"The Dawnhounds" by Sascha Stronach

May. 20th, 2025 05:24 pm
rocky41_7: (Default)
[personal profile] rocky41_7 posting in [community profile] books
This week I finished The Dawnhounds, the first book of the The Endsong series by Sascha Stronach.
  
This book has been compared to Gideon the Ninth, which I think does it a disservice, because while there are enjoyable things about it, if you go into it expecting The Locked Tomb, I think you're going to be disappointed. They are not on the same level.
  
Protagonist Yat's homeland—the port city of Hainak—is implied to have been colonized and fought a revolution to escape that, but while some of the changes have been welcome—the embrace of "biotech," freedom of determination—her home is in the throes of sliding from one abusive regime to another. They have thrown off the yoke of colonization, but as Yat comes to slowly realize over the course of the novel, what they replaced it with isn't much better.
  
Yat is in a prime position to realize this. A former street rat turned cop who joined the police in hopes of making a positive change for people like herself, she's been slowly worn down over the years into someone who simply closes her eyes to the worse abuses by the government and partakes herself in the lesser offenses. The kick-off for the story isn't any of that though—it's that Yat is demoted after her coworkers learn she's patronized a queer bar. She's blundering through the fallout of that—continuing to patronize that same bar, and using drugs to cope—when the fantasy plot hits her in the head.
  
Unfortunately, here is where the novel began to lose me. I think the comparisons with The Locked Tomb arise from the way The Dawnhounds throws the reader into the plot with the promise of revealing more information later. Except that where TLT is a masterclass in subterfuge and gradual reveals that make perfect sense in retrospect, and in some cases reframed entire characters and story arcs, The Dawnhounds just...never really reveals the information.
  
Read more... )

Creative Jam

May. 17th, 2025 08:19 pm
ysabetwordsmith: (Crowdfunding butterfly ship)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] crowdfunding
Welcome to the 143rd Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, May 17-Sunday, May 18. The theme is "Facing Darkness."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
The Fiancee Chosen by the Ring, Vol. 6 by Jyun Hayase

Spoilers ahead for the earlier ones.

Read more... )

Starfall Stories 45

May. 16th, 2025 08:24 pm
thisbluespirit: (fantasy2)
[personal profile] thisbluespirit
I have a few more [community profile] rainbowfic pieces to catch up with again, so here's a start:

Name: Boxed In
Story: Starfall
Colors: Warm Heart #15 (Anger); Azul #18 (Trust your own strength); Beet Red #24 (Try, try, try again)
Supplies and Styles: Canvas + Novelty Beads (October 2024 Challenge "hate.")
Word Count: 1781
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Fighting, swearing.
Notes: 1306, Portcallan; Leion Valerno, Tana Veldiner, Atino Barra, Donn Chiulder, Tam Jadinor. Carries on from Whispers in the Mind.
Summary: Leion and Tana attempt an escape.




Name: Big City
Story: Starfall
Colors: Warm Heart #21 (Caution)
Supplies and Styles: Pastel (also for [community profile] no_true_pair's March mini-round prompt "March Thirtieth - Leion & Viyony with the title "Big City".")
Word Count: 957
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Notes: 1313, Portcallan; Viyony Eseray, Leion Valerno, Imai Lullers.
Summary: Viyony and Leion cross paths for the first time, unknowing.

Storm-Dragon

May. 12th, 2025 12:02 am
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Storm-Dragon by Dave Freer

Skut, cutting school on a perilous planet, finds himself rescuing a small storm-dragon.

Read more... )

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