Baby Inara listens to death metal; it comforts her. And when I read her the Silmarillion, she giggles herself into hysterics during the battle and betrayal scenes. For example, tonight, during Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, she collapsed in hilarity when the dragon squished Azaghal king of the Dwarves, giggled herself silly when the Orcs bridged the stream of Rivil with their countless fallen dead, and squealed with delight as Hurin of the House of Hador hewed off the arms of the troll-guard, wielding a great ax two-handed. The smoking of troll-blood on the blade appears to bring her great joy.
She is clearly my daughter.
You can read more of the story of Inara in Lives of Unstoppable Hope.
Stant Litore is a novelist. He writes about gladiators on tyrannosaurback, Old Testament prophets battling the hungry dead, geneticists growing biological starships, time-traveling hijabi bisexual defenders of humanity from the future. Explore his fiction here. And here is one of his toolkits for writers, and here’s another book where he nerds out about ancient languages and biblical (mis)translation. Enjoy!
[…] or The Lord of the Rings, or my own fiction, or even The Iliad, whatever I have at hand: the bloodier the story, the more Inara appears to love it), hit the red button if she has a seizure, and mostly celebrate how brave and feisty my youngest […]