Category Archives: Recs

We’re doing this: The Book Catch-up

as a reader

I’m in the middle of a book that I’m dying to talk about — no suspense here, it’s Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle — but then I thought it would be weird to ramble about that, I only really talk about books at the year-end round-up when I dump out all the graphics from Goodreads and talk about all the books I read that year at once.

And then I thought, why in the world do I do that, anyway?

So I’m going to catch up on what I’ve read this year so far, more or less (rounded down to an arbitrary point, so I can pick it back up next time). It’s been a more themed year than usual, which has been kind of wearing; I usually jump around genres more than this. But it’s also been interesting in its own way.

Here we go.

Opinions.

4 books from now, maybe we’ll be in business

anime nerd corner, The Strangers' Crossroads (Healersverse)
  • In the new project, we’ve reached the “Protagonist Realizes She’s Kind of a Jerk, Decides to Try to Be Nicer Despite Not Knowing How” point around 48,000 words. Healers 1 reaches that point at around 60k. This might seem like progress, but the fact that this book has this sort of moment in the first place continues the frustrating realization that I Cannot Be Normal.
  • We’re fully in the summer 2024 anime season. Kind of a thin one in this house, so it’s half backlog.
    • Suicide Squad Isekai. Still pales in comparison to Harley Quinn, and I don’t care one bit about the otherworld, but it’s fine so far.
    • Senpai is an Otokonoko. Kiddo, you are in love with your childhood friend, and the longer this series drags that out, the shorter my patience is going to get. But it’s cute.
    • Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! Like the meme says: I love mess. I truly do. Only one episode in, and I wonder if this will end up being my favorite this season.
    • Spice and Wolf continues. Coincidentally, I started listening to the audiobook recently, as a toe-dip into audiobooks overall. It’s fine, enjoying it quite a bit, but this makes three iterations of an identical story in a row for me (since we watched the first anime adaptation just before the reboot started). Had to stop for now.
    • Backlist: Tearmoon Empire. It’s on the verge of losing my interest about halfway through. It’s not bad, it just isn’t grabbing me.
    • Backlist: Natsume’s Book of Friends continues. It fell out of our “last show of the evening” slot when it started getting more intense, so it’s been slower going lately.
    • Backlist: Komi Can’t Communicate. OK, so the first episode of this show had me in tears, and predictably, I am here for Golden Retriever Nonbinary Goofball. But out of the other side characters, one is a complete void, one is grating, and one is so odious that I consider noping out every time she appears. (Oh goody, two of my absolute least favorite tropes, the Predatory Lesbian and the Yandere. Great. Hilarious.) And I have mixed feelings about Komi herself and how she functions more as a projection screen for the other characters than a person in her own right, which is so frustrating. I wonder if some of her interiority is lost because Netflix is doing a terrible job translating all the onscreen text. It seemed like she was, you know, a person at first, but now she’s more of a moe object that gets dragged around and fawned over.
    • Since my last delve into All of This Stuff, we started and finished Tomo-chan is a Girl!, which was delightful. The premise-joke wore thin sometimes, but beyond that was a cast of sweet dumbasses and secret schemers. Good times.

Anyway. I was reminded in a writing discussion recently that admitting you’re a weeb will drive people away from your fiction, something something cringe something something. Thanks, I’ll put it on the list of advice I’m ignoring.

This is all sounding oddly familiar

anime nerd corner, games nerd corner, The Strangers' Crossroads (Healersverse)

Full of energy now that the Health Stuff is resolved, and trying to use at least some of it to continue some projects.

  • Ballad of the Bardbarian is sitting aside for now, but it’s always there as an alternative day to day. It’ll get done.
  • About Strangers’ Crossroads. I’m not a great outliner, which is why Healers 1 and 2 took a hundred lifetimes each to finish. So as an experiment, I started outlining Strangers to see if outlining could smooth the whole process. The outline is now 31 pages / 16,000 words all on its own, and unless I decide to break this into multiple books, it isn’t done yet. “Outline” is possibly not the right word; it’s a summary of each chapter including the “what happens” and “what does the POV character think about it” elements in a kind of stream of consciousness ramble. But it lets me get the basics down, and know what’s coming next. I hope.
  • It’s increasingly clear, though, that Strangers has the same starting point as Healers (depressed and withdrawn boy, smart and angry girl, they hate one another). Everything else about the story is different — setting (albeit within that same world), backstory, personalities, goals — so I’m hoping the commonality is an advantage and not a drawback. (Okay, and the MMC is a member of the same God of Justice and Order church Keifon is, but I swear I’m not copying myself argh)
  • Games corner: Enjoying Palia but not playing at the moment, because my brain has been eaten by Graveyard Keeper. Take the “one more day” gameplay loop of Stardew Valley and combine it with a pitch-dark sense of humor, and you have Graveyard Keeper. I’m kind of glad I didn’t pick this one up until after I got back to my everyday routine, because it’s a time vortex, and one that’s more hectic than the extremely chill Palia.
  • It’s between anime seasons, more or less, and we haven’t shaken out the full summer lineup for this household yet. We’ve started Suicide Squad Isekai because this is a DC-television-series-respecting house. Spice and Wolf is continuing; I’m ride or die with that series. Will probably try Senpai is an Otokonoko unless it screws up its premise; we’ll probably try that deer series out of sheer WTFery; I might try Dungeon People on my already-canceled Hidive subscription. That’s probably enough, but I’m open to being surprised. In the backlog, I’ve barely started Tearmoon Empire and have enjoyed it so far (boy, that opening theme!).
  • (edit: I don’t know what Nokotan (the deer show) is doing, after the first episode. I think it’s that “anti-humor” thing where you’re supposed to laugh at the fact that it isn’t even trying to be funny? Because the heyday of “lolrandom” humor was 10+ years ago, and that’s the only other guess I have. Anyway, this is not for me(tm).) [Edit II: From reviews, it seems like this is either a case of cultural humor not coming across, or a questionable translation. Either way, not for me.]

And I think I’ve mentioned it before in the main posts as well as the sticky post, but Therapist book 1 will be on sale about a week from now as part of the July 12 Cozy the Day Away sale (the sale is on July 12, but I will have mine up for a bit before and after).

They now have a page specifically for the sale: Cozy Fantasy Sale (promisepress.org) (cozyfantasysale.promisepress.org). The list will be revealed on July 12, but I can say that I got a ton of books last time and have been enjoying reading them ever since. Lots were free or 99c, too.

That’s it for now; gotta actually write something about Sadboy and More Feral than Agna But Not Entirely Different Girl. <3

Enforced chill, week 3 of 3

anime nerd corner, Checking In, games nerd corner

Almost to the end of Recuperation Times. Apart from a little cabin fever, it went quite well.

  • Assembled 3 small to medium Lego sets; I still have 3 Animal Crossing ones un-assembled
  • Did a jigsaw puzzle early on, which is a prime Calm Down my Frazzled Brain activity
  • Some crafting for Christmas presents, ahead of time for once
  • Watched 3 one-season (so far) anime series, mostly while walking on the treadmill: Villainess Level 99, Fairy Ranmaru, and Chainsaw Man. The latter I binged over two days, which is not something I normally do.
  • Writing: The rough/first draft of Therapist 8 (Ballad of the Bardbarian) is done, though it’s one of those drafts that feels like it’s going to need a lot of added chapters to feel complete. It’s currently sitting aside while my alpha reader reads it. Also working on the Non-Agna-and-Keifon-Healers-world project, The Strangers’ Crossroads, which I think is unstuck now, and has a fighting chance of existing before Healers 4 does.
  • Gaming: Played all of A Little to the Left, most(?) of Strange Horticulture (though the dour music and atmosphere is getting to me), and a metric ton of Palia. I started Palia a month or so ago knowing that I would have a lot of downtime this month, and it worked. There is some jank, especially on the Switch, but it has been an effective diversion. I’ve gone as far as connecting a keyboard to my Switch, but not as far as buying a fancy outfit yet. I probably will eventually, just to throw a little money at the devs for all the time I’ve spent on this game.

Back to work on Monday, and back to a new, hopefully more energetic normal. Feeling pretty good.

Cozy the Day Away haul #1

as a reader

I’m not much of a book stockpiler. I love reading, but I don’t get as much joy from collecting and keeping books, per se. However, I was excited about this sale, and ended up getting quite a few books in the end. Time will tell how long it will take me to read through them all, but I look forward to it. (I’m currently midway through I Ran Away to Evil, so I haven’t even started yet…)

I have to go in some kind of order, so let’s say alphabetical by title. Mind you, there were lots more books on the list that I’ve already read, didn’t get to, etc. Nothing against any of them.

Artura’s Quest by Tagg Vermette
Awakenings by Claudie Arseneault
Buried in Friendship by T.M. Mayfield
Carry On by Celia Lake
The Crone of Midnight Embers by Iris Beaglehole
Curses & Cocktails by S.L. Rowland
Doll Girl Meets Dead Guy by Lidiya Foxglove
Dusted in Snowflakes by T.M. Mayfield
The Fae’s Bride by R.L. Medina
Familiars and Foes by Helen Vivienne Fletcher
Feathers of Dawn by Jess Galaxie
The Good and the Green by Amy Yorke
Guarding Gus by Karryn Nagel [who also organized the sale, applause]
How to Get a Girlfriend (When You’re a Terrifying Monster) by Marie Cardno
Inspirational Wink and the Altogether Extraordinary Notebook by Delaney Evers
Lollipop Monster Shop by Coyote J.M. Edwards
Love and Lab Extractions by Mary Stephenson Su
Love at First Lance by Gryffin Murphy
The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong
The Poison Paradox by Hadley Field and Felix A. Green
The Rogue and the Peasant by Amberley Martin
A Second Story by J.A. Collignon
The Tenfold Tenants by E.V. Belknap
Tools of a Thief by D. Hale Rambo
A Touch of Wrath by Arizona Tape
The Urban Underworld Omnibus by Gwyneth Lesley
Vanilla Bean Vampire by Selina J. Eckert
The Winter Feast by Rose Johnson
Working Under the Warlord by Fiona West

[edit: And even after the sale, a few of the books were still on sale, so I got another couple. Edited the list]

Thanks again to everyone who organized the sale! If you happened to get my book (a person can dream) and have any questions or technical issues, the Discord has a section for that (I’m there @SERobertson, very creative), or my contact info is over on the About page.

Happy reading!

Judging books — well, you know

games nerd corner, The Healers' Road (Book 1), Therapist in Another World Series

It seems like the artist I’d hired for most of the Therapist covers isn’t available right now (no offense, they’ve been great), so I figured — it’s a story where it would be nice to have two characters on the cover, why not go a bit further with it?

One chaotic “hiring” post later and I found a fantastic option; I am so, so pumped. They’ve even worked on light novels before, so they know the style; I loved their portfolio; y’all, I am PUMPED. This also means that I should be able to release Therapist 7 within the next couple of months, if all goes well. Fingers crossed.

As usual, I also heard from a bunch of other great artists who I’d also be happy to hire, and I’m thinking again about having some illustrated covers made for Healers. All three of them. In my head it’s for the 10th anniversary of The Healers’ Road this fall, but I would like all of them to match, so it’s a big undertaking.

We’ll see; I’ll put together the reference documents and stew about it for a while. (Related: We recently finished the anime The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent, and my husband commented that its lead character looks like Agna. And now I can’t unsee it, haha.)

This also reminds me of the “trilogy” thing: I swear I actually am, slowly, working on more Healers books. I consider the story soft-closed/resolved-ish but not closed-forever. Like, if I got hit by a bus tomorrow, I want the end of book 3 to feel satisfying. But I also hope that if I write a book 4, it won’t be annoying to readers, like “I thought this was done.”

This may be an impossibility, asking for both of those things. I hope not.

Just a brief games note: I started The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Christmas Day and finished it the day before Easter, three months and a couple of days. Logged 190something hours. Completed all the shrines (which I didn’t think I would, but here we are). Found all the lightroots and wells. Did not find all the bubbulfrogs; I stopped about 30 short. Completed all of the sidequests except two (the last mine cart one – meh – and the one where you need to find Gleeok guts – are you kidding me). Collected all the armor that didn’t require defeating a) a King Gleeok (are you kidding me) or b) several waves of Lynels (ditto). And one of the glide challenges. Which is to say, I got almost all of the armor. Did not upgrade all of it, which would require more grinding than all of the rest of the game put together.

Fought one (1), count ’em, one Lynel, and I was pretty annoyed about it. I did enough of that in BOTW. You can’t make me. Except that one time.

The ending makes no sense. But they could not have done the ending that would make sense; people would spontaneously combust. Not spoiling, so I can’t say more than that. (I did get the “true ending” after the credits; I liked that one fine.)

It got me through the winter. I probably could have kept playing for another 50 hours, just meandering around. I don’t even consider myself a giant Zelda fan, but these are both beautifully realized open-world games. Not perfect, sure! But they were hyped for a reason.

So that’s that. I’m thinking I’ll try to ease off, play Switch Sports and Ring Fit Adventure, and actually practice the guitar like I keep meaning to do (oops) for a while. We’re heading into spring.

A grab bag for February

anime nerd corner, as a reader

Today’s productive(?) procrastination: researching cover trends to decide whether I want to overhaul the Healers covers. The promo didn’t work; therefore, something must be wrong that keeps people from clicking. I honestly still like covers 1 and 3, but I have to face the fact that they don’t look like the other covers out there in the cozy/literary fantasy space. That’s a hindrance.

If I do end up doing this, then all my agita about print editions is out the window; I will, in that case, redesign the interiors too.

I find this all kind of fascinating to research, but wildly out of my wheelhouse (I am not a visual person at all). It’s also exhausting to have to make decisions about it. But hey. That’s the fate of self-publishing.

Listened to another podcast episode that got me to buy a book: Why Do So Many Coffee Shops Look the Same?

Likewise, this kind of analysis is fascinating to me and wildly outside my wheelhouse, as someone who is not visually oriented and has never taken to social media that is visually oriented. Have not read the book yet; I’ll get to it soon.

Recent reads/recommendations include the entirety of Greenwing & Dart (the series feels unfinished, but I loved it up to that point), Wyngraf’s Valentine’s Day 2024 special (adorable) and the first couple of omnibi of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (sad and adorable; will have more to say about this once I read the whole series).

Look at that, we’re halfway through the Winter 2024 anime season. TIme might be linear after all.

  • Delicious in Dungeon: Love it. Characterization is a breath of fresh air in a world of stale tropes. Opening theme is a banger. Calls on fantasy/RPG nostalgia without mindlessly copy-pasting. Only one notable female character so far (the other one is languishing in a dragon’s colon), but she is great despite being the party’s constant naysayer. We’ve been on the verge of cancelling Netflix among our raft of streaming services, and now I’m kind of mad that this has dragged me back in.
  • Mr. Villain’s Day Off: I think it’s accomplishing the “one joke” better than Too Cute Crisis did, which is why I’m still watching it. Not perfect — I’d like to dig six inches deeper on the characters they’ve established rather than just throwing in more and more new ones — but it’s refreshing to have a show that focuses on achievable work/life balance instead of throwing its hands up and saying “welp, the only way out is to die and get isekai’d, lol.”
  • ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess — this season’s “this is so silly, and yet I’m still watching” pick. Nothing makes sense, but it’s oddly charming. Also not perfect (see the game of pervy chicken they’re playing with the paladin character), but mostly harmless. There is a large cast of adorable demons who take excellent care of each other and their prisoners, and I’m a sucker for that.
  • Have not started Sign of Affection yet; I’ll tackle it in the backlog later.
  • Backlog we’re still working on: Natsume’s Book of Friends, Isekai Izakaya, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent, Revue Starlight. I had to pause RS for a bit when I didn’t have the stomach for drama, but I’m back in. Hidive, your days are also numbered. Sorry. Akiba Maid War was fucking fantastic and I’m glad I finally got through Penguindrum, but there are only a few more series I want to watch in your lineup.

edit to add: ooh, I forgot one! I started a Zoom guitar class. Having loads of fun. It seems like some of the general concepts I learned with the ukulele are carrying over, which is nice, but the strings are SO much sharper!