Lion #Alexander the Great #Alexanderthegreat #Hephaistion #Hephaestion #historical novels #Dionysos and Ariadne #classics #ancient macedonia #ancient Greece #tagamemnon #asks

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