Sarah Rees Brennan @sarahreesbrennan - Tumblr Blog

“The past is another country, America never was America to me, and besides….” The Cobra shrugged. “I tried. My mother paid the price.”

Long Live Evil by Sarah Reese Brennan, page 254

(America never was America to me.)

“Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes

sarahreesbrennan

Thank you for seeing it! That line of the Cobra’s is an important one to me for his character, and for the metatextuality of it all. (Read along with me: I got in one line Christopher Marlowe (Elizabethan playwright and poet, Shakespeare’s sexy rival), T.S. Eliot’s Portrait of A Lady, and L.P. Hartley’s the Go-Betweeners, and Langston Hughes. Trust me, I’m telling you stories.)

Langston Hughes, jazz poet, playwright, social activist, leader of the Harlem Renaissance, was a major inspiration for Eric Mitchell, the Golden Cobra and wicked marquis formerly of New York. (And so was Lil Nas X, yes. The past isn’t dead, it’s not even past, and we do not know which songs will echo through the ages.)

‘I was unhappy for a long time, and very lonesome… Then it was that books began to happen to me,’ Langston Hughes said of his childhood, and I think we who love stories know what he means by ‘books began to happen to me.’

‘I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one’s own greed! …

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings …

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose— The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives, We must take back our land again.’

the poem is really worth reading.

Let America be America again.

#long live evil #Langston Hughes #christopher marlowe #t.s. eliot #meta fantasy #Eric Mitchell

adancerofsymphonia

In the time I have spent consuming media that involves popular bad™ male characters and/or M/F ships where the male character is morally gray or outright evil or conflicted or basically anyone who isn't completely safe and defanged, I have often comes across this statement and its countless other variations.

"Stuff like this is made to brainwash young girls into thinking that they can 'fix' dangerous men. Such girls usually end up in abusive relationships and their parents are right to worry."

It is rather strange to come across such a gross generalization, operating on an assumption that girls are blank slates whom anyone can manipulate and who can't distinguish between real and make believe on top of it.

In my entire "career"(if you can call it that) of engaging with fiction , the girls and women that I have run into in fandoms happened to be some of the most intelligent, talented, cool, witty and insightful people I have ever met. I've devoured the fics they have written. I have delighted in the arts and edits they've made. Their perspectives and interpretations about the characters and their relationships are genuinely fascinating to read about regardless of whether I agree with it or not. They are the ones who are most often at the receiving end of the antis' ire for no valid reason but they just keep deriving joy and inspiration from their favourite characters and ships and keep sharing it with others through stories, art and thoughts. They are not just smart but incredibly resilient, sensitive and aware not just about the media they consume but about the world around them and its issues.

I look up to their brilliance. I marvel at their passion. I admire them. I adore them.

sarahreesbrennan

my thesis

#long live evil #all hail chaos #I may not wish to bang a particular villain but would defend to the death anyone’s right to desire

Sliding in with a very late #fanartfriday for Pride! Thank you so much Ackrvi, I love how dynamic and detailed it is! Obviously it is for Pride because the Cobra is bi, I don’t listen to those rumours about Lord Marius… in fact I’ve never heard any…

#fanart friday #lgbt reads #pride #long live evil #all hail chaos #the golden cobra #marius valerius

halogencat

“Only survivors had the luxury of survivor’s guilt.”

- Sarah Rees Brennan, All Hail Chaos

#all hail chaos #survivors

theorangepdf

book dedications are so tender here is this piece of art i made for an audience of thousands. but really every word is for you

artisimpossible

I genuinely wonder if people realize how many projects get abandoned because the readership "wasn't there", when in reality, the readership just stayed silent. It's a big thing in trad pub that book series get discontinued because readers pirate the books or wait until the series is finished to buy a copy, leading the publisher to think that nobody actually wants the book enough to continue the series, but it happens with indie creators too.

I've discontinued a lot of free, online series because it's not worth putting 3-5 hours a week into posting a project for no readers. Sometimes I finish the series for me but just never post it again, other times I don't finish it at all because it feels more worthwhile to put my time into other things. Sometimes I hear from readers who are sad or upset that I didn't finish something they were liking, but the *reason* it never got finished is because I didn't know anyone liked it. If you like something, tell the creator, tell your friends, make some noise about it. If you would be sad if a story never finished, make that interest known because one of my biggest considerations before discontinuing a series is "will people miss this? Will I be letting people down" and 9/10 times, I come to the conclusion of "no, it doesn't even seem like anyone's reading this" only to learn after I've moved on that apparently someone was.

healerqueen

I've said this before in a different way, and this post said it so well. With real examples. If you like something, tell people.

If you want more content from an artist or author, if you like their stuff, tell them. It will give them creative fuel to keep going. And often it gives them other resources as well. Recommend a work to other people. Leave a comment or a review. It doesn't have to be long, just genuine, a sentence or two. Not many people know that a book's success is judged by book reviews as well as sales. Review the book on Amazon or another site to help it pass the metric of success and be recognized by publishers and retailers.

#stumbling through publication #reviews are very much appreciated

byoldervine

No matter how good your writing is, there will always be someone who doesn’t like it

Do NOT change the story to make it palatable to them. They will never like it. There is nothing you can do to make them like it

But there are so many people out there who will like it. And if you tone down the things that make other people not like it, you’re also toning down the things that make these people really like it

Would you rather have a story that’s loved and hated, or a story that nobody finds notable, and thus is easily forgotten?

Don’t tone yourself down to make people like it — tone yourself up. Make it so unapologetically you that instead of merely disliking it, they absolutely hate it

Because at least then you’ve left an impression on them, and how your story made them feel will stick with them, whether they like it or not

epifaniacintilante

#this writing life

vampire-scripture

On the "I am The Vampire Lestat" opening line

I am The Vampire Lestat. I'm immortal. More or less. The light of the sun, the sustained heat of an intense fire-these things might destroy me. But then again, they might not. - The Vampire Lestat

#tvl

goodgrammaritan

"Our divine Emperor did indeed but recently ascend his throne. His imperial Majesty would never attempt to assassinate your king."

The Emperor nodded. "I'm disgusted by the accusation. I don't make assassination attempts. When I assassinate, I succeed."

All Hail Chaos by Sarah Rees Brennan

#all hail chaos #sarah rees brennan #his professional pride #the once and forever emperor

sarahreesbrennan

I listened to the vod of the octocon Q&A stream and was personally offended (not really, I promise) to hear you put friends to lovers on the list of tropes you avoid writing. Sarah. Respectfully. You’ve written my favorite friends to lovers book of all time. In Other Lands. And Eric and Marius are friends to lovers too (in all likelihood 👀👀👀). Marketing may argue enemies to lovers but the heart of the story disagrees.

Thank you for watching it! You are a love.

Listen, I see what you mean. If I’m writing any couple they need to be able to have fun with each other and get familiar with each other before I’ll believe in them as a viable romance. Real rapport or gtfo!

However I just don’t really vibe with uncomplicated friends. Didn’t want to spoil the friendship but secretly in love? Whatever the friendship is already spoiled, you’re in love! Didn’t feel it/wasn’t the right time until it was? Very plausible in real life but tricky for me in fiction.

I like relationships to have crunch and friction as well as a pull between the two: I like other forces to be pushing them apart and often for that to be their own relationship.

‘I am rivals in a love triangle with this guy whom I tell myself I personally dislike’ and ‘we are both friends with the same person and have a weird pact’ aren’t normal friendship attitudes. Luke was saying they weren’t friends several years into knowing Elliot. Luke and Elliot were officially, mutually acknowledged friends for about 11 hours before Luke asked Elliot out romantic style.

As regards Eric and Marius, Eric has a lover and Marius has taken those vows he hardly ever talks about, so… some might say things don’t look good for them romance wise, but… ‘spent many years believing this was a blackmail situation and, in another life, murdered him’ is not a typical friendship, leaving aside the romance question.

I really like writing these weird shapes and I’m so glad you like them too! I’m excited to write weird shapes forever.

Like one story I’ve got that I’m very excited for you guys to read is basically ‘childhood sweethearts who have to fight to the death.’

But I do see how someone coming to me for the tropes associated with ‘friends to lovers’ might go, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WOMAN?

sarahreesbrennan

Actually it’s only just occurred to me that both Luke and Eric within a very short time of confirmed ‘I like you’ jump to romantic propositions. I think I just really prefer a character to Go For It, see also Key ‘liked it put a cursed necklace on it’ and Forge Swoops In For The Kiss Strike, and with many a friends to lovers tale I’m wondering ‘why are you not Going For It?’

#in other lands #all hail chaos spoilers

dduane

An excuse to visit this Dublin pub

(For non-Irish folks: "lads" is a local unisex plural. Also: "skint" = "broke". )

(a little article about the pub is here)

Meanwhile, next time I'm up in town, Imma go over and have a glass of wine there (though it's a bit out of my normal stomping grounds) and thank them. 🙂

The Thomas House (on Google Maps)

#that is pretty close to my house Diane #we can go together