#Also the protagonists are aroace

[stillboredbuttrying]

This is a major character trait (especially in the sense of why a particular system would want creatures that feed on pain to create pain rather than use the one already there) in the Market of Monster serie by Rebecca Schaeffer. The first book is Not even bones. It also has a very good webtoon if you prefer that format.

Demons and monsters that torture people because they feed on human suffering are so dumb. People are suffering everywhere my guy go literally any place and take a deep whiff.

[aroandawkward]

I can't stop thinking about Isaac Henderson in Heartstopper, and the inherent isolation of being an aroace person in a romance story. Because, at the end of the day, that's what Heartstopper is - it's about the romance between Nick and Charlie. Even when the narrative has expanded outwards to focus on other characters, their plotlines are primarily about romance: Elle and Tao, Darcy and Tara… It's true that Isaac has a loving friend group and the show doesn't devalue platonic love in the way that many romance stories do. But nevertheless, as an aroace person, Isaac is at odds with the genre of the story in which he lives. The tropes that shows like this are built around don't work for him.

Something that really hammers this home is how the scene when Isaac and James kiss mirrors Charlie and Nick's first kiss. In both scenes, two boys are sitting on the floor away from the main action of a party, one admits to having a crush, the other nervously wants to know whether it's them, and then they kiss. In his version of that scene with James, Isaac is experiencing a moment that - for another character - could be a beautiful moment in a romantic storyline.

For viewers who weren't aware of Alice Oseman's promise of an aroace storyline for Isaac, his interactions with James in the early episodes of Season 2 could easily have been interpreted as the beginning of a romantic love story. The rest of the main Heartstopper group have certainly been viewing his friendship with James through that lens, as shown by the way they tease him about it. But those plot beats of a romantic story don't work for Isaac. Trying to fit into the romance genre pushes Isaac in a direction that feels wrong for him. He is the one person in his primary friend group who can't make himself at home in a romance story.

I don't mean this as a criticism of the show. There is a lot of value to love stories like Heartstopper and there is a lot of value to having aspec representation in a show like Heartstopper. But I think this is the reason why Isaac's plotline felt particularly heartwrenching for me. Sometimes being aroace does feel like being out of step with the genre of story everyone else around you is living. Sometimes it feels like trying to find a place for yourself in a narrative that wasn't built for you. Sometimes it feels like trying to prove to yourself (and the world) that you can still have moments that feel like swirling leaves.

[specialagentartemis]

When I write book/podcast/etc recommendations, I try to write them how I would want to see something pitched to me—what convinces me to read/listen to a work. And I’ve got a basic formula down:

Genre

Basic plot premise, 1-2 sentences for a short pitch or a paragraph for a long one.

What does it feel like to read? Is it fast-paced and action-y, or slow and sad, or dense and weird? Did it give me the shivers, or make me laugh, or break my heart, or go confusingly in-depth about the mechanics of wastewater treatment plant operation?

Something I particularly like about what it did. If the worldbuilding was particularly interesting, or if the narrative voice was compelling and distinctive, or the humor was constantly on-point, or the characterization was consistently well-done.

Talk about the queer identities of the main characters after I have done all of these things. This one is optional.

[jcryptid]

Have to routinely stop myself from bashing myself for making characters certain races and genders bc “what if this is insanely offensive to some people?” by asking one very simple question:

Do people like this actively exist?

If the answer is yes, then maybe I can stop feeling bad about giving my beautiful, disabled, black, baby boy dnd character a love of the colour pink.

Ya know, bc art is all about translation, and people are gonna people regardless of if some random asshole on the internet decides their existence is problematic.

[bat-the-misfit]

me remembering that one of the main characters of my book is an aroace guy and realizing that his experiences might have been MY experiences as an aroace and i never even noticed that:

[mazojo]

The families have never been more found!!!

[joshuamj]

i am Blind to basically anything I'm not familiar with, so i still don't know anythin about In Stars and Time. Could you give some info on it??? i am looking for games to play rn....

hmmm okay.. I will say, going in blind is best! I went in knowing literally only 3 things. 1) that it was about a timeloop, 2) that it was entirely monochrome, and 3) that this one character I had seen once was in it (Mirabelle, didn't know her name, just that she existed). And going in with such little knowledge was great, I'd highly recommend

But if you want more, then here's a bit more.. (mostly a synopsis of stuff you'll figure out early on, no major spoilers)

Obviously its a story about a timeloop! In the game, your party is a group trying to save the world from someone simply known as "the King" who is freezing the entire country in time. Interestingly, the game takes place at the end of your journey. The entire party has been assembled and have known each other, you've journeyed across the country, collected items that'll allow you to enter where the King awaits. All thats left to do is go through where he's holed up and defeat him. Also interestingly, you don't play as the protagonist of this story I've just mentioned. A girl named Mirabelle is the chosen one, blessed by her god, she is unable to be frozen in time, and has taken it upon herself to save her country. Yet, you aren't playing as her. You're playing as someone named Siffrin, just one of her party members, and one that says that they're only here because "they have nothing better to do." This should be Mirabelle's story, but you quickly realize why it isn't. Not long into the game, Siffrin's life unexpectedly comes to an end, and the fact that there's a timeloop afoot becomes apparent. Nobody but you and one strange mystery person (named "Loop" of all things) are aware of the loops. In the game you'll do all that you can to make it to the King and defeat him and keep your friends safe, no matter how many deaths, no matter how much time. But thing's aren't that simple you'll find!

Also this game is about a timeloop, so as you may guess, there's a lot of death involved so warnings for lots of death (including suicide), and also warnings for Really Bad Mental Health Stuff, as you may also guess, being trapped in a timeloop isn't good for your mental health. Check the warnings for the game if you think you may need to!

[libraryleopard]

Adult science fiction standalone novel

In near-future America, struggling documentary filmmaker Hayes Figuerido learns that an alternate version of himself from a parallel universe created the Envisioner, a device that can predict the future, and sent it to his reality

When he joins a team of scientists studying the Envisioner, Hayes meets physicist Yusuf and learns the two of them are married in another universe and finds himself falling for Yusuf in this one

As Hayes learns more about the multiverse, however, it becomes clear that while their lives are inextricably linked, their story often ends in tragedy and saving Yusuf could risk the univerise

Explores multiverse theory and questions of how far you will go to save the one you love

Gay main character with depression; Egyptian, Muslim love interest; M/M romance; aromantic asexual Japanese side character

[encrucijada]

who had me (maybe) moving evergreen lung back to an active wip on their bingo card

[mhevarujta]

Having finally watched Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim, Héra was a genuinely good protagonist.

She was courageous and perceptive. She didn't take lives lightly. She loved her family dearly and she valued her friendship with Wulf more than he ever did. I particularly enjoyed her scenes with Háma and Fréaláf and wish we had gotten more of them.

I LOVED that she is aroace coded and that she doesn't want to rule. I feel that so many female characters are written as not wanting marriage until they find the right man, but those who don't want it at all are still not represented enough and I loved that Héra had other aspirations and wanted freedom.

I also adored the gothic element of her story. Finding a moth-eaten dress of a bride who died the night before her marriage and choosing to wear that to face Wulf was such a slap on the face to him and a symbol of Héra pledging herself to death for her people.

[theonescreencap]

i'm not embarrassed to admit that like half the reason i got into one piece is because i'm aroace and i'd heard that luffy is (arguably, sort of, word of god) aroace, and i love the hc but i'm also happy that it has so much basis in canon & stuff oda has said. it feels like an intrinsic part of him and it's always depicted as a positive trait! something that makes luffy himself and it's a good thing

like, protagonists never get to be aro or ace unless the story revolves around them discovering their identity. it's really nice to have a character so full of life who knows so clearly who he is, who also knows that dating/romance/etc is not part of it at all. one piece has its misogyny issues but i get to watch it knowing that luffy is never gonna "get the girl" as a prize for anything and that his relationships with like robin and nami especially will stay platonic and important without having to become something "more"

his lack of interest isn't a tragedy because he doesn't give a shit what other people think of him, and even when it is part of a gag (like in amazon lily) the humor isn't coming from making fun of luffy for not experiencing attraction. he's not broken he's immune and i think that's so fucking based and funny. and the whole story is about friendship and found family because that's what's important to him! the aroace hc feels so correct to me and i'm so happy that one of the most popular manga characters ever is such blatant arguable rep

[yebyyhfushi]

Different anon but I do want to mention that the “This is very old practise, but many in BSD fandom don't seem to know it or be aware how even their fandom has caused trouble to scholars and other regular people” is something I’ve experienced when looking into Japanese authors (before I got into BSD) for a number of reasons.

Like I kept (at the time unknowingly) getting exposed to BSD fanon!Mori content that was presented as if talking about Mori Ougai (the real life author). This was also off of tumblr and presented as if it were purely factual.

Because of that, for the longest time, I thought Vita Sexualis had themes like Lolita (along with thinking what people said about BSD fanon!Mori was stuff about Mori Ougai (the real life author)), so I put off reading it for literal years (because I thought the book wouldn’t interest me).

I deeply regret that as I feel it’s one of the best (unintentional) ace-spec representations (not directly/explicitly stated, but there’s multiple lines and scenes describing the protagonist’s experience that sound very ace-spec to me) I’ve ever been exposed to and made me realise things (e.g., I, as an aroace person, thought I was fine with the current state of aro and ace-spec representation. Now I’m very much not and understand the importance of it beyond like a conceptual level). It’s now my favourite book

That was years ago. I feel like it’s gotten extremely worse since then (this includes people reblogging posts to spread awareness of using tags like “bsd [name]” and not the author’s full name and etc…but then continuing to use the author’s full name (without the media tag) despite the post they reblogged about it). Like it’s to the point where I’ve contemplated not reblogging from people who use the author’s full name (especially without a media tag) and/or not just interacting with the fandom outside of translations

(Fun(?) Fact: My experience with the above also dissuaded me from writing a college essay about Japanese authors because of that very issue)

Ohhhh thats very interesting!! I had seen a lot about Mori (author) on Twitter bcs of an artist who really likes him and his books

It's great to know now about that part of the authors full name and other such information, I appreciate every info about it all

[finnlongman]

Introducing: Moth to a Flame, the final book in my trilogy about a traumatised teenage assassin trying (and mostly failing) to live a normal life in a fictional closed city in Yorkshire. And also in Leeds, as this graphic suggests 😆 Sorry, that's sort of a spoiler for THK...

I figured I'd give you all three of these graphics so you can get a sense of the overall vibes of the trilogy. And so you know why I'm still using this overly cutesy font, because 2022!me made this decision and I guess I'm sticking with it. I know most people use these graphics to label tropes you'll find in the book, but aside from "found family", I'm not sure any of these really count as tropes. (New trope: Yorkshire?) You can also tell I've been getting steadily worse at marketing since 2022. Or maybe better. Who's to say, really.

(Yes, it does annoy me that the arrows for book one go in the opposite direction. No, not enough to re-make the whole thing.)

And if you're wondering what constitutes "considerably less murder"... I tried to track the body count of THK, and lost count at around 50. MTAF, by contrast, has, like ... 3 murders? Very different vibe. THK was when I broke everything and MTAF is where I slowly start putting it back together. This is the Bucky Barnes Recovery Fic of the series. We're talking grief, grappling with trauma, learning to be a person again, finding solidarity with others who've been messed up by the military and the arms industry, possibly joining a support group full of gay communists, and ultimately, realising that sometimes it's not enough to escape, because the whole system needs to be dismantled to stop it from hurting anyone else. I'm terrified no one will like it because they're here for the violence, but it was important to me to write it this way.

It's coming in May! You can preorder it now! And if you haven't read the first two books, you've got a perfect amount of time to buy and read those ahead of book 3's release to minimise cliffhanger agony.

Also: it still contains Esperanto, street art, no romance, an aroace protagonist, and bad life choices. I just figured those were a given at this point and didn't put them on the graphic.

[szynkaaa]

I love that in the JTTW source material, Sun Wukong is never shown any romantic interest towards anyone and does occassionally make fun of Zhu Bajie and his escapades, but it's still very clear he loves the people aroud him. We love an aroace monkey king.

But I also really really really love that Black Myth Wukong adds their own twist and gave both Sun Wukong AND the Destined One (or rather his past reincarnation) love stories?? Sun Wukong has the tragedy going on with the White Bone Demon, he struck her three times to kill her (granted she did try to eat his master LOL), but he was never able to let her go and it is one of the many reasons why he wanted to leave buddahood behind and reject the celestial court.

With the Destined One, it is heavily implied in the game that the 4th spider sister was married to the previous Destined One (can I also add, excellent taste monkey, 10/10 I would marry her too), but obviously the prev Destined One carried on with his quest and well, probably never returned lol.

Anyway, I think it's a nice touch that each Destined One isn't just another reincarnation on a quest trying to become the new Sun Wukong, and that they can fall in love and get married too. The game doesn't tell us much about the Destined One's personality, with him being a silent protagonist so it's nice to see details like this.

[lavender-phoenix-flames]

I think it is quite funny jc stans and their relentless tries in making jiang cheng good and likeable or going extreme lengths to prove "look wwx is bad too so it's all equal haha"

At the end of the day the text disproves everything they made up, they can blissfully accept and argue their deluded fanon to be true but it never will be. And I sleep well at night knowing that mxtx made him a loser miserable asshole and I had enough reading comprehension to know that.

Also I know jc stans seethe at the fact wwx is the ideal protagonist that he is cuz when you compare jc to wwx you truly see how big of loser jc is, how much lacking he is in comparison. Wwx is so abundant in positive traits, he is literally so good at everything except cooking and then there's jc who barely has any good traits. Their tries to paint wwx as morally grey make them look like absolute idiots cuz the narrative and the author disproves the claim. "Oh but I don't agree with the author" well your approval doesn't matter cuz in mdzs universe wwx's actions are justified and jc's aren't, also most of jc's actions are presented in a negative light anyways.

They try and make him less of a loser making stuff up like "best jiujiu" "best sect leader" "oh look jc knew/predicted everything abt wwx" "wwx is reckless and impulsive and jc is so level headed" and none of these mentioned claims are true and even when author says he is despised by women cuz of his rancid personality they are like "no she is joking ofc ofc" or "he is actually aroace" and don't even let me get started on how they want to pair him up with lan xichen or nie huaisang when in text neither of them cares about him and the fact jc himself is a homophobe and they do it just cuz they want him to not die alone pfft.

Jc stans so delusional, I bet mxtx finds them so funny, I mean how can someone be so bad at reading lol

[make-space-for-as]

My First Experience with Major Aphobia

I've lived a pretty happy aroace life. With an exception or two, nearly everyone I've come out to has been kind and curious. I knew aphobia was a thing, of course, but I didn't know it personally.

Until two weeks ago.

I'm a fantasy author with two published books featuring aromantic and asexual teenage protagonists. I am so proud of my babies. They are everything my little aroace heart needed as a teenager.

I have an amazing publisher who is supportive of my characters' orientations. But we had an opportunity to team up with another publisher to create curriculum courses based on my first book, Legend of the Storm Sneezer, for schools. Everything was going swimmingly until I made a Pride post where I mentioned, as I had countless times before, that my main characters are aroace.

And this publisher dropped me like a hot potato.

I received an email terminating our contract. Their reason? Because my characters are aromantic and asexual. It was like a slap to the face. I couldn't believe it. I was heartbroken and angry and hurt. And it didn't end there. The publisher went on to make videos and interviews with conservative social media influencers to make fun of my queer identity and style, and even partook in a smear campaign where they stole my pictures and intellectual property and slandered me thoroughly in an article. It's honestly the worst thing that's happened to me in my career.

But guys, the backlash. The outpour of support for aroace folks. The people who took up arms and fought against aphobia, supporting me, my books, and our community's identities. It was so beautiful my group of aroace writer friends called it "Chickengate" -- the day we stood up to aphobia (the publisher's name has to do with chickens, FYI).

It was a hard blow, but I've come through this so much stronger. My community is stronger. My identity is stronger. My faith is stronger. So, when you face aphobia, remember Chickengate and be strong!

Also, if you want to REALLY stick it to the aphobes, you can check out my fantasy series The Stormwatch Diaries for SO MUCH aromantic and asexual rep. It's perfect for fans of Doctor Who and The Owl House.