Flail! Flail flail flail!
Aug. 14th, 2017 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chanter1944Oh my goodness. I've just made a fool of myself in front of a favorite author from childhood. ... Well, left a comment on an unrelated subject on a post of theirs, and had them respond in a manner that did not immediately suggest 'buzz off, ya weirdo', but... eek! Their name's similarity to an author from way back in little Chanter's formative years is not, in fact, a coincidence, and I just realized that eek eek eeeeek! It's them!
Yes, the Sherwood Smith of the engaging DW blog is, in fact, *that* Sherwood Smith. Squawk! Why oh why did I draw comparisons between NIF and B5 characters *in front of them as my first sharding comment ever over there?* Chanter, you doofus!
The Wren series's author, which was quite formative for little me. Journeymage Laris's author. Laris, Scrying specialist and too-swift defender, she who wields bright beams of light for the best possible purpose. Sharding hero,. Damn you, Andreus, damn you. She whose death distracted me through an entire morning of the sixth grade, until I went and confessed it to a guidance counselor, and even after being told by her that no, being affected by the death of a book character was not such an abnormal thing, I didn't really believe it. No one else at home would have been so shaken, after all. They would probably have laughed, in fact, or scoffed, or patronized, or simply told me to get over it. Laris, dark-haired like me (even darker of hair, by the memory of it), communication's specialist like me, she of a sharding lovely name that I only later linked, tangentially and by virtue of sound alone, to Valeris. The two are otherwise nothing alike. Journeymage, not just journeyman; not an amateur, but neither in a position of authority. Ideal. Fierce defender, all heart and conscience, leaping for a cause, falling in the snow with her hair fanning out under her... Damn you, Andreus. Damn you. I'm tearing up again. Twelve-year-old me had platonic star eyes and a case of hero worship for that Journeymage, if it wasn't clear.
But oh my goodness, the childhood squee has all come flooding back. Connor and Merrit Limmeran riding with the Watch, Merrit clutching his ruined arm and admitting that he didn't know it'd hurt like this, Connor remembering the big Lirwani he'd killed, and to this day, I still hope Merrit kept both his arm and use of the same...
Teleporting mages and Designations. Iyon Daiyin symbols and people, and allusions to *alienness* that intrigue characters rather than sending them running the other way in terror. Iyon Daiyin meaning 'the people running away from Daiyin'. 'Is this your Journeymage project?' 'Oops.'
Connor turning his magic instructor into a turtle and having no idea how he'd done it. Wren making a purple rabbit illusion move, then dropping a highly necessary shield over herself and her own instructor--what a Basics test that was! Renic the Rotten, the fact that he was real, and that poor Connor had to put up with him in person--ack! The one little Prentice, Rissa, losing her head in the midst of an early battle and being stabbed, as related after the fact by--Tyrone? Poor Rissa.
Jay caw for charge, whirler whistle for retreat.
'Three years, the summer isles.' Three years to travel somewhere? said young me. Wow!
Battle tactics written in a style that a twelve-year-old could imagine, but that also hold up to mental scrutiny twenty years later. Sword dances, and decorative rapiers being put to practical uses. lackland finally getting reversed on its speaker, turned into lackwit! Siradhi Browns and Meldrithi Blues. Nissal, Neri, and Wren. 'What city? What *country?*' 'Out the north gate!'
Castle guardian spells being set to fling shoes and clothing at invaders. Wren sneaking into camp as a white cat, then shifting form. Tyrone being horrible at Scrying, and getting Master Kobel with a message by mistake--oops! Mistress Leila, firm but fair. Meldrithi lil, lily-stamped coins. Meldrith, Siradh, Lirwan, and Allat-Los.
Connor meeting a tree. Skylords and underwater sentients. Teressa hacking off her own braid--oh no, said long-haired me, don't do that--oh! Family names and echoing holidays - Rhys Day - hinting at past colonization? Andreus getting his, in the end.
I really, really sharding well hope I didn't just creep out that author...
Yes, the Sherwood Smith of the engaging DW blog is, in fact, *that* Sherwood Smith. Squawk! Why oh why did I draw comparisons between NIF and B5 characters *in front of them as my first sharding comment ever over there?* Chanter, you doofus!
The Wren series's author, which was quite formative for little me. Journeymage Laris's author. Laris, Scrying specialist and too-swift defender, she who wields bright beams of light for the best possible purpose. Sharding hero,. Damn you, Andreus, damn you. She whose death distracted me through an entire morning of the sixth grade, until I went and confessed it to a guidance counselor, and even after being told by her that no, being affected by the death of a book character was not such an abnormal thing, I didn't really believe it. No one else at home would have been so shaken, after all. They would probably have laughed, in fact, or scoffed, or patronized, or simply told me to get over it. Laris, dark-haired like me (even darker of hair, by the memory of it), communication's specialist like me, she of a sharding lovely name that I only later linked, tangentially and by virtue of sound alone, to Valeris. The two are otherwise nothing alike. Journeymage, not just journeyman; not an amateur, but neither in a position of authority. Ideal. Fierce defender, all heart and conscience, leaping for a cause, falling in the snow with her hair fanning out under her... Damn you, Andreus. Damn you. I'm tearing up again. Twelve-year-old me had platonic star eyes and a case of hero worship for that Journeymage, if it wasn't clear.
But oh my goodness, the childhood squee has all come flooding back. Connor and Merrit Limmeran riding with the Watch, Merrit clutching his ruined arm and admitting that he didn't know it'd hurt like this, Connor remembering the big Lirwani he'd killed, and to this day, I still hope Merrit kept both his arm and use of the same...
Teleporting mages and Designations. Iyon Daiyin symbols and people, and allusions to *alienness* that intrigue characters rather than sending them running the other way in terror. Iyon Daiyin meaning 'the people running away from Daiyin'. 'Is this your Journeymage project?' 'Oops.'
Connor turning his magic instructor into a turtle and having no idea how he'd done it. Wren making a purple rabbit illusion move, then dropping a highly necessary shield over herself and her own instructor--what a Basics test that was! Renic the Rotten, the fact that he was real, and that poor Connor had to put up with him in person--ack! The one little Prentice, Rissa, losing her head in the midst of an early battle and being stabbed, as related after the fact by--Tyrone? Poor Rissa.
Jay caw for charge, whirler whistle for retreat.
'Three years, the summer isles.' Three years to travel somewhere? said young me. Wow!
Battle tactics written in a style that a twelve-year-old could imagine, but that also hold up to mental scrutiny twenty years later. Sword dances, and decorative rapiers being put to practical uses. lackland finally getting reversed on its speaker, turned into lackwit! Siradhi Browns and Meldrithi Blues. Nissal, Neri, and Wren. 'What city? What *country?*' 'Out the north gate!'
Castle guardian spells being set to fling shoes and clothing at invaders. Wren sneaking into camp as a white cat, then shifting form. Tyrone being horrible at Scrying, and getting Master Kobel with a message by mistake--oops! Mistress Leila, firm but fair. Meldrithi lil, lily-stamped coins. Meldrith, Siradh, Lirwan, and Allat-Los.
Connor meeting a tree. Skylords and underwater sentients. Teressa hacking off her own braid--oh no, said long-haired me, don't do that--oh! Family names and echoing holidays - Rhys Day - hinting at past colonization? Andreus getting his, in the end.
I really, really sharding well hope I didn't just creep out that author...
