Books

The State of the Writer: 12/25/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 12/11/22         The State of the Writer: 1/8/23–>

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

Finished Projects: 0

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: Updating language details on Scrivener

Since I’m working on updating my term glossary with Ravic surnames and they use a lot of jewels/gems/precious stones, I figured this image would be fitting.  I’m finally putting the language notes into Scrivener, which is the final part of the update.  I did each separate group, but now I’m doing a more general language notes with gender markers.  I’m still debating doing a separate post that kind of explains some of the world, but it would definitely be after we move lol.

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The State of the Reader: 12/14/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 11/30/22         The State of the Reader: 12/28/22–>

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: 3

Total: $15.97

Books Finished: 0

Books On Hold: 1

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

I shelved this in order to switch to another research book for a bit.  I got some amazing notes from this one, and obviously intend to go back.

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The State of the Writer: 12/11/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 11/27/22         The State of the Writer: 12/25/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 0

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: Working on surname details

I really hope I have the name of the piece and artist correct.  I checked some images with the titles and artists in English to match up where this information was.  I’m fairly certain the characters are Chinese (I went to Google translate and I put them into Traditional Chinese and I think I might be right), but it’s one of those situations where I recognize the language but don’t know it.

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The State of the Reader: 11/30/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 11/16/22         The State of the Reader: 12/14/22–>

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: $2.99

Books Finished: 0

Books On Hold: 1

Title: The Cruel Prince
Series: The Folk of the Air
Author: Holly Black
Date Added: August 1, 2019
Date Started: October 31, 2022

Media: eBook/Kindle

Not on hold by choice.  The library loan ended before I could finish, and it’s a high demand book so I wasn’t able to renew.  I had to go back on the waiting list, so it’s on hold until I get it again.

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The State of the Writer: 11/27/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 11/13/22         The State of the Writer: 12/11/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 0

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: Working on surname details

Image is just one of the many I have for character ideas.  I love Pinterest as someone who uses artwork for inspiration, but I hate it for the sake of visual artists.  It’s almost entirely made up of stolen art and even if you do find the source, you can’t leave links in the comments.  I have seen more people being called out for it though.  With all visual artists are going through now with this AI generated art bullshit, I don’t blame them for mass exodus from sites like DeviantArt, which forces you to opt out of having your work used for such, and you don’t even know if that makes any difference.

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The State of the Reader: 11/16/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 11/2/22         The State of the Reader: 11/30/22–>

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: $0.00

Books Finished: 1

Title: The Charmer, Volume 1
Series: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton & Jessica Ruffner (adaptation)
Illustrator: Ron Lim
Date Added: September 25, 2022
Date Started: October 13, 2022
Date Finished: November 6, 2022

Cover of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned, Volume 1: The Charmer by Laurell K. HamiltonMedia: Paperback

I was 100% certain I was going to (want to) continue this series when I first started reading it, but as I mentioned last week I think I’ve matured beyond the “possessive paranormal boyfriend” type into more of the “protective but respecting of boundaries paranormal boyfriend/husbando type.”  I mean it’s what all of my fanfics focus on.  In all seriousness there’s a major issue with lack of consent and this whole concept of “owning” people (yes, vampires, lycanthropes et al are people insofar as they’re sentient beings), which is never challenged by the narrative.  If I do keep reading, though, I have enough conflicting feelings for it to make for some good critique.

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The State of the Writer: 11/13/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 10/30/22         The State of the Writer: 11/27/22–>

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: Working on surname details

I’m currently transferring the surname stuff I figured out to Scrivener, though there have been some hiccups and the need to use my Word doc scratch pad.  The surnames I’m working on now are mostly jewel or metal based with a type of hierarchy.  I’m almost done with this, especially if I keep myself on track and don’t go off on any wild tangents.  I had to stop myself from falling down a major time suck rabbit hole for something I can figure out later or even during the drafting process.  I have a section for Open Questions, which are for just such things.  They’re not pertinent to know beforehand, and I have to remind myself of that.

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Snow White & the Seven Angels by Rhys Christopher Ethan (Queerky Tales #1)

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CW: Suicide, transphobia

Title: Snow White & the Seven Angels
Series: Queerky Tales
Author: Rhys Christopher Ethan
Illustrator: Ethereal Ealain
Date Added: August 23, 2017
Date Started: November 7, 2018
Date Finished: November 9, 2018
Reading Duration: 2 days
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Romance, LGBTQ+, Short Story


Pages: 54
Publication Date: April 28, 2012
Publisher: Self
Media: eBook/Kindle

The classic tales you know, the characters with secrets you don’t
***
Blurb:
White has a secret. One he has shared with his family to no avail. When he meets the Prince of his dreams, he decides he can no longer live a lie, but in order to do so, he will have to face his worst nightmares.

Queerky Tales is a series of classic fairy tales retold with LGBT characters. Snow White & the Seven Angels is about fighting for your happy-ever-after, whatever shape it comes in.

For children and adults alike.

Snow White is one of the most popular fairytales for revamping possibly because it contains so many of the tropes and motifs we’re familiar with: the evil mother/matron, the maiden lost in the woods, the forbidden fruit, the magical/lucky number seven, and some I might be forgetting.  Ethan’s version adds an aspect I think is even more vital since the titular character is trans, and he (the author) dedicated it to Leelah Alcorn, a trans teenager who committed suicide due to lack of familial support, leaving behind a heartbreaking note asking for something to change so people like her would actually want to live in this world.  To this day (so far as we know) her family continues to deadname and misgender her, taking zero responsibility for what they drove her to do and it’s disgusting.

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The State of the Reader: 11/2/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 10/19/22         The State of the Reader: 11/16/22–>

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: 2

Total: $3.98

Books Finished: 1

Title: Flowers for the Sea
Author: Zin E. Rocklyn
Date Added: December 4, 2021
Date Started: October 18, 2022
Date Finished: October 27, 2022

Cover of Flowers from the Sea by Zin E. RocklynMedia: eBook/Kindle

This was decent.  I wanted some more information about the nature of the pregnancy/child, but it did live up to it’s Rosemary’s Baby reference if not Octavia Butler.  Since I haven’t read her yet I can’t say, though I do understand why her name was invoked.  I think the author was going for the more vague “the unknown is horrifying” angle, but some more details would’ve been nice.  The final line of the novel is bad ass though.

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The State of the Reader: 10/19/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 10/5/22         The State of the Reader: 11/2/22–>

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: 3

Total: $19.12

Books Finished: 2

Title: The Girl from the Well
Series: The Girl from the Well
Author: Rin Chupeco
Date Added: February 28, 2022
Date Started: September 22, 2022
Date Finished: October 17, 2022

Cover of The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco (The Girl from the Well)Media: eBook/Kindle

It’s time for a new library book.  I finished this a few days prior to its due date.  Read some of the comments/critiques and apparently people found it boring and not scary?  I guess they were expecting it to be scary like The Ring, but even though I noticed the similarities (and with a little digging found out it’s a very common trope in Japanese horror), I wasn’t expecting the story to be like that.  Idk.  There’s no accounting for taste, but I think people judged the book based on their expectations not on what it was (the same thing happened with Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement).  I’m interested in reading the sequel The Suffering.

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