Poet Sarah Kay

"If I should have a daughter, instead of 'Mom,' she's going to call me 'Point B,' because that way she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me."

So begins, well, probably a lot of what's been written about Sarah Kay, a spoken word poet and one of the coolest writers ever yall need to listen to her *coughs* and also her poem "B."

Sarah Kay is a poet. But before you think about dusty books and artistic angst, stop. Sarah Kay is a spoken word poet, drawing out sentences and phrases and puns into the thin air of auditoriums. Though she does have books out, they're composed of poems she's written originally for recitation, so the words are phrases that tumble around the edges of illustrations, not marshalled into anyone's ideas of sentence structure or brevity.

What really gets me about her poems is that you can watch her and see her put her whole body into it. Whether she's pacing around at TED stage or miming Whole Foods workers, you can tell she is speaking from the heart.

Whether she's working with her creative partner Phil Kaye, dipping in and out of perfectly planned unison and rhyme scheme as they discuss how they started writing together; or she's speaking into the middle distance, a hint of sadness in her voice as she talks about where she was on 9/11; or she's reciting love poems that aren't sappy, aren't angsty, just are slices of a life next to someone else: Sarah Kay is magical.

Even if you don't consider yourself a poetry person, I'd encourage you to check out her YouTube performances. Who knows, spoken word might become something you love just as much as she does. She tells us her poetry isn't an angry open letter; instead, it's a love letter to words and performance and loving what you do. It's beautiful to watch.

"When I'm inside writing, all I can think about is how I should be outside, living. When I'm outside living, all I can do is notice all there is to write about. When I read about love, I think, 'I should be out loving.' When I love, I think, 'I need to read more.' I'm stumbling in pursuit of grace." —from "Paradox" by Sarah Kay

Happy listening,
~Citali

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Clay Jannon, unemployed graphic designer, wanders down a suspicious-looking street and finds the interestingly-named Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore, where he is hired as the night clerk. Over time, he discovers the bookstore: a small and quirkily selected independent section remains up front, but beyond that lies what he calls the “Waybacklist” shelves: three stories tall, reachable only by a ladder, and known only to the database that lies on an ancient Mac at the front desk. He meets the patrons of the bookstore: the occasional person who works at the nightclub next door, elderly visitors with mysterious encrypted membership cards who borrow and return books from the Waybacklist, and one very special Googler who admires his graphic design and coding skills. Eventually, he finds himself drawn into a mystery including his employer Mr. Penumbra, Google, the Waybacklist, and the very origins of books themselves.

 This is one of my favorite books. While it takes place in San Francisco, New York, Nevada, and even the Google campus, the worldbuilding of the bookstore and Google and even Clay’s apartment is stunning. It might be literary fiction, but it evolkes all the wonder of, say, YA fantasy. It’s a quirky story in everything from the plot to the dialogue to the settings. Honestly, who wouldn't want to work at a 24-hour bookstore? A cryptic one that's one big puzzle? Who wouldn't want a cast of characters in your life that includes a quirky yarn museum curator, a animatronic-building artist, and a peculiar bookseller mentor? 

If you’re a fan of character-driven stories, however, this is not necessarily for you. Some tropes and some flat characters make unimportant appearances, and the plot is propelled less by any one character’s genius than by some seemingly out-of-the-blue eureka moments.

 The cover is cheery yellow and minimalist, and the text is whimsical—it made me want to pick the book up after it had been recommended to me. 

 5/5 stars

P.S. This book contains one of the more accurate representations of Silicon Valley in popular fiction.

Happy reading,
~Citali

Citali's Library

Have I mentioned I love libraries?

(a joke. That's a joke. I love libraries. I say this all the time.)

Like, a lot. Unironically. Unconditionally.

SO last summer I volunteered at my city library, and to be not cliché, it wasn't exactly life-changing. But it made me think things.

I worked in the children's section, as opposed to adult or circulation. However, they don't let volunteers sit behind the reference desk and answer questions and sign kids up for summer reading. Whether or not it seems logical, you need a master's in library science for that. I also wasn't shelving books, though I feel like I'd be good at that, being a longtime patron of the children's section (the wisdom of years: that the L-M and M-R shelves are where everything that's worth anything is. Pretty much). What I did was everything else. My fellow four volunteers were almost-not-quite found family; I figure that once you pick up speech patterns from someone, you've become at least a level 2 friend (a joke. That's a joke). There was a performance series where we volunteers would help set up stages for puppet shows and jugglers and science shows, then count the attendees—adults and kids—with little clickers. Memorably, we performed in one of them, as part of an opera, albeit a 30-minute one. We stamped summer reading achievement certificates with the librarians' seal of approval. We lugged boxes of the free books given out for summer reading. Memorably, we spent one afternoon session sanitizing laundry baskets full of baby toys (yes, the ones that little kids put in their mouths. It was fantabulous //s).

But what I spent the most time doing, well... it didn't seem like a very library thing to do. For hours of those afternoons, we voided books, removing them from circulation. Some of them were ripped, drooled on, oil-stained. Some were wholesale ripped from their bindings. But others? They looked like they've been gently used, still usable. Nevertheless, they were treated all the same: their barcodes blacked out, their library labels removed. They were Tetris-ed into circulation carts. And thrown (tossed. Stacked. Fine, placed). Into. Dumpsters (garbage! Trash cans! Or at least, bins).

To be fair: 1) Since they were library property, they were government property. And that means that when they're declared void (and when the library/government has to buy new books) they have to go. Otherwise librarians could void books randomly so that they could keep them. Or sell them. 2) I guess libraries have to toss out things sometime. Some of those voided books were pretty nasty. 3) And some of the books in better (read: spotless, imho) condition were Tetris-ed into boxes, not carts, and taped up and shipped off to libraries elsewhere.

However, those didn't really change the fact that, when I came out of my summer of volunteering, I thought ever-so-slightly less of my library.

But after the summer, I spent an unusual amount of time in other people's libraries: schools, other muni libraries. Whether it was spending time in the school library studying and not touching a page of fiction, or meeting up with classmates in the teen section of their municipal library to work on group projects, or even visiting a library comic-con, it made me think things.

In the world we live in, every bit of government spending is being thrown into question. But libraries, public ones, seem like one of the best and at the same time craziest things you can do. My library isn't huge and urban, and yet I have to stop myself and appreciate what my citizenship gets me. A building with books and computers that you can use for massive blocks of time. Museum passes. Books that have come out mere weeks or even days ago. Wi-fi. Readings. Art. Summer reading. The Oxford English dictionary. An online catalog. A juggler. A Triwizard Tournament.

And that's not even counting what other libraries can do. There are libraries that lend out cake pans and shared seeds and sewing machines. 3D printers and virtual reality headsets. Hosting comic-cons.

My library is limited by the rules of a county system—it can never shut down an entire branch and host a comic-con, for example. But it's also empowered by the thousands of books it can hold in collection and retrieve from different libraries around the area. The catalogue might have been a little clunky. But the fact remains that there are so, so many books I can access with my keystrokes, even months before they're published, without the interlibrary loan. And I might have to disinfect a few baby toys. But for all those two- and three-year-olds who get to have those toys for that time while they're getting read to, sure.

I might have huge, grandiose thoughts-with-a-capital-T about libraries and sharing and whether that playtime and storytime with those disinfected toys will change a life or make a future author want to write. But honestly, even with all the slightly problematic destruction of books or the large quantities of baby saliva, libraries are so, so worth it. And I will be supporting them all the way.

Happy reading,
~Citali

Free Comic Book Day

Hey readers,

Sorry about the lack of actual bookish posts lately. Willow and I have just been pretty busy lately, but we're working on bringing all the fangirly things back onto our schedules.

That being said, last week I mentioned the Free Comic Book Day haul I got!
I bought three books: one was a graphic novel called Space Battle Lunchtime and two were more traditional-length comic books, Godshaper and Lumberjanes (both were the first volume).

Godshaper imagines a world where one day, all the "technology that made life easy" just disappeared. In its place, suddenly everyone had a god with them. They weren't gods in the traditional sense, but more like ghostly companions: glowing, colorful, and attached to each person. They were like "personal bank accounts," with affluential people having larger gods. But there are people without gods; they're called Shapers. Ennay's one of them, and he's lived his whole life knowing that everyone needs him to service their growing gods but no one wants him in town. But more importantly, if he wants to have a career as a musician, he needs a god at his side to seem normal.

Godshaper's art is beautiful and colorful, with a super-interesting concept. I'll definitely be following the story as it comes out! The gods and their humans are an interesting metaphor too.

Lumberjanes is a fluffy story about a group of girl friends who venture into the wilderness during summer camp, only to be met by ghostly supernatural occurrences. It's cute, simple, and keeps the ghost-story vibe light, just like a friendly campfire story.

Space Battle Lunchtime is the story of Peony, who bakes for a lowly cafe. But when she's zapped into orbit on a spaceship, she soon discovers she's the newest contestant on an intergalactic cooking show, Space Battle Lunchtime. The graphic novel chronicles her adventures dealing with her fellow contestants, who all think her Earthling lack of knowledge of intergalactic standards is cute and naive. She meets with grudging acceptance and jealous hatred, but it remains to be seen if Peony has a chance to use victory on Space Battle Lunchtime to propel herself to intergalactic pastry stardom!

All of these comics are cute, quirky, and unconventional. I'd definitely recommend them to all ages!

Happy reading!
~Citali

Housekeeping

Hello, lovely readers!

Happy Thursday! As finals approach, we're taking a quick break from our ~regularly scheduled~ well-planned-out post programming to just give a bit of an update on what's going on at the Archives.

• Willow and I did NaNo together this past April Camp NaNo. For the first time, Willow captained our cabin, and for the first time, we both won Camp with our word goals of 10k. (I'm not saying those were related, but those were definitely related). 
• I also did a more loose Camp than I'm used to. Usually, it's a lot easier for me to write during Camp in April and July than it is in November, so I attempt my best writing in April. However, I realized that the story I was writing... wasn't really going a direction that was something I wanted to pursue for more plot events or for revisions. I did get to write 5k on a story that I really love, and that I want to keep writing, though!
• Don't worry, I'm still working on the Reading Without Walls challenge. There will be booklists!
• Free Comic Book Day was celebrated the first Saturday this May! I picked up some indie comics and also a v. cool graphic novel (which will feature in Reading Without Walls #2) for 20% off at my friendly neighborhood indie comic bookstore (which is, in fact, a real thing).
• One of the cornerstones of solarpunk lit for YA is The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson, set in futuristic Brazil. I recently started reading it, and am awed by the worldbuilding. 
• Some posts to come: Reading Without Walls, Camp NaNo reflections, an analysis of grammar in fiction inspired by St.Owl's blog, some thoughts on short stories/novelettes, and some vague ideas-that-aren't-posts-yet about libraries and communities (of course).

With luck, we'll have a proper bookish post next week.

Until then, happy reading!

~Citali

Literary Tourism

Not to beat the dead horse into the ground, but, as you know, I went to England over the summer. When asked why I chose to go to London (because the trip location was my choice), I usually named one of or all of the following reasons:

1. Foreign editions of books that also were readable (because I read only English).
2. No language barrier (although I had rather underconsidered the barrier of accents).
3. Harry Potter

One of which is literary tourism in and of itself. But as we were in England, I found that, voluntarily or involuntarily, I was being a literary tourist beyond buying foreign editions (actually only one foreign edition, which I will come back to later) and visiting the aforementioned dead horse, the Harry Potter studios, which I will stop talking about now.

We went to Stonehenge and the white chalk horses near Bath and visited the British Museum in London. However, I also visited an amazing and amazingly large bookstore in Canterbury, the site of Chauncer's Canterbury Tales (which features pilgrims telling tales to each other on their way to the Canterbury Cathedral).

And amazing sites aside (because they were amazing) I couldn't stop thinking that, canonically, Richard Campbell Gansey III (of The Raven Cycle fame) walked the circle around Stonehenge and saw the white horses and was probably making nerdy notes in a notebook about ley lines the entire time. I picked up a book about ley lines. In a non-Ganseylike way, I felt it was a Ganseylike thing to do (which you'll understand if you've read The Raven King; there's a passage about Gansey thinking that what most people think of as Ganseylike doesn't really get at his essence, just his outside. Ley lines are part of his outside).

Nota bene: I bought a British copy of The Raven Boys, since I don't own a copy and I felt that I'd been thinking about the books an unusual amount (I didn't get any HP editions because I love Mary GrandPré's covers and chapter illustrations, which aren't in the British editions). Reading it, I rediscovered how aggressively car-related it is. Why, you might ask? Because "tyre," "kerb," and "petrol," all aggressively car-related words and aggressively British words, are very prevalent. It's weird to hear characters with American Southern accents "say" "petrol," to my American brain, anyway.

I kept thinking about how Hermione-like I was being as I enthused about YA foreign editions in a Waterstone's. I thought about the Hogwarts Express as we took the train from London.

Literary tourism is about seeing where authors wrote, where filmmakers recreated, and where characters walked, both in-text and out. I'm all for walking the same ground as famous people, but to walk the same ground as fictional people is pretty cool too.

Happy reading!
~Citali

P.S. Here's a John Green.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHfYj48mDCY

Reading Without Walls

Have you heard of Gene Luen Yang? You might have read Boxers, Saints, or American Born Chinese, all graphic novel titles that have won tons of awards! They're different takes on what happened and is still happening when Western culture meets, in this case, Chinese heritage. Whether it's about the conflict between religions or just another student struggling to fit in at school, his writing is a valued perspective in a fun format.

Information and learning are power. By loving books or at least being open to them, we bibliophiles take in so much information, even when we're just reading for fun. Why not take that opportunity to read books that will teach you something while still giving you that high point that comes when you want to know what happens next and you're in love with all the characters and you've been caught up in a world and a conflict that's not your won?

Gene Luen Yang is the National Ambassador for Young People's literature, and he's challenged us bookworms (especially the ones who read middle grade and YA lit) to the Reading Without Walls challenge. To celebrate the sheer awesomeness of this challenge, I made mini book lists for each of the three suggestions that are part the challenge.

1. Read a book about someone who doesn't look like you or doesn't live like you. (Race, sexuality, creed, gender, location, class, physical and mental ability, on and on! There are so many ways to experience the world.)
2. Read a book about a topic you don't know about. (Even if you call yourself a humanities person, you'll need to learn about the world to write your novels (or poems, or interpretative dances). Read about science: how to raise bees, the mythology of the planets, optical illusions. Read about history: great queens, the quirky people who were just like us. Not a nonfiction person? Read a book where the main character works stage crew, or does ballet.  What we don't know is huge.)
3. Read a format you don't usually read. (Read some poetry, if you're a prose person. Read a graphic novel, even if you think they're too easy. Listen to an audiobook, if you usually skim the words or if you can't imagine what an accent sounds like.)

Booklist to come! Happy reading (or listening),
~Citali

Dandelions and Dragons: Webcomic Fluff Dump

I've (Citali) been reading more webcomics lately! Here's my list + spiels.

1. Flowerpot: "A story about a boy who grows dandelions from his head because of a mysterious disease, and all the problems that entails. Ten years ago, Ben was the first person to be infected by a strange disease that causes flowers to grow from his body every spring and summer.  In a world where flowers have become frightening, Ben has come to accept that most people will want to keep their distance from his dandelions.  However, when an enthusiastic photographer arrives out of the blue and asks Ben to be a part of his project, Ben begins to discover what being a “flowerpot” really means."

Ben is Patient Zero for fleurine, a recent illness that causes flowers to grow from his hair. Flowers are feared as carriers of the infectious disease, and "flowerpots" like Ben must guard against people's prejudices. A fluffy comic with lots of friendship and flowers, not to mention some succulents, annoying relatives, and cuddly friends.

Some swearing (Eileen can get angry).

Read here: http://flowerpot-comic.tumblr.com/post/136451157935/flowerpot-title-page-extra-fleurine-pamplet

2. Always Human: "This is a story about nanobots, genetic engineering, and two girls falling in love. No matter how technology changes us, we'll always be human."

Sunati's always admired the one girl she always sees at the train station without any "mods," or genetic modifications like the ones she's always used to. Then she finds out the reason Austen isn't modding is because she can't; she has a syndrome that prevents her from living like everyone else does. Also super fluffy with friendship, representation to the nines, real-world problems (stress! failure! feeling like an impostor!). A watercolor art style that's super calming.

Some swearing in Spanish (from Austen).

Read here: http://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/always-human/1-i-guess-thats-why-i-admire-her/viewer?title_no=557&episode_no=1

3. Tea Dragon Society: "The Tea Dragon Society is about a young blacksmith apprentice, Greta, who is learning her craft but isn’t entirely sure what use it has in modern society. When she encounters a tea dragon and becomes closer to those who raise them and grow their tea, she learns about the dying art form and how it enriches the lives of those she meets—and eventually her own. With the experiences and the memories she makes, she begins to wonder if there’s a value in craft all of its own."

A soft lineless fantasy style: tea dragons are a notoriously finicky breed, treasured for their priceless tea. When Greta, a blacksmith's daughter who's more compassionate than plucky, rescues a jasmine green dragon, she learns about the wise elder Hesekiel and his old friend Erik who raise them. The fluffiest thing I've ever read—super calming, cute art, and worldbuilding to the nines!

Super family friendly, great for anyone at all who needs more cuddly dragons in their lives.

Read here: http://teadragonsociety.com/comic/chapter-1/

4. Mooncakes: "Long-lost childhood crushes Nova Huang and Tam Lang have reunited for the first time in ten years. They have a lot more to deal with this time than just being the only two Asian kids in school (who also happen to both have magical abilities). The comic focuses on their relationship as they struggle through bills, family, and weird horse demons in ways that only a witch and a werewolf can."

Super cool to find urban fantasy that's not grimdark and edgy! The worldbuilding in this one is great: the witchy bookstore that Nova's grandmothers own, Nova's own stellar fashion sense, the art style in general! It's a classic comics line style. Not to mention how diverse it is! As it's shaping up, it looks like this will be a fun fantasy adventure with a tinge of romance. Super diverse too: hard of hearing, LGBT+, and Asian American (!) characters galore!

A few swear words.

Read here: http://mooncakesomic.tumblr.com/

--

Yes, I read a lot of fluff. That's what comics are to me: they're short, so they're mostly for rereading value. I love the characters and the worlds, and I want everyone to have a happy ending! It's perfect for scrolling through on a bad day.

Happy reading!
~Citali

Solarpunk

Hey guys! We're back from a bit of a hiatus. We're announcing a new schedule: we'll try to send out a new post to you all every Thursday (or at least once a week), even to just check in. Hope to see you all a bit more!

Can I talk about science fiction for a bit? Not the Victorian original science fiction mixed with fantasy that is steampunk. Not the robots and distant universes that is classic sci-fi. Not the artificial intelligences and spaceships that is space opera. Not the dictatorships and near futures that is dystopia. But the science fiction that is solar panels and art and rebellion in a beautiful way and in a gritty way that is solarpunk, also known as one of the leading subgenres of optimistic fiction and science fiction. 

I've written a little about solarpunk before. But what exactly is it?

It's a subgenre of sci-fi that's mostly still in ideological stages—unlike other genres who can clearly point to a founding author, the nature of solarpunk is that its inspiration comes from lots of varied authors: Nnedi Okorafor's afrofuturism, Ernest Callenbach's environmental utopia, Alaya Dawn Johnson's Brazilian monarchy, Neal Stephenson's optimistic principle-based sci-fi. A few founding anthologies such as Wings of Renewal and Hieroglyph have been produced, but not much more than that.

Personally, I see solarpunk as an optimistic, aesthetic sci-fi—not built on flat white male characters like Jules Verne's classics, not as dark or pessimistic as The Hunger Games or Divergent, and more technologically advanced and responsible than the classic '50s sci-fi of, say, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep or the I, Robot works of Isaac Asimov. 

The idea is that it's a futuristic world that we can begin building now: embracing the valuable, diverse current cultures and the complexities of current issues and incorporating that kind of responsibility into mainstream society in a way that's still a reachable standard today. 

What I find most interesting about solarpunk's emergence is that its two founding documents, so to speak, are 1) a series of images of solarpunk fashion and architecture, created by an artist and 2) a political philosophy drafted by a member of Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination. In other words, this genre is built on ideas by people from what others might call the opposite ends of the academic spectrum. 

Members of the solarpunk community now write anthologies; cosplay solarpunk fashion; make art; write fantasy and sci-fi taking place within a solarpunk world; ponder how society today would change in a more ideal solarpunk world; share experimental science that could have futuristic applications; and figure out how we can work today to make our world a little bit more optimistic and a little bit, dare I say, prettier. 

The political side of solarpunk: social justice for everyone. The world today isn't the ideal, and there are things that we can change to make it closer to one. How would whole systems change to ensure the rights of girls, the poor, the disadvantaged, the disenfranchised? How would income work in a world where robots could do the manual labor and where the sun and the wind and possibly some photosynthetic algae could give us endless energy? What about the educational system, charity work, democracy? How could the system be changed to "make scientists heroes again"?

It might seem like fluff or utopia, but solarpunk is the punk-rock response to today's world and today's fiction. In a world where the mainstream is discouraging radical diversity and love, acknowledging problems—and more importantly, their solutions—and living hopefully is the rebellion.

Solarpunk is something that I love because I can stretch it, and because there's more than just writing advice in the community. I want to read a story about a way to build a city without coal or carbon dioxide—then be directed to a link about how people are building it now. I want to read colorful stories about dragons with solar-panel wings and helicopters running on biofuel—in the same universe. I want to see characters who look like me and with backstories like my parents', written by an author who looks like me and my parents. I want to be part of a community where the #solarpunk tag has art and cosplay and photos and exposés and research and writing, whether it's fantasy or sci-fi or could take place in my neighbor's backyard right now without me having a clue. I love solarpunk because it's being built right now, and I'm having a tiny part in that.

Happy reading,
~Citali

ICBD 2017

Salutations! Our apologies from having been away from the blog for a bit. I promise we haven't left this corner of the internet behind!

Happy April 2! It's fitting that the day after the good-natured (hopefully) fun of April Fool's Day is a day honoring the good-natured, hopeful, and good-clean-fun world of children's literature--International Children's Book Day!

The date, though, isn't related to April Fool's; it honors the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, classic fairy-tale author.

Whether you're of board-book, picture-book, chapter-book, or middle-grade, or whether you've moved past the children's section to YA or beyond, I for one owe so much of my book-loving, fandom-crazy, "unironially enthusiastic" identity to the books I read and was read from that perfect children's sections. To those books, those authors, and their supporters--happy ICBD 17!

Happy reading!
~Citali

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: Book Review

Happy 2017! I figured to start the new year with a massive current fave.

Want a terrifying fact? It's been more than a year since my (our) last book review post, which was for Dorothy Must Die back in October 2015. Now to fix that!

Six of Crows and its partner in crime (the second half of its duology), Crooked Kingdom, are masterpieces. To break it down to whatever might make you pick up a book: the plot, the worldbuilding (*swoon*), the quotability, the characters (*double swoon*), and the amazing fandom, all of them are amazing and cinammon roll-y.

The plot: A thrumming heist story full of twist after twist, reveal after reveal, triumph over triumph. It's almost impossible to put down; it starts with a bang and ends heart-wrenchingly but hopefully.

The worldbuilding: Taking place in a gritty low fantasy city resembling Amsterdam in the nineteenth century. Realism, well-built infrastructure both in and out of the narrative, and the intriguing system of the Grisha Small Science (what others might think of as magic).

The quotability: Here are just a few favorite bits:

• “It's not natural for women to fight."
  "It's not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall, and yet there you stand.” 
• Kaz leaned back. "What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?"
  "Knife to the throat?" asked Inej.
  "Gun to the back?" said Jesper.
  "Poison in his cup?" suggested Nina.
  "You're all horrible," said Matthias.
• "Why does it matter?”
  “I don’t know!” Jesper said angrily. “Maybe I liked your stupid face."

There's just so much quality banter and everyone loves/hates each other and they're just all amazing.

The characters: Personally, they're my favorite part. I present the following:

• A former acrobat, stolen as a slave, sold as an "indentured servant," now the best spy in the city and ready to fight for her life and her friends
• A young man who's immensely secretive about his past, who's risen to his title of "Dirtyhands" among the grittiest gangs of Ketterdam by ruthless crime and grudging respect
• A girl who can turn people's bodies against them, a trained soldier in Ravka's army, far from her home
• A still-loyal soldier of Fjerda, Ravkans' enemy, imprisoned miles from his nation and battling allegiances
• A sharpshooter with a gambling problem and a longing for trust
• An innocent demolitions expert who is ACTUALLY A CINNAMON ROLL (Calm down, Citali)

The fandom: As fandoms go, the SoC/CK fandom is still pretty small and amazing. Also we have... like... amazing fanartists? Like the actual angel who drew this Inej and Wylan sketch:

 

Source: http://jell-illustrations.tumblr.com/post/151790166629/more-six-of-crows-stuff

The genre: It seems to bridge genres: young adult fantasy, with a tinge of LGBT+ fiction, as well as a heist narrative, combined with an action plot full of twist after twist. Each of the main character simultaneously makes the reader adore them and hate them. Each plot twist elevates the plot and keeps the reader completely engaged--the book is virtually “unputdownable.” It’s also followed by an, if possible, even better sequel (Crooked Kingdom) and preceded by a trilogy, letting readers who are hooked dive even further into the author’s worldbuilding.

This series is just So! Good! Agh!

Happy reading!
~Citali

"Possession is forbidden": How Fandoms Look at Love

"Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is essential to a Jedi’s life. So you might say, that we are encouraged to love.” Star Wars

"I realized, I minded." The Hunger Games

"'You are going to marry another man. How dare you come here--demanding to know of my son--as if you had a right?' 'No right perhaps--except the right of loving him.'" Emily of New Moon

From a galaxy far, far away, to a dystopian future in a not-too-far-off United States, to Victorian Canada, three fandoms all seem to, in part or totally, describe love as a possession by someone else. Of course, the girl-power enthusiast in me immediately rejects this: how can love be at you and not with you? Is that how love, the most powerful and innate emotion of human nature, works?

(This is just a little rage post I threw out there.)
~Citali

A FANGIRL GOES TO THE HARRY POTTER STUDIOS: Part The Beginning Of The End

The Hogwarts Express has long since left for the year, but I'm here with the very end of this trio of literary tourism posts! 

The amazing Knight bus! From the hall to the Express and to the backlot. After riding the double-decker buses in London and being thrilled with simply being on the second story, I would be so thrilled on the third story of this thing... 

So this is the Dursley house with all these letters. Of course they weren't suspended by wires when they were filmed; it's just for display. There's something haunting in a really cool way about that display. 

Dementor and inferi CGI and model stuff! Can you imagine wearing that Inferi backpack? 

The HP artists are amazing... look at this full model of a merperson's head.

It's the breathing model of Voldemort and as creepy as anything it moves. 

Tarantara, it's Diagon Alley! 

I always rather thought this shop was underrated? In the original Pottermore, you could buy phials and things from it that served no real purpose, although clearly they would have been needed for potions? Pity.

The books are so pretty I want to go insiiiide!

The "architect of Hogwarts" surrounded by the four animals mascots of the Houses. Completely a movie invention; there is no "architect" character in the books. Part of me is a little bit bitter; if Rowena Ravenclaw made the extremely important moving staircases and her House is responsible for one of the four towers, why is the eagle facing the wall?

This is entire rooms full of concept art: sketches, colored pictures, paper models. This is a house-elf suit of armor. How cool is that? There were so many sketches on the walls, it was hard to see them all. 

Here's the iconic (movie-iconic) bridge model!

And then. It hits you. It's dark, and there is clearly one thing in the center. It's Hogwarts. It's Hogwarts, and it's huge. It's magic. 

What I would give for a wand so I could apparate back there and see it all again. 

But it never truly ends. We are Book Eight. 

Happy reading!

~Citali

November NaNoWriMo 2016: The Prologue

It's October which means it's almost November which means several things: it's officially fall, we can get out boots and sweaters and hot chocolate, and of course NaNoWriMo (2016) is coming up! This will be my second year and I am as excited as anything!

Good luck with final NaNo prep to anyone who's a Planner! Happy writing to everyone come November!

Happy writing,
Citali

A FANGIRL GOES TO THE HARRY POTTER STUDIOS: Part Pictoral

Happy summer-is-ending, void-that-is-the-Internets-and-readers-or-dearth-thereof!
Maybe I should just introduce every post like that from now on.

Let's go ♫ sailing off to London ♫ again now, back to the wonderful Harry Potter studios in Leavesden!

**Book, tour, and movie spoilers ahead. Protego!**

The tour, you could say, has three parts (though wouldn't it be *metaphorically significant* if there were seven?): two soundstages and the back lot in between. The first soundstage focuses on sets and props, from the tiny (Harry's cupboard) to the huge (the Great Hall). The backlot is outdoors; the displays there are the outdoor props like the beloved Knight Bus. Finally, the second soundstage features the art and special effects, from the beautiful concept artists' images and models to the creepy masks or suits of special-effect characters like Aragog or Griphook.

Greetings from the Ford Anglia and huge pictures of the major actors! That's Alan Rickman and Tom Felton (Draco's face hidden by Ford Anglia). I think I just let the fangirling fill me up here, and I just stood around with my mouth open. It's already on a grand scale, and there are only a few set pieces out in the lobby.

The first (and smallest) set is right off the lobby; it's Harry's cupboard. It was amazing to see this right off the bat; it's icon and simple and a little bit heartbreaking. Again, it was only the beginning.

Possibly the most of me you'll ever see in a photo, this is my hand as we were standing in line. Buzzing with fangirling excitement, it was the most cheerful line we saw in England, and probably the most cheerful line in the world. We were all very excited, and I just love the Potterhead fandom.  C'mere, you guys. I had a blue pen with me, and I was seriously considering writing "I solemnly swear I am up to no good" or "#RavenclawPride" or "Ravenclaw is blue and bronze" on my hand. I didn't, though, partially because there were simply just too many slogans I wanted. 

There are just no words. No words. No words for the sheer reality and magic and size and scale of the Great Hall. There's a reason it's the first thing on the tour past the doors. Every visitor to the studios must say it, but this place just wows you. It's the best feeling in the world, that mixture of shock and awe and excitement and it's happening, it's happening, I'm here. Of course, this isn't the only place you can feel that, but it was truly magical. It stayed with me the whole time. 

It's the teachers. It's the sorting hat. It's the House mascot lamps. It's uniforms from every house, from first year all the way up to seventh. It's the Hogwartsians amongst us.

We reluctantly moved out of the Great Hall, because there was so much more to explore! The Yule ball outfits were stunning (ha, ha, Ron) from his disastrous dress robes to Cho Chang's beautiful dress (Cho is one of my favorites. Again, Ravenclaw pride!)

Then we moved on to costumes and wigs. This head with two Uncle Vernon mustaches pinned onto it was immensely entertaining to my strange sense of humor. That's a greenscreen glove for Dumbledore's dead hand underneath it, by the way.

More wigs! The long blonde one on the stand is Luna Lovegood's, another of my favorites. Quirky Ravenclaws for the win, of course! Her hair is beautiful, as is everyone's.

There are tables of wigs, there are shelves with more, there are racks of fancy clothes, there are matching shoes that I've never noticed watching the movies. And this can only be a fragment of the movie magic. Isn't that amazing?

It's a tiny rendition of Lupin's classroom! And the only lesson he cinematically taught! Merlin, I love that teacher... and Snape in Neville's grandmother's clothes. I mean... who doesn't?

When you see the Gryffindor boy's dormitory, you're standing a little bit under the roof of it. You look up at the timbers Daniel Radcliffe and Devon Murray and Alfie Enoch and Matthew Lewis and Rupert Grint looked up at, the timbers Harry and Seamus and Dean and Neville and Ron looked up at. It really is cozy.

What can I possibly say about the wands? They're all there. It's amazing. You can see which characters' wands really match them: Dumbledore's elder wand, Bellatrix's claw, Voldemort's terrifying bony thing. Other wands are plainer, like Ginny's which is the second from the right here. I rather wish hers had shown a bit more of her personality, but it's beautiful all the same.

It's the Gryff common room, with the Prisoner of Azkaban costumes! This place is the coziest thing possible, with so much detail, from the paintings on the walls to the door to the stairs up to the Gryff boys' dorm.

Lupin. Tonks. Sirius. I love how they're stood so that it looks a bit like an Olympic gold, silver, and bronze pedestal. This is only partly because it means Tonks is gold, Lupin silver, and Sirius bronze. Although I love them all; this isn't quite my ranking order, either. It would probably be Lupin, then Tonks, then Sirius in my book, but Lupin and Tonks are close in rank.

Beloved Alan Rickman, and less-beloved Snape. The potions classroom is scarily detailed.

It's Dumbledore's office! Look at all those Headmasters. Dumbledore's the washed-out figure in the bottom right.

This is a cage with all the Goblet of Fire props. Look. At. That. It's insane.

The beautiful and iconic, if nonliterary, clock from Prisoner of Azkaban. It's huge.

A big look at a ton of large practical props, with the greenscreen area in the background. I love the Ravenclaw moving staircases. 

The beloved Weasley Burrow. There are things here that actually move (mechanically), it's amazing.

It's the Hogwarts Express! Look at this scarlet glory. It's beautiful. I wish I were on there come this September first.

Everything from the Yule ball costumes up to this point were in this big main hall. Before I went aboard the Express, though, I just had to stop and take one picture looking back.

Hogwarts trolleys, each belonging to a different student distinctively. This is Luna's of course. Check out that aqua footlocker! 

In a cabin at the end of the express. All was well. (Don't talk to me about Cursed Child!)

This gave me so many feels... it's his broken glasses. From fifteen years ago, can you believe?

I promised myself I'd only make very important images very large; I'm getting carried away. But just you look at all these paper goods! I want those textbooks...and all that is just beautiful.

What wouldn't I give to visit a bookstore with a shelf like that? 

I'll end this post here. Don't worry, I'll pop you all off to the rest of the tour (we'll go to all destinations, just nothing underwater, haha) later! 

A big thanks again to people who put up with long-winded and philosophical or pictoral posts. Especially to those people who put up with posts who are also the people who took me on this trip! And especially to Lauchlan for the travel blog format. Thanks for understanding.

Happy imagining!

~Citali