Marshall Ryan Maresca
@mrmaresca
Fantasy Author & Podcaster | Co-host of 6x Hugo Finalist Worldbuilding for Masochists | Maradaine Saga | Velocity of Revolution
Asti and Verci Rynax were raised to be thieves, but got out of that life to start to build a legitimate business. But the Holver Alley fire took all they worked for away, and they have to fall back on their old skills to rebuild what they had and get revenge for what was lost. amzn.to/4wHmp7U
LISTEN, I'm going to be UTTERLY SELFISH and it say a Maradaine Saga game where you can play a number of the primary characters and wander the whole city. Because A. I happen to think it would be cool as fuck but also B. it'd be good for my bottom line.
Someone who actually wrote a thing will surely HAVE THOUGHTS and be able to articulate them, it's really that simple. Hell, one time an editor asked me if a made-up word should have two f's in it because another similar made-up word did, and this is how I responded:
My sister was a MASSIVE Little House fan when we were growing up, so I got to hit her with this.
The Little House Discourse sent me down a whole rabbit hole where I asked myself a question and got myself an answer:
Like, she literally looked like this when the show started and five years later she's married.
I went and rewatched parts of this, and I had forgotten how much the moment of @dianefranklin.bsky.social emerging from underneath Lane's Camaro had impacted young Marshall back in the day.
Satrine Rainey is a former spy who forges her way into an inspector job to take care of her family. Minox Welling is an untrained mage and an outcast among the inspectors. Together, they work for the Maradaine Constabulary, solving the weird murders no one else can. amzn.to/447puC7
Veranix Calbert is The Thorn: Magic student by day, street vigilante by night. He wages his personal war against the drug trade of the Fenmere cartel, while also facing threats from street gangs, assassins, vengeful alchemists and the occasional irritated professor. amzn.to/4vBuACO
Every once in a while I'm struck by the fact that I married an absolute icon.
Right now the ebook for THE VELOCITY OF REVOLUTION- a dieselpunk fantasy with motorcycles, tacos, psychic speed mushrooms, queernorm culture and fighting a colonial power-- is only $1.99. amzn.to/4uYDWYe
[PROTECTIVE DAD MODE ON] Look, Natania is very busy, so YOU GO BUY HER BOOK or SO HELP ME I WILL TURN THIS CAR RIGHT AROUND. Don't think I won't! www.amazon.com/Game-Hearts-...
THE THORN OF DENTONHILL Veranix Calbert—struggling magic student by day, street vigilante by night—fights his personal war against the drug cartel that destroyed his family. “Veranix is Batman, if Batman were a teenager and magically talented.” —Library Journal bookshop.org/a/16841/9781...
Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I think the years have been kind.
After WorldCon Chicago, my wife and I wandered over to the Wings of Mexico late on Sunday and randomly ran into an old Austin theater friend I hadn't seen in 20+ years.
THE MARADAINE SAGA is a fantasy series that is epic in scope but personal in stakes, looking at different facets of life in the same city, as heroes from different walks of life come together to save each other and the city they love. bookshop.org/lists/marada...
Lotta great answers in the quotes and comments, but I love any "Here's a team of lovable losers" that find a way to come together and win, which you THINK would mean The Replacements-- which I love-- but I gotta go with Necessary Roughness.
HOT TAKE: 1989's VALMONT is the far superior adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
17. The bit where Rey hears all the former Jedi and channels their energy to win? That hits my buttons, and I dig it.
16. While it serves absolutely no narrative purpose, this scene does, in fact, look really cool.
15. I do enjoy how this movie makes Kirk/Spock/Uhura the "Enterprise trio", it's a fun dynamic.
14. The cast for this movie was perfect, especially Kidman and Elliot.
13. I do think this really evoked what getting to and living on Mars would require and feel like on a day to day.
12. The first thirty minutes or so where it's "getting the band back together" is fabulous.
10. (this one'll get me in trouble) The technical achievements remain incredible and still hold up today.