Battle of Magics: Ice or Earth?

Battle of Magics: Ice or Earth?

Which is better, Ice or Earth?
Let me fill you in on this particular (not-so-random) question. I began contemplating whether ice or earth was the better element when… (drumroll please) a character in my M/M romance novel The Frost or the Bite began wondering the very same thing. 

Yep, did not have to strain myself to come up with this question. 

The quick context is that my protagonist Jack needs an element’s protection to wield magic and he’s torn between earth magic and ice magic. Jack will come to his own conclusions in the novel, and those conclusions will also tie into a potential relationship with a sexy wolf shifter, but I figure we can conduct some ‘research’ of our own and answer this ‘age-old’ question once and for all. 

‘Objectively’ speaking, which is better? Ice or earth? Ice magic or earth magic? Okay, how I phrased it is technically more than one question. Oops.
(By objectively, I use that in the sense that this will be totally subjective) 

We can’t select a winner by testing out the magic for ourselves, because our world doesn’t have real magic. (If magic is real, then I seriously demand to be let in on this secret right now.) 

We do have seasons and those seasons correspond to the elements in question pretty well, so let’s look there to see whether earth or ice gets the first point. Earth represents fall, and ice represents winter.

Fall vs. Winter

Fall is the season of leaves changing colors, cozy sweaters, and people calling other people basic for liking pumpkin spiced everything. Fall is my jam and also happens to be when my birthday is.  Not only do I love sweater weather, the song Sweater Weather is also awesome, so bonus points. 

(And while hairless cats are kinda creepy, the cat in this picture is also wearing a sweater like his human buddy so bonus points there too)

What about winter? Winter has gift exchanging holidays and good food but it comes at a steep price. Frozen wastelands and snowy nightmares. I know some people do like the cold and snow. I’m really not those people. Any kind of icy surface makes my balance terrible. And since I moved to North Carolina, it’s less freezing in the winter than the Midwest where I’m from. So now I have even less tolerance for the cold.

The Winner

I’d definitely say fall is better than winter. I can’t say I’m very in tune with nature or am a very earthy kind of person, but I have always wanted to be more of a nature loving hippie. That makes fall the winner of this round. I wasn’t lying about how totally (not) objective this would be.

Of course, my preferences may be totally different than your own. So what’s your favorite season?  And if you were a witch, wizard, or non-gendered caster, would you rather have ice magic or earth magic? Let me know!

After the end of the first round, Earth gets one point. 

That brings the score to Earth: 1 Ice: 0

Next time, we will look at which element is stronger… sort of. (I did briefly try to research common types of earth and ice magic that show up in fiction, to determine which one is strongest. But then I decided to have more fun it and so our next test of which is better is… along those same lines of which is stronger, but in a much sillier way.) 

Jack’s Choice

When it comes to Jack Blanchard, he doesn’t need to look at the seasons to compare ice and earth. He has real magic. Magic that allows him to create a block of ice or let flowers bloom. 

But he’s having trouble choosing the element that’s right for him. Jack needs to decide between ice or earth or he risks not having magic at all. This is when a certain werewolf stumbles into his garden and helps him discover what and who he truly desires.

What does he choose? You can grab your copy of the novel here and find out. And yes, it’s available in Kindle Unlimited.

Make the Yuletide Gay

Make the Yuletide Gay

Have you ever wondered how to make Christmas gayer? I haven’t, which is weird because I always think everything should be gayer. Fortunately, Norway took care of it.  

Norway’s postal service does a holiday advertisement and this year’s is called When Harry Met Santa.

I am assuming most people who see my blog speak English, so this one has English subtitles. Combined with the original, this already has over two million views. Yes, it’s a love story involving Santa. It’s really sweet too!

So, I saw this earlier on Queerty and bookmarked it for later. I thought, ‘hey, I’m a gay romance author and I’m gay—bi if you wanna get technical about it—this will be on-topic and something fun for Christmastime. This will be fun!’

True story though, the commercial is a bit of a tear-jerker? I literally choked up and was not ready for all the feelings. (No spoilers, but don’t worry, there’s a happy ending.)

Full disclosure… when I actually watched, yes, I’d been offered limoncello and was a tad tipsy, so the video, which has nice production values and is almost a mini movie trailer, was a lot more emotional than I was expecting. Though I’d argue a little tipsy is the perfect way to watch this because then you’ll tear up and be invested in the ending and think, ‘OMG santa/this guy, it’s totally great, I hope they end up together!!!’

An actual queer Norwegian person said this about the video, “For many of us, Christmas is a time we spend with those we love, and it’s nice to see Norway Post show that love belongs to everyone, regardless of orientation, age, or whether you live at the North Pole.”

Happy holidays!

P.S. if you’ve never experienced limoncello before, try it! It will change your life. I rarely drink much lately, but I always say yes to limoncello.

Winter? Eh. I mean… yay?

Winter? Eh. I mean… yay?

December is here! The mild Nov. we’ve been experiencing in my area is gone, and the weather is supposed to get chilly and icy. I enjoyed snow in the winter when the possibility existed that school could be cancelled. Now that I’m a grown up, winter sucks.

Some people like the cold and how pretty things look covered in snow, but not me. I’m from the Midwest, and I don’t mind life on the coast at all. The temperate in the southern climate where I reside part of the year gets colder but doesn’t even require a heavy jacket.

Except I’m back in the Midwest for the holidays. Seeing my family is worth it, but I’m still going to complain about the snow. I don’t know what Ari’s thinking. Screw winter things, I want to be back there where it’s warm.

Okay, now that I’ve been a Grinch, there has to be some bright sides to the winter. Let’s see…

Hot Chocolate

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Apparently this one’s healthy, if you’re into that kinda of thing.

Sweaters

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Mmm, cozy. And sometimes the person wearing the sweater can enhance the product.

Snow Forts

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Okay, I’ve never built a successful one, but they’re still damn cool.

Twinkle Lights

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I chose this picture as a reminder that twinkle lights are not exclusive to the winter season. They’re an anytime decoration. And because it’s pretty.

An Excuse to Stay Inside

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Alright, this might be my favorite thing about cold weather. Nothing’s better than bunking down in a warm bed with a good book.

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of winter?