ML Brennan
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brennanml.bsky.social
ML Brennan
@brennanml.bsky.social
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Tor Books: Generation V, Iron Night, Tainted Blood, Dark Ascension (GENERATION V series). Vampires, kitsune, werebears, nerdy jokes, New England references.
Somewhere the publishers have to have just a printout with what it actually costs though, right? Like, a map costs $.02 more per book? What if you led with the argument that the fashion plates would just be another KIND of fantasy map. (a map.... for clothing)
November 12, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Just saying, though. It would certainly be cool as fuck and give you very good bragging rights at cons.
November 12, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Or -- would costume sketches at the end possibly even be the kind of thing that could set you aside in a crowded marketplace? I say this, obviously, as someone who just happens to own more than a few books on fashion history and dressmaking, so I MIGHT not be a representative sample.
November 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM
I remember way back in the '90s when Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman were such absolute bosses that the Death Gate Cycle got to have the most unbelievably deep-dive end-note materials. I wonder at what point you could get someone to greenlight an end-note that's basically the fashion history notes.
November 12, 2025 at 2:52 PM
I feel like expectations were incredibly different back then. So many students are arriving on campus with a really baby bird mentality - that if I don't chew this worm up thoroughly enough before I spit it into their mouths, then I'M clearly the one at fault for expecting them to chew on their own.
November 12, 2025 at 2:16 PM
It's a really grim part of the semester.
November 12, 2025 at 2:14 PM
For the students I am talking about, the main problem can be primarily traced to that bold decision of theirs to skip seven weeks of the semester and not do any of the reading. It's less a fear of failure and a bit more about not caring to pay the piper now that the bill has come due.
November 12, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Goddamnit, Kate, now I just want it even more!

(me, who has had the Liath/Sanglant dynamic living rent-free in my head since a particularly formative time in high school)
November 12, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Ah, the old "let them eat patriotism" defense.

I deeply hope that he someday gets his comeuppance.
November 11, 2025 at 10:34 PM
*GASP*

I want it so much.

*grabby hands*
November 11, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Exactly. If I had the kind of control over my students that the far right thinks I do, then their footnotes would be FLAWLESS.
November 11, 2025 at 10:32 PM
This all started with one ancient Greek dude whose daughter was really into a lyre player, and he was like, "Honey. Honey. I know you love him. But he's just.... sweetie, he's the WORST. Why can't you just date Andyocus, the philosopher down the road? I bet you'd like him if you gave him a chance."
November 11, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Perhaps what we all failed to realize was that this was actually an eternally relevant cautionary tale about the perils of dating hot, yet very dim, musicians.
November 11, 2025 at 9:39 PM
It was a truth universally acknowledged in my MFA program that Joyce Carol Oates is kind of an asshole in person, but it's really nice to see her using her powers for good.
November 11, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Gosh, I WISH I had time to put that in on the syllabus. But I'm just struggling to get most of them to buy the textbook and use correct in-text citations.
November 11, 2025 at 9:30 PM
I am so excited! And also so bummed that I couldn't figure out a way to force this into my syllabus for next semester. A semester without breathtaking nepotism is like a semester without sunshine.
November 11, 2025 at 7:47 PM
This is true. I forgot to consider all possible loopholes.
November 11, 2025 at 7:43 PM