but sometimes there are secrets trying to understand people

You may have seen me post about something called The Blackberry Bushes. That's my WIP. Though that title has become less relevant to the actual stories as the stories and characters have evolved over the last twenty or so years, it's stuck around. So what are these stories actually about?

In a fictional world reminiscent of Europe around the turn of the twentieth century, we follow the lives and adventures of seven young protagonists:

Rachel Doncath, nervous wreck who's never had a solid sense of home or friends thanks to growing up in a military family

Rietta Valencourt, teenage queen of a major nation, kept in isolation by her adamantly protective mother until she reaches her majority

Delclis Phemister, socially awkward botany nerd who would prefer to ignore the fact that he technically has a claim to his country's throne through the father he never met

Elystan Liddick, Delclis's half-brother, annoying little jerk, and the current heir to the throne--if he can survive to grow up

Amarantha Melbray, daughter of Elystan's nurse, dedicated aspiring artist, too serious for her own good, and deeply resentful of the boy who has monopolized her mother her entire life

Josiah Callon, elder son and heir of an ambitious and image-conscious king, raised to embody perfection and is obnoxiously good at it--until he isn't

Tamett Låsrygg (Lockridge), paid companion to the crown prince (Josiah) of a nation that long ago conquered his, might not be able to keep up the facade of dutiful compliance much longer

As much as I love researching this mostly historically-based world, the characters are the centerpiece of the stories--their growth, their relationships. These are stories about isolation and longing for connection, about family dynamics--good, bad, and complicated, about the tension between responsibility/expectations and personal inclinations, about how people are often more than our assumptions make them out to be. I try to present characters' flaws honestly (and some of them are very flawed) while also making them understandable and human.

The tone I'm going for is something that hopefully feels a lot like classic children's stories you might have read growing up.

If this is something you're interested in, here's where you can find what I've posted. None of the intended novels are anywhere near complete, but there are sample chapters and a lot of short stories.

and then the class actually starts and you're probably fine

I got a book request this morning. From someone who wanted us to supply one of her textbooks.

C got five phone calls yesterday from people wanting their textbooks. And four the day before, including from a man of the type that my sister calls "over fifty and angry" who yelled at her when she explained that we don't do that and that she could transfer him to the bookstore.

We. are. baffled.

This evening, I unplugged it, unscrewed each lightbulb and shade, shook off a moth corpse into the trash, loosened the base further, and tried retightening it. It worked. It didn't take much time at all. The lamp can stand on its own, and I feel like I can use it freely if I need to.

Five years it stood there. I don't know what I was doing. The thought of disassembling it just seemed like Too Much for too long, and I don't know why.

I'm pretty frank in the long version about what happens between Kon and Knockout, since my assumed audience was academic and likely unfamiliar with the texts I analyze. I describe what happens on panel and quote what she says to him, and...yikes, reading that again, maybe I don't want to subject this audience to that, for the same reason that I chose not to include these panels in the PowerPoint or handout. It's graphic, even though she doesn't get to fully go through with the assault (it's very clear what she was about to do, and that implication alone is horrifying). I will be reading this in front of important university people, potentially (oh dear goodness, what if our president comes and this is her first impression of me). I'm not going to be lecturing along with the professor whose school-aged kids would be likely to come, but it's possible that kids could be there. This is going to be streamed and put on YouTube. My parents might be watching.

And now we return to where the previous season left off: Karena and Sherman meeting up with Cassie at the Owl Cafe (the same restaurant where Amy and Oliver had a memorable early encounter--and reportedly it's modeled after a real restaurant of the same name in Albuquerque!).

We know very little about Cassie's parents, which suggests they're pretty hands-off most of the time. Her arrest, however, is too much to ignore. And Cassie, who ordinarily is quite persuasive, cannot get them to believe her about Amy. I'm curious about this dynamic.

Meisha, Schafer, and Tammie are back! It's been forever!

(Schafer is the standard spelling of the name, and the one that the comic has used more frequently in recent seasons, but now the spelling "Shafer," as in the earliest installments, has returned. McCranie isn't always consistent with spellings of names--is Dr. Kim Johnathan or Jonathan?--so I'm not sure which is intended to be the official one. I'm going to stick with the standard spelling for now.)

These kids are a set. Do Not Separate.

As my sister texted me earlier, "they finally let Zeph off that train." It's about time.

I'm curious about the significance of Meisha's having dyed her hair. She credits it to boredom, but the fact that it's remarked upon suggests this is going to have some kind of significance.

Cassie is so sure that she is Amy's best friend and outraged to hear that someone else is claiming that title. She and Jemmah facing off, with their very strong personalities, is going to be entertaining.

"Plus, she [Jemmah] kind of bullied me into letting her help us. She was very intimidating." Which sounds a lot like Cassie!

Not just Jemmah but also Dylan, and then Amy's parents too. Everyone that loves her is banding together to help! She is incredibly loved.

Judging from the thumbnail of next week's installment, Sherman has been working at Freddy's--which is owned by a man who remembers Amy fondly. I'll bet that he'd like to get in on this rescue mission too.

If [the Titans] don't need me anymore, I don't want to hold them back. Rule #1 of the Emerson System for Being on a Team may be "If a team actually wants you around, don't miss your chance: join up and do your best," but Rule #2 is "Know when you've worn out your welcome." Let's face it--I'm a failed Titan. I couldn't keep up with the work because I just had to have a breakdown and go on hiatus to try to put myself back together. So they forgot about me. I'm damaged goods. Nobody needs that. So getting that call to join Young Justice on their trip to Zandia (some kind of revenge mission, I think? still a bit hazy on why we were there) was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. They wanted me. They needed my skills. I got to put all that practice I've been doing to good use, and they noticed. I even made a few friends. A cool girl called Inferno. Superboy, who I've been wanting to meet for a long time. And, of course, Bart was there. Young Justice felt like a good fit. Maybe these were my people. They seemed to think so too. Or so I thought. I was wrong. They aren't coming. So what do I do now?