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Book (Manhwa): A Not So Fairy Tale by Hyobin

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A Not So Fairy Tale
by hyobin
published by Webtoon (44 chapters, ongoing)
2023 – present

This contemporary Korean comic tells the traditional story of the Fairy and the Woodcutter in a modern zombie-fighting context!

A thousand years ago, a goddess came to earth, and (under instruction from a suspicious deer) a human man stole her clothes (her keys to heaven) and demanded that she have his children, only to die without returning them, leaving her trapped on earth with humans. (See Wikipedia’s summary of the variations of this folktale.) In the contemporary Korea of this comic, she is still here – and she is PISSED. Zombies (called Fiends) are killing people, and Moran Cheon, as she is now known, is a famous actress who SECRETLY can kill zombies with her bare hands. She can also leap from tall buildings, is inhumanly strong, and is unnaturally beautiful.

She wants to go back to to the celestial realm, is angry at that evil deer, and has been waiting impatiently for that damned woodcutter to be reincarnated so she can get her situation sorted out.

Three highly attractive characters from A Not So Fairy Tale.
The characters are good-looking, and drawn in an atypical style that I enjoy.

There is more to the fiend situation than anyone knows, and the detective who is investigating isn’t dazzled by the goddess at all – a sure sign that HE IS THE PROBLEM – I mean, the reincarnation she has been waiting for. The goddess has struggled with with loneliness, resentment, a fox-spirit child she raised as her only other potentially immortal companion, and the risk that she will miss the chance to return to the heavens forever.

This story has: a celebrity, zombie-fighting, immortal actress; a handsome cop who may have hidden memories of his past lives; luxury condominiums; corporate cover-ups; secret crime-fighting identities; unnatural healing abilities; characters who lack human ethics; monsters posing as normal people (until they are ready to eat you); eternal villains and their adversaries; and the fox drawn in…vulnerable moments.

This comic is refreshing – contemporary urban settings, a new type of monster, a non-traditional interpretation of a folktale, lovely art – and is the least predictable of the stories I’m reading. I’m looking forward to future chapters.

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Writing: Fountain Pens (Bright plus Dusty Green Theme)

Collage of three images showing a full length Monteverde fountain pen, a close up of its nib, and a page of writing in a dusky green
My Monteverde Prima fountain pen; its nib; a writing sample about the our golden summers, and how strange it is that other places have green summers. Who knew? The muted green ink is Herbin’s ‘Vert Empire.’

The view out my east facing dining room window is of the deep green of a holly tree, and the brighter green of a juniper, which inspired me to fill my greenest pen and write about the color.

This Monteverde Prima is one of my earliest fountain pen purchases. I initially thought it was stingy with ink, but just happened to be using a drier flowing ink. I tried others and improved my paper choices, which help me appreciate this pen’s smooth writing and pleasant proportions. It is comfortable to hold, is reliable (doesn’t clog or dry out), and the way it catches the light is attractive. The nib is firm, and I am amused that Monteverde is so proud of it that they engraved their long name on it TWICE.

The ink is Herbin’s ‘Vert Empire,’ the color of a dusty green velvet, or leafy desert plants that must protect themselves from the sun by being a bit gray. The pen isn’t an exact match for any of my five or so shades of green ink, though it comes quite close to Herbin’s ‘Lierre Sauvage‘ (which the Herbin website associates with anarchy. Ah, leafy green anarchy…). A medium bright green with silver sparkle could also come close, though that might be difficult to read if too shiny. (If you are a fan of Herbin’s “Vert Atlantide,” you probably beat me to this.)

Yes, my personal true color of California in summer is the yellow-gold of sun-dried grass on our rolling hills, but our extensive agricultural regions offer many shades of green, from the yellow-greens of grape leaves through the pale, silver-greens of artichoke leaves.

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Book (Manhwa): Made of Stardust by Kalisami

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Made of Stardust
by Kalisami
published by Webtoon (42 chapters, ongoing)
2023 – present

Kalisa falls to earth naked, in pain (from an energy weapon still protruding from her body), and with amnesia. Her human assailant is thrilled, and takes her back to his kingdom to make her his wife.

What Kalisa doesn’t immediately understand is that she is a powerful being from the sky. Beings like her, called stars, can be shot with human weapons and brought down to earth to either spread fertility while alive, or to extend the life of the powerful if consumed while dead. Unclear on what awaits her in the hostile human kingdom after witnessing human violence against innocent creatures, she makes a break for it with her tiny, winged dragon, Lumi.

The story is largely presented as Kalisa experiences it – with no memories of what is happening, innocence as to how the world works, mysterious voices, danger, and the dread of seeing what has become of others of her kind.

The art is pretty: cheeks and lips are rosy, bodies are slender and strong; Kalisa’s clothes are painted on, while those of a handsome ally resemble draped costumes of ancient Greece; her dead peers turn into dark, sparkling glitter; her fertility creates clouds of blossom colors across the landscape…

Chapter 42 is the mid-season finale, and it isn’t clear if Kalisa and her new friends and allies will survive, why the planet is dying (though this seems to be about human greed and a lack of compassion for other living things leading to environmental ruin, making it very relatable), and whether humanity dying out is inevitable. The loveliness of the illustrations will lure me back.

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Book (Manhwa): I Abdicate My Title of Empress by Kim hee sung, galbi

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I Abdicate My Title of Empress
by Kim hee sung , galbi
published by Webtoon (54 chapters, ongoing)
2023 – present

When we meet Adelheid, she has given up her crown princess title and left her country for an arranged marriage to a hostile-but-hot blond emperor in a far off empire.

Not only does Emperor Karl exude hostility to Adelheid for not being as passive as a flower in a vase (the way he likes his women), but his jealous young mistress controls the money, and chooses not to fund Adelheid to show her who is really in charge. Karl tells Adelheid that if she minds her own business, she can do what she wants (though we grasp that this would involve having money to live on).

Oh, and the empire is being picked apart by sky monster attacks that the church has responsibility to stop, yet doesn’t seem inclined to do much about, especially if their delays kill off their rivals, those noble knights who actually try to save people from being killed.

Between Adelheid’s ability to read the law to determine her rights, a handsome noble who wants to beat the sky monsters and so becomes her official-aide and official-if-not-actual-lover, and that fact that ADELHEID CAN FLOAT WHILE DEFEATING SKY MONSTERS (!!!) because she is an unusually POWERFUL MAGE (!!), the empire’s power structure starts to crack beneath her booted feet.

Characters from I Abdicate My Title As Empress: our heroine, the emperor, and the empress' aide
I’m having difficulty keeping track of all the empresses being sabotaged by blonde mistresses across the many manhwa I am reading, but since this heroine flies in the updraft caused by invasions (?) and her aide, Lionel, is so blatantly pretty (look at the eyeliner!), I think I can track this story using either of those details.

Brazen attacks on Adelheid and whiny demands from Karl’s mistress might make Karl rethink his life choices. We will learn why Adelheid REALLY left her kingdom, and how many attractive warriors from back home want to turn up to fight alongside her, and about council meetings (because governance requires those, sadly).

This story has: a golden-eyed, monster-fighting, floating heroine; a handsome, ineffective emperor; a whiny, blond, unethical mistress (the primary mistress type in manhwa, from what I can see) with power-hungry allies propping her up undeservedly; a beautiful nobleman who isn’t sure why he stares adoringly at the heroine (duh); a corrupt church; neglectful authorities; and AN EVIL POWER THAT DROPS BUILDINGS AND MONSTERS FROM THE SKY! (This may be crossing into sci-fi. It’s unusual, and I’m here for it.)

The next season promises (even more) pretty men from Adelheid’s home empire, and more Adelheid-floating-sky-battles so I’m looking forward to it.

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Collecting/Mail: Carnival Nights Stamps coming from USPS

I’m a big fan of night photography (which used to be much more complicated back in analog days), so I’m looking forward to these colorful and festive stamps. They’ll be available June 6, 2024.

Carnival Nights Stamps | USPS.com
Experience the thrills of a favorite American pastime with the new Carnival Nights stamps from the U.S. Postal Service®.
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Life: Earworms

Me [unpacking groceries]: Why I am I singing ‘Love is a Battlefield’ by Pat Benatar? I haven’t heard that song (from 1983?!) in years… Or have I?

[look suspiciously at groceries]

[remember that the local grocery store plays 1980s music as part of their customer profile]

[shakes fist in general direction of grocery store]

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Life: It feels like summer (ask the fog)

Summer Indoors (27 May)
Weblog by A. Elizabeth Graves. iPhone photography and links to science-y and foodie topics.

The forecast this week suggests it will be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7+ degrees Celsius) for a few days out where my family lives, yet it is still (technically) spring. That hot weather pulls a blanket of fog across me, and… I’m okay with that.

Plus: it is still allergy season. But all of us sniffling, coughing people have known that for a month.

Oh, and: wildfire season. An 11,000 acre fire is burning in an area east of the City, and evacuations are in effect for the nearest town. With high winds yesterday, it spread very quickly. I was growing fond of NOT reading about fires in my state…

Wherever you are while reading this, I hope you are safe, not crying/sneezing, have no need to evacuate, and are dressed appropriately for whatever the weather delivers to you.

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Life: Holiday Weekend Daze

Carnaval 14
Weblog by A. Elizabeth Graves. iPhone photography and links to science-y and foodie topics.

Hello! I HAVE INTERNET AT HOME AGAIN! (I’d like to thank post-scheduling for hiding the fact that I didn’t for several of those days.) It is a good thing. It makes so many other things possible!

*

It is a three day holiday weekend here in the U.S., and I’m being too productive. I’ve had multiple scheduled appointments, I’ve been to a post office, I’ve reset faulty breakers six times, I’ve ordered excessive numbers of notebooks (because I fill excessive numbers of notebooks), I’ve washed laundry, I’ve attended a fantastic parade (and am awash with images from it to manage), I missed a chance to purchase a limited edition fountain pen that I didn’t know I was interested in until it sold out (oh, well – I’ll forget it ever existed shortly), I’ve performed maintenance on a Roomba which appears to have become senile, I’ve treated my hair and scalp with multiple products, I’ve criticized myself for not being more creatively productive (even though I’m always working, commuting, or performing chores), I’ve enjoyed tapas and white sangria (which I hadn’t realized exists, but of course it does), I wrote a letter with a pretty fountain pen and equally pretty ink…

The problem with holidays feeling rare is that they become so precious I feel I must USE THEM TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL, which likely isn’t the best choice. That makes them feel like a different type of work. Goal-oriented work. The wrong kind of activity needed to recover from all the other kinds of work.

There are some cultural elements of this. My mother is still wrestling with her upbringing, which included a rather fanatical insistence on not being able to sleep late into the morning, even if you worked nights (!!), and pressure to always be doing SOMETHING. ANYTHING. A sort of haywire protestant work ethic. I may have absorbed some of that, but also live in a culture where being “busy” is proof of importance / worth in itself.

*

Speaking of work, here is some context for all of those manhwa I’ve been reading from South Korea whose stories are premised on people dying from working too much:

South Korea is known for its punishing work culture, with some of the longest hours in the developed world. Despite the introduction of the 52-hour weekly work limit in 2018, overwork and exhaustion are still not uncommon. In 2023, the government proposed to increase the maximum weekly working time to 69 hours, sparking a severe backlash and eventual backdown.

–from https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/27/seoul-international-space-out-competition-south-korea.

(Yikes!)

Wish me luck as I attempt to… relax in a goal-oriented way??

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Writing: Fountain Pen (Sea Glass theme)

Essie in Sea Glass with an informal writing sample written with Takeda Jimuki Kyo No Oto Hisoku ink
Essie in Sea Glass with an informal writing sample written with Takeda Jimuki Kyo No Oto Hisoku, my favorite celadon-colored ink.

Earlier this spring, I had a work anniversary, and bought myself an Esterbrook Essie fountain pen in sea glass with a stub nib.

It’s lovely. It’s a good size, and is easy to hold. It writes well – not that you’d know from this casually / hastily written page of notes, but it is a smooth writer. I’ve only tested one ink in it so far, and found that it got a little dry after a long writing session, so I’m making minor adjustments to ensure that it will put down consistent amounts of ink, even when I change writing speeds.

And yes, as the text notes, I’ve started to dream up scenes from science fiction stories I want to write, so we’ll see if I can get enough rest to do that.

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