i.g.nova

https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignova Recently reactivated, giving tumblr another shot. Book nerd, bonsai hobbyist, houseplant den mother, collector of Virginia Woolf trivia

[i-g-nova]

If you're looking for something to read, my novel, Venus Verticordia, is available online. So far, there are seven chapters posted, out of an estimated twenty. The story is re-imagining of the fall of Lucifer, inspired by the fact that Lucifer and Venus are the same celestial object (the Morning Star).

This story is inspired by the fact that Lucifer and Venus are the same celestial object (the Morning Star). On a fateful day in the distant past, Yahweh announces the creation of a being with the blessing of this contrary and conflicted planet. Beautiful and brilliant, Brother Lucifer is hailed as Yahweh's perfect being, the culmination of His vision of Creation. But what happens when you put the soul of Aphrodite in the body of an angel? A conflict that ends up rocking the kingdom, when 'Brother' Lucifer defies God's will. Down on Earth, our story opens in a sleepy early modern town, where the young Eleanor Stevens fears that she has been possessed by a demon. When a mysterious and beautiful stranger falls to Earth outside her window, Eleanor believes her prayers have been answered—but she soon discovers that she has found more than she bargained for, as sinister events begin to engulf the town. In an interwoven narrative that moves across place and time, Venus Verticordia is a psychological novel that explores questions of faith, morality, love, and the freedom to choose one's own path.

Find it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62147545/chapters/158967184

(Image credit: 'Venus Verticordia,' by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1865-1868)

[antlered-vixen]

I am so tired of short-attention-span, trim-the-fat culture. All writing advice these days is for how to write like Chuck Palahniuk. "Cut 'think', cut 'feel', cut 'wonder' - only action, only pushing forward, show and move and move and move." What if I could emulate this style, and still don't want to? What if I want to write like Henry James, with three paragraphs of introspective musings between each dialogue line? The music advice is, "make it shortform, make it Tik-Tok compatible, make it punchy, hit the refrain as soon as possible." What if I want that 10-minute prog rock piece? What if I want that symphony? What if I want it slow and luxurious and lazy? Movies. Series. Poetry. Bodies. Everything is "trimmed trimmed trimmed trimmed, stripped bare, you have three seconds to win me over, make it airport chic." I don't want to win you over, then, I guess. I want the fat left it. I want the pleasure and the indolence and the indulgence. Fuck this art-advice that's always "your art needs Ozempic."

[i-g-nova]

if you really want to make tumblr mad, you can point out that criticism of that thing they like is neither censorship nor a targeted attack on their entire personality

[i-g-nova]

standouts from the Toronto bonsai show

the show is still running tomorrow (May 17, 2026) so it's still possible to see these beauties in person, if you're so inclined: https://torontobonsai.org/

my favourite was this Korean hornbeam, which (according to the TBS 60th anniversary photo book) has been in training for an estimated 40-60 years.

next is a wisteria bonsai that is not as large as some that i've seen, but it has very nice taper, and a pleasing little drape of purple flowers.

i always enjoy seeing crabapples in bloom.

and this flowering quince provides a splash of colour.

finally we have this bird's nest spruce, which is looking refreshed with some bright green growing tips.

bonus accent plant, with chives. accent plants (kusamono / shitakusa) can be a lot of fun, because you can do a lot with a little, in a short time.

[trout-scout]

Blackwood Books #4- BEYOND THE STARRY GATE

Read Here

Mrs. Benitez’s wails faded, becoming gulps, sniffs, her hands pressed over her mouth. “Will God not help us?” she managed. “Not today,” Helena said. She reached for her tape recorder and pressed stop. The tape spun down, whirring to a halt. “You’ll have to make do with me.”

The First Three Chapters! Oh boy oh boy!!!

Synopsis:

May, 1975. Helena Blackwood has left England behind in search of answers: to the endgame of the dangerous cult that nearly killed her, to the true fate of her long-vanished twin brother, to the psychic forces that lurk beyond the rim of human understanding. But misfortune is not so easy to shake, and her worst fears prove hardest of all: Matty St Clair is losing his mind, and there's nothing she can do to save him.

An unlikely source offers her a last desperate hope: a job, an investigation that goes against her deepest principles, that threatens to lose everything she's longed for. As a strange comet arcs through the sky, as secrets are unearthed from a half-drowned house once owned by a mad occultist, Helena must decide who she really is, and to what lengths she'll go to save what she holds most dear.

[i-g-nova]

it must be a requirement for the purveyors of popular writing advice to have never read a single book themselves

[i-g-nova]

[post that absolves you of your personal failings while turning them into signs that you are better than other people, actually]

[rajieeeee]

self portrait

[i-g-nova]

one of my unpopular opinions is that meaningful character names are kind of overrated. readers aren't going to look up your protagonist's name on Behind the Name and go 'how brilliant, so deep' when they figure out what you were thinking. people don't have time for that. if the meaning isn't transparent, it isn't going to matter. so you can probably stop agonizing over baby name lists and just pick something plausible that sounds good.

[retropopcult]

[i-g-nova]

maybe instead of demanding scrupulous realism in fiction, we should do a better job of teaching people that these imaginative fantasies are not literally true

[i-g-nova]

the literate response to a story's departure from reality is not to assume that the writer is an idiot, but to ask why they made that particular choice. 'why did they clone dinosaurs from amber even though we know that wouldn't work in real life?' because otherwise we wouldn't have an interesting story, you fool. 'why does the Dilophosaurus spit poison when we have no evidence that it did that in real life?' because the point of the story is that recklessly moving fast and breaking things with technology results in unforeseen dangers.

the people who thought Jurassic Park (or similar stories) was supposed to be a literal reconstruction of the real-world science missed the point embarrassingly. literal-mindedness like this is not a sign of superior intelligence but a liability when it comes to media literacy.

[i-g-nova]

maybe instead of demanding scrupulous realism in fiction, we should do a better job of teaching people that these imaginative fantasies are not literally true

[colubrina]

man, submitting a story to a writing group: this story contains violence against women and children, but it's tastefully done me: sure it is, buddy

[i-g-nova]

'Kiwi' aeonium 'bonsai'

on a whim, i pruned this little aeonium to see how it would respond to bonsai techniques. interestingly, it has produced some aerial roots that give it the illusion of a buttressed trunk. it may never become anything other than an 'interesting plant' but i kind of like it. as a bonus, any rosettes i prune off are easily propagated and added to planters, or given to friends. if grown in full sun, the colour of the leaves will turn yellow, with red tips. this plant is grown indoors under grow lights, so the leaves are green. (below is a picture of a rosette from the same plant, grown in full sun.)

[i-g-nova]

the internet is full of people who deliberately refuse to understand artistic licence and then act like that makes them smarter people.

'omg, they used a word coined in the 1800s in their medieval setting and i just stopped reading' maybe this is because nobody wants to be struggling through the period-accurate English of Chaucer? idk, maybe the author is not an idiot and actually understands that anal-retentive accuracy sometimes makes a story worse instead of better?

[i-g-nova]

this morning i put the finishing touches on Venus Verticordia, and it is now complete! and free to read on AO3. if you're interested in a queer retelling of the Lucifer legend, inspired by Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' and Mark Twain's 'Letters from the Earth,' why not go ahead and give this book a try?

Synopsis:

This story is inspired by the fact that Lucifer and Venus are the same celestial object (the Morning Star). On a fateful day in the distant past, Yahweh announces the creation of a being with the blessing of this contrary and conflicted planet. Beautiful and brilliant, Brother Lucifer is hailed as Yahweh's perfect being, the culmination of His vision of Creation. But what happens when you put the soul of Aphrodite in the body of an angel? A conflict that ends up rocking the kingdom, when 'Brother' Lucifer defies God's will.

Down on Earth, our story opens in a sleepy early modern town, where the young Eleanor Stevens fears that she has been possessed by a demon. When a mysterious and beautiful stranger falls to Earth outside her window, Eleanor believes her prayers have been answered—but she soon discovers that she has found more than she bargained for, as sinister events begin to engulf the town.

an excerpt from Chapter 2...

read it on AO3

[rajieeeee]

A little comic I've been making.

The rest can be read here.