“Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”-Dr. Seuss
“One of the best things about folklore and fairy tales is that the best fantasy is what you find right around the corner, in this world. That’s where the old stuff came from.”-Terri Windling
“The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.”-Albert Einstein
“Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can. Of course, I could be wrong.”-Terry Pratchett
“The best fantasy does not offer an answer to our lives, it is an offering that acknowledges enough of the truth to resonate and add to the understanding about the human condition.”-Isobelle Carmody
*A solo RPG Adventure based on Ella Lim’s Fox Curio’s Floating Bookshop.
Character Description (Very Wind in the Willows-esque:)
Nora is a Capybara who has traveled around the world and is far from home, ready for a slower paced life. Nora is a stout capybara who has world weary eyes and has some gray fur about her muzzle. Despite that, she is strong from a life of adventure and doesn’t like to stay in one place for too long. She has independent means to do as she wishes, as she doesn’t need very much to keep her content. She loves reading and meeting new people. She’s fiercely protective of young ones and other vulnerable folx and uses being underestimated to her advantage when needed.
Nora was born on the 12 day of Brink (approximately autumn) Moon. She is creative and capable. She’s particular about her comforts and how others treat her and happiest when going on adventures or creating new things. She enjoys tinkering and since she has been on her own, knows a lot of random knowledge about a lot of things. She always wears overalls- for the pockets, most are slightly shabby and patched with creative patches. She has many cardigans and sweaters, some of which she has made and others that were gifts. She always has a book close by and has a small pair of glasses that perch on her nose. On very hot days, she wears a visor hat that looks like an old time accountant would wear.
Nora has been staying in Thistledown, which is the town at the top of the river over the Brisk (Winter) moon. While there, she has discovered an abandoned riverboat/bookshop. She’s able to buy it after the previous owner had passed away.
Bookshop Description:
Excerpts from Nora’s Journal titled
“A Dubious Beginning–
The roof was a splintery mess- a faded mess of patchy paint and dry wood. The sides of the boat looked intact, but definitely needed a new paint job and perhaps a deeper inspection by a carpenter or boat maker, just to make sure of its river worthiness. The window facing the dock was patched with what looked like oil cloth on the outside. Even the sign looked poorly. I could tell it was charmingly carved, but some of the letters and the sign itself had succumbed to the weather so now it hung at a lazy angle and stated “ook op” in faded wood letters. The whole boat looked a little hodgepodge and while I didn’t normally mind that look, it was a bit more daunting up close.
Struggling with the cabin door, which seemed to be swollen shut against the humidity along the river, I didn’t answer directly, just gave a vague nod in her direction. Then straining, I pulled at the door and much to my surprise, it finally gave way, almost knocking me back into the mayor. A poof of dust came out, making me cough and I cautiously peeked my head in for the first look at my new home.
The first thing I saw in the dim light inside was books. Directly across from the door, I could see the edges of a bookshelf. Picking up my mage light lantern (open flames and houseboats don’t generally do well in the same spaces, after all.) A long curved desk sat to my left by the entrance with what appeared to be a half open door behind it.“
Hello and welcome to a new and hopefully charming experience that I invite you to share with me. The more I’ve gotten into tabletop role playing games, the more I’ve realized how much I love the games that are either silly, cozy, mysterious (but not too scary,) or a combination of all three. In fact, my most recent friend game was run by my lovely brother and featured 3 of my friends and I playing as racoons in a trench coat trying to be a person to do peopley things. (Look. It was wonderful! We saved the world by accidently stealing some kind of nuclear waste, giving it back, and got an unlimited buffet of trash. Racoon heaven!)
None of this is surprising to me, by the way. I have always been fascinated by fantasy stories and mythology. I’m a bit of a dreamer. In fact, in elementary school, I got in trouble for staring at my much more interesting pencil than actually doing math and don’t think I stopped even after they gave me plain boring yellow pencils. After cutting my fantasy teeth on Anderson’s Fairy Tales, Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, and C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, the thought of magical places where talking animals roam and life is idyllic and charming seems like utopia.
It’s hard to get friends together regularly though and not everyone wants to be a cute talking animal doing Hobbity things. Or racoon things, or badger things.. You get the idea. So when I found a solo RPG journaling adventured titled Fox Curio’s Floating Bookshop: A Year Upon The River, it was in my online cart before I finished reading the blurb about it. I’ve never tried a solo game before so I wasn’t sure how it would work, but it seems relatively easy. The game is written by Ella Lim and is available here through The Lost Ways Club if you want to follow along with your own floating bookshop. There are also a few more that look fun as well. Here is the website: https://www.lostwaysclub.com/shop
The idea behind a solo journaling RPG is that you use dice and cards to help give you a prompt for what happens during the day/night/time of the game. In multiplayer tabletop games you would have a game master who gives the players those prompts instead, but sometimes you maybe just want to take a little journey on your own!
So for the next few weeks, I’m going to try to post a weekly excerpt of my journey along the river, possibly asking for prompts from you as I go along. My world setting will be something like Narnia, Wind in the Willows, or Redwall. Lots of fun pastural scenes with different animals, wacky interactions with customers, cozy days reading in the rain on my houseboat bookshop. I will at some point, adopt a pet, but who knows what it will be? Maybe a butterfly or a tiny lizard? The possibilities are endless!
Don’t worry, if the storytelling isn’t your thing, I’m still going to try to get some updates about the garden and Piggy’s tomato stealing ways, life in general, and other fun things happening in my life. I have still been sewing and doing some cooking, although lately not so much with the cooking. The Husband and I got Covid after 4 years of narrowly avoiding it. Luckily it’s mild, but it’s made cooking extremely tiring and I was already been in a slump anyway.
For now though, I’ve left some music to inspire you to join me on my river journey.
“Can I ask a question?” “You can always ask,” said the old wizard. “You should always ask, in fact. Questions make the world go round! Whether I’ve got an answer is another matter.” ― T. Kingfisher, Minor Mage
“Albert grunted. “Do you know what happens to lads who ask too many questions?” Mort thought for a moment. “No,” he said eventually, “what?” There was silence. Then Albert straightened up and said, “Damned if I know. Probably they get answers, and serve ’em right.” ― Terry Pratchett, Mort
“We should have stories in common, I found myself thinking. We should have stories, and jokes no one understands, and memories that we know will stay alive because neither of us will let the other forget.” ― Kamila Shamsie
“I feel as if something has been torn suddenly out of my life and left a terrible hole. I feel as if I couldn’t be I — as if I must have changed into somebody else and couldn’t get used to it. It gives me a horrible lonely, dazed, helpless feeling. It’s good to see you again — it seems as if you were a sort of anchor for my drifting soul.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne’s House of Dreams
“Madam, I have been looking for a person who disliked gravy all my life; let us swear eternal friendship.” ― Sydney Smith
“But aren’t small things exactly what friendships are made up of? Frayed string bracelets and late-night texts and compilations of your favorite songs? When you take those things away, what do you have left?” ― Ann Liang, This Time It’s Real
“With the exception of love, friendship and the beauty of art, I don’t see much else that can nurture human life.” ― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog
“All dreams are within reach. All you have to do is keep moving towards them.” — Viola Davis
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C.S. Lewis
“Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages.”-Terry Pratchett
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”-Carl Jung
“People with disabilities have abilities too and that is what this course is all about – making sure those abilities blossom and shine so that all the dreams you have can come true.”-Mary McAleese
“The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.”-Sarah Ban Breathnach
We managed to get to our favorite book sale- Bookstock- this year, even though we thought we might not be able to. Definitely still want to go to the 1/2 price day thought. We ended up with three bags, I think. I got some fun books for my annual Books of Christmas gift for my friends’ kids, some good cookbooks, and very surprisingly, one of my favorite Steampunk series!
Here are the pictures!
Cookbooks! I’m excited to try some from all of them, especially the popsicles.
Some kids books- the Kids’ Book About Failure went to my office and The Husband picked out Celebretrees, so I think that one is staying with us. I also kept Porch Lies- it’s a book of Southern/African American folk tales. Home At Last is also going to the office. It’s about an adopted child and adjusting to his home. I might have to get a couple of them for the kiddos too though, they’re really fun!
Paper backs- The Husband and I both found some books we like. I was surprised to find Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster. It’s a steampunk based romance and mystery.
The one I was super excited to find though is this one:
Gail Carriger is one of my very favorite authors! She’s so lovely and her books are so cool and steampunky. They have great characters and I would definitely recommend them. I’m super excited to read them and will note that I did, in fact. get rid of some books and straighten some shelves to fit them all in. Now, off to read!
“do not look for healing at the feet of those who broke you” ― Rupi Kaur, milk and honey
“The human heart has a way of making itself large again even after it’s been broken into a million pieces.” ― Robert James Waller, The Bridges of Madison County
“Don’t be ashamed to weep; ’tis right to grieve. Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water. But there must be sunlight also. A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does, the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us.” ― Brian Jacques, Taggerung
“I think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.” ― Frida Kahlo
February was the absolute worst month yet again, but this year pushed to reach even deeper lows. I hated it. It’s very hard to do anything when depressing or anxiety provoking things just happen one after the other. So to get myself back into the posting habit, I’m going to talk about my favorite fiction books of 2023. As usual, check the content notes or warnings on the author’s pages if you want to know if something is present or not. And if they aren’t your type, just scroll on by! In fiction last year, I read almost exclusively fantasy as my preferred genre. I think I needed more of an escape than I thought. I also read a lot more on my Kindle or Libby than previous years. There’s a lot of different books that I couldn’t find in print on it, so it’s been working out.
The Coven Of Ruin by T.K. Tucker- This was a book that I had read concepts and excerpts from online and I was very pleased when it held up to its reputation. It tells the fairly brutal story of a witch captured to fight in essentially the magical version of gladiator fights and Ares, the representation of the god of war, who saves her for reasons of his own. Definitely hit a lot of my boxes- strong female main character, drama, the “take on the world for you” vibes, and a storyline that was interesting and not rushed along just to publish faster. I would recommend it if you like the old school fantasy vibe. I think you can find it as a physical version, but I read it on my Kindle app. How gorgeous is the cover, by the way?
Grim and Bear It by Juliette Cross. This book!! This book had me in it’s grip the whole time, mostly because it was teased in all the other books in the series so that by the time it was actually out and written, I was a probably a little feral to know the story told in it. It’s about the youngest in a group of sisters who are magical, each with their own talent. Clara, the main heroine in this particular book has been in love with a guy for years, but he is refusing his own feelings for her. It’s a slower burn than the other books in the series, but I think that was effective in keeping me on the edge of my seat. This whole series- Stay a Spell, makes me feel so comfy and warm. I love the family dynamics and feel of the whole thing. There is magic and other supernatural creatures in the series. I would recommend starting from the beginning to get the full picture, but oh my gosh, this book is worth the wait.
Deus Ex Mechanic by Ryann Fletcher. This next book is Firefly, essentially, but with a more complicated stories and LGBQTIA representation. If you aren’t up for that, you will not like it, as the main characters are queer. I loved the pacing, the character descriptions, and the world building. It definitely read like space cowboys, except this one won’t get cancelled by Fox. I did end up buying the whole series, but haven’t read them all yet. I was exceptionally delighted by this one though! I read this on my Kindle.
After reading the first two in the Underground Series by Elm Jed, I preordered this one and then promptly made sure I took the time to truly savor it. It’s about the supernatural mobs, in particular the Werewolf Mob. I cannot say enough good things about Elm Jed. I follow them on socials and they are great to listen to and to draw inspiration from. They are a veteran as well and I appreciate how much they talk about mental health and how writing has helped them through some hard times. This book definitely has military PTSD symptoms described and discussed in detail so that is something to be aware of. The family relationships in this book are amazing and I will pretty much read anything written by Elm Jed. The books are spicy, but not super duper spicy, more in the romantic sense.
Spellbound by F. T. Lukens- This was a book from a new author and the writing style is very similar to T. Kingfisher. I picked it on a whim because the magic system sounded super interesting and then was immediately drawn in and charmed with the characters. It does have LGTBQTIA representation incorporated into the storyline and world, which I appreciated. It’s not spicy at all, but is romantic in parts. The story involves a non-magical young adult who is trying to find a way to still be involved with magic, as his grandmother was magical. Along the way, he encounters some interesting people and finds himself in all sorts of situations with a new frenemy along the way. I listened to this on Audiobook through Libby and it was super fun to listen to. The narrator was excellent!
Sweep With Me by Ilona Andrews-The Innkeeper series is a little bit weird, but also relaxing, so I do enjoy it. It’s become one of my regular audiobook series rotation. They are shorter novels, or novellas, so they do take less time to listen to and they move fast, so I always want to know the next thing happening in the story. So the general premise of this series is that the main character is an intergalactic Innkeeper who runs an inn for aliens and other beings that need to be on Earth for some reason. Her inn is sentient and forms a connection with her to create most of what she needs, physical space wise. The Inn functions as a neutral zone for meetings as well and she gets into some very interesting diplomatic situations. I would recommend this as a fun, cozy series. No spice, just romance.
T. Kingfisher is one of my newest favorite authors. Bryony and Roses made me giggle and snort laugh several times in the first chapter, so I knew it was going to be good. Strong female characters are my jam and as an extra bonus, Bryony is super sarcastic as well. This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and it’s a very interesting take on it. Sometimes retellings can fall very flat, but this one had extra elements that made it unexpected. I enjoyed it immensely. I listened to this one on audiobook too and really appreciated the narrator’s gift for character narrative.
I did have a couple of books that I didn’t like, or didn’t finish, but it was mostly for poor editing, or incompatible writing and reading styles. If I didn’t like it, it doesn’t generally get to take up space in my brain so I don’t even remember some of them! I’ve gotten better about allowing myself to DNF if I just can’t handle it. I think sometimes that is a hazard of reading on Kindle. Sometimes authors on there are not the most diverse in terms of storyline and not the cleanest in terms of editing.
Overall, I had an excellent reading year in 2023. For my Goodreads challenge, I had set a goal for 100 books and ended up finishing with 108 books read for the whole year. For 2024, I dropped that number to 80 books, mainly because I wanted to read quality over quantity and have been a little more discerning in what I read. I find I spend more time absorbing the book and less time skipping ahead.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the books I liked! Happy Reading!
I don’t normally choose to read a lot of non-fiction books as I don’t generally find them as engaging, but these next few books won me over.
Non-Fiction:
101 World Building Prompts by MD Presley: I enjoyed reading this book of tips for making new worlds. The author was really good with helping you think of new ideas and other things to consider. It was an easy and thoughtful read. I am currently writing a world for games based on a Nano idea and it’s been really fun to incorporate some techniques from the book and clarify my process. I can use this book for both personal use and for work stuff. Best part? I got it for free on Stuff Your Kindle day!
Disability Visibility Edited by Alice Wong: This was a book of short essays about disabilities and the ways they impact people who are just trying to live in the world not set up for them. I appreciated the new perspectives, the straight talk, and the reminders of things to do to help support others in general.
The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington: This book had a profound effect on me. I hadn’t known that a dress salon existed at Auschwitz or that it was an important point of resistance for the prisoners who were held there. The idea that clothes are something more than just fashion and body coverings, especially in a place where clothes could be the difference between life and death, is something I feel I should consider more as a sewist myself. My joke about sewing being a sought after skill during the zombie apocalypse feels a little flat after reading a book about women who were literally sewing for their lives. The history seen through the eyes of these ladies and the pictures and interviews with some of them in the book were amazing. The trauma and horror of war isn’t glossed over and has just enough of a statement of fact to drive home the facts of what these women suffered. I would highly recommend this book, just be prepared that it is not a light read.
Work Related:
Little Wizards by Antoine Bauza: This is a delightful first step into tabletop role playing games for both kids and parents who haven’t played before. It offers three stories with varying levels of instruction or suggestions for the Storyteller. They are all kid friendly and offer lots of different choices for how to investigate the mystery. I’m currently in the middle of the first one with a kid who is highly enjoying the novelty of solving the mystery. I really like the illustrations too- they are all adorable! Character customization is easy and you only need two 6 sided (regular cube) dice for it, so no special dice are needed. I would recommend this for probably 6-9ish? Maybe 10 if you added questing options or side quests. Check it out if you need something fun to do!
Kids on Bikes by Jon Gilmore and Doug Levandowski is a super cute and highly customizable tabletop role playing game system that is similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or more currently- Stranger Things. The general outline is that you are kids in a small town in a time before readily available google and cell phones and you have to solve a mystery that’s happening in your small town. Perhaps it’s aliens? Or maybe space monkies? Who knows? All you really know when you start the game is some rumors that you might start hearing about from the other players. This uses fancy dice, but is really open ended with just a few prompts and hooks to get you into the story. Then after that, the game master and players really take it away.
I’ve used it at work for one of my game groups and it went over pretty well. My players did the exact opposite of what I thought they were going to do most of the time, but that just kept me on my toes! It was fun to play and fairly easy to design characters and teach. I’m definitely keeping this in my work rotation.
Creative Therapy in the Sand by Roger and Christine Day is a sandtray therapy book with some general information and then some directive prompts to use in therapy sessions. Sandtray, while it is a little bit magical, can sometimes be hard to explain to people and this book does a good job of explaining the basics. I’m a big fan of sandtray and have used it myself to help me understand some of my more difficult things in life. I am always looking for more directives for sessions, so this was a good book to help prompt me with that. It’s definitely a small book though, so I wouldn’t recommend clinicians just use this with no other training.
I did read more non-fiction last year, but these were my favorite ones. This year, I hope to read some more of the books I keep buying for work and then not actually reading. Wish me luck!
