Fantasy Friends: Xiala of Between Earth & Sky, an IWSG post AND AtoZ challenge!

 

      

This is quite the Wednesday! Not only is it the first Wednesday of the month (time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop), it's also April 2nd, which means it's time for letter B in the AtoZ blogging challenge. I couldn't figure out how to meld the two of these, so you get them both: 

Insecure Writer's Support Group:

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the April 2 posting of the IWSG are Jennifer Lane, L Diane Wolfe, Jenni Enzor, and Natalie Aguirre!

This month's question:

 

April 2 question - What fantasy character would you like to fight, go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of wine with?

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I'm going to pick a recent favorite for all three: Tiala of Rebecca Roanhorse's Between Earth & Sky trilogy: 

 

 

 

image source

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a pretty new series. Black Sun was a finalist for all the big specfic awards in 2020 and Mirrored Heavens just came out last year. It's an epic fantasy story that pulls from Native American mythologies in the world-building. The main two characters are Serapio, the Crow God incarnate, and Xiala (pronounced SHE-ah-lah), a Teek woman. 

 

The Teek in this series are a matriarchal society renowned for their song, which can be used to magically influence and control others. The Teek put me in mind of Sirens, Mermaids, and Banshees, among other dangerous song-women of world mythologies, with a touch of Amazons, too. 

 

Throughout the book, we learn a lot about the people and what other kinds of people believe about them. I won't spoil it for you by giving too much detail here, but it's fascinating! In fact, the world-building alone is well worth the price of admission in this series.

 

If I recall correctly, Xiala is in jail when we meet her at the beginning of book one because she assaulted a husband who walked in on her and his wife when they were "getting busy." She's a hard-drinking foul-mouthed, "live life to the fullest" woman, exiled from her people for reasons you don't learn until later. She's magical, and on a journey of self-discovery through a life of piracy, debauchery, and alcoholism. 

 

Here's some images of her as imagined by Peri Celeste:  

 

image source

I probably couldn't keep up with her at the bar, but maybe I could get away with sipping my whiskey slowly while she pounds it back and listen with rapt fascination to her stories, both the true ones and the exaggerations. And if I had to go on a quest, she'd make a powerful ally. As for fighting her? No way. I value my life higher than that. 

 

Now, would she want to hang out with me? I dunno. Maybe if I promised to immortalize her in story and song, she'd put up with a physically week, lightweight drinker for a while. One can dream!

 

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge:  

B is for Bidi Bidi Bom Bom

 

So, if you tuned in yesterday for my Songs of my Heart post, you heard Aha Me a Riddle I Day, by Laura Love. I swear not all the songs I picked have a seemingly nonsense phrase for the title. It's just a coincidence of the alphabet that these two are in a row.    

For others visiting my blog, this is a fun challenge, where we all post 26 times in April, one time for each letter of the alphabet, often on a theme. I hope you'll check out some of the other participating blogs!

 

(if my embedded video doesn't work, listen here)

 

Selena Quintanilla Perez was the Queen of Tejano music in the early 1990s, right as I was moving into adulthood and becoming a Spanish teacher. As a person who didn't grow up speaking Spanish, but learned it in classrooms, music was often really hard for me to understand--definitely harder than spoken Spanish. But I could do pretty well with Selena. And it didn't hurt that she recorded some serious bops!

I still remember dancing to this one in my classroom with my students in Nome, Alaska and laughing until we cried. 

If Selena had not died tragically young (she was killed by the president of her fan club), she and I would be of an age, so she's special to me for that reason, too.  

Lyrics in Spanish from azlyrics and in English from lyricstranslate. (Bidi bidi bom bom doesn't exactly mean anything--it's just sort of sounds, representing the heartbeat, so it's the same in both versions)

Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Cada vez, cada vez que lo veo pasar Mi corazon se enloquece Y me empieza a palpitar Y se emociona, ya no razona No lo puedo controlar Y se emociona, ya no razona Y me empieza a cantar Me canta asi Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Cada vez, cada vez que lo oigo hablar Me tiemblan hasta las piernas Y el corazon igual Bidi bidi bom bom Y se emociona, ya no razona No lo puedo controlar Y se emociona, ya no razona Y me empieza a cantar Me canta asi Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Cuando escucho esta canción Mi corazon quiere cantar así Me canta así, me canta a ti Cada vez que lo veo pasar Mi corazon se enloquece Cada vez que lo veo pasar Y me empieza a palpitar Así, así Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Me canta asi, me canta a ti Cada vez que lo veo pasar Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom

Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Every time, Every time I see him pass My heart goes crazy And it starts to beat And it get excited, It doesn't reason anymore I can't control it And it get excited,It doesn't reason anymore and it starts to sing to me It sings to me like this Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Every time, Every time I hear him speak My legs tremble And my heart too Bidi bidi bom bom And it get excited, It doesn't reason anymore I can't control it And it get excited,It doesn't reason anymore and it starts to sing to me It sings to me like this Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom When I hear this song My heart wants to sing like this It sings to me like this, I sing to you Every time, Every time I see him pass My heart goes crazy Every time I see him pass And it starts to beat Like this, like this Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom   Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom It sings to me like this, I sing to you Every time I see him pass   Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
a-to-zchallenge.com