Site Updates

Greetings guys, gals, and non-binary pals!

For anyone new here, my name’s Ryn and I do a bit of art, a bit of science, and a whole lot of analysis. I wanted to let you know that things might be rearranged here in the not too distant time, so bear with if that happens. I’m also finally updating my gallery. The state of it right now while I’m a photography student is frankly embarrassing. That said, I’ll probably be posting more photos and less long-form essays for a while. I realize I’ve not posted all that much for the last year or so, but compared to the rest of the content on this page. There’s also a while backlog that I’m going to be going through and activating too, same as with the Youtube channel (AdventuRyn).

Hoping you’re all doing well and having a fabulous day! TTYL :)

Ryn

Star Beasts Review | Graphic Novel (E-ARC) #NetGalley #StarBeasts

Greetings, guys, gals, and non-binary pals! While the main bulk of the blog will remain botany and botany-adjacent, but I’m going to start adding more book reviews to the mix too. We’re going to start here. They’ll show up in Youtube videos eventually too.

Full disclosure, I was given advance access to this graphic novel on NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. The title image to the left is an affiliate link to the book’s Amazon page. Anticipated publication date is August 17, 2021.

Star Beasts is an adorable middle-grade graphic novel by Stephanie Young that takes you through the adventures of the Condor and her crew. The Condor’s inhabitants are from the Earth branch of a vast intergalactic network of beings. There's some intrigue, some touching moments, and some high-impact action.

I was rather reminded of Homeward Bound, meets Star Trek... sort of. It was a great time and really helped me out of the reading slump/weird headspace I was in for the last little bit. I will admit the ending was slightly cliché and slightly annoyed me because it was a bit cliché.

Looking at the cover art again, there’s a lot of references to the rest of the story. Overall, it was genuinely great and I'd definitely recommend it and rated it 4 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Celebrating Queer Identities: LGBTQ+ Readathon and Charity Auction

Greetings, guys, gals, and non-binary pals and welcome to the first readathon I’ve hosted!

I had fun participating in the Asian Readathon in May and wanted to do the same in June for pride. However, from what I’ve seen, there’s no already-existing LGBTQ+ reading challenge, at least for the month of June. Consequently, I’ve created one. You can pop over to The StoryGraph to participate, or just do so on your own, if you’d like. Also, a heads-up that all book links (including the clickable images) are affiliate links, leading to sales pages for said books. Just so you know that if you purchase something, I get a small commission.

While there are several prompts, keep in mind that you can use one book for multiple prompts,

I’m also going to be selling 10 pride flag inspired abstract paintings, the profits of which will be donated to the Center for Black Equity, which works to improve the lives of black LGBT people, globally. Unless something changes, this will be taking place on Instagram.

Many thanks to The Honeycomb :)

Prompts: 

1. Read a book written by an LGBTQ+ author.

2. Read a book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist.

3. Read a book with LGBTQ+ characters/author/etc from your favorite genre.

4. Read a non-fiction book by an LGBTQ+ author.

5. Read a book by a BI-POC author with LGBTQ+ characters.

6. Read a book that is non-US centric with LGBTQ+ characters. 

Bonus:

i. Read a book that spotlights lesser-emphasized parts of the LGBTQ+ community (either author or characters) Ex. ace, aro, pan, intersex, etc.

ii. Read a book with an LGBTQ+ focus, written prior to 1950.

iii. Read a book with trans/non-binary characters or by a trans/non-binary author.

iv. Read a book by a new-to-you LGBTQ+ author.

It's meant to be pretty low-stress, so you can use one book for multiple prompts, just please pick books from different authors, and ideally from authors of diverse gender, sexuality, and cultural identities.

For example, I'll be reading ACE, by Angela Chen, fulfilling all the prompts except the bonuses for a trans or non-binary author/characters and being written prior to 1950.  Also kind of favorite genre. Non-fiction’s hit or miss for me sometimes.

Hurricane Child, by Kacen Callender, fulfilling the prompts of being written by an LGBTQ author, about (presumably) an LGBTQ character, and being written by a trans or non-binary author.  The story follows 12 yr old Caroline Murphy, who is a ‘hurricane child’ or a child who was born during a hurricane and is thus seen as bad luck.  It’s a magical-realism middle grade.  It looks like there might be some sapphic elements, but StoryGraph is also letting me know there’s content warnings for self harm, homophobia, and racism. 

And The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, fulfilling the prompts of being written by an LGBTQ author, about (presumably) an LGBTQ character, and having been written prior to 1950.

I've had a copy of that one for years and have never gotten around to it. From what I’ve heard from other reviews, it’s at least borderline horror?  We’ll see.

Other recommendations are The Henna Wars and The Prince and the Dressmaker, which I read for May's Asian Readathon. As a content warning, both had homophobia, the latter much more than the former, though the former has elements of transphobia as well.  There is also a running commentary on racism toward our Bengali main character and her family.

If you decide to participate, feel free to use the #ReadLGBTQPride hashtag

Any book-reading method works for this, including but not limited to physical copies, e-books, audiobooks, and braille.  If you want to participate in the charity art canvases, links will be below, along with links to information and ways to help regarding the events currently unfolding in Palestine, India, and Brazil. 

Hoping you’re all doing well.

-Ryn

Links:

Vaccine info: Othena vaccine registration | Walgreens vaccine registration

Global Issues:

How to help India: https://linktr.ee/hindusamata

How to help Colombia: https://conflictoencolombia.carrd.co/

How to help Palestine: https://twitter.com/slexiecult/status/1390779196125949954?s=20 How to help

Myanmar: https://www.rescue.org/country/myanmar

Anti-Asian Violence Resources: https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/

Social Media Links: https://linktr.ee/AdventuRyn​

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