#should i sell out and try to come up with a YA fantasy trilogy with a love triangle and a gay b-plot? like where is the bar

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

the reason we need to make kids read the classics is i cannot continue to survive watching people gush about the gorgeous writing of texts composed of the most mediocre sentences in existence

#yes im on the goodreads for the raven cycle again #but this happens to me i feel like constantly #the things people on the internet will call amazing writing….. #should i sell out and try to come up with a YA fantasy trilogy with a love triangle and a gay b-plot? like where is the bar #i want to staple a copy of ‘goodbye to all that’ to everyone’s phone #i’m not even one of the didion people but there are some fucking sentences!

[roter-zirkus]

Ma'am, I just work here

Working in a pawn shop in Baldur's Gate sometimes means being privy to the most interesting items, even those that maybe you should have never put your hands on.

or: Raphael visits the most unfortunate little pawn shop worker

It's another quiet day at the "Brokering Gate", a little smarmy pawn office that lies between the recently collapsed Steel Watcher Foundry and the Guilt docks, a blocked-off area for incoming trade that remains just barely under the table. Ever since the rubble of that huge flying brain mass came down, there has been a weird rotting note to the air that borders on repugnant just barely. To keep the worst of it out, most of the "Gate's" shutters have been closed and enchanted with a shield-type spell – Yas doesn't care much for the details – due to their windows being blown to shittereens during the initial blast. It's a wonder, or curse depending on who you ask, that the shop still stands.

Yas hates, absolutely loathes working at the "Brokering Gate" on account of its weird customers and despicable owner, but she also hates not having anything to eat or a roof over her head, so in the end she just has to bite the bulette. And with the evasion of total annihilation comes some perks. People find the most interesting things to sell amidst the chaos coming to their silly little pawn shop, their competitors having mostly been wiped out or turned into ilithids.

One of those people had surprisingly been none other than THE hero, Tav, and their merry band of weirdos waltzing into the store, most of them heaving under the weight of overfilling pouches and backpacks, the jingle-jangle filling the air when the bags hit the ground. It had been a bad day for their accounts but a good one for stuffing the shop up the roof with items of varying usefulness.

One of these items had been a trilogy of diaries. As soon as Yas opened them during a lull in the shop she knew she had found her new obsession for the next weeks. Two of the three books were filled to the brim with mischief, silly little poems, intricate plans, or just daily developments, all written by some seemingly third-grade bard working hard to fill his made-up fantasy with lore. The third one however stopped halfway through, leaving an open end to the saga of the writer, a self-serving schemer hungering for power over the Nine Hells, and his assumed dalliance with the so-called hero, a tadpoled fool trapsing through the world the writer seemingly controlled.

Usually, Yas wouldn't go for such bottom-of-the-barrel fiction, but after skimming over them she had decided to fully embrace their weirdness.

Now it's deep into the afternoon and instead of having another go at the inventory she stands entranced at the counter ruffling through the pages, giggling to herself.

"Predilection. Who talks like that?", she quietly murmurs, although a part of her envies the artful usage of these special little words. With a grin, Yas comforts herself by imagining the fop with this kind of speech trying to order a beer at the bar she works her evening shifts at.

The soft little chime from the bell above their entrance takes her back to the store and she mentally readies her customer service personality. In walks an older man, a slight limp to his right leg, steadying himself on an intricate wooden cane with golden inlays, the soft tock of it accompanying the scraping of his "good" foot across the floor. Yet something about his demeanor stops her from emphasizing with him. His "warm" smile sends shivers down her spine, not the good kind, his left hand readies itself in the air for a grand gesture and his clothes look preened and faultless. She knows she probably can't hide it behind her fake smile, but all she feels is disdain.

Yet when the man starts to talk, she does notice that his voice has a deep rumble that resonates with her. Yas gets a good look at his sharp features and soft skin, since no matter what he says, he can't seem to stand still, instead opting for theatrical movement and emphasis on his words with every twitch of his face. "My dear bespackled attendant of this fine éstablissement, may I use some of your precious time to inquire about some items that might have found their way into your possession? Obviously, your help will be well compensated should you have any of these items at hand. I have had quite the adventure searching all over town and imagine my unbridled surprise upon finding out that there was still one last market to peruse. Resting amidst the-"

By this point Yas has already put two and two together, looking forward to the peacock finishing his exhausting monologue and confirming her suspicion. In the meantime she nods politely along, adding some "Uhuu's" and "no way's" here and there, nearly draining her affirmative vocabulary, until she finally has it and simply moves the diary she had been reading across the counter.

That shuts him up all right. As soon as his eyes spy the unassuming, worn-down cover, a wave of joy washes over his features, quickly hidden away just so, behind his noble mask.

She hopes that between his grandiose entrance and the following speech, he never realized that she was actively reading one of his diaries, before pushing it out of the way. When trying to glean his face for a reaction all she gets is the usual calm demeanor.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you, but from my colleagues' descriptions, this book and its siblings might be the item you're looking for. If you would like we can verify this by counter-checking the text with your description." Yas is trying everything not to let her face betray that she knows about the innards of this book or that she can't believe that the writer is the guy in front of her. It's never good to directly laugh at a customer.

A shadow crawls over the customer's face and suddenly her giddiness dissipates into fear. Unlike before, this time she feels like the show of emotion is meant for her. Yas quickly puts up her hands in defense: "I'm so sorry that my colleagues rustled around in your private property but they had to make sure none of the books were cursed or dangerous in a similar fashion. Obviously, I have no interest in further violating your privacy."

Now a toothy smile flashes across his features and instead of the cane he now leans onto the counter, somehow still being taller than Yas standing at full height. "My dear friend, I am so very grateful for your understanding. The loss of these precious memories has left me quite hurt and it would not do to add to this pain. There is no need for you to read more of the text, there should be a sigil on the blurp, simply lay it out here and I will show you."

With an unsure grin of her own, she does as he bids and lays down the book, blurp for both to see. A swift motion later he holds a dagger in his hand, much to the shock of Yas, yet before she can exclaim her bewilderment, he simply pokes himself in the finger and vanishes it just as quickly as he conjured it. A distinct smell of sulphur fills her nose and she gets a bit queasy looking at two drops of blood spilling on the page of the book.

A second ticks by and suddenly a fiery symbol burns itself into the book.

The silence afterward is palatable.

"Yeah. I guess this is yours, huh." Yas is sure that she is not getting paid enough to deal with what kind of fiery devil shit this might be, so she just shrugs and goes to the backroom to get the other books. She wants this man out of the shop as soon as possible.

As soon as she comes back into his view, he starts up again: "Thank you very much, dear. Say, you don't happen to have some hellishly delicious paintings lying around?"

Oh no.

She knows very well where they are, but considering what Cambrin, her boss, has done to them, she decides she won't be the one to bring this up.

"There might be some more in the personal vault of my employer, but he is unfortunately not in today and won't allow anyone else into his office." Before she finishes the sentence anger flashes into his eyes and his nose scrunches, but she has an idea to smoothe him over immediately. "I'm sure he will come in in the evening to make sure everything is up to speed. Considering how late it already is, it shouldn't be long now."

That somewhat appeases her customer and she allows herself a moment of respite.

He purses his lip, a hand to his chin as if to seriously consider what she just said. "Well, I think I can offer up some more of my precious time for your employer, even though it will certainly throw around my plans for the evening. Will some of your other colleagues be there tonight? Specifically, those that wanted to sate their curiosity with these books?" He is all smiles but there's a dangerous shine to his gaze, that renders his brown eyes almost black.

"The evening shift should be taking over then, yes. We usually stay open late into the night, so we have to change it up. Considering the work plan they might be there, but I can't make any promises."

He pushes himself further onto the counter to lean closer to her face as if to share a secret just between the two of them. "Surely you have heard of the little idiom of the fortunate rat, fleeing the ship before it tragically goes down with its captain. I suppose, there are certain situations in which one should adhere to that principle, saving one's skin before it is too late." He gifts Yas another smile, this time arguably more toothy than before, his canines growing before her eyes.

She can't stop herself from mumbling: "That would make me the rat I presume." They both lock eyes and all he does to acknowledge Yas is a slight tilt of the head.

Living in Baldur's Gate is hard enough as it is, with weird tentacle monsters, bandits, and bloody murders seeping into the daily survival. And now this… thing was making it very obvious that the shop was going to see his reckoning. Maybe it was finally time to leave the city for good.

With a deep inhale she takes a step back and fishes the key to the store out of her pocket, puts it on the counter with a soft clink and slips it over to the stranger.

"A very wise decision."

Without another word or acknowledgment, she steps out behind the bar and slowly makes her way to the exit. Before she can fully leave, however, the stranger has to get in another sentence:

"I do hope you remember to keep privacy matters a higher priority from now on, my dear. After all, you never know who might be watching."

She can only nod, locking eyes with him once again before she all but runs out of the store.

The next day she will walk past the store, finding it surrounded by Flaming Fists trying to put out the fires and talking about the charred corpses inside.

#zirkusart #ao3 fanfic #fanfic #raphael bg3 #bg3

[theselfhelphipster]

I still read every night before bed and when I love a story, I burn my way through it in a matter of days. Hours if I really put my mind to it.

It is scientifically proven that reading is one of the most relaxing things you can do (more than other things even) - it slows down your breathing and your heart rate, which is why it's perfect to incorporate in a bedtime ritual.

Here's the list of my favourite books of the past year or so.

*Affiliate links below!

Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J Maas

This series is not as steamy as the Court-series I wrote about in the previous blog post. However, technically speaking this is definitely a better saga, if you will.

Sarah J Maas has created this epic tale around Selena Galynthius in an epic world full of old-time fantasy characters like elves and fae and witches and wyverns. It's very cool.

The series wrapped up with a stunner of a finale last fall and it was some of the best fantasy I've read in a while. Book 1 is kind of weirdly written if you compare it to the rest, but in book two she really gets the show on the road.

If you like epic fantasy? This is IT.

I'm thinking about buying this box myself (I've read them on Kindle but these are so epic I want them on print) but if you want to start, start with Throne of Glass AND Crown of Midnight.

The Meredith Gentry Series - Laurel K Hamilton

I'm including this one more for lolz than for anything else.

I LOVED these when I was a teen, such smutty books in a fantasy world. Turns out it was either hormones kicking in or I just had terrible taste back then. (Probably both.)

These are TERRIBLE!

They make zero sense, the story is incredibly convoluted and I don't even think the sex scenes are that well-written or hot anymore. They're no Court of Mist and Fury, if ya know what I mean.

I reread them for old time sake, and if you're into Harlequin-esque elf books with a lot of descriptives and dialogues, in a story that only BARELY goes somewhere, go off I guess. If not, steer clear.

Bol.com is like 'fuck you we're not selling this drivel' but Amazon Kindle always comes through for us perverts.

Good Omens - Thierry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

When I saw that wickedly cool trailer for Good OmensI immediately started reading Good Omens. I had had it on my Kindle forever, and it really is a classic.

It's fun, funny, great story and great writing. I'm going to do that online storytelling class by Neil Gaiman and read a lot more by them both the upcoming year.

I've read Neil Gaiman's American Gods, The Ocean By The End of the Lake and Graveyard Boy, but nothing by Thierry Pratchett yet.

I'm excited.

Where to buy? A paperback at Bol.com is just 8,99 right now.

(Also, WATCH THE AMAZON PRIME SERIES, it is SO FUN!)

Caraval & Legendary - Stephanie Gaber

A magical story about two sisters (there's quite a few books I read the past year with sisters) get invited to a once-a-year, exclusive magical live performance where the audience participates. The protagonist has been obsessed with this Caraval as long as she lives. To escape a betrothal of her sister, they go and during the Caraval a lot happens that changes everything.

Apparently there is a third book called Finale, which makes me think I maybe haven't finished Legendary and I need to, because I thought there would just be two.

You can buy the paperback here, and if you want to read it in Dutch you can too: My favorite online writer to follow on Instagram, Chinouk Thijssen translated the book!

Circe - Madeline miller

I've read both this one, Song of Achilles and Galatea. The only one I wouldn't really recommend was Galatea, I just didn't really think that one is interesting. The other two are, though.

I love Greek mythology and when people retell a classic in an interesting new way, and Madeline Miller has done so with this book. I really liked Circe.

The paperback is only 9,70!

Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

One f the most beautiful and tragic lovestories I've ever read. I recommend it to everyone, especially anyone who likes Greek mythology. It's about Patrocles and Achilles, and their lovestory.

I cried like a baby during the last bit.

If you want to purchase this stunning story in paperback, click here.

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

SPEAKING OF CRYING.

If you'd like to be emotionally destroyed and sob incontrollably through the entire last half of this book, go read 'A Little Life'

At first I resisted, and during the first chapters of this book I was mostly confused about who was who, but once you've got it, it is one of those stories that touches you, breaks you and then changes you.

English paperback here, Dutch paperback here.

Fireblood Trilogy - Elly Blake

I read this only a few weeks ago and I burned through these books, if you will. Finished all three in less than a week.

These are SO GOOD. The world is divided into three types of people: Regular, Firebloods and Frostbloods, the last two types having magic abilities that they train and can use, and with the Firebloods and Frostbloods being enemies of sorts.

A Fireblood girl is taken by Frostbloods to help them take down their evil king, but it turns out everything is a lot more complicated than it seems.

Lots of plot twists you can't easily see coming, a lot of friendships, a little romance, and a really good story. It's absolutely lovely.

Paperback here, Amazon Kindle below.

The Bear and the Nightingale Series - Katherine Arden

The prettiest trilogy I've read all year.

Set in Russia, a fairytale of sorts, and the protagonist is a strong girl who believes in freedom, her own decisions and heart, and who falls in love.

Three books to enjoy and swoon over. Try the first one hereor get the ebook below.

Small Spaces - Katherine Arden

By the same author as the previous trilogy, perhaps a children's book, but a good scary story that is easy to read.

A girl who has lost her mom goes on a field trip and turns out, farms and scarecrows are still as scary as they were during Children of the Corn.

I highly recommend; easy and fun scary story, fun to read with a child I think.

You can get it here, or here:

The Mermaid's Sister - Carrie Anne Noble

This is such a beautiful story.

You meet Clara, Maren and O'Neill. Claire was brought to her aunt by a stork, Maren came out of a shell, and O'Neill was found by the woman's husband under an apple tree. As Maren slowly turns into a mermaid, Clara and O'Neill try desperately to save Maren and return her to the ocean.

It's kinda like Frozen with the sisterly love, but has more to it.

Easy to read, with lovely and beautiful sentences, and I cried at the end.

Where to buy? For 12 euros you can buy the paperback here, or the Kindle version for 3.99$ below!

Numina Series - Charlie N Holmberg

This is such a good series, I can't wait for the third book - it's coming out in September.

In this world, magic is a scary underground thing where you need slaves to get possessed by numen, fiery beings from a different plane of existence.

A girl escapes her master who as it turns out, wants to bring the worst numen from that plane to destroy the world. With the help from a charming thief, she tries to save the fellow slaves and prevent world destruction.

Get the first one hereor below:

Magi Bitter, Magic Sweet - Charlie N Holmberg

By the same author, really interesting and pretty fairytale, kind of.

It's about a magical baker, and you should just read it. Buy it here, or below. It's cheaper on Kindle and it's such a breezy book, it's fine as an ebook.

My Absolute Darling - Gabriel Tallent

Horrible but gripping story about a girl called Turtle who grows up with her survivalist nut job of a dad in the woods, and then meets a few boys and a little girl that change the course of her life.

It's hard to read sometimes because the writer has made Turtle into what into my eyes is an eerily accurate portrait of the abused and traumatised. You're rooting for her but you don't always understand her, and you don't always understand her but you're always rooting for her, you know?

You can buy the paperback here for 12 euros or do as I do and buy the Kindle version via the link below!

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein - Kiersten White

I'm a sucker for reinventions of the classics, especially if suddenly we see everything from a woman's perspective. This story is about Elizabeth Frankenstein, the girl who grew up with the boy who will become Doctor Frankenstein and who loves him, and goes looking for him when he disappears from the place he was studying.

It's a very interesting and scary story, and it shows exactly how sometimes the things we do for love, are the very things that make the person we love into a monster.

I'm going to read a lot more by Kiersten White upcoming year, that's for sure.

You can buy the paperback herefor 12 euros, or click below for the Kindle version, for only 8.32$. Fun fact: The copy of the actual story about Frankenstein's monster by Mary Shelby is the second half of the book!

Strange the Dreamer & Muse of Nightmares - Laini Taylor

By the author of some of my favorite books EVER (Daughter of Smoke and Bone series), such a well-written and ethereal story. Full of legends, poetry and love.

It is well-written, heartbreaking and especially during Muse of Nightmares it is so great to see how everything pans out.

Buy the paperback herefor 12 euros , or below:

Grim Lovelies - Meghan Shepherd

I literally finished these last weekend, and really fun! Good story, set in France, in which 'Beasties' are animals turned people and used to help magical people like witches.

Can't wait for the sequel that is coming out in a couple of days!

Get the paperback here, or below.

A Blade So Black - L. L. Mckinny

This is such an interesting take on Alice in Wonderland, scarier and darker, but also more fun. The series is called the Nightmare Verse, I haven't gotten around to reading the second instalment: A Dream So Dark.

Incredible about this book is that the protagonist is a black girl and the book also touches upon the horrible terror that you can get attacked or killed just because of the color of your skin.

You can buy the paperback for 11,99, or on Kindle below.

The Luminous Dead - Caitlin Starling

This might be one of the most terrifying books I have ever read. It combines a few of my greatest fears (caving, being underground and diving) into a goosebump-filled adventure as you follow Gyre, an inexperienced caver who lied on her resume in order to get this job, go deeper and deeper into the cave -- as well as into the complicated backstory of her handler, Em.

Guys. It is so scary. And so good. Go read it. It's 14 euros here, or available on Amazon.

The Girl From Everwhere - Heidi Heilig

Timetravel always gives me a headache, but this piratey-spin on int is really fun.

You can buy the paperback for 9,99 on Bol.com and I was pleased to find out there is a second book now: The Ship Beyond Time. Definitely reading this as soon as I finish Frost!

Phew, a whale of a post

As always, I'd love it if you reciprocate with your own (non)-fiction recommendations: Let me know in the comments below what books you loved the past year.

Have a lovely Sunday!

#booklr #books #book #book rec #young adult books #reading community #favorite books

[pinespittinink]

The Publishing Debacle

Recent reading, comments, and my own personal history with publishing and querying has got me thinking a lot about traditional publishing and the entire landscape surrounding it, as well as the nature of my own writing.

I am published. The Witch Market is the result of, if you had to categorize it, assisted self-publishing. What does that mean? To put it short, I entered a contest spun by a local small publishing branch, and I won second place. The company however, liked the three winning books so much that they decided to offer the first place prize to all of us— a full-ride with the company to publish our novels. I paid some money involved with The Witch Market, but only in regards to marketing and art— the latter of which I had really just commissioned for private use, though it ended up being included. I mention it though, because the amount of money I paid is nothing compared to what most indie self-publishing authors pay to get their book off the ground.

The Witch Market is the product of seventeen year-old Catherine. I wrote it during school, I’d never heard of beta reading outside of fanfic, and I was very new to the industry, despite having queried another novel when I was fourteen. (I actually got a bite for the entire manuscript then, which was a wild ride, but that’s another story). As much as I love The Witch Market, it never received the concrit it needed to succeed in today’s market, and it really needs a revamp at some point. The story and characters, particularly Cleophas, are too dear for me not to do this eventually. If anything, the experience taught me about self-publishing, about the rigorous rounds of editing that a manuscript should go through, and most importantly, in my opinion, it gave me the true and indescribable feeling of what it’s like to hold your own book in your hands.

I have always, always wanted to be traditionally published. I admittedly have a lot more respect for self-publishing now than I did when I first became aware of it— I used to view it as a cop out, an “easier” route, as though self-publishing isn’t an incredibly arduous, difficult journey that requires a ridiculous amount of work and determination. Self-publishing means being your own marketer, and I don’t have that in me. When I did book signings and promotional work for The Witch Market, I was lucky enough to have a mother with more drive and networking skills than I’ll ever be capable of.

Traditional publishing holds appeal to all of us because we want to dream of that one in a million chance where our writing really makes it; a Neil Gaiman, a Stephen King, a J.K. Rowling, a Susanne Collins, a Sarah J. Mass. Who wouldn’t want to be a career writer? That kind of success is the ideal, but it’s so few and far between. I think the other reason people aspire so much towards traditional publishing is the reach is brings. While it’s easier and easier nowadays to get your books far and wide with self-publishing, traditional will always have a more direct course to those avenues. 

I have always said that I write for myself above anyone else, and I stand by that. There are many people who write with an audience in mind-- middle grade, young adult, new adult, on and on-- they have a target demographic. Some have even more in mind; from the beginning, they write with marketing and querying taken into account. They’re thinking about pacing, about what will sell, all while working on delivering the story they want. I’ve got a lot of respect and admiration for those people, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that’s not me and couldn’t be me, and that’s all right.

Of my work, I have a group of wips I think of as The Big Three: Bloodlines, Solene’s verse, and Star White. And the more I think about them, the more I realize that they do not lend themselves to the traditional publishing market, at least not with any ease. Of The Big Three, Star White is the story with the most mainstream, marketable plot line. A gentle boy falls in love with a grumpy boy, an evil being abducts the grumpy boy, and the gentle boy goes on a journey to find him. It’s sweet, it’s set in space, it has a fairy tale aspect to it. It can easily be written for YA, made into a not too bulky standalone, or even be broken into a trilogy. All together, it’s the best conceivable shot I have at successful traditional publishing. But the truest version of the story, the one I will write first, that I will write for myself (and maybe, ultimately, the only version of Star White that I’ll end up writing at all), is leaning farther and farther away from that formula. It’s becoming an odyssey of sorts, an introspective, single volume that follows a non-chronological timeline and spends a long, long time with Mateo as he drifts through the empty void of deep space with no one but the AI of his ship for company. It may even take on a philosophical bend, because a billion years spent searching for your love, not even knowing if he exists anymore outside of a dream, and in turn grappling with your own sense of existence; well, that doesn’t easily lend itself to the market. It deviates from a mainstream plot. But it’s the story I’m realizing I will write. 

When it comes down to it, the story is what I write for, not the commercial value or traditional structure. Bloodlines, as it stands, does not align itself with a traditional story structure, something I’ve become more and more aware of with my beta readers’ comments in mind. I’ve written past the ending, or at least, past where the book would end in regards to similar stories. If I had gone into it with a specific structure in mind, if I’d been able to stick to it (because let’s face it, I did have a full outline for Bloodlines) then maybe I wouldn’t be faced with this conundrum. If I want Bloodlines to have a realistic shot at making it in the market, then I’ll need to cut a lot from the ending. The reason Bloodlines extends a good while after the climactic conflict is because I needed to show the effects of the trauma on the characters, their healing arcs, and give resolutions to the relationships as effected by the actions beforehand. If Bloodlines was focused more on the war between the Gelkins and the skin-changers, it could definitely end sooner, but it is focused instead on Victory and Enfriator’s relationship, and even more, I’ve realized, it is focused specifically on Victory. He is the core of the story in a way no one else is, and it feels only right to me to follow him. 

I’ll likely still attempt to query Bloodlines. Traditional publishing is a dream of mine, but it may just really be a dream. I lack the ambition and the drive to push it any further, and in the end, the story is what’s important to me, and I won’t sacrifice its truth and integrity for a more conventional narrative structure. If I don’t find success with agents, which I expect at this point (I’ve shot myself in the foot with Bloodlines somewhat already, because I queried it a few years ago before any round of betas), then I’ll likely look to self-publishing avenues. I will do it though, not for exposure or revenue, but because I want to hold my book in my hands again, and because then I can give it to others, to the people who have read for me, who love my characters, who I want to share this story with. 

I’m not meant to be a career writer. Maybe I still could be, someday. Anything’s possible after all. But my stories, at least for the foreseeable future, don’t lend themselves to traditional success. Solene’s verse especially will be a beast to conquer. The story contains a time jump that ages the characters and a setting that seems more fitting to the long-running sci-fi/fantasy series of the 1970s and 80s. Hebid is a world I am privileged to have insight on, and my knowledge and understanding of it will only grow. Solene’s verse will either end up a duology, or (more likely) a truly massive standalone encompassing a whole world; once again, not something that would ever be an easy sell today. 

Will I try querying all of The Big Three? Yeah. I’ll probably even try querying The Witch Market again, once I’ve redone it. Somewhere out there are agents and publishers who don’t mind taking a chance on something unconventional. Will I find them? Maybe not. I don’t expect to. Writing and book selling is a business, I understand that. What I’m coming to realize though, is that I don’t need to be traditionally published in order to feel achievement. I just need to tell the stories as they come to me, in the best way I can. It’s my personal duty as a writer to do these characters justice, to illustrate their lives in all their turmoil and struggle and joy. I’m not at all insinuating that people who write with the publishing industry in mind don’t do the same thing; we all want to tell our stories in the best way. We just have different manners and methods and drives. The stories I write do not fit into typical molds. Maybe I could make them, like Star White, and maybe they would still be good. But that way is for other writers, other people not like me, and I’m content to walk to the beat of my own drum. 

#catherine’s talking again #publishing #writeblr #dudes this is long but it's really just me rambling and getting thoughts out #okay to rb if you want #it's just my thoughts about publishing methods and some rambling about wip structure

[consul-lightwood-bane]

For those who aren’t able to view the article.

“New York Times-bestselling author Cassandra Clare is something of a pioneer in the realm of LGBTQ-inclusive fantasy YA. Since 2007, her Shadowhunter Chronicles, beginning with The Mortal Instruments (TMI) series, have amassed a huge international following. (The books have even spurred a film adaptation and popular TV series, Shadowhunters, on Freeform.) Her most fiercely beloved fictional couple? Gay demon-fighting warrior Alec Lightwood and his partner Magnus Bane, the openly bisexual High Warlock of Brooklyn.

Now, Clare and her co-author, sci-fi writer (and proud Magnus fan) Wesley Chu, are giving #Malec the royal treatment in The Eldest Curses (TEC) trilogy. The first TEC book, The Red Scrolls of Magic, is due out April 9 from Simon & Schuster. (No worries if you’re behind on TMI books, Clare says: “It would probably enrich your experience if you’ve read the first three TMI books. But if you haven’t, you can still pick up Red Scrolls.)

NewNowNext caught up with Clare for the scoop on Red Scrolls—and an insider look at the state of LGBTQ inclusion in the world of YA publishing.

For those who may be new to the Shadow World, can you give us a crash-course and introduce Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane?

The books are about Shadowhunters, a race of people who fight demons. They have powers that they get from being part-angel, and they have a mandate to be on this earth and fight demons and protect mundanes, which is what they call regular people. There’s also people who are called Downworlders. They’re supernatural creatures we’re all familiar with from mythology and folklore—faeries, vampires, warlocks, werewolves.

So, Alec is a Shadowhunter. He’s a young man who’s very rule-abiding, very serious about being a Shadowhunter, and not very happy. In City of Bones, he meets Magnus Bane, a warlock who’s really free-spirited, fun, and pretty powerful. Over the course of TMI books, they fall in love with each other and form a relationship. Alec comes out … and Magnus has been openly bisexual since the beginning of the series … By where we’re at in the books now, they’ve been together for years, they’ve adopted two children, and they just got married.

Oh, the Lightwood-Banes are iconic. Total trailblazers. Legendary.

[Laughs] It was so fun to write their wedding!

In the past, you’ve said that YA publishers were initially hesitant to publish TMI series because it contained queer characters and a gay romance. Can you tell me more about that?

When I went out with City of Bones, that was back in 2005. I got push-back from some publishers. It was very coded. … No one actually said, “We won’t publish this book because it has a gay character.” They’d say, “Not all of these characters are ‘likeable’; maybe you could cut Alec.” I got that a lot—the idea that there was a likeability issue, but just with Alec. And then I got, “Maybe there are too many characters. You could cut Alec.” So it was very clear to me that that was what was going on. … I would also say that a lot of the push-back I got was actually after publication.

I think I was a little naïve at the time, even despite the earlier stuff. And there was a presumption, I think, back in 2005—you know, pre-Twilight, pre-a lot of things—that YA was a kid’s realm. It doesn’t make it any better, because the idea that kids shouldn’t read about gay characters is a terrible one. But there was a lot more dependence in the industry on things like book clubs in schools, school library support. … When the books actually came out, I had a meeting with the person who worked for Simon & Schuster in the capacity of selling the book to book clubs around the country. And she said, “You know, we can never sell yours.”

Wow, that’s awful.

And I was like, “Oh. No, I didn’t know that.” And she went on, like, “You know, there are certain stores that won’t take your books; there are certain school libraries that won’t take your book.” I do remember once I was in England. I’d been invited to go to this school and give a talk. I was about to get into a car to go to the school, and my publisher came out of the building and said to me, “Sorry, they found out about Magnus and Alec, and they don’t want you to come.” It was such a shocking feeling.

I feel like the climate in YA has changed so much since 2005 and is a lot more accepting of queer characters. Do you agree?

I do. I had a lot of anxiety leading up to the promotion of [TMI books] because I felt like it was important to have Alec and Magnus in this book. It was important to get these books into the hands of kids, and I felt like I constantly had to walk this line where I had to make sure there was enough Alec and Magnus in the book for them to be fully realized characters that people would care about and love. Yet, I had to be careful. I feel like now, I can be less careful. And I am less careful … There are ways I can express what’s going on—words I can use upfront—that would have been a problem in 2005 in terms of just getting the book on shelves.

I mean, we’re living in a post-marriage equality world. Things are far from perfect, but the cultural conversation at large has shifted dramatically since 2005.

It’s definitely made a huge difference. I mean, it was still the Bush administration [when City of Bones was published!] We had years of progression with Obama; we had marriage equality; and we also have a new generation with different attitudes.

I also read that you purposefully left this gap in the chronology hoping you’d get the chance to write this story. What excites you so much about Alec and Magnus’s adventures in Red Scrolls?

Partially, it has something to do with my own life: The first thing I ever did with my first serious boyfriend was take a trip across Europe. [Laughs] So with Magnus and Alec, I thought, Okay, I want to give them that really fun experience that I had. And I’m going to reference it here in this book, and I know that I can come back to this someday and do it. … I also love this category of fiction. It’s almost a rom-com, this book; it has a different tonal feel than the rest of TMI books because it’s a little bit lighter. It’s like a lot of movies I love—Charade, The Bourne Identity—where two people are racing across Europe, trying to escape the police or solve a crime, and they’re falling in love. It’s just a storyline that I adore, and I thought, I would love so much to write this story about these characters. I hoped there’d be a time where I could do that, and I’m so happy that time came.

It’s especially exciting to me as a queer YA lover to see LGBTQ characters not fall prey to the “bury your gays” trope..

Exactly. You know, getting the book that is the indulgence of a wonderful fantasy that’s romantic and fun—and none of characters are suffering simply for who they are—it’s not as common as we’d like it to be. And so, why not? If I’m going to have the one book in this series that is kind of a fun adventure, it should be Magnus and Alec’s story.

I feel like Red Scrolls gives readers a really intimate look into Magnus’s inner psyche—like, beyond his “freewheeling bisexual” exterior . Is he as fun to write as he is to read?

People often ask me if I have a favorite character, and I always say “no.” It would be like picking between your children! So I usually say I don’t have a favorite character, but Magnus is the most fun to write in a lot of ways. His interior and his exterior are … very different. When we first meet Magnus, he’s immensely confident. And one of things I do love about him is that he is willing to put himself out there exactly how he is. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have insecurities—no questions, no shadows in his past. Everyone does. In this book, we see some of the things that have made Magnus the person that he is now, some of the times he passed through when he was younger and wasn’t as confident as he was now.

Speaking of LGBTQ characters, we also get quality time with future wives Aline Penhallow and Helen Blackthorn in Red Scrolls. What was it like diving into the #Heline origin story?

I love them. They’re so much fun! I got to write about them a bit in Queen of Air and Darkness, but again, they’re really secure—they’re married, they’re dealing with outside threats … Because [Red Scrolls] is a book that focuses on romance, I figured it would be so much fun to explore when they first met each other. I love them both—I just love how Aline says everything she’s thinking.

Oh, she’s such a chaotic lesbian. I love it.

And that’s what I love about [Aline and Helen] in Red Scrolls, too—that Aline just tries to cover up how much she likes Helen from the minute she meets her. She’s attracted to her, attracted to her personality; she thinks she’s fantastic and brave and awesome. She’s trying to hide that, but she can’t.

Can you speak on creating LGBTQ characters who aren’t solely defined by their sexuality?

I can only say that when I created Alec, he’s based in part on a friend of mine who I had growing up. We loved science fiction and fantasy books—that was what we loved to read, what we loved to talk about. And he’d tell me, “I never see myself in these books… Just once, I’d love to read about how [a gay character like me] is a sword-wielding badass.” And I was really struck by that. So when I set out to create Alec, I wanted his sexuality to be a part of his life, but not the only or even main part of his story.

I hope this helps. @max--lightwood-bane

#Magnus Bane #Alexander Lightwood #Alec Lightwood #The Red Scrolls of Magic #TRSOM #Cassandra Clare #The Eldest Curses #TEC #The Shadowhunter Chronicles #Aline Penhallow #Helen Blackthorn #TSC

[beautifulramblingbrains]

A review on goodreads that can not be ignored

How to Write a Best Selling YA Novel

1. Make sure you write the book in a POV that distances us from the narrator. If you have no idea how to write 1st Person Present, do it any way. It makes the book confusing and fun for your reader to plow through. Also, make sure your narrator's POV is very boring. Boring enough to put Plato, Jane Austen, and Shakespeare to sleep. 

2. Make your narrator a selfish, boring girl with little to no life outside of her love interest and one singular hobby. Whether it be loving the ocean, loving books, or loving to whine, make sure it's only one hobby. We can't have her be interesting or three dimensional. That would make her complex and intriguing. Also, make sure she has a best friend that she can envy, and a boy that adores her. It gives her more reasons to angst and whine. Then top it off with a tragic past. Often both parents should be dead and she should have a relative that hates her. That way if a reviewer says she's whiny and annoying, someone can refute this by saying she has reasons to be whiny and annoying. 

3. Love triangles are a must. If you can, make sure that you give no reason why the romantic leads are in-love with each other. And then give the heroine a love-interest that absolutely adores her. Make sure that both boys love the girl, but the girl just loves one for no particular reason. Actually chemistry isn't necessary. See Hush, Hush, Twilight, and Fallen for abusive love triangles. They're just so much fun. But if you want to deprive your reader of that delicious voyeuristic experience, make both love interests as boring and bland as you see fit. 

4. Research popular trends. This is a must. If you see vampires are popular, don't write about them. You're and original creative being. Choose angels instead. Or better yet, demons. If you're feeling really adventurous, pick up a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Then randomly flip to any page. But make sure your beast has lips and is capable of having abs like a chiseled Greek god. Disregard the fact that most Greeks gods actually raped women when they wanted sex. That part isn't important. If you're stuck, skip to step six.

5. If you can't find something totally awesome, pick up a popular adult book. Or better yet, a movie. Make sure it's a really bad movie. One that bombed at the box office so no-one will know where you stole your plot. If you're trying to find really bad movies, search M. Night's catalog. Pick The Village. Don't research the history behind the movie. If you can, avoid the fact that M. Night was sued for plagiarism over that script. Your story can stand on its own. It just needs that one special thing.

6. If you don't know what special creature needs to be in your book, don't fret. Pick a number between one and ten. If you picked anything above five, you've got zombies on your hands. Anything below five, and you're wrestling with unicorns. If you picked five, you've got a boring contemporary novel on your hands. Human boys suck.

7. Use a plot generator. And make your story very predictable, but annoyingly ambiguous so you can leave room for a sequel. 

8. Don't spend a few weeks developing your characters.

9. Try your hand at being Dan Brown for a day. Create some lame conspiracies. 

10. Research is the bane of your existence. You don't have to actually read about your subject matter. Why read a fantasy novel if you're writing fantasy? That's just stupid. If you're writing about a post-apocalyptic world forget about logic. Don't even touch any other books. You're much better than those writers. Why spoil your creative juices with inspiration. What a disgusting word that is. If you're writing about angels and demons, don't you dare touch the bible. Stay far away from Paradise Lost, the Divine Comedy, or any of that sick canon that stunts your creativity. Same thing for zombies. Don't read or watch anything related to zombies. In fact, barely focus on the zombies at all. Your boring love triangle is much more interesting.

11. Think up an awesome title. Remember, that's the most important part. Once you've got the reader hooked on that, nothing else matters. 

12. Spend one week writing the novel. Better yet, take a page out of John Hughes book. Spend one day finishing that bad boy. 

13. Don't get anyone else to read it. They'd just give you that nasty thing called criticism. Just send it through spell check two or three times. That's all the editing you really need. 

14. Spend three weeks on the query. Make sure you only tighten the first page of your manuscript. Those are the most important parts. After all, teens these days just don't need decent literature. You're in this for the paycheck, remember?

15. Once you have your agent and your three book deal, make sure to suck up to your cover artist. Your book needs to look awesome for it to sell. 

16. Write up a few thin outlines for the rest of the trilogy and give it to your ghost writer. If you can, squeeze out a spin-off series.

17. Give ARCs to everyone you know. Make sure you bribe them to write good reviews.

18. Sit back and bathe in the awesomeness of having your book debut on the New York Times bestselling list. Watch the royalty checks come in and pad your pockets.

19. Sell your movie rights as fast as possible. 

20. Now that your book is mega-popular, take the time to read it over for the second time. Yes, this is the second time you've read that novel. Don't be embarrassed. It rocks. 

Thanks so much to Cory, the original poster (I think) Much needed laugh. Enjoy my tumblr friends x

#review #writing #funny #pointers #ya novels

[toasttz]

How to make games: RPGs

Hey! You like RPGs, right? If you don't I have to wonder how the hell you found FAN, given our two most-active subboards being vidya and tabletop RPGs, but, whatever! Let's, for the sake of argument, assume you like RPGs. If you don't, fuck off, Greg! ... I don't know anyone named Greg, I just wanted to see if I could screw with people named Greg. Anyways, RPGs, like the houses in Harry Potter, come in four distinct flavors: traditionalist, gonzo/comedy, h-game, and "Inspired by EarthBound/The Mother Trilogy". And much akin to Harry Potter, only two of these houses actually fucking matter and the other two are just hangers-on of different genres and ages. If you're going to waste the player's time by making your H-game an RPG, you are going about it entirely wrong. Please stop dumping this unabashed garbage-fire of a subgenre on Steam, the market is beyond saturation point and requires arm floaties to compensate. And for those of you who played/know of EarthBound and want to make a "spiritual successor"... just stop. Please for the love of God, stop. There never really was a demand for this kind of thing and EarthBound was not a commercial success, so just stop if you have any humanity left in you. I don't think I can stomach anymore fucking quirkiness after the last installment - anymore stuffed down my gullet and I'm gonna shit out a My Hero Academia OC next time my bowels move. So, in truth, you have two flavors of RPG: the traditionalist and the comedian routes and both can be equally terrible. Traditionalist RPGs range from the swords-n-sorcery setting found in Ultima, Dragon Quest, and good Final Fantasy installments to the sci-fi, cyberpunk, steampunk, and emo shit found in bad Final Fantasy installments - it's a wide gauntlet. The only prereq is that you take your own storytelling relatively seriously, with some level of gravity involved in the overall major story beats. Since traditionalist RPGs are made by people with crippling insecurities about change, and the game will largely succeed or fail on the quality of its characters, I'll go ahead and make your cast for you. I'll avoid giving them names so you can customize them: I mean, some people like their fantasy heroes to be named something like "Bulk McUlraeoth Sword Arm of Jupiter" and some people like their fantasy protags to be named "Jim". Who am I to judge your self-insert fanfiction? Sword McHero Man - The guy with short brown or black hair and a generic face done by a B-list manga-ka and, depending on if you want to make him a chillaxed everyman or an edgy edgelord, you can add or subtract belts, zippers, pouches, and black clothing items according to need. He'll almost always use a generic one-handed sword and have fairly short hair. If your game strongly favors an element system, he'll be either fire or light-affinity, but not have any actual strong convictions beyond the fact that he hates 'bad guys' and probably gets his head dunked in toilets by at least 3 NPCs in the starting town. Anything else about him is ultimately superfluous and interchangeable with the next Sword McHero Man over. Childhood McBestfriend - Oftentimes a female foil to the above, but not required by law to be so. Sometimes this doubles as Sword McHero Man's Suave Cool McLancer. They will usually fill a supplementary combat role in the party, either the thief or the healbot as the story requires. If they are the love interest, they are required to be Worst Waifu(TM) by law and be replaced as soon as a competent party member fills out the roster. Typically wind or water elemented in nature, they'll either help calm the hero-man down if he is the hotblooded sort, or cheer him up if he's currently got his head dunked in a toilet. Suave Cool McLancer - Either a rival or thematic foil of the hero and maybe a rival for Childhood McBestfriend's affections, depending on story necessity. He will be a more specialized unit, either the rogue, the heavy-armor knight, or the attack mage. If male, this character will be Best Hasbando and be incredibly pretty or horrifically scarred and/or disfigured with no potential in-betweens. If female, uncommon but not unheard-of, she'll be the team's big sis figure and likely the most powerful, physically speaking. Potential for Best Waifu(TM) is high, but can also potentially double as Back McStabberton. Back McStabberton - The dark, angsty, clearly-untrustworthy one who the player will see their betrayal coming from a mile off, but will completely blindside the naive heroes. Usually they'll have stats inconsistent with the party (being either over or under-powered depending on context) and clash with their bright, anime-esque color scheme by wearing blacks or dark purples. Either a thief or attack mage of some flavor. Almost universally a male or a "devilish handsome rogue" if they get redeemed at some point. If female, they will always be DOUBLE AGENTS acting with the hero's own good in mind and will promptly be forgiven. Usually dies before the game is out. Grandpa McTeacherperson - Some plot-pivotal character who exists to either give the party a special tool, weapon, or ability they wouldn't have gotten otherwise, or elsewise transfer their own talents to the party in some fashion. Virtually irrelevant as characters since these exist exclusively as jaded props to die off to make the villains' actions more personal. Please stop using this archetype or at least TRY to subvert it into something interesting, you talentless lazy fucks. Sexy McFaceTurn - Invariably one of the bad guy's hot ladies will see a boyish charm in the hero, even if the hero is supposed to be projected upon and therefore would actually have the social skills of a duck - or worse, me. What? I did that joke already? Fuck you, this joke's still more inspired than the Tales games RPGs. Anyways, upon getting wet for the hero, she will abandon her post and all its luxuries and join the party, clad in tight, black leather and probably using either knives or whips and will be your prereq dark-affinity character. She will be the sex appeal your game sells on, so be sure to slap her on all your promo materials even though she doesn't join until the mid-late game. Male versions of this idea die. I can't explain it - it's some straight-up Mr. Poofers dark magic, they just die. Annoying McMascot - Your game needs something bizarre to round the party out with. A talking dog is common. A fantasy creature with bright neon colors is also acceptable. Just make sure that players hate it with every fiber of their being. If the design alone isn't enough, give it an annoying speech habit - like a verbal tic or a lisp - and have it talk a lot and repeat the obvious a lot. It is by law that this must be implemented. However, unlike any of the above, this, coupled with the hero, cannot be killed off. And that should more or less do ya, unless you're the type who wanted to pour dozens upon dozens of dudes into your game. In which case, congrats, you understand that doing the absolute base minimum to be called a "game" isn't the bar you should be shooting for and therefore are already on your way to being better than Squeenix. Next, you need to get to codin'! So go on Steam and buy the latest RPG Maker software when it goes on sale. You won't need to wait long, between the Summer and Winter sales. Once you have that, you already have built-in art, music, and character makers. Fuck it - creativity is hard, so let the software tend to that itself. Make some characters and name some locations, jot up a map with some landmarks and treasure, then make a bad guy. Bad guy making is easy, they all wear black or dark reds and purples and tend to always call themselves "The [Whatever] Empire". You don't even need to be arsed to make a motivation for their evil schemes. Have you seen how much Fire Emblem Fates raked in just on the goodwill left over from Awakening? I'm surprised JRPGs aren't made by fucking algorithm these days! Anyways, that just about does it for the traditional RPG. Comedy RPGs aren't quite as bound to the above and are, in fact, encouraged to break the mold. If you need some ideas to get the creative juices flowin', there's a game you can try out, you might have heard about it since I haven't stopped fellating the damn thing since I did the LP back in 2013: Hourai High. Your plot doesn't need to make sense and is better off if any causality is merely coincidental. Your characters shouldn't really be trying to 'save the world', per se, but should do so by side-effect of their selfishness and/or incompetence. Your team should have robots, aliens, fucking CheetahMen, I don't fucking know, but take everything I said above this paragraph and throw it into a shredder, make it confetti, and wail on established convention! Sweet fucking mother - BE CREATIVE. I'm gonna temporarily break facade here for just a second and say this: you know how you bitched about Final Fantasy 15? How it's a fucking boyband music video with a fucking car commercial crammed in it?! How you hated the hallway simulator of FF13? How no one bought Bravely Second? How Dragon Quest keeps getting away with remaking the same fucking game?! Here's your chance. Flaunt on the establishment. Fuck what is "popular". Make something new. Don't try to be Shigesato Itoi. Do your own thing. Break the conditioning. Get out there and make a fucking game. Make it so when people say "RPG Maker Title" on Steam, they aren't saying it like it's a four-letter word. Put some God-damn soul into it, people! And now, off the soap box. Bonus points if you add a dating sim. Just saying. Rune Factory 5 just got announced. Now, get to work. Congrats. You now know how to be the most fucking boring milquetoast thing on the planet and how to avoid that ass-cancer and do something that actually expresses your individuality and possible talent. This is the one time I'm allowing these rants to be somewhat uplifting. You're welcome.

#satire #comedy #RPG #video games #games

[laracastrowrites]

EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THE GRISHA TRILOGY

*Spoiler Alert: is Mal*

I’m going to start with a story:

There was a girl who heard wonderful things about Six of Crows, so this girl decided that she wanted to read Six of Crows. But then, she knew Six of Crows was a dualogy passed in the same universe of another series: The Grisha Trilogy. The girl found herself conflicted and in doubt cause she heard from people she trusted a lot of mixture things about The Grisha Trilogy and she didn’t know if it was worth to read the trilogy before Six of Crows or if the trilogy was worth of reading at all. But then, having some experience with extended universes (being a big fan of The Shadowhunter Chronicles for instance), she decided to give the trilogy a chance. She knew the subjects of critiques towards the series, that being: the main romance, a certain character that was the main romantic paring for the protagonist, and the ending. The girl thought that maybe she could have had a different opinion of the majority, of course, so that thought encouraged her even more. But turned out that, after the girl finished reading the trilogy, she realized with bitterness that everyone was right, and worse: she found out for herself that the ending was even more upsetting than she first pictured and could ever imagined. And well… surprise surprise the girl was me.

I mean, let’s start with the worst of the worst (that actually leads to everything else): Mal is a weak character. And this is a fact, I don’t make the rules. He is bland, he is plain, he is generic, he has no depth, he is a complete mediocre character that maybe if the author had had made justice for his mediocrity instead of trying so hard to make him relevant could have worked better. He should have been that first crush that the protagonist at some point got over with. Or maybe he and the protagonist should have stayed just friends, with no *FORCED* romance getting pushed down the readers’ throats. Or maybe he shouldn’t even exist (I personally think that’d be better actually).

Mal is the Riley Finn of Buffy y’all know? (a fuckboy version of an alternate universe anyway, but well…) The bland uninteresting common white guy that when the writers try to complicate (to maybe make him interesting or less boring), just become this annoying, whinny, sexist douche no one can stand. I mean, they are so alike that once I couldn’t picture Mal in my head (consequence of being generic cause I usually picture characters as total unique people that just exist there in my head), I started to imagine him as Marc Blucas (damn it, the first book character that I had to make a fan casting to imagine him, and that is not a good sign). But at least in Riley’s case, he had his dance, he had his time and at some point that time was over and he went away (thank god), and badass Buffy ended up single *need no men* just her and her awesomeness sticking together (IMAGINE that happening with Alina uh? What a concept…). But well, for some mysterious reason that I will never understand (that just makes sense in LB’s head I guess) Leigh Bardugo thought it was a great idea for her Buffy to end up with her Riley… SRSLY THO WHO THAT FUCK WANTED BUFFY TO END UP WITH RILEY?! (If you did, don’t talk to me. Ever. tyvm)

- Gif above is the perfect picture of my Mal

And well, how about we move on to the romance, shall we?

Alina and Mal, Mal and Alina… First of all: they have NO chemistry whatsoever, their scenes together bores me to death or annoys me to the point I want to throw my book on the wall (in this case, e-book actually), Mal has NOTHING to do with Alina’s character development, actually, he just pushes her development back (the girl guarded her powers in because of this plague ffs!), she is fragile and in constant doubt next to him, he makes her fell bad about herself, about her being powerful, makes her doubt her decisions, makes her fell bad for wanting more and be more and be ambitious and do something with her life that doesn’t evolve around him, makes her fell bad for not need him anymore, to protect her or to live her life (and if that sounds kind of abusive, well… is because it is; and dont @ me to say the Darkling was abusive too because NO KIDDING?! I KNOW! EVERYONE KNOWS! But the thing is: the Darkling is far from our reality, even his abusive tendencies were very unique from that fantasy world, but Mal’s case knocks very close to home, so which one we should be more worried about? And besides, it’s not like the narrative doesn’t properly address the Darkling’s fuck ups or try to justify them, but I can’t say the same about Mal tho), so what that freajldjufnmdkasjcjahuuygdcauygefkahfeoçaijdçaomdafoh????????????????? How the heck she (I mean, LB) thought it was a good idea to go on with this stupid hetero nonsense of relationship??? I keep wondering: was there no one, no beta reader, no editor, no…smart critical person next to her to say “girl… What Is It That You’re DOING??? This romance is bullsh*t!!!!” (didn’t need to be exactly with those words but…you got the idea)

I think that probably in LB’S head, Malina was the perfect beautiful angsty worthy romance, but you know… That worked well just in her head. When put down on paper it just didn’t work (Mal in general just didn’t work). And even then, she still kept insisting, pushing this annoying nonsense ship down our throats, until she killed all Alina’s character development and resurrected the plague so they could be together, and even trying to sell us that as a happy ending (just with some sacrifices and losses, but still happy ya know) pfff  ¬¬

And btw THAT ending… If there was an ending that pisses me off more I can’t tell right now cause I don’t think it exists… Like as robbing Alina’s powers wasn’t enough, she resurrected the rat and transformed Alina in a housewife to live a mediocre life aside (or should I say behind?) a mediocre husband, killing off all of her protagonist character development (just a side note here that there’s nothing wrong in being a housewife, the problem of Alina’s housewifeness comes from whom she’s been housewifed with, for instance…and the fact that being a housewife had nothing to do with her character development either lbh), like, tell me of a more shitty treatment to give to your protagonist, I’ll wait…

And I find hilarious a person who tried to push The Humble Legend Uncle Iroh to try to justify that ending (like it was total the same thing!!!!!), like bish don’t you even dare!!!!!!! Uncle Iroh developed and learned humbleness throughout his life, he learned to appreciate the simplicity of life because he had his development to arrive at this point, now tell me: did Alina learn humbleness? Did Alina learn to appreciate a simple life through character development? Of course the answer is no, she did not, to any of the questions. She was TAKEN, ROBBED from power, like a punishment for being greedy. She didn’t learn humbleness (btw, my headcanons just work exactly because she haven’t learned humbleness) cause her character development was going in a total different direction and she was punished for it, so she settled for a simple life… Alina gave up on power not because it was HER CHOICE, but because she was taken from it, there was NO power anymore, so of course she didn’t learn anything, no character development came from it, rather what came was a character development’s assassination. What made Uncle Iroh be the humble legend he is? Well, it’s not because he had no power (meaning, it’s not the same as Alina’s case), but exactly the opposite: he HAD power, he was extremely powerful, the thing is: he CHOSE not to use his power because he learned humbleness, he learned to give up pride, he learned not to be greedy. The author might try to tell Alina’s loss of power was a “sacrifice” or the “loss” she needed, but it was clearly a punishment, and a punishment she did not deserve. Alina was punished in the level of The Fire Lord Ozai punishment without even being on that level! Why not take the Darkling’s powers then?! He was closer to The Fire Lord Ozai’s level! (Even though Fire Lord Ozai was clearly an alt-rightist and Darkles was a leftist, especially considering that benders didn’t suffer prejudice for being benders like the grishas, but anyway…) LB didn’t even give Alina a chance to see what she would do with more power (probably because she knew Alina was as greedy and ambitious as the Darkling [as we all know] and instead of trying to explore this, she preferred not to give Alina even a chance… *Alina darling I’m so sorry*), and of course, she wanted to make Malina happen, and I don’t know which one is worse…and of course to make Malina happen, she had to downgrade Alina to Mal’s level, and again, I don’t know what is worse… All that idea to tell a story of a “common boy and common girl” should have been thrown in the trash after a good analysis of Alina’s journey lbh. 

So yeah, what is wrong with TGT is Mal and everything that comes with him: his romance with Alina, his mediocrity and the effort that LB puts to make him relevant (so ironic that the only way she found to explain his function in the plot was linking him to the villain lol) even tho he should have been just a phase (or nothing), and I needed to make this rant to take this out of my system (or at least try to), cause DAMN if this trilogy had potential… I mean, I still like it and I clearly care about it, but I’ll never not be bitter nor angry about what was wasted…

P.S.: I read a post today of an artist that “inspired” me to write this (or better saying, put me in my ranty mood) so if anyone is interested in read that is here (I like the artist btw and everyone has your right to have your own opinion, so that is her opinion and her feelings and here I’m expressing my opinion and my feelings, fell free to disagree *even tho I’m with the majority now, so I think few people will disagree but unfortunately, I don’t fell like a winner…wonder why…*)

P.S.S: Mal’s timid character development in R&R wasn’t enough to make of him an interesting, compelling or decent character, he was still the least interesting character there that I didn’t care about at all and besides, I doubt of the bottom of my heart that his sexist doucheness went away with that development tbvh so…  

#the grisha trilogy #anti mal #anti malware #alina starkov #the darkling #sun summoner #aleksander morozova #grishaverse #six of crows #tgt #rant #personal rant #anti malyen

[bookcoversalt]

[banging pots and pans together rhythmically, while chanting] BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD

Can anyone tell me why one of the most famous fantasy series of all time has been made to look like an easy-reader series based on a low-budget 3-d animated children’s tv show? The type and the imagery are both being Bad in specific ways, so first, let’s just address that the imagery is L A M E  A S  H E C K. Look how boring those are! How nonspecific! The dragon is okay, and the bird I GUESS is fine, but as a group, this is the illustrative equivalent of oatmeal. And not even a satisfying portion of it. Like a half-serving of oatmeal. And the oatmeal is using an excessive number of textures in a desperate attempt to balance the design. The oatmeal fails. The pictures don’t even make up a coherent visual collective: the detail work and lighting on the...... collar........ thing..... on the second one looks totally out of place next to the ~softly lit~ dragon + hill (?) below it.

But ultimately, you could still have a good design around weak imagery. My problems with these covers lie mostly with the type. 

I’ve only really ever talked standalones, or first covers of first books in a series or trilogy; cover design for a series as a whole this isn’t something we’ve addressed before. When designing a series, you have to take into account a) how the different covers work together as a cohesive whole, which includes deciding which specific elements must/can change vs stay the same book to book, and b) how to balance the title of the book with the name of the series. We’ve already addressed that the illustrations don’t gel, so my focus is on the second point. In most current YA or adult series, this is a non-issue. It gets thrown in as a tiny tagline with no visual weight if it gets thrown in at all, and that works fine, because the designs are clear that the books go together. Even the Throne of Glass cover gets that right.

Middle grade covers are a different story, though. Series for younger readers are much more likely to make the series name a “logo” and give it a central focus (for a variety of reasons I won’t get into because they’re all sort of intuitively obvious):

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is always presented in the same way, with precedence over the secondary title.

Same for The School for Good and Evil, and those are just two random examples of a bunch I could have pulled. (Sidebar: I would lowkey sell my soul for more YA covers to be illustrated like SFGE. but whatever.)

But my personal guess is that this nonsense and its application above (Ugh. why the beveling effect/grunge texture? This isn’t a movie poster):

comes from a desire to mimic The Grandaddy of Making Ur Series Name Into A Logo And Being Absurdly Successful At It:

For another case study, the Percy jackson series, which originally did not have a “logo,” is getting one to capitalize on its now-famous brand:

(very cool how all the illustrations lead into each other. And really, really nice color palette.)

In all four examples, the big series name works because it’s a balanced part of a cohesive illustration/design. For Wimpy Kid and Harry Potter, that includes having the ability to change its color to suit the rest of the cover, and the fact that the secondary title’s presentation changes each time to add variety and interest. For the school of good and evil and PJO, the logo and secondary title presentation stay the same, and it works because they’re relatively low-weight elements of complicated, dynamic illustrations that change around them.

The text on these suckers:

Is completely static in color and presentation, and super super heavy within each design, competing with imagery way too low-impact to balance it out.

It’s bad, and, worse, boring.

The other thing you’ll notice about my four examples is that the series name is much, much bigger/heavier than the secondary titles, on all of them. I had to hunt for the PJO secondary titles (They’re at the bottom). That’s kind of the deal you make when you chose the LOGO route: you’re saying the fact that this is a series matters more than the individual books. You can’t have really big titles and a really big series name if you also have imagery on your cover, because a design literally only has so much emphasis to go around. The earthsea covers would automatically work 40% better if the individual book titles were about half the size they are now, so that they weren’t actively competing with the earthsea logo.

But that solution just shows how disingenuous of a design approach this has been for the series from conception. Correct me if I’m wrong, because I’ve only read the first, but I don’t think the Earthsea books form a greater narrative the way Harry Potter or PJO does--the books’ individual identities are more important than their status as a series. And they’re classic fantasy literature, people know these books. So it should really be that dumb Earthsea logo that gets shrunk way, way way way down or eliminated to give precedence to the title/ imagery/ author, a la the original PJO covers

Or, as we said earlier, most non-mg series period

The only reason I can think of for this ugly ass Earthsea redesign is that they’re trying to get younger readers to pick it up. But even if that’s the case YOU CAN DO SOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER. DO YOU THINK CHILDREN ARE BLIND? DO YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF BOMB-ASS ILLUSTRATION YOU’RE UP AGAINST IN THE CURRENT MIDDLE GRADE MARKET?

Final note: 

(oh my god, it’s so ugly up close. that drop shadow. the textures. hold me.) That little glowey gradient/ lens flare thing in the middle of EARTHSEA is deeply offensive. One of the covers series for the Ranger’s apprentice does the same thing and i hATE IT. IT’S SO SO SO TACKY. ARGHHHHHHHH

Anyway, there’s about 8 million GOOD, or at least vintage and fun, covers for the earthsea cycle so let’s look at some to make ourselves happier.

also, if you missed it, this beauty

#i got carried away with this one #the wizard of earthsea #earthsea #bookcoversalt

[daniellethamasa]

Hey all, Dani here.

A few months ago I did a wintery atmosphere recommendations post, and when I was trying to plan out my posts for March and April, I realized that I had had fun making the seasonal recommendation post, so why not try to keep going with it. So here we are, at the spring atmosphere recommendations.

Now, what makes for a spring atmosphere pick for me? Well, I find spring to sometimes be light and fun, and sometimes I find them to be books with a sense of hope for better times. Spring is that burst of brightness after the dreariness of winter, that inviting warmth leading us to the heat of summertime. So I wanted my books to reflect that.

Okay, first I need to talk about Donaya Haymond’s book Seasons Turning. I have been a long-time fan of this book, since long before it was in a bound print format. Also, this one definitely makes use of all of the seasons, but Spring herself is one of the main characters, so it feels even more appropriate for this list.

Next, I suppose it is natural to add romantic stories to a spring atmosphere story, but I also like my romances to have a little bit of magic in them. Fine, I do read non-fantastical contemporary or historical romances sometimes too. But this book, Heartstone by Ell Katharine White, is Pride and Prejudice meets dragon riders, and honestly I feel like that’s all I need to say to sell this book. I originally thought it was a standalone, but then learned it is a trilogy. The final book is out now (and I still need to read it), but I adore this book so much.

Then I have a couple of contemporaries to talk about. One is a cute YA contemporary romance that features fantasy without actually being a fantasy book. I’m talking about Now A Major Motion Picture by Cori McCarthy. The main characters are the granddaughter of a famous fantasy author and the actor cast in the lead role of the book’s film adaptation. It’s a fantastic story, one that I got so distracted reading while at work that I ended up losing track of time and coming back from break late. oops. Also, somehow I never wrote a review for this book, which is upsetting. I guess I’m going to have to re-read it so I can write up a nice review.

Finally for this grouping I have Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia. This book spoke to the creative being within me. Eliza is an artist and online content creator, and things get a bit complicated when one of her biggest fans turns out to be the new kid at her school. Of course nobody knows she’s the creator of this awesome web comic. It’s a cute and inspiring romance that I feel touches the soul of all of us who create artistic content.

First up for this grouping is The Philosopher’s Flight by Tom Miller. Whoa, actually this particular grouping are the only male authors in this whole list, but they are both extraordinary, so I feel good about recommending them. In this alternative history book with a little bit of magic/science, our main character wants to be a flier, a job that is solely filled with women. It is an uphill struggle for him to achieve his dream, but following his story just made me hope for better things to come.

And to wrap up this section, I need to talk about the Princess series by Jim C. Hines. Obviously, I find fairy tale stories and fairy tale twists or fairy tale retellings to be full of hope and eventual happiness. Well…this series is and isn’t that feeling. These books start after “happily ever after” has happened. So Cinderella has married her prince, Sleeping Beauty has been woken from her slumber (same with Snow White). But these stories have darker twists to them, and our heroines have more adventure they still need to accomplish…and some happiness and new happy endings can be found along the way. Also…I totally ship Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, because yes, that is a thing in this series. I love it so much.

I mentioned it earlier, but springtime is when I turn to romance more than most other seasons. Well, sometimes winter, but that’s just because I think that cute or steamy romances make me feel all warm inside. Anyway, there are a number of Christina Lauren books I could recommend here, but I’m going to pick My Favorite Half-Night Stand because of all of the co-author duo’s books I’ve read so far, this one seemed the most light hearted and fun to me. Plus it has friends-to-lovers and a love triangle that really is more of a secret identity thing, and I just really had a good time reading it.

If you want cute and heart-warming look no further than Catana Comics. You can follow these comics on Facebook or Instagram, but there are now two bound books that have been released, which feature several comics that were not released online. Follow Catana and John through adorable day-to-day romantic moments and every day moments. These are just adorable, and so darn relatable.

Obviously if you want a fun read, why not try a hilarious historical read. This is a book that is totally fine being not at all serious and sort of making fun of itself. So don’t go into this looking for something mostly serious with moments of humor. I should know; it took me three tries to finally read all the way through this book and enjoy it. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows (known as The Lady Janies) is definitely that light and fun read for your spring mood.

And the final book I have on my recommendations list is Again, But Better by Christine Riccio. Bonus points: it takes place during the spring semester of a year in college, so definitely appropriate for a spring atmosphere recommendations post. This is endearing and relatable and pretty fun, honestly. I actually probably need to re-read this time, and now would be a pretty good time to do so.

Hmm…actually you know what, spring also makes me think of flowers blooming, and that makes me think of cherry blossoms…which then gives me two books I need to recommend solely based on the mental image of cherry blossoms flowering.

Shadow of the Fox takes place in a fantasy world inspired by Japanese mythology, and Wicked Fox is basically a K-Drama, but they both just come to mind when I think about cherry blossoms. Plus they have good mythology, fox-shifting leading ladies, and a definite emphasis on good food, which always makes for a good recommendation.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Feel free to recommend your own spring atmosphere books in the comments. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I will be back soon with more bookish content.

Recommendations: Spring Atmosphere Hey all, Dani here. A few months ago I did a wintery atmosphere recommendations post, and when I was trying to plan out my posts for March and April, I realized that I had had fun making the seasonal recommendation post, so why not try to keep going with it.

#Books! #Reading #Reading Challenge #Recommendations

[markgottliebliteraryagent]

Eisner Award & YALSA-nominated Graphic Novelist Jason Walz

Jason Walz is an Eisner Award-nominated comic and graphic novel creator living in Minneapolis. He is the author of several comics and graphic novels, including the Last Pick trilogy and Homesick. Last Pick was a Kirkus Reviews Best YA Science Fiction of 2018 Selection and a YALSA 2019 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Nominee.

What initially drew you to comic book arts and what do you feel the graphic novel medium affords authors and illustrators?

I grew up in the middle of Kentucky fairly well isolated from a lot of exposure to things outside that farmland. The closest movie theater was just under and hour away, and there were no bookstores nearby. It didn't take long to discover and fall in love with the comic book spinner rack that eventually got setup near the register at our local grocery store. Waiting for me every week were stories full of fantastic myths and strange new worlds. There was no hope for me after this. I was all in.

I loved (and still love) science fiction and fantasy movies, and I always dreamed of being part of that creative process someday. Flash forward through the many years I spent painting and making movies on a cheap camera with my friends, and I finally realized that I wasn't having that much fun painting, and that my movies were pretty terrible. I wanted to tell the stories in my head, but they were too stagnant on a single canvas and basically unwatchable as movies. Once I began making my own comics, I felt an unbelievable freedom to tell visual stories without feeling constrained or compromised. My comic book storytelling style is as much influenced by Spielberg or Lucas as it is by Eisner or Kirby.

Before writing Last Pick, which features various characters with disabilities, your background was in special education. Do you think that working in that space has lent some authenticity to your characters and writing about the importance of not minimizing the worth of others?

I can say that because of my experience working with students with disabilities for so many years, I have certainly gone into these books with the best of intentions, and that I had two clear objectives in mind. First, I wanted to create a character on the autism spectrum that felt like a fully realized human being. Too often in fiction, those with autism are built out of tropes that in my opinion do more harm than good when showing other perspectives. How often have we seen someone with autism as having nearly superhuman intelligence, or a purity of heart that lets those around him/her to learn lessons about themselves? Many times those with autism are depicted as burdens on those around them, or unable to show emotion. I wanted to a character that certainly expressed traits of autism in his actions and thoughts, but more than anything, I wanted him to be fully human.

“...I hoped to get across in these books was the need for our society to do quite a bit more when it comes to truly making space in our world for those with disabilities.”

The second thing that I hoped to get across in these books was the need for our society to do quite a bit more when it comes to truly making space in our world for those with disabilities. Most of my teaching jobs have been in transitions programs where I focused on daily living skills, and job skills. I helped my students get volunteer work so that they could practice the routines of a work day while adjusting to the expectations that a boss places on an employee. They worked really hard and would have been fantastic employees at a variety of different jobs, but more often than not, it was extremely difficult to convince workplaces to hire those with autism. Everyone seems to have the best of intentions, but many are still unwilling or unable to make minor modifications to the workplace to help those with autism successfully compete in the workplace. These experiences were the early kernels of ideas that eventually defined the aliens in Last Pick. They are the clear analogy (taken to the extreme) for our society when we don't take the time to see the value within every human life.

The evil alien robots from your graphic novel Last Pick communicate primarily in emjois. How did you arrive at that idea and was that an artistic choice with a purpose behind it?

I always imagined that if aliens ever explored society on earth as it currently is, one of their first points of focus would be on how we now use emojis to communicate with one another. It would be a bit like how we pour over cave drawing and try to decipher how civilizations lived in the past when might understand so little regarding the rest of their lives at that time.

I also wondered if the aliens in Last Pick might use these emojis in a condescending way since they are truly despicable creatures. The idea that these massive robotic Scoopers show up on our planet to take humans away is terrifying enough, but the fact that each one has a unique and seemingly innocuous emoji staring down on you as they search the landscape seemed even more horrific to me.

How has the school and library market responded to your graphic novel?

Fantastic! Once your book is out into the world, it's often difficult to gauge how well it's selling, and it's often the school and library markets that are the first sign for a Young Adult novel regarding how well it is connecting with readers. It's here that the reviews and recommendations really count. So far I'm extremely happy with how well it has been received, and some of my favorite experiences have been stepping back into schools and talking to students about storytelling and comics in general. You'll know pretty quickly if your intended YA audience for a book isn't connecting. Kids and teens have little patience for media that doesn't connect with them. When it does connect, you really need to rely on the schools and libraries to help get your work in front of their eyes.

“...I've learned how much easier it is to have the support and guidance of a well oiled machine working with you.”

What have you learned from the experience of having your major debut graphic novel published at the level of a big five publishing house?

First and foremost, I've learned how much easier it is to have the support and guidance of a well oiled machine working with you. The team over at First Second Books has been fantastic. They know how to get a book out into the world the right way, and it's so nice for me to be able to put my trust in them and to just put in the hard work of creating the pages.

I've also learned a bit of humility. It's rare in life that an opportunity comes along that suddenly makes everything easier, and expecting that to happen is a surefire way to live your life constantly wanting more. Getting your book put out through a large publisher certainly does put a spotlight on you work like never before, but it has been important for me to also learn that there are thousands of spotlights beaming down on new books at any given time. Like most things in life, success is defined by each individual, and if you decide that success should be defined any other way you might be setting yourself up for disappointment and anxiety. A larger stage with a larger audience doesn't always mean you've got the next bestseller. Sometimes it's just another step toward building an audience.

“...the drawings help tell the story in ways that I wouldn't be able to do with just writing.”

Writing a book is hard enough. Does writing and illustrating a graphic novel up the ante? How much time and dedication does that take?

This is a question that I've gotten quite a bit recently. The writers out there that don't also illustrate believe that what I do must add an extra layer of difficulty, but I have to say that I don't believe that's true. For me, the drawings help tell the story in ways that I wouldn't be able to do with just writing. It's not easy for me to establish and flesh out an entire scene full of believable characters and environments through only words. Rather than taking a few paragraphs to create a sense of what is happening in the story, I can sometimes get that same information across within a single comic panel through only background images and body language.

For me to sit in front of a blank screen with a blinking cursor that's just waiting for me to create a world through only text would take so much more dedication from me than just sitting in front of a blank drawing page.

You’ve mentioned that Craig Thompson’s Space Dumplins was a big influence for you. Others have expressed that they see inklings of Judd Wick’s Hilo in Last Pick. Are there any other graphic novelists or comic books that have influenced you?

Craig Thompson is a big one. His graphic novel, Blankets, is a stunning work of art, and a beautiful and honest autobiography. Because it's so phenomenal, there's little that I would ever attempt to replicate from it, but it has informed my storytelling in the sense that the emotional journey for my characters is more important to me than the plot devices that move the story along. I try to shake off as much irony as possible and to let the heart of the characters show through. I'm attracted to writers that aren't afraid of exploring "love" and "being in love" in a positive way.

Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise is another good example of this. If you've ever read it through, you might remember that it's full of fantastic action set pieces and international intrigue, but what resonates and stays with me always is the love story at the core of all the drama. It's honest and beautiful. If I can incorporate even a small portion of that into my own work, then I'm completely satisfied that I've created the type of comic that I'm drawn to (pun intended?).

How did you obtain your current literary representation and how did you go on to get published?

I had been a full-time teacher for the past fourteen years within special education. I really loved that job, but I also loved making comics. Splitting my energy and time between those two jobs while also focusing on my family began to take its toll on me. I needed to either just teach, or just make comics. With that in mind, I put together the early ideas for Last Pick as a final effort to reach out to the larger publishers. As luck would have it, you, Mark Gottlieb at the Trident Media Group literary agency contacted me out of the blue around that same time.

You were a fan of my first published graphic novel, Homesick, and offered me representation right away. I remember opening that email when I probably should have been paying attention during a staff meeting after the students had gone home. I couldn't believe what I was reading. The illusive agent representation was finally going to happen! I quickly researched the other authors that you represented and knew this was my best opportunity yet to focus on comics as my primary job.

“...things came together so quickly after fighting so hard to get my previous comics and graphic novels out into the world.”

Within weeks, we had the pitch for Last Pick put together and in the hands of some of my favorite publishers on the planet. Within months, I was working from home full-time and beginning to put the first graphic novel of a three book series together. There's no way for me to accurately explain how fortunate I felt and how shocked I was that things came together so quickly after fighting so hard to get my previous comics and graphic novels out into the world.

Do you have any advice for aspiring comic book creators or graphic novelists?

I do! It's the best advice that has ever been given to me. When I was working on my first graphic novel, I was feeling overwhelmed and full of self-doubt. An artist friend of mine told me to "just finish it". Simple right?

The thing is, there's a good chance that what you create will never be exactly as you hoped. It may never live up to the spectacular story that you envisioned in your mind before you ever began. You'll be tempted to just quit. Don't. Once you've completed a comic or graphic novel, you can now call yourself a cartoonist, or graphic novelist, or writer, or whatever other title you think is appropriate. You've done it! You've entered the clubhouse, and once there, you now have a bit of access to other creators out there that you can share your work with. It feels really good, and it makes sitting down to start the next one so much easier.

Can you give us a little preview or snippet of what you’re working on for your next graphic novel series or standalone title? Or can you tell us what’s to come next in Last Pick 2?

The second book comes out in October, 2019, and it's called Last Pick: Born to Run. What I can tell you is that the book switches between Wyatt and Sam's story as they both struggle for survival and try their best to escape their horrific situations. Even though they are a universe apart, their love for each other connects their two adventures together as they rise up against even more ruthless aliens and higher stakes then ever before. There's more action than ever, but I'm most excited about seeing these two characters come into their own now that they're separated and seeing how they build new relationships now that their previous ones have been stripped away.

#JasonWalz #FirstSecond #MacmillanChildrensPublishingGroup #MacKids #LastPick #BorntoRun #Graphicnovel #Comics #Comicbook #YA #YoungAdult #YALSA #EisnerAward #TridentMediaGroupLiteraryAgentMarkGottlieb

#jasonwaltz #firstsecond #macmillianchildresnpublishinggroup #mackids #lastpick #borntorun #graphicnovel #comics #comicbook #ya #youngadult #yalsa eisneraward #TridentMediaGroup #literaryagentmarkgottlieb