Nigel Quinlan's Blog

pterribledinosaurdrawings:

pterribledinosaurdrawings:

This is getting a lot of notes again and is reminding me that I should try to get out for more walks in the nice autumn weather

enchantedbook:

‘East of the Sun and West of the Moon’ illustrated by Kay Nielsen, 1914.

vacueabissi:

tiktoks-for-dead-pope:

finnlongman:

ALT

Time for my second post about POV and THE WOLF AND HIS KING, my retelling of ‘Bisclavret’ which comes out in the UK on 27/11 (and in the US in January). In my last post, I introduced you to Bisclavret’s perspective. But the king’s viewpoint is a little more controversial: it’s in second person (see below for his opening paragraphs).

Second person is a tragically misunderstood phenomenon – so many people assume it’s intended only for reader-inserts, and that the ‘you’ being addressed is always the audience. That’s not what I’m doing here. I saw somebody once say to imagine that second person is listening in on a story being told to somebody else, which is closer. I love the simultaneous intimacy and distance it offers. When we’re focused on a character in second, they can’t consciously lie the way that a first person narrator can: they’re not in control of the narrative in the same way. But there are things we can never quite see, too…

I chose to use second person for the king in part because a ‘king’ is not an independent identity. It’s fundamentally relational, presupposing the existence of subjects, subordinates, observers. You can’t be a king by yourself: it’s defined by other people, and whatever you were before that becomes consumed by and subsumed into it, so that you see yourself only in the mirror they offer. Second person seemed to evoke that dependency, and the way that existing in this role means being shaped by the expectations and perceptions of others.

Second person also has practical benefits – it allows me to do pretentious things like only naming one character in the book (Bisclavret), and it avoids any number of pronoun woes that I would otherwise run into, with so many nameless he/hims around. I mean, can you imagine how confusing that would get?

Mostly, though, I used second person because it felt natural. The very first lines I wrote of this book were from chapter 33, one of the king’s chapters, and I never considered writing them any other way. Many people don’t like second person, but I’ve been gratified by the number of early readers who said they ceased to notice it after the first page or two, because it felt so natural in context. Even my editor said she was originally unsure, but on reading it, knew this was the only way it would work.    

So if you’re someone who hears “second person” and thinks Oh No, or assumes this must be addressed to the reader, or otherwise can’t imagine how this would work… I hope you’ll give it a chance, and perhaps it’ll grow on you. I think it can do things that no other perspective can do, and while it’s definitely not right for every story, there are some that need it. This, for me, was one of them.

The king’s opening paragraphs:

And as a special treat for Tumblr (I didn’t put this one on Instagram), here’s a glimpse at chapter 33, and the lines that preserve some of the very first words I put on the page for this book:

ALT

[This post is part of a series. You can find my post about Bisclavret-the-man’s chapters here, and Bisclavret-the-wolf’s chapters here.]

danlisreal:

lakevida:

cancel your plans we’re thinking about the pale blue dot voyager pic tonight

this image of earth from saturn rattles around in my skull at all hours of the day

tbposting:

subtextsays:

finnglas:

ashanoir:

naamahdarling:

conarcoin:

I would play the shit out of this.

Please support this game! I’ve been following it forever and the developers obviously put a lot of love into finally repping my people as Not Just Generic Bad Guys To Be Slaughtered in QuickTime Events, but the unabashed horse girls we truly are. I really love how outspoken she is about representing proper care and compassion for these animals in the industry too.

Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori (PC & Consoles)

Found it! Reblogging to kickstart when I’m at my laptop.

@horsefigureoftheday

The game has a demo out on Steam now, and is set to release March 3rd

The Legend of Khiimori on Steam

(it has also changed its name to just The Legend of Khiimori)

inthefallofasparrow:

crazygirleddie:

nothig has hit like this since leith ross’ we’ll never have sex

The Hand – Annabelle Dinda

Every time a guy writes a song, he’s a cowboy, a sailor
Playing with the world in his palm like the first pioneer.
Every time he opens his mouth, it’s a loud movie trailer
Clipping every image and sound he thinks proves he was here.

A hand, a spike, a physical fight,
A flash of light, a curtain,
A toll, a tithe, the passage of time,
A height, a dive, a burden,
A girl, a night, a typical type,
A siren in the water,
A scroll, a nod, a message from God,
A son, a Holy Father.

Every time a guy writes a song, he’s a sailor, a cowboy
Holding out the world in his palm like he made it himself.
Every time I open my mouth, I think, “Wow, what a loud noise!”
Still on the soapbox, just hoping I seem underwhelmed.

The hand, the pen, the writing again,
The Wind around the Willow,
The felt, the ice, the passage of time,
The melting down the window,
The ‘now’, the ‘then’, the thinking of “when”,
The bottle in the ocean,
The strike, the pause, the message from -
God forbid she shows emotion.

This isn’t rage, it’s worth a mention.
This is a fake internal tension.
Sometimes, I spread out one opinion
And stand on its back to gauge attention.
This isn’t rage, it’s too specific.
I like to hate symbolic limits.
This is no statement, I’m complicit.
This is a dream, GOD put me in it.

A hand, a spike, a physical fight,
The Wind around the Willow,
A toll, a tithe, the passage of time,
The melting down the window,
The now, the then, the thinking of “when”,
The siren in the water,
The strike, the pause, a message from God.
Does that make me His daughter?

A hand, a shove, a valley, a jump,
A score under the wire,
Just sweep me up, just sweep me up
And take me somewhere higher,
Just sweep me up, just sweep me up
And take me somewhere higher,
Just sweep me up, just sweep me up
And take me somewhere higher.

finnlongman:

deermouth:

finnlongman:

finnlongman:

finnlongman:

ALT

You know, I’ve seen manuscript abbreviations that looked like text-speak, but hand-drawing emojis to stand in for the word ceann (head) in a passage about Cú Chulainn being beheaded is taking that all to a new level

(The line from another manuscript: “Is ann sin d'éirgedar datha aille iongantacha do cheann Choingculoinn”)

Manuscript is RIA 23 H 10, Oidheadh Con Culainn, written in 1808.

BREAKING NEWS HE DID IT AGAIN

ALT

“a cheann do bheith ar an ngad” but obviously when talking about heads on sticks we should just draw a ☹️ instead

ALT

He just keeps doing it. Every time somebody gets beheaded in this text, the word “ceann” gets replaced with 😐 And a lot of people get beheaded in this text (thanks Conall), so this happens a lot.

“Do bhain an 😐 de” He struck the head from him

Op I’m sooo sorry I’m adding this to your post, but the first head is giving

Don’t apologise, I love a manuscript doodle remix

daysleftofsecondterm:

cryoverkiltmilk:

targetedknowledge:

How to disable Copilot in Windows 11

You too can get the satisfaction of maiming or killing a spy embedded in your organization.

Helpful on 1,182 days left

gunsandfireandshit: