#it's just going to be more interpersonal than paranormal

[threewaysdivided]

Me over here in my corner thinking about YJDW, and how absolutely ironically sad it would be if after all the huffing and puffing about ghosts and all the hell he gave Danny, that Wally himself came back as a ghost post-Endgame and only Danny could see and talk to him.

I need to rewatch the OG show again but for a happier alternative, what if Danny saved Wally from his original fate?

(Young Justice: Deathly Weapons)

It seems my primary creative contribution to fandom has been the creation of a bespoke, artisanal brain-corner in which people are compelled to sit and think about DW 😅.  It’s nice to know that, while I may have sunk-cost-fallacy-ed myself into this hole, the rest of you are having fun climbing into it with me.

As for an Endgame!AU, that’s kind of complicated by DW’s… let’s say fraught relationship with canon.  I really like YJ Season 1, but as everyone and their dog has been unable to escape me telling them I think lead-showrunner Greg Weisman is an appallingly bad storyteller (in fact I think he writes like a cowardly, exploitative incel) and under his “creative control” the later entries became an infuriating mess.  Back when there were only two seasons in the mainline canon I used to cut Invasion a lot more slack – allowing it to coast on the uninformed and incorrect assumption that both entries came from the same creative team, and that the seeming disjointedness of Invasion’s narrative was the result of executive meddling or troubled production at a time when a lot of Cartoon Network’s PG animated shows were infamously being put through hell by the network. 

However, after the disappointment of the “revival” I did a little bit more looking into things and realised that what I actually liked was the output of Season 1’s distinct production team – a team which included heavy input from experienced DC creatives like lead-directors Jay Oliva and Michael Chang (previously credited on the Teen Titans 2004 series, which was also praised for good character-storytelling).  It became clear to me that there were actually two separate products:  Season 1 (plus a couple of early tie-in comics by non-Weisman writers)… and everything else.  Turns out that dropping your primary directors results in a directionless story, whodathunk?

Once I took off those rose-coloured glasses, I ran into the problem that it’s actually not possible to get from Season 1 to Invasion without fundamentally breaking the narrative in really unpleasant ways.   Deathly Weapons has since become fully canon-divergent from that break-point.  I want to pay respects to the arcs, themes and characterisation of the Oliva-Chang Season, which means Invasion wouldn’t reasonably happen in the DW!Verse.  Ergo, no timeskips, no character-assassinations, and Wally never gets randomly knifed to “subvert the expectations” of viewers who might be familiar with a prominent Flash-storyline from another unconnected continuity.  I’m not kidding: that is why Endgame ended the way it did, this is what Greg and Brandon think storytelling is, their opinions should not be trusted.

So in a way I guess that problem kind of solved itself.

But that’s not very satisfying, is it?

Looking back at my brainstorming notes from the before-times (when DW was planned with the loose possibility of connecting back into later canon), I had a post-Endgame future-fic idea which focussed more on Dick.  The idea was for Dick to end up at Danny’s apartment while trying to cope with losing Wally.  Once there I had a scene where he wanders aimlessly while Danny is out dealing with some unavoidable adult-life stuff, leading him to find some old photos of Tucker.  The main scene was going to be Dick having a “conversation” with Tucker’s (metaphorical) spirit - speaking to the memory of his foster-brother’s late best friend about his own now-gone best friend, and asking Tucker to look out for Wally wherever they might be now.

I suppose that’s more where my style of angst lands for grief/death arcs.  I like to focus on death arcs as a reflection of the character’s life – the specifics of their personality, the distinct impression their presence left on the people around them and how the unique hole they occupied aches without them.  I’ve mentioned this before in the Jason-ask but my general thesis is that we are haunted by absences more than presences; we project ghosts in attempt to fill the hole(s) left when someone abruptly vanishes from our lives.

Because of that I tend to have very different story approaches for metaphorical ghosts (which explore the internal struggles of living characters coping with a loss) vs literal ghosts (actual tangible creatures who represent an external struggle).  I know it sounds kind of ironic considering that I killed off about 70% of the core Danny Phantom cast for Deathly Weapons, but when I kill a character it’s usually so I can do a retrospective on the value of their life.  So long as they’re mourned well, I don’t personally feel a need to bring most “dead” characters back.

That said, there is a lot of potential angst that could come from someone “becoming a ghost” with the way I’ve been headcanoning it to work in Deathly Weapons.  In Chapter 16, Phantom mentions that ectoplasmic ghosts are formed when the impression of a dying person’s consciousness is preserved in ectoplasm and gives rise to a new entity.  In a best-case scenario you get a complete translation of the same person to a new bio-medium, but in other cases you might get an incomplete or warped impression – missing some pieces and exaggerating others, like a reflection in a funhouse mirror.  This is how I like to explain the humanoid DP ghosts being so gimmicky and single-minded: they’re a flanderization built from only the strongest parts of their living personality at the moment of death.  It’s also one of the reasons why Phantom and the others don’t rush to “well, they might be a ghost now” as an easy solution to characters dying or being presumed-dead.  Sure, that character might not be entirely gone… but would the pieces that remain actually be them?

It’s a style of horror that isn’t especially my bag, but I think there’s a lot of potential angst mileage in that specific brand of “came back wrong” – leaving a ghost that is uncannily like you but is missing the specific memories or details needed to actually make you you.  A familiar stranger – unable to be the person they were, having no say or fault in being what they are, but who everyone has to deal with anyway (especially if they retain enough memories to understand that they know you).

That said, there would be no situation in which Wally came back as complete ghost where he wouldn’t be completely pissy about it.  Just, the indignity of it all, really.  

Still, I think it’s worth considering that, while Wally is certainly giving Danny hell with where he is in the story right now (Mission 1 of Arc II at the time of this post), in any five-years-later post-DW scenario the two of them would be a lot more chill with each other.

While some of the YJ cast have ended up with relatively static planned personal arcs throughout DW (for clarity, a static arc is where a character doesn’t experience substantial personal change across a story – they may receive elaboration into their personality, history and/or develop new relationships with others but by the end they are still mostly the same person) I hope people can trust that Wally isn’t one of them.  Him acting like a sulky, stinky jerkass right now isn’t because I’m planning on having him be The Sulky Stinky Jerkass™ for the entire story, but because he’s at the start of his major personal arc.  His flaws are on full display at the moment because he’s going to have to confront those flaws, how they hurt him and others, and make the decision on whether (and how) to be better.

The loose timeline for DW’s planned story is that the main arc (right now comprising 11 planned missions) takes place over 6-ish months from the point where Phantom first joins the Team.  Wally’s personal arc is planned to be part of that.  Add an additional 4-and-a-half years on top of that and they would have had a lot of time to let the water settle under the bridge.

With that being said, we’re heading into the stormiest parts of the water at the moment.  The interpersonal angst is going to get much worse before it gets better.  Not somebody-dies level, but some people are going to hurt each other quite badly before the resolution and a LOT of yelling is going to happen. 

Here’s a teaser for one of the worst lines :

“Better that than some green-wood who gets people hurt because he wanted to play hero!”

Yeah, things are going to get mean.  It may be a different flavour than some expected but I am nonetheless intending to serve 4 chapters of angst, and more than one of the boys is going to get served a lot of crow to eat over that mess.

#kaiobeast #young justice: deathly weapons #young justice #Invasion Critical #Sorry this is yet another squirrel-answer but the truth is that Endgame just... doesn't happen in any of my versions of the DW!Verse #3WD Answers #that whole story never made sense to me on rewatch and I only gave it a pass because I thought they had just flubbed the execution #I feel like people may think I don't like Wally #I actually do #It's just that I saw an opportunity to explore a whole bunch of his flaws in a compelling way #and I mean... c'mon it's me. I couldn't NOT do that #so I can guarantee angst in the next 4 chapters #it's just going to be more interpersonal than paranormal #ooky-spooky drama is for later #there's even a scalpel involved ;)

[bradsmindbrain]

Madhouse Mike Headcanons

● Like the other romanceable characters, I see him as being either Pan or Bi, but in his case I’m leaning more towards the latter.

● His interpersonal skills are absolute dogshit, even when he was alive. His years of isolation have not helped at all, and a computer screen can only do so much.

● He feels... weird. Like an odd combination of fuzzy and slimy, not to mention cold to the touch.

● Aside from “Debbie,” possums, and the occasional ghost hunter, he was basically alone for the most part, But hey, it’s fine. It’s not fine.

● When it comes to Robyn, he is incredibly clingy, and usually stays close to them.

● Tends to bounce around in Robyn’s phone like a screensaver when he’s bored.

● The only things anyone’s seen him drink are soda, and on rare occasions, beer. The others are more concerned that he can drink at all.

● He and Taro despise eachother, if they’re left alone together for more than five minutes something is going to get broken.

● Literally treats any possum he runs into like a stray cat.

● As I’ve mentioned before, I see him as having ADHD with mild Autistic tendencies. He’s very knowledgeable about topics he’s interested in, especially the paranormal, but he has major impulse control issues, and kind of has trouble understanding boundaries.

● Even if he didn’t fully remember Debbie until his encounter with Mr. Walker, he still subconsciously remembered her, hence the weird effigy at the radio station.

● They’d known each other since forever, and they were basically best friends. After remembering her, well, he hopes she’ll visit Elkhorn County at some point.

● As of now though, he does consider Robyn to be his best pal, even if he never outright says it, he is incredibly grateful that they helped him get out of such a dark place in his (after)life, and feels incredibly guilty for trying to kill them back at the station.

● Following his encounter with Mr. Walker, he’s come to hate confined spaces, sure he can just pass through walls, but getting shoved and trapped in the lantern was honestly kind of traumatic.

● Generally tends to stim with his hands a lot when his ghost body is more than just an amorphous ball. Sure he has arms when he’s smaller but it’s hard to do what he wants to do with them.

● Has basically replaced Siri on Robyn’s phone. Even when he’s not possessing it his voice is still used.

● Robyn got him hooked on Welcome to Night Vale. He has denied crying while listening to it, no one believes him.

● Is trying to get his own podcast up and running at the moment. He’s still trying to finalize the scripts for the first few episodes, but Robyn thinks it looks promising from what they’ve seen.

● Despite being dead for seven years, he’s better at keeping up with current trends than August is. This is mostly because he spent a lot of time on the station’s computer when he wasn’t on-air.

● While he does act like an ass a lot of the time, he does genuinely care about the others, especially Robyn.

#madhouse mike #mike madhouse #cryptid crush #my stuff #headcanons #i won’t make headcanon posts for the other characters #yet #mike’s just in my brain and i want to put it into words

[generation1point5]

True love is possible

Only in the next world - for new people

It is too late for us

If there was any summary of the sentiments that encapsulate my thoughts and response to Echo, it is this line from Disco Elysium. Though decidedly on the psycho-paranormal spectrum of narrative than political, the same sentiment is expressed. A complex combination of psychological and paranormal factors, external and internal forces, contribute to an intense and gut-wrenching backdrop for a horror-themed visual novel. Because of this, Echo’s focus and sentiments trend extremely closely to Night in the Woods. Like Disco Elysium’s more American counterpart, the culture and sentiments expressed in Echo are decidedly exclusive to the geographical area of its setting. Its approach is undeniably rooted in American individualism and the American psyche, tailored further to portray the particular quirks of the post-frontier United States. 

Normally I’m not really one for horror, having not enough of a visceral imagination for Steven King but also lacking the stomach for the same genre in motion picture. Echo, for its part, trends more towards the former than the latter, and the genre serves as an excellent backdrop to explore themes of generational trauma, the border between perception and reality, and the external and internal circumstances that become the driving force behind the formation of identity and interpersonal relationships. 

Like Adastra, Echo acknowledges a baseline awareness of socioeconomic conditions, but it’s primary focus lies elsewhere. Adastra has often been described by others as an inversed dating sim, while Echo is often described as an anti-dating sim. The analysis carries merit on a number of points for consideration.

If horror and fear is the recognition of one's helplessness in the face of a dire threat, it is only natural that the game presents a perpetual and necessary sense of powerlessness to the cast of characters; whether driven by their own will or by circumstances they are helpless to alter, they are all subject to forces that can neither be fully articulated nor influenced. None of them fully understand themselves or their peers; the bonds that unite the cast of friends and define them all are contextualized by trauma, even victimhood. Their efforts and desire to escape their victimhood defines them as much as the victimization itself. There are “better” endings and some “worse” endings, but I don’t think any of them could truly be said to be “happy.” No matter whom you choose, no matter what route is pursued, there is no “ideal” or “perfect” ending for Echo. The sense of futility instilled within the player is given as a disclaimer from the very beginning. 

You’re only going in circles.

Historical trends within Echo are cyclical; likewise, the paths available to the player do not necessarily distinguish between “good” and “bad” endings, but merely serve to paint a clearer picture of what happens. The other routes do little other than to add splashes of color to what is largely an already foregone conclusion. Pursuing all of the routes is better performed as an act of morbid curiosity than any sort of hope that things will turn out fine.

Of course, the pull and the quality of Echo as a visual novel is getting the player to, in fact, care for the characters trapped in a largely bleak situation. Unlike Adastra, I had incentive to approach the game at arm’s length, but even with my reservations in mind, I ended up hooked onto just about every character and route presented in the game. Perhaps it is just my parasocial and sentimentally-prone heart being at odds with my better judgement, but that is part of the draw, the appeal of this visual novel; it pits the heart against the mind, hope against hope. 

From here on, since I will be getting into specifics and potential spoilers, I’m putting the rest of my review under a readmore.

The limited impact of player choice recurs frequently in Echo in a myriad of ways; Chase as a protagonist lacks agency not only as a result of his own socioeconomic conditions and past trauma, but also by the very nature that his actions are partly determined by the player’s choices as well as the remnant influence of Samuel Ayers. Sometimes this manifests as internal monologue inconsistent within Chase’s own mind, and in more extreme examples, locking players into a single choice and even a perspective shift to the second-person. In such instances, the narrative is railroaded into advancing the plot. In other circumstances, the player is hampered by the dispositions and actions of the characters themselves. Few (if any) opportunities exist for the characters to change who they are; many have already grown into themselves with varying degrees of personal baggage and history that largely determine their behavior and reaction to certain events. Chase as protagonist and player character, by contrast, has extremely little personal autonomy and personality, despite having a name and a backstory that cannot be changed, only discovered.

The only notable exception to this rule is in Flynn’s route, where the player experiences a perspective shift from Chase to Flynn, accompanied by a restoration of Chase’s personality and individual identity at the direct erosion of Flynn’s. It’s a subtle implication that the nature of the player’s choices and interactions alter the identities of the characters by whose perspective they take. There is a give-and-take dynamic at work; we get to see the inner workings of the friend group from the protagonist’s perspective even as their perspective is altered by the player’s presence. This is most pronounced when Sam’s thoughts intrude on that of his host character. In general, the player’s experience in Echo serves to highlight the disconnect between influencing an individual directly and the ability to influence the people around them, not in the least because there are other external forces competing for control as well.

Further complicating this dynamic are the presence of the paranormal entities that amplify and otherwise alter the already unstable disposition of the people of the town, some borne of intense desire, others out of an almost consequential animus from past misdeeds committed in Echo. A scientific explanation for these occurrences is sometimes posited but never directly linked; what is clear is that the cyclical appearance of these entities is triggered by a slow accumulation of injustice and suffering that spill over in key moments that trigger the mass hysteria in the town. The experiences are simultaneous and shared to some degree, but are often perceived differently, colored by the accumulation of (often traumatic) experiences of those witnessing the events unfold. Some of these entities are manifestations made to witness tragedy, others entities seem intent to directly incite them. There is no clear dynamic between the forces that seem to overlap and intersect with each other at various points in the story; only that their appearance is the mark of a general decline of sanity for the town. Prevention other than complete avoidance is impossible; efforts to mitigate its effects are limited. 

Though the exact causes of Echo’s decline are not made entirely clear, the pattern of mass hysteria throughout its troubled history, coupled with a broader socioeconomic decline over the decades, reinforces a general impression of inevitable failure. By the time of the events depicted in the visual novel, it is all-but guaranteed to become nothing more than a troubled memory. Its persistence is largely the result of habit, the last gasps of people living in spite of their circumstances, and a seemingly overall desire to salvage what good is left. The existential crisis is palpable; a sentiment that is also shared with Night in the Woods.

But here Echo takes the paranormal and the psychological breaks a little bit further. What happens, exactly, when we hold on to anything at the end of everything? Each of the routes are an answer to this question, none of which are designed to be all-encompassing or comprehensive; the act of choosing a route is simply a different examination of how the cookie crumbles.

Of all the routes in the game, Carl’s shows a good deal of character growth, detailing the ram’s journey of paralysis and coping in the face of his fears and expectations placed upon him to a broader acceptance for responsibility in the choices available to him in life. This is, in part, dependent on the player’s choice for him to face his fears directly or to rely on external forces to bolster his shortcomings. The horror setting serves as a backdrop to force a resolution to Carl’s issues, when so much is at stake. Should Chase encourage him to be his own person and not rely on the ghost of his dead ancestor, he will be set on the path of self-actualization. It is not a momentous or glamorous occasion; it is grounded and modest, an honest reckoning of himself and his circumstances that dispels the hold that the socioeconomic legacy of his family has upon him. He frees himself and Chase is there to witness it; but as a result of all this effort spent with a single individual, the rest of the cast of friends all turn out worse by the end of the hysteria, to varying degrees. In terms of material conditions, Carl is given more than any of the others the means to break from the legacy of his past despite the ways he is also hampered by it. The rest are not so lucky.

A prominent but mostly background force in Echo is that of family; many that try their best to accept and love one another and many more that are broken, dysfunctional, and outright abusive, and all of them a product of their cultures and socioeconomic conditions. Though distant and fairly permissive, Carl’s well-off family offers him a secure foundation towards financial independence and success, and to this end has also railroaded him with expectations that he one day assumes the mantle of the family business. Leo’s own family sticks closely together as a tight-knit group of immigrants from a distant country, one that shares much of their lives with each other and expects, at least to some degree, reciprocal goodwill. Leo himself buys fully into this mentality, even as he easily grasps the idea of family beyond blood relations. It also comes with traditional expressions of heteronormativity and patriarchal attitudes. The same heteronormative expectations are reflected in Chase’s otherwise loving and accepting family, and expressed in much more toxic ways in Flynn and Sydney’s parents. At first glance this toxic heteronormativity can be attributed to the religiosity of the two characters’ families, but this dynamic is not evident in TJ’s own deeply religious background. TJ himself could be considered a more ideal product of someone who had more or less fulfilled the expectations of his parents, to both the benefit and detriment of his person. Socioeconomic considerations for the characters’ families play a greater role in affecting the growth and the outlook of the friend group, as evidenced by Jenna’s impoverished household. Their coping mechanisms in the face of poverty often turned self-destructive and abusive without the presence of religion in their lives. Jenna in turn sought to escape her conditions but also to understand them; she hints at her political views more often than most others, and her interest in psychology is rooted in not only understanding her own situation but also how similar life events have affected all of the people around her. Broadly, those within loving families adopted their parents' values to some extent, while the others found it easier to make (and value) their own choices in life. In some respects, the latter grew up faster, though it is also notable to point out that TJ, not only being the youngest, is also treated as the baby of the group.

TJ’s route is less about his own personal growth and more about how Chase’s desire to nurture and protect him leads to an extreme psychotic breakdown, culminating in a (repeat) murder and the reinforcement of the cyclical violence that plagues Echo. TJ’s fragility and non-aggression makes him something of a victim that Chase feels compelled to protect; it is not the first time that he has acted in response to this compulsion. Here we see the road to hell, paved with good intentions; Chase in his efforts to protect the remnants of good from otherwise awful parts of Echo perpetuates the same cycles of violence that ultimately lead to the town’s final demise. This compulsion is not unique to Chase; the entire group dynamic involving TJ reflects this at-times unhealthy protectiveness of his apparent naivety, albeit to lesser extents.  TJ remains a victim partly because of the tendency of his friend-group to treat him as such in an effort to protect him from harm.

One of the most dominant (and relatable) themes within Echo is pain aversion, not only oneself but for the community that one identifies with. These manifest in all sorts of coping mechanisms and scars that manifest in both beneficial and harmful consequences down the road. Drug use features prominently, as does therapy and prescribed medication, but none of this addresses the root cause of the chronic illness plaguing Echo. The wounds that fester run much deeper, beneath an already thin veneer of civilization until the caustic buildup spills out into a mass-hysteria event. All at once, everyone’s personal problems and historical baggage become everyone’s problem, and the cycle begins again. While there may be healing of the initial wound, there is no restoration in the aftermath, only scar tissue and new points of sensitivity, fertile ground for the cycle to begin afresh.

Of all the routes, Flynn’s is the clearest glimpse players get into the paranormal workings of this cycle. Indeed, his inability to process his grief with the others as a result of unresolved questions over Sydney’s death is what drives him away from the group, and join into a gruesome and timeless entity positioned to glimpse at all the moments of great suffering and tragedy that kicks off the cresting wave of hysteria. His desire for answers ultimately outpaces his capacity for relationships with his friends, and even his own desire for closure. The price for the knowledge he desperately seeks is his own identity, his very personhood. He merges with the cycle and becomes witness to it. Of all the characters in Echo’s cast of friends, Flynn was understood least, in no small part for his frustration and relative inability to express himself with any degree of sincerity outside of biting, dry humor and his stilted desire for intimacy following the death of his closest friend Sydney. His transformation marks the end of the road where his trauma drives him, where he becomes a stranger even to himself, losing all sense of self.

This end strongly contrasts with Jenna’s route, which arguably contains the strongest example of player agency affecting the outcome. It has one the most positive of the endings available and arguably one of the worst; a decision that is largely contingent in the face of an existential, yet everyday question. How much control can we exert over our own will? Over others who seem to have no power to control themselves or the circumstances they were subject to? When agreeing with her initially negative mindset, she is intent on wiping the wounds of the past (the whole slate really) clean through violence, first by the murder of Heather and then by the flooding of the town of Echo. But when Chase encourages her to see the good in the company of friends that gave her the solidarity to endure, Jenna can forgive and let go of her past rather than destroying it. Most of the others are given the opportunity to do the same, and in the end they all survive. The group retains its cohesion despite their flaws and is given a clear road to move on; Echo is left behind forever. The cycle continues, but they are no longer party to it.

And then, of course, there’s Leo.

I saved his route for last because I found it odd that the anchor bracelet on his arm is the same as the icon used for cursor mouse in-game. Being Chase’s ex-boyfriend and the catalyst behind the whole group get-together in the story, it was clear his role in the story was meant to be a central one; even so, knowing how messy things would be, I avoided going for his route until I had exhausted all the others. In a stroke of irony, I believe this is what ended up making me fixate on him the most, and (despite my best efforts) wanting to see him happy; not just happy in the sense that he would no longer captivated by Echo, but happy because his old happiness could be restored to him. But this is a horror VN, and Leo of all the characters can never truly get a happy ending. For both narrative and character reasons, I knew he would not find what he was looking for. What he seeks had died and was buried three years ago; to try and bring it back would be a necromancy of the worst order. And so, in the act of giving the wolf kept taking, until what he had become was a stranger and a monster, unable to understand that he had sacrificed everything: himself, his friends, his former lover and best friend, for a temporary and psychotic happiness. I had understood this from the beginning, and yet I could not help but desire for a path forward for Chase and Leo to be together once again.

Part of Echo’s peerless quality is its ability to showcase the past in the rose-tinted lens and the lens of trauma in equal measure. It is not simplified of its complexity, nor reduced to a lesson in building character. The people in Echo do their best to deal with the past, clinging to the good and rejecting the bad each in their own way, and often to their own detriment. All the same, the past exists independent of the desires and aims set upon it, and its echos reverberate to the present day from the days of old, far beyond any single lifetime. The weight of thousands of years of history exercises itself upon the world, heedless of the will of the living to alter it. 

Both in spite of this animus and because of it, there is a persistence to Echo; it is not a town that passes into memory from apathy and despair, but from illness, neglect, and the chronic failure that has been present from the beginning. Echo’s paranormal conditions merely accelerate the pattern of history that had followed the people who had founded the town, and all who had come and gone since. It magnifies the essence of, for a lack of a better term, the human condition. Even as Echo itself expires in the face of its own entropy, the lives that once called it home live on, forever marked by the scars it leaves behind. It does not kill them, and yet it will not fully disappear. Humanity in its near entirety permeates every single aspect of Echo as a visual novel. It is existential persistence in its rawest form.

This existential persistence is the same found in Night in the Woods, the same as in Disco Elysium. It is far removed from any sort of idealism, or any sort of ending that resolves all the underlying issues plaguing the characters from the beginning until the moment the player enters their lives. In this respect, Echo and its sentiments deconstruct the traditional purposes and structures of its genre. None of the characters who seek romance here will find it. For those within the cast that do, it remains a possibility for the future, but that future is beyond the world of Echo, and beyond its people as they currently find themselves. As far as love relates to Echo itself, there is only a shadow and a passing remnant that ought never make its return.

#personal #blogging #echo vn #echo project

[septemberrie]

Trope Game

Thank you for the tag @junkshop-disco! I really liked reading your thoughts on your tastes and found out they are honestly a bit different than mine! Love that our fandom isn't just one thing.

Rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic?

-10 -> very dissuaded

0 -> don’t care either way

10 -> very enticed

nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged.

Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional

Age Gap: 2/10

Age gaps used to be one of my kinks, but then I got older and well… tastes change!

Codependency: 0/10

I think my answer for a lot of these is going to be, “‘yes’ for my angsty ships, ‘no’ for my healthy ships.” So… yeano?

Enemies to lovers: 10/10

Gimme dat shit. I love starting with interpersonal conflict and growing from there.

Enemies With Benefits: 3/10

I actually will eat up dubcon if it’s in a dark setting that calls for it, i.e. fantasy. I’ll avoid it in contemporary/modern settings bc the real world has enough of that.

Fake Dating/Relationship: 0/10

I’m not opposed to it, upon reflection my issue with it is that “I can't relate to this trope IRL" but I could say that about most of the tropes on this list so I can’t really explain my hesitance lol.

Found Family: 10/10

Who doesn’t love found family??? What in the tradwife

Friends To Lovers: 0/10

Only if there's lots of pining.

Friends With Benefits: 0/10

See: “fake dating” above.

Hurt/Comfort: 100/10

See JD’s comments, and if I may add my own: whump is my shortcut to emotions. I love forcibly removing society’s layers of hesitation and complexity and expectations, and stripping characters to their basest needs and seeing how they react. I feast.

Love Triangle: 0/10

Probably done better on ao3 than mass media but I’m still pretty meh.

Mistaken/Hidden Identity: 0/10

Is this like the Patrick Crawley/Gordon episode of Downton Abbey? Or like… a secret spy falls in love with the mark? No for the former, maybe for the latter; I can't think of any fics like this that have showed up in my browsing.

Monster Fu… Relationship: -5/10

I did read the Burned One x Rosalind fic and ummmm it's not for me. I am however not immune to paranormal romances (still unironically Team Jacob).

Obsession, Possessiveness, etc: -2/10

I mean… for my angsty, unhealthy ships, yes. But I've got to be in the mood for it obv.

Opposites (like grumpy×sunshine, etc): 0/10

…yes? I guess? In that I like reading about two people that aren’t carbon copies of each other. How do they navigate normal difficulties, etc. etc.

Poly: 0/10

Smut, 100%. Relationships? I’m wracking my brain trying to think of an example where I care about all three characters lol. Iron Widow, that worked!

Pregnancy: -10/10

It's a "nope" if the whole point of the fic is pregnancy. If it's part of a larger story/plot then maybe.

Second Chance: 10/10

Holy shit yes, I love the angst. Especially when it’s something out of their control that forced them apart. I don't think I've written this yet but I should add it to my list.

Sex To Feelings: 3/10

Yes, but after reflecting I think I’m more interested in the opposite: Feelings without sex because ~angst reasons~ prevent/preclude the sex. Until it all comes out in a fiery explosion of lust! I digress.

Slowburn: 9/10

The hand touch from Pride & Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright is my middle name. I’m willing to negotiate on how slow is “slow” as long as it makes sense within the story.

Soulmates: 0/10

Only when it creates more angst! I still live in the world @shadowofnight proposed, where Saul and Andreas are “soulmates” with the matching mark or whatever but Saul chooses to be with Farah anyway.

Tagging: @astrid-v @whenshesayshush @theperfectrose @veritaserum07 no pressure ofc!

#ask games #tag games #me my opinions etc #writing tag

[eldritchbonedoll]

Gonna post my character three sentence descriptors so I have them categorized for later writing! (I'll eventually color code them to each other so I know who is relevant for what story) I will try to start posting writing blurbs and my art but there are no guarantees on a set schedule! It may just be me posting from the ether every now and again lmao :3

Esmeray Paige (An archeologist who travels around to get to her next excavation site or museum due to her love for history. Found a mysterious, assumed to be a poor prank, box at her most recent excavation site. Loves romance and slice of life content.)

Harper DelMonte (An indie artist who creates music, art, and book covers. Enjoys paranormal and occult topics, as well as listening to true crime podcasts. Loves making coffee at the cafe and working at the bar with her band.)

Rowan Winters (An approachable animal vet with a seemingly sweet disposition. Often finds himself watching people. An avid collector of knives and holds disdain towards Eric.)

Malcolm Winters (An antisocial programmer who struggles with interpersonal relationships and being tormented. Allows his daydreams to consume his mind to escape reality. Hides his collection of comics.)

Valor Nightingale (They are a graphic designer who's close run-ins with death has made him interested in the topic. Often, in his free time, finds themselves painting or writing about the macabre nature of man. Extremely obsessed with fungi and decay.)

Beau Valentino (An exhausted college student and barista at their local coffee shop. Adores Maddening Mysteries and co-hosts a podcast inspired by it. Tends to speak in sarcasm and hates liars.)

Eric Castillo (A flirty influencer who often over indulges due to his success. Loves to roam bars and bookstores for easy flings. Hunting is a hobby he holds dear and he enjoys pissing off Rowan.)

Elizabeth Cane (A reserved part time waitress at a street corner diner. Often seen with her strange friends. Has an odd interest in the occult and pacts.)

Blaire Cane (A headstrong mechanic who wishes to be seen properly. Completely exhausted with the idea of wasting time on what she sees as nonsense. Devotes herself to the written word, lingering on specific pages that catch her imagination.)

Lisette Cane (A determined doctor in training who devotes herself to the medical field. Tries her best to be as kind as possible, despite her buttons being pretty easy to push, so she can help others. Suffers from insomnia so she devotes her time to studying.)

Monroe Summers (A mute and fiery nun who devotes her time to her craft. Often wishes to be more than she is, unhealthily so. Cherishes bullet journaling and origami.)

Lucille Adams (A wrath based demon who has no true name and the forms it takes are barely comprehensible by humans. The more people spend with this being, the more they are likely to lash out wrathfully.)

Callum Solomon Blackwood (A social butterfly of a priest of a small rural town outside of the city limits. Has spent his whole life dedicated to his religion and its practices for his newfound role. A role model to Monroe.)

Ramus Snapdragon (They are a deal maker at their core, making deals for memories or energy due to their high value to this being. They will however, make exceptions once in a blue moon. They remember every debt owed to them and always come to collect.)

Valentine Kinoshita (A hyperactive photographer, writer, and part time bartender who takes photos of Harper's band. Has a strange affinity for collecting cursed or haunted knick knacks which has confused the librarian with how often he donates to the library. Writes small poems, stories, and so on.)

Renesmee Vivienne Webber (An easy going, skeptical waitress who recently inherited a family heirloom. She thinks the conspiracy theories of paranormal or supernatural beings are far-fetched. Learned Latin simply because she thinks it is a beautiful dead language.)

Mélaine Duplantier (A doctor and part time tarot reader who adores stargazing and mountain climbing. She inherits her mother's little shop in town square. She doesn't inherently believe in tarot reading but she finds it fun.)

Anthony 'Angel' Rosendal (A flourishing florist who abandoned his dream to care for his father and their flower shop. Puts the weight of everyone's problems on his shoulder, even if he can't help. A former friend of Rowan’s.)

Cassius Bassett (A charismatic journalist who does weekly specials about the haunting tales of the town. Often left to delve into the theories of the unsolved cases in this town as a bit of a destresser. The author of Maddening Mysteries.)

Grayson Jones (A corrupt homicide detective who raises the dead to extract hidden information about their deaths. Often left undisturbed and unpunished due to his consistent results for the past thirty years. He worked relentlessly until he collapsed.)

Cyrus Grey (A homicide detective who is trying to dig into the missing cases of this strange town he found himself in. Even if he was taken off of a case due to either interpersonal relationships or lack of results he would continue to investigate. Willing to risk his own life to catch the killer's attention.)

Pierce Ryder ( A nurse interested in human flesh as a delicacy. Often lurking around Cyrus and seemingly offering off handed advice to the next suspect or clue. Enjoys Scarlett's company and the Intel she gives about Cyrus.)

Harley Vandeleur (A private business man who owns a good portion of the town. He's never revealed his face due to some unprovable rumors due to a mishap. Newspapers and articles refer to him as Logan oddly enough.)

Scarlett Fairchild (Mortician who can see into the minds of others. An associate of Ciara and Zander who seem a little standoffish. Obsessed with recording other's deepest secrets and exploits those who lack purpose.)

Natasha Bliss (A gravedigger and sexton, like a groundskeeper, of the local cemetery. A strong woman who geeks out at the esoteric and mysterious. Has an odd hobby of lurking the graveyard at night due to occasional nightmares.)

Live Fairchild (An anxiety ridden author and programmer who lives with her sister Sasha. Enjoys being alone more than anything else and only leaves her room when it is absolutely necessary. Obsessed with dark fantasy romances.)

Sasha Fairchild (An charismatic and chill hair stylist who works at the local hair salon. Enjoys talking and getting to know others but absolutely loathes small talk. Has several pairs of scissors which gets put into a collection whenever she gets new ones.)

Nikolai Levitsky Moloski (A forgotten man who lurks in the shades of a dilapidated building. Causes mischief and terror, leading those to believe the home is haunted. Adored gothic poetry and often recites them when he is bored, which is often.)

Salem Molovski (The great grand niece to Nikolai who knows he's there but can not see him. She doesn't know who he is but she is determined to figure out who or what this being is. Often finds herself in the woods, looking for what others can't see but they can feel.)

Zander Sylvester Alaric (A librarian with a dark secret. An avid collector of ancient books and letters. He has an obsession with sealing letters with wax seals.)

Ciara Alaric (Librarian assistant who has an interest in nature, untouched nature specifically as it brings her great comfort. Often seen lurking in the depths of the library, talking with Nerys, or taking a walk on the outskirts of town. Makes wood carvings that can be found around town.)

Nerys Masters (A curious writer who loves to dive into the depths of the human mind in the cafe and bars. Has a side job as a library assistant. She loves gothic romantic poetry and scrapbooking.)

Seth Maverick (A reserved and cordial accountant who shares an apartment with Malcolm. He sympathies with Malcolm’s struggle and sticks by him when he can. Goes to a rage room to vent frustrations.)

Brynn Sinclair (An energetic tutor and college student who passed her excess free time by hosting a podcast based on Maddening Mysteries. Is a proactive person when coming up with ideas and solutions. Beau’s best friend and a musician.)

Victor Moss (A cowardly scholar and archivist who is ashamed of his fears. Finds himself looking for trouble or to be punished. Has a small crush on Brynn.)

Isabelle Soliel (An easy going book club leader and small business owner. Often can be found alone at the diner. Typically to hold meetings or draw still life. Adores chamomile tea and belladonna's.)

Eden Moss (A child sung to by death and an employee of Isabelle. A mischievous kid who adores practical pranks and puns. Sometimes works part time at Anthony's flower shop and tends to gardens with him.)

Alice Lee (The last of her kind, unable to escape this world as she's been cut off from her realm. She works as a secretary and hates the mundanity of humanity. Adores Lyra as a sister.)

Lyra Webber (Adopted sibling of Renesmee and a half siren. A shape shifter who uses masks to change her form. Loves lily pads and shiny rocks.)

Felicity Cicero (Banshee who roams the woods during the week of a full moon, collecting lost souls to take care of. Usually found near rivers and waterfalls, searching beneath the moonlight. Is human any other time though, frightens me.)

Eloise Noire (A copycat killer of the infamous Ghost Host, out local serial killer who's crimes would be aired absurdly but he was never found. Charismatic and profoundly cheerful no matter how grim the setting. Very meticulous and loves true crime.)

Ambrosia Verner (A man who loves to play with the strings of fate and loves risky (and risque) situations. Has a butterfly collection and stalks those that catch his eyes. Adores beautiful things and loves thrills.)

Léon Bourgeois (A man who is interested in collecting old and supposedly haunted books and selling them. He's a blunt man who works in a pawn shop just outside of town. He has, what seems like, old self portraits of various people varying in gender and ethnicity.)

Carmelia Thane (A respected ancient vampire and the eldest one. The wife of Bram Thane and founder to the scholars of Carmelia, at least before it got out of hand. Enjoys the luxury of her immortality.)

Bram Thane (An idol who loves to put strange and unusual towns on the map. Often seen drinking and flirting with his wife. Indifferent to Zander and Ciara, much to Carmelia’s dismay.)

Pandora (The least respected of the three ancient vampires. A curator of fine arts and obtaining her own inspiration of any gender. Often headbutts with Carmelia over her small art cult.)

Rohan Wittlebane (A banished ancient vampire who lives in a cozy cottage with his boyfriend. Often seen on dates with Graham but nobody bothers the couple due to rumors. He enjoys hiking and listening to record players while it rains.)

Graham Jones (A muse who loves inspiring others and genuinely enjoys helping those who are afraid to take the first step towards their goal. Often seen walking dogs for the pound and going out on dates with Rohan. Loves stargazing and listening to old records with his boyfriend.)

Clementine Goldwyn (A confident model who occasionally takes her friends for coffee. A wingman and childhood friend of Pierce before he changed for the worse. She does singing and modeling gigs.)

Stranger (A being that distorts our reality and devours others due to its nature. It only allows itself to be adjacently human, not much caring about its imperfections that warps and imbeds itself into the mind of humanity. Loves playing cruel tricks on the human mind.)

Ezra Curtis (A being that shapes its form to that of which it has recently seen, it's not perfect but its imperfections tend to be miniscule. Has a couple of favorite animals it shifts into to mess with people. Loves gambling but has nasty cheats.)

Swarm (A creature that infests the human hosts and spreads the mass of filth and disease to those who welcome it. The warmth of the body determines when they will move to the next host. They are endless and will thrive even when we are gone.)

Doctor Amnesia (He is a soft spoken doctor who makes patients fears of not being believed a reality. An entity who enjoys the panic and desperation of those it messes with. If you were to ask for him, you can recall what he said but no one know him or seems to remember.)

Oracle (An entity that eagerly, ravenously, consumes others agony. Nobody can escape the fates it foretells, or well, ushers others into. Often toys with its victims with supposed warnings and false hope to avoid their inevitable prophecy but in reality it funnels them into their cursed fates.)

#ocs #three sentence descriptors #Please understand that these are supposed to be generalized ideas of the characters #so that i may look back and be like Oh! yeah! now i remember Lmao! #a little scared to be posting these #i have like some lire cooked up which is why words like Muse or Ancient Vampire might crop up in these descriptors

[write-on-world]

Impossibly Haunting - The Impossible Players Breathe fresh Life into The Haunting of Hill House .

With a setting as absolutely perfect for the story of a haunted building like a former church (long disused for that very purpose), how could the Impossible Players not successfully pull off a story like F. Andrew Leslie's The Haunting of Hill House?

This is not the first production made by the Impossible Players that this writer has had the opportunity to witness. And each production brings to the stage its own unique flare. Likewise for this performance, which was complete with all of the usual Halloween-esque elements. Including seeing the lobby of the playhouse transformed from its usual cozy welcoming place into a graveyard, complete with corpulent animals, spooky trees, and a box-office manager resplendent in a monk's robe, but baring sharpened teeth. Complimentary was the theater itself, covered in the kinds of things that might make Anne Rice proud, being littered with headless and eyeless doll heads, music boxes that play of their own accord, a portrait on stage that slowly changes to add new creepy elements as the production progresses, and most interestingly: an ensemble cast of self-styled "creepers" who roam across the stage and through the house during the production that the principal cast are unable to see or interact with.

Creepy!

Based on a novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson, the Impossible Players began their production on Friday last, 13th October, a perfect date for opening a scary story if ever there was one. The production opened to a near house full of scary story enthusiasts. The date of the production's opening alone merited that it deserved a larger audience, but the voracity of the characters, the tension brought to life by their interpersonal relationships, and the theme of the story itself - being caught up by something that one cannot control - was deserving of a fine opening night alone.

The story centers around a group of scholars and idly curious attendees who secure a permit to lodge inside of a reputedly haunted house for the duration of a week in order to observe the paranormal goings on within. Leading them is Dr. Montague, played by 10 year Impy Veteran Curtis Perkins who is the most scholarly of the characters, determined to take scientific measurements of the spirits possessing Hill House. Supporting him are Eleanor Vance, Theodora (Just Theodora), and Luke Sanderson, played by Barbara Clemans, Lisa (Just Lisa), and Dakota Lowe respectively. Supposedly they are two young ladies that are psychically sensitive to the spirits of the house longing for a voice, and a young man that is reluctant but not a metaphysically predisposed semi-owner of the house to monitor the goings-on of the characters.

And what scientific experiment would be complete without the charlatans? Mrs. Montague (Dr. Montague's mediumistic wife), and her grinning lackey Arthur, played by Leta Vallejos and Johnny Lucero, who comically hold back Dr. Montague's observations by claiming to be more sensitive than lobby-hotel psychics to the spirits around them. This duo brings some much needed comic relief following intense bouts of shouting and fretful exchanges between characters and the spirits that occupy the very walls, during the more haunting scenes.

And no less important is the character whom, in my opinion, is the personification of Hill House itself, Mrs. Dudley, the aged caretaker of Hill House whom has seen many tenants come and go, offering quiet, stern, and subtle reminders about the nature of Hill House while reminding her present guests about "what she agreed to do", played by L.J. Bailey, who offers the story's harrowing epilogue about how spirits that we generally don't understand have free reign in our world, whether we like it or not.

The story itself warrants that good sense may lie in that the living may do well to try and not understand that which we cannot fathom.

Complete with haunting noises, whispers of disembodied children, drawers that open and close of their own accord, scratches behind the walls, creaking floor boards, ghostly laughter, chilling lighting effects, chairs that rock without occupants, books that fall off shelves at opportune moments, and a large ghostly coachman that seems very intent on the goings-on of the audience, The Haunting of Hill House provides what it promises: a delve into things that science simply is at a loss to explain.

Congratulations are in order for Marlo Angel-Hartman, making her directorial debut in this, the 57th season of the Impossible Players legacy. Supplemental congratulations are similarly in order for her assistant director, Billy Harrington, who provided the deep eerie laughter of the haunted house.

The production continues tonight, 14th October, and again the following two weeks on 20th and 21st October, at 7:30 PM. 22nd October offers a 2 PM matinee for those who prefer their scary stories in broad daylight. 27th October is a special performance being held at 9 PM for genuine late-night atmosphere, and closing 28th October at 7:30 PM.

The Impossible Players hold their productions at 1201 N. Main St. in Pueblo, CO. 81003. Tickets are available at the box office, or via reservation at [phone]. View the Impossible Player's webpage at impossibleplayers.com.

#the impossible players #scary stories #the haunting of hill house #shirley jackson #live theater #writers supporting actors #write it

[biglisbonnews]

Stormy Daniels Is Here For Real Himbo-Daddy Romance Strange things always happen to Stormy Daniels, though the most well-known involves an orange-hued politician, a cover-up conspiracy and a highly publicized legal battle. But that’s not what we're interested in discussing during our conversation over mid-day drinks at a mall in the San Fernando Valley. Rather, we’re here to talk about the dramatic, emotional and just plain wacky occurrences that transpired while she was filming OUTtv’s new opposites-attract dating series For the Love of DILFs, including a supernatural incident that almost took out a hot tub full of daddies and himbos.As the dating show’s host and in-house relationship advisor, the director, producer and former adult star-turned-paranormal investigator spent several weeks living in a South Florida mansion with a group of “young” and “pretty” himbos trying to find the hunky daddy of their dreams. Joining her was Susan, the haunted doll who became a point of contention amongst her Surreal Life castmates, mostly due to their inability to accept her as a member of the household. Unfortunately, this was also the case with a few contestants from For the Love of DILFs, who “ran in freaking out” after spotting Susan in a window overlooking the pool, where “they said they were making fun of her and were taking photos without asking.” Related | 'The Surreal Life' Is the Wildest Celebrity Roommate Situation“And then a palm tree instantly broke in half and landed next to them in the jacuzzi,” Daniels recalls, before launching into a story about how it was amazing to be around “40 gorgeous men and none of them were trying to fuck [her].” Instead, they were more fixated on her husband — another former adult star who was acting as the show’s cinematographer — and were likely responsible for an overnight uptick in sales of his dick molds. Despite their desire to have sex with her husband, not to mention the interpersonal drama required for any good reality show, Daniels says that all of the contestants were ultimately there to form real connections with each other through date nights and challenges. After all, Daniels explains that For the Love of DILFs is a far cry from the Love Islands and the Too Hot to Handles of the world, as it’s a dating show where the $10,000 cash prize is “to invest into their relationship.” “They have to spend it together, so it’s not $10,000 each. It’s for things like trips or bonding,” she elaborates. “One couple even said that if they made it, they were going to use it for a cross-country move to be together.”Not only that, but Daniels — who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community herself — believes the show is truly reflective of both daddy and himbo subcultures, seeing as For the Love of DILFs is helmed by Daddy TV, a queer production company that wanted to ensure the true-to-life casting was representative of the “organically diverse” nature of many daddy/himbo partnerships. ​“It feels more authentic because the producers, directors and writers of the show are actually from the community and they understand them,” she says. “So as ridiculous as it is, it’s not exploitative.”Daniels continues, “I’ve seen some shit, and this doesn’t feel like some more mainstream Hollywood show that’s like, ‘I'm cashing in on this community of people.’ Everyone working on it is young. They’re in the scene.” As for critics who argue that a bisexual cis-woman shouldn’t be hosting a show about gay male relationships, let alone doling out advice, Daniels notes that she had “no real influence” on the dynamics or organization of the show, other than sometimes being the “tiebreaker” during a few of the challenges. And even then, the real heart of the show is fostering “true connection,” not just “the chemistry or who won an athletic challenge or a challenge based on luck,” which makes Daniels the perfect host, according to Daddy TV co-founder Topher Cusumano. “There was no better person to help these men find love with each other than Stormy. She adds so much humor and heart to the show. You can tell just by watching how she was genuinely invested in the singles and their happiness,” Cusumano previously told Deadline, while OUTtv CEO Phillip Webb added that Daniels has “a long public history of standing up for the LGBTQ+ community.” ​“That allyship, star power, and relationship expertise make her the perfect fit to helm a show about guys hunting for love,” Webb said, a sentiment that Daniels goes on to echo in her own explanation. “I have a huge gay fan base. I’ve spoken out and given people the courage or the platform to stand up for themselves and be fearless,” she says before taking a swig of her drink. “And maybe the producers thought that after seeing Trump naked, you couldn't really shock me.”Welcome to "Sex with Sandra," a column by Sandra Song about the ever-changing face of sexuality. Whether it be spotlight features on sex work activists, deep dives into hyper-niche fetishes, or overviews on current legislation and policy, "Sex with Sandra" is dedicated to examining some of the biggest sex-related discussions happening on the internet right now.Photos courtesy of OUTtv https://www.papermag.com/stormy-daniels-dilfs-2659365618.html

#Sandra song #Sex with sandra #Lgbtq #Queer #Tv #Reality tv #For the love of dilfs #Outtv #Stormy daniels #Sandra Song #PAPER

[writtenworksbyme]

Book Review For Fairest By Marissa Meyer~

So Fairest, where do I start? Well, first and foremost Fairest is the fourth book in the Lunar chronicles. Also, fans of the series are called the Lunartics. This story is all about Levanna and why she turned out to be the “evil queen/stepmother” she is today. So when we flip the pages at the very first part we read about her dream featuring her older sister, Channary. The timeline of this dream is when she is already a queen. Anyways, moving on. The story was amazingly wholesome. I have never loved an evil main character as ever before. Chill anyways… I do have to say that Marissa Meyer is an amazing and talented writer. Anyways, lets go serious. Fairest is a bonus book in The Lunar Chronicles, specifically #3.5, and was released just before Winter, the grand finale. I have yet to read Winter but wanted to whet my appetite with this short novel, a backstory on Queen Levana – the series’ nemesis. The Lunar Chronicles is a young adult science-fiction series and a retelling of several fairy tales; it also includes a very specific Stars Wars character clone.In Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress we’re regaled with three different fairytale-inspired women who come together against all odds in a futuristic empire of androids, robots, inter-planetary politics, and war. Cinder is based on Cinderella, but in this story she’s an android, half human and half robot. She left her whole robotic leg on the palace steps after running from the royal ball. Scarlet is based on Red Riding Hood, and there’s a genetically engineered wolf-boy out there who has turned against the evil queen to pursue his love interest. Cress is based on Rapunzel and for years she was trapped inside an orbiting satellite, forced to work as a hacker spy for the evil queen, until a Han Solo-type rescues her in his mighty ship.In Fairest, Marissa Meyer creates the story of Queen Levana in an ingenious way. It’s hard to hate her – she is that pitiful, but only at first. Queen Levana emerges as a diffident young princess but rises to become a completely unexpected juggernaut.The Lunars were originally colonists on the moon but something in the atmosphere gave them unearthly powers over time. They have the paranormal ability to cloak themselves in beautiful apparitions with perfect skin, hair, and facial attributes – changeable at will. The most powerful Lunars can also exert mental influence over their subjects. Those who are not born with the powers of ‘glamour’ are immediately taken for testing and extermination.Because this glamour does not work on cameras or mirrors, Queen Levana forbids both in her presence. But this only pertains to her on a personal level. In Fairest we find out why. The reader also finds out why she tried to have Princess Selene killed (the daughter of her older sister), the details of her climb to power and her rule, about the disease ravaging Earth, and why ‘shells’ – those born without power the power of glamour  – are destroyed. Queen Levana exhibits more cunning than cruelty, more acts of kindness when she could have been deadly, and above all wishes to protect her world and with that priority, she makes major sacrifices. As a royal child she was coddled in luxury, but lacked the empathy normally provided by interpersonal relationships, connections she never experienced. Because of this, she makes enormous mistakes – but ones that sometimes endear the reader because of the pity they create. On the other hand, Queen Levana knowingly commits several unforgivable atrocities such as mass murder, and no matter how much pity you feel for this character, there is no room for absolution. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------please do note that all works are mine, if you want to use my works please message me on my tumblr, thank you dears<3

#reading #book review #book blr #book lover #marissa meyer #fairest #the lunar chronicles

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 3 of 26

Title: Acceptance (The Southern Reach #3) (2014) - REREAD

Author: Jeff VanderMeer

Genre/Tags: Horror, Science Fiction, Ecological Horror, Cosmic Horror, Weird, First-Person, Second-Person, Third-Person, Unreliable Narrator, Female Protagonists, LGBT Protagonist

Rating: 10/10

Date Began: 1/11/2021

Date Finished: 1/20/2021

Area X, a self-aware wilderness along the coast, has existed for decades behind a mysterious border. The landscape itself annihilates humans and repurposes them for its own ends. Hundreds of people have died attempting to uncover its secrets. But no one has yet discovered its origins or true purpose.

Now, Area X has spread past its former borders, perhaps to the entire world. Acceptance follows several key figures through the history of Area X, and their attempts to fight against an impossible threat.  

You feel numb and you feel broken, but there’s a strange relief mixed in with the regret: to come such a long way, to come to a halt here, without knowing how it will turn out, and yet... to rest. To come to rest. Finally. All your plans back at the Southern Reach, the agonizing and constant fear of failure or worse, the price of that... all of it leaking out into the sand beside you in gritty red pearls. 

Full review, major spoilers, and content warning(s) under the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Extreme body horror, altered states of mind, and psychological manipulation, including hypnosis. Several characters lose their sanity, and you see it happen in real time from their perspective. Intentional self-harm/mutilation as a plot point. Some violence and gore. There are brief references to animal abuse and terminal cancer. Not many happy endings in this one.  

This review contains major series spoilers. It’s also super long, as the book covers a lot of material. 

Acceptance is the most narratively ambitious book in the Southern Reach trilogy. While Annihilation and Authority feature a single protagonist/perspective, this one has four rotating POVs and one guest narrator partway through the book. It also covers a broader timeline than previous entries, from the origins of Area X 30-ish years ago to the ongoing present-day apocalypse. Acceptance is one of the few books I've read that utilizes first-, second-, AND third-person narration in a single volume, adopting whichever one makes the most sense for the character and their situation

While this sounds complicated, it's basically just a way to tell four different stories at the same time. VanderMeer also uses each storyline to address the major questions of the series. How did Area X come to be? What happened to the biologist? What was the former director of the Southern Reach trying to accomplish? And perhaps most pressing-- what is the fate of the world now that Area X has spread? Not everything is resolved, but it's definitely a conclusion.

The stories have some unifying connections, containing similar themes and callbacks/references to each other. However, for the purposes of this review I will be looking at each story and protagonist individually.

First up is Saul Evans the lighthouse keeper. He's been mentioned before, but never in much detail. Going in, we know a few things-- (1) he knew the director/Cynthia when she was a child and (2) something happened to him that turned him into the Crawler, the eldritch creature which writes the sermon on the walls of the tower in Area X. In Acceptance, we learn he's a former preacher who had a crisis of faith and left his old life, taking up the role of lighthouse keeper on the forgotten coast. It's implied this is partially due to him realizing he's gay and fleeing the resulting homophobic fallout. His past vocation explains the elevated, sermonic language of the words in the tower.

From the onset Saul is an intensely likeable character. He's trying to build a happier and more genuine life for himself. This part probably takes place during the 70s or 80s, but he's cautiously optimistic about his new life with a local fisherman named Charlie. He also forms an unlikely friendship with Gloria (aka Cynthia), a local kid who loves exploring the coast. However, he is tormented by the "Séance and Science Brigade", a shady organization that investigates/worships(?) paranormal phenomena. They sabotage the lighthouse beacon, which we learned in Authority is a marvelous piece of technology with a mysterious history. Shortly after, Saul accidentally absorbs a fragment of the beacon into himself, and shit goes downhill real fast.

While the catalyst of Area X may seem a little weird, the reader can piece together that part of the beacon has extraterrestrial origins, and Saul unintentionally activates part of it. The gradual shift from a normal life to something deeply unsettling has its appeal. I especially like seeing his logs/journal entries and how they devolve as proto-Area X overtakes his mind. The disturbing bar scene near the end is great as well. We know going in that this story has a bad ending (from a human perspective), but learning specifics about Saul as a person gives this more impact. Saul's is a sad tale of a man who wants to make a better life for himself and gets screwed over by bad luck.

Cynthia/Gloria/the former director is the next perspective character. In Annihilation she serves as the antagonist, but in Authority we learn it isn't that simple. She had ulterior motives, handpicking the biologist for the expedition in order to use her as a weapon against Area X. And, of course, we learn she was the little girl in that old picture of Saul, which means she probably grew up there before the border came down. 

This part opens with Cynthia/Gloria's death as "the psychologist" in Annihilation, but told from her perspective. From there, the pacing is a little slow, in similar style to Authority. We learn how Cynthia lived her daily life, how she infiltrated the Southern Reach, and her interpersonal relationships with Grace, Whitby, and Lowry. However, her storyline ramps up when detailing Area X and the lead up to twelfth expedition. Lots of old scenes/dynamics from Annihilation hit different with the new context. Especially interesting is the interview between Cynthia and the biologist; turns out there was a lot more context that the biologist obscured in her story. On some level we already knew she was an unreliable narrator, but it's fun to have it pop up again in a different book entirely.

I admire how VanderMeer makes someone who comes off as a throwaway villain into the one of the most complex, important characters in the series. This part is also really cool as it's written in second-person perspective, and the story justification for this (Area X examining her memories) is neat. While I like Cynthia's characterization in this part, the additional bits in Saul's story and his interactions with Gloria add helpful context and emotional impact. The end of the book being her letter to Saul is so damn sad.

The third main storyline follows Control and Ghost Bird in the "current" timeline-- exploring Area X in the immediate fallout of Authority. I love this part for several reasons. The contrast between the two leads and how they perceive themselves, Area X, and the current situation is great. Control is very much losing control, feeling "the brightness" taking over (a callback to Annihilation). Meanwhile, Ghost Bird is in her element, seeing and experiencing things the regular human characters do not. There's the sense that she's truly something "new" in terms of both humanity and Area X.

We also learn a ton of stuff about Area X that is hinted in earlier volumes but confirmed in Acceptance. (MAJOR SPOILERS) The first is that Area X isn't on Earth at all; something briefly hinted at in Annihilation, when the biologist doesn't recognize the stars in the sky.  Instead it mimics Earth, or something representative of it. The second big thing is that time works differently here. The uncanny state of decay noted in earlier books isn't actually a direct result of Area X. It's just the passage of time, because way more time passes in Area X compared to the "real" world.

The guest narrator/story is told within the Control/Ghost Bird storyline. The two meet up with Grace, who has managed to survive the Area X attack on the Southern Reach. She took shelter on the mysterious northern island and discovered an old journal written by... the biologist from Annihilation, which details what happened to her over the last THIRTY YEARS (yeah, the time thing) until she finally decided to give into Area X.

This section is sobering and sad; basically a glimpse at how the biologist's isolation slowly made her go mad. She finds an owl (hello cover) that she believes is her husband post Area X conversion and the two live together for decades. When it dies, the biologist loses the will to keep fighting Area X. It's ambiguous if the owl really is her husband, or if she's just projecting, but her heartbreak at the end is probably the strongest emotion she shows in the series. But what is interesting about this part is it confirms a cool detail. Injury and pain can halt the progression of "the brightness" within someone. Which is how the biologist managed to survive 30 years, how Grace survived what turns out to be 3 years, and so on. Even more interesting, when someone DOES finally succumb after warding off the brightness this way, they turn into something more strange and alien. Hence the moaning creature, and Saul/the Crawler. It's also probably why some creatures have incongruencies, like the dolphins with human eyes.

The biologist? She transformed into a giant, oceanic eldritch abomination COVERED in eyes. Just primo aesthetic. We get to see her from both Ghost Bird and Control's perspectives. Ghost Bird feels solidarity and a sort of euphoria meeting her alternate self. Control... basically breaks in the face of something like that, full cosmic horror style. Again, the contrast here is really appealing to me.

Both of their story arcs end in a way that is narratively satisfying, though the ending is open. The future seems hopeful in a bittersweet way, but presumably Area X has destroyed humanity as we know it. Whether that's a good or bad thing depends on your perspective and is a central thesis of the series.

So, I said I'd discuss how this series approaches aliens. While there's an appeal to anthropomorphic alien species one can talk to and communicate with, I think an "unknowable" perspective is more realistic. After all, who's to say alien life formed under similar conditions or has any resemblance to our own? The extraterrestrial element in The Southern Reach is very much this type. But it's a fine line to walk in fiction, because handwaving the weird alien stuff as impossible to comprehend (and thus conveniently ducking any responsibility for explaining it) is lazy writing when done wrong.

The thing I find interesting about this series is the human characters understand lots of the what of the alien elements, but not the why. For example, Area X transforms humans into various plants and animals. We know it instills a sense of "brightness" in humans exposed for too long, which encourages assimilation into itself. Humans infected in this way, even if horrified or resistant, have thoughts of this being inevitable, even a good thing. The biologist takes samples in Annihilation and finds several plants and animals have human cells. Control logically knows what Area X does to people, but he is ultimately helpless to resist the process when he experiences it firsthand.

As for the why of it all... we don't really know! There's multiple ideas presented throughout the story. Ghost Bird probably gets closest to the "truth"; that Area X is part of a machine organism from a dead alien civilization, and that it has a bizarre effect on Earth's biology based on its now defunct programming. Other worlds would have their own Area Xes based on this idea, as it's implied the Earth version is just one piece of many. But it's worth noting that Ghost Bird is a creation of Area X and sees things differently than the other characters. Unreliable narration is ironically consistent through the series. So it's hard to say if this is true or not; perhaps it's silly to think any explanation would be understandable to a human mind. Obsession with finding the answer is a recurring theme that drives characters insane. I think this is an interesting compromise when discussing the unknowable; to have some facts and theories but not necessarily a concrete answer. 

If I have a criticism for this book, it's the role of the "Séance and Science Brigade", especially in Saul's storyline. While they're set up earlier in the series, we only really see them in this book. Our limited perspective via Saul leaves a lot of ambiguity as to their purpose, function, and goals. There's an implication that Control's family influenced the organization's decision to sabotage the beacon and create Area X. But I consider the subplot with Control's mom/grandfather to be one of the weaker ones in the series, and this book didn't help. The S&SB comes off as campy and ineffectual, which is perhaps intentional? But since they're narratively the fanatics who caused Area X to happen, I really wish they felt more sinister and impactful. There's some attempt to make them scary, but it's not very convincing when compared to Area X. Kind of like a Saturday morning cartoon villain vs the unknowable cosmic horror of the universe. This is a nitpick, though.

While rereading the series, I discovered there's a planned fourth book which may or may not star a minor character from Saul's story. I'm interested to see what else there is to explore about Area X and the Southern Reach. As it stands, I still really like this series. Between the horror and general weirdness, it's not for everyone, but it sure does appeal to me. I think this is one of those series that you'll either adore or hate. Obviously I recommend it.

#taylor reads #2021 reading challenge #10/10 #long review lmao

[quizzical-paradox]

OK FUCK THIS NOISE IM GONNA CLASSPECT FUCKIN INVADER ZIM CHARACTERS BECAUSE I CAN AND CRINGE CULTURE IS DEAD. WELCOME TO THE HYPERFIXATION ZONE

(please keep in mind that this is a huge shitpost and isnt meant to be taken seriously at all--)

Zim = Prospit, Bard of Doom

Ok this one should be kinda obvious. Abusing and manipulating the powers of doom and never even benefiting from it in the end? Overall being full of themselves and is ALWAYS confident, no matter what? 100% Zimcore. Need I say more.

Gir = Prospit, Knight of Heart

Never thought I’d see the day when I’d have to classpect GIR of all people. Or, dogs. Or, robots. Anyhow, GIR being a Knight of Heart...kinda works. After all, what the IZ universe mostly lacks is optimism, heart, and overall that kinda positive stuff--which is what Gir brings to the table, along with Minimoose. I’m smart.

Minimoose = Derspit, Witch of Space

I AM CLASSPECTING A FLOATING PURPLE MOOSE. Oh my absolute god. Anyway, I couldn’t decide on a lunar sway for Minimoose, so I just went with Derspit because yes. Anyway, as we can see in ETF, Minimoose CLEARLY has space-manipulating powers. He teleported an ENTIRE PLANET, for god’s sake. He uses it mostly to the advantage of others, but he mostly benefits from it indirectly because Zim is an idiot, so I made him a Witch. For all we know, Minimoose could be god-tier already and noone would bat an eye.

Dib = Derse, Seer of Void

Pretty much any paranormal investigator character could be a Seer of Void, not gonna lie. They're just like that, ya know. Anyway, a sense of wanting to understand the unseen, the unknown, and even the nonexistant is a TOTAL Dib move. Like holy shit that fits way too much.

Gaz = Derse, Rogue of Rage

Gaz. Gaz sweetie. You can’t just hoard all that rage. You gotta leave some for another poor bastard--shit she’s already gone. Fuck. Anyway, I feel like Gaz being Ragebound is...kind of a given. I mean, she already canonically saves up and hoards a bunch of Rage and unleashes it on some other poor utterly fucked soul, so this works. Trust me.

Membrane = Derse, Heir of Space

Okay just hear me out here. He’s well-versed in creation, he does it mostly for the benefit of others, AND he’s pretty space-oriented in the first place. Seriously, everything about the man just SCREAMS Heir of Space. Look me in the eye and tell me I’m wrong. See, you can’t. Checkmate.

Almighty Tallests = Prince(s) of Hope

Welp, the Tallests are Eridan kinnies, who knew. Also YES they share a classpect, they're practically identical, gimme a break. Anyway, the reason I chose Prince of Hope rather than Prince of Space was 1: we already have way too many space players so we dont need two more. And 2: they already destroy hope by being galactic monarchs and conquering planets--plus, they destroy WITH hope by being naive to the consequences of their actions, as seen in ETF. Also, they're MONARCHS, so of course they're princes. Hee hoo I'm smart.

Tak: Derse, Mage of Doom

Yo holy shit, Tak is a Sollux kinnie. ...I need to make a shitpost of that now. Anyway, the reason I made Tak a Doombound mage is because she has CLEARLY, canonically, fought against Doom throughout her backstory (failing the exams and being banished for god knows how long, only to return and fall to Zim after carefully constructing a plan, etc.) and, since Zim is a Doombound Bard, that would make her defeat as his hands a way of her suffering Doom, therefore further securing her Magehood. She could have god-tiered after getting thrown into the sun, for all we know.

(EDIT: I FUCKING FORGOT THE BONUS CHARACTERS SO HERE YA GO:)

Chammy Wamboo = Prospit, Knight of Blood

Okay not gonna lie this one's a big brain move. See, Chammy's one of those shippers, focused on interpersonal relationships, right? Lil Meulin kinnie. So of course, she'd be Bloodbound. Since that's what the IZ universe lacks, then she's a Knight attempting to defend it and bring it to the table. (she shares a classpect with KARKAT OF ALL PEOPLE. WHAT THE FUCK)

Keef = Prospit, Thief of Blood

Yeah Keef being a Hero of Blood is kind of a given anyway. Poor boy, he doesn't MEAN to steal Blood per se, but he ends up doing it anyway because he just wants human connection. Tragic, but still annoying. RIP.

Zib = Derspit, Mage of Rage

Not to toot my own horn, but THIS ONE IS FUCKING BIG BRAIN. See, since Zib's backstory is heavily ambiguous, this one was a challenge. BUT, Zib has been shown to be fighting (and losing) against his own Rage in the form of his Zim half, and eventually suffers the consequences of his Rage by failing and being deserted in the Void. I considered Void for him due to the aforementioned reason, but I think Rage works better.

Pilot Dib = Derse, Thief of Beans Time

Now, this one is less big-brain, but it still works. Since Pilot Dib is suspended in IZ canon, and is widely regarded as the most feral character in that suspended canon, as well as being the most memorable character in the pilot itself, he basically has a monopoly over the entire time he spends on-screen. So, he basically stole the pilot's runtime and became the ULTIMATE DIB. Good for him, good for him.

Concept Dib = Derse, Seer of Mind

Hee hee, Concept Dib is a Terezi kinnie. Anyway, since Concept Dib is basically just Dib if he was Dexter, I feel like he'd be very Mind-oriented. And, being a scientist, he'd be dedicated to understanding his mind, so of course he'd be a Seer.

ANYWAY, that's my stupid fuckin analysis because im dumb and cringe culture is dead. if you see this no you dont <3

#invader zim #homestuck #musings of the conjurer #PLEASE DONT LOOK AT THIS IT'S MY SHAME PLEASE #SOBS #long post

[kingofthewilderwest]

Useless Fiddleford McGucket headcanons because I’m bored and sleep deprived and want to talk about my favorite so NYEH sue me

Fidds is the baby of a large family, something like the second-to-youngest out of seven kids. I mean, he doesn’t have the backbone an older sibling would have. More older brothers than older sisters (four bros, he makes five boys). He’s got one younger sister, but other than that, he’s the youngest. He’s even young when taking cousins and extended family into account.

He’s got a MOB of cousins. There’s still a hoard of McGuckets back in Tennessee.

He started the chewing tobacco habit in his early teens.

He was always the most interested in banjo of the musical instruments and started that around eleven. But he also knows a fair amount of folk percussion elements (musical spoons, hamboning, etc.) and learned a little fiddle by proxy. As in, he never TRIED to learn the violin, but he had a cousin or friend who played, and they showed him a few things.

One time someone in college mentioned that Fiddleford should’ve been a fiddler, and McGucket mentions he DID pick up “just a little. sorta.” When they put a violin in his hands, he cranks out a few heavy bluegrass bars that are legitimately good, and everyone else in the room is like, “I hate you.”

He didn’t learn to read music until he was in college, though. Encouragement from Ford. He’s still not good with reading music.

McGucket started post-secondary at a community college because of tight finances in his family. He transferred to Backupsmore as a junior, and for him, that was a legitimate step up. Four year out-of-state university!

He lived in the dorms his entire stay at Backupsmore. This was the one period where his “early to bed, early to rise” lifestyle got strained. He still went to bed earlier and woke earlier than most students, but he was busy enough it could get late. He’d unwind by playing banjo, which quickly made him That Annoying Person UGH in the dorm community... he learned to go outside, play the instrument in a nearby clearing/parkish area on campus, where he wouldn’t bother others.

Fiddleford is two years older and two grades above Ford. They had lots of class overlap because Ford started taking upper level courses early.

Fiddleford majored in mechanical engineering and figured a Bachelors would suffice. He looked at schooling from more a humble and practical perspective: he’d rather apply his mechanical knowledge in the real world than sit in abstract academia. But Ford convinced Fiddleford he was brilliant enough he should go for grad school, and he did (at Backupsmore, too, naturally).

Fiddleford and Ford have taught a class together. Initially, the teaching assignment was just for Ford. But Fidds suspected Ford wouldn’t get the human element down right in class (Ford would just lecture at a board, he’d do the bare minimum because he’d rather focus on his own research, he’d make coursework too tough because he had skewed ideas of what was feasible, he wouldn’t have the right Touch or interpersonal skills to talk to students worrying about grades, etc.), so Fiddleford suggested he slip in as a second instructor.

There were still more than a few... rough patches and learning moments... with that class.

McGucket married in his early 20s his senior year of undergrad.

Statistically unlikely as he knows it is, Fiddleford still buys scratch tickets and loses money from it.

Ford was the DM for the Dungeons Dungeons & More Dungeons group. All male group. Of everyone, Ford had to twist Fiddleford’s arm the most to play. Fiddleford was the person who attended the group the least (out on dates with Emma-May and such), but he did end up liking the game and coming without Ford cajoling. Admittedly he was more in it for the math than the fantasy.

That same group of people came up with the KBPS measurement (Knee Bounce Per Second). A bunch of hard scientists teasing McGucket about being twitchy turned into creating an official measurement for said twitchiness.

There has been at least one incident where Ford’s been stumped on an advanced physics problem for months and months, and Fiddleford looks at it and solves it in two minutes. 

Fiddleford has published papers under “Fiddleford Hadron McGucket,” full name, despite the middle name being unnecessary to distinguish himself (ergo why he introduces himself like that in Society of the Blind Eye).

He’s had problems with people not believing that’s his real name.

His dialect used to be a lot thicker - phonetically, syntatically, etc. A combination of people being mean to him about it, peers not 100% understanding what he said, and the education system saying he spoke “wrong” made him focus on trying to change it in his early 20s.

Fiddleford followed the early development of video games, but tried to downplay his interest in the topic.

He can solve that Cubic’s Cube in less than thirty seconds.

He’s not as much of a lightweight as you’d think when it comes to drinking. He can’t hold his liquor like a champ, but it’s not one-beer-and-he’s-out, either. When he’s had a little too much to drink, his social inhibitions drop so he’ll potentially say or do slightly embarrassing things (and Ford feels the second hand embarrassment BURNING. Especially when Fidds starts dancing. Oh yikes. It’s bad.)

McGucket is VERY DEAD without his coffee, and wanders around like a zombie in the morning until he gets that caffeine. You could almost put a yodeling bear inside the house, and he’d walk by it without blinking or realizing it’s there.

Fiddleford has a boring taste pallet and doesn’t like experimenting. He eats Fairly Standard “American” food, doesn’t diverge much outside that. Not into spicy foods, etc.

Fiddleford believed in ghosts long before he learned about Ford’s paranormal research or moved to Gravity Falls.

Fiddleford called Emma-May regularly when he was in Gravity Falls, first working on the project with Ford. The lack of contact made his wife realize something was up. The combination of his disoriented state, and a fear to not bother her or let her see him like this, meant he didn’t reach out for help when he should have. She was the one who went up to GF to see what had happened. I’m not going to go into all of how I think THAT went down, but the divorce decision happened fast enough that that’s why McGucket went straight from the office to the motel - he wouldn’t be staying with her anywhere.

I’ve toggled between several possibilities trying to explain to myself why Tate ended up in Gravity Falls when logically Ms. Dixon would have had sole custody over her son. One possibility is she raised Tate in California, so Tate didn’t see his father for most of childhood. If so, it would’ve been his own choice to go to GF as an adult. He had mixed feelings about his father, a lot of bitterness, some fears, no shortage of embarrassment, but just enough nostalgia to see what would happen if they reconnected. Ultimately it didn’t turn out great. But I feel like there’s a reason that, as soon as McGucket reached out to family at the end of the show, Tate not only accepted his father back, but moved in with him. For all their issues, Tate always did internally want his dad back.

One of the reasons Tate hides his intellect and avoids using it is because he doesn’t know why his father crashed and doesn’t want to risk following suit. Another part of it is distancing himself from the embarrassment he feels about Fiddleford.

Old Man McGucket doesn’t go to Gravity Falls events because of the planned activity. Half the time he doesn’t even know what the gathering’s for. He’s there because it’s a way to squeeze into human interaction. He doesn’t care if it’s a dance party for kids with music he wouldn’t listen to - it’s a way to be among other people.

This is 80% of the reason why he went through ALL that anime with Soos.

#and I'll stop right there because that's already enough and already shows I'm a pathetic sap #blabbing Haddock #GF #Gravity Falls #Fiddleford McGucket #Young McGucket #Old Man McGucket #non-dragons #long post #Tate McGucket #Emma-May Dixon #Ford Pines #Stanford Pines #one time he tried to give up coffee for Lent #and that backfired spectacularly #just as badly as that one year I tried to give up sugary desserts.... #Lost Time

[words-writ-in-starlight]

some s2 Magnus Archives comments

(and also a liiiiiittle bit of s3 because I had some insomnia last night so obviously I...listened to...this horror podcast full of creeping nightmare content)

JON!!!  Oh my dude I’m pretty sure you’re...inexorably part of the Archives now!  Like, you can run but you can’t hide from the elder god watching your every move, presumably determined to absorb you into itself as its latest earthly puppet/avatar/pawn/what have you.  I am EQUALLY sure that if Jon tried to stop recording statements at this point he would like...lose his mind.  He’s been injecting Elder God Juice directly into his spinal cord like some kind of supernatural epidural for too long, and now if he stops he’ll hit the worst withdrawal in the world.  Enjoy those eldritch DT’s, Jon.

If this isn’t true please do not tell me, I love this concept and I will write an AU for it if it’s not true.  I feel like the first s3 episode of him being sent a statement supports this, though, and also did he steal the Institute tape recorder or just buy his own?  The Institute had two, so it’s possible Jon took his and they’re using the other one.  I like that answer for comedy value, although it would beg the question of what happened to the tape.  Probably Jon abandoned the Institute recorder, along with the tape (which Elias then Happened To, one assumes), and then went out and bought his own, which I feel only strengthens my stance that Jon is paranormally addicted to taking statements.

The Eye is about Knowing Stuff, right?  I feel like that would scan.

Also, Jon, Jonathan, my dear Archivist, my best beloved paranoid moron, this is why we tell people things.  This whole thing could have been So Different if he had eliminated suspects and then told those eliminated suspects things, although on the other hand NotSasha took a while to make the suspect list at all because Jon is a brilliant, brilliant idiot, so then again maybe not.

ELIAS!!!  Oh my god I called this, I knew he was guilty of like...Everything.  He’s too nice!  He’s too good a boss!  I have had some good bosses, I’ve even had good bosses in academia, but literally no academic is that calm about everything!  CLEARLY A MURDERER.  I also listened to the episode in s3 where he threatens Daisy and I love him, reader, I love him, he’s a monster and a murderer and I want Daisy to get the chance to kill him because it would make her happy, but I love him.  Holy SHIT I love the trope of “Monster is very possessive and protective of its things, including the people who serve it” and I am super pumped to see Elias continue in that vein.  

Also eventually my dream outcome here would be Elias and Jon being directly at odds, in some way that would mean the Eye would have to choose, because the many complex flavors of fucked up interpersonal dynamic there... *chef kiss*  Perfect.  If you “win,” then great!  The nightmare monster of fear and eyes likes you best!  What the fuck does that say?  If you “lose,” well, you’ll probably be dead, so you won’t have long to feel betrayed or vindicated in your humanity or horrified to learn that you’re the replaceable piece of the machine.  But those couple of seconds sure would suck.

MARTIN AND TIM!!!  Hey listen, I would do absolutely anything for Martin Blackwood, literally anything under the sun, he’s so good and I love him so much, he deserves a different story than this clusterfuck.  On the other hand, I’m pretty sure he’s much more vitally important to this team than anyone (certainly Tim or Jon) is necessarily prepared to admit, because, hey, folks?  If Martin actually succeeded in leaving the Institute I’m absolutely positive that your currently precarious team would melt down in under a day.  I love it so much when Martin loses his temper, it’s like a kitten biting someone.  I will admit to wholly enjoying the bit where Martin ripped into Tim for his behavior, which brings me to Tim.  Tim, my dude, you may believe that Jon is a murderer, you may even be genuinely furious that he accidentally trapped you in the Archives, but you still risked your life without a second thought to go after him in those tunnels, and I love you for being such a fucking trainwreck.

DAISY AND MELANIE!!!  Hey!  Remember a day or two ago when I was like “Melanie is so radical I want her and Jon to be grouchy best friends”?  HEY!!!  I love Melanie, I love that every time she and Jon have a conversation that should by all rights be totally civil they end up shouting at each other, I love that she keeps coming back to talk to him even though she thinks he’s a dick, I love that they’re suddenly on perfectly identical wavelengths as soon as Jon starts speculating about ghosts and research.  (I bet Martin “Forged CV” Blackwood is furious that she just walked in and got offered a job, no bullshit Master’s required.)  I am so thrilled that she’s Jon’s contact, this whole situation was created to be a gift for me specifically.

Also, Daisyyyyyy.  Another monster I love.  I don’t know that much about her except that one episode with Elias but I love her.  She murders people and still clearly thinks she’s in the right and I love her for being a mystery and a monster and still clearly loving Basira so very much.  Speaking of which, Basira, I’m so sorry that you’re...probably not going to get out of this situation.  I am pretty sure you are going to end up back at the Institute pretty darn quick no matter how much you quit being a cop, this is your life now.  As long as you keep Daisy pointed in the right direction, you might even survive it.

GEORGIE!!!  I have heard two (2) episodes with this woman and I love her an unreasonable amount.  I can’t believe Jon “Local Disaster” Sims dated her.  I can’t believe he literally never mentioned this to Melanie.  I can’t believe she went out with a dumb jock mountain climber just so someone else would buy her Hungarian food.  We stan a legend.

#the magnus archives #tma #jon sims #elias bouchard #I LARGELY WROTE THIS TO GET MY FEELINGS ABOUT JON AND ELIAS OFF MY CHEST #AND ALSO DAISY #I LOVE DAISY #SHE'S A MURDERER!!! LOVE HER!!! #gonna continue listening to tma now! #also listen: tma au of the kencyrath #stay tuned

[awaylaughing]

Aaand More Changeling

This is...one 1/4 review and 3/4 impressions and opinions. It’s more non-spoilers but I do get into as much detail as I can so watch out JUST IN CASE. There is a link to a spoiler-y critique though, so don’t click that if you don’t want to see it. Also this is like, 3K long. So it’s loooong and if you are on mobile I am so sorry.

@steamberrystudio tagging you guys since you sorta asked, but like I said it’s long as heck so don’t feel pressured to respond to it any time soon.

OVERALL

MAN I love this game! It has a few flaws here and there (I swear in one route Spencer claims his left eye was blinded but I have...no memory which route that was...either Marc, Danny or Elliot??) but over all it’s well written with amazing sprites (ELLIOT IS SO CUTE AND I WILL KEEP SAYING THAT GUYS) and backgrounds. The CGs have been picked on a bit but I think really they have varying quality. I’m not super CG focused so I didn't hugely take notice tbh.

Onto characers/routes

Nora!

Nora is terrific. She's a fully fleshed out character with a coherent personality that remains true across all routes. Some routes, due to the circumstances, emphasize certain traits more than others but at no point does Nora just...became a different person to fit with the LI.

I will say though, just because she was coherent and well written does not mean she’s never frustrating. She is, after all, a teenager under stress. There's one route in particular where I wanted to smack her upside the head but that's just because one of Nora's key traits is non-complimentary to one of mine. I think it's probably a good sign of writing that I like her anyhow - and feel so strongly about it. She has flaws, she has strengths, and the two are not as clearly delineated as all that - what works in one scenario or route might be a poor coping mechanism for the next, etc.

I never tired of her, anyhow and I always rooted for her. She won’t be to everyone’s taste, but she is a solidly written character I forgive a lot of flaws when that’s the case. And I did actually like her over all.

Though I will say, I feel bad she never eats the breakfast her mom makes. #easilyguilted

Anyhow what more can I say...Nora's plot line is the key plot line here (I call it a sub-plot a few times but it's really a co-plot) and is handled more or less similarly in each route. How you get the answers to your questions varies, and the trouble you get in varies, but the outcome in the good endings is roughly all equal. This was a little unsatisfactory in one route (detailed below) because of what I consider "integration" issues with it's co-plots.

Also Nora's boy-phobia in every route is hysterical after you've played enough of them.

On to LIs – I'm doing these in the order I played them, so the reviews may reference one another a bit for comparison because I'm lazy and self-referential writing is easy.

Ewan

Okay so full disclosure – I always love anything Fae and I always like the Tall One(TM) so I am hugely biased in favour of Ewan. That said, his route is superb, with a huge focus on exploring Nora's life in a way that interacts with Ewan's. His story really unfolds in relation to how you interact with him - and not just in the obvious way but because, unlike some the plot in his story is very personal and very much reflects Nora’s progress.

The route really deep dives into what's going on with Nora - not just near the end but from the very start. It has a lot of Ally in it (more than Corvin's route, I felt) and plenty of Spencer. In general I'd say family is a strong theme through this whole route - not just yours. If that's the sort of story line you appreciate - I strongly recommend Ewan.

As a character Ewan sort of looks the part of the bad boy but doesn't really fall into any of the true stereotypical behaviour. What he does follow is really very reasonably applied and has ties to his actual personality. He has great banter with Nora and a solid personal arc that he is polite enough to explicitly spell out for you about half way/three quarters through.

Also in other routes he consistently overcomes his Ewan-ness in the name of sandwiches which is, frankly, adorable.

Since this story really gets into the nitty gritty of Nora's personal plot, it could feel slightly "spoilery" for the over all mystery. On the other hand, I found it really let me focus on the LI-related plots, since I wasn't trying to split my focus since I knew what was going on with Nora.

Lastly – this route has a key supporting character who I adore. Honestly he might be my favourite supporting characters just for being so damn cute (well, second, I love Ally dearly). This felt like a pretty “social” route, with lots of the other LIs popping in, a good amount of your parents and lots and lots of Spencer.

Over all, this is a very strong route and my personal favourite.

Corvin

Corvin's route is a lot more traditional than Ewan's. The content is definitely closer to a 50/50 split and the LI plot and Nora's plot don't really integrate the same way – but they do interact. Corvin's personal plot also ties into Nora in a way that really explores the world and a side-character you see in several routes. Like Ewan’s it’s a slightly more personal plot than some of the other routes, in that it really deals with Corvin’s own outlook and beliefs.

I did find Nora a tiny bit frustrating in this route - but really only because I'd done Ewan's first. So another thing to consider when choosing who to do first (if you haven't decided, if you were excited for someone before reading this do them first!!)

Corvin as a character is wonderful – he has an appreciation for Nora that's really very sweet and his interactions with the rest of the cast are generally either hilarious or sweet. Like Ewan, he's not shallow and actually has a very interesting personal plot that dives deep into a totally non-Faerie aspect of the paranormal.

Corvin’s route is a bit insular in the same way Ewan’s was, but with different people in play. This is not a bad thing – each plot line uses the characters it needs to get the story to work. No one feels “left out”, I’m just making note of things really (I DO have critiques they are just not right here). Lots of Ally still, and a decent amount of Spencer for people invested in their platonic relationships too.

Special note on the (best) ending here – I liked it a lot (a lot) because it really dived into some interesting aspects of the setting which sort of tips me as liking this route more just in general though Corvin’s over all sort of tied for 2nd for me. While not my favourite route, I consider it equal in strength to Danny, Marc and William’s routes (maybe Ewan’s? I’m biased okay).

Danny

This route is a lot of fun – it's the first one I did where I felt like I was dealing with actual antagonists. There is certainly conflict in the other routes and even interpersonal conflict but it’s a very different flavour than what you get in Danny’s route.

And also, Nora is so thirsty in this one (but she cannot be blamed...Danny is fiiine)

Danny is not complicated – again not shallow and totally has depth – but he is genuinely as nice as he seems when you first meet him. Like seriously – I was grinning like a deranged loon for a good chunk of their interactions because they're so damn sweet. You also get a slightly different “take” on Nora’s personal plot in this – since it’s all the same plot the revelations don’t change but the outlook of people involved do inform their opinions on everything. This is one of the key examples of the really solid writing you find in Changeling actually.

As for side characters - there are a few unique to Danny's route. I liked them - at the very least as plot intensifier if not because I actually would want to hang out with them. You also get more Vilos (swoon) in Danny's route than you do Ewan or Corvin's. That said, the route specific characters are great and I want so badly to wrap some of them in blankets and feed them lycanthrope-friendly foods.

Plus Nora gets to party with everyone in this one* and it’s fun**

Danny’s route is a lot of fun and I liked it’s conflict quite a bit.

*wherein party is used colloquially to refer to any event, not an actual party

**wherein fun is not an objective term

Elliot

Okay Elliot let's see...well first off I love Elliot so much. His route has what might be my hands down favourite scene in all the routes. I have a save right before it to go re-live it again. Frankly, Elliot’s just adorable and several times had me cackling with amusement. He definitely has a very touchy route, so good for those of you who like hugs*

That said this is probably the route I'm most torn over story line wise, going so far as to say it’s my least favourite route, despite having one of my favourite love interests. Elliot and Nora's interpersonal plot is great, and Elliot's plot is pretty strong but I feel like the integration of Nora's plot with Elliot's is the weakest. I think the issue is the one I alluded to at the start – there are three fairly major plots in this route and not enough time to settle them all properly. Indeed, the Nora-Spencer plot line in this one frankly feels like it needed way more work on it and the way it’s handled while understandable, isn’t really what I think it needed.

Nora also in this one bugged me a little – but it wasn't so much that Nora was hugely different as this route really brought out the personality trait (shown in other routes) that I least enjoy in her (as in, it's one that bothers me for IRL people too, not in that it's poorly written).

There's not much to say on side characters - this route has lots of Marc in it which I really enjoyed, not getting a lot of him in the other routes but not a tonne of anyone else. In fact, the cast is pretty much the Lewises, the Vampire LIs and [Brenna - who is fantastic] for a good chunk. There is a reason for this in story, and in the end you do see mostly everyone for the last chapter or two.

I might recommend doing Elliot first, because I think maybe I was a little frustrated more by having other endings to compare it to. Over all I would say I think this is the weakest route, almost entirely on the merits of its ending rather than the strength of individual plots or characters. My spoiler-y critique can be found here.

*Not actual hugs but this game doesn't include any sexual elements and I'm trying to be both informative and incredibly vague

Marc

I did not expect to like Marc as much as I do. I don't tend to gravitate toward the standoffish LIs but Marc is a swell guy. He has his reasons, but also he's hugely more than just standoffish with very clear desires in what he wants for you.

You get lots of Cryptic politics in this route so I looooved that and it meshes pretty well with Nora's plot because it does not require the same level of focus-switching as in some of the other routes, with “lower” stakes or ones that are at least very personal to the characters.

The side characters are good – I felt so bad for one of them in this just...honestly terrible. And also, I wanted to light them on fire. Yeah for duality~ William pops up more in this route too! He's a sweetie. And he has a great scene with you in chapter. There's a goodly amount of Ally, and lots of Spencer. So much!

Speaking of Marc strongly dislikes Spencer and I while feel bad for Spencer – and Marc definitely is projecting some personal issues here but – it's nice to have someone completely in Nora's corner (also, it's hilarious after a point, at least if you have a slightly evil sense of humour). So if you want to feel vindicated about Stuff, I suggest watching Marc snark on your brother.

Marc is another strong route with a good conflict that blends the personal and the issues of the wider Cryptic community well.

William

William is, as stated elsewhere, a cutie. And what a sad cutie he is! My instinct, tbh, is not to want to kiss him it's to teleport to Pine Hollow and adopt him and shower him with platonic affection while somehow not enraging his groupies.

Nora is...obtuse in this route – I know she's overwhelmed but she takes a bit to clue into something hugely obvious. I chalk this up to her gut instinct to normalize things as best she can, but it does grate a little bit (in other routes I've been hesitant to note it because I'm fairly certain a large part of it is my familiarity with her plot line, rather than things being obvious)...but she blames poor helpful wee friend in this and D':

Anyhow – though this isn’t my favourite route I do want to highlight one part of it. I mentioned in Elliot’s route there are balance issues. Well William’s route is a display of excellent writing that invokes that and makes the fact there’s so much to cover and so little time part of the plot and problem. It’s also got excellent pacing – like Ewan’s route I spent a lot of this on edge because I knew something was coming and was just waiting for the shoe to drop. When it did it was a very “oh shit!” moment.

This has a pretty good number of supporting characters. You meet Guess, who is mentioned in Elliot’s route but I don’t think any others, who is a very interesting character.

William’s route I think utilizes the conflicts inherent to the characters super well, and has a really fascinating divergence based on your choices.

Non-route stuff

Ally

Not a route, but she's a constant I need to say that I love her. She's clearly an excellent friend and her relationship with Nora is strong in every route – though as I mentioned slightly more or less present depending on which route. She's never ever erased from the story line though - so don't fret about an LI replacing her just because she gets less screen time in certain routes. In those cases, it really has to do with the scope of the subplots in play rather than a hierarchy of importance of relationships and Nora never “switches” focus because she found a “more important” relationship (quotations bc I think that concept is bullshit).

Spoiler Character

There's a character who's just...a walking spoiler so I can't speak to them other then I really like them a lot. They're role varies per route but I find them very interesting in each and the routes come together to form their personality. I actually like them a lot, despite their role in everything and wish we could have seen more of them. This character really shines in a few routes – William’s and Corvin’s I’d say.

Spencer

Best awful little brother ever, would constantly attempt reconciliation with again.

But seriously, I quite like Spencer and his involvement varies - there's tonnes of him in Ewan's route, the relationship is a bit more tense in Danny's route, but in general the same story beats are hit if you're trying to repair your relationship. Because I am a huuuuge sap I have not done anything but that, so IDK what it's like if you engage in mutually assured destruction tactics.

I will say Spencer varies a lot per route - so it could be you get a route where he's less likeable depending on where you start. I wanted to drop kick him in one of the routes, but he was plenty likeable despite being a jerk in mooost of the others (people with contentious sibling histories might find some of it difficult? I don't have any expertise in that so I can’t say sorry).

The Brownie

Cutie. Such a cutie. Again you see more of them (I am not up on my brownie sexual dimorphism nor their place in the gender binary) in Ewan's route (since it's the Fae route) and I love them dearly and feel weirdly protective of them. Also Nora calls them ugly and Nora is wrong. See first word: c-u-t-i-e.

#changelingvn #changeling #it's a review! #but like #barely #i focused on story bc i don't know shit about art of ui design lmao #i am made of opinions and trivia #and trivia has no place here #so have my many opinions

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 20 August 2018

Quick Bits:

Aphrodite V #2 is pretty damn great. Jeff Spokes’ artwork is instantly compelling, drawing in the reader with darkness and interesting angles into this increasingly enthralling story of a machine cult from the future by him and Bryan Hill.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Avengers #6 concludes the first arc in widescreen fashion. Lots of action and big ideas from Jason Aaron with gorgeous art from Ed McGuinness, Paco Medina, Mark Morales, Juan Velasco, and David Curiel. Again I’m reminded of those early issue of JLA from Grant Morrison and Howard Porter. This has been fun so far and I’m intrigued by what else they have in store.

| Published by Marvel

Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs & Eldritch Men #1 is a very welcome return, even without Jill Thompson for this go around. The artwork from Benjamin Dewey is beautiful as he reminds us that he’s one of the best nature artists in comics, and possible beyond. His animals are just stunning. The story from him and Evan Dorkin is also interesting, suggesting some arcane traps luring in the paranormal. Great stuff for all ages.

| Published by Dark Horse

Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack #12 concludes the series with an epic battle between the forces of heaven and hell as it teaches us the true meaning of friendship. It’s funnier when you actually read it. This has been an entertaining series from John Carpenter, Anthony Burch, Jorge Corona, Gabriel Cassata, and Ed Dukeshire, with this final chapter also delivering a nice farewell to the movie as well.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Black Hammer: Age of Doom #4 has some very interesting revelations that ultimately only lead to more questions than answers. What’s going on isn’t nearly as cut and dried as we were led to believe last issue and the mystery has just deepened. Jeff Lemire, Dean Ormston, Dave Stewart, and Todd Klein have managed to elevate this story higher again.

| Published by Dark Horse

Black Panther #3 finally parcels out a tidbit of what might actually be going on with the series and the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, just in time for a surprise attack and more action. Thankfully, the art from Daniel Acuña is still overwhelmingly gorgeous.

| Published by Marvel

Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #2 is even better than the first issue. The mystery deepens as Antonius and Achillia reach Egypt and find incongruities they don’t expect within this province of the Roman Empire. The artwork from Robert Gill (with colours from José Villarrubia) is probably among the best I’ve seen from him, really bringing some very strong work here with backgrounds, vehicles, and character designs that are particularly impressive.

| Published by Valiant

Cold Spots #1 is the start to another horror series from Cullen Bunn, this time accompanied by Mark Torres with the artwork, and as per many of Bunn’s previous tales, this is a great start. There’s a genuinely creepy atmosphere from Torres’ art and the plot of a missing daughter and her child, amidst the spooky maybe-ghosts, is a good one.

| Published by Image

Daredevil #607 gets into how there can possibly be a Mike Murdock running around New York and it’s an interesting and possibly hazardous diversion. Gorgeous art from Phil Noto.

| Published by Marvel

Die!Die!Die! #2 is more entertaining over-the-top humorous action that feels like it’s channelling Garth Ennis. Great art from Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #4 is probably the most succinct in sticking to its plot without real deviation of all of these minis. Basically sticking to the thread of these X-women tackling the Femme Fatales. It’s been a relatively decent story from Jim Zub, Thony Silas, and Felipe Sobreiro, even if the art’s been a little uneven. There’s a really nice sequence of Psylocke finding herself again in this issue, though, from Leonard Kirk and Andrew Crossley that has interesting implications going forward.

| Published by Marvel

Jughead: The Hunger #8 is a great jumping-on point for new readers, offering a bit of a history lesson and summary reinterpretation of the events of the overarching plot of the series to date. Great work from Frank Tieri, Pat & Tim Kennedy, Joe Eisma, Bob Smith, Ryan Jampole, Matt Herms, Andre Szymanowicz, and Jack Morelli.

| Published by Archie Comics / Archie’s Madhouse Presents

The Life of Captain Marvel #2 continues what is shaping up to be possibly one of the defining and quintessential Carol Danvers stories. I love what Margaret Stohl is doing in bringing out the backstory and interpersonal dynamics of Carol’s family. The art from Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, and Marcio Menyz in the present day and Marguerite Sauvage’s flashbacks is wonderful.

| Published by Marvel

Mr. & Mrs. X #2 continues this fun ride, tossing in Deadpool and more of the lesser used intergalactic X-characters. The dialogue from Kelly Thompson is hilarious and the art from Oscar Bazaldua and Frank D’Armata is great.

| Published by Marvel

Old Man Logan #46 begins another arc tying up loose ends before the endgame of Dead Man Logan kicks off. Wrapping reconnecting with Alpha Flight around a horror story evoking shades of The Thing and Slither results in a wonderful story perfectly fitting Damian Couciero’s artwork.

| Published by Marvel

The Punisher #1 is both a continuation of Matthew Rosenberg’s stories and ideas from the last volume of the series and a kind of back-to-basics approach to Frank Castle. Basically, he’s lost the War Machine suit, but he’s still taking on the world-spanning super-villains. It’s pretty epic and this is great jumping-on point. The dark humour is perfect, reminding me of Garth Ennis’ work with Castle, and seriously this is probably the best art that Szymon Kudranski has ever done. Along with Antonio Fabela’s colours, it’s like he was born to draw The Punisher.

| Published by Marvel

Royal City #14 is an introspective end of saying farewell to the past and accepting change to move forward. This has been an interesting series from Jeff Lemire, focusing on his most often used theme of family, and it’s been a good exploration of their different dynamics.

| Published by Image

The Sentry #3 is pretty dark, telling the flipside of the first two issues from Billy Turner’s perspective as he goes about stealing Sentry’s identity. This is almost at Kid Miracleman levels of demented. Jeff Lemire is playing with some interesting ideas here, beautifully brought to life by Kim Jacinto, Joshua Cassara, and Rain Beredo.

| Published by Marvel

Shadowman #6 has some truly beautiful artwork from Renato Guedes, as this arc of Jack falling through time visiting the different holders of the shadow loa takes an interesting turn in ancient history.

| Published by Valiant

Shanghai Red #3 is probably the best issue to date, as Molly reunites with Katie, recriminations are hashed out, and we get a bit of a tour of Portland. Christopher Sebela, Joshua Hixson, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou have tapped into something unique here, and this tale of revenge and some of the lesser told side of American history is incredibly compelling.

| Published by Image

TMNT #85 brings Leatherhead back into the fold, with very interesting and potentially dangerous ramifications following the war between the Utroms and Triceratons. Brahm Revel’s clothes-peg take on the Turtles is an interesting visual choice.

| Published by IDW

The Thrilling Adventure Hour #2 I find better than the first issue. The humour hits home a bit more for me and the leads of Sadie and Frank don’t seem nearly as insufferable as the first issue. The art, though, from MJ Erickson and Brittany Peer is just as good as the first. Entertaining stuff.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Venom #5 is another great issue. The mythology-building in this series is just incredible, growing Venom and his world into so much more. Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin, and Clayton Cowles are creating magic.

| Published by Marvel

West Coast Avengers #1 is a great debut, filled with action and humour, as this highly dysfunctional team comes together. It’s nice to see Kelly Thompson doing more Hawkeye and Hawkguy, and the collection of characters coming together to make up the team are bizarre and fitting, carrying on a few of the themes and plot developments of the previous Hawkeye and America series. Though you needn’t have read any of that before you pick this up. Making it nigh unmissable is the gorgeous art from Stefano Caselli and Triona Farrell. This is fun.

| Published by Marvel

Witchblade #7 returns for its second arc, continuing the extremely high level of quality that Caitlin Kittredge, Roberta Ingranata, Bryan Valenza, and Troy Peteri set for themselves.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

X-Men Red #7 advances us a bit further as the X-Men attempt to uncover evidence of Cassandra Nova’s influence on the world and thwart her attack on Atlantis. Tom Taylor has definitely been taking a slow approach to unfurling this story, but it has allowed for the beautiful art from originally Mahmud Asrar and now Carmen Carnero & Rain Beredo time to breathe.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Amazing Spider-Man #4, Avengers: Wakanda Forever #1, Barbarella #9, Bedtime Games #3, Betty & Veronica: Vixens #9, Curse Words Summer Swimsuit Special #1, Days of Hate #7, DuckTales #11, Gasolina #11, Hack/Slash: Resurrection #10, Hit-Girl #7, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation #6, Lumberjanes #53, Mammon, Mickey Spillane’s Mike #3, Night’s Dominion - Season Three #2, Old Man Hawkeye #8, Quantum & Woody! #9, Red Sonja/Tarzan #4, Redneck #14, Stairway - Volume 1, Star Wars: Darth Vader #20, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #23, Sullivan’s Sluggers, TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road #4, Wasted Space #4

Recommended Collections: Avengers: Back to Basics, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Cloak & Dagger: Predator & Pray, Deadly Class - Volume 7: Love Like Blood, Giant Days - Volume 8, Jimmy’s Bastards - Volume 2, Li’l Donnie - Volume 1: Executive Privilege, Lockjaw: Who’s a Good Boy, Postal - Volume 7, Sex Criminals - Volume 5: Five-fingered Discount

d. emerson eddy too wonders where all the cowboys have gone. Is it a nefarious plot from some shadowy organization? Or are they all just at the Calgary Stampede?

#This Week in Comics

[tlbodine]

How to Write Horror: Ghost Stories

Ghost stories have a long-standing history in our literary tradition, so much so that any spooky tale can sometimes be called a "ghost story" whether or not there are actually any ghosts in it. That said, actual genuine ghost stories seem to wax and wane in popularity, and various ghost alternatives - often demons - sometimes get popped into the narrative interchangeably.

There are two defining features of ghost stories:

1 - They had a specific setting (frequently a haunted house).

Ghosts have a tendency to take up residence in one place and aren't known for being particularly mobile. In the rare event that haunting behavior does follow a family from one home to the next, it's very much an exception and almost always considered unusual even in the world of the narrative.

2 - They are stories about the past coming back to haunt you (literally).

As far as monsters go, ghosts seem like they should be metaphors for death and dying. In reality, though, ghost stories are less about death and more about unfinished business. Frequent themes include: terrible family secrets, crimes that have been covered up without justice being served, and interpersonal troubles that are being ignored rather than dealt with.

Types of Ghost Stories

Ghost stories are frequently, but not always, told about families. An extremely common framing narrative is this: Family moves into a new home in seek of a fresh start, often in the wake of some sort of tragedy (death in the family, miscarriage, lost job, marriage troubles). The house is haunted, and the ghostly activity terrorizes the family members, invariably causing turmoil between the skeptic (almost always the father) and the more sensitive victims (wife, kids). These stories often end with the hidden tragedy being brought to light and at last avenged or put to rest. Otherwise, they often end with the father figure being overtaken by the evil entity, a scenario which may or may not demand great self-sacrifice to overcome.

The Gothic variant of this is when one person (generally a young outsider) comes into a very old home, either through marriage or inheritance, and discovers that the family is keeping a really terrible secret. Sometimes there may or may not actually be a real ghost; sometimes the ghostly behavior is actually a ruse to draw attention to whatever other terrible thing is actually going on.

Another common setup is a group of people enter a home they know to be haunted (or suspected to be haunted) for some sort of gain (a monetary reward, filming a TV show), and get more than they bargained for. In this case, the story generally ends with the people being killed and/or chased out by the entity. These stories are actually more about hubris and/or the danger of being too curious and opening Pandora's Box. In these stories, the nature of the ghost/entity is rarely ever explained. Instead, we draw our enjoyment in these stories from seeing stupid people get their comeuppance. (In that respect, they have a lot more in common with slashers than with other types of ghost story)

Tips for Writing a Ghost Story:

- Decide first and foremost which type of story you're going to be writing, because there are some major thematic differences between them that will affect everything about how the plot unfolds and what type of characters you use. Both options can be frightening and compelling; it's just a question of which theme appeals to you more.

- Get to know your ghost. Ghost stories are all about history, remember? You need to figure out who is haunting this house, and how long they've been there, and why. What do they want? Why are they hassling the humans? To what extent can they interact with the physical world? What are their limitations?

- Get to know your group. Ghost stories tend to be slower-paced than some other types of horror, and they are going to absolutely depend on the strength of your characterization and the interpersonal conflicts between the people now in the haunted house. Figure out how each person feels about the paranormal, and how they'll react to various things, and how that reaction can cause conflict. Also figure out what connection your main character has with whatever the deep dark secret of the place is, if any (hint: there's usually something).

- Work on building atmosphere. Ghost stories should be creepy above all. They're very rarely gory (demonic entities play by different rules) and will generally be minimally shocking. They should draw power from slowly building dread, saving any particularly explosive twists for the very end.

Essential Ghost Media

Study these books and films. Compare and contrast them and keep an eye out for patterns that are repeated. Knowing these patterns and tropes will help you make an informed decision about what to use, what to put a new spin on, and what to avoid entirely. Also, they're a lot of good creepy fun :)

The Shining - Stephen King (book and movie, each very different, both equally excellent)

Hell House - Richard Matheson

The Fall of the House of Usher - Edgar Allen Poe (an example of a Gothic ghost story with no actual ghosts)

House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

Stir of Echoes - Richard Matheson (book and film both)

The Orphanage (film)

The Devil's Backbone (film)

Crimson Peak (film - a modern love letter to the Gothic)

Insidious (film)

Sinister (film)

Paranormal Activity (film)

Have some other recommendations? Drop them in the comments!

#how to write horror #writing advice #ghost stories #ghosts #horror #writing #scary stories #how to write