tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82873228695236290012024-03-28T19:55:29.151-07:00Hayden Thornegothic fiction, fairy tales, and ghost stories with a touch of gay romanceHayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-50365844277155657132024-03-28T17:52:00.000-07:002024-03-28T19:54:57.997-07:00Keeping Up With Netflix: Young Royals<p>One thing about blogging my intentions: it works like reverse psychology for me ("I triple dog dare ya!"). Like the writing and publishing resolution I made with the extended gap between releases, for instance -- poof! Resolve gone. I'm back to publishing more frequently. Granted, though, that's because I'm in a very good place and am taking full advantage of this energized wave I'm enjoying. Can't waste any opportunity in that case.</p><p>And then there's non-bingeing shows. I even did back-to-back rambling posts about it, and here we are. All three seasons of <i>Young Royals</i> done. Double-thumbs up for me, as I'm sure you can already guess from <a href="https://www.haydenthorne.com/2024/03/almost-there-and-what-ride.html"><b>my most recent reaction post on it</b></a>. This one isn't a full-on review of the series, but largely my thoughts on stuff. </p><p>Major spoilers, btw. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhldw_LxphAoikV2Wf3fiQiqjI1LIjIrjyo-geC72tO0Nx4hmHWpPaI5HBKmenEbCuPUGbPaCQptU0BCymr4zhRyxTY0EBrcoIDuPEFlcuYB-0l4kfP8pa8KI58KYaF3oc3t2g2gy0iom_W6aP6G9QSRJ4AbTfiG6h6MbuUAxiyOPN8xDTLViwqUSebxSBX/s741/young%20royals%20sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhldw_LxphAoikV2Wf3fiQiqjI1LIjIrjyo-geC72tO0Nx4hmHWpPaI5HBKmenEbCuPUGbPaCQptU0BCymr4zhRyxTY0EBrcoIDuPEFlcuYB-0l4kfP8pa8KI58KYaF3oc3t2g2gy0iom_W6aP6G9QSRJ4AbTfiG6h6MbuUAxiyOPN8xDTLViwqUSebxSBX/w270-h400/young%20royals%20sm.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><p>Almost everything I want to say was already posted previously, and after going through the series' entire run, nothing much has changed. Character analyses got tweaked a little after learning more about the main players. But my views on the production overall still stand. Beautifully written with some scenes just devastating to watch, particularly the third and final season.</p><p>Of all the characters, I still think August is the most inscrutable because Wille and Simon are written more openly in a way, their paths more easily followed. There's still a lot to unpack with those two, but August poses more of a challenge in my case. Yes, he's all about self-interest. Yes, he's a swaggering bully. In the beginning, for the most part, at least from what I can see. Each season sees him knocked down a peg, and we see glimpses of humanity now and then. If anything, the letter he writes to himself as part of a class exercise reveals who he really is or who he was, at least, and Sara was there -- a good opportunity for him to figure things out about himself and how he handles relationships (friends, family, girlfriends). </p><p>I do think he feels guilt in his own way, but he's got no real support network besides his friends to guide his actions, and any expression of regret is met with skepticism (understandably). Cracks were already showing in the final season, and he even looked to be bothered by his "Bad Boy" title. Doesn't he tell the school psychologist that no one's going to forgive him, anyway, so why bother forgiving himself or being kind to others? There are a lot of small things filtering through that I caught. And they're largely too dispersed for me to get a better and more cohesive picture of August. I'm not an apologist for him, but I'm not going to condemn him completely, either, because what I saw from the first episode to the finale was a really nasty product of the monarchy. His smarmy-ass lawyer even asks "But does the monarchy love <i>you?</i>" in response to August insisting he loves the royal family. <br /></p><p></p><p>As an addendum, one of the most revealing moments is when August admits to Sara he'd rather have a father who goes through good spells (being sober) than not have a father at all. It's heartbreaking. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgiHdQRJ_ZzoYOV1aBkEQWTRLw-TZQfNF79Irp8gJMXSakMKTmppLFss0_CT6giMeCZPSYbkZVioVqx3muXICycNfzAFLllTwqe4yGwWFevcxVxz3FnmHnSbd5kx5noejKXsFsctl6KFC4blj3Ktt3Uzm9_K-mT-qSxTcPcV9E2Vhke7xpKxapRckUy0gm/s500/royal%20family%20photo%20sm.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="500" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgiHdQRJ_ZzoYOV1aBkEQWTRLw-TZQfNF79Irp8gJMXSakMKTmppLFss0_CT6giMeCZPSYbkZVioVqx3muXICycNfzAFLllTwqe4yGwWFevcxVxz3FnmHnSbd5kx5noejKXsFsctl6KFC4blj3Ktt3Uzm9_K-mT-qSxTcPcV9E2Vhke7xpKxapRckUy0gm/w400-h268/royal%20family%20photo%20sm.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweden's royal family: <i>aaaawwwkward!</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Wille and Simon own my soul, of course. I honestly can't choose either one without naming the other for my favorite character because as far as I'm concerned, they're so bound so closely together as diverging forces (ironically) that to take one away means the ruin of the other (in an overly dramatic manner of speaking). The series doesn't hold back in showing us how beautiful and imperfect each boy is, how madly in love they are with each other, how badly they want to be together and fight for their happiness -- and yet screw things up time and time again. </p><p>They're kids. They're only sixteen (seventeen for Wille by the end of the series run), and what little life experience they have to guide them can be boiled down to family, peers, and social media. Social hierarchies, money, peer pressure, what have you -- everything seems to conspire to work against them. Well, in addition to the usual bad decisions that teens make from a place of high emotion. That Wille and Simon somehow manage to pull each other back from the brink time and time again -- including breaking up more than once -- is testament to their devotion to each other. So in that sense, I really can't call the series a romance. It's a love story. Or at least it's closer to a full-on love story that we tend to see explored between adult couples. <br /></p><p>Because even after the final episode, things will still be a struggle for the two, but the point of the show is that Wille establishes autonomy from the crown, chooses himself over the crippling influence of a system that was born from long-outdated ideals. And he knows it's going to hurt his family, but it takes Simon breaking up with him one last time with the added sting of "I don't recognize you anymore" for him to dig deep -- if not for Simon, then for himself. Because Simon sees how much damage the pressure of the monarchy is causing in Wille, and he knows he's an unlucky part of it as Wille's boyfriend. So he refuses to contribute any more to Wille's downward spiral. I get it even though it was excruciating, seeing it all unfold on Wille's birthday, of all days. But in this series, there's no real good moment for Wille to break away from the crown (he has to put his foot down and disappoint an ailing queen), and there's no real good moment for Simon to force Wille to see what's happening to him. </p><p>Of course, in between, there are a lot of mistakes made (like Marcus, who gives me major creeper vibes), a lot of painful confessions, admissions, and scenes of forgiveness. Felice and Sara's relationship's got to be one of the best explorations I've seen of love between friends, which is rare nowadays. Two people together are either just superficially labeled friends or are made into romantic partners. So again, I bow to the writers for this. </p><p>There's also the unconditional love of friends that help someone like Simon endure some of the worst things a kid his age can face. Ayub and Rosh are the MVPs, going neck-and-neck with Linda (Simon's mom, who'll take shit from no one and whose integrity in the face of smug privilege is a sight to behold). Sadly, Wille can't even have any of that save for Felice (my darling girl!). Emotionally neglected and stifled throughout his life, it's no wonder he lashes out in a pretty major way when the pressure gets too much. </p><p>Again, there's so much to pick apart in this series, and what's great about this is that I can always go back and rewatch everything from Season One, enjoy the wild ride and put up with the emotional stress of two kids who -- like Simon glumly says -- haven't done anything wrong but fall in love with each other. Ouch. Linda said love shouldn't be this hard. But it's really worth the fight, isn't it? And I'm sure each rewatch will bring a new revelation to me. I just need to recover from this first viewing, though. Egad. </p><p>Backward slash, end rambling. </p><p><b><u>EDIT</u>:</b> After rereading my post, I realized I actually did sound like an August apologist even though that wasn't my intention. Goddamnit. I was aiming for a more balanced take. I guess that goes to show just how brilliantly his character was written. <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-10865840487918498072024-03-24T06:49:00.000-07:002024-03-25T16:56:51.928-07:00Almost There (and What a Ride!)<p>Yeah, I know. Still on a <i>Young Royals</i> kick, and I can see why the show's so addicting. The writing, for one, is really well done. What I said about "accident of birth" previously? That. That, that, <i>that,</i> and as much as I sometimes want to just reach though the computer screen and slap a few people around, I can't -- because as much as it frustrates me as a viewer, <i>I get it.</i> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj162XoGyRakl69p3T85jNBU4V7YQSLSC_opdoHpDimc80fY0aJaoIx5hisQET0amc0vVtA0RIHGzFJ74Sk220J3Rw2PaT2n2fUhasRQJK3cjxeKS3qRv4O8CM4PG1j1HK0qqwMNL344cWS9Q9L-8nyRn1E4zOXX7ZHJla-m8qulBYA2LerkCeT2lXtqlFV/s500/young%20royals%20sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="500" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj162XoGyRakl69p3T85jNBU4V7YQSLSC_opdoHpDimc80fY0aJaoIx5hisQET0amc0vVtA0RIHGzFJ74Sk220J3Rw2PaT2n2fUhasRQJK3cjxeKS3qRv4O8CM4PG1j1HK0qqwMNL344cWS9Q9L-8nyRn1E4zOXX7ZHJla-m8qulBYA2LerkCeT2lXtqlFV/w400-h225/young%20royals%20sm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>August? Brilliantly written antagonist. Brilliantly written. The kid's broken, and he's behaving as someone who's desperate to fit in, desperate to be like his cousin (or ride his coattails at least), desperate to hold on to that veneer of aristocracy when he's really coming from a place of trauma and shame. Dad committed suicide? Family broke? I can't reference other things that were revealed in future seasons (spoilers for me), but <i>I get it.</i> I actually pity the guy and hate what he does / how he reacts from a place of anger, but I <i>get it.</i> It doesn't help that he's still in high school and behaves as a teenager would behave under those circumstances, that still-developing lizard brain dancing a psychotic jig whenever he sees how Willhelm gets what he wants because he's the crown prince while August, the one who fights tooth and nail for the crown and the status quo, keeps fucking things up. </p><p>The series doesn't even need to wallow in an exploration of his eating disorder (possibly bulimia). Fanatical workouts, constant testing of his body fat, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's either vomiting his food off-screen and in private. All the writers need to do is work in a quick moment of his workout or his belly-pinching, and that's enough to tell us what's happening. </p><p>The same can be said about Simon and how he stumbles around, trying to win August's favor in the worst possible way in spite of the humiliation August and his clique constantly subject him to. And he's coming from a poorer family compared to the resident students and is a POC to boot plunked in the midst of a mostly lily-white student population. Of <i>course,</i> he'd want to fit in as well, lashing out in his own way against the status quo and mocking the crown while doing stuff for August's benefit just to be accepted. It's such a teenage thing to do, behaving in ways that don't make sense, and <i>I get it.</i> His sister (older sister?) Sara has her own struggles in fitting in with the added complication of her autism, but unlike Simon, she at least has someone like Felice to help her. </p><p>Felice is my darling girl, and while there's not much to her in season one other than the pressure from her mom to be St. Lucia (see: dress that's too small for her body type + her admission of not wanting the role to begin with), I'm really looking forward to seeing her character develop in season 2. </p><p>Wille's following the trajectory I expect given his role as crown prince, and there's of course the dubious bonus of being a teenager who's still finding himself. Lots of mistakes, lots of "Oh, Christ, you <i>didn't!</i>" (man, I hated what they did to Alexander), but again: accident of birth. With no real support from his own family following the traumatic loss of his hero and older brother. The kid's not even allowed to grieve, for fuck's sake, and as of this morning (in terms of my viewing progress), he's got a sex tape to deal with (another one of those "Oh, shit -- you done fucked up big time, August!"). </p><p>Yeah, I ended with Episode 5 of Season 1. Episode 6 is on standby. </p><p>As for my take on other things besides the writing, I have to say the camera work is exquisite. There's a certain delicacy to it, an intimacy in the way the close-ups are handled, and even scenes involving groups of people are done in a way that feels very private. Moreover, I take my hat off to the production team for not glossing over features the way a lot of American productions do when filming younger characters, especially teenagers. </p><p>There's no attempt to hide imperfections in the skin under ten pounds of makeup: scars, pimples, the usual skin-related issues young people deal with a lot -- I love it. There's a rawness and vulnerability to the images, which adds to the intimacy of the shots, and those are miles above what I'm used to seeing in American shows. The CW this ain't, and, boy, am I grateful for it (for the record, I abhor the CW). It really is good to check out entertainment outside the more established and mainstream Hollywood productions because so many gems are left undiscovered. </p><p>I've already seen that quality of being refreshingly different in the shows I've been raving about (<i>1670</i> from Poland being at the top of my list so far), and I'm now stoked -- really stoked -- to dig around for more. </p><p><b><u>EDIT</u>:</b> Season One done. On to Season Two. </p><p><b><u>EDIT (3/25/24)</u>: </b>Season Two done. Holy shit. On to Season Three. I need a breather. <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-46033879351278472402024-03-22T18:35:00.000-07:002024-03-23T04:09:35.807-07:00End of the Work Week Pic and Video <p>Be proud of me! I'm almost done with the first season of <i>Young Royals,</i> and as much as I'd love to share my thoughts here, they'll have to wait. The thriving fandom (especially over at Tumblr) has done a spectacular job picking the show apart, picking the characters apart, picking the soundtrack apart -- everything that could be picked apart has been picked apart. And if I were smart, I'd just share links or embed posts here (which I'll probably do if my energy levels flag and my brain shuts down). </p><p>That said, diving into this series is not only entertaining me in a good way, but also doing a bang-up job of reigniting my love for boarding school romances. It's kind of important for me to keep those fires burning since <i>Compline</i> is set in a boarding school. A creepy boarding school. No royalty in sight, though. Anyway...</p><p>Fandom (generally speaking) is fun as long as people don't take stuff too seriously. There are, of course, fandom corners I refuse to touch (i.e., <i>Star Trek</i> and <i>Star Wars</i>) because they're all tainted by too many alpha-wannabes, and life's too short to rub shoulders with people who ruin things for everyone. Tumblr, for all its reputation as a hellsite, is so anarchic on so many levels, and it manages to do so in a pretty fun and colorful way. And if I were to go back to setting up a social media account, that's the only place for me to settle in and feel comfortable about. </p><p>So you can kind of tell that's where I'm getting all of my fun social media posts when it comes to shows and films that float my boat with their queer content -- though admittedly I've yet to check out <i>Red, White, and Royal Blue</i>, which is quite likely a non-starter as I didn't like the novel at all. But at the moment the YR fandom's in full swing, and people have been posting some pretty good analyses of the show overall. As I'm not even done with the first season, I'll hold off delving into more of a good thing over there. </p><p>One of the fun things fandoms do is cobble together their own take on a show's soundtrack. I can't do it, myself, unless I'm very, very familiar with the plot and the characters, but this one struck me out of nowhere while I was scouring Youtube for certain videos (not YR-related). It's not at all the young romance type of thing -- if anything, it's a very adult take on Wille and Simon's relationship, but it <i>works.</i> And I can see this from Wille's POV overall though Simon's POV can also work. The show's focus is primarily on Wille and how he navigates the awful waters of being the crown prince, but it still does a pretty effective job in exploring the idea of "accident of birth" in general (a favorite theme of mine in fiction) which means no one chooses the family and the circumstances they're born into. </p><p>So from Wille's POV based on the meager number of episodes I've managed to watch so far, this song nails it. Oh, even the freaking <i>video</i> works in conveying the escalating crisis in Wille's head, I'll have to add, and it sure helps that I not only love the song, but the video as well. It's really well made and simply mesmerizing.<br /></p>
<p></p><div class="youtube-video-container"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ek0SgwWmF9w?si=8LPhI2op53yFjZ5U" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><p></p><p>My favorite verse:</p><blockquote><p>Come to me, just in a dream<br />Come on and rescue me<br />Yes, I know I can be wrong<br />And maybe you're too headstrong<br />Our love is<br />Madness<br /></p></blockquote><p>I see that as a message from Wille to Simon, and that's the hill I choose to die on. Cool. Did I do justice to the fandom and the show? Well, that's my contribution to the fun, and I'll likely post more stuff -- my own take on things, anyway, which might not jive with the younger set on Tumblr (because I'm such a fogey). Any connections I'll be making will be very adult in angle for what it's worth. But, hey, I'm enjoying this almost nostalgic dive back into some kind of fandom even if I'm not actively writing fanfic or showing fanart or anything like that. </p><p>Anyway, I'll be back to writing tomorrow and Sunday, and <i>The Dubious Commode </i>will be finished sooner than later as I only have a little over 20,000 words left to go for the first draft to be done. That's not a lot of words, actually, and that number goes incredibly quickly once I cross the final marker (which is the 20K-word mark). The book will be done mid-April, methinks, and then I'll be spending the rest of that month and all of May revising and editing. </p><p>And then...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI65vI6wpiBFSFmAAFj1BtRs4rHTJpNAxNNXLEX1QqiA9SRLVVXbxS7oRmY3Q5tNE4wsGmWLYd8WeQntZDJI7oZ74kSQcjM8dqcMFI0wfjQgMTJUpF1WLs_b3P6wF_MrJkytXDtZHiZjj0RgJuFrzSzrDcNY6Sgh1vB73S6tf4s-uDtgPROa3u-ORlODzF/s693/gothic%20aesthetic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="540" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI65vI6wpiBFSFmAAFj1BtRs4rHTJpNAxNNXLEX1QqiA9SRLVVXbxS7oRmY3Q5tNE4wsGmWLYd8WeQntZDJI7oZ74kSQcjM8dqcMFI0wfjQgMTJUpF1WLs_b3P6wF_MrJkytXDtZHiZjj0RgJuFrzSzrDcNY6Sgh1vB73S6tf4s-uDtgPROa3u-ORlODzF/w311-h400/gothic%20aesthetic.jpg" width="311" /></a></div>I'll be back to writing gothic horror, which I'll get started on soon. I'm still on the fence as to when exactly I'll begin work on <i>Voices in the Briars,</i> but it'll come even before -- quite likely well before, in fact -- I'm done with revisions and edits for <i>The Dubious Commode. </i>And so further whet my appetite, I'm scouring the 'net for ridiculously gorgeous dark images like the one above, which was from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ghost.flowers_/" target="_blank"><b>@ghost.flowers </b></a>. Hello, weekend, at last!<br />Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-34951569862885051972024-03-18T18:30:00.000-07:002024-03-19T03:39:01.393-07:00As They Say Where I'm From: "Crikey!"<p>Well, not really. I'm not from the UK, but that's a good word to sum up this day. My commute home was not without weirdness -- like the bus breaking down and sitting on the shoulder of the freeway. Yeah! Good thing the bus driver was super chill and so were the passengers, and we all just sat around and stayed safe while waiting for our "rescue bus" to come pick us all up. </p><p>There's a first time for everything, and this was the first time I've had my bus break down on the freeway. But you've got to roll with the punches, and happily I was too distracted by my phone and social media updates on the final episode of <i>Young Royals,</i> so it's safe to say I'm spoiled once again by those ecstatic posts, and I'm thrilled. </p><p>That's the good thing (maybe the only good thing?) of spoilers: I'm reassured, and I can move forward with the series with a clearer idea of what makes the characters tick, both main and side. I've got to admit the biggest hurdle I faced when I finished the first episode was August and his smarmy douchebaggery. Did I really want to sit through more of his crap? Is it worth the trouble? But with the second episode giving me some necessary backstory for his character, I'm feeling more open to putting up with his shittiness. </p><p>And knowing how <i>his</i> arc ends adds extra layers to my viewing of the earlier seasons. I might loathe his character, but I also know there's a lot more to him than what's so blatantly obvious. Same thing with Felice (but she's not a doucehbag and is also shown to be caring and understanding toward Sara after Sara admits to having Asperger's). So a lot of things to unpack, and it's only the second episode. </p><p>Of course, there's the main couple in Wille and Simon (or Wilmon in fan circles). Again, knowing how their story ends adds something extra special to my viewing of their initial meeting and the awkward way they keep dancing around each other while inching closer. Oh, my heart. </p><p>It's safe to say I ain't bingeing this puppy, though, but everyone already knows that. I'm incapable of doing that now that it's proving to be a series that'll require every ounce of my attention and every minute of my time. I'm not complaining one bit, no, but I ain't getting any younger, and I can only chip away at a slab of marble with a plastic spork. I'm definitely in it for the long haul, though, even if I feel really stupid fangirling a series that's been around and has established a dedicated fanbase well before I was made aware of its existence. </p><p>Anyway, if I do pepper my blog with a few random updates on my viewing of <i>Young Royals,</i> you'll know why. Bear with me, please, as I'm reconnecting with my college-aged self (the earliest point in my life when I'd have developed a full and, hopefully, mature appreciation of a series like this) and will be prone to occasional giggly outbursts that would be mortifying coming from someone my age. Well, age is a construct, anyway, right? Right. </p><p><b><u>EDIT</u>:</b> As an addendum, I'm out of the house twelve hours a day, five days a week. And my weekend's spent catching up on chores and errands with a healthy dose of writing on the side, hence my dismal series-viewing record. Adulting's such a buzzkill.<br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-77690005282292369292024-03-17T16:12:00.000-07:002024-03-18T03:35:47.485-07:00The Rabbit Hole, It Calls to Me (Translation: "I'm SO Late to 'Young Royals', It's Not Funny")<p>Damn it. I'm teetering on the precipice here, finger hovering above the "play" function for <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Royals" target="_blank"><b>Young Royals</b></a></i> on Netflix, and I wasn't planning to do it. I've already talked about not bingeing any shows (no more time, no more energy), but this show is tempting me. It doesn't help that so much buzz has been thrown at fans over the third and final season, the last episode dropping tomorrow (including a one-hour documentary behind the scenes or something like that). </p><p>I can sit down and plow my way through multi-episode shows like <i>Derry Girls, Cunk on Earth,</i> and <i>1670.</i> If anything, those were so far the only series on Netflix I actually binged -- because they're all comedies, and the humor's just up my alley. A perfect match. If Netflix produced all four seasons of <i>Blackadder,</i> I'd do the same thing. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnF8MoLD2OLLOi7eKCqZy_Og_0mEuj8zB3OlQpGe-T_eS_1aZg8mfwYM3fTSvq8e6Ix3H2CpKiglhdUDxjg3HDeRVmNTPKZrhnaggXWEalX66Y3Jhqcj4JtPqF6VPGTX9Exyze5Y00TaGLfKabeBUkpqCQbf3sSwBrkVyRhyB0PGsRtkoHMZllz6KWylr/s700/young%20royals%20sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="700" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnF8MoLD2OLLOi7eKCqZy_Og_0mEuj8zB3OlQpGe-T_eS_1aZg8mfwYM3fTSvq8e6Ix3H2CpKiglhdUDxjg3HDeRVmNTPKZrhnaggXWEalX66Y3Jhqcj4JtPqF6VPGTX9Exyze5Y00TaGLfKabeBUkpqCQbf3sSwBrkVyRhyB0PGsRtkoHMZllz6KWylr/w400-h225/young%20royals%20sm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />But a multi-season series drama? And a pretty complex one at that? I'll dive into it, but it will take me a dog's age to go through a single season. See: <i>Bodies.</i> That said, <i>Young Royals </i>has some of the tropes I love in a LGBTQ teen romance / love story. I've already seen the first episode of the first season (yes, I'm THAT LATE to the party), and I'm sitting on the next. I want to adopt Simon so badly, and that's all from just one episode, and I want him and Wilhelm to ride off into the sunset, the crown be fucked. <p></p><p>I've been spoiled by episode recaps, and I'm cool with that. Considering how long the series has been on Netflix -- with Netflix constantly recommending it to me after I watched other queer films and series (i.e., <i>Heartstopper</i>), it's inevitable that I'll be spoiled. At any rate, yes -- I'll be watching <i>Young Royals</i> from start to finish, and do excuse this tortoise as she plods toward the finish line, which I reckon will be sometime in the summer if I stayed consistent. </p><p>Hey, who knows? I might get so sucked into the plot that I'll end up harpooning my way through the series without even realizing it. I did just that with <i>Heartstopper,</i> by the way. </p>
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<p>In other news, I've updated my <a href="https://twilightruins.blogspot.com/p/book-news.html"><b>Book News page</b></a>, at last, with new banners for upcoming releases. The 2024 calendar shows three books, and the 2025 banner also shows three but without dates since things are so tweakable right now, there's no justification for any projected dates that far out in advance. The banners also show the sequence of releases as well as an updated cover art for <i>The Twilight Lover,</i> which I'm also furiously writing notes on in my notebook. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Fmr3ZuzbmisWWJvtTYfrLq7POCW4872aj8I5rjw3pcr7Y1YA5FP5TNV3scIjIOj7V7fi9ji6oDtSugIi8oO1o9Tx8wySvZLU3I96Lyagz6DxjUC4TiNylaykSv8ww3n12GmrScGLkdoEUypA7TUGHrzM1ALd6z4IdqX83NtQCQs_hyNYG8PhPuG88HyW/s1500/book%20banner(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Fmr3ZuzbmisWWJvtTYfrLq7POCW4872aj8I5rjw3pcr7Y1YA5FP5TNV3scIjIOj7V7fi9ji6oDtSugIi8oO1o9Tx8wySvZLU3I96Lyagz6DxjUC4TiNylaykSv8ww3n12GmrScGLkdoEUypA7TUGHrzM1ALd6z4IdqX83NtQCQs_hyNYG8PhPuG88HyW/w400-h200/book%20banner(1).png" width="400" /></a></div>I've never been hit with this many story ideas all at once before, so my poor notebook's been getting a workout, but it's a good workout. I only hope the momentum I'm enjoying right now continues as will the energy levels. Really, after nearly four years of practically dragging myself from one book to another, this unexpected surge is like drinking cold, fresh water after being in near dehydration for so long. <p></p><p></p><p>So, yes, I'm ecstatic beyond words. Hey, maybe picking my way through <i>Young Royals </i>will feed the fire and keep it going. <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-37509368947166184352024-03-10T12:13:00.000-07:002024-03-14T16:26:13.694-07:00Back in the World of Revenants<p>Any turn I have toward the macabre, the grotesque, and the ghoulish would be credited to my dad, BTW, who raised us kids on <i>Hammer Horror</i> films, <i>The Twilight Zone, The Night Gallery, Kolchak: the Night Stalker, The Sixth Sense, Ghost Stories,</i> etc. back in the 1970s. Sense of humor also came from him as did the love of animals and all things artistic. Love you, Dad, you glorious enabler, you. <br /></p><p>Preamble aside, I'm looking forward to the next book on my plate, which is <i>Voices in the Briars</i>. As noted in the previous blog post, the book's all but written down given all the notes I've written in my notebook as well as the main story (and chapter) outlines. It took me a while to settle on an angle with this retelling of the "Bluebeard" fairy tale since there are so many ways I can approach this as a gothic horror story and gay romance. </p><p>So I decided to go back to one of my favorite folklore characters: the vampire. It was a convoluted and overly winding road I took to get to this point, but I made it, and it was the angle best suited for almost all of the notes I wrote down. Those items that won't work will be dropped or tweaked accordingly. Suffice it to say, the revenant angle will again hew closely to the original version of the vampire in folklore with only a slight nod to the more current and romantic versions of it. </p>
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<p>I'm dusting off my Nox Arcana playlist for this, and I'm easing myself into a whole new world even while I work through the second half of <i>The Dubious Commode</i>. <b><u>And in reference to the previous blog post as well regarding calendar dates, I'm looking at a July release for this book</u>.</b> I haven't updated the Book News page with a new banner yet, but I will soon enough. And with that said, it really opens up the final quarter of the year for <i>Voices in the Briars,</i> which means should things go well with THAT book, I might be releasing it in December. So, yeah. Lots of juggling and rearranging here.</p><p>It feels great that I still have all these stories in me -- at least all the way to <i>The Bells of St. Mark's Eve.</i> Any more story ideas after that will be sorted out as they happen, but there's comfort to be had knowing that I'll continue to write and publish for at least another couple of years. 2028 will mark my twentieth year writing and publishing, and beyond that is still pretty nebulous to me. I'd love to continue, of course, as long as I have the inspiration, the time, and the energy for it. Things were a bit touch and go for a while in the previous years, but I'm getting over all that, and I'm glad I had writing to turn to when shit hit the fan back in 2020 because life was rough all around even after. </p><p>So focus on positive stuff. Make all good things happen this year and the years after. Oh, and by the way, I also briefly said something about finding the original image I wanted to use for <i>Compline.</i> There are two that caught my attention, and I'm still on the fence on which one to use when the time comes, but here they are:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWQtkvzOWT34nbvkS_240y6-6UBQxB3pIxrxm2-QC3z7T-o4Ugut6gYsF-_MOAUfZ4D9_JuVbjhrQG-NXmw0aSl-n86yep8f4SKKls69bDoUy5Toxcwf6-QV1cQX8qStgdv6SqFn5QhmYQhbpf1eIH7KIrbwnoE93ep3vQ6jExdx70JdO7yEyNdl91BhRg/s1200/compline%20cover%20art%20options.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1200" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWQtkvzOWT34nbvkS_240y6-6UBQxB3pIxrxm2-QC3z7T-o4Ugut6gYsF-_MOAUfZ4D9_JuVbjhrQG-NXmw0aSl-n86yep8f4SKKls69bDoUy5Toxcwf6-QV1cQX8qStgdv6SqFn5QhmYQhbpf1eIH7KIrbwnoE93ep3vQ6jExdx70JdO7yEyNdl91BhRg/w400-h250/compline%20cover%20art%20options.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>I'll be saving the image I posted before this for another book since I also love it, but it doesn't quite jive with the theme of the book, which is a hybrid of folklore, horror, and romance. Well -- no different from the stuff I've been writing and publishing, anyway. When I update the Book News page with the new 2024 calendar banner, I'll try to include the one for 2025 as well.</p><p><b><u>EDIT</u>: </b>Ah. Here's the winner:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjII-BmlmeLhJEAPbbCErAJa0jFpgEQFNiKFeKRVi_dFzJqJAbIgj3fbyCg1aR0MXZfhxo_MhHr0XPqx09smn7pdanQZ1jzJjAjKE5bhzzXeA6GooFugyTmffgNKXtv2jW1sMb2mYFxLJRKTgFOgfUODW4Ge84jhEnAZl5Xal8MRAcORU9et8k5tfREumJ/s750/compline%20sm.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjII-BmlmeLhJEAPbbCErAJa0jFpgEQFNiKFeKRVi_dFzJqJAbIgj3fbyCg1aR0MXZfhxo_MhHr0XPqx09smn7pdanQZ1jzJjAjKE5bhzzXeA6GooFugyTmffgNKXtv2jW1sMb2mYFxLJRKTgFOgfUODW4Ge84jhEnAZl5Xal8MRAcORU9et8k5tfREumJ/w266-h400/compline%20sm.png" width="266" /></a></div>I had to ask for help from the husband and sisters, and this was the choice across the board. I'm relieved, really. This image was the one I had chosen months ago before it vanished in my hard drive, so it was nice to have my initial preference validated. So, yay! We have a final cover design for the book! <br /><p></p><p></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-90640771329421602822024-03-09T05:44:00.000-08:002024-03-09T05:44:23.061-08:00Hard at Work and Looking at that Calendar Again<p>Hoo boy, do I feel wrecked. The day job's been pretty intense, and things aren't letting up anytime soon. My writing time continues to be sacrosanct, though, and the early morning weekend hours are forever fixed as MY time. So I'm now halfway through <i>The Dubious Commode,</i> and I'm beginning to feel bummed out over the second half of the book because this is it for the <i>Ghosts and Tea</i> collection. It's hard to let go when the time comes, and I went through that before with <i>Masks,</i> but it's inevitable. I've also sworn off series books after this, and I'm looking forward to nothing but standalone books once <i>The Dubious Commode</i> is finally published. </p><p>I'm looking at moving the release date -- obviously going back on my resolve not to mess with the calendar again, but I've been flying high since the start of the year, at least where my writing's concerned. The day job's another matter entirely, but for my creative life, I'm having a blast and am enjoying a surge of unexpected energy. Not to mention a more positive outlook. I think it's got everything to do with the end of <i>Ghosts and Tea</i> and a future of long novella standalone books. As much as I love <i>Ghosts and Tea</i> (and it's hands down my favorite series to work on), I'm really looking forward to a freer creative time with everything under the <i>Grotesqueries</i> umbrella. </p><p><i>Voices in the Briars</i> is all but completely written down by hand in my notebook. I've got so many detailed outlines and notes for that book that I might as well get started on it -- strike while the iron's hot, blah blah blah -- but I need to pull back from that. It's extremely, extremely tempting, and I tend to forget the physical exhaustion I put up with at my full-time job when the weekend rolls around, and all my attention's fixed on my writing. Maybe once I'm down to the last ten chapters of <i>The Dubious Commode,</i> I'll test the waters and see if I can manage half a page at a time or something. The concern I have is losing that spark of inspiration if I continue to hold off (or if I hold off too long), so maybe a bit of an overlap in writing schedules will keep that fire burning.</p><p>I'll be talking more about the next book soon as there's a lot I want to share (call it pre-writing buzz / marketing). </p><p>I've also messed around with the calendar, and if you were to check out my <a href="https://twilightruins.blogspot.com/p/book-list.html" target="_blank"><b>Book List page</b></a>, you'll see the minor tweak I did. It basically shows that I decided to bump <i>The Perfect Rochester</i> up and place it after <i>Voices in the Briars </i>and not after <i>Compline.</i> I think waiting a year for another dip into the world of primordial gods and the Nightshade family is the maximum length of time for me to wait for a related book to be published. </p><p>The <a href="https://twilightruins.blogspot.com/p/book-list.html" target="_blank"><b>Book List page</b></a> also details the books' categories with <i>The Bells of St. Mark's Eve</i> being another dark comedy. It didn't start out like that, but as the book will be dealing with family -- or the relationship between a young man and his devout grandmother -- I figured a dark comedy would be a much better fit than the usual serious tone that's expected from a gothic horror book. Everything past this year doesn't have a date attached to it yet since things will always be mutable (in spite of my wish for a more relaxed and spaced out schedule). As always, how things play out this year will influence the calendar for the years following, so I might end up publishing three long novellas this year and next. </p><p>And so onward and upward, and I'll be back to talk more about the next book and other stuff. <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-51576027531054388192024-03-01T00:00:00.000-08:002024-03-01T02:47:16.245-08:00Now Available: 'Nightshade's Emporium'<p>Leave it to February to delay the release by one extra day. Curse you, February! So, yeah -- TA DA! New baby is born, and it <i>will</i> have a not-really sequel down the line. I'll be talking more about that as I go, obvs. Behold!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtQly-xa4pvuiOFiMCw6wtriNLQaSfvQ3qBmAip5x4oql77W-Fwk02CTaITIXlcCvkFJFf7tX9AIg3KsF5M_uBxrBgwjtJTwM6EgxCiURAsVOz_tX8lhE2loD8CpxxWN0LcxN529ytTZ8z3pjQuyfEvwrNgy5SHVlRD-RlcnCGRILv1d8lEGeBbkjwGL4/s750/nightshades_emporium_sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtQly-xa4pvuiOFiMCw6wtriNLQaSfvQ3qBmAip5x4oql77W-Fwk02CTaITIXlcCvkFJFf7tX9AIg3KsF5M_uBxrBgwjtJTwM6EgxCiURAsVOz_tX8lhE2loD8CpxxWN0LcxN529ytTZ8z3pjQuyfEvwrNgy5SHVlRD-RlcnCGRILv1d8lEGeBbkjwGL4/w266-h400/nightshades_emporium_sm.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />And ye olde blurb:<p></p><blockquote>When the kindly old ferryman to the underworld injures his ankle, primordial gods come together to help guide the newly departed to their final journey. To make the task more interesting to the deathless, a quaint little shop hawking ephemera becomes the vehicle through which breadcrumbs to the underworld are scattered. All this is a temporary situation, meant to end when the broken ankle is healed.<br /><br />It sounds easy and simple enough. Or so it seems.<br /><br />The Nightshade family, headed by Barbara Nightshade, the most feared matriarch of an eternal bloodline, are dragged into the twenty-first century from their comfortable existence in Chaos. And it's through this shop and their day-to-day dealings with mortals that the children—now young adults—learn something new about themselves.<br /><br />Time moves differently in Chaos, and maturity drags for primordial gods. Now that Viktor and his twin, Narcisse, have turned twenty in immortal years, their physical forms scramble to catch up. Hormones are roused, hearts learn to feel, and minds struggle against prejudices learned through the centuries, and, boy, is it a pain.<br /><br />It's a sore trial especially for Viktor when he crosses paths with a sweet and shy potter and finds himself behaving quite out of character. There's something else at work here, however. Something meant to guide him down a road he refuses to travel—a road where love comes with a price tag too dear even for Death to pay.<br /><br />True, there are perks to being immortal, but no one outruns Fate.<br /><p></p></blockquote><p><b><a href="https://www.haydenthorne.com/p/gallery-nightshades-emporium.html">And for a bit of fun, you can go here to check out the book's gallery page.</a></b> It's just a few tidbits behind the creation of the book for your enjoyment. Definitely not a comprehensive discussion since there's a hell of a lot more that goes into inspiration and actual writing. So yeah.</p><p>The book's available in digital for 99 cents and print for $9 USD. <b><a href="https://books2read.com/b/38YKea" target="_blank">You can check out different online stores for whatever format you prefer over at the book's Books2Read page.</a></b> And if you get yourself a copy, thank you so much for your support, and I hope you enjoy it! <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-29752817609080642552024-02-27T12:14:00.000-08:002024-02-27T14:47:02.963-08:00'A Haunting in Venice' and Other Stuff<p>I've had this movie on my watchlist for the longest time, and I finally, FINALLY saw it on the last day of my mini-holiday (today, I mean). I wasn't disappointed, but God Almighty, my heart hurts. I didn't expect to finish the movie all broken up inside, no thanks to the final reveal -- which takes place in the closing scenes after the entire ordeal is over. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1b_DQYViHwflbZLB5TmtXWFXzYMqR9jIw7jVMPcfHAbnlvkQ_2v6KJnJfsjxbFYMXm6phr3-WQkYrmvEd6HKtE7wx4IRcAk6CFZKe5CsEosNBxV_ucyZ6wChXbTIXmMEZjFrol1d0TGIOH1iI_zI4Zyo1KksCxpt8dSpnuS4G27xeV7OEuQofOvGFBjRA/s1023/a-haunting-in-venice-2023-us-poster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="682" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1b_DQYViHwflbZLB5TmtXWFXzYMqR9jIw7jVMPcfHAbnlvkQ_2v6KJnJfsjxbFYMXm6phr3-WQkYrmvEd6HKtE7wx4IRcAk6CFZKe5CsEosNBxV_ucyZ6wChXbTIXmMEZjFrol1d0TGIOH1iI_zI4Zyo1KksCxpt8dSpnuS4G27xeV7OEuQofOvGFBjRA/w266-h400/a-haunting-in-venice-2023-us-poster.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><p></p><p>I just sat there, jaw hanging down, going, "Oh, hell, NO." But ayup -- considering all the twists and turns of the plot, it only makes perfect sense in the most heartbreaking way imaginable. That said, I really enjoyed it and wasn't at all disappointed. Yes, in true Poirot form, so many things can be explained away, but the process of uncovering the reality behind all the events is where the fun lies. </p><p>And that's why mysteries are at the top of my list of favorite literary genres, sitting snug and shoulder-to-shoulder with ghost fiction. </p><p>So far I've seen two of Branagh's adaptations of Poirot mysteries: <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> and <i>A Haunting in Venice.</i> I've yet to see <i>Death on the Nile,</i> but I'll say right now I'm very, very hesitant about it -- not because of reviews or anything like that since I love Hercule Poirot. Rather, it's because I was fucking traumatized by one of the adaptations from years before (with David Suchet). </p><p>It was the final closing scene that used a flashback from the killers' past, showing them dirt poor but happy, and I just lost it when the credits rolled. I couldn't believe I bawled my eyes out in sympathy for the killers, but again, considering their motives and stuff, it all made perfect sense to hearken back to a happier moment. And if you're familiar with <i>Death on the Nile,</i> you know just how the story ends. </p><p>Am I up to having my heart raked and shredded all over again? I do want to see Branagh's version, and I hope, hope, HOPE that I won't be subjected to something like that in this film. Once was enough, and I still get messed up whenever something stirs that memory. </p>
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<p>In other news, I decided NOT to take on the next book simultaneously with <i>The Dubious Commode</i>, which surprisingly enough wasn't a difficult decision to make. Common sense (recently sorely lacking, I guess) overruled everything, and the ego was only too relieved to step back, hands up. </p><p>I'm now happily near the midpoint of the book, and my notebook's seeing a lot of ballpoint pen action as I've been scribbling note after note on not just this WiP but also what's coming next: <i>Voices in the Briars</i> plus less focused stuff for <i>Compline, The Twilight Lover,</i> and <i>The Bells of St. Mark's Eve</i>. I'm also rearranging my calendar somewhat, and it's looking more and more like <i>The Perfect Rochester</i> will be released after <i>Voices in the Briars</i> instead of after <i>Compline.</i></p><p>And that's because in terms of the possibility of me getting something solid written down, <i>The Perfect Rochester</i> beats <i>Compline</i> by more than a mile, so I might as well take that on first before the other. And speaking of <i>Compline,</i> I'm still wibbling over the final cover art for that book, but that's nowhere near the immediate future, anyway, so it can wait.</p><p>And so ends my mini-holiday and mini-holiday posts. It'll be back to a longer wait time for the next update here, but it's been a blast, and as I've said before, GODDAMN, I needed this break.</p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-32681584278083454072024-02-27T05:53:00.000-08:002024-03-09T11:51:12.126-08:00Keeping Up With Netflix: '1670' (2023)<p>You know, I'm only halfway through the series, and I just HAVE to get on here and pimp the shit out of this show. If you have Netflix, check it out. It's absolutely hilarious and bizarre. Now I love <i>Derry Girls</i> and their frenetic, insane humor, but what I'm getting from <i>1670</i> is more MY preferred brand of humor. Deadpan, dry, and just absurd -- think <i>Cunk on Earth</i> but Polish and set in the 17th century with a narrative. <br /></p><p>I've seen viewers compare it to <i>The Office</i> in tone and approach (mockumentary), and so many things about this series tick all the right boxes for me. With humor, especially historical settings, anything that's modern and anachronistic adds a certain layer of ridiculousness that works perfectly within the show's context. </p><p>For instance, there's a horse that's being back parked in its space (with a second person guiding the rider with commands, etc.). There's a 17th century version of the iPhone. The Erasmus Peasant Exchange Program between Poland and Lithuania. There's climate change. And several smaller, less obvious details that are better off being experienced as part of the whole than isolated and picked apart. It's glorious. </p><p>I laughed watching <i>Derry Girls,</i> but it wasn't as hard and consistent as when I'm watching <i>1670.</i> I'm talking loud, stomachache-inducing laughter. I honest to God hope there's a second season, but I'm not putting my money on it. The series itself looks pretty expensive to produce with the costumes and props and all that, and I'm grateful to have all eight episodes to come back to over and over again when the mood hits. </p><p>I also tried to find a Netflix trailer in the original Polish language with English subtitles (which is how I'm watching the series), but I can only find the English dub version. This trailer, though, is from the Netflix Polish channel, so you'll have to click the CC button to see the subtitles in English. </p><div class="youtube-video-container"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gmn86IeFVic?si=YMKv5OcigaIU6m8A" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>
<p>The series in a nutshell: <i>"In this satirical comedy, a zany nobleman navigates through family feuds and clashes with peasants in his quest to become Poland's most famous figure."</i> The spirit of dry, witty humor lives on with absurdity levels cranked to maximum, and I'm here for it. FOR ALL OF IT.</p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-29194120327428529942024-02-25T08:19:00.000-08:002024-02-25T08:29:12.130-08:00Simply Gorgeous: 'Cage' (2022)<p>Every now and then I trawl Youtube for animated shorts, and I've liked quite a few already. It's been a while since my last foray, and this was serendipity more than anything, most likely recommended to me because I've been checking out videos on <i>Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse</i> (which I absolutely adore, btw, and can't wait for the final installment of the trilogy to come out).</p><p>There's a lot to be said about animated shorts in that so much can be conveyed with nothing more than images and music in a handful of minutes. No dialogue needed. And this one caught my eye and my heart, and I can't say enough good things about it.</p>
<div class="youtube-video-container"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ucTs0Z_Pk-I?si=w1tWEWy4B97IdsWj" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>
<p>The cleanness and simplicity of the art style works perfectly with the complexity of the subject: obsessive, selfish love and the literal and metaphorical cages resulting from it. Compare the angel's cage with the demon's and how the demon's final scene shows the cage completely cut off versus the angel's cage, where a platform is still there to offer freedom. And sad though this might be, some of the most compelling stories are the most tragic, and this is one example. I'm so in love with this short, I'll put this up here for everyone to watch, enjoy, study, or even ponder -- and there's a surprising amount to ponder in my case. </p><p>In other news, I'm roughly a third through <i>The Dubious Commode,</i> and as I've got tomorrow and Tuesday off (a long-delayed and desperately needed break from the day job), I'll be able to carve an even bigger chunk by the time I go back to work. I've been considering starting work on <i>Voices in the Briars</i> in conjunction with this one though it'll be more like chipping slowly away as I go since my attention should be on <i>The Dubious Commode</i>. Maybe a chapter per weekend while my current WiP will stay at a two-chapter-per-weekend schedule. </p><p>I don't know yet. I'm still playing a wait-and-see game in this case as I'm constantly reminded about my purpose for scaling back on my publishing calendar to begin with. Clearly I'm still going against my resolution, but that scaled back thing is still a goal I have. </p><p>I also managed to track down the original image I wanted to use for <i>Compline,</i> which makes me so abnormally happy, and I was able to play with it using different filters and stuff. I love the alternate cover I recently shared here, but the original image came the closest to the book's plot. Anyhoo... I'll post it soon as I'm still wibbling over the final version of it. <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-19648728198299361072024-02-20T04:48:00.000-08:002024-02-27T03:15:42.898-08:00'Nimona' For Everyone (Limited Time, Methinks)<p>Okay, so Netflix decided to drop <i>Nimona</i> on their Youtube channel so more folks can see it for free -- and without ads. Here you go:</p>
<div class="youtube-video-container">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i4CFWTYFRlw?si=-cF7DCaaSPSJba7B" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<p>One might speculate as to why Netflix decided to do this, and I'm guessing it's because they wanted to generate more buzz with the Oscars coming up. The movie's nominated for Best Animated Feature. Plus I just learned it also won a couple of Annie Awards (Best Voice Acting for Chloe Grace Moretz and Best Writing) in addition to making the shortlist for a slew of different categories for the Annies. So kudos to everyone behind the film.</p>
<p>I watched it when it came out on Netflix last year, and I loved it. Still do. I also watched it <i>again</i> on Youtube, and none of my initial reactions have changed. That movie went there. And it needed it to go there, I think, and I'm so glad the filmmakers didn't shy away from such a heavy theme.</p>
<p>From what I know, this freebie is only for a limited time, but don't quote me on it. I think it'll be up for another six days? That's the rumor I heard, anyway. So for anyone who doesn't have a Netflix account and is interested, have at it!</p><p><b><u>EDIT</u>: </b>The video's now unavailable (updating this post on 2/27), so there you go. <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-619265073818916962024-02-19T00:00:00.000-08:002024-03-18T03:36:46.013-07:00What Follows Next: 'The Perfect Rochester'<p>The book's main premise was already established in <i>Nightshade's Emporium,</i> so taking that thread and making something out of it isn't as though I'm starting over. Out of all the books I have planned coming up, this is the one I'm most confident in. It's not a sequel. It's going to be Narcisse's turn to tell his story, but in his case, the point behind his finding his HEA will involve issues of self-confidence and developing trust in other people, and references to his dilemma in finding his beloved are worked into the other book's plot. </p><p>Anyway, here's the cover art:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgp16TJgalHI4WOJ8kcIj93pHwMLMhsG8kDM_u6czTIbeQnefDkJO4r1s1Obhf5MIlabNMuOrR7KHtigsrh71Gg8UTlEgl23VWJxkEkMPBJITDzSHEBNQF4nMpCwlE7pBDJIbSTwETdm_26GYtqrH2Xy4gSqIB7j3swZoUoTD-d_3bd78ye97AnHWKsIAV/s750/the%20perfect%20rochester%20sm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgp16TJgalHI4WOJ8kcIj93pHwMLMhsG8kDM_u6czTIbeQnefDkJO4r1s1Obhf5MIlabNMuOrR7KHtigsrh71Gg8UTlEgl23VWJxkEkMPBJITDzSHEBNQF4nMpCwlE7pBDJIbSTwETdm_26GYtqrH2Xy4gSqIB7j3swZoUoTD-d_3bd78ye97AnHWKsIAV/w266-h400/the%20perfect%20rochester%20sm.png" width="266" /></a></div><p></p><p>I tried to stick to the lighter, cheerier color scheme that <i>Nightshade's Emporium</i> has but at the same time give it its own character (naturally). The title is part of a line that Viktor says to his twin toward the end of the book, and I thought it suits Narcisse's journey. The tone will be the same as <i>Nightshade's Emporium,</i> and some of the events in this book will be taking place simultaneously with Viktor's troublesome efforts at understanding his purpose and the role Myles plays in everything. But as I've said before, this book as well as <i>Nightshade's Emporium</i> are standalone novellas and don't require anyone to read both to understand what's happening. <br /></p><p>Now as for the release date, it's going to come after <i>Compline</i> as noted previously, but as always, the calendar is fluid. </p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-43270404546524527582024-02-18T08:12:00.000-08:002024-02-18T16:27:43.402-08:00Looking Ahead Because I Work Like a Machine<p>Maybe it's the INTJ in me (that's my MBTI type), but I'm methodical and borderline clinical when it comes to planning out my publishing calendar. For better or for worse. I might be rigid in my approach to a lot of things, but I'm still human enough to allow myself some wiggle room for unfinished projects and hopeless efforts. I just dump them and forge ahead with replacements. </p><p>So! This post is all about upcoming stuff but no calendar dates. I know the rest of 2024 is still pretty fluid as it should be, so there's still a chance I'll succumb to the pull of high energy and excitement should I end up finishing <i>The Dubious Commode</i> early (which I think I will, by the looks of things). And if that's the case, there'll be more adjusting coming your way with <i>Voices in the Briars</i> possibly getting published at the end of this year. </p><p>Before anything else, though, I changed the cover for <i>The Dubious Commode,</i> and here's the updated version:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CS7zH-6hCzWukb_rCnWLuB9CSHJszMM304FLu5FEbsvGrvYEXJ9vEjnTSCgXNezOI9kBmM_xr5iSJcfYkfQBiwt_Ru9d0s_mky7F6JnN_FY78k_ojK1cAJbCm1PVM8LQv7QxmbgIU7XqeIeX33bZ7nK6-RMWQKUF5KPwL1Iz6HHDwQJAeDpJjLC-yTNb/s750/the%20dubious%20commode%20sm.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CS7zH-6hCzWukb_rCnWLuB9CSHJszMM304FLu5FEbsvGrvYEXJ9vEjnTSCgXNezOI9kBmM_xr5iSJcfYkfQBiwt_Ru9d0s_mky7F6JnN_FY78k_ojK1cAJbCm1PVM8LQv7QxmbgIU7XqeIeX33bZ7nK6-RMWQKUF5KPwL1Iz6HHDwQJAeDpJjLC-yTNb/s320/the%20dubious%20commode%20sm.png" width="213" /></a></div><p>I actually found a really great image that I desperately wanted to use, but it didn't tie in as well as I'd like with the rest of the book covers in the collection. However, I may be using it down the line. The final effect is pretty hilarious, but again, it didn't work with the collection's aesthetic.</p><p>In addition to that update, I have cover art for three upcoming books, one of which is for <i>Madrigal's</i> replacement, <i>Compline.</i> The other two books are in varying stages of planning. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil5V9YOkYKz3Gav20zWSlmPiFiuRJFwFp-3Z3l41j3The3PZnx79ZttyXdOoKyamd7pOXs2KxDINjacspDDOF9OUXVHWix17RN1TdxwA7yt5QWyylWpVaHZmChP20Aad2Q79BemuEnN_lyY382LJ5ZH-mKLuN891Pv4DVuVntLJ8ORxqqSxir0obGD0YRH/s1500/book%20banner.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil5V9YOkYKz3Gav20zWSlmPiFiuRJFwFp-3Z3l41j3The3PZnx79ZttyXdOoKyamd7pOXs2KxDINjacspDDOF9OUXVHWix17RN1TdxwA7yt5QWyylWpVaHZmChP20Aad2Q79BemuEnN_lyY382LJ5ZH-mKLuN891Pv4DVuVntLJ8ORxqqSxir0obGD0YRH/w400-h200/book%20banner.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><i>The Twilight Lover</i> is a full-on expansion of a gothic horror short story I wrote ages and ages ago, and <i>The Bells of St. Mark's Eve</i> is a story idea that's been in seed-planting mode for the longest time. I've gone back and forth with that book over the years, but now that I'm finishing up the last of a series, I'll be free to play with standalones again in long novella format. I can't wait. </p><p>So none of those books have calendar dates attached to them for now. And that's because the follow-up (not a sequel) to <i>Nightshade's Emporium</i> still needs to be outlined and be given a slot. I'm guessing it'll come out after <i>Compline, </i>and then <i>The Twilight Lover</i> and <i>The Bells of St. Mark's Eve</i> will follow. That said, the books in the banner above will be coming out no earlier than maybe March of 2025, but as to how far apart they'll be spaced out will depend entirely on the same factors I've been going on and on about here. </p><p>I'll definitely post the cover art and title for the follow-up to <i>Nightshade's Emporium</i> soon. I'm pretty confident with that book since a foundation's already established the story's universe, and I'll just be picking up some of the threads and weaving a new story with them. It'll be fun, and I really look forward to going back to the world of the Nightshades again.</p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-34894771451129901012024-02-13T03:35:00.000-08:002024-02-13T03:37:19.168-08:00One Thing Leads to Another (the Book, It Lives!)<p>Funny how things work. <b><a href="https://www.haydenthorne.com/2024/02/mary-and-george-well-hello-there.html" target="_blank">My recent foray into the world of <i>Mary and George</i></a></b> led me to algorithms recommending more gay-themed videos featuring Nicholas Galitzine, which means snippets from Amazon's <i>Red, White, and Royal Blue</i>. And then THAT led to more recommendations of royal-gay-themed videos, which include snippets from Netflix's <i>The Young Royals</i>. And then THAT turned into Netflix recommending other boarding-school or simply school-themed shows.</p><p>Where did that take me? </p><p>Back to my experiences in a Catholic school (not a boarding school, though), which led to a nostalgic trip back to the time I wrote <i><a href="https://books2read.com/b/4ja56l" target="_blank"><b>Wollstone</b></a></i> (a gay YA fantasy boarding school love story), which led me to antiphonal singing (something we did during mass), which then led me back full circle to the scrapped <i>Madrigal</i>, which I was hoping to write but couldn't get the ideas to work as a cohesive unit. </p><p>And guess what! It lives! </p><p>Rather than make it into a full-on dark fairy tale of sorts since it's technically a gothic take on "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", it's getting a full-on glow up and will take place in a boarding school that's a mix of Catholicism, superstition, and dark fantasy. Because ghosts. And folklore. The book's title will be different to reflect the shift, but I'm tentatively looking at <i>Compline</i> instead of <i>Madrigal</i>. From secular to sacred but with a twist, I suppose. </p><p>It'll be a treat to go back to writing another boarding school story. Certainly a lot creepier than <i>Wollstone</i>, and I hope to really dig into my Catholic background for more inspiration.</p><p>And as a bonus, I'm also beginning to form ideas for a follow-up book (a sequel and yet not quite since it's a standalone) to <b><a href="https://books2read.com/b/38YKea" target="_blank"><i>Nightshade's Emporium</i></a></b>. I'm totally stoked for this. I'm still not clear about what kind of publishing calendar to follow, but the sequence can go either <i>Voices in the Briars</i> + <i>Compline</i> + untitled or <i>Voices in the Briars</i> + untitled + <i>Compline</i>. It'll most likely be the first option, but depending on how energized I am, I might work a miracle and actually write <i>Compline</i> and the still-untitled follow-up book simultaneously. I did that before, and I got it done. </p><p>It'll all depend on how the calendar this year works out, of course. That said, it's safe to say both of the latter books won't be out till next year. <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-31688960430913369822024-02-07T03:23:00.000-08:002024-02-07T11:37:26.021-08:00Mary and George (Well, Hello There!)<p>Ran across this trailer yesterday, and color me well and truly intrigued.</p>
<p></p><div class="youtube-video-container">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b9qrcRGfXug?si=P7gysqP_cioj30DW" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><p></p><p>From the YT page:</p><blockquote><p><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><i>Mary & George</i> is inspired by the unbelievable true story of Mary Villiers (Academy Award® winner Julianne Moore), who molded her beautiful and charismatic son, George (Nicholas Galitzine), to seduce King James VI of Scotland and I of England (Tony Curran) and become his all-powerful lover.
</span></p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap">Through outrageous scheming, the pair rose from humble beginnings to become the richest, most titled and influential players the English court had ever seen, and the King’s most trusted advisors. And with England’s place on the world stage under threat from a Spanish invasion and rioters taking to the streets to denounce the King, the stakes could not have been higher.
Prepared to stop at nothing and armed with her ruthless political steel, Mary married her way up the ranks, bribed politicians, colluded with criminals and clawed her way into the heart of the Establishment, making it her own.
</span></p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap">
<i>Mary & George</i> is an audacious historical psychodrama about a treacherous mother and son who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England and the bed of its King.</span></p></blockquote><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Villiers,_1st_Duke_of_Buckingham" target="_blank"><b>George Villiers was, by many accounts, an utter sleazebag, and his Wiki entry is wild.</b></a> I won't be able to see the series since I don't have the streaming service for it, but I'm all for Jacobean gay intrigue (not to mention disastrous results -- not because of Villiers's sexual orientation, but because of his narcissism and greed). <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-74109497973339831562024-02-05T03:22:00.000-08:002024-02-05T04:21:31.242-08:00Keeping Up With Netflix: Paranormal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDE62lsqjenoJXycg0XNpb9yG1p10xwI_akzo4RdVM84wGAjdn6HQJEGhWeTeLoUPpuUA4dw5ldZ6EqSwMZD89HTnGuSVJQjxg74BIGyUrsf-u7jHMzUz3rYMXBr-a0JAlcAPXC4WMzOhn7_0kkMCGjlLalf5c8HLdmy6HId8gQPoSj1rm-PxA1Rqd8UHw/s1000/paranormal-poster.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="675" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDE62lsqjenoJXycg0XNpb9yG1p10xwI_akzo4RdVM84wGAjdn6HQJEGhWeTeLoUPpuUA4dw5ldZ6EqSwMZD89HTnGuSVJQjxg74BIGyUrsf-u7jHMzUz3rYMXBr-a0JAlcAPXC4WMzOhn7_0kkMCGjlLalf5c8HLdmy6HId8gQPoSj1rm-PxA1Rqd8UHw/w270-h400/paranormal-poster.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><p>I know I've been banging on and on about stuff I've seen on Netflix and nowhere else, but it's because in my household, Netflix is the only entertainment platform we have. A number of reasons are behind us no longer going to the theater for movies, the overriding one being health (not mine, but my husband's). </p><p>I'm actually good with this, though. Never had any problems turning to alternative methods of enjoying films and even series. Heck, I've even developed a preference for limited series runs versus the standard X number of seasons' long runs on TV back in the past. We've also got rid of our TV twenty years ago, so it isn't as though this is new. </p><p>Anyway...</p><p>This limited series was on my queue for the longest time, and I finally got to see it (not binge, though -- I stopped binging stuff ages ago, too). It's got a fun premise, and I like the setting (Egypt in the 1960s). The protagonist is a doctor who's a bit of a sad sack type, going around smoking non-stop and with his shoulders stooped and his head bent. He's convinced he's the unluckiest person on Earth, and small mishaps happen around him all the time. </p><p>There's a love triangle going on between him, an old university friend with whom he's always been in love, and a cousin who's in love with him and is also engaged to him. The premise of the series, though, revolves around paranormal events meant to test his beliefs. </p><p>The series is episodic on the whole though there's a theme that links them all together, the first episode and the last being bookends that cycle him back to where the story begins. The primary conflict involves the ghost of Shiraz, a little girl who was his playmate when he was a kid. So her mystery was the one I was the most invested in, but the show still needed to go through a few more supernatural adventures that lead Refaat back to Shiraz. Those adventures are there to test his beliefs in science and use them to explain whatever supernatural events are happening. So his struggles aren't just with the outside world and all the calamities coming his way, but internally as well.<br /></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal_(TV_series)" target="_blank"><b>The series is based on books written by Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, and it's a fun one to follow.</b></a> I suppose my favorite episodes are the ones around Shiraz (first and sixth) and the one about the naiad (fourth). The setting is really to die for, but it does get overwhelmed by the moody lighting, which is incredibly dark and murky at times that it almost feels like a slog, watching an episode. As the lead character, Refaat is a hoot with his dry, self-deprecating humor, but after a while, it does get a little too much at least for me. I think I paused my watching more and more frequently the further into the series I went, and much of the relief from his character's dourness comes from the side characters, who are much livelier and offer a necessary counterpoint to his.</p><p>However, it ends pretty satisfyingly, and it's raised my interest in the original books. I don't know if they're available translated, but I do need to dig around. </p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-54068806611468486452024-02-03T06:24:00.000-08:002024-02-05T04:22:13.444-08:00Life Comes Fast at You, Doesn't It?<p>Work has begun on <i>The Dubious Commode</i>, though it was off to a bit of a sluggish start. January felt like a parting blow from the holidays, so I was barely coherent when the weekend came around. Second weekend into the new book, and I'm saddled with a bad cold. Bah. I still work through it, though. Writing is my special downtime, in a way, so the time I carve out of the weekend for myself is sacrosanct. </p><p>But February's now here, and while I'm still recovering from a bad cold, my mood's pretty high. If things go according to plan, I hope to be done with <i>The Dubious Commode</i> by the end of April, and it'll be rounds of edits and revisions after. The book may very well be released sooner than scheduled, but if so, I'd like to aim for a five-month calendar as the best case scenario. I had a good reason why I needed to ease up on my release schedule, and that reason still holds up, but as you've already seen, I'm prone to being too eager when things go my way. </p><p>I'm also looking ahead and am brainstorming for <i>Voices in the Briars</i>, and I do think I know what to do with that lovely "Dance of the Knights" video I shared in the previous blog post. It'll be part of the story, for sure, either as a single scene or a recurring one, depending on the plot. The plot for "Bluebeard" involves a lavish party / ballroom scene in which Bluebeard convinces his future bride's family and friends that he's both wealthy and harmless, after all, and I'd like to play with that.</p><p>One thing I also would like to try my hand at is urban fantasy. Granted, I've done something along those lines already with the <i>Dolores</i> series, but I'd like to amp it up some more though not necessarily with the use of mythology. I've been digging around other cultures' take on elements since I really like the idea of powerful beings representing the different elements though not along the classical lines of fire, water, earth, air, and aether. I prefer the Chinese agents of earth, fire, water, air, and metal. </p><p>What I've read about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxing_(Chinese_philosophy)" target="_blank"><b>Wuxing</b></a> is really fascinating, and I love the idea of the elements' interconnection and how they work together to create and destroy. I do have a vague -- very vague -- idea of a possible urban fantasy story making use of the Chinese philosophy on cycles and the role of elements or agents in the creation and maintenance of life. I've got a few random notes written about the story, but nothing's yet coming together since that's not my current focus, anyway. I might be toying with it once I get going with <i>Voices in the Briars</i> since the slot following that book's planned release is still empty. </p><p>I'm currently reading an M/M zombie apocalypse series, and I stumbled across the sub-genre recently; however, the first series that caught my attention ended up being a DNF -- sadly in the third and final book because the second book was a forced finish, and I figured I couldn't devote another minute putting up with a histrionic main character. Or one-half of the main romantic pair, anyway. The book I'm reading right now is more balanced in that sense though it does treat the zombie apocalypse more lightly compared to the first series, which is rather heavy-handed in both the gloom of a dying world and the hurt-comfort trope.</p><p>It's a fun sub-genre to read, at least, but it's definitely not one I'll be voluntarily looking for in the future. Reading these books did feed the muse, though, hence the resurfacing of the itch to write urban fantasy. Knowing me, the angle will most likely have something to do with ghosts or vampires (in the folklore sense, not the paranormal romance sense). <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-31279285069574627802024-01-26T04:38:00.000-08:002024-02-05T04:23:55.190-08:00I Want to Gothify Shakespeare or Something<p>Or something more like "This! I want <i>this!</i> This look! This energy! This mood!" Like get a load of this amazing production of Prokofiev's ballet, <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>. First, shot: </p><p>
</p><div class="youtube-video-container"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xF9R9OaZuqA?si=8pKqcoaY-Xv4-9hl" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>
<p></p><p></p>
And then chaser:
<p></p><p></p><div class="youtube-video-container">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cEv9YD-0M3I?si=MsZSqpqkbqsKpUhG" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><p></p><p>I first shared this at Mastodon, as I was absolutely mesmerized by the "Dance of the Knights" segment. Too short, though. It obviously got cut off when there was still roughly a minute and a half left of the song.</p><p>However, what really got me was the overall look of the production: all black, with the women also in all black dresses. The men are dancing with swords, their costumes just incredible in the stark silhouettes and the simplicity of the backdrop. And the women in their equally stripped down costumes and absence of headdresses. There's a very modern edge to the whole thing, which I just love even though I'm very much a traditionalist when it comes to classical music and ballet.</p><p>Oh, and did I mention the glasses? I'm a sucker for glasses on men. It's bad enough I'm gawking at male ballet dancers. But a male ballet dancer with glasses? More, please!<br /></p><p>I've been so used to brightly colored and lush productions like this one from the Royal Ballet, which makes for an eye-popping experience if you were to watch the ballet in person. </p>
<div class="youtube-video-container"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SyDo3h1Tu7c?si=Hnyy6cSbSYKBYAic" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><p>That said, my accidental stumbling over the Ballet Zurich's production on Youtube is the one niggling at me. I'm thinking of using that as a springboard for <i>Voices in the Briars</i>, actually, and even if it's not an injection of the scene itself or the dancers or costumes, the overall atmosphere (brooding, forbidding, uneasy) and visual composition (stark, black with tiny hints of light and color, severe lines and stripped down silhouettes) will definitely feed the brain with the inspiration it needs.</p><p>Anyway, I thought to post these videos here not just for something fun for visitors, but also for my benefit. I want to be able to go back and watch all three for a study in contrast and a nudge in whatever direction this kind of artistry will send me. So exciting!<br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-84459207715262356492024-01-21T10:53:00.000-08:002024-02-05T04:25:00.985-08:00Nightshade's Emporium: Polished, Submitted (For Good), and Gallery'd<p>Okay, so "gallery'd" doesn't exist, but I'm still riding a wave of high energy and higher mood, so I'm making up shit as I go. At any rate, to further celebrate the completion of <i>Nightshade's Emporium,</i> I finally got the <a href="https://www.haydenthorne.com/p/gallery-nightshades-emporium.html"><b>book's gallery page</b></a> done for you. </p><p>The gallery ends with me hinting about a possible sequel down the line. It's true even though I also took care to end the book in such a way as to make it work just as well as a standalone. If you read the book, you'll know why I say that the situation can go either way. </p><p>I spent the past week giving the book a few more rounds of edits, so I'm even happier than before with the final results. And looking forward, I'm hoping to get started with <i>The Dubious Commode</i> next weekend. I'm also brainstorming like crazy for <i>Voices in the Briars,</i> and I hope all that planning and stuff doesn't come around to bite me in the ass because I have a tendency to overthink things. Then before I know it, the plot's completely mangled beyond recognition, and I'm either forced to start over, or I end up with a story wildly different from what I originally wanted. </p><p>Incidentally, the latter result tended to happen when I wrote novel-length fiction. I think limiting myself to nothing but 50K-word books is helping me keep my focus since I don't have the luxury anymore of really exploring a story. </p><p>Oh, and as a POSSIBLE book following <i>Voices in the Briars,</i> I'm looking at a revenant infestation, but this time it'll be another dark comedy. That's if I don't move forward with a sequel to <i>Nightshade's Emporium,</i> of course. </p><p><b><u>EDIT</u>:</b> I updated the Book News page with the new release date in the calendar snapshot section. We're good to go.<br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-11249271596311235722024-01-14T09:41:00.000-08:002024-02-05T04:25:49.467-08:00Nightshade's Emporium: Done and Done<p>And the book's done! Everything went well, which is kind of terrifying, but I'll take all the good luck I can get. I know better than to question fate. Anyway, here's the blurb:</p><blockquote><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">When the kindly old ferryman to the underworld injures
his ankle, primordial gods come together to help guide the newly departed to
their final journey. To make the task more interesting to the deathless, a
quaint little shop hawking ephemera becomes the vehicle through which
breadcrumbs to the underworld are scattered. All this is a temporary situation,
meant to end when the broken ankle is healed. </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">It sounds easy and simple enough. Or so it seems. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The Nightshade family, headed by Barbara Nightshade, the
most feared matriarch of an eternal bloodline, are dragged into the
twenty-first century from their comfortable existence in Chaos. And it’s
through this shop and their day-to-day dealings with mortals that the
children—now young adults—learn something new about themselves. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Time moves differently in Chaos, and maturity drags for
primordial gods. Now that Viktor and his twin, Narcisse, have turned twenty in
immortal years, their physical forms scramble to catch up. Hormones are roused,
hearts learn to feel, and minds struggle against prejudices learned through the
centuries, and, boy, is it a pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">It’s a sore trial especially for Viktor when he crosses
paths with a sweet and shy potter and finds himself behaving quite out of
character. There’s something else at work here, however. Something meant to
guide him down a road he refuses to travel—a road where love comes with a price
tag too dear even for Death to pay. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">True, there are perks to being immortal, but no one
outruns Fate.</p></blockquote><p>This book, as noted previously, is my take on Greek Mythology. In this instance, I zeroed in on the primordial gods since they're the original gods, the Big Bads, the ones no one fucks with. In this book, though, they're a dorkier Addams Family, and the humor is deadpan and dark. It's contemporary fantasy, and I did add an introduction to explain some of the wee bits in the plot that might throw readers off -- especially those who love mythology. To quote myself (har!), I played fast and loose with Greek Mythology, and nothing was sacred in the course of writing this. <br /></p><p><b>And in reference to what I said in the post just before this one, I decided to bump up the release date to March 1 from April 1.</b> I'll be tweaking the calendar snapshot section on the Book News Page of my site soon. <br /></p><p>The next book on this year's calendar still has the October 1 release date, but considering the adjustment in the calendar for <i>Nightshade's Emporium,</i> that one's not etched in stone and may still be bumped up as well. Essentially I'm doing these adjustments on a case-by-case basis, not on the overall calendar since things can still happen between now and then, and delays end up throwing a wrench or two into things.</p><p>And so I'm celebrating by messing around with my site and switching background images like I occasionally do. I'm one of those who utterly dislike the homogeneous visuals of today's websites, and after tasting the fun anarchy of old-school DIY html via Neocities and my old static website, I'm back to celebrating character and uniqueness. I guess that's where reverting to an old, old and basic blogging platform can benefit me. I can get away with as much character as I can, making my site look weird and even wild if I wanted to. </p><p>So, yeah -- yay, new book!<br /></p><blockquote>
</blockquote>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-61876563673282338942024-01-13T05:54:00.000-08:002024-02-05T04:26:44.356-08:00Champing at the Bit (Someone Stop Me!)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzrnbD9aTlB5SjO3WXl9etmXxsiTT9mU1nUMqVjAKglZEJQIQ64DgNL-9oC3Pj-D6_j551RqHzsaLGA_VZY9pCkF0S5hXg5-nb8WzNLLNuHfVE2rAj8IOVXduqmVY4YhBpJ2OZ5Bl56tY9V7zxBaLiU3tSKh7GOg2e322Qb8PW4ZPkY8Q-ZKd0V9sbAf5T/s1500/bluebeard%20by%20littlecrow%20deviantart.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1500" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzrnbD9aTlB5SjO3WXl9etmXxsiTT9mU1nUMqVjAKglZEJQIQ64DgNL-9oC3Pj-D6_j551RqHzsaLGA_VZY9pCkF0S5hXg5-nb8WzNLLNuHfVE2rAj8IOVXduqmVY4YhBpJ2OZ5Bl56tY9V7zxBaLiU3tSKh7GOg2e322Qb8PW4ZPkY8Q-ZKd0V9sbAf5T/w400-h214/bluebeard%20by%20littlecrow%20deviantart.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bluebeard by Littlecrow on DeviantArt<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>All revisions and edits for <i>Nightshade's Emporium </i>will be done <strike>within this month</strike> this weekend, and technically I've got nothing else to do afterward save for the book blurb and the manuscript's uploading to Draft2Digital. Then I'm free to jump right into <i>The Dubious Commode,</i> which is all but written out in my writing notebook (currently laid out in full outline, I mean). <p></p><p>And that means I'm really, REALLY tempted to tweak the release dates for this year -- as always going back on my resolution to slow down and take things easy on the writing front, which tends to happen when I'm done with one book ahead of my projected completion date. </p><p>I'm already getting myself set for <i>Voices in the Briars</i> as well (hence the image above). It'll be my return to folklore, and there are so many ways the book can go, and I'm getting really worked up over it (in a good way). It's going to be a retelling of the "Bluebeard" fairy tale, which will also be a ghost story, and so far those are the only firmly established things about it. So many appendages can sprout from the plot, and I think I'm going to have a pretty wild time sorting things out for a solid story. </p><p>Maybe I'm just under the influence of unexpected good luck with <i>Nighshade's Emporium</i> that I'm letting myself get sucked into an energy that might bite me in the butt if I went for it. On the other hand, the rational voice in my head keeps saying the long novella length is the best for me if I want to be productive without messing up my health. Or at least it's easy to make adjustments along the way, and I've learned in the past it's best to adapt to circumstances, not fight them. <br /></p><p>My youngest nephew's death also forced myself to look at certain things differently. Nothing in life is ever guaranteed -- I already know that -- and we only live once. So maybe I should take the proverbial bull by the proverbial horns and run with the moment while I still can. I'll be announcing any changes to the publication date here, obvs, so consider this post to be nothing more than me giving voice to my wishy-washiness. </p><p>Or maybe I shouldn't post calendar snapshots for my books since I almost always go against them, anyway, depending on how things work out overall. Well -- at least those calendar snapshots are excellent guides for visitors to my site. You'll know what to expect from me, but it's a matter of when.<br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-47312115905743672932024-01-06T13:03:00.000-08:002024-02-07T18:40:29.637-08:00Keeping Up With Netflix: Derry Girls <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis__79XECQA7oIN4In7YgKJxinfJ_486qVLsac0ZdwIMiXDrKfVkKzWfG3s3d2DRkN2fJ8enWK7pQuv-QmWGEKEw1mUDlCG4_AfPpoFj5ckvE5PCf5s-KU0-AVSccuCCiJY5-UBUrdbx45br4YHKYIHq6_R4cOCyFhjvtbpgMDkCo88TtQ__hyowmu3wGh/s1000/derry%20girls.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis__79XECQA7oIN4In7YgKJxinfJ_486qVLsac0ZdwIMiXDrKfVkKzWfG3s3d2DRkN2fJ8enWK7pQuv-QmWGEKEw1mUDlCG4_AfPpoFj5ckvE5PCf5s-KU0-AVSccuCCiJY5-UBUrdbx45br4YHKYIHq6_R4cOCyFhjvtbpgMDkCo88TtQ__hyowmu3wGh/w400-h225/derry%20girls.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I'm really late to the party with this series and only just finished the first season. To be honest, at first I was on the fence after seeing a few teasers, and I actually took it off my queue. What left me unsure was the acting for the most part -- I first thought it was too over the top, but when I took that first step and watched the first episode, I realized it all fell into place. And it was beautiful. BEAUTIFUL.<br /></p><p>Yes, the acting is especially frenetic and even neurotic, as though the characters (especially Erin) are constantly on the verge of a breakdown. BUT IT WORKS. It works with the absurdity of each episode and especially the humor, which is of the pull-no-punches variety. Having grown up in a conservative Catholic country and so spent my nursery, kindergarten, grade school, and high school years in private Catholic schools, I appreciated the nuns, the veneration of "Big M" (St. Mary), the uniforms, the proliferation of crucifixes, etc. </p><p>Though in my case, the uniforms were of the sailor variety, and our skirts were required to be at least one inch below the knees. And the colors were blue and white. And everything we couldn't say to anyone (especially to those who I felt deserved it the most back then) are being spewed liberally in this series, and I'm here for it. All of a sudden, I'm back to being a teenager in an all-girls' Catholic school, loving and hating my days there in equal measure.<br /></p><p>Anyway...</p><p>An extra perk from watching the series was the hunting down of videos on Ireland's history and especially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles" target="_blank"><b>The Troubles,</b></a> which I've grown up hearing about but never really understood or even kept up with when I was older. Before I worked on this post, I spent some time watching a video chronicling the events, and I'm set to watch the second part. When I was a kid growing up two continents away in Asia, all I heard was that the IRA were homegrown terrorists, so it helps listening to historians give viewers an even-handed account of Irish history. </p><p>I'll be diving into the second season soon, and I'm hoping to see more of my series idol:</p><div class="youtube-video-container"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0U94W1guXSE?si=gQW1vI63AVtfUREy" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p>My school might have had a Sister Michael of its own, but I never crossed paths with her, and I feel so damn deprived. The first season didn't have enough of her, and I'm crossing my fingers I'll be getting more in Seasons Two and Three because barbs delivered in a dry monotone are exactly the humor I prefer to revel in. And when tossed out there by a nun who's had enough of everyone and everything? More please!</p><p></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-23546869846502897402024-01-01T08:07:00.000-08:002024-01-01T18:38:43.314-08:00A Bonus New Year Post: Site Updates<p>Before I'm once again lost to the real world and the day job, here's a quick site update. My book gallery page is up, and it follows the format it used to have at my now defunct static site. So there's a main gallery page with links to individual galleries exploring all the long novellas I've written and published so far.</p><p>Again, please note that only my long novellas are going to be highlighted since that's the length I'm now focusing on. That also includes the three long novella sequels to the five novels under <i>Ghosts and Tea.</i> </p><p>To go back to the main book gallery page, all you need to do is click the link on the navigation menu. Each page has a moodboard (save for <i>Ada and the Singing Skull</i> -- but that's going to change sometime soon) as well as visual aids and a video showing either a musical inspiration or a TV adaptation (such as in the case of <i>A Castle for Rowena</i>). </p><p>Before I moved back here, only half of the books had gallery pages, and I'm not going to mince words when I say it was a pain in the ass, putting them together using a DIY-old-school-html site. Blogger might be problematic to some people, but it's a godsend to those like me whose tech skills are severely limited. </p><p>Anyway, the book gallery page is now complete and updated with all of the long novellas I've published to date. <a href="https://haydenthorne.com/p/book-galleries.html"><b>Go here for the links,</b></a> and I hope you enjoy the visit! <br /></p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287322869523629001.post-15237516356388477222024-01-01T03:58:00.000-08:002024-01-01T06:17:05.604-08:00Happy New Year! Welcome, 2024!<p>Well, I sound sprightlier than I actually am seeing as how it's a holiday, and I still got up at 2:30 like I normally do for work. It's been three years since I got this job, and I don't think I'll ever physically get used to this schedule, but needs must. I don't change my alarm on the weekends and never sleep in. I make up for that with naps more than once after chores and errands are done, but I don't mess with a pretty precarious schedule now that I've forced myself into it. But I'm not here for that.</p><p>Happy New Year! We're now into a shiny, still-untested 2024, and I'm honestly crossing my fingers that things will be much better this time around. All right, so I've been doing that since 2020, and so far, none of the succeeding years have lived up to my hopes. But maybe four years after that nightmare of a year will see an improvement. </p><p>I usually don't do retrospectives, but I'm inclined to do it for this New Year's Day. </p><p><b>LIFE / WORK</b></p><p>My day job settled into a surprisingly efficient and effective machine. Leading up to the first half of 2023, we all struggled to keep up with store orders, and as the direct supervisor of the custom framing crew, I also burned the candle on both ends. Not fun. That plus I came down with COVID just after New Year's Day last year laid waste to any good will I tentatively harbored toward the rest of the months. </p><p>But following the departure of a couple of unreliable workers (one of whom was quite toxic) and the move to a full-time position for the last part-time framer, the crew finally was made up of all full-time employees who have proven themselves to be terrific workers who also know not to take things too seriously. That's the mindset that helps see us all through a massive workload each day, and I'm so proud of everyone. </p><p>We even got so far ahead of schedule that we were given Dec. 26 off (an unplanned move, btw, and one I campaigned for) and even after coming back from an extended weekend, we surged forward and continue to be ahead of schedule. I've got the best team ever, and, yep, I'm proud of them. <br /></p><p>So proud, in fact, that I've been messing up their health with cookies and chocolates throughout the holiday rush. Never say I don't feel maternal urges because I never had children.</p><p>The worst thing that happened last year was the loss of my youngest nephew to depression and suicide. He was only 17 and had struggled with his mental health, even claiming in his suicide note that he'd attempted it before though no one knew, not even his parents. My sister and her husband are coping as best as they can, and it's been a horribly traumatic experience for the family. We lost him while I was in the middle of writing <i>Nightshade's Emporium,</i> which, in turn, slightly changed its focus. And that's because I took out my grief on the book and tried to sort stuff out in my head through its plot. </p><p>The book's still a dark comedy, and I'm dedicating that to my nephew, but it's helped me find my center again (in addition to the love and connection my family continues to bless me with). I hope I never lose sight of what I got out of the experience.<br /></p><p><b>WRITING</b></p><p>I finished the first draft of <i>Nightshade's Emporium</i> on Dec. 26, and I'm taking a break from all writing-related stuff this final holiday break. I'm headed back to the trenches for revisions and edits in the coming weekend, and hopefully my head's fully cleared, and it'll be like reading the story for the first time. </p><p>2024, as mentioned in a previous post, will the year of comedy from me. This book and <i>The Dubious Commode,</i> the third sequel and final book for the <i>Ghosts and Tea</i> collection, are the two planned releases. I at first was looking for a five-month turnaround for each long novella I hope to publish, but I decided in the end to be kinder to myself and to be more protective of my physical and mental health. My old preference for a three-book release schedule every year no longer holds up, and circumstances in the past year have altered my perspective significantly.</p><p>2023 will be the last year I'll be publishing more than two books. As with my online presence, I'm willingly and happily taking a step back and will be working within my comfort zone, no matter what happens. It'll be easy for me to be tempted to just let it all hang out and go for a three-book publishing calendar, especially if I finish a book within my projected date of completion. But given other real world factors all working together to keep my attention fully divided, it's just as easy to just say, "Fuck it. It can wait." <br /></p><p>We only live once, and that single chance given us requires mindful self-care and kindness to the world. At least that's become my motto, and I'm trying to live up to it. </p><p>The plot for <i>The Dubious Commode</i> is already nicely laid out in my notebook, and I'm beginning to work on preliminary stuff for <i>Voices in the Briars. </i>I'm not looking too far out yet and planning the book that's supposed to come out after <i>Voices in the Briars.</i> I've got enough on my plate to tide me over for the year, and so far, I'm able to keep to this schedule. If anything, this'll give me even more time to pull away and rest my brain before diving into the next book. </p><p>So I guess my motto will need "I'm not getting any younger" tacked on as well. I'm nothing if not pragmatic, you know. </p>Hayden Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701080422670018121noreply@blogger.com2