Good morning, Readers!

Before we begin, I know I’m behind on the The Untamed recaps. I had to put those away for a little bit as I caught up on other work. I have every intention of getting back on track this weekend. They’re a surprising amount of work. Okay, on with today’s weekly update.

First, I’m celebrating as of the writing of this with a glass of wine. This week, I made my target. Finally. A week where I hit my mark. This isn’t to say that I hit the thousand word mark every day, but I wrote over the mark enough on the other days to make up for my shortfalls. Here are the stats:

When I did the tallying, I almost cried. It’s been really difficult trying to get my words on the page of late, and finally hitting my mark was such a huge relief.

I am roughly around the 130 000 word mark for this one, and there’s a lot more to write about. None of it will be as exciting as the bits I just wrote, but that’s kinda the nature of the story. The focus isn’t on the heroic moments of this one, but the quiet ones; not the heroic actions of one, but the deep abiding love between two friends. It’s the small moments that make this story.

Which is why I think this will be a hard sell. Apart from, well, the other thing.

In any case, while the ending of the book appears as far away as ever, I’m stumbling ever closer to the end. One word at a time.

I’m feeling good this week.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

​I'm over at Black Gate Magazine today, with a movie review.

Last weekend, I splurged a little and bought myself a ticket to see the new Mortal Kombat film. Film is giving it a bit much, to be honest. I saw the new Mortal Kombat movie. Here is my review:

Silly nonsense that was nonetheless very entertaining. I do not regret the splurge.

Look, this movie isn’t great. It’s barely good. I’d so so far as to say that it’s bad. However, it’s precisely because it’s bad that it’s good. Hear me out.
​
One of the best things about Mortal Kombat is that it leans heavily on its own silliness. It doesn’t shy away from the ridiculousness of the video game premise: that there are multiple realms, and every realm sends forth champions to fight in a high-stakes tournament. As part of the rules, if one realms loses enough times, another realm has permission to annex it. The film opens with Earthrealm (us) on the verge of invasion from Outworld. If we but lose one more tournament, it’s over for us.

Good morning, Readers!

​I neglected to do this last Tuesday, when both the weekly and monthly writing update was due, so I'm doing double duty this post.

Right, so, it's not so great news.

Last week I managed to fall quite behind on my target, writing just four words on one of the days. Granted, it's four more words than I had previously, but it's still not good - especially since there were two other days I did not hit my goal at all. Of those days, I did not even make it to half of the daily goal.

It was not a good writing week last week. Here are the numbers:

So, with three of the four weeks having not met my target, my monthly goal naturally fell quite short. Here's what that looked like for the month of April"

Abysmal.

Granted, there was (and is) a lot of upheaval going on around me still, so it stands to reason that I wouldn't be able to write nearly as well as when things are better. Still, I'm quite disappointed in myself regarding April's numbers. Better luck for May, let's hope.

Speaking of May, the first week is over and I find myself once again a little short of my goal. Here's the numbers for that:

So, not good again. I was, thankfully, only three hundred or so words short rather than two thousand, so it's fine. I suppose. I'm not thrilled. 

But what can you do but shrug and continue on. I'm behind, but still going forward. I'll get there. For now, all I can do is keep striving. So, strive I shall.

Ciao.

Good morning, Readers!

I’m still dreaming of my little cottage in the woods, with neighbours too far away to see. It’s funny how much my goals have changed these past couple of years.

But that’s beside the point.

I was fluffing around the interwebs the other day, as you do, and someone on Twitter asked a very interesting question.

And it got me thinking.

I am, of course, flattering myself even entertaining the idea that any of my books would ever become a film, but let’s pretend that is possible for any and all of my titles.

Would I be worried that they’d ruin it? I suppose that depends on which studio is making the thing, and which people are helming it, and whether or not they decide to consult me at all. Filmmakers and writers are increasingly savvy, thanks largely to an audience that is quite sophisticated and opinionated.

That said, I also understand that books and film are wildly different media. Their commonality is that they exist to tell stories, but the manner in which they do so is vastly different. Despite the recent lengthening of movie run times, films do not have the same room to explore, explain and describe. Nuances are easier to convey, as are the inner lives of characters, in books. Movies don’t have that. Everything must be explained visually, or in dialogue. Voice overs could be used, but that has a tendency to be very cheesy and ought to be used sparingly.

So, I would not require the film to hit all the points the book was able to.

What I would hope for, more than anything, that the film remains true to the spirit of the books.

If Skylark was ever made into a film, I would hope that they wouldn’t make Skye merely a pretty fuckboi. He is that, but there is nuance there. I hope they wouldn’t ignore his PTSD and other traumas. I hope also that they wouldn’t turn it into a military-worshipping, aliens are bad, let’s kill them all kind of movie that usually marks first-contact science fiction/space opera (with some notable exceptions). I hope what they make the main thrust of the film rebellion against injustice, and right action.

If Daughters of Britain was turned into a film, I would want it to be women led. I think there’s something in the feminine eye that would give Mederei her profound strength and courage without turning her into a badly rendered “strong woman” trope, offering a sympathetic eye to her traumas, and they would give Adalbern the gentleness that makes him the man Mederei falls in love with. I also think that the gladiatorial battles would make for some great cinema. But I wonder if a mini-series might be a better way to tell the story. *shrug*

Human, I think would translate well onto the screen, and is a much more typical vampire story, so I don’t think they could screw it up terribly. Honestly, beyond the casting of Stoyan (if it was being done in this day, I would want Stanislavsky Yanevski), I've not really pondered any adaptations of this book for any length of time.

I will stop there, since I have too many books to write paragraphs about each one, but it is kinda fun to mull over. Needless to say, I would love to see my books adapted for the screen - big or small. I’m too small a player for that to happen currently, but I shall spend the rest of today daydreaming about it.

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Image by the_p_adventure from Pixabay

You all know I love music, and one of my favourite genres of music is folk music. I love all kinds of folk music, and I adore when people insert folk music into other genres. Some of my favourite metal bands include Arkona (Russian), Bloodywood (Indian) and The Hu (Mongolian), all of whom insert folk elements into their music. If you haven't heard of those folks, you should definitely check them out. They're great.

I also adore language, and languages, and I'm particularly attracted to languages that are or have been near to extinction. I love hearing stories of the languages experiencing a revival or renaissance. So, of course, I happen to have a pretty intense interest in Celtic languages. Still learning Welsh. Irish is on my list.

All of this means that when I discovered Seo Linn last year, I was in heaven - folk music sung in Irish? GET IT IN MY EARS, RIGHT MEOW! (For the record, Seo Linn is a bilingual band. They sing in English and Irish both)

Anyway, I made a point of sharing their version of Óró 'Sé Do Bheatha 'Bhaile when I heard it.

They've recently dropped another modern take on an old Irish folk tune, and once again, I am in love with the music.

Of note here is the slight change of lyrics. From "To buy my love a sword of steel" to "To take away their sword of steel."

For me, this turns the song from the lament of a mourning widow (or young woman who never got the chance to marry her love) into something broader - the lament for an entire people, a lament for the oppressed (fuck colonial Britain. Seriously).

It was such a small little detail, but it shifted the entire song.

​Anyway, enjoy. I certainly have been.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Ooph. A rough ride right now, ammirite?

​Don't worry. It gets worse.

To ensure we know what’s going on, we open up with the last little bit of the argument between WWX and Wen Qing about restoring Jiang Cheng’s golden core. We’re reminded that WWX’s found solution only has a fifty percent chance of working. That’s find by WWX. Fifty percent is enough.

Wen Ning, who doesn’t know what he’s asking for is ecstatic. Wen Qing is practically in tears and WWZX, well, he’s grateful but sad. That “thank you” to Wen Qing damn near killed me. It physically hurt.

Once again leaning on canary3d's gif set here , as I couldn't find it otherwise. Look at his face as he thanks Wen Qing for the hell he's about to go through...

We cut to WWX out getting food. He hunts like a damned hawk, flying up in the air and then diving down to catch an unsuspecting chicken. Lordy, it’s goofy AF. I might have burst out laughing. I don’t remember this scene from the first viewing and the goofiness of it all took me aback a moment. Anyway, he dives down from the air and catches a chicken. Then his magical sixth sense goes off and he searches through the long grass to find...

Song Lan. You remember Song Lan, don’t you? He’s the “best friend” of Xiao Xingchen. You remember Xiao Xingchen, right? These two:

Jeez.

Anyway, it’s Song Lan (the one in black in the above .gif), and the dude’s unconscious and there there’s something terribly wrong with his eyes. We learn, once Song Lan is back with Wen Qing to be treated, that he and Xiao Xingchen travelled around together since the last time they met up with WWX and crew. Then they separated as Song Lan went back to visit his master for his birthday (the master’s, not Song Lan's). He arrives to find his master’s residence in chaos. Everyone is dead. He finds his master, dying, and is immediately warned.

Warned about what?

Xue Yang, who attacks Song Lan, throwing something - magical insta-blindness dust, it may seem - in his eyes.

For what reason? Well, Xue Yang wants revenge against Xiao Xingchen. And what’s the best way to get revenge? Attack the one Xiao Xingchen loves the most.

What a fucking psychopath.

(to jog your memory, this is Xue Yang:)

Anyway, Song Lan notes that he thinks he saw Xiao Xingchen, who promised to take him to Baoshan the Wanderer (who is related to WWX, remember), with the promise that she will give him back his sight. Song Lan remembers naught else, probably falling unconscious until WWX found him in the grass. Of course, WWX is listening to all this and coming up with a plan of his own to trick Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli into believing that Jiang Cheng’s golden core restoration can happen with no ill effects to anyone.

Uh-huh.

This is the lie he spins: Baoshan the Wanderer is his grandmaster. Of course he would know where she is. And with her reputation - she who can revive the dead and give flesh to bones - she can restore Jiang Cheng’s golden core, no problem. He tells his sister so, and she is obviously overjoyed. Oh, poor, sweet, gullible Jiang Yanli.

WWX then goes to his brother, who is still unconscious on the bed, Wen Qing’s paralyzing needles still in his head. WWX takes those out, and Jiang Chen begins to wake up. WWX sits down and starts eating the food he brought, acting like his usual mischievous self... but it’s tempered now. I don’t know how the actor managed it, but it feels so different from his previous, more carefree impishness of previous episodes.

The conversation goes a little like this:

WWX; Yo, bro, wake up and eat something.

JC: I want to die.

WWX: but if you die, how will you restore your golden core, twit?

JC: ... Go on

WWX: I can take you to see Baoshan, bro.

At which, Jiang Cheng is utterly convinced there’s a chance that he might get his golden core back again, leaps out of bed, and starts to eat.

Obviously, it’s a lot more heartfelt than that, but that’s the general gist. While Jiang Cheng is eating, WWX lays out the rules of what’s to follow - the main one being that he must keep it a secret. No one must know what it is that he did or where he went. Not even their sister. Jiang Cheng readily agrees, while scarfing down his foot.

The smile WWX gives is bittersweetness incarnate. He just looks so pleased that Jiang Cheng is suddenly determined to live again, but there’s the cost... UGH! MY HEART!

WWX then goes to visit Wen Qing, and she is still so pissed at him for his plan. She doesn’t want to do the thing she’s agreed to do, and she’s letting WWX know without saying as much. WWX asks her for drugs - the kind that will make someone sleep for a few days. She gives it to him. Then she asks WWX if he’s prepared for Jiang Cheng finding out.

WWX, dead serious, says he never will.

Wen Wing disagrees. It’s not the sort of thing that could be kept a secret forever..

That’s when WWX points out that if it was Wen Ning who had his golden core melted, she would make the exact same decisions he has. It appears that he’s got Wen Qing there.

Then WWX goes off to his sister. He gives her the drugs and tells her it’s incense to help her sleep. Not exactly a lie... Trusting WWX, she puts it in the incense burner, and offers WWX her homemade soup - his favourite: lotus root and ribs. Jiang Yanli and WWX reminisce about the first time she made this soup for him, and we’re treated to a flashback of the three siblings as children.

Baby WWX has just been brought into the family, and because of his terrible fear of dogs, poor baby Jiang Cheng has been forced to give up his puppies. It was a contentious beginning for the pair. Obviously upset at baby WWX, baby Jiang Cheng sends him away from their shared room, threatening to release the dogs on him. Terrified, baby WWX runs away. Baby Jiang Yanli ends up searching for him in the woods by herself at night. She finds him up a tree, and tries to convince him to come down. Baby WWX ends up falling out of the tree and injuring himself.

Baby Jiang Yanli ends up giving him a piggy back ride, after explaining that baby Jiang Cheng was the one who woke her up, worried for him. As they walk, a child starts wailing in the forest. Turns out it was baby Jiang Cheng, who had fallen and injured himself while out looking for baby WWX. Sobbing, bleeding from the head, baby Jiang Cheng apologizes to baby WWX.

The three return home, and baby WWX and baby Jiang Cheng end up becoming friends after baby WWX promises he won’t tell on baby Jiang Cheng. Baby Jiang Cheng promises baby WWX that he would never release any dogs on him. Besties 4 lyfe.

Baby Jiang Yanli shows up with a pot of the soup she made.

It’s all very sweet.

When the flashback ends, we see Jiang Cheng “asleep” in bed shed a single tear at the recollections and WHY THE FUCK AM I CRYING. THIS ISN’T FAIR!

Anyway, the drugged incense works and Jiang Yanli is now in a drug-induced coma. Nice, WWX. Jiang Cheng stops pretending to be asleep and gets out of bed. WWX notes that their sister should sleep long enough for Song Lan to take her to Yanling - home of the Jin Clan.

We next see WWX and Jiang Cheng place their sleeping sister into a carriage. Song Lan, whose sight is totally restored, promises to ensure that she reaches her destination. He also asks WWX that should he see Xiao Xingchen... But he can’t quite get the words out.

It’s okay, Song Lan. He knows you love him. I’m sure he loves you too.

Song Lan heads off, and WWX and Jiang Cheng also take their leave of the two Wens, off to restore Jiang Cheng’s golden core. Or, more realistically, WWX’s devious plan to restore his brother’s golden core even though it will cost him a great deal is enacted.

We then cut to Yanling. Presumably Jiang Yanli has arrived and told the story of what happened to her clan, because there’s a crowd outside demanding justice for the Jiang Clan. And so beings the Sunshot campaign, a campaign to take the world back from the Wens. We’re told this via a voiceover while we watch Clan Leader Nie take back his home (which became the Wen Clan Supervisory Office of Qinhe), and we get a shot of LWJ, dressed in white, sword drawn, stepping on a Wen Clan banner at the gate of the Cloud Recesses.

You get two .gifs of this one. It's a short shot, and the only time we get to see LWJ this episode, but it's still pretty epic.

Ignore the fact that his sword is spotless and so are his gorgeous white robes. The dude is clearly an elf, and his weapon is magically self-cleaning.

Or something.

We cut back to WWX and Jiang Cheng, who are still climbing a fucking hill. I mean, the way it’s cut makes it feel like they were walking for all the months that it took for the other clans to win back their territories which... might be the case, but it feels odd, you know?

Anyway, Jiang Cheng is blindfolded and told to go forward. WWX can go no further. He’ll go down into the town and wait for him. In a WWX voiceover while Jiang Cheng moves forward repeats the rules Jiang Cheng is to follow. He’s never to open his eyes. Not once.

Eventually, Jiang Cheng hears the sound of a bell, and follows it. He comes across a woman who draws her sword and demands he stop. It’s clearly Wen Qing with her face hidden, and if Jiang Cheng knew his crush at all, he’d recognize her voice, but maybe he’s just too excited to get his golden core back to worry about it.

After answering a few questions with the answers WWX made him memorise, the woman offers him a ribbon which he can hold on to while she leads him to - he thinks - Baoshan the Wanderer.

And so ends the episode.

What I Loved

I adore the tension in Wen Qing. I love that she really doesn’t want to do the thing WWX has asked her to do specifically because of the threat it poses to WWX, because of everything he’ll be giving up. I like that she’s mad about it. I think, were I her, I’d be acting the same way.

I adore how expertly Xiao Zhan (the bloke who plays WWX) navigates all the subtleties of his character; the desire to protect and save, and the sadness for himself that this decision creates in him. I love that he’s determined to do it because it’s the right thing to do, but also lets the character be sad about it in the quiet moments - a sadness that no one but Wen Qing ever gets to see.

These two were phenomenal in this episode.

Also, as this is my second viewing, so I can see all the ways this episode sets things up for the episodes to follow (sometimes quite a ways away). It’s useful to pay attention to this episode, even if it feels like nothing much is happening.

What Could Be Better

Lordy, the hunting chicken thing was far more hilarious than I think the cast and director meant for it to be. It really was goofy as all get out, and it wasn’t meant to be, I don’t think. It still makes me giggle thinking about it.

But that’s it. That’s the only thing I would change. Oh, and maybe have the timeline figured out a bit better. It feels really odd to have the boys walking for months on end while the rest of the world rebels against the Wen Clan, especially since it takes days to get places in other instances.

Next week... things don’t get much better for our dear WWX.