#I'll keep on with the ghost illustration series

[polariscroquis]

Finally getting to work on Sam's sketch 🖤

I liked it like this and want to keep it as final T-T

Except for that mess of lines above lines in that hand

[lemon0chi]

Night sketches №6 Ghost King!Danny Phantom

Not that I'm a big fan of Danny Phantom in general, especially if we're talking about an animated series. But... I'm in love with the idea, the concept. The boy, who kinda died in the tragic incident and became ghost, has to keep secret from his parents, because they are freaking ghost hunters. I like it, it is intriguing me. After I found some sketches illustrating Danny as the ghost king, I really wanted to draw my own design, my version of how I see Danny as the king. In my opinion, the result is not ideal. I just gathered a bunch of different ideas in my head and drew it. Maybe I'll redraw the design someday, but for now, let it be.

I finished it at 3 a.m... There's definitely something wrong with the shoulders and head... But I want to sleep too much, so be it. I don't have the strength to redraw them.

[tiredandoptimistic]

TSC Fandom Survey Results

The time has finally come for me to share my data! For those unaware, I've spent the past week running a survey in which people ranked TSC books, characters, and ships. In the end, 50 people filled out my survey, which is way more than I expected! About 23% of the people who looked at the survey filled it out, and everyone who started finished it.

First off I'll post the simple rankings from each category, and below the cut I'll show the more complex results with explanations for why people voted the way they did.

Best series: 1. The Infernal Devices 2. The Mortal Instruments 3. The Dark Artifices 4. The Last Hours 5. The Eldest Curses 6. The Wicked Powers 7. The Secret Treasons

Best main girl: 1. Tessa Gray 2. Clary Fairchild 3. Emma Carstairs 4. Cordelia Carstairs 5. Dru Blackthorn

Best main couple: 1. Will/Tessa/Jem 2. Will/Tessa 3. Clary/Jace 4. Jem/Tessa 5. Julian/Emma 6. James/Cordelia 7. Dru/Ash

Best side couple: 1. Magnus/Alec 2. Simon/Isabelle 3. Thomas/Alastair 4. Kit/Ty 5. Kieran/Mark/Cristina 6. Charlotte/Henry 7. Sophie/Gideon 8. Gabriel/Cecily 9. Helen/Aline 10. Grace/Christopher 11. Gwyn/Diana 12. Lucie/Jesse 13. Ari/Anna

Best side character: 1. Raphael Santiago 2. Lily Chen 3. Maia Roberts 4. Ragnor Fell 5. George Lovelace 6. Catarina Loss 7. Livvy Blackthorn 8. Jessamine Lovelace 9. Luke Graymark 10. Jocelyn Fairchild 11. Maryse Lightwood 12. Eugenia Lightwood 13. Jordan Kyle 14. Robert Lightwood 15. Jaime Rosales 16. Michael Wayland 17. Amatis Graymark 18. Camille Belcourt 19. Nate Gray 20. Charles Fairchild

Best younger sibling/child: 1. Max Lightwood-Bane 2. Rafael Lightwood-Bane 3. Mina Carstairs 4. Max Lightwood 5. Tavvy Blackthorn 6. Alex Lightwood 7. Zachary Carstairs

Best villain: 1. Sebastian Morgenstern 2. Valentine Morgenstern 3. Annabel Blackthorn 4. Malcolm Fade 5. Axel Mortmain 6. Asmodeus 7. Shinyun Jung 8. Benedict Lightwood 9. Tatiana Blackthorn 10. Belial

Best side book: 1. Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy 2. Ghosts of the Shadow Market 3. The Bane Chronicles 4. Secrets of Blackthorn Hall 5. An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of Downworld 6. The Shadowhunter's Codex 7. Better in Black 8. A Sea Change

Huzzah! Putting this all together has been so much fun for me, and I want to quickly thank everybody who participated! I also want to remind everyone that this was just for fun, and no reason to get mad at anybody. We're obviously never gonna agree on everything, we just need to respect each other's opinions.

If you want to know the nitty gritty of how every character was ranked, how the different series measured up against each other across categories, and why people like or dislike various books and characters, then keep reading below the cut! I made a spreadsheet, please come gaze upon my beautiful spreadsheet.

Here we go, time for the real shit!

Be warned, you will probably read mean things about characters you love and nice things about characters you hate. Angry rants about how you can't believe anyone would think that way belong in DMs to your friends, not the notes of my post. I do welcome discussion, just nothing that's targeted at other people. Also, I will be doing my best to explain people's opinions, that doesn't mean that I agree with them. I'm just trying to document. If I'm sharing my genuine personal opinion on anything, I'll make that clear.

You'll be seeing screenshots from my big spreadsheet throughout this thing. Here's your key: Columns represent characters/ships/series, rows represent a ranking. Each cell shows how many people assigned that rank to that character (for example, the intersection of 3 and Sizzy will be the number of people who voted Sizzy as their second favorite side ship). At the bottom there will be the average rank this character received, which was calculated by the program I used for the survey. I have all the columns color coordinated by which series each character/ship belongs to, and each column will have one box outlined which shows the rank that character received most often (as in, the intersection of Sizzy and 3 is outlined because Sizzy got more #3 votes than #1 #2 #4 or #5). Some columns have multiple boxes outlined, in the case of ties.

Make sense?

Alright, let's go!

First off, it's everyone's favorite series. As you can see, TID was significantly ahead of all the others. TMI and TDA were neck and neck, frequently switching back and forth for that #2 spot. TLH was a bit lower than the other three, and TEC, TWP, and TST all ranked dramatically lower.

To explain why they liked TID, people talked about finding the series nostalgic, enjoying how the characters are woven into the plot, the historical setting, and how it expands the worldbuilding of TSC while still working as a contained story. People also mentioned enjoying specific characters like Will, Jessamine, and Gabriel. By far the most common comment though was just that people love Herongraystairs. The only negative comments came from people who said that they didn't find the concept interesting, and were disappointed by the lack of their favorite modern characters.

Talking about TMI, the most common positive comments were that the series was fun, nostalgic, and had the best cast of characters (specifically Alec, Magnus, and Simon). People also enjoy the modern setting, the interpersonal relationships (especially Malec), and how the world is seen to develop from where it was in the historical era. TMI has the fewest haters, but some people said that they just didn't find it as captivating as later series, or that they were put off by the incest plotline. I also received the criticism that the characters are annoying, and that the story could have been compressed into fewer books.

For TDA, a lot of people mentioned finding the characters relatable, enjoying the plot, and liking the Blackthorn family dynamic. The characters and ships who got specific shout-outs were Blackstairs, Kierarktina, and Mark. People also like the modern setting, found it to be emotional, and think that it effectively juggles a large cast of characters. Plus, people appreciate getting autistic representation from Ty. It has a solid number of detractors too, who say that they don't like Blackstairs (especially Julian), Thule, the Cohort, or the focus on Faerie politics. They also say that it has too many plotlines, takes itself too seriously, and that the last book (Queen of Air and Darkness) made them drop the series.

While TLH was ranked last of the main series, I'd like to point out that it has the same number of #1 votes as TDA, signaling that it has a similar number of intense fans. The difference really comes in with the lack of #2 or #3 votes, showing that people don't tend to be casual fans of the series. By far the most popular thing brought up by TLH enjoyers is the characters, and how they build an interconnected web with lots of fun dynamics (including developed family dynamics). People also like the number of queer and POC characters, the cozy vibe, the historical setting, the drama, and the ships (especially Herondaisy). The most common critiques all come back to the plot; that the main story is weak or even incoherent, and the series is stretched too thin across a number of side plots. People also dislike the lack of communication, and think that the characters don't feel like friends. Another complaint is that the world doesn't feel like a natural extension of TID, especially because the characters are so invested in mundane social structures like balls and reputations.

TEC is our first truly controversial series, and the main divide seems to be between people who think it's unnecessary fan service, and fans who feel serviced. The reasons I was given to like the series are the additional page time for Malec and the TMI gang, and that it fleshed out the TMI timeline. On the negative side, people say that it feels like a cash grab and that LBOTW didn't live up to the expectations set by RSOM. Overall though, the biggest reason that people ranked it so low was just that they hadn't read it.

Here's where we get into the series that were doomed to fail in the rankings because none of us have even read them. While TWP has a solid number of prospective fans ranking it in their top three, most people left it at the bottom because it hasn't come out yet. The people who expect to enjoy the series are the ones who enjoyed Dru, Kit, and Ty in TDA, and the ones who expect to dislike it are the ones who didn't enjoy those three in TDA.

So, TST was probably not fair to include in this list because I got a solid number of respondents who hadn't even heard of it, but I'm convinced that if it were ever to come out it would be in my top two series overall, and I want to see what the people think. While it didn't get anybody voting it #1 based on potential like TWP did, there were still some people saying that they would be excited to read it because of Waywood, the Luke/Jocelyn/Valentine drama, and the morally gray characters. On the other hand, there's the people who just don't care about the Circle and don't want to read about them.

For main girls, Tessa, Clary, and Emma were all pretty close in the average rankings. Cordelia and Dru fell a bit behind, but also had their share of committed fans.

When talking about Tessa, people brought up her intelligence, maturity, and their nostalgia for her character. They also like that she's a book lover, has cool powers, isn't annoying, starts out messy before maturing, and is strong-willed. By far though, the most common comment was that they found her relatable. The downside to this relatability is that her detractors say she feels like an obvious reader insert, and is overshadowed by more interesting characters like Will, Jem, and Jessamine.

Clary had the most positive comments, and people love that she's funny, creative, blunt, fearless, iconic, and handles all the bullshit the world throws at her. (My personal favorite comment was the person who called her "my beautiful unhinged princess"). More than anything though, people love Clary for her development. She starts out as a relatable 15-year-old, but over the course of six TMI books and all her later appearances, she grows into a hero. She's also of course incredibly nostalgic, since most TSC fans were introduced to the world by either her or Tessa. On the downside, people say that she works better as a side character than a protagonist, and that she's overshadowed by the rest of TMI. They also think that she made bad choices throughout the series, and find her annoying.

What people love about Emma is that she's strong, funny, complex, badass, and a bit of an asshole. They like that she's allowed to have an attitude and still be treated as a cool and compelling woman by the narrative and the other characters. Plus, she comes across as having a clear voice that makes her feel like somebody they could be friends with in real life. Most of the people with specific complaints about her either didn't like TDA overall, or thought she was treated as an extension of Julian who never fulfilled her individual potential. Some people also found her badass bad bitch persona to be more exhausting than endearing.

Cordelia is probably the most controversial character in this category, with long lists of both positive and negative traits given by the fandom. On the bright side, she's fierce, badass, kind, and relatable. People also like to see a woman of color thriving in 1903 London, and how she embodies the concept of a warrior. Looking to the negative, people largely just don't find her particularly engaging. They say that she's inconsistant, flat, and had no development after Chain of Gold. They also complained about her making bad decisions and having a weak relationship with Lucie.

Everybody had the least to say about Dru, and most people said that they ranked her last just because they don't know enough about her to like her more than the established characters. What her fans do enjoy is that she's relatable, blunt, sassy, and a fat goth girl who's giving 2015 tumblr emo. The only real complaint people had was that they found her annoying in TDA, but everyone who left comments like that also acknowledged that she was 13 in TDA and will probably be more engaging once TWP gives her time in the spotlight.

Moving into the main couples, TID continues to sweep as Herongraystairs takes the top spot (and came incredibly close to taking the entirety of the top three). After that, the couples are spaced out pretty equally and follow the same pattern established by the previous two categories.

Now, Herongraystairs received arguably the most bonkers majority in this entire survey. Nearly half of respondents ranked it as their #1, and only a couple outliers put it in their bottom three. What everybody loves about this ship is the angst, how willing they were to sacrifice for each other, the raw emotions, how perfectly the three balance each other, and the ideas about fate. They also like how all three of them are compelling characters on their own, have unique relationships in pairs (Wessa, Jessa, Heronstairs), and work even better as a complete unit. Will and Jem already loved each other, but they could only fully develop once they had Tessa; creating this tragic yet beautiful cloud of possibility. People also like the polyamorous aspect, and wish that they were a canon three way relationship. More than anything else though, what was commented again and again was simply "they loved each other so much." What else can you say? Well, I can say why a couple of people dislike the ship. The only reasons I was given was that the person didn't like TID overall, and that they prefer Jem and Will with a purely platonic parabatai bond.

Moving on to Wessa, people like their banter, the crazy build up to their relationship, and how they bonded over books. They also love how gutwrenching the relationship is, especially once you get to the epilogue of Clockwork Princess. The only complaint anybody had was that they aren't Herongraystairs, and the relationship is incomplete without Jem.

People of course love Clace for the nostalgia factor and how it's the relationship that introduced them to TSC, but most importantly people like how the two of them are just so horribly down bad for each other. They're cute, fun, and have good chemistry; forming the heart of the TMI gang and of the Shadowhunters world. What people don't like is that they're basic, getting overshadowed by other couples in their own series. The upside is that they get better in their appearances that came after TMI. There are of course also the people who don't like the incest plotline and felt uncomfortable reading about that era of their relationship.

Jessa was solidly in third for most of this survey, but Clace pulled ahead of them in the last day. Though they came in behind the other TID ships, they're still beloved by the fandom. People like their dynamic and enjoy Jem as a character. The downside is that the ship makes them sad because of the tragedy of their situation, doesn't include Will, and gets overused in the modern series.

As for Blackstairs, people see their relationship as beautiful, a good example of friends to lovers/forbidden romance, and worked in well with the plot of TDA. People also like the soulmate aspect. Their haters sure had a lot to say to counterbalance that though, and complained about how the relationship is melodramatic, overly intense, toxic, and codependant. I also got a few respondants who said that they just dislike Emma and Julian as individuals, and that Julian's behavior towards Emma is alarming.

Herondaisy is continuing TLH's grand tradition of coming in near the end while still maintaining a dedicated team of fans. The good stuff is how much James loved Cordelia, and that he spent so long unable to say anything, but once he was free from the Gracelet he never let her forget his devotion. Their love was powerful enough to break a hellish enchantment, but still felt like a friendship built on a shared interests like books and stories. The most common complaint about this relationship was miscommunication, dislike of James or Cordelia as characters, and not understanding why the two like each other (other than mutual attraction). There's also people who just don't like TLH and generally aren't invested in their story. The other main complaint was that the James/Grace and Cordelia/Matthew subplots felt unnecessary and overly drawn out (which of course connects back to the miscommunication issue).

Morgenthorn suffers from the same issue as the other TWP representatives, and largely got low marks because their books aren't out yet. Some people think they're shaping up to be iconic though, while others still aren't sold on the premise.

The side ships are where things start to really heat up. Based on their average rank, the pairs form a couple distinct tiers. First, is Malec, Sizzy, Thomastair, and Kitty (the fan favorites), next is Kierarktina, Chenry, Sophideon, and Gabrily making up the middle of the pack, then we have the less popular Haline, Gracetopher, Gwynburn, and Ghostwriter, and in dead last with by far the lowest score there's Arianna. (Sorry to the u-haul lesbians). I think it's quite interesting how most of the ships are clumped together with other ships from the same series.

I'm guessing we all knew that Malec was gonna come in first. People love the nostalgia factor, of course, and they also love how the ship is queer, iconic, and just generally sweet. It's a case of opposites attract where the two of them help each other grow and reach for things they never thought possible. Both Alec and Magnus believed that they'd never be truly loved for who they were, and yet together they were able to create a life and family. Not a single person had a bad thing to say about these two.

Continuing the popularity of the TMI gang, Sizzy came shockingly close to beating Malec for first. They didn't get as many #1 votes as the other top ships, but they were still voted highly by more or less everyone. On the surface this couple is cute and funny, but what people really love is how perfectly they match each other. While they look like opposites at first, they're actually incredibly well-balanced. Everyone expected Isabelle to break Simon's heart, but he's able to stand up to her without being a dick and he sees her for who she really is under all her defensiveness. Plus, they're great individual characters and encourage each other to grow. They only negative comment they got was one person who finds them annoying.

Next up, Thomastair comes in to prove that there are at least some parts of TLH that are pretty universally adored. People like how Thomas saw the good in Alastair from the start, and watching his schoolboy crush develop into a mature romance. They like how Thomas helped Alastair accept love into his life, and Alastair encouraged Thomas to become confident in himself. The two of them were able to create their own world in Paris, which allowed them to escape the roles they felt trapped in. The characters are of course loved as individuals, and people got especially attached to Alastair and think that he deserves good things. People also like their communication skills, in contrast with other TLH couples. The only real complains people had with the ship was that it's connected to a series they dislike overall, and falls into the bully x victim trope.

Kitty is another ship that anybody who spends any length of time in the fandom will not be surprised to see in the top quarter of this list. They're beloved as characters, and even people who dislike TDA say that they were some of the best stuff in it. Fans enjoy how Kit understood Ty from the start and Ty felt truly comfortable with Kit. They also like how Kit can't make amends with Ty but still keeps his secret (shout-out to the person who described them as being in "doomed yaoi purgatory"). People also say that they have great chemistry and a lot of potential. What people dislike is really just that they haven't had time to fully develop, since TWP hasn't actually come out yet.

The next top ship is Kierarktina, which is where we exit the "pure adoration" tier of this list. People like the characters and all their different dynamics, and think that there's a lot of potential for growth with them. They also like the fact that they're a canonically polyamorous ship. The complaints I got were that the relationship feels rushed, and that Cristina seems to fetishize Kieran and Mark's relationship.

Getting into the TID ships all nicely chunked together in the middle of this list, people like Chenry for their arranged marriage setup, where both of them love each other but saw their feelings as unrequited for years. They also like Charlotte and Henry's combined autistic swag. What makes people hesitate is their lack of pagetime.

For Sophideon, people of course love the individual characters, and especially appreciate how Gideon adores everything about Sophie. The only downside is how little of them we get on the page.

Gabrily came in lower than Sophideon but did receive more #1 votes and fewer #13 votes, proving that they have a higher number of committed fans despite being less popular overall. Those fans like how the two of them loved each other for what they were and always had each other's backs. Nobody had any negative comments about them.

Haline is another mid-tier ship that didn't get many comments. What I did hear is that people like how their struggles were worth it because they had each other, and ranked them low because of their lack of page time.

Gracetopher is probably the most controversial ship on this list. If we were just going off of who received the most #1 votes, they would be fifth overall (that order would be Malec, Kitty, Thomastair, Sizzy, Gracetopher). Unfortunately for them though, we are also factoring in all the people who ranked them dead last. As this form received more and more submissions, I watched this couple gradually climb from second-to-last to the dizzying height of fourth-to-last in the overall rankings. First off, what people like is how they truly see each other. Christopher was overlooked by his friends for his intensity and Grace was only ever treated as a weapon and a seductress, but they genuinely respect each other and bond over their shared enthusiasm for science. Looking at the negatives though, most people saw their dynamic as underdeveloped and unnecessary. Lots of people dislike Grace and don't believe that she should have received any redemption, and even people who are sympathetic towards Grace still dislike that Christopher was so quick to forgive her after how she treated one of his best friends. A few people also said that they like Grace and Christopher's dynamic when it's platonic, but ranked it low as a romance. People were also upset by Christopher's death, and feel that it ruins the relationship for them.

For Gwynburn, the only positive comment I got was a couple people saying they're cute, and the only negative one came from somebody who didn't like Diana because they felt she was an irresponsible guardian to the Blackthorn kids. Most people ranked them higher than the other ships at the bottom of this list, but unfortunately they just didn't have enough extremely high votes to pull them ahead.

Ghostwriter didn't get any specific positive propaganda, though some people clearly do enjoy them. Most of the negative sentiments came from people who just found them uninteresting and generally didn't enjoy TLH. They also see the pairing as having wasted potential, and felt frustrated by the lack of consequences for Jesse's resurrection. They saw Lucie as boring and dislike Jesse for his mistreatment of Grace.

Despite being ranked last, Arianna fans still came in to share what they liked about the couple. They enjoy the characters and Anna's butch swag, and some people who don't like them together still enjoy the concept. What people largely dislike about the two is Anna as a character, and how she treated Ari and all the other women she had flings with. While not everyone was ready to give up on them because of Anna's flaws, they were frustrated by how she didn't resolve her issues or try to be better by the end of the trilogy. There were also people who thought that the ship didn't get enough page time, or who didn't connect with Ari as a character. People were also disappointed in how Ari was punished by the narrative and by Anna for not being ready to come out of the closet when she was seventeen and dependent on her bigoted parents.

Oh boy, time to dig into the biggest category (which still feels incredibly cut down, my original list was over 50 characters). Side characters are obviously a point of hot debate, since everybody has their favorite guy who the narrative forgot about. The most popular overall characters were all old favorites introduced in TMI, then there's George, Catarina, Livvy, and Jessamine (who all swapped around a fair bit), before we get into a large chunk of characters who either inspire mixed feelings or get forgotten entirely, and bringing up the rear is two of the most hated characters in TSC.

First up, we have what I think is the biggest sweep of the whole survey; Raphael Santiago. He got about a third of the #1 votes, which isn't quite as dramatic a majority as Herongraystairs in their bracket, but far more impressive when you consider the sheer number of characters competing against Raphael for the top spot in this section. People think he's funny, iconic, and relatable. They love his sarcastic and grumpy sense of humor and his begrudging responsibility for the people around him. They also like his relationship with Magnus, as explored in "Saving Raphael Santiago" in The Bane Chronicles. The most common comment I got though was that people appreciate him being canonically aroace, and they remember him as their first experience seeing an aspec character in media. He received no negative comments (and few people left him out of their top ten).

Our second place goes to Lily, who got points for her iconic sense of humor, haunting backstory, and compelling relationships with both Alec and Raphael. She received no negative comments.

People like Maia but apparently don't have much to say about her. The only comments I got were that she's hot and a bad bitch, plus she overcame her difficult past.

Ragnor is appreciated how grouchy and melodramatic he is, and how he fits into the warlock friend group with Magnus and Catarina. I'd also like to shout-out his friendship with Raphael, since I love seeing them bond over their haterism. He received no negative comments.

George also didn't get many comments, but people grew attached to him very quickly and felt strongly affected by the tragedy of his death in TFSA, except for the person who said he felt like he got killed off for shock value.

People like Catarina's relationships with the other warlocks. I also want to point out her incredible selflessness and how she's even committed to helping people who hate her. She received no negative comments.

Livvy got the second most #1 votes after Raphael, and yet she's only #7 overall (ranked choice voting strikes again), and it looks to me like people either love her or don't care about her. What they love about her is the tragedy of her death and her relatable sense of responsibility towards her siblings, plus the continuation of her story in TWP. The only negative comment I got about her was from someone who didn't feel sad when she died.

Jessamine is seen as a fascinating and tragic character with a lot of potential depth who deserves more love. She got some low marks from her lack of page time though, and from people who found her attitude annoying.

Moving into some TST characters, Luke is noticeably higher than all the rest of his high school/fascist cult buddies. People like him for his dad vibes, and dislike him for his holier than thou attitude towards other members of the Circle. (Shout-out to my IRL friend who called him a DILF this morning).

Jocelyn didn't get many comments, and none that were positive. I'll chip in to say that I like how fierce and strong-willed she was when she decided to betray her abusive husband and raise Clary alone in NYC, and appreciate that she always tried to do what she thought would protect her daughter (even if it often wasn't actually what Clary wanted or needed). The people of the survey think she's a bad person and don't think that Clary should have forgiven her so easily for the way she lied to her. She moved up pretty far in the last day of this survey, but that was mostly due to other characters dropping in the rankings.

Maryse was behind Robert for most of the time this survey was gathering data, but her fans came in at the end to bump up her score. They like her relationships with her children, especially Jace and Alec, and are curious about her life before TMI when she had to deal with a loveless marriage and losing her brother to the mundane world. The only negative comment I received for her was someone who disliked how she treated Jace while he was being unfairly accused of working with Valentine.

While Eugenia is generally liked by TLH fans because she's funny, feisty, badass, and has a compelling relationship with Thomas; she scored fairly low overall because most people don't feel super attached to her due to her lack of page time.

The only positive comment I received about Jordan was that it was funny when he spent time with Jace and Simon. Mostly, people think that he was a toxic boyfriend to Maia and an awful person overall. They especially disliked that he and Maia got back together, even though he'd previously assaulted her after their breakup. Despite that, he's managed to make his way up from the bottom five of this list.

Robert is more controversial than his ex-wife, receiving more negative and more positive votes than her. People like his relationship with Michael as explored in "The Evil We Love," and how his personal issues with queerness bled into his relationship with his son. They enjoy both the angst of his difficult relationship with Alec, and the hopefulness that comes from his ability to grow as a person and try to be better for the sake of his kids. Folks who are less compelled by the angst just flat dislike him for his bad parenting. His ranking dropped dramatically in the last twelve hours, since I guess the people who can't forgive shitty parenting all showed up at the end.

People who like Jaime enjoy his attitude and see him as complex, and all the negative comments were about the age gap between him and Dru.

Michael is a character who seems to suffer from being nobody's favorite. No one had anything negative to say about him, but the only positive comments were in regards to his relationship with Robert, and the highest anybody ranked him was #4.

Amatis is somebody else who I believe suffered from not having any real fans. The only comment I got about her was that they ranked her low because they don't know much about her. The highest anybody ranked her was #6, and only one other character on this list has a highest rank that's lower than that. Nobody got mad at her like they did with Jordan or Jaime or Camille, but no one loves her like they love those three, so she ended up lower than them overall.

Camille got a fair number of high votes from people who enjoy her dramatic diva energy, and a lot of low ones from people who think she's just an awful person.

And here we have the first of the two most hated characters in this list. While he was dead last for almost an entire week, Nate finally managed to claw his way up to 19th place. Nobody had anything nice to say about him, and nobody ranked him higher than #7. I'll say that I find him interesting as an extension of Tessa's character and arc. People didn't have particularly complicated complaints, they just think that he's selfish, mean, awful, a traitor, a liar, an asshole, and completely irredeemable. Oof.

Even though he ended up in last place, Charles is distinct from the rest of the characters ranked this low because he actually does have a handful of fans who put him at #2 or #3. They think that he's an interesting character to study, even if he's an awful person. They also find his relationships with Alastair and Matthew to be compelling (though unhealthy) and relate to his place as an older sibling burdened by high expectations. As for the negatives, there's a whole laundry list. People see him as gross, annoying, selfish, awful, and boring. They hate his predatory relationship with Alastair in-universe, and which he was handled better by the author out of universe. I got one comment that said he felt like he was written by a straight woman, and in general people don't like how his arc was written.

Now that we're through with two of the largest and most controversial categories, let's move onto the one nobody cares about. I will admit that I included the children in this survey purely out of an interest in hearing if anybody had reasoning for preferring one small child over another.

Also, since we have two Max Lightwoods, I differentiated them using their middle inititals; Max M for Max Michael Lightwood-Bane, and Max J for Max Joseph Lightwood.

Okay, so what I have in the positive column for every single kid on this list is more or less just their association with their parents. People like the Lightwood-Bane siblings because they like Malec, they like Mina because of Jessa, Tavvy because of the TDA Blackthorns, Max J because of the TMI Lightwoods, Alex because of Gabrily, and Zachary because of Cordelia and Thomastair. Negative comments were also often linked to parents, like ranking Mina low because they dislike Jessa, or disliking the Lightwood-Banes because their existence feels like fanservice and they don't believe Alec would be a good father at age 20. Rafe did get the positive comment that his story in GotSM made the respondant cry.

Positive comments for Tavvy focused on people feeling like they know him better than other kids on this list, and being excited to see more of him and his relationship with Dru in TWP.

Max J got comments talking about how much more character he has compared to the babies, and how the tragic end to his story strongly affeced people. People got attached to him from his love of manga, and appreciate how he symbolized the innocence that Alec, Isabelle, and Jace needed to fight for.

Alex and Zachary were ranked last by almost everyone, though they all made it clear that they bear no ill will towards these kids. Zachary did get one committed fan who loves the way he brings Alastair's arc to a close, and is excited to see more of him on Thomastair's BiB story. I think it's noteworthy that they have the same number of #1 votes, Zachary got more #2 and #3 votes, and Alex got more #4 and #5 votes; showing that once you discount the people placing them in the bottom two, Zachary is in fact more popular. (I'm assuming that most people who put them in the bottom two don't actually prefer one over the other).

The villain category was particulary interesting to me, because reading everyone's comments made it clear that many of us are working off of different definitions of what makes a good villain. The biggest question was whether a character being sympathetic made people see them as a great villain or a terrible one. The other cool thing about this category is you can see that almost all the villains from the same series stayed next to each other in the ranking.

For as high as Sebastian ranked, he got relatively few comments. What people do like about him is that he was more relatable and redeemable than other villains because of how Valentine raised him, and yet he still went on to do unjustifiable things. They also think he was funny. The main complaint he got from several people was that the demon blood storyline made him a boring and badly constructed villain, since he had no free will in his own evilness. Also, y'know, the incest thing.

Valentine may not be ranked as highly as his son, but he did get far more specific compliments from people. They love to hate how logical, strategic, and pure evil he could be; as well as the way the story built up to him by showing the impact he had on the world. He was a skilled manipulator who convinced people to sacrifice everything in the name of his twisted values, and worked as a chillingly accurate representation of fascism. He also served the greater themes of TMI by allowing the leads to deny the violence and hatred passed down by their parents. Some people also just enjoy the Circle era characters. The only bad thing anyone said about him was that he's generic, one of a million bigoted middle aged white men in fiction.

Annabel and Malcom switched back and forth in the rankings a couple times while data was being gathered, since most people voted for the two of them as a unit. People like how tragic their storyline was, and how they served as foiled to Blackstairs because they too were people who loved each other enough to burn down the world. Ultimately, it was their sympathetic anti-Clave motivation that got most people to love them. The two points people held against them was that they're too sympathetic and thus not really villains, and that Annabel's potential was wasted in Queen of Air and Darkness. The folks who dislike TDA also dislike them on account of their association with the series.

Mortmain is our solidly mid tier villain. People across the board saw him as a simple pure evil force that the heroes had to win against, and the main question was whether people loved him or hated him for that simplicity.

The only reason anybody gave for enjoying Asmodeus was his association with Alec. The few negative comments he got were all about either his lack of page time or how his motivation being centered on his inherent evil made him uninteresting.

Shinyun is a more complicated character, and her reception was complicated as well. People like that she's associated with Alec through TEC, and that she showed how evil she was by rejecting redemption when it was offered to her. There were also some mixed feelings expressed about her place as a cult survivor, since that's a very human trauma that was not given enough dignity by the narrative. Negative opinions all came down to her lack of page time, and people who either never read or actively disliked TEC.

Benedict Lightwood might be the lowest anything from TID scored in this entire survey. People who enjoy him mentioned how he created realistic angst for Gideon and Gabriel, as a manipulative father they needed to learn to rebel against. What people think makes him a bad villain is that he's not a villain at all, just a generic shitty dad. Also, multiple people commented "worm" with no explanation.

Sadly for the villains of TLH, this isn't the way they were supposed to be the worst of the worst. While some people enjoyed Tatiana for her chaos and irredeemability, especially the way she abused her own daughter for years, overall she was seen as a boring letdown who could have been interesting if the narrative didn't treat her as pure evil. Maybe she could have had potential if she was allowed to be the main villain or if the story acknowledged the ways in which she felt abanoned by the Clave, but that's not the story we got.

As for Belial, nobody had anything positive to say about him. They thought that his plan was stupid (especially for a Prince of Hell), and that he was boring, annoying, and just generally underwhelming. He also received the same complaints as Asmodeus about how demons are uniniteresting villains because their only motive is their own inherent evil.

And here was have our final category: the side books! It's no surprise to me that the short story collections came in first, and that the unreleased books don't have a lot of fans yet.

Our most popular pick was Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy, which people love because of how it followed up on TMI storylines while also expanding upon the world. It gave readers a look into characters they enjoy like Alec, Mark, and James, and of course the most popular comment I got was people gushing about getting time with Simon. They love the Sizzy moments too, as well as Simon's friendship with Clary and the rest of the TMI gang. It also got points for George's heartbreaking death, and for how much fun it was to read when it was serialized in 2015. The two stories people mentioned as their favorites were "The Evil We Love" and "Nothing But Shadows," showing how people enjoyed getting to look at points in the TSC timeline that aren't explored by other series. The only negative comment it got was from a person who finds Simon and Isabelle annoying.

Coming in at a close second, Ghosts of the Shadow Market is beloved mainly for its connection to Jem and Jessa. People enjoy that it served a purpose in the overall TSC plot, and showed how love can be born of tragedy. The stories people brought up were "Every Exquisite Thing," "The Land I Lost," and especially "Cast Long Shadows." It received no negative comments.

While The Bane Chronicles was the least favorite of the anthologies, it still clearly won the love of the people. They enjoy it mainly on account of Magnus, especially for his friendship with the other warlocks and his romance with Alec. They like how funny it is, and feel like it has the same charm as the early TMI books. The only negative comment I got about it was that it's boring.

Secrets of Blackthorn Hall got points for the wholesome and iconic vibes, and the interesting format of being published through tumblr. Someone also described it as a home renovation show in a haunted house, and people brought up being glad to see characters like Mark and Mina and ships like Kitty and Blackstairs. Some people just didn't find it interesting though, and others disliked it because it had so much Julian and Blackstairs.

An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of Downworld probably got the fewest comments in this category. The people who love it appreciate the stunning art and interesting details about the characters, and all the low votes came from people who haven't read it.

The Shadowhunter's Codex is the oldest companion book on this list, and clearly didn't hit like the later additions to the canon. The only positive comments I got were from people who enjoyed Simon, Clary, and Jace's comments written into the margins. Generally people just didn't find it interesting, and saw it as a textbook that didn't even provide new information about the the world of Shadowhunters. There were also people who either didn't read it or couldn't finish it.

Better in Black of course hasn't been released, but people are excited to see their favorite couples back in action. In this survey, I got specific comments from people talking about Herondaisy and Thomastair. It still ranked pretty low overall, mainly because none of us have read it yet.

A Sea Change was most people's bottom pick, just because it isn't out yet. (My theory is that it ranked lower than BiB because BiB got everyone hyped through fandom engagement when we all debated which couples would be included, and that BiB appeals to fans of ten different ships while ASC only has fuel for Matthew fans). Predictably, the people who expect to love ASC are the ones excited to see the next chapter of Matthew's journey.

And with that, we're done! I'd like to once again thank everybody who participated, especially the folks who gave long or detailed comments. I had to simplify and summarize a lot in this post, but I truly enjoyed reading everything you all had to say.

I also want to take some time at the end here to address some questions I got about why stuff in this poll was set up the way it was. First, I got a lot of people saying that Kitty should have been considered a main couple, either in addition to Morgenthorn or instead of them. I get that we (so far) have a lot more Kitty material and that most of the fanbase is far more invested in them, but I'm counting the "main couple" as the one that includes the main girl. I also got some people confused by my choice to include unpublished works like TWP and Seasons of Shadowhunters, and while I understand that perspective I still stand by my decision. I know it's not fair to the series and that people can't accurately rate things they haven't read, but I wasn't trying for that kind of accuracy; I was curious about how much people love or hate things that aren't out yet. I'd love to see how TWP and SoS factor into these rankings once we've all read them, but for now I'm happy just hearing what people expect to think about them.

Also, everyone who left random silly comments or told me their favorite characters and scenes, y'all are the real ones. I did this whole project out of my love for this series and my interest in learning why people think the way they do, and I've been amazed by the positive response. This series and world is so incredibly expansive, and I love that all of us are able to find the different niches of TSC that make us happy.

If you actually read through all this, you're awesome and thanks for supporting my passion for turning emotions into numbers. If anybody has any additional questions, I am here to chat!

Taglist:

@edwinspaynes @helenofblackthorns @whaliensdream @iovelaces @darcyolsson @sankta-wraith @magnus-the-maqnificent @blue-silver-hammer @ineedmoremalec @kingslayerzzzz @thevagabondexpress @cara0765 @uncertified-shadowhunter-14 @elytrianemrald @thomasslightwood @starrieshq @blackthornobsessed @alastaircarstairsismybff @angeldaisies @dissapointmentsrus @bananacakepie

[viinas]

First 6 of my tarot series for my fire and silver characters. If you want to know a bit about them i'll throw some explanations below!

(from the Rider Waite tarot guide) I THE MAGICIAN - Helena Zairi Skill, diplomacy, address, sickness, pain, loss, disaster, self-confidence, will, the Querent himself (if male). Reversed: Physician, Magus, mental illness, disgrace, disquiet Helena’s character journey is largely about coming into her own as a spell caster. She goes from using magic as a nomad solely as a method for survival to finding peace in the connection her power gives her to the elements. Then, after the dust settles and the war ends, she realizes that she is, to her soul, a healer. Naturally, her journey comes with many setbacks as well as debilitating losses in a war created by the generation before her that she is now forced to shoulder and clean up. Her lineage and their connections to greater things throws her onto the center of a battlefield that she, as a peaceful spirit, must learn to navigate.

II THE HIGH PRIESTESS - Kithara Alva Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed, the woman who interests the Querent (if male); the Querent (if female), silence, tenacity, wisdom, science Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardor, conceit, surface knowledge She’s the psychic! Of course she’s the one with all the secrets, mystery, and future yet unrevealed. Really, though, Kithara’s journey centers around uncertainty. Like Hel, she is a young girl forced onto a battlefield despite her own gentle heart. She has experiences the others in the story can’t even comprehend, having died and come back fully corporeal, heart beating anew. With that resurrection came the price of her own humanity slowly eating away at her from within. Kithara must hold onto who she is and where she comes from, finding her own reasons to fight that aren’t dependent on her lineage. She has a quiet, tenacious fire brewing inside of her that has propelled her into making reckless self-serving choices that she isn’t certain are hers or the entity inside of hers. Her passion is a double edged sword of altruistic love and aimless hatred all at once.

XII THE HANGED MAN - Ilum Griam Wisdom, trials, circumspection, discernment, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy Reversed: Selfishness, the crowd, body politic Ilum’s biggest struggle is not allowing his trauma to define him. As a little kid, he was thrust into a world he knew nothing about, wielding a power he couldn’t understand. He carries his regrets like a penance for what he’s done, as if he doesn’t deserve peace. Of everyone in the group, he is the most knowledgeable as he has an insatiable need to be armed with all available information to make up for the time he spent in ignorance. He forces himself through trials of his own making, be that emotional or physical, as retribution. This toes the line between being selfless and selfish, where he’ll gladly sacrifice himself without considering the collateral damage that will cause to those who love him. Ilum prides himself on being a leader and sharing his knowledge where it’s needed just as much as he is loath to allow himself the fruits of his own labors. The card illustration shows him being hung by ghost hands, both a nod to his necromancy and his regrets.

XIII DEATH - Charity Winters End, mortality, destruction, corruption Reversed: Inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrification, somnambulism Charity is a child of corruption, her biggest fear being to succumb to the very same darkness that took her father. As such, she is very careful with how she navigates her necromancy and deals with dark spirits. So while she focuses on keeping her mind and soul guarded, her physical safety is easily compromised. Charity’s fire and silver storyline involves her having been incorrectly used as a sacrifice in a blood ritual, thus, she’s at the top of the enemy’s hitlist since she’s the only thing keeping them from achieving their goals. She is forced to confront her own death and mortality in an especially morbid way, having such a connection with the after world and personal experience with what once-innocuous spirits can become. She throws herself head first into danger without considering what all it means for her physically, so long as she can keep her loved ones safe and her mind intact.

XVIII THE MOON - Ellard Charaux Hidden enemies, danger, calumny, darkness, terror, deception, error Reversed: Instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error He’s a werewolf! He gets the moon! Ellard’s arc is about decision and honesty both with himself and with others. We start the story with him getting close to Helena because he is tasked with killing her, despite himself, but as he gets to know her and realizes that he’s living in in a pack that’s basically a cult, he has to decide whether it’s more important to stay with the poison he knows at the expense of himself or live a life on the run where he won’t have the community and certainty the pack grants him. Ellard fights with his inner demons a lot and has trouble defining his own moral code. His life was essentially stolen from him since his infancy and his defection comes with the new challenge of figuring out who he is outside of his pain and trauma.

XIX THE SUN - Aero Strynx Marital happiness, fortunate marriage, contentment Reversed: The same in a lesser sense Aero is the antithesis to the wolf packs. He stands for everything that is getting in their way. I gave Aero The Sun instead of The Magician because as a great sorcerer, I feel he represents a sort of overarching power and light that everybody else can draw strength from. He is Helena’s mentor. Ilum’s confidant. Avril’s savior. Kithara’s last ties to her family. He represents something so different to everyone in his life yet with equal importance all around. He is stability. With that, of course, comes his own turmoil and history that he is desperate not to repeat. He is a widower who watched everyone he loved die in his name. He knows great love just as intimately as devastating loss. His wisdom, experiences, and resilience marries everyone around him to their own strengths.

[crimsonstonetranslations]

Translation updates - Mar 2024

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since the last update, and I hope everyone is having a good year so far.

File 3 of Another Files - The Dead's Wish is now up. This is the last file in the volume and admittedly the one that left me the most emotional. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. The epilogue and afterword should be up in the near future as well.

Moving on, I've decided to self-edit my translation in hopes to pick up the pace a little bit as I foresee having to juggle even more real life commitments alongside the translation. I hope it's not going to sacrifice too much of the translation quality.

Next up, about the translation backlog. In case you missed it, Kaminaga-sensei and staff made a major announcement late last year that 1) a sequel to the Shinrei Tantei Yakumo series is in the works and 2) they are making a 'complete' version of the previous volumes. As the series was Kaminaga-sensei's debut work that started back in 2004, my understanding is that they're updating the setting to keep up with the times while keeping the outlines intact to make something that both old and new fans can enjoy. Both are scheduled to start publication this spring. Currently, like most materials that are only available in Japanese, I'm not certain if I'll ever be able to pick these up ever (or anytime soon), so I'll just keep an eye on the official updates for the time being.

Hence, as scheduled, I will be translating Shinrei Tantei Yakumo Another Files - Lamenting Doll next. Like The Dead's Wish, this volume also consisted of 3 files that are self contained cases and an epilogue. As a preview for now, here is the blurb:

Yakumo’s uncle, Isshin, brought him a case of a painting of a man with red eyes. Alongside Haruka and Gotou, they then travelled to a sake factory at Yamanashi, where the painting was located. However, after their arrival, terrifying incidents fell one by one upon Haruka! The case of the painting of a man with red eyes led them to another case with the ghost of a child and a talking doll. Yakumo had to deal with spiritual phenomena one after another amidst heavy downpour!

However! While you guys wait for the file 01 of Another Files - Lamenting Doll to be completed, I'm planning to release another short translation beforehand: if you've been looking at my schedule page, I have a separate backlog of shorter-length materials only available in Japanese that I wish to slowly commission a JP-EN translation out of.

I'm excited to announce that the first item on the list is currently being worked on: Shinrei Tantei Yakumo 6.5 - Unexpressed Feelings. It's a not for sale booklet from a limited-run campaign in 2011 containing 2 short stories with illustrations by Oda Suzuka (instead of Suzuki Yasushi that usually did the paperback illustrations). The first story took place after the end of file 3 in the manga/novel volume 3, in case you'd like to refresh your memory of that particular case before reading. I'm hoping to have it published sometime in April.

This post's getting long, that's everything I have for now. Thank you for reading and do look forward to the upcoming updates!

[moriamori]

Even now I feel the ghosts of muscles and nerves wishing to induce pain, as my upper torso works on healing missing skin from ripped kinetic sports tape used in recovery.

The words "Do what you love while you still have the bodily means to do it" rattles through my bones, I'm not that old by human standards but the sense of a countdown remains regardless. Comics are a deep love of mine. They're also the medium to tell a story very, very slowly.

With an average life span of 80 years, knock off my current 30, that's 50 years left. A completed series could take about ten years, many have taken longer. The manic could commit maybe five stories. Realistically, most manage half or a quarter of one. Maybe complete one. Maybe two. And my arms hurt, my spine pinches. My fingers tingle.

With my current funds, I choose between one physio session for the month, or hope to save up enough for an ergonomics assessment of my awful workdesk-setup in a slanted apartment, with a chair too big and items eternally too wide, too heavy for me. "This time," I say, "This time, this will help me get closer to drawing again".

I had wanted to be a freelance illustrator, when I realized my day job would never financially reflect the amount of work I do or don't put in. I wouldn't be able to increase my funds if I took on more work. My job will only realize they can expect more work out of me for the same pay. Getting hired elsewhere, while a possibility, would likely involve obtaining a new job that is twice as stressful and pays a tiny bit more. I don't even want this career.

I used to do commissions. I used to draw like I breathed. The irony of working in an art school is that the continuous exposure to technique and "how to get better", mainly makes you able to see your own mistakes and your own shortcomings over and over again. It's always about improvement. Find the faults, do better. Do better. Do better.

Don't sing this way, sing that way.

I feel like I've lost my voice. I feel like my voice hasn't much to say, actually. I know people loved it, once. People even demand my return.

"I want to see the next pages." "Where's that comic you said you'd do?" "Made any art recently?"

Positive attention doesn't pay bills, doesn't give me lunch, doesn't offer insurance for my physio therapy bills. It almost did. But I would have to keep performing. Keep producing through the burn. And I want to. I do. That's the awful thing in the end. I also want these pages done.

I want to love to create again. I remember I loved. I loved fearlessly. Made fearlessly. I embraced bad art. Minimalist art. Shitty art.

"I know you can make better than this." "You didn't put effort in this one."

Please put effort in me.

I am sorry the previous conditions I worked in were not enough, and the past support was not enough. I did have patreon. I did have some support. I had people willing to pay me for my time and effort and they even had patience. It was almost enough. Almost.

A flower still wilts if only given a slice of the sun it needs. It can try to grow in those conditions but it isn't going to be good.

"It used to be enough before!"

Maybe I grew. Maybe my appetite and my needs got bigger. Kids' meals don't fill me anymore. What right do I have to ask for more, when I have nothing to show for it? When what I make, may end up being terrible regardless?

"Remember you will love," I tell myself once more. Maybe I'll love regardless, in the end. Pages or no pages.

I do love terrible comics, in the end.

[mxcottonsocks]

Now we've reached the end of the Dickens Daily run of Barnaby Rudge; A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty, I feel I should recommence my series of posts on illustrations.

This is the first post which looks at part 2 (the 1780 section) of the novel.

As before, I'll group illustrations by location. Since part 2, mirroring part 1, begins at the Maypole, so shall we:

The Maypole Inn, Chigwell

Characters featured: John Willet (resident), Hugh (resident), Lord George Gordon, Mr Gashford, John Grueby, Solomon Daisy, Tom Cobb, Phil Parkes, Sim Tappertit, Ned Dennis, Rudge Senior., Mr Haredale, and various unnamed rioters

Chapters featured: 33, 35, 37, 54, 55, and 56

Illustrators featured: Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne), George Cattermole, Harry Furniss, Felix Darley, A. H. Buckland, Sol Eytinge Jr., and Fred Barnard

The Main Room at the Maypole

The above is by Phiz for chapter 33, the first chapter of the 1780 section of the novel. Chapter 33 takes place exactly five years after chapter 1, and twenty-seven years after the double murder at the Warren.

Chapter 1 ended with Solomon Daisy saying:

‘[...] on the nineteenth of March in some year, sooner or later, that man will be discovered.’

And in chapter 33, Solomon comes in claiming to have seen a ghost in the churchyard:

‘[...] something in the likeness of a man. It was bare-headed to the storm. It turned its face without stopping, and fixed its eyes on mine. It was a ghost—a spirit.’ ‘Whose?’ they all three cried together. In the excess of his emotion [...] his answer was lost on all but old John Willet, who happened to be seated close beside him. [...] ‘Gentlemen,’ said Mr Willet after a long pause, ‘you needn’t ask. The likeness of a murdered man. This is the nineteenth of March.’

Since chapter 33 mirrors chapter 1, Phiz's illustration uses many of the same elements as his illustration for chapter 1 (see my previous post about the Maypole for that illustration): we see the same fireplace, with a chair on the left and a settle on the right, and a table and window further right still. The scene is slightly reframed though, as there are fewer characters to fit in.

The Bar of the Maypole

By Cattermole (1841), for chapter 54.

Like Phiz, Cattermole, the serialisation's other illustrator, also reuses elements from his earlier illustration of the Bar of The Maypole (for chapter 25, in the same post about the Maypole linked above) when he revisits the scene for chapter 54, when the rioters ransack The Maypole.

John Willet is sat in the same place as he was in the earlier illustrated scene, but instead of being alone and relaxed, he watches on as his sanctuary is trashed, including by the inn's ostler Hugh, now one of the leaders of the riots.

Hugh is in the centre "the loudest, wildest, most destructive villain there" but still keeping an eye John so no harm comes to him.

I assume that's Ned Dennis on the far right, sneaking near John, and I think that's Sim Tappertit sat on the table - this isn't described in this scene, but mirrors Sim's position in Phiz's illustration of the meeting of the 'Prentice Knights for chapter 8 (see my earlier post on miscellaneous London locations for that illustration).

The rest of the rioters are unnamed, but I would just draw your attention to the man stood slightly behind and to the side of John Willet: he appears to be laughing about something he's holding over John's head - keep this in mind for the next illustration...

Phiz (1841) for chapter 55

Take a moment to look at John Willet in the above illustration for chapter 55, then scroll up to look again at how Phiz drew the same character in chapter 33... Then again at Cattermole's illustration for chapter 54, and at the man laughing while he holds something over John's head... Then come back to this illustration, and look at what's on the corner of the chair...

They snatched his wig!

I don't think this is mentioned anywhere in Dickens's text - but Phiz and Cattermole apparently decided between themselves that the rioters took John's wig off and put it on the corner of the chair. I wonder how and to what extent they communicated with each other about their illustrations for the original serial publication.

Phiz hadn't previously drawn the Maypole's bar, but he clearly takes influence from Cattermole in how he draws it - he uses the same type of arch as Cattermole. However, while Cattermole has a fireplace to the right of John's chair (which isn't really evident in Cattermole's illustration for chapter 54, but is in the one for chapter 25), Phiz has a window there in chapter 55, so he can show how "the Maypole peered ruefully in through the broken window, like the bowsprit of a wrecked ship".

Left: Harry Furniss (1910) for chapter 55; Middle: Felix Darley (1888) for chapter 55; Right: A. H. Buckland (1900) for chapter 56

Harry Furniss and A. H. Buckland, in their twentieth century illustrations, are clearly drawing upon Phiz's illustration, having John look similar and be tied in a similar way, with his wig hung somewhere in the scene.

What they don't include, that Phiz does, is the figure of the man (who is still unnamed up to this point, but is later revealed to be Mr Rudge Senior); Furniss appears to be focusing on a part of the scene before the man enters; Buckland instead focuses on the following chapter, when Mr Haredale and Solomon Daisy free John from the chair on their way to the Warren.

Meanwhile Felix Darley doesn't pay homage to Phiz like Furniss and Buckland do, and draws the scene and John very differently. He renders a very dynamic version of the scene where Rudge Senior asks John about where the rioters have gone.

Upstairs at the Maypole

Left: Phiz (1841); Right: Sol Eytinge Jr (1867); both for chapter 35

Jumping back in time from the June riots to the March visit of Lord George Gordon, Mr Gashford, and John Grueby to the Maypole on their way to London.

I find the different ways these two illustrations tackle the same subject matter interesting: Phiz shows everyone revolving around Lord George Gordon, and shows all the other characters' differing interest in him through their body language; Eytinge, meanwhile, omits John Willet and Hugh to focus on the three new characters, and emphasises Mr Gashford' malevolent manipulation of the young politician.

Outside the Maypole

Left: Fred Barnard (1874); Right: Harry Furniss (1910); both for chapter 37, where Lord George Gordon and his retinue leave the inn.

It's interest to see how they both render the below:

[...] Sitting bolt upright upon his bony steed, with his long, straight hair, dangling about his face and fluttering in the wind; his limbs all angular and rigid, his elbows stuck out on either side ungracefully, and his whole frame jogged and shaken at every motion of his horse’s feet; a more grotesque or more ungainly figure can hardly be conceived. In lieu of whip, he carried in his hand a great gold-headed cane, as large as any footman carries in these days, and his various modes of holding this unwieldy weapon—now upright before his face like the sabre of a horse-soldier, now over his shoulder like a musket, now between his finger and thumb, but always in some uncouth and awkward fashion—contributed in no small degree to the absurdity of his appearance. Stiff, lank, and solemn, dressed in an unusual manner, and ostentatiously exhibiting—whether by design or accident—all his peculiarities of carriage, gesture, and conduct, all the qualities, natural and artificial, in which he differed from other men; he might have moved the sternest looker-on to laughter, and fully provoked the smiles and whispered jests which greeted his departure from the Maypole inn. Quite unconscious, however, of the effect he produced, he trotted on beside his secretary, talking to himself nearly all the way, until they came within a mile or two of London, when now and then some passenger went by who knew him by sight, and pointed him out to some one else, and perhaps stood looking after him, or cried in jest or earnest as it might be, ‘Hurrah Geordie! No Popery!’ 

[sanhatipal]

~~ Shards of Eden ~~

This is my little cove, and where I post art and dump other things occasionally. Come inside,have a look~

I haven't lasted 2 weeks on any other site since the fall of g+, except maybe twitter but that also drove me nuts and I always took long hiatuses, but have been here constantly since 2018. Which...says quite a bit. I'm a doctor by profession,but here on Tumblr for fandom (pretty obviously) and art

My fandoms:

Pandora Hearts

The case study of Vanitas

Fate series (mainly Fate/Stay Night)

The House in Fata Morgana

Shadows House

Rozen Maiden

Tegami Bachi / Letter Bee

Witch Hat Atelier

xxxholic

Witch's Heart/Majo no Shinzou

07 ghost

D gray man

Some others I'm into but not that crazy about: Touhou, Madoka Magica, Princess Tutu, Tsubasa Reservoir chronicle, Totsokuni no Shoujo (and more but my head is empty). I like seinen, josei and a very specific brand of shonen: aka things enough to mess up my brain. I don't enjoy romance, sexual things(says the Fate fan..HAH. but seriously,I don't.), or mecha unfortunately

I tend to draw Pandora Hearts, VnC and Fate fanart most

I collect figures,so you'll see them here,but since ,as you can see,most of my faves are a bit on the below the radar side,there hardly are any figures... you'll see custom figures here,and orginal character figures because I like those too.

I like a lot of things,but mostly whimsical, folksy aesthetics,forests and plants, and glowy flowers and things like wisp motifs (there's no limit actually).My favourite colours are,as you might have guessed, the multitude of shades of red, deep maroons and browns. I love fantasy,and folk tales and Celtic things in general have been my passion for a long,long time ,though I also love things inspired by Alice in Wonderland .

As far as music goes...I sang soprano at a choir for a larger part of my teenage,and choral music is very close to my heart. My favourite genres of music are Celtic, especially Irish traditional, new age, classical/neo classical, sea shanties,and whatever Yuki Kajiura and Mili have going on.

Now...art! When not doing fanart,I like drawing fantasy illustrations, and one day I'd like to illustrate books but that's a pipe dream. I'm self taught,and use mostly watercolour and ink. I also love sculpting. It started with trying to sculpt figures and while that's still what I do most,I sculpt other things too,and in general it has to be the favourite of my scores of hobbies . I also do bookbinding...and music box strips ...and doll customs...yeah there's no rhyme or reason to what I do and don't actually.

Sometimes I post photos of plants,I like taking photos and smelling wet mud

If you want to hop into my DMs to talk about fandoms or fanart,feel free! I would be very happy! Also I really love getting tagged and asked ,but often don't get around to responding because I'm a mess of procrastination...if that happens please don't mind, I really really appreciate it and it certainly made me happy,and I'll get to it as soon as I can.

If you've made it this far,thank you. It's been quite a long post,and thank you for reading,I appreciate it. Here are my other blogs:

@sanhatis-abyss absolute reblog hell,if you're looking for something I reblogged 2 days ago my condolences,you probably won't find it unless you scroll for hours. Sometimes I shitpost there , sometimes I scream about the latest thing that consumed me, that is ,if I don't accidentally do it here. Truly,an abyss.

@amaryllis-arachne my doll blog. I realise not everyone likes dolls,or photos of disembered plastic body parts,so I don't reblog those onto the abyss blog. Sometimes I put pictures of my own dolls there,and sometimes er...yes parts.

If you want my other links, they're all in the blog description. Except my Anilist, but it's really not worth anything,since I don't review or rate or anything,just use it to keep track. I do roughly-monthly uploads on YouTube of craft tutorials and drawings,but there's not much rhyme or reason to that either... anyways,hope you have a great day,and hope you find anything you like in this mess of a red coloured pit.

[edenwolfie]

For the writer ask - 13, 17, 27, 28, 36!

Hallo and thank you for the ask! I'll stick to my fanfics for answering these :)

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy? I always always struggle with sex scenes, they tend to not take too long, but are then followed by the most god awful amount of editing to try and make it at least vaguely sexy. Local aroace tries their best lol. Otherwise I don't think I struggle quite as much as that with much else?

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why? I think it was probably Madam Yu from my MDZS fic series Just Say Yes. Every scene she was in was a trial for me to get my head around because the series was very much a 'fix-it everything you can' kinda deal, but I also didn't want to drastically change anyone's character, so she was a difficult line to walk. Mostly I avoided this by keeping her out of scenes when I could lol. I remember one or two people wanting a chapter from her POV and just, I would have died of frustration and the fic would have never been finished lol.

27. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why? I have to be honest, writing Xie Lian for Compass has probably been my fave. I feel like I just get him (whether this is true or non lol) and can just go when writing him.

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice…what do you Know? So much random shit; working in a medical setting, working in a school setting, working in a retail/food service setting, illustration (traditional & digital), animation (2D & 3D), sports (springboard diving, soccer, skiing), music (esp. cello, bass guitar, singing, with group orchestra, choir, bands etc), D&D and board games, and cooking/baking. Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting, but oh well! I think only the music, art, and retail/food service topics have wormed their way into my writing thus far, I'm not much for a modern setting, so a lot of that doesn't tend to apply lol.

[from weird questions for writers ask meme]

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text. Well, let's go with Compass cause it's still in my brain, and the extras are still WIPs. So here's some random brain faff (under the cut):

- Hua Cheng scared the shit out of Xu Hao when he came back to town and cornered him like 'who the fuck is the new guy? name? age? occupation? appearance? birthday? tax file number? etc' and Xu Hao is just like, that's just Wujin he's just our lil guy now. i don't know shit. please blink. - Hua Cheng basically spent the month he was gone out of Ghost City after Zhongyuan having the worlds longest panic attack and sculpting the most frantic bunch of statues he could to prove to himself he still remembered how Xie Lian looked. This also stopped him destroying anything because he was Not Allowed to break them. Is why he got himself out of the city, because otherwise a few blocks were gonna go bye bye. - Dianshui remembers in very awful detail how she died but she will not ever fucking share that with anyone. - I already shared this with a commenter but re: the wine Xie Lian gives to Hua Cheng in Ch 4 (the one where he had worked for the winemaker for a while), there's so many bottles in the cellar because the winemaker is now a ghost now and still making the wine so Hua Cheng likes to buy them as the winemaker spoke kindly of Xie Lian. - The section where Xie Lian makes the drinks for Chunchun's ex was called "Evil Ratatouille" in my WIP doc for absolutely no good reason.

[marcusrobertobaq]

10% seriousness

30% swearing

60% sarcasm

Rules if you wanna interact with me:

Rules? I ain't got no rules, bro. Put that shit inside your sorry ass;

No, i don't block people or anything. This whole function is USELESS when you're extremely specific like me.

Some observations you'd like to know:

Don't feed the bear (if you can't deal with later) 😃

I got +18 things in here. I don't give a fuck if u are a minor, this is your problem not mine 😃

I don't have /j /srs /s crap. You will have to use your brain 😃

I ain't got patience of Buddha to keep repeating myself forever 😃

If it's public and I'm interested I'll give my opinion doesn't matter what u think 😃

Refuter™️. I don't expect people to agree with me - actually never ever agree with me, it's weird af and offensive 😃

If u ain't used to people sayin' shit u like is wack u shouldn't get involved with me 😃 u also got the right of not agreeing with me sayin' my shit is wack

I don't make fancy texts or cool and creative analysis, funny posts or anything. I just try illustrating my feelings 😃

If u see a post with #delete later and u ain't familiar with me there's a 89% chance u don't know what the heck i'm talking about 😃

I ain't no fandom guy. Don't try getting me into this shit, I don't play by these rules 😃

Stuff I usually interact:

Guns

Cars

Detroit Become Human

Red Dead Redemption

Assassin's Creed Series

Call of Duty Series

Cyberpunk 2077

God of War Series

Outlast

The Forest Series

Ghost of Tsushima

Fallout

Resident Evil

Grand Theft Auto Series

I also make some wack beats if you're curious. Following me ain't a wise decision, think about it first.

* Almost all the dbh screenshots are made using Otis_Inf free cam. Give mf some love cuz dealing with the camera system in this game is a headache. Saying from experience.

[uncivilcivilservice]

Current stuff

Tagged by: @desertfangs @covenofthearticulate @kf-tea and @rainbowcarousels (thank you everyone!)

current time: 18:38 pm

current mood: Head sore, but well fed and settled

current activity: Watching Shane and Ryan's new Ghost Files series on youtube and popping ibuprofen

currently thinking about: Mostly just about Armand and (vampire) Daniel breaking into Alcatraz for a laugh because the video I'm watching is set there. I think about them breaking into places to explore a lot, I think Armand would especially like places that were straight up abandoned and left more or less as they were with lots of stuff to look at.

current favorite song: Higher Window by Josh Groban (Song about trying to rekindle a marriage that is fracturing apart that has Louis/Lestat vibes imo) and Blood Upon the Snow by Hozier (which is my go to, quintessential Armand song) have been on back to back repeat for days so

currently reading: An illustrated book from the 70s about predatory animals called 'The Hunters' by Philip Whitfield

currently watching: Seems I've just got back into the Ghoul Boys, but until a couple of hours ago I was obsessively watching videos about maritime disasters for about a week

current favorite character: Daniel and Armand, my babies, by beloveds

current WIPs: I'll try and keep this to the ones I'm most likely to finish at... some point soon-ish?

Months late Mermay fic where Armand shows Daniel his nest of eggs and gets him to fertilise them

Fic where Armand watches back a film Daniel made of himself taking a walk around Night Island during the day (set during their seperations)

Devil's Minion era fic where Armand and Daniel are approached by a lost child and have to reunite them with their parents

Fic involving Armand restraining Vampire!Daniel in a collar with pins on the inside, hoping to have ready for Kink Week

Armand and Daniel sharing a drink 🥂🩸 the night they moved into the villa

Lestat drags Daniel away from a party at Court, and Armand finds them and decides he needs to reign both of them in

There are others, but these are my main priorities to finish, along with the couple of prompts still in my inbox 🫣

Tagging: @fofoqueirah @bubblegum-blackwood @shittyravencarcosa @fenicenera83 @dontbesylly

[murfpersonalblog]

TVL & VC Thoughts: Storyboarding

Because I have insomnia, I was up all night thinking about the rumors that Sam's contract was signed for 5 seasons. It makes me both nervous and hopeful, cuz Lestat features in way more than just 5 VC books. So if there's only 5 seasons locked in (hopefully NOT counting IWTV being split into 2, meaning Sam only has 3 other seasons), I'm wondering what these 3-ish other seasons would cover? 🤔 Hour-long episodes are enough to condense SOME of the books into 7/8-ep seasons, but not others.

TVL & QotD are ofc the bigguns, that COULD be condensed into one season, but SHOULD get their own individual ones, IMO.

ToTBT - urgh. I already said I hate this book. NGL I hope they condense this into 2 episodes MAX, as filler. Raglan was basically a monster-of-the-week. We do NOT need to be sitting here watching Lestat re-learn how to poop & pee. And ffs get rid of David, he literally just got in the way; let that dude retire! Having Ciprien come back'd be a cool feature/crossover, but I really don't need Lestat out here traumatizing more black people, thanks. 😒

MTD - yoooo.... What do you even DO with this? XD Like, I can't imagine having a whole frikkin season of Lestat's Inferno, but without Memnoch you lose ALL context behind Lestat's coma, his missing eyeball, Armand's suicide attempt, Louis' suicide attempt, and Lestat's course correction as a character. 😈 It was the fallout post-Memnoch that is so important to Lestat's story; but TBH I can honestly see the bulk of MTD itself condensed into 2 filler episodes tops.

Merrick - IMO this needs to be integrated into IWTV2 as part of Louis' storyline, not Lestat's. Even though it's here that he (officially) wakes from the coma (post-TVA--which IMO deserves its own spinoff season; we need more Assad if they don't cover Armand's backstory in IWTV2).

Blackwood Farm - NGL I want a whole dang season of BwF. 😅 IMO it's the craziest VC book, we NEED to see these people on screen. We'd get that Merrick Mayfair feature, too--but if they do her dirty here like AR, Imma be FURIOUS.

Blood Canticle - 💩 TRASH!!!!! 💩

Prince Lestat & RoA & BC: TBH I think these should all be merged into one season, as they all deal with Rhoshamandes. If QotD sets up Amel early, AND includes MEKARE, then PL should get right to the action. RoA was padded with a LOT of straight descriptions, which can EASILY be condensed on screen with visuals--that's the book that needed to be illustrated! RoA really doesn't need its own season; we just need to see Rhosh established as the Big Bad in PL & RoA, and get Amel's backstory. (I HOPE they'll keep the aliens in, but AR was obviously using bird-feathered/winged extraterrestrials as the secular answer to Christianity's angels, so I'm fine either way. I'll be sad if they cut them all out entirely and Amel's JUST a (human) ghost). As for BC, it wasn't a long book at all; it just had a lot of BIG, iconic moments. I DEMAND to see Chateau Era Loustat domestic tooth-rotting fluff on my effing screen, ISTG. 🙏 This is the series finale--it deserves to give Loustat E V E R Y T H I N G; from the lowest lows to the greatest highs. I need Prince Consort Louis bossed up. 🤴🏾 I need Lestat having a mental breakdown just like Louis did when Daniel was tearing him to shreds in Ep7. I need Armand screaming, crying, throwing up. I need the WEDDING(S). I need the BALLROOM. I will sue.

Naturally, I could be waaaaay off on all of this. U_U

[foxys-fantasy-tales]

WIP Playlist Tag Game

Tagged by @mrbexwrites. Thank you! <3

Rules: list at least 4 songs from your current WIP playlist, or just a writing playlist you’ve been using lately, and the lyrics that speak to you the most! 

I'll be using Arigale for this, though I'm currently looking at Made to Taste as well.

Karliene - Become the Beast

Splinters of my soul cut through your skin Burrow within, Burrow within So embrace the darkness That will help you see That you can be limitless and fearless If you follow me

This song is for both Yani and Judith. Later on in the series, Yani discovers something about them both and begins to attempt to talk Judith into joining him instead of hunting her down. He offers her something very hard to refuse and the way the two are mirrors really comes to light. Judith has to consider if getting what she's longed for most, and would otherwise be impossible, is worth the destruction Yani will carry out soon afterward.

Nathan Wagner - Trauma (nightcore)

All I ever wanted was to be loved by somebody But the man I used to be is so far gone Circling through memories All this trauma gets me trembling No I can't let you in it's been too long I'd rather feel nothing at all Than have to deal with all the pain inside my heart When she died I swore I'd never love again And it's been years but I'm still calloused up like this

This song is for Rahat. Poor guy. He lost someone he really cared about two years prior to his entrance into the story. He never got to tell her how he felt, and she didn't get to tell him she felt the same. He had a terrible condition with a ritual contract that made him lose his memory over and over each year, so when this happens and he was rooming with the girl who was terminally ill to care for her as friends... Well, she flips the script and cares for him best she can. Sadly, after a few months she took a sudden turn and died. Months after that happened, his unknown contract expired and he could recall everything he'd ever lost in clear detail over a very long time. A cousin of the girl keeps trying to talk to him some time later, but he keeps kicking her out and is very standoffish and reclusive then. A complete turnabout from how helpful and kind he'd been.

Tommee Profitt (feat. Sam Tinnesz) - The Hate Inside

The walls of freedom Come crumbling down The moment you put those chains Around you now Like liquid poison It takes it's toll Black feathered arrows That pierce your soul The hate inside Will eat you alive

This song is for Varin. This one's pretty literal for him word for word honestly. I was so happy when my illustrator showed it to me. Varin was an outcast from his city at a young age and grew to detest the unfair conditions his father had that made him and his mother be banished. He grows older, trains with a new father figure, but always things are a struggle. He keeps that hate in him rather than enjoy his new life at all. Yani comes around and offers him a deal that he takes, even though he was a child of prophecy and likely had the power to meet his goals anyway, he's turned power hungry after so much has been out of his control. He accomplishes revenge, but then goes overboard and the deal he'd made comes back to bite him as his body changes along with his attitude.

Johnathan Young (English Cover) - Unravel

I'm breakable, unbreakable I'm shakeable, unshakeable Unraveling since I found you And now I'm turning to dust in a world that's twisted Don't come searching when I go missing Close your eyes or just try to look away Don't want to hurt you We live in a world someone else imagined The ghost of what's left of me all but vanished Remember my heart How bright I used to shine

This song is for Maleth and he would say these things to Calista. Maleth is an archmage who sacrificed himself centuries ago to become a vessel of a spell that keeps Arigale afloat. If he moves from his tower, then Arigale will fall and destroy not only itself but surrounding areas. So, Maleth sits in his tower until he summons Judith and Chit to go off on their adventure to retrieve the other artifacts below, so he may disarm this spell safely. He has hopes that they may also find that his old flame, Calista, is still kicking. He left her without warning and was only in proximity to the area this ritual was being cast to save Arigale and some people from a catastrophe because he had found his tower and the books it contained he needed research from to break a spell he had on him. He felt he must do this before he could be with Calista fully and planned on marrying her. However, in a twist of fate, saving himself from one terrible fate threw him into another as the keystone and took him farther still from her. He still holds an image of her, sustained memory in crystal that he watches over and over, but he has forgotten her voice over the long time apart. He hopes she remembers him. He wishes things were how they were when they met, when he was foolhardy and claimed to be stronger than he was and fumbled over his words meeting her. When she shined, like she does in that crystal, devoid of a voice and locked in time as he has become.

Whew! That was longer than intended! I really love all these characters and my playlists are all very well organized for Arigale and ahhh! I hope you enjoy. T_T Tagging: @kingkendrick7, @jezifster, @vacantgodling, @sleepyowlwrites, @authoralexharvey, and @author-a-holmes

[meowmageddon]

August Reading Check-In!

Is it a little late? Yes, mind your business 😹

I want to move my bookish updates back here since I'm not about training Elon Musk's AI. This update is gonna be a mix of mini-reviews, the current reading list, recent acquisitions, and a few upcoming releases to watch out for.

It's gonna be long, so keep reading if you dare. Or jump around to the bits you like!

Mini Reviews for July's Reads

Black Ghost of Empire by Kris Manjapra - 5 stars

A look at slavery and the emancipation processes across North America and the Caribbean in particular, as well as some of the colonization of Africa itself. Examines the way emancipations prioritized compensating slave-owners for lost "property" rather than restoring justice and reciprocity to the enslaved people who lost their labor, lives, and histories. Super informative, super vital, because they didn't teach this in US history. Just be prepared for an emotionally tough read.

The Veiled Throne by Ken Liu (The Dandelion Dynasty #3) - 3 stars

This is where the series finally ran into pacing issues for me, as many multi-POV epic fantasy series do. Mostly in the latter half. We had a very high-stakes storyline getting a slim chapter between multiple thick chapters about an all new setting and characters with a much lighter tone. I know heavy stuff needs to be broken up, but this was more frustrating than cathartic.

I am keeping in mind that TVT is technically the first half of what was supposed to be the final book, but the trilogy became a tetralogy because a 2000-page book would be ludicrous. Still, I feel it could've been broken down further, and we really need to allow more BIPOC writers the freedom to have sweeping, several-book-long series the way white authors can.

Get In Trouble by Kelly Link - 4 stars

These stories were quite a ride. Many featured messy people, places, and things. If we're being honest, the rating could bump up to 5 stars on a reread. There's just so much to unpack, and I'd need a closer reading, like studying scripture.

Current August Reads

• Trans-Galactic Bike Ride ed. by Lydia Rogue - As the subtitle reads, it's "Feminist Bicycle Science Fiction Stories of Transgender and Nonbinary Adventurers," written by queer authors. Technically I've actually already finished reading it, but I'll post about it separately at a later time!

• Babel by R.F. Kuang - BookTube's darling about a department at Oxford dedicated to translation and working silver- and translation-based magic for the glory of the empire. Problem is, some of the students and faculty are people from places on the receiving end of the empire's injustice. Down to the last 100 pages of this one!

• Speaking Bones by Ken Liu (The Dandelion Dynasty #4) - Despite my frustrations with the third book's pacing, I wouldn't dream of DNFing the series. The world is so lush and full, and the characters endearing. But there's another 1000 pages ahead, so this'll be on Current Reads lists for a while. 💀

• Lone Women by Victor LaValle - A young woman leaves her family home in flames and seeks a new life homesteading in Montana, a mysterious trunk in tow. I read LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom a few years back, and really needed to read more of his stuff.

• Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection Vol. 1 ed. by Hope Nicholson - Was very excited to see this at the library, as I've wanted to read it for a long time. The stories vary in genre, and I believe there are illustrated stories, individual art pieces, and even a song or poem by Buffy Sainte-Marie in addition to regular comics.

Recent Acquisitions

• Loot by Tania James - I actually won this print copy in a Goodreads giveaway! This is why I encourage those who are able to enter for anything they're interested in; it can happen to YOU lmao. Anyways, it's a book about a boy in India who constructs an automaton tiger for the Sultan, only to have it seized in war by the British. He goes to England to try to retrieve it.

• Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas - My August Book of the Month pick. I enjoyed her debut, The Hacienda, and look forward to this one. Described with "Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border." I've seen reviewers describe it more as magial realism/historical fiction with vampires, rather than horror, though.

Upcoming Releases

No guarantee I'll pick these up... but here's some cool stuff coming out in the next month or so!

• From A Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi (August 29th) - Third collection of 40 short stories celebrating the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, this time inspired by elements of Return of the Jedi! I realized I still have to pick up the second collection, from The Empire Strikes Back, oh no!

• The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White (September 5th) - YA horror featuring a trans autistic teen protagonist who can commune with the dead. He attempts to escape an arranged marriage, is sent to a Sanitorium & Finishing School, and is urged by the institution's ghosts to expose its dark secrets.

That's all for now! If you read all this... just know that I love you. 🥰

[rubykgrant]

(I hope there are at least a few that you can enjoy! I hope it is alright to add a few more, I don't want to overload, but I thought of more books that lean more toward being mature, for older teens/adults, that can fit the theme-)

"Practical Magic" by Alice Hoffman (a family known for many generations as witches, with a particular curse that implies anybody that falls in love with them is doomed to die... two sisters, Sally and Gillian, each try to escape from this in different ways, one by living as "normal" a life as possible, the other by trying to be free and indulgent. After a frightening event, the sisters are brought back together, and while they try to move on with their lives, ghosts of the past rise up for revenge. The writing is both straight-forward and extravagant, with very detailed looks at each character and their relationships, the scary elements a combination of mundane and fantastic. It deals with supernatural events, and issues that involve abuse and trauma, but is ultimately about love. A movie adaptation was made in 1998, and while it has to cut-down parts of the story and has a little more of a rom-com vibe, it still captures the soul of the story, and is enjoyable on it's own)

"Scorpion Shards" (the Star Shards Chronicles) by Neal Shusterman (Six young people who have never met have something in common; they aren’t normal. They have odd abilities, strange powers, and unfortunate afflictions that cause them pain, fear, and suffering. When they lose control, it can hurt other people, too. Slowly, they are drawn together, and figure out what is happening to them… and what they really are. They have to learn to work together, overcome their fears, battle their demons, and find the courage to save themselves. Some of them want to work together, while others wind up clashing. I've only been able to find the first book, and it has a sad ending... but with open possibilities for what comes next. Very dark, but in a realistic way regarding the emotions and troubles of the characters, making even the absurd situations feel more "real")

"MALICE" and "HAVOC" by Chris Wooding (this book blends illustrations with words, as well as fantasy and reality. There is an a mysterious comic book series, hard to find, and even if you get one the pages go blank as time passes… it depicts a strange and horrifying world called MALICE, full of monsters, and also children who have been transported there from the real world. An urban legend says if you gather the right ingredients and say the right words, "Tall Jake" will come and take you away. It turns out to be very real, and soon two kids begin a search and rescue mission to find their friend. The thing is, not everybody survives being the star of the comic, and you might only make it into one issue)

"Midnighters" trilogy by Scott Westerfield (a group of teenagers have discovered that because they were born at midnight, when they are within the area of Bixby Oklahoma, they are able to experience "extra time"; a thirteenth hour, in which the rest of the world within the "bubble" of the town seems frozen. As long as they stay in the area, they have an hour to experience this additional hour, and each of them also has specific abilities they can use in this time- defying gravity, telepathy and mind powers, touching flames, and more! However, they aren't ALONE in the thirteenth hour... strange creatures called Darklings live here in this part of the world that is made of dreams and nightmares, and they pose all sorts of danger. I'll be honest; these books have very intense problems, and they don't have "happily ever after" resolutions... they are still well-written, and very interesting. While not exactly up-beat, they still aren't entirely "depressing", and what happens feels like an "honest" depiction of how, even with magic powers, life can still be difficult, and even after the worst day every- you still have to keep going, into the next day, and onward)

once again wishing there was something kinda LIKE harry potter but like.

without the shitty author, aimed at an older audience, and also not conflating the "older audience" part with "making it lean way too heavily into being depressing, cynical and over-reliant on dark comedy"

and ALSO not something where you can only find it by hunting down some indie book with a miniscule fandom, thereby making you feel like you're just screeching annoyingly into the uncaring void once you want to actually talk about it.

[ravenclawravings]

Hello! I've asked for a Kindle for my birthday which is in May, do you have any book recommendations? I don't know what I'll read first! My plan over the long months of summer is to take my Kindle out to the forests by my house and read for hours sat amongst the bluebells like a little Ravenclaw. I'm asking a lot of Ravenclaws for book advice haha! :)

This ask is so old, but better late than never, right?

If you’ve never read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, it’s a relatively short read, but also a pretty thought provoking read. It’s his first fictional novel, and it certainly reads like it, but it’s still a really good one. And he recently wrote a sequel, The Next Person You Meet In Heaven.

The Martian by Andy Weir is both scientifically probable, and very funny! One of the few books where I feel like the movie does kinda live up to it.

The Martian Chronicles (not to be confused with The Martian) by Ray Bradbury is a collection of short stories told linearly to create an overarching story. It’s very well done and Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite authors. 

The Maximum Ride series is pretty good (well, the first three are, after that I feel like it kinda starts to fall apart, I still haven’t technically read the last book in the series) by James Patterson. I could be wrong, but after the first few, it feels a lot like the books were ghost written. And the spirit of books kinda died when Fang’s blog became commercial (if you read the books, you’ll get it.)

Hatching Magic by Ann Downer-Hazell is kinda a kids book, so a quick and easy read, but it has somehow managed to keep its place on my bookshelf.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is also a collection of short stories that is well done and thought provoking. It’s one of those books your teacher may have assigned in English class.

If you’ve never read The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, (and I mean all of them, not just The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) you absolutely should. I think I remember a few of them being a bit rough to get through as a kid, but altogether a great series. 

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (the same guy who wrote the Uglies series) is, in my opinion, very underrated. It incorporates illustrations in the best way possible and really lends to being able to imagine the amazing creatures created inside the book. This is a book I would love to see made into a movie… maybe not a movie, a tv series because there’s so much that goes on in it. (Hey Netflix, or whoever, if any of y'all decide to make this series into a tv series, you should call me, because I would be really excited to be a part of working on the screenplay… just… fyi)

If you just saw the Netflix show Thirteen Reasons Why, and didn’t read the book by Jay Asher, you are really missing out. I usually say that the book is better than the movie or TV show or whatever, but with this one, I really mean it. I get why Netflix made the changes they did to the story, but I felt that the book did it more justice. And I know the show got a lot of controversy. 

I’ve added links to descriptions of the books so I didn’t take forever trying to write them all out. If any of you guys want more book recommendations, by all means, shoot me an ask! I hope you guys like these.

- Zoe.