Books Full of Delicious: The Pie Book Tag!

Hey'a, everyone! It's the day after Thanksgiving, and we all know what that means — well, we know three things specifically. First: it's the first day on which you can reasonably play Christmas music in public. Second: it's the first day of holiday sales (or "sales," depending on where you shop). Third: it's the day on which, if you're lucky, you get to eat an abundance of leftover pie! I covered the first a couple years ago, and I'm taking care of the second over on Light and Shadows. That just leaves the third . . . which I'm taking care of with the Pie Book Tag, created by Emma over at Awkwordly Emma! I love this tag, since it basically combines two of my favorite things, and I'm super excited to go through it!

The Pie Book Tag!

Caramel Apple: A book that reminds you of fall!

For some reason, Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maaren feels like a very fall-ish book. Something about the emphasis on change and transition and tension between past and present and future makes me think autumn. 

 Pumpkin: A book with a great family (biological or found).

Here's a series that I don't talk about half as much as I used to (or as much as it deserves): The Legends of Karac Tor series by D. Barkley Briggs! This series starts strong with a pair of brothers who accidentally end up in another world, and eventually, their other brothers and father get in on the adventure as well. (And there's another significant family who comes up later, so that's great.) I really wish there were more books like this in many ways.

 

French Silk: A book that's easy to read or rich with descriptions.

Speaking of books I don't talk about as much as I used to: Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (aka one of my favorite books and authors of all time) fits perfectly in this category! The way Anne Elisabeth describes the characters and the setting is one of my favorite things — she has a knack for just the right words and language to make everything unfold gradually and beautifully and to let you know clearly what's going on while still keeping the mysterious fairyland feel.

 

Key Lime: A summery sweet book 

This was surprisingly hard to pick something for . . . but I think I have to go with The Paper Magician and its sequels. They're light and fun, with clever magic and fairly sweet (if occasionally frustrating) romance.

 

Blueberry-Peach: A book with a perfect pairing.

Shoot. This is hard to pick. Ummmmm . . . let's go with Lady Dragon, Tela Du, which involves two of my favorite ships, Reutra and Amberite. Admittedly, it's Amberite in one of its sadder chapters, but still. And, as I'm currently alpha-reading Love and Memory, the sequel to this book, I'm experiencing all the feels regarding both ships. It's a problem.

 

Oreo: A book that reminds you of your childhood.

I still love a lot of my late-childhood favorites, so I have a lot to choose from . . . but I'm going with one I don't talk about as much, All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot. This is an autobiography about a pre-WWII vet in the Yorkshire region of England, and it's just a delight to read. The author interacted with a lot of colorful characters, both in terms of his patients and his patients' owners. This is one of the last books my dad read to me, so rereading it reminds me of being younger and sitting curled up in my favorite chair and listening to the stories.

 

Lemon Chess: A book with a very Southern setting.

Hello, Raven Cycle! I don't read a lot of books set in the South (mostly because I don't read many books set on Earth, period, and those that are set there, sort of, tend to be alternate Earths and take place in England or some such). But The Raven Cycle is very Virginian, which means I have a special kind of affection for it.

As a runner-up in this category, I have to mention the Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rodgers, which is a fantasy set in a world that feels like colonial America in the deep South, with settlers and swamps and 'gators and so forth. It's intensely underrated, and I highly recommend it.

 

Dark chocolate orange: A book with a bittersweet ending.

Here's another two-for-one deal: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull, both for its own sake and as a representative of the whole Beyonders series. I mean, technically most fantasy books have bittersweet endings, but this one sticks out to me for reasons that I can't entirely explain. 

And that's it! Do you agree with my choices? What books would you put for each category? Please tell me in the comments, or feel free to pick up the tag for yourself. (Just make sure you link back to Emma's post.) 

Thanks for reading!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

August 2019 Doings!

Welp. That's another month gone. For once, I was aware of the time passing . . . if only because I was painfully aware of how much longer I had to work on my Camp NaNoWriMo novel at times. Speaking of which, let's jump into the Doings!

Writing!

• Obviously, the main event of the month was Camp NaNoWriMo. My 12 Dancing Princesses/Hades and Persephone retelling is turning out significantly longer than I anticipated, which is . . . I don't know how I feel about it, honestly. I do know that I forgot how talkative some of these characters are.
• I'm not going to lie; a lot of this month was a struggle. I had a week where I barely had time to write, and another few weeks after that where I didn't want to write or do much of anything creatively productive. I'm pretty sure I know why — because most of the books at the top of my TBR were Asian fantasy, which I didn't want to read while I was still starting my new book for fear that they'd influence the setting or story more than intended. But that meant I basically didn't read anything, which meant that once my well of inspiration started getting low, it never got refilled. Lesson learned, I guess.
• I did manage to finish the month, though, after a weekend trip that involved a lot of writing time in the car and after binge-re-reading Today Nothing Happened, a journal webcomic that's about as far in genre from my WIP as possible. My final count for the month was 20,140 words. So that's great.
• And, in case anyone was curious: no, the book doesn't have an official title yet — particularly since my comment in my last Doings post about how the term Earth might not exist in this world sparked a discussion about why not and a revelation that I got mixed up on my etymology. (That is to say, the Earth is named after the dirt, not the other way around.) So now I'm trying to decide between two names:
  • Blood in the Earth. (Fits really well thematically with the book's setting and certain plot elements, but I'm not sure if people would see the term "Earth" and think our planet first, rather than dirt or soil — which would be a problem; while the world of the book resembles Earth strongly, it is not actually Earth.)
  • Blood in the Soil. (This avoids the confusion about Earth and fits most of the same themes that Blood in the Earth does, though it has somewhat different connotations. My main concerns with this one: for one thing, I'm not sure it would lock me into "Blood in the [insert s-word] for future titles, and for another, it kind of sounds like a Southern gothic novel to me? Though I could be wrong; I don't read Southern gothic.)
  • There were almost three names here, since I was still kinda considering Blood in the Night, but then I realized that it sounds like a vampire novel. So . . . that's out.
• I also worked a bit on my D&D campaign during some of the points where I didn't want to work on my novel. (You would think that would be just as draining, but it kind of depends which episode I'm working on.) I currently have a bunch of ideas for different episodes and challenges, and they're all kind of right around level 3 or level 4, so . . . good thing characters tend to stay there for a while. I am seriously excited for this campaign, though, even if it's a long way from done.

Reading!

• So . . . you know how basically tried to devour the library the last few months?
• That did not happen this month.
• Basically the only books I read were the other Five Golden Braids books — all of which are pretty great, by the way. But each of them gets a list-post next week in the blog tour, so I'll skip talking about them now.

Watching!

• The most exciting thing I watched all month: How To Train Your Dragon 3! In the theater! One of our local theaters was showing it again on special, so my sister, my mom, and my sister's friend and her family all went to see it. I liked it on the whole, aside from some intended-as-comedic elements that I thought didn't need to be there, but I also have mixed emotions about the ending.
• I mean, on one hand, it was a great ending — thematically fitting and all that. It definitely paid off all the character and plot conflict that we'd had over the rest of the movie.
• But on the other hand, I am sad about certain things because those things involved goodbyes and it was not OK.
• Also, this may have been the prettiest of the HTTYD movies, but don't quote me on that.

• The second-most exciting thing I watched all month: I finally saw Spider-Man: Homecoming. Like most Marvel movies involving Tony Stark, it was a good movie, but could have been better if certain people actually bothered to communicate. Seriously, that could have eliminated a significant number of the more frustrating plot problems. And it's not like the pieces weren't already in place! And I'm going to rant about how I would have written the movie differently if I were in control — it's been out long enough that everyone probably has either seen it or knows all the spoilers. If you don't fit in one of those categories and you care about staying that way, just skip past the whole indented section.
  • So, a lot of the conflict comes from the fact that after Germany, Tony is kind of ignoring Peter — or, not necessarily ignoring, but at least not responding. And he gives no explanation for why that we're aware of. Bad call. We'll give Tony a pass initially, 'cause Steve kind of did a number of him in Civil War. But once he starts pulling himself back together and saw that Peter was still all excited to be a superhero and an Avenger, what should or could he have done?
  • Simple. Contacted Peter, maybe even invited him to Avengers/Stark Tower and basically said "Look, kid, you did great in Germany, you're excited, all that is awesome. But you're not quite ready to officially join the Avengers yet. So, the next several months are training time. Keep practicing with the new suit, keep proving what you can do at street level, and when you're ready, you can go on another mission with me."
  • Even better: Tony also uses this as an opportunity to set up a regular "check-in" time when Peter can talk to either him or (more likely) Happy and let them know how stuff is going, ask questions, that sort of thing. Y'know. An actual mentorship. That would've been great, but not absolutely essential.
  • Possibly Tony also uses this opportunity to start whatever training program Karen referenced in the film for helping Peter learn how to use the suit's advanced features (though that would eliminate some of the tension and comedic elements later on).
  • (Possible counterargument to this part of the plan: Tony is a busy man. He has bigger things to worry about than a kid superhero. Counter-counterargument: the film makes it pretty clear that Tony was aware of what Peter was doing anyway, and also, taking responsibility for your choices is a thing.)
  • So. Now Peter's not as frustrated by the fact that he's not doing "real" superhero stuff because at least he knows he hasn't been forgotten about. He's still hero-ing every spare minute, probably, and so the film's plot goes more or less as it would anyway up through the first encounter with Vulture up through the bit where Peter finds out where the weapons deal is happening and tells Happy about it.
  • At that point, instead of Tony still pretending he's ignoring Peter and secretly calling in the feds, he tells Peter "Great work, kid; I've called in the feds and we'll take it from here." Peter probably protests that he wants to still be involved. Possibly he shows up anyway and still messes stuff up somehow, but in that case, it's his own storming fault and Tony is honestly justified in taking the suit away.
  • Or, possibly, it doesn't even get as far as the weapons deal. Possibly Peter instead tells Tony about tracking the Vulture and his crew to Maryland, Tony says "Great; thanks; we'll take it from here," and Peter interferes then and gets the suit taken away then — though, obviously, that would have made the Washington Monument scene go very differently.
  • After this, the film continues basically like it did anyway, and the climax goes down pretty much just like it did in the movie, 'cause that was honestly really great.
  • And after the climax, Tony still invites Peter to be an Avenger, and Peter probably still says "Thanks, but I think I need more training." Or possibly it's more low-key; maybe Tony shows up with Peter's new suit in hand and is like "Hey, you did great. You're still technically in training, 'cause you're a minor and probably shouldn't be doing full-time heroing, but you get to go on missions with me sometimes now. Speaking of which, suit up." That would lose the impact of Peter's choice, but I think it would still work thematically.
  • Aaaaand there you go. Spider-Man: Homecoming as rewritten by me.
• Ok, for those of you who didn't want to read spoilers: those are over now. MOVING ON.

• In other movie-watching news: I'm trying to figure out how I feel about western movies.
• See, my dad really likes western movies (specifically John Wayne western movies), and I like the idea of westerns (to the degree that I had a whole subplot in one novel that was basically "how close can I get to a western in a medieval-ish fantasy setting?"). But the only western movie I'd watched until recently was the original The Magnificent Seven, which is a good movie with great character development . . . culminating in the death of a lot of the characters I really liked.
• Needless to say, this did not make me feel terribly inclined to watch more westerns.
• However, my dad recently bought a collection of old John Wayne movies and wanted to watch some of them. And I was feeling bad about having judged an entire genre off of one work, so I said I would watch a couple of John Wayne movies before I went back to Cedarville. And that is how I ended up watching Blue Steel and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and why I'm now trying to figure out how I feel about the genre as a whole.
• (Blue Steel, for the record, was intensely unimpressive, but it was also obviously a low-quality movie with equally low-quality writing. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, on the other hand, was very well-written, very well-acted, and very well-staged. The scriptwriters and directors did an excellent job of showing you that even minor characters had lives and dreams outside of the plot, the conflict was pretty well set up . . . but certain things didn't happen like I expected them to, and I'm not sure if I like how they happened instead. Also, Tom Doniphon is problematic, but he reminds me of certain of my characters, so now I don't know how I feel about him or them. It's a problem.)
• Oh, and I watched more Star Trek. I continue to prefer The Next Generation to the Original Series, but I don't think that surprises anyone.

Life!

• I MADE PECAN PIE! Obviously this is the most important thing that happened all month.
• (It's not. But it was delicious and I'm very happy about how well it turned out.)
• Anyway. Even aside from Camp NaNoWriMo, July was pretty busy, especially the first half of the month. That's not a bad thing, but it doesn't help my ability to write.
• Independence Day was fun, but low-key: we went over to a friend's house, enjoyed some really great barbeque, and watched the DC and New York fireworks from the comfort of the friend's living room. (It had been threatening rain all day, plus no one was really that excited about going somewhere to sit in a buggy field to watch things explode, so we decided it was better not to risk anything.)
• Next on the lineup: Cow Appreciation Day! Yes, we did go to Chick-Fil-A for all three meals. But, look, if they're going to give me a free chicken biscuit or BBQ chicken sandwich or whatever and all I have to do is show up wearing a cow shirt, I will absolutely take that deal. (I mean, technically I got a breakfast burrito instead of a chicken biscuit, but my point remains.) This was also the day we went to see HTTYD3, so it was a good day all 'round, if not a terribly productive one.
• And shortly after that, my grandpa came to visit (as he usually does this time of year), so that was fun. That said, we didn't do a ton while he was here, since he's having hip problems. We did go to 7/11 on 7/11 day for free slurpees, though. And then, oddly enough, we then visited him a week or so after he left so that he and my dad could make my sister a desk hutch for Cedarville. (Why did we not just make it here? Basically, Grandpa is better set up for woodworking projects than we are, and we had to be in Pennsylvania anyway to drop my sister off for the camp she was volunteering at, so . . . why not?)
• So, yeah, that's pretty much all the event-y stuff. In non-event-y stuff: my sword is progressing fairly well. All the pieces are printed and sanded, so now I just have to epoxy them all together and paint the whole thing. I'm also toying with the idea of making some kind of sheath for it, but I don't have the skills to make a model for 3D printing . . . anyone have any suggestions?
• And, yeah, as you probably guessed from the start of this section, I've been baking! So far, I've made several loaves of sourdough bread (I still can't get it shaped right, though I'm making progress on the density problem), pretzels (twice! they were delicious), pancakes (also delicious), and pizza. I'm unreasonably proud of the pizza.
• (Also, I play Hearthstone on and off, but July was more an "on" month than an "off" one because they were running a special event and I absolutely loved their special twist on the game for the first two weeks of the month. I really wish there was a way I could play those characters outside the event, 'cause they made those particular classes two to five times more interesting than they had been. Well, three of the five did. The other two, not so much. Needless to say, this did not help with Camp NaNoWriMo, especially since the most interesting week of the special event coincided with the week in which I felt least inspired.)

August Plans!

• Mechanical Heart releases August 7! That's less than a week away! I am quite excited but also a bit stressed — more about the tour than the actual release. It should be good, though.
• On that note: you get a blog post every day next week on both my blogs. Different blog posts, even. On Light and Shadows, I'll be posting five reasons why you should read each of the Golden Braids books. Meanwhile, Dreams and Dragons will be hosting an assortment of interviews.
• And after that, I will probably take a week or two off of blogging, both because I'll be tired from the blog tour and because I'll be headed back to Cedarville the week after my book releases!
• This semester should be pretty solid on the whole. I don't have any classes that I'm dreading, though I am nervous about some of my graphic design classes — I've heard that the professor is tough. But, hey, I get to learn how to make fonts, so that's exciting. Plus, I get to take a creative nonfiction class, which was one of the creative writing courses I was most disappointed out missing back when I decided not to do a creative writing minor.
• Besides that, August will mostly be occupied with trying to finish up projects: the draft of Blood in the [Something], the first month or two of my D&D campaign, my sword, my knitted cloak (or, part of it, anyway), a few other dorm items, and so on.
• Also, I need to get back to the whole reading-all-the-books thing. And I have shows I want to watch.
• So, yeah.

How was your July? What are your plans for August? Which title do you think sounds better, Blood in the Earth or Blood in the Soil? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Pi(e) Day!

Happy Pi(e) Day!

This holiday is undoubtedly the yummiest thing that math has ever given us . . . and of course my family's going to celebrate it. I know we're having spaghetti pie for dinner; and then some other type of dessert pie after. But I'm not just celebrating by eating: pie happens to be the favorite food of one of my characters, and so I've also cooked up a bit of Between Two Worlds flash fiction in honor of the day. Enjoy!
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When Aedon introduced Kate to the wonders of the Málliys' cozy bakeshop, she'd been in Aralan only a week- though she'd taken to the new world as if she'd always lived there, and to Aedon himself as if he'd been her best friend since childhood. He led her down the bluestone streets, tugging her along each time a new sight or sound caught her eager attention, until they reached the cheerful stone building. The aromas of chocolate and cherries, of warm cookies and fresh bread, of hot butter and sharp cinnamon, greeted them as they stepped inside the open door, and Aedon stopped to drink in the scent.

But Kate darted forward eagerly to inspect the contents of the glass-front display, to "ooh!" over pastries and "mmm!" at berry loaves and finally come to a stop staring at the racks of pies. Aedon joined her there, grinning and wondering if Kate's exuberance ever dimmed, or if she just worked herself up over everything so she never had a chance to miss her home. "Pick anything you like, Kate. All of it's delicious."

Mistress Málliy stepped out from the kitchen in the back of the shop, dusting her hands on the apron and sending little puffs of flour dust up with every motion. "Lord Aedon! It's an honor to have you here! And is this the lady we've been hearing about, our visitor from Earth? You're welcome here in our shop, Miss . . ."

"Katelyn," she replied absently, gaze still fixed on the pies. "Anything, you said?"

"Anything," Aedon repeated, and Mistress Málliy added, "If you don't mind my saying so, Miss Katelyn, our cherry pie is very good today. One of the best of the season, perhaps."

"Cherry pie, then," Kate decided, and Aedon ordered a slice of the same, and they carried their treat out to eat in the sunshine on one of the benches in front of the bakeshop. And in between bites, Kate told Aedon of her home on Earth and of her mother's cooking and of how she always had pie instead of cake on her birthday- except for one year when she'd had cheesecake instead.

"And what about this?" Aedon asked, lifting a forkload of cherry filling and flaky crust. "Is this as good as your mother's pies?"

"Don't tell her I said so, but yes." Kate broke off part of the edge crust to munch on. "Which is saying something, because Mom's pie is the best food in the history of ever."

"That's a high standard to meet." Aedon set down his fork with a smile. "And what type of pie is your favorite?"

Kate shrugged. "I love almost all kinds equally- and I don't want to pin myself down." She grinned, and added, "But you can try to guess. If you get it right, I'll tell you. But I don't think you'll ever figure it out."

So he guessed- but only once before the city bells rang out two o'clock, calling them to finish their pie and hurry away, back to House Meadhra and Kate's first lesson in magic. And so the guessing game was forgotten . . . but only for the moment. Three weeks later, they found time to return to the bakeshop once more, hot and tired and triumphant from a long training session and Kate's first win in a staff-sparring match. She called it a lucky blow- but was happy to celebrate anyway with a slice of four-berry pie and equally happy to tell Aedon that, delicious as it was, it still wasn't her favorite type.

Many more times they stopped over the next three months before the war at last called them out of the city and to their lonely post on the border of Aralan's secured territory and the mountains of no-man's land. Any excuse they could find- a holiday, a celebration of another triumph in training or comfort for an especially disappointing loss, an ease to homesickness for Kate, or simply a desire for something sweet- they took, and before long, the Málliys came to recognize Kate as easily as they did Aedon.

Eventually, however, the war could no longer be forgotten- and pie could be, and was for many, many months. But not forever. For a year and seven months after they'd left, one month after they'd returned to the city, Aedon once more led Kate down the bluestone streets to the little bakeshop. But this was not the same eager girl who'd exclaimed over everything she saw and heard. This young woman shied from every glance her way; she pulled away from any touch of Aedon's hand on her arm; and she walked with slumped shoulders and downcast head. Nor was Aedon untouched, for none could miss the sorrow in his eyes each time he saw what his lady had become.

But when they reached the shop, Aedon still stopped to drink in the bakery's scent, and Kate still darted forward with nervous, eager steps, to inspect the racks of sweets. Mistress Málliy greeted them respectfully, though with a wary glance or two Kate's way. When Aedon asked for a recommendation, she suggested the strawberry-rhubarb pie, and at Kate's nod, he ordered two slices- large ones, large as Mistress Málliy would cut.

They didn't go outside this time, instead claiming one of the small tables along the far wall of the bakeshop. And they ate, for the most part, in silence, for neither knew what to say. At last, however, Aedon asked quietly, "Well, Lady Kate? Is this strawberry-rhubarb your favorite type of pie?"

For a full two minutes, she didn't respond, and Aedon wondered if she'd missed his question. But then she looked up, nodded. "Yes. It is." Her voice was rough from disuse, but her eyes held a hint of the light that he'd been missing so for so long. And then she smiled. "You finally guessed. I knew you would."
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I hope you enjoyed that! How are you celebrating Pie Day? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah