#Companion Book

[uwmspeccoll]

Steamy Saturday

" . . . without the society of women, homosexual practices are likely to be evident. . . ."

"Now Van moved into the masculine world of politics . . . where he learned that the price of power was a surrender to lust in all forms."

"Van was almost a senator when Jeff seduced him. . . and then blackmailed his career . . . and his manhood."

Senator Swish by Aaron Thomas (misspelled Arron on the cover), published in 1968 by adult-book publisher William Hamling's Phenix Publishing/Greenleaf Classics in San Diego as part of its Companion Book series, has a plot line where the main character goes beyond binary choice and learns to accept his bisexuality.

The story line is a little complicated, but here's a synopsis: Van is a successful L.A. lawyer tapped to run for senator. His girlfriend Jennifer works in the fashion industry and is off on assignment for a couple of weeks. While she's gone, her college-student brother Jeff shows up, and Van soon learns that Jeff is gay, which upsets him greatly. Nevertheless, Jeff manages to seduce Van, and while he's conflicted about his sexuality, Van certainly enjoys his time with Jeff. Still, if this affair came out, it would jeopardize his run for senator, and then of course there's Jennifer. Van decides to get Jeff an apartment so he can be with Jennifer and have her brother on the side. Yeah, that'll work out great; problem solved.

Jennifer eventually returns and Van tells her that her brother has returned from college. Jennifer is confused and proves to him that her brother is still in Ohio at college. Plot twist! Jeff is not who he says he is! Turns out, this rather elaborate ruse by ersatz-Jeff was just a complicated (and not very believable) frame to blackmail Van! Oh no! But, Jennifer and Van turn the tables on counterfeit-Jeff (how? No spoiler here!), and Jennifer, while hurt by the affair that almost ruined their lives, forgives Van because, after all, she works in the fashion industry and understands the queer world where men can "go both ways." Oh, lucky Van! They agree to marry, and presumably live happily ever after. We never do learn whether Van becomes a senator, however.

We don't have any information on the author Aaron Thomas, although the name is used as author for quite a number of gay pulp novels, but we do know that the cover art (apparently trying to appeal to multiple sexual orientations?) is by noted artist and illustrator Darrel Millsap (1931-2012).

View other gay fiction posts.

View more LGBTQ+ posts.

View other pulp fiction posts.

[night-market-if]

Hello! do you mind going into a little bit more detail of what kinds of stories are included in that story and picture bundle you put for purchase awhile ago, I've been rather curious of what it entails story wise. For instance like are they prompts submited by readers, stories about the minor characters, or holiday mini stories, back stories of the main cast, etc.

Thank you 😊

Hey anon,

Not a problem. They are all post chapter stories from the RO's perspectives. Including Malcolm. All of them take place before, during and after book 1. If you are a part of my patreon, you have read some of them but they have all sense been edited so they are more cannon compliant. And I wrote about a dozen or so new ones to go with it.

As for the art, it varies from story to story. Some of them are character portraits of both the RO's and minor characters. Others are things around the market. And some are just little things that are mentioned within the story. I think overall there is something like 80 odd pics in there. It's worth it for the art alone.

Hope this clears some things up! I am really hoping to get it out on Steam but for whatever reason it has not been formatting there correctly. It is just a download so people may be better of just buying it off of itch.io at this point.

[jessread-s]

✩🕯️📜Review:

“The Lives of Saints” is the perfect companion novel to Bardugo’s Grishaverse series!

I absolutely adore the Grishaverse, so it should come as a surprise to no one that I picked this one up and thoroughly enjoyed it. Many of the tales of the saints, like Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses and Sankt Ilya in Chains, are alluded to in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, Six of Crows duology, and King of Scars duology, so I loved learning more about them by reading their full stories. I also came across new saints I had never heard of, which served to widen my view of Bardugo’s complex world and contribute to my understanding of its lore. In addition to the stories, beautiful illustrations graced nearly every page and they took my breath away. Those turning to this book to read more about this universe will be far from disappointed.

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

[solarwreathe]

in another universe they could have been playing at the beach

[batcavescolony]

Bart: I was bored and reading about deities of the world,

Tim: as you do

Bart: yeah, and you know how Cassie is part Greek God?

Cassie: do I want to know where this is going?

Bart: do you think if we started giving her offerings and worshipping her she'd turn into a full Goddess?

Kon: don't know till we try! OH GODDESS! Accept my offering *throws gummies at Cassie*

Cassie: *smiling with a pack of gummies* you joke but I'm keeping these.

Tim: *not looking up from his phone* oh Goddess Cassie, please let us have a peaceful day.

Cissie: *walking into the room* ?

Kon: we're worshiping Cassie to see if we can make her a Goddess.

Cissie: oh ok, merciful and beautiful Goddess-

Cassie: *laughing*

Cissie: -please grant me knowledge on my next exam because SOMEONE *glares at all of them* keeps pulling me into Young Justice mission's and I haven't studied *drops down in a chair and tosses her a bracelet* my offering.

Cassie: *still laughing* knowledge granted.

[kesopan]

warmth in the cold

[captainfantasticalright]

Good Omens: A companion to Owls- biblical-cinematographical references.

Since Cecil B. DeMille played such a big role, here are some side by side scenes from The Ten Commandments and A Companion to Owls.

And most importantly, side by side scenes with the Book of Job and A Companion to Owls.

[pigeon-noises]

"Do I know you?"

Inspired by a particularly memorable scene in @isnt-it-pretty's FtCoR fic

[squidwithelbows]

Still trying to figure out how to draw these two...

[snek-eyes]

So I was thinking about what it means that Aziraphale is the POV character of all the season 2 flashbacks... until I realized that's not entirely true. Because while Edinburgh is narrated by him and the Blitz scene plays after he's reminded of it, there are two scenes in the Job story that Aziraphale wasn't there for.

First is the cold open with Bildad, but that sequence pretty quickly shifts over to follow Aziraphale, and we see him coming out of the memory.

But the second Job sequence starts more clearly as Crowley's memory:

Zoom into Crowley, zoom into the book.

So why does Crowley get this part? Why not just stick with Aziraphale the whole time? Well, if we follow the idea that the flashbacks are setting up for the decisions these two make at the end, Crowley's part here is small but decisive: This event is one of the big reasons why Crowley is never going back to Heaven. And Aziraphale doesn't get to be there for the biggest signs of it.

This sequence is also the last time Crowley was truly on his own. I think it's significant that whenever Aziraphale isn't there for him to taunt, Crowley is actually pretty cold, a little impatient. It doesn't feel like he's having fun tricking these people, he's just trying to get the job done.

Then we get the first of two unique transitions. It's a sort of shifting over:

My theory is this scene is where we start to switch over to Aziraphale's POV, but we still start out in Crowley's, because...

...we're just as surprised as Crowley is to find the angel here. But during the scene they literally switch sides of the room, and I think along with that we get the POV shift. We as the audience end up on Aziraphale's side as he's trying to believe the best in Crowley, while not really knowing.

What makes me more sure is that this scene ends with a different unique transition, a page turn:

I think here is where Aziraphale gets absorbed in the memory and Crowley leaves. When we get to the bit of the story where Crowley's being nice.

[rotomicity]

TGCF art from 2021 which were very experimental and very much something out of my comfort zone but am still so satisfied with

(gonna ramble more under the cut 👉 )

My main inspiration for these were definitely classic storybook illustration styles and the watercolor-like illustrations included inside the tgcf books which depict hualian's daily slice of life routines as seen below

I wanted to capture that feeling of warmth i got from reading but i also went with the storybook look because their relationship (and by extension broad strokes of the entire plot) really did feel like something out of actual myth or legend; i'm chinese indonesian and was raised surrounded by chinese culture + values so tgcf felt VERY familiar to me, it threw me back to my childhood reading or listening to tales about chinese deities, i'd say the storybook image definitely came into my mind pretty quickly bc of this

I find this style somewhat hard to replicate now but if i could or have the time to, i really want to continue the 'companion pieces to chapter titles ' concept i did with the last 2 pieces (which are of the same chapter title but i was just indecisive 😭😭), i even had 3 more planned based on my favorite titles before burning out back then

[needynia]

[demigod-shenanigans]

Fun fact: according to the ultimate guide, apparently it’s very common for children of Hephaestus to have acrophobia (fear of heights) due to the whole “their dad got tossed off Mount Olympus as a baby��-thing.

Now, isn’t it so interesting how that was never a problem for Leo…

I think we could have so much fun with this for Valgrace purposes. Either actually have Leo have that fear of heights and slowly unlearn it because he realizes Jason will always be there to catch him if he falls.

Or. Make it so that it’s just never been a thing for him at all. (Maybe the Fates decided with the whole “storm or fire”-prophecy and him needing to defeat Gaia, having him be afraid of heights would be a little inconvenient. Maybe Hera made him unlearn it as a child, since she’s the reason children of Hephaestus usually have that fear.) Either way, none of Leo’s siblings understand the inherent comfort he feels in the air. The excitement he feels over fixing Festus and attaching his wings. The way he grins when he feels the wind against his face as he’s falling, knowing he’s going to be okay even before Jason slams into him, holding him fast.

[sparkandashes]

Do you carry a book with you, no matter where you go? Perhaps it remains unopened, its pages untouched by your fingers, yet its presence is a silent companion. There’s a certain solace in knowing it’s there, a reminder of the worlds it holds within, waiting for you. There’s so much comfort in the familiar weight of its binding. Is it just me?

@sparkandashes