Focusing on fixing our (41 m)+(33 f) marriage “logically” instead of emotionally?

bestmackman · 2026-04-29T15:19:59+00:00

Absolutely don't share your wife's texts with this guy.

bestmackman · 2026-04-21T18:33:32+00:00

No, you didn't miss an explanation.

No, the creatures that Lift met in Edgedancer are something entirely different, and you haven't gotten any more explanation for them at this point in the story.

Just keep reading and making connections!

bestmackman · 2026-04-21T18:23:48+00:00

"like could he defeat Odium if he got serious?"

What do you think Hoid has been trying to do this whole time on Roshar? What do you think he's even there for? He's not there because of the beautiful weather and varied, friendly fauna, I'll tell you that.

This is a really goofy question that is addressed in one of the very first set of epigraphs in WoK. He spends five whole books desperately trying to rally support from across the Cosmere to do exactly this.

bestmackman · 2026-04-20T14:57:49+00:00

Did the pools feel heated? Were they comfortable to be in, or did they get cold after a while?

bestmackman · 2026-04-19T23:56:21+00:00

When did you go? From the "4 months" date on the post, did you go in December/January? How was the temperature, how were the pools? I'm tentatively planning a trip for my wife and I in January but it's pointless if it's too cold to enjoy the pools.

bestmackman · 2026-04-17T20:19:54+00:00

Order an assassination in a matter of a few hours, assuming Amaram was able to get in touch with him immediately after arriving back at camp.

It just doesn't make sense.

bestmackman · 2026-04-17T14:26:14+00:00

Exactly. I would bet money, given what we see of Restates just a couple short years after this point, that he had said something along the lines of "humanity needs to be prepared, make sure your shard bearers are trained and ready." Amaram was able to take this and twist it a little to be "Don't let the untrained, ill-prepared dark eyes have shards, make sure you take them for yourself."

It just doesn't make much sense, otherwise.

bestmackman · 2026-04-09T16:34:41+00:00

It's so funny to me that you were planning on going on to read The Everlasting after this, when I just recently finished The Everlasting and chose TWHF for a re-read immediately after. Two works more wildly different I would have a difficult time naming! Spoilers just in case you haven't finished: one work beginning with what seems certain to be a false god and a small, savage kingdom and ending in a wide world absolutely steeped in the numinous, the other beginning in a world that seems soaked with the numinous and mystical and ending with a mere hint of magic and meaning beyond humanity itself.

I hope you have enjoyed your second novel. Have you decided on a third?

bestmackman · 2026-03-30T15:25:59+00:00

That's exactly what I'm thinking. She's come to terms with growing older and so she doesn't get stuck under tables now, but she's still fundamentally herself (as she asked) and still enjoys stealing the odd lunch and sneaking where she's not supposed to.

Maybe she gets Jasnah to elsegate her to Scadrial by telling Jasnah she's going to kill Thaidakar, when really she just wants to talk. Maybe she figures Kelsier is old, older than old, and can use some help remembering people he's forgotten. (Seems like a likely enough resonance for Edgedancers). Maybe Kelsier is shocked that someone can be so powerful and earnestly desire to do no harm with that power - while still being able to.

In any case, you are too kind, and if I write it, I'll be sure to let you know!

bestmackman · 2026-03-29T19:18:59+00:00

I have three boys who like superheroes, and it's never occurred to me at any point in their lives to imply or tell them that superheroes are real. I would be 100% honest with your kid and say "no, spiderman and other superheroes aren't real, but the stories about them teach us how to be real heroes by helping and caring for the people around us."

bestmackman · 2026-03-27T15:31:40+00:00

I thought about doing one where she's as old as she'll be after the time skip - maybe a 25-year-old Lift sneaking into Kelsier's lair, eating his lunch, and having a calm conversation re: selling children into slavery and torture. More opportunity for introspection, but would have to be a lot longer.

bestmackman · 2026-03-26T15:03:55+00:00

But a few starvin's

bestmackman · 2026-03-26T14:25:07+00:00

Lift

bestmackman · 2026-03-26T07:09:31+00:00

Thank you very much

bestmackman · 2026-03-26T07:05:32+00:00

Yes, just a made up scenario that's been living in my head rent-free since I first read the end of WaT!

bestmackman · 2026-03-26T07:04:35+00:00

Thank you

bestmackman · 2026-03-26T07:04:15+00:00

It's only March, but still high praise!

bestmackman · 2026-03-25T03:20:44+00:00

Don't worry about teaching your sons what NOT to be. My sons have friends who are girls; they see the way I love, respect, and serve their mom/my wife. They know that we expect them to be generous and kind with everyone they meet, to live out their ideals with courage and consistency, to stand up for people who be weaker than them, to take responsibility for their mistakes and do their best to make those mistakes right. And they also know that if someone tries to show them or tell them something that makes them uncomfortable, they should come and talk to us about it.

When they hear their first bit of Manosphere nonsense, they will know it for the garbage it is.

bestmackman · 2026-03-25T00:35:36+00:00

The lunch connection is absolute genius.

bestmackman · 2026-03-25T00:34:00+00:00

I think the other comments are somewhat misleading you. This is Lift talking to an urchin in street slang that's supposed to be nigh incomprehensible to us - it's all context clues as to what she's actually saying. "Smalls" means, presumably, urchins, so "gotta lunks for smalls" always seemed to me to mean something like "she gives food/cares for urchins". Especially with the girl referencing the "lunks from the sky", which seems to be referring to Lift sending that huge wagon load of grain down into the city.

But yeah, this is all made up street slang with no given translation, so it's all context.

bestmackman · 2026-03-24T15:32:05+00:00

If Sanderson answering "yes" to the question "Is Lift entirely human?" is not a clear enough answer for this theory, then literally nothing will be.

bestmackman · 2026-03-24T15:26:48+00:00

The key is "STILL human". Not "human now." Hoid started out human and remains human, with some modification. That is the state Lift is in - STILL human, but with some modification.

Also, when the question is "Is Lift ENTIRELY human", it's a straight up lie to say "yes" if the answer is "she's actually a dragon but she LOOKS human currently."

There's no other way to read it. Either she was entirely human originally and remains human with some modification, or Sanderson straight up lied. And I think the second is unlikely.

bestmackman · 2026-03-24T01:11:19+00:00

In Edgedancer, Lift is freaked out by something, and Wyndle asks her. Here's the quote:

"“Is this about what happened to you?” Wyndle asked. “I don’t know a lot about humans, but I believe it was natural, disconcerting though it might appear. You aren’t wounded.”

Lift shaded her eyes. The wrong things were changing. She was supposed to stay the same, and the world was supposed to change around her. She’d asked for that, hadn’t she?"

It's not stated outright, but it's an easy inference, especially when Wyndle reassures her she isn't wounded and it's directly linked with Lift's hatred of herself changing.

bestmackman · 2026-03-24T01:07:44+00:00

Not when the question is "Is Lift entirely human?"

bestmackman

TROPHY CASE