solis-et-asteri

[solis-et-asteri]

shrike by hozier but coming from underwater on a beach

#this is so soft i'm

[solis-et-asteri]

I want a story about a king whose son is prophesied to kill him so the king is like “whatever what am I supposed to do, kill my own kid wtf is wrong with you” so he just raises him as normal, doesn’t even tell him about the prophecy, and instead of some convoluted twist of events that leads to the king’s murder the son grows up and when the king is very old and dying and in excruciating pain the kid is just like alright I'mma put him out of his misery.

#this is so good!! #i love it

[solis-et-asteri]

So apparently last year the National Park Service in the US dropped an over 1200 page study of LGBTQ American History as part of their Who We Are program which includes studies on African-American history, Latino history, and Indigenous history. 

Like. This is awesome. But also it feels very surreal that maybe one of the most comprehensive examinations of LGBTQ history in America (it covers sports! art! race! historical sites! health! cities!) was just casually done by the parks service. 

[solis-et-asteri]

Some official stills from the pilot episode of ‘The Downtrodden’, scheduled for release early 2019!

#I'M SO EXCITED #bbc whomst??? #perfect cast as well ahhhhhhhhhhHHHHH #also your Ferre is so tall and !!!! YES

[solis-et-asteri]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#!!!!! #good content

[solis-et-asteri]

(1/?) I think what you said about ace rep in books is really interesting, bc it reminds me of how different groups need different things. Like how feminism should be intersectional bc a white woman getting to be hard/independent is radical, but a black woman getting to be soft/cared for is what's radical for that group. Because nowadays I tend to see good rep as stories that incorporate queer characters well and make their sexuality known and relevant, but not necessarily the entire story.

(2/?) Because while coming out books can be amazing it got to a point where you think “I want to see this rep in a book of a genre I find fun. I want to read fantasy with a queer lead, or adventure, or XYZ, not only see stories where the entire novel is about the queer identity.” Because while those stories can be nice, it gets annoying to see yourself reduced to JUST “the gay character” and read only a story about the “struggle”.

(3/3) And so I never even thought that for ace people, the rep they might be looking for WOULD be a story about them as an ace person first.

Yes!!!!! Gosh exactly this!! This is such a wonderful message. You summed it up perfectly.

I studied LGBT+ YA literature for my dissertation as part of my English degree, and as part of that, I looked quite heavily at the history of recent LGBT+ YA - aka the rise of LGBT+ YA across the 2000s into the early 2010s. And LGBT+ started with coming-out novels. It started with books like Rainbow Boys, Boy Meets Boy, I Am J, etc. They’re dramatic, 100% focused on the queer issues involved, and they are designed not only to help LGBT+ readers Deal With Shit, but also to make cis / straight readers UNDERSTAND and EMPATHISE with people who go through this stuff. 

It’s only in more recent years that finally - thank GOD - we are getting books that expand outside of that and just have queer characters being themselves and being part of other stories.

But there was no coming out book phase for asexuality. And I completely understand why. Asexuality has grown to prominence largely in online spaces, spaces where people are constantly rallying for more characters who ‘just happen to be’ lgbt+. And most asexual people portray themselves and their identity as very confident! People are proud to be ace! They put it in their profiles, in their avatars, in their usernames!

We all know the classic tropes (overused by now!) of the closeted gay person or the closeted trans person who find dealing with their identity so hard that it drives them into mental illness or other severe issues. Back in the early days of YA, it was this that encouraged cis / straight readers to sit back and think… shit. These lgbt people have got it tough, huh.

But whoever heard of an asexual person who struggled with their identity so much it drove them to depression? Whoever heard of a closeted ace person (lol what even is that?) Asexuality is still seen largely by most people as… well, pretty weird. People who identify openly as it tend to be super confident about it. People who aren’t confident about it literally do not come out. I know various asexual people who literally don’t talk about it, because it’s seen as weird and fake and almost somewhat juvenile. So you can see why there is no asexual coming-out literature. It is a narrative that we have never seen before. Anywhere. Even though it’s really what ace people need most - serious, acclaimed, profound literature that takes their issues seriously and makes their issues understandable to a mainstream audience.

(anyway I’m writing one lol bye)

I know no one asked for an essay but it’s just a thing I’m quite passionate about haha!

#HELLO ALICE MY ACE ASS STANS!!!!!

[solis-et-asteri]

THE INCIDENT ON SHOW DAY THAT WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT ANYMORE

An interactive choose-your-own-adventure game / prequel short story to IWBFT with multiple endings.

Make choices and guide megastar Lister through a disastrous show day!

Choose wisely…

https://www.theincidentonshowday.com/

You CAN play this even if you haven’t read IWBFT!

You CAN play this on mobile (but the formatting might be a liiiittle dodgy depending on the size of your screen, so sorry about that. Definitely better to play it on desktop if you can!)

This is my thank you gift to all the people who have supported me and my books this year. I am impossibly grateful for you all. I hope you enjoy this story/game as much as I enjoyed creating/writing/drawing it!!

#HELLO ALICE???? I LOVE YOU AND LISTER #THIS IS AMAZING AAAAAA

[solis-et-asteri]

Liberté, égalité, femme-presenting titté

[solis-et-asteri]

canon: they died

fanfic: fUCK YOU

[solis-et-asteri]

how izuku really got into UA

#THIS IS BEAUTIFUL

[solis-et-asteri]

one curly girl !!

#SHE LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! #your art is amazing and so soft and gentle and ??? i cannot describe but im in love

[solis-et-asteri]

au where the trojan war is a party menelaus throws to win back his girlfriend who left him for some douchebag and he ropes all his friends into helping him and wacky shenanigans happen and a running gag is that odysseus doesn’t even want to be there he’s got shit to do and at the end he gets stuck in traffic on the way home

[solis-et-asteri]

ik you've written a TON of poems and i love like.... every single one BUT i was just wondering, what are ur favorite wlw ones?

i have heart eyes @ this ask so thank you for sending it! gay poetry is my absolute favourite to write, and these wlw ones i’ve picked out i’m especially happy with: 

the big bang theory 

[unsent] and its companion [sent]

i like girls

i still think

the moon who studies the stars

war and peace

the storm

#poetry #!!! these are all so beautiful whaaaaaat #I'm having some Emotions these are SO SO GOOD <3 #my bi heart is overwhelmed

[solis-et-asteri]

diff anon, but on the flip side, what are your favourite mlm poems? (mine is boy kisses boy & mountains rise & cities fall

hello!! and thank you!! i love how boy kisses boy turned out tbh so im so pleased you like that one! here are a few of my personal favourites: 

worlds collide

icarus falls in love, not into the ocean

its like this

seven steps to falling in love and it’s sequel five steps to happiness

you fell in love with a boy who loved you back

efflorescence 

serendipity vs destiny

patroclus is the reason

#poetry #can you believe that every single one of these is absolutely beautiful???? #and ahhh dude you're SO TALENTED #<3

[solis-et-asteri]

prince zuko got you all out here thinking every dark haired antagonist boy is gonna do right in the end when zuzu was the exception not the rule

[solis-et-asteri]

OKAY BUT CHIRON BEING CONFUSED AS HELL BY THE VINE REFERENCES

[solis-et-asteri]

I was mad about it being so hot rn but I understand now it’s just Apollo going all out for Pride month like the Bi icon he is send post