Since folks seemed to like the past bunch, here’s a few more trading cards I made! These are for the Keepers, all the ones who were from the first round of testing and have now been brought back to work for H&B.
I picked up School of Sight back when I was at VCon directly from the author! Always exciting, and it was a reward for me once NaNoWriMo was over to finally dig into it. And it was definitely worth the wait!
The book is about someone who has discovered that they have the sight and is being brought into the world of vampires, fairies, and werewolves just as a strange new force has entered the fray and is picking off the supernatural community one by one. The way the world is revealed is really well done, with a lot of things being presented as matter of fact and the perspective character just trying to keep on top of it while being fully aware of how lost they are. And they aren’t the only one, given that they live with two roommates who, honestly, take the news that the world is magic a lot better than they do.
Also, for folks like me, there’s a romance in it but it’s incidental to the narrative. The story is not and never becomes about the romance, which makes me so very happy.
You may have noticed I’m using they pronouns. There’s a reason for this. I never noticed it while I was reading it, but the main character’s name and gender is never actually mentioned. From other cues in the text, I think they are a male named Jose, but that’s largely based on very small hints and I can’t be sure.1 The book does generally have a good dose of queer content, which I like.
On the negative end, I did find that the pacing was great until the end when all of the things happened and there were some conveniences that could have been brought up earlier.2 There were a few concepts that I feel could have been brought up earlier so that it wasn’t all piled in at the very end to help smooth out that transition a little.
Overall, though, the ending wasn’t enough to deter me. It was more that it could have been done better than it was a detriment to the story as a whole. And the rest of the story made up for it, along with the world building. It was a lot of fun and I’d suggest reading it, though be aware that you might run into some issues talking about it.
I may have to ask the author if this was an intentional choice or if I just wasn’t paying enough attention. [↩]
Like everyone’s birthdays? You could have mentioned that earlier so it didn’t seem so out of left field. On the other hand, it was mostly used for raising stakes that were never going to happen, so… [↩]
I tried making another trailer for White Noise! This is more for things like Facebook and whatnot, but let me know what you think and if there’s any other things you’d like to see video-wise from me.
Coming up as soon as I have some time to fix the audio, I have a recording of the reading I did at VCon! Be sure to bother me until I get that up!
Somehow, Harrison wasn’t dead. He wasn’t so sure about Max.
Despite surviving his encounter with the newly reborn Luke, Harrison doesn’t have time to even process the loss of his boyfriend. The Harrish and Barrister Corporation, now under the control of the mysterious Doctor Gethen, has decided they must be brought back for further testing — permanently.
At least locked inside the walls of H&B, Harrison is safe from a resurrected Luke now hijacking Max’s body. Since coming back, Luke’s developed a desire to see Harrison dead, but there’s something holding Luke back from finishing the job. It might be in his head, but Harrison swears he can still see just a glimmer of Max behind those eyes.
I recently got it in my head to do some trading cards for various characters in White Noise, mostly because I thought it would be fun. And so I spent more time than I should have designing a card, looking for stock photos, and creating one for every character that is in the series. Well, the ones who do plot things, anyway.
Here’s the main five! Let me know what you think. I’m thinking about what sort of things I can do with them.
I started making some interesting items that are inspired by the books. I’ve only just begun, really, but do check out what’s there right now and see if you can find anything you like. And if you have seen any book quotes that you need on an item or a cover that needs to be made into a notebook, do let me know! After November, I’m planning to make even more.
Even though that will absolutely miss Christmas. I am very good at this.
I may be going pretty quiet for the month of November, but I will be taking a small break from incessant writing to be at Canzine on November 5th! I’ll be bringing the short story that inspired City Without Heroes, along with some other fun things, so be sure to come check it out!
The winner of the poll was Thornebrooke! I’m already deep into plotting and, as you can see, have come up with a cover concept. Thank you to everyone who voted for the book! I may be quiet during the next month, but be sure to check out the social medias to see what I’m up to.
Or, well, his ex-boyfriend, he thinks. His memory of the last week is fuzzy. It’s while his roommate, Ally, is trying to help him that they get the phone call; Max has gone missing, and Willow — who’s supposed to be catatonic and locked away — abducted him.
Harrison sets out on a mission to find him, but he and his friends are placed under house arrest. Is it to keep them safe from Willow, or is Harrison being used for live bait? Trapped with the mysterious new Doctor Gethen who’s taken a keen interest in them, Harrison needs to make things right, find Willow, and get Max back.
I haven’t honestly ever paid much attention to the backs and fronts of books when I’ve been reading them.1 A friend of mine pointed them out to me recently, and I thought it might be fun to come up with a few for White Noise. Let me know what you think and I may do more of these!
Max is thrown into an unfamiliar situation with a group of people who already have a history and dynamic that was established before he got there. Have you ever been in a situation like this? How did you deal with it?
A lot of information is told to Max and he accepts it more or less at face value for a long time. How could he have checked some of the information he was told? Would knowing have made a difference?
Throughout the books, the characters stay in houses that are clearly normally inhabited. What do you think of them living in these houses without the knowledge of the actual owners? Do their circumstances change your opinion?
Throughout the book, Max and Harrison establish a relationship that ends up being more than just friendship. Why would Harrison have not been more forthright about his feelings at the beginning?
If you suddenly discovered you had super powers, what would you do with them?
Each of the characters deals with their situation differently. Who do you think has the best coping mechanism? Why?
Each of the characters has a different power. Do you think their powers inform their personalities?
It is revealed that Luke is not what he seems. Do you think Luke mislead the characters intentionally?
In the end, Max forces Harrison to do something he did not want to do. Do you think the circumstances justified his actions? Do you think it is ever right to do this?
I honestly start and stop at the story itself and ignore the rest, including a lot of the bonus content [↩]
