#I make war with Colleen

[mybibliotheca]

I’ve committed a sin, that I wish to confess.

After years of telling myself that I would NEVER! EVER! Read “It Ends With Us.”….I did.

Okay. I was told not to read it because “it glorifies abuse.” Of which, it does not. Does Colleen Hoover give an accurate account of what those who are abused deal with and the lies they tell themselves while in an abusive relationship. Surprising yes. The MC, Lily, kept staying with Ryle (Just name your Male MC Kyle btw this was so stupid) because of the lies she told herself.

An excellent example of this would be how Lily kept lying to herself is that Ryle is not her father, therefore, he’s not that bad. Or how after Ryle would hurt Lily, he would always apologize and doctor her. This is not everyone’s experience with one’s abuser. As one who grew up surrounded by domestic violence I know the faces both the abused and abuser wear. So I’m not going to write that It Ends With Us glorified or encouraged domestic violence, because it never, ever does.

Now. Here is why the book is just down right Bad.

I made a list and published it to GoodReads (don���t come after me.) and I will just publish it here. A few things before the list. One, I wrote them down as I was listening to the book, and when I randomly remembered something I hated. And B, Colleen is not a bad writer, but her…ideas for how to design a character likes and dislike, how she will write plots is not a “struggle” is what makes them bad. I may never read any other of Colleen’s books, but the way she writes her MCs are very much Mary Sues. They are “my life is a struggle! But I just found 1 billions dollars! And my student loans are now free! And I just got CEO position when tho I have no qualifications! BUT MY MILK HAS JUST GONE BAD ! MY LIFE IS OVER!” you see what I’m saying here. I feel lime Colleen has no one in her life to look her in the eyes to talk to her about her “creative process “ and tell her “you can not add Ellen as a fourth MC in your book, and you can not have your MC talk about Ellen every, single, chapter.”

But, all that being said. Here is my list.

1. Our first interaction with the Male MC, he bosses her around

2. The male MC takes a photo of Lily without asking, and two, turns it into a bleary pixelated photo and hangs it in his home!

3. A random billionaire is Lily first employee

4. Every! Single! Time they say “okay, I’m going to have a naked truth moment” and then say the most “AYO!” Thing ever

5. “Bad people do not exist “ 🚩🚩🚩🚩

6. At the end of the first conversation these people have, he says, “I want to F you.”

7. He only does one night stands, they never sleep together, so he HOUNDS after her.

8. They agree to stop seeing each other. And then keep seeing each other while he still ask her to sleep with him

9. He searched for her apartment building, for idk how many hours, so he could get down on his knees! And beg Lilly to sleep with him!

10. He got down! On his knees! Wrapped his arms around her waist , and BEGGED! Lily to sleep with him.

11. She said “sure. “ Lily took an hour shower, and when she went to her room! He ! Fell! Asleep!

12. He is a doctor that works to much, a fact, not a red flag, I have no problem with this

13. Lily writes in a diary like they are letters to Ellen.

14. Lily first crush is a homeless man (Atlas) who she falls in love with, who is idk, a 17-18 year old. She! Is 15!

15. Atlas and Lily garden together, and when he finds out that there is cow poo in the mulch, Atlas proceeds to smier his hands on Lilly. Which! Turns her on! She ! Is still! 15!!!

16. The Ryle and Allysa get into an argument, and she is trying to warn Lilly about Ryle and he get into an “pre argument” then leaves he room all grumpy and go to the other room to scole on his phone …hate that. Very “teenage stomp away” of him. Like bro! Your! In your 30s????

17. LILY STILL WRITES TO ELLEN!!!

18. The way Lily! Does not! Explain herself at all! It the way she said “I can explain.” And then NEVER! EXPLAINS!

19. I understand that Atlas was Lily safe place, I understand why she ran to Atlas to get away from Ryle. However, 90% of Ryle and Lily arguments were because Ryle thought Lily was having an affair with Atlas. But Lily says over and over again that yes, Atlas was a big part of her life and she will always love Atlas. And then! While she is staying at his house! She admits that she still loves Atlas in a romantic way after her and Ryle separate. I’m not making excuses for Ryle cuz he is an abusive man who would always jump to conclusions at the drop of an hat. But Lily never explains herself, never says “oh this tattoo? I got this because you of Atlas” or “oh these journals? I wrote in them when I meet Atlas.” She never had to explain herself of why she kept all of these stuff, you don’t have to explain why you still hold onto things that gave you comfort in a hard time in your life. However! When you are married. When you are in a committed relationship. And there is the smallest of doubt in your partners mind about an Ex, EXPLAIN YOURSELF SO AN ARGUMENT IS NOT BLOW OUT OF PROPORTION! yes Lily. Of course Ryle is going to jump to conclusions! Yes he is going to care! His actions are not excusable! But you can not blame the way his thought pattern went when he keeps finding things that are from Atlas in your house, on your phone, on the kitchen freaken door! And not expect your partner to explain themselves!

20: SHE NAMES THE BABYS MIDDLE NAME DORY!

21. SHE ASKS FOR A DIVORCE RIGHT AFTER SHE GIVES BRITH! TIME! AND PLACE!

22. Colleen, dear, why, is your one gay character reaching into Lily dress to adjust her bra and dress, WHOM! Lily says, “we don’t hang out.” WHY! Is his hand in her dress anywhere near lilies boobs!

If this is your favorite book, or you totally disagree with my views. You are more than welcome to believe so, and I’m not going to convince you that you are wrong, or that you are right. Here are MY! Problems with the book, and with Colleen personally. Miss ma’am, if you see this, I’m sorry, but for the love of everything that is good and holy…get someone you will be honest with you. And Colleen, I’m going to hold your hand as I say this, for the love of GOD! I never, ever want to see “I got smeared with animal poo…and it turned me on.” From anyone ever again, let alone a child. I will not forgive you for that.

[satorugojjo]

I don’t think there’s a single book BookTok has promoted in the last couple years that’s turned out to be an actually good “you cannot miss this read” which now makes me and so many others I know avoid it as a whole.

A lot of BookTok books seem to be specific for very young or very new readers who haven’t cut their teeth on fanfic or haven’t been reading from a young age. The writing style is either a really profound Instagram metaphorical caption kinda overwrought and over flowery language, or it’s trying so hard to be edgy and sardonic and ends up being completely tell and almost zero show. This Is How You Lose The Time War is a PERFECT example of this - where the flowery and poetic language actually takes AWAY from a scene and distracts you from it rather than adding anything to it in the moment, and for those who do like poetic fiction this will be up their alley but if you don’t and you pick it up because of badly marketed hype when you normally wouldn’t, it’s gonna turn you off reading in general!

There’s nothing wrong with starter fiction to help get readers engaged and then find their way into actually good books, but my gripe is that it’s never ever marketed as that and as if it it’s just generically good fiction. Nothing Colleen Hoover has ever written is objectively good - the writing style is mediocre and she romanticises taboo topics which will seem spicy to the average population who doesn’t READ. And yet she takes up every bookshelf which I promise you will end up turning many readers who ARENT on booktok away from reading altogether.

YA is another genre that has declined a lot in recent years because it’s full of marketers trying to fit all the buzzword tropes into their books and getting young readers to buy it because it’s “enemies to lovers pirate cyberpunk found family” or whatever - and it feels more like focus group fiction rather than actual writing. I LOVE YA but nothing that’s been released post 2020 has had any depth, plot, character development or any style to it.

A great example is Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - i tried reading 2 chapters as a sample and it was shocking to see how illogical, overdramatic, overedgy and exceptionally “this happened then this then this then that” it was. There was absolutely zero nuance and it felt so “I’m telling you all this but I’m not gonna prove any of it”. And yet it’s rated either 5 stars or 1 star. I’m sure it’s a great starter middle grade/teen book but it is definitely not deserving to be on the same pedestal as other YA books like Hunger Games or Six of Crows. I used to think that perhaps I’ve just outgrown YA but considering I can pick up YA from 2018 that I haven’t read before with no problems, it’s so specific to BOOKTOK YA.

It’s getting to the point that if I see a book that’s being overpromoted on tiktok, I’m more likely to believe the bad reviews because there hasn’t been a SINGLE book where I’ve disagreed with them, and then go find a different book in the same genre that hasn’t been on booktok - it’s getting hilarious actually that the books that are actually incredible get zero screen time and traction on booktok because they aren’t just cheap easy airport reads. Once again - nothing wrong with an easy airport CH book or YA book, but we aren’t going around parading a Lee Child book as peak literature no matter how enjoyable they are.

I don’t even have a conclusion to this entire rant - I’m sick of books like Babel getting steamrolled because it was “too sad or too hard” in favour of the latest SJM book, and getting even more sick of the decline of media literacy due to books getting easier and more spoonfeedy. When they aren’t? They mistake flowery metaphors for complexity and depth.

[creedslove]

DESERVE IT - PART FIVE

Javier Peña x f!reader

Summary: You and Javier are sent to a conversation with Messina who determines you get relocated to another department, which means you are drifting away from Javier even more and that makes your relationship even more complicated

Warnings: a tiny little bit of fluff in the beginning, mentions of smut, angst, jealousy, disappointment, kind of stalker!javi

A/N: I wasn't sure if Javi's boss would be Carrillo or Messina because honestly I didn't pay attention to the plot of Narcos at all, because I was busy with a slut agent and a certain drug dealer (yes Wagner Moura I am talking about you), so I just picked Messina because I guess she would handle the situation better

• PART ONE

• PART TWO

• PART THREE

• PART FOUR

5k words

You sat on the chair looking away as Murphy handcuffed Carlos and made sure he wasn't going anywhere.

Some other cops came over to find out what was happening but you just wanted to disappear from that place and never come back.

You couldn't leave, you would have to formally declare a statement explaining your side of the situation as you'd been attacked by a co-worker. Technically, according to the DEA and the Embassy rules you hadn't done anything wrong. What the agents did when they were off duty was none of their business and it didn't matter to them if you had set up for Carlos or if he was just unlucky to be caught by his wife during one of his escapades.

With the war against Pablo Escobar getting worse each day, the organs couldn't care less if an agent was having an affair.

However, they did care about agents attacking each other. That was why Carlos was immediately suspended and had to hand in his badge and gun, which made you more relieved than you'd like to admit. Now, you'd gotten away with the situation but Javier was still unclear of what was going on. He'd immobilized the attacker and saved the day, with a lot more violence and strength then required, he held him at gunpoint in front of an entire office and that was something that didn't weigh in his favor.

You both would have to talk to Messina later that day, but all you wanted was to go home and lock yourself up. You wanted to shower, change clothes and pretend that never happened, you began feeling sick, nausea and shivers traveled through your body. You hated how your emotional state affected your physical health. It'd always been like that: at the smallest sign of emotional inconvenience, your body would take a toll on it.

You rubbed your arms in order to warm up, as the tip of your fingers were ice cold but as someone had read your mind, a leather jacket had been placed on top of your back. You looked up and found Javier trying to make you wear his jacket.

He had a cup in his hand and he lowered himself "have this Y/N… I asked Colleen to make you some tea, your stomach is probably upset" he said with those stupid brown warm eyes "Messina wants to see us soon, so you gotta be alright, cariño" he cupped your cheek gently and got up again so he could handle Carlos with Steve's help.

Fuck Javier.

Fuck Javier Peña.

How dare he after all he did to you, after all he made you go through, after breaking your heart just try and sweet talk you with this cheap act of pretending to care?

Yes, he had saved you, and you were thankful to him, you were not an ungrateful little bitch, but he could have done his job without crossing any lines. Now he was offering you tea and jackets as if he cared, as if he hadn't treated you like a total stranger for the past month, after being so cruel and humiliating you like you never expected him to do.

You were not gonna let him win you over that fast, but first things first, you had an appointment with Messina that could cost a lot to you, maybe not your job, but if she decided to punish you somehow you'd be screwed.

Murphy walked to you and was just as gentle as Javi was and for a moment you almost felt sorry for giving him the cold shoulder, so you thanked him for his reassuring words

"We'll go to Messina's in a while, I just need to go to the bathroom first" you informed them and disappeared into it, locking the door and throwing some water onto your face.

You sighed deeply, watching your own reflection as you shook your head in disbelief at the warmth you felt between your folds.

For a second you had hopes your period had come unannounced so you got into the bathroom stall and pulled your panties down.

To say you were wet was an understatement.

You were soaked.

You couldn't believe yourself, you felt a mix of anger and shame at the realization Javier's display of protectiveness and violence turned you on. The way he just went all feral towards Carlos, punching him, using all his strength against him just to calm down and cold bloody point a gun at him, for you, was enough to have you like a little puta for Javier.

Maybe Carlos was right on one thing: you were a slut, too bad you were it for the wrong man.

If none of that shit had gone on between the two of you, you'd certainly spend the night alternating between sitting on his cock and sitting on his face as a thank you.

You felt your clit twitching at the thought and immediately pulled yourself together, getting decent again and washing your face once more, blocking these kinds of thoughts as best as you could.

•••

You and Javier were placed in front of Messina for the past hour. The two of you giving your own accounts of what had happened. She never interrupted you and eventually took notes here and there. You'd downed the third glass of water by then, feeling nervous at the whole situation. It felt like you were sent to the principal's office and while Javier handled the situation smoothly throwing his charms at her here and there, you were obviously tense.

The woman analyzed the situation carefully, she knew the behavior on all parts were extremely inadequate and even scolded you for coming up with your little devious plan. What agents and employees of DEA did in their free time was their business, but they expected those activities to not interfere in the daily routine of the investigations. You swore you had to bite your tongue so you wouldn't ask her the same applied to Javier using the contributors' money to pay for hookers with the horrible excuse of informative intel.

But you decided it would be best if you didn't make things worse than they already were.

Messina, on the other hand, was a powerful woman who had to struggle a lot to accomplish things and work twice as hard just because she was a woman. So she definitely knew what you went through with Carlos and though she couldn't really take sides, deep down she was satisfied with the lesson he learned.

She scolded Javier some more for his reckless actions and reminded him he had better ways to handle the situation, but when he promised he wouldn't do it again, she finished the meeting.

"Uh, Y/N… before you go, I must tell you your request to be transferred to another country was denied" you nodded shyly and saw when Javier's neck head snapped at you, shocked to hear you'd asked for a transfer, he swallowed and licked his lips, as he couldn't get his eyes off you, listening carefully as his heart raced and dropped at his toes to know you'd asked to leave the country.

"With this war we have going on against the narcos we can't afford losing any members of the team. You do a very good job and your reports are essential for us" she explained "however, with this situation, you will be assigned to another department, the lower floor, you can work for a couple of months in the crime division where things aren't as stressful as your current job is… it is temporary, just so the gossip dies and you find a break from all the stress" you nodded silently accepting her decision. On one hand you were disappointed to know you weren't leaving Colombia any sooner, on the other hand, you were thankful things went way better than expected, of course it was a demotion but you wouldn't have to work directly with Javier anymore.

You excused yourself and left her room, going outside the building as you pretended you didn't hear Javier's voice calling your name.

You stood at the sidewalk waiting for a chance to cross the street and felt his grip on your wrist, pulling you to him and making you look at him.

"Goddamn it Y/N, not even today you can actually look at me and talk to me?" He asked frustrated and pinched the bridge of his nose, when all he got from you was an eye roll.

"So you were just gonna flee the country and not tell anyone? One day I'd wake up to you gone? Is it because of me?"

You sighed and looked at him, feeling a mix of exhaustion, sadness and impatience.

"I hate my job, Javier. I hate the people I work with, I hate Colombia. I know I sound horrible when I say this, but I don't care about Escobar or what he does, I just stopped caring about all this, I just stopped and asked myself what I was doing with my life, I'm not happy here, not anymore, I have nothing to hold me back, so what's the point in staying anyway?"

He shook his head, he had no idea you felt like that, of course he knew he had hurt you, pretty bad, but not to that extent. He felt a wave of guilt and regret.

"But what about us, cariño?"

You smiled sadly "there is no 'us' Javi. There never was. Listen, I'm very thankful for what you did today, you saved me, you risked your physical integrity and your job just to make sure I was safe, but we can't pretend things haven't happened between us" you explained to him.

"Cariño, listen I want to apologize…"

"I don't wanna hear your apologies Javier, you don't mean them, it doesn't change how you feel about me, so let's just get over this okay? Eventually I'll leave Colombia hopefully it will be sooner than later and all this will be a fun story to tell your friends or something" you shrugged.

Javi didn't let go of your wrist, he looked into your eyes, searching for some kind of breach he could find affection or softness but there was nothing.

"No, you can't leave, I'll mi-"

"If you miss me you can just call that hooker I met the other night, she looks a lot like me, you won't even notice the difference"

You turned your back to him and walked away, leaving Javier standing there, watching you slip away from him even further.

•••

Your first day in the crime division started out great just by the fact you didn't have to see Colleen's stupid face. You didn't know why you began hating the woman, she hadn't done anything to you, in fact she'd always been kind of nice and very polite. But then, a memory hit you: the day Javier complimented her nails and how every week after that she would show up with a different nail polish, in hopes he'd pay attention to her again. Every time he took a coffee break she would be there, lingering around like a ghost until she would find a pathetic excuse to go and talk to him.

Then she would laugh too hard at his dumb jokes and would place her hand on his bicep, pretending it was an innocent touch.

You groaned annoyed at the sudden memory and at the fact you were actually caring about that, when you were literally not seeing them again. Of course you could still run into them in the building, and mostly run into Javier in your apartment building, but you would have a break from them from 9 to 5 and that was a good enough reason to be happy.

You shook your head clearing your mind and telling yourself you were just anxious about working in a new division. Of course your tasks would be the same, but out go Escobar's files and files and in come other police occurrences such as thefts and physical aggressions, mostly coming from drunk guys who always got into fights with each other, or so you've told.

You were so distracted you didn't see a tall figure approaching you, you only felt that figure when you bumped into him and almost lost your balance thanks to your high heels you put on earlier in the morning trying to cause a good impression.

Of course you never hit the ground because the figure held by the waist, preventing you from falling.

"Lo siento, señorita" he said and helped you up.

And then you looked at the mysterious figure.

He was taller than you, strong and had beautiful brown eyes. Not like Javi's, Javier's eyes were from a deep brown, they made you think of chocolate, hot chocolate in a cold morning to be more specific, but this guy… his eyes were light brown, the kind of color that shifts according to the lights of the room, making them even greenish, and the eyelashes were pretty long for a man, giving him an expressive look.

You were lost in his eyes. You fell for the stranger's eyes right there and then and your heart raced when you noticed he had his hand on your waist.

"You must be Y/N, I'm agent Manuel Herrera, but you can call me Manu if you want" he gave you a smile and you smiled back.

Manu explained you he was the one who was supposed to welcome you in the division but he ran late after a new case came up.

You assured him it was fine and thanked him when he led you to your desk, helping you empty your box and organize your working material.

"You know, Y/N, news travels fast here and we all know what happened to Carlos and rumor has it you were responsible for it" he saw how you blushed and though you didn't deny or nor confirm it, he could tell rumor was true. "Well, I just want you to say we are all relieved he's not around anymore, he was an unpleasant guy and especially the ladies in the office really appreciated what you did… or what you didn't do" he winked at you and excused himself.

And just like that, you realized you had a crush on Manu.

It happened fast, but it was so refreshing to know you could move on, you could get interested in other guys. He was nice, smart, painfully handsome and for the first time since you arrived in Colombia you hadn't thought of Javier's whereabouts or felt a pang of jealousy to wonder if he would pick up a girl at a bar for the night or just call a brothel and have his fuck delivered like chinese food.

After the first week, Manu gathered enough courage to invite you for lunch, he assumed you would just hang out from the DEA people, but when he saw you were about to stay at your desk during your lunch break, he invited you out.

First, he decided to take you to a small restaurant down the street, the food was good, the price was reasonable but having his company was better.

Then, the next day, he took you to a small place that sold the best arepas you'd eaten in your whole life.

Turns out, Javier really liked Arepas and he decided to have some for lunch, but when he was about to step inside he saw you had another guy. He thought he'd seen the man before but he couldn't remember exactly when, he knew he was a cop, but he just hadn't paid attention, unlike you who had been clearly paying a lot of attention to him.

Javi felt his blood boiling at how beautiful you looked when you smiled at him and kept telling him whatever you were so passionately talking about. He hadn't seen you since the day at the Embassy, of course he'd caught glimpses of you leaving the building or arriving when he was still in his car. He'd heard you at home, dragging your furniture around for your monthly clean up, or when you put on some record and probably spent the evening singing along. The smell of your cooking almost every damn night taunting him but none of that was worse than when he caught just a whiff of your perfume in the hallway.

It was the worst part to him, because it reminded him you were still there, across the hall, a few meters away from him, and yet you were no longer in his life. As if you were just a memory, a ghost of his past, you were so out of reach it broke his heart.

And when he saw you smiling at that guy just like you used to smile at him, it gutted him.

He turned around before either of you could spot him and walked back to his car.

Javier couldn't believe that. You were really going on lunch dates with that guy? Sure he was attractive, he figured, but didn't you like him? Then why were you out with that guy?

It just didn't make sense to him, he didn't want to believe you'd actually move on from him. Javi hadn't really thought of the future, he knew the healthiest for you would actually move on, you deserved someone good for you, someone who could make you happy, who could treat you like you deserved being treated, someone that could give you a relationship where you loved and you were loved, where you could trust your partner, where you could have a family, get married, have kids, not someone who would screw things up in the first opportunity.

But it stung.

Javier had no idea it would sting that bad. Saying had always been easier than doing, and while he kept that protective speech over you, things were alright, but the moment the possibility of it becoming true was presented before his eyes, god, that hurt.

He was at a loss of actions, he didn't know what to do or what to say. The rest of the afternoon he spent off his game, with Murphy having to repeat himself over and over, Javi asking the same questions, dropping his pen, fuck, he even spilled his coffee once. Because all he could think of was you.

He decided to leave early and wait around until it was time for you to go home, feeling a pang in his chest when he spotted the guy, Manu, he soon afterwards learned, walking you home.

He hated that scene but he also couldn't look away, you seemed so happy, you talked and smiled like you hadn't done it for months, like you hadn't done since he screwed things up.

And for the next few days that was what his routine turned into.

Javier would wake up early and watch you go to work, then he would take the stairs to the lower floor when it was lunchtime and watch from afar as you and Manu went for lunch together, then when you would come back, usually with a popsicle or a lollipop in hands, a treat he always got you for dessert. On the weekends he would watch through the window as you went out, knowing you were out to meet him. It was a habit that was consuming him, it left a bitter taste in his mouth, it was like smoking a cigarette, no matter how harmful it was to him, he just couldn't stop.

He only convinced himself it was time to let go when he saw Manu kissing your lips in front of the apartment building. He wanted to yell, to drag you away from him, to make you understand you shouldn't be with that guy, you should be with him, but he couldn't. There was nothing he could do about it, he had lost you for good, he knew that, so he grabbed his wallet, his car keys and drove downtown. He parked in front of the brothel he knew so well and walked to the reception.

"Quiero a Mari y solamente a ella esta noche" he commanded, not wasting time in being polite or flirty. He wanted a service, and it wasn't cheap, so he wasn't going to pretend he was a nice guy. He wasn't one.

Mari showed up about fifteen minutes after, she had just washed her body and smiled at him with fiery eyes, walking to the man and kissing his lips.

There she was, the version of you he could actually have, all he had to do was pay for it. She resembled you, you both had a similar body type, similar hair and if he got intoxicated enough, he could close his eyes and pretend he had your body against his.

"Vamos cariño, voy a llamarte de Y/N hoy" he whispered into her ear, pretending it was your neck he kissed.

As they were both in the room, Javi sat on the bed and pulled her to his lap, kissing her and burying his face between her breasts.

But she didn't smell like you, she didn't feel like you, and no matter how hard he tried focusing and thinking of the night you'd kissed him, nothing happened.

Javi gasped and looked down ashamed and then back at the woman, who got off him and didn't say anything. He ran his hands through his hair as he groaned in sheer frustration, he just couldn't get hard.

She even tried to get him to action, but it wasn't happening, Javi was dragged each time to your kiss with Manu. How he cupped you cheek and kissed your lips at the same time you his tugged the hem of his shirt and pulled hid body closer to yours.

Javier left the brothel livid, he'd paid for the service he couldn't get and smoked a cigarette on the street, blaming it on you and that man for everything bad that was happening to him.

•••

On Monday you separated a couple of files that had been sent to the wrong department and got ready to take the elevator and go to upper floor. Ever since you started dating Manu, you felt more confident about yourself and seeing Javier wasn't necessarily a problem. You knew you'd made things pretty clear between the two of you and of course Colleen being the envious puta she was, spread the news you were seeing a coworker to everybody, it wouldn't surprise you if even Pablo's sicarios knew about your relationship.

It wasn't the first time documents had been misplaced and all you had to do was to leave them on Murphy's desk and return, so you wanted to get things over with.

You passed by Colleen without giving her the time of the day, she annoyed you in a way it was beyond words and you always preferred to think she didn't exist.

"Y/N!" She called a couple of times, making you stop and turn around "Steve and Javi aren't here, so just you know…" you gritted your teeth and faked a smile.

"Thank you for your great service Colleen" you said and kept walking.

Your threw the files on Murphy's desk and couldn't help but glance at Carlos' old desk. As you'd heard, apparently no one had been hired or promoted to take over his job, instead, all of his investigation and internal job was assigned to both Murphy and Peña.

There was a time you would've probably got a great part of it, so you would help them with the ridiculous amount of work coming in, but that time was gone and now you didn't have to take over anyone's jobs, just doing your own and worrying about leaving work in time to meet your handsome Manu.

However, you noticed some files and a big yellow envelope on his desk. You looked around and saw the department was almost completely empty as it was almost time for the end of the shift.

You didn't know exactly why you got so curious and let alone why you began fumbling through those documents that certainly didn't concern you. But the yellow envelope dragged your attention in a way you just felt attracted to it, as if your intuition was telling you to check it.

You battled with yourself whether you should open it or not.

Correction: you shouldn't open it and you knew it, but for whatever reason you were so curious about it and all you could read was 'CARLOS' written in capital letters, in red ink. You told yourself it would be fine, just some intel from whoever Carlos' informant was. Worst case scenario it would be something boring and you would just leave it on Steve's desk.

So you took another glance around the room to make sure no one was watching you and opened the envelope, gasping at the content inside.

After the stressful meeting with Messina, both Javi and Steve were in low spirits, Connie still hadn't returned and the American agent had no motivation or reason to be home early, so he invited Javier for a few drinks. However, Javi wasn't in the mood for that. He was tired, stressed and the days seemed to be dragging on. He felt lonely and the less thing that still brought him some pleasure was a delicate matter as he hadn't been able to get hard for any women.

Sure, he could still rub one off thinking of Y/N, but each time he tried doing it with a woman, it felt like he had some kind of block that wouldn't let him go further.

He dropped Steve off at the bar and drove home, shrugging at the idea Y/N was probably out with her boyfriend on a cute date he'd rather think, because it was way more comforting than picturing you sucking another man's cock.

He looked at your table and thought of knocking on it, maybe just to see you, hear your voice, but he immediately gave up.

He got his key but frowned when he noticed his door was unlocked, which was alarming as Javier was sure he'd locked the door before. He immediately got his gun, getting inside silently and walking around, checking every dark corner for threats or unpleasant surprises.

Javier went speechless to find you sitting on his couch. It took him a moment to process how the fuck you got inside, but then you remembered how you two had exchanged spair keys to your apartments and completely forgot about it.

He was about to question you, when he heard your sniffs and saw you were crying. He went completely soft and walked to you.

"Y/N" he whispered and knelt in front of you, concern flooding through his body as he cupped your cheek and stroke it so gently. He wiped your tears with his thumb and you only then realized how big his hands really were.

You shook your head and looked into his eyes, disappointment shattering your heart as you gathered the courage to speak.

"What happened, cariño? Talk to me? Was it your boyfriend? Did he hurt you? Carlos?" He asked as he stared at your with the biggest warmest brown eyes you'd ever seen.

You handed him the envelope and watched as Javi emptied it on his coffee table.

"Los Pepes, Javier?" You finally asked, as you both stared at pictures of him meeting up at a bar with one of the group's sicarios.

"Since when you've been a double agent, Javi? Is all this a lie? How long have you been lying to the DEA? To me?" You asked him, and the disappointment in your voice just ripped his heart apart. You thought he was a dirty cop, he shook his head, feeling despair spread through his body as he looked for words to explain to you the mess he got himself into.

But took his hand away from your face and wiped your tears.

"After everything that went on between us, I thought that at least you were a good cop, Javi… I thought at least you would keep safe, but once again, I see I'm wrong" you swallowed.

Javier couldn't handle you being that disappointed in him, it broke his heart and he just couldn't live with you hating him as a whole.

He ran to you, pressing you against the wall and using his own body to trap you. He looked at you and buried his face in the crook of you neck, taking in your intoxicating perfume, his nose ghosting against your skin before you could feel his lips on it.

He mumbled something under his breath but you couldn't actually understand, you tried using your arms to break free from his grip, but his kept yours in place.

He looked at you as he dragged his face over your cleavage, just in the curve of your breasts he buried his face again, spreading small kisses all over your skin, he pulled your blouse down exposing your cleavage a little more and kissed your breasts gently.

You were taken aback by his soft, gentle and desperate touch. Your body felt on fire but you needed to fight that urge of submitting to him.

"I-I'm not gonna tell anyone, Javier. I promise" your voice was weak but you finally pushed him away the moment he got distracted when he tasted your skin gently and panted.

"I'm not a dirty cop, Y/N. I'm not" he said looking just as broken and you realized that was what he was mumbling against your neck, against your breasts. Javier was lost, when you finally fled his apartment. He sat back on his couch, after pouring himself a scotch. He spent hours staring into the void. There was nothing he could do to win you back. He had lost everything, but most importantly, he'd lost you.

_____

A/N pt1: this last scene wasn't planned at all. I don't know what happened, I just started writing the end and it popped into my mind and I had to do it.

A/N pt2: yes, I named Javier's hooker after myself lmaof

A/N pt3: face claim for agent Manu Herrera is mexican actor Alfonso Herrera

[callmelola111]

the whole “community” aspect of tlou tumblr has completely disappeared and it makes me very sad. my feed is just a big mess of writers throwing insults at others and trying to win the woke wars instead of posting actual content and it makes this app absolutely insufferable. i rarely even see fics anymore, likeee this is tumblr not twitter,,,

i just cannot stand the influx of negative posts. i understand that there are times when ppl should be called out about their behavior but half of the time its just blogs trying to start unnecessary discourse about shit that does not matter. and these dumb arguments being made lose all basis anyways when you try and make examples out of fan fiction (emphasis on the fiction part) you read on fucking tumblr. go conquer the sa themes in colleen hoover books or the actual porn industry and its dangers instead of random girls on the internet who aren’t authors and have little to no influence on anything or anyone. or idk maybe go donate money, go to protests or actually make a difference instead of hiding in your little corner on the internet if you genuinely want to be a good activist. must i remind you that we are all writing fan fiction about pixels and posting it on the internet,,, you are not above anyone else here so drop the superiority complex <3

[stylespresleyhearted]

reaching out with their hand without saying anything, wanting the other one to grab it

For calllllllllllll

hope you enjoyyyyy ty so much for sending this in :-)

ummm idk how many words it is but it was supposed to be a small blurb. 😶 enjoy boyfriend callum on mota set

-

It’s a dream come true to work alongside Colleen Atwood. When you got the call with an opportunity to work alongside the legend herself on a show set in World War 2 you hadn’t hesitated once before sputtering out a “UH - YEs - yes, thank you,” knowing this could make or break the career you always dreamed of.

There’d been some nerves walking onto Masters of the Air set but turns out they were unneeded because everyone — from the bootcamp trainers to the actors — were extremely kind and welcoming. Everyone had been on set for two months before you came along, the previous costume apprentice having been let go for reasons undisclosed. It made the knot in your belly grow, to know that one wrong move or word and your entire future could be ruined.

Your family had fought hard to allow you an education and a career — something your parents never had. They worked dead-end jobs to support you and your siblings and the last thing you wanted was to disappoint them.

Some could argue, say your dedication was debatable because surely if it meant that much you wouldn’t be messing with one of the lead actors on the show but Callum Turner had snuck up on you. He’d been kind from the start but then nice turned into nice and he was always finding a way to sing your praises, make you blush, tucking your hair behind your ear for you during fittings and bringing your coffee to the costume trailer every early morning.

You’d been a goner when on a night out in London with others from the cast and crew he had admitted his intentions. There was a debate going on at the table your group occupied but your eyes were drawn to Callum as he approached holding a tray of shots with a straggler behind him. The girl was pretty, really pretty in a sparkly dress and long nails grabbing at his forearms.

Your heart had plummeted and you felt sick. Realizing your crush was more than a crush and he was only a charming actor having fun, you excused yourself certain you were gonna be sick but stopped when you heard Callum say,

“Sorry, love. ‘m trynna’ win over that pretty girl right there,” he went as far as to point you out, cheeky smile on display and as you were on opposite ends of the bar the entire table followed his finger to where you stood, red as a tomato if the heat burning your face was any indication.

There were a few hoots and laughs, some awkward grumbling, but the girl wasn’t able to react in any manner because Barry was swooping in quick with a “don’t worry, doll. I ain’t got my eye on no one but you.” And just like that, the girl’s allegiance changed and she dropped Callum’s forearm.

Beside you your co-workers and friends squealed and squeezed you in excitement as you shushed them in further embarrassment. From one moment to the next the only warning you had that Callum was approaching was an elbow to your side that made you yelp as Christie, who also worked with Colleen, slid out the seat to leave it empty for him.

He extended a shot glass as peace offering and you accepted it, unable to force yourself to meet his eye but the smile threatened to split your face.

“Didn’t mean to put you on the spot,” he said, neck red under the collar of his jacket in the crowded bar, “but I didn’t want you to think I was fuckin’ about.”

“Why would you worry about what I think?” You asked but you turned your stool in his direction, knees between both of his as he manspread.

He takes notice of your closeness, ducking further down even as his blush rushes from his neck to his cheek.

“Because I like you,” he said, matter-of-fact. “And I wanna take you out.”

The L word hadn’t been uttered yet but even though it’s only been four months since that night you’ve wanted to say it every day since. Maybe to others he would have come off as too straight forward or arrogant but all you felt was secure in his affections for you. It’s all you could ever want.

And you’re sure it’s probably the pace of you both working on the same film set but your things are scattered around his apartment, practically moved in, and on night shoots you sleep in his trailer to wait for him. It was moving fast but you had no qualms about it and neither did Callum and that was all that mattered.

However you were careful of making sure to keep your relationship away from the cameras and off the set. The last thing you wanted was for Colleen Atwood to think you weren’t ambitious, that you were only after a Hollywood actor. You’d felt guilty when you brought the topic up to Callum, scared to make him feel like you were ashamed of him or trying to hide your relationship, but he had been understanding from the get-go.

“Me and you - all that matters.” He had said, cupping your cheeks as he bent to kiss your pouted lips.

Today was a heavy day on set and even though it had been on the schedule for months and you has tried to emotionally prepare for what would be shot — all prior planning went out the window because everyone on set was as downcast as the next person. It was the day they would shoot the train scene, where the Jewish would reach for the shoulders as they were taken to their hell. It felt wrong to laugh or smile. Someone had lived this and that was on the back of everyone’s mind first and foremost.

Callum arrived on set before you because he had to sit to get his blood and wounds on him again. From where you stood next to Christie you could see him talking to a fellow actor, probably sharing notes, blood caked on his face and mud under his nails. It hadn’t been easy to see him look beaten and near death but no matter what, every time he turned to look at you it took your breath away how beautiful he was. His wonderful ears, and his cheeky smile, and his bright eyes — this was the man you love.

Christie handed you a page with what they expected the actors to appear as on screen so you could keep an eye out. “It’s been heavy,” she warned, “your boy’s had to do the scene three times and … I think it’s getting to him.” She admitted, cupping your elbow with a squeeze.

You turned back to Callum, the slouch in his shoulders and his eyes downcast, nothing like the confident, loud guy you were accustomed to. And maybe it’s because he was in character but you knew him and you knew it was more than that, he was someone who emphasized and felt things deeply.

“Alright,” your supervisor instructed turning to the costume team, “in five we do another take. Let’s make sure all is as should be.”

Without waiting you made a beeline for Callum. He now sat on the platform of the train, legs dangling as he punched at his thighs.

Your touch was automatic but you were still aware Colleen was somewhere watching, your hand coming to play with the hair at the back of his neck but playing it off as fixing his collar. “Hi baby,” you whisper in an attempt to keep your tone soft.

He wipes at his nose, sniffling, and pressing a kiss to the inside of your wrist when he turns his head. Callum clears his throats, obviously trying to get rid of the emotion that must be lodged there.

“Fuckin’ horrible,” he finally croaks, eyes turning to you finally but none of the usual brightness there. And he opens his mouth to say more but his eyes are teary and so you gently shush him, grabbing at the lapels of his jacket. Even if someone looked over no one would blame you for comforting him today with the heaviness weighing on set. “Hi pretty girl,” he says instead, running a muddy hand over your cheekbone.

You grimace to make him laugh and it works as he removed his touch.

“You could’ve texted me, ya know.” You chide him, understanding he was at work but wanting him to understand his personal wellbeing always came first. “I would have brought you Golo.”

He chuckles, “He’d make me too happy. Then I wouldn’t be in the right mindset.”

You have to agree so you nod your head, cupping a cheek to tilt his head and inspect the gooey make-up around his eye. It looks gruesome and horrible and real and it’s ridiculous but seeing him hurt emotionally while he has these wounds pressed on externally makes your eyes tear.

Callum must sense it because his eyes go from sad to concerned in an instant and his palm is cupping your cheek again but before he can speak there’s a call of his name coming from where the director stands. Callum turns to see and jumps onto the dirt, wiping his pants.

“You doing okay, Callum?” The director steps in close to ask, hand clapping him on the shoulder. “You let us know when you’re ready to go again. Talk to the guys -” the guys are the extras on set and you make note of how much harder it has to be for Callum to do this without Austin by his side. “ - they look up to you. We get on the same page, we do this right so we can tell their story …” the director continues talking but you tune him out, aware you could walk away but not wanting to without checking on Callum one more time.

There’s a movement from down below that catches your eye, Callum’s hand searching behind his back and right away you know he’s asking for your support, for your touch. It’s his love language, there’s always a hand on your lower back or arm thrown over your shoulder — kisses pressed to your face multiple times to make you giggle.

And there’s a second or two where you look around, trying to find who’s on set and who can go report this or how it can get back to Colleen but you catch yourself and hate yourself for it. Callum never hesitated to help you feel comfortable, even before anything happened he was welcoming you on set with open arms and instructing the guys to behave around you. When you met his mom he hadn’t shied away from hugging you or kissing you and when he’d met your parents over Zoom he’d been ecstatic throwing an arm around your shoulders and declaring he was watching out for you.

It’s heartbreaking to see his hand begin to falter in it’s search, the wiggling stopping and as he goes to pull it towards himself — as if he remembered suddenly how scared you were to go public and of Colleen Atwood finding out — you quickly reach out to grab his. It’s awkward at first, in your haste you accidentally bend one of his fingers and he slightly tenses letting you know it had to have hurt but then he’s opening his hands again and you slot your fingers between his; interlocked. He squeezes in appreciation and deciding to go all in you squeeze back, leaning forward to rest your forehead against his back, leather jacket damp against you.

But he stands up straight, steeling himself to prepare for the next take and you decide then that he’s been right all along: you and him — all that matters.

[i-only-ever-asked-questions]

Good Omens Through the Decades

UPDATED!

This is a timeline of all the events that have happened related to Good Omens, from its inception to its publication to its future plans; editions, adaptations, failed adaptations and the like.

I originally wanted to have this post ready for the anniversary in May, that didn't work, it just kept getting larger. Then I wanted to do it for the anniversary of Season 2 in July, that didn't work either, for the same reason. So I am just going to post it now, a random date and hope for the best LOL. And guess what? After a fun and fruitful chat with another fan who prefers to remain anonymous, I added a couple of events a few trivia here and there (thank you!). So, a little bit of warning: it is loooong, lots of things have happened in 34 years. At the beginning I was going to put all the references at the end of the post, but they are a lot, so I put them in a document instead.

*Yes, of course I am aware of the allegations. But this is about the history and the world of Good Omens which is so much bigger than one person, even if that person started the whole thing. It is ours now. It is Terry's and Rob's. It is David and Michael's, Douglas McKinnon's, David Arnold's and the rest of the cast and crew. It is Colleen Doran's, Dirk Maggs's, Terry Gilliam's, Vicki Larnach, Jim Hare and Jay James Moody's. It is Stephen Brigg's and Martin Jarvis's. And so many other people who have brought or will bring its many iterations to life. It is the fans'.

1985-1990 - The Book

1985, Jan - Terry and Neil met for the first time when Neil interviewed Terry for Space Voyager magazine after "The Colour of Magic" was published [1,2] *For years they both wholeheartedly believed it had been at a Chinese Restaurant during February. Some time after Terry passed away Neil found his diary for 1985 where the entry said it had been in January at an Italian Restaurant [3]

1987, summer - Neil wrote the first 5000 words of a story and sent it to a few friends, including Terry; "An exchange in Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, combined with a late night viewing of The Omen and a love of Richmal Compton’s immortal Just William stories, had put a story into my head, about a demonic baby-swap that goes wrong, in which the Antichrist grows up to be a nice kid, with a dog and a gang" [1,4]

1987, Oct - Sandman began and William the Antichrist went into the back back back burner [1]

1988, spring? summer? - Terry called Neil and offered to either buy the idea or write it together; "About a year later I took it out of the drawer and did see what happened next, even if I couldn’t see how it all ended yet" [5]

1988, summer - They wrote it together (do you really need a reference? 😉)

1988-1989 - First draft took about nine weeks. After Richmal Compton's estate did not reply to the request of using William Brown and his world, William became Adam, Pepper and War became female and the book got a new title (Good Omens by Neil) and subtitle (The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry). The second draft took about four months. There were still about five more months of polishing and editing and auctioning and more editing [4,6] *Good Omens was the first Terry book that ever went to auction. It ended up going for £150,000 [7]

1989, Halloween - During the World Fantasy Convention in Seattle, Terry and Neil started plotting what could become the sequel to Good Omens and called it "668 The Neighbor of the Beast" [6,8] *The real-life experience of trying to piece together the plot of a soft porn movie using little free increments from hotels' pay-per-view over time probably made it into the sequel around here [7]

1990, May 10. Book published in the UK - Hardback published in the UK by Victor Gollancz (with whom Terry had already been working) to be followed by paperback by Corgi on May 23, 1991 [8,9] *After the first UK edition was published (Gollancz), several changes were made to the text to make it easier on US readers and to polish it a bit. The new text was used by both the US publishers (Workman) and the UK publishers of the paperback (Corgi). Gollancz was unaware of this alternate text until about 2009. They started using the Workman/Corgi text starting with their next edition in 2014 [9]

1990, Sep. Book published in the US - Hardback published in the US by Workman to be followed by paperback by Berkley on March 1992 [9,10] *UK editions list Terry's name first and US editions list Neil's name first. This was done because Terry was more known in the UK and Neil was more known in the US [7]

1991-2004 - The Movies

1991, Feb - Hollywood Studio Sovereign Pictures hired Terry and Neil to write an adaptation of the book for a movie. The studio had some specific requirements such as Crowley owning a night club, Aziraphale working as a curator for the British Museum, Tadfield with an abandoned pier and a miniature town in it and Satan. They ended up rejecting the script anyway [11] *It was at this point that Terry suggested Buddy Holly's "Every Day" as the theme for Good Omens. In this script some of the angels used for the series got started like Gabriel and Sandalphon and a big sequence had them use their haloes like frisbees inside the British Museum [11,12,13]

1992, Jan. Movie Script - Terry declined to write a second script, but Neil stayed and wrote one. In October the company got taken over and all dreams of a movie died [11,14] *In this script Crowley tries to run away to Alpha Centauri

2001-2002. Terry Gilliam Movie deal - Since about 1999, when he obtained the rights, and throughout the 00's Terry Gilliam tried hard to make a movie. The closest he came to it was in 2001-2002 when he got as far as casting the parts (Johnny Depp as Crowley, Robin Williams as Aziraphale, Mme. Tracey and Hastur, and Kirsten Dunst). But he couldn't get a US studio to invest the last $15M and the movie project collapsed [13,15,16] *Terry had received, back in 1989, a copy of the book asking for a blurb. The letter got lost and he thought the book had been sent as a pitch for a movie [16,17]

2004, Jun 20th - Hill House Publishers created the "Neil Gaiman's Preferred Edition Series" with limited editions of American Gods, Anansi Boys and Neverwhere. As a bonus for the subcribers, Hill House printed the 1992 movie script under the name "A Screenplay." Only 500 numbered and 52 lettered copies were ever made [11,18]

2005-2010 - The Sequel (and the Audiobooks)

2005, Jun - Terry and Neil met at the Audie Awards in New York and plotted a little more of the sequel. This was when the South Downs bit was thought up [19,20]

2005, Dec. Crowley and Aziraphale's New Year's resolutions - The list of resolutions came out sometime between Christmas and New Year's at Harper Collins' website [7] *The well-known idea of Crowley gluing coins to the sidewalk is not in the book at all, it came from this list

2006, Feb 28. New edition - The book was reissued in the US as a hardcover in two different versions. The text is the same but one version has a white cover with Crowley and Neil's name listed first, and a second version has a black cover with Aziraphale and Terry's name listed first [7,21] *This time the explanation for the authors' name order was to make sure the book could be found both under "G" and also under "P"

2006, Jul. Briggs Audiobook - ISIS released in the UK an unabridged audiobook read by Stephen Briggs in CD, MP3CD and cassette (it won the 2008 Audiobook Download of the Year by audible.co.uk) [22,23]

2009, Nov 10. Jarvis Audiobook - HarperAudio released in the US an unabridged audiobook read by Martin Jarvis in CD [24] *Martin Jarvis is the same narrator who recorded the Just William audiobooks, a nice Easter egg related to the origins of the book

2010, Sep 23 - Terry and Neil had dinner at a sushi restaurant in Cardiff and decided that the book should be adapted as a TV series and not a movie anymore (as per Terry Gilliam's advice). And if it goes well, the rest of the story, the unwritten sequel, should be adapted too [8,13,15] *It was around here that the idea of the sushi restaurant cameo with both of them being patrons started

2011-2013 - The Stage (and a failed TV series)

2011, Feb. Terry Jones TV series - Terry and Neil agreed to a deal to adapt the book into a four-part TV series made by Terry Jones and Gavin Scott. At the end they didn't quite like the script though [13,25,26]

2012, Jun - Amy Hoff's The Cult Classic Theatre was granted permission to adapt the book to a stage play [27] *One of the conditions was that no footage would be taken/made available and the script would not be shared/sold

2012, Aug- Narrativia was established as the production company that would handle all of Terry's work adaptations. The production of the TV series and of The Watch were then transferred from Prime Focus [28,29] *Narrativia was first revealed at "The Watch Team Interview" panel during the Discworld 2012 convention on Aug, 26th [28]

2013, Mar. Stage Play - Amy Hoff's play was presented on March 20-23 and 27-30 at the Cottiers Theatre in Glasgow [30]

2013, Apr - BBC drama producer Heather Larmour pitched a radio drama adaptation to the BBC [31]

2013, sometime. The Musical - Vicki Larnarch and Jim Hare, "two hippies from Sydney", had met with Terry and Rob about six months prior. Terry's interest had gotten piqued when they showed him The Chattering Order Nuns song and he asked them to come back with a showstopper and a few more songs. They came back with "All Living Things" and they got the green light to go forward with the adaptation [32]

2013, Dec 11 - In a meeting at The Groucho Club, Terry and Neil enter into talks with the BBC to adapt GO to TV [33]

2014-2015 - The Radio Drama

2014, summer - Dirk Maggs adapted the book into a Radio Drama and gave Terry and Neil a cameo as police officers pursuing Crowley [31,34] *In July, Neil advised Dirk to get Terry's recording asap, before he couldn't do it anymore. They did it in the summer and that day ended up being the last day Neil and Terry saw each other [35]. The rest of the recording happened during autumn [13]

2014, Aug - Terry asked Neil to make the TV adaptation of Good Omens, "I know, Neil, that you are very, very busy, but no one else could ever do it with the passion that we share for the old girl. I wish I could be more involved, and I will help in any way I can" [12] Neil, of course, said yes

2014, Dec. BBC Radio 4 Dramatisation - The six episodes aired between December 22nd and December 27th, 2014 on BBC Radio 4 [36]

2015, Jan 15 - Random House UK released the BBC Radio 4 Dramatisation in CD [37]

2015-2019 - The TV series (and some luxury limited editions)

2015, Mar 12 - Terry passed away 😢

2015, Mar 25 - Terry's funeral. As soon as Neil got back home, he started writing the script for the TV series [12] *Sometimes signed copies of the third draft of the pilot (dated 25 July 2015) appear in eBay

2015 - Jay James-Moody joined the team to produce the musical [32]

2016, Aug 1 - First read-through of the series script [38] *The scripts were finalized right before SDCC 2016 which was held July 21st-24th [39]. Both Maggie Service and Tim Downie were present in this read-through [40]

2017, Sep 18 - 2018, Mar 10. Season 1 shooting - Season 1 started shooting at St. James' park (with the 11 years ago scene) and ended in Cape Town, South Africa [13,41,42] *The read-through before shooting occurred on Sept 13, 2017 [43]

2017, Nov 13 - Full development reading of the musical at the York Theatre in Chippendale, Sydney, Australia [32,44]

2019, Feb 8 - The social media campaign to promote Season 1 started with a tour of the Chattering Order of St. Beryl, an acapella choir that traveled to different cities for events and TV shows [45,46]

2019, Apr 25. The Chattering Order of St. Beryl's video - The video "That Brand New Baby Smell" was released in YouTube [47]

2019, May 3 and 4 - Workshop production of the musical at IPAC in Wollongong, Australia. About ten days before the series premiere Vicki, Jim and Jay showed Neil and Rob a recording of this show [32,44,48] *Although a full recording of the workshop exists, they are not allowed to share it until it is finished

2019, May 21. Companion Book - A companion book to the TV series with interviews and behind the scenes photographs written by Matt Whyman was published by William Morrow [49]

2019, May 21. The Script Book - Headline Publishing Group released a script book in both hardback and paperback (The US edition by William Morrow followed on Jun 11th). All editions of the script book include an "Other Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" deleted scene. An exclusive edition for Waterstones included an additional deleted scene (Aziraphale in the 1800). A hardback edition limited to 1000 copies with white cover included four different deleted scenes (thugs visiting the bookshop, Leonardo DaVinci, the televangelist and Crowley clothes shopping) and a series of sketches made on set by Lorna May Wadsworth. On Jan 15th of 2020, a paperback edition with the white cover was released; it contained all five deleted scenes from the other editions and a sixth one (Aziraphale trying to sell a book); this edition does not include the sketches however. [9,50] *The script book was created so the production could pay for the death of Agnes Nutter, a scene (and a character) originally written by Terry which was too expensive to film [3]

2019, May 23. The Illustrated Edition - The Pratchett Estate and Neil agreed on a revised definitive text. It was published in five versions collectively called the Definitive Edition. Two versions were published by Gollancz which they called the Illustrated Edition; a standard hardback with black cover and a limited edition in a slipcase with white cover signed by Paul Kidby, the illustrator [51,52]

2019, May 30. "Unholy Night" - The Chattering Order of St. Beryl's released their album "Unholy Night" on Amazon Music and other digital platforms [53]

2019, May 31. TV Series - Season 1 premiered in Prime Video 😊

2019, May 31. Soundtrack - Silva Screen Records released the soundtrack in CD, vinyl and mp3/wav download [54]

2019, Jul. The Definitive Edition - The other three versions of the revised text were published by Dunmanifestin, the company established by the Pratchett Estate to handle Terry's intellectual property. All editions were limited: The Occult Edition (July 1st) with only 1655 copies in a black clamshell box, the Ineffable Edition (July 4th) with 666 copies in a deluxe box including ephemera, and the Celestial Edition, made to order with only 24 copies [52,55]

2019, Aug 2. The BBC Radio Drama Collectors Edition - A vinyl box set by Demon Records included four LPs printed in black and white in illustrated wallets, commentaries by Neil and Dirk and a set of tarot cards. An Amazon exclusive limited edition of 500 sets also included a print signed by Neil [56]

2019, Aug - Neil pitched Season 2 to Amazon [57]

2019, Oct 28. Blu-ray and DVD - Amazon released the series in DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook limited edition Blu-ray (PAL) for the UK. The US version (NSTC) followed on November 5th in both DVD and Blu-ray, there was no steelbook edition for the US market [58]

2019, Dec - John Finnemore joined as co-writer of Season 2 [57] *In this meeting, John stated that he needed to know the ending before he could write so Neil came up with the ending of Season 2 in about 5 minutes right there and then

2020-2025 - TV Series Season 2, a new Audiobook and some other adjacent projects

2020, May 1st. Lockdown Video - A short video about a phonecall between Crowley and Aziraphale was created by Narrativia and The Blank Corporation for the 30th anniversary of the book. It was released in the the official YouTube account of the Terry Pratchett Estate (@terrypratchett6025) [59]

2020, summer - Neil started writing the script for Season 2 beginning with the opening scene for episode 1 [57] *The last scene written was Gabriel organizing the books by first letter of first line. It was planned as the last scene for Episode 2 but at the end got moved to another place [60]

2020, Sep 16 - Season 2 was officially greenlit (along with Anansi Boys) [61]

2021, Mar 26 - The Hillywood Show announced the Good Omens parody project [62]

2021, Jun 29 - Amazon announced Season 2 in a press release [63]

2021, Oct 18 - 2022, Mar 1. Season 2 shooting - Season 2 started shooting in the Bathgate studio. Some scenes were shot on location in different parts of Edinburgh and other areas [64,65] *The read-through happened over October 14th and 15th, three episodes per day [66], David had to attend via zoom since he was still in isolation from Georgia's covid [67]. On the other hand, Michel McKean (Shadwell in Season 1) was present for that zoom read-through but had to be drop out also for covid reasons [68]. Peter Davison (David's-father-in law) was asked to play Job's part after shooting had started (possibly replacing Michael McKean?) and Ty Tennant (David's son) was cast too after shooting had started but through audition [69]. Maggie Service was in the very first shot of the season and also in the last day, first one in last one out as she said [70]

2021, Nov 2. Full Cast Audiobook - HarperAudio released in the US a full cast audiobook with Michael Sheen as Aziraphale and David Tennant as Crowley. The audiobook was later released in the UK on January 14th, 2022 [71,72] *The original cover for the audiobook was designed by Henry Sene Yee; a lavender background with drawings of Crowley and Aziraphale facing away from each other. After Season 2 was released, the cover changed to one of the promotional posters [73]

2023, Mar 15. Good Omens HQ - The Terry Pratchett Estate and Neil Gaiman created Good Omens Headquarters. The headquarters launched official accounts in several social media platforms and a website that keeps track of collector's items as they are being revealed [74]

2023, May 10. Good Omens Parody - The Hillywood Show's parody premiered in their YouTube channel (thehillywoodshow) [75] *Amazon Video partnered with Hillywood to announce the premiere date for Season 2 within their parody video. Neil, Maggie Service and Daniel Mays appeared as guests

2023, Jul 28. TV Series Season 2 - Season 2 premiered in Prime Video 😊 *As part of the promo campaign two days before the premiere, Amazon screened the first two episodes in cinemas in several cities free for Amazon Prime members

2023-2024 - The Graphic Novel

2023, Aug 1. Graphic Novel - The Kickstarter campaign to fund the graphic novel adaptation with Colleen Doran as illustrator launched [76] *At its closure, 36,867 backers had pledged £2,419,973 (notice it is pounds, not dollars)

2023, Aug 25. Season 2 Soundtrack - Silva Screen Records released the soundtrack for season 2 in CD, vinyl and mp3/wav download [54]

2023, Dec 14 - Season 3 was officially greenlit [77]

2024, Apr 18 - The Graphic Novel Pledgemanager site launches for people who missed the Kickstarter campaign or to add extras to an already existing pledge [78]

2024, Jul 13 - Vicki Larnach, Jim Hare and Jay James Moody appeared as virtual guests at Nullus Anxietas 9, the Australian Discworld Convention 2024 held in Adelaide, to talk about recent push for the musical [79]

2025 - The Future

2025, January - Season 3 is scheduled to begin filming [80]

2025, Spring - Graphic novel is scheduled to be released [76] *The original release date was in July of 2024, however in April of 2024 it was announced that it would need to be pushed to the Spring of 2025 (Update #20)

There should be a special mention of a fan created musical parody for YouTube that was in development in Russia by 62Media. This was completely fan made and not connected to the Pratchett Estate, Neil, the BBC or Amazon (which is why it is not in the list). Unfortunately it had to shut down due to COVID [81]

Fun fact: During the tour to promote the book, back in 1989-1990 the song "Shoehorn With Teeth" by They Might Be Giants became the unofficial anthem of the tour since that is what they always ended up singing when things went too crazy [82]

[liaazhang]

april • she/her • intp • 16 • indian • bi • multifandom mess • bollywood enthusiast •

Free Palestine 🇵🇸

other accounts: goodreads |

i don't do chain asks anymore, so please don't send them <3

currently watching: gossip girl ; how i met your mother

currently reading: song of silver, flame like night ; legendary

prev urls: isnt-it-delicate15 -> timelessstv -> gxldrushh -> lovestrucklovelorn -> rachellelizabethhdare -> gethimbackpdf -> rosaadiazs -> bedchemmp3 -> liaazhang

artists I love

taylor swift • olivia rodrigo • sabrina carpenter • conan gray • halsey • gracie abrams • maisie peters • renee rapp • chappell roan and most importantly - random bollywood songs

movies

pride and prejudice (2005) • mean girls (2004) • the star wars films • legally blonde • little women (2019) • into the spiderverse and across the spiderverse • the school for good and evil • bollywood films like yeh jawani hain deewani, jab we met, dil dhadakne do, 3 idiots, zindagi na milegi dobara etc etc

tv shows

friends • brooklyn nine nine • modern family • how i met your mother • the good place • parks and recreation • gilmore girls • loki • ms marvel • wandavision • a series of unfortunate events • never have I ever • julie and the phantoms • 911

books

keeper of the lost cities • the pandava quintet • riordanverse • grishaverse • the land of stories • hunger games trilogy • a good girl's guide to murder • the seven husbands of evelyn hugo • the inheritance games • the lunar chronicles • lockwood and co • daisy jones and the six • pride and prejudice • emma • the naturals • five survive • the reappearance of rachel price • the one of us is lying trilogy • the school for good and evil • I hope this doesn't find you • and too many more to count <3

• I may listen to and like taylor swift's music but i most definitely do not support the problematic things she has done, nor do i support her silence about the ongoing Palestinian genocide

• dividers by @cafekitsune !!

• you're welcome to send asks and interact :D DMs are always open as well!!

• feel free to tag me in any post you think id like! (bonus points if its related to cats)

• I tend to swear sometimes

• DNI : basic dni criteria - creeps, racist, homophobes, transphobes, zionists, jkr supporters etc

• I do not like colleen hoover and booktok. at all. and yes I will always complain about her shitty books and other atrocities that booktok (or tiktok in general) has unleashed upon the world

• I make a lot of typos and it's up to you to decipher them <3

• my biggest flex is that my birthday is on world book day <3

• english isn't my first language so please excuse me if I make any grammatical errors!!

moodboard by @skeelly <33

[endless-ineffabilities]

I feel like Darling’s freak should almost be an opposite vibe to Ewan’s metalheadedness? Like maybe she’s a self-care freak and has entire closets through of face masks and lotions. Or she likes something super nerdy like Star Wars or Star Trek. OR she’s obsessed with romantacy book like ACOTAR?

Call me a snob, and I do apologise, but "books" like acotar give me the slightest lil bit of an ick. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Soz!!!

If Darling will be into S.J. Maas or Colleen Hoover, I will burn this fic to the ground 🙃😭🤣😬😆����

I'm game for nerdy stuff like Star Wars? If she's into literature, let's make it Tartt or Dostoevsky or GRRM please. Or others, feel free to suggest. She can be a skincare/fashion enthusiast too and soon Ewan will be dressing differently due to the girlfriend-effect 💖

[darkcrowprincess]

Important books in my life:

The book that got me into reading: Matilda

A book I read because I saw the movie first, loved it and wanted to read the book: Percy Jackson

The first book series where I loved/and finished the whole series, and it just became my whole world. Where if I could make myself forget so I can read them for the first time again: Harry Potter

Book where I thought the movie was better than the book: Narnia

Book that I love where the main character is a female villian: Fairest By Marissa Meyer

Book that introduced me to the concept of shipping and not liking the main couple so you can just ship them with someone else: New Moon Team Jacob

My first book series: Junie B Jones(sorry no gif for this one)

My first fantasy book series: The magic tree house books

The first book that made so angry I threw it at a wall and just could not finish because I kept yelling no no no no: war of the cards by Colleen Oaks. Just that beheading scene man! Just nope!

Most traumatizing book I ever read: The Lovely Bones

Book series you wish you could read but hear so much controversy over it that you almost know all the spoilers already: The shadowhunters chronicles. Basically anything by Cassandra Clare.

a fandom you wish had a book series/ character you wish had their own book series: The Marauders fandom/ Regulus Black. You can not just drop that little of information in the 7th and final book about Sirius brother and not give me more about him! I need more about Regulus Black! Plus I just love learning about Harry's family.

And lastly a fanfiction that you read that you wish was a book because it's so good:

tag 7 people about these bookworm/booklover related questions.

@summonademon @shannara810 @thevictorianghost @darklinaforever @ghostkingdoesstuff @jainasolo1233 @moriartysky

[johannestevans]

Do you think any of your more re-occurring characters would hate/dislike each other if forced to interact?

Oh, God, yeah, I mean, I will say that I've only been writing full time for a few years, and I have books and more significant plotlines planned in the like, dozens.

So a lot of characters who are in the middle of their first books at the moment - less so Theophilus and Henry in Heart of Stone, they tend to be supporting characters rather than protagonists, but certainly Jean-Pierre, Aimé, and Asmodeus in Powder and Feathers, Gellert Osgodby, Valorous King, Oidhche and Dai Laithe in different Lashton stories, Velma Kuroda in Little Devils, Hamish MacKinnon, Alexos Fox and Henry Sutton in An Uncommon Betrothal, and then certain short story characters like Cicero Penllywnog, Beauregard Horvasse, Colleen Pike and Aoife Harkin, like...

All of these characters have far more considerable arcs laid out ahead of them than are present in their current serials or in the short stories they appear in, and many of them are going to interact with and crossover with one another, and some of them will absolutely despise one another.

It's worth remembering too that like... Cicero and Valorous are good friends in Rescue Dogs, but that's because Cicero is a young man and their relationship is casual by its nature, ditto Cicero's dynamic with Coshel Fenwick.

When Cicero leaves university and goes off to be a soldier for real, especially a soldier as part of the lluoedd arfog and doing Myrddin's will in the fae wars, he's going to be very changed by that, and not just because he's going to be ageing. The awareness of the way that fighting will change him by definition is something that Coshel is aware of from the beginning - so it's not just that certain characters would dislike one another, but at different parts of their journey, they'll feel very differently about one another than they otherwise would.

It's very easy to see how people hate from the beginning the more of my obviously villainous characters - Myrddin Wyllt hasn't had anything from his POV yet, and yet he's been the villain of multiple people's lives; Edmund Horvasse has been brought in basically exclusively thus far as a racist prick that everyone dislikes; Lucien Pike and Oidhche Laithe and Verdance Pike are horrible bastards, as much as they're funny and sexy; ditto Jean-Pierre and Benedictine.

It's part of my goal in this series to get people to absolutely adore or absolutely despise certain characters, and then to introduce elements that will by definition make people teeter in their opinions or perhaps completely change them, because those are some of the characters I tend to find most utterly lovable in the works I adore myself.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 4, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 05, 2024

The Gettysburg Address it wasn’t.

Seventy-seven years ago, on June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who had been a five-star general in World War II, gave a commencement speech at Harvard University. 

Rather than stirring, the speech was bland. Its long sentences were hard to follow. It was vague. And yet, in just under eleven minutes on a sunny afternoon, Marshall laid out a plan that would shape the modern world.

“The truth of the matter is that Europe's requirements for the next three or four years of foreign food and other essential products—principally from America—are so much greater than her present ability to pay that she must have substantial additional help or face economic, social, and political deterioration of a very grave character,” he said. “It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.”

In his short speech, Marshall outlined the principles of what came to be known as the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe in the wake of the devastation of World War II. The speech challenged European governments to work together to make a plan for recovery and suggested that the U.S. would provide the money. European countries did so, forming the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) in 1948. From 1948 to 1952, the U.S. would donate about $17 billion to European countries to rebuild, promote economic cooperation, and modernize economies. By the end of the four-year program, economic output in each of the countries participating in the Marshall Plan had increased by at least 35%.

This investment helped to avoid another depression like the one that had hit the world in the 1930s, enabling Europe to afford goods from the U.S. and keeping low the tariff walls that had helped to choke trade in the crisis years of that decade. Marshall later recalled that his primary motivation was economic recovery, that he had been shocked by the devastation he saw in Europe and felt that “[i]f Europe was to be salvaged, economic aid was essential.”

But there was more to the Marshall Plan than money. 

The economic rubble after the war had sparked political chaos that fed the communist movement. No one wanted to go back to the prewar years of the depression, and in the wake of fascism, communism looked attractive to many Europeans. 

“Marshall was acutely aware that this was a plan to stabilize Western Europe politically because the administration was worried about the impact of communism, especially on labor unions,” historian Charles Maier told Colleen Walsh of the Harvard Gazette in 2017. “In effect, it was a plan designed to keep Western Europe safely in the liberal Western camp.” It worked. American investment in Europe helped to turn European nations away from communism as well as the nationalism that had fed World War II, creating a cooperative and stable Europe. 

The Marshall Plan also helped Europe and the U.S. to articulate a powerful set of shared values. The U.S. invited not just Europe but also the Soviet Union to participate in the plan, but Soviet leaders refused, recognizing that accepting such aid would weaken the idea that communism was a superior form of government and give the U.S. influence. They blocked satellite countries from participating, as well. Forcing the USSR either to join Europe or to divide the allies of World War II put Soviet leaders in a difficult position and at a psychological disadvantage. 

With a clear ideological line dividing the USSR and Europe, Europeans, Americans, and their allies coalesced around a concept of government based on equality before the law, secularism, civil rights, economic and political freedom, and a market economy: the tenets of liberal democracy. As Otto Zausmer, who had worked for the U.S. Office of War Information to swing Americans behind the war, put it in 1955: “America’s gift to the world is not money, but the Democratic idea, democracy.” 

In the years after the Marshall Plan, European countries expanded their cooperative organizations. The OEEC became the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1961 and still operates with 37 member countries that account for three fifths of world trade. And the U.S. abandoned its prewar isolationism to engage with the rest of the world. The Marshall Plan helped to create a liberal international order, based on the rule of law, that lasted for decades. 

In his commencement speech on June 5, 1947, Marshall apologized that “I’ve been forced by the necessities of the case to enter into rather technical discussions.” But on the ten-year anniversary of the speech, the Norwegian foreign minister had a longer perspective, saying: “[T]his initiative taken by Marshall and by the American Government marked the beginning of a new epoch in western Europe, an epoch of wider, and above all more binding, cooperation between the countries than ever before.” 

Not bad for an eleven-minute speech.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[casey-complains]

I’m sure anything I say here has been said to death but GOD

Something about being a former superfan makes this fire of anger burn brighter in me

Sooooo freaking sick of seeing the “he doesn’t owe us anything” bullshit. No. The lady down the street with a full time job who blogs on the side doesn’t owe you any posts. Some random twitter user doesn’t owe you witty retorts. Artists posting their art for you to view for free don’t owe you posts.

Sanders? With his Patreon and his young fanbase? With this being his full time gig?

You’re kidding. If I go to a bakery and ask for a cake I’m not fucking demanding they ruin their mental health, I’m coming to their place where they provide a good or service expecting to RECEIVE A GOOD OR SERVICE

Not to mention, the soft uwu diversity and inclusion brand he has going on and I hear he’s staying SILENT ON THE WAR. Yeah man young and impressionable audience be sure to post those underage character pinups before you dare speak up against a genocide when you’ve CLEARLY shown you’re not afraid to speak on political issues.

And look, I hated the puritan unironic tw middle finger anti sex crowd who wouldn’t let his content mature more than anyone. That DOESNT mean you can just do whatever you want. Just like Colleen ballinger could say all she wanted that she does not make content for kids, the reality is you HAVE to consider the audience you have, not the one you want.

God. So much bullshit from a creator I really, REALLY loved. We’re passionate because we’re disappointed and because we know he’s capable of so much better. Because he HAS done so much better.

.

[quintessenceofdust73]

Colleen had spent the last several minutes arranging the small, brightly wrapped packages on the dining table in the Holts’ private suite onboard the Atlas. This wasn’t exactly where she expected to celebrate her daughter’s eighteenth birthday. Colleen never could have imagined that her youngest child would have been fighting in an intergalactic war at such an age, or that Colleen herself would be out in space with the rest of their little family instead of planning a quiet little party at their home.

She placed the smallest of the packages on top of the stack of colorful boxes. It was wrapped in bright blue paper and tied with a green ribbon. Curious, Colleen glanced at the card. It read “With Love, From Lance.” She smiled to herself, wondering what the gift could be. She knew Katie loved all of the other Paladins like older siblings, but with Lance things had been different. She always sat close to him at meetings and at mealtimes. She blushed when Lance complimented her and pouted when her father set a curfew on her late night video gaming sessions with him. ”Leave the door to your quarters open when that boy is here,” her husband had insisted.

Boy? She thought. No, he was a young man, Lance was nearly twenty, and was of an age to have a more serious view of dating and relationships.

More than once Colleen had noticed that Lance had casually slipped one of his long arms around her daughter’s slight shoulders when the Paladins gathered with her family to have a movie night. She also noticed that Katie wrapped her arms around Lance, clinging to him and affectionately nuzzling his chest, a gesture that always made him smile and draw her even closer to him.

Colleen had always thought they were cute together and had hoped for the longest time that their friendship would blossom into something more. She smiled at the recollection of how Lance had won a stuffed Green Lion for her when they went to the Clear Day carnival together. Katie cuddled with it every night, falling asleep with it in her arms.

Sam, on the other hand, wondered what his daughter saw in the boy.

“He’s not as smart as Hunk,” Sam had observed after Katie had gone to bed one evening. “Why would she like a boy who isn’t even close to being her intellectual equal?”

“Shh! She’ll hear you,” Colleen whispered.

”She’s asleep,” Sam replied. “I still think that she and Hunk would make a good match though. He’s a very bright young man—“

“Who’s in love with a very sweet Balmeran girl,” Colleen reminded him. “Katie has told me things about Lance. Did you know that he nearly got himself killed while saving Coran from an explosion? Lance was practically comatose from his injuries, but he woke up momentarily just to take a shot at Sendak when he was trying to hurt our daughter. Did you know about that?” Sam shook his head. “Did she tell you what Lance did when they were captured by Galra Pirates? Those fiends wanted to torture our child, but Lance wouldn’t allow them to come anywhere near her, so they gave him a good thrashing instead.” Colleen stood with her hands on her hips, as if daring Sam criticize Lance for his heroics.

”No,” Sam paused to consider this new information. “She didn’t tell me about any of that.” He didn’t comment on their daughter’s choice of boyfriends any further, but Colleen was still half-convinced that Sam still believed that no one was good enough for their little girl. Not wanting an argument, Sam changed the subject to what Matt had been doing on his latest missions with the Rebels.

Their son was, at the moment, far away from this sector, fighting in a battle in a distant solar system whose name Colleen couldn’t even pronounce.

So much of their time together as a family had been cut short by the apparent tragedy that had befallen Sam and Matt on the Kerberos mission. The grief she experienced at their mysterious disappearance consumed her, then was multiplied when Katie ran away from home to join the Garrison under a false identity. She later found out that her daughter and her friends had been abducted by a sentient spaceship and taken through a wormhole to the other end of the universe. Her only daughter was lost among the stars for three years, and when Katie finally returned home, Colleen could barely recognize her. Her long hair was shorn, her beauty concealed by the disguise of her brother’s old round spectacles. Most shocking of all, she was clad in the hard shell of some high-tech armored alien spacesuit. Although she had returned home physically unharmed, Colleen knew her the little girl she had raised was gone forever.

Every time she watched Katie fall asleep in her narrow bunk, she could momentarily forget that her daughter was a confident young woman who was, among other things, a Paladin, a scientist, and a veteran of far too many battles in the endless war that had been tearing the universe apart centuries before she had been born. Losing this war might mean the end of humanity’s freedom and possibly its very existence. Of course, they weren’t just fighting for Earth’s freedom, but for the liberation of all of the sentient beings that the Galra Empire had enslaved over the last ten thousand years. Defeating Honerva was all any of them could think about these days.

And here she was, making preparations for her youngest child’s birthday party. Colleen sat down at the table and covered her mouth to stifle a sob. But there was no one around to hear it. Sam and Katie had already departed for the mission briefing. She let the tears flow only when she was alone. Then, in order to face the day, she straightened her uniform and donned the steely facade of the brave officer and loyal crew member that she had to present herself as. She wiped the corners of her eyes and hastily departed for the main conference chamber.

[Pidge’s 18th birthday doesn’t go as planned in this fic. This is an excerpt from chapter 2 of one of the best multi chapter fics that I have ever written. Angst, drama, space battles, sword fights, friendship, loyalty, courage, humor, romance, and an epic conclusion with a satisfying epilogue. What are you waiting for? Go read it! ]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31663769?view_full_work=true

[escapethenightcrack]

ETN Season 3 guests as Taylor Swift lyrics

JC- “Some guy said my aura’s moonstone just ‘cause he was high” -Bejewled

Roi- “Got nothing in my brain” -Shake It Off

Teala- “It’s obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together” -mad woman

Colleen- “I don’t like your perfect crime, how you laugh when you lie” -Look What You Made Me Do

Safiya- “Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die” -the lakes

Rosanna- “We can plant a memory garden. Say a solemn prayer, place a poppy in my hair. There’s no morning glory it was war it wasn’t fair” -The Great War

Manny- “I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends” -Cornelia Street

Matt- “Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart” -Dear Reader

Nikita- “This is how the world works, you gotta leave before you get left” -I Did Something Bad

Joey- “and it’s fine to fake it till you make it till you do, till it’s true” Snow On the Beach

[thetypedwriter]

Fourth Wing Book Review

Fourth Wing Book Review by Rebecca Yarros 

This book is incredibly popular. Unbelievably popular, actually. We’re talking about Colleen Hoover levels of popularity. On the one hand, I get it, I truly do. On the other hand, I think this book is beyond basic and shouldn’t be garnering the attention it currently is. 

Yarros’ novel is set in a fantasy world with typical mythical names like Navarre and Tyrrendor where dragons and magic and a never-ending war exists. In terms of a fantasy world, nothing about Yarros’ universe is astonishing, interesting, or even remotely novel.

While this sounds incredibly harsh, it’s actually very smart from a marketing perspective and only adds to the book’s high demand because while it’s a fantasy world and therefore intriguing, nothing about it is very unique or complex—allowing new and old readers alike to delve in without stressing about the world and its intricacies. Instead, readers can focus almost exclusively on the action and romance, two things this book has in droves. 

So while the fantasy setting allows for high stakes intensity, fighting, and dragons, dragons, and more dragons, nothing about it is complicated or even very important.

How does the magic system work? Some vague explanation of wards and that’s about it. Why is there a war? Don’t worry about it. Why was there a rebellion? You don’t need to know the intricacies of the whys and hows, only that the children of the traitors are alive and intermingling with the rest of the citizens, increasing tension. 

However, as I mentioned above, while the setting is mundane it does allow Yarros to submerge her chapters in action and intrigue without much of a break. This is one of the main reasons why I think Fourth Wing is topping the bestseller’s list: it is constantly entertaining.

All of us have short attention spans these days, and Fourth Wing fills the gaping need to be consistently amused and engaged at all times, which Yarros delivers upon brilliantly. Every chapter contains some fight, life-or-death situation, a competition, someone trying to murder the main character, a break in, a break out, or a sex scene. That would account for 90% of all chapters in Fourth Wing. 

That being said, it’s not necessarily a criticism. People obviously love the constant action and it keeps the book engaging and fluid. While I can recognize that Yarros is writing to fulfill a societal need and that constructing multiple chapters of action is genuinely difficult, it’s also not my favorite thing.

I have said time and time again that I’m a character driven reader. I would say the equation for Fourth Wing is 80% action and 20% character interaction. Personally, I would prefer a more equal distribution of action to character progression and growth, but I also recognize that’s a me problem. 

In terms of Yarros’ characters, they are…meh. I think they’re extremely basic, but once again, I’m not surprised why people are foaming at the mouth for their story. The main character is Violet, nicknamed Violence, and she is the epitome of a perfect character. She’s extremely intelligent, generous, kind, brave, determined, stubborn, and sexy. You name it and she’s got it.

Her only “weakness” is literally that: she has a “weak” body. However, this weakness barely matters as she often overcomes it without any problem whatsoever. Yarros does have some descriptions of Violet wrapping her knee or being at a disadvantage physically during fights, but by the end of the book Violet is a certified badass who can take down anyone. 

Violet’s “flaw”, if you can even call it that, doesn’t make her a more interesting character. It makes things infinitesimally more challenging for her and attracts some enemies, but she already has enemies because of her mother’s high status.

Other than this physical burden, Violet is literally perfect. There is nothing wrong with her, which makes her extremely boring and hard to relate to. I want complex human beings that have strengths and weaknesses, not unimaginable goddesses with brittle bones. 

The only other character of importance, Xaden, is also the epitome of hot and flawless. He’s sexy, handsome, brooding, smart, and crazy talented. His only so-called detriment is that he can be a bit closed off and reticent, but that’s it.

He’s shouldering the lives of over a hundred orphans and can do no wrong. He’s also the hottest, the strongest physically, the most popular, and the most talented because of course he is. 

Both Xaden and Violet also have two most powerful dragons that exist and their dragons are a mated pair, meaning that Violet and Xaden are inextricably tied together for life.

In addition to this, they have the rarest signets (magical powers) consisting of wielding shadows and controlling lightning, the likes which haven’t been seen in ages. Sigh. 

I hate it so much. I’m so sick and tired of the trope of the main character being the strongest and most beautiful and then falling for the hottest and strongest guy who’s slightly cold, but actually the world’s best person.

The fact that they have the strongest dragons and the most powerful abilities also irks me. It’s not interesting. I predicted it from a mile away. Do something different, something better. But no, that’s not what we get in Fourth Wing. 

You could argue that it was surprising that Violet bonds with two dragons, but think about it. Is it really? Also, I think Andarna plays no role other than to make Violet even more saint-like than she is. The other characters in Fourth Wing don’t matter. I make this statement often, but it could not ring more true for Fourth Wing. 

Yarros throws so many characters at you and yet nothing about them sticks. Other than Xaden, and arguably Liam, Rhiannon, and Dain, no characters have any depth, nuance, or significance. In a book as large as Fourth Wing I find that hugely disappointing.

Even Liam, Rhiannon, and Dain are all one-dimensional characters at best. Some people tout that the relationship between Dain and Violet is interesting, but I don’t think it is at all. It is clear from the first chapter that Xaden is her game-end and Dain becomes increasingly aggravating and villainized as the book goes on. 

Something else that Yarros does with her characters is make them very black-and-white. They’re either angels capable of doing no wrong or the most vehement villains to walk the planet. This opposition is incredibly boring and didn’t fuel my interest in any of the characters. 

Fourth Wing’s plot, which I haven’t spoke much about yet, essentially follows the simple idea that Violet is meant to be a scribe, became a rider instead due to her mother’s negligent insistence, avoids being murdered while going to classes and participating in nonsensical competitions, and falls in love with Xaden Riorson.

That’s it. That’s the whole plot. 

Multiple elements of the narrative also make no sense. For example, you're telling me that the youngest, most athletic, most talented people of your nation are being slaughtered for arbitrary reasons?

It makes zero sense. Riders are simply allowed to kill each other during fighting practice and during competitions. Think about that for one second in a logistical lens and realize how ludicrous that is as a nation.

The only reason Yarros puts it into her novel is because it's edgy and increases tension but it's genuinely really stupid.

There’s some heavy action at the end with Violet throwing lightning left and right after being betrayed. Except the betrayal can barely even be defined as such and is probably only happening because Yarros is trying to keep tension up. Maybe she thinks readers will get bored if Xaden and Violet are simply together and in love.

I’ll never understand why authors do this. We want to see them together. Let me see them navigate a relationship and the pitfalls that come with that. I don’t need some bullshit reason for them not to be together when everyone knows they’ll eventually reconcile and get back together anyway. Urgh. 

Fourth Wing has a lot of elements that I find banal and that bother me, but as I also stated, it was highly entertaining at all moments. For this reason, I didn’t hate Fourth Wing. It does sort of blow my mind that this is the book that is being swept off shelves and beginning a cultural phenomenon, because at its core, I think it’s generic in almost every way.

However, maybe that’s what people want. Perhaps people want a simple fantasy with hot enemies-to-lovers moments and overpowered characters.

The end. 

I just want something better. 

Recommendation: If you want a watered down version of Game of Thrones and have been craving some alluring enemies-to-lovers moments with constant dragon-centered action thrown in, then Fourth Wing is a gold mine.

If you want something better than a generic fantasy with perfect main characters, a stereotypical universe, and a cliched plotline then avoid Fourth Wing. Not everything popular is worth the hype. 

Score: 6/10

[kidge-planet]

pidge headcanon!

It was Pidge's birthday and I didn't do nothing... SO I GUESS I CAN WRITE A FEW PIDGE HC!

The Paladins often witnessed arguments among the Holts, especially between Pidge and Matt or Pidge and Colleen. For example, during lunch together, Matt joined them. He teased Pidge by calling her "his little baby tiny sister" and treated her like a baby in front of her friends. Needless to say, he got punched right in the guts. And as she punched him, her parents passed by and screamed in harmony, "KATIE!" In response, she simply raised her shoulder and said, "What? I was simply giving CPR to that old man..."

The Paladins have a group chat, and Pidge frequently sends random pictures and messages because she finds it amusing. It could be a picture of her forehead or something silly like her and Bae Bae covered in mud. Sometimes, she also sends pictures of Matt sleeping, or once, she sent a picture of Matt and her with glittery face masks on (she forced him to do it).

She loves peanut butter so much that as a kid, she used to take the peanut butter pot in her room and to hide it to eat it ENTIRELY at night.

Her biggest fear is her mother... (ironically)

One time, she wanted to make fly a small plane that she had built... She went on the roof to do it. The plane did fly and so did she. (She fell down the roof and lended in a huge bush full of flowers that she was allergic to not a huge allergie, just irritated her skin... Ho! And she broke her arm.) Colleen laughed ( when they were at the hospital and the doctors told her that she was fine!)

Also once, shut down the whole city's wifi... Lance remembers that day very well! (Even tho he didn't know Pidge by the time) he was watching the last episode of his show and suddenly, NO WIFI. If he today learned that it was her fault, he would probably act very dramatically in front of her like: "HOW COULD YOU?!!?" *Falls on the ground dramatically*.

Pidge was always doing risky stuffs and she was always taking Matt with her... They were always getting grounded.

SHE ONCE HAD A BUZZ CUT. BECAUSE SHE PUT GLUE IN HER HAIR. IMPOSSIBLE TO TAKE IT OUT... (She was 4)

Pidge got Baebae for her birthday... They were ALWAYS together... Sleeping together, eating together, BREATHING TOGETHER... Baebae is her best friend.

Well, pet best friend... Before Voltron, Pidge didn't have a lot of friends... I would say she had friends but probably 2 or something... I headcanon that she knew a girl and some times, they would sit and gossip a bit... This is the actual only female friend she had before Allura and they we're doing many stuffs together but then she moved to another country, somewhere.... And then there was a guy... A tall guy and he is probably the gayest man alive🤔 they know each other since kindergarten and their parents are good friends... These are some OCs I have, im maybe going to draw them.

Pidge used to have a crush on a guy guy from the high school's football team... She never told him but it was a quick crush... (She was 11... he was 17.)

She also used to have a crush on Shiro when she was 13... Shiro knew but never told her... (Matt told Shiro lmao).

Pidge loves animals and animals love her. (Her friends call her a Disney princess.........)

Pidge used to enjoy having long nails, that was before war! She now always cut them.

Pidge doesn't have a voluminous breast, but she binds (she started when she had to prentend to be a guy and felt more confortable with her binder and then stopped after the war.)

same as the nails, Pidge loved her long hair! you can see it in episode 5 season 1: when she hcut heer hair, she hesitate and doesn't seem to actually want it... later, she liked her short haircut, but she would always prefer and miss her short hair...

At home, Colleen speaks Italian ( in the Atlas too, which was confusing to the paladins)

tell me if you'd like more of these!!!