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maddie-grove · 10 months

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The Stark Romance Saga--Book #5: The Lion and the Wolf

Previous Installments: Loved I Not Honor More (Book #1, Robb Stark/Jeyne Westerling), The Iron Scoundrel (Book #2, Theon Greyjoy/Asha “Not His Sister in This Universe” Harlaw), Kissing the Kingslayer (Book #2.5, Catelyn Stark/Jaime Lannister), A Fire in Winter (Book #3, Jon Snow/Ygritte), The Winter Bride (Book #3.5, Samwell Tarly/Gilly), and The Maiden of the Riverlands (Book #4, Arya Stark/Gendry).

Note: This takes place about a year after the events of Arya's book.

The Style

The setting is gritty Old School (i.e., Roberta Gellis or Bertrice Small), but the central romance is a Sherry Thomas-style comedy of remarriage.

The Leads

Sansa Stark, 23 years old, Princess of the North and one-time hostage of the crown. She's been safe at home for five years now, protected and loved by her family, and last year she was finally reunited with her long-lost sister Arya. In equal measures restless and afraid of giving into her fears of the outside world, she finds additional motivation to travel to King's Landing when her friend Margaery Tyrell writes to her with news that Petyr Baelish might have spotted her long-thought-dead BFF Jeyne Poole as the wife of a wealthy King's Landing Merchant.

Tyrion Lannister, 30 years old, Hand of Queen Daenerys and scion of the infamous House Lannister. He's respected by many for his political acumen and guts, but his dwarfism, his family background, and the little matter of his slaying his father draws the ire of just as many. Technically still married to Sansa, thanks to said terrible father forcing them to wed when she was a hostage.

The Prologue

Tyrion returns to King's Landing for the first time after killing his father and escaping the city, feeling sure that Daenerys will either kill him for being the brother of the man who killed her father, or for being the person who killed his own father. He's shocked when Daenerys actually wants to hear what he has to say, both about the circumstances of the murder and his experiences on the Great Council. It's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The Set-Up

Sansa arrives in King's Landing in grand style and immediately sees some familiar faces. Because this is an Old School homage, the novel does not shy away from presenting her with multiple love interests. We have courtier Margaery Tyrell (fun and flirty, but ultimately looking for a high-status marriage), member of the Kingsguard Sandor Clegane (genuinely sweet and concerned underneath his rough exterior, but emotionally remote), Master of Laws Petyr Baelish (an evil sleazebag, but charming at first), and, of course, Tyrion. Sansa has a surprisingly merry time in the new court, but she's thrown for a loop twice. The first instance is when Petyr Baelish tells her that, although he did see Jeyne Poole as the wife of a merchant several months ago, she has since mysteriously disappeared and he suspects foul play. The second happens when Sansa learns that she's technically still married to Tyrion. She's annoyed at the prospect of going through the absurdly bureaucratic process of getting a cross-region, multi-faith annulment, but she finds Tyrion's company throughout this process surprisingly enjoyable...enough so that she enlists his help in finding Jeyne Poole.

The Middle

As Tyrion and Sansa search throughout the highest and lowest echelons of King's Landing for Jeyne Poole, Sansa comes to find him not only clever and helpful, but wildly attractive. Thanks to having distance from the most abusive members of his family and the genuine friendship of Dany and others, he's a lot more confident and easy in himself, in addition to being smart and funny. It's a weird feeling, given that they were forced to marry, and she suppresses her emotions because she assumes he'd rather marry a more experienced, sophisticated woman who doesn't come with as much baggage (just as she believes she should eventually go home and marry a nice Northern lord). Tyrion, for his part, is shocked that she even wants to be his friend after what his father did, and also slow to recognize that, at twenty-three, she's a dramatically different person that the eighteen-year-old hostage he once knew. He's discomfited by his growing attraction to her, sure that she'd be disgusted if she knew.

Sansa also begins to work through her complicated feelings about her adolescence (which was dangerous and inappropriately adult) and her young adulthood (which bordered on being inappropriately sheltered), as well as her guilt over having been used as a pawn in her early days in King's Landing. Her emotional turmoil is made worse when she learns that her family knew about the un-annulled marriage, but held off on telling her because they didn't want her to get married just yet. When she vents her frustrations about this to Tyrion, he's forced to reckon with Jaime's well-intentioned but deeply hurtful lies about Tysha (and all the attendant trauma of his first marriage). Their relationship gives her the courage to draw some boundaries with Catelyn and Robb, and him the courage to talk through things with Jaime (who divides his time between King's Landing and Riverrun, where he and Catelyn have regular assignations). Eventually, Sansa and Tyrion's relationship becomes physical, although they both agree to keep it secret so they can still get an annulment.

It soon becomes clear that the mystery of Jeyne Poole's reappearance/disappearance is a part of a huge, convoluted scheme that I will not bother to figure out here. Suffice it to say that someone is draining the treasury (but not nonentity Master of Coin Ser Harys Swyft, who's as clueless as anyone), Margaery has been bribed by Littlefinger to distract Tyrion but also bribed by Varys to gaslight Littlefinger, Sandor is acting as a benevolent Scooby Doo villain by trying to scare Sansa away from the mystery for her own protection, and the High Septon is accepting payments in return for making annulments more complicated (which may be connected to Sansa and Tyrion, but might actually have more to do with internecine guild politics).

The Conclusion

But then Sansa gets a letter from Jeyne Poole herself, exposing the cruel truth: Littlefinger once had big plans to pass her off as the long-lost Arya, but kicked her to the curb and sold her to a brothel after the real Arya resurfaced. She was never married to a merchant; Littlefinger just thought she was because Varys was using (also brown-haired) Margaery to gaslight him, and then he felt he had to make up an elaborate lie to cover up his misdeeds (supposing that Jeyne had made connections with people influential enough to blackmail or otherwise get him in trouble). Jeyne, in fact, has been so rundown and depressed that she only just worked up the strength to get out a message to Sansa.

Sansa quickly goes to retrieve her friend, planning to bring her back home to Winterfell and do everything possible to restore her health and spirits, but unfortunately an unhinged Littlefinger has learned of her discovery and corners them both in the brothel. (Sansa only failed to prepare more because she thought he was still hinged and didn't care about Jeyne Poole; so many small-time False Arya scams in her young adulthood have inured her to the scandalousness of someone on the Grand Council planning such a thing.) He excitedly tells Sansa that Tyrion has been doing a shitload of embezzlement and other corruption, which is just what (he says) one would expect of a kinslayer and a dwarf. He also reveals that he knows that Tyrion (he assumes) tricked her into consummating their relationship, but promises not to tell anyone so she can get her annulment and go back home. Since he's going in the dungeon anyway, he won't give her any trouble! The only thing she has to do is leave Jeyne Poole behind.

Sansa is like "nah, I'm going to stay married to Tyrion (swag) and take Jeyne Poole with me, and also obviously it's you who's doing the shady shit" which makes Littlefinger lose his cool. Recognizing an opportunity, Sansa presses all his buttons until he's all the way livid, giving Jeyne the opportunity to hit him over the head with a chair. Tyrion, having deduced and exposed Littlefinger's plan, comes in with the cavalry. Appalled that Sansa agreed to stay married to him, he offers to bribe everyone in the room to keep quiet about what she said, but she's like "you are so fucking stupid. I want you on top of me."

The Epilogue

Sansa and Tyrion have a re-do wedding at Winterfell, and Catelyn and Robb are like, "Well. We kind of contributed to this."

Subplots

Bran, inspired by Sansa's assertion of independence, starts to feel restless at Winterfell. He's also annoyed at his mom's situation with Jaime Lannister, not so much because Jaime is responsible for his not being able to walk, but because everybody's been tiptoeing around the subject after Jaime's apology letter to him went unanswered years ago.

Margaery finds herself growing weary of being pulled into fucked-up schemes by motherfuckers who rarely come through on bribes, and is also at a loss about what to do for her grieving brother Loras.

Sandor finds an unlikely friend in Sansa's guard, sweet, awkward Brienne of Tarth.

#the stark romance saga #asoiaf #sanrion #sansa stark #tyrion lannister #human trafficking tw #(for jeyne's situation)

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finitevoid · 6 months

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Works that were completely seminal to my development as a writer but not necessarily because I “enjoyed” them in any traditional sense but moreso because I was fascinated by how media can both be a complete clusterfuck of the authors regurgitated personal insanities and yet still say things that are extremely compelling about the human condition regardless:

-interview with a vampire (the book shut up)

-anne mccaffrey’s dragonriders of pern books jsut every single one I’ve ever picked up . All distinctly insane and yet STILL finding new ways to be completely batshit and still somehow compelling

-roberta gellis’ greek god romances exploration of consent medieval gender dynamics CLASS oh GOD I don’t want to talk about it

-everything by poe

-And the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde

-this performance of the taming of the shrew I saw uploaded online somewhere filmed in a very low budget public park type of set in which katerina was dressed in tattered clothes and ugly makeup and spent the opening scenes physically assaulting every man in her vicinity. Only to give the only and best performance of katerina I’ve ever seen in which she descends further and further into fear and exhaustion fueled desperation that leads her into this terrifying earnest portrayal of demurity in the face of abuse . No performance of the taming of the shrew will ever be this one

-dune

-and last but not least. Shapeshifter pulp romance I found on amazon ebooks

#and with that #I go to bed

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jamie-is-out-of-ideas · 6 months

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there’s so many books about Greek mythology and retellings of Greek Myths that I need to get my hands on (ex. Bull God by Roberta Gellis, Ariadne by Jennifer Saint, The Aeneid by Virgil)

#greek mythology #books and reading #book wishlist

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burpenterprisejournal · 7 years

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BURP COMIX #16

Burp Publications is proud to present the brand new issue of Burp Comix.

A 44 PAGES COLLECTION OF DIRTY AND AMORAL COMIX BY GIANNI AGUS, DANIELE MURTAS, NIKT NOTONI, MAT POGO, JIMMY GELLI, EDOARDO RICCI, ROBERTA WJM AND FILIPPO SCÒZZARI.

Wednesday, November the 16th Balera Weinhandlung Karl-Marx-Platz 6

curry club

happy hour 18:00 - 19.00 1 Rosé 1 Euro!

free indiscriminate drawing

after curry sjoelen activities

a****phobic silent lounge

youtube

from the editorial

.�..Welcome to Burp #16, the second in the international edition series. In this issue we deal with intricate allegories and as always - the subject of life in the modern metropolis. This #16 is a special issue for us, not only because we present WJM’s first comic book story in almost two decades (the jolly Pretty Boy Floyd one-pager) and Mat Pogo’s legendary opus Brothers of the Wild (almost 15 years in the making), but especially because we have the honor of welcoming Filippo Scòzzari to the Burp crew.

Since Scòzzari, the key figure behind fundamental Italian comics publications of the ‘70s and '80s such as Cannibale and Frigidaire, was a central influence for all of us in our formative years, we are even happier to have had the go ahead by the man himself to publish one of his works that most shaped our taste buds and membranes: Rompicoglioni (AKA Pain in the Ass) a grim slice of Orwellian dystopia that originally appeared in the pages of Cannibale in 1978. We’re also very proud to be the first to introduce Scòzzari’s work in English to an international audience.

And if this isn’t enough to make BURP #16 our best issue so far (you lucky fellows) we also have Daniele Murtas, with an elaborate story of crime and industrial punishment, a second, shorter, Gingo De Pranzo story by Mat Pogo, and the introductory episode to Dan Dynamo’s saga by yours truly. In this issue the flippant Dan Dynamo fights remorse and flying eye-balls in south Brooklyn, his home (and mine). To top it all off we have Edoardo Ricci’s and Jimmy Gelli’s reliable artwork, a newly self-translated oldie by Gianni Agus (bringing back your favorite character, the affable Otto il Pennuto in a thrill-laced two-pager) and a handful of short stories for you to indulge in and pace yourselves.

Yes, indeed - you’ve guessed it - the secret theme this time around is genres, as all the stories in this issue are idiosyncratic takes on the narrative genres that make up our own encyclopedia: Dan Dynamo’s take on the classic early '40s superhero routine - with all its trappings, Scòzzari’s story with its dystopian post-police-brutality SCI-FI cautionary tale, Murtas’ foray into the whodunit canon, Gingo De Pranzo’s urban wilderness adventure in the tradition of the feuillettons of yore, and the intimate memoir-reportage of Gangs of Florence.

Stay tuned for our next IMPERIAL issue, 196 pages, tabloid format, 3D center-spread, and IN COLOR, with 50% more big cities, 100% more complex female characters, ineffective consciousness altering-drugs, golf courses on fire, metaphysical broken knee-caps, picnics, and sitting idly on the edge of the abyss. We do all we do. Truly, Nikt Notoni.

#live #release prty #burp publications #burp comix #special event #publication #comics

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dreamdifferentitem · 1 year

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Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Masques Of Gold Roberta Gellis.

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winddragonart · 1 year

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Found this book bingo that I thought would be fun to try this year. Now, I don’t plan on reordering my reading order to fit these, but if my books fit in here, I’ll slap it onto the bingo.

Here’s October’s.

The covered ones are as follows: Character Wears a Disguise or Costume: Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Deadly Dimensions by Lois H. Gresh Audiobook Listened to Outside: The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities by James Lovegrove Kept You Up at Night: The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils by James Lovegrove Combines Two Genres: The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovegrove True Crime: Chains of Folly by Roberta Gellis

#books #bookbingo #bookishfirst #book bingo

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lasoifdelire · 3 years

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Quand les crimes se multiplient et l’intrigue se complexifie.

When there are several crimes and the plot becomes complex.

#investigation #crimes #find the truth #roberta gellis #bone of contention

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the25centpaperback · 5 years

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The Space Guardian by Max Daniels (Roberta Gellis), cover by Boris Vallejo (1978)

Is it a Boris Vallejo cover? Does it have a scantily-clad woman riding a big lizard? Yes, it's a Boris Vallejo cover. Roberta Gellis was a very prolific and highly regarded writer of historical fiction and historical romances; she wrote two fantasy novels under the name Max Daniels before she abandoned the pseudonym and began publishing her fantasy genre work under her own name.

#1970s #boris vallejo #roberta gellis #max daniels #pocket books #paperback #fantasy #romantic fantasy #vintage #book #space #guardian #big lizard

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elenajohansenauthor · 6 years

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Books I Read in 2018

#134 - A Tapestry of Dreams, by Roberta Gellis

Mount TBR (119/150)

Rating: 1/5 stars

DNF @ 10%, page 52. The cover looks like a romance. The blurb reads like it's a romance. And yet, in the first fifty pages, I'm more intimately introduced to a castle, an army, the King, and the state of the English-Scottish war of the time than I am the lady of the romance, who has about a two-page appearance in the first chapter, which is from her half-brother's POV. She hasn't even met her love interest yet, who did get two chapters of his own but has yet to have any personality other than "loyal to his master." Okay, I know this was published in 1986, so I wasn't expecting it to line up with modern romance structure or use modern conventions. But seriously? 10% in and half the romantic pair has next to no page time? If I want to read about war, I have plenty of other books I can go to for that. I read romance for stories about women finding happiness, not men going to battle.

#booklr #book review #a tapestry of dreams #roberta gellis #romance #book photography #my photos #my reading challenges #mount tbr 2018

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gimmeromance · 3 years

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I'd love recs for historical romances with a working class couple (either m/f or m/m). Something like Listen to the Moon by Rose Lerner.

Rose Lerner’s Lively St. Lemeston is a great series isn’t it? If you haven’t, check out the rest of the series because they all feature at least one part of the couple as a member of the working class.

Stories where all MCs are a Working-class people can be thin on the ground in historical romance, especially in the Regency where Dukes are two a penny! You'll have more luck with pretty much anything set outside of Europe and in particular in America or Australia. A lot of old school romance will weirdly enough also fit the bill... especially if it’s set in America.

We've hunted down a few Historicals that do fit the bill, though, and we hope you'll find something here to enjoy! *These suggestions are not endorsements. Please read the description and the reviews to decide whether you want to read the books!

Based in England

A Forbidden Liaison with Miss Grant by Marguerite Kaye - M/F, Regency, Open Door, Middle-Aged Romance; he's a shipbuilder, she's a schoolteacher turned journalist.

Unexpectedly Wed to the Officer by Jenni Fletcher - M/F, Regency, Open Door; he's in the Navy, she manages a biscuit shop.

Once A Fallen Lady by Eve Pendle - M/F, Victorian, Open Door; she's a 'widow' with a sick child, he's a schoolteacher.

The Pirate and I by Katharine Ashe - M/F, Open Door, Regency Romance, Romantic Suspense (she’s a perfumer, he’s a book seller/binder/appraiser) (trigger warning: child abuse, trigger warning: petnapping)

The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan - M/F - Open Door - Late Regency/Early Victorian (She’s a Governess, he’s a Man of affairs)

The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham - M/F, Open Door, Regency Romance (he’s an architect, she’s an author) (trigger warning: lots of them)

Carols and Chaos by Cindy Anstey - M/F, Unknown, Regency Romance (He’s a valet, she’s a lady’s maid)

Live and Let Spy by Elizabeth Ellen Carter - M/F - Open Door - Regency Romance - (He’s a former Navy man (not an officer) and she’s a governess)

The Hellion by Christi Caldwell - M/F - Open Door - Regency Romance - (He’s a gaming hell owner and she’s from a rival gaming club owner’s family.) (Note: Caldwell often does class difference romances with heroes & heroines who grow up in the streets.)

The Rope Dancer by Roberta Gellis - M/F - Open Door - Medieval Romance - Old School Romance (She’s the titular Rope Dancer, he’s a Minstrel).

Her Every Wish by Courtney Milan - M/F - Open Door - Victorian Romance - Interracial Romance (She works in a flower shop, he works on the docks)

The Rookery Rogues Series by Erica Morgan - M/F - Open Door, Regency Romance, Romantic Suspense, Gothic Romance

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Set Outside of England

Coming From California by Catherine Bilson - M/F, Pioneer American, No Sex; he's a cowboy, she's a schoolteacher.

Cowboy Charm School by Margaret Brownley - M/F, Pioneer American, No Sex; he's a Texas Ranger, she's a candymaker.

The Raider by Jude Devereaux - M/F - Colonial America (Revolutionary War), Open Door, He’s a Spy/pirate, she’s rebel. Old School Romance (Note: A lot of her Montgomery/Taggert stuff fits this ask especially the American based stuff.As do her other American Based series (Chandler Twins specifically))

Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer - M/F - Closed Door - The Great Depression/World War II, Small Town Romance, Old School Romance (bordering on Women’s fiction) Adorable plot moppets, (he’s a drifter, she’s a widowed homemaker)

Let It Shine by Alyssa Cole - M/F - Open Door - Civil Rights Era, Interracial Romance (He’s a boxer, she works at a church) (Note: Lots of Alyssa Cole’s stuff is between Working Class people.)

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins - M/F - Open Door - Western - Black Romance. (He’s a businessman, she’s a cook) (Note: Lots of Beverly Jenkins is between Working Class people)

#Type Ask #Type Ask: Working Class Couples #historical romance #Regency Romance #Victorian Romance #Pioneer Romance #Old School Romance #Medieval Romance #Early 20th century romance #&#^

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maddie-grove · 2 years

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Little Book Review: The Rope Dancer

Author: Roberta Gellis.

Publication Date: 1986.

Genre: Historical romance (medieval).

Premise: After a gig goes terribly wrong and the rest of her troupe is killed, acrobat Carys narrowly escapes with her life. Telor and Deri, also traveling players, find her injured and let her go with them to their next engagement so she can find another troupe to join. As they travel, though, Carys and Telor are drawn to each other more and more. Can they find a way to be together? Will they get killed in the Anarchy-wrecked English countryside first? And will Deri ever find love and/or heal from his Anarchy-related trauma?

Thoughts: This book is now in my top five medieval romance novels, and it's probably my favorite old school romance of all time. Gellis is an excellent plotter, expertly moving from tense action and intrigue to comedy to endearing scenes of love and friendship. Carys, Telor, and Deri are an exceedingly likable group as they deal with injuries, conflicting career ambitions, hostile crowds, robbers, and the fallout from the conflict between the Empress Matilda and Stephen de Blois. Gellis makes the most of the setting, creating a world that's both colorful and brutal. There are romance novels that I adore but would never recommend to someone not specifically looking for a romance novel, and there are romances that are great as historical fiction but miss the mark because they have underdeveloped central relationships; this book, though, I think romance fans and non-fans would both enjoy.

I was especially impressed with Deri, a handsome, brooding dwarf who lost his wife and parents to the Anarchy. I'd seen maybe three little people in historical romance before--a magical sage in Sapphire Dream, an evil pervert in Glynda, and a tragic third wheel in Lady of Conquest--and my hopes weren't high. I really liked Deri, who is both more thoughtful and more troubled than the comparatively callow Telor, and I was worried he would fall in unrequited love with Carys and either turn evil or die tragically. Mais non! He gets married to Ann, another little person who works in her father's tavern and longs for adventure. Then he, Ann, Carys, and Telor live happily ever after as a troupe. It's not perfect--Telor gets the bright idea to stop at that tavern because he thinks Deri wants a girlfriend, which seems presumptuous when he knows nothing about Ann except that she's little--but it's much better than I feared.

This is, of course, still an old school romance, particularly in its heavy use of attempted rape as a plot device (only twice, if I recall correctly, but the first one is intense and happens at the very beginning). Gellis's excellent setting is also slightly marred by self-consciousness; in the afterword, she explains why she chose to write a romance novel about lower-class people with hard lives in a time when everybody smelled worse. Listen, I decided to read a historical romance novel. I'm not thrown by the harsh reality of B.O.

Goodreads Hot Take: One reviewer inexplicably links to the goodreads page for Cormac McCarthy's The Road (a bleak post-apocalyptic literary novel, famous for a scene of baby-eating). These characters are also on a road, I guess? It's hardly sunshine and rainbows all the time, but they never come close to eating a baby.

Also, it turns out a rope dancer is someone who walks/dances on a tight rope and/or slack rope and not, as I thought, someone who dances while jump-roping or doing tricks with a lasso.

#little book review #the rope dancer #roberta gellis #romance novels #rape mention for ts

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