#parentheticalexplanation

Those are so adorable!!

You got this!

A few years back I had this cheap paper fan with the phrase 頑張れ私！("Ganbare Watashi" - Keep going, me!) printed on it.

YAY! I'm so glad your Dr was on board with starting you right away! I'd pick a day where you can celebrate properly afterword. Like, if it's nice enough go on a long walk or go out to eat or something.

Thanks for all the nice replies on my post about seeing the doctor, everybody!! And yeah, B, you have the right idea! I'm going on Friday after work, and then I'm gonna come home and Ari and I are gonna celebrate somehow! Dinner out, maybe? COUPLES MASSAGE?? (I could really use a massage, man. All this stress in my shoulders, uffda.)

I keep forgetting you’re a few hours ahead of me. I was like why is he eating dinner early like an old person?? We should try to be in the same timezone sometime in the future.

Some day Parry, some day

I am excited for you! Partly because you are one step closer to reading Tawny Man

Bingtown, where the books mostly take place, is located pretty far to the South of the Six Duchies, past the Mountain Kingdoms and their neighbor Chalced. They’re close enough to have some trade with the Six Duchies, and to have heard some general rumors of the Red Ships Wars, but far enough away that they have their own politics and culture. (Bingtowners generally think of Six Duchy folk as uncultured hicks from way out nowhere.)

The books take place between the two Fitz-centric trilogies, Farseer and Tawny Man. Tawny Man starts 15 years after the close of Farseer, so there’s a lot of room to fill! I think Liveships starts about 10 years after the end of Farseer.

There’s not a lot I can say about explicit connections between the series without massive spoilers, but trust me: they’re there! The conclusion of Liveships has huuuuuuuge repercussions for the entire world, not just Bingtown, and those repercussions turn out to be crucial in Tawny Man. When you start Ship of Magic, I know it feels like you’ve gone to a completely different world, but the connections build up between the two series. You also learn a lot of world-building information that changes how you’ll look at events in Farseer – it is the Realm of the Elderlings after all, not the Duchies! (There are also some AMAZING Farseer references and cameos in the series, especially the last book, but I don’t want to ruin them for you!)

Sorry about Kennit – he’s an ass. Ship of Magic may be my least favorite Elderlings book, but I think Mad Ship and Ship of Destiny are pretty great. It just takes a little while to build up steam!