I know it's Black Friday and I should be trying to sell you things, but I think I'll just give you things instead.😁
Or at least, I intend it to be relaxing. Hopefully it delivers.
4:22 minutes
Materials:
In which I talk about the paper, the paint, and the experience of oils versus gouache. Fun stuff, will do more.
Thank you Locals supporters! Your contribution to my art war chest here is what's powering these experiments and videos. For now I'm keeping them public but I may start doing some subscriber-only videos if you all are interested.💖
Thanks for your comments yesterday on the business post... all very provocative, in a good way. I'll try to respond to all of them today.
Some Alysha misc now, since I'm gearing up for the results of the Kickstarter!
Petrov is giving away coupon codes for every book in the Alysha series (and has some leftover coupons for Marda and the business book). You can pick those up here (and please do! The books are bought already, someone should use them!) https://twitter.com/PetrovNeutrino/status/1457344535843987461
Our own @JudasComplex sent along a sample of the Faith in the Service audiobook, which I've attached for your delight! I... haven't had a chance to listen to it. Don't ask me about my past week and a half or so. Putting it here will guarantee I get to it.
After hearing the amused comments during the livestream, I went ahead and added all the ship type illustrations I have inked from the 90s to the wiki. Glory in the rampant adorableness of their anthropomorphic stylings! See those ...
A little comedy today, at least in the link. Transcript follows.
Hi, all. Welcome to this episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
A while back I was introduced to a comedy sketch about Cuban coffee by a Mexican comedian, Gabriel Iglesias. ( The sketch begins with him greeting all his fellow Latinos and then backing up to say ‘but we’re all different, aren’t we’ which is a segue into a demonstration of how different Hispanics speak Spanish.
It is hilarious. First, because I am a Spanish speaker and a linguistics hobbyist, and his portrayal of various accents resonated with my experiences in trying to make sense of them myself… Not always easy, since from culture to culture, slang and accent are often totally different (and sometimes grammar! Spaniards use a grammatical construct that has died out in many other Spanish-speaking countries, the plural “you.”)
I also loved it because the Cuban coffee part is real. I grew up with Cubans. I know how we are....
One of the most common things I hear (and say) right now is "the asymmetry is the story." Here's one about how none of us are innocent of the sins we hate in others.
Hi, all. Welcome to this week’s episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
It’s been weeks since the Baen’s Bar incident and I’m still thinking about it... because the longer I do, the more I feel, overwhelmingly, that it’s obvious that the problem is deeper than “this forum was saying stuff that offended us.” We have to back up to the glaring fact that people on opposite sides no longer consider each other human. Nothing I say will matter because the people disagreeing with me don’t think I’m human. They have denied my humanity; they have not bothered to listen to my beliefs, or have fake-listened to them in that way that people do when they’re so ready to prove you wrong that they’re only using your speech to provide talking points for their own ideas.
We have forgotten how to listen.
Increasingly, we have also ...
A few days early, on my shop; I was planning the 15th but I got it done faster than I planned. You can get it right now from my shop in ebook or paperback: https://studiomcah.com/products/an-exile-amid-stars-shieldmatron-2
Or, if you prefer, you can wait for the retail edition (ebook and paperback). Those links are here: https://books2read.com/shieldmatron2
I've also wrapped up the FireBorn's Legacy Kickstarter and sent out that update, so... I think that's everything that was on my plate for this year. I am thinking of going back to writing the gamelit (finally!) and maybe doing a Christmas story! I'll actually be able to breathe and think about that. Excited!
Anyway, grab the book if you're wanting to.🧡
Typo checks and first reader reports are coming in at a good clip on Surela 2 - thank you all! I'm going to start formatting this weekend and should have that wrapped up shortly.
Meanwhile, I'm looking at everything I've dropped to finish Exile Amid Stars (including re-reading the gamelit novel to see where I left off!). But I'd also like to do some conlang work, so this is an open call for requests for words! I'm assuming Ai-Naidari, but if you want to know words in other languages (the Jokka's, or Chatcaavan, or Faulfenzair, or whatever!), let me know.
Reminder also that I'm doing one card readings from my balance deck on Discord, so if you'd like one, let me know there. It's happening in channel #other-stuff.🙂
But anyway, yes. Word requests, if you have them!
I'll be finishing the draft of Surela 2 tomorrow, and will probably wrap up my personal revisions on it by the end of the week. Which means if you're interested in being on the beta reader team, you should clear the decks for the beginning of next week!
My recommended re-reads going into this one are Surela 1 and FireBorn's Legacy.
Wiki spoilers will probably start going up this week as I finalize my edits and start adding things to entries so that first readers can do research/double-check things, so be advised!
If you prefer to wait, I'm guessing this one will be available for direct sale (from my shop) by mid/end of November, and at retail in December. I'll have a pre-order page up probably by Nov 15 at the latest.
I know I've been quiet and putting all the things on hold, but the book was only 25,000 words long at the beginning of September and it's now 100,000 (and still going). I've dropped everything to get this done in time for a 2024 release, and it's been eating my brain ...
The chapter titles are all a mess. But this is the proper order so far:
Gamelit 1 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/4241337/gamelit-novel-first-chapter
Gamelit 2 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/4255477/gamelit-novel-last-bit-of-chapter-1
Gamelit 3 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/4267366/gamelit-novel-chp2-part1
Gamelit 4 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/4267371/gamelit-novel-chp2-final
Gamelit 5 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/4298755/gamelit-novel-chp-3-part-1
Gamelit 6 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/4330428/gamelit-chp-3-part-2
Gamelit 7 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/4331116/gamelit-chap-4-pt-1
Gamelit 8 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/4361942/gamelit-chp-4-last-bit
Gamelit 9 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5215305/gamelit-novel-chapter-3
Gamelit 10 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5244861/gamelit-novel-10
Gamelit 11 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5271216/gamelit-novel-11
Gamelit 12 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5301971/gamelit-novel-12
Gamelit 13 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5326625/gamelit-novel-13
Gamelit 14 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5360605/gamelit-novel-14
Gamelit 15 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5385714/gamelit-novel-15
Gamelit 16 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5418577/gamelit-novel-16
Gamelit 17 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5444360/gamelit-novel-17
Gamelit 18 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5475518/gamelit-novel-18
Gamelit 19 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5502726/gamelit-novel-19
Gamelit 20 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5530518/gamelit-novel-20
Gamelit 21 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5558728/gamelit-novel-21
Gamelit 22 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5586451/gamelit-novel-22
Gamelit 23 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5613544/gamelit-novel-23
Gamelit 24 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5642711/gamelit-24
Gamelit 25 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5668799/gamelit-25
Gamelit 26 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5693714/gamelit-26
Gamelit 27 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5722853/gamelit-27
Gamelit 28 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5747793/gamelit-28
Gamelit 29 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5772301/gamelit-29
RECAP RECAP Gamelit 29.5 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/6386873/gamelit-29-5
Gamelit 30 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/6398055/gamelit-30
Gamelit 31 - https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/6411958/gamelit-31
“When the Admonishments were new,” I say, “I remember one of my readers asking me for the Ai-Naidari word for ‘why’, because she said it was the one question you asked most frequently, in every encounter, over and over: ‘why’.” I taste the word, which starts with a ‘v’ that sounds like an ‘f’. “Va.”
It is a rare foggy day out, and I have walked to the lake to watch the mist hang over its dim surface. When I don’t continue, Kor steps up beside me. “A good beginning. Continue.”
“People are asking me if Kherishdar can explain how people can believe such different things when confronted with the same world.”
“And you realize you have been avoiding the question.”
“Yes,” I say. “Because sometimes people ask something, and you think that’s what they want to know. But it’s not.” I glance at him. “That’s the reason you ask so many questions. Because people often don’t know what they really want to know, what they think, what they need, until they’ve talked themselves through all the wrong answers.”
He smiles a little. “Do you wonder why Shame can love an artist?”
“No,” I say. “At least, not an honest one. Honest artists are always trying to observe reality.”
“And have you observed this one? Or shall I observe it for you, and save you from the discomfort?”
Such a Shame response. And maybe once upon a time I would have needed to prove I could handle any challenge. Now, sometimes it’s a relief to lean on other people’s strength, and always a relief to receive other people’s wisdom. “Please.”
“They don’t want to understand other people,” Shame said. “They want to understand how to live with them without having to change.”
I nod. “No one will like the answers.”
His smile is brief. “Especially you?”
“Always especially me,” I say, smiling too. “But we say something here, that when you’re taking flak, keep going: you’re over the target. So I follow my discomfort, and if it gets more extreme, then I know I’m closing in on a truth that I have been avoiding.” I allow some mischief in my voice. “I am a very excellent sort of artist, you know. Most artists are so in love with novelty, change, and new experiences that they skate out to the perimeters of acceptable behavior and ideas and live there as if it’s paradise. But it takes someone like me, who’s skeptical of all those things, to make bridges between those ideas and normal people. When it’s warranted.”
“You also know that it is not for artists to decide what is warranted.”
“No,” I say, and now I am feeling cheerful. “That’s your job, Civilization’s Shame. You’re welcome to it.”
He chuckles.
“I still love people,” I say. “So do you. And I love you.” The symmetry makes me smile. “Do you wonder that an artist might love Shame?”
“Only in the very personal way that one might wonder why anyone is loved by a particular person,” Shame said.
“That’s good for you,” I say sagely.
Since that was teasing, I’m surprised when he answers, serious, “Yes. For a mortal heart to have all the answers is annihilating. It destroys the vital spark—there is impetus for neither change nor growth. One would wake, and not know why. We need uncertainty, datyani. Don’t forget it, when Tsevet comes to you with his stories on his lips.”
“No,” I promise. And, because it’s become habit: “Give me a word, Kor.”
“Veqoth.”
Easy one, that: sterility. I recognize the root: veqore, to die, and veqos, death. “Another?”
There’s a glimmer in his eye then, that’s just enough warning before he hits me with, “Cheksoteqedar.”
He waits while I work through that. “That means… rock-enjoyer??” I burst out laughing. “Seriously? You have all these fancy words for acquisition of knowledge, and fields of study, and the word for ‘geologist’ is ‘rock enjoying person’?”
“You may tell the cheksoteqedari that you are not the only person who remembers her question.”
I shake my head, still amused. “But why ‘rock’, when you have a separate word for ‘gemstones’? Or is this a ‘because only people who love them enough to study them would bother with rocks over shinier things?”
“Truly a question that could only be asked by someone who does not love a rock.”
“But I do!”
“Then, qirini, you should have known better.” A little more serious now. “You do know better, don’t you?”
“I do,” I say. “And I’ll try not to avoid too many obvious answers in the future. The not-obvious ones will give me enough trouble.”
We resume the gamelit after hiatus! Reminder that the index is here if Ray's recap wasn't enough to resituate yourself in the story: https://studiomcah.locals.com/post/5215754/gamelit-novel-index
