#I would probably rec stuff everyone has already read

[adhd-merlin]

So I’ve been in the bbc merlin fandom for a bit now but I still havent really explored everything and I love asking peoples opinions so .

What’s your favorite AU and do you have any song or fic recs for it? Or art? Bc id love to see it!!

Sorry @itsjustclaryy this has been languishing in my inbox for a while because, well. The thing about me is that if you ask me a question about a specific thing, my brain will immediately wipe itself of all knowledge about that thing. It's like the opposite of that "don't think about a white bear" exercise.

I also haven't read a lot of Merlin fanfiction — partly out of choice, because I wanted to write my own without committing unconscious plagiarism.

So I sort of put this ask aside until I could think of at least one thing.

I assume you mean AUs as in genuine alternative universes rather than just canon-divergent scenarios? I haven't read many of those, mostly because modern AUs tend to remove magic from the picture, and I think that's such a fundamental part of Merlin’s character that it might as well not be Merlin at all. And also because I like magic.

So, for modern AUs, I like those that still preserve the magic element — like magical realism and urban fantasy.

(I can only remember reading one of those, and it was about magic users still being an oppressed minority and being, like, monitored by the government ? Having to wear some kind of tracking device? And Merlin being an activist campaigning for magic-havers' rights and being kidnapped by Arthur. I can't remember the details, I can't even say whether I liked all of it, but I was intrigued by the premise).

For canon era!AUs, I like the idea of universes where magic is legal and/or Merlin is either a literal prince or in a position akin to royalty (think King of the Druids) and he gets to interact with Arthur on a more equal footing. Or even just fics that change something about Merlin's status, like — I remember reading a story in which Merlin was kept as a prisoner/slave by another king, who used him for his magic (think of a "King Alined and his jester" kind of situation), and Arthur met Merlin while he was staying at this king's castle to negotiate a treaty. (Does it count as a "proper" AU? I'm not sure). But again, I have no links at hand, sorry.

I also enjoy soulmates AUs because I'm basic. But really, they work so well for this fandom.

Generally speaking, I enjoy fics that explore power dynamics, a lot, so I'm always a slut for Dom/sub AUs and the like (which I don't even know if it's a thing in this fandom?)

Sorry, I realise I haven't actually recommended anything and this probably wasn't what you were looking for, but yeah, I really haven't read many AUs.

Perhaps someone who follows me might have some actual recs :) I'll add to it if any specific fic comes to my mind.

(For now — this dragon!Merlin ficlet is adorable.)

[alltimefail]

ATTENTION DEAD BOYS FANDOM:

We have some unfinished business and a case to solve: The Case of the Curious Cancellation! 💀🔎

Here are the ways you can help (be sure to read until the end).

I'm not sure how many people here on Tumblr are also over on DBDA Twitter, but there have been MANY developments in the last 24 hours and it's important for all of us to be on the same page if we're going to have a chance in hell of saving our show.

First and foremost, we need to get Dead Boy Detectives in the Netflix Top 10 again. This means running it as much as possible. Read about that below:

(SOURCE x)

As the graphic says, the goal is to have it running on a loop constantly, as much as you physically can. Be sure to have some level of volume on or else it won't count. If you're on Twitter be sure to post your rewatch (photos of your tv, commentary, etc.) with the hashtag #ReviveDeadBoyDetectives !!!

Also, there's no better time to do this: the Tweet below brings up a great point! 👍

(SOURCE x)

Second, and easiest thing: KEEP TALKING ABOUT THE SHOW AND CREATING CONTENT ABOUT THE SHOW. Analysis, fics, fanart, shitposts, gif sets, memes, tik tok videos, so on - do not stop! Reblog other people's stuff and talk about it! Give fics kudos, comment, make fic rec lists and post that WIP or sketch! The most important thing to remember is to TAG YOUR POSTS AND CREATIONS. We need to trend!!! On Tumblr make sure you continue tagging your posts as you probably already are (look at my tags on this post if you need help, and remember not to use "DBD" on here because that is another fandom! We use DBDA here). On Twitter you want to use the hashtag #ReviveDeadBoyDetectives for the rewatch and #SaveDeadBoyDetectives is a popular one, too. You can also use #DeadBoyDetectives. Hell, I usually use all three if I can! Hashtag every post you make about Dead Boys, no matter how annoying or "cringe" you may feel. Flood the fucking tag and do not stop.

Third, everyone needs to sign and keep circulating the petition. We've surpassed 5,000 signatures in a day which is fantastic, but we need more. Get everyone you know to sign it; tell them it takes no more than 15 seconds. Be annoying until they do it just to shut you up.

Fourth, request "Dead Boy Detectives Season 2" through Netflix's support website. It's a small thing but if we all do this a couple times a day it will get their attention. They really do vet these suggestions, and an influx of requests for a canceled show will raise eyebrows.

Lastly, if you decide to write Netflix (via email or a letter - their office address has been floating around) please remember to stay concise and professional. Don't curse at them, don't call names. State that you are disappointed with the cancellation of the show, maybe add an anecdote about what it meant to you, and I would even recommend attaching some articles that emphasize people's displeasure with the platform abandoning shows on a whim and Netflix's flippant attitude toward queer shows in particular. Dead Boy Detective Agency on Twitter has retweeted every article on this topic so far, you can find their page here.

You can also use graphics such as the ones below to affirm that the cancellation was unjust.

(Source 1, Source 2)

I know this feels like a lot: know your limits and take care of yourself. Whether you do every single one of these things or just a few of these things, every llittle bit helps!

Even in the worst case scenario where nothing changes, this gesture will mean so much to everyone who made this show. We owe it to the writers, cast, crew, and each other to TRY. We can all agree that this show deserves at least another season and if Netflix isn't going to do it, they need to be open to selling it to someone who will. We cannot keep allowing them to axe these queer and diverse shows with little regard for their customers and their employees, but also because it sets a harmful standard in the industry that is destroying television.

Let's crack this case and bring our agency back! I truly believe in this community!! 💜 We can do this!!

If there are any spelling errors or issues with links let me know! I did this on mobile because I want to mobilize this information as quickly as possible! I'll be adding on to this with new developments and can answer any questions you all might have. Lets save our show!

[poetrysmackdown]

hi hiii i wanted to say that your account is so refreshing to see, esp with the passion you have for the arts. as someone who's been meaning to read (and write) more poetry, do you have any recommendations? some classics that everyone and their mothers know? perhaps some underrated pieces that changed you? or even just authors you like, I'm very open to suggestions :]]

Hi! Thank you so much for this kind ask :) So exciting that you’re looking to delve deeper into reading and writing! I had to take a little time to answer this because my thoughts were all over the place lol.

For a review of notable/classic poems/poets, I honestly just recommend looking at lists online or, hell, just binging Wikipedia pages for different countries’ poetry if that’s something you’re into, just to get a sense of the chronology. I read one of those little Oxford Very Short Introductions on American Poetry and thought it was pretty good, but online is quicker if you’re just searching for poets or movements to hone in on. Poetry Foundation also has lots of resources, in addition to all the poems in their database. I guess my one big classic recommendation would have to be Emily Dickinson (<3), but really the best move is just to find a poet you already enjoy and then look around to see who their peers were/are, who they were inspired by, who they’ve maybe translated here and there, etc. and follow it down the line as far as you can.

For some personal recs, here are some collections I’ve really enjoyed over the past two years or so. Bolded favorites, and linking where select poems from the book have been published online. But also, if you want a preview of a couple poems from another of the books to see if they interest you, DM me and I can send them over! You can also feel free to pilfer through my poetry tag for more stuff lol

Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon trans. Don Mee Choi

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo

DMZ Colony by Don Mee Choi

Hardly War by Don Mee Choi

Whereas by Layli Long Soldier

Geography III by Elizabeth Bishop

Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

Mouth: Eats Color—Sagawa Chika Translations, Anti-Translations, & Originals by Sawako Nakayasu

The Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam trans. W.S. Merwin and Clarence Brown

The Branch Will Not Break by James Wright

This Journey by James Wright

God’s Silence by Franz Wright

Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke (the translation I read was by Alfred Corn—I thought it was great, but idk if there are better ones out there!)

DMZ Colony, Hardly War, Dictee, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, and partially Whereas are all book-length poems with some prose poetry and varying levels of weirdness/denseness/multilingualism—if you were to pick one to start with, I’d say do Don’t Let Me Be Lonely or Whereas. Mouth: Eats Color is some experimental translations of Japanese modernist poet Chika Sagawa, with other translations and some of Nakayasu’s original stuff mixed in—it's definitely a bit disorienting but ultimately I remember having such fun with it, as much fun as Nakayasu probably had making it. It’s a book that emphasizes co-creation and a spirit of play, and completely changed my attitude towards translation.

If you’re less interested in that kind of formal fuckery stuff though (I get it), can’t go wrong with the other books! Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings is the one I read most recently, and it’s great—Harjo also featured in Round 1! Franz Wright also featured, and God's Silence is the collection which "Night Walk" comes from. James Wright (father of Franz) is one of my favorite poets of all time, though his poetry isn’t perfect. Even so, I’m honestly surprised he’s not doing numbers on Tumblr—Mary Oliver was a big fan of his, even wrote her "Three Poems for James Wright" after his death.

I mentioned in another post that one of my favorite poets is Paul Celan, so I’ll also recommend him here. I read Memory Rose into Threshold Speech which is a translated collection of his earlier poems, but it’s quite long if you’re just getting to know him as a poet—fortunately, both Poetry Foundation and Poets.org have a ton of his poems in their collections. There’s also an article by Ilya Kaminsky about him titled “Of Strangeness That Wakes Us” (!!!!!) that’s a great place to start, and is honestly kind of my whole mission statement when I’m reading and writing poetry. Looking at the books I’ve recommended above, a lot of them share feelings of separateness or alienation—from others, from oneself, from one’s country, from language—that breed strange, private modes of expression. That tends to be what I’m drawn to personally, and that’s some of what Kaminsky talks about.

Sorry of the length of this—I hope it's useful as a jumping-off point! And if you or anyone ends up exploring any of these poets, let me know what you think! If folks wanna reply with recommendations themselves too that'd be great :)

[pythoness94]

Obscure Fic recs, the opinion piece, part one.

Okay, you see, I would put this all-in-one big master post, because the first one I did was really small, but as i started doing the second fic, i realized that I would probably hit a word count. So, here is what I'm doing. One or Two fics per post because some are REALLY fucking long analysis, and others are quick ravings. Thanks @the-aphelion-archives for the recs.

Here is how this is gonna work. I’m going to be writing my thoughts one the ones I find interesting and I will be skipping SOME (key word SOME.) of the fics I already read because I can recall them perfectly and honestly don’t have enough to say about them other then “ REALLY FUCKING GOOD! PLEASE READ!” But there will be a list of honorable mentions at the end, including these fics that I “skipped” over. Now, enjoy the show.

Movie Magic :

Chapter one:  this shit was golden. “Mike was so disgusted by a half naked guy he had to stop the movie immediately.” No, Will, honey, it’s exactly the opposite of that. I loved how Will fawned over Mike and I loved Will’s and Robin’s banter. Mhm, good soup.

Chapter two: Mike is trying his damndest to let Will know he’s into him and Will just isn’t having it. He’s so deep in denial that Mike literally turning pink right in front of his face isn’t clueing him on. Honestly I love it, and Will & Robin’s talk at the end was just…so sweet. Good food, once more.

Chapter three: THEY’RE SO FUCKING CUTE, I’m can’t-. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face, Will checking Mike out was so real of him. I love jealous Will so much, it’s my favorite trope. Lucas and Mike talking was so refreshing honestly. I’m so used to everyone in the party being a dick to Mike in fic’s like these that actual friendship has never felt so good. I’m not even gonna lie…I also blushed at that scene in the outsiders. (In the middle of class too! I can NEVER live that shit down.) Mike is BOLD, BOLD, to be pulling this stuff. (THE WILL VOICE! I’M TALKING ABOUT THE WILL VOICE!! AHHH!!! )  “Mike beamed and said, “I thought so, I saw you eating those a while ago. I gotta go, but I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” Mike you’re not fucking subtle, you’re pulling a ME with my girlfriend. ““Wow, so you're a real knight in shining armor, huh?” Will, you aren’t being slick either, GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME! “Mike, i’m gay. “Will… baby… that’s not how you do that. GET TOGETHER ALREADY!! RAHHH! (Don’t worry Will, I love men too, and women, I love people in general honestly.) 

Chapter four: I got up and Jumped. THE PRINCESS BRIDE! IT CAME BACK! MIKE YOU ARE SO FUCKING SMOOTH!!! YESSSS!!! RAHHHH!! GET YOUR MAN MIKE!!! Mike is such a dork, but he’s Will’s dork and i love to read about Will being inexplicably fond of one Mike Wheeler and this fic is perfect for that. Also DATE NIGHT DATE NIGHT!!! Robin is so big sister coded, that little “Romance blooming?” part had me in a chokehold.  Mike, you’re such a dork “As you wish means I love you.” (not me acting Like I don’t do the same to my girlfriend. I will casually drop lyrics to her favorite songs in conversation like the cringy person I am and she won’t notice until way later then she proceeds to yell at me for it lmao.) KISS KISS SCENE! YES WILL KISS HIM SILLY!!

Final thoughts: Really good fic that had me grinning ear to ear from start to finish. Will’s thoughts about Mike, the shameless flirting, it was all spectacular. Good food.

[herearedragons]

Fan Work Saturday Sunday

I got featured in @dungeons-and-dragon-age's post, so I'm doing this also!

Rules: If you're tagged, MAKE A NEW POST and showcase one fanartist or fanfic you recommend (with links), and tag someone to give their recs next! Don't forget to reblog the rec you were tagged in!

I am going to bend the rules a little because I want to show off stuff both from the Dragon Age and Pillars of Eternity fandoms, so it's going to be two fanart recs and two fic recs, actually.

Fanart rec #1: @dungeons-and-dragon-age

Specifically the June tarot card. I don't know what it is but its muted colors and scratchy textures have captivated me. Somehow you got a digital piece to look like an actual scratched up collectible card someone scanned and posted online? Also it's just a really solid design, I wouldn't question it for a second if I saw this on a book cover or something.

Fanart rec #2: @ederteylegc

For this list I am asking myself "which fanart pieces live in my head rent free" and no one should be surprised that for Pillars of Eternity my answer is Edér fanart. It's just. I love it when a piece of art conveys an idea in shapes and colors and this one does Just That. I really like how it shows The Parallels and I like the color scheme and I like how this just straight up looks like a comic book page.

Fic rec #1: @curiouslavellan

Listen, I have to mention See Fire, And Go Towards Light.

I did not expect to like this fic as much as I do. Like, I expected to like it a normal amount, as in "cool, I get to read about the journeys of my mutual's blorbo! this will be fun to tune into every now and then".

I was not ready for how much I ended up liking the writing itself and the way the main character is written? Her POV as a Tranquil is more distant, but she makes interesting observations about how other people behave around her, and her non-Tranquil POV is just really lovable. The word "immersive" is used for basically anything these days but that's how I would describe the writing in this.

Fic rec #2: @solas-backpack-mug

First of all, I should probably mention that solas-backpack-mug also has an excellent selection of Pillars of Eternity fanart (especially of their ocs Rangi and Asaria, which are technically kind of the same person, it's complicated) in a variety of mediums and fresh home-grown memes.

That being said, I am going to recommend this short fic about Asaria's death, just because I really liked it. If you know the plot of POE1, it's a fun read that does justice to Thaos' whole ominous manipulative deal, and kind of feels like a flashback you would get from touching a relic that used to belong to the unfortunate POV character.

Tagging: everyone mentioned in the recs who hasn't done this yet! Pretty sure that everyone else I can think of has been tagged already.

[nyoomfruits]

Oscar “human embodiment of the standing man emoji” Piastri LOOOOL you hit the nail on the head with this

I’ve read ALL of your Landoscar fics and loved them and now I need more — do you have any recs? I love the chaotic Lando + just some guy Oscar dynamic I demand more content 😭

oooooh anon you've come to the right adres i have SO MANY fic recs and i need to yell about all of them

first of all there's this list i posted before!

now for the newer stuff because landoscar writers are just out there creating masterpieces every single day and i'm just a grateful recipient:

carried away by venerat | E | 22k

"Oscar," Lando said. "Don't hate me, alright, but I've—”

ITS A FAKE DATING AU BY THE ONE THE ONLY VENERAT LITERALLY WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT. this is BEYOND perfect especially because you said you love the chaotic lando + just some guy oscar dynamic because this captures that PERFECTLY. anyway this is everything to me and i sleep with a printed copy of this under my pillow

how much can you fit (under your skin) by cloudcollector | E | 4,5k

Oscar has biteable thighs. Lando has teeth.

The Thigh Biting Fic (tm). this was posted like i think a week ago and it's already a classic. mandatory landoscar reading i'd say. for everyone who wants to bite oscar's thighs and for everyone who doesn't yet know they want to bite oscar's thighs. the tldr everyone comes out of this wanting to bite oscar's thighs. anyway, 10/10 characterization, features oscar's reading which i LOVE and just. so goddamn hot a++++++

signed sealed by venerat | E | 4k

Delivered.

yeah yeah another venerat fic sue me. the tldr is if you love landoscar just binge read venerat's fics. ANYWAY this one is in a VERY fun texting format which i LOVE i love when fics find different intersting ways to tell a story. also very very hot

Your Plans (And Those Slow Hands) by xxcelientje | E | 4k

He could probably fit both of Oscar’s hands in one of his own, he could for sure use one hand to hold both of Oscar’s wrist and an idea entered his mind. He smiled at Oscar. ‘You like my hands?’ Oscar’s cheeks reddened even more as he nodded, his eyes still on their joined fingers. ‘They fascinate me,’ he admitted, biting his lip. OR: Lando and Oscar have some fun (and share some feelings) after the Belgium GP

celine is insane and i have a hand kink now. anyway this is so!!!!!!!! them being all tender horny for each other and also so fucking DESPERATE for each other i'm so weak for that always. 10/10 we as a fandom should include more light choking in landoscar fics as a rule

what would you do (if I went to touch you now)? by laceyamethyst | E | chapter 4/5

“Okay, so they both like each other. We need to get them together.” “How? Lando’s too freaked out to think straight and Oscar is the human embodiment of the standing man emoji.” Charles purses his lips for a moment before he snatches his boyfriend’s phone up from the other side of the table. “What are you doing?” “Initiating Mission Landoscar.” “Did you just make that up?” Charles waves at him dismissively as he begins texting, and Max lays his head down on the coffee table and prays for strength. *** In which Max tries to prove to an oblivious Charles how glaringly obvious it is that Lando is head over heels in love with Oscar. When Charles finally gets with the program, Lestappen go on A Mission™ to get the two idiots to admit their feelings for each-other, but it’s easier said than done.

if you've been following me for a while you've probably heard me yell about this fic because i'm OBSESSED with it. especially very good for lestappen shippers trying to dip their toe into landoscar because the whole fic is from max's pov and has LOADS of cute max/charles moments. just AAAAAh. the landoscar dynamic is super super cute and so perfect in this, it has a bunch of straight up hilarious shenanigans and also a VERY VERY fun characterization of logan that i'm obsessed with. 10/10 recommend, cry over it daily, need to lay on the floor about it regularly

[olderthannetfic]

I’m probably more forgiving than I should be, but I would say most people understand there are perfectly reasonable and compassionate people who have their personal reasons for continuing to enjoy mainstream or other media with massive issues. We all have our own opinions and baggage and that doesn’t make us enemies. But “its just too hard to find indie stuff!” isn’t that. If someone has enough internet access to send a defensive anon ask they can use Google or just ask for recs.

--

It's more than that.

Fandom is a subculture, or a set of subcultures, even with how mainstream fic is now. Supernatural was on for years, so yes, it clearly had a lot of people viewing compared to some novel. However, SPN had garbage viewership compared to lots of hit shows, and most randos at one's job likely did not watch it. It was an inescapable pillar of fandom culture for a while.

Film Bros have such distinct taste someone made that hilarious fanvid to Pretty Fly for a White Guy that used all of those movies they love. Sure, everyone's heard of most of them, but have we seen them?

Film noir nerds have festivals where they go watch increasingly obscure films noir, and there are "classics" all of them have seen that other people haven't.

I know no one who cares about The Secret History... aside from literally every dark academia social media account ever.

Everyone is the protagonist of their own story if they'd just act like it.

People come to my tumblr as a sort of central location, so when I'm melting down about Beyond Evil or even some indie novel, a certain number of people will go consume it too. I'm always picking up tastes from costubers or whatever internet micro-celebrity I like this month.

If you are excited about the stuff you like, other people will consume it so they can talk to you about it. You do not have to passively jump on every bandwagon. Even the supposed normies don't all watch the same shows. (And the idea of normies is a mirage anyway.)

There are whole facebook groups and social circles around indie original m/m novels these days. There are tastemaker super fans who seem to mostly engage in that sphere, and people who hang out in those spaces have all read the big names... big names absolutely nobody outside of the m/m world has heard of.

Go look up the website for GRL, the industry conference, and see how many of the attending authors you've heard of. Probably five of sixty or something unless you follow m/m very closely.

Last time I bothered with After Ellen, they were breathlessly following that Spanish historical soap's f/f subplot. Who else outside of Spain even heard of that show?

I get not wanting to be 100% alone forever, but there is no such thing as universally popular media. We make little pods of taste, some of which amount to full on subcultures.

Those taste groups form when we take a stand for our particular Thing, whatever it is. It requires a tiny bit of proactiveness, but honestly, not that much. People who are already un-normie enough to spend their time on AO3 and Tumblr instead of Instagram or whatever are already making choices about what kinds of tastes to prioritize and what circles to join.

We could make a minimal effort for our favorite types of content and build indie versions into small but viable industries.

Or we could be lazy, spineless cowards.

[iridescentis]

RTC ASK GAME!!

30

23

20

8

1

You don’t have to answer !!

THANK YOU ofc I'll answer!!

30. Overall favourite part of RTC and/or the fandom?

Favourite part of RTC is HARD, the characters absolutely have my heart and the worldbuilding around Uranium is so important to me but I can't pick a favourite element!! Fandom wise, I adore my lovely little circle of RTC people, everyone is so lovely and super talented and it just makes me so happy!! This fandom is so comfy and creative and everyone is the sweetest <333

23. What would your catchphrase be and/or what 'The ___ in Town' would you be called?

Catchphrase: if it was short like Constance's, "Well...." with a proper elongated vowel sound is very me I say that all the time, if it was something longer it might be something with a similar vibe to Ricky's? I'd have to think about it and write one

The other thing: At first when I wrote the questions mine was The Loneliest Boy in Town, which could still work but I don't think that really fits me anymore? Ricky already stole imaginative so I can't use that! I'm not really sure how people perceive me lmao

20. Favourite RTC fanfic/fic author/fic recs in general?

YESSSSS!!! Okay, EASY. I'm sure plenty of people already know and love Sierra (Seddiefan11)'s fics BUT I'LL STILL PROMOTE EM ALL ABSOLUTELY LOVE <3333 URL I Need is literally the cutest, most precious nischa fluff ever it makes my day every single update 🥰

One of my favourite fics, Let the Light In by the wonderful vsapphire, it is so beautifully written and I ADORE it, literally some of my favourite writing ever and the plotline is deliciously angsty and full of nischa goodness, IT IS PERFECT 💖

I ALSO HAVE TO PROMOTE MY AMAZING FRIEND MADDIE (Moodles171) AND ALL OF HER STUFF GO READ!!! NOW!!! I cannot promote her multichap Born Yesterday enough it is absolutely incredible so far YOU MUST GO READ!! this is me hypnotising you you wanna read maddie's fics soooooo bad GO READ IT

is that sappho you're reading? by jup1ter_moon, absolutely lovely perfectdolls slowburn it has my whole heart the backstory is SO GOOD and I cannot recommend it enough <333

Uranium, Uranium by Cr0w_Qui11, also absolutely wonderful worldbuilding and is fully getting me on board with CDPlayer, it's a PERFECT combination of Legoland and RTC

THERE ARE PROBABLY MORE BUT THESE I LOVE <333

8. Favourite cut character?

Ooo, I'm not sure! I don't really know much about them tbh, if anyone who loves them and knows a bunch wants to rant about them in my asks PLEASE DO!! I would say I'm most curious about Astrid though, I think she could be a fun addition to fics, if I knew more I'd definitely try writing with her

1. Favourite production?

Trinity Theatre has been my favourite for a while, it's definitely still up there but I think Majestic Rep might be my favourite now?? It is SO GOOD, the characterisation is so perfect and detailed and the dynamics between characters is different but in THE BEST WAY. Oh and of course our lord and saviour the people's Mischa, Ray Winters, INSTANTLY my favourite Mischa ever

THIS IS SO LONG HELP, thanks for all the questions!!

[up-in-space-reading]

Average Weekly Screentime - Chap 8: The Best Non-Detective Detective

pairing: Jake Peralta x Amy Santiago

word count: 412

warnings/tags: college au, texting, drunk texting, text fic (mostly, there's prose a few chaps in), bets, bisexual!jake peralta, jake peralta has adhd, parties, drinking and alcohol, sexual references, implied sexual content (nothing explicit, just suggested its going to happen/has happened), friends to lovers, swearing, mentions of cannibalism, lighthearted threats of violence (typical rosa stuff yk), fluff

read on ao3

Average Weekly Screentime masterlist

Story Summary: texting fic college AU with the squad! It's the beginning of the school year and while everyone else thinks it'll be the same as the previous year, Gina has a feeling things are going to be different and wagers a bet with Rosa and Charles. Told through all the various group chats everyone is in.

Chap 1 | Chap 2 | Chap 3 | Chap 4 | Chap 5 | Chap 6 | Chap 7 | Chap 8 | Chap 9 | Chap 10

authors note: accompanying chapter to the previous one to hold you over until i finish the next chapter!!

Jimmy Jabbers

[05:24pm, Thursday]

Queen G: i need movie recs now pls

RoRo: robocop

Mr Grapes: Bullets Over Broadway

Queen G: seriously??? Queen G: THOSE are my options

Mr Grapes: You asked

-

Dance Squad

[05:43pm, Thursday]

G-Hive: is anyone else hearing the deafening silence from jake and amy

Charlese: Jake told me he wasn’t feeling well tonight

Scary: you know damn well amy is probably nose first in a book

G-Hive: something is off about it G-Hive: im gonna investigate

-

DDC

[05:45pm, Thursday]

G: charles said u werent feeling well G: u ok?

-

[06:28pm, Thursday]

G: r u dead??

-

Dance Squad

[06:33pm, Thursday]

G-Hive: jake hasnt responded to me

Scary: he’s probably asleep then

G-Hive: i dont buy it

Charlese: Do you want me to message Amy?

G-Hive: about what charles? G-Hive: leave this to me

-

Girls, Girls, Girls

[06:39pm, Thursday]

Gina: @Amy did u want the lipstick u wore on nye? Gina: i dont wear it anymore but i dont wanna throw it out yk

-

Dance Squad

[07:14pm, Thursday]

G-Hive: amy has not responded to me

Scary: i’ll admit that’s weird

Charlese: Usually one of them will respond

Scary: gotta ask gina, do you have nothing better to do?

G-Hive: all my dates are on the weekend G-Hive: im also waiting for my tan to set

Scary: fair enough

Charlese: Do you have a date with Sam?

G-Hive: yeessss G-Hive: me and his fine ass going to some fancy place G-Hive: and yes he WILL be paying

Charlese: I assume Sasha doesn’t know??

G-Hive: pls charles im not an idiot G-Hive: ill be posting an insta story while im out

Charlese: Oh that’s perfect

Scary: you two lead lives that i just can’t relate to

Charlese: You don’t go on dates?

Scary: i go on dates Scary: only if they end in sex

G-Hive: seriously??

Scary: so many lesbians on this campus

G-Hive: why did i not know about this

Scary: keeping secrets from you is fun

G-Hive: the way im being treated tonight I stg

-

DDC

[08:02pm, Thursday]

Jacob: hey g Jacob: sorry i didnt text sooner Jacob: was asleep but feeling better

G: thats cool G: as long as ur not dead G: ur mom would kill me

Jacob: lol

-

Dance Squad

[08:04pm, Thursday]

G-Hive: what were the lyrics to the wizards of waverly place theme song again

Charlese: “Everything is not what it seems”?

G-Hive: exactly right charles G-Hive: exactly

Chap 1 | Chap 2 | Chap 3 | Chap 4 | Chap 5 | Chap 6 | Chap 7 | Chap 8 | Chap 9 | Chap 10

authors note: I've already said it like twenty times but I'll say it again - thank you for reading, leaving kudos, and commenting, i see you all and i love you all <3

I'm going to guess there will only be one more chapter left of this story BUT i promise i'll make it a hefty one!

[moonflower-rose]

I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, I’m just wondering. I noticed that you only seem to rec your friends. Also you ignore some of the fics from fests that you participate in when it’s courtesy to read and comment on everything.

This one has been sitting around for ages, possibly since last years Erised. I don’t normally feel the need to justify any of my decisions as a fan, I don’t feel I NEED to this time either but it is actually something I’ve seen pop up over many years and I’ve decided to answer it this one time only. I’ll probably ignore or delete any other asks on the same topic.

So, everyone participating in a fest reading and commenting on everyone else’s work seems like the ideal, right? In reality, some people want to write about things that you as a participant absolutely cannot handle - for me that’s usually MCD, terminal illness, infidelity, domestic violence, severe depression, and lots of other things. That’s what the tags and warnings are for, of course, and I’m using them appropriately. Have I read and enjoyed stories with any/all of those themes before? Yep. That doesn’t change that generally these themes affect me negatively so generally I avoid them. If and when I feel like I can handle them, I might try them out. Only I can know when I might be ready to do that. It might not be during the course of Wireless or Suds or whatever the fest I’m part of is. That doesn’t mean others shouldn’t write that content. It doesn’t mean I should harden up and just read it for the sake of etiquette.

Sometimes I simply cannot handle the size of the fic. I don’t feel the need to describe my whole life, but I work full time, I have family commitments, I need to do regular life things like washing and shopping and cooking and the dishes. Fics under probably 20K feel more manageable, I can read that on my lunch break or maybe before work, but more likely before bed. Longer stuff requires more time (obviously) and I’m not good at putting something down when I start it and pulling an all nighter mid-week is way harder when you’re 40.

Some of my closest fandom friends have big and popular fics that I haven’t got around to reading yet. Some of them have short ones that are heavy on topics that I can’t cope with right now. Not to put words in your mouth, but its unfair to assume the reason for my lack of attention is that I don’t care about them or I’m not appropriately prioritising my fandom time. I’ll get there eventually, or maybe I won’t. My friendships are hopefully strong enough to endure me not reading their stuff and them not reading mine. My friendships are not based on what those people can create for me or how they can promote my work.

As far as reccing goes, I’m a very inconsistent reccer. My goal for 2022 was to do more reccing and I did none. None recs with left beef. I’m not generally trawling for fic (the way I did as a 22 year old approximately one thousand years ago) and so I mainly see fic from authors I have already encountered and loved, via AO3 user subscriptions. My next gateway is via recs from friends (the magnificent @sitp-recs for example). I’ve been very lucky to have had people I deeply admire and enjoy become off-stage pals, but I’m not reccing them on a friendship basis. If I had to guess I would say my most consistent recs are of authors who I have had lovely, delightful interactions with but who I don’t have established friendships with. No stats but I reckon @lqtraintracks @writcraft and @letteredlettered would be people who pretty much always write things that make me lose my fuckin mind but we’re not part of a DM frenzy that involves graphic discussion of our latest health dramas, what we ate for dinner, what shenanigans our pets and siblings have got up to (that’s @shiftylinguini whether she likes it or not). I rec the BABY CHEESES out of them despite this.

What it boils down to is that I will engage the way I feel comfortable engaging, when I feel like it. I definitely have people I avoid (generally those who express terfy sentiments) and people I’m dragged towards like a magnet. It is what it is. I’m sorry if you have been a person who I haven’t engaged with and if you feel badly about that. It’s probably for benign reasons (see above), unless it’s because of one of the bad reasons.

[stickthisbig]

I don't enjoy bingewatching fiction, but sometimes I go on a tear and watch like six docuseries in one week. Here are some recommendations and non-recs for things I watched in the last two weeks! I've included trigger warnings under the cut but kept that kind of thing non-explicit.

Highly recommended:

The Billionaire, the Butler, and the Boyfriend (L'Affaire Bettencourt: Scandale chez la femme la plus riche du monde) (Netflix)

The English title of this French-language documentary about Liliane Bettencourt is godawful (he wasn't even her boyfriend???), but it was riveting. I LOVED how they let the story unfold and the totally unexpected places it went. Highly recommended if you're interested in modern French culture.

PSA for English speakers: What I need you to do is turn the audio track to French and the subtitles to English (NOT British English [CC]). The documentary's dubbing is incredibly distracting and poorly translated, and the British English [CC] subtitles are the subtitles for the English, not a translation of the French. They aren't the same, and the English sub track is a much better (though deeply imperfect) translation.

Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story (Netflix) (TW pedophilia, sexual assault)

By far the weakest thing about this documentary is that it's two episodes and not three. The pacing has some serious issues, and a lot of really interesting stuff from the end of the story gets packed into ten minutes.

BUT. I did think it was excellently made. It lets the story breathe and builds the horror of the fact that he told everyone what he was doing gradually. Really scary stuff.

Fine

Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe (Amazon Prime) (TW homophobia, transphobia, coercion)

It's very much a "Damn, you see that shit? That was crazy" documentary without a huge amount of deep analysis. I don't really have any substantive complaints about this documentary and I cried a little at the end. It just wasn't the best one I watched this week.

Iffy

Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey (Netflix) (TW pedophilia, sexual assault, forced marriage, incest)

Keep Sweet is a good documentary that's well-made; it chooses its subjects well, and though they're all out of the cult, they have different opinions about what happened and different roles in what went down.

However, if you're the kind of person who'd watch this four hour documentary series, you probably already know a little about FLDS. If you already know about FLDS, you will know that Rachel Jeffs is one of the faces of anti-FLDS. She's not in this documentary, and I don't understand why. Not to get too in the weeds of what Warren Jeffs actually did, but Rachel made a series of accusations in her book about FLDS that go far beyond what he was tried for, and which to my knowledge haven't been challenged by other survivors. The story falls flat without those accusations, because you miss a crucial component in his characterization (which again I will not discuss here, because it's fuckin gross). The story never addresses her, her book, or those allegations. It feels like internecine BS. If you haven't read Breaking Free, you'll probably like this documentary more than someone who has.

Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist (Netflix) (TW murder, non-graphic mentions of sexual violence, mental illness)

So this is a well paced and obviously very well researched documentary, though there are a couple of connections I wish they'd made. This documentarian also feels uniquely equipped to tell this story due to the length of his association with the subject (and tbh, that would have been the better film).

However. The fact that the subject has bipolar disorder is central to the film. While I would say that the filmmaker ultimately doesn't make directly ableist statements about the subject, the whole nature of the film's treatment of mental illness is underpinned by an ableist worldview. The filmmaker expresses repeated surprise that the subject was so intelligent and so good in school but also has bipolar disorder, and like... my man the research into a potential correlation is inconclusive but bipolar disorder has been anecdotally been linked to high intelligence since before bipolar was a thing. People thinking mentally ill people are much more clever than they actually are just because they're erratic is fully its own trope.

This is finally addressed head on in the last episode where a judge basically says "cool mental illness, still murder" during a sentencing, but the filmmaker fails to engage with that in any meaningful way. It fully feels like if you told this man he should have had a real bipolar person do a sensitivity read of his script, he would be STUNNED that that was a possibility. There's an attempt to connect the unknowable crime with the unknowable psyche and like. I'm pretty sure you could have got a lot closer to knowing if you'd just asked somebody. (Like me, maybe. My rates are reasonable.)

Anyway I did finish it despite all that, because it was pretty good. I feel like this film also got screwed by Netflix's marketing team wrt its title and branding? Because like... that's not what it's about and it prejudices the viewer pretty badly? If you put someone in the thumbnail then set up multiple parties in a "which one lied", not so great.

Skip it

Escaping Twin Flames Universe (Netflix)

Yes, this is a different documentary than Amazon Prime. They use different informants, and I think they must have been made by different creative teams. I got maybe ten minutes into the Netflix one, which is an incredibly overproduced, schlocky mess. Just tell me about the cult.

[isalabells]

Die drei ??? books you would recommend reading?

In general? Pick up the books for every episode you love or find intriguing for whatever reason, esp if some (or all) of these were released until 2008ish, when they were still trying to stick to the 60 minutes mark. You'll be surprised to discover how many things got cut or moved around for the sake of the adaptation(like e.g., not to rec a BJHW book, but Späte Rache is soooo interesting, bc they completely omitted Peter's pov in the adaptation while in the novel, there are entire chapters told by him. He fucking adapts a dog in that one.)

My specific recs? This is so funny bc I haven't picked up a ddf book in so long BUT I recently started listening to one of these fan podcasts (me, 5 weeks ago: who tf listens to episode discussions that run 2,5 to 3 hours on average?!?? me now, knee-deep into catching up on 3 years worth of pod episodes, having already relistened to my fav ones several times:🤡🤡🤡), and they usually draw a comparison to the books, and it really made me want to start (re)reading again, so who knows. Just off the of my head and in no particular order

Toteninsel bc I'll always answer Toteninsel, no matter what anyone asks me. It's that good, and I actually reread it every other year or so, and sometimes I even log on to tumblrdotcom and have a meltdown over it (actually that one contains even more reasons why this is a rec). The best trilogy of the series, fight me. Extra fun if you're looking for more Bob/Jelena (I know most of you don't). But also gives you a better sense of how Marx tried to structure the narrative, putting each of our three little dudes into the spotlight in one of the three parts (that, understandably, gets lost in the adaptation).

Feuermond bc it's the series' second best trilogy, and it's even more charming in written form. The epistolary parts, which admittedly do drag in the adapation, just fly a lot better here. It gets even more apparent that Mary invented the entire second act because he had pages to fill, but it's such a delightful read that it doesn't matter at all. Must-read for the crazy sports stuff Peter pulls near the end when they're trying to get to Knox Island.

Karpatenhund bc anything written by my girl Mary Virginia is Worth It, but also iirc that story has some freaky shit in it for children's lit. Astral body, anyone??

und der verschwundene Filmstar bc it's the best take on (Old) Hollywood and the craziness of The Industry and everyone involved with it.

Pistenteufel bc I just checked my goodreads review and OH LORD. Worth it for whatever fucking homoerotic thing is going on between Bob and Toni the entire time.

Meuterei auf hoher See bc heterotopian setting x crime mystery is a perfect combo, always.

Rufmord bc stylistically (and probably storywise as well), this is Minninger's best work.

Gift per E-Mail, that is if you like Kelly, bc she has a more prominent role in that one which I, Kelly stan #1, enjoyed immensely.

Shoot the Works, preferably the OV (hmu in case you need it, I think I still have the pdf somewhere) bc I love it even more than all the other crimebusters (and I LOVE the other crimebusters), and also I need us all to team up and pressure Europa to finally adapt this episode. I've been desperate for a release for years. (omg but yes PLEASE read Shoot the Works I BEG)

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

✨If you get this, someone thinks you are awesome!✨

✨Send this anon to 10 blogs that make you happy when you see them on your dash ✨

Hi anon, anon, anon, anon, anon, and anon. I hope you'll forgive me that I'm just gonna answer this once - but with a li'l twist!

I love that people took time out of their lives to tell me they think I'm awesome; I think they're all awesome, too! Now instead of answering this six times and then sending this on to 10 people anonymously... I'm gonna call out the people I was gonna send this to publicly! With a little bonus...

#1

It has to be @geralts-yenn! I couldn't call myself her rodent bestie if I didn't have this number 1 spot reserved for her. Now, first this bitch wonderful person writes me Ray of Sunshine, a modern-day Melot AU wet dream filled with bikers and beaches and sex, but she also hit us with anahita - a Napoleon smutfic so hot you'll be sweating like a whore in church before you're even through the first paragraph. Go read that. You're welcome.

#2

Next, we've got my co-Dutchie @keanureevesisbae, who is busy with her own projects instead of fanfics nowadays. Still: Go read endeavors and thank me later. Or, if you're into a little RPF and want to live life vicariously through sugarbaby Becky there's also sugar sugar, which is very nice as well... (I just want a man to come take me shopping, okay?)

#3

@deandoesthingstome is an amazing writer, I am often jealous of her way with words, and she is one of the kindest people I know on here. Go read Holiday Angel. It has everything. A luxurious mansion to mentally vacay in for a bit, gentle!Dom!August, forbidden fruit romance. It's a long one, but so, so worth it... Another good one? Why, of course! Hall Pass. Just read it. She also deserves a shoutout to being one of the most supportive readers in this entire fandom

#4

They haven't been on here long, but my tumblrverse would already be so incomplete without @ellethespaceunicorn! Not only did they write Treat Me Like A Slut, which has August just the way we like him; dominant and deep inside you, they also found it necessary to write Make That Kitty Purr. And I agree. It was necessary. Nevermind that my babyboy Mikey gets hurt, I'll forgive Elle for that because this shit was so fucking good.

#5

Next up we've got @peyton-warren, who only recently returned from a little Tumblr hiatus, and I thus haven't spoken that much just yet, but the drabble Arresting and Arrested should be enough to get you to take a look at the rest of her masterlist.

#6

Go check out @mayloma, creator of Behind The Curtain, which has a lovely August and some anal action - which means I'm always game! She's also very sweet. I know I haven't read much of her stuff, but if I ever get my act together and get reading again, Yenn assured me there's some Sy to check out here.

#7

It's no secret I don't particularly like my Sy's in the military, which makes it all the more impressive that @sillyrabbit81 wrote one that I did fall head over heels in love with! He's in Even if you don't mean it, and if you haven't read that, go do it now. And I do mean that. Then, perhaps my all-time favorite fic so far has to be The Fallen Wolves Brotherhood. Maybe I should elaborate on that, probably, but instead I'm just gonna say: Bikers. Proceed with caution, because when that next chapter hits, you're gonna have to pause Criminal Minds. I'm also going to leave the link to Prying here, because it's so fucking dirty it melts my brain a little every time I re-read it.

#8

Now, we all love seeing @angryschnauzer on our dashes, keeping things horny on main and yeeting the occasional fic into the dark void that is this hellsite. For instance Cuddles and Snuggles, an unholy combination of Mike and Charles - something that had never even crossed my mind - and a guest appearance from sugardaddy August. Mad perfection. Now my next rec for her may be a little odd, because she makes it very clear that it's a crack fic; Full Mast. I'm a sucker for everything pirate - and so is reader... just check out Part 2...

#9

@poledancingdinos amazed me with You've got me hooked, which has stripping and sex work and Sy, who is great. I think I read this entire (or almost entire?) series in a single night while I was in bed. Couldn't stop... She's also responsible for Soundtrack of Debauchery, which I still haven't finished, because my ADHD has been a bitch, but I started it, and it was very good!!!

#10

And last but not least: @littlefreya. I'm fairly sure there are still things on her massive masterlist I haven't read, and a lot of which I read in my pre- and early fandom tumblr days, and haven't reblogged (for which I apologize, by the way). The sheer vastness of her masterlist makes it a bit tricky to pick, but let's go for some delightful dark fics; The Devil's Tongue and Destroyer of Angels

SO: The challenge. If you're on this list (or if you're not on this list, this is an open invitation to everyone!) rec some fics! Write an essay, like this one, or don't. Toss a few names and some titles in a list and be done with it, that's fine. Recommend one, or ten, or twenty authors. Hell; Recommend yourself! Recommend your favorite artist, link some art! Spread the love!

[twinkubus]

I would love some book recs! especially queer literary fiction!

Amazing!! I would love to share :) Also responding @ anon who asked for my trans book recs. This is for you too!

Since this is so long it'll probably get cut off on the dashboard, tl;dr there will be 1) list of trans-authored books and 2) a list where I talk about queer authors more generally (which includes some trans people that don't have trans characters in their books (yet)).

Trans Books by Trans Authors

Sketchtasy by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

Nevada by Imogen Binnie 

The Pervert by Remy Boydell (graphic novel)

X by Davey Davis

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

Transmuted by Eve Harms

Future Feeling by Joss Lake 

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor 

Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel by Julian K Jarboe

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones by Torrey Peters

The Masker by Torrey Peters

Little Blue Encyclopedia (For Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante

A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett

A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett

Little Fish by Casey Plett

Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom

The Black Emerald by Jeanne Thornton

Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton 

Small Beauty by jia qing wilson-yang

The above are all trans-authored books that have trans characters in them. They are mostly lit fic with a few dips into genre here and there. I have bolded some of my faves!

For queer book recs/authors more generally,

Poppy Z. Brite, the pen name of Billy Martin, who is gay and trans. He has some great 90s horror novels, in particular Exquisite Corpse, a gay serial killer thriller/romance.

Dennis Cooper, writes gay "extremist" fiction, my fave of which is The Sluts, which takes place entirely on an early 2000s gay escort forum.

Shola Von Reinhold, another trans author, wrote one of my fave books I've read this year, LOTE, which is textually extremely transgender, but I don't think explicitly "labels" the mc as trans, so I'm putting it in this list. I usually use 'dark academia' as a pejorative but this would be dark academia in the best sense of the word. Involves lots of research into weird stuff, hyperfixations, and very little academia.

Brontez Purnell writes lit fic about black gay men, and has another one of my fave books, Since I Laid My Burden Down, as well as probably the best title in this list: Johnny Would You Love Me If My Dick Were Bigger. Those were both smallish press releases, I believe, but he's gotten more attention recently via his FSG short story anthology, 100 Boyfriends.

Sarah Schulman. If you are on Tumblr hopefully you already know about her. If you haven't read any of her fiction, I'd recommend Rat Bohemia, Empathy, and People In Trouble (this is the book Rent was based off of).

Brandon Taylor is very popular on twitter but I feel like I haven't seen much about him on tumblr. I really liked his debut novel Real Life, which follows a gay black postgrad student in a midwestern PhD program full of mostly white people. He also has an anthology, Filthy Animals, full of linked stories that take place in a similar setting.

James Baldwin. Another classic author. If you haven't read Giovanni's Room, go read it.

Carmen Maria Machado has a stunning memoir, In The Dream House, about lesbian domestic violence. She also writes speculative fiction stories, some can be found in the collection Her Body and Other Parties.

Eric LaRocca is gay horror's current darling due to his breakout hit Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, about an online long-distance lesbian d/s relationship. He's been pumping out the books recently, all with great titles and covers.

Jean Kyoung Fraiser released a debut last year that was in my top faves as well, Pizza Girl, a coming-of-age story about a just-married and recently pregnant 18 year-old who works (you guessed it) as a pizza delivery girl, and develops a crush on an older woman, one of her customers.

Venita Blackburn wrote How to Wrestle a Girl, a black lesbian coming-of-age short story anthology. Also a recent release. I really loved the writing in this one.

...Okay, I think that's most of the big hitters for me at least! Going to give a few honorary mentions: Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park, translated from Korean, about the life of a young gay man in Seoul. Also anything by Joe Koch, who writes horror, nothing specifically gay/trans that I have read yet, but The Wingspan of Severed Hands is really beautiful stylistically.

And just one more, since it's October: The Route of Ice and Salt by Jose Luis Zarate, published in the 90s and translated from Spanish, a gay reimagining of Dracula's sea voyage to England.

[earlgraytay]

OK, so I knew the spirit mediums in Ace Attorney had to be based on something, and smarter people have probably already talked about this at much greater length and with much better sources than just one wikipedia article... but I stumbled over this while reading about Earthbound, and this looks like the spirit medium tradition that Ace Attorney's mediums are based on.

Apparently, the itako ~spiritual tradition~ was pretty much explicitly created to give young blind girls a safe place in the world so they wouldn't be entirely dependent on their families. they were traditionally Married To A Deity and went around doing Shaman/Shrine Maiden Stuff. sometimes their communities would finance their training; sometimes they'd just get adopted by an older mentor. either way it has a lot of the elements the games mention, especially the beaded necklaces (traditional itako necklaces also have bones on them!) and the training that heavily involves cold water and fasting/avoidance of artificial heat/general deprivation.

itako were kind of looked down upon, especially after Westernization, because ~superstition~ and preying on grieving families. in some places itako occupied the same social strata as prostitutes and were one step above the "untouchable" burukamin. in other places they had some respect, but it definitely wasn't an Honoured Traditional Spiritual Practice the way the localization occasionally implies. the tradition's dying out because ... y'know, blind kids can just get an education the way anyone else can, and in the modern world most people know mediums are a scam. there's like 40 itako left total, they're all old ladies, and they mostly just perform for tourists these days.

honestly this cultural context adds an interesting layer of texture to how the spirit mediums get perceived by society at large that I wish the games got across better.

the weird place in Japanifornian society that "spirit mediums" occupy, where everyone knows they're Legit but no one really likes them, makes a lot more sense knowing the cultural context. being an itako was illegal at one point. Even if they were 100% legit, everyone know they were 100% legit, and no one had a problem proving their legitimacy? they're (traditionally) disabled young women in an extremely sexist and ableist culture, and most of their co-religionists are messed up to hell and back. no fucking wonder.

Now I really want to see a take on the Fey clan where they're all blind, and the inevitable "justice is blind" jokes we'd get from Mia. It'd change some major case-plot points, but... Yeah. If anyone has itako!Fey Clan fic recs, I'd love to see those, too.

[mumms-the-word]

THINGS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT MY FELLOW WRITERS

I can’t remember who tagged me with this or if I stole it 😭

Tagging: @elspethdekarios @sorceresssundries @fantasyfictionfables @lewdisescariot and anyone else??

No pressure friends as always and sorry for double tagging, this has sat in drafts for like days

Last book I read: For fun? I honestly can't remember. For my dissertation, Phantasmion by Sara Coleridge (and I haven't recovered, it was an acid trip of a fantasy novel)

Greatest literary inspirations: Bram Stoker (fave classic writer), Marissa Meyer (influenced my love of YA fairy tales), Ursula K. Le Guin (her style is SO GOOD)

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write: I skim/read a lot of smut for someone who will never write it. I don't even read it that much, but occasionally something catches my eye (I appreciate you smutty, smutty people). What I'd want to read but not write is slice-of-life style shenanigans between characters, the kind that comic artists like @a2zillustration do really well. Send me recs if you know other BG3 comic artists!

Things in my current fandoms I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me: my current masquerade fic I love writing stuff that is incredibly specific to my Tavs because I find it fascinating to explore different character perspectives and voices? But I know the fandom tends to enjoy generalized Tavs or "you" POVs more than specific OC characters, which is fair given the nature of the game, so I don't share as much of my Tav-specific stuff these days

You can recognise my writing by: the lack of smut...and probably an overuse of adverbs. and the fact that every chapter/oneshot is ridiculously long. I'm new to fanfic, okay, I wrote full books as a hobby before this lol

My most controversial take (current fandom): oh boy I have...many, probably...I've already gotten blocked for one hot take (I think it was a misunderstanding??) but it wasn't even my most controversial take. I think my most controversial take is that there is no One Correct Way to interpret a character, and anyone who tells you that "you're reading the game files wrong" or "that isn't what is canon" is ignoring the fact that a) that's not how interpretation works, and b) the branching nature of the game is going to necessarily mean that different people encounter different things in different orders and may not even get the dialogue that you hold so dear to your interpretation of the character, and that is okay. We shouldn't ask everyone to become an expert in every facet of their favorite character's identity because not everybody has the time or energy for that. We should just hope that people are having fun. Like I know this is a complex topic and I don't want to ramble about it here lol but that's the gist

Top three favourite tropes: in no particular order, 1) arranged/convenient marriage that leads to genuine love between characters, 2) super big tall buff scary guy (tortured past optional) is actually a total sweetheart who is a little afraid of his own strength (bonus points if he falls in love with a smol person he must protect and feels slightly unworthy of), and 3) FOUND FAMILY I love it every time

What’s your current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut): fic writing I'm like....idk a 6? dissertation writing, which I am actually supposed to be writing, is a solid 1.

Share a random frustration: my students keep insisting on using AI to write their assignments and it is BEYOND frustrating how much time it takes up for me to read their assignment, mark where they've used AI, and then forward it to the next tier in our "Guess what you done fucked up" system for this class