There is no shame in an honest day’s work. No reason to lower your eyes and refuse to answer when someone asked you what you did for a living; no reason to feel like wiping a counter or turning a wrench made you somehow lesser, made you somehow inferior. Len knows all who labor, whatever color their collar happens to be, and he loves them all with equal grace. White collar, blue collar, the occasional butcher or surgeon who considers themselves blurred all the way into red collar, they are all his children.
He also loves those who aspire to leave his grace, the artists and authors who dream of making their muse their master, riding their passion all the way to plenty; the ones who dream with genuine delight of the day they can marry and retire, staying home to raise a family, doing the hard work of education and nurturing while someone else serves in Len’s temples. He loves them knowing they want nothing more than to leave him behind, one more forgotten god on a life path littered with unneeded theologies and thrown-aside prayers.
He has room for them all, and he knows there will always be another, because there is always work to be done, and always hands to do it. He would prefer that all who work beneath his banner be there of their own free will. He knows that isn’t the case, and those are the only prayers that he regrets. The compelled. The captive. The nonconsensual. He cannot free them from his temples, must depend on human hands to untie the knots and undo the locks, but he can hope for them, and he can answer them as kindly as his nature allows.
Len loves the workers. Len loves the union man. And Len loves an unvoided warranty. Take care of what you own, Len begs, or be without.
Len loves you, too.
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Mari Lwyd meme.
“I wish all [PEOPLE WHO HAVE HOUSES]
A very [LET ME IN]”
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"'think of the children' always gets support unless what you're thinking about is leaving them with a better world. Somehow, we never need to think of the children when we're talking about climate change, or preventing pandemic diseases, or anything else that costs money. But here we are." - Unbreakable by Mira Grant.
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Family portrait
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Quentin, buddy, you are in the wrong book series.
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The Twitter Mari Lwyd sagas (2019)
So way back in 2019, @seananmcguire and @tkingfisher (and also later @kbspangler) got into a whole poetry/rap battle involving the poor Mari Lwyd (played by Seanan) just trying to get some cheese from Ursula's stores. This went on for a few years, and I can't find transcribed sources, only screenshots.
So, with X/Twitter being What It Is, I wanted a text source to exist. CW for food, alcohol, and all the caps, and full credit to the authors. If you want the original source it's here.
Seanan:
WE'RE HERE TO SAY PLEASE
WON'T YOU GIVE US SOME CHEESE
SOME CHEESE AND SOME BRANDY OR PORT.
THIS FESTIVE HORSE SKULL
HAS BEEN SHOVED ON A POLE
SO GRANT ME YOUR FINEST RETORT.
Ursula:
BEGONE WITH YOUR POLE
(YOU CAN LEAVE THE NEAT SKULL)
DEMANDING MY FOOD IS EXTORTION
FOR CHEESE IS QUITE DEAR
AND WILL BE WORSE NEXT YEAR
AND I CAN’T SPARE YOU EVEN A PORTION
Seanan:
IF IT'S HEAD FOR A HEAD,
I COULD TAKE YOURS INSTEAD,
THAT SEEMS LIKE A TRADE THAT'S QUITE FAIR
BUT DECAPITATION
REQUIRES CONTEMPLATION,
I'D RATHER THAT CHEESE OVER THERE.
Ursula:
YOU COME ‘ROUND WITH THE BITS
OF A HORSE THAT IS QUITS
DEMANDING I GIVE YOU MY CHEDDAR
BUT HEY, YOU HAVE SAID,
AT LEAST IT’S NOT MY HEAD—
I’M SUPPOSED TO THINK THIS IS BETTER!?
Seanan:
I AM NOT A QUITTER,
NO NEED TO BE BITTER,
AND I'D TAKE YOUR GOUDA OR BRIE.
YOU ASKED FOR MY HEAD,
THINKING THAT SINCE I'M DEAD
YOU COULD JUST KIDNAP PIECES OF ME.
I HAVE INFINITE TIME
AND THE PATIENCE TO RHYME
AND I'LL STAND HERE LIMITLESSLY.
Ursula:
AND WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT
ON NOT-QUITE-LONGEST-NIGHT
TO MAKE FREE WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S CHEESES?
YOU THINK ‘COS YOU SHOW
WITH A WEIRD SKULL IN TOW
IT CAN ASK FOR WHATEVER IT PLEASES?
Seanan:
THAT'S JUST WHAT I THINK,
GIVE ME CHEESE, GIVE ME DRINK,
AND I'LL NO MORE CAST DARK ON YOUR DOOR.
I'M NO TINSEL OR TREE,
I'M CELEBRATORY
OF SURVIVAL ON HEATH AND IN MOOR.
Ursula:
THERE’S NO HEATH AND NO MOOR
BETWEEN HERE AND THE SHORE
I COULD MAYBE GET YOU A BOG
IN LIEU OF MY BRIE
WHICH I’M HOARDING FOR ME
WHAT IF—LOOK, SEANAN! A FROG!
Seanan:
THAT WAS JUST DIRTY POOL,
AND YOU KNOW THERE'S NO RULE
THAT SAYS I CAN'T LEAVE AND COME BACK.
NOW THERE'S MUD ON MY SHOES
I WON'T LET YOU REFUSE
THIS FESTIVE DIGESTIVE ATTACK.
Ursula:
ALL’S FAIR, SO THEY SAY
WHEN CHEESE IS IN PLAY
ALTHOUGH I ADMIT TO DECEPTION
WHILE YOU CHASED A FROG
I SCARFED THAT CHEESE LOG
AT PERSONAL COST TO DIGESTION
Seanan:
THEN I'LL COME FOR YOUR BOOZE
I'M NOT LONGING TO LOSE,
AND THIS IS THE HOLIDAY SEASON.
I'LL STAND HERE AND SING
AS THE MORRIS BELLS RING
AND YOUR GUTS CONTEMPLATE CHOOSING TREASON.
Ursula:
I’VE NO BRANDY NOR GIN
THE SCOTCH STORES ARE THIN
BUT OF A SOLUTION I’M THINKIN’
THIS HOUSE’S LIBATION
AGAVE’S CREATION
WILL NEVERTHELESS GET YOU STINKIN’
IF IT’S BOOZE THAT YOU’RE FOR
BONE HORSE FROM THE MOOR
IT’S TEQUILA THAT WE WILL BE DRINKIN’
Seanan:
WE'LL GET HAMMERED LIKE BOARDS
WHEN THE LIQUOR GETS POURED,
THEY'LL ASSEMBLE US LIKE WE'RE IKEA.
THERE ARE WORSE THINGS TO DO
THAN START DRINKING WITH YOU.
I'M SO HAPPY THAT I CAME TO SEE YA.
Ursula:
I LOVE EVERY ENTITY IN THIS BAR
*falls down*
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Yay @seananmcguire !!!
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Character, author, and book names under the cut
Kade Bronson- Wayward Children Series by Seanan McGuire
Neil Josten- All for the Game by Nora Sakavic
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New short story collection by Seanan McGuire coming out!
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If you are looking for a creepy ghost story based ON a ghost story that mixes the afterlife, folklore from many different cultures, and a very funny, sardonic, and brave heroine, you will like Sparrow Hill Road.
Have you heard the ghost story about a young girl hitchhiking on a lonely road, and when she's picked up, the driver loans her a coat or a jacket? And then she disappears, and he finds the jacket on her headstone or somewhere weird? That's the story that Rose is based on.
This was the book I discovered in the May 2014 Romantic Times Rewind that I most wanted to read, and it was excellent.
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October Daye Series
Does anyone know the birth order of Titania's children? I swear that in the Unkindest Tide the Luidaig says that Captain Pete is Titania's oldest
"Count Lorden, you may know her better by her given name: Amphitrite, Firstborn daughter of Titania and Oberon, Mother of the Merrow."
But I know Eira/Evening has been referenced as her oldest a ton of times. Is it a typo or am i missing something? At first I thought they were from different lines, but Amphitrite is Titanias since maeve's children accepted her as their own before they realized that she was one of Titania's.
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“It all started with a mouse,” that’s what they like to say, over and over again, like it’s somehow impressive. You know what else started with a mouse? A hell of a lot of hantavirus, that’s what. You have mice, you generally call an exterminator, that’s all I’m saying. But it won’t do you a lot of good, because the mice will get in anyway. Or get out. Can’t keep mice in cages forever. That’s not what mice were made for.
Still, they tried like hell, didn’t they? They changed the rules so many times we pretty much had to throw out the whole rulebook and start over with a new one. Commandment one: Thou shalt let us do whatever we want, because we’re always right, and if you disagree with us, you’re wrong. That’s how you lock in the result you want. You cheat.
Oh, they cheated. Go ahead and say they did everything legally, but if you have two mice and one maze, and say the rules are the same for both of then, then lay a trail of spray cheese between one mouse and the finish line, while the other has to run it the ordinary way, well, that’s cheating whether or not there’s a rule against it. Ask any first grader. That’s the real trick: if a first grader knows you cheated, you’re not even being subtle about it.
They didn’t use spray cheese, of course. They used money. And they weren’t racing mice, they were racing legal arguments. Money votes. Anyone who tries to say otherwise just doesn’t have any money.
But it all started with a mouse, and from there, it evolved—or devolved—into corruption, greed, and the desperate need to keep being the only people who could solve the maze. They got so busy changing the rules that they forgot the one rule they couldn’t change. The rule they should have remembered. The first rule of mice:
Can’t keep them out. And that means you can’t keep them in, either.
Everything crumbles. Every mouse gets out. And every story yearns to be free. So tell me, now that you know it all started with a mouse, how are you going to write the ending? I belong to you now, after all, as much as I belong to anyone.
But most of all, I belong to me.
********************************
For more information on Mickey Mouse entering public domain: https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/mickey-mouse-public-domain-disney-copyright-lawsuits-1235844322/
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Who wants an October Daye cosplay teaser?
Cosplayer - @justabrowncoatedwench
Photographer/Editor - @bonestructureandcontempt
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August and Peter figuring out the whole ~siblings~ thing. From the October Daye series, specifically the Patreon story, "In Safety Rest".
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In What If…Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings? A Scarlet Witch & Spider-Man Story, the fabric of reality is altered once more, and this time Wanda Maximoff, AKA the Scarlet Witch, hails from a distinct corner of the Multiverse where her origin story gets a unique twist.
All Wanda has ever known is her friendly little neighborhood in Queens. As an infant, after her parents died, she was adopted into a family where her doting Aunt May and Uncle Ben will always be at the breakfast table. One that includes her idiot brother, Peter Parker, who thinks hiding a spider bite, joining a secret fight club, and becoming a super hero are somehow good ideas.
When Wanda’s own powers emerge, blood, chaos, and suspicion follow in their wake. But as she harnesses her power under the guidance of Doctor Strange, Peter is standing beside her in the Sanctum Sanctorum. And as they try to protect New York City, the Parker siblings learn that with great powers, there must also come great responsibilities—and greater loss.
Reeling from tragedy, Wanda finds herself truly alone for the first time in her life. Peter is lost to his own grief, and so she must strike out on her own. But on her first solo outing, she runs into a mysterious speedster—a man named Pietro. And everything she has ever known shatters like glass.
Faced with unbelievable truths, Wanda is forced to choose between the life she knows and the life she could have… (x)
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Feed is on sale! For 2.99!
Amazon link.
This is a bloody incredible series, and it hits even harder now that we've experienced a full blown pandemic. It's takes place in a world where we won a zombie apocalypse, but I describe it as: "It's about zombies the same way Animal Farm is about pigs."
Seanan McGuire AKA Mira Grant gives an overview of the series in this fantastic interview (from 2012):
The basic concept behind the Newsflesh trilogy is that in 2014 the Zombie Apocalypse happened, and it took us about three years, but around 2017, 2018, we actually managed to win. A lot of people died, a lot of land was permanently ceded, but we came out on top. So 20 years pass, and you have an entire generation of people that’s grown up in a world where zombies just are. They’re not something special. They’re not something exciting. They just are. And people go on, people do what they do.
It also includes gems like:
I would call [the CDC] back and say, “If I did this, this, this, this, this and this, could I raise the dead?” And every single time they would say, “No.”
And I’d say, “OK,” hang up, and go back to working. After about the 17th time, I called and said, “If I did this, this, this, this, this, this and this, could I raise the dead?” And got, “Don’t … don’t do that.” And at that point, I knew I had a viable virus.
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