chacusha: (books)
2023-12-11 08:54 pm

Various book reviews

Basically, I got a library card earlier this year, which has really helped remind me of the existence of books I mean to read and help me secure a copy of them, and also motivate me to finish them in a somewhat timely manner (I am very deadline-motivated). So here's a dump of thoughts I wrote up on various books I've finished this year.

Reviews contained in this post:
1) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Prophecy and Change (2003) ed. Marco Palmieri
2) Terciel and Elinor (2021),
3) To Hold the Bridge: Tales from the Old Kingdom and Beyond (2015),
4) and Newt's Emerald (2015) by Garth Nix
5) The Once and Future King (1958) by T. H. White

Books I started reading this year but haven't finished yet:
- I resumed reading Scott Pilgrim, which was a comic I was reading back in Pittsburgh. But I am delaying picking this up again until I finish with Fire and Blood.
- I also have paused reading The Body Keeps the Score until I am done with my fiction books.




Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Prophecy and Change (2003) ed. Marco Palmieri
Archived from here: https://chacusha.tumblr.com/post/724641835961778176/star-trek-deep-space-nine-prophecy-and-change

I bought this book because of [archiveofourown.org profile] JessKo's recommendation of its Quodo short story, which is indeed great. This is a collection of short stories published shortly after DS9 ended, all set within canon (missing scenes/episodes) except for the one by Andrew J. Robinson at the end which seems to be a post-canon follow-up to A Stitch in Time. Here are my thoughts on the stories (mild spoilers for the general content of the book/premises of the individual stories):

Thoughts )


Terciel & Elinor (2021) by Garth Nix
Archived from here: https://chacusha.tumblr.com/post/723722930122539008/terciel-elinor-by-garth-nix

Thoughts )


To Hold the Bridge: Tales from the Old Kingdom and Beyond (2015) by Garth Nix
Archived from here: https://chacusha.tumblr.com/post/734276417861402624/to-hold-the-bridge-tales-from-the-old-kingdom-and

Thoughts )


Newt's Emerald (2015) by Garth Nix
Archived from here: https://chacusha.tumblr.com/post/736239405559382016/newts-emerald-2015-by-garth-nix

Thoughts )


The Once and Future King (1958) by T. H. White
Archived from here: https://chacusha.tumblr.com/post/736330022187646976/the-once-and-future-king-1958-by-t-h-white

Okay at last -- after maybe 4 or 5 years of reading this, I finally finished?! I suppose it's not that odd that this book took me so long to read given that it's kind of 4 novels in one, and this book was my bathroom reading book (meaning it had to be read in little pieces at a time). Only through dedication and perseverence did I manage to get through this one. And then I took like two months writing up this summary/review... /o\

Thoughts )
chacusha: (sailor moon - shiny)
2023-01-28 03:46 pm

Snowflake Challenge #9-11

Snowflake Challenge promotional banner with image of crystal snowflakes on green leaves on a dark blue background. Text: Snowflake Challenge January 1-31.

Challenge #9 - In your own space, celebrate a personal win from the past year.

I mean... It's got to be writing a complete(!) novel-length(!) Quodo fic.

It's true that I have definitely gotten more confident in my writing each year since joining [community profile] getyourwordsout (which is especially true when it comes to Quodo, which for some reason has consistently been easier for me to come up with longer plots for and draft than any other fandom/pairing I've gotten into ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). But... at the same time, it is still a bit difficult for me to believe I pulled this off. First, while my writing skills HAVE gotten stronger since 2019 when I first joined GYWO, it must be said that I joined GYWO because I specifically wanted help finishing off two multichapter WIPs... and noticeably, NEITHER of those fics are finished yet, and both of them are STILL shorter than that Quodo fic (they're at ~27k and ~20k).

So basically, I am very aware that writing multichapter fics (especially with a plot) is hard. So I am really surprised and proud of myself for pulling off a finished fic WAY longer than anything I've ever done -- and it is a fic I like a lot too!

(Of course, now that I'm aware I have it in me to write novel-length Quodo fic, I find that I'm eager to write more this year. I have one Quodo idea that could easily be novella-length (20-30k words maybe) and another that will definitely be novel-length if I finish it (it's currently ~24k words and maybe 1/3 done).)

Challenge #10 - In your own space, create a fanwork.

So I decided to make some icons, of Bravely Default (a fandom I was hoping to get some icons for in [community profile] fandomtrees but didn't, so need to go make them myself) and also icons from my own art. Oh, also I finished up an old Trials of Mana icon I started.

Cut for images )

Feel free to take any of them if they are relevant to your interests! Also, I've finally archived these and a whole bunch of older icons I made for requests at my icon journal:
- 48 drawn art icons (video games, animanga, my fanart)
- 46 live action icons (TV and film, mostly Star Trek)

Challenge #11 - In your own space, Talk about your favorite trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme.

Okay I swear before I even saw [personal profile] hamsterwoman's entry, I was also going to talk about Five-Man Bands.

Five-Man Bands )
chacusha: (mana - angela supergirl)
2022-05-07 11:41 pm

100 Disney Things [013]: The Encanto setup

100 Disney Things [013]



And here's another one, also about Encanto and also very disorganized but hey. I was having difficulty finishing up fic and art projects so writing essays and finishing them off is giving me a mood boost.

The Encanto setup )




You can suggest topics for future posts for this meme over here.