Sherrilyn Kenyon, Game of Thrones, and a Health Update

Sherrilyn Kenyon

I just heard about Sherri Kenyon's contempt of court charge...

Uggh.

We seriously need a new justice system that actually offers—call me crazy here, but—JUSTICE?! I've known Sherri for years and years; the judge should be (but won't be) ashamed of himself. 

Apparently Sherri got "too emotional" in court so the judge threw her in jail for 10 days. I know firsthand how it feels to be demonized and lied about by the opposing side in a lawsuit—and how psychologically devastating it is when you aren't allowed to defend yourself against those sick lies—but to have that happen at the hands of lawyers representing your former spouse who allegedly tried to poison you? I cannot begin to imagine the level of warranted emotionalism Sherri was experiencing that day.

Point blank: our judicial system is setup to work for lawyers and only for lawyers. They get away with lying to the courts in the name of a vigorous (if untrue) defense. It happens every single day, multiple times a day, in courtrooms across America. Whether the lawsuit is minor or major doesn't matter; when the stakes grow higher the lies just become more obscene. Lawyers need to be held criminally accountable because as things stand they have every incentive to lie and zero incentive to defend their client as vigorously as possible within the confines of truth.

We are sold the belief that the purpose of the judicial system is to get to the truth; that fairytale is perhaps the biggest lie of them all.

"A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats." — Benjamin Franklin

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It's difficult to find justice anywhere these days—including in our fiction. In a few words, what the fuck was going through the minds of the Game of Thrones' writers when they decided "oh yeah... THIS is how we're ending the series..."?!

Spoilers Are Coming

A girl knows she's not alone in her anger when people are still going on about the series' finale this long after the fact! For the life of me, I simply cannot fathom how the GOT writers thought their rushed and nonsensical ending would be deemed acceptable to a majority of viewers. 

This isn't about favorite characters dying—we're used to that. This is about lazy writing that ultimately doesn't hold up. 

1. Dany's story arc came out of Left-Fucking-Field in a town called Bullshit. She's always had the capacity for brutality (the defensive "reasoning" of the writers) does not a satisfactory explanation make. Yes, Dany has always had the capacity for brutality... but only against the wicked. Killing slave owners and rapists is a far cry from becoming the mass murderess of innocent men, women, and children. This was so out of character as to cheat viewers.
   
   
2. Grey Worm's story arc ended up being just as stupid. Yes, he lost the woman he loved to Cersei, but GW has never been the type to take out his anger on innocent people. His character development (until the final 2 episodes) showed a vulnerable man who, despite that vulnerability, was never ruled by his emotions. In the rare instance he showed us what he was feeling, said feelings always erred on the side of justice. His stubborn refusal to forgive both Tyrion and Jon was an eye-roller for me.
   
   
3. Tyrion being punished for making allegedly bad decisions was another WTF moment for me. His only true fuck-up was in giving up Varys to Dany. Other than that incident (which constitutes yet another instance of lazy writing) the worst sin that can be laid at Tyrion's feet in the rules of the GOT world is wanting to believe the best in people.
   
   
4. Don't get me started on Jon.
   
   
5. Jaime and Brienne: see #4.
   
   
6. Bran as ruler of the 7—or now 6—kingdoms... Are you fucking kidding me?! For one thing, we haven't been given an emotional investment in his character since season 1 so the fact he ended up winning the Game of Thrones is a proverbial smack in the face from HBO. This move infuriated me as much as Dany's story arc did, which is a pretty high bar. Secondly, Bran isn't even human anymore. He has no feelings FFS! And isn't it the job of the Three-Eyed Raven to find and train the next one? Becoming a king doesn't jive with that. I could see making him High Counselor to the king/queen, but there is where his story should have ended.

I could go on, but you get the point. HBO fucked its viewers over bigtime with its piss poor series finale. I could have accepted a lot of outcomes as legitimate if unsatisfying, but this? It amounted to pure laziness combined with the "aha gotchya!" factor. If you haven't yet seen GOT, I highly recommend not bothering. It's not a series I could watch again knowing how lame it ends.

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And lastly, a personal update...

I'm still quite ill, but at least now I'm ill and hopeful. I finally—after two long years of suffering through indescribable pain—won my disability case. In essence that means I can now receive the medical treatment and supplies I need to get better. (And I do very much want to get better!) More than anything, I pray I'll be able to write again. When you're in constant physical and mental pain it's impossible to concentrate on anything outside of it. My characters are still with me; they still want their stories told. Here's hoping I get to the point where I can give them the attention and focus they deserve.

Lots of Love,

Tina/Jaid

I’m Sorry

I will never, ever put the cart before the horse again. As much as I wanted to finish HG for a Feb release, I simply couldn’t stay well enough—or cognitively focus enough—to make that desire become reality. I know I’ve done this in the past before, but I won’t do it to you again. I always mean well & have good intentions, but I’ve now learned it’s best to keep my mouth shut. 

I’m sorry everyone. I sincerely am. Every time my health takes a step forward, I swear it then leaps 2 gigantic steps back. I’ll keep you apprised of the situation as there are updates to give. 

Tina/Jaid

4th of July & An Ominous Writing Realization

I haven't celebrated Independence Day since 2016. I know I'm not alone in that regard because this is the second 4th of July in a row marked by a noticeably dismal quiet. No one of my acquaintance is hosting—or even having—a barbecue. Nobody who lives near me has set off a single firework. For all intents and purposes today feels like any other Wednesday. There is no laughter echoing through the valley, no loud music, no shared bond of hope and nostalgia with friends and strangers alike. Although the phrase has been used so often during 45's farce of an electoral college presidency as to have become something of a cliché, I truly do have to keep reminding myself this is not normal.

No matter where in the country I was living and no matter who the incumbent president was, Independence Day used to be the Christmas of summer—a day we collectively put aside our differences without even realizing we had done so and simply enjoyed each other's company at parades, barbecues, and picnics. Fireworks were a must! The familiar sound of animated crackling and boisterous booms would start at the stroke of midnight and not end until the following one. Then everything changed...

People used to muse aloud that the 4th was merely an excuse to get drunk and set off fireworks, but I don't hear anyone even halfheartedly trying to reassure themselves of that anymore. The sad part is, I think most of us really did believe it was just America's excuse to party hardy. Aside from politicians and other talking heads, few of us consciously equated the holiday with a celebration of freedom. Today, as so many of us continue to lose individual liberties on a daily basis, we finally recognize what we've lost and the freedom the 4th of July once represented. That freedom wasn't perfect and America still hadn't realized her full potential, but she was firmly headed in the direction of progress. With that proverbial rug having been pulled out from beneath us, it's little wonder that summer's Christmas feels like any other day in this dystopian version of our former glory.

As I sat here and reflected on what was versus what is, I couldn't help but see the parallels in my writing. Notwithstanding everything I'd been going through pre-election, I finally realized precisely what it was that had hammered the nail into my erotic muse's coffin. To put a fine point on it, as a woman whose works of adult fiction all revolved around capture fantasies (a PC way of saying rape fantasies,) it grows increasingly difficult to work up the necessary libido to pen more of them. In the pre-45 world, I felt in control of my life, my body, and my future so it was little wonder how alluring capture fantasies were to me. I wrote for similarly situated women who felt empowered enough in real life to enjoy giving up that power for the length of a book or novella. Fantasies are supposed to be in the realm of make-believe and stay there.

In today's America, I can't truthfully say I genuinely believe women will still have the right to vote in five years, much less the right to control our own bodies. Evangelicals and white supremacists have teamed up and turned this country into the fundamentalist Christian version of ISIS-meets-Apartheid. The United States of America is now South Africa at its ugliest inside Saudi Arabia at its most oppressive. Conservative white women may be living in subjugated bliss—at least until the oppression begins affecting them in ways they hadn't anticipated—but the rest of us are living in a twisted nightmare.

I used to dream of semi-retiring so I could move either to Paris' Montmartre district or to the tiny Shakespearean hamlet of Stratford-Upon-Avon. Whichever opportunity presented itself, I dreamt of spending my days typing away on a laptop at an outdoor cafe, writing my books in an atmosphere conducive to creativity. Now? I don't really dream. I'm not situated high enough on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to think beyond immediate survival. I'm very sick, I have no healthcare, and I'm watching the GOP dismantle any hope for better days ahead.

On the rare occasions when I do daydream, my psychological flights of fancy are downright macabre: Civil war. Vengeance. Deporting white supremacists and rabid evangelicals. Watching 45 and his regime stand trial before The Hague. As I said, very macabre.

I know I've changed—and not for the better. But then the same can be said of America.

—Tina/Jaid

END OF YEAR UPDATE

Many (if not most) of you know I've been dealing with a lot of issues. My physical health has been touch and go for several years now and, to be blunt, has worsened. I was finally able to get Obamacare (and thereby my $1000 a month pharmaceutical needs covered) only to have congress pass a tax bill into law that will likely cause me to lose coverage by October. That said, Glaxo-Smith-Kline has been great about providing me with my most expensive (and unfortunately most necessary) lung medicine free of charge. The not-so-great part is I'm only guaranteed free Anoro Ellipta until September 2018... literally 1 month before I will likely lose my health coverage altogether. To say I'm stressed is a major understatement.

At any rate, and to answer the question I receive most often, YES... I am still writing. I've been working on 3 different books as my health allows and hope to have them done ASAP. I will finish the Trek serial and Viking series if they are literally the last pieces I ever publish. Please understand that part of my illness causes memory lapse and cognitive delays (I have several lesions in my brain) so writing hasn't been an everyday ability of mine. Regardless, I am doing everything within my power to keep my promise and finish, at minimum, the Trek serial and Viking series. 

Happy 2018!

Tina/Jaid

American Genocide

Call your senators TODAY as soon as you wake up—the Republicans are expected to pass Trump/Ryan-care as early as today. Democratic senators don't even know what's in the bill, much less us, the American public.

A video worth watching:

https://twitter.com/SenateDems/status/873001941521108992