To keep myself from losing track of:
all the contests I've entered,
all the contests I've volunteered myself as a judge (or let myself be voluntold into judging),
all the books I've had to read as a contestant or as a judge,
all the deadlines,
a...
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I was supposed to have come up with amusing category names for this one as a favor to AprilJester. Oops. Next year...
Juvenilia is entered in Best Happy Ending (specifically, "The Gilden Door's" happy ending. "Arkesh" ends on a more bittersweet note).
Ancilla is entered in the Best Vampire category. Both "ancilla" and "Magister" are vampires, of course, but in this first book of the Magnum Opus trilogy, it's "Magister's" vampiric traits that are most prominent, so he's the vampire I told the judge to focus on.
To any Wattpadian who is casually reading this, if you're curious to see how vampires work in my created world (a world that is virtually indistinguishable from this one, because I write magical realism) the chapters that show obvious vampirism are:
"The Magus" - some very subtle energy feeding and mind-reading going on there.
"Malkuth" - energy feeding during sexual intercourse.
"Yesod" - most of the feeding involves theft of energy, again, but if you read closely, you'll notice that one of "Magister's" kisses tastes a little coppery.
"Hod" - some very subtle hints of energy feeding going on; also, this is the first time I use food as a metaphor for love. Food is very important to vampires in my stories. Starvation is a special kind of torture for my vampires; therefore, cooking for one's partner, or otherwise giving one's partner food, is an act of love.
"Gevurah" - there is a very, very explicit scene that comes with its own trigger warning. Vampires in my world do not have fangs, so if they're going to feed on blood, if they want to do so in a sanitary fashion and/or get more than a drop of blood from feeding, they can't use their teeth. They have to make do with other tools. I've freaked out more than a few readers with this chapter.
Also shown in this chapter: a hint of the element-bending that well-fed vampires are capable of. "ancilla's" Fire-bending to generate heat is boosted by her having just fed on "Magister."
"Chokmah" - oh, yeah, vampires in my world also feed on breath. Breath is life, after all, just like blood is.
This chapter also shows "Magister" teaching "ancilla" how to bend elements through magically directed kisses.
