#the-dream-scape

[garzabird]

Top five books you've read? (Or top five you've read recently, if you can't pick)

hmmm, a Tough One, let’s go with Nautical Adventure Books ‘cause i feel like Boat Shenanigans are Good Summer Fun and i’m currently listening to 20,00 Leagues Under the Sea, so in no particular order:

1) The Aubrey/Martin books, aka the Master and Commander Series

I’ve read the first, one? Maybe two of these, and the Movie adaptation is fantastic as well, a bonus, a good time. A Ship’s Captain and his Doctor take care of a ship full of sailors and have Adventures. If you like Sherlock/Watson levels of “How are these two not Actually Married” you’ll love this. The Captain is a Badass on a ship, a competent and well-liked captain, and a complete idiot on land, with no social graces, who quite often gets Drunk and Into Trouble. The Doctor is a NERD (they’re both nerds, i love them) who can’t fucking swim and is Courting Grievous Bodily Harm every time he tries to do anything nautical, but is Great in social situations, and is a Genius Surgeon, and all the sailors love him ‘cause he’s an Actually Competent Doctor?? on a boat?? a miracle.

Bonus points for accurate Age Of Sail shit

2) Treasure Island

A CLASSIC, a rollicking good time with loads of action and adventure. The action, tension, and characters are all surprisingly well-written and the “children’s adventure” fast-paced style translates pretty darn well for a modern audience.

Bonus points for the realization that Treasure Planet was a Surprisingly Accurate reboot? Like, even the scene with the kid sneaking onto the ship in the dead of night and fighting a pirate for a gun while the mechanics of the ship keep turning the tables on who has the advantage?? like?? DANG!!

3) The Temeraire Series

 All the Nautical Wartime Adventure of the Aubrey/Martin Novels, but WITH ALSO DRAGONS AS WELL?? need i say more?? Adorable Bonding With Dragons shit, and sea-voyaging adventures!! they’re great, i don’t think i’ve read them all though, and it’s been a while since i read the ones i did.

4) RailSea

Listen, do you like Mobey Dick? Treasure Island? Rollicking Nautical Adventures?? Now, what if they took place in a monstrous, probly post-apocalyptic desert world with no oceans, covered in twisting, curving rails, where gigantic moles, snakes, and other burrowing creatures live beneath the surface of the deadly sands, and the only way across is on TRAINS?? Whose captains harpoon gigantic moles and seek secret treasures??

Listen, this book is Amazing and deserves it’s own post, but it’s SO GREAT, Bonus! casually subverts a lot of the racism, sexism, and heteronormativity of the more Classic Nautical Adventures. As with most of China Mieville’s work, there’s Excellent worldbuilding, and A Twist that will throw what you know about this world on it’s head. 

5) The Airborn series

Listen, do you like Treasure Island? do you like 20,00 leagues Under the sea? do you like AIRSHIPS?? because Holy Fuck. This series takes all the solitude of the open sea, the terror of sea monsters lurking in the depths, the Tension and Drama of characters forced to live and work together alone on a ship, and puts all that In The Sky!  

Bonus points for brilliant execution of a very unique reboot, and attempting to subvert some of those Classic -ism Tropes, but ymmv

[windona]

23 :)

23: If you had to remix one of your own fics, which would it be and how would you remix it?

I might try to do ‘Gratitude’ from Khaji Da’s POV. It’s a fic I’m pleased with, and that could be an interesting change.

[basalt-dnd]

Hey! No question, just wanted to thank you for all the content you put out. I check your blog frequently when I'm planning sessions. You're doing great work, thank you so much for it

Thank you! I’m really glad that it’s helpful. <3

[joyfulldreams]

the-dream-scape

  Tablet update: Got both photoshop and SAI2 to work...

I picked up a huion gt185 second hand for about 500$ CAD (actual price isn’t that much more), and I’m really enjoying it. The paralax on the cursor can take a bit of getting used to, but for the price, compared to something like a cintiq or an ipad pro, I don’t find it to be a big deal.

Oh I already know what I want. I looked at that one, but I was looking for a 16inch one since I’m not actually a huge fan of the bigger ones. I tend to use my wrist more than my arm when I draw, and the bigger screen means generally more arm movement. Plus I like it not taking up too much desk space. 

Additionally the big things for me were an HD (1080p) resolution screen, ability to switch active monitors, control over color display and pressure sensitivity, and most importantly: ACCURATE COLORS AND BRIGHTNESS, in a >$450 price range. AND I FOUND IT.

The Artisul D16, baby! As a fuckin bonus the pen doesn’t have a battery that needs charging, you can power the ACTUAL TABLET with JUST THE USB depending on your machine, it has both DVI and HDMI in-ports, a clip-on for holding your pen (thank god for this feature), very accurate colors, and thus far not a single review I’ve seen has shown that many issues with parallax or other dumb glitches. And trust me, my clunky 6-year-old cintiq has plenty of glitches and probably way worse parallax than anything these more modern tablets are gonna offer. 

And it’s cheap. The alternatives in the same price range are all at least $50 more.

PLus. $420. 420BLAZEIT

Now I just gottaaaaa get the money for that. Which shall be SOON. >:D

[garzasmonsters]

the-dream-scape replied to your post “eyyyy, hey guys, I picked up a Ton of extra shifts at work, had family...”

I haven't had a chance to read it yet but apparently universal picked up the rights to it so there's a chance it might get a movie

WOAH, that’s amazing!! I’d want them to have a, just, MASSIVE costume budget! If it’s live action, Animation would be fantastic though. One of my coworkers said the comic was like reading a Ghibli movie. 

Of course sometimes studios just hang on to the rights Forever. I’ve been yearning for a Monster Blood Tattoo movie for AGES.

[parvumautomaton]

In response to this post

portabellogna said:                                                                                                                            Congratulations!!!  That’s really cool and good luck!                                     

the-dream-scape said:                                                                                                                            That’s so exciting! Best of luck to you!                           

Thank you both :) It means a whole lot :) :)

[windona]

the-dream-scape replied to your post: There is nothing more amazing than when people...

if you’re down for sci fi, I really enjoyed Ancillary Justice

Oh man, I read that whole trilogy and loved it. The premise sounds a bit goofy, but it is so well done and executed, beautifully handled, and I loved Breq’s commentary and the defiance of several common tropes.

[garzabird]

Space-Captain-Without-a-Name and Vulture!

haha, i got SEVERAL of these, so i’mma split them up and go one at a time

SPACE CAPTAIN!!

Full Name: okay, already i’m stumped ‘cause i Want to give her a Very Obviously Latina Name, but also i kindof want to give her a Space Name? right? so i dunno, i gotta work on that, but here’s a picture of her! [she’s got lightsaber hands]

Gender and Sexuality: Straight?? Woman. (let’s say presumably straight so far, she’s had two relationships with...a robot who thought he was human, and a guy, but she may be rescuing a princess in the future, so, you know, princesses are hard to resist, or so i’m told)

Pronouns: She/ Her

Ethnicity/Species: Human Space Latina

Birthplace and Birthdate: listen, i’m pretty sure Latin America is ancient history in this universe, but she’s born at a Far Future time and planet that’s very much Space Latin America, okay? okay. Oh, shes’ probly in her mid-late 30s?

Guilty Pleasures: hah, 1) tearing apart outdated security turrets with her BARE HANDS, 2) intimidating people by pulling chunks of concrete out of walls with her BARE HANDS, 3) while on a job, stealing rare and delicious foods from extremely rich Corporation Owners, Space Tyrants, and Corrupt Governments, and then eating it in the privacy of her Shitty Smuggler’s Ship 4) wearing fancy gloves

Phobias: i hadn’t actually thought about this, but girl’s Hella Claustrophobic, she also has an immediate distrust of cyborgs, and some general PTSD stuff

What They Would Be Famous For: look, a famous smuggler is just a bad smuggler. Although, she’s probly known on her home planet for being a famous resistance fighter When The Robots Attacked, so, that’s a thing

What They Would Get Arrested For: HAH, what WOULDN’T my girl get arrested for? she’s a wanted criminal on several planets, delights in taking jobs that hurt giant corporations, and her current crew includes two wanted resistance fighters, a mercenary, an escaped science experiment / prisoner, and a cyborg who is literally physical evidence of illegal human experimentation by the intergalactic prison system. She’s top subject on SEVERAL most-wanted lists.

OC You Ship Them With: hmmm, ITS COMPLICATED??? she was Great with this one guy, but he turned out to be a robot spy, she didn’t care, but he wanted to go keep fighting with little resistance pockets all over the galaxy, and she was Done with that life now that her home planet was safe? (or so she says). Future relationships may or may not include her First Officer, the Rescued Cyborg, or a Space Princess 

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Escaped Science Experiment if someone triggers his brainwashing thing. That’s probly gonna happen at least twice?

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: she probly LOVES Romance books?? that should probly be under Guilty Pleasures, she probly likes RomComs and movies with gorgeous over the top costumes 

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: POC being the first to die always, miscommunication as a plot point in Romances

Talents and/or Powers: did i mention the Lightsaber Hands?? No, i don’t know how that works either, but listen, neither does she. In her resistance days, she was going toe-to-toe with industrial robots, and thought she was going to die any day, so she let their scientists put some Highly Illegal Tech in her body to make her stronger and faster and, you know, able to slice a robots arms off with her Bare Hands. They’re probly gonna malfunction some day and she’ll have to go back and face her home planet again. That’ll be an Exciting and Emotional time for Everyone Involved. 

Why Someone Might Love Them: She’s a cutie who always seems to have a plan, always seems to be calm and know exactly what to do. She gets immediately protective of anyone who’s on her crew, even if it’s been, like, an hour. She’s pretty fragile and vulnerable once you get under the Badass Loner Smuggler face and figure out her Traumatized Apocalypse Survivor past. 

Why Someone Might Hate Them: She’s absolutely reckless, has very little time for anyone not on her crew, and no respect for laws. She would do anything for her crew to the point of absolute dangerous stupidity

How They Change: She goes from Terrified Apocalypse Survivor, to Reckless Rebel Hero, to Cynical Lone Drifter, to Smuggler Who’s Adopted A Ship Of Dangerous Lawless Babies and she Loves Them All 

Why You Love Them:^^^ that, all of that