In Defense Of Bad Books

I have at times been critical of some people's choices of literature. This was certainly unfair of me, but like most, I would shrug and say 'But there's so much BETTER out there.' And I would be right.  However, that isn't really the relevant issue.

Last night, quite late, I pulled 'Soulless,' the first book in the Parasol Protectorate trilogy. This is, for lack of a better term, a steampunk fantasy. It's also a paranormal romance, but I didn't know that at the time. I had bought the first book when it first came out, because the cover was interesting and the dusk jacket sounded intriguing. The second two books I got for free from the library, so at least I can say I didn't spend an overabundance of money on them.

Let me be clear. These are not BAD books. I have a hard time criticizing most authors because obviously they have been published and I have not. Clearly, someone saw something of worth here. Furthermore, I read the WHOLE thing THAT night. So apparently that someone was me.

It is simply that I would feel uncomfortable RECOMMENDING this series to 95% of anyone I know.



Problem one is the passive voice. I have recently finished all of RA Salvatore's Legacy of the Drow and as I pointed out to some people, it is also written very passively. The reader is not shown that something is the case, they are simply told. Sometimes, this is very understandable.  When you are introducing the reader to a fantasy world, it can be hard to fit in all the lore and culture and traditions simply through action and dialogue. However, there are other times where it would have been easy to demonstrate, or even worse, where some fact HAD been demonstrated which makes the information dump rather...patronizing. It isn't that it's boring, it's that it is just THERE. It doesn't pull the reader in as much as it could. This is particularly annoying with character development. I want to watch the character develop, I want to see her change and grow and act. I don't want to simply be TOLD she is such and such way. Perhaps this is some haughtiness brought over from too many English classes, but more than once passage made me wince at its passivity.

The character in question is one Alexia Tarabotti. She is a 26 year old spinster in Victorian England, because, as mentioned, this is a steampunk novel. Her father, whom she has never met, was Italian, making her a bit too tan, her temperament a bit too fiery and her nose a bit too big for English sensibilities. Also, she has no soul. Hence, the title.

I do appreciate the way the supernatural is handled. Every series does it a bit differently, whatever foundation they have to use to justify there being vampires and werewolves and ghosts and such.  In this series, attempting to change humans (day folk) into one of the supernatural, usually ends in that person's death unless they have extra/abundant soul. This means that the kind of people usually chosen to serve the hives (vampires) or the packs (werewolves) are artists, thespians, poets and singers. They are the most likely to survive the process. Also there can be ghosts.

Alexia is a preternatural, someone with no soul at all. Furthermore, if she touches a supernatural creature, they instantly become human and mortal. The werewolves call her a curse-breaker because, despite people volunteering to be bitten, they still consider their lot a curse, and the vampires call her a soul-sucker.

Being soulless and therefore the opposite of an artistic type, Alexia is incredibly pragmatic. She loves books and science and is quite fine being a spinster. She has two half sisters who are, of course, beautiful and vapid.

This is another thing that bothers me, although not justs about this book specifically.

I can understand an author's dilemma. If you make the hero/ine smart AND pretty, well, now s/he is OP, too good, maybe even, God forbid, a Mar(t)y S(t)ue. However, if you make her plain but with 'a great personality,' well, now you are feeding into all stereotypes, especially if the characters that ARE pretty are also stupid.  I get that the idea sometimes is that plain girls (or boys, but there's not as often an issue) cultivate better personalities, or read more and therefore become smarter BECAUSE they are not as attractive and therefore less social, but the other half of that coin is the implication that there's no natural inclination towards intelligence. Or at least it is limited. Simply because an attractive girl doesn't NEED to be smart doesn't mean she wouldn't WANT to. I've seen this handled a variety of ways, to greater and lesser success.  Honestly, I wish I had some good answers, but I don't know what the best solution would be. I guess, I just felt like it was a bit too pat in this book.

Which leads to the next problem. The universe is great, I particularly enjoy the way the author weaves the supernatural into explanation for historical events and how she justifies the more steampunky elements.  However, the plot is entirely predictable. Within the first few pages, I knew basically what the focus was going to be and also who the romantic interest was. Because she hated him. OBVIOUSLY. That's how that works right? All those movies and books and songs can't be wrong.

The love interest in question is a werewolf because as mentioned, this is a paranormal romance which makes it about a half-skip to furrydom. Not only is he a wolf, he's Scottish AND a noble. Which means he gets to be gruff and tantalizingly sensual while also being gorgeously tailored. He (Conall Maccon is his name) is the head of the Bureau of Unnatural Registry, effectively the Scotland Yard and Immigration office of the supernatural. Together, they are every stereotype.

Don't get me wrong, I read almost every single Amelia Peabody book. I like the stereotype, it's fun. It's also old. I can't stress enough that these were THE SAME TWO CHARACTERS. The only difference is that Amelia solved mysteries while opening tombs in Egypt and having her books ripped off by The Mummy 2.
 I kept waiting to be surprised, thinking this was all a way to lull me into a false sense of security and then BAM, plot twist. And...that just didn't happen. They fought and she pretended not to notice how attractive he was, he lost control (near the full moon of course) and kissed her, which she responded to, they kept being interrupted and after they won the day, they got married and had sex in the carriage. While not necessarily a LOT of detail is given, I must say, it was more explicit than I expect from a book that doesn't have a girl in leather on the cover and an author who's last name starts with H.

I know this is all harping, and I want to stress that there are a lot of good aspects. The secondary characters are actually quite fun. Conall's Beta (his second in command) is something like Charles from Metalocalypse, the one always counted on to get things done. Alexia has a host of interesting friends, like her Ivy who wears the most ridiculous hats, and my personal favorite, Lord Akeldama.

Lord Akeldama is what would happen if you had Varus from Game of Thrones was played by Stephen Fry channeling Percy Blakeney. He's a very old vampire, EXTREMELY camp, with a ring of informants who are all, of course, perfectly coiffed young men. He has the best lines, I should post them later.

There is a good deal of slang, which is fun, lots of rich descriptions of clothing. Clearly, the author has a good handle on the basic history of the era. The science is sound and the over all FEEL of the universe is well executed. I had no problems with the production design, in other words. All my issues were basically with the script.

Okay, to come back to my point. These are not terrible books, I wouldn't even say they were bad. But I don't think they are particularly good, and I would be embarrassed to suggest them to most people for fear they would judge my reading tastes of questionable character. But here's the thing.
 We don't always NEED great books. I don't know about you, but I could only read Dune so many times a year. Man cannot live on space operas alone, as the Good Book says. People may make annual readings of Lord of the Rings, but it isn't like that's the only thing they read. We need some cookies and milk to go with our meat and potatoes. We read bad books for the same reason we watch stupid shows: so we can just relax, not think, not feel heavy. Sure, we'd like people to go through our collection and note our brilliant documentaries and thoughtful cinematic entries, but it doesn't change the fact that every now and again, we'd rather watch Street Fighter than Memento.
 I don't want to be thought of as the kind of person who only reads bodice rippers (extremely hard to actually do, just for the record). Yet I shouldn't be ashamed that I got a good few hours of fun from a simple paperback. I wouldn't even be embarrassed to lend it if someone asked for it, because they may very well have fun with it too.

And who knows, maybe those people I'm judging, the Twilight and 50 Shades types, maybe that's what they read those series for. So I will endeavor in the future to not be so judgmental, because we all have our guilty pleasures, the things we escape into, even when escaping our usual literary preferences. Our personal lines are rather arbitrary. There is a difference between liking something and thinking it is great literature.

So enjoy your snacks, your lexicographical bonbons. The heady meals will always be there when you want to come back.



EDIT:  I should note that as I was thinking of writing this, I was interrupted. By myself. Opening the second book. And then reading it for four hours straight. So now I have read two of three, and figured might as well complete the set. The second book was, in some ways, a lot better, though you will find yourself irritated that all the 'secrets' are super obvious to you and yet apparently invisible to our allegedly brilliant heroine. Also there's hella drama at the end, which means I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME HATE MYSELF AUGHWHY.

Shaking Fists At The Universe Like a Good FirstWorlder

11:45ish "Lunch Break" (This is a joke because I never get to actually eat lunch)

I love my job. I love my kids.

Sometimes though, I want to shake them till their ears pop off.

It wouldn't be so bad if I slept all through the night, but I don't. I wake up several times, do the whole tossing dance. It doesn't matter how exhausted I am, how relaxed I was before bed. I blame my traitor brain.

And it wouldn't matter to the same extent if my head didn't hurt, but I've had a raging headache since I got up. I won't call it a migraine because real migraines involve nausea and dizziness. I DO get vertigo sometimes and a bit of dizziness and I did feel gross when I woke up, but that isn't connected. My head just hurts. The sun is shining which makes everyone happy but means I've got stabbing pains everytime I walk down the hall.

I walk down the hall a lot.

It's not even concentrated in one particular place, moves all over place, throbs here, aches there.


So I'm aware that it isn't all their fault. I get that.

But boy if they don't make every effort to make me forget.

There's no school tomorrow, it is a teacher workday. I will have lots of CBT (computer based training) to do, and my paraprofessional modules. I've purposefully put all of it off knowing this work day was coming up.  If I 'don't have anything to do,' they find things both mundane and irritating, so I'd like to avoid that if possible.
  Among other things, this meant the kids has to take their spelling tests today instead of tomorrow. ONE student got an A, and she just got the words yesterday. Three failed, two got C's, two got B's. I'm not sure what the others got.

The ones that failed get to retake the tests but it won't matter. We've gotten on these kids every day, reminding them, offered help, begged them to come in, berated, taken lunch recess away. Nothing works. Some are just defiant, some just don't care. And when you say 'Okay, so you get an F,' then they whine and make excuses or they sit and sulk.

The bad grades in and of themselves would not be so bad. Everyone messes up a week here and there. But these are the same kids who refuse to read the books they are assigned and so are very behind in Reading Counts (our reading program). And the same ones that won't turn in class projects. And the same ones that bully others or throw pine cones. And have no organization.  So there's nothing I can point to and go 'At least you're doing THIS well.'
  It gets very tiring to get up in the same grills all the time.

One is particularly difficult because I know it isn't all his fault. As far as I can tell, he has almost no real adult supervision. Both his parents work. Several days he's come to school without socks. He has the worst haircut you can imagine and that's a frequent occurence. I see him playing around our neighborhood alone all the time. Oh, and he told me there are mice in his room. Not pet mice. Like vermin.

So I think when adults get on his case, he's genuinely surprised because he's just not used to it. However, I still have to do it, still bring down the hammer because that's the only way he will learn.

It's difficult because a lot of my kids have almost no one on Their Side.  Most of them have friends and whatnot, but several don't have close buds. They don't trust anyone, some with better reasons than others. I want my kids to trust me. But I can't let them think it is okay going through life the way they are now, because I do them no favors by letting them fail.


There's another student with parents that worry me. I feel like I'm putting together some expose. 'How Stupid Military Parents (usually in Maintenance or Medgroup, just saying) Screw Up Their Children (which is especially awesome considering their kids have special needs) Through Craziness and Neglect.' Catchy title, I know.

I'm strongly considering calling Family Advocacy for this one. He looks like he never showers, always greasy haired and whatnot. His parents' idea of 'lunch' is a poptart and some pork rinds. I'm not making that up. He's a bully, not...not an evil or even particularly bad kid, but he's got a mouth on him and he can be agressive and I know he gets that at home. I've met his mom and she's crazy. She told us we had no right to 'comment or grade' his behavior because that was the parents' job. Okay, then homeschool him. Because he's in our room for social and learning disabilities and therefore, we are totally required to grade his behavior, ASIDE from the fact that when you are around other people there are ways you are expected to behave and he has to know that. Anyway, like I said, bonkers.
Last week he told me he was going to be left home alone almost all day over the weekend. If it wasn't for the fact Family Advocacy was closed by the time I got off work, I would have already filed some kind of concern.

I don't want to be THAT person, the nosy-break-up-homes type, but it really worries me.

2:45 School Ended/Post Classroom Cleanup

Feeling much better now. Thank the gods Apollo (of medicine) and Hecate (of willow and therefore willow bark) for aspirin.  Today is also my 'fast' day, so I've snacked a bit (including some bits of steak) but am not eating any meals today, just my protein shake (which is deceptively delicious), and enough calories to be healthy to get through the day (about 600). This is to make up for the stupid food I will end up eating over the weekend like pizza and cider.

I'm trying to lose 10-20 pounds by New Year in a notstupid way. I feel like a total tool counting calories because in my experience, people who do that expect OTHER people to accomodate them or they make big deals about it to impress people. Which...I realize is what it exactly looks like I'm doing, but I'm not trying to impress anybody. So I keep track of what I eat (this is made easy by the fact I never get to eat lunch), and I try to work out. As most of you know, this can be difficult because I have the joints of a 200 year old elephant.

Currently, I do 'girl' pushups (where I rest on my knees), planks (where I rest on my forearms), hang off a pull up bar, and do some work with hand weights. It isn't much and I suck at it. The spirit is willing, believe me. I get started three or four times a day. But apparently, despite being inked four times and having studs punched in my back (and subsequently having one pulled out of totally damaged skin), I don't have the greatest pain tolerance. I think it's mostly a mental thing. It isn't that I can't deal with pain, it's that part of my brain starts to panic and shut down. This affects other areas of my life that I'm not going to go into now, but suffice to say, I hate it and want it to die.

Anyway, I'm supposed to do 15 pushups, 3 plank sets and be able to hang off the pull up bar for something like 30 seconds. I can do most of those things but not in a row. I take comfort in the fact I'm getting better but it bothers me that instead of finding my limit and pushing through so that the limit gets farther back, I find my limit and stop. However, I've only just started, so I'm not discouraged yet.

The other thing I'm doing is going to the pool a lot. Or at least I will be. The universe apparently noticed me trying to be healthy and active and flipped out, angered by my desire to leave my hermitage. So two pipes in my car exploded. Not really exploded, though that would have been cool, if terrifying. Just broke so I couldn't drive it. I can't walk to the pool (I COULD technically, but England doesn't believe in sidewalks), so I have to wait till my car is fixed (hopefully tomorrow). After that, the plan is to go something like four days a week. Three days a week, the pool does a 'water fitness' class, rather like an aerobics class but in the water. Last time I did it, it absolutely kicked my ass, but then last time I did it, I was kind of hungover. And by kind of, I mean, I am a total and complete idiot. Hopefully, next time with proper hydration and rest, I will not die quite so hard. An hour work out either way though is great, and I'm glad for the external help.

One day a week, I will do something called Aquagym, which has actual equipment. Sunday I am supposed to be 'inducted' where they will show me how to do stuff. Really, I'm hoping these four days will make the big difference, but I know the every day stuff is important too. I'm pretty good about doing the hand weights ('punching' with them for a minute, holding them out for as long as I can, etc) mostly because I can do that sitting down or for short periods of time.

3:30 Why Am I Still Here

I've been told that what I need to do about the students I'm worried about is talk to the School Nurse and Counselor.  This is true, but I'm not convinced it will do anything. They aren't...the best at doing their, you know, jobs. We've tried to get one of the students in the Counselor's 'Boys Group' all last year and all this year, and so far, he has done nothing. And the nurse is aware of the poptarts issue, but she hasn't done much either. Still, here's hoping, because something has to be done.

Going to pop over to the library. I found out that the other base's library is closed on the weekends because they don't have the staff to keep it open. I tried to ask if I could volunteer, but they said I had to talk to the manager. Who apparently is a wraith because I've never gotten ahold of her yet, but maybe this base's librarians know her and can pass along a message. Would be cool to feel I had saved the library.

Not a bad looking day outside, going to wear my tinted glasses and listen to music. Then I have to grade essays for my online class. Not looking forward to that. Of the 4, 2 are complete rubbish, 1 is okay and 1 is almost okay. Then some lectures, and then done with the class.

So that's what's going on in Meland. Lots of augh, but probably not so bad as to justify this long rant. Thanks for listening anyway.

Some Thoughts On Personal Responsibility

Two things happened today that got me thinking about children and parentst and responsibility.

One is that I finished reading Corey Doctorow's Little Brother. It was required reading for my sci-fi/fantasy class, the last assignment. It is considered YA fiction and my teacher wanted to know if that knowledge, that preconceived idea of the intended audience affected the way we read it. He also wanted to know if the author's clear and frankly didactic intent ruined the story.

Think V for Vendetta meets Fight Club meets 4chan.

Little Brother is a book that both rubbed me weirdly and that I wish I had written. The main character, Marcus, is 16. He's a nerd. He can code, he used to LARP, he can hack and he plays Action Roleplaying Games (back to that in a moment). He also lives in a world just a tiny bit different than ours which I guess is why it's considered science fiction.

Security has stepped up a bit. The students all get SchoolBooks, notebook computers, however, everything they did is monitored. All textbooks and library books have RFID chips and there's 'gait recognition' cameras in the hallways. All of this is cakesauce for Marcus, who can blow past all the firewalls and whatnot because he lives on the internet, just like most kids.

I'd say about 40-50%, possibly more of the book is dedicated to explaining stuff. Explaining what LARPing is, or how certain kinds of codes or the technology behind spam filters. Some of it I felt was unnecessary, any kid under 25 will know what X is, but that could just be the kinds of kids I know. If they are the kinds of kids who would read this book, they probably don't need anime explained to them. Which made me think maybe it was for the adults or maybe Mr. Doctorow just likes showing off how much he knows. He's clearly well entrenched in nerd culture himself and wanted to include as much of it as he could.

So an ARG is a very Japanese kind of game, and actually something that happens here not uncommonly, although usually it's a kind of viral marketing campaign for movies. Cloverfield and Dark Knight both did something like it. Players are given a clue, well, a clue to find a clue. There's a logic problem or puzzle, a digital component (something like digging through all the fanart of SnapeXLeia for something in one specific entry) and a physical component, which requires finding the right WiFi hotspot and then downloading the information. The winners get to go to Japan.

Marcus and his three friends, his team as it were, sneak out of school to do this. When they reach the right area, there's an explosion. Terrorists have attacked San Francisco and wiped out the Bay Bridge. Marcus and his friends are notarrested and taken to a detention facility. Because Marcus refuses to unlock his phone (likes his privacy and all that), they tell him he'll be watched for the rest of forever and essentially treat him...well, like a terrorist. His friend who was stabbed in the panic, is not let out.

After that, everything changes, all kinds of new surveillance and security.  It's depressingly easy to imagine. Marcus, offended that the Bill of Rights is being torn up for 'his freedoms,' and angry about the mistreatment of himself and his friends, wants to fight back. He can't tell anyone they were in jail, so he basically starts a digital underground. Hacktivism, and all that.



That's the basic plot, obviously there's more, but you get the idea. So here's the rub. This book has a lot of heavy stuff in it. Marcus effectively declares war on Homeland Security, admittedly one that is clearly in the wrong. Treasure Island gets labeled Gitmo-On-The-Bay, and that's exactly what it is. So IS he a terrorist? Or is he a citizen looking out for his rights? Can he be both?

He also has sex at one point. It isn't described in any kind of detail, though more than I remember ever reading from books when I was a kid. There's no swearing and while there's obviously violence, there's not a lot of gore. So I try to look at it from a few perspectives.

I would probably not have read this book at 16. Simply because it wasn't the sort of thing I was really into. However, my parents totally would have LET me read it and we would have talked about the subject matter. So as a parent, I would probably let my child read it. I wouldn't necessarily SUGGEST it for anyone under 16, and probably would nudge toward 18. As a teacher, I'd probably never require it as reading, simply because of the flame mail I'd get from parents, but if I was going to, it'd be a Senior year deal.

What does this have to do with responsibility, you ask. As most of you know, I think kids can handle a lot more than we give them credit for. I don't think we need to dumb down issues just because it makes US uncomfortable to go into.  Sure, there are time constraints in classrooms, and in Social Studies for example, it would be impossible to give all possible interpretations of some key events.  However, that doesn't mean ONE interpretation should be given as THE ONE.

So I wouldn't ban this book or say kids shouldn't read it because they'd get it. Heck, I'd hesitate more because they WOULD. As far as I know, all the technology, all the tricks Marcus and the others use absolutely exist. They aren't futuristic, Deus Ex Machina sort of things. The book could be a manual of Hack the School. Which is part of the point. The information is out there. If someone wants it, they can find it. I'm not saying that since any potentially dangerous information is there, we should just let kids willy nilly at it.

This book got me thinking, which is, I think the point, and obviously, it rattled in my head enough to want to talk about it. I think the author's purpose was to generate discussion, especially between adults and young people. In the end, I think it would be up to the parents to decide how they wanted to handle their child reading it.




Which brings me to Event 2.

I went to see Dredd today. It was...everything you thought it would be. I really wanted to get into the bloodboobsbulletsmelodrama, but there was a problem. Someone had brought to kids with them. And when I say kids, I don't mean like teenagers.

I mean, I think one was 10 and the other was 8. Maybe a little older, but not much. And that pretty much ruined the whole movie for me because every time they swore...which is a LOT (I mean, like whoa) or there was gratuitous blood, I winced and thought 'What's wrong with you, get them out of here.' Me, I'm a big kid, and I don't really like having f-bombs hurled at me all the time, but I could have ignored it. I like ridiculous action movies. But that's just it. I'm a big kid. These were LITTLE kids. In my opinion, they should not have been there. It isn't the theatre's fault, there were all sorts of signs. Either seeing this movie was more important than staying home because they couldn't find a babysitter or these parents and I have a very different value system. Because apparently it was hunkydorey.

There are a lot of students at my school who play M-rated games. In fact, pretty much all of them. And I know that my boss doesn't like it and she rumbles about it and whatnot. I tend to keep my mouth shut. I played M-rated games as a kid, but they weren't the ONLY thing and it was not the be-all-end-all of my entertainment. I get that kids are going to get some exposure no matter what, but there's still age-appropriateness and level/duration of exposure. And that's not on anyone but the parents. Not the school, not the government, not the library or the Blockbuster or anyone else. Not all rated R movies are the same or Mature games or more mature shows. And of course, not all kids are the same. Some can handle some subjects better sooner, some it would probably be a best idea to keep away for as long as possible. So I don't want there to be huge sweeping rules. I just want parents to be responsible for their kids.

At least until those kids are old enough to read books that may or may not turn them into the kinds of people who wear Guy Fawkes' masks.

Summer Projects Update

Today I strained the raspberry liqueurs. There's Raspberry, RasMint, and RasGinger. The golden stuff at the bottom there is the sugar syrup that will make them sweeter and thicker. They should be quite strong, but tasty. They should be ready at the end of the month. Stay tuned.

A Little Crossover

Does it count as fanart if it is your own stuff? I have no idea. Thanks to my friend, the Ardent Sluggard, I started watching The Mystic Archives of Dantalian. In Japanese, the title is much shorter, but I went with this one anyway. The main characters, Dalian and Huey...well, being anime, I probably can't sum it up as easily as you'd think. Basically, they collect books, especially a certain type, called Phantom Books that are essentially Grimoires. There is fighting and sweets and all the other things that go into animes of this sort.

The dynamic of the two characters (in the three episodes I have seen) is comparable to Alexis and Cain, although Lex is not a pushy princess Lolita. But books are involved, and I wanted to do some cross over fanart. I guess you could say it is my characters cosplaying as their characters.

For the record, this is picture I was mostly going off of:


And here is the owner and the one employee of The Opheliac:
Normally, Lex smiles much more than this, but I was trying to keep some aspects the same. Cain pretty much always glowers like that. There were shenanigans, and yet again I got sick of tweaking. This is why I am not a good artist, I'm not a perfectionist enough. But I still like how it turned out.

Some Not-Very-Good ECS Pics

I sort of apologize for this. I did the lineart around two am yesterday and every now and again, when I'm coloring in Photoshop, I go 'hey, that gritty/half finished look is actually pretty cool' and then come back to it and realize, no it really just looks like I half assed it, but by that point I don't want to fix it. SO...

PreTat Jael

Jael, as you probably worked out, is my Archivist, the Homo Gnosis Faustus of Emerald City Spiral. The purpose of this picture was actually cuz I was going to do tat and makeup shenanigans which clearly have no happened yet. So uh...sorry about that.



This is Matt. He has a tendency of telling some people his full name is Matthew and other people that it's Matthias. Matt does this because he has a problem. The Bible says that 'No man can serve two masters.' Matt would agree to this, with an added, 'Especially if one of them is a total bitch.'

Actually, in some ways, Matt got very lucky. As Powers go, the two HE'S forced to call Master are more sane than most. They just happen to play for different teams (which also isn't totally fair, since everyone is on their own team).

Like Ezra, Matt is a Tyr. In fact, Matt was made a Tyr specifically BECAUSE of Ezra Once Matt was a very competent-if-not-particularly-passionate detective. As you can gather from his current garb, that is no longer a profession he is able to pursue.

It is said the PowersThatBe do not make mistakes when they choose their warriors. Matt calls BS on that, because no way would a Warden Power intent on protecting the Mundanes from the homicidal madness of an Incarnadine pick a Vampire's familiar.

Matt is aware that his personal sanguinary boss is not the worst and is actually (worryingly) enjoying his work for her more and more as time goes on. But righteous defense is not something the Vampires are known for and his Master is no exception. She also has a rather cruel sense of humor, which is why he looks like that.

Thanks for tuning in. =)

The Killer and the Morlock

Two fresh pieces for you today, with absolutely nothing in common.

I have been watching a lot of X-Men: Evolution lately (thank you, Hulu), and Callisto recently showed up. I personally really like her, probably because I would like to think I can relate. Unlike the other Morlocks, she doesn't REALLY need to stay down there, she could pass on the surface. One gets the impression that she does because they need looking after and she is taking care of those that others won't. That's legit, in my book. So this simple fanart is for her.

Another reason I've always liked Callisto is she doesn't fit the normal 'female comic book characters' stereotypes. She's a big girl, tall, broad of shoulders, built without being beefy. Has something of the Revolutionary look to her, I've always felt, practical and maybe a little defiant. Obviously she's pale because she never sees the sun. I know her eye isn't always red, just when she's using her power, but I wanted to do it anyway.

And over here in Original Character Land...

Guess who totally had fun with patterns today? :D Technically, I suppose those bricks should be red, but I liked the contrast too much.

This is Ezra. He is a Tyr in Emerald City Spiral. That is not an arrow behind him, it's a rune (Tyr or Tiswar, depending on who you ask, the 'spear'). According to Nordic/Teutonic legend, Odin impaled himself with a spear upon Yggdrasil in order to achieve enlightenment. Likewise, the warriors of Thor and Odin had to slash the rune onto their flesh in order to enter Valhalla. When the Nazis were making a big deal about the Spear of Longinus/Destiny, they were linking it to these legends. Just as the farmer plowed the field, so it was believed the gods plowed/wounded the human soul in order to teach it and grant it wisdom.

This is all well and good, but what if such understanding was forced upon an individual? What if they didn't ask to be enlightened and the gods chose them anyway? In the eternal struggle between the various Powers That Be, warriors, avatars of their sires, are chosen to fight the proxy war. They are not given an choice. These are the Tyr.

As you might imagine, forced illumination frequently has...side effects. Like...homicidal insanity. Or maybe Ezra is just doing as his master bids. You never can be sure in these situations.

Sketchbook: His Chthonic Majesty Dreams of English Summer Rain