#Etho but make it superhero

[neoflames]

So I’ve seen a few people (*cough cough* @/oh-snapperss *cough cough*) talking about Etho as Cuteguy and uh yeah this happened

I’m not very experienced with drawing bows or poses like this so I do apologise :D

Click for better quality maybe

Lighter version under the read more:

[verishii]

I love how everyone has these sick ass powers and then there's Etho and Joel who can just. jump really high.

[meteor752]

My ideas for the superhero names for the wild life people

Some are better than others

Ren-Roleplay: Very self explanatory. He’s a theatre kid and borderline a larper, and his powers are that he pretends to be someone else, it works very well, and it’s a fun superhero name

Martyn-Spyglass: There’s the obvious connection to the last life spyglasses, but it’s also a reference to how he’s, you know, a spy. He listens in on peoples conversations. Also, spyglasses are traditionally used to watch people, but he listens to them. I think it’s a bit clever

Gem-Projectile: Obviously it’s a play on astral projection, but also on Gem as a person. A projectile is a thing in motion, and is commonly used to refer to things like bullets and arrows that are being launched. Gem is a killer, I think it sorta works

Joel-Triple Threat: Extremely self explanatory. He can triple jump, and like that’s about it. He’s a threat. Not all of them are bangers. I just like the sound of it lol

Jimmy-No-Show: I just love the idea of a superhero with invisibility powers’ name being No-Show. I think it sounds really cool. Not particularly personal to Jimmy, but I like it

Lizzie-Voidable: Play on the word Avoidable, since she sometimes used her powers to disappear. Also a reference to her death in Secret Life. (Also I just looked it up to double check and apparently it is a word, for when for example a contract is able to be made void. She made the canary curse void, in a way, so I think it still works)

Scar-Giddy Up: Simple, he rides people. Couldn’t work in the knockback/“Scar Smash” aspect of it, but you know make that a surprise.

Etho-Air Borne: He launches himself into the sky, specifically by using wind charges, aka air. He also has an infinite supply of the charges, that I think he can use to attack people? So yeah, possessor of air.

Bdubs-Clock Out: I really like this one. Because yes, it’s clock like how he can slow time (and also his obsession with them) but then there’s also, you know, clocking out like from work, probably to go home and rest, working in his bed ability. Also it sounds like Knock Out, which is a thing you can say about someone who’s fallen asleep when very tired.

Tango-Slip N’ Slide: A very fun superhero name. Slip, of course referring to the ice, and then slide technically referring to it as well but also his speed. Also, rolls straight off the tongue.

Grian-Mastermind: Copycat and Mimic are such obvious names for someone with the mimicry ability, I didn’t wanna go for it. Instead, mastermind referring both to his status as the creator of the games and the one who came up with everyone else’s powers, but also how he’s the master of his own fate, constantly changing up his powers. It’s fun, and it sounds a little villainy which we love

Bigb-Cracking: Of course a play on the word creaking, but also referring to the sound that both the mob and the surrounding trees make when defeated, showing that he has the control to both create and destroy them at will.

Cleo-Necrosis: Didn’t wanna just go with Necromancer, that’s boring. Necrosis is the death of cells in body tissue, essentially creating dead skin. They’re a necromancer that literally summon zombies, and those bad boys have plenty of dead skin.

Impulse-Flicker: He can teleport, just zapping here and there with no problem. You blink and he’s gone, as if he’s flickered out of existence. Also an homage to flickering lightbulbs, and he does have a history of light sources. I think it’s fun

Pearl-Gravity: She can launch herself into the sky, ignoring gravity completely. It’s also a play on her moon motif, a little bit.

Scott-Shifty: Yes, he can shift into animals, but it’s also related to his sly and cunning nature, and how because of his power everyone became insanely paranoid over every mob

I like superhero names a lot 👍

[fei-rest]

3rd Life Designs

Limited Life Designs Here!

Double Life Designs Here!

Outfit designs for the 3rd Life players! These were very fun to think about and make!

The general theme and vibe I tried to stick with was generic high fantasy and Game of Thrones as that was the atmosphere I got from watching 3rd Life and interacting with fanart.

In order we have:

Desert Duo (Grian and Scar)

Flower Husbands/Hobbits (Scott and Jimmy) plus Joel

Crastle Alliance (Cleo, Bdubs, Impulse and Tango)

Dogwarts (Ren, Martyn, Etho, BigB and Skizz)

(Design detail ramble below)

Design Notes:

Starting with a general overview, I tried to keep everyone’s 3rd Life designs closer to their original/default skins because this was the first season of the Life Series. So a lot of the colours used stick closely to everyone’s default skins colour palettes

Now onto specifics

Every Grian design I make will have his red jumper in there somehow, but for 3rd Life I changed it to a red poncho with embroidery because he would absolutely boil in the desert if he wore his jumper

Jokes aside, he has boxer wraps around his hands to just hint at the finale duel in the cactus ring

Scar’s hat has Grian’s feathers on it as decoration, just to tie the two together more

His wheelchair and crutch also feature the colours of Pizza (the llama) and their banner

Scott and Jimmy had the most drastic design change because I had a very specific vision for their designs as I wanted to lean into a cozy and homely design for both of them

So therefore both have a lot of patchwork elements in their designs

Scott’s cloak is meant to look both quilted and patched together

Jimmy doesn’t have any canary features here because in my headcanon, he gains his feathers after his first death in 3rd life and after his second death, his ears fully morph into the canary wings I usually draw him with. He gains his back wings after his final death so he wakes up in Last Life suddenly with wings

Jimmy’s design is the most drastically different because I don’t want to draw him in his superhero skin, but I tried to keep elements of it with the large patchwork S

Joel’s design is meant to be a cross between a generic fairytale huntsman and a witch, I wanted him to feel like a “mysterious man in the woods” because he operated solo in 3rd Life and had a bunch of wolves

Cleo and Bdubs are meant to look like scrap collectors who are also knights, I gave Bdubs plant elements in his design to match him with Cleo

Impulse is meant to be wearing a lot of leather and the capital “I” on his default skin is represented by the sun-ray like patterns on the cloak

I wanted to Tango to look like a blacksmith/engineer because he made “Dare To Flare” in 3rd Life, I also gave him battered dragonfly wings to suggest that he’s some kind of fae creature in this season

Dogwarts time! Ren and Martyn are both in very Tudor era inspired clothes because I think that time period’s clothes fit their theme in 3rd Life

Etho is meant to be an oni here and I wanted him to have a very samurai inspired design, the character on his chest plate translates to “dog” in order to link him to “Dogwarts”

Both BigB and Skizz are meant to be very soldier like with their designs

BigB has some cookie elements and Skizz has a lot of angel elements, they both wear the Dogwarts banner around their waist just to link the Dogwarts group together

[alienssstufff]

YOU COULD'VE APPLIED ONLINE

“Twelve hours? Where do you work that makes you work twelve hours straight?” Bdubs asked incredulously. “Wait no. No we can’t pick this up! We’re talking about murder here!”

“Yeah, and now I'm gonna have to find a new roommate because of this. You owe me. Maybe tomorrow won't work. Let's schedule it out for…next week?”

- [ READ HERE ] Fancover for a very awesome Bdubs & Etho centric fic I like in celebration of its completion :]

To the person that wrote YCAO, TRULY such a fun fic edge of seat each chapter i could go on FOREVERS about it yknow yknow - excited to see how the end turns out, bittersweet that it's ending. Rumour be potentially a prologue and *looks around* a superhero au and decked out fic! Ik the work is anon completely chill if you don't want to publically give the @, even a dm here or smth would be awesome (will not tell anyone) - whwhw really me and oomf want to keep up with ur amazing writing!

[mcytblraufest]

And the discord is OPEN, and artist creation has begun! What has begun, you ask? MCYTBLR Aufest is a Reverse Big Bang, where artists have a month to make an art piece, and then writers have two months to make a fic (5k minimum) inspired by the art. And then we all post all at once, in a big BANG of content.

Open to all of MCYTBLR, whether your smp is still airing or has been done for a while. Dedicated ctommy artist? Come, join us! Really into vitalasubzam? You are welcome! Witchcraft Cleo and Scott is just very important to you? Come on down and tell us! Art is the only way to express your feelings about the etho+gem combination? You're not washed up, you're welcome at the aufest. Need to spread your Ianite agenda? Have you considered doing so through an art plus fic combo? Wake up and go to sleep dreaming of Bagina? We welcome you to come art at us about it.

And the content rule is just that it has to be an au— what kind of au? Sky's the limit. Fantasy AU, Mecha AU, Miraculous Ladybug AU, High School Theatre Production, Lighthouse Horror, Western, Superhero, Vampire, Daemon, Witcher, Warrior Cats, Minimum Wage, Cyberpunk, Eldritch Abomination, Historical, Hunger Games, Murderbot, Survival Narrative— go absolutely crazy. Celebrate the highlights of the AU, subvert it, nod to canon or go off inventing your own new joys whole-cloth. All we ask is that your piece not be canon compliant. Artist's creation periods start now! We encourage all artists to join the discord during the creation period, and you're also welcome to come hang out if you're a writer or a beta reader! Come and join us! Experience the beauty of aus!

DISCORD HERE

[applepixls]

this season is doing wacky things to everyone.

skizz has decided he can't be a nice guy anymore (despite his history and nature to be charitable and give back to the server and be the super heroes of the server so to speak)

impulse has gone absolutely nuts and has been accusing everyone of stealing cows right off the bat and seems to have a hunger for victory

and bdubs etho and tango have formed the "tuff guys" cause "nice guys finish last"

so.... people who ahve all historically been part of skizz's superhero gangs are going bad

meanwhile gem and joel who are historically known to kill and steal and antagonize and live on their own etc are making friends with alliums and treating their friends as family

oh how the turn tables

[emberdragon34]

Unconventional Hermit Powers

I decided to give all the hermits and lifers powers specialised to them.

Bdubs - Can control plants with emotions

Beef - can understand animal's language and emotions

BigB - can create portals to other locations through holes

Cleo - Can intimidate you into doing what she wants

Cub - can control hostile mobs

Doc - when an item is in his inventory, he has infinite of it

Etho - Can control water, ice and water vapour

False - Can manipulate gravity and magnetism

Gem - Is invulnerable to damage attempted by other people

Grian - attracts fish/birds

Hypno - Invisibility and instant teleportation

Impulse - Can create shockwaves by drumming

Jevin - Can provide people with exactly what they want/would hate most

Jimmy - Reverses the fates of people nearest him

Joe - can disable people's powers by confusing them with speech

Joel - Can grow/shrink stuff at will

Keralis - Hypnotism via looking into his eyes

Lizzie - doesn't take fall damage

Martyn - Can create gods/unseen beings through imagination

Mumbo - Can control moving redstone at will (pistons/trapdoors/etc)

Pearl - Can turn drawings/paintings into reality and manipulate their orientation by moving the original drawing

Ren - becomes whatever character he's playing, and has their abilities

Scar - can bring builds to life and literally make them move/function as they would in reality

Scott - the closer you are to him, the more peaceful you feel, and the less you want to attack him and others close to him. (The further away, however...)

Skizz - physical and mental healing

Tango - Immune to non-player damage

Wels - BS detector, can force honesty

xB - can siren call with his giggle

Xisuma - Can control sound and volume

Zedaph - if he says 'what if' whatever he says happens, but never how he expects it to work

If anyone wants to think of superhero names or ability names, or has a better suggestion for Hypno (I don't watch him enough to know what kind of stuff relates to him) please give them!

[fandive]

This week we talked a lot about Fanfiction! Here is a list of the fics that we recommended! Heads up, we talked about a lot of fanfiction

We started off with the fics that we have talked about before: Eldritch Horror Keralis a series by MawoftheMagnetar. Hermitcraft fanfic. Keralis is a incomprehensible being shoved into human shape. Much fluff, angst, and probably disturbing content.

Out Of Body Clock by funkily. Martyn vtuber lore on pirates smp, where he is in the gray state between human and video game which makes things like if he should sleep and how much he should sleep not super obvious. Sick fic vibes with sleep deprivation unreality.

Interdimensional by AstronautBeans. Martyn vtuber lore and Mysical Sausage Dimension hopping lore on pirates smp. Martyn is dealing with everything he touches being code instead of the real world and Sausage points out how that makes them a lot alike.

binary hosts by twice_past. Martyn vtuber lore on pirates smp, Martyn shouldn't get attched to code. Martyn got attached. Now the new things we talked about! i can be the one you call a series by mayflowers07. Hermitcraft. The hermits have a code phrase to tell everyone to stop, something is wrong. This fic series is more commonly called the "blue creeper" series and elements of it have been brought up in unrelated fanfictions as well.

Cat Among Pigeons by qvill. A Hermitcraft fanfic. Evil Xisuma returns from a rather rough time in the void and decideds to turn himself into a cat as a form of escape. Afterall, if human isn't your default state, maybe finding peace in a more simple form is for the best. Super self angsty with happy ending!

Starbound: Scavenge for Survivors by Spindle_Fizz, Theonedudewithadoor. Hermitcraft space au. Humans are an unknown in deep space. When Xisuma gets stranded on the wrong side of the universe he decided it was the perfect time to "prime opportunity to screw around and find out". Slowly he gathers the Hermitcraft crew and confuses the universe while he's at it.

a rolling stone gathers no moss by qvill. Hermitcraft space au. Bdubs was a human in space who got adopted by some aliens. Maybe it's time to learn to be human again.

ethos exciting ninja vacation a series by normalcdf. Hermitcraft Naruto crossover. Etho looks a lot like Kakashi. This becomes a problem when he ends up where Kakashi is supposed to be and just decides to start doing his job.

Orphan's Path a series by aenor_llelo, Alderous, BattleBlaze, fluxphage, Rocket999, and many others. A large scale fantasy world AU of the Dream SMP. Philza and Techno meet eachother, become immortal, and watch the world grow into itself. Features a lot of Antartic Empire world building, religion, and all the characters Datastream by TarynMcT. My Hero Academia. Izuku decides to become a hero through hacking and surveillance. Aizawa decides to help and without stepping foot in UA, Deku finds his place in hero society.

spark it, light it up in the darkness by Siderea. My Hero Academia crossover with Yu Yu Hakusho. Hiei has lived survived into the hero age and finds a young Izuku without powers. He takes him under his wings with powers that don't come from quirks.

Redstone and Skulk by Silverskye13. Hermitcraft Hels AU. Tanguish is Tango's Hels, for a while they are content with helping each other but the more time Tanguish spends in Hels, the more attached he gets to Helsknight. It reads so much like a slowburn but it's enemies to friends and I am obsessed.

Traveling Thieves {Dark Fantasy AU} by Amethystfairy1. Hermitcraft Fantasy AU. Hybrid slavery that focuses on many hermits with heavy whump and angst. Hybrids struggle to find them selves in a world that does not treat them as humans.

The Med Room is Labelled, Goddamnit by Skipcount1. Dream SMP Superhero AU. Ponk is a medic who works out of their apartment, but when the Warden shows up with news of the blood vines, Ponk starts to regret some life choices. Go Full Circle Then Go Again by Block of Crow (InatelyCrow). 3rd Life time loop. Impulse is stuck in a time loop to repeat third life over and over and over again. Every loop feels like it can be the one. Friendships and allyships are getting very confusing though.

Covet by Oceanbreeze7. Hermitcraft. Something is in the boatum hole. The hermits keep thoughing thinks into it, calling it a friend. Scar, Impulse, Pearl, Mumbo, and the creature in the boatum hole. Angsty, watcher typical body horror.

The Void speaks to me by StressedOwl. Hermitcraft. Grians was living peacefully on Hermitcraft until the Watchers pulled him away and whipped his memory. Now he is back on Hermicraft and is deeply uncomfortable.

Be the Death of Me by Mitos (SeriouslyCalamitous). Hermitcraft gods AU. Grians finds a half destroyed shrine, when he topples the rest over, the mysterious man who lives there asks Grian to stay and repair it. No Scar isn't a god… he's a priest… and he totally isn't falling for him

With steady steps by LadyKG. Bleach fanfiction that takes place during the time skip. Ichigo is thrown away by the shinigami so he throws his badge into the river. Doing so unlocks a whole world of Yokai he never knew of. 5 Times Scar Couldn't Speak + 1 Time He Didn't Have To by adlerthetranscender. Scar has selective mutism and there are months where he can't talk to anybody. Eventually the hermits start to take notice.

Treasures for a Treasure (pearls pale in your eyes) by TheWritingDJ. One Piece au where Luffy is the son of a god. Very gods au focused with world government trying to suppress the religion but the pirates don't care and are casually bringing it back.

A tangled haunt by dragonsAreCool. Hermitcraft Phasmophobia AU. GIGGS go to a haunted house and find way to many ghosts there, and one of them might be Grian? But Grians is standing right there… Very angsty, much trauma

Wait, I'm a what? by Atiya_Blackcharm. Danny Phantom DC crossover. Danny ends up in Gotham and starts taking care of the people in his new community, having no idea that rumors of a new crime lord are about him

[fipindustries]

is always fascinating the ethos dictating the rouge galleries of different superheroes.

spiderman: largely just average, salt of the earth assholes and bullies. prepotent jerks. people whit a big chip on their shoulder who go drunk with power, usually resentful with spiderman himself specifically. sometimes moved by an inferiority complex. there is a certain childishness that comes with them. they all have big fucking egos that get way too easily wounded. which is why this scrawny kid who keeps dunking on them with shitty jokes gets them so riled up. a perfect illustration and contrast to spiderman of people who shierked the responsabilities that come with big power.

batman: weirdoes, freaks and people with psychological problems. the key factor about batman rouges is that they are not just selfish or greedy, but that they have something wrong with them. that they are disturbed in some way. they are not just criminals commiting crimes, they are extremely idyosincratic people who need to make their eccentricities everyone else's problem. again, a nice foil to how batman himself is an extremely disturbed guy. the general tone of gotham is this very gothic, very german expressionistic city. there is always a certain poetic tragedy to all of batmans foes. more often than not they can be made sympathetic with just the right spin in a way that most other rouges cant.

superman: alien, robots or otherwise extremely powerful inhuman forces of nature. im personally not as familiar with superman's rouge gallery, but one common theme i tend to notice is how they tend to seem kind of amoral and extremely large and powerful. they are not threats that one can necesarily psychoanalize or whose internal motivations are relatable. ultimatly there is very little difference in the way something like brainiac or zod or darkseid operates and how a blackhole operates. these are the problems you just kind of have to throw raw power against.

flash: the elements they tend to have in common is a) too clever for their own good and b) they are Fucking Proffesionals. which i love because you kind of have to be when you are dealing with the flash. the is no strength competition against that guy, you need to outsmart him, you need to have a plan, you need to have really high standards and above all you need to have a code. these are guys who have imposed limits on themselves (no women or children, generally try not to harm civilians) just so the flash goes easy on them. out of all other rouge galleries these feel like the one that is composed of the most proper, well balanced adults. these are men trying to get a job done. they tend to have the most stable equilibrium with their hero

[anghraine]

One thing about the Jackson films that bothers me deeply is that they are uncritically upheld as being full of "positive masculinity." Excuse me? This is the series that has Faramir ordering his men to beat Gollum, Aragorn cutting off the Mouth's head, & Gandalf beating up Denethor on multiple occasions (& kicking him into the pyre!). Sam's meanness toward Gollum, while understandable, is never questioned as it is in the book. Frodo is delusional to pity Gollum. Killing is fun, & mercy is silly.

Belatedly, I do agree. I get that the Anglophone media landscape can feel so saturated by absurdly reductive representations of masculinity that what the films do inherit from Tolkien in terms of emotional expression, friendship etc can feel revolutionary. But the films make a lot of minor and major adjustments to transform the story's visions of masculinity to something more conventional and particularly more violent in a way that is often endorsed by the narrative, or at least framed as an understandable if unfortunate exigency of war.

I once pointed out that Aragorn killing the Mouth of Sauron, an ambassador—however distasteful—is something that essentially operates on the worst kind of superhero logic, a sort of good vs evil righteousness-justifies-the-means thing. It's really glaring when based on a book where the character closest to the author is like "it's one thing, however regrettable, to fight to the death to defend ourselves and our people, but morally, evil deeds beyond self-defense cannot be justified by a righteous cause, not even lying to an orc."

Tolkien's version of the Mouth is an evil Númenórean sorcerer who, while he cannot really contend with Aragorn in a battle of wills, is nevertheless a person of the same kind and general capabilities who chose to serve Sauron. The way that the films use design to literally dehumanize the Mouth, to wholly distance him from the heroes he's literally akin to, and justify straight-up killing him although he poses no personal threat, because he's ugly and evil and (evilly) taunting them so they're mad and it's cool—yeah. It's not really that far removed from Gandalf clobbering Denethor being framed as a bit comedic and a bit cathartic, and seems part of a pervasive ethos of the films that seems to have completely fallen out of discussion of them.

I think we especially see this with the handling of not just my main faves, but Frodo, who really suffers in this more conventionally masculine framework. I often felt like the films want the real protagonists to be Aragorn and (to an extent) Sam, and Frodo feels a bit like dead weight from fairly early on. Adorable dead weight, but still, Tolkien's Frodo especially feels like a challenge to this kind of narrative ethos that the films are just not really up to handling.

It's not that everything about masculinity in the films is Terrible Actually, but I do think there are some unfortunate patterns like the ones you mention. And I'm constantly being recommended videos and posts about Aragorn (or others, but mostly Aragorn) as this unproblematic ideal of masculinity where I'm just ... yeah, no. He is interesting to me, including in the context of masculinity specifically, but I absolutely cannot buy the ideal positive masculinity thing.

[calcitedraws]

Comet City Chapter 3

Yandere Superhero vs Yandere Super villain

You'll be getting some good villain content next chap I promise hehehe :3c

Chap 1. Chap 2. Chap 3

⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°

The next few days were a buzz, everyone was talking about Techbytes attack on the school. The schools’ schedule was pushed back a full month for cleaning and repair, with everyone assured up and down that security would be implemented to ensure this couldn't happen again. Was anyone told what this was? Not yet, it seemed to be some kind of secret.

But it gave you plenty to write about and since you were a witness and wrote the first article about the attack on the school. You were tasked to write about repair updates by your boss. Apparently keeping your name attached to this gave the paper extra ethos.

But soon the buzz died down and things were relatively back to normal. The school opened and everything went back to normal. You eventually had to start writing about other things, which was fine by you.

—---

Patrolling tonight was slow. Despite being bored as hell, you still had to maintain your vigilance. But you spot an ice cream stand and… you spot your favorite flavor.

Approaching, you order a soft serve cone and pull out your wallet to find the cash. But you suddenly felt something brush your back as an arm rests on your shoulder.

“And I'll take a scoop of mint chocolate chip.” A familiar voice chirps from behind you. You spin around.

“Dude! Personal space?!” You yelp. Zenith just chuckles, leaning towards you, pressing your chest into his face. You hear a little ding and you crane your head back to see that he used his card. You froze for a minute, noting he's in civilian wear– a crisp white cotton polo with jeans and a nice pair of casual shoes. He must have a night off, because you’ve never seen him in anything other than hero garb.

“Snuck away from me last time, huh? I haven’t seen you in a month!” He chuckles, smug as he hands your ice cream to you. You huff, taking it.

“I could have payed for it.” You scoff. You never brought ID or cards but you brought cash when doing patrols for food.

“I know. But let me treat you. I insist.” He says, gesturing for you to follow him. And he did buy you ice-cream, so… it couldn't hurt to take a quick walk with him. So you follow. He smiles, seemingly smug about how his plan worked.

“Well, it's good to see you. Heard you were there at the Hero Academy a month ago? Why didn't you stop to chat with me? I could've gotten you dinner or something as thanks. The Hero Academy means a lot to all of us.” He hums, taking a small bite of his ice cream.

“I… didn't want to stick around. The police and other heros aren't too fond of having a vigilante around.” You hum. That was half the reason you left. You start licking your soft serve. It was refreshing, just what you had hoped for.

“Hmm… that's a shame. I like you, if it helps.” He sighs, as you turn a corner. The bright neon lights of the city were dazzling, spots of all different hues.

“... So what brings you out here on your night off?” You ask. It was only polite to pretend to be interested.

“You. I had a feeling you'd be out and about. I just got lucky in finding you.” He says, glancing to you. He soaks in your face (or at least what he can see). Under any normal circumstance, his expression would make you blush and look away.

“Um. Okay? Anyway,” You say, staring straight ahead, “weird move but I can't tell you how to spend your free time off of work.”

He chuckles, deep and hearty in his chest before slinging an arm around your shoulder, pulling you into the scent of cypress.

“I'm still patrolling, you know?” You huff.

“Says who? You're your own boss, technically. So can I pretty please ask your CEO to give you an ice cream break to hang out with your best bud?”

“You're not my ‘best bud’.” You scoff.

“I'm hurt! Well, who is?”

You open your mouth and then shut it. “Nice try, Zenith.”

He shrugged, “Worth a try. Can't blame a guy for trying to know the actual name of the love of his life.”

You scoff and roll your eyes, he's such a ham. You wish he'd stop being a freak about it, though.

“I can't be bought with soft serve.” You chuckle, turning back to the cone. You probably could, but he didn't need to know that.

“Well what do you like? Apparently not coffee, since you've turned down every coffee to get some. What about… Italian? I know a good seafood place if that's what you like. If you'd prefer a more low key spot for our first date that's fine… I'm willing to go to a place like-”

“Stop.” You say. “I'm not going on a-”

“I wasn’t going to say fast food. Just, like, a more low-key place. Well, I suppose this is a date. We're walking and eating ice cream… seems like enough to call it a date.” He hums, shrugging. You look at him, seeing him beaming back at you with those perfect straight teeth. You stop, and he stops too, startled.

“This,” You say, gesturing between you two, “isn't a date.”

He nods, smiling crypticlly.

“Okay, so be it. But you're not on duty until you finish your ice-cream, deal?” He hums. You two start walking again, quiet for a while.

“We should talk about your hero work.” He hums. You roll your eyes.

“I fly solo. I don't need a Boy-wonder sidekick.” You chuckle.

“You do good work. I'm telling you, you really should reconsider my deal.” He says, patting your shoulder.

“... You know the answer.” You sigh, taking a bite of your cone.

“I know… But you'll think about it.” He says, tossing his little paper bowl into the nearest trashcan. He glances up towards the skyline and smiles. “Want to head to the roof? You can see a lot more from there.”

You squint, but… you can't quite find a reason to say no. Sometimes you went up to the tops of taller buildings to scout danger from afar. You unraveled your shadows to scale the building, but Zenith stopped you, holding out a hand. After a moment, you take it, assuming he wanted to lift you to the top as some kind of a nice gesture.

What you didn’t expect was him to yank you into his arms, lifting your legs up to hold you bridal style as he lifts off, the wind howling as you’re suddenly lifted to the skyline. After the shock wears off, you cling to him. Your shadows couldn’t extend too far and any sort of building was out of reach. You didn’t want to know if he was lucky or aware of this.

”Put me down!” You yell, shrill and shakey, your stomach turning as you gaze below. The safety of the floor is so far below it makes you dizzy.

”Relax, I’ve got you.” He chuckles, slowly lowering your legs so you’re vertical. You cling to him, wrapping your legs and arms around him like a koala. What the hell was he doing?! Was this bastard about to drop you to make some sick point?!

”Hey! Hey, relax just… trust me. This will be fun.” He says, halfway annoyed and endeared.

“Zenith don’t fucking drop me! I swear to god, what is your problem?!” You plead.

“I won’t! I’d be a fool to drop someone as precious as you!” He chuckles, peeling your legs off from around him, forcing you to cling to his shoulders. Your feet find the tops of his, the only support.

“Come on, trust me. Please?” He murmurs, peeling your arms off of him, pulling you away just far enough to see your mask. You glare at him, pissed off but he just flashes out a smile as he guides your left hand to rest on the top of his shoulder and he takes the other on his own, placing his free hand on your waist. You peer over your shoulder, looking down at the plummet below.

“So, now that we’re cozy, let's chat.” He hums, low and soft. You turn to him, freaked out.

“I’ve been thinking… Now that you and I are old pals-“ He begins.

”We’re not pals.” You interject. He pauses and sighs, but continues.

”We should get to actually know each other. I don’t know a lot about you other than you’re grouchy and like soft serve.” He pouts, starting to very slowly turn the both of you. It isn’t quick enough to make you dizzy, it’s just a very slow movement.

”You don’t need to know me. That's the point of a secret identity.” You grumble.

”That's the next thing I wanted to talk about.” He says, his smile falling, “Take the mask off.”

You freeze. His demeanor shifted, a warning.

“No.”

”…No…?” He murmurs, sof, disappointed. He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath in and out.

“No. I’m not taking it off.” You assert, glancing back over to check if there was anything to use your shadows as an anchor point. There wasn’t.

”Let’s make a deal. Tell me something important, interesting about yourself, and I won’t rip that mask off.” He says, narrowing his eyes. “It doesn’t have to be like, your deepest darkest secret. I wouldn’t mind that, but… Something so I don’t feel like you’re at arms length. So I can actually know something about you.”

You narrow your eyes, scoffing. This was so ridiculous but you couldn’t find a way out.

”Like?”

”Your eye color. Something that makes you happy. Your job. If you have a type.” He hums, his voice soft and oddly soothing.

You think. You weren’t inclined to give him anything useful to find your civilian identity, but… you’re not sure if he’d be satisfied with something ambiguous.

”You seem a bit lost. I’ll start, I was named after my grandfather, who I never got to meet. I really love strawberry flavored treats even though my PR team is worried that it's too girly. And, um… I’m not a natural blond.” He hums, thinking. You gasp.

”Wait what’s your real hair color, then?” You say.

”I’m… not sure. But I’m pretty sure it’s a light brown.” He hums, gently resting his chin on your shoulder. You sit with this information.

”They make you dye it?”

”Yeah. Apparently it gives me a ‘heroic patriotic look’, whatever that means.” He shrugs. “I don’t mind it too much.”

“Do you miss your old hair color?”

”Nah. I was blond as a little kid but we started doing touch ups after I hit middle school. It just made sense. Don’t tell anyone, though.” He chuckles, rubbing his thumb against the curve of your spine. You never knew that much about him.

In the distance, you hear someone scream. You tilt your head, finding that you were close enough to a building to anchor with a shadow. You turn to him. His expression was so… at peace. Like he was just so comfortable.

”I… have to go.” You say, gesturing to the ground below. He freezes, his expression souring slightly.

“What? No, the police can get there in time. It’s okay.” He insists, giving a reassuring smile and pressing his hand into your back, pulling you close.

”Zenith. I have a job to do. Please let me go.” You say, slow and firm. His jaw tenses.

”You… What? No, it’s… it’s fine. Please, stay.” He pleads, intense but soft.

You latch onto a nearby building, using the element of surprise to yank yourself away. You land on the roof, turning to give him a look. His phone rings, probably in his back pocket. He stares at you. It sends a shiver down your spine. It isn’t cold or angry, just… longing.

”Sounds like you’ve got a job too.” You say, before using your shadows to vault away, towards the increasingly frantic screaming. You don’t glance back, not seeing how he just floated there, before answering the phone, his head hung and his grip tight.

[artbyblastweave]

Hey so, thought exercise, how do you think Taylor would fare if she got dropped into the invincible universe? For the sake of mechanics let's say she literally gets dropped in via doorman portal or something.

So one thing about Invincible is that I think it's setting is protagonist-centric in a way that Worm's isn't. To the extent that Invincible's setting has worldbuilding- worldbuilding that isn't, like, ported in from the books's early association with the confederated Image Comics shared universe- it's worldbuilding that exists to convey the impression of a big-two-flavor universe. Here's our spin on the undersea kingdom, here's the riff on the Martians, here are our riffs on SHIELD, on Gotham, on Themyscira, on 70s blaxploitation-adjacent heroes, and so on. This is the entire ethos underpinning the Guardians of the Globe in particular- piggybacking on pre-existing audience affection for the Justice League to convey that it's a Big Fucking Deal when the guardians get blendered in issue 7.

You have flashbacks demonstrating that there was capital-S Superhero Stuff going on in the seventies and eighties, or as far back as the thirties with Immortal, you create the impression of a status quo, a big pond in which Mark is a little fish. And to Kirkman's credit, some effort clearly went into making sure that the non-Mark capes are sufficiently fleshed out that you can believe that they've got other stuff going on in their lives. But at the end of the day, it's the Invincible universe. You don't see a lot of people talking about the Guarding the Globe spinoff. Many of the most interesting characters- Cecil being a big example here- are interesting because of the ways in which they bounce off Mark specifically, the ways in which he chooses to deal with them. The universe is less of a character in the story the way that Earth Bet is- it's just the place where Mark's story, specifically, is happening. If there's a codified setting bible, I'll eat my hat.

Now of course the world of Worm is, in many ways, equally Taylor-centric, because that's what it means to be the protagonist. But owing in part to the themes of the story, and in part to the sheer number of false-start protagonists Wildbow played around with before settling on Taylor, it's very good at conveying the idea that there are many stories happening in this setting and Taylor's is just the one this particular work happened to focus on. There's an actual point to doing OC worldbuilding for what the superhero scene looks like in Wormverse Denver or Seattle or whatever- whereas you can come up with superhero teams for Invincible-verse Denver, but what actually ties them to that universe? What are you getting out of putting them in Invincible specifically, that you wouldn't get from whipping up a barebones MASKS setting to support your OCs? Anyway. This is a really long way of getting to my real point, which is that I think the question is less "how does Taylor bounce off the Invincible setting" and more "How does Taylor bounce off Invincible the character, around whom the setting orbits even when it pretends not to."

This I'm unsure of, because where do you stick her in his life where you get an interesting dynamic? One thing that's interesting here is that Mark's overall character arc already involves learning a lot of taylorisms- the strategic ruthlessness, the shift from a good-evil dichotomy to a helping-not-helping dichotomy-so what about his arc is going to change if they spend time together? Why would they spend time together? Given the different power levels on display, what would differentiate her, in his experience, from the dozens of filler capes that exist for him at the level of "vague acquaintance?" This is assuming she's active as a cape at all, which she might not be if this is Post-GM. Mutual association through Cecil and the Global Defense Agency might be a hook- maybe they're paying for her new arm or something- but would she latch her cart to Cecil's wagon in the first place, barring some obvious crisis situation? Hard to say. If she's depowered, and present in his life somehow in a civilian context, well, that's a fast-track to not being part of the story anymore either, given how Mark's civilian connections slowly fading away was kind of a quiet plot point.

There's some configuration of these pieces that could be interesting, but I'm not quite sure what they are. Soliciting input here.

[smoozie]

do you have any favorite hermitcraft fics i feel like you'd have some really good recs

Anon I hope I can help you, but please understand I mostly read life series fics and almost exclusively if they include Scar, so like most are scarian. (All relationship tags are in order of the most to least relevant imo)

A Trick Too Accidental to Name (link)

Relationships: Grian & Scar (mostly, Pearl is also there)

Status: Complete

Word Count: 19k

Basically, the Watchers think Scar is a devious little guy and they are spying on him and it's mega creeping him out. He also can't get a straight answer from Grian abt wtf is happening. Takes place Season 8. If you like this you should also check out Ad Astra (link) although that leans more life series imo

In Sickness and in Health (link)

Relationships: Grian/Scar

Status: Complete

Word Count: 8k

I'm gonna throw up just thinking about this fic. Basically Scar was kidnapped cuz Grian's a superhero and they needed to get to him, but it follows their recovery and the rebirth of the relationship following such a traumatic event. REALLY good. Please read it.

THE DIVORCE OF THE CENTURY (link)

Relationships: Grian/Scar (bg Etho/Bdubs)

Status: Complete

Word Count: 7k

If you are ever in the mood for a silly fic this is THE silly fic. It's treated a bit like crack and somehow that's what keeps everything feeling so in character. Genuinely such a delight. Oh uh also the plot is Scar and Grian get divorced. Kinda.

Lodestones (link)

Relationships: Grian/Scar, Scar & Bdubs

Status: Incomplete

Word Count: 108k

I think this is the best hermitcraft/life series superhero fic. And I went through a phase where I read a LOT of them. This fic is pretty slow on updates atm, (a few months in between at least) but there are updates!! And it is SO worth it!! As the author puts it "Scar saves the city’s most dangerous criminal, makes him his roommate, falls in love with him, and then also saves the world with him. In that order, with various setbacks along the way"

someone loved, never known (link)

Relationships: Pearl & Scar, Pearl & Grian, Pearl/Gem, Grian/Scar (also like, every single Hermit makes an appearance)

Status: Incomplete

Word Count: 46k

This fic has SO much to talk about. First of all, the premise is that Pearl has been grieving the loss someone she cannot remember (its Grian), and then she meets Scar and he is also experiencing it. So it mostly focuses on Pearl and Scar building their relationship as they try to discover who is missing from their lives and why. The relationship dynamics in this fic are SO good!!! I cannot stress that enough. I don't want to overwhelm the relationships bit because I'm trying to highlight the most important ones, but Pearl's dynamic with Impulse as well as Tango and Etho is really well done! And I'm struggling on where to place Gem/Pearl in terms of importance since it isn't super relevant to the premise, but it is such a good and natural relationship and uggggh you have to read this fic! As a Pearl & Scar lover is it to DIE for!

Five seems like a good number... so I'm gonna leave it there. I am always open to giving more recommendations and even more open to receiving recs!!

[burins]

I read a LOT of books this year, which is always exciting. I also neglected to do much in the way of write ups during the year proper, so here are little opinions about all 84(!) book-books I read. I love to yap about what I read and I would love to talk about any and all of these. (Graphic novels and comics are gonna be their own post because there are also too many of those.) Bold are my top faves, headphones are things I read as audiobooks.

JAN

Less - Andrew Sean Greer

Shockingly funny book on a writer’s midlife gay crisis. I was a little mid on the end but the prose here was fantastic.

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future - Ryder Carroll

Beyond Bullets: Creative Journaling Ideas to Customize Your Personal Productivity System - Megan Rutell

Read about a million of these for a program; this was the only one worth recommending if you want to try journaling. (The official guide is Fine but it throws a lot at you at once.)

The 365 Bullet Guide: Organize Your Life Creatively, One Day at a Time - Zennor Compton

Lettering for Planners: A Step- - -Step Guide to Hand Lettering and Modern Calligraphy for Bullet Journals and Beyond - Jordan Truster and Jillian Reece

This should not have been a book.

Afterparties: Stories - Anthony Veasna So

I’ve been meaning to read this for years and years-- So was a friend of a friend-- and it was as excellent as I expected, and also made me tremendously sad that we won’t get more writing from him. 

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space - Amanda Leduc 🎧

This is theory for a general audience but I still wished it was more robust-- Leduc’s arguments had about the academic rigor of a tumblr post, which is a shame.

Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945–1955 - Harald Jähner 🎧

Nation-making and identity formation in the aftermath of fascism. There has been a lot of writing about the German project of the post-Nazi era, but this was a very solid read.

Water and Salt - Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

I came across Tuffaha’s gut-punch of a poem, “Running Orders,” online, and while the rest of the collection doesn’t always hit as hard, it’s still fantastic.

Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel 🎧

Reading this and The Mirror and the Light at the beginning of the year really ruined me for all other prose for the entirety of 2024, tbh. Nobody does it like Mantel.

Bandits, Misfits, and Superheroes: Whiteness and Its Borderlands in American Comics and Graphic Novels - Josef Benson and Doug Singsen

After reading Birds of Prey in October-December I really wanted to read some writing on whiteness in comics. This didn’t touch on what I was most interested in exploring and I did come away from the book thinking damn. None of that book was nearly as good as Tony Wei Ling’s fantastic piece on Crumb and alt-comics’ self-hagiography in SOLRAD.

Mending with Boro - Harumi Horiuchi

Make and Mend: Sashiko-Inspired Embroidery Projects to Customize and Repair Textiles and Decorate Your Home - Jessica Marquez

Mend!: A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto - Kate Sekules

Mending with Love: Creative Repairs for Your Favorite Things - Noriko Misumi

Mend It, Wear It, Love It!: Stitch Your Way to a Sustainable Wardrobe - Zoe Edwards

Can you tell I taught a visible mending class in February? Honestly any one of these are a good pick if you’re wanting to get into visible mending. This is the best for giving you a whole menu of techniques to choose from and having very accessible instructions.

Modern Mending - Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald

Mending Matters: Stitch, Patch, and Repair Your Favorite Denim & More - Katrina Rodabaugh

Creative Mending: Beautiful Darning, Patching and Stitching Techniques - Hikaru Noguchi

This is the best one for getting into the ethos of visible mending. It’s a deeply kind book.

Joyful Mending: Visible Repairs for the Perfectly Imperfect Things We Love! - Noriko Misumi

Visible Mending: A Modern Guide to Darning, Stitching and Patching the Clothes You Love - Arounna Khounnoraj

The Mirror and the Light - Hilary Mantel 🎧

Once again. Nobody is doing it like Hilary Mantel.

FEB

Finna - Nino Cipri 🎧

Anticapitalist multiverse Ikea relationship drama should have been my entire jam but this book was simply quite bad.

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy - Cathy O’Neil 🎧

Are you ready to get depressed about data? This is a great book for your liberal mom. I could wish it were more anticarceral but for what it’s actually covering it does a great job.

Vegetables Love Flowers: Companion Planting for Beauty and Bounty - Lisa Mason Ziegler

Garden planning :) 

Flux - Jinwoo Chong 🎧

If you liked Severance (the show) or have ever projected some identity feelings onto a not-very-good TV show, this is a book for you. Imperfect pacing but still gripping, and I’m excited to see what Chong does next-- this is his first book.

Ocean’s Echo - Everina Maxwell

The premise of this book is simply so sexy. And overall the book is too!

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles - Malka Older

Yayyyy Mossa and Pleiti return! I love this series and I loved this book.

A Land with a People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism edited - Rosalind Pollack Petchesky, Esther Farmer, & Sarah Sills

I don't really have a write up for this. It's powerful and well written and I would recommend it.

Black Paper: Writing in a Dark Time - Teju Cole

Best book I read all year, frankly. Teju Cole writes about art and culture and being alive when the world is falling apart like nobody else.

MAR

The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi - Richard Grant 🎧

Oh you hate to see a British guy get sucked in by white Southern niceness. (Richard Grant, in this case, is the British guy.) A lot of the stories in this were excellent but Grant gives way too much credit to folks clinging to the tattered remnants of the Old South.

Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine - Michelle U. Campos

Excellent historical antidote to the idea of perpetual struggle in Palestine. Also interesting read just for looking at how citizens of Jerusalem were using national and imperial identities for their political agendas at the time.

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us - Ed Yong 🎧

Lovely book that resists anthropomorphism and rendered me a font of “hey babe can I tell you a cool snake fact?” for about three weeks. 

The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free - Paulina Bren 🎧

You know I should have expected a book like this to be exactly what it was and yet. In addition to the sort of milquetoast stabs at feminism the structure is bad-- it devolves into Sylvia Plath’s life story and doesn’t really recover. I don’t mind reading a book about Sylvia Plath but I would like to plan to do that going in. 

The Hunter - Tana French

Only Tana can manage to write a book that is mostly just pretty normal conversations for 75% of its runtime and yet made me unbelievably stressed the whole time I was reading. Creeping dread! We love it.

Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde

I last read this in high school when I was so excited to see that the sequel would be coming out any day now. Over a decade later, any day at last arrived! So it was time for a reread. The sexual politics of this book are insane, which I didn’t pick up on in 10th grade, but it is still an extremely clever and enjoyable book.

Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus - Bill Wasik 🎧

I learned a lot of fun facts in this book but it was rambling and also I do wish books like this would stop trying to overstate the importance of their topic. Rabies can’t be the source of vampire legends AND zombie legends AND werewolves. (Zombies in particular. We know where those come from and it ain’t rabies!)

The Transcriptionist - Amy Rowland 🎧

As a former transcriptionist the idea of a mystery that revolves around the intrinsic weirdness of being the fly on the wall was very appealing to me! This wasn’t quite the book I thought it was but I still enjoyed it. 

City Editor - Stanley Walker

If you can ignore the amount of name-dropping of people who were certainly famous in 1934 newsrooms but I have certainly never heard of, there are definitely some amusing anecdotes. Walker writes with a dynamism and bombast I would love to see in any kind of writing nowadays. However it is also a book written - a newspaperman in 1934 so it does hit every single -ism like it’s trying to get a pinball high score.

The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism - Adam Nagourney 🎧

This book is exceedingly kind to the NYT and it was wild to read this the month that the Hamas mass rape story very publicly fell apart. However reading it did give me a very clear picture of how that story, and stories like it, happened in the first place. 

Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom - Carl Bernstein 🎧

Of all the “how do newspapers work?” books I read in March-April to prep for a fic I didn’t end up being able to write, this was my favorite. Bernstein is an engaging narrator and this answered my questions about how a story actually happens (particularly pre-internet.)

APR

Beacons in the Darkness: Hope and Transformation Among America's Community Newspapers - Dave Hoekstra

This ping-pongs between case studies in a way that would be totally fine in a feature story and is unforgivable in a book. But the case studies are interesting!

Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life - Margaret Sullivan

This is more memoir than NYT hagiography, and thus I enjoyed it much more.

Ocean’s Godori - Elaine Cho

I’ve got to stop reading SFF that came out this year. Unfortunately, it is part of my job to be aware of SFF that comes out this year. The pacing on this was UNBELIEVABLY sick-- the inciting plot incident only occurred halfway through the book, and the first 60 pages were us being fairly clumsily introduced to too many characters. The author’s end notes effusively thanked her editor and I think she should not have done that because a really solid editing job could have made this into something I really enjoyed. (People who work in publishing I’m sorry about publishing.)

Bombshell - Sarah MacLean

If your whole plot is going to hinge on a Deep Dark Secret, it better be deep and dark. 

Time's Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance - Jeremy Eichler 🎧

I got this for my grandma for Christmas and that was a mistake because this book is so depressing. If I had thought for two seconds I would have known this! However. I did like it! 

MAY

JUN

Desegregating Comics: Debating Blackness in the Golden Age of American Comics - Qiana Whitted

Really loved this one. 

Super Bodies: Comic Book Illustration, Artistic Styles, and Narrative Impact - Jeffrey A. Brown

This book would have been fantastic if the author had a) had any art historical or visual analysis training and b) done research about manga and the ways its styles have been used in the west. As neither of those were true this book mostly made me wish it was another, better book. Good comics recs though. 

Red Side Story - Jasper Fforde

Long-awaited sequel! This is an entirely solid book, though I wish I could have read it when I was a teen because it would have rocked my shit then. 

JULY

The Ladies Rewrite the Rules - Suzanne Allain

Really the only thing you need to know about this Regency #girlboss book is that at the very end of the book, which made almost no pretenses to historical accuracy wrt attitudes about gender roles, the main narrative tension is the love interest’s plans to go off with the East India Company to make his fortune. The other characters have no moral qualms about this; it’s proposed with the same air that a modern book would talk about someone going to college across the country. It made me feel completely insane. 

Escape Velocity - Victor Manibo

You know when you read a book and you say wow, I can’t wait to watch this as a Netflix special, but boy was it not very good as a book? That. Also I really wish we had spent more than about two scenes with the servants on the space hotel, so that I could care about them as people and not as plot devices!

Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia - Emily Hilliard

Engaging stories of modern West Virginia.

Belonging: A Culture of Place - bell hooks

The writing on exile in this did make me cry while I was eating lunch.

AUG

Appalachia on the Table: Representing Mountain Food and People - Erica Adams Locklear

More historical than I expected but solid writing on how perception of food affects perception of people.

What You Are Looking For is in the Library - Michiko Aoyama

I really didn’t expect this to get me but I am not immune to lovely, small-scale stories of people being kind to one another in community. Teared up on desk. 

SEPT

Watercolor Is for Everyone: Simple Lessons to Make Your Creative Practice a Daily Habit - Kateri Ewing

This was for a class and everyone liked the class! 

Hot Summer - Elle Everhart

I am so hit or miss on contemporary romance. This was a messy, delightful reality show romp. Light on drama, but the robust character relationships are the star of the show.

Loving Mountains, Loving Men - Jeff Mann

The poems here are generally better than the prose, which gets a bit repetitive at times. The poems are also generally very good, and a few of them made me cry. 

Second Night Stand - Karelia and Fay Stetz-Waters

I wish I had known going in that the authors were a married couple looking to tell “a story about a healthy queer romance.” All love to them, but I am simply not very interested in reading a story that bills itself that way! And as you might imagine there was a lot of therapy speak and very little narrative tension. Sex scenes were great, though, and if you want a very queer comfort read you might enjoy this. 

You Should Be So Lucky - Cat Sebastian

Very chewy character relationships. Sebastian manages to tell a story that feels of its time (1950s sports/journalism) while not being deeply bleak, which is a balance that many many queer historical romances completely bomb.

Lady Eve's Last Con - Rebecca Fraimow

Delightful lesbian screwball comedy. In space! 

OCT

Slippery Creatures - KJ Charles

The Sugared Game - KJ Charles

Subtle Blood - KJ Charles

Imagine if Lord Peter Wimsey had a passionate love affair with a gruff and tortured soldier recently back from WWI. That’s basically these books and I inhaled them. Shout out to detectorist for the rec!

The No-Show - Beth O’Leary 🎧

About 60% of the way through this book, I said, oh man, I hope that the twist to this book isn’t [redacted]. That would make me so mad. Well, it was, and it did! 

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words - Eddie Robson 🎧

Scratched the itch for sci-fi mystery, and the premise is fantastic. The narrator does a mostly excellent job but her American accents are distractingly bad, so if that will bother you read the book.

Deviant Hollers: Queering Appalachian Ecologies for a Sustainable Future edited - Zane McNeill and Rebecca Scott

Most of the essays in this are great! Every so often I get in my head about whether I can claim an Appalachian or Southern identity and whether I should do any writing on the subject. And then I read an essay that makes a lot of claims about “I centralize queer, trans, rural southern voices” and then does not proceed to actually demonstrate how they are doing any of that work, and go oh wait I’m actually fine. 

NOV

Better the Blood - Michael Bennett 🎧

A pretty solid thriller elevated by a very solid conceit: a Maori detective is investigating modern-day killings connected to a 19th century execution of a Maori chief by a group of British soldiers. This suffered a little from being written by a screenwriter who very clearly had certain shots in mind while writing (sometimes that works in prose, sometimes it doesn’t) and also from periodic intercut scenes from the killer’s POV (also a convention that works better in TV) which did undercut whodunit tension. Also the main character is a cop. But I ended up finding her sympathetic, which is a HUGE ask given the subject matter. 

The Stars Too Fondly - Emily Hamilton 🎧

Hated this. I tried to be measured in my initial review but every single part of this book was simply so bad. I wish I had those 11 hours of my life back. If this author is your friend I apologize, and also I hope she didn’t base a character on you, because every character in this book acts like a 15yo.  

Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy edited by Meredith McCarroll & Anthony Harkins

I worked my way through my own booklist this fall and this was one of the best books on it. I kept trying to put it on display at the library but our copy was checked out the entire time. Give this to your uncle who won’t shut up about Ohio. 

The Pairing - Casey McQuiston 🎧

First half of this was way more compelling than I expected it to be, and then McQuiston makes the WILD choice to switch POVs entirely and permanently halfway through the book. And I found the second character pretentious and given to fits of purple prose (he describes the first character as a “superbloom” at one point and also won’t shut up about the most art history 101 pieces of art) so I did not particularly enjoy the book as a whole. I will give it points though for having a pretty non-cringey “hi i’m actually nonbinary” conversation, which is astonishingly rare.

Jonny Appleseed - Joshua Whitehead

This was initially a book club pick for a meeting that didn’t end up happening, which is a bummer because I would like to talk about this book with more people! A lot of lines in this are going to stick with me-- Whitehead shifts through time and place with deftness and grace. If you like K-Ming Chang’s Bestiary I think you will enjoy this-- Whitehead revels in the body in a similar way.  

I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition - Lucy Sante 🎧

If you’re not already a little familiar with the NYC art scene in the 70s and 80s you may not enjoy this, because Sante name-drops a lot. I am, and I loved it-- it’s a lovely meditation on growing old and hitting your breaking point. Sante is also a fantastic writer, and this is an excellent counterbalance to the particular type of trans writing that is very very common online. (Nothing wrong with that writing, but you need a balanced diet.)

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society - CM Waggoner

I loved Waggoner’s previous books and I did end up enjoying this one a lot! It’s an enjoyable send-up of the cozy mystery genre.

Regarding the Pain of Others - Susan Sontag

A reread for my yaoi zine piece! Not only does this still hit but I think it’s a particularly apt piece of writing to be reading right now, when we are daily surrounded - images of suffering. Sontag, as ever, does not have any neat answers for us, but she does make you think more deeply about the world that surrounds you.

DEC

How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom - Johanna Hedva 🎧

I loved parts of this, and I hated other parts, which for me is a good sign about a book of theory. I have more thoughts about disability activism and being online that don’t fit into a quick write-up for a book. 

Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia - Stephen Stoll

This took me six months to read, but mostly because I was reading it occasionally on desk and I kept having to return the ebook. It demands a little bit more sustained attention than I was giving it! It’s an excellent overview of the history of land use in Appalachia through the 1930s and it gave me a lot of good context for the mountains I grew up under. 

The Forbidden Book - Sacha Lamb 🎧

Unfortunately, I think I would have liked this a lot more if I hadn’t read When The Angels Left the Old Country first! It’s a perfectly nice YA story-- but it definitely feels YA, and I don’t tend to enjoy reading a lot of YA.

Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am - Julia Cooke 🎧

I still don’t really know how I feel about this book. It does avoid some of the pitfalls of #girlboss nonfiction, but also it falls right into others. Mostly I wish it had engaged really at all with the people these women met on their travels, or like. Literally anyone Vietnamese. 

Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation - Eli Clare

Oof ouch my bones!!! This hits on a lot and does it with incredible grace.

To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis🎧

I wish my grandma was still alive so I could recommend this to her, because she would have adored it. Delightful time travel Victoriana. 

The Message - Ta-Nehisi Coates 🎧

I really admire the move of making the entire second half of your highly anticipated book about the injustices you saw in Palestine, and I hope it pays off and every NPR listener who loved Between the World and Me picks this up and reads to the end. 

Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

This book reads like a 200-page panic attack, which is not a diss! Really revels in the situational hilarity of anxiety/OCD/something unspecified.

Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore

Okay I had to add this one in because I finished it after making my post. This book (contemporary queer Jewish romance with a bit of the supernatural) was so lovely and deeply felt and often laugh out loud funny. The family relationships are the real star although the romance is also very sweet.

[tiniestetho]

I may or may have not drawn another nya fic guys.

^^

Based on the ICONIC Smalletho Superhero AU by the @insomnya777 themselves 🫶

(I highly recommend reading here)

I will probably make an Etho version later and post it tmrw if I finish it (and or actually do it.)