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inkandmoonbeams · 2 years

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First Line of Your Last Twenty Stories

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Tag some people to play the next round!

I was tagged by @drsteggy and @zeldadiarist! Thank you both!

(I have 19 stories on AO3, but I have some fics on Tumblr, so I’m including those, too! I also do not come up with titles for any prompts I get WHOOPS)

pink: “So…how do I look?”

Prompt - BOTW Zelda Saving Link: Link was never sure what to expect from Zelda’s research.

take a chance: In many ways, life on the surface isn’t too different from life in Skyloft.

Prompt - New Dream + Halloween: There were countless holidays Eugene planned on spending with Rapunzel, but Halloween was already becoming his favorite.

Prompt - Eugene’s Perfect Fall Date: Rapunzel knew Eugene hated the cold.

Something More: Link doesn’t see the point in studying together.

petals and ink: Eugene had gone to the flower shop as a last resort.

flowers in your hair: Yesterday, Eugene wanted a castle.

Prompt - “i'm supposed to be mad at you but you're holding my face and smiling and i just can't resist it when you're pouting like that”: “Rapunzel?”

mirrors: Rapunzel isn’t sure about her new dress.

Here With Me: Rapunzel knew that one day, she would be queen.

First Day Jitters: Jim didn’t know how to talk to girls.

Prompt - Rapunzel and Ariana: It didn’t take long for Rapunzel to realize that Gothel had never been much of a family.

By The Book: Jim doesn’t know what to do.

Breathe: When Eugene ran away from the orphanage, he told himself he was starting over.

Finally Home: Eugene has never dreaded the sound of Rapunzel’s voice.

Hair of Gold: The pirate captain did not notice the girl with seventy feet of blonde hair enter the Snuggly Duckling.

Love Marks: Eugene had never been a morning person.

Out of Place: It didn’t look like a stone.

Battle for the Sun: Eugene watches Rapunzel take a hesitant step towards the glowing stone, and he foolishly wonders if there is anything else he can do to stop her.

🖤 🖤 🖤

This was so interesting! I guess I tend to write short, snappy first sentences. And apparently a lot of my characters have no idea what’s going on or are unsure about something. 😅 I think my favorite opening line is from “flowers in your hair.” It’s one of my short, snappy lines, but it also directly references the Tangled film and shows Eugene’s character development. I’m also pretty sure the first sentence of “Hair of Gold” was written by @emsprovisions (we wrote it as a collab), but our styles are really similar! 🥰 Plus, her fics rule, so please give them a read!

Absolutely no pressure, but I’m tagging @zeldaelmo, @emsprovisions, @silentprincess17, @slightly-crimson-tornado, @cancerian-woman, @stealthily, @sapphic--kiwi, @justfrozenthings, @bad-at-names-and-faces, and @emdeewrites!

I know I am probably forgetting many of you, so if you see this and want to participate, please consider yourself tagged! 🥰

#tag game #katie writes

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homoose · 3 years

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Merry Christmas, Baby Girl

Summary: Just Penelope and Derek being in love in the snow. Based on the prompt: What kind of Christmas would it be if we didn’t play in the snow?

Pairing: Penelope Garcia x Derek Morgan

Category: fluff

Warnings/Includes: none

Word count: 1,444

a/n: Ficmas Day 9! Yes, my ficmas has two days of Penelope getting her man because that woman deserves the world and everyone in it and frankly it’s a hate crime that morcia wasn’t canon.

Series Masterlist

———

“Derek Morgan, this is not negotiable. We’re making a snow person.”

Derek sighed. “Baby girl, I moved away from Chicago for a reason. I don’t do snow.”

“Well, I moved away from California for a reason,” she huffed. “And we never get this much snow!”

She was right; DC never got this much snow— especially not in December. Sure, a few inches here and there in January and February. But this year, a freak blizzard had dropped over a foot of snow overnight. The entire city was shut down. It was the first white Christmas they’d had in years. And Derek had zero interest in going out in it.

“You go,” he said, gesturing with his hot chocolate. “I’ll watch from the window.”

“Uh-uh.” When Derek groaned, Penelope rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. An hour in the snow won’t kill you.”

“It just might,” he countered. She pulled her best pout, shuffling toward him with full on puppy dog eyes. He shot her a pointed look. “Don’t even.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist, looking up at him from underneath her lashes. “So… you don’t want to spend Christmas Eve… bundled up with the love of your life… wrapping a hand knitted scarf around a jolly snow person… who was brought into this world with love—”

“And who’s going to melt in twelve hours?” Penelope huffed out a breath, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders when she went to pull away. He sighed into her hair. “... you get one hour.”

Penelope squealed and squeezed him tight, and Derek couldn’t stop the smile from turning up the corners of his mouth. “And only because I love you.”

She leaned up to press a quick, chaste kiss to his mouth. “I’m quite certain that I love you more. So much that I’ll even help you get bundled up.”

The two of them got dressed in their layers— two pairs of pants, long sleeved shirts, sweaters, and jackets. They laced up their snow boots and stuffed their hands into waterproof gloves. And then Penelope wound one of her ridiculously soft scarves around his neck, wrapping it once, twice, and then tugging him down by the ends for another kiss. He brought his hands to her hips, tugging her as close as possible through the combined six layers of clothing. His fingers tightened around his favorite part of her and she laughed into his mouth before swatting him with the fringe of the scarf.

“You will not get out of this with seduction, sir.” She tugged a matching beanie over his head, tapping on the little puff ball on top. “God, how are you so cute?”

He pulled her hat down a little more snugly over her loose curls. “I got it from my mama.”

She smiled at that. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Fran Morgan, thank you for giving me the love of my life.” She turned to retrieve a wicker basket from the entryway side table.

Derek eyed the basket, overflowing with miscellaneous items. “What’s all that?”

Her lips quirked up in a small smile, and she grabbed his hand. “You’ll see. Come on, hot stuff.”

They trudged out into the middle of the yard, and Penelope hemmed and hawed over the perfect location for far too long. When she finally decided, marking it with a little x, Derek leaned down to start scooping up snow. She waved her hands frantically. “No, no, no— you can’t take the snow from there.”

He furrowed his brows. “Well, excuse me. Then where am I supposed to get the snow from, pretty girl?”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “If you use all the snow from there, you’ll expose the dead grass, and then she won’t look good for pictures.”

“She?”

“Yes, she,” Penelope confirmed. “She’s going to be an icon and a diva, and I will not have her surrounded by ugly, brown grass.”

They spent the better part of an hour rolling snow across the lawn, each snowball growing in size until Penelope deemed it satisfactory. To her credit, she rolled the middle snowball entirely by herself, and Derek only had to help her a little in the lifting. Then, he worked on smoothing the base of their snow person, while she got the shape of the head just right.

Derek stood and dusted the snow off his knees, watching as Penelope retrieved the wicker basket from where she’d set it down earlier. She pulled a bright orange scarf out of the top and handed it to him. “Here. Bundle her up,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled and wrapped the chunky knit scarf around the head of their creation. She handed him a carrot, and he dug out a little starter hole before positioning the carrot and packing it in with some fresh snow. She pulled two brown buttons out of the basket, sticking them on as the eyes.

“Okay, make the smile with these.” She dumped a pile of red buttons into his outstretched hands.

As he pressed the buttons into a curve, he watched Penelope fasten three beaded necklaces and wedge in two large jewels for earrings. The snow might not be his thing, but Penelope Garcia certainly was. His god given solace, his compass, his ray of sunshine, his queen, his literal angel on earth.

They’d danced around it for so many years— each of them always with someone else or not ready to commit. The shameless flirting became their thing, something they just did that no one questioned. It became so routine that he missed the moment that their philia became eros. He couldn’t even call it falling, because with falling, there’s always a collision. Loving Penelope was floating—buoyant, ebullient, liberating.

When he’d finally pressed his mouth to hers that first time— really kissed her—after a horrific case that he almost didn’t come back from, he was worried that maybe he’d been too late. They’d said I love you so many times before, but he’d never said I’m in love with you, it’s only you, I’m ready for you, it’s never felt like this, you’re the sun and the moon and the stars all at once.

But then she’d kissed him back, and he hadn’t been too late, and she was with him. And everything and nothing changed. It was still all flirting, but this time they could back it up. And he really, really loved backing it up with Penelope Garcia.

She caught his eye and quirked a brow and brought him back to himself. He grinned and held his hands out at his creation, and she inspected it with a nod of approval. He could see that the basket was almost empty, but there were a few more items left. She pulled out three ornate gold buttons, pressing them firmly to the torso. “And the finishing touch for our snow diva.” Derek laughed when she placed the teal, feathered hat at a slight angle on top.

“She’s pretty incredible.” He tucked her under his arm and hugged her close. “Like someone else I know.”

Her arms snaked around his waist. “Mmmhmm. And don’t you forget it.”

“I could never.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “But your hour is up, sweetness.”

“We have to get some pictures with her first,” she said, pulling out her phone. When he groaned, she continued, “And then, we’ll go inside, and I’ll help you get all—” kiss, “warmed—” kiss, “up.” She whispered the last bit against his mouth and gave him a sweet, sultry smile.

“I like the sound of that.” He tried to kiss her again, but she laughed and pushed him off, gesturing toward their snow woman.

“I’m sure you do, my love.” It was funny the way his heart still soared when she called him that, even though he’d heard it a thousand times. “Now, give her a kiss.” He sighed, but leaned down to pucker up next to their creation. He heard the shutter sound and stayed still for two more, well practiced in the art of posing for Penelope’s pictures. “Perfect!”

He held his hand out to her. She laced their gloved fingers together, and he tugged her forward, catching her when she toppled into him. Brown eyes met brown eyes, and then he watched as a snowflake fell onto her nose. He grabbed her phone, quickly opening the camera and snapping a picture before it melted. “Mmm, that’s a perfect photo.” He pressed a kiss onto the tip of her nose, right over the top of the snowflake. “Now, let’s go inside so I can kiss my real diva.”

———

some snow diva inspiration x x x

Permanent tags: @andiebeaword @averyhotchner @pinkdiamond1016 @shadyladyperfection @coffeeandendlesswords @justanothetfangirl @no-honey-no @ajeff855 @sapphic-prentiss @eevee0722 @rexorangecouny @rainsong01 @goldentournesol @blameitonthenight21 @moviequeen51

Series tags: @wastingborrowedtime @90spumkin @wordvomit-foryourmind

#penelope x derek #morcia #penelope garcia x derek morgan #derek x penelope #derek morgan x penelope garcia #criminal minds fanfiction #penelope garcia fanfiction #derek morgan fanfiction #morcia fanfiction #morcia imagine #penelope garcia imagine #derek morgan imagine #homoose writes #a very moosey ficmas #a very moosey ficmas

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fiction-bks · 2 years

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2021 MONTHLY FAVOURITES. ⁠ ⁠ JAN: You're Fired by Shaya Crabtree: An inappropriate gag gift at her office Christmas party to the boss. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟: Comedy at its finest. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ FEB: Captive in the Underworld by Lianyu Tan: No matter the cost, Hades intends to keep Persephone. Forever. Dark lesbian romance novel set in mythological ancient Greece. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 : We all celebrate our valentine's day differently. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ MARCH: Sarah Stuart Thrillers #1: Family Ties by Amanda Radley. ⁠ 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 : Mystery and thriller saves lives. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ APRIL: Compass Rose by Anna Burke. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟: I am certainly developing a thing for pirates, we got Queen Mir too. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ MAY: Chiara Corelli Mystery Series by Catherine Maiorisi. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟: I loved all the 3 published books. Book 4 (LEGACY IN THE BLOOD) is coming out next year: 17/Feb/2022.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ JUNE: Sandman by Tammy Bird: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟: I don't think I will ever forget this book. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ JULY: About That Kiss by Harper Bliss: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟: I enjoyed this one, THOROUGHLY. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ AUG: Malice Duology #1: Malice by Heather Walter. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟: Book 2 comes out in May. Can't wait. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ SEPT: The Headmistress by Milena McKay: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟: OUTSTANDING. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ OCT: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟: Hopefully, there will be more from Shannon. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ NOV: On The Record #2: Under Your Skin by Lee Winter: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟: The 2 posts about this book, say enough.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ DEC: The Great Charade by Gerri Hill: ⁠🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 : Fauxmance has its merits, the slow burn to HEA. ⁠ ⁠ #wlwbooks #sapphic #lesbianfiction #BEL #BSB #YLV ⁠ ⁠ https://www.instagram.com/p/CYInv6-OiYb/?utm_medium=tumblr

#1 #2 #wlwbooks #sapphic #lesbianfiction #bel #bsb #ylv

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palimpsessed · 4 years

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The Welsh Red Dragon, Kurt Vonnegut, and Social Activism

The inspiration behind Shepard’s pins

(original post with full artwork here.)

So, I spent A LOT of time thinking about the kind of pins our good friend Shepard (from Omaha, NE) would have on his denim jacket. Like a lot. Like an obsessive amount of time. I made a list, which seemed appropriate for this fandom. And because I’m a nerd and this sort of thing really interests me, and I’m proud of what I came up with, and because I think some of these items open up the possibility for some good, good literary analysis, I decided to make a whole post dedicated to Shepard’s pins. You’re welcome.

First, a little bit about my thought process. How did I decide what kind of pins to give Shepard? Well, he’s a guy full of stories. Stories that he can’t wait to tell anyone and everyone. And stories that others (mostly Maybes) have told him, once he’s earned their confidence. So, I wanted his pins to tell a story, his story in particular. What is the story that Shepard wants to tell about himself? More precisely, what is the story he wants to tell his new magickal friends on a disastrous summer holiday? The story is that of his own magickal credibility. His journey to magic (his come to Crowley moment, perhaps?) (I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry…) and his trustworthiness as evidenced by all of the Maybes he’s met along the way. He’s gotten drunk off dandelion wine with a creek dryad, given a toothbrush to a Sasquatch. spilled the tea with a jackalope, midwifed a centaur foal. Shep’s journey is just as impressive as Simon’s, and while Simon has been collecting notches on his dead dark creature bedpost (that’s a weird fucking metaphor…) (and now I’m thinking about dark creatures and Simon’s bedposts…so, you’re welcome, Basilton), Shep’s been collecting notches of the friendly variety. (Shoutout to @adamarks who did some super lovely analysis on Simon and Shep as mirrors here: https://adamarks.tumblr.com/post/188046272067/ok-so-when-shepard-said-he-was-cursed-the-first). So, I decided that I wanted to use Shep’s pins as a way to show the notches on his bedpost, so to speak. (Okay, I’m really losing this metaphor, but I think you’re still with me.)

Let’s dive in!

(I’m working my way down one side of his jacket at a time, for those following along at home.)

RIGHT SIDE

Welsh Dragon: I made this one very large, and easy to spot on his right shoulder. Of all of his accoutrements, this one felt like the most important. Mainly, because of Simon. Simon is, after all, half-Welsh. (The Mage, may he rest in pain, came to Watford from Wales.) And, of course, Simon, just like the Welsh Dragon, is a red dragon. (Or in the process of becoming one? Or a half-dragon? Or a dragon kitten?…) And the dragon that Simon and Baz fought on the Watford lawn, when they first worked together, and first shared magic, was a red dragon. Of course, the actual dragon in question here is Margaret. Shepard would absolutely have a pin to commemorate his friendship with her. And since I was going to give him a pin with a dragon, I knew I was going to have to use the Welsh Dragon because it would perfectly capture his burgeoning friendship with Simon, as well. Now, I want to go on a slight detour here (this blog post will be its own Odyssey) and talk more about the Welsh Red Dragon. I took the design for the pin from the Welsh flag, which is the thing that first made me think more about Simon’s Welsh connection. I’m not really making a point here, I just think it’s fascinating! There’s a lot of Welsh lore about the Red Dragon (and Margaret herself calls Simon “Great Red” - that ‘R’ is capitalized, by the way, so this seems to be a proper name for the kind of dragon that she thinks Simon is). Full disclosure, I am not Welsh and I am not a scholar on any of this by any means. That being said, a cursory, and super academic, perusal of the Wikipedia article on the Welsh Dragon led me to a few different history websites that linked the symbol of the red dragon with Merlin and King Arthur (son of Uther Pendragon, literally dragon head). Merlin, one of the most well-known magical figures and Arthur, one of the most well-known Chosen One figures in literary tradition. I know very little about Arthurian legend, and Welsh history, and dragon lore, though, so I’m going to just say, do a little research on your own when you’re bored and feeling nerdy!

Resist!: Shep is a young black man (and reasonable human being) living in the U.S. during the [redacted] Administration. I should hope this one is self-explanatory.

Hoover Dam: At some point in his visits to see Blue, I’m sure Shepard stopped off at the gift shop and bought himself a souvenir pin to mark the incredible experience he had making friends with an actual river. (This pin design is based on an actual souvenir pin of the Hoover Dam I found on Google Images—along with most of the other pin designs. I think it’s vintage, which just felt even more like Shepard to me, because he’s the kind of guy who would appreciate stuff that’s got a past.)

Deathly Hallows: I mean, IF the Harry Potter books/movies exist in the Simon Snow universe (which hasn’t been confirmed, as far as I know, by our Queen) I’m sure Shepard would have been totally into it as a kid, and probably would have found greater significance in its magical lore once he discovered that ACTUAL MAGIC EXISTS! So, he would have a pin to show his belief in the magickal world, and maybe also as a nostalgic reminder of when magic was still just something fictional he could turn to for escapism (and not something that would result in being cursed by a demon…).

The Truth is Out There: So, I know virtually nothing about The X-Files (my sister was obsessed with it to the point that she wanted to become a FBI agent for a few years, but I never watched it), but I’m sure Shepard is a fan. If nothing else, the sentiment is awfully apropos.

So It Goes: This one is very hard to see. It sort of looks like a black teardrop with a bar on top of it (it’s supposed to look like a bomb). The pin I based this off of reads “So It Goes”, which from my very superficial research, is a line repeated in Vonnegut’s anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five every time someone dies. I don’t know anything more about it, other than that it is a Kurt Vonnegut-inspired pin available for purchase on Etsy, and Shep mentions that he wanted to get a Vonnegut quote tattoo, even though “everybody has those.”

Green Alien Head: You will never be able to convince me that Shepard does not 10,000% believe in the existence of aliens. If he were still in the U.S. during the Area 51 Raid, I’m sure he would have stopped by, just, you know, for science…(I’m thinking he was probably still in the UK, but I guess we’ll see in AWTWB.)

Centaur: This one is also hard to see, but I took the design from a pin I found of one of the centaurs (the blue-haired, blue-bodied one, if that rings a bell for you) from Disney’s Fantasia. (Fun fact: I was super into Fantasia as a littlun, and I attribute my lifelong love for classical music in large part to the centaur sequence and my latent lesbianism—I mean, it was ludicrously erotic. Watch it sometime and tell me it would not make an impression on a sapphic three-year-old.) Midwifing a centaur foal was probably a very emotional and formative experience for Shepard. Buying this pin would be his way of remembering that experience, and the excitement and gratitude he likely felt to have been entrusted with that kind of acceptance from the centaur(s).

Jackalope: It doesn’t help that this pin is almost the same color as Shepard’s jacket, but it’s based off a design of a jackalope’s head that, again, I found on Google Image search (honestly, I don’t know how I ever made art without it). We know that Shepard once got some gossip from a jackalope, who vented to him about magicians calling “themselves ‘magicians’”, like “they’re the only ones with magic”. (This is totally irrelevant, but I always think of Americans when I read this. I am an American, by the way. America is a continent, but those of us living in the U.S. calls ourselves Americans, like everyone else living in America doesn’t matter.) Anyway, the jackalope offered Shepard some valuable insight into the political workings of the magickal world, so it gets its own pin.

LEFT SIDE

Pansexual Pride Flag Pin: I mean, technically, canonically, we don’t know what Shepard’s sexuality (or asexuality) is, but I just get some vibes from him. Plus, if we take him as a mirror for Simon (who is somewhere on the bi-plus spectrum), it’s not a far cry to imagine he also identifies somewhere on that spectrum.

Pentagram: This is another symbol that I chose based on my interpretation of Shepard’s character, and not so much on a Maybe or a story that he mentioned. The pentagram, or pentacle, is typically associated with the occult and witchcraft, which is something that could potentially also be said of Shep.

Sasquatch: You don’t go backpacking—or not backpacking—and introduce a Sasquatch to the benefits of dental hygiene without getting yourself a souvenir of the hike.

I [heart] Mystery Spot: The Mystery Spot is a weird sort of phenomenon in California (my home state). It’s a place outside the beach town of Santa Cruz that boasts of a “gravitational anomaly” on its website. I went once, years ago, and while you’re there, it can feel pretty convincing. (Also, I was probably like 10, so…) People outside of California will likely never have heard of this place, but driving around here (at least in the Bay Area, where I am, which isn’t that far from Santa Cruz) you’ll see yellow Mystery Spot bumper stickers on cars everywhere. I’m not really sure what the thing is with the bumper stickers. Like, I’m sure not that many people actually think it’s legit, and maybe it’s like one of those things that Californians just do (like freak out and forget how to drive when we feel water falling from the sky). But yeah, these bumper stickers are everywhere. Anyway, Shepard drives around a lot. He knows about the Vampires of Las Vegas (how is that not an indie rock band?) and the Katherine Hotel, and the Next Blood. So, he’s probably made it past Nevada and into California before. And while he was there, it’s not a great stretch of the imagination that someone who chases after magic wouldn’t wind up at a place called the Mystery Spot and get himself a pin while he was there. (And maybe even a bumper sticker.)

Black Power Fist: Unfortunately, this one is also hard to see, because the fist is black and I didn’t have anything to go over the outlines of the fingers with, which I sort of didn’t think about when I colored it. This one also feels self-explanatory. Shepard is black. Blackness has long been treated in itself as a crime by non-black members of law enforcement, and just the general racist population of the U.S. Young black men are especially vulnerable to racially motivated violence. I’m sure Shep, who drives all over the country by himself and gets into high speed chases at night in the middle of nowhere Nebraska while hunting super shifty rando Maybes has had a run-in or two. Stay safe, Shep!

Every Pronoun Belongs Here [Trans Pride Flag background]: Also, super hard to see because the letters are too small to read. I found this exact pin in a basket by the register at my local bookshop. (Support local bookshops, people!) They were being sold as a fundraiser for a LGBTQ club at one of the high schools, and I loved the idea that I could help them raise money and add this pin to my own growing collection to show off my support for trans rights. (Support trans rights and trans people, people!) I decided to give Shepard this same pin, because I could imagine him having an almost identical book buying experience in a dozen other towns that he’s probably visited. And I love the simplicity of the message, because it’s one of belonging, which EVERYONE is desperately seeking, no matter who they are or how they identify, and Shepard, and every character in this picture, is no exception. (Plus, it seemed like a cool way to connect my pin collection with Shep’s. Maybe I should have mentioned the fact that I’m also a pin person at the beginning? I walk to work and on my lunch breaks, so I carry all of my stuff in a backpack. And I proudly display my random pin collection on my backpack. Including several Simon Snow-related pins.)

Don’t Panic: This was based off a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy pin. I don’t really know anything about the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (including if it’s okay to abbreviate it as HGG? THGTTG? whatever), even though I did watch the movie years back when it was on TV and I still lived with my parents who had a TV. But the sentiment felt appropriate, and Shepard is a sort of magickal hitchhiker. Apart from managing to hold down a job at Dick Blick, he appears to lead a somewhat nomadic lifestyle. He tells Penny, “the road is my teacher”, and if that’s not a hitchhiker slogan, I don’t know what is. (Ass, gas, or grass?)

Black Lives Matter: They do. Just sayin’.

Magic Troll Doll: When I was growing up, the Troll doll was all the (nightmare-inducing) rage. Trolls are one of those magickal creatures that are continually mentioned in the series. Shepard talks about lonely trolls under bridges. Simon talks about killing trolls. Agatha would rather kiss a troll. And Baz was kidnapped by numpties, who are sort of like trolls. I couldn’t not include a troll. And the Troll doll specifically felt perfect, because the full name was Magic Troll Doll. You can bet if Shepard had to pick a troll-related pin, it would be a magic(k)al one.

[Asshole]: This is another Kurt Vonnegut pin. It looks like a messily drawn asterisk (*), but it’s actually meant to be an asshole (taken from the preface of Vonnegut’s novel Breakfast of Champions, and drawn by Vonnegut himself). I just thought, why the fuck not? So, here. Have an asshole pin. (I should have put it on a buttonhole…)

HONOURABLE MENTION

Shepard’s Phone Case: Remember that line I quoted earlier, about Shep wanting to get a Vonnegut quote tattoo? Well, when I was trying to figure out what to put on his phone case, I thought that seemed like a reasonable place to start. So, I googled Vonnegut quotes, to see if I could find one that I thought Shepard would like. Here’s the quote: “a purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.” I just loved that for Shepard.

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evangelineartemiasamos · 5 years

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We Hunt the Flame for the your opinion thing

I was underwhelmed. I had a hard time getting into the book because the writing style didn’t click for me and I was generally underwhelmed.

Listen, I’m all in for re-using tropes, and often I love a beautifully tropy story like Gods of Jade and Shadow, Red Queen or Mirage but the tropes in WHTF weren’t for me. It reminded me all over again why I despise enemies to lovers. Our maybe aro/ace, maybe sapphic, maybe queer in general leading lady gaping and salivating at the half-naked dark and dangerous sexy assassin prince with an abusive parent and forgetting he’s her enemy who possibly killed her best friend - because he’s hot??

G O S H -.-

I also I didn’t like WHTF copies the worst aspect of THG (the uselessly grieving widowed single mother sustained only by the daughter taking on the “male” hunting skills taught by her father) and had a magic storyline reminding a lot of TOG, but okay, we’ll see how the latter plays out in book 2.

But then there was also the triple queerbaiting. Altair flirts with everyone including Nasir but then it’s revealed they’re brothers and I still don’t know if Altair’s queer? I felt like I was slapped at that plot twist. And yeah, Zafira and Yasmine have a lot of chemistry but nothing (romantic) was made of it. And at the beginning, Zafira says she doesn’t want a relationship and I hoped for finally some nice aspec rep with a woman staying a happy single, but then we got the scene described above and more in that line :-(

Note that I don’t think that WHTF needs to have queer rep to be good, and maybe the baiting was completely unintentional but it wasn’t nice to read, you know? The problem lies in the execution. Zafira doesn’t have to say she can’t see herself in a relationship, thus implying she might be aspec. Her attraction to Nasir shouldn’t be the main or major thing that draws her to him when a slowly developing emotional connection would show way better how they stop being enemies.

Edit: I also wanted Nasir and Kulsum to stay together. An established couple with history that already experienced (and withstood) opposition to their relationship engages me much more than shallow enemies to lovers instalove. I really hope to see more of Kulsum in the second book, including a happy ending instead of further vilification of a disabled woman. I do not believe she’s evil because of the spying accusation, not even fully that she was a spy with faked feelings for Nasir to begin with. /edit

Also, this is my personal opinion on what I didn’t enjoy but others can totally have fun with this book! It offers own voices arabian representation by a US muslim author you should give a chance, if you can.

#regina reads #ask #nasir x kulsum

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sahibookworm · 4 years

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish that now has a new home at That Artsy Reader Girl.

It’s finally time to talk about all the books I loved and adored in 2019 and I’m already very very excited. These may not all be the ones I rated 5 stars and I may have even found some flaws in them, but they are all the books which I felt a deep connection to, have already reread (atleast some of them) and I would love to share them all with you. Because I have a huge list, I’m gonna divide based on my favorites for each month.

January

All of you already know how much love I have for Red, White and Royal Blue because I have been shouting about it for the past one year now, but I still can’t stop. My first favorite of 2019, it remained my top throughout the year because it’s that special.

I couldn’t believe I had waited so long to read The Song of Achilles because it’s such a well written and emotionally affecting read that I couldn’t forget it for a while. And as expected, it involved a lot of tears.

February

Watch Us Rise is a powerful YA contemporary with lots of commentary on white beauty standards, fatshaming, feminism and intersectionality. It had it’s issues especially regarding white feminism, but I really connected with all the other themes.

The Right Swipe is a super sexy romance featuring a powerful black woman CEO and a soft cinnamon roll ex-football player hero, while also talking about important issues like workplace sexual harassment and the longterm affects of CTE on football players. I loved Rhiannon so much as a character and can’t wait to see her again in the rest of the series.

Heated Rivalry is probably my favorite sports romance of the year and I can’t tell you enough how much I love Ilya and Shane as a couple. The development of their relationship over almost a decade is just brilliantly written and it is at times both sweet and sexy. The author said she would be writing a sequel for them soon and that sounds amazing.

March

The Huntress is a thrilling fictionalized story of the strength and resilience of women who fought in WWII and survived, and also those who fought years later to bring justice to the Holocaust victims, even when the world was ready to forget them all.

The worst part about Descendant of the Crane is the fact that we don’t know if it will ever get a sequel. This book has so many twists and turns and betrayals that I was on the edge of my seat for most of the time. What a debut.

I wasn’t even gonna read The Priory of the Orange Tree but once I started, I just couldn’t stop. It has an expansive world and mythology, an excellent cast of characters and a sapphic romance for the ages.

And one of my most anticipated releases of 2019, We Set the Dark on Fire is the most fiery and passionate romance of the year set in the backdrop of a revolution, and after that mind blowing cliffhanger ending, the sequel can’t come soon enough.

April

Good Talk is a book that left me feeling a lot of things and with many questions on my mind, because I just found it so relatable and relevant to my current life. Too real and heartfelt, maybe even painful at times, but nonetheless a very important read.

I would have never read Aru Shah and the End of Time if not for some cajoling by my dear friend Nandini, but thank god she did. Because, this book is just so much fun and the elements from the Mahabharata are perfectly captured.

May

Shadow of the Fox is the beginning of one of my favorite current YA fantasy series and it was such a delight to read. A sweet and lovely protagonist like Yumeko, a funny and unlikely ensemble cast and a quest full of adventures and monsters – what more could I have asked for.

The Candle and the Flame is what you would call a quiet fantasy, it doesnt have a lot of high stakes but reading it just gives an amazing feeling. And the setting of the fictional City of Noor is probably my favorite of the year. Such a charming and unforgettable debut.

A smiling fat brown girl on a cover – I was in love with There’s Something about Sweetie since the first time I saw it, and it will always have a special place in my heart.

June

I adore The Bone Witch trilogy but the finale The Shadow Glass is my favorite – this series has the best characters, beautiful relationships and an ending that blew my mind. A perfect trilogy…!!!

And now the perfect standalone of the year for me, Sorcery of Thorns. While I love the adorable romance and the ever mysterious demon Silas, the heart of this story is a love of books and I resonated with it very deeply. The climax fight is just perfection.

One Giant Leap is not great by any means, but it’s the sweetest romance I read last year and I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. And the setting of space travel and a delightful set of nerdy characters make for a charming story that will make you smile.

Hungry Hearts is an anthology that has all my heart – a beautiful amalgamation of food and culture and the importance of both in our lives, it’s a heartwarming read and definitely made me very hungry.

July

My top most anticipated release of 2019, A House of Rage and Sorrow was as explosive as I expected it to be and the roller coaster ride just amazed me. I think I raced through it in a couple of hours because I couldn’t put it down for even a second.

Jade City is a book that took it’s time but once it got a hold on me, it wouldn’t let go. I was tense through most of it and the twists and turns just killed me.

I don’t know what I was expecting from Govinda, but I didn’t expect it to just completely mesmerize me. What an imaginative retelling of my favorite epic. And hatsoff to the author for attempting this for her debut.

August

The Merciful Crow is definitely one of my favorite debuts of 2019, with it’s brilliant cast, fascinating world and magic system, an endearing romance and great commentary on class and oppression. I’m very eagerly waiting for The Faithless Hawk.

Three Parts Dead is a book that is pretty out of my comfort zone, but I just wanted to give it a try and it completely blew me away with the unique world building and magic system. I’m quite excited to continue with the rest of the series.

September

I feel like Steel Crow Saga is one of the most underrated fantasy novels of last year and it deserves so much more hype. It has an excellent ensemble of diverse characters, I loved how queernormative it was, the commentary on war and colonization is on point, and it wears it’s Asian inspiration on it’s sleeve. Love it so much.

Bringing Down the Duke was a delight to read and as someone who doesn’t know much about the suffragette movement in the UK, I loved the setting and getting to know more about the struggles the women faced who were fighting for their rights. And the romance is a lot of fun.

I never knew the whole story of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, so reading She Said which is about the investigation, the scope of it and the sheer number of courageous women who came forward to tell their stories, made me feel all kinds of things. This can be a very rage inducing read but also a very important one at the same time.

Probably one of my top favorite YA fantasies of the year, There Will Come a Darkness has excellent worldbuilding, another ensemble cast which I fell in love with and some amazing action sequences. I can’t wait to read the sequel.

October

Burn It Down is an anthology that really affected me, with it’s number of essays on women talking about their relationship with anger and how it has affected them during their life. I think this is a very important read and I know I will be going for it again and again.

Blowout is a fascinating read (and listen) about the Oil and Gas industry and it’s impact on global geopolitics, and I had so much fun listening to it narrated by Rachel herself. It’s very informational, can feel pretty bleak at times but still ends with a dash of hope.

While Catch and Kill is also mostly about the Harvey Weinstein investigation, it’s also a story about the intimidation tactics used by powerful people for covering up their crimes, and the lengths to which sexual harassment is covered up across major corporations. Hatsoff to Ronan for his work but also for his excellent writing style, because this one surely reads like a spy thriller.

November

I never thought a history book would make this list, but How to Hide an Empire is a brilliantly written book about the unknown (or deliberately misrepresented) history of the American empire which exists till today. I learnt a lot of things here and I think it should be required reading for everyone who want to know more about their country.

This is How You Lose the Time War literally has nothing going for me because it is completely out of my comfort zone, but I got lost inside the poetic beauty of this love story and had to try very hard not to cry in public. Such an imaginative book.

The Poppy War was a great debut and I really enjoyed it, but The Dragon Republic took the whole story to another level and I’m just glad that I decided to read this series. It’s absolutely brilliant and I can’t recommend it enough.

I saw Killers of the Flower Moon on a must read books of the decade list, and decided maybe I should give it a try. And what a riveting read this was. The writing itself is exceptional, but it’s the content that is almost disbelieving to read about, and I wish everyone in the country would get to know more about this bloody history of Oklahoma.

December

I was definitely motivated to read Blood of an Exile because of the presence of dragons, but this book turned out to be so much more. Almost two very different worlds in one, a highly unlikely group of characters coming together to form beautiful friendships and some excellent twists and turns – this became an instant favorite and I can’t wait to read Sorcery of a Queen.

A very unexpected read which wasn’t even on my radar, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories totally blew my mind with the author’s storytelling as well the very important themes he was able to talk about within just a few words.

Are any of these your favorites too? What are some of your favorite books from last year? Let me know all your thoughts or links in the comments below…

TTT: Favorite Books of 2019 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish that now has a new home at…

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