#the windrose chronicles

[e-b-reads]

Books of the Summer: May-Aug 2024

I'm back baby! These little blurbs at the top are usually where I put my disclaimer that these books are the ones I recommend, but not necessarily my favorites, and that particularly holds true for this summer when I consider a few that didn't make my list below: I read 20-something(!!) of the Hamish Macbeth mystery series, by M.C. Beaton, over June and July, and obviously I liked them because I just. kept going, but I also have several quibbles with them (e.g., twenty books and several years into the series, the main character is still "about 35"). I enjoyed them as something mostly brainless. Then in August, I read and very much enjoyed the Windrose Chronicles, by Barbara Hambly, a particular type of 80s portal fantasy, but in this case although my enjoyment was unalloyed, I feel like they're a rec for very specific circumstances or specific people. Anyway, thought both these series deserved some sort of honorable mention, but my official Books of the Summer are:

May

Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin): This is one of those tragedies where no one could have done anything different because of who they are as people, but even as you know what will happen from the beginning of the book, it's still worth reading to understand how. Also Baldwin is so good at writing. Not a happy book, but worth it.

June

Last Call at the Nightingale (Katharine Schellman): I'm recommending this one because it seems like I've seen (at least a few) people on the lookout for a good mystery set in the 1920s that is (queer) female-centric and not entirely trusting of cops, and this is definitely that. (Also the other book I saw being recced for that kind of thing was Dead Dead Girls, and I read it a little while ago and tbh was unimpressed with the writing.) I also read a few in another series by Schellman this summer, and I generally enjoy her mystery plots and attention to historical detail, while she also always makes sure she has a diverse cast of characters.

The Bellamy Trial (Frances Noyes Hart): A classic mystery (as in, published during the Golden Age), interesting in its trial formatting - the murder has happened, we're hearing everything in the courtroom sort of from the point of view of a pair of newspaper reporters. It's fun the way details are revealed.

July

The Ropemaker (Peter Dickinson): Did you know that Peter Dickinson was married to Robin McKinley? True power couple. I love The Ropemaker, I think I originally found my copy in a used book store with absolutely nothing to go on but the cover (it was years ago), and have read it several times. I particularly like that the main character doesn't have magic (and magic isn't entirely common in the fantasy world, though several other characters can do it), and she starts out feeling reasonably upset and left out, and then starts to realize that her own lack of magic is a particular, specific strength.

August

The Documents in the Case (Dorothy L. Sayers with Robert Eustace): I think I found this book by poking around the "Mysteries" section in a used book store, which is always a good way to find odd anthologies and Detection Club collections. This standalone mystery is, as it suggests, a collection of documents (mostly letters) meant to illuminate a mystery: handily, the son of the murdered man is collecting them and writes a little bit of analysis for us/the official to whom he is sending them, so we eventually get gaps in the story filled in. I particularly like the way that the nature of the medium means that every character is an unreliable narrator to some extent, and it takes a little reading before you can start to figure out who to trust more. I have read this a few times and always forget that it is kind of a chilling little story, in the end, but also really good!

#books of the summer #books of the month #book recs #giovanni's room #james baldwin #last call at the nightingale #katharine schellman #the bellamy trial #frances noyes hart #the ropemaker #peter dickinson #the documents in the case #dorothy sayers #robert eustace #also sort of: #hamish macbeth #m.c. beaton #the windrose chronicles #barbara hambly

[lurking-latinist]

💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

My least kudos'd story on the Archive is Dialogue, but that was for an origfic event hosted on Tumblr and it got lots of lovely comments in the event (I just stuck it on AO3 for safekeeping afterwards), so I don't feel it really counts! (But I will say something nice about it anyway: it uses a really cool hypothetical-staging concept that I am proud of.)

My second least kudos'd story is an actual fanfic and is called What Do I Look Like, Some Kind of Magnet?. It is a drabble crossing over Barbara Hambly's Windrose Chronicles with the same author's Sun-Cross duology. I had some issues with Sun-Cross, but the character of Sara stuck with me, and I think I did a good job evoking what she might be like many years after her story ends. (She'd be a very cool old lady.) I also think I did a pretty good job catching Antryg's voice (the Windrose Chronicles character in the story), but he's Literally Just The Fourth Doctor But A Wizard, so that wasn't too hard. XD

#this was fun! thank you! #ask game #the windrose chronicles #barbara hambly

[linovadraws]

I just finished a reread of the Windrose Chronicles by Barbara Hambly so of course I had to do a quick doodle.

Ft. the Antryg portrait I drew in 2021, the last time I read the series

#windrose chronicles #barbara hambly #antryg windrose #joanna sheraton #fanart #antryg's arms should have more jacked up scars but also i don't wanna

[heimeldat]

I already gobbled up the first chapter.

Caris seems cool in a generic fantasy hero sort of way. I like the idea of his magic vanishing and returning. 

I love it that the singular of sasenna is longer than the plural; idk why but it makes me happy whenever that structure shows up.

Dr. Narwhal Skipfrag? Really? Hahaha!

Yeah, Antryg sounds like Four. I look forward to meeting him.

#windrose chronicles #random thoughts #yes I'm going to liveblog this book

[morhath]

I wonder if Naomi Novik has read the Windrose books b/c the description of the tsaeati is very mawmouth, as is the way that you kill it

#windrose chronicles #scholomance #life #reading #books

[elucubrare]

have you ever read The Windrose Chronicles by Barbara Hambly? I was reading through your books & reading tag and it struck me as the kind of very dramatic 80s portal fantasy that might fit with other things you’ve enjoyed

i probably should (I've read & liked other Hambly) but weirdly i've never really loved portal fantasies despite liking the concept well enough

[holly-poly]

Initial Pinch Hits

Anyone who is interested in pinch hitting can sign up for pinch hits at this link. You do not have to be signed up to participate in the exchange in order to claim pinch hits. Claims will occur on a first come, first served basis. Simply reply to the message posted on the group and provide your AO3 name to claim a pinch hit. 

Four initial pinch hits are below too (there were six but two got snapped up very quickly!). More specific information can be found by clicking the links. If you're interested in claiming any of these pinch hits, send an e-mail to [email protected] with your AO3 name.

We will also post to the Dreamwidth community and here whenever a new pinch hit goes out, and if any of them linger then multiple reminders will be posted until someone has claimed the request in question. If you have any questions, let us know.

#1: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner, Shane - Jack Schaefer, Morocco (1930), Gerald Poole and the Pirates - Johannes T. Evans

#2: Star Trek: Classic Timeline, Talents Series - Anne McCaffrey, The Windrose Chronicles - Barbara Hambly, Quantum Leap (TV 1989)

#4: Last Cloudia (Video Game), Romancing SaGa 3 (Video Game), Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe (Video Game), 明日方舟 | Arknights (Video Game), Emperors SaGa, Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song (Video Game), The de Burghs - Deborah Simmons, Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)

#5: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), Marvel Noir, Marvel 616, X-Men Evolution

Collection: https://ao3.org/collections/holly_poly_2022 Tag Set: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/12906 Tumblr: https://holly-poly.tumblr.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/holly_poly_ex

#holly poly 2022 #pinch hits

[polyrecsdaily]

[jamesdavisnicoll]

The Silicon Mage (Windrose Chronicles, volume 2) by Barbara Hambly

[othercat2]

If We Do Not Know Our History (of Dumbass from Our World Ends Up Somewhere Else) We Are Doomed

to say something stupid like, "...before isekai got popular in the West."

Just. I am laughing. This particular genre is/was wildly popular, and only briefly went out of fashion because it was "tired" and "cliche" according to critics.

More or less from the top of my head:

Night-threads, by Ru Emerson This is a series from the 1990s. Three people from Cali end up in fantasy setting

Sword and the Chain, by Joel Rosenberg this is a series from the 1980s Our Heroes are college students who a brought into a another world by a wizard (who lured them in via a table top rpg campaign that basically detailed the world they'd get dumped in.) When confronted by the reality of the slave holding societya they didn't have any problem with as a fantasy setting, they go a little feral.

Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Stephen R. Donaldson: titular character ends up in fantasy world and spends a great deal of the time refusing to believe he's in fantasy land. First series ran in the seventies, second series in the nineties, third around 2013.

The Seventh Sword by Dave Duncan: This is another one where the character doesn't believe he's been brought into a fantasy land. At least he's easier to convince. This series is from the 1990s. Not a favorite! I think of this as being the spiritual opposite of The Sword and the Chain

Doomfarers of Coramond by Brian Daley: In which an armored personel carrier full of soldiers find themselves transported from Vietnam to a fantasy world. this book and it's sequel is from the seventies.

Witchworld novels by Andre Norton several of the books in this series involve people from Earth ending up in the Witchworld. This series is from the 1960s all the way to early 2000s, several books published after the writer's death, and many other writers brought into the project.

Tredana Cycle, by Joyce Ballou Gregorian, comprising "The Broken Citadel," "Castledown," and "The Great Wheel." Our Heroine is a girl (and later young woman) who keeps getting drawn into another world called "Tredana." The first time, when she's twelve, the next in her twenties, and the final time in her thirties. This series is from the seventies.

Mirror of Her Dreams by Stephen R. Donaldson Clinically depressed young woman ends up in a fantasy world. things go poorly for her, since the magic involves mirrors and for a change, the fantasy people don't think the person from the other world is real. (Not a great situation for a mentally ill young woman to be in.) If I recall, this one is from the eighties or nineties

Darwath Trilogy by Barbara Hambly Wizard recruits people from our world to help with entities known as "The Dark" which prey upon humans. This series is from the 1980s. I don't remember many details.

Windrose Chronicles by Barbara Hambly Our Heroine and another dude end up in fantasy world. Bad Horrible things happen, the details of which I'm fuzzy on. This series is also from the 1980s.

Spellsinger, by Alan Dean Foster, another series from the 80s! Our Hero is a college student brought to a fantasy world full of humans and anthropomorphic animals! His innate magical ability is needed to help fight the evil insect empire. Stuff happens.

A Wizard in Rhyme by Christopher Stasheff Our hero ends up in a universe where poetry makes magic and the major conflict is between Good Christians and Evil Mages who literally work for the devil. This series is mostly from the eighties and 90s and while entertaining, also causes me to twitch in irritation.

Lest Darkness Fall L. Sprague DeCamp A historian ends up in the past, and uses Historian Powers (no I'm not exaggerating) to change history.

The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny I feel these books also count as isekai, though our protagonist is from fantasy world who travels to other worlds. (technically, his fantasy world is the only real world and the other worlds are shadows.) There was a series in the seventies, and a second series in I think the eighties/nineties. I prefer the "Merlin" set to the earlier "Corwin" set.

The Changeling/Madwand by Roger Zelazny from the 1980s. Our Hero was from fantasy land, from where he was sent as a baby. Meanwhile the kid he was replaced with is in fantasy land trying to start an industrial revolution, eternally frustrated by fantasy land's reliance on magic.

Dragonsword Trilogy by Gael Baudino This fantasy trilogy is basically a screed against Gor. This trilogy IIRC is from the 90s.

Dragon and the George Gordon R. Dickson Our Hero is not only in fantasy land, he is now a Dragon. I have never actually read this book.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom books are an isekai, though more or less science fiction based. These were written in the 1930s. I have read many of the books in this series.

A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay, from the 1920s. another more or less science fiction based isekai. I have only skimmed this one.

Do I need to mention the Chronicles of Narnia? by C.S. Lewis? Or his Space Trilogy?

There are others: this is by no mean an exhaustive list, just the ones that came immediately to mind. "Isekai" is a pretty standard concept in western science fiction and fantasy and by no means something that *isn't* popular?

#isekai #portal fantasy

[mrs-evadne-cake]

For the a-z: A, D, K, S, B

A - Z Favorite Characters

Drop five letters of the alphabet in my ask box, and I’ll give my favorite characters whose name start with those letters.    A: Arcade Gannon (Fallout: New Vegas) & Antryg Windrose (The Windrose Chronicles) and… Arthur Morgan (Red Dead 2)

D: Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks)

K: Kuzco (Nooooo touchy.)

S: Suzy Bannion (Susperia Old and Remake)

B: Bill Denbrough (IT)

[e-b-reads]

gotta admit, that's a hell of a first line.

(from Silicon Mage, the second in a portal fantasy series from the 1980s where the heroine is a 26-year-old computer programmer from Los Angelos)

#silicon mage #windrose chronicles #barbara hambly #these books aren't perfect but I'm enjoying them a whole lot

[lurking-latinist]

reviving a meme I previously got from @swinging-stars-from-satellites

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

158 (one currently unrevealed).

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

103,185. I cracked 100k recently!

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

All the Doctors Who + Gallifrey + Iris Wildthyme + The Time Travellers + GoR etc.; Ancient Greek Religion & Lore; WtOVPIC; Blake’s 7; Dracula; Discworld; Windrose Chronicles & Sun-Cross series also by Barbara Hambly (one crossover); All Creatures Great and Small; Lost at Christmas, heaven help me. That makes nine as I count it. Most only for one small thing or crossover.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

Skipping kudos bot victims:

Ms Smith (13 and Sarah, fun with fake names)

don’t worry, he’s with me (Ten and Donna five-times-fic)

Vicarious (Six & Martha drabble)

Time Flies Like an Arrow (witches fly on a broomstick) (Discworld, Lancre Witches, having a philosophical conversation about time) (I have come to detest this title but I’m glad people enjoyed the fic)

to all our nights and days to come (Seven/Romana Time War AU)

It’s helpful to include extremely popular, well-known characters in your fics. Or, apparently, to write a slightly darker twist on your rarepair OTP and happen to plug it one day on a relevant popular post.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

I do, because I love getting comments and I am always genuinely grateful to hear that someone has enjoyed my work!

6. A fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Wow, last time I did this meme I said it was That Which We Call. That’s changed. It might actually be to all our nights and days to come, or else one of the Six-post-Trial ones.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Apparently! But not much, and not well.

8. Ever received hate on a fic?

Nope, touch wood.

9, Do you write smut?

Not my thing.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

11. Ever had a fic translated?

Yes!! @sci-firenegade translated Making History into Portuguese! It is so cool.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Sort of, with Moki! We more tend to write sequels to each other’s stuff, but we also have listed ourselves as co-authors on a couple of things.

13. All time fav ship?

Seven/Romana.

14. WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Never say die! Probably the Eight/Charley babyfic AU, though. If I go back to it it’ll be as a very different writer and I’ll probably want to rework what exists and it’ll be technically a different fic.

15. Writing strengths?

Character voices & dialogue. Also, focalization. I always know what A thinks of B and what B notices about A, which is hilarious as I absolutely do not know any of this in real life.

16. Writing weaknesses?

Used to be length; I’m still very brief but I feel like I have more control over the length of a fic now. Like it comes out more or less the length I expect it to; I can tell what size something’s gonna be. Probably now I would just say plot. I’m not great at Things Occurring. And like everybody else I get hung up on how to describe basic actions like walking across a room.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Don’t do it if you can’t get the other language right (as well as how code-switching actually tends to work). Also, translation convention exists for a reason. Probably don’t pull an ‘opening lines of War and Peace’ unless you are in fact Tolstoy, in which case you don’t need my writing advice. Nothing inherently wrong with it though.

18. First fandom you wrote for?

Officially, DW. Unofficially, probably something as a kid before I knew fandom existed. Redwall or something.

19. What’s your fav fic you’ve written so far?

to all our nights and days to come, probably.

Not tagging anyone, but memes are for stealing!

[linovadraws]

now that's what i call height difference

#fanart #wip #windrose chronicles

[notapaladin]

comforthawk replied to your post: me: I love the James Asher vampire series but it’s...

BARBARA HAMBLY BARBARA HAMBLY BARBARA HAMBLY I’ve only consumed the windrose chronicles and darwath and the benjamin january mysteries tho but BARBARA HAMBLY BARBARA HAMBLY BARBARA HAMBLY

yeLLS!!!

THOSE ARE THE ONES I HAVE NOT READ BUT PLEASE READ THE JAMES ASHER SERIES.

it has VAMPIRES and MYSTERY and HORROR and WONDERFUL WONDERFUL FEELINGS. simon is the Best Walking Shark and i love him

#comforthawk

[sineala]

Hello! I maybe have a strange question, but what's your comfort when you're feeling down? Maybe some favourite fics or movies?

I’m sorry if you’re feeling down, anon!

Honestly, if I’m actually feeling really down, I try to remember to practice basic general self-care because I have to tell myself that even though it doesn’t feel like it, I will feel more like a human being and not a pile of misery if I get up, shower, put on clean clothes that probably aren’t pajamas, eat something even if it’s not great for me because eating something is better than eating nothing. That kind of thing.

My number one comfort movie is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Yes, the one with the whales. (My number two comfort movie is probably Clue.) Also I like to find random comedic things on YouTube and watch them because if I am really sad, committing to watching a movie feels like so much effort and I’ll probably end up watching, like, all the sketches on Whose Line Is It Anyway where someone has to be someone else’s hands. Those will almost always make me laugh.

If I’m sad and going back to favorite books, Diane Duane’s Star Trek books and the beginning few books of her Young Wizards series usually remind me that the universe can be a good place with good people in it, and I like them. (I also like to reread the first two books of Barbara Hambly’s Windrose Chronicles every so often -- yeah, I know, they’re het, I love them anyway -- though I haven’t done that in a couple years. They’re not the same kind of happy but they do eventually get to a happy ending.)

I’ve been sitting on this ask for a couple days because I was trying to think of fic recs and nothing has occurred to me, but if I think of any I will let you know.

#Anonymous #replies