Month: September 2018

The State of the Reader: 9/26/18

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<–The State of the Reader: 9/12/18          The State of the Reader: 10/10/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 3

Books Finished: 2

Title: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Author: Claire North
Date Added: September 15, 2017
Date Started: August 23, 2018
Date Finished: September 21, 2018
Reading Duration: 29 days

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August cover

Media: eBook/Kindle

This is in the running for best/favorite book of the year, and I’ve added another one of the author’s novels to my ever growing list.

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The State of the Writer: 9/23/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 9/9/18          The State of the Writer: 10/7/18–>

A biweekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 5

I wasn’t sure whether or not I should count finishing and posting a chapter of The Broken Rose as a project, since the story itself is one, but I guess I could consider it a finished part of a huge project so I’ll allow it.

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 257,319
Prior Word Count: 258,319
Word Difference: -1000
Status: Editing
Progress: First edit of Chapter 12

It’s been over a year, but I’m finally back to editing and posting chapters.  I still need to update the story on Deviant Art, and I’ve decided I’m just going to directly post from here onto tumblr.  DevArt is already a pain in the ass to post to, and since I can take that shortcut with the little t I’m going to do it.

Aeris has a big choice to make in this chapter, which is currently entitled “Ways and Means.”  I’m 90% good with that title since it fits with the happenings, but doesn’t give anything away.  There’s a lot of extraneous stuff in this chapter, so the delete button has been my friend.  I like how it tightens up the narrative.

I haven’t done a snippet in a while, but a comment I received this week made me think this one would be appropriate.

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The State of the Gamer: 9/18/18

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<–The State of the Gamer: 9/4/18            The State of the Gamer: 10/2/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Tuesday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

What I Played

Title: Octopath Traveler
System: Nintendo Switch

Octopath Traveler coverDate Started: August 11, 2018

I have all of the secondary jobs now and am currently working on everyone’s third chapter.  I’d love to hear how other players prefer to dole them out.  I had Olberic as a Hunter, but honestly, I don’t think it added much to his repertoire.  I like him as an Apothecary better, because it gives him use of the axe and that Amputate spell, which is boss.  Plus he can use some ice magic.  I like Ophilia as either a Dancer or Scholar since that gives her more magic to use, though I’d rather keep someone else as a Scholar to spread it around.   Tressa is definitely a Thief because holy shit is Collecting more fantastic.  I think I grabbed 20,000 leaves (what a weird currency lol) from the python and snake charmer near Wellspring, and that’s each.  I like Primrose as a Scholar because I can have her Analyze.  She’s more of a support character at the moment, which isn’t a slight on her at all.

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Witch Hunt on Crystal Lake by B. Batiste (Moon Investigations Book 1)

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Title: Witch Hunt on Crystal Lake
Series Title: Moon Investigations
Author: B. Batiste
Date Started: December 23, 2017
Date Finished: January 6, 2018
Reading Duration: 14 days
Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural, Mystery

Witch Hunt on Crystal Lake coverPages: 215
Publication Date: January 1, 2018
Publisher: Self
Media: Kindle

If you are a magical or mythical creature in your human form or other and need help the police can’t or won’t provide, come on down to Moon Investigations. Where help may be only a spell away. 

On the island of Crystal Lake where technology and magic are intertwined, magical gangs will rob and or curse you and dragons strut their stuff down the street, anything can happen. 

Private Investigator Hazel Moondance tries her best to help those in need. Family members of the missing, forgotten and runaways are her main clients. So, when a mother comes to her looking for her daughter Rose Stone, Hazel is determined to find her. With the help of a bounty hunter and a seasoned witch, Hazel must sort through the life and secrets of Rose. She finds a secret that leads to other unsolved cases and a ritual that could destroy the island. 

Now Hazel and her helpers must find Rose, the other missing girls and the person who took them before the night of the Emerald Stars or it will be too late.

This is an excellent witchy mystery that doesn’t rely on cliched tropes.  Of course there’s magic and mythical creatures, but it reads more like a “whodunnit?” with a variety of magical characters.

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The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau (Book of Ember #3) (DNF)

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<–The People of Sparks (BOE #2)                              The Diamond of Darkhold (BOE #4)–>

Title: The Prophet of Yonwood
Series Title: Book of Ember
Author: Jeanne DuPrau
Date Added: September 17, 2017
Date Started: December 23, 2017
Date DNF: December 27, 2017
Reading Duration: 4 days
Genre: Mid-grade/Young Adult (YA), Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian

The Prophet of Yonwood cover

Pages: 289
Publication Date: April 1, 2006
Publisher: Yearling Edition
Media: Paperback

Nickie will grow up to be one of the first citizens of the city of Ember. But for now, she’s an eleven-year-old girl whose father was sent away on some mysterious government project.

So when the opportunity to move presents itself, Nickie seizes it. But her new town of Yonwood, North Carolina, isn’t what she’d anticipated. It’s a place full of suspicion and mistrust, where one person’s visions of fire and destruction have turned the town’s citizens against each other. Nickie explores the oddities around her–her great-grandfather’s peculiar journals, a reclusive neighbor who studies the heavens, a strange boy who is fascinated with snakes–all while keeping an eye out for ways to help the world. Or is it already too late to avoid a devastating war?

There seems to be some disagreement with whether or not this is the 3rd or 4th book.  Goodreads has it marked as the 3rd, but in my set The Diamond of Darkhold is the third installment and Yonwood doesn’t even have a number.  I can kind of understanding putting the prequel in the midst of the series to have readers reflect on how the world arrived at this point while the resolution to the narrative is still up in the air, but I see better advantages of reflecting when the original story is full told.

Regardless, The Prophet of Yonwood wasn’t nearly as engaging as the other books.  This is disappointing since the lead up to what caused the conditions prompting Ember’s construction could’ve been a gripping tale.  While I didn’t finish it, it seems like the author’s focus was on prophesy and proselytizing instead.

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The Broken Rose: Chapter 11 – Dear Aeris II

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The Broken Rose Page

<–Chapter 10                                                                                                                                 Chapter 12–>

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its characters, and settings are all property of Square Enix so I can take no credit nor claim any ownership of that. I do take some credit for the story’s plot.
Banner Artwork Disclaimer:  The featured artwork for the banner is entitled White rose I and was created by the very talented Deviant Artist RemusSirion who was gracious enough to grant me permission to use it here.  The picture has been slightly altered from the original. All rights belong to the artist, and links are included for both the artist page and the work.

*******MAJOR CONTENT WARNING*******

Consistent and sustained graphic descriptions and mentions of rape/ sexual assault, sexual slavery/bondage, slavery, human trafficking, physical abuse, graphic descriptions of violence, mental abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, body shaming, starvation, torture, forced pregnancy, forced childbirth, miscarriage, forced miscarriage, abortion, and other potential disturbing and triggering topics.

Aeris’s second letter of self-reclamation.

Chapter 11 cover

A white and pink rose sitting by what looks like a glass necklace. In the top right corner Chapter 11 Dear Aeris II is in dusky pink.

Dearest Aeris,

It’s been fifty-five days since last I was used, and I never will be again.  My general promises that every day and every day proves it more true. I’m his Aeris and his alone.  Brutal men can never have me.  I cry and cry when I think about that…how I’ll never again be abused.  I’m his.  I’m his.  I’m forever his.  He guards me.  He shields me.  I’m safe.  He tells me the best and most wonderful things like just how cherished I am.  He could hurt me so badly, but he hasn’t. He won’t.  He’s gentle.  He’s careful with me.  I live in a palace by the sea under his endless protection.

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The Broken Rose – Update

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At the very least I can claim this accomplishment for my vacation: I finished my revisions for The Broken Rose and just completed re-posting them here.  WordPress doesn’t change the date of the original post, which is the reason for this update with convenient link in tow.

I do have Chapter 11 finished and with any luck I’ll have that posted before the week is out.  I also need to do the re-posting for my other sites, but that’s also a task for another day.

Thanks as always for your continued interest in this fanfic that turned out to be much more involved than I ever though it would be!