#I feel like kids need to be forced to read The Hunger Games

[tearueful]

I'm sorry, what.

...what the fuck do you mean he doesn't deserve to be charged?

He gunned down a man in cold blood in the street.

You have lost the plot if you're trying to make this man a hero. No one gets to have a little murder as a treat.

No one needs to shed one tear for a murdered CEO, but don't pretend like the act itself isn't deplorable.

Please do highlight how fucked up and greedy UHC is, please do continue to circulate and promote the injustice they've caused. Please do continue to highlight how America's private health care system is utter garbage.

-but if you're justifying murder? You're not on the good side. That man didn't kill that CEO for a GLORIOUS REVOLUTION. He killed him for attention and he did it effortlessly because we live in a nation seeped in gun violence.

well, they found him. and unfortunately, he’s a bit weird. posted a bunch of stuff on X. politically extremely hard to pin down. i just want to remind you all—standing united against megacorporations should not be, and does not need to be, a political position. we can disagree with the suspect on other issues and still believe he doesn’t deserve to be charged. let’s demonstrate that this issue transcends other political squabbles

say it with me, everyone: “I’m not interested in engaging with the Culture War. I’m interested in engaging in the Class War. We can argue about that other, petty stuff once multi-billion dollar companies aren’t allowed to kill people indiscriminately under the law anymore.”

[libertyybellls]

finnick odair + black!district 11!reader?? thank you and happy holidays 💓

SEA AND THE ROCK BELOW !

pairing; finnick odair x f!black!district11!reader

summary; you and finnick mentor your tributes before their games. yet only finnick can understand your unease.

contains: ANGST/FLUFF, comfort. mentions of death (it’s the hunger games babe)

☾⋆｡𖦹 °✩

being back at the capitol is bittersweet, the smell of roses overwhelm you in each room your in but you know you’ll find exactly who you’re looking for here.

mentoring two unsuspecting kids- to send them into a battle they’ll likely lose- it haunts you. you could do it millions of times ams yet even then you will not be able to shake the feeling of grief, of failure.

finnick knows where to find you- he maps you out in his heart and finds you in an isolated end of the hotel hallway.

you’ve just sent your tributes off to bed- you’ve given them all you know. they ask how you won your games, how you came out okay.

and you lie through your teeth. i didn’t come out alright. in my mind- i lost my games. you think that anyone who died in your games had won, atleast they’d left with their dignity.

he finds you at the right moment- before you can lose yourself in your mind. finnick pulls you into the most forceful yet endearing hug you’d only ever felt from him.

his love, his trust, his understanding- it all seeps into you. there is only adoration seeping from his pores as he looks at you, as he breathes you in.

you can’t remember the last time you’d seen him, there’s very few times you can cross districts unless it’d been unpleasant visits to the capitol.

you look at him, you can’t find the words.

“i know.” he holds your face, so soft you almost melt. putty under his touch.

you think about your tributes, a thirteen year old boy and a sixteen year old girl. what do they know? they’re babies, someone’s baby, someone’s little boy and girl.

you want to scream, you want to yell, you want to throw things.

“it’s not fair finnick.” you repeat this over and over. you begin to grow hysterical.

your hands go to cover your eyes, your tears spill with each passing breath.

“i can’t do this. every year-“ it takes a piece of you, you want to say.

every year i lose two kids from my district to a cash-rich spectacle for the upper class. for their viewing pleasure.

each year you lose faith. faith that finnick rebuilds each year, faith that he works to restore.

he holds you now, keeps you steady in his arms. kissing your forehead.

“when this is over we’ll be long gone, far away from here.” he speaks into your hair “how many kids do you want? two? eight?”

you laugh, “four.”

“a nice little house by the sea. i can fish, you can lay in the sun, read to me like you always do. our kids will play in the water.”

you can only manage to let out a small mhm of understanding through your smiles- your cheeks still wet.

“but for now, we have to get through this. and i need my girl to be okay. none of this is your fault.”

-

a/n; happy holidays babe and ofc. i tried my best but there’s so few places that ppl from two separate districts could get to know each other ykwim 🙁 but i hope u like it.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Do you mean Katniss Everdeen?

The original tag was @susandsnell’s but I assumed it was about Katniss Everdeen.

At least personally, I don’t think her getting guilt tripped into marrying Peeta and having children with him is a fulfilling ending for her whatsoever. I guess unpopular opinion, but her feelings for him always read to me as more platonic and that the romantic angle was more being forced on her. And she literally starts out the series explicitly stating that she never wants children!

I understand the thematic thing Collins was trying to do, where by suggesting that Katniss feels safe enough to have children, it illustrates that the games are like well and truly over and they live in a society that’s safe for children now. But I don’t care lmao I don’t think the protagonist’s wants and desires need to be crushed in order to make that theme happen. In the first book we also see how resentful Katniss feels about being forced into the role of a caregiver, and just, nothing about her suggests that, after All That Trauma, she’s somehow going to be more amenable?

If Collins really needed to make that point end it with her be a fucking school teacher idk. Or give one of her few still living friends a kid and note that she’s feeling optimistic about it. The entire nuclear family set up just felt truly gross and forced on her to me— and the emphasis on how traumatized she still is just read to me like she’s all around unhappy with her life. Like obviously trauma does not magically go away but it truly felt like the book was sacrificing all chances of personal happiness for Katniss to make that ending happen.

And even then, if the execution was good, if it was completely believable that that is what happiness looks like for her by the end of the story, I still dislike it narratively. Why must marriage and a baby be the only way the story telegraphs success and happiness for its female protagonist?

If the main point is about the future of the children of Panem, Katniss is herself a child, the epilogue’s timeskip notwithstanding. Why isn’t it enough to focus on her security and future without making her a mother?

The white picket fence ending feels like an especially bizarre choice to me next to the way the series also presents Snow trying to force an idyllic narrative on her for the Capitol audience. Like consider the framing of the showy wedding dress and fake wedding planning, Peeta claiming that she’s pregnant to try to garner more audience and therefore donor sympathy, or even the propaganda video they try to film in the third book where they try to make her look glamorous and it entirely falls flat, and they end up doing a candid video instead. The narrative keeps making a point of how Katniss is idealized and romanticized in this very traditionally feminine way and how alien that feels to her. And then… the series ends with her framed in the exact same way?

But then, that’s always been my main problem with the Hunger Games in the first place. It’s far too enamored with the pageantry it’s also trying to critique, and it ends up undercutting its own purpose. So yeah, I guess, it isn’t surprising that the toothless series has a toothless ending but shfhff doesn’t mean I have to like it!

[asclexe]

⭐️ government-forced blog intro post ⭐️

(new and improved!)

welcome to marvin’s marvelous mechanical museum!

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hai!! hello!! hey!! what’s up!! basic info/fun stuff below the cut (very long intro soo sorry)

*flash/blink warning for the blinkies

name: asclexe formally? cameron causally, but call me whatever! no, seriously! idc! nicknames (ex: cam, ronnie, cammy, etc) are welcome! feel free to call me your pookie or your son or child or something, be creative!

⭐️gender and pronouns: i am uhhh. nonbinary i think. they/them preferred, but it/its or he/him are also fine!! i prefer gender neutral terms, but i also am more masc leaning. like im a man. but also just a person.

⭐️not specifying my age but im a minor. B cool!! internet safety!!

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⭐️religious alignment: atheist cause im god /j 💪💪

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also if ur a diehard stan of anything pls think :3

dni if you’re from earth or human. aliens only blog. /j

and everyone else is welcome :3

⭐️fandoms im most active in:

house md

doctor who (only on season 2!!)

good omens

warrior cats (on arc 5 but i don’t plan on reading them)

dungeon meshi

movies in general

+ any other fandoms i consume in the future!!

⭐️fandoms i rarely post abt but still enjoy

tbosas/the hunger games

dead poets society

six feet under

a series of unfortunate events

fnaf

she-ra/the owl house/steven universe/gravity falls/etc

bluey

barbie/monster high

doogie howser md

scott pilgrim

the amazing digital circus

the middle

stardew valley

the spiderverse

abbott elementary

aggretsuko

i will post abt my sims occasionally :3 most posts are text posts bc im untalented

*i’m looking to get into evangelion, supernatural, hannibal, saw, and dexter 👍

i write fanfiction and poetry (i take requests feel free to hmu), i do local theater, i make pride icons (also requests hmu) i drabble in the occasional doodle, and i like baking and watching youtube and scrolling through tumblr and walking through the forest and my neighborhood and making bracelets and spending money and laying on the floor and singing and dancing and being silly and reading medical textbooks and cool novels and hanging with my irls and idk, yeah! life! carpe diem!

*also i’m trying to get into reality shifting! (im not a freak i swear)

⭐️my fav music artists (a little all over the place:3) jack stauber, will wood, lemon demon, tally hall/miracle musical, dazey and the scouts, mommy long legs, the oozes, bear ghost, mitski, chappell roan, weezer, the smashing pumpkins, my chemical romance, laufey, liana flores, faye webster, MARINA, pearl & the oysters, queen, no doubt, slipknot, korn, mindless self indulgence, hole, some olivia rodrigo, charli xcx, some vocaloids,

i love pretty much all kinds of jazz, rock, and showtunes (except ballads. i dislike ballads)

my music taste can be described as like. neurodivergent weird kid alt rock and hot girl summer pop.

(music recs are very much welcome <33)

*taylor swift enjoyers follow at your own risk (i hate on her occasionally. i really dislike her music and she’s also not that great of a person)

random facts about me :3

⭐️i’m left-handed (bully me for it ik im a freak)

⭐️unfortunately a theater kid :/

⭐️tall for this website

⭐️the most insufferable and annoying person ever

⭐️DOESNT BITE!! (i swear)

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⭐️favorite planet is ur mom (i ❤️ venus)

⭐️honors roll baby 🔥🔥

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⭐️i haven’t cried properly in like a year and i am not breaking my mewing streak

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⭐️i have a massive sweet tooth :3

⭐️(new) tags guide!⭐️

*note this is a new system i’m trying out, some older posts do not apply

#asclexeposting - all original content

#camyyaps - unhinged text posts/late night eepy time posts/yapping in the tags

#cam touches grass - the rare times i go outside and touch grass and do stuff

#ask the fellows - relating to my ask blog (go follow it go do it its @ask-the-ducklings go ask stuff)

#me ask :3 - reblog of something i asked another blog

#mootie :3 - if we’re mutuals and you send me an ask i tag it with this :3

*you also get your own individual tag for asks, for example @pingunaa is ping :3 and @rubeslovesthesmiths is rubes :3, etc

#cammy’s 4 later tag :3 - stuff for later!!

#cam plays the sims :3 - my simming tag

old man doctor yaoi prompt list :3

my house md oc :3

⭐️side blogs!⭐️

@ask-the-ducklings - ask/roleplay blog 4 the house md duckligns

1/2 of @meanwhile-on-the-road, the other half is pookie @sillyhyperfixator

@house-md-referrer - house md references

@theindierockcafe - writing blog

this will be mostly reblogs of my silly mutuals/my fyp, i try to make original content often! I ❤️ REBLOGGING ART YOU SHOULD DO IT TOO!!!! hope we can get along! ask me whatever! i don’t know! be nice and respectful cause i’m a minor!

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if you want me to share your fundraiser; give me some time to verify you!!!! i promise im not ignoring you!!

blinkies made in the blinkie cafe :3

[colorfulraven]

My 25 Most Reread Books

thanks to @francesderwent for starting this, and @cakeyouareoh for typing up rules so i could just copy them

rules: everything on the list is fiction. the books listed are not necessarily my favorites, they’re the ones i’ve reread most often. some of them i haven’t read in decades, but i read them over and over as a kid. mine are not ranked, and are in random order. i chose one most-read book by each favorite author. i will add more clues if needed, and update the list as i go with the answers.

anne of green gables by l. m. montgomery - reading this feels like coming home. despite the pain, there is always hope and wonder if you look for it. (dr hq)

the murderbot diaries (yes the entire series) by martha wells - redacted (@drharleyquinn-medicinewoman and @cakeyouareoh)

pride and prejudice by jane austen - the most perfect couple isn't even the main one in this story. but the main one is perfect to me. (drharleyquinn-medicinewoman and @cakeyouareoh)

fruits basket by natsuki takaya -sentient calendar falls in love with a girl. the calendar is multiple people, and the book is a manga series. (cake)

jane eyre by charlotte brontë - proving goth was never just a phase. also he's terrible idk why i reread this book so much. (dr hq and cakeyouareoh)

uglies by scott westerfeld - maybe she's born with it. maybe it's mandatory. there was a movie made about it recently. (fran)

curses, inc. by vivian vande velde - fantasy short story compilation from my youth. it’s by an author i asked cate and cake about. (cake)

the locked tomb series by tamsyn muir- spooky scary skeletons (@sparrowposting)

the lunar chronicles by marissa meyer - what if the real fairy tales are the friends we made along the way ( @cakeyouareoh )

twilight by stephenie meyer - it makes no damn sense. compels me though. takes place in the pacific northwest, mostly. (cake)

if we were villains by m. l. rio - theatre kids scare the living shit outta me. (@sparrowposting)

elantris by brandon sanderson - i recognize it makes no sense, but i still think she should have chosen the priest instead of the god. (@justanawesomeowl)

she was an artist girl, he was a biker boy

"surely *i* can mess around with forces i don't know anything about, because i know everything" says the main character

humanity is always with us, but perhaps it's also learned. 3rd in a series that I highly recommend.

enders game by orson scott card - what if up is sideways? you need to rethink your assumptions. (@ontheedgeofgreatness and @snailthimbles)

redwell by brian jacques - local monk becomes hero and is kicked out of his order. he’s still an integral part of the community, though. (fran)

harry potter by hatsune miku - whoops, my millennial is showing. i very much dressed up for midnight book releases as a kid. also movies as a teen/young adult. (@scrunchie-face and cake)

the hobbit by jrrt - the heroes journey. and then unjourney. (fran)

the hunger games by suzanne collins - the film adaptation was very much life imitating art. (cake)

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone - star crossed lovers in spacetime (@sparrowposting)

what happens when you get your doctorate in architecture, but don't have to study humanities. alternatively: a clock hand cures asthma.

the mediator series by meg cabot - what if melinda gordon were a teenager? written by author whose other series was turned into a much beloved movie. (dr hq)

from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler by e. l. konigsburg - siblings take the ultimate field trip. Also learn clerical work. ( @ontheedgeofgreatness )

contraband diary at a dig site. If you’re reading this, I already hate you.

[nebulablakemurphy]

Just read all your shit with Haymitch in it and

A) I’m obsessed with it omfg no one writes for Haymitch AND THAT FACT THAT ITS SO WONDERFUL AND WELL WRITTEN?!?! god it has my heart

B) Y/N going on her fucking Tablets after their first time is so funny for some reason to me, like Haymitch is drowning in his sorrow and she’s just being a lil ipad baby. Like she’s the kind of chick that when their finished to roll over and play clash of clans💀

C) Y/N is sooo mirrorball coded. “I'll show you every version of yourself tonight” the way she forces Haymitch to constantly self reflect that makes him realize how much he admires her selflessness. The chorus is them trying to keep their love something secret and just there’s. AND DO I EVEN NEED TO EXPLAIN THE BRIDGE OMG

D) Not to be a sadist but god I love Haymitch’s internal conflict about feeling so guilty for everything. Also correct me if I’m wrong but him being her highest bidder so she wouldn’t get sold to some creep…my heart💔

anyways the new movie has me back in my hunger games faze and yours fics are all I think about.

I’m not kidding I was zoning out thinking about Lavender Haze today and didn’t slowdown while turning and thank god there was no traffic or else I would have caused a fucking collision

Screaming thank you! Haymitch deserves all the fics, his character has always been so interesting to me.

Y/N is an iPad kid, she’s definitely the type to be like “look, Haymitch.” Whenever she reaches a new level on her games. But the way she whips open her notes app whenever something is wrong it’s like girl, what if Snow hacks the iPad 😂 But on a more serious note, she respects the tablet and understands that it can retain a lot more information than she can especially when it comes to helping her tributes.

Mirrorball is an EXCELLENT representation of Y/N and their relationship.

Haymitch obviously feels so bad that he has to marry Y/N to keep her safe from being sold and then ultimately has to participate in her “working” for the Capitol anyway. He wanted to completely save her but all he can really do is soften the blow.

You’re so real for that, I’m glad you didn’t crash

[ofmermaidstories]

merm...bkg hunger games au....

okay so here are my initial thoughts:

1) im actually probably way too into the hunger games to be having this discussion lmfaoooo. im too into it, it’s too perfect, i love it too much. it is basically the pinnacle of all YA and i will fight literally everyone on that.

2) so with the first point in consideration, are we talking like a strict 1:1 AU? Setting it in New America/Panem? Districts with distinct specialities? Commentary about reality TV and modern entertainment entwined with like, the trauma that comes with war and trying to break free of generational curses and etc etc etc? RE: reality TV, I do think we could probably modernise that just a teeny weeny little, to include like, idk, some bullshit about how we’re always under constant surveillance and how we no longer have the time/option to be unavailable (because we’re so connected!). and since we’re like, apart of an actual fandom, maybe we could throw in some stuff about how our more privileged/sheltered audience members would engage in like, stan culture about all these dying kids, LOL. Shipping wars that ends bitterly because one half of the pairing like, idk, clubs the other to death LMAO. Real People Fanfic and the culture war that would come from that (people having a problem with RPF of the tributes bc they’re real people, but like also conveniently like… forgetting they’re real people who are being forced into a death match). would we throw in a line about Reader and/or Bakugou discovering self-insert Gamefic? lmao no wait i made myself snort, we’re absolutely keeping that LMAO. anyways im gonna cut myself off here bc otherwise i will ramble on, but that brings us to point numero-threeo—

3) i recently rewatched Battle Royale (a “random” class entered wins a yearly lottery then dumped on a remote island where they have three days to murder each other—all in the name of keep the status-quo, etc etc, also this is somehow a solution to sky-high unemployment rates etc etc etc.). if we kept the Quirks then like, you could spin it as a dystopian AU where people are fearful of quirks being too powerful, so then ya death-match children are pulled from hero classes and we make Reader end up in there accidentally or something, and oh no! they’re also quirkless (and defenceless hehe).

4) idk. i know i was like hehe i like war! but like, i don’t know how to emphasise how much i love the hunger games LMAO. and how that love sort of translates into the same fierceness i feel about BNHA, when it comes to fanfic—that the canon characters have certain inevitabilities you have to honour. just like no matter the universe, we are always going to need a Bakugou who’s centered around his friends (Deku, always, in any capacity. Kirishima, the first equal he had. Shouto, his frustrating Bestie <3), to me the hunger games works as well as it does because it’s war through the lens of relationships. Gale as the danger of unhealed anger, Peeta as choosing peace—like… that’s the magic of THG to me, and i just…… like…… what are we gonna do with the relationships, with a BNHA cast? 🥺 What would Bakugou be? Do we start with a Bakugou who’s still in Bastard Mode? Has he gone through his canon growth by the time he and Reader meet? If he has, then how was that facilitated in our new world? Did he and Deku end up in the same game? Survive together somehow? How many of their peers and friends do they lose, or does that come later on? How do we fit Reader into that dynamic naturally? the romance in THG happens through like, a need to play the game, play it up for the cameras, but it’s born out of Peeta’s very real feelings for Katniss, that started when they’re kids, and I’m not a childhood friends-to-lovers person (writing wise). The “romance” (if u can call it that) in Battle Royale is probably more culpable to what i do (vague awareness of each other/one-sided crush, grows as they prop each other up) but… idk!!! idk!!!! we could just write up Bakugou and Reader sharing a cave and making out over a festering wound but like…. idk!!! i believe in earning our kisses. 😌 show me the build up in the war-torn society first, and then maybe we can have a kiss later on, lmfaoooo.

[hesitantlyhopefulspren]

Sorry for the odd question:

Do you have a favourite book?

Normal question I think.

But difficult to answer.

RAMBLED A LOT, REALISED ANSWER IS NO. But. I can't delete the ramble.

To start with. Since I was a kid I devoted myself to hp. Went along with a few comics (Asterix, Tintin, Geronimo Stilton ✌🏾). Jk Rowling stuff made me crash and stop reading for a while. Because. I'd put a lot of eggs into that basket, and suddenly the basket made me feel incredibly bad carrying it.

Started thinking more about the reasons I want to care about books.

Always have a soft spot for magnus chase series because made me realise I'm bi. Rick Riordan books are good in general.

Love artemis fowl.

Read bunch of the fantasy books. Tried out sci-fi, classics, thrillers, mystery, wasn't too interested. Liked hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy a lot, though I didn't understand a lot then.

Hunger games, lotr, bunch of standalone books as I started to realise there are good non-fantasy books which are not a series.

Then stopped reading since lockdown started.

THEN started reading again towards end of 2021. Starting with Cosmere.

Stormlight archive is more of a favourite than other Cosmere books, because kaladin. Also extremely good mental art from that whole series. Also plenty of fanart.

Good omens.

Recently started Discworld, finished guards! Guards! yesterday. have to actively force myself to stop reading because I know i have work. BUT ITS GREAT and I'm loving it. And I'll start Earthsea at some point. So.

Yeah. Which is a lot to say that I don't have a favourite. Different books occupy different shelves in my heart because they ended up being what I needed at the right times, I think.

[thealwayshungrygames]

through peeta's eyes

the 74th games through peeta's eyes! ♡

[ chapter 1 ]

I hate today, granted I can't think of a single soul in panem who enjoys reaping day, excluding the capitol of course.

District 12, being on the outskirts of panem and as far away from the capitol as possible, is usually lifeless and dejected but every year on reaping day the whole place feels like its at a standstill, it's so quiet all throughout the district. There's never usually any customers on reaping day, maybe a few after the reaping is finished and sometimes a couple of kids trying to trade what they've hunted that morning for some bread. I don't like the silence in the bakery, there's nothing to distract my disquieted mind, all I can do is try and get ready while Effie Trinket's speech repeats in my head over and over again like a broken record, "may the odds be ever in your favour," I can't help but imagine her reading my name through that microphone, knowing that I more than likely wouldn't see my district, my family, my home ever again it terrifies me every year. I've managed to escape the hunger games for the past four years, I'm luckier than most kids in my district, I'm the baker's son. My family, despite having three kids to feed, has never really struggled for food therefore I've never had to take out any tesserae and get my name put into the reaping lottery more times than its required in exchange for a years supply of grains and oils. I know majority of the kids in my class and all around the district are forced to take out tesserae as it can be their only chance at survival, I could never imagine being in that position.

The constant thoughts of what would I do if my name was called out wont stop, I know my chances aren't as high as the other kids in the district and technically I'm in a better position than majority of the other boys but nothing is impossible and hearing "Peeta Mellark" could switch from an imaginative scenario to my reality. I need to stop, I can feel my hands getting sweatier and I need to cool off. I sit on the front steps of the bakery despite my mother telling me not to so I dont ruin my nice clothes. I just sit and watch the dust and leaves get taken by the hot wind, there's no kids or parents outside this morning, they're all inside trying to scrape up their nicest clothes and fixing themselves up for the reaping. I'm drawing little doodles in the dirt with a stick when I see these big, very worn boots standing in front of me.

"Is your dad home?" I look up and standing over me is this very muscular and big boned brunette boy, he hasn't gotten changed into his 'nice' clothes yet and he's holding a dead squirrel by its legs. I recognise him, his name is Gale Hawthorne, I don't know him awfully well apart from the fact that his dad was a miner and died in the big mine explosion that happened and ever since then he's hung around with the skinny girl with the brunette braid who sings from my class, even though he's a year older than us. They both see my father regularly trading all sorts of animals that they hunt and kill for food such as bread.

"Inside, decorating a cake I think, why?" Although I know exactly why, he's hoping that my father will trade this squirrel for a loaf of bread, maybe even more because its reaping day and maybe my father will feel compassion for him, I certainly would, I heard his name was in the lottery over 40 times, his age and hunting ability made him the main provider for his family after his father's death and he's had to take out tesserae under his name for each of his 3 younger siblings. Selfishly, seeing him standing in front of me with the squirrel and knowing his need for tesserae calms me down, knowing his name is in there so many more times than mine makes me realise how little my chances truly are compared to a lot of other boys.

"I want to trade this squirrel with him." He says.

I tell him i'll be right back and take the squirrel from him. As I'm walking inside with it I notice that it's been hit right in the eye, I knew he was a good hunter as he's often around the bakery trading something with my father but I hadn't ever seen such a clean shot on his animals. I give the squirrel to my dad and he gives me a loaf of bread and four fresh cookies, one for him and each of his siblings, out of the fresh batch he had baked just this morning. My dad usually bakes a big batch of cookies every reaping morning, his attempt at lightening the dampened mood in the household.

"Here." I put a half smile on my face, my own attempt at lightening the mood. "Good luck." I say, god knows he needs it more than I do.

"Yeah, thanks." He broadens his shoulders and walks away as if he's trying not to succumb to the mournful feeling in the air. As I watch him walk away, already taking a bite from one of the cookies, I think about what his chances of survival would be if he got reaped, they certainly would be a lot higher than mine.

I go back inside and try and fix my hair, the heat has made me sweat and it's starting to show in my hair. Mum slicks it back with some gel and then tucks my blue shirt into my shorts. Before I know it it's time to leave, I stare at myself in my mirror for a second and think to myself 'will this be the last time I see myself in these clothes?'

The town square is packed to the brim with nearly the whole of district 12. Every child aged 12 - 18 is here waiting to find out if they live or die. The same video from the capitol that plays every year before the reaping is playing, the video is glamorising the hunger games and trying to convince us that they aren't as cruel as we believe and are purely a result of the districts own actions from 'the dark days', a war that ended 67 years ago. It truly frightens me how cruel a whole population of people can be, so cruel that they find forcing innocent children to fight to the death every year as a spectacle, they celebrate it likes it some sort of holiday while families in the districts are being torn apart and peoples whole worlds are being turned upside down. Instead of watching the video I find myself looking around, looking at all these people I know and wondering if this will be my last look at them ever, my classmates, my brothers, even Gale. Maybe even myself.

The video stops and Effie Trinkets heels click across the stage. Effie Trinket is district 12's capitol escort, she is sent by the capitol to present our reaping day and accompany the two tributes to and through the capitol. She dresses in such bizarre and boisterous clothing I can't help but giggle at her huge wigs and crazy outfits. Effie tries to start her small speech before the reaping but Haymitch Abernathy, district 12s only alive victor, stumbles across the stage and steals the microphone from her, in a drunken rage he starts yelling sentences that nobody in the crowd can understand before collapsing and being dragged back to his seat, watching him always makes it clear why he is district 12's only victor since the 50th hunger games, because he is meant to be our mentor, that drunk mess is meant to guide the tributes through the games and teach them how to win.

Effies face slowly loses the bright red colour that Haymitch caused her as she tries to steer the reaping back on track and save district 12 from being the laughing stock of the capitol, once again.

"As always, ladies first." She makes her way over to the bowl on the right with all the young daughters of district 12s names in it, she waves her hand around before picking one piece of paper and reading it to the crowd, before sending one girl to die.

"Primrose Everdeen." Her voice echoes through the crowd, silence. I look up and see Gale put his head down in sorrow, the only time I have ever shown him truly let his guard down. I look to my right and I see little Primrose desperately looking around as if she's silently begging for someone else's name to be read out instead, I truly don't understand how someone can be so unlucky, she was only twelve years old and had never taken out tesserae, her name was in the lottery once and only once.

Primrose slowly starts walking out of the pack of girls and through the middle walkway, still looking around praying that this isn't real. Suddenly my head snaps around as I hear another voice yelling "Prim! Prim!" Her sister, Katniss Everdeen, the skinny brunette girl who sings at school. I have never properly interacted with Katniss apart from once, a few years ago, during a thunderstorm I noticed her sitting, leaning, against the big tree out the front of the bakery whilst I was baking more bread. She looked so lifeless, she couldn't even stand up properly, a result from constant starvation. I had noticed her around school before that and started growing curious about her after hearing her sing in the schoolyard, she captured me with her brown eyes and I wanted nothing more than to get to know her properly but why would she ever like me? I was the baker's son, for all she knew I had never struggled, her and I were in no way similar, I never stood a chance. After seeing her hunched over at the tree, so colourless and torpid, I burnt the loaf of bread I was meant to be baking, this angered my mother as food was scarce during the wintertime and we could barely afford to eat the food that we sold. She hit me over the head and pushed me out the front where she yelled at me to feed the burnt bread to the pigs and hit me one more time before storming inside. I noticed Katniss just staring at me, watching the whole encounter, I got embarrassed that she witnessed that. I started tearing off a couple of pieces of bread and threw them to the pigs, I looked over to the tree and she was still just watching me, I looked back at my bread and threw her the rest of the burnt loaf, she finally lifted her head and slowly moved towards the bread, she looked at me disoriented and puzzled, charity was not well known in district 12, in a world like ours it's all about self preservation.

"I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute." Katniss cries out. A volunteer? District 12 has never seen a volunteer in the whole 74 years of the games.

When the shock of Prim's reaping dies down Effie walks towards the bowl with all the boys names, I can't look up, every year I can never look up.

"Peeta Mellark!"

₊‧°𐐪♡𐑂°‧₊

yay! finished chapter 1! this is lowkey so embarrassing if nobody reads this lolllll but oh well! here's a link for a tag list just incase anybody does read this and wants to know when I post a new chapter! (i hope it works, soo awks if it doesn't)

ps! I've finished and uploaded this at 3:22am so please if there's any grammar and/or spelling mistakes ignore themmmmm!!!!

[loomluna]

I think this is the first reblog on this blog for me (and I think my first repost on my old account was also a Wil Wheaton post; I think it was just a reblog of super hero themed condoms), mostly to come back and reflect on this a while from now.

But also because I've been in what I've referred to as a reading rut since late 2019; it was strange but also emotional to me to see this person I look up to (I know, Wil Wheaton is a normal person, but monkey brain fire at connection) having gone through a similar experience at around a similar timeframe as me. My reading is still small and far in between, but last year I finally read Erin Morgenstern's 'The Night Circus' and 'The Starless Sea', Chuck Tingle's 'Camp Damascus' and 'Bury Your Gays', and 'The Full Moon Coffee Shop'. I've picked up and started on the 'Cells at Work' manga and rereading a childhood favorite 'The Secret Garden' and I've been 'reading' those for months now in sporadic moments when the want arises. Even now, looking at them as I write this there's a part of me wanting- wishing I wanted to pick them up; but I don't want to push myself. My love of books and reading will not return to a voracious appetite if I force myself. Like building back up my energy, like a great many other things in my life right now, I need to remember that progress is progress, no matter how small.

For anyone who actually reads this, to answer Wil's question of casting people in my head; I don't find myself doing that too too often, probably due to a different media mix I tend to do. I often find myself pairing specific albums with books or series. From doing so, certain songs tend to start to hold these scenes that my brain can perfectly paint from these books that are absolutely intertwined to me in a way no one will ever understand.

Spoiling of various books ahead:

When I first read 'The Hunger Games' series, I had just seen Wicked on stage for the first time; so I had the soundtrack on repeat as I read the books. One Short Day from wicked makes for a PERFECT montage scene of Katniss and Peeta arriving to the capital (although not always in such the cheery mood). when I first hear the first whispered "one short day in the Emerald City" I see this sprawling metropolis at dusk, streets filled, chariots lining the street and all that enormity is absolutely drowned out by these two figures burning in the last chariot.

The Maze Runner series was accompanied by Imagine Dragons' Night Visions. Hearing Demons still brings out a dark dreary monsoon of a rain, a smallish group of boys (and girl) being herded onto a school bus by some official looking adults. The kids are mostly moving pretty automatically, still in shock. When, more or less a zombie is spotted in the darkness of the rain. I can still feel the fear and shock and the "what comes next" that Thomas and the others were feeling somewhere deep in the vibrations of the song itself. (side note, I loaded up Night Visions to listen to some of the songs I haven't heard in years, and as soon as Bleeding out started I brain went "Theresa's betrayal", so there's that)

More recently, Porter Robinson's Nurture paired extremely well with Camp Damascus. For the sake of not spoiling a more recent release, I won't describe it out as I have the others, but Something Comforting makes me picture the ending of Camp Damascus, and I am always warmed by how hopeful Dr. Chuck Tingle and Porter Robinson have made me feel.

And the last one I will share is the beautiful scenes from the Starless Sea my brain creates from The Midnight's Endless Summer Album. Bend is the relationship between time and fate. Lonely City is the ancient sprawling city below, the honey seas starting to glisten below, the air somehow sweet yet salty, dark but always just luminescent enough to clearly make out what's around.

it's in a book

Starting around 2016, when the world started going to shit, I woke up one day to discover that I simply could not read a book, except for work. This is about how I found my way back to reading for my own pleasure.

I know I am not the only person who experienced this, yet I have struggled for years to find any kind of logical explanation for it, or actionable advice to address it. Starting around 2016, when the world started going to shit, I woke up one day to discover that I simply could not read a book. Or a magazine. Or a short story. Or more than a news item, blog post, or some intellectual empty…

[magicsilas]

My friend recently read Celestial Monsters, and we have thoughts. So I will share! Firstly, we are no longer the age demographic. Secondly, we are both queer, and we are POC.

- Unfortunately, the character did not feel dimensional enough to be unique and distinguishable. In multple instances we had no clue who was who.

- On Niya, she felt too extreme, like overly cheerful and then really sad. It does seem like a facade but it didn't really hit.

- Xio was a bad "antagonist." His thought process? Not the best. It felt very scattered, his resolve not cemented. It may be that he was manipulated due to his age and need to fit in. Even then, when he switched back to the good side, it felt random with no rhyme or reason.

- The village served no purpose other than "People can live without the gods!" Ciudad Afortunada city could have done that.

- Romances felt a little rushed, sometimes even forced. Because they knew each other before the games, it often felt like we were missing out on information and dynamics that were already established.

- The gods leaving? Good idea! But I did not feel their loss. Kids grieving their parents? Yes. But the loss was not felt on the reader.

- Gods felt not godly enough.

- Hunger Games was fun since the stakes were high. People are dying at every corner. Only one survives. But for 10 warriors, only one dies? That does not feel like high stakes.

- The time that Xio has known Teo and Niya feels too short for him to call them family at the end of the book.

[kikipops117]

Book reports, anyone?

(I've gotta give some loopooong context first so skip this block of text if you wanna get to the action of my words or if you dont want your opinion of me to sour cuz im gonna be brutally honest and not mince words about what drove me to this point :.)

Because of my crusade to spend less time on the internet, I read more books in 2024 than I have cumulatively in years. And it altered my brain chemistry. In a good way. Maybe "healed" is a better word for it.

I know I am not alone in the camp of people who got out of high school and suddenly became starved for the drive to read. Devouring books as if I needed them to breathe was a hallmark of my childhood, and it was scary how easily I just fell into quitting and didn't even notice it. As a kid, I would finish a book and felt as if I'd lost a limb until I found another story to jump into. But I stepped out of my childhood bliss and into grown-up care, and it's like one day I woke up and didn't need to breathe anymore. I became an adult without holding on to what used to be a load-bearing facet of my life. Sure, I'd occasionally re-read the classics (LOTR and Hunger Games mostly), but I didn't pick up anything new, and I didn't want to. All the while, my screen time crept higher and higher.

The only thing that opened my eyes to what was, by all evidence, a phone addiction, was the sudden realization that I could no longer be content inside my head. I needed overstimulatuon to feel at ease. I needed tiktok on in the background while I ate, worked, exercised. I started writing again, and when I instinctually reached for my phone and told myself no, I got irritable and fussy like a smoker being cut off from their nicotine. I would watch movies on my phone and during slow moments I would literally swipe up on habit, trying to get a hit of dopamine from something shocking and fast, only to realize what I'd done and feel all kinds of shame and embarrassment. Something needed to change.

In 2023 I decided to try to read more. It went okay, I was able to finish 2 or 3 books, but I didn't cut off my internet addiction. I was living alone in a house with no wifi. My only connection to the internet, my friends, news, was social media. My screen time got worse and worse as I packed my reading ajd writing so tightly between my scrolling sessions that I had little time for anything else, and my brain was asphyxiating.

In 2024, Akane and I moved into a house together, and because she needs internet to function, we got wifi. A first for me in almost 4 years. Up until that point, all of my writing had to be done on my smartphone. I had a little Bluetooth keyboard I'd hook up to it, and I literally wrote two rough drafts for novels purely on my phone. So to be able to write from the comfort of my laptop with my phone on silent across the room felt liberating. As if I'd written the prior two novels under the oppressive thumb of an abusive overseer who so graciously allowed me just enough free time to think for myself so long as I paid my dues by scrolling for hours on end once I was put of steam. I was so codependent on short-form content and staring at my phone. My cell was like my only lifeline to my faraway friends (during the pandemic I was forced to move somewhere remote and at least 300 miles in any direction from any friends). It was also my only key to my greatest passion, which is writing. I couldn't just turn away from it! That would be like asking a fish never to breathe water again, but leaving him in the tank to tread with his gills above water.

Encouraged by my newfound freedom from my phone, I decided this year to do something drastic. I had a tiktok page (not the one you will find under my name now, btw,) that was like my video journal to all the hoopla that goes on in my life. I had a few thousand followers and a few million likes and views. It was doing really well and it was on the up. I decided to delete it. (I'm ashamed to admit that it was only this past month that I found the courage to remove Instagram from my phone as well once I found myself sneaking back into reels in order to get to short-form content. I'd kept Instagram because I told myself that I needed to keep up with the lives of my friends. Then I realized that I already spoke every day to my closest circle via text and I was kidding myself if i thought I needed insta to stay close to them.)

With the section of my brain usually devoted to processing endless tiktoks suddenly freed up, I found myself pondering a new writing project. This was unlike anything I'd worked on before, and it was the first concept I'd had in years that sparked such intense excitement and passion. I began writing and found the process easier than ever. But as I went, I became acutely aware that I had ZERO comp-titles for this project that I wished to someday query. (For those who don't know, a comp title is a preexisting book or work that is comparable to your project. When you are looking for an agent or publisher for your book they want you to give them a list of comp titles so they know what your target audience is going to be and how best to market it.)

I didn't have any comp titles because I hadn't read anything in years. And years. How could I dream so much about entering the space of authors when I'd neglected that world for so long? That would be like Ariel wishing to walk on land all of her life but never exploring ship wreckage or breaking the surface to talk to Skuttle.

Additionally, I found myself writing in a way that felt repetitive. Why did everything sound the same? Why was I leaning on a handful of descriptors and metaphors? Because I couldn't remember how books were supposed to feel. I believe it was Stephen King who said that the best advice he can give to authors is to read? Well, I knew then that I needed to read.

But I felt intimidated.

I'm not into "spicy" reading, and the only exposure I'd had to the literary space for the past several years was what I occasionally brushed up against online on Booktok. It was hard not to feel like the entire culture around reading had turned into fairy porn while I was away, lol. Which is not bad! But that's not what I want to write about or read. So I was uncertain where I should start. I can't exactly remember what I did, but I an pretty sure I Google something stupid like "best fiction novels of the past 5 years" and decided to start there. I got my hands on Project Hail Mary, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and This Woven Kingdom.

People often use an analogy to express how easy it should be to pick up where you started on a hobby. "It's like riding a bike! You just don't forget!" Well, I've never related to that stupid analogy because it took me forever to learn how to ride a bike, me being an anxious amd clumsy kid, and after I finally figured it out when I was eight, two weeks later I shattered five bones in my foot while tripping over a dog and had to spend the summer in a hard foot cast. By the time I was finally free, I'd completely forgotten how to ride a bike and had to start the whole scary and traumatizing process all over again.

That's kinda how I felt this past year. In a fit of binging, I tore through Project Hail Mary and Tress, and went on to Yumi and The Nightmare Painter and it was so stinking hard! Even though I was obsessed with the story, I still had to put it down for long periods of time and it took me a while to finish it. It wasn't until this past summer when my sister came to visit and suggested I read, of all books, Twilight, that something finally clicked into place.

Okay. I know what you're thinking. Please don't judge. Hear me out.

I've never read Twilight. My sister was obsessed with them when we were girls but I was into other things. But the movies were a regular occurrence in my house and I went with my sister and mom to see all of the movies in theaters (except for Breaking Dawn part 1. I didn't see that one, so when I went with them to see part 2 I was MAD confused the whole time lol)

When my sister came to visit this summer, she wanted to do a Twilight movie marathon and I was all in. The movies remind me of simpler times, and we had a ball watching and laughing as adults with fully developed frontal lobes and a soft spot for nostalgia.

When she left, she told me I needed to read the books so we could better commiserate and I finally folded. I hopped on Thriftbooks (not a sponsor but I ADORE thriftbooks and would love for them to hmu someday lol) and I was able to get all 4 books for like, $20 with one of the sales they put on.

I read the first book and wow. I will withhold my opinion on it for now (you'll understand why later). I didn't want to jump right into the second book, I needed a pallet cleanser. But I was really loving the nostalgic feeling I got from Twilight. It kept me reading so avidly because the story was not intimidating and there was a sense of comfort and familiarity mixed with the newness. So I decided to pursue that line of thinking and read something that would give me the same feeling.

ENTER THE HALO BOOKS.

If you've found my trashy side blog, then you know by now how obsessed I am with the halo video games (CE, 2, 3, ODST, Reach, and Red vs Blue specifically). My sister read a few of the books when we were kids but I never did. I have dyslexia, and it was REALLY bad for me when I was little. It took me until 5th grade to start reading for fun, and I decided as a kid that I didn't want to deal with all of the science stuff in the Halo books when I could be reading about drsgons and wizards and junk.

So I'd never read the books despite my adoration of the games, and the series felt like it would be the perfect mix of nostalgia and intrigue to get me into it.

I was not anticipating the sorrows™️

I read the Fall of Reach and was devastated, of course. But I was obsessed and had to keep going. So I read The Flood next. Also heart wrenching. I needed a break from all the sadness and read New Moon (twilight 2) and once again, mixed with so much nostalgia and frustration with the characters lol.

This brings us up to the present day.

In search of something that wouldn't be so heavy as the Halo books and so infuriating as the Twilight books, I decided to read Interview with the Vampire this past week, with zero context about the content or tone of the book. I chose it simply because I love vampires and the book I'm writing is about a vampire and when researching the best works of fiction about vampires, Anne Rice's works are in the top list of contenders.

I cracked open my Thriftbooks copy of IWTV on Wednesday, and I finished it late last night. I couldn't put it down. I. Am. Obsessed. The prose. The story. The way that it made me uncomfortable at times, the way it totally should, and made me just swoon with how stinking pretty the writing is. I love the introspection, the exploration of morals and purpose. I am going to digress here because the purpose of this blog post is not to review IWTV but suffice it to say, I loved.

I finished reading late last night and felt the feverish need to share my feelings with SOMEONE. obviously I'm a little late in the game for this book though. It came out in the 70s. But I couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to put my thoughts on what I'm reading somewhere. I am an avid journaler, but I give her a play by play as I'm reading. The eloquence of IWTV felt almost like I was reading a book for a literature or philosophy class, it was so gorgeous and explored such themes. So naturally, my train of thought arrived at the conclusion that I needed to write a book report.

That is why I wrote this long blog post. Because I am here to tell you that I am going to start writing little baby book reports on what I read! Because I want to!

So, if you're interested to know what I'm reading these days and how i feel about it, then you're gonna be fed because I'm cooking. I have found more lasting dopamine and joy in reading books this past year than I ever did scrolling or posting on tiktok. I've felt a stronger connection with my sister, mom, and friends as we talk and gush about what I've been reading. I finish a reading session, and I feel like my mind is invigorated, not numb. I'm inspired to imagine and think and create, as opposed to the bitter addiction that scrolling trapped me in that kepy me hungry to consume. Never ending. I can chronical my entertainment with narrative start and finishe, which satisfies and inspired in a way that hours and hours online can never replicate.

If you're looking for a sign to do as I've done, then please consider this it. And consider me an ally along the way, because it was hard. But so so rewarding.

That's all! :) thanks for reading

[downtherabbitholewithauntieblegh]

For educational purposes only.

Earlier I made a post about Charlotte's Web being a banned book and it got me to thinking.....

Have you ever seen the list of banned books? I have and some of the books on the list have no business being banned. These books were banned by guess who? OFFENDED PEOPLE, with no respect for people that think differently they do. Banning books to me equals the dumming down of Americans.

Here are just a few other books other than Charlotte's Web that are on the banned books list. I will throw in some thoughts here and there. Here we go....

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (It follows the journey of Amir, a young boy from Kabul, and is set against the tumultuous background of Afghanistan's history, from the fall of the monarchy through to the rise of the Taliban regime. Think the summary tells you why they banned it, imo.)

2. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I read Catching Fire in one day because it's so good! Why is this banned? Maybe the rich of our country want to turn us into a real life Hunger Games.)

3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (this is one of my favorite books/movies. There is profanity in the book, as well as LGBTQIA+ undertones in the book. But nothing worth banning over.)

4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (I have read this book countless times. A California school district forbade teaching “Mockingbird” after parents alleged it was racist for its use of the n-word and portrayal of Black people. Lee's novel made the American Library Association's top 10 list of most challenged books in 2009, 2011, 2017 and 2020. One of the most recents trials for banning this book happened in Biloxi, MS)

5. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is regularly on the banned books list put out by the American Library Association. It has been banned because of vulgarity, racism, and its treatment of women. The challenges don't seem to go away as time goes on; even in the twenty-first century, the book is still being challenged. In reality, women are mistreated still today in 2024, so that argument is invalid.)

6. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (The NAACP in the '50s lodged the first major complaint about the novel's use of the racial slur over and over and over — more than 200 times throughout. The most recent and most sustained argument against Mark Twain is, “how can a white man write about racism?" Honestly, I'm on the fence about this ban because I get this complaint.)

7. Goosebumps ~ yeah, you read that right. Goosebumps has been banned. Why you ask? The Goosebumps series was banned by parents who felt that the books were too graphic and scary for their children. Many parents wanted to protect their kids from the element of fear; however, some teachers felt that Goosebumps helped students manage the feeling of being afraid. And I agree with the teachers on this. If we do not teach our kids how to handle any type of fear, we are doing a misjustice to our kids.)

8. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (The book was banned for its sexual content and situations of abuse and domestic violence. This book is a historical fiction about a 14-year-old African American girl named Celie, who writes letters to God because her father abuses her. Celie's father forces her to marry a man who she does not know. My take on this is similar to why Goosebumps was banned. Parents want to do their best to protect their kids. Heck, even though mine are grown, I want to protect them to a certain degree. But on the other side of this double-edged sword, I'm saying this, kids need to read books like The Color Purple. They need to know the reality of this fiction as it actually happens to girls.)

9. Anne Frank : Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank ("The Diary of a Young Girl" is more than just an artifact of the Holocaust. It is a tender and intimate coming of age story. Why are people trying to erase real history?)

10. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salanger (Critical readers have accused it of being blasphemous, racist, misogynist, and ableist. Many parents have worried that the overwhelmingly negative content of Caulfield's stream of consciousness will be a bad influence on their children. Again, here I go asking you to look at the opposite side of the coin here. Why wouldn't you let them read it? We deal with misogynistic people every day. We deal with ableists every day. Don't even get me started on people being racist. It all exists in 2024.)

These are just ten books on the banned book list. Trust me, there are many more. There are some books on the list that I do understand why they were banned. But a book like Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher should not be on this list because our kids are actually exposed to situations like this every day at school. Kids bully. Boys assault girls (that's the decent way to put that so Facebook doesn't flag me). And the schools do nothing to intervene and help.

Did you know that the Bible is considered a banned book? The banning and censoring of the Bible has a long and multifaceted history that continues to this day, and although it is not typically included within popular lists of banned books, it is safe to assert that the Bible is the most banned and censored book in history.

I welcome healthy, respectful conversations on this subject. Chime in below!

[dkehoe]

OK, I can’t believe that we are already in the month of May. This year has gone by so fast! My TBR just keeps growing and I know there are not enough hours in a day/month/year that I can tackle all of the books I want to read. Despite that growing list, I’m going to pick the 5 books that I’m most excited to see being released in May. These five will definitely be on my TBR and hopefully I’ll be able to crack open a page. #5 BOOK RELEASE This is the second outdoor adventure competition romance that I’ve seen coming out in May. They both look cute but this one edged out the other since it’s an adult contemporary. Looks like a fun and easy read and should be put in your carry on for the first beach vacation of the year. Synopsis: Orie Lennox has spent her entire life prepping for her happily ever after — and now that she’s graduated, she’s low-key wondering, when the heck is it gonna hit. Her love life, her new job, her relationship with her sister: none of it is quite what she envisioned it to be. One evening, on a whim, she applies for a reality show where she’ll be stranded on an island, with a bunch of strangers, to play a game of human chess for a shot at a million dollars. What better way to force herself to break up with the things that aren’t bringing her joy, than to abandon them all on short notice to live off the grid on a beach in the South Pacific! Orie’s shocked when she ends up cast in an experimental romantic edition of the show: and even more surprised to find that her old high school crush, Remy, has been cast as well. Orie’s one of ten contestants, set to compete in formidable challenges, while speed dating, in the wilderness: without deodorant, toilets, shaving cream, or showers. (How!?) She finds herself tied up — literally — in a game of risky alliances as she navigates ever-growing feelings for her one that got away, alongside an exciting array of budding new relationships. Click this link to purchase this book!* Attached at the Hip #4 BOOK RELEASE When Nora has one of her romantic suspense releases I want to immediately snatch it up. This one seems to be more sinister than normal. yeah! Synopsis: As they do each June, the Foxes have driven the winding roads of Appalachia to drop off their children for a two-week stay at their grandmother’s. Here, twelve-year-old Thea can run free and breathe in the smells of pine and fresh bread and Grammie’s handmade candles. But as her parents head back to suburban Virginia, they have no idea they’re about to cross paths with a ticking time bomb. Back in Kentucky, Thea and her grandmother Lucy both awaken from the same nightmare. And though the two have never discussed the special kind of sight they share, they know as soon as their tearful eyes meet that something terrible has happened. The kids will be staying with Grammie now in Redbud Hollow, and thanks to Thea’s vision, their parents’ killer will spend his life in supermax. Over time, Thea will make friends, build a career, find love. But that ability to see into minds and souls still lurks within her, and though Grammie calls it a gift, it feels more like a curse—because the inmate who shattered her childhood has the same ability. Thea can hear his twisted thoughts and witness his evil acts from miles away. He knows it, and hungers for vengeance. A long, silent battle will be waged between them—and eventually bring them face to face, and head to head… Click this link to purchase this book!* Mind Games *Amazon Associate- if you purchase one of these books through a link on this blog I’ll receive a small stipend. #3 BOOK RELEASE I have just recently discovered Elle Kennedy’s college hockey series. If you like your romance a bit raunchy and characters with a lot of heart, you need to reach for one of her books. She was recommended to me and I’ve gobbled them all up. Synopsis: Diana Dixon has a lot going on this summer. She’s rehearsing for a ballroom dance competition, juggling two jobs, and dealing with an ex-boyfriend who can’...

[selkies-world]

Can I just add that when you're a "YA" author, you're essentially walking a tightrope with those golden weights from Mulan tied around your wrists?

If you write younger content / stuff with 12 - 15 year old protagonists dealing with first crushes / first kisses & which is aimed at kids who are just starting to outgrow childrens' books? That's for 10 - 14 year olds, but it'll still be marketed to older teens & adults because it's "YA". In turn, that'll make older teens feel alienated because they don't want to read about someone younger than them, and it'll likely go over a parents' head unless their child specifically points it out to them.

If you write more mature content, featuring drugs, alcohol, relationships, sex and trauma, with a 16 - 21 year old protagonist? That's for older teens and adults, but it'll still get marketed to 12 year olds because it's "YA". In turn, this will make the 12 year old think they're mature enough for adult content (not always true), and it'll make adults buy it for themselves rather than for their 17 year old.

Writing YA means trying to juggle mature themes like sex, drugs, relationships & alcohol in a way which makes parents approve of, teens relate to and tweens get excited about, all while trying to put in subtle indicators (in the cover, in the language in the blurb, etc) for which area of YA you're aiming for, even though this will not matter in algorithms. It'd matter in a bookstore or a library, but not online stores, which is where a large amount of people are getting their books now.

What I'm trying to say is that "YA" means 12+ & centres around characters aged from 13 to 21 but will likely be read by 10 year olds and 40 year olds alike. "YA" seems to be more practical to use to define content and themes (coming of age, first time experiencing something which separates your life into "before x" and "after x", majorly life-altering events which force you to grow up very quickly when you don't yet have the skillset required to be a functioning adult, young heroes taking down corruption) rather than age. More and more "YA" books are focusing on adults who read it rather than the teens / young adults it's named after.

Small detour, but it's relevant:

I think there's a lot of similarities between the YA market for books & Marvel / Disney.

Marvel & Disney tell stories about fairies and superheroes and children and magic. So that is aimed at children... right? BUT then, to appeal to a wider demographic, it'll make the attitudes of the characters appeal to teens - cue the moody anti-heroes and the relatable villains and the traumatised heroes entering the scene. THEN, to get the parents to agree to watch it, they'll make the cast a few years older than their characters and more attractive in an adult's eye than a child's. They'll throw some adult jokes and comments into the promotional material to catch the adults' attention while they go over the childrens' heads and make the teens feel grown-up when they understand them. THEN to keep the adults engaged, they'll throw in mature themes like politics and family responsibility, fidelity, etc., but they'll twist it just so, in order for the teens to empathise with it and for the children to feel empowered by it even if they don't fully grasp it - because they don't need to grasp anything other than the layer aimed at them.

Suddenly, its magic and superheroes aren't just for little kids anymore. Suddenly, they're able to be marketed towards every age group at the same time.

And THAT is what is happening to YA. On the surface, it looks like it's just 13 - 17 year olds reading it, because aren't they young adults? Isn't that who is supposed to read YA books? But then it's loved by 10 year olds and 50 year olds alike, because it has layers which appeal to wider demographics than just teens.

Potter, Hunger games, Twilight & Divergent all became popular because of how they united the age groups consuming them. An 8 year old, a 13 year old, a 24 year old and a 45 year old could all talk about the same book and understand each other and feel listened to and have their views appreciated - which is the exact same reason The Avengers are popular, because you'll have all those age ranges dressing up as the same character and being excited about it.

(Also, the fact most successful YA books are actually YA franchises which allow the reader to grow up with the protagonist, is the same logic used by Marvel / Disney in the sense that continuing to make Avengers movies and spin-offs and giving each individual character their own sub-franchise within the collective franchise will continue to pull fans back because they can see themselves growing up and maturing with their favourite characters.)

YA is the one "group" of books which allows adults to feel young again, and that is what makes them popular - they're the only ones which tell adults in their 40s and 60s and 80s that it's OK to sometimes still feel as awkward as a 13 year old or as out of your depth as a 17 year old at the same time and that's not a bad thing. THAT feeling, that feeling of being young again, of being understood, of being rebellious in the face of authority, of being the only one standing your ground... THAT is the thing that sells YA books.

So, like, the thing you have to understand is that prior to the mid-2000s, the "Young Adult" genre as we now know it didn't exist. The expectation was that you would graduate to the adult aisle of the book store at, like, 13-14. This worked because the only people still reading long form novels into their teens were precocious bookworms who were better read than their parents.

Harry Potter changed all this. The success of the Harry Potter books convinced the publishing industry that selling full length novels to normie children was a business model. The thing about the Harry Potter books, though, is that at least for the early books, the target audience was a bit younger than what we think of as the YA demographic; tweens, rather than teens. Now, the publishing very much wanted to keep all these normie kids buying books into their teens and beyond, but the previous model of treating teens as functionally adults for marketing purposes would not work; there was simply no way that normie parents were going to let their normie kids read fully adult novels where the characters, like, do drugs or have unprotected sex and stuff. So, in order to be allowed to market to the teen demographic, the YA genre was created.

However, teens have an inherent interest in reading about sex and violence and drugs, and so authors who are able to incorporate these kinds of themes into their YA novels in a discrete way such that it flies under the radar of the moral guardians are met with success. But this is a precarious tightrope to walk. Not enough "mature" themes and the teens will loose interest, to much or to blatant and the teens won't be allowed to read it. And so, it should come as no surprise, that the first person to successfully navigate this tight rope was a Mormon housewife with a vampire fetish.

[alanfromrochester]

TBOSAS book review

Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Incredible Hunger Games background

The movie coming out inspired me to finally get around to the book and I went though it very quickly. That's the sign of an engaging story generally, and one thing I like as an adult reader of YA is straightforward prose making a good story a quick read.

This was a great prequel for background on the main timeframe - as such it works best if you already know the original series as a basis for comparison. I feel Star Trek Enterprise was also like this with the Star Wars prequels being more standalone (though enriched by knowledge of the original)

I figured President Snow took a hard line against rebels because of his family suffering in the first rebellion including his father being killed, canon agrees and expands upon this - material suffering due to the rebel siege and much of the Snow family wealth being in District 13. It also seems like a sort of abused becoming abuser dynamic. For example, antizionists tend to feel Israel is using antisemitism as an excuse to mistreat Palestinians. (That example probably comes to mind with Gaza being major news in late 2023)

Old money falling on hard times seems not uncommon in nobility fiction, so does conflict with new money. Kid not interested in the family business is also an old story.

Dr. Gaul being a mad scientist seems to push him further to evil. Near the start of CF, Snow tells Katniss the Capitol needs to maintain its grip else what follows will be worse; in general, the events surrounding the 10th games really stuck with him over six decades later.

We see a lot of the rest of the Capitol elite - many names are familiar, including a Flickerman who sounds much like Caesar. We also see how the Peacekeepers operate, including on the job training for common recruits rather than a centralized boot camp. Some of Snow's barracks life feels like general parts of military fiction. Coriolanus and Sejanus doing better in training than lower-class recruits made me think of ASOIAF/GOT when Jon joins the Night's Watch. Much of what we see of District 12 life is quite familiar as well.

I also suspected the pomp and circumstance of the Games developed over time and this was confirmed as well. People uninterested in the Games because they recognize the brutality of it showed decent human nature corrupted by being cajoled or forced into watching it, in contrast to Gaul viewing the species as violent and in need of control. In general, I feel THG is a great combination of distract-with-luxury dystopia in the Capitol and brutal suppression dystopia in the Districts. This fits with Suzanne Collins' inspiration of flipping between 'reality' TV and Iraq War coverage.

Since the nature of the Games changed over time, other elements of the Capitol of the main series timeframe might also be different.

Apparently the average Capitolite, even the upper class like young Coriolanus, is not aware of the true fate of District 13.

The haphazard original nature of the Games highlights the Quell cards seeming like a later embellishment rather than original plan including the 3rd being rigged to re-reap Katniss.

Snow did snitch on Plinth, but Sejanus being outspoken was bound to get him in trouble anyway, and I understand Snow not wanting to be dragged down with him. Snow planning to knock some sense into him is helping in a way and assuming daddy would just throw his money around again was a tragic misunderstanding. Sejanus' righteous but foolish hotheadedness does sound something like Gale. No wonder Lucy wants nothing to do with him after that, like the final break between Gale and Katniss at the end of Mockingjay - to whatever extent it is or isn't his fault, she understandably is emotionally offended.