Errata

Fortysomething medievalist/earlymodernist/acafan. She/Her. Things that are pretty and/or historical. Sometimes there is fanfic. Fandom magpie but always Shakespeare, the Wars of the Roses, Arthuriana, ASOIAF.

[poorshadowspaintedqueens]

House of the Dragon 3.03 ‘Rhaenyra Triumphant’

Previously: Rhaenyra takes King’s Landing! Yay! Fine, it’s not nearly that simple. The episode opens, once more, right where the prior one l

[mysharona1987]

Happy Independence Day!

[poorshadowspaintedqueens]

Just a question for the Wars of the Roses crowd:

Considering it was published in 2016, why did I hear nothing about Thomas Penn's triple bio The Brothers York: A Royal Tragedy such that I randomly tripped over it in my local library a month or two ago?

I will grant that I was not exactly aware of things in 2016, as I had a brand-new baby and was very absorbed in figuring the whole parenthood thing out. But I wasn't completely out of the loop, and yet somehow this absolute banger of a biography went completely under my radar.

This book is fantastic. I don't know that I have ever read a more even-handed depiction of all three Yorkist brothers. Yes, he's equally mean to all of them, but let's all agree that they deserve it. I'm on the second-to-last chapter now and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

[elgreytea]

What are you reading rn, why are you reading it, and what format are you reading it in (physical book, ereader, on your phone etc)

[darlingofdots]

ten years ago as part of my creative writing degree we had a class on professional development where we learned how the publishing process works for different mediums and how to choose an agent and what the role of a publishing house is and back then, the advice was "self-publishing has its advantages but a traditional publisher will provide editorial support and market your book and if your book sells well enough they want to invest in your future" and now basically none of that is true anymore. books make it to shelves with noticeable errors and structural issues that could be addressed with one or two more rounds of developmental editing, authors are expected to do more and more of the marketing themselves to the point that they are expected to be social media influencers in their own right, and publishers appear to be prioritising flashy debut novels with huge advances they don't outsell, which means the author is less likely to get a follow-up deal.

Obviously a publisher is a business and a business needs to make money, but the idea used to be that you'd have a couple of very successful authors who bring in so much cash that they subsidise the new kid who is building a back catalogue of books that sell okay until they get name recognition and pay for themselves. I was told back then that a couple thousand pounds was very reasonable for a debut novel because you want to get royalties for the sales exceeding your advance and that way the publisher sees you as a profitable investment. The last couple of years I keep hearing about six figure book deals for debut (!) literary fiction (!) novels, what on earth?

I'm not saying that the publishing industry is uniquely awful or that it's worse than it's ever been or whatever, but especially in a time when reading and talking about books is trendy and there is so much money in books, it feels very, I don't know, symbolic? Prioritising flashy one-time projects over sustained and sustainable growth. Investing only enough resources to make your product fit for sale but not enough to make it good because people will buy it anyway. It's frustrating to me as a reader and as an aspiring writer and as a person existing in a capitalist system.

[poorshadowspaintedqueens]

One of the tags referred to people thanking their editorial teams in acknowledgments, and I want to point out the growing prevalence of people thanking beta-readers and writing groups, both of which usually rely on a pre-existing community or relationship and, just as importantly, are unpaid.

My day job is as a freelance editor for nonfiction books, and I can safely say that if the publishing industry were operating as intended, I would either not have a job at all or be working for a specific press. Authors pay me directly to do the work that a press editor used to do as part of publication contracts. This is because so many presses have started outsourcing all their editorial work to either third-party contractors or, even worse, to genAI.

In short, venture capital has broken the publication industry the same way it's broken the retail, restaurant, and travel industries.

[daenerystargayen]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON S03E02 — “Queen’s Landing”

[poorshadowspaintedqueens]

House of the Dragon 3.02 ‘Queen’s Landing’

Previously: We began more or less where the Season 2 finale ended, with Alicent arriving at the Red Keep after brokering her clandestine dea

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

[nynevefromthelake]

Oh Lancelot, loved by the king, loved by the queen

Another Arthuriana idea I had for a while. Guinevere design is much inspired by William de Leftwich Dodge illustration

[weepylucifer]

You know how we call things "pseudoscience"... the media analysis that's being done on twitter and tumblr should be pseudohumanities

[hananfamily]

Medical Emergency 🚨

A few days ago, I lost a large amount of blood due to a sudden and severe hemorrhage, and I fainted without feeling it. I was transferred to the hospital, and I did not wake up until the doctors had stopped the bleeding and provided me with blood units and the necessary treatment.

I spent a full week in the hospital receiving treatment under intensive medical care, after my condition and my fetus’s condition were extremely critical. 💔😥

I was discharged from the hospital, but I am barely able to move. I need someone to support me so I can walk. 😢

My fetus, now in the seventh month, is still in a difficult condition. The doctors did everything they could to save him; they gave me injections to stabilize the pregnancy and others to complete the lung development, in addition to many other medications.

All that has happened to me is a result of the harsh conditions we are living in Gaza. 💔😓

Exorbitant prices for providing food and water, and difficulty in obtaining medications and nutritional supplements, and the life of tents that no human can endure, especially with the bitter cold and the continuous rain.

Please… I need medical care, medications, and special nutrition, so that survival may be written for me and my fetus. and this cannot happen without you extending your hands to save us once again. 🙏🥹

Vetted by @gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #152 ) ✅

This campaign has also been verified by @90_ghost ✅

[depsidase]

[enigmaticpink]

I firmly believe what ever you’re obsessed with at 11/12 years old becomes a core part of who you are, regardless if you lose interest in it or not. Maybe some of you were lucky and were obsessed with warrior cats or smth, and if you’re real unlucky it was probably twilight.

[missyfrs]

to be a fly on the wall for a conversation between these two

[hellotailor]

New York Post unethical vs. New York Times unethical

[kazz-brekker]

just wanted to let hollywood know that it's not too late for them to drag the movie adaptation of the black count by tom reiss out of the developmental hell it's been stuck in for 10+ years and then let abubakar salim reprise his role as thomas-alexandre dumas that he already played in napoleon (2023). it's not too late actually.

[vices-aand-virtues]

House of the Dragon + Reductress Headlines (21/?)