Tag Archive | a-z

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: L is for Lust

The Meme Master Post

L is for Lust, in the days and the nights.

Lust is tricky, especially when you write the sort of fiction I do. There’s this ever-moving line between “turns someone on” and “creeps someone out,” and the exact same words in the exact same sequence will have on effect on one reader and the other on another.

I mean, just f’rinstance, both Addergoole and Tír na Cali started as fantasy settings, where “fantasy” means “sexual fantasy.” Way back when, when we were roleplaying Cali, a friend of mine called it “put your kink on a character sheet.” Kidnapping, mind control, geisha-like courtesans, emotional control, more kidnapping, violent abuse, hurt-comfort, gender transformations, and furries (and occasionally anime-ridiculous large boobs): you could get a good impression of that circle’s kink from looking at what Tír na Cali’s magic & tech can do.

Addergoole was a branch off of Tír na Cali, made more web-serial-able when I started writing (surprise) the web serial of the same name. A boarding school where people turn into faeries, and also there is magical mind control slavery? Yeah. It was intended to be in the same family as Tales of Mu, a sex-and-kink-heavy magical school.

The sex and kink are definitely still in the story, even if there ended up being a lot more plot and drama. Collars, and dubious-to-straight-out-non-consent, mind control and bondage and ooh la la.

And the thing is, it makes some people very happy and pisses other ones off a lot. Sometimes I run into mental walls, where I didn’t actually mean for someone to be read as a bad guy, but there they are, tricking someone into bondage and slavery. And it’s hard to justify them as the good guy, then.

But it’s still pretty damn hot 🙂

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/923283.html. You can comment here or there.

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: K is for Knitting (etc)

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K is for knitting and kisses and kites

Good topics!

Knitting! I was going to start with the Oldest Egyptian Socks I’d just found last night whilst Googling Old Clothes, and then, while looking for sources, found this Blog Post on Knitting and the Oldest Egyptian Socks (which were made with Nålebinding, but hey, it’s close).

In my current quest to figure out Everything about Reiassan, I’ve been googling the oldest extant clothes, which is how I ended up finding the the Oldest Egyptian Socks. It’s not the first time I’ve come across Egyptian Socks, though, in my Reiassan research – I knit, so I was looking for evidence that the Calenyena might have picked up knitting early on in their timeline. (Further evidence shows that Egyptians did, indeed, knit as well as do nålebinding, so that works out.)

But that part of Reiassan started because someday, someday, I want to cosplay my setting. Probably at least two different eras of it (That’s what I get for writing a millennia-spanning setting). And when I started really getting into Reiassan was about the same time I started getting into knitting.

It’s kind of sad. I started getting into knitting because my baby cousin was having her first baby. She’s got three kids now and that first blanket still isn’t done.

I haven’t knit all that much since we got the house, actually, though I keep meaning to start again. It’s a nice thing to do with my hands that doesn’t take up all that much brainspace; it’s more relaxing that surfing the internet and more productive, too. *looks at pile of yarn and incomplete projects* also, it’s free, at this point.

Maybe I’ll do that. And blog about that, too. As well as the Fashion History of Reiassan and Homeland.

And, ah, kisses are nice and we used to fly kites every Easter and whoops look at that, out of time!

Catch you tomorrow for L~

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/922483.html. You can comment here or there.

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: J is for Jewelry, a brainstorming invitation

The Meme Master Post

For J-is-for-Jewelry, I’d like to invite you to engage in some worldbuilding with me: Caleyena jewelry.

The Calenyena are one of the two major nations/socioethnic groups (that doesn’t appear to be a term but I don’t know why not) on the continent of Reiassan in my fantasy setting by the same name.

The Calenyena (and the proto-Calenyena, back in Homeland) have 5 major time periods I’ve touched on: Before they encountered the Tabersi (proto-Bitrani), during the time when they were trying to live with the Tabersi, the “sword and sorcery” era on Reiassan, the Rin-and-Girey era, and the Steampunk era, where Edally Academy is set.

For this, let’s focus primarily on the last two time periods, since I’ve written the most in those two times.

Things I know about these times:

They have only the Bitrani, the island people, and the semi-independent island people to trade with; there is no contact with other continents. In the Rin-and-Girey time, they are often at war with the Bitrani & thus have to go to extreme lengths to GET to the island people, since the islands are in the south.

The north and mid-north, where the Calenyena live, are wood-poor; there is more wood in the south, much of it mangrove- and teak-style.

They have lots of mountains: mining exists.

They have glass-blowing skill and technique and lots of sea-side beach.

Their primary garments are a tunic, often buttoned over one collarbone or, later, down one side of the front, over long pants or a skirt.

They love bright colors, the brighter and more colors the better.

Their technology in the Rin-Girey era is vaguely height-of-Roman-Empire in in the steampunk era is, ah, vaguely steampunk.

So: Thoughts on their styles and types of jewelry in both those eras? Questions?


[personal profile] anke suggested enamel.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/921959.html. You can comment here or there.

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: I is for Islands.

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I is for Islands.

The first thing that always comes to mind about islands is the Thousand Islands. According to Wikipedia, “the Thousand Islands constitute an archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario.” For me, they were a common vacation spot for our family (enough of a drive to be “away,” not so far to be onerous) – and the site of one of my strong memories of getting lost as a child.

We usually camped on Wellesley Island (State Park) for at least part of the trip, and, being a state park on an island in the early 80’s, I was allowed to pretty much wander as I would.

I don’t remember exactly what happened, except that I had been very certain that I knew my way around, and it turned out I wasn’t quite right. I remember that two Older Girls (My mind fills in teased hair – this was the 80’s – but I think that’s just my generic mental picture for Older Girls) – were helping me try to find my mom. But I wasn’t really bothered. Mom, on the other hand, was frantic.

I have only two or three memories of getting really lost in public places, but to this day, I get a little freaked out if I lose my mom – or whoever I’m with, husband, friend, group – in a store.

Which is nothing to the time on a Wellesley Island beach that some awful kid threw rocks at my head, but that, as they say, is a story for another time. For this time, as we are talking about Islands and not awful kids, I’ll say that if you’re ever in the area, you should check out Boldt Castle on Heart Island. It’s a lovely place, although the last time I was there was twenty years past. George Boldt started the castle for his wife, but construction stopped – in 1904 – when his wife died. In the years I was visiting the 1000 islands, the castle was being slowly restored. I don’t know what has happened since, though the wiki article says renovation has continued.

Many of my warmer background childhood & teen memories center on these two of the Thousand Islands. A googlemaps look up tells me they’re less than four hours from my home now – maybe I should visit again.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/921565.html. You can comment here or there.

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: H is for Houses

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H is for Houses – repairs and whatnot.

*bounce*

Okay, for those of you who don’t know, a few years ago Mr. Thorne & I bought a fix-em-upper house. It’s a farmhouse, 100 years older than either of us, with nary a right angle to be found. I love it. It’s ours, and there’s a lot of our mark to be made.

But that means a lot of work!

This summer’s indoor projects are probably going to include:

* The f**ing foyer, which I started working on two years ago and… didn’t finish. It’s a very small room, maybe 6’x4′, but in that space are three doorways, an open closet, and something weird to be done on just about every wall. I got the walls mudded and painted, which took far more time than you’d imagine.

Left to do is framing in an overhead bin for the “closet,” installing a seat, putting up hooks on the overhead bin, putting molding around the doorways, MAYBE installing a door in one of the doorways (the cats will mind, but right now you can see from the front door into the utility room), and putting in baseboard molding. I also want to maybe put in a corner shelf in one of the corners, and then I need to replace the overhead light with something nicer.

* The bathroom of doom.
Our bathroom is so ugly… (how ugly is it) It’s so ugly, we entered an Ugly bathroom contest and were too ugly to win. The walls are covered in this terrifying 50’s laminate masonite. So’s the ceiling. The shower surround is a contrasting ugly 50’s pattern. he sink’s another bad pattern. And someone tried to clean our toilet (Before we moved in) with an industrial cleaner that left the toilet bowl black. It’s terrifying.
Also, the light fixture is such that a bulb would hit my husband in the head, so we mostly don’t use it.

To do is fixing all of that, including installing a new tub, vanity, toilet, cupboards, and tub surround, light fixture, door, walls, and, eventually, tile. So… everything. Except the shower fixtures, those are fine.

* I also want to replace the overhead kitchen lights this summer.

* And I want to start work on insulating the attic, although that requires deciding exactly what we’re going to do with it in the long run, first.

And those are the house repairs for Summer 2015! I’ll try to blog stuff as we do it; maybe that’ll keep me on track.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/920844.html. You can comment here or there.

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: G is for Gifts

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G is for Gifts, both given and got

When I was a kid, my maternal grandmother gave my mother striped pastel towels for Christmas. My mom responded politely, and I don’t think I noticed until we got home (Because *I* thought they were awesome) and my dad was ribbing Mom. But Mom didn’t like the towels. “Oh. Thank you. Striped towels.”

In our house, it became code for gifts you didn’t really want.

I remember an earlier situation – two, actually. One year, my maternal family gave me a Raggedy Ann doll for Christmas, and then my father’s family gave me a similar Raggedy Ann doll later in the day. I don’t remember /doing/ it, but I clearly remember being teased about throwing the second doll aside, being completely non-interested.

That’s when I learned you weren’t supposed to be less than enthusiastic about any gift.

A later time – Cabbage Patch Doll time, for those who remember the time and theme – my maternal family gave me a knock off Cabbage Patch. I remember being sort of disappointed by it, because the way the face was molded looked like it had a runny nose. But I remember naming it and trying gamely to love it. And then my paternal family gave me a real Cabbage Patch doll, one my father’s step-father had stood in line for – and the woman in that family gave him shit because it was a boy doll. I didn’t care. I loved it.

Quite some time later: we were helping a friend move, a friend who we’d given quite a few years of New Years’ gifts. Among the “discard” piles were at least two of these gifts. Now… some of his gifts had gotten quietly regifted, too. But it still stuck with me as a bit of a slap, even though I know it hadn’t been intended that way.

When I pick out gifts for people, I am always thinking about striped towels and trying, hard, not to be the person giving tone-deaf gifts. When I get gifts, it’s – well, you know, sometimes people do give you striped towels. Sometimes it’s because they don’t know you, sometimes it just doesn’t hit as well as they expected. But you still smile, and you’re still pleased. They tried, after all.

I wonder how much of this Amazon Wish Lists help mitigate, for everyone involved. It always feels a bit like cheating to me – like you couldn’t Know the Right Gift. On the other hand, it means you’re unlikely to be giving striped towels. Unless, you know, you’ve got pastel striped towels on your wish list.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/920819.html. You can comment here or there.

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: F is for Fires of Gobann

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F is for Fires of Gobann, of course.

Fires of Gobann is my Camp Nano novella, if I ever get to it. It’s set in the Faerie Apocalypse, right in the middle of the apoc.

What is Faerie Apocalypse (otherwise known as fae apoc)? It’s one of my favorite settings, the one in which Addergoole, among other things, lives. It’s a world “much like our own,” but one where magical beings, the Ellehemaei (fae) live and exist next to humans, indeed, appearing as humans. And those beings, in 2011-2012 in-world time, cause a massive apocalypse which wipes out approximately ninety percent of the population: faerie apocalypse.

In this middle of this, two young fae who are former students of Addergoole, Hedda and Argeus, are engaged in a consensual but not exactly friendly Keeping.

What’s a Keeping? Although explored in great deal throughout the setting writing, the short version is: a magical bond in which one person, the Keeper, (in this case Hedda) agrees to be entirely, utterly responsible for the other. In return, the second person, the Kept, (in this case Argeus) is magically bound to obey all of the Keeper’s orders.

So Hedda and Argeus have entered into this relationship – “why” is still unclear at the beginning of the book – and are still working around the edges of it. They don’t particularly like each other; they didn’t really like each other in school, either. They don’t trust each other. They can barely stand each other.

And then the nearby city lights on fire.

(Gobann is a bastardization of a Celtic forge god’s name, and the city is probably Pittsburg.)

Hedda and Argeus are just about to leave the area for someplace safer when another old schoolmate shows up with a favor to call in. Now, they’re heading straight into the fires of Gobann. How will they survive?

I’m really looking forward to writing this story. So far, Argeus is an awful brat and Hedda is a bitch. And that’s from his POV!

I blogged earlier about the cover for this book and the theoretical sequels – here.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/920291.html. You can comment here or there.

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: E is for Elves

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E is for Elves, for fairer or worse

Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad

This quote, by Terry Pratchett (“Lords and Ladies”), along with some Shakespeare and Tam Lin by Pamela Dean and Beauty by Sherri Tepper, all of that has colored my impression of fae, faeries, fairies. Add onto that the Changeling I mentioned in “D”, where the sidhe where the hereditary rulers who had gone away for hundreds of years (*Cough* fae apoc *cough*) and, now that they were back, assumed they should rule once again – (I had this habit of playing a rebel – angry Eshu, bloodthirsty satyr…)

Elves are terrific. They beget terror.

The Grigori in Fae Apoc are the closest, I think, to the elves that I keep in my head – tall, imposing, beautiful, arrogant, self-ordained to rule and unbudging in that mandate. The Grigori are all of those things, everything except pointed ears. (and there are fae in Fae Apoc with pointy ears. Eris. Mabina-and-Cassidy. Caity. Llew, who I forgot until I needed an icon. I like pointed ears a lot, okay? If I didn’t have to work a day job, I might point my own ears).

*Cough* all right. So I suppose the sum of that is: in my head, elves are beautiful assholes. And they’re great as semi-antagonists: see Regine. Aesthetically… mm, those ears.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/919387.html. You can comment here or there.

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: D is for Dragons

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D is for Dragons, with gold for a bed

You know, I don’t remember being a dragons sort of girl. The winged-cat-people people don’t have dragons. Most of my early fantasy doesn’t have dragons. Elves, yes, horses, lots. Not so many dragons.

Addergoole got dragons on a whim. After all, Aelfgar needed something big to be fighting! (Actually, I think the parent story of Addergoole, Whisky Lullaby, first introduced the dragons. The same concept, though: so’jers have been fighting dragons as long as the faerie apoc ‘verse has existed.) Dragons Next Door was born as a 15-minute fiction prompt: “obnoxious dragons.” (here).

More than that: I came late to Pern, and read very little other fantasy involving dragons. I’ve enjoyed dragon movies, mostly for their spectacular effects, even when everything else in the movie (*cough* “The D&D Movie”) sucked. But dragons… dragons for me are more common as a metaphor.

I went through a period where my favorite phrase was “sometimes the maiden is safer with the dragon.” I was playing – in a LARP (Changeling: the Dreaming) – a satyr seer paired with a redcap (in that setting, the most violent of the “acceptable” “non-monster” fae). There were times when someone tried to convince my little satyr she was safer with the “good guys” – that’s where the concept came from. Dragons are the honest monsters, the safe ones. You know where you stand with something fifty feet long with scales and claws. Safer, maybe, then a would-be-white-knight.

…I should write that story sometime. I wonder what I’d do with it now, a decade later.

I think my favorite dragons story I’ve actually gotten to read would be the Dragon Librarian story eseme was writing many years ago. And this may be my favorite dragon art, by M.C.A. Hogarth.

Dragons ho!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/919247.html. You can comment here or there.

April A-Z Blogging Challenge: C is for Costumes

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C is for Costumes, sewn with a thread

Costumes! I used to sew a lot more costumes – I used to sew a lot more. I mean, there are pictures of me sewing things back when my parents were building their house – so I was about 5 that year. For graduation from college, my mom bought me a fancy Pfaff sewing machine. I like sewing. But time constraints mean I haven’t done much of it recently.

But! A friend has informed me that I AM going to an SCA event with him in June(*), and since I AM going, that means I need to figure out garb. I have my crap-where-did-the-time-go backup plan (A t-tunic>t-tunic over a long skirt I already own). But if I have the time to do something a little more in-period…

…well, Lyn, the first question is WHICH part of period and the second part is location, no? Or the other way around, possibly.

The stuff that first drew me to the SCA in a theoretical way was 11th-to-1th-century English: Cotehardies. I have wanted a proper nice cote for just about forever, but you can’t really wear them to work. So that’s first option, something like this or this.

BUT I’ve been looking at Viking stuff lately, and I find it very interesting – although the stuff I’ve found doesn’t have that flowing-skirts feel I find so very nice (Actually, some more looking, and I may be wrong on that.)

AND in another line of thought, the clothing closest to the inspiration for Reiassan is Mongol & Turkish. The layers of Turkish, the cut and angles of Mongol clothing – add some ridiculously bright colors and you have Calenyen clothing.

That’s a lot of garb. I suppose I start at the fabric store 🙂

(*) That’s the way to get me past my new-things-are-scary anxiety, IF you know it’s something I want to do AND you are a good enough friend to have that understanding.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/919008.html. You can comment here or there.