#I can think of quite a few queer historicals

[rosesutherlandwrites]

Unexpected horror unlocked: folks keep asking me to recommend books, often by tying them back to my own book in some way. I am now forced to to contend with queer historical maritime folktales being rather niche, alongside the fact that anytime someone asks me what books I have read recently my immediate response is "I have never seen a book in my life, what the fuck is a book"

[drchucktingle]

work of jordan peele is BIG influence on chuck this is correct. there are quite a few similarities actually, especially when you consider both of us are coming to horror from place of comedy (i personally do not see tinglers as comedy but obviously this timeline has placed them there and i am perfectly okay with this trot).

we are both creating horror stories for our own historically marginalized groups and in particular, writing stories that are SPECIFIC to those groups.

for example when thinking about QUEER HORROR there is plenty of queer horror where the horror itself has nothing to do with queerness, or the queerness is subtext. for instance you could have a slasher where the main characters happen to be gay, but their queerness is not necessarily part of the fear.

on the other hand, CAMP DAMASCUS is directly commenting on a queer issue

BURY YOUR GAYS is directly commenting on a queer issue

by the same token GET OUT is directly commenting on a race issue

US is directly commenting on a class issue which is, of course, going to be wrapped up in topics of race and marginalization

it should be said that the other kinds of horror where issues of the marginalized groups is more in the SUBTEXT are not wrong. there is a time and a place for that. the book that will likely be chucks next horror novel is about bi erasure, but it is much more about the subtext and symbolism. there is a bi lead, but also a monster that does not seem to be about bi erasure AT FIRST. it is much less direct. so there is a time and a place for both kinds of approaches.

but i think the biggest thing that is similar about jordan and chucks approach (and what has been a big influence on me specifically) is that our goal is NOT: 'how HORRIFYING AND TRAUMATIC AND MESSED UP CAN WE MAKE THIS?'

we are doing something else

processing trauma by exposure can be a common goal for horror AND honestly i think it is also totally dang fine to make art like this. there are some incredible pieces where trauma and tragedy is the goal. however (and i will speak for myself here) when you are coming from a buckaroo community that has been through so much of this trauma in real life, i PERSONALLY find that goal to be a little too boring.

my goal is more like this: how can we use this genre of fear and tension that i love to comment and explore and say something new? how can i pull apart an issue and deconstruct it in a way that is cathartic and maybe even changes minds?

so i cannot speak for jordan but i feel like our approaches are similar in this way. i see a LOT of reviews that make comparisons between CAMP DAMASCUS and GET OUT and i am always very flattered

[allwaswell16]

A fic rec of One Direction fics that are hidden gems - amazing fics that have been a bit overlooked and as of the time I made this rec have less than 200 kudos - as requested in an ask that Tumblr has whisked into the abyss. If you enjoy the fics, please leave kudos and comments for the writers! You can find my other recs here. Happy reading!

- Louis/Harry -

💎 Into the Weeds by kair0sclerosis

(M, 87k, small town au) With the help of the captivating bartender, Louis, who he can’t seem to stop daydreaming about, and his enchanting group of friends; Harry remembers what it is to be alive. This is a story about small-town secrets, found family, queer identities, and the battle between fight and flight.

💎 don't be afraid to love (and love again) by localopa / @voulezloux

(E, 83k, angst) the one where louis is trans and afraid, harry is cis and brave, and being 100% yourself is easier said than done.

💎 When the Lights Go Out by thelarenttrap / @antidotetogo

(E, 79k, F1 au) In its near eighty years of existence, Formula 1 has never had an out gay driver. In 2017, Harry Styles signs a contract with Scuderia AlphaTauri alongside his childhood friend and competitor, Louis Tomlinson. The next decade of their careers is some of the most tumultuous press--on and off the track--Formula 1 has ever seen.

💎 Your A-Team, Your Endgame by @silverkiiwii

(E, 70k, reality show au) a Next In Fashion au where Louis and Harry are partnered in the competition but they do not get along when they have to if they want to win. Full of fashion, banter, misunderstanding and a whole lot of making each other blush.

💎  Suddenly Last Summer by @disgruntledkittenface

(E, 44k, mystery) Suddenly he has someone who listens to him and cares about what he thinks. Someone who really sees him. But their happily ever after is forever marred by an incident at a party during Labor Day weekend, and Louis is left with a choice to make.

💎 Train Tracks and Porcelain by @jaerie

(E, 41k, historical circus au) Shadows were forming into people and things and, there in the middle of it, Louis watched the humongous head of an elephant emerge from a box car right in front of his eyes. Or a Water For Elephants inspired AU

💎 Mind of Stone by amomentoflove / @daggerandrose

(M, 41k, mythology au) He needs to find a way back home, and then figure out what the fuck happened at the bar tonight.

💎 time to buy and time to lose by 5sexualhomos / @hogwartzlou

(T, 25k, time travel) Over the years, Harry’s father has played many pranks on him, but this is a whole new level. Where did he even come up with this idea? An AU based on the movie About Time.

💎 From Christiania with love by @sweariwouldnt

(NR, 18k, friends to enemies to lovers) It's Louis' first field training day as a future police officer. It doesn't quite go to his plan. Or, maybe, it goes exactly to some bigger plan.

💎 Camboy on Lockdown (series) by @reminiscingintherain

(E, 12k, camboy Louis) While Louis was working on the final draft of his thesis for his Master's, the world went into lockdown around him without him realising. Now he's trapped in student accommodation, and needs a way to earn some money...

💎 it's time to find your wings again by we_are_the_same / @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed

(T, 12k, prison guard Louis) His fascination for supernatural creatures had turned into something most closely resembling loathing over the years, due to the many stories of their evildoing, and although he still doesn’t believe in hanging them for their crimes, he does believe in keeping the town safe.

💎 Heart of a Lion (With Metal in His Teeth) by graceling_in_a_suit

(M, 8k, sci fi) Harry is an Android. Louis is his target: a revolutionary leader trying to free his people.

💎 Grow as We Go by @larryatendoftheday

(T, 7k, breakup) a fic about growing up and choosing each other.

💎 But he talks like a gentleman by fondlelarry / @fondofstyles

(NR, 7k, humor) “I had a few too many drinks, ate a bad kebab, rang a bunch of doorbells till someone let me in, vomited in his toilet, stole his orange juice and crashed on his sofa. He woke me up with breakfast though, so I’d say it’s alright.”

💎  What we parted ways with by louisismycat / @liminalkittyfics

(M, 6k, exes) Alpha Harry is surprised to see omega Louis at his matchmaker’s cocktail party for millionaires. Years ago when they were together, Louis loathed schmoozefests with rich people.

💎 Pretty and Preposterous by @brightlyharry

(NR, 5k, neighbors) Harry donates a copy of Pride and Prejudice to his little free library. He never expects what comes next.

💎 old macdonald had a farm by vintagehistories / @adoredontour

(NR, 5k, animal direction) Louis is a hedgehog, Harry is a fish, Niall is a parrot, Liam is a golden retriever, and Zayn is Zayn. It’s a crazy twenty-four hours.

💎 Dirty Diana by yeah_alright / @uhoh-but-yeah-alright

(E, 3k, kink) In the month leading up to his 30th birthday, Harry writes to his confidante Diana every day, sharing his fantasies about Louis.

💎 Pussy Juice by @homosociallyyours

(M, 3k, girl direction) While she manages to dodge the bar's "special" drink, the Pussy Juice shot, she can't avoid the feelings that come up when her former teacher (and teen crush), Louis joins her and her friends for the night.

💎 the blue never-ending sky by @justanothershadeofblue

(T, 3k, epistolary) “Arizona?” Louis asked, and Harry made an affirmative noise from his position on top of his twin bed. “Wouldn’t know, would I?”

💎 Harry, That Kills People by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

(T, 2k, organized crime/crack) If there’s one thing that Harry hates, it’s getting his clothes dirty. If there’s one other thing that Harry hates, it’s murder.

💎 As Luck Would Have It by @justalittlelouislove

(T, 2k, humor) We've all experienced the trials and tribulations of technology. Louis is sabotaged by a bit of unhelpful autocorrect, but maybe luck is on his side after all.

💎 If I Can't Have You by Janie_17

(T, 2k, fwb) After Harry turns him down, going out for Karaoke is the last thing Louis wants to do, but his friends are persuasive. When Harry shows up with Nick Grimshaw in tow, his evening goes from bad to worse. But will his choice of song manage to turn things around?

💎 Needle by @nouies

(NR, 666 words, fantasy) “You didn’t deserve this,” he muttered between hiccups. “She didn’t have the right.”

💎 Insomnis by @kingsofeverything

(NR, 500 words, science fiction) Harry’s been having trouble sleeping. Louis makes everything better.

- Rare Pairs -

💎 Eight Days by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13

(T, 22k, Liam/Louis) Louis and Liam got hitched in Vegas, completely forgot about it for more than a decade, and it comes back to bite them. Sort of.

💎 You Are A Song by @lululawrence

(NR, 3k, Louis/Nick Grimshaw) To Louis, Nick felt like poetry in motion. He was a bit of chaos surrounding Louis’ otherwise monotonous days, and Louis was quickly becoming addicted.

💎 get my kicks like you by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf

(E, 3k, OT5) “Wait,” Liam had said. “You all jerked it at Niall’s?”

💎 Ink on Your Fingers, Ink on My Skin by Layne Faire / @laynefaire

(E, 1k, Zayn/Liam) Liam gets tattoos for the thrill of it.

[watchingblsnowandforever]

Why We Are isn't just a fluffy no-plot show

I just read this post by @twig-tea, which honestly is a very well written, thought out post and I'd recommend giving it a read, it brings up many pertinent questions.

Having said that, I want to make just a small interjection as someone who really enjoyed We Are. This isn't just a biased view of why We Are is good - it has quite a few faults too. [can't even write a post without- *grumbling* so sorry my cat was prancing all over the bed threatening to pee] Where was I- yes. What I'm trying to say through this post is that We Are is queer in it's own right and while it might not match up to some of the greats of our time (Bad Buddy) it does resonate with a lot of queer people (including me.)

I myself asked @desi-yearning why I liked We Are. I was rewatching the show so at the time it was a sort of rhetorical question, but then I really thought about it. Why do I like We Are? The answer I arrived it is not as simple as I'd though it be (that it's a good fluffy show).

I am out and proud as a fluff enjoyer. I know angst reflects real world struggles and what queer people have to go through on a regular basis. I don't like angst but the why is a story for another time. Historically though, it's not that I've never watched angst or enjoyed it (I entered the bl world with KinnPorsche so-) but it's more a personal choice.

Now, coming to We Are specifically, I was actually skeptical all the way till episode 5 or 6, I think. I don't remember specifically what happened, but by ep 8 I was hooked.

All that rambling aside, here are the reasons why I think maybe We Are isn't just a no-plot fluff show:

Fans are actually leaning towards high stakes shows. GMMTV usually pretty accurately represents the wants of the bl-fan demographic (they have to, to earn the most profit) and it has slowly been turning towards ansgty, hard "real-world" (though this time with all the fate stuff and tarot cards it's more "we have nothing else to produce please give us your money") shows (whether they are well done or not, however, is another question altogether). I know that's a bit of an assumption but from meta on tumblr too, I get the same feeling. Therefore, We Are was a bit of a dark horse. P'New himself said, in almost all interviews that he never expected We Are to be commercially successful, he just made it because he wanted to. So... why?

Couple pairings. I have a LOT of beef with GMMTV. Much of it stems from their couple pairing strategy. While I do have my favourite pairing(s) (and I hate it because it means those capitalist idiots have been successful in their matchmaking scheme), I absolutely detest them overworking these pairings to produce commercially successful shows that are actually hollow. We Are, however, introduced a new pairing that was, by some, even more loved than the 'main' couple. For me, personally, I actually had very little idea about the other pairings too. I had seen PondPhuwin in NLMG but it was a high-angst show that made me queasy and I did not look further than what the show gave me. I had seen AouBoom as side couples but had hardly paid them any mind more than to maybe say "oh they're cute". I had seen WinnySatang in MSP and a couple more sides but I wasn't entirely convinced by that either. I only learnt more about them during or after the show, so they had less than nothing to do with me watching We Are. Alternatively, MLMU Th was disappointing for me, and I love GeminiFourth. When I watch a show, I do pay attention to the pairings, but that's not the only thing that can carry a show for me.

Friendship. This is a big one. I'm in college. Friendship is a very big, very important part of college/uni. I've never had many friends and honestly did enter college mentally prepared to go through all four years alone. But then I made friends. I just- they are so important to me. I know I'm maybe not as important to them as they are to me but I know they'll help me out when I ask. So when I saw this little show about friendship as a central point, I embraced it hard and cried about it at night. If you peel off the few outer layers, at it's core, it's all about friends. And that just got to me. It was more found family adjacent which is also a soft spot of mine. It's about not taking friendship for granted, about cherishing what you have, about putting your friends first, and always being there for them.

Queer representation. We Are examines overused tropes in a new light. Big example of this is how Peem/Phum could have very easily turned into a dark, toxic relationship. Even a few years back, it would have. But it didn't. We understood why Phum was the way he was. And Peem was never for a moment shown to be anything but his equal or tolerating any of his bullshit (even during the slave era he made it abundantly clear to Phum that this was wrong and if he really didn't want to, he wouldn't be doing it. He specifically told Phum to not let Peem's friends know because Peem knew, with absolute certainty, that if they found out, Phum would be buried alive). He even called Phum out multiple times. Moreover, it is also a story about queer groups, about queer friendship, specifically. I think bls don't show that enough. Even through the hard times, we do sometimes have people to support us, be it just one fellow queer or a whole group. It is also about acceptance of self and acceptance of love. Another thing that really got to me was the friends-to-lovers arc of ChainPun. I've often had crushes on my friends, and I've either confessed long after, when I didn't like them anymore, or never confessed at all. That shit is hard. In 12th grade, I had a very embarassing crush and most of my friends knew about it, so that trope was very cathartic for me. However. I did want Phum's relationship with his estranged father to be better explored. I don't like how easily they blow that away. It has been a pattern (mentioned in the linked post) and while I love my accepting parents/guardians, I do think we do also need homophobic ones. To change older generations' mindset, I think it's better to show them initially as conservative and harsh but slowly become accepting near the end of the series because they realize that if they continue their behaviour they might just lose their loved ones for good. (Homophobic parents is also very close to my heart but I have a complicated relationship with it.)

No plot. We Are does have an idiot plot, i.e., it's character driven. But I don't think it's entirely devoid of an overarching plot/storyline. Every character does play out a little bit of plot that plays into a bigger picture. Every character has a place, a purpose. Comparing the beginning to the finale, we see the characters have changed not just due to character development, but also as a result of the characters around them and the circumstances they were placed in. And all of these characters are tied together, somehow.

I have no idea if all that makes any sense, but yeah, that's my take on it.

This post was actually sparked off by a few questions that came up after I read the post linked in the beginning; can't queer people be happy? Despite all the struggles and the suffering, can't they have a home to come to? Does queer rep always neccessarily have to be angsty with a barely-happy ending? Does our love always have to be bittersweet?

If you've read this far, thank you so much for giving my rambling a chance! =D

Please rest your eyes for a moment and remember to hydrate <3

Here, have a donut 🍩

[incesthemes]

happy (late) wincest wednesday!! what do you think sam and dean's favourite books are? which books do you think they would have inexplicable (or explicable) beef with?

i'm sure after moving around twice a month for fifteen years and having to read the same books over and over again gave them a few rivalries, lol! -lizzy :)

omg happy wincest wednesday thursday!!!! thank you, this is such an awesome prompt.

ok i think they've both probably read a lot of classic lit and stuff from the literary canon because it's the kind of thing you can find anywhere, right? it's always available in some form or another, at school or in libraries or even just as movie adaptions.

based on vibes i really want to say dean's favorite book would be on the road, both for the metatextual nod to mister eric kripke and because i think dean would relate to it (well, obviously)—and the main character is dean too :) it's cute :) i also think he'd be really into westerns; the one i've read the most of is the titus bass series by terry c. johnston so while it's not quite what i imagine dean's tastes to be (too historically accurate, too little heroism) i'll go with that one. rough, gun-slinging action and lawless heroes are right up dean's alley. the trashier, the better.

on the other end of the spectrum, i see sam being quite into gothic literature. it's relatable to his feelings of exclusion and otherness, and like any child trapped inside a horrific queer narrative i think he would relate heavily to the monsters haunting the protagonists. i can see him really liking frankenstein especially, and i also definitely think he'd have a thing for kafka. it's horrible of me, but i also think he'd be drawn to rosemary's baby, imagining (subconsciously or not) his own mother as rosemary.

importantly, i think they'd both be most drawn to narratives they see themselves in, and i think they'd be rather disinterested in stories they can't directly relate back to their lives. as a result, they probably have a LOT of overlap in the books they enjoy, but the differences are marked and striking to an almost concerning degree. nevertheless i do think they've read through a great deal of the literary canon even if they don't personally love it, simply because it's what they can get their hands on. i can definitely see dean enjoying long, heroic epics like the iliad or beowulf, while sam has certainly read dante's divine comedy cover to cover (and of course, then they switch and read the other's pick, now hundreds of miles away from the library they stole the books from).

i really want them to have some kind of ongoing discourse about east of eden in particular, just because of HOW many similarities there are between cal/dean and aron/sam. i'm trying to figure out how to articulate the nature of that discourse (dean thinks it's just like them fr fr and sam insists it's not? the other way around, perhaps—though i can't see that as clearly. perhaps a simple debate as to whether it applies to them, or which generation they see themselves in most) but i really need to see something like that.

i think sam would definitely have petty beef with supernatural stories when they get the monster lore wrong. "we already KNOW what they do, how can you be THIS wrong about it???? open a book, dumbass," and the like. dean just thinks it's awesome no matter what (as long as the monsters are the bad guys) and they definitely bicker about it incessantly. on the flip side, dean would probably turn up his nose at gothic lit quite a bunch when the monsters are portrayed sympathetically (hello again frankenstein) and would, with his best Big Brother Voice, talk down to sam about the shit propaganda he's reading. sam in turn calls him an idiot in his best Little Brother Voice and doubles down on whatever he's reading. (naturally, the conflict here is that sam sees himself as the monster and therefore sympathizes with it, whereas dean sees "sympathetic monster" and shuts down entirely via john's unquestionable training. i can't imagine dean as a kid being able to comprehend the idea of sam viewing himself as wrong or bad in any way, so the thought of sam relating to the monster simply doesn't compute.)

anyway yeah THANK YOU for this ask, i LOVE well-read and self-educated winchesters so much 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[fairy-switchblade]

Okay, so a few questions that might be asked around butch/femme culture are Why identify as butch over masc? Why are butch and femme still relevant terms now, when they’re almost 100 years old?

Here is a helpful infographic.

We have reached a stage in queer culture, as of 2023, where most aspects of the queer individuals experience are divided and categorised. We think of each individual element as a separate area of our life, and use neat terms to describe them as such. This has its uses, and is an essential process for some. However, in this case it lacks a flexibility and subtly which many people need to adequately describe their experience in a way which is empowering to them.

Now lets look at the next picture.

Butch and femme are very special because they are able to transverse not only the boundaries between gender and sexuality, but also gender roles, sexual roles as well as orientation, and our shared history. Butch is, all at once, a gender, a social role, a historic position, a sexual orientation, and a sexual role. It is necessarily fluid and ambiguous, and for this reason can be very freeing. We need to words to describe how our sense of gender and sexuality merge.

Now you could say that “queer” will do the same thing, and lots of people do prefer it which is of course, entirely up to them, and fair enough. However queer on its own will not have enough of a ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’… flavour to it, if you like, which ‘butch’ and ‘femme’ respectively do. “Masc” also does not have quite the same complexity, and from what I have seen is more specifically used to talk about gender presentation alone. There isn’t anything else quite like butch, and femme.

[adarkrainbow]

Are there fairy tales and folk tales with real queer subtext?

I always hear about the existence of fairy tales with queer subtext. I even posted a tale with a subtle lesbian subtext some years ago.

But it was one of the few I could find. This and the one with the transgender Prince Charming.

Are there more of them?

Well there are a lot of those stories around but it is hard to exactly locate and pinpoint them precisely because of how scattered they are and how usually subtle it all is. With mythology and legends of the sort you have much better chance.

Though when it comes to traditional fairytales, the ones we do have are not very queer-coded. Cinderella isn't. Snow-White isn't. Sleeping Beauty isn't. Little Red Riding Hood DEFINITIVELY is about hetero predation with nothing in it.

I did find a quite fascinating article about the lesbian reading of "Frau Trude" by the brothers Grimm! It was contained in an interesting book called "Transgressive tales: Queering the Grimm". I did think the analysis went a bit further than what it should have and some elements were really pulled by the hair, but that's very typical of a lot of scholarly analysis. I remember during my research for writing my memoir, I stumbled across a psycho-sexual analysis of "Cunning Cinders" by madame d'Aulnoy, which wanted us to believe that the oven in which the ogre was pushed was a vaginal symbol and thus the heroine killed the monster... by sex? WTF. That's clearly NOT the meaning intended.

Honestly for this kind of research, go and try to read books precisely about the analysis of queer elements or subtext in fairytales. There is a LOT of those analysis coming around and a lot of books to choose from - try to see if you can reach or access any.

The problem is that the queer elements in the "serious" or "well known" fairytales, in the European sense, are very much missing precisely due to their "classic" nature which meant if there were any, they probably ended up removed, but there probably wasn't any in the first place, else they wouldn't have become classic. It is insitutional, cultural, historical homophobia, but we're not going to remake the world and it is as it is: if you want real "queer fairytales" you have to dig up in the obscure, overseen, forgotten corners of folklore study. I made a post a long time ago about the whole case of "The Sailor and the Dog", have you seen it? Else I should sent it back to you.

There is definitively much, much more queer subtext in literary fairytales precisely due to their artificial nature and how the authors put their personal experiences in it - and it doesn't help a lot of fairytale authors were queers themselves, from the 18th century France authors nobody remembers to Andersen. In general the literary fairytales (at least those of the 17th/18th century France) LOVED to play around with deviant sexuality and erotic subtone and "perversions" of all kinds. After all, Donkey Skin is about an incestuous father! Beauty and the Beast also always was a way for people to play around with zoophilia subtexts (though today it'd just be called "furries" I guess). There is one humoristic fairytale by Catherine Bernard called "The Prince Rose-Bush", about a prince turned into a rose-tree. And the many instances of the princess being caught or hurt by his thorns, crying over his petals while hugging the plant, having her dress torn by the branches... They all clearly were meant to have a little *wink wink* at the reader. You will DEFINITIVELY find more queer subtext in fairytales that involve crossdressing as a plot device - I know French authors LOVED the idea of crossdressing for their plots (usually a woman disguised as a man) and all the romantic confusions it caused, and so you always find in there a lot of queer elements.

Though all of this stayed very VERY subtle throughout the decades, and in France we would have to wait until the second half of the 18th century when the subgenre of "bawdy fairytales" popped up and suddenly everybody was writing stories even more explicit than Basile's Pentamerone or Straparole's Facetious Nights, about men being cursed at having their penis turned into a soup-spoon or a lover being turned into a couch over which his mistress slept, and other weird stuff like that.

Which brings me to another element: the same way queer elements are going to be very hidden, subtle in commonplace and famous stories, go look for the tales of explicitely sexual nature. The dirty tales, bawdy tales, grotesque tales - they are literaly everywhere, they always existed not just in literature but also in folklore since as early as time. And precisely due to being places where everything dirty and grotesque and sexual and gory exploded - that's where you find most easily the queer presence, since everybody always loved to have "sodomy comedy" at every era.

It is not a "fairytale per se" but it is still tied to it all: Le Roman de Renart, Reynard the Fox as the English call him. His adventures and ensemble of texts is not fairytale - it is rather a different sub-genre of medieval literature and folklore... But it did seep and influence the fairytale genre heavily because more than half of the "animal tales" or "fairytales about talking animals" in those fairytale anthologies and collections are actually derived from the Fox's adventures. (You will find in almost every European country, in fairytale collections, a simplified version of Reynard tricking Isengrim in losing his tail to a frozen pond or eating too much so he can't leave the building he just entered in). And Reynard the Fox was a bisexual icon. Well... as much as a rapist, murder, scammer, thief, pathological liar, sociopath-psychopath and necromancer at times can be a bisexual icon.

Because among the many sex jokes and sexual farces of the Roman, there are several tales of Reynard sodomizing as much women as men. Most notably there was one episode of the Fox and the Hare which revolves around gay sex as a joke.

Yes, it's crude, it's dirty, it's dark and rude and there's absolutely no romance whatsoever... But it is another fact of European literature (because again, I speak for Europe here mostly): gay romance is rare, but gay sex abound ; serious queer themes are hidden and erased, but grotesque queer farces did survive to this day. It is just an old phenomenon: whenever something is morally reprehensible or disapproved by a society, it will survive in culture mostly through the comedies and what we would call today "shock value" content. A la Roman de Renart.

[majnoonathelibrarian]

Writer's Guide Presents: Good Works Chapter 9: The Best Way Out is Always Through

 Good Works Written by Majnoona

TW/CW: depressing historically accurate homophobia, messy cookie eating

Rating E for future chapters. These will be (skippable) self contained sections. Tags will be added as we get there, as well as per chapter warnings.

Summary:

It's 1987 London and anti-gay sentiment is on the rise ahead of the government's push to pass Section 28 to prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities -- including banning books and education in schools.

Why do Fell, low level government administrator caught up in an environmental corruption scandal, and Crowley, a "fixer" for a nefarious consulting company and reluctant queer community organiser, keep running into each other -- quite literally? Is it just romantic fate bringing together two middle aged "confirmed bachelors" who thought it was too late to find love, or is there some other connection? Can they figure it out? (Are they sure they want to?)

Chapter Excerpt:

The overflowing pile of files that covered his side of the shared desk was almost a welcome sight. He could lose himself in work. He didn’t need to think about anything else for a time. There had been entirely too much thinking happening the last few days. And now a tiny seed of an idea had germinated and was unfurling its way towards the sunlight, but it wouldn’t be rushed. Best not to poke at it too much. 

He hung his coat on the rack, grimacing when the oversized sticking plaster across his palm pulled against his skin, and settled into sorting priorities. 

He was head down, squinting at some poorly duplicated text when the precarious pile tipped over, spilling into a manila avalanche. Aziraphale scrambled to catch loose papers before they became separated from their folders. 

“You’re to do these. Needed ASAP. Orders from above.” The dull monotonous voice was immediately recognisable and irritating even before Aziraphale was able to sit properly back up and catch sight of the hulking, shiny-headed shape of his least liked colleague. Elijah Sandalphon wore an ill-fitting tan suit the colour of cigarette smoke stain and neon chartreuse tie along with his customary dull sneer. 

He had shoved aside the files, which Aziraphale had spent the morning organising into neat stacks (arranged by subject matter and priority), in order to dump an assortment of folders, spiral bound collections, and a few fat envelopes in the same space. 

“What’s all this?” Aziraphale spluttered, nudging a few precarious items safely back from the edge. “I wasn’t informed about any–”

“You weren’t here.” Sandalphon said with all the emotional emphasis of a bag of sand landing on wet ground.

“I had to call in sick yesterday.” Aziraphale had awoken from uneasy sleep feeling terribly under the weather on Sunday – like the start of a bad flu with sudden moments of exhaustion, body aches, and a sore throat. Monday morning he had been forced to call in sick, but by the afternoon – after copious amounts of tea with honey, a bubble bath, and avgolemono soup delivered hot from the Greek restaurant two blocks away – he started finally feeling himself again. 

“You weren’t here,” Sandalphon repeated in the same mind-numbingly dull tone. “No one else wants to deal with it and you–.”

“–weren’t here,” Aziraphale finished for him. “Yes, now it’s very clear. Thank you. I will see what I am able to get to.”

“A-sap.” Sandalphon spat as walked away, irritatingly leaving the door ajar.

Continue reading on AO3

Or start from  Chapter 1 - The 24 Hour Print Shop, July 1987

Special thanks for another great beta read by Master of Em-Dashes : On1occasionfork

@goodomensafterdark @on1occasionfork

[specializationisforinsects]

On Names, Meaning, and Self-Determination

aka ✨✨I woke up wondering about the significance of the name Anthony at three am and I'm now certifiably insane ✨✨

Good Omens is undeniably a queer allegory, and also at the heart a story about self-determination and free will. I think I’ve discovered something related to these two things that I haven’t heard anyone talk about, and it’s making me loco.

Choosing one’s own name is a very queer (often trans but more broadly queer) action; a way to assert and affirm one’s identity, often in opposition to a power structure that existed in a previous iteration of one’s life - our hero does this several times. Let’s take a closer look:

(Disclaimer: I’m using he/him for Crowley here for clarity and because the show and book often do.)

Starmaker [???] -> Crawly

We get to see Angel!Crowley, popularly called the Starmaker, in the opening shots of season two. Whatever the Starmaker's name was, he's insistent at several times throughout history that that is no longer him:

"I knew the angel you were." / "The angel you knew is not me." "You were an angel once." / "That was a very long time ago."

I love that the narrative never tells us what Angel!Crowley's name is - and I hope it bears out in season three. That's not him, and quite clearly he doesn't want to be (mistaken for) that angel ever again.

When we see him again, (chronologically) Crawly is now fallen from grace, a serpent demon, introducing himself to Aziraphale on the wall of the Garden of Eden after all that business with the apple. This is pretty clearly a callback to Genesis 3:14:

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

(Even though...chronologically...I think he had that name before tempting Eve.)

Crawly -> Crowley

In Golgotha, he cites Crawly as "too...squirming at your feet-ish" which again is not him (except for some *cough* situations into which I will not delve here) anyway

The shift from Crawly to Crowley is a subtle one, just a few letters. It speaks to me of a quiet rebellion against Hell, not changing so much that it attracts a lot of attention, but nevertheless rejecting the role Hell has cast him in.

[sorry my gifs suck so bad. It's quicker to grab a snippet than find someone else's better gifs.]

Aziraphale is surprised by this, but not unpleasantly so.

Crowley is making it clear he will only go along with Hell as far as he can. He doesn’t use their name for him, he’s not fully on their side. He still sees himself as a demon (unforgivable) but he’s taken some of his power and agency back. He won’t go blindly along with either Heaven or Hell, he’s asserting his independence.

(I don't know much about the meaning of this name, other than the fact that it's an Irish surname. Doubtless, there's some connection to Aleister Crowley. It's also apparently a maritime logistics company that will "Build and Operate the First Fully Electric U.S. Tugboat". Good for them!

It also reminds me of crows. I have a soft spot for bad boys who model their image after corvids as a defense mechanism.)

Anyway, part II. This brings us to the part that I woke up at three am thinking about.

Crowley, Anthony J.

"The famous Mr. Crowley!"

Here's what we’ve (fandom) spent a lot of time focusing on:

“What's the J for?” / “Just a J, really.”

Here's what I propose we focus on instead:

“Antony?” / “You don’t like it?” / “I didn’t say that! I’ll get used to it.”

Anthony. Why Anthony?

Anthony's not a name that appears in the Bible, but there are a few historical Anthonys we may know…

Marc Antony

(Most of this is pulled directly from wikipedia.)

Marc Antony was one of the Second Triumverate, a group of three men who ruled Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Politically there were a lot of power struggles between them, and Antony married the sister of one of the other men (Octavian) in the triumvirate, as a kind of peacekeeping political move. However, Antony’s territory included Egypt and the young queen Cleopatra.

There were a lot of wars and sieges - I’m not gonna pretend I understand it, but basically Antony was hanging out in Egypt with Cleopatra and Octavian consolidated power in Rome, and started a smear campaign against Antony.

He argued that Antony was a man of low morals to have left his faithful wife abandoned in Rome with the children to be with the promiscuous queen of Egypt. Antony was accused of everything, but most of all, of "going native", an unforgivable crime to the proud Romans. Several times, Antony was summoned to Rome, but remained in Alexandria with Cleopatra.

Going native?? Where have we heard that before?

Octavian and other Roman Senators believed that turning the hostilities towards Cleopatra as the villain would gather the most support from Romans for war. […] Octavian's publication of [Antony’s will (alleged)] which named Antony and Cleopatra's children as heirs and directed his burial in Alexandria, was used as a political weapon in Rome to declare war against Cleopatra and Egypt as a whole. Octavian, now close to absolute power, invaded Egypt in August, 30 BC. With no other refuge to escape to, Antony stabbed himself with his sword in the mistaken belief that Cleopatra had already done so. When he found out that Cleopatra was still alive, his friends brought him to Cleopatra's monument in which she was hiding, and he died in her arms.

Oof. Choosing their own side under pain of death.

St. Anthony of Padua

Okay I’m not religious, and I'm tired of spending time on catholic websites but here are a few bullet points I found to make me scream

Saint Anthony is known in Portugal, Spain, and Brazil as a marriage saint, because legends exist of him reconciling couples.

Saint Anthony of Padua is known as the patron saint of lovers, often prayed to for meeting one's soulmate or finding lost love.

Pope Leon XII referred to him as “the saint of the world.”

Anthony

We don’t learn about the name “Anthony” until 1941, meaning that Crowley chose it for himself sometime after 1862 and before 1941. During a period of separation from Aziraphale after one of their bitterest arguments, he picks a human name for himself.

So, finally (jk this was first, but…)

I looked up the meaning of the name Anthony and (allegedly) it means “highly praiseworthy” or “priceless one”.

Take a minute.

The implications of this being a name he’s chosen for HIMSELF??

That maybe he hopes Aziraphale will call him??

That, to my knowledge in the show, Aziraphale hasn’t called him??

In conclusion

(I made myself crazy with this, please scream with me a little bit? I gotta go take a shower and wash the catholic websites off.)

[lurkingshan]

Did you go into I Feel You Linger In The Air with a lot of expectations? Personally I'm a huge fan of Nonkul so when the cast was announced I was quite livid and my expectations raised a lot when the pilot trailer was dropped but Dee Hup House followed that pilot trailer with Step By Step, Show Me Love and Hidden Agenda so by the time IFYLITA aired, I felt like I had to try minimizing my expectations as much as possible because it's Tee Bundit & co. I can't quite put into words but what about IFYLITA that makes each episode builds up so well and I never really feel like it lost its pace? plot? narrative? (except for maybe a few plot threads I could overlook). What do you think Shan? What do you think are the key elements that keeps IFYLITA's narrative so engaging even though this could have been like any other modern-guy-accidentally-time-traveled-to-the-past-to-fall-in-love-with-guy-from-the-past series?

My friends can attest, I went into I Feel You Linger in the Air with unreasonably high expectations, because I fucking love historicals and time travel romances and before this year we had precious little of either from Thailand. I was so hype for this project from the moment it was announced. And then Step by Step happened and I decided to willfully ignore the Dee Hup House and Tee Bundit parts of this project in order to stay hype. Surely, it would be fine!

And it has, mostly. I can't pretend we haven't seen some Tee Bundit hallmarks in this production. For the first half of the show, he seemed pretty uninterested in the romance, focusing most of the story time on building out the side characters and the politics of the period and leaving Jom and Yai's connection underdeveloped. He has given us almost no information on the time travel mythology, so the finale will either be jam packed with last minute exposition or leave Jom/us with no real understanding of the rules of this universe. He seemed unable to figure out how to make the romance and time travel and queer politics plots co-exist, so instead he kind of chunked them out, taking them one at a time and leading to some kinks in the pacing of each given plot. He spent a lot of time very carefully building serious conflicts only to hand wave them away in one very easy denouement.

But despite all that, this show just works, doesn't it? Usually when I am picking up this many structural issues in a show, I will lose my emotional connection to the story as my brain kicks into analytical mode. But that didn't happen here. The emotions of this story stuck with me throughout; I care about all the characters, I am invested in everyone getting what they deserve, and I was sobbing my little heart out last week as Jom and Yai said their long goodbye. It's been such a beautiful journey, if imperfect, and I credit that to a few things:

Writing aside, the other aspects of this production are all around phenomenal. The cinematography, the set and costume design, the lighting, the music. It's all working together to make this time and place feel so vivid and real. It's so gorgeous to look at and the show really makes you want to just sink into it and get immersed.

Bright and Nonkul were perfectly cast in this, and they have been absolutely killing it in these roles. Jom and Yai feel so real to me, both as individuals and as a pair. I really believe in their connection, which is no small thing given the aforementioned underwriting of its development. In a story like this the romance needs to be strong enough that you believe these two would seek each other out across time and space, and I do believe it for them. A lot of that can be credited to the remarkable chemistry these two performers have built together.

The non-romance aspects of the plot are actually compelling. It's always risky to add in a bunch of side stories to a simple romance; you risk distracting from the main story in a way that actually does some damage or leaves the audience bored or confused. But here, the choices about what to add made for a compelling cast of characters, a stronger tie to real history, and an all around more queer show. I love that we got a proper lesbian romance, that we got to see an oppressed woman come into her power, that we got a het dude learning how to be an ally, and that we got to see a queer community form around and bolster Yai and Jom. It's really special and the best of what Tee's interests can lead to when he marshals them well.

So yes, I do think this show stands apart from others in this genre for what it brought to the formula that feels new and fresh. I wish it was more widely accessible because it's truly one of the most beautiful dramas I have ever seen and easily one of the best Thai shows of the year.

[amethysttribble]

Edmure judging Mae's taste in secret boyfriends because if he's gonna have one he should be dating someone cooler than that is cracking me up lol. "The problem isn't that he's gay, it's that Maglor is lame!" Like I'm actually snickering slightly audibly.

Edmure cares a lot of about his brother! He wants him to be happy! To be with someone worthy! Someone cool! And- it must be said- someone who probably fits the Westerosi idea of what the romanticized (? might not be the word I'm looking for) mlm relationship look like in Westeros.

Because I think it's worth noting that- contrary to the show's non-canon exaggerated violence around queerness- in the books there's generally a very quiet 'do not talk about this' kind of... not acceptance. But it was Barristan Selmy, the perfect old man knight himself, who said, "All of King Aegon's children married for love."

He included Prince Daeron and Jeremy Norridge in that.

And comments are made about Oberyn 'bedding both men and women', but it's not given special attention, it's part of his outlandish personality that he has relations with men openly, like he was also a sellsword and a poisoner and has eight bastard daughters and a lover who is a bastard. Ellaria being a bastard and also near his wife is treated as just as, if not more, scandalous. (Though I imagine that's because they're OPEN about their relationship)

It all strikes me as the culture in westeros treating queerness as more of a 'hush hush, inconvenient eccentricity' than any kind of scornful sin. At least, not in the way the show portrayed it. I don't imagine everyone is kind- I have Maglor say as much and Loras imply as much- but we do have quite a few implied historical accounts of gay relationships and that says to me that there's probably a... literary tradition in Westeros about 'warriors' who share a bond deeper than any man can share with a woman.

A 'classical' romance being a concept that exists in Westeros.

And I think most people who have clocked Maedhros as gay (including Catelyn and Edmure) categorize him like that. Edmure especially I think sees it as like... a knightly tale and is COUNFOUNDED and offended by Maglor being a bard asalk;fjsfd.

Catelyn perceives Maedhros choosing to marry a Frey girl as a similar kind of hard but necessary reality of life as she was expected to to fill, 'duty, family, honor', being married off to people she scarcely knew in a far away place, stripped of agency and choice for her family's gain (it's not a perfect analogy, but it makes her feels kinship with him)

That's the thing. As long as he doesn't do anything CRAZY like choose not to marry (cough Blackfish cough) and eschew his duties to House Tully in producing an heir, and keeps his affairs *quiet* its only tad more scandalous than him having a long term lover whose a woman.

Anything more than that would not be met with the same quiet acceptance.

And that, I think, is the cruel part. People look at Maedhros (and Renly, and Loras, and Oberyn) and think: you can have your eccentricities and indulgences, as long as they're quiet and don't interfere with what polite society expects of you.

So yeah... not violent and angry kind of rejection, but a quieter, cold kind.

ANYWAY you didn't ask for this rant! Was just on my mind. Thanks for sparking the thoughts!

[damsels-n-dice]

For the tarot ask game: the Heirophant and the Sun!

The Hierophant — Who is a fellow game designer you’ve learned a lot from? OR What is a piece of popular wisdom about games you think is nonsense?

i have a horrible memory, particularly for names, so i'm not confident in my ability to point at anyone in particular as a source of knowledge or inspiration. (that being said, i am going to shout out J.N. Butler purely for giving me the confidence to put price tags on my games). so i suppose i have to talk about popular wisdom... and pretend i know what that actually is, as someone who's still new to game design

i suppose i'd like to see more people and games blurring the line between game master and player? i very much view a game master as just a player with a slightly different role, and i see quite a few games that forget that game masters are playing the game too! or games that do away with them entirely, which is fine, but i do love running games. give me more games with multiple game masters, or where people swap in and out of the role, or where the "standard" responsibilities of that role are challenged somehow.

(if i'm just looking at the wrong kind of games, i'd love to see ones with the sort of thing i'm talking about! recs are so welcome)

The Sun — Talk about a game you’ve made that you’re proud of.

i was so hoping for this question!!! most of my game design in the past has been lyric games, solo games, or very short multi-player games. i'm a full-time student and have an irl job too, so those formats (200 word, one page, solo games) are easier with my limited time. but i've been wanting for ages to write myself a "proper", lengthier game.

i finally did that last month, in the form of 'til it kills us, my entry for the queer wrath jam! it's inspired by some of my favourite stories (both ones i wrote and ones other people did) and it's about 15x longer than anything else i've written. it was a massive labour of love, and it's still a work in progress! i'll be starting playtesting for it soon.

not only am i proud of it because of the amount of effort and the size of it, though -- it's also my favourite concept for a game i've worked on! the playbooks, each based on an emotion and the kind of magic i imagine that emotion would create, are so much fun to write. many of them are based on a combination of characters i love, real people i know who fit the archetypes, and just a very vivid imagination.

it's the best thing i've made so far, and i'm hoping the next thing i release will live up to the standards that this one set for me!

(and that i can get some equally cool art for it)

(honorable mention also to my lyric game defensive programming! i'll be the first to admit that it's barely a lyric game, let alone an actual playable game, but it was so much fun to write. i love lyric games as writing exercises, working in interesting metaphors and historical/literary references. and this one has by far the most frequent and most interesting stuff going on in terms of references and wordplay!)

[acmoorereadsandwrites]

Books to Try if You Loved Miraculous Ladybug

The way I have always viewed media is that it’s stories, first and foremost, and then the medium comes next. Medium can make a lot of difference in how stories are told, with visual media working quite well for the superhero genre and interiority shining in the written format. I want to draw attention to books that I think lovers of certain stories would also enjoy while also throwing in a few extras along the way and highlighting a diverse range of authors and genres.

If you loved the romance between a biracial artist and someone who likes science, try:

Red String Theory by Lauren Kung Jessen

Rooney Gao grew up the daughter of a famous artist and wants to make a name for herself in the art world independent of her mother, going by the moniker Red String Girl. Drawing from Chinese folklore about the red string of fate, Rooney also follows ideas of destiny in many aspects of her life, including love. Jack Liu is a scientist at NASA who is perfect for Rooney, but his own insecurities and resistance to fate might be enough to keep them apart.

If you loved the Parisian setting and strong fashion components, try:

If I Promise You Wings by A. K. Small

A. K. Small spent part of her life in the Sacré-Cœur of Paris and you can feel the city come alive in her story of grief and moving on. Alix Leclaire has graduated high school and lands her dream job at the Mille et une Plume, a feather boutique that plays a part in the haute couture fashion scene. Despite her happiness, the loss of her best friend is still a fresh wound for Alix to heal from.

If you loved the Parisian setting and the exploration of a character with anxiety, but want more of the Eiffel Tower and a Queer historical bent, try

The Paris Affair by Maureen Marshall

Fin Tighe is working for Gustave Eiffel as they work to build the Eiffel Tower in time for the World’s Fair. But as the illegitimate son of an English earl with no other heirs, the guardian of a ballerina cousin who wants to focus on her craft, and the love interest of a member of the Parisian elite, Fin and his anxiety are going to be tested in ways he never thought possible.

If you loved the dynamic of Adrien coming from a famous family and Marinette coming from a working class family with the struggles of making friendships, try

Love at First Knight by Megan Clawson

When Daisy Hasting, LARPer enthusiast from a family of LARPer enthusiasts, is volunteered to be a temporary knight at the Tower of London for a summer camp, the last thing she expects it to find love, let alone with a member of the royal family.

If you liked the secret identities but want a more grounded romance, try

Maya’s Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja

School teacher Maya Mirza has agreed to an arranged marriage with her friend from college, but on her way to Pakistan, she Sarfaraz, a Pakistani-Canadian divorce lawyer who is cynical towards love and romance. Both keep meeting up as roadblock after roadblock appears on their way to Pakistan.

If you loved the magical girl elements, but want an adult POV, try

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon trans. Anton Hur

When the protagonist is told that she is the legendary Magical Girl of Time, she’s thrust into the world of women with superpowers. From job expos to credit card debt to discussions around climate change to conversations surrounding grief and loss, this is the perfect book for people who grew up on the magical girl genre.

Bonus:

If you liked the monsters being people the MCs know and are impacted by strong feelings, try:

Princess Tutu

When Ahiru is transformed from a duck into the magical girl Princess Tutu to save Prince Mytho, she has to fight her own friends and grow closer to enemies to accomplish her goals, even at the risk of breaking her own heart. A metacontextual examination of opera, ballet, fairy tales, and broader storytelling, Princess Tutu scratches the Miraculous itch while also doing something wholly new.

You can also find this post on substack under:

[carriagelamp]

I think I accidentally hit my reading quota in July because in August I ended up doing every else except reading! And then September just got too busy. But I managed to scrape up a handful of books for the pat few months a few quite good and some rather overwhelmingly lacklustre...

The Alchemy of Moonlight

Well, we’re off to an auspicious start because this book was genuinely awful. It was a complete impulse purchase and gave me a very sharp reminder about judging books by their covers. After reading A Marvellous Light last month I was in the mood for more queer period romance and this one had ALL that plus a werewolf to boot! Sounds fun! I could use a fun summer impulse read! But sadly it committed what is, in my opinion, the single greatest sin a historical fiction novel can do, which is that it read completely and entirely like a modern novel. 

There was almost zero effort to make the vocabulary or cadence fit that of novels from that time period (and like, I’m not expecting perfect, I'm hardly an expert, but I regularly read fanfiction written in better pastiche than this. Les Mis and Sherlock Holmes fandoms, you guys have spoiled me). The characters also don’t act in historically appropriate ways, they were allowed to get way too familiar with each other way too quickly with zero regard to social class. And I can’t believe I’m saying this but I could have actually used a touch more homophobia -- guys, just a bit of internalised homophobia, even just the acknowledgement that societal pressures affect people. 

(also this getting described as a gothic horror? fuck off gothic horror is more than a spoopy house, where is the absolute overwhelming terror of the vast Sublime?? i was not forced to read frankenstein three fucking times for school to accept something this lame trying to describe itself as "gothic".)

I tossed this one in my local little free library and I hope it goes to someone who is less of a picky bastard when it comes to historical narration.

American Girl: Kaya and Lone Dog // A Spy on the Homefront: A Molly Mystery

Two more American Girl novels that I’ve read, one about Kaya, an indigenous girl form the Nimíipuu tribe in 1764 and the story about her missing her sister and befriending a lone dog who gives birth to puppies. Like the other books I’ve read from this series, I thought it was quite well done. It didn’t shy away from challenging topics (her sister being enslaved and how that loss has affected Kaya) and drew me along for the entire plot of the book. It was charming.

The other one I read was another from the Mystery series of books. Sadly I’m thinking that the entire Mystery series of American Girl books may just be lacklustre. Like the Kit Mystery I read a while back, this one had a decent concept, explored the time period (WWII) in an interesting way, but had abysmal pacing for a mystery novel. It was not very good at creating or maintaining tension, and minimal effort to actually give a reader any clues to track. It wasn’t a bad story, especially for a kid, but it was nothing special.

Annie: An Old-Fashioned Story

After rewatching the musical Annie I decided I needed to read the novel, because I love a novelization! Me and my girlfriend have been slowly reading this together over the past few months and it’s been really enjoyable. Annie is a spunky orphan girl during the Depression is eventually taken in by billionaire industrialist Oliver Warbucks. This book gives a lot more backstory to Annie, and really stretches out the time between her running away from the orphanage and her meeting Warbucks. It was a pretty interesting and unflinching look at the hardships suffered by a parentless child like Annie during the Depression. It added a lot that the film didn’t have, and was well worth the read.

Camp Damascus

Possibly my favourite book from this review. I’d never read a Chuck Tingle book before, since I don’t tend to veer overmuch into erotica, but since this was his first “traditionally published” novel I thought now was the time to give it a go. And I have to say, I was genuinely amazed! Chuck Tingle is an incredibly compelling writer, his narration is just beautiful, I wanted to sink into it and get lost. I’m going to have to read more of his books now.

For those who haven’t heard of Camp Damascus, it’s a queer horror novel that’s based around religious horror. Normally religious horror doesn’t do it for me (I have zero interest in or fear of possession) but this one had a very different twist on that narrative. Though demons still featured in the story, the entire premise was built around the concept of religious trauma as horror, and the metaphors created by the demons as it explored themes of leaving religion, self-identity, indoctrination, queer identity and conversion therapy was honestly just breath-taking. My biggest recommendation this time around, I could hardly put it down.

Doctor Who: The Clockwise Man

Another fun Doctor Who novel with an enjoyable mystery about a mysterious political prisoner from space. It wasn’t a world changing novel, but it was a very solidly written 9 and Rose adventure, I enjoyed having the audiobook on while I drove.

Delicious Monsters

Another severe disappointment, unfortunately. I went in really wanting to like this book! I was in the mood for another horror novel after Camp Damascus, it was touted as being like The Haunting of Hill House (superb novel) with a House As Metaphor For Our Trauma And Horror which is a bend to horror I really enjoy. Sadly, despite a fairly interesting premise, the pacing and narrative voice was… rough. It was told from two different points of view, one in the future and one in the past that was slowly piecing together the mystery of what happened at this house, but the narrative voices were so similar it didn’t feel like two distinct entities. Neither made me excited for POV changes. The narration was also very heavy handed in the messages it was trying to send — all good messages, but with no faith that the reader would be able to interpret them on their own without it being repeated explicitly over and over. It all felt very bogged down and repetitive and frankly a little insulting to the reader's intelligence. I gave up on it about halfway through despite really liking the first quarter of the book.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation comic v2

More Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation! Because I’m hooked! Very much enjoying the comic version that’s been coming out, the art is very nice and it's fun to re-experience the beginning of the novel now that I know the characters and all the background information that was so mysterious the first time around.

Heaven Official’s Blessing v1

I have finished the main series of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation so I’ve decided to move on to another series by the same author since I’ve been enjoying the style. This series starts off with a “Laughingstock” of the gods, someone who has ascended to godhood twice already and been cast out of Heaven twice as well. The story starts with his third ascension and everyone in Heaven is pretty over it, especially when his third ascension ends up causing chaos in Heaven. He’s chronically unlucky but has an attitude that’s largely willing to go with the flow so when he's given a job to help repay the debt his ascension acrued him he agrees to descend to the Mortal Realm and investigate the disappearance of brides.

Along the way he picks up a couple junior officials who are reluctantly sent along to help and lend him spiritual power, since his own is sealed, as well as a strange youth in red who seems to know more than he should and is perhaps the only person who doesn't treat him scornfully.

The pacing of book one was interesting… it drew me along and had me chuckling frequently, especially with some of the interesting characters that are introduced, but I definitely didn’t feel fully “connected” with the characters or plot just yet. Still, I’m intrigued for book two and trust the author enough to go along for the ride until things start clicking!

James and the Giant Peach

Roald Dahl’s classic story about James Henry Trotter who, after the death of his parents, is forced to live with his two horrid aunts. Isolated from any potential friends, all alone at the top of the hill with his aunts and forced to slave away for them, James eventually meets a mysterious old man who offers him a glowing bag of crocodile tongues… something he claims has the power to grant happiness to whoever possesses them. Unfortunately before James can use them he trips and spills them at the roots of the old, dead peach tree… and awakens the magic regardless.

Just a fun September reread, I haven’t read James and the Giant Peach in years. It's definitely one of my favourite Dahl stories. I’m going to have to rewatch the movie now…

Monster and the Beast v4

The last volume of a yaoi series I’ve been reading for a while. This is a story that follows a rather callous, mysterious man known as Liam and the soft-hearted monster, Cavo, who he meets and befriends. This final volume wraps up Liam’s strange and somewhat sinister origin story and reveals what exactly the powers he wields are, and it lets Cavo come into his own. Honestly an excellent book for all the monsterfuckers out there. Overall it was a sweet ending and I enjoyed the series — honestly I wouldn’t mind one more volume of short stories that just explore the relationship dynamic they achieved by the end of this volume.

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is a graphic novel about a young noblewoman who has to disguise herself as a man if she is to inherit her late father’s estate. So she dismisses the old servants save for a single trusted one, changes her appearance, and moves to a city far away from where she grew up. From there, “he” begins making waves in a way that draws the attention of the princess… 

It was a… fine graphic novel. I’m not sure I have a lot to say besides that. It was a comedy, but it’s not the sort of comedy that I find particularly interesting… it definitely felt like a youth graphic novel. It was also very anachronistic (part of the humour) which I’m not always in the mood for and didn’t really land for me. Over all I don’t regret reading it, and the art was enjoyable enough, but I’m glad I got it from the library. When I had first heard of it I had been expecting something a bit… more.

Red, White, and Royal Blue

I was very skeptical about Red, White, and Royal Blue. I thought it looked tacky when it first came out and I resolutely ignored it. However as the Netflix film was due to come out I decided I had better bite the bullet and figure out what the hype was about. And I can admit, I was wrong! It was honestly a delightful read!

The politics are a bit Rough, as I expected, but the relationship was genuinely delightful and I really liked all the side characters they introduced. You really have to go into it like you would a Hallmark romcom because that’s exactly what it is — and you know what, the queers really do deserve some simple, cheesy (and occasionally surprisingly touching) romantic comedies. Contemporary romcom is normally REALLY not my genre but I highly enjoyed this book and am willing to eat my words.

[flanneryculp]

why flan is a lesbian (and why it’s important)

when i first read tb8, i thought, “well, i think flan is a lesbian, but maybe that’s just projection,” and then i went online and saw that everyone else had come to the same conclusion. now i actually do think theres quite a bit of canon evidence pointing to her being gay. this post puts it really really well :)

spoilers below cut

for one thing can we talk about how differently flan talks about female characters from male characters in general? if you look at how she describes the photograph in the beginning it’s obvious. flantasha nation for life but how many times has flan gone on about jennifer rose milton being beautiful or v____ looking pretty? not even adam gets description to this extent.

also, transvioletbaudelaire made a really good point about flan’s reaction to this. it was a big tonal shift despite the paragraph having nothing to do with what was going on. flan was more affected by a few sentences about being gay than the rest of ron’s speech about adam being missing……

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something i’ve recently noticed is that most of natasha’s idols are queer. marlene dietrich had the first on-screen kiss between two women ever, as well as being openly into women irl. bette davis and dorothy parker were historically popular within gay communities, and anais nin wrote about wlw sex in her diary. this is coming from the book that foreshadowed douglas’s sexuality by having him be associated w/ gay artists!!!!

even natasha’s very first and last mentions are associated with gayness. her first mention being how she watched a fellini movie with flan (context says it’s la dolce vita, which has an explicitly gay plotline), and of course, dr. tert explicitly stating that a version of natasha is a lesbian (!!) ofc dr. tert isn’t the most reliable source, but the point is that after you just finished the book, the final thought youre meant to have about natasha is that she’s gay!!!

another one of the most important scenes is halloween, which literally opens with natasha pinning flan to her bed. then, natasha yells at flan to break up with gabriel and get over adam. natasha empathizes in her speech that flan isn’t being true to herself by liking them. considering that flan is natasha and usually natasha has more awareness over what flan knows but can’t admit.....

and then they go upstairs and undress together.

flan notes:

they were constantly looking at each other’s bodies

flan feeling “liquid and naughty” when they did. even before putting on the dress, she feels powerful.

“[natasha] looked at me as i felt the sudden true flush of desire.” <- actual line from the book

later during the party, while flan and adam are having sex, flan spends half the paragraph thinking about how gorgeous she/natasha is. flan really does not miss an opportunity to talk about natasha’s beauty throughout the book lmao

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another thing flan does is describe natasha using romantic metaphors.

like she literally associates natasha’s gum with a kiss and then admits to using pathetic fallacy.

flan does it a lot throughout the book.

and not just that. natasha also plays the role of a boyfriend in flan’s life, and flan is always happier to be with natasha than with gabriel or adam.

and when adam flakes on his date with flan, natasha literally takes her out to the movies.

speaking of movies, the day flan was supposed to go to the movies as a date with gabriel is the first day that she helps douglas hide his homosexuality. most of flan’s friends’ issues mirror flan’s own, as shown in the halloween party. callous breakups, jealousy, etc. struggling with being gay in a homophobic society is a major theme in the book with characters like douglas and ron, and it would make sense for flan to experience it, too, even if she doesn’t realize.

a lot of gabriel and flan’s relationship reads to me as a metaphor for comphet. not only does flan not like him, but she talks about how things are supposed to be.

(also, on the previous page, flan compares kissing gabriel to opening an old carton of milk. she isn’t thrilled lol)

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even though flan’s feelings for adam are more intense than the ones for gabriel, they’re also forced to a certain extent.

heres the first time she talks about adam:

natasha is shocked. if flan truly loved adam, wouldnt she love him fully? if she did, natasha’s inital reaction would be supportive, but instead she just makes fun of him. flan never even admits why she likes adam, not even to herself. flan doesn’t even think that she and adam will work out, judging by her hesitancy. over and over, natasha tells flan that adam is a jerk and to get over him.

flan tries very hard to convince herself that she likes adam, and it works. she’s telling everyone (and herself) that she loves adam while also avoiding him and not having any reason to love him, other than the superficial.

“he is the only appropriate person for me to like”

natasha didn’t find out gabriel’s crush on flan until september 21st, over 60 pages later. lily might have known, but who was natasha thinking about???

also, flan and adam are also cast as husband and wife in the play. they are literally playing the parts that were given to them!!

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even though flan has gotten herself in deep, there have been multiple times where flan almost does get over adam! she mentions feeling bored of him, avoiding him, just not caring until he always ropes her back in at the last minute. she’s put her self-worth in his opinion of her, and doesn’t give up until the very end.

from the beginning, adam was always more of a symbol than a person. he represents men as a whole, or the idea of them. flan literally falls in love with an image of a man (the statue of david) rather than an actual one, and projects that image onto adam. kate and flan talk about how they would be better off without all the adams.

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all her life, flan has been fed these societal expectations on what kind of relationships she should have and who she should be. she clings onto those expectations, even when she never loved adam to begin with. it takes her until halloween to accept that whether he likes her or not doesn’t matter -- he’s a jerk. in general flan’s arc is about how societal pressures, to act a certain way, look a certain way, love a certain way, etc etc can mess with their own self perception and maybe cause them to kill someone.

[deepfriedpaddymayne]

i feel like augustin was making paddy's storyline a bit less bleak than it was historically and i was looking forward to seeing what they would do with them in s2. well, i guess joke's on us for getting attached to a frenchman...

I put off answering this ask because I KNEW that the moment I did I would start rambling and it sounds like that time has come so I am sorry in advance my friend

But, yeah, you've hit the nail on the head. Part of my attachment to having Augustin in s2, and to Augustin and Paddy, is specifically the fact that I just would really, REALLY like for Paddy to heal. I know that historical Paddy Mayne never really recovered from Eoin McGonigal's death, but they have taken other narrative liberties with the show and characters, and also, and this is kinda snarky, I just don't think that makes for a very interesting storyline to watch? Obviously grief in real life CAN be, and often is, like that, but when you are watching a show, you don't wanna sit through a character stuck in the same loop of grief for four seasons. Especially because (1)this show is not a tragedy. Yes, tragic things happen, but an important element of tragedy is the futility of the characters' actions to prevent the tragedy from happening. While this story STARTS with a tragedy, that first jump that doomed so many of them, we know that it won't END that way, because we know that most of these men will live, and more importantly, we know that their actions are not futile. With that in mind, the idea of Paddy's ending being him alone with his grief doesn't really sit well with me. Also because, (2) it's not like it would be hard to showcase that a part of Paddy will forever be defined by the loss of Eoin, while still giving him a healing process and a happier ending than he got to have IRL (there is a whole other rant here about how queer people engage with historical fiction and especially biographical historical fiction, which I actually wrote a wholeass essay about a few years ago lmao. Anyway).

And at least for me, it's important that part of that healing process DOES involve him having a romantic relationship again (I would be fine with it being just implied, the way it was with Eoin, though I would prefer it if it wasn't, because if Stirling gets to fuck his made up girlfriend in the sand, then Paddy should be allowed to kiss a man, but I digress). And the reason for that is that... ok, let's talk about Eoin. We actually know SO little about Eoin. There are hints here and there, but Eoin's main role within the story is loving Paddy (and also dying. And haunting the narrative). Which is fascinating, because I feel like while Paddy is casual about it, he does have a bit of a Thing about being unlovable and unlikeable - he tries to own up to it, but he slips a few times, like when he remarks that he will go to Stirling's funeral because Stirling liked him, FOR SOME REASON, and also his general deer-caught-in-headlights look when Eoin offers him affection, like he can't quite believe it's happening. Which is partly why the loss of Eoin hits SO hard - because Eoin loved him, in spite of everything about him, Eoin loved him so much that it was his main defining trait. And I fully believe that once he died, Paddy also saw that as losing the only chance he was ever going to get at love, because who else could ever love him, when he has the heart's invisible furies within him?

And THAT'S when Augustin enters. He meets Paddy at his absolute worst, he watches him try to prove to him how ~fucked up and terrible~ he is...  and he is immediately delighted. Like, yes, Paddy and Augustin drive each other up the wall IMMEDIATELY, but also Augustin likes him SO MUCH. My man watched Paddy try to shoot himself in front of him to prove a point, after manhandling him into the sand and holding a knife to his throat, and then was like omg girlllll are you single? Yes and that's why you are like this? Oh I am sorry but also good to know. AND THEN HE WATCHED HIM ATTACK HIS FRIENDS BECAUSE OF A FUCKING PIANO and was still just so happy and charmed when Paddy's way of apologising was cooking them a gazelle and suffering NO consequences. Like GOD he was down SO bad SO quickly, and that was after seeing the absolute WORST of Paddy, and sure, that's because Augustin is also insane, but so is Paddy, so they'd be great together. And I think that would have been so meaningful, for Augustin to grab Paddy's cheeks and squeeze them and go, "FUCK YOU, I AM GOING TO LOVE YOU, WITH ALL THE DEMONS". Can you imagine? What it would be like for Paddy, who thinks he's never going to be loved again, to have someone who doesn't just love him in spite of the warning signs, but because of them?

The way I see it, with Augustin out of the picture, there are two possible routes the show can take. The first is remaining closer to history, probably giving him some sort of healing process that involves his community but without a romance, accepting that Paddy's chances at romantic love really did die with Eoin. Which would be, like, fine, but I have already explained why I don't love it. Or, they give Paddy a different romance, but the thing is that I sincerely doubt they are gonna be able to manage something that's as interesting as whatever Paddy and Augustin have got going on - they've really captured such a unique, fascinating dynamic, and I don't think they could replicate it with a different character. Similarly, the new character would either not experience Paddy at his worst, which makes the romance less meaningful imo, or they would just have to make Paddy regress to episode 5 levels of insanity again, which would not be especially interesting to watch, since WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN IT.

so, yeah. tbh I am just going to put on my clown nose and large shoes and bright coloured wig and hope that we get Augustin back for s3, cause I do genuinely think he is the best character progression possible for Paddy. and also because I want my insane frenchman back goddamnit