Santa Paula: The Road so Far # 6

It's finished, ok! Almost.

I’m Leaving Twitter

I don't give a shit about Elon Musk. He's not the reason I'm leaving Twitter fandom. For so long, I've felt like something was missing; I've been dissatisfied, bored, and disillusioned by the whole experience. I even left fandom for a long time, three years. I returned because I missed it; I missed writing fanfiction.

The Silmarillion: It’s not as scary as you think

I tried to read The Simarillion about fifteen years ago. I opened it, read maybe five pages and gave up. One of my reading goals this year was to try again. I did. It turns out The Silmarillion is not as scary as I thought.

New Beginnings

Welcome to Xenodike.com. It’s a merger of my fandom LiveJournal, which I started in 2005, and a book blog I started here on WordPress in 2017. That’s why, despite this being my first official post here, you’ll find entries going back almost seventeen years.

Santa Paula: The Road So Far # 5

It's been two and half months since my last update, and I still haven't completed the first draft. But, I do have a complete second draft of the first three acts—the finished story will have four acts. With the way Santa Paula is structured, I wanted to get a good grasp of the character's journeys and the major plot developments before I start writing the final act.

Santa Paula — The Road So Far # 4

The Road So Far: Part 1 - Part 2 — Part 3 Draft: 1.5 Months in Progress: 8 Word Count: 70K-ish Estimated Final Word Count: 120K 130K (ish) Named Characters: 9 State-of-Mind: *blows raspberry* Number of references photos on my Pinterest: 84 194 228 255 Currently, yelling at myself: Peddle, Bitch. Peddle.  I've missed my …

Displaced and Frustrated

I've had to temporarily leave my apartment, my spacious, roomy, airy 800sqft apartment that is all mine. I moved out because the house is old, and the water damage around the shower drainage was no longer possible to ignore; it needed to be fixed.    According to my landlady's insurance company, it was an easy …

Don’t be a Drama-Cunt or How to be a Laidback Fangirl

At the moment, everywhere I turn, fandom seems to be filled with drama. I know it doesn't feel like it, but those of us who've been in fandom a long time know i's nothing new—drama comes and goes in waves. My approach is to stay out of it; I don't engage in bullshit, I don't …

Book Review: Queen of Storms

Queen of Storms is the second volume in Raymond E Feist's trilogy, The Firemane Saga. The book picks up shortly after the end of the first volume, King of Ashes, with Hatu and Hava having settled down as innkeepers in Barons Landing.

Q&A # 3 — Answers # 1

asked:  Brace yourself! I have a lot of questions 😄5, 8, 23, 52, 53 5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most. I can't say that I strive to write like a specific author or that one or the other influenced my style. If anything, the authors I greatly admire have a very …

Q&A # 3

This has been goinga round Tumblr.  Go ahead, I'll play. Ask me.  If a question has a link, I've answered it already.  New ask game for writers 1. Favorite place to write. 2. Favorite part of writing. 3. Least favorite part of writing. 4. Do you have writing habits or rituals? 5. Books or authors …

The Tower of Fools

PREAMBLE I read The Tower of Fools on its release in October 2020; I had it on pre-order and finished it in two days. I'd planned to write a review as soon as I completed the book. Then, out of the blue, I hit a wall. Sometimes, it happens to me; one year, I'll read eighty books, …

Santa Paula — The Road So Far # 3

The Road So Far: Part 1 - Part 2 Draft: 1.5 Months in Progress: 5 Word Count: 70K-ish Estimated Final Word Count: 120K 130K (ish) Named Characters: 5 State-of-Mind: Do I have to? But it's booooring. Fine. Currently Researching: N/A Number of references photos on my Pinterest: 84 194 228 Currently, yelling at myself: Was …

Santa Paula — The Road so Far # 2

Draft: 1 Months in Progress: 4,5 Word Count: 50K-ish Estimated Final Word Count: 120K 130K (ish) Named Characters: 5 State-of-Mind: Fine. I give up. Let's suck the joy out of everything and embrace the angst. Currently Researching: Dissociation. Vining vegetables. Squash Tunnels. Chicken breeds. Cover Crops. Bohemian Clothing. Silk Robes. Mexican food. Pig Breeds. Tequila …

Q&A Writing # 2

So, I found these questions on Tumblr a few weeks back, and I thought it would be fun to answer them. Yes, I'm procrastinating, spending way too long on this instead of working on my next story. You know what? I'm an adult, and I'll procrastinate if I want to. 1. From one to five …

Santa Paula – The Road So Far # 1

I had a conversation with my beta, TrendyKitty a while back; she proposed that for this new story I'm writing, I save a copy of every draft so I can go back and see the entire process from the first draft to ready-to-post.  I think it's a good idea. I thought it would be interesting …

Happy Birthday JADE

Happy 10th Birthday JADE; you'll always be special to me. (Yes, I know it say's 2015 on AO3, but I first posted JADE at on April 15th, 2011)

Q&A Writing # 1

I've been gettings some amazing comments and feedback from Soulmates-for-real, and we've had some brief conversations about my stories. She recently asked me two questions: Have I ever been tempted to write Sam & Dean fics? Would I ever consider writing J2 Non-AU? As I began answering these questions, the length of these answers—as it …

Xenodikes Fandom Philosophy

I keep talking about the "old days" over on my Twitter, how much I dislike social media fandom, and how we should all migrate back to Livejournal.  Well, maybe I should put my money where my mouth is and post something to this journal.  I thought, maybe, I should do a reintroduction post; introduce myself …

Book Review: King of Ashes

Title: King of Ashes Series: The Fireman Saga # 1 Author: Raymond E Feist Publication: 2018 THE BLURB For centuries, the five greatest kingdoms of North and South Tembria, twin continents on the world of Garn, have coexisted in peace. But the balance of power is destroyed when four of the kingdoms violate an ancient …

Five Books: I Enjoyed But Didn’t Review

I read a lot more books than I review. There are many reasons I choose not to talk about a book on this blog.  Time is the obvious one. I read seventy-seven books last year; even if I did this full-time, I couldn't write that many reviews.  Another might be that I didn't enjoy the …

Book Review: The Gospel of the Eels

Don't let the subject or non-fiction part intimidate you. This book is so much more than a dry textbook about eels. It tells a sprawling, thoughtful, philosophical, provocative, and emotional story.

The Witcher Collectibles: What’s out there?

It's been ages since I wrote about The Witcher. In this post, I thought we'd talk a little about The Witcher collectibles.  When I say collectibles, I mean statues, art, replicas, figures like Funko Pops, and similar items.   I consider things like key-chains, mugs, t-shirts, puzzles, posters, and pins to be merchandise. I'm sure the …

Assassins Creed: Valhalla – What to read while waiting

Since Norse mythology is equally as outrageous and entertaining as Greek mythology, I hope there will be a strong presence in AC: Valhalla as well.

Book Review: Die for Me – Killing Eve 3

There are times I wish it were forbidden to adapt a story before it's finished. That an author should be allowed to complete their story in peace before other writers begin to change it to fit a new medium.

Five Books: I Collected in 2019

A few weeks ago, I wrote about some of the books I got rid of during my latest decluttering session.

In that post, I talked about wanting to be more intentional in my purchase of books. That I want a carefully chosen collection of books; one I'll genuinely cherish for the rest of my life. 

So, to balance my decluttering post, I thought I'd talk about some of the books I've bought this past year.     

Book Review: The Henna Artist

The Henna Artist is precisely the type of story I love: deceptively straight forward but with a hidden depth that's slowly uncovered.

Book Review: The Binding

THE FACTS Title: The Binding Author: Bridget Collins Published: 2019 BLURB Imagine you could erase grief.Imagine you could hide the darkest, most horrifying secret.Forever. Young Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a strange letter arrives summoning him away from his family. He is to begin an apprenticeship as a Bookbinder—a vocation that arouses fear, superstition, and …

Why I don’t like Netflix The Witcher

This post was updated in May 2020 As a longtime fan of The Witcher games and books, I heard about the Netflix adaptation early on. Initially, I was excited. By the time the trailer released, my hype had turned to indifference. I decided I wasn't going to watch it. Then the show exploded. Surprised and unsure, I thought maybe my initial …

Five Books I’m Decluttering

Although I love books, I'm fairly unsentimental and declutter mine regularly. With the exception of a few special ones from my childhood, I seldom get attached to a specific edition. Of course, there are novels that I always have a copy of: The Lord of the Rings, The Dark is Rising Sequence and others. But if a new, …

The Discworld Reviews: Guards! Guards!

THE FACTS Title: Guards! Guards! Place in series: #8 in The Discworld Series, #1 in the City Watch Collection Author: Terry Pratchett Published: 1989 Concerning spoilers: The Discworld Series is made-up of forty-one books. Most can be read as stand-alone novels, but they are all connected. There will be no spoilers for this particular book. …

My 2019 in Books: My favorite reads of the year

I really enjoyed my 2019 in books. Most of the books I've read this year have been good. Some were average. Many were fantastic.

The Witcher Reviews: The Lady of the Lake

The Lady of the Lake, the last book in The Witcher Saga, is a novel focused on concluding this intricate story. It’s one of the things I genuinely love about this series: The End isn’t hastily handled in a few short pages: it’s an entire book. All of the conflicts, schemes, confrontations, battles, and fights that have been plotted and foreshadowed will come to a close.

The Witcher Reviews: The Tower of the Swallow

The world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. Hunted by friends and foes alike, she has taken on the guise of a petty bandit and lives free for the first time in her life. But the net around her is closing.

Happy Mail: More Discworld Collectibles

Because Terry Pratchett was so restrictive with his merchandise licensing, I always feel satisfied when I buy a Discworld collectible. The quality is always above standard. You can tell that these are items designed and created by real fans of the Discworld. They feel genuine.

The Witcher Reviews: Baptism of Fire

Baptism of Fire is the fifth book in the story about the Witcher Geralt and his child of destiny, Ciri. When we left them at the end of Time of Contempt, both found themselves in less than ideal situations.

In defense of The Hobbit

The Hobbit tells the tale of Bilbo Baggins, a respectable hobbit living a quiet life of comfort. Early on you learn that, although his father was the respectable Bungo Baggins, his mother was the remarkable Belladonna Took.

Nordic Novels: The Moomins

Tove Jansson playful language and imagination inhabited this world with all kinds of wonderful creatures. Throughout the stories, Moomin Valley and the Moomin house becomes a shelter and home to many lost and displaced creatures.

Five tv-series to binge when you crave a little darkness

I tend to hibernate in my apartment for a few days and immerse myself in stories that are a little darker, more morally complex. If it's one thing I can't stand when I feel like this, it's too-good-to-be-true heroes and annoying characters that can do no wrong.

Why I’ll Never Write a One-Star Review

Despite having a pretty good idea about what kind of books I gravitate to, occasionally, I come across books that I think I'll enjoy but don't. Other times I tell myself I'm missing out on great books because I'm so set in my ways with what genres I like, and I should try something new; sometimes it works other times it doesn't.

In my Bookcase: Lady Mechanika

If you're like me, appreciative of comics as a medium, but overwhelmed at the thought of trying to navigate though the massive number of issues, reboots, and alternate universes of big-name comics, Lady Mechanika is a great alternative. 

Book Review: The Spider – Under the Northern Sky # 2

The first book in this planned trilogy, The Wolf, ends with a foreboding epilogue. The Spider, picking up just days after, begins with an equally foreshadowing prologue hinting at the disaster about to strike. With both epilogue and prologue in mind, it's no surprise that this story begins with a funeral.

So, you loved Good Omens. Now what?

The recently premiered mini-series, Good Omens, on Amazon Prime is currently all the rage on my twitter feed. The series is an adaptation of the thirty-year-old cult novel, written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. At the moment, it seems like it's either being reviewed, analyzed, raved about, or involved in hilarious misunderstandings instigated by Evangelicals Christians. 

The Witcher Reviews: Time of Contempt

Aretuza will also be the place of a large political gathering, The Mages Conference, where most of the more powerful and influential sorcerers and sorceresses will gather. What occurs there will have harsh, long-lasting consequences and set the main characters on paths that will last throughout the series.

Book Review: Good Omens

What happens next includes prophecies by a slightly unhinged, seventeen-century witch, self-proclaimed witch hunters, the Four Horsemen (on motorcycles), Angels being bureaucratic assholes, and demons who overreact when you've accidentally misplaced the Antichrist. There are also Satanic nuns, patriotic Americans, and Hellhounds. Oh, and the Antichrist is an eleven-year-old boy.

Book Adaptations: Killing Eve

The next show on my list is, Killing Eve. The anticipated second season premiered on April 7th. I had hoped to have this post up by then; unfortunately, my sometimes temperamental back objected to that idea. So, we're now two (almost three) episodes into the new season, and so far it's looking good!

Book Review: The Wolf

This is the type of book where almost everything feels familiar or reminds you of something. But not in a way that it feels like a carbon copy. There is a personality in his writing, the author has a voice.

Book Review: No Tomorrow – Killing Eve 2

One thing I really enjoy about the writing is that, because of the very different personalities and lives these two women lead, it never feels repetitive. For example, a part of the book takes place in Venice, you have chapters from Villanelle's POV, and then you have Eve retracing her steps, and yet it feels new.

The Discworld Reviews: Pyramids

We are finally here! At long last, it's time to review, Pyramids. This was the book that sold me on the Discworld series and showed me the magic that can happen when Terry Pratchett hits all my buttons.

Book-to-TV Adaptations: American Gods

American Gods is a much-acclaimed novel by Neil Gaiman released in 2001. The book is a unique blend of Americana, folklore, world mythology, and contemporary fantasy. It follows the character Shadow Moon as he, after a prison sentence and the death of his wife Laura, takes a job as a driver and errand-boy to a man calling himself Mr. Wednesday.