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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 10h

Finished 'My Antonia,' and the magic came back. I've never read a novel quite like it. It's a love letter to a ghost of a memory of a nostalgia. It recalls unrequited love, tragic loss, sexual violence, human frailties & strength, all in a setting painted as vividly as it is fragile & fleeting.

Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 11h

"In the course of twenty crowded years, one parts with many illusions. I did not wish to lose the early ones. Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again."

- Willa Cather
'My Antonia'

Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 3d

"All afternoon... one could hear the panting wheeze of the saw or the pleasant purring of the plane. They were such cheerful noises, seeming to promise new things for living people: it was a pity those freshly planed pine boards were to be put underground so soon."

- Willa Cather
'My Antonia'

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 11h

"In the course of twenty crowded years, one parts with many illusions. I did not wish to lose the early ones. Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again."

- Willa Cather
'My Antonia'

Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 3d

"All afternoon... one could hear the panting wheeze of the saw or the pleasant purring of the plane. They were such cheerful noises, seeming to promise new things for living people: it was a pity those freshly planed pine boards were to be put underground so soon."

- Willa Cather
'My Antonia'

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 16h

No doubt! Every time I re-read it, I get the familiar pang as the final pages near. Heightened of course by the resolution itself - a happy ending yes, but with the loss of so much magic & mystery in the world. He makes that loss visceral.

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 16h

The first stories I bought as a young adult were multi-book adventures, precisely because once I had acclimated to that world, I looked forward to staying in it.

Later I did the same thing with Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales, because after LOTR's 1000 pages I still wanted more Middle-Earth.

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 16h

I think of how so many of the huge 19th C classics were originally published a chapter a week in magazines. A person could look forward to a year spent in the author's world.

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 19h

(meant '24 ugh!) Yeah it's neat to be driveable from northern New England. Only 5 hrs even from us, including the harrowing roads through the White Mountains :-)

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 19h

Yeah we loved the Metro! I was surprised how extensive it is. We were there April '04 as everything was waking up from a long winter. We walked up Mount Royal, did the street with the great record, book, & second-hand shops, saw the cathedral, ate pretty amazing food. And the biodome. I'd go back.

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 19h

We were there at the biodome last year and absolutely loved it! And Montreal is a fun city.

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Reposted by Stori3d Past

Dr Kate Cook @katexe.bsky.social · 22h

I played the first demo and this was a lovely historical game - worth a look now there is an updated version, for anyone who likes cosy-style historical gaming!

Edwige Lelievre @edwigelel.bsky.social · 22h

Very happy to present The Abbess Garden's new trailer! www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP7N...

The demo of our historical gardening game is on Steam! steamcommunity.com/games/341197...

Chapters 4 & 5 are there! Time to cosy up while the leaves are falling!

#cozygame #gamedev #indiedev

The Abbess Garden - Official Demo Launch Trailer

YouTube video by GameTrailers

www.youtube.com

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

Tolkien is of course one of the best examples of a writer who deeply understood all aspects of "spell." In his famous 1930s poem 'Mythopoeia,' he writes about how the best bards could use words to "kindle hearts with legendary fire."

Blessed are the legend-makers with their rhyme
of things not found within recorded time.
It is not they that have forgot the Night,
or bid us flee to organized delight,
...
They have seen Death and ultimate defeat,
and yet they would not in despair retreat,
but oft to victory have turned the lyre
and kindled hearts with legendary fire.

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Reposted by Stori3d Past

Tom Emanuel @realtomemanuel.bsky.social · 1d

“Small wonder that spell means both a story told, and a formula of power over living men.”

My man JRRT, “On Fairy-stories”

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

The absolute master of every variant of "spell" -- I believe he was capable of using all their meanings at once!

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

We of course still say "cast a spell," and we of course "spell" our letters.

But the idea of "spell" as a conversation still hangs on too in one last way -- the colloquialism "to sit a spell." It literally means "to sit long enough to hear a story told."

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

As an aside, "spell" is such a great - and ancient - English word. It used to be a verb for speaking/talking, "spellian." But this was an age where words had power. Speaking the right way could cast a "spell." In 'The Hobbit' the dwarf song in Bag End casts a literal spell on Bilbo.

Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

Still enjoying Willa Cather's "My Antonia." Midway through, she mixed it up -- advanced time, changed setting, added a lot of new characters. It makes sense for the story & is done well, but it definitely broke the spell on me. What had been effortless reading now requires a little work.

Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 3d

"All afternoon... one could hear the panting wheeze of the saw or the pleasant purring of the plane. They were such cheerful noises, seeming to promise new things for living people: it was a pity those freshly planed pine boards were to be put underground so soon."

- Willa Cather
'My Antonia'

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

I'm myself nostalgic for the wide open Nebraskan fields that she painted so vividly. I have a hunch that that's the point.

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

Still enjoying Willa Cather's "My Antonia." Midway through, she mixed it up -- advanced time, changed setting, added a lot of new characters. It makes sense for the story & is done well, but it definitely broke the spell on me. What had been effortless reading now requires a little work.

Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 3d

"All afternoon... one could hear the panting wheeze of the saw or the pleasant purring of the plane. They were such cheerful noises, seeming to promise new things for living people: it was a pity those freshly planed pine boards were to be put underground so soon."

- Willa Cather
'My Antonia'

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

With apologies to Anthrax's "Schism" ...

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Reposted by Stori3d Past

inkle @inkle.co · 1d

Great web-template for ink stories; nicely designed with a lot of out of the box features!

Rebecca McCarthy - Writing & Narrative Design @rebeccamwrites.bsky.social · 1d

I have a big backlog project written in Ink, which stalled a while back as I couldn't quite get everything I wanted working. I was looking through the InkJam resources list and this web template was listed.

Does pretty much everything I need!
remy-vim.itch.io/ink-template

Ink IF Story Template by Rémy Vim

A free template for Ink stories

remy-vim.itch.io

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

Give me that, Badger Badger Badger, and Wikipedia, and I will always believe the Web is still salvageable.

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 1d

As long as the O Fortuna parody is still on YouTube, the world is still a manageable place.

O Fortuna Misheard Lyrics

YouTube video by FamishedMammal

youtu.be

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Reposted by Stori3d Past

Andrew Hiller @andrewintheclouds.bsky.social · 2d

AI fact checked.

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 2d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 2d

"The chancellor approved it"

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 3d

32 years.

Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · Sep 30

30 years ago this month Counting Crows released their debut album. I devoured it. Masterful start to finish. In the last song, in the last seconds, Duritz goes from singing "shame shame shame" to "change change change." And 30 years later I *still* don't know where he does it.

Magical album.

Counting Crows - Murder of One [HQ]

Lyrics:Blue morning, blue morning,Wrapped in strands of fist and boneCuriosity, Kitten,Doesn't have to mean you're on your ownYou can look outside your windo...

youtu.be

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Reposted by Stori3d Past

Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · Jun 28

Anyway, if you want a 4-minute primer about the most famous Roman fort in Britain (or maybe anywhere), designed with early-access videogame assets, I'm still proud of the work I put into this. I love that the story of the fort is just as much the story of the community that grew up around the fort.

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Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks for the tip, I'm glad to have discovered Cather!

Stori3d Past @stori3dpast.bsky.social · 3d

I've made inroads with Manhattans and even bourbon neat. So I'm
optimistic. It seems like a noble undertaking at least!

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