#BUT i think the experience is probably diminished by being an audiobook since all of the puns are pronunciation-based

[themodethecitythesoul]

wait HOLD ON.

So I've been reading my way through Discworld on audio. So I think...I missed a joke? Like, a fandom joke.

Is the fact that we refer to Sir Terry as "pTerry" a riff on how he spelled the names of the ruling dynasty of Djelibeybi--sidenote: it's spelled like that?!--which is in itself a riff on the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt????

Like. I connected the Pteppic>Ptolemy ref but. pTerry???

[notyourdeadgirlfriend-a]

//Questions for Muns of Canon Muses - 1, 4, 5, and 13

questions for muns of canon muses

1. what is the biggest headcanon deviation from the canon material that you have incorporated into the way you write your muse? why did you come up with it?

that maggie succeeds in killing barnabas is definitely my biggest change. tbh, i didn’t come up with this idea on my own (i was literally inspired to make this blog by this post) but i was immediately taken by the concept. maggie has always been one of my favorite characters, and it kills me how poorly her character was treated by the show after her kidnapping plot was resolved. 

now, i understand why the writers never killed off barnabas, and i acknowledge his importance both as a character and as the stroke of genius that saved the show from cancellation. but as a viewer, it’s maddening that maggie never got the justice she deserved. she’s had her memory of her kidnapping erased twice over the course of the show (which, again, i understand the choice despite not agreeing with it), but then after vicki leaves the show, she’s brought in as the replacement governess – a plot development that makes no sense and leaves the character with a drastically altered personality, as it’s clear that her role now is simply to fill in for vicki. but the greatest insult to injury is that from this point forward, the writers attempt to make barnabas/maggie a thing – again, completely disregarding her original characterization in favor of reducing her to vicki’s role, which had already been greatly diminished since the show moved from a jane eyre-esque gothic to an all-out spook show. after her flashback and subsequent second memory wipe, no mention is made of barnabas’ victimization of maggie ever again. it’s literally swept under the rug and forgotten about, even when maggie falls victim to another vampire.

tldr; maggie evans is an amazing character who deserved so much better, and my canon divergent blog is my attempt of sorts to redeem her later characterization and play her out as the badass that she is.

4. have you made any outright changes to the canon material in order to write your muse the way you wanted (entire scenes you chose to omit, chapters you say never existed, things you assume were never said, etc.)?

again, maggie killing barnabas is something that never happened in canon, but vampire slayer maggie evans is just too good of a concept to pass up. even the audios from big finish realized this – in bloodlust, maggie finally gets to stake somebody! it’s too bad that she’s still way too forgiving of barnabas, even though she remembers everything he’s done to her at this point. her hatred of barnabas is something i keep across all of my verses, up to and including my canon (when she regains her memory) and audio verses.

besides that, i can’t really think of many concrete examples on the spot, although i’m sure there’s other instances. as somebody else in the fandom once put it, dark shadows canon is like a choose your own adventure book. even canon contradicts itself (many, many times) and the show has several storylines taking place in actual parallel universes, so canon is honestly irrelevant as far as i’m concerned. i pick and choose what i like and leave out the rest.

5. what is an aspect of your muse’s canon material or canon existence that you never had the opportunity to explore but really want to?

maggie’s stints at windcliff sanitarium. she was committed there twice, once after the kidnapping, and the other after being attacked by the vampire roxanne drew. i feel that i don’t talk about it enough, and i’d love the opportunity to explore that part of her backstory. also, i really want to delve into her childhood – between her mother’s death and her father’s alcoholism, she dealt with a lot in her formative years. the audiobook clothes of sand goes into both of these aspects, and chronicles her first supernatural experiences with a character called “the sandman” – the memories of whom she has largely suppressed, but who has had a significant impact on her psyche nonetheless.

13. what canon character do you really wish your muse could interact more with?

WILLIE LOOMIS, hands down. he and maggie have such an interesting and tragic dynamic, and he’s the only one who can truly understand what she’s gone through (and vice versa). between the two of them, they share so much trauma. like maggie, willie’s also been screwed over by canon, although not to the same extent, and i’d love to write some threads in which they work through their trauma together.

besides willie, i’d also love to have maggie interact with angelique, carolyn, vicki, david, roger, amy jennings, julia hoffman, nicholas blair, tony peterson, any of the collinwood ghosts (josette, sarah, beth, rachel, daphne, jenny, trask), any of the characters from the audio series (especially kate ripperton, melody and mike devereux, jackie and rhonda tate, ed griffin) – as you can probably tell, i’d be thrilled to interact with ANY dark shadows character. but given how tiny this fandom is, i feel blessed just to have a quentin and now a barnabas!!

[booksaroundtheworld]

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

4 STARS

So you know those books that you really really want to hate because they sound cheesy and wattpad-y and just plain stupid? But then some unknown force compels you to read them and then suddenly you find yourself wasting the day away because you just can't put them down? That was my experience reading The Sea of Tranquility. I went into this book with pretty high expectations actually, mainly because of the high average star rating and because I didn't fully read the plot summary (which might have raised some red flags). All I saw was that she played the piano. I don't know why piano is the only word I saw in that plot summary but it was and I started reading with blissful ignorance. I was wary the second our main character Nastya started bitching about everything. And I mean everything. I'm a pessimistic, sarcastic person. I like pessimistic, sarcastic people. But Nastya was just way too much of both. The Sea of Tranquility started off with every single cliché in the book. God forbid anyone like high school. Or just be okay with going to high school. No - both our main characters, Josh and Nastya, just love talking about the fact that high school is the bane of their existence. I haven't seen this much self-loathing since Bella and Edward. Also, of course, everyone is absolutely G O R G E O U S. Why couldn't my high school have been like this? What is it about this small town that makes all the attractive people converge onto one place? Anyway, so to make matters worse I'm listening to the audio version of this book and I absolutely hate the guy that narrates Josh's voice. I probably should have listened to the full narration sample before I got it but oh well that's my mistake. Just to fully express what I was feeling, here are my notes on the first part of the book that I quickly jotted down in the middle of work. - "This girl is annoying her cynicism is just TOO MUCH" (we've already discussed this) - "The writer keeps repeating things" (this was a big issue I had - she kept saying the same things over and over like how Drew was "annoying" but "amusing" or that she kept dressing like a slut (her words not mine) or that Josh rescued her but she doesn't know why - ENOUGH GIRL) - "Annoying that all the girls are the same i.e. caricatures of stereotypically bitchy popular girls; can we not have one female friend? (a second big issue - why couldn't Nastya have female friends? why only guy friends? female friendships are literally the best things ever it really shocks me when writers don't get this) - "Keeps saying how Drew amuses her" (see above) So I just spent half my review railing on this book, I KNOW. Despite allll of what I mentioned, I actually really liked this book. Once I got past all my problems, The Sea of Tranquility was entertaining as shit. I came to really care about Nastya and I was genuinely interested in her life and would be worried about her. Something happened to her that isn't fully explained until late in the book and as soon as I found out how awful it was, everything just made sense (except the lack of female friends but whatever). Shit really goes down, for lack of a better phrase. I even came to love Josh. I loved how his and Nastya's relationship evolved and how they went from acquaintances to begrudging friends to friends to more. It was just really lovely to read about (I stopped listening to the audiobook like a third of the way through so no more listening). Their relationship was just so sweet to me and, once you get past the fact that they are both living in very unique/highly unlikely circumstances, authentic. Even fucking Drew. Drew - who I thought would be a pain in my ass the whole book - I ended up loving. Yeah, he was a douchebag. A major douchebag. But his friendship with Josh and Nastya ended up being so pure and delightful that it became impossible to think of him as a douchebag. The three of them are a weird trio, to say the least, but it just worked out so well. The book didn't even feel at all long or dragged out to me because I was so invested in the characters and the storyline. I just felt all the things that the characters felt. I was right with Josh when he was desperate to find out what happened to Nastya. I was right with Nastya when she didn't want to tell him. Everything just felt like a surprise to me. I don't know if my radar was down or my skills at picking up the clichés in YA/New Adult books has diminished but I was shocked and thoroughly invested at every twist and every turn. At one point, my friend facetimed me right in the middle of a very thrilling scene and I felt like I was about ready to strangle her. I've made it abundantly clear that I had problems with this book. I had more problems that I even mentioned. Even the ending, though satisfying, kind of felt like a letdown. But I don't care because it ended up not mattering. This book was amazing. I fucking loved it. All I can do now is suggest that everyone put aside their doubts and read it.