Alix Marino

Audio book screenshot of Brandon Sanderson's Tress of the Emerald Sea

#3 Tress of the Emerald Sea, by Brandon Sanderson

I love that he wrote this for his wife, and I love that she convinced him to share it with the world. What a delightful adult fairy tale!

Beautiful. It's like in The Velveteen Rabbit: if something is loved enough, it becomes real. If a story is loved enough by the author, then it feels real to the readers, no matter what 📚

I've read beautifully written books with no soul, and clunkily written fanfics that kept me awake reading haha

Cover image of The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones

#2 The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors, by Dan Jones

Non-fiction that reads like a novel? Yes, please. I can see how this inspired Game of Thrones, and am impressed with how invested I was in these real-life folks!

Screenshot of audio book "Long Live Evil" by Sarah Rees Brennan, with The End button beneath it

Books completed in 2026, here we go!

#1 Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

Love this one! We all imagine we'd be the hero if we entered our favorite story, but how might it really play out? Can't wait for the sequel!

Please note I am aware this is a spam bot. I've marked the message as such. I get several of these kinds of comments every day, but this one was special. It combined hate, rudeness, AI accusations, AND doxxing all in one comment, so I thought I'd have some fun with it!

Screenshot of a "Guest" user, most likely an AI bot, named "Victor_my_love." It is 11 lines of insults, including name-calling, accusations of my writing being generated by AI, and a threat saying I have been doxxed because I am a "complete failure as an author and a person" and "a lying scumbag and a total waste of time who should just delete everything."

"Victor, My Love," your hate is a compliment,
One so amazing I wanted to document
The vitriol. Your words don't upset me. You sound like a dolt.
Thinking AI writes as well as I do is, in fact, the insult.

@status.archiveofourown.org

I get a ton of spam comments from "guests" when I post a new chapter on my fanfictions, saying they have found my address and are doxxing me online, due to various fabricated reasons I "deserve" this.

Please advise; I already have to approve comments before they post.

Two people/bots just offered to charge me money so they could make interesting fanart of my fanfiction.

Interesting idea 🤔 Let me try: Hey, BioWare. I write (really good) fanfiction for Dragon Age. You should totally hire me and pay me!

Thank you!

Back to posting my fanfiction. I am so grateful to the loyal folks who are still hanging around and reading!

#writerslife #fanfic #dragonage

Nice! What are you baking?

Framed movie poster for "Wicked," hanging on a wall

*internal (and external) screaming*

I've wanted Wicked to become a movie for so long and it's finally here and it's amazing!!

Who's definitely going to see it again in theaters? This gal 😊

Thank you! We'll see how it goes :)

Oh my goodness I'm still here. I guess I'm getting back into this writing thing. A genre switch while my fantasy/SFF novel cools its heels a bit... what could go wrong?

#writingcommunity

Image is of a stack of Locus issues and the words "Locus Fundraiser 2024, Awesome Rewards. Signed Books; Author Chats; Story Critiques; Acts of Whimsy; Stickers; Art; Mugs; Bookworm Alien Tees; And More"

Here's a chance to double your support!

@SFWA is offering to match donations to our fund drive, up to $10,000! What a fabulous show of generosity!

www.sfwa.org/2024/03...

Please send a copy of your email receipt to locusdonations@sfwa.org

http://igg.me/at/loc...

Cover of the novel Catch-22. A blue background with large, capital letters showing "CATCH-22" at the top, with the author's name in white at the bottom (Joseph Heller). On top of Heller's name is a red silhouette of a man with an army officer hat dancing, although the shape of the body is angular and uncomfortable, not like graceful dancing. Opposite the man is a small black silhouette of a World War 2 bomber plane pointed at him.

Book #4: Catch-22, the classic by Joseph Heller.

I'm not sure how I missed this when I first got into reading dystopian novels, but dang. If you haven't read it, READ IT. I laughed, I cried, I felt angry and disenfranchised, and I sat and thought a long time about it.

#amreading

I'm writing Dragon Age fanfiction tonight but I feel a bit bad. My poor MC in my original fic is frozen with someone about to attack her, and her assailant is frozen in the act of lunging at her while swinging a heavy candlestick 😶

But this mage-templar war isn't going to resolve itself, is it?

Same. I just hit that feeling and I'm about 65,000 in. Too far to go back now, so I'm focusing on enjoying the ride for myself until the feeling fades again :)

Good luck!

Hello and welcome!

I just straight-up subscribed. I don't need the perks!

It had been the boy's first day on the job, and now the barber's apprentice had a black eye. Her husband, bless him, had barely waited for the apologetic barber to wrap his wrist before storming out to hail a cab, his jacket completely forgotten.

#mpotd #writingprompt

Generative AI Is Challenging a 234-Year-Old Law The technology might finally bend copyright past the breaking point, upending what it means to have a creative society in the process.

"Contrary to popular belief, copyright does not exist for the benefit of creators"

Interesting take

#writer #WritingCommunity

And there it was, finally. She collapsed under its weight. Boots clicked closer. She looked up into the face of her old friend, now unrecognizable behind her contempt. The knife was poised to carve another sin into her heart.

"Shall we continue?" her old friend asked.

#mpotd #writingprompt

"Some consider this a good luck talisman, but we are modern rabbits. This poor human was killed merely for his hand to become a trinket."

Murmurs of scholarly interest.

"Yes, yes, but let's continue. Not many see what the museum houses in its speciments storeroom."

#writingprompt #mpotd

😁

I had the brilliant idea to include a riddle for my main character to solve. I've never spent so long on six lines of dialog.

And then the MC took one look at it and said, "I hate riddles. I'm not doing this." And walked away 😮‍💨

😅

#amwriting #fantasy

We live in a time of "I'm seen, therefore I am," and this appears to be a product, or a perpetuation, of this mindset.

Art is meant to expand your mind and challenge how you think about the world, not provide a safe echo chamber to retreat to. At least, that's how I think about it.

The cover of the 60th anniversary edition of "Fahrenheit 451," by Ray Bradbury. Block of red color over block of black, with "Fahrenheit" in white lettering against the red, and "451" beneath it in red typeface within a black circle. Against the red is a black icon of a book, with the top of the book looking like a match tray sliding out from it.

Book #3 for 2024

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradury

I somehow never read thison high school, but dang. I think this, 1984, and Animal Farm have irreversibly changed how I think about society... which was the whole point, no?

The cover to "The Secret Life of the Mind: How Your Brain Thinks, Feels, and Decides," by Mariano Sigman, PhD. A light yellowish background with a profile of a human head, with gears where the brain should be

Book #2 for 2024

The Secret Life of the Mind, by Mariano Sigman, PhD

I'm a nerd and this book was rightup my alley. Love all things related to the brain and mind.

#amreading

Cover to "The House in the Cerulean Sea," depicting a house with a clock tower perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking a sea, against a yellow and red sunset.

I decided to keep track of the books/audiobooks I finished in 2024.

Book #1: The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune

The only word I can use to describe this book is "delightful." Even when the going got tough, it was a joy to read, and I loved the characters!

#amreading