Lilycoven - Fantastical Lesfic

Kyoto Animation Fire – Please Help if You Can

by Freia Ricolaupdated on July 19, 2019July 19, 2019Leave a Comment

I woke up this morning to the news that one of my favourite animation studios has been burned down by some idiot with a grudge. Over the years, I’ve had innumerable hours of pure joy from this studio, especially the show I still consider to be their magnum opus, K-ON. So far, reports are that at least 33 people have died and dozens more injured, and the awesome people over at Sentai Filmworks have set up a GoFundMe to raise money for those affected by this tragedy. If you can spare a few dollars, please do so. Here’s the link: …

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Getting Started as a Writer

by Yuna Celesteupdated on June 27, 2019June 27, 2019Leave a Comment

How do you get started as a writer? Simple question with a simple answer: just do it. I realise this isn’t particularly helpful advice, however, so let’s expand the simple answer into something a bit more useful. I’ll link a few good resources, both free and paid, at the end of this post as well. First, the most important thing: to be a good writer, you should be a good reader. This is an absolute truth of the writer’s craft, simply because without having read a lot of other authors’ works, how can you expect to write anything worth a …

Random Thoughts

Youthful Problems

by Yuna Celesteupdated on June 23, 2019June 23, 2019Leave a Comment

Have you ever played Rise of the Tomb Raider? If not, no worries, there are plenty of examples of what I’m about to talk about in other media. Anyway, in this specific game the main character of Lara Croft talks about a MacGuffin that can unlock the secrets of immortality for humankind, talking about how it would change everything, stop sickness and disease, and all the usual nonsense people think up in these situations. So let’s think for a moment about why this line of thinking is naïve and catastrophically flawed. First, yes, the basic premise Lara is discussing here …

Releases

The Love We Lost – Starlight Book 1 Published

by Yuna Celesteupdated on June 21, 2019June 11, 2019Leave a Comment

After some two years, the first book of my magical girl (urban fantasy/paranormal) Starlight series is complete. The book, titled The Love We Lost, is soft-launched on Amazon, if you’re into this kind of genre, and especially so if you like stories with a Japanese setting/flavour. Completing a novel is always a great feeling. Many people talk about writing a book, but very few actually manage to start, and fewer still finish, so getting that first draft completed is a really big deal. And taking it through editing and polishing and actually publishing it? Few things come close to the …

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Probably My Last Post for a While + 2 FREE Books

by Freia Ricolaupdated on June 21, 2019May 23, 20191 Comment

If you use WordPress, chances are you’re aware of the recent change to how the editor works. I won’t bore you with excessive details here, but suffice to say they’ve completely screwed the pooch and ruined my workflow, both here and on other sites I maintain. For some more comprehensive posts on the issue of the new Gutenberg editor WordPress rolled out to everyone way before it was ready, and without bothering to consider the massive impact it would have on existing sites, check these out: Gutenberg Editor Review: Please Don’t Include This in WordPress Core WordPress Gutenberg will be …

Random Thoughts

Post-Apocalyptic Lesbians

by Webmasterupdated on June 21, 2019February 2, 2019Leave a Comment

I have an odd relationship with post-apoc settings. I love the general idea, the concept of post-apoc, but often find the execution to be lacking. For every Mad Max, there’s at least one Aftermath or New Gladiators. Some nice ideas in the lower budget movies, sure, but the obvious issue is the ‘lower budget’. By nice, I do of course mean awful, because… you know, post-apoc. Similarly, for every Fallout: New Vegas (one of my top 5 games of all time), you have… well, something like Fallout 76, which completely misses the point of the franchise it’s aping off, exactly …

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Do You Read Visual Novels?

by Freia Ricolaupdated on June 21, 2019January 9, 2019Leave a Comment

A long, long time ago I read my first ever visual novel. I think it was around 2007, maybe? Alas, my memory isn’t what it used to be. But I remember the visual novel itself, it was a drama-heavy high school romance called Yume Miru Kusuri. It was your standard ‘boy meets several cute girls, ends up with one of them’ story Japan very much likes to tell in this particular medium, but I enjoyed it well enough. It wasn’t until much later that I finally found a few good examples of Japanese yuri (百合, lit. ‘lily’, the Japanese term …

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The Masks We Wear

by Freia Ricolaupdated on June 21, 2019January 2, 2019Leave a Comment

Have you ever played the Persona series of games? If not, I’d highly recommend checking them out. Persona 4 The Golden is an excellent starting point, but if you don’t have a Playstation Vita (which wouldn’t be surprising, considering how quickly that console died), you could start with Persona 5 on PS3 or PS4. Why am I suddenly recommending you Japanese RPGs? Simple, because one of the things I adore about the series in question is its exploration of—what else?—personae, the different metaphorical masks people wear. As a series, it delves heavily into Jungian psychology, including the titular persona, but …

Random Thoughts

Is Conflict Essential to a Story?

by Freia Ricolaupdated on June 21, 2019October 28, 2018Leave a Comment

Most writers will tell you that conflict is essential to a story. Some would even go so far as to say a story can’t exist without conflict. And sure, depending on the medium involved, conflict is pretty crucial to a story. But is it essential to a story? Short answer: nope. The longer answer is a bit more involved. There are several major exceptions to this rule. The most prominent examples I can think of would be humour and slice of life. In both instances, something else takes the place of conflict. For humour it’s the concept of set …

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Moonlight Becomes Her – A Dark Lesbian Vampire Romance PREVIEW

by Freia Ricolaupdated on June 21, 2019August 11, 2018Leave a Comment

Three Centuries. Two Outcasts. One Love. After two years on the beat, twenty year old PC Sally Holden transfers to Bath Police Force’s CID—the Criminal Investigations Department. But when she arrives, all she finds is hostility, corruption, and a general sense that she is very much not welcome. Her first assignment soon comes in: investigating a low priority assault case no one else can be bothered with at a local Catholic Girls School, St. Hallowfell’s. The victim has unusual puncture wounds and remembers virtually nothing about her attacker, just a vague sense of serenity, almost like being back in the …