#neal schusterman

[granddame-of-death]

all I can say after the ending of thunderhead is

*long sigh*

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

#arc of a scythe #thunderhead #scythe #scythe anastasia #scythe lucifer #citra terranova #rowan damisch #citra x rowan #scythe faraday #scythe curie #munira atrushi #the toll #neal schusterman

[nikihawkes]

Book Review: Gleanings by Neal Schusterman

Title: Gleanings Author: Neal Schusterman Series: Arc of the Scythe #3.5 Genre: YA Fantasy Rating: 3/5 stars The Overview: There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living…

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#arc of the scythe #book #book review #book reviews #books #gleanings #neal schusterman #niki hawkes #scythe #Short stories #teen books #the obsessive bookseller #YA #young adult

[forbidden-interlude]

A big part of why literature is still such a prominent part of my life is because my grandmother would listen to me ramble on and on about books. When I was younger she’d even sit while I read my novels out loud and we’d both discuss themes, characters and whatnot.

#so I gotta tell her thanks for that #that woman had to sit through so many YA novels #where is her Nobel peace price #y’all know Neal schusterman’s unwind series? there were at least 5 books in that #and she listened to me read the whole damn thing

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

As a Jerico enjoyer, I am simply having the best time watching him/her (Jerico switches pronouns based on whether the sky is clear or cloudy, and later whether Jerico is at sea or land) destroy the pool while everyone else freaks out about TOH Jerma lookalike. Anyway, everyone should read the Arc of the Scythe series, Neal Schusterman is one of my favorite authors, and we love Captain Jerico Sobranis in this house <3

We love a character that really has fun with pronouns.

#asks #not blorbo poll #propaganda?

[apileofmoss]

book summaries under cut

#ok go wild #mossy's mumblings

[god-of-my-world]

I need to stop talking about HC in literature classes or people are going think I don't have a personality outside of this niche video game.

On a side note I am reading Neal Schusterman's novel Challenger Deep and I strongly recommend it to HC fans who want to see depictions of psychosis and mental illness in a similarly abstract and artistic way. It's status as a YA book makes it really accessible and doesn't overdramatize the protagonists experience for shock or disturbia.

#book rec #thoughts

[intone]

alias / name:  niran !

birthday: december 18

zodiac sign:  sagittarius sun, aries moon, capricorn rising.

height:   5'"5"

hobbies:   knitting, reading, journaling, video-games and writing.

favorite color: blue + pink

favorite book: scythe by neal schusterman.

last song:   sure thing by miguel

last film / show:   spider-man: across the spidervese.

recent reads:  blood like magic by liselle sambury and piranesi by susanna clarke.

inspiration:  it's honestly fleeting like the writing mood will come to me when it comes to me.

story behind url: intoner zero :)

fun fact about me: i had a birdie that lived to the ripe age of 39!

tagged by: no one i stole it tagging: you!!

#out. #dash game.

[cgi-heart-eyes]

have i mentioned that neal schusterman is in fact my favorite author ever

#arc of a scythe #unwind #dry #challenger deep #game changer #bruiser #these are the books/series i’ve read

[txxfiles]

an introduction and some books

hi hotties! 

the idea for this blog came from the twisted fantasy of my three closest friends and i as a way of producing something collaborative and creative without submitting ourselves to the mortifying ordeal of being known. we all get a fun little code name (i'm ruminating on magnolia, which i like but also think is a bit wanky in a way that i can't reconcile myself with spiritually just yet) and a week of the month to post whatever we want. the idea was essentially to create a platform where we get to talk uninterrupted shit about anything we want to because it’s our fucking blog, goddamit, and you’re not going to come onto our blog and tell us how to post. 

and so, to kick things off, i am going to be talking about my favourite books of 2023 because i am cultured and sophisticated and definitely didn’t spend the first half of the year drowning in fae romantasy smut in an attempt to feel something. if you don’t like any of these books don’t tell me because i simply don’t care!! xoxo 

non-fiction favourite - the anthropocene reviewed, john green 

i spent 2023 working very hard to reprogramme my misanthropic brain, and this book was a huge part of what allowed me to do that. i’m still by no means cured of my hater tendencies, but this book was a beautifully tender examination of that little spark of humanity that connects us all, and the numerous ways in which it has manifested throughout human history and across the borders of nationality, age, and gender. green somehow manages to weave in his own life experiences in a way that avoids being preachy or self-aggrandising in a way that i think a lot of non-fiction writers really struggle with - i’d also highly recommend consuming this in audiobook form as his narration really made the experience for me. 

fantasy favourite - a court of silver flames, sarah j maas

if you read this and immediately want to start lecturing me on how booktok is ruining the fantasy genre please know that im manifesting your downfall as we speak. i have my own issues with the flattening of the fantasy genre that takes place on tiktok, but the acotar series is a sugary, pulpy delight and this spinoff novel is where, in my humble opinion, it really hits its peak. as you can probably tell just by reading this, i am what is affectionately known as ‘a prickly unfriendly bitch’ in my day-to-day life, and i love seeing characters who represent me in a way that doesn’t glamourise being an unkind person - and nesta in this book is someone whose tendency to push people away isn’t justified or apologised for, and whose growth i found legitimately inspiring. also i’m still waiting for sarah j maas to stop teasing a dp scene and actually write it, the coward. 

sci-fi favourite - the arc of a scythe trilogy, neal schusterman

this trilogy rocked me to my fucking core, bitch. this was another audiobook read from early 2023 and it’s one of the better pieces of speculative fiction i’ve ever encountered. schusterman pulls off some really complicated and in-depth worldbuilding in a way that doesn’t feel like i’m reading an instruction manual - something that’s genuinely hard to do in this genre - and the series only gets better as it goes. as someone who is profoundly afraid of artificial intelligence this offered a perspective on ai that i’ve not really seen in media before now - and i will also be thinking about my pookie scythe lucifer for ever and ever amen. 

lit fic favourite - all the names they used for god, anjali sachdeva 

i’m actually not going to talk about this one too much because it’s quite a difficult book to explain without giving away too much - not in a spoiler sense, but in a 'this is an experience that you need to go into with an open mind' sense. this is a collection of short stories that play with genre, setting, and character to tell a series of profound stories about the human struggle with fate and the pursuit of meaning. sachdeva manages to build such engrossing and vibrant worlds in the limited space she allows herself for each story - and she avoided the pitfall i find that a lot of short story anthologies fall into where you can very clearly tell that the writer had one story they desperately wanted to publish and wrote the rest as a way of filling up space for a full book.

well, those are some of my 2023 faves. i have a million honourable mentions but i’m not going to put them here because i’ve already written way too much. i’m not sure who’s taking over the reins for week 2 of this little blog experiment but be sure to give them a kiss on the forehead from me! 

yours, 

magnolia

#magnolia

[mjparkerwriting]

Hi buddy! Its Athena, I'm sending this out to all my mutuals - what got you into writing, what inspires you, who inspires you and what music inspires you to write? what do you love about writing?

Hey!

I’m not for sure what got me into writing. I’ve been doing it for so long that I can’t recall a singular moment. I used to write all the time as a kid. I know I started taking it a little more seriously in high school with fanfics because I’d read fics and watch my movies/shows and I would always say “I wish someone did this”. Then I realized I could just do it myself.

Just the idea of creating a world and people for that world is enough for me to keep going. I love stories and storytelling. When I was younger, I unfortunately had an obsession with an unnamed story about a wizard boy but I really started to appreciate stories and the art of worldbuilding when my fifth grade teacher read the first 3 Percy Jackson books to us. Outside of my silly little dream of wanting to be like Toni Morrison or Rick Riordan or Neal Schusterman or GRRM, my loved ones inspire me the most. I never really attached music to my writing and only just recently started passively listening while writing so I can’t say that any music inspires me to write. I have slowly gotten into making playlists but they’re really just for fun and I may only think about them during the plotting phase.

To answer the last part, I just really love the idea of creating. I love that when I write something, whether it’s a long story or a short little idea or a character profile, I know that it came from me. I know that I’m able to build something from nothing and then when I finish it, I can be proud of that thing and maybe even share it with others.

sorry for the novel length reply! :) 🤍

#answered asks

[whumpdoyoumean]

Writing Sketch #1

About a month ago I made this post about doing a writing equivalent of posting sketches, and then promptly didn't do anything about it. Well I'm finally posting one! All of these will be tagged with "writing sketch" and "writing doodles"

This is a fic idea that I had and started writing when I was in high school (circa 2015). It's a Teen Wolf AU set in the world of the UnWind series by Neal Schusterman. In it, Stiles and Scott are runaways (AWOLs) being chased by Peter Hale. Derek, known as the Alpha, helps runaways escape to a hidden community that provides refuge to AWOL kids (Isaac, Allison, Lydia, Jackson, Erica, and Boyd were all going to be there). Melissa was going to be there as a nurse, and the Sheriff was also going to be there in some capacity. I never ended up writing the thing (except what's below), but it was going to be whumpy as hell (obviously)

xxx

“Stiles, we’re three hundred miles from home. I highly doubt anyone knows us here. I’ve still got a little cash, and we haven’t had a decent meal in days. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Stiles snorted. “Oh, I dunno Scott. It could be that news has gotten out about two rogue AWOLS who tranq Juvie cops. We could be taken by a couple of them and unwound in camps. Or we could be drugged and taken by parts pirates and unwound in an old warehouse somewhere with rusty tools and no anesthetic. Or maybe there’s a serial killer who targets teenage boys, and he-”

“Okay, okay, I get it!” Scott interrupted with a glare.

Stiles sighed. “Look, I just don’t think it’s a good idea, that’s all.”

“You can order bacon and eggs,” Scott said in a sing-songy voice, smiling inwardly as he saw Stiles’s face change, his resolve clearly shaken. Scott went in for the kill. “Banana pancaaaaakes.”

Stiles crumbled. “Fine! We’ll go get breakfast in town! But if we get caught, they will be down one unwind because I will kill you. Got it?”

Scott grinned. “Fair enough.” They walked in silence, and fifteen minutes later they were at the edge of a small town.

“You sure you wanna do this?” Stiles asked.

“Banana pancakes,” Scott replied.

It was enough of an answer for Stiles and he led the way in search of something to eat. They settled on a tiny diner, a family owned dive that looked like it hadn’t seen any renovations since the 1970s. It had a cozy, friendly feel to it, and Scott felt immediately at ease. Stiles still seemed a bit on edge, but that was just the way he was. By the time the waitress, an older lady with curly hair, and a smile that could light up the room, came to take their orders though, he’d relaxed a little and actually seemed to be enjoying himself. 

They didn’t talk much as they waited for breakfast, but that was okay. They’d been friends their entire lives since becoming roommates at the ward house. They’d also been getting into trouble together just as long--hence the dual unwind orders, and the subsequent Being on the Lam together. The waitress was back before they knew it, and the the sight and smell of an actual meal set Scott’s mouth to watering and his stomach to growling.

“I’m gonna savor this,” he said, dousing his French toast with syrup. He was mildly amused but not surprised to see that Stiles was already scarfing his food, barely stopping even to take a breath. Scott took his first bit and immediately understood Stiles’ impulse to shovel his food.

The hot, syrupy decadence of roadside breakfast was in sharp contrast to the dry, tasteless protein bars they’d been living on for the last week, and his immediate desire was to put as much of the sticky goodness into his body in as little time as possible. By the time he was done, his face and fingers were sticky and he had a full stomach, aching a little in a way that wasn’t altogether unpleasant. 

“That,” Stiles said emphatically, “was a wonderful idea.” Scott raised an eyebrow. “Are you telling me I was right?”

Stiles made a face. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“Oh, man. If we hadn’t had to ditch our cells, I would record that and set it as my ringtone.”

“Ha ha ha,” Stiles said sarcastically, but there was a smile in his eyes. “Enjoy it while you can. That’s the last time you’ll ever hear that from me.”

Scott laughed. The waitress chose that moment to come check in. “How is every-oh!” She looked at the already empty plates with wide eyes and raised eyebrows and Scott couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently, it was catching, because Stiles joined in, and so did the waitress. When she returned a few minutes later with the bill, all they found was a note that said, “This one’s on us.”

For the moment, the world, and the people in it, were good.

XXX

“Let’s turn down this alley,” Stiles said under his breath. 

“What? Why?”

“Just do it!” Stiles hissed, grabbing Scott’s arm and dragging him into a long, narrow alley between two brown brick buildings. He ducked down behind a dumpster and Scott, perplexed, did the same.

“What’s going on?” Scott whispered.

“I think we’re being followed.”

“What?”

“There was this guy at the cafe who left right after we did and I’m pretty sure he’s tailing us,” Stiles explained quickly, his voice shaking. He felt his muscles tensing as adrenaline flooded his system, fight-or-flight kicking in.

“You’re just being paranoid,” Scott said, standing.

“No!” Stiles cried, just as a crack split the air.

“Shit!” Scott yelled, collapsing back behind the dumpster with his hands over his head and his eyes wide. “Shit, Stiles, that was a real bullet!”

Stiles’s heart sped up and his mind raced. “Okay, Scott, I need you to distract him.”

“What?! How?”

“I don’t know!” Stiles hissed, pulling his backpack off. “Talk to him!” Stiles shuffled through the contents of his bag, pulling what he needed out as he found it. Meanwhile, Scott started yelling at the gunman.

“You know, Juvie cops aren’t allowed to carry real bullets, much less fire them at kids!”

“I’m not a cop!” the man called back.

“Parts pirate then? Well, you can’t very well sell parts of a dead kid!” Scott shouted, a hint of desperation in his voice. 

“I find real bullets much more effective in discouraging dipshit kids from running! Besides, I don’t shoot to kill, and a mostly good body still fetches quite a price on the black market!”

“Get ready to run,” Stiles muttered to Scott. Scott nodded. Stiles pulled a lighter out of his pocket and held the flame up to the soaking rag that was hanging out of the bottle of whiskey he’d dug out of his bag.

“Go!” Stiles shouted. In one swift motion, he stood and hurled the makeshift Molotov cocktail at the parts pirate and took off running behind Scott. He heard glass shattering and a shout and looked over his shoulder.

The bottle had hit the man’s shoulder, and flames were spreading across his shirt and licking at his neck and face. The man let out a howl of rage and pain and began firing, shooting wildly and blindly a few times before hitting the ground and rolling, putting out the flames that had engulfed him before falling still.

Scott had stopped a few feet ahead and Stiles slowed to a halt beside him.

“What...the hell...was that?” Scott asked breathlessly.

“Molotov...Molotov cocktail. I snagged the whiskey from the warden’s desk before we left.”

Scott smiled and let out a nervous laugh. “Damn.”

Stiles smiled too and turned from the smoking form on the ground, heading toward the open end of the alley, Scott on his heels. Then, several things happened at once: a black car pulled up, blocking the end of the alley; behind them, the parts pirate rose to his feet and raised his weapon. 

They were trapped.

“That way!” Stiles shouted, pushing Scott toward the car. The back door opened and the car’s window rolled down, revealing a scruffy young man no more than a few years older than them.

“Get in!” he cried.

The space between the the boys and the car shrank. Three yards, two, one, a foot. Scott was in the car and Stiles was about to follow him when a crack sounded and a hot, piercing pain shot through his back, near his right hip. He let out a cry and hit the ground, just in front of the open car.

“Stiles!” Scott cried, grabbing him under the arms and dragging him into the car as the parts pirate screamed, “I’m going to kill you!”

Stiles pulled the door shut and the car sped away with a squeal, shot ricocheting off of the metal. 

“He okay?” the driver asked, glancing into the rearview mirror.

Scott was pale, and he was staring at something. “I think it’s a through and through,” he answered, his voice tight.

Stiles blinked heavily, not sure what Scott meant. The pain in his back was making his head foggy, and he was suddenly exhausted. There was pain in his front, too, which was confusing, and he looked down with a frown, startled to see blood soaking the front of his shirt.

“Wh...what is this?” He mumbled, putting his hand over the place where the sticky red substance seemed to be coming from. 

“I think that’s where the bullet came out,” Scott answered, only his voice sounded funny. Stiles’s head started to nod, but Scott’s voice snapped him out of it. “Don’t sleep! Stiles, you have to stay awake.”

Stiles blinked slowly. He felt strange, sort of floaty.

“Stiles? Stiles, you with me?” Scott’s voice was far away, and Stiles didn’t have the strength to answer. He tried to stay awake like Scott said, but the black at the edge of his vision was growing.

It didn’t take long to suffocate him.

XXX

“He’s unconscious and he won’t wake up!” Scott cried, his heart hammering wildly. His chest was getting tight, his throat  threatening to close. It was getting harder to breathe, and he reached for his inhaler. It wasn’t in his pocket. He checked the other one. It wasn’t there, either. Shit.

“You looking for this?” the driver of the  car asked, holding up the inhaler. Scott grabbed it and puffed the medicine,  grateful as his airways relaxed and opened. “You left it on the seat at the diner. I figured you might need it.”

Scott nodded, breathing deeply. “Yeah. Thanks. Look, Stiles needs help. Where are you taking us?”

“Somewhere safe. We’ve got doctors there for exactly this kind of thing.  He’ll  be okay. My name’s Derek,  by the way. I’ve been following you two since Beacon Hills.”

Scott felt his eyes widen. “Derek Hale. The Alpha.”

Derek looked at him in the rearview mirror. “That’s what they call me, yeah.”

#writing sketch #my writing #my fic #fanfic #whump fic #teen wolf #teen wolf fic #teen wolf au #unwind #scott mccall #stiles stilinski #derek hale #stiles whump #drabble #wip #writing doodles

[weirdfishy]

tagged by @ghostboyjules !!! ghostieeee hello n ilyt 💕💕

Last Song: Vienna by Billy Joel

Currently Watching: Danny Phantom, for the first time lol- i'm getting some canon context for fic writing bc as much as i love fanon, it's a short series n i enjoy the opening song. once i'm done blazing through that, i'll go to season 3 of the witcher (i've done my best to avoid my dash bc the plethora of witcher accounts i follow are having the time of their lives rn n this is something i absolutely can NOT spoil for myself. i already saw some jaskier/radovid stuff n i had to system reboot)

Currently Reading: Scythe, by Neal Schusterman; one of three in the Arc of a Scythe series, with the dystopic premise of 'there is no natural death anymore, and so death must be fabricated by humans' and its sooooo !!!!!! the entire world has controlled all factors of mortality, and even the one area of true fear (death by Scythe) is still viewed as mostly controllable!! idk maybe i just like dystopians and the relationship between death and a society is also particularly interesting to me

Current Obsessions: day dreaming, spiderverse, my new pillow, being sleebie *yawning24/7* even moreso bc now im caregiving, so now also coffee n tea, though the coffee tends to be more of a hot chocolate with instant coffee stirred in, yearning, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, my new tattoo!!! imagining myself with short (& red) hair, tourdust, jack fenton, appreciating my hair as it is now and debating the big cut n another dye, jason todd, n Scythe

mmm no pressure ofc, but tagging @snakeinmeboots808 @shire-bard @thatboysgotwoah @mashumaru @command-query n whoever would like to!

#tagg@me #fishy’s bubbles #i. sleep now. im so glad im not driving tmr. #<3 #ghostie 👻

[kangamommynow]

9. favorite smell in the summer?

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

23. strange habits?

30. places that you find sacred?

54. what did you learn from your first job?

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

Please and thank you 💜

Thank you dearest

9. Favorite smell of the summer: summer rain, especially in the desert

15. Favorite book I read as a school assignment: I honestly don't remember anything I had to read for school. I would say that my favorite book I've assigned is Neal Schusterman's Scythe.

23. Strange habits? I don't know how strange this is. I tend to breathe very deeply, sigh, and say "OK"as a way to reset my brain.

30. Places I find sacred. The forest. The ocean. Anywhere there is more nature than people.

54. What did you learn from your first job? Hmm. That showing up early is good.

59. If you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be? "Don't be a dick"

73. Favorite weird flavor combo? Vanilla ice cream and Bugles chips.

[janihernan]

This edit was so great and deserves a reblog.

#arc of a scythe #booklr

[erisenyo]

29 and 108 for the book rec thing

29 - your favourite YA novel

This is really tough because I used to be the YA reader in my local bookstore. I reread Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley until the book literally fell to pieces in my hands, but it's been a while, so a more recent favorite is Scythe by Neal Schusterman

108 - a book with a small town setting

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, since YA is on the mind. Or if historical romance is your jam, The Summer of You by Kate Noble is excellent.

For this book recs ask game!

#ask games #asks and answers #This is making me realize how hard it is to CHOOSe

[cutebutahandful]

it's been a long while since i've read something that's taken my breath away and made me pause to reflect but neal schusterman's scythe did.

first rambling thoughts (spoilers):

absolutely love the anastasia line!! not bc we all know im an anastasia girl but the rationale? i tip my hat to u cittra

the book made me think about stagnation, immortality and what humanity could achieve. i don't believe that even with full equity, crime will vanquish - i think it makes it more fun to wreck something when everything else is perfect

it also made me think about what i would do if i were a scythe - operate on a solid moral code or drown in excess? if immortality is given and gleaning not granted to a scythe, i can see exactly how tempting and desirous goddard's life was

needed chomsky and rand to suffer more, i understand goddard's tho

luv rowan too

faraday x curie was unexpected but i quite adore them individually.

this book came out in 2016 - can't believe it took me 8 years to uncover this gem