A perfect Sunday with... Tessa Gratton
Fanfic, Shakespeare and sake on the deck!
Every week, one of my pals shares how they’d fill their perfect Sunday, sharing their favourite comfort reads, movies, food… anything that would make their weekend great. Today, it’s the turn of my fellow Star Wars: The High Republic lumineer and co-author of Chaos & Flame, Tessa Gratton.
Tessa’s perfect Sunday… brunch
On the perfect Sunday, by brunchtime, I’ve probably been awake for five hours and had half a pot of coffee and hiked about four miles with my wife, so I’m ready for something savoury and full of fatty protein like a breakfast sandwich with fried eggs, bacon, avocado, tomato, cheese, hot sauce….YUM! And a mimosa with hibiscus syrup/tea instead of OJ.
Tessa’s perfect Sunday… read
Sundays are for rereading old favourites like The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord, or a long, angsty, fanfic with a happy ending to relax into and enjoy.
My go-to fics would be post-canon get-together from The Untamed, or a canon divergence AU. If I don’t feel like that kind of emotional roller-coaster I’d pick a fic from a Chinese web novel called The Scum Villain Self-Saving System, which is hilarious and always makes me laugh while breaking my heart.
Tessa’s perfect Sunday… comic
I am something like 78 chapters behind on Lore Olympus so a fantastic use of a Sunday afternoon would be sinking into that gorgeous art to catch up.
Tessa’s perfect Sunday… movie
Ooooo, I love putting on one of my favourite Shakespeare movies on a Sunday afternoon, whether I’ve got it on in the background, or am sharing with friends—by which I mean forcing them to sit on my sofa and break it all down with me. Current favourites: the 2009 Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart and the 2014 Henry IV part 1 with Alex Hassel and Anthony Sher. They’re both filmed stage productions, and I can’t recommend them enough. Then come find me and let’s fight about them! I also love a good literary fight on a lazy Sunday.
Tessa’s perfect Sunday… TV binge
A 50-episode C-drama! Haha, just kidding. That takes at least 3.5 days to binge IF you have meals prepped. But I love binging an intricate palace drama romance like Love Like the Galaxy or some demons vs fairies xianxia like the aptly named Love Between Fairy and Devil.
Tessa’s perfect Sunday… podcast
The Atlas Obscura podcast! They highlight weird and cool things from around the world, AND they are usually very short episodes—required for me because I tend to fall asleep listening to podcasts and audiobooks.
Tessa’s perfect Sunday… album
This would be something slow dark rock, with a lot of base and building themes like any of Maynard James Keenan’s bands or How to Destroy Angels/NIN/Trent Reznor. Either work for playing really loud while I lay on my shaking floor, or in my earbuds while sunning on my deck.
Tessa’s perfect Sunday… treat
If it’s nice outside, sharing a cool, sweet sake with my wife, or a few friends out on the aforementioned deck.
If it’s cold, I’ll make it warm nigori sake by the fire.
Chaos and Flame by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland is out now from Razorbill.
From New York Times bestselling author Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton comes the first book in a ferocious YA fantasy duology featuring ancient magic, warring factions, and a romance between the two people in the world with the most cause to hate one another.
Darling Seabreak cannot remember anything before the murder of her family at the hands of House Dragon, but she knows she owes her life to both the power of her Chaos Boon and House Kraken for liberating her from the sewers where she spent her childhood. So when her adoptive Kraken father is captured in battle, Darling vows to save him—even if that means killing each and every last member of House Dragon.
Talon Goldhoard has always been a dutiful War Prince for House Dragon, bravely leading the elite troops of his brother, the High Prince Regent. But lately his brother’s erratic rule threatens to undo a hundred years of House Dragon’s hard work, and factions are turning to Talon to unseat him. Talon resists, until he’s ambushed by a fierce girl who looks exactly like the one his brother has painted obsessively, repeatedly, for years, and Talon knows she’s the key to everything.
Together, Darling and Talon must navigate the treacherous waters of House politics, caught up in the complicated game the High Prince Regent is playing against everyone. The unlikeliest of allies, they’ll have to stop fighting each other long enough to learn to fight together in order to survive the fiery prophecies and ancient blood magic threatening to devastate their entire world.
Tessa Gratton has wanted to be a paleontologist or a wizard since she was seven. Alas, she turned out to be too impatient to hunt dinosaurs, but is still searching for someone to teach her magic. After travelling the world with her military family, Tessa acquired a BA in Gender Studies from the University of Kansas. She went on to graduate school, but halfway through ditched the program in favor of the blood, violence, and drama of Anglo-Saxon poetry and to focus on writing fiction. She doesn’t have a master’s degree, but did translate her own version of Beowulf. Tessa lives in Kansas with her partner, her cats, and her mutant dog. You can visit her online at tessagratton.com.