what i could never confess without some bravado, emily palermo // wild beast, naruysae // sinnerman, kwame boateng // a body more tolerable, jaye simpson // isabella and lorenzo, john everett millais // a faithful hound, colin dickey // st. guinefort, jenna barton // @/hardwrench // little red riding hood, henri de montaut // the archetypes of literature, northrop frye // leash, wikipedia // binding of fenrir, koukouvayia // so what's wrong, ruth stone // love as a language, roland barthes // the old shepherd's chief mourner, edwin landseer // @/dostoyevsky-official // self-portrait, cynthia cruz // rough, naomi butterfield // torso of air, ocean vuong // wolf-alice, angela carter // gleipnir, walton ford // lancelot, edwin arlington robinson // james stuart (1612–1655), duke of richmond and lennox, anthony van dyck // problem area, melissa broder
M O R D L U S T ; an eb garamond powerpoint introduction
so, i realized that it's been almost 4 years since i last made an intro for this wip, and it might help to explain what the actual premise is before april camp rolls around 😩 hope you like the new cover + map !
T A G L I S T
{ send an ask to be +/- } · { introduction } · { tag } · { projects }
— once a hayseed boy from a village with no name, now the lapdog to the wealthy, foreign ospirin family. but not even they know how far aleksander will go once the gold dries up and the beast behind his smile grows hungry.
isme de lède as the swan prince ;
— the eldest son of the mad queen of cendrier and the subject of a great many love poems. countless more would desire to use the prince as a political pawn, especially now that isme is without his enchanted feather cloak.
vératre as the changeling ;
— half-mortal, half-cigne, and beloved by neither, vératre's is a damned existence. monstered into an infamous inquisitor, she has been mysteriously hired for one final job. one that might prove to be her most dangerous of all.
salicaire as the huntsman ;
— a fearsome justiciar, renowned far and wide for his skill with the blade, his ruthlessness in meting out divine justice. salicaire's path has led him to the heart of the helemere faith, where threats lurk around every corner.
Aspiring smuggler-turned-thief Aleksander Fox has stolen the enchanted feather cloak of the Immaculé of Cendrier. When it falls into the hands of the assassin Vératre, both soon find themselves entangled in a much grander conspiracy.
T A G L I S T
{ send an ask to be +/- } · { introduction } · { tag } · { projects }
Aspiring businessman-turned-thief Aleksander Fox has stolen the enchanted cloak of the Swan Prince. When it falls into the hands of the assassin Vératre, both find themselves entangled in a much grander conspiracy.
juniper & thorn, ava reid // study for the head of the gorgon, giulio aristide sartorio // elm, sylvia plath // botanica no. 23, gail potocki // thornhedge, t. kingfisher // the invasion of the swans, guillermo lorca // forfeiting my mystique, kaveh akbar // ganymede, jericho brown // angelika wrona // leave my body, florence + the machine // adam and eve, jacob jordaens // circe, madeline miller // abject permanence, larissa pham // still life with a swan, frans snyders // the tragedie of macbeth, william shakespeare // consiglio alla vendetta and accusa segreta, francesco hayez
— foxfur coat five years out of fashion, golden membership pin to the stag's hall, large carpet bag, and a talisman from heidi
isme de lède as the swan prince ;
— countless love poems written to and about you, enchanted cloak of black feathers, and the weight of a god's favor
vératre as the changeling ;
— spare vial of wyvern venom, black veil to hide your venom-stained lips, old kitchen apron, and a carnelian dagger
salicaire as the huntsman ;
— helm from the herleif armory, halberd of your choosing, cardamom seeds for chewing, and a memento
Aspiring businessman-turned-thief Aleksander Fox has stolen the enchanted cloak of the Swan Prince. When it falls into the hands of the assassin Vératre, both find themselves entangled in a much grander conspiracy.
imagine me actually following through on what i say i'm going to do and making those character aesthetic intros (still cooking on the animal symbolism post soz).
transcript + more below the cut:
She poured water from the porcelain pitcher of a mismatching set: some cups painted with irises, some with filigree moulding, and a single clear glass the color of moss. It was this last glass she placed loudly atop the bedside table for Liese’s benefit. The gloves and choker came off first. And as she slipped out of her costume gown, draping it over the footboard of her own bed, Liese grumbled something incomprehensible.
“Pardon?”
“I said your ceiling is spinning.”
“The chamberpot is in the corner if you’re going to be sick.”
Liese shook her head, still staring up with glassy eyes. “I don’t think so.”
She had not yet lit the sconces. If she kept it that way, she wouldn’t have to hide her lips with more rouge. She crossed to the other half of the room and sat at the foot of the bed by Liese’s legs.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Shuffling over, as if to make room for her, Liese spoke.
“I do wonder… Why do you stay with me? Are you too kind or too stupid to care? Both, maybe?”
A flash of lightning cleaved through the darkness of the small room, illuminating Liese’s features, like the pale belly of a sturgeon, snatched from the sea into the bright light of the sun. She rubbed her eyes.
Shedding her damp slippers and stockings, she lay herself atop the covers beside Liese.
with this entry, i just wanted to say that i can't believe it's been over four (and a half) whole actually wtf years since i started writing what would become mordlust. two title changes and three drafts ago...
like.......
those of you who've been following this wip for a while, or have at least seen me talk about it in past posts, know that the idea for mordlust was actually multiple ideas frankenstein-ed together.
the first was an uncompleted short story about three frenemies(??), one of which is slowly turning into a beehive, the second was a semi-completed short story about a group of boarding school boys who were The Worst, and the last was an animal bride retelling with a political twist. it was always a point i fixated on in animal bride fairy tales: did anyone go looking for them? who were they before? were they someone important? and the rest spun off from there.
i can definitely pinpoint character traits and relationships and worldbuilding details from reading these older pieces back, it's really neat, like authorial tree rings. seeing how far mordlust has come, even from it's initial draft that i tried to brute force my way through during nano 2021, i feel like i've definitely grown not only in my craft as a writer, but also as a storyteller.
i haven't properly participated in a word crawl in years at this point, and i'm not a super big fan of sprints, so i haven't had a time to specifically dedicate to getting more words on the page. a lot of it is in between the lines/behind the scenes tweaking to make everything as coherent as possible (which is difficult, since i have to backtrack through like 3 drafts + an outdated outline & somehow make sense of it all 😮💨).
for anyone who's made it this far, tysm for reading & ty to all my friends who've uplifted me and my silly little wip for the past four and a half years 🙏💖
1 to 5 tag ;
rules ; follow the prompts (change one if you like) and tell us a little something about your WIP ! answers to the prompts can be in the form of quotes or anything you’d like
one word to describe your WIP ;
moldy (it's been sitting out)
two characters talking in a short excerpt ;
three chapter titles ;
chapter iv - a heart of hellebore
chapter xix - hart's gambit
chapter xxvii - spare the sword, spoil the snare
four tropes featured ;
shapeshifting lover
mirror character
from nobody to nightmare
silk hiding steel
five songs from your WIP playlist ;
i actually don't have a playlist for mordlust, so i'll just list some of the songs i've previously said would best fit its world & characters
orlando, virginia woolf // the girl in the peacock room, guillermo lorca // bakkhai, anne carson // rovesciare i propri occhi, giuseppe penone // @/anthonyvolpe // the adventures of prince achmed (1926) // gabriel-ernest, saki // the barberini faun, susanne turner // swan lake (2022), philadelphia ballet // cupid and psyche, joshua reynolds // stag's leap, sharon olds // watership down, richard adams // lucifer, franz von stuck
