Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

12.06.2021

Happy Holidays from the Untethered Realms Authors - Our Favorite Holiday Reads


 “It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Happy holidays from the authors of Untethered Realms!

What is your favorite holiday read?


Christine Rains - Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. The Hogfather, Discworld's equivalent of Father Christmas, is missing and Death takes his place. As Death goes about his job, his granddaughter Susan tries to find the Hogfather and must deal with an assassin looking for him too. Hilarious, surprising, and wonderfully fun. It's a different sort of holiday read, but right up my alley.


Gwen Gardner - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is always my go-to Christmas read. Ebenezer "Scrooge" became synonymous with someone who hates Christmas. But through the visit of three ghosts over the course of a single night, Scrooge learns the real meaning of Christmas. 

Here's my favorite quote: 
“And how did little Tim behave?” asked Mrs Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart’s content.

“As good as gold,” said Bob, “and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”

12.03.2019

The Best Fictional Gifts - Happy Holidays from the Untethered Realms Authors


It's that wonderful time of the year again. Time spent with the family, eating way too much, and gift giving. Since we're always thinking about what ifs, this year we wondered....

What if we lived in a fantasy or sci-fi world...
What fictional gift would be at the top of your list?
***



I would love to get a magical Narnia-esque door installed in my studio that, when I walked through it, would take me to another world for a break between my real-life work sprints. It could send me right into my own fictional world, as in my drawing for Fireseed One (left), or to a fantastical pond in a magical forest, or into a Victorian goth scene. Then, with the press of a button, I'd be back, refreshed.

 - Catherine Stine


Like Hagrid of Harry Potter fame, I adore pets. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Hagrid wants a dragon so bad that he gets tricked into revealing where the Sorcerer's Stone is hidden. I hope I'm not that gullible, but I get it. If I lived in the magical world, I'd want a dragon too. I got a little glimpse of what it could be like when I visited Harry Potter world last year...

- Gwen Gardner


Ooh, so many things. I don't have enough computer space to write them all down! Yet there is one thing that could give me all the wonderful adventures I crave. A holodeck! If I had one of my own, I don't think I'd ever leave it. I'd be more addicted than Reginald Barclay!

- Christine Rains 



I'm in a fantasy world, and I’m going to go for a magical writer’s notebook. This book has the special property that any location written about within its pages becomes a real place you can visit. Just describe the world you want to explore and step inside. Oh, and the book always comes with you, so you can easily escape the horrors and complications you encounter and escape into the next world...

- Simon Kewin 


I would love a spaceship to have a chance encounter with aliens from another world. Meeting extraterrestrials would be just the thing to enjoy as I continue orbiting the sun in our solar system.

- Jeff Beesler



An ever-filled, ever-chilled beer mug is very tempting. However, I'd have to go with a real, working Stargate. How long ago did that show end? I still dream of going through the Stargate. Can I have a Colonel O'Neill with that?

- M. Pax 

I'm with Mary on this one. I want a working Stargate. However, she can take O'Neill. I want either Dr. Rodney McKay or Colonel John Sheppard.

- Cherie Reich


There are so many options that would be wonderful! Right now, at the end of the semester, I'm wishing I had more time (probably so I could take a nap!). A time-turner would certainly be a lovely thing!!

-Meradeth Houston

Happy holidays from all of us here at Untethered Realms!

11.24.2015

Group post - the ghost of past stuffing?

(Scrooged)

Most are familiar with the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and his visitations from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. We at Untethered Realms have our own ghosties in residence and tweaked the idea for the holidays. Ready for an adventure? Where would you like to go?

***

River Fairchild –


I’m snagging the ghostie of the Future and heading straight for the invention of the food replicators used in Star Trek! It’s the love to eat / hate to cook and clean syndrome. I’ll snag the first one off the assembly line and take it back home with me!



***

Christine Rains -

Oh! I like River's idea. Calorie free hot fudge sundaes like Deanna always ate! Yeah. But since River already went on that adventure, I'd like to go on one closer to our time. I'd have the ghost of the Future take me ahead about forty years or so to see how my son is doing. Because as a mom, I'm always worried if I'm messing things up.

And look. Wow. Who is that handsome doctor/chef/astronaut/comic book writer in the future tech glasses? A parent can dream!


***

Gwen Gardner -

No trip with the ghostie of Christmas Future for me -- I don't want to know what's in store. 

And I'm well acquainted with the present already, so that's out, as well. 

That leaves a tour with the ghost of Christmas Past. While I'd love to visit Victorian times, I wouldn't want to live there. I sort of love our modern instant gratification thing; hot water, convenient transportation, fast food. 

But if I could go back about 30 years in the past, I'd tell my younger self: 1) get your butt in gear and start chasing dreams, and, 2) quit wasting precious time just because you're afraid to fail,

So now I'm just going to have to live an extra long life, just like Scrooge, to make sure I fit everything in. #NoRegrets



***

M. Pax -

Bet you expect me to take the future ghostie way ahead to see if the Backworlds is true or not. It's tempting, but I also have a passion for history. Did you know Thanksgiving was created by aliens? They gifted us the ambrosia of stuffing. Mmm. My favorite food. So, I'd have to venture into the past to see the aliens bringing us the sweet nectar of stuffing. Yes!!


***

Ellie Garratt -

I'd have the ghostie of Christmas Past take me back to 1977, so that I could see the first Star Wars film at the cinema. I was only five years old when it came out, so I never had the chance to see it or the other two on the big screen. I was obsessed (still am) with Star Wars. I asked for a Millennium Falcon and stormtroopers for Christmas that year! Alas, I was given a Barbie doll. I'm still waiting for my Millennium Falcon. Maybe this year I'll be lucky?



Julie Flanders -

I'm another who would choose the Ghost of Christmas Past. I'd go back in time to 1930s Cincinnati so that I could spend Christmas with my maternal grandparents. I never knew my grandfather as he died decades before I was born, and I was only nine when my grandmother died, so I've always wished I could have spent more time with her. Even though the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, my mom's family still loved Christmas and celebrated it in the traditional German ways. Being German, they also loved their beer. I'd ask Mr. Past to take me back to one of their Christmas Eve celebrations for the night so I could enjoy sitting down for a beer (or two) with my grandparents. 

Scenes from Christmas Eve in Cincinnati - 1920 (from the Taft Museum of Art) 




12.20.2013

Happy Holidays! Worlds, Wings, and Cute Things from Untethered Realms.

All of us at Untethered Realms wish you a joyous and beautiful holiday filled with love. May peace and hope find you. May your 2014 be the best year ever.


Meowy Christmas!
~ from M. Pax, Kayla, and Nini
(Yup, I'm getting the cold cat shoulder for this one)


Have a barkin' good holiday!
~ from River Fairchild and Sophie

 Have a holly jolly Christmas!
~ from Christine Rains and her little guy
(I don't have a pet but a kid counts, right?)


Hieronymus says, "Have a Woofin', Chewin' Christmas!"
from Catherine Stine's son, Jack's puppy, Hieronymus



Merry Christmas from the Cookie Monsters!
~from Gwen Gardner's fur babies, Koko and Tuffy
(can we have our cookies now, mom?)


Rock Those Rudolf Antlers!
~from Gwen Gardner's granddog, Chance!
 

The Plan To Steal the Presents Is a Go, Right?
~from Cherie Reich's sister's cat, Juliette!
 

Season's Greetings!
~ from the Flanders gang - Julie, Clancy & Nate