August

@king-goldfish.bsky.social

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Im gay; read my book: https://tapas.io/series/Big-Dead-Energy/info

Paperback copy of Little Wolf in the Storm by adik graves
Busuu AI conversation: Quale carne desidera? Abbiamo vitello, pollo, manzo, agnello e bistecca. * Non mangio vitello. Avete il maiale? Avete il maiale? Per favore, niente linguaggio offensivo. Continuiamo!
Email from my father: FTI (N.b. I assume he means FYI) Will Anderson Jr. will be the highest-paid non-quarterback ever in the NFL after he agreed to a 3-year, $150 million extension with the Texans.
Text from Graham Greene’s “The Power and the Glory”: 'Oh yes, yes. I'll be off.' But he didn't stir: it was the child who came to him. She stood in the doorway watching them with a look of immense responsibility. Before her serious gaze they became a boy you couldn't trust and a ghost you could almost puff away, a piece of frightened air. She was very young - about thirteen - and at that age you are not afraid of many things, age and death, all the things which may turn up, snake-bite and fever and rats and a bad smell. Life hadn't got at her yet; she had a false air of impregnability. But she had been reduced already, as it were, to the smallest terms - everything was there but on the thinnest lines. That was what the sun did to a child, reduced it to a framework. The gold bangle on the bony wrist was like a padlock on a canvas door which a fist could break. She said, 'I told the policeman you were home." old dad?' 'Oh yes, yes,' Captain Fellows said. 'Got a kiss for your She came solemnly across the room and kissed him formally upon the forehead - he could feel the lack of meaning. She had other things to think about. She said, I told cook that Mother wai
Uncle Kiké looking like he woke up late for his cocaine deal after the Grateful Dead concert. But honestly I love his style
From Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan, “…who can order her to do anything. She said, dear, that she'd burn down the whole place, burn down Gormenghast when she was the ruler and she'd live on her own, and I said she was wicked, and she said that everyone was - everyone and everything except rivers, clouds, and some rabbits. She makes me…”
From Russian Myths by Elizabeth Warner: “where a vengeful mother dragon pursues the hero who has destroyed her sons. The dragon in byliny In the Kievan cycle of byliny, which dates to the tenth to fourteenth centuries and deals with the heroic defence of Kievan Rus against its external enemies, the dragon-slayer is Dobrynya Nikitich, often identified with the historical figure of Dobrynya who lived in the second half of the tenth century and was uncle to Vladimir I of Kiev. The bylina about Dobrynya's fight with the dragon was a popular one, existing in more than one hundred versions. It usually begins with a parental warning. Dobrynya's mother forbids him to go bathing in the dangerous River…”
“Mom who’s your favorite?” meme but it’s Jesus and John the Evangelist
“Both their shields are pierced and shattered.... The brave knights grapple, by and by, Black dust thrown high into the sky, As their steeds themselves engage, The combatants, twined, motionless, Clasp each other; tis war they wage, Yet glued to their saddles, no less, Their limbs squeezed near to excess. Rigid now, locked tight together, Swift fiery blood runs through each vein, Yet breast to breast, they toil in vain... But both weaken now, and waver, One soon must fall - and, suddenly, With iron hand, our knight, tears free, Ousts from the saddle his tired foe, In his arms he lifts him, wholly, And hurls him to the waves below, 'Die then, my envious rival, go, Drown deep!' he cries maliciously.” From Ruslan and Ludmila by Alexander Pushkin, trans. A.S. Kline
Tapas community staff picks list with a bunch of novels including Big Dead Energy, which I wrote. Which you can read for free on Tapas!
Image of anti-ICE protesters in the street facing down cop cars
Thucydides: “During the same summer Nymphodorus, son of Pythes, an Abderite, whose sister Sitalces had married, was made their proxenus by the Athenians and sent for to Athens. They had hitherto considered him their enemy; but he had great influence with Sitalces, and they wished this prince to become their ally. Sitalces was the son of Teres and King of the Thracians. Teres, the father of Sitalces, was the first to establish the great kingdom of the Odrysians on a scale quite unknown to the rest of Thrace, a large portion of the Thracians being independent. This Teres is in no way related to Tereus who married Pandion's daughter Procne from Athens; nor indeed did they belong to the…”
Notes app screenshot: Why I Deleted My Harry Potter Fanfic It’s not that deep. I’m a trans man. J.K. Rowling wants my trans sisters eradicated from public life. She would probably prefer if all of us trans people were eradicated, fully, so it’s some small solace that she’ll never accomplish that. No one can. We exist; we’ve always existed; we will always exist. Small-minded hate-mongers like her can’t change that. All the money in the world can’t change that. But it will certainly try. What money can do is buy you a lot of influence, power, and your very own fund dedicated to stripping rights from a demonized and scapegoated minority group you’ve chosen to use as an avatar for all your own insecurities, doubts, and fears. It’s a lot more expensive than therapy, and it will never give you a goodnight kiss, but it can cause millions of innocent people unnecessary pain, so, you know, pros and cons.
From Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya: HELENA. What a fine day! Not too hot. (A pause.) VOITSKI. A fine day to hang oneself. TELEGIN tunes the guitar. MARINA appears near the house, calling the chickens.
"What is right, that is my wish. I am no friend of the man who is a follower of the Lie.4 I am not hot-tempered. When I feel anger rising, I keep that under control by my thinking power. I control firmly my impulses."
85 THE HISTORIES for Otanes only; they also agreed upon another to be shared by all: permission, namely, for any of the seven to enter the royal presence unannounced, except when the king was in bed with a woman. They further agreed that the king should not marry outside the families of the seven confederates. To choose which should be king, they proposed to mount their horses on the outskirts of the city, and he whose horse neighed first after the sun was up should have the throne. Darius had a clever groom called Oebares. After the meeting had broken up, he went to see this fellow, and told him of the arrangement they had come to, whereby they should sit on their horses' backs and the throne chould ho horse neioh.
BOOK TWO 163 displeased by this, as he soon showed; for when the rebels had actually offered him the throne, he prepared to lead them against Apries, who, hearing of the danger which threatened him, sent Patarbemis, a distinguished member of his court, with orders to bring Amasis alive into his presence. Amasis, however, in answer to Patarbemis' summons, rose in his saddle (he was on horseback at the time), broke wind I, and told him to take that back to his master. Patarbemis persisted in his request that the rebel should obey the king's command and go along with him, whereupon Amasis replied that that was precisely what he had long been intending to do: the king would have no cause of complaint upon that score - he would come, sure enough, and bring others with him. This answer, and the preparations he saw already going on, were enough to convince Patarbemis of Amasis inten-tions; he hurried back to the court, to inform the king with the least possible delay of the turn events had taken. On his arrival there without Amasis, Apries fell into a violent rage and, on the spur of the moment, ordered his nose and ears to be cut off. The Egyptians, who up to then had been loyal to the king, seeing a fellow countryman of such distinction treated in this shameful way, immediately went over to the rebels and put themselves at the disposal of Amasis. At the news of their detection, Apries armed his mercenaries (a body of 30,000 Carians and Ionians,
Herodotus: “…criticizing these theories, I must express an opinion myself about a matter so obscure as the reason why the Nile floods in summer, I would say (to put the whole thing in the fewest words) that during winter the sun is driven out of his course by storms towards the upper parts of Libya. It stands to reason that the country nearest to, and most directly under, the sun should be most short of water, and that the streams which feed the rivers in that neighbourhood should most readily dry up. But let me explain in somewhat greater detail my view of…”
Herodotus: “a Rhampsinitus possessed a vast fortune in silver, so great that no subsequent king came anywhere near it - let alone surpassed it. In order to keep the treasure safe, he proposed to have a stone building put up, with one of its walls forming a part of the outer wall of his palace. The builder he employed had designs upon the treasure and ingeniously contrived to construct the wall in such a way that one of the stone blocks of which it was composed could easily be removed by a couple of men - or even by one. When the new treasury was ready, the king's money was stored away in it; and after the lapse of some years the builder, then on his death-bed, called his two sons and told them how clever he had been, saying that he had planned the device of the moveable stone entirely for their benefit, that they might live in affluence. Then he gave the precise measurements, and instructions for its removal, and told them that if only they kept the secret well, they would be the Royal Treasurers as long as they lived. So the father died and his sons lost no time in setting to work; they came by night to the palace, found the stone in the treasury wall, took it out easily enough and got away with a good haul of silver. The king, on his next visit to the treasury, was surprised to see that some of the vessels in which the money was stored were no longer full, but as the seals were unbroken…”
Notes app screenshot: “Gifts の Bitterness in this conclave is the opposite of love in this club”
From Herodotus: “This same queen was also the perpetrator of a grim practical joke. She had a tomb made for herself over one of the main gateways of the city, right high up above the actual entrance and caused the following inscription to be cut on it: If any king of Babylon hereafter is short of money, let him open my tomb and take as much as he likes. But this must be done only in case of need. Whoever opens my tomb under any other circumstances will get no good of it. The tomb remained undisturbed til the reign of Darius, who resented being unable to use one of the city gates - for he never did use the one under the tomb because, had he done so, he would have had to drive directly under the corpse; moreover, he thought it was absurd, when treasure was lying there asking to be taken, not to take it. So he opened the tomb. He found, however, not a penny inside - but only the body of the queen and another inscription, which read: ‘If you had not been insatiably greedy and eager to get money by the most despicable means, you would never have opened the tomb of the dead.’ So much, then, for the character of Nicotris.”
Screenshot of a bill introduced in the Texas House which would prohibit “public institutions of higher education from providing instruction regarding the use of gender pronouns.”
“We dug graves for XXX and XXX. Buried their bones where they died. I was happy to give his broken skull a proper resting place, happy to cover it with dirt and let him return to the land. I took a fingerbone with me. The smallest knuckle from his smallest finger. I didn't tell XXX about it. I dropped it in my pocket and felt its weight like the bottle of returner I had treasured and worried. When I slipped my hand in after it, it nestled next to my pinky.”
guest friends was dearest to Hektor, and lived at home in Abydos. In the likeness of this man far-striking Apollo spoke to him: 'Hektor, what other Achaian now shall be frightened before you? See, you have shrunk before Menelaos, who in times before this was a soft spearfighter; and now he has gone taking off single-handed a body from among the Trojans. He has killed your trusted companion, valiant among the champions, Podes, the son of Eition. He spoke, and the dark cloud of sorrow closed over Hektor. He took his way among the champions helmed in the shining bronze. And now the son of Kronos caught up the betasselled glaring aegis, and shrouded Ida in mists. He let go s9s a lightning flash and a loud thunderstroke, shaking the mountain, gave victory to the Trojans, and terrified the Achaians. First to begin the flight was Peneleos the Boiotian. For he, turning always toward the attack, was hit in the shoulder's end, a slight wound, but the spear of Poulydamas, who had thrown it o from a stance very close to him, had grated the bone's edge. Then Hektor wounded in the hand by the wrist Leitos, the son of great-hearted Alektryon, and halted his warcraft, and he drew back staring about him since his spirit had hope no longer of holding a spear steady in his hand to fight with the Trojans. Gos Now as Hektor made a rush for Leitos, Idomeneus struck him on the corselet over the chest by the nipple, but the long shaft was broken behind the head, and the Trojans shouted. Now Hektor made a cast at Deukalian Idomeneus as he stood in his chariot, and missed him by only a little, but struck the follower and charioteer of Meriones, Koiranos, who had come with him from strong-founded Lyktos. Now Idomeneus at the first had come on foot, leaving the oarswep. ships, and now would have given the Trojans a mighty triumph, had not Koiranos swiftly come up with the fast-running horses; Is came as light to the other and beat from him the day without pity, but himself lost his life at the…
Screenshot of Tapas staff picks page showing that Big Dead Energy is indeed a staff pick again!
and have considerator u since more come through alive when men consider each other, and there is no glory when they give way, nor warcraft either? He spoke, and they likewise grew furious in their defence, and put his word away in their hearts, and fenced in their vessels in a circle of bronze, but Zeus against them wakened the Trojans. Then Menelaos of the great war cry stirred on Antilochos: 'Antilochos, no other Achaian is younger than you are, s70 nor faster on his feet, nor strong as you are in fighting. You could make an outrush and strike down some man of the Troans. So speaking, he hastened back but stirred Antilochos onward, and he sprang forth from the champions and hefted the shining javelin, glaring round about him, and the Trojans gave way in the face s75 of the man throwing with the spear. And he made no vain cast but struck Hiketaon's son, Melanippos the high-hearted, in the chest next to the nipple as he swept into the fighting. He fell, thunderously, and darkness closed over both eyes. Antilochos sprang forth against him, as a hound rushes 580 against a stricken fawn that as he broke from his covert a hunter has shot at, and hit, and broken his limbs' strength. So Antilochos stubborn in battle sprang, Melanippos, (324 ]
one to will satistaction than in war; but in this the Trojans cannot be glutted. 640 So Menelaos the blameless spoke, and stripping the bloody armour away from his body gave it to his companions, and turned back himself to merge in the ranks of the champions. Now there sprang forth against him the son of King Pylaimenes, Harpalion, who had followed his father into the fighting 64s at Troy, and did not come home again to the land of his fathers. He from close up stabbed with his spear at the shield of Atreides in the middle, but could not drive the bronze all the way through it. To avoid death he shrank into the host of his own companions, looking all about him, for fear somebody might wound him with the bronze; 650 but as he went back Meriones let fly at him with a bronze-shod arrow, and hit him beside the right buttock, so that the arrow was driven on through under the bone to fix in the bladder. There, sitting among the arms of his beloved companions, he gasped out his life, then lay like a worm extended ( 288 ]
BOOK ELEVEN we shall not have our way for long, since Zeus the cloud-gatherer would wish to give the power to the Trojans rather than to us.' He spoke, and hurled down Thymbraios to the ground from his horses 320 with a stroke of the spear by the left nipple. Meanwhile Odysseus killed this lord of battle's henchman, godlike Molion. They left these to lie there, since they had ended their fighting, then went into the ranks and wrought havoc, as when two wild boars hurl themselves in their pride upon the hounds who pursue them. 325 So they whirled on the Trojans again and destroyed them. Meanwhile the Achaians gladly drew breath again after their flight from great Hektor. There they took a chariot and two men, lords in their countryside, sons both of Merops of Perkote, who beyond all men knew the art of prophecy, and tried to prevent his two sons 330 from going into the battle where men die. Yet these would not listen, for the spirits of dark death were driving them onward. 'ydeu' son, Diomedes of the renowned spear, stripped them of life and spirit, and took away their glorious armour while Odysseus killed Hypeirochos and Hippodamos. There the son of Kronos strained the battle even between then 335 as he looked down from Ida. They went on killing each other. Now Tydeus' son stabbed with the spear Agastrophos, a chief and son of Paion, striking at the hip joint. His horses raged on amo had a henchman holding them aside, while he, dismounted, 340
Book 11: “BOOK ELEVEN with the sharp spear, nor did helm's bronze-heavy edge hold it, but the spearhead passed through this and the bone, and the inward brain was all spattered forth. So he beat him down in his fury, and Agamemnon the lord of men left them lying there and their white bodies showing, since he had stripped off their tunics. Then he went on to kill and strip Isos and Antiphos, two sons of Priam, bastard one and one lawful, both riding in a single chariot. The bastard, Isos, was charioteer and renowned Antiphos rode beside him. Before this Achilleus had caught these two at the knees of Ida, and bound them in pliant willows as they watched by their sheep, and released them for ransom This time the son of Atreus, wide-powerful Agamemnon, struck Isos with the thrown spear in the chest above the nipple and hit Antiphos by the ear with the sword and hurled him from his horses, and in eager haste he stripped off from these their glorious armour which he knew; he had seen these two before by the fast ships when Achilles of the swift feet had brought them in from Ida. And as a lion seizes the innocent young of the running deer, and easily crunches and breaks them caught in the strong teeth when he has invaded their lair, and rips out the soft heart from ther and even if the doe be very near, still she has no strength to help for the ghastly shivers of fear are upon her also and suddenly she dashes away through the glades and the timber sweating in her sneed away from the so there was no or”
Passage from Book Nine of the Iliad with this text highlighted: “who hated me for the sake of a fair-haired mistress. For he made love to her himself, and dishonoured his own wife my mother; who was forever taking my knees and entreating me to lie with this mistress instead so that she would hate the old man. I was persuaded and did it;”
“OuBylon Whose mother was lovely Kastianeira, 30s Priam's bride from Aisyme, with the form of a goddess. He bent drooping his head to one side, as a garden poppy bends beneath the weight of its yield and the rains of springime; so his head bent slack to one side beneath the helm's weight. But Teukros now let fly another shaft from the bowstring, 310 straight for Hektor, and all his heart was straining to hít him, yet missed his man once again as Apollo faltered his arrow, and struck Archeptolemos, bold charioteer of Hektor, in the chest next to the nipple as he charged into the fighting. He fell out of the chariot, and the fast-footed horses 315 shied away. And there his life and his strength were scattered. And bitter sorrow closed over Hektor's heart for his driver, yet grieving as he did for his friend he left him to lie there, and called to his brother Kebriones who stood near to take up the reins of the horses, nor did he disobey him. But Hektor 320 himself vaulted down to the ground from the shining chariot crying a terrible cry and in his hand caught up a great stone, and went straight for Teukros, heart urgent to hit him. Now Teu had drawn a bitter arrow out of his quiver, and laid it”
Screenshot from the Iliad: steer these against the Trojans, breakers of horses, so Hek even may know if my spear also rages in my hands' grip He spoke, and Nestor the Gerenian horseman obeyed Thereon the two strong henchmen, Sthenelos and the co Eurymedon, looked after the horses of Nestor. The othe both together mounted the chariot of Diomedes. Nestor in his hands took up the glittering reins, then lashed the horses on, and soon they were close to Hektor and as he raged straight forward the son of Tydeus threv and missed his man, but struck the charioteer, his henchr Eniopeus, the son of high-hearted Thebaios, striking hin in the chest next to the nipple as he gripped the reins of l He fell out of the chariot, and the fast-footed horses shied away. And there his life and his strength were scatt And bitter sorrow closed over Hektor's heart for his driv yet grieving as he did for his friend he left him to lie the and went on after another bold charioteer; and it was no long that the horses went lacking a driver, since soon he rcheptolemos, bold son of Iphitos, and gave into his ha e reir unted him behind the fast-running hor: would have been fighting beyond con re been driven and penned like sheep sharply perceived
Screenshot of a page from the Iliad: BOOK FIVE Trojans, and to him, since he knew nothing of the gods' plans. 6s This man Meriones pursued and overtaking him struck in the right buttock, and the spearhead drove straight on and passing under the bone went into the bladder. He dropped, screaming, to his knees, and death was a mistab Meges in turn killed Pedaios, the son of Antenor, 70 who, bastard though he was, was nursed by lovely Theano with close care, as for her own children, to pleasure her hus Now the son of Phyleus, the spear-famed, closing upon hir struck him with the sharp spear behind the head at the ten and straight on through the teeth and under the tongue cu blade, 7s and he dropped in the dust gripping in his teeth the cold br Eurypylos, uaimon's son, killed brilliant Hypsenor, son of high-hearted Dolopion, he who was made Skama priest, and was honoura This m
Screenshot of a page from The Iliad: BOOK FIVE whom the shepherd among his fleecy flocks in the wild lands grazed as he leapt the fence of the fold, but has not killed him, but only stirred up the lion's strength, and can no more fight him 140 off, but hides in the steading, and the frightened sheep are forsaken, and these are piled pell-mell on each other in heaps, while the lion raging still leaps out again over the fence of the deep yard; such was the rage of strong Diomedes as he closed with the Trojans Next he killed Astynoös and Hypeiron, shepherd of the people, 145 striking one with the bronze-heeled spear above the nipple, I45 and cutting the other beside the shoulder through the collar-bone with the great sword, so that neck and back were hewn free of the shoulder. He left these men, and went on after Polyidos and Abas, sons of the aged dream-interpreter, Eurydamas; 150 yet for these two as they went forth the old man did not answer their dreams, but Diomedes the powerful s went after the two sone
The Iliad, trans Lattirmore: “BOOK ONE He spoke thus and sat down again, and among them stood up Atreus' son the hero wide-ruling Agamemnon raging, the heart within filled black to the brim with anger from beneath, but his two eyes showed like fire in their blazing. Ios First of all he eyed Kalchas bitterly and spoke to him: 'Seer of evil: never yet have you told me a good thing. Always the evil things are dear to your heart to prophesy, but nothing excellent have you said nor ever accomplished, Now once more you make divination to the Danaans, argue rio forth your reason why he who strikes from afar afflicts them, because I for the sake of the girl Chryseis would not take the shining ransom; and indeed I wish greatly to have her in my own house; since I like her better than Klytaimestra my own wife, for in truth she is no way inferior, us neither in build nor stature nor wit, not in accomplishment.”
Chart of Satanists vs. Anti-Satanists over time
Image of two people standing in front of a sunset with text in front of it: "So this could kill someone? That could be useful." He gave me an affronted look. “What! We have to kill things sometimes. We could use ghosts to kill other ghosts, maybe. We’re so conservative with myortva here, imagine what we could do if we didn’t have to be.” “You can do what you need with the myortva you have.” “Sanya! That’s not the point, Sanya!” He did not ask what the point was. “And I can’t. There is a lot I want to do that I can’t with the myortva I have, and anyway, aren’t you curious?” I leaned in. His eyes only met mine for a moment, and then he looked back down to stoke the fire, but it was enough.
Really awesome drawing of two long-haired men, one serious and one an idiot, in very pretty morning light!
Spotify wrapped top 5: Kendrick Lamar, the clash, The Weeknd, Ludacris, Beyonce
Google doc screenshot: Veliko was a golden country, all waving wheat fields and tawny grass packed with sharp little burrs that spread like wildfire. I found them everywhere: in my clothes, my hair, my shoes; I'd find them in my belongings even months after I left that sun-drenched, blood-soaked place.
One of those Canva "this book has tropes!" images only I can't play anything straight so all the little arrow go around clockwise to convey this message: 1: 450,000 words of butting your head up against power structures that stood for hundreds of years before you were born and will stand for hundreds of years after your death 2: Your first death, anyway 3: But your head is pretty hard 4: (So much so that you rarely learn from your mistakes) 5: And that makes it a decent battering ram, as far as heads go 6: And nothing gets better as long as no one tries 7: So fingers crossed for that second life
Screenshot of a Google Docs passage: "Sanya was a monster, covered in mud and blood, the whites of his eyes bright underneath it. The evidence was still on the ground. Dark streaks on the silver grass. It had rained, recently, but it would not rain today."
Screenshot of text from Genesis: Ephraim, whom Asenath daughter of Poti-phera priest of On bore to him. 21 Benjamin's sons: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These were
A screenshot of an iMessage conversation: A: The owner was laughing saying that she doesn’t have puppies anymore! Nothing for Pascal to get out of her! A: Just awkward my dog is looking at all teats hungrily A: On everyone A: Like, Christ, Pascal. B: I thought Pascal was supposed to get us dates but he’s just going to get us sued
Promo image with purple woodsy background + book cover in frame. Book cover features a young man with long blue-black hair, gold jewelry, yellow tunic, in front of a moon with trees and silver filigree border. Title: Big Dead Energy Text on image: Excerpt of the week: You’ve destroyed my son’s life twice and put him in harm’s way more times than be counted, I’m sure. Do you care about him at all?” “Yes, of co—” “Do you love him?” “Yes.” His lip curled back. “Yes. Yes, I love him. He’s the only person who’s always believed in me, and—” “Yes, yes he is. I’m sure that’s true. Now let me tell you what that belief cost him.” https://tapas.io/series/big-dead-energy/info
Text message convo: A: you could! And I bet you’d make a lot of friends B: maybe I would! A: hatchet was our Yellowjackets A: Solitary Games for Men (Boys) A: That’s the name of my podcast A: And novel A: Novelization of a podcast B: My god that’s genius B: I’m going to start novelizing Joe Rogan right now B: Alex Jones is the love interest B: but he’s too much of a bad boy and Joe’s friends all think he’s bad news A: I’m glad you recognize my genius A: Please do this
Shot of Amazon product information page showing Hesiod's "Works & Days" and "Theogony," with recommended product "Layla" by Colleen Hoover
A screenshot of the Tapas community staff picks list in the Tapas mobile app. Titles included start with Heartstopper, then BooKeeper, Ghost Lights, Alien Heart, and Black Key Incubus.
Screenshot of "community staff picks" from the Tapas mobile app, showing MY BOOK Big Dead Energy, along with other books and comics
Screenshot of Google Doc with text: “I stole this coat from the warehouse. I think… people like them, it’s okay to steal from.” Ilarion chuckles. “You want to rob the warehouse?” “I want to rob that man who tricked me into coming here. I want to rob that house mother who won’t let me eat a single grain of rice without tallying it up. I want to rob the foreman who docked my pay if I ever sat down for even a second.” His fingers are tight around the cup, the tension traveling all the way up his arms to his chest, to the center of his ribcage where his heart beats fast. Ilarion tilts his head and gives a half shrug. “I don’t know how to con someone. It’s true. I never pickpocketed anyone. I don’t know if that’s what you do. But I could learn. I’m not dumb; I can learn things. I’m pretty good at climbing, and I’ve got skinny fingers.”
Chibi-style cartoon of a person with long black-blue hair, a yellow shirt, brown pants, and black boots, looking very enthusiastic and determined. The background is watercolor-looking. Artist: @mansiguara
Excerpt of novel on decorative background reading: Can't get enough of awkward family dinners? “After all this time traveling, it’s wonderful to see a family dinner.” I smiled bravely. Andrej’s stare still skewered me. Something told me he was not a man to be won over with what Sanya called my “vapid chattering.” “This isn’t a normal dinner,” Petya said. “Normally, there’s a lot more servants,” Rodya muttered. “Papa, the puppy is hungry!” Zinulya cried. “Zinulya, please do not crawl under the table. The puppy will be fine.” “Mama, I don’t care about the servants, but the food—” “Zinulya, get back up here this instant!” “Mama! The puppy told me she’s hungry—” The table had well and truly descended into chaos but for Andrej, who stared at me like he was lining up a shot with his crossbow.
Images from Apple’s Fitness app showing the half-marathon that I puffed my way through this morning in 2:47, with an average pace of 12’42”/mi, though I will say that was dragged down considerably by the later miles that I mostly walked. The second screenshot, which includes mile splits, shows that I had plenty of miles in the 11’ range!
Text on blue flowery background with a stick figure smiling moronically in the corner: "Editing Services: Developmental, beta reading, line editing, proofreading. augustbgarry.com"
A book cover with the title Big Dead Energy, featuring two people standing in front of a castle with onion domes. Next to the book cover is text on a background image of an old, stone church with rows of lavender growing. The text reads: "A land of ghosts. A burgeoning rebellion. A secret passed down through generations. Iyu Aksanevich is a bastard—literally, and, some would say, figuratively—but his father’s royal blood means he can use magic, which no commoner can. At least, that’s what he believes until he’s kidnapped during a peasant rebellion. With the rebels, he sees things he never thought were possible. Is magic really tied to bloodlines, or is there a different, more sinister reason that some people in this world can harness the sacred magic and others can't?"
A screenshot with text reading: '“Will you find him for me, Lyubov Maksimovna? I’d be really grateful. I don’t have much else to give you, though. Maybe after today, I could give you the skin they flay off my back.” “That’s disgusting. I’ll bring your cousin to see you when you’re better.” “I’m better now.” She smirked, opened her mouth to say something else, but at that moment, we heard footsteps in the hallway. Our heads turned to the doorway, and a second later, a tall man appeared there. He stood square under the lintel, broad in the shoulders but narrower than I would have expected elsewhere. His face was narrow, too, but not ratty like his brother’s. In fact, he looked more like Sanya but for his nose, which was longer and so prominent in his thin face that it gave him the appearance of an arrowhead. I didn’t have to ask to know this was the famed Vasilij Artyomovich.'
Book cover with two men in front of an onion-domed palace, surrounded by a list of "tropes" that aren't actually tropes: magic based on sucking energy out of dead animals, Slavic-inspired fantasy, but also kind of inspired by the US invasion of Iraq in a weird way that I can't explain except to say that I was 13 in 2003, anti-capitalist fantasy (also anti-monarchist fuck your rightful king), literal allowed humor, all of that but it's also still very gay.