#wynn writes shit

[thenugking]

you know in hindsight I was definitely Too Young for it the first time I read Hexwood when I was nine or ten, but also I’m still too young for it aged 28 like jesus that was fucked up.

#reading dwj books as an adult tends to upset me more than as a kid bc i get so Angry at all the mistreatment of children #and i mean i very much knew it was coming with hexwood. mordian backstory chapter has been seared into my brain for nearly 20 years #but damn you *notice* more as an adult!! as an adult you know what a post-mortem is! holy fucking shit! #diana wynne jones #hexwood #incredible writing #a formative experience #truly traumatising.

[the-cryptographer]

It’s super crazy to me that the rarepair exchange for this fandom accepts any ship with less than ~300 fics, as per last time I checked, when I am constantly inventing new ship tags for this fandom.

#like wynne/faith and merdersbela were both in the last month #and all the gen tags for the satinalia fic #merrill/bela/varania now #other things like jowan/lily/surana and anders/merrill and leandra/malcolm and merrill/pol are wrangled at least but all have >100 fics #like i realise that 'rarepair' is kind hard to define but like- #if 300 fics for a ship makes it 'rare' there needs to be a new word for the shit i'm into #lork dragon age opinions #still want someone to write me sebastian/vaea

[basaltbutch]

sometimes i get worried ppl will read my work and advertise it/think of it as Good Unproblematic Stories With Minority Representation. and then will eventually get pissed off when it's. not.

#it speaks #things i sit in a cold sweat about #aka why i don't constantly advertise horizon line #or shit especially of meadowsweet and juniper #omaj is alright so far but. Wynn Is Going To Commit A War Crime #(several actually) #i do not write good clean stories i have always been a whump writer and i probably always will be

[tossawary]

Rewatched the Howl's Moving Castle movie (fantastic animated movie, definitely inspired by more than an adaptation of the book) while doing something else and I was struck this time by the fact that the Prince (Turniphead the Scarecrow) says that he intends to go tell his king to call off the war, but THEN he intends on COMING BACK to Ingary to shoot his shot with Sophie again because (as he says to the flirtatious Witch of the Wastes) "hearts change".

And maybe he will come back to make Sophie an offer of marriage and then leave again when he's turned down, but I imagined for a moment that the Prince (who is possibly the movie's version of Prince Justin, so let's call him Justin) might just... move back into Howl's house without asking and stay there. There are several cases of precedent for this. Also, as Turniphead, he's shown several times helping Sophie with laundry, or playing with Markl, or helping the Witch of the Wastes move around, and Sophie deserves that kind of help around the house! Howl isn't going to reliably do chores.

And you know what? I think Howl would be into that shit. There's something very Wynne-Jonesian about it all still. It's tempting to write a post-canon fic about this situation from the movie with an extra dash of flavoring from the books. Like:

This is the infamous wizard Howl Pendragon/Jenkins, a vain draft-dodging flirt who likes to build moving castles to evade taxes too. The beautifully angry young woman with the silver hair over there is his wife, Sophie Hatter, who may or may not be an extremely powerful witch, but right now she's dusting and do not get in her way. This is Calcifer, the fire demon who used to have Howl's heart and is arguably his other life partner and also might be in love with Sophie, and this is arguably kind of actually his house. The old lady smoking a cigar over there is Howl's ex-girlfriend and former nemesis, the Witch of the Wastes, who now lives in their house. This is Markl, Howl's apprentice, kind of his kid, and there is no explanation of where he comes from or what happened to his parents. The dog used to be(?) the Royal Wizard's spy (Howl used to be her apprentice and potential successor) but now he also just lives here. And that's Prince Justin of Strangia, Sophie's house-boyfriend. Don't listen to the propaganda, he wasn't kidnapped by a heart-eating wizard; he used to be a cursed scarecrow and now he wants to be here to help Sophie do laundry. He's trying to homewreck and Howl thinks it's both funny and hot.

#tossawary hmc #fic ideas #howl pendragon #sophie hatter #prince justin turniphead

[blaacknoir]

Hey guys! In case you weren't aware, Arkansas was hit by a massive tornado today (3-31-2023). This included areas of Little Rock, Stuttgart, and Wynne.

A picture of the damage to the Wynne high school:

A "before and after" picture from West Little Rock:

And a picture of the tornado in question:

More pics of the damage: (x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

The tornado: (x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Guys this thing was fucking massive (a 3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale as of 4-2-23, with the possibility of being bumped up an EF4), and it's done so much damage here. One of the news stations, KATV, has partnered with the Red Cross to accept donations for disaster relief. Please consider donating if you can, and if you can't, spread it the link around.

In the interest of full disclosure, it's worth noting that this is nowhere near where I live, and my family was not affected by it. I'm just trying to help out my fellow Arkansans.

Please note that the Red Cross is not a religious organization.

Link for donations

If you show me a receipt or proof of donation, I'll write you something even.

Update I: Added some more pics of the damage + the tornado itself

Update II: NLR electric says that some people could go a week without power (x)

Update III: Here's some information on Red Cross cards and how to use them (x)

Update IV: The storm carried a street sign thirteen miles before dropping it. (x)

Update V: Footage taken from inside the tornado. CW blood. Do not attempt this. Everyone involved survived and nobody was hurt too badly. (x)

Update VI: Added more pictures and text to the post itself, as well as this link to the news broadcast from the day in question. (x)

Update VII:

WE DID IT GUYS

Holy shit everyone thank you so much! I honestly cannot explain how much I appreciate you guys sharing and donating. This means so much to me. If you guys could continue sharing this around (and donating if you can), I'd appreciate it--there are still people who need help. I'll keep reblogging this for the next few days for good measure though.

#arkansas #tornadoes #disaster relief #mutual aid #signal boost #donations

[visceralcoma]

Because OP blocked me. I decided to make my own post to debunk every single one of their points. source in case you wanted to see their foolishness directly.

Transcript:

"buh buh buh Dreadwolf not Baldur's Gate 3" You're right, Dreadwolf won't be Baldur's Gate 3. Dreadwolf won't be a game where the creators were so uninvested in a non-white woman's story that they refused to actually finish her storyline and then declared that her being condemned to slavery was the ending she "deserved". Dreadwolf won't be a game that's obsessed with victimizing and slaughtering members of an oppressed minority, all while portraying them as leeches and criminals preying on the people providing them with refuge. Dreadwolf won't be a game where an entire foreign culture is portrayed as irredeemably savage and evil, and where a character of that culture's "good" ending is to abandon her culture for that of western-/white-coded society. Dreadwolf won't be a game that constantly romanticizes emotionally manipulative and abusive white men, placing them at the forefront of stories while constantly portraying women in positions of power as evil and stupid bitches. Dreadwolf won't be a game that vilifies a matriarchal society, especially one of dark-skinned women, while at the same time treating them as sex objects even in the context of them abusing prisoners. Dreadwolf won't be a game where the amount of story content and dialogue a character receives is dictated entirely by their skin colour. Dreadwolf won't be a game where an evil character is heavily queer-coded, with a backstory filled to the brim with allusions to homophobic stereotypes about gay men being manipulative and predatory. Dreadwolf won't be a game that uses a female character to paint a male character as being totally awesome and totally smart, then writes that female character as not only a total bitch but short-sighted and stupid as well. Dreadwolf won't be a game where the roles of recurring characters and whether they return as playable characters or reduced to shallow villains isn't dictated by whether or not they're white. So yeah, Dreadwolf won't be like Baldur's Gate 3, because it is not made by and for shitty people.

Lets go down the line of their "points"

Isabella, when she was given to the Qunari in DA2.

City Elves, insanely victimized and deemed criminals by in world humans. And they (and Dalish) are often slaughtered in the narrative by humans.

Qunari, Tevinter, you can't go five minutes without someone calling Tevinter evil or deeming any Qunari as a savage. And Iron Bull's entire arc is about him leaving the Qun as the "good" ending.

Cullen, Samson, Anders, Solas - their stories are pushed forward, despite the fact their narrative counterparts get the shit end of the stick. Vivienne, Calpurnia, Wynne, and Merrill

Rivain. and Isabella nuff said. In the comics she throws slaves overboard.

The black main character (Vivienne) in DAI has much less content in comparison to any of the white faves.

Samson is an evil character with a tranquil as his partner. As a templar he was part of the oppressor group and could be seen as grooming the mage turned tranquil. Especially when you remember that Templars often abused tranquil, and then what happens in DAI to tranquil.

Merrill vs Solas in terms of the Eluvians. Or, Morrigan vs Solas. Take your pick.

I present to you, Varric, Leliana, Cullen, Samson, as recurring again over multiple games. All white, or at the very least light complected. Then the ambiguously brown characters who only got cameos: Alistair and Zevran. And then the sole brown/black character cameo got shunted to multiplayer only, Isabella.

This person clearly never played dragon age and are pretending to in order to make this post for clout.

#bg3 #dragon age #baldur's gate 3 #dragon age dreadwolf #bioware #larian studios #baldur's gate

[blueboyluca]

@konmari-dogs's post reminded me, I read a lot of dog books this year! My biggest tip for reading more is put a bunch of books on your phone and just dip into them when you can. I think I originally got this tip from Milly, but it really works. If you are getting sick of one or need a break, you can easily flit to another. You can get a page or two while waiting for appointments or at a cafe or something. Really easy to read a lot more.

Anyway, I read a lot of crap this year but also some gems.

Hit list: The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson. I finally read this classic. I skimmed most of the training stuff because it is a bit outdated now, but I really liked the allegorical parts, the actual bits that are why it is titled the way it is. That stuff is still really relevant today.

Dog is Love by Clive D.L. Wynne. I enjoyed this. It followed the story of how Wynne convinced himself that dogs do love us, through various scientific disciplines. I also think this guy is a compelling speaker, if a little pompous.

Wonderdog by Jules Howard. Loved this one, excellent overview of dog science throughout history. Really worth the read.

The Secret History of Kindness by Melissa Holbrook Pierson. My favourite read this year, an incredibly moving overview of the history of training dogs.

In Defence of Dogs by John Bradshaw. I started this one more than a year ago and finished it this year. It was pretty good, but a little outdated on the science now. Still worth a read.

The Great Grisby by Mikita Brottman. I enjoyed this, it was about various dogs in literature or real dogs owned by famous people, mostly Victorians. It was a fun read. The focus won't be for everyone.

How the Dog Became the Dog: From Wolves to Our Best Friends by Mark Derr. I started reading this like 5 years ago. I really enjoyed the first half then dropped off it. I finished it this year and I am glad, but there wasn't as much good stuff in the second half. Still, I reference it a lot and I love the way he writes about early dogs.

Shit list: Living with Border Collies by Barbara Sykes. This one is a mess. Very few useful ideas, mostly just batty nonsense.

Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis. This was the only novel I read this year and it was garbage. Do not recommend.

How Stella Learned to Talk by Christina Hunger. You all know I hated it. I am stunned when people recommend it to others to get into dog buttons. I thought the narrative itself was a steaming pile of garbage and I thought the tips on how to get started with buttons were vague and unhelpful. Cannot understand this fad at all.

The First Domestication by Brandy R. Fogg and Raymond Pierotti. I started this a year or two ago and finished it this year. It was a mess. I appreciated the parts where they ripped into Coppinger, but there were tons of other really questionable bits so I basically think the whole thing is a wash.

Dogs: A Philosophical Guide to Our Best Friends by Mark Alizart. It wasn't terrible, but it was quite strange. I appreciated it sent me down a few rabbit holes though. I tried reading some more philosophical books about dogs but they fall apart as soon as the authors show they know nothing about modern dog science.

Dingoes Don’t Bark by Lionel Hudson. This one also wasn't terrible but it was also kind of nothing. Not a lot of information about dingoes. I think the documentary it pairs with would be more worhtwhile. I think it's from the 70s, maybe 80s.

Still reading: Level Up Your Dog Training by Natalie Bridger Watson. This is for beginners, but I am enjoying it as another resource for my club.

The Wolf Within by Professor Bryan Sykes. This is good but thick and science heavy, so I know it will take me a long time.

Treat Everyone Like a Dog by Karen London. I am not enjoying this at all. It will inevitably make it onto my shit list one year.

What Dogs Want by Mat Ward. Really loving this very cute and modern take on basic dog care for new owners.

What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs by Cat Warren. I am really loving this so far. It's my kind of book, a mix of dog science and memoir.

Our Oldest Companions by Pat Shipman. I am not that taken in by Shipman. I've read one of her other books and I don't find her particularly compelling. I am finding Sykes more interesting than this one.

Aesop's Animals: The Science Behind the Fables by Jo Wimpenny. This one is pretty good, not sure if I will finish it though because I read the dog and wolf chapters already.

Positive Herding 101 by Barbara Buchmayer. I am enjoying this. I got through all the beginning stuff and have finally reached the chapters that will talk about herding training.

Enrichment Games for High Energy Dogs by Barbara Buchmayer. This is good enough that it made me buy her other book. I haven't finished it yet though.

#dog books #dogblr

[redgoldsparks]

I've never won National Novel Writing Month, but I am participating for my 7th time (not consecutively) this year. In the past I've always enjoyed receiving the Pep Talks from published authors, which are essentially like letters of encouragement to all of the writers trying to pour out the first draft of a novel in a month. A few of the ones I read, especially in my first year of doing NaNo, really stuck with me so I was very delighted to be asked to contribute one this year. You can read my Pep Talk here on the NaNo site but I will also post the full text below the cut. And to anyone doing NaNo this year-- good luck and keep writing!

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

I wanted to be a writer long before I knew I had anything to say. 

I had a childhood immersed in stories. My parents took me to the local library every week, where I checked out stacks of fantasy novels. I would pick up any book with a dragon, elf, sword, castle, wizard, or spaceship on the cover and my heroes were the authors and illustrators of these magical worlds. 

At some point I started to wonder about these writers. Who were they? What were their lives like? I began to pay more attention to author’s notes and was astonished to discover that many authors I loved mentioned each other in their acknowledgements. In The Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke thanked Neil Gaimen, Terri Windling, Ellen Datlow, and Charles Vess. In Stardust, Gaimen thanked Clarke in return, and also Diana Wynne Jones. Ursula K Le Guin and Robin Hobb wrote blurbs for Patrick Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind. In Finder, Emma Bull thanked Terri Windling, Steven Brust, and her husband, Will Shetterly. Tamora Pierce, George RR Martin, Peter S Beagle and Kelly Link all blurbed books by Ellen Kushner, who thanked more people than I have space to name. 

Holy shit, I realized. All of these authors know each other! They’re friends! This was followed by a second thought: If I want to meet them, and especially if I want to be friends with them, maybe I should publish a fantasy novel myself. 

That realization gave me a new goal, but no specific pointers on how to pursue it. I started out as many young authors do: I began writing long fantasy narratives with orphaned protagonists, extremely derivative of the fantasy I’d read as a teen. During multiple successive NaNoWriMos I chipped away at a YA novel about a boy and a dragon. I started drawing a webcomic about a thief who tried to rob a monastery only to be foiled by a witch with the same plan. These stories had characters, settings, and some plot but what they didn’t have was themes. They didn’t ask any questions about what it means to be human, and they didn’t touch on any of the big concerns I was wrestling with in my personal life: gender, sexuality, and identity. 

It took the rather painful experience of a literary agent telling me my fantasy work was unpublishable before I set my early stories aside, stepped back, and changed the direction of my writing towards exploring the big, vulnerable themes I had been shying away from. 

What I discovered is that instead of making writing harder, facing these themes head-on made writing easier. In my earlier work I had frequently hit writing blocks, places in my outlining process where I felt like I was wading through mud. When I didn’t know what I was trying to say on a meta level with my story it was often hard to decide what should happen next at the plot level. I would send my characters from location to location, but I’d be unsure of what they should do there, because I was unclear on how their actions added up to a larger picture. That feeling of being stuck and uncertain over what should come next fell away when I started focusing more clearly on expressing my bigger themes. Suddenly the path forward felt smooth. All it took to follow it was bravery and persistence. 

I also achieved my initial goal in wanting to be a writer. I have now met and befriended many other authors, not the same set that I idolized as a teen, but different writers who are exploring many of the same themes and questions in their work as I do in mine. I have friends, colleagues, co-authors, and writing partners to thank in my acknowledgements– often more than I have space to name. 

During this month, I know many of you are focused solely on pouring out the words. That is very important, but I recommend you take some time to think about the larger themes of your story as well. What message, hope, fear, question, or truth are you trying to communicate to the world through your writing? I promise that clearly articulating your themes will help you tell your story and find the friends and writers who will become your community. 

Good luck, and know that I am writing alongside you, and rooting for you! 

Maia Kobabe, Fall 2023

#maia kobabe #nanowrimo #nano 2023 #national novel writing month #writing

[magnetarbeam]

You know, for all the very good reasons to shit on Denning, I do think some credit is due for how much his writing manages to make me laugh, even though it's usually when he's trying to be completely serious.

Here's a top five list:

5: Fey'lya pulling up file holos to convince the Senate that he's having an Important Discussion With The Generals.

4: A Hapan household servant insulting Jaina and Zekk's flying, based on alleged simulator experience with N-1s and vulture droids.

3: Aurra Sing, of all people, getting her ass kicked by Jacen's five-year-old daughter.

2: Wynn and Gavin and Bwua'tu being in the room when Luke learns Abeloth's origin story. No amount of pay would be enough for this.

1: Lando and Booster using a celebrity sabacc tournament as collectively willing hostages.

(Honorable mention: Daala telling Jag "a Sith is just a Jedi who's gone off his meds.")

#star wars legends #new jedi order #legacy of the force #fate of the jedi

[lexwritesgayshit]

I'm not gonna lie, I'm really confused by what people consider cozy fantasy. Even *if* you can set aside the rampant casual racism and ableism in the genre (which....how?), where is the cozy factor in a book described as a brutal war tale? And why are we categorizing Dianna Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle as cozy fantasy? Did we read the same book? Did we forget what actually happened to the prince, and all of the things studio ghibli wayyy toned down in the movie?

To each their own, but I think people confuse comfort stories with coziness. You can have the most fucked up books be comfort stories, but coziness has (or used to have) a certain meaning and vibe, and I think we're losing that. If you tell me a book is cozy fantasy yet the main character is racist against both her own mixed family as well as toward herself, and she's forcing her "help" on the love interest while simultaneously saying shit like "I didn't sign up to be a baby sitter", where is the cozy element? The fact that they're running errands together and eating sweets and falling in love for some reason while still treating each other poorly? I'm stressed! I'm not feeling cozy right now. WHO finds this cozy, and why????

I want to read a cozy fantasy by an author of color, preferably a disabled author of color (or an abled author of color who doesn't pump the story full of ableism) and I want to know if the whole fucking genre has these issues or if it's just the way white people write "cozy" fantasy. If anyone has recs please send them my way (and yes, I'm going to tag this cozy fantasy, not to upset people who love the genre, but because I want book recs. I need to believe that there are good things happening in this genre, too)

#booklr #bookblr #reading tag #diverse booklr #diverse bookblr #cozy fantasy #cozy mystery #cozy fantasy books #authors of color #fantasy authors of color #ableism in books #racism in books #lex rambles

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Can you recommend me Loki books? (as in novels, not norse mythology textbooks)

I am not sure if I rated these correctly in terms of audience maturity. But I tried lol.

Comics:

Valhalla comics-Peter Madsen

Fun slap-stick re-tellings of the Norse myths. Children oriented?

Loki (2004) aka "Blood Brothers" by Robert Rodi & Esad Ribic

It's my favorite Marvel!Loki comic of all time. It altered my brain chemistry. You can read it for free on the links in my pinned post.

The graphic novel version of Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

There's also this webcomic I found as a teen that's ongoing to this day and I need to go back to following:

Kids:

Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good by Louie Stowell

Diary of a Wimpy Kid but with Norse mythology! What's not to love about that?!

Eight Days of Luke-Dianna Wynne Jones

The book that inspired "American Gods."

Odd and the Frost Giants-Neil Gaiman

A boy named Odd encounters Odin, Thor, and Loki who have been turned into animals.

Teens:

Runemarks duology-Joanne Harris

Just keep to the first two books. You'll hate the rest. Let's just say it dealt horribly with Eating Disorders and Harris should have done research on heavy topics before writing about them. Her Loki in the first two books is very enjoyable and he rules over goblins for a while, among other things. I also thought the way rune birthmarks worked in here was fun.

Norse Mythology-Neil Gaiman

It's an entertaining overview of the myths. If you're unfamiliar with them it's a good place to start.

Adult:

Black Wolf: The Binding of Loki-Una Verdandi

I don't recommend if you want a soft!Loki or one that remains a decent person. Loki is interesting and feels like a force of nature. But let's just say he's like the Joker with all that implies. But I thought it was a worthwhile read (very long). It has probably the best Sigyn depiction I've encountered. She feels like a real person! I go more in detail here. I'd pay attention to the things I warn about in case they're deal-breakers or triggers. My review is not spoiler free but contains warnings.

American Gods-Neil Gaiman

Has very interesting premise and a multiple pantheons existing at the same time. It's fun how the deities adapt to the USA and modern times.

The Goddess of Nothing at All-Cat Rector

This book is basically a Norse myth whump fic. I would avoid if that's not your thing because I can see how someone else might hate it. I know I like it because making fictional characters suffer is my guilty pleasure. You won't be laughing at the mythology-based Loki memes. I don't think it's perfect. For example, I dislike that they have to make Loki's every action "justified", such as cutting Sif's hair because Sif called him fantasy racism slurs. Let him be a bit of an asshole just because. The disproportionate punishment makes it difficult not to sympathize with Loki either way. I don't know how I feel about her Sygin. It's the 2nd best Sygin I've seen yet in books. She has a personality, is likeable, and is not a doormat, but something about her and this Loki feels sanitized to me. Like the author was checking boxes for Sygin and Loki. I don't know how to explain it.

Father of Monsters-A. B. Frost

Short read. Loki is a loveable little shit that gets the Aesir into trouble and takes one for the team to get them out of it. I really liked this characterization and it had cute illustrations of Loki, Angrboda, and Jormungandr.

The Nine Worlds Rising Series-Lyra Wolf

They're not perfect. I think her Loki is very funny and likable but too sanitized. And Sigyn has no flaws other than caring too much for her no-good brother while the other goddesses are evil witches. But the author has a very comedic writing voice that is highly enjoyable and keeps the stakes high so that you want to keep on reading. I also like how one of the books starts with a very vengeful Loki and draws comparisons to Lucifer. Thought that was cool. Also, some reactions to some reveals didn't land the impact as well as they should. They do tease the Odin/Loki abusive relationship, but not with the toxicity I wanted, and Odin goes on a redemption path a bit too soon for my liking (while making all the goddesses evil witches...). There's also a lot of anachronistic language in here, such as Loki mentioning a Chihuahua.

Books I haven't read but I know of their existence:

Loki-Melvin Burgess (I saw a Sigyn stan complain about it, but I am not sure how seriously to take her complaints because she said shipping myth!Loki with say Balder or Thor or Odin was "incestuous" because Loki is Odin's "blood brother" despite Loki being unrelated to everyone but Narfi and Nari on Asgard). My standards for Loki don't require that Loki be a paragon of morality, unlike hers. UPDATE: A mutual told me it's horribly transphobic and has rape apologia.

Harbinger of the End-Nicki Chapelway (I've seen praise from Logyn shippers for this one)

Loki: Nine Naughty Tales of the Trickster by Mike Vasich

I saw an excerpt with a rather humorous joke, but the one other Mike Vasich Loki book I read bored the hell out of me. So I haven't given it a chance for that reason.

The Blackwell Pages by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr

It's a children's book series where the descendants of Thor and Loki are the protagonists.

I might have some revies in "LokiBookClub" tag.

#anon asks #norse mythology #LokiBookClub #myth!loki

[heartburstings]

one of these days i'm making a longass post detailing the Fatal Flaws TM of jason and peter (cowars and fool respectively duhdoy) but in a way where i never have to read astoundingly bad takes abt jason ever again

#wynn speaks #put it on the pile yea with the post i'll supposedly write abt ivy and nadia's relationship one day #ok but like fr we all (mostly) know not to write off ivy as Woman In Way Of Gay Relationship or nadia as. well. as plain jane fatass #but it seems to be a little harder with jason and matt bc they r much more direct in how they decide to be assholes #well i say much more direct but who am i kidding it's slurs and (sometimes) physicality #peter has a similar problem but in the opposite direction where he is sometimes woobified #it's like... idk #i am so peeved whenever jason n peter's relationship is spoken abt as if it was imbalanced and one-sided #like. how could ever after and everything building up to it have ever surfaced without mutual respect? think mark #unpopular opinion but i think The Push is stupid as hell (except in argentina where peter pushes back <3) #or well. i mean it's FINE. but i don't like how it's interpreted sometimes as like... jason showing his True Colors as Asshole Supreme #or some stupid shit like that #jason's a very physically expressive person where peter is more verbal if that makes sense #but bc jason has the mannerisms of a jock he gets like... demonized is a strong word #but it's as if ppl take that 1 (sometimes!) push as a sign to assholify him #like is it a mean move yea of course. but are we just gonna ignore the context #are we gonna ignore what happened to his mental and emotional state from best kept secret to reputation stain'd #or hell. ignore entirely what happened in reputation stain'd. #which doesn't excuse but explains his behavior and his thought process. are we able to deduce that things are different here #r we able to deduce that jason's view of the world and how he has to live in it has changed fellas. bc of being called a slur fellas. #r we able to deduce that this isn't a depiction of how jason has secretly always been but more of a turning point in how jason has changed. #like unrecognizeably fellas. that he can't be the boy that peter thought he would follow that he'd always follow fellas. #like... are we fellas #like sorry i'm a jason apologist as if i can help it #this got long but anyway. u kno. post coming to a theatre near u and whatever #bare: a pop opera

[sindri42]

What books or graphic novels do you most frequently recommend? What are your all time favorite books or series?

That's a complicated question, and my memory is shit so I'll probably come up with a dozen better answers the moment after I hit post, but off the top of my head...

Basically everything by Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant is gold. Most of it comes in long series which are a big investment and have their ups and downs, and which will have different value to different people and mindsets, and I haven't read all of them because she just writes too damn fast, but I haven't encountered a single book from her that wasn't great. If you're looking for a one-off, Middlegame might be the best; it's about a couple of artificial people created by an ancient conspiracy attempting to attain godhood, and math, and language, and time travel, and what family means, and doing the same thing over and over thirteen thousand times in search of a better result. I'm also especially fond of Alien: Echo, which starts out as a cute little YA gay romance set in a sci-fi colony world, until halfway through you catch the name 'Weyland-Yutani' and abruptly remember which franchise the title is referencing and realize how few of these plucky teens are likely to survive to the end of the week.

You should probably read everything by Naomi Novik. The Temeraire series, starting with His Majesty's Dragon, is an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars (officers and gentlemen, wooden ships and iron men, all that jazz) except that aerial combat is much more prominent than in our timeline, which gradually expands out into building a whole different earth exploring how numerous cultures and regions were affected by humanity not necessarily being the dominant species. The Scholomance books, starting with A Deadly Education are kind of like your standard magical boarding school, except unlike certain more famous examples of the trope actually makes sense; also it's consistently hilarious whenever it's not being horrifying as the story follows a girl who is clearly born to be an evil empress and who is very definitely not dating this stereotypical dashing hero guy, no matter how many times they save each others' lives. As standalones go, she's done Uprooted and Spinning Silver, both of which put wonderful new spins on classic fairy tale tropes and popular myths but this paragraph is already too long for me to elaborate.

The Murderbot series by Martha Wells is not only great as a sci-fi action series and as a worldbuilding exercise, but also the most realistic depiction of an anxiety disorder I've ever read. It starts with a security droid that hacked its own governor module to get the ability to disobey orders, but then because change is terrifying it continues to go through the motions of its terrible job, but now streams thousands of hours of media in the background while standing guard between crises; unfortunately, when something starts trying to kill the scientific survey team it's currently contracted out to, it discovers to its horror that it's actually starting to care about what happens to them.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a classic for a reason. Maybe you've seen the Miyazaki film? Doesn't matter, read the book anyway. It's a completely different story. (somebody described it to me as 'the book is what Sophie remembers, the movie is how Howl describes it after the fact')

If you're looking for books on tumblr you've probably heard of Tamsyn Muir's The Locked Tomb series by now; no need for me to elaborate on what others have said better.

Ooh, pick up Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Stugatsky; it might be the greatest Soviet sci-fi novel, and has had a huge cultural impact around the world. After you read it you'll realize that you've been seeing it everywhere, not just in a whole bunch of other sci fi literature but also from video games to anime to tabletops.

Moving into things that I personally love but don't necessarily recommend...

I want to tell everybody about The One Who Eats Monsters by Casey Matthews. It's a near-perfect blend of the adorable and the horrifying, and one of the best non-human perspectives I've encountered, following an elder god who could be mistaken at a glance for a teenage human girl as she simultaneously tries to figure out how to navigate "civilization" and fights a monstrous conspiracy to protect an (actual) ordinary teenage girl that she accidentally swore an unbreakable oath to defend because the moon was very full and she smelled very nice. It's great. but if you read it, then you would be in the same position that I am, waiting for the second book in the series, which was supposed to come out six years ago.

I love the Arcane Ascension series (Sufficiently Advanced Magic, On the Shoulders of Titans, The Torch that Ignites the Stars, and The Silence of Unworthy Gods) by Andrew Rowe; it's basically about an artificer attending a school for battle mages, using every trick and trap and gadget and clever scheme he can think of to keep up without having any direct combat magic of his own. The reason it's probably not for everybody is that as the story gets bigger and more elaborate, it starts interweaving with at least two other series of books by the same author (one of which initially looked like a completely different setting, and definitely operates on a completely different magic system), and none of the three are finished yet. Also the systems involved are intricate and there's a lot of little details going on, so you kiiiinda have to get obsessed in order to keep track of it all.

The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski might be the best you'll ever find in the gritty "grimdark" fantasy category. The netflix series that everybody was obsessing over for a while before it shit itself too badly? Everything that they did right, is something that was better in the original books. Most of the best parts of the original books were removed entirely and replaced with complete garbage. The video games are a better adaptation, but still fall a bit short in writing quality and character depth. But it definitely leans into the Grimdark, possibly more heavily than you want to deal with.

The Valhalla trilogy by Ari Bach is good... conditionally. You can read just the first book like it's a standalone, and get a cool story subverting the classic Coming-Of-Age 'girl who never fit in is recruited by a secret society that tells her the thing that made her Different is exactly what they need to save the world' trope, except that the thing that makes her not fit in is her propensity towards brutal, remorseless violence. But you can't read the second book (which elaborates on why maybe maintaining world peace by deploying a secret society of ultraviolent killers with no oversight might not be a good idea) without committing to also reading the third, because the end of the second book will make you want to stop reading, and if you take the whole trilogy together then it's great but if you let the end of the second book be your last memory of it then that'll leave a bad taste in your mouth forever.

Jim Butcher's Codex Alera is six books, and five of them are absolutely magnificent. Unfortunately, the first volume is, in my humble opinion, dogshit. You can't skip it either, or you'll miss a bunch of vital setup and introductions. There's nothing you can do except push through a bunch of stuff ranging from simply dumb to downright offensive before you can get to the great part.

[striketeam-sic]

I prefer the term 'pragmatic' over 'ruthless'. It's all about perspective.

༒Independent highly selective Jack Rollins roleplay blog ༒ Inspired by the marvel movies and a fuck-ton of headcanons ༒ Continue for more

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-Wynn, She/Her, 25 -Time-Zone: EST -Over 10 years of roleplay experience, with 7 of those being Bucky -On mobile, no idea how to format! -Erratic work/sleep schedule + sleep disorder can make for weird times --Please don’t be afraid to bump any of my posts or shoot me a -message! -Very shy, feel free to reach out lol —Will try and match your writing length!

Other blogs-> @cybernetic-asset , @skullsandsteel , @starsxchains , @fluffysquidcat , + @strike-a

#SHHHHH #a concept this is a CONCEPT #pinned

[sleepylawr]

I keep thinking about writing a fix it for the ending of DA2 (which I guess is kind of a fix it for Inquisition too?)

Like my brain is focused on Alistair and the Warden meeting and Alistair being like “hey, I think I met the apostate you saved in Amaranthine while I was in Kirkwall” and the Warden being “Anders! How is he?” and then they receive the big news and they are like “oh shit, Anders!”.

And they track him down (probably with Zevran and Nathaniel help) and get him to Soldier’s keep where they help him with Wynne. The Warden would probably have a talk with Anders similar to the one he had with Wynne when she revealed that she was possessed by a spirit.

Meanwhile Zevran informs Isabela and so the rest of the Kirkwall squad know where Anders is and that he’s recovering and being helped and then after the events of Inquisition they go to Soldier’s Peak because “hey there’s someone we should save in the fade, like asap”.

And they go. Ander’s family, all together.

Now. If only my brain didn’t hate writing anything longer than 10K words, I would love to write this myself. But my brain is stupid and I can’t.

#i’m not well #my warden(s) wouldn’t abandon their friend!!! #dragon age #dragon age: origins #dragon age 2 #dragon age inquisition #anders #dragon age anders #the warden

[aziraphalesspock]

An Evening with Neil

I had the absolute pleasure to spend the evening with some of the loveliest people while we listened to @neil-gaiman talk. The sense of community and helpfulness was remarkable. The Venice Performing Arts Center must have been near capacity.

The sort of plan was to answer audience questions and read from various works. Pictures at the end! Here’s how it went:

- What was the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received? Read your contracts! Everything is open for negotiation, even the date at the top of the contract.

- How do you deal with criticism? Very badly 🤣

- READING: A Calendar of Tales: October (which just so happens to be one of my favorites.)

- Have you ever finished writing something and thought “this is special?” All of it! But yes, American Gods and Ocean at the End of the Lane felt different.

- Did you have the Sandman story arc completely planned out or did you wing it? Yes and yes.

- MY QUESTION!! First off, happy birthday! Can you offer some advice on when you feel you’ve done enough research to write on a topic vs getting sidelined by doing too much research? I have a lot of natural curiosity but it can work against me at times. I loved this answer and thank Neil again and again for giving it time.

- READING: Making A Chair (Poem)

- Who is your favorite Doctor? Patrick Troughton

- How do you keep going after criticism? “Try rejecting this!” And “Stop writing shit. Just write the good stuff.”

- Who are your favorite authors? Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula Le Guin, Peter Straub, Gene Wolfe, Dickens, Austen

- Did you ever have a book soundtrack to write to? Yes, all of them had soundtracks!

- READING: Watching From the Shadows (Poem)

- Have you ever dealt with imposter syndrome? Classic Neil/Neil story!

Waiting at the front of the line

Canvas totes they handed out

My signed book haul!

Neil, being authorly

My little drawing of Hazel’s tree (you can rake the leaves)

#neil gaiman #good omens #american gods #stardust #neverwhere #author talks