#space goat publishing

[popculturebuffet]

Screwhead Fiction Double Feature: Evil Dead II: Beyond Dead by Dawn Review: Honey You Got Real Ugly (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy screwheads and welcome back to Screwhead Fiction Double feature, my look at some of the Evil Dead Comics. And since we looked at the beginning of Dynamite comics absolute mountain of Army of Darkness comics, it only makes sense to look at another company who tried to do the same thing but fizzled out for a number of reasons: Space Goat Publishing and their first comic following the other half of the license rights for Rami's goretastic franchise, Evil Dead II: Beyond Dead by Dead under the cut

Bad Goat:

Space Goat was what seemed to be a talent agency that worked with other comic companies and what not before branching into publishing. It's clear on some level Shon Bury

Wanted to do what Dynamite did, use liscened comics as a springboard to get into the game. ANd it worked: from what I can tell Beyond Dead by Dawn was a success and over the handful of years Space Goat published several Evil Dead minis and spinoffs, and they went on to make comics for Terminator and The Howling.

Now you'd likely think that the company simply ran out of gas. Their far from the first comics company to go belly up, nor the first I intend to cover on this blog. For instance if all goes well I intend to start covering the Chucky Comics next year. It's something that happens.

What happened with Space Goat though is far scummier, somehow being both a fairly common story and an entirely bonkers unique one at the same time. I got most of my info and any screencaps from the blog Funk's House of Geekery, which was invaluable and THESE TWO posts. To make a long painful story you can read from someone who actually was there on the ground level short: Space Goat did a kickstarter for a boardgame based on Evil Dead 2. That in itself sounds kickass and were I aware of it I might of backed it as , while I wasn't a horror fan quite yet, EDII is one of the few horror films I saw before diving in deep after seeing IT and one I loved.

I'm glad I didn't as it turned out it was a thinly planned out scam. See after getting the Evil Dead II game backed Space Goat launched ANOTHER campaign for terminator, and fans were understandably uneasy. It's one thing to do MULTIPLE kickstarter campaigns That's fine. Things I love like MST3K, Rifftrax and Team Starkid rely on them , in the latter cases on an annual basis pre covid, to put on shows. But all three are reliable sorts who backers can trust and who have experience and all made good on previous campaigns. Space Goat hadn't done a game before so this was already worrysome for backers. Shon being outed as an abusive shouty mess of a human being didn't help matters.

So not surprisingly it was as shady as it looked: it's theorized that Space Goat did the Evil Dead kickstarter.. but instead of actually making a game, they used the money to get the Terminator license, understandably expensive, and planned to use THAT money to fund both games, and when that went under budget they used it elsewhere and hoped no one would notice. Backers went ignored, infighting started in the comments, things got ugly as they tend to when Kickstarter projects go bad.

Then Shon and co got UTTERLY vile with it by launching a video for ANOTHER crowdfunding campaign to get capital to "expand the business". Which is code for "OH SHIT WE SPENT ALL YOUR MONEY PLEASE HELP US BUT WE TOTALLY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG GUYS" no one bought it, and the game sadly went unmade while Space Goat burnt up on rentry as it damn well should.

So the question is even with all the grifting, conning and theivery, is "beyond dead by dawn" any good?

Honey, You Got Real Ugly Look I don't judge works based on their parent companies. I try to avoid say buying games from Activision and Ubisoft because their companies suck, but at the end of the day most works of art are the product of the artists and companies generally interfere and do harm (with some exceptions) rather than steer every step of the way. Unless a fault with the work is something the company could correct, it's generally not their fault. The comics faults are it's own.

The premise isn't one of them as once again we have an Evil Dead comic that has a really good idea to continue things just not the execution to actually pull it off. Unlike Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes which happened when the franchise was in a coma and wasn't coming out of it for at least a decade, Evil Dead II happened while the franchise was still alive as ever: The soft reboot had come out just two years ago and in what I don't remotely belivie was a concidence, Ash Vs the Evil Dead premiered the same year, and the Army of Darkness comics were still going strong. So the time was right for it, but the problem was unlike Army of Darkness which could just pick up where the films left up a combination of not having the rights to that film, said film having already done that and Ash Vs the Evil Dead planning to do the next thing in the queue, follow ash decades later, meant they had to go another route

The route chosen is pretty clever and spiffy, and takes unique advantage of having things the Dynamite Comics simply don't: Beyond Dead by Dawn follows the deutragonist and fan faviorite of Evil Dead II, Annie Knowby after the film. You may be wondering how as she had a bad case of

Last time we saw her. Well this comic follows her into HELL. Yes after having to dance around it due to budget, this comic shows us the Evil Dead version of the underworld, where all the swallowed souls go. Annie is free thanks to the evil dead not having time to deadite her, but is outgunned, outmanned and outnumbered.. but not outplanned. She plans to use the kandarian dagger to absorb souls and free her parents souls allowing them and all the other victims of the evil dead to rest.

The outmanned part is still an issue and since this franchise woudln't be the same without him but we can't use him since present day him is busy on TV, Annie uses the necronomicon to create a simuacrum. Granted it's clearly pulling this spell out of it's ass, but I do like it cleverly using the fact Ash's hand is still there after killing Annie and dead after Ash finally kicked it's wrist, and creates a new ash who only has the memories up to getting cut off and isn't happy to be here but helps anyway.

As I said the setup isn't bad: Ash and Annie have to fight through hell and free her parents. But that's when the problems start. Kicking it off we have the fact that hell is BORING. Yes.. .really> hell. That hell. The setting dozens of shows have made interesting versions of> That one. The fire and brimstone. It's not remotely intresting. I'ts just a brown cavern like endless expanse with the ocasoinal fleshy structure while only the demon with the souls in it, which is supposed to be some kind of god looking KINDA interesting nd kinda is pushing it. It's a green thing that just dosen't have the horror or power you'd expect for one of the gods behind the necronomcion. Add in the fact the demons are almost all just red winged guys, which while not ab ad look is generic and you get the problem. You have a wonderful setup for a truly unique evil dead work but no effort put into actually making it feel unqiue. It's generic in a franchise that dosen't really.. do generic.

Each film feels unique, interesting and has awesome makeup and gore effects. 3/4 of the films only have the one setting, the setting is one of the most iconic in horror for a reason, being perfectly run down, claustrophobic and inescapable as if you go within the woods your dead.. but staying inside is just as fatal and Army of darkness gleefully gives us a castle, a dark graveyard, a small shack with tiny people and more to play with. The monsters inside are some of the most awesome looking in horror with the deadites having a simple shriveled up look yet also having some impressive ones like the cellar woman, the giant monster, or evil ash.

This comic just doesn't have that creativity: it's got a creative premise, but it doesn't continue to innovate BEYOND that. A good hook is fine, but you have to be able to bring it WITH that hook or no one's going to care. Say what you will about Ashes 2 Ashes, I certainly did, but it at least had fun set pieces, took the series global and while the first half was weak and off tone, it made up for it. This book just doesn't have the time or patience to really get into things or fine fun things to do. This story could've easily gone over a few minis but for some reason is crammed into three issues. It has no room to breathe and as such chokes; The characters don't really feel fleshed out or like people with Ash literally being a copy of himself and ANnie despite ENDLESS narration, and I do mean it they do not let up for the first two issues, not really growing much beyond the first film and when she does it's because she's apparently soul bonded with ash. Oh yeah they apparently share traits thanks to being bonded. This goes nowhere other than one of the worst pms jokes of all time

Next up we have tonal issues. Look like last time I get it, it's hard to strike the right ballance with an evil dead proprety. II did such a good job it's hard to match that tone. It's why even if I prefer EDII to Army of Darkness, I didn't mind it going broader or the remake going back to the originals grim tone. Those films have problems sure, but trying something new and exciting isn't one of them.

But you have to HAVE a tone and the comic can't decide if it's an action piece, horror or a comedy. As such the comedy that does show up comes off flat, with said PMS joke.. seriously this was 2015 I can forgive some of the less savory parts of the originals for being of their time but come the fuck on man. This was 2015. Stupid PMS jokes like that shoudl've been on their way out, not in this comic and on modern family. It's a thing that happens not something that turns you into the hulk.

But we also have Annie tryign to find a virigin to stab.. which makes her come off heartless as she's trying to murder someone and the comic didn't make it clear she was just going to.. release the soul later. We also get fat jokes at a guy's expense because the writer of this comic is twelve and his parents shoudldn't of let him see Evil Dead II much less write a comic about it for a get rich quick scheme cleverly disguised as a publishing company. She could just.. ask to kill them telling them they'll be set free but that might be too many steps.

Outside of tone character wise it feels flat. Annie is trying to rescue her parents, but it's hard to tell who she is outside that. The movie did a decent job showing her as an ensastic person who geninely loves this research and out of the five people in the cabin was the only one besides ash holding the brain cell. So i'd love to see more of her but the writer can't really decide what to do with her other than have her ramble in the first person a lot. She's not obnoxious but it's disheratning ot see a character with a lot of potetial brought back to just be kind of vauge and not move much up from where she was at the end of evil dead 2: sh'es about the same. As for Ash it feels like just.. the basic beats for Ash> There's no real character stuff on being connected spirtually to someone else, any feelings for annie, the people he just lost (since being in the same continuity as vs the evil dead, the original film is once again canon), or anything> He's just army of darkness ash but Ashes 2 Ashes at least gave that ash an emotoinal moment.

Artwise it's decent with Oscar Bazulda doing a really good job, having it be mildly stylized but realistic enough to land. Again monster design isn't great, but comics are colabrative and writer Frank Hannah could've put more focus on working with Oscar to make a good monster design instead of jokes about Ash having PMS.

Beyond Dead by Dawn ends with our heroes unswallowing the souls, putting them in a knife and escaping setting them free and setting up the sequel as apparently not ALL THE spirits freed are exactly peaceful. And I am kinda curious to see if this get sbetter so maybe, just maybe.. we'll read from the necronomicon again some day.

For now though Beyond Dead by Dawn.. is disapointing. It has a truly fantastic premise, but rushed pacing, a lack of creativity beyond the basic premise, and a lack of a real tone of any kind sink what coudl've been an excellent sequel before the other sequel. A lack of effort leading to a real loss of potetial.. kinda sums up Space Goat as a whole huh? Thanks for reading screwheads. Follow for more, consider joining my patreon and i'll no doubt see you within the woods again… thanks for reading.

#evil dead #evil dead II #space goat publishing #ash williams #annie knowby #beyond dead by dawn #sam rami #bruce campbell #comics #horror #halloween

[frackadactyl]

Space Goat Publishing: An Experience In Exploit

Special thanks to Ted Naifeh for a couple of confirmations. Hopefully he, Mickey Neilson, Jason Johnson, @JustPlainTweets @CalMoray are doing well after this blip in their careers. #comics #comic #comicbooks #bankruptcy

Space Goat Publishing is an alternative comic publisher that began with a lot of potential. Along with licenses in popular franchises like Evil Dead and Terminator, a few originals get attention. One of which is by a familiar face. Tragically, things weren’t great behind-the-scenes. When a few crowdfunding ventures turn sour, the company gets stuck in a bad place. It still exists, but it’s…

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#Evil Dead #Space Goat Publishing

[nasa]

NASA Inspires Your Crafty Creations for World Embroidery Day

It’s amazing what you can do with a little needle and thread! For #WorldEmbroideryDay, we asked what NASA imagery inspired you. You responded with a variety of embroidered creations, highlighting our different areas of study.

Here’s what we found:

Webb’s Carina Nebula

Wendy Edwards, a project coordinator with Earth Science Data Systems at NASA, created this embroidered piece inspired by Webb’s Carina Nebula image. Captured in infrared light, this image revealed for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. Credit: Wendy Edwards, NASA. Pattern credit: Clare Bray, Climbing Goat Designs

Wendy Edwards, a project coordinator with Earth Science Data Systems at NASA, first learned cross stitch in middle school where she had to pick rotating electives and cross stitch/embroidery was one of the options.  “When I look up to the stars and think about how incredibly, incomprehensibly big it is out there in the universe, I’m reminded that the universe isn’t ‘out there’ at all. We’re in it,” she said. Her latest piece focused on Webb’s image release of the Carina Nebula. The image showcased the telescope’s ability to peer through cosmic dust, shedding new light on how stars form.

Ocean Color Imagery: Exploring the North Caspian Sea

Danielle Currie of Satellite Stitches created a piece inspired by the Caspian Sea, taken by NASA’s ocean color satellites. Credit: Danielle Currie/Satellite Stitches

Danielle Currie is an environmental professional who resides in New Brunswick, Canada. She began embroidering at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic as a hobby to take her mind off the stress of the unknown. Danielle’s piece is titled “46.69, 50.43,” named after the coordinates of the area of the northern Caspian Sea captured by LandSat8 in 2019.

An image of the Caspian Sea captured by Landsat 8 in 2019. Credit: NASA

Two Hubble Images of the Pillars of Creation, 1995 and 2015

Melissa Cole of Star Stuff Stitching created an embroidery piece based on the Hubble image Pillars of Creation released in 1995. Credit: Melissa Cole, Star Stuff Stitching

Melissa Cole is an award-winning fiber artist from Philadelphia, PA, USA, inspired by the beauty and vastness of the universe. They began creating their own cross stitch patterns at 14, while living with their grandparents in rural Michigan, using colored pencils and graph paper.  The Pillars of Creation (Eagle Nebula, M16), released by the Hubble Telescope in 1995 when Melissa was just 11 years old, captured the imagination of a young person in a rural, religious setting, with limited access to science education.

Lauren Wright Vartanian of the shop Neurons and Nebulas created this piece inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope’s 2015 25th anniversary re-capture of the Pillars of Creation. Credit:  Lauren Wright Vartanian, Neurons and Nebulas

Lauren Wright Vartanian of Guelph, Ontario Canada considers herself a huge space nerd. She’s a multidisciplinary artist who took up hand sewing after the birth of her daughter. She’s currently working on the illustrations for a science themed alphabet book, made entirely out of textile art. It is being published by Firefly Books and comes out in the fall of 2024. Lauren said she was enamored by the original Pillars image released by Hubble in 1995. When Hubble released a higher resolution capture in 2015, she fell in love even further! This is her tribute to those well-known images.

James Webb Telescope Captures Pillars of Creation

Darci Lenker of Darci Lenker Art, created a rectangular version of Webb’s Pillars of Creation. Credit:  Darci Lenker of Darci Lenker Art

Darci Lenker of Norman, Oklahoma started embroidery in college more than 20 years ago, but mainly only used it as an embellishment for her other fiber works. In 2015, she started a daily embroidery project where she planned to do one one-inch circle of embroidery every day for a year.  She did a collection of miniature thread painted galaxies and nebulas for Science Museum Oklahoma in 2019. Lenker said she had previously embroidered the Hubble Telescope’s image of Pillars of Creation and was excited to see the new Webb Telescope image of the same thing. Lenker could not wait to stitch the same piece with bolder, more vivid colors.

Milky Way

Darci Lenker of Darci Lenker Art was inspired by NASA’s imaging of the Milky Way Galaxy. Credit: Darci Lenker

In this piece, Lenker became inspired by the Milky Way Galaxy, which is organized into spiral arms of giant stars that illuminate interstellar gas and dust. The Sun is in a finger called the Orion Spur.

The Cosmic Microwave Background

This image shows an embroidery design based on the cosmic microwave background, created by Jessica Campbell, who runs Astrostitches. Inside a tan wooden frame, a colorful oval is stitched onto a black background in shades of blue, green, yellow, and a little bit of red. Credit: Jessica Campbell/ Astrostitches

Jessica Campbell obtained her PhD in astrophysics from the University of Toronto studying interstellar dust and magnetic fields in the Milky Way Galaxy. Jessica promptly taught herself how to cross-stitch in March 2020 and has since enjoyed turning astronomical observations into realistic cross-stitches. Her piece was inspired by the cosmic microwave background, which displays the oldest light in the universe.

The full-sky image of the temperature fluctuations (shown as color differences) in the cosmic microwave background, made from nine years of WMAP observations. These are the seeds of galaxies, from a time when the universe was under 400,000 years old. Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team

GISSTEMP: NASA’s Yearly Temperature Release

Katy Mersmann, a NASA social media specialist, created this embroidered piece based on NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global annual temperature record. Earth’s average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record. Credit: Katy Mersmann, NASA

Katy Mersmann is a social media specialist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She started embroidering when she was in graduate school. Many of her pieces are inspired by her work as a communicator. With climate data in particular, she was inspired by the researchers who are doing the work to understand how the planet is changing. The GISTEMP piece above is based on a data visualization of 2020 global temperature anomalies, still currently tied for the warmest year on record.

In addition to embroidery, NASA continues to inspire art in all forms. Check out other creative takes with Landsat Crafts and the James Webb Space telescope public art gallery.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

#NASA #creativity #fiber art #embroidery #art #art challenge #needlework #crafts #handmade #textile art #cross stitch #stitching #inspiration #inspo #Earth #Earth science #Hubble #James Webb Space Telescope #climate change #water #nebula #stars

[thewitcheslibrary]

Beltane

The date of the holiday: 1st may

History: Beltane is derived from the Celtic term Baal or Bel, which meaning "Bright One." As farmers prepared to shift their livestock from winter pastures to summer grazing in the hills, they sought protection and abundance from the gods by starting fires and herding cattle through the flames to the summer grazing fields. This was thought to protect the herd from attack while also increasing fertility.

In more practical terms, these bonfires were most likely used to burn brush heaps and clear space for planting and pastureland. In the home, hearth fires were extinguished and replaced with flames from Beltane bonfires. People often walked the perimeters of their properties or towns to evoke additional protection for the next year. Yellow flowers were used to decorate doorways, windows, and even cattle during Beltane.

Like all of the Wheel of Year sabbat celebrations, Beltane was a time for merry making and feasting.  People would write a wish upon a ribbon and tie it a to a tree, in the hopes that the gods would grant them.  Hawthorn, ash, thorn and sycamore trees were believed to be the best trees for making wishes.   

Dew gathered on Beltane was thought to have special properties for increased beauty and youthfulness. 

Beltane and sexuality- SLIGHT NSFW WARNING!

Part of Celtic Beltane beliefs revolved around the holy union of the God and Goddess, which people celebrated by having sex on Beltane. Usually outside, to further connect with nature. Children conceived at Beltane (and hence born at Imbolc) were regarded to belong to the Goddess, and were commonly referred to as'merry-be-gots', with a particular tie to the faerie world. Beltane, like Samhain, was a period when the curtain between the worlds became thinner, allowing ghosts to pass through. Unlike Samhain, the visiting ghosts were not looking for a feast or a quick chat with relatives. The spirits of Beltane were considered to be seeking reincarnation or sexual intercourse.

The topic of sexuality runs throughout Beltane. The Maypole, which maidens usually adorn and celebrate, is a phallic emblem signifying masculine strength, whereas the cauldron represents female power. Women who desired to produce a child would start a small fire, place the cauldron on it, and then leap over it.

To go Maying, or picking flowers and other flora in adjacent woodlands, was associated with casual sex in the woods. There was no stigma connected with out-of-wedlock marriage, and hand-fasting was prevalent, in which two individuals bonded together for a year and a day. Beltane activities such as the Maypole were forbidden by the Puritans in parts of Great Britain in the 17th century, owing in part to their overt sexuality.

END OF THE NSFW -

Symbols of beltane-

Colors:  White, dark green, red 

Foods:  Dairy foods, honey, oats, mead, lamb  

Stones:  Sapphire, blood stone, emerald, orange carnelian, rose quartz  

Symbols:  Goat, honeybee, cown, fairies, pegasus, rabbits, flower crown, maypole, basket  

Flowers & Plants: Primrose, lilac, hawthorn, birch, Rosemary, Ivy, woodruff, rowan, violet, alfalfa, cedar, peppermint lavendar 

Deities: Aphrodite, Artemis, Freya, Rhiannon, Apollo, Bel/Belnos, The Great Horned God, BÓand/Boann 

Setting intentions during this time-

Beltane has traditionally been a fertility celebration. However, if you don't have infants in mind, that's OK! Beltane is an excellent opportunity to reflect on creativity and success. Beltane is the moment to follow through on your objectives from Imbolc and Ostara. Perhaps you've been thinking about launching a company; Beltane is the time to set an appointment with the bank and inquire about finance. Perhaps you've been writing a book and now it's time to contact publishers or locate an agent. Beltane, with its promise of harvest and fruitfulness, is a time to take inspired action and be confident.

Ways to celebrate-

Chose one of the deities listed above and honour them in some way, yes even if you dont work with them. You can still celebrate them and wear or do things associated with them, just do so respectfully! Eat some of the foods associated with beltane! Even if you just eat a bowl of oats with honey for breakfast, its a good and simple way to celebrate. And its perfect if you can't openly celebrate, it just looks like your enjoying some food. You could also drink peppermint tea!

Wear some of the colours and carry the stones and gems around with you during this day. You can incorporate both colour magic and crystal magic by doing this and is also just easy to hide and do subtly! - everyone wears clothes (hopefully) and you can just say you are collecting rocks and crystals because you find them cool! - Flower crowns can be incorporated into outfits too.

Buy flowers or make a bouquet with the flowers associated with the holiday! They will make your space or altar look colourful, and flowers are pretty. This isnt as easy to hide, but if people do ask you can tell them you just liked them and treated yourself!

Set aside time for some self care - treat yourself to a special meal, music, aromas - whatever make you feel special!- with this you could use the plants, herbs, crystals, candles in the colours associated with them and some drawn symbols and put together a ritual bath! - bit of a clean up after but again its somewhat easy to hide

some less subtle way to celebrate.

Hold a bonfire for family and friends 

Take action on a project you’ve been working on 

Decorate a tree with colorful ribbons that represent your wishes for the coming year 

Make flower crowns 

Walk your property and give thanks and ask for protection in the coming year 

Decorate your home yellow flower wreaths, bouquets or garlands

#pagan witch #witch #witchblr #witchcore #witchcraft #beltane #wheel of the year #witchy stuff

[nausikaaa]

Some Sentences Monday

thanks for tagging me @shrekgogurt @forabeatofadrum and @cutestkilla!

i didn't get around to posting yesterday because my goat Juno had her kids! i'll pop photos under the cut.

anyhoo. my current project is a Dracula and War Of The Worlds crossover, as they were published within a year of each other, but as that's still in the bullet point phase, here's some Andromache's Child instead:

“Please, Odysseus.” She grabs his arm, goes to kneel in supplication, but he holds her up. “Please!” My mother begs. “Just leave him here, with his father.”

“Hector cannot protect him.”

“Neither can you!” She rages, striking at his armoured chest, though he doesn’t seem to feel it. I don’t want to see this. I shake my head, blink hard, try to get the scene before me to dissipate, but Apollo does not allow it.

now, as promised, goat kids:

the grey and white one is a girl i named Olive, and the brown one is a boy i named Jem. i'm going to keep Olive, but i don't have space for another male so will have to sell Jem. however, he's so bonny, i think i'll keep him entire and try to get him registered as a breeding billy.

tag for wip wednesday or anyone who wants to share on this fine monday: @j-nipper-95 @artsyunderstudy @that-disabled-princess @prettygoododds @confused-bi-queer @imagineacoolusername @ic3-que3n @aristocratic-otter @larkral @hushed-chorus @ivelovedhimthroughworse @thewholelemon @shemakesmeforget @fatalfangirl @ebbpettier @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @bookish-bogwitch @youarenevertooold @alexalexinii @supercutedinosaurs @shutup-andletme-go @theearlgreymage @ileadacharmedlife @alleycat0306 @carryonsimoncarryonbaz @comesitintheclover @blackberrysummerblog and @orange-peony

#six sentence sunday #andromache's child #my goats

[isabelcanasauthor]

hi!! i'm isabel cañas, i'm a full-time writer living my best chaotic life between nyc & pnw.

tbh i'm here for a good time, not an organized/professional time. that said! one! must! hustle!

i wrote a Gothic horror novel called the hacienda. think the haunting of hill house in 19th-century mexico + a healthy dose of the hot priest from fleabag s2. out now!

i have a new novel out in august 2023 called vampires of el norte! it has hot vaqueros, monstrous vampires, western vibes, and heaping dose of romance

aaaaand i have some book-sized surprises in store for 2024 and 2025 👀

i also write short fiction! here's a selection of my favorite things i've published, available to read free:

six goats: bite-sized sapphic high fantasy

there are no monsters on rancho buenavista: a feminist twist on an old mexican monster folktale

my sister is a scorpion: magical realism that stings

the law of take: tristan & isolde, but make it space fantasy

a land of saints and monsters: more vampires, this time in late medieval anatolia

no other life: sapphic vampires in 16th-century istanbul

the weight of a thousand needles: a retelling of the fairy tale the needle prince

xx

#writerscommunity #novels #gothic #short stories #fiction #writeblr #sapphic #fantasy #historical fiction #vampires #horror #scary stories #gothic literature #dark academia #hot priest #fleabag x the priest

[theravenmuse]

Kindness, Goodness, and Unconditional Love: A Character Analysis from Season 2 of Good Omens

An analysis of Aziraphale and Crowley in relation to kindness versus the capital G Goodness of Heaven and an exploration of how imperfect love actually means everything will be okay in the end.

This essay is also published on AO3 in case it gets eaten by Tumblr

Without further ado…

Crowley is kind. His natural inclination is to be kind. There’s no working at it, there’s no trying to be kind. In fact, there’s quite a lot of trying NOT to be kind; he is a demon after all. But when he thinks no one’s looking, or when he lets his guard down, he is kind.

He saves Job’s children and his goats. “I go along with Hell as far as I can,” he says. What he means is, “I go along with Hell as long as I know I can’t get away with being my true self.”

He saves Elspeth, going so far as to tell her to be good. “Properly good,” even. He blames the laudanum, “not responsible for my actions.” No Crowley, you aren’t, are you? And you acted in your true nature without the wits to pretend otherwise.

Aziraphale is also kind, but it’s a different type of kindness. It’s a kindness that he’s conscious of and that he works at. Unlike Crowley, whose natural tendency is to be kind, Aziraphale’s nature tends towards judgment and righteousness and he tends towards frustration when he or those around him fall short of his idea of perfection. That’s his “just enough of a bastard.”

Aziraphale has to work very hard at being kind. That isn’t to say that he isn’t kind, because he is. Working to be kind indicates a desire to be kind and that indicates a kind person at heart.

Aziraphale’s main problem, I believe, is the confusion in his mind between kindness and Goodness, specifically the capital G Goodness of Heaven. Kindness and goodness are more or less interchangeable; kindness and Goodness are not.

When Crowley saves the goats and the children, Aziraphale insists that he must be “a little bit on our side.” Crowley counters this line of logic when he reminds Aziraphale that God is the one who gave permission for him to kill the kids in the first place. Heaven is Good but not kind. Crowley is kind but not Good. Aziraphale doesn’t see that yet, but he will; give him time.

When Elspeth steals bodies, Aziraphale has another crisis. Is it Good or is it Evil? There are solid arguments for both. Heaven’s doctrine doesn’t allow for gray areas; actions are either Good or they are Evil. He struggles with what to do because he wants to be Good, but doesn’t know which action he should take to align himself with that doctrine. He still doesn’t quite know where Crowley fits either. “You, unfortunately, are Evil,” Aziraphale says. Crowley must be Evil, Aziraphale reasons, because he is a demon and sides with Hell. But there’s an “unfortunately” there. Something doesn’t quite fit. He doesn’t know what it is yet, but he will; give him time.

By the time we get to 1941, we see Aziraphale finally admitting to shades of gray. “Shades of very light gray,” he insists, but shades of gray nonetheless. He’s beginning to learn, modeled by Crowley no doubt, that maybe Heaven doesn’t have the whole story. Maybe it’s possible to be good without being Good. Maybe that’s where Crowley lies. Maybe, just maybe, he fits in that space too, if only just a wee bit.

Fast forward to present day (season 2). Aziraphale has committed to “our own side.” There are bad angels (several) and good demons (at least one). There are a hundred, a thousand, a million shades of gray. There is nuance found in this imperfect, human world that he and Crowley belong to more than they ever belonged to Heaven or to Hell.

Aziraphale is kind. He has to try to be, he has to remind himself, but he is kind. He slips up, most notably when he brainwashes the entire street into going along with a Jane Austen style ball to woo his beloved demon, but that’s alright, there’s room for error.

Crowley is kind. There’s no more pretending for him. There doesn’t have to be. He can finally be himself. There’s still a shadow of trauma over him, a sense of not belonging, but he is kind underneath it. He frees Maggie and Nina from their shop without a second thought. He makes Jim hot chocolate even though he mostly hates him. And when it comes down to the wire, he doesn’t hesitate to protect the humans from Shax’s attack. He isn’t perfect either. He growls at Jim on the regular, he snarks at Aziraphale on several occasions, but that’s alright, there’s room for error. And someday, when he’s ready for it, there will be room for forgiveness. Not from Heaven, not from God, not even from Aziraphale, but from himself.

They are both kind, in the complicated, nuanced way of the world they’ve come to call their own. Neither of them are perfect, but that’s alright, they don’t have to be.

Heaven’s idea of being Good means to be perfect. Humanity’s idea of being good is being kind, as well as you can be. Sometimes you fall short, but there’s room for error. There is room for imperfection. There is room, most importantly, for forgiveness.

There’s a concept called unconditional love that is very applicable here. It means exactly what it sounds like: love with no conditions.

Heaven’s love is very conditional. It is very strict. It requires perfection. There is no room for error. There is no room for forgiveness.

Love doesn’t exist in Hell. They saw love, conditional, unforgiving love, as faulty. They too missed the space for nuance and so rejected love outright.

Unconditional love, love in spite of imperfection, can only exist on Earth, and Aziraphale and Crowley have found it in each other. It isn’t perfect, it can’t be, but that’s alright, they will keep trying and find room for it and for each other regardless. Yes, even when they miscommunicate. Yes, even when they hurt each other. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt nearly as badly if there wasn’t love at the center of it all, would it?

And that brings us to that scene, you know the one. Neither of them are perfect. Both of them make mistakes.

Aziraphale’s is the most obvious, he is the one who demanded so much from Crowley, after all. What Aziraphale saw was an opportunity to correct Heaven’s version of Goodness to match with this new one that he’s learned. He can FINALLY fix the source of so much mental turmoil and he can do it with Crowley at his side. Better yet, he can fix it so that Crowley aligns with Good too. This doesn’t mean that he wants to change Crowley; Crowley is exactly as Aziraphale wants him. What it means is that Good itself will change to fit what Aziraphale already knows is good, and that’s Crowley. In Aziraphale’s mind, if he can change this alignment of Goodness, all of his and Crowley’s problems will be solved. But there’s a huge, insurmountable problem with Aziraphale’s plan: Crowley won’t follow.

Crowley knows there’s no fixing things; Heaven is set in its broken ways and the two of them won’t be able to do anything about it. He’s right, but that doesn’t make Aziraphale wrong for wanting to try. Remember that Aziraphale struggles to be good at times; it doesn’t always come naturally to him. For Aziraphale, finding this ‘good’ thing difficult to do is not unusual.

But back to Crowley. What Crowley heard from Aziraphale’s plan was not what Aziraphale intended. Aziraphale wanted to change Heaven to suit Crowley, but Heaven, in Crowley’s mind, is unchangeable. Again, he’s right, but regardless of the truth of the matter, we have two beings whose fundamentally different understandings of the system they are bound to having a fundamental misunderstanding as a result. Crowley believes, with a great deal of pain, that Aziraphale wants to change him. Worse than that, Crowley knows that it won’t work.

There’s no fixing Crowley; he’s not Evil, but he certainly doesn’t want to be Good. The damage was done when he Fell and Rising won’t put him back together again. Aziraphale, in Crowley’s opinion, wants something impossible from him. He doesn’t have a chance. It doesn’t help that Aziraphale’s sales pitch is punctuated with phrasing like “you’re the bad guys.” Crowley isn’t one of them anymore, he had just made that point very clear, and it hurt that Aziraphale still saw him that way.

Crowley’s mistake isn’t in refusing to help. Crowley’s only mistake, really, is not getting his point across clearly. I don’t blame him for this; effective communication takes practice for both the speaker and the listener and practice is something that both of them sorely lack. And that’s not even touching on the way Aziraphale’s sudden proposal threw a wrench in Crowley’s carefully plotted love confession, turning it abruptly into a rather desperate plea to save ‘their side’.

I encourage you to go back and watch that part of the scene from Aziraphale’s perspective; pretend you didn’t see any of what Crowley saw in Heaven. Most of what Crowley says doesn’t make sense. Aziraphale doesn’t know that Jim was in trouble for the exact thing that he is about to set out to do. Aziraphale doesn’t even know that Armageddon 2.0 is Heaven’s goal. The only thing he knows is that he has a chance to set Heaven right and to protect Crowley while he’s doing it. He’s wrong, but Crowley isn’t effectively telling him that and Aziraphale isn’t listening well enough to read between the lines.

And that circles us back to the reason why it hurts so much. They do love each other. Unconditionally. It isn’t something either of them can help.

They’re each hurting and seeing that they hurt the other only compounds that pain. They are both hurt and confused and running out of time to fix it.

“Why won’t he come with me?” Aziraphale wonders. “Why is he so stubborn that he won’t even try? I thought I meant enough to him for him to forget his hatred, but I’m never enough, am I?.”

“I’ve always known he thought less of me because I’m a demon,” Crowley thinks, “but is it really a deal breaker? I thought I meant enough to him, but I’m never enough, am I?”

They’re running out of time. The Metatron is right outside.

“You’re at liberty to go,” Aziraphale says. It’s not what he says this time, but he means the same thing. Crowley will leave, but he’ll come back. He always comes back.

“No nightingales,” Crowley says. That’s not the game they’re playing anymore. This is the last time. He won’t be coming back.

Aziraphale’s expression changes in that instant. It’s finally clicked; he’d missed Crowley’s whole side of the conversation. He hadn’t been listening.

But now he’s out of time to fix it. Crowley is kissing him, a starkly human expression of exactly what he means, and Aziraphale can’t think. And then Crowley is gone.

Crowley leaves, but only goes as far as the street. He’s always been the one to come back before, but he’s not doing it this time. Too many lines were crossed. Too many emotions bared. But he’ll wait awhile. Maybe Aziraphale will change his mind.

Then Aziraphale leaves. It’s a final leaving, in both of their opinions. Crowley knows he won’t budge. Aziraphale knows it too, though he still doesn’t understand why.

It won’t be the last they see of each other, but neither of them are sure of that in this moment. It’s alright that mistakes were made, but they’re both too hurt to see that yet. There’s room for forgiveness, room to mend what they broke. They’ll see it someday, when they’re both ready. They’ll get another chance to talk and to listen and they’ll do both with new knowledge learned from past mistakes. Love will prevail, because the unconditional kind always does; it’s right there in the definition. And when it hurts along the way, well, that’s only proof of concept, isn’t it?

#good omens #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #good omens 2 #good omens season 2 #crowley loves aziraphale #aziraphale loves crowley #the raven’s musings

[sroloc--elbisivni]

Ok you win! You win, I read your amazing RotTMNT AU and now I want to know more about Usagi Yojimbo!!! Do you have any recommendations and also I would love to read your bibliography for that fic 😭🙏 your writing is ~superb~ it's so poetic and evocative aaaagh

GOT ANOTHER ONE, BOYS

welcome!! welcome!! come on in. Usagi canon isn't actually as intimidating as it looks--and I'm not saying this in the way often applicable to comics where that means 'only one flowchart is required to understand the reading order.' i think. There's only one major continuity, and two spinoffs in Space Usagi and Senso,* neither of which is required to understand the main order. Each issue is often overwhelmingly self-contained, so you can really pick up anything and start reading. The split comes in where the series being published at like. four different companies over the years. means that there are different publishing rights that change the way stuff comes out. technically we're at 38 trade volumes. thinking of it like that is the way madness lies.

The bulk of the series is collected in The Usagi Yojimbo Saga, a 10-volume set published out of Dark Horse. Each one is about as thick as a phonebook. This is not the beginning of the series, it technically starts with the overall series' volume 8, Shades of Death, but the first book of the Saga has a 4-page intro comic at the beginning that does very well setting the scene. This is where I started. I still think it's a great place to start because it's fun to go back to the origins with all the knowledge of the later books behind them. (Books 1-9 are in sequence; Usagi Yojimbo: Legends collects Senso, Space Usagi, and Yokai)

If you want to start at the very beginning, you need to look for Usagi Yojimbo, vol. 1: The Ronin. After Volume 7, Gen's Story, everything's published in the Saga.

The beginnings of the series are also collected in Usagi Yojimbo: Origins, which is a recent republishing of the early comics in full color. They've got four volumes--Volume 1,** Wanderer's Road, The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy, and Lone Goat and Kid. If you start here, you'll be switching over to series Vol. 6, Circles, after LGaK.

Once you get through the Saga, you're into IDW publishing territory, which so far has 5 trade volumes--Bunraku and Other Stories, Homecoming, Tengu War!, Crossroads, and The Green Dragon. That brings you up to the Ice and Snow issues, which just started publishing in September.

But quite honestly, given that the overall premise of the series is 'watch this man wander around the early Edo period experiencing Problems,' I really do think you can start anywhere in the grand tradition of 'what's at the library/comic shop' and have a good idea of the series.*** Have fun!

*Technically Chibi Usagi is a separate continuity, but I feel disingenuous putting it in the same category as Senso.

**No, it doesn't have a name. Yes, really.

***tbh between stories that are told As Flashbacks and how only about half the stories have things that squarely indicate exactly what the previous story was, I tend to assume that it goes in non-chronological order unless a story contains evidence otherwise. this opinion has gotten me booed. but i stand by it.

#thank you for your nice words!!!! i wanted to do something for the anniversary of sorrow so i'll put the bibliography in a separate post #usagi yojimbo #uy reading order #letsgetempirical #talky talk

[santmat]

Agricultural emissions would fall by almost a third.

Cows are often described as climate change criminals because of how much planet-warming methane they burp. But there’s another problem with livestock farming that’s even worse for the climate and easier to overlook: To feed the world’s growing appetite for meat, corporations and ranchers are chopping down more forests and trampling more carbon-sequestering grasslands to make room for pastures and fields of hay. Ruminants, like cattle, sheep, and goats, need space to graze, and animal feed needs space to grow. The greenhouse gases unleashed by this deforestation and land degradation mean food systems account for one-third of the world’s human-generated climate pollution.

Environmental advocates have long argued that there’s a straightforward solution to this mess: Eat less meat. Convincing more people to become vegetarians is a very effective way to limit emissions. Getting rid of meat is one question; replacing it is another. A paper published on Tuesday seeks to address both, finding that giving up meat in favor of meatlike plant products would yield significant benefits for the climate, biodiversity, and even food security in coming decades.

Swapping 50 percent of the world’s beef, chicken, pork, and milk consumption with plant-based alternatives by mid-century could effectively halt the ecological destruction associated with farming, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, China, and Southeast Asia, according to the study in Nature Communications. Such a dietary shift could also lead to a 31 percent reduction in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the study found. That’s the equivalent of not burning 1.8 trillion pounds of coal each year between 2020 and 2050.

Climate policies and investment focus heavily on fossil fuels and the energy sector, but slashing agricultural emissions is also crucial to keeping planetary warming below catastrophic levels, said Lini Wollenberg, the study’s co-author.

“There’s enough evidence to show that if we don’t shift our diets, then we will not meet the 1.5 degree Celsius target by 2100,” said Wollenberg, who researches climate change and food systems at CGIAR and the University of Vermont. “Agriculture has to be addressed.”

#go vegan #veganism #vegan #no more What About Ism

[torpublishinggroup]

Tor Staff Builds a Dragon

You can only write about dragons for so long without creating one. Tor staff have gathered from across the corners of our several departments to collectively design a precious little monster.

We're Tor. Meet our dragon.

Assigned Component: Name Designer: a stack of feral racoons in a trenchcoat, Assistant Director of Marketing

"The ideal dragon name is hard to pin down but it’s all about branding. Do you want adventurers popping by regularly for when you’re feeling snacky? Try something intimidating but sure to pique their curiosity so they feel the trip to your digestive system is worth the effort but also sure to earn glory. Best naming convention for this purpose is BLANK the BLANK, like Doralindon the Conqueror of Cities or Steve the Ignoble.

But above all when considering a dread dragon name to terrify children around the fire in the halls of your enemies for years to come is to stay true to yourself. If you like your birth name, flaunt what your momma gave you! If you’re looking for a Nom de Guerre, don’t be afraid to flaunt your most fun qualities. Corey the Lover of Long Walks on the Beach is just as valid as The Dread Claw of Winter."

Assigned Component: Tail Designer: Rachel Taylor, Senior Marketing Manager

"Dragons must be protected on all sides, and maybe most importantly from behind, so no pesky wannabe ‘heroes’ can sneak up and attempt a murder (cowards). The Tor Publishing Group is mighty and swift, so I think the tail must encompass those virtues, with a long, spiky tail that is fast, sharp, and deadly. AKA, the tail is made of knives. No unexpected sneak attacks will get the Tor Dragon down! BEGONE, ATTEMPTED DO-GOODERS!!!"

Assigned Component: Wings Designer: Dragon Enthusiast, Marketing Assistant

"Most dragons you see nowadays have thin, bat-like wings that are, frankly, not much fun. Here at Tor we’ve got flair, we’ve got pizazz, and our dragon should too so we’re taking the wing-game up a notch and giving them a pair of the fanciest, featheriest wings you’ve ever seen. Might our dragon look a tad silly? Perhaps. Will they be primed and ready to live their best dragon life? Most definitely."

Assigned Component: Limbs Designer: a cat, Assistant Marketing Manager

"Tor Publishing Group has many imprints, so our dragon must have many limbs. At least as many limbs as we have imprints, and they all must be different to reflect the different propensities of Tor. For example, the Nightfire limb is obviously a chainsaw. The limb that represents Tor Teen will be a slightly more youthful iteration of the dragonic arm that represents Tor Books, etc."

Assigned Component: Lair Designer: A Nightfire Ghoul, Associate Editor

"If I tell you there’s a dragon in all of us, you may laugh, as is your right. But you feel it, don’t you? Tail coiled around your ribs, wings tucked between your lungs, fire burning in your heart. So yes, dear reader, laugh if you’d like. But you know it’s the truth. The dragon’s lair is you. Be sure to feed it well."

Assigned Component: Magic Powers Designer: Jill Cipher, Associate Publicist

"While most readers probably imagine a fire-breathing, hoarding lizard with wings, I prefer dragons to be slightly more… peculiar. To really encompass the full idea of Tor Publishing Group, our dragon has to be a chameleon of chaos. I imagine our dragon has malleable collarbones like a cat in order to fit into small spaces; the disorienting scream of a goat; and world shaking (earthquakes, avalanches, etc.) abilities."

NOW BEHOLD OUR CREATION, ARE NOT THEY LOVELY?

LOOK UPON OUR CHILD AND DESPAIR

#dragon week #tor books #DREAD CLAW #dragons #books or something

[tricksterlatte]

I saw someone on the bird website point out that just because people disagree with a fellow fan doesn't give them the right to bully or harass said fan, especially in such cruel ways (they were body shaming a well known Overwatch person because she shared a selfie, and the hate originated from her opinions on the character).

It's been driving me crazy how people somehow forgot you can disagree with someone's opinions without being an asshole. Why do we condemn bigotry or cruelty when it's directed at our friends, but hurl it out ourselves when opportunity arises to bash someone we dislike? It just makes me so sad.

This isn't about a specific situation but it's a problem i've noticed over the years. I have been both a perpetrator and a victim of this (if I said otherwise, I'd be a liar. I've been on the internet since I was 10 and have been active in multiple fandoms), but I don't want to contribute whatsoever to that type of environment anymore. We have to talk the talk and walk the walk with this one, or we will continue to be miserable. If you dislike something or someone, either communicate if this person is supposed to matter to you or vice versa, or just block them, mute them, unfollow them. Whichever suits your comfort level for whatever the situation may be. If you hate something or someone but still proceed to follow them, check their profile, and grab screenshots or QRTs to make fun of them, whether with petty jabs or actual bigotry and cruelty, you are not only making other people into targets. You are sending yourself into a spiral that will only harm you in the long run.

I know how addicting social media can be. I know how the instant gratuitous relief can feel when you vent about something within an echo chamber. And I don't think the answer is just don't vent, don't misconstrue my words. I think the answer is does this make you happy? I don't think this type of habit makes anyone happy. I know sometimes people change, and I really hope people can and do.

I don't say this as an accusation or to be mean myself, I say this as someone who suffered on my own end, not only from taking the brunt of harassment but also from indulging it on occasion. I used to be horrible about this type of fixation on things I hated within fandom during my prime days in my earliest tumblr fandoms, and I nearly fell into this trap again over the past few years. My irl situation was entering a state of despair, and during those times, without anyone trustworthy that shared these spaces with me and that knew me well in return, fandom felt like the one place where I had a semblance of control. That doesn't excuse belittling people. It never does. A reason is not justification.

It's a special type of hell, for example from my personal experience, to receive dozens of suibait anons about fanfic you published, whether it was from things I left blatantly tagged and easily avoidable, over my writing not being as good as others' within these spaces, or because people admitted they were envious of something outside of my control. Or people making fun of my cosplay photos or treating me as an object to be sexualized, no matter who they were or how they identified. I had old Retrospring anons sent that exploited my vulnerability regarding events only certain groups knew about, trying me during my worst of times. When I vaguely discussed them on other websites, without sharing things being said to protect myself and to not spread drama, I was largely told I was overreacting and to just delete them. Which I did, but they kept coming. I deleted anonymous ways of contacting me and closed off most forms of contact with fandoms other than a few long running places I've known for years (thank you WWD crew you guys are the GOAT). But even so. If I didn't have the person who is now my wife there for me at the right time, I probably wouldn't be here right now. Not everyone experiencing this type of thing has anyone there for them at all.

I have a tendency to ramble, so I'll summarize here: the only type of toxicity that will ever bring people joy is toxic yaoi, toxic yuri, Toxic by Britney Spears, and the Toxic TM from Pokemon. I want to get better myself, and I'm posting this because I hope for the best for anyone who read this. If you disagree with me for this, that's okay too. If you don't think this applies to you, it might not! I don't know you. None of us know each other, which I think should be further incentive to be kind, instead of ample opportunity to be mean. If you have the choice, strive to be kind over the escapism that brings us joy. For some of us, this will be the only kindness we may ever know.

#parker says things #this has been on my mind since the early 2020s but it's not the type of thread you can really post to the bird site #the character limit and the culture of ratios and QRTing for clout means this would hardly reach anyone #a majority of 2022 was one of the worst times of my life. I'm thankful I'm alive #I just hope for the best for everyone #things will get better but we also have to work to be better #and to be a bit more self aware #steeping in misery will only make the misery stronger and that took ages to realize for myself #long post #but yes pls don't misconstrue a specific origin for this post. It was about people harassing Mercy mains. Yes. That Mercy #my 2024 resolution is to be even kinder to people even if I dislike them #or especially if I dislike them. idk why them liking something I hate is relevant to them being a good or bad person #if I fall into that mindset I'm no better than the people who harass me or my friends either

[ashandboneca]

Modern Witchcraft's problem

I feel almost ready to give up the goat.

I feel as though modern witchcraft, in all it's iterations, is becoming more and more rigid like Christianity as times move forward.

The issues I have been encountering while interacting with other witches online have all come back to one thing:

A complete lack of and willingness to do self examination and take ownership.

I got banned from yet another Facebook witchcraft group today. I knew it was coming; I had called out someone on rabid cultural appropriation and things got heated. But today, I dared suggest that mundane things be at play rather than someone being cursed. That was apparently a bannable offense.

Modern witchcraft has attained a rigidity that could only be described as Christian inspired.

Many of the witches of my generation and my age group had access to all the same books - books that were published in the 70's, 80's, 90's - which by modern standards are viewed through a more modern lens, are intensely problematic. Many of these books took their information from the New Age movement of the 50's and 60's. The New Age movement is an intensely racist movement full of implicit bias and cultural appropriation. Most of the practices that were used for 'space clearing' were based on Indigenous North American sacred practices.

Indigenous people have stood up and loudly asked witches to stop using white sage. The overharvesting of things like white sage and palo santo make a mockery of their sacred medicines and practices.

I was taught to use white sage. I was taught to call it 'smudging'. I used to be one of those people actively participating in the mockery and cultural thievery of indigenous practices. But I learned better, and so I do better. I have worked with indigenous people to attempt to make amends and have dedicated to do what I can to open other's minds.

There are other types of smoke cleansing from open cultures that are not continuing to perpetuate a cultural genocide. Why are we not using those often times these practises are more closely related to our own cultural backgrounds. Plus, there is the added bonus of it working more effectively because it's not stolen.

The issues I have are in confronting these people is that they become so incredibly offended and fragile when they are questioned on their beliefs. They display inflexibility and a lack of critical insight when presented with the very idea that something in their practice is unethical. It makes it exceedingly difficult to have an open dialogue with people who are so dedicated to misunderstanding why you were pointing out what they're doing, and how you were trying to help them.

It has gotten to the point where I actually fear that the modern witchcraft community is so complacent and complicit in their comfort of cultural thievery that they are not willing to enact any level of change. And it mostly seems to be white witches of my age group (30's-50's) who are the worst at perpetuating these types of practices. And I would say the vast majority of these people are cis women or femme identified people.

We as witches need to be willing to take on new information and adjust things as we are provided with better information. The cultural mores of the 1990s versus modern cultural mores are very different. So why are we continuing to live with our cultural mores in the 1990s when it comes to listening to indigenous people? Why are we not listening to POC when they are asking us to stop stealing from their closed practices?

Why have grown so inflexible to the point of almost rivalling Christians in their inflexibility?

Why are we so willing to alienate members of our own community who are not white for our own comfort and our own nostalgia? The excuse I frequently hear is "white sage makes me feel calm and good". That's great, Karen, but your comfort and your feeling good is not more important than a cultural genocide.

I have been fighting for the decolonization of witchcraft for a number of years now. I have been constantly trying to educate people about their responsibilities as humans in this world, and as witches to the earth. There are no people who are closer to the earth than that of indigenous people.

It is beginning to feel like a losing battle. I feel like I am going mad.

So if you are somebody who is actively trying to decolonize your witchcraft, or you are interested in teaching other people on how to do that please, reblog this post. Please interact with this post. Please comment on this post and tell me how you feel. I just want to feel like I am not alone in this.

I also want to say that both indigenous people and POC have been fighting for the decolonization of witchcraft for decades. In no way am I claiming to be doing anymore than what I should be to measure up to the standard in which they have set. We owe a lot to our indigenous and our POC witchcraft practitioners. They have been the ones leading the charge. They have been the ones speaking up and dealing with the same garbage bullshit that I have dealt with. But I have my privilege to act as a shield for me. They don't.

I am only doing what I feel is right to do, and I am following in their footsteps. I don't claim to speak for them, and I don't claim to speak on their behalf. I am speaking on behalf of myself as a white person, and I am speaking to other white people to amplify what we all should already know. I am trying to encourage my fellow white practitioners to do the right thing.

Have some introspection and seriously examine your practice to see if your practice is ethical. If there are things that you need to adjust and change, do that. It is your practice and you can adjust what does not work for you.

#ashandbone.ca #witchcraft #traditional witchcraft #ash and bone #the crooked path #decolonisation #decolonize #decolonize your witchcraft

[thelilaclight]

🌻Hi! I'm Beth!!🌻

Hello lovely person who has stumbled across this small corner of the internet I have deemed my home. This will be my post to talk about what this blog and it's various topics consist of.

If you like:

-Writing

-History

-Space

-The Mountain Goats

-Trans stuff! Especially trans fem stuff!

Then this is a good place to be!

I am a writer (author?) currently working on the second book of my series of 4 novels, and I just finished up my first one a couple months ago! I hope to get it published... one day. I'm fairly new to this, but I like to think I've gotten pretty good at it over the past half-ish year I've been doing it.

I will also be blogging a bit about the trans feminine experience, woo hoo!

I am also very new to tumblr, so if there is any etiquette or anything I'm missing let me know. :)

I will also tag all my posts with #beththinksalot if you want to just scroll through the posts and not my reposts.

If any of this interests you, then follow me as I journey through the wonderful phenomena of consciousness.

#beththinksalot #intropost #writing #writeblr #creative writing #the mountain goats #space #history #transfem #transgender

[bettsfic]

craft essay a day #5

my response to this one maybe derailed a little.

"On Imagination" by Mary Ruefle

beginner | intermediate | advanced | masterclass 

filed under: process, poetry

summary

first i must describe to you the physical object that is this essay:

it is a chapbook (published by Sarabande Books, an indie poetry press i really admire), which means it is more or less a staple-bound pamphlet. there is a goat on the cover. inside, on each even-numbered page, is a picture: an ocean wave, a lettuce leaf, the night sky, a bed, 3 fish, a bird in a tree, a pie, 4 dyed eggs, a human ribcage, grass, trees, a slug, and the goat that is on the cover, whose presence permeates the essay.

on the back of the chapbook, instead of blurbs, there is a quote in very small font:

"My imagination was roaming at sunset and placed his bare foot on a blade of withered grass, which ran into it like a thorny needle, and injured him."

this quote appears not to be attributed, which makes me think i should know what it's from, and i don't.

Ruefle has a collection of essays called Madness, Rack, & Honey (published by Wave Books, another great poetry press) which is one of my favorite craft books and i highly recommend it. it'll be a while before i summarize the chapters, though, since i only recently finished reading it.

i've been lucky enough to attend several of her lectures, and although i got a lot out of them, when i go back and look at my notes, they are utterly indecipherable:

partly this is because, as you can see, my handwriting is not legible. but it's also partly because this particular lecture was kinda bonkers. i've been waiting for her to publish it in written form but i don't think she has yet. "Hell's Bells" is my second favorite of her lectures (Ruefle's lectures and essays are one and the same), my favorite being "On Fear" which i'm sure i'll write about in a future post.

still laughing at "does the artist...become time?" with the star beside it (which in my notes always indicates an Action Item, so in 2018 i clearly intended to Do Something about becoming time). also "put a hole in meaning - give space, aerate?" then in pink, "(how?)" i also apparently intended to Do Something about "Beginning of universe was striking of tremendous bell."

another lecture of hers i attended was a recreation of John Cage's "Lecture on Nothing," and i am ashamed to say that it took me so, so long to realize it was literally a lecture on nothing. i wrote like 3 pages of notes and about a half hour in, i flipped through the pages and realized literally nothing of substance was being said. and i was furious. like, why am i wasting my time here? and i realized i was supposed to be having a reaction to it, and thinking about the nature of the concept of a lecture at a creative writing workshop, and what am i even doing here, etc.

in retrospect, that spoke well to the "Hell's Bells" lecture, which, for me, was all about how listening is sometimes just about hearing, and not trying to make meaning of all that we hear. as someone with an audio processing problem who has to attend a lot of readings and can't understand a word of them, it made me feel a lot better. like i could attend a reading just to appreciate the voice of the writer (which Ruefle likened to a bell), and not what's being said.

at the end of the lecture on nothing, Ruefle took questions, and responded to each of them with the answers provided in the original lecture. it was quite a time.

back to "On Imagination."

in any Ruefle essay/lecture, there is not much to summarize because they function more or less as poems: each is a series of thoughts or anecdotes on a general topic, and never firmly declare their point. however, on the first page, she does make a pretty big declaration:

"I am going to tell you now, before I begin, what my conclusion is to my thoughts on the imagination: I believe there is no difference between thinking and imagining, and that they are one."

to me, that's the kind of statement that's so simple it seems almost meaningless, but i know if i consider it long enough, i'll reach a deeper conclusion about it. since i finished reading this essay 37 minutes ago, i have no such deeper conclusion as of yet.

i appreciate that on page one, she also points out that thought is only ever an interpretation of reality, and words exist only to conjure meaning in the imagination. when a person says the word "tree" to another person, the recipient of that word can mentally conclude or conjure the object that is a tree. we can always refer to a tree, but in speaking it or thinking it, it does not become real.

she declares that imagination is not necessarily good; imagining things can hurt us as equally as help us, and we don't really have control of it.

"...the imagination has its own life and its own autonomy, the imagination is not what you play with, the imagination plays with you."

she introduces an anecdote in which a poet, after a reading, is asked, "is that a real poem, or did you make it up?" and concludes her point with a fact that punched me right in the face:

"Real things are made things."

she goes on to talk about an elementary school reading primer from 1880, Ukranian dyed eggs, Johnny Cash, a misinterpretation of the bible by Keats, and a goat in Emily Dickenson's attic. each of these, somehow, connect and make sense, yet i cannot attempt to do so in a (not so) brief summary.

"Imagination, deep in each of us, can give us what we need and want, that which we dream of, the reality of love and communion, help in our tired loneliness."

yeah :(

she notes that many believe some people have more imagination than others, and that's why there are artists and not-artists, but she claims we all have the same amount of imagination; it's just that some of us don't discriminate between "imaginative and unimaginative acts" and that paying close attention to the mundane "paradoxically opens a new door to the imaginative."

i am having trouble figuring out how the end of the essay is about imagination. she talks about how, in her old age, she feels isolated in her interests, and that because she has a limited future, she's only motivated to dwell in the present.

"All I can tell you is that at long last I am myself and free, even if isolated, and I am happy when I want to be and sad when I feel like it, and about the only thing that troubles me is knowing how many people on earth do not have that privilege...and to these I bow and for these I pray."

my thoughts

this got kind of personal, so i'm putting it under a cut.

i rated this essay advanced, not because i think it's hard to understand, but that it goes beyond the work of beginner and intermediate essays, which focus primarily on mechanics and concepts and how to get the work down on paper. this essay makes no real claim about writing, and i imagine wouldn't help anyone looking for advice on how to write.

a few days ago i wrote about Smiley's introduction in 13 Ways to Look at the Novel. that, coupled with the Ruefle essay, have fucked me up a little. in Smiley's intro, she talks about how she always had one foot in the fictional worlds of her novels at the cost of her presence in reality. in Ruefle's essay, she talks about the uncontrollability of imagination. i've never considered myself a creative person; i think in expected patterns and can't really devise anything truly novel. that's why i consider myself more a teacher than a writer--i'm better at fostering creativity in others than developing it in myself. i am, however, an imaginative person. i never stop imagining. i'm so imaginative that existing in reality is sometimes unbearable. even things that make me happy--seeing my family, hanging out with friends, reading a book--come second to dwelling (drowning?) in my imagination. i have to pry myself away to go do those things. when i'm really into something i'm working on, i can write over 10k in a day. i can write from the second i wake up at 9am to the moment, usually at 3am or so, my brain can no longer make clear sentences, stopping only throughout to eat a spoonful of peanut butter and maybe reply to a text.

these are the kinds of days i live for. they make me truly happy. and yet there's such an enormous cost to them: i'm beginning to have hand problems, and i have so little control of writing that i can't force myself to stop and let it heal (i did upgrade to an ergonomic keyboard and mouse but they're not helping as much as i'd hoped); i'm no nutritionist, but i'm pretty sure 3 tablespoons of peanut butter a day and walking fewer than 100 steps is not particularly healthy; and big picture, i want to get married and have kids, and that's not going to happen if i'm spending all my time in my imagination with fictional characters getting married and having kids. and if i somehow against all odds do get married and have kids, will i be able to be fully present with them, or will i always in the state i am now, counting down the seconds when i can escape reality and return to the peace of my own head?

i think this is a conflict i'll always have, because ultimately i'm writing work i'm proud of to an audience that (i hope) appreciates it. writing and being read is the greatest privilege i can imagine. but i'm also always thinking about my dad, who died at 59 after enduring years of agonizing pain and a lifetime of trauma and depression, and how he never got to do a fraction of the things he wanted. i imagine myself at the same age less than 30 years from now with the same fate, if i am even so lucky to make it to that far. i'm in this between space of the hopefulness of being young, of the gross entitlement of believing things will keep getting better for me; and the hopelessness of ptsd, the kernel of doubt that remains even after so long in recovery, that joy and success are never owed to me. rationally i know both of these to be true, that there will be some good and some bad, and whatever happens will never turn out as i expect. and yet that doesn't abate the conflict or quell the fear that the conflict creates.

it is probably a bad idea to write about my deepest fears and insecurities on a blog with thousands of followers. it's easy to be misinterpreted and taken out of context. honesty is totally antithetical to branding or gaining a following. and yet i think i'd rather be known than not. i think i'd always prefer to take a risk in the hope of being understood.

i'm sorry i have no conclusions or advice or anything helpful to say here. but imagination is a big thing. it's the biggest thing. in allowing us the power to interpret and create, it might be the only thing.

craft essay a day tag | cross-posted on AO3 | ask me something

#cead #process #poetry

[chickycherrycola]

Okay, I have the same questions for you! How long have you been writing and what are some of your favorite tropes/storylines to write? Also, do you have a movie/show/book you’d consider a hidden gem or under-hyped fave??

Hello there Tower! 🎶 thanks for providing me with a wonderful distraction while I work from home today ehehehe *rubs my tiny fly hands together*

How long have I been writing:

Truly, kind of all my life? I've loved books, reading, and words since childhood - I was that quirky little kid who preferred going to the library over going to the park 😅 I wrote a LOT in high school and college, but I doubted myself too much to ever do anything with any of it. I never submitted short stories to publishing houses, never posted any of my fanfics online as a result. I took a long break from writing after graduating college and only recently got back into it, about... late 2021, I want to say? I re-read some fave old Soul Eater fanfics and got inspired to take up the metaphorical pen again, and I'm so glad I did. Now it feels like all I do with my life is write and I wouldn't have it any other way tbh!

Favorite Tropes/Storylines To Write:

Boy oh boy, where to even begin? I love romance, comedy, and the wonderful intersection of the two in the form of the ROMANTIC COMEDY, which im sure is pretty obvious given the kinds of fics I tend to post. I write as a form of escape from reality and use humor to cope and process big feelings, so writing rom-coms with a lot of heart and mature themes at their core is my jam.

In terms of tropes - my faves are the following, in no particular order: Friends to Lovers, Idiots In Love, Boy Falls First, Found Family (im actually a HUGE SLUT for this one and want to write it so badly!), Second Chance Romance, Animal Companions (i utilize this one a TON in my original fiction), Cozy Fantasy and/or stories that seamlessly weave magic or supernatural elements into the "real" world... and lastly, not really a trope, but Character Driven Stories are the GOAT.

Also... I just really love writing smut. PWP one-shots are my guilty pleasure. >:3

Hidden Gems/Underhyped Faves:

I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED!

Books (though two of these are comics technically):

-SAGA by Brian K Vaughan & Fiona Staples: adult graphic novel space epic series full of memorable characters and absolutely gorgeous art that tackles a lot of tough stuff and has made me feel the full spectrum of human emotion

-The Tea Dragon Society by K. O'Neill: a wholesome, heartwarming all ages comic chocked full of pocket-sized dragons and the COZIEST fantasy vibes EVER

-The Locked Tomb series: idk if it counts as an underrated fave/hidden gem cause the book series has a pretty sizable and active fan base, but im recommending it anyway cause Harrowhark Nonagesimus is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction, and if you like stories that explore both romantic and platonic partnership dynamics, you should give it a read if you haven't already!!

Shows/Anime:

-D. Gray-Man: shounen anime set in Victorian England about exorcists and featuring the most Cinnamon Roll Main Character in the Universe who I will always love with my whole heart, Allen Walker

-Re:Creators: a reverse isekai in which fictional characters are suddenly pulled from their universes into the real world and tackles the question of what fiction/art mean to us humans, one of my favorite shows of ALL TIME with excellent music composed by Hiroyuki Sawano

-Baccano!: a sort of steampunk/fantasy caper involving alchemists, immortals, outlaws, gangsters, an immortality elixir, and a murder mystery on a train, told in a non-linear format that really puzzles the brain on the first couple of watches

-Witch Hat Atelier: is technically a manga but is getting an anime soon! A series about a young girl who goes to magic school to become a witch, featuring an excellent magic system and gorgeous art

Movies:

-this answer is already soooooo long so ill just recommend my favorite movie of all time, PACIFIC RIM, which if you haven't seen you should WATCH RIGHT AWAY because it has the partners trope you love! Its a 2013 sci-fi flick directed by Guillermo del Toro about kaijus invading Earth from outer space, and the giant, dual-piloted robots that humanity devises to fight back with, and was so revolutionary in its portrayal of its main female character that it created a whole new benchmark for assessing portrayal of women characters in fiction (The Mako Mori Test).

In conclusion - thanks for giving me an excuse to ramble on and on, and I do truly hope you enjoyed all this drivel! 🙏😁

#cherry chatters #dear god this got LONG #hehe asks are fun :3

[fur-teeth-bones-earth]

On Names

And How I Have Encountered Them in the Craft

There’s a special power in names. They represent something about us beyond just a word we answer to. Names that say something about who we are, who we love, who loves us. They can give a voice to hearts and souls. Or, as is sometimes necessary, they’re designed to hide who we are. When you call upon a deity or a spirit, the name you use can honor them or speak to their different aspects.

Names can christen a tool and ensure it remains loyal to us. They can acknowledge the spirit of the tool and awaken it. They can be used to summon and honor spirits—or to bind and banish them. A name alone can define a context and a space to interact with a spirit with. When you use a formal title to call upon an entity, by name alone you’re establishing a sacred space. When you call upon a named aspect of an entity, you’re establishing purpose and intent with them.

Kennings, or poetic epithets, feature prominently in Norse mythology. In Skaldskaparmal, the narrator bestows kennings upon numerous figures based on their traits, their deeds, and their relationships. Tyr is hailed as the “One-handed God” and the “Fosterer of the Wolf”, both referring to his role in the story of Fenrir (where, as you may have guessed, he loses a hand to a wolf that he helped raise). Loki receives the name “Benchmate” of Odin” but also the “thief of the Giants, of the Goat, of Brísinga-men, and of Idunn's Apples” (1). It reflects the complex role Loki plays as both the blood-brother of Odin and the mischievous trickster.

Pagan practices often place special emphasis on names from their tradition. Many choose a name for themselves or, depending on their path, may receive a name. Anyone who’s perused a list of witchy authors will be familiar with this. Author Clio Ajana shares her experience with names in a religious context in “Column: How Do You Get Your Name?” She describes how she settled on the name the article is published under, which took years to decide on and happened by accident at first. (4)

If you have a Catholic background like I do, you may also have experience with confirmation names. Those being confirmed select a patron saint and take on their name. While exact requirements and rationales vary by location and tradition, many choose saints whose virtues they wish to embody or who they want to work closely with (3).

Names can be precious and worth protecting. Many people hold their most sacred names close to themselves. Pagan initiatory traditions often gift a name to their participants that they keep private (4). Additionally, I think of queer people who keep their chosen names close and share them only with a trusted few (either as a temporary measure before sharing it widely or in the long-term). While this is often for safety more than anything else, there is a sacredness in that community.

Not all names are designed to identify. When a person wants to remain anonymous they often choose a pseudonym, which might be devoid of personality or might present a certain mask. Think of donors to a conservation charity who identify themselves as “Anonymous” or “Hawk lover”. Usernames are another example of protecting your identity with a name while still expressing something of yourself. These anonymous names carry a liminal quality with them. You’re there, but no one knows you are. They’re fleeting, only existing for a brief moment before fading away, or only appearing under the right circumstance.

Sources & Further Reading

Skaldskaparmal section of the Prose Edda, available for free online: https://sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre05.htm

Predictors and Mental Health Benefits of Chosen Name Use among Transgender Youth. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7678041/

Various papers on guidelines for choosing confirmation saints

https://stmaryoldtown.org/wp-content/uploads/Guidelines-for-Choosing-a-Saint.pdf

https://www.olqoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Choosing-a-confirmation-saint-name-.pdf

https://www.stpatricks.org/documents/confirmation-saint-paper

How Do You Get Your Name? by Clio Ahana https://wildhunt.org/2022/09/column-how-do-you-get-your-name.html

#spruce dregs on #witchcraft #norse paganism #catholic #liminal