Month: December 2020

The State of the Gamer: 12/31/20

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<–The State of the Gamer: 12/17/20           The State of the Gamer: 1/14/21–>

A weekly post updated every other Thursday 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 Purchased

  • Calico – $11.99 @ Nintendo eShop
  • What Remains of Edith Finch – $5.99 @ Nintendo eShop
  • Final Fantasy IX – $10.49 @ Nintendo eShop

One of my friends reminded me about Calico on Facebook, and I immediately went to check it out/buy it.  The graphics are…a bit rough, and the controls are a little weird, but who gives a fuck YOU GET TO PET ALL THE ANIMALS.

I’ve seen What Remains of Edith Finch (it’s actually how I found about about The King in Yellow from a book on the grandmother’s shelf), but it was hard to turn down a copy for such a low price.  Plus I do like to both play and watch a game before I review it, and I’ve seen both it and some of the analyses of the same.  With those in mind, I want to go through it again.  Plus, it’s just an excellent game.

Snagging FFIX for the Switch has always been a planned move, and it was half off for year end so I just went with it.

What I’m Playing

Title: Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight
Series: Etrian Odyssey
System: Nintendo 3DS

Cover of Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir KnightDate Started: 9/7/20

Still haven’t picked this up, but I might tonight.  I’ve been thinking about it, and I definitely still want to finish it.

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The State of the Reader: 12/30/20

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<–The State of the Reader: 12/16/20         The State of the Reader: 1/13/21–>

A biweekly 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.

Purchased: 1

Books Finished: 1

Title: As You Like It
Author: William Shakespeare
Date Added: March 6, 2018
Date Started: September 3, 2020

Cover of As You Like It by William ShakespeareMedia: eBook/Kindle

I only had like one page left to read of this and finished it last session.  It is such a comedy in both the Shakespeare and “there are only seven types of plot” sense i.e. everyone gets married.  Oh and “rags to riches,” too, as the usurper duke finds Jesus, sees the error of his ways, and gives the old duke back his position.  There was a review on Goodreads that literally summed it up thus.   I still need to look up my own summary to make sure I didn’t miss anything, but this was one of Shakespeare’s easier plays to follow (despite the convoluted irony of Rosalind pretending to be Ganymede pretending to Rosalind, which frankly was hilarious), so I’m just doing that as a formality.

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The State of the Writer: 12/27/20

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<–The State of the Writer: 12/13/20         The State of the Writer: 1/10/21–>

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

Finished Projects: 2

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Status: Preparation
Progress: Setting up notes in Scrivener

Whew…creating a language is time consuming lol.  My plan was always to expand on what I’d initially started in The Serpent’s Tale, my first (and still unpublished) novel that this one borrows heavily from.  The male MC is a polyglot and fully fluent in the language of his background, and I’m kind of a doer when it comes to writing aka show vs. tell I suppose.  You can’t just say someone speaks a different language and not have them speak said language (it’s the same way how I had to literally show he’s an assassin by, uh, having him kill some people lol).  I made up more words in that language, which is called Rava, than any others, and it’s the only one where I even attempted grammar and syntax.

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The Riddle of the Wren by Charles de Lint (DNF)

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Title: The Riddle of the Wren
Author: Charles de Lint
Date Added: August 24, 2014
Date Started: August 26, 2018
Date DNF: September 5, 2018
Reading Duration: 10 days
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)

Cover of The Riddle of the Wren by Charles de LintPages: 295
Publication Date: 1984
Publisher: Firebird
Media: Paperback (Library)

Minda Sealy is afraid of her own nightmares. Then, one night, while asleep, she meets Jan, the Lord of the Moors, who has been imprisoned by Ildran the Dream-master-the same being who traps Minda. In exchange for her promise to free him, Jan gives Minda three tokens. She sets out, leaving the safety of her old life to begin a journey from world to world, both to save Jan and to solve “the riddle of the Wren”-which is the riddle of her very self. “The Riddle of the Wren” was Charles de Lint’s first novel, and has been unavailable for years. Fans and newcomers alike will relish it.

The Riddle of the Wren is the type of old school fantasy novel I would’ve devoured in my younger, high school days.  Published in 1984, it’s exactly the thing that would’ve caught my fancy, and while I started reading Charles de Lint during that time, I cut my teeth on his later works, and this one flew under my radar.  You can definitely tell he was a fledgling author in this novel, and it turns out Riddle is his first.  Like so many books of that era, it begins with the locale’s description before it gets to the main character.  It does fascinate me how the conventions of writing change through the decades, and what was acceptable and expected then would earn an immediate rejection now.

Both the main character Minda and her best friend Janey are likable, and the trope of Missing Mom/Dickhead Dad is strong with regards to the former.  Janey’s description leads me to believe she’s a WOC, too, so score one for de Lint being inclusive even back then.  Minda’s father Hadon blames her for her mother’s death even though she didn’t die in childbirth (not…that that would make it valid either), but rather when she was between one and two.  Arguably, of course, women can still succumb to complications even after that length of time, but either way Hadon is still a jackass.  Minda has a paternal uncle who would be a much better father than her bio, but even if she did manage to escape, Hadon would just “drag her back,” and apparently Tomalin, the uncle, would let him.   While Hadon isn’t nearly as abusive to his daughter as the father in Deerskin *shudders* we do not diminish abuse by those degrees.

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The State of the Gamer: 12/17/20

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<–The State of the Gamer: 12/3/20           The State of the Gamer: 12/31/20–>

A weekly post updated every other Thursday 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 Purchased

  • Cars 3: Driven to Win  – $7.99 ($29.99 original price) @ Nintendo eShop
  • Curious Cases – $3.99 @ Nintendo eShop

What I’m Playing

Title: Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight
Series: Etrian Odyssey
System: Nintendo 3DS

Cover of Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir KnightDate Started: 9/7/20

Whenever I get kind of stuck at a part, it makes it harder for me to get motivated to play it.  What I’m trying to say is I haven’t picked this up in the past two weeks.

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The Broken Rose: Chapter 3 – Measure

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Update: This time I’ve been graced with two pieces from my illustrator friend.  You will find them both interspersed in the text at the appropriate places.  Is this a not-so-subtle attempt to get any of you who have to re-read the chapter?  Mmm, it’s a possibility 😉 Please make sure to follow Bethany Anne on Art Station and Deviant Art!

The Broken Rose Page

<–Chapter 2                                                                                                    Chapter 4–>

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 is in desperate need of medical attention, and the general is more than willing to do whatever it takes to ensure she receives such care.

00-chapter-3-measure

A yellow tape measure twisted in the middle against a white background shows numbers starting with 44 on the left and going to 81 on the right. Many of the numbers are obscured due to the twist. “Chapter 3 Measure” is near the middle right, next to the twist in the tape measure. There is a fading black frame around the picture.

I haven’t been used yet today.  Aeris blinked, still warm within blankets and pillows, still fully encased in his black leather coat that still breathed vanilla and frost.

Wispy hair near muffled her gasp, as she squinted towards daylight returned.  From a split in the curtains, a shaft sauntered forth, painting stark sun on the carpet.  She squeezed her eyes shut, now more terrified that all of this wonder would melt.  Sightless, the low roar rolled even louder like the purr of a giant beast.  Patterned on top were higher soft cries.  Aeris covered her head as she quaked.

The knock at the door called a full wail and more cowering beneath the leather.

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The State of the Reader: 12/16/20

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<–The State of the Reader: 12/2/20         The State of the Reader: 12/30/20–>

A biweekly 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.

Purchased: 2

Books Finished: 3

Title: Gods and Myths of Northern Europe
Author: Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson
Date Added: September 21, 2017
Date Started: May 1, 2020
Date Finished: December 4, 2020

Cover of Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by Hilda Roderick Ellis DavidsonMedia: Paperback

This book was not what I expected.  I thought it would be a retelling and examination of the Norse myths, but it more operated from the position that you had some idea about them.  Not to say I novice couldn’t garner a great deal from this, but it was more of a explanation of historical analysis of how the Norse gods fit in with, informed, shaped and was shaped by Viking culture.  I’d still recommend reading The Poetic Edda and The Prose Edda especially since Ellis refers to Snorri a lot.  I am very glad I read this especially considering the book explicitly about FFVII and Norse mythology I’m reading right now.  I’m still referring back to this as I read that.

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The State of the Writer: 12/13/20

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<–The State of the Writer: 11/29/20         The State of the Writer: 12/27/20–>

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

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Status: Preparation
Progress: Setting up notes in Scrivener

This week’s pic is a dead ringer for the titular character of the story and the male main.  Not…so much the clothing, but the paleness and ethereal beauty.  If this artist took commissions (and if I didn’t already have an artist I wanted to commission first) I’d absolutely tap them to do work.

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The State of the Gamer: 12/3/20

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<–The State of the Gamer: 11/19/20           The State of the Gamer: 12/17/20–>

A weekly post updated every other Thursday 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 Purchased

  • Circuits – $2.49 ($1.50) @ Nintendo eShop

What I’m Playing

Title: Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight
Series: Etrian Odyssey
System: Nintendo 3DS

Cover of Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir KnightDate Started: 9/7/20

Actually played some of this these past two weeks.  I got a chance to take on Harpuia, the 4th Stratum boss, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought.  Oh, I didn’t beat her or anything like that lol, but I’m seeing the beginnings of a strategy.  The biggest issue is the Glowbirds that come to her aid.  They’re 4th Stratum FOEs and they make things more complicated.  They have no elemental weakness, but they really only have one attack that they need a turn to charge up for.  If you don’t do something about it, the attack will hit all of your characters hard, but you can either throw a Blast Grenade to stop them or bind their heads if you can.  I’m wondering if I can just take them out before fighting the boss or if they’ll show up no matter what.  Either way, I think I want to level my characters up to level 50.  I watched a little bit of a video of someone taking her on, and that’s where they were.  I’m at level 49 so I don’t have that far to go, and I can fight Glowbirds or those rhino FOEs.  I might even take on those annoying frogs that follow you around lol.

Title: World of Final Fantasy Maxima
Series: Final Fantasy
System: Nintendo Switch

Cover of World of Final Fantasy MaximaDate Started: 8/30/20
Date Finished: 11/27/20

I beat the game, but there’s a lot of after-game content to finish up.  They actually added even more with an extra dungeon in the Girl’s Tearoom, another one at the top of the Crystal Tower after you do all of the Tearoom dungeons, some weird void at the bottom of the fore mentioned tower, which leads to some major boss battle that requires six broken seals.

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The State of the Reader: 12/2/20

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<–The State of the Reader: 11/18/20         The State of the Reader: 12/16/20–>

A biweekly 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.

Purchased: 3

Books Finished: 1

Title: The Snow Queen
Series Title: The Snow Queen Cycle
Author: Joan D. Vinge
Date Added: December 11, 2014
Date Started: September 22, 2020
Date Finished: November 26, 2020

Cover of the Snow Queen by Joan D. VingeMedia: Hardback (Library)

Another story about identity, huh…maybe if I’d read (more) sci-fi when I was younger, I wouldn’t be as shocked to find this trope.  I’m not really shocked; it’s common because it cuts to the core of what it means to be human.  “Who am I?” is a question all of us ask whether consciously or unconsciously at some point, and the answer is rarely simple, especially for those of us who experience Imposter Syndrome.

There are three other books in the series, but only one direct sequel The Summer Queen.  The other two focus on one of the cops or Blues.  I’d like to read them eventually.  The books are out of print, which makes them more expensive.  I’d like to pick up this one as well as the next, as I have to return it to the library in a few days, so I won’t have a reference for my eventual review when I get to it.

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