A Long Road Chapter 16 Ficbit – Lovely Walls

:Much to learn we have, yes,: Alberich nodded. :That is why you to Wen Qing wished to speak-:

Worldbuilding: A Problem of History

Okay, first off, I want to tell anybody who wants to read up on scientific research but may not already know this neat trick: if you go to the main JSTOR site and sign up as an independent researcher, you can get access to 100 free articles to read a month. It still costs you money if you want to download an article to print, but you can at least read them. And bookmark them to re-read later, if – like me – sometimes you just have time to run a search, not to read right that minute. And you can search the heck out of the whole site, with small previews available that are generally enough to figure out if the article is worth reading for what you want. On top of that a few of the articles are “Open access”, meaning you can download and print them without any fees.

(If writers don’t qualify as independent researchers, I don’t know who would.)

A Long Road Chapter 16 Ficbit – Dramatic

“Yes, you’re Nie, even the most fluttery of you can charge straight through a battlefield when you’re qi deviating and out of your minds,” Wen Qing grumped. “So make sure he charges this way. I’m going to be checking everyone who had contact with that river – stop grinning, Wei Wuxian, so help me, that includes you.”

A Different View

There are times you just want a different look at things. Sometimes that takes doing a lot of research. Other times….

Just tilt your head back.

More Ice Age Sources, Plus Mermaids

I found it! Mermaids of Japan, by Frances Haar, Kanabeshobo Company, Tokyo, 1954.

Green Amusements

Sticky and annoying as Spanish needles are (they get into the fabric of socks, augh!) it still amuses me that I saw them in the background of a Jackie Chan movie.

A Long Road Chapter 16 Ficbit – Flood Control

He’d never been this far west. So many trees.

Though apparently there were fewer now near the village than there had been weeks ago. Fresh stumps trailed uphill into the forest, and there were a dozen new lean-tos against fresh rock walls, sheltering green wood to dry for later-

A Walk: The Good, the Bad, and the Ivy

Yes, the frogs are still out there….

Pine Barrens treefrog, hiding out on a greenbriar leaf.

A Long Road Chapter 16 Ficbit – The Needles

One tiny missile launched at the weary Ghost-Speaker; a boy wrapped in unmistakably Jianghu robes under a nice, thick Valdemaran winter coat. A boy with a striking resemblance to Wen Ning. Not a son, no, but definitely family.

Silken Shapes of Water

Sometimes I’m sure part of human fascination with silk is how its shimmer resembles that of water.