Latest Posts by outofambit - Page 3

The Powers went ‘Dairine’s kinda annoying, we’ll make her deal with someone annoying so they’ll get on each other’s nerves’ and it worked for about a week before she and Roshaun teamed up so they could get on the nerves of the rest of the known and unknown universe instead.

Thing I’ve been mulling over for a while: some really good YA fantasy novels of my childhood (Young Wizards - no one who knows me is surprised by this) really emphatically gave me tools to understand and dismantle my own “white supremacist delusion,” as Sonya Renee Taylor puts it. The construction of the cosmos in these books formed my worldview at a really early age. They have helped me, decades later, to believe deeply and truly in both my own ability to support and uphold Evil in all of its guises, no matter how ‘good’ or ‘nice’ I may inherently see myself to be - and my own power to dismantle Evil in all its guises, within myself, as well as in the world beyond myself.

I was watching this IG live video where Taylor powerfully explains how important it is to shift from seeing whiteness as something intrinsically ours to possess rather than as the result of a dehumanizing system that we can - and in fact are ethically called upon to - uproot. I understand Taylor to be saying that I, as a person assigned power by whiteness, have a duty to continually identify and reject the delusions of whiteness starting with myself. 

There’s an image Taylor uses, in this video, of searching inside of yourself for the spaces where this toxic ideology of whiteness has taken hold - and to find and uproot it. And immediately I saw a climactic moment from High Wizardry, one where Dairine has a realization about how intimately entropy has its hold upon her:

She stopped, as the answer rushed into her mind from the manual. Where entropy is, it said, there its creator also is, either directly or indirectly…

I’m a product of this universe, after all, she had said to the mobiles. It’s in me too…

Her heart turned over inside her as she came to know her enemy. Not a Darth Vader, striding in with a blood-burning light-sabre, not something outside to battle and cast down, but inside. Inside herself. Where it had always been, hiding, growing, waiting until the darkness was complete and its own darkness not noticeable any more. Her Enemy was wearing her clothes, and her heart, and there was only one way to get rid of It…

She was terrified. Yet this was the great thing, the thing that mattered […]

I’d hazard a guess that many of us have a primary conditioning to see evil precisely as “something outside to battle and cast down.” I say this about evil in general; I think it’s probably extra true for the ways that white people approach the evil of white supremacist delusion. I see it a lot with the teenagers that I now teach: the actively anti-racist white kids who really want to march, to have hard conversations with other people, to change laws, to show up at city hall meetings…and who don’t understand that, while those are all good and important things to be doing, if they are all you are doing, they will not be enough. They are all ways of seeing the problem as “something outside to battle and cast down” instead of as something that is LITERALLY “wearing [your] clothes, and [your] heart.”

The good news - also from High Wizardry - is the possibility of full and complete liberation on the other side of the recognition, and the reckoning that follows. The snatches of it glimpsed within this life, the work of widening the ground… The belief (which Duane’s world offered me, and which my Christianity never did) that even the one who dreamed Evil into being can be liberated and redeemed from it…and that that, and no less, is the scope of the work. 

(YW also taught me, perhaps most importantly of all, that this work is collective and done best when part of an ever-widening family / network / team.)

Ocean Ramsey and her team encountered this 20 ft Great White Shark near the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is believed to be the biggest ever recorded

Y’all I’m positively howling, it’s almost EXACTLY what Dairine said to Nita about Kit waaay back in Deep Wizardry

Paging the newly-fledged-and-recruiting Dairine/Mehrnaz squad @hencegoodfortune @shamrockjolnes @inkidink @imaginariumgeographica

Image prompt

Okay, so I’ve just started Games Wizards Play book 10 in the Young Wizards series, which means it’s time for some thoughts on my FAAAAAAAV YA SERIES OF ALL TIME. (No offense HP, no offense)

ROSHAUN MY CHILD MY SON COME BACK TO ME!!! COME BACK TO ME BABY! IT HAS BEEN ONE WHOLE BOOK  AND HE’S NOT BACK YET I AM NOT OKAY! I AM NOT ALRIGHT! THE MADNESS MUST END! PLEASE GOD MAKE IT STOP JUST BRING BACK MY BABY PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE! WE LOST PONCH I CAN’T HAVE THIS TOO I CAN’T TAKE THIS OH GODDDDDDD *INCOHERENT SOBBING*

And I am done. This is basically my internal stream of consciousness all through A Wizard of Mars tbh. I have basically been a blithering, sobbing, screaming wreck since Wizards at War. Life’s been hard. And since my house burned down, I don’t even have my ENTIRE COMPLETE collection to reference : |

Some further reviews on the Young Wizards series:

So You Want To Be a Wizard…

You will cry because of a car

Deep Wizardry

You will cry because of a shark

High Wizardry

You will cry because of a space turtle

A Wizard Abroad

You will cry because of Ireland

A Wizard’s Dilemma

You will cry because of a parrot. Also cancer.

A Wizard Alone

You will cry because of autism

Wizard’s Holiday

You will cry because of a barren hellscape

Wizards at War

You will cry because of OH GOD NOT THE DOG PLEASE NOT THE DOG OH GOD NO

A Wizard of Mars

You will cry because you are no longer capable of feeling anything because the last book emotionally broke you.

Great series. 10/10. Would recommend to all your friends and loved ones and then you can all cry together.

‘fairest and fallen, greetings and defiance’ is still the best Stock Greeting For Our Ancient Enemy ever. it’s got everything. (1) you’re hot (2) you’re evil (3) respect tho (4) anyway i’m here to kick your ass

I want to talk about the things I love about Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series, and buckle up because I have a lot of feelings. Also, spoilers.

First off, the whole philosophy of wizardry as a force for good and protection is so great. The Oath lays it out for us: “In Life’s name and for Life’s sake, I assert that I will employ the Art which is Its gift in Life’s service alone. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way…etc.” Capital L, Life, as though it’s something holy. And that Life is people, and animals, and aliens, and plants, and artificial intelligence, and white holes, and sometimes inanimate objects, because, in a sort of animism viewpoint, everything has some aspect of Life to it and is worth being protected. Nita initially seeks out wizardry as a way to protect herself, and then when  she uses it to scare and intimidate her bullies, she realizes it feels wrong…because that’s not what wizardry is for. 

In almost every book we usually see wizardry being used in combat to fight the Lone Power or defend somebody, and even then sometimes it’s less of causing physical violence and has more of an emotional or psychological aspect to it and is about making the right choice or convincing someone else to, like in the Song of Twelve - yes, they did some fighting, but the whole thing hinged on Nita’s sacrifice. This combat happens sometimes, because sometimes you have to fight in order to protect Life, but it only happens occasionally. Most of the day-to-day wizardry we see is like, mediating arguments between angry trees, or stopping earthquakes, or relocating endangered species to new planets. Because you don’t just encourage growth and ease pain by fighting bad guys, you do it in everyday things. One thing that really stood out to me was in Games Wizards Play when Nita was mad at Penn and she wanted to yell at him and punch him, but she reminded herself that that would increase entropy and thus went against her duty as a wizard. It was super interesting to see that philosophy of wizardry being involved in her mindset when interacting with other people, and is maybe something more people should adapt into our real lives - taking a moment to think about if our actions will increase negativity in the world when there are better actions to choose. 

And that’s what makes Kit and Penn’s duel so irresponsible. Not only is it reckless and immature to fight someone over a girl at a party with a bunch of intergalactic dignitaries present, but the fact that they allowed their anger and jealousy to cause them to deliberately attempt to use their wizardry to potentially cause harm and distress to each other, even with Ronan making sure everything went down safely? For such a frivolous reason? Irina was right to be furious, because that’s not what wizards do. 

And then I really like how The Powers That Be are simultaneously incarnations of every religious figure ever, and sometimes not religious, and every interpretation is real and valid. The Lone Power is the same as Betty Callahan’s Devil and Ireland’s Balor. The Winged Defender is Michael, and Thor, and Athene (and Peach!). Mernahz is a wizard who acts at the behest of The Powers That Be, and yet is also a devout Muslim who regularly prays to Allah. With all the diversity in general - gay wizards, autistic wizards, asexual wizards, deaf wizards, whale wizards, alien wizards, robot wizards - we get this incredible sense of simultaneously having diversity and unity. They all took the same Oath, even if they have different versions of the Manual, and they all call each other “cousin” because they’re united in their place in the Universe (or multiverse?) to protect Life. 

The science! The blending of magic with science and science fiction feels so natural. Of course if you’re going to use magic to act on the universe, you have to understand how the universe works and how your spell’s going to interact with it, because the universe on most days can’t break the laws of science, and you have to work with those laws. Science does not falter in the face of magic; they coexist. Heck, the entropy that the wizards work to slow is a scientific concept in itself. And of course if you’re a wizard you can go to other planets and meet aliens, and of course some of those aliens might be wizards. And the fact that the wizard’s duel requires them to physically take the form of elements and use their scientific knowledge rather than just hurling flashy spells at each other. And then the whole explanation of how the planets’ form of intimacy is to resonate through time and space, and it was a whole physics-based description but somehow still romantic and powerful? Love it.

Carmela! She’s such a great character, and not just because she’s entertaining. She taught herself the Speech because she thought her brother’s wizard shenanigans seemed interesting and wanted to get involved but doesn’t want to be a wizard herself (and you know, I’d love to know why). She acts not only as a teasing big sister to Kit, but also as sort of an honorary big sister and older female mentor to Nita in her mother’s absence. She loves fashion and shopping, and is also a genius at linguistics and started her own possibly-slightly-illegal intergalactic chocolate trading empire.

There’s a lot more I could talk about, like the Speech and the method for writing spells, and the more fun-and-games side of wizardry, and the repeated concept of Choice (I would willingly write a whole paper on that), and that whole bit about making politicians look at the Earth from the Moon until they understand what they’ve signed up for. But I’m going to end by talking about the transformation of Harry Callahan. Shortly after I read Games Wizards Play, I lent my friend the first book. She texted me going, “wow her dad’s such a jerk, he has such a temper and he gets mad at her for not fighting the bullies instead of being sympathetic” and I got whiplash. I had completely forgotten that he was like that in the first few books - getting angry, yelling, Nita calling him “sir” - because the Harry Callahan of the more recent books - comforting a distressed tree alien, sitting in a lawn chair on the Moon to cheer on his daughter’s mentee, just overall being softer and more supportive and understanding - is practically a different person. It’s been a long time since I read A Wizard’s Dilemma and A Wizard Alone, but I would guess that the change happens somewhere in there, as he suddenly finds himself a single parent of two teenage wizards. It might be that the loss and the shouldering of more responsibility changed him; on a meta level, it might be that we got to see him develop more because we get to see more of him in Betty’s absence. It could be both, and even be partially due to his exposure to the philosophy of wizardry and the growth and responsibility of his children. Either way it’s a drastic transition for the better that happens so naturally and seamlessly that I didn’t even notice. 

These are such wonderful books, such a beautiful celebration of life and science and choice and kindness and existence, and I’m so glad that they exist.

A wizard’s Manual can come in all shapes and sizes. For those who know which links to click, there is a section of Wikipedia where the globe puzzle is full and finished. Articles in this section never have a problem with trolls or misinformation, and cover subjects ranging from a listing of every Power to a deep dive on echolocation spells.

“Even without the high angle of a few moments ago to give the Sun something to reflect from, there was no mistaking the small, angular shape hunkered down against the rising ground in the near distance, its little camera pole sticking up…

…there was no use kicking up more dust on the hardworking little machine- it had more than enough trouble with what the winter dust storms left layered on its solar panels. The scientists at NASA had for the past couple of years been surprised and pleased that the Spirit and Opportunity rovers had managed to keep working for so long: mostly, they theorized, because of passing dust devils that blew the accumulated storm dust off them. The wizards who came up here every now and then with cans of compressed air and puffer brushes while the probes were asleep were delighted to let the scientists think that- and careful not to remove enough dust at any one time as to make them suspicious.”

-Diane Duane @dduane, A Wizard of Mars

This is the future of travel luggage.

rebloging from my main blog.

This is the first place I ever found Young Wizards fandom

And I don’t want to lose you, cousins, so I’ve made us a Lifeboat, if you will.

https://discord.gg/83Fz8KM

I’ve never heard of us having a discord server, but if an established one already exists, please someone link me.

Getting to Crossingscon: International travel

Hopefully people have started thinking about getting their travel documents in order, but how they’re actually getting to Montréal is still a big question. We’ve summarized some options on how to get to Crossingscon 2019, hopefully they help you figure out how you’ll be getting to con.

Driving to Montréal - what license do I need?

Travellers from the US do not need anything more than a valid driver’s license (learner’s permits are not sufficient) to drive in Canada. Travellers from any other country who intend to drive in Canada need a driver’s license from their home country, as well as an international driving permit (IDP) also obtained in their home country.

One important thing to note is that it is illegal to drive anywhere in Canada without car insurance, even for travellers. Make sure you bring proof of insurance with you if you are driving to Canada.

Getting to Montréal by air

The only international airport in Montréal is Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL). Montréal-Trudeau has frequent direct flights from many cities in the US and Canada, and a few direct flights from certain European cities. Many North American airlines have flights to Montréal, however Air Canada has by far the most.

Getting to Montréal by land

Being a somewhat remote city, there are only a few main arteries to get to Montréal. Most travellers coming from northern or north-eastern US will find themselves routed through one of New York, Albany or Toronto. For those considering routing through Toronto, there are several coach busses and train lines that will get you there from locations like Buffalo, Rochester and Detroit.

Travelling by bus

A few coach bus companies service Montréal, notably Greyhound, TrailwaysNY, and the Canadian branch of Megabus. Both Greyhound and Trailways have similar routes, starting in New York and making stops in Albany and Plattsburgh before crossing the border. There is a Megabus route from Toronto to Montréal, however travellers from the US will need to find some way to get to Toronto first.

Travelling by train

There are two main train lines of interest for travelling to Montreal, the Amtrak Adirondack route (NYC-Montréal), and the Toronto-Montréal VIA rail route. The Adirondack train runs daily and the VIA multiple times a day, however it’s worth noting that the Adirondack train is substantially slower than several coach bus options (11.5 hours versus 9).

Getting to Montréal by worldgate

Unfortunately the closest major gating complexes are located in Toronto and New York, as Montréal doesn’t quite have the population for gates to spawn naturally. Travellers who are planning to worldgate will need to perform their own transport spell, or use one of the more mundane forms of transport after reaching Toronto or New York.

Getting to the venue after arriving in Montréal

The Montréal-Trudeau airport is a little bit outside of the city; the best route in is the 747 shuttle which makes a stop just outside the Hyatt Regency, where the con will be held.

The Greyhound and TrailwaysNY bus lines will drop you off at the Berri-UQAM bus station, a 10 minute bus ride on bus 15 to the Hyatt.

The Megabus as well as VIA and Amtrak trains will drop you off at Montréal’s Central Station (Gare Centrale), which is a 10 minute bus ride on bus 150 to the Hyatt.

CrossingsCon ’19 will take place June 21-23 2019, at Hyatt Regency Montreal, Montreal, Canada. Badges are on sale here!

ya meme // nine quotes

the wizard’s oath (young wizards by diane duane)

Ed’s Lullaby Masterpost

Unanimated version here, stitched version here. End of project freedom is a great feeling…

It just makes sense

A Knot Zoo.

Reasons the Young Wizards series is wonderful: there’s a scene that can be described as “Tiny kitten Roasts Satan” and it’s the best thing ever

I’m upset because I want to change the world but the world is too big and people are too mean

"With!!"

“With!”

"With!"

The full rotation of the Moon as seen by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Astronaut tweets

see, the thing about the young wizards series is

the thing about diane duane is

she infuses everything with so much life. she gives everything thoughts and feelings and personality. she makes you care about them, makes them matter. from grass chorusing “grow grow grow” to planets explaining how they show affection towards fellow celestial bodies by resonating

it’s beautiful, and it’s vital in the truest sense of the word. and I love it. it’s important on a level that I can’t even fully comprehend. it’s almost spiritual

I never thought of myself as a spiritual person, never felt moved by something larger than me. but the things I’ve read about in this series? the intention and compassion and wonder for all things

that’s something I can believe in

Meanwhile in the YW fandom…

(Subject of discussion: Nita and Kit’s hypothetical future wedding. Hat tip to the Slack chat for a lot of this. More to come.)

“How are they going to explain that one of the bridesmaids is a whale?”

S'reee, upon the mention of the hen do: “is it customary for one to bring their own fowl?”

“The Penn gating team can deal Grand Central for a day, we have lives too… sometimes? Oh, who am I kidding, Rhiow and I are so overdue for a vacation. Hurry up and make this ‘wedding’ thing happen, please.” –Urruah, probably

“I think we’re going to have a bit more luck sneaking an undisguised Sker'ret past the Rodriguez grandparents than we would getting Helena to stand on Kit’s side.”

“If only I could stay in whaleshape during the ceremony – I could be your ‘something blue!’”

“'Ree, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re almost as big as the venue….”

fave reads of 2017: Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane

“And we will cause it to be well-made, this Sacrifice. You, young and never loving; I, old and never loved. Such a Song the Sea will never have seen.”

read if you like: middle grade fiction, male-female friendships, a blend of science fiction and fantasy, magic that has real and lasting consequences, and crying over large sea animals

Question about the consequences of the events in Deep Wizardry. Will the Master Shark be replaced by another shark like the Silent Lord is replaced, or on a more permanent basis? Or was his power simply lost, and there will never be a Master Shark again?

This may sound odd, but this is a matter to which I think I’ve given absolutely no thought whatsoever. …Which is unusual for me.

And now that it comes up: Mere replacement of Ed’rashtekaresket – either qua Ed, or as regards his particular unique developmental, historical and spiritual positioning – seems impossible. I rather think that there will be (meaning “almost certainly already is”) a shark now holding the Master-Shark position in lieu of the original office-holder. Except that shark will be holding it, as it were, by vicariate. (And I’m invoking “vicar*” here not in the Home-Counties-C-of-E mode that means “your [cozy] local clergyman who invites you round for tea”, but rather in the sense in which Catholics use the word when they speak of the Pope as “the Vicar of God on Earth”: of someone acting as a stand-in or deputy for someone of much greater inherent power.)

I think that should there be need for the attriibutes we think of as the Master-Shark’s to be exercised, then this vicariate Master would do so, enabled by (and channeling) the power still embodied in the original… who, as we know, appears to be Not All That Dead, Not Really Dead Anyway. (But then that would be somewhat in his nature, and shark-nature generally, so no surprises there.)

That make sense? Hope so. :)

*In passing, I coudn’t not link to the dictionary.com definition of vicar because of the quotes about Obama and soccer riots. Tea, meet keyboard…

yall arent ready yet but one day were going to talk about how the young wizards series is better than harry potter. the language is more complicated but trust me, its better 

Young Wizards will always be the best YA series because you’ll fall in love with and cry about sentient tears in spacetime, sharks, amalgamations of spheres, computers, gods, macaws, and most importantly you’ll begin to believe fiercely in the beauty and heartbreak of the universe.

Well ouch...

Regarding Blank Check Wizardries

So I’ve been rereading SYWTBAW and I stumbled across something that I’d forgotten – it is Kit, not Nita, who suggests using the blank check wizardry. Nita actually worries about the ramifications of the spell, but Kit shrugs it off and says, “I don’t think the price’ll be too high.” Cue the Song of Twelve. Imagine how Kit must have felt when he realized that Nita’s looming death was payback for a gamble that he had made. Imagine the guilt crushing in, harsher and deeper than any ocean, as he clung to his fierce denial out of sheer desperation. Imagine how painfully he must have wished that he’d insisted on casting the blank check spell alone – which was his original intent – instead of letting Nita stubbornly join in. Imagine the extra agony wrapped up in the words read the fine print before you sign. I didn’t think that Deep Wizardry could wreck me any more, but here we are.