#the note was for my graphic novel but like. more witches in general.

[jackgoodfellow]

Good News It Is 4am Whiteboard Witch Posting Time

I have had a note on the to-do list on my wall that reads "MORE WITCHES!!!" for a few days now so I thought I'd get some important work done and oops it is now tomorrow. wELP. (Heavily inspired by Baba Yaga's design in Bartok the Magnificent, who has a fuckin' killer song in that flick.)

She came out kinda moon shaped. Maybe she has a Sun-themed sister. Oooooo! That will be the next witch!

#witches #insomnia posting #baba yaga #don bluth #bartok the magnificent #sketch #need more old sharp protective ugly witches yes yes yes yes #yes ye syes #the note was for my graphic novel but like. more witches in general. #bartok is like.... idk if it is a good movie but it is a really really fun movie #and holds up better than anastasia #whiteboard marker is a difficult medium #she is about to kill u at best #love a violent old woman #we love to see it #oh to be a powerful feminine being living in opposition to the patriarchy and having pointed iron teeth #my art

[the---hermit]

Behold the queerest book haul I have ever made.

07|06|2022

Thesis diary #32

Ignoring the fact that I am re-writing this since tumblr decided not to save my draft fully. I haven't really been making new study updates, as these past few days have been quite budy, and I have not been at my best. I have been feeling quite overwhealmed by everything, which hasn't helped me in staying focused. I have made some progress anyway. After finishing I Benandanti by C. Ginzburg I have written down some general notes and reflections in my thesis notebook. I have also found new articles to work on, I have read one regarding the use of wax figures in magic, which relates to the witch hunts I am working on in my thesis. And currently I have been working on an artile that analizes the realtionship of people in the modern era with the feeling of horror and terror regarding magic and demonic possession.

Since I have been feeling this way reading has been very helpful to get out of my head a bit, but without realizing I have found myself reading heavier books than I need at the moment, so I have been making very little progress, because my focus is not at its best. I have been making little progress with House Of Leaves, which is very fascinating but requires a bit more brain energy than I have. I have also been reading Lao Tzu's The Art Of War, which isn't that hard, but of course doesn't give me the distraction that fiction provides me. As I slowly make my progress with these reads I am thrilled that I finally have the Heartstopped graphic novels. I feel like it's exactly the type of light wholesome read I need at the moment. I am also very excited by the other book I got which is a compilation of fragments by Sappho. I have been wanting to get back into poetry for so long and this feels like the best way to do that.

#studyblr #studyinspo #book #journal #bookblr #notebook #studying #notes #uniblr #university #thesis journal #reading updates #currently reading #book haul #tbr #new books #bujo #queer books #updates #myhoneststudyblr #serendistudy #hiyatranquil #heysage #productivity #motivation #reading #handwritten notes #mine #the---hermit #thesis diary

[insomniac-dot-ink]

Books I’ve Read in 2020

AHello! I’m trying to read as many books as I can during the quarantine, here’s what I’ve finished so far:

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (literary fiction): a son writes a letter about his life to his illiterate mother. Breathtakingly beautiful with it’s way with words this book is lovely and real in the hardest and sweetest ways. The author’s combination of prose and poetry is dazzling and intricate, this book has stuck with me for days afterward. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (fantasy): a money-lender gets in trouble after bragging she can turn silver into gold and is kidnapped and ordered to do so by a fey creature. It may be that I am the perfect audience for this type of book, but it’s my favorite thing I’ve read all year. It’s a book that equally takes on the fantastical and real-world with compelling female characters at the center of the whole thing. A wonderful fantasy journey inspired by eastern-European Jewish folklore. 5 out of 5 stars.

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll (horror graphic novel): a series of short horror comics. Absolutely bone-chilling! This was a really fun type of scary story, especially the last one which made my skin absolutely crawl. Deliciously eerie, this was treat to read if not a little too short. 4 out of 5 stars.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (magical realism): a young girl can taste other people’s emotions in their cooking and begins to understand her family in new ways. This was a weird book, but it has everything you’ve got to love about that combination of the surreal and mundane. It’s sense of character was electrifying and I had fun engaging with this type of off-kilter real world. I was a little frustrated in parts bc of some characters choices, but that too was true to life. 4 out of 5 stars.

Crier’s War by Nina Varela (steampunk fantasy wlw): about a Made automaton heir to a throne and her human hand-maiden that is trying to kill her. This was an easy read with a lot of tension between the two main characters that I liked, but the writing itself was very weak. There was waaay too much exposition in parts and the dialogue had some really hockey lines. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the middle of the book, but the beginning and end didn’t have much movement. 2.5 stars out of 5.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn (historical fiction): honestly, I’m a little disappointed. This book just did not hit my sweet spots, it wasn’t fast-paced enough for me to get immersed in the plot, and the characters weren’t real enough to be wholly invested in them. That said I adored Nina Markova and the Night Witches, so that did help. 3 starts out of 5.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White (horror sci-fi retelling): HAND IN UNLOVABLE HAND. A retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from the perspective of Victor Frankenstein’s wife and my God! The characters! The plot was well-enough, but the characters took the whole show for being complex and compelling. The main character was breathtakingly layered and I was wholly invested in Elizabeth and her story and the triumph at the end of this story was tangible. 4 out of 5 stars! 

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (fantasy): A story of a young woman who lives in a valley where a girl must go live with a wizard for 10 years. She is certain she won’t be chosen, but ends up having to be “uprooted” herself. I enjoyed most of this book! However, I think I liked “Spinning Silver” a lot more just because the ending of this one somehow lost me. The characters were good and plot compelling, but (SPOILERS) the big battle at the end seemed to drag and didn’t interest me somehow. 3.8 out of 5 stars.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (fantasy): excellent read! A story of a young woman in Jazz Age Mexico who goes on an adventure with a Mayan death God who is trying to regain his throne. A romp across the country absolutely brimming with likable characters and fairy tale twists. My only complaint would be that most of it felt a little predictable due to the fact we knew where we were going throughout the whole story, However, it was still greatly enjoyable for the heroine herself, Casiopea. 4 out of 5 stars!

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (literary): a story of two families in a progressive “planned” community, how their lives intertwine, their secrets, and a central question surrounding motherhood. Deeply empathetic to its characters and introspective, this is an every-day story of people in suburbia that reads like a thriller. I could barely put it down and felt deeply for its characters and situations, 5 out of 5 stars!

Wilder Girls by Rory Power (YA sci-fi suspense): a story of a group of girls at a boarding school on an island affected by the “tox” which alters their bodies in strange ways like giving them scales or an extra spine. This was an eerie, interesting read with a wlw romance! Watch out for the body horror in this one, but it was very gripping and held my interest. Some of the pacing was off in places (like the romance), but had a very creepy atmosphere that did it for me. 3.8 out of 5 stars!

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (thriller-mystery): A thriller about a group of Shakespeare actors in their last year of college and one of their classmates who turns up dead. I enjoyed the murder mystery part of this novel more than I expected despite the fact I had guessed who had “done it” pretty early on. I really enjoyed the James-Oliver dynamic with its growing homoeroticism, but I didn’t like how the character of Meredith was handled at all. She felt like a one-note aside. I might have given this book four stars, but the ending was EXTREMELY frustrating for me and I did not like the “open-ended” conclusion. 3 out of 5 stars.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (literary humor): a weird character-driven comedy about an old grumpy man and a new family that moves in next to him. Warning for themes of suicide. Anyway, I don’t normally indulge in cliches like “I laughed, I cried, I loved one Cat Annoyance.” However, that’s exactly what I did. I laughed out loud, I cried my eyes out (THE CAT’S HEAD WAS IN HIS PALM), I loved this book. It was sweet and compelling and thoroughly immersive. 5 out of 5 stars!

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow (historical fantasy): set in the early 1900s comes a story of a young girl and her experience with “Doors” that lead to different worlds. This book had a lot of great character development and really interesting descriptions, however, I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to. I found it hard to get myself to sit down a read it. There was just something missing with the push to “page-turn,” but it was still a really good book. 3.7 out of 5 stars!

Gideon the 9th by Tamsyn Muir (high fantasy, kinda gay): I AM FILLED WITH EMOTIONS. This was book was definitely a page-turner. I was very confused with it at the beginning, but the characters and their interactions were, forgive the expression, the life blood of the story and kept me wholly invested. The ending has CRUSHED my heart, but damn did I have a good time reading it. 4.5 out of 5 stars!

Harrow the 9th by Tamsyn Muir (sequel to Gideon the 9th): I really enjoyed this book. It was just as strange and twisting as the first book, though I think I enjoyed the first one a bit more since I love Gideon. It was fun ride overall, though the ending was kind of really confusing. So 4 out of 5 stars.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (historical fiction): Overall, I really enjoyed this book! The writing style was personable and grounded in reality. I found myself really liking the main characters and the exploration of the life of a bi main character was really well done I thought. A solid book with drama and glamor to boot. 4.6 out of 5 stars!

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (historical fiction): A story of two sisters during WWII and their resistance to Nazi occupation. To be honest, this book wasn’t my cup of tea. It was compelling, but also wholly depressing and I felt like gloried in the pain of the two main characters too much. The history was wonderful and realistic, but it didn’t make me feel anything good afterward. It was just dark. 3 out of 5 stars.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (mlm romance): I finally finished this after the heaviness of The Nightingale. This is a story of the First Son of the USA falling for the prince of England. And it turned out to be a very fun and light hearted read! Some of it was kinda generic and too political, and it coulda been shorter, but I thought the romance itself made up for it. It just made me feel so sweet and lovely inside. 4 out of 5 stars!

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (literary humor): I’m searching out heartfelt books and this one ticked off all the marks on my “sweet” list. A lovely book that made me cry more times than I would like to admit. Compassionate beyond belief, funny and heartfelt. I think I enjoyed A Man Called Ove slightly more, but this book was also dear to me and something I hope to reread in the future. 4.2 out of 5 stars!

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (sci-fi): A post-apocalyptical story about a group of traveling Shakespeare actors and a symphony. Overall, an excellent read that somehow pictures a more realistic or even softer version of the apocalypse. At first, I wasn't happy with the jumping around of the story, but as I progressed I grew fonder and fonder of the interwoven characters and their journey. A very fascinating read about a world that hits a little too close to home. The appreciation of the arts and preserving humanity was somehow very hopeful and I was fully engaged with this story. 5 out of 5 Stars!

Up next: The Hidden Life of Trees by by Peter Wohlleben (nonfiction science), The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin (urban fantasy), The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (fantasy)

#I'll keep this list updated! #am reading #bookblr #IA talks #I've mostly read books I've really liked this year! #then again I rarely finish books I don't like

[sofreddie]

Friday Feature: June 11, 2021

Welcome to the Friday Feature, where every Friday I feature a different Fanfic Writer’s blog. This week’s Feature Blog is:

Link to Masterlist

About the Author:

My name is Lou! I’m 30-year-old queer teacher/writer/bookworm/geek living in Virginia. I’m a dog mom and a Gemini and an INFP and a Hufflepuff. I started writing fic when I was thirteen and continued all through high school, mostly in the Panic! At The Disco fandom. I got my BA in writing and took a break from writing fiction recreationally for a while, but picked it up again when I started watching Supernatural in 2017. I haven’t really stopped writing since. These days I’m working on an original YA novel and some original erotica for Kindle, as well as fic; I write Supernatural, Criminal Minds, Marvel, and more.

Other info: I turned one of my most popular fics, Everything, into an Amazon ebook, which is available over here. I also dabble in making graphics and edits and memes, which can all be found here!

Blog Recommendation by @thoughtslikeaminefield:

Lou is a gift to fanfiction. She’s well-read, prolific in her own right, generous with her thoughts, and willing to take chances.

She’s also a really fucking impressive human and an even better friend.

Her words are intriguing, delightful, and, thought provoking. She does the good work of a community member and encourages more!

I’m so honored to have nominated her to be part of this awesome project.

Author’s Fave Personal Fics:

All That I Ask

Summary: This story is about intimacy and agency and trust. I think almost every woman knows what it’s like to feel powerless or unsafe during sex, and this fic explores how sexy it can be when a partner does prioritize comfort, consent, and communication.

Why the author likes this fic:

This fic was my way of writing out some of the things I could’ve really benefited from hearing during my own recovery from sexual trauma, but I loved being able to turn that “therapy writing” into something hot. It meant a lot to hear from people who needed to read this sort of thing, just as much as I needed to write it, and I’m really proud that I could write smut that also struck an emotional chord.

Coffee & Psychopaths Series

Summary: Sam Winchester and Spencer Reid cross paths at an N.A. meeting and become friends. They drink too much coffee and talk about human nature.

Why the author likes this fic:

These two characters are my favorite, and their stories have so many fascinating parallels and contrasts to explore. I’m so proud of the imagery and themes woven through this series; it’s basically a meditation on a lot of topics that I love writing about, like addiction and psychology, through the lens of Spencer and Sam and their stories. It was a challenge to weave the canon and timelines of both shows together, and I think I managed it in a really fun way.

Marked

Summary: This is a story about trust and control. It’s about the Mark of Cain, trauma and recovery, BDSM, vulnerability, honesty, and the marks we leave on people we love.

Why the author likes this fic:

This was one of the first stories I started when I took up writing again, and over the course of eighty thousand words and two-ish years, I poured a whole lot of my heart and soul into it. It’s hot as hell but it’s also a very real, emotional, honest fic; it’s not a simple fairy tale love story.

Author’s Fic Recommendations:

The Spins by @sp-oops

Summary: “It’s Dean’s birthday. After dinner and a hell of a lot of celebratory beer, the lot of you decide it would be a fucking fantastic idea to play spin the bottle.”

Why the author likes this fic:

I love writing (and reading) anticipation and tension just as much as, if not more than, the sex itself. This is a freakin’ master class in slow build and epic payoff.

SOFreddie Note: I cannot tag this individual. Someone please let them know they are loved!

Crash by @littlegreenplasticsoldier

Summary: “A witch throws a Lust curse at you and you convince Sam to help you out.”

Why the author likes this fic:

This was one of the first SPN fics I read and it still stands as one of my all-time favorites! Ali has the most amazing and distinctive narrative voice; she has a phenomenally snarky sense of humor and an eye for unique quirky descriptive details. This fic is hot, but it’s also hilarious.

Dear Mr. Fantasy by @itmighthavebeenintentional

Summary: “Sometimes when he sleeps, Dean sees flashes of other Dean Winchesters, in other universes. His dreams lately have been filled with himself in a thousand forms, a thousand different versions of what could have been.”

Why the author likes this fic:

I have no idea how Val managed to weave this much life and emotion and beautiful details into two thousand words. She let me see the first draft of this, and even in its roughest form, it was immediately something special; it just grabbed me by the heart and never let go. I’ve never read anything like it and it touches me in a way that very few fics have.

Thank you for checking out this week’s Friday Feature. Be sure to check out Lou’s blog, follow, send asks, go crazy! Check out all the fics linked and be sure to REBLOG and COMMENT!

Authors love to know what you think about their work - not just praise, but constructive criticism as well.

Constructive criticism is a helpful way of giving feedback that provides specific, actionable suggestions. Rather than providing general advice, constructive criticism gives specific recommendations on how to make positive improvements. Constructive criticism is clear, to the point and easy to put into action.

Shout out to @talesmaniac89 for the beautiful dividers she created and offered up for us for free! Check out her other resources here.

Would you like your blog to be showcased in a Feature Friday?

Maybe you have a fic you’ve written that you’d like to be included in the weekly Fic Recommendations?

Something you’ve read and loved?

Tag me! Send an ask! Drop a DM!

And as always, Happy Fanfic-ing!

Want even MORE? Check out the Friday Feature Masterlist!

Forevers:

@sis-tafics

@lyarr24

@calaofnoldor

@hobby27

@spnbaby-67

@fangirlxwritesx67

@jarpad24

@flamencodiva

@flashxspn

FRIDAY FEATURE:

@deanwanddamons

@itmighthavebeenintentional

#friday feature #there-must-be-a-lock #06/11/21

[hungarianbee]

Way of the Witcher: bits of lore

Disclaimer:  Post contains spoilers to the Witcher games These things may be canon-typical, but the following trigger warnings apply if you want to check out the cards: gore, monster dismemberment, needles, body horror, insects and spiders

“In a world plagued by horrors and monstrosities humanity desperately needed a new type of weapon to turn back the tide. Created by ingenious Alzur, witchers — professional monster slayers of exceptional strength, speed, and agility were tasked to end the threat once and for all. Organized into different schools they honed their craft and passed their knowledge onto novices in training. Some of them were destined to become the legendary heroes and protectors of humanity. Others — the very thing they were supposed to fight…”

Since the gwent expansion was anounced I followed it with rapt attention; every bit of lore is a gem in my eyes. I decided to write down my thoughts of the cards and lore pieces revealed in a post. Share that knowledge around, amirite?

The post references Gwent cards which were leaked (2020 november-december). The theme is mutation and everything that comes with it; namely sweet-sweet lore of the lesser known witcher schools: the Bears, Cats, Vipers and Griffins.

Tucker in, under the cut there is 4.5k analysis of each card that came out.

We’re starting with a theme, then work our way throught the 4 schools (each contain the following:  a leader, a mentor, an adept, a general witcher, a specific job, an item, a school relevant monster, 2  known witchers and a location), then go through a Witcher 1 throwback, Salamandra, and round it with a few new monsters and neutral cards. 

While I describe most of the cards concisely and all the known witchers and locations are on my blog, you might want to look the cards in their (small) glory: [DO IT HERE]

Sounds good? Here we go!

Edit: [this source is better]

The theme is mutation - be it monsters created by transmutation, witchers or salamadra

If that is true, there are monster cards that seemingly stand out: the Succubus and the Phooca

If we are to believe that they do connect to the mutation theme, then

(1) we can conclude that Phoocas (a rare, and more dangerous form of Nekkers; they can pull your head off by sheer force, watch out) are a natural mutation of the original species,

(2) but we’re still left with the Succubi (an inherently demonic creature). They might have chosen it because of its appearance: succubi have horns and goat-like legs. (Note: in the graphic novel “House of Glass” the succubus character has wings, but lacks hooves. In that sense, she could be mutated.)

Breaking it down into factions/schools (some of the cards can be paired up; these cards are interpreted together):

School of the Viper: starting with the vipers, because they are my favourite

Viper Witcher Mentor & Viper Witcher Adept: the flavour text says that the Viper mentors are exceptionally cold and ruthless, and that’s underlined by the story the art tells: the mentor busies himself with sharpening a blade, and in the background we can see the adept attempting to kill his best friend goat, as was ordered. The mentor watches this from the corner of his eye. Young Vipers are to kill their pets (which they nurtured for years) before becoming a fully-fledged witcher. The latter could mean that the boy depicted on the card hasn’t even gone through the Trial of Grasses.

Viper Witcher: On the card we see an unknown Viper crouching over a royalty he killed. I feel like this type of card is meant to represent what we think a general Witcher of said school would be like. Apparently Vipers just like to slay the nobility *shrug*. The flavour text informs us, that Vipers call their two swords “fangs”, and that their style consists of fast and furious attack aimed to overwhelm the enemy.

Viper Witcher Alchemist: Every school has a specialty; Vipers are proficient in potion or poison making. The right side of the alchemist’s face seems to have healed burn marks; a blown up concoction might have caused it.

Ivar Evil-Eye: So far there’s little to know about Ivar. He was either the Master of the Viper Keep, or the founder himself (gwent suggests the latter). He’s described as heavily scarred (facial scars suggests burns and slash marks too), and each of them has a terrible story to tell.

Warritt the All-Seeing: Warritt is a (newly introduced) Viper with heavy disfiguration to the upper part of his face: his eyes are sealed shut (possibly by burn marks, though his hair remains intact). The art shows Warritt drawing a modified version of the Supirre sign in the air to help with his loss of sight. As the wiki says: “Supirre is a Sign used for eavesdropping. Drawn on a solid surface, it allows the people near this surface to listen nearby conversations which would be normally inaudible due to the distance or background noise.” It was only used in Sapkowsky’s second volume of the Hussite trilogy (not yet translated to English), which is entirely separate from the Witcher novels.

Kolgrim: Fate laughed at this Viper. As a kid he was swapped by a weeper, saved by a witcher, than rejected by his own mother who believed that the fake child was the real one. Later, as a grown witcher Ivar instructed him to find a lost weapon diagram. On his journey he was accused - ironically - in White Orchard of kidnapping a child. Invoking a Temerian law, Kolgrim was told to cleanse their crypt (as seen on the card) then he can go. The truth is revealed in Witcher 3 - Kolgrim was beheaded by the villagers before he could even step into the crypt. To add insult to injury: the child was eaten by a drowner. The gwent card therefore shows the optimistic outcome: that Kolgrim reached the crypt and passed in battle. And what’s up with a crypt full of wraiths anyway? White Orchard is shady, guys. (Lil’ trivia: Kolgrim’s eyes are yellow-green.)

Vypper: Basically an overgrown snake that likes damp marshes (they even fight the local kikimores for territory). They only relate to the mutation theme by their nature - they resemble the “school’s animal”.

Gorthur Gvaed: The Bloodgate Keep is located in the chasms of the Tir Tochair mountains. It’s built so high were you to look down from the bridge leading into the keep, you would only see fog (one could wonder how the vipers trained in these conditions). The bridge is made so that you’d have to cross the lookout tower - it might have served as a check in spot. The post itself is circled by the stone coils of a snake; the top is open and has a huge lit bonfire in the middle for warmth-keeping and possibly signaling. Unluckily, it didn’t stop the Usurper’s army from destroying the keep.

Coated Weapons: They leaned heavily into the alchemy and assassin side of the school. Vipers coat their blades with an acidic liquid, so they can kill a man with a nick of it.

School of the Cat:

Cat Witcher Mentor & Cat Witcher Adept: On the adept card we can see a young Cat walking the tightrope blindfolded (they start with close to the ground and slowly increase the distance with time); the mentor is looking up at him. Like the Vipers, Cat mentors are nonchalant about risking the kids as seen from the flavour text: “If you fall, it’s over. Your nine lives are up, kid.” Furthermore, the background of the Cat Witcher Adept card shows the not yet destroyed Stygga Citadel. The Cat Witcher Mentor is in the same scene and we can see lots of potatoes and cabbages; cats definitely eat their veggies.

Cat Witcher: The card shows a Cat in the heat of battle mid-jump; his hood is up, blood is flying everywhere. The flavour text emphasizes that cats are known for their mad bloodlust, not stopping killing even after the enemy capitulated.

Cat Witcher Saboteur: A Cat perches next to the window, a smoking bomb in hand, eavesdropping on nobles. A rope is hung from somewhere out of the pic, possibly for a quick exit. Vesemir comments that these are many-a deeds the cats did that taint the reputation of witchers.

Gezras of Leyda: Gezras is a not yet known redheaded Cat witcher. Following the pattern he seems to be the founder of the Cat School. His flavour text shows that even back then (when the mutagens made Cats emotionless) they were inclined to dislike humans: “Take a contract from Aen Seidhe over a dh’oine any day, as you’re far less likely to receive a knife between the ribs in place of coin.”

Brehen: Now this cat embodies the Cat madness. He’s known as the Cat of Iello because he massacred everyone there. He was consequently shunned by all the schools, and he was even convinced that Vesemir put a kill order on his head. He met Geralt later in the 1240s on his way to claim the bounty for the princess. Thinking that Geralt was there to rob him of his chance of the bounty, Brehen took a priestess as hostage (this is what we see on the gwent card). Geralt managed to convince him to put away the blade, and they parted without crossing blades. When meeting with the striga he scoffed into her face that “she won’t be his first royal”. But his luck ran out. The Temerians buried him and fabricated the story of a cowardly witcher stealing their coin. I’m halfway convinced we see Brehen in the netflix series.

Gaetan: This boy broke into the fandom like a bulldozer. After the folks in Honorton cheated him of his pay and tried to kill him, Gaetan flew into rage and killed everyone there except Millie, a girl who reminded him of his sister. That’s the scene we see on the card. And then Geralt robs/kills him.

Saber-Tooth Tiger (Stealth): Another huge animal/monster related to the school. It’s story is this: “The prized possession of royal menagerie, until a commando of Scoia’tael assaulted the exhibition, released the beast, and set it upon its cruel masters. Since that day, it has acquired a selective taste for human flesh.” Another cat turning against humans.

Stygga Castle: An outside view of what we already saw on the Cat Witcher Adept card. It’s located on a cliff, and the sun shines into it just right (so that the Cats can bask in the light). The walls form a circle where they shelter the inner grounds, and a bigger tower emerges in the middle. The Castle could be reached by the thin bridge connecting it to the mainland, or by the cliffs (if one is brave enough).

Making a Bomb: Cats seem to have a specialty in bombs. Guess where Lambert got his interest from *winkwink*

School of the Griffin: lots of pairs in this one

Griffin Witcher Mentor & Griffin Witcher Adept: Compared to the other schools, this pairing is tame - the adept is climbing a tree to retrieve a crossbow bolt. We can see the mentor in the background. On the mentor card the adept waves down with the retrieved crossbow bolt in hand. It shows a kind of comradeship that’s not present in the other 3 schools. The flavour text emphasizes the importance of knowledge. Students are afforded to choose their final Trial: recite the entire Liber Tenebrum (Book of Shadows; one of Keldar’s favourite books) or steal a griffin’s egg. Noone’s chosen the former.

Griffin Witcher: The witcher is shown shooting down a griffin. According to the flavour text they prefer hunting with silver-tipped arrowheads instead of swords.

Archgriffin & Griffin Witcher Ranger: On the Griffin Ranger card we see the witcher crouching over track marks. On the archgriffin card he found the albino (or very old) monster, who’s already killed someone (probably a lumberjack, judging by the axe). According to the flavour text, Griffin Witchers are trained to be professional trackers; nothing can stop them to reach their prey. Even though archgriffins are considered the embodiment of courage, loyalty and fighting spirit, the gwent card corrects the notion that the Griffin Witcher were named after the monster. In truth, they got the name in honour of their founder’s mentor, a knight named Gryphon.

Erland of Larvik: Continuing the trend, Erland is the founder of the Griffin School (one of the two that are confirmed 100%). He’s from the first generation of witcher, mutated by Alzur himself. After the Order began fracturing he had a confrontation with Arnaghan (who’ll be the founder of the bear school). Arnaghad almost killed one of his brothers, slashed Erland across the face then parted ways with the Order and left Morgraig Castle with his own group. Seeing that the the remaining witchers couldn’t go on like that, he grabbed his 13 best friend and left to Kaer Seren, where (after purging it from spectres) he founded the Griffin School which focused on magic, preparedness and flexibility. His teaching emphasized knightly values (mimicking his long-dead mentor, a knight named Gryphon) in hopes that it would make future witchers’ life easier. It didn’t.

Coen & Keldar: The cards are mainly connected by background. Coen is finished killing what appears to be an albino arachas (but it’s definitely an insectoid), while Keldar’s taking notes. We can rightly assume that he’s updating their bestiary, since he’s one of the teachers/mentors who focus on gathering and sharing knowledge. Coen’s flexibility shows in the flavour text: “There is no such thing as a fair fight. Every advantage and every opportunity that arises is used in combat.” Not very knightly, is it?

Kaer Seren: The “Star Keep” Erland and his friends fled to. It was used by the Order’s mages to mutate witchers (that’s why it was haunted by spectres). It’s located at the edge of the Dragon mountains by the sea between Poviss and Kovir. It’s said to possess the great library, which later mages tried to get for themselves. They messed up: by bringing down an avalanche on the Keep, that knowledge was destroyed. The keep was badly damaged and many witchers died.

Target Practice: The Griffin School’s specialty is their precise aim - they “can split an apple in two from a hundred paces”.

School of the Bear:

Bear Witcher Mentor & Bear Witcher Adept: The adept card shows that young witcher are taught to catch fish by hand (just like their school relevant animal). On the mentor card the elder witcher leads a group of younglings in the mountains; possibly out to teach tracking. The cards are connected by flavour text. The young Bear witcher-would-be’s need to complete the Trial of the Mountain, which consists of them climbing Mount Gorgon (also known as the Devil Mountain; it is the highest peak of the Amell range) to retrieve a runestone. The Trial often ends with the kids frozen to death. The Bear Mentor card’s flavour confirms it: “If you’re unsure of the way, just keep a lookout for markers - the frozen corpses of would-be witchers.” This sounds ominous - don’t they collect their fallen?

Bear Witcher: Bears are solitary hunters as seen in the flavour text: “life alone can be tough”. The witcher in the pic just dismembered what looks like a ghoul (with a tail?).

Bear Witcher Quartermaster: This one I like. The Quartermaster is an amputee (missing one of his arms, which was taken by a bear; must have won that fight one-handed), yet they still found a job for him where he can be useful. His flavour text suggest he likes Mahakam mead.

Arnaghad: The founder of the Bear School, he never felt kinship with his fellow witchers. After attacking a witcher named Rhys over a contract, wounding him deeply from shoulder to waist, he returned to Morgraig, attacked Erland then left with his possé to found the Bear School - Haern Caduch - in the Amell Mountains. Later he almost died in a betrayal, which resulted in another schism and the foundation of the Viper School.

Gerd: Gerd’s a legendary witcher who fled to Skellige after allying with a Usurper instead of his daughter, who later issued a warrant for his arrest. He has a busy time in Skellige: first slaying a dragon, befriending the Jarl Torgeir, killing a bunch of sirens, losing so many weapon diagrams you wouldn’t believe, losing half his pay and silver sword on gwent, escaping Nilfgaard and managing to slay a striga, killing some of his pursuers, only to be caught up in the siege of Torgeir’s castle, where he died in the ruins. On the card he’s showing Bear-typical strength: he’s tearing apart a siren with his bear hands.

Junod of Belhaven: Junod had a dubious background, but was thought to be the child of a brave dwarf and a giantess. He’s a huge man, with a big bushy beard and bald head. His sobriquet is false; he took it after Ivo, because he liked the ring of it. He was known as a strict haggler and a bit of a gambler. In 1243 he took a contract in hopes of cash (he wanted to forge the Grandmaster Ursine Armour). The subterranean monster was said to live in the caverns. Junod drew bear signs and wrote a warning on the wall (this is the scene we see on the card). He was however ill-prepared; the beast turned out to be a shaelmaar (a type of relic Gaetan slew once) that killed him in that very cavern.

Dire Bear: Once again related to the school in question, the Dire Bear is stuck with so much weaponry that it looks like a walking armory. Lots of witchers must have tried to slay it, yet it still kicks - just like Bear Witchers, it’s resilient till the very end.

Haern Caduch: Built into the side of the Amell Mountains, it’s the coldest environment of all the schools. As with the other schools, the Bears were forced out of it due to folk riots. It was left in disrepair to be buried under snow and ice (as seen on the card). It’s name could be translated as “Piercing Whiskers”.

Armor Up: As Bear’s are more likely to stand in the way of attack than dodge, they need to wear a heavy armour at all times.

Salamandra:

Roland Bleinheim & Gellert Bleinheim: Witcher 1 characters. They are thought to be brothers, leading the Salamandra organization. As drug lords one heads the fisstech operation in Vizima’s sewers (Roland), the other in the swamps (Gellert). The flavour text pretty much matches: both of them wondering what the other one is doing.

Salamandra Mage: The art itself was already leaked in China around 2 years back, and there were a few theories. One of them was that the man depicted is Zerrikanian, and I think that’s correct. Both the facial tattoo, darker skin, thinly braided hair and fire magic points in that direction. Azar Javed (a known Salamandra fire mage) happens to be a Zerrikanian escapee too.

Salamandra Lackey: A girl with the Salamandra-stapled mask runs from a city guard. The flavour text says the following: “Lackeys are expected to perform their first five jobs for no pay, demonstrating their passion for the gig.” The organization monitors from the beginning that only those remain who are extremely loyal to their cause.

Fallen Rayla: A little background for those who are unfamiliar with her: Rayla of Lyria was a veteran of the Nilgaardian Wars. She harbours anti-nonhuman sentiments after she was captured by Scoia’taels and severely maimed. The Rayla we see on the card is a mutant - in Witcher 1 she was supposedly shot down by Scoia’tael, and Salamandra found her close to death, subjected her to mutation. She was killed by Geralt.

Salamander: The card shows a bright blue spotted salamander. It has two tails and heads (possibly grown together?). The Salamander is a symbol of the organization. Metaphorically speaking it could mean, that Salamandra thought of itself as something untouchable: “best to avoid petting them, as the salamander, when threatened, secretes a deadly toxin”.

Failed Experiment: The card - ironically - thrives when it’s poisoned. The “experiment” only resembles a human in shape. It’s clutching the table ends, as if trying to escape still.  It’s fair to assume that they later dissected it: “even failed experiments can serve a purpose”.

Salamandra Abomination: A step further from the failed experiment - we see the results of pushing science’s boundaries. Only the skull is left intact, everything else of the body is covered with insectoid-like growths.

Stolen Mutagens: Gruesome organ harvesting. The witcher heart (?) glows, which is either an artistic decision (probable) or the mages sent magic into the body, and the mutagens light up (like angiographia). Three types of mutagens can be harvested: red (strength), blue (magic) or green (resilience). I headcanon that the amount they inject of the three types can vary - that’s how you get strength inclined witchers like the wolves (red), or big ass mothers like the bears (green).

Salamandra Hideout: There are multiple hideouts in Witcher 1 (outskirt of Visima, crypt in sewers and one in the trade quarters). The one depicted here is the fisstech lab in the sewers. It shows a dimly lit, cobwebbed room. There’s an elevation where a body lays on the table. The elevation’s floor is gridded, so the blood and other fluids can freely flow down into the sewer water, where many bodies are already discarded recklessly.

Neutral:

Alzur & Viy & Koshchey: Alzur was a charismatic mage and spell inventor, who created many horrible monsters, like the koshchey (with the spell: Alzur’s Double Cross) and the Viy (a huge centipede-like insectoid). He was also the one who did the lion’s share of work with the witcher’s mutation.

Cosimo Malaspina: Cosimo was the teacher of Alzur. He was known for his knowledge in hybridization and genetic modification. Him and Alzur were the true creators of the witchers sect. On the gwent card, three man are shown prodding at a mutated body. Cosimo (the old dude) is in the middle, Alzur might be the one on the left and that leaves Idarran on the right. His flavour text paints him as cold and clinical, someone without empathy: “Children keep asking him for gifts. He doesn’t know why, but it really helps with finding subjects for his experiments.”

Idarran of Ulivo & Idr & Wererat: Idarran was one of the contributers of the witcher experiments. He’s an expert in hybridization and genetic modification, whose teacher was Alzur. He was a pale kid who lived in the canals of Vizima and experimented on rats at the age of 5. He found beauty in gruesome creations, like the Wererat (a human-sized rat on roids) and the Idr (a big centipede-like insectoid). He’s disdained by Geralt for his many monsters.

Triangle within a Triangle: It’s a magic spell used to introduce a series of mutations and to greatly increase the mass of a given body. That way they can create huge monstrosities, like the koshchey. Adepts often confuse it with a pentagram which can lead to infernal disasters.

Selective mutation: The card shows a close up of a young man’s eyes - one mutated (catlike) one human. His skin shows his high toxicity level, ashen with prominent veins. He’s held down as alchemists prepare to inject a yellow concoction into the human eye. It’s possible that after the success of witchers the mages tried to recreate the changes in smaller scale, then unmake it in turn, unsuccessfully.

Witcher Student: This is not really a card, but I included it anyway. The card’s ability is - ironically - doomed, and to add insult to injury, its flavour text is the following well-known fact: “Four out of ten boys survive… at most.” It’s also a point for black humour that the gwent commentators added: the Trial of Grasses card boosts this unit significantly.

Berengar: He’s a Wolf School Witcher who blamed his school for denying him a normal life and consequently abandoned them. In Witcher 1 Geralt can decide to kill or spare him. In a letter he admits that he was a coward because he betrayed Kaer Morhen and worked with Salamadra in hope that they can undo his mutation. His card references a questline in Witcher 1, where he tried to reason with the vodyanoi (~lovecraftian fish people) to spare the village’s prize-winning cow, named Strawberry. This is non-canon; in the game Geralt takes over the quest to do this instead.

Leo: Another Witcher 1 character. He was an orphan taken in by Vesemir. He was a kind-hearted but hot-headed man, who had all the training but not the mutations and the experience - he never killed a man. The flavour text of his gwent card kind of mocks his death: “He would have caught the arrow if he only had some heads-up.” He’s burned on a pyre and his cenotaph can be found south of Kaer Morhen.

Geralt: Quen: The last classical sign that wasn’t yet a card. In the art, Geralt is wearing the Manticore armour

Snowdrop: She’s a not yet seen character; impish looking female bard with light blond hair (flowers braided on the side) who plays a medieval version of the fiddle to a rooster. There’s a horseshoe hanging from the hem of his pants. She’s also seen in the gwent: journey #3 launch trailer. She’s narrating that she was saved by Alzur. Alzur told her about his plans of creating witchers to fight the beasts of the Continent, and she admired him so much she spread his story (”let me tell you about the greatest sorceress to ever lived”). Their story will unveil in the next week, I’ll probably update accordingly. It’s also interesting that Alzur says in the gwent intro (regarding witchers): “Bards will toil to do justice to their feats.” As if his own successes and experiences will be mirrored in his creations. Projecting much?

Monsters:

Viy & Idr: both of them are centipede-like insectoids conjured by infamous mages (see: Alzur and Idarran)

Wererat: same can be said about this one. Idarran experimented on Vizima’s sewer rats since the age of 5. This human sized abomination was the end result.

Succubus: We already discussed how the “Succubus” doesn’t fit the theme. Other interesting thing is the surrounding of her - in the background we can see a skull full of some kinda of dark liquid; she’s also holding a goblet. I’m not saying she’s drinking blood, but if she does, it would shed some questions as succubi don’t need to drink blood at all.

Phooca: As nekkers’ rare big brother, phoocas are ogroids that have the strength to rip a man’s head off with their bear hands. According to the wiki, in Celtic folklore they are regarded as shapeshifting fairies.

Koshchey: A witcher 1 boss, koshcheys are spider-like abominations summoned by mages. The woman standing her ground in the picture is Visenna (Geralt’s druid mom). In the story she’s the one to kill the first koshchey ever created.

Spontaneous Evolution: Under the Red Moon the wolf mutated into an amalgamation of eyes and teeth. Malaspina possibly added something to the mix that proved unstable. The card’s name is kind of ironic - this change is not spontaneous (it was induced) but could be related to evolution (it would imply that this form is somehow advantageous to the current environment and helps adaptation). (Note: in my opinion spontaneous generation would be a better term: it’s the thought that living creatures could arise from nonliving matter.)

Hybrid: the card shows a two-headed wolf or dog. Pretty straight-forward.

Chimera: A creature created my Cosimo Malaspina. He combines the genes of a fiend and griffin, then added a trace of insectoid and wyvern. It kind of looks like a furred wyvern with antlers. Interestingly the frightener (an insectoid; a rare result of magical experiment) is also called a chimera.

Dol Dhu Lokke: a new monster lair location. The depending on how you translate “lokke” the Elder can be read as “black valley place” or “alluring black valley”. It’s so dangerous - housing many-a horrors - that even a witcher thinks twice before going near it.

Interesting tidbits

Coen has hair, which is weird because so far he was described in all sources as bald.

There used to be a card  that was also called Viper Witcher, which is now referred to as “Kingslayer”

The Bear Witcher’s face was drawn after one of CDPR’s employee.

The Koshchey’s card title has a typo: “Koschchey”.

Easter eggs (mainly in flavour text)

The Spontaneous Evolution card references The Powerpuff Girls intro: “Professor Malaspina accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction - compound X.”

The Bear Witcher card might reference a song of Baloo from the Jungle Book (The Bare Necessities): “Life alone on the road can be tough - be sure to bring all the bare necessities.”

#my shit #the witcher #gwent #witcher meta #witcher lore #i worked really hard on this #i hope it shows lol #if y'all have any thoughts i'd be happy to hear about them #cross my heart i don't bite

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Submission Compilation

City Vamps has Angy Beckett, a cool big sister character for the younger characters. She's really sweet and I wish I had someone like her in my life at that age...

Angy Becket Wiki

HeartBlood  Is the love story between a werewolf and an elf. It's really sweet.

Asta is young and kind elf ranger, well versed with the land though still unfamiliar with it's people. One day, she meets Teyeno; a proud warrior and a general to her people, whom requests Asta's help... But may get far more than she asked for. (Canonically lesbian couple)

Supersonic Girl

Has Brenda, a magical girl who isn't allowed to use her powers because of her overprotective mother.

Brenda Bell (Canonically has vitiligo)

Strawberry Moon  Is a graphic novel/novel hybrid with Edlyn Orenda. (Who ALSO appears to have vitiligo, from the images.) This one, you may need to try to find in your own language. The main site looks like it is in Spanish, so I’m also not sure if the character IS actually Black, or if she’s a brown skinned woman of non African descent. Maybe in one of the posts, it tells us, but I only speak and read English, so IDK. 

Gryphoon is another source that I can’t read. 

Noha Argonnar's biggest dream, is to become a Gryphoon in order to solve the mysteries surrounding her brother's death. In order to become a cadet in the millitary of Ark, capable of defeating the Eckhos, she must first pass many extremely though tests and overcome any danger along the way. Soon she understands that she can't do this alone, and allies with 4 other candidates. An ex-con, a giant, a resourceful undine, and talented silvana. Can this group of ragtags become an Gryphoon?

I don’t mind saying that I don’t see any Black female characters in these images, but with the language barrier, I couldn’t say for sure, so, it’s up to y’all if you wanna go check it out on premise and principle. Idk if I’m interested.  Noha Argonnar looks like maybe she may be? But, I’m not positive with no background on the story and not much canonical art for the story.

They also suggested Royalty Witches, but the link don’t work and the only text was, “ Has a delightfully diverse cast,” so Idk who the Black female character(s) is/are, or if they’re prominent enough to prompt a dive into finding English counterparts for ME, but including the rec on this list anyway, since it was part of the submissions.

On a personal note:

Loves, if you don’t feel comfortable with sending me things as yourselves, perhaps you just don’t feel comfortable with me, and that’s fine. I can’t make you feel something you don’t feel. I’ve got one me and that’s the person that you see, whatever kinda day I’m having, the person behind the blog is genuine. I don’t have anonymous feature enabled because the first several years I was on Tumblr, that feature was abused and I don’t trust it. Any content that is sent to me through backchannels to be anonymous will not be prioritized, as anonymous messages are stressful for me. So, I’m asking that y’all no longer send those to me, and I’m sorry if that means that we won’t be able to share in the things that you love, but I’m creating this boundary with how I accept content. 

Thanks, 

Nesha

#webtoons #submission #Angy Becket #Asta #Brenda Bell #Edlyn Orenda #Noha Argonnar #City Vamps #HeartBlood #Supersonic Girl #graphic novels #character compilations #submission compilation #answered #difficult to find content #with the exception of Heartblood #which the creator of has a Tumblr

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

2020 reading roundup

feat: every book I read this year!

Favorite fiction:

Witchmark (C.L. Polk) 

Kindred (Octavia E. Butler) 

Fledgling (Octavia E. Butler)

The Killing Moon (N.K. Jemisin)

The Shadowed Sun (N.K. Jemisin) 

Circe (Madeline Miller) 

Freshwater (Akwaeke Emezi) 

The House in the Cerulean Sea (T.J. Klune) 

My Sister, the Serial Killer (Oyinkan Braithwaite) 

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter (Alexis Hall) 

Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir) 

The Traitor Baru Cormorant (Seth Dickinson)

Further fun/fabulous/fruity fiction:

The Beautiful Ones (Silvia Moreno-Garcia)

Stormsong (C.L. Polk)

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home (Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor)  

Rat Queens, vol. 1-4 (Kurtis J. Wiebe)

The Deep (Rivers Solomon)  

The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller) 

Gods of Jade and Shadow (Silvia Moreno-Garcia) 

Books that left me furious at death for taking Octavia Butler before she could write another sequel and tell us just what the hell Earthseed was getting up to out there in space:

Parable of the Talents (Octavia E. Butler)

Books that gave me a new appreciation for the short story as an art form:

Falling In Love with Hominids (Nalo Hopkinson)

Books that I didn’t get into right away but then they REALLY picked up and by the time the Big Reveal happened I was screaming like a howler monkey and feeling like a fool for not catching on sooner:

The City We Became (N.K. Jemisin)

Novellas that made me cry in record time, which is entirely unsurprising given the author:

To Be Taught, If Fortune (Becky Chambers) 

Books that frankly took me by surprise and made me think I should be reading more horror, or at least more Stephen Graham Jones:

The Only Good Indians (Stephen Graham Jones) 

Sequels that were good but also made my head hurt because Jesus Christ, oh my god, WHAT is going on:

Harrow the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)

Books that I LIKED but wanted to like more than I actually did:

The Taste of Marrow (Sarah Gailey)

The Ballad of Black Tom (Victor LaValle) 

In the Vanishers’ Palace (Aliette de Bodard) 

Upright Women Wanted (Sarah Gailey)

The Devourers (Indra Das) 

Sister Mine (Nalo Hopkinson) 

Mexican Gothic (Silvia Moreno-Garcia) 

Axiom’s End (Lindsay Ellis)

Totally respectable literary fiction that I cannot in good conscience lump into literally any other category:

Real Life (Brandon Taylor)

It was fine and I feel bad for not having anything particularly positive or negative or interesting at all to say about it, but it really and truly was just kind of alright:

My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel (Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris)

Favorite nonfiction:

In the Dream House (Carmen Maria Machado)

How We Fight for Our Lives (Saeed Jones)

An Autobiography (Angela Y. Davis)

Feed (Tommy Pico)

Ace: What Aseuxality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex (Angela Chen)

Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African American Marriage (Dianne M. Stewart)

Heavy: An American Memoir (Kiese Laymon)

Notable nifty nonfictions: 

The Dark Fantastic: Race and Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games (Ebony Elizabeth Thomas) 

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death (Caitlin Doughty)

So You Want to Talk About Race (Ijeoma Oluo)

A Curious History of Sex (Kate Lister)

Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power (Anna Merlan) 

Pleasure in the News: African American Readership and Sexuality in the Black Press (Kim T. Gallon) 

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women White Feminists Forgot (Mikki Kendall) 

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower (Brittney Cooper) 

The Tragedy of Heterosexuality (Jane Ward)

Other people’s lives that I happily devoured:

Dear America: Notes From an Undocumented Citizen (Jose Antonio Vargas)  

Wow, No Thank You (Samantha Irby)  

I’m Afraid of Men (Vivek Shraya)

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays (Esmé Weijun Wang) 

Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman (Laura Kate Dale) 

Brown Girl Dreaming (Jacqueline Woodson)

When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir (Patrisse Khan-Cullors) 

Poetry & personal essays that I wanted to Get but didn’t quite:

Homie (Danez Smith)

Something That May Shock and Discredit You (Daniel M. Lavery)  

More Than Organs (Kay Ulanday Barrett) 

Junk (Tommy Pico)

Nonfiction that was interesting but also incomprehensible in many places because I don’t have a degree in biology, which I guess is my bad:

Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation (Olivia Judson) 

Nonfiction that was interesting but also felt lacking in its analysis, perhaps as an inevitable side effect of trying to publish it quickly enough to stay topical:

Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger (Soraya Chemaly) 

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger (Rebecca Traister)

Sweet graphic novels:

The Prince and the Dressmaker (Jen Wang) 

Shadow of the Batgirl (Sarah Kuhn)

Books that are significant for various reasons and good to read but sort of felt like homework:

Stone Butch Blues (Leslie Feinberg) 

Are Prisons Obsolete? (Angela Y. Davis)

Books I reread during quarantine even though I am not generally much of a rereader:

Her Body and Other Parties (Carmen Maria Machado)

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) 

A Small Place (Jamaica Kincaid)

Books that weren’t really for me but probably would have rocked my socks if I read them when I was like 14:

Internment (Samira Ahmed) 

The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls (Mona Eltahawy) 

Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity (Jennifer Weiss-Wolf) 

The Bone Witch (Rin Chupeco) 

Pet (Akwaeke Emezi) 

#bookblr

[readingaway]

Mid Year Book Freakout Tag

Stolen from @ninja-muse, this was a good distraction for a few minutes

How many books have you read so far?

126; fewer than I wanted to have read but there’s a lot of extenuating circumstances and reading must take a back seat to everything else. A few have been re-reads like Dance of Thieves, Red White & Royal Blue, the first three books of An Ember in the Ashes, and I will get to re-reading We Hunt the Flame in the next few weeks. 

What genres have you read?

A decent mix, I think. It’s still somehow dominated by fantasy and YA (or YA fantasy), but I’ve gotten in quite a few other genres like contemporary/ adult literary fiction, historical fiction, romance, sci-fi, classics, and some nonfiction, poetry, short stories, and graphic novels. 

Best books you’ve read so far in 2021:

Not counting re-reads -

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (book 3 hurt so much)

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson

A Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan 

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett (my favorite Discworld novel so far)

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

New Spring by Robert Jordan

The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald (was a bit hard to read but the flow and the emotional pull)

The Lives of Christopher Chant and Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones (I’ve discovered that when I’m in a slump - usually because my reading has been too depressing or dry I just have to pick up a Jones or a Pratchett to fix things)

A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir (I mean, I thought I was upset by certain things but then I checked the tagged posts on here and realized I’m normal, actually)

Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley

Curses are for Cads by Tamara Berry

The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

The Valley and the Flood by Rebecca Mahoney

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2021:

Uh, I’m gonna go with The Box in the Woods even though it’s not quite a sequel, it is connected to the main series

New release you haven’t read yet, but want to:

Lucky Girl by Jamie Pacton, Delicates by Brenna Thummler, Lucy Clark Will Not Apologize by Margo Rabb, and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. There’s a few more but these are the ones I’m most anxious to get to.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year:

I’m very excited for A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger, Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson, Hypnosis is for Hacks by Tamara Berry, and The Winners by Fredrik Backman - the intended release date is unclear but it looks like it should be out in English in November/ December but might be pushed to next year. (On that note, I am still waiting for The Winds of Winter and The Thorn of Emberlain.)

Biggest disappointment:

Ace by Angela Chen was well put together but nothing earth-shattering or even that affirming for me. I keep myself sheltered from discrimination so I don’t face the stuff that people in the stories related faced, nor is it like I’ve never heard of asexuality before. 

In terms of books I think were just bad, Coyote America by Dan Flores was a flop; it looked like it might be pretty informative and some parts of it were, but there were so many assumptions and presumptions, as well as poor argumentation, that it threw everything else the author was claiming into question. Brideshead Revisited and A Handful of Dust, both by Evelyn Waugh were also big disappointments, out of all the classics I’ve read so far this year they were both boring, stale duds in which nothing interesting happened at all and the narrative voice was even more boring and grating. 

Biggest surprise:

Um, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I thought it would be iffy but it was... it flowed well and highlighted the differences between the women and had such emotional depth and also drew so much attention to patriarchal religious structures and patriarchy in general. 

Favorite new author (debut or new to you):

Ooh, I’ve read quite a few debut novels - mostly middle grade since I’ve been reading a lot of middle grade since my own novel project falls somewhere between middle grade and YA and I want to study the story types and narrative styles and I like how they’re written much more clearly than YA and adult books and yet typically have great emotional depth. So for most notable debut authors I liked Rebecca Mahoney and Nora Shalaway Carpenter. In new to me authors, Rachel Maddow, Tillie Walden, and Natuso Kirino all have other books that I’m now interested in checking out. Actually I have one of Tillie Walden’s other books next to me right now.

Underrated gems:

I’m going to say Spindle’s End, The Goddess Chronicle, The Valley and the Flood, Cures for Heartbreak, the Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones, Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland, Black Flamingo by Dean Atta, The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham (a classic horror/ sci-fi novel), and The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

Newest fictional crush:

Was gonna say “don’t have any” but one could say that I love Marko in Saga (they draw him with such a strong jawline and he wears armor and has beautiful ram horns; bearded Marko was peak Marko) and Eleanor Wilde in Tamara Berry’s Eleanor Wilde mystery series might count.

Newest favorite characters:

the crew in Saga and Ashby in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet stick out but really, I loved a lot of characters this year.

Book that made you cry:

Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles, Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid leap to mind

Book that made you happy:

Aside from the ones I already listed, The Transatlantic Book Club by Felicity-Hayes McCoy

Most beautiful book cover of a book you’ve read so far this year:

Oh but there’s quite a few! Like The Pull of the Stars, the vintage classics copy of Orlando, The Go-Between, The Valley and the Flood 

How are you doing with your year’s goals?

Well I didn’t make any official goals aside from my overall reading goal of 200 books, which I’m doing well on. I might up it to 250 but I’m not sure how demanding fall semester is going to be yet. Aside from that I just have vague goals to push my boundaries and read as diversely as possible - not just with things like #ownvoices books but in genre, all the different categories, as well. That’s going pretty well.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

SO MANY. I can’t give a list because there is no way to keep it concise.

Tagging: @softironman, @she-wolf-of-highgarden, @motherofkittens94 and anyone who wants to do it.

#tag games

[popculturebuffet]

Blog Updates: New Patreon Stretch Goals, Patreon Exclusive Reviews, New Story Arcs and Other Stuff

MHello everyone. For those of you seeing this through other tags my name is Jake. I do reviews on here that are usually full sumaries of an episode of a tv show or comic, with jokes and analsyis throughout. I’m doing this post as i’ve recently revamped by patreon a bit, check out VIA THIS LINK if your curious. I also have some other stuff going on with the blog that I thought might intrest the general public and especially you lovely followers. Thank you guys so much. Your support means a lot and feel free to interact with this post and any of the reviews. it’s always a pleasure. Leave your comments whatever. So let’s start with the patreon stuff

You Decide the Next Patreon Exclusive Review!: 

Yes YOU will decide the Patreon Exclusive review for May. How? It’s simple: i’m currently reviewing the Lilo and Stitch crossover episodes, the first two this week with the American Dragon Jake Long crossover “Morpholomew” done yesterday, the Proud Family episode “Spats” coming later this week, and “Rufus” (Kim Possible) and “Lax” (Recess) coming next week and the week after that respectively. 

As a way to gage intrest in the shows crossed over, and if I should review some of them on their own, i’m going to be watching the notes, and after the first week i’ll record how many a review got. This way the first review dosen’t get an advantage over the last and so on. Whichever episode gets the most votes wins and it’s show will get two reviews: One exclusive to Patreon in may you can check out for just a buck, and one for all of ya in June. So if you want to dragon up, get louder and prouder, check out what the sitch is, or have some recess, keep an eye on my blog and check out the review. Like it reblog, it, both. This is all in your hands. And if this little contest works out I may do another one like it in the future. 

New Patreon Stretch Goals!:

For those unfamiliar with Patreon it’s a site that helps creators like me get paid for their work, used by such luminaries as Linkara, Pushing Up Roses and greatest of all Rifftrax. 

Stretch Goals are an amount of money I get a month from patreons, that’s readers like you paying me. Even a buck a month would help a lot and help me put out a reviews and LIVE off doing this. But it’s a two way street so in order to entice you lovely people into paying me for doing my job and my passion with these reviews, i’ve updated the tiers, adding a wider and better range of rewards. I’m currenntly up to 15 dollars a month, or close enough that i’ve acitivated those rewards. And if you help me hit these tiers EVEYRONE gets PUBLIC, on here, for free reviews. Thanks to my lovely patreons Emma and Kevin you all are getting reviews of the first 5 Ducktales episode, aka Legend of the Golden Suns, with the second coming as soon as I finish this post. Even a buck helps us reach closer and for your dollar you get access to the discord, exclusive reviews, and to pick a short any time I review a bunch of shorts. And with Goofy’s birthday coming up next montha nd Donald’s after that, now is the best time for that. 5 dollar patreons also get one review as month, with 10 dollar ones getting two. You’ve already probably seen some of these: Kev has used one of his a month to have me review a house of mouse episode every month, and newest patreon and longtime friend Emma is using them to have me review the netflix dr. seuss adaptation “Green Eggs and Ham”. So whatever YOU want me to review I will and you’l lhelp unlock even MORE great reviews. So what do you get if you hit the goals? I’m glad you asked. 

We’re up to 15 so next is...

20 Dollar Tier:  Ducktales 87 Season 2 Mini Series!: Yes indeedy. Already on the Docket was the Super Ducktales Arc, which introducices the OG GIZMODUCCCKKKKK. But since that apparenlty wasn’t enough i’ve also added the OTHER mini series. While i’ll do super first since that’s the one with higher fan intrest once tha’ts done i’ll also review Time is Money, the time travel arc bringing in everyone’s faviroite scrappy Bubba. So if you want a buncha cruncha retro Ducktales pony up. But that’s not all the disney afternoon I got for this tier. 

A Darkwing Duck Episode A MOnth: This one has also been promoted every time I could and still stands. If you like that mind behind the shadow disguise, that daring duck of mystery, that champion of right, then you’ll get one review a month about him, as voted on by you patreons. 

Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy: And since neither of these have helped me so far and stepping back into Amity Park made me realize how much I love the series, even if it’s creator is a 80 tons of smug asshole packed into a t-shirt he thinks is cooler than it is. So it only felt right to add  the ghost boy to the tier and the best way to kick that off is with it’s second best, and only barely second behind Reign Storm, episode: The Ultimate Enemy! Danny finds his future is imperfect and must battle his own evil self! If you want my thoughts on one of the series finest hours, then help me hit 20 bucks a month to keep making content. 

25 Dollar Tier: 

I removed the Tail Spin content, though rest assured I will be covering Plunder and Lightning sometime this year. But what I replaced it with is even better. 

One Danny Phantom Review a Month: YOu like teen superheros? you like ghosts? you like me slagigng off about butch hartman and trying to make it crystal clear his creation dosen’t wholly belong to him? Then you’ll like me reviewing Danny Phantom. And while i’m already doing that, this goal gaurantees one episode a month, and said episode will be voted on by my patreons. So if you pay for this you’ll not only get your monthly dose of going ghost.. but you’ll get a chance to PICK what it is. 

Disney Shows To Movies Trilogy : I’ve decided to make it a tradition for my 15 dollar stretch goals to do a bunch of disney movies. And like with my last batch, which you’ll be seeing in may, i’m doing tv shows that got their own movies, theatrical or otherwise. And this time we’re doing MY generatoin: Kim Possible: So The Drama, the best story in the show’s histroy and the best movie in the Disney Channels! Recess: Schools Out! The suprisingly bonkers unsurprisingly awesome finale to an awesome show! and The Proud Family Movie, another UTTERLY BATSHIT finish to a great show.  Lost at Sea and Seconds: This one’s for my scottaholics, fourth part of my Scott Pilgrim retrospective coming this week!. If you like me taking a look at Scott’s quest to punch the fuck out of his girlfriends exes while growing up a little, then if you help me get to the 30 dollar tier, i’ll also take a look at O’Malley’s other graphic novels Lost at Sea, which follows a girl who lost her soul and her boyfriend on a trip with what may be Young Neil’s older sister, and Seconds, the story of a woman with issues growing up who finds the ablitlity to travel through time.. or is it space? And some of you savvier readers my know he has nother comic. Where’s that one? wellllll

30 Dollar Tier:

Snotgirl: I’m saving this one for this tier. Reviews of each collected volume of snotgirl, Bryan’s first ongoing series, all three so far and any more to come about, unsuprisingly, a  hot mess of a person, this time who might’ve done a murder. You know instead of defintely did a murder but in self defnese and with a longsword. 

Gravity Falls Season 1!: One of Disney’s finest finally on this blog. All season 1 episodes reviewed in some way in some shape in some form.  Star Vs Finale Arc!: You’ve heard me bitch about the problems in Tom’s story, and wil lcontinue to. Now see the terrible way everyone elses ends! From an amazing build up to an awful finish, see reviews of Every story relevant season 4 episode from Butterfly Follies to Cleaved that won’t already be covered in my tom retrospective. It’s a road to crushing disapointment, come on inside! 

35 Dollar Tier:  More Disney TV Adaptations!: Doug’s First Movie! See Doug get really fucking weird in his sea monster based movie with a punch line of a name! Teachers Pet, a great movie out of a show I barely saw! Kim Possible Live action! it’s suprisingly okay! and Recess Taking the Fifth: a compliation movie for a season we sadly never got. 

Gravity Falls Season 2: Buillding on the first reward Gravity Falls Reviews will go beyond the first season and finish the job. From zombies, to dipcifica, to ford to weirdmageddon, I’m doin it all. 

40 Dollar Tier: 

Two HUGE Disney Focused Comics Retrospectives! 

Darkwing Duck: In addition to the show, i’ll start reviewing the awesome follow up comic that got me into it. From the start to both finishes: the unathorized crossover finale and the sadly short lived sequel series from joe books, the worst mistake disney ever made that wasn’t racist, before Artemis Fowl said hold my beer. Also the short lived Ducktlaes series because why not. 

The Incredibles!: The Family Dynamic! A comprehensive retrospective featuring reviews of the movie, the Mark Waid followup, the sequel that ignores said followup and the incomparable Christos Gage’s followup to THAT movie. Also that wonderfuly awful failed tv pilot bob made that he and lucius did a mst3k of. 

45 Dollar Tier: 

Disney Flims Lilo and Stitch a Thon: All four lilo and stitch movies, Lilo and Stitch, Lilo and Sitch 2, Stitch and Leroy and Stitch! All the hawaii, aliens and sequels you can handle!

Amphibia Season 1: I’ve done Season 2 as it comes out, i’ll be doing the same for season 3, so help me get here to see the start at least once a month, but two at a time!

50 Dollar Tier: The last one for now. I’ll probably go to 10 dollar tiers after this. 

The Owl House Season 1: While I wait for the second season to start so I can cover it, have me do the rest of season 1! The only exceptions are the already covered Enchanted Grom Fright and the earmarked for pride month wing it like witches!

The Two Loves and 87 Mistakes of Mordecai: A regular show romancetrospective, as we go through the downs, ups, higher ups and crushing lows of Modercai’s romantic arcs from regular show. His crush on margert, making his move, moving on, moving on to cj, and then the horrible cluster fuck I’ve talked about nonstop and will again and again as one of the worst romantic arcs in memory as they shot the relationship in the foot head and groin! Force me to relive it all!

So yeah I’ll add more tiers, again probably 10 dollars apart if I get to 50, but given I barely got to 15 i’m not optimistic. PROVE ME WRONG. HELP ME HIT 50. 

Other Stuff:

Finally outisde of Patreon, that was the main reason for this, I have news on my various arcs. For one thing i’ll be trying to keep the pace better, so expect at least one entry a month for ones i’m doing on my own time like the tom retrospective, life and times and Scott pilgrims. Ones kev does will be done weekly to keep my wallet afloat. 

I also have two more retrospectives incoming! The first is paid for by Kev: I’l lbe tackling ALL THREE SEASON 2 ARCS OF DUCKTALES 2017. After the headache of trying to cram the della arc into three weeks to keep up with the lena one, I decided i’td be better for pacing if I did all three at once and kev agreed to it, if using his patreon reviews to cushion the blows. So starting next month i’ll be covering the Louie, Della and Glomgold/Owlson arcs, swapping between them in episode order. With that I should be FAR closer to having covered every ducktales episode. Granted i’ll still have 17 to cover, but it’ll make that much more managable. 

The second comes in June specifically timed for Pride Month. With Scott Pilgrim Wrapping up in August just in time for the movie’s anniversary, I decided to start covering another one of my faviorite comics of all time. It’s time to transform, roll out and make this precoius it’s Transformers More than Meets the Eye! For those of you unfamiliar it’s an idw comic that follows a rag tag group of transformers, about half of them gay or gay coded, on a mission to find the lost knights of cybertron and bring ballance to a post war cybertron.. which quickly devloves into hyjinnks with a side order of heartrending deaths and charcter development... and references to dexy’s midnight runners. 

So that’s all for now. thank you for reading, please support my patreon as the next pay term is at the start of next month, so if you want me to start on any of those stretch goals, nows the time. Please help me earn a living and until all are one, i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

#american dragon jake long #the proud family #kim possible #recess #lilo and stitch #ducktales #darkwing duck #danny phantom #seconds #scott pilgrim #snotgirl #lost at sea #gravity falls #star vs the forces of evil #the owl house #amphibia #teacher's pet #doug #the incredibles #regular show

[teenslib]

IT’S FINALLY DONE! Every year, the Rainbow Book List Committee has more books to review, because literature is slowing getting queerer, and children’s and YA lit are at the forefront of that change. This year, our committee of 13 people had to review nearly 500 eligible titles, and 130 (well, 129) were good enough and queer enough to make the list. There were so many terrific books that we got a special dispensation to create TWO Top Ten lists--the first time the committee has done so! The Top Tens are below, and please visit the link above for the full list.

I’m proud of our committee’s focus on diversity--along lines of race, ethnicity, queer identity, and even genre. At least half of the Top Ten Books for Young Readers and seven of the Top Ten for Teen Readers are about characters of color, and most of those were written by authors of color. We also tried to feature as many different letters of the alphabet soup as possible. I’ve noted the racial and LGBTQIA+ rep for the books that I’ve read.

Here are the Top Ten Books for Young Readers:

Ana on the Edge by Sass, A.J. Ages 8 to 12. Sports Fiction/Figure Skating. MC is nonbinary and Jewish-Chinese-American. Ana is a champion figure-skater. She hates her new princess-themed program, but how can she tell her mother that, when it cost so much money? And why does it bother her so much, anyway? When she finds the word ‘nonbinary,’ she realizes why the program doesn’t fit, but she still has a lot of work to do repairing relationships that have suffered in the meantime.

The Deep & Dark Blue by Smith, Niki. Ages 8 to 12. Fantasy. One of 2 MCs is a trans girl, all characters appear to be Southeast Asian. A pair of twins flee after a political coup that puts their lives at risk. They decide to disguise themselves as Hanna and Grayce, two girls living in the Communion of the Blue, an order of weaving women who spin magic like wool. What one twin doesn’t know is that, for the other, being Grayce isn’t a disguise. This is a beautiful story about self-discovery, acceptance, and affirmation.

Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring by Burgess, Matthew and Josh Cochran (Illustrator). Ages 6 to 14. Biography. MC is a white gay man. This colorful picture-book biography traces the life and art of Keith Haring.

The Every Body Book: LGBTQ+ Inclusive Guide for Kids about Sex, Gender, Bodies, and Families by Simon, Rachel E. and Noah Grigni (Illustrator). Ages 8 to 12. Nonfiction/Health. Various identities and races included. Filled with self-affirming information, The Every Body Book uses inclusive language, illustrations, and facts to cover a number of important topics for young people including consent, relationships, gender, sex, puberty, and hormones.

King and the Dragonflies by Callender, Kacen. Ages 8 to 12. Realistic Fiction. MC is a gay black boy, his best friend is a gay white boy. King’s family–especially his father–have strong opinions about what it means to be a Black man, and they don’t allow for being gay. But King admires his friend Sandy for escaping an abusive home and living his truth no matter what. If King comes out, too, can his father learn to change?

Magic Fish by Nguyen, Trung Le. Ages 12 and up. Realistic Fiction/Fantasy. MC is a gay Vietnamese-American boy. A young Vietnamese-American boy literally can’t find the words to tell his parents that he’s gay, but cross-cultural fairytales help bridge the language barrier in this beautifully-illustrated graphic novel. 

My Maddy by Pitman, Gayle E. and Violet Tobacco (Illustrator). Ages 4-8. Realistic Fiction. MC’s parent is nonbinary, MC and her parent are white. My Maddy is a heartwarming story about a young girl and her parent. Readers learn that not all parents are boys or girls; some parents are just themselves. In this young girl’s case, that parent is her Maddy, a loving, caring parent who lives outside the gender binary.

My Rainbow by Neal, DeShanna, Trinity Neal, and Art Twink (Illustrator). Ages 4-8. Realistic Fiction. MC is an autistic black trans girl. Autistic trans girl Trinity wants to have long hair, but growing it out is too itchy! None of the wigs in the store are quite right, so Mom makes Trinity a special rainbow wig.

Our Subway Baby by Mercurio, Peter and Leo Espinosa (Illustrator). Ages 4 to 8. Adoption Non-fiction. MCs are white gay men, the baby they adopt is Black. Loving illustrations help tell the story of how an infant abandoned in a NYC subway station was adopted by the man who found him and his partner.

Snapdragon by Leyh, Kat. Snapdragon. Ages 10 to 14. Fantasy. Haven’t read this one yet, so I can’t comment on its representation. Snap gets to know the town witch and discovers that she may in fact have real magic and a secret connection to Snap’s family’s past.

And here are the Top Ten Books for Teen Readers:

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by Johnson, George M. Ages 14 to 18. Memoir. Author/MC is a gay Black man. “Memoir-manifesto” is a well-chosen label for this book, which relates stories from the author’s childhood and young adulthood and contextualizes them within a queer Black experience. Although the author’s family is loving and supportive, pervasive heteronormativity, queerphobia, and anti-Black racism threaten his mental, emotional, and physical safety.

Camp by Rosen, L.C. Ages 14 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC and his love interest are gay Jewish boys. For Randy, going away to Camp Outland is a breath of fresh air, a time to be exactly who Randy can’t always be at school. But this year will be different. This year, Randy won’t be the flamboyant theater kid, this year Randy will be exactly the type of bro Hudson would want to date. Changing a thing or too will be necessary for Randy to succeed, even if that means leaving some friends behind.

Cemetery Boys by Thomas, Aiden. Ages 13 and up. Paranormal/Romance. MC is a trans Latino, his love interest is a gay Latino. Yadriel accidentally summons the wrong ghost in an attempt to prove himself a real brujo to his family who struggle to accept his gender identity. Though he thinks he is summoning the ghost of his cousin, he actually summons the ghost of Julian Diaz, and finds himself with not one, but two, mysterious deaths to investigate.

Circus Rose by Cornwell, Betsy. Ages 12 and up. Fantasy. One MC is white and one is mixed-race, one is a lesbian and one is questioning. Ivory and Rosie are twins and half-sisters, born to a bearded woman who refused to choose between her lovers, and raised in their mother’s circus. After a long foreign tour, they come home to find themselves under attack by religious zealots. As tragedy follows tragedy, will Ivory be able to save her circus family?

Elatsoe by Little Badger, Darcie  and Rovina Cai (Illustrator). Ages 12 and up. Mystery. MC is an aro/ace Lipan Apache girl. In this OwnVoices novel, Elatsoe is on a mission to discover who killed her beloved cousin, and why. If not for her cousin, then she is doing this for her people, the Indigenous Lipan Apache tribe. Elatsoe has the ability to raise ghosts from the dead, a tradition that has been passed down through generations. On this journey it will take vulnerability, wit, and the legends of her people for Elatsoe to understand all that is hidden in the small town of Willowbee.

I’ll Be the One by Lee, Lyla. Ages 13 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC is a bi Korean-American girl, her love interest is a bi Korean boy. Skye Shin dreams of becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and a reality TV competition may just be her chance. To win, she’ll have to deal with fatphobic beauty standards, fierce competition, and intense media scrutiny–as well as unexpected attraction to one of her competitors.

Miss Meteor by Mejia, Tehlor Kay and Anna-Marie McLemore. Ages 14 and up. Magical Realism. (I haven’t read this one, but I think both MCs are WLW Latinas.) Lita is a star – literally. After falling to earth several years ago, she’s now living life as a teenage girl. When the annual Miss Meteor pageant rolls around, Lita decides to enter – but will her ex-best friend Chicky be willing to help her? Will the pageant help her forget about the past and imagine a new future? Lita learns that winning isn’t about being perfect, it’s about showing your true self to the world – even the parts that no one else understands.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Johnson, Leah. Ages 12 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC is a black WLW (woman-loving-woman). In this affectionate rom-com, Liz Lighty finds herself an unlikely candidate for prom queen at her affluent suburban school. Shy, awkward, Black, and low-income, Liz has never felt like she belonged, and she can’t wait to leave for her dream college. But when her scholarship falls through, it seems her last resort is to win prom queen, and the scholarship money that comes with it. Liz’s plan is complicated when new girl Mack decides to run for prom queen also…and ends up running away with Liz’s heart.

War Girls by Onyebuchi, Tochi.  Ages 12 and up. Science Fiction/Afro-Futurism. Both MCs are Nigerian, one is a WLW. In a not-so-distant future, climate change and nuclear disasters have made much of the earth unlivable. In the midst of war in Nigeria, two sisters, Onyii and Ify, are torn apart and face two very different futures. As their lives progress through years of untold violence and political unrest, battles with deadly mechs and cyborg soldiers outfitted with artificial limbs and organs, they are brought together again and again and must come to terms with how the war has impacted their lives.

When We Were Magic by Gailey, Sarah. Ages 14 and up. Contemporary Fantasy. MC is a white bi/questioning girl with gay dads, her friends are racially, ethnically, and queerily diverse. This firecracker of a novel follows a group of friends who attempt to correct the accidental murder of a classmate. When We Were Magic combines magic, friendship, and awkward moments to create a captivating story. Each character brings their own uniqueness to the strong group of friends, but despite their differences, their loyalty remains. Author Sarah Gailey has written another page turning novel, with the quirky strange content to boot.

#Rainbow Book List #LGBT literature #queer books #queer YA #queer children's books #Book Recommendations #we need diverse books

[thebiballerina]

Fix-it Fanfiction by Fandom

A.K.A. The Leverage Test

I've been getting requests to post my spreadsheets and analysis of fix-it fanfiction on AO3, so here we are, my friends. You may remember that I posted about how few fix-it fanfictions there are for Leverage (this post). Now, thanks to a lovely friend of mine (please check out their site at http://setupminimal.github.io/), I have data for the number of fix-it fanfictions for every fandom on AO3 with more than 1000 works. This data was collected on February 1st, 2020.

First off, for all you nerds out there, here is a link to the data in full. This has a spreadsheet with all the data, including "fix-it percentage" and fix-it percentage excluding crossovers. There are also sheets with the data from each individual type of media. By default, they are sorted by fix-it percentage. If you'd like to view my summary of the data in presentation form, there is a slideshow so you can do that as well. 

Now, for some analysis!

Here's a chart showing a break down of fix-it percentage by type of media.

The mean percentage for each type of media is marked, and the gray bar marks the grand mean.

Cool stuff, right? Next, let's take a look at the most popular fandoms: those with over 100,000 works on AO3.

Popular Fandoms

So, of the most popular fandoms, Teen Wolf has the highest percentage of fix-it fanfictions: 3.81%. It is followed by the Avengers movies, with 3.24% fix-its. The lowest, with just 0.021% fix-its, is the Korean boy band BTS (not surprisingly given the low rate of fix-its in fanfiction based on real people). The next lowest is Sherlock Holmes and Related Fandoms, with a respectable 1.01% fix-it percentage.

Fandoms with Extreme Fix-It Percentages

Next, let's examine have the extremes: fandoms with very low or very high fix-it percentages. I'm not going to focus much on the celebrity, music, or reality TV fanfictions, as those have very few fix-its.

Let's start with the media fans wanted to fix the least.

Media with Low Fix-it Percentages

Books: • Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson (0%) • 盜墓筆記 - 南派三叔 | The Grave Robbers' Chronicles - Xu Lei (0%) • Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon (0.05045%) • The Eagle | The Eagle of the Ninth - All Media Types (0.0957%)

Movies: • Power Rangers (2017) (0%) • Strange Magic (2015) (0%) • 哪吒之魔童降世 | Né Zhā Zhī Mó Tóng Jiàng Shì (2019)(0%) • 流浪地球 | The Wandering Earth (2019)(0%)

TV Shows: • Numb3rs (0%) • Generation Kill (0%) • Victorious (0%) • The Professionals (TV 1977) (0%)

Cartoons, comics, and graphic novels: • Girl Genius (Webcomic) (0%) • Metalocalypse (Cartoon) (0%) • 凹凸世界 | AOTU Shijie | AOTU World (0%) • 19天 - Old先 | 19 Days - Old Xian (0%)

Anime and manga: • Promare (2019) (0%) • Little Witch Academia (0%) • Pandora Hearts (0%) • Love Live! School Idol Project (0%) • FAKE (Manga) (0%) • Kyou Kara Maou! (0%) • Love Live! Sunshine!! (0%) • Tiger & Bunny (0%) • Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup! (0%)

Theater: • Newsies the Musical - Fierstein/Menken (0.0757%) • The Book of Mormon (0.0995%) • Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz (0.1746%) • Hamilton - Miranda (0.4780%)

Video games: • Don't Starve (0%) • 王者荣耀 | King of Glory (0%) • 剑侠情缘 | Jianxiaqingyuan | JX (0%) • Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (0%) • Touhou Project (0%) • 恋与制作人 | Liàn Yǔ Zhì Zuò Rén | Mr. Love: Queen's Choice (0%) • 明日方舟 | Arknights (0%) • Love Live! School Idol Festival (0%) • 第五人格 | Identity V (0%) What about the other end of the spectrum? What media do fans want to fix the most?

Media with High Fix-it Percentages

Fandoms with Multiple Media Types: • Wonder Woman - All Media Types (5.89%) • Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types (7.92%)

Books: • Les Misérables - Victor Hugo (5.89%) • Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat (10.62%) • The works of Stephen King (11.53%) • IT - Stephen King (12.18%) (I'm so sorry, Stephen King. Please don't take offense.)

Movies: • The Social Network (2010) (5.52%) • Big Hero 6 (2014) (8.17%) • Wonder Woman (Movies - Jenkins) (8.54%) • Call Me By Your Name (2017) (9.47%) • Kingsman (Movies) (10.10%) • IT (Movies - Muschietti) (11.57%) So far the IT fix-its are coming out on top. I guess people really want their happy endings for that particular story.

TV Shows: • DC's Legends of Tomorrow (5.65%) • The Terror (2018) (6.57%) • The Umbrella Academy (6.74%) • The Magicians (7.80%) • True Blood (8.08%) • Babylon 5 (8.34%)

Cartoons, Comics, and Graphic Novels: • Iron Man (Comics) (4.14%) • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) (4.34%)

Anime and Manga: • Naruto (3.08%) • Boruto: Naruto Next Generations (4.09%) • Banana Fish (9.03%) Oh, Naruto. The apple did not fall far from this particular tree.

Theater: • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling (2.05%) • Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe (2.44%) • Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil (4.73%) We have another winner! Les Misérables is apparently in need of fixing in both book and stage format.

Video Games: • Red Dead Redemption (4.40%) • Until Dawn (8.05%)

Things to Note

Now, I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about what I'm trying to say with this data. So, I have a few disclaimers:

This data is for fun, and not meant to be some infallible way to measure fanfiction writers' satisfaction with canon.

I haven't seen or read all the media I'm going to mention here, so I can't make any guarantees of quality (or lack thereof).

Different fandoms have different cultures and terminology, so that could affect the number of fanfictions tagged as "fix-it."

Not every fanfiction that tries to fix canon will be tagged as fix-it.

Though we love it dearly, AO3 is only one fanfiction site, and it doesn't represent all of fanfiction, especially for fandoms which were around before its inception.

Conclusion

I hope you've enjoyed your newfound knowledge. If you have questions about specific pieces of media, or would like to see an analysis, comparison, or chart I haven't included, send me a message! And feel free to play around with the data in the spreadsheets (but if you do post anything using this data, please credit me as @thebiballerina​ and my friend as setupminimal).

#the leverage test #fix-it fanfiction #fanfiction #data analysis #teen wolf #avengers #bts #sherlock holmes #dcu #Harry Potter #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #sherlock bbc #star wars #supernatural #moomin #the grave robbers' chronicles #outlander #the eagle of the ninth #power rangers #strange magic #ne zha zhi mo tong jiang shi #the wandering earth #numb3rs #generation kill #victorious #the professionals #girl genius #metalocalypse #aotu world

[homenum-revelio-hq]

are there resources you suggest for playing trans characters?

I don’t have a “go-to” link (or links) that I can give you, I’m afraid. I’m sure there are loads of great posts out there on tumblr and elsewhere, and I’ve done a quick search to find you a few places to start (links below!), but since gender identity and gender constructs etc. is a subject in which I’ve always been immersed, it’s not something I’ve ever had to search-out a how-to for the writing thereof. Honestly I find it’s a topic best explored and/or explained in story-format (whether fictional or non; prose or oratory) because it’s so entangled with who someone is that the best way to learn about it is to feel it -- to experience it through the lens of an actual person (fictional or real) who lives it. If that makes sense? Gender is such a personal, individual thing that the whole beautiful mess of identity and discovery and labels and self-discovery and determination etc. etc. that it makes it hard (in my opinion) to really encapsulate in a how-to guide sort of resource...but try starting with these:

An Important Note About Pronouns!

A General Overview/Reflection on Trans Characters and Stories

Probably the Closest Thing I Found To a “How To”/”How To Not” Guide

Some Further Tips On What Not To Do

HP Specific: The Attisgalli Corrective Draught (already part of our world building!)

Scriptwriters Trans Tag (this blog is a great resource in general; check their tags!)

Stories That Did It Wrong And How Not To Repeat Their Mistakes

A Detailed Guide to Writing Trans Masculine Characters

A Few Links On Definitions, etc.

*Some of these links are old, so the information contained therein may be outdated or the links within may be defunct; in many cases we also skimmed rather than reading in detail so the merits of their information/terminology may vary. Please use your own discretion and if you need clarification on something don’t be shy about asking, either us or the authors or check in with the fine people at Script LGBT+.

If you really want to immerse yourself in the subject, here are some of my favorite stories that involve exploring identity and transition and so-on:

When The Letter Comes is a beautiful short story that includes both Hogwarts-type tropes and genderqueer characters and it’s available to read online in its entirety for free which makes it a good starting point (it may make you cry. It does me. So good.)

Dreadnought is an impeccable superhero origin story featuring a transgender protagonist and if you want to understand the experience of being a trans woman, I can recommend no better place to start than here because it puts you right inside Dani’s head and takes you along every step of her journey in a way that’s both excruciating and exhilarating and while I wouldn’t classify it as a “guide” to writing trans characters (only because there’s no one way to be/write trans), it should still give you a solid understanding of being trans that you can build from.

The Deep And Dark Blue is an excellent fantasy graphic novel about two royal twins who survive a coup by hiding in a magical convent and I don’t want to give it all away but gender identity is a crux of the plot and its really just lovely.

Snapdragon is a charming (and sometimes charmingly-gross) graphic novel about outcast kids finding friendship and magic and an elderly witch and it does some really lovely stuff with gender and transition along the way.

The graphic novel Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is a deeply emotional and moving memoir about e’s experience and exploration of eir gender identity that I genuinely cannot recommend enough. (This one also gets you right in the heart.) If you really want to know what it feels like to live outside the assigned-x-at-birth cis-binary box, this is absolutely the number one place I recommend you begin your journey.

The most important thing I think is to keep in mind that there’s no one right way to write a trans character, just like there’s no one right way to be trans. Every person’s life, personality, and experiences are different (just like for cis people). And a trans person is more than just their gender identity and transition experience. That’s just one part of who they are, like being left-handed or allergic to milk or having a good ear for music. It’s part of a person’s life and identity and there’s ways and times it will influence them and their experiences, but it’s not all that they are. Be respectful above all, and remember that even though your character is fictional you’re writing about real people’s identities and experiences too, so your number one rule should be do no harm.

To that end the links in the first section to posts or essays written by trans people about harmful tropes and their own views and experiences on trans depictions in media are a good place to start, because they can tell you what to avoid. For how to, I really think you’ll do best by feeling it first like you do when reading stories like Dreadnought or Gender Queer -- but that’s just me! If anyone else has other links or thoughts to chime-in with, please don’t be shy!

#rph #writing transgender characters #answered #i wish i could help you more concretely anon #but honestly my own gender identity is an ambiguous ''girl-ish i guess????'' thing #which puts me in this weird place of knowing more about how gender applies to and affects other people #than i do about my own sense of self #which always makes me feel a bit weird about trying to explain the subject to other people #because what right do i have to act like some kind of an expert when i can't even give myself a concrete label? #but hopefully that gives you a few places to start at least! #gender is a fascinating topic to explore so good luck on your journey!

[threadsketchier]

i'm the anon asking about Luke's Jedi school, i guess i meant the whole who, what, when, where, why thing? who was there? what did they do, in general? when was this (which i guess means how long after ROTJ)? i guess the where and the why can be skipped cause you said it was on yavin iv (right?) and the why is obviously the "pass on what you have learned" so yeah. also a random question haunting my brain is how did they, like, get groceries, were they near a town or something? thankssssss

OK  *cracks knuckles*

The Whoozle - Luke’s first class attendees were:

Tionne (a scholar/historian and musician)

Dorsk 81 (a clone from an entire society of clones)

Kirana Ti (a Dathomiri witch)

Kam Solusar (a former member of cloned Palpatine’s Dark Side Elite)

Brakiss (an Imperial spy who never fooled Luke but he kept him on hoping to turn him to good; he eventually ran off and got recruited by another failed student, Dolph)

Streen (a Bespin tibanna gas prospector who kept himself isolated from sentient contact because he couldn’t control his strong latent Force empathy from picking up everyone’s thoughts and emotions around him)

Gantoris (tormented leader of a forgotten colony on a deadly volcanic planet)

Corran Horn (attending under an alias of “Keiran Halcyon” for Reasons™, otherwise a cocky asshole from the X-wing novels lol)

Kyle Katarn (a dude who got his own graphic novels/video games; he didn’t stick around for long and had a bunch of adventures on his own - and actually spent some time tutoring Mara Jade)

Kyp Durron (a sadly messed-up kid who was fucked over by the Empire real good and thrown into the spice mines of Kessel before he could even reach puberty, so he carried a really big traumatic chip on his shoulder; he was like barely 17 or 18 when he was busted out and started at the academy)

Cilghal (a female Mon Cal - a niece of Admiral Ackbar, and also a New Republic ambassador - who possessed a natural talent for healing)

Mara Jade (that baddest bitch we all know and love from the Thrawn Trilogy lol)

***There’s a few others mentioned on Wook but I’m not including them here because they’re kind of sprinkled in from various other EU media and don’t make an appearance (that I can recall) in the actual JAT series.

The Whatzle - everything got started in the Jedi Academy Trilogy by KJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

*cough* sorry  XD

Fun fact: apparently it was Mon Mothma’s idea to suggest the location and not Luke, go figure.

The Whenzle - about 7 years after ROTJ (I get annoyed with Legends EU always dating stuff as “X years ABY,” meaning After the Battle of Yavin, so I always gotta mentally subtract 4 years from those dates).

The Wherezle - yep, Yavin 4, a nice green steamy joint much nicer than Dagobah, where you can still get swamp-ass without the swamp.  They repurposed the ancient temple that the Rebellion had used as a base in ANH.

The Whyzle - Luke eventually let the fire under his ass get lit and petitioned the New Republic to get his Jedi school started so he could finally not be the only fucking Jedi saving the whole-ass galaxy all the damn time...aka, yes, “pass on what you have learned.”  (Like I mentioned, this took place barely a year after Palpatine tried to come back and wreck everything again, so there was definitely some motivation from that plus the Thrawn disaster that happened the year before THAT.  The GFFA is always crisis-central so the Jedi needed to make a serious comeback.)

WHAT DO - Like I also mentioned, Luke was still figuring everything out regarding the old Jedi Order, and his own training had been the severely abridged Cliff Notes version (plus, um, these books were written way ahead of the prequels so...they don’t mesh well), so needless to say his teaching methods were not nearly as formal, and he tended to use examples from his own training.  Because he was the only master to go around, there wasn’t any pairing up for “padawans” at this point, he was teaching everybody simultaneously, so there were a lot of group lectures and activities.  They’d also gather to hear Tionne sing about Jedi history that she’d researched and turned into ballads.  In order to keep everything running, there also likely had to be task assignments as part of everyday life - somebody’s gotta clean the toilets and cook, etc., but that’s technically extrapolation.

JEDI DOORDASH - no, loooool, considering that this place was on a jungle moon, they had a nice tropical climate but not a ton of clear space for agriculture.  Keep in mind Luke’s a former moisture farmer (and I can’t believe the only thing the Larses were harvesting was literal moisture) - he had to have extensive knowledge of hydroponics or other indoor farming, and that temple is huge, so it’s totally possible they could grow at least some of their own produce.  But they need a lot more supplies than that, especially at the beginning, so they had supply runs from cargo ships who would bring them stuff - and hey, Mara herself was one of those supply pilots sometimes.  Some of my fellow Legends peeps also conceptualized the academy as opening up to some tourism to contribute much-needed funds - come chillax in the hot springs and learn more about the “mysterious” Jedi that used to creep so many people out back in the day, and see they’re just ordinary folks like everyone else...

...except that, yeah, they can technically kill you with their minds.  :)

In Legends it seems like the academy (also known as a Praxeum) was the only habitation on Yavin 4, but in Disney nu!canon there are other settlements on the moon; Poe Dameron’s parents Shara Bey and Kes Dameron go live there with a baby Force tree.  Feel free to remix and mash-up whatever elements you dig!

#hope that helps a bit more #JEDI JUNGLE FRIENDSHIP CAMP #legends eu #Anonymous

[queerastronauts]

book recs for pride vol 2

Last year, on a whim, I made a post titled book recs for pride. I never expected it to be as successful as it was, but... it’s got over 4k notes at the time of writing this. That’s crazy.

Anyway, I’ve read quite a lot of books since, some of them obscure, some of them not, and I figured I’d make an updated version. I should mention: I’ve read other lgbtqa+ books; these are ones I recommend. However, please feel free to add your recs in replies or reblogs.

Favorite are bolded

Sci-fi and Fantasy

The Raven Cycle - mlm

Six of Crows - mlm and one character is confirmed wlw in another book

Never Contented Things - wlw, mlm, nb

Xandri Corelel - wlw, nb, a-spec

Sawkill Girls - wlw, a-spec

Song of Achilles - mlm

The Witch Sea - wlw

The Girl With the Red Balloon - wlw

The Winnowing Flame trilogy - wlw, mlm

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - wlw

Love in the Time of Global Warming - wlw, trans

The Infinite Noise - mlm, questioning (this book is out in September, I got my hands on an ARC)

The Gilded Wolves - mlm

Ace of Shades - mlm, nb

Wonders of the Invisible World - mlm

Shades of Magic - mlm

The Darkest Part of the Forest - mlm

More Than This - mlm

Historical Fiction

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - wlw, mlm

The Miseducation of Cameron Post - wlw, two-spirit

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue - mlm, a-spec (there’s a sequel, but I haven’t finished it yet)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - mlm

Romance & Contemporary

All For the Game (trilogy) - mlm

I'll Give You The Sun - mlm

Girl Made of Stars - wlw, nb

Beauty Queens - wlw, trans

It’s Not Like It’s a Secret - wlw

Everything Leads to You - wlw

We Are Okay - wlw

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda - mlm

Leah on the Offbeat - wlw, mlm

Alice Oseman’s books, in general - mlm, wlw, a-spec, trans (depends on the book)

Comics and Graphic Novels

Nimona - mlm

Giant Days - wlw

Spinning - wlw

Lumberjanes - trans, nb, wlw

The Wicked and the Divine - wlw, trans, mlm, a-spec

On a Sunbeam - wlw, nb

DeadEndia - mlm, nb, trans

Check Please - mlm

Other

All Out - all of the above (short story anthology)

Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal - wlw (autobiography)

Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈

#lgbt #queer #pride month #book recs #book list #trc #tfc #soc #never contented things #xandri corelel #sawkill girls #girl made of stars #nimona #tsoa #simon vs #alice oseman #tbs #the gilded wolves #ace of shades #shades of magic #wonders of the invisible world #holly black #gentleman's guide #beauty queens #books #gail speaks

[hannah-deserved-better]

The Deep Woods

(Credit to unknown artist on Google for the Drizzt picture)

Summary: Sam, Dean, and their friends are out enjoying the great outdoors. But, as usual for the hunters, their plans for relaxation are foiled when they team up with a group of campers whose numbers are dwindling as something is hunting them in the woods. Together, they must all try to survive a creature, and eventually, they find themselves at an abandoned cabin and forced to survive there as it seems like the laws of reality in this part of the forest aren’t all they seem and creatures who belong to another world seem to be finding their way in.

This is the first chapter of a fic that is a stand-alone ‘lost in the woods’ Supernatural fic which I am turning into a multi-fandom fic. The other fandoms are The Hobbit, Legends of Drizzt, Rurouni Kenshin.

Warnings: blood and gore, graphic violence, horror, survival in the woods, haunted mansion, Jealous Dean

Tropes: Survival in the woods, haunted cabin, enemies to friends to lovers, strangers to lovers, friends lovers

Pairings: Castiel/Hannah/Meg/Sam, Dean/Rowena, Fili/OC, Kili/OC, Kenshin/Kaoru, Sanosuke/Megumi, Drizzt/Ellifain

OCs: Asphodel and Brenna are OCs that I’ve always used back when I wrote for the Hobbit fandom. They are actually original characters from my novel series that I adapted into the Hobbit Verse. I tend to change their backgrounds from story to story but in general, Asphodel is a hobbit, her face claim is Eleanor Tomlinson, and Brenna is a Gnome. The Gnome culture is also an adaption from my novel, they are female dominated people who live in the polar regions and make a living off of whaling, deep-sea fishing, and caribou hunting.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25363057/chapters/61497556

“Who the hell talked me into this!” Dean exclaimed as they hiked through the trail. They were surrounded all around by thick forests, and the smell of pine hung in the air, as did the heat of an August day. 

“It’s good for you, Dean,” Sam called as he led the group of backpack clad hikers. Dean frowned. He was usually the one in charge of things, and he didn’t appreciate his little brother usurping his authority. 

“Not quite the outdoorsy type, are we?” Rowena teased as she trotted alongside the two Winchesters, easily keeping up with the both of them. 

“Look, do you know how many things live in forests?” Dean reminded her. “We’ve hunted lots of them. And whose bright idea was it to go backcountry camping? I mean seriously? We could have at least stayed at a regular campsite. You know, with toilets and food.”

“We brought enough food to last the trip,” Sam reminded his brother as he trekked along, his large backpack secured to his back, and a hiking stick in one hand. “And we have a witch, a demon, and two angels with us and not to mention two seasoned hunters. What could possibly go wrong out here?”

“Damn it, Sammy, you never say ‘what could possibly go wrong’ haven’t you seen pretty much every horror movie in existence?” Dean knew he was being a little overdramatic, but he also knew he had a point. From Wendigos to werewolves, to a plethora of various monsters, they didn’t have a very good track record when it came to being outdoors.

And Dean didn’t miss the way Sam mentioned the other members of their entourage. He groaned internally as he glanced behind him to Castiel trailing behind them, Meg and Hannah on either side of him, chatting softly to one another. 

“Keep up the pace, Fabio!” Dean demanded hotly at them. Castiel glanced up and scowled in response as the three of them started walking a little faster. He doubted Castiel understood the Fabio reference, but ever since Meg and Hannah had returned from the empty, the three of them had been inseparable, and Dean found it just plain annoying.

“Dean, leave Cas alone,” Sam insisted as Dean faced forward again as he walked. “You’ve been acting like a jealous prom date.”

“Am not,” Dean insisted, though his somewhat childish response was a feigned attempt to hide the fact that Sam’s accusation held more than a little truth to it. Dean was jealous. And he’d never admit it to anyone, including himself. Instead, he kept telling himself that Hannah and Meg were up to no good, that just because they’d randomly returned from the dead, shouldn’t mean anything.

Or maybe it was because they’d had Cas to themselves for so very long that Hannah and Meg were unwanted invaders. They’d been living in his bunker with his angel as if Castiel and Sam were both his possessions. It was just supposed to be the three of them. Forever.

“Alright, I think we should-” just as Sam prepared to announce instructions which Dean had hoped would signal a reprieve from this death march they’d been on, a high pitched shriek cut through the sky, causing Dean to nearly jump out of his skin with alarm as he immediately whirled towards the sound, hand instinctively falling to the holster of the gun fastened at his hip. 

“Help, help!” came a frantic voice as a woman suddenly burst from the trees, standing in their path. 

“What is it?” Sam asked as they all stopped and gathered in close. Dean rolled his eyes when he felt Castiel’s presence beside him. 

“My husband, he’s missing! Please!” the frantic woman begged, trembling in fear as she glanced back the way she had come, her blonde hair blowing in the breeze.

“Slow down, dearie,” Rowena said comfortingly, putting a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Now, what are you doing in the woods all by yourself? Don’t you know there are bears?”

“And who knows what else,” Dean muttered to himself. He met Castiel’s gaze, and the angel shot him a scolding scowl. 

“I’m not alone,” the woman stammered. “I’m camping nearby with a bunch of friends. But when I noticed Herb was missing. Oh god, do you think a bear got him?”

“Show us where you’re camping, and maybe we can try and trace your steps,” Sam said calmly. Dean knew Sam was always the type to try to diffuse the tension. Ever an air of calmness. The two of them were quite used to these types of situations, after all. 

The woman took in a deep breath and hesitantly started back for the trees. Sam and Dean slowly fell in line behind her as she led them through the thick, dense forest of towering conifer trees. 

“We were backcountry camping,” the woman began softly. “We go every year. This year, it’s a group of us: me, my husband, our neighbors, and all the kids. Maggie, my youngest, just turned 16, so we all came out here to celebrate. It’s nice to get away from civilization sometimes, you know? Especially with teenagers. We specifically picked a place like this because there are no cell phone towers.”

Dean caught on that the woman was rambling, probably to distract herself from her fears as she kept walking. But he did feel some sympathy for the woman. He was already mentally listing the monsters that could be lurking in the forest. A bear certainly wasn’t on his list; after all, it was never something natural in their line of work.

“So when did you notice your husband was missing?” Dean asked as he walked along, stepping on twigs as the sunlight got dim the further from the path they went. The creepy, foreboding feeling was beginning to settle into Dean’s mind, and he mentally noted that his shotgun was strapped to his backpack, within easy reach, just in case his trusty pistol wasn’t going to cut it. Not to mention, he was always armed with an angel blade, the demon blade, and a whole array of knives, daggers, and other weapons. 

“This morning,” the woman responded. “He must have gotten up sometime in the night to go to the bathroom. His rifle is still here, and he’s been gone all day.”

“Did you mention your name yet, dearie?” Rowena asked as she made it a point to walk beside the woman. 

“Oh, it’s Leslie,” the woman murmured softly. She appeared to be in her forties or fifties, perhaps, dressed in a pair of shorts and a simple cotton shirt. “Oh, we’re right here.”

The trees parted to reveal a small clearing. In the center was a cluster of tents. Dean counted about a dozen figures as they all glanced in their direction. 

“We found some fellow hikers,” Leslie announces as she rejoined the rest of her party who all stood up to face the newcomers. “They haven’t seen Herb at all.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll try to find him,” Sam announced to all of them. Leslie went through and introduced them. So in addition to Leslie and Herb, they had a daughter named Maggie, a son named Evan. Then there were Tom and Shelly with their son Brayden and son Jess, and lastly, where Kate and Randy with their daughter Stephanie, and daughter Kylie. 

They all reminded Dean of typical suburbanites with their brand name camping equipment, trendy outfits, not all of which seemed particularly appropriate for camping and their well-manicured hair. Dean was sure at least one of them drove a Kia sports utility vehicle. The youngest among them were the two 16-year-old teenagers; the other kids were all in their later teens or early twenties. Many of them donned various insignia of colleges they were attending.

It turns out they all attended the same church together, and the adults all worked in the same office. They all couldn’t be more cookie-cutter, apple pie normal if they tried. Definitely not the type that would likely believe that any of Dean’s usual suspects would be responsible for their husband’s disappearance.

Dean couldn’t help but note the irony of it all. Sam had all but assured them that they wouldn’t run into anything unnatural out here in the wilderness, and yet here they were.

#fan fiction #Supernatural #Castiel/Hannah/Meg/Sam #Dean/Rowena #rurouni kenshin #legends of drizzt #the hobbit

[davidthetraveler]

David’s Fic-Rec Friday:  2020/03/13

Hey guys.  Sorry about the past couple of weeks.  Things have been... complicated.  And apparently it wasn’t the best idea to restart this series on Friday the 13th, as my computer froze while I was working on this and I had to do a hard restart, which deleted the first version of this post I made requiring me to have to go back through all my notes to remake it.  But at least I’m back now and we can get on with the recommendations.

Loneliness by AprilLilypegasi (aka @anxiously-unsatisfied-world)

To start off, we’ve got a sweet Logicality story.  Logan can sometimes forget to stop working after a while, but he can always tell when he does because of how lonely he gets.  After logicing himself into quitting for the night, he goes in search of comfort, and eventually finds his way to Patton’s room.  Invited in, he finds Patton knitting in bed, and when invited he immediately curls up next to him as he continues quietly.  Eventually, Patton invites him to stay the night, and he agrees with clingy gusto, as the two curl up together and fall into a restful sleep.  Such a wonderful tale.

you’re different by curiouscrush (aka @curiouscrushinc)

Here we’ve got a human au featuring analogical that’s up for interpretation.  Logan and Virgil are out on a hilltop looking at the stars and discussing novels.  Eventually Virgil points out how he likes that Logan is so different from anyone else Virgil knows while he feels like just another emo.  Logan reciprocates with his own views concerning Virgil’s uniqueness, and the two share a nice moment of friendly bonding.  Simple and sweet.

Fireflies by anamaleth (aka @anamaleth)

Now for some romantic Prinxiety to get my inner fanboy to shut up for a bit.  Virgil’s suffering from insomnia, but Roman’s being rather clingy and doesn’t just want Virgil to leave.  After a bit he comes up with an idea and summons a swarm of fireflies into his room to show Virgil.  And Virgil’s awe-inspired and adorable reaction is absolutely worth it for Roman.  Another short but sweet little story.

A Human Life by boredomsMuse (aka @boredomsmuse)

Now for a slightly less sweet outing, this time in a supernatural world featuring demons, witches, vampires, and even changelings.  Roman and Remus are twins, raised by a vampire named Virgil who found them after their parents abandoned them as babies.  Roman was supposed to be a changeling to replace Remus, but something went wrong and both boys were left behind.  And because of that, Roman feels guilty for robbing Remus of the normal human life he could have had, especially as he feels he has stopped aging.  But Virgil suggests that the two go traveling, to see the human world beyond the village that so derides them for their circumstances, and to help each other understand what they truly want their lives to be.  There are references of course to child abandonment, and obviously this features Remus and some supernatural elements, but it’s otherwise harmless and a great read.

Happiness by BlackWolfFire (aka @lizdoesprompts)

Another less than happy entry, this one is another Human AU featuring Moxiety that could be seen as either Romantic or Platonic.  Virgil is tired of having spent so long pretending to be happy when he knows he’s not.  But a chance encounter brings Patton into his life, and suddenly things are a little easier.  True, his bad days are still bad, and his thoughts can still turn dark.  But Patton makes it easier to face his complicated tangle of emotions, and for once he’s truly happy.  A wonderfully uplifting story.

Logan’s Diary by MarsupialsOfMars (aka @marsupials-of-mars)

An interesting character study in the form of a series of journal entries.  Logan decides to start an emotion journal at Patton’s suggestion so as to have a true scientific understanding of them.  What follows is eight excerpts from this journal over the years, from Thomas’ adolescence up through the most recent full video released (as of this posting).  There are mentions of complicated emotions and relationships, and it does mention Remus, but is otherwise okay.  And it’s a fascinating look at our resident cool teacher.

that’s not my name by enbyprinceroman (aka @lovelydodie)

Another prinxiety story that, while not outright romantic, definitely leans in that direction.  Roman is the resident enby scene painter for their school’s drama group.  But the group’s lead actor (an Unsympathetic version of Deceit) finds it necessary to misgender and deadname them whenever they address them.  Luckily, Virgil is there to knock some sense into him (literally), and to get Roman home safely to their shared apartment when they disassociate due to trauma.  As stated previously, this features graphic depictions of misgendering, deadnaming, disassociation, and a very Unsympathetic Deceit.  But if you can get through all that, you’re in for quite the good read.

Two Twins by dreemurrgirl (Tumblr Account Unknown)

To end it this week, we’ve got a slightly bittersweet tale of the two creativitwins from the time before the troubles in Thomas’ mind.  Roman and Remus as kids just love to play together in the imagination.  And while there is all of the complications yet to come, for now they just love being together.  Obviously this features Remus, and there’s some very obvious allusions to the current complicated climate in Thomas’ mindscape.  But it’s still quite an adorable read.

*****

And this week’s Featured Fic Writer is:

[Insert Your Proposed Name Here]

Yes, that’s right.  I’m asking you guys for your suggestions for writers to feature here in this segment.  To recommend someone, simply drop a note in my inbox or reblog this post here and I’ll add them to my consideration list.  There are no official rules or regulations for this, besides the fact that they should be Sanders Sides fanfic writers, but it is suggested that you focus on small time writers who aren’t as well known as the big players.

*****

Well, that’s it for this week.  I hope you guys enjoy these stories and give these authors some well deserved love and attention with some kudos, some comments, and maybe even a bookmark or two.

Also, if you’d like to know more about the Fic-Rec Friday project, or would like to see previous weeks’ recommendations, you can find all that information through my Fic-Rec Friday Masterpost.

And if you’d like to added to the Fic-Rec Friday Tag List, or if you’re already on the list and would like to be removed, just drop a note in my inbox and I’ll take care of it.

Until next time guys, be safe, and happy reading!

General Tag List:

@ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @panicattheeverywheremcr

Fic-Rec Friday Tag List:

@kunnuglegur-tortimandi @max-is-tired @creativity-killed-thekitten

#Remus Sanders Mention TW #Deceit Sanders Mention TW #Transphobia Mention TW #Enbyphobia Mention TW #Supernatural Elements #David's Fic-Rec Friday