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Flesh Leitner Tournament Round 2

Survivor Type vs. The Jungle

A Planet Named Shayol vs. Food of the Gods vs. Excerpt from Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Glyceride vs. Hannibal

Pig vs. The Hellbound Heart

Metamorphoses vs. The Island of Dr. Moreau

Chicken, Chicken vs. Blimpo

You Are What You (M)Eat vs. The Indifferent Stars Above

Tender is the Flesh vs. A Modest Proposal

Flesh Leitner Tournament Round 1

The Specialty of the House vs. Survivor Type

The Jungle vs. Too Rich for My Blood

Carnivore vs. A Planet Named Shayol

Food of the Gods vs. Excerpt from Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Benny Rose, the Cannibal King vs. Glyceride

Hannibal vs. A Certain Hunger

It Devours! vs. Pig

Duckling Ugly vs. The Hellbound Heart

Metamorphoses vs. Tender Wings of Desire

The Island of Dr. Moreau vs. Mike and the Magic Cookies

Chicken, Chicken vs. La Condesa Sangrienta

The Garden of Adompha vs. Blimpo

Coma vs. You Are What You (M)Eat: Explorations of Meat-Eating, Masculinity and Masquerade

The Hunger vs. The Indifferent Stars Above

Carne vs. Tender is the Flesh

A Modest Proposal vs. Skeleton

#flesh poll #the flesh #leitner tournament #masterpost

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Tender is the Flesh (Agustina Bazterrica) "Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans —though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved."

A Modest Proposal (Jonathan Swift) "The famous work of satire that suggested that poor people should sell their children to be eaten by the wealthy."

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Tender is the Flesh #Agustina Bazterrica #A Modest Proposal #Jonathan Swift

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You Are What You (M)Eat: Explorations of Meat-Eating, Masculinity and Masquerade (Amy Calvert) "A fascinating essay on the concept of carnophallogocentrism (the connection between meat-eating and masculinity, as defined by Jacques Derrida) which discusses the gendered politics of consuming, preparing, and raising meat animals, viewed primarily through the lens of the US reality television series Man V. Food. Calvert argues that the show represents the sexualization of both women and meat, and represents a cultural backlash against feminism as traditional concepts of masculinity are reasserted through the grotesque displays of meat consumption onscreen."

Link

The Indifferent Stars Above (Daniel James Brown) "In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of emigrants led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

In this gripping narrative, Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most infamous events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah's journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative.

Bonus: This is a nonfiction account of The Donner Party, probably one of the most famous occurrences of survival cannibalism in history."

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #You Are What You (M)Eat #Explorations of Meat-Eating Masculinity and Masquerade #Amy Calvert #The Indifferent Stars Above #Daniel James Brown

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Chicken, Chicken (R.L. Stine) "Everyone in Goshen Falls knows about weird Vanessa. She dresses all in black. Wears black lipstick. And puts spells on people. At least, that's what they say. Crystal and her brother, Cole, know you can't believe everything you hear. But that was before they made Vanessa mad. Before she whispered that strange warning, "Chicken chicken." Because now something really weird has happened. Crystal's lips have turned as hard as a bird's beak. And Cole has started growing ugly white feathers all over his body… "

-People turning into chickens! -Detailed descriptions of how grossly biological chickens are! -A cliffhanger where we think the narrator's mom is going to kill and eat her!"

Blimpo (Dale E. Basye) "After his second escape from Bea "Elsa" Bubb, the Principal of Darkness, Milton Fauster makes his way to Blimpo—the circle of the otherworldly reform school, Heck, where he's sure his friend Virgil is sentenced. Virgil's only crime is being, well, plump. Milton has to wonder if that's really enough to justify eternal darnation. And what Milton finds in Blimpo horrifies him. The overweight dead kids spend most of their time running on giant human hamster wheels called DREADmills that detect and exploit their deepest fears. The rest they spend eating Hambone Hank's barbecue—mystery meat that is delicious, but suspiciously (to Milton, anyway) haunting . Every classroom has a huge TV screen showing happy thin people who taunt Blimpo residents with a perfection they will never attain.

Meanwhile, at her new job in the devil's Infernship program, Milton's sister, Marlo, knows all about trying to achieve perfection. And failing miserably. Can Milton get himself and Virgil out of Blimpo in time to rescue Marlo, too? Or is Fauster the next delicacy on Bea "Elsa" Bubb's menu?"

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Chicken Chicken #goosebumps #R.L. Stine #Blimpo #Heck #Dale E. Basye

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Metamorphoses (Ovid) "A series of stories all about transformation, the flesh being reshaped in radical ways. Sometimes the changes are punishments, other times rewards, but all of them are carefully detailed and totally irrevocable. The other main theme, love and lust, plays into the more erotic implications of Flesh. May have played a role in my own furry awakening.

Particularly Flesh-aligned tales: - Erysichthon, a king cursed with insatiable hunger until at last he ate himself - The Minotaur, the carnivorous offspring of a woman who fell in love with a bull - Circe, who turned men into pigs, rivals into monsters, and more."

The Island of Dr. Moreau (H.G. Wells) "A shipwrecked man, Edward Prendick, reaches a sinister island inhabited by notorious vivisectionist, Doctor Moreau. Prendick suspects that experiments are also being carried out on humans, resulting in hybrid forms; however, the doctor explains that he has actually been changing animals into people."

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Metamorphoses #Ovid #The Island of Dr. Moreau #H.G. Wells

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Pig (Roald Dahl) "A short story about a cookbook writer, Lexington, who was raised by a strictly vegetarian aunt. After her aunt's death, he seeks to expand his culinary horizons, first by tasting pork for the first time and then going to a factory tour to see how meat is processed. Unfortunately for him, the slaughterhouse he goes to appears to specialize on processing meat of the "long pig" kind…"

The Hellbound Heart (Clive Barker) "Frank Cotton is a hedonistic criminal selfishly devoted to sensual experience even if it harms others. Believing he has indulged in every pleasure the world can offer, Frank obtains the Lemarchand Configuration, a puzzle box said to open a "schism" or portal to an extradimensional realm of unfathomable pleasure ruled by beings called the Cenobites. Solving the box, he is confused and horrified when the Cenobites – horribly scarified creatures whose bodies have been modified to the point that they appear sexless and in constant pain – arrive. Frank still eagerly accepts the offer of experiences he has never known before, and the Cenobites take him to their realm, where they subject him to total sensory overload and he realises their devotion to sadomasochism is so extreme and their personalities so removed from humanity that they no longer differentiate between pain and pleasure and have no care to ever stop even if their subject no longer wishes the experience.

Sometime later, Frank's brother, Rory, moves into the home in England with his wife Julia. Unknown to Rory, Julia had an affair with Frank a week before their wedding and has lusted after him since. While in the attic, Rory accidentally cuts his hand and bleeds on the spot where Frank was taken by the Cenobites. The blood, mixed with semen Frank had left on the floor before he was taken, opens a dimensional schism. Frank returns, his body now reduced to a desiccated corpse by the Cenobites' experiments. Julia later finds him and promises to restore his body so he can truly live and they can be together. Julia seduces men at bars and kills them in the attic, where Frank feeds on their corpses.

Rory's friend Kirsty encounters Frank, who attempts to kill her. Kirsty grabs the puzzle box before fleeing and later accidentally opens it. The Cenobite intends to take Kirsty now that it is here, but she then reveals Frank is alive on Earth again. Though skeptical that one of their experiments could have escaped, the Cenobite is intrigued. It agrees that if Kirsty leads them to Frank and he confirms his identity, they will take him back and perhaps leave her alone.

Rory and Julia claim they killed Frank but Kirsty realizes the man she is speaking to is Frank wearing Rory's skin. Another altercation ensues, during which Frank inadvertently kills Julia. Kirsty then baits Frank into admitting his true name out loud. The Cenobites appear, ensnare Frank and return him to their realm, telling Kirsty to leave. Downstairs, Kirsty sees Julia's disembodied head calling for help. The leader of the Cenobites, a being called the Engineer, then appears and seems to take away Julia as well before briefly bumping into Kirsty. After leaving the house, Kirsty realizes the Engineer gave her the puzzle box to watch over until another seeks it out."

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Pig #Roald Dahl #The Hellbound Heart #Clive Barker

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Glyceride (Junji Ito) "The story revolves around a father and his daughter and son, who run a barbecue joint, which results in grease rising from the bottom floor to their living space, making everything in their house- their clothes, the walls, the furniture - covered in a film of grease. There's a constant motif of the horrors of the flesh at their grossest: The constant bullying the daughter Yui endures from her brother Goro, her stress and disgust at what she calls the "saturation level" of grease in the air, the horrible acne Goro develops and his strange addiction to drinking cooking oil, and the unnatural, greasy body odor their father has. All of this is later put on disgusting contrast against their father's job at the barbecue, and how his customers think the meat he serves is delicious…"

SPOILERS BELOW CUT

Hannibal (Thomas Harris) "You remember Hannibal Lecter: gentleman, genius, cannibal. Seven years have passed since Dr. Lecter escaped from custody. And for seven years he’s been at large, free to savor the scents, the essences, of an unguarded world. But intruders have entered Dr. Lecter’s world, piercing his new identity, sensing the evil that surrounds him. For the multimillionaire Hannibal left maimed, for a corrupt Italian policeman, and for FBI agent Clarice Starling, who once stood before Lecter and who has never been the same, the final hunt for Hannibal Lecter has begun. All of them, in their separate ways, want to find Dr. Lecter. And all three will get their wish. But only one will live long enough to savor the reward. . . . "

"There's a lot of Flesh in this one, but the bit that stands out to me is when [Redacted] gets eaten alive by hogs."

All of this escalates until Goro tries to kill Yui. However, their father saves Yui by bashing Goro over the head with a frying pan, killing him; he subsequently gets rid of the body by serving his flesh to the customers in his restaurant. The restaurant enjoys a revival in popularity due to Goro being served to the patrons but, when the meat runs out, the customers stop coming back. Yui begins to develop acne and a bad temper, just like Goro. She wakes up one night to find her father forcing oil down her throat just as Goro used to drink it. From then on, Yui can't sleep due to her father's constant efforts to break into her room and give her oil.

With no more meat left, Yui's father is forced to close the restaurant. He begins drinking the oil himself. His skin and hair become even greasier, and the saturation level continues to rise. The entire house is now full to the brim with grease, and grease drips constantly from the ceiling the saturation level is 90%. Eventually, Yui catches a glimpse of her father cutting off his own leg to serve in the restaurant since Goro's been eaten and she refuses to drink the oil; she observes that her father's leg is not leaking blood, only grease, as she realizes the saturation level is now at 100%.

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Glyceride #Junji Ito #Hannibal #Thomas Harris

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A Planet Named Shayol (Cordwainer Smith) "The protagonist, Mercer, who lives within the Empire, has been convicted of "a crime that has no name". He is condemned by the Empire to the planet Shayol, where he lives in a penal colony whose inhabitants must undergo grotesque physical mutations caused by tiny symbiotes called dromozoans. Most grow extra organs, which the Empire harvests for medical purposes. The bull-man B'dikkat administers the prisoners a drug called super-condamine that alleviates the pain of their punishment and various surgeries.

More than a century passes. Mercer has found a lover, named Lady Da. B'dikkat shows the couple a sight that horrifies him: children have been sent to Shayol -- alive, though with their brains removed. Lady Da knows how to contact the Lords of the Instrumentality so that they can intervene. When the Lords arrive on Shayol, they are shocked by what they find. Moreover, the children there are heirs to the throne. Apparently, the Imperium has become so bureaucratic and corrupt that it condemned them to prevent them from committing treason when they matured.

The Instrumentality voids permission to allow the Empire to exist and to maintain Shayol. They will free the prisoners who are still sentient and provide a cure for their suffering with a substitute for the super-condamine, namely an electronic "cap" which stimulates the brain's pleasure center. The mindless prisoners will be decapitated, their heads "taken away and killed as pleasantly as we can manage, probably by an overdosage of super-condamine", leaving the bodies to be used by the dromozoa."

Food of the Gods (Arthur C. Clarke) "In this imagined future, we have stopped killing animals for meat and started to grow tissue in vats instead (to help support our even-more-massive population). People actually retch at the thought of eating animal flesh, although the vast majority of the various manufactured foods replicate the characteristics of various meats exactly. Several companies manufacture the stuff and get into a competition about who can make the best. Eventually, one company makes one that apparently tastes delicious and is perfectly tailored to human needs, calling it "Ambrosia Plus". The competition goes before a Senate subcommittee to explain why this might be a problem: "Yes, Triplanitary's chemists have done a superb technical job. Now you have to resolve the moral and philosophical issues. When I began my evidence, I used the archaic word 'carnivore'. Now I must introduce you to another: I'll spell it out the first time: C-A-N-N-I-B-A-L …""

Excerpt from Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong) "Untitled, fictitious story in the larger work, meant to demonstrate Liu Bei's incredible character. He stops at the home of Liu An (a hunter, and one of his relatives). Liu An doesn't have enough meat to feed his lord and his retinue, to he kills, butchers, cooks and serves his own wife so that Liu Bei and company wouldn't be under-served. When Liu Bei finds out this he is shocked, but not outraged, at having been unknowingly fed human flesh. He is, instead, amazed at Liu An's devotion to hospitality (to the point of feeding his lord his own wife), and instead praises him as a model citizen. And this is a story the author inserted to make Liu Bei sound more virtuous and heroic than he was in actual history!"

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #A Planet Named Shayol #Cordwainer Smith #Food of the Gods #Arthur C. Clarke #Romance of the Three Kingdoms #Luo Guanzhong

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Survivor Type (Stephen King) "One of the few short stories that even King thinks he went a little too far on.

From Wikipedia: "Survivor Type is written as the diary of a disgraced surgeon, Richard Pine nee Pinzetti, who, while attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin aboard a cruise ship, is forced to escape when an explosion causes the ship to sink. He relates growing up poor in an Italian-American neighborhood and playing college football (which he hated) to get into a good college and then went on to medical school and in time a successful practice until his illegal distribution of prescription medicines and blank forms led to the loss of his license. He arranged to smuggle heroin from Vietnam to make a large amount of money, which would then be distributed for bribes that would enable him to return to practicing medicine. While encountering a storm in his empty lifeboat, Pine finds himself marooned on a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean whose exact location is completely unknown to him, with very limited supplies and no food. A self-proclaimed "survivor" type, Pine bitterly whiles away the time by using a logbook as his diary, detailing his rise and fall in the medical profession and his determination to survive this ordeal, get even with the people that "screwed him over," and return to prosperity.

Over time, the diary entries become more and more disjointed and raving, revealing Pine's slow mental decay and eventual insanity caused by starvation, isolation and drug use. Determined to hold out for rescue, he goes to horrifying lengths to survive. He eats insects, kelp and seagulls. After fracturing his ankle while attempting to signal an airplane, he amputates his own foot, then realizes he has to eat it to survive. He continues to amputate his own limbs to use as a food source, ingesting the heroin as a crude anesthetic during these operations. His last few diary entries, barely comprehensible, indicate that Pine has sliced off and eaten both legs, as well as his earlobes, and drools uncontrollably as he ponders which body part to consume next. The diary entries end when he cuts off his left hand to eat it and writes "lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers.""

The Jungle (Upton Sinclair) "The Jungle is the story of Jurgis Rudkus and his family, Lithuanian immigrants who come to America to work in the meatpacking plants of Chicago. Their story is a story of hardship. They face enormous difficulties: harsh and dangerous working conditions, poverty and starvation, unjust businessmen who take their money, and corrupt politicians who create laws that allow all of this to happen. The story follows the hardships of Jurgis and his family and the transformation that Jurgis undergoes when he accepts the new political and economic revolution of socialism.

The novel's most notable impact at the time was to provoke public outcry over passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat-packing industry during the early 20th century, which led to sanitation reforms including the Meat Inspection Act."

"He lived like a dumb beast of burden, knowing only the moment in which he lived."

"They use everything about the hog except the squeal."

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Survivor Type #Stephen King #The Jungle #Upton Sinclair

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After the leitner brackets are done, can we start sending in what effects we think those books would have, if they were in-'verse leitners? I did a bit of it, with my propagandas; but I think it would be fun to see the stuff for books I'd never read, ideas other people have.

Sure!

#asks #leitner tournament

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Dang I missed to submissions for the Flesh poll

Did anyone submit the Unwind series?

No, surprisingly enough.

#asks #flesh poll

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Flesh Leitner Tournament Round 1

The Specialty of the House vs. Survivor Type

The Jungle vs. Too Rich for My Blood

Carnivore vs. A Planet Named Shayol

Food of the Gods vs. Excerpt from Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Benny Rose, the Cannibal King vs. Glyceride

Hannibal vs. A Certain Hunger

It Devours! vs. Pig

Duckling Ugly vs. The Hellbound Heart

Metamorphoses vs. Tender Wings of Desire

The Island of Dr. Moreau vs. Mike and the Magic Cookies

Chicken, Chicken vs. La Condesa Sangrienta

The Garden of Adompha vs. Blimpo

Coma vs. You Are What You (M)Eat: Explorations of Meat-Eating, Masculinity and Masquerade

The Hunger vs. The Indifferent Stars Above

Carne vs. Tender is the Flesh

A Modest Proposal vs. Skeleton

#flesh poll #the flesh #leitner tournament #masterpost

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A Modest Proposal (Jonathan Swift) "The famous work of satire that suggested that poor people should sell their children to be eaten by the wealthy."

Skeleton (Ray Bradbury) "The story of a hypochondriac who becomes utterly terrified of the alien form of his own bones, and sets out to have them… treated. The character of M. Munigant alone, and his terrible office, would have made for an excellent Flesh avatar." Link

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #A Modest Proposal #Jonathan Swift #Skeleton #Ray Bradbury

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Carne (Mariana Enriquez) "After the suicide of a controversial culty musician who sang about how we're all meat, a couple of teenagers dug up his rotting body and began to consume it until they were detained by police. This leads to a huge debate in the city as to wether these girls were insane groupies or if they "understood his message perfectly"."

Tender is the Flesh (Agustina Bazterrica) "Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans —though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved."

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Carne #Mariana Enriquez #Tender is the Flesh #Agustina Bazterrica

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The Hunger (Alma Katsu) "Tamsen Donner must be a witch. That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the wagon train known as the Donner Party. Depleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the pioneers to the brink of madness. They cannot escape the feeling that someone--or something--is stalking them. Whether it was a curse from the beautiful Tamsen, the choice to follow a disastrous experimental route West, or just plain bad luck--the 90 men, women, and children of the Donner Party are at the brink of one of the deadliest and most disastrous western adventures in American history.

While the ill-fated group struggles to survive in the treacherous mountain conditions--searing heat that turns the sand into bubbling stew; snows that freeze the oxen where they stand--evil begins to grow around them, and within them. As members of the party begin to disappear, they must ask themselves "What if there is something waiting in the mountains? Something disturbing and diseased…and very hungry?"

The Indifferent Stars Above (Daniel James Brown) "In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of emigrants led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

In this gripping narrative, Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most infamous events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah's journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative.

Bonus: This is a nonfiction account of The Donner Party, probably one of the most famous occurrences of survival cannibalism in history."

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #The Hunger #Alma Katsu #The Indifferent Stars Above #Daniel James Brown

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Coma (Robin Cook) "Susan Wheeler is a medical student working at the Boston Memorial Hospital. Young, healthy patients are coming in for routine operations and leaving in permanent comas. Susan investigates, eventually unearthing an Organ Theft conspiracy. Apparently, they started using hospital patients who were already comatose, but demand (and profits) is such that they start artificially inducing brain death in healthy patients undergoing surgery to get more victims."

You Are What You (M)Eat: Explorations of Meat-Eating, Masculinity and Masquerade (Amy Calvert) "A fascinating essay on the concept of carnophallogocentrism (the connection between meat-eating and masculinity, as defined by Jacques Derrida) which discusses the gendered politics of consuming, preparing, and raising meat animals, viewed primarily through the lens of the US reality television series Man V. Food. Calvert argues that the show represents the sexualization of both women and meat, and represents a cultural backlash against feminism as traditional concepts of masculinity are reasserted through the grotesque displays of meat consumption onscreen."

Link

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Coma #Robin Cook #You Are What You (M)Eat #Explorations of Meat-Eating Masculinity and Masquerade #Amy Calvert

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The Garden of Adompha (Clark Ashton Smith) "King Adompha and his equally vile court magician Dwerulas rule Sotar, which is known for Adompha's royal garden, hidden from the eyes of all but himself and Dwerulas. In truth, Adompha and Dwerulas capture or execute anyone disfavored by them in Sotar in order to butcher them and have Dwerulas fuse their remains to the plants of the garden, creating half-human, half-vegetable hybrids suspended in a strange state between life and death. Adompha orders a servant girl murdered purely for her hands, ordering the rest of her body fed to the plant her hands will grow upon, and furthermore murders Dwerulas on nothing more than an impulse. Dwerulas manages to curse Adompha in retaliation, resulting in Adompha's garden turning upon him and raking him to pieces.

Link"

Blimpo (Dale E. Basye) "After his second escape from Bea "Elsa" Bubb, the Principal of Darkness, Milton Fauster makes his way to Blimpo—the circle of the otherworldly reform school, Heck, where he's sure his friend Virgil is sentenced. Virgil's only crime is being, well, plump. Milton has to wonder if that's really enough to justify eternal darnation. And what Milton finds in Blimpo horrifies him. The overweight dead kids spend most of their time running on giant human hamster wheels called DREADmills that detect and exploit their deepest fears. The rest they spend eating Hambone Hank's barbecue—mystery meat that is delicious, but suspiciously (to Milton, anyway) haunting . Every classroom has a huge TV screen showing happy thin people who taunt Blimpo residents with a perfection they will never attain.

Meanwhile, at her new job in the devil's Infernship program, Milton's sister, Marlo, knows all about trying to achieve perfection. And failing miserably. Can Milton get himself and Virgil out of Blimpo in time to rescue Marlo, too? Or is Fauster the next delicacy on Bea "Elsa" Bubb's menu?"

#flesh poll #the flesh #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #The Garden of Adompha #Clark Ashton Smith #Blimpo #Heck #Dale E. Basye