Extravagant & Unlikely

Official tumblr of Alexandra Rowland (they/them), author of 10+ books in the Chantiverse setting, including A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, and YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION. ~~"We spare no expense in the construction of a narrative which may be extravagant and unlikely."~~

[ariaste]

Attention ancient history nerds and fans of really weird and unusual fantasy books, THE WISDOM OF EMPERORS kickstarter campaign just launched!

Hello, btw, I'm Alexandra Rowland, the author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION, and several other books. This is my new one!!

Inspired by the story of the Ancient Roman emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous, THE WISDOM OF EMPERORS is a second-world adult fantasy novel written in the style of a fictional academic text. It documents the translation and study of a world-changing artifact discovered in an archaeological dig: a manuscript which provides the clues to finally unravel one of the most perplexing mysteries in all of ancient history.

If this sounds like your jam, go back it on kickstarter! If you're not sure whether it is your jam, the merch reveal updates on the campaign include excerpts from the book so you can get a flavor for it -- the ENTIRE Foreword to the book is on there!

I do not have a publisher to help with a marketing and publicity budget, so this book's success really depends on grassroots support from readers -- if you can spare a signal boost, that'd be amazing.

I'M GONNA GO WALK INTO THE SEA NOW AND BECOME ONE WITH THE MOLLUSCS, but before i do, here is the full summary of the book:

SUMMARY:

     An ancient emperor who, along with his entire army, vanished from the historical record for ten years, as if into thin air. A long-suffering scribe, dragged along on a quest that was doomed from the start, furiously scrawling his thoughts in a manuscript that will be lost for millennia. An enslaved young man, as beautiful as a marble statue, breaking his chains and flying to freedom. And a patient, steadfast scholar, dauntlessly seeking the answer to a mystery that has plagued historians for two thousand years.

The great tragedy of studying history is that there is so much we will never know. But a recent archaeological excavation has discovered an ancient manuscript, allegedly the journal kept by one of Emperor Cabian’s scribes during the years of his mysterious disappearance. Though most historians initially dismissed it as a hoax or a forgery, Amatio Orlanti took on the challenge—not only proving the authenticity of the manuscript, but translating it, uncovering the most jaw-dropping corroborating sources and, at last, presenting these astonishing revelations to the world: The truth of Cabian’s ill-fated journey, the twin poisons of imperialist violence and desperate, misguided love that drove him relentlessly onwards, and the ultimate fate of his lost beloved, the legendary beauty Anaticula. This new edition of Orlanti’s dissertation, with its academic commentaries and explanatory footnotes now revised for the general public, offers a glimpse of one of the most famous figures of Ancient Lausa—and casts a light on the rot and depravity lying behind the empire’s outward magnificence.

Miracles in history and archaeology just don’t happen… except when they do.

Coming soon: The Wisdom of Emperors: Deluxe Collector's Edition

A new fantasy novel by Alexandra Rowland, author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, & YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION

[ariaste]

Oh my god okay so. There are FIVE DAYS LEFT on the campaign, it ends on June 4th, and I just want to go over some of the incredible things this campaign has achieved, which... i'm fucking speechless.

1300+ backers

over $100,000 raised

Audiobook stretch goal reached!

Collector's Edition fully upgraded to its fanciest form: High-quality sewn binding (NOT glued), gold foil and embossing on the cover, ribbon bookmark, sprayed edges, illustrated endpapers (full color) and 7 interior illlustrations (greyscale) by @holographings and @qwertyprophecy

Enamel pin stretch goal! Alternate colorway dust jacket stretch goal!!

There's still 4 spots available to claim a copy of the luxury HANDBOUND edition made by an incredibly talented bookbinder.

Every physical order comes with 5 art cards (so far) of the illustrations in full color (and we might hit the stretch goals to get a couple more!)

Here is the first illustration that's been completed, by the amazingly talented @qwertyprophecy:

Are you speechless? I'm speechless.

This has truly been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Like, I've published over a dozen books before this and I've never felt so much an outpouring of love and community and CONNECTION... This is what making art is all about. I'm so, so grateful. Thank you so much.

If you haven't had a chance to check out the kickstarter, YOU SHOULD GO DO THAT THING. I'm making something really cool with the help of some really cool artists!

The Wisdom of Emperors: Deluxe Collector's Edition

A new fantasy novel by Alexandra Rowland, author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, & YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION

(Signal boosts very much appreciated!)

[sawfish-by-any-other-name]

DO YOU LIKE FREE ART AND NUANCED BOOKS?

Digital wallpapers for your phone, tablet, and computer? Postcard-sized illustrations to give to your friends or tape to your wall? Stories where most people are trying their best, but some are actively making things worse?

Then go back the The Wisdom of Emperors kickstarter before 4pm EDT (9pm GMT) Thursday June 4 (tomorrow!! 19 hours from now!)!. All kickstarter orders come with digital wallpapers of the seven gorgeous landscape illustrations by Mosu Äijälä that will be included with every edition of the book, and physical orders come with 6– going on 7!– art cards of those same illustrations!

LOOK AT THISSSSSS IT'S GORGEOUSSSSSS AND IT COULD BE YOURS!!!!

if messy bisexuals on a misguided quest for love and power, or a twink that leads them halfway around the continent while insisting he doesn't want to be found, sound up your alley, please check it out! It also has footnotes! And a fake bibliography! and a scholar with a minor (very minor, they assure you) crush on just the coolest priestess in the whole tale!

the ebook is only $10 USD, and both the paperback and audiobook are $25 USD. And there's an enamel pin! and a notebook! and papyrus bookmarks! and a tote and stickers and a t-shirt and a goth dust jacket and the beautiful collector's edition-- but the wallpapers and misguided quest could be yours for only $10! Do yourself and local tumblrites Alexandra Rowland, Mosu Äijälä, and the rest of the art and production team a favor and let's make this kickstarter wrap up with a bang! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[sawfish-by-any-other-name]

If you, like me, have been waiting to update your pledge to include the audiobook now that we've reached that stretch goal, do so now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexandrarowland/the-wisdom-of-emperors-deluxe-collectors-edition/description#h:Add-ons-and-Merch $25 for a two-narrator audiobook that will be produced with just as much care and attention to detail as the (print) collector's edition will be! And if you haven't pledged yet, please do so! The ebook is only $10 and there are lots of other cool things to choose from! You'll get free digital wallpapers and art cards! And the joy of making local gremlin author @ariaste pack just so so many boxes of books! 😈😈😈

[flowerbleedme]

My incredibly bleak philosophy of compassion is that we should all pity each other horribly and practice an according amount of kindness.

[flowerbleedme]

I asked for a pastry at the coffee shop. When I raised my card up to pay, he simply said "you're good." and waved it away. I wondered why. I wondered what made him think I deserved to have my order be free. Sparing me those two dollars.

Sitting down at the table, I remembered the scars on my arm. The universal signifier of "This Kid Needs Help." Maybe his kindness was only out of pity. He saw those and assumed there was some great misery and wanted to offer me some relief. It's generally good to be kind to people who are hurting. But I wasn't hurting that bad.

The thing is, there is some great misery. People generally aren't doing that great. There is a great misery within me and within him and within everyone, and some people notice the pain, some people express it, others don't. But we all suffer from something.

It doesn't matter if someone seems to deserve some relief. Everyone needs it. Everyone is suffering constantly. Some more than others, but still. This Kid Needs Help applies to everyone.

Thirty minutes later, I went to get a second pastry, intending to pay and leave a tip this time. It was the same cashier. As he reached to grab it for me, I saw scars on his arm.

But it doesn't really matter. He'd deserve a tip anyway. Because it's never just us hurting.

[headspace-hotel]

I don't even bother hardly to orrect my typos anymore. It is just affirmation that these words were typed by the hands of human being and not extruded by a fucnking AI

[headspace-hotel]

one of my professors was like (paraphrasing) "AI makes you sound the same as everybody else. The idea of a single "correct" English is racist and flattens the diversity of people. I don't care about grammar outside of the writing being understandable. I want to hear YOUR voice, Your dialect the unique way you communicate."

I have been more appreciative of the rough edges of human communication since chatGPT came to be. The misspellings and turns of phrase that real people produce.

The inherently flawed nature of an alive thing vs. the empty perfection of something that never had life in it at all

[maniculum]

Reblogging because I tell my students exactly the same thing. Good to see other instructors are making that same point.

(At least I hope that’s the case, because the terrifying alternative is that there’s an overlap between “people i follow on tumblr” and “students i’ve taught”.)

[theowlseye-deactivated20240403]

Obsessed with how some people get so attached to their own headcanons that they get mad when they see a character presented as they are in canon

[poetikat]

via @ourlordapollo

[dykextraordinaire]

everyone get more sex positive and resist the rise of conservatism and purity culture NOW!!!! i am so tired of seeing “queer” people shame others for expressing themselves sexually, for looking down on SWers, for insisting that sex is somehow devoid of meaning or emotionless, for implying that desiring sex is somehow dirty or abnormal. respectability politics is bullshit. you’re not morally superior and straight/cis people will not accept you no matter how badly you want them to. and guess what? the most vulnerable populations get hurt by this rhetoric. SWers, trans folks, queer black folks, queer indigenous folks, queer folks of color. please decolonize your mind. queer sexual freedom IS a form of resistance and a form of joy, and if you don’t understand that then you don’t understand your history.

[ariaste]

Attention ancient history nerds and fans of really weird and unusual fantasy books, THE WISDOM OF EMPERORS kickstarter campaign just launched!

Hello, btw, I'm Alexandra Rowland, the author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION, and several other books. This is my new one!!

Inspired by the story of the Ancient Roman emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous, THE WISDOM OF EMPERORS is a second-world adult fantasy novel written in the style of a fictional academic text. It documents the translation and study of a world-changing artifact discovered in an archaeological dig: a manuscript which provides the clues to finally unravel one of the most perplexing mysteries in all of ancient history.

If this sounds like your jam, go back it on kickstarter! If you're not sure whether it is your jam, the merch reveal updates on the campaign include excerpts from the book so you can get a flavor for it -- the ENTIRE Foreword to the book is on there!

I do not have a publisher to help with a marketing and publicity budget, so this book's success really depends on grassroots support from readers -- if you can spare a signal boost, that'd be amazing.

I'M GONNA GO WALK INTO THE SEA NOW AND BECOME ONE WITH THE MOLLUSCS, but before i do, here is the full summary of the book:

SUMMARY:

     An ancient emperor who, along with his entire army, vanished from the historical record for ten years, as if into thin air. A long-suffering scribe, dragged along on a quest that was doomed from the start, furiously scrawling his thoughts in a manuscript that will be lost for millennia. An enslaved young man, as beautiful as a marble statue, breaking his chains and flying to freedom. And a patient, steadfast scholar, dauntlessly seeking the answer to a mystery that has plagued historians for two thousand years.

The great tragedy of studying history is that there is so much we will never know. But a recent archaeological excavation has discovered an ancient manuscript, allegedly the journal kept by one of Emperor Cabian’s scribes during the years of his mysterious disappearance. Though most historians initially dismissed it as a hoax or a forgery, Amatio Orlanti took on the challenge—not only proving the authenticity of the manuscript, but translating it, uncovering the most jaw-dropping corroborating sources and, at last, presenting these astonishing revelations to the world: The truth of Cabian’s ill-fated journey, the twin poisons of imperialist violence and desperate, misguided love that drove him relentlessly onwards, and the ultimate fate of his lost beloved, the legendary beauty Anaticula. This new edition of Orlanti’s dissertation, with its academic commentaries and explanatory footnotes now revised for the general public, offers a glimpse of one of the most famous figures of Ancient Lausa—and casts a light on the rot and depravity lying behind the empire’s outward magnificence.

Miracles in history and archaeology just don’t happen… except when they do.

Coming soon: The Wisdom of Emperors: Deluxe Collector's Edition

A new fantasy novel by Alexandra Rowland, author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, & YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION

[ariaste]

Oh my god okay so. There are FIVE DAYS LEFT on the campaign, it ends on June 4th, and I just want to go over some of the incredible things this campaign has achieved, which... i'm fucking speechless.

1300+ backers

over $100,000 raised

Audiobook stretch goal reached!

Collector's Edition fully upgraded to its fanciest form: High-quality sewn binding (NOT glued), gold foil and embossing on the cover, ribbon bookmark, sprayed edges, illustrated endpapers (full color) and 7 interior illlustrations (greyscale) by @holographings and @qwertyprophecy

Enamel pin stretch goal! Alternate colorway dust jacket stretch goal!!

There's still 4 spots available to claim a copy of the luxury HANDBOUND edition made by an incredibly talented bookbinder.

Every physical order comes with 5 art cards (so far) of the illustrations in full color (and we might hit the stretch goals to get a couple more!)

Here is the first illustration that's been completed, by the amazingly talented @qwertyprophecy:

Are you speechless? I'm speechless.

This has truly been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Like, I've published over a dozen books before this and I've never felt so much an outpouring of love and community and CONNECTION... This is what making art is all about. I'm so, so grateful. Thank you so much.

If you haven't had a chance to check out the kickstarter, YOU SHOULD GO DO THAT THING. I'm making something really cool with the help of some really cool artists!

The Wisdom of Emperors: Deluxe Collector's Edition

A new fantasy novel by Alexandra Rowland, author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, & YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION

(Signal boosts very much appreciated!)

[ariaste]

FORTY MINUTES LEFT

[odyver]

alright I've got to do some quick math to explain attitudes towards AI to my boss.

we're looking to create an AI policy, and when we were talking about this, my boss (older millennial) was genuinely shocked to hear that younger people do not (seem) to view AI positively (a la the recent commencement speakers being booed)

please rb for larger sample size!

Question 1/3

What is your age, and do you feel AI is a net positive or net negative in our lives today?

under 18, AI is a net positive

under 18, AI is a net negative

18-29, AI is a net positive

18-29, AI is a net negative

30-45, AI is a net positive

30-45, AI is a net negative

46-60, AI is a net positive

46-60, AI is a net negative

over 60, AI is a net postive

over 60, AI is a net negative

Remaining time: 6 days 5 hours

[odyver]

Question 2/3

How often do you visit or interact with museums/archives (whether in person or online)?

Frequently (multiple times per month)

Often (multiple times per year)

Occasionally (a couple times per year)

Rarely (once every couple of years)

Never :(

Remaining time: 6 days 5 hours

[odyver]

Question 3/3

If you saw a museum was using AI in exhibits, marketing, research, etc., would you be more or less inclined to visit that museum?

under 18, more inclined

under 18, less inclined

18-29, more inclined

18-29, less inclined

30-45, more inclined

30-45, less inclined

46-60, more inclined

46-60, less inclined

over 60, more inclined

over 60, less inclined

Remaining time: 6 days 6 hours

Thank you for helping with this data collection. Please rb for as big a sample as possible!

🫶

[itsalwaysdark]

you have to be careful reading too many things that are good/smart/well-written bc then you encounter something that isnt and you get confused like ? why didnt they just make this good ? were they stupid

[mangled-by-disuse]

in happier pride news i actually found this deeply heartwarming

that's solidarity baybeeee

[lgbtlaughs]

Further context: Durham city council (Reform UK) cut funding and support for Pride. The Durham Miner's Association and other trade unions raised enough money for Durham Pride 2026 to go ahead - a direct call back to when Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) raised money for mining communities when Margaret Thatcher seized union funding during the miner strikes of 1984-85.

At the 1985 Labour party meet, the motion to support LGBT rights as a party was passed due to a block vote from mining unions.

Stephen Guy, the chair of the Durham Miners’ Association, said that when it became apparent Durham Pride was under threat, he took it upon himself to “encourage the trade union movement to step up and do the right thing, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT+ community […] They not only raised funds for us, but came to our communities, uplifted our spirits when they were down, and showed their solidarity.”

[ariaste]

On a scale of 1 to 10 how excited are you about sending out SO MANY packages with your gorgeous book and all 7 Art Cards in them? Because I'm very excited to receive mine. Congratulations on this absolutely fantastic Kickstarter!

i have come to accept my fate. There are so many packages that will be the Same, so I can just lay out a bunch of boxes on the table and pack like 20 at once, it will not be so bad.

Anyway thank you!!

[bloodyspector]

[alenseress]

SHUT UPPPPP

[imjunebitch]

having an actual consistent set of morals in a vibe-based world full of people who say they have a "strong sense of justice" as shorthand for "I get really pissy when I don't get what I want" is kinda exhausting lol

[falling-through-a-trapdoor]

The authors barely concealed historical fixation

[biboymolloy]

Do the people who hate on Armand and call him the worst of all evils know that when he was all burned up and starving after attempting suicide and a child became attached to him and tried to help him, he used his precious energy he could've used in healing himself to hold up an illusion so he wouldn't frighten that child? Do they know that? I think they should know that.