kaleb-is-definitely-sane

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Me, looking at the moon: Wow. My wife is so beautiful to light 😍

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words in my heart rise up without a voice

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First: you were not supposed to respond to this 😭. The original plan was to make an entire separate post going into detail about this (because summing these in one word was h a r d). But anyway. Explanation time!

So mine was primarily literary than literal, so I’d count someone like King David in Samuel as a vampire at his worst despite never like drinking anyone’s blood or anything. I suspect you were thinking more literally. That said, we’re mostly agreed with just some different nuances/emphases which is cool. 

Werewolves were the hardest for me. I’ve actually spent about a year thinking about this iirc (technically I was also trying to get a grasp on Forest/Wood symbolism in tandem which added length). I ended up with the Wood as the deepest, darkest parts of the Self which led to werewolves being, as you said, the domination of the animalistic aspect of humanity. For me tho, the emphasis is on the outsiders fear of this. You never know who’s a werewolf because they’re always just Some Guy (in contrast to vampiric figures who tend to be powerful). Though there are ofc easy targets, like a religious dissidents and ethnic minorities (Peter Stubbe; blood libel accusations). Also just real life wolves who were massacred because of fear of the unknown but that’s stretching even the literary approach to this. 

Because of the literary reading of vampires, sexual assault was broadened into exploitation. But if it were simply folkloric vampires we’d be the same there. I mean Dracula is all about a nasty old man, attractive but evil, violating women and children, leaving his mark on them, robbing them of their innocence — and coincidentally their “usefulness” to young men — and leaving them helpless followers in his sin (this is where the damnation aspect comes in though I hadn’t quite noticed that at first). So yeah obviously this is about sexual assault (and arguably the duty of men in power to go to lengths to protect women and children, and NOT sideline victims like they do Mina but actually listen and learn from them damn it!) (Also also: this lens is why I don’t like the feminist interpretations which read this as being about men misogynistically restricting the sexual liberation of women. Lucy is a victim of sexual assault! Anyway I’m digressing). Like I said tho, I take it a step further and include stories and characters like the governess in The Turn of the Shrew who smothers her children to death, Frederic Winterbourne from “Daisy Miller” who drains the titular young woman of her life, the men of Tess of the D’Ubervilles, the crowds of Kafka’s “A Hungering Artist”, the grandmother in “Innocent Eréndira” who sells the titular protagonist into sex slavery, Zeus from Greek Myth, Sodom, New Orleans, David (especially in @eesirachs reading of him, both as a king and beforehand), “woe to you who devour the houses of widows”, Jerusalem under King Solomon, the rich believers in first century Corinth, and finally arguably God in Samuel according to my notes but I can’t remember the context of that and may have just been in a Mood that day. I’ll end this with a quote I like:

“In those works which continue to haunt us […] the figure of the cannibal, the vampire, the succubus, the spook announces itself again and again where someone grows in strength while weakening someone else. That’s what this figure really comes down to, whether in Elizabethan, Victorian, or more modern incarnations: exploitation in its many forms. Using other people to get what we want. Denying someone’s right to live in the face of our overwhelming demands. Placing our desires, particularly our uglier ones, above the needs of another. That’s pretty much what the vampire does, after all. He wakes up in the morning—actually the evening, now that I think about it—and says something like, “In order to remain undead, I must steal the life force of someone whose fate matters less to me than my own.” I’ve always supposed that Wall Street traders utter essentially the same sentence.” — Thomas C. Foster, How To Read Literature Like a Professor, “Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires”, page 22

Now, again, I think Foster under emphasizes the power imbalance of vampire narratives, whether by age or class etc. Whereas werewolves are typically equals or minorities, all examples of vampires he provides are people in positions of power. Also, he does not emphasize the damnation of the victim. Though in so many narratives the victim is destroyed, in stories like Dracula tho (or Samuel) they are not. They become the Monster that oppressed them and follow the devil to their own damnation. I like that you o that out, I’d never thought about it before

@theancientfootsteps i didn’t end up writing the essay about vampires in Corinth but here you go if you’re interested 

Moving right along!

Zombies. No notes. Perfect. Voodoo zombies are supreme; modern zombies suck. I’ll be taking no criticism. Seriously though, I’m thinking, and since the primary way I think of Death is as an Overseer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantation_complexes_in_the_Southern_United_States#Overseer I think I would really like a story in which zombies were slaves to Death and decay. It’d be a bit difficult sense zombies are traditionally undead (trapped in a slavery not even Death can liberate them from; also damned with no hope of salvation because they can’t die), so this would have to be more metaphorical zombies I guess. Also also I still haven’t given up my Frankenstein’s Zombie story idea.

And finally ghosts. This is the only one we really diverge on. To me ghosts say “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Or Mycenae, Scotland, Endor, Troy, early 19th century Malthusian laissez-faire London. Ghost typically either have had an injustice committed against them, or are themselves the ones who are being punished for injustice. They’re a sign that things are bad and only going to get worse, unless the protagonist can fix it. If it’s a moral tale they likely will. But those are less common than revenge tragedies in which case there’s no way in hell the protagonist is gonna do anything but buy a ticket to Hades. I didn’t really want to use the word “decadence” but it’s the best I could think of at the time. Ghosts almost always inspire vengeance or are in some way related to an avenger. And this demonic desire for vengeance ultimately corrupts the revenger, thereby forcing the moral universe to kill them too. Each murder must be answered for by another murder until we run out of people who can die (Gosh I love revenge tragedies). The ghost cannot rest until the vengeance is settled which means they can’t rest until everyone is dead. Or until the protagonist has redeemed themself, like in A Christmas Carol (in which I think God is the Avenger; the Lord is a man of war, the Lord is his name). St Samuel is an interesting case since he is dragged up from out of Sheol and desperately wants to return (vibe.). But he still counts because his presence drives Saul further into madness and towards his death via suicide. (Samuel is actually a very interesting revenge tragedy tbh. Hmmm). 

Anyway, I quite enjoyed this. I’m very interested in your (and anyone else’s) potential response 

Idk man it’s just. Vampires as metaphors for exploitation. Zombies for slavery. Werewolves for the Other. Ghosts for decadence. The symbolism of monsters man it’s just beautiful

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Pilgrim you accused classmates you didn’t like of being paranormal creatures 😭 😂. Honestly i can’t lie I love that so much 

On worldbuilding tho — oh my goodness yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! It is very hearts (eyes here I suppose) of children, mind of adults, which I love. The inherent spirituality of childhood is a theme very near and dear to me heart. A water gun filled with holy water is absolutely brilliant! The Self Educated Occultist sounds like they are going to be a very fun character. “the protagonists reflecting on the fact that, when they're adults, they'll look back on all their adventures and think they were just childish games” that is incredibly sad yet unfortunately true. Personally I would like it if just one of them never does look back and reduce their experience to childish games. It’s wishful thinking and childish avoidance on my part but still. I do think just one is fairly believable. 

Would you want to keep this monster-of-the-week or would there be a Big Bad? I feel like I ask this question a lot when you do worldbuilding like this but it does affect my answers so 🤷🏾. As for the number of protagonists… can’t go wrong with a 5 man band. 3 Main Main Characters, 2 fun and important but lesser main characters. I’d like someone to get kidnapped. Someone (different character) has to die. Preferably a main character. I feel like the youngest protagonist and the oldest protagonist would probably but heads. I also like the idea of those two being siblings, though they wouldn’t have to be. They should just know each other somehow. Would you want to do an epilogue like thing where you show them as adults? 

Personally I think the Masquerade works if it starts taking effect within adolescence and doesn’t finish until adulthood. If it starts in like late teenage years… that definitely causes some issues. You *could* have it be a manual wiping of the memory, but I don’t think that’s a great idea (tho, if you wanted, I trust you could make it better). This couldn’t be the entire solution but I do think part of it has to be creating a culture in which the adults live in that would explain this. A culture that is vehemently against any such ideas of magic and which actively cultivated an environment for adults and teens that is denying the existence of the paranormal. Magic that subdues magic could also work I suppose. Like I said tho, this probably wouldn’t work as an entire solution, but it’s a start. 

Germ of an Idea I Want Y'all's Input On

(Already posted on the Worldbuilding and OCs Community, posting here for extra input.)

The idea is for a series (maybe books, maybe published online, that's not relevant at the moment) based around a group of teenagers fighting monsters, based on my love of the films The Craft and The Lost Boys and my own early adolescence, where I was obsessed with vampires, werewolves and UFOs and accused classmates I didn't like of being them. Some ideas I've already had for this:

Teenagers in this world are the best at spotting and fighting monsters, because they have the combination of a child's wonder and imagination and an adult's knowledge of the darkness of the world.

The monsters will include witches (based on The Craft), vampires (based on The Lost Boys), aliens, ghosts and werewolves.

The series will be set in the UK, because that's where I grew up (so it's nostalgic for me) and there needs to be more media that's not set in America.

The protagonists, being teenagers, have to use improvised weaponry - one of the protagonists uses a Super Soaker (or the trademark-friendly equivalent) full of holy water, for example.

Another of the protagonists is a self-educated occultist based on stuff found on the internet.

The general tone will be fairly lighthearted, but there'll be some more serious moments, such as the protagonists reflecting on the fact that, when they're adults, they'll look back on all their adventures and think they were just childish games.

Any ideas, people? In particular, how many protagonists would you have and what different roles should they have? What enemies should they fight? What plotlines would you like to see?

[kaleb-is-definitely-sane]

If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading

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GOOD NIGHT SWEET PRINCE AND FLIGHTS OF ANGELS SING THEE TO THY REST!!!!!!!!!

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How dare a funny man on tumblr be prolife

I'm mostly just flabbergasted because I get some variant of that ask every few months. Sanctity of life is like the one discourse topic on which I haven't mellowed out in the least over the past decade (if anything, I've grown more vocal), and yet I regularly get people going "what did he mean by this?" in response to the most basic pro-life positions.

Am I being too subtle? Do I need to put a big banner at the top of my blog that says "A SOCIETY THAT KILLS ITS CHILDREN AND ITS SICK FOR THE CRIME OF INCONVENIENCE IS AN ABOMINATION" in flaming block letters?

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*americans chanting gets louder in the background*

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This made me so fucking angry I have to inflict it on all of you.

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It's not a virtue to focus totally on your own peace and disregard problems around you. Ironically, it's also not a virtue to stew in your own anxiety.

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Art by Julia Peng

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You know things are so normal in America when a government agency has to say we are not the gestapo. With your help we can raise the number to 500% increase in ICE officer assaults

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Today’s Sunday.

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i know so many leftists who are so quick to completely reject anarchism without knowing anything about it. hierarchical realism is even stronger than capitalist realism. people simply cannot imagine a world in which there isn't a small group of people that holds power over everyone else

im not saying im a devout anarchist - i am drawn to anarchism but i still have many questions and want to do more research to form in informed opinion. im just saying so many of the common arguments against it, even from other leftists, are kinda dumb