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cheshiresense · 5 years

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Oooh! Um... How about Kisuke/Yoruichi/Ichigo? Shadowrun AU (Fantasy AU if you don't know Shadowrun)

Lol I have no idea what Shadowrun is, did a quick google and it’s something like magic + cyberpunk + vaguely futuristic post-apocalyptic setting + virtual reality?? Omg it’s too complicated to write just from reading the wiki lmao, I’ll just give you a cyberpunk fantasy AU.

Edit: This got away from me a bit whoops.

1. Kisuke is your average humble toymaker in the Slums who may or may not supply the underground Robin Hood-esque rebel faction Visored with not-so-average weapons and prosthetics and various repairs and upgrades. The Visored are pretty much wanted in every kingdom in existence, partly because half of them used to be nobles themselves and were part of the minority who hated the way they treated their citizens, mostly because they keep fucking with the other nobles, but no one except said nobles actually wants them to stop because everybody who isn’t nobility pretty much hates those who are. Mostly, it’s the three neighbouring kingdoms - Seireitei, Silbern, and Las Noches - sitting cozy up in their walled off flourishing cities up high, constantly at war with each other but with plenty to eat and plenty of money to fund their large-scale chess games, and paying almost zero attention to the poor and homeless outside their walls. That doesn’t stop them from forcibly conscripting the lower class as cannon fodder or using the Slums as their personal dumping grounds or imprisoning or executing anyone they decide is breaking one law or another. Kisuke’s stayed under the radar so far, so nobody knows he’s the man even more wanted than the Visored, if only for his prodigal skills with cybertech. He’s the one who built their equipment and vehicles, who repaired Hiyori’s spine after she’d been left unable to walk from an ambush and produced a new arm for Hachi after it was cut off in a skirmish, both of which work just as well as the original parts. Most of the nobles either want to kill him or “hire” him. But a toymaker in the Slums who cobbles together tiny cats and dragons and chickens and pixies out of scrap metal for children to play with isn’t anything to look twice at.

2. Here is a secret only a handful of people know - Shihouin Yoruichi was born a cripple. She couldn’t walk, at all, and even the best prosthetics money could buy from the various cybertech companies were clunky and awkward and only allowed her to limp a certain distance. Her family, one of the great noble houses of Seireitei that specialized in seduction and assassination, hid her away out of shame, right up until a rebellious teenaged Yoruichi had had enough and snuck out one night on nothing but her wobbly fake legs and a crutch. She’d spent enough time on her own for the majority of her childhood to know just about every passageway and secret door that snaked through the length and width of Seireitei. She didn’t stop until she appeared in the Slums, and she fainted from exhaustion and hunger only a few days later, but she never looked back. Kisuke found her, took her in, and then made her legs on a whim, upgrading them every time he figured out something new and better that he could add to them. In exchange, Yoruichi used her newfound mobility to retrieve better materials for Kisuke, robbing delivery trucks en route to Seireitei’s cybertech companies or outright stealing from her own family’s weapons storage. Anything they could buy, Kisuke could reverse-engineer and make better. Ten years after she left her old life behind, her legs are a work of art, connected to her nerves to give her complete control over them but granting her superhuman speed and jumping ability, and she’d practiced enough with them over the years that her mind had no problems keeping up with both. The prosthetics are lightweight but strong enough to withstand the swing of a blade or the impact of a bullet, and she would give a lot to see her family’s faces if they ever realize just who has been ransacking their vaults.

3. Most people carry some kind of weapon these days, but the best - for those who can afford them, or can call Kisuke a friend - can take the form of a companion when not in combat. Shinji’s is in the shape of a sphinx, all sleek lines and feline flexibility, but one that shifts into a sword in a silent whir of pulsing blue lines and polished metal at his command. Mashiro’s is a pixie, not unlike the toys commonly seen in Kisuke’s part of the Slums, except hers includes translucent wings threaded with pale green wiring. It’s perpetually perched on her shoulder, but in a fight, the pixie fuses with her hands and legs, the wings melting and sliding over her skin like liquid mercury to form gloves and boots that increase the power of her kicks and punches.

Yoruichi’s is a black cat but nobody actually knows what kind of weapon it can turn into. More often than not, Yoruichi sends it off as a spy because the thing is so realistic nobody can actually tell it’s not a real animal unless they get close enough to see the delicate wiring in its yellow eyes.

Nobody’s ever seen Kisuke’s either, weapon or otherwise, until a spy from a cybertech company snoops too closely around his shop. Then the other occupants get front-row seats to the bright red threads that extend from his hands - hands that light up with the many, many upgrades inside, a complicated maze of crimson circuits swirling beneath his flesh - and attach themselves to their target like strings on a puppet. At least he takes it out back before he literally rips the spy apart.

4. Once upon a time, before Yoruichi was even born, there were five noble houses instead of four. But the fall of the Shiba Clan is never talked about, and most don’t even remember the details anymore, only that most were put to the sword and the rest were scattered. One of the runners in Kisuke’s employ - the many who scrounge through the Slums’s trash heaps for parts Kisuke might find useful - is a boy on the cusp of twenty who looks uncannily like the last Shiba clan head before the family’s collapse. He goes by Ichigo and doesn’t seem aware of his lineage, and if he notices the way Shinji almost always makes an appearance when he comes in with his haul, and his payment always ends up including several extra portions of food and some high-grade medical supplies and even a new change of clothes now and then, he never says anything. After they find out he has two little sisters to feed, a handful of toys get bundled in as well, free of charge.

Kisuke wouldn’t know a Shiba from a Shihouin, and Yoruichi’s family never bothered teaching her all the things an heir or even just an average noble-born child would’ve needed to know, so neither of them treats Ichigo differently because of his blood or background. They do treat him differently because none of Kisuke’s runners have lasted as long as Ichigo. Sooner or later, they disappear, arrested by guards or killed in a back alley scuffle. Ichigo slinks into the shop at fifteen and still comes around every week like clockwork five years later. He always shows up with a decent haul too, and once, Yoruichi follows him, just to see where he’s getting his loot because surely most of the trash pits in the area have been picked clean over the years? There’s always more added to them, but not at the rate Ichigo is scrounging materials. So Yoruichi follows him one day when he leaves and that’s how they find out about his sisters and the makeshift hole in the wall they live in, shabby-looking on the outside but clean and cozy on the inside and insulated well from the cold. That’s also how they find out about all the enhancements Ichigo has, because Yoruichi makes the mistake of underestimating him and almost gets beheaded when he disappears and almost shivs her from behind with a hand-turned-blade, teeth bared like an animal as his eyes burn with golden circuitry.

(The Shiba Clan had been widely feared, once upon a time, for their genius in the more explosive weaponry and their talent with artificial intelligence and robotics and other biological cybertech enhancements. It was why they’d been so swiftly sentenced to death when they’d come down on the side of the poorfolk. Even one Shiba would’ve been equivalent to having a small army in one’s arsenal.)

Ichigo moved faster, jumped higher, hit harder, than anything Yoruichi had ever come up against. The crack of his heel coming down against the ground shattered rock and cement everywhere, and the only thing that saved her life that day was her dodging ability and a quickly shouted explanation for why she’d followed him in the first place. Ichigo wasn’t unreasonable, even if he wasn’t entirely human. His enhancements explained how he could move further through the Slums for loot and still put down roots in the area. It took some coaxing and several dozen more months of coming and going from the shop, but eventually, he’d also admitted that he didn’t know where his enhancements had come from, he couldn’t remember anything from before waking up the Slums with two regular human toddlers who called him brother depending on him. The only thing imprinted in his memory were the directives: 1) Take Care of Your Sisters, and 2) Survive.

But he was the most powerful thing around for miles, and Kisuke was fascinated because the work done on Ichigo was only vaguely like his own, and far more advanced than anything the nobility churned out these days. Yoruichi didn’t care as much, but she liked having a new sparring partner, not to mention Ichigo was very easy on the eyes, and a few more years on him meant Yoruichi could appreciate the sight without feeling like she was preying on a child.

Ichigo kept coming back, and eventually Kisuke managed to wheedle Ichigo into getting a checkup and upgrades, especially when he started outgrowing a few of his joint ports. Yoruichi watched the two of them make moon eyes at each other, listened to Kisuke ramble about something Ichigo told him the day before, noted the way Ichigo’s eyes sometimes strayed to Kisuke when the man wandered outside without a shirt and his pants on backwards after too many hours in his lab, and she was almost tempted to lock them in a closet together.

(She doesn’t notice the way Kisuke smiles indulgently at her when she comes home from a trip into Seireitei with an icebox of fresh strawberries from the Kuchikis infamous gardens because they’re Ichigo’s favourite, nor does she see Ichigo blink and cock his head in new understanding sometimes when he observes the way she drapes herself over Kisuke, comfortable and relaxed, but never does it with anyone else.)

In the world they live in though, trust is more important than love. Yoruichi has trusted Kisuke since she met him, and Kisuke’s trusted her since she was down two legs and still flung herself between him and a thief with a knife who thought the shop easy pickings. And the day Ichigo brings his sisters over and lets them run around out of his sight is the day they know he trusts them. It’s only natural to offer him and his little family a room of their own at the shop.

5. The day Yoruichi comes back with news of the Silbern Kingdom’s royal family and Las Noches’ royal family both being overthrown by several of their own noble families - the Ishidas and the Kurosakis, and the Coyotes, the Tu Odelschwancks, the Cifers, and the Jaegerjaquezs respectively - is the same day Shinji comes to them and tells them about the revolution movement that’s been in the works for a while now, about the remains of the Shiba Clan currently helping the Ishidas and Kurosakis take over Silbern, and about Ichigo’s own past - memory wiped for his own good because rumours of a Shiba child successfully integrated with his clan’s still experimental but groundbreaking technology had leaked, and if they’d gotten their hands on him, they would’ve turned him into their weapon. Better to hide him in the Slums, along with his two sisters who wouldn’t be of any use in a war for several more years, until they need him again, which they do now, because as soon as Silbern and Las Noches are theirs, they’ll be moving on to Seireitei post haste, and a two-pronged attack while the Gotei is still scrambling to defend themselves would hit them hardest, because for all that the kingdoms have been at war with each other for years, it had never been so direct, nor had their goals ever moved beyond poaching each other’s technologies. But for the revolution movement to succeed, they need Ichigo on their side, and it wouldn’t hurt for Kisuke and Yoruichi to join them too, technically Kisuke’s been their weapons-backer for years, and Yoruichi’s been their ear to the ground in Seireitei for just as long, and they’ll need all hands on deck. The kids can be left with Tessai.

Ichigo storms out. Yoruichi demands to know why they were never told before. And Kisuke surveys a tense-looking Shinji (who explains that it was supposed to be for their safety too - because Yoruichi was their only successful spy in Seireitei, and very, very few could match Kisuke’s genius, and it was just better to keep them out of the way) from beneath his hat before smiling blandly and promptly catching the man with a flick of his hand and five threads, unceremoniously tossing him out the window before he and Yoruichi both go to find Ichigo. It doesn’t take a genius to guess he’d returned to the hole-in-the-wall home he’d made for his sisters, and they join him after Ichigo acknowledges them with a jerk of his shoulders. They don’t speak right away, Ichigo sitting in stony silence, Yoruichi curled on one side of him still seething, Kisuke on his other, absently flexing one red-tinted hand in that way he only does when he’s contemplating murder.

They’ll help, all three of them. They don’t even need to discuss that. It’s high time for the upper-class to get their lives shaken up, the Slums are a disgrace, and if they have the chance to change that, they’ll take it, even if it means working beside people who have been using them for their own ends without giving them so much as a heads-up. Or in Ichigo’s case, will be using him since it’s pretty apparent he might not be the Gotei’s weapon but he is still very much the Shibas’ weapon, reserved for emergencies.

“Regimes come and go every day,” Kisuke remarks first, right hand fanning open, then closing, then opening again, crimson circuits shimmering along the vein lines of his palm.

“What a shame,” Yoruichi agrees with a grin that’s two-parts teeth and all-parts spite.

“…Three of us against three kingdoms that’ve just taken a beating?” Ichigo muses, but his eyes flare gold, and he’s smiling too. “Sounds like fun.”

#headcanon meme: answered #bleach #uraichiyoru #urahara kisuke #shihouin yoruichi #kurosaki ichigo #cyberpunk au #fantasy au #aniseandspearmint #headcanon

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kagetsukai · 6 years

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Writing Process Meme

So I got tagged by several people for this meme (thank you @jonogueira, @ladydracarysao3, @roguelioness & @princessvicky01) and I finally got the wherewithal to get it done.

Short stories, novels, or poems?

Writing? Short stories, hands down. My sweet spot seems to be between 1500 and 5000 words. It's not a bad place to be :)

Reading? Novels, always. Gimme a good book to get lost in.

What genre do you prefer reading?

Urban fantasy tends to be my preferred poison, though I hate vampires and zombies. I also enjoy high fantasy, but those get very cheesy very fast. I also dabble in dystopian YA.

What genre do you prefer writing?

Fanfiction. I have a plan for two non-fanfic stories and one is a romance story and the other is this... multi-genre epic that starts as a fantasy, becomes steam punk and then sci-fi. Don't ask, I don't know either.

Are you a planner or a write-as-I-go kind of person?

I guess it really depends on what kind of a story I am writing. Usually for short stories I will have an idea and I'll just sit down and start writing. If I'm working on something multi-chaptered, I will make an outline and have notes on all sorts of things.

What music do you listen to while writing?

My writing music largely depends on my mood and what I'm writing. I will generally have electropop for smut, softer/melodic music for my dance!fic and Weirder Shit gets what I call "emotional music", which usually means a lot of Within Temptation, Trespasser Williams and Vienna Teng. I also love having Dead Can Dance as background for just about anything.

Fave books/movies?

Fave movies: Love, Actually; Imagine Me & You; Moana; A-Team (I will die on that hill and I don't care)

Fave books: I love Mercy Thompson series, Dresden Files, books by Carol Berg for emotional wringing; Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Wrede; Old Man's War by John Scalzi; Alex Verus series, etc. I could probably go for a while. I used to read a lot ;)

Any current WIPs?

Ugh. So many. I have Weirder Shit, dance!fic, my end of the art trade with @elalavella, two fairy tale retellings, and Cute Bisexuals story that wants to get written but I refuse to start because OMG TOO MANY WIPs.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be?

Jeans (knee-length shorts in the summer), a t-shirt with something clever on it, ponytail, black flats

Create a character description for yourself:

On an average day, Shan would say she dressed casually: jeans and a t-shirt with some comfy shoes. Occasionally, she liked to go all out and get crazy with her appearance: put on a dress and do her make using her favorite purple color. Unfortunately, today was not that kind of a day.

Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing?

Absolutely, though never in their entirety. I mean, even my self-insert is no longer like myself! A good writer will observe their friends/family/people they know so they can understand how any given person would behave in a certain situation, then apply it to their writing. Otherwise, your characters will suffer from what artists like to call “Same Face Syndrome”.

Are you kill-happy with characters?

Moment of truth: I haven't really killed a character yet? Not really? There was that one drabble with Josephine and Mahanon but I can't call it being 'kill-happy'. That being said, I love teasing my friends that I'm going to kill someone in one of my stories. Their terror brings me lots of joy *maniacal laughter*

Coffee or tea while writing?

Usually neither. When I'm in the zone, I'm so absorbed that I don't eat or drink anything. Granted, I usually write at night so any of these would prevent me from sleeping at night as well. So, water?

Slow or fast writer?

Is 'both' a good answer? I am extremely slow to get my ass in gear, figure out what is happening and actually sit down to write. Once I'm writing, I'm WRITING. I once banged out 3K words in less than 2 hours. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm a fast typist, but not so great with getting ideas flowing.

Where/who/what do you find inspiration from?

If I want to get inspired to write, there are three different things I do to potentially get inspired: 1) I go and read someone else's fic. With good stuff, I get so inspired to write my story I will usually close AO3 and immediately open Google Docs. Occasionally I'll open the bad!fic section, cuz that usually gets my "I can totally do better than THAT" juices flowing; 2) I go and reread what I have written to get into the groove of where I'm at in the story and remember where I wanted to go. It also gives me a chance to look at my writing with a fresh eye and see if I messed something up (this is my most common source of inspiration); 3) I put on my "Inspirational Music" playlist and hope it works. This one is the most fickle and I try not to rely on this method.

If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be?

A hot mess. No? I would like to think that if I ended up in a fantasy world, I'd train myself to be like Cassandra, but with a two-handed sword. Or a sword and a dagger. Anyway, I'd try to train to be a warrior and die horribly in the first encounter :P

Most fave book cliche? Least fave book cliche?

Fave cliche: I don't think I have one? I love when books take an overused cliche and do something cool with it. Just saying.

Least fave cliche: Love fixes all. God, I hate that one. Having the support of your lover is super important if you're trying to deal with shit (ie. past trauma), but it doesn't mean that you're automatically cured of your XYZ. I hate that.

Fave scenes to write?

Anything with dialogue, really. I love when things are happening, people are interacting, secrets come out, etc. Human interactions are my favorite to write about.

Most productive time of day for writing?

Early to late evening. Or at 10am, right as I really get going at work (THANK YOU ASSHOLE MUSES).

Reason for writing:

I like making people happy with my stories. I enjoy finishing a story, releasing it out and seeing people's reactions to it, bad OR good. I don't necessarily want praise for what I do (I mean, it's nice to get, let's not kid ourselves), but I'm more about putting a smile on someone's face and having them enjoy something.

#writing process meme #about me #on writing #about my writing #asshole muses

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hirazuki · 2 years

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Tagged by @chellekumari... ages ago ^^;

Idk who to tag anymore, so do it if you want!

Name: Let’s go with a nickname -- Alex -- since I don’t really like my full given name and it also doesn’t mean much to me :)

Pronouns: She/her

Zodiac Sign: Aries sun sign, through and through.

Height: 5′6′’-5′7′’. It changes every time I get measured lmao, but within that range.

Nationality: Greek

Fave Band: I’m more of a by-song person than a by-band person, but I do like almost everything by Blackmore’s night, Loreena McKennitt, Survive Said The Prophet, and The Scorpions.

Fave Artist: Lol this is so broad (visual? manga? music? performance?), my brain can’t come up with a single name XD

When My Blog Was Created: Hmm... initially 2011-ish, but I was an idiot and accidentally deleted the whole thing, so this current one is from 2014-2015.

Last Thing I Googled: Sakura-Con. My 2020 ticket automatically transferred to 2022 and if I don’t go, I lose it (they don’t do refunds), so I’m weighing the pros and cons of going and wanted to see what their covid safety measures are like. (Similar to ECCC, which weren’t enforced all that well from the con photos I saw, so we’ll see...)

Lucky Numbers: I like 3, 7, and 9, but idk if they are lucky XD

Other Blogs: on Tumblr? My semi-abandoned @casualsamurai for my OC things, that I still fiddle with now and then.

Reason For Choosing URL: Hidari katate hirazuki is a sword technique developed by Hijikata Toshizo for the Shinsengumi (a left-handed, one-handed thrust). He’s one of my favorite historical figures and swordsmen, one of my favorite characters in fiction, I practice Japanese swordsmanship, I use thrusts in sparring far more than the average batojutsu practitioner, and I’m left-handed so have a natural advantage with left-hand based techniques. I wanted something that was related to a fandom, but not super fandom-y like a character name, and it encompasses so many of my favorite things; it seemed fitting ^^ I actually still shocked it was available.

How Many I’m Following: 43

How Many Followers I have: 294

Average # Hours of Sleep: 5-6, usually more towards 5. That’s all I really need to feel rested; it does, however, need to be completely uninterrupted and I’m an insanely light sleeper, so... rest doesn’t come often (: And I am incapable of napping. The only time I will “nap” is when my body decides it’s had enough of my shit and collapses, and I pass out.

Instruments: Guitar; lute and piano, once upon a time

Currently Wearing: my comfy snake pajama t-shirt and pants set and a black faux-fur lined full length robe with a hood (because it is December and even with the apartment at 70 degrees, I am freezing)

Dream Trip: Japan, Egypt, India, Russia, Israel.

Fave Food: Depends. If we’re talking about a prepared meal, kokoretsi. It’s extremely hard to find outside of Greece, Turkey, and the Balkans (and I think it’s actually banned in the US), so I haven’t had any in over ten years now. I dream of it. If we’re talking about a food item/ingredient, then it’s eggs all the way. They’re just so versatile. I could eat them forever.

Fave Song: Still have Mukanjo stuck in my head. It’s been 4 months :D

#thanks for tagging me #even though it took forever lmao

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abou123 · 7 years

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I was tagged to do this by @penguin2024

Rules: Answer the questions and tag blogs you’d like to know better. Sign: IDK and IDC Height: About 5’9" or so Last thing googled: I don't use Google for my search engine, I use DuckDuckGo since they don't track their users. As for the last thing I searched for, I honestly don't remember Favorite music artist: That would probably have to be Blind Guardian Last TV show watched: Survivor (one of only 3 TV shows I regularly watch any more. Last movie watched: I think it was The Princess Bride (though if we're talking about in theater, then that would be Arthur: Legend of the Sword iirc) What am I wearing right now: A black and dark red flannel unbuttoned, revealing a black t-shirt that bears the American flag in between the words Hindsight and 2020. Below those are an incredibly stiff pair of jeans, and inside-out white socks (they're more comfy that way, try it for yourself) under some slip-on tan boot things.

What I wish I was wearing right now (I added this question myself): a plain bra (with reason to wear one) under some flowy knee-length black dress, some opaque leggings/tights, and a pair of black ankle boots with some heel to them. Also my hair would be longer and in a ponytail, I would be wearing makeup and lipstick, and I would be clean shaven (including body hair). When did I create my blog: In either my junior or senior year of high school (3-4 years ago), can't remember which. What kind of stuff do I post about: All kinds of stuff, if I want to share it with my followers, I'll reblog it. Do I get asks regularly: Sadly, no. I post questions for my followers to ask me when I see them and almost never get any asks from them. Why did I choose my URL: I've had abou123 as my username since 2004 when I signed up for a Lego Club account, and have used for countless websites since. I initially chose this name because I had been chosen to play the monkey (Abou) in my elementary school's Aladdin play and the 123 was something I could add on to it and easily remember it. Gender: I am a pre-everything trans girl, just like my blog description says. Favorite color: Lavender (fun fact: it's also my favorite smell). Favorite food: Corned beef (with cabbage) Average hours of sleep: Currently about 5 hours on days where I have classes and 10 when I don't. Favorite characters: Naoto Shirogane, Aigis, and Chidori Yoshino from the Persona series, Haseo and Atoli from .hack//G.U., and Shiki Ryougi from Garden of Sinners. Dream job: Teaching older folks how to use modern technology (computers, smartphones, etc.)

As for who I'm tagging, I'll tag my cousins IRL, @one-luscious-lady , and @em-n-emma , and I'll also tag @bandshirtsbluejeans420 (she's the one that made me make an account here in the first place) even though she's probably using a different account now.

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koristore-blog · 6 years

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There’s nothing like the HP ZBook Studio. It’s a complete solution for artists with a 4K display, customizable shortcuts and an excellent stylus that you’ll never, ever need to charge. It’s premium, going up to $3,500, but that will net you up to an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU and Nvidia Quadro graphics. And despite being a detachable 2-in-1, the keyboard is every bit as good as a regular laptop. It’s battery life isn’t great, though, so keep your charger around.

The Pros

Great stylus; Great shortcut software; Excellent keyboard

The Cons

Graphics performance could be stronger; Middling battery life; Very expensive

Verdict

The HP ZBook x2 is a powerful art tool, but other machines offer stronger graphics and its price may limit it to professionals.

The HP ZBook x2 isn’t a laptop. Not in the normal sense, anyway. It’s a specialized tool designed to serve as a complete solution for digital artists, photographers and other creatives. It’s massive, but designed to provide easy access to shortcuts. It also has a professional-grade stylus and a matte 4K display that feels as if you’re drawing on paper.

REVIEW

article continued below

But a fully specced- out version with an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU and Nvidia Quadro graphics will cost you more than $3,500 ($1,647.36 to start), so while what it does is unique, you’re going to pay a heck of a premium for it. For this review, I showed the ZBook to Laptop Mag’s deputy director of photography, Jef Castro, who also works as a digital artist, in order to get a sense of how he would use it on a day-to-day basis. We also ran the ZBook through our normal benchmarks to compare it to similar products that creatives might also consider.

Design

You’ve never seen a laptop like this before. The ZBook is industrial in a way that looks powerful. It’s a large, metal octagon. The back is a very plain gunmetal gray with a reflective Z logo and a whole bunch of vents for cooling. The pull-out kickstand could use a little more to put you fingers in the small notches on the side, but it pulls out almost flat, up to 165 degrees.

The front is far more interesting. There’s a thick bezel around the 14-inch, 4K matte display, but it’s built with a purpose.The top houses a webcam and infrared cameras for logging in with Windows Hello, and the sides have 12 (six on each side) programmable shortcut buttons (see below).

The semi-octagonal keyboard attaches with magnets to the bottom of the tablet, and shares the same gray color scheme on the deck, but with black buttons.

And it should be as tough as it is large. HP claims that the machine is MIL-STD 810G tested, so it should have no issues with shocks, drops or vibrations.

All of the ports are on the sides of the tablet, with a headphone jack and a lock slot on the left.

Along the right is where you’ll find a fingerprint reader, an SD card slot, a USB 3.0 port, an HDMI output, a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports and a barrel-shaped charging jack.

You’ve never seen a laptop like this before.

At 14.5 x 8.9 x 0.8 inches and 4.9 pounds with the keyboard ( 0.6 inches thick and 3.8 pounds without), the ZBook is larger than other workstations. The 15-inch Microsoft Surface Book 2 is 13.5 x 9.9 x 0.9 inches and 4.2 pounds, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro is 13.8 x 9.5 x 0.6 inches and 4 pounds.

While the Surface is bottom heavy, with additional battery capacity and a GPU in its base, the ZBook takes the opposite approach. Everything is in the tablet, which means when you take off the keyboard, you still get the same level of performance. It does, however, make it clunkier than the Surface when used as a tablet.

Display

You can get brighter displays, but the ZBook’s 14-inch, 4K panel ranks as one of the most vivid we’ve ever measured. It’s also one of the few matte touch screens I’ve seen, and it has a chemical coating that, when paired with the stylus, feels like you’re writing on paper. The ZBook has what HP calls a DreamColor display, which means it can show 1 billion different colors. When I watched some videos on the matte screen, though, they didn’t appear as great as the scores would suggest. In the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, the oranges and yellows in Doctor Strange’s spells popped against New York City streets, but Thanos’ purple skin was dull.

Most colors looked quite good, but darker scenes suffered. This, Castro told me, is because the matte finish softens contrast, which he thinks is a double-edged sword. Matte is definitely better for creating art, but for reviewing a drawing, Castro said he’d want to look at it on a glossier screen. Additionally, the ZBook x2 has a standard 16:9 aspect ratio, but for drawing, Castro said he prefers something similar to the 4:3 ratio offered by the iPad Pro.

You can get brighter displays, but the ZBook’s 14-inch, 4K panel display ranks as one of the most vivid we’ve ever measured.

The screen covers 178 percent of the sRGB color gamut, an excellent score that beats the workstation average (150 percent), the Surface Book 2 (131 percent) and the MacBook Pro (126 percent). It’s dimmer than the competition, though, at 313 nits. That’s higher than average (308 nits) but far below the MacBook Pro (460 nits) and the Surface Book 2 (417 nits).

Stylus and Shortcuts

Lots of laptops come with a stylus, but the ZBook x2 is among the best I’ve tried. It’s the length of a real pen and has a comfortable weight. The matte screen’s chemical treatment gives it a slightly rough feeling, like a piece of paper.

“The stylus felt identical to a WACOM, so if that is already familiar to you, then there would be no learning curve to transition to this,” Castro told me. The stylus has 4,096 degrees of pressure sensitivity in both tip and eraser.

Castro currently uses an Apple Pencil and iPad Pro, and he said he appreciated that the ZBook’s stylus has an eraser, though the screen picked up his wrist a few times as he drew. Another thing the ZBook stylus has over the Apple Pencil is that you don’t need to charge it, ever. The Apple Pencil needs to be plugged into a Lightning port on an iPad.

MORE: Best 2-in-1s 2018

The shortcut buttons on the sides of the screen are great for when you’re sketching without the keyboard. In Photoshop, I had one preset as a color picker to quickly switch between hues, while another one made brush strokes thicker and thinner. You can control the shortcuts on the sides with HP’s Create Control Panel, which can adjust those buttons as well as preferences for the pen and eraser. When I installed Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, it pre-populated with suggested shortcuts.

Castro told me that they made sense as starting points for jumping in right away. For the stylus, you can adjust the tip and eraser feel, the tilt sensitivity, and what the extra button on the pen does. You won’t want to press too hard, though. Like most screens, the ZBook’s has a bit of give that distorts when you press hard with a stylus. Castro said he doesn’t see this on his iPad, however.

The stylus comes with a nice carrying case, but I wish it were magnetic to stick to the tablet, similar to what Microsoft does with the Surface and Surface Pen. That would make it easier to keep the two together.

Keyboard and Touchpad

A lot of detachable 2-in-1s flounder when it comes to the keyboard. The ZBook’s, though, is excellent and comparable to a full-size laptop. It offers a full 1.5 millimeters of travel and requires 68 grams of force to press. On the 10fastfingers.com typing test, I reached 118 words per minute with a 3-percent error rate, which is par for the course for me. I do prefer the keyboard angled slightly up (it felt a little flat when simply placed on my desk), but otherwise, I got a nice, clicky feel.

The keyboard attaches to the ZBook x2 not only via Pogo pins but also over Bluetooth. That means that when the keyboard is detached, you can still use it. For instance, in the Adobe suite, you can have the keyboard nearby for keyboard shortcuts without having it directly connected to the tablet. Of course, that means you need to remember to charge the keyboard. There’s a mini USB port on the back for this purpose, though the keyboard will charge on its own off of the tablet.

A lot of detachable 2-in-1s flounder when it comes the keyboard. The ZBook’s, though, is excellent, and comparable to a full-size laptop.

The 4.3 x 2.5-inch inch touchpad is nice and spacious and responds quickly to Windows 10 gestures, like tapping four fingers to open the Action Center and dragging three fingers up to see all of your open programs.

Audio

HP’s partnership with Bang & Olufsen has typically led to amazing sound, but that’s not the case with the ZBook x2. The speakers are on the top of the back of the tablet, which meant that when I used the ZBook x2 as a laptop, the speakers fired away from me. When I listened to The Knack’s “My Sharona,” the vocals and guitars were decent, but the drums weren’t snappy and the bass was weak. However, the drums got better when I started to draw. With the kickstand bent to its full 165-degrees, the speakers fired at the table, reflecting back at me. But it was barely loud enough to fill a small conference room. HP’s Bang & Olufsen Audio app has a bunch of preprogrammed equalizer, but I would recommend most people leave it on the default “HP Optimized” setting.

Performance

Our top-of-the-line ZBook came with an Intel Core i7-8650U CPU, 32GB of RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD and an Nvidia Quadro M620 GPU with 2GB of VRAM. With those kinds of specs, everyday tasks were an easy exercise. I had 25 tabs open in Google Chrome, including one streaming a 1080p episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver while also sketching and applying filters in Photoshop. There wasn’t a hint of lag.

On the Geekbench 4 overall performance test, the ZBook earned a score of 15,308, which is higher than the 13,973, workstation average, the MacBook Pro (15,170, 7th Gen Intel Core i7) and the Surface Book 2 (12,505, Core i7-8650U).

The ZBook’s PCIe SSD transferred 4.97GB of files in 8 seconds or a blazing 631.2 megabytes per second. That’s faster than the average (523MBps) and the Surface (318.1MBps), but the MacBook Pro is a little quicker(654MBps).

On our Excel macro test, which pairs 65,000 names and addresses, the ZBook took 1 minute and 21 seconds, beating both the average (1:37) and the Surface (1:31).

We also ran the ZBook through our Handbrake video-editing test, which transcodes a 4K video to a 1080p video. It took the ZBook 20 minutes and 25 seconds to complete, shaving a few minutes off the average (22:38) and the Surface Book (23 minutes).

MORE: Which GPU is Right For You?

But when it comes to pure graphics might, the ZBook lost out to the Surface, which has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU. On the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark, it earned a score of 115,845, falling behind the average (136,274) and the Surface Book 2 (162,361). The Surface Book 2’s GPU is capable of entry-level VR and high-level gaming.

Battery Life

The ZBook x2 will need its charger if you want to travel. It lasted just 4 hours and 9 minutes on Laptop Mag Battery Test 2.0, which continuously browses websites, graphics tests and videos at 150 nits. That’s less than the workstation average of 6 hours and 5 minutes. The Surface Book 2 endured for 11 hours and 34 minutes (with its keyboard base. As a tablet alone, it lasts a measly 3 hours and 12 minutes).

MORE: Laptops with the Longest Battery Life

Part of this is because the DreamColor screen uses the discrete GPU at all times. We also tried testing the ZBook x2 with DreamColor turned off (you can make this switch in the BIOS; some models don’t include the DreamColor screen). In that case, running mostly on the integrated graphics, it ran for 6:58, which is better but still pales in comparison to the Surface Book 2.

Webcam

The ZBook x2 has two cameras: a front-facing, 720p selfie cam, and a 3264 x 1836 rear shooter. I initially found the camera on the back to be a curious decision, though our artist suggested it might be good for taking a picture of something he wanted to sketch.

The front-facing camera leaves something to be desired. In our well-lit office, it got the color of my green sweater right. But light coming in from some windows completely blew out the shot, and it didn’t catch finer details on my face, as my eyebrows looked drawn onto my face.

With the back camera, I took pictures of some desk toys that one might want to sketch. While my Iron Man and Captain America Funko Pops came out sharp, the colors weren’t exact.

Heat

The tablet can get a little toasty under a heavy load. After streaming 15 minutes of HD video from YouTube, the back of the tablet measured 97 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s just a bit higher than our 95-degree comfort threshold. Using it in laptop mode shouldn’t be an issue, though, as the center of the keyboard and the touchpad stayed a cool 77 degrees.

Software and Warranty

HP’s software includes HP WorkWise, which you can use to manage your PC from your mobile device, and HP JumpStart, which offers tutorials for setting up your machine.

If you’re using the ZBook x2, you’re probably using Adobe’s creative suite. That doesn’t come free with the ZBook x2, but you can get a decent deal on a one-year subscription. If you get the laptop from HP, you can get the Creative Cloud Suite for $479 for a year, which is 20 percent off the usual $49.99 per month asking price.

As usual, Windows 10 has its own share of built-in bloatware, including March of Empires: War of Lords, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Drawboard PDF, Spotify and Asphalt 8 Airborne.

HP sells the ZBook x2 with a one-year warranty by default, butyou can bump it up to three years for $121. See how HP performed on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ranking.

Configurations

The HP ZBook x2 we reviewed costs $3,623.04 and includes an Intel Core i7-8650U CPU, 32GB of RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD, an Nvidia Quadro M620 with 2GB of VRAM and HP’s DreamColor display. The CPU we got is one of the few that enables vPro on the ZBook x2, so IT departments can manage the system remotely.

Unlike most traditional laptops, HP has set up four configurations that it thinks are best for different creatives. There’s one for photographers ($2,699), digital artists ($2,429), video editors ($2,900), and professional digital artists and photographers ($3,279). Those all use quad-core Intel Core processors (except the digital artist config, which uses a 7th Gen dual core CPU) and have various amounts of storage and RAM.

Alternatively, you can use a customization tool to build your own. The cheapest option I was able to build cost $1,647.36, with an Intel Core i5-8250U CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 128GB SATA SSD, a 4K non-DreamColor display, and no webcam, no discrete GPU, no fingerprint reader, no stylus and, instead of Windows 10, FreeDOS 2.0. (Windows 10 Home adds $140 to the cost, Windows 10 Pro jumps $193.) It’s hard to recommend that model, though, even if you have your own Windows license to upgrade to. Somewhere in between there and the maxxed-out configuration we received are a dizzying array of choices. Whatever amount of storage or RAM you want, you can configure it. If you don’t need a fingerprint reader or a camera, ditch it.

Bottom Line

The HP ZBook x2 is a specialized tool for digital creatives that need power, a high-res screen, a fantastic stylus and accessible shortcuts for the Adobe creative suite, albeit with mediocre battery life. It’s expensive, but there’s no machine out there like it. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone other than hard-core professional artists or editors who want one device that can do everything. If you already use an iPad Pro, a Wacom tablet or other input device in conjunction with another computer, you’ll save money going for the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro (starting at $2,399). It will get you a bright display and strong performance for less money and has great integration with an iPad. If you need more powerful graphics performance, the 15-inch Surface Book 2 (starting at $2,499) has an Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU that can also play games and power VR experiences. It also has a great pen, but you won’t get the graphics performance in tablet mode.

Those who want professional-grade inking and Adobe integration in an all-in-one device need look no further than the ZBook x2. Just be prepared to fork out a hefty amount of dough for all the bells and whistles.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

CPU Intel Core i7-8650U Operating System Windows 10 Pro RAM 32GB RAM Upgradable to Hard Drive Size 512GB Hard Drive Speed Hard Drive Type PCIe SSD Secondary Hard Drive Size Secondary Hard Drive Speed Secondary Hard Drive Type Display Size Highest Available Resolution 3840 x 2160 Native Resolution 3840 x 2160 Optical Drive Optical Drive Speed Graphics Card Nvidia Quadro M620 (2GB) Video Memory 2GB Wi-Fi 802.11ac Wi-Fi Model Intel 802.11 2x2ac + BT 4.2 Combo Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.2 Mobile Broadband Touchpad Size 4.3 x 2.5-inches Ports (excluding USB) Thunderbolt 3 Ports (excluding USB) SD card slot Ports (excluding USB) Lock Slot Ports (excluding USB) Headphone/Mic Ports (excluding USB) HDMI-out Ports (excluding USB) USB 3.0 USB Ports 3 Warranty/Support 1-year warranty Size 14.35 x 8.94 x .8 in (laptop mode) / 14.35 x 8.94 x .57 in (tablet mode Weight 3.8 pounds (tablet) 4.9 pounds (laptop) Company Website hp.com

HP ZBook x2 There's nothing like the HP ZBook Studio. It's a complete solution for artists with a 4K display, customizable shortcuts and an excellent stylus that you'll never, ever need to charge.

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lucyariablog · 6 years

Text

27 Reasons Why Your Content Sucks

Nobody thinks their content sucks – or, in other words, is weak and not deserving to be believed.

After all, why would someone intentionally create something that’s utterly useless for their organization or their audience?

And yet, a lot of content sucks. We’ve all seen (and sometimes created) it.

Consider this article the proverbial splash of cold water to help you wake up (or more importantly, wake your content up).

More than 70 people responded to my request for examples of bad content, but almost all demurred to offer real-life examples. But one brave, smart content creator came forward to share her own experience: Christina Russ of Gage Diamonds.

“Sadly, I’m guilty of writing (weak) content at times,” she says. “Here’s a piece I wrote that no one will ever read because, honestly, no one gives a crap about what I’m selling.”

“Despite the fact that I write that type of content, I have my moments of sanity. Here’s a better piece I wrote,” Christina says.

Christina smartly recognized the difference between the two posts: “One is (perceived as) beneficial to the business. The other is beneficial to the readers because it provides useful information about store credit cards and financing opportunities.”

A lack of focus on the audience’s needs was frequently cited as a key mistake.

Now, that we have the audience-focus thing on the list, let’s dive into 27 more characteristics of content that sucks.

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1. Another of the same

Blog posts that just sum up what you can find through Google searches. Regurgitation of basic information that’s reformatted on a company blog with a lot of injected ads, unnecessary links, and keyword stuffing in hopes of achieving a high SERP rank. If all your blog post does is tell me the same information I can find through a simple Google search, then it’s (weak).

Dew Smith, managing editor, Vendasta

Not only has the topic been dealt with, but even the angle taken is too familiar … I don’t need to read what’s already been published 300 times. I am not saying invent something new, just don’t share the same 10 tips that everyone is sharing.

Youness Bermime, content writer, writersdo.com

I don’t need to read what’s already been published 300 times, says @YounessBermime. #contentmarketing Click To Tweet

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2. Product name here and here and there

The more mentions of the brand or its product in the bounds of a piece of content, the higher the (weakness) of that piece of content.

Eric Kinaitis, director of content marketing, American Endowment Foundation

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3. We before you

Whether it is on Twitter, blogs, or company collateral, there seems to be a recent trend to overemphasize statements about oneself or to put the company ahead of the customer. No matter the content type, this type of self-indulgence is weak. You’ll lose the reader because of braggadocios puffery. Remove the ‘I’ and ‘we’ from your marketing.

Jamie Glass, CMO and president, Artful Thinkers

Remove the “I” and “we” from your #marketing or you’ll lose the reader, says @jglass8. Click To Tweet

4. Now obsolete

“You can have outstanding blogs when first published that ultimately turn (weak) because they are outdated.

“I rewrote this post about concussion-related light sensitivity, even though it was already ranking number one for several target keywords. I did it because: 1) it took too long to answer the question that most searchers were asking, which resulted in a high bounce rate and low average time on page. The original post wasted a lot of valuable real estate sharing info on general characteristics of post-concussion syndrome vs. the meat of the content related to light sensitivity AND 2) new research had been published, which I wanted to include to make it fresh and relevant. “

Greg Bullock, marketing manager, TheraSpecs

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5. No duh

Stating the obvious. The world is round. A volcano is hot. Snakes can be poisonous. Then explaining in painful detail these obvious facts.

Holly Wolf, director of customer engagement, SOLO Laboratories Inc.

It’s trite. It’s content that tells me something obvious – an article on losing weight that recommends exercising regularly, or a piece with money-saving tips that says to cut out Starbucks from my morning routine.

Jami Barnett, associate director of research, Consumer Affairs

Weak #content tells me something obvious, says @JamiBarnett. Click To Tweet

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6. Pointless intros

Some (weak) content can be found in a lot of good content. For instance, the first paragraph or two is (almost) always filler that never tells you anything informative and can be skipped on almost every article. Go ahead and try it.

Mike Lamood, founder, Lamood Big Hats

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7. No voice

There’s no excuse, no matter the topic, for dry content with no emotion or enthusiasm. You can’t convert without getting your readers excited. Instead, throw in personality and stories, create a voice, and be human.

Brittany Berger, founder, Brittany Berger

There’s no excuse, no matter the topic, for dry #content with no emotion or enthusiasm, says @thatbberg. Click To Tweet

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8. Humdrum

In the event video world, it’s a three-minute highlights video with peppy music, generic conference testimonials, and footage of attendees networking across a table.

Briana De Marco, Media Llama

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9. All listicles, all the time

Ever read articles called ‘10 Ways That You Can Improve Your SEO,’ ‘5 Cool Things to Do in (City Name),’ ‘10 Healthy Diets That Make You Feel Good’? Those articles are boring. I get it – for a while people were obsessed with listicles. Yes, sometimes having a listicle on your blog isn’t a bad thing. But, if every article you post is a listicle, you just aren’t trying hard enough.

Dan Salganik, managing partner, VisualFizz

If every article you post is a listicle, you just aren’t trying hard enough, says @VisualFizz. Click To Tweet

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10. Unfulfilled premise

The Internet always manages to astound me with how much content delivers none of the info promised in the title.

Justin Golschneider, vice president of marketing, ChannelReply

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11. Wrong information

Nothing will kill your content more than false information.

Emily Trogdon, public relations manager, The Brandon Agency

Nothing will kill your #content more than false information, says @QuickFoxescom. Click To Tweet

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12. Poor or no sources

It fails to establish credibility – an important concept from journalism that most marketers haven’t yet mastered. Credibility means quoting nonpartisan subject matter experts, using data from trusted, objective, neutral sources, and not editorializing. Authoritative sources build credibility, credibility builds trust, and trust drives revenue.

Jeff Roberts, digital marketing director, Olive & Company

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13. Focus on length

You can find plenty of discussions debating the merits of 1,500-word posts vs. 500-word posts. Both sides promise that their ideal length gives a surefire way of keeping a reader on your page. But that misses the point entirely. Content should always fulfill its purpose and do it in a succinct, respectful way that doesn’t waste a reader’s time – regardless of if it’s 10 seconds or 10 minutes.

Shelby Rogers, content marketing strategist, Solodev

14. TL; DR (Too long, didn’t read)

We don’t have time to read a 5,000-word article – or a long video or big volume of images on social media.

Connie Chi, CEO, The Chi Group

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15. Irrelevant

“Bad content is irrelevant for a specified audience. It doesn’t add value. It doesn’t entertain. It doesn’t answer a question.

“The hinge here is the audience. As the old saying goes, ‘One person’s trash is another’s treasure,’ so it’s important to continuously challenge assumptions, with data, analytics and even intuition.”

Frank Strong, owner, Sword and the Script Media

16. Negativity

“It’s focused on attacking other players in the market, trying to put the competition down and creating conflict to get attention.

“When Uber tries to break into a new market, it has launched aggressive campaigns against taxi drivers.

“We see competition as helping us grow the market … Just like a person could use an Uber sometimes, and other times a taxi. There’s room for everyone in this world.”

Ela Iliesi, SEO specialist and trainer, London Marketing Academy

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17. Check-off task

It is usually written exclusively to check off a task on the marketing team’s SEO plan. You can almost always tell when you come across a post that’s written to grab organic traffic from some keyword.

Brinck Slattery, marketing director, LBRY

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18. Fluffy

Unnecessarily twisting an article by adding useless and irrelevant words to make the post 2,000-plus words to satisfy Google. It comes at the cost of bad audience experience.

Yogesh Jain, founder, Concept Allies

Adding useless words to make a post 2,000+ words comes at the cost of bad audience experience. @mrjainyogesh Click To Tweet

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19. Generic

‘We should blog a lot because it’s good for SEO.’ The firms (who think that way) often end up publishing the same blog on their site as every one of their competitors … The recycled and sterile blog articles aren’t representative of anyone at their firm.

Spencer X Smith, instructor in social media at the University of Wisconsin & Rutgers University; author, ROTOMA: The ROI of Social Media Top of Mind

20. Word selection

The words are not compelling enough. This doesn’t mean use exciting vs. boring words but words that are appropriate for the content piece’s goal and the audience who would read it.

Laura Lopez, manager, content marketing, Notarize

21. Hard-to-read structure and exciting punctuation

“Anything with lots of passive voice, dependent clauses, and nonvarying sentence length.

“Anything with an emoticon. Just don’t. Lots of exclamation points. Makes me feel like I’m reading something written by a tween!”

Amanda Austin, founder and president, Little Shop of Miniatures

22. Boring images

It is not visually engaging. Instead of posting a photo of an event’s promotional poster or restaurant’s menu, try a picture of the event or menu item with engaging copy to support the promotion. Be descriptive but not salesy! Bad content might say, ‘Enjoy a delicious cocktail at this restaurant,’ versus ‘Tacos + margs make for the happiest of hours.’

Ashley Cady, integrated communications manager, Flock and Rally

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23. Clunky design

“It’s clumsy or has a hard-to-understand layout. It’s published in an outdated manner so as to appear to be created with older technological limitations.

“It contains overused or inappropriate typefaces or boring titles … The color compliments are disturbing or irrelevant and clumsy graphics, especially, badly rendered gradients, poorly clipped out or cropped elements; low image quality such as with lack of attention to composition, lighting, styling or color, especially low resolution, blurry, or watermarked photos.”

Rich Harris, founder and CMO, insomniagraphix

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24. Camel-like

“When everyone puts their two cents into ideas for shaping the content, it often becomes watered down. There is an old saying, ‘A camel is a horse designed by a committee.’

“(Weak) content also gets produced when you are afraid your company or your client might not approve the content you were originally planning.

Robert Barrows, R.M. Barrows, Inc. Advertising & Public Relations

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25. Unfriendly mobile and meta

“Mobile thinking should be a no-brainer. And yet, people still publish content with huge blocks of text that are difficult to scan.

“It also doesn’t have optimal metadata. No one shares an ugly link. Search engines skip over content with missing meta descriptions.”

Benjamin Collins, CEO, Laughing Samurai

Bad #content has ugly links (no one will share) and doesn’t have optimal metadata, says @extremecollins. Click To Tweet

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26. Silly expectations

With the rise of social platforms and the desire to capture user attention in short vehicles and formats seen on mobile devices, it is creating slow music audio in a long video and expecting the user to have the time to actually get through the long video.

Robb Hecht, adjunct marketing professor, Baruch College

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27. Begging

“Tweet this. Like us. Share it. Don’t reduce to begging for social shares and likes as it can reflect a negative impression and thus put your brand’s reputation at risk.”

Mehmood Hanif, senior digital marketing strategist, PureVPN

Don’t reduce to begging for #social shares & likes as it can reflect a negative impression. @MehmoodHanif Click To Tweet

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Conclusion

OK, how many of the content sins described have you committed? More importantly, how many of them do you plan to fix?

Oh, and if you have other ideas of what makes content bad, please share in the comments. Bonus points if you provide examples. Big bonus points if you own your bad examples in the comments.

Gather with over 100 experts to learn more about how to make sure your content – and your content marketing – doesn’t suck. Register today for Content Marketing World this September.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 27 Reasons Why Your Content Sucks appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/01/reasons-content-sucks/

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cathygeha · 7 years

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Dark Alpha’s Lover by Donna Grant

Reaper #4

Summary: There is no escaping a Reaper. I am an elite assassin, part of a brotherhood that only answers to Death. And when Death says your time is up, I am coming for you...

I answer to no one but Death. I am impenetrable, impervious, immortal. I exist to do Death's bidding and no one--not Reaper nor human nor Fae--can stand in my way. Except for the bewitching half-Fae, Catriona. She swears the magic in her family passed her by, but I know better. This woman is strong. This woman is powerful. And when her abilities surge forth, no one will be able to stop the Dark Fae from coming for her. Except for me. I want to keep her close. I want to keep her safe. I want lose myself to her, again and again...

Buy Links:

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Author Bio:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Donna Grant has been praised for her “totally addictive” and “unique and sensual” stories. She’s the author of more than thirty novels spanning multiple genres of romance including the bestselling Dark King stories. The acclaimed series features a thrilling combination of dragons, the Fae, and Highlanders who are dark, dangerous, and irresistible. She lives with her two children, a dog, and four cats in Texas.

Q&A

Where do you get your inspiration? Everywhere. TV shows, music, movies, books, and real life.

How long on average does it take you to write a book? A full length book takes me 5-6 weeks total before I turn it into my editor. A novella takes 3 weeks.

What is your writing Kryptonite? I don't really have any. ::knocks on wood::

What books have most influenced your life? I believe that every book I have ever read has influenced me in one form or another. They've shaped my thoughts and my actions. I'm one that believes a book comes into a person's life when they need it the most.

What is the first book that made you cry? I can't remember the title, but it was a western where the heroine was kidnapped by Indian's and she fell in love. It wasn't a romance because there was no HEA, but I bawled.

What was your hardest scene to write? It's different with every book. Mostly its the sex scenes because there is so much more emotion that goes into those scenes than in others, and I like to get it right.

What did you edit out of this book? lol. I write "that" a lot. I edit most of those out. And the use of names. I don't realize when I'm writing that I do it, but when I read over it, I do.

Social Links:

Author Website

Facebook: @AuthorDonnaGrant

Twitter: @Donna_Grant

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Excerpt

Chapter One

Galway, Ireland

January

Nothing was ever as it seemed.

There were more than humans walking this earth. The things seen out of the corner of your eye were real, even if your mind refused to recognize—or accept—them.

But Catriona Hayes knew of their existence, even if she wished she didn’t. They were Fae. Magical creatures that were so beautiful they seemed otherworldly—because they were.

The Fae had come to this world, seamlessly integrating themselves into the lives of mortals. But then again, when it came to beings with magic, they could do such things.

Cat blew out a breath and put the day’s earnings in the pouch before placing it inside the safe and shutting the door. She straightened and looked through the windows of the café and across the street to the pub alight with merriment.

There was a bit of wistfulness within her when she spotted three women walking into the bar with bright smiles. She’d never been that carefree.

From the first moment she could remember, her family had kept her apart from others. It wasn’t until she was older that she realized what made her so different—she was a Halfling.

Part human, part Fae.

Some might rejoice at the news, but she wasn’t most people.

The first time her grandfather had told her of her heritage, she’d laughed, thinking it was a jest. But as they’d walked down the streets of Galway, he began pointing out the Fae.

That was the day her life changed. At eight years old, she’d felt the weight of the world drop upon her shoulders. The burden had nearly brought her to her knees. And it had lingered, growing heavier with each passing year.

Yet she remained standing beneath it all. Only because of her grandfather. The man who smiled in the midst of the many storms life threw his way. He was what kept her composed and mindful of the dangers of living near Fae.

While she had been fearful of her grandfather’s revelation, her older siblings had embraced it as a gift.

Cat looked down at the counter and the top that covered it. Beneath the thick glass, next to the register, was a picture of her with her brother and sister twenty years ago.

Whatever gift having Fae blood had given her siblings had been taken away in a cruel twist of Fate several months ago when they were savagely killed.

Her brother had been murdered in a crowded pub, while her sister had had her life snuffed out on a train to London. No one had seen either attack. One moment, her siblings had been alive. The next, they were dead. It was how Cat knew the Fae were responsible.

Only beings with magic and the ability to veil themselves could have committed such crimes without a single person catching something on their mobile phones.

Ever since her family’s deaths, she’d been waiting for the Fae to come for her.

What was taking them so long? She and her grandfather—who she kept locked safely away in his cottage where no Fae could enter—were the only ones left.

A flash of lightning pulled her from her thoughts and reminded her that she needed to get home. She started toward the front, turning off the lights as she went. Flipping the sign in the café window to CLOSED, she walked out the door and locked it.

When she faced the street once more, she gripped the handle of her purse and looked around at the people. She knew the Fae could use glamour to disguise themselves, though most preferred to remain beautiful. That made it easier to pick them out, but it did nothing to lessen Cat’s dread.

She remained in the doorway as a couple walked past her. The man said something to make the woman laugh. Cat’s heart caught because she couldn’t remember the last time she’d giggled like that—never mind actually being on a date.

Cat squared her shoulders and turned to the left. Her cottage was toward the outskirts of Galway. She couldn’t wait to get home where she could relax.

“Relax,” she snorted.

There was no such thing for her. While others brushed their cares away with a pint of ale and loud music, she would eat alone at her house and sleep with one eye open.

Being half-Fae had done nothing but make her life miserable. She’d gotten nothing else from it. Her sister, Nora, had been able to move objects with her mind. Her brother, Domhnall, could grow plants.

For some strange reason, magic had passed her over altogether. No matter how hard she tried, there didn’t seem to be a smidgen of magic within her.

Countless times, she’d asked her grandfather what she’d done to not have magic. He’d never quite answered her. In his usual way, he would tell a story about all the Halflings who lived without magic.

But she always suspected that he was keeping something from her.

No amount of conniving or posing the question different ways ever gave her another answer, though. With every year that passed, she was more and more sure that her grandfather was hiding something.

Cat tensed when she walked past a Fae talking to a mortal female. His silver eyes, black hair, and sex appeal were the biggest clues to what he was—Light Fae. At least, it wasn’t a Dark.

The Dark scared her the most with their red eyes. She shuddered just thinking about them.

She turned the corner and quickened her pace. Thunder rumbled the same time lightning zigzagged across the sky. More rain was on the way, but if she were lucky, she’d make it back to her cottage before it came.

Suddenly, she stopped. She didn’t know what had caught her attention, but something told her to go no farther. Her gaze roamed down the street as people milled about.

There was something in the air that draped over everything like a wet blanket. It took her a moment to realize what it was—fear. She looked at the humans and saw that none of them appeared to be affected.

Then she heard the footsteps coming, quickly. She saw the man running toward her and looking back over his shoulder. He passed beneath a streetlamp, and she saw his eyes—red.

But it was the terror on his face that surprised her. She hadn’t thought there was anything a Dark feared, but whatever was after this particular Fae must be frightening.

Her head told her to run, but her body refused to move. She remained where she was, even as a man appeared out of thin air in front of the Dark.

The Fae slid to a halt, his eyes wide. The man before him had long, white hair that was pulled away from his face by three small braids on each side of his head.

She had little time to process that before she saw the light glint off a blade. The sword sliced through the air and cut down the Dark, turning him to dust in an instant.

Shock reverberated through her as she involuntarily took a step back. What kind of weapon did he have that could kill a Fae?

Because she wanted one.

He took two steps away before he suddenly halted, his body stiffening. Then he gradually turned his head to look right at her. She couldn’t make out his face because of the shadows, but she knew he’d seen her.

And then, he disappeared.

She took another step back and hastily looked around, but there was no other sign of the white-haired man. Yet she knew she wasn’t alone.

He was there. She was sure of it. Just as she was sure the Fae would come for her soon.

Somehow, she managed to stand her ground. If she were going to die, she would do it with courage. Even if she was shaking. She wasn’t going to run, no matter how much she wanted to.

She felt something behind her a moment before the sound of footsteps reached her. Cat whirled around, ready to face the unknown stranger. But it was a Dark Fae who walked toward her.

“Shite,” she murmured and turned back around.

“Hiya, darlin’,” the Dark called. “What’s your hurry?”

She walked faster and said over her shoulder, “Long day.”

“Let me buy you a drink.”

“No, thanks.”

She waited for him to say more, and when he didn’t, she gave a sigh of relief. It wasn’t until she was in her cottage that she slumped against the door.

Another day gone.

#Donna Grant #St. Martin's Press - Swerve #Reapers 4 #Paranormal Romance

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