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salarta · 3 years

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Marvel’s put one member of the newest X-Men team up for a vote that ends on February 6. Polaris is one of those options.

The short version of this post: I encourage people to vote for her.

The long version of this post goes into why. And related considerations.

Before I begin, there are two pieces of information garnered from tweets by Leah Williams to bear in mind for this topic.

There we go.

Now then. As any of you who follow me know, I think Lorna's had an overall terrible time of it these past few years. If this was 2014/2015, right after Lorna led All-New X-Factor, had a good showing in Secret Wars House of M, and a couple years after her origin story got told, I would probably say she shouldn't be on the poll at all. I would say other characters need it more. Even outside of this, I've always said I see Lorna as an A-lister that Marvel constantly treats like a D-lister. As such, I think Marvel should be using her so well and so much that she shouldn't even be on a poll like this.

But we have to deal with what is, not what should be. Fact of the matter is, Marvel's spent these past few years undermining her. Reducing her to a supporting character for the stories of male characters, mainly Havok with a little of Magneto and a few more besides. Leaving her off the X-women variant cover in 2019 when they had plenty of room to include her, and had others like Magik, Dani Moonstar and Mystique. Completely excluding her from Empyre: X-Men, where she had a HUGE stake in it due to Wanda's and Genosha's involvement. I could list a lot else, but those are a few examples.

Because of this, I say Lorna being on the poll is just fine, and she should be voted on.

But then we get to the question: why vote for her? What would happen if she did come out on top?

Why Vote for Lorna

Williams' tweets there give us some insight. Lorna would be on both books, and her role would be more as an advisor than a regular team member in the field. So let's talk about why this would be a good thing for all parties involved.

One, I think Lorna in the role of advisor is far, FAR more respectful to her history and experience than the current status quo. So much so that I'd support it even if she didn't end up on X-Men. Her current placement as simply a team member puts her "under" Northstar, and with Lorna doing nothing else outside the book and it being titled X-Factor, means Lorna has effectively been "demoted" from her prior position on X-Factor as a team leader. Advisor is more appropriate for Lorna in a way that would not undermine Northstar.

Two, I interpret this "Lorna would be an advisor, not doing field work" angle as meaning she would have less panel time. Otherwise, why would joining X-Men mean her role has to change? Therefore, if she DOES have less panel time on X-Factor, it could open a slot for another character - including one of the other characters in this poll - to join X-Factor as a team member in her place.

Three, Lorna being on both X-Men and X-Factor would actually be more beneficial to X-Factor than if Lorna was ONLY on X-Factor. Think about the casual reader. They decide to jump in. They see Lorna on X-Men. They like what they see, decide they want to see more of her, learn she shows up on X-Factor and starts buying that book too. Whereas if Lorna is ONLY on X-Factor, there's no bridge from X-Men to X-Factor. No reason to check it out. One less sale and reader for X-Factor.

Four, note the talk of collaboration. Now, I'm not going to get into all the things I can say on my views of X-Factor here. But what I will say is that it opens the door to both writers improving on their treatment of Lorna. The two points of comparison - X-Men and X-Factor - means they can learn from each other on what works and what doesn't, and figure it out much faster than just one writer.

There may be other potential good outcomes to this. I'll add if I think of any. I encourage others to add theirs.

Next, I want to go into the poll, with a dose of reality/warning on expectations.

Lorna’s Chances

This poll is heavily slanted against Lorna. Not from any lack of interest or potential, but because of how Marvel’s used and treated Lorna these past few years. Here’s the dive.

First off, a lot of people have already said they won’t vote for Lorna because she’s “already on X-Factor.” It doesn’t matter where she is, how she’s being used. Simply being on a book, ANY book, is enough for them not to vote for her compared to other characters who aren’t on a book.

Second, many X-Factor fans have a vested interest in Lorna not joining X-Men. Keeping her exclusive to X-Factor lets them feel like X-Factor is a special place where she can be found (read: exploited) for their book, with the writer able to do whatever she wants with Lorna. This means not only are those X-Factor fans not going to vote for Lorna (whereas they might have if she was never on X-Factor in the first place), they’re also likely to try and dissuade other people from voting for Lorna.

Third, Marvel’s really, REALLY tried to bury her and misrepresent her these past few years. The same problems I cited earlier in the post - use as supporting character for men, exclusion from things she should be part of, ignoring key character history like the Genoshan genocide - can leave casual readers completely unaware of who Lorna actually is and how Marvel SHOULD be treating her. As a result, many will follow the attitude Marvel’s current leadership has that she’s “not interesting enough” and end up voting for someone else.

Finally, this poll ends on February 6. What are the odds of a majority of Lorna fans seeing this poll and voting on it by then, when Marvel’s given fans plenty of reason not to keep in tune with their activity?

All of this assumes the poll is legit rather than a PR scheme where it’s already been decided, and that the poll software has tools like IP detection to ensure a single fan or group of fans can’t go on and spam votes for their faves.

Still, with all of that in mind?

Vote for Polaris

Think of this poll like U.S. elections. Even if it is rigged or stacked against her, there’s more reason to vote for her than not.

Worst case scenario, you only “wasted” a few seconds shooting off a useless vote. Best case scenario, she has a better chance than we all thought and she actually wins.

Regardless of outcome, you’re showing your interest and intent by voting for her.

So yeah. Post done. Head over there and vote!

#polaris #lorna dane #x-men #xmen #marvel

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thecreaturecodex · 4 years

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Agathion, Crocuttal

“Striped Gnoll” © Cindy Avelino, accessed at her FurAffinity page here

[Commissioned by @listmaker-lastcity. To quote Pathfinder Bestiary 2: “ Certain animals, particularly those associated with scavenging activities (such as hyenas, buzzards, or jackals) or parasitism (like lampreys or ticks) specifically do not have agathions associated with them—these animals are not intrinsically evil, but their habits and ecological niches are far from the noble and proud traditions that most of the souls who seek enlightenment upon Nirvana would associate with themselves.” Bull. There’s enough people in the real world that love “unlovable” animals that contrarian souls would seek to associate with them upon death and incarnation into a perfect spiritual being.

In D&D and Pathfinder both, hyenas are linked strongly to gnolls, which are usually among the most evil of humanoids, and almost universally demon worshipers. So I wanted to incorporate that hyenas = gnolls = demons line of thought into the text explicitly. If you’re looking for an excuse to have a tribe of good gnolls in your otherwise traditional game, here’s an option. The sin eater ability literally came to me in a dream, and the atonement-focused flavor text is inspired by The Avatar’s Handbook’s Hallowed class of angels.]

Agathion, Crocuttal CR 10 NG Outsider (extraplanar) This creature resembles a humanoid hyena a head taller than a man, with a strong neck and clawed hands. Despite its ferocity, it has a sense of purpose and calm, rather than mindless savagery.

Crocuttals are benevolent outsiders of hyena-like aspect. They embody virtues demonstrated by hyena behavior—cooperation and communication, flexibility and standing up to the powerful. They are highly social, and are almost never found alone. Even a crocuttal without a pack will find a group of like-minded creatures to band together with, and they may join adventuring parties for a time as allies.

In combat, a crocuttal is fierce, but not without mercy. They work together, supplementing each others’ martial prowess with spell-like abilities—they tend to take turns acting as casting support, with the pack member focusing on magic alternating from battle to battle. Although they will soften foes up at a distance using bows and spells, crocuttals prefer close combat. Their usual strategy is to knock a foe to the ground and tear into it until it stops moving. One crocuttal takes some time to stabilize and shield the fallen, as the pack moves onto the next target.

An evil creature rendered unconscious by a crocuttal is given supernatural visions of their wickedness, and offered the chance to atone and change their alignment. This is in fact the purpose of the crocuttals—they are the rare example of an agathion molded more by mortal desire than the needs of the empyreal lords. The first crocuttals were created from the souls of a band of adventurers who died attempting to redeem a pack of gnolls from the worship of demons. Although they failed in the broad scope, they had successfully converted a few of the individuals, and argued that they should get a chance to continue that work. Now, crocuttals can be created from the souls of any goodly creature that cares to fight for the cause of redemption. A lone crocuttal may infiltrate a pack of gnolls to make friends and allies, confronting their leadership and offering a choice between the hard work of salvation and the quick release of death. Every soul that avoids descending to the Lower Planes is a mark in the crocuttal’s favor, and some of the redeemed will become crocuttals themselves after they die, continuing the cycle. Demon lords and other archfiends hate crocuttals, even more than they do many other good outsiders, and target them for death when their activities become known.

Crocuttal CR 10 XP 9,600 NG Medium outsider (agathion, extraplanar, good) Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +22, scent Defense AC 24, touch 14, flat-footed 20 (+4 Dex, +10 natural) hp 126 (12d10+60) Fort +13, Ref +10, Will +13; +4 vs. charms, compulsions, poison DR 10/good; Immune electricity, petrifaction; Resist cold 10, sonic 10; SR 21 Defensive Abilities conviction Offense Speed 50 ft. Melee bite +18 (2d6+6 plus sin eater), 2 claws +18 (1d6+6) Ranged +1 longbow +17/+12/+7 (1d8+6/x3) Special Abilities vision of redemption Spell-like Abilities CL 10th, concentration +13 Constant—speak with animals At will—protection from evil, sanctuary (DC 14) 3/day—cure critical wounds (DC 17), heroism, holy smite (DC 17), prayer 1/day—dispel evil (DC 18), restoration 1/week—atonement Statistics Str 22, Dex 19, Con 20, Int 13, Wis 20, Cha 17 Base Atk +12; CMB +18(+22 trip); CMD 32 (34 vs. trip) Feats Alertness, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Coordinated Maneuvers (B), Greater Trip, Improved Trip, Lightning Reflexes, Outflank (B), Paired Opportunists (B) Skills Bluff +14, Diplomacy +14, Disguise +11, Heal +16, Knowledge (nature, planes) +12, Perception +22, Sense Motive +22, Stealth +15, Survival +16 Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll, speak with animals, truespeech SQ augmented teamwork, lay on hands (9/day, 6d6, as 12th level paladin) Ecology Environment any land (Nirvana) Organization solitary, pair, band (3-8) or pack (9-24) Treasure standard (+1 longbow [+6 Str bonus], 20 arrows, other treasure) Special Abilities Augmented Teamwork (Ex/Su) A crocuttal gains three teamwork feats as bonus feats. If gaining the benefits of a teamwork feat from another crocuttal, it increases the benefit to d20 rolls granted by that feat by an additional +1. Conviction (Ex) A crocuttal gains a +4 racial bonus on saving throws against charm and compulsion effects. Sin Eater (Su) A crocuttal deals an extra +1d6 damage with its bite attack against evil creatures, and heals that amount of damage each time it bites an evil creature. Vision of Redemption (Su) A living evil creature that is rendered unconscious by a crocuttal is assailed with visions of a life gone wrong, and offers of a better path. It may attempt a Will save (DC = 10 + ½ the creature’s HD + the creature’s Cha modifier; creatures with the alignment aura class feature increase the save DC by +5, and creatures with the evil subtype increase it by +10). If it succeeds, it may change its alignment to true neutral. If it fails, the visions follow it, rendering it shaken for 1 day. This is a mind-influencing effect.

#crocuttal #agathion #furry #pathfinder 1e #commissions

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doctorofmagic · 3 years

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At this point i think MCU don't wanna make any effort when it comes to their characters or their comics origins. After the dissapointing finale of wandavision i don't know what to believe. How can you not open a comic book once you work as a writer for a show based on a comic book? Wanda is such an intriguing character with a deep story and distinct personality. They could do so much more, but they make her a sitcom housewife in a rom com and the villain is her grief, cuz they're lazy.

Beware. Once more, I bring polemics to this blog.

I couldn’t agree more. It really saddens me that the MCU doesn’t give the writers and artists the due credits. Most people who don’t read comics rely on Stan Lee and Stan Lee only. But even the man himself wouldn’t be that successful without Ditko and Kirby. How many fans are aware of Ditko and Kirby’s contribution to comics, to begin with?

This is why I trusted Scott Derrickson so much. He was always tweeting old Doctor Strange quotes. He loves comics and he loves 616-Stephen. It shows.

That said, Sam Reimi doesn’t have my trust. It’s true that, as a kid who wasn’t into comics, I enjoyed his Spider-Man movies very much. But now... I have so many reasons to distrust him - and some of them are really bad.

Yes, yes, Benedict is praising him so much it feels he is love with the director. But Benedict is also a white guy. That said, I’m not invested in MoM as I was in the first movie. I don’t know how deep the director is connected to comic books. I don’t know if the movie itself is about Stephen anymore. It certainly doesn’t sound like they’re trying to explore Stephen’s character at all. I know y’all want to see Wanda and Loki. But me, as a fan? I don’t want Christine, for starters. I want Clea. And I want Jericho. I want Nightmare or Shuma-Gorath as the main villain. Obviously, I’ll be there on day 1. But I don’t want to hype too much in case I get disappointed.

And concerning Wanda... I don’t mind that she was struggling with grief. My issue is how they portrayed it. I absolutely adore stories in which the “villain” is a metaphor for mental health and social issues (for instance, Mr. Misery and Stephen’s depression; Marc Spector and Khonshu’s relationship, Rahne and her biased behavior towards Illyana as a metaphor for her repressed sexuality for growing up in a catholic institution). But it’s a very delicate matter and it demands caution.

It’s twisted, really, how Wanda brainwashed Agatha out of revenge and trapped her inside her own mind. Agatha is no saint but she was right. It was quite cruel and twisted of Wanda to do that. Is she sorry she did that to Westview citizens? She said they made them happy (or something, I don’t remember the exact words).

This situation only makes it all harder for me to compare Olsen’s character to comics!Wanda. Bendis was terrible to her. But the Wanda I know from what I’ve read? She’s kind and she’s sorry. She’s still in pain but she isn’t selfish. She’s trying her best - to name a few examples of her courage and willpower: Avengers: No Road Home, AvX, Children’s Crusade and X-Men: Empyre (even though the last two are huge no-nos for me).

How am I supposed to relate to her if she does things that I don’t believe to be altruistic? Don’t get me wrong, Stephen also made shady choices in the past (and I talk about them all the time because I’m not a hypocrite). But I can’t praise her, especially knowing that she’s not a shady character in comic books.

Not to mention how they portrayed depression and grief in the show.

I don’t know. The only road to redemption in my opinion is working on her altruism in MoM. But again, the movie isn’t supposed to be about her. She had nine episodes to have that.

And still, it’s probably what we’re going to get. However, at this point, I really want to delete the words “rumors” and “theories” from my vocabulary. I don’t know - and don’t want to ponder - what’s going to happen. I’m still recovering from my personal terrible experience with anxiety because of the show. And I don’t want that for my life anymore.

In short? I’ve never been a hardcore MCU fan. I’ve watched all movies and TV shows (I mean it. All of them). And I’ll still be doing it. But see, do you have a really good mainstream show that you enjoy but you’re not really into its core and fandom? That’s me with the MCU. Y’all know so much more about it than me. Because, well, I don’t really care that much. Truth be told, I’m exhausted. I just want to go back in time when I all had to do was cry over my sweetheart.

#how can the sorcerer supreme be of assistance?#ask #discourse #wandavision #mcu #scott derrickson #sam raimi #benedict cumberbatch #scarlet witch #wanda maximoff #multiverse of madness #mom #stan lee #jack kirby #steve ditko #marvel comics #please release me from this pain

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whumptopia · 4 years

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My Cup Runneth Over

d&d oc whump commissioned by [anon]

content warnings: blood drinking, terminal illness, very brief emeto mention

—

Rolith never imagined he would step foot inside a vampire’s home for any reason other than to slaughter the fiend, yet here he is, knocking on the front door of Lord Serador’s estate with no malicious intentions to be found. He’s been tasked to perform a wellness check on the behalf of Queen Juliet, the matriarch of Willowfen, or the independent human settlement they both call home. As the town’s military leader, he receives his orders directly from her and spends a sizable portion of his time advising the crown. They’ve built up a healthy working relationship over the years, and she trusts him indubitably. She told him she was worried about Serador because he returned the Empyreal Wand (the Queen’s family heirloom, which she gave him in return for his help in solving their werewolf problem). Considering how badly the vampire initially wanted the wand, her highness saw his generosity as cause for concern.

Brows furrowing, Rolith glances down at the wand. Although Serador seems to be somewhat less of a prick than most vampiric nobility, Rolith still can’t imagine him helping them for free. There must be another reason why he returned it.

As time passes and his knock remains unanswered, Rolith begins to suspect the Queen’s worry was well-founded. Unwilling to wait any longer, he reaches for the door knob and, surprisingly, finds it unlocked. Perhaps Serador doesn’t consider the animal inhabitants of his domain to be any threat to his safety. Still, in Rolith’s experience, an unlocked front door is never a good sign. He might be young for a military leader (all of the older commanders perished in the fight to free Willowfen from vampiric rule, leaving the next generation to carry the torch alone) but he’s seen enough in his lifetime to know a bad situation when he sees one.

Without hesitation or any regard for proper manners, he slips inside. As soon as the door closes behind him, he’s consumed by darkness. All of the windows are covered, and none of the candles are lit, so he unsheathes his sword and casts Daylight upon the blade. The spell causes the metal to glow and illuminate the foyer. White brightness crawls into every nook and cranny, and he takes a look around.

He isn’t sure what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t this.

The manor is archaically well-decorated, of course, but it’s in bad shape. Nothing has been cleaned in ages: the painted portraits are peeling, the wood paneling is dusty, and the ceiling is covered in cobwebs. A shudder of unease rolls down his spine, and he heads toward the stairs, hoping to find Serador quickly so he can get out of this place.

“Hello?” he calls, marching up the creaking steps, “Serador? You here?”

He reaches the second floor and starts down the hallway toward the East Wing. All of the heavy, velvet curtains are drawn closed, but specks of light peek through moth holes. The state of Serador’s house reaffirms his suspicions about his well being. During the period of their alliance thus far, Rolith has noticed that there’s something not quite right with him. The vampire seems to have little to no regard for his health, the most prominent example being the time when he overexerted himself in battle to the extent that he was vomiting blood for hours after. At the time, Rolith tried to help, but he was brushed off. They’ve never discussed the matter. Even when he’s not visibly ill, Serador always has dark circles underneath his red eyes, and his pale skin is more gaunt than even a vampire’s complexion should be. There’s definitely something wrong with him. If only Rolith knew what the problem was.

Turning a corner, he spots an open door at the end of the hall. He heads straight for it, entering the room without preamble, anxious about what he might find.

“Mother of God,” a familiar voice groans. It’s Serador. He’s lying in his bed, his eyes slammed shut against the white glow. “Put that out.”

Rolith waves his hand to disperse the magic, and the vampire sighs in relief at the ensuing darkness. His comfort is short-lived, however, because the paladin immediately strides over to the nearest window and throws open the curtains, letting the evening sunlight in. Serador hisses. Rolith ignores him.

“Your door was unlocked,” he says, turning around to face him. Serador’s bed is ornate and massive, a large canopy frame that’s almost as tall as the ceiling. Propped up by a mountain of pillows and tucked under the covers, the vampire looks none too pleased about being seen in such a vulnerable state. His red eyes immediately hone in on the Emperyal Wand.

“What are you doing with that?” he asks brusquely. “I returned it to your Queen.”

Rolith sheaths his sword and places the wand down on the nearest surface. “But you didn’t tell her why.”

The vampire shifts. “I no longer desire it.”

Approaching his bedside, Rolith takes a moment to more thoroughly examine his appearance. Gone is the demeanor of a haughty immortal. The creature before him looks sickly, and the sheets surrounding him are covered in blood. His chin is stained red.

“What’s wrong with you?” Rolith demands. The vampire doesn’t answer, averting his eyes. He makes a face and then coughs into his elbow. His throat makes a wet, gurgling sound, and his shirt sleeve is soaked in crimson.

Alarm bells go off in the paladin’s head. The carnage isn’t from feeding. It’s not the blood of his prey. It’s his own.

“Serador.”

“What?” he gasps, breathless and clearly annoyed.

“You know what. You look like you’re dying. You need a cleric or, or something,” Rolith says, running a hand through his blonde hair and wracking his mind for a way to help. He doesn’t know much about vampire physiology. Information regarding their weaknesses is kept secret by the vampiric nobility. Before this very moment, he thought they couldn’t even get sick in the first place.

Intent on rushing out of the manor and grabbing the first healer he comes across, he moves toward the door to leave, but Serador clears his throat and makes him pause.

“A cleric won’t help,” he says.

Crossing his arms, Rolith glares at him. “So you know what’s wrong with you?”

Serador sighs deeply. He looks miserable. His cheeks are hollow, and his limbs sag with every movement as if his very bones are weighing him down. Rolith hates seeing him like this.

“I was cursed a long time ago, in a blood feud. The curse manifests as an illness of sorts, weakening me until eventually…” Rolith shrugs, “Well, I assume it’ll kill me someday. It’s been a decades now.”

The vampire’s casual tone makes it difficult for Rolith to immediately comprehend the meaning of his words, but the more he thinks about it, the more everything begins to make sense. He recalls every time he’s witnessed Serador utterly drained after battle, and the pieces of the puzzle slot together in his mind. “You’re cursed?”

Serador gives him a tired look. “Yes. I thought perhaps the wand could cure me, but I doubt it.”

Rolith raises an eyebrow. “You didn’t even try?” At this, he marches over to the table and grabs the wand, determination pumping through his veins. “You’re dying. You should at least try.”

“It would destroy the wand,” Serador explains, struggling to sit upright, “and the odds of success are low. It’s more important to preserve it for future generations if there is to be any hope for an insurrection.”

Rolith looks at the wand skeptically. “I thought it was just an heirloom.”

The vampire coughs into his fist, his shoulders shaking in violent jerks. “The Queen’s father was a legendary cleric, as you know. If you and your people want to harness the power of the forbidden magics and overthrow the corrupt court, then you’ll need that wand.” He gives Rolith a pointed look. “I can’t teach you everything.”

The paladin frowns. It’s true Serador taught him illegal spells to use against the undead. The enchantments aided him in defeating an evil witch, but the vampire was burned by simply being in close-proximity when Rolith cast the spell. Serador has taken great risks in aiding them in their goal of freeing humankind… and now he would sacrifice his only chance at life for their sakes?

Rolith shakes his head. “Then there has to be another way to break the curse.”

The vampire sports a wry smile. “As much as I admire your optimism, I’ve been around for much longer than you’ve been alive. I doubt there’s a cure.”

“Well, I’ll find one,” he asserts, leveling Serador with a challenging look. He doesn’t appreciate being told what he can and cannot do by vampires, especially when he’s trying to help. He takes a step closer to the bed and sits on the edge of the mattress, fire burning in his blue eyes.

“You might’ve given up on your life, but I—we haven’t. Queen Juliet wishes to continue her alliance with you. Your help has been immeasurable, and I know the other paladins feel the same. You’ve saved my life multiple times. It’s only right that I return the favor.” Rolith takes a gamble and reaches for the vampire’s hand, squeezing his pale fingers in a reassuring grip. “I’ll help you break the curse. I promise.”

Serador meets his gaze with an unreadable expression. Rolith has always struggled to understand him because of their differences. He’s loathed all vampires for so long, it’s taken him a while to realize that Serador is a valuable ally and a good person. Before he can even attempt to dissect the nuances of his face, Serador breaks his silence.

“Do you ever cease to be charming?” he murmurs. It’s the first compliment the vampire has ever given him, and the words level Rolith. His breath catches, and he has to clear his throat before speaking.

“Only on my days off. Right now I’m here on the Queen’s dime.”

The vampire pulls his hand away to brush back several strands of long, white hair from his face. “Of course you are.”

Rolith smiles briefly before his face settles into a grave expression once again. Although he enjoys how far they have come since meeting each other (Serador no longer calls him ‘boy’ in a derogatory way), the pleasantness of their camaraderie is overshadowed by the revelation of a deadly curse.

“What can I do to help? You’re not going to be confined to your bed forever, right?”

“I should hope not,” the vampire huffs, smoothing down the stained sleeves of his black robes. “I should be back to normal in a couple days. It comes and goes in waves.”

“What about…” Rolith bites his lip and gestures vaguely, “When was the last time you fed?”

Serador’s eyes narrow in suspicion. “It’s been a while.”

Eager to help, an idea forming in his mind, Rolith continues, “Would that help? If you had something?”

The vampire sets his jaw. He doesn’t speak. Rolith takes that as a yes. His hand goes to his blade, and Serador makes an insulted noise.

“Whatever you’re thinking, I won’t allow it.”

The paladin unsheathes his sword and rests it in his lap. “Why not? I’m perfectly healthy, you’re on the verge of death… if I can hasten your recovery—”

“No,” Serador cuts in, his voice stronger than it has been all throughout their conversation thus far. He seems resolute in his refusal, but Rolith knows that a vampire’s morality blurs at the edges of hunger, so he takes a deep breath and presses the sharp edge of his blade against his palm. He pauses there, waiting for protest, but Serador doesn’t say anything further to stop him, so he drags the sword across his skin and slices open a thin red cut. It stings, but only a few beads of blood rise to the surface. He looks Serador in the eye. The vampire’s breathing is labored as if his fight against his baser instincts is a physical effort.

“I trust you,” Rolith reassures, even though he knows he’s already won this argument. “Just take a little bit, since you’re so worried. I’ll even get it healed later today.”

Serador raises a trembling arm and wraps his clammy fingers around his wrist in a delicate manner, gently pulling his hand closer. With his other hand, he caresses the inside of his forearm soothingly, as if calming a spooked animal. Shivers race down Rolith’s spine, but he isn’t afraid of a little pain. He’s willing to endure it for a friend.

Serador opens his mouth and slowly sinks his fangs into the cut, widening the wound a bit. An odd sensation spreads across his palm—the venom must be numbing him. The vampire seals his lips over the cut and sucks slowly, eyes closed. The whole affair feels strangely intimate, and although he knows blood is being leached from his body, Rolith can’t look away. He doesn’t tell him to stop, either. He was serious when he said he intended to find a way to break Serador’s curse. He doesn’t intend to let the vampire wither away anytime soon.

A couple minutes later, some of the color has returned to Serador’s face, and he pulls away with a wet pop. Rolith’s fingers are tingling, but otherwise he feels fine. The vampire licks the wound clean and then grasps his palm with both hands. Warmth spreads across his skin in a flash of golden light, and when Serador lets go, the cut has healed.

“You didn’t need to do that,” Rolith says, rubbing his thumb across his palm where the slice had been. Serador sits back against his pile of pillows, evening his breath. His face is placid, but underneath his calm demeanor, he looks refreshed.

“You didn’t need to offer yourself to me,” he counters with a tilt of his head.

“I wanted to.” Rolith wipes his blade clean on the sheets, earning a disgruntled huff from the owner of the bed, before sheathing his weapon.

“If I were in a better state, I would’ve never let you do something so unnecessary and, frankly, dangerous,” Serador insists, coming back to himself now. He looks embarrassed, but he really shouldn’t be, in Rolith’s opinion. “Don’t try that again.”

“Alright,” the paladin agrees. He doesn’t regret encouraging Serador to drink from him against his wishes. If it keeps Serador alive, he’ll do it, even if it makes the vampire uncomfortable. He recognizes that he overstepped a boundary, though, so he stands up from the bed and looks away. “I’m sorry.”

Serador snorts. “You’re not. But you should be.”

Rolith’s lips quirk up in a half-smile, unbidden. “I have to tell the Queen why you returned the wand, you know.”

“I suppose you do.” The vampire doesn’t sound happy about that. “While you’re at it, tell her to stop sending trespassers into my home.”

Rolith’s smile broadens into a grin. He pockets the wand, handling it with much more care than he did previously. “I might advise her to send a cleaning crew over, if anything.”

There’s a long pause, and then, “You are one of the most audacious humans I have ever met.”

Rolith laughs, daring to meet the vampire’s eyes. He looked genuinely affronted, which only amuses him more. “You clearly haven’t met enough humans, then.”

“Clearly,” Serador drawls, “Now get out of my house.”

“Gladly,” Rolith shoots back, even though he would rather stay and ensure the vampire doesn’t drop dead anytime soon. He slowly moves toward the door, hesitant. The hallway is dark. He glances over his shoulder briefly and catches one last glimpse of Serador. He’s looking down at his hand, the evening sunlight casting shadows over the bed.

Rolith steps into the darkness and leaves before he can be caught watching.

#my writing #whump #oc whump #vampire whump #blood drinking #blood sucking #dnd oc #dnd whump #coughing #discomfort #illness #guys i think they might like each other 👀

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scarlet--wiccan · 3 years

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You can ignore this if you don’t have any thoughts but what your ideal new young avengers run look like? Who would be on the team, what would you even call it now that they’re all adults (except Cassie I guess?)

One of my favorite things about Young Avengers, which I think is often underplayed to the detriment of the characters, is that the team is routinely forced to operate outside of the law and against the wishes of their elders. In the core YA books, the kids are more often working in opposition to the Avengers rather than in cooperation. These are characters whose methods and motives are not usually aligned with those of the established superhero organizations, which is also reflected in many of their appearances beyond YA-- Strikeforce and Empyre are great examples, as are Cassie's adventures in Astonishing Ant-Man. This rebel element is often at odds with the fact that many of the characters admire the Avengers, or have close personal relationships with individual Avengers members. The dissonance becomes especially strong when Billy and Teddy, who have the most reason to distrust and resent them following Children's Crusade, are consistently characterized as Avengers fanboys.

That's not to say that I think the Young Avengers should, like, hate the old Avengers, but I do think that this tension is a key part of the series. The 2005 run was about a group of kids who stepped up, at a very young age, to do a job that wasn't getting done because the previous generation had failed, only to get shot down by the people who had failed them in the first place. It's about a group of kids grappling with complex and painful family histories, and, in many ways, they're foils to the Runaways, which is why I don't really like it when they play junior Avengers or emulate the traditional superhero team structure-- WCA was really fun, but I'm not going to pitch a second volume, you know? I much prefer them operating as an ad hoc group, mainly because they each come from different backgrounds, have different goals, and work in different fields. They're not people who work together because they're part of an organization, they're people who show up for each other because they're friends and they care about one another. That is, in my mind, a more effective approach to a team book with such disparate characters than what the typical Avengers title tries to do.

So, anyways, that's what I think makes Young Avengers special and it's why I think the book still has a place in the Marvel world. Pitching actual story ideas is hard now because Teddy and Billy are, apparently, living off-world and very busy being royalty. In my previous post, I outlined an older idea for a BillyTeddy ongoing series that could have easily functioned as a third volume of Young Avengers, but would require some editing to work in a post-Empyre world. The idea was for Billy and Teddy's apartment in New York to act as a base of operations for a revolving cast of their friends, who come and go over the course of various story arcs. The two of them are presumably living full-time in space now, but it's also been established that they're magically anchored to each other in a way that makes it easy for Billy to warp between New York and the throneship-- anywhere Teddy goes, Billy can instantly follow, and vice-versa, which means that the series could still use Earth as a main setting without pulling the royal couple out of their other storyline.

I'd love a Young Avengers/Runaways crossover set in space-- their previous crossovers mostly have to do with alien drama, after all, and I've been itching to get Xavin back on page. I'm very serious when I say that I want Xavin, Teddy and Noh to be best friends, and I think they'd be fun leads for a miniseries, or even the opening arc of a limited run that eventually folds in the other YA and Runaways characters. I'm imagining an extended version of the interstellar road trip from YA (2013). Maybe Teddy will recruit his two closest alien friends to go on a sensitive diplomatic mission where he can only bring a small party, but it turns out to be some kind of trap and they end up stranded somewhere and have to, like fight their way out of hostile territory and make their way back to the Alliance with no ship. Billy can reach Teddy, obviously, but he can't just warp the whole party home because the distance is too great or they're in an alternate dimension or something, so he rounds up a rescue party and Karolina insists on coming along because, I don't know, the Light Brigade is mixed up in this and she feels like it's her responsibility to help Xavin even though they haven't seen each other in years. Nico obviously comes along with her, and can help Billy with tracking spells.

I'd also like to see a YA book led by the series' most under-served characters-- Tommy, Eli, and Cassie. Building off of Cassie's capers in Ant-Man, I'd be very into a heist or espionage story about the three of them, probably joined by Kate because she'd add a lot of cohesion to the cast and is so well suited to this type of adventure. Maybe they're undercover, and they have to, like, fake-fight some of the other Young Avengers, but they all join forces once the misunderstanding is cleared up. I'm picturing a cold open where the whole first issue is made up of, like, security camera footage of three masked figures breaking into a high-tech vault at AIM or Roxxon, and they steal a bunch of weaponry and fight their way out through a bunch of goons, but then it's revealed that the whole thing was a distraction to cover up a fourth intruder who moves too fast for the cameras to track. At the end of the issue, it's revealed to the reader that the intruders are the Young Avengers, and the real prize was a computer holding the last backup of Jonas's AI. The rest of the first arc is about them trying to rebuild Jonas with help from Vee, but they have to keep it a secret from the Avengers because they're planning an even bigger heist against, like Kate's dad, and they need to keep the whole operation under wraps because he's got eyes and ears all over.

I'm not particularly eager for another fantasy story after CC and YA(2013), but I'd be into a cosmic-fantasy arc about America solving some sort of inter-dimensional crisis or chasing a villain across worlds with Tommy and Billy's help. I really want more development between America and Billy, but I also think that she'd be really funny friends with Tommy and I want to see more of him playing off of magic characters. Maybe Leah (the one from Earth-15513 that's living on Earth-616 now) receives a mysterious message from Loki and asks the Young Avengers to help her track them down. America and Billy volunteer and Tommy tags along. Along the way they end up discovering some sort of evil curse or spell and go on a quest through various dimensions in order to break it. In the end it turns out the whole thing was set up by Loki to manipulate them into defeating an evil alternate-universe Loki-- maybe the one from Leah's native dimension-- because Evil Loki had used an enchantment that made it impossible for 616-Loki to harm them, which includes allies who are knowingly fighting on Loki's behalf. Better yet, it's a proxy war, and Evil Loki has recruited pawns of their own-- including Sylvie and Lisa from the Young Masters! 616-Loki does come clean when the dust is settled and finally reconnects with the Young Avengers. Loki is glad that Leah found a way to escape her destiny, but they admit that they don't feel they've succeeded in breaking out of their own cycle, to which America and Billy are like "we've seen how far you've come, but you need to remember that people care about you and stop bailing on us when we actually want to talk it out with you," which Tommy backs up because, like, he's been that person. Friendship! Character arcs that don’t fizzle out when a book wraps in under twenty issue!

Anyways, if we got a third Young Avengers volume, I'd prefer a limited run with a cohesive story, but all of the ideas I just outlined would probably work better as smaller arcs in an ongoing series. I have a lot of ideas about tying up loose threads and continuing arcs that are already in motion, but I'm hesitant to plot out what the next big step in these characters' lives should be. I definitely think it's time to give Tommy and Cassie another shot at the spotlight, and I want Eli to come back with a new costume and codename.

At this phase, it's just really hard for me to land on any larger, deeper stories because I'm so unsure of what the next few years will look like for Billy and Teddy. There's also an America title that's been in production limbo since the pandemic started, and I feel like there's some kind of drama on the horizon between the Maximoffs and Krakoa which would theoretically impact the twins as well. I also anticipate editorial pushing for Kate in a Hawkeye book when the tv show comes out.

#young avengers #robintext #runaways

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myupostsheadcanons · 3 years

Text

Books “Read” in 2020

Previous entries: 2019, 2018, 2017

I don’t rank these based on actual literary quality, but by how much i enjoyed reading/listening to them. Hopefully with Audible’s new “Premium Included” feature it would cut down on so many Average/Below Average books next year, it’ll give me more of a choice on what kind of books/podcasts i want to listen to rather than given a handful to pick from a month.

The “Top 10″

Forging Hephaestus / Bones of the Past: Villains' Code Series - Drew Hayes has became one of my fav authors over the past couple years, from his Vampire Accountant series, 5-min Sherlock, and his Spells, Swords, and Stealth books. FH is one of the few times he wrote Adult Fiction. This is the second time Drew created a world of super heroes (the YA Superpowereds), thus previous experience in dealing with the nuisances and meta of super meta dynamics. I love the main character, Tori, and especially love many of the side characters (like Ivan) and the comedy is the right tone of dark and not-in-your-face (not quite as well -written as something like The Venture Bros or The Tick, but being adult fiction you can get away with having characters named Johnny Three-Dicks and Captain Bullshit)

Dreadnought / Sovereign - the second super hero series I’ve placed on my top list this year, this one is Young Adult. This one is far more serious and deals heavily in issues like trans and women’s rights, mental abuse, and social acceptance. The main character is full of angst, but that should be a given for a 15 yo with lots of mental baggage and new social pressures. The main character is the main draw, most of the side characters are a bit more one-dimensional.

The Trouble with Peace: Age of Madness, Book 2. It isn’t a “First Law” book if you don’t want to strangle half of the main characters. Many are stepping outside of the shadow of the previous generation and finding themselves falling flat on their faces. If they aren’t at each other’s throats, they would soon have to deal with rebellion in the streets and the constant looming presence of Bayaz, who waits to sweep the board clear and rearrange the pieces the way he sees fit.

Michael J. Sullivan’s: The Riyria and Legend of the First Empire Books.

Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords / Rise of Empire / Heir of Novron

Riyria Chronicles: The Crown Tower / The Rose and Thorn / The Death of Dulgath

Age of Death / Age of Empyre, Pile of Bones

After finishing the Legend of the First Empire books that came out earlier this year, I went ahead and read the prior series that takes place in the same world. I would suggest reading the entire series by Publish order, but they can be read Chronologically. I read the Legends books first, and it helped me see where Sullivan was heading and when he started to plan out the Legends books in more detail. (The early cameo of the Main characters from Legends in a mural in Heir of Novron, and knowing who is behind the events in Dulgath)

The Dresden Files: Peace Talks / Battle Grounds - They really should be read as one book, because that was how they were written. It is a Feast of Crows / Dances with Dragons situation, where the book got too long and got split up. The fans are pretty divided by the book(s) ending and how some of the main characters are handled, but these are Jim Butcher’s characters not theirs and he can drop bridges on whom ever he wants.

What Lies Beyond: Cycle of Galand, Book 6 - This is a “mythology” book (like Sullivan’s Age of Death was) where it introduces most of the Pantheon of their religion and corrects much of the mythology that had been lost over the decades. They seek a weapon to vanquish the Litch and save their world and the afterlife from oblivion, but not all of their Gods are happy about it.

Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash - Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation!) has to be one of my favorite internet personalities for the past 10+ years, and I eat up every book he puts out and because he wrote the books, and is an actor himself, he could deliver the lines as they are intended to be. The sequel to Will Save the Galaxy for Food does not disappoint and even ups the stakes from the previous book.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon - This has to be one of the most charming books I’ve read. It is magic and wonder at it’s finest, no need for long explanations on how the world works. If you like Ghibli movies, you’ll be interested in this book. It has its dark moments but isn’t outside of what you’ll find in something like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicca.

The Goblin Emperor - the youngest son of the Elf King finds himself emperor after the death of his father and brothers in an assassination. The only problem is, that he is only half-elf... his late mother was a Goblin, and he had been in exile as an embarrassment to the family for most of his life. He knows nothing of how the courts work and what’s left of his own family work against him just for being who he is.

Lost Gods: Brom - I liked this book more than I did American Gods (which I read a few years ago). It is darker and bleaker by the bucket loads. One of the few books with a downer ending that I actually liked. I would compare this book to books like All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men-- but it is a Fantasy!

Above Average.

Siege Tactics (Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Book 4) - What happens to adventurers after they retire? A fun concept that is explored with our party of NPCs running across a town full of epic-level characters that no longer have a player.

The Arthurian Saga - The Crystal Cave / The Hollow Hills / The Last Enchantment / The Wicked Day - A more realistic version of the Arthurian tales, taking the POV of Merlin, bastard son of a princess, as he earns notoriety as a scholar and wizard. The Wicked Day takes the POV of Mordred, making him far more sympathetic than other iterations of his character.

Arc of a Scythe - Scythe / Thunderhead / The Toll - Science and Technology eliminates death and in order to prevent over population and complacency an order of grim reapers are chosen to randomly deal out quotas of permanent deaths. An example of what happens when every need and want is satisfied by a higher force and the apathy that causes rot in human society and the superiority complex of those in charge of life and death.

The Diviners / Lair of Dreams / Before the Devil Breaks You / The King of Crows - Horror during the Roaring 20′s. Tackles issues as Racism, Poverty, Government Secrecy, Christian-Evangelical Cults, Nationalism Cult Mentality, Communism, Labor Unions, Eugenics, Post-WW1 trauma... It could almost pass as an adult fiction book. I wouldn’t recommend giving it to someone under High school age.

Ancillary Justice / Ancillary Sword / Ancillary Mercy - Artificial Intelligence takes over human bodies as a form of capital punishment, controlling ships and space stations. The dominate human empire outgrew the need to label any gender, using “she” to refer to everyone rather than the vaguer “them/they” pronouns, and only outlying colonies stick to the binary ideals. Think of “The Left Hand of Darkness” but on a more broader scale and as the default majority/ruling empire. Toss in a solid military action novel on top and it isn’t nearly as boring as Left Hand.

Children of Time / Children of Ruin - War destroys the human population of Earth and those that remain are the ones that headed out to the stars on tera-forming missions. A virus created to advance life forms to prepare a world for human habitation runs amuck with out its overseers, creating intelligent arachnids, crustaceans, and squid.

The Licanius Trilogy - The Shadow of What Was Lost / An Echo of Things to Come / The Light of all that Falls - It is very heavy on info overload, there is a lot to keep track of, so much so there is a summary of book one and two at the start of the third. I like the twist at the end of the first book and that the villain is actually trying to help save the world, and you spend most of the second stuck between who thinks they are doing the right thing and who is actually doing the right thing - a lot to talk about doing the lesser of two evils.

Mythos - Steven Fry - A humorous retelling of Greek mythology. I read Mythology - by Edith Hamilton prior to this book, which is a more scholarly take on the myths, and helps if you are unfamiliar with classical mythology prior to reading Fry’s take on it.

Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History That Inspired Game of Thrones - a nice history book about Iron Age royalty. It is actually refreshing to read after going through so much faux fiction that is in Philippa Gregory’s books.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - Children ask questions to a Mortician about death and what happens to bodies after people die. I listened to her autobiography last year/year before and it is worth picking up this one along with it.

Average, but still good.

Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet Universe: Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, Book 3) / Tarnished Knight: Lost Stars, book 1 - The realistic space battles just drag me back in each and every time.

The Case of the Damaged Detective: 5-Minute Sherlock - Drew Hayes can’t write a boring book. It isn’t quite on point as his other series, but still fun to read. Hayes is really good at making YA books with Adult Protagonists. It is a road-trip book, the main character is a washed-out operative that is getting his second chance playing bodyguard and future assistant to the 5-minute Sherlock.

Locked In / Head On - Do you remember “Surrogates”? that Bruce Willis movie where people walk around in robotic avatars, well... it’s almost the same thing. A virus kills millions, save for a select few that experience “lock in” syndrome and are able to connect to robots via their brains and the internet. The main character is gender neutral and you get a choice to listen to the book with a male or female reader.

Murder by Other Means: The Dispatcher Book 2 - more John Scalzi! The first book was in my top list a few years ago, and i enjoyed the sequel just as much. Between Scalzi’s The Dispatcher and Locked In series, i like the Dispatcher more.

The Shattered Sea Trilogy: Half a King / Half the World / Half a War - Joe Abercrombie’s attempt to make Young Adult books. It keeps all the grim dark, but lacks all the swearing and humor that made The First Law books more enjoyable. Many of Joe’s favorite character tropes are still present and is one of the better “Fall to Darkness” stories I’ve read. It also has different POV characters each book and is one of those “faux fantasy” settings.

Mage Errant: Books 1, 2 & A Traitor in Skyhold: Book 3 - If you are wanting to get away from Harry Potter, pick up this book series. It takes place in magic school, but it is its own world and setting and not just a hidden world within our own. The main group of kids are misfits among the school, unable to master their powers, that get taken up by the badass librarian to be trained in more unconventional ways.

Dawn of Wonder: The Wakening Book 1 - the main character has ptsd from growing up in an abusive household, and i thought it was handled rather well. He would be rather competent and cleaver most of the time until he gets triggered into an episode, he fights really hard to overcome this short-falling of his. Standard classic affair else wise, family leaves home because the local authority figure doesn’t want them around anymore, goes to big city, kid wants to do good and avenge the deaths he was accused of, joins the badass school of hard knocks... big powerful evil thing trying to consume the world.

The Rage of Dragons - It shares a lot of tropes and story points with Red Rising... just in a fantasy setting, not in space. If you are wanting fantasy with POC main characters and a non-European-centric culture, that doesn’t pull any punches, give it a shot.

Earthsea - Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea - I had read the first three books several years back, and i did re-read them in order to refresh myself prior to reading the final two.

The Secret Garden - I absolutely loved the movie from the 90′s as a kid, and finally got around to listening to the book.

Six of Crows - A heist book in fantasy world with the magic users being heavily “Jewish / Slavic” coded by how they are treated and persecuted. I might have thought more favorably about the book if i hadn’t read other books with “street rat slum” main characters. (Seriously, after spending six books with Royce in Riyria someone like Kas is just second bananas)

Unconventional Heroes / Two Necromancers - Comedic Fantasy, the humor’s not on par with say MogWorld, and has more jokes than Fred The Vampire Accountant. It is still a parody of villains and heroes in fantasy worlds. I would find it safe for a 12/13yo to read, cursing and all, though they might not be aware of many of the tropes that are being deconstructed. The reader of the book did better in this one then he did with Six of Crows and Beezer, still the audio needed some editing because it repeats itself a few times.

Once More Upon A Time (Free Audio Book) - I don’t always care to read romance stories. I like the idea behind it however, to trade their love for each other in order to save their partner’s life, then learn to re-love one another again.

Monster Hunter International - If you think Dresden is too liberal, this takes a hard turn to the right.. replace the magic with GUNS, lots and lots of GUNS. An organization that hates the government but hunts monsters for government bounties. The main cast is multi-ethnic and they do make fun of that at one point. There isn’t a lot of thought into the plot, because action is #1, but it is fun enough to ignore the politicking.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Collection - i bitched about there not being an omnibus last year, and then Audible uploaded one. The ending is still one big clusterfuck.

Stephen King’s Insomnia - this book is the bridge between Steven King’s two universes. It is a sequel to IT and brings up the Darktower often. IT dealt mainly with childhood fears, Insomnia deals with Elderly and feminine fears.

D’Arc / Culdesac: War with No Name - I liked D’Arc more than i did Mort-e, and Culdesac is more on track with Mort-e. The virus that mutated the ants and animals reminded me of the virus from Children of Time/Ruin, even though i read Mort-e first, reading D’Arc after CoT let me notice it.

Michael McDowell’s: The Amulet / The Elementals / Gilded Needles / Blackwater - From the guy that wrote the screenplay of Beetlejuice, and the pioneer of the Southern Gothic Horror. Gilded Needles is a bit out of place, taking place in 1890′s, and is more of a social horror rather than a super natural horror the other books are.

Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1 - high fantasy dark fiction. if you really want some CHONKY door stoppers, there’s over 10 of them in this series. Could’ve done less with the manipulative bastard mage that speaks in 3rd person. I had read The Willful Child, an attempted comedy science fiction novel by the same author, and it showed that the author was unfamiliar with that kind of genera and should stick to grim fantasy.

The Knife’s Edge / Citadel of Fire: The Ronin Saga - This is one of those series that I’m always going “oh, that reminds me of [insert another better series]” At times it reminded me of The Licanius Trilogy, Shades of Magic, Arc of Scythe, Riyria, Korra... It is just shy of being as good as them, and is rather firmly in that Sci-Fi Fantasy Ghetto and has a bit of “anime” feel to it with their magic users having ‘power levels’ and the power creep.

In Calabria - My only problem with the book is the massive age-gap between the Main character and his love interest. Outside of that, the whole Unicorns in the modern world concept is done very well.

Pout Neuf (Audible Free Book) - Journalism and romance during WW2. A quick read and the book really shows that research had been done about the setting and time period.

Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist: An Audible Original - Not only does it talk about the heist, it actually touches on the subject of migrant farmers and slave labor, as well as the desertification of the California Valley.

The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel (Free Audio Book) - a neat little informative podcast if you are looking for an introduction to some of the harder science fiction.

Mythology - by Edith Hamilton - Text book about Greek Mythology. Like “used in schools” text book. It is a good read if you don’t want to go through Ovid, Virgil, Homer, and all the other classical writers on your own.

The Space Race: An Audible Original - America didn’t win the Space Race. Russia did just about everything first. The only thing we did first was put people on the moon. It also goes into detail about how the inventor of the Nazi’s V2 rockets became employed with the US Space program. As well as the government’s announcement to let space travel become privatized.

Pale Blue Dot / Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - It’s Carl Sagan. Come on! Everyone should be reading them. Pale Blue Dot was being turned into an Audiobook in the 90′s but with Sagan’s death, only the first few chapters were read by him and his partner reads the rest of it (she does a decent job, and i understand why they wanted her to read it, it should’ve been done similarly to Cosmos, with guest readers doing each chapter)

Thicker Than Water (Free Audio Book) - start up pharmaceutical company scams people out of millions with promises of a miracle machine that was ahead of its time. Story told from the whistleblower himself as he recounts what his job was within the company and how he knew the owner/founder of the company and how coming out about what was going on ruined his relationship with his family and friends.

Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - biography on Douglas Adams and the history behind the creative process behind the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.

The Genius of Birds - It reminded me a lot of “The Soul of an Octopus” in quality. It is rather informative about birds, how they behave, and how we judge intelligence in non-human animals.

It’s “ok.”

Les Miserabes - I can see why people favor movies and theater versions because of how dense the book is, getting the cliff notes version of the book instead of reading several chapters about the Battle of Waterloo.

Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons (Audible Free Book) - It’s cute, and I spent the next several weeks humming that freaking song.

Challenger Deep - A book about mental illness by the same person that brought us The Arc of a Scythe series. It isn’t a bad read, but if you are prone to get panic attacks and have mental illness yourself, you might get too into it and make you uneasy. It can help with neurotypical people with understanding how some illnesses work.

Into the Wilds (Warriors, Book 1) - Ah, the cat book. It is prob because there are soooo many books in this series that it over-saturates the kids impressionable minds.

House of Teeth (Audible Free Book) - I read this book prior to Monster Hunter International, and thinking back on this one, i am reminded about the other. Save for this one is PG. So... the kid friendly version.

The Martian Chronicles - Space Horror, on Mars. If you like old science fiction, like Classic Trek, Wells, or Forbidden Planet stuff. There is a lot of zerust.

Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection - The third superhero series I’ve read this past year. It is not as ground breaking nor subversive as Villain’s Code or Dreadnought. The humor is a bit too forced and parts of it falls into “we can be more offensive because it is an adult book” category.

Interview with the Robot - Don’t really care for books or programs that are set up in the “interview” format where it is two people talking to one another. (I have no fucking idea how this book got top Kids book of the year on Audible, it is more of a YA book... it must been because it was Free and lots of people picked it because the rest of the choices that month were complete garbage)

Micromegas - perhaps one of the oldest examples of Speculative Science Fiction. Written by Voltaire, it is about a giant from another solar system that is so big that humans and life on Earth are microscopic. “what value are the lives of ants to a man?”

The Three Musketeers - i had forgotten how much espionage there was in this book. I would say this is a good companion book to Don Quixote, as it takes its fair share of inspiration from and even name-drops the character a couple times.

Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist / David Copperfield / A Tale of Two Cities - DC is the standout IMO among the three, it is Dickens’ Magnum Opus. Les Mis did a far better job with the Revolution than Tale did as well. I felt rather obligated to reading these books because of the subplot in the Age of Madness books being about Poverty during the Industrial Revolution and Workers Revolts against the Ruling Class.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - the version i listened too made most of the Americans sound like GWB... which is funny because one of them is Canadian, and the Comic Relief character about how boorish Americans are.

Stuck (Free Audio Book) - it is a neat idea, getting jarred free of time but everybody else isn’t and doesn’t remember. It gets a little heavy for a kids book near the end, edging into YA territory as the character gets older mentally and the people around him age physically.

Phreaks (Free Audio Book) - i knew a lot about Captain Crunch and other phone hackers of the 60′s. There is a subplot of the big radioactive corporation covering up causing cancer to their workers, and the father (voiced by Christian Slater) being in the closet but still homophobic about it.

Silverswift (Free Audio Book) - If you like fairy tales set in modern times, it is worth a look. It is similar to In Calabira in that way. The mom being the nonbeliever and thinking grandma is off her rocker, but the granddaughter knows it in her bones that grandma is telling the truth.

Sleeping Giants - alien mechs from the distant past, once mistaken as the titans and gods form mythology, now being studied and experimented on by the government. This is another “interview style” story telling.

Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes - there is a lot of names and stories, it is worth prob getting a physical copy of the book to keep things straight and to use as a reference.

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps - A love letter to The Legend of Zelda’s Ocarina of Time and other RPG games.

Casino Royal: James Bond - the movie was rather faithful, including the part of being tied to a chair. I do wish they kept more of the book’s ending where Bond was ready to retire prior to his secret-spy love interest gets killed.

Aliens: Bug Hunt - a compilation of Alien stores about people landing on various planets and encountering aliens, not always the Xenomorphs we know, but the term “Bug” came synonymous to any dangerous alien lifeforms encountered.

Macbeth: A Novel - retelling the story of Macbeth but in a novel form. If you can’t get past the language of the original play, this would help. It sets it more firmly in historical fiction.

Hannibal: A Novel - I went ahead and re watched the tv show after finishing the book. I’ve seen the movie a dozen times, and i understand why they changed the ending to the movie. The book is the main one that characterizes Hannibal and the show uses a lot of the plot. Hannibal Rising wasn’t really needed because Hannibal (in this book) does think/talk about what happened to his sister and home, and i can see why Harris didn’t want to write that book either. The audiobook is rather poor quality, they talked too fast in places and i don’t really care for their acting...

The Power of Six - I read I am Number 4 several years back and this one popped up on sale so i nabbed it. I like Neil Kaplan, and i think this one is better than the first one and actually gets into the meat of the story.

Cut and Run: A Light-Hearted Dark Comedy - body parts harvesting.... mmmm.

Calypso - non-Fiction, biography of the author. Talks about his family, his life with his partner, and what he does. Much of it is charming and it is read by the author. this was prior to him loosing his marbles about retail workers and becoming a karen.

Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster - the history of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance. I didn’t mind this podcast so much because i was reading The Diviners during the same time.

Malcolm and Me - another biographical book. one of the free books i got during Feb’ Black History Month.

History of Bourbon (Free Audio Book) - Informative about the liqueur industry in America.

Junkyard Cats: Shining Smith Book 1 - post apocalyptic action science fiction novel. the moment that guy showed up i was “that’s your bf.” and it was so... the plot wasn’t hard to figure out, it’s all about the action and setting.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - One of the better Heinlein books. The man can’t write romance and he is rather big on casual polygamy and open marriages. An anarchist-revolution book written by someone that is more on the Libertarian side of the aisle. Mycroft (the computer) comes off as rather antiquated, an AI that runs on a closed server, communicating through the telephone lines and printed paper, makes me wonder what Heinlein would’ve done if he was told about the internet and Deep Fake tech. (the book takes place in like 2075, but written in 1966)

Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World - the production of coffee and it’s prevalence around the world.

The Life and Times of Prince Albert - Exactly what it says on the can. *rimshot*

The Real Sherlock: An Audible Original - a biography of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Design of Everyday Things - using psychology to improve the design of systems, products, and the modern business model. It gives proper terminology for several common design features and how to improve on existing structures.

Bottom of the Barrel.

The Pagan World: Ancient Religions before Christianity. I was hoping there would have been something in there about European Religions, there isn’t, and the book was mostly Greek and Roman life styles and how gods are worshiped. It let me know where the word “auger” came from and why it was used in the Licanius Trilogy.

Life Ever After - disjointed at best. a couple that aren’t good for each other spend the next several hundred years in a crappy relationship.

Beyond Strange Lands: An Audible Original - The audio was complete crap on half of the voices. Which is bad because this could’ve been better. It is a Pod Cast Show and the director couldn’t make sure everybody had decent recording equipment and the sound effects often drown out the actors.

Henrietta & Eleanor: A Retelling of Jekyll and Hyde: An Audible Original Drama - They were going for a modern telling, but the language used is archaic. They speak like Dickens characters even though they talk about cellphones and computers.

A Crazy Inheritance: The Ghostsitter book 1 - The concept is there, but it is too nerfed. It was made for the 8-12yo crowd in mind by people that don’t know how to write for children.

Tell Me Lies (Free Audio Book) - It really wants to be smart. Who’s playing who and who is the actual villain of this story? If you want a quick “who done it?” maybe look into it.

Evil Eye (Free on Audible Plus) - told through phone calls between a mother and daughter. The whole genera of evil boyfriends/husbands isn’t really my cup of tea, and the boyfriend’s actor was too fake and the set up to the meat of the story was annoying.

The Half-life of Marie Curie - I didn’t mind learning stuff about Marie Curie... falls squarely in “made for TV lifetime movie” quality though. You should not carry around a vile of uranium where ever you go.

Alone with the Stars - A girl in Florida hears the call for help from Amelia Earhart, but nobody listens to her. Part fiction, part biographical. It would’ve been better as a biography and talking about various conspiracy theories about what happened to her and finding the pieces of the airplane.

Beezer - The son of the Devil learning to become a good person with a found family... however, most of the characters are annoying.

The Year of Magical Thinking (Free Audio Book) - very heavy on the subjects about loss and death.

Complete Garbage.

The Getaway (Free Audio Book) - A man being a POS by stalking and abducting women. It broadcasts just about everything that is going to happen.

Agent 355 (Free Audio Book) - Do you like “American Mythology?” Like the whole “the founders are the greatest people in the world” kind of vibe? I don’t. I also hate the main character for being one of those “i’m smart, because i read books that women aren’t supposed to” girls when she doesn’t really think for herself at all.

#myu reads #books read in 2020 #audiobooks #booklr #Audible #long post

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kimberlyannharts · 3 years

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I feel like, especially with previews out for next week now, it’s incredibly clear that Ryan wants to write the Omegas and Zordon’s history and doesn’t seem to care much about the MMPR team

yeah, my frustration with how Ryan handles the MMPR team is a big part of my problems with the books rn. and you’re right in that it feels like Ryan gives more priority to his creations (the Omegas, the new green, everything with Zordon’s backstory) than....you know....the characters this book is literally named after

it’s like the MMs are just....not taken seriously? they feel like they have nothing that really grounds them to the plot. any agency they start to have is dismissed and almost treated as lesser to whatever new thing ryan cooks up. like what notable thing have they done that wasn’t treated as second to ryan’s concepts? like that silly tommy, getting angry that the omegas came home and immediately stole drakkon! don’t you know they have good intentions? they’re gonna save the universe while you stay stuck on earth! are you guys struggling against the dark rangers in the first ten minutes of your very first fight against them? here’s the new green here to save you all! and then he’ll take care of that monster for you, don’t worry! also no need to really try and figure out anything about the new green - sure you can have a few jokey moments where you guess ernie’s the new green, but anyway, let’s have fun at the beach, or the music festival!

compare all that to PR - it literally starts because the Omegas decide to take Drakkon so they can fight the Empyreals. Jason has a serious discussion with Xi where he stands his ground on his decision to take Drakkon; and earlier he had an epic full-page spread of standing tall against the vampire skrulls. Drakkon has a serious and weirdly personal conversation with Trini. Zack....plays with the alien pet. okay, bad example, but that’s unfortunately the norm for Zack rn. the point is, they feel connected to the plot!! they drive the plot with their actions and emotions!! meanwhile with the MMs, it feels like the opposite - things HAPPEN TO them, and they just go along with it, either without any response or with a response that makes no sense with their established character.

and it’s frustrating because i feel there’s a lot of big emotional beats that could be addressed with the MMs that we have to miss out on because they just don’t bother to give them time to bring it up???? do rocky, adam, and aisha feel frustrated that once again, their contributions to the team are diminished by constantly being overshadowed by the Omegas and now a new green? why was kim so upset at the omegas lying to her before but now is 100% fine with it? tommy says they should all trust the new green; how much is that attributed to him wanting to give the new green the trust his team didn’t give him at first? does he feel any, ANY sort of conflicting feelings about his original powers somehow being taken, reawakened, and used by a stranger?

the MMPRs just feel so passive and disconnected in what should be THEIR book!! it’s very frustrating, especially when their emotional maturity and depth was part of what made the books so popular in the first place!!

#transmission #long post #anonymous #idk if this makes sense i'm very tired.#basically the rangers felt more mature in kyle's beginning run than they do now #and it's because ryan doesn't let them really talk to each other or even have many real victories

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smokeybrand · 4 years

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Sacked

This Empyre crossover Marvel farted out was so gay, man. I’m not saying that to be homophobic, I'm saying that as a matter of fact. There were a lot of queer folks getting the spotlight in this and i think it was a detriment to the overall narrative, not in the sense that the representation was bad, but more that the overall narrative felt like queer pandering. I was never a huge fan of Wiccan and Hulkling as characters, the only Young Avenger i found compelling was Finesse, but i didn’t hate them being a thing. I actually enjoyed the fact that they loved each other and shared a very openly gay relationship during a time when that type of stuff still needed to be normalized. That said, these two kids are B-List at best. They’re non-factors in the Marvel universe so why the f*ck do they get to headline an entire crossover event? Literally, who thought this was good idea?

Marvel has been real sh*tty as of late with their writing. There are certain outstanding plots and arcs but those aren’t the norm. I really enjoyed the newest Doom book and whatever the f*ck Hickman is doing over yonder with the X-Men is wildly intriguing. Professor X has finally, properly, transformed into Mr. Right, Magneto? I’m here for all of that. Apocalypse is hanging around being mad sinister about some sh*t that will lead to the corniest crossover event i have ever seen, but still want to see because the first Death is f*cking Anubis and i live for that type of sh*t? Yessir! The last, massive, Thor crossover, War of the Reams was pretty hilarious and had great character interactions that i loved. That last Secret Wars was f*cking phenomenal, following the equally excellent Incursion arcs. God Doom’s Battleworld was the best Battleworld to date. House of M, Spider-Island, Seige, Fear Itself, Spider-verse, Infinity, the SpOck arc; All of these tales, f*cking outstanding. The thing about all of those stories i just listed is that they have an actual story. Those narratives felt like they had a place to go. There was a real plot and the events therein, actually amounted to something. There were very real consequences and definitive shifts in the status quo once those narratives concluded. Empyre has none of that.

Empyre is so queer, man, and that’s the problem. It feels like the writers started with how gay Wiccan and Hulkling were, and worked backwards to fit some sort of conflict tos bury that lead. It cheapens the validity of their relationship and it grosses me out. This was effectively stunt writing, Twatter catering, gender politic, cash grabbing. Billy and Theo deserve their happy ending and they deserved a much better narrative to get them there. It’s been a long time coming, but to marry them in the most obnoxious, over-the-top, Bayhem-esque, manner possible, feels like cop out. This whole story feels like agenda over narrative and that’s the sh*t f*cking up everything in media today. Look, Billy and Theodore can be as gay as you want them to be. That’s fine. I’m here for all of that. But those are just aspects of the characters, not their definition. There should never be an intergalactic conflict where the sun is going to blow up the entire f*cking solar system, and all of that drama takes a backseat to the sexuality of two kids who have been f*cking on the regular for, what? A decade and a half? I mean, the entire resolution to this mess was “The Power of Love” like they’re both Disney Princesses or some sh*t. You should have called this arc Frozen because it has that same energy.

I’ve written at length about how i feel diversity should be portrayed in our entertainment media. It absolutely needs to be there. The sh*t we watch should always reflect the world we live in and this world is a rainbow of race, creed, sexuality, and capability. If you want to focus your narrative on any single one of these things, to define your entire story and conflict through such a narrow lens, that’s fine. The best way to tell those stories is to make them as intimate as possible because those are, by nature, very personal and intimate stories. Peanut Butter Falcon, Boys Don’t Cry, and Love Simon, are perfect examples of that. This is not the type of story Empyre presents. If you want to write a sprawling epic that examines what it means to be whatever in the context of a narrative, that’s fine, too. I don’t care for The Old Guard but the way they explore what it means to live forever, what it means to love forever, in such an organically beautiful manner, i couldn’t help but commend that production for it. Even if the film whiffed on the rest of the character adaption. This is the type of story Empyre wants to tell but it reads like the opposite of that. It reads like the whole Rey debacle and “The Force is Female” situation with Star Wars. It feels preachy and forced, not respectful and genuine. That’s the wrong way to handle all of this.

You want to marry Billy and Theo, f*cking go for it. Make it an event in a one shot like they did Spider-Man or Superman. Make that an arc unto itself. That’s one of those intimate stories i was talking about. You don’t need an entire, intergalactic, war as a prelude to something that should have happened a decade ago. I mean, the way Marvel bent over backwards to bring eternal enemies, the Kree and the Skrulls, together for this creatively bankrupt, sermon as some weird ploy to make this marriage mean more than it should feels like they didn’t have faith in doing just that. It’s kind of offensive. Just write good stories with great characters and everything will take care of itself. Billy shouldn’t be a glorified deus ex machina and solve the puzzled that is the Kree-Skrull alliance “with his kiss.” Theo doesn’t have the clout to be an entire linchpin to a massive, multi-issue, crossover event. Like, who cares? Both of these characters deserve much better than this, and that’s coming from a guy who doesn’t really care about either of them. This entire event feels so disingenuous to me, which is a shame, because this thing had all of the hallmarks of being as dope as Annihilation only Marvel went “Full Woke” with their nonsense. This sh*t reads as bad as those new New Warriors that dropped a few months back. Marvel is overextending trying to appeal to that Twatter crowd and it’s making their books damn near unreadable. Sh*t’s all bad comedy now.

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