Guest Post | Redemption by Catherine Schaff-Stump
Like most readers, I know what I like. I have a weakness for troubled souls who turn it around. For me, the redemption arc is one of the most satisfying aspects of a good book.
A casual skim of my bookshelves stories where characters become better in spite of themselves. There’s Pride and Prejudice, where Lizzy Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy give up their biases for love.
Original image pulled from https://cathschaffstump.com/
Like most readers, I know what I like. I have a weakness for troubled souls who turn it around. For me, the redemption arc is one of the most satisfying aspects of a good book.
A casual skim of my bookshelves stories where characters become better in spite of themselves. There’s Pride and Prejudice, where Lizzy Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy give up their biases for love. On the shelf below it, I see The Count of Monte Cristo, where even revenge-driven Edmond Dantes learns how to forgive and start a new life. The list goes on: The Last Unicorn, where Schmendrick figures a few things out; the Rivers of London series, where I’m eagerly watching to see if Lesley May comes out the other side of her descent into angst-laden bad decision making; and The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, in which the titular characters have to learn that the decisions that allow them to be true to themselves are the only decisions that allow for their redemption. Even the book my new novel The Wrath of Horus is patterned on, Dante’s Inferno, is a story about a guy turning his life around in the right direction because damnation is a bad option.
Image pulled from https://cathschaffstump.com/
I enjoy writing the redemption arc as much as I enjoy reading it. The Wrath of Horus is book three of the Klaereon Scroll series, and it is a descent into darkness for all the characters, but especially for Gregorius Klaereon. When we first meet Gregorius, he is the quintessential bad boy. I mean, come on. Look at his Byronic picture on the cover!
Gregorius has been guided toward his Trial with the god Horus by Horus himself, who has taught Gregorius he is better than everyone else, just like Horus is. Greg swaggers and talks with his fists, but something that Horus hasn’t taught Greg lurks beneath the surface of Greg’s actions. Greg believes he is responsible for causing the deaths of his parents. His bravado and his aggressive posture keep people away from this essential truth: In Greg’s mind, he is unlovable, and those who get close to him get hurt. In the book, Greg is abused, and he feels deep down he deserves it.
I have writer friends who don’t like Greg, who find him distasteful and irredeemable, a petty bully they have little empathy for, who makes the people around him suffer. What makes a character potentially redeemable? There’s a line I think can’t be crossed. As we launch The Wrath of Horus, I’ve posted an article elsewhere about Set, who I don’t think I can redeem, based on the severity and brutality of his crimes. Set’s motivations also make him irredeemable. Greg, on the other hand, has possibility.
Greg suffers because of Set. If redemption is partly suffering, as Dante suggests it is in The Inferno and Purgatorio, Greg goes through the physical act of paying for his sins. Greg comes through his experience to understand both himself and others in different ways. Most importantly, Greg understands from his family and friends that he doesn’t deserve suffering, that he doesn’t need to drive people away, that he can be loved.
What happens in the next book, The Wisdom of Thoth is largely up to Greg. I can’t tell you for sure if he is destined for redemption, because I haven’t written that book yet, but I do know the door is open, and Greg has the option to step through.
And I am a sucker for a good redemption arc after all.
Image provided by the author
Cath Schaff-Stump writes fiction for children and adults, from humor to horror. She is the author of the Klaereon Scroll series and the Abigail Rath Versus series. She lives and works in Iowa, teaching English. You can find her online at Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, @cathschaffstump, and cathschaffstump.com, and follow her Kindle Vella serial The Autumn Warrior and the Ice Sword.
About The Wrath of Horus
For Gregorius Klaereon, his Trial with the god Horus isn’t about winning or losing. It’s about the fight. His temperament aggressive, his anger on display for all to see, Greg is a direct contrast to his brother Marcellus, the perfect Lord Klaereon, the prophet who can do no wrong. How Marc tolerates Greg is a mystery to Greg himself, especially as Greg knows deep down that Greg is responsible for the deaths of his parents.On the eve of the Klaereon birthday celebration, two days before Greg’s Trial, Greg fights with his cousin Flavia Borgia, and the two of them activate a reality shard which sends them, Marc, and others to the Abyss. There, they are judged and scattered throughout the nine circles. Greg, alone, discovers his Trial was the least of his worries as he is confronted by Set, the god of destruction, in a desolate landscape where his shadow powers no longer work. While Greg endures, certain his rightful punishment has found him, Marc and the others scramble to reunite, rescue Greg, and make their way to the Golden City of the banished Egyptian pantheon, desperate to find a way home.
Links:
Subscribe to Cath’s Newsletter: https://cathschaffstump.com/newsletter-sign-up/
Learn more about the Klaereon Scroll Series: https://cathschaffstump.com/the-klaereon-scroll-series-2/
Check out Cath’s Blog: https://cathschaffstump.com/blog/
Guest Post | The Heart of This Morbid Life by Loren Rhoads
When I was a kid, I went to a sleepover at a friend's house. Her family were strict evangelical Christians, which makes what happened later even more inexplicable.
Original image provided by Loren Rhoads
When I was a kid, I went to a sleepover at a friend's house. Her family were strict evangelical Christians, which makes what happened later even more inexplicable.
There were a gang of us there, all sixth-grade girls: Sherry, the two Lisas, Raeann, and me. I wonder now if we were celebrating someone's birthday, but it was so long ago that I don't remember. For that matter, I'm not sure who suggested we play "light as a feather, stiff as a board." Sherry and the Lisas all had older sisters, so one of them must have learned from an older girl.
When it was my turn, I sat in a high-backed wooden chair, arms on the armrests, eyes closed. Sherry stood behind me, rubbing her fingers lightly in circles over my temples. The point was to hypnotize me. Everyone repeated "Light as a feather, stiff as a board" over and over. Sherry shushed the other girls when they giggled.
My body relaxed by degrees, slumping into the chair. Eventually, I felt as if my soul flew out of my body, rushing upward toward the ceiling. I traveled through the house, which looked like a model or doll house, like a rat's maze with no roof. I watched her dad watching TV in the bedroom and her sister talking on the phone.
Image provided by Loren Rhoads
Back where my body sat in the dining room, my friends each stuck out two fingers on both hands. They slipped their fingers under my thighs and butt and lifted my body off the chair. I'm not sure how far they planned to raise me, but the process was complicated by the arms of the chair. As they tried to work out how some of them could hold me up while the others reached around the chair's arms, I could hear their voices as if at a distance.
When they juggled, then dropped me, I woke up from the trance.
It was the most incredible experience. The things I saw seemed so very real, things that eleven-year-old me would have had trouble imagining.
That's the mindset that's informed the rest of my life and led to my newest book. This Morbid Life is a memoir told through essays: stretching from taking prom pictures in a cemetery in the rain to spending a couple of days in a cadaver lab, from traveling the world to visit dead people in museums to standing beside my brother's coffin, from smuggling absinthe before it was legal to eating bugs for fun. I hope you'll join me on my adventures.
Loren Rhoads is the author of 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die and Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel. She was the editor of Morbid Curiosity magazine and the book Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues: True Tales of the Unsavory, Unwise, Unorthodox, and Unusual. Her most recent book is This Morbid Life, a memoir comprised of 45 death-positive essays.
About This Morbid Life
What others have called an obsession with death is really a desperate romance with life. Guided by curiosity, compassion, and a truly strange sense of humor, this particular morbid life is detailed through a death-positive collection of 45 confessional essays. Along the way, author Loren Rhoads takes prom pictures in a cemetery, spends a couple of days in a cadaver lab, eats bugs, survives the AIDS epidemic, chases ghosts, and publishes a little magazine called Morbid Curiosity.
Originally written for zines from Cyber-Psychos AOD to Zine World and online magazines from Gothic.Net to Scoutie Girl, these emotionally charged essays showcase the morbid curiosity and dark humor that transformed Rhoads into a leading voice of the curious and creepy.
“Witty, touching, beautifully written, and haunting — in every sense of the word — This Morbid Life is an absolute must-read for anyone looking for an unusually bright and revealing journey into the darkest of corners. Highly recommended!” — M.Christian, author of Welcome To Weirdsville
Sales links:
The paperback at Amazon: https://amzn.to/3mhZajO
The ebook at Amazon: https://amzn.to/3kcFlrP
Bibio.com: https://www.biblio.com/book/morbid-life-loren-rhoads/d/1424501894
Get signed copies from Loren’s bookstore: https://lorenrhoads.com/product/this-morbid-life-autographed-1st-edition/
Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day 2021
Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day ✊
It's important to remember that the indigenous peoples of the Americas are alive today and that they are not just an anecdote in a history book. Their cultures, beliefs, and stories are not static, are not relegated to the past, and exist in the here and now.
Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day ✊
It's important to remember that the indigenous peoples of the Americas are alive today and that they are not just an anecdote in a history book. Their cultures, beliefs, and stories are not static, are not relegated to the past, and exist in the here and now.
Too often, indigenous peoples and their ways of life are treated as extinct, or as some exotic curiosity. For example, the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens show boldly states in the episode description that the "Mayan people vanished" while the episode appears to imply they collaborated with extraterrestrials. Sadly, I remember growing up believing that the Mexica (Aztecs) were wiped out, because it was what my American history class taught.
But this type of misinformation can be stopped if more people speak up and call it out as the erasure and exploitation that it is. One way to do this is by advocating for a curriculum that centralizes the indigenous experience from the perspective of indigenous peoples, such as teaching the awful truth about the history of Indian Boarding School policies in the United States. Or maybe the next time someone says that an indigenous group is "extinct" or that their culture is "dead," correct that person and let them know that’s not true. I know this is easier said than done, especially if you're in an environment that isn't BIPOC friendly or overly emphasizes European and Western values. Unless we speak up, change can't happen, so let's work together to make change happen.
Read more about historical Indian Boarding School policies. H/T to @speaknahuatl for the link to The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
List of Audio Drama Links for The Deadbringer
Below are the web links to each of the HorrorAddicts.net podcast episodes, with The Deadbringer audio drama embedded within their respective episodes. You can also listen on iTunes and Google Podcasts. Happy listening! 🎧
If you’re a fan of Horror, I highly suggest you check out HorrorAddicts.net, a podcast that discusses and reviews horror entertainment. The podcast is in its 16th season with this season’s theme being Cultural Horror. It’s a great way to discover BIPOC authors and creators from all over the world. And I’m one of the authors featured in season 16, with the first ten chapters of The Deadbringer being serialized for audio!!
I’m grateful to HorrorAddicts.net for producing The Deadbringer audio drama and for giving my book a home on their bi-monthly podcast. HUGE shoutout to the voice actors who volunteered their time and labor.
You can check out some behind the scenes of me recording my lines and working on the scripts over on my IG Highlights. I’ve also been keeping notes of what recreating The Deadbringer for audio has been like and plan on posting a blog about my experience in the future, so I hope you’ll look forward to that.
Below are the web links to each of the HorrorAddicts.net podcast episodes, with The Deadbringer audio drama embedded within their respective episodes.
List of Audio Drama Links for The Deadbringer
Episode 1: The Shining City (HorrorAddicts.net Ep 192; Theme: Black Vampires)
Episode 2: Locked Doors (HorrorAddicts.net Ep 193; Theme: Okinawan)
Episode 3: The Bastion (HorrorAddicts.net Ep 194; Theme: Gothic Romance)
Episode 4: Corpse Road (HorrorAddicts.net Ep 195; Theme: African)
Episode 5: Corpse Hill, Part 1 (HorrorAddicts.net Ep 196: Theme: New Zealand)
Episode 6: Corpse Hill, Part 2 (HorrorAddicts.net Ep 197; Theme: Time Travel)
Episode 7: Rain of Blood (HorrorAddicts.net Ep 198; Theme: African American)
Episode 8: Sleep (HorrorAddicts.net Ep 199; Theme: Mexican)
Episode 9: A Chance Encounter (Theme: 200th Show Special)
Episode 10: Revelations, Part 1 (Theme: African American)
Episode 11: Revelations, Part 1 (Theme: Polynesian/Pacific Islander)
Episode 12: Time, Part 1 (Theme: African American)
Episode 13: Time, Part 2 (Theme: Diversity in Horror)
Note: The audio will be compiled all in one before season 17 of HorrorAddicts.net (April 2022).
Cast of Voice Actors for The Deadbringer
E.M. Markoff as Narrator and The Stranger
Intro, outro; Ep 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
James Seo as Kira Vidal
Ep 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13
Rish Outfield as Eutau Vidal
Ep 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13
Emerian Rich as Narrator and Sal Zem
Ep 3, 4, 5 (narration), 7, 9 (narration), 12
Kadriah Wade as Elia the Herbalist
Ep 1, 10
Ep 2, 4, 6, 7,
Ep 8, 11
DJ Pitsiladis as Tim, Bastion agent
Ep 4, 7
Ep 1
Intro/Outro Theme song for The Deadbringer audio drama
Produced by
HorrorAddicts.net
Scripts by
E.M. Markoff with assistance from Emerian Rich
Stay in touch!
Subscribe to my blog, connect with me on social media, or read my books :)
Read the books already? Please consider leaving a review on Amazon. It really helps me out and makes a difference in helping readers find the books. <3
Reader Photo Spotlight: @tldr_bookreviews
This month’s featured reader is @tldr_bookreviews! Many thanks to her for the lovely photograph of The Deadbringer. Give her a follow at @tldr_bookreviews.
AN ODE TO ELLDERET READERS, WHO ARE SOME OF THE DAMNED BEST PHOTOGRAPHERS 💙⚔️
This month’s featured reader is @tldr_bookreviews! Many thanks to her for the lovely photograph of The Deadbringer. Give her a follow at @tldr_bookreviews.
Stay in touch!
Subscribe to my blog, connect with me on social media, or read my books :)
Read the books already? Please consider leaving a review on Amazon. It really makes a difference in helping others take a chance <3
Stop Asian Hate
Eugene Lee Yang from The Try Guys put together an informative and nuanced video essay discussing Anti-Asian hate. Not only does Eugene give his own perception, but he also includes other voices from the Asian community as well as the Black community. A lot of the information presented in the video is new to me, and I’m thankful for it.
Hello! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy <3
Today, I wanted to share an important video with y’all from one of my favorite YouTube channels.
Eugene Lee Yang from The Try Guys put together an informative and nuanced video essay discussing Anti-Asian hate. Not only does Eugene give his own perception, but he also includes other voices from the Asian community as well as the Black community. A lot of the information presented in the video is new to me, and I’m thankful for it.
One of the things he points out in the video essay is how Asian American history is not taught in classrooms, how what is taught omits the Asian American struggle against racism in the United States. I 100% agree. Not until I moved to San Francisco and visited Japantown for the first time did I learn about the Internment Camps of the 1940s. In fact, my first mochi was from Benkyodo—a Japanese business that first opened in San Francisco in 1906 but was forced to temporarily close when the family was interned during World War II.
American history excels at indoctrinating racial stereotypes as “facts” and then using those “facts” to justify genocide or erase the atrocities committed against BIPOC. Racism against the Asian community is part of American history and should be taught in schools to help dispel those harmful stereotypes and encourage dialogue.
Thankfully, history is no longer confined to classroom textbooks written from the White gaze. The internet is a powerful tool, and it’s allowed me to learn and listen to people from affected communities, including my own. Because there is always something to learn.
The video essay is about an hour long and covers the following topics (timestamps taken from the original YouTube video):
00:00 - Introduction
04:10 - Yellow Peril
08:20 - America At War
11:57 - Model Minority
19:06 - Vincent Chin
22:55 - Black & Asian Communities
31:11 - Policing
36:01 - Hate Rhetoric
46:10 - Monolith & Media
51:49 - Generational Divide
58:29 - Voting & Representation
1:04:39 - How You Can Help
Please watch Eugene’s video, listen to the people within the Asian American communities, and help lift up their voices. If possible, please consider donating to the AAPI community fund. #StopAsianHate.
Mexica New Year 2021: The Year of Chicnahui (9) Calli (House)
Welcome back <3 I hope everyone’s March has been going well. Quick post sharing an event to celebrate Mexica New Year, 9 House. This link will take you to the website where you can find all the deets. The first event starts tomorrow at 6 am with a live Sunrise Ceremony.
Stay safe and healthy, everyone!
Happy Mexica New Year from me and Kanoqui!
Winter Storm: How to Help Texas | Donation Links (Homeless, Immigrants, Elderly)
I was born and raised in Texas, and it’s not an understatement to say that the infrastructure for this kind of weather does not exist.
Scroll down to go straight to the donation links
I was born and raised in Texas, and it’s not an understatement to say that the infrastructure for this kind of weather does not exist. I was there in 2011 for the last winter storm, and I sure as heck didn’t know what I was doing. When I saw the ice on the car windshield, I went back inside the apartment trying to find something I could use to scrape the ice off (I heard credit cards are good??) without scratching the glass.
And then my husband presented me with an ice scraper specifically made for, well, scraping the ice off of the glass without causing damage. Unlike I, who’d never lived in a place with four seasons, my husband knew how to respond to the ice and even had specialized equipment at hand. With that tool, scraping off ice was as easy as wiping down a windshield at the gas station. By the next day, the snow that had fallen on the ground was already beginning to melt.
Unlike San Francisco, Texas was built for hot weather: Heavy-duty air conditioners and ceiling fans are a major thing (that being said, whenever San Francisco has a heat wave, I think about those air conditioners).
BIPOC, immigrants, the elderly, the disabled, and the homeless are often the communities that are hardest hit during the best of times. And now is not the best of times, which means that every little bit helps. And please, let’s not forget the children and parents who are caged within ICE facilities, who on a “normal” day are already mistreated. Facing adversity is never easy, but its even harder when you’re surrounded by strangers who are actively keeping you separated from your family. There’s nothing worse than feeling abandoned.
Below you will find a collection of links.
Dear Texas Peeps, my heart is with you <3
EMM
The Bridge | Amazon Wish List
Ending Community Homeless Coalition (ECHO)
Based in Austin/Travis County, their mission is “to provide dynamic, proactive leadership that engages policymakers and the community to end homelessness.”
La Monarca Foundation
A smaller organization based in Dallas, Texas that helps undocumented families in Texas.
https://lamonarcafoundation.org/
Family Eldercare
Situated in Central Texas (Austin and Georgetown), Family Eldercare “ensure that older adults, at-risk veterans, and adults with disabilities receive the care they need to thrive in their community.” They’ve been around since 1982. The link below will take you to their donation page set up specifically because of the winter storm.
https://www.familyeldercare.org/
Houston Food Bank
Founded in 1982, the “Houston Food Bank distributes food and other essentials to those in need through a network of 1,500 community partners.” They also “provide programs and services aimed at helping families achieve long-term stability including nutrition education, job training, health management, and help in securing state-funded assistance.” They have a great winter storm page with information for those who need help and those who want to help. There is also a useful map to help you find Houston Food Bank near you.
March for Our Lives Texas has compiled a document with updated resources for certain areas in Texas. Este documento esta disponible en español.
You can find the document in their LinkTree under “Updated Resources for Texas Winter Storm.”
Angry Tias & Abuelas donation link to help asylum seekers along the Texas border:
A useful list of mutual aid organizations by Austin Mutual Aid.
