#I highly recommend every one of these

[ironwoman359]

For the YA readers, there's plenty for you too!

Ones I've read:

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (Arthurian legend retelling with an incredibly well rounded protagonist that paints a beautiful picture of grief and anger and this is one of the best ya books I've ever read please read it)

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (retelling of the historical Chinese empress Wu Zetian's rise to power with giant mecha robots and a power polycule that could rule the world together if the plot would give them a break first)

Blood Like Magic by Lieselle Sambury (near-future fantasy with blood magic, the bonds and burdens of family, and a trans love interest)

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. (Alternate Civil War history with zombies? Alternate Civil War history with zombies.)

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (A Cinderella retelling/deconstruction where our protagonist and her lesbian love interest decide to single-handedly try to tear down the patriarchy)

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas (A trans demigod from an Aztec inspired pantheon is unexpectedly drawn to compete in a series of trials to become the Sunbearer, who will sacrifice the loser of the trials in order to keep the Sun God alive and evil at bay)

Binti by Nnedi Okorofor (Nnedi Okorofor was mentioned above but I have to shout out the Binti series specifically, it's a trilogy of novellas and it's so damn good, some of the best sci fi I've ever read, Binti and Okwu have my whole entire heart)

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (What if Memory of a Geisha had necromancy, women's wrongs, and a framed story that makes you unable to stop reading, lest your questions as to how we got here go unanswered?)

Abeni's Song by P. Djèlí Clark (this is more middle grade than YA, but it's fantastic all the same, and I wanted to shout it out because when I found out that P. Djèlí Clark had written a book for younger readers I literally squealed aloud, his books are SO good and Abeni's Song is no exception)

Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott (Another middle grade series, about a group of kids from Brooklyn who get caught up in a world of dragons and magic and it's so cute and so good, I believe really strongly in reading and supporting diverse middle grade books and this was the series that started me on that journey)

Solimar: the sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan (One more middle grade book for the road, this is a Mexican Kingdom inspired story about a princess who wants to be king who must embark on a magical journey to save her family and her people)

And some honorable mentions (aka books on my TBR that I haven't read yet but will get to eventually):

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (I just finished her adult debut and now want to go back and read her entire Secret Shanghai series)

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (everyone who reads this says it emotionally destroys them and then puts it on their top five fantasy books of all time list, so there's something Good going on in there)

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne Brown (initially put on my list solely for the cover, this is the first book of a duology inspired by West African folklore)

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna (It's honestly criminal that I haven't read this trilogy yet

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (Aiden Thomas's debut, this book centers a trans boy who exists in a world with a very Gendered magic system who carves out his own place for himself, my cousin says it's amazing)

The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow (this JUST came out, I follow the author on tiktok and it looks dope, we've got a secret mirror world, vanished royal brides, sinister secrets, etc.)

PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Y’all (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you don’t know who Octavia Butler is or that you haven’t read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! I’m not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here

Some of y’all love marginalized stories but you don’t give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn

[starflungwaddledee]

a light shines through a cloud of colour fumes and i can feel the warmth of the sun

Gravity, let me go ♫⋆｡♪ destroyer - of monsters and men

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ˚★⋆｡˚ ┊ ┊ ⋆ ┊ ★⋆ ┊ ◦ kirbytober 2024 #01 ★⋆ dream // revenge // song

[arostormblessed]

Season 6 gang (two + jamie + zoe) literally Thee physically affectionate tardis team. these mfs were constantly holding hands, hugging, leaning on each other, straight up clinging, climbing each other like jungle gyms, and nothing was stopping them. they are cats, they are pack bonded, they are a package deal, etc. keep together do not separate

[soaptaculart]

Preview of the sticker sheet I designed for @aasiblingszine !! 💙💛 Preorders are currently OPEN until March 15th! You can grab this and lots of other goodies, plus the wonderful amazing heartwarming heartwrenching zine itself at https://aasiblingszine.bigcartel.com/ !!

[ahhrenata]

a little sketch for @not-so-austen ‘s ‘fix-it’ fic Fighting the Fall. It’s such a beautiful story that made me fall absolutely in love with the idea of these two. I’m so glad I found it 🥹 they deserve everything good in this world.

[penncilkid]

*wiping literal tears off of my face* Hey so guess who finished another piece of media today? /lh /pos

For those curious: it was The Penumbra Podcast. I originally got into it after incorrectly guessing who Khaleed, a character belonging to @mr-laveau from NeXus, was based off of.

To say this podcast devastated me is an understatement. To say I adore this podcast is an understatement. To say that this podcast has inspired me in ways untold is an understatement.

Go check it out if you're into narrative audio content. It's got 5 seasons and some of the most insanely talented voice acting, writing, sound design, and so on in it.

To @agentplutonium: I'm sorry I have roped you into this. I accept all bricks thrown when you get to the end. /lh

To @mr-laveau: I'm going to fist fight you in the "VS harmacy parking lot" for getting me into this shit AND NOT EVEN BEING CAUGHT UP TO THE END /LH

[letsboldlygomotherfuckers]

If ur not careful I might have to watch torchwood… do u recommend or is it an affliction you would not recommend to others?

hehehehehe >:3c gottem boys

no fr like. you have to look past the fact it's a low budget bbc production at times and embrace the slightly see through lesbian alien with foot long fingers that can read minds. you have to embrace the sex alien that absorbs people through her pussy. crucially, you have to watch it in as few sittings as possible. the only proper way to watch torchwood is to watch the entire thing absolutely nonstop and nothing else in between until your brain falls out through your ears :)

[softpine]

the amount of knowledge in guns you need to have to weave that into the story is fascinating to me. I don’t even know what racking a gun is (I do however know a whole bunch about obscure physics theorems) anyway I just think it’s neat how far we go into research to write things that make sense

i'm still not sure if i got everything correct, but no one has told me otherwise fjkjsd you've definitely heard the sound of a shotgun racking if you've watched any movie with guns in it, it's that "ch-chuck" kinda sound. what i didn't know is that there's apparently a huge debate in the home defense gun community over whether you should keep your gun loaded and racked or just loaded (don't bother mentioning safeties, they'll call you slurs...). the true benefit of not racking the gun would be if a little kid gets a hold of it, they're not going to know how to rack it therefore even if they pulled the trigger they hopefully wouldn't be able to shoot anything (in MY opinion this is idiotic; the chance that the gun would go off anyway is never zero, especially if they've ever seen their parents shooting and decide to copy their movements, as kids love to do). then some people think you should wait to rack it until you know there's an intruder in your house because the mere sound of it will make them go "oh shit" and just leave. people on the other side of the argument think this is pointless and only serves to reveal your position (but uhhh fyi, in some states you're supposed to give them a verbal warning and/or try to escape before using deadly force anyway). and they say you shouldn't be owning a gun if you're not prepared to use it as anything other than a sound effect. plus i saw some people say that you need that 1 extra round in the chamber or you might run out, which.... most pump shotguns hold 3 - 5 rounds so.. it just seems excessive to me, i can't imagine shooting up to 5 times and missing all of them?? in that case dude i think you're just fucked and 1 extra try is not going to help you lmao

the time factor is the most compelling argument to me, obviously if you're asleep and you hear someone break in and enter your bedroom, your gun is useless unless it's ready to shoot right this second. but the chances of this happening are just so slim and you know what would be even more effective?? a home alarm system so no one can possibly make it to your bedroom without you knowing about it. i saw a lot of people say they keep a loaded shotgun under their bed for this scenario. i'm a paranoid fuck and i've always lived in areas with high crime rates so i get it, but that's why i keep a maglite next to me while i sleep so in the incredibly unlikely event that someone breaks in without me hearing it, i can you know. whack them. do i ever think i'll need to do that? no but it makes me feel safer than having a loaded and chambered gun with no safety on lmao that would make me feel incredibly UNsafe... also i don't want to make this too dark but while i was in high school i knew FIVE kids who died because of their parents guns, one way or another. that is just unacceptable to me. we also had a gun go off at school and even though no one was hurt, that was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life because obviously in the moment we all heard a gunshot and thought it was an intentional school shooting. so anyway, me and guns do not get along but it's fascinating to research

but yeah as you can see i fell down the rabbit hole!! the things you do for writing jfksjds i did not need to go that far with it, but it was interesting!

[thedisablednaturalist]

I'm so excited

The disability department for my state is going to evaluate my workplace and help me make the most out of the limited energy I have. They are also going to see if they can cover ergonomic equipment for me. They are even hopefully going to look at my work from home/living space and make recommendations there. I'm really excited for the future and hopefully I'll be able to find a way to keep doing the work I love.

Also, my dentist said my mouth looks a lot healthier and cleaner since I'm no longer mouth breathing since I got my septum fixed. She said it's likely I won't have to use my cpap in the future since my oxygen uptake will increase.

I'm also feeling a lot better after taking the meds for the allergic reaction. I think the rash is entirely gone. And my back is feeling better.

[cherry-bomb-ships]

Wait holy fuck did I ever show you guys this wallpaper I made for myself on PicCollage 💖💖💖💖💖💖

This shit makes me so fucking happy every time I see it on my lockscreen, highly recommend y'all do the same on ur phone, 'puters, etc

Art by mothfinite, rexscanonwife, hotrodharts, bilumiart, cupiidzbow, mynolia, and me!!

[coconut530]

Bump in the Night & Nevertober Day 4: Vampires & Ring

@deoidesign I drew your guy :))))))))

[strawberrisoulmate]

i love love LOVE knowing that ichigo is mine and no one else's. i love that there's no one else in the entire world who can have him. there's no one i have to compete with. no one that i have to scroll past gush posts about him. no one i have to worry about taking him away from me. there's no one on this earth he would ever even consider looking at that isn't me.

he's my husband. mine mine mine mine forever and ever!!!

[cowboyskeletons]

*insane about media voice* i am normal about media

[faaun]

ok let's catch up quickly

[melit0n]

Autobiography of Red - Anne Carson

Ouch.

[altschmerzes]

DID THE DEPOSIT FOR OUR WEDDING VENUE TODAY…… AAAAUGH (POSITIVE)