#boltlightning

[peg-the-empire]

i haven’t been annoyingly german on main in a while, so here’s me categorising the potc characters into the holy german youth slang trifecta: atzig, fotzig, and mausig.

mausig = cute, wholesome (like a little mouse)

atzig = shamelessly provocative but still kind of cool, very idgaf energy

fotzig = essentially just… cunty

(peer-reviewed by my trusted norrington expert @boltlightning)

[joepickett]

Flashforward 1.02

[emily-e-draws]

for the book asks: 5, 8, 25!! :)

You got it pal!!

5 - What's a scene you read this year that sticks with you?

Ohhh.. many Liveship Traders moments that continue to live in my brain, and I think I have to put two in here because those books have such breadth. One is Amber and Althea's conversation somewhere in the middle of Mad Ship, about love, and freedom, and sacrifice; it's such a nuanced little scene that made me stop and think, and reveals a lot about the mindsets of each character. And, also: the bits at the end of that book where Malta, Selden, and later Reyn are exploring the underground ruins! The descriptions are so incredibly evocative - it's been on my list of things to draw all year, haha.

8 - If someone were to ask you what your top ten books for this year were, which would you choose?

In any order, + stealing your format of no rereads & one book per author:

Persuasion (Jane Austen)

Tehanu (Ursula K. Le Guin, The Earthsea Cycle)

The Mad Ship (Robin Hobb, Realm of the Elderlings)

The Grief of Stones (Katherine Addison, The Cemeteries of Amalo)

The River Has Roots (Amal El-Mohtar)

The Serviceberry (Robin Wall Kimmerer)

Reaper Man (Terry Pratchett, Discworld)

A Sorceress Comes to Call (T. Kingfisher) 

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians (H. G. Parry)

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Beth Brower)

25 - If you had to give a TEDTalk on a book you read this year, for better or worse, which would it be?

If the very idea of giving a tedtalk didn't strike fear into my heart: Tehanu!! There's something to Le Guin's writing that I feel is missing from much of modern fantasy; there's a real sense of rhythm to it, and each scene has room to breathe, yet doesn't linger overlong. Each character really feels like a complete person, with their own whole lives and experiences and beliefs; and everything ties back in to the overall themes and ideas of the book, which are explored with such thoughtfulness. Not enough people I talk to are familiar with these books so this is a PSA 🫵 read Earthsea 🫵

end-of-year book asks!

[r-osehips]

ooh do you have any thoughts on spinning silver to share, friend 👁️ 👁️ 👁️

YESSS thank you for asking!

main thought: chewing and gnawing and turning around over and over to make a little nest to lay where I can chew and gnaw more and just live inside this book because it captured my imagination more fully than anything I've read in ages

another thought: the characters!!! Naomi Novik draws these really dynamic characters who could easily be just fairytale archetypes but she fleshes them out as extremely specific, complicated, flawed people, and she gets you rooting for all of them even when they’re in conflict with one another (although another thing I LOVED about the book is how many times people who want different things actually get into cahoots instead of plotting against each other). and it’s especially delicious when you think you know a character but they unfold into someone completely different over the course of the book, especially with the two who appear to be villains at the start.

also: I’m obsessed with, and mystified by, how she manages to write this epic and complicated story that somehow also preserves the perfect, satisfying simplicity of fairytales. for example: when Miryem goes into the three chambers and turns all the silver into gold, she has to navigate a really fraught interpersonal, cross-cultural negotiation — but ultimately together she and her allies are able to achieve the task through a really simple, obvious trick*. my absolutely favorite example though is when the scullery maid unceremoniously vanquishes Chernobog. it’s (I’m grabbing my face AAAAH) it’s PERFECT, it’s so anticlimactic that it becomes an epic act of classic fairytale-style justice. the supposed lowest person uses ash (the literal residue of Chernobog’s destruction) to destroy a demon and she does it without even knowing what she’s doing. 

*as someone raised by lawyers, I was absolutely eating up all of Miryem’s brilliant question-asking and loophole-finding. I LOVE a resourceful heroine who has common sense and has to figure out how to survive on it while in way over her head, and she and Irina and Wanda all really hit that spot for me.

TL;DR the book is cozy and epic and simple and nuanced, like, Naomi Novik really put in the forest AND the trees. I need to reread it several times to figure out how! and also just for fun. so so good. now you must tell me your thoughts!

[apileofpans]

First 10 lines!

Tagged by @boltlightning UwU thank yewww I have quite a few things I can put in here >:) Let's go from newest to oldest! And sometimes two sentences just hit better :3

rules: list the first line of your last 10 fics (posted or WIP) and see if there’s a pattern. if you don’t have 10 fics, then as many first lines as you do have!

The sound of his echoing steps down the damp stairs was odd after two weeks of sinking into light, sunny sand. (Unnamed Bottom!Erik fic :3 Erik/Raoul. Explicit, no set word count yet.)

Panting, Raoul struggled against his binds. (Anonymous Erik/Raoul kink fic. 18k, explicit as hell. not linking here, but not hard to find)

When he'd so excitedly determined he wanted to be a danseur étoile, he hadn’t considered the gruelling practise that accompanied such status. (Danseur!Raoul fic. Erik/Raoul. 30k, explicit)

The priest suspected him. No matter how friendly Erik spoke with him—outside the church, of course—there was a look in his ocean blue eyes that betrayed the suspicion. (The Lord Beholdeth the Heart - Erik/Raoul priest AU. 82k, explicit)

The letter was a welcome surprise. Not that she hadn’t expected Raoul to reply to her, but it was nonetheless a sweet thing to see a letter addressed to her in his neat handwriting. (Box Five's Final Performance. Erik/Christine/Raoul. 76k, explicit)

There was no surprise to see Smith walk up to him. (On your knees, Neo. Neo/Smith, Matrix. 18k, explicit)

It was getting more and more difficult to walk. He was practically being dragged along by Erik, but he did not complain. (A debt collected. Erik/Raoul. 12k, explicit)

It had been so fucking foolish. He’d known, of course, every time he rejected going to an inhibitor station. (Let's consider the subject closed. Resistance (video games). Hale/Capelli. 3k, explicit)

There was an amicable silence between the two soldiers as Cartwright threw more wood on the fire they were seated around. (A slip-up, really. Resistance (video games), Nathan /Cartwright. 2.7k, explicit)

Ever since he had been a child Raoul had been properly fascinated by the navy. (The sea's paramour. Raoul/male OC. 42k, explicit.)

I think I'm pretty good at succinctly setting up the premise of the fic tbh! Which makes sense, I've always had a singular aha! idea with all these fics--a reason I wanted to write them in the first place. I don't think I have the strongest intros, though... I just wanna get to writing the fic already!

I can't be bothered to tag other people LOL maybe @shinyfire-0 !!

[widowshill]

💌 <3

mutuals send me a 💌 for something I love about you

I'm obliged to mention your unceasing kindness and graciously letting me pester you with questions (keeping me from floundering entirely in the wide open depths of Real Life Responsibilities by myself) but! far more importantly. love the way you think and write about Your Special Guy and his sex life. it's like a drink of cool crisp water whenever you post you are always so so correct.

[flameandignite]

wait tell us more about your sword and flintlock 👀👀👀

here they are!

the flintlock pistol (fake/non-firing—I am against real guns, for the record) is particularly cunty imo. the sword is just a cheapo stainless steel wall hanger, but it satisfies the need to dramatically unsheathe something when the mood strikes me. also it’s SO HARD to find a nice looking cutlass/hanger style sword that can be comfortably held with a left-handed grip…

[swanfloatieknight]

oho let me follow up then: top 5 FICTIONAL ships (as in boats)? 👀

thanks!! <3 this is. so much harder for some reason lmao. i should read/watch more boat media, clearly. so. uhm. these are mostly just PotC bc the Terror ships are too historical for me to put on this list if i am honest [and I bet as soon as I have posted this ask, I'll think of like a million fictional ships that are from other media/franchises. but whatever, here goes nothing]

5: The Black Pearl basic choice, I know. But she is cool, and I am weak for the ship/captain relationship Jack Sparrow has with her.

4: The Interceptor I'm not even sure if she is canonically a ship of the line? Either way, she is really, really pretty <3 and I'm always kinda sad to see her explode :c

3: The Flying Dutchman for very personal reasons that only my sister maybe still remembers XD and also bc the concept of a ship sailing under water is really cool to me. and just. the whole 'mythological' concept behind her. is really really cool too

2: HMS Dauntless bc of the drama of wrecking her and all that comes with it. you can torture Norrington so beautifully with this <3

1: HMS Surprise i just love Master and Commander, for one. and it makes for really stupid jokes. in true Jack Aubrey fashion lmao

Top 5 Asks