catsteinbooks

[catsteinbooks]

kill the imposter syndrome in your head because not only is there someone out there doing it worse than you, they’re also using chat gpt to do it

[catsteinbooks]

Good Omens & the Existential Art of Not Giving Up (or, When It's All Exhausting)

So many of us love Good Omens, especially Crowley and Aziraphale, with an intensity that our friends and loved ones may not understand. We analyze their choices, their relationship, their future. We cry over them. We speculate, create and enjoy fanfics about them, and await the conclusion of their story with all of our hopes and fears on the line.

For me, one of the biggest reasons I'm so attached to their story is because of the way they constantly fight to figure out how to exist as they are, in a universe that forces them be something they're not. They make mistakes, they get overwhelmed, and sometimes they totally screw it up. But they always come back.

They never give up.

Our world is -- tough -- to say the least. Many of us are struggling to figure out how to exist as we are. So many pressures and expectations, so much conflict and... Well, you already know exactly what I mean! Existential Exhaustion is real, and all too present.

Good Omens provides something much more important than an escape from those harsh realities. I believe it provides HOPE.

I lost hope for a little while. I've been away from Tumblr and my AO3 writing for months because of it. Good Omens was helping me keep my head above water in a chaotic, exhausting world. When the future of GO itself got chaotic, I lost something (for awhile) that helped me make sense of the world's chaos.

But these characters, Crowley and Aziraphale, are beautiful and brave and flawed and So Ineffably HUMAN... They show us what it is to fight and fall and fail and rise to fight again. They remind us that we can mess up and still be lovable, worthy of love. And, when they get it right, they show us what acceptance and fidelity can be.

Stories are usually about how people (and angels and demons!) respond to challenges. We only get to be privy to the story of Our Ineffables when their lives are about to get turned upside down. AntiChrist about to enter the world? Season 1. Their precious, peaceful, fragile existance together about to be threatened by a mysterious Something Terrible from Heaven? Season 2.

I love to imagine what Aziraphale and Crowley's lives together were like in that short time they had together in between. (It's why we love the flashbacks, right? An extra peek at their relationship!) That time was far too short, but they came a long way since that gentle night at the bus stop, and protecting each other's very existence from Hellfire and Holy Water the very next day. "To the World", they said. "To Us," it meant, and how much they love it and strive to protect it.

Like us, Our Ineffables are flawed fellows. They get overwhelmed. Aziraphale gets too anxious, and starts spouting off things he doesn't really mean. Crowley loses his temper, and likewise starts spouting off things he doesn't really mean...

They fight with each other.

They fight for each other.

And life stays hard. They get overwhelmed. Anxiety happens. Anger happens. Bad decisions happen. Existential Exhaustion. Doesn't put any of us at our best, yeh?

But they keep trying to figure it all out and make it right. For the world and for each other...

Maybe I believe in Our Ineffables so much because I need something to believe in that gives me Hope, something that helps me keep fighting. Because I do believe in them, both of them. They mess up, but they don't give up.

Maybe that's not such a weird thing for any of us to believe in.

[catsteinbooks]

For the Star Wars Day (May the Fourth / May the Force Be With You) there was shared (with the permission of the Pratchett Estate ) a Terry Pratchett story from the Star Wars Universe that was only published in a newspaper 45 years ago! Very excited to read a new Terry's piece! :)❤ (tweet)

Also, Terry Pratchett writing fanfiction 45 years ago, can I hear a wahoo? :)

[catsteinbooks]

just found fanfic written on clay tablets in cuneiform and then the pictures were uploaded to ao3 the good omens fandom is insane

[catsteinbooks]

I love all this behind the scenes detail!

Good Omens 2 props by Micaela Ralph.

The Bullet Catch pamphlet.

plus some more

celestial chart

Some Whickber Street shops decor

[catsteinbooks]

[catsteinbooks]

“Authors should not be ALLOWED to write about–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“This book should be taken off of shelves for featuring–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Schools shouldn’t teach this book in class because–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Nobody actually likes or wants to read classics because they’re–” you are an anti-intellectual and an idiot

“I only read YA fantasy books because every classic novel or work of literary fiction is problematic and features–” you are an anti-intellectual and you are robbing yourself of the full richness of the human experience.

[catsteinbooks]

Me: I don't get it. I thought I was doing a lot better than I was a few years ago. I'm like 10 times more on top of things than I used to be. How does everything feel terrible now?

The Tiny Me in OSHA-approved Hi-Vis Gear Who lives in my brain and pulls all the levers: Boss, it's the fascism. You're completely gunked up with cortisol due to the fact that your entire daily life is now underscored with a haunting awareness of the rapid erosion of your rights, dignity, and any and all social safety nets, and you're also bearing witness to the most vulnerable people immediately being persecuted. This creates a natural stress response that basically means you're going to continue having memory and organizational problems, as well as emotional imbalances.

Me: BUT I HAVE A BULLET JOURNAL AND I MEDITATE NOW.

Tiny OSHA Me: BOSS, THE FASCISM.

[catsteinbooks]

The Good Omens 2 set: featuring Heaven and Hell, Soho, and Biblical Proportions (A Companion to Owls).

All via marty.kelly on instagram (supervising art director)

[catsteinbooks]

like to take a fuck, reblog to give a fuck

[catsteinbooks]

[catsteinbooks]

Thank you for being here 🫂

[catsteinbooks]

Hilda by Duane Bryers

[catsteinbooks]

I have very bad not at all good news considering my Good Omens stuff. This morning, I got a email that every fan artist dreads.

This letter includes 80+ pages of screenshots from my Ko-fi, printshops, and socials, even my Twitter header, where I simply listed my main fandoms.

They’ve also demanded to delete all the freebies: PDF version of Ineffable Affirmations and wallpaper packs (not sure how free/donate stuff violates IP, but that's what they say).

I will have to comply with these demands — if they start any legal process, it would be absolutely catastrophic. 

They also have the right to block or deactivate my social media for IP infringement, which would be basically a starvation sentence for me and my family, so I don't have any other options.

Yes, I should have seen it coming — it was always a grim possibility. But right now is quite literally the worst time to get a letter like this. I had planned to gradually shift toward creating more original content, but the war and forced emigration disrupted everything. 

When we suddenly lost all our sources of income, I had to stick back to drawing mostly fanart. Basically the tiny amount of money I got from Ko‑fi and occasional commissions, was all our means for survival these years. 

All this time, we’ve been trying to find a safer place to live — an incredibly difficult process with Russian passports. And just yesterday, we got an invitation to apply for a long stay French visa.

The cruel irony of it all...

Honestly, I am shaken and trying not to fall into despair. 

If we get these visas, we will have to move in April, which means we’ll need A LOT of money for tickets, rent, transporting our stuff, and who knows what else. If you ever moved between countries, you can imagine that.

I was hoping our Ko‑fi and the new projects we planned for this year would make it possible. But now, we have to delete most of the shop and cancel half of the projects we were working on. 

I’m very scared, and have no idea what to do now.

I have to remove everything before March 9th. 

Tomorrow, I’ll set the lowest possible prices on all our GO items. If you wanted something from these collections, this will be literally the last chance.

Please, please tell me everything is going to be okay 😰

[catsteinbooks]

USA people! Buy NOTHING Feb 28 2025. Not anything. 24 hours. No spending. Buy the day before or after but nothing. NOTHING. February 28 2025. Not gas. Not milk. Not something on a gaming app. Not a penny spent. (Only option in a crisis is local small mom and pop. Nothing. Else.) Promise me. Commit. 1 day. 1 day to scare the shit out of them that they don't get to follow the bullshit executive orders. They don't get to be cowards. If they do, it costs. It costs.

Then, if you can join me for Phase 2. March 7 2025 thtough March 14 2025? No Amazon. None. 1 week. No orders. Not a single item. Not one ebook. Nothing. 1 week. Just 1.

If you live outside the USA boycott US products on February 28 2025 and stand in solidarity with us and also join us for the week of no Amazon.

Are you with me?

Spread the word.

[catsteinbooks]

you just got press crow'd. reblog to instantly press crow your friends

[catsteinbooks]

Hey everyone, I know it's going to be a busy day for a lot of people, but Google enrolled everyone over 18 into their AI program automatically.

If you have a google account, first go to gemini.google.com/extensions and turn everything off.

Then you need to go to myactivity.google.com/product/gemini and turn off all Gemini activity tracking. You do have to do them in that order to make sure it works.

Honestly, I'm not sure how long this will last, but this should keep Gemini off your projects for a bit.

I saw this over on bluesky and figured it would be good to spread on here. It only takes a few minutes to do.