#I must tell you - there is no gay sex in the novel. But in my wonderful mind?? Certainly

[bumblingbabooshka]

Quotes from Novel 'Taking Wing' [Continued on Patreon....18+]

[thealogie]

picture this. you're michael sheen, beloved queer-friendly welsh actor and recent twilight saga vampire. you want your favorite book to become a tv show, and you want to be the lead. so what do you do? you befriend the author. he wines and dines you, you become a confidant in the scriptwriting phase. and in the process of the GO script you decide you don't want to be crowley, actually, you want to be aziraphale. you put in the work for months to influence the author to the same conclusion. so when neil gaiman comes to you one day saying, "i know you joined on to be crowley... but how would you feel about playing aziraphale?" you say, what a novel idea! i was feeling the same way, i just didn't want to say anything! let's do it.

you're michael sheen, the lead in the adaptation of your favorite book. you meet david tennant as your leading man, a rising star (and vocal fan of yours) you've had a few vague interactions with in the past. on set you immediately find the closest friend you have ever and will ever find in your life, and you know this. the romance you have in your (yes, your) show is ambiguous, but you're michael sheen. you think that romance needs to be explicit. so what do you do? you become a nightmare on set. you get really hands-on; you make costume choices, you make story decisions, you tell your author friend at the very end of filming: aziraphale is in love with crowley and realizes it in 1941. now go do it again.

so the author goes and does it again. you get a season 2. you get 1941 part 2. you're michael sheen, and you are the lead of the adaptation of your favorite book, and the romance you littered into the character you built from the ground up has become unambiguous. everything goes according to plan. but, you see, you have a problem: the author you have baby trapped is acting a FIEND on twitter and tumblr. he's saying everything he can to imply aziraphale and crowley aren't sexually attracted to each other. he's getting a bit too bold with his character assumptions, is all i'm saying. so here's what you're going to do: you play it up with your pal david tennant. you made a show with him during lockdown. you're going to depict your lives as even more intertwined and homoerotically codependent as previously possible. you grow even closer. your wives become best friends, too, because how could they not? this has been the plan since the beginning, too. your lockdown show ends. it wasn't enough.

so you, michael sheen, of course you put in the work. if david tennant's there, you're damn sure you're there physically, spiritually, biblically, in whatever capacity you can be. it's not hard. david tennant is a big fan of yours, after all, so he MAKES SURE you're always in the conversation. you have him wrapped around your little finger, this lovely little boy, and so you know what you do next? you become neighbors. you make your directorial debut casting your best friend's wife watching her husband and male neighbor initiate sex with each other. you play into the swinging rumors (that you, michael sheen, had started). you create a narrative that you and david tennant are two homoerotic besties, and is there more going on in the background there? any deeper conspiracy? who really knows, but what you do know is that the world is talking about it.

and you, michael sheen, your entire acting career has led to this moment, your gay quips, your oscar wilde sex scene (and the interviews following), all of your queer roles, EVERYTHING has brought us to this conclusion. you have created the lab perfect conditions where season 3 must have an explicit gay sex scene. i'm sorry neil, my hands are tied! the people are clamoring for me and david tennant to have sex-- i mean aziraphale and crowley to have sex, the public decided this all on their own! i really don't think you have much choice. but of course, i would never deign to tell an author how to practice his veritable craft. i concede to whatever version of series 3 you create, and i will happy to bring this beloved character to his deserved ending.

and why do you say this? because you're michael sheen. you're just an actor who incidentally stumbled his way into leading the queer romance adaptation of your favorite book that wasn't a romance, and you just read the script the way that it was given to you. and if series 3 means an explicit sex scene between you and your best friend david tennant, then what a lovely coincidence that you had absolutely no part in making happen. because what power do you really have?

This is my favorite book I’ve read so far this year. A rare occasion where the author pulls off use of the second person pov. I really felt like I was a beloved welsh actor crossed with Machiavelli when I read this

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Many Tiny Idiots, Some Irreverent Hotness & an Engagement

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Oct 2024 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Fourever You (Thai Thurs YT) ep 4 of 16 - OK so Hill has really been trying to pick him up from the beginning? I don’t understand why there’s any doubt around girls at all. He Gay everyone. Why is Tatch (2 Moons Ambassador) the only seme in Thai BL history allowed to actually just say "I don’t date women.”

Why is that so hard?

This show is definitely frustrating me, but I must admit that it’s the one I look forward to the most each week.

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 6 of 15 - I am now only watching the uncut version, and I gotta say it makes all the difference. Please don’t watch the cut version of this show if you can possibly help it. It’s like cliff's notes of cliff's notes. I love the tiny side couple of tough kid + the dork of the music club. Ah the beach sequence. Condenced WAY DOWN, I see. We lost one of the most iconic lines in all BL but i think everything is improved by how much tighter the plot is in the remake (6 episodes became 1!). So I’m enjoying it. Weirdly, I'm not sure I would be enjoying it, if I hadn’t seen the original.

Is anyone watching this on iQIYI who hasn't seen the original? Just out of curiosity. Tell me how it's going for you, would ya? 

I'm doing a face-off style watch along of this new version versus the original 2014-2015 version.

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 8 of 12 - I don’t entirely get it. They were apart for approximately 11 minutes. I would’ve thought GMMTV would’ve drawn it out for longer and more angst. Smiley face kiss was cute, but the star of this ep was that gorgeous pale blue waffle sweater on Q. What a great color for Leng! 

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 7 of 12 - I do like that we’re seeing an honest exploration of poverty and hopelessness. I’m not sure how I feel about it inside my BL, tho I’m willing to persavere for this pair.

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 12 end - Someone said recently "just imagine what TutorYim could do with an actual script." And you know what? I agree. Because they sure as shit haven’t gotten one yet. And it’s getting quite frustrating. I’m having JaFirst flashbacks. Frankly, 2024 has been a year of unmitigated BL nonsense narratives. And I’m tired of it. I know it’s bog standard for the genre, but it feels like there’s been more than normal faff this year.

Summary 

An incredibly convoluted, disjointed, and badly-paced drama that is about(?) some writers writing a thing and some boys who knew each other when they were kids, lots of pretty sexy times, and not much else. The visuals are gorgeous, the side couples are overly appealing (with little to no screen time), the dubbing and sound is absurdly bad, and the fantasy novel (play within a play) makes no sense whatsoever while also managing to be the show that we all actually wanted to see instead of what we were given. 6/10 

In conclusion, I have no interest in attempting to understand or revisit this show, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it, but if you have nothing better to do…… the sex is good (frankly I have exes that satisfy all the same criteria). So there it is: this show is like a bad but still hot ex.  

Every You Every Me (Thai Mon Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - Nice to see Fiat in something again. Namping is very angel baby.  This episode made me think that this pair would do a great Thai remake of Love Tractor, and now that’s pretty much all I want in life. I enjoyed wardrobe in this episode. It looks like we get the same characters next week. Cool. 

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - I guess everyone is messy slutty bisexual in this show? Do I care? Not even slightly. BLabies, I don’t think I’m gonna make it. I might have to drop this one.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 1-2 of 13 - I adore it, what a wonderful meet cute. I love a Taiwanese BL that starts with a gratuitous kidnapping, some chasing, and a bit of a fight sequence. We in OLD fashioned territory. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 5 of ? - I continue to enjoy it very much.

My Damn Business (Korea Sat YT) eps 4 of 7 - Oh! Is the sleazy boss gonna turn out to be actually a sleazy player? That would be an interesting twist.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 3 of 8 - I’m really not a big fan of my pain coming from Korea. I’m getting a whiff of To My Star 2 from this one. And that does not make me happy. I know: high quality high angst yada yada blah blah blah. But also unnecessary pain? No thank you. 

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) ep 12 end - Of course, I love the part where Reese and Orca spoke each other’s languages.

Conclusion

Had this been produced a mere 3 or 4 years ago, I would’ve been quite enamored. But by comparison to what we’ve been getting, this is a lackluster offering. A has-been musician and a much younger composer meet, fall in love, and attempt to rectify his stalled musical career. Cute side couple of a Thai popstar + his Korean manager. Everyone is very fine and it was a fine show. I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t impressed either. 8/10 

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 6 of 10 eps - It was a fun little confession and climax, there was crying, and a bridge kiss (been a while) all of this appeals to me even if they are tiny idiots (in the immortal words of @heretherebedork )

Eccentric Romance (Korea Weds Viki) eps 5-6 of 12 - More tiny idiot boyfriends who don’t realize they’re boyfriends. That’s it, that’s all that’s happening. Ostensibly there’s some kind of murder. But it seems to be acting more like set dressing than plot.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) 10 eps - Supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

In case you missed it

Mew & Tul legit engaged.

Love in the Big City (Korea Viki) 8ep - Vicki dropped them all at once which means I did what I do under such circumstances and skipped to watch the final episode. (I am well aware that this makes me a monster. ) Anygay, that told me that I’m not gonna be bothering to watch the series. Now y'all can tell me how amazing it is and what I’ve missed and blah blah blah. But I’m comfortable with my choice. It’s ICRY 2.0 + HIV. And I’m not willing to play its literatti game. At some point I might watch it on fast-forward for the sex scenes, but I’m not at that point yet. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Still Coming:

10/27 Perfect 10 Liners (Thai Sun YouTube?) 24 eps! - New directing yet another university BL with engineers + their mentees. Based on a Jittirain novel. with a massive cast and massive run time. We will be watching this until APRIL of 2025!

ForceBook playing the same old characters = enemies to lovers tsunder/sunshine jock/nerd thing.

PerthChimonSanta are doing the cohabitation cool guy/dork trope.

JuniorMark are doing popular sunshine meets lonely sad boy (the only interesting pair IMHO).

I think Blue Canvas of Youthful Days has started on iQIYI but I only get it on Viki and that doesn't drop for a few days, plus...... CBL......? Not sure I'll report on this one unless it's really good.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

From Uncle Unknown which is truly terrible but this was so SO funny. I'm still chuckling when I think about it.

The first representation of shipping in a BL that I actually enjoyed. Also Dat's clear approval of being shipped didn't hurt. (Judge)

(lask week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[shizunitis]

Tell me about Thousand Autumns and why I should read it. (I think that’s the thing you reblog a lot of with the guy with the white stripe in his hair?)

Aside from the fact that Yan Wushi, the love interest of the novel and Danmei’s cuntiest dilf, is my deadbeat father and legal guardian, and thus should inspire you to read it for his role in my life?

Basically: Read Thousand Autumns? Please? For me? 🥺

Actual answer under the cut since this is getting longer than I expected (I’m too tired to actually try and be concise about it, so sorry.)

It features: lying and deceit, sect politics, jianghu fuckery, a temporarily blind and depowered MC, political intrigue, awesome fight scenes, a wonderful cast of supporting characters, interesting takes on the cultivation system, social commentary, an incredible dynamic between the main couple that isn’t front-and-centre, dramatic not-confessions, and the sweetest little sex monster of a woman you’ll ever meet. (She’s my favourtie character. She’s like if Sha Hualing was in love with Shen Qingqiu. Do you see?)

It’s a much more mature relationship than what we see with SVSSS, by virtue of happening between two people whose identites are, in spite of their circumstances, on sturdier foundations.

Now, then, the circumstances:

Shen Qiao, who must start from the ground up in every possible way, while he’s suffering from amnesia—something which Yan Wushi takes full advantage of, the bastard—is the true embodiment of an enlightened daoist. He’s a former sect leader and an honest, hard-working, good person; he is also not a pushover, and the moments he decides to bother standing up for himself are more satisfying than if he retaliated with fury and vengeance. He is relentless in how fairly he treats the world in spite of its rejection of him.

Yan Wushi: villain-love interest, leader of a demonic sect, and a jaded man convinced of the world’s cruelty. He believes it an ugly, vicious place that will snuff out all light by force. He attempts to break down Shen Qiao’s righteousness and honesty by being very gay Disney villain about it, and tries to get him to join him and see the world theough his eyes. He’s cunty, and an asshole, and makes horrible decisions to prove his own convictions, and he pushes, and takes, and betrays, and does everything but lay down his arms and accept defeat, even in the face of certain death.

They have a convoluted, twisted road ahead of them from the very beginning of the story. And yet, they gravitate towards each other even when they renege each other, falling back into each other’s orbit not with ease, but ruled by a profound understanding of their differences. How they navigate them, how they make space for each other, how they interact— Wonderful. Beautiful. Excruciating. I adore them.

Whether by design or coincidence, their lives tangle so much that they become inextricably linked, and the longer the story goes, you begin to see the cracks in both of their resolves to try and change the other. Their dynamic is gripping.

It is, however, not the main plot of the novel. Arguably, their relationship features as an accessory to the plot, rather than its focus. It plays a big part in how the plot unfolds and it does affect both Shen Qiao’s and Yan Wushi’s relationship and interactions with the world, but it’s—

I kind of felt, you know, like it was being preserved away from the world in a way. Like it was kept for them. Don’t know exactly why, or how I could give arguments to support this idea without spoiling some stuff, but. They have married bickering couple energy. You know?

There’s some CW’s, for sure. If you need a list I can definitely lay them out, so shoot me another ask in that case. Otherwise, I hope my deeply sleep deprived attempt at listing off why Thousand Autumns is worth reading works. If not, I got to call Yan Wushi a gay Disney villain, so I got my needs met for today!

Also: Do I reblog Thousand Autumns that much? I know it’s more than Erha, but. Hm. Maybe I should make it a bit more clear exactly how I feel about Mo Ran. Wouldn’t want the hierarchy to be destabilised.

[sassykinzonline]

naruto and i spent yesterday watching drag race, i would like to do a roast to celebrate kakashi's hokage inauguration:

kakashi is the only hokage in history to fumble the bag for both his homosexual AND heterosexual love interests; however, he continues a long line of hokages to completely fail their students--or if youre tsunade, fail at picking a student.

many people have been wondering why kakashi wears his mask. it's really simple: hes hiding the smell of might guy's "youth" on his breath from iruka.

kakashi was born an old soul, as you can tell by his grey hair. and just like every old man in our village, hes a publicly indecent sex pest. hes been carrying around that porn novel of his for as long as ive known him. i guess he was inspired by naruto's motto: "never give up"....trying to cure your erectile dysfunction.

as many of you know, kakashi's notorious for 2 things: his sharingan and his dogs. there's a saying that goes "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", and it must be true given kakashi uses the same 3 jutsus over and over. watching him fight is more painfully repetitive than itachi's tsukuyomi.

speaking of itachi, kakashi's name means "scare crow". fitting, given not too long after joining kakashi's anbu team did itachi get fed up and decide to kill our entire family.

the time after that was extremely difficult for me, and im grateful kakashi took me under his wing because we have a lot of things in common. i once asked him what he would do if i killed everyone he loves, and he told me they were all already dead. so i guess instead of "hatake, scare crow", we should be calling him "hatake scares the hoes".

as a teacher, i learned so much from him. i'd like to think if he wrote a book about his teachings, it would be called "how to lose friends and influence people to defect from the village." some of the things hes taught me include chidori--which should be used to stab directly through the heart of those you love and who love you, permanently disfiguring the person you love so you know its real, and how to let survivor's guilt cripple you and define your whole life.

but i also learned from his mistakes. my inspirational loud dumb gay bestie is still alive (not for lack of trying on both our parts), and we successfully communicated our feelings. plus, the girl that is bafflingly in love with me despite me being obviously gay is still alive (again, not for lack of trying).

so thank you, kakashi, for all that you've done for me. you are the best man for the job--considering everyone else is dead, cut in half, in jail, or danzo shimura. you will do your village proud.

i wish you a long life of continuing to inspire and annoy generations of uchiha.

[lemonlover1110]

أعلم أنه ليس لدي دخل ولا أفهم حقًا ما يحدث، لكن جاء في ذهني شيء أقوله، وللأسف أنا إنسان صادق ولا أحب أن يبقى بداخله شيء فكر فيه.

الأمر هو أنني رأيت بعض الأشخاص يهاجمونك لأنك تدعم سفينة SaSu. في الواقع، الأمر متروك لك سواء كنت تؤيده أو ترفضه. هذا رأيك، وبصراحة أنا لا أحب هذه السفينة، ولا أحب المثليين بشكل عام، ولا يهمني رأيك فيها أو ما تدعمه. أنا فقط أحب إبداعك. كتابتك من أجمل ما قرأت، ولا تتخيل أني أدخل كل دقيقة لأتأكد من تحديثك أم لا! لا يمكن للناس أن يفرضوا عليك شيئًا هو عكس ما تريده، وعليهم التركيز على قصصك بدلًا من التدخل في حياتك الخاصة. اسمع، أنا لا أدعمهم، وأنا أكرههم أيضًا (أنا أتحدث عن المثليين)، وأرى أن هذا خطأ، لكن ببساطة أنت لست أنا. لا يمكنك التفكير بالطريقة التي أفكر بها. وأنا لا أستطيع أن أفعل ذلك.

Basically, my religion requires me not to invite them, and so do my principles, but you do not! You do not hold the same principles as me and do not embrace the same religion as I do, and this is what I am talking about. It is the difference that people must accept and adapt to, just as Mahuraga adapted to Gojo’s infinity. You understand me, right? And your words will not change his thinking. If words really changed people, there would be no civil wars in the first place! So please stop putting pressure on him. I want to see the continuation of the novel Baby Steps, but you are preventing that.

أشكركم على قراءة كلماتي وآسف على اللغة السيئة. اللغة الإنجليزية ليست لغتي الأم

what the hell is wrong with you? you expect me to change the way my page is set up because your religion tells you to not like gay people? I am a bisexual woman, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY PAGE

If Islam (assuming that's your religion considering you've sent me this in arabic) is anything like christianity (which it is), you KNOW that premarital sex is ALSO a sin, and you reading baby steps is hilarious. Do I need to remind you that baby steps is about an UNWED woman getting knocked up by a stranger.

I DO NOT WANT YOU READING MY SHIT, SO PLEASE LEAVE MY PAGE. homophobic piece of shit. I can't change the way you think but I can definitely curse you out!

[buckybarnesss]

on fire: a teen wolf novel chapters 10-13 chapters 7-9 here chapters 4-6 here chapters 1-3 here

after a little break i am back with a new installment i'm doing 4 chapters today because this book only has 19 chapters.

once again: kate argent is her own warning.. there's an entire flashback chapter of her and derek when he was a teenager. she explicitly grooms him.

Our intrepid heroes are still in the goddamn woods. We shall never leave. Allison is cold and so Scott snuggles with her to share body heat. Classic trope but I have read many missing persons cases. Hypothermia can happen even when you don’t think it can. 

And we have yet another example of Derek being characterized as kind of a dick. He and Stiles find a campfire as Derek tries to track the scent of the Alpha and/or locate Scott. Stiles is just having a bad time as he’s winded from trying to keep up with Derek. Derek leaves him there. I reject this. No. Derek never left Stiles anywhere like this. Especially not with danger afoot. It very much stands in contrast to Wolf’s Bane when Derek crawls over broken glass and fights Peter, distracting him from Stiles.

The Queen has finally arrived. We finally get some Lydia narration. She also comes with Danny and some random dude Damon. 

It had been kind of annoying Danny hasn’t been involved that much considering he is Jackson’s best friend.

Have I mentioned that I don’t particularly care for how Danny is handled in this book? First you have Stiles assuming they should send Danny to the pay-by-the-hour motel because he’s gay and now Lydia’s narration is stereotyping the poor guy. “Dark-haired, with that cool Hawaiian vibe he had.” Danny was right to leave y'all.

Danny says he doesn’t have Lydia’s phone number which I sincerely doubt. 

I want to throw hands with this line “He gave her a completely non-sexual once over.” It’s giving gay-best friend trope vibes which to be fair was at its height in the 2010s and let’s face it this is how Lydia was often written pre-character development (and even after). Especially in the Sterek fandom. Don’t y’all try to tell me otherwise. I was there, Gandalf. 

There is this little section of Lydia’s I think deserves some commentary. The way this book has a subplot for Allison and Scott revolving around how they want to sleep together and the way Jackson and Lydia think of their relationship, especially their sexual relationship is interesting. Now, I’m no pearl clutching Puritan on this subject but the way that sex is handled in this narrative strikes me as too adult for their age. But this passage makes me change my perspective a little. These are kids acting too adult because they feel pressured in other areas of their lives to be adults without the experience and emotional capacity to do so. That fits in with Teen Wolf’s narrative. 

“Are you going through his stuff?” Danny queried, and she have him her best patronizing look, “Please,” She said, “You must know that I have a drawer here.” Damon looked even more impressed. Very few teenagers could claim the very adult perk of having a drawer containing their belongings at their boy -- or girlfriend’s house. Not that many teenagers had the need. It spoke of changing clothes, spending the night. Adult stuff.  Sex.”

Jackson’s computer wallpaper is Lydia which is sweet but then she says she picked it out herself which is less sweet. 

Jackson’s computer password is fucking Captain. You deserve to be hacked, Jackson.

Now Lydia brought Danny and his hanger on Damon from her house to Jackson’s because they’re looking for a CD Jackson apparently burned for Damon to use to DJ for a party. The 2010s of it all came out and kneed me in the solar plexus. Even Lydia was wondering why Jackson didn’t just make a shared playlist. But she searches through Jackson’s stuff stalling a little so she can snoop. This is all important because we finally get to the actual plot of why Jackson was lured away and missing in the first place. People want to rob the Whittermore’s while they’re out of town. Jackson at this point is still being held at gunpoint over in the preserve. 

The would be robbers -- henceforth referred to as Thing One and Thing Two -- assault Lydia and threaten her demanding to know if there are other people in the house. Lydia truly gets a raw deal no matter what.

Meanwhile, Derek’s left Stiles and is trying to follow the scene of the Alpha. He uses the word “shedding” to refer to how he left Stiles. I cannot impress enough how he would not fucking say that.

Derek’s out of luck though because the scent he comes across is old. He is at the place he found Laura’s body where he has a Moment of Anger before he moves on he picks up on Jackson’s scent. He recalls how he dug his claws into Jackson back in Magic Bullet and feels a tiny bit bad. He finds a half burned article about Jackson and does what I deem a Derek thing to do and that’s pocket it because he’s “keeping tabs on Jackson”. It’s stalking, Derek.

Narration switches back to Stiles and of course he gets weird quickly and Stiles what the fuck? Stiles doing something like this during the later seasons wouldn’t be out of the norm. He’s paranoid, hyper vigilant and suspicious at that point but here? Season 1? Stalker.

“He had tried calling Scott a couple more times, then Allison, then Lydia. He’d had her phone in his possession when he deleted the picture she’d accidentally taken of the Alpha. Of course he’d also inputted her number into his own phone; how stalkerish was that?”

Derek reappears and scares Stiles. Stiles observes “He was kind of sweaty, and he looked glummer than usual.” Stiles refuses to be normal about Derek. 

They have a little tiff except it’s them being worried about the same thing but in opposite directions. 

“Stiles crossed his arms and hunched over, shivering and trying to make himself inconspicuous, in cast the Alpha spotted Derek and decided to attack him. But Derek was a Beta werewolf too, like Scott. Why wasn’t he part of the Alpha’s pack? Maybe he is. Maybe he just hasn’t told us, he thought. “Or maybe it’s some kind of trap,” Derek said, “Something the Argents cooked up.” “You mean that Allison’s in on it?” Stiles asked, sounding incredulous.  Derek slid a glance at him. “Why do you sound so surprised? You know what the Argents are. What they do.``

And so we have arrived. The part of this book I remember the most. The Derek Hale Flashbacks. We go six years into the past. 

This is definitely where the idea of Kate Argent working at Beacon Hills High comes from and it makes a lot of sense. It even works even better given the context of season 2 where the Argents actually infiltrate the school as a tactic. 

Holder puts Derek on the swim team which is funny in retrospect because of how the swim team is important to the story of season 2 but Derek is established in season 3 as having been on the basketball team like Peter.

Holder also does a little world building on werewolf customs and pack dynamics here which the show lacks in detail. The way Holder does it is far more patriarchal than what the Hales actually are in the show. There’s a focus on Derek’s father (unnamed even here), the contest/rivalry between him and his cousin Josh, entrance into manhood and Uncle Peter. 

I am still deeply amused by Holder making the Beast of Gevaudan an ancestor of the Hales when the show took the route of making it far more deeply connected to the Argents.

The deepest of sighs at this : “Unlike Laura, who was popular, he didn’t have any human friends, and he didn’t want any.” I just have the hardest time with isolationist, anti-human Derek. Season 3 Derek called and told Book Derek to fuck himself. Derek had a posse of generic human friends.

Kate preys on Derek while she fills in for the main coach as he’s on paternity leave. Also Kate’s up here just brassily using her actual name.

Like Derek’s about 16 here so I can easily buy him noticing a pretty young woman in close proximity to him but Holder does a good job in making it clear that while Derek’s attracted to Kate superficially her interest in him makes him uncomfortable. Derek’s narration says things like “Flustered, even a little frightened.” and “He practically ran out of the school, looking over his shoulder.”

Holder then parallels Scott and Allison once more which is a, um, choice by describing Kate’s hair in the moonlight and Derek almost wolfing out. 

Apparently Laura and Derek shared a Subaru Forester. Which Hale lesbian bought this?

Now up until this point I’ve mostly avoided talking about Laura and her presence in this book because I was saving it for this scene. Laura Hale is a ghost in the narrative in the show. She’s seen maybe three different times outside of being a corpse. She’s never actually named in any of those short appearances and no one talks about her. Here she’s mentioned several times by Scott, Stiles and Derek. Plus now she’s shown in Derek’s flashbacks. I don’t like her all that much here and I think this might be where some of Laura’s fanon characterization comes from. 

Anyway, Derek and Laura are at a diner together eating hamburgers. Derek drinks Diet Coke. Look, I don’t see him as a Diet Coke drinker but that’s not the point here. Derek mentions Kate and how he thinks she’s so beautiful. Laura has this moment where she seems concerned:

“Is this...woman a student?” Laura asked. “No. She’s the new lifeguard. Ms. Argent.” Mr. Braswell’s replacement.” “School lifeguard?” she said, looking mildly shocked. “A teacher?”

After this though Laura’s characterization takes a nosedive. She refers to Kate as a slut when at this point in time Kate hasn’t really done anything necessarily wrong. Derek only really tells Laura of thinking she’s pretty. Laura’s never even met her.

She goes on to tease Derek about his crush -- the word mateable is used 🤮 -- and Derek shuts down. “Suddenly, he didn’t feel like talking to her about it anymore.”

I hate it here.

The next scene is another flashback I recall vividly. Melissa and baby Scott being abused by Mr. McCall. This fuckface trying to convince Scott that his asthma attack isn’t real and it’s all in his head. I want this man to die. Interesting that later when Rafael McCall is introduced he’s still The Worst.

Catch these hands. “Scott didn’t want him to yell at his mom because Scott had asthma. It wasn’t her fault. It was his, Scott’s.” 

If Melissa McCall had killed him no would have charged her. 

Back in the present we return to Scott and Allison. They’re still cuddling but realize they’re supposed to be looking for Allison’s keys. Her phone rings and they have a mishap which sends Allison down the incline. She takes him with her.

They recover but Allison has now lost her keys and phone. Bad day all around for Ally A.

Scott finds Allison’s phone using his wolf powers but he can’t let her know that so they use his phone to call hers. 

Her ringtone for him is apparently a band called Kids of 88. I had never heard of them so after a quick search their biggest hit was in 2009 My House. Which again -- sex.

Scott went to get her phone but he’s prevented by an invisible barrier. Wolfsbane. He makes up a lie about his leg being hurt because like how else do you explain not being able to touch a bush?

They sit down and Scott’s having thoughts like “Oh I wish Derek were here” so you know it’s not great. Allison talks a little about how she’s close to her parents.

They are fucking kissing again. Stop it. It’s not the time. 

Scott decides to text Stiles and says Stiles knows his username and password. We all know. It’s the ever iconic Allison. Jackson and Scott truly deserve each other.

I forgot Jackson was still being held at gunpoint while all this has been going on.

Jackson makes an attempt to escape but yet another guy is waiting at the Porsche. How many people are there? Two here, Cassie probably and then the two at the house. So 5 people in total it appears. Geez. 

His escape fails and he’s taken hostage. Jackson never has a good time. 

All of Chapter 13 is Kate and Derek. Shall we brace ourselves?

“One by one the other swimmers left, and he’d remained behind, torn between disappointment that she hadn’t done it again, and complete and utter relief that she was staying away from him.” Holder writes young Derek having the instinct to know Kate’s attention isn’t good.

Now Holder does do some interesting bits of worldbuilding but like I said earlier it seems so patriarchal. Surrounding challenges and fighting. His view of humans in the book is one of paternalism. 

Kate is going in for the kill now and I’m crawling up my own spine. She makes herself come across as demure. She’s playing meek and turning the whole thing back on Derek giving him the illusion of choice as she grooms him. She purposefully is coming across as more of a peer than an adult figure with authority. 

“She swirled her fingers in the water. “And this isn’t really my style, you know?” I don’t come onto men like this.” Men. She thought of him as a man. He licked his lips, completely tongue-tied. “I wish you’d say something,” she murmured. “I’m kind of dying about it now. I’m sorry if I misread your intentions. I won’t bother you again.” “I know we’d have to be careful. Outsiders might not understand.”

Excuse me. Earlier Derek mentioned his rival -- his cousin Josh -- apparently Peter’s sister-in-law’s kid. Here he mentions Laura had made out with Josh the previous Wolf Moon. Did Laura make out with their cousin?!?!?!?!?!? There’s no other Josh in this book. Like I get they’re not blood related if Josh is Peter’s sister-in-law’s kid (which lol okay bro) but what is happening here on this day?

Kate wants Derek to come home with her for privacy -- ew. So Derek calls Laura to negotiate. Hence the whole conversation about Laura making out with cousin Josh. Laura says “This is so you can do something slutty.” I deeply dislike this characterization of Laura.

And now we’re in Kate’s narration for the flashbacks. I need a shower after reading her thoughts. God, I hate Kate.

Holder goes into detail about her ideas on werewolves. It’s interesting. There’s competition for rank within the pack, challenges and rituals. I want to do a post specifically about it maybe, but I am offended on Talia Hale’s behalf here. It’s very focused on males. The automatic assumption that the Alpha is Derek’s father.

 I cannot say fuck Kate enough. “Some kids in high school are babies and others are all grown up, ready for the real world. Like you.” The classic manipulation tactic of oh but you’re so mature for your age or oh they’re such an old soul. 

Wishing Kate Argent a go ahead and die.

[sellouttoyourself]

There’s this part in Giovanni’s Room where David describes trans women/crossdressers he sees at a gay bar as “grotesque” and compares his disgust towards them to the disgust of watching a monkey eat it’s own feces because, as he puts it, the grossest part of the latter is seeing something human (like you) behave in a disgusting manner. I’m trying to get better at reparative readings and set aside paranoid readings, so let’s unpack this for a second. David is the epitome of a self-hating gay man, and the novel itself is plainly about how society teaches gay people to hate themselves. So what he finds so grotesque about trans people isn’t trans people in an of themselves but what they remind David about himself. Trans people are this funhouse mirror to David, a warped reflection of what he’s terrified he actually is. He sees trans people as visible mockery of his own failure to perform the masculinity demanded by his overbearing father and society at large, that if he’s in this club with people like *that* it must mean he is *of* them and similarly absurd in their aesthetic.  David takes the disgust and rage he feels about himself and his own sexuality and enacts it against these trans women as emblems of everything he despises about himself. Which is strange, because so many DL men do that to the gay men and trans women in their lives. Trans women are most likely to be killed by a domestic partner--someone they had a pre-existing relationship with. I’ve read enough testimonies from men put on trial for murders of trans women to know they usually took out their fear on these women. Not the fear of “gay panic” upon learning the woman they suspected was cis was actually trans; more often than not they knew their victim was trans and likely sought them out as a romantic partner or sex worker because of it. What often precedes the murder is a fear of *other people* learning their partner was trans or they were partners with a trans person. Their violence is an embodiment of their own shame for wanting what society tells them they should never want, and the trans woman herself becomes a threat to their masculinity even when desired for their femininity. Violence, as gendered violence so often does, then becomes the means of recapturing the masculinity they feel is at risk.  When I first read David’s derisive description of these trans people, my instict was to shelve the book and decry Baldwin as yet another great author who gave into their worst impulses and failed to learn their own lessons when it came to trans people. But the more I thought about it. the more I saw the value in these expressions of David’s insecurity.  This vision of transphobia--visceral disgust at the appearance of a trans person--is harder to come by than it must have been in 1954, but it remains the atomic unit of transphobia. The impulse to erase us from public life is based in this gut-level rejection that David puts forward, one which rejects not transness per se but what transness reveals about the observer.  For most, what we reveal is a sense of instability to a world they thought they knew. Gender is baked into the rules so many build their lives around. The cringey couple throwing a gender reveal party isn’t doing so because they hate trans people; they’re doing it because they’re excited about this little life they’re bringing into the world and are eager to “learn” more about them and what to expect. Whether the cake contains pink or blue batter reveals, to their eye, a lot about who their child will and can be. That’s no small matter! Trans people, by virtue of our very existence, destabilize the certainty that surrounds that joy. Truly, we destabilize the certainty that surrounds a lot of misery as well--misogyny, gender roles gendered violence, and much more. But people, generally speaking, abhor freedom, most of all that freedom that leads to uncertainty in an area where they could previously sleep soundly. The impulse to deride us is learned, surely, but not simply by poor representation of trans people as people. It is learned by making people dependent on the gender binary--a constructed, fragile mess to which people are nonetheless loyal as hell. I knew this. What I’d considered less often was how frequently trans people represent for cis people their own failures to live up to the gendered expectations they navigate. David has a deep-seated fear of being feminized, of losing his own masculinity to the love he feels for other men. Instead of seeing the potential in trans lives to separate masculinity from sexuality, he sees us as sad reminders of how he fails the former because of how the latter manifests for himself.  I don’t think this kind of fear is limited, however, to closet cases like David. I think lots and lots of cis, straight people reject trans people because of how we amplify their own failures to perform their gender identity “correctly” and the absurd, even grotesque, steps they take to avoid that failure. A few weeks ago some cis female writer went on Tucker Carlson and mocked Dylan Mulvaney, calling her performance of femininity a kind of minstrelsy--”womanface” as akin to blackface. This was odd to me, since she was literally on cable news while saying this, so was almost certainly plastered in a full face of makeup. She was donning more artifice than Dylan was, most likely, but shaming Dylan for how hers was made more apparent when contrasted with her assigned male gender. The disgust she was voicing is not terribly different from the disgust David expresses in Giovanni’s Room, one of anger at what Dylan reveals about herself as a woman--the effort and performance and costume and habits. Consciously or no, she sees herself in Dylan--even if it’s a kind of joyful embrace of femininity she killed long ago or to which she feels entitled by virtue of her biology and gender assignment. 

[cherokeegal1975]

Unexpected Cargo

Yep, I'm the author. I can tell you that there's no kink, barely any sex at all, no spurting bodily fluids, no weird fixations on lactating (it's there, but it's absolutely not a kink or fetish fuel thing and I mean that with total sincerity), it's not gay (just a matter of personal taste and not prejudice, I swear), and absolutely no fetishes! So basically, none of the things that the mpreg genera is all too often notorious for and I hate all that crap. Just awful. It also has a decent plot,, which is something else most mpregs don't have. In fact the main focus is the story as a whole and the experiences of the main protagonist. One spoiler, he didn't get into his situation by having sex. Instead, something unexpected happens when he agrees to take a job from a fleeing princess...and they were never romantically involved...which is just as well, because it would have been creepy and weird if they got involved. Though he does get romantically involved with his sister...sort of. Ha-ha, just kidding, his adopted sister, so no incest. Unusual, but such things have been done in real life.

Anyway, since I'm between jobs at this time, I really could use your support of my work. I don't sell my books very often and when I do manage a sale, it's this one and only this one. Must have something going for it.

Yes, I might be singing my own praises, but I have reason to believe in my work. If it wasn't for some unfortunate circumstances, I'd be getting a professional editor and publisher to work for me. But neither of those come cheap. Neither will the services of a book cover illustrator because I am aware that I need an update on that too. And even a reader to make an audiobook version once all the editing was done. I've gotten very limited feedback, but some of it was very useful. Even so, people tend to like my novel.

So, check out Unexpected Cargo. It's on Amazon and it comes in paperback and in Kindle. Let me know if you agree with me that this novel would work well as a Netflix movie or mini series.

P.S. - I wrote this novel because I was bored, wanted to break away from Eden Symbiotic (my other novel) and hated the majority of the stories in the mpreg genera. So thought it would be a fun challenge to write something that most people are bad at and turn it into a good story. As far as exploring mpregs, well, I was mind numbingly bored out of my mind. So I went do odd places online to find anything entertaining. Why that direction I don't know. It expanded my vocabulary and introduced me to concepts I'd never thought of on my own. Most of the time it left me disgusted and I've largely given up on searching for such crap anymore. Still, it inspired me to try it myself, minus all the elements I hated.

I hope you notice that the bulk of the books I recommend are the largely popular mainstream books. I'm more into those than the weird shit I sometimes get into for whatever reason.

[nicosraf]

Hello, if it’s alright could I draw some fanart of my interpretations of the different angels? I must admit I barely passed the half way point on your novel and I’m obsessed with the angels. Although I do have a question where are the women??? Jkjk. But it’s been an itching question since they are gender less beings with many forms. Also do the angels ever take their more biblical form and 🪶🪶🧿🧿🧿🪶🪶 hello brother their fellow angels?

hello! of course!!! I love seeing interpretations!!! (though i do ask not to whitewash, if possible hghghg)

And the women!! Well! The (biblical) explanation is longer than I expected but here ya go:

Angels as genderless beings is.... actually not true. The Bible refers to angels as "sons" of God a couple times – like Job 1:6, Job 2:1 (most explicitly), and Genesis 6. Genesis 6 is pretty important, because if Job is right about angels being the "sons of God", then this chapter says angels are capable of sex and procreation (with women, at least, though I have some thoughts on that). Also, angels exclusively appear as men, in the Bible. When the angels visit Abraham, they're described as men. When they visit Sodom in Genesis 19, and all the Sodom men line up to try and have sex with the angels, the angels are described as men. (In fact, the "gay people are evil" understanding of the Sodom story is entirely contingent on angels being understood as men.) (Fun fact: it's from Sodom, also, that I reasoned all angels are outrageously sexy.)

But why are angels all men in the Bible? Well, the reason is because Eve is supposed to be the first women, and in traditional (sexist) Christian thought, Adam is a man, modeled on God, who is masculine. Because the angels are between them, then they're supposed to be men, or at least man-ish.

I remember when I learned all this I thought it was absolutely hilarious. God and his all-sexy-male angel paradise. Incredible. Perfect.

But in all seriousness, the origin of this idea is that Christianity is really sexist. And the gender of angels is something pretty much every significant angel writer/artist has struggled with, like John Milton in Paradise Lost.

The back and forth about angel gender is actually my absolute favorite thing about Paradise Lost. The most significant line is "for spirits, when they please, can either sex assume, or both;" which clearly states that angels are supposed to be intersex. And yet, all the angels in Paradise Lost are men, use male pronouns, and they're described in almost entirely masculine terms; one instance where that isn't the case is this one line about Lucifer: "his form had yet not lost all her original brightness". Even here, the feminine characterization is just an attachment to the masculine.

In my opinion, John Milton wants to explore angel gender (and angel homosexual sex, too, btw, as per angel Raphael telling Adam all about the gay sex angels are up to), but Milton is held back by the pretty clear Bible teaching that angels are supposed to be male or at least male-ish. (Also, my friend Cas is much more of an academic about John Milton, angels, and angel gender, and I'm mostly parrot-ing him because he's much smarter than me, so they're your guy if you have questions). I like Milton's ideas of angels being between gender, though, and I plan to do a lot more with that:

I played around with the bizarre idea of God and his all-male paradise, but ultimately, the angels in ABM are not male. There is no such thing as male because there is no such thing as female. Like Milton, I think they're between genders.

Why do they use he/him pronouns, then? As a nod to the "all angels are male" Christian teaching, and (on a more personal level) to explore tenderness and queer gender expression (all the makeup and jewelry and dressing up) in he/hims. (Plus, it's a tiny jab at machismo, which is incredibly attached to Mexican Catholicism and an enormous source of pain for me, so now I get to make Catholicism gay and girly and laugh to myself). But, lastly, pronouns don't equal gender. Men can use she/her, women can use he/him. (Especially coming from a Mexican perspective, it's pretty common to hear gay men use feminine pronouns to refer to themselves.)

But what about their bodies? Do they not have masculine bodies, then? As I mentioned in this ask (where I discuss the trans-ness of the ABM trilogy and angels and also God) and this ask (where I discuss angel sexual organs), I stay vague because you have the room to imagine whatever you want. Specifically, angels are intersex but what that means for their physical bodies is basically up to you.

(But why would you write vaguely? Because ABM is about gender and queerness, and the fact that it can't be easily understood and it takes on a life of its own for each reader is the point !)

ABM and its sequels are about angel gender trouble and gay feelings, so don't worry, you have a lot to look forward to in that regard.

Oh and about the "biblical forms".... :) no spoilers

[roosterbox]

Stripper Steve/Writer Eddie

Inspired by my results from a NSFW generator tweet, lol. This is just a brainstorming session, mainly so I can put SOMETHING in my WIP folder for this idea.

Said results were: Stripper Steve, Writer Eddie, At a Gay Bar, Size Kink. Simple enough. It could be either a smutty PWP one-shot, or a smutty epic romance. I could see it going either way, but I never met a story I couldn’t spice up by adding romantic clichés.

So Writer!Eddie meets Stripper!Steve at a gay bar. Sparks fly, as they often do. Eddie has a bit of a size kink, and loves how strong and muscular Steve is compared to him. They talk a little bit about their respective professions (especially Steve, who wants to nip any anti-sex work or anti-stripper bias Eddie may have in the bud as quick as possible. He’s been slut-shamed about it way too many times to count; Eddie’s cool with it), and decide to head back to Eddie’s place to have sex. Turns out Eddie has a huge dick, and Steve has a size kink too.

[if this was a PWP one-shot, this is where it would end. But I love to complicate things, lol, and so it continues…]

Initially, the plan is just for a one night stand, but of course, this is Steddie, and they can’t get enough of each other. They start meeting up semi-regularly. And it’s not just sex either. Sometimes they have dinner beforehand. Sometimes one of them spends the night and stays for breakfast. It doesn’t take long for them to develop, ugh, FEELINGS. Eddie, who’s been in a bit of a creative dry spell lately, finds himself able to write again. Sometimes he’ll even read Steve a few passages from his novel in progress (Steve, who is semi-dozing beside him in bed, is only half-listening, but tells him it sounds good).

But eventually, because romance story cliché, some wires get crossed. Maybe Steve realizes he’s catching feelings (caught feelings, really - these boys are down BAD), and breaks things off. Maybe they both say hurtful things they don’t mean. It’s easy to be hurt when you’ve fallen so hard.

Some time later (idk, a year? Don’t press me for details, I’m spitballing here, lol), Eddie’s book comes out. Bestseller, naturally. It’s not specifically a love story, but the love is practically dripping off every page (not like that, ya nasty). It’s textual, but also abstract and symbolic. It’s painfully obvious to anyone who reads it that Eddie was in love, but it didn’t work out. Someone (Robin? Yeah, Robin) lends Steve the book and tells him to read it. Because she is wise and knows all. He does, and is incredibly touched and emotional about it. Because even though people have been teasing him for being “just a pretty face” his whole life (which he’s not of course), even Steve can read between the lines. In fact, he even recognizes a few lines in the book from Eddie reading them to him in bed. Said lines are essentially a love confession. And Steve realizes that even though he might have fucked up worse than anyone has ever fucked up in their life, he needs to see Eddie again. Even if Eddie ends up slamming the door in his face, which he’d deserve, he must.

At Eddie’s place, Eddie doesn’t immediately slam the door, but it’s a near thing. Steve starts off by telling him he read the book. That it was amazing. Talks about the symbolism. Talks about how much he related to the main characters (especially the one obviously based on himself). He’s rambling, a bit nervous and awkward, but it eventually becomes him talking about his own feelings. Getting a bit worked up. There may be a heartfelt apology in there somewhere. He’s essentially baring his entire heart and soul right there on Eddie’s doorstep.

Eddie, for his part, is cold to Steve at first. Which is understandable - he got his heart broken, after all. But the more Steve rambles, the softer Eddie gets, until he can feel tears pricking at his eyes.

“Um,” Steve says, finally losing steam after god knows how long, “well. That’s it I guess. Sorry to just show up here. I’ll let you get back to what you’re doing. I’ll see you around…” That last bit said with the air of ‘I know we’ll probably never see each other again.’

He turns to leave, already planning to head to Robin’s place to raid her ice cream freezer and cry, but before he gets even once step, Eddie grabs him. Pulls him inside. Shuts the door. Practically shoves him against it. He’s surprisingly strong for how skinny he is, as Steve had found out early in their…interactions.

“Steven Middle Name Harrington,” he growls, but he’s smiling. “You are, without a doubt, the single most insufferable human being I have ever met in my life. You leave your dirty socks on the floor, you let dishes sit for too long, your hair clogs the drain more than mine - which, how is that even possible? You have more beauty products than a cosmetics department, you snore like a lumberjack, and you can barely cook anything more advanced than instant ramen. And-“ he pauses. Steve winces; he’s torn because Eddie’s words sound angry, but he’s still smiling? Was that a tear? “And I love you so much it’s made me stupid because here I am, with you in my house again, in my arms, and all I want to do is kiss you silly.”

Steve smiles, letting his tears fall freely now. They both are. He reaches over to cup Eddie’s face in his hands.

“Don’t hold back on my account,” he tries to tease, but to Eddie it sounds more like “I love you too.”

The kiss feels like coming home. A very wet and salty coming home perhaps, but a homecoming nonetheless.

[theoncomingchaos]

Jinbao takes a wife (Official novel) part 5

I found this in my drafts. It was the last chapter I read before the translation got pulled and honestly it was so bad I was going to give up on the book anyway...so I guess for those who are curious about the story I'll post it anyway, but yeah I'm out. (ch 19)

-So, Siming finally told Jinbao about his true identity and found out about the brain damage from the fever. He is really happy that there is a real reason he was forgotten, but he still wants Jinbao to remember.

-Jinbao is having some vague memories, but he can't tell what is real or not. Either way, he still doesn't like Siming. He thinks he's attractive, but he doesn't want to be with him.

-Siming takes advantage of Jibao not being very smart and says things like "You are months older than me, so you took advantage and made me believe men could marry men. You begged to be in my bed and said we would be married. I'm gay because of you! I won't have children because of you! Now you have to take responsibility!"

-Jinbao genuinely feels guilty about this, but he doesn't want to be with him still. He is only going to obey to protect Xiaobao.

-Siming pushes and tells him that he must tell Xiaobao "I am serving him willingly and I have to take responsibility" or he will tell the whole world how Jinbao ruined him.

I miss TV series sibao.

-There is some tragic backstory with a longevity stone and blood worms which normally would be really interesting, but it is really hard to care about Siming when he is threatening Jinbao with the ghost of his dead father to make Jinbao swear to care more about him than he does about Xiaobao.

-Siming is shockingly really beloved by his shixiong and shifu. Apparently, he is very kind and gentle with them but we have never seen him like that even as a child and not to Jinbao at all, so it feels really out of nowhere. He basically has a night meal with his shixiong, ignoring Jinbao and making him sit with another servant, then the minute they are alone again he's manipulating and coercing him into sex again.

-There was a pretty cool fight scene. Siming & his enemies have a lot of interesting tricks and Jinbao gets to show off his skills a bit.

[guadalupehesus]

About Racism, Nazism, sexism and homophobia.

Dear Harry,

If you tell your wife about what I write in my blogs, she will convince you that I am a racist, a Nazi, a sexist and a homophobe.

As for the nanny, I don't care about the color of your nanny's skin. I explained to you my doubts about the correctness of your wife's choice, because she was not motivated by finding a good nanny, but wanted to demonstrate to the world that Meghan is a non-racist, while William and Kate are racists.

Regarding my enmity with my society. Back in Soviet times, when there was less crime and meanness, Tologon Kasymbekov, the Kyrgyz “Leo Tolstoy,” wrote the historical work “Kel Kel.” To be honest, the Kyrgyz have few such valuable written works. However, the book lay in the safe of another famous writer Aaly Tokombaev for 20 years. Aaly was famous, but looking at Kasymbekov’s novel, he experienced what every second Kyrgyz experiences when he meets a talent from God. And, taking advantage of his position, as chairman of the Office of the Writers' Union, until his death he did not give out Kasymbekov's priceless work for publication. Harry, how can I respect such people? I will remain silent about the admiration of the Kyrgyz people for the pedophilic authorities, mistaking them for strong and valiant men. The Kyrgyz authorities and special services not only ordered an attack on my sister, but are also hanging around us with the listening devices to do a nasty dirty trick. Intelligence services cut off the electricity in our house, for example, when my sister was getting ready to curl her hair for an important meeting. Or they ordered the veterinarian not to vaccinate our pet against rabies, which creates a dangerous situation for all of us. They don’t catch criminals: all the special services are engaged in sabotaging us. How can I respect my nation after this, Harry?

Regarding sexism, Harry. I'm not against healthy feminism. Previously, the Russians brought women's rights to Muslim society, now the West is doing this and this has its advantages. Especially in Muslim countries, women need to be taught self-respect and self-defense. But when feminism massively prevails in society, confusing women’s rights with the right to sexual debauchery, what's happening in the West, then after 20-30 years homosexuality prevails in such a society, because men’s satiety with sex leads to widespread homosexuality. But in another 20-30 years, society will (!) be filled with orgies, pedophilia, maniacs. This was the case in previous civilizations and previous society was completely destroyed. But those people weren't pedophiles to that extent, that they are now. At this rate, Harry, soon the West will legalize pedophilia and orgies. You'll see.

Why am I against what I described in point 3 of my post? Harry, we in the Muslim world are discussing the case of Syrian refugees in Sweden, when all the children were taken away from a family, and the youngest boy was given up for adoption by gays. The parents cry and beg to return the youngest child. Yes, the family ended up on the street. Their children can be sent to an orphanage until the parents find work. But for us, Muslims, death is better than growing up in gay family. I don’t hate gays, trans people, etc. But we believe in the words of all the Prophets, peace be upon them, and we will defend the Word of God. A true believer must prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ and for his battle with the Antichrist. Amen.

About my principles. Russians are always asking to take part in the godless Eurovision show. And they are very upset when they are denied this because of sanctions. IMO to earn the respect of other countries, it is not at all necessary to applaud the singer who showed his ass to all the spectators. Moral principles are much more important than a bunch of perverts at a satanic ball.

Press Alt ⤵️ on the pict., Harry, and you will learn about modern sex symbols of Eurovision, i.e. modern values of Europe.

Press Alt ⤵️ on the pict. and you will learn about European sex symbols of the 20th century. Don't you think they look like men, Harry?

Sincerely yours,

Asel

[genuflectx]

Terato/Exo Book List

Do you keep searching for that perfect novel? The one monster, alien, or non-human romance in a published work that captures you? But you just keep ending up on half-baked Goodreads lists curated by someone’s lonely mom who thinks changing a bodybuilder to the color purple is monstrous? Well look no further because I’ll read those books for you and rate them for an exophilia audience!

Right now the list is too short to be split into more categories, but as I add more I may include categories. 

They read like this: Book name, author name: Brief synopsis and sometimes a comment on it’s content, themes, or my enjoyment. {Whether or not the love interest is monstrous/alien/etc, whether it ends happy, if there was romance/sex, sometimes include if there’s major death} (a rating of my personal enjoyment out from 1 to 10)

★★★Everything is in alphabetical order. LOOK OUT FOR SPOILERS★★★

✦ A Soul to Keep (Duskwalker Brides Book 1) by Opal Reyne: “Bad omen” Reia is offered up to the human-eating Orpheus, who only wants a human companion. Reia must decide whether to risk running away or learn to like him and stay. Multiple long and detailed sex scenes and pred-prey kink. Has romance but it’s sort of 2nd to the smut. Not great but not terrible writing. Has rape victim blaming in it though, and sadly some non-consensual touching a the beginning. {Skull-head monster/human, happy ending} (7/10)

✦ Be Kind My Neighbor by Yugo Limbo: Wegg, a drifting musician, comes to the town of Baths and meets the friendly neighborhood handyman, Mr. Neighbor. They grow closer as a string of mysterious murders continue to rise in number. This one is a comic. Cults, horror, goopy gay trans love, kinky sex scenes, gorgeous psychedelic art! Mr. Neighbor is a living cloth-man with some fun things underneath (wink) and Wegg is an egg-person. I’m ALWAYS a big fan of Yugo’s work! {They’re both human shaped but Mr. Neighbor is monstrous in his own right, romance and sex, happy ending} (10/10)

✦ The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith: Amber, her sister Nicci, and a group of about 40 humans are stranded on an unknown alien planet. With the help of a medieval alien lizardman named Meoraq they travel to a temple that the humans hope is an ancient transmissions tower or skyport. It’s 421k words long, full to the brim with rape, fatphobia, misogyny, misandry, emotional abuse, second hand embarrassment... first read some reviews if you want to consider this. {Humanoid alien lizard man, romance and sex, mostly a happy ending. But way too long and rape scenes seemed fetishy} (4/10)

✦ The Mabon Feast (Wheel of the Year #1) by C. M. Nascosta: A witch ousted by her community takes a tenant into her Victorian house in order to make ends meet and not feel lonely. Turns out the only tenant she can get is a mysterious and sickly drider. She almost never sees him. Over the course of a few months things change between them and an aphrodisiac-like scent permeates the house. Things come to a head and get spicy. Very well written but sometimes overwhelmingly flowery! {Non-human spider centaur- i.e. a drider- love interest, fun but somewhat extreme sexual acts, happy ending} (8/10)

✦ Noumena Series (Axiom’s End/Truth of the Divine/Book 3 TBA) by Lindsay Ellis: A first-contact story with serious themes of xenophobia (alien and human) and severe mental illness. Cybernetic insectoid raptor-shaped alien/human romance. No human/alien smut in books 1-2, book 3 yet to be seen but the author has implied they might have sex in it. I suggest reading trigger warnings for this series. {Very non-human love interest, very sad story especially book 2. Found the plot, themes, and writing to be engaging with a few small writing-style annoyances.} (9/10)

✦ The Shape of Water (tie-in book) by Daniel Kraus: A re-telling of the film The Shape of Water. It runs through different characters’ perspectives, including the fishman. It has vague descriptions of human/monster sex, which is still more than the film gave. Ends like the movie. {Human-shaped but monstrous fishman, ends bittersweet but they don’t die, romantic. Found the writing to be somewhat droll at times.} (6/10)

✦ The Scorpion's Mate (Iriduan Test Subjects #1) by Susan Trombley: A human gets abducted for alien government experiments and learns she’s meant to be a mutant scorpion alien’s broodmare. Very generic romance novel writing, not very romantic, but sex scenes hot with fun kinks like pheromones. Has an odd kink of eating food secreted out of a dick hole though. {Very non-human, vanilla sex but non-vanilla kinks, happy ending. Generic writing.} (6/10) 

✦ Strange Love (Galactic Love #1) by Ann Aguirre: An alien accidentally abducts a human and her dog and she decides to go through challenges with him to prove they’re compatible mates. The alien is a non-humanoid insect-lizard thing with weird funky alien junk. Sex scenes are great, but I found the story and characterizations to be extremly lacking. {Very non-human love interest, interesting GNC sex scenes, bitter sweet ending. But the writing wasn’t too great. You get the sense that she was bored writing it.} (4/10)

✦{NOT WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR}

✖ The Ender Saga by Orson Scott Card: Consists of Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind. Ender’s Game is the shortest, simplest, and imo best written. The first is a sci-fi classic worth reading, but is about a child with no romance. However, it’s sequels feature a multidimensional-controlling A.I. in it that eventually falls in love with a human, becomes human, and marries him. But romance is not a part of this series, these relationships are just sorta stated matter-o-fact. It’s not what you’re looking for and Card is a bit of a nasty person. The series also has weird focus on trying to paint colonialism and religious indoctrination into Christianity in a good light, and oddly has incestuous themes.  (Insectoid aliens, “pig” aliens, multidimensional A.I./human.} (Ender’s Game: 8/10)

[spockandawe]

Okay, I think I found what I really wanted to root out with Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu and the physicality of their book relationship.

Because I will argue for days that Wen Kexing is terribly touch-starved, especially at the beginning of the book. For eight years, as the Valley Master, he’s only allowed Gu Xiang within a meter of him. They have a fairly casual relationship, but they straddle an awkward line between family and master/servant, and as the Ghost Valley Master? Everyone in Ghost Valley, including Gu Xiang, is at least a little frightened of him. He’s affection-starved as much as he is touch-starved, and having one person who cares more than she’s frightened isn’t really enough to overcome that degree of isolation. When a servant woman is combing his hair and accidentally hits a snag, she begs for her life, and his first reaction is to ask if someone forced her to wait on him. He’s been the Valley Master since he was a very young adult, and he’s been in Ghost Valley since he was a child.

And it’s so interesting to me that a lot of cnovels really emphasize that when the leads are in a relationship, it’s their first relationship, and they never wanted anyone else, but Wen Kexing (and jing beiyuan in lord seventh, which is an interesting parallel) really directly subvert that. Gu Xiang almost immediately remarks that Wen Kexing spends plenty of nights with male courtesans, and partway through the book, Wen Kexing uses a handkerchief from a famous courtesan to treat Zhou Zishu’s injury. He left the valley and entered the human world, and immediately threw himself into the arms of other men.

And Zhou Zishu, I would say, is also touch starved and affection starved, but is coping differently from Wen Kexing. No matter how strained and/or political his relationships with the Emperor and the government are, and even though he took charge of the Four Seasons Manor at... fifteen, iirc, he did have at least one close, affectionate (for a zhou zishu value of affectionate), trusting relationship, with Liang Jiuxiao. And where Wen Kexing starts the book with a comfortable relationship with Gu Xiang, Zhou Zishu starts the book knowing that his shidi is dead, and in Lord Seventh, we see the ways that he failed and/or “failed” Liang Jiuxiao, with Jiang Xue, and with staying at his post during the final battle instead of rushing off and trying to find his shidi, and it working out... not well. And I think it’s fascinating that unlike Wen Kexing, when he leaves Tian Chuang to reenter the human world, he’s content to be almost completely solitary, and focuses his attention on seeing the sights and drinking good wine.

A really interesting parallel to me is in the Ye Baiyi extra, where he mentions that it’s only human nature to crave food and sex, and he’s too old to care about sex, so food it is. Because that’s not a thought he ever shares with the other characters, but it’s very interesting to me that in the novel, in that first burst of enjoying their freedom, Wen Kexing is so focused on physical intimacy, first with courtesans, and then with Zhou Zishu, while Zhou Zishu is much more focused on physical pleasure must less dependent on other humans, like sightseeing and wine.

But once Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu are in action together, and once Wen Kexing definitively gets invested in Zhou Zishu, the physical progression of the relationship is really interesting to me. Wen Kexing gets very handsy and very forward, very quickly. Zhou Zishu tends to either endure or push him away, depending on the situation, but compared to something like, say, svsss, there’s much less ‘but i’m not gay though’ and much more generalized irritation until he (much more slowly) gets invested in return. 

And I probably would have brushed it away except for that one scene where they were about to do it, and get interrupted by the Scorpion King. First, this line, which makes it absolutely clear that as much as Zhou Zishu had given up on living a long, normal human life, Wen Kexing was in exactly the same position. Now, seeing Zhou Zishu potentially get a new lease on life, he’s forced to reckon with the idea that it might be possible for him to live on in the same way, which casts a whole new light on how casually he slept around with courtesans and propositioned Zhou Zishu earlier in the story, versus where he stands now.

They were both lone wolves who had been caught in hunters’ traps, struggling with all of their strength to free themselves to no avail, and thus, were willing to gnaw their own legs off without mercy.

[Wen Kexing] hadn’t been able to help following him, from watching him. Then a revelation had dawned— He’d realized, for the first time, that if Zhou Zishu could live like this, was it also a possible for him to live like this?

And then when Wen Kexing starts to catch a fresh round of feelings, Zhou Zishu’s response says volumes about his prior reactions whenever Wen Kexing got forward with him.

“A-Xu, sleep with me once. This way, we’ll keep each other in our hearts. You won’t die so easily then, and neither will I. What do you think?”

He said it jokingly, yet Zhou Zishu did not reply, only looked at him oddly. A while later, he finally asked, “Are you truly sincere about this?”

Wen Kexing laughed, his body tilting towards Zhou Zishu. He spoke, nearly against Zhou Zishu’s lips, “Can’t you tell if I’m sincere or not?”

Stunned, Zhou Zishu paused, then said in a low voice, “I… truly can’t tell. I haven’t experienced many instances of sincerity over the course of my life, and can’t identify it. Are you?”

Wen Kexing's fingers drifted up his shoulder, and tugged his hair loose. Dark hair cascaded down, making the tough man before his eyes look a few degrees more fragile in an instant. He dropped his cheeky grin, and in a soft voice, filled with momentous certainty, said, "I am."

Wen Kexing is most starved for touch, while Zhou Zishu is most starved for sincerity. Zhou Zishu was up to his neck in court politics in Lord Seventh, where a major focus of the story is about how sure, the Crown Prince may be deeply in love, but he’s the future Emperor, and ultimately, his feelings land way down the priority list. Up until this point in the story, with Wen Kexing waxing eloquent about how pretty Zhou Zishu must be, and calling it ‘mariticide’ when Zhou Zishu hits him, and being like ‘no no let’s hear the man out’ when the Scorpion King wants them to put on a sexy show for him, Zhou Zishu hasn’t been able to tell whether  Wen Kexing means it. 

I love me a story where the leads are terrible communicators and it causes them much Suffering, but this is a really tasty variant that I don’t feel like I see that often. Their hungers are so similar, but just disjoint enough that they can’t understand each other’s reservations. For a soulmates story like this, it’s just the right kind of tension to make the relationship work extra well for me. They’re in sync about this, as they are about so many things, with just enough of an offset that they’re both left ever so slightly uncertain, and it isn’t until they trust each other enough to ask a question as plain as ‘are you truly sincere about this?’ that they’re finally able to close the gap and reach that understanding with each other. 

[warm-starlight]

So I saw these comment the other day on a post. what non shippers think about eruri

A:" It's sad how some people sexualize their beautiful companionship, yet it's ironic that they think Levi is that shallow to respect and trust someone's judgment and follow their lead till the end just because he has romantic feelings for them." 164 LIKE

"till now i have no idea that someone actually thinks that way.😂"

"100% agree! I hate shippers tbh"

"and it's amazing that you think romantic relationships are all about sexualization and don't have any respects and trusts in between them 🙂👍"

A:"You know what is even more amazing is that you are so narrow-minded to get my point, however, this is funny bc their FB group doesn't say the same, it's literally filled with sexual content and I don't know why but gay ship always turns to girls sexual desire for yaoi. You are the ones who don't understand love. I recommend them to read more BL novels instead of toxic manga(fan art), maybe then they can stop seeing BL that way."

E:"tbh i don't remember seeing many eruri shippers who thought about them this way, from what i've noticed they usually appreciate the deep mutual respect, trust and understanding between erwin and levi along with levi's devotion for erwin, the point is that such relationships often go with romantic feelings but not like childhood crush type beat, it's more about true mature love and closeness which old couples have developed with time, sex and romantic attraction is additional here but i don't think it ruins the whole image at all, not to mention that romantic (not sexual) interest might come with admiring someone's personality, attitude, ideals and basically them as human and you can obviously tell levi does admire erwin much, it doesn't necessarily mean he must adore him and have fallen for him but there's nothing wrong with thinking that he could"

A:"Believe me, most of them are, and I would never interpret a topic without being sure of my information (you can check their FB group if you want or pixiv art ). Still, it's not my point.

Yes you are right, “true mature love and closeness which old couples have developed with time”, I loove these kind of relations. Although this has nothing to do with Erwin and levi.

First Isayama-sensei didn’t make their relation to be seen as romance, as we can clearly tell the romance between eren and mikasa/ yumir and historia(…the canon ship as well ), nonetheless, he always referred to Erwin as a good friend for Levi (the guide book ), he didn’t implicate romance between them, as proof, most of aot watchers “out of the shipping community” didn’t see them romantically I can tell from myself as I was surprised when I first saw the ship and so were my friends (even the comment below support my idea).

Even so, we ignore these facts and consider “Their deep mutual respect, trust, understanding for each other and levi devotion for Erwin” it doesn’t require romantic love, and I dislike how romance is the first idea that bumps into shipper’s heads. Yes, levi admired Erwin so much in a way like what you said “admiring someone's personality, attitude, ideas and them as human” but you don’t realize the key difference between love and admiration, while love focuses on affection, admiration focuses on respect and approval.

Basically, true companions like erwin and levi had already shared and experienced everything, taking their relation to a romantic level means adding sexual affection, cause you can’t deny it but the difference between any type of love and romantic love is sexual attraction and passion,- don’t misunderstand me I believe sex activities are pretty normal for couples who chose to be in romantic ship-, but what I don’t get is why, why do the shipper insist on crossing the lines when their relation is already that beautiful why they cannot just “appreciate it ”like you said the way it is, that only means that they’re not mature enough to understand relations and they tend to sexualize everything. They need to understand that appreciating a relation doesn’t essentially mean that you like it in romantic terms.

Attack on Titan may not be a whole feelings and relations lessons type of anime but Isayama-sensei did surely succeeded to represent the most beautiful bond in the whole aot anime, for me, Levi and Erwin relation is the deepest and pure tie I’ve ever seen and I can’t stop and which to have one alike, so why do we sexualize it and be so blind to unsee the true meaning behind. And that’s the difference between our visions. It takes a certain level of maturity and experiences to understand what truly relations are about so they can stop confusing terms.

This is just my opinion and shipping is okay unless it’s legal and they’re not trying to make it canon when it’s not, and I usually never talk about these topics in their area I just ignore it but science it’s not a shipping post I’m setting myself free.

Ahh the joy of writing is irreplaceable. This was good practice for my coming English test. Thank you for that. It was nice interacting with you❤.

I'm sorry for the long ask but this person just is amazing I like their way of seeing things. This just resumed my whole impression and thoughts about eruri.

This same thing applies to all shippers tbh, immediately shoving romance whenever there is some type of bond present).

I also disagree that romantic love requires sexual relationship. You can certainly have sex without any intention of romance and romance without any sex.