:)

Fascinated by stories of the - I guess you'd call it the "stolen identity" genre, like, of the Anastasia Romanov variety. But - from both sides.

Your husband has been at war for thirty years. You married when you were teenagers. The man who returns bearing his name looks... plausible, you don't remember his eyes being quite so blue, but it's been thirty years and it's not like you could ever afford to have a portrait painted. He knows your name and the names of your children and your parents, but there are curious gaps in what he remembers. But war does things to the mind. And if he's kinder than you remember? Kind enough that, maybe, you let yourself believe...

No one has ever looked twice at you, since you're just the maid, until the day a revolutionary bomb goes off, blowing a crater in the summer palace. The famously reclusive duchess and the rest of her household lie dead in the rubble. You know that you and she were the same dress size. You know where her jewels are kept. Most importantly, you know the location of the secret tunnel that leads down to the docks, and to a life overseas that would be torturously hard going for a poor maid, especially one suspected as a thief, but a lot more comfortable for a royal in exile...

The old king's most faithful retainer swears this is the heir to the throne, raised in secret and trained to one day step into his father's shoes. As the usurper as dragged off the throne, she screams that the old king's children are all dead, she made sure of it; no one pays her any heed. (Maybe they should have...)

The man in the tavern is buying drinks for the whole bar before he sets sail tomorrow for the far side of the world. He's got it all figured out - a ship of his own, retirement to a tropical paradise when he gets sick of the pirating life. His lip curls as he talks about the stultifying boredom of the aristocratic world he's already left behind. You find out that his parents recently died, and the estate is in the care of his younger sister, who was only six when her brother first left home two decades since. Between the lines, they sound like a good family; they sound like they love him, the way your family never did. Your heart aches. He shows you portraits, letters, before shoving them carelessly back in his coat pocket. They would be so easy to lift...

It's a surprisingly common concept and I just love it. It's The Return of Martin Guerre; it's multiple 90s romcoms; Agatha Christie pulls it half a dozen times. Sooner or later, it crops up in fanfic for just about any fandom with a royal or aristocratic main character.

And I can see why, because there's so much richness to it. From the outside, it can be anything from a horror story to an unlikely love story; from the perspective of the person pulling off the con, a heist movie or a tragedy or a heartwarming tale of found family. And then there are the longer-term implications: What happens if you wear a mask so long that it becomes who you are? What happens if you come to love the "replacement" to the point where you don't want to find out the truth? What is it like to uncover such a deception a century down the line, to find out that your great-grandfather... wasn't?

Just. Identity stories, man. <3

The best quality a fictional man can have is being deeply, pathetically, wretchedly in love with someone, I think

This might be a dumb question but is the guard that sees vanja working on the lock at the end of little thieves Emeric? Or a real guard?

Spoilers under the cut!

The one at the gallows who "catches her" with a hairpin? Definitely Emeric, haha. That's how she gets it back!

People are gonna die in Holy terrors?! Nooooo not my gremlins not my gremlins :(((((

I’m legitimately scared for my favourites now

pleasedontberagnepleasedontbevanjapleasedontbeemericorgiseleorjozinaor-

I mean technically, they all die*

Hglp I searched little thieves to see if there was a fandom on here found out you have a tumblr and it suddenly explained everything hsdjdiwd anyway really good book 👍just finished reading it. I have new mental illnesses now

Wait I also have a question are Death and Fortune gay married, gay divorced, or some secret third thing

I think there has never been a more apt use for "secret third thing." Like, to me, they're together, unequivocally and exclusively. Whatever the Low Gods' version of being married is, they're it. Is that the same as the human concept of marriage? Almost certainly not, haha. But they are partners, they are both Vanja's mothers, and they love her and each other very much.

Do you know whether Illumicrate, Macmillan, or another service may offer a special edition of Holy Terrors, whether as a pre-order edition or after it's released? Or even the trilogy as a set? I just found out Illumicrate had embellished editions for Little Thieves and Painted Devils last June and am bummed to have missed it; it was so pretty :(

Alas, even if I knew, I could not say until it's officially announced! One can only hope.

I have a question about the pearls - I thought they were just an illusion, but Vanja keeps talking about their effect on people, especially Emeric, who often seems to have his legs swept out from under him.

Do the peals have some effect beyond an illusion of beauty that makes people take notice? Emeric implies they don't work on him the way Vanja expects/they do for others. What do they do to him? What does he see?

So there are two concurrent things playing out with the pearls! Spoilers under the cut.

1: The pearls don't just physically transform the wearer, they essentially are souped-up pretty privilege. If you are romantically attracted to women, you'd have a crush on the wearer. If you aren't romantically attracted to women, you'd want to be their companion, confidante, accomplice. It doesn't override every other emotion, it just puts a thumb on the scale.

2: Our junior prefect has two things working for him. First, he has the glasses that show enchantments, so he knows what effect Vanja expects the pearls to have on him. And second, he's demi, so at first, all he gets is the inclination to be friends. In the first act, he's playing into Vanja's expectations so she underestimates him; in the second, he's mostly neutral to her in the pearls. In the third act, you can actually pinpoint when he's officially caught feelings, because Vanja puts on the pearls and is like "wow he looks like he got run over by a mack truck, never seen him do that face before............. WELP IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME SURELY."

AM reblorble!!

Fourth story in The Fallow Year is here! Bon appetit!

Fourth story in The Fallow Year is here! Bon appetit!

ICYMI: a gremlin is reaching her final form 🗡️

✨be not afraid✨

Preorders:

Third Place Books • Bookshop.org • B&N

(And don't forget to turn your preorder receipt in here for the next Fallow Year story!)

✨be not afraid✨

Preorders:

Third Place Books • Bookshop.org • B&N

(And don't forget to turn your preorder receipt in here for the next Fallow Year story!)

may want to check back here in about 25 min 👀

i have not booped half of you as well as i would have liked, and i have booped half of you half as well as you deserve.

did I, a grown adult with a job, throw on megalovania and smash the boop button a solid five mins to get all the lil kitty cat paw badges??? yes, shut up

FYI, y'all have my blanket permission to spam me with as many boops as you need to get those cute badges :3

Happy April Fools Day/Boop Day! How's the little thieves gang celebrating the day? (Have some boops for your cats 🐾🐾🐾)

Joniza is in the camp of "not even once" and having a self-care day.

Gisele is helping Ragne, who thinks today is about giving people unexpected presents. Thus far she has given out five cookies, a hurdy-gurdy, and seven thousand dollars.

Vanja is acting completely normal.

Emeric is living in fear.