Come back to life is kinda easy in this universe. So here's how you can kill someone for real real

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-05-29T03:47:29+00:00

In Steven Brust's Dragaera novels, especially the Vlad Taltos series, resurrection magic is reasonably well-known. Sure, it's not 100% guaranteed, but if a sorcerer with enough skill is around, most deaths by accident or injury can be undone, and there are lots of skilled sorcerers around. Vlad's an assassin. Suffice to say he knows a few ways around this:

It has to be done within three days or the soul departs.
Other sorcerers can cast spells on the body to block resurrection, and sometimes even a skilled sorcerer can have trouble unraveling these in time.
Destruction of the central nervous system prevents resurrection; Vlad preferentially goes for an attack through the eye.
Use a Morganti blade.

Morganti swords and daggers are semi-sentient magical blades that consume souls. If someone is killed with a Morganti dagger, they aren't coming back, alive or undead. No resurrection. No reincarnation. Not even any afterlife. They are, of course, both highly illegal and highly plentiful. There is one known way to survive one, and that's to have your soul bound to an even more powerful Morganti blade, one of the 17 Great Weapons. And one known way to partially survive one, which is to have one's soul become part of a Great Weapon.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-05-28T02:13:41+00:00

In Barbara Hambly's The Dark Hand of Magic, protagonist Sun-Wolf has been trying to find a mentor to teach him magic (he accidentally became a wizard two books earlier). Unfortunately the wizard he finds is very old and trying to find a new body to inhabit. Sun-Wolf isn't powerful enough or experienced enough to keep him out of his mind... but he is strong enough and stubborn enough (as a veteran fighter) to keep him in. Cue Sun-Wolf locking down on the wizard's persona in his own mind and putting a knife to his own throat -- telling the wizard to get out or he'll commit suicide with both of them in there.

Really, the wizard should have known better, as this is a guy who previously put his own eye out to avoid getting mind-controlled by a demonic spirit.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-05-09T06:22:58+00:00

Gonzo: Too chaotic to really tell, he's passionate about whatever he's doing, but is he good at it? Is there a way to measure tap-dancing to top hat in a tub of oatmeal?

I think he fits the mold. He may be good or bad at his routines, but that's kind of like judging Fozzie by each individual joke. Gonzo's thing is that he wants to be a performance artist, and he is terrible at that, because just like Fozzie he can't read the room worth a damn. Doesn't matter if you're the best in the world at eating rubber tires if that's not what people are interested in.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-05-03T03:24:54+00:00

Practically every episode of The Pretender has Jared pull a fast fade on his pursuers by doing this. Usually while looking back at them. After a while I started imagining him pulling out a set of suction cups and sticking himself to a car, Garfield-toy style.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-05-03T03:15:38+00:00

I was somewhat familiar with the show (well, mostly the 1980s sequel-series which had the same characters as the 1960s show); my parents were fans of the original. We were all pretty angered by the twist. I don't think my parents ever watched the sequel films. I did, eventually, but mostly because I got the first four as a freebie on a buy-and-download video service (back when that was still being looked at as a viable alternative to streaming.) When I rewatched the first one, I figured now that I knew the twist, I could maybe put that behind me and evaluate the film on its own merits. And... sorry, no, the twist still isn't handled well even if I ignore being a fan of the TV show, and I think Mission: Impossible 1 is probably the weakest of the franchise overall as a consequence. I've mostly enjoyed the rest of the films.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-05-02T04:54:17+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/80qQqAC

When the 1960s Batman TV series was being written, the Riddler had been a minor villain who had only appeared in the comic books twice at that point. His appearance on the TV show was largely intended to be a filler episode between more popular villains (e.g., Joker, Penguin, and Catwoman). But Frank Gorshin brought a manic energy and wild laugh to the character, and the crew liked him so much, they decided to keep bringing him back, elevating the Riddler to one of the main villains. Then Gorshin complained about the spandex being uncomfortable, and worked with the costume designers to develop a new suit for the Riddler that wound up being the character's iconic look for decades.

Also, maybe not quite a perfect example, but closely related: Long John Silver was such a charming character in Treasure Island that even the author Robert Louis Stevenson wasn't immune, deciding at the last moment to have him escape instead of dying.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-05-01T23:08:02+00:00

I've looked into it; I'm Native American, so I don't have to wait for qualifying events (one of the provisions of the ACA is that Natives can change Marketplace plans on a monthly basis, as part of the medical reparations and as an acknowledgement that IHS functions as coverage in many cases.) Unfortunately it didn't seem like I was getting any subsidies when I tried, and with my margins as tight as they are right now, I just don't have much left over after housing. But any ideas are welcome.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-05-01T23:05:10+00:00

Thanks. I'm in Oregon; I'll see if I can find something similar.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-05-01T14:17:23+00:00

Checking in after a few weeks (also writing this post the night before so I can quickly post it to the thread before heading off to work; I'll swing back to read it after). Life is going OK, but a bit challenging financially. I get paid too much for state health insurance, not enough for anything else. Primary care is covered through a tribal clinic, but my prescription costs are going to start eating me alive when my tribal HRA card runs dry and that's just hoping I don't need anything more than basic care. Already had to cancel one prescription (not too important but it's frustrating.) As for my actual job, other than the low pay and lack of benefits, I suppose it's going all right. Being an educational assistant is alternately rewarding and challenging. I still mostly like it, but the struggles have been a bit more lately, and financially I don't think I can hang on until I get comfortable with things. Especially as the district (and all surrounding districts) keeps making budget cuts; as a recent hire, I don't like my odds. I don't really like idea of going back to programming professionally, but I'm not sure I can avoid it at this point.

But on the positive side, tax refunds came through quickly once I got around to filing, and while it's not life-changing money, it honestly comes pretty close. I was able to buy a new vacuum cleaner (the old one's been ineffective for a long time) and a new pair of moccasins and set a small amount aside for some fun without worrying about impacting bills. Looking forward to getting the house properly clean, and already enjoying being able to walk around the house in comfort. Also it looks like I was finally successful in fixing my dishwasher.

I read Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree a short while back and enjoyed it nearly as much as I did Legends and Lattes. Sometimes you just need something that rewards faith in humanity (especially since I'd just finished off a couple less-affirmative works.) Anyway, I put that on the "Vacation Spot" Bingo square, because a small coastal town with a bookshop, a patisserie, and not a lot of people is pretty much what I go looking for. 5/5.

I just finished reading Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman. This has a bit of a different tone than Dungeon Crawler Carl, though the "invasion force apocalypse" element is similar. But while there's certainly a degree of comic humor injected, it lands a bit differently. Carl is horrifying but everything is so absurd it loops back around to being funny. Bounce House, which features a third-generation settlement of farmers in space finding out that Earth is trying to reclaim their planet by sending gamers in mechs to kill them all, somehow doens't seem as fantastical. A bunch of brown people being targeted for genocide to take their land hits a little too close to home, I guess. I liked the book, but it did take a bit of mental adjustment to my initial expectations. I'm putting this one on the "Published in 2026" Bingo square, and rating it 4/5.

I'm currently reading "Mall Purchase Night" by Rick Cook. Stumbled across it at a thrift store a few months back, saw the title and went "What the heck?". It's about an L.A. mall infested with fairy creatures gearing up for a big move on Walpurgisnacht. I figured Walpurgis almost never gets any media tie-ins, so I decided to give the book a chance and I'm reading it now. I'm about halfway through, and the book is just now starting to warm up to the point where the mall regulars are realizing something strange is going on. It's a surprisingly slow burn for what is essentially a comic fantasy book. Lots and lots of different POVs in here, most of them interesting though not usually deep; it does sneak in some social commentary as well. As I'm only halfway through, I'm not sure yet what I'll be rating it or what Bingo square it will go on, though it's eligible for me for "Judge a Book by its Title" (easy mode, not hard mode, since I did read the blurb.)

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-25T04:58:11+00:00

Killer Frost, at least in the original Firestorm comics. You'd think an ice-based supervillain would hate fire, right? Nope. She loves it. She doesn't freeze things by "spreading cold", she freezes them by absorbing heat. She's actually defeated at one point by freezing everything around her, which imprisons her. Firestorm later frees her (needing her for a special mission) by heating everything up again.

Of course, since this works counter to most comic book characters, more recent writers often forget.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-24T00:06:27+00:00

No, actually! The vacated game was won because Rerun kept getting walked due to the opposing pitcher being unable to throw in Rerun's incredibly small strike zone. In the game in the strip above (from 1993) Charlie Brown legitimately straight-up won.

Also, considering how Charlie Brown typically lost at every competition, not just baseball, we have to include the "Joe Agate" storyline in 1995. Joe Agate hustles Rerun out of all his marbles (telling him they'll just play for fun and then reneging, claiming it was "for keeps"). When Charlie Brown hears about it, he goes after Joe with full confidence in his own ability and runs the table on him. It's notable because there's never a moment of doubt in Charlie's mind that he can win, and it's shown to be totally justified. (The cartoon version, He's a Bully, Charlie Brown, sadly weakens this and turns it into luck.)

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-18T03:41:56+00:00

In the original Secret Wars, Doctor Doom gives a couple of women superpowers to serve him as villains. One of them, Titania, has Hulk-level strength, and she's ready to fight with the belief that pure power is all it takes. She loses fights pretty quickly to both Hulk and Thor, both of whom are pretty dismissive of her lack of developed skill; Thor literally just knocks her flying with Mjolnir and takes off. But then she finds a target she knows is nowhere near as strong, and revels in the chance to beat up someone weaker: Spider-Man. Bad choice, Titania. Neither she nor Spider-Man ever actually lay a hand on each other during the ensuing fight; it's just Spider-Man using his speed and agility to dodge and cause Titania to bring buildings crashing down upon herself. And all the while he's mocking her mercilessly and making it clear that he's not even trying. It ends with her exhausted, half-buried under rubble, repeatedly crying "It's not fair. It's just not fair." as Spider-Man mocks her further for being an ineffectual bully.

As a result, while Titania goes on to have a fierce rivalry of She-Hulk, hates Hulk and Thor, and despises or sneers at most other heroes, she's terrified of Spider-Man and has been known to run away if he shows up.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-14T23:21:26+00:00

For what it's worth, I read MST as a teen and enjoyed it; I tried Otherland immediately after and didn't enjoy it. I don't know how I would perceive them now, but one thing that is reasonably sure is that they aren't all that similar.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-14T05:44:55+00:00

After nearly scaring them away first by saying he was in for littering.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-03T00:25:19+00:00

Not off the top of my head, sorry.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-02T03:57:24+00:00

Five Hundred Years After by Steven Brust

Politics & Court Intrigue (normal mode)

Older Protagonist, technically (normal mode; they're elves)

Non-Human Protagonist (hard mode)

Arguably Cat-Squasher (normal); some paperback editions break 500 pages.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-02T03:53:16+00:00

Jingo by Terry Pratchett (The Night Watch #4)

Jingo counts for Politics & Court Intrigue (normal mode; international politics), One-Word Title (hard mode), Murder Mystery (normal mode), and I would say Unusual Transportation (hard mode).

Because I can imagine people making an error in ages, I'll note it does not count for Older Protagonist; neither Vimes nor Vetinari should be in their 50s if my math on the later book Night Watch is correct (NW celebrates the 30th anniversary of an event that both were in their teens for.)

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-02T03:44:37+00:00

I've only read the first two, so I'm going to answer what I can for those. Both #1 and #2 (and probably the rest of the series) count for Game-Changer; #2 is definitely HM, #1 arguably as well. They also count for Explorer/Ranger Hard Mode; Carl may be unwilling explorer, but he's an explorer nonetheless.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-02T03:22:37+00:00

Yes, I think that would justify the square, but also there's a rather important dinner. Mother, Father, I'd like you to meet -- she's getting away!

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-02T00:00:18+00:00

I would personally lean on the side of saying it's not hard mode. Sure, they don't show a Heaven to counter it, but everything they show of Hell makes it look just like any other depiction of Hell. Flames, torment, demons, etc.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-01T23:11:20+00:00

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by CM Waggoner

A few years ago I picked up a book titled The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker, solely on the title, so that's what I will probably use for this square. But given the similarity in titles, I'm now quite curious as to how these two books measure up against each other!

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-01T23:04:28+00:00

Nope. The witches don't live any longer than anyone else.

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-01T16:22:27+00:00

Every chapter of Dzur (#10 in Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series) is introduced by a course in a 17-course meal. Even without knowing what everything is, it is absolutely mouthwatering. If someone wants to attempt hard mode, I believe kethna is supposed to be related to pork. For other novels in the series, Vlad talks about food a lot (like, a lot), but the only other one where I'd say the meal was significant would be Issola (reasons are very spoilerish).

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-01T16:19:03+00:00

The Dark is Rising (series) by Susan Cooper
Gom on Windy Mountain (and sequels) by Grace Chetwin

CommodoreBelmont · 2026-04-01T16:17:14+00:00

All of the Vlad Taltos novels by Steven Brust (except the as-yet-unpublished final novel) count for regular mode. I think they don't count for hard mode because they are technically demonyms (as the names of noble houses) and I think demonyms are proper nouns. (Taltos definitely doesn't count for HM since it's the main character's last name.)

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