#Herman has a castle

[centeris2]

oh good lord where do I start, how far back, how obscure, how do I pick just one thing

but if was just one thing it's probably Laverne, who only appeared in the Starshine Legacy comics from like, 2006? 2007?

What's everyone's favourite bit of obscure lore from any part of the SSO franchise?

[mask131]

What Oz could have been: the 1939 movie

Last time I talked about what Disney's "Oz: The Great and Powerful" would have originally looked like, based on the first version of the script. But today I want to talk about THE big Oz movie, THE classic: the 1939 MGM movie.

Everybody knows this picture, it became iconic and cult, and is such a big part of culture today... Yet, you might be surprised to learn that the movie could have ended up looking VERY different from the one we know today.

Indeed, the "Wizard of Oz" script kept being written and re-written and re-re-written by a dozen of different authors and co-authors, to the point that when it came time to credit who was behind the script problems arose to find an exact name to put on there... If you want to know the detail: a first draft was by William H. Cannon, Mervyn LeRoy's assistant, before the contracts were set and when everything was just beginning. Once the project started, the first full scenario was written by Irving Brecher, but he was then overtaken by another project and replaced by Herman J. Mankiewicz, who worked for one month over the script until a co-author arrived in the form of Ogden Nash. Then a third author joined the team: Noel Langley (he was the one who had the idea of changing the Silver Slippers in Ruby Slippers, and he brought the idea that the three Oz companions would have counterparts as farm helpers in Kansas). HOWEVER Mankiewicz ended up quitting the team. He was replaced by Herbert Fields, who only stayed for three days and didn't change anything, before being also replaced by Samuel Hoffenstein, who also only stayed for a few days without modifying much (or anything). FINALLY Noel Langley gave back the final product of the writers' team... Which of course was edited, rewriten and modified by a second team, formed of Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf. They were then brutally moved to another movie, and the script returned into the hands of Noel Langley to be again rewriten and adapted. One month before the movie started Noel Langley was given another co-author, Jack Mintz, and the second "final" scenario was delivered... Before being corrected and modified by a new author recently brought by Victor Fleming, John Lee Mahin. And THEN it was done!

Of the fourteen different authors that worked on the script, only three ended up being given credit in the final picture: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf.

The result was a project that varied wildly in production. In fact, while the final movie is still vaguely faithful though a bit loose adaptation of the original novel - the very first drafts of the movie had NOTHING to do with the original novel. The "faithfulness" to Baum's Wizard of Oz can be considered almost an accident as each rewrite got closer to Baum's story, only in an effort to get away from the older script... Anyway, here are some highlights and best-offs of the Oz movie we could have had:

The MGM movie has a lot of deleted scenes and songs, that were recorded but not included in the movie. Hopefully a lot of them were released online and can be easily found on Youtube, or elsewhere on the Internet. Most of them were cool reprises that were cut short for time: for example the song "The Wicked Witch is Dead" had a reprise after the death of the Witch of the West, sung first by the Winkies Guards and then morphing into the song being sung by the Emerald City denizens (fragments of this reprise were still used in trailers for the movie). There is also the very famous "Over the Rainbow" reprise that a scared, crying Dorothy was to sing while trapped in the Witch of the West's castle, before the Witch taunted her with an image of Aunt Em in the crystal ball. The reprise is REALLY touching and Judy Garland really put her best in there. There are also alternate takes which reveal a lot about what the movie was intended to be - for example we have alternate records of the "Lollypop Guild" which shows that the high-pitched voice of the final movie was actually an intent to create a "little boys" voice, to match the little girls of the Lullaby League.

The most famous of all these deleted songs is without a doubt the "Jitterbug" song. It was only cut at the last minute, and this brutal removal leaves bizarre remnants in the final movie (for example the Witch says she "sent a bug" to take care of Dorothy and her friends ; and when the Flying Monkey arrive they look sweating and exhausted). This was because originally the Wicked Witch of the West was supposed to send to the heroic party a magical bug (the titular "Jitterbug") that would have forced them to dance until exhaustion, so the Winged Monkeys could easily pick them up. This was however removed out of fear this would date the movie, and they were very much right... Because the entire pun on which the scene relies does not work anymore today: the "Jitterbug" being a specific style of dance very popular in the 1930s and 1940s, but that stopped existing beyond the 1960s. However the "Jitterbug song" earned enough of a fame to get included into the recent "Tom and Jerry" animated movie of "The Wizard of Oz".

Originally, a child-actress was envisioned for Dorothy, and the first choice was Shirley Temple. She declined (but she would later play the role of Tip/Ozma in a Marvelous Land of Oz production). When Judy Garland was cast, there were attempts at giving her a makeup that would make her look more like a child - but everybody pointed out it made her into a ridiculous "baby doll". The first plans were also to have Dorothy be blond, as she was in later Oz books.

Everybody knows the iconic, creepy look of the Wicked Witch of the West, but did you know she was supposed to be... beautiful? One of the main and biggest inspirations for the MGM movie was the huge success of Disney's Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since they attempt to recreate it, their original plan for the Wicked Witch of the West was to have her be a beautiful villainess evoking the Evil Queen of Disney. The original actres cast for this "glamorous witch" was Gale Sondergaar, and we still have shots of her in costume. However it was later decided to make the witch into an uglier, more grotesque character evoking a traditional fairytale hag. Mervy LeRoy was the one who wanted to have the "glamorous, sexy" witch but many (among which Arthur Freed) defended the idea that the witch had to be like Disney's old crone, not evil queen... So they decided to recast the role - leading to the arrival of the one of a kind Margaret Hamilton.

Speaking of the Wicked Wich: One of the original plans for the character was to have her be the Oz counterpart of... Aunt Em. Indeed, no Miss Gulch of any kind. Early on, Aunt Em was considered to be a meaner and colder caretaker to Dorothy, and the one who wanted to get rid of Toto - which explains why she became the Wicked Witch of Oz. (This idea was by Langley, the one who also had the idea of making Dorothy's companions into the farm-helps of Kansas) The Wicked Witch also had a son, Bulbo, an ugly and dim-witted man she wanted to make King of Oz, and who was... the counterpart of Uncle Henry. Later, when the character of Miss Gulch was created, she was given a son named Walter to match Bulbo, before the character was scrapped altogether.

The Jitterbug scene was actually a left-over of a much earlier version of the movie which would have put a strong emphasis on the "musical aspect". This version wanted Oz to be under the tyranny of a spoiled brat of a princess that would have outlawed all forms of music that were not classical music and opera ; young and hip Dorothy, however, would have brought the swing and the jazz from the 1930s USA and used it to win over the princess in a singing duel, and becoming a hero in Oz. Who would have played the princess? I had conflicting reports: some say Deanna Durbin (one of the early candidates for playing Dorothy, alongside Shirley Temple) was considered for the role ; others said it would have been Betty Jaynes playing a certan "Princess Betty".

The earliest version of the script we have (created by William H. Cannon) was heavily inspired by the 1925's Wizard of Oz movie (because yes, there were Wizard of Oz movies before the MGM one), and wanted to remove all forms of magic and supernatural from the story. The brainless scarecrow would have been a man so dumb the only job he could find was to scare crows in fields ; the Tin Man was supposed to be a heartless criminal that the law had forced to wear a suit of tin as a punishment, punishment which did encourage him to learn kindness...

Oh yes, everybody noted in the final movie how Dorothy favorizes the Scarecrow above the other companions. This is a remnant of the scenario drafts wher the final scene of the movie would have been the teary farewell of Dorothy to Hunk, as he leaves for agricultural college and she promises him to write him every day - implying a romance between the two...

People might note a bizarre editing during the scene of the companions freeing Dorothy - such as the door being axed down not corresponding to the door the group escapes from. This is due to yet another cut sequence: the door the companions axed down was to be a trap by the Wicked Witch, who was to imitate Dorothy's voice and song to lure the companions. Once she had captured the three friends, she would have used them as baits, forcing them to call out for Dorothy and to encourag her to take a magical "rainbow bridge" that appeared out of nowhere... Except said bridge would have been created by the Wicked Witch's magic, and while the rainbow was solid enough to walk onto for a certan distance, at one point it returned to being just light. The Witch hoped to kill Dorothy by doing this - but didn't count on the Ruby Slippers' magic actually preventing Dorothy from falling through the rainbow.

Before it was decided to have Glinda send snow to kill the cursed poppies, the original concept was that the Tin Man's tears would have awakened Dorothy (an idea that, as people pointed out, was reused in "The Wiz").

There was at one point plans for the Cowardly Lion to actually be just a... a regular lion that tagged along as a sort of pet with the team, and had dubbed lines, to be revealed as "Prince Florizel", a Prince Charming-type of character that had been cursed under the shape of a lion, and would in the end have married his lover, princess Sylvia (this version was one of Noel Langley's, and very influenced by traditional fairytales). This version most notably pushed Dorothy into being a secondary character: it was the Prince/Lion who was to kill the Witch, by somehow cutting her broom so it would fall into pieces while in the air. There was also a dragon the prince was supposed to fight. This version, being Langley's, was the one that included the Witch having a son (see above). In the older versions of this story, the Witch's plan to make Bulbo king of Oz was to have him marry princess Sylvia, heir to the Ozian throne (hence why Florizel's feud with the Witch is personal) ; later it was changed to the Witch planning to attack the Emerald City and dethrone the Wizard with an army of men, wolves and winged monkeys.

When the MGM learned that Disney was working on their own adaptation of the Wizard of Oz back then, there were brief talks of the two studios uniting their efforts to make a half-live-action, half-animated movie.

During the scene where the Wicked Witch threatens the companions at the cottage in the forest, the Witch was supposed to threaten the Tin Man by briefly turning him into a "beehive", aka filling him with bees, and after crushing one of the insects the Tin Man would have cried, causing his jaw to rust and be blocked.

Early on, there were plans to keep Oz as an actual magical place that truly existed - but the movie-makers of the time considered fantasy was not "sophisticated" and "serious" enough for the audiences, and so they added the entire idea of Oz being shown as a dream-world so adults could "buy" the movie.

[chouchinobake]

P4 roommates!au hcs

since we're getting a season 4, i wanted to celebrate with hcs i had in my notes for quite some time but never posted :') i'm so excited to see my babies gjfjgkdkd 2024 is gonna be a hell of a year

・bathroom shelves sharing : 40% gregory's make up tools, 40% edgar's shampoos, 20% lawrence and herman's basic stuff

・edgar takes way too long in the bathroom it's criminal

・"tHis cAsTLe iS in UnAcCePtAbLe cOnDiTiOn" — lawrence every 3hours

・gregory lets his art supplies lay literally everywhere in the apartment. eventually the others got tired of telling him to tidy the space and got along with it

・movie night every saturday

・ they all agree on dead poets society to be the Sacred One™

・and disney. they like disney.

・edgar is the official driver since Lawrence drives like an eighty year old, herman has no chill and Gregory doesn't have his driving license

・they go to the library all together at least once every two weeks. they're well known and appreciated by the librarians

・that weird period of time no one is allowed to talk about is when ed and law flirted so hard and yet so obliviously it became awkward for the whole flat-share

・herman and gregory are like kids when halloween is coming. they're the once who put on decorations and buy candies. they even go for a candy tour on 31st. law and ed are tired parents

・they all have such different music tastes their common playlist is a huge mess

・they all agree on classic, jazz and slow rock tho

・ed and law insisted on having an entire wall covered with book shelves. they were the happiest when it happened. precious moment

・gregory is the medic. and he's also the one that gets sick the easiest. beat that logic

・gregory somehow managed to convert the others to billie eilish

・herman is basically bob the builder, when there is a problem in the flat he's in charge

・they just randomly welcome lost pets until their owner shows up

・herman often cooks for them four, he likes to make his friends eat some healthy food

・gregory can listen to the most cheering up sped up tiktok remix songs ever created with a completely straight face

i can't wait to see them on screen, they're so precious <3

[themarydragon]

you know i have to ask about this!! :) for the WIP game LoZ: TotK Zelda POV

Yay!

I'm doing the TotK extension of CWRD in two pieces. Arguably three. I'm finishing Born A Storm to finish coloring in the backstory. I'm writing a Link-POV that is also being assisted by Born a Storm work.

And I'm writing a Zelda POV that starts in the exact same place as the Link POV - the morning they leave the Hateno House for the Castle to investigate the Gloom. It follows her to Rauru & Sonia, and is almost entirely My Own Bullshit about what happens between the memories you get to see.

I headcanon that (1) Sonia is about 20 years older than Zelda, (2) already has children that aren't shown, (3) immediately adopts Zelda, and (4) is the maternal figure Zelda needed to direct her power pre-Calamity. I'm expanding Zelda's relationship with Mineru, and I am tripling down on Dad!Rauru. The opportunity to continuously compare Rauru with Rhoam is just too good to pass up.

Sadly, this is NO WHERE near done. It was supposed to be my winter project last year and that just flat out did not happen. I NEED to write it so even if it takes years it WILL get done.

....OH and it's being called Still So it Flows, from a quote from Leonardo Da Vinci: “A river is time in water; as it came, still so it flows, yet never is it the same.”

First runner up for the quote to name the fic was from Herman Hesse: “Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains. Everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.”

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

One of the earliest looks at THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, back when it was going to be released as a mainline Walt Disney Pictures films, appears on the 1993 VHS release of PINOCCHIO...

The PINOCCHIO VHS in question streeted in late March of that year, and copies were printed as early as January. Maybe even earlier, so this was early on in the film's road to release.

Close to release, it was decided to have NIGHTMARE be a Touchstone Pictures title instead, as Disney higher-ups had concerns over the film's "macabre" content. 13 years later, in 2006, it was rebranded as a "Walt Disney Pictures" film and all current copies and versions open with that CGI castle logo.

Today, Animation Compendia uploaded an international trailer from the year after its North American release...

Built around the PINOCCHIO VHS trailer, and adding THE LION KING now that that film had already been out in most of Europe before this movie debuted across the Atlantic, it's fascinating to see it open with a Touchstone logo but still hype up how it's part of the Disney legacy of innovation, along with WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT... Even though Disney tried to distance it and that movie from the Disney name...

ROGER RABBIT is its own breed, though. Disney had BIG theme park plans for the movie, with only a few of them materializing (like ToonTown in Anaheim), and Disney Feature Animation did three shorts w/ Roger, Jessica, and Baby Herman, two of which that ran before mainline Disney movies. (The first of them, TUMMY TROUBLE, was attached to HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS. The third, TRAIL MIX-UP, was with A FAR OFF PLACE.)

It's also kinda weird seeing LION KING before this movie, but yeah, in Europe... LION KING was out first, then NIGHTMARE.

Here in North America, NIGHTMARE came out in October 1993, and THE LION KING was a June 1994 release.

THE LION KING was originally meant to be a Thanksgiving 1993 release, following the Thanksgiving debuts of OLIVER & COMPANY, LITTLE MERMAID, RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and ALADDIN... All in a row...

But when LION KING's story issues proved to be a larger problem than anticipated, it broke the new "Disney animated event every Thanksgiving/holiday season" tradition and moved to the summer. So that meant NIGHTMARE had that space to itself, albeit, opening wide two days before Halloween and playing throughout the season. As long as it could, anyways. NIGHTMARE was only a moderate success, grossing a still impressive $50m domestically. Many clicks above Disney's competition (it was even a little bit higher than what Don Bluth's '80s hits AN AMERICAN TAIL and THE LAND BEFORE TIME took in), but quite a few clicks below BEAUTY and ALADDIN.

In Europe, however, THE LION KING was released first. The UK, for example, got it in October 1994. NIGHTMARE was closer to Thanksgiving that year. This was during a weird time where not only did Disney's newest animated movies open waaaay after, theatrically, in Europe... But also, Warner Bros. (!) distributed some of the movies!

Weird, huh?

A practice not uncommon way before these corporations all began to firmly say "All of this stuff is under ONE roof", believe it or not! Disney was no stranger.

For example, in Italy throughout the 1970s, Cinema International Corporation handled distribution of Disney's films. Here's an opening to a 1979 re-release of PETER PAN - sourced from a Super 8 reel - that has their logo following a blanked-out Buena Vista title card...

Disney joined w/ Warner Bros. to distribute their movies in the UK and a few other European territories in 1988, but then ended things in 1992 after BEAUTY AND THE BEAST came out in Europe, later creating a new version of Buena Vista International. That logo, you can see at the beginning of the NIGHTMARE trailer Animation Compendia just uploaded, showed up towards the end of 1993.

They became so big by that point in time, they could now handle more theatrical distribution overseas. Video was still an exception, though. In a country like, say, Brazil, Disney's video releases were put out by a regional company called Abril Video. That's one example of many. You get the idea, right?

Disney minutiae.

[anoramactir]

book recs! tagged by @rosenfey & @jennystahl. blows kisses to both of you <3 i'll tag @a-treides, @katsigian, @dekarios, @shellibisshe, @devilbrakers, and @frankensteined.

last book you read. the salt grows heavy by cassandra khaw.

horror/fantasy, kind of a little mermaid retelling? i had mixed feelings about it. there was definitely an interesting plot in there, but i thought it was bogged down by purple prose. felt more like a challenge to write the prettiest sentences possible - and there were v lovely lines! - than a story at times.

book you recommend. fight club by chuck palahniuk.

hard q, but i went with this one because i feel like the reputation the movie + it's fans have makes people avoid it. i could repeat all the soundbites about it being a brilliant satire & criticque of toxic masculinity (especially if you read the narrator as closeted) but tbh... i'm reccing it because i think it's fun. that's really it.

book you couldn't put down. bunny by mona awad.

disclaimer: i've seen this one hyped as the weirdest shit you'll ever read in your life but i didn't think it was that weird. lower your expectations. i did like it enough to finish in three days, though. idk what to say about it that won't spoil the plot— kinda heathers meets frankenstein? more eerie than scary.

book you've read twice or more. the queen's thief series by megan whalen turner.

society if this was the old school ya fantasy that blew up on booktok instead of shatter me: ☀️🌊🌳 i read this one back in high school and it rewired my brain permanently. attolia irene is the only girlboss that matters. i come back to it every few years (rereading book 4 now) & i think it still holds up.

book on your tbr. last call at the hotel imperial by deborah cohen.

it's a non-fiction about a group of reporters that covered ww2. i picked it up randomly at a bookstore because the cover was pretty, lol.

book you've put down. the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon.

i know i'd love it if i finished but it's just so long. 😭 i've tried like three times and i always lose steam about halfway through. at this point i'll finish it by 2050.

book on your wishlist. hollow places by christopher hadley.

ambie actually recced this to me ages ago and i've been dying to read it. it sounds so interesting! but it's not available as an ebook or at my library, and i'm banned from buying physical books until i get through my stupidly tall tbr stack. one day.

favorite book from your childhood. howl's moving castle by diana wynne jones.

nobody is surprised. it's probably my favorite book of all time. a+ vibes, characters, romance, everything. i own three copies and refuse to get rid of any. if i could find an autographed version, i'd own four.

book you would give a friend. interview with the vampire by anne rice.

i need you all to become obsessed with lestat & louis and then watch the amc series so it gets renewed for season 3. please & thank you.

book of poetry or lyrics you own. time is a mother by ocean vuong.

haven't read it yet, but i've heard great things!

nonfiction book you own. girl sleuth: nancy drew and the women who created her by melanie rehak.

goes into the creation of nancy drew & how it evolved through the years, especially how it was shaped by the original ghostwriter and the daughter of the creator, and their decades-long beef with each other. i came out of it with a parasocial grudge against a woman who died in 1982.

what you're currently reading. a conspiracy of kings by megan whalen turner.

book 4 of the queen's thief series. crown prince sophos has been kidnapped and sold into slavery and it's all very dramatic.

what you're planning on reading next. moby dick by herman melville.

i've never gotten around to this one and i feel like i have to eventually. there's a 75% chance i'll get sidetracked and pick up something totally different, though.

[mr-saavik]

Midyear Book Freakout Tag 2024

Haven't done this in a few years and no one asked for it but here we go

1) Best book:

Lots of contenders for this, but I think it has to be A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf. Fantastic writing on a great subject

2) Best sequel:

I haven't really read any traditional sequels where a story continues on from another, but any of the Sherlock Holmes books/short story collections works for this. Maybe The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes or The Hound of the Baskvilles as favorites? Idk

3) New releases you want to read

Henry Henry by Allen Bratton, but idk when I'll get to it because I'd need to get an interlibrary loan

4) Most anticipated release

I'm lowkey bad at keeping up with whats coming out BUT I am excited to read Failure to Comply by @librarycards

5) Biggest Disappointment

Probably Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong because I had heard it was great and a good introduction to writings on disability, but ended up being a very mixed collection of writings and a lot of it just felt meh

6) Biggest Surprise

Perhaps Zong! by M. NourbeSe Philip? Not surprise in the sense that once I knew what it was I thought I wouldn't like it, but surprise in the sense I had never heard of it until I was assigned to read it in a class about literature of the Middle Passage

7) Favorite new author

Virginia Woolf. I've read Orlando before but I don't really remember it; reading A Room of One's Own made me realize I love her writing style

8) Newest fictional crush

Closest answer I can give to this is Sherlock Holmes because I do love that bitch but idk if "crush" is the right word for it or if he counts as new if I was familiar with his character from the Granada tv series

9) Newest favorite character

To not repeat saying Sherlock Holmes, I'm going to say Merricat Blackwood from We Have Always Lived in the Castle even though I've read that before, so again, it doesn't really count as new

10) A book that made you cry

None despite historically being a known crier

11) A book that made you happy

Uhhhhh I guess one of the Sherlock Holmes ones? I tend to read sad shit and reviewing what I've read so far this year there isn't really "happy" material besides that

12) Most beautiful book you've bought or received

Big fan of these two

13) What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

Well. Finish what I'm currently reading (Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion, Noor by Nnedi Okorafor, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle), also read Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam because I have it out from the library, same with The White Album by Joan Didion because it is also in the massive book of nonfiction work from Didion I have out from the library, and I think Sara @colors-changing-hue & I are going to attempt to finish all of the Sherlock Holmes books by the end of the year but we've been slow on that recently so we'll see if that happens (to complete the series we'd nees to finish The Return of Sherlock Holmes and then read The Valley of Fear, His Last Bow, and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes). Besides all of that for fun, once classes start back up I will be reading a lot of Shakespeare for my class on his early plays, some medieval romances for a class on that genre, and probably some books about Hitchcock because I'm taking a class on his films and the professor teaching it usually assigns a few whole books to read besides articles & stuff

[princesssarisa]

"Faerie Tale Theatre" Role Association: Seasons 1 through 3

To honor Shelley Duvall in a silly yet fun way, I decided to finally do what I've been meaning to for some time: play a complete game of Role Association for the characters of Faerie Tale Theatre.

That is, describing the story using the names of the actors' more famous characters. @thealmightyemprex and I once did this together, long ago. I thought I would try doing it myself now, starting with the show's first few seasons.

The Tale of the Frog Prince

The Genie is turned into a frog, and only a kiss from Inga can break the spell. Odo is Inga’s father, while Debbie Dunham and Kramer are Genie’s parents. Brave Sir Robin narrates.

Rumpelstiltskin

Wendy Torrence is ordered to spin straw into gold for Lots-O’-Huggin Bear after her father Sarge lies that she can. Tattoo agrees to spin it for her, but at a price.

Rapunzel

Olive Oyle is hidden away in a tower by her abusive foster mother Gloria Swenson, until she meets and falls in love with Prince Lir. Cornelius narrates.

The Nightingale

Ned Kelly is the Emperor of China, who learns the value of friendship from Hillary Whitney and a bird with the voice of Wendy Torrence. Commander Adama is the Prime Minister, while Harold, Iroh, and Mr. Wing are other members of the court.

Sleeping Beauty

Rita the Cat is cursed to die by Ellen Griswold, but Grandmama Addams softens the curse to a 100-year sleep, from which Superman’s kiss will wake her. Father Mulcahy and “Hot Lips” Houlihan are Rita’s parents.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Dave Stohler lives in poverty with his mother Jessica Tate, until Blinkin gives him magic beans that grow into a beanstalk, which leads him to the castle of gigantic couple Ted and Edith.

Little Red Riding Hood

Emily Hobbs goes into the forest to visit Grandma Gilmore and encounters Alex DeLarge, who sets out to prey on them both. The Mayor of San Francisco and Ida Sessions are Emily’s parents.

Hansel and Gretel

T.J. and Savannah are the children of poor woodcutter Wimpy, who get lost in the woods and are nearly cooked and eaten by Mrs. Potiphar.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Addie Loggins intrudes into the house of papa Mongo, mama Alma Cox, and their son Paco. Dick Solomon and Rosie are Addie’s parents and Randall Peltzer is a forest ranger.

The Princess and the Pea

Stephen Waltham falls in love with Sally Bowles, but to test her worthiness, his mother Dr. Lesh has her sleep on twenty mattresses with a pea beneath them. Dr. Jack Bardofsky is a court jester and Chris Hargensen is a mean-girl princess.

Pinocchio

Pee-Wee Herman is a puppet carved by Saul Bloom and brought to life by Maria Portokalos. Kramer and Rocko are two con artists who lead him astray, and Waternoose turns him into a donkey.

Thumbelina

Two-inch tall Princess Leia is stolen from her mother Berta and nearly forced to marry first Castor Oyle, then the Penguin, before finding true love with Tommy Ross.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Cora Crawley is taken in by seven dwarfs after fleeing from Julia, who wants to kill her because Nicholas Medina claims that Cora is more beautiful than she is. Eventually Julia poisons her, but in the end, she revives and marries Frederic.

Beauty and the Beast

Janet Weiss becomes the prisoner of Count Dracula and eventually learns to love him. Chief Hubbard is her father, while Morticia Addams and Helen Henny are her sisters.

The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers

John Cage isn’t afraid of anything, so he spends three nights in Count Dooku’s haunted castle with the promise of marriage to Dooku’s daughter Max. Bob Cratchit is an innkeeper, Stu Pickles is a clergyman, and Frank Zappa is a hunchbacked servant.

[bracketsoffear]

Lonely Leitner Reading List

The full list of submissions for the Lonely Leitner bracket. Bold titles are ones which were accepted to appear in the bracket. Synopses and propaganda can be found below the cut. Be warned, however, that these may contain spoilers!

Andersen, Hans Christian: The Snow Queen

Barnes, Jennifer Lynn: Nobody Basye, Dale E.: Snivel Borges, Jorge Luis: The House of Astarion Bradbury, Ray: There Will Come Soft Rains

Dazai, Osamu: No Longer Human Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations

Ellis, Bret Easton: Less Than Zero

Fitzgerald, F. Scott: The Great Gatsby Freeman, Megan E.: Alone

Glass, Merrill: But You Didn't Goss, James: Dead of Winter

Harlow, Harry F.: The Nature of Love Hesse, Herman: Demian Hopkins, David: Thebe and the Angry Red Eye

Jackson, Shirley: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Koenig, John: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Lem, Stanisław: Solaris Lewis, Sinclair: Main Street

Márquez, Gabriel García: One Hundred Years of Solitude Melville, Herman: Bartleby, the Scrivener Moorcock, Michael: The Black Corridor

Orwell, George: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Paver, Michelle: Dark Matter: A Ghost Story Penning, Michael: Solitude Plath, Sylvia: The Bell-Jar Poe, Edgar Allan: The Light-House Poe, Edgar Allan: The Raven Poe, Edgar Allan: Alone

Rosenfeld, Morris: My Boy Rudnick, Elizabeth: A Frozen Heart Ryan, A.J.: Red River Seven

Satrapi, Marjane: Chicken with Plums Schwab, Victoria: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue Shelley, Mary: The Last Man Sigsgaard, Jens: Palle Alone in the World Sims, Jonathan: Family Business

Tchaikovsky, Adrian: Children of Ruin Thoreau, Henry David: Walden Todhunter, Jean Mizer: Cipher in the Snow

Venable, Lynn: Time Enough At Last von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang: The Sorrows of Young Werther

Weir, Andrew: The Martian Wells, H.G.: The Invisible Man

Andersen, Hans Christian: The Snow Queen

Magic ice gets into a boy's heart and makes him incapable of caring for others.

Barnes, Jennifer Lynn: Nobody

There are people in this world who are Nobody. No one sees them. No one notices them. They live their lives under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away.

That’s why they make the perfect assassins.

The Institute finds these people when they’re young and takes them away for training. But an untrained Nobody is a threat to their organization. And threats must be eliminated.

Sixteen-year-old Claire has been invisible her whole life, missed by the Institute’s monitoring. But now they’ve ID’ed her and send seventeen-year-old Nix to remove her. Yet the moment he lays eyes on her, he can’t make the hit. It’s as if Claire and Nix are the only people in the world for each other. And they are—because no one else ever notices them.

Basye, Dale E.: Snivel

Dale E. Basye sends Milton and Marlo to Snivel, the circle reserved for crybabies, for their latest hilarious escapade in Heck. Snivel is a camp—a bummer camp—a dismal place where it's always raining, and Unhappy Campers are besieged by swarms of strange mosquitoes that suck the color right out of them. Soon the Fausters discover that some Unhappy Campers have been disappearing. So after Marlo gets chosen for a special project and never comes back, Milton makes up his mind to find her and all the missing children.

Borges, Jorge Luis: The House of Astarion

A rewrite of the myth of the Minotaur. The son of the King lives alone in a labrynth, lost and forsaken, waiting for someone to save him. He leaves the corpses of the sacrifices as a way to find his way out. When someone finally finds him, it will be his executioner.

Bradbury, Ray: There Will Come Soft Rains

This a short story that has been adapted many times, including into a graphic novel. It takes place post nuclear apocalypse, where a futuristic home does its daily routine, despite the devastation outside. At some point, the family dog, riddled with tumors, crawls into the house and dies. It's very depressing. It implies the house would have continued doing this routine forever, except it catches on fire. With no one to stop it, it burns down.

Dazai, Osamu: No Longer Human

Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.

***

It is a novel that delves into the dark and introspective journey of a young man named Yozo. Through a series of confessional notes, Yozo reveals his struggles with alienation, self-destructive behavior, and the inability to connect with others. The original title translates as "Disqualified as a human being" or "A failed human". The book was published one month after Dazai's suicide at the age of 38.

***

“Whenever I was asked what I wanted my first impulse was to answer "Nothing." The thought went through my mind that it didn't make any difference, that nothing was going to make me happy.”

“For someone like myself in whom the ability to trust others is so cracked and broken that I am wretchedly timid and am forever trying to read the expression on people's faces.”

Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations

Miss Havisham is a Lonely avatar working to disconnect Pip from his family with the goal of maximizing his heartbreak at the end.

Ellis, Bret Easton: Less Than Zero

When Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college, he re-enters a landscape of limitless privilege and absolute moral entropy, where everyone drives Porsches, dines at Spago, and snorts mountains of cocaine. He tries to renew feelings for his girlfriend, Blair, and for his best friend from high school, Julian, who is careering into hustling and heroin. Clay's holiday turns into a dizzying spiral of desperation that takes him through the relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs and also into the seamy world of L.A. after dark.

You know how canonically, one of the Lonely's manifestations is becoming alone in a crowd full of faceless people? This is that, but in book form.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott: The Great Gatsby

The story of a guy who is simultaneously so desperate for love that he transformed himself into a whole new person just to be worthy of the woman he loves, and also so self conscious about it that he can't even approach her, only dwell on the memories of how they used to be. There's so much longing and disconnection, it's nuts.

Freeman, Megan E.: Alone

When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned. With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten. As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie’s most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day.

Glass, Merrill: But You Didn't

While the original version is more focused on grief, it has been reworked several times over the years. This version appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, and is more in line with the themes of the Lonely. This version of the poem has the narrator repeatedly ask one of his parents to play with him, ending each request with the words "but you didn't." It ends, "My country called me to war; you asked me to come home safely... but I didn't!"

Goss, James: Dead of Winter

Synopsis: ""The Dead are not alone. There is something in the mist and it talks to them."

In Dr Bloom's clinic at a remote spot on the Italian coast, at the end of the 18th century, nothing is ever quite what it seems. Maria is a lonely little girl with no one to play with. She writes letters to her mother from the isolated resort where she is staying. She tells of the pale English aristocrats and the mysterious Russian nobles and their attentive servants. She tells of intrigue and secrets, and she tells of strange faceless figures that rise from the sea. She writes about the enigmatic Mrs Pond who arrives with her husband and her physician, and who will change everything.

What she doesn't tell her mother is the truth that everyone knows and no one says – that the only people who come here do so to die."

Why it's Lonely: Well, there's mist over the sea, hallucinatory images of missing loved ones that lure you into the mist to drown you, mist in the characters' memories, and did I mention the mist?

Harlow, Harry F.: The Nature of Love

A research report on the results of the author's (highly controversial) maternal-separation, dependency needs, and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys. If you have ever read or heard the words "Cloth Mother and Wire Mother" or "the Pit of Despair": Yes, this is that guy. Yes, this is THAT study. Some researchers cite these experiments as a factor in the rise of the animal liberation movement in the United States. Paradoxically, his darkest experiments may have the brightest legacy, for by studying "neglect" and its life-altering consequences, Harlow confirmed love's central role in shaping not only how we feel but also how we think, and how devastating the effects of isolation are on the brain.

Hesse, Herman: Demian

A brilliant psychological portrait of a troubled young man's quest for self-awareness, this coming-of-age novel achieved instant critical and popular acclaim upon its 1919 publication. A landmark in the history of 20th-century literature, it reflects the author's preoccupation with the duality of human nature and the pursuit of spiritual fullfillment.

Hopkins, David: Thebe and the Angry Red Eye

A furry sci-fi novella originally published in chapters on Hopkins' page at Fur Affinity in 2014; in 2015, it also appeared in The Furry Future, a compilation of Science Fiction stories curated by the late Fred Patten that feature anthro animals.

In a future where furries have replaced humans, the Hildebrand Corporation initiates an ambitious plan to send a starship called the Hildebrand One on a ten-year expedition to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, in search of extraterrestrial life. A crew of seven is chosen, and their voyage goes well until the ship actually reaches the Gas Giant, where it is damaged by an unpredictable radiation surge. This causes a series of disasters that culminates with the ship crashing on another Jovian moon, Thebe. By the time it's all over, most of the characters are dead; the only survivors are a feline crew member named Thomas and a tomato plant called Oscar. Most of the story is about Thomas trying to cope with his terrible loneliness and learning that living is about more than survival.

Jackson, Shirley: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

The novel is written in the voice of eighteen-year-old Mary Katherine "Merricat" Blackwood, who lives with her agoraphobic sister and ailing uncle on an estate. Six years before the events of the novel, the Blackwood family experienced a tragedy that left the three survivors isolated from their small village.

***

sisters constance and merricat blackwood are ostracized from the village because of the dark event in their past. they prefer the isolated life and even stay to live in their house after it burns down leaving only two rooms intact. merricat has intricate rituals to ensure that their isolated lifestyle remains undisturbed, including burying talismans and nailing them to trees, checking the fence, building additional hiding spots. at the end of the book they stop contacting the villagers at all, hide if someone is trying to visit them, and as time goes on the village starts treating them like witches or spirits - kids tell creepy tales and dare each other to try touching their front porch, adults leave food and supplies as offerings

Koenig, John: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: “sonder.” Or maybe you’ve watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. That’s called “lachesism.” Or you were looking through old photos and felt a pang of nostalgia for a time you’ve never actually experienced. That’s “anemoia.” If you’ve never heard of these terms before, that’s because they didn’t exist until John Koenig wrote this book. It's a dictionary of made-up words for emotions that we all feel but don't have the words to express.

Lem, Stanisław: Solaris

This book is soaked in loneliness. It follows three men who avoid each other’s company on a dilapidated research station on a distant titular planet - Solaris. It is covered by an ocean of gelatinous substance with no solid land in sight, and is later revealed to be an alien. A single alien, a vast extraterrestrial intelligence the size of a planet. Lem wrote 'the peculiarity of those phenomena seems to suggest that we observe a kind of rational activity, but the meaning of this seemingly rational activity of the Solarian Ocean is beyond the reach of human beings' and I just cannot help myself but think what a lonely existence that must be. A planet-sized being, unable to communicate with probably the first other living beings it has ever encountered. It creates landscapes and people out of white seafoam from the memories of the research crew, if their flying cars get too close to the dark viscous surface. It reaches into the minds and pulls up the most emotional of memories to awkwardly reconstruct them into a haunt that will follow a person until destroyed. This quote also got me thinking about the communication between different life forms, and that even if humanity ever makes contact with aliens they might be too incomprehensible for us to grasp. Are we alone in the universe? And does it even matter if we are alone or not, if communication and understanding is impossible?

Lewis, Sinclair: Main Street

Sort of a literary forebear to the TMA episode Cul-de-Sac in its brutal portrayal of small town American life as the narrators attempts to connect with her neighbors and revitalize her town are met with failure and scorn.

Márquez, Gabriel García: One Hundred Years of Solitude

It tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founded the fictitious town of Macondo. Alongside the story of the Buendía family, there are an abundance of vignettes recounting both the everyday and the supernatural occurrences that shape the lives of the inhabitants of Macondo.

To be honest, it could be argued that there's a little of every entity here, from the Slaughter to the Flesh (The baby born with a pig's tail comes to mind...), but the word Solitude isn't in the title for nothing, it is the most dominant theme in the book. Macondo gets founded in the remote jungles of the Colombian rainforest. Isolated from the rest of the world, the Buendías grow to be increasingly solitary and selfish. Throughout the novel it seems as if no character can find true love or escape the destructiveness of their own egocentricity, and even if they find one it will end in tragedy in one way or another.

Many characters end up isolated from the rest of the world and each other in several different ways. There are several examples that I think would fit the Lonely, like Rebeca, who starts as a semi-feral child who's unable to comunicate with her adoptive family because of a language barrier and ends as a bitter old woman who ends her days self-isolating from everything and everyone by choosing to live in seclusion on her mansion after the untimely death of her husband, keeping her family outside at gunpoint when they try to reconnect with her. There's also how the patriach of the family goes insane and is tied to a chestnut tree like a dog until his death. There's Coronel Aureliano Buendía, who shuts himself in his room making gold fish out of coins that he then sells for more coins to make into more gold fish. And just... so many more examples of characters living and dying in sheer loneliness either because of tragic circumstances or by their own choice. And then there's the ending.

"(...)because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth."

***

One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

***

"The book follows the story of the Buendía family and the town they create, Macondo, from its foundation to its end. Of course, it is told in a non-linear fashion with every generation having the same few names, as well as the same basic attributes (except for a pair of twins whose names are thought to have been accidentally switched at some point)."

It's a story about a family that have terrible trouble connecting and communicating with other people. Like unlucky, unintentional Lukases.

Melville, Herman: Bartleby, the Scrivener

A man who lives on his own terms, disconnected from society. Opportunities are laid before him -- work, friendship, life -- but he denies them all. If he cannot live by his own terms, he refuses to live at all. This cautionary tale warns readers against too much independence from the people around them. Vote for Bartleby! Unless, of course, you would prefer not to.

Moorcock, Michael: The Black Corridor

Space isolation horror! A man is released from cryosleep to take his solo shift making sure the ship runs properly. For 25 years.

Orwell, George: Nineteen Eighty-Four

"The book is set in London, the chief city of Airstrip One and part of the superpower of Oceania. Life sucks. Oceania is ruled by the totalitarian regime of "the Party", personified by the omnipresent figure of "Big Brother". Standards of living are low due to the Forever War Oceania is engaged in alongside their ally Eurasia against Eastasia (or is it the other way around?). Sex is banned for all Party members except for procreation, and only between state-approved couplings.(...)"

The party loves destroying human relations. Everybody should be suspicious of everybody else. There should be no romantic love no friendship no nothing. And to get out of the harshest punishment you need to sell out somebody in your place. This is a lonely Leithner.

Paver, Michelle: Dark Matter: A Ghost Story

January 1937. Clouds of war are gathering over a fogbound London. Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely, and desperate to change his life, so when he's offered the chance to join an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies, crossing the Barents Sea by the light of the midnight sun. At last they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year, Gruhuken, but the Arctic summer is brief. As night returns to claim the land, Jack feels a creeping unease. One by one, his companions are forced to leave. He faces a stark choice: stay or go. Soon he will see the last of the sun, as the polar night engulfs the camp in months of darkness. Soon he will reach the point of no return--when the sea will freeze, making escape impossible. Gruhuken is not uninhabited. Jack is not alone. Something walks there in the dark...

Penning, Michael: Solitude

The forest has never been more deadly...

Megan Danforth thought she knew the dangers of the wilderness, but she was wrong. When a little girl goes missing deep in the woods, the young forest ranger must put her own demons aside and turn to an infamous hermit for help. But as secrets are revealed and the clock ticks down, Megan realizes the man she's relying on to save the girl's life may have ties to her own troubled past. He wasn't alone out there in forest. Something evil was with him, and it may have driven him to kill.

Can Megan uncover the truth and bring the lost child home before it's too late, or will the darkness haunting the forest consume them all?

Plath, Sylvia: The Bell-Jar

The book describes a depressed young woman who feels alienated from the misogynistic world and expectations it puts on her. She cannot understand the motivations of people to live, and in turn people do not understand (or acknowledge) her struggle with mental health and sexism.

Poe, Edgar Allan: The Light-House

The title of this short story is unofficial, as Poe did not finish writing it before his death. A diary of a lighthouse keeper with descriptions of sea, weather, and the worrying state of the structure. In the entry for the third day he remarks that the foundation seems to be chalk. The next entry has a date but no text.

Poe, Edgar Allan: The Raven

It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a mysterious visit by a talking raven. The lover, often identified as a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further antagonize the protagonist with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore".

Poe, Edgar Allan: Alone

From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were—I have not seen As others saw—I could not bring My passions from a common spring— From the same source I have not taken My sorrow—I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone— And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone— Then—in my childhood—in the dawn Of a most stormy life—was drawn From ev’ry depth of good and ill The mystery which binds me still— From the torrent, or the fountain— From the red cliff of the mountain— From the sun that ’round me roll’d In its autumn tint of gold— From the lightning in the sky As it pass’d me flying by— From the thunder, and the storm— And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view—

Rosenfeld, Morris: My Boy

A brief poem narrated by a father who has to work so much that he never sees his little son awake.

Rudnick, Elizabeth: A Frozen Heart

A novel adaptation of Disney's 'Frozen' which reveals and unpacks Prince Hans' backstory as he changes from a decent young man who abhors his family's violence, manipulations, and abuse, to the villain who uses all of those tactics to take advantage of Princess Anna, as in the film. He realizes that his behavior is abhorrent, but his need to be loved and accepted by his father and brothers outweighs his sense of decency, and he does whatever he feels is necessary to take the throne of Arendelle.

Ryan, A.J.: Red River Seven

Seven strangers. One mission. Infinite horror.

A man awakes on a boat at sea with no memory of who or where he is. He's not alone - there are six others, each with a unique set of skills. None of them can remember their names. All of them possess a gun.

When a message appears on the onboard computer - Proceeding to Point A - the group agrees to work together to survive whatever is coming. But as the boat moves through the mist-shrouded waters, divisions begin to form. Who is directing them and to what purpose? Why can't they remember anything?

And what are the screams they can hear beyond the mist?

Satrapi, Marjane: Chicken with Plums

"In November 1955, Nasser Ali Khan, one of Iran's most celebrated tar players, is in search of a new instrument. His beloved tar has been broken. But no matter what tar he tries, none of them sound right. Brokenhearted, Nasser Ali Khan decides that life is no longer worth living. He takes to his bed, renouncing the world and all of its pleasures. This is the story of the eight days he spends preparing to surrender his soul."

Nasser is lonely and disconnected from most of the people in his life and stuck in a loveless marriage. There is also the real reason he decides to die.

Spoilers: Nasser got his whole creative drive from unfulfilled love to a woman he was not allowed to marry. Yet when he meets her on the street after many years she pretends not to recognize him. This breaks his heart completely and makes him unable to play his instrument leading to his decision to die. So he decides to die due to lack of love i.e. loneliness.

Schwab, Victoria: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue

France, 1714: In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever - and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

Shelley, Mary: The Last Man

At the novel's climax, The Black Death has killed off all humans but the main protagonist, Lionel, plus Adrian, Clara and Evelyn. Evelyn, Lionel's son, dies of an illness (not the Plague, but typhus), then Adrian and Clara drown when a storm in the Adriatic wrecks the three's boat. Returning to shore and making his way to the deserted city of Rome, Lionel realises he is likely the last human left alive, and after another year passes without the evidence of any other humans, he resolves to live the rest of his life as a wanderer, motivated by the prospect of someone, or anyone, for that matter, still being alive on the now-decimated Earth.

Sigsgaard, Jens: Palle Alone in the World

This picture book is so famous in Denmark that "being/feeling Palle" is a very common and casual term for feeling alone. The book is essentially just about a young boy named Palle who wakes up and finds the entirety of Copenhagen completely void of people no matter where he goes. While he has fun at first, eating all the candy he wants, driving trains, he eventually despairs that he has no one to share these experiences with.

Sims, Jonathan: Family Business

“When Diya Burman's best friend Angie dies, it feels like her own life is falling apart. Wanting a fresh start, she joins Slough & Sons - a family firm that cleans up after the recently deceased.

Old love letters. Porcelain dolls. Broken trinkets. Clearing away the remnants of other people's lives, Diya begins to see things. Horrible things. Things that get harder and harder to write off as merely her grieving imagination. All is not as it seems with the Slough family. Why won't they speak about their own recent loss? And who is the strange man that keeps turning up at their jobs?

If Diya's not careful, she might just end up getting buried under the family tree.”

A book all about memory, grief, forgetting, and the forgotten.

Tchaikovsky, Adrian: Children of Ruin

Thirty-one light years from Earth, a fraction of humanity's terraforming project survives the collapse of civilisation. When the universe falls silent, the five remaining scientists turn their attention to the planets below. Disra Senkovi continues the mission, isolated from his crewmates as his engineered aquatic life grows increasingly erratic, while the others study the planet Nod's seemingly harmless fauna, gathering data for no one to read. Their research abruptly halts when a native parasite jumps the gap between alien and human, devouring the minds of its hosts in an attempt to understand them. Senkovi, the mission's sole survivor, spends the last century of his life protecting the mutated denizens of his terraformed planet, whose civilisation he can no longer comprehend.

It's a book about isolation, literal and metaphorical; about incompatibility, inter- and intraspecific. It's about the fear that communication barriers can never be broken, about suffering that arises not from malice but misunderstanding. It's about the aching solitude we inflict on ourselves.

Thoreau, Henry David: Walden

Let's get this straight -- the whole Walden trip was kind of a farce. Thoreau was close enough to his home the whole time for his mom to bring his meals and do his laundry. Nevertheless, the book has inspired many readers to try and similarly divorce themselves from society and 'live off the land', creating situations of isolation and solitude.

Todhunter, Jean Mizer: Cipher in the Snow

It's a short story about a boy who asks to get off the school bus and keels over dead in the snow for no discernible reason; it then follows the teacher who has been asked to write the obituary because apparently he was the kid's favorite teacher despite having practically no idea who he is. He can't find ten people who know the kid well enough to go to the funeral and it's implied that his death was just because of loneliness. The story was later made into a short film in 1973 and, despite the main conflict/emphasis of the film being on the neglect of his parents and teachers, it wound up being used as an anti-bullying PSA for many students because apparently nothing says "be nice to your peers" like "if your parents don't love you enough you might just spontaneously kick the bucket".

Venable, Lynn: Time Enough At Last

The short story that formed the basis for the classic segment in The Twilight Zone. Henry Bemis wants to be left alone so he can fulfil his wish to read a book from cover to cover, and does so by shutting himself in a bank vault. When he leaves, he finds that an atomic bomb has struck, wiping out everyone he knew and possibly the rest of the world. He plans to take advantage of the solitude by reading everything he can in the remains of the library, but his glasses (bespoke due to his complicated prescription) fall off and break, forcing him to confront what it truly means to be entirely alone.

von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang: The Sorrows of Young Werther

The story unfolds through a series of letters penned by the eponymous protagonist, Werther, and mainly chronicles his experiences in the small town of Wahlheim. After he falls madly in love with an young woman named Lotte, who is engaged to someone else, Werther gradually becomes more emotional and less mentally stable, not only because of said unrequited love (He in fact spends part of the novel willingly far away from her) but because he feels increasingly withdrawn from a world and a society he has grown to deeply resent.

The novel was one of the earliest works of literature to generate a recognizable fandom, creating a dress fashion. It was also one of the first to be blamed, not without cause, to have a negative effect on some of its readers; psychologists therefore continue to debate about the "Werther effect", meaning a work of art encouraging consumers to commit suicide. The "wave of suicides" following the novel was somewhat exaggerated, more recent studies indicate that there may only be about a dozen verifiable cases where the novel played a part. However, one of them was a friend of Goethe's, which probably was the reason why he published the revised edition of 1787.

Weir, Andrew: The Martian

Mark Watney is an astronaut who is part of the third manned mission to Mars. Soon after they land, the Martian weather gets too rough and the mission has to be abandoned. In the escape, Watney is struck down by a piece of debris and presumed dead, and left on the planet. However, he survives. With no obvious way to communicate with mission control, he has to use the limited resources on hand to survive until the next mission — which is years away.

Wells, H.G.: The Invisible Man

Griffin's invisibility resulted in increasingly strained relations with the people around him and society at large. Eventually, his isolation drove him beyond the constraints of social norms, leading him to murderous outbursts and destructive impulses.

[inky-escapism]

Jealously makes the heart.... beat faster?

“You’re spending too much time in the library, don’t you think?” Riftan looked at Maxi through the mirror as he combs her red hair.

“Well, I like reading books.” Maxi blushed from the attention. “And you know that..” she whispered, giving Riftan a soft smile.

The truth is, Maxi has been mumbling in her sleep, calling out a certain name he couldn’t work out and it’s bothering Riftan so much he couldn’t sleep.

For a few weeks now, Riftan’s insomnia has kept the knights enervated, especially Hebaron. Being the only knight who could kept up with Riftan, Hebaron, the sacrificial lamb, endured through the rough waves of drills till dusk. And it doesn’t help that the weather was getting warmer as summer months creep in. ��Sir Nirta, come back here!” Uslin hissed, feeling frazzled with the sun shining harshly on his perfect face. Being the vice commander, Hebaron used to oversee the training of squires with Uslin before Riftan’s unease.

“Save me.” Hebaron mouths to Uslin, as Riftan drags Hebaron further away from Uslin’s group.

“Why, why? Why do I have to do this alone?” whingeing under his breath, Uslin repeats this same question for the umpteenth time. Tired and annoyed, Uslin looks up and shouts to the knight carving his own arrows. “Gabel, you come here then!”

“Noisy. Again.” Ruth comments, rolling his eyes as he hears Uslin calling out to Gabel on his trip to the library.

Back at the castle, Ruth was on his way for another lesson with Maxi. ‘Looks like I’ll have to conjure another shield to keep their nonsense out.’ Ruth sighs as he pushes the door open.  

“My lady, you’re early.” Ruth yawned, cracking his fingers.

Maxi jumped from his sudden comment and hugged the book tightly in her chest.

“Don’t bother, I know what you’re reading. No books of spells are in that colour” Ruth giggled.

 “It’s just too intriguing. Do you think the forgotten princess will eventually find out that her new guard was that hero from her childhood? Will she get together with Sir Herman in the end?’ Maxi squeals.

“Lesson 394, My STUDENT.” Ruth taps the blackboard with his chalk sternly as if to bring Maxi back to Anatol, knowing her soul was transported to the Land of Roses with Ser Herman and the maiden, rumoured to be the forgotten princess.

‘Yes, yes, Mage Ruth..’ opening her books while taking a sip of the tea Rudys left before leaving the library for her other chores.

Ending her lessons with tons of homework, Maxi dragged her spell books out of the library. Her small built made her had no choice but to leave her novels behind and come back to get them again after.

“Back from your book club activities with Ruth?” Riftan questioned in bemusement, not expecting his wife to be back this early.

“Where’s Rudys?” Riftan asked as he took over the pile of books from Maxi.

Panting, Maxi waves the questions away with her lady hands as she sat on the bed, trying to catch her breath. Taking a huge breath in, Maxi proceeds to leave for the library again to get her novels.

“Where are you going? Don’t tell me you’re going to the library again! Just how many books are Ruth trying to bury you under? I’ll have a talk with him.” Riftan said as he pulled Maxi’s arm back.

“No, it’s not that. It’s something else. I’ll be back soon!” Maxi chirps as she pecked Riftan goodbye.

“You’re not having dinner with us tonight?” Riftan questions behind Maxi, as she runs off with her puffy dress that can be seen bouncing in far end of the stairs now.

“I’ll see you at the dining hall!” Her little lady voice trailed off, as she hurried back to the library. “Rudys!” Maxi exclaimed. Glad that she caught Rudys in time, before she tidies up the library.

“My lady, please do not run along the corridors. You might fall and injure yourself.” Rudys warmly greeted Maxi with a worry.

Maxi blushed as she bashfully remembered her blue-blacks from her falling and knocking onto the walls whilst reading. It was good practice for her too, on her healing spells.

“My books, they’re not back on the shelves, are they?” Her wide eyes scanning the table.

“No, My Lady, they’re here. I was about to bring them back to your room after cleaning up Mage Ruth’s mess on the floor.” Rudys smiled tightly, her certain dislike for Ruth can been sensed.

Maxi let out a sigh of relief, “Thank you Rudys! That’s very sweet of you!” Maxi exclaimed as she hugged Rudys tightly.

“Let’s go for dinner now, Riftan is waiting!” Maxi collected her books from Rudys, laughing while chatting as they head to the dining hall.

Even at the door, the scent of hot gravy and roasted meat perfumed the air.

“My lady, would you like to join us?” Elliot asked, as he spot Maxi coming through the door. He was standing at his seat, splitting servings of the roasted boar for the table.

“Yes, Sir Elliot! It smells wonderful!” Maxi grins, happier than ever as she realized her stutter has improved dramatically. ‘Not an extra syllable, today!’ Maxi smirks to herself.

Moving their bottoms along, expecting Maxi to naturally take the seat beside their Lord Commander, Maxi saw the empty seat beside Hebaron and just took it. Unbeknownst to her, Riftan wasn’t too pleased with her decision.

‘She knows which pubs I go to.. I can’t just go to any pubs now. I hate drinking in the castle.’ Hebaron was brooding over his avoidance in the local pubs. ‘It’s so boring here… I want to go out there, and drink with the other lads.’ Tilting his head towards the window, Hebaron stares into the night sky whilst Gabel steals his cuts of meat.

A cold breeze sneaked in as swiftly as it went out, causing Maxi to shudder from its sudden visit. As she was directly in Hebaron’s line of sight, Hebaron thinks nothing of it, and took off his vest, putting it on Maxi. ‘Don’t get a cold, My Lady’. Hebaron adds as he got the squires to close off the windows before going back to his dwelling.

Across the table, a darken Riftan was seen stabbing his meat, giving it a second death. ‘Why is he looking at Maxi like that?.. Is it Hebaron?’ Riftan envisaged in his thoughts.

“Sir Hebaron, why are you not eating?” Maxi questioned as she joins Gabel in shrinking Hebaron’s mountain of meat. Jealous at this slight action, Riftan immediately plates more roasted boar for Maxi. ‘I’ll get more meat for you if you want, all you have to do is ask. Why are you getting it from him?’ Letting his jealously run his thoughts, Riftan narrows his eyes at Maxi and Hebaron, frowning so much that his eyebrows are almost touching.

“Start eating or there’ll be none left.” Uslin warns Hebaron as he hastily swats Gabel’s fork away. Getting the cue, Elliot sighs as he stands up again, cutting more meat to fill up Hebaron’s plate.

“I’m not hungry.” Hebaron states, shocking the whole table. “I’ll go to bed now.” Hebaron put his fork down and pushes his plate towards Maxi. “Here, you can have them, My Lady.” Hebaron smiles as he pats Maxi’s shoulder, gesturing her to eat up, before leaving the table.

“Is he alright?” Maxi asked, her eyes following Hebaron as he walked away.

‘Is he alright?! What about me? I’m not alright. Why do you keep looking at him instead?’ Riftan grumbled in his head.

“He’ll be fine, My Lady.” Uslin assured, waving a kitchen maid over. “Bring this and more ale to Sir Nirta’s room.” Uslin instructs her as he hands her a stacked pile of meat on a clean plate.

“Work wife indeed.” Ruth’s comment boosted a great deal of hilarity along the table. However, Gabel and Elliot shut their laughter immediately upon receiving Uslin’s side eye.

Maxi smiled at their interaction, as she continued to stuff her face with dinner, leaving nothing on her plate before she retreated to her room with Riftan.

“Carry me, I can’t walk. I’m too full..” Maxi whimpered, tugging on Riftan’s sleeves. Sighing in defeat, the jealous husband picked his wife up in his arms.

“Am I heavy?” Maxi asked, her fingers fidgeting with Riftan’s top.

“No.” Riftan replies cooly.

“Then why are you grimacing? Your face’s wrinkly.” Maxi pouts as she cautiously cups his face with her hands. Her touch softened his mood.

“It’s nothing.” Riftan kicks the bedroom door open and lays Maxi gently on the bed. Not letting go of Riftan’s top, Maxi used all of her energy to pull him closer for a kiss.

“Silly girl.” Riftan finally smiles as he ruffles her hair, joining her under the sheets. Maxi quickly fell asleep in his arms, with her tummy full of roasted boar.

Unable to sleep, much like the past few nights, Riftan started analysing his thoughts, running through the information as if to plan a combined attack on the field. Misusing his talents as a warfare strategist, Riftan connected the string of words Hebaron told him the other night, that how it was impossible for Hebaron to be with the innominate lady and how rumours will start flying like flies in the sky, with the name Maxi kept muttering in her sleep. Starting with a H, and seems to end with a N.

Piecing 2 wrong puzzle pieces together, Riftan jolts out of bed angrily, as he stormed towards Hebaron’s room with his tirade of nonsensical thoughts.

‘Hebaron, get up.’ Riftan whispered loudly as he fiddled with the doorknob.

Getting impatient, Riftan crushed the doorknob in anger and the door creaked open. Astounded by his own anger, Riftan strut into Hebaron’s room only to find it empty. Not even a soul behind his cloaks this time around.

‘He’s not here?’ Riftan sat on Hebaron’s bed, feeling bewildered with his paranoiac thoughts at the helm. ‘My wife and my best friend?’ Just then, a small shadow on the walls outside of Hebaron’s room caught his attention. “Maxi?” Riftan calls out.

The small shadow on the walls flickered, as Maxi quivered at the sound of his voice, not expecting to hear it at this corner of the castle. She carefully pushed the half-opened door, where the sound was from and was shocked to see Riftan standing in front of her. His hair was in a mess and his body, radiating an unusual amount of heat.

“Riftan, your heart. I can hear it from here. Are you okay? It sounds really fast. It’s beating much faster than usual... ” Maxi questioned with a concerning look in her eyes, her hand reaching out to his chest.

[author's note: have you guys realized that my stories are linked? ٩(⁎❛ᴗ❛⁎)۶]

[nich0las-foster]

Nicholas. This correspondence is important, please pay attention.

I’m intent on marrying your father in the future. This means you are my future step-son.

You are special because you are the version of yourself directly related to Jodie without any technical connection to Glenn.

You are also the exact Nicholas that I tie up in Book Castle, which as you know, is my home.

So you are one of two of my children that I have seen face to face. This is a special bond that we share.

I want to begin family bonding early as not doing so with Herman has made things difficult.

Please list all of your interests so I can find common ground to bond over

-W

Well Actually, he’s not my father. Unless you plan on marrying Willy Stampler- and I doubt you do,- you needn’t worry about being my stepfather.

Also, I don’t think it was neccessarily the lack of family bonding with Herman that caused all that, I think you’re just… You know. A horrible father? Regards, Nicholas Stampler.

[ben-the-hyena]

Ten First Lines Game

Rules: Share the first line of ten of your most recent fanfics and then tag ten people. Don’t have ten? Not to worry, just share what you have.

Was tagged by @chaifootsteps which reminds me I DON'T write as much as I should and didn't finish one of the ones I'm gonna mention, in fact 10 is SO much I fear it's not gonna be the whole list X'D I tag @dracocheesecake and @awesomex7 because I know they write much more than I do !

Warning spme of them are NSFW fics !

8. Of Blood and Hearts

Adult Gothetta from School for Vampires doing accounting job of her own whole new potion business but it's like the only time the fic focuses on her, it's not about her but about a slow burn between her cousin Batoria just as grown as her and Dr Ironfang... and I'm barely half way through and been so for a year and I apologize to everyone T.T

"663 lei plus 754 lei…"

7. Boggy Heather

A "midquel", "sequel" and "prequel" fanfic all at once about Randall Boggs from Monster Inc and Heather Olson drom Monster University meeting right after he got his "BE MY PAL" cupcakes smashed against his face, becoming friends, falling in love, dating, getting intimate, graduating, getting engaged, marrying, becoming parents, Randall becoming more and more of a petty vengeful asshole who can't move on and has to be the best and prove a point to the point of neglecting her and his child, their relationship deteriorating, divorcing and the end of his villain arc complete in time for the first movie

"Well that sucked."

6. The Forbidden Chant

SkekUng and UrSol from The Dark Crystal meet in the desert as the former was out on a mission and the latter just looking roots, and said latter convinces the former to fuck the shit out of him

"The Three Brothers were shining bright in the sky."

5. Delayed Wedding Night

A pwp of a younger Griddle and her then alive husband Sir Herman from Blazing Dragons deciding to roleplay their wedding night a very kinky way now they finally love each other and already started to have sex at last since back when they were forced to marry and didn't love each other yet they didn't touch each other and the wedding night took place in them sleeping in their own bedrooms

"It had been now a bit more than 2 months that Princess Griddle and Sir Herman had their first love kiss, almost 2 years after their arranged marriage."

4. Nearsighted Love

Queen Griddle trying to convince her gay son Sir Blaze from Blazing Dragons to marry a noble girl one day, which reminds her how she was reticent about marrying his late father Sir Herman, cues her remembering them getting married, hating each other, becoming friends, falling in love, getting intimate, trying desperately to have a child until finally Blaze is born, and then him tragically disappearing at sea

"Sir Blaze slammed open the door while Queen Griddle was following him, running a bit as her legs were shorter than her very tall son's and as she was much fatter."

3. A Furnace Bastard

Duncan from Blazing Dragons having always lived a normal Scottish middle aged family dragon guardian of the Club of Saint Andrew, until one day he accidentally pulled it out and he becomes King of Scotland. Once his euphoria calms down, he starts to put 2 and 2 together since the prophecy states only someone of the Furnace clan can pull it and decides to investigate his origins

"Not far from the royal castle of Scotland was the royal golf course."

2. Queen Morlava's Last Present

A younger King Allfire from Blazing Dragons going from utter boy over his egg being there to utter sadness upon hearing his wife Queen Morlava died from lying it. Cues him still trying to make the best of it after her funeral no matter how he is depressed for being there for their baby who will hatch soon and trying to reason his father-in-law, with whom he always had a bad relationship, over how this id not the egg's fault and his daughter would want him to be a good grandfather to it, he who is way too angry and grieving to think righr and blames him for having made her gravid despite her being of such fragile health from birth

"King Allfire was nervous."

1. Is It Hot in There

My first ever Blazing Dragons fic and nsfw fic with a not very good English and cringe descriptions lmao takes place during the episode Ice Try which is the only episode during which Sir Blaze and Sir Burnevere don't appear because they were gone on a quest together, so I filled the blank by having them act upon their lounging growing feelings for each other now they finally are alone together on a dumb quest Queen Griddle sent them to for her own ego as usual and act on it at least, quite passionately so and then decide to be secretly dating

""The Diamond of Destiny ! Exactly !""

[tempest-toss]

GOI File: Troupe of Shadows

this is a long one

Brief Overview: The Troupe of Shadows is a Group of Interest taking the form of an anomalous traveling circus. A fierce rival of Herman Fuller's Circus of the Disquieting, they have reigned a unique balance of terror and enjoyment, although that is subjective.

History: The earliest recorded history of the Troupe goes back to the ages of castles and monarchies. A European king had approved a traveling band of performers to perform in his kingdom. Their acts were fantastical in nature: flaming head juggling, turning shadows into living creatures, a lady duplicating herself before the crowds eyes. The leader of these travelers was known as Lady Midnight, and she managed to catch the eye and heart of the princess, and reciprocated those feelings. The prince meant to wed the princess was angered, and lied to to king, spreading rumors that the performers were there to usurp the kingdom. The princess heard and successfully managed to have Lady Midnight escape, but not before she had to witness her performers be executed; her heart broken more by the fact that the performers remained loyal to her until they perished, not giving away where she might be.

Years would pass by as a hidden escapee decided to get revenge for the mass execution of his fellow performers. He studied as much as he could, until he gained the ability to forcibly anomalize people. With this power he created his own group and lay siege to the castle. Realizing her love was in danger, lady Midnight appeared, to attempt to talk down her former ally. He accused Lady Midnight of betraying the group, and a battle ensued. Depsite the number advantage, the man lost all of his minions, and engaged in a 1 on 1 battle with his former leader. This battle would be fatal for both of them, as their final attack, a banishing magic struck them both at the same time, and reaped their lives. The only part of them that lives on is a slice of their moralities, embedded in an article of clothing.

From this clothing piece a curse would befall the wearer. They are granted abilities to create a new group of performers, and must travel around the land, performing for the masses. After a time ranging between 16-25 years, the clothing, powers, and position must go to another whether willingly or not. Additionally the morality will swap between leaders. Morally pure to corrupt to our to corrupt and so on. The wearer's pre-existing morality, if against the current cycle, will conform to match up with it.

Currently the article is a top hat, and is worn by a woman known as Ringleader Regina. The cycle of morality is on the corrupt side, and she is making a case for being the cruelest ringleader the Troupe of Shadows has ever seen.

Key Individuals: Unfortunately, due to the nature of the ever-changing cast and their elusiveness, it is not definitely known who is a part of the Troupe. An interview with SCP-888 will be needed to know this information. We do, however, know who the current ringleader is.

Ringleader Regina, as mentioned prior, is the current leader of the Troupe of Shadows, and is a very cruel leader. She is reported to delight in the pain both physical and psychological that she inflicts upon her troupe. With the ability to anomalize entities, control their minds, and lure people closer akin to the Pied Piper, she is hard to approach, and even harder to defeat.

Incident Reports and Known Interactions with the Foundation: Due to their elusive nature and consistent movement, attempts to reach them are hard, and due to not wanting to be contained, the Troupe has made few moves to engage with the Foundation. Reports are included but shortened. Full reports can be accessed by the archival computers.

September 3rd, 19█5, August 4th 19█8, May 12th, 196█; on three unique occassions agents Drizell, Research Aide Jackson, and Dr. Driscoll experienced simultaneous days where there were gaps in their memories and their wallets were lighter. Given that these three never partook of drugs or alcohol, it was determined something was afoot.

Incident Report ToS 2a-2b: The Troupe fo Shadows was peacefully detained and sent to Site-███, where they performed many shows. However, a night before the leadership was to change, the then leader, Madame LeBlanc, breached containment alongside the troupe, leaving behind a hand-written apology, promising that it was safer if they left before any blood was shed.

Incident Report ToS 13-S: On [DATA EXPUNGED] SCP-978, "The Desire Camera" was stolen following an atack by the Troupe of Shadows. During their time owning it, the Troupe made a doppleganger version of the camera, with the anomaly to capture the deaths of the taker. SCP-978 was later recontained.

Incident Report ToS 24-A-C: A vehicle containing SCP-888, "The Spider-Boy" was derailed by the Troupe, causing the deaths of Agents Straum and Hoffman, and the capture of SCP-888. A rescue operation went live and Agents Sing and Zimmerman were sent to rescue him. This resulted in 888 successfully hotwiring the Foundation vehicle as Sing and Zimmerman were already turned into clowns to serve Regina. On his second day of traveling 888 was attacked by the very agents meant to help him, now know as Bing Bong and Giggles the clown. 888 critically wounded them and successfully escaped, eventually being found and brought into Foundation custody. The bodies of the clowns were absent when the cleanup crew arrived.

On July 23rd the son and daughter of Agent Mossdeep and Higgins vanished after visiting a Troupe of Shadows performance. The agents joined a search party and were eventually able to locate them again, but they was already made into sideshow performances. They were successfully recovered and made official SCPs, bearing the titles of "The Most Beautiful Thing" (daughter) and "The Blood Puppet" (Son).

Interactions with other Groups of Interest: The following is the known list of GOIs the Troupe of Shadows has interacted with.

Brunshire Academy for the Anomalously Gifted, Deer College, and Kretchmar College: Negative terms. The Troupe of Shadows has frequently kidnapped students and made them performers. All schools have their alumni seeking the students that have been taken.

Dr. Wondertainment: Unlike Herman Fuller, the Ringleader decided to attack the Wondertainment factory to abduct the Little Misters. This siege failed thanks to the very individuals the Troupe wanted to abduct.

Herman Fuller's Circus of the Disquieting: Negative terms. The Troupe and Circus are fierce rivals that often end interactions with bloodshed. It's unknown if this animosity still exists after the Circus's leadership change

Snapdragon Smugglers: The Troupe frequently exchanges goods and services through them. It's rumored that the Troupe hands off low-performing acts to the Smugglers to sell.

Gallery a la Mort: A Ringleader once tried to buy "Easel". Unsuccessful.

Serpent's Hand: Mixed feelings. Ringleader Corrin has donated books and the statue of Lady Midnight to the Library. Years later RIngleader Jezebel attacked the Library and cursed the Book of the Troupe, causing all its pages to fall out and be scattered throughout the world

Church of the High Moon/Children of the Deep Woods: Antagonistic. The Troupe has kidnapped members and forced them to perform.

Flora Fighters: Antagonistic. The Troupe has tried numerous times to kidnap a single member. All ended in death.

West Virginia Bug Committee: Interactions have been made in the past, mostly antagonistic. Several bug-related performers vanished and joined the Committee, most likely a jailbreak.

Final Opinion: The Troupe of Shadows is a highly dangerous Group of Interest that should NOT be engaged with on your own or without permission from the higher ups. If you come across the Troupe, evacuate your location immediately and contact the nearest Foundation location.

You cannot defeat the Troupe, do not risk becoming another asset for them to use and abuse.

[citylawns]

could you recommend some books to read during the winter? i remember you published an article on spring journal about autumn literature recommendations!

In winter I’d highly recommend getting very cosy with a Charles Dickens. His work is plot heavy with strange characters, written episodically, very thick books too. I feel like in winter you need something to distract you from the shit weather. I loved reading him while tucked up in bed with a hot drink or at the pub even if it’s busy with Guinness and some salty crisps. If you don’t gel with his fiction he was also an incredible journalist before becoming an writer. Another great author who has loads of works you can get lost in is Franz Kafka - disturbing, bizarre, deeply engrossing. If you’ve read The Trial, Metamorphosis and In The Penal Colony I’d suggest checking out his short stories and last novel The Castle which never finished - this is one I also started and never finished lol but I was really enjoying it.

Some random recommendations:

If On A Winters Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

But my absolute love and favourite to read in the winter is Dostoyevsky. Crime and Punishment was genuinely one of my favourite reads of the past few years and I’m going to take my time with reading the rest of his work, very eager to read The Brothers Karamazov this autumn and winter.

[thevida]

The Infamous Side of Chicago

Chicago, the Windy City, is renowned for its rich history, iconic architecture, and vibrant cultural. However, it also harbors a darker side that has captivated the imagination of people for generations.

The Mob and the Prohibition Era Chicago's history is intertwined with organized crime, particularly during the Prohibition era of the 1920s. Figures like Al Capone and Johnny Torrio achieved notoriety for their involvement in illegal activities, including bootlegging and the operation of speakeasies. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, a brutal gangland killing, remains one of the city's most infamous events.

Political Corruption Chicago has been no stranger to political scandals and corruption. Names like Rod Blagojevich, who attempted to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat, and former Mayor Richard J. Daley, accused of voter fraud and nepotism, linger in the city's political annals.

The Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 is a tragic event etched into the city's history. It resulted in extensive destruction and left thousands homeless. Although the fire was not deliberately set, its infamy arises from its devastating impact on the city.

Haunted Legends Chicago boasts several reputedly haunted locations, such as the Congress Plaza Hotel, known for ghostly sightings, and Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, a burial ground with eerie stories of paranormal activity. These tales contribute to Chicago's mystique.

Gangland Tours For those intrigued by Chicago's dark past, gangland tours offer an opportunity to explore infamous crime scenes and hear captivating stories about the city's underworld. These tours visit places like the Biograph Theater, where John Dillinger met his end, and the former site of the Lexington Hotel, Al Capone's headquarters.

The Dark Legacy of H.H. Holmes Herman Webster Mudgett, alias H.H. Holmes, ranks among America's first serial killers. His "Murder Castle" in Chicago, where he lured and killed numerous victims during the 1893 World's Fair, is a chilling chapter in the city's history.

While Chicago is undoubtedly celebrated for its positive attributes, its notoriety adds depth to its character. These infamous tales, whether involving mobsters, political scandals, or haunted locales, have become integral to the city's narrative.

[sophia-sol]

Books I read in 2022!

I spent a lot of this year messing with my brain chemicals, in order to find a medication that worked well for me, and what that means is that I spent a lot of this year varyingly exhausted, out of it, too anxious to function, and a bunch of states in between. So I kind of feel like my reading this year was all over the place too, as a result. But I still somehow managed to do a fair amount of reading! Did you know: I like books. I like books a lot.

Books read: 104

Rereads: 20

Books with male authors: 18

Books with female authors: 83

Books with nonbinary authors: 5

Books with authors of colour: 46

5-star books: 18

4-star books: 48

3-star books: 36

2-star books: 2

1-star books: 0

This year and going forward I plan to not think about these numbers in the context of percentage of books read. I have realised that that approach is unhelpful to me, and too often leads to me choosing to not read anything at all if I don't have something appealing on hand that will increase the percentages on the Morally Correct Stats. It's good to read diversely! But it's also good to just....actually read.

Here's the list of all the books I read this year! Please feel free to talk to me about them! I love talking about books!

January

February

*** A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie Little Badger

**** Heartstopper volume 3, by Alice Oseman

**** The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System volume 1, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

*** This Poison Heart, by Kalynn Bayron

**** The Flatshare, by Beth O'Leary

*** The Kingdoms, by Natasha Pulley

***** Vespertine, by Margaret Rogerson

*** Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom, by Sangu Mandanna

March

**** Chaos on Catnet, by Naomi Kritzer

**** The Jasmine Throne, by Tasha Suri

**** A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske

*** Heartstopper volume 4, by Alice Oseman

*** Tidesong, by Wendy Xu

**** Almost American Girl, by Robin Ha - nf

**** The Legend of Auntie Po, by Shing Yin Khor

April

*** A Spindle Splintered, by Alix E Harrow

** Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

*** The Complete Debarkle: Saga of a Culture War, by Camestros Felapton

- nf

**** Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism, by Elsa Sjunneson

- nf

***** The Terracotta Bride, by Zen Cho

*** Victories Greater than Death, by Charlie Jane Anders

***** Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

**** The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, volume 2, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

**** Where the Wild Ladies Are, by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton

*** Race the Sands, by Sarah Beth Durst

May

*** Dracula, by Bram Stoker

**** Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao

***** Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff

**** The Past is Red, by Catherynne M Valente

June

***** All the Horses of Iceland, by Sarah Tolmie

***** Favourite Folktales, translated by [redacted]

*** The Hellion's Waltz, by Olivia Waite

*** The Magnolia Sword, by Sherry Thomas

July

***** The Blue Castle, by Lucy Maud Montgomery

***** Siren Queen, by Nghi Vo

*** Swim Team, by Johnnie Christmas

***** Make, Sew and Mend, by Bernadette Banner

- nf

*** The Grief of Stones, by Katherine Addison

*** Swan Lake: Quest for the Kingdoms, by Rey Terciero

***** Spirits Abroad, by Zen Cho

**** Me and White Supremacy, by Layla F Saad - nf

*** Fevered Star, by Rebecca Roanhorse

**** A Mirror Mended, by Alix E Harrow

**** Outcast, by Rosemary Sutcliff

*** Song for a Dark Queen, by Rosemary Sutcliff

**** The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, by Zen Cho

***** The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, Volume 3 - Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

*** The Last Mapmaker, by Christina Soontornvat

*** 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne

August

*** Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de Bodard

*** Birds Through an Opera-Glass, by Florence A. Merriam

- nf

***** A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine

*** Soulstar, by CL Polk

**** The Odyssey, by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

**** Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës, by Isabel Greenberg

*** Have His Carcase, by Dorothy Sayers

September

**** Moby-Dick; or, the Whale, by Herman Melville

*** Folktales of Japan, edited by Keigo Seki, translated by Robert J Adams

***** The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P Djèlí Clark

***** The Black God's Drums, by P Djèlí Clark

**** The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden

*** Skin of the Sea, by Natasha Bowen

**** When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller

**** Squire, by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh

*** The Girl in the Tower, by Katherine Arden

***** Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding, by Kenn Kaufman

- nf

*** The Winter of the Witch, by Katherine Arden

**** Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

** A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, by Foz Meadows

October

**** Empire of Sand, by Tasha Suri

**** Last Night at the Telegraph Club, by Malinda Lo

**** Realm of Ash, by Tasha Suri

***** Ducks, by Kate Beaton

**** Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

**** Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

**** Radcliffe Hall, by Miyuki Jane Pinckard

*** The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik

*** Sailor's Delight, by Rose Lerner

**** The Wife in the Attic, by Rose Lerner

*** Sisters of the Vast Black, by Lina Rather

*** Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages

**** A Taste of Honey, by Kai Ashante Wilson

November

*** The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, Volume 4, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

**** Into the Riverlands, by Nghi Vo

***** Ocean's Echo, by Everina Maxwell

**** Dracula, by Bram Stoker, edited by Matt Kirkland (Dracula Daily)

*** The Black Tides of Heaven, by Neon Yang

**** Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, by Kai Ashante Wilson

*** Moira's Pen, by Megan Whalen Turner

**** Heaven Official's Blessing, Volume 1, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

**** Heaven Official's Blessing, Volume 2, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

**** Heaven Official's Blessing, Volume 3, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

**** Heaven Official's Blessing, Volume 4, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

December

**** Illuminations, by T Kingfisher

**** Heaven Official's Blessing, Volume 5-8, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

**** The Ramsay Scallop, by Frances Temple

**** Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

**** Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night, by Iona Datt Sharma and Katherine Fabian

**** Island of Ghosts, by Gillian Bradshaw

***** Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein

*** Schemes of the Wayfarer, by Drew Sarkis