Fic and Blog Promotion Friday - Plus sneak peek at new Trixie story · 1:33am Jan 16th, 2016
Starting with blogs, because they’re earlier in the alphabet and because: AlicornPriest has another one of his insightful and underappreciated blog posts on The Art of Writing covering figurative language, which I am guilty/proud of using like a (fill in metaphor here) in most of my writing. Go read.
Bad Horse also has a very nice blog post promoting Twilight Sparkle - Unicorn Economist
Which bring us (of course) to Twilight Sparkle - Unicorn Economist by Mylittleeconomy, another brilliant author who we don’t see enough from. I love his sense of humor. An example: "...Princess Celestia was not so much the ruler of her domain as its measuring tape, scale, and astrolabe."
Trixie Lulamoon and the Horrible Hypothesis by kudzuhaiku is now complete. Sumac is best little pony, and adorable as heck.
Analemma about a distant beach and a mysterious mare who visits once a month. That’s all I can say without spoiling it. Well worth the read.
I’m Offensive And I Take Offense A delightful tail of microaggression and passive-aggressive behavior that pokes well-deserved fun at the politically-correct. Warning: You will be offended. Too bad.
Twilight Sparkle vs. the Equestrian Cutie Mark Constellation Registry by Estee. Some foolish company thinks they can sell ponies false promises written in the stars. Twilight is determined to prove them wrong. Severely underappreciated work by Estee.
Sneak peek at Trixie’s Fire in the Blood below the break: (for those of you who like Trixie as portrayed in Monster in the Twilight)
When all of your accomplishments have turned to dust, even the Great and Powerful must fall. After many such failures, Trixie has reached the nadir of her life, the lowest she could possibly sink, and now there is only one option remaining for her.
She is going to go home to Neigh Orleans in defeat.
That is, unless her Grand-Père Presto can restore Trixie’s confidence in herself with a little magic gumbo and a whole lot of love.
Fire in the Blood (joined in progress)
* * *
“Baa!” Presto waved a disparaging hoof. “So I am a hypocrite. It holds back age, like chilli powder. You, now. You always knew what it was to cook.”
Trixie hesitated, taking a bite out of the leafy end of the celery in order to divert attention. It did not work, as her grandfather settled back down in his chair with a mischievous expression. He gestured to the table with one hoof. “Anypony can get up on stage and caper like a clown, but it takes a performer to be great, yes?” He nodded at the table full of food. “Perform for me, ma petite fille. Show your grand-père how great you really are.”
“Papi!” She looked at her grandfather, who was sitting back in his chair and grinning. “I can’t cook your famous gumbo.”
“Ah, then you have failed before you even start.” The grin on his face faded. “Is this what you say when you first perform for me on stage, yes? Did you whine about not being able to do your tricks, or did you charge out, all filled with your fire and determined to spread it to the world?”
She sat the gnawed piece of celery down on the table before it was a total loss. “I don’t want to, Papi. What if I make a mistake? I’ve already failed so many times. I don’t know what it’s like to succeed anymore.”
“Ah, every fire, she requires a spark.” The old stallion scooted to the edge of his chair. “I shall tell you a secret that you must never tell anyone else, no? Lean over here and learn, young one.” He put his mouth to Trixie’s ear and whispered, “I make mistakes too.”
“No!” Trixie stepped back with a hoof held over her chest. “You’ve never burned a biscuit or scorched a souffle ever! You’re the perfect cook, Papi. You’re perfect. I’m just…”
Trixie felt the touch of an old and dry hoof beneath her chin, lifting her face up so she could see the raw ingredients spread across the table in the way grandfather had taught her. They seemed to be actors on a stage, each one of them gathered and prepared for their role in supporting the star of the upcoming performance. “When you make a mistake on stage, do you throw your hat down and storm away like some spoiled foal, or do you lift up your head and keep going, working the mistake into your act until everypony in the audience thinks you did it intentionally?”
“The show must go on,” murmured Trixie.
“Show me.” The old stallion settled back down into his chair with a sigh, folding his forehooves over his chest as Trixie picked up a bowl.
Accents: For those of you who do not speak English as a primary language, and for some of you who do, Cajun is somewhat of a blend between English, French, and Chilli Peppers. Here's the master of Cajun cooking, Justin Wilson as an example.
YES JUSTIN WILSON :D
I really do need to read mylittleeconomy's work. Top of my Read Later list, but that's a bit like being on top of... well, a pot of gumbo. A new chunk of andouille's going to surface in a few seconds.
3689373 I gur-an-tee. I'm just wondering how long after I post it before somebody goes through the whole thing and leaves a 'needs correction' list in the comments for every Cajun-ism. Or worse, a real Cajun who corrects it to the real accent (which is slightly more readable than Gaelic, but just barely.) Hey, I'm from Kansas. We don't have accents. Honest. It's all those other people.
Hmmm....
I suppose a thanks is in order since I just now read one of the recommendations and (mostly) enjoyed it.
I say mostly because it felt like I was reading, say, the wedding story of your tutor series without having read the rest of them. For whatever reason I've never read anything from the continuum that the start chart story is in, so when some references came up that were clearly from the rest of the story I just kind of sat there going "huh? Seven? In the Mane Six? Oh must mean Spike. Oh wait, Spike on top of seven? huh? Twilight worked in the archives? Wha?"
Oh well, maybe I'll read it at some point.
Also your comment about accents reminded me of the time where I was told, "Don't even get me started on you people from Pittsburgh, you don't even f***ing speak English."
I had to laugh... because as someone from Pittsburgh I kind of agreed with him.
I second the recommendation of Analemma.