Macabre Post
Added 2020-12-01 01:36:55 +0000 UTCThis may be only for the long-timers, but did we ever talk about the darker ending of Cherry Blossoms?
I don't remember if it ever came up in the comments.
There is a darker metaphysical ending (hail, Lord Crowley) that is right there unhidden and only for interpretation.
I wonder if anyone has a thought on this...
Comments
Cherry Blossoms is my go to book in between ones I reading currently ...I truly love it...I will be willfully blind about the ending ...I love that I see it as a family returning to being together again...all flawed but willing to have a second chance ...I love Oldie and Geoffs relationship...Nia never ever stopped Loving Geoff during all the craziness! My favorite out of all the books I have read. Love the idea of Redemption of a family!
Mike Monroe
2020-12-10 02:07:06 +0000 UTCNow I'll need to re-read "Cherry Blossoms". The ending struck me as odd or off some how. I didn't catch the subtle clues it just felt odd. Geoff is a stand-up guy in all respects he does what is expected of a husband and father. Nia is trying to have her cake and eat it too. As to raising kids that are not his he deals with it like an adult. It's much more common than we think. with all the 23andMe DNA services families are going to have to deal with this kinda stuff more often.
RCH
2020-12-05 14:26:53 +0000 UTCThere’s no results for “kt Morrison” on substack?
Tracey52
2020-12-04 19:26:46 +0000 UTCThe golden moment: Where Nia would tell Geoff that Odie was his and that she was also pregnant with his baby
KT Morrison
2020-12-04 13:17:06 +0000 UTCHa ha! It was emotional. I didn't want to mention it for fear of making it real. But it is there. Over time, my thoughts on the ending went away and I settled (in my own mind) on the more neutral ending. But there is a darker one there, and I put it there while thinking about it too. But, yes, three years is a little long, lol
KT Morrison
2020-12-04 13:16:08 +0000 UTCI hear you. My version of the ending is the middle of the road one, whee Geoff is happy to be back with her, about to be astounded by the news, but the reality is Nia manipulated him to get back with her (he is of course party to that manipulation)
KT Morrison
2020-12-04 13:12:50 +0000 UTCWhen you said you thought you should leave the "most golden moment open" do you mean making it explicit that Nia and Odie died? That moment was great, I do admit I had a visceral anger with you that Odie might have died in the Chapter ending cliffhanger before we heard Nia's perspective again. Like audibly announcing, 'No!' type stuff.
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-04 03:33:59 +0000 UTCI loved leaving CB with the happy ending that I initially read for the story. No caveats, just happiness, but in my inability to have nice things I started to have my doubts and reread it. Especially after I saw what you wrote when so many people saying that it was a happy ending. You were essentially like, "Is it though? It is, but I mean, is it?" I think I landed on the 2nd ending when you had me rethink it. Now with this current reread i thought the darkest way this could go is that Nia and Geoff isolate themselves from the world, Geoff to make it so Nia would never hurt him again and Nia out of fear that she might. Props to CSH for seeing the 'Nia and Odie are dead' ending, I don't think I could ever read it that way without being told to. I'll say, I appreciate that you were concerned with how revealing to us what you were thinking for the ending would be received, it's really thought full. Can you do us a favor though, maybe not wait 3 years to tell us next time? Lol
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-04 03:25:43 +0000 UTCA couple weeks ago I was listening to something, I think it was a song or maybe a podcast... I can't remember. Something said made me think of the crystal Geoff found and then all that death thing came back to me again and I couldn't remember ever mentioning it.
KT Morrison
2020-12-04 02:27:15 +0000 UTCI didn't want to mention the third ending because of two reasons. 1. The mere mention of it would make some people really mad. 2. I didn't even want to mention it for fear of it being real. I was super-emotional at the end of that series, ha ha. Like my version of the ending is that it's real, and Geoff doesn't see the truth because he'll be too happy.
KT Morrison
2020-12-04 02:25:44 +0000 UTCAnd here's the thing: That was a long ass series and we all rode the same rollercoaster; I liked the facets to the ending, the different ways you could interpret it. maybe that's why I let the most golden moment hang unwritten. If I'd gone for the 'Hey, Nia and Odie died' move then people would HATE me. If I make it open, everyone can pull from it what makes them feel whole.
KT Morrison
2020-12-04 02:23:43 +0000 UTCIt was tough to end that series, and I stumbled onto the three-way as I was writing. It wasn't planned. I had the two endings in my mind, and making the nicest version more balanced was the truth that maybe Nia wasn't a good match for Geoff and she'd just sentenced him to more years with her. But then as I was writing the car thing came out of nowhere and I went with it. Then coming out of writing that scene, I had Geoff walking in the woods and finding the hunk of quartz and it made the whole thing metaphysical. It came out of nowhere. Then I had three endings.
KT Morrison
2020-12-04 02:20:44 +0000 UTCAnyways, thanks for spoon feeding the answers!
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-04 00:55:47 +0000 UTCThat's so fucking cool ... the first two are things that feel as if it comes across, this third one im trying to reexamine and it really is unsettling in a beautiful way. Number 3 does make how well it ends for Geoff more plausible. Have you read or watched "I'm Thinking of Ending Things"? I don't want to give it away if you want to read/watch it, but that whole end interaction between Geoff, Nia, and Odie kind of reminds me a little of the concept. *Spoilerish* The idea of the main character playing out a whole fantasy given true circumstances. Wow, it felt as I read it like the stars we're aligning too much for Geoff but I thought I was being too cynical, nothing else made sense, and plus it just felt good. Now THIS is my kind of stuff KT!
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-03 23:42:17 +0000 UTCHere are the three possible endings: 1. It's a beautiful happy ending. 2. It's a somewhat realistic ending where Geoff gets some of the things he wants, but in reality was manipulated being back with Nia 3, Are Nia and Odie even really there with him in the end? And if they aren't, did Nia really bring the news that the kids were his at all?
KT Morrison
2020-12-03 22:56:28 +0000 UTCDon't kick me out, KT. I'll make it up next semester ...
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-03 20:56:48 +0000 UTCI wish I knew where to look, KT you've given us hints but it doesn't work for me, I feel like I'm flunking Advanced KT 501 class. All I have to contribute is my essay on a mental tangent I went down. I pay to be at this college too, lol!
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-03 20:29:45 +0000 UTCI didn't laugh! The though of someone boiling a turkey! Oh, the horror!
RCH
2020-12-03 15:24:07 +0000 UTCJesus Christ, I just laughed so fucking hard at this!
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 14:26:25 +0000 UTCI think I did it right. There are three endings there open for interpretation, and anyone can read into it what they want. It's a beautiful happy ending. It's a somewhat realistic ending where Geoff gets some of the things he wants, but in reality was manipulated being back with Nia. Or, 3, are they even really there with him in the end? And if they aren't, did Nia really bring the news that the kids were his at all?
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 14:24:32 +0000 UTCDecember of 2017... remember it well. Stomping around the house. :) I don't remember if I read any discussion of alternate endings, though. I'll bring it up this morning and see of D-lady remembers. I know in the case of the Maplethorpe's it was right there.
DavidnDaria
2020-12-01 11:35:37 +0000 UTCI loved that series so much kt. Don’t undermine the ending on me. That there was the possibility of Geoff and Nia getting back together with Nia wiser and Geoff more in control sold me. If Geoff actually lost them then you would need to kill him too as he wouldn’t survive.
Tracey52
2020-12-01 10:52:55 +0000 UTCLike I said I don't think Geoff actually wanted to shield her forever but when we're on the subject of darkness I presented you with the puzzle pieces in my mind for that interpretation. Also, for Nia, all that stuff about feeling like she could turn over a new leaf is great and all ... *Speaking as if I were Geoff* Why dont you wait until morning to come over and talk to me about this, or maybe when you have some time to think about how it was never about who was biologically Odie's parent so why is knowing that it's Geoff's so important that you drive to his home to tell him. And finally, maybe you wait to tell me all this after you let me know that our child just almost died ...
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-01 06:11:56 +0000 UTCBut hey we are reading stories about wives who fuck other men to fix up their marriages. Most of them start enjoying seeing their husbands suffer as much or more than the husbands enjoy suffering. Unhealthy relationships are par for the course.
CSH
2020-12-01 06:08:01 +0000 UTCFights over control are a core element of these stories (and maybe marriage). That’s a unique take on it I guess, that Geoff finally has control of Nia for all eternity! I tend to be more sympathetic to Geoff than that. I see the expressions of regret from Nia as genuine.
CSH
2020-12-01 05:53:24 +0000 UTCTo me, I think about the somewhat impulsive and somewhat psychotic behavior of Nia to drive to Geoff in the snow (although that might be something you just get over as a Canadian, to be fair) the minute she finds out that the children are his, and how precise she wants the narrative to be in this moment between the three of them so she insists her child stick to the script. Seems Carol-esque when I think about it in the 2020 KT universe, lol. It kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Then she started talking about how all she ever wanted was to be good for Geoff, how she would shield him from the bad, kind of gives you the heebie geebies. Talk like that is not healthy in the real world, but i made lighter of it because it's a story and stories are about conveying thoughts, feelings and emotions so I didn't think much of it. Since we're on the subject though of this story and darkness, how unhealthy this relationship's comeback story begins definitely comes to mind.
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-01 05:42:27 +0000 UTCThird time's a charm (sorry KT and CSH) I still feel like the darkest ending to this is Nia's voluntary subjugation to Geoff. For years, Nia worked as Geoff's assistant without much personal ambition to make her own legacy. Now in these last couple chapters where she is so desperate, she talks about abandoning all that for Geoff. Geoff, for his part, seems content with the concept of living on the island forever, isolated from the outside world and keeping Nia locked away where she won't harm him anymore. I built an entire narrative in my mind during this series when Odie and Geoff read about the story of the Prince, the Princess and the Ogre where the prince builds a castle and moat to protect from the Ogre. I wrote fan fiction about how this island cottage is Geoff's moat, and to me the darkest thing in this ending is how soul crushingly lonely it is to have this moment be the last one in the series. To have a wife talking about how she is living in fear of hurting her husband again and a husband who gets, maybe only for a few seconds, a relief of hiding his wife from the world. I don't think this must be what the darkest of darks in this story is and definitely not what KT seems to be pointing out to us, but it sure as hell depresses me. It's hard to imagine the two of them really feel their circumstances in their lives in these final moments is eternal, but for that to be the tone of their conversation as the last words are written left a bad taste in my mouth when I read it under the right light.
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-01 05:27:34 +0000 UTCAlso, up above KT makes a reference to the crystal he finds in the stream. I don’t understand much about the crystal reference other than vaguely spiritual stuff.
CSH
2020-12-01 05:16:31 +0000 UTCSince I saw your comment I ran with the thought of both their deaths as I reread the last few chapters, really interesting. What got to me as I ran with that thought was when Nia asks Odie to not tell Geoff because he worries. That took on a new tone when I read it under this lens. This all said, with how Nia talks, even towards the end, it doesn't feel right to me that it's what happened, but I don't know.
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-01 05:08:38 +0000 UTCI’m going with mom and daughter were killed by the Jeep. They are with Geoff in spirit. The whole crossing the water to the island part gives it that spiritual feel for me. Maybe Geoff is gone too? BTW I like that her making him suffer actually made him a better artist.
CSH
2020-12-01 04:47:45 +0000 UTCWell guess I'll have to reread the ending!
DLZ!
2020-12-01 04:47:39 +0000 UTCIt is dark enough considering, Geoff may be bringing up two children, fathered by two brothers, he has shared Nia with.
VN
2020-12-01 04:31:12 +0000 UTCJunichiro tanizaki. I remember reading some prefer nettles like a hundred years ago.
CSH
2020-12-01 04:19:26 +0000 UTCYes there's definitely a "too good to be true" tone for Geoff in that whole final sequence.
Glaucon
2020-12-01 04:18:48 +0000 UTCShrugs shoulders again, but offers a thumbs up.
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 04:13:58 +0000 UTCThe whole last scene seems somewhat ethereal.
CSH
2020-12-01 04:12:55 +0000 UTCI hope this doesn’t mean Kimmy finds Josh drowned in the hot tub. Roiling around like a boiled thanksgiving turkey.
CSH
2020-12-01 04:09:57 +0000 UTCIf I can figure out discord, maybe we could do it there...
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 04:09:47 +0000 UTCThe oldest hotwife movie I know of. Odd Obsession, Japan, 1959. From a novel written by one of Japan's premier novelists.
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 04:09:14 +0000 UTCWell I have it. Let me know.
CSH
2020-12-01 04:05:21 +0000 UTCHahaha well yes of course..... plus I have an iPad........uuuh so I kinda cheated....lol
CSH
2020-12-01 04:03:28 +0000 UTCI can't believe you still have the story that close, that you can recall that...
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 04:01:34 +0000 UTCI think that would have been a superb ending and would only have made the story stronger. If erotica is to be more than ‘erotica’ those sorts of risks need to be taken sometimes.
CSH
2020-12-01 04:01:19 +0000 UTCCSH is hot on the trail
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 04:00:41 +0000 UTCThat was definitley a thing, but not to what I'm referring.
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 04:00:05 +0000 UTCI thought you were talking about Rocco dying in a plane crash.
Glaucon
2020-12-01 03:55:54 +0000 UTCWell, let's hear it...
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:54:49 +0000 UTCMake me good again.....
CSH
2020-12-01 03:53:46 +0000 UTCOkay now waitaminute I'm starting to think maybe I'm thinking of a different alternate darker ending that was tossed around (the plane) and maybe you're talking about something else.
Glaucon
2020-12-01 03:53:38 +0000 UTCI'd like to do a movie night, but we all need Criterion...
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:53:16 +0000 UTCNo, but I saw the old History Bites episode about it (Canadian historical parody show) about the widespread popularity and copycat suicides the book inspired becoming the focus of a moral panic, with all the adults in hysterics over teens reading the book.
Glaucon
2020-12-01 03:50:27 +0000 UTCIs Nia an angel?
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:50:22 +0000 UTCYep but not for a while. I’ll be away from the net for a few days.
CSH
2020-12-01 03:50:14 +0000 UTCWell you seem to have a thing for corrupting angels....
CSH
2020-12-01 03:49:08 +0000 UTCSeriously, CSh, that is right ot the heart, as awful as it may be...
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:47:55 +0000 UTCI have no idea what that means....
CSH
2020-12-01 03:47:46 +0000 UTC...but also gives CSH a huge fucking gold star
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:47:12 +0000 UTC*shrugs shoulders*
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:46:25 +0000 UTCJust guessing but maybe she gets killed by the Jeep and it’s her spirit with Geoff? She’s something of a corrupted angel.
CSH
2020-12-01 03:43:42 +0000 UTCAnd also, for the Criterion subscribers: anyone up for a movie night?
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:43:07 +0000 UTCAs a side note: Has anyone read The Sufferings of Young Werther?
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:42:38 +0000 UTCEverything is in plain view, but reading White Stains never hurt.
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:41:52 +0000 UTCWith the Aleister Crowley reference, is there reference material I should consume to help see through this camouflage or is it less directly related than that?
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-01 03:25:43 +0000 UTCThe darker ending is already there! It's kind of camouflaged...
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:08:45 +0000 UTCYou guys. aren't new!
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 03:08:04 +0000 UTCI'd love to read a darker ending :) The original LHW remains my favourite series... the angst makes it a netorare classic. Since we're looking back, there was originally a series in the pipeline involving a pro baseball player? I was under the impression that was going to be darker too. Any chance it'll resurface?
DLZ!
2020-12-01 02:54:13 +0000 UTCNot changed! What I'm talking about is already there. The crystal he found in the stream...
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 02:47:12 +0000 UTCWe're too new for the darker ending. Like Mike, the ending in the book is perfect, completely perfect. Something happened, though... it was lost on my computer. Had to rebuy the complete series. No biggie. Your masterpiece, KT. Sincerely.
DavidnDaria
2020-12-01 02:29:26 +0000 UTCI'd love multiple endings. My favorite books are CYOA (choose your own adventure) though they are rare. Maybe only a simpler "two branch" path to follow? Does she get pregnant from guy one or guy two? (And consequences therein... )
BNR
2020-12-01 02:26:31 +0000 UTCNooo! Please don't change it. My absolute favorite book of yours or anyone else's in this genre. However if you'd like to tweak the Maggie series ending, I'm good with that. I kind of hoped Max would leave the house in the mountains, where Maggie arranged a showdown, and not look back. Bye Maggie. Of course that would complicate the Keely series. Oh well.
Wess
2020-12-01 02:21:39 +0000 UTCNo-no, they'll all be the same. You can't trust any of them, these censorious mf'ers, so I want redundancy. If one goes down, I already have presence elsewhere!
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 02:13:04 +0000 UTCWould it make sense for a patron to sign up to those other accounts or is the intention for them all to get essentially the same access?
Glaucon
2020-12-01 02:07:17 +0000 UTCI want to have my books on Patreon, Substack, and Subscribe Star so there's redundancy.
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 02:04:46 +0000 UTCThat's cool! I'd be really interested to hear about your reasoning behind various narrative decisions. Unless that sounds awful, I'm just really curious!
Glaucon
2020-12-01 02:03:49 +0000 UTCI've begun re-editing it on substack, and I'll repost it here shortly. I'd like to edit and re-examine all my books here on Patreon.
KT Morrison
2020-12-01 02:02:50 +0000 UTCYeah, I know it was discussed. I remember there some discussion about the boiling water in the end scene. The details are fading at this point though is the insinuation that this is an ending that KT didn't go with, or just that there are ways to interpret what she actually did in a darker vein? Either way, KT, dust that shit off and give me a reason to reread!
JamesIsAsleep
2020-12-01 01:55:28 +0000 UTCNot sure of the darker ending...but loved how it ended...it is by far my favorite book you have written..to me a masterpiece..but would love to read it. But the current ending is perfect!
Mike Monroe
2020-12-01 01:44:25 +0000 UTCWe did talk about this! Back on the old site - I think it could've worked - but probably worked even better the way you ended up going.
Glaucon
2020-12-01 01:38:08 +0000 UTC
