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Hear ye, hear ye! Ye AU-gust 2025 prompt list is here!

What is AU-gust? It stands for Alternate Universe August, and it is a creative challenge for everyone. Writers, artists, fans; anyone can join! Be sure to check out our FAQ for more answers! Join us on BlueSky, AO3, Discord and under the tags #au gust and #au gust 2025.

The AO3 collection for AU-gust is now open! :)

Special thanks to @yaoyorozoops for creating our wonderful graphics!

[ID] 31 days challenge prompt list as follows: 1 Romance, 2 Bakery, 3 Dragons, 4 Illness, 5 Witchcraft, 6 Broken Up, 7 Masquerade Ball, 8 Medieval, 9 Will-o'-the-Wisp, 10 Peaceful World, 11 Camping, 12 Vampires vs Werewolves, 13 Monsters and Horrors, 14 Chimeras, 15 War, 16 Rest, 17 Healers, 18 Crossover, 19 Alignment Swap, 20 Aquarium, 21 Space Exploration, 22 Private Detectives, 23 Personal Trainer, 24 Journalists, 25 Streamers, 26 Bikers, 27 Rich and Poor, 28 Hackers, 29 Assassins, 30 Gateways Between Worlds, 31 Two of the Above. You have four Jokers: Pretend Relationship, Cyberpunk, Unusual Sports, Gardening.

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Faltas

Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn't My Rapist

Cecilia Gentili 

From legendary activist and Pose actress Cecilia Gentili comes the groundbreaking debut of a transgender Latina childhood that re-orders the field of LGBTQ+ memoir

Winner of the 2023 ALA Stonewall Book Award Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award - As heard on NPR's Latino USA - Finalist for the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Best Transgender Non-Fiction In these hilarious and heartbreaking letters, Cecilia Gentili reinvents the trans memoir, putting the confession squarely between the writer and her enemies, paramours and friends. Writing to childhood figures such as her rapist's daughter, her father's mistress, her best friend, and her mother, Gentili probes deeply into the bitter cruelty, buried secrets, and delicious gossip of a small town. Is she here for revenge, or forgiveness? Both! And more! A story of sex, theft, murder, motherhood, and outrageous fashion choices, Faltas is a beautiful, messy meditation on what it takes to heal, or even grow.

Reading through the Stonewall Book Awards

(Affiliate link above)

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an underrecognised tragedy of AI slop isn't just that any piece of contemporary art could be AI, any news reel could be AI, it's that now just any video of something vaguely nice and whimsical happening in the world could be AI

this is about the trampoline bunnies

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Lilo & Stitch (2002)

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David Corenswet at the Phillies' stadium.

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i just think more 30-40 year old men should be more whorish. act your age for once.

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other words to use instead of walk?

Advance - to move forward; proceed

Amble - to go at or as if at an easy gait

Canter - to move at or as if at a canter (i.e., a 3-beat gait resembling but smoother and slower than the gallop)

Footslog - to march or tramp through mud

Hike - to take a long walk especially for pleasure or exercise

Journey - travel from one place to another

Lumber - to move ponderously

March - to move in a direct purposeful manner

Meander - to wander aimlessly or casually without urgent destination

Mosey - to move in a leisurely or aimless manner

Pace - to walk with often slow or measured tread

Pad - to traverse on foot

Parade - to march in or as if in a procession

Patrol - keep watch over (an area) by regularly walking or traveling around or through it

Perambulate - to travel over or through especially on foot

Plod - to walk heavily or slowly

Prance - to walk or move in a spirited manner

Promenade - take a leisurely public walk, ride, or drive so as to meet or be seen by others

Prowl - to move about or wander stealthily in or as if in search of prey

Ramble - to move aimlessly from place to place; to explore idly

Roam - to go from place to place without purpose or direction; also to travel purposefully unhindered through a wide area

Saunter - to walk about in an idle or leisurely manner

Shamble - to walk awkwardly with dragging feet

Shuffle - to move or walk in a sliding dragging manner without lifting the feet

Slog - to plod heavily

Stalk - to walk stiffly or haughtily

Step - to move (the foot) in any direction

Stride - to move over or along with or as if with long measured steps

Stroll - to walk in a leisurely or idle manner

Strut - to walk with a proud gait

Stump - to walk over heavily or clumsily

Toddle - to walk with short tottering steps in the manner of a young child

Tour - make a tour of (an area); a short trip to or through a place in order to view or inspect something

Traipse - to walk or travel about without apparent plan but with or without a purpose

Traverse - to move or pass along or through; to move back and forth or from side to side

Tread - to step or walk on or over

Trek - to make one's way arduously

Troop - to go one's way

Trudge - to walk or march steadily and usually laboriously

Wander - to move about without a fixed course, aim, or goal

Hope this helps. If it inspires your writing in any way, please tag me, or leave a link in the replies. I would love to read your work!

More: Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

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Nicholas Galitzine as Henry Fox in Red, White and Royal Blue

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its back to loki posting for a bit bc the summer skin has captured me

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Celebrate Romance Month, and Romance All Year, with 25 Queer Books!

August has been romance month, and we’ve used the time to gather a list of our 25 favorite romantic queer stories! These may not be books you’d literally find shelved in the romance section, but they’re tales, in whatever genre, that feature strong romantic plots or subplots, and that people in the Press felt were appropriate for this list. The stories were suggested by Adrian Harley, Alessa Riel, boneturtle, D. V. Morse, ilgaksu, Nina Waters (unforth), ramblingandpie, Shadaras, Tris Lawrence (tryslora), and an anonymous contributor. Now that August is coming to a close, we wanted to share the list with you, and keep the romance going as the seasons turn and the days pass.

Read on…

25 Queer Books for Romance Month

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The Magpie Lord by K. J. Charles

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

After Our Divorce, I Still Wore Your Jacket by Bu Wen San Jiu

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

More Me with You by Alex Bertie

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Silent Reading by priest

Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

The Ruin of Angels by Max Gladstone

Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Mr. Melancholy Wants to Live a Peaceful Life by Cyan Wings

Black or White by Sachimo

Like Real People Do by E. L. Massey

Golden Stage by Cang Wu Bin Bai

Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine by Man Man He Qi Duo

Your Distance by Gong Zi You

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

Global University Entrance Examination by Mu Su Li

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

What are YOUR favorite queer stories with romantic plots or subplots? Tell us in the comments! We’d love to hear your recs!

Who We Are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. We help fancreators publish their original (mostly queer) work! Want to always hear the latest? Sign up for our monthly newsletter!

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cc @porcelainmortal

It’s Handyman!Alwx 😉

Paying off his college loan wasn’t as difficult as Bill had thought. 

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fuck em up gang

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Oh my god we actually did it.

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This map is the most up to date version as of 3-4-2023 and takes into account all recent movement on anti-trans legislation

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Pay attention to the particulars of Mastercard's responses, because this a textbook example of how to create plausible deniability.

"Mastercard has not barred any legal transaction" is, technically, a true statement – because Mastercard is not the one processing the transactions in the first place. Mastercard does not deal directly with any merchant, and in fact typically refuses to communicate with merchants at all; there's always a payment processing service sitting in between Mastercard and the merchant, whether that's Stripe or Paypal or any of dozens of other service providers.

Consequently, there are two layers of service agreements in place: the agreement between Mastercard and the payment processing service, and the agreement between the payment processing service and the merchant. That second layer of service agreements, between the payment processing service and the merchant, is where all of these content restrictions are being imposed. Mastercard can thus truthfully claim that they aren't barring legal transactions.

Now, if you've been paying attention, you've probably already spotted the issue: if the content restrictions are being imposed upon the merchants by individual payment processing services and not by Mastercard, why do all of those payment processing services seem to have exactly the same content restrictions?

That's where the critical sleight of hand comes in: while Mastercard's own terms of service do not require payment processing services to bar transactions of particular types, their ToS does require payment processors to bar transactions which could be damaging to the Mastercard brand. What constitutes damage to the Mastercard brand is not defined; it means whatever Mastercard wants it to mean. The payment processing services are thus in a position where they can be held in breach of Mastercard's terms of service for basically any reason, which gives them a strong incentive not to test any boundaries.

And that's why Mastercard can truthfully say they have never barred any legal transaction: they're never the ones doing the blocking. The layer of payment processing services that sits between Mastercard and the merchants are enforcing those content restrictions, based on a series of unwritten handshake agreements between the payment processors and Mastercard regarding what does and does not constitute acceptable content – and because the particulars of those handshake agreements aren't in writing, Mastercard can assert that their terms of service do not compel payment processing services to bar any legal transaction and technically be telling the truth.