#winking-owl

Some shroomy Bois I found hiking last fall. Been wanting to get out into woods too, this quarantine is driving me nuts. Miss seeing cool fungi (that's also the first lobster mushroom I've found!)

[Submitted by @winking-owl​]

How gorgeous!! Sorry it’s taken me a while to reply. I’m super jealous of that lobster mushroom - I’ve never actually found one myself, and really want to try one. 

Top photo looks like a variable oysterling (Crepidotus varibilis), though more golden than I’d expect, so perhaps not!

Second is definitely the distinctive rooting shank (Xerula radicata) - you can’t mistake that elegant stem. You got super lucky on edibles here; did you gather any of them?

Hi!  I’m glad you’re enjoying the fic recs!  There’s a ton out there to read, so if I can help point out some gems, I’m very glad to do so!With books and comics, a lot will depend on what you’re interested in (like my favorite era is the prequels, but I’ll read anything good, because I enjoy almost everything of SW), and you can pretty much pick up anything from the last five years or so and it’ll at least not be terrible!  Though, I have to admit, the comics have been phenomenal, while the books can’t quite reach the same heights for me.But my favorite places to start are usually:COMICS:

The 2015 Star Wars main comic title by Jason Aaron + the 2015 Darth Vader comic series by Kieron Gillen.  They’re meant to be read concurrently (at least for the first dozen issues or so) and they really kicked off an incredible era of SW comics.  The explore the time between ANH and ESB, getting into the characters’ heads and having some phenomenal moments.  Vader discovering the name of the pilot that blew up the Death Star is an iconic moment for a reason.

The 2017 Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith comic by Charles Soul, which is an intense and beautifully done look at the transition from Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader in the aftermath of Revenge of the Sith and really goes hard on showing his sunken cost fallacy and how terrible his choices were that he could never admit to, that he’s absolutely a terrifying nightmare while also being entirely human and almost pitiable.

Kanan: The Last Padawan is only 12 issues, but it’s gorgeously drawn and adds so much to Kanan’s story and is great if you’re interested in seeing what the Jedi were like inside their own Temple a bit more.  We get to see Caleb Dume become a Padawan, we get some stellar Depa Billaba moments, and a lot of heartbreak as we see Order 66 through Caleb’s eyes, as well as Kanan figuring out his way in the galaxy after all that.

The Age of Republic series (I think there’s 8 or 9 in total?) by Jody Houser are really great.  They’re single issue stories, so don’t expect big complex plots, but the character moments in each one of them, including a lot of themes that echo from one issue to another, are absolutely stellar.

Obi-Wan & Anakin by Charles Soule, which is a stunningly beautiful comic (I HAVE NEVER SEEN A PRETTIER COMIC IN MY LIFE) and seems somewhat simple on the first read--Anakin intends to leave the Jedi Order, but goes on one last mission with Obi-Wan, then changes his mind--has a surprising amount of layers and details that you can read into it, making it one I’ve reread like three times now and I’ve loved it more each time.

The Poe Dameron comics by Charles Soule are absolutely incredible.  They’re the Poe character exploration for me, the one that really set the foundation imo, as well as they capture Poe’s character and Oscar Isaac’s portrayal of him brilliantly, making him absolutely charming to read.  I still think they’re the best sequels tie-in material yet, even when I love love love other stuff, too.

Shattered Empire by Greg Rucka is also a gorgeously illustrated comic and does a lot to explore what happened after the Empire fell and the aftermath and clean up/last days of the war and was just really solidly good.

BOOKS:

From a Certain Point of View by various authors is a series of short stories about the A New Hope characters that really give a lot of cool depths to them or are just funny little moments.  While it can be hit-or-miss, the ones I would recommend reading are “Master & Apprentice” (Qui-Gon POV), “Time of Death” (Obi-Wan POV), “There is Another” (Yoda POV), and “An Incident Report” (Motti, and it is the funniest thing I’ve ever read) as they provide some stellar character moments.

Bloodline by Claudia Gray is probably the best book for giving you a sense of how the sequel trilogy happened/what the politics of it are, and it’s a solidly fun Leia book and I think easily Gray’s best work for Star Wars.

Star Wars Propaganda by Pablo Hidalgo is an incredible read if you don’t mind that it’s sort of a reference book and sort of a proper novel, as it’s an in-universe reference book, which tells the story of the politics of the galaxy far, far away as shown through art history and its use for propaganda.  It’s an amazing overview of the bigger SW story and how one war flowed into the next and really nails how the governments’ actions (or inactions) lead to so much unrest.

I haven’t finished A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller, but I’ve heard nothing but good about this Kanan backstory (the early days of his and Hera’s first getting to really know each other/working together, as well as Kanan slowly starting to find himself and his path again, or at least think about doing so) that’s interspersed with flashbacks to his time as a Jedi Padawan.

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn is actually a really great book, it introduces the perfect character to be the Watson to Thrawn’s Holmes, where they balance each other really well, so it takes the edges off Thrawn’s more obnoxious behaviors, while also winding it all together with showing what it was like inside the Empire’s earlier days and how the characters all came to be in the places they were in Rebels.

I haven’t finished Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp yet, but what I’ve read of it so far has been really good!  It’s an intense one (as would be expected of a Vader-heavy book) but also it has moments of showing the Twi’lek’s pain at all that’s been heaped on them from their point of view, and some really EXTRA AS FUCK moments from Vader, so I’m enjoying it a lot.

Ahah, you’re not alone with that, when I started reading the novel I almost despaired because I couldn’t remember who was who, and on top of that I had no idea how to pronounce all those names (thanks to the Chinese pinyin charts with audio examples out there).

I’m also by no means an expert on ancient Chinese naming customs, but I’ve read a bit about it (please correct me if I’m wrong). So in ancient China, people could go by three names: A given name, a “courtesy” name, and a title. The given name is used by your family or by people you’re really close to (when people you’re just aquainted with say it, then it’s pretty disrespectful). The courtesy name is received when you become an adult and it’s what most other people will call you from then on. Unless you have a title and the people addressing you want to express an extra amount of respect.  

So with that, we come to the characters’ names (with some visual aid)! (also keep in mind that it always goes Family Name-Given Name)

(although I have never heard anyone refer to Jiang Cheng by his title in the series lmao)

And that’s basically all the characters who are addressed with multiple names. The best way to learn it is to keep watching (at some point you will get used to hearing Lan Zhan softly saying “Wei Ying”, or Jiang Cheng yelling “Wei WuXIAN!”)

Ooh, I do like this theory, it’d be interesting to see how all this stuff plays out. Like, if Vandren didn’t die like we thought, is there a possibility that Sabien is still out there? I’d like to get their perspectives on this whole thing tbh.