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richincolor · 10 days

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New Releases

A bunch of new books coming out this week and all but one are sequels or trilogies. I'm personally excited for The Lady of Rapture by Sarah Raughley which is the third book in the Bones of Ruin series. Which book will you be purchasing this week?

Click to read more about this week's new releases.

Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao Feiwel & Friends

Dear Wendy’s Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual students at Wellesley College, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao. Sophie Chi is in her first year at Wellesley College (despite her parents’ wishes that she attend a “real” university, rather than a liberal arts school) and has long accepted her aromantic and asexual identities. Despite knowing she’ll never fall in love, she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at Wellesley. No one except her roommate knows that she’s behind the incredibly popular “Dear Wendy” account. When Joanna “Jo” Ephron―also a first-year student at Wellesley―created their “Sincerely Wanda” account, it wasn’t at all meant to be serious or take off like it does―not like Dear Wendy’s. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Dear Wendy? Oops . As if Jo’s not busy enough having existential crises over gender, the fact that she’ll never truly be loved or be enough, or her few friends finding The One and forgetting her! While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo are getting closer in real life, bonding over their shared aroace identities. As their friendship develops and they work together to start a campus organization for other a-spec students, can their growing bond survive if they learn just who’s behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts? With its exploration of a-spec identities, college life, and more, this platonic comedy, perfect for fans of Netflix’s The Half of It and Alice Oseman’s Loveless, is ultimately a love story about two people who are not―and will not―be in love!

Calling of Light (Shamanborn #3) by Lori M. Lee Page Street YA

Queen Meilyr is dead, and a tenuous peace has settled over Evewyn. King Meilek’s acension has ended his sister’s oppression of the shamanborn, marking a new start for the country where Sirscha, once a prisoner, has been elevated to a position as the King’s Shadow. Yet, beneath the surface, tensions between shamanborn and other citizens remain high. Conflicts rage at Evewyn’s borders. The Soulless still lurks in the darkness. And while some might call Sirscha a hero for allegedly killing the Queen, to many she’s a monster―a soulrender just like the Soulless. Sometimes Sirscha even believes that herself. But Sirscha recognizes the Soulless as the world’s common enemy, and she is determined to hunt him down to prevent yet another war. As the Soulless reemerges and both his power and the Dead Wood grow, Sirscha knows time is running short. She’ll have to trust in her true friends―and her own power―if she hopes to end the Soulless’s hold over the land for good. When defeating him requires a sacrifice too terrible to conceive, Sirscha will have to decide how far she’s willing to go to save Evewyn.

The Lady of Rapture (The Bones of Ruin #3) by Sarah Raughley Margaret K. McElderry Books

For years, the elite secret society called the Enlightenment Committee has waited for the apocalyptic force known as Hiva to destroy the world as it has so many times before. What the Committee didn’t know, however, was that Hiva wasn’t an event—it was a person. Iris Marlow. An African tightrope dancer with no memories of her past. A girl who cannot die. At least, she couldn’t die. Until her own friends discovered her one weakness and murdered her once and for all. The world-ending threat she posed should be gone too, but there’s one more Hiva out there, and unlike Iris, this one has no love for humanity. In her absence, this Hiva has taken it upon himself to judge if humanity deserves to live. But when it comes to Hivas, the judgment is always the same. The ending is always total destruction. And while Iris is dead, she’s not gone—and after the betrayal that ended her life as Iris, she is now out for revenge. The world’s days are numbered. The Cataclysm has begun.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods (To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods #1) by Molly X. Chang Del Rey

She has power over death. He has power over her. When two enemies strike a dangerous bargain, will they end a war . . . or ignite one? Heroes die, cowards live. Daughter of a conquered world, Ruying hates the invaders who descended from the heavens long before she was born and defeated the magic of her people with technologies unlike anything her world had ever seen. Blessed by Death, born with the ability to pull the life right out of mortal bodies, Ruying shouldn’t have to fear these foreign invaders, but she does. Especially because she wants to keep herself and her family safe. When Ruying’s Gift is discovered by an enemy prince, he offers her an impossible deal: If she becomes his private assassin and eliminates his political rivals—whose deaths he swears would be for the good of both their worlds and would protect her people from further brutalization—her family will never starve or suffer harm again. But to accept this bargain, she must use the powers she has always feared, powers that will shave years off her own existence. Can Ruying trust this prince, whose promises of a better world make her heart ache and whose smiles make her pulse beat faster? Are the evils of this agreement really in the service of a much greater good? Or will she betray her entire nation by protecting those she loves the most?

Sheine Lende (Elatsoe #2) by Darcie Little Badger Levine Querido

Darcie Little Badger’s Elatsoe launched her career and in the years since has become a beloved favorite. This prequel to Elatsoe, centered on Ellie’s grandmother, deepens and expands Darcie’s one-of-a-kind world and introduces us to another cast of characters that will wend their way around readers’ hearts. Shane works with her mother and their ghost dogs, tracking down missing persons even when their families can’t afford to pay. Their own family was displaced from their traditional home years ago following a devastating flood – and the loss of Shane’s father and her grandparents. They don’t think they’ll ever get their home back. Then Shane’s mother and a local boy go missing, after a strange interaction with a fairy ring. Shane, her brother, her friends, and her lone, surviving grandparent – who isn’t to be trusted – set off on the road to find them. But they may not be anywhere in this world – or this place in time. Nevertheless, Shane is going to find them.

#new releases #young adult books #weneeddiversebooks

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idanwyn-et-al · 4 years

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(XIV||20) 22. Argy-bargy. (Make-up post!)

Anne-Sophie sat solo at a table in the Crystarium, drinking alone for the first time in her life. She wasn’t a very good drinker; despite being a solid hundred and forty ponze at five fulms, two ilms, she never really built up a good tolerance for alcohol. So it was that half a bottle of wine had her lightly swaying in her seat, her head stuffed full of fuzzy regrets.

“Did I really snipe at him like that?” she slurred to herself. “He says he’s goin’ back t’ Vurrburrrt,” she drawled out the name of the lost kingdom, “and I tell ‘im ‘what’s left of it’?!” Burying her face in her hands, she let out a strangled moan, then immediately sat back in her seat. “Ugh!! Wine breath! That’s...that is not great when it’s not in a...in a romantical-type setting.”

Her own words caused her to slide down the chair until her ponytail was draped over the back of the seat, her boots braced against the table’s pedestal. “Now there’s never gonna be any more romantical anythings!! I ruined it!” Memories flooded through the mental fog; seeing Oberic without his armor, tracing her fingertips over his myriad scars, fumbling together towards pleasure in the dimly-lit room, his willingness to stop when she was not ready. “An’ then he...he brought me breakfast the next mo-hoo-horrrning!” she sobbed, her face to the sky, her spectacles pushed askew by her dramatic wailing.

A barmaid set down a glass of water and a plate of freshly-baked bread, already spread with curls of butter melting into its nooks and crannies. “We’ve all been there, miss. Just talk to him. Apologize. If he’s really that good, he’ll understand. If not? Send him my way; he’s a looker.”

Anne-Sophie turned teary eyes to the barmaid, who seemed like an embodiment of the Fury Herself in this moment. “O wise one,” the knight-scholar warbled, slowly pushing herself back upright. “How...how do I just talk to him?” She nursed the water; she knew she needed it. The bread followed.

The Roegadyn---no, Galdjent, Fury take my mutton-for-brains!---shrugged her broad shoulders. “Same way as you’re talking to me now, I reckon. Though you might want to get sobered up first; not good for business here, but we can take the hit. Collect yourself, tell him you’re sorry, and try your best not to cry. If you do cry, make sure you’re still listening. Crying happens, but you can’t let it derail a perfectly good discussion.”

“Thnk yrgh, wrse...mm.” Holding up a shaky index finger, she finished her slice of bread. “Thank you, wise sage,” she replied solemnly and entirely seriously. “I will heed your counsel.”

The Galdjent grinned. “Better than an unwanted pinch on the ass. I like your manners.” Off she went to tend to other customers, leaving Anne-Sophie to learn how to act like a woman grown. Academia had gained her much of one type of intelligence while stripping her of others, and it was past time she learned those disciplines, too.

#FFXivWrite2020 #prompt 22 argy-bargy #my writing #Anne-Sophie Bale #ffxiv hyur #Oberic Brightroar #ffxiv midlander #ffxiv highlander #first shard #Anne-Sophie you are terrible sometimes #lil drama mess #make-up post

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mysticalrambling · 3 years

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Missing You (T.H)

Tom Holland Fan fiction (Fan fiction Masterlist)

Summary: Tom is away for shooting and he is missing his daughter’s first easter. You and Sophia miss him terribly and he feels terrible for missing it. Sophia gets hurt during the egg hunt and Tom flies back to be with his family.

Warnings: Angst and some fluff.

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“Daddy?” You had been folding your laundry because it was a therapeutic chore. The maid always left it for you by the end of the day because she knew that you enjoyed doing it. Your moment was interrupted by your one year old daughter barging into your room with only one question on her mind.

She had recently started walking and you were silently thankful because your over protective husband wouldn’t let her touch the ground in the fear that she would hurt herself. It even came to the point that Sophia started becoming agitated whenever he interrupted her progress. She would scream Bloody Mary when she saw him approaching with his arms outstretched. You sat him down one day and gently explained to him that we have to let her explore the world. If she falls and gets hurt, then it was our job to take care of her but we could not protect her from everything in advance.

The moment she took her first steps, they were towards Tom. You were there to record the moment and you guys were so glad that Tom had backed off a little bit. He would be there for his little princess every step of the way. If she wanted to leap, she could and he will be there to catch her if she started to fall. Sophia was the most important person in his life after you.

“Daddy is going to be here before your first Easter, bunny. Hopefully.” The last word was more of a mumble for yourself because you really hoped that he would be here. Sophia was born a few weeks after Easter so this was her first one.

“Daddy?”

Sighing, you said, “Let’s just get ready and see how cute you look in your new costume.”

“Bunny!” She ran off to her room to put her name on the and you opened your phone. Your husband told you that he would drop a text at approximately this time if he was going to make it back before the party. Disappointed, you just put the phone back on the side table.

“Okay, you need to sit tightly so that I can make your braids.” She was a hyper ball after she found the candies on the coffee table that you were going to give it to her at the party. Allergies to nuts was one of the many things that she had inherited from Tom and you never liked to take chances regarding their health. “No more sweets for you today, miss.”

“Nooooooo. Daddy!” Sophia’s voice trembled in the end because she knew that her dad would defend her. He was her knight in shining armor.

“Daddy is not here so let’s stop screaming now.” You were already in a sour mood as your husband was not with you on an important milestone. And Sophia was not making things easy for you either.

“No!”

“You are ready. I am going to give you your coloring books while I go get ready.” You did not listen to her small sniffles and went to take a shower while keeping the door open so you could keep an eye on her. When you got out, your phone was ringing and it was Tom.

“Hi. I am so sorry I can’t make it today. I tried my very best to get done with filming but it was not possible. So sorry, darling.” There was a crack in his voice that let you know that he was devastated about it.

“It’s okay, baby. There will be other Easters and you will be there for all of them. Don’t be sad, please.” You tried cheering him up but it was not working.

Tom was always big on firsts; your first date, your first I love you’s, Sophia’s first kick, Sophia’s first tooth. He kept a record of all the moments and he was incredibly sad that he did not get to witness his child’s first Easter. Acting was something that he really enjoyed but he hated it right now. It was keeping him away from his family. He had planned everything out from where to hide all the eggs to where to buy the small bunny cupcakes that he would give to his little girl at the end of the day. This was not right but he was helpless. He could not do anything because he had an obligation to his fans as well.

“Is she wearing the costume that I ordered her?” When you mumbled out a yes, he asked, “Can you please send me a picture?”

“Soph, come and stand here. Pose for daddy.” When you sent him the picture, there was no response from his side. Seeing the picture, Tom choked back a sob. His little bunny looked incredibly cute with a white dress and a bunny ear headband. A pink tint graced her cheeks which meant that she had some candies and she had a toothy smile. Before he could say anything, the director called him back to shooting. “We will talk to daddy later. He might be busy right now.”

Tom’s mom had planned a party at her house and the whole garden was prepared for the egg hunt. You both wanted to host the party this year but Tom had to go to Cardiff last minute because of his shooting. Your siblings and nieces and nephews were all going to be there. You were happy that you got to spend this occasion with your family but you were miserable right now. Tom was not here.

“Hi. Who is this little rabbit here?” Nikki leaned in front of the toddler and squished Sophia in one of her famous bear hugs.

“Sophia Anne Holland!” There was a proud undertone to her voice because she could speak her whole name now.

“You are the cutest bunny ever.”

“I know.” You all chuckled at her haughty admission and watched as she skipped towards her cousins.

“Tom isn’t going to make it today?”

“Um no. He could not get away from work and he said to apologise on his behalf.” It was like something was missing and you didn’t want to indulge in that feeling.

“I am sorry, darling but he will make it up to you and Sophie.” You wanted to divert the topic so you started to talk about the guests and the decorations.

Pretty soon, you started mingling with the people and they always asked about Tom. You either replied to them or politely redirected the conversation. It felt weird being at a gathering without Tom. You haven’t done that from the past five years and you realised you didn’t much enjoy it now. Keeping an eye on Sophia was hard because it was usually Tom who performed that duty. You were given a free pass at parties from all the responsibilities and were allowed to enjoy every moment. He was always considerate towards you and that is why you loved him to death.

“Sophia, you can not go near the pool.” You caught her in your arms before she could fall in.

“Dada swimm- swimming.” Tommy was the one who was teaching her to swim because it was a hobby that he wanted his daughter to adopt from him. When she saw the water, she thought that her dad will be there to teach her.

“When dad comes back, you can go swimming.” Sophia still kept looking around for her father because this is the longest she has been away from him. Her toddler mind thinks that if she goes to do things that they do together, he will come to her. You couldn’t even get angry at her for wandering around the house without anyone. Hugging her, you tried to distract her, “Now, granny is having an egg hunt and we need to win it, okay bubs?”

“Win!!” You took her in your arms and went towards the garden where all the people were.

“Look, Tom. (Y/N) is here.” A phone was shoved in to your face by Sam and you saw Tom’s face on the screen.

“Hi. I was calling you and you didn’t pick up. I wanted to see Sophie on the egg hunt.” There was a look of longing on his face.

“I was busy with your daughter. She was running near the swimming pool and wanted to get in because she thought that you would be there to teach her.”

“Is she alright? Let me see her.” You angled the phone towards your shoulder where she was leaning on him. “Hey, baby.”

“Hi. Back?” Tom wanted nothing more than to hold his daughter in his arms and his heart broke when his daughter asked him that question. It meant that he was away too long because she never asked that question before. She didn’t need to.

“I’ll be back in no time and then we will go swimming. Promise.”

“Yes.” She hopped down from your arms and went to the start line of the race.

“How have you been?”

“Just missing you a lot and handling Soph is getting harder by the day.” You moved to a more secluded place on the ground so you could talk to your husband.

“I am sorry, darling. When I come back, you can have the whole weekend off.”

“Just come back. I want to spend sometime with my husband.”

“That is a tempting offer but I have to stay here a little longer. But when I come back, we will do more than spend sometime together.”

“I will look forward to it. The game is starting so I have to go.” You were about to end the call but he stopped you.

“I want to see her and I have a break for another twenty minutes.”

“Okay.”

The race soon started and among all her cousins, Sophia was the youngest and the most hyper. You cheered her on with her grandparents and Tom. She was about to win the race and you were more excited than her. Tommy wanted to be there to witness her first victory but he settled down for seeing it on the phone. However, she stumbled on some rocks that were on the trail and she fell hard.

“Oh my god! Go to her, (Y/N).” Tom’s voice broke you out of your horrified trance and you went in to autopilot. When you reached near her, you gave the phone to someone behind you and kneeled in front of your daughter. She was crying really loudly and her arms was bent to an odd angle. Cuddling her in your arms, you picked her up and went towards your car. “What is happening? Mum, tell me!”

“I think Sophie’s arm is broken. (Y/N) is taking her to the hospital right now. I will keep you updated.” Nikki was moving quickly towards her car while she gripped the phone in her hands.

“Mum, I want to talk to my daughter right now.” He didn’t even realise that he was pacing and his hair was all messed up because he ran his hands through it several times.

“Tommy, I will keep you updated. Right now, she is a lot of pain and she is scared.”

“Please keep me informed.” This was one of the worst moment in his life because he wasn’t there for his girls. You both needed him right now and he wasn’t there. He decided then and there that he was going back to London.

Meanwhile, you reached the hospital with Sophia wailing in your arms and Sam driving like a cray man. You were sure that he would have multiple speeding tickets waiting for him when he gets home. The E.R was busy at this time of the day and you just laid your daughter on one of the beds while Nikki went to go get a doctor.

“Honey, it’s going to be okay. Please be strong, baby girl.” There were tears in your eyes as your daughter’s face turned red with all the crying and screaming. The little girl was in too much pain.

“Daddy, plea- please. Hurts a lot.” Hiccuping in the middle of the sentence, you looked at your brother in law helplessly. She wanted Tom and he wasn’t here right now.

“We will talk to daddy after the nice doctor here checks you out, baby.” She wouldn’t let anyone near her or her arm and kept asking for her father, She was inconsolable.

Sitting in front of the bed, the doctor asked, “Hi, I am Dr Ana. What happened to this little bunny here?”

“She, uh, she fell during the race and I think she broke her arm.” You stood on the foot of the bed as you shakily explained the whole situation. “Soph, let her check your boo boo please.”

“Daddy, please.”

“Okay, let me call your dad and you can talk to him.” Nikki interjected when she saw that the conversation was not reaching any end point.

“Okay.” You wiped her snot with your sleeves as she clutched her broken arm in pain.

“Tom, talk to Sophia. She is not letting the doctors treat her.” Putting the phone on speaker, Tom’s voice filtered through the phone.

“Hey bubs. You need to let the doctor check you and make the boo boo alright.” His soothing voice brought tears to your eyes as you wanted nothing more than to hold his hand right now.

“It hurts. Back please?”

“I am coming back right now so you need to let the doctor check your arm. I will be there in no time.”

“Okay.” The moment the doctor started examining her arm, you took the phone from your mother in law.

“It’s going to be okay. You don’t have to come back.” You sniffled a little as the doctor got a portable x-ray to check up on Sophia’s arm. She held on to your hand tightly as even the little movement hurt her.

“I am. In fact, my flight is already confirmed. I will be there in four hours, tops.”

Tom declined the call as his manager called him downstairs. Getting in to the car, he just prayed to God that his little girl would be okay. He swore mentally that he would never let Sophia run. He should have been there and he was going to never leave his family’s side ever again.

“I have given her some pain meds for her pain so she should be settling down now.” Sophia was moved to a pediatric room and now she was calming down a little bit. “What color cast do you want, Miss Holland?”

“Pink.” She stated as a matter of fact and you lightly laughed. Nikki and Sam were in the room as well and they were staying till Tom got here. The pain medication slowly started working and Soph drifted off to sleep with Mr Fluffs in her arms.

“We are going to get coffee and then we can get you a change of clothes. Do you want something else?” Whispering, Nikki placed a hand on your shoulder.

“I am fine. I just need the clothes and can you please bring some for Tom as well. I know he would come straight here from the airport.”

“Okay, darling. Take care and call us if something happens.”

“Okay, thank you.” You put your head on the bed and drifted off to sleep.

Tom entered the hospital and the receptionist guided him towards Sophia’s room. Quietly steeping in there, he saw his two girls sleeping. Sophia looked so tiny in that patient bed and he never wanted to see her there. When he got close, he saw dried tears on his little girl’s cheek and his heart broke when he thought about the pain that she was in. The pink cast was set on her right arm and he want to her side and gently kissed it.

“I am so sorry baby, I wasn’t here. I won’t ever leave you again, I promise.”

“You are back.” The commotion in the room woke you up and you saw your husband right in front of you.

“Just got in.” Tom’s eyes never left the tiny human being laying underneath the sheets. “(Y/N), she is never running again.”

“Honey, children get hurt all the time. She will recover in no time.”

“But-”

“Dadda!” Your baby jumped in to his arms before any of you realised what was happening. Her cast bumped on to the iron rod of the bed and she let out a blood curling scream.

“Call the doctor. It’s okay, bubs. You are going to be okay.” Kissing her cast, he tried to calm down the crying toddler. Meantime, you went to call Dr Anna so that she could check Sophia’s arm.

“It is all fine. You just need to be really careful with that arm. We are going to keep her here for one day and then you both can take your little girl home.”

You took Sophia from your husband and told him to go change in to comfortable clothes. When he came back, you both settled on the small bed and your daughter told him all about the injury and the pain. You both signed her pink cast and Tom also drew some rainbows and birds on it. Soon, it was time for her to take her medicines and you had to bribe her with chocolates, She always got her way.

“I love you, baby. Go to sleep now.” He wrapped the blanket around her and switched off all the lights.

“Love you. Be here?”

“Yes, I will be here darling. Now, sleep.” Sophia soon drifted off to sleep and Tom sat beside you on the couch.

“I missed you, Tommy.”

“I missed you too and I am never leaving you both for this long. Now, let’s go to sleep. It has been a tiring day.” Pecking him on the lips, you both laid down and just basked in each other’s warmth. Contented, you drifted off to sleep with your husband and child in the same room. Everything was going to be okay.

Hope you guys enjoyed it!!

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A/N: I loved to write about Tom Holland as a family man. Tell me how you guys feel about it and I am open to requests regarding dad Tom. If you want to be added to my tag list, comment down below.

Like, comment and reblog.

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cacchieressa · 6 years

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Last night, instead of writing, I spent a good portion of my evening tracking down two of my very favorite Regency romances, including what I think is the first one I ever read: A Convenient Bride by Betty Henrichs, which I only found because I remembered that distinctive green band across the top of the cover, since I couldn't remember the author's name (she doesn't seem to have written a whole lot else that I'd have read) and kept trying to google "a marriage of convenience" and "a convenient marriage" both of which bring up way too many books that weren't what I was looking for. However, once I found The Spinster and the Rake by Anne Stuart (available now on kindle from a different publisher or possibly self-published?), I was on the right track, because it was from the same series/publisher, and then it was just a matter of finding a list of all the Candlelight Regencies and recognizing the cover/blurb. *g* So I ordered a used paperback copy for $3.50 since that one is not available as an ebook, and hopefully the suck fairy hasn't visited either too much. I know that I tended to shy away from the more rapey types of romances - probably Vidal in Devil's Cub is the worst hero in my favorites, but it's been a while so we'll see, I guess. So I was telling @thatgirlnevershutsup about this and she was saying that she'd read a lot of contemporary romance but not much in the way of Regencies, and I was like, Regencies are almost the only type of (published) romance I read! And she asked me for recs, and I typed this up this morning off the top of my head, so I figured I'd share it here as well. Obligatory disclaimer: these are obviously books I've read and enjoyed, though some not for years so they could be terrible/rapey etc. and I just don't remember it. Georgette Heyer: Heyer is the progenitor of the genre as we know it today, so I definitely recommend checking her out to see how we got to where we are today (I mean, obviously Jane Austen is a huge influence, but she was more concerned about satirizing the society she lived in, rather than the madcap romance/happily ever after business that is genre romance). Some of her books are hilarious in addition to being romantic. There's no sex here (and sometimes even the romance is hard to detect) but they are all enjoyable, with some caveats about classism, sexism, and antisemitism. These Old Shades Devil's Cub – this is my very favorite, even though its hero (and its classism) has not aged well at all The Grand Sophy – this is also great but beware the antisemitism The Talisman Ring Cotillion Black Sheep Carla Kelly: Kelly's books are less concerned with fantasies about dukes and more concerned with damaged people falling in love and learning to be there for each other Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand – this one is my favorite of hers, but all the ones I've listed here are great reads imo Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career Miss Billings Treads the Boards Marian's Christmas Wish With This Ring Mrs. McVinnie's London Season The Wedding Journey Miss Whittier Makes a List One Good Turn Anita Mills: Scandal Bound – another all-time favorite – as with Devil's Cub, we have a runaway road trip that doesn't go quite the way either the hero or the heroine planned. Jo Beverly: Jo Beverly has written a metric fuckton of romance novels, and I've read and loved a lot of them, but these are the two that came to mind when I thought of her name, though I haven't read either in forever... Deidre & Don Juan Emily & the Dark Angel Mary Balogh: Again, you can't swing a cat in a bookstore without hitting a Mary Balogh romance, and some work more than others – these are just the most recent of hers that I've read and enjoyed. She can be very melodramatic and hit-or-miss for me, but a lot of people love her books. This series is more modern than traditional regency, iirc: The Bedwyns series Tessa Dare: These are more modern regencies – the sex is on the page and often premarital – and while some of the books work for me more than others, I've been enjoying both series a lot. Spindle Cove series Castles Ever After series Julia Quinn: Again, more modern, more sex, this series marries off a whole family of siblings, one book at a time. The Bridgertons series and its spinoff series, The Smythe-Smith quartet (I've only read the first two so far, but they've been fun) Loretta Chase: Chase has also written a ton of romances, so this is just scratching the surface, but I enjoyed both series a lot. The Dressmakers series The Carsington Brothers series I thought that was a good list to start with. Feel free to add your own recs!

(xpost from dw)

#books #book recs #regency romances #thatgirlnevershutsup #xpost

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vraiesmeufs · 5 years

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productivité et culpabilité

Récemment, je suis revenue faire un tour sur ce site : le dernier post date d’il y a 2 semaines et le dernier portrait date d’il y a 2 mois.

Tout d’un coup, en faisant ce constat, je suis prise de panique. Qu’est ce que j’ai foutu pendant ces 2 mois pour ne pas sortir un portrait tout en continuant à bosser de manière quotidienne sur ce projet. Plus que de la panique, j’ai été sujette à une culpabilité terrible. Je me sentais coupable de ne pas avoir tenu mes engagements, de ne pas avoir tenu le rythme que je promettais, sans pourtant que personne ne soit venu me voir pour me réclamer du contenu.

En fait, la personne envers qui je ressens le plus de culpabilité est moi même.

En méditant sur ma vie, je me rends compte que je passe toute la journée à tout remettre en question et à me rappeler que je ne suis pas assez bien. Le matin, je me dis que j’aurais du me lever plus tôt et sortir plus vite de chez moi. A l’école, je regrette de ne pas fournir plus d’efforts dans mes études. A la bibliothèque, je regrette de ne pas réussir cet exercice. En allant chercher les développements de mes photos, je regrette de ne pas avoir fait de meilleures photos. En relisant un article, je regrette qu’il ne soit pas mieux écrit. Et en allant me coucher le soir, je regrette de ne pas avoir fini tout ce qui était noté sur ma to do list.

Je me rends compte que la vie que je vis n’est qu’un long chemin de regret et de culpabilité.

Je profite donc d’un voyage loin de la capitale pour me remettre en question sur ma culpabilité constante : je n’ai jamais autant évolué que lors de ces deux dernières années mais par la même occasion, je n’ai jamais autant été aussi peu fière de moi au quotidien. Par exemple, j’ai passé aujourd’hui une excellente journée où je me suis promenée et où j’ai profité de ma famille mais en rentrant chez moi, je me sentais très mal parce que ma journée n’était pas productive.

Entreprendre, ça a l’air cool et facile, encore plus dans l’époque étrange dans laquelle on vit où c’est hype de bosser comme un taré. Sauf que entreprendre veut aussi dire ne pas avoir de patron : si demain, je décide de complètement arrêter de bosser sur ce projet, personne ne me demandera de compte ou me virera. C’est pourquoi la pression que je me mets est d’autant plus importante que mis à part moi, personne ne peut me la donner.

On vit dans une société où chaque minute de la vie doit être productive et où il faut constamment lutter contre ces fléaux que sont la procrastination et l’oisiveté. Cette société du hustle où on admire les gens qui travaillent 24/7 et qui ont de l’ambition ne rends pas les choses facile. Beaucoup de gens m’ont déjà complimenté sur le fait que j’étais une bosseuse. Est-ce vraiment un compliment ? Tout le monde court partout, boit des cafés comme si sa vie en dépendait et a un emploi du temps de ministre. “Productive” pour moi signifie avancer sur les cours ou sur mes projets (en particulier VraiesMeufs), mais est-ce la bonne définition ? Une journée oisive où je recharge les batteries et où je profite des personnes que l’on aime fait aussi partie du processus de productivité. Ce n’est pas derrière un ordi qu’on trouve l’inspiration et la motivation de faire ce que l’on veut.

Je m’engage donc à ce jour de ne plus culpabiliser pour ce que je fais. Je fais déjà mon maximum et c’est cool. Parfois, je fais 10 choses dans la même journée, parfois je n’en fais pas une seule. Mais je ne m’en voudrais plus : même les low moments permettent, en libérant du temps à ne rien faire, d’apporter de nouvelles idées, de meilleurs réflexions et donc de nourrir mon processus de création et de travail. D’autant plus que, je ne pense pas que vous me suivez en vous attendant à du contenu toutes les semaines avec une tolérance zéro. Je viendrais des fois à l’avance, des fois à l’heure et des fois en retard, sans aucune justification et à chaque fois plus solide qu’avant.

ENGLISH VERSION (translated by Sophie)

PRODUCTIVITY AND GUILT

Recently, I came back on this website: the last post was two weeks ago, and the last portrait was two months old. All of a sudden, realizing this, I was overcome by panic. What the hell was I doing for two months, not being able to come out with a single new portrait, while still working daily on this project? More than panic, I felt terribly guilty. I felt guilty of not being able to stick to my commitments, of not being able to keep up the pace I promised in the first place, even though no one ever came to me to demand content.

In fact, the person I blame the most is myself.

While contemplating my life, I realize I spend my days questioning anything and everything, and reminding myself I am not good enough. In the morning, I tell myself I should have woken up earlier so I could come out of the house quicker. At school, I regret not trying harder in the way I study. At the library, I regret not succeeding in an exercise. When going to get my photos printed, I regret not taking better photos. When re-reading one of my articles, I regret the fact that it wasn’t written better. When going to sleep at night, I regret not finishing everything that was on my to-do list.

I realize that the life I lead is merely a long road filled with regret and guilt.

So I take advantage of the time I spend traveling away from Paris to re-evaluate myself and the guilt I constantly feel: I’ve never evolved as much as I did in the last two years, but in the same time, I’ve never been less proud of myself on a daily basis. For example, today was an excellent day for me, I went out and had a good time with my family, but when I came home I felt extremely bad because it hasn’t been a productive day.

To begin projects sounds cool and easy, even more in this strange era in which it is “hype” to work like crazy. But to begin a project by yourself also means not having a boss: if tomorrow I decide to quit this project, no one will hold me accountable nor fire me. That’s why the pressure I put on myself is even more important, because apart from me, no one will do it. We live in a society where every minute of your life has to be productive and where you must constantly fight against the scourge that are procrastination and idleness. This hustle society in which people who have ambition and work 24/7 are looked up to, does not make things any easier. Many people have complimented me before, for being a “hard worker”. Is that really a compliment? Everybody’s running around all the time, having drinks as if their life depends on it, with full schedules. To me, being “productive” means being on track with my studies or my projects (specifically VraiesMeufs), but is that the real definition? An uneventful day during which I rest and spend time with the people I love is also part of the process of productiveness. Sitting behind a laptop is not where you find inspiration and motivation to do what you want.

From now on, I commit to not blaming myself for my actions. I try my best and that’s cool. Sometimes I’ll do ten different things in a single day, and sometimes I won’t do one. But I won’t blame myself: even the low moments, freeing time to not do anything in particular, allow for new ideas. They allow for better reflections, and they feed my creative and work process. What is more, I don’t believe you follow me on this website expecting content every week with zero tolerance. Sometimes I’ll be early, sometimes I’ll be on time, and some other times I’ll be late, without justification and each time stronger than the last.

#realtalk

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rorykillmore · 5 years

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what kind of gifts would your roster like receiving? what do they like giving?

hmmm....

a good ask in time for the holidays,

lucille likes books, rare or first edition books especially, though i imagine on denny she’d also appreciate people getting her old music records or something as a kind of extension of that. she just. likes old things. and she likes things that are kind of pretty and a bit dark at the same time. if all else failed you could get her like, some kind of insect themed pendant or something, because she likes insects,

as for what she gives other people, it probably depends on the person, but her gifts probably tend to have a sort of... timeless unusual quality to them. she finds very unusual but strangely fitting things for the people she knows well

siobhan is kind of ??? about gift-giving, so she’d probably be startled into liking just about anything someone got her as long as it was someone she actually liked (a limited category,). she probably has a growing affinity for like, southwestern style decorations and jewelry and like, handmade stuff like that, so you’d probably be able to impress her with that.

i feel like she is a TERRIBLE gift giver though. she’s probably a gift card person because “here go spend some money on something you actually want” is more her style, and she’s generally not very personal. thankfully the exceptions are people like red, and siobhan could probably find like a pretty feathery charm or something a raptor could rare, or else just offer to take her out to do something she likes, like hunting.

sara is not really picky, she’s pretty appreciative of like, anyone going out of their way to get her something as long as they’re not too insistent about it being for some very personal occasion like her birthday or something. she likes jewelry, but especially rings, which she likes to kinda collect and vary with her day to day outfits. and she. admittedly likes weapons. like you could get her a cool bo staff or a pretty set of throwing knives and she’d be happy. but she’s also a sucker for like... gifts with a lot of personal meaning behind them, even if they’re very simple.

as for what she gives out, she’s actually a really good gift giver! she has a talent not only for reading people well, but being pretty conscious and articulate about their strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, so at least once she’s comfortable in a dynamic she usually has a pretty good idea of what to give someone. she’s oddly the kind of person you’d go to if you needed advice on what kind of present to get for someone else.

dolores likes stuff she can keep as mementos. so like, picture frames, distinctive jewelry, unusual hair ornaments, that sort of thing. on denny she might also appreciate any kind of gift that ties into a unique experience she hasn’t had, like tickets to a show or something. but beyond that i don’t think she really has strong set opinions about what kind of gifts she prefers, because she doesn’t have a lot of experience with that. oh but! an easy go-to is horse care stuff, because she’ll love you if you love her horse,

i think the gifts she gives out probably run in a similar vein of being very... personal and tied to some memory a lot of the time. but she also has a strong eye for aesthetics; she’s good at picking out clothes or accessories that someone would not only look good in, but that say something about their personality. and i think she also just likes... kind of abstract gifts, like just doing something for someone that she knows they’ll appreciate, or doing something special to show her affection.

sophie-anne is the most extra person imaginable, in all senses. if you wanna impress her, you have to pick something flashy. she likes expensive things or just really unique or unusual oddities. shiny, pretty stuff or designer clothes or something that will hold her attention for its novelty or rarity. she also has a lowkey appreciation for vintage stuff and antiques because, you know, she’s 500 years old,

her gifts to other people tend to be pretty... impersonal, like a lot of the time sophie isn’t going to be the person who gives you something special and meaningful. but on the other hand, she WILL spend a lot of money on you, because she has plenty to spare, so there’s that! if she has an occasion to give someone she’s fond of a present she probably just spoils them tbh

camille is honestly a difficult person to shop for, so i’m sorry to anyone who wants to try. she doesn’t really... want for a lot and isn’t really used to the whole gift exchange thing. i don’t know. you can’t even really buy her clothes -- or like, i guess you could, but she only wears stuff that covers a lot and most people don’t know why that’s such a rigid rule with her. idk. most people would probably just give up and give her a gift card or something, unless they were really determined to put more effort into it, but they’d have an uphill battle because camille is... so closed off, i don’t even know if she knows what she appreciates from other people

she doesn’t particularly consider herself a good gift giver either, and often finds herself a little bit of a loss when searching for something for a particular person. but as per usual, she doesn’t give herself enough credit, because the ideas she comes up with or the things she picks out can be a little... sardonic, sure, but also sometimes unexpectedly sweet

sly has an appreciation for fine art, good wine, pretty museum-stolen artifacts... you know!

nah typically if he wants something of that nature, he’ll just steal it. from his friends, tbh he’ll appreciate it if you even just buy him like, a book or a video game or something that says you were thinking about him. or just take him out to eat or something. he’s a pretty chill guy. if you’re looking for something REALLY special, anything with like... some family history behind it or something would say a lot to him, all things considered, because kind of sharing his own family legacy is how he reaches out to people he trusts the most

also when it comes to giving gifts he’s. kind of a disaster. like don’t get me wrong, he loves getting nice things for the people he cares about! you know. really nice things. one of a kind, stolen things. that thing you said you wished you had enough money for months ago that is now suddenly, mysteriously missing from the shop it came from. just don’t ask him for the receipt!

cordelia... honestly you can win cordelia over by just getting her flowers (although check the meaning of the flowers you get her first, because she’s the kind of person who knows them). or, barring that, some kind of supplies for her greenhouse or something. she also likes scented candles, and special charms, and vaguely witch-y stuff like that. and earrings are her favorite kind of jewelry. honestly she’s pretty easy to get gifts for, compared to some of my roster.

when she’s looking for gifts for other people she generally takes a kind of... practical but thoughtful approach. like she’ll get someone something she knows they can use, or something she knows based in prior experience that they enjoy. she also has a bit of a habit of making her own gifts, which - when you’re a witch - is honestly pretty valuable, because we’re talking protection charms and stuff like that.

if you’re looking to get susie a gift try: human sacrifice, ritualistic dance, etc.

just kidding! except only kind of,

susie grew up in a mennonite community, and her family in particular were like, borderline puritanical, so she doesn’t really... have a lot of material possessions, and she’s not used to placing a lot of value in them. plus she’s now rediscovered her true identity as a goddess who pre-dates christianity, so just, how do you shop for that!,

but i think both because she is and isn’t used to people doting on her (does this make sense? she’s a goddess who is accustomed to shows of devotion and that kind of thing, and also a girl who’s hardly experienced that in her mortal life) she’s quite charmed by shows of affection and loyalty and extravagance from people, so any kind of gift or gesture that communicates that. or you could just get her new dance shoes,

i don’t even know how she’d approach shopping for other people. technically she can cheat and discern the things they desire most, but does it really count when you do THAT? actually honestly... susie’s idea of gift-giving can be a bit abstract and potentially like, the wrong side of extreme. it might not be worth her deciding to bestow a miracle on you, depending

and my cats don’t really get the concept of exchanging gifts, so,

#long post #thanks storm!!#cuts dennys lvad wire #numinousbones

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rosalyn51 · 6 years

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Matthew Goode: ‘Lord Snowdon was a nightmare: charming then disgusting’

The outspoken actor is rising in the world — from Downton Abbey to playing Princess Margaret’s husband in The Crown

The Times November 25, 2017

When I interviewed Lord Snowdon 11 years ago for this paper he was much offended by our photographer’s assistant wearing a cap inside his house. It was evidently a breach of etiquette and, I am pretty sure, of the respect he felt due one of Britain’s leading photographers — and a former husband of Princess Margaret. The encounter ended with a ticking-off and Snowdon sneeringly hanging his cap up for him.

Now I am sitting in a London hotel room in front of the actor playing Snowdon in season two of Netflix’s The Crown. And Matthew Goode is wearing a hat, probably the one he has in ITV’s The Wine Show, the programme in which he and his mate Matthew Rhys josh and gush over vintages brought to them in a “hilltop Italian villa” — a for-real version of Brydon and Coogan’s The Trip. The bibulous old rogue Snowdon would have appreciated the wine and the banter, but what would he have said about his future impersonator’s ever-on hat?

“He was a nightmare,” says Goode, who admits to rather liking Snowdon. “I spoke to one of the guys who used to help him when he was a photographer, and he said, ‘I can’t use the expletive, but it describes an area of a woman’s body — that’s who he was.’ It was so annoying. He could be charming and brilliant, then in two seconds’ time behave like the most disgusting person in the entire world.”

Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret in 1960 HULTON ARCHIVE /GETTY IMAGES

Snowdon was 76 when I met him and although he had been divorced from Margaret for nearly 30 years, he still behaved like minor royalty. His servants, I noted, called him m’lud. In the period depicted in The Crown, however, Snowdon was New Britain on the march, storming the palace gates to modernise the monarchy. That early model, the pre-peerage Tony Armstrong-Jones, might even have admired Goode’s hat.

Having once compared Margaret to a Jewish manicurist (he was part Jewish himself), he would certainly have enjoyed Goode’s outspokenness, a trait that has got the actor into trouble in interviews before — which may be why his publicist is sitting behind me. She keeps her counsel, however, probably having already realised that Goode’s chance of appearing in the next honours list is about as likely as The Crown ushering in a republic.

A file of background notes passed on by The Crown’s producers persuaded Goode that Snowdon’s faults were sourced in an unhappy childhood. His mother, Anne Messel, showed him little affection, referring to him as her “ugly son”, doling out her love instead to the two boys from her second, longer-lasting marriage to an earl. He was sent to boarding school at eight and at 16, while at Eton, contracted polio (there is a touching moment in The Crown when he hides his stick when Margaret turns up at his studio). Anne, rather than nurse him at home, packed him off to Liverpool Royal Infirmary, but she never visited him.

“Exactly what that kind of damage does to a child I have no idea, but emotionally and psychologically, quite a lot, I would imagine,” says Goode. “I think it’s why he married Princess Margaret. I think he did it to please his mother rather than himself.”

Demonstrating that he was good enough to marry into royalty? “It’s far more complicated than that, I’m sure, but it’s one of the solutions.”

The Snowdons were soon into an 18-year marriage notable for its private rowing and public putdowns. Yet, says Goode, the royal family loved their new recruit and always blamed Margaret for any trouble. “He was terribly funny as well. So with this incredibly acerbic, nasty, vitriolic, spiteful side comes this flamboyant, wonderfully debonair, extremely funny, witty man.”

The pair, he summarises, were “very charismatic, very smart and vile”, but what we can be sure of was that the sex between them was spectacularly good — although not good enough to dissuade their lusty libidos from straying beyond marriage. Soon both were having affairs. Within weeks of the marriage, another woman, Camilla Fry, had given birth to Snowdon’s illegitimate daughter, sired, the show suggests, during a three-in-a-bed encounter with her and her bisexual husband, Jeremy.

Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret in The Crown ALEX BAILEY /NETFLIX

“When I first met Noo,” Goode says, referring to Vanessa Kirby, who plays Margaret, by her nickname, “I was quite terrified because I was a fan of the first series. I was a little star-struck, I suppose, and I thought it might make for uncomfortable love scenes, but we ended up just finding it hilarious. It was a really good giggle. She’s brilliant. She’s really dynamic as an actress and really fun to work with because she’ll bat it back. She listens, really listens, and responds.”

Perhaps it is because of their rapport that they manage to convey how alike the princess and her parvenu husband were. They were control freaks (that cap business) and poisonous to those who would not be controlled. They were rebels, but also lovers of status. As Goode points out, Armstrong-Jones may have been the first commoner in 40 years to marry the daughter of a monarch, but he was also dead posh. In fact, Goode’s dialect coach encouraged him to “dial back” the vowels, lest people found them confusing.

Since his breakthrough role as wealthy Tom in Woody Allen’s Match Point in 2005, and certainly after his Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited three years later, Goode has played mainly posh boys. He was brought up in Devon the son of a geologist and his wife, a nurse, but did go to a private day school. Yet Goode is not quite acting aristocracy and since this cannot be because of his talent, or his looks — dark hair, blue eyes, 6ft 2in — this may be something to do with his habit of speaking his mind. In an interview in 2010 he complained about being left with “nowhere to go” by the director of Brideshead. When Tom Ford’s excellent A Single Man came out, he criticised the Weinsteins for featuring Julianne Moore rather than him with Colin Firth in the advertising, thus downplaying the central gay relationship. In 2013 he said he had been working “a lot of scale”, meaning the minimum rate.

Then, on This Morning last year, he said he did not think the modern Bond films were working as well as the old ones. The papers, which had tipped him as Daniel Craig’s successor, declared he had blown his chances.

“I’m way over the hill, darling, what are you talking about?” he responds, although he is 39 and only a few years older than Craig when he started. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way.” What he meant was that there could be two Bond franchises, one contemporary Bond and another set in the Sixties. “It’s just an idea. But apparently you can’t have an opinion.”

Recent years have been kinder to him professionally. In 2014 he joined Downton Abbey as Henry Talbot, the racing diver who sped off with Lady Mary. Around the same time he won a regular gig on The Good Wife in America. The Wine Show is about to return to ITV, with Goode joined by a new drinking buddy, James Purefoy. There are, of course, still disappointments. Cast as a morphine-addicted ex-public schoolboy in Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence, Goode now finds that the three-parter has been pulled from the BBC’s Christmas schedules after sexual allegations against his co-star Ed Westwick (who robustly denies them).

Matthew Goode LARRY BUSACCA /GETTY IMAGES

Goode says there are two ways of looking at it. The first is that the BBC has spared the cast some awkward interview questions. “But some would also say that they should have stood by Ed. Possibly. I mean, I don’t know. I’m not the controller of the BBC.”

So, is he in favour of the postponement? “I’m not really in favour of anything because I don’t have to make that decision. I believe you’re innocent until proven guilty.”

But has the BBC prejudged the matter by pulling the show? “No, not now, because there are three allegations now.”

Goode has lived with the mother of his three children, Sophie Dymoke, for 12 years. When she became pregnant with their first daughter, she gave up her life in the fashion industry in New York. He was thrilled to be able to return with her to film The Good Wife, but by then her heart was no longer in her career. Is he guilty about that?

“Of course I am. Of course I am. She has to put up with living with some f***wit who doesn’t really live in reality occasionally and has some slight psychological problems occasionally through work. She’s retrained as an interior designer and she’s so talented at it.”

What psychological problems? “Well, this [show] is part of it. If you tie all of your hopes to the net product of your work, then you’re going to get depressed because sometimes you feel like you’re working really well and then you watch it and you go, ‘I am terrible.’ I don’t watch my stuff any more.

I assure him he is excellent in The Crown, but it was a one-off gig. Series three will be recast with older actors (he thinks Paul Bettany would be a good choice). “Peter Morgan [the writer] said, ‘I’ve just written the most fantastic argument for Tony and Margaret in series three.’ I was, like, ‘Oh good. What a thrill for the next guy.’ ”

He got the part days after Lord Snowdon died in January this year, 15 years after Margaret. His death avoids any unpleasant collisions in restaurants and Goode hopes that none of his children will want to spit in his face. He reports that Matt Smith was introduced to Prince William at a function before the first series was shown. The prince said he had heard he was playing his grandfather, Prince Philip. “And Matt was, like, ‘Yeah, yeah, anything to say about that?’ And William just said, ‘LEGEND.’ ”

“I think as we come towards where we are now, it will be slightly uneasy and slightly problematic. I think it could open up a few wounds that people are still a little bit grieving over and feeling complicated about. Poor old Charles is probably going to get it in the neck. Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m out of there already.”

In one way, however, Lord Snowdon did members of the royal family a favour. The show’s slogan is that “the crown always wins”. In the Snowdon case, monarchic tradition was unable to prevent Margaret and her husband from divorcing and pursuing happiness with others. Perhaps without their example, Charles, Anne and Andrew might still be all miserably married. The Snowdons were trailblazers!

“Were they the first? They were. Yes, they were! So, the trailblazers. Trailblazers is a word that suits them extremely well,” Goode says enthusiastically.

And for that, let us all take off our caps to Lord Snowdon. The Crown series two is available on Netflix from December 8

Updated Aug 7, 2018 - Matthew Goode is nominated for an Emmy Guest Actor Drama for his performance in The Crown season 2. He will be next seen as Matthew Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches premieres Sept 14 on Sky One. Also The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Aug 10 on Netflix, and Ordeal by Innocence Aug 10 on Amazon Prime.

#matthew goode #matthewgoode #lord snowdon #vanessa kirby #the crown

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oelfinessend · 6 years

Text

For all that you have thought

Time to dump my fic drafts here!

Or, where Loki is an actual god and I explore the incomprehensiveness of the concept and differences in biology. Unbeta-ed and really, is very raw.

Loki moves in his prison like a creature unknown, born in all the worlds and none, created among the stars with the sole purpose of being confusing. The guards try to not look at their former commander and thus miss the way he sometimes flinches and cocks his head and turns slightly to look somewhere past glittering walls.

The tickle is annoying at best, but mostly aggravating; Loki can’t pinpoint its source or origins, his mind constantly distracted by that same non-corporeal itch. Some days it’s almost gone and some he is ready to break something, not at all unlike a mindless brute, which is the only reason Loki keeps himself in control.

After one particularly intense bout of distraction he arrives to the conclusion that it is Odin who allows this - not the great punishment, but a mediocre, annoying distraction, that will, unfortunately yet unerringly, lead Loki’s vast mind into ruin. So he grits his teeth and focuses in it, trying as the process might be, catches the illusive thread and smiles as he finally, finally pinpoints it; it has been centuries since they were banned from Midgard, and even then, during his last stay there had never been a plethora of those who would call Loki their own.

But those who would, followed him always.

Loki smiles, inhales and pulls back.

For a lesser being, an ignorant As, or flighty Ljosalfr it would be impossible to right themselves and become the master of the summons, but Loki has been delving deep into knowledge lost and vaults forgotten, he has taught himself what Bor decided to bury forever under the bones and ashes of svartalfar, who had skirted on the edge since their suns were young.

Loki twists himself among the calling threads of rude, invading seidr, tugs at them gently and finally as soon as the oppressive presence of Hlidskjalf is no more on his back, Loki spreads his own will and might and is finally free.

He manifests a splaying shadow among the ruined, blood-soaked stones. Here, the ancient rituals are still carried in the very ground underneath his bare feet. At first Loki thinks that it’s a peculiar coincidence that the new blood awoke the old and he was called, but he cannot recall that place of worship, and he has never liked when all finesse and knowledge of proper calling was cast aside in favour of massive sacrifices.

There are three runes of his, even if arranged improperly, carved with unsure but strong hand in the altar; they are the ones that ensure that Loki hears the pleas, and old victims of this place only helped the prayers to reach him through the thick magicks of Asgard. They, and Odin’s own dismissal; Loki was released from Asgard’s numbers, cast from it’s seidr’s protective shroud and thus became immune to All-Father’s ban of influencing mortals.

Loki’s laugh is everything dark and triumphant as he makes himself visible above the stone. He is not a deity in this moment - so much more, fed by stolen worship-power and his own joy, and the disbelief and elation his summoners feel, the despair and anguish their victims fall into, it all is directed at him, in him, and Loki drinks it all, formless and bright in his blackness, like a sky of stars or nocturnal waters.

The summoner who crawls towards him, Loki knows, is babbling something, but even so drunk on power he is not mindless and so he turns his head - a nebula of singing movement - to the girl spread out on the hard stones.

why her he wants to know and so his question is heard. The child is nude, and thin and hungry. Loki wished her mind was calm and so she sleeps, and sees the pink skies of Alfheimr shine with predawn.

she is frail, small and lacking in knowledge Loki’s musings is more of a presence in mind than a voice, a sound wave.

what is a higher being to do with such a gift and how to crown such a thought

Loki whispers on his many terrible legs across the blood-remembering stones and symbols calling for gods he knows not, recalls not and cares for not.

Eight mortals was given to him so far - five more are awaiting him still; but Loki has no need for blood, no desire for power, no lust for idle madmen’s worship.

He sighs - the water flows to sky from springs nearby and the altar turns to dust, the girl, still sleeping, covered with a blanket made of his will.

children are but promises of future Loki finally deigns to hum, turning the ground he reclines on to glass, and the one who waited to put a knife to frail mortal skin just turns into nothing.

Among the frenzied, crazed thoughts bombarding him there is one of clarity; vicious and pointed, there is satisfaction, dark victory and even darker gratefulness Loki feels turned onto him, onto his shapeless, many-faceted being, That’s better.

Many burning, blackless eyes turn onto the man called Jake and Loki becomes Jake for as much as a frail and little mortal mind can allow; and so Jake becomes Loki, for as much as he can bear to witness the form not fit to shape itself on mortal, corporeal planes of Earth.

Jake is a simple man, an accountant who likes his job enough, loves his husband very much and their girls even more. Him and Mike have been planning this trip for almost two years and the twins were ecstatic, and he doesn’t want to die, having heard now every scream those motherfuckers wrought out of other people in their group; but Jake also is grateful it was him who got to ride in the second bus, and not Mike, because poor Isa is only a year and a half older than his girls, and he would have probably gone insane already if either of them was here.

He wishes every last one of those motherfuckers dead, surely but slowly, excruciatingly dead, for every scream they wrought out of poor Ann and Sarah - they were eighty, for fuck’s sake - and sweet little Rose (she was five, five, at five Emma was playing pranks at Sophie and driving both Mike and Jake up the walls) and her poor lab, slightly crazy Derek, Carl, that strange chick who had five names, so Jake didn’t address her and called That Chick in his head, Paul and Tom, unfortunate heirs to a frankly mediocre fortune.

But Isa is sleeping and smiling in her sleep and something has just swallowed the raving lunatic up or maybe disintegrated him, Jake doesn’t care; he wants them gone and to be finally at peace.

what peace is there while you still live The Voice again is in his head, knocking out thoughts and making room for Itself. Jake’s brain can keep up with what that mind part of him is perceiving - a shape among the roads paved with comets, a mind cradling his own and shaping the very air to make a room for Itself. The Voice is filling his body now, a herald of the Mind, which Jake is helpless to push against, but he is not going to - he is bared, so he can take in return.

He knows -

There was a man, a woman, someone, long time ago for them of everchanging Earth, who caught the glimpse of the Mind, like that, and accepted, fully, the knowledge of Its existence and presence, agreed to be the latch and burden.

A balance between living the life for themselves and being devoted to something you have to let go to fully grasp is the only sort of prayer Loki takes, covets, a greedy being, the benefactor of the scholars of Asgard.

Among the dirtied and craven shouts of blood-spillers, Jake’s thought is clear and aimed right at him, at Loki, so Loki will bow so, turn to him who has freed himself to see as much as was allowed; as such will Jake belong to Loki, now; his sight was claimed, his freedom, settled.

And that is fine, Jake knows, if fall, then why not onto the stars?

The flow of mangled seidr ends as soon as the last of madmen is crushed under Loki’s will; as such, he is no longer torn apart by their expectations of him, fear of him and greed for him, his own unwillingness to take a useless corporeal form, or which one to choose. The girl is sleeping still, the blanket turned into leaves, three mortals have become senseless somewhen after his arrival and only his Jake still stands and watches, somewhat detachedly, as Loki allows his form to settle into one he is most used to, then shapes the matter around him into clothing, nondescript but suited for him nonetheless. He may be disowned, he is not lacking in pride.

Thin trickle of awareness is still present - will be until the end of the mortal’s short life, Loki already knows - and it gives him warmth as nothing else.

“What, are you, like, my- my god, or something?” Jake stutters, watches him, pale and drawn, unsure.

“I am Loki, first, last and always.” Loki simply answers and that seems to settle the mortal.

They have a long way to go - there is already a restlessness rising in Jake’s chest, a desire to know what comes next, and as much as Loki can relate, he is displeased, because he laid claim and all questions not to him but about him have become redundant.

No matter, he shifts, yawning, into a canine-like shape and trods away from humans, sniffing at the air and spreading his seidr wide to catch a glimpse of a creature he can mirror.

In a few minutes, there is a howl, ringing through Venezuelan forests; in a few hours, a member of searching party glimpses some animal running from what appers a mutilated human arm, another four hours later, Jake is ushered into a shock blanket as he stares, unblinking, at the black and gold snake resting on the glass of the helicopter, seemingly not bothering the pilot. It opens its mouth, showing two rows of serrated but human-looking teeth, sniggers and twists, turning birdlike as it dissolves into goldish mist.

#my fics #For all that you have thought #frostiron #loki fics

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ultralifehackerguru-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on http://www.lifehacker.guru/why-new-parents-need-to-take-a-break-from-the-news-and-what-they-should-do-instead-2/

Why New Parents Need to Take a Break From the News (and What They Should Do Instead)

In the months after my kids were born, the news cycle would send me into tailspins of anxiety and fear. The Penn State sex-abuse scandal and the Newtown shootings paralyzed me for days—I wept while changing diapers, wept in the bathtub, wept while pushing the stroller down the street. What might have been (merely!) horrifying pre-kids was now incapacitating. For my own mental health, I had to stop reading the news and looking at social media.

Take a Media Fast

Judging from the conversations in my moms’ groups, these feelings aren’t at all unusual. New parents are especially vulnerable to anxiety, says Laura Venuto, a New York City therapist specializing in postpartum mental-health issues. “Sleep deprivation and hormones exacerbate mood and anxiety symptoms. With new parenthood comes a heightened awareness that you’re suddenly not only responsible for yourself, but also a small child in what sometimes seems like a dangerous world.”

Dr. Venuto suggests a total news-media fast or at least a major reduction, corralling your news into 10 or 15 minutes (“In the morning! Not before bed!” she says), and then doing something pleasurable, like playing with your baby or calling a friend. For those worried that being out of touch means slacking off in their political activism, she gently suggests cutting yourself some slack: “If you’re a new parent, you’re not going to be making changes on a global scale. You’re in survival mode. You can put in a call to your representative, and that can be enough.”

Practice ‘Containment’

Lissa Hunsicker Kenney, a social worker in Brooklyn who counsels trauma survivors, also recommends “containment”—the first line of treatment for anxiety—as a first step. “Turning off your iPhone is containment—because it’s so easy for it to become uncontained. It just scrolls and scrolls, and it’s endless.”

So what are we supposed to do, instead? (Besides take care of our kids, I mean.) I asked Lifehacker readers, and my own new-mom friends, what media they turn to for good escapist distraction. I didn’t vet all the answers (though I did nix anything that had “horror” in its IMDB description—what about “non-disturbing” did these people not understand?) so do your own research before leaping into something totally unknown. They’re a good mix of classics, favorite sitcoms and adventure shows, a few kids’ shows and books, comics, and pretty much the entire oeuvre of the BBC.

Ideally, this list will remind of you of beloved books, TV shows, and movies that you’ve enjoyed in the past and will be soothing entertainment now, while you’re still in the sensitive new-parent stage. I read all of Jane Austen at night instead of mindless smartphone scrolling; others swear by sitcoms: “When my son was born we very quickly figured out we had to stop watching Breaking Bad and Walking Dead and just ended up re-watching Parks and Rec on a continuous loop for like three years,” one commenter wrote. Check out the original comments here, and please add your favorite comforting (no child-in-peril, no dead parents, no rapes or murders) media below.

TV & Movies

30 Rock

All Creatures Great and Small

Alias (a spy thriller spanning five seasons, so there are murders and occasional child-in-peril plotlines, but it’s a pretty campy show, so I didn’t find it especially distressing)

The Andy Griffith Show

Flip This House (or any fixer-upper/DIY type shows)

Any stupid Adam Sandler movie

Archer

Arrested Development

Black Adder

Black Books

Bob’s Burgers

Boondocks

Borgen

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (skipping “The Body” and maybe the second half of season five)

Catastrophe

Community

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Critical Role on Geek and Sundry

Doctor Thorne (almost comically predictable, appropriate for anyone with only half a functioning brain, but any costume drama will do in a pinch. Check out this terrific resource for period dramas, but I strongly urge you to skip Call the Midwife if you have a newborn.)

Drunk History

Ed, Edd ‘n Eddy

Elimidate

Everybody Loves Raymond

Farscape

Father Ted

Friends

Futurama

Get Smart

Ghostbusters

Gilmore Girls

Gravity Falls

The Great British Bake-off (or any cooking show)

Grey’s Anatomy (I can’t believe this is still on the air; I have like 10 years to catch up on. Warning: it’s a hospital show, so people do die. Deeennnnnnny!)

Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Laaaaaaaaaw

Hogan’s Heroes

How I Met Your Mother

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Jeeves and Wooster

Kids’ shows and movies, like Adventure Time, Reading Rainbow (the awesome 80’s-90’s version), A Dragon’s Tale, Out of the Box, Teen Titans GO, Rocko’s Modern Life, Hey Arnold!, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Babe, the Narnia movies, Nanny McPhee

Kiki’s Delivery Service (“Miyazaki in general is a great way to escape into a different realm. The colors, the music, the gorgeous inventive artwork and the great characters in all his films makes him a master illusionist and conductor into a whole new world..” “…but not Grave of the Fireflies,” says another commenter.)

Broad City (“It’s hilarious and my life feels like a complete financial success by comparison.”)

King of the Hill

Last Man on Earth

Lucha Underground

M*A*S*H

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Midsomer Murders (“While there are murders, everyone is so provincial and charming, it’s like coming home where you know everyone except for that darned stranger that got themselves killed.”)

The Mindy Project

Mr. Bean

MST3K

Any terrible reality TV (“I watch The People’s Court or Judge Judy, which I DVR in case I need them.”)

News Radio

Northern Exposure

Office Space

Only Fools and Horses

Over the Garden Wall

Parks and Rec

Party Down

Real Genius

Real Housewives (“Oddly enough, RHOC comforts me in that I always feel smart, competent, healthy, and sane afterward.”)

The Simpsons

SlowTV “Right after the election, my wife and I started watching a lot of SlowTV on Netflix. Things like Norwegian knitting competitions.”

Smallville

South Park

Space: 1999

Star Trek

Steven Universe

Supernatural

Taxi

The Blues Brothers

The Eagle Huntress (“a thoroughly enjoyable documentary”)

The first three Muppet movies

The IT Crowd

The Office

The Simpsons

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

The West Wing

The X Files

Top Gear

Trainwreck

Veep

Veronica Mars, season 1

The Vicar of Dibley

Waiting for Guffman

What’s Up, Doc?

Books

A Suitable Boy

The Age of Innocence, or really anything by Edith Wharton

Alexander Hamilton

All Creatures Great and Small

Anne of Green Gables (really anything by L.M Montgomery)

Born Standing Up

Bossypants

Bridget Jones’s Diary (good escapist movie too)

Calvin and Hobbes

Circle of Friends, or really anything by Maeve Binchy

The Code of the Woosters, or anything by P.G. Wodehouse

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Grand Sophy or anything by Georgette Heyer

the Harry Potter series

I Capture The Castle

I’m Your Biggest Fan

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Jane Eyre

The Last Days of Night

Love in a Cold Climate

Maisie Dobbs

Ms. Marvel (comic)

My Family and Other Animals

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

The Other Boleyn Girl, or anything by Philippa Gregory

Pride and Prejudice, Emma, or really anything by Jane Austen

The Pursuit of Love

A Room With a View

Restoration, or anything by Rose Tremain

Sir John Mortimer’s Rumpole books

Sherlock Holmes

Today Will Be Different

Tom Jones

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (comic)

Washington Square

West With the Night

Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

Yes Please