Gak. I hate blood. Take care, Jim, and hope they can find a med that works without these issues.
Good morning, Putting on a pot of coffee from the Jamaican Blue Mountains. Teas are Assam Bukhiel and Red Rose. Hot water is ready for other hot drinks. There's a pitcher of lemonade in the fridge, too. Bit chilly to need it here, but I imagine it is warming up in other parts.
Oh, and here's a little something for breakfast. Hot off the ape's stove. Help yerself.
Quote by gillianleeza
it felt at times they were trying to cram in all the tropes that would appeal to the Oscar voters.
God, I hate movies that are blatant Oscar bait. Make a movie based on the story and characters and let the awards come if they come. Some of my favorite movies would never get within a mile of an Oscar but are much better movies, IMHO, than some of the movies made with award potential in mind.
Look up the s-f movie The Quiet Earth. Marvelous, moody, character-driven post-apoc story with only a few, very pointed and relevant sfx.
/End Rant
So I am trying to flesh out my world's religion now that I have a priestess (a "Lorn" in the parlance of this society) and her apprentice as characters. I have settled on making it monothestic, but also working to make it somewhat different from Western monotheism in our world. There are some elements clearly with Jewish or Christian roots, but there is no "Bible" or salvation in their beliefs (maybe there will be a sect like that later, but so far not). Really, it is more like a pagan tradition that has evolved into a kind of monotheism or henotheism (multiple deities but one is supreme above the others). So far I have:
Denith - "God"
Denith An - "Angels" or maybe lesser deities, basically spirit priest(esse)s
Denith Lorn - the human priesthood
Denith Sha - lay order who provide protection and other aid to the Denith Lorn
Tan Denatha - the Denith Lorn "Vatican", basically a huge palace complex where the leaders of the religion live and work
Colleges - sects within the Denith Lorn focused on particular things (e.g. Elera in my latest story is from the College of Spirits, which studies spirits, sorcery, etc.)
Good morning, Stories Space. Sunny here for now, but the weather is supposed to turn crappy (rain with possible thunderstorms) later in the day.
I've put on a pot of Ethiopian Yirgcheffe for the coffee set. Teas are Scottish Breakfast and Wakucha (Japanese black tea). Hot water is ready for other teas or hot chocolate. Since I've been a bit scarce, I have checked and restocked sodas, marshmallows, and other such goodies. Bit early to start making lemonade and iced tea but since it really is Spring, I'll make a pitcher of the latter and put it in the fridge.
Trying to write but my mood has seriously sucked of late so it is hard to focus on a story.
Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess
Taking my brother to see Dungeons and Dragons tonight
I am a bit tempted. The reviews are much better than for any previous attempt at a D&D oor RPG-based movie and from the trailer, it looks like they nailed some of the monsters from my D&D days.
Ape is back from the wilds of Central Ontario where the lakes are still frozen (really) and there's still substantial amounts of the white stuff in places. (For James: Orillia)
Good afternoon. I shall endeavour to resume regular coffee setups now, but I put on a pot of coffee and a pot of green tea for the afternoon crowd.
Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess
Sometimes when I feel like my story is dumb or I can’t see it going any further, I just let it sit. I move onto something else and then come back several months (or even years) and see if I can revive it with fresh eyes.
This is where I am trying to live. I now have an "Under Review" folder in my Google Drive writing folder for stuff that I am unhappy with but might want to come back to. I have been terrible for going "eff it" and deleting stuff over the years.
Later, alligators.
Adam is no Freddy but he has nonetheless pulled off some pretty incredible performances with Queen, not to mention his own career.
My big musical event of the past week was the release of Floor Jansen's solo album Paragon. The final single was the opening track, "My Paragon."
And, amazingly, Floor actually managed to one-up herself by announcing that she is pregnant with her second child a few days before the album dropped. She is now on the Asian leg of Nightwish's Human : || : Nature tour and, yeah, after watching some fan vids from the tour I see why she announced when she did. There's no hiding it anymore. She's even referenced it a few times in her banter it seems.
Bit soggy here today but, hey, that's the story of spring in Southwestern Ontario. Helps get rid of the snow, I guess.
Coffee is on with some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe in the pot. Teas are Assam and Scottish Breakfast. Hot water is ready for other beverages.
I do have a start on the next part of the story I began in the The Spirits of Tan Maldrin but I am already rethinking it so not sure where it will go now.
Quote by gillianleeza
The Southern Book Club's Guide To Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
It's a different take on the standard vampire story. I loved it.
I heard Grady a few times as a guest on podcasts. Quite a character. Still haven't got around to reading him yet, though.
Quote by verbal
I'm going to try to get my car registration renewed before I get a ticket and a fine. I'm really paranoid about it now (it's over a year late) (don't ask).
So here in Ontario, they changed the system during the pandemic. They froze expiries for two years, then when they started up the system again, they eliminated the fee for registration and no longer issue a sticker to put on your plate, but you still have to actually go on the provincial service portal and register at least every two years. Even weirder, they still offer both one- and two-year registrations. Even when there was a fee, you did not get a break on the annual rate for doing two years or anything, so it seemed kind of pointless even then. Now, if they aren't charging, why not just make it default to two years? At least the expiry is the month of your birthday so it is easy to track that way.
Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess
Hope you’re both feeling better soon.
Verbs dropped a new story this morning, so maybe that will help. 😊
Hello. Sorry for the late setup. Fresh coffee is ready and there's Red Rose and Earl Grey in the teapots. The kettle is boiled for other hot beverages.
Spring has, indeed, sprung here in Southern Ontario. Now just have to hope it stays that way.
Quote by verbal
In my new story the protagonist's best friend is named Scott.
You'll get my bill in the morning. 😜
Quote by verbal
The big magazine I was hoping for passed on my story today, after asking me to keep in on "hold" for a month. Heavy sigh.
Well, that sucks. I am not sure if it is a good sign or not that they didn't pass right away.
Still struggling a bit with my messed-up back, but much better than yesterday. Got the floors washed without further injury anyhow.
Quote by Pnin
Why play with AI for the cover image when you could use it to write the whole story?
Because then what's the f***ing point? I write because I like writing. I love playing with words and finding the best way to tell a story. Using GPT-4 or whatever sucks out everything I enjoy about writing.
Whereas, I am by no means a visual artist and don't take the same pleasure in it. In the past I have used stock art or material with a CC license for cover images, sometimes with a bit of editing. DALL-E and other AI art generators give me a new way to do that. I actually use Nightcafe which lets me choose whether to use DALL-E or Stable Diffusion.
Personally, I would like to see a clear statement from the ownership that AI generated stories are either not welcome or else create a mandatory category for them to ensure they are clearly indicated as being by an AI, not the person posting it.
Because simply coming up with a one or two sentence idea and then letting an AI take it from there is NOT being a writer. It is exactly the same as if you commissioned another person to write it.
/End rant
PS. The cover on my latest was done using AI. Forget which one just now.
Rejection slips are a rite of passage for a writer, aren't they? And they motivate you to do better (or pick a better market, anyhow).😀
Good afternoon. Poop hitting fan at work today. Can't say more but suffice it to say, ape not happy. Somewhere, out there, there is a piece of human garbage that I want to throttle with my bare hands (well, I might wear gloves and a mask just in case but you get the point).
Quote by sprite
not a huge fan of the musical version. i like the Lon Chaney version best
The Chaney is by far the best.
I do like the musical (was already a Lloyd Webber fanboi when the original album came out) but will happily concede that it's more of a dark romance than a gothic horror like the novel and Chaney's version. Nightwish's metal version of the title song really made me realize you could take it much darker and still leave the story and music intact.
And the musical is still better than the godawful versions (there are several) that have the Phantom the victim of an acid attack instead of born with a deformity. The latter makes for a more interesting character. The former tends to result in just a plain old revenge thriller of varying degrees of quality.
Quote by sprite
next one is the phantom of the opera.
Oo, a favorite of mine. I've seen a couple of the movie versions, the original Toronto production of the stage musical (but not the movie version of the stage musical, oddly), and read the novel. Have flirted with doing a Phantom-based story myself but have not gone there, yet.
Quote by redwriter
Last Sunday I watched as that very film won 7 Oscars including best picture.
And Michelle Yeoh! Yay! She's a wonderful actress who can do just about anything in my experience. Drama, action, comedy. She even played a villain on Star Trek : Discovery (who was supposed to get her own spinoff at one point but that seems to have dropped off Paramount-CBS's radar).
Quote by sprite
as threatened, i posted a story here: https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/fantasy/monstersikatrina a joy to write and the first of (hopefully) many. hope everyone's doing well, better, good, great, not horribly.
How dare you? Now get back to where you belong, you hussy you. 🤣
Nice to see you here. Will get to it later. Need to do some reading.
