#somehow I have read all of Shakespeare but not Tolkien…
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How Many Have You Read?
The BBC estimates that most people will only read 6 books out of the 100 listed below. Reblog this and bold the titles you’ve read.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkein
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffeneger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchel
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
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Memory Log Easter Eggs and Brain Worms
There’s quite a few of these, so I’m gonna do my best to scavenge for all of them. I’m going to start with the most important one:
Waking up Max: there were 3 key elements that were vital in waking up Max.
Max’s birthday - I purposefully picked November 6th as Max’s birthday because it is the day that Will went missing in 1983. I think there is something so significant about the Upside Down being frozen in time on that specific day. That day must hold some sort of power and therefore, I needed Max to be tethered to that day somehow. Hence the November 6th birthday.
The happiest memory item/song - Max has been through a lot, especially as a kid. It is common for people (younger people especially) to repress their trauma in order to function day to day. However, a lot of good memories often times get repressed with the bad memories. The brain is just trying to stuff it all away and that can happen. So it made sense to me that Max couldn’t find her happiest memory because she repressed it, and needed to hear the song from the bear to pull the memory out of storage.
The witching hour - the time of day when supernatural entities are said to reach maximum power. Therefore, if Max’s consciousness is stuck in a supernatural realm, she would need as much power as possible to escape. This time of day gave her and Eddie the best chances of surviving.
(All three of these things needed to happen in order to set them free. The perfect storm.)
Going off of this, there is distinct significance in Max waking up on Day 77. Seven is commonly used as a number of extreme luck. So I used this day to represent that not only did they need those three conditions, but they also needed tons and tons of luck on their side.
And if you’re into math (I’m not, but I kinda had to for this fic), you’ll notice that Steve and Eddie kiss on Day 71. And if Max’s birthday is on Day 77, that would mean that their first kiss is on Halloween. Something, I doubt Steve cares about - but if Eddie’s memory had been better, I’m sure he would’ve be fucking STOKED.
The book behavior choices! Taming of the Shrew is such a nod to this fandom. I’ve seen a lot of people in the steddie nation that love 10 Things I Hate About You. And like, same. But 10 Things I Hate About You is a modern adaptation of Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare. So, I threw this in there as a little nod to this community and their shared love of that tale :)
Jekyll and Hyde… this one is pretty obvious. One is nice and the other is a monster (via potion). I’m assuming that Eddie is on a lot of medicines, some probably affect his moods, so that’s why I chose this one.
Beowulf - okay, so I’ve read articles on how Tolkien LOVES Beowulf, and therefore, I think Eddie would also love Beowulf. It totally checks out with his love of fantasy worlds.
There’s a moment in chapter 3 where Steve calls Eddie “hero” and I think this is less of a term of endearment, and more his way of showing Eddie that he did indeed read Beowulf for him (even though he did not read it lol). It’s also a nod to s4 when Eddie says they are ‘no heroes.’ Even though Eddie doesn’t have memory of this moment, Steve calls back to it so that Eddie feels like a hero (just like Beowulf) for surviving the Bad Days.
The heart monitor - this became a huge symbol for Steve in determining Eddie’s feelings. Whether he was feeling sick or flustered or sleepy, all of those beeps sounded different. But then, Steve ALSO uses it to determine that Max is waking up. I think it is fun to play off of this thing that he saw as a reminder of mortality, and ends up using it to know that his friend is being revived.
I picked the Corduroy bear because the story reflects Eddie in a lot of ways. In the Children’s book, the bear is searching for his missing button. In this fic, Eddie is searching for his missing memories. I just liked the idea of connecting him and Max in yet another way.
The heart sticker being underneath the bear’s overalls is another callback to s4 - the Russian Doll with the note inside. It’s not entirely the same, but it’s a tiny detail I threw in there to pay homage to that scene (and it ultimately led to breaking someone - Hopper - free). Just like Max and Eddie were set free.
In the final chapter Eddie says this about the bear: ‘Looks like she sewed it back together with yellow threads?’ The color yellow is used to represent Steve throughout this fic (and the whole damn fandom). So I liked having it symbolize the thread holding this bear together, like Steve is the person that has brought them all together on this quest to wake up Max.
The Firestarter reference - I used this particular movie/novel for a few different reasons. The first is that it’s by Stephen King, and the show (in canon) makes TONS of Stephen King references. At the end of s4, we see Lucas reading The Talisman to Max, so we get the sense that she’s a fan of his books. I also chose it because Max’s hair is red, so I thought Eddie would immediately associate her with fire :)
The Nightmare on Elm Street reference - again, a lot of s4 paid respect to this movie, along with lots of other Teen Horror Slasher films. But since this fic is dealing with lucid dreaming, I felt it had to be mentioned at least once.
I based the original character of Sam off of the Nurse from Romeo and Juliet. Lets be honest: Romeo and Juliet are shitty people. But the Friar and the Nurse are literally carrying the whole damn play on their overworked backs (so is Mercutio until he bites the bullet). The Nurse helps Romeo and Juliet meet in secrecy and protects their relationship. So having an actual nurse do the same thing for Steve and Eddie seemed like a no-brainer in my Shakespeare-obsessed brain.
In the epilogue, Eddie tells Steve “Would be a complete idiot not to fall in love with you, Steve Harrington.” I used this to negate Nancy Wheeler saying “you’re an idiot, Steve Harrington” all throughout s1. While she probably means this in an endearing way, I can’t help but wonder how this affects Steve. Especially after seeing her response to his essay in the next season. Yes, it might be playful, but it becomes a very real opinion of hers a year into their relationship. So I thought it was important to have Eddie twist that phrase and tell Steve that someone would be an idiot not to fall in love with him. That seemed healing and important to me.
The final line. This is in reference to them holding hands in chapters 4 and 5. Each time they do so, it means something different. At first, it is a sign of “helpless support.” Steve cannot fix Eddie’s medical problems, but he can literally offer his hand to show that he’s physically there for him. Once they kiss in Chapter 5, Steve says “it means everything,” in determination to get Eddie’s memories back once and for all. And finally, he repeats this because the gesture now represents their togetherness. Their bond. When they hold hands at the end, it means everything they’ve experienced as a pair.
I hope this was interesting and not too boring. Sorry if it was! I cannot thank you all enough for the love and support on this fic. It was a joy to share with this community.
#memory log#steddie fic#dedicating this to anyone as obsessed with symbols as I am#I probably missed some - but these are all the main ones#thank you for reading xx ☺️
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PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO GET TO KNOW BETTER !
Alias / name: Parker
Birthday: 22 October
Zodiac sign: I don't care much for these, because astrology is shite, but libra.
Height: 1.66cm
Hobbies: Reading, writing, drawing, gaming, acting, playing the guitar and the uke, and walking with my doggo. :3
Favourite colour: Dark blue colours are kinda neat.
Favourite book: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, but I also love my Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman. And Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. And I always forget to mention Andy's a Stitch in Time. The Hobbit by Tolkien is one of my faves too. *Cough* Shakespeare's The Tempest, Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth *cough*. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is fun too.
Last film / show: Star Trek: The Next Generation ("All Good Things" lol).
Inspiration: I derive inspiration from watching TNG. Music usually helps to get me in a writing mood too (idk if this section is about writing-related inspiration, but it is now lol). Reading books also enthuses me to write my own stories.
Story behind url: 'My timing is digital' is a quote from the episode "Outrageous Okona", in which Data is experimenting with humour and jokes etc. I just thought Data replying 'my timing is digital' to Guinan's 'it could have been your timing' was super witty and hilarious (well done, whoever wrote that line), and I somehow always remembered it?
Fun fact about me: I have a poster of Rembrandt's The Night Watch hanging on my bedroom wall, above my television. It is one of my favourite works of art made by a Dutch painter. I've seen it twice at the Rijksmuseum and it's so unbelievably astonishing. :3 My replica can't do it justice, but I like it regardless.
Tagged by: @dimensionalspades (thank you, buddy!)
Tagging: @fractalcloning, @therapardalis, @wcrpbubble, @sohelish, & you, steal it. >:)
#ooc // second officer's personal log#technically dr faustus and all the shakespeare titles are plays but I only ever read them so
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Books of 2023 - July
Somehow I've read a lot this month but haven't actually finished that many books considering I've been on holiday? I don't really know what happened.
Books read:
Silas Marner by George Eliot - this is by far the biggest surprise of the year. I was convinced I wasn't going to like George Eliot, but after reading Silas Marner I've been enchanted by her. On the surface I should have found this book a bit tedious, I typically don't like novels set in the countryside, however, I was hooked! Eliot's writing style was the big attraction here, she has such a lively style that I swear could make anything interesting after this, alongside her astoundingly convincing portrait of a village community in the 19th century. I came away believing people like those that inhabited Raveloe existed and I was fascinated by them. (It probably helped that I am VERY familiar with villiage communities in Warwickshire thanks to my research, which is where Raveloe is supposed to be.) Honestly this was the best place for me to start with George Eliot and I will be continuing.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Whaton - this was an impromptu read when I wanted an audiobook to listen to while sewing. However, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book! I was swept away into 1870s New York society and was captivated by how casually awful everyone turned out to be. I didn't enjoy it as much as The House of Mirth (mainly because I didn't like Archer, May, or Countess Olenska as much as Lily or Seldon) but I had a fabulous time revisiting Wharton.
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare - I love this play, it brings me so much joy when I read it and this time was no different. I still believe Beatrice is Shakespeare's best heroine and I will accept no arguments to the contrary.
Approximately 25 articles, reviews, essays, and introductions about Jane Austen's Emma by various authors - I don't know what's happened to me, I've become an obsessive... However, I have had a great time and learnt A LOT about regency literature in the process? It's given me a greater appreciation of Emma and I don't regret a moment I spent on this. My only problem is I don't really know what to do with all my notes!
DNF:
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - I tried okay? However, I finished volume one and couldn't find a single reason to keep reading except completionism. I hated Fanny and the Bertrams, I was bored by the Crawfords, and I missed the style of Emma. Overall, I was left wondering why I was bothering with Mansfield Park as I wasn't enjoying myself. So, I dropped it to read something else that I'd actually enjoy.
Currently reading:
Evelina by Frances Burney - I'm in love with this book, but for some reason I'm not devouring it? I'm taking my time with it and revelling in the experience - I've made my peace with this and will continue to enjoy my leisurely read.
Richard II by William Shakespeare - I'm rereading this and taking it an act a day because I'm making notes. I'll actually finish it tomorrow, but I'm not counting it as read.
The Book of Lost Tales Part Two by J.R.R. Tolkien - another leisurely read because it's so dense and, like Shakespeare, I'm making notes when I feel inclined. I also really struggled to get through the section on The Tale of Tinuviel... (I don't like ANY of the prose versions of Beren and Luthien? It needs to be in verse for me to get into it 🤷♀️) But now I've got through that opening section I'm enjoying this a lot more.
Charles I and the People of England by David Cressy - my current non-fiction tome. I'm having a great time with this, but it was going to be a winner considering my unreasonable love for Charles I!
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke - I have no idea how I ended up in the middle of this but I'm enjoying it well enough that I'm going to continue (although I think I prefer Piranesi?)
#books#reading#books of 2023#july reads#silas marner#george eliot#the age of innocence#edith wharton#much ado about nothing#william shakespeare#articles on emma#jane austen#mansfield park#evelina#frances burney#the book of lost tales#j.r.r. tolkien#richard ii#charles i and the people of england#david cressy#jonathan strange and mr norrell#susanna clarke
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What are the books in your to-read pile?
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman - all three books, I got it cheap and I want to reread them
Dune by Frank Herbert - my dad got it for me and I've heard good things
Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan - full series, I need to read it before the Solangelo book
Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare - I've watched it, but never read it (still my favorite comedy)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - I have like 5 copies and somehow I never got around to it
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - I have two copies AND he's my favorite author and somehow I never got around to it
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien - full trilogy, I want to reread since I'm not old enough to understand themes, symbolism, and the language
The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde - I can't be half as weird about this book as I am considering I haven't read it
The Butcher by Laura Kat Young - the only book with no previous readings or love of the author to back it up, all I know is the author is from Chicago
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman - myths AND Neil Gaiman
The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz and illustrated by Hatam Aly - not only a reread, but this is undeniably not my book and actually a copy I was lent before the pandemic so I should get around to this one
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What are your top five fantasy series that you’d recommend to someone who’s pretty new to that genre?
srry this took a while but i gave it a lot of thought! this is a tough question cause it's pretty subjective, like what id rec to someone depends on their interests or what they'd read outside of fantasy or even their age, but here's an imperfect list:
Way of Kings (separate from the stormlight archive), Brandon Sanderson: wok is still imo THEE fantasy book for people who dont like fantasy. i can no longer in good conscience recommend the entire series cause ob onwards cosmere knowledge becomes almost necessary and that's too big a commitment to spring on someone new, but I have seen this work in practice. I know three separate people who loved this book despite not reading fantasy before. It's to give a reader something epic but also clear their mind of the idea that fantasy world building is solely reliant on a tolkien model.
Tamora Pierce's Tortall books: I would be remiss if I didn't mention the absolute power fantasy series of my preteen years so if the person u are reccing to is younger and wants a comforting arthurian aesthetic you cannot do better than literally any of these. My personal fave is protector of the small but song of the lioness by rights should be first. they are dated but like.....i do think people should read 90s fantasy just to know what's up
The Broken Earth trilogy, N.K. Jemisin: the whole time i was reading this i was like......ok this is my new fantasy for not fans rec, but imo this is the ideal stepping stone for people who read lots of sci fi but don't read fantasy. the series exists in the midpoint of left hand of darkness and earthsea. I think it could be good for new fantasy fans still just because 1) the prose style and the pov is interesting enough to be a drawing factor in itself 2) the magic system tricks you, you get a decent primer in hard and soft varieties just by figuring out what's going on 3) it does the best job of having not only modern english but also a full lexicon of planet specific jargon that never feels confusing
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch: i don't think this book/series is perfect and it's very literally a bit of a boy's club of a book but let's just say if you really really really really like heist media and thief crew dynamics, this is a good starter that'll lead you into the genre....personally its definitely a book i reread for Fun often
Wyrd Sisters/Going Postal/Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett: i want to make it clear i am NOT reccing all of discworld. i would never be like 'oh you don't like fantasy? here's 40ish books making fun of tropes you don't know' like clearly I'm a huge fan but i picked these three specifically as the ideal books to give to someone as a starter. this is easily consumable, non confusing fantasy. As for which one, it gets subjective and yes i know everyone says to start with guards guards but the dragon book is NOT one you're going to want to give to someone who doesn't have a history of liking dragons
English majors/Shakespeare fans/gay people who love Hamlet....go for wyrd sisters. it's very funny but it works the book around both hamlet and macbeth so it's very sinister at the same time.
For people who genuinely don't want to read fantasy cause the magic/mythic elements feel too silly, go postal. i don't know a single person who dislikes this book. it will make u think about public services, you know, like the post offices under capitalism.
monstrous regiment is my personal favorite. it is a war tragedy. so yeah give this one to your lesbian friend but also give it to the one person in your life that's read the things they carried more than once.
But I believe that it's way better to recommend fantasy based on the person you want to read it too....like i recommended Pratchett's Soul Music to my bestie because of their encyclopaedic music history knowledge. Someone gave me Priory of the Orange Tree because i had just finished a ten week seminar on spensers the faerie queen (the ideal way to consume that book by the way). if somehow you have a friend who plays dnd but somehow doesn't do the required reading give em Mistborn and a magic system to chew on. read lotr in general. fantasy is so full of sub genres literally any book can be a good starter if a potential reader can engage and relate to plot they already know that they like💕
(feel free to add ur own recs to the tags/notes there really aren't any wrong answers here)
#this is very long not sure if i should use a cut......#i almost put sword of shannara instead of locke lamora btw........almost but it's not a good starter its lotr for 100 pgs
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IT STARTED WITH A QUESTION
I was on a panel at a convention once where I was asked, “Who inspired you to become a writer?” I’ve been asked that question many times before, so I knew the answer, but before I could speak up, I had a realization: More than anyone else, I inspired myself.
Let me explain. Certainly there were a number of authors that I revered as a teen. Tolkien was foremost, but I’m not sure that his work played much of a role in my formation as a writer. He never once called me and asked, “How is that manuscript coming, Dave?”
In fact, I suspect that if I’d never read Tolkien, I’d still have found some other writer who inspired me just as well. Perhaps it would have been Richard Bach, or Frank Herbert, or any of a dozen other popular authors. In retrospect, I realize that it was an innate tendency.
WHEN I WAS YOUNG
As a child of about 8, I once spent a month drawing a picture that covered some 40 sheets of paper. It showed thousands of knights on horses in battle, in a bloody war. My mother was quite upset by my obsession with it, and went so far as to call in a psychologist to watch me. He was a soft-spoken man who gently asked what I was drawing. I explained that the sides were evenly matched, but if you looked into the center of the picture, you could see where the balance was shifting to the “good guys.” I asked him which knight was his favorite, and he picked one of my own favorites, so I thought that he was a great guy.
After the doctor went into the adjoining room, my mother asked the doctor, “Is he crazy?” The psychologist said kindly, “No, he’s not crazy at all. Congratulations: you have an artist!”
A few years later, I was cleaning a fish tank when I noticed that the colored gravel in the bottom could be used to create a picture. So I cleared off the table and began making mosaics with colored bits of gravel, then I glued them onto boards. I did this off and on for a year, at least, with something of a crazed enthusiasm.
AT THE AGE OF 16
I turned to sculpting with just as much gusto. At about that time, one of my teachers in high school warned me, “You’re a writer. You’re going to have to deal with that.” She was very serious about it, almost sad. I enjoyed writing, but I kept thinking that I would go ahead in pre-med and become a doctor.
Then at the age of 21, I suddenly burst out in poetry and began writing more aggressively. I couldn’t keep it contained. I suspect that I was born to do art of some kind.
Kevin J. Anderson has said, “My muse isn’t a beautiful spirit who whispers ethereally into my ear—she’s a nagging harpy that grabs me by the throat and screams ‘Do it now’!”
Shakespeare isn’t likely to text you today and ask you to get going. Neither is Yeats or Faulkner or Hemingway.
So tap into your love of creating. Be your own inspiration, and Happy Writing.
David Farland
This week on Apex Writers…
David Brin is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He has won the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards. His novel The Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner.
USA TODAY bestselling author, M.A. Rothman, is one of the most unlikely novelists you’ll ever meet. He’s an engineer first and foremost, with a background in the sciences, and somehow or another, this writing habit of his has turned into a bit more than just a run-of-the-mill hobby.
Writers of the Future ends today! If you’re eligible, send in the best story you’ve got. The grand prize winner will get thousands of dollars in cash and prizes, but you can only get it if you enter! There’s no entry fee required and entrants retain all publication rights. Click the link below to learn more about the contest!https://www.writersofthefuture.com/enter-writer-contest/
#writing#writers#writing tips and tricks#writing coach#writing mentor#writing lessons#writing advice#writing help#author#editor#creative writing#writeblr#writebl#nanowrimo
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got tagged by the wonderful @mylastbraincql to post 10 Things About Myself, which, are there even 10 things other than cql and writing fanfiction??? let’s find out
1. i don’t want to be one of those people who are like ~i love languages~ but...i do. oops. i’m only fluent in english and french (my college degree), but i’ve put work into at least the basics of...well. this is under a cut so let’s just go: latin (a whole minor’s worth), greek (classical and modern), mandarin, american sign language, spanish, german, sanskrit, and arabic. i particularly love medieval french. i kind of wanted to be a linguist but academia is a hellscape, so i’m just a hobbyist language learner and that’s pretty fun. i need to really work on my spanish and start korean next, but right now my brain is deep in mandarin mode (thanks c-dramas).
2. i wish i had the tenacity and drive to be a musician. i love playing music, my mom started teaching me when i was 4 so i should be super good right? wrong. i still play piano like a 4yo. string bass is my ~instrument but it’s been years since i played it seriously. i am mediocre at guitar and an enthusiastic but unstudied singer. maybe some day i’ll put real work in again but for now that executive dysfunction’s a real bitch, so even thought i am a Music Person, singing in the car is about as wild as i get.
3. i was a substitute teacher for 4...5? years. 4 years of regular substituting here after 1 year of working as a language assistant/substitute english teacher in france. teaching is excellent fun and i love it dearly but the field of education is currently pretty soul-crushing in the US, so i have been trying to figure out what...to do.
4. the town where i lived in france was where jeanne d’arc was captured (i was already a huge fan, and getting to kneel where she prayed her last free prayer was...something. i’m not even religious), and one town over from pierrefonds, the castle where they shot bbc’s merlin. alas, they had just finished shooting the final season when i got there. but it really does Look Like That. once, when i was bringing some friends to see it, we missed our stop and got off the bus at a countryside cemetery (i am a goth, this is my jam), and walked back to pierrefonds, since it was a sunny day. until it started hailing. we took refuge in a spooky, empty church from the 1100s and got to explore some of its catacombs and reliquary. it was an absolutely perfect day.
5. i have never not been a Big Fan of something. i have an entire shelf of Tolkien volumes that has lived in my room since the 6th grade. i used to go to warped tour and san diego comic con every year. i have slept on the sidewalk in line for things...many, many times. but this is somehow the first time i’m...trying to participate in the fan community? trying to contribute and talk to people? it’s wildly nerve-wracking but also SO rewarding because everyone? is so? nice??? i love you all
6. i’m a distant cousin of George Gordon, Lord Byron, and EXCEEDINGLY proud of this fact. he was so ridiculous, and stupid, and marvelous, and queer. sometimes i’m like, it couldn’t have been wilde? or shakespeare? but i do love my horrible cousin. it was shocking studying in athens where they have actual monuments and museum exhibits dedicated to him...i was like...this guy? this drug-addled sex addict? okay...okay, good for you, cuz.
7. really all i want is to make people laugh. i feel like i come across weirdly stiff on the internet, and i have apparently horribly intimidating vibes with new people, but really...i am basically just jack black. i don’t mean that positively or negatively it is just neutrally true. i am a clown.
8. i wish i had cool physical skills like martial arts or dance or even a sport but...my body is...uncooperative. i am not necessarily clumsy or uncoordinated i am just Too Tired. oh, and also i have a funky little arm birth defect which is mostly unnoticeable, just makes me a bit awkward and painful. instead i do grandma things like knitting and sewing, which are cool in their own way. it’s very satisfying to make something with your hands. i’ve made an entire (simple) ren faire costume and edwardian ballgown, as well as lots of various odds and ends. oh and i’m pretty good at makeup! i did wedding makeup for a friend, and not in a “wedding of questionable taste” kind of way. i did lots of research and several practice runs and it was all a very classy vintage affair.
9. if you ask me to pick between books and movies i Cannot. i just...love stories. i love seeing them and hearing them and reading them and telling them. there’s nothing better or more important than stories. whether it’s pacific rim or hamlet, philadelphia story or dogsbody, i cannot live without it.
10. i used to work as a street character at a renaissance faire. please do not hold this against me. if you want some ABSOLUTELY WILD stories (”baaa means no”), just ask
this was wildly difficult and i feel like it swings wildly from depressing and self-effacing to ridiculous bragging but i would like to see my mutuals do it anyway! i’m just gonna randomly tag @valarinde @milkcrates @universesvisiting @cendiar @habibinasir @fapamir if you want a fun little distraction but seriously if you see this and want to do it, i tagged you! you’re tagged!
#tag game#this extremely hard. i do not know if any of this is at all interesting or meaningful#i should have just told funny embarrassing stories probably. oh well#i did not get into family stuff because family is Messy and Not Fun For Parties but i'm by no means opposed to talking about it#if you have any questions about anything#OR if you would like help with learning anything i have mentioned that i have some knowledge of#OR if you would like me to tell fun stories about crazy adventures at faerie festivals or comic cons#or about wild celebrity sightings#or about historical/literary figures and events#JUST ASK!#you want book/movie recs? i'm here#please make use of my largely useless knowledge#sorry i'm such a shakespeare simp....ok not really sorry#i simply find him hilarious#not cql-related#but i feel like many of these things contribute to my enjoyment of cql
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Hi... If you don't mind me asking, what are your top 10 favorite books? And why? Sorry if you've answered this question before....
ah this is so cruel! on the one hand, i love so many books. on the other hand, i cannot remember a single book i have ever read D: I’ve resorted to pulling both from the pictures in this post and also a list of book recommendations I made a friend in high school so.
so these are mostly just like...books I like a lot/have been impactful in my life lol
1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The hope! The exploration of humanity! the arts and what it truly means to survive vs live! A post-apocalyptic story about stories and cooperation and helping each other and love! HNNN
2. Sight Lines by Arthur Sze
Poetry! In particular, I love Sze’s precision and interworking of imagery, current events, facts, etc. It feels a bit like reading a just wonderfully crafted essay but in poetry form and makes you both think about the individual lines and the poem in its entirety and also will, if you’re me, leave you with “Black Center” eternally circling your mind
3. Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Ah man where to begin. The immediate connection of dance + international work vs the distinct sensation of being an outsider looking in + Smith’s vibrant, somehow rhythmic prose + the way we see the main character never directly but always through her interactions with other people. Hnn yeah.
4. Twelfth Night by Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s my comfort reads because of the combo of engaging stories that are y’know, familiar and low-effort to read and the just. lovely, lovely words. also the interconnections with history and poetry. To quote the recommendation I wrote a friend in high school: “It’s beautiful and it sings like nothing else can. That said, this is, to me, his most relatable and digestible work. It’s great social commentary while remaining really fun and engaging.”
5. Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien
i mean....*gestures helplessly* yeah basically combine the reasons from Redwall and Shakespeare and voila.
6. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
Sedaris’ essays and anecdotes are unrelentingly hilarious and cutting. Also I’m still envious of the title and cover (the copy I read had Van Gogh’s Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette)
7. Pale Fire by Nabokov
so tbc the novel aspect of this annoyed the SHIT out of me but the poem is one of my favorites. Also the novel does actually have its merits, the narrator is supposed to be annoying af. But. He’s annoying af. but the poem is great!!
8. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
This one has a fun and weird history with my family! Which does boost the nostalgia factor but in general I remember the sense of grief, the solemn progression of life in defiance of your wants/needs, the witnessing of injustice, etc., being v compelling and also making me lay in my hammock staring unblinking at the cedar trees in the middle of finals so. there’s that.
9. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
Surprise! Angels, demons, tongue-in-cheek humor and the end of the world? The importance of humanity and people and how loving/caring about things is enough to stop the apocalypse? Choosing your own destiny? hell yeah baby. Also the line about demon and angel wings being the same except that demons’ wings are often better groomed. it lives in me
10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I can’t believe i forgot this one. Anyway yeah wow! Love this book. Death as a character is just a trope I will never ever get tired of and the exploration of humanity (and colors) is just. Yes. I don’t reread books that often (I say while having reread almost all of these books multiple times) but I read this like 3 times in high school
#thanad-zid#asked & answered#book recs#i don't really have favorite books#so much as books that for a given moment in time#mattered a lot to me and resonated with me in a distinct and impactful way#and i generally remember almost nothing beyond that feeling bc i am a fraud
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There! Finalized my model sheet for my HPMA girl, Anastasia Read! You can read more about her here at this moodboard post I did for her, but basically she’s a Gryffindor who dreams more than she talks and is determined to be the heroine of her own fantasy story.
Some more info about Ana under the cut...
Ana doesn’t resemble her biological parents, John Read and Bonnie Pinkstone-Read, much at all except in hair color (both are also brunettes). Her soft, endomorph frame, strong shoulders, and bluish gray eyes come from her maternal grandfather. As an adult Ana’s even taller than her mother Bonnie, who’s very petite all the way around.
Poor Ana is actually quite self-conscious about her weight, thanks in no small part to the, um...attempts at support from her mother Bonnie, who frequently expresses “concern” about Ana’s health because of her size. At school she wears a highwaisted skirt to hide her tummy, as if she wore a skirt like all of the other girls’, she’d look like -- in her mother’s words -- “a sack of potatoes tied in two.” It’s also the reason she always wears pants, tights or leggings -- she thinks her legs are very chubby and unattractive. Despite her roundness, however, Ana’s also always had very strong shoulders and is on the taller side compared to her other female classmates, which helps her put off a tougher image.
Bonnie Read’s biggest foible as a mother is her immaturity. She wants to be Ana’s “friend” more than a mentor most of the time, and so has difficulty enforcing discipline or even in setting a good example. Bonnie almost immediately dated three other men after divorcing John, all of whom either pointedly ignored or expressed open resentment toward her daughter Ana, before she finally met, dated, and married her second husband. Bonnie’s dependent personality and (as mentioned) subconscious weightism doesn’t help matters either.
Ana’s father John Read is an active-duty soldier. He’s actually an incredibly absent father who never really had much interest in having a family, but Ana’s always put him on a bit of pedestal, partly because of her image of him having become a soldier for noble reasons like serving his country and partly because him not being there to actively be a poor parent like her mother Bonnie made it easier for Ana to romanticize John in her mind. Ana writes to John very frequently. John doesn’t write back much at all.
Ana’s best mentor figure is her stepfather, Bradley Pinkstone (a wizard and Gryffindor alumnus himself). He and his two grown sons Jasper and Preston (a Slytherin and Gryffindor in their day) are very affectionate toward Ana, which kind of weirded her out at first, considering she’s not their blood relative and she’d assumed they’d hate her...but oh, was she ever so glad to be wrong! The new Pinkstone-Read family live in a rather pretty brick house in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Her best and favorite class is History of Magic, but she tends to enjoy all classes where she can write essays. She’s always been miles ahead of her classmates when it comes to writing, especially considering that there are no specific writing or grammar classes taught at Hogwarts. Just about every written assignment Ana’s ever submitted has gotten an O.
Contrariwise, she struggles in classes that are more “physical” like Care of Magical Creatures or Flying.
Despite not getting into Flying class or Quidditch, though, Ana does take time to practice flying on her own at night when no one else is around. She finds moonlit broom rides incredibly romantic and great inspiration whenever she’s suffering from writer’s block.
Ana’s an avid journal keeper! She goes through a good five of them every year. She generally magically shrinks her finished creativity journals for easier storage, and she always hexes whichever one she’s currently writing in order to make sure no one else can open it. (If you’re somehow lucky enough to get her permission, she’ll open her creativity journal for you so you can read it and look at the doodles she did.)
Her favorite authors are Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Hans Christian Andersen, and William Shakespeare. Her favorite type of movies are high fantasy like The Princess Bride, Stardust, and The Lord of the Rings.
Ana’s also huge into Japanese manga! Her one true love is Sailor Moon, but she’s very fond of shoujo manga titles like Cardcaptor Sakura, Ouran High School Host Club, and Fruits Basket.
Ana’s favorite musical genre is symphonic metal, introduced to her by her oldest stepbrother Jasper. Her favorite bands are Within Temptation, Evanescence, and Nightwish.
As a teenager, Ana falls in love with the Victorian Gothic and steampunk subcultures, the first of which Jasper dabbles in and the second of which Preston is hard-core into. Being an INFP, she loves the creativity, historical bent, and romanticism in both movements. At the Pinkwood-Read family’s formal Christmas parties, you’ll often see all three of them wearing top hats with their holiday ensembles.
Ana does NOT make friends easily, but once you do become her friend, she’s always got your back. Her BFF is Hufflepuff Robin Isherwood @cursebreakerfarrier. She also gets along pretty well with Gryffindor housemate Lorcan O’Donnell @unfortunate-arrow, Slytherin Jordi Prewett @cursebreakerelmswood, Ravenclaw Noa March @that-ravenpuff-witch and Hufflepuffs Mitch C. Hodge @department-shoe-stud and HG Gray @ljthebard1. They all either call Anastasia “Ana” or “Annie” -- her stepfather and brothers call her “Anya.”
Upon finding out how much her BFF Robin likes flowers and plants, Ana went out of her way to collect some books on the Victorian language of flowers. (Her brother Jasper gave her a hand with finding some good ones.) One Valentine’s Day she even sent Robin a friendship bouquet of irises, goldenrod, oak-leaved geraniums, and southernwood without any sort of note -- not that it was necessary, given that flowers’ message translated to “Just wanted to let you know you’ll always be my best friend.” (Everyone else assumed Robin had this mysterious secret admirer.)
If anyone rubs Ana the wrong way, they can expect a formal dueling challenge. Ana is witty on the page, but not verbally, and she’s upfront and honorable enough when she’s angry to want to “take it outside” and settle the dispute on the dueling field the way a knight would avenge a slight to their king’s honor, rather than be backhanded or sneaky about it.
Ana may be cisgender and identify as straight, but she is the ULTIMATE LGBT+ ally. Even when she was a kid, she would get very hot under the collar about homophobia, racism, or any other sort of prejudice, thanks to her Gryffindor sense of honor and her INFP sensitivity, and after Bonnie married Bradley and Ana met Jasper (who’s transgender FtM himself), Ana became all the more passionate about LGBT+ rights. She only becomes more vocal in her support after some of her friends come out of the closet too.
Ana’s greatest fear is being insignificant. This is depicted in boggart form as the whole room around her suddenly becoming huge, to the point where she’s as tiny and helpless as a mouse.
Ana’s Patronus is a black swan. If she ever became an Animagus, she’d be a large brown and gray tabby cat with oddly colored bluish gray eyes.
I could see Ana one day becoming a well-regarded author of fiction books for young magical children.
#hpma#anastasia read#my art#art#about anastasia#robin isherwood#henrietta gray#jordi prewett#mitch c. hodge#lorcan o'donnell
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tags masterpost
a couple of people have complimented me on my new tag system and a couple of people have asked me what tags go to what sort of content, so i thought i’d write up a little masterpost of what the tags mean, where they came from, and why they’re important to me! you’ll even get a sneak peek at a few tags that are very rare or have yet to be used 👀. this will be linked in my carrd when i get around to it. i’ve even tried to alphabetize them 😅 thanks for expressing interest, it’s very lovely of you all xoxo
#and i am close behind — home tag
a continuation of “the wild geese are heading home again” which is my nature tag. just for everything that makes me feel like i am coming home.
#and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart — quotes and words tag
from a poem by e.e. cummings. “and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart / i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)”. words are just hearts speaking to each other, after all.
#and i was like *screams* — space tag
from the jenny slate drunk history nasa episode, because she somehow manages to sum up fully 80% of my feelings about the universe in that one sentence
#angstposting — disordered thoughts tag
literally just stream-of-consciousness breakdown-posting. probably block this tag. i go back and clean it out after every breakdown.
#but they are all good stories — media analysis/literature critique tag
hilary mantel (whose work i have never read) wrote that “some of these things are true and some of them lies. but they are all good stories.” anyway, that’s how i feel about taking apart stories and narratives and looking at them from the outside.
#can you not hear the ocean in me — mental health and disorders tag
the non-breakdown version. from this poem, which i can’t find anyone but i think is a deleted inkskinned or caitlyn siehl one:
“i am alive;
can you not hear the ocean in me;
are you not aware of the war i am fighting ;
i am alive ;
you cannot take that from me”
#checkmate nihilism — crafts tag
higgsboshark wrote a lovely post about how knitting is a great treatment for existential dread & now that’s all i think about every time i’m crafting. checkmate, nihilism. look at this thing that i am making with my hands. it exists and it will change someone’s life.
#dumbposting — misc tag
for tag games and dumb comments and things that don’t fit in anywhere else.
#fashion is instant language — fashion/body art tag
okay. IS this a cliche prada quote? yes. but also, one of my first classes in college was about art & society & the first thing that we learned was that the human body is the first & most primal canvas. what you do with your body is a statement, a language you are sharing with the people around you. i get very emotional about it.
#felt rather than seen — poetry tag
YES i am a BASIC WHITE GIRL, thank you. the first half of the da vinci quote. “poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen / “
#fill your arms with the pink and white flowers — spring aesthetic tag
from one of mary oliver’s slightly less well known poems.
“do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden, and softly
exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with
the pink and white flowers,
with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling, their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are nothing
forever”
#get in good trouble — activism/politics tag
are you really living if you aren’t making trouble for someone? write more letters. leave more voicemails. go to protests. join a mutual aid group. donate. there’s something you can do, even if it’s small.
#i am building a world that is worth living for — moral living tag
slightly different from the activism tag bc this is more about what you/i can do in everyday life to make the world a better place. these are my own words, reminding me that to stay alive i have to build my own life and live in it.
#i care to look on the outside like i do on the inside — gender/ sexuality tag
maggie stiefvater is a poet.
#i have a magpie mind — happy tag
laurie graham’s version of the quote goes “i have a magpie mind, by which i mean i see and hear little things - photos, fragments of conversation - and store them away for future use,” and that’s what this tag is. just a lot of lovely things that i want to look back on.
#i think i was a selkie in a past life — ocean/beach/selkie myth tag
someday i’m going to walk into the ocean and never come out again. j promised he would take me to a warm ocean where i can stand in chest-deep waves until i can’t stand any longer and i’ve never looked forward to anything so much in my life.
#i wrote my own deliverance — creation/writing tag
this is not an admission of guilt. hamilton has a lot of words in it and these happen to be very nice.
#it would be a merrier world — food tag
because tolkien was right.
#laughter for no cause — humor tag
funny things. half of a quote by louise glück.
#let the wilderness engulf us again — discourse tag
i believe this is by christa wolf. anyway this is how i feel when i read Discourse. let’s all just get swallowed by the wilderness. who needs civilization anyway.
#loveposting — affection tag
look, i’m just really gay and happy and i love my followers and my mutuals. let’s move on
#nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it — memory/emotion tag
yes, i have read everything ever written by l m montgomery, why do you ask?
#offspring of heaven firstborn — light tag
constantly debating about whether i should change this one. i just have too many quotes about light. and too many posts about light. and too much love for light. this one is by milton, from the third book of paradise lost, and i memorized the entire chapter as a teenager because my “history” “class” believed in memorization as a form of education.
#our bodies are meant to hold other bodies — sex/eros tag
from that little comic by grendelmenz (?). i KNOW it’s about cannibalism i DON’T care don’t @ me to love is to consume
#seen rather than felt — painting/visual art tag
and here’s the other half of the da vinci quote.
#she stood in desperate music wound — music and playlists tag
from “a crazed girl” by yeats. tbh i usually lie upside down in my bed in desperate music wound but this poem kept me going as a teenager
#simply because the world is beautiful — misc tag
i just think the world is lovely and i am glad to be alive in it. this is where the rest of the assorted content goes.
#someday you will be old enough to read fairytales again — fantasy/gaming/scifi tag
cs lewis got one thing right.
#stardust will turn into kindness — joy tag
okay. okay i am still weeping about this man and his chickens. this tag is for every small creature who brings me delight. https://everychickdeservesamother.com/2019/08/17/all-the-good-there-is/
#thank god for the months after may — summer aesthetic tag
i haven’t listened to ben rector since i was seventeen but this is a good quote anyway and summer flowers are the thing that keep me going through the winter.
#the first sign of civilization is a healed femur — civilization/altruism/kindness tag
paraphrase of the famous (possibly apocryphal) margaret meade quote. i saw a criticism of it by the green brothers, who were like “but lots of people/animals show altruism without any connection to civilization (eg buildings and cities and record keeping systems)” and i deeply disagree with them. civilization doesn’t require monuments, only people coming together to build (metaphorically) something bigger than they could have done as individuals. humans aren’t the only ones on that path, just the ones who’ve gotten the furthest down it.
#the great sweeping wind — autumn aesthetic
yes i am a shameless l m montgomery stan. anne of green gables is my kindred spirit.
#the quick and the dead — fungi tag
from the bible. you know. we all sin, we’re all alive or dead or both. fungi don’t care.
#the race that knows joseph — kindred spirit tag
haven’t gotten to use this one yet. looking forward to when i do.
#the wild geese are heading home again — nature tag
shortened version of mary oliver’s poem.
#there is a history in all men’s lives — history/natural history/anthropology tag
shakespeare knew how to use words. everything is history and i am excited about ALL of it. when will someone admit me into a grad school???
#we are the children of an indifferent universe — community/fandom tag
but, like colin meloy says, we are also the inheritors of a wonderful world. i think it’s amazing how we look at the universe around us and build communities and find meaning out of sheer spite. also i have got to refine this tag set better i can’t just shove ALL fandom content into one tag. stay tuned
#we don’t love this world without reason — awe/joy tag
from catadromously’s comic. this is for things that make me go “oh.” when i see them.
#we shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us — architecture/interior design tag
churchill can have one right. architecture is one of my favorite art forms & interior design is something i love looking at and doing. someday i’ll even be able to afford it.
#we will be better than we were — recovery tag
from (yet another) caitlyn siehl poem that reads:
“love is quiet
love whispers
“it is okay, we will be better than we were”
and we are.
we are.”
and we are.
#within me; an invincible summer — winter aesthetic tag
albert camus wrote that: “in the midst of winter, i found there was, within me, an invincible summer. and that makes me happy. for it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” winters are hard for me, but i hang on anyway.
#you have no idea the joy that is coming — love tag
guess who this quote is by? if you guessed caitlyn siehl, you are correct.
#you pull out the wild in me - feral aesthetic
not feral, just… wild. i don’t know. i don’t think i made this quote up but i can’t find it anywhere else so maybe i did. i’m guessing it’s now-deleted inkskinned or bonemeadows.
#you’ve got to be kind — misc humans tag
kurt vonnegut. because yeah. we’ve got to be kind. that’s the only rule. we’re just humans and we have to be kind.
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10 Favorite Characters
Thank you @wisteria-lodge for tagging me!!
1. Grand Admiral Thrawn (the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn)
I stan 1 (one) blue alien Sherlock Holmes
[image description: the cover of The Last Command by Timothy Zahn, showing Thrawn as a blue-skinned humanoid with blue-black hair and glowing red eyes, wearing a white Imperial uniform. end id]
So I’m specifically talking about the book character here; I have no idea what’s going on in the Star Wars TV shows. But Thrawn of the Star Wars Legends universe (and the newer canon book, Thrawn) is hands-down one of the best and most interesting characters I’ve ever seen. He’s brilliant, creating battle strategies by studying his opponents’ cultural art to understand their cultural psychology and look for weaknesses in their thinking. And despite being a morally grey character, he’s not unduly arrogant and is actually extremely likeable--he has to work hard to get into the Imperial command structure that heavily discriminates against non-humans, his motivation is the best interest of his people, the Chiss, and he is always willing to explain his thinking to his close allies and friends. And who else would respond to being stabbed by smiling and saying, “But it was so artistically done?”
2. Beren (specifically, from Philosopher-At-Large’s script/screenplay adaptation of Tolkien’s story of Beren and Luthien, A Boy, A Girl, & A Dog: The Lay of Leithian Dramatic Script Project, which can be read in full here: https://rustbucket.net/leithian/index.html)
Do we not all want to yell at the gods about theodicy until they answer our questions to our satisfaction? I specifically pick Beren not from the original Silmarillion, as much as I love Tolkien’s work, but from Philosopher-At-Large’s script retelling, because A Boy, A Girl, & A Dog might just be my favorite work of literature of all time--fanwork, original fiction, or otherwise. I stumbled across it via a fanart of Beren on DeviantArt, like, six or seven years ago that referenced it, and my life has never been the same. It was hard to pick a favorite character, since literally all of the Script’s characters hold a special place in my heart, but I love Beren’s gentle, dry humor and his grim, determined, reckless stubbornness. His relationship with Luthien is of course the driving point of the story, but I thought that his relationships with Finrod and the other members of their company, and his backstory in Dorthonian and his interactions with the Valar were spectacularly done as well. This story is full of the grim determination to at least try and keep loving people, to keep throwing yourself at a problem and refuse to back down until you find a satisfactory solution, and Beren is right there at the heart of that, and I think that makes him pretty hopepunk.
3. Hamlet (Hamlet by William Shakespeare)
What is there to say about Hamlet that hasn’t already been said a thousand times by people significantly more learned and eloquent than me? I love him. He’s a genre-savvy protagonist trapped in a world where nothing! Fucking! Makes! Sense! My poor emo boy. I feel so much for him, being trapped in a situation where he needs to learn the truth in order to move forward and finally act, but there’s no way for him to get at the truth, so instead he just spirals further and further into fey, frustrated, erratic “madness.” Such a disaster bi. Definitely in love with his tired functional gay bf Horatio. Drama queen and Pretentious Asshole TM. In any decent modern au, he loves Hot Topic and gets all his clothes from there. I don’t even really do theater, but I’d love to have a chance to play him onstage.
4. James Dunworthy (the Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis)
The Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis ranges from hilarious (To Say Nothing of the Dog) to heartbreaking (Doomsday Book) and Mr. Dunworthy is right in the middle of all of it. For those who haven’t read it, the premise of the series is that time travel has been discovered, but we can’t use it to change the past, so instead it’s mainly just used by historians going back in time to study history, and Mr. Dunworthy is the head of the history department at Oxford University in the year 2060. He might be strict, but he has strong dad vibes, and, just, cares so much for all of his historians. He basically adopts Colin when Colin is stranded in Oxford over Christmas during an epidemic, he regularly puts himself in danger to look for lost historians, he helped invent time travel, and he knows that the point of studying the past is caring about the people who lived there. I want him to be my dad.
5. The 9th Doctor (Doctor Who)
Okay, I love 10 and 12 and 13 almost as much as I love 9, but 9 has to be my favorite Doctor. He was my first doctor, and what really got me hooked on the series was his kindness--hard-won and hard-clung to after the trauma of the time war. It isn’t always easy for him--the time war took everything away from him, and you can see how he’s tempted to be angry and bitter and harsh--but even so, he insists on helping people, on atoning for his mistakes, on nonviolence and using kindness and cleverness to fix things instead of violence and hate. He says, guns are bad and bananas are good, and every person is important, and when asked if he’s a coward or a killer, he says, “Coward. Any day.” And that philosophy, that choice, has left a deep impact on me.
[image description: gif of the 9th doctor saying “Who said you’re not important?” from New Who Season 1 episode 8, “Father’s Day.” end id]
6. Eliot Spencer (Leverage)
The whole premise of a group of thieves, criminals and con artists getting together to take down corrupt people in power is great, and Eliot is my favorite. He may have done some seriously bad shit in the past, but now he’s just devoted to taking care of the team, and particularly his hacker and his thief. I don’t know that he believes he’s worthy of their love, but he’s still somehow the most mature and emotionally stable member of the team; he knows how to control his anger and live alongside his regrets, and despite his grumbling, he dives headfirst into protecting the rest of the team and keeping them safe. Bonus points for being in an almost-canon ot3, and for the passion that he brings to his cooking. Also, I headcanon him as gray aro and transmasc, because I can.
[image description: gif of Eliot standing back-to-back with Parker and Hardison. end id]
7. Jon Sims (The Magnus Archives)
I’m only on season 3 of TMA so far, but I love Jon with all my heart. Working at a supernatural research institute, after having had a supernatural encounter of your own, and still choosing not to really believe in the supernatural until it knocks down the door to your office and riddles you with worms? Big mood. He’s a stubborn workaholic disaster ace, and I relate because I too struggle to interact with people and tend to get lost in obscure research projects for hours at a time. Somebody give this boy a hug and then a nap.
8. River Taam (Firefly)
Once again, there are a lot of good characters in Firefly, and I was hard-pressed to pick just one of them to put on this list. But River is a sweet summer child slowly overcoming trauma to find the joy and delight in the world around her that she had before the Academy, and I want all the best things for her. Bonus points go to Simon, who gave up everything he knew to save his sister, and Mal, who stubbornly sticks to his own code of honor even after loosing the war and much of his faith.
9. Lancelot (The Once and Future King by T. H. White)
A splendidly complex and morally grey take on our favorite legendary hero. T. H. White writes a Lancelot who struggles deeply with guilt and pride and imposter syndrome--who struggles desperately to do what is right and to channel the traits he finds in himself--both strengths and flaws--into doing the right thing. His scrupulosity is sadly relatable, and the lines “It is so fatally easy to make young children believe that they are horrible” and “ You could not give up a human heart as you could give up drinking. The drink was yours, and you could give it up: but your lover’s soul was not your own: it was not at your disposal; you had a duty towards it” are both absolutely haunting. It’s only implied in the book, but T. H. White admitted in letters that Lancelot enjoys pain, and is probably bi as well, and a bit in love with Arthur, and that he feels very guilty about it, and I just want a fluffy modern adaptation where Arthur and Guenevere and Lancelot can be in the kinky ployamarous triad that they deserve and just be happy together.
10. Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling)
While I have some problems these days with the Harry Potter series and the transphobia of its author, it’s possible to like something without minimizing its flaws, and this list would not be complete without Luna Lovegood. I spent significant portions of middle school pretending to be her. She taught me how to embrace my own unabashed weirdness, and I wouldn't be the same without her.
@a-nerdy-shade-of-purple @conan-concocting-chaos @one-supportive-august @the-lyra-cal-trans @the-eleftheria @dumpstertrash
#quinn speaks#thank you so much for the tag! I had a lot of fun doing this#my taste in characters is apparently Ravenclaws and Huffledors haha#thrawn#beren#hamlet#dunworthy#9th doctor#eliot spencer#jon sims#river taam#lancelot#luna lovegood
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#110: Writing Against the Odds
The numbers of writing and publishing books can be pretty disconcerting to see.
Most people admit that they would like, at some point, to write a book. Cool. But most people, who set out to write a book, also never finish one. Out of the few that do finish a draft of their story, most will never see it published. And those who do get their books published will never see them on the bestseller lists. Only a fraction of books will earn out their advance. In fact, most published authors will never be able to write full time without supplementing their income somehow.
Doesn’t the writing life sound fantastic? And yet, we’re still here, stringing one word after the other, early in the morning and late at night, between shifts and on our lunch breaks. We want to share our ideas and stories with the world and writing is the best way to do that.
We’re not here for the money, that would be silly. At the same time, we’re still hoping to make it one day. To see our work recognised, and to be able to do more of it.
Writing is hard. Facing the blank page, the agonising edits, all the rejections from agents and publishers, the mean reviews from readers. Why put yourself through all of that when you could be doing so many other things? Like writing? Shut up and get yerself a law degree, kid.
It’s entirely possible, quite probable even that writing won’t be for you. But unless you really try and go for it, you’ll never know. That’s the hardest part. Stephen King wouldn’t be where he is now if he wrote casually every other weekend for an hour. In the early days, when he was grinding and nailing the stacks of rejections slips on the wall, he had no idea that he would go to become one of the world’s top selling authors. He had a family to take care of and worked as a teacher.
At the end of the day, someone will become the next Stephen King and J. K. Rowling. Someone will be the next Tolkien and Christie and Austen and even Shakespeare in a few hundred years. I wouldn’t necessarily count on it, but it might just as well be you.
For the rest of us, who says that being a mid-list, self-published or even unpublished author writing on the side while earning your living in other ways is a bad life? If you like telling stories and writing good sentences, not having to rely on your words as the primary source of income will give you the ultimate freedom to write what you want and do what you want with it.
Besides, so many skills and habits that you pick up while pursuing your passion for writing are instantly applicable in a range of other career and life situations as well. Writing sharpens your thinking and can be beneficial to your mental health. Learning how stories work is learning about life. In its essence, writing is a form of communication. If you can think clearly and write well, plenty of opportunities will come your way.
A career in writing can seem pretty bleak on paper, but if you have the bug, I encourage you to go for it. Give it all you have and remember that you don’t have control over everything. Whatever happens, you will be a much better person at the end.
Good luck ❤️
What I Am Reading
I’m still a bit behind on reading, trying to catch up. I’ve read a couple of rather dry technical books this week and found out that I have four unused Audible credits on my account. Any audio books that blew your mind recently? What should I get?
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Past Editions
#109: New Things Coming, September 2019
#108: Keeping At It, September 2019
#107: What’s in it for the reader?, September 2019
#106: Ship Your Art, September 2019
#105: Side Gigs for Writers, August 2019
#writing#writers#write#writing tips#writing advice#amwriting#writing life#writeblr#writing update#update#personal#me#writingcoffee#writingdotcoffe
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Books of 2020 - April
April was a strange reading month for me, on the one hand I read 10 books which is double my average 5-6 books a month! On the other I completely failed to read my OWLs Magical Readathon tbr... I did manage to read books that worked for the prompts but they weren’t the books I meant to read. Oops!
(Once again I haven’t proof read this and I’ll just apologise in advance for any mistakes, I’m lazy...)
OWLS Magical Reathon: Hogwarts Professor (what subject I specialise in will depend on the NEWTS...)
Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett (Discworld #6, Witches #1)
OWLS: History of Magic
I loved reading Wyrd Sisters, it was so much fun! Pratchett retold Shakespeare’s Macbeth from the witches view point, but with his usual satirical twist. Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick shine through the narrative, offering a no nonsense, ridiculous, and lovable take on witchcraft (or headology) as worked to protect Lancre from Duke and Duchess Felmet after they assassinated King Verence.
The Shakespeare references, puns, and reworkings in this book was sublime! I had a great time picking them out and watching as the acting company performed the most ridiculous versions of Shakespeare’s greatest works. I adored the witches - which was a bit surprising. I’d gone into this thinking I’d dislike the Witches sub-series after reading Equal Rites a couple of years ago (to this day it is my least favourite Discworld book...) However, Granny Weatherwax is a very different character here and the story is so separate from the narrative in Equal Rites that I refuse to see this book as the second installment in the Wtiches sub-series. I’d highly recommed reading Wyrd Sisters, and it would be a fantastic place to start with Pratchett if you like retellings and/or Shakespeare!
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Anon, trans. by J.R.R. Tolkien
OWLS: Potions
I enjoyed this translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tolkien’s style and tone suits this style of poetry (would you call it epic? It’s more of a romance...) Tolkien brought the story in Sir Gawain to life for me, in a way I’ve never experienced in other versions I’ve read. I fell in love with this simple tale from Arthurian Legend, which I’ve never done before... It’s beautiful, simple, and captivating. I would highly recommend reading this edition if you’re interested in Sir Gawain.
The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett (Discworld #27, Rincewind and the Wizards #7)
OWLs: Astronomy
This is a book of two halves for me. The story itself is a bit too simple for my tastes... We see Cohen the Barbarian (the only Discworld character I actually hate) heading towards the Hub to return fire to the gods, however, Ankh-Morpork sends a party afte him to prevent him from destroying the Disc. This party was hilarious: Rincewind, the Librarian, Leonard of Quirrm, and Captain Carrot Ironfounderson all confined to a tiny ‘spaceship’... This was not a combination of characters I ever expected to see and their personalities, particularly Carrot and Rincewind, created several spectacularly ridiculous moments I loved! But the plot itself wasn’t great, I was expecting a bit more from Pratchett at this stage in in the Discworld.
However, the artwork in this book was stunning! It worked so well to elevate the story, I couldn’t help but love it... If the artwork hadn’t been included this book would have been a lot weaker... It’s hard to rate the book because of this, but I did really enjoy it (and hopefully this will be the last time I have to read about Cohen the Barbarian and the Silver Horde.) Also, look up Rincewind as The Scream, it’s brilliant!
We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
OWLs: Arithmancy
I usually don’t read essays for pleasure, nonfiction has been relegated to academic pursuits for the last 5ish years... Yet, this classic (I’m calling it a classic, everyone should read it) essay from Adichie was incredibly powerful. It emphasised the importance of feminism to non-western/European women and highlighted how important and beneficial feminism is for everyone. It’s a really important piece for people to read and I’d highly recommend finding the audiobook, or a reading, done by Adichie as her passion for the subject shines through her words.
Beren and Luthien - J.R.R. Tolkien (Middle Earth)
OWLs: Transfiguration
I ADORED Beren and Luthien, it was the best book I’ve read all month. I was expecting to dislike this book because of it’s formatting. It’s told through several fragmentary versions of Beren’ and Luthien’s romance that at Tolkien wrote throughout his life. Christopher Tolkien edited together 5 or 6 (maybe?) manuscripts along with his own commentary, introduction, and parts of the Earendil story to give us a fleshed out picture of Tolkien’s greatest romance. Unlike The Fall of Gondolin, which I read earlier this year, the format worked beautifully for Beren and Luthien, probably because the different versions that have survived were incredibly different and more complete.
I was feeling a bit so-so about this collection until we started seeing the Lay of Leithian (sp?) woven in between a few prose versions of the tale. The verse in the Lay of Leithian was gorgeous, it was beautiful, etherial, and passionate. I actually cried reading a few sections from it, such as the end of Felagund’s part in the tale. It was such a shame Tolkien never finished the Lay as it probably would have been his best work within the Middle Earth legend. It was captivating and the poetry suited the tone and style of Beren and Luthien’s story. The verse would have made the final acts of Luthien in the Halls of Mados exquisite, poignant, and heartbreakingly tragic.
I cannot love this book more - it might be my favourite in Middle Earth, knocking The Silmarillion off the top spot... But, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for everyone. If you’re a Tolkien fanatic then I’d consider this a must read, it contains Tolkien’s most beautiful writing along with his most tragic romance! If you’re only mildly interested in Middle Earth then I don’t think you’re going to enjoy it.
The Children of Earth and Sky - Guy Gavriel Kay
OWLs: Charms
The Children of Earth and Sky was an incredibly read, it’s a powerful but understated historical fantasy set in a world based on (I presume) renaissance Italy and the Ottoman Empire at its height. There’s not a vast amount of story here, however, the character work, world building, and thematic discussion around history, religion, the ability of an individual to change the fate of nations, corruption of power, and so much more, was stunning. It was a beautiful study of characters and cultures, which was complimented by Kay’s sumptuous writing style. This was a gorgeous read!
My biggest criticism is for the romances, Kay had 4 main characters - two men and two women - and rather predictably they ended up in relationships by the end of the novel... The relationship between Danica and Marin did make more sense to me by the end of the book than the relationship between Leonora and Pero. However, both were a bit instalove-y and could have done with more development.
Nevertheless, I’d highly recommend this book! It would be an excellent read for people who aren’t fantasy fans as the fantastical elements are minor. The focus is on the historical influences, themes, and character development. It’s an excellent standalone fantasy book and I’m excited to read more of Kay’s work in the future.
The Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare
OWLs: Divination
Most of what I could say about The Merchant of Venice has already been said before. Shakespeare’s portrayal of Shylock is incredibly problematic (I haven’t got the time or energy to go into why, but there are literally thousands of books, essays and blogposts about this, go forth and read if you want more details), the relationship between Portia and Bassanio makes NO sense, and I cannot believe that ending means anyone is going to be happy...
However, this play has a certain charm that I loved. I couldn’t help but like the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio, Portia and Nerissa are darlings, and I had fun reading the wacky plotline and (yet more) crossdressing shenanigans going on in here! I think most of my enjoyment came from the RSC version I watch alongside the play (currently availbale on Marquee TV). Either way, I’m happy to have read the play AT LAST and be one play closer to my goal of reading every Shakespeare play!
Assassin’s Apprentice - Robin Hobb (Farseer #1, Realm of the Elderlings #1)
OWLs: Defence Against the Dark Arts
We all know how I feel about Robin Hobb and the Realm of the Elderlings. I adore this world, Fitz and the Fool are (probably) the best written characters in fantasy and two of my all time favourites! I reread this for the Elderlingalong (that I somehow missed...), which gave me the perfect excuse to pick up the new 25th Anniversary edition with the GORGEOUS illustrations from Magali Villeneuve. I had a wonderful time rereading this and if you’re a fan of Hobb and you haven’t seen the work this book already you MUST get your hands on it ASAP.
Non-OWLs books
The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time #12)
I wrote WAY to much to include it on this long list of books... I’ll post my thoughts on The Gathering Storm separately.
Conclusion of my ramblings: I really liked it, there were flaws in Sanderson’s writing and treatment of some characters (Mat in particular), however, it was a really good installment in the series! Sanderson really impressed me and I’m slightly nervous and very excited to read the last two books in the series!
The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings #1)
I’ve already put up a lot of my thoughts on my latest read of The Fellowship of the Ring here. I really loved rereading this book (as I always do), I had a lot of new thoughts, and I gained a new appreciation of Boromir and Tolkien’s poetry. My annotation reread will continue in the near future with The Two Towers - I just need to clear a few urgent reads off my shelves first!
Currently Reading
Nevermore: The Trials of Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend
Buddy read book! I’ve actually finished this at time of posting but I’m trying to give an accurate view of my April reading!
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
I was supposed to read this for Arithmancy, but I didn’t get round to it... I’ve also finished this one early this month.
Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson
Another buddy read with @towerofleeza! We’re not the best at reading this at the same time (sorry dear!) but I think we’re both loving it, I certainly am!
Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett
I couldn’t help myself I needed more of the Witches! I’ve also finished this one at time of posting this and enjoyed it.
#books of 2020#reading#bookblr#mini book review#Terry Pratchett#pterry#Discworld#witches#wyrd sisters#witches abroad#JRR Tolkien#tolkien#middle earth#lotr#lord of the rings#fellowship of the ring#sir gawain and the green knight#the last hero#Rincewind the Wizzard#rincewind and the wizards#chimamanda ngozi adichie#we should all be feminists#beren and luthien#guy gavriel kay#the children of earth and sky#shakespeare#william shakespeare#the merchant of venice#robin hobb#Realm of the Elderlings
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March 22, 2019
Things that are weird to think about and deal with when they collide:
My irritation/anger at colonialism (specifically English colonialism since that is the form most present in my background) and how much has happened as a result of it.
The fact that many of the consumer products I grew up with and am used to are British in origin. (Side note, read ‘A Thirst for Empire’ by Erika Rappaport if you’re into history through objects, I’m reading it currently and liking it so far)
I have been fed more English media than most of the people I know. I grew up on Enid Blyton, Harry Potter, Tolkien, Agatha Christie, C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen, all the while hearing my mother’s critiques of American literature and poetry. I grew up watching Masterpiece Mystery and Fawlty Towers and heard time and time again that British comedy was just so much better than American comedy. When I first decided I needed to get more news, the first thing I thought of was the BBC news radio, because I guess I felt like I trusted it more than something like Fox, or CNN, maybe because I came into contact with it less often in my daily life and therefore did not hear its name get dragged through the mud in the same way. Maybe because I felt like if I was going to listen to news I could try to hear about the whole world and not just America.
My first dream was to be an author, a thought largely fueled by a love of the aforementioned books (and I assure you, Harry Potter played no small part in that).
My second dream was to be an actress. And over time it brought me closer and closer to Shakespeare and the Elizabethans, knitting my academic tendencies together with the love of performance and literature.
I love floral prints. Are the ones I wear now more Mughal or more English-with-stolen-and-long-forgotten-asian-influences.
I didn’t realize how compromised my aesthetics were until I took a class on Indian Art and Architecture.
I want to have an aesthetic where I get to wear bangles. I haven’t reached that point yet. Also what’s the point of having really nice bangles if I only get to wear them once or twice a year?
Some of my college friends act like my culture is a side note to my life, and at this point I have to resign myself to the fact that sometimes you cannot make people see things. You can try, but ultimately it’s a case of taking a horse to the water.
When I’ve visited the UK I’ve really liked it there, and my extended family living there seems to be doing alright. The little voice of possibility whispers in the background.
Indian-America is what I have lived, but due to my family and my own reticence I feel largely stranded from the community of Indian-Americans. What happens when I do not slip perfectly into the stereotype? What happens when I am too eccentric, too quiet, too serious, too weird? Am I too British-Indian to relate to the other kids born and brought up in Indian culture?
Is Hindi my first language? It was the language that graced my tongue first, the one that still colors my voice when I pronounce unfamiliar words. But it is a language I no longer speak. Is English my first language? It came with the sacrifice of Hindi, with time and with distance from my birthplace. But it is the language I know best now. It is the language whose grammar I prided myself on in high school, whose stupid linguistic quirks are familiar to me and whose cultural evolution I am excited to watch.
I have grown up in western european-influenced, largely english-influenced academia that shapes not only the subjects I learn about but also how I learn about them, how I think of them, how I conceive of them and rationalize them within my world view. Everything, everything, everything. I think must be saturated with it at this point, beyond a place where I can wring myself free, maybe even beyond a place where I can even begin to absorb something else.
And yet somehow I feel I am often not of the worldview of my peers and not of the mindset of my peers. Is that actual influence in my thought process or is that the influence of my religion filtered through the same old lens?
Why and how am I living like this, an Indian-American girl who wants and wants and wants to feel closer to her culture? Will there ever be a time when colonialism, English culture, and all these things don’t feel like background radiation in my life? I don’t think there will be. This heat, this swirling tension burns into my back, colors my existence and my interests.
Anyway there’s more where this came from but I’m falling asleep so...
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C O N S T E L L A T I O N S (A LOKI X OC FANFIC)
CONSTELLATIONS INDEX
SUMMARY:
Exiled from Asgard, and stripped of his magic, Loki finds himself landed on Midgard.
Cast from his home, and thrust into a world he once attempted to conquer, his bitterness is
more than aggravated. Loki is furious, and yet as his anger is uncontained and wild, he
finds himself vulnerably laid into the palms of these mortals that he sees as so inferior.
The mortal that finds him, though, is much more intriguing (and less... Well, mortal) than
he thought Midgardians to be.
Enter Valentina Rossiére, a woman with fire that could sear into your soul burning in her
eyes and a tongue quick as a whip. Whilst at first she seems to be simply a strangely
behaving midguardian, she somehow manages to break through to Loki's broken mind,
and find a part of himself he had thought had been long destroyed. With a bit more than a
reluctant mind, and an empty heart, Loki finds himself not only forced into submission into
the mundane lifestyle of a human being, but into an unsuspected whirlwind of emotions
that he never knew existed.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CHAPTER 1: A N D R O M E D A
COLD.
It encompassed her entire being.
Her muscles grew frigid and her bones grew tight.
She grit her teeth in frustration.
Her toes were going from white to grey by now, and her eyebrows knitted together in irritation.
"Fuck this!" She threw her hands in the air, hurling herself off the couch and paced to the thermostat, turning on the heater, her fingers twitching from being suddenly moved, "I'm just gonna have to call him, I can't go without heating for this long!"
Her lips were slowly regaining colour as the heaters blasted, and her teeth gnawed at the cracked skin in the left corner of her bottom lip.
Her silver eyes darted across the room to her black snake, Baphomet, that was happily lazing under the lamp, and she grumbled under her breath at him, "Lucky bastard, getting a constant heater and not needing to worry about electricity bills." His head tilted a tad towards her, and he seemed to smirk impishly at her.
She rolled her eyes, heading towards the kitchen and pulling out a mug.
It was getting into the colder months now, and it was slowly approaching the one year anniversary of 'The Battle of New York' or "The Time Iron Man Saved The Day By Shoving A Nuke Into A Giant Glowing Asshole Of Death" as Tony Stark so pompously preferred.
The electricity bills would be going up for Valentina these next few months. As much as she loved the winter, Valentina wholeheartedly loathed the expenses that came with it. More food, more electricity.
It was exhausting.
You would think that after living for so long, she would have accumulated a fair stash of money, and she had, but it was scattered all over the globe. She didn't want any suspicious links to her bills and life being up for grabs by any pesky organisations.
Valentina still had to work to keep her living expenses manageable, as she wasn't exactly living in a hovel.
Her 'humble' abode was located miles away from the closest store, buried within the forest of pine trees and high-reaching birch trees. It was a large brown and green house, similar to that of a cottage, but much larger.
It had two floors, the first floor containing the entrance, the kitchen, the loungeroom and the office, and the second floor containing the master bedroom, spare bedroom, bathroom and library.
Although there was a main room dedicated to books, the winding staircase that spiralled up from the first floor to the library area was walled with bookshelves too.
Most rooms withheld at least one bookshelf (minus the bathroom), the kitchen with cookbooks and whatnot, the loungeroom with Valentina's favourite series, the office with lots of technology, science, and mathematical textbooks, the staircase with historical and fantasy, her bedroom with 'currently reading' books, more of her favourite series, and her oldest, most precious books, the spare bedroom with the 'classics' with Shakespeare, Edgar Ellen Poe, J.R.R. Tolkien, George Orwell, F. Scott Fitzgerald etc.
In the loungeroom was a large flatscreen above the fireplace, Valentina's collection of movies on either side of the fireplace in drawers, above the drawers short bookshelves, and above the bookshelves hung a collection of animal skulls that she had scavenged in her walks through the forest.
The skulls were a constant reminder of how she must live her life; cherish the lives around you, and never let their memories fade.
Her snake, Baphomet, a beautiful black water moccasin Cottonmouth, was in a large tank behind the couches, lazing his life away like a no-good freeloader.
Valentina loved Baphomet, she had found him half-dead on the side of the road, attacked by some disgusting men with a shovel. She managed to stop the men from murdering the poor reptile, but he was still badly injured. One of his eyes was gouged out, and he had plenty of broken ribs. Valentina had been in tears as she commenced surgery on the poor creature, her tears mixed with the blood stained on her hands.
She stayed away from town for a while after that, as she couldn't stand to face anyone after seeing such a horrid sight.
Nobody really cared about Valentina, save for the old man Strickler, who had been quite close to her in his younger years. He stopped seeing her as often once he had met his wife and gotten married, though. Valentina still liked to visit him every once in a while, just to make sure he was still doing well. He always said that she was a sight to behold every time she visited, with her 5'8, petite stature, heart-shaped face, full, cupid's-bow-less, rosy lips, porcelain skin, silver eyes and long, silver hair.
She really did stand out.
It was back when she first started approaching the years of 80 that her hair started turning grey, along with the hair of her friends around her. It seemed to stay that way for the rest of her years.
The rest of her years being the last 358 years, of course.
The young skin certainly did look strange with the naturally silver hair, but lately it had become less questioned, due to hair dyeing becoming a more popular beauty fad.
Her frame never seemed to change, always lean, but toned, petite yet firm, pale and never-changing.
She was an anomaly amongst men, and had been for the most part of her life. She had long accepted this fact, and worked her lifestyle around it, preventing as much heartbreak as possible; getting close, but not too close, making friends, but never having attachments. She cherished the lives of others, but had accepted that the light would eventually fade from their eyes and leave her alone once more.
Alone, always alone.
Her life had become a haze of standing on the sidelines, watching people's lives streak past her in a daze of overflowing emotions, filling as much emotion as possible into each moment, cherishing each second before their inevitable cease of existence.
She watched as empires rose and fell, people came to power, were overthrown, then spoken about as if they were partial fantasy, when she had met those people when they were children, or traded goods and services with their mothers.
She was an anomaly among men, an anomaly that was barely teetering on the line of existence and living.
She was alone.
CHAPTER 2: ANTLIA
Word count: 1132
#lokixoc#loki x oc#loki x reader#loki fanfic#loki x ofc#loki (marvel)#loki fandom#loki laufeyson#loki x strong female lead#non canonical magic#constellations
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