Para 🌵

a square painting of a stream in a forest. the scene is painted with blue, orange, red and purples. 3 large stars hang over the scene, reflected in the stream below.

happy autumn equinox!✨

Oh god what happened now

watercolor and gouache painting of a dragonet sitting on a mossy log in a murky forest watching a procession of spirit lights pass by

My ninth piece for my solo show @gallerynucleus.bsky.social!

#dragonet #dragon #dragonart #kidlitart #illustration #watercolor #gouache #fantasyart

pen and ink art in a neo-victorian style, showing a lady knight on a bier. there's cool stuff in the border, too, like a pistol and a boy reading a book

knight kneeling before a queen, who looks like a yassified margaret thatcher

man and a woman beneath a really tight tree. there's a cute cottage in the border

what if i told you the everlasting (out oct. 28th) has ILLUSTRATIONS and a MAP drawn by the incredible @alicecaoillo.bsky.social ??? what then???

Ink drawing of a woman looking into a keep forest. A dark shadow of herself stares back

[!nktober day 4] cool fish!

Yeah, it didn't completely grab me until the season 1 finale either. Needed to see the characters interacting. Then cue brainworms 😂

Season 5 is...interesting lol, I expect it's going to be extremely love it or hate it. But omg it's 100% my kind of batshit. I don't know if s3 or s5 is my fav.

Sure is a fucking way to celebrate getting a new job too lol

I have never before experienced a series where I was like, you know what, I would prefer to deal with the finale for the first time while plastered 😂

It's soooo intense!!!

I have finished The Magnus Archives and let's just say I am in A Fucking State 😭

It was a fitting ending I feel! But oh my god getting drunk was the correct choice lmao

omg GOALS 🤩

One reason manga is more accessible than US comics is that with manga you can start reading at volume one and expect to continue directly through the next numbered volumes under the exact same title in order without major shakeups in the direction of the story or the creative team every few volumes

Digital illustration of a cat holding a banner of four japanese fish kites. The cat is standing on a hilltop with mountains and clouds in the background. The border is full of similar fish kites with streaming tails and stars.

Day 02: Kite

Oh how I love japanese fish kites! They make me so happy :)
for #peachtober #peachtober25

A photo of Bayley the ragdoll cat with his head and paw resting on Gustave, the tabby kitten. Gustave looks shocked by this.

The kitten has become the cushion.

From the Fantasy community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the Fantasy community

I'm doing an AMA on r/Fantasy today. Please drop by and ask questions! I'll be answering throughout the day.

www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/co...

Gouache d'un zébron aux rayures mauves sur un fond vert et un cercle orange. Le zébron est allongé, une patte avant vers nous et il porte deux colliers rouges autour du cou.

J'avais hésité à lui dessiner des ailes ou bien une corne mais non, ce jeune zèbre est heureux tel qu'il est !

Have you ever heard an antelope vocalize before? Scimitar horned oryx have a distinctive, vibrating moo sound that they use to communicate with calves and other herd members.

🌍

Some very cool people over at r/fantasy are starting a Magnus Archives readalong/listenalong in about a week's time for @rustyquill.com fans that want to join in.

Oh man the hiss skirt is so tempting 👀

I'd say give the first two episodes a try, that's about the level it stays at for a long while.

Also it's very city based type horror at least 😂😂

I signed!!! I have a job again! I'm now officially an apprentice bookbinder starting Monday :D

(Please please may it work out lol)

For sure. And I'm still more than a little in awe of s5 and how it's *completely* different - hard to talk about without spoilers, but there's stuff like...a statement that's 10 minutes of surrealist poetry, etc.

Doesn't work for everyone, but I love it, and I love the courage even more.

It really shines through the writing too. They really engage with the concepts introduced, like...continuously and from multiple different angles.

Couple times I was a little taken aback when something that initially looked like a cliché was introduced, but it was always explored, never a shortcut.

Alex: So, this one is a tough one. This is from confectionery via Reddit. Jonny: Right, right, right. Alex: What are Jonny and Alex’s values when it comes to horror? Jonny [background]: (intrigued) Oh. Alex: As in: what should well-written horror fiction accomplish other than scaring people, obviously? Jonny: To me there are almost two sorts of horror. There’s what I think of as, uh, “escapist” horror.

Jonny [cont.]: And what I think of as “literary” horror. “Escapist” horror is- it’s very practical in a lot of ways. Uh, it is, uh, a way of… catharsis, uh, it’s a way of, uh, indulging in fear and, uh, spooking yourself out in a controlled, safe way, allowing you to safely indulge in those, uh, slightly darker, uh, emotions and feelings. Which is one of those reasons that, for Magnus, uh, I think it’s so important to take certain, uh, certain boundaries and treat certain subjects with a lot do respect and sensitivity, um, because one of the key things here is you need to be able to trust that you can enjoy the horror. Um, you need to be able to trust the- the writing and the performance that it’s not going to suddenly cross lines and what has previously been a very pleasing spooky catharsis, suddenly becomes, uh, incredibly upsetting. And of course there is the other sort of horror and obviously it’s not- it’s not a binary here, it’s very much um… Alex: It’s more of a spectrum. Jonny [cont.]: It’s very much on a- on a spectrum. Uh, but what I think of more as “literary” horror which is using the… mechanisms of horror, the mechanisms of, um, being spooky, being scary to actually examine and, uh, come to terms with darker subject matters. “Literary” horror is just as thoughtful about how it engages with that sort of thing. And to be honest, I don’t write “literary” horror, I… don’t really feel like I have any place writing “literary” horror most of the- most of the subjects that it tackles and it deals with well are things that I have no real experience of and that I would not be coming from a place where I feel comfortable exploring it. It’s- they’re not often my stories to explore.

Alex: Mine is going to be a lot more specific, but I think a lot less profound, let’s say. [Jonny snorts with a small laugh and says “Yeah”] Um, I think that in all fiction you should- I’m going to have to expand on this, you should avoid being intellectually lazy and I think horror more than with any other genre. More than any other type of fiction you must not be intellectually lazy. Now, to be perfectly clear, I’m not talking about, y’know, using big, ​long words or writing in a weird way that no one’s ever seen. When I’m talking about being intellectually lazy, I’m talking about knowing that there’s a better way in doing something and taking the shortcut. It’s stuff like for horror it’s very easy to spot the, uh, the shortcut, because what someone will do is they will write a taboo and then look at the taboo and go (dramatic, fake-OMG) “I broke a taboo! HORROR!” And it’s not. It is a shortcut, because you aren’t putting the work in to really engage with stuff and trying to pick at the bits that are interesting. You are just taking something wholesale and slapping it out there and that for horror, bizarrely, is the thing that encourages people to take that shortcuts most. [Jonny agrees with a “Yeah”] And especially things like body horror, actually that’s the one and most often, yeah, you’re- you’re heading into like horrible, torture porn-kind of sub-genres and stuff and actually, it doesn’t need to be that and it- it’s just about putting the work in and not just taking quick easy low-hanging fruit every time.

Jonny: Yeah. When we talk about being intellectually lazy, we are, a hundred percent, not talking about being original. Alex: No! No, no, no, no, no! Jonny: Because… weirdly, horror is actually one of those genres where I feel like you, thinking about it, in terms of originality is actually missing a lot of the point. There’s only so many spooky things that you write! [Alex agrees with a “Yeah”] It’s all to do with the rhythm and the pacing and making sure that you’re getting the- the right beats in the right place to… evoke the- the emotions the- the same way that, y’know, you need to, uh, evoke the right notes from an instrument.

Oh this is lovely to hear ❤️

Yeah, I listened to all the post-season Q&As I could so far, and they come across as very thoughtful and considerate. Just massive respect from my end.

(example from s3 q&a)

Admittedly season 1 didn't truly hit for me until the finale when I caught the brainworms at light speed 😂 But it's still pretty good even so! And trying to spot the connections kept me going.

No, seriously, if you want something that's not afraid of taking risks and avoiding the safe path, this is what you want. There is a certain format initially, yes, but they gradually start playing around with it and push it as far as it'd go and s5 in particular is...wow. Something else entirely.

Yeah!!!! I thought it'd be especially appropriate to go for a full readalong instead of something less ambitious since one of this year's squares is Not A Book :D

IT'S SO DAMN GOOD. I'm almost done with s5 and going absolutely bananas over how damn good it is.

What else. I could go on about it all day if I need to. Big feelings. Asexual protagonist. Creators who have a very thoughtful approach (q&as are great) and aren't afraid of taking massive creative risks which I admire SO much. Great balance of horror and humour. Examination of some fantasy tropes.

A reminder that we're starting in a week! Come join us for interconnected spooky stories, a stuck up yet lovably pathetic wreck of a main character, and one hell of an overarching plot (eventually).

Also it's very accessible!!

Ceramic frogs of different sizes and colors. There’s one on an oak leaf and one on a mushroom.

More 🐸 bound for the kiln 🔥
#ceramics #frogart