gawain Lynch

“He was a king. This was the year he was going to die.” Arthuriana and trc sideblog. Perpetually weeping over galehaut and gawainecelot

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

books with non linear narrative, experiments with the form, etc: go!

please do not all say house of leaves i know some of you bitches read books

[teratocybernetics]

Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire: each chapter takes place in the same chunk of London over something like 1000 years

if we can count comics, Moore's Promethea too, one of the volumes is a trip around the Tree of Life, i think the whole narrative can be mapped on the Tarot Majors too

Mark Danielewski's Only Revolutions is a book length prose poem that you read from the ends in to the center. i haven't gotten through it but respect the ambitious structure

i feel like Hal Duncan's Vellum & Ink had something interesting structurally between them but i don't think i finished them, specifically bc i waited too long to start Ink after Vellum & got completely lost

Honorable mention/not sure if it counts but the language was interesting enough that I'm tempted to include it: The Tide Will Erase All by Justin Hellstrom is an Improbability Drive-style apocalypse told by a ten(?) year old but might also be a radio/satellite announcement of their story after the fact? needs a revisit

OH SHIT Koji Suzuki's Ring Cycle. Ring is a horror novel that happens on an entirely different level of operation than what we find out about it on Spiral & Loop

Jeff Vandermee's Dead Astronauts, i actually don't know how to describe what he did with it but it's nuts

The Dictionary of the Khazars is a novel that's a lexicon

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

this is turning up a whole bunch of things I hadn't heard of which is EXACTLY what i wanted god bless you all:

So Stories of Your Life and Others has been on my wishlist for ages as has Pale Fire; Voice of the Fire is on my bookshelf waiting for me and I think I read Promethea or parts thereof when it first came out; I read Catch-22 recently and will rave about it at the drop of a hat, read Cloud Atlas… a couple of years ago I think? After having it on my shelf for a million billion years & dug the matryoska structure muchly, but yeah! Otherwise I hadn't heard of most of these?!?! excellent work everyone well done

[radiosaturday]

Got a few I haven't seen in the notes:

Blake Butler's There Is No Year is decidedly nonlinear, bordering on nonsensical, with upsetting vibes and such perfect pacing that I couldn't put it down

Matt Bell plays in this territory a lot; pretty much anything by him is going to be fighting you back a little but my introduction was the short story "The Cartographer's Girl"

John Elizabeth Stintzi takes a pretty oblique approach to structure in Vanishing Monuments and, I understand, in My Volcano. (Disclaimer: they are also a friend of mine, but I make the recommendation in earnest)

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins is like if Warren Ellis tried to write House of Leaves, and I mean that as a compliment

I'm sure you're aware of Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, but it is, in fact, all that and a bag of chips, especially in its structure

Monica Ojeda does some fun things with structure, especially in Nefando but definitely also in Jawbone, though I'll note that Nefando especially deals in some very dark territory

Steven Millhauser's short stories are pretty distinctly nonlinear and often outright weird in a very fun way -- I love his collection The Barnum Museum, notably the source of the short story that inspired the movie The Illusionist

I feel like Ayse Papatya Bucak's The Trojan War Museum fits here, but I also just feel like that collection is underrated, so cum grano salis

I think the movie is better-known, but Laszlo Krasznahorkai's Satantango is formally and topically very weird in a way that I found delightful

I also enthusiastically cosign the recommendations of Coup de Grace and Pale Fire. For what it's worth, Pale Fire is also one of the funniest books I've ever read.

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

I am not aware of Our Share of Night! Also, "bordering on nonsensical, with upsetting vibes" is like catnip. Thank you.

[princefuckyouknickers]

253 by Geoff Ryman (originally published on the web with hyperlinks, later published as a paper book) now at : https://www.253novel.com/

The Bridge by Iain Banks

and

Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh

(both have the dude in a coma)

See Under: Love by David Grossman. It's in four parts, two of them are straightforward lit fic, one is salmon point-of-view, if I recall correctly, one is a story told in dictionary definitions.

And short stories:

Stet by Sarah Gailey (the story emerges from the footnotes)

Wikihistory by Desmond Warzel (a story in forum posts)

[madtomedgar]

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

The Angel of History by Rabih Alameddine

Dogs at the Perimeter by Madeleine Thien

Human Acts by Han Kang

[walewainuwu]

If on winter’s night a traveller by Italo Calvino is GORGEOUS, it’s a bunch of stories in a story about a story trying to find a story with an underlying mystery and a lot of love for stories in themselves

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

books with non linear narrative, experiments with the form, etc: go!

please do not all say house of leaves i know some of you bitches read books

[teratocybernetics]

Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire: each chapter takes place in the same chunk of London over something like 1000 years

if we can count comics, Moore's Promethea too, one of the volumes is a trip around the Tree of Life, i think the whole narrative can be mapped on the Tarot Majors too

Mark Danielewski's Only Revolutions is a book length prose poem that you read from the ends in to the center. i haven't gotten through it but respect the ambitious structure

i feel like Hal Duncan's Vellum & Ink had something interesting structurally between them but i don't think i finished them, specifically bc i waited too long to start Ink after Vellum & got completely lost

Honorable mention/not sure if it counts but the language was interesting enough that I'm tempted to include it: The Tide Will Erase All by Justin Hellstrom is an Improbability Drive-style apocalypse told by a ten(?) year old but might also be a radio/satellite announcement of their story after the fact? needs a revisit

OH SHIT Koji Suzuki's Ring Cycle. Ring is a horror novel that happens on an entirely different level of operation than what we find out about it on Spiral & Loop

Jeff Vandermee's Dead Astronauts, i actually don't know how to describe what he did with it but it's nuts

The Dictionary of the Khazars is a novel that's a lexicon

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

this is turning up a whole bunch of things I hadn't heard of which is EXACTLY what i wanted god bless you all:

So Stories of Your Life and Others has been on my wishlist for ages as has Pale Fire; Voice of the Fire is on my bookshelf waiting for me and I think I read Promethea or parts thereof when it first came out; I read Catch-22 recently and will rave about it at the drop of a hat, read Cloud Atlas… a couple of years ago I think? After having it on my shelf for a million billion years & dug the matryoska structure muchly, but yeah! Otherwise I hadn't heard of most of these?!?! excellent work everyone well done

[radiosaturday]

Got a few I haven't seen in the notes:

Blake Butler's There Is No Year is decidedly nonlinear, bordering on nonsensical, with upsetting vibes and such perfect pacing that I couldn't put it down

Matt Bell plays in this territory a lot; pretty much anything by him is going to be fighting you back a little but my introduction was the short story "The Cartographer's Girl"

John Elizabeth Stintzi takes a pretty oblique approach to structure in Vanishing Monuments and, I understand, in My Volcano. (Disclaimer: they are also a friend of mine, but I make the recommendation in earnest)

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins is like if Warren Ellis tried to write House of Leaves, and I mean that as a compliment

I'm sure you're aware of Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, but it is, in fact, all that and a bag of chips, especially in its structure

Monica Ojeda does some fun things with structure, especially in Nefando but definitely also in Jawbone, though I'll note that Nefando especially deals in some very dark territory

Steven Millhauser's short stories are pretty distinctly nonlinear and often outright weird in a very fun way -- I love his collection The Barnum Museum, notably the source of the short story that inspired the movie The Illusionist

I feel like Ayse Papatya Bucak's The Trojan War Museum fits here, but I also just feel like that collection is underrated, so cum grano salis

I think the movie is better-known, but Laszlo Krasznahorkai's Satantango is formally and topically very weird in a way that I found delightful

I also enthusiastically cosign the recommendations of Coup de Grace and Pale Fire. For what it's worth, Pale Fire is also one of the funniest books I've ever read.

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

I am not aware of Our Share of Night! Also, "bordering on nonsensical, with upsetting vibes" is like catnip. Thank you.

[princefuckyouknickers]

253 by Geoff Ryman (originally published on the web with hyperlinks, later published as a paper book) now at : https://www.253novel.com/

The Bridge by Iain Banks

and

Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh

(both have the dude in a coma)

See Under: Love by David Grossman. It's in four parts, two of them are straightforward lit fic, one is salmon point-of-view, if I recall correctly, one is a story told in dictionary definitions.

And short stories:

Stet by Sarah Gailey (the story emerges from the footnotes)

Wikihistory by Desmond Warzel (a story in forum posts)

[madtomedgar]

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

The Angel of History by Rabih Alameddine

Dogs at the Perimeter by Madeleine Thien

Human Acts by Han Kang

[vseshlo]

Calcifer tells Howl about Sophie's situation (and they both feel something to her)

[momoguido]

Presenting the results of my latest hyperfixation

Tam Lin is a Scottish folktale, usually presented in ballad form, dating back to at least the 16th Century. It has been summarized and re-told by different people over the years, including Overly Sarcastic Productions. It is the subject of a one-act opera, and was the inspiration for a 1970 movie that updated the story to the present day.

The fairy queen yells at Tam Lin in every version analyzed except for the Anais Mitchell version. Her version is an outlier in many respects, since the entire parade is left out, Janet simply grabs hold of Tam Lin mid-conversation.

Another oddity is Pentangle's version, which was written for the movie and consists of a jumble of images meant to complement scenes from the film, without a coherent narrative.

The biggest surprise to me is how few versions mention Janet seeking an abortion, something that I had always thought of as a central part of the story.

One thing I wish I could have looked at in more depth is the balance between versions that describe Tam Lin's transformations before he goes through them, and versions that describe them as they happen. As they happen is more common, but some songs will do the entire sequence twice.

Going into this, I had two versions prominent in my mind: Anais Mitchell's pop-folk version that leaves out much of the story, and Anne Briggs' very traditional (and very long) version. Because of this, I thought perhaps we would see a decrease in the complexity of the story over the years, but that's not the case, it's basically flat. I think a better comparison might be to separate into traditional and revised versions, although that is something of a judgment call.

There were so many minor discrepancies I couldn't even keep track of them all, but these four stood out because they are so oddly specific. Even the main character's name and the setting aren't consistent across versions, if they're even mentioned at all. Some versions don't even give the main character a name!

My data collection process leaves a lot to be desired, as well as the way in which I decided which events were major or minor, and which things to leave out altogether. This was mainly just a fun way to explore different versions of my favorite folktale, listen to a lot of different people sing different versions of the ballad, and rotate the whole thing in my brain.

[hacked-wtsdz]

Every time I read or watch Lord of the Rings I can’t help but think about how Tolkien had survived one of the bloodiest, most cruel, most dirtiest and darkest wars in human history, came back and wrote this:

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

And this:

"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo.

'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'"

And this:

"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

And this:

“Many that live deserve death and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends."

And this:

“True courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one.”

And clearly they were all written partly because he survived the war, because of what he’d seen and done and learned. But at the same time the unwillingness to lose faith, the courage and strength that this man had to believe in these things after going through hell! It makes the nihilists look so cheap, so uninteresting! People who’ve went through concentration camps and wars believe in humanity anyway, isn’t that proof that hope and love exist? And many, many, many of them did not return or returned broken and cruel and traumatised to the point when no faith in others was possible for them, and nobody can blame them. But there were many who refused to lose faith and hope. They have seen some of the worst that life has to offer and came back believing that we shouldn’t be eager to deal out death in judgement and should love only that which the sword defends.

No matter how many people say that humanity is horrible and undeserving of love, and life is dark and worthless, and love doesn’t exist I remember this and have hope anyway. Because there were people who have actually had all reason to believe in the worst and still believed in the good, so the good must be real. The good is real, even despite the evil, and we must trust in it.

[silksufjan]

don’t get me wrong i absolutely love blue sargent and think fan artists are doing gods work but like. blue canonical wears weird fucking shit. not even like quirky-cool weird. like the costume department of disneys hit show Shake It Up (2010) starring bella thorne and zendaya level weird. attacking a sweater with a weed-whacker weird. she intentionally wears fuck-ass outfits and as much as i adore the eclectic indie girl aesthetic blue sargent’s style is weird and chaotic and diy and thrifted and anything less is blasphemy .

[currentlycryingaboutlancelot]

people need to stop complaining about not having friends who want to do the activities they want to do. if you want friends who will joust with you to the death, then start challenging your friends to joust to the death. if you want a friend who will betray you after years of sworn service to you by having an affair with your wife, then get a wife and knight a guy you found in the lake. cultivate the friendships you want to have

[whump-it-like-its-hot]

So earlier in art class today, someone drew a characters hands in their pockets and mentioned that hands are really like the ultimate end boss of art, and most of us wholeheartedly agreed. So then, our teacher went ahead and free handed like a handful of hands on the board, earning a woah from a couple of students. So the one from earlier mentioned how it barely took the teacher ten seconds to do what I can’t do in three hours. And you know what he responded?

“It didn’t take me ten seconds, it took me forty years.”

And you know, that stuck with me somehow. Because yeah. Drawing a hand didn’t take him fourth years. But learning and practicing to draw a hand in ten seconds did. And I think there’s something to learn there but it’s so warm and my brain is fried so I can’t formulate the actual morale of the lesson.

[kazoosandfannypacks]

Saying "I'm not going to draw this thing because I don't know how to draw this thing" is really shooting yourself in the foot, because you've now cut yourself off from an opportunity to grow.

I had a friend in college who was an absolutely amazing artist. I loved seeing his work! One time I said something to the effect of "I could never do that."

He told me something that, as an artist, I resonate with. He said art isn't about natural talent; it's a learned skill. When you tell an artist their level of skill is impossible for you to reach, you're assuming their level of skill is a natural gifting they have, and it discredits the hundreds to thousands of hours of hard work they've put into getting where they are today, and you're cutting yourself off from trying to reach that point yourself.

[what-hos-there]

I don't remember where I heard this but I wish I could, because it stuck with me:

Talent is THE RATE at which you learn things, not whether or not you can learn certain skills at all.

And that suddenly clicked for me. I have been very talented with a lot of things in my life and once I realized that I had basically been getting XP multipliers on my normal life experiences, it suddenly felt so much less awful to realize that I did not have the same advantage with other skills I struggle with, and that's okay. I might even have some debuffs on those, and that's okay. It's still all gaining as long as I keep working on it!!

[girls4losers]

The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton // National Gallery of Ireland // The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

[girls4losers]

Also, in case it wasn’t clear i feel like i should mention:

She’s wearing Blue

He is, very specifically, the one heading down (to his death) (you could also give significance to the color red here)

That guy is literally headed to his death and they both know it, this is their last meeting

In trk they are at a toga party in this scene (not the same dress but nonetheless, dressed historically)

[girls4losers]

ME WHEN IM LITERALLY CORRECT ABOUT AUTHORIAL INTENT

[jolcandsghost]

the mythology of Ronan Lynch

[finnlongman]

I was just sitting in a Zoom session about using social media as an author, run by my publisher, and one idea that came up was not using every platform but just picking the one(s) you like and which suit you and committing to those. So I hope they know I picked Tumblr, because ooh boy, I'm bad at all the others.

[finnlongman]

Am I "good" at Tumblr? Questionable. Probably not. Does any other platform give me the same freedom to dump a couple of thousand words of incomprehensibly niche in-progress research whenever I need to yell about it? No. So here we are.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

one day i'll write an academically supported book about the ulster cycle for general audiences but like. specifically aimed at therapists and counsellors whose patients are deeply fucking weird about it. so they know what they're dealing with. with translations of all the really queer moments that don't currently have english translations, and a summary of past scholarship/historiography. plus a Warnings section that's like "please check how your patient feels about these specific terms, readings, or concepts before trying to use them to relate to them"

[brbarou]

despite everything

[littlestpersimmon]

we are whole

[littlestpersimmon]

Apolaki Wept. (click for high res.)

Apolaki, the sun god of the Tagalog and Pangasinense folk of the northern Philippines, was said to have wept in great sorrow at the suffering of his people during colonial rule.

[noodlekru]

Extracurriculars,

The Soil Club

Apiarists’ Society

The Kristen Applebees Campaign Committee

(Added a Games Club because Mazey deserves it)

Oisin has started the paperwork for an Adaine Abernant appreciation society

And Fabian is making bad life choices

[evelmiina]

These ended up being full circle -beginning of the year and ending of year drawings in 2023