I was wondering what to read this afternoon when one of my sons happened to show me a miniature figure he had just finished painting. He purchased a new game just after Christmas, and he has been painting the figurines that make up the playing pieces. He is very good; a skill which I am proud to say he inherited from me.
I spent many an hour working with him and one of his brothers painting Warhammer 40K figurines and vehicles, and showing him the modeling skills I developed through my childhood and later in engineering classes.
Anyway, the figure he showed me was an Eldritch Knight, which made me think of The Lost Queen - which in turn made me think of Elsbeth and how much I miss her wonderful writing and amazing talent.
Wherever you are dear Elsbeth, I miss you and I hope you are in a good place.
Absent comrades.
Comments
Covid
I think we lost her to Covid we used to talk every week and it’s been almost 3 years since we talked and she was traveling for work I miss her too.
hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna
Too many…….
Gone too soon.
It is the lament of my life
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Here is what we know about Elsbeth
Elsbeth was logging in almost every day and was publishing a chapter for Freyja's Daughters or The Lost Queen every week or two. She posted Freyja's Daughters Chapter 7 on April 8th, 2020. On April 9th, 2020 she said in the comments that she is "stupidly busy" but safe.
This was the last day we heard from Elsbeth. Not on BCTS. Not on Discord. Not elsewhere. Her abrupt disappearance with no explanation in the middle of all of these posts from and about her have left many of us heart broken.
I reguarly re-read stories of hers every few months. They are very good stories.
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog-entry/89556/year-without...
What we don’t know
I worry about the secretive and compartmentalised nature of our TG lives, sometimes, but what’s the alternative? We still live in a world of substantial prejudice. Perhaps I’ll have less to fear when I retire, but for now I hide behind a pseudonym – which means I stand to leave a lot more loose ends than the average person, if blind chance should hand me a traffic accident or whatever.
Take care, everyone.
B.
Sugar and Spiiice – TG Fiction by Bryony Marsh
Agreed
I would dearly love at this point given Elsbeth has passed that come talented author continue Lost Queen even as a 'fan fic'. I know that is a big ask but I am sure there are those of us who are willing to even Patreon it if necessary to make such a thing a reality.
Why is it a big ask? Lost Queen involves intensive World Building with comparatively few NPCs that act solely as throwaway characters giving the world to me an 'introspection' that no other story has. The story really makes you want to care for these people she has given life to.
Most stories focus mostly on the POV of the central character, Lost Queen, while also weighted towards the central character, does so quite a bit less, resulting in a richness to the experience that few stories here as ever matched. Bailey's 16 feet of steel is the closest I can think of in terms of this.
Don't get me wrong, her spelling and grammar can be at times pretty bad, but if you can ignore it then it is worth reading even if it is incomplete.
Fun fact
For those who even had the slightest doubt that Eleanor is the Princess and future Queen (likely the daughter of the Queen who had died) it turns out that Reine means Queen in French and since I do not know much French that went right over my head.
The goal was stated pretty much in the first chapter where the Game was the story of a Princess who is on a quest to regain her lost Queedom. Sacrificial Boy had a similar goal as far as I know but it was definitely more first person.
Elsbeth..
I too was just thinking of Elsbeth a few days ago as I re-read the chapters of "The Sacrificial Boy" that she posted so long ago. I'd not heard that we had lost her to Covid. So many of our friends & colleagues have been taken way before their time by this scourge. It would be wonderful if someone could write a fan-fiction to her work. She was an exceptional story teller & is sorely missed.
Blossom
Lost Queen
Read and edited that unfinished story so many times I've worn it out. Thought several times about doing an add on, dropping in another actress, working within the same setting. An impossible task for me as I'm not a gamer. Elsbeth borrowed the premise of the story line from some game I'm positive. I believe Morpheus did the same as both used "heart cores" as an addition to their stories.
To give the proper respect to Elsbeth and her unquestionable talent, one would need to follow her same direction with her actresses and actors leaving them as "her characters". Something I realized I wasn't able to do. Even bringing in my own actors and actresses I lacked the knowledge and understanding of where her muse was guiding her writing skills as she combined two talents, gaming and writing.
Elsbeth is a gifted writer, her stories were uniquely hers just as every writer on this channel have their own way of writing. Looking back at some of my stories and the comments left by other authors who no longer bless this channel, puts life in perspective.
Barb
Life is a gift, don't waste it.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
I miss her too
While we can't be certain, she did vanish during the early days of Covid after a regular posting schedule. The last time I talked to her was on Discord not long after her last post, and she said she was tired and on the road for work. I miss her and her writing and I wish that she would just pop up and say, "Sorry, work was a bear," or something like that.
I hope that she is in peace if we truly have lost her. The way she could draw you into a story and get you caring about the characters was like magic. If someone was to try to finish any of her stories, they will need to have that same magic, and that's a rare thing because Elsbeth truly had a gift.
*big hugs*
Amethyst
Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3
The Lost Queen
I too miss Elsbeth. The Lost Queen was my favorite story on this site.
MoElsbeth
She was posting her harry potter fanfic over on fanfic.net under branchwraith. She went forever without an update and then bang, she dropped her last one on oct. 8, 2019. I had dropped her several messages and got no response. I found this update, just a few hours after she posted, but again I got no response. We exchanged PM's a few times here, and I kind of got the impression she was overseas somewhere and could not make contact. We got along okay, and I miss her.