Danielle Thamasa's Blog, page 23

WIP Wednesday – July 19

Hey all, Sam and David back again today.

In just two more weeks we will be on our way to Gen Con. Oh my goodness, we’re starting to get really excited about that. It’ll be nice to indulge our tabletop game loving sides, because we haven’t been able to do that as much this year.

Next week for Tabletop Tuesday we’ll be diving into our plans and hopes and goals for Gen Con, so that’ll be a fun chat. But in the lead up to going to this con, we also have a bunch to get finished to get ready for it, stuff that we need to get in order before we leave home for a few days.

Anyway, welcome back to our regular series where we talk about everything we’ve been doing over the past week. This includes books read, shows and movies watched, games played, things done, and basically just an easy rundown of everything we’ve done. Some weeks it’s a lot, and other weeks it’s just an okay amount of stuff.

All right…let’s get started.

Sam

Reading: Role Playing by Cathy Yardley, Ghosted by Amanda Quain, Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Mollymauk Tealeaf by Matthew Mercer, Taliesin Jaffe, Jody Houser, Hunter Severn Bonyun, Cathy Le, and Ariana Maher, The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero-Lacruz, One Piece Vol 7 by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece Vol 8 by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece Vol 9 by Eiichiro Oda, Dragonfall by L.R. Lam

It has been another pretty darn good week of reading for me. I am devouring books so quickly, and I’m honestly loving it….even if it means that I’m not spending as much time on writing as I probably should be. But I’m definitely keeping up with my NetGalley reads and reviews, or at least I’m keeping up with them better than I have in the past.

Okay, and I have most of these books already scheduled out for review, with the novels coming in the next handful of days, and the manga will be coming over the next couple of months.

I’m also actually getting pretty close to reaching the original goal I set for books read for the year, which means that I’m going to have to increase that goal. I feel pretty great about that.

Alright, now onto my current and upcoming reads.

When it comes to current and upcoming reads, obviously I have more than this, but I’m trying to keep it focused on my primary choices and options. I’m in the middle of reading The First Binding in hardcover (it’s over 800 pages, so it’s a chonky boi), and these other books I have in digital, with Bone Smith and The Valkyrie’s Shadow being digital ARCs courtesy of the publishers via NetGalley. So again, it’ll be more books that will be reviewed shortly after I finish them.

Watching: “Secret Invasion” Season 1 (in progress), “Charmed” Season 5, and Season 6 (in progress), “Critical Role” Campaign 3 (in progress), “One Piece” anime Season 1 (in progress)

Yes, my watching section is a bit smaller this time around…probably because I’ve been doing so much more reading lately, plus with work and sleeping…it’s just eaten up most of my free time. Oh well. I’m not complaining too much.

Writing: So, I got an e-mail from NaNoWriMo HQ recently, and my application for ML for USA::Iowa::Elsewhere region, which is pretty exciting, even if it is going to be a different sort of challenge from my previous experiences as Municipal Liaison. Granted, not too much different from doing NaNo during the pandemic, but still.

Regardless, I’m excited, and I’m looking forward to getting all prepped up for all the virtual write-in options.

Of course, I do need to figure out what I’ll be working on for NaNo in November…which would be a whole lot easier if I could focus on actually doing work for Camp NaNoWriMo. If I could finish one of those projects (or here’s a lofty dream, finish both of those projects), then I could absolutely focus on something else this fall.

But I have started connecting with my new region and chatting with a few folks. I’m sure more will visit the region page and the region Discord as we get closer to NaNoWriMo in November.

Other: I don’t even remember if we’ve played any of our video games this week, but if we did, it was Diablo IV.

Oh, and we’ve had some packages arrive over the past couple days, and I have even more coming in the next couple of days. Some of them are for Kickstarters, and I’m sure I’ll be talking about those in future Tabletop Tuesday posts, and some have been book mail…like, I’m excited, because I did a good sized order from B&N, the first one that I’ve really been able to do in months. Having a job and a regular paycheck again is quite nice.

David

Reading: So I actually got to read a bit this past week. Work was a bit slow so I got to read during a few of my breaks. I managed to reread a few titles since I wanted to get back into them long term. Min-Maxing my TRPG Build in Another World Volume:3, Light Novel, Muscles Are Better Than Magic Volume 1 Manga, Chainsaw Man Volume 1, Clay Lord Volume 1, and Shaman King Volume 13.

Most of these seem all over the place but overall have a fantasy or supernatural theme. Those types are my usual go to manga and light novels. Shaman King is one of my “I’ve not read this in so long I don’t remember what all happens.” manga, I watched some of the anime when I was younger and only remember vague bits and pieces. I am glad it is still just as funny and awesome as I remember and Wooden Sword Ryu is still my boy. The title kind of gives away the gist of the plot as the main characters are mostly all Shamans vying for position as the Shaman King, the Shaman who bonds with the Great Spirit and will usher the world into an age of light or darkness.

Muscles Are Better Than Magic I think I read while half asleep the last time. The main character being a muscle bound beef cake powerful enough to resist magic it a pretty funny principle. The interactions between Yuri (the beef cake) and Filia (self proclaimed elven beauty and magic user) are hilarious. I mean the first creature they have to fight when they meet is a plant/tentacle monster and he just brushes off its magical attacks like it was nothing. Then proceeds to want to cook it cause he knows it is delicious. Obviously our elven maiden is in disbelief and a weird friendship is formed. Though they don’t get along too well at times.

Chainsaw Man I managed to get a hold of the first few volumes and finally rereading volume one. I still think Poochita is my favorite regardless of what happened. I mean Denji’s dreams may seem simple to some but for a young man who didn’t grow up with a lot it means the world. Getting to meet a few of the other characters like Power who also had a pet that she loved was fun. I think it is interesting that there could be a whole wide range of different devils and I am interested to see what some of them look like. Based on the artwork I have seen already I really hope for some more gruesome devils and some who are like Poochita. I am debating whether or not to watch the manga with this one though.

Clay Lord as you can imagine revolves around people who can make Golems. When a young molder of Golems named Clay decides to enter a contest, the winner of which had their creation become guardian of the city, things get interesting. As people begin to seek him for his unique abilities, his ecentric

The third volume of Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World did not fail to impress me once again. I have a bit of a weakness for some of these isekai stories, especially when they are fighting to protect the family that raised them when they were reincarnated. Erich grew up a farmboy in a rural area of this fantasy world he now lives in and events have led him to becoming a servant to a shut in of an elven magus to protect his sister and make sure she is properly cared for. Based on what I have managed to get through in this volume (about 55 pages), he has a long way to go and many a hardship ahead.

Printing: So printing of Cinderwings stuff has halted for now and I am trying to focus on some for fun prints. My first project was printing those weird horror themed Grogu. Those were fun and I am sure I can find a home for them at some point. Gemstones and a few figures for painting were also printed, the figures aren’t ready for pictures yet but until GenCon is over I am not sure when exactly I will get to those. A couple of the pictures have a clue to what my current pet project is with the printers. I am hoping to have the time to get the others running so I can try and finish the printed parts of the Goblin Slayer cosplay.

Seems like wordpress doesn’t want to work for me very well right now so I am going to cut it a bit short here guys. I am hoping to have more of my projects actually done by the time GenCon comes and passes. I will do my best to also keep you all up to speed as the following weeks of geekery come to pass as well.

Well, that’s all from us for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and we’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

NetGalley Review: Ghosted by Amanda Quain

Hey all, Sam here.

If you didn’t know this already, spooky season begins on July 5th…which means this contemporary ghost story that is a modern take on Austen’s Northanger Abbey is perfectly timed.

I’m so ready to get into those fall cozy vibes. Lighting a candle, putting on a crackling fireplace and some mood music, cuddling up on the couch, and drinking some hot tea or hot chocolate.

While I can yes, still have this cozy vibe going on at any time of year really, it always feels nicer when the weather actually cooperates too, and sadly July is not fall weather…that doesn’t actually seem to happen much until we get to like September/October.

Anyway, today’s review is for an upcoming release. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for granting me access to this read early. It is important to note that this book will be released (in the US) on July 25th.

All right, let’s jump into the review.

Never Have I Ever meets The X-Files in Amanda Quain’s Ghosted, a gender-bent contemporary retelling of the Jane Austen classic, Northanger Abbey.

Hattie Tilney isn’t a believer. Yes, she’s a senior at America’s most (allegedly) haunted high school, Northanger Abbey. But ever since her paranormal-loving dad passed away, she’s hung up her Ghostbusters suit, put away the EMF detectors and thermal cameras, and moved on. She has enough to worry about in the land of the living–like taking care of her younger brother, Liam, while their older sister spirals out and their mother, Northanger’s formidable headmistress, buries herself in her work. If Hattie just works hard enough and keeps that overachiever mask on tight through graduation, maybe her mom will finally notice her.

But the mask starts slipping when Hattie’s assigned to be an ambassador to Kit Morland, a golden retriever of a boy who’s transferred to Northanger on—what else—a ghost-hunting scholarship. The two are partnered up for an investigative project on the school’s paranormal activity, and Hattie quickly strikes a deal: Kit will present whatever ghostly evidence he can find to prove that campus is haunted, and Hattie will prove that it’s not. But as they explore the abandoned tunnels and foggy graveyards of Northanger, Hattie starts to realize that Kit might be the kind of person that makes her want to believe in something—and someone—for the first time.

With her signature wit and slow burn romance, Amanda Quain turns another Austen classic on its head in this sparkling retelling that proves sometimes the ghosts are just a metaphor after all.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4 stars

I do enjoy a good modern interpretation of a classic story. It’s actually been a few years since I’ve read my Jane Austen books, so this definitely made me want to either read through all the books, or at the very least watch a film/mini-series for each one.

I did like all the little connections and easter eggs that connected this book with not just the book it is an update of, but also other popular reads of the time. I loved the references to The Mysteries of Udolpho.

Obviously there are some changes that need to be made to turn this British classic from the 1800s into a modern US tale, and having Northanger Abbey be a private boarding school. Udolpho becomes a college our main character is applying to.

Obviously there are some differences to characters, some get slight changes to name, some get cut out or only mentioned in passing.

I liked that this still kept some of the spooky vibes, even updating the story so that ghost hunting is a main element of the tale. It was actually a pretty fun take on the story.

But don’t think that just because it has spooky ghost hunting vibes that the story is all fun and games. Hattie and Kit, and even some of the secondary characters like Izzy and Priya and Freddie and Liam, they all have other issues and concerns going on. Broken families, grief, friendship growing pains, adjusting to new stages of life, preparing to finish high school and head off to college…it all felt so big and life-altering.

I mean, I know that I graduated from high school back in 2006, so it has been a number of years since I was in that position, but it felt real and relatable enough.

I loved Hattie’s relationship with her brother Liam. Her friendships didn’t feel all that deep or real, and I suppose that was for a reason. It really did seem like she connected with Kit faster and more easily and deeply than she did with Izzy and Priya.

I did want a little more ghost hunting though. But that’s just because I do enjoy a good ghost hunting stakeout.

But what I’m curious about is the fact that on Goodreads, this book is listed as Northanger Abbey #1. So either we’re getting other Jane Austen modern adaptations but set at this boarding school or we’re going to follow other students and their time and experiences at the school. I don’t know. Or perhaps neither theory is right and it’s listed as the first in a series by mistake. Because this author did a Pride & Prejudice modern update that actually follows Darcy’s sister Georgiana as she tries to recover from scandal the previous year and she thinks that secretly working to get Fitz Darcy together with Lizzie Bennett will help keep him distracted from being a helicopter-sibling to her. It’s also listed as the first in a series, with no indication on Goodreads that there will be another book.

Well, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Tabletop Tuesday: The Griffin’s Saddlebag Book One and Book Two

Hey all, Sam and David here today.

It’s probably clear by now that I (Sam) have a fondness for backing Kickstarter projects related to tabletop gaming, typically TTRPGs, but sometimes I pick up other projects as well. That means that we end up with a lot of different supplements and accessories to help level our games up even more.

And even when we switch from D&D 5e to PF2e or vice versa, we can usually modify the accessories to work in different formats.

Now, when the Kickstarter came out for the first book in this series, we missed out on it, but a fellow friend and TTRPG player had backed, so we were able to see the quality of work for Book One. Of course, that meant when the Kickstarter came around for Book Two, not only were we able to back the project, but we were able to add-on Book One at the Kickstarter price.

These books arrived last week, and we’ve had a chance to peruse them a bit. We haven’t been able to utilize them in gameplay just yet, but we’re excited about the potential. You can find out more about The Griffon’s Saddlebag and other projects by visiting their web site.

All right, let’s jump into our thoughts.

This lushly printed hardcover book is filled with 365 magic items that have been designed, illustrated, and balanced for Fifth Edition by The Griffon’s Saddlebag. Fill your campaign with exciting new magical items, such as the dragon tamer’s lance or catnip amulet, and reward your players with treasure as unique as their characters. Each item has also been carefully organized into easily searchable charts and random treasure tables. These magical items have been peer-reviewed by thousands of players around the world and strike a charming balance of mechanical intrigue, memorable flavor, and exciting role-playing opportunities.

This 208-page book also includes 12 new character subclasses, 3 new settings, a setting-agnostic villain, and a uniquely customizable playable race. If you’re tired of using the same old flaming swords or worry about balancing your own magical items, this may be the book you’re looking for.

If you like handing out physical rewards to your players, consider purchasing The Griffon’s Saddlebag item cards as well! This book includes the same items as the cards from volumes 1 through 7, so you can use this compendium as your master index while handing out physical rewards to incentivize your players!

This 416-page compendium is filled with over 500 illustrated magic items. Each one has been been peer-reviewed by thousands of passionate players from around the world, and have been further sorted into easily-usable treasure tables. Also included are 12 new character subclasses, 2 new playable races, 14 new settings, and almost 100 new creature stat blocks that can be easily integrated into any Fifth Edition campaign!

Magic items like the fool’s lamp or wind-up merchant add memorable roleplaying opportunities to your games, and strike a charming balance of mechanical intrigue, memorable flavor, and character-defining lore. Make your game’s adventures more rewarding with new and exciting magical treasure!

Book dimensions are 8.5″ x 11″.

Product Contents:416 pages504 illustrated magic items2 new playable races12 new subclasses, one for each of the 12 base classes14 campaign-agnostic plug-n-play settingsOver 100 new monster stat blocks

Our Thoughts

Overall, our first impressions of these books are that there’s a lot of options going on in both of these. Both feature hundreds of new magic items, both give one or two new playable races, both include new subclasses for the 12 base classes of D&D, and give some new setting and monster options as well. It’s a treasure trove of options to spice up your campaign.

We like books and supplements like these (you can also get the magic items in decks of cards, if you’d prefer something you can hand out at the table). When you play often or in a bunch of different groups, it’s easy to fall into the repeating cycle of the same magic items cropping up all the time. Sometimes you want to surprise your players with something they won’t immediately recognize from all those other campaigns and gaming sessions.

That’s also true when it comes to monsters and encounters. Having third-party content means that that one player who has basically memorized the official books can still be surprised by things, and of course, if you throw curveballs at them by altering monster features and abilities on the regular, then it makes it even harder for metagaming to happen.

A lot of the subclasses seem rather interesting, and I believe they are ones that both David and Sam would be okay allowing players to use in our home games. We try to make our worlds pretty big and with a lot of magic and possibility, and as long as we can look at a third-party or home-brewed subclass beforehand, we’re generally okay with someone playing them. Of course, we always reserve the right to tweak things if it seems to cause an imbalance later (and that tweak usually means giving other players feats or items to elevate them to the same level and then increasing the monsters and baddies so they are more of a challenge to the more powerful party).

We haven’t had the time to read through every page in both books, but what we’ve glanced through…we like. A majority of the magic items have artwork to go along with them, something that doesn’t happen in the WOTC official books. I (Sam) like being able to have both a text description and an artistic depiction of the items. It makes it easier to show them off during the campaign. Plus, I really like having visual aids to help with my players who sometimes have issues with theater of the mind.

It’s always fun to add supplements to our collection, and to look through the books when they arrive in the mail…but it absolutely makes us miss being able to play TTRPGs regularly. Perhaps we’ll be able to join a one-shot or two while we’re at Gen Con. That might be nice.

Anyway, we definitely like the options presented to us from this team up of The Griffon’s Saddlebag and Hit Point Press, and it’s entirely possible that we’ll end up picking up the magic items decks of cards at some point in the future.

Well, that is all from us for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and we’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Manga Review: I Got Caught Up In a Hero Summons, but the Other World was at Peace! Vol. 1 by Toudai, Jiro Heian, and Ochau

Hey all, Sam here.

It is the start of another week, which means that it is time for another geeky post filled week here on the Free State of Geek blog. There’s a lot to look forward to, from a glimpse into a cool TTRPG supplement for Tabletop Tuesday, to four different NetGalley book reviews, another creativity deep dive for Weekend Writer, and of course, our usual weekly check in with WIP Wednesday. I know I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m also trying to get my posts prepped up so that when we go to Gen Con in a couple weeks, we won’t have to worry about finding time to write up posts. I think we can get everything ready. It’ll all work out just fine.

Anyway, we’re starting the week off with another Manga Monday, which means reviewing another volume of a manga that I’ve read. I think after next week’s Manga Monday, I’ll have caught up on all the volumes I read for Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon back in April. Oh, and after that I’ll be going full-force into some One Piece reviews. I’m reading Volumes 7-12 soon, wanting to have them read before the live-action show premieres. So I’ll be doing reviews for the volumes through at least September.

All right, let’s get started.

Miyama Kaito is no hero. He’s just a normal university student who gets caught up in a hero summons with an actual Hero. But even “Hero” is just a ceremonial role these days, ever since the Demon Lord was killed centuries ago. In a world where demons are chill, nobles are no longer corrupt, wars are a distant memory and there are no more epic quests to complete, what’s a regular guy to do? Why, build a harem, of course!

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

This is an interesting version of an isekai story, because at least at this early stage of the series, there’s no need for anything remotely resembling a Hero. With a world that has no epic quests, no big bads to defeat…Hero is just a ceremonial role and title. So what do you do when you’ve been summoned to another world…obviously you set out to something else. For our leading guy, that means collecting a bevy of beauties.

At least, that’s what the summary says. It doesn’t make it that far really in set up for this first volume. But we do get a small introduction to this magical realm. Kaito meets a few different people of power and influence and he even meets a powerful demon called Chro.

This volume sets up some interesting relationships and dynamics, and I’m honestly really curious to learn more about these folks, and to see what sort of plot really comes up. I also enjoyed the magic and the variety of beings and creatures in the world, so I’m curious to learn more.

There was a lot to read in this volume, and I was certainly intrigued by it…I did read the volume fairly quickly, and I did really enjoy it. So, I know I’ll be picking up the next volume. But, I also know that I’ll need a little more of a plot if I’m going to continue beyond a couple volumes.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Book Review: Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

Hey all, Sam here.

Okay, I have a feeling that I’m going to end up having a bunch of bonus blog posts that are book reviews coming. Because I’m getting quite a bit of reading done…and I’m planning on having a reading day on Monday, where I’ll basically just read and blog prep the whole day. Because even with as much as I’ve been reading, I still want to read more.

I finished another book this morning and I’m already a decent chunk of the way through another book. I’m in this lovely cycle of opening up a new book basically minutes after closing whatever I’ve just finished.

It’s just a great feeling.

Now, today’s review isn’t a NetGalley read, although I had requested this book, but was denied. Oh well. It was still on my anticipated releases list, and I’m glad I ended up squeezing it into my reading schedule.

Let’s get started.

Maggie is an unapologetically grumpy forty-eight-year-old hermit. But when her college-aged son makes her a deal―he’ll be more social if she does the same―she can’t refuse. She joins a new online gaming guild led by a friendly healer named Otter. So that nobody gets the wrong idea, she calls herself Bogwitch.

Otter is Aiden, a fifty-year-old optimist using the guild as an emotional outlet from his family drama caring for his aging mother while his brother plays house with Aiden’s ex-fiancée.

Bogwitch and Otter become fast virtual friends, but there’s a catch. Bogwitch thinks Otter is a college student. Otter assumes Bogwitch is an octogenarian.

When they finally meet face to face―after a rocky, shocking start―the unlikely pair of sunshine and stormy personalities grow tentatively closer. But Maggie’s previous relationships have left her bitter, and Aiden’s got a complicated past of his own.

Everything’s easier online. Can they make it work in real life?

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

So…I have a trial of Kindle Unlimited going right now, and I snagged this book on there, even though all signs pointed at this being a book I would love and therefore should have a physical copy of. And yes, now that I’ve finished it, I do absolutely plan to get a paperback copy of it. I’m just trying to curb my desire to go on a huge book buying splurge just because I haven’t had a book spree in months.

Okay, so I really enjoyed this book. Maggie and Aiden don’t meet in person until like 35% of the way into the book, and then they don’t actually decide to try a romantic relationship until like 80% of the way through…so honestly this is like a cute slow-burn teammates-to-friends-to-lovers style story…and it was just delightful.

I wasn’t prepared for how well I would connect with both Boggy and Otter (Maggie and Aiden’s online personalities), I also, somewhat stupidly, didn’t realize that we would end up having one half of this pairing being someone who was A-spec, and it just made me end up connecting with and loving this story that much more. Because in a lot of ways my experience was similar. Just not really having that drive, that desire, for sex or for relationships, and being okay with that, but also spending so much time feeling like there has to be something wrong with you because everyone else keeps pushing sex or joking about how you’re prudish or picky or whatever.

And then there’s that moment when the term Asexuality or the term Demisexuality or Gray-Ace or whatever A-spec term comes into play…and after finding out what that means, there is this “lightbulb moment.” Things click into place and everything fits and makes more sense.

It was just beautiful to get to experience that in fiction as well.

Maggie and Aiden are both wonderful characters, and I could feel that they both had been through a lot, had lived lives that were filled with all sorts of ups and downs, but at nearly 50, they still had plenty of time to do some living, and to try things, and to keep on adventuring.

I understood their comfort with a somewhat hermit existence. I understood their desire to escape into a fantasy world after having a bad day…and having that need to just log in to a game and go full on raging murder-hobo because you need to vent in a somewhat healthy (or at least a not really destructive) way.

This story felt real and deep and full to me. I fell in love with the characters and the story so quickly, and I actually ended up sad that the story was over once I finished it. I think it took me less than 24 hours to read it (sadly I had to take some breaks for work and for sleep and all that). The story itself was probably only a few hours of reading time for me, but I absolutely loved the whole book, even when there were characters who were being frustrating or annoying or petty or bigoted or whatever…I just knew our couple would be brought closer together and would eventually be okay, together.

It was a great geeky romance, and I definitely recommend it.

Well, that is all from me for today. My weekend starts after work tonight, and I’m hoping to do a bunch of reading over the next two days, because I need to do some reading in order to get my blog posts ready. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Weekend Writer: The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass – Chapter Three

Hey all, Sam here.

Sorry for not getting this post up yesterday, but I think sharing a writing snippet was a pretty decent substitute overall. I hope some of you have read it…and I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on the writing and story so far. I know it’s still a very rough draft, but it’s also my first time writing a lighter and more cozy style supernatural/fantasy type story. If you missed it, you can find the Camp NaNoWriMo Snippet share here.

All right, anyway, back to the usual with Weekend Writer…and that is getting through the next section of our writing craft book deep dive. We’re looking at the third chapter of this book about emotional craft, about the story that is beneath the surface of the story.

I’m still not exactly sold on this book. I’m about 60 pages in, and I don’t feel like I’m connecting with the book, or the way the author presents the information. But that doesn’t mean that I’m giving up on this book yet. I’ll give it to the end of the month at the very least, which is one more chapter, and will roughly be at the halfway point of the book.

Thankfully, I do have other creative writing books to dive in to if I feel like I need to DNF this and move on with my life.

Anyway, welcome back to Weekend Writer, the series on this blog, where I use story/idea generators for the first Friday of the month, and then share snippets of writing based on those generators (and sometimes extra snippets) on the final Friday of the month…with the rest of the Fridays being dedicated to a creative writing deep dive…whether that is into a book on the craft of writing, a podcast, a lecture/panel, an essay, a YouTube video, or just a general discussion about a creative writing topic.

I find it useful to not just study writing by consuming a lot of fiction written by other writers, but to also take classes and courses on writing, and to read books about writing and creativity to help better understand and hone my process and my skills. And hopefully there are others out there who also find this blog series useful.

Okay, with the somewhat long intro out of the way, let’s jump into Chapter Three of this book deep dive.

Engage Your Readers with Emotion

While writers might disagree over showing versus telling or plotting versus pantsing, none would argue If you want to write strong fiction, you must make your readers feel. The reader’s experience must be an emotional journey of its own, one as involving as your characters’ struggles, discoveries, and triumphs are for you.

That’s where The Emotional Craft of Fiction comes in. Veteran literary agent and expert fiction instructor Donald Maass shows you how to use story to provoke a visceral and emotional experience in readers. Topics covered

   • emotional modes of writing
   • beyond showing versus telling
   • your story’s emotional world
   • moral stakes
   • connecting the inner and outer journeys
   • plot as emotional opportunities
   • invoking higher emotions, symbols, and emotional language
   • cascading change
   • story as emotional mirror
   • positive spirit and magnanimous writing
   • the hidden current that makes stories move
Readers can simply read a novel…or they can experience it. The Emotional Craft of Fiction shows you how to make that happen.

Chapter Three – The Emotional World

This chapter basically focuses on the emotional side of our world, that is how our surroundings and our experiences, the moments of our lives that hold the greatest impact and memory, are moments that are infused with this strong emotional memory.

We experience life as feelings. It’s funny then, that so much fiction is written to minimize feelings or leave them out altogether. It’s as if emotions are not a fit subject or writing about them is too simplistic. Even fiction that celebrates feelings, romance for instance, can sometimes work with only a limited and familiar emotional palette.

Pages 27-28

Or at least, this is what Maass says…and again, I’m finding myself wondering if we’re even seeing the same books at all. I’ve had numerous times in the Introduction and the three chapters that I’ve read, where I’ve completely and utterly disagreed with statements that Donald Maass has made.

I’m someone who gets invested in characters and has the experience of being a part of these other worlds through the characters. I laugh and cry and gasp and get excited or frustrated or a whole myriad of other emotional reactions while reading fiction. But based on the content of this book and the way he delivers said content, it seems as if Maass himself is extremely reserved and just doesn’t connect with characters, doesn’t really feel what’s being presented….and so I wonder if he is really qualified to give us this book. Sure, yes, he founded a literary agency in New York back in 1980, so you can’t deny that he’s been in the business for a long time, and I’m sure he has a dearth of knowledge…….but I honestly don’t feel like he was the best choice for a book on emotional craft, on creating an emotional story beneath the surface of your fiction.

The emotional experience of a story, both for characters and for readers, can be far richer than it often is. Authors would like that to be true, but how can that be achieved without bogging things down or boring readers with the obvious? When the mandate is to keep things visual, exciting, external, and changing, how are you supposed to spend page time on what is amorphous, internal, reflective and static? Emotions aren’t story.

Page 28

Sure, emotions aren’t the whole story, but they are a decently sized aspect of the story. And there are folks who can present the amorphous concept of emotions in a visual and exciting way. I’ve seen plenty of authors and plenty of books that don’t shy away from those internal reflective moments for the characters. If we can laud these stories that spend 5 pages describing the physical details and basic life story of a tree, then I think we can also handle a page or two that delve into how a character is feeling and what is going on inside.

Okay, so I was curious and checked…this book came out in 2016. So there is a little bit of dated feel of the commentary, but I’m sure if Maass felt there were practically no good books with an emotional crafting of story in them in 2016, he probably feels very similarly now.

Let’s get into what Maass says are methods to make us feel as we read.

First up: Me-Centered Narration.

In real life, we don’t just go up to people, say “Let’s talk about me!”, and then keep talking. We listen and ask questions, and then we expand on things, sometimes with our own experiences sprinkled in. Part of building friendships and relationships is being interested in the other person or people. Maass says it is almost the opposite with writers to readers, because readers open their hearts to characters whose hearts are already open. So characters need to talk quite a bit about what is going on and what they’re feeling.

In many manuscripts, the characters don’t disclose much. Often they, or rather their authors, simply report what’s happening to them–a dry, play-by-play conveyance of the action. Even the witty, ironically detached first-person voices of Young Adult, New Adult, and Para-Everything fiction aren’t necessarily open. An ironic, snarky, or perky tone can be used to avoid true intimacy with readers. Literary writing isn’t necessarily intimate, either. A life “closely observed” doesn’t mean we’ll care about it.

Page 29

I don’t know, Mr Maass, when reading your dry play-by-play about the supposed lack of disclosure and lack of emotion on the page, your obvious disdain for Young Adult, New Adult, and Paranormal fiction are quite clear to me. Just because you have issues parsing emotions from a conveyance of action doesn’t mean that all of us do. And since so many of us present ourselves to the world as ironic or snarky or perky, maybe we connect with and understand those characters because they are like us.

And this is what I’m not understanding…I just looked up the Donald Maass Literary Agency and they oversee Fantasy and Horror and Women’s Fiction and YA and Science Fiction and Thriller and Middle Grade and Literary Fiction….and there are some AMAZING authors and books attached to this agency.

So why am I having such a difficult time with Maass and this book on emotional craft?

Okay, back to Me-Centered Narration. Maass does recommend building the world of the story not by describing how it looks and feels and smells, but instead by giving us the characters’ experience of the world.

Creating a world that is emotionally involving for readers means raising questions and concerns about that world. It means both welcoming readers inside that world and making them curious, or uneasy, about where they are. First-person narration, the self-absorbed voice of our age, would seem to do that automatically but that belief is deceptive. True emotional engagement happens when a reader isn’t just enjoying a character’s patter but when she cannot avoid self-reflection, whether she’s aware of it happening or not.

Page 29

So how does this happen? Maass says that in real life we bounce off others or we pick up on the moods of others. It’s like joining in at singing or screaming at a concert, or going to a sports game and cheering or booing along with the rest of the crowd. And Maass says that it a similar effect to what happens in fiction.

In reading fiction we react to what others are feeling strongly, in this case the characters. Strong feelings are an invitation. Or a challenge. Strong feelings press us to judge what characters feel. We sympathize with them, or not. We engage on our own level.

Page 30

Pages 31-34 give us a couple of examples as well as Maass’s commentary around those excerpts from novels. I’m not going to share those here, because I don’t believe in sharing everything from the book. If the information you’re getting from this is useful to you, then you can find even more when you get a copy for yourself (whether you purchase it or borrow it from a library because those are both valid options).

And on Page 34, we are also given the Emotional Mastery 3 exercise, which is focused on Me-Centered Narration.

Next up, Maass talks about Emotional Scale.

He begins with asking the reader a question: what was the most emotional day of your life? Then he says that most answers probably revolve around birth, death, betrayal, trauma, marriage, divorce, miscarriage, failure, second chance, recovery, a dream achieved, a confession of love, getting a helping hand…but Maass says that those are events, and that the focus needs to be on the emotions that they evoke instead.

These strong emotions are the ones that writers want to evoke because it’s what you want the reader to feel. These are things like fear, rage, passion, triumph, hope, grief, joy, love. It’s not the more mild emotions like boredom, doubt, fondness, satisfaction, melancholy, gloom, caring, or apathy. Because the goal isn’t to evoke moderate feelings.

How could a story possibly provoke such feelings? It can’t. It’s not real.

And yet we do feel strongly, sometimes, when we’re reading fiction. Big feelings like dread, terror, joy, or love can be evoked in readers, but not by force. They are most effectively evoked by trickery. Stage magicians use misdirection to take their audiences by surprise. Emotional craft is similar. Artful fiction surprises readers with their own feelings.

Page 36

This is done by laying a foundation that the readers can build their own experiences on. This is done by utilizing small details as reminders used to evoke a situation that is preloaded with feeling. Details are great for suggestion, and suggestion can evoke feelings.

Pages 36-38 include another story excerpt with some of Maass’s commentary on what that snippet evokes. And then Page 38 also has the Emotional Mastery 4 exercise, which is Small Details Equal Big Emotions.

After that, Maass takes us to the other end of the emotional scale, and looks at small emotions. Unlike the previous discussion where we evoke big feelings with small details, here we want small emotions to have a big impact.

Maass says that you want to make the tiny emotional moments of the characters’ lives worth the readers’ time. Basically when a character struggles with feelings the reader basically becomes like a referee, and holds an inner debate, where they basically wonder and think on if they would feel that way too. That’s what you want.

Pages 40-41 again gives us an excerpt and some commentary, and then Pages 41-42 include the Emotional Mastery 5 exercise: Small Emotions Equal Large Experience.

This takes us to the next section, which is Stirring Higher Emotions.

Optimism, vision, dedication, high achievement, and leadership are not everyday qualities. Compassion, empathy, and understanding–even for an enemy–are rare. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa are not common. However, we’re not talking about life; we’re talking about fiction. Why not create characters that inspire us to a high degree?

Page 42

Maass then says that it’s disappointing that he meets so many ordinary characters in manuscripts. Ordinary characters aren’t in the great classics, and they don’t need to be in your current novel.

Wait….ordinary characters aren’t in great classics? Were we reading the same “classic” novels, Mr Maass? Because a lot of them were ordinary, reflecting the time period and the lives of folks similar to them in reality. But even in their ordinary portrayal, there was something, an inner spark, that spoke to wanting something more, something different, and honestly, that is pretty ordinary too. We all feel like we want something more or want something to change.

Anyway, back on topic. Maass tells us about this effect in fiction, called moral elevation, something scientifically demonstrated by Dr Jonathan Haidt and others. This effect shows that reading about good people causes us to be better ourselves. Characters can inspire us to make better choices.

To that I would add that we also remember good acts more than bad ones. Betrayal and cruelty shock for a moment but fade from our minds. Sacrifice, heroism, selflessness, and grace endure in our hearts and become that to which we aspire. We remember. We emulate.

When we are moved and inspired by the actions of characters, what we feel are higher emotions. They are the timeless virtues entolled in every religion and recommended by every great thinker. Higher emotions make us ponder. They make us change. They make us better people. They also cause readers to rate those novels more highly, which isn’t bad either.

Page 43

Pages 44-48 again include excerpts and commentary, so I will once again skip over that. Except I will point out that Maass does give us a content/trigger warning for the excerpt on pages 46-48 talking about how it is dark and is not recommended if you are squeamish or opposed to vile acts.

Moral stands and struggles have emotional power, and it’s a rare story that could not generate such moments and achieve that power. All characters can rise above their own selfishness, for a moment, to become gracious, insightful, generous, or self-sacrificing.

We all shine at times, so why not your characters, too?

Page 48

Page 49 includes the Emotional Master 6 exercise: Good Deeds.

And…the final section for this chapter is Moral Stakes.

We tend to think of Western culture as a postmodern wasteland: amoral, materialistic, self-aggrandizing, and dogmatic. The truth is that we all yearn for a better world, one filled with compassion, respect, justice, opportunity, equality, and freedom. You can see this in politics. Conservatives and liberals both want a better world, even though they seek different toads to achieve it. You can see this in beliefs. Both followers of faith and rational scientists seek purity and truth. You can see this in cultures. People of all backgrounds value family, community, and shared customs. Human beings are good.

Page 49

I’m not going to get into a big ol’ rant on here about my thoughts on this paragraph, so I’m just going to move on.

What I will say is that next Maass talks about how it is important to signal to readers that a character is good, and it should happen early in the book. This is true whether your main character is a hero, an antihero, or a dark protagonist. How does he suggest doing this? Well, by using the Save the Cat screenwriting technique. And since I’ve already talked about this technique thanks to another book, I’ll link that chapter here and move on.

Pages 52-55 gives us more book excerpts and commentary, and the chapter ends on page 56 with Emotional Mastery 7 exercise: Moral Stakes.

Maass actually concludes the chapter by saying “Focus on the emotional world of your characters and you will not only make a better tale, but you will build a better world for us all.”

Well, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Weekend Writer: Camp NaNoWriMo Snippet Share

Hey all, Sam here.

All right…so I didn’t get the Weekend Writer post I was meant to post ready in time, so it will be coming tomorrow. For today then…how about a peek into one of my projects for Camp NaNoWriMo this July?

I’ve already done some sharing from Harbingers of Death, my Banshee/Valkyrie inspired fantasy. So for today, I’m going to share some from my cozy vampire fantasy story.

Tentatively being called Sink Your Teeth Into Some Good Books, this story follows a bookworm who agrees to become a vampire because it means more time to tackle her TBR. With the financial freedom granted by her new supernatural lifestyle, she is able to read, and also to travel to all sorts of places that give off peak reading vibes.

I’m having so much fun writing this book. It’s very low stakes overall, and mostly is about a love of books and travel mixed with some found family vibes. It’s just really cute so far.

All right. Ready for the snippet? Remember there’s no editing from me this month, so it is a very rough draft. Here we go…

——

Before

Oh no, oh no….not again. Shit, once again I’ve lost track of time…and once again I am going to be late to book club. Maybe it was a bad idea to join three different book clubs, but I just wanted to give myself a reason, an excuse, to make more space for reading in my life. And apparently, it was now coming back to bite me in the ass. 

Today’s book club was one held at Autumn’s house, and I still had like 40 pages left to read of the book. Hmm…maybe if I put the audiobook on 1.5x or 2x speed while in the car, I could manage to finish it on the drive over. Well…that’s if I could get my hands on a copy of the audiobook.

Would the book gods be with me today? Grabbing my phone, I swiped down to the Libby app and typed in the book’s title and waited. Yes, okay, great. Thank goodness we didn’t pick one of the absolute newest releases. There were still a couple copies available…and one of them was going to be mine for at least the next half-hour. Perfect.

It was just so frustrating that no matter how much I tried, no matter how often I read, I never seemed to get any closer to catching up on my TBR. Sure, a lot of authors only wrote one or two books a year, but since I read a whole slew of authors, it always seemed like the new releases and the back catalog were so much bigger than my completed books list.

Even reading a couple hundred books a year just wasn’t really helping. For every book I read, it felt like I added three to my want-to-read list. The endless dilemma of a bookworm. I needed more time and more money would probably help too. I borrowed from the library quite a bit, and I definitely shopped at thrift bookstores, but there was just something about the desire to have a bunch of bookcases and show off all of my books, my collection, my beautifully organized hoard.

I wanted to be able to read more, to travel to the incredible places mentioned in books–the places that actually existed anyway, to collect all kinds of beautiful exclusive editions. I wanted to have one of those bookish destinations, a place that would be a reader sanctuary. 

Mostly I just wanted to leave my current life of monotony and drudgery behind. Why did reality have to seem so awful so much of the time? 

I wanted a life of magic and adventure and at this point I didn’t care what I needed to do to achieve that desire.

After

Pausing in my reading, I grabbed the mug on the side table beside the chaise lounge I was reclined in and took a drink. Hmm…it had been sitting a bit longer than I preferred and the temperature was cooling. I would need to take a few moments to warm it up before I continued with my morning of reading. 

It was strange to think how much life had changed in the past five years, because yes, a lot had changed. And yet, there were still some things that were the same. I still had pretty much no shelf control when it came to adding books to my ever-growing TBR. And thus far, I hadn’t managed to eke out much more than an extra hour or two of reading each day…but things were starting to shift, and I had a feeling that a few deals were about to go through, deals that would give me all the free time in the world. 

My new life was about to prove to be quite worth the more consequential changes. The first few years had been rough, difficult, brutal, and occasionally terrifying, but I had survived them without drawing attention to myself. And because I had survived and done what was asked of me time and time again, I was about to be set free from the short leash I had been kept on until now.

Oh…did I mention that my lifestyle was now about to be paid for by a generous allowance, an inheritance for becoming a member of a very secretive and elite “family,” and all it had cost me was my life? That sounds a bit dramatic, I know, but don’t worry, I’m not dead. Well, I am dead, but I’m now a member of the living dead. A vampire. I became a vampire. 

And honestly…it’s not as bad as how some books make it out to be. Well, okay, most of the time anyway. There are times when it can be a little more difficult to manage. 

It’s still weird to think that I’ve been a vampire for three years now, after a year long vetting and initiation process. It’s weird to think that vampires basically having a hiring process to bring new blood into their ranks, but I guess it works well enough.

It started with a broad recruitment process, a call for blood donors, but unlike with the American Red Cross, this offer was to receive compensation for your donation. The offer seemed too good to be true, but after a lengthy research and vetting process, it was clear that it was a legit business. 

That led to a narrower pool of donors to be brought in for further testing and more blood donation. It paid well enough to let me purchase some beautiful new bookcases as well as some wonderful exclusive releases for some of my favorite books. How could I refuse that? It was worth it.

After nearly a year of donating blood, I received an invitation to apply and interview for positions within the company…with a much better benefits package than the job I had been working. Plus, it was a hybrid job only requiring once a week trips into the office. So, more money, better benefits, and more time at home with my cats and my books? Sold!

—–

There it is. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments.

I’ll have another Weekend Writer post up tomorrow. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back with more geeky content.

NetGalley Review: The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

Hey all, Sam here.

I’m ready to talk about books some more…Wait. When am I not ready to talk about books? I have such a huge digital stack of books to read, which doesn’t look as impressive or imposing as a physical stack, but it also isn’t super intimidating either. But there are so many books that I both want and need to read, and I’m feeling like I just want to read ALL THE TIME right now…which is slightly unfortunate because I also need to be writing right now.

But I’ve had months in the past where I’ve read like 30 books in a month, so I’m thinking this is going to be a pretty decent reading month. I’m already at 14 books read for July, which feels pretty darn awesome.

So today I’m back with another NetGalley read. This book will be out July 18th, at least in the US, so there’s not much longer to wait for the release. Let’s get into it.

Ten years ago, the kingdom of Jasad burned. Its magic outlawed; its royal family murdered down to the last child. At least, that’s what Sylvia wants people to believe.

The lost Heir of Jasad, Sylvia never wants to be found. She can’t think about how Nizahl’s armies laid waste to her kingdom and continue to hunt its people—not if she wants to stay alive. But when Arin, the Nizahl Heir, tracks a group of Jasadi rebels to her village, staying one step ahead of death gets trickier.

In a moment of anger Sylvia’s magic is exposed, capturing Arin’s attention. Now, to save her life, Sylvia will have to make a deal with her greatest enemy. If she helps him lure the rebels, she’ll escape persecution.

A deadly game begins. Sylvia can’t let Arin discover her identity even as hatred shifts into something more. Soon, Sylvia will have to choose between the life she wants and the one she left behind. The scorched kingdom is rising, and it needs a queen.

In this Egyptian-inspired debut fantasy, a fugitive queen strikes a deadly bargain with her greatest enemy and finds herself embroiled in a complex game that could resurrect her scorched kingdom or leave it in ashes forever.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4.5 stars

There were some predictable moments in this story. From early on, I knew what was going to happen to make Sylvia expose her magical ability, and who was going to be the cause of that spark of revelation, and I was completely right. From there, Arin is aware that Sylvia is Jasad…but that’s where the knowledge ends…and Sylvia is pretty darn keen to keep her true identity hidden.

Even from the beginning though, I could definitely feel the sparks, the chemistry, between Sylvia and Arin. And I actually really enjoyed that so many characters were hiding things and keeping secrets. It absolutely made it seem even more tense and you didn’t know who to trust or how much to trust them, which I actually really enjoyed.

When it came to the worldbuilding and magic, it felt like we got a decent amount of information about the world’s history and lore in the beginning, as the world is preparing for this competition, but I felt like since we were in a community that’s very anti-magic, we didn’t really get information about magic, and when we did, it was the biased and incorrect knowledge of people who are scared of or hate magic wielders.

It certainly made for an interesting set-up.

I enjoyed that this had so many fantasy elements I do tend to enjoy: magic competitions, a more political fantasy, and there’s a lost hidden royal, plus a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers sort of situation. And unintentional (by our leading lady, anyway) found family elements as well.

There were some bits that felt a bit slow, while others felt a bit rushed, but overall I still did have a nice time reading this book. And it only took me a couple days to finish it all, which is also pretty darn great. I’m definitely intrigued, and look forward to both having a finished copy of this on my shelves, but also reading the sequel when it comes around.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

WIP Wednesday – July 12

Hey all, Sam and David here.

Hello and welcome back to another weekly check in! That’s right, it’s time for WIP Wednesday, which means it is time to go over everything we’ve been reading, watching, making, writing, and doing in the past week. Because, let’s face it, most weeks we actually do have a lot going on…some weeks it’s actually surprising how much we’ve accomplished.

Doing these weekly check-ins means that there’s less of a chance for us to miss things when it comes to monthly or yearly wrap-ups.

And there is a lot to talk about…so let’s go ahead and jump into that. Oh, and feel free to share what you’ve been up to in the comments (or tell us on social media @freestateofgeek and @SamRushingBooks). We’d love to hear from you too!

Sam

Reading: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming, The Valkyrie’s Daughter by Tiana Warner, One Piece Vol 4 by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece Vol 5 by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece Vol 7 by Eiichiro Oda, The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem, and The Bookshop and the Barbarian by Morgan Stang.

Well…as you can see, I’ve been up to quite a bit of reading. I’m actually surprised by the fact that I’ve read 7 books in the past week, especially since a couple unplanned reads just happened to sneak in there. And funnily enough, for the novels at least, most of them I already either have reviewed or the review will be posted soon. I’m trying to keep as up-to-date as I can on everything. Most of the manga reviews will be coming in the next couple months.

Speaking of books and reading, there’s also what I’m currently reading or will be reading very soon…

There’s a lot of books on my Currently Reading/Reading Very Soon list too…Ghosted by Amanda Quain, Dragonfall by L.R. Lam, Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco, Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto, One Piece Vol 7 by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece Vol 8 by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece Vol 9 by Eiichiro Oda, and The First Binding by R.R. Virdi.

Actually, right now it’s looking like July is going to be my most successful reading month in the past year or so, which is pretty awesome. I’ve actually kept up with my new and upcoming releases for NetGalley reviews, and I’m starting to fit in some of my outstanding reads/reviews as well.

I do have a few books that I still need to make sure I read before I go to Gen Con, so hopefully I’ll be getting them on my reading list in the next week or two…because Gen Con is in three weeks.

Watching: “Secret Invasion” Season 1 (in progress), “Charmed” Season 4 and Season 5 (in progress), “One Piece” anime Season 1 (in progress), “Critical Role” Campaign 3 (in progress)

I’ll be honest…in the past week I have not had a lot of free time outside of work and sleeping. Trying to adjust to working a full-time job again has been a little more difficult that I expected…and the job itself isn’t even all that difficult. But having to go to bed and wake up at specific times and needing to factor in the commute to and from work again…it eats up at the limited free time available. I haven’t even been able to watch a lot of TV lately.

Writing: Based on a goal of 30,000 words written for the month, by the end of today (the 12th) I should be at 11,216 words…I am not there. Actually I’m basically at half of that. Okay, so I have fallen a little bit behind on my Camp NaNoWriMo goals. I’ve just been so tired in my time away from work that I’ve basically just wanted to be lazy…watching TV, taking naps, and not really doing much more. Most of my reading has been at work too, so I don’t know. I need to get myself focused a little bit more.

I know it won’t take long to get myself caught back up. When I’m focused and everything I can write around 1200 words in like a half-hour, so if I just carve out a little bit of time and make myself write, I can definitely get where I need to be.

Other: Okay…so now the reason I’ve managed to read more is something I’m putting here in the “Other” category, because it technically applies to both the “Reading” and “Writing” categories…and that is the fact that I bought a Kindle Scribe. I’ve been wanting an e-ink tablet for when I’m on the go and don’t want to carry around notebooks and pens and all of that. But I didn’t want to get something that was primarily for writing; I wanted something that would be decent at reading as well. After a lot of looking at different products, reading reviews, comparing storage space and capabilities, I decided on the Kindle Scribe…and it arrived last Wednesday.

I can read all of my NetGalley books on it, and can even write little “Post It Notes” that stick to the page, plus being able to highlight passages that stand out to me. But, I can also just create a Notebook document and start writing. The “pen” perfectly picks up my handwriting and I haven’t detected any lag between what I’m writing and what is appearing on the screen. It’s honestly fantastic.

Plus…since I got this during the Prime Day deals and all of that, I ended up getting a 3 month trial of Kindle Unlimited as well, and I definitely plan to try some small press and self published Romantasy books over the next couple of months.

And I have a cool case for it that also folds into a stand/easel set-up so it can prop up the Kindle while I’m reading without me needing to hold it up the whole time. Oh, and I think the battery life on this is pretty great. I fully charged it once I opened it, and then I was able to do some serious reading on it for almost a whole week before it got low enough to warrant charging again. And I was reading like 3-4 hours or so every day. So, I’m honestly impressed with that.

The other point of note for this “Other” category is that we finally, FINALLY, were able to get enough time to hang out with friends and have a game night…our first one in a couple months. We did video games this time around so we played Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Party, and they were both a lot of fun.

All right…passing it over to David.

David

Printing: Been busy printing goodies this week guys. Have a bunch of small trinkets to hand out to folks at GenCon this year. Keep posted on our Instagram and Facebook and keep an eye out on us at the main convention center.

I am also done with the building of the Green Goblin mask, I am just working on making it all nice and smooth and then painting it right now. Hopefully I can figure out how I want to get the eyes on it and making the mouth easy to breath through.

I finally have the goblin slayer helmet in pieces and am hoping to print the rest of the 3d printed parts I need to make. My goal is to have this done by the time Halloween comes around.

Speaking of I also started printing tiny little bats and I have means of making tiny spiders. I think I am going to hide them in random places wherever I go just to spread some spooky season joy.

Playing: I am taking up playing Tears of the Kingdom and Diablo4 again some more but I have just been trying to upgrade equipment and making lots of recipes in Tears of the Kingdom.

Workshop Work: I will have some update photos on this but I am cleaning and rearranging the basement workshop. I might even actually have all of the printers plugged in and ready to go for all the nerdy ideas I got coming up. Mostly looking to get a bunch of cosplay props done for fun.

Also putting up more shelving in hopes that I will be able to stay better organized this time. I think the new layout will work much better and keep the resin printers in a good temperature control spot. Hopefully next time I have a bunch more stuff to talk about. I will also try to actually have some photos to post next week as well.

Well, that is all from us for today. Let us know what you’ve been up to in the comments, because we’d love to hear all about it. Thank you so much for stopping by, and we’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Book Review: The Valkyrie’s Daughter by Tiana Warner

Hey all, Sam here.

Who wants a bonus review post? Because I have one for you today. David and I will have our regularly scheduled WIP Wednesday post up later this afternoon, but I have a book review to post as well…because I was supposed to have it up last weekend, but I got distracted by other books. You’ll hear all about it later in the WIP Wednesday Reading Update section, but…yeah, it threw the review schedule into chaos for a little bit. I’ve had to do some rearranging to fit everything in in a timely manner.

Today’s review is for a book that actually has the sequel coming out at the end of the month, so you know I felt the need to get it read and reviewed in a timely manner. I have been approved for the sequel through NetGalley, so I will be reading that very soon. Plus…if you’ve been keeping tabs on my two projects for Camp NaNoWriMo, one of them has a Valkyrie-inspired main character…so I’ve been in a bit of a Norse Mythology mood anyway.

All right, let’s get started.

From the time she was born, Sigrid has only ever been ordinary. Being paired at birth with a plain horse―instead of the powerful winged mare of a valkyrie―meant there would be no warrior path for her. No riding the skies, no glory among the nine worlds. Just the simple, unremarkable life of a stable hand.

Everything changes when a terrible enemy ambushes Vanaheim and Sigrid sees a vision of herself atop a mythical stallion, leading the valkyries into a harrowing battle. Finally, she can grab her future with her own two hands and become the hero of her own story…if she dares.

But her destiny is tied up with Mariam, a fallen valkyrie who’s allied herself with the very enemy Sigrid is trying to stop.

Now Sigrid has left ordinary behind as she begins a journey with the beautiful―if treacherous―valkyrie, each step bringing her closer to answers…and to awakened feelings for Mariam.

Only, the life Sigrid has escaped may have been paradise compared to the one she’s racing toward. Because her destination is the realm of the dead: the gates of Hel.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4 stars

Once I finally sat down and focused on this book, I read it fairly quickly. But I admit that I had picked it up a couple different times and only read a chapter or two before getting distracted by other books and other stuff going on. Now, let me be very clear in saying that this doesn’t mean that the book wasn’t good enough to hook me in the beginning, because it was. I found Sigrid to be an interesting character from the beginning, and I enjoyed what was presented in the first couple of chapters.

I just want to be honest about saying that I was still trying to break out of my reading slump and some books just took me a few tries to really get into.

Once I was in the right reading mood for this story, I flew through it, almost as if I was racing through the story on Sleipnir. Oftentimes when we think about mythological stories, they seem to be placed in more of a historical or literary perspective, and not so much more of modern writing styles. This book definitely leans on the YA side with writing. The characters don’t speak with some old-time honor-and-code restricted way of speech. That definitely helps with the reading speed.

But, since it also fully takes place in the Norse Worlds, so places like Vanaheim, Helheim, etc, and we don’t really get to see places like Midgard (AKA Earth), the way of speaking does also mess with the feel of the story a bit.

But I liked Sigrid, and Mariam was interesting, and getting to go on this epic quest with them was certainly intriguing. Their relationship dynamic was pretty fun to follow as well, especially with them also traveling around with Fisk.

The journey did seem to fly by rather quickly, and there was a lot happening, but at the same time, some of it did feel a bit easy to handle and sort of rushed. And there were some aspects of the story, particularly with certain “twists” and “revelations” that were fairly easy to predict early on.

Overall I did enjoy reading this, but I was also reading it at the same time as some richer and more involved fantasy books, which left this one feeling as if it was lacking. I still enjoyed reading it, but I wanted a bit more depth and a bit more detail…but that’s okay. The book was still good, and I did enjoy it, which is why I’ve given it 4 stars, but I can still see places where I would prefer more…and who knows, perhaps book two will give me a little more depth and detail and complications and intrigue. We’ll know soon enough.

All right, that is all from me for now, but I’ll be back with David later for our regular Wednesday post. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.