Month: January 2016

Question of the Week: 1/31/16

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 7 Comments

<–Question of the Week: 1/24/16          Question of the Week: 2/7/16–>

The Question of the Week is posted every Sunday and will consist of a question followed by my answer and explanation to the same.  Some questions will only require a simple answer that could potentially be followed by an explanation.  Many questions will be writer oriented, but not all.  Everyone is encouraged to answer in the comments and discussions/follow up questions are more than welcome!

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading four books…not something I planned.  I think once I “catch up,” I’ll try to cap it at three.  My plan is to have one fiction/fantasy, one Classic, and one reference.  Eh, actually, I can probably keep it at four since I have one book that I read on my Kindle before the dance aerobics class I attend 2-4 times a week.  Usually the Kindle book is something written by a fellow blogger, which is what’s currently happening now.

Chained: Everything You Know Is a Lie… (Cage of Lies Book 1)
This book is by fellow blogger Susanne Valenti, and it’s fast paced and holds its own very well in the sea of YA Dystopian.  I am genuinely terrified for these characters in a way I haven’t felt since Hunger Games..

Dreamsongs: Volume I
The precursor tales to A Song of Ice and Fire may hold some key information on Martin’s epic high fantasy will end  I’ll be a doing a brief review of this or at least talking about the stories that really touched me, but just for a taste, I’ll say that “The Second Kind of Loneliness” is one of the most haunting stories I’ve ever read.  It hits  you so hard with its universal sorrow.  Some of his earlier stories are a bit rough (which Martin himself admits), but you can see the growth with ever installation.

Paradise Lost
“So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,
Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost.”

I should’ve read this ten years ago seeing as it is heavily referenced in nearly all of my favorite stories (Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, the many times mentioned ASOIAF, and the more mentioned FFVII).  I’m in the midst of Book VII and I’ll have quite an extensive analysis to write once I’m done.  I don’t know if it’ll be book by book, but I know I won’t be able to encompass everything that needs said in one blog post.

The Mystical Qabalah
This is another volume I should’ve read a long time ago as there’s a major reference (or references rather) to it in my beloved FFVII.  I’ve been fascinated by religious symbolism for a long time, and I’m always interested in the origin of things, where they spring from and how they’re shaped.  Even though I’m still in the midst of this book, the concept of the Tree of Life has influenced me deeply enough that I have a tattoo of it on my right arm.

 

What are you currently reading?  Do you normally read more than one book at a time or do you try to conquer your literary mountain one at a time?

I look forward to your answers in the comments!

<–Question of the Week: 1/24/16          Question of the Week: 2/7/16–>

The Editing of Northern Lights – The Stars Fall Down in Chapter 7

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments
Note: This is the Editing Blog for my FFVII fanfiction Northern Lights (which you can find at the end of that link).  I will be discussing a myriad of topics along with my frequently tangential and harried editing process.  You should be able to garner some enjoyment and insight from this without having read the story and/or without prior knowledge of the original game, but if you’re a fan of paranormal romance and/or dark fantasy, you may find it to your liking.  The story will be spoiled in this editing examination, though I will do my best to mark spoilers for any other narratives I mention.  Thanks for your interest and enjoy!

<–The Revelation in the Reedit of Chapter 6          Sometimes Seven Isn’t Social–>

10/10/14
Chapter 7 – A Calm and Private Place
Quote: “There is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars.” –John Green “The Fault in Our Stars”
Picture: Yes
Picture Source: Yes
Picture Satisfaction: Very High

Okay first let me talk about the first quote I had.  It was also from The Fault in Our Stars, but was the more romantic, “I fell asleep like you fall in love…slowly and then all at once,” which I absolutely adore, but it’s far too soon for this point in the tale.  Possibly later, but not right now.  The one I went with is still from the same source and we do go back to Prufrock at the end.  I believe I mentioned I was re-introduced to the Eliot poem by TFiOS, but it’s too soon to speak so blatantly of love.  It’s…coming though.  In this chapter not much happens action wise, but there’s a good deal of character delving and discovery.  Here’s the breakdown.

Continue reading →

Super Paper Mario – Love and Loss

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The banner for this post was created by Deviant Artist CookieBoy011 and can be found here.

This is an unplanned/impromptu review.  It was neither on my itinerary nor in my notes.  I had played this game a long time ago, relished it, enjoyed it, but time constraints forced me to cease indulging though I did think of it from time to time.  I planned on finding an acceptable Let’s Play for it while organizing all of the Let’s Plays I wanted to watch, and indeed I did do so after a short spell of time.

The very enthusiastic chuggaaconroy who goes out of his way to keep his videos no more than PG-13, and he has a lot of them.  I found him initially while hunting out Legend of Zelda LPs, and I believe he does one for the original Paper Mario in which I will more than likely indulge.

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Question of the Week: 1/24/16

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<–Question of the Week: 1/17/16          Question of the Week: 1/31/16–>

The Question of the Week is posted every Sunday and will consist of a question followed by my answer and explanation to the same.  Some questions will only require a simple answer that could potentially be followed by an explanation.  Many questions will be writer oriented, but not all.  Everyone is encouraged to answer in the comments and discussions/follow up questions are more than welcome!

What’s your favorite eye color?

Easiest. Answer. Ever.

I don’t think I’ve ever written a story where a character/characters didn’t have green eyes.  I’ve always loved that eye color, probably because it’s so rare.   This may be a mitigating factor to why I love cats so much.

I’m also not averse to heterochromia.

Especially when strands of gold are shot through.

But green will always be my top pick.

What’s your favorite eye color?  Do you have more than one?

I look forward to your answers in the comments!

<–Question of the Week: 1/17/16          Question of the Week: 1/31/16–>

The Mystery Knight by George R. R. Martin (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms #3)

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This is the final part of what should’ve been a one part review.  That appears to be my style.  I always have much more to say.  I’ll be giving a synopsis of The Mystery Knight, the last novella in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms with a review/analysis of that part in addition to one of the entire collection.  If you missed the first two reviews you can find The Sworn Sword behind that link above and The Hedge Knight is right here.

The Mystery Knight

The story starts with Dunk and Egg leaving Stoney Sept and heading north in hopes to take up service with Lord Beron Stark who has sent out a call for men to help with the Greyjoy raids off the northern coast. On the way there, the two encounter a lords train led by Lord Gormon Peake of Starpike who has nothing but rude words for the hedge knight and his bald squire.  Included in the party is another lord named Alyn Cockshaw and a well dressed man who claims to be a hedge knight called Ser John the Fiddler (the link contains a spoiler!).  Though Peake and Cockshaw insult and challenge Dunk, Ser John treats him courteously and invites him and Egg to attend the wedding of Lord Ambrose Butterwell as there is to be a joust to celebrate his wedding to a Frey of the Crossing, and the prize is to be a dragon’s egg.

Continue reading →

The Editing of Northern Lights – The Revelation in the Reedit of Chapter 6

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments
Note: This is the Editing Blog for my FFVII fanfiction Northern Lights (which you can find at the end of that link).  I will be discussing a myriad of topics along with my frequently tangential and harried editing process.  You should be able to garner some enjoyment and insight from this without having read the story and/or without prior knowledge of the original game, but if you’re a fan of paranormal romance and/or dark fantasy, you may find it to your liking.  The story will be spoiled in this editing examination, though I will do my best to mark spoilers for any other narratives I mention.  Thanks for your interest and enjoy!

<–The Two Day Long Finale of the Rest of Chapter 6     The Stars Fall Down in Chapter 7–>

Warning: Some discussions of rape.

10/7/14
It was 11:00 on my (third) wedding anniversary.  Why was I starting the reedit of chapter 6?  How far am I going to get?  Who knows, but as I write this I see it took me three days to complete the reedit and the notes I have on 10/8 are barely a paragraph, and the ones on 10/9 are little more than a page so I’m going to be ambitious if I dare and try to combine three days into one blog post or at least type them up.  It remains to be seen whether or not I’ll post them in one submission or not.  I haven’t done that yet, but there’s a first time for everything…and a last time for everything.  That’s the name of an episode of Aeon Flux,

That link did go to a site where you could watch all the episodes, but alas that is no longer the case.  I should’ve left it up because the message that remained was quite amusing.  Ah, I’m feeling magnanimous so here you go.

Also just a random tidbit, but “the aeons” are the Gnostic equivalent of the Sephiroth.  Both are emanations from God, and in pop culture, they’re both the names of beautiful, leather clad killers of questionable morality.  I don”t need to make these kinds of things. up.

I have all of the episodes on a PSP disk.  Memories, my lovelies…memoria.  Noli manere, manere in memoria  Wtf…I’d apologize; that’s my usually go to in these situations, but I realize now that I’d just be apologizing for being myself, and I’m tired of doing that.  My brain just works like that.  It’s a brain; it’s supposed to work in connections.  That’s what it’s made of; a series of connections, and I think in connections as the brain is made up of connections.  I’m meta-brained.

Qabalistic Tree of Life*sigh* yes that, too.  It’s all about connections, isn’t it?  Speaking of which I haven’t watched a video from my favorite ASOIAF theorists in a while.  Must remedy that tomorrow.  I also must grind for FFII AND play Child of Light, which I talked about the other day.  *sigh redux*  There’s just not enough time.

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Question of the Week: 1/17/16

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–Question of the Week: 1/10/16          Question of the Week: 1/24/16–>

The Question of the Week is posted every Sunday and will consist of a question followed by my answer and explanation to the same.  Some questions will only require a simple answer that could potentially be followed by an explanation.  Many questions will be writer oriented, but not all.  Everyone is encouraged to answer in the comments and discussions/follow up questions are more than welcome!

This is another QOTW with a easy answer (at least for me).  As usually, I’ve got a lot of my plate and more articles to work on/post.  I’d meant to work on my WIP yesterday, but alas it did not happen so I’m hoping caffeine will stave of exhaustion long enough for some writing this evening.

What is your favorite or the best story you’ve ever written in your opinion?  This is as independent of any reviews, critiques, or feedback you might have received on it.

Northern Lights is my favorite story and also the best thing I’ve ever written to date.

Northern Lights Blurb

Even though it’s a fanfiction, I’m really proud of what I did with the material I had especially in light of how difficult such a motif is for me. 

I’m hoping that my next original work is half as good, but I have serious doubts that that could ever occur.  NL was the culmination of years of speculation, introspection, and examination about something that bothered me about the original narrative, but that did so in a brilliant way to invoke a deeply heartbreaking irony that was a major catalyst of the entire tale.

Northern Lights breaks my heart like no other of my stories has done before, and since I’m a goth, I consider that to be the highest of achievements.

What is your favorite and/or best story?  They obviously don’t have to be one and the same.

I look forward to your answers in the comments!

<–Question of the Week: 1/10/16          Question of the Week: 1/24/16–>

The Jade Dragon by Fia Black (Submissive Beth Mysteries #1)

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The Red Rose (SBM #2)–>

The Jade Dragon is a novel by fellow writer and blogger Fia Black.  I decided to read and review it after seeing her promote the work on her blog.  It is available through Amazon (as linked in the title above) or through Smashwords.  Spoilers will be marked.

This story is the first in the Submissive Beth Mystery Series and the initial offering follows our so named protagonist who is a professional submissive weary of keeping her occupation hidden from her friends.  She decides to to become a private investigator, and her first job is quickly forthcoming when Mistress Jade, the madam of the club she works for, approaches her about investigating a stalker.  Unfortunately, before Beth can even scratch the surface, Jade is found beaten to death with her place in shambles.  It becomes abundantly clear that the police are going to do nothing due to the nature of Jade’s work, so the new made PI decides to open up her own investigation.  With the help of a sort of rogue Detective Reiner, Beth sets out to solve Jade’s murder and discover how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Continue reading →

The Editing of Northern Lights – The Two Day Long Finale of the Rest of Chapter 6

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 3 Comments
Note: This is the Editing Blog for my FFVII fanfiction Northern Lights (which you can find at the end of that link).  I will be discussing a myriad of topics along with my frequently tangential and harried editing process.  You should be able to garner some enjoyment and insight from this without having read the story and/or without prior knowledge of the original game, but if you’re a fan of paranormal romance and/or dark fantasy, you may find it to your liking.  The story will be spoiled in this editing examination, though I will do my best to mark spoilers for any other narratives I mention.  Thanks for your interest and enjoy!

<–All of the Tangents vs. Chapter 6     The Revelation in the Reedit of Chapter 6–>

10/5/14
I return, dear readers, to this labor of love, this fairytale I cannot forsake.  Fairytales…FFVII has quite a few similar tropes to les conte de fées, n’est-ce pas?

Hey, Future Narcissist here, I apologize to any of my French speaking readers if I’ve butchered your lovely language.  I decided to study it because my first name is French so I figured I should learn more about it.  I loved it immensely and miss it profusely.

I don’t know why I keep throwing random French around.  It’s been happening a lot lately.  I studied in high school, and grew so adept that I actually had diary entries in the tongue.  I am far less fluent now and have no clue what the hell I was talking about.  I’m sure it’s all teenage angst and fancy.  In fact, I know what it is, and I’d rather not relive painful memories, but I miss rolling French around my tongue.  It’s such a gorgeous language, liquid in its tones with its swallowed R’s and nasal vowels, but the vowels aren’t nasal like the awful Pennsylvania ones I hear (and admittedly speak) all the time.  The ones that my choir teachers would constantly chide us for, because singing with a Pennsylvania vowel is just awful.  It’s probably why I sing classically with an English accent; their vowels are far better. Far above I mentioned Final Fantasy and fairytale tropes, and I meant to elaborate on that before I started talking about my French.  Ah F’s populate my life, don’t they?

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Fanfiction Stigma

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 14 Comments
This was posted back in July 2014 on the other blog I write for Caffeine Crew (where you can still read the original).  I decided to post it here as well on my personal blog and update it with some insights and comparisons about fan art in addition to discussing potential reasons the stigma might exist.  As always well informed comments are encouraged and welcome.

The moment I mention that I write fanfiction I see instantaneous judgment: a smirk, a sneer, and certain posture that proclaims utter disdain. Fanfiction receives a bad reputation because there’s no regulation, no filter, no threshold guardians standing in the way. It can be put on various websites and blogs without editing or impunity, though this does not hold for all fanfic websites where some have admins and regulators who act as an editor would, checking for grammar, content, and overall soundness of story. Sites like Fanfiction.net; however, are open for any and all, which means that the excellent hobnobs with the abysmal, but the instantaneous judgment when someone says that they write fanfiction is unwarranted, and it should be no more looked down upon that someone who says they draw fan art.

Writing Continue reading →