Author: The Shameful Narcissist

The State of the Reader: 6/29/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 6/15/22         The State of the Reader: 7/13/22–>

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.

Books Purchased: 4

Total: $12.87

Books Finished: 3

Title: The Last Anniversary
Author: Liane Moriarity
Date Added: June 3, 2022
Date Started: June 3, 2022
Date Finished: June 22, 2022

Cover of The Last Anniversary by Liane MoriarityMedia: eBook/Kindle

I finished this quickly one, because it was a library book (I just got in under the wire); and two, Liane Moriarity is always engaging.  I really, really wish she didn’t hate fat people so much though :\  I know she’s a middle-aged white lady and that’s the “low-fat and diet everything” generation, but it’s really pervasive.  She also has the “tough it out” mentality about marriages that really should end, but that’s a boomer battle cry, too.  All this sounds like I didn’t like the book when I loved it.  I kind of figured out what was going on, but that doesn’t take anything away from the author’s planning; I’m just kind good at figuring out the pattern of stories lol.  I was hoping one aspect wouldn’t be there, but it honestly only made sense, too.  Moriarity is a master at misleading and misdirection, and this one didn’t disappoint.

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The State of the Writer: 6/26/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 6/12/22         The State of the Writer: 7/10/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 2

Project: Story/Series
Working Title: The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress: Figuring out more terms and definitions

It took me a bit to locate a good source for this picture, and I actually had to find one that’s the same model in a different pose.  There is also artwork based on this by Âu Trung at Artstation that I almost took for the actual image.

So who is this anyway?  She’s a minor character from the first novel in the series who’s only mentioned once or twice lol; however, as I was fleshing out the details about my protagonist’s father, I realized I was writing a lot about her and granting her more importance.  I realized I needed to make a page for her, too, but then I ran into a problem…

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The Lightning God’s Wife by Grace Draven (Master of Crows)

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Title: The Lightning God’s Wife
Series: Master of Crows
Author: Grace Draven
Date Added: September 27, 2017
Date Started: October 17, 2018
Date Finished: October 19, 2018
Reading Duration: 2 days
Genre: Fantasy, Short Story, Paranormal Romance

The Lightning God's Wife coverPages: 29
Publication Date: September 17, 2014
Publisher: Self
Media: eBook/Kindle

It hasn’t rained for a quarter of a century, and a dying world gasps for water. Outcast and exiled, the rain priestess Revida rescues a man and his children as they flee from the wrath of a creator god known as the Bitter Dark. But Atagartis is more than a man, and Revida soon discovers the lover she’s known only in dreams has a purpose for her and the tearless grief she’s born for more than two decades.

This short takes place in the same world as Master of Crows, occurring after the first novel in the series.  Silhara and Martisse (the OTP) serve as a framing device for the tale at hand, as she’s telling him the story after they’re both woken up by a storm in the midst of a bad drought.

While I enjoyed reading about Silhara and Martisse again (I love when a deadpan snarker is matched with cool witticism), the Lightning God and Rain Goddess story was (ironically) kind of dry, which is a double shame because I’m pretty certain they were supposed to complement to the sorcerer and apprentice turned lovers from the first book.  The idea was good, but the execution didn’t do anything different with the motifs of *spoiler* warring sibling gods and deities falling in love with humans to whom they eventually grant apotheosis. *end spoiler*   This could be because Draven didn’t have time to flesh out these characters in this short excursion into the world, so if the story had either been longer or actually focused on Martisse and Silhara, it would’ve worked better.

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The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (Montague Siblings #1)

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Title: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
Series Title: Montague Siblings
Author: Mackenzi Lee
Date Added: August 18, 2018
Date Started: September 24, 2018
Date Finished: October 16, 2018
Reading Duration: 22 days
Genre: Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Romance, Historical Fiction, Young Adult (YA), LGBTQ+

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and VirtuePages: 513
Publication Date: June 27, 2017
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Media: eBook/Kindle

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores. 

CW: Contains discussions of homophobia, biphobia, racism, sexism/misogyny, ableism, and physical abuse

“Because I want you to know…that there is life after survival.”

Henry Montague or Monty, as he prefers to be called, has been allowed one last hurrah in the form of a Grand Tour of Europe by his dickhead dad before being forced to run the fore mentioned’s estates in England on pain of being disinherited.  Prior to the birth of his little brother, dubbed the “Goblin,” Monty’s status, though unwanted, was still secure as the earl had no one else to pass his title to, his only other issue being a daughter, Felicity.  Even if she could inherit, the house wouldn’t remain “in the family” insofar as she’d take the name of the man to whom she was wed.

Gif of Zendaya, a light skinned Black woman with her hair up in a bun, rolling her eyes and giving a side eye while looking off to the left

Just in case my thoughts about this were unclear…

It’s a similar situation to Samwell Tarly in ASOIAF with his father except “at least” Monty’s father isn’t threatening to kill him, only cut him off if he’s found “mucking around with boys again” (Lord Montague has no problem beating the shit out of him, though, but we’ll get to that).

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The State of the Gamer: 6/16/22

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<–The State of the Gamer: 6/2/22           The State of the Gamer: 6/30/22–>

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 Demoed

Nothing this time.

What I Purchased

Nothing this time.

What I Finished

Nothing this time.

What I DNF’d

Title: Triangle Strategy
Series: HD-2D Series
System: Nintendo Switch

Cover of Triangle Strategy

Date Started: March 20, 2022
Date DNF: May 21, 2022

Will I possibly come back to this?  Yes, but not right now.  I’m going to count it as a “played” for this year though since I think I got through enough of it to count.

So, uh, there’s something I really need to discuss with this game, and it’s something Squeenix likes to imply or symbolize but never go full-fledged.  It’s not only spoiler territory, but I need to throw out a CW as well, so here we go.

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The State of the Reader: 6/15/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 6/1/22         The State of the Reader: 6/29/22–>

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.

Books Purchased: 1

Total: $3.99

Books Finished: 1

Title: Black Hammer, Vol: 4: Age of Doom, Part Two
Series: Black Hammer
Author: Jeff Lemire
Illustrators: Dean Ormston, Rich Tommaso et al
Date Added: May 2, 2019
Date Started: May 1, 2022
Date Finished: June 9, 2022

Cover of Black Hammer, Vol 4: Age of Doom, Part Two by Jeff LemireMedia: Paperback

Even though I’m not as pressed as the people who did so, I think I know why this one was given a lower rating.  They didn’t like the end.  I was okay with it especially after finding out this isn’t the last volume.  I’m not sure who all is going to be including in any following ones, but I don’t really like to rate sequential works, and it can be hard to review them separately since they’re really just a part of a bigger narrative.  Regardless, I added the next volume to my reading list, though right now I don’t really have any graphic novels or manga I’m itching to read.  I might have to remedy that.  There is another Transformers/My Little Pony crossover 😍

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The State of the Writer: 6/12/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 5/29/22         The State of the Writer: 6/26/22–>

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
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress: Finishing up and polishing section about Semprians (winged humanoid race)

It’s a blessing and a curse to work on world building, because now I have even more story ideas based around just this particular demographic.  I had to make a new section for it, because I’m not going to risk forgetting about these potential plots.

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The State of the Gamer: 6/2/22

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<–The State of the Gamer: 5/19/22           The State of the Gamer: 6/16/22–>

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 Demoed

Nothing this time.

What I Purchased

Nothing this time.

What I Finished

Nothing this time.

What I’m Playing

Title: Triangle Strategy
Series: HD-2D Series
System: Nintendo Switch

Cover of Triangle Strategy

Date Started: March 20, 2022

“What I’m Playing” might be a misnomer because I haven’t played anything in over a month.  I started watching Olizandri’s Let’s Play and I’m currently pretty far past the part I stopped at.  He was able to make the persuasion I failed, but I noticed he used Erador in battle almost every time.  I also realized I misinterpreted certain moves and could’ve been doing a lot more, but there were some weird translations for all the game is decently written and pretty well voiced.

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The State of the Reader: 6/1/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 5/18/22         The State of the Reader: 6/15/22–>

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.

Books Purchased: 7

Total: $17.93

Books Finished: 0

Books DNF: 0

Books On Hold: 1

Title: The Death of Jane Lawrence
Author: Caitlin Starling
Date Added: July 25, 2021
Date Started: April 7, 2022

The cover of The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin StarlingMedia: eBook/Kindle

I really thought I could finish this before it was due again, but one, I overestimated my reading prowess; and two, I forgot it was due over a weekend.  Oops.  I’m like 4th on the list on hold, so I put it, er, on hold myself.  One good thing about borrowing eBooks is it saves your place.

Books Reading: 7

Title: Ecofeminism
Series Title: Critique Influence Change
Authors: Maria Mies & Vandana Shiva
Date Added: July 13, 2020
Date Started: May 3, 2022

Cover of Ecofeminism by Maria Mies & Vandana ShivaMedia: Paperback
Progress: 1%

Finally reached the point where I can put percentages.  Both prefaces were elucidating.  Now I’m in the introduction where Mies and Shiva talk about why they decided to write this together, and when you hear their credentials it makes sense.  Shiva is a theoretical physicist from the ecology movement, and Mies is social scientist from the feminist movement.  It’s like they were destined to get together.

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The State of the Writer: 5/29/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 5/15/22         The State of the Writer: 6/12/22–>

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
Current Word Count: 11,282
Prior Word Count: 11,282
Word Difference: 0
Status: Outlining
Progress: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding

There’s been much worldbuilding in TSN land, and I’ve started migrating some of the information back to Scrivener now that it’s organized.  I’ve also decided to reorg some of my Scrivener templates because I love self-abuse.  I really wish I could figure out how to do things from the get-go, but unfortunately I’m more of a trial and error person, so I often don’t know what will work until I figure out what doesn’t, but by the time I do, I have a ton of information I then have to incorporate into the new way.  It’s frustrating but it is what it is.

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