#I love writing original fiction so this is very much not an issue--especially since I have a bevvy of appropriate OCs to choose from

[delta-chan]

I love those moments where you sit there thinking "man I wish this cool story I'm imagining existed in some form" before going having the "wait I could totally write this" epiphany for like the 87th time

[imperiuswrecked]

BDS HAS CALLED FOR A TARGETED BOYCOTT OF PRO-ISRAEL PROPAGANDA CHARACTER SABRA!!!

BOYCOTT SABRA (RUTH BAT-SERAPH) IN MARVEL'S CAPTAIN AMERICA : NEW WORLD ORDER!!!

As Captain America: New World Order is released I urge all fans who are against Zionism to flood the Captain America tags with messages of Boycott Sabra. All the links provided in the graphic are publicly available from their websites, and social media.

Anti-Zionism =/= Anti-Semitism!!! We are boycotting Sabra not because she is Jewish but because she represents a Pro-Israel, Pro-Zionist message that should not be platformed in any media. Her comics have Pro-IDF propaganda.

Marvel was made aware of the fact that this character promotes a Pro-Israeli & Anti-Palestinian sentiment when the character of Sabra was announced for Captain America 4, despite fan concern, and calls for Marvel to remove this character from the movie and despite have more than enough time to respond to what type of statement this would promote, a Pro-Zionist, Pro-Israel stance and despite reshoots Marvel has still chosen to keep Sabra in the movie. Shira Haas is the actress playing Sabra, she is Israeli and has shared Pro-Israel posts online even during the genocide of the Palestinians.

Marvel claims they will be reinventing the character however a character whose very nationality and backstory relies on Pro-Israel & Pro-Zionist ideals is irredeemable especially because not once in all her comic appearances does she ever change her Anti-Palestinian stance. Israel is currently committing a Genocide against Palestinians. Since of October 7th more than 30,000 Palestinians, of which over 12,000 are children, have been murdered by Israel. Over 60,000 have been injured, more missing, and millions displaced in Israel's genocide and ethnic cleansing of the people of Palestine. This is in addition the 75 year long occupation, countless war crimes, and 16 year blockade on Palestinians.

Marvel claims to care about Jewish characters, but Marvel hasn't even cast Jewish actors for Jewish Characters like Moonknight. Marvel choosing to back a Pro-Israel, Pro-Zionist character like Sabra sends a very clear message that aligns with Marvel Comics long held Anti-Palestinian sentiment. There are other Jewish characters for Jewish representation, such as Magneto, and Kitty Pryde, who were not created with a Pro-Israel, Pro-Zionist background.

BOYCOTT SABRA!!! Send a message, write a tweet, make a post, and tag Marvel and Disney and let them know why you are Boycotting Captain America: New World Order. I love Sam Wilson as Captain America but I will never support a movie that has Sabra as a character.

For more information about the character's history here is a breakdown of her appearances in Marvel Comics.

The Incredible Hulk (1968) #256 - Sabra's Origin

On the cover of Sabra's origin issue is the image of a dead Palestinian boy.

continued...

As we read the issue, we find Bruce Banner/The Hulk has stowed away on the ship "The Star of David" to Palestine, in the comics it is called Israel, however Marvel Comics has long been erasing Palestine, calling it only Israel.

This is Marvel Atlas (2008) #2 page on Israel

Marvel Fandom Wiki states that Palestine was the name of the land before Israel. While I understand that Marvel's 616 Universe is fictional, it's important to state that they base their locations on Real Life locations, and in 1948 Palestine underwent The Nakba, in which Israeli Forces displaced over 750,000 Native Palestinians and killed countless men, women, and children, stole land and homes, and forced the remaining Palestinians into the Gaza Strip which is the world's largest concentration camp, or confined to the West Bank all of which is under Apartheid laws today, or out of Palestine with no right to return to their homes and lands.

That being said, Sabra was created in 1980, as a Mossad Agent, Mossad is the Israeli Secret Service which has done so much harm to Palestinians. In her first issue she was working as a cop in Tel Aviv.

The Editor's note states: "The word Sabra denotes a Native-Born Israeli, the name derived from an indigenous form of fruit - a prickly pear possessed of a sweet interior, and a spiny outer surface to protect it from it's enemies."

Sabr (arabic, it also means "patience") is a cactus prickly pear that is Native to and found growing in Palestine. Read more about it in this article talking about the politics of Palestinian erasure and the Sabr fruit.

The Prickly Symbolism of Cactus Fruit in Israel and Palestine.

“If you look at most Palestinian villages demolished in Israel, what’s left is cactus fruit and olive trees,” says Qattan. Since 1948, he adds, this has imbued the cactus plant with a “mythical symbolism.”

When Blum’s father started the farm, he knew that many parts of the world have cactus fruit plants, so he wanted to make theirs the best. They chose Dimona, in southern Israel, because of its intense sun and “the Zionist dream of making the desert bloom.” 

"Making the desert bloom" is a racist Zionist ideals and propaganda that has caused severe ecological damage to Palestine by destroying thousand years old Olive trees to plant non indigenous trees that are not native to Palestine in a form of ecocide. So even the character Sabra, her very name brings a connection back to the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians & promoting Zionism.

However Sabra's name also has another very real and very tragic memory. One I will discuss here before returning to the comics. Just two years after her appearance in comics in 1980, Israel's war crimes continue.

The Sabra & Shatila Massacre 1982

The article linked above has information of what occurred September 16-18, 1982. There were the Refugee camps of Sabra & Shatila, where Palestinians displaced from Israeli Occupation lived, and they, as well as Lebanon Civilians, were killed by the right wing Lebanese Militia working with the Israeli Military, which took the lives of 2,000 - 3,500 people in 2 days. Raped, tortured, murdered. Many Palestinians know the history of the massacre and bringing up the names of Sabra & Shatila is a constant reminder of the deaths that occurred, the war crime that was committed, and that 42 years later not one person involved in the massacre was held accountable.

The Sabra and Shatila massacre is remembered as one of the most traumatic events in Palestinian history and its memory is commemorated annually by Palestinians in Lebanon and in Palestine.

Marvel promoting a character like Sabra who's very creation ties into the Pro-Zionist Israel a statement that Marvel is promoting a Pro-Israel message. No matter what changes occur to the character in the movie, already her very creation, her very name is linked to the deaths and torture of thousands of Palestinians. It does not matter that she was created 2 years before the Sabra & Shatila massacre, her name is still connected to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the 1948 Nakba and the creation of Israel.

For anyone who says "Well Marvel couldn't change her name just because of Political Controversy" let me remind you that when the American Black Panther Party gained popularity Marvel changed The Black Panther's name temporarily to the Black Leopard because they didn't want to associate the character with the American Black Panther Party.

Now that you have an understanding of why Palestinians are rightfully boycotting an Israeli Propaganda character let me return to the the comics.

Back to The Incredible Hulk (1968) #256; this comic is one of the most Anti-Palestinian, "Arab Terrorist Propaganda" comics I have ever read so I will briefly outline the plot: The Hulk meets a poor Palestinian boy who was stealing a watermelon (The watermelon is the symbol of resistance for Palestinians) and Bruce spends time with the boy, Sahad, however Sahad is killed by a bomb. Hulk is enraged and fights the Arabs, Sabra intervenes and thinks Hulk is in league with the Arabs and attacks him.

Hulk takes Sahad's body away and Sabra thinking Hulk was fighting with the Arab Terrorists goes after him in order to protect Israel. However she finds that Hulk wasn't the monster she thought he was. Hulk's angry speech about the Israel-Palestine conflict leaves Sabra shaken and for the very first time she sees a Dead Palestinian Arab Child as human.

"For an instant, Sabra prepares to give chase. She is, after all, an Israeli Super-Agent... A Soldier... A Weapon of War. But she is also a woman, capable of feeling, capable of caring. It has taken The Hulk to make her see this Dead Arab Boy as a Human Being. It has taken a monster to awaken her own sense of humanity.

Reminder this is her FIRST FULL COMIC, this is her ORIGIN, and you would think that perhaps she is more sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians after this but she isn't. Let's continue with the rest of her comic appearances.

Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions (1982) #1-3

Sabra is included in the contest of champions where superheroes must team up to battle their foes, she is teamed up with Iron Man, and The Arabian Knight (1st incarnation: A Saudi Bedouin with mystic artifacts/powers). Again, the Anti-Arab racist stereotype of Arab men being misogynistic towards women (misogyny is not a trait of ONLY Arab men, it is something that occurs world wide, however focusing it only on Arab men is racist) as well as the Zionist Propaganda lies that Arabs hate Jews, Arabs vs Jews, Arabs and Jews are enemies because of their religion. Not to mention that this Arabian Knight (Abdul Qamar) is from Saudi Arabia, he has no ties to Israel, so Sabra is judging him because he is Arab and has conflict with him because of their countries, it ties into the stereotype that "All Arabs are the same", Saudi Arabia is not Palestine.

Even after The Arabian Knight saves Sabra, she states her hatred and racism towards Arabs; "I would rather be dead than allied with you!"

The Incredible Hulk (1968) #279 - Sabra once again states it was the Hulk who taught her about Humanity.

Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #6 - Sabra fights Israeli Anarchists who want to overthrow the Israeli Government and saves the American Ambassador's son, who is deaf. The main villain is a woman who Sabra saved by giving her some of her life energy, and she is upset because she did not want to be saved nor does she want to fight for Israel with the powers Sabra gave her. Sabra takes her life energy back and it kills her.

A constant running theme throughout her comics is that one of Sabra's repeated goals is the protection of Israel even above her own life.

The Incredible Hulk (1968) #386-387 - Sabra thinks the Hulk is in league with people who are trying to kill a boy, and attacks him. Later she thinks Hulk has defeated her and has this speech where she says that Israeli Soldiers are beating their wives out of frustration.

Again, how is that not the fault of the soldiers, why is it even when they are perpetrators of violence it's not their fault because they are frustrated?!

The main plot was that a Jewish man, who survived the German Nazi concentration camps, believed the boy to be the next Hitler which is why he wanted to stop him.

I never downplay the horror of the Holocaust or what Jewish people suffered from Nazis, from Anti-Semitism, throughout their history, but I am mainly focusing on how Sabra's character is in the comics and how that related to Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Arab sentiment.

The New Warriors (1990) #58-59 - Sabra reveals that her six year old son was killed by Arabs, bombed on a school bus, after she urges the New Warriors to kill Batal, a Syrian Super-Agent. Batal then states that it was the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) that killed her son and to stop generalizing all Arabs.

Batal: Well Sabra? There's a Palestinian over there -- aren't you going to push him out of his seat and claim it as your own? Sabra: I don't respond to child-killers

Again, Sabra's racism against Arabs doesn't end at Palestinian Arabs, but extended to Saudi Arabia and now Syrian Arabs. LET ME BE VERY CLEAR THAT SABRA IS BEING RACIST: Batal has 2, TWO, only 2 comic appearances, he is there as security detail like Sabra is, there is nothing about his character that indicates he's anything but a Syrian Superhero, and Sabra still called him a child killer because she thinks all Arabs are child killers. Batal is written with the stereotypical racist Arab Man writing that many Arab characters suffer from, and he does insult Sabra by calling her an "Israeli Pig" after she treated Batal with disrespect, distrust, and suspicion ever since his arrival.

Sabra is then mind controlled into stopping the peace conference and killing everyone who allowed it to happen. She is stopped by the New Warriors.

Sabra's son is never once shown in a flashback, we are only ever told of him and how he died.

X-Men (1991) #67-69, 72-73

Sabra's dead son's name is revealed to be Jacob, she uses her position in Mossad to get secret information for the X-Men.

She later has plans to track down and kill Magneto, but ends up fighting with his clone, Joseph, before being told that wasn't the real Magneto and stopping.

Excalibur (1988) #120-121

Sabra teams up with Excalibur to defend "Israel" from Legion's ghosts. Then she is debriefed of her mission by Mossad.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #366, 367, 379

Sabra takes Joseph (Magneto's clone) to an Israeli Military bunker where scientists study his DNA and state he is a clone of Magneto. Later Sabra attends Joseph's funeral.

X-Men (1991) #111

Sabra makes a statement about Magneto; Israeli Super-Agent Sabra weighed in on the looming war with her usual candor, "It is clear to me at least that Magneto has become the monster he claims to despise. There are some factions who believe this rumored son of Israel has brought much shame to his countrymen. Factions who believe he should be dealt with once and for all. Okay maybe not factions. But certainly Individuals... like me."

New X-Men (2001) #131-132

Sabra attends a funeral for Darkstar in #131. In #132 Sabra interacts with the mutants, and x-men, and says to Quicksilver (on the apparent death of Magneto), "I'm sorry Quicksilver, but good riddance. Magneto was a master-race lunatic who coherenced the entire Genoshan mutant population into a war with humanity and brought this on himself."

JLA/Avengers (2003) #4

Single panel appearance where Sabra is shown protecting the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Again she is called an Israeli hero.

Side Note: I don't think there's been a single comic where Sabra has a major presence that has not mentioned at least once that Sabra is an Israeli Super Hero, a Mossad Agent, or an Israeli Super-Agent at least once. It's so noticeable that they always mention it and how big of a role it plays in her character.

Excalibur (2004) #5

Flashback two panel appearance of Sabra on Genosha.

Civil War: X-Men (2006) #1-4

Sabra fights on the side of Tony Stark/Iron Man and battles Archangel, then aids an injured Micro Max.

Civil War (2006) #6

Sabra fights on the side of Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Union Jack (2006) #1-4

The Arabian Knight has changed mantles, the 2nd incarnation is portrayed by a Palestinian Hero, Navid Hashim. I make mention of this because in Union Jack (2006) #1 Navid is called a Saudi, then in Hulk (2008) #45 Navid is called a Afghani, however the Marvel Fandom Wiki stated he was a Palestinian and I wanted to confirm it, which I did in:

Marvel Encyclopedia, New Edition (2019)

In the first issue of Union Jack, right off the bat, Sabra has an issue with The Arabian Knight, and is antagonistic towards him.

Navid is written in Marvel's usual racist writing; the misogynistic Arab man stereotype. Navid tells Sabra she should embrace her role as a mother instead of a hero. Sabra snaps and chokes him while telling Navid that Palestinians killed her son. Note how now it's Palestinians and not, Arabs, and not the PLO? Because by now the PLO is no longer considered a Terrorist group, so Marvel can't blame them and instead shift the blame to all Palestinians for the loss of Sabra's son. Arabs is too general, so of course it's the Palestinians.

To this date Sabra's son, Jacob, has still never appeared in any flashbacks, never seen drawn into a comic with Sabra, no mention of who the boy's father is. Nothing except Sabra's loss and hatred of the Palestinians. Even in her first solo comic series, which I discuss further down, does not mention her son. Using the death of an Israeli child to justify villainizing the entire group of Palestinian people is Zionist Israelis do. It's Anti-Palestinian Propaganda.

Later Navid gets hurt and Sabra checks on him, he tries to apologize;

Arabian Knight: About your son... I only meant. Sabra: Don't. We are allies of the moment. Another day I would have driven the dagger home.

Later Sabra, The Arabian Knight, and others are mind controlled by the villain to attack Union Jack. Union Jack is told that he can distract them by turning them against their "natural enemies" and then Union Jack insults Sabra and uses Sabra's hatred and racism towards Arabs to turn her against The Arabian Knight. Sabra calls Navid a terrorist as she attacks him.

The mind control gets broken, and the team rallies to save the day by the last issue. The final exchange between The Arabian Knight and Sabra shows a tense acknowledgement between them meant to show begrudging respect. This is the nicest Sabra has been to any Arab character since her creation. The bar of "showing respect" is literally on the ground.

Secret Invasion #6

Cameo one panel appearance of Sabra in Israel fighting a Skrull.

Astonishing Tales (2009) #6 - Astonishing Tales: Sabra

Tagline in the comic states: Sabra: Whether as an agent of Mossad, or a superhero, the Israeli mutant Ruth Bat-Seraph has never doubted her decision to put her country above self. Fighting alongside the Avengers, X-Men, and Captain Britain, as the patriotically garbed Sabra. Ruth has proven herself a champion to all nations.

"Sabra in Flight" - is one of the most disgusting pieces of Israeli comic propaganda I have ever read thus far in Sabra's comics. For my first time reading it I was shocked at how easily they projected the narrative of Israel as something noble and worth dying for. This piece of utter trash is the very first time Sabra has her own solo comic story. Let that sink in. This is the first time in 29 years since Sabra's creation 1980 that she has her own solo comic story. Sabra's total presence in the comics is 42 years.

The only things we know of her character is that her name is Ruth Bat-Seraph, she was born and raised in a special Israeli Kibbutz (Israeli settlement), that she manifested mutant powers that include; flight, energy quills, poisoned quills, super strength, and life energy transference. Sabra had a six year old son named Jacob who died in a bombing. She has always stated or maintained her solidarity and defense of Israel even above her own life. She is racist to any Arab, especially Palestinian Arabs.

It also important to note her costume changes over the years, her Star of David has diminished greatly from being on different parts of her uniform to just barely being a necklace/neck accessory. Her roles as Israeli Hero is greater than that of her being a Jewish Hero.

This comic introduces us to Ruth at a Israeli social function in Jerusalem, where is with her mother. Her mother tells her not to spill anything on her Sabra uniform, and mentions how people want to talk to her, Their Greatest Soldier. Again the emphasis on her being an Israeli Soldier and a Mossad Agent is hammered home in the first page of this comic.

Mother: "Your dad would be so proud of you, Ruth. To see his daughter in uniform protecting the Nation." Ruth: "I just hate being put on display at these receptions. I am a Mossad Agent after all."

Then the next bit of news we learn is that Sabra has a brother. So now we know she has a mother and brother who is living, and her father is deceased. Next a old friend of Ruth's arrives with her teenage daughter, Yael, in tow, she introduces Sabra to her daughter and leaves them to talk. Sabra then mentions to Yael that she must be getting close to her mandatory military service soon. Yael mentions she is nervous because her friend was in the military and was paralyzed in Gaza.

Sabra then spends the next part of the comic reassuring Yael that it's ok to be nervous and that she was nervous too sometimes and mentions a story where she faced Hydra, and that when Yael goes into the Israeli military (IDF: Israeli Defense Force) she will learn a lot.

Sabra: "You'll learn a lot when you enter the Military. But the biggest thing you'll discover is that you have two families; your military family, and your personal family. Both will always be there for you, and perhaps even sacrifice themselves for you. A hard truth I learned the day my dad died rescuing me."

Yael mentions how her father was killed by surface to air missiles, and then goes on to say she was accepted into the air force flight academy and she always wanted to fly but that she was nervous. She mentions she might go into Military Intelligence. Sabra says that is good too but Yael then says she feels she was always meant to fly. So to convince Yael go into air force and alleviate her fears Sabra then takes her in her arms to fly her over Jerusalem and tells her that this land is what their dads died for. And she is convinced that Yael will make the right choice.

Side Note: Excuse me while I throw up, this entire comic made me feel so disgusted. I always try to write and speak about comics as professionally as I can but fuck this comic. Fuck this Pro Israel Propaganda. Fuck Sabra. Fuck this Pro-IDF comic. Fuck making an entire comic about reassuring a young teenage Israeli girl to go and join the IDF to fight in Gaza, to kill Palestinians. THIS. This is why Sabra will NEVER be able to be divorced from her origins, her character, as a Pro-Israeli Super Agent. No matter what Marvel tries to put into the movie this is who the character is at her very core.

Over 12,000 children have DIED since October 7th. Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people, but Marvel and the MCU, and Disney think it's ok to have a Israeli Superhero in a Captain America movie? Boycott. Scream out online to them. Tell them we do not want their Israeli Propaganda. Sabra should never ever be used for any platform, movies, shows, animation, comics, ever again. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israel in the last few months alone. Never forget.

I'm shaking with rage as I write about this comic but we move on. There's still some comics left to discuss. However in my firm opinion this character is indefensible, she literally is an Israeli Propaganda character. She is propaganda for the IDF.

History of the Marvel Universe (2012)

Cameo Appearance.

Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #685, Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth (2012) #1

Sabra teams up with Spider-Man and other heroes, she is introduced as a Israeli based mutant, she fights spider robots in Jerusalem.

X-Men (2010) #31, 34-37

In Paris, Sabra greets Storm and later she helps the X-Men using her influence as a Mossad Agent.

X-Men (2013) #9, 11, 16 + X-Men Legacy (2012) #23

Sabra aids the X-Men.

Captain America: Steve Rogers (2016) #18

One page Cameo, Sabra appears to have completed a mission and gathered files.

Avengers (2018) #11

Sabra and the Arabian Knight are at a meeting called by The Black Panther. T'Challa wants everyone to work together, they are currently discussing an issue with Namor the Sub-Mariner, King of Atlantis. Ursa Major makes fun of the situation; "Haaaa, look at Sabra and the Arabian Knight! Even the Jew and the Muslim are agreeing! How touching!

Zionist propaganda of making it seem as if the conflict between Israel and Palestine is a religious conflict between an Arab and a Jew. Making of a Jewish and Muslim character getting alone because they should be fighting is racist, Islamophobic, and anti-sematic. The conflict between Israel and Palestine is NOT a religious conflict, Israel has been occupying and murdering Palestinians for 75 years. It is a conflict between Israel being a colonizer and Palestine being colonized. Israel is committing a genocide as I create this post.

At the end of all her appearances spanning 42 years Sabra has not once changed from her palestinian, arab hating, israeli zionist roots. All we get is her trading a few words back and forth with Arabian Knight and acting like an adult at a table full of kids. There isn't even respect between them. That is all the appearances of Sabra.

Why is important to boycott Sabra? In addition to the character being Pro-Israel, Pro-IDF Propaganda, giving a large platform like the one an MCU movie provides will give the actress a larger platform.

Israeli Actress, Gal Gadot, who is Pro-Israel, Pro-Zionism, Pro-IDF, and was a former IDF soldier, was cast in a high profile role of Wonder Woman, she used her platform, power, and access to thousands of fans to further messages of Zionism and even promoted a Pro-Israel propaganda film to be aired in Hollywood. The film was used to further the Zionist agenda of continuing their genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. Bearing Witness (2023) is a Israel IDF propaganda film that Gal Gadot endorsed as Israel continued their genocide of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Wonder Woman isn't even Israeli, however the actress used her ties to the character to promote Israel. In Wonder Woman: 1984 there is a very racist, Anti-Arab, Anti-Palestinian message including a scene where Wonder Woman, played by Gadot, saves 4 Arab boys from a missile. Article Link

Why is that scene so controversial? Because Israel murdered four young boys who were playing on a beach in Gaza back in 2014 by a drone missile strike. Article Link

Gal Gadot and now Shira Haas having roles in movies with as much exposure as DC and Marvel movies promotes Israel, and Zionism. Pro Zionist groups have already voiced their approval of Shira Haas playing Sabra.

I will boycott any piece of media that features Sabra, the Israeli Propaganda Super Agent.

Use the Captain America tags to Boycott Sabra.

If you have read this far then please support Palestine. Support Palestinians and fight against Zionism. Comics were created by Jewish Creators, do not let Zionists try to erase their contribution or use comics to promote Zionism. Comics are never created in a vacuum, they are the pulse of current pop culture, of current news. Comics are Political and always have been. Marvel choosing to keep Sabra in the MCU sends a clear message of support for Zionism & Israel.

Find a Protest near you

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[copperbadge]

I was making breakfast and listening to an episode of Just King Things this morning, which is a podcast I do recommend -- two very smart English teachers are reading the books of Stephen King in publication order and discussing them. This could go extremely awry except they're both highly conscious of his failings as well as his skill, so they do really well handling a lot of his less salutatory content.

They've hit the point in King's ouvre (this episode was about Hearts In Atlantis) that follows his recovery from the car accident that very nearly killed him, where he was struck by a van while out walking. One of them pointed out that it seems as though he came back from nearly dying determined to write the wildest shit imaginable and only write what he wanted, which struck a chord in me this time despite having listened to this episode before. Perhaps because I was thinking about my own writing and where it's going in the short term (there are a couple of short stories I want to do that I don't quite have a way into yet). I generally don't think about the drift of my creativity in the long term because when I do I usually draw the wrong conclusions.

I don't really classify my life, the way some people who've had high-impact injuries do, as before-TBI and after-TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury -- the fairly severe concussion I had in January of 2020). For one thing, given I had to cancel a trip to NYC because of it, it may have saved my life; I almost certainly would have caught COVID as someone with known lung issues in New York at the time. For another, the TBI was way scarier to almost everyone else; for me it was just one more dumb injury I gave myself and I didn't even remember most of it so it hardly registered. I used to open the story of it with a joke about waking up not remembering going to bed the night before, but nobody ever found it funny.

It's true that there are changes it wrought in my life, though. Even practical stuff like making sure my living space doesn't have tripping hazards and continuing to wear a fitbit even though I don't really need to (the fitbit told us, the morning after, exactly when the concussion happened, because it registered a heart-rate spike when I fell). For weeks after, I had to move slowly and put off making important decisions because I couldn't trust my physical or intellectual judgement; I didn't even jaywalk in my own neighborhood because I couldn't be sure I was judging the cars' speeds properly. For about a year after I had periodic post-concussion syndrome which basically just slammed me back into concussion space, which wasn't painful or upsetting but was definitely inconvenient.

And it's also undeniable that my writing shifted after the injury. It's not necessarily because of the injury, since my initial recovery from the TBI and the declaration of quarantine happened at roughly the same time, and anyone who tells you that a years-long global pandemic didn't impact their artistic expression is selling you a line. But the last thing I wrote before the TBI was the first draft of Six Harvests, and aside from the Six Harvests publication draft, which had fairly minimal changes, almost all that I've written has been blue-sky, light-hearted, PG-rated romance. It's been on my mind that I've been writing different subject matter from what I used to, but the timing of it didn't strike me until just recently.

I don't mind, really. I love fandom and I support fanfic in whatever expression it comes, but I'm also happy writing my own stories. While I'm aware it's been years since I've meaningfully written fanfic, it doesn't bother me per se, as long as I'm writing. It bothered me much more when I could write fanfic but not original fic, especially in those last few awful months at my last job. I'm proud of the literary and non-genre fiction I've written in the past, but it's also much more trying and frustrating to write at times, so I'm enjoying having a different sort of challenge that feels more fulfilling in the process. I'm sure at some point I'll go back to literary fiction -- there are ways in which it's hard to avoid turning the later Shivadh novels into literary fiction, being honest -- but for now I like what I'm writing, and I'm writing primarily to please myself and without regard to what's necessarily rational or linear.

Just struck me, is all, that it's by far the most noticeable major shift in my work. I do sort of wonder what will be next.

[keeperofgremlins]

Unpopular opinion (or not idk): Some writers suck at portraying really good characters, and thus should not be taken seriously when they nerf a characters personality.

Like, what they did to Dick, Jason, Tim, Bruce, Damian, etc….

I refuse to believe that the way some writers wrote them are compatible to their original character. That is why I prefer fan fiction.

I want to see Dick be a good older brother (not parent bc despite his personality, he should not be treated like Damian’s parent unless it’s like an AU or smth), cause they made him suck during the whole Robin-Damian Dick-Batman run, and they’re both amazing characters that love each other and should be allowed to show it in the comics.

I want Tim to be a good brother (because he is, and writers make him seem like he’s not). I want Tim’s less than amazing parents to be acknowledged as less than amazing parents. Erasing the issues he had with them removes a complexity to his character that has part in his run(s) as Robin.

I want Damian to be an insecure, impulsive and compassionate, evolving teen (because he is a literal child that has so much room to grow and isn’t just some remorseless demon child), that ISNT WHITE WASHED HES ARAB AND CHINESE LET HIM SHOW HIS CULTURE PLEASE.

I love Tim and Damian, and I want them to be brothers. And since DC is barely giving us that, I think I’ll stick the the fanfics, thank you very much.

I want Bruce to be a loving father, that doesn’t hit his children and has more compassion for them than we’ve seen in more than a few runs.

I don’t want Ra’s Al Ghul or Talia to be so evil when their initial purpose was to help the world.

I also NEED writers to acknowledge the trauma their characters face (that they write). ESPECIALLY when a specific kind of trauma that is shared between nearly all bat fam members (sa).

Besides, most fan fiction authors write BatFams characters better than the ones DC pay, and it’s for free.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

May i ask what your feeling of Marichat are? (I apologize if you've answered this before)

I don't think that anyone has asked for my dynamic preferences, but I'm happy to talk about them, just note that this is very much an opinion piece. I'll be doing some critical analysis, but I'm not arguing for any of the following, I'm just telling you why my feelings are what they are.

I don't dislike any side of the love square, but canon Marichat is easily the least interesting to me. It's the one side that I'll probably never touch in my own writing, though I'm happy to read Marichat fics and even have a few favorites that focus on that side of the square.

This semi-aversion isn't because the dynamic is bad. Friends-to-lovers is my bread and butter. It's what I write in most of my original fiction and even in a lot of the fanfiction I've done. But I was drawn to the love square because they're already in love. While I see the appeal of one crush switching, I don't really see the appeal of watching them both fall out of love with each other in order to fall in love again. This is especially true because the "side" that they're falling for is the side that lets them be the least open about their needs.

I'm not a fan of Adrien having to keep his home life a secret from his girlfriend, but he would absolutely have to do that if he started dating Marinette as Chat Noir. He knows that he's friends with Marinette in his civilian life, so he'd need to be extra cautious with his identity around her. That means hiding a lot of things that I want to see him open up about since all of his major struggles come from his civilian side.

That isn't true for Ladynoir, though. Ladybug and Chat Noir have no idea that they know each other in their civilian lives, so being open-but-vague with each other shouldn't be seen as a big risk since they shouldn't be worried that small personal details will reveal their identities. (This is a writing issue in the show, imo. They write Ladybug as absurdly cautious when it doesn't really make sense if she assumes that Chat Noir is a stranger. You can tell that her actions are being driven by the plot not quality characterization.)

Along similar lines, Marinette can't talk to Chat Noir about her Ladybug struggles if she's not Ladybug. That's why I prefer Ladynoir or Ladrien. Ladrien is actually the easiest to write because Marinette is pretty good at opening up to people about issues that don't effect them. I can totally buy her talking to Adrien about her Ladybug fears while being reluctant to share those same fears with Chat Noir because she doesn't want to burden him or look weak. I think you can work around that issue pretty easily by developing Ladynoir into more of a power couple, but Ladrien is the easiest one to work with without having to change anything about the canon setup. While we're on the topic of giving Marinette support, I'll point out that Adrienette often works best in fics that focus on civilian issues like the Lila conflict while playing down Marinette's Ladybug struggles specifically because it lets Adrien feel like a solid supportive boyfriend which he really can't be if she's dealing with Ladybug issues.

The other reason that I love Ladrien is that I am a massive fan of identity shenanigans and Ladrien is the comedy hi-jinks/identity shenanigans ship. While Marichat basically kills the other sides of the love square (more on that in a second), Ladrien enhances them. Marinette gets even more ridiculous around Adrien and the same goes for Chat Noir with Ladybug. Bonus points if Chat Noir knows for some reason - as in Ladybug knows that Chat Noir knows that she's dating someone - so that you can have Chat Noir slowly dying of joy and frustration while his girlfriend gushes about him or just generally talks about her crush. It's very funny. I basically can't write Ladrien without including a ton of Ladynoir moments to really flesh the ridiculousness out.

I don't include a ton of civilian moments, though, because I don't see either Marinette or Adrien being open about the fact that they're dating some mystery person. It's just a completely unnecessary risk for their civilian sides to take, though it is fun to include a few moments of Marinette being a disaster as she remembers that they were kissing less than 24 hours ago. Hero sides having a romantic partner that they have to be vague about make total sense though. (Yet another reason I like Ladrien over Marichat. Adrien is just too good an actor to be an open disaster around his secret girlfriend when they're out in public and her safety is potentially at risk. You need them one-on-one for it to feel in character.)

Meanwhile, Marichat is a friends-to-lovers dynamic, meaning that you have the slow death of the other sides of the square as the current square falls out of love. You don't get the new square dynamics until the new love square is firmly established, so there's just not much to do with the other sides in terms of hi-jinks until the story is almost done.

This is why most Marichat fics don't feature the other sides. It's just Chat Noir and Marinette hanging out on her balcony or in her room. You may eventually get some jealous Ladybug moments or see people commenting on the fact that Marinette is having a much easier time talking to Adrien at school, but that's about it because Marichat means you're starting from scratch. You have to go through the whole falling in love process all over again which take a ton of time and effort, meaning that Marichat fics generally don't have much going on beyond romance. With the other three sides, at least one of them is already in love, so you don't need to do the classic slow burn. This is why Ladynoir, Adrienette, and Ladrien fics are a lot more diverse in their content.

That's probably another reason why I prefer the other three sides. I don't write a lot of pure romance stories. I tend to have some other larger plot driving my narratives because I'm a huge fan of romance bonding a couple as they go through adversity or insanity together which, once again, Marichat doesn't really do. They don't have the ability to knowingly team up pre-reveal. On the other hand, with Ladrien, you can get Adrien involved with the hero stuff on the civilian side since he's a perfect inside man. Ladynoir is involved in the hero intrigue by default and Adrienette is involved with the civilian intrigue by default.

In summary, Marichat is a fine ship, it just lacks all of the things that I love to play with, which is why it gets the fourth spot on my tier list. Ladrien and Ladynoir are basically tied for number one, though I'd give the top spot to Ladrien if I had to pick. Adrienette is in third and Marichat comes in last.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, my absolutely favorite dynamic is a reverse crush setup where Ladybug was always in love with Chat Noir and Adrien was always in love with Marinette. In that context, Marichat is now Ladrien and, therefore, I'm all in. Though, oddly enough, Adrienette is probably my favorite to write in that setup, followed closely by Ladynoir. I just really like torturing Adrien with Marinette's crush, plus it's fun to have their friends more involved in the ways I picture them getting involved (it's a lot more holding back than pushing forward like we get with canon Adrienette. Just picture Alya, Nino, and maybe even Chloè reacting to Adrien's wooing tactics in real time and you'll probably immediately see what I mean.)

Partial-reveal canon Marichat is also a whole different story. I love a good partial reveal fic for any side because I am primarily drawn to the square because of identity shenanigans and partial reveals are identity shenanigan central!

[cbk1000]

Fandom Creator's Self-Rec Game!

Choose five favourites from your own creations (and tell me why, if you like!), then pass on to at least five other people. I'd love to hear what you're proudest of.

Tagged by @the-pen-pot and actually I think @anonymintea also tagged me a while back? I vaguely remember seeing that in my activity and kind of recoiling at the idea of trying to rec my own stuff. lmfao But I have time to sit down and do it now and I am being so brave. I am just going to rec Merlin fics for this post, since that's what I've been working on and thinking about for the last four years or so, and those fics are the ones that are fresh in my mind. (Honourable mention goes to my Originals series, though, because I spent so much time on that sumabitch.)

All right, five favourites...know that this is excruciating for me and feels very cringe, because I am not normal. lmao

And Down the River's Dim Expanse (Merthur, 13k)

In which Arthur is a water spirit who tries to drown Merlin. Merlin is not impressed.

(This one feels like it kind of just disappeared into the morass of words I've vomited up on the topic of BBC Merlin. I don't think it's got nearly as much attention as any of my other fics, but I'm fond of it because I love fairytales and folklore and specifically anything to do with any kind of creature that lives in the water and especially if said creature tries to drown people. I'd love to do something like this again and have several ideas for fairytales to adopt (i.e. twist completely out of shape).

The Book of Merthur (Merthur, 600k+)

'It was awkward business to ignore a man sitting the length of one knee from you, especially when he had such voluminous ears, and though Arthur made a valiant attempt at it, he had soon to abandon this in favour of grousing at Merlin for a myriad of grievous transgressions, the most pressing of which was his manner of sitting far too close, as if they were mates. This shortcoming was to become a theme when they laid down after passing round a hard cheese and some bread, Merlin in Arthur’s cloak, and Arthur in nothing at all, because his was the greater constitution; and whilst Arthur was working himself into the choicest bit of ground, with the least stones, Merlin suddenly rolled over, mummified within the cloak Arthur’s thoughtfulness had provided, and put his nose into Arthur’s neck.'

The 'yes homo' we all deserved, righting the heterosexual wrongs of canon.

(My thus far 646,363-word essay on the issues I have with canon. I'm eight chapters from the end and already feeling that post-huge-project depression even though I have several ideas for what I want to do next. I really love writing historical fiction and have incorporated that into fics before, but this fic has shown me that I really really love writing fantasy heavily inspired by history: it's the same amount of research, with the added bonus that I can do whatever the hell I want. Also, as mentioned in my first rec, I really love fairytales and folklore, and this gives me the chance to incorporate them in a way that straight up historical fiction doesn't allow. Basically, this fic has allowed me to shove my boner for Arthurian legend and medieval history down people's throats at the same time. Ain't free gay fanfiction where I can do what I like great?)

Fools by Heavenly Compulsion (Merthur, ?k)

In which Arthur is gay and besotted, Merlin is bisexual and oblivious, and they have to get their shit together through WhatsApp.

(I have no idea how many words this technically is, because it's comprised entirely of screenshots of fake social media posts. I've read a few social media fics and enjoyed them and got a whole bug up my ass wanting to try it. I thought it would be an interesting challenge because it would take away so many things that a writer can usually rely on to tell a story, and for me specifically it would completely cut me off from any kind of descriptive writing. So basically I cut off all my limbs except like one arm and decided to see how I got on with that. And it HAS been really interesting to try and shape a narrative through texts and Instagram and twitter posts and still try and convey emotions and distinct personalities with such limitations on what I can actually show. It's also a lot of fun putting the posts together, although you can definitely fall down a deep rabbit hole of trying to pick just the right photo.)

Whereat the Two Sword on the Field of Death a Deathless Love (Merthur, 131k)

In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy. But not quite in the way you think. 'The Once and Future King'/Merlin mashup; now with 50% more gay.

(This was the first Merlin fic I ever wrote, and an homage to one of my favourite books. It was also me trying to get the show rewrite monkey off my back and distinctly failing at that, since I went on to write one that is over 600,000 words and still not complete. It's also proof that I am 100% capable of rewriting the show in under 150k, I just chose to inflict over 600,000 words on anyone insane enough to sit down and read a 600k gay porn version of BBC Merlin.)

And Time and the World Are Ever in Flight (Merthur, 39k)

In which Arthur returns to the 21st century, learns about Google, and finally realises his dream of running away to a farm with Merlin.

(Listen, the finale damaged me, I'm still damaged, and I tried to undo it with nearly 40k of tea and baby sheep. A.K.A. the one where Arthur returns and they run a sheep farm in Ireland together and finally figure out they're gay for each other and neither of them is alone ever again.)

Tagging @aemelia (you will have to rec all of yours lmao) @kirythestitchwitch @thetourguidebarbie and anyone else who wants to do this and has multiple fics.

[aboutzatanna]

Zatanna, Wonder Woman and Barry Allen go undercover in this issue of DC Retroactive: JLA- The 70's #1 (2011) and Diana is absolutely terrible at it:

For those who don't know DC Retroactive are untold stories set in past continuities mostly by writers from those eras.

This issue was written by Carey Bates with art by Andy Smith.

(Side note: While Diana being 'bad' at going undercover is just a two page gag, it makes more sense for me that Diana, former 'Goddess of Truth' and wielder of the Lasso of True wouldn't be comfortable with secret identities. I never liked the idea of Diana needing a secret identity. )

The plot of this issue mainly revolves around Adam Strange, who is accidentally transported to Earth Prime following a fight with Kanjar Ro so Barry, Diana, Zatanna and Ollie travel to Earth Prime to rescue him while Hawkman and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) take on the newly empowered Kanjar Ro.

Earth-Prime is basically "our world" where the JLA are all fictional characters and the writers and creators exist on that earth. It's also the world where Superboy Prime originally came from. Since Adam had his mind zapped at a mental institute, the only solution is to find DC editor and Adam Strange super fan Julius Schwartz who can jog Adam's memory.

I'm not really a fan of creators writing themselves or their collegues into the story. It feels very self congratulatory. Especially since WW's lasso could have solved the whole thing. I much prefer how Marvel did it, like an Easter Egg, where Stan and Jack would sometimes appear as themselves in issues of Fantastic Four. But I guess you can look at this issue as Carey's tribute to Schwartz. This issue also came with a reprint of Justice League of America #123 where Carey Bates wrote himself (or rather his Earth Prime counterpart) as the villain of the story.

Adam Strange himself is a character that I have mixed feelings about. He's very much a product of his time but the ordinary guy with a space suit, jetpack and helmet really appeals to the young boy in me who loved the Rocketeer. I don't think anyone has ever quite figured out how to make him relevant today. Tom King tried in his mini but it was the usual trope of 'lets reveal this innocent Silver Age character is actually a horrible person' variety of reinvention.

Anyway, enough rambling, since this is a Zatanna blog, here is a few moments with her that I like:

-The League chilling on the tower, Diana looks like she is oogling at Zee plus Hal being a Pink Floyd fan:

-Zatanna and Barry interactions plus Barry taking a leader ship role:

-This bit about mind wipes:

Knowing how much of a nerd Barry is he probably folded inside when she called him boss.

Also while this was most likely an excuse to bring in Julius Schwartz, Zatanna not tampering with minds is more in character for her during this period especially since the arc with her mom also had a subplot of her being mad that her father played with her mind. Another point deducted from Identity Crisis.

Blink and you miss it panels where the artist is clearly showing off their ability to draw human body in perspective:

And Diana wanting to take a selfie after the League defeats Kanjar Ro:

(also Diana's clearly a history geek, only a history geeks would drop random facts about Incas completely unprompted):

Overall, it's an old school issue. Very much a throwback. Still it's noteable that the writer of this issue didn't do the almost obligatory 'Zee gets gagged or taken out early so other characters can shine' plot. Every one has a role and everyone contributes their fair share to help defeat the villain.

[emersonfreepress]

You previously mentioned that we will be able to play as the child of immigrant parents. But how will you handle where the family comes from? Because let's be real: a kid whose parents come from Sweden or Germany won't get the same type of reactions as one whose family come from Mexico or Iran.

And that's even assuming the family are ethnically from those countries and not, say, people who went from one country to another to escape civil war or poverty or whatever, then came to the USA. Which is very detailed and nitpicking, I know, but I am very curious about this particular route.

Would it be right to assume MC's whose family have immigrant backgrounds would have it set, like how MC's family in non-immigrant route have certain set characteristics (upper middle class, how they came to their vices that caused current economic issues etc.)?

I haven't decided on exactly how I want to do it as far as accommodating backgrounds; as in, the choice scene isn't written or coded yet. But I really love what C.C. Hill @when-life-gives-you-lemons-if did in Insert Rich Family Name when it comes to customizing the family's background and plan to do something similar. (I highly recommend that game btw; and anything else CC writes tbh) Opening up a country of origin choice for immigrant MCs, however, means that I'm definitely reversing my decision to exclude skin tone customization. The game doesn't delve into things like colorism and or specific ethnic perspectives because I'm one person and just can't write all that 😅 but continent and country of origin will be a separate choice from things like appearance customization.

There are set characteristics of the second-gen MC's past but they don't differ wildly from the local background. Since the parents are characters with set personalities that I actually feature in scenes and dialogue, though, the immigrant backstory still needs to follow roughly the same beats as the local one. Your parents still lucked into money and spent it quickly and unwisely.

I know what you mean by the reactions that different migrant groups garner from people in real life, especially as the kid of African immigrants, but the setting I'm writing isn't like that. That's super unrealistic for a town like Emerson in real life — but it's a fiction and the story I'm telling isn't about facing or overcoming discrimination. If I was writing a version of Emerson that had a historical past actually typical of the United States, so many things, so many, would not exist as they are and I'd be writing a completely different story. The story I have written is just like... inappropriate honestly, for a setting like a realistic Emerson. I would not care to write about some high school kids at the prep school, I would much rather explore the politics and criminal underbelly of the adult world -- if I was writing this realistically.

To some degree, there are darker, more realistic aspects of Emerson as a setting (like blacklisting and what discrimination in Emerson even looks like) but that won't be explored until Book 2 because the MC will be an adult finally navigating life with the other adults. But this Book and this story are about the very insular perspective of a privileged kid from a weird fictional town. You could almost call a teenage MC an unreliable narrator, regardless of background, because they have lucked out in not experiencing much personal hardship. It doesn't mean my world doesn't acknowledge or have these things; literal case and points being Gabe and Kile. The MC is ignorant to a lot of what they haven't experienced and is written that way — and the characters who have had vastly different and harsher experiences also have their own limitations in perspective.

What you're describing just isn't what I'm exploring and xenophobia is not the sort of thing I'd want to inject half-assed for realism's sake or drop as some form of flavor text. I used to have a variable that let players choose if their last name gets frequently mispronounced because to me it's a funny thing that I relate to my immigrant experience. But I scrapped It because at the end of the day, it's just coding a micro-aggression that does literally nothing for the story or character development. Realistic discrimination doesn't enhance the story because I didn't create a story based in a realistic world. ...I think that sentence might sum it up, yeah.

I get that people don't have access to my notes or unpublished work and I don't presume that you know my background! But I'm confident I know what I'm doing with the option — and if it sucks, y'all better tell me (!!) and I'll have the whole rest of development to improve it.

[neptunianrefrain]

my real actual life got in the way, so it's time to play catch up! this post will be a compilation of all days missed.

OC-tober day 4 - underappreciated OC -skipped

sorry for skipping a mandatory day, but literally none of my ocs specifically come to mind. because like all of them are because i forget they exist, there's no one guy that specifically gets that title. and i'm not drawing all of them there's TOO MANY

OC-tober day 5 - redesigned OC - skipped

no specific redesign i want to talk about :P

OC-tober day 6 - past

not many of my ocs get backstories, since i don't often have them for long enough to care about those sorts of things... but all of the ocs i've spoken about so far do have at least something within their past! so let's talk about them!

gio was born in the philippines, to a family who didn't really want him. his original birth name was marikit. through some kind of program he was adopted out to a family in canada. this family adopted 3 other children due to fertility issues, though they did manage to have one biological child. they let him change his name to georgia. his life was pretty normal. in his teens, he started to figure out he was trans. by the time it started to click, his mom died. so that kind of got in the way of things. there's also an abusive ex somewhere in there but i haven't figured that bit out. anyways now he's an adult and looking into transitioning. now his name is giovanni. he really likes g names. he fully transitions over the course of several years. during this time, somewhere towards the end of his transition hes like late 20s or something, he meets and soon falls in love with a guy named michael (who belongs to my moirail @dialtone-town,) starting a long and loving relationship. eventually mike's sibling dies and mike fucks off to new jersey. this fucks gio up for a while! and eventually he has to go to new jersey for work shit. and he meets mike again. and theyre friends now yaaay

starlight has a vague backstory involving his development, as he was a custom order. there were several prototypes made of him, that still exist somewhere probably. they're more so an oc that exists to exist instead of an oc that exists for a story.

victor is still very new, but i did come up with the idea that her coding - that is to say the very makeup of her being - was intentionally messed with by another gem to create a reliable hitman, though they fucked up and victor immediately killed them, now continuing to kill as she lacks purpose beyond this.

chartreuse probably served the gempire at some point. eventually rebelled and had a bit of a turbulent life, had a best friend for a while but he fucked off and became a massive bitch. now she's part of a major rebel group, serving as the lead engineer.

OC-tober day 7 - likes

most of my ocs like similar things to me, or things that fit their sort of vibe. it's kind of hard for me to come up with likes and dislikes sometimes... but i try my best!

gio loves all kinds of video games, particularly liking ones with interesting stories or game mechanics. he also tends to enjoy science fiction, liking both sleek and elegant futuristic tech, and rough and war torn machinery. he watched some anime as a teen, and still finds new animanga to enjoy to this day.

starlight enjoys futuristic themes and styles, such as cyberpunk, and cassette futurism. he also enjoys fashion, especially alternative styles. and by god does he love playing weird indie video games. sometimes he does play more normal video games. sometimes. loves music, genre and language mattering not. he WOULD pass those "do you really listen to anything" tests. he also loves creation, making art and music and writing. he loves creating as much as he loves looking into what others have made.

uhh victor. victor likes killing people. chartreuse uhh. she likes something probably.

i have other ocs i cld maybe put here but i don't want to introduce them now. blehh

[mylifeinfiction]

You Like It Darker by Stephen King

I sit at this desk thinking of galaxies beyond galaxies.

Here we are, again... another Stephen King Short Story Collection. I feel like I probably bash short story collections more than I actually should. The fact is, some of King's very best writing resides within these collections. The same is true with his latest, You Like It Darker , which includes several stories that I'd rank among King's best since C*vid. But the same issues are also present, especially the fact that too many of these—even some I thoroughly enjoyed/loved—feel too much like promising ideas rather than finished pieces. Also, most don't get nearly as dark as I was hoping for. In the end, though, this is a rock-solid short story collection and extraneous proof that King is the king... not just of horror fiction, but of American fiction, full stop.

Anyway, let's not fix what's not broken... here are my thoughts on each story:

*As Always With This Type of Review... POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!*

Robert Frost said home is the place that, when you go there, they have to take you in. It’s also the place you start from, and if you’re one of the lucky ones, it’s where you finish up.

Two Talented Bastids: A creative slant on the roots of talent; those inexplicable gifts bestowed upon unassuming people. It’s a likable if unevenly paced study of fate, and the actual origin of these men's talents is straight up my alley. - 7.5/10

The Fifth Step: I liked this one significantly more this time around. It’s very short and has a fantastic ending that isn’t only brutal, but plays into the story’s themes of addiction brilliantly. The idea of the addict fully giving themself to the recovery of one addiction by embracing another, more destructive addiction is so effectively executed, and shines a bright light on King's understanding of the addict’s mindset and the horrors and desperation that dwell within. - 8.5/10

Willie the Weirdo: Ooh, this was fun. I thought it was going to be a pretty straightforward serial killer origin story, but that ending made it so much more. Super dark and weird and I really dug it. - 8/10

"Belief is hard."

Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream: Fantastic! A thematically compelling read boasting a gripping plot that delivers a creative, wholly satisfying and utterly nightmarish approach to familiar tropes and has a cast full of interesting characters. - 9.5/10

Finn: The first one that feels like filler. Not to say it’s bad, necessarily, it’s just kinda meh. There are some interesting ideas about luck, but aside from that it’s just a nightmare that doesn’t really go anywhere. - 5/10

On Slide Inn Road: I still dig the atmosphere and the grandfather—and what his relationship with his son and the contrast of their character has to say about the rift between generations. But, overall, it felt a whole lot less substantial than I remembered. - 6/10

Red Screen: I love alien stuff so this works for me. It's short and sweet, and while there's nothing amazing, it is a solid idea executed in a fun, mean way. - 8/10

The Turbulence Expert: An interesting, anxiety inducing premise, and very little more. It feels like the first chapter of a novel. It is well executed, though, and filled with characters that feel real. How King can do that so thoroughly in so few pages is always impressive. - 6.5/10

He watched the sunset. Laurie found a dead fish and peed on it. They both went home satisfied.

Laurie: This is a quietly beautiful story about that sneaky manner in which dogs tend to save folks. The first time I read this story, I unfairly disregarded it as being 'too light', and I was positive this would be one of the filler stories in this collection. I have no clue what happened in the last ~7 months, but I liked this a lot more this second time around. - 8/10

You get crazy ideas sometimes, ones that would seem ridiculous in broad daylight but seem quite plausible in the small hours of the morning.

Rattlesnakes: Nothing close to the story I was expecting—or hoping for. But it’s still a damn good, effectively creepy ghost story about the manner in which grief tends to overstay its welcome. I really was hoping for at least one more terrifying encounter with actual rattlesnakes aside from the flashback (which is awful in the best possible way), but I still really enjoyed this for what it was. - 8/10

"Barriers are usually there for a reason."

The Dreamers: I LOVED this story. This is a great premise with pitch-perfect execution. And while it's another one that doesn't quite feel like a finished piece, that works in its favor. I love cosmic horror, and this teases some seriously terrifying cosmic sh*t. In addition to that, it’s an interesting and deeply poignant exploration of PTSD in a time when nobody gave a sh*t about the soldiers coming home from hell. Still, I would've loved to see this expanded into a full novel. - 9.5/10

The Answer Man: Wow... King went and ended You Like It Darker on a major f*cking high note, didn’t he?? What a beautiful and tragic and emotionally exhausting story. I am a mess. Stories like this hit me hard in general, but this one is just so perfectly crafted. I am utterly wrecked. Go read this story... now! - 10/10

"Do we go on? After we die, do we go on?"

8/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[literaticat]

Hiya Jenn,

I really appreciate all the info you have shared here over so many years. It's SO very helpful!

So, I'm having a bit of a menty-b about something a fellow writer reported about one of their submissions. Apparently, one of the editors receiving said sub asked why the author had "so many" publishers. Like, huh? Even worse? The author said that this was the second time their agent was asked that question and the agent felt that they had to send references to the editor to prove all the different publishers wasn't because their client was difficult to work with!

I mean, what in the what? Given the state of publishing -- so many editors moving or leaving entirely, editors being burned out, houses becoming mega-houses -- I thought we were past the era of authors staying with the same editor for every book. Especially when editors move or when authors write for more than one age group or have different styles for different books. I myself have had five different publishers because if my original editor(s) turned down a sub, we took it elsewhere> Because that's how we're going to make money if someone else wants it?

I guess I just don't get this thinking of sticking with a small number of editors because it really seems like that's from a bygone era (and one not conducive to authors making money as I mentioned), and I was wondering if you had encountered it. Thank you!

SLOW YOUR ROLL, KID.

You (and your friend) are reading much more into this than needs to be read into it, IMO. I have been doing this for nigh on two decades, and I've had this question plenty of times -- and never once has it been a problem, an issue, or anything of the kind. They are just curious, it's not an interrogation.

They asked "what's with all the publishers" because they just want to know, hey, what's with all the publishers? And there's usually a good answer to that, yes? Like, you and your agent presumably have some kind of strategy, (or at least, your agent can formulate a response that doesn't make you sound bonkers) So the answer will probably be something like: "Well, we have her nonfiction picture books with PUBLISHER A, her MG novels with PUBLISHER B, and her nonfiction MG with PUBLISHER C -- since this project is a fiction PB, we are going out to new folks."

Or perhaps, "In recent years she's been working mainly with Publishers A for Picture Books and B for novels, but recently her editor at B left the business, so as much as we appreciate the team, she doesn't have a real connection with anyone there anymore, so, we're looking for a new home for this novel."

Or perhaps, "She's always writing something new and different, so it happens that we've ended up with a diverse array of publishers; I'd love for her to build an audience for [this new kind of book] though!"

All publishers WANT to "build author's careers" and have a loyal publishing relationship and yadda yadda. Or at least, they will always SAY that is their goal. But obviously, in the cold light of day, one publisher is unlikely to publish EVERY SINGLE ONE of your books for decades, particularly if you are quite prolific and/or writing very different kinds of books. We all know this. It's not a ding to have worked with lots of publishers, as long as you have always been pleasant and easy to work with and people aren't running wild with tales of how difficult you are.

At the end of the day, if the publisher loves the book and wants to publish it, your having had different publishers in the past will not be a stumbling block. (And this is highly unlikely, but IF they are put off by the fact that you have had different publishers -- guess what, they weren't gonna publish the book anyway, and they were just looking for excuses to say no!)

[mooncalfe-art]

Was thinking about Mutant Town today, as one does, and I just wanted to come by and say that I felt really seen by that arc, especially by Mona Lisa's issues with her parents.

Going back to reread it with the context of the current struggles the queer community is facing is very... Something. A good something! But something that's hard to put into words. The rejection Mona experiences at the hands of her parents, her own reaction to finding out that Donnie was never human, and the support meeting afterwards all speak to experiences my friends and I have had as members of the queer community.

And that context adds an extra Something to all of that, but also an extra Something to Armageddon Game, particularly the mercenaries acting to discredit the turtles and other mutants to further Stockman's political agenda and Null's capitalist one. And there's extra depth added to Krisa and Zodi's story when looked at this way too, I think.

Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but I've been to meetings like that one in #112, where it dissolves into queer infighting. I've been rejected by family for being queer. I've known people who were hitting it off with someone only for it to crash and burn when they revealed they were trans. And the complexity and variety of experiences for the people of Mutant Town really reflect how beautiful and diverse the queer community is.

Anyways.

Happy Pride Month, I hope it's a good one for you. 🌈

I love hearing your thoughts! Thank you! <3

I've been wanting to give more resolution to the Donatello/Mona Lisa thing and Mona's thing with her parents but there hasn't been room/time with all the other things going on. The thing with Mona in particular is tough because obviously it's not her series and that storyline doesn't involve the Turtles, so it's hard coming up with page space for it. Hopefully I'll be able to get to it eventually, even just a one-page resolution.

I actually tried to avoid any direct parallels between mutants and marginalized people like queer people or people of color and so forth, it's too crude of an analogy. It's always felt weird to me in stories like X-Men or something where it uses mutants (or whatever) as a stand-in for real-life oppressed/discriminated-against people. It just doesn't work, so I tried to avoid where I could and write the mutant experience as more like speculative fiction; BUT that said there's obviously a lot of similar metaphors you can take from that, I think it's naturally going to feel familiar to queer people like us. All the mutagen bomb mutants are angry and wounded in different ways just like we are.

It's nice to hear you dig into this stuff, I appreciate it, especially since the Mutant Town stuff didn't turn out exactly how I'd originally hoped, I didn't get to dig into half of the things I wanted to or flesh it out nearly as much as I'd planned to. It's great to hear that some people are thinking about it on this level and seeing deeper into it. :)

[unohanabbygirl]

I hope you are not overwhelmed with some of the comments as just recently I’ve seen some really uncalled for reviews and assumptions being made either about the story FMN or going so far as to make assumptions about you as a person. It’s totally out of the left field that I literally was left scratching my head as to why anyone would assume they have any right to judge you based on a fictional piece of work or think they can dictate where and how you choose to write your story. As a reader I think the best we can do is to leave a review or comment, words of encouragement or even constructive criticism but to make outlandish assumptions is utterly wrong. There is such a thing as separating the author from the work and just because an author writes something down doesn’t mean that they are okay with it in reality, don’t know why this is so hard for people to understand sometimes but idk I felt upset if this could potentially put you off or even change the course of your work. It’s your work and at the end the day a person can choose to not read it if they no longer wish to. So I hope that you still continue to write and that you follow whichever course you wish to take with your story or characters. Just because a person doesn’t like a character/s doesn’t make them bad, racist or horrible or automatically. Nothing I’ve seen in your work that I would assume you were singling out a character based on their ethnicity etc… just all around horrible review, while I can respect peoples opinions the full assumption or even righteousness that makes them feel that they own a piece of your work or character is just simply wrong. For example in my own personal opinion I don’t like Criston Cole, not because he is a person of color, in the show he just happens to be played by a person of color, I could care less, it’s the character himself that I don’t like for various reasons that have nothing to do with his ethnicity etc… ugh sorry for my small rant but I truly hope that you are alright and know that your work is appreciate by many of us. ❤️

No need to be sorry at all! If anything I thank you because you’ve put a smile on my face after a pretty crappy day dealing with some ongoing family issues that have been disturbing my peace.

I’ve seen some of the comments made and was originally going to respond with some long explanation that would’ve likely started a back and forth which is the last thing I want for this little bubble I’ve created, so I figured it was best to leave it be and move on for my peace of mind.

At first the insinuation that I was throwing a brown character under the bus to praise a bunch of horrible white people stung a little as a woc myself, but it’s the internet and assumptions will be made. Especially since I’ve never outright stated my race and certain sides of the fandom tend to spew rhetoric about Targ stans only liking blonde haired white people, so it’s whatever. But I do appreciate you checking up on me, its very sweet of you so I offer a virtual hug and kiss 🥰

I haven’t been discouraged and continue to write to my heart’s content! As i’ve said I got some family drama going on (cutting off toxic relatives is harder than I thought it would be ngl) so my updates are slow and when I think I can post I get thrown off schedule by bs which sucks. But I’m here to stay and my original plans for the future of my fics remain set in stone. Much loves babes 💕

[creoterative]

Tagged by @nullians , thank you so much!

Rules: Answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to know better/catch up with! (I’m sorry, it’s probably not gonna be 9 for me, I don’t know that many people yet xD)

Last Song:

-Bad Blood by Creature Feature. I’ve known this song for years, but it only came up to me again recently, probably because I found Five Thousand Foot Krutch again and I always listen to both bands simultaniously for whatever reason... Also I’m currently trying to figure out my storyboard for my first ever animated video, and One Foot in the Grave by Creature Feature is gonna be the song for it, that’s a reason I got back to it. I’m not expecting much though xD

Three Ships:

-Hmmm... Alright, first, I wanna add, that I really don’t like it if I have to explain why I ship certain characters with each other, because for me shipping is just part of the whole fictional thing and I don’t like it if people come after others for liking certain ships. So... yeah, that being said, I’m just gonna explain a little xD

First ship is Marlon x Brody. I personally don’t see it after their secret is exposed, and as I played it out in my own story for Marlon, I don’t think they would go further than just having a crush on each other. But I like their dynamic as a leader pair, you know, her being his second-in-command, even though she has her anxiety issues (and we all know what happens when he has his, ehem, little outbursts, so...) and in general, I can see them as partners, working together, while slightly blushing sometimes, you know what I’m saying? XD

Second ship is gonna be Arthur Morgan and Mary. First of all, yes, they were a pair at some point, but... I still wanted to list them, I like their story together and how they like to tease the other. And to be honest, their relationship reflects perfectly what I have with someone, so... yeah, only natural I think that relationship is well written and pretty accurate, eh? 

Last but not least, Li Ling and Tang Xuan. I gotta admit, I haven’t played Dislyte for a longer time now, I dunno, it’s one of these games, that I get bored of from time to time, then I get really hyped again and the cycle continues, BUT I will never get rid of it, for that I love it too much. Back to the ship, Li Ling is my favorite by a length and I like how him and Tang Xuan are very casual with each other. You know, I really love it when relationships are portrayed as the normalest thing ever and it’s not a big deal, because yes, to the people involved it may be, but not to everybody else. I love it when they do normal stuff together, like best friends would do, because that’s what a relationship is all about, right? Being able to let loose with the other person, be yourself and act as normal as ever, just with very strong feelings for the person next to you xD And I can totally see that with these two. 

Currently Reading: 

-Sherlock Holmes. I have a list of some older books I want to read to get more writing skills. If that works, well, we’ll see, but it’s fun, especially since Sherlock Holmes books are really interesting and funny in some weird way. I’m reading them in german though, not sure if my english is good enough to read the originals.

Last Movie: 

-Last one I watched in cinema was Avatar 2 and I gotta admit... the visuals were astonishingly great, there’s no doubt. But... three hours is too much and I don’t like it if too many characters are involved. I like character depth, maybe that’s why I can’t focus on Dislyte as well, too many characters being developed too fast, my brain can’t compete...

And last one I watched at home was Top Gun: Maverick, with I thought was a wayyy better experience. Shorter, good character development, nice story, good addition to the first movie... and I like jets xD

Craving: 

-Time.... I need time, that’s all. I want to continue writing the next chapter for my Marlon story, and I’m currently on it, but my goal for writing at least 10.000 words per chapter is a big one xD So far it worked though... 

Thanks for tagging me, again, really enjoyed answering these questions!

Tagging: @ericsonclan @elsaedelweiss @shinneth @anghju @the-rational-mind

[stormyoceans]

what are your impression of midnight museum?:) did you like it as a whole? who's your favourite character? what didn't you like?

OH I LOVED MIDNIGHT MUSEUM!!!!!! i mean, okay, let's be honest.. it was an absolute mess and if you asked me to explain what the hell happened in the last two episodes i probably would not be able to do it, BUT STILL!!!!!!! I LOVED IT. sometimes being able to entertain your viewers is more than enough to make a show both memorable and likeable, and i think midnight museum is the perfect example of this

the show is a mixture of fantasy, science fiction and mystery, which are three genres im personally very weak for. the first half also has an episodic nature to it that i miss in television a lot: it can be boring when there isn’t a strong horizontal narrative getting advanced in the background, but if you can make it work it’s really fun for the viewers, and in this particular case i do believe the show was at its strongest when it fully embraced this format. the ‘artifact of the week’ with the enigma of dome’s identity was really entertaining to me, and i loved how creepy and disturbing some of the storylines were. the decision to throw in an abundance of biblical symbolisms as well in the second half of the show probably wasn't a good idea for the plot as a whole, but that's something i find incredibly fascinating so i'd be lying if i said i didn't love every (confusing) second of it

the real strength of the show lies in its cast, though. i already knew that gun and nanon are incredible actors, but i wasn't familiar with tor before midnight museum and i will always be grateful to it for introducing him to me because he is phenomenal. he showed up on that set every single day and decided to give so much yearning longing pining aching worrying agony anguish guilt restraint with the twitch of his mouth alone, and i respect him so much for it. honestly there aren't many people who are able to convey so many emotions in such an effective way. the supporting cast was also pretty solid and some of the guest actors gave an outstanding performance, like fah and tu in episode 5 for example

the other strong point of the show is the relationship between khatha and dome/chan/one. it’s basically on the level of chinese censored gay romance, and even when the writing didn’t give it justice, gun and tor’s on screen chemistry still managed to make it incredibly compelling to watch (an anon once told me that gun would have insane chemistry with literally anyone he got paired with and you know what? I COULDN’T AGREE MORE). the choice of not making their relationship a romantic one does baffle me a little tbh, especially because they were trying to push the brothers agenda while also giving explicitly romantic elements and parallels, but i can easily overlook this since the ending was very satisfying to me (i also don’t think this was queerbaiting btw, but that’s another story)

as for the things i disliked, my main issue with the show is the execution. the premise was original and had a lot of potential, but it’s obvious that the writing team lacked an overall vision of the (overcomplicated) story they wanted to tell: the moment they abandoned the episodic structure to focus on the larger narrative, the events start missing a sense of unity and direction, and the characters feel aimless too. i find every member of the main gang really interesting and likeable, but with the exception of khatha (love that old man btw, he is my absolute fave) they’re all criminally underdeveloped

MDL originally had midnight museum listed as having 15 episodes, and im not sure where did that information come from, but i actually think they did need those 5 extra episodes to make the plot more coherent, give more depth to the characters and explore the relationship between them (we should have had AT LEAST another june focused episode, a couple on triphob and bam and their relationship, one on anthika and boon, and one to let dome gain a little more sense of identity). if we ever get a season 2 they better fix this and fully develop all the characters BEFORE they try to explain what the hell is going on

ANYWAY. TL;DR:

[canineical]

introducing the writer tag game

tagged by @iloveyou-writers ! thank you ^ ) ^

rules: fill in the blanks with as much or little detail as you would like and tag some writer friends to play too. you can find the original template to fill in on @introducing-writeblr

hi, there! my name is xalli (or dominic). i'm a writer of the literary fiction, magical realism, and poetry genre(s) and i love to write about relationships between people and their selves, each other, and the world around them generrally.

I am generally sfw (though i do write non-explicitly about sex and the like) and write about mental & physical health issues and just generally dark/difficult issues involving violence that minorities experience (especially in amerika), so just be aware of that. tropes you will never find in my writing include pretty much nothing and also everything since i don’t really write according to tropes! i do friends to lovers and stuff like that obviously just because that’s like... how writing relationships will often go, but it’s not something i focus on so i don’t really acknowledge tropes in my writing

in my humble opinion, my best work i've posted is call it dead weight (tw for violence and pregnancy & the... difficulties that come with that) because i think i did a really good job with imagery and emotional intensity. my current favorite poem i’ve written & posted is ode to skin on skin because it’s just a very sweet, sensual poem about queer love and i’m proud of the rhythmic feeling to it! my all-time favorite character(s) I've made is/are mac & dalton from a gay cowboy story i wrote a long time ago that’s honestly not great but holds a special place in my heart

something I'd love for you to know about my writing that isn't listed in this game is my writing is incredibly ill defined because i mostly read by region and topic as opposed to genre (for example, i read a lot that comments on social issues and love african & japanese lit a lot), so that bleeds into how i write, but i hope you’ll give my work a chance! it’s pretty cool and weird, i think

thank you for reading and now i challenge the following people to fill this out: @encrucijada @poemwithoutahero @luquid @tuoyu @howdywrites @abalonetea @halcionic