Happy Book Birthday To This Week‘s New Releases! 📚

I am literally begging you to read The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

People in badly written fantasy stories will usually talk about the major historical events of their world and how magic has affected the lives of everyone, but ask a person in the real world to describe the effects of WWI and the invention of the combustion engine on modern life and they’d probably couldn’t tell you.

And now my normal Rain World OCs are up :)

sketch dump sunday

…ig…. Tagged by @technicangels 

Two of my A Mage Reborn MCs that i’ve been trying to finish for days now god help me

Wayhaven sketches of my detectives w Felix and Morgan

GOTRM ROs i drew ages ago and never quite finished

lil doodle of my Smoke and Velvet MC w his mother and yes i got sad while drawing it

and lastly and old ass drawing of my Diaspora MC and Sang that i figured should maybe see the light of the day but don’t look too hard

Tagging but don’t feel obligated to do it too or i will cry @nieryen, @nandivina and @lonedeewolfe 

“You can either let this journey crush you, or let it transform you into someone stronger.”

A scene from the newly-released, New-York-Times-bestselling (?!) book Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, art by 最后的L and water effects by me! 🤗

Honestly, Zachary Ying is a book I didn’t think I’d have the strength to write. The concept is very wild and wacky, yes—the First Emperor of China possessing a young Chinese American boy’s AR gaming headset and compelling him on a journey across China to heist magical artifacts—but writing the story required me to dig deep into my complicated relationship with my heritage.

When I immigrated to Canada in 6th grade, I spent a year as the only Asian kid in the school of a small town. In that one year, I became self-conscious of all sorts of things that didn’t seem to matter before: the way I looked, the way I spoke, the clothes I wore, the media I liked. The white kids wouldn’t insult me outright, but they’d ask me questions that made me embarrassed of my differences from them. I felt backward, alien. The feelings of isolation and rejection I experienced took me many, many years to unpack. It’s been a long journey, learning to love myself again, and I drew much strength from stories in Chinese history to do so.

However, as the years passed, I’ve also watched in horror as the government of China became increasingly authoritarian, cracking down on dissent and committing genocidal atrocities against minority ethnic groups, of which I belong to one myself. Being Chinese has become so painfully political. Pride in Chinese culture is no longer as simple as that, but could accidentally play into the Chinese government’s use of traditional culture as propaganda. Yet on another hand, there’s the necessity of demystifying and defending Chinese culture to combat anti-Chinese racism. Many diaspora like myself are caught in the crosshairs, struggling to find the balance. But what I firmly believe is that traditional Chinese culture and history don’t belong to the Chinese government. It belongs to the Chinese people, both native and diaspora. If we distance ourselves from our heritage specifically because of the Chinese government, that’s letting them win, validating their claim to be the one true representative of Chinese culture when that is absolutely not the case.

Through Zack’s journey in this book, I wanted to engage with the complexities of Chinese identity, but I also want to have fun. This book remains a love letter to my 12-year-old self, taking inspiration from everything I love—anime, video games, sci-fi, and of course, Chinese history and myths. You’ll find appearances by real figures from said history and myths, wielding magic inspired by their legends, along with many famous Chinese artifacts.

If any of that sounds fun to you too, especially if you like Percy Jackson or Yugioh, I really think you’d like this book as well 😩✌🏼 You can find out where to get it at ZacharyYing.com!

woo cool powers for the gang!!

this project looks so good so far!! I do have to ask what are everyones affinities (all the main ros i mean)?

thank u so much for the nice words ! of course,

Martin: Fire with sub-affinity lightning and Dark with sub-affinity shadows.

Demetra: Air with sub-affinity wind and Dark with sub-affinity manipulation.

Evander: Void with sub-affinity speed.

Harley: Air with sub-affinity sound and Light.

Echo: Void with sub-affinity abyss and Dark, which is a very rare and powerful combo.

Dominic: Water and Earth with sub-affinity nature.

“people have endured the worst events in human history and lived to share their experiences,” i say after taking a sharp deep breath through my nose

“people have found small comforts in small ways throughout humanity’s bleakest moments,” I say, resisting the urge the scream

“people have survived the worst atrocities humanity has thrown their way and lived to share what they went through,” I say as my eye twitches

“even though the worst parts of history may end up repeating itself that also leaves the possibility of the best parts of history also repeating itself,” I say, trying to comfort myself

Wifey’s MagnifiqueNoir was featured in this article as one of the top 10 Black science fiction/fantasy works Netflix should consider adapting! You can read it here!

I Am Black Sci-Fi

10 Black Science Fiction/ Fantasy Works That Need A Netflix Adaptation | I Am Black Sci-Fi

I Am Black Sci-Fi is a media organization founded in 1999 and focuses on celebrating the fandom and many contributions of Black people to sc

And since people were doin Soul Jam Light designs I figured I'd do some for Common Beasts.

Duty, Reason, Civility, Productivity and Unity

Idk about everybody else, when I think ANCIENT EMBODYMENT OF AN IDEA my brain does go to Animals and stuff like that. I also attempted to do an alliteration thing (as seen with the Duty Dragon and the Reason Ram) but gave up.

Happy book birthday to this week’s new releases! 📚