Fangirling

[maggiestiefvaterupdates]

Readers asked me to do a chapter-by-chapter playlist for Call Down the Hawk like I’ve done for the other books in the past, listing the songs I listened to while writing those chapters, so here it is, with some caveats.

a) My actual Hawk playlist is 293 songs long

b) I actually listened to some songs for multiple chapters or had some songs that I used only for brainstorming, not while actually writing (i.e., a Jordan playlist, a Declan playlist, a Ronan playlist)

c) This playlist breaks playlist rules because it uses the same artist more than once, which is VERY GAUCHE I KNOW but honestly I don’t want to tell you how many Matt Maeson songs are on my Declan playlist, I’m sorry, this is actually edited. 

d) if I used more than one song that I can remember specifically for a chapter, I listed it (this happened often in chapters that change moods halfway through)

e) it’s super long, I’m sorry, there’s so many chapters

f) man, does anyone really want this

Prologue: “The Born King” – King Arthur/ Daniel Pemberton 

1: “Main Title” – Patriot Games/ James Horner 

2: “Ooh Aah (My Life Be Like) feat tobyMac – Grits 

3. “An Raibh Tú Ag An GCarraig?” – Niamh Ní Charra 

4. “Wonka Bar” – Charley Marley 

5. “Loverboy” – Mattis “Harmony Hall” – Vampire Weekend 

“Stoned on You” – Jaymes Young 

6. “Canzonetta Sull’Aria” – Rebecca Newman 

7. “Wake Up” – Sam Hulick 

8. “X Gon’ Give It to Ya” – DMX 

“Creature Comfort” – Arcade Fire 

9. “C.U.R.E.” – BOOTS 

“Not About You (jayteehazard Remix)” – Haiku Hands 

“Sombra de la Muere” – Soldado “MTBD” – 2NE1 

10. “You’re Somebody Else” – flora cash 

“Cringe (Stripped)” – Matt Maeson 

11. “So Down” – Mother Mother 

“Blackout Days” - Phantogram 

“Mhorag’s Na Horo Gheallaidh” – Clannad 

“Sans Soleil” – Miike Snow 

12. “Beelzebub” – Black Pistol Fire 

13. “Masterpiece (Vargas & Lagola Remix)” – NONONO 

“Flavaz (feat. Nitty Scott & Scott Nice) – The Polish Ambassador 

14. “Les Contes d’Hoffman, Act 4 Barcarolle: Belle Nuit, Ô Nuit d’amour” – Jacques Offenbach/ Hei-Kyung Hong et al. 

15. “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore” – Wakey!Wakey!

 “Pep Talk” – Judah & the Lion 

16. “Glow” – Tula 

17. “Ag Bruach Dhun Reimhe” – Eithne Ní Uallacháin 

“Malamente” - ROSALÍA 

“Shell Game” – Glass Candy/ Lost River 

18. “Die Zauberflote: Der Holle Rache” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/ Capella Istropolitana 

19. “Grave Digger” – Matt Maeson “Fly Low” – Elle Vee 

“Hellfire” – Barns Courtney 

20. “Corinto” – Bomba Estéreo 

“Portrait I” – The Howl & the Hum 

21. “UruR” – Wardruna 

22. “Rigoletto: Act I ‘Che Gelida Manina’“ – Giuseppe Verdi 

23. “Hidden Lakes” – Shearwater 

24. “Happy if You’re Happy” – Matt & Kim 

“Karma the Knife” – Angelica Garcia 

25. “Peer Gynt, Op. 23: N0. 13, Solveig’s Song” – Edvard Grieg 

26. “midas heel” – deadmau5 

“Technique – Deutsch Version” – MAI LAN 

27. “Le Carnaval des Animaux: VII. Aquarium” – Saint-Saëns/ Charles Dutoit et al 

28. “Dirt House” – The Album Leaf 

29. “Let You Down (feat. Findlay) [Yeuz Remiz]” – Joris Delacroix & Montmartre 

30. “Broken Machine” – Nothing But Thieves 

“Loud Magic”- Foreign Magic 

31. “Miserere II in C Minor” – Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford 

 “What the Fuck” – The Boxer Rebellion 

32. “Friction” – Imagine Dragons 

33. “Gods & Monsters (Mokadem Remix)” – Lana Del Rey 

“The Strayaway Child” – Matt Molloy et al 

34. “Get You Alone” – Sleeping Wolf 

“I Want to Know” - KONGOS 

35. “An der schönen blauen Donau” – Johann Strauss II 

36. “Hi-Lo (Hollow)” – Bishop Briggs 

“Ghost” – Neon Hitch 

37. “I Am the Antichrist to You” – Kishi Bashi 

“Words” – LANNDS 

38. “What Fills the Gap (feat. Alan Watts)” – Will Cady 

“Mingulay Boat Song’ – Codasinging 

39. “Looking for Love (Lulu Rouge Remix)” – Shanghai

“The Rain” - Reuben and the Dark 

40. “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” – Cake 

41. “Goodbye John Smith” – Barns Courtney 

“Exile” – Enya 

42. “The Formula (feat. Sol) – Amp Live 

“Quiet (Stripped)” – MILCK 

43. “Sunset Land (with Seán Óg Graham)” – John McSherry 

44. “Splitting in Two” – Mating Ritual 

45. “Club Foot” – Kasabian, Botchit & Scarper Sampler 07 

46. “I Don’t Want Love” – The Antlers 

47. “Three Sisters (feat. Tatyana Kalmykova) – Beats Antique 

48. “I See I Say” – Ebony Bones! 

49. “The 4 Seasons (Summer) lii. Presto” – Antonio Vivaldi 

50. “Cloud City” – Headphone Activist 

“Angel” – Massive Attack 

51. “Phenomenal” – Rationale 

52. “Blindfold” – Charlie Cunningham 

53. “Quixote (I am Alone, And They Are Everyone)” – Crywolf 

54. “Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20” – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 

55. “Vølvens Spådom” – Myrkur 

56. “Just a Game” – Cathedral 

57. “What Lies Unseen” – Marcin Przybylowicz/ The Witcher 3 

58. “Sadness” – Bruno Coulais, Song of the Sea 

“Lonesome (Toothless Remix)” – Sivu 

59. “Team” – Iggy Azalea 

“Afraid” – No Wyld 

“Enlighten Me” – Grouplove 

60. “For You” – Rae Morris 

61. “Cornfield Chase” – Hans Zimmer/ Interstellar

62. “The Gold (Acoustic)” – Manchester Orchestra 

63. “The Game Has Changed” – Daft Punk 

64. “No More (feat Moontricks)” – Dirtwire 

“Brains” – The Servant 

65. “First Encounter” – Jóhann Jóhannsson 

66. “Canzonetta Sull’Aria” – Rebecca Newman (yes, I know I used this one before) 

67/ 68. “Helix” – Ben Chatwin 

69: “Haunted Heart” – Wild 

“Cringe (Stripped)” – Matt Maeson 

70. “Rogues of the Low River Co” – Andrew Lockington 

71. “Footprints” – Jeff Grace 

“The Lady in the Lake” – Daniel Pemberton 

“Stomp” – Boomkat 

72. “Wake Up” – Sam Hulick (YES I KNOW I USED IT BEFORE) 

73. “The Born King” – Daniel Pemberton 

74. “Something is Wrong” – Lisa Hannigan 

75/ 76. “Utopia” – Cristobel Tapia De Veer 

77. “Nomads” – Joe Banfi 

78. “Ya Amar” – Mees Salomé 

79. “Darkness Visible” – Mumford & Sons

[maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20]

A Raven Cycle Holiday Short (A Very Declan Christmas)

(A Very Declan Christmas)

I’ve done a holiday short for the last few years. Here’s another one from the Raven Cycle universe.

Christmas was complicated, because of the dreaming.

Christmas and dreaming already felt like natural bedfellows; the holiday was already like a recurring dream humanity agreed to share. The logic of it was pure dreamstuff: A stranger brought gifts, sometimes impossibly longed for gifts, sometimes impossibly undesirable ones. A living tree was taken from the field and put inside the house. Tokens were stuffed in socks, an enormous bird was wrestled into the oven. Cranberry sauce was not a particularly realistic food. Like a recurring dream, Christmas came every year whether or not you wanted it.

Declan Lynch would’ve liked Christmas quite a bit if not for the nights that led up to it.

There were four of the Lynches: Niall, the charistmatic father, Aurora, the dulcet bride, Declan, the eldest, and Ronan, the youngest but nonetheless natural heir to everything important Niall possessed. They all lived in a place called the Barns, a remote Virginia farm tucked deeply into the hillocks in the west of the state.

They were a family of secrets.

Declan Lynch was marvelous at secrets. His mother whispered to him, laughing a little as she did, to make the secrecy unfrightening: Your father has brought a secret home for us; don’t tell anyone or they might want one too. The secret would be a car, or a three-horned cow, or a painting that made him feel strange to look at it. Sometimes they would keep the secret, but more often his father would disappear on a business trip to sell it to someone in the market for secrets.

Will you help me clean up the bedroom? Aurora would tell Declan some mornings. We’ll make a game of it.

On mornings like this, his parents’ bedroom would be full of secrets. Thousands of tulips, or an ocean of dried insects, or hundreds of muddy footprints from an unseen beast, or dozens of frozen blocks of fragrant soap. His father would be lying in the midst of it, still covered with secrets, or sometimes in the shower, cleaning them off himself.

Declan always helped clean, but he didn’t make a game of it or laugh or sing as his mother did. He’d always been too serious for her.

Smile, little Declan, she’d say, and tousle his curly hair. There’s so much to smile about.

There was a lot to be worried about, too, though.

Ronan, for instance.

Ronan was everything all at once. He was irascible and adoring, eager and reticent, joyful and furious. Niall had said once there was a saying about Irish weather: if you don’t like it, wait a minute.

That was Ronan.

Ronan had his share of secrets, too; Declan always understood that this was why he was the favorite. His were grander and more explosive than Niall’s, harder to hide, more likely to end in disaster.

Declan worried a lot about them.

He would wake with flaming swords, acidic butterflies, snarling fly traps, tiny bouncing infernos. Luckily, Ronan’s secrets were far more rare than Niall’s. He would go for months without one, and then flare up when he was wound up, or around the full moon. Or around Christmas.

It had taken him several years to understand that it wasn’t Christmas that made the dreaming worse; it was the Winter Solstice. Longest night of the year. Ronan slept the same amount around the solstice as he did any other time, so Declan wasn’t sure what was different about it. He just knew it was coming.  

Each year, Aurora helped the boys construct a new advent calendar, helping them to count down the days until Christmas.

Smile, Declan, she’d say, You’re so serious. Look how few days until Christmas, when your father returns.

Declan would look at the number of days until Ronan’s bad nights, and he would not smile. By the time Christmas hit, Declan’s eyes were bagged and sleepless.

What do you want for Christmas this year? Aurora asked.

No more secrets, Declan thought.

The first bad night that year was the nineteenth of December. Behind the advent calendar door had been a tiny wooden wren ornament with a golden ribbon. Declan had hung it on the tree too high for Ronan to reach and Ronan had thrown an absolute shit fest over it.

Boys, Aurora said. There will be another ornament tomorrow, and Ronan can hang that one. Go play together.

They did not go play together. Ronan wanted to, but Declan was sick of his face. He’d been watching his brother all night long for three days already, scrutinizing his sleeping face for evidence of oncoming disaster.

That night, when Ronan began to whimper in his sleep, Declan looked up from his post by Ronan’s bedroom door and threw a koosh ball at him. Ronan groaned and rolled over.

Declan had to wake him twice more that night, but there were no secrets.

The day after that was unseasonably warm, and the boys went outside to kick a ball around the cow fields. There was the unexpected gift of one thousand starlings, who had settled in the dun-colored grass on their way elsewhere. The birds shouted and squawked busily, moving in concert when startled. The game of kick ball quickly became a game of seeing how close the two Lynch brothers could creep to the flock.

I’d like a bird army, Ronan said.

Declan thought of how plausible such a request was for a person like his younger brother, and, thinking of what Ronan’s room would look like in the morning after such a manifestation, said, I don’t think that would be very interesting.

You’re never into anything. You’re the most boring person I know. Ronan leapt to his feet. He ran into the flock of birds with such speed that their shock took a few seconds to catch up. Then he was in the midst of them, surrounded completely by birds scouring the air with their wings, birds and brother indistinguishable.

That night, when Ronan began to shift in his sleep, Declan woke him a little more roughly than was needed. The fourth time, he jerked the duvet off his brother, making no attempt to hide himself.

MOM!

Niall returned on the Solstice. It was a properly chilly day; no snow, but the ruddy grass was all turned white with frost and the trees were muted gray and the distant mountains beyond the trees were icy blue. Niall had them unload the trunk of his car, which was full of tantalizingly odd-shaped gifts. Secrets, some of them, Declan was sure, which were fine, but what he really wanted was a microscope set. None of the boxes were the correct size for that, which put him in a cross mood. Ronan’s euphoric mood — Ronan was always ecstatic when Niall returned — made him even crosser. He watched his brother on Niall’s shoulders as they played Giants around the barns, and he watched his mother and Ronan roll out sugar cookies, and he watched Niall set Ronan on the roof of his car for a better view as he flew one of his secrets high up into the sky for Ronan to watch.

Declan, come in and play with us, Aurora said that evening after they’d returned from Mass. She’d set up Chinese checkers by the fire. Ronan was already installed by the fire, laying on his stomach and looking through a peculiar book his father had brought home; it made Declan’s stomach twist to look at it, and after a moment, he realized that it had no pages — it had merely the impression of pages. The story hummed out of the book without words. Ronan was reading it without any apparent discomfort, and why would he have any? He was the same kind of impossible as Niall.

Aurora reached a hand toward Declan. Look, you can have one of your presents early.

It was a bag of new pieces for the game, ten intensely black-purple marbles. They shimmered like a raven’s eyes. They were so entirely to Declan’s liking that he went to his room and cried instead.

Let him go, Niall said, sure and he looks like he’s been up for a month.

When he woke, it was well into the night. Solstice night.

In the other room, Ronan was sleeping. Dreaming. Declan began to shift to get out of bed to begin his watch, but then he thought about all the bad feeling inside himself, and he didn’t. He rolled onto his back and warred with himself. Ronan might wake with something dangerous; Ronan deserved it. Ronan might get hurt; Ronan deserved it. Ronan might spend Christmas with one eye; Ronan might appreciate what Declan did for him then.

Through the wall, Declan could hear Ronan whimpering.

Declan was tired of managing secrets. There was nothing brilliant about dreaming for the one left awake.

Declan put his pillow on his head.

In the middle of the night, he woke.

He didn’t know at first why he had woken, because the world seemed dark and strange — a moment later, he realized he still had his pillow over his head, twisted round with the comforter for an airless, soundless nest.

When he removed it, he heard a squalling howl. For a cold, pulseless moment, he thought it might be Ronan. Then it came again, and he thought that it couldn’t be. There was something quite primal about it.

Guilt shoved him out of bed and sent him into the hall and through Ronan’s door.

The squall came again as he entered the door, and fear chittered through him. He hated the secrets. He hated them. He hated being afraid.

He smashed the light on.

There was Ronan.

His younger brother was stretched out on the bed. He looked incorrect. Badly assembled. This was because he was paralyzed, which Declan knew from rueful experience meant he had brought a secret from his dream. His light blue eyes stared at nothing. His mouth was parted in pain, and his arms were covered in scratchmarks that hadn’t been there when Declan had last seen him on the hearth. The book Niall had brought him laid open within hand’s reach.

Declan didn’t know if Ronan could hear or see when he was like this, but he bent in front of him and said, you messed up, Ronan!

The squall came again. This time it was obvious that the source wasn’t in Ronan’s room. This was a curious facet of the secrets; sometimes Declan found them right next to Ronan — but not always. Sometimes he found them elsewhere in the house. And sometimes he never found them. He would just know that a paralyzed Ronan had manifested something somewhere and hope that it was nothing that would ruin the secret. Declan was terrified that Ronan would manifest a monster in his room one solstice.

The cry came again, and Declan left his frozen brother behind to step into the hall.

He found Aurora there, golden hair disheveled, wrapped in the silken blue robe Niall had brought her.

In her arms was a child. A baby. His hair was as golden as Aurora’s and as curled as Declan’s. Aurora was smiling at him, and the baby was already smiling back, comforted in Aurora’s arms. He cooed.

Declan said, Ronan—

Smile, little Declan. Aurora tousled Declan’s hair. Don’t tell anyone about this secret.

[parrishi]

A R I S T O T L E   A N D   D A N T E

The clearest summer could end in a downpour.

[maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20]

TRC fandom, particularly white TRC fandom: when you reply to these screenshots of mine with STIEFVATER MAKE RONAN BLACK YOU COWARD, and none of you also say STIEFVATER MAKE NOAH BLACK YOU COWARD, STIEFVATER MAKE GANSEY BLACK YOU COWARD, etc, it’s time to ask yourself why you think the character you wouldn’t hand a baby to is black and the character you want to love and protect is white. It behooves all of us to ask ourselves if our gut feelings are our own or if we’re sliding into a trench built for us by hundreds of years of storytelling and media coverage and stereotypes.

I’m a different creator now than I was in 2011*, and I’m pumped to do what I can to make sure the TRC show is a more diverse place than the TRC book series, but I’m not here for underlining stereotypes that get people killed every week.

*and I hope that I‘ll be a different creator yet again in another 8 years

(also my role in this is writerly, not in casting, so throwing yourself upon my mercy in this department is largely futile anyway).

[stumupm]

Dr Seuss: ‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!’

Illumination:

[quantummindclassicalheart]

Then they got an idea! An awful idea! THE BRANDS GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA! All the marketers thought, “Why should tickets suffice? With the Grinch selling knick-knacks, why, we’ll be paid twice!”

Forget all the morals! There’s cash to be made. From frosting to forklifts to Grinch Gatorade! Just slap his face on there and tint it with green And prepare for profits, yes, profits obscene!

From a seasonal, festival holiday grump, The Grinch had been played for a capital chump. “No more! Won’t you forget these trinkets?” he pleads. “Christmas isn’t junk! It’s your bonds and your deeds.”

For a moment, they paused. Was there more to this day Than products and placements and big bonus pay? The PR men sniffed and they shrugged and they sighed. Then they threw him some cash and they went back inside.

[artesbw]

Zdzisław Beksiński

[morgana0anagrom]

I painted Raven Cycle characters by Maggie Stiefvater for Shelflove crate 

hope you guys will like it 

Ronan

Adam

Noah

Gansay

Blue

[adventure-heart]

The moon is beautiful

[sparkleywonderful]

Black Eyes and Left Hands:

I just finished Nevernight and wanted to get some theories out there before I read Godsgrave and forget them all.

If you have not read Nevernight, there are spoilers in this post, so back out now.

Weiterlesen

[tragicophelias]

Endless List of Favourite Books Nevernight (Nevernight #1) by Jay Kristoff

“You’ll be a rumor. A whisper. The thought that wakes the bastards of this world sweating in the nevernight. The last thing you will ever be, girl, is someone’s hero.”

[theorahart]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7bIUx_rjY <3

To commemorate Sept 22nd- The beginning of autumn and Bilbo/Frodo’s birthday :3

[kojotei]

In Love with his Blood and his Sadness

[maevns]

ya lit meme: eight otps (3/8)  ↪ cole and isabel

[henessy]

make me choose — @ninnazeniks asked: adam or ronan

“you working after school?” “with a dreamer.” he held ronan’s gaze over his locker door. school had improved. adam gently closed his locker. “i’m done at four thirty. if you’re up for brainstorming some repair of your dream forest. unless you have homework.” “asshole,” ronan said. adam smiled cheerily. ronan would start wars and burn cities for that true smile, elastic and amiable. (insp)

[fangirlfreckles]

Underrated details and moments from the raven cycle

Gansey’s favorite pizza toppings are sausage and avocado

Blue’s first sighting of Ronan is of him hitting his head on the lamp over a booth at Nino’s

(Ronan isn’t a fan of lamps)

There is a framed, signed picture of Steve Martin at 300 Fox Way and Maura is extremely proud of it

Before entering Cabeswater for the first time, Adam and Gansey spend several minutes discussing Ronan’s peeing habits and Blue is like, @ god why

Also: Ronan bitching to Adam about Malory peeing three times during the night at Monmouth

Gansey tells Blue that he only drinks fair trade coffee because he wants her to assure him that he’s a decent human being

Ronan calls 300 Fox Way a “Castration Palace”

Also, Gansey about 300 Fox Way: “Do you eat all of the men in the family?”

When they’re off on the lake adventure and Blue gets back into the boat, she spits a mouthful of dirty water on Gansey’s boat shoes

Orla is very attracted to Ronan and apparently has terrible gaydar

GANSEY HAS SEEN KAVINSKY’S PENIS

When Malory first meets Blue he asks if she’s stopped growing

Adam joking that Gansey is dating Glendower and Gansey is #nodeny

Calla does aerial yoga and kickboxing in her spare time 

“They’ll listen to you. Your vote counts double because you’re a Caucasian with great hair.”

Approximately 98% of Maura’s diet consists of butter

Mr. and Mrs. Gansey give Adam a checkered vest and a potted rubber plant before he leaves DC

When cleaning up Jesse Dittley’s yard, Blue uses a chainsaw on the old couches and Noah spills mulch all over the driveway

“‘Jesus Christ,’ Gansey said, to hide the sound of every hair on his body standing up and both of his testicles retreating.”

Both Blue Sargent and Piper Greenmantle care about cave health and are very vocal about it

Throughout the series Ronan is called: soldier boy, snake boy, neanderthal, captain frigid, thug, and little pissant (my personal fave)

Gansey at Nino’s: “Why is the tea so good here?” Blue: “I spit in it.”

Maura and the Gray Man’s first date chapter in TDT: Calla following them to the restaurant, Maura ordering salmon for the Gray Man because he’s “fishy”, the two of them making out in the alley afterwards. They are the lowkey otp of the series lbr

“It ate my deer thing”

[rirarutsch]

Sieh dir den Tweet von @godsdoggs an: https://twitter.com/godsdoggs/status/1040794837371498497?s=09

[virginiasummer-deactivated20200]

[ x ] The king sleeps still, under a mountain , and around him is assembled his warriors and his herds and his riches. By his right hand is his cup, filled with possibility. On his breast nestles his sword, waiting, too, to wake. Fortunate is the soul who finds the king and is brave enough to call him to wakefulness, for the king will grant him a favour, as wondrous as can be imagined by a mortal man